#(also my apologies for the gendered russian nicknames)

[pfhwrittes]

inspired by my own tags on the latest post for the tradieverse

tags for posterity: #tradie!141#nikolai#the man steers with his knees going at least 10mph over the speed limit on the narrowest road you've ever seen#while rolling a cigarette or chatting to the pretty thing back at the depot on his phone#(don't be like nik - don't do this)#he also does some...dubiously legal things when it comes to his tacho card but that's a whole other story#(also do not fuck with your tacho card - it's VERY illegal)

"hello, sweetness." nikolai's voice purrs over the sound of the rumbling engine of his truck into your ear and you roll your eyes in response despite the fact he's unable to see you.

"don't call me that, nikolai." you reply immediately, keeping your voice calm and level. you can't show him that he's gotten under your skin otherwise he'll send you endless bouquets of flowers (like the last time you'd snapped at him) or offer to show you a great hands on relaxation technique he knows.

"but milaya, how else will you know that i'm thinking of you?"

you huff down the phone at him and earn yourself a chuckle. you very pointedly ignore the way the sound makes your ears warm and focus on the manifest in front of you.

"i'm not here for you to flirt with, i need to know what you're doing with this order of -" you squint at the unintelligible handwritten scrawl "-whatever it is for price."

nik hums and you wait for him to explain further, which, of course, he doesn't.

"nik! for god's sake -" your tone goes sharp, unwilling to play his silly games today of all days, and he interrupts you.

"my apologies milaya, i was distracted by your beautiful voice. it's fine. i delivered the -" the connection goes static-y and you catch the tail end of what you're sure is some creative russian swearing and the sounds of horns honking before he continues, "-i'm on my way back to the depot now, my sweet office mouse."

you look at the manifest again and blink, that shouldn't be possible taking into account the afternoon rush hour.

"nikolai."

"yes, moya milaya?" he croons, and you know he's smirking around a lit cigarette.

"please tell me you took your break." it's not begging if you have to ask due to the law, at least that's what you tell yourself.

nikolai heaves a lovelorn sigh, "i would tell you anything you wanted to hear, sweetness."

"that's what i'm afraid of." you mutter to yourself.

"hm? what was that?"

"nothing." you shoot back, ignoring the way the back of your neck is prickling with warmth. how is it that every time you need to ring nikolai the conversation always ends up going off the rails?

"perhaps, if you're worried about my breaks, you should let me take you to dinner when i come back, hm?" nikolai is using that tone, the dangerously persuasive one that you're sure charmed your predecessor, and you ignore the way something in your stomach somehow manages to float and curdle simultaneously.

"no i - it wouldn't be appropriate. thank you for confirming the manifest, nik. that's all i needed." your tone is perhaps a touch too brusque and nikolai sighs deeply, the sound crackling lightly with static.

"ah well. perhaps another time, milaya." you're not sure but it sounds like nikolai is forcing his tone to be falsely light. "i must go, the police like to hide at this junction of the motorway."

and with that the call ends.

you frown lightly at the manifest in front of you, how strange... you were sure price's drop point didn't require nik to travel on the M6 today...

[therabine]

In case you were wondering why wordbuilding for Ravka feels so random

After going down the rabbit hole in my search for answers I've stumbled across this conversation on goodreads dated back to the November of 2013, where Leigh Bardugo replied to some reasonable criticism about her 'cultural inspiration"- https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1533856-has-bardugo-talked-about-the-russian-inconsistencies This conversation is quite long and miss Leigh gave about three replies to various questions from people that were deeply bothered by the very surface level research she did on the Russian cilture. Here are the major highlights, plus the other things I've found while goodling: 1) As far as I've understood - neither she nor her publishers expected the first book to blow up like this. So even though there was obvoiusy a lack of proper research and some mistakes variying from minor to insulting, now that she's an esteemed author Leigh claims all of it to be deliberate choices adding that "deliberate choices aren't necessarily good ones". She also tries to lift the responsibility off her shoulders, mentioning that her work "was reviewed not just by my editor, but by copy editors, proofreaders, multiple foreign editors, and foreign copy editors". Not a single word about actual Russian-speaking person/expert reviweing the text or helping her out with creating the Ravkan language though. The only person she's ever credited as the one who helped her out with creating Ravkan is Erdene Ukhaasai from Mongolia that she's been friends on Facebook at the time (source on this one - https://ageofsteam.wordpress.com/2012/04/25/genre-friction-what-is-tsarpunk-by-leigh-bardugo/ ). The Facebook page under this name currently doesn't exist and the only results that Google shows on this person are the mentions that Leigh Bardugo gave in her interview, so unfortunately I couldn't reach out for clarification on this topic. Still, it's highly unlikey that someone with zero publications under their name would be a proffesional linguist and therefore qualified for such a task. 2) Within your secondary world, unless you are writing satire, things should make internal sense. That world could not arize independently of its context. The problem with the Bardugo's Ravka is that it's based on Russian Empire alone, yet she claims that "it's only Russian inspired" without acknowledging that most people that are not familiar with the culture will take it in as authentic. She takes the words and objects out of the context, misgenders names and last names and creates new 'russian-sounding" words without understanding how the grammar works. Which is a shame, given how flexible Russian language is - the possibility for the word-building is endless and with the right guidance she truly could make some unique and meaningful terms specifically for the Ravka. Also on the alcoholic kvas issue - Leigh proudly claims this as a solution to be a vodka "substitute", because vodka would be too on the nose and too common (more on the matter here -https://www.leighbardugo.com/grishaverse/the-archives/tongue-twister/). What didn't cross her mind is that instead of turning a non-alcoholic drink into strong booze for "wordbuilding" it would be much better to use less known drinks whic do contain alcohol - braga, samogon, nalivka - just to name a few.

3) To elaborate on some of the specific issues with names and last names: Leigh doesn't seem to understand how gendered surnames work in Russian. That's why we get stuff like Alina Starkov (when it's supposed to be Starkova, because she's a woman) and Alexander Morozova (Morozov would be a correct form) etc. This system is never consistent - Mal Oretsev gets to have a male surname, but so does Genya Safin and Zoya Nazyalensky has a weird non-gendered kind of in between last name (very much in fashion of Natasha Romanoff, who would be called Natalia Romanova in Russian). Also must mention Ana Kuya - poor woman's name literally sounds like "why the f*ck" in Russian, that's about just as bad as naming your Asian character Whata Phuck. Again - none of this nonsense would happen if someone bothered to find a Russian-speaking person to read the text. Other Russian words she tries to throw in seem to be the result of a bad Google Translate, rather than a conscious choice: for example the word otkazats'ya that she uses to describe non-grishas is actually a verb that translates as "to refuse". The noun with the meaning of "the refused one" would be otkaznik or otkazniki for a plural form. Same with sobachka ("small dog") - the context from the book suggests this nickname to be an insulting one, so the word we're really looking for would be shchenok ("puppy") or shavka ("mongrel", "cur"). The list of those examples, honestly, goes on and on.

4) Leigh does mention that she "can acknowledge that the choices I made in building the language and culture of Ravka came from a place of insularity and a type of privilege". However she's more keen to talk about how she has "certainly encountered critics, but I've also had Russian fans"...Which to me sounds about just as bad as stating "I do have *insert a minority racial group* friends and they say that me doing *insert a dubious act* is fine". The problem is that Russian culture has been demonized and overlooked for so long that most people (myself included) tend to praise content creators for including even the most sterytypical "insprations". Just because some people are willing to excuse her voluntary ignorance, doesn't mean that it's okay.

5) No books on Russian culture that she's mentioned as part of the resarch were written by Russian authors. And while reading the SaB it becomes crystal clear that that the major 'cultural inspiration' Leigh got was not from those books, but from the monstrosity that is her tsapunk pinterest board - https://www.pinterest.ru/lbardugo/tsarpunk-inspiration/ . About 80% of the stuff there doesn't even relate to Russian culture and the rest is a mash of modern knockoffs.

To summorize it: Leigh very much knew about the concerns surrounding her "Russian-inspired" Ravka which were respectfully brought to her consideration by her Russian speaking fans back in 2012-2013. She said "I've taken it to heart and it's something that I've tried to be conscious of as I move forward in the series and my other work", apologized and then she did nothing to do better. She marketed Shadow and Bone as "Tsarpunk", fetishisizing Russian culture and using it as a unique setting to uplift a generic "light vs. dark" fantasy plot supported by the bland narrative of the Chosen One. There was an effort and will to make a change for the better, not a single letter has been changed for us. When I think about, I can't really remember anything that would ring as a thoughtful and clever element adapted into the story from Russian culture. If everything is always altered or twisted, if there is nothing true or authentic then should you really call it Russian-inspired? Should you really make profit off it and call this aesthetic tsarpunk?

Leigh Bardugo could have fixed the most jarring problems with the material while doing the adaptation from book to screen, but she chose not to. There was no effort made to include more people of slavic descent as a major part of production team or as background actors. Almost nothing of the production design or clothing was inspired by Russian culture. To elaborate: I'm not even mad. I'm just deeply sad and hurt by the indifference.

Some might argue that this book series was not written for Russians, that it was written for the western audience. But don't they deserve respectfully researched and authentic stories too?

[csykora]

A thought about meaningful change

I don’t want to distract from the most recent thing Benn did. I’m going to be talking about several different things, and some might seem smaller than others: I know. I’m not saying that the newest thing isn’t important enough on its own or that everything’s on the same level. But I think patterns can be useful.

(I have also made myself sick with nerves a couple times so I’m posting this as is: sorry for typos, and while I’ll stand behind my ideas there may be some sentences that are a little long or awkwardly worded).

Back in 2015, Jame Benn and Tyler Seguin were doing a radio interview.

Some of you might be thinking, “You want to talk about THIS, AGAIN?” Yes. More of you are probably thinking, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Yeah, that’s what I want to talk about.

cw for discussions of sexual harassment, incest, homophobia, bullying, misogyny and transmisogyny, transphobia

So during this interview, one of the radio hosts asked Benn if he and his brother were ever road roommates. Benn said no, and the host commented that Henrik and Daniel Sedin probably roomed together.

“Well yeah…that’s the Sedins,” Seguin said.

“Who knows what else they do together?" Benn said. Everyone laughed.

“Seriously,” Seguin said.

"Dude, it's creepy," the radio hosts said, "In fact, it's a good example to future brothers in the NHL on how not to do things." Then they reassured Benn, “In no way am I implying that you have a Sedin-type vibe going about you.”

Benn and Seguin laughed. The conversation continued, calling the Sedins creepy for wearing similar facial hair, leaving nearby and spending too much time together.

When asked pointblank, “Are the Sedins weird?” Benn answered, “I don’t know. I can’t say.”

To finish the sentence he didn’t: he was implying that the Sedin brothers fuck each other.

Now, these were shock jockeys. They were almost certainly hoping Benn and Seguin would say something homophobic. That said, even shock jockeys pre-screen an interview. They’re not going to invite just anyone on the air and try this with them, because all it takes is someone saying, “I don’t know what you mean,” or “No, I actually respect Dan and Henke a lot as my colleagues” to ruin that set up. If a shock jockey thinks you’re a mark, you’ve probably said something off-air that made them think you’re a mark. And if they dug a pit in front of him, Benn is still the one who decided to stick his dick in it and make things overtly sexual.

After, the Stars stated that Benn had “reached out” the Sedins to apologize. Seguin did not reach out but was “included” in whatever Benn wrote or said. Neither of them gave a public explanation or apology. As far as I can tell the Sedins never commented on whether they received that message, what sort of apology it was, or whether they accepted it. Henrik Sedin’s only comment was, “I think it says more about them than it does about us.”

Ways that homophobia is working here:

-the idea that two men having any degree of physical or emotional closeness, even family members, is suspicious.

-Benn roomed with his brother. Course he did. The hosts spell out what he was afraid of: that the other men in the room might think he had the wrong vibe. He was so afraid of them thinking he had unmanly vulnerabilities like liking his own brother that he misrepresented the situation and pushed someone else forward.

-the idea that a man having any relationship to another man’s physical body or appearance, is suspicious.

Dressing or looking too similar to another man—which means you’ve paid attention to how another man’s body looks in order to copy him, like you’re trying to take ownership of his body, which = fucking him—is a really common accusation. Gay men are seen as lusting after and trying to copy other men’s real masculinity for themselves (but of course never quite succeeding). A man thinking that another man who he knows or suspects to be gay looks too similar to him, and so must have been watching and ‘copying’ him, is a common spark for homophobic attacks.

-the idea that any of this could have been a joke depends on the idea that two men having sex is wacky and unrealistic. Imagine if that happened, wouldn’t that be weird.

Now, someone might say, “It’s not that gay sex is wacky, it’s that the incest that is!” First, incest accounts for a lot of childhood sexual abuse, so I wouldn’t say it’s wacky either. And while it’s true that people can say awful things to different gender twins as well out of a combination of gender prejudices, in this case there were also homophobic ideas about men and masculinity at play.

Ways that power is working here:

-People forgot this fast. It was treated as settled because the Stars said it was settled. People gave “kudos” to Benn “doing the right thing” afterward, or for seeming to realize what was happening and not saying yes to the final question.

 I would argue that “I don’t know, I can’t say” is somehow a worse answer to a yes-or-no question, because it means that either you want to say yes but you’re scared of the consequences, or you sincerely don’t know what to say. All he had to do was say “No.” After he said “I don’t know,” Seguin continued and said, “They are weird.” If Benn had said, “No, actually they’ve been professional when I’ve worked with them and I won’t comment any more on their personal life,” Sequin might have noticed, and Benn might have encouraged him to change his behavior. Not saying “no” was a direct, demonstrable failure to show any kind of leadership.

-This counts as workplace sexual harassment. I’m not saying a case should have been pursued: that should have been at least partly up to the Sedins (although there should also be workplace rules about what is and isn’t acceptable without the victims having to ask for it). But that’s a word we can use for this, this could have been counted as that. Sexual harassment are actions based on a person’s gender, assigned sex, sexual activity, or other qualities related to sex, not just sexual attraction. I worry that often, conflicted feelings about putting people into the category of “Sexual Harasser” lead people to think that actions “aren’t bad enough” to be sexual harassment when they definitionally can be. In other lines of work, if you talk about your coworkers fucking their twins in the office, there are rules about that: at the very least, you’ll be getting a bunch of trainings and be moved to a part of the office where you won’t see them again.

In the NHL, it seems frighteningly clear that people don’t have recourse for sexual harassment. This was discussed and handled as a “childish insult”, not harassment against two coworkers/employees. Often, there’s a logic that something is just an insult, not a ‘real’ threat, because the person who did it couldn’t possibly be sexually attracted to the person they did it to.

-In 2015 Eric and Jordan Staal were living in identical houses outside Raleigh and ‘playing’ together every night. Seems super suspicious. Unless beefy Canadian boys’ behavior is normal, and European masculinity always has to be questioned as being softer-spoken, slimmer, more intellectual, scared of heavy hitting. There are a lot of reasons you might not call Eric Staal gay—maybe you know he’s bigger than you, more successful on Team Canada than you, more popular with the other Team Canada guys than you. Or maybe you just don’t look at him and think he could be gay. Or both. Eric is positioned so you’d have to punch up at him: Benn tried to position himself closer to that kind of social standing, by pushing someone else who already doesn’t quite fit in further out. This isn’t directly in the words, so I’m not all-out accusing them of xenophobia: what I mean is that it’s always worth asking if and how and why feminization is applied to Those Other People.

There’s the eating out thing. Which he sent to teammate Jason Demers, commenting “I feel like your (sic) the kind of guy who would”.

How misogyny is working here:

-the idea that this could have been funny or interesting or worth saying at all depends on the idea that vulvas are weird. Imagine if someone willing touched a cis woman with anything but their dick. Gosh.

-There’s no good explanation for what ‘the kind of guy who would’ was meant to mean. No one says, ‘Hey, do you do this widely mocked sex act? I don’t, but I think you would, and that’s cool and doesn’t affect your masculinity at all, bro, life is a rich tapestry.’

How power is working here:

-This counts as sexual harassment again. Even if asking a coworker (or really more like someone you shift-manage or who reports to you) ‘how do you fuck your partner?’ wasn’t, saying ‘you seem like you would do ___’ is. Again, I’m not saying that Demers has to feel that way about it, but he should have had options.

-Demers was also in a new relationship at the time, so this could be harassment to both him and his partner, who had no recourse when someone her partner has to work with/for comments on her body.

-I don’t think it was intended as sexual harassment. But there’s not really a nice explanation of what he meant to say. It seems like it was intended as an insult or a ‘warning’: ‘this is the way men are allowed and no allowed to be in our group, do you know your place?’

Around that time, the Stars shared a video of Benn, Seguin, and Valeri Nichushkin. Each were supposed to say a couple lines, including their name. Valeri pronounced his nickname ‘Vall’, with a native Russian accent, more like “Wall” in English. Each time Benn and Seguin laughed and questions him and the producer cut. After a couple takes Benn said, “I thought your name was ‘Val.’” 

Sequin physically turned away from Nichushkin and laughed. Nichushkin, not understanding the comment, and not laughing, turned to Benn for an explanation, but Benn only turned toward Seguin, both continuing to laugh.

It was part of a pattern of comments from observers: “If Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn are having a laugh in the locker room, Nichushkin can only guess what’s so funny.” They themselves commented on how “His English is really not good at all…A lot of times we find him just sitting there.” “(In) normal conversations, he doesn’t really know what’s going on.”

I’ll give them credit—they said they felt pity and “try to help” too. I just can’t find any examples of them doing it, compared to teammates like Sharp or Spezza who can more concretely describe spending time with him.

Nichushkin chose to burn contract time in the KHL rather than Dallas before being bought out, expressing that he no longer felt like he “belonged in the NHL.” He felt that the Stars didn’t “trust” in him, was “nervous” in the locker room, and said his family worried for his mental health because of the culture.

“There is a bit of it because I want to be part of the conversation when someone says something,” Nichushkin said. “But I don’t have enough words I know so I can join in.”

-Is it the worst xenophobia in the world? Nah. It’s not free from xenophobia, when the only joke is that someone speaks differently than you. It’s not Benn joking about his own misunderstanding to invite Nichushkin in. I often point to Tripp Tracy, who asks players to teach him words in their language and then sets up jokes about his accent so they can deliver the punchline and laugh with him.

-Is it bullying? It kind of came off like it, to make a joke about someone you know can’t understand. At least it was unnecessary, and unkind. It’s just reminding someone they don’t belong.

-It’s unimpressive. It’s deflecting. Oh, he doesn’t know what’s going on? What did you do to tell to him? My family communicate through a mix of finger-signing, Scrabble tiles, and interpretive dance: I guarantee you, if you can’t communicate concepts like “we’re going to get dinner now, you’re welcome here, we’re having fun!”, you’re not trying. Which is fine, I guess, you don’t have to talk to people, unless it’s like, your job to work with your teammates.

Wanting to ban trans*feminine athletes from competition is based on a complete misunderstanding of math, medicine, and athletics; it’s unnecessary, unethical, and unkind.

It’s an unsurprising continuation of the ideas that there’s a line between men and women and transgressing it is suspicious, that women are gross, that people who are different are shocking and funny, that social pressure can and should be used to remind people who are different that they don’t belong.

It’s a fascist use of power, which I don’t say to mean that “He is A Fascist in every sense,” but that those beliesf express a desire and a comfort with using power to control other people’s bodies, and which bodies have access to certain spaces, to maintain “purity”.

I’m not saying that anyone should have looked at any of these things and easily decided in that moment, “That’s it, he’s shouldn’t have a platform or power over other players, he’s irredeemable.” You might look at a couple of them and think, “That’s not even a problem at all.” I’ll agree to disagree on some of them, but my point is about a pattern of how this dude uses the power he’s given.

I have a phrase, or more a series of words I sometimes yell when I’m talking about subjects like this—“STRUCK A TIM HORTONS.” I shout this in commemoration of the time that Ryan O’Reilly got drunk and drove his pickup into the wall of a small town Ontario Timmies.

“Struck a Tim Hortons” is a very good phrase to read in a police report. And, also, I’m an ACoA. I’ve experienced impaired driving, I’m terrified to shaking of it, and I know that other people have experienced much worse consequences. This isn’t a perfect metaphor (it’s not an example of prejudice or violence against a class of people, etc) but my point is that I try to hold it in my heart because that’s one case where I know what it’s like to really, really want something to just be NBD. Where part of me wants to just think it was a funny mistake so I don’t have to really think about the serious implications of it, and part of me super doesn’t. I have an instinct to resolve those feelings, to come down and decide that it’s either insignificant enough that I don’t have to think about it, or significant enough that I can hate him and then also stop thinking about it, and then I can have the relief of feeling just one feeling at a time.

I don’t think it’s bad to feel conflicted learning something about someone. I think it’s important.

But the problem is that if one thing isn’t significant enough, and we decide to keep thinking someone is fundamentally Good, we often toss that thing out. So when another thing happens, we only look at the new thing, trying to decide: is this enough? And that next thing might not be enough either. So we can go on and on, until you add up to a lot of things that have each done some harm, but none of them have been enough to change how we see and talk about someone.

Now I, personally, decided that the Timmies wasn’t so bad that ROR couldn’t ever make it up to me. But I didn’t decide to feel fine about it: I tried to just put a pin in how conflicted I felt. It’s been years, and over the years I think his actions have showed meaningful change. He hasn’t struck a Starbucks, a Dunkin, or even a Caribou. There’s a pattern.

I think a lot of people who don’t really like the things Benn says or does or believes have given him a lot of chances to make up for them, because they don’t want him to really mean those things. By which I really mean that I know there are a lot of women and queer fans who liked the guy. I get it (I don’t actually get it get it, but I mean I can try to understand people coming from a very different place than I do about him). 

I’ve read a lot of ways that people who are themselves vulnerable in our society try to empathize with him by imagining him as vulnerable too--he’s also experienced fatphobia, homophobia, he wasn’t expected to succeed, etc! I think that’s a wonderfully human instinct. But often I think people have more empathy for those experiences than he expresses for himself--he agrees that it was Bad to be fat and he’s Worked Hard to fit into the masculine norm, he agrees that it’s Bad to be close with another man and works to avoid it--and certainly more than he has showed in his actions toward others. If you’re going to say I hate him for saying that, I don’t--I want him and everyone in our society not to feel and do this shit!

I see a lot of people starting from the idea he is a good leader trying really hard to spin his choices as a smart strategy when he plays dumb with media, when he doesn’t give specific action plans or give public statements or apologies. (I actually agree with the first one, I think it is a strategy for him to avoid transparency and not do a part of his job that he doesn’t want to do.) It just…it seems like a lot of work to reach a pre-determined goal. It’s okay to like someone and for them to still not be good at their jobs! When I say I think a guy’s not a good leader, that’s not always the same as saying he’s a bad person. And if we keep on promoting a guy as a good leader because we like them regardless of their demonstrated leadership skills…that’s how we end up with a lot of shitty policies in the NHL.

Over the years he has consistently avoided stepping up to his captaincy and using his personal power to say things like, “No,” “Tyler, cut it out,” “This is what I’m going to do to fix a problem,” or “I believe in…” anything, really. 

I really, really want to ask people to be mad as hell and advocate for the NHL to improve its code of conduct and harassment processes. I do. But I’m also tired. I don’t think, if I did ask you that, it would work. I don’t have an argument for why you should be mad at someone who’s mad at my existence. I’m not trying. I just want to encourage you, if you’re feeling the tug of feelings and just want to be able to simplify someone’s behavior and love them in simple terms, to put a pin in the more complicated parts, and remember them the next time, and look for patterns.

[simple-persica]

The Nordic capitols have joined the fray!! From left to right meet: Reykjavik, Oslo, Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Helsinki! 

My ramblings about them under the cut. I apologize for the length, I tried to cut out as mush as I could.

I’ve decided that from now on if and when I design capitols they’re gonna be gender-bent. And this is solely because DC was based off of Nyo!America

So all of their designs are loosely based on the Nyo!Nordics in one way or another

And their designs are up in the air still. I like where they are now, but I know they can improve.

Oslo (Ida)

Much like Nor, she’s very quiet and quite reserved, but she’s a little more playful and mischievous 

She gets hyper focused on tasks and chooses to expend most of her energy on political matters and business. She’s a very busy girl

Nor calls her “Tigerstaden” as a nickname but not often. It’s probably her name in his phone or something similar

Wasn’t very strong when she was younger having gone through many fires that lasted days on end

Denmark helped back on her feet

She’s friends with DC and sends her Christmas trees every year

Get’s along great with Copenhagen and Reykjyavik. 

Her and Copenhagen like to go cycling together

She does poses magical powers but not as strong as Nor’s

The little orbs hanging off her hair bow are both an homage to Norway’s hair curl and the several islands surrounding her

Copenhagen (Thora)

Wow she’s just a pleasant gal to hang out with

She’s very sporty. swimming, cycling, fisticuffs, running, you name it

Her and Den like to play handball together and she can be found hanging out in parks most of the time

Got super powerful in the 15th century when she was the capitol of both Norway and Sweden, then Sve dipped

That followed with several fires AND the plague left her kinda sick in the early 1700′s

Beat up both Britain and Sweden in various fights and sieges

Gets along great with the other capitols and tries to get them together as much as possible, seeing as they’re not as busy compared to the countries

Egg chair, no I will not elaborate

She’s an amazing story teller and likes jazz music

Stockholm (Hjördis)

She’s BUILT, like she’s very strong.

When she was younger she had a great relationship with Denmark, but seriously distrusted him right before and after Sweden left

She’s very very smart. Enjoys playing chess with Reyktavik

She hasn’t won yet

Used to vist the ABBA museum as a joke, but it’s just a part of her routine at this point

She’s very artistic. Her house is flooded with her paintings and sculptures throughout the years

Her and Sve have a little joke where he gives her a random piece of IKEA furniture as a present and she sends him a painting of said furniture for his birthday

He keeps all of them and she keeps all the furniture 

Stoic just like Sve, but tends to be pretty harsh. This leads to her being ready to throw down

Helsinki (Matilda)

Nicknamed “Hesa” by Fin and the other nordics, but Sve calls her “Stadi”

Avid coffee drinker

The Finnish war hit her like a truck because of both fires and war

was under direct Russian control for a bit and it was a rough time all around. 

Referred to as “Daughter of the Baltic” not really important but I thought it was cute

maybe the Baltic states just enjoy her company and is just doted on? I can’t imagine she’d be a fan of this though

Much like Fin, she really enjoys saunas. She also is an avid coffee drinker

Learned how to go from :3 to >:3 from Fin. Idk how else to explain it

The choker she wears is in reference to the possibility that “Helsinki” is derived from a Swedish word “helsing” which is a shoot off from the word “hals” which means “neck”

this in turn could be referencing the narrower parts of a nearby river

She dresses kind of casually because sis is just tired. She chooses to be comfortable over anything else

Reykjavik (Hekla)

Her name is shortened to “Rey” most of the time

She acts kind of spoiled

this is because Reykjavik was the only city in Iceland for a good long while

During WWII Britain, America, and Canada hung out there for a bit

Consequence of this: She really likes hot dogs now

She’s super good at chess, almost scarily good. She likes to play against Stockholm and they get IN to it

Watching their chess matches is peak entertainment for the other capitols

Has a little kitten as a pet! She takes him everywhere, but has a lot of strays she just feeds back home

doesn’t have too much experience with dogs so she’s hesitant toward them

Has never heard of McDonalds or Starbucks

She just...sleeps outside...in random places...without warning

she’s partial to a Swedish White-beam tree that was planted in the city by a Danish king (?)

[alycnagr]

&&. announcing her royal highness, ( alyona  “lesya”  gavrilovna romanova ), the ( 18 ) year old ( princess ) of ( russia ). she is often confused with ( kathryn newton ). some say that she is ( complaisant & impressionable ), but she is actually ( amiable & effervescent ).

hello everyone!!!  i’m hanna, the newest rookie to join this wonderful group. i’m also shamelessly dual loyal because even though i play a russian ( albeit a sweet one who isn’t  involved in that mess ), as a finn, i’m totally rooting for my finnish babies’ success. 

anyway, enough about me — here’s my intro for lesya! pls like this or msg me or something because i’m so excited to start plotting & writing with all of you <3

QUICK FACTS.

full name: alyona gavrilovna romanova

nickname: lesya

title: princess of russia

age / birthday / zodiac: 18 / may 23 2001 / gemini

gender / sexuality / pronouns: cis female / pansexual ( closeted because she hasn’t really announced it to anyone ) / she & her

hogwarts / mbti / enneagram / four temperaments / alignment: hufflepuff. esfp. type 2w3 - the hostess. sanguine. lawful good. 

BIO / INTRO.

so my sweet darling lesya here is the oldest of irina‘s children. the big sister to tasha, tolja and vasya. niece / cousin to other romanovs. 

speaking of her family, there’s not a single one that she doesn’t like. lyosha? admires his strength because being a czar is no easy job. doesn‘t hold certain bad decisions against him because, well, we are all human. irina? although she can be quite intense sometimes, lesya knows her actions come from a place of love and therefore she just loves her darling mother. anya? kind of intense, but lesya admires her ability to handle stuff and the way she carries herself. kostya and nadya? her cool uncle and aunt that she lowkey idolizes. lenya? another intense family member, but she’s so cool! kseniya? lesya isn’t scared of her resting bitchface (she‘s grown up around romanovs. how could she be?) and enjoys spending time with her. she doesn’t mind doing most / all of the talking.

further speaking of their family, lesya knows that she’s the second-in-line to the russian throne. she knows she may end up as the czarina one day, but given that males are basically fertile until the end + her mother is the next in line of succession, she hasn’t really planned her life around it. she’s carried out her royal duties when it has been expected of her, but she‘s stayed away from the main political arena and pursued her other interests. 

those interests are wide and varied. she’s done gymnastics ever since she was a little ( a perfect way to let out that energy ), she’s gotten herself involved in moscow’s fashion circles and hopes to collaborate with a local fashion company. she loves learning new languages (fully fluent in russian and english; various degrees of fluency in finnish, spanish, dutch, french and german) and it’s an ongoing mission, a hobby of hers. 

lesya is also currently a first-year student at MSU (lomonosov moscow state university) where she studies psychology. however, now that she’s joined the royal expedition, she’s put her studies on hold, completing online classes whenever she has time.

quirks include having a massive collection of flavored lip balms. seriously, she has a lot and it’s perfectly organized (by color, flavor and alphabetized). 

also a proud hater of crocs and the sandals/socks combo. if you wear or talk positively about those near her, you better be ready to catch these hands.

personality-wise, lesya is undoubtedly the sweetest / purest of the russians currently in-game. an actual angel, a sweet miss sunshine, a ball of optimistic energy. you know that person who somehow gets along with pretty much everyone? that’s lesya. she will listen to you if you need to vent and will not gossip. it’s not in her nature to be judgmental; if you asked, she would most likely help you bury a body without asking questions. her carefree attitude and genuine joy for life has created her such aura that people can’t help but smile and want to be around her. lesya is not above learning either — whether it’s from her own mistakes or receiving advice from others. also, while she gravitates toward leadership roles, she would rather rule with kindness and have her subjects genuinely like her instead of having them obey her commands only out of fear.

while lesya is sugar and spice and all things nice, she isn’t without flaws. even though she usually apologizes if she realizes or someone brings it to her attention that she’s been rude, she can be quite bossy and stubborn. lesya can also a bit ignorant, though not maliciously. she’s simply lived a sheltered life in moscow and hasn’t felt the need to venture outside her bubble often. she also loves pleasing others which, in a combination with being a people person and trusting of others, leads her to be very easy to manipulate if you know what to do ( @ you shady mofos that are thinking of it, softer tactics work better than tough love ).

OOC / ME.

hanna. 23. she & her. gmt+2 / yet another finn. 

isfj & hufflepuff. 

mentally done with undergrad. mentally never done with shitty, cracky edits. 

i do my best to reply to IMs, but you can also find me @ discord ( will will#4067 is my name there ).

[thewishender690]

                                         ♞Конец желаний♞

                                       》 ✵𝙈𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙖𝙜𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙚𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙙

⤖ Hello! My name is Church(nickname), and I'm fairly new to roleplaying in the Destiny fandom, but I've been playing since D1's original release! I've been roleplaying for 15 years now, and I'm excited to get to know everyone!⤖Rules ⤖ I don't do smut, it makes me uncomfortable, and I'm sorry in advanced. ⤖ I primarily ship with @scythe-swinging​ , mostly because she is who I am comfortable with, please don't pressure me to break ships with her or harass any of us because of our choice. It's happened before on facebook and was not a fun time. ⤖ I am a college student, and am just about to graduate, so I will not be as active as I would like. Please be patient! <3 ⤖ I am OC and AU friendly! I love both and I will gladly roleplay anything that isn't smut!

                                               》𝙉𝙚𝙬 𝙂𝙪𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙞𝙖𝙣 Full Name: Vasili Kuznetsov Nickname: Guardian, Vasya (before the great fall.) Age: 27(When he died), Unknown currently Gender: Male Birthday: October 29th (27 years before the Golden Age fell) Birthplace: Volgograd, Russia Orientation: Russian Occupations: Ship Technician (When he died), Vanguard Guardian (Currently) Class: Warlock Current subclass: Stormcaller - Stormtrance Height: 5’10 Weight: 180 lbs Species/Race: Human Eye color: Blue eyes (before he died, and before The Taken King) Right eye: Blind and damaged, Left eye: Blue (after the battle with Oryx) Level: 50 Ghost Shell: Tower Shell Ghost name: Shepard Current Light: 976 

      The very day the darkness arrived on Earth, was the day Vasili died. It would be centuries before he is revived, getting ambushed in the process of it. An Awoken Titan named Pherhaa would save Vasili and help get him to the Vanguard tower, buying him a ship from Amanda. While it was kind of a piece of junk, meaning it could fly orbital and nothing more, she wanted to help push the new Guardian in the right direction.

     She would then oversee and make sure that Vasili could fight on his own and obtain a warp drive for his ship before leaving him to his own devices. As of current you can find Vasili wandering the Dreaming City with anger in his heart about the loss of his lover.

                                         Family/Friends: Parents: Father: Markov, Mother: Anya (Both deceased)

Siblings: Pherhaa (Half)

Husband/Wife: Husband: Ivan (Deceased)

Friend(s): Ikora, Cayde, Zavala, Petra, Julie, Vynl, Luke, Thor, Paradox, Thor, Pherhaa, Verna, Azura, Zeriah. Children: Sasha and Zoya (Daughters, Adopted, and Deceased)

Primary: Wish Ender Special: Drang (Though he switches out with Age-Old Bond) Heavy: Sleepless                                   Equipped Armor: Helmet:  Prodigal Hood  Gauntlets: Getaway Artist Chest Armor: Robes of the Great Hunt Leg Armor: Boots of the Great Hunt Bond: Prodigal bond                                         Personality: Good Traits: He is a bit goofy, inquisitive, Head strong, a secret realist Bad Traits: Lone Wolf, headstrong, vengeful, a risk taker ➺ While his doppelganger is Crazed, optimistic, Inquisitive, works better in numbers, Headstrong, He only shares two qualities with Light! Vasili, the two of the most strongest and stubborn ones of his entire personality. ➺ Vasili is a teddy bear, he still carries that father like attitude while off duty, and while on the field the Warlock is silent and swift. He is one to jump in front of his allies and throw down his healing rift and take the onslaught of bullets, than to let them outright take the damage. The Warlock is also quite inquisitive, though that is also a silent notion. However his Ghost shares that same sense of curiosity, though he is much vocal about his. This eccentric Warlock is a shameless flirt towards the Reef Prince, and has this attraction towards him, knowing Uldren would like to kill any and all guardians at a first glance. Despite being a Warlock, Vasili will make quite a few "monk" jokes (imagine Monk Gyatso from atla). Yet he still values and upholds as much Warlock traditions as he can, holding a great loyalty to it. He will come off as pure dumbass, but I promise if you ask the right questions he will give away just how smart he is. He does have a huge personality change after Forsaken, and built up a harsher tone, along with occasional sparks emitting from his hands because he can’t find his balance anymore. (/HandhimtheCrowandeverythingwillbefine-) 

➺ In Forsaken Vasili is on the hunt to stop Verana and Julie from killing Uldren; Violence only breeds more violence. Ultimately he fails, and it sends him into a depression as he had broken a Warlock promise. He then spends the next year attempting to fix what Mara and Uldren did to the Dreaming City, only leaving the Reef to get more supplies, and to help Eris on the Moon when everyone is redeployed. ➺ Regrettably, in Shadowkeep, Vasili does whatever Eris asks for him, despite him not exactly forgiving him for her mistreatment during the war against the Taken King. After he retrieves the Unknown Artifact from the Pyramid, Vasili immediately goes back to the Dreaming City, leaving his fireteam to take care of the rest of the issues on the Moon.

                                                     Other: Current Faction: New Monarchy (before they were all disbanded) Ship:  Shader: Frumious Blue Sparrow: Athena Victorious (And Alpine Dash) Emblem: Ennead Voice HC: Matthew Mercer but with a Russian accent

* HE SPEAKS BROKEN ENGLISH AND I DO PORTRAY THAT, I APOLOGIZE IF IT ANNOYS YOU, IT JUST HELPS ME STAY IN CHARACTER FOR HIM*

                                                Fun facts: ➺ Vasili's story heavily relates to the campaign's guardian's story ➺ Vasili's main fireteam consists of a Titan named Thor and a Hunter named Julie ➺ His first fireteam was with a Warlock named Luke and a Titan named Paradox-13 ➺ If Thor is away, his team consists of Julie and Vynl ➺ Pherhaa whom is a titan, is the only guardian he does not actively stay on a fireteam with, but was his first friend he made at the Tower.

➺ Funny enough, Pherhaa is his half sister, but neither know it.

➺ He met his fire team on the day the Vanguard sent the double team to the moon to destroy Crota's soul. ➺ Vasili does not remember what his name is and truly believed it was Guardian for the first few months of being revived. ➺ After the battle of Oryx Vasili took a Vow of Silence in hopes to find his own enlightenment in regards to healing himself, though he breaks it after Verana vows to kill Uldren. ➺ Vasili's scar began to grow because of the Taken Energy as soon as he lost his light, and you can see the Taken scar while in the Ascendant Realm. (Not exactly a canon thing and I recognize this, but consider this: First taken Guardian- it’s a fun idea to play with, don’t mind this/you can ignore this.) ➺ Vasili did not pull the trigger on Uldren, and in Our (Rose, Julie and Vee) rendition of that ending, Vasili was never holding a gun to Uldren in the first place. ➺ Cayde's and Uldren's phantoms follow Vasili towards the end of Shadow Keep

⤖ᴸⁱᵗᵉʳᵃᵗᵉ ᴳᵘᵃʳᵈⁱᵃⁿ ⤖ᴼᶜ ᵃⁿᵈ ᴬᵁ ᶠʳⁱᵉⁿᵈˡʸ ⤖ᴺᵒ ˢᵐᵘᵗ ⤖ᴾᵉⁿⁿᵉᵈ ᵇʸ ᶜʰᵘʳᶜʰ

⤖ᴳⁱᶠ ᵃⁿᵈ ᴬʳᵗ ᵐᵃᵈᵉ ᵇʸ ᵐᵉ ᵃˢ ʷᵉˡˡ ᵃˢ ᵐʸ ᴵᶜᵒⁿ ⁽ˢ⁾

⤖ᵀᵉᵐᵖˡᵃᵗᵉ ᶠᵒʳ ᵍʳᵃᵖʰⁱᶜ ᵐᵃᵈᵉ ᵇʸ @concinnitytm

⤖ ᴹʸ ᵃʳᵗ ᵇˡᵒᵍ ⤖ ᴹʸ ᵗʷⁱᵗᵗᵉʳ ⤖ ᴹʸ ᴬʳᵗˢᵗᵃᵗⁱᵒⁿ

[oneofthosecrazycatladies]

Arrowverse Re-Watch: Arrow season 1, episode 1 “Pilot”

***Disclaimer: I recommend you read the tags before digging in to this review.

So I’m doing my annual Arrowverse re-watch (where I go back and watch all the Arrowverse shows in chronological order) and this year, I decided I would make these reviews/commentaries about each episode as I re-watch them.

So here goes... WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

Oliver: The name of the island they found me on is Lian Yu. It’s Mandarin for Purgatory. I’ve been stranded here for 5 years.

Okay, don’t get me wrong, the main reason I love Arrow is because the characters are great and real and the stories are so interesting. And Stephen Amell is a fantastic actor, definitely one of the best in the Arrowverse...but hot damn just look at that body

I really don’t like objectifying anyone (of any gender), but art deserves to be appreciated and this body right here is art.

Okay I literally couldn’t find a gif of it anywhere, but that shot of Oliver looking into the mirror and the lightning flashes and you see him in the hood for like a split second...that shot...yeah I love that shot. Ugh it’s so amazing and just chilling.

Okay so apparently a lot of people hated the flashbacks...which I don’t understand??? But I loved the flashbacks. Mostly because I just love flashbacks in general. I mean, they weren’t always super interesting and a lot of the time the flashback storyline wasn’t really as interesting as the main storyline, but I still really liked the flashbacks. I actually kinda miss them sometimes.

TOMMY!

Like basically everyone else in the Arrow fandom, I miss Tommy sooo much. And I know, I know Colin has Chicago Med now, but I gotta be honest...I still haven’t quite gotten over that Tommy (any Earth version) wasn’t Vigilante. Like honestly, what was even the point of making him Vince (or Vinny they literally changed his nickname). God season 6 was such a fucking mess...but more of that later.

Okay so I have a bone to pick with this little moment where Oliver speaks Russian to Raisa. So like I guess it was supposed to demonstrate how Oliver has changed and all that...but like, Oliver’s not stupid. He wouldn’t be so careless as to speak Russian in front of his family and friends when he knows that they know he didn’t speak Russian before the island (thus revealing something about his time away when he’s usually so careful not to let things about that time slip).

I just don’t really like that moment because it seems a bit out of character for him.

Oliver: I didn’t realize you wanted to sleep with my mother, Walter.

Tommy: Have you noticed how hot your sister’s gotten?

It does kinda make me cringe a little though tbh. Although, full disclosure, the first time I ever watched this show, I did kinda ship them. I thought they had great chemistry. Better chemistry than Tommy and L*urel (but we’ll get to that later).

Tommy: So what’d you miss the most; steaks at the Palm, drinks at the station, meaningless sex?

Oliver: L*urel

Oh god here we go with this bullshit...can we just skip to the part where the writers realized that L*uriver was awful and they all jumped on the Olicity train?

Oh look it’s L*urel L*nce, the Queen Bitch of Starling City.

Okay that was an exaggeration...and I don’t actually hate LL, well at least, I don’t hate the idea of her. (Alright, strap yourselves in.)

I feel like LL was only the “real” LL in the first like 3 episodes of season 1 and then like the last 2 episodes before she dies. Every episode in between those she was like the off-brand version of LL. In the first couple episodes, she’s a pretty great character. She genuinely wants to help innocent people, she’s independent, she fights for what she believes in. Other than her being a totally soulless, cold-hearted bitch to Oliver, I actually liked her. But the whole Oliver drama really ruined her. And I blame the writers for that (namely the notorious misogynists Kreisberg and Guggenheim).

So first, they thought that “you cheated on me with my sister” was a great beginning to an epic love story. And then they made her totally cold to Oliver. Like look, as much as I dislike LL, I will always take her side on this issue. Playboy Ollie was a grade A fuckboy jackass and LL has every right to be pissed at him. But...then he spent five years in literal hell. Whatever mistakes he made before the island, he paid for them and then some. Now I know LL doesn’t know all the particulars of what went on in those 5 years, but she must’ve at least seen the movie Cast Away, right? I mean, from her perspective, Oliver spent 5 years completely alone on a deserted island. In that situation he would’ve had to teach himself to hunt and kill animals for food, he would’ve had to learn how to build shelters, he would’ve had literally no one to talk to or interact with for five years. She would’ve had to know that he probably has PTSD...and he comes back and she says “I’d hoped you’d rot in hell a whole lot longer than five years.” Like, are you fucking kidding me?! Why in the fuck would the writers think anyone would ship them with this kind of beginning? How are we supposed to have any sympathy for LL when she won’t even let Oliver try to apologize? And saying that he deserved what happened to him on the island? Jesus fucking Christ. God I couldn’t be more anti-L*uriver if I tried.

I get what (I think) they were trying to go for with LL, but they completely fucked up the execution.

LL: ‘Cause her body was at the bottom of the ocean where you left her. It should’ve been you.

“It should’ve been you.”

Okay bitch let’s go. No one talks to post-island Oliver that way. Ever. Oliver Jonas Queen is a gift to the world and I don’t care what dumbass Ollie Queen did you do not get to say that to Oliver. He has lost and suffered so much, too much. JFC where the fuck is Oliver’s unconditionally loving and supportive wifey when he needs her? Don’t worry bb, only two more episodes and you’re home free.

Mercenary Dude: What did he tell you, Mr. Queen?

Oliver: He told me I’m gonna kill you.

God yes where has this Oliver been the past couple years? Not the kill-happy Oliver, just the intimidating hardcore Oliver that can take down half a dozen guys single-handedly. That’s one of the things I hated about season 6 was how they wrote him so out of character just for plot. Ever since they introduced the newbies in season 5 they’ve written Oliver like he literally can’t even function without having like 5 other people out in the field with him. I don’t mind having a team (I love Roy and Dinah for example) but the team is just too big. (I’ll talk about that in much more detail when we get to seasons 5 and 6 [and that bullshit “civil war”])

Mercenary Dude: You’re delusional. You’re zip-cuffed to that chair.

Oliver: Not anymore.

*shivers*

God the MUSIC! Ugh I love the music in this scene when he’s taking down the kidnappers.

Oh yeah...and this incredible stunt...

And I love that you can tell that Stephen did all these stunts himself. But I especially love the above stunt because it’s so incredible, but like he just does it and it’s as if it’s no big deal because he’s just that physically fit.

QUENTIN!!!

With hair!!!

Oh Quentin deserved so much better than all that nonsense the writers put him through in season 6. But I’m getting ahead of myself here.

I’m just so happy to see him! And to see the journey that he took in the first 4 seasons. (Seasons 5 and 6 [especially 6] weren’t the real Quentin. It had to’ve been one of his doppelgängers because the real Quentin is smarter than to be fooled by BS’ bs).

Ahh did you see what I did there?!

I love Raisa and I’m so happy they brought her back for season 6! I hope she returns again in season 7! I love the way she takes care of the Queen boys!

John Thomas Diggle is in the building ladies and gentlemen! This man is a gift and honestly I sometimes think we don’t deserve him.

Okay I kinda miss seeing Oliver in regular clothes. It seems like, ever since he became mayor, the only civilian clothes we ever see him in are suits. Don’t get me wrong, that man can fill out a suit, he looks delectable...especially when he’s just wearing a button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up (those arms!)

But I also kinda miss just seeing him in like jeans and a t-shirt. Maybe once he gets out of prison we’ll see more of that (since he won’t be mayor).

The whole workout/training sequence is just...

We were completely deprived of shirtless Oliver in season 6 and I just cannot stand for that. We better get like double the amount of shirtless Oliver in season 7 to make up for it.

Tommy: Now, by my rough estimate, you have not had sex in 1,839 days.

Yeah except for Shado and who knows? maybe Sara or even some random girl in Russia.

LL: I’m sorry about saying that you should’ve been the one who died. That was wrong.

Nice apology, LL (this is the real LL I was talking about earlier), but you’re gonna change your mind in like 2 episodes. @jbuffyangel calls this phenomenon “as the Lances turn” (referring to the crazy inconsistencies in how the Lances [especially LL] are written). And I love that phrase I’m totally gonna steal it because it’s so true, but I’ll discuss that more when it flares up in later episodes.

John: I would believe you, Mr. Queen, if you weren’t so full of crap.

John Diggle, ladies and gentlemen, taking none of Oliver’s shit since 2012.

Please, someone, give this man a medal.

Okay but did John and Oliver ever talk about Oliver putting John in that hold and knocking him unconscious? I don’t know why, but I kinda have this headcanon that they never actually did talk about it until like years later (probably after Oliver and Felicity returned from Ivy Town and Oliver and John made up) that John was just like “remember when you knocked me unconscious at your welcome home party”.

Okay I know that it’s Yao Fei’s hood, but I kinda wonder why Oliver didn’t get it lined with Kevlar from the get-go. I mean it’s not like he trained in medieval times and then time-traveled to the 21st century to start his crusade, like he’s aware that guns exist and that a lot of the people he planned to take down would use guns. I mean, he could’ve just gotten Anatoly or someone else in the Bratva, I’m sure they know people who know how to do that.

But at the same time, I guess it kinda fits with his whole persona and his plan. When he first starts out he’s not really waging a full-on war against all crime in the city, he’s just trying to take down the corrupt one-percenters and once he does that he hangs up the hood and moves on with his life. So it makes more sense that his suit is more “raw” because he’s more raw. He doesn’t have a team, doesn’t consider himself a hero. It’s just him and his bow and his list.

So I’m watching the scene where Robert kills himself and it makes me think of the scene in season 5 when Oliver is watching the video that Robert left him and Felicity comes along and is like “wow no prssure” and I’m like yeah! I mean, what a crazy and horrible burden to put on your child. I mean, there they are, Robert’s made all these mistakes, but instead of trying to fix these mistakes himself he’s like “nah I think I’m just gonna tell my son to right my wrongs and then blow my brains out right in front of him leaving him traumatized and completely alone”.

This is Robert:

Like jfc, no wonder Oliver’s so screwed up.

I just don’t get what Tommy sees in LL. I mean, throughout the season they just go on and on about how much Tommy and LL love each other, but I just don’t see anything between them. I mean what did they even have in common besides losing Oliver? I mean the only thing I kind of get about their relationship is LL encouraging Tommy to be a better person. Once again, it’s the idea of LL, but it didn’t really work out that way in execution.

And honestly, you know what the worst part about M*rlance was? Knowing that they only did it to create even more drama between Oliver and LL, but then the fact that the writers ended up dropping L*uriver in favor of Olicity made all that drama pointless. Now obviously I know that the writers didn’t know that L*uriver would be a total bust (though they should’ve) or what Felicity and Olicity would become at the time, but still...hindsight is 20/20 I guess.

Ah Moira, being shady af.

I miss her. I always loved her character and Susanna Thompson is such an amazing actress.

I miss her pretty much for the same reason I miss Tommy: the potential. Both Tommy and Moira never really got to see Oliver become the true hero that he is today. They never got to see Oliver fall in love and have his own family. I feel the same way about Quentin. They could’ve done some great things with him. I always wanted the writers to explore his relationship with Felicity more. They had a great father-daughter kind of relationship in season 2. And especially knowing that Felicity’s father abandoned her and Quentin had lost his daughter, I thought it made so much sense that they sorta would’ve adopted each other as a surrogate family. But no. Instead, the writers went with that BS bs (hehe I did it again). And now Quentin is dead; another great character wasted.

Anyway, that’s all for me about this episode. I hope you enjoyed my ranting and I’ll see you later for episode 2.

[drev-the-procrastinator]

A tag thingie

So even though it’s like past midnight, I decided to finally answer one of the things I’ve been tagged in. I’ll answer the rest too, I hope, and I will make that post to my ambassador blog too, I apologize again for it taking so long!  (EDIT: I wrote this in two parts so if you see conflicting mentions of the current time, that’s the reason.)

So, anyway, onto the thing. I was tagged by @franzandsmith , a fellow APH Ambassador. Thank you very much by the way! So the task is to answer 30 questions and then tag 20 people you wanna know better. Here goes:

Nicknames: Emmu I guess?? I dunno, ask @mimuliliama or @pocketsmilestuff for further information. Oh, yeah, sometimes Em.

Star sign: Pisces.

Gender: Female (cis)

MBTI type: I have no idea, sorry ‘bout that.

Height: Either a bit over 177 cm or around 179 cm, there was some confusion the last few times my height was measured.

Time: Like when I was born?? 23:29.

Birthday: 13.3. (That’s 13th of March)

Favorite bands: Two Steps From Hell, RADWIMPS, Земля Легенд, Сколот (even tho I barely understand a thing from the songs by those three, I like how their songs sound okay?? And to the last band’s songs I’ve read the English translations so I kinda sorta know what they’re about), Haloo Helsinki, Of Monsters And Men, that’s about it? I usually like individual songs rather than bands. These are exceptions. Oh, Within Temptation sometimes.

Favorite solo artists: Heather Dale, Eurielle, Antti Martikainen, Phil Lober, Thomas Bergersen, Akiko Shikata, Gabrielle Aplin apparently since I like a few of her songs, uhh?? The stuff I wrote in the answer above is true here as well.

Song stuck in my head: Earlier today it was Волюшка by Сколот but now I’m listening to music so… None, really.

Last movie I watched: I do not remember, but I did watch a bunch of Game of Thrones episodes last weekend.

Other blogs: Oh boy, there’s a bunch of them.                     lolhedoesntstandachance - a blog for my WIP Hetalia fanfic. The story is creatively named “the fantasy fanfic”. mostly just aesthetic stuff for it??

                    whydothesealwaysturnupsadaf - a blog for my other WIP Hetalia fanfic, which is an AU for this other AU which is the only reality in which my stupid OTP exists, and in which I proceed to mercilessly tear them apart and crush every last bit of happiness in their lives. Also includes other ships that have the fortune of not being my OTP, though some of them kinda suffer too. A lot of rare ships, really. And some OCs. Kinda weird, but I’m like stupidly proud of this story, even though it’s probably dumb lol. Also the story is creatively named “Kingdom AU”. Also mostly aesthetic. 

                     icanlanguageiswear - a blog with stuff about languages, the ones I’m learning and just some cool stuff.

                     imwritinglike5storiesatmhelp - a blog with writing advice, cool links and art tips. 

                     drev-the-ambassador - my APH ambassador blog! Seems to update around once a month, don’t hold your breath.

                      tt-is-a-working-name - a blog for my own original story, does not have much stuff yet. Aesthetic and stuff.

When I created my blog: Uhhhhh, I have no idea? It’s been some time already. Okhay so I checked from my email, and the “confirm your email” message for my account is from 3.4.2015, so I’ve been here for over two years. Yep, I haven’t actually been here for that long. c: What I post about: On my side blogs, check the question about my side blogs above. For my main blog.... Oh boy, a good question! Stuff that interests me, I suppose, and cool stuff. ????? My followers could maybe tell me more about this. Though, I suppose “Hetalia and stuff” is kinda accurate. Maybe? Honestly I have no idea. Last thing I googled: Okay, so, I was gonna check that from my search history, but I couldn’t see my own search history for some reason?? I suppose it was about how to calculate logarithms or some crap like that on my calculator. I still don’t know. :[ Following: 387 Followers: 258 Favorite color: I don’t really have a single favorite color, but I like a lot of light and pastel colors, and like there are combinations I do like, like a warm darker brown and light or pastel blue or green or pink.  Average hours of sleep: Around 5 during school, maybe 9 or something like that on weekends and holidays. Lucky number: I don’t think I have one. Instruments: I can sorta play piano? I used to be better but I haven’t practiced. What I’m wearing: My pajamas my grandma made for me. It’s 2 PM and I haven’t changed to proper clothes yet lol How many blankets I sleep with: At my mom’s, 2 proper blankets and one blanket that’s kinda...  Well, it’s viltti in Finnish, I dunno if there’s an equivalent for it in English??? U can google it. At my dad’s only one blanket. Dream job: My ideal job would be no job at all because I’d like to live in a society where your whole life doesn’t revolve around working and making money, but since that is impossible, I’d like to be an author maybe. Dream trip: I wanna go to Lapland to see the Northern Lights properly, I live in the south of Finland so they’re really rare here. I also want to visit Russia someday, I wanna visit St. Petersburg. I also want to visit Viipuri, and the area that used to be Finland, in Karelia. My grandpa is from there, he had to leave his home and come to live around where we live now.  Favorite food: Mashed potatoes, salmon, chicken and rice and béarnaise sauce, macaroni casserole, pyttipannu, mozzarella pizza, ice cream, salmiakki... For example. There are more but I can’t get them in my head. In English. Nationality: Finnish 

SO! That was fun. Now for the tagging:

@mimuliliama @pocketsmilestuff @realsadii @aph-belarusia @heylookitssatan @formeniel @skys-child @russianamethyst @catmikaze-army @lawlietinblue  @littlenird @dont-question-the-plaid @sinagito @heyytalia (whenever you come back) and @animehinttari. If you don’t want to do this thing, you don’t have to, of course. Also, if you do wanna do this thing but you weren’t tagged here, of course you can answer these on your own but you can also send me a message and I’ll tag you here, if you want to! 

Anyway, thanks for tagging me! And sorry this is so long. 

[stopkihyun]

Get to know me tag ✌

So I was tagged by @diamondsforyoo (i love your url by the way, seriously) so here goes nothing, i guess :)

Rules: Answer 30 questions and then tag 20 people you would like to know better

Nicknames: Zabou, although nobody calls me that because it’s a self-imposed internet nickname and I don’t even know if it’s actually a thing 😂 I’m kinda cringy, I apologize

Gender: Female 

Star sign: Leo 💅

Height: I’m going to take a guess and say 1.63 cm because i haven’t really checked in a looooong time lol

Time: 11:46 pm 

Birthday: August 22nd 🎉

Favourite bands: For the sake of my own sanity i’m only gonna say Monsta X, BTS, Blackpink, and a slightly different genre, One Ok Rock 💕

Favorite solo artists: Hyolyn 💕 and uh, Suga’s solo stuff as Agust D?? Idk lol

Song stuck in my head: I NEED U - BTS, I’m trash

Last show I watched: Gravity Falls because I’m a kid 

Last thing I googled: Kumamon 😂

Do you have other blogs: Nope. Or maybe I do but they’re probably old af and I already forgot the password lmao

Do you get asks: I got one once, it was awesome haha

Why did you choose your url: Because a certain human being AHEM 💕 YOO KIHYUN 💕 AHEM is too perfect and beautiful for me to handle and he needs to be stopped ASAP so that nobody dies for at least two seconds. Yeah.

Following: 1106, I got a little carried away heh

Followers: 59, jesus christ, I’m a freaking loser 😂😂😂😂

Favourite colours: Any pastel tones, but mostly lilac, and also neon blue and pink ✨

Average hours of sleep: Usually 6 or 7 if I’m not too lazy to wake up in the mornings lol

Lucky number: 16 ✨

Instruments: I currently play guitar, and a teeny tiny amount of drums 

What am I wearing: Black shirt and black jeans, i’m feeling a bit emo today 👌

How many blankets do I sleep with: Two, I get cold easily but i don’t really mind, I like cold weather better anyways

Dream job: I don’t know if this is even a thing, but like, translator in the entertainment industry?? Or just a translator in general idk 😂✨

Dream trip: Japan, Korea, Russia, China, Hawaii and some of those other cool-looking islands of the Pacific 💕

Favourite food: Hamburgers are my life 

Nationality: Mexican ✌

Favourite song right now: 뱁새 ✌ I can’t seem to get BTS out of my mind lately and I’m so done already, SO DONE. 

I’m a weirdo and counted the questions, so here’s three more to complete the 30, yay.

Pets: A dog named Balto and a fish named Sauron lol

Favourite ice cream flavour: Mango and rasperry 

What’s in my bag/purse/backpack: (is this even a good question, what am i doing) Russian manual, two notebooks, vanilla cookies, candy wrappers, a small bag with pencils and stuff, wallet, water bottle, sunglasses and a raincoat ✨

You all seem like cool people so hopefully I’ll get to know some of you a little because i really don’t know how to start an actual conversation ugh, I’m so bad at being a normal human being, seriously

Also, you don’t need to do this if you don’t want to, this is all just for fun really ✨ I’m kind of annoying anyway, so I understand 😂 

@shownu-x @gwihyonnie @wottaekook @nochujr @kku-kung @omnibiased @houseofmonbebe @hyungwonhoismybae @floofta-x @ukihyunnie @shownhyuk @h-sh @kihyunslips @kihyuns-husband @monstaxunni @kihyunsbb @stuckonyoo @s0nhyunwoo @bangtanhoseok @cchoiyoungjae

[kvivictory]

I finally did it. Information about my trollsona. I hope you enjoy!

Name: Kvinta Creator. Her name is formed from the musical version of the figure Five. Second name means its appearance. Tag: depressiveMenagerie. Her nickname means frequent depressive seizures and love of animals (next to her hive is a mini zoo for various creatures and lusus) Age: 9 sweeps Ht: 169 Wt: 56 Blood Color: #c400ab (196 0 171) Gender: F Vim: 3 out of 10. Very weak, poorly run, but able to withstand a large number of strokes (she was often beaten in a smaller age) Imagination: 7 out of 10. Since she is the Creator, the manifestation of creativity and the creation of "dolls" and unusual creatures for her is a common thing. But sometimes there are congestions, by the type of art-block Pulchritude: 6 out of 10. Just look at this cute little pumpkin :з Intelligence: 5 out of 10. Not stupid, but not so clever. Extraversion: 4 out of 10. This is a controversial issue. She can't make the conversation first. But if she starts talking, she can't be stopped. Jumping from one topic to another, stumbles, gasping. But at some moments it will remain silent like a fish and shy away from everyone. She likes talking a lot and roleplay only with best friends. Sentimentality: 9 out of 10. From tears to laughter, from joy into deep sorrow. Stability: 5 out of 10. Quite calm, if it does something strange, then tries to warn. Aggression: 2 out of 10. Only if you bring it. And then afterwards she will apologize and reproach herself for having failed to be calm. Luck: 3 out of 10. A lot of misfortunes fell on her head, which turned her from an eternal positive ball into who she is now. Wealth: 0 out of 10. What is money? In general, she lives at the expense of troll friends and mother nature Humor: 5 out of 10. Jokes badly, laughs often, especially with tickling >:> Kindness: 10 out of 10. Give her life for a friend. Really. Romanticism: 1 out of 10. Aromantic Asexual. No, she likes to read romantic fanfics, otp, but canэt imagine that in her life will be someone who will love her. Psionics: 0 out of 10. Blood color didn't give her psionics. Hemoloyalty: 1 out of 10. Applies to everyone on an equal footing, considers everyone her friend. But if hightblood troll will raise his hand to a troll with lower blood - she will beat the insolent person in the same second. Lusus Influence: 7 out of 10. Kvinta really love her, blandly call her "m5mmy baty" Class Aspect: Sylph Hope (don't know wha to write here, just look for articles about this all) Quadrants: Moirallegiance. How I said earlier, she is Aromantic and asexual. But loves everyone friendly or as part of the family Lusus: Pteropus (bat fox) that likes to sleep on her shoulder Modus: Their two, long used the first, because she didn't know how to change them. As soon as she got a new one, I immediately replaced it. 1.Good luck. Affects the luck of the troll. Quinta is not very lucky, so she often drop out other items. 2. Creative. The troll should come up with a story or a rhyme about the subject in the inventory. With this inventory, Quinta has no problems. Strife Specibus: Light-sword kind. This sword was given to her from Anzestor. It glows in the dark and is good against shady creatures. Land of: Eternal Song and Eve. In this square often comes the beautiful singing of birds. Magnificent willows grow everywhere. Moon: Derse Alignment: LG (Lawful Good) Ancestor: The Virtue, for a long time was a great ruler. She was kind to every troll, despite its rank and blood. But other highblooded trolls hates her, so they overthrew and brutally murdered her. Alpha Troll: Clarty Creator. Little is known about her, as she led a hermitic way of life. Notes: am..are y5u're sure th5s 5s a g55d 5dea? Writes competently, very rarely makes mistakes. In Russian, vowels "о" and "и" replace by 5. A soft sign replaces an exclamation mark (!). In English - * o * and * i * as a 5. Sometimes she uses "very secret awes5me f5nt" (and then only in letters) .Writing with a small letter, except for own names. When angry / excited / happy - she writes a capsule, not observing punctuation, her own mode of writing and spelling. When trying to attract attention or make friends with someone - at the end of the sentence she writes: 3. She loves to look after animals, stars, draw on walls, sweet and sour sauce, sleep, rollplay with friends, her lusus, friends and "Created." She doesn't like to be shouted at or crushed, because she is very emotional and can cry from every little thing. She also doesn't like cold and liars. She is afraid of reptiles, shadows and jellyfish. Has health problems in many plans, often feels phantom pains and depresses herself into depression.

[jesscreason]

The Girl in the Tower (The Winternight Trilogy #2) by Katherine Arden

The magical adventyre begun in The Bear and the Nightingale continues as brave Vasya, now a young woman, is forced to choose between marriage or life in a convent, and instead flees her home - but soon finds herself called upon to help defend the city of Moscow when it comes under siege. 

Orphaned and cast out as a witch by her village, Vasya's options are few: resign herself to life in a convent, or allow her older sister to make her a match with a Moscovite prince. Both doom her to life in a tower, cur off form the vast world she longs to explore. So instead, she chooses adventure, disguising herself as a boy and riding her horse into the woods. When a battle with some bandits who have been terrorizing the countryside earns her the admiration of the Grand Prince of Moscow, she must carefully guard the secret of her gender to remain in his good grades - even as she realizes his kingdom is under threat from mysterious forces only she will be able to stop.

Review

I couldn't have asked for a better sequel to The Bear and the Nightingale! 

TB&TN was a wonderful, unique introduction to the world the way it was in Russia back in the day, and the fairytales of the time. The first book left off with Vasya deciding to leave home and travel around the world, rather than being sent to a convent. This book tells of her travels, which are awesome and crazy and exciting. 

This book made me ♥ Vasya even more! She defied all the social norms of the time and proved everyone wrong when they insisted that she must succumb to "the lot of women" and either get married for her dowry and become chattel locked in a tower or be locked in a convent.

I also grew fonder of the fairy tales and house spirits in this book. 

I wasn't really sure what to expect when reading these books, but I was delighted with them! These books are an excellent change from the other YA books I've been reading and a pleasant change from other retellings.

Again, the author included a note at the end of the book about her use of the Russian language (See my review of TB&TN for more info on the note at the end of the first book), stating that she tried to stay as accurate as possible and "at least hint at complex depths of personality and of politics- when I could not delve into them more deeply." She also apologized for any inaccuracies or shortcomings and even refers readers to two other books (non-fiction) that will help others learn more about Russia during that time period and the fairy tales of the time. 

I also love her explanation of Russian names and nicknames in this book (and transliteration in TB&TN). Before reading these books, I had no idea that Russian names often give rise to so many nicknames. I know in the book, the main character's name is Vasilisa, or Vasya and several other nicknames. The author gives the example: Yekaterina, which can be shortened into Katerina, Katya, Katyusha, or Katenka, among other nicknames. "Variations are often used interchangeably to refer to a single individual, according to the speaker's degree of familiarity and the whims of the moment." This is kind of what I assumed when I read the book, or at least that the nicknames were terms of endearment, such as Aleksandr's family calling him Sasha all the time of Sasha calling Prince Dmitri Mitya when he was worried for him. 

Sorry, if you can't tell, I ♥ writing and words and languages (almost as much as I love reading).

Back to the book... Again, the author has not only enchanted and entertained me with Vasya's story, but she also taught me a lot about Russian history, language, and fairy tales. I will definitely be on the lookout for more books by Katherine Arden! 

I definitely recommend this book and The Bear and the Nightingale to anyone looking to read something a little different. 

I received a copy of this book from the publishers, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

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