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fanficflaneuse · 4 years

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Dear Draco - Part 1

Part 2 Part 3 Bonus Chapter

Index

A/N: Hello loves, welcome to my new mini series based on an anon request. It will have three parts, four at most. I hope you like this!

Thanks for all the love I received for my birthday. And thanks for reading and letting me know how you feel about my writing.

Details:

Draco x reader (she/her)

Word count: 3146 (I got carried away, sorry).

Summary: In the summer after fourth year, Draco falls in love with a muggle.

Disclaimers: it’s going to get angsty as hell and also very fluffy. Hermione x Draco friendship.

Enjoy!

Hermione sat alone on the library. She was deep in concentration, reading about the Patronus charm for the next DA meeting. All of a sudden, she felt someone looming over her. She closed her book, trying to make it seem as natural as possible. The brown-haired girl looked up, only to find none other than Draco Malfoy himself looming over her. Hermione’s features turned into a nasty scowl.

“Granger,” he tried to sound conciliatory.

“What do you wa –wait, what? Since when do you call me by my last name?”

Only then she realized Draco didn’t look like himself at all. Gone was the haughty attitude, the cocky smirk, the puffed chest. Not to mention the posse. He was no longer an image of confidence, but rather seemed distraught. This piqued the Gryffindor’s curiosity. Still, she was not going to let him see that. These days any slip could be detrimental.

Draco shrugged, hands deep in his robe’s pockets. “It’s your last name, isn’t it?”

Hermione eyed him suspiciously. “Oh, really? So, for five years you’ve thought my last name was mudblood?” she snapped.

Draco winced as she said the hateful label, as though it physically hurt him to hear it. This was the strangest sight she had encountered so far – which was plenty, all things considered.

“Are you okay, Malfoy?” she asked, baffled and cautious.

Draco didn’t answer. Instead, he just rubbed his face with his hands before pulling his hair just slightly. Hermione had never seen him act so natural, so human and, above all, so appalled. Slowly, the ubiquitous paranoia in the back of her mind fogged all of her brain. Her mind started shooting conspiracy theories left and right. As the seconds passed, she thought about every possible way in which Draco could be tending her a trap, which meant he knew something. Hermione got nervous and peered around for someone who could potentially help her. She noted – much to her annoyance – that her tendency to study in the farthest corners of the library had her facing the Slytherin prick on her own.

Draco noticed her discomfort and felt really stupid. He was about to leave, but then he remembered why he approached in the first place. It glued him in his place. So, he just shoved his hands deeper into his pockets and swallowed his pride.

“I…I need your help,” he said sheepishly.

For a second, Hermione thought about making a run for it. But she was far too intrigued now. She definitely wanted to know what could Draco Malfoy possibly need her help for. She stayed still, eyeing him skeptically.

“What is it?”

“Not here,” he said in a hushed voice.

“I’m not going anywhere with you, Malfoy” she huffed.

Draco lowered his gaze. The silence between them was absolutely charged. Hermione’s glare made him feel exposed and ashamed.

“Please.” The sound of his desperation almost convinced the Gryffindor. Almost.

“Harry and Ron must be within hearing range.”

“Not bloody likely,” he snapped.

“Then no,” she said, crossing her arms.

Draco sighed, defeated. “Potter and Weasel-ey can’t know. Nobody can know. Hermione, please I am desperate.”

Hermione looked at him, her eyes wide. He had used her first name for the first time ever. She realized he must have been absolutely desperate. As stupid as seemed, it disarmed her. Hermione took a deep breath. In the worst of cases, Hermione thought, she was more than capable to defend herself from Malfoy. Besides, if he knew something about D.A, it was better to get over with it. She stood up, picked her books and looked at him.

“Where?”

Draco turned on his heel and guided Hermione to moaning Myrtle’s bathroom. She eyed him suspiciously as he motioned for her to get into a stall. He shot her a pout and Hermione rolled her eyes, but entered anyways. She thought she must have been going crazy as she found herself just inches away from Malfoy, who seemed unfazed by the whole affair. He felt so hopeless in his situation he didn’t really care what he had to do at this point.

“So,” she said awkwardly.

Draco didn’t listen. Hermione realized he was casting a silencing charm around them. Only then, did he dare to spill the secret that had been locked in his heart.

“Hermione, I am in love with a muggle.”

As the Hogwarts’ express arrived to platform 9 ¾ after their fourth year, Draco found himself alone. This was a strange occurrence; usually his parents were there to greet him. Their absence hinted something unpleasant, considering the dreary note in which the schoolyear had ended, and suddenly he didn’t feel like apparating back home. Not knowing where else to go, Draco joined the crowd of students heading towards muggle London.

He had never been to the muggle King’s Cross station and he’d be lying to say he wasn’t startled by it. He was mesmerized by the buzzing of the crowd, the smoke coming from the muggle trains, and the elegant simplicity of the station. He was eyeing the entrance curiously, wondering if he should step out or apparate back home, when he bumped into her. Or rather, she collided with him and their trunks were suddenly scattered around.

“Bloody muggles,” he murmured, as he picked his belongings.

“What did you call me?” the girl growled.

“Nothing,” Draco said, startled. He was not used to people talking back to him. The only ones who did were the infamous golden trio, but after five years of bantering he considered it part of his daily routine. Everyone else bowed their heads and carried own with their lives. He was expecting the muggle to follow suit.

She didn’t. So, he softened his scowl to take a good look at her, only to find the most striking girl he had ever seen. Draco was absolutely smitten. She tilted her head, eyeing him curiously.

“You have pretty eyes,” she said casually, as though she was talking about the weather. He felt his face getting hot, his eyes opening in a very unbefitting gesture of surprise. He wondered how she could be so…so easy-going about stuff like that. He had been thought to be suave, but four words of her had beat him.

Draco realized she was waiting for a response. “T-thank you,” he said embarrassedly. He grimaced when he heard her chuckle. The girl tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and stood up, offering a hand for him. Draco looked at the stretched hand for a while and took it just before she let it drop. They were soon shamelessly staring at each other, until a wave of people pushed them.

“Where are you going?” she asked. Draco shrugged in response, not knowing what to say.

“Well…I don’t want to go back home. Would you want to go somewhere with me?”

Draco shoved his hands in his pockets, not knowing what to do. He didn’t want to go back home either. He had an enticing girl in front of him, one that didn’t hesitate to tell him – a stranger – his eyes were pretty and invite him somewhere. But that girl happened to be a mudblood. He shook that thought off his head, realizing, once again, that he was lost in thoughts and the girl was looking at him, waiting for him to answer.

“My name is (y/n),” she said as she pushed her trolley.

“Draco,” he answered, pushing his own trolley, “Draco Malfoy.”

(y/n) giggled, which filled Draco’s stomach with butterflies. “What is it?” Even he could hear the amusement in his voice.

“Was it after the constellation or because it’s Latin for dragon?” she mused.

Draco gave her a small, genuine smile. “Both.”

He soon realized he had no idea where they were going. (y/n) seemed to read his mind, as she explained that they could leave their trunks at a luggage storage while they a stroll through the city. He then noticed that (y/n)’s trolley had trunks, big wooden trunks that resembled his own instead of the ungodly and shabby suitcases he had seen some mudbloods carrying around. He regarded her for a moment as they walked, examining her wardrobe: she wore a carmine coloured skirt, a matching blazer, black tights, black patent loafers and a creamy button-up with a dainty black bow at the collar. Her hair was up in a complicated hair-do. Draco noted that, by her side, he didn’t look particularly out of place in his sweater vest and tie. They could pass as two eccentric, rich kids.

“I gather you’re not from London.” She caught him staring in awe as they left the station, which made him feel self-conscious.

“N-no,” he stammered.

“Where are you from, then?”

“Wiltshire,” he blurted out. Draco realized he must look totally awkward, stuttering every answer as though he never had a conversation in his life. He didn’t know if he was nervous because of her or the fact that he was walking to the unknown with none other than a muggle, but it was totally wrecking his suaveness.

The girl seemed patient enough and smiled at him softly. Maybe it was even out of pity, but he found it adorable. “My grandma lives in Wiltshire. My mother makes me go there every once in a while, but I don’t like it that much.”

“Why?” he asked, genuinely interested.

“It’s a beautiful place, don’t get me wrong. And my grandma’s estate is marvellous, but such a vast house makes the solitude much more…real, you know?” Draco was hanging onto her every word now. She was describing, unabashedly, something he had felt since childhood. He admired her capacity to say this kind of things without the need of closed doors or silencing charms.

“I…I feel just the same,” Draco answered. He was surprised by the idea that him and muggles could have something in common.

(y/n) stopped on her tracks and Draco, who was following her around like a lost puppy, bumped into her back. He was about to apologize when she stopped him. “Given that you’re not from here, let’s do some touristy stuff. We can start here,” she said pointing out the building behind them. It was a grand construction, all in brick of a pinkish colour.

“British library,” Draco mouthed unsure. He noticed how (y/n) blushed slightly and her smile fell a little.

“We could…we could do something else,” she offered a bit ashamed. Draco felt terrible, he wanted her to smile again, to talk to him excitedly as she had done just a couple of seconds before. So, without really thinking about it, he grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the building.

She clasped his hand, an easy smile on his face, and was soon guiding him through rows and rows of muggle books he had never heard before. Draco tried to listen to everything she said. He wanted to remember names and references and look them up to have more things to talk to her about. Draco found himself wanting more conversations with her, more tours through libraries, more recommendations.

(y/n) was an open book. She told him that her parents were divorced. She lived with her mother in Edinburgh. Her father was a professor at LSE – whatever that was. He imagined, by context, it was a muggle Hogwarts.

“I like how you’re unphased by it,” she said.

“What do you mean?” he asked, eyebrow raised.

“Whenever I tell anybody my dad works in LSE, I get a lot of praise. No matter how bigshot the person is, they want the easy way in to the school,” she shrugged. It meant nothing to Draco, who scratched the back of his neck in confusion. (y/n) laughed and carried on, pulling him through different streets with their fingers intertwined.

Draco just let go. He was having so much fun with her, he almost forgot about how weird the situation was. They talked about astronomy and Greek mythology, topics he – thankfully – dominated. They talked about their love for reading and learning. They bonded over the fact that their parents had very high expectations for them and they were top of their classes.

“Top of your class?” asked Hermione, eyebrow raised, as he told her this.

“I’m the second best. She didn’t need to know about you.” For the first time ever, Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy shared a laugh. He then carried on with the most unlikely story ever.

Draco avoided telling her as many details as he could, but they managed to connect over the most universal feelings and situations. They talked about loneliness and pressure, about finding joy in the most unexpected things, about creating a façade for people. When she told him she enjoyed nature, he told her he played “a sport”. He smiled softly and agreed – almost unironically – when she said she would love to fly. When she told him about her pets, he told him his house was full of peacocks.

“She has a dog named Matisse, a snake named Medusa and a cat named Catsby,” he said.

Hermione laughed, which confused Draco deeply. “What’s so funny Granger?” He was getting defensive.

“Catsby,” she said, “what a very nerdy joke.”

Draco furrowed his brow. “Explain it to me. Merlin, maybe for once I can laugh at one of her jokes. She thinks I have the most backward sense of humour,” he ranted, hiding his face in his hands. Hermione thought it was almost – almost – adorable.

She told him in length about The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald and the Lost Generation, because she figured they were some references that would come in handy if he kept talking to (y/n). Once he understood the reference, Draco snorted.

“She’s such a smartass,” he said lovingly.

Hermione couldn’t believe her eyes. She was dying to know what he needed from her, but refrained from asking, allowing him to gush some more.

(y/n) invited him to afternoon tea. The tearoom reminded him of the grandeur of the tea parties back in the manor. He felt comfortable, and ventured to tell her little details about his boarding school. He told her about his favourite places and pastimes – the ones that could pass as muggle, of course. He told her about his friends. They talked and enjoyed tea and pastries until it was very late.

As they picked their trunks, they promised to meet the next day. They spent together almost every day of that summer. He was very careful when sneaking out, but soon realized his parents didn’t notice much, so he had free reign over his time as long as he was back for dinner. They met at the entrance of the station and they would stroll through the city together. (y/n) thought him how to use the tube. She taught him history as they walked hand in hand through museums and libraries. She recommended books he had to read in the middle of the night. And before he could even realize it, Draco caught feelings for her.

They kissed for the first time one month after they first met. They had spent the day walking through Camden Town. They visited little stores and swayed to music in the middle of the street. As every single afternoon, Draco didn’t want to say goodbye. (y/n)’s arms were locked around his neck and his own were on her hips. His chin rested on top of her head and they stayed like that for a while. Not saying anything. She pushed away from him just a little to see his face and they could feel the desire engulfing them.

Draco leaned in first, slow and calculated. (y/n) closed her eyes as soon as she felt their lips touching. It was a delicious sensation, their lips moving in synch in a kiss they had been waiting for a long time. As they pulled away, they were both a bit breathless and absolutely happy.

After that day, things changed for them. Every day they grew more attached to each other and it was harder and harder to say goodbye. And then the last day of August came by. (y/n) gave Draco her contact information for him to write and call her. When she asked for his, though, he made an elaborate story on how his school was very strict and prohibited letters from outsiders. (y/n) hadn’t bought it.

“I don’t get it. What kind of school doesn’t allow you to receive calls and letters?” she said, not very convinced. Draco didn’t want to look her way, knowing very well that he’d give her everything she wished if he saw her adorable little pout.

“So, I won’t hear from you?” she sighed, “Is this true or are you trying to get rid of me?” Draco finally looked her way and his heart broke. (y/n) was trying to hold back tears. He hugged her tightly, protectively.

“Hey, hey,” he said, taking her chin gently with his hand, “Never in a million years would I try to get rid of you.” He wiped away her tears, feeling miserable for making her sad. He hated that she had jumped into that terrible conclusion.

“I promise I will do everything I can to contact you. I’ll find a way. I’ll break the rules,” he said, not a hint of doubt in his voice. (y/n) hugged him tightly.

“I am going to miss you so much,” she said in a small, quavering voice.

“Me too, love,” he answered, hugging her back and trying to remain strong for both of them.

That is why he has here, three weeks into their fifth year, almost begging for Hermione’s help. He was desperate because he hadn’t thought about a way to contact (y/n) and he missed her so much his heart was genuinely aching. He imagined (y/n) must be heartbroken thinking he had played her and that thought alone was enough to give him nightmares.

Hermione was still trying to process everything he was telling her. Still in disbelief, she gave Draco a hug. The Gryffindor felt how he stiffened with her touch, but then he heard him sigh and relax. The Slytherin hugged her back and Hermione’s whole body tinged with hope. If Draco Malfoy had fallen for a muggle, anything could happen now.

“Is this why you didn’t join Umbridge’s squad?” she asked curiously.

Draco shrugged. “Mostly.”

Hermione agreed to help him and they soon found a way. For the rest of the year, Draco handed in (y/n)’s letters to Hermione. She owled them to her own parents and they sent them by Royal Mail to her. Occasionally, Hermione would sit next to Draco in Myrtle’s bathroom. She would explain to him the references he wouldn’t get, which were mostly about culture. At times, she’d stay a little longer and they would gossip. To their surprise, they soon became each other’s confidant.

tags: @cleopatera @okaydraco @naomi02hook @the-hufflefluffwriter

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cryhardanddanceharder · 3 years

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Andy’s headcanons because we need to talk more about her:

She’s 6732 years old. She says she doesn’t remember her age, and it might be true, maybe she forgot to keep counting, but she thinks she’s somewhere between 6500 - 7000.

She’s a warrior since she’s a teenager, because the time she was borned was the “eye for eye, teeth for teeth” period.

She’s more an action person than a word person, because her first language was everything related to gestual actions. She can read body language better than anyone, so she can make you feel the more comfortable or uncomfortable you ever felt in your life depends the situation. She does little actions to show her love.

She’s ambidextrous. She can use her weapons perfectly with each one of her hands. (and later write too)

She’s been worshipped as a goddess at least in two or threes comunities she’s been part of. She actually thought she was a goddess at the beginning, because she was the only one who couldn’t die. But then, when years passes and she’s the only one not dying, but she loses all the people she loves and trascend generation after generation, she stops thinking it like a goddess thing and starts seeing it as a curse.

She used to wear clothes made of extinct animals skin, necklaces made with teeth, flowers and horns crowns.

When she was a goddess she had slaves, but once she overcome her goddess complex and realises how wrong it is (because all humans are equal, they all die no matter their social status, their nationality, their religion, skin color, gender, sexual preferences) she stops it. She starts fighting against it, every time she can. She still fight against it in the present time (human trafficking).

I feel like she could also been a slave or prisoner in some period time. Maybe as a punnish from her inmortality? Because mortals see her as a threat?

She loves storytelling and stargazing. That’s why in present time she loves to go camping, she loves sleeping outside. She’s so old that even she had seen the sky change. The stars constellations changes but she learns those changes. There is something comforting about stargazing, so she keeps doing it.

She has very good location sense. She can always find the way to get to where she wants to go.

She’s been there when the first language was created, that’s why it’s easy for her to learn new languages.

She was there when the pyramids of Egypt were built, maybe she worked in the construiction of one of them (?

She’s gender fluid and bisexual (or could be pansexual).

She knew the Sahara dessert before it becomes a dessert. She knew it with trees and vegetation.

She loves horses more than (most) people.

She was the lider of the scythians.

Her name “Andromache” comes from all the legends, that actually are true. She’s the amazon who defeated Heracles and once upon a time she was married to Hector of Troy.

She was the one who trained the amazon warriors on how to be warriors.

She was a gladiator for some time and had fights in the roman colliseum.

She writes mixing languages, because why not? That’s how her thoughts are anyway, in mixing languages. “Let’s put this word in scythian, and that one in greek, and the other in saumerian or tamil, and let’s finish in italian because italy it’s actually the country i am at the moment”.

When she starts dreaming about Quynh she thinks she’s crazy, untill she starts dreaming about Lykon too. She tried to indentify wich languages they speak in the dreams, so she could learn them before meeting them.

She met Jesus once. She doesn’t find him that special. He didn’t come back to life, at least not in the way inmortals do.

Lykon, Quynh and her have a chaotic dynamic. They always die to save the others, to save them from the pain; wich in some way it’s ridiculous because they are all inmortal. But they always fight about it like children.

She can speak all the languages (even those that are extinct), only she sometimes forget how to speak in some of them, but remembers once she hears someone speaking it.

She knows more way to kill than entire armies will ever learn.

She can use any kind and type of weapon. She’s as good as archer as Quynh and as good as a sniper as Nicky, but if she can choose another weapon she will do because she prefers hand and hand combat.

She feels every death. She might have been a warrior all her life, but she doesn’t take pleassure on killing. We can see that in the church scene, her face tells us all how much it takes from her to be that lethal.

She’s very protective of the others inmortals. They are her family. And she feels like she has to protect them, because she has been alone for so long that she doesn’t want to take chances on that ever happening again.

She’s become more protective after Lykon’s death, because now they know even them don’t last forever. She wants to protect the time she has with the other and thinks the best way to do it is to be the one who always goes first.

She hates to dream about Nicolo and Yusuf at the begining because it hurts her to see them killing each other. For someone who has been alone for so long, it hurts to see that. Because for her they are lucky to have started their inmortality together.

Lots of deaths and trauma. She probably been raped at least once.

She died from dehydratation and hunger more times that she can count. That’s why she’s not picky with food, she’s happy as long there is something in front of her to eat. She can cook good enough, but she’s not fan of doing it.

She died from every tipe of weapon: spears, swords, arrows, axes, throwing stones, daggers, knives, cannons, guns, grenades, bombs. Also she died from being dismembered, from being hanged and burn alive.

Once Quynh’s is taken to her ocean prison, Andy was tortured and burned alive. They chose water methods for Quynh and fire methods for Andy.

She have tried to kill herself sometimes when she was depressed. They way i see it probably three times: one when she found out her inmortality and wanted to see how it worked, two when she lose her goddess complex and was tired of being alone for so long, and three after she realised that finding Quynh was impossible.

She spent lot of years looking for Quynh with Joe and Nicky, untill they realised it’s an impossible mission. She still checks new technological inventions and andvances to see if they have a chance. But as long as she knows it’s impossible and technology doesn’t help, even the marines and ocean experts says it would be easier to find something in the moon than in the bottom of the ocean.

The only time she prayed in her life was to ask for Quynh’s death, so she would stop suffering from constantly drowning. And for hers, because she doesn’t want to keep living without Quynh.

She keeps Quynh’s belongings saved in one of her fav caves.

She likes wearing things from the other inmortals because it gives her comfort and help her feel ground. She always wears Quynh’s necklace. And sometimes she wears Joe’s cap, Nicky’s hoodie, Booker’s jackets. She also shares t-shirts with them, or more like stole t-shirts from them.

Wars she probably fighted in: Achaemenid conquest of the Indus Valley, Corsica civil war, war between Corinth and Corzira, Expedition of the Ten Thousand, Latin wars, First Peloponnesian War, First medical war, Thasos Rebellion, Roman-Etruscan wars, Samos War, Second medical war, Wars of Veii, Trojan war, Sicilian wars, Alexander The Great conquest of Persia, An Lushan Rebellion, Mongol Conquests, Conquests of Tamerlane, Qing dynasty conquest of Ming dynasty, Dungan revolt, Hundred Years’ War, World War I, Russian Civil War, Ten Years’ War, World War II, Vietnam War, Afghanistan War.

Some modern revolutions and independence processes she possibly was/could be: French Revolution, Haitian independence, USA independence, Russian Revolution, Cuba revolution, LATAM independences, India independence, Australia independence, New Zeland Independence, Africans independences.

She died from electrocution, trying to find out how electricity works.

She died learning to drive a car and learning to pilot a plain.

In World War II she was a pilot of the night witches.

Baklava and really anything that is sweet are her comfort food.

The first time she had ice cream she became a fan and only eat ice cream for like an entire year.

She likes percussion music: all types of drums, cymballs, tambourine, maracas, bongos, castanets.

She likes theater more than cinema.

She likes tea more than coffee.

She can sleep everywhere. A chair? Good. The floor? Good. The earth and grass in the middle of nowhere? Good. A cave? Good. A tree? Good. The train. Good. A Car? Good. The bus? Good. A plain? Good. The couch? Good. An armchair? Good. All is good. Sleep when you can moto is big on her, because beds are a modern concept she still can’t fully incorporate. And without Quynh doesn’t feel like doing it.

She’s very good on learning new things because she’s used to everything constantly changing. And when she finds something hard to learn she is patient, after all she has all the time on the world to learn it and master it (she’s kinda perfectionist).

She’s okay with technology, she could understand more if she wanted to. But she let’s Booker have that place and handle it, because she sense he needs to have something as his responsability to feel he’s useful to the team.

There’s personal things (clothes, weapons, paintings) of her in lot of museums. Joe and Nicky would try to recover some things of her (and them) from time to time.

Hard on the outside, soft on the inside. Ironic and dark humor.

She’s the best at dissapearing when the team takes time out of their missions, if she doesn’t want to be found there is no way you could find her.

She’s been nomad most of her life. She can’t stop moving. She loves traveling with no destination in mind, just for the act of it.

She gives up sometimes because she’s old and she’s tired, but if you give her a good reason to keep fighting she’s all in.

She has the biggest heart (even if she tries to hide it) and actually loves humanity, if not she wouldn’t have fight for so long… and still does.

(if you want to read more headcanons: here are the ones i have for Quynh)

#if you have more headcanons please share them with me #andromache the scythian #the eternal warrior #fav ♥#the old guard #tog headcanons #andy's headcanons #some of these headcanons are actually inspired in my tog fic a million ways to die #sorry if there are any typos #english is not my first language #andy defense squad #andromaquynh #should i do andromaquynh headcanons after this?

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pellucidity-is-me · 3 years

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Sirius Black and Latin

Summary: Young Sirius Black tries to escape learning Latin in Grimmauld Place. This is a scene from a one-shot I did (links to my longer fic on my blog description; you can find the full one-shot on my profile). Parts two, three, and four to follow (each featuring a different Marauder!).

Wordcount: 1547

Sirius Black starts to learn Latin at age eight.

He pores over the ancient, dusty tomes, ignoring with a vicious passion the tutor that hovers over his shoulder like a mad bumblebee. Every time the tutor tries to correct Sirius' grammar, Sirius says "I know!" in an exasperated tone of voice and turns away. If, that is, he answers at all. The tutor seems to hate being ignored, and Sirius loves doing whatever the stupid tutor hates.

He rocks back and forth in his chair during lessons, staring out the window. When his mother covers up the window, Sirius stares at the wall. So there. She can't cover up the wall, now can she? And even if she did, Sirius would only stare at the covering.

Sometimes he meets the tutor's eyes, but he only ever makes silly faces when he does so. The tutor hates that. "You're not listening," the tutor snaps, slamming his hand on the table. Dust flies into the air whenever he does, which makes the tutor cough. Sirius laughs.

"Of course I'm not listening," says Sirius, and the tutor always snitches on Sirius to his mother at that point.

Sirius' mother enters the room in a rage, saliva flying out of her mouth in a very undignified fashion, saying things about Sirius' future and his reputation—though she really only cares about her own—and Sirius tunes her out. He's gotten very good at tuning things out over the years. Sometimes she pleads instead of yelling, wheedles instead of wailing... and Sirius takes even greater pleasure in ignoring her when she's desperate.

The tutor tests Sirius sometimes, but Sirius doesn't care one bit. He purposefully gets every single one of the questions wrong, and he doesn't care at all when his mother comes back into the room to shout at him. "Your brother isn't half as bright as you are, but even he's trying harder than that!" she shrieks. Sirius looks at Regulus, who's flinching, and rolls his eyes dramatically. Regulus doesn't smile.

The tutor doesn't smile either: not even when Sirius tells him that the ablative form of dies is what I want Latin to do. Sirius thinks that's hilarious (especially since Latin is already dead), but no one else in the stupid house had a sense of humor.

Regulus continues with his lessons: making strides, learning vocabulary, and eventually translating whole books and reading Latin with ease. Sirius does not. He just folds paper airplanes during his study time and tries to throw them at just the right angle so that they muss Regulus' perfectly-brushed hair. The tutor makes him sit in the corner for that.

Latin is so boring, and Sirius can't stand sitting still. He wants more than anything to do what he sees other boys his age doing whenever he has the leisure time to stare out of his upstairs window—laughing, teasing, and jumping out into the street, only to jump right back whenever a car passes, shrieking in mock terror.

Sirius wonders what would happen if one of them got hit. He'd almost like to see that.

But alas, even if it does happen, Sirius will probably be in the library of the Grim, Old Place—learning Latin. Well, learning Latin, with a sarcastic emphasis on the first word. Sirius hasn't yet successfully declined puella, which was the first word that Regulus learned.

To be honest, Sirius CAN decline puella if he wants to. Puella, puellae, puellae, puellam, puella, puella in the singular. Puellae, puellarum, puellis, puellas, puellis, puellae in the plural. Easy-peasy. He'll just never admit that to the tutor.

"Your own name is Latin, you know," says the exasperated tutor one day, trying to clean the chewing gum out of his hair. Sirius doesn't know where the chewing gum came from, exactly. He suspects that it was accidental magic on his own part. "Sirius. Derived from a Greek word meaning burning. It's a star in a constellation called Canis Major—that means..."

"Big old mutt," says Sirius scornfully. "Yes, I know."

The tutor pauses. "You have been paying attention," he says slowly. "Sirius... let's try something new. If you can achieve a perfect score on one of my tests, then you may skip Latin lessons tomorrow."

Sirius thinks about that. "May I go outside?" he asks. "I'd like to go outside and play with the other children instead of staying in my room."

"Why... yes. I can agree to that."

"Fine, then. Gimme the test."

The tutor looks at Sirius and arches an eyebrow. Sirius rolls his eyes once again.

"Very well, sir. If you would kindly allow me to take the test, then I shall be forever in your debt."

"A little dramatic, but I'll take it," chuckles the tutor. He hands Sirius the test.

Sirius scans the questions at light speed and scoffs loudly. He may not enjoy learning Latin, but he's clever enough to have absorbed enough to pass the stupid test. How could he not have, after spending hours in that dusty library? And why is it always dusty? He and Regulus use it every day.

The house-elfs, Sirius reflects, are probably very bad at their jobs.

He finishes in nearly no time at all and hands it back to the tutor. "There. Done," he says, grinning. "Can't wait to go outside and play with that long noodly snake like the other children."

"A skipping rope?" says the tutor, amused.

Sirius sighs and waits semi-patiently as the tutor finishes checking his test. He slams his foot against the carpet obnoxiously and repeatedly, relishing the tutor's stern glances towards his tapping toe. Slam. Slam. Slam. Slam...

"It's nearly perfect," says the tutor finally. Sirius' eyebrows shoot up.

"Whaddya mean, nearly? It is perfect. I didn't get any questions wrong, did I? Even broke out the Perfect Pureblood Handwriting..."

"I don't know where you're picking up that slang, boy, but you need to speak properly," says the tutor sharply. Then he hands the test back to Sirius. "You didn't get any questions wrong, but you've spelled your name incorrectly."

Sirius' mouth falls open. "It's not spelt wrong! I put it in the genitive!"

"I appreciate your going the extra mile, Sirius, but it should have been in the nominative, seeing as you were simply supposed to state your name."

"But the genitive indicates possession, and the test belongs to me..."

"If you had written 'the paper of Sirius', then that would be correct. But there is no noun, so it is wrong."

"There is a noun. My name is written on the noun. Just because I didn't write the noun doesn't mean it's not there..."

"Sirius, you lost the wager," says the tutor with a stern finality. "That is my final say. But you may try again tomorrow..."

Sirius huffs a frustrated sigh and crosses his arms. "Fine," he says.

But the next day, the tutor says that Sirius' E looks too much like an A. And the next day, the tutor isn't satisfied with the speed at which Sirius completed the test. The next, it's a problem with Sirius' attitude. The next, it is an issue with his handwriting. What's more, the tests are getting progressively more difficult; after a week, Sirius can no longer receive an effortless perfect score.

Sirius knows what the tutor is doing, of course. Sirius isn't stupid. The tutor knows that the prospect of going outside is the only thing that will persuade Sirius to do his lessons properly, and he also knows that Sirius' mother will never allow it. Not when Sirius is picking up all this slang from merely watching the neighborhood boys from his window. Not when the neighborhood boys are Muggles. Not when they carelessly get dirt on their shoes and wear Muggle play-clothes instead of proper robes.

Sirius isn't even sure he wants to play with Muggles. They aren't really up to his standards. Probably not clever enough to keep him entertained for long. He only wants to get out of this stupid house. So he plays along for a few weeks and makes great strides in his lessons... but then the motivation tapers out as he realizes that his work will never be perfect enough for his stupid tutor. He starts to make up funny answers on his tests again. The tutor is dismayed, but he knows there's nothing he can do. He'll never get permission from Sirius' mother to actually reward Sirius when he does right.

Like a dog, Sirius thinks disdainfully. Sirius wasn't a dog. He was much better than that.

In the meanwhile, Regulus achieves relative fluency (as fluent as one can get at Latin) and starts on ancient Greek. Sirius stares at the wall. Regulus earns his parents' praise. Sirius stares at the wall. Regulus excels at piano, French, reading, writing, and maths. Sirius stares at the wall.

Finally, Sirius' mother agrees to allow Sirius to go outside once a week, as long as he starts doing his lessons to the best of his ability.

Sirius declines the offer. He doesn't want to play with Muggles, anyhow. He only ever wanted to be rid of this dusty house, but it looks like he never will be—either inside or outside, there's no escaping Grimmauld Place.

#sirius black #angst #latin #young sirius black #walburga black #a scene from my fanfic

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alectology-archive · 4 years

Text

SJ/M’s unacceptable and lazy usages of real world places/cultures

I’m aiming to make this the most comprehensive list of SJ/M stealing bits and pieces of world history and pretending like she came up with them. Feel free to comment down below or send an ask if you can think of anything.

The addition of adaptation of names from some real-world places is included either because of insensitivity (Hybern and Prythian) or mostly because SJ/M doesn’t try to represent any of the cultures she takes from.

Note that this post will keep getting updated as I discover more evidences of unacceptable usages of cultures. Also note that there is every possibility that some resemblances are purely accidental and/or unintentional. So take it with a grain of salt.

T/HRONE OF GLASS

- Most of the cultural activities mentioned in Tower of Dawn are rip-offs of Mongolian culture and seem to resemble the Dothraki from Game of Thrones very closely.

- Pagan holidays mentioned in the books:

Yulemas* is celebrated in Erilea despite there already existing an established religion consisting of 12 gods and goddesses.

Samhain* is a festival celebrated by Irish and Scottish people.

Beltane* is a festival celebrated historically in Ireland and Scotland.

- Nehemia is probably derived from the Jewish leader Nehemiah who helped rebuild Jerusalem. Instead of trying to work that into Nehemia’s narrative, SJ/M killed off Nehemia to serve a white woman’s narrative.

- Mycenae is a historical site in Greece.

- Illium is an actual Greek city as well.

- Ravi in KoA is named after a Hindi word which means “sun”.

- Strangely enough Ravi’s brother is named Sol after the Roman god of the sun.

- Suria, where Ravi is from, is also a synonym for sun in Hindi.

- Mab is from the story of “Queen Mab”.

- Maeve is a sexual goddess in Irish mythology who was actually raped. So making Maeve a rapist in the books was hurtful.

A/COTAR

- Nagas belong to Hindu/Indian mythology included in a book that’s clearly a very western fantasy and has little to no PoC representation.

- Illyrians were an actual indo-european tribe with close relations to modern day Albanians. S/JM is not the first person to feature them in her work but other authors have used versions of the name like “Illyria” by Shakespeare, “Ilirea” by Paolini, “Valyria” by GRRM etc. which are acceptable.

- Calan Mai is actually a celebration of spring in Welsh culture. As @gemorsedd put it so eloquently, SJ/M turned it into a festival about Tamlin being unable to control his hormones.

- Hybern is derived from the classic latin name of Ireland which is “Hibernia”.

- Prythian is a modified version of the ancient name of Britain “Prydain”. COINCIDENTALLY, Prythian VERY closely resembles the UK. It’s also possible that she plagiarised the name from Anne Bishop’s Daughter of Blood.

Note for further reading: Read @blakeseptember’s about why SJ/M was especially insensitive in including Prythia and Hybern in the ways she did: https://blakeseptember.tumblr.com/post/187088853587/hybern-as-ireland

- Bharat is actually the Hindi name for India which is mentioned in ACO/TAR. Not only is it mentioned that Feyre’s father was sailing to Bharat to trade in cloth and spices (which was exactly what British colonialists and traders did when they sailed to India), it’s also said, quite clearly, that Feyre’s mother died of Typhus while her cousin died of Malaria (IN BHARAT). By doing so SJ/M is blatantly promoting a very colonialist view of India.

The Malaria mention: “My mind was void, a blank mess of uselessness. Could it be some sort of disease? My mother had died of typhus and her cousin had died of malaria after going to Bharat. But none of those symptoms seemed to match a riddle. Was it a person?”

The Trade of cloth and spices: “I swallowed. ‘Eight years ago he amassed our wealth on three ships to sail to Bharat for invaluable spices and cloth.’”

- Myrmidons feature in A/COWAR. The Myrmidons is actually a nation from Ancient Greek mythology (led by Achilles in the siege of Troy).

- Harem pants which are worn in parts of South and Middle-east Asia feature in the books where they’re introduced into a court consisting of white people only.

- F/eyre’s floral tattoos are very reminiscent of mehendis which are very important to Indian, Arabic and North African cultures but it’s a trait given to a white woman here. Read this post.

C/RESCENT CITY

- Danaan is from Tuatha de Danaan (celtic mythology) / Danaans is another name for Greece in the Iliad, used interchangeably with “Argives” and “Achaeans”.

- Avallen is Avalon (the legend of King Arthur). Ruhn’s story also bears a very close resemblance to the legend.

- 6 point star = Star of David

- Lehabah = a word in Hebrew meaning "a flame" (להבה)

- Mount Hermon = an actual mountain place in the northern part of Israel. In Hebrew: הר החרמון.

- SPQM’s full form is Senatus Populusque Midgard. Which is awfully close to the SPQR of the ancient Roman empire which is Senatus Populusque Romanus

- The river Tiber mentioned in CC is actually a Roman river.

- Midgard, in Norse mythology, is the home of mankind. In Norse mythology.

- Sandriel: Comes from the angel Sadriel, the angel of order. S/JM added an “n.”

- Orion “Hunt” A/thalar: First name is pretty obvious, Orion as in the hunter which is where his name “Hunt” comes from. Probably from the god Attar called Athtar in Southern Arabia. Attar is sometimes considered a storm god explaining his lightning powers, but also linked to the Morningstar aka Lucifer. No explanations are given regarding as to how the constellations of our world are the same as that of SJ/M’s fantasy AU.

- Shahar Daystar: From the dawn deity Shahar. Also linked to Lucifer.

- Jesiba Roga: A Croatian respelling of Baba Yaga. Jesiba Roga, is quite literally just a combination of Ježibaba (a figure closely related to Baba Yaga in West Slavic folklore) and Baba Roga (the Croatian version of of Baba Yaga).

- Danika Fendyr: Danika is a Slavic dawn deity. Fendyr comes from Fenrir a wolf in Norse mythology.

- Isaiah: Taken from Isaiah 14:12-15 which details the fall of Lucifer. It’s also easily accessible from Shahar’s Wikipedia page (which may imply that SJ/M uses Wikipedia for research and just steals/lazily incorporates whatever she finds along the way.)

12 “How you are fallen from heaven,

O [a]Lucifer, son of the morning!

How you are cut down to the ground,

You who weakened the nations!

13 For you have said in your heart:

‘I will ascend into heaven,

I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;

I will also sit on the mount of the congregation

On the farthest sides of the north;

14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,

I will be like the Most High.’

15 Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol,

To the [b]lowest depths of the Pit.

- Fury Axtar: Hunt is likely related to Attar or maybe even Ishtar or Ashtaroth. It’s unclear right now. Ishtar is sometimes linked to Lucifer as well. It’s possible that she’s named after the Furies in Greek mythology, deities of vengeance.

- Micah Domitus: Micah is a prophet in Judaism.

- Syrinx: A chimera in this book, a nymph known for her devotion to Artemis.

- Urd: The god of flame and shadow possibly the name comes from Urðr one of the three Norns in Norse mythology.

- Luna: A Roman moon goddess

- Cthona: “Chthonic”, in English, describes deities or spirits of the underworld, especially in Ancient Greek religion.

- Vanir: The Vanir are actually group of Norse gods.

- Asphodel Meadows: A section of the ancient Greek underworld where ordinary souls were sent to live after death.

- Hel: Hel is a goddess but also a location in Norse Mythology for the dead. Depictions of Hel depend on the source of the information. It’s strange that Hel and Asphodel Meadows belong in the same place, translating to lazy world building on SJ/M’s part.

- Midgard: In Norse Mythology basically the plane of existence of humans.

- Laconic Mountains: Named after Laconia the administrative capital of Sparta.

- Nidaros: Where Bryce grew up. It’s the ancient name of Norway’s capital when the Christian kings ruled. It’s now called Trondheim.

- Istros River: Taken from Istros of Ancient Greece

- Valbara: Taken from the super continent Vaalbara

- Pangera: probably Pangea, the huge supercontinent on which dinosaurs lived

- Crown of Thorns: In reality it’s a symbol of Jesus but in the book it’s branded onto the foreheads of angels who rebelled in a war some decades ago.

- Keres: Phillip Briggs’s terrorist gang is named after the Keres who are “goddesses who personified violent death and who were drawn to bloody deaths on battle fields.”

- Sailing: A Norse funeral custom for Vikings as seen in movies like How To Train Your Dragon 2 and Thor: The Dark World. Here’s more information on it, but it seems SJ/M got it wrong. Most Vikings were usually cremated and it was mostly used for Kings and Chieftains (Danika might fall into the Chieftain category).

- 33rd Imperial Legion: Could be a reference again to Jesus who was 33 at his death.

- The Ophian rebels (of which the the Keres rebels are a subgroup of) are named after Ophian, and elder Titan in Greek mythology.

Sources I’ve derived some facts from so far:

- Sapir Englard on Goodreads via @spaceshipkat’s tumblr post using Hebrew in CCity.

- @bittenwrath for basically everything in crescent city.

- @blakeseptember’s tumblr about Hybern’s origins.

- An anon dropped by with “Hel”

- @chenmighty and @tavithelibrarian pointed out the Illyrians.

- @sylphene and @omourningstar for Prydain

- @ok-boomer pointed out that Yulemas, Samhain and Beltain are all pagan holidays.

- @gemorsedd For pointing out Calan Mai

- An anon pointed out the Norns, Danaan and Avalon.

- @mimiofthemalfoys for the Bharat, malaria, typhus, spices and cloth mention.

- @kryingkardashianz for Danaans being another name of Greece and Myrmidions.

- an anon pointed out Nidaros

- @shurislut for mehendi and harem pants

- @sanktaalinaa for Jesiba Roga

- @croissantcitysucks for the Ophian Rebels

#anti sjm #anti tog #anti throne of glass #anti ccity #anti acotar #anti sarah j maas #compilation

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firesidefantasy · 5 years

Photo

so last night i realised i had almost hit 500 posts on this account. and then i had the brilliant, genius idea to make a post with 500 facts about monster house for my 500th post.

this was not a genius idea in any way shape or form.

i am not a genius.

but i did it anyway, so now i present to you:

five-hundred-fucking-facts about monster house

enjoy.

KENZI

1) Kenzi was abandoned as a baby 2) She was adopted by Monster House 3) She does not know when her birthday is 4) Her best friend growing up was Toby 5) Kenzi thought she was a vampire when she was a kid 6) She went around biting people’s necks for weeks 7) Kenzi loves photography, Instagram, and modelling 8) She has ran four marathons and six 10ks 9) She has been dying her hair since she was 14 10) Kenzi’s favourite chocolate brand is Cadbury’s 11) She loves cooking and hosting parties 12) She hates being human and wishes she was a monster too 13) She is almost fluent in French 14) Kenzi has no idea what she wants to be when she’s older 15) She never wants to leave Monster House 16) Kenzi is always chewing gum

HARLOW 17) Harlow dyes her hair black 18) She plays drums because her dad told her it was for boys 19) She plays basketball because her dad told her it was for boys 20) Her mum died three years ago and Harlow has never got over it 21) She lives with her dad, their relationship is recovering 22) Harlow won’t leave the house without a beanie 23) She loves video games like overwatch and call of duty 24) She is absolutely shit at video games 25) Doritos are her favourite snack 26) Harlow has lost count of how many cousins she has 27) If she could be any monster, she’d be a vampire 28) She’s in a college band called ‘4am’ 29) They’ve played three actual gigs so far 30) Harlow wants to be in a famous band 31) Harlow does NOT want to ever get a real job 32) She writes a lot of songs 33) Nobody will ever see these songs 34) She hates the beach 35) The only thing she hates more than the beach is spelling errors 36) She also hates vegetables and weather over 20 degrees C 37) She loves the sound of rain and thunder 38) She hoards TV boxsets and prefers them over Netflix 39) She loves antique stores and charity shops 40) She has an impressive vinyl collection

TOBY 41) Toby is bisexual but prefers guy 42) He’s known he was bisexual since discovering Tom Holland 43) His favourite superhero is Iron Man 44) Spider man is a close second 45) Toby wanted to be a superhero when he was a kid 46) Now he wants to be a super villain (#edgyteen) 47) He’s enrolled in school part time 48) Avoiding sunlight makes school difficult 49) The kids at school joke that he’s a vampire because of this 50) They don’t know why that’s so funny 51) He plays bass guitar but never lets anyone else listen 52) Except Matty. Sometimes he joins in with the ‘drums’ 53) Toby loves going to the skate park at night 54) He once wrote a 500 word essay on why the moon is better than the sun 55) He knows every constellation and loves stargazing 56) He loves sitting on his dad’s balcony and watching the stars 57) Toby doesn’t know who his mum is 58) Metal and rock music is his favourite 59) He chews on his finger to satisfy his desire to bite things 60) Sometimes he’s tempted to see if he could bite his finger off 61) He never has 62) Toby loves tomato ketchup 63) Immortality intimidates him 64) He only wears band tee shirts 65) He starts wearing beanies everywhere after meeting Harlow 66) Toby idolises Harlow 67) His favourite food is pancakes with chocolate sauce 68) Kenzi makes him pancakes to apologise after they fight 69) Toby buys her bars of chocolate to apologise 70) Kenzi and Toby bicker a lot 71) They are also best friends 72) Toby’s favourite period of history is the Roman emperors 73) Caligula was his favourite emperor 74) Toby almost turned Kenzi when they were 14 75) He despises pop music 76) Kenzi and Toby fight over nothing more often than pop music 77) Custard makes him want to throw up

KAI 78) Kai has six older sisters 79) He is one of two guys in the witches coven 80) He speaks French and Italian (almost) fluently 81) He volunteers at the local animal shelter 82) He does not get along with his family 83) Kai tries to fit in but he isn’t very good at it 84) He gets very upset if his hair doesn’t look right 85) He struggles with dysphoria but his parents won’t let him get T 86) Kai loves doing jigsaws and watching reality shows 87) He listens to music to drown out his parents arguments 88) His oldest sister Natalia is his favourite 89) She cut his hair and bought him guys clothes after he came out 90) Natalia plays board games with him and helps with homework 91) Kai loves baking - especially banana bread 92) He hates bananas but could eat banana bread all day 93) Being a witch is hard and he’s really really bad at it 94) Kai once turned a dining room chair into a frog 95) He also turned his mother’s earrings into a donkey 96) They never let him keep the animals 97) Pop music and indie rock are his favourites 98) Kai is scared of the dark 99) Science and maths make no sense to him 100) He plans on leaving the witches coven when he’s 18

PHILLIP 101) Philip is a history professor at Seabrooke University 102) He was born in 1893 under the reign of Queen Victoria 103) He campaigned with the suffragettes - and even broke a window once 104) He is a hardcore liberal and despises the conservative party 105) He attended the 1908 summer Olympics held in London 106) He once had a fling with a maid of George V’s 107) Phillip had entered a competition to be on the titanic 108) He was an engineer during world war 2 109) His nose was broken at a protest for women to be given degrees 110) Phillip has been married three times 111) The first died, the second left him for another man 112) The third was a Vegas marriage about 30 years prior 113) Phillip is straight - but he’s experimented extensively in the past 114) He does the newspaper crossword puzzle every morning 115) He bans TV until after 3pm 116) Phillip moved to Monster House in the 70’s 117) He despises the movie ‘Twilight’ above all else 118) He is the one who decided to adopt Kenzi 119) Phillip is essentially in charge of Monster House 120) He adores barbecues with his family 121) He hates Russia, incorrect grammar, and coffee

MATTY 122) Toby brought a stray dog in one day 123) The next morning, a toddler was asleep in their living room 124) Phillip decided to keep him 125) His hobbies include chewing people’s shoes and phone chargers 126) He has broken exactly seven bones 127) There is no soul clumsier than Matty 128) His face is full of freckles and his cheeks are always red 129) He runs everywhere 130) He wants to be a footballer or an astronaut when he’s older 131) Matty breaks Phillip’s morning TV ban so he can watch cartoons 132) His favourite game is fetch 133) Toby created a machine for him that throws a ball over and over 134) Matty hates it - he likes playing with an actual person 135) His wolf form is small, fluffy and a little too blonde 136) Phillip has been assured that he will get less blonde as he grows up 137) Toby once tried to enter him in a dog competition 138) They won £20 and bought the biggest ice creams they could 139) Matty loves porridge almost as much as he loves shoes and Toby 140) He has an imaginary friend called Boris who he blames for everything

CALLIE 141) Callie is half fae and half human 142) Her full name is Calypso, but everybody calls her Callie 143) She cannot tell lies, but is excellent at talking around the truth 144) She’s introverted and shy - but also amazing at public speaking 145) She wants to be a legal aid barrister 146) Her hair is naturally brown but she dyes it red 147) She plays acoustic guitar in 4am - the same band as Harlow 148) Her roommate is a werewolf but she doesn’t know about it yet 149) She has travelled to France and Italy 150) But she wants to travel the world 151) Her bedroom walls are covered in maps 152) She has an emergency supply of snacks in a room at all times 153) Her biggest dream is to have her own library room once day 154) With a secret bookshelf door, of course 155) Her lava lamp and beanbags are her prized possessions 156) She does not have a good relationship with her parents 157) She struggles with insomnia and rarely sleeps 158) Coffee is her one true love 159) She adores long car rides and she adores driving 160) She works part time at a coffee shop 161) Her car is her other prized possession 162) Callie can devour bags of skittles in an instant 163) She forgets everything in her personal life 164) And remembers everything in her academic life 165) She loves fire and will sit and stare at it for hours 166) Sometimes she goes to the local aquarium to study 167) Change is her worst enemy - everything needs to be consistent 168) She has been a straight A student all her life 169) She goes for a long walk every Saturday afternoon 170) Callie writes songs when she’s feeling bad

MILO 171) Hiding antlers in public is the bane of his existence 172) He is part of a group who want to tell humans about monsters 173) Milo does not particularly like humans 174) He has curly blonde hair that is usually a mess 175) One of his eyes is darker blue than the other 176) He loves blanket forts and fairy lights and hot chocolate 177) He has a part time job delivering pizzas 178) This means he gets a discount on pizzas, which he takes advantage of 179) Percy Jackson is the main reason he’s doing a classics degree 180) He enjoys writing fantasy books in his free time 181) He is reasonably fluent in Ancient Greek and Latin 182) ‘Out of Bounds’ signs are a welcoming invitation to Milo 183) He will explore everything and anything 184) Milo wants to travel to South America the most 185) He has two mums 186) They both adore Callie 187) He goes rock climbing in his free time 188) This is so he can climb trees, fences, and monuments better 189) He claims he’s climbed several mountains 190) Callie does not believe this claim 191) He was not raised in Seabrooke and had few monster friends as a kid 192) Milo is a nymph 193) His father is one of his mother’s best friends - also a nymph 194) His ‘father’ taught him to garden and to bake 195) Milo never called him dad - he was always Uncle Barney 196) He loves growing his own flowers 197) Nymph magic allows him to grow the most beautiful plants and flowers 198) It also allows him to bake exceptional cakes and cookies 199) He adores his younger brother and sister 200) He is double jointed and left handed

KENZI AND HARLOW 201) Making out is their favourite pastime 202) Harlow spends most of her free time at Monster House 203) They enjoy joking about how ‘platonic’ their relationship is 204) Kenzi loves cooking for Harlow 205) They spend a lot of time watching TV shows together 206) Stranger Things and Friends were their last binge-watches 207) Harlow is always invited round for Friday Board Game Night 208) Kenzi constantly steals Harlow’s clothes 209) Harlow loves playing with Kenzi’s hair 210) Harlow loves holding Kenzi’s hand 211) Harlow just loves touching Kenzi as much as possible 212) They both have a years pass to the local petting zoo 213) Kenzi goes to all of Harlow’s band gigs and basketball games 214) She wants to set up a cheer leading squad for the basketball team 215) Harlow just wants to see Kenzi in a cheerleader costume 216) Harlow asked Kenzi to be her girlfriend 217) Kenzi said I love you first 218) They’re planning on getting an apartment together after graduating 219) Also a dog 220) Harlow adores getting Kenzi to play (and fail at) video games 221) Kenzi is a massive flirt - Harlow does not appreciate it 222) Harlow once stabbed Kenzi on the hand whilst cooking together 223) Kenzi and Harlow do not cook together 224) They bicker a lot 225) But Harlow adores Kenzi more than anything else, and vice versa

TOBY AND KAI 226) Toby only got the guts to ask Kai out because his dad made him 227) They are polar opposites in just about every way 228) Toby didn’t know what being transgender meant before meeting Kai 229) Toby calls Kai ‘sunshine’ 230) Kai calls Toby ‘grumpy guts’ for the most part 231) They fall asleep on the phone together a lot 232) They also fall asleep in the same bed a lot 232) Kai’s parents do not like vampires so they don’t know about Toby 233) They met through the Monster House toddler group when they were kids 234) They both went to the Monster House study group as kids/teenagers 234) Nowadays, they ‘study’ in Toby’s room instead 235) Kai drove Toby mad up until very recently 236) It wasn’t exactly love at first site 237) Toby threw up on Kai - the hatred only grew from there 238) Over time, Toby developed a soft spot for Kai 239) Nowadays, Kai still drives him crazy, but in a good sorta way 240) They have every intention of moving in together after school ends 241) Kai has a drawer of clothes at Toby’s place 242) Toby has punched six people in defence of Kai 243) One was an eleven year old. He has no regrets 244) Toby frequently takes Kai stargazing 245) Toby also taught him how to skate 246) Kai speaks French to Toby and he loves it 247) Sometimes Kai takes Toby to volunteer at the animal shelter with him 248) Their biggest fights are over pop music and science 249) They plan on getting a turtle when they move in together 250) Kai loves sitting on Toby’s lap 251) He also loves stealing his sweaters 252) He also loves fixing his hair 253) He frequently picks flowers for Toby and spends hours arranging them 254) Kai also loves falling asleep on Toby 255) Toby kisses Kai’s cheek a lot 256) Toby adores Kai, but he rarely admits to it 257) He took Kai to a Troye Sivan concert in February 2019 258) Kai sends Toby selfies a lot throughout the day 259) Toby saves every single one to his phone - but won’t admit to it 260) Toby’s dad r e a l l y wants him to marry Kai

CALLIE AND MILO 261) They met when they were both searching an abandoned church 262) They thought the other was a ghost 263) For the longest time, Callie was ‘ghost girl’ in Milo’s phone 264) Their first date was in Starbucks 265) But they tell people it was back in that abandoned church 266) They are both too terrified to ever go back to that church 267) They have plants to travel the world together 268) Callie’s phone background is Milo and his messy bed head 269) Milo’s background is Callie in one of his sweaters 270) Callie hoards Milo’s sweaters 271) Milo practically lives at Callie’s apartment so he doesn’t mind 272) Callie only really sleeps when she’s with Milo 273) Milo likes playing with her hair while she reads out loud 274) The sound of her voice calms his anxiety 275) Callie frequently plays guitar and sings for Milo 276) He considers himself her number one fan 277) Callie likes listening to him ramble about history and classics 278) She often falls asleep while he talks - he never seems to notice 279) Callie drives Milo everywhere 280) Milo always makes the best road trip playlists and snacks 281) Milo’s mum’s adore Callie 282) They go for family dinner every other Sunday 283) They are going to Greece together over the summer holidays 284) Their opinions on monster politics differ wildly 285) Callie enjoys teaching Milo how to play guitar 286) Milo grows his own flowers to give Callie 287) He also enjoys cooking for her 288) Sometimes he brings her breakfast in bed 289) He usually gets a blowjob in exchange for this 290) They make a game out of fucking in as many places as they can 291) This has included: the grocery store, a church, the forest 292) Milo’s parents frequently bring up marriage 293) They’re both quite content with how things are 294) One day, they’d both like a small wedding in Europe somewhere 295) Zoos, petting farms, and aquariums are their favourite dates 296) Milo is basically Callie’s pillow 297) Callie writes songs for Milo 298) Her parents do not approve of her dating a Nymph 299) Callie’s roommates adore Milo and love that he basically lives there 300) They fight about how much wardrobe space Milo takes up frequently

BACKGROUND CHARACTERS 301) Callie’s roommate is a werewolf 302) She doesn’t know that Callie isn’t human and vice versa 303) Werewolf roommate (Arya)’s family is originally from India 304) Arya loves escape rooms 305) Callie loves petting Arya in wolf form 306) Milo is the only one who questions why there’s a wolf in the kitchen 307) But Milo still feeds Arya-in-wolf-form blueberry muffins 308) Bruce the Minotaur has lived in Monster House forever 309) Nobody really knows where or when Bruce came from 310) He has a very distinctive Greek accent 311) Bruce makes the best waffles 312) And he knits a damn good scarf and woolly socks 313) Which is incidentally what everybody gets for their birthday 314) Sheryl the Siren is like a crazy aunt to the kids in Monster House 315) She auditioned for X Factor once - she didn’t get in 316) Her vocal inspirations are beyonce and mariah carey 317) Sheryl is married to Mary-Anne the Mermaid 318) Mary-Anne lives in the coves behind Monster House 319) Sheryl loves singing for Mary-Anne 320) Maybe it’s the water-clogged ears, but Mary-Anne enjoys the singing 321) They had a beautiful beach wedding twelve years ago 322) Kenzi was a flower girl, Toby was a page boy 323) There is a ghost living in the attic of Monster House 324) It never seems to come out 325) Bruce sits outside the attic door each night to keep it company 326) Sometimes it likes to play drums with pots and pans 327) Nobody really has a name - it’s just ‘the ghost in the attic’ 328) They leave cookies for it at Christmas - they always get eaten 329) Sometimes Matty gets there first 330) Grace the Gorgon is an interior designer 331) She wears a veil-like head cover to hide the snake hair 332) Most humans just assume the head cover/snake hair is a new trend 333) Grace constantly redecorates Monster House 334) The house usually puts everything back overnight 335) Monster House does not like change 336) Grace is a wanted felon for the murder of a man named Perseus 337) Humans seem to be destined to forever walk past Monster House 338) Thus, Grace has never been caught 339) It is rumoured that she was once called Penelope 340) Nobody quite knows what Perseus did to warrant murder 341) Nobody quite trusts Grace with a knife, either

SEABROOKE 342) Seabrooke is a small, sleepy seaside town in southern England 343) It is the suburban hot spot for Monster life 344) Seabrooke has a population of 4,500 345) Around 250 of these are monsters 346) For some reason, Seabrooke has it’s own university 347) Nobody really knows why - it’s possible Phillip had a role in this 348) Seabrooke has two primary schools, a secondary, and a sixth form 349) It gets a lot of tourists during the summer 350) Everybody hates the tourists - especially Monsters

WITCHES COVEN 351) When Bruce the Minotaur gets sick - he can’t be taken to the doctors 352) The Witches Coven is the main place Monsters go when they’re sick 353) Witches are difficult creatures and the Coven are no different 354) If you get on their bad side, they’ll refuse you service 355) The Witches Coven therefore practically run the town 356) There are three families that make up the Coven 357) Admittance is only to witches with the blood of prestigious families 358) Kai is part of the Witches Coven 359) Kai’s family practically runs the Witches Coven 360) There is a lot of tension between the Witches and Phillip 361) Largely because they both have a lot of influence over Seabrooke 362) Regardless, Phillip still genuinely likes Kai 363) The Witches tend to be high maintenance and spoilt 364) The parents are like the worst white suburban soccer mums ever 365) Regardless, they are excellent at healing magic 366) But also excellent at ruining your life 367) They have definitely killed a few monsters - but it cannot be proved

LOCAL NEWSPAPER 368) The Daily Seabrooke is ran by shapeshifters 369) Nobody remembers when the TDS was started 370) Philip adores it for the crosswords 371) Apparently the crosswords are ‘out of this world’ 372) TDS is ran by a group of crazy looking students 373) Of course, they’re shapeshifters, so they’re probably all 1000+ 374) The shapeshifters behind TDS don’t mingle with other monsters 375) At least not as themselves 376) They report on human politics and news as well 377) Only monsters are sold the copies with monster news included 378) Half of TDS is gossip about the people in Seabrooke 379) Nobody is really safe from their snooping 380) Their methods include being a literal fly on the wall 381) Most breakups, Witches Coven drama, and Vamp/Wolf fights are put in 382) TDS is extremely controversial amongst Monsters in Seabrooke 383) Kenzi thinks it’s fucking hilarious

SEABROOKE UNIVERSITY 384) The University is crawling with monster life 385) Several professors are monsters 386) Most notably are Phillip and Steven 387) Phillip teaches Modern History 388) Steven teaches Medieval History 389) Phillip is a Vampire, Steven is a Werewolf 390) They have a competition for who gets History Professor Of The Year 391) This competition frequently gets out of hand 392) Everybody knows about their rivalry, few knows why 393) Nobody knows how long the two have worked there - most say forever 394) That wouldn’t be far from the truth 395) Steven happens to be Arya (Callie’s Roommate)’s father

MONSTER HOUSE 396) Monster House is practically alive 397) It constantly expands and shrinks 398) There are always exactly as many rooms as are necessary 399) Only the first floor can be seen by passersby 400) And they often walk straight past it 401) Ordering pizza is a nightmare 402) It’s like the human brain cannot comprehend where it is 403) Even though it’s in an incredibly obvious location 404) When they do see it, they see only a normal house 405) The construction of the house makes no sense 406) There are rooms hanging over nothing and stairs leading to nowhere 407) Sometimes bedrooms move and finding them is a nightmare 408) The living room and kitchen like to switch places 409) On Monday’s the kitchen is green and nobody knows why 410) It is black and white the rest of the time 411) It is almost impossible to paint or decorate Monster House 412) It prefers to do that itself 413) Somehow the bedrooms always look exactly how they are wanted 414) At least they save on paint - that shit is expensive 415) Unfortunately, Monster House doesn’t clean itself 416) Toby has registered several complaints about this

LULU 417) Lulu’s full name is Lucifer 418) It has been living in the basement since the beginning 419) It has only been seen by four people 420) Phillip and Kenzi are two of those 421) They call it Lulu because Kenzi couldn’t pronounce Lucifer as a kid 422) The nickname kinda stuck 423) Lulu gets fed raw fish every morning 424) They just dump a bucket full down the hatch in the kitchen 425) Sometimes Toby threatens to feed Matty to Lulu 426) This causes Matty to have nightmares and sleep in Toby’s bed 427) So that one kinda backfired on Toby 428) Nobody actually knows what kind of creature Lulu is

MISC. FACTS 429) Harlow’s favourite song is ‘Lights Down Low’ by Max 430) Seabrooke is not on any map - nobody knows why 431) I really regret this 432) Never ever try to write 500 facts it will not be fun 433) Callie’s favourite kind of law is criminal law 434) Particularly fatal offences 435) She also likes land law because she’s fucking weird 436) Kai got into reality TV because of his sisters 437) One of the arcades in Seabrooke is monster themed 438) Toby works there on Saturdays - always taking the night shifts 439) Kai really wants to own his own bakery one day 440) He tried to get the local bakery to hire him but he’s too young 441) Kai also wants to live in France or Italy 442) He also wants to be on reality shows and get a fake tan 443) (Okay. Toby is pretty sure he was joking about that) 444) Kai always has to wish on a lucky star 445) Milo wants to be a published author one day 446) Kai has tried to run away from home twice 447) His parents put a tracking spell on him and found him too fast 448) Toby wishes he could skate at the park with the other kids 449) But he also secretly likes that everyone finds him mysterious 450) Toby used to have a (massive) crush on Kenzi 451) Now they’re both pretty gay 452) Everyone is gay tbh 453) Monsters have no concept of heteronormativity 454) Kenzi’s favourite colour is pink 455) Callie’s favourite animal is an octopus 456) Kai has a picture of him and Toby stuck on his bedroom wall 457) Kai has had a crush on Toby since they were kids 458) Coming out as trans wrecked Kai’s relationship with his parents 459) It is seen as a disgrace for witches to have male sons 460) Men are submissive in witch culture 461) Kai’s parents frequently misname and misgender him 462) The kids at school are much more accepting 463) Kai came out when he was 14 464) Toby has actually been one of his biggest supporters 465) Natalia has been his main supporter as well 466) Toby likes Kai a lot more since he came out 467) Kai feels more real to him now - and irritates him less 468) Toby doesn’t know how long Kai has liked him for 469) Kai is pretty open about being trans 470) Seabrooke is quite accepting, even if his parents aren’t 471) Kenzi is terrified of being rejected by the monster community 472) She really wants Toby to turn her so she can be an actual monster 473) She wears contact lenses so her eyes look purple 474) She doesn’t really like school and puts the bare minimum effort in 475) Harlow is taking four a levels - a difficult thing to do 476) Fuck this was the worst idea 478) Harlow channels her anger out through drumming 479) It’s therapist mandated so her dad cannot stop her 480) Even though he very very much wants to 481) Harlow’s favourite video game is overwatch 482) Her mains are lucio, junk rat, bastion and rein 483) Harlow despises spelling and grammar errors 484) Matty likes stealing Toby’s tee shirts 485) Between Matty & Kai, Toby barely has any clothes left 486) Which is fine as far as Kai’s concerned 487) Matty is like a little brother to Kai 488) Originally, Callie & Arya were part of a polygamous relationship 489) I cut that out, though, because I couldn’t think of a third girl 490) Seabrooke tends to have mild weather 491) During the summer, the heat can spike to 25-30 C max 492) It rarely snows, but it does rain a lot, and there’s a lot of wind 493) Most of the houses in Seabrooke were built 100ish years ago 494) It has a train station - nobody knows why - it’s the last stop 495) There is a Seabrooke museum ran by a vampire and a Fae 496) There is a secret monster section in the back 497) Idle Town by Conan Gray reminds me of Seabrooke 498) As does This Town by Neil Horan (I think that’s the name idk) 499) Fuck you to @livvywrites for not stopping me 500) I am never doing this again

tag list: @livingthelovelylife, @commasinsidequotes, @4kidsopfan, @thatworldinverted, @livvywrites @ravenpuffwriter @the-writer-turned-procrastinor @livingthelovelylife (ask to be added or removed more likely after this shit)

#writeblr #writeblr community #monsterhouse #this was the worst idea of my life #never again #do not do this #b a d i d e a

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brooklynislandgirl · 6 years

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CHARACTER INTERVIEW

{All answers here are for the London Calling: Legends/Spooks verse}

BASICS !

NAME: Beth Riley NICKNAME: Liz, lil bef, AGE: 29 SPECIES: Human

PERSONAL !

MORALITY: Neutral Good {occasionally chaotic dumb} RELIGION: Roman Catholic SINS: Greed / Gluttony / Sloth / Lust / Pride/ Envy /Wrath VIRTUES: Chastity / Charity / DILIGENCE /Humility / Kindness / Patience /Justice / Loyalty KNOWN LANGUAGES: Fluent: Hawaiian, English and Pidgin, French, Latin Basic/some: Russian, German, Greek and Japanese

PHYSICAL !

BUILD: Scrawny / Bony / Slender / Fit / Athletic / Curvy / Herculean / Pudgy / Average HEIGHT: 5′0 SCARS / BIRTHMARKS: Tiny constellations of freckles dot the landscape of her; by the corner of her mouth, the bridge of her nose though she’s too tawny for them to show unless you’re very close. She has a turtle tattoo with the Hawai’ian islands in its shell on her back left hip. She has three studs that align with her inner right hip. But the most jarring thing is the shark bite scar that’s ruined her right leg, from below her knee to above her ankle; the calf muscle is diminished compared to her other leg, and though old, the bite pattern never healed right. She does everything she can to keep it covered up and hates anyone to come to close to touching it.

ABILITIES / POWERS: Beth has a near miraculous ability to find herself in the worst possible situations, and trusts that it will all work out the way it’s supposed to. She has an incredibly large and flexible reserve of warmth and affection for other people, especially the ones who have none for themselves. Her ability to read and interpret body-language is nearly legendary, and she’s a champion at making excuses for just about everyone else in the world. She also has remarkable powers of self-delusion and has never met a language that’s failed to learn eventually.

FAVORITES !

FOOD: Grilled cheese sandwiches, whatever she can get someone else to make because she can’t cook to save her own life. Seriously, the poor thing can burn water. At odds, she can make the strongest cup of tea you’ve ever struggled with in an alley, and has a gift for making mixed drinks even though she’s mostly a wine-lush. DRINK: Coffee, tea, dark red wines PIZZA TOPPING: Pineapple, pepperoni, bacon and green chile all at once. COLOR: Purple. Especially if it’s sparkly and there’s glitter involved. MUSIC GENRE: Blues, Grunge, Post Punk, pretty much anything depending on her mood, though she has a particular fondness for the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and has been in love with Eddie Vedder for years. BOOK GENRE: Fantasy, historical. Anything she can escape into. Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett are particular favourites. MOVIE GENRE: Also fantasy and historical, with The Princess Bride and Tombstone being her favourites. CURSE WORD: Beth doesn’t curse. SCENTS: Sandalwood, water lily, plumeria

FUN STUFF !

Beth can knit like no one’s business and likes to make gifts for people.

Beth’s always believed she was part shark, and has an almost obsessive affection for the murderous bastards.

She is an avid surfer who wants to swim every ocean and sea in the world, and she is ridiculously flexible because of yoga.

LIKES / PUNS: Beth enjoys rain, gardening, quiet conversation, music and taking care of other people. Puns are lost on her because she has a language issue to begin with and a lot of jokes don’t make sense to her.

TAGGED BY: @nctcricus {Thanks bunches hun!} TAGGING: Everyone! But especially: @brandedutton, @riggsanity, @bluuxhalcyon, @itslevvis. @starlessskye, @wolventm, @corruptcorporateexecutive {whomever you like}, @boden-severin, @little-earthquakes-rp {main Lennon, maybe?}

#She's Talking to Angels {Bethisms}#London Calling|Legends #London Calling|Spooks

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savvyscrivener · 6 years

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Another tag game

This time I was tagged by @lvbwrites! Thank you for the tag~

Name: Lee or Savvy Nicknames: ...Savvy, mostly. I don’t have many nicknames, haha, but I go by Savvy online. Gender: Fluid. In the process of figuring it out. Zodiac Sign: Virgo Aquarius Moon, Gemini Rising Height: 165 cm (5′5″) Languages: English is the only on I claim any sort of fluency in. I know a smattering of Spanish, am intermediate/vaguely conversational in French, have a tiny bit of Korean and Japanese, and studied Latin in middle and high school. I want to learn: French, Spanish, Italian, German, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Russian, Arabic. Let it never be said I’m not ambitious as all hells. Favorite Fruits: I love fruit. I’m especially fond of peaches, cherries, strawberries, apples, and watermelon. Favorite Scents: I really love sandalwood. Also jasmine, old books+leather, and spicy-sweet scents like cinnamon and cloves. Oh, and gardenia. Favorite Season: Probably autumn, or cooler summers. Favorite Color: I like most colors except yellow. But especially forest green, slate or charcoal grey, and navy blue. Favorite Animal: My patronus was a red fox, but I also love cats. Someday I will have a pet cat. I like otters a lot, too. Coffee, Tea, or Hot Chocolate: Tea. Or hot chocolate. Or apple cider. But always tea. Average Hours of Sleep: Anywhere between 7-9. I sleep a lot. Favorite Fictional Characters: So, so many. ... so many. Like, multiple from each series so many. But as for ones I hard core identify with--Milo Thatch from Atlantis, Spencer Reid from Criminal Minds, Arram Draper in Tempests and Slaughter by Tamora Pierce. Characters who inspire me or I want to be like, Martin from The Tales of Redwall, as well as Himura Kenshin from Rurouni Kenshin, Keladry from the Protector of the Small quartet, Hiccup from How to Train Your Dragon, Granny Weatherwax, Tiffany Aching, Sam Vimes, and Carrot Ironfounderson from Terry Pratchett’s Discworld, Steve Rogers (though I’ve been told I am very like skinny Steve already.) Number of Blankets I Sleep with: Right now? Two. Sometimes three. The midwest hasn’t gotten the memo that April is a spring month. Blog Created: This one? Last week. Literally. What I Post: All my writing stuff: references, art and inspiration pictures, snippets, #relatable writer feelings, my fanfiction, other people’s writing, quotations, etc. Favorite Songs: “Praying” by Kesha, “Neptune,” “Jupiter,” and “Saturn” by Sleeping at Last, “The Green Fields of France” by the High Kings, “Seamstress” by Dessa, “For the Dancing and the Dreaming” from How to Train Your Dragon, “Traveling Song” and “Constellations” by Ryn Weaver. Favorite Artists: Visually? I’m a huge fan of the Impressionist movement, honestly--van Gogh and Monet. I love everything I’ve ever heard and read about Artemesia Gentileschi, and there are a fair few fantastic authors I follow on tumblr as well--as a kid, I loved Amy Brown’s fairy works. Go look at Aerorwen’s stuff (I’m doing a collab with them!), as well as Charmingly Antiquated (of Elsewhere University fame), and Tea Fox Illustrations. Favorite Books: Save me from this question. In the words of Neil Gaiman, being asked your favorite book is like being asked which limb you’d least like to lose. On that note, if I could only save one book in my house from the fire, it would probably be either Mossflower, by Brian Jacques (the influence in my life I’ve only really realized over the last four or so months) or Night Watch. I read a lot of fantasy, a decent amount of sci fi, a decent amount of historical fiction, murder mysteries, various nonfiction books, and “classic” literature. Can’t quite escape my English major training. Last Movie I Watched: I Kill Giants, which was fascinating and glorious. Last Thing I Googled: “pokemon number 83″ (Farfetched, apparently.) On my computer, “inches to centimeters,” because I didn’t know how tall I was in centimeters. Haha. Do I Get Asks: No. (cries) I’m awkward and afraid to approach people. Followers: On this blog? 20. Lucky Number: None, really? I mean. I don’t know. Instruments: I played flute through middle school and part of high school, and I’m trying to pick up guitar. I’d love to learn how to play piano/keyboard, though. And I sing. Badly. Dream Job: I want to own one of those tiny used bookstores that’s full of winding passages and possibly interdimensional portals. That, or work for NASA. (or a college professor). Definitely an author. Dream Trip: I want to just... leave. I want to take trains all over Europe and Asia without worrying about income or when I have to go back to the US. Backpack with minimal supplies and lots of walking, just go anywhere and everywhere. There are so many places I want to go, someday. Hair Color: Brown! Mostly. It’s cut short right now, and the ends are still a bit bleached from the last time I dyed it.

#about me #tomfoolery

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voltageotome · 7 years

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Voltage Inc. Developer Interview – Pt. 2

Pt. 2 of our interview with the incredible M-san is here!

Ever wondered how they came up with the SCM’s gods’ names? Curious to find out where she got her inspiration for the game?!

Well, look no further!

Click Keep Reading!

Pt. 1 can be found HERE

What was your inspiration for Star-Crossed Myth?

Inspiration? Hmm... Well, when it came to the world-building, I have this favorite phrase, ‘I wish something good would happen today.’ And, you know, while I was saying that to myself, I got to thinking ‘Gosh, wouldn’t it be great if some magical god or something could grant me any wish?’ Like ‘Hey, I want a million dollars. Here ya’ go!’ or ‘I want hot men to rain from the sky’ or whatever.’

Anyway, when my life’s getting a little bit dull, I find myself saying and wishing that. So that’s really where it all started.

Plus, when you’re wishing for something good, I feel like most people look to the stars. So imagine you’re wishing on a star, and then poof, there’s this beautiful man who’s here to make all your dreams come true! And I thought ‘Wow, that would be... amazing.’

So I drew inspiration from that romantic element as well.

Also – oh, be warned, this is about to get into philosophical territory here... Gods and princes have such a magical, beautiful quality about them, but the [gods in SCM are] besmirched with sin and wrongdoing – this dark, horrible thing. I think the juxtaposition of the beautiful and the ugly is just so fascinating. These gorgeous beings have marks of sin and have fallen from grace. They’re heavenly visions that cast very long, very dark shadows.

That’s where my main inspiration came from.

So, you were just on the train one morning, wishing for something good to happen, and then it hit you – ‘Oh, this is it. This is our next title’?

Kinda. Haha. I thought ‘Hey, how would you normally wish for something?’ Oh you’d wish on the stars, of course. And I was always interested in constellations and stuff. I was also really inspired by Christian Lassen and KAGAYA, who make these beautiful, otherworldly paintings I’ve always been fascinated with... Plus I love ancient myths.

I’d just watched Kaguya Hime [from Ghibli] before making this story as well. I liked the idea of giving this beautiful creature an awful sin. Seeing that movie really struck a chord with me.

I drew inspiration from a LOT of places, but that’s how it always works. Stories never come one from one source; they’re born from a collection of different ideas.

What sort of research did you during, or even before you started, the project?

So much. Oh so much. We looked up lots of Grecian and Celtic myths. Plus myths and stories about the constellations... We also did a LOT of research when it came to their names. We looked at Latin, and so many different spellings and languages. We played around with all of those names, trying to make them a) easy to read and b) immediately recognizable as their constellation. There was a lot of wrestling with the names, trying to get them just right. I mean, Dui nearly became Geminee.

Wait, really? Geminee? ...What other names did you come up with?

Oh man... an uncountable number, really. For Leon we were afraid it was TOO on-the-nose, plus it’s the title of a very famous movie. In the end we just went for it because we appreciated its simplicity. Wow, this brings back so many memories... I just loved making this game. It was such a fun time in my life.

We researched French, Spanish, German, Greek, Russian, Hindi... Ichthys actually came from Hindi and Greek. The star sign Gemini in both English and Latin is Gemini, or something very close anyway, but in Greek it’s Didymoi, which is where we got the inspiration for Dui.

Karno was really interesting. In every language Cancer is pronounced totally differently, so his name ended up becoming a hybrid of a bunch of languages.

We even researched all of the constellations’ scientific names. We were thorough.

We were also really careful to make sure their names didn’t mean anything in any of the target languages... I mean, we wouldn’t name a character Cancer, that’s just crazy.

Oh, right... Zyglavis and Tauxolouve. We felt that the ‘lavis’ and ‘louve’ endings gave their names a Grecian flare. Obviously, we couldn’t call all the gods ‘something-louve’ or ‘whatever-lavis,’ so we tried to strike a balance with their names, making them easy to read and understandable while at the same time sounding mystical.

Dui was definitely the hardest one for us to come up with. We debated forever whether to make his name ‘Dui’ based or ‘Gemini’ based. In the end we thought ‘Ugh, Geminee is way too cute. Not happening.’

Do you prefer to write fantasy-based scenarios or ones based on everyday life?

I like writing both, but... we talked about this a little before, but I like my romances to be really profound, not just cutesy moments with some arm-candy. I prefer stories with lots of ups and downs, with a love that’s intense. Everyday stories are fine, but my preference tends to skew more fantasy, I guess.

It’s not every day we’re dealing with problems like ‘If I love you I may actually die.’ Haha. I enjoy getting deep into stories and exploring the concept of love. You can do that in a “slice of life” story, but it’s easier to do in fantasy.

Which god would you personally like to date?

If I were being realistic...? Karno. He’d come straight home after work, he’d be waiting for you with a kind word or two. Huedhaut would be nice too. He’s smart, he’s stable, he’s incredibly faithful – he’d never ever cheat... But I’d still choose Leon.

Karno and Hue would make me happy, sure, whatever... but I want to date Leon.

There are some characters who would be tough to date... I can imagine Scorpio being difficult. It would be the biggest headache dating him. Haha!

How do you come up with character designs? Do you give specific directions to the artists? Or do you give them free rein, more or less?

We need the characters’ designs to match their personalities. With SCM, for example, Leon is a proud god and super sexy, so we asked the artist to put him in a pose that would reflect that. His sexiness can be seen in his open collar; he’s got his neck exposed a bit. That’s really important when making characters... One look and you should be able to see their personalities, more or less. For Huedhaut, we gave him a little bolero tie to make him look like a gentleman, but his hair is wavy and almost covers his eyes, which we thought helped hint at his darker past...

We make the characters’ personalities in house, and then offer those notes to the artists. We literally give them free rein over how they draw; we want them to be inspired so they can come up with something amazing. ...We give them notes, of course. Like ‘He’s gonna have red hair’ or whatever, but we try to give them hints rather than full-blown direction. Once we have the first drafts then we give more specific notes, but otherwise, it’s all the artist.

And that’s all for part two! Look forward to part three, coming soon!

#star crossed myth #leon #karno #dui #scm #huedhaut #hue #zyglavis #tauxolouve #scorpio #voltage inc #voltage otome #ikemen

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sillyanimegamingroad · 4 years

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How much information can our brain store?

In 2016, Professor José A. Esteban gave the conference “ What are memories made of? And where are they kept? ”At the Achucarro Forum of the Basque Center for Neuroscience. In it, the CSIC biologist and researcher spoke about synaptic plasticity and the development of therapeutic applications for diseases such as Alzheimer’s. It has always been a curiosity that how much information can our brain store?

Thinking about the content of the talk, the first thing that came to mind were a couple of recent articles. On the one hand, the tweet from Vala Afshar, Chief Digital Evangelist at Salesforce.com, commenting on the Constellation Research study on the importance of Big Data, Analytics and Data Mining (again) at this moment in history in which 90% of the data in the world was created in the last year.

On the other hand, the creation by scientists from the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom of a new data format that, by storing information in crystal nanostructures, has achieved an expected life time of 13.8 billion years of expected survival for said support. You don’t know where to store 360 terabytes of data and you may have to put it at 190º of temperature? No problem! We have the perfect hard drive for you thanks to a scientifically proven 5D storage technique. So I got to thinking, how much information can we remember? Will it be more or less than what can be generated in a lifetime? And what about the one that has been generated throughout history?

The information peta

Information peta of our brain

To estimate how much information could be generated, nothing better to do this than to look for the leaders in information processing. In 2011 Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, the company that wants to order the world’s information to make it accessible, said that humanity generated 5 exabytes of unique information every two days on the Internet .

What is that? Bernardo Hernández pointed out in these parts that it is as much information as from the beginning of history until 2003, all together, at the same time, without anesthesia. As there were people who did not quite square the figure, Science magazine decided to recalculate, concluding that we have generated about 600 exabytes up to 2011. And how much is an exabyte? Much.

1000 kilobytes = 1 Megabyte 1000 Megabytes = 1 Gigabyte 1000 Gigabytes = 1 Terabyte 1000 Terabytes = 1 Petabyte 1000 Petabytes = 1 Exabyte 1000 Exabytes = 1 Zettabyte 1000 Zettabytes = 1 Yottabyte 1000 Yottabytes = 1 Bronobyte 1000 Bronobyte = 1 Geopbyte

So of course, a skill that is becoming essential to survive in this modern environment is a hypertrophied memory, whatever they say. Therefore I needed to have an idea of our maximum capacity to memorize in order to determine if everything we generate fits or not.

Robert Birge , a professor and researcher at the University of Connecticut who analyzed the storage capacity of proteins, estimated it to be between 1 and 10 Terabytes in 1996, assuming that a neuron was a bit. Closer in time, in 2008, he considered in a radio interview that it could actually be something closer to 30 or 40 Terabytes , given that the brain does not store information in the same way as a computer. In any case, it seems insufficient to reach our goal, so a solution must be found. On the one hand, it is hopeful to remember that the brain forgets things, leaving room for new memories. We all have things we want to forget (those over 40 years younger because there are no compromising photos of us on the Internet of when we were young, for no other reason). But it is also true that we could forget what we should not.

No, in these topics we better bet on the Diogenes syndrome of memories, we are not going to forget any important anniversary for our partner, such as his birthday or Valentine’s Day. So we tried to keep asking to find out that depending on who we talk to we can reach the magic Petabyte number. The calculation in this case comes from estimating 100,000 million neurons with 1,000 synaptic connections each, taking each connection instead of each neuron for 1 bit.

The confirmation comes to us by a team of researchers from the Salk Institute led by Terry Sejnowski estimated in a paper published in eLife at the beginning of 2016 that it could be considered to go from tera to peta without problems since the synapses were not all the same, and that the different types could allow estimating up to 4.7 bits of information for each one .

What’s more, in some cases there is even talk of a maximum of 2.5 Petabytes . Paul Reber gives us an idea of the impact of this difference in capacity in an article in Scientific American .

In it, this professor of psychology at Northwestern University explained that this amount would allow 300 million hours of television to be stored . Of course, what he did not say is that it was not in HD, so I do not think that with that quality we can survive our challenge: 1 petabyte in HD quality is barely 13.3 years of video , very little if we are looking for true love and for all life.

An image and thousands of words

Digital Brain

I admit, this first approach is discouraging. It was urgent to find solutions. So my next step was to try to determine the maximum potential of our memory . If it was greater than the information generated we would still have a chance. We have already left behind the mistaken idea that we only use 10% of our brain, but it is still clear that we cannot use everything at once and that we have it quite underused. How do you get to use it in such a way that it is possible to memorize everything you can memorize? The next one seemed obvious: we had to find the great memorizers of history , see what they were capable of and compare it with the limits.

Unfortunately, it seems that many of the best known cases of “infinite” memories were the result of trauma or unwanted situations and, what is worse, not easy to repeat without putting our integrity at risk to achieve it. An example of the risk we talked about was the old case of Cenn Fáelad mac Aillila , an Irish scholar who died in 679. Although what is called a scholar was actually scholar, it was not very scholarly. Come on, his thing was weapons and fighting. Precisely in one of them he got a good wound on his head, which resulted in a wound that caused him pain all his life on the one hand, and an elephant memory on the other. What’s more, it is said that he did not manage to forget anything else during the rest of his existence. To understand the harsh implication of acquiring this superpower we must know that Cenn, after obtaining his new condition, completely changed his life to devote himself to poetry and learning Latin, instead of enjoying with friends from the “third time” after the battles .

Recent literature has also treated the subject with interest. Forges wrote about ” Funes the memorable ” telling in his collection of “Fictions”, back in 1944, the story of a man who suffers from hypermnesia after a common accident: a fall, in this case from a horse.

Curiously, his new gift is also associated with another headache, this time that of not being able to sleep (a big mistake, as we will see later). The absence of sleep and the premise that this process is a “memory eraser” means that the protagonist has, during his short life, a memory full of details but a total inability to think and make use of them. I was on the right track … well, you understand.

Closer in time was the case of Kim Peek , who inspired the character of Raymond Babbit in the movie “Rain Man.” Kim did not have any accidents during his life as his ability apparently originated before his birth. After Kim was born, the doctors told his parents that the child was not normal and that he would have mental retardation all his life, so they even recommended admitting him.

They refused to discover as he got older certain abilities that contrasted with the evident delay that he actually showed, as they had been diagnosed. Little Kim had been reading since he was 18 months old. Well, the reality is that he memorized the books his father read to him and he didn’t need to read them ever again to remember them. At the age of three he went to the dictionary, which he also memorized, to finish with what is estimated to have been around 9,000 books in his life.

As in the case described by Borges, his great memory and other abilities did not help him in his day-to-day life (coordination problems) or in analyzing or drawing conclusions. Apparently the reason for his ability would be related to the absence of a corpus callosum in his brain, causing his neurons to form a compact mass of connections that amplified his capacity, combined all this with an evident case of macrocephaly.

Kim’s father met Barry Morrow, the scriptwriter for the film “Rain Man,” at a conference in the State of Texas in 1984. The film introduced the “Sage Syndrome” or Savant into our lives, studied by Darold. Treffert. A “Savant”, or virtuoso of the arts in French, is a person who despite some physical, mental or other disability, possesses other skills that are normally developed at a much higher level.

It is associated with autism although it is estimated that less than 10% of autistics have abilities of this type . It is also estimated that half of the Savants are autistic, which does not help us much in our search (safe and without risk to our integrity) for an infinite memory. In a century of study, a maximum of one hundred people with this capacity are calculated. Treffet himself considers that less than 50 exist right now in the whole world with it. Other researchers, such as Snyder or Mottron and Dawson, tried to find the ability to induce skills, but without much success. Looking for alternatives, I went to ” The Big Bang Theory” , which allowed me to remember that there is what is known as Hypertrophic Eidetic Memory or Photographic Memory. Yes, those people who remember everything, like Sheldon Cooper or Will Hunting. If they only remember things related to their own existence, we speak of a Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory (HSAM), of which it is estimated that 20 such people have been studied around the world (all in the USA). They are the “Google Humans” who suffer from hyperthymesia or excess memories. Unfortunately it is a quality that, coming as standard, can be lost if it is not diagnosed and worked on.

It appears suddenly and from that moment those who suffer from it begin to remember a large number of details of their day to day. In this case, Jill Price , who published a book about her case in 2008, can remember all the days of her life since she turned 14. Remember that at the age of 8, in 1974, you were beginning to be aware that something was not normal in your memory.

Unfortunately these people do not always have the ability to memorize anything, usually their memories are focused on aspects of their own life. They also do not use techniques or mnemonic rules that can be learned or replicated by others, or managed or improved. There are several recorded cases besides Jill Price (the long time patient AJ), all of them very similar.

For example Brad Williams, Rick Baron or Marilu Henner, star of a TV series in the US, which is the place of origin in most cases. The study of these patients by a team from the University of California at Irvine, led by Dr. Parker, has helped to better understand where and how data is stored in the brain.

It has not helped so much to the bearers of this gift, since as Jill herself has the negative part of spending much of her life in the past, of not being able to identify what each key is for , of suffering problems with recognition facial of people and also showing obsessive-compulsive tendencies.

Become a Foer

At this point on the road it seems that the alternatives to have a memory “in keeping with the times” were having an accident waiting for luck to smile on us, inducing a genetic or birth anomaly and little else. Is there no other way to get an elephant memory? A journalist in the United States dedicated a year of his life to finding the solution to this problem. Our great man is Joshua Foer , who decided to leave everything to better know the people who were professionally dedicated to developing their memory, even training himself for the memory championships in the USA.

Without any prior knowledge of the subject, or special ability, or natural genetics, he won the championship in 2006. He ended up writing his experience in a book, ” The challenges of memory ” can be found in Spanish, “Moonwalking with Einstein : the art and science of remembering everything ”in English. Joshua also gives TED talks explaining how “normal people” can expand their retention capacity.

One of his first discoveries was the millenary mnemonic techniques , such as the palaces of memory. Aristotle spoke already in his time of places where we were able to store content to be remembered. The thing did not remain in the past: the ars memorativa was discussed and studied in classical sources or medieval studies. Saint Augustine wrote profusely about memory in his “Confessions”, in fact the term appears about 100 times, and also refers to a place where we can access and where memories are kept.

Frances Yates in her book “The Art of Memory” (1969) confirmed how the ancient Greeks and Romans used a technique based on prior memorization of the arrangement of everything in a room or building. Joshua Foer includes in his the story of the Greek Simonides of Ceos, who was enjoying a banquet with friends in the 5th century BC when everything collapsed around him, most of those present perishing. A survivor of the catastrophe, he suddenly became a history of memory when, abstracting from what happened and taking as a reference the columns, tables and general arrangement of the room, he managed to lead the relatives of the deceased by the hand to tell them where they were at the moment that everything changed in their lives. Joshua and the legend say that at that moment, with this practical demonstration of the Simónides technique, the study of memory began its official journey.

This is how the idea of using a physical “place” as a reference is the basis of this mnemonic technique known as the Loci Method (plural of the Latin term “locus” or location, location). We first memorize a “container”, a reference, for example using a building or a house, ultimately a place we know; we can even create one from scratch. Once it is developed, we design routes through it, to also have an order, a sequence that we will follow to move through it and that will act as a common thread, turning a complex task into a pleasant walk.

Information stored in Brain

In this way we solve two important problems: remembering things that the brain has trouble remembering naturally, and remembering them in context even when they do not have them per se. The idea, later copied by communications engineers, of using a “carrier” of the message, which facilitates its transport and storage, is as old as our culture. Greeks and Romans in their ancient rhetorical treatises, such as the ” Rhetorica ad Herennium “, the oldest surviving book of rhetoric in Latin to this day (originating from the year 90 BC), already spoke of the places to store things in our memory.

Problem solved … for now

At this point part of the problem seemed solved. We could not confirm if the brain could remember all the information that is generated, but we did know that there were people who remembered everything , and that following Foer’s instructions, anyone could learn to memorize a large amount of important information, such as the dates essential to survive in a modern couple relationship. And after all, if Foer, a journalist, had been able to do it, anyone should be able to be.

The post How much information can our brain store? appeared first on Technoeager- tech blogs and articles.

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crypter-047 · 4 years

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Ideas and Stories

Note: I went to look at a sticky note on my desktop and momentarily minimized the browser. Three seconds later, boom, what was practically an essay vanished. This is Take-Two, and 3 AM me hopes it’s the final take. Fortunately, Tumblr doesn’t have a character limit. (though I could always post in two parts)

A while ago in debate club, my teacher mentioned an interesting concept: instead of perceiving a speech or essay as being that you “have to say something”, find a way in where you just “have something to say”. The idea kinda just sat with me, like most concepts in school did: a 50% “cool”, 50% “interesting” kind of feeling. I didn’t give it much thought then.

The concept recurred when I was reading through the requirements of an essay later that year: “maximum 2,000 words.” Although its primary cause is probably to preserve the sanity of the teacher and ensure the quality of writing, my mind drifted back to the idea. It made sense, especially as the subject was to prepare us for uni and the bigger world, one where a person had to be self-motivated, fueled by their own ideals and beliefs. In the professional world, nobody wanted someone who had to change “can’t”s to “can not”s in order to drag themselves over the minimum effort line, and the lack of a lower word limit reflected that.

The idea resurfaced yet again earlier this year, when our school sent out a notice of the upcoming TEDx Youth event themed “Vision 2020” hosted at our auditorium, encouraging performers, musicians and most importantly, speakers, to take to the stage. Seeing as I didn’t have an ounce of talent, musical or otherwise, I was more inclined to becoming a speaker. I thought about speech ideas for quite a while then, looking at TED talks, at current events, even at Carmine Gallo’s book, “Talk Like TED” I got a year or so ago. Its table of contents looked a little like this:

Unleash the Master Within

Master the Art of Storytelling

Have a Conversation

Teach Me Something New

Deliver Jaw-Dropping Moments

Lighten Up

Stick to the 18-Minute Rule

Paint a Mental Picture with Multisensory Experiences

Stay in Your Lane

Of this table of contents, the boldened words stuck out to me. Through semesters of Spanish speaking and that Grade 6 autobiography unit in English, it was no mystery how bland my life seemed to be, or how little I managed to capture even of that. Each question in those units had me flipping my mental cabinets inside out, searching for the smallest nugget, the most minute anecdote that was worthy of mention at all. It was clear that I had no story to tell, or by the very least, didn’t know how to look for one.

As for specialities, the utter normalcy of my life seems to magnify by a thousandfold outside of school. The talents my friends possess range from:

Instrument playing/ singing/ outright just opera,

Web design and programming in general,

Badminton/ volleyball/ track and field/ swimming,

Sailing,

Arts, design and calligraphy,

Theatre/ performance,

Rainbow Six Seige (though he’s taking a 6-year hiatus to focus on studies, started the 2nd of April),

And many more extracurriculars I just probably don’t know about because the legends don’t even need to flex about their talents,

and then there’s me. I like Math and Science, but... that’s basically it. I have no lane to stick to, much less anything new to teach.

Although the truth hit me like a baseball bat to the left pinky, I still tried to think of ideas, at one point deciding whether to resort to making a talk narrating the process of finding a topic to talk about. The event is scheduled for the 1st of June, and I haven’t signed up yet, so I suppose the most I’ll be involved in the event would probably be as an audience (if the event is still going on, with all the COVID-19 stuff).

However, the whole experience wasn’t just the baseball bat to the left pinky. Looking at the life I lead, barely finding anything of note to bring up when icebreaking with strangers or planning for speeches, I decided to take a proactive approach. This could all be me cooped up from the quarantine talking, but I’ve got a few project ideas in mind, plans to spice up and add a twist to my state of normalcy. Goals, in no particular order:

Learning:

The NATO phonetic alphabet (alpha bravo charlie)

International phonetic alphabet (the Greek and Latin letters that show up indicating pronunciation in dictionaries)

Morse code (yes there is a cryptography/ linguistics theme here)

The 88 IAU official constellation shapes, names and literal translations (astronomy not astrology)

Talents:

How to crack open eggs with one hand (because that’s cool)

How to spin a book (because that’s cool)

How to lockpick (because that’s cool please don’t flag me thx)

How to play polyrhythms

How to juggle

How to type using an alternative keyboard scheme (DVORAK anyone?)

Improving:

My knifework

My typing speed

I realize that this is a pretty long list with activities that could last beyond my college years, but I suppose I get to dream big, especially with a goal to make my life more interesting. Passerbys feel free to critique, judge, contribute, or copy.

I’m not gonna pretend I came up with this idea (because that’s probably how I sounded before the list). JaidenAnimations had a project in the past where she reviewed all the different varieties of apples at her local supermarket, and Mike Boyd has a major part of his channel dedicated to learning things. (Heck, he’s even got a “5 skills to learn while under quarantine lockdown” video). This idea probably wouldn’t have occurred as fast to me if not for them though I suppose the thought rather naturally came while I was starting a bucket list.

It’s almost 4 where I am, and I need sleep. Sorry for the lengthy read, and depending on where you are, good afternoon, buenas noches, and おはようございます.

#sleep early #storytelling #texteditorthings #demskills

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garp20-evie · 4 years

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The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology : Based on H. J. Rose's Handbook of Greek Mythology

‘Although this is essentially a new book in its present form, I originally embarked on it with the intention of producing a revised version of H.J. Rose’s classic Handbook of Greek Mythology, and the final product remains indebted to that work in many respects, incorporating some material from it and following its general plan in parts, especially in the chapters on divine mythology.’ - Robin Hard.

For my search into a better understanding of Greek mythology, I learnt very quickly that the internet alone does not suffice. Providing opinions, interpretations, articles saying that information is wrong where others say it’s right...my head was left royally screwed.

But books? Way more reliable.

After searching through the LJMU library, I found this book, The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology. After reading the Preface, I knew I could safely place my trust into its weathered pages. It focuses on Greek mythology rather than getting tangled with Roman sources, it keeps the names of deities, heroes and heroins in their original Greek form (makes reading the book SO much easier), and it references H. J. Rose's Handbook of Greek Mythology, 1928 (a rather reliable source if ya ask me).

This is a hefty book, and I do nOT have the time to be reading it from cover to cover. So I stuck to chapters that I thought were best suited to my main subject, astrology, reading chapters relating to the zodiac and its relevant God/story.

Zeus - Taurus. Zeus, is often represented in art and literature alike, as associated with the oak, a tree marked out as appropriate not only by its beauty and majesty and its long life, but also by two conspicuous facts, namely that it grew very widely in Ancient Greece and is struck very frequently by lightning (as the ancients noticed and modern forestry has proved statistically). Two important attributes of Zeus are the thunderbolt and aegis. Of the former it need only be said that before the true character of electrical phenomena came to be understood, the destructive power of lightning encouraged the thought that some heavy and pointed missile came down from the sky with the lightning-flash; and what could be more natural than to assume that it was the special weapon of the sky-god? In Greek art, Zeus’ thunderbolt was shown as a biconical object, often having conventionalised lightning-flashes attached, and sometimes wings also. Page 73

Castor and Polydeuces - Gemini pages 386,438,526-9

Hera - Cancer. ‘Although Hera was highly revered as a cultic deity, it was perhaps inevitable in view of Zeus’ countless infidelities that she should;d have been condemned to an undignified role in many of her myths, which frequently present her as a wronged and vindictive wife who is constantly wrangling with her husband and persecuting his mistresses and their children.’ ‘Zeus boasted of his intentions to the other gods, telling them that Eileithuia, the goddess of childbirth, would bring a man to birth on that day who would be king over all who lived around him (i.e. in Argo), and would be born from the race of those who came from Zeus’ blood (i.e. from the Perseids, who were descended from Perseus, son of Zeus). By making this ill-advised declaration, he alerted Hera, who resented all her husband’s illegitimate children and immediately plotted to rob this one of his intended inheritance. Pages 138, 258-9

Zeus - Leo. ‘Herakles re-organised the Namean Games (which had been founded by Adrastos and the Seven) as a festival in honour of Zeus; it was claimed that he victors were awarded a crown of wild parsley because the hero had worn one at the above mentioned sacrifice to Zeus. A version of this tale was recounted by Callimachus, who is the earliest author who is know to have mentioned it. In astral mythology, Hera was said to have rewarded the lion by transferring it to the heavens to become the constellation of the Lion (Leo).’ Page 257

Demeter and her daughter Persephone - Virgo. Demeter and her daughter Persephone. Hades chose to marry Persephone, the only daughter of his sister Demeter, who was the goddess of corn and agriculture generally, and the patroness of the Eleusinian Mysteries. Since he stole Persephone from the upper world in secret from her mother, who was greatly distressed by her disappearance and was so determined to recover her, the ancient legend that tells of the abduction and its consequences is the main myth of Demeter as well as of Hades and the maiden herself. In the end, a compromise was imposed in which Persephone spent part of the year below with Hades and part in the upper world with her mother. Persephone was a goddess of twofold character accordingly, being at once the awesome queen of the dead and a goddess of the fertility of the earth and in conjunction with Demeter. Page 125

Dike - Libra. ‘The Horai or Seasons, another set of sister-goddesses.’ ‘Although they are sometimes known as the Hours, their name does not really mean hour in the English or Latin sense, but simply time or season, and they represent the seasons of the year.’ ‘They were more commonly imagined as being three in number (representing spring, summer and winter); and as well as being concerned with growth and fertility in connection with the turning year, they also acquired moral and social concerns goddesses who protected the good order that is essential for the flourishing of agriculture and prosperity in general. This is reflected in their names in the Theogony, which calls them Eunomia, Dike and Eirene, in other words, Good Oder, Justice and Peace.’ When looking at the zodiac symbol for Libra, you see scales, because of how Dike was famous for serving justice through retribution. Page 209

Gaia - Scorpio pages 23-4,28,31

Cheiron the centaur - Sagittarius pages, 54,55,73,149-150,152,259,271,299381,397,458,534

Pan - Capricorn pages 46,85,157,164,214-8,501

Ganymedes - Aquarius pages 118,275,472,522

Eros and Aphrodite - Pisces. ‘The one great goddess who remains to be considered is Aphrodite, who presided over sexual attraction and the pleasures of love (ta Aphrodisia) and all that is associated with them.’ ‘As the goddess of love, Aphrodite is regularly attended to by Eros, the personification of the amorous desire, who fulfils his purposes by inspiring love in gods and mortals alike.’ ‘Eros came to be imagined above all as a capricious and playful child-god; rather than being shown as a handsome young athlete, or as a young boy as in classical art, he was now generally shown as a pretty child, a little winged archer who was ever ready to work mischief on gods or mortals with his arrows. This is the form in which he has usually been imagined since the Renaissance, as innocuousCupid rather than the old Greek Eros. Page 194

Aries -

Milky Way origin page 249-50

orian 47,109,115,166,192,518,520,561-4

astral mythology

THIS IS NOT FINISHED - I WILL EDIT THIS

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riisinaakka-draws · 7 years

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No one asked, but I made a little recap of the “Safe again” gif & drawing, if you are interested. I hope it adds some light to the process without destroying the magic, lol.

Before going futher, I must admit that I cannot remember all the details and there were a lot of trials and errors. I made the first sketch at the end of April, continued it a bit in May and left it alone for weeks until finally finishing it in June. Also, the psd file with all the layers is such a mess that it would not help you, so no screen caps about that.

So, this is not a tutorial but more like a recap or the backstory of the thought process and the finished drawing.

Preparations: - watch the best show in the world (Black Sails) - reach episodes 4.01 & 4.02 and weep at the beauty - let the season finale destroy you (and lift you up)

Ingredients:

- an idea, textures, references, time, drawing software, pen tablet

Steps:

Initial idea. Silver surrounded by the light and warmth of his two important people, him radiating golden light and illuminating the others’ features (the other two are relieved after getting him back safe and sound)

- or all three of them as gods, stories, legends, constellations etc.?

- or just Silver's sad dream years later when he is gazing at the stars, figures on the night sky etc...?

- sketch a doodle in a hurry, think about the stars and how to add them quickly to try the initial idea

-> remember the picture serie of noodle soup you took a while ago. Remember how cool "the whirling galaxy" aka “oily broth before adding noodles” looked like in the kettle (I have used or considered using other food textures before, e.g. blueberry-pie, the remains of burned macaroni casserole, foam, tea). Keep your eyes open and collect your own cool textures :D Or use free textures etc.

- edit in photoshop to bring out dots, shapes, whatever (or just skip this part and paint the splatter on the get-go with brushes...lmao). I just like to find surprises with textures, like the randomness or what sort of new things and ideas they may add or provoke. You can do this with any abstract splatter or shape and so on...

- This was the noodle broth and there’s the used area. (The circles and green clumps didn’t look as good as I first thought, so I used the area without them).

Some other examples, not used in this one:

- let it marinate and haunt you for weeks, do other stuff, learn new things, read fanfiction, rewatch earlier episodes, hone your skills, cry

- start working with the idea, look at references (important!), figure out how six hands work?? what's visible, what's in the shadows etc... what doesn’t need to be shown and still have the composition work...

- continue the doodle, add layers, shapes, slowly build the composition, let it alone for a day, a week, a month...

- Look at it with fresh eyes and remember to mirror image once in a while to see any mistakes. Grunt with frustration, re-do things, look more references

I couldn’t quite decide where to put James’ hand, so I kept testing. Madi’s hand was always supposed to be over John’s heart (yeah I know the heart is more in the center, but you get the gist ;) I also wanted James and Madi to have some sort of connection -> in the final piece their pinkies are touching :)

- add another texture layer (I had colour dodge on), move it around to find the best place and see the sparks flying accidentally (this was actually done quite early on but anyway)

-> go WOAH! (ʘ‿ʘ)

- continue drawing, occasionally play with the texture layers, try giffing, listen to Finnish (symphonic / power) metal music, have an epiphany, cry about feelings

- Stop at some point. Let it brew more, do not look at it. Next time you look at it, is it ok? No? Yes? Ok, good. Spent a while concising all the thoughts to a few obligatory sentences to have an explanation, fill the tags with ramblings, post it, go for a run walk, preferably to see the sea. Look at the sunset, listen to seagulls and sigh. Return to read other people crying about their feelings that the drawing evoke. Grin and eat more cheap noodles.

Some random notes:

Flint’s blinking moon was a last minute addition (the tattoo was there, but I thought it would be cool to emphasize it more and it fit the overall theme)

To mirror that, Madi’s shining earring represents the sun (or a bright star)

All three of them have their rings, although it may not be clear

that splotch that flies past them has no special meaning, I just liked it. Not sure if it’s a piece of leek or something in the soup. At some point I considered making it look like a crown or a shooting star or a lantern or something.

Working music ended up being Nightwish’s “Nemo”:

Oh how I wish For soothing rain All I wish is to dream again My loving heart Lost in the dark For hope I'd give my everything

My flower, withered between The pages 2 and 3 The once and forever bloom gone with my sins (ಥ‿ಥ) Walk the dark path ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) Sleep with angels (˵ ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°˵) Call the past for help (*whispers* get Thomas to end Flint’s war...) Touch me with your love And reveal to me my true name

(and so on..)

“Nemo” is Latin for “nobody, no one”. Silver is “a nobody from nowhere”.

favouritealias also pointed out the BS quote:“There is freedom in the darkness, once someone has illuminated it." and I can’t believe I didn’t realize that 8D

Lastly. Silver can’t quite believe the luck he has (to have these two in his arms again and in overall), Flint’s finally able to sleep peacefully now that he is back and Madi and John cannot stop smiling at each other. Madi inspects John’s little scratches and wounds and he’s happy to have had a bath before they laid down for the night. Flint keeps sniffing his hair. He also made secret unspoken promises with Madi to keep Silver (and each other) safe in the future (pinky promise).

tl;dr: read later then, lol ;) (if interested in the first place)

I’m not very good at putting my thoughts into words, but there you have it. Thank you for reading! ( ˘ ³˘)♥

#i did this draft/post weeks ago but then forgot it #starting with a really shitty doodle takes the edge off #and it helps to just put it on paper and return to it later without forgetting the idea #that's why most of my first bs doodles are well... doodles (or as I sometimes like to think: stage 1)#dundunduu #nowadays I leave the first draft for a while and return to them later #I have also learned shitton of things and gained more confidence #most of it is thanks to black sails and its fandom #so thank you #you have no idea how much i appreciate you all

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resplendencestars-blog · 5 years

Text

Quiz with Pictures

1. When you look up at the night sky on a clear night, you can sometimes see what looks like a cloudy streak across the sky. What is this called?

a. Cirrus

b. Altostratus Translucidus

c. Cumulonimbus

d. The Milky Way

2. The arrow in this picture is pointing to Betelgeuse, a large red star that forms the shoulder of a constellation thought to represent an ancient Greek hunter. What is its name?

a. Orion

b. Draco

c. Canis Major

d. Lyra

3. Here is another shape in the night sky that people in the northern hemisphere find easy to recognise. Most North Americans simply call it the Big Dipper, but it is actually part of a larger constellation which the ancient observers fancied resembled a large bear. Which of these is it?

a. Ursa Major

b. Felix Minor

c. Canis Major

d. Serpens

4. The two stars in the Big Dipper that form the side furthest from its handle are often called the pointers, because a line drawn through them will help you locate the star at the end of the handle of this shape, the Little Dipper. What is special about this star?

a. It is Alpha Centauri, the closest star to us (aside from our sun)

b. It is Polaris, the North Star

c. It is Sirius, the brightest star in the sky

d. It is Sigma Octantis, the South Star

5. The three brightest stars in this image are called Altair, Deneb and Vega. What name is given for the pattern they seem to form in the sky?

a. Summer Triangle

b. Autumn Triangle

c. Winter Triangle

d. Spring Triangle

6. For a change, here is a constellation that is most associated with the southern hemisphere. What is the name of the smallest of the 88 constellations which are currently recognised?

a. Aries

b. Serpens

c. Crux

d. Draco

7. This map of the stars has had the shape of the constellation Cygnus drawn in. Without that line, you might find it hard to recognise that Cygnus is which of these types of animal?

a. Insect

b. Horse

c. Swan

d. Fish

8. The fifth largest of the currently recognised constellations is named after a famous Greek mythological figure who completed twelve tasks to atone for having killed his wife and children in a fit of madness. The constellation uses the Roman form of his name. Which of these is it?

a. Perseus

b. Odysseus

c. Achilles

d. Hercules

9. Although he appears to be standing on his head, this map shows the constellation named after the flying horse whose mother was the gorgon Medusa, and whose father was Poseidon. What is it called?

a. Bellerophon

b. Chrysaor

c. Pegasus

d. Perseus

10. The W shape of Casseopeia in the sky is easier to locate than it is to interpret as what it represents. Which of these is that?

a. A snake

b. A harp

c. A dragon

d. A seated woman

Answers:

1. d. The Milky Way

It is not a cloud (which the incorrect options all are), it is actually our galaxy, which is called the Milky Way because of what you see in the night sky. The galaxy is a flat spiral in shape, and our planet is near the outside of it, so if you look towards the centre of the galaxy you see so many stars that they seem to merge into a white, milky, glow, rather than standing out as individual stars.

2. a. Orion

According to Greek mythology, Orion was a giant, and a great hunter. There are lots of different versions of his life story, including one that says he was killed by a scorpion, which is why the constellation named after him is on the opposite side of the sky from that of Scorpio, the scorpion.

Orion is one of the easiest constellations to recognise, with the three stars forming his belt and the three stars pointing downwards from it to form his sword standing out clearly in the night sky. Orion lies close to the celestial equator, which means that it can be seen from both hemispheres. However, when I moved from the northern hemisphere to the southern one, I was surprised to find that he seemed to be standing on his head!

The star Betelgeuse (pronounced as if it were Beetle Juice), was my brother's favorite star to find and name when we were children. Mine was Rigel, the bright white star that forms Orion's foot on the side opposite to Betelgeuse (in the lower right corner of the image used for this question).

3. a. Ursa Major

Ursa is Latin for bear, but you need a vivid imagination to see a bear up there! I just look for the portion which I recognise easily, the Big Dipper, shaped like a ladle that you might dip into a bucket of water. Astronomers call it an asterism, which means it is a pattern formed by the stars, but not a proper constellation. In Africa, it is sometimes called a gourd rather than a dipper, while in many parts of Europe it is described as a plough or a wagon.

4. b. Polaris, the North Star

Like the Big Dipper, the Little Dipper is only part of a constellation - in its case, Ursa Minor, the Little Bear. The star at the end of its handle is always (very close to) directly north, so it can be used to help you find your way if you are lost at night. Because the stars are constantly moving in space, and the patterns change because of shifts in the Earth's axis of rotation, it will not always be the North Star - around 3000 CE, the pole star will be Gamma Cephei.

5. a. Summer Triangle

Altair is the brightest star in the constellation of Aquila, Deneb of Cygnus and Vega of Lyra. (I won't translate these names, as we will be seeing at least one of them again.) In the northern hemisphere, the Summer Triangle can be seen overhead and quite bright during the summer, but is also appears in the eastern sky during spring, and in the western sky during autumn. For those of us who live in the southern hemisphere, it is visible (upside down, and low in the sky rather than overhead) during our winter.

There is a Chinese legend, 'The Weaver Girl and the Cowherd', dating over 2500 years ago, which refers to this pattern. Vega is called the Weaver Girl Star, and Altair the Cowherd Star. These two love each other deeply, but this was forbidden, and they were doomed to stay separate in the sky except for one day a year, when magpies form a bridge to join them briefly.

6. c. Crux

The word crux is Latin for cross. While the ancient Greeks could see these stars, they considered them to be part of the larger constellation of Centaurus. By around 400 BCE, the motion of the stars in the sky had led to it only being visible from the southern hemisphere (unless you are very near the equator, in which case you will see it for a few hours a night, barely above the horizon, in winter months). The five brightest stars in Crux are usually called the Southern Cross, a pattern which is used on the national flags of a number of countries, including Australia and New Zealand.

7. c. Swan

It is obviously a bird, and the long neck should help you identify it as a swan. Although it seems to me that a goose would be just as good a description, the ancients had a nice myth (actually, several of them) to go along with calling it a swan. You can see Deneb, part of the Summer Triangle, near the centre of Cygnus. Deneb is one end of a shape called the Northern Cross, which is part of Cygnus. Many find this easier to locate than Cygnus in its entirety.

8. d. Hercules

Herakles, as the Greeks called him, was constantly harassed by Hera, his stepmother. At one point, she induced him to kill his family in a frenzy, an act which he bitterly regretted when he came to his senses. She arranged for him to complete Twelve Labours as penance, then did her best to make them impossible for him. He is shown in the constellation as kneeling, supposedly because he is in the midst of appealing to Zeus to help him defeat two giants in a battle that occurred after he had completed his tenth task.

9. c. Pegasus

Pegasus and Chrysaor were twins, born when Perseus decapitated their mother, who was pregnant to Poseidon, the god of horses and of the sea. Pegasus was captured by Bellerophon, who rode him to fight against the Chimera. When Bellerophon asked Pegasus to fly him to Olympus, the hero fell off and plummeted to earth (either because Zeus threw a thunderbolt to block the way, or because Pegasus bucked him off in deference to the wishes of the Olympian gods). Zeus turned Pegasus into a constellation, to fly through the night skies forever.

10. d. A seated woman

Cassiopeia was an Ethiopian queen, who bragged that she (or, in some versions, her daughter Andromeda) was more beautiful than the Nereids. As punishment, she and Andromeda were placed in the sky, where the throne in which she is half-sitting, half-reclining rotates around the North Star. For half the year, she is upside down (and looks like an M instead of a W), and must hang on for dear life lest she fall to the earth.

#feedyourmind

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