#was born to be a babushka but without children

[lorawant2sleep]

guess who was a fan of sara's cooking as a kid

[eviesessays]

15. What is it like to watch your own children become parents?

I never gave much thought to the matter of my children becoming parents.  I presumed it would certainly happen in good time without any input from me.  I did know I would love to have grandchildren and enjoy being the grandmother I never had.  My grandmother Schreyer died long before I was born and my grandmother Kolody died when I was three.  I’m not sure that I even remember her.  She was a very plump (frankly obese) European woman who wore a babushka.   She had a dog that bit me.  My grandmother experience was not off to a great start .  However, several of my friends had grandmothers who did wonderful grandmotherly things like knit them warm mittens and bake them delicious cookies for after school snacks.  That was the grandmom I aspired to be.  

All my children but Robin had finished college degrees.  All were married and gainfully employed.  I presumed there would be grandchildren for me to admire, dote on, spoil and love with all my heart.  

 Jaylyn and Merton  were the first to venture into parenthood.  Anne was born in 1996.  She was a beautiful baby with large bright alert eyes.  When the nurse bundled her and held her in the nursery window she looked like a little harp seal.  She was a good baby.  I was already dreaming of all the things we might get to do together.  The family bought their first house and moved to Newburyport, MA,  and Digger (Merton Eugene Thompson V) was born.  At very early ages the children were exposed to wonderful books and experiences.  They were frequent visitors to the Jabberwocky bookstore and the Plum Island Nature Preserve.  They attended Montessori schools until they entered the Newburyport school system.  I spent one day a week with them from the time Anne was born and that was the gift of a lifetime.  Once when I was picking them up from school Digger’s teacher told me she learned more from him than she taught him.  I taught Anne to sew, knit and embroider.  We mostly made dolls together.   In 1999 Will was born.  He is just a very kind gentle soul with an incredible fund of knowledge about nature, bugs, birds,  forests and fields.  His studies at University of Maine in Orono were interrupted by the Covid epidemic and all our lives were rearranged by that. Digger, this year finished his Masters degree in Education in England and will teach there for the next two years.  None of the children had designated chores and in that way they differed from my children.  However, they were bright, adventurous and polite children who have grown into bright,  kind, interesting and considerate adults.  

Heather and John had Hillary in 1987.  Heather did not work outside the home so I saw less of them in that first year.  However the following year we bought a bakery together and we saw each other almost every day.  Hillary would be bathed, put into her infant seat and she would sit on the cutting board and keep track of all activity.  Harry joined the family at 10 lb 8 oz.  He was a good baby.  once when I was babysitting them I was about to open the oven when the handle broke off and while staggering backwards I stepped on Harry.  Off we went to Dr. Duggar the pediatrician who asked what brought us to which Hillary said, “My granny stepped on my brother.”  Dr Duggar declared everyone well.  The bakery was not a financial success but it was a great opportunity for both Heather and John to see their children meet  all their milestones.  We met every October at the farm in Warner for Canadian Thanksgiving.  On the Sunday in November after US Thanksgiving we all met at the farm to decorate gingerbread houses.  Heather always made swags for her doors and windows. Those were wonderful memories.  I was fortunate to see both Hillary and Harry graduate in the top 10 in their class at Concord High School.  Hillary graduated with honors from Stevens Institute of Technology with a degree in Biomedical Engineering.  I was ferociously proud to be there. Harry earned a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA.  I was privileged to be there.  Both went on to complete graduate degrees.  I was a proud grandmother.

Peter and Jennifer had Kalote Rose is 1997.  As with all my other grandchildren I babysat Kalote one day a week while her parents worked.  She was a good baby and easy to entertain.  She met all milestones and was easy to entertain.  She was enrolled in a Nursery school in Windham so she could play with other children.  Pete and Jenn were divorced when Kalote was young but her best interests remained their primary consideration.  In 2019 we were all in New York to see Kalote graduate, summa cum laude from St John’s University with a degree in Education.  That, to me is testimony of good parenting along the way.  It was very good to be together to celebrate.   Kalote is on her own now and in some way I trust the cooking and sewing we did together will stay with her.  She is far more artistic than I am but I will say I am superior at cleaning up but that is no marketable skill.

My youngest daughter, Robin Elizabeth chose not to have children. She married at age 35 and preferred to have dogs.  Her husband Robert Dale Schweikart was a gentle lovely person.  he was an avid tennis player and shared her love of dogs. Robert died of cancer in San Raphael, CA.  Robin moved East to South Carolina to be near family  She lives about seven miles from Heather with her black and white rescue dog named Ally and that’s probably just as things ought to be.

[lilietsblog]

so whenever Russian characters crop up in American/English-speaking media theres a very noticable thing where writers v often dont understand patronymics and full names.

Now, there’s two gradations of “full name” that are in use here. There is the “FIO” full name, or SGP perhaps (surname, given name, patronymic), and there is the full given name.

As an example, let’s take Ivanov Ivan Ivanovich.

Ivanov is the surname. You can tell bc of hte -ov suffix at the end. (Not the only one possible but a pretty decent indication something is a surname when it is there)

Ivan is the given name. You can tell bc Russian has a set (an expansive one) of given names and this is one of them, one of the most historically popular at that.

Ivanovich is the patronymic, it can be translated as “son of Ivan”. You can tell bc of the “ovich” suffix. There is also “evich” and for at least one name just “ich”. Colloquially they will also get shortened into just “ych” making the variation “Ivanych”. (”Y” is the letter used for transliteration of a sound that doesn’t exist in English but is considered fairly close to “i’)

To be clear, “Ivanov Ivan Ivanych” is the exact same person as “Ivanov Ivan Ivanovich”, this is hte exact same name, the only thing that changes is how formal the speaker is being about it.

Female suffixes are “evna” and “ovna”. Anna Petrovna, Anna Fadeevna. There is also “ichna” for at least one name and an antiquated “ishna” which is the colloquial alternative in some cases. Anna Fadeevna = Anna Fadeishna. This IS antiquated tho.

Coming back to our Ivanov Ivan Ivanovich, this is the “FIO” form of his name, the way it will be put on formal documents that require one’s full name. The “Ivan Ivanovich Ivanov” form is also acceptable, its just not the order you write on documents in. The patronymic (Ivanovich) always comes after the full given name (Ivan), the surname can be stuck on either side of that.

The traditional respectful address to someone you know is the full given name + patronymic. Ivan Ivanovich! Could you come over here? It’s used with plural/formal “you”. This form is also becoming obsolete in recent years but if you’re writing mid-20th-century or characters of middle age+ Ivan Ivanovich is the name to go.

(Note the difference from the address + surname form in English: Dr. Smith or Mr Smith etc. In Russian this form does not exist except several centuries back or in very very impersonal century back “citizen Ivanov” that like a policeman would use to address you. Not anyone you actually know personally. Schoolchildren will often not know their teachers’ surnames because they are all Ivan Ivanovich to them.)

Now I keep saying “Ivan” is the FULL given name. The short given name from “Ivan” is “Vanya”. This is a set linguistic fact - the set of given names in Russian is factually two linked sets, a set of full given names and a set of short given names. Some short given names can  be short from several full given names, some full given names can have several short names (a person will usually pick one to use). A short given name doesn’t go anywhere on formal documents. It just follows from your full given name naturally, like conjugation. Some full given names (Gleb, Oleg, Diana, Vera) are short enough to be used as short given names too and so don’t realy have assigned short counterparts. In fact Vera can be both a full name on its own - Ivanova Vera Ivanovna - and short for Veronica - Ivanova Veronica Ivanovna.

Short names are formed through a variety of rules. There are basic requirements for the form they take as a result though. Full given names can have “complicated” consonant pairs together: Dmitriy, Aleksandr, Pavla, Anna. Short names are “simple” will almost always go consonant-vowel. Dmitriy -> Dima, Aleksandr -> Sasha, Alik or Shura (don’t ask how that last one happened, it’s a miracle of absurdity, but it’s one of the traditional shortenings), Pavla -> Pasha (well, Pavla is a rare name, you hear Pasha and you usually assume Pavel, the male name), Anna -> Anya. (”y” is not a consonant here, “ya” is a vowel sound English doesnt really have)

(As an exception to the consonant-vowel rule, when there’s a consonant pair the second of which is “l” it’s usually kept together in the short name - it’s just very simple to the Russian ear / tongue. Vladislav - Vlad or Slava, for example)

Often a name will be formed fully from the syllables / consonants of the full name, give or take changing the last vowel to the gender neutral “a”/”ya” (It will either be “a”/”ya” or a consonant). Vladimir -> Vlad, Ruslana -> Lana, Tatiana -> Tanya, Anna -> Anya, Katerina -> Katya, Dmitriy -> Dima or Mitya, Ivan -> Vanya. And then there’s the “sha” suffix tacked on as the second syllable: Pavel -> Pasha, Natalia -> Natasha or Tasha, Daria -> Dasha, Aleksandr -> Sasha, etc.

So long as they conform to these rules, you can kind of make them up. Though considering the whole of history, you’re not super likely to make up something that hasn’t been made up before you. Anna historically speaking turns into Anya, Nyura, Nyusha... -shudders-

So how are short names actually used?

As an implication of familiarity/subordination, that’s how. For the weebs in the audience, you know the ‘-chan’ suffix in Japanese? Kind of exactly like that. Japanese has more nuances, but generally if you wouldn’t call someone -chan, you shouldn’t call them by their short name. (Unless they specifically asked you to, but I think that’s a thing in Japanese too)

Short names are never paired with patronymics. The steps of formality in address are basically “Ivan Ivanovich” => “Ivan” => “Vanya”.

(There’s also formal you, so to be completely clear: “Ivan Ivanovich” (formal you) => “Ivan” (formal you) => “Vanya” (formal you) => “Vanya” (informal you). If someone is getting called their full given name + informal you, it’s either implying antiquity - pre 20th century - or they’re using their full given name as their short given name.)

You call your children and siblings by short names. You call your friends by short names. You MIGHT call your employees, especially if they are sufficiently young, or if you’ve known them for a long time and the “familiarity” part applies, by short names.

SHORT NAMES ARE NOT FORMAL. This is important. Nobody has “Natasha” written in their passport (unless I guess they were making new documents in America or something from scratch and didn’t use any old ones as basis of establishing idenity so could make up whatever. It’s still weird! It’s like having “Johnny-boy” written in your passport!)

SHORT NAMES ARE OFTEN GENDERED BUT YOU CANNOT TELL HOW WITHOUT KNOWING THE CORRESPONDING FULL NAME. “Pasha” and “Misha” are both male names becaus they are short from “Pavel” and “Mikhail”. Of course you could have a Pavla or a Mikhaila, but the former is very rare and the latter is probably a foreign Mykaila Russianified or something. In these cases it’s usually considered normal to assume gender, even if there’s a tiny chance you could be wrong.

PATRONYMICS ARE NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES INTERCHANGEABLE WITH SURNAMES. You have the same surname as your family members, but if you have the same patronymic, either you’re siblings or there are multiple people with the same given name in your immediate family, which is slightly odd. A patronymic is formed from your father’s name by unambiguous and definite rules. Foreign names can be turned into patronymics easily. (Though kids of foreign citizens can get whatever their parents want on their birth certificate - patronymic by the rules of one of the parents’ home country, no patronymic at all, whatever) Surnames are surnames and work the same way they work anywhere else.

PATRONYMICS AND SURNAMES ARE NOT CONNECTED IN ANY WAY WHATSOEVER. Any surname goes with any patronymic same as it goes with any given name. Except for the obvoius “statistically likely to be from the same culture” part. (Your “Russian” character could have Georgian, Ukrainian, Armenian, Lithuanian, Bielorussian, Kazakh, Tatar descent, descent from any number of indigenous cultures on the territory of Russia that I personally never heard about until I started translating documents in high amounts and stumbling upon them. Russia is an empire!) But even that’s just statistics - you could have a Tsukino Farha Bogdanovna and I’d just go “that’s a fascinating family history right there”.

GOOGLE RUSSIAN GIVEN NAMES, DON’T MAKE THEM UP. And pay attention if something is marked as “diminutive” - that means it’s a short name, and it will not be used on formal documents or in conjunction with a patronymic. Go for the name it’s diminutive for and just have the character ask everyone to use their short name if you want - it’s trendy these days.

There’s all kinds of fuckery going on with name use on the margins - some old people will call their close friends the “patronymic + informal you” construction. (Actually it’s a “Russian babushka” stereotype that actually exists within the culture. And if anyone ever uses the “short name + patronymic” form irl it’s this category of people, though I’d imagine only in third person) Some bosses or even teachers will invite their students to call them by their short name (I am so deeply uncomfortable with this). Age is often the difference between a Vanya and an Ivan Ivanovich in the same situation.

All patronymics and a good share of surnames conjugate by gender! “Ivanov” and “Ivanova” are the exact same surname, but a guy will have the former writen in their documents and a gal would have the latter. If you legally change your gender that letter changes too. (No, there’s no gender neutral form. Some surnames, like those ending in -enko, just don’t do this, but those that do are at all times one or the other) I guess expatriates a couple of generations down could have whatever going on, but if you have an actually-born-in-Russia “Ivanova Ivan Ivanovna” that means “Ivan” is a girl with a male name for some fucking reason. Name gendering is just tradition, patronymic gendering is grammar. (And if you have an “Ivanova Ivan Ivanovich” that’s just someone making a typo) (Maybe our hypothetical Ivanova Ivan Ivanovna transitioned and liked her birth name so much, she decided to not even go for Ivanna or something else plausible, Ivan or bust. Officials would probably just shrug and go with it lmao)

Oh, and in less formal lists and situations, surname + short given name is a classical combination. When I call my grandboss, surname + short given name is how I introduce myself, because I’m much younger and much subordinate so short name it is, but she’s under no obligation to identify me from my given name so surname it is. (To people who I expect to remember my name but who weren’t expecting me to call, just surname is good, but to people who can connect my surname with my identity but probably don’t remember my given name immediately & exactly from that, giving also the form of given name they address me by is the reasonable person thing to do)

If I were introducing myself in the “Hi! I’m Tsukino Usagi!” anime intro format, I’d go for “Short given name + surname”. Short name is usually the one people think of as their personal identity as it’s whatt their close circle will have been calling them for their entire life, and ACTUALLY it’s normal for the surname to come after the given name. In a book citation of “famous doctor X did Y” they will probably be “famous doctor fullgivenname-patronymic-surname”. For a Russian speaker, switching between Japanese name order and English name order is not a difficulty, but we WILL be distressed by not being able to tell which is which and therefore which it is on sight )=

MARVEL COMICS WALL OF SHAME

- Natasha Alianovna Romanova. First, “Romanov” is not a common surname, it’s the surname of the royal family, it’s like a random English guy being called “Tudor”. Well, it’s plausible, it IS formed by the classic “common given name + -ov” rule, but Roman isn’t even that common a name (and not exactly Russian), and... well. It’s just weird. I don’t think there’s good chances for it to have come into existence as such historically WHEN IT WAS THE RULING FAMILY SURNAME. Second! Natasha is a short name! She should be Natalia/Natalya! Third... I mean I will not say Alian is not an existing male name, and I won’t even say it’s not used in any cultures that exist within Russia, but if they were aiming for “common Russian male name” they missed 180 degrees.

- Ilyana Rasputin. First, -in is a suffix that makes this surname adjective-ish, meaning it conjugates by gender, meaning she is RASPUTINA. Her brother is Rasputin. She is Rasputina. Second, again, I have heard of exactly one (1) guy with this surname, and it’s the same guy you’re thinking of right now. It is in no way, shape or form common, or reasonable to give to a character without making it a plot point. Third, Ilyana is not a Russian name that exists. Ilya is a male name, but there’s no female form. FOURTH, I distinctly remember reading a comic where she was calling her brothers “Piotr” and “Mikhail”. That’s their full names! I mean bonus points for actually finding the full names this time, but it’s extremely weird for their LITTLE SIBLING to use them! They should be Petya and Misha as far as her own speech is concerned!

P.S. “All Night Laundry” is a fantastic webcomic, but “Grandimir” is not a real name, “Grand” is not a Russian word root and will not be used in a name this way, you’re looking for “Velimir” or somethng (though that’s, like, a thousand years antiquated). Also while both the uncle and the nephew having the “Petrovich” patronymic is not that odd, Petr is not THAT rare a name and maybe their brother/father was Petr Petrovich... considering we never learn their surname, I seriously suspect the writer just confused a patronymic with a surname. Also, naming their dog the same name crosses the line into slightly weird. Who names a dog after their father? This is actually what prompted this...

[inkstaineddeath]

OC Biography (and stuff)

I hope Ink has enough originality and depth that she won’t be too taxing to read about.

She dies aged 26, spends about 20+ years as a Wraith and gets resurrected near the end of MKX. Her story really starts first after the death of Quan Chi and her resurrection, then the death of Shinnok, when she finally feels free of any chance of being returned to the Netherrealm.

Name: Cilice Sorokina (a cilice is a deliberately uncomfortable/painful undergarment e.g.: knickers, garter or belt worn under clothing, worn to remind the wearer of the pain that Jesus suffered on the Cross. Often worn by the devoutly religious. I thought the name fitting as her tattoos and feelings of self loathing constantly remind her of her past and own death. Soroka is Russian for Magpie and Cilice being a thief - I thought that fitting.)

Nickname: Ink (given by Quan Chi)

Age: Died aged 26

Height: 5’6".

Eyes: Blue (human). Black (Wraith - as with Scorpion when she starts to lose control to become Ink, her eyes will change to Wraith form).

Hair: Black, chin length messy bob with short fringe/bangs

Body type: Athletic. Loses a lot of weight when she’s struggling with her PTSD, her appetite shrinks and she spends a lot of time in the gym in an effort to distract herself from her trauma.

Partner(s): Wraith - Quan Chi’s lover (as well as his bodyguard, assassin and general dogsbody)

Human – When first joined The Black Dragon she enjoyed a very casual relationship with Kano

Sexuality: Pansexual (preference towards males)

Gender: Cis Female

Ethnicity: Caucasian. English Mother, Russian Father. Born in England. Moves to Russia to join The Black Dragon

Family: Deceased. Parents died when she was very young (car crash). Grandparents (Father’s side) raised her (they died not long before Cilice moved to Russia)

Languages: English (first language), Russian (fluent)

Disabilities/Illnesses/Injuries: Killed by Oni under command of Quan Chi during a mission to retrieve a Kamidogu for Kano

Scars/Tattoos/Distinguishing Features: Quan Chi covered her with mystical tattoos/glyphs that bound magic into her skin. The tattoos have no static form, they move and change. Can control their form through concentration but this becomes mentally exhausting so she instead often hides the tattoos with clothing

Clothing: When on missions/in kombat she wears form fitting black leather/flexible armour. When relaxing she wears looser clothing but still covers her skin. As a wraith, Quan Chi liked her to wear loose flowing silks to flatter rather than hide her figure

Weapon of Choice: Studied Ninjutsu from age 5 (Grandparents thought it would be good to mix with other children as Cilice was quiet and sullen after her parents death) & continued to learn throughout life. As a wraith she trained with Noob.

Quan Chi gave her ‘Ink’ skills: Able to conjure thick black ink to blind, smother & drown opponents. Can change into ink form for short periods of time.

Prefers hand to hand and doesn’t use weaponry unless she feels in danger for her life, but has trained to use swords & daggers

Skills: Thief & hacker. Skilled at stealth, lock-picking/safe breaking. Used by Quan Chi as an assassin, bodyguard and thief.

Likes: Cuddles, long baths, spending time in the sun/outdoors (after being in the Netherrealm for so long), pastries (Grandparents ran a bakery, Dedushka Boris baked & Babushka Mila sold the bread and pastries & did the book-keeping), vodka, comfortable silences, reading, computing & technology, being so comfortable with someone she can wear more revealing clothing without feeling judged.

Dislikes: Authority/restriction of her liberty (anything that reminds her of being under Quan Chi’s control), being too hot (she grew up in England & moved to Russia in her early 20’s so she’s used to cold & rain).

Friends: Kano, Johnny Cage. Has an tentative email friendship with Hanzo (Takeda helps him turn the computer on)

Acquaintances: Special Forces (though she is technically a prisoner of theirs), Erron Black & Kabal (both from Black Dragon days)

Enemies: Netherrealm forces/Brotherhood of Shadows. Special Forces if she goes back to The Black Dragon.

Personality: Before her death she was outgoing, cheerful, sarcastic, loved to party all night and enjoyed casual sexual relationships.

Once resurrected she is much more reserved and quiet, keeps thoughts and plans to herself unless she feels truly comfortable with those around her. Quan Chi didn’t completely take away her own thoughts and control (Wraiths have far more control over themselves than Revenants do), but if he felt she was resisting him then he would punish her first, then enjoy her struggle against his will.

Cilice looks back upon her time as a Wraith with enormous shame and horror. She feels she could have done more to resist Quan Chi and has frequent nightmares back to her past.

She struggles with the changes in technology that she missed whilst she was a Wraith. As she’s with Special Forces she has to covertly retrain herself & relearn to be a hacker again so not to be discovered. This puts her under more and more mental strain.

                                        ________________________

Moved to Russia when Kano offered her a job in The Black Dragon. They’d met when he’d been in England on a job and she’d been one of the thieves recommended to him. They’d got on well, both enjoying the thrill of theft, partying, drinking and eventually they fall into bed with each other (as FWB rather than anything serious). They kept in touch for a year, then Kano asked her to come to Russia “and do some proper fucking jobs” with him.

She’d been with The Black Dragon for 3 years when Kano tells her about the Kamidogu. She travels to the Netherrealm via a portal & comes close to stealing the dagger from Quan Chi, but not close enough.

Quan Chi has recently lost Scorpion, Sub Zero and Jax, so is especially angry and has his Oni torture and kill Cilice. She fights back until her last breath, impressing Quan Chi, so he resurrects her as a Wraith to replace Scorpion.

He gives her the new name Ink and has her serve as his bodyguard, thief and assassin, and lover. (This doesn’t link into the MKX comics, this is about 15+ years before they are set. I h/c this is the first time Kano hears of the Kamidogu blades.) Quan Chi doesn’t favour her above his other lovers (he takes any of his bodyguards or ‘minions’ as lovers if he so wishes, however Ink is an unwilling lover/struggles with his hold over her).

She serves Quan Chi for 20+ years, until he is beheaded by Hanzo Hasashi.

Ink and Noob had attempted to rescue Quan Chi after D’Vorah advises them of his capture. They are too late to save him, but as he dies, so does his hold over them and they are taken to the Jinsei by Raiden & Fujin and healed. Bi-Han went back to Arctika with his brother Kuai Liang and the Lin-Kuei, whilst Cilice was ‘taken in’ by Special Forces at the insistence of Sonya Blade because of Cilice’s previous work for The Black Dragon - feeling she can gain info about Kano from her.

Cilice felt she was trading one gaol for another and resolved to not give them any real information about The Black Dragon, though she had been dead for over 20 years so much of her information was outdated by then anyway.

Spent roughly 8 months recovering from the trauma of her death & resurrection by Quan Chi. Declined therapy and instead chose to try to deal with her trauma by herself. Lost control several times. 

Was close to suicide until Hanzo Hasashi contacted her and shared his own trauma – Johnny Cage had reached out to Hanzo and promised him over the top favours (as Johnny is wont to do) to get him to help with Cilice. Johnny had first asked Jax, but Jax declined due to wishing to concentrate on his Family and looking back was too traumatic for him. Kuai Liang sent a handwritten letter offering Cilice help. Kuai using a computer is.. well, hilarious.

Once she feels more in control of her past & is not having as frequent breakdowns, she opens up a little to those she feels she can trust most. Mainly Johnny Cage. Special Forces extends her freedom, using her to plan against any attempt from those wishing to resurrect Shinnok. She occasionally joins the SF on missions as she has useful fighting & stealth skills. She likes the ‘Kombat Kids’ but is too nervous to try to make friends with them & finds Cassie in particular incredibly intimidating given Cilice’s crush on Johnny, so instead spends much of her time at a computer screen, or taking sneaky peeks at Johnny’s bum in the gym. She is well aware she is viewed by the SF as a ‘freak’ and not trusted due to her Black Dragon past.

Cilice (of course) immediately liked Johnny, she’d been a huge fan of his (had his posters on her bedroom wall, all his videos) so was excited to have the chance to meet him. They’d been close in age before her death. She develops deep feelings for him but never vocalises them because of her low self esteem and her worry that Sonya would dislike her even more (Johnny & Sonya did not get back together after Cassie defeated Shinnok. They tried again but they quickly released their personalities and different values just didn’t make a happy and stable relationship. So this time it’s much more of an amicable break up).

She contacts Kano (without Special Forces knowledge). Kano of course is immediately distrustful. He suspects she’s feeding Special Forces information, but over times the trust returns when Cilice is able to give him details to evade SF. Cilice refuses to sabotage SF as she does like and trust some of the members, but equally she refuses to give any information to SF, claiming everything she knows is from so long ago to be useless.

Cilice is now at an impasse. Escape SF and run back to the Black Dragon? This will give her personal freedom but she’s not the same person she was before she died, she feels she deserved to die because of her criminal past. But maybe she can’t be anything other than a criminal?

Or, does she stay at SF and try to be a better person, to atone for her past and maybe admit her feelings for Johnny?

There’s also the option of trying to find some way to have her tattoos/glyphs removed, but she doesn’t know where to start with that, is there anyone that powerful alive anymore?

                                             ______________

[welcometoitalia]

Christmas in Italy 🇮🇹

One of the most important ways of celebrating Christmas in Italy is the Nativity crib scene. Using a crib to help tell the Christmas story was made popular by St. Francis of Assisi in 1223. The previous year he had visited Bethlehem and saw where it was thought that Jesus was born. Many Italians display a Nativity crib. The city of Napoli is famous for its cribs and crib making. The first crib scene in Naples is thought to go back to 1025 and was in the Church of S. Maria del presepe (Saint Mary of the Crib), this was even before St. Francis had made them popular.

Having cribs in your own home became popular in the 16th century and it's still popular today (before that only churches and monasteries had them). Cribs are traditionally put out on the 8th of December. But the figure of the baby Jesus isn't put into the crib until the evening/night of Dec 24th. Sometimes the Nativity scene is displayed in the shape of pyramid. It's made of several tiers of shelves and is decorated with colored paper, gold covered pinecones, and small candles. A star is often hung on top. The shelves above the manger scene might also contain fruit, candy, and presents.

One special thing about Neapolitan cribs, is that they always have extra 'every day' people and objects (such as houses, waterfalls, food, animals and even figures of famous people and politicians). Naples is also the home to the largest crib scene in the world, which has over 600 objects on it. In Naples there is a street of nativity scene makers called the 'Via San Gregorio Armeno', where you can buy wonderful hand made crib decorations and figures - and of course whole cribs.

One old Italian custom is that children go out Carol singing and playing songs on shepherds pipes, wearing shepherds sandals and hats.

On Christmas Eve, it's common that no meat (and also sometimes no dairy) is eaten. Often a seafood meal is eaten and then people go to the Midnight Mass service. The types of fish and how they are served vary between the different regions. When people return from Mass, you might have a slice of Panettone, which is a dry fruity sponge cake and a cup of hot chocolate.

For many families a big Christmas Eve meal of different fish dishes is a popular tradition! It's known as The Feast of the Seven Fishes ('Esta dei Sette Pesci'). The feast seems to have its root in southern Italy and was bought to other countries by Italian immigrants in the 1800s. It now seems more popular in other countries than it is in Italy. Common types of fish eaten include Baccala (salt Cod), Clams, Calamari, Sardines, and Eel. There are different theories as to why there are 7 fish dishes eaten. Some think that seven represents the 7 days of creation in the Bible, others say it’s the 7 holy sacraments of the Catholic Church. But some families have more than 7 dishes! You might have 9 to represent the Christian trinity x3, 13 to represent Jesus and his 12 disciples), or 11 for the 11 disciples without Jesus or Judas.

The Christmas celebrations start 8 days before Christmas with special 'Novenas' or a series of prayers and church services. Some families have a 'Ceppo' or Yule Log which is burnt through the Christmas season.

In Italian Happy/Merry Christmas is 'Buon Natale', in Sicilian it's 'Bon Natali', in Ladin, spoken in parts of the north Italian region of South Tyrol), it's 'Bon/Bun Nadèl'.

Epiphany is also important in Italy. On Epiphany night, children believe that an old lady called 'Befana' brings presents for them. The story about Befana is very similar to the story of Babushka. Children put stockings up by the fireplace for Befana to fill. In parts of northern Italy, the Three Kings might bring present rather than Befana. On Christmas day 'Babbo Natale' (Santa Claus) might bring some small gifts, but the main day for present giving is on Epiphany.

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http://bohemianbabushka.bbabushka.com/2018/08/cancer-becauselove-journal-healing-spanglish.html