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bethanydelleman · 9 days

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do you have any book recommendations beyond classic lit + Jane Austen? Love your blog by the way!

Thanks! I read/have read a ton of books. My favourite genre as a child was fantasy, but I read almost everything except true crime*, thrillers, murder mysteries, self-help, and biography. But I do sometimes read those, my favourite thriller is Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney. I'm going to start with children's books because honestly, I find so much imagination in that genre.

Children's/YA Books: Gail Carson Levine, specifically The Princess Tales 1 & 2, and Ella Enchanted, among others Jean Little/Kit Pearson - these authors have the same vibe to me. Willow and Twig is a favourite from the first one, The Guests of War trilogy and Awake and Dreaming from the other. They both write coming of age novels for girls, both Canadian. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs - I loved the whole trilogy (haven't watched the movie). The story being based around real antique trick photos is my favourite part The Echorium Sequence by Katherine Roberts - a trilogy of books about magical singers with blue hair and their interactions with half-human magical creatures Margaret Peterson Haddix, specifically Running Out of Time, the Shadow Children series, and Double Identity. Margaret Buffie, who writes stories about teenage girls and ghosts. Also Canadian, which I guess isn't that surprising. The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins. Re-read it last summer and it's as good as I remembered. Roald Dahl, I really loved Matilda as a child, it's been fun to read some of these novels with my kids. Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar - and it's sequels. Amazingly quirky and funny stories about a class of students in a weird school

Fantasy: Mercedes Lackey, specifically the Five Hundred Kingdoms series and The Obsidian universe. I also loved the Elvenbane series, but due to the death of Andre Norton it may never be finished. I would advise caution if sexual assault is triggering for you, the ones I like are mostly free of it but that can come up in her other works. Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien - obviously. Also loved The Hobbit, have not read further The Broken Earth trilogy by N.K. Jemisin - the book opens with the triggering of an apocalypse. The world contains people who can control earthquakes A Baroque Fable by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro - this book is so hilarious but I don't know if anyone has heard about it Once Upon a Winter's Night by Dennis L. McKiernan - and it's sequels. This is a romance retold fairy tale series

Science Fiction: Michael Crichton - who spans a bunch of genres but I'll put him here. I've read everything he's written and I recommend most of it. State of Fear has not aged well. His books are very fast-paced and Timeline has one of the best enemies to lovers. Orson Scott Card - I am aware, but Ender's Game is a masterpiece. He also has this single novel called Magic Street that is a sequel to A Midsummer Night's Dream. I also loved Memories of Earth but it's been a while since I read it. I, Robot by Issac Asimov - short stories about artificial intelligence and how it might go weird

Graphic novels: Astro City by Kurt Busiek - superhero, but more focused on how living in that world would affect normal people Y: The Last Man by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra - every male on earth dies, except for one, and his monkey Fables by Bill Willlingham - after being attacked by an army of wooden soldiers, fairy tale characters and creatures seek refuge in a non-magical world (ours) Nimona by ND Stevenson - a villain gains a shape-shifting sidekick, but she is not what she seems Scurry by Mac Smith - post-apocalyptic earth, the main characters are all surviving mice. Best artwork I've ever seen in a graphic novel American Vampire by Scott Snyder- vampires have different traits depending on their home country, this is about the new, American species. Asterix and Obelix by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo - a small group of powerful Gauls defend themselves against the Romans using a magical potion

Non Fiction: Stephan Pinker, I've read both of his trilogies on language and the brain. Trying to get through his huge book about violence The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks - writen by a neurologist, fascinating book Doing Harm: The Truth About How Bad Medicine and Lazy Science Leave Women Dismissed, Misdiagnosed, and Sick by Maya Dusenbery - what it says on the tin

Toddler/Young Child Books: The Monster at the End of This Book by Jon Stone - I give you a 100% guarantee that if you read this book aloud, the kids will be fascinated. It is literally always a hit Robert Munsch - most of his books are amazing, but if you don't want to cry, DO NOT read the backstory of Love You Forever. The Paper Bag Princess was one of my favourites as a child. Little Critter - only the older ones, the new ones are religious for some reason. Just for You and I Was So Mad were favourites for my kids. Early lesson in unreliable narrators. Phoebe Gilman - Something From Nothing, the Jillian Jiggs series, The Balloon Tree... so many good ones! Really good illustrations too Little Pea by Amy Krouse Rosenthal - a book about a pea who hates eating candy. This book is fun to read and my kids loved it (I have the box set) The Book with No Pictures by B.J. Novak - kids love when adults have to do weird things I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen - perfect opportunity to do a lot of funny voices The Mitten by Jan Brett - a whole bunch of animals squeeze into a mitten. That's the whole thing. It's great. The Very Cranky Bear by Nick Bland - and the rest of the series. These are fun to read because they rhyme. Jonathan Stutzman - my kids LOVE Tiny T. Rex and the Llama series. We haven't read the others An Elephant & Piggie by Mo Willems - we have this entire series, they are a delight. An elephant and pig are very silly friends. Good drawings Dr. Seuss - be careful with him though, his books are quite long and can be hard to read, so I recommend waiting until your kids are a bit older. But The Lorax slaps and my personal favourite as a kid was The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins

Other: Still Alice by Lisa Genova - or any of her books really. She is a neuroscientist and her books are really interesting explorations of different disorders. Book is better than the movie Warm Bodies by Issac Marion - zombie Romeo and Juliet Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder - a novel that is also an intro to philosophy course Calvin and Hobbes - I own all of them, so excited for when my kids can understand them. I also love The Far Side, Zits, and the earlier Dilbert comics The Women in Black by Madeleine St. John - this book is absolutely charming. I saw the Netflix movie and then bought it right away.

*I avoid true crime because I have heard that the genre causes harassment to victim's families

General Note: I am aware that some of these authors are now considered controversial, some for more serious reasons than others. Sometimes flawed people make really good art. I mean, flawed people make all art because nobody on earth is perfect.

#books #question response

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kinardsevan · 3 months

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what are ur headcanons for buck and tommy's nuptials

I've said some of these before but:

Tommy does something small and intimate for the engagement. It's them at home, very sweet and very subdued. He spends weeks planning it with Maddie's help, recruits Eddie for the whole display he does (idk if it's flowers or some other craft, but there's definitely a display). Dozens of electric candles (because fire safety kids!). In my head, he uses the candles to spell out "marry me" (or some variation of that).

They talk about eloping, just getting it over with in a weekend, not because they aren't excited about it, but because they're not 20-year-old kids anymore. They just want to get on with the next phase (settling into marriage, whether that includes kids or just a bunch of dogs, building their house, making sure their advanced directives are in order), and being married is an important part of all of that. Still, their friends are not okay with this. Hen tells them how important her wedding was with her mom in attendance. Maddie reminds them that they can still do something small and intimate AND allow their family to celebrate them. Eddie, the consummate romantic, tells them that they can't skip the wedding because he wants all the romance without the commitment. Bobby and Athena tell them they'll support whatever they decide.

They have a short engagement, just like Bobby and Athena, and decide to get married in the backyard.

There's an argument over best men. First, they both want Eddie. Then, Chim intervenes and they both argue over him. Somehow, things really get switched up and Bobby ends up as Evan's best man while Tommy has Chim. Eddie gets to be the one that marries them. (Eddie might have lost his spot as best man for Evan because he misplaced the rings a few weeks before the wedding, but who's to say 👀)

When asked "who gives these two away", the entire 118 (and Maddie) says "we do". It's fucking emotional.

Jee-Yun is the flower girl and baby Buck (Connor's kid) is the ring bearer.

THE SPEECHES: Chimney definitely mentions Maurice. Bobby's makes everyone cry. Eddie manages to bring the mood back up by roasting both of them. Maddie also tries to give a speech, talking about how happy she is to see her brother so happy and settled, and how much she loves how Tommy has become a part of their forged family, but she can't get the words out.

HenRen find a moment in the midst of the reception to ask Tommy if his intentions are honorable again. He basically is like "look, I have cake. Can I enjoy my cake? You're literally at my wedding reception."

Phillip and Margaret are there, mostly out of a feeling of obligation to invite them, but Evan pays little mind to their attendance. It's the private speeches about love and marriage Athena and Bobby give him that night that mean more.

Evan went full Clipboard™ on the entire process, down to color coordination. Fall wedding, fall colors. (I'm imagining emerald green dress shirts under their tuxes - color scheme actually found here)

As always, Tommy thinks Clipboard Buck is hot, so he just lets him go wild on the whole thing.

#bucktommy #ask mel #headcanons #tevan #kinley #firepilot #firebeast #my asks are open #ask me anything

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judasgot-it · 1 year

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Morning Brew

Short Scenario: Coffee before work, just some real domestic fluff. Besides Nikolai, his was what I think would constitute a 'morning' with him.

Characters: Jouno, Margaret, Yosano, Nikolai

Should mention btw that the reader is gender-neutral here!

Jouno

Your morning is spent just before the sun rises, as the world is still quiet and the sky is just beginning to gray. You've only just gotten up so you could find your boyfriend, whose warmth you were sorely lacking.

Finding him was easy though, as he was right by the coffee maker, waiting for his coffee to finish. He could have been normal and used a standard coffee maker, that used electricity and didn't make you do any work, but he had to have a pour-over coffee set. One which he listened to religiously each morning as if somehow leaving would change the flavor.

You didn't bother saying anything to him. You just reached out to his shoulders, drapping yourself over his back as you waited for the coffee with him. He reached up, taking one of your hands in his.

"Morning."

You just nodded behind his back, listening as he poured the both of you a cup of coffee. You got off, in search of the sugar and creamer.

Jouno might have been a mean man but having known him for so long, he was sweet. Like his coffee, which was half sugar. It was adorable, although you couldn't really say that straight to his face.

As you handed him the sugar and watched him scoop out copious amounts of it into his cup, you couldn't help but want to tell him that though. He had a bad bedhead and his face was scrunched up in concentration, which really made him look like a disgruntled cat - which was too cute.

You reached over and brushed some of his hair to the side, smiling a little. He looked over, finally done with his sugary monstrosity that he would never admit too.

"You're loud this morning." He mumbled, voice still gruff from sleep.

"Can't help it. You're really cute."

If he felt hot he wasn't going to tell you that. He simply walked away with his coffee cup, turning his face away.

Margaret

It was important for Margaret that you woke up with the sun, before the morning rush, and see what the day had ahead of you. Sitting down in nature and having some coffee together? This was one of her slices of heaven.

Even if it meant you were dragged out of bed at 5 am, and left to sit on a rather dirty park bench while she talked your ear off about her plans for the week. She was dedicated to her job, so of course you had to know about it as well.

It was sweet though, that you were important enough to her that she would include you though. She wasn't this open with everyone, not if she chose too.

You just watched her as you took small sips of your coffee, brushing your legs against hers and nodding along with her story. Something about her boss. You didn't really listen, but you didn't want her to feel ignored.

"You know, Fitzgerald really is a good guy, despite being kind of an asshole. Don't you agree?"

You nodded. That's her boss, right?

She smiled at that and continued her story, which you really didn't have the energy to listen to.

Looking past her head, you could see the sunrise. It was just barely hitting golden hour, so the light was starting to paint Margaret's loose strands into a perfect halo around her head.

Her hair was done as impeccably as always, despite the time, but you could still see the hairs that came out of her style despite this. They flew out from underneath her hat like little wisps of spider thread, dancing with her as she talked.

She had to know how stunning she was, holding her coffee cup as if it were porcelain and not from the local Starbucks. She was like a doll.

You couldn't help the smile that appeared on your face as you saw how happy she was - usually, she tried to stay serious, only showing off her strength. Her beauty was only ever shown as a weapon around others, but right now?

She was just beautiful. You hoped she never lost her smile.

Yosano

Spending the morning with Yosano was quite easy, now that you've lived together for so long. You've made each other's lives easier, becoming part of one another's routines.

You sat together in the bar of the cafe, waiting for your orders. It was still early, so while your drinks were being made, Yosano made small talk with the workers. You added in your 50 cents from time to time, although you were fine with sitting back and watching them.

You were still hazy from sleep, so you really needed your coffee to wake you.

Yosano wasn't bothered by this, instead talking to the redheaded girl named Lucy and laughing at a joke the girl had made - her hair bouncing alongside her as she shook her head. She added her own quip back, trying to outdo Lucy and succeeding - having the girl almost on the floor in laughter.

It made you smile, watching Yosano be in such high spirits so early in the morning.

"What's got you so happy this morning? See something you like?"

Yosano was copying you, leaning her head on hand and facing her whole body towards you. She was effervescent at that moment, as if all of the morning's beauty had concentrated towards her just so you could see how lucky you were to say that you could reach over and kiss her right now.

Which you gladly did, taking your time despite the public atmosphere you were in. You wanted to enjoy the moment as it lasted - you knew there would be a thousand more, but this one was in the now. So why not enjoy it?

"I just wanted to kiss you. You're really stunning, can't help but want to do that whenever I see you."

She smiled, putting her hand on your thigh.

"You're disgustingly sappy in the mornings. Makes me want to puke."

"Ew, not on the tables. My shift just started, ya nasties."

Lucy had chimed in, bringing the two of you your coffee's finally.

You smiled and went to take a sip of your drink - which you promptly spat out as it burnt your mouth. Yosano laughed, even as some of the coffee got onto her skirt.

You spilled some of it onto your pants as she pushed your shoulder in her laughter, making you lose almost half of your drink.

Now both of you were a mess.

Nikolai

You could barely constitute this as the 'morning' if you were being honest.

It was 3 am and you were inside of a gas station looking for an energy drink when you saw a hand popping up in front of you, taking two cans into the abyss it had come from.

You looked behind you, to see Nikolai giggling like any grown man should when he starts shoplifting. He didn't even look at you, he just walked throughout the aisles, grabbing various items with his disembodied hands that went straight back into his weird void.

Sighing, you didn't even bother. You know this would happen with him. No point in trying to be a normal citizen, so you waited until you knew it was safe to exit the building before you followed after him.

Although you doubt the poor, tired cashiers really cared enough to try and stop the two of you.

When you found him outside, his face was set straight, as if he wasn't wearing a clown costume in public, at 3 am.

Then he turned to you. And burst out laughing.

His whole body was shaking, like some cartoon villain. It would have been comical had he not lost his balance and almost fallen into you, causing you to stumble and try to catch yourself by grabbing onto him.

The two of you wobbled like that for a while, causing a scene in the middle of that empty night road. Nikolai took a while longer to calm down from his strange robbery high, finally pulling out your drink and handing it to you.

It was a pink monster, which was good enough for staying up in the morning.

"This is how I feel about you."

You looked up at him, where he kept his usual facade. He hadn't said anything, just waving the drinking around.

"You feel pink monster about me?"

You took it from his hands, opening your drink. You needed the caffeine to stay up, and badly.

"No silly, I feel like you're a rose."

You didn't comment on that. You just nodded, watching as he took out a 4loko out of his jacket for himself. He tried to open it, failing multiple times, before looking at you.

"Can you open this?"

This wasn't exactly your planned three am trip but oblidged, exchanging drinks so you could help him open his own drink. If you heard a loud sip coming from him, you elected to ignore it.

"This one actually tastes like shit. Sorry, I'll give you that new strawberry one when you finish this."

You gave him a look, exchanging drinks again.

"Mixing caffeine and alcohol is unhealthy, you know."

He smirked. He knocked back half of his drink, and turned to you.

"Staying up all night is unhealthy, but look at you being a rebel against God's orders."

You scoffed, taking a sip of your drink. You could taste his chapstick on the lid.

"I just have to be up right now because I need too. What about you? You chose to do this too didn't you?"

Nikolai smiled, putting his arm around your shoulder. He was strong and warm and it made you want to relax your shoulders, even if you needed to keep your mind awake for a long while after this.

"Rebelling isn't fun if you do it alone Y/n. Gotta have at least one person to do it with."

I honestly feel like I write about men better than women, despite having only ever dated women lol. Also idk if I'm super happy with this but I wanted to write and upload something anyways just before work.

#jouno x reader #margaret mitchell x reader #yosano x reader #nikolai x reader #bsd x reader #bungo stray dogs x reader

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just-a-dinosaur-i-guess · 8 months

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tell about ur aus,,, go on

HELLO TY FOR THIS ASK

i have so fucking many aus so i'll ramble about a few

my latest one takes inspiration from this post and it's basically, dazai takes in atsushi and the akutagawa siblings, but realizing he can't really find a job to support all of them at once, he decides to go and (try to) reopen odasaku's favorite curry place. there are a few issues.

he is Not a great cook

atsushi can only make chazuke

aku and gin don't know how to cook

the place is kind of a mess

so eventually he goes and calls up chuuya and he's like "hey, you know how to cook, can you help me" problem is, chuuya's pissed at him bc THIS is when he calls him again and it's not an explanation of why he left, not a "sorry for blowing up ur car", not any of that, it's just another favor. so his immediate response is "fuck you, no" and dazai has to nag him into coming and helping, this being via taking some random pm member for hostage and specifically requesting that chuuya come pick him up

chuuya does indeed arrive, but he also breaks dazai's nose, so dazai ends up vaguely explaining with an ice pack on his face lmfao. this bit is what i have planned most vividly and is hopefully? gonna be a fic i publish. but also, later, ranpo ends up at the curry place and is like "damn you live like this" and dazai replies just kinda, "either order or get out" but ranpo offers him a better job (that being working at the ada), and while he hesitantly agrees, it's only a part time thing for the first bit. also although i haven't decided yet i think he might also end up finding kyouka before the pm gets to her and tachihara before the hunting dogs find him bc i am weak to 1. found family 2. BIG found families.

chuuya is absolutely fucking baffled when he runs into dazai during an ada job, btw.

"i thought you ran a fucking curry shop" "i do that too" "?? what the fuck" "it's called being a PART TIMER chibi" "i'm gonna break your nose again"

anyway next au!!

cowboy au (btw, they still have abilities) where nathaniel is a travellng priest looking for a doctor to cure margaret who's deathly sick, and he hasn't really been having any luck (he's been searching for months to no avail), and eventually at this one town it's like.. it's late at night, nathaniel's thirsty, he heads to the bar to get some water. nikolai promptly swaps their drinks, nathaniel drinks something really strong and passes the fuck out, wakes up to being in an inn room (with noteably less money) and storms the hell out of the building just to find nikolai petting his horse and acting all innocent about doing anything. nathaniel just tries to leave, nikolai follows, and they travel like that for a bit (occasionally trying to kill each other) before they get the third member of their dysfunctional little party

do you remember that one kid fyodor killed?

this little guy (karma), is a pickpocket who steals nathaniel's bible in the hopes of selling it to get food. the two find him, both kinda realize his situation and while nathaniel is about to point him in the direction of the town's local church nikolai goes "fuck that" and just straight up kidnaps him, and they keep traveling. nathaniel and nikolai are mutually, regrettably, falling for one another, but this just manifests as more murder attempts, to the point that one night, nathaniel tries to strangle nikolai, nikolai wakes up and strangles him back, and when nathaniel passes out he fucking dreams about nikolai and is HORRIFIED. things only get worse and gayer from there and i also think they go on a train at some point.

karma's enjoying the horse rides at least, and there's some other characters that show up though tbh idk who besides this one dazai scene and gin at one point

okay this other au is shorter, but basically: ada kajii. this is built off of SO many headcanons, but essentially kajii's backstory is just the lemon short story. except that kajii never found lemons, bc instead kunikida (his old friend/school friend that fell out of contact with him) reaches out, they become friends again, and so when kunikida joins the ada, so does kajii. kajii works as a clerk bc, like, he doesn't. know he has an ability. Oh Boy Does He Get A Surprise during dead apple

okay i was gonna talk about my eternal winter au but that would be an essay /lh

SO instead!! shiburan au, an au i never. properly named beyond that it's a shibusawa x ranpo focused au. also co owned with my bestie @feralshadowdemon <33

basically, yokohama is a smaller, calmer seaside town, no abilities or anything. shibusawa moves in, working at the pet shop across the street from this coffee shop that's connected to a bookstore. the coffee shop is run by (most of) the ada, and the bookstore is run by yokomizo; mushitaro and poe work there. the members of the ada who work at the coffee shop are fukuzawa (he owns it), ranpo, kunikida, and yosano. dazai is fukuzawa's newest adopted kid, and ran away from home. (he was living with mori (and elise) before) yosano Understands his situation, having done the same years before.

ranpo starts going over to the pet shop a lot, both bc he's running errands (fukuzawa owns three cats) and bc he likes talking to shibusawa. they eventually exchange phone numbers and start texting. in the background of this, btw, is soukoku: they had a messy breakup years ago, they act like they don't like each other, etc etc normal skk things. the flags are a biker gang who are alive and well here, and chuuya hangs out with them a lot. dazai is a bit jealous of them, ranpo knows this, and so when chuuya starts volunteering at the pet shop, ranpo brings dazai along on an errand run so the two run into each other again. they start talking again, slowly bonding again by virtue of wingmaning shiburan

also misc details

dazai and aku are just. they are just friends here :)

aku and tachi are friends!! also higugin is real

the akutagawa siblings live with hirotsu

fukuchi is the hunting dogs' dad; except for tetchou, who's jouno's boyfriend. he has stricter parents.

fukuchi here is a retired military veteran AND ex movie star. his movies are awful /aff

shibusawa has a pet cornsnake named draconia

odango is engaged here but oda travels a lot so they haven't got married yet

ango works in an office in the big city, but he visits dazai sometimes. they are friends

bramcraft is married, they adopted aya

kyouka and kenji also live with fukuzawa!! twincoded tbh

kyouka has narcolepsy

there is so much more but i have been writing this post for an hour SO just shoot me (another) ask if you're curious :D

and yeah that's some of my aus!! i have a masterpost of all of them slowly being built in my drafts hehe

#my bsd aus #my aus #bsd aus #bsd au #i have so many. ty for sending this ask i LOVE rambling ab my aus #i think i can tag this with ships. i do mention them idk #skk #soukoku #i hope i didnt make any typos #dino answers #bsd #gonna be honest a lot of the shiburan au was less throwing concepts around and more an r.p thread so it's hard to summarize sorry lol #bungo stray dogs #bungou stray dogs #nikonathan #shiburan #operationtimeguard

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flameswallower · 5 months

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This strikes me as something everybody on tumblr probably knows about already, but in case anyone didn't, I've been enjoying the story of Gef the Talking Mongoose for the past week.

Gef was an entity who lived in or haunted a farmhouse on the Isle of Man during the 1930s. At the time, the farmhouse was inhabited by the Irving family: James, the older dad, who was a frustrated intellectual and failed businessman; Margaret, the mom, who others described as an unusual woman with a strong personality, and Voirrey, their reserved, tomboyish thirteen year old daughter. Gef alternately claimed to be a spirit "in the form of" a mongoose, the ghost of a mongoose, and just an actual living mongoose-- albeit with oversized, three-fingered hands and the ability to speak. Initially he harassed and threatened Voirrey in typical annoying ghost fashion, terrifying her to the point that she started sleeping in her parents' bedroom. After a short period of antagonism, though, Gef became Voirrey's friend, protector, and companion. He would also speak to James, Margaret, and, occasionally, visitors to the house. Nosy, irreverent, and mischievous, Gef helped the family by killing rabbits for them, peed on stuff (apparently!), and traveled around the local area to spy on other residents so he could gossip about them to the Irvings. Things were nice enough until James got a little too obsessed with proving Gef was real, unwittingly making himself a bit of a laughingstock-- not to mention the rest of his family.

Most people agree that Gef was a creation of Voirrey, or possibly James and Voirrey, or possibly the whole family, who sort of spun out of control and took on his own reality. Interpret that statement as literally, metaphorically, conservatively, or expansively as you wish. In the 21st century, the band Lemon Demon wrote a song about Gef in which most of the lyrics are things the mongoose supposedly said. (Now you know!!)

This two-part episode of the podcast Dark Histories is the most comprehensive audio narrative of the story I've found to date.

This video is a pretty entertaining retelling, with some of the details a little mixed up, by a person who actually thinks Gef sounds scary! (I think Gef would be pleased by that.) If you're wondering why she says paranormal investigator Nandor Fodor came to the conclusion that Gef was a split personality of James Irving when the podcast I just linked you to said he came to the conclusion that Gef was an actual animal that had somehow learned to speak and lived in the farmhouse walls...well, it was kind of both! Initially he believed the latter, but he moved towards the former conclusion over time. He even posited that an unconscious psychic projection of James Irving might have possessed a real animal living nearby, in a weird amalgamation of the two ideas.

This is a book about Gef!

#mini hyperfixation post

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truecrimecrystals · 7 months

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Lori Paige has been missing since June 3rd, 2023. The then-12-year-old girl was last seen in Tallahassee, Florida, on Continental Court near Ocala Road. Lori never returned home and has not been seen or heard from again.

When Lori was first reported missing, investigators initially did not suspect foul play because, according to reports, "all signs pointed to a voluntary runaway." Lori had run away before, about a month prior to her June 2023 disappearance. It appears that she was only missing for a short amount of time after her first time running away. This time around, though, Lori has not returned home, and police have yet to find any sign of the young girl.

Unlike most preteens and teens, Lori does not have any social media accounts - which makes it impossible for investigators to track down a digital footprint. Still, investigators believe that Lori was in contact with someone prior to her disappearance who might have helped her run away. A report on Lori's case from February 2024 states that friends helped her during her previous runaway. However, it does not appear that investigators have been able to identify anyone who helped Lori run away in June 2023.

The Tallahassee Police Department investigated over 1,200 missing juvenile cases between the years of 2021 and 2023. As of February 2024, only seven of those cases are still open - Lori's being one of them. Tallahassee Police Detective Anna Lee Drake told reporters that Lori's case is the only case she's worked involving a missing juvenile "who has been missing this long without any contact." As such, there are increased concerns for Lori's safety and wellbeing.

There is very little information available about Lori's disappearance. The events on the day she left home are unknown. At the time of this posting, Lori's family has not publicly spoken about her disappearance. In fact, it appears that the only person who has spoken out is Margaret Summers - a teaching assistant from Lori's middle school.

Summers has spread awareness about Lori's disappearance on social media and has spoken to reporters about the case. She also expressed that she does not believe Lori has stayed away for this long on her own. In February 2024, Summers told reporters, "I do not believe for a second that she’s sustaining herself. There’s adults who can’t even make it on their own."

The FBI is now involved in the search for Lori. Detectives from both the FBI and the Tallahassee Police Department have appealed to the public for anyone with information about Lori's disappearance to come forward. If you have any information that could help the investigation, please submit a tip.

#lori paige #missing child #missing girl #missing person #signal boost #florida #2023 #true crime #true crime research #tcoriginal

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tvuniverse · 6 months

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Listen i just want to preface this by saying I don't even personally hate Tommy, but that's not really the point i want to make so here goes nothing.

The way a lot of people act as if it's impossible to dislike him because the characters have moved on so so should we, right? and that's the thing right here, as poc we're always being told to move on. We can't express our feelings, we can't hold grudges, we can't complain about issues without making it something more than it is, we always have to just... move on.

I know people are going to say it's just a show, it's not that serious, but the issues it touches on and the way fandom speaks on those issues are.

I've seen a lot of comparisons between Tommy and other mains, how each of them are flawed and have screwed up one way or another, and you're right, but it's still unfair to compare him to them. We've seen each of the main characters experience guilt, or be ashamed of their action, we've seen them apologise, put in the work to actually grow, and they have. There's not enough time in an episode for us to see that for side characters. In this case, Tommy didn't do any of the above and that's normal, he was a plot device to show some very real societal issues, and especially what people of colour/women might go through in the workplace, and once he served his purpose he didn't get much more beyond a few scenes where it seemed like everything was fine between him and chim/hen. It would be more appropriate to compare him to the buckley parents, (who appeared in more or less the same amount of episodes) like if people suddendly started saying no one is allowed to hate them because they got their redemption, their kids more or less forgave them, they more or less tried to be better parents. And yet it's still not enough for a lot of people, because how they treated their children, the shit they've said to them, hits a little too close to home for a lot of people and so no matter what the show says or does, they'll still be mostly hated by the audience, and that's more than okay. But if margaret buckley is your favourite character than by all means be my guest. And listen, i love this show, it's all about hope, and it means everyone gets a redemption arc, as short as it is (sometimes even just a sentence lol), but we won't always be satisfied with these arcs, especially if they don't feel proportional to the hurt the characters may have caused to our mains, so we'll all have different reactions to them.

I swear liking a morally ambiguous/grey character says absolutely nothing about you, but making excuses for them, antagonising people who might dislike them (for good reasons) or acting like suddenly triggers don't exist for people, does say something about you. One of my favourite characters is literally the worst person ever, an actual bigot, but i won't ever write essays about why people are not allowed to dislike him actually because he's my babygirl.. i very much understand why people would.

All of this to say, everyone will have different opinions about Tommy. Some might love him, some will be completely neutral or at worst slightly uncomfortable/bothered by him, and some will straight up hate him, and all of these are fine. Live and let live, love whoever you want to love, and hate whoever you want to hate, but please stop trying to dictate how others should feel, i'm begging. And this really does go both ways.

#i never ever get involved in fandom discourse. ever #my blog is my safe space and so i just want to reblog some silly gifs of my silly little characters and move on about my day #but nothing gets to me more than being told to 'move on'#anyway i know the casual (and not so casual) racism is rampant in this fandom but boy has this week been hell #but just another week in this fandom i guess #(also i know some people hate him just because of buck/eddie and this is a whole other discourse i won't get into)#anti tommy kinard #not really but just in case #fandom discourse #also i said dehumanisation because that's what he did to chimney #acting like people don't exist until they do something that's beneficial to you and that's when you'll finally treat them as human beings #that shit hurts like crazy but it doesn't get talked about enough tbh #and that's also kind of why i think it's hard to know if he's really Grown or if it's just a case of 'these people are the exception'#and we can't really know until we actually see him interact with other minorities #but that's just my opinion #also i know we're all tired of this discourse and i'm sorry to bring it back but every day i've opened this app and saw something about it #and closed it right up lmao #i just needed to get this off my chest once and for all #i'll go back to never getting involved in fandom discourse again #anyhoo #i'll probably delete this at some point knowing myself

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this-is-all-unreal · 1 year

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My Dear Friend

Part 4

Part 3

Part 2

Part 1 and summary

This part definitely needs some extra warnings. Near the end of this part there is some psychological horror and a touch of gore and body horror. I was getting sketched out while writing it so I figured a warning would be a good idea. That being said I hope you enjoy I have been having a ball writing it! 🤗

The silence didn't last long. The front door opened and footsteps found their way to the family room.

"Hey Bruce, I passed that trigonometry test. Oh hey." The boy said as he walked in. He had glasses and had dark hair like Bruce and Dick they almost looked like they all could actually be related.

"Tim, this is Margaret, she's going to be staying here for a bit." Bruce says as he gestures to me.

"For another night" I say softly as I stare at him. Could he have be the Robin with Bruce the other night? He looked the right size if not a little short. I hadn't seen Jason yet but Dick was way too tall and wide to have been him.

"Yeah right we kinda met already." He said as he walked further into the room. "Jason and Dick get in a fight over the remote again? It's wrecked." He said as he pushed the scraps of the remote around with his foot.

"Margaret, this is Tim and Robin. Do you remember him?" Tim smiled with pride.

"You beat up Scarecrow?" I asked. He wasn't super short but he was way shorter and skinnier than a grown man. "All by yourself?" I added. He almost looks offended.

"Yeah Crane is a piece of cake to handle when he doesn't have his gas. Speaking of which, how are you doing?" Tim asked as he leaned against the arm of the sofa Bruce sat on.

"I'm fine." I say flatly. It was the truth. Tim pauses for a moment like he was expecting me to say more.

"Right well I'm gonna go to my room, I have some friends waiting for me to get online." He says as he pats Bruce on the shoulder as he walks out.

"Homework first Tim." Bruce says after him. "One second." He says as he stands up to catch up with him. The conversation trailed out of earshot as they went upstairs. I sat for a while alone.

"Felix?" I ask in a soft whisper. There was no answer. I couldn't feel him in the slightest. I stood up and walked out of the room myself. The whole manor seemed so quiet. I looked up the stairs I assumed they walked up. I start walking up one side of the double staircase. I stood on the landing and looked down both halls. I had no way of knowing which way they went. This would be one of the moments I need Felix. I took a guess and went right. I walk down a few more halls till I get to a hall that looks like it might have some bedrooms. This place had a more confusing layout than Arkham. I wasn't sure how to get back to the stairs. I heard some music coming from a door. I thought it might be Tim's room. Maybe he could help me find my way back. I knocked softly at first but the music must have been too loud. I knock a little harder. Without warning the door flew open and a very tall man I had never seen before stood in the doorway. He had a white tuft of hair but the rest was jet black like the others.

"Who the hell are you?" He asked as he looked down at me. I stuttered for a second.

"I'm well um I'm Margaret." He paused for a second. He looked very tired. There was something off about him. Something about his head, no inside his head.

"Alright well bye" He says as he shuts the door.

"No wait! Can you help me get back downstairs?" I yell through his door. He opens it again and steps out. Could this be Jason? I imagined a younger boy. He looked like he could be older than Dick.

"Come on." He sounded very annoyed. I followed him the best I could but his strides were much larger than mine.

"Are you Jason?"

"Mm-hmm"

"Bruce adopted you?"

"Something like that." He said as he expertly navigated the same halls I stumbled through.

"Did I wake you up?"

"No" He said shortly. Finally I recognized a hall as I saw the landing at the end of the hall. He stopped and pointed. "The stairs are there." He said as he turned and started walking back to his room. I stood there for a second. He seemed nice enough but I had a horrible sinking feeling around him. I couldn't explain it but it was similar to when you see a serial killer's face on TV and you don't want to look them in the eye.

"Margaret!?" I heard Bruce yelling as he exited the room he left me in. I was looking down at him when I saw how worried he looked.

"Up here." I say as I start walking down the stairs to him. He met me halfway up.

"Did something happen? Why did you leave the room?" He asked calmly but his eyes told a different story. They looked almost anxious. It made me scared. Like I did something wrong. I looked up at him with wide scared eyes and my bottom lip started to shake.

"I was looking for you." I say quickly and softly like I would be interrupted. His eyes change in an instant.

"Oh Margaret, I was just helping Tim get settled in." His eyes softened and looked like I have known them too.

"I met Jason."

"Oh?" He asks as he looks around like he was looking for him.

"I got lost and he helped me find my way back to the stairs."

"Oh yeah?" He says with a small chuckle. "Maybe we'll put up signs or something. Jason had the hardest time finding his way around when he first came here." It was hard to imagine it after seeing him walk the halls moments ago. "Hey, why don't I show you your room? It's just a guest bedroom for now but you tell me or Alfred how you want to decorate it and we can work on it sometime." He said as he ushered me back to the landing. I followed him down the right side hall and down a similar path to where I just came from.

"I won't need a room remember? I'm only here for the night." I say correcting him but he didn't seem to hear me or maybe he was ignoring me.

"Dick's room is just down the hall here." Bruce said as we walked in the direction of Jason's room if I was remembering right. He stopped at an open door. It was huge and had a few windows but mainly my eyes were drawn to a large bay window in the center of the room. The bed and drapes were dark green and all the furniture was made of dark wood. The bed was the biggest one I had ever seen. "Here we are. Do you like the shape of it? We have more guest rooms you could have but this is the closest to the boys rooms and I rather you be close to someone in case you need something.

"No, it's really nice. I like it." I say as I step inside and turn to look at him.

"And how does Felix feel about it?"

"No idea he's not here." I say as I look around the room. I pull the drawers out from the dresser to look in them.

"Well I hope I didn't upset him too much earlier. I didn't realize he was so…. Particular." He said. I could tell he was choosing his words carefully but I wasn't sure if it was for me or Felix's sake.

"No, sometimes he just leaves. He didn't leave when I was at Arkham so he probably is stretching his legs or something." I say as I sit down on the bed. It's very soft and doesn't make a sound when you put weight on it. "Is Jason okay? He seemed kinda different." I say looking at Bruce who was still standing outside the room he sighed and took a step forward to lean against the doorframe as he crossed his arms.

"He's fine. He had an accident a few months back and the whole family is adjusting from it. He's a good kid, really tough. He'll be okay with some time." His voice was darker than normal, heavier maybe.

"What kind of accident?"

"The kind most people don't come back from. We thought we lost him there for a while but he pulled through." What he was saying was good news. Most fathers adopted or not would say this with a big smile proudly but Bruce sounded like he lost a son still. I got the feeling there was something else going on, I didn't need Felix to tell me that.

"Oh okay well I'm happy he's okay." I say, Bruce nodded and pushed off the doorframe and unfolded his arms.

"There is a bathroom attached so feel free to shower. I'll have Alfred bring some of Tim's pajamas. We have some girl clothes in storage I think but we'll have to dig. Once the weather clears up we can go out and get you your own."

"Why do you have girl clothes? I thought you only had sons." I say worried there might be more people for me to meet.

"Oh they are some we got for Barbara she was Batgirl. You will meet her soon I imagine." He says as he comes in to check the locks on the windows.

"Are all your kids vigilantes?" I ask as my eyes follow him. He laughs a little and nods as he fiddles with the locks.

"Just about, it's a family business." Is that why he wants to adopt me? He said Barbara was Batgirl. Is he looking for a new one? I wasn't cut out for that kind of stuff. Batgirl is a badass. I limp all day if I stub my toe. Maybe he thinks Felix can be useful. That's like trying to herd cats. The wind blew against the windows and it sounded like a soft howl. It really was getting bad out. The snow was piling up and it wasn't even dark yet. "We eat dinner late normally. If you are hungry don't be afraid to ask." I nod but I was still full from lunch. I hadn't had so much food in a while.

"Pretty sweet room right?" My head snapped to look at who was talking. Dick was walking in. I didn't even heat him coming. I nod agreeing "so you think she is ready to see the bodies we keep in the basement?" He said with a smirk. I look at him momentary shock but onec I saw him smiling I knew he was joking.

"Stop teasing her." Bruce said as he walked past him to stand in the hall. "I'm going to get everything around for patrol tonight. Are you coming out tonight? Tim and I are taking south Gotham if you want to cover the north." Bruce said looking at Dick.

"I don't know I might hang out with Margaret pull out some board games or something." He say looking me with a wide, opened smile.

"I think she wants to have a quiet night Dick. It's going to be a short night away, Tim has school and I'd feel bad leaving Margaret home." Bruce said looking back at me.

"I'll be fine if you have to do stuff. I was just going to shower and sleep probably." I had to assume patrol means patrolling the city. I didn't want to pull them away from that and being alone sounds nice. Dick shrugs.

"My nights wide open." He said as him and Bruce walked off talking amongst themselves. I sat on the bed staring down the hall for a long while. I was worried if I left I wouldn't find my way back to this soft bed.

Alfred dropped by and gave me some clothes. He almost gave me a heart attack when he walked into view of the dimly lit hall. Now with the fancy pajama set I had I got in the shower. I was starting to worry Felix is never gone for so long. I started to hate the silence he left behind. I finished my shower and go dressed. I used the plastic covered tooth brush that was in its box under the sink. My reflection looked distorted. I couldn't tell if it was me or the mirror that was messed up. It had been a while since I saw myself. I guess mirrors are not a necessity in a psych ward.

The bags under my eyes only seemed to have grown. My hair was longer then I remembered it looking. It was down to the middle of my back now. Were my eyes always so big and dark? I checked my gums and tongue. I guess they looked normal. I as I stared into the mirror I started to see a gaunt horrible face in place of mine. It was unfamiliar to me and yet I wasn't afraid. My mind liked to play tricks on me even when Felix was gone.

I looked at the clock and saw it was only 8pm. I wasn't tired yet and I couldn't figure out how to use the remote to turn on the TV. I saw a figure past my doorway and I froze for a second. I figured even if it's a ghost or something at least I wouldn't be bored. I got up and ran out into the hall. I saw the back of Jason. I was so relieved it wasn't actually a ghost.

"Can you help me?" I ask after him.

"Lost again?"

"No I don't know how to turn on the TV." I said with a sheepish smile. He sighed and turned around and walked towards my room. He picked it up and turned it on. I swore I tried that button. He went to walk out. "Wait are you going downstairs?" I asked him. He nodded as he continued to walk out. "Can I come along?" I ask as I follow him.

"If you really have to." He said looking at me with a skeptical eye. We walk downstairs and I do my best to memorize what I could of the halls. I noticed on the front door was a keypad lock next to it. I hoped it was to set an alarm and not meant to lock anyone in. I pushed it out of my mind when we reached the dinning room. It was just as grand as the rest of the house. Wine red chairs and a table that could sit an army. Jason sat at a random chair and pulled out a small book from his back pocket. I sat a ways away from him so he didn't feel suffocated. Alfred came out and sat a plate of some kind of pasta in front of him.

"Thank you Alfred." He said as he takes a bite not taking his eyes from his book.

"Miss Margaret did you want some Spaghetti alla Puttanesca?" Alfred asks seeing me seated down the table. I stand up to look at Jason's plate. I shake my head no trying to hide my disgust at what looked like bits eggplants in the dish.

"Do you have peanut butter and jelly?" I ask him in all earnest.

Jason let out a short breath of air almost like he was holding a laugh.

"Well it's been many years but I think I can manage." Alfred says with a smile as he walks back into the kitchen. He came back shortly after holding the most gorgeous looking peanut butter and jelly I had ever seen.

"Thanks!" I say excitedly.

"Shall I cut the crust off for you?"

"No no it's perfect!" I say as I bite into it. He gave a satisfied smile as he walked away. I hadn't had a good PB&J sandwich in so long. I finished it in a matter of minutes. I looked at the book Jason was reading. I could make out a title on the worn cover. The collective poems of Emily Dickinson pocket addition. I smiled he didn't look like the type to like poems.

"Is it good? The book?" I ask. He nods as he eats his food still not looking up from his book.

"It's Dickinson so pretty good."

"I don't know if I have ever read any of hers." I was lying I knew I hadn't read anything by her. I wasn't really a reader.

"You can borrow my copy when I'm done with it."

"Oh no I'm leaving tomorrow. I'm just staying the night to make Bruce happy." I say with a small smile. Jason pulled his eyes from his book and raised an eye brow.

"That's not what I heard."

"What do you mean?" I ask leaning in a little. He shrugged and looked back at his book.

"I heard Bruce talking to the boy wonder talking about how he adopted you through some slightly shady channels but all still legal."

"No no he told me about that. I told him I didn't want him to adopt me. He just didn't want me out on the streets tonight." Jason chuckled dryly.

"You are more naive then I thought. Bruce always gets what he wants doesn't matter what anyone else wants. You are part of the family and you don't even know it.

"You are messing with me. Bruce is really nice he wouldn't-"

"Sure he's great when you are doing what he wants. If you try and run he'll find you assuming you even make it off of the house. He won't let you out till he's sure you'll come back. Like letting a dog off the leash." He says as he leans back and pokes his tongue against the side of the inside of his cheek. While looking me over. "Maybe I'm wrong, I was gone for a year. He could have changed. I hope for your sake he has at least. You won't survive training." He says without a hint of a joke. His face was so serious.

"What are you saying too her." Alfred said as he walked out from the kitchen. "Go on leave her alone. You can sulk by yourself you don't need to drag other people into it young man!" He said as he took his plate. Jason got up from his seat to leave.

"I mean it though I hope he's changed." He said it softer this time like he was really hopeful. He walked away as Alfred shooed him.

"Don't pay him no mind. He is still sore Master Bruce adopted Master Tim. He's just trying to scare you so you don't stay." Alfred says as he picks up my plate and motions for me to follow him into the kitchen. So I did. He started to load the dishwasher.

"What kind of accident did he have? Where did he go for a year?

"Oh well um he was badly beaten by that horrible clown. He fell into a coma." Alfred says as he turns around to look at me. He blames Master Bruce for it and is resentful he adopted Master Tim." He paused for a moment. "But none of that you should worry yourself with. He will bounce back Master Jason always does. His resilience is remarkable." Alfred says with a smile. I can tell he really loves them all. Even when they were being difficult. "Oh my look at the time. You should be getting off to bed. Have you showered?" He asks, looking at me.

"Yeah I did. Hey Alfred can you walk me back to my room? I still don't really know where it is." I say feeling embarrassed.

"Certainly." He said as he dried his hands off. He walked me back and the halls were becoming less of a mystery to me. We said our goodbyes and I shut my door. The TV was still on so I kept the light off and crawled into bed.

"Was he just bitter? Or was he trying to warn you?" I sat straight up as I heard an unfamiliar voice speak. It wasn't Felix, it wasn't his voice at least. "Over here, that's right on TV." I looked at the TV and a smiling woman on the news was starting right at me.

"Ar-are you talking t-to me?" I ask, looking at her. She nodded

"Well I'm not talking for my health am I? Hey wanna hear a secret?" She asked as she leaned in over her desk. I shake my head no. I knew this couldn't be real. "YOU'RE FUCKED!" She yelled so loud I thought my ear drums would burst. I put my hands over my ears as I looked at the TV. Her smile only got wider. It looked like hooks were pulling at the corners of her lips.

"Where's Felix!" I shout back at her. She slams her hands down on her desk and grabs your camera.

"YOU'RE FUCKED! YOU'RE FUCKEDYOU'RE FUCKED!YOU'RE FUCKED YOU'RE FUCKED!YOU'RE FUCYOU'ERFUCKED!" She continued to yell getting more mumbled and frantic as she screamed black slip started to fly from her mouth. Dark veins formed around her eyes. She began to slam her head on her desk till blood ran down her face mixing with the black liquid. Bone started to show as she smacked herself against her desk. She began to laugh like she was mad. I screamed and pushed myself against the backboard of the bed.

"WHO ARE YOU!" I scream back. I looked at the TV again and she was gone. A male news anchor was talking in a monotone voice about a robbery at Gotham mint. I pant and look around the room to make sure it was over.

"Margaret open up!" Jason shouted from outside the door. I looked at the door relieved it was just him. I didn't think I locked the door. I jumped up from the bed to let him in. As soon as my feet hit the floor I feel something grab my ankle and try to tug me under the bed. I screamed and clung to the edge of the bed. I looked and saw the news lady clawing at my leg with a smile straight from hell. Her body was bent in an unnatural way and her nails were long and jagged. I closed my eyes too afraid to look at her any longer. Jason broke down the door but as I opened my eyes I was laying on the floor next to the bed.

"What's wrong with you!" He said as he shook me by the shoulders. I pushed him away and crawled against the wall away from the bed.

"Under the bed! She's under there! She cut me!" I screamed as I pulled up my pant leg to show him. There was nothing. Not a single scratch. He looked at me like I was crazy. I couldn't really blame him. I knew I was crazy but I didn't think this crazy. He looked at me then back to the bed. He flipped the skirt up and inspected the underneath.

"There isn't anything. You had a nightmare." He said standing up

"No she was on the TV then she was un-under the bed Jason please you have to believe me!"

"I do believe you. I believe you saw a creepy girl on TV and had a nightmare about her." He said as he pointed to the TV. I craned my neck to see the ring playing. I shook my head.

"I didn't change it to that. I hate scary movies! And she didn't look like that!"

"Go back to bed. And I'm not taking the blame for the broken door. You tell Bruce you locked it." He said as he walked past me and out the door.

"I didn't lock the door!" I said after him but he just waved me off. Wasn't staying in that room. I ran as fast as I could down the hall. I finally made my way downstairs and into a random living room I had never seen before. I layed down on the sofa and curled up. It was mostly lit down here. I felt safer in the light. I had no idea what that was in there. I stayed awake for what felt like hours. Just staring at the entrance to the room. I was practically begging for Felix to come and make fun of me. I haven't been so scared in a while. Eventually the adrenaline wore off. I closed my eyes and fell asleep there.

Hey there just wanted to add a note here. If you liked the horror or absolutely hated it and wanted less of it please tell me. I want to make it an enjoyable of a reading experience as possible. 😅

#batman #dc comics #fanfic #oc stuff #platonic batman #slight yandere #horror #body horro tw #mentally illness #mentally ill OC #dick grayson #tim drake #jason todd #alfred pennyworth #bruce wayne #batfam #wayne manor

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manuscripts-dontburn · 3 months

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The Weather Woman

Author: Sally Gardner

First published: 2022

Rating: ★★★★☆

The book description might easily fool a reader into thinking this is a magical realism story, but though the main character does possess a curious gift of being able to foretell the weather, it falls better into the historical romance sprinkled with found family and a bunch of trouble category. Low on action but beautifully written. I believe subjective enjoyment depends a lot on whether or not you grow to love the characters. If you do not, then you shall probably be bored, but if you grow fond of them, then the book feels like sitting around a cosy table with the most pleasant company.

Maximilian and Carlota: Europe's Last Empire in Mexico

Author: Mary Margaret McAllen Amberson

First published: 2014

Rating: ★★★★☆

The Mexican Empire was nothing but a colonial attempt by France to exploit yet another nation. they cleverly chose a Habsburg prince and his young wife to rule, both with the right amount of ambition, desire to prove themselves, good but completely misled intentions and a great deal of naivety. it was a recipe for national awakening on one hand and a human tragedy on the other. This is a book that very logically and succinctly presents the uneasy and constantly shifting conflict, remains admirably objective and definitely stands as a dignified portrait of its protagonists. I only thought it a pity that very little time was given to the life of Maximilian and Charlotte before they became ensnared in the French scheming. there is hardly any time spent on their childhood and formative years or even their courtship.

Song of the Huntress

Author: Lucy Holland

First published: 2024

Rating: ★★★★☆

I loved Lucy Holland´s first offering in Sistersong and Song of the Huntress is another solid book. Different from most myth retellings with its focus. It is a book that WILL take a lot of time to get through, it does not rush you forward and I imagine there will be people who will find it boring because of it. It IS slow. But if you appreciate good writing and complex relationships in your historical fantasy, you might want to give this one a try.

Schindler's List

Author: Thomas Keneally

First published: 1982

Rating: ★★★★☆

Because the movie that came out of this book is just so famous and memorable, it would be easy to assume one needs not to read this book. And it would be true. But you still might want to do just that, because it corrects some of the myths and takes some of the shine off of Oscar Schindler. The same Schindler, who will still stand as one of the heroes of WW2, even with his halo a little crooked. What this book does NOT need, though, is the "novel" epithet, since it does not really hold any literary value. It should have stayed non-fiction, pure and simple, especially since the author claims none of the scenes in it are made up.

House of Salt and Sorrows

Author: Erin A. Craig

First published: 2019

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

It was very readable, with an interesting premise, but in the end, I felt it did not fit all well together. The creepy elements got their ass kicked by a half-cooked romance. I was also constantly confused about how this world looked, and in what time period is it rooted. I mean I went from imagining everything from the Middle Ages to the 1920s (there is a FOX TROT mentioned TWICE), but could never settle on anything and it kept bugging me throughout. As a retelling of the 12 dancing princesses, it is fine, but I would rather reach for the Wildwood Dancing instead.

Learned by Heart

Author: Emma Donoghue

First published: 2023

Rating: ★★★★☆

There is something exceptionally captivating about Emma Donoghue´s writing that I did not even mind the lack of plot. This is a very intimate portrait of a sapphic teenage romance in a time when such a thing did not even register in the common thought. And though slow and even mundane, I loved reading it.

Hex

Author: Jenni Fagan

First published: 2022

Rating: ★★★★★

A short book that packs a hard, painful punch. A cry of desperation and defiance from the darkness.

Danubia: A Personal History of Habsburg Europe

Author: Simon Winder

First published: 2013

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

I picked this book up mostly because I am always curious about how the Czechs and their history are viewed from an outsider´s perspective. I definitely appreciated the obvious enthusiasm the author displayed for central Europe, but in the end, I am confused as to what he was trying to achieve. a collection of cherry-picked information, that grows steadily classical music-heavy as it progresses, it is not uninteresting but can drag. Some of the views presented I found also rather uncomfortable, especially the occasional hinting that the Czech (and other nations) fight for preserving our language and rights should have been solved by a compromise which would, quite frankly, have meant wiping out the said language and rights in the long run. I personally view the Austrian Empire as something that was worth saving in some shape and form, but that does not change the facts of its long history of oppression of non-German speaking nations that went along with more enlightened decisions on their behalf.

The Yellow Wallpaper / Herland

Author: Charlotte Perkins Gilman

First published: 1915

Rating: ★★★★☆

While The Yellow Wallpaper is short and in a terrifying simplicity realistic, Herland has a much slower pace, includes what I might call fantasy elements and more than a story it really stands as a thinking commentary on society (arguably we could find flaws in the Gilman´s female Utopia, but then again she does not really claim that Herland is paradise and the women there clearly accept changes and are open to new ideas). Interestingly, it was originally published in the 1910s, but the attitude of the men in the story (looking at you especially, Terry) could be copied from the men today. I was a bit disappointed by the abrupt ending, which definitely left me wondering about what happened next. Both of these works still have merit as feminist classics.

Inconvenient People: Lunacy, Liberty and the Mad-Doctors in England

Author: Sarah Wide

First published: 2012

Rating: ★★★★★

I found this book extremely interesting, mostly because Sarah Wise understands the need to insert people into history. What could have been a very dry and facts-heavy study she turned into a compelling narrative in which everyone gets their place and you can sympathize (and maybe judge a bit). I learned a lot from this.

Island Queen

Author: Vanessa Riley

First published: 2021

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Based on a true story of a former slave who managed to raise herself to a free and prosperous woman, Island Queen is a solid piece of historical fiction that needed a little trimming IMO. The book is almost 600 pages long and because the focus is heavily and almost exclusively on Dorothy´s relationships with men and her children, it moves very slowly. Even large events like rebellions are mere background canvases to familial planning and aspirations. (I was also a bit annoyed at the fact Dorothy keeps jumping among the same guys the whole book.) That said, if you are in it for the intimate aspects and thought process, this might be a good book for you.

#booklr #wrap up #June 2024 #books #I COUNT THE YELLOW WALLPAPER AND HERLAND AS TWO BOOKS WHEN IT COMES TO MY NEXT BOOHAUL!!!

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ruby-red-inky-blue · 2 years

Text

Carrie watches “North & South” (2004) Ep. 1 and 2

Uh-oh, choices were made.

Thornton’s intro. I have so many questions, and the first is... why? (The Hades vibes I can take or leave - don’t get me wrong, I *love* me that myth, but I don’t quite know yet if I like it applied here. But it’s a choice, and I’m willing to see where it goes.) But, like, you catch a guy smoking in your cotton mill. I get it. I get it. But... you get his pipe off him, still warm, mind you, likely still gleaming - and you take time out of your day to pummel him to the ground?? Instead of getting both the worker and the pipe well out of the room that is *filled* with incredibly combustible fluff? If Thornton were as business-minded and no-nonsense as they claim he is, he’d have kicked that guy out in two sentences, and maybe sent a clerk after him to notify the cops. And he’d not get in a fistfight... with a worker... all that does is waste time and make him lose face? He might shout abuse after him a bit, and that would have done fine for this scene, actually, if they had to write a new one? Why are we spending all this time to establish he’s physically violent? And that he has a temper? Why is Thornton a tall dark and handsome Byronic hero - John “oh whelp too awkward to explain why I’m standing around by the side of the road better take a day trip to the country” “bringing my unrequited love’s mother fruit baskets because she’s sick” “travelling across the country to collect roses where the one that got away grew up and pressing them in my balance book” Thornton? Why is the main trait the audience is supposed to associate him with that he may erupt into unapologetic violence at any point? I do feel strongly reminded of a love interest from a classic novel, actually, but it is not North and South - this violent streak is giving me intense Mr. Rochester vibes. Again, choices were made.

(He *did* have a bit of a temper in the book! But like, he was a bit short with people. On relatively rare occasions. He wasn’t given to punching someone in a room full of people who would never raise a hand to stop him because they all work for him? Isn’t he all about fairness all the time? And idk, Armitage is giving him a vibe in his early scenes as if that temper could come out with *anyone*, except maybe his mother? As if Margaret should be afraid of him physically harming her? It’s very uncomfortable and I really don’t get what they think the story is gaining from this.)

They really put on the intense staring with old Mrs. Thornton, but I do quite like her, actually - and Fanny is delightfully horrid. I think it’s touching, in a way, seeing how the two of them must have spoiled her rotten, so I actually like how hard they’re leaning into this.

Mr. Bell is decidedly creepy in this. I wasn’t a fan of his in the book - lord but he was annoying as all hell - but why make him so weirdly *into* Margaret? Right in front of her father, too? And right in front of my salad??

Going into ep 2, I am warming up to this Thorton, though I still feel he’s a bit too... sure of himself? The power dynamic between him and the Hales is weirdly underplayed, which is a shame, it’s so interesting. Like that little interlude at his mother’s dinner, when he leaves her to go talk to what’s-his-name... that was too smooth. He’s great when it’s about the strike, but with Margaret he’s so weirdly dominant. But again. The performance is growing on me. The smitten looks do help.

Holy manufactured drama Batman! Margaret is outed at the dinner table for bringing food to the Higgins’s! *gasp* Was this in the book? Surely I’d remember that... will have to check, but boy, did that feel forced, with everyone dropping their knives and forks in outrage.

Oooooh, the strike! The buildup was nicely adapted, but it did feel a little anticlimactic to see it play out, it’s over so quickly! There really isn’t much more to the event, but it felt so much longer in the book! (And all the time Thorton spends lingering on it afterwards probably made it feel even longer than it was.)

Ngl the dramatic blending of flashbacks to Margaret’s bloody temple with a closeup of Thornton staring out of a window is a bit funny with twenty years of hindsight on it. As I’m coming up on the end of ep 2, I guess my temporary verdict is they *really* upped the ante on the drama front, arguably more than necessary.

It does feel a bit out of character for Hannah to go on about the inititals in the wedding linens in front of her son, but I love that they kept that detail! She’s such an interesting character, I’m delighted how much attention they’re paying to her.

YES, thank God. Now they’re getting it. Now they’re getting the vibe. Urgh this proposal is setting my teeth on edge... but in a good way! It’s supposed to! And honestly I’ll never be over Margaret’s ongoing theme of suitor: ‘I simply have to -’ Margaret: ‘Oh you really don’t!!’

Side note, but I’ve seen the gifs of “One minute we were talking of the colour of fruit, the next of love. How does that happen?” so often and I always thought Margaret was the one saying it. It’s hilarious that it’s Thornton. My dude you started both these conversation topics without so much as stopping for breath between one and the other.

I love how he’s basically shouting. This throws the whole surprised denial and careful questioning from her father months (!) later into a completely different light. The whole house must be hearing this, now Mr Hale is basically playing a completely pointless sharade with his daughter - oh you’re not telling me he likes you? Maybe even... asked...? Lol nope with walls that thin half the street is getting these news as they come in.

Yes, “I spoke to you about my feelings because I love you, I had no thought for your reputation!” is a banger of a line, and top notch delivery. Like I said, I *am* warming up to him. Especially in this scene.

I just love the “Oh there are others! This happens to you every day! Of course!” line so much. He’s such a petty bitch I adore him.

That said Thornton is jumping to so many conclusions it’s practically parcour. Margaret: “Hey I’m sorry I’m not taking this well my only friend in this town is dying a horrible slow death as we speak.” Thornton: “Oh so you think I’m a murderer!!!” Margaret: “I do not know how to respond when someone speaks to me as you just have -” Thornton: “Oh so this happens to you all the time???” Like. How is that what you’re taking from this. You’re right, somehow, but how are you getting there with what you’re given? Isn’t the implication of ‘hey I do not know how to handle shit like this’ exactly the opposite - that you haven’t ever been in this situation and thus don’t know how to handle it?

I think overall Margaret is actually nicer to him than in the book, at least in these last few scenes? This may not be based on actual facts but... she seems a bit gentler, more forgiving, which makes “I understand you completely” even more tragic. Buddy, you visibly don’t.

I’m starting to see how this got compared to P&P so much (aside from the obvious “criminally unromantic dude is turned down - love interest makes a spectacle of himself in a meltdown/proposal and is turned down - love interest comes back after life-altering calamity and is accepted” structural parallel). Like they made Thornton a bit more abrasive in tone and then Macfadyen made Darcy seem a lot *less* abrasive in tone so their desaster proposals kind of meet in the middle.

#i'm saving the rest of this very relevant and timely review for tomorrow #to those three mutuals this may concern lol #north and south #north and south 2004 #carrie watches

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asherloki · 1 year

Text

Immortal and the Mastermind

loki x reader

request:- Hellooo! How about a Loki Fic where the song is Mastermind by Taylor? Like perhaps reincarnation trope but Loki is this immortal that keeps meeting and loving every single version of the reader and the reader is like the Mastermind that despite their lifespan being short they'll realize later on that they were only ever loved by him- loved every single version of the reader. And they want to do the same by planning what they could to get Loki and Loki just letting it all unravel again? - anon.

word count:- 649

Warning:- none, fluff

A/N:- nevermind me altering your idea a little, I hope you like it.

“How have you been?” you heard a rather appealing voice saying, from behind you. You turned around to find a handsome looking man with long raven hair. Your eyes were widened at how beautiful the man in front of you was, however his face wasn’t the only thing that caught your eye. He looked extremely familiar for some reason as if you’ve seen before, not only that as if you’ve known him for ages. But as far as you knew you might haven’t seen him before in this life.

“Excuse me” you said as politely as possible yet your confusion was evident, “do I know you?”

He laughed softly, and it was as appealing as his voice seemed to you. “I believe you may or perhaps not really.” What a puzzle this sentence of his was, wasn’t it?

“I’m sorry I think I should…” you weren’t really sure who he was or what he wanted so you thought its better if you just go back to what you were doing, “I should go actually”.

He stared at with kind eyes, his lips holding a soft smile when he nodded and said, “very well, I believe you’re busy, this time.”

This time? What does he mean by that? Does that mean there were other times too for you two? You wondered all this while turning away from him and heading to where you were supposed to be. Through the whole day you could think of nothing but the stranger that you met, who seemed unnaturally familiar to you.

The sun went down letting the moon rise and shine softly, what a serene night it was, you thought while looking outside your window but the face of the stranger still lingered around your head.

“Why does he seem so familiar, what did he mean by ‘this time’?” you said aloud with urgency and curiosity to know the answers of all these stupid yet curious question.

Yet how impossible those were to get. Almost giving up you went to bed. Next morning to your horror you dreamt of that same guy. But you were with him, and the time wasn’t modern times either, Elizabethan? You wondered, according to the kind of dresses both you and the stranger wore indicated so. While being entirely occupied with your own thoughts you still went out for your work. Yet again stopping right infront of the store from previous day when you met the beautiful looking raven haired stranger. You thought, “should I wait here if I …. No no leave it I must..”

“Hey mastermind!” called the same voice from behind again. You definitely were startled but to your surprise you smirked and turned around. You both stared at each other for sometime with smile on both of your lips.

“Loki” you said and you enjoyed how his eyes widened, how surprised he was yet elated to hear his name from your lips.

“You…” he started “you remembered me? How?”

“I might’ve had a dream” you replied confidently.

“of us? Of our lives ?” Loki enquired.

“yes… tell me Loki what is about what are we?” as before, your curiosity knew no bound.

“we’ve been lovers” loki said, “in every past life of yours, you see I’m immortal and you, I dare say mere mortal, such a mastermind that have me wrapped around her finger for I cant be with anyone but you, all your lives we’ve found eachother and…”

“and?” you asked raising eye brows with utter amazement.

“and dominos cascades in line everytime, we work out, in every life, whether it was Margaret, Edith, Mary, Sarah, Emma or…” he wondered what your name must be in this life.

You smiled, how amazing and timeless you both have been and your love ofcourse, “Let’s discuss it over a coffee shall we?” And Loki happily accepted your offer for in this life you’ve found him again.

#loki x reader fic #loki (marvel)#loki #loki season 2 #loki series #loki laufeyson #loki odinson #Spotify

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lizbethborden · 1 year

Note

can you recommend any good novels/short story collections that don’t have MFA writers workshop syndrome if that makes any sense

Sure! These are going to lean to horror because that's what I read usually if I'm reading fiction.

Things We Lost In The Fire and The Dangers of Smoking in Bed are two horror short story collections by Mariana Enriquez. She released a novel recently as well which I haven't read yet.

Things We Say In The Dark by Kirsty Logan (I can't remember perfectly but this one might have been a little MFA-y)

Mapping The Interior by Stephen Graham Jones (found this one stronger than his longer stuff)

Dark Water by Koji Suzuki--I also read Ring and am hoping to read the next 2 books in that series

Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins by Emma Donoghue, but you do have to kind of click into the tone of the stories

The Bloody Chamber and Sinners and Saints by Angela Carter--both short story collections, I find her much easier to read in short formats. She probably had her own time's version of MFA syndrome lol

I read two books by Ramsey Campbell recently, Ancient Images and Fellstones, that were authentically pleasurable to read. The latter a little less so bc of the male protagonist LOL.

I've been reading Our Hideous Progeny by C.E. McGill lately and it's been a ton of fun

If I see the following names on a shelf I'll usually pick them up at least to look at, if not to read:

Gillian Flynn

Margaret Atwood

Toni Morrison

Laura Esquivel

Isabel Allende

Sarah Waters

Shirley Jackson

Virginia Woolf

Elizabeth Kostova

Jeanette Winterson (I do find she has a degree of professorial silliness but I love her anyway unfortunately)

Octavia Butler

Kazuo Ishiguro

I'm sure I'm forgetting some but

#obvi this is just to my taste

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is-on-its-way · 7 months

Text

Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more - 2 A Wonderful Awful Idea

Post-Episode: s06e06 How the Ghosts Stole Christmas

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

Part of the Scully is a human Series

———

Friday December 25th, 1998

Everyone was laughing riotously at something her cousin Mary had said. She laughed along but she was so preoccupied she hadn’t heard what had been so funny. They were all sitting in the living room around the Christmas tree, Christmas presents, toys, crumpled wrapping paper, and extra chairs brought in for the amount of people squeezed into Margaret Scully’s house, higgledy piggledy around the room.

Her mom was watching her with a knowing look on her face.

She cursed herself for feeling this way. Like a little girl in high school waiting for her date to pick her up for the first time. They weren’t even doing any of that. Just friends weren’t allowed to feel like this.

She told her mom shed invited Mulder and her mom had been so happy. She’d said “Oh really” with an eyebrow raised

“Mom!” shed answered “We’re just friends. We were working a case until late last night and he had no time to make it up to Martha’s vineyard.”

She’d given her the same look she was eyeing her with right now. A look of knowing things she had the good grace not to say out loud.

Bill had given both of them a withering look.

“Will you try to be nice Bill, for me?”

“Fine” he’d said looking away, annoyed.

She’d worried about how Bill would behave. He'd been uncharacteristically short with her since the conversation. He’d always been over protective of her. He’d never really understood why she’d left a career as a Physician behind to join the FBI. And he’d never liked Mulder. He’d blamed him for her abduction and her working through cancer, because, well, he really never understood her.

But that didn’t seem like it mattered anymore because Mulder was an hour and a half late. Her heart was sinking with each passing minute. He said he’d come, so he was probably just stuck in traffic. But she hadn’t really thought of just how disappointed she’d feel if he decided against it.

Those feelings burned now. And to make matters worse she was letting them, completely against all her rational thought. The vault she'd built around them after Antarctica, when Mulder had made it clear their almost kiss had been a mistake, was melting away as if she had used the ice of the glacier they'd been rescued from to do it. His recent hospital bed declaration of love played through her mind for the millionth time and she bit her lip. Her whole body felt hot; tingly with anticipation. Fear and butterflies knocked around her stomach. Was it stupid to have invited him? He’d invited her somewhere on Christmas Eve. But dinner with her overly boisterous family was entirely different than a shared psychotic episode almost ending in double murder.

She forced herself to pay attention to the group, so her mind wouldn’t fall into the moments that might have happened in his hallway had she not been stung by that bee. Moments she, up until now, had only visited in her dreams.

All of her cousins children were playing with the nerf guns shed gotten them, and Bill was yelling at them to stop running.

“Oh let them play Bill, its Christmas” she said cheerily.

“Im not driving anyone to the hospital when they knock their teeth out on a chair.” He said annoyed

Scully shook her head, her cousin Connie said “Typical Bill” under her breath to her and they giggled.

There was a knock at the door

She felt herself blushing as she rose from the arm of Connie's armchair. Her heart jumped into her throat from down where it had been sinking.

She opened the door.

He stood on the porch, holding a potted plant with red point leaves, a poinsettia, in one arm and a bottle of whiskey in the other. He was dressed in dark blue pants and a blue sweater, his heavyweight cotton field jacket over it. He stood speechless for a second at the sight of her. She was wearing a long sleeve blue velvet dress with a square neckline that cut low enough a bit of cleavage was visible. Her skin glowed against the deep color of the velvet. She had black stockings on and her feet were bare.

“Hi” she said smiling at him "Come in from the chill" she stood aside for him and he entered the long hallway, turning back to her. She leaned against the back of the door as she closed it.

“Sorry Im late. I had to find Whiskey” He held up a bottle of Ardbeg.

Margaret came to the foyer down the hallway from the kitchen. She kissed Mulder on the cheek “Hi Fox, Merry Christmas”

Hi Mrs. Scully. I brought you this, he handed her the plant, and Scully told me to bring Whiskey.”

“Oh this is so lovely thank you!, I have something for you. Ill give it to you before you go, its just an apple cake”

“She’s being modest.” Scully said proudly. “Its a Kehoe family recipe, she makes one every Christmas and she made an extra for you when I said you were coming”

“Just don’t tell anyone or they’ll try and steal it.” Margaret whispered

Mulder smiled down at her “I won’t. Thank you, I cant wait to try it.”

“Ill put this on the bar.” She took the whiskey and the poinsettia down the hall to the dining room. There were four doors off the main hallway and a stair case to the left along the wall. The kitchen was at the very back. The dining room and living room had large openings to the main hallway on the right side. They were also connected by a large opening between them with French doors, propped open for the party. Scully pointed out the fourth door down by the kitchen on the left as the bathroom.

“No blue label” Bill scoffed from the living room doorframe.

Mulder shrugged “Well I tried, but the shop owner told me it was blended swill, so…”

“Its good enough for President Nixon” Bill said as he turned to his wife who handed him their crying child.

Mulder turned to Scully confused and holding in laughter “Nixon?”

Scully shook her head and grimaced while giggling as they watched Bill’s retreating back.

“More pleasant than the last time I saw him at least.”

“Its not you he’s been in a snit all day, don’t take it personally.” She turned to him and smiled. “I cant believe you made it.”

“I said I’d come.” Mulder said lightly. Hoping he didn’t betray the turmoil in his mind at doing this. He’d spent an hour after he already should’ve left, debating whether he should come or not. Then his panic at disappointing Scully took over, and he’d rushed over making the 45 minute drive in half an hour.

Come meet everybody” she said taking his hand and leading him into the living room.

“You have a lot of family” Mulder said scanning the party, people were in the living room the kitchen and the dining room. Everything was chaos, adults chatting and watching kids play with toys, teens rough housing and shouting in groups.

“Okay everybody, this is my partner from the FBI, his name is Mulder!” She yelled to the room

The room shouted back “Hi Mulder!” As he put a hand up embarrassed. She giggled at his discomfort and led him around the room introducing him to various cousins, aunts, uncles, great aunts, and her grandma. She led them through a group of teenage boys, a bunch of her cousins children. They all shook his hand and said hello when she told them to say hi.

They drifted through the dining room where a bunch of men where hovering by the old fashioned intricate wood bar cart, tasting whiskey. Some uncles and some cousins were all introduced. Cousin Calvin offered Mulder a whiskey, which Mulder took thanking him.

“Sip that slow, its a 20 year single malt!” He’d shouted as Scully led him into the kitchen. He downed it on one go as he met Scully’s aunts, all helping with the cooking or standing around keeping the ones cooking company.

“Oh Dana brought a man” an aunt said struggling to get an oven rack rearranged with a turkey taking up most of the room.

“No Aunt Mary, He’s my partner at the FBI.”

“Oh, so whats he doing here?”

Aunt Judy hit her in the arm “Be nice Mary.”

Scully smirked at her aunt shaking her head. “We were working a case until late yesterday, his mother is all the way in Boston.”

“Mulder is it?”She asked

“It is.”

“Will you help me dear? Just take that turkey out and put it on top of the stove for now.”

He obeyed taking the dishtowels she handed him. She bent back down rearranging the oven racks. She put two casserole dishes on the top shelf and motioned for the turkey, Mulder got it and placed it on the bottom rack.

“Thank you dear” she said patting him

“He’s strong Dana you should reconsider.”

“Time to go” Scully said in a high pitched voice. He followed her to the hallway laughing.

“Sorry about her, she likes to make people uncomfortable. Usually we love her for it.”

“I don’t mind Scully, she was funny…”

A man interrupted while they were walking down the hallway to the dining room, catching them just at the door.

“So you work at the FBI too?”

Scully looked apprehensive as Mulder said “Yes with Sc… Dana”

“Well I’ve been trying to get her to tell me but she won’t…”

“I don’t have access to that information uncle Frank, and even if I did…”

“What’s your take on the freemasons turning the US government into one giant corporation which will have total control over all of us within the next 50 years?

Mulder opened his mouth to speak but Frank continued.

“Now, we know Kennedy was assassinated by the men in charge because he was going to release us from the Fed but what about the false flag of Pearl Harbour to get America into Europe so the corporate government could enrich themselves with contracts? Has it been proven yet? Of course I could go on about ‘nam and the same problem…”

“Um Im sorry I work in a completely different field, you know, no conspiracies." Scully looked down "Just what Dana here can prove with scientific evidence, and background checks mostly.”

“Frank went on undeterred as if Mulder hadn’t said a word.

Scully put a hand on Franks shoulder. She turned away from Mulder, appearing interested. She caught Mulder’s eye and mouthed “Save yourself”. As Frank droned on about the Vietnam war.

He raised an eyebrow, smiling at her and backed away into the living room, before turning to find himself in front of a number of seated women. Scully’s aunts and three of her cousins.

“Mulder! Come sit and tell us all about Agent Scully FBI” cousin Connie said patting a free chair.

He sat and said “Well I don’t really know how much I can say, a lot of the work we do is classified.”

They looked disappointed.

“Uh, well did you hear about that town in Arkansas that had all those cases of degenerative brain disease? We worked that one…” then whispered “Cannibal cult.”

Everyone gasped and cousin Connie said “No way” under her breath looking scandalized.

He tried to change the subject “But uh, tell me about Dana, any good childhood stories?”

Aunt Stacy chimed in “Well she a little cherub as a child, so chubby you could pinch her and just the most angelic little girl. Then she turned into a tomboy, always running around outside with those brothers of hers, always dirty, black fingernails from playing in the mud. And the way shed scream when Maggie had to scrub her for church on Saturday nights.” She laughed at the memory “She refused to were a dress for an entire year so Maggie dressed her in the Bills pastel blue short suit with knee high socks. She was just the funniest little girl, so headstrong for her age.”

Mulder was fighting back laughter as he said “I really appreciate that thank you for telling me”

Cousin Patricia looked at her mother with annoyance, “Don’t tell him that embarrassing stuff mom! Dana wouldn’t want you to”

“I think Dana knows what happens when people bring their significant others to a Scully Kehoe party” Connie interjected.

Mulder shifted uncomfortably “Or FBI partners” she corrected

“This one time,” she added “we rode our bikes down to the pier and we found a bunch of guys raking for mussels on the bay, she asked if we could learn how and they actually taught us how to collect them. She turned out to be pretty good at it for an eight year old. They had us working for a couple of hours too! They let us load our bike baskets up with as much as we could carry as payment, and Dana put extra in her pockets. Her mom made us wash our bikes with soap and hosed us down in the yard before shed let us into the house. But boy were those steamed mussels for dinner delicious!”

Everyone laughed

“Thats so funny, we used to go out for quahaugs and mussels every week in the summertime where I grew up, just for us, we were never conscripted." Connie laughed at this "But it’s hard work” Mulder said

“It was! I was so bad at it, but Dana’s is good at everything she tries” Connie said bragging

“We hear you’ve been a great help to Scully through her cancer scare and everything?” Cousin Jane said

“That was all her, she was incredibly determined and strong.”

“Well you helped her through” Connie said “We're all very grateful she has you to watch out for her”

Mulder reddened

“And you saved her life, from that terrible man?”

"And that bank robber" cousin Corinne chimed in.

“Well, yeah but thats what partners do for each other. In fact she’s saved me just as much.”

They made faces of disbelief.

“But she’s so little, what could she do?” Jane asked

“Well usually she has more forethought than I do and comes storming in with the cavalry.”

He smiled and they laughed

Bill muttered “Give me a break” stood up from the armchair he’d been listening from and walked away.

“Actually I think she’s saved me more than I have her. She’s a better shot than I am and Im a pretty good shot. The fact she’s a medical doctor really helps when we need any kind of medical analysis in a case. And she’s an excellent pathologist. She’s so…”

He realized as he was talking her up to her family, just how much he didn’t have to “up” the talk about her. She was impressive just as she was.

“Im extremely lucky she got assigned to me.” He said instead

They seemed pleased with his assessment, turning to look at each other.

“Well we just love her. She’s such a good girl. And Smart. And so good with our kids when they were growing up” Aunt Stacy said

“Yes, she was always our first choice for baby sitter with our Timmy. Chimed in another woman who'd started paying attention to them. “Remember we had to make a schedule to make it fair so no one could hog her?”

Mulder laughed at this, imagining them getting into bidding wars over her babysitting talents.

“She’s just so caring” one of them added.

Mulder’s heart felt like it was going to break in half in appreciation of her. He was overwhelmed with emotions towards her. He excused himself to find a bathroom.

He leaned agasint the door and rubbed his face. She was perfect. Too perfect for him. He would never be as good as any of the people here. Maybe Bill had the measure of him. Try as he might to tell his body this, he felt himself falling more deeply in love with her than he thought possible. His heart ached at knowing just how much he needed her in his life. Just how fragile the balance felt. He splashed water on his face and told himself to get a grip.

As he walked through the hall to the dining room to find Scully, Aunt Judy and Mary came out of the kitchen to the dinning room.

“Alright Ham is in the oven “ she announced “Who's playing charades?”

There was a chorus of “Me’s”

“No kids allowed all of you upstairs to play with your toys” Mary declared

“And no fighting!” She called as they ran up the stairs.

Mulder found Scully in the crowd. “Ive been hearing stories about you”

Scully groaned “Oh no, what did they tell you?”

“Nothing I wont hold against you at a later date.”

Scully hit his arm playfully

“Shorts and knee high socks at church? Are there pictures? I need to see it”

Scully giggled “Oh god the suit phase, there might be… ”

“Ill have to ask your mom…” He turned to go find her in the kitchen.

Scully grabbed him pulling him back “Don’t you dare!” she said laughing.

“Hey you two are you in or out?” Cousin Tommy called to them.

They turned, everyone was in the living room watching them, Aunt Mary, Aunt Stacy, Judy, Corinne and Connie had smiles on their faces, raised.

Scully looked at him “You don’t have to play we can just watch”

“Its okay Ill play”

“Alright its two teams, mostly Kehoes verses mostly Scullys, pair off and if we have more of one or the other some people join the other” Tommy called out.

Everyone shuffled into groups, Scully pulled Mulder to the Kehoe side and sat down on the rug next to Connie, he sat on the coffee table next to her. A pair of girls traded teams when their cousin called them over. And the group of teen boys separated themselves by pushing a couple of them off to the Kehoe side so everything would be even.

Coffee tins were was passed around on each side with paper and markers. Everyone wrote clues down. Giggling broke out as people wrote things down and showed them to each other.

Tommy called out “Nothing bad, you hear” Directed mostly at the boys.

When the tins were full, they were traded to each side.

“Okay rock paper scissor for who goes first, youngest from each side, come on”.

A teenaged girl from their team and one of the boys from the Scully side played out of three, the boy won and the Scullys cheered.

The groups started off and switched each round, laughing at people miming things like, synchronized swimming, a stegosaurs, snowboarding which everyone had trouble decifering from surfing, and a crab fisherman.

Mulder guessed one readily, along with a few other men on the team when one of the teen boys mimed a baseball swing, and then held up 10 fingers 7 times.

“Mark Macgwire!” They had all shouted in unison for the record breaking player of the last season.

The Scully team was winning by just a few clues when the Kehoe team got a stumper. Aunt Judy acted out a church and steeple. Then a judge banging a gavel, and then crossed her arms.

Antidisestablishmentarianism?” Mulder said confused as to why someone would think to put that into a game of charades.

“Yes” sighed Aunt Judy shaking her head. She looked at the Scully team “That one wasn’t fair you guys!”

A few people clapped Mulder on the shoulder and back “We got a ringer!” Uncle Tommy shouted. And everyone laughed. Mulder could see Bill sulking at this appreciation.

The Scully team complained loudly about some of the more difficult clues they received as well. They missed ‘truth’ but got points for ‘chat rooms’ and ‘Liberace’

Finally it was down to the the tie-breaking 21st point and the Kehoe’s had their turn. It was Scully’s turn to act out a clue she took the paper and stepped in front of her team. She looked at the clue and knitted her eyebrows and shook her head. She said “okay.”and ran her tongue across her upper lip in concentration. She mimed two words and mimed placing a box on the floor. Then a cat by licking her hands and making ears on her head. Everyone laughed, Mulder was looking at her enraptured, glad to be witnessing this side of Scully. She mimed putting the cat in the box.

People shouted “Taking a cat to the vet” and “Adopting a cat”

Scully giggled and shook her head

“Cat litter” someone shouted

Scully looked at Mulder with an urgent expression that said ‘Come on you know this’

She held up her hands and motioned putting a face mask on her head with two canisters on either side of it. Everyone was silent in confusion someone mumbled “What?” as team Scully laughed.

She mimed a test tube and pouring a substance into in before placing it in the imaginary box with the cat.

Mulder threw his arms in the air, stood up and shouted “Schrödinger's Cat!”. They'd had an entire car ride once with Scully using her knowledge from her physics degree to explain the concept to him.

Scully jumped up and down pure joy on her face, and held the paper up “YES!”

The Kehoe team erupted in cheers and jumped around hugging each other. Mulder stared at Scully celebrating their win, getting knocked around by everyone and patted on his shoulders. Scully found his face in the crowd and she broke into a giant smile and jumped into his arms, he caught her and they hugged, but released quickly. He turned and caught Margaret at the door between the living room and dining room. She met his eyes. She had a knowing look filled with warmth on her face.

The celebrations wound down after that with some of the boys teasing each other with renditions of their acted out clues. Margaret and her sisters, Connie, Jane, and Scully went to go check on the food and put more sides into the oven. Mulder found himself sitting next to an older woman with grey hair, aunt Mabel. She’d been asleep when Scully was introducing him but had woken up with the noise of the game.

So who might you be?”

“Oh Im Fox Mulder, Scu… Dana’s Partner with the FBI”

“Mulder. Is that Scottish?”

“No, German Jewish mostly although we celebrated Christmas with the rest of the WASPs in Massachusetts.”

“Oh yes those Protestants, they’re a nasty lot if you don’t fit in to their little boxes aren’t they?”

Mulder nodded smiling, amused and reminded of his Irish university friends explaining why protestants were terrible. He wondered if she’d say the same if she knew his true thoughts about organized religion, but knew better than to elaborate.

“So you’re Dana’s partner are you? When are you going to marry her?”

“No I’m her partner like her coworker at the FBI, we work together.” he said, face reddening.

“Well thats what you two can say but its plain as day to see how you treat her Mr. Mulder, and how she is with you. Reminds me of when my Robbie and I were courting, god rest his soul.”

This woman had a quicker wit than her age let on, Mulder decided.

“She deserves babies Mr Mulder, and lots of them.”

“Oh… um, Im gonna refresh my drink” Mulder said turning bright red.

“Okay dear.” She said, patting his hand with a tiny wizened hand.

He smiled at her and got up. Timmy laughed as he rose.

“Don’t mind her, she says whatever pops in her head nowadays.”

Mulder shook his head and smiled as he made his exit.

He searched the room, and his heart was filled again with appreciation and admiration of Scully as he searched among the happy faces. He felt like he now had a deeper understanding of who she was. This was something he’d never experienced. Even before Samantha had gone and his parents had given up with things like happy family events. His father was an only child and his mother had one sister with no children. He’d never been a part of a big family where everyone was close, even friendly, where they genuinely seemed to like each other.

He found her shaking up a drink at the bar cart.

“Hey” he tapped her side twice with the back of his hand.

She turned and beamed at him “Hey”

She poured her drink into a crystal lowball and said

“How you doing, overwhelmed yet?”

“I haven’t been to a family gathering with this many people in a long time. Maybe ever. And definitely never one where everyone actually likes each other. Its nice.”

Scully gave him a commiserating look and said “Thanks” with a slight smile playing on her lips.

“Your great aunt Mabel wishes us lots of babies, just a heads up.”

Scully rolled her eyes “Sorry about that, she’s been trying to marry me off since I turned sixteen. Do you want a new fashioned?”

Mulder cocked his head , puzzled.

“Its bourbon, maple syrup, bitters, and an orange peel. My sweet mates and I invented it in undergrad.” She leaned into his ear in the ruckus that had just erupted in the living room. He savoured the scent of her hair.

“… No that’s not what I did!”

“Yes it was! You totally drank the cigarette water and then threw up in the front yard.”

“You did too!”

“And then you threw up in Grandma Mabels flower pot!”

“She hit you with a broom for it!”

“Yeah and I still have a scar from the metal on my ass!”

Everyone pointed at him and yelled

“He admitted it!”

“Well what was she doing keeping cigarette water next to my iced tea??!”

Scully pursed her lips looking over at her cousins shaking her head.

Mulder laughed jovially and said “Yeah why not.”

She turned again and made the drink and he leaned against the wall to her side watching her

“So you were a lush in undergrad?”

She looked at him, her chin tucked, danger in her eyes. “Were you not?”

“At Oxford? Well the legal age was eighteen, so we got around a bit yeah. And the formals were always a good time. I may or may not have ended up sleeping in a bush once or twice”

Scully giggled and handed him his drink and they clinked glasses. “Merry Christmas Mulder.” She said meeting his eyes

“Merry Christmas Scully” they sipped their drinks and Scully watched him for his reaction.

Mulder raised his eyebrows and said “Hey, thats not bad”

She smiled. She leaned close again and said “And I wasn’t a lush in undergrad”

“Just me then” Mulder said smirking.

“Okay all Dinner is ready! I need all the strong men!”

The cousins, now watching two of them play fight, broke up and followed Margaret to the kitchen, still rowdy and ragging on each other. Aunts and a spare uncle or two who’d been helping in the kitchen filtered into the dining room to sit down. Mulder gave Scully his glass and she smirked looking down. He followed Bill and Tommy, he was a man after all, as someone called upstairs to the children to take their seats at the kids table.

He placed the dish he'd been given on the table between all the other dishes the men and boys had carried out. Scully motioned him to the seat she'd saved him next to her. He sat down and she leaned into him whispering, “We say grace, but you don’t have to.” looking embarrassed.

Mulder shook his head “Don’t worry about it Scully” he whispered as everyone closed their eyes and bowed their heads. He looked around at everyone and caught Bill eyeing him. He made to bow his head but didn't close his eyes. He looked at Scully’s lap. Her hands clasped together there. He studied her perfectly manicured fingers. They were so delicate and small, but not so delicate it looked like she couldn’t look out for herself. There was a strength in them he liked. Maybe it was all those years as a tomboy that had made them stronger than other women’s hands. Maybe it was the kickboxing classes she'd started after she'd been taken by Donnie Pfaster. He was pulled out of this reprieve when she unclasped them and looked over to him. Everyone was grabbing for dishes now, the prayer over.

“Not too bad?” She asked him

He mouthed no, a slight smiled on his lips. Not to bad at all.

Someone passed him a dish of roasted Brussels sprouts.

———

Dinner winded down, he was stuffed with some of the best food he’d ever tasted. His parents had usually catered their dinners, but fresh out of the oven homemade food would always be better. He’d also been introduced to a traditional Irish Christmas dinner, including a thing sent from heaven called bread sauce, like a lumpy béchamel that made the turkey taste like heaven.

One of Scully’s uncles laughed heartily at something Mulder said and Bill dropped his fork and hit his hands on the table. Scully jumped, and several others turned to look at him wondering what was the matter.

“You know Ive had enough of this. Its crazy. And everyone is treating this like it's normal for him to be here.” He waved in Mulder's direction.

Bill looked at him, his face reddening in anger with each second.

Tara put a hand on Bills arm but he ignored it. “How dare you come here. My sister hasn’t been dead two years and you come here to rub our faces in it when you’re the reason she’s dead?”

Mulder could feel his ears ringing and he could feel Scully’s whole body tense up as if she'd affected the air around her. Mulder looked away from Bill, and to Scully concern on his face for her. She looked stricken, staring at Bill horror on her face.

The children at the kids table grew quiet and looking over at the grown ups.

A quiet voice interrupted his tirade. “Thats quite enough Bill.”

All heads in the room turned to Margaret. She had a warning note in her voice that rose the hair on Mulder's arms. He made a mental note, this was a woman not to be messed with.

“Nobody is to blame for my daughter's death but the ones who pulled the trigger. God took her. Not Mulder. and I'll be having a word with him about that if I ever get the chance."

Bill made to start speaking and Margaret put a hand up.

"It was Dana's choice to join the FBI. Fox cares a great deal about Dana and Dana cares about him. He’s saved her life countless times. You might not agree with Dana’s choices but they are hers. She is the one who decides what those are. Not you.”

Scully was looking at her mom hand over her mouth, silent tears on her cheeks now. Mulder found her hand in her lap and gripped it. He found he was calm. Calmer than he would’ve been if a stranger had said something to him in a bar. Or even if Skinner had said something that set him off like in the past. He found that with Scully here, his only concern was her.

“And might I remind you they were coming to kill Dana that day, if god hadn't taken Melissa, he'd have taken Dana.”

“Maybe he should’ve!” Bill said standing up.

Mulder stood up just as fast “Don’t say that!” The blood was rushing to his face now, now he was ready knock that stupid look of Bill’s stupid face. He’d had it with this guy. So smug so superior and now insulting Scully in ways he couldn’t imagine doing to a sister.

The party collectively gasped. People muttered things like “too far” and “Come on Bill”

Scully put a hand on Mulder’s arm and he looked down at her relaxing at her touch.

Margaret whispered “Bill!” Looking aghast at him.

Everyone was looking at Scully, all her cousins. Her aunts and uncles were glancing at each other, the entire kids table was up on their feet peering over now.

Her cheeks burned in shame.

“I think Ill go.” Mulder said. He squeezed Scully’s shoulder as left the room. They were all silent as he got his coat in the front hall.

Margaret left to the kitchen.

“Scully stood up slowly looking at her brother. “I asked you to be nice to him, how could you say those things? How could you say those things to me? In front of everyone? If you blame him for Melissa’s death you can blame me right along with him.” Her voice shook and she let out a sob but her anger and frustration helped her regain composure.

“You’ve never liked that I work for the FBI, that I like what I do, or that I have a true friend in my partner.” she wasn't yelling either. She's was speaking calmly as her mother had done.

Margaret walked past the dining room doorway with the apple cake in a Tupperware container. She caught Mulder as he opened the door.

Scully continued. “It may not seem important to you but it is to me and I’m tired Bill. Im so tired of having to justify myself to you when you never seem to care enough to listen to who I am. What I want.”

Everyone could hear as Mrs Scully said “Here you go dear.” embarrassment in her voice.

“Thank you Mrs. Scully.” wafted in as the door shut.

“You think you’ve taken up the mantle as head of this family, but let me give you some advice.” There was anger and contempt in her voice now. “Dad was twice the man you are. Twice as kind, twice as gentle, and twice as forgiving. You wish me dead? Fine.” She threw up her hands “That’s fine with me Bill.”

She looked at him in disgust and turned to leave.

Bill said “Dana” in a patronizingly exasperated tone which only incensed her further.

She found her mom as she walked around the kids table into the living room. She fell into her arms and Margaret hugged her tightly, “Thanks for sticking up for me mom.”

“Of course.” She said holding her daughters cheeks “I love you Dana. Ill see you later.”

“Love you too.” Scully smiled sadly “Im sorry I brought him. Im sorry I…”

“Fox is always invited in this house. We'll have to see about Bill though.” She said sarcastically. Brushing Scully's hair from her face.

“Thanks mom,” she laughed wiping tears off her cheek. “Ill come over tomorrow for apple cake and tea with you and Nana.”

She turned to the dining room “Bye everyone, I’m sorry about this.” she said from the door between both rooms. There was a chorus of awkward “Bye Dana’s” from the dining room. She grabbed her coat and bags from the foyer, thought for a second, walked back to the dining room and took the bottle of ardbeg Mulder had brought, 3/4 of it still left, and walked out head held high.

#msr #msr fanfic #x files #mulder and scully

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Text

"BMCR 2009.10.48

Ancient Greece and Ancient Iran: Cross-Cultural Encounters. 1st International Conference (Athens, 11-13 November 2006)

Seyed Mohammad Reza Darbandi, Antigoni Zournatzi, Ancient Greece and Ancient Iran: Cross-Cultural Encounters. 1st International Conference (Athens, 11-13 November 2006). Athens: National Hellenic Research Foundation; Hellenic National Commission for UNESCO; Cultural Center of the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran, 2008. xxix, 377. ISBN 9789609309554. €60.00 (pb).

Review by

Margaret C. Miller, University of Sydney. [email protected]

[Authors and titles are listed at the end of the review.]

The volume commemorates a landmark occasion, when the national research centres of Iran and Greece collaborated in a multi-national interdisciplinary conference on the history of exchange between Iran and Greece. Its nearly 400 pages reflect a strong sense of its symbolic importance. Papers span the Achaemenid through the Mediaeval periods and address the theme of exchange from the perspective of many disciplines — history, art, religion, philosophy, literature, archaeology. The book thus brings together material that can be obscure outside the circle of specialists, and in a manner that is generally accessible; the wide range of topics and periods included is a strength. Excellent illustrations often in colour enhance the archaeological contributions, as does inclusion of hitherto unpublished material.

The volume commences with a brief section on what might be called Greek textual evidence (Tracy, Petropoulou, Tsanstanoglou), followed by papers on interaction in Sasanian through mediaeval Persia (Azarnoush, Alinia, Venetis, Fowden), four papers discussing Achaemenid, Seleucid and Parthian history (Weiskopf, Ivantchik, Tuplin, Aperghis), aspects of the archaeology of Persepolis and Pasargadae (Stronach, Talebian, Root, Palagia), and ends with essays on the receptivity to Achaemenid culture in the material culture of the western empire and fringes: Cyprus, Turkey, Greece (Zournatzi, Lintz, Summerer, Paspalas, Ignatiadou, Sideris, Triantafyllidis), followed by a paper on traces of Greek material culture in the archaeology of (Seleucid) Iran (Rahbar). The wealth of vehicles, contexts and levels of exchange attested through the ages is both eye-opening and exciting. While there is unfortunately little attempt at globalizing synthesis or theoretical modelling, the analytical methods and collections of data in the individual contributions will aid future work in the area.

Stephen Tracy starts the volume with a synchronic analysis of the ways in which first Aeschylus, then Homer, play upon the prejudices of their audience against ” barbaroi” and then show the human quality of the enemy. In Persai, the Athenians are anonymous in contrast with the delineated personalities of the Persian royal family; in the Iliad, Achilles is “not very likeable” but learns humanity from the sorrow of Priam. Both poets focus on common humanity that transcends short-term hostilities.

Angeliki Petropoulou offers a detailed analysis of Herodotus’ account of the death of Masistios and subsequent mourning (Hdt. 9.20-25.1). Herodotus played up the heroic quality of Masistios’ death, stressing his beauty and height, qualities appreciated by both Greeks and Persians. The fact that Masistios seems to have gained the position of cavalry commander in the year before his death, coupled with the likelihood that his Nisaian horse with its golden bridle was a royal gift, suggests he had been promoted and rewarded for bravery.

Kyriakos Tsantsanoglou discusses the Derveni papyrus’ mention of magoi (column VI.1-14). Though the papyrus dates 340-320, the text was composed late fifth century BC, making the apparently Iranian content especially important. Both the ritual described and the explanation for it cohere with elements known from later Persian sources as features of early Iranian religious thought. While the precise vehicles of transmission of such knowledge to the papyrus are unknowable, the papyrus is the first certain documentation of the borrowing of Iranian ideas in Greek (philosophical) thought.

On the Iranian side exchange of religious ideas is documented by Massoud Azarnoush in the iconography of a fourth-century AD Sasanian manor-house he excavated at Hajiabad 1979.1 Moulded stucco in the form of divine figures included dressed and naked females identified with Anahita. The very broad shoulders of the Hellenistically dressed Anahita fit an Iranian aesthetic; the closest parallel for the slender naked females is found not in the cognate Ishtar type but in the Aphrodite Pudica type. Reliefs of naked boys, of uncertain relationship with Anahita, have attributes of fertility cult in the (Dionysian?) bunches of grapes they hold and in the ?ivy elements of their headdress.

Sara Alinia offers a brief but fascinating account of the development of state-sponsored religion hand-in-hand with state-sponsored persecution of religious elements that were deemed to be affiliated with another state: the Christian Late Roman Empire and the Zoroastrian Sasanian Empire. She documents the rise of religion as a tool of inter-state diplomacy and vehicle for inter-state rivalry; religion was but one facet of the political antagonism between the two.

Evangelos Venetis studies the cross-fertilization between Hellenistic and Byzantine Greek romance and Iranian pre-Islamic and Islamic romantic narrative. Persian elements are found in Hellenistic romance; Hellenistic themes contribute to Persian epics. The fragmentary nature of texts ranging 2nd -11th/14th c. AD and the lack of intermediary texts are serious impediments which may yet be overcome. The Alexander Romance, known in Iran from a Sasanian translation, contributed to the form and detail of the Shahname, as well as to other Persian epics.

Garth Fowden outlines the complex history of the creation, translation, wide circulation and impact of the pseudo-Aristotelian texts on religious thought. Aristotle’s works were translated into Syriac in the 6th c. and in the mid 8th c. into Arabic. Arab philosophers, attracted to the idea of Aristotle as counsellor of kings, updated him. Owing to his remoteness in time, “Aristotle” offended neither Muslim nor Christian. The Letters of Alexander, Secret of Secrets and al-Kindi’s sequel of Metaphysics, the Theology of Aristotle, contributed significantly to the philosophical underpinnings of both Muslim and Christian theology; the last remains an important text in teaching at Qom.

Michael N. Weiskopf argues that Herodotos’ account of the Persian treatment of Ionia after the Ionian revolt constitutes “imperial nostalgia” — the popular memory of how good things were under a past regime, in the context of a new regime. Herodotos 6.42-43, stressing the administrative efficiency and fairness of Artaphernes’ arrangements, allows a reading of Mardonios’ alleged imposition of democratic constitutions (so dissonant with the subsequent reported governing of Ionian states) as imperial nostalgia, to be contrasted with the inconsistent and unfair treatment of the Ionians by the Athenians of Herodotos’ own day.

Askold I. Ivantchik publishes two Greek inscriptions from Hellenistic Tanais in the Bosporos (and reedits a third). Evidently private thiasos inscriptions, they confirm that the city was already in 2nd or 1st century BC officially divided into two social (presumably ethnic) groups: the Hellenes and the Tanaitai, presumably Sarmatians, on whose land the city was founded in the late 3rd century BC. A thiasos for the river god Tanais includes members with both Greek and Iranian names, showing that private religious thiasoi were an important vehicle for breaking down social barriers between the two populations of the city.

Two papers offer contrasting interpretations of the evidence for Seleucid retention of Achaemenid institutions. That there were parallels between structures of the different periods is uncontested; the question is whether the parallels signify a deliberate programme of Seleucid self-presentation as the “heirs of the Achaemenids.” Christopher R. Tuplin argues that acquisition of the empire involved adoption of the Achaemenid mantle in some contexts and maintenance of those structures that worked, but that the balance of evidence suggests no conscious policy of continuation, and considerable de facto alteration of attitude and form. He suggests that the evidence of continuity of financial (taxation) structures — a major part of Aperghis’ argument — is ambiguous, at best. The treatment and divisions of territory, most notably the “shift of centre of gravity” from Persis to Babylonia, argue more for disruption than continuity.

G. G. Aperghis gives the case for a deliberate Seleucid policy of continuation of many Achaemenid administrative practices. He points to the retention of the satrapy as basis of administrative organization; use of land-grants (albeit to cities rather than individuals); continuing royal support of temples; maintenance of the Royal Road system (n.b. two Greek milestones, one illustrated in this volume by Rahbar); the retention of two separate offices relating to financial oversight. He suggests that the double sealing of transactions in the Persepolis Fortification Tablets metamorphosed into the double monogram on Seleucid coinage. Further field work in Iran, like that outlined by Rahbar (see below), will settle such contested matters as whether the many foundations of Alexander had any local impact. At present, Tuplin offers the more persuasive case.

David Stronach, excavator of Pasargadae, gives his considered opinion on the complex nexus of issues relating to the date of Cyrus’ constructions at Pasargadae. Touching upon the East Greek and Lydian contribution to early Achaemenid monumental architecture in stone and orthogonal design principles, Cyrus’ conquest chronology and the Nabonidus Chronicle, Darius’ creation of Old Persian cuneiform, the elements of the Tomb of Cyrus, and new evidence confirming the garden design, he argues that the chronology of the constructions at Pasargadae indirectly confirms the date of the conquest of Lydia around 545.

Mohammad Hassan Talebian offers a diachronic analysis of Persepolis and Pasargadae, starting with a survey of the Iranian and Lydian elements in their construction. Modern interventions include the ill-informed and damaging activities of Herzfeld and Schmidt at Persepolis in the 1930s, the stripping away of the mediaeval Islamic development of the Tomb of Cyrus, and the damage to the ancient city of Persepolis in preparation for the 2500-anniversary celebrations in 1971. Recent surveys in the region compensate to some degree. Talebian urges the importance of attention to all periods of the past rather than a privileged few.

Margaret Cool Root continues her thought-experiment in exploring how a fifth-century Athenian male might have viewed Persepolis.2 Sculptural traits such as the emphasis on the clothed body and nature of interaction between individuals would have seemed to the hypothetical Athenian to embody a profoundly effeminate culture. Yet Root’s study of the Persepolis Fortification Tablet sealings, their flashes of humour and playfulness in their utilisation on the tablets, reveals a world in which oral communication — idle chit-chat — perhaps bridged the cultural divide. She concludes that a visiting Greek might well have learned how to read the imagery like an Iranian.

Olga Palagia argues that the most famous Greek artefact found at Persepolis, the marble statue of “Penelope”, was not booty but a diplomatic gift from the people of Thasos: its Thasian marble provides a workshop provenance. The “Polygnotan” character, seen also in the Thasian marble “Boston Throne,” possibly from the same workshop, suits the prestige of the gift: Thasos’ great artist, the painter Polygnotos, is also attested as a bronze sculptor. A putative second Penelope in Thasos, taken to Rome in the imperial period with the “Boston Throne,” would have served as model for the Roman sculptural versions.

Antigoni Zournatzi offers the first of a series of regional studies documenting receptivity to Persian culture in the western empire and beyond, with a look at Cyprus. Earlier scholarship focused on siege mound and palace design; receptivity can be tracked in glyptic, toreutic, and sculpture. Western “Achaemenidizing” seals may be Cypriote; Persianizing statuettes may reflect local adoption of Persian dress (or Persian participation in local ritual). The treatment of beard curls on one late 6th century head may reflect Persian sculptural practice. Zournatzi suggests that Cypro-Persian bowls and jewellery were produced not for local consumption but to satisfy tribute requirements.

Yannick Lintz announces a project to compile a comprehensive corpus of Achaemenid objects in western Turkey, an essential step in any attempt to understand the period in the region.3 Particular challenges lie in matters of definition, both of “Achaemenid” and “west Anatolian” traits. The state of completion of the database is not clear; one is aware of a volume of excavated material in museums whose processing and publication was interrupted and can only wish her well in what promises to be a massive undertaking.

Lâtife Summerer continues her publication of the Persian-period Phrygian painted wooden tomb at Tatarli in western Turkey with discussion of the different cultural elements of its iconographic programme.4 The friezes of the north wall especially present Anatolian traditions; the east wall friezes of funerary procession and battle (between Persians and nomads) offer a mix of Persian and Anatolian. New Hittite evidence clinches as Anatolian the identification of the cart with curved top familiar in Anatolo-Persian art; it carries an effigy of the deceased. Alexander von Kienlin’s appendix expands the cultural mix presented by the tomb with his demonstration that its Lydian-style dromos was an original feature.

Stavros Paspalas raises questions about the vehicles and route of cultural exchange between the Persian Empire and Macedon through analysis of Achaemenid-looking lion-griffins on the façade of the later fourth century tomb at Aghios Athanasios. He identifies a pattern of specifically Macedonian patronage of Achaemenid imagery also in southern Greece in the fourth century in such items as the pebble mosaic from Sikyon and the Kamini stele from Athens. Enough survives to suggest independent local Macedonian receptivity to Persian ideas rather than a secondary derivation through southern Greece.

Despina Ignatiadou summarises succinctly the growing corpus of Achaemenidizing glass and metalware vessels in 6th-4th century BC Macedon. Three foreign plants lie behind the forms of lobe and petal-decoration on phialai, bowls, jugs, and beakers: the central Anatolian opium poppy, the Egyptian lotus (white and blue types) and the Iranian/Anatolian (bitter) almond. The common denominator is their medicinal and psychotropic qualities; Ignatiadou suggests that their appearance on vessels has semiotic value and that such drugs were used in religious and ritual contexts along with the vessels that carry their signatures, perhaps especially in the worship of the Great Mother.

Athanasios Sideris outlines the range of issues related to understanding the role of Achaemenid toreutic in documenting ancient cultural exchange: production ranges between court, regional, and extra-imperial workshops, not readily distinguishable. The inclusion of little-known material from Delphi and Dodona enriches his discussion of shape types. He works toward identification of local workshops, both within and without the empire, based especially on apparent local preferences in surface treatment. The geographical range of production is one area that will benefit from further international research collaboration.5

Pavlos Triantafyllidis focuses on the wealth of material from Rhodes, both sanctuary deposits and well-dated burials, that attests a history of imports from Iran and the Caucasus even before the Achaemenid period. Achaemenid-style glass vessels start in the late 6th century with an alabastron and petalled bowl, paralleled in the western empire, and carry on through the fourth century. An excavated fourth-century glass workshop created a series of “Rhodio-Achaemenid” products that dominated Rhodian glassware through the early third century. This microcosmic case study brilliantly exemplifies a much broader phenomenon.

Mehdi Rahbar outlines and illustrates archaeological material, some not previously published, that will be fundamental in future discussions of Seleucid Iran. The as of yet limited corpus includes: modulation of Greek forms perhaps to suit a local taste (Ionic capital from the temple of Laodicea, Nahavand, known from an 1843 inscription of Antiochus III; fragmentary marble sculpture of Marsyas?), amalgam of Iranian and Greek (milestone in Greek with Persepolitan profile), Greek import (Rhodian stamped amphora handle ΝΙΚΑΓΙΔΟΣ from Bisotun);6 and Iranian adoption of Greek decorative elements (vine leaves, grapes, and acanthus patterns, for which compare Azarnoush’s stucco).

The volume concludes with a brief overview of ancient Iranian-Greek relations and their modern interpretation by Shahrokh Razmjou.

The inclusion of the texts of the introductory and concluding addresses made on the occasion of the conference in particular allow the reader to comprehend its aims: hopes of exchange in the modern world through assessing exchange in the past. A number of the papers make it very clear that collaboration between specialists of “East” and “West” in both textual and archaeological research could yield great gains for all periods of history and modes of analysis. The conference and its publication, therefore, succeed at a variety of levels.

Editing such a volume must have been a real challenge and it is to the credit of authors and editors that throughout the whole volume, I found only a handful of minor infelicities and typographical errors, none of which obscure meaning.7

Contents: Stephen Tracy, “Europe and Asia: Aeschylus’ Persians and Homer’s Iliad” (1-8) Angeliki Petropoulou, “The Death of Masistios and the Mourning for his Loss” (9-30) Kyriakos Tsantsanoglou, “Magi in Athens in the Fifth Century BC?” (31-39) Massoud Azarnoush, “Hajiabad and the Dialogue of Civilizations” (41-52) Sara Alinia, “Zoroastrianism and Christianity in the Sasanian Empire (Fourth Century AD)” (53-58) Evangelos Venetis, “Greco-Persian Literary Interactions in Classical Persian Literature” (59-63) Garth Fowden, “Pseudo-Aristotelian Politics and Theology in Universal Islam” (65-81) Michael N. Weiskopf, “The System Artaphernes-Mardonius as an Example of Imperial Nostalgia” (83-91) Askold I. Ivantchik, “Greeks and Iranians in the Cimmerian Bosporus in the Second/First Century BC: New Epigraphic Data from Tanais” (93-107) Christopher Tuplin, “The Seleucids and Their Achaemenid Predecessors: A Persian Inheritance?” (109-136) G. G. Aperghis, “Managing an Empire—Teacher and Pupil” (137-147) David Stronach, “The Building Program of Cyrus the Great at Pasargadae and the Date of the Fall of Sardis” (149-173) Mohammad Hassan Talebian, “Persia and Greece: The Role of Cultural Interactions in the Architecture of Persepolis-Pasargadae” (175-193) Margaret Cool Root, “Reading Persepolis in Greek—Part Two: Marriage Metaphors and Unmanly Virtues” (195-221) Olga Palagia, “The Marble of the Penelope from Persepolis and its Historical Implications” (223-237) Antigoni Zournatzi, “Cultural Interconnections in the Achaemenid West: A Few Reflections on the Testimony of the Cypriot Archaeological Record” (239-255) Yannick Lintz, “Greek, Anatolian, and Persian Iconography in Asia Minor : Material Sources, Method, and Perspectives” (257-263) Latife Summerer, “Imaging a Tomb Chamber : The Iconographic Program of the Tatarli Wall Paintings” (265-299) Stavros Paspalas, “The Achaemenid Lion-Griffin on a Macedonian Tomb Painting and on a Sicyonian Mosaic” (301-325) Despina Ignatiadou, “Psychotropic Plants on Achaemenid Style Vessels” (327-337) Athanasios Sideris, “Achaemenid Toreutics in the Greek Periphery” (339-353) Pavlos Triantafyllidis, “Achaemenid Influences on Rhodian Minor Arts and Crafts” (355-366) Mehdi Rahbar, “Historical Iranian and Greek Relations in Retrospect” (367-372) Shahrokh Razmjou, “Persia and Greece: A Forgotten History of Cultural Relations” (373-374)

Notes

1. The site is fully published in: M. Azarnoush, The Sasanian manor house at Hajiabad, Iran (Florence 1994).

2. The first appears as “Reading Persepolis in Greek: gifts of the Yauna,” in C. Tuplin, ed., Persian Responses: Political and Cultural Interaction with(in) the Achaemenid Empire (Swansea 2007) 163-203.

3. Deniz Kaptan is similarly compiling a corpus of Achaemenid seals and sealings in Turkish museums.

4. Other studies: “From Tatari to Munich. The recovery of a painted wooden tomb chamber in Phrygia”, in I. Delemen, ed., The Achaemenid Impact on Local Populations and Cultures (Istanbul 2007), 129-56; “Picturing Persian Victory: The Painted Battle Scene on the Munich Wood”, in A. Ivantchik and Vakhtang Licheli, edd., Achaemenid Culture and Local Traditions in Anatolia, Southern Caucasus and Iran: New Discoveries (Leiden/Boston 2007: Ancient Civilizations from Scythia to Siberia 13), 3-30.

5. Considerable progress is being made, e.g., in Georgia: V. Licheli, “Oriental Innovations in Samtskhe (Southern Georgia) in the 1st Millennium BC,” and M. Yu. Treister, “The Toreutics of Colchis in the 5th-4th Centuries B.C. Local Traditions, Outside Influences, Innovations,” both Ivantchik / Licheli, edd., Achaemenid Culture and Local Traditions in Anatolia (previous note), 55-66 and 67-107.

6. For early 2nd c. date of this fabricant, see Christoph Börker and J. Burow, Die hellenistischen Amphorenstempel aus Pergamon: Der Pergamon-Komplex; Die Übrigen Stempel aus Pergamon (Berlin 1998), cat. no. 274-286; one example has a context of ca. 200 BC.

7. Except possibly the misprint on p. 357, line 8 up, where “second century” should presumably be “second quarter” (of the fourth century)."

#ancient greece #ancient iran #herodotus #ancient greek classics #achaemenids

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