#scouts

“Stay put for moment, okay?” Gil says, standing up from the log they were sitting on, he cautiously approached the rustling patch of grass.

Upon inspecting what it was and bending down to pick it up, Tintin’s interest was also piqued.

That iota of interest quickly turned into mild panic when Mr. Gil came back and presented him with what appears to be a dead snake― admittedly a very small one, but it looked very much like an Adder/European Viper; while their venom isn’t particularly lethal, their bite can be quite painful.

“With all due respect Mr. Gil, uh― pardon me for my language and sudden outburst but what the frick!?”

“Don’t worry, this is a juvenile grass snake; Adders have a dark zigzag pattern, this one has dark stripes instead, see?” Holding up the seemingly lifeless, limbless reptile for the boy to take a closer look at. “And it’s just playing dead, it’s a cool thing some snakes do to ward off predators!”

Although wary, Tintin decided not to slap the snake out of his scoutmaster’s hand when it suddenly sprang to life.

“Would you like to hold it?” Mr. Gil inquires, handing the reptile to Tintin.

To not embarrass himself even further by being a pansy, he half-heartedly agrees.

“I know you’re a little freaked out but trust me, they’re completely harmless― they don’t bite.”

After the initial fear faded away, reluctant fascination took its place― the boy watched as the creature nimbly slithered between his fingers; it was cold, but it wasn’t slimy like a salamander or frog.

He promptly gives the snake back shortly after and begins to ask questions about it, Mr. Gil patiently trying to answer every single one to the best of his abilities.

“… Since they don’t bite, how do they defend themselves?”

“They release a foul-smelling substance from their anal gland.”

“What’s their usual prey? And how do they hunt?”

“Mostly amphibians, but they’ll also go after fish, birds and small mammals. They rely on the element of surprise to capture unsuspecting prey to swallow whole.”

“How can you tell the males from the females?”

“The males have a distinct yellow/orange collar behind their head, while the females are often larger and have a less distinct collar.”

“Wait,” Tintin comes to a momentary pause, “I do hope I am not a total bother by asking you so many questions.”

“What? No, you’re just being curious!” Mr. Gil tries to assure the boy, only for the younger to shift uncomfortably from where he sat.

“That’s what my teachers call me whenever I disrupt class with my questions, something about killing a cat.”

“Curiosity killed the cat?” the man asks, Tintin nods. “Yeah that, they said I shouldn’t ask questions I don’t want the answers to...”

“Yeah, but satisfaction brought it back.”

Tintin turns to look at him, head tilted sideways. “I’m sorry, come again?”

“The whole proverb is: ‘Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back…’ the process of getting the answers may be challenging or dangerous, but the satisfaction of knowing is worth it.”

“Oh… so that’s what it actually meant?!” tossing his hands up in disbelief. “For the longest time they’ve always used that phrase against me!”

“Curiosity is a good thing,” Gil said, with the snake in his hand seemingly hissing in agreement, as if to back him up. “in moderation that is― while it’s only natural, wanting to know more of the world around us; there are truths in this world that most people aren’t ready to address yet or talk about, which is why they tend to be so hush-hush about it.”

“Once you learn and experience something, you can’t unlearn or un-experience them?” Tintin adds.

“Yeah, pretty much― you just have to be careful with what truths you want to uncover, lest you want it to blow up in your face…” the man replies, eyes trailing away from the snake to his crutches.

A particularly strong breeze blew, sending the pair to a slight shiver― Gil stands up once again to return the snake to where he picked it up from. “It’s getting late Tintin, we should head back to camp.”

“Yeah, Roger and his lot might be giving whoever’s in charge a hard time…”

In my timeline, Tintin was born a year into the first world war. He has no idea who his parents were, and grew up in an orphanage. I have seen fans headcanon his "actual" name to be Augustin or Valentin, with Tintin being a nickname.

He didn't have many friends, as he was picked on for being a small, effeminate redhead by his peers, and the adults around him resented him for being "difficult" and asking too many questions.

Tintin's natural curiosity and tenacity led him to deconstructing from his Catholic faith early on (in the canon comics, Tintin never prays or makes reference to God even when witnessing supernatural phenomenon or when his life is in danger, so he comes across as non religious, possibly representing Herge's own deconstruction and agnosticism.), which only contributed to him being shunned by his community. School was a deeply repressive environment; while he stops believing in God, he still internalises some unhealthy aspects of Catholicism, and has some conservative tendencies he needs to unlearn.

The Scouts become one of his outlets. Tintin learns a lot of survivalist and practical skills here. Scoutmaster Gil (an OC created by me and @josephscoat) is one of the first adults in his life to encourage his curiosity. Gil is 19 when Tintin first meets him, and has childhood memories of the war. As a child he had an accident with an explosive, so now uses a prosthetic leg. Tintin greatly admires Gil and even develops a crush on him, though he is unaware that this is what he is feeling for him!

Tintin is unfortunately viciously bullied. One of his many bullies is another boyscout called Roger (an OC created by @josephscoat), an orphan who lost his dad to the war who now lives with his aunt. Roger strives to achieve an unrealistic standard of unhealthy masculinity, believing it is his duty to protect his country. This leads to him resenting his sisters and tormenting TIntin out of homophobia. Tintin learns to fight after having to stand up to Roger and many other bullies.

The library is Tintin's other outlet. I've drawn a comic here about Tintin being a big fan of pulp adventure novels - stories of far flung places providing much needed escapism from his suffocating world. He also develops a crush on Dr Sabreur, the swashbucking hero starring in his favourite books - again, Tintin isn't fully aware of what his feelings are at the time.

note. after quite a bit of debating whether i should go through with it or not, i’ve finally decided to write a bts x aot fic!! this is so exciting for me, since these are two of my biggest interests ever. just to clarify, this story will follow the attack on titan storyline almost exactly, with a few small changes here and there. it might be a little difficult to follow if you haven’t read the manga or at least watched the anime. also, i want to make it clear that i don’t claim this storyline as my own. all credits go to the original creator of attack on titan, Hajime Isayama. this is simply a fan made work heavily inspired by the series :)