#1897 arc

[chris-jennings-needs-a-nap]

Another

[lonestarbattleship]

"Gunner's Gang", photographed in one of the torpedo rooms onboard USS MAINE (ACR-1).

Date: 1895-97

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command: NH 50183

[gabriestat]

Thérèse of Lisieux dressed up as Joan of Arc. the only photograph of a canonized saint cosplaying as another saint. (c. 1897)

Apparently, a man named Leo Taxil [a prominent anti-Catholic voice at the time] published a number of autobiographies featuring Freemason conversions to Catholicism. The most popular was an autobiography of "Diana Vaughan," whose conversion she said was influenced by Joan of Arc. Diana’s story was wildly popular and made it inside the [convent's] walls. Thérèse loved her story and sent Diana this photo of her playing Joan of Arc.In April of 1897, Leo Taxil called a press conference and revealed to the crowd of 400 people that he was Diana Vaughan. The entire thing was a ruse to demonstrate the gullibility of French Catholics. His prop that evening? A giant projected picture of this photograph of Thérèse, a symbol of the naive religious person. It was a terrible humiliation for Thérèse. She tore up the letter she had received from “Diana.” (x)

[meimi-haneoka]

Clear Card Trivia 5 ~ Real life models of buildings featured in Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card

Hello and welcome back to my column dedicated to Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card Arc!

After a rather "heavy" 4th one, for this 5th episode of the series I've chosen a topic that doesn't require to dig down into complex matters, but actually just admire the real life models of some of the buildings featured in Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card!

All of the buildings mentioned here have already been featured in a thread or tweet in my Twitter account, but I thought it was time to collect all the info relative to them in a single post, easy to browse through when needed! Maybe for some of you it'll be an interesting discovery!

Two of these models are old acquaintances, since they already existed in the old manga/anime but they came back, particularly one of them became pretty much a big deal in this arc, so they will be dutifully featured here.

Without further ado, let's explore these buildings under the cut! (I will also add useful info in case you want to visit them one day - many CCS fans already do this regularly!)

Tomoeda Middle School - The Gate Hotel by HULIC (ex Rissei Elementary School)

We start this review with one of the most iconic buildings in Clear Card Arc: ever since chapter 2 of the manga (because it didn't appear in chapter 1 yet) and episode 1 of the anime, this new building helped us getting accustomed with Sakura's new life as a middle schooler! Obviously I'm talking about the Tomoeda Middle School! It is a very nice building surrounded by cherry blossom trees, but the best part of it is that it's an existing building in real life!!

Let me introduce you to the ex Rissei Elementary School of Kyoto, which has been renovated in 2020 and turned into the current The Gate Hotel by HULIC. At the time of planning of Clear Card, the building was still known as the ex-Rissei Elementary School, although the building hadn't been used as a school since March 1993 (it had been turned into a multi-purpose space for the local community's gatherings and cultural activities). But don't be fooled: CLAMP didn't choose this building only because it's a pretty school - it is a very, very important historical building for the city of Kyoto (where CLAMP currently live!). This building is considered "the birthplace of cinema in Japan", since in 1897 an early film projector brought from Paris was installed in this school and an experimental showing of Lumière cinema was performed. Furthermore, this school also had the first swimming pool ever installed in an elementary school in Japan.

There's a very nice video explaining in details the history of this important building, subbed in English:

After a 10-years period where the building was used for cultural activities and festivals (particularly cinema oriented), in 2020 the renovation works ended and the place turned into a commercial building hosting a hotel (the current The Gate Hotel by Hulic), but also a library, events hall, restaurants, etc. enclosed in a complex called "Rissei Garden Hulic Kyoto". CLAMP also took interest in the renovation works, mentioning them in their social media at the time.

The thing that immediately stands out is that, in their renovation works, they kept the original architecture intact and so the building still looks exactly like Sakura-chan's school! You can see them here beside eachother and it's really the same.

If you are in Kyoto and want to do some "fan pilgrimage", as Japanese fans call it, you can reach this building at this address:

Rissei Garden Hulic Kyoto 310-2, Bizenjimacho, Kawaramachi Higashiiru, Takoyakushi-dori, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto 604-8023 JAPAN Official website with detailed info on how to reach there.

Clow/Eriol/Akiho's mansion - The Former Moji Mitsui Club

In Cardcaptor Sakura there's another iconic and mysterious building that had been pretty important in Sakura Card Arc already, but in Clear Card Arc becomes basically a matter of "life and death" for the new tenants who live in it: of course I'm talking about the mansion that first belonged to Clow Reed, then to Eriol Hiiragizawa, then to Akiho Shinomoto (along with Yuna D. Kaito) and ultimately is bought and managed again by Eriol! 😆

Kaito, the stoic and unfazed magician Kaito we all know, had been uncharacteristically nervous about obtaining Eriol's ex-house, since he was afraid that the previous owner had left some trick that would prevent them from obtaining it. This info was not revealed in the manga, but actually in a "behind the curtains" scene of the 1st Drama CD that came with volume 7 of the manga. Why was it so important for Kaito to get Eriol's ex-house? It's easy to deduce, once you remember that Eriol himself told Syaoran that his ex-house is a very good place to store and protect magical artifacts. And who carried a ridiculously powerful magical artifact inside herself, unaware of it? Akiho, of course. Eriol's house was probably the best chance Kaito had to protect Akiho from all the attempts of the Association+the Squids to take her away, back into their control (as we have seen in chapter 33).

This house was so important that the anime staff (along with scriptwriter Ohkawa-sensei) had to come up with a convoluted explanation as to why the house was back on its feet again when Akiho invited Sakura and Tomoyo in episode 8, since it had been completely destroyed to build an amusement park at the beginning of The Sealed Card movie!! (which, mind you, it's still canon!! They just suggested that Kaito brought that house back with his magic and the majority of the characters didn't realize the discrepancy).

Well, did you know that such an important mansion is an actually existing building? Let me introduce you to the former Moji Mitsui Club in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka prefecture!

As you can see by comparing it with the pictures above, the anime version had to change some elements of the front here and there, but the manga counterpart is basically a tracing of the real existing building!! Just like the ex-Rissei Elementary School, this building isn't just aesthetically interesting, with its exposed timbers evocative of German design of its time. It was built in 1921 as an accommodation facility of Mitsui & Co., Ltd., Japan's first general trading company, but it's famous for having hosted none other than Albert Einstein and his wife, during their tour of Japan, in 1922!! In 1990 it was designated as an Important Cultural Property of Japan.

It is very interesting to note how the anime staff was pretty careful in keeping the same European vibe of the interiors of the existing building, with its big curtains, mantelpiece in each room, exposed wooden beams on the ceiling, dark brown half-wall wooden panelings.

In the manga we can mainly see, of this house, the living room where Kaito and Akiho always chat and have tea (which is the same of the anime), and only limitedly we can see another room (some kind of studio) and Akiho's bedroom. We even get a tiny glance at Kaito's bedroom in chapter 80, but it's basically just the bed.

This one above is the "Einstein Memorial Room" and it replicates faithfully the suite where Einstein and his wife stayed at while visiting Fukuoka.

The teal colored wallpaper with all those flowers makes me think that the design of Akiho's room in the anime might have been inspired precisely by this room! ✨

If you find yourself in the vicinity of Fukuoka, you can't miss the opportunity to visit this building at this address:

Former Moji Mitsui Club 7-1 Minatomachi, Moji-ku, Kitakyushu City JAPAN *Admission fee required for the 2nd floor - Einstein's Memorial Room More info on this page.

Masaki's Summer House - Rokkaen

And now we get to what I consider one of the most beautiful buildings featured in Clear Card Arc: one of Masaki's houses shown in episode 20 of the anime and chapter 20 of the manga!

This was seemingly Nadeshiko's favorite summer house and precisely for this reason, Masaki has planned to leave it as an inheritance to our Sakura-chan in the future! Truth to be told, he wanted to give it to her immediately, but Fujitaka understandably refused (for the time being) the inheritance of the house on his daughter's behalf. I don't even think Sakura knows of this, it's a matter the two men must have discussed in private. Regardless, dear CCS fans, this is a sneak peek into the future of our Sakura-chan and Syaoran-kun, as this might be the future nest of our two lovebirds. 🥰 And could a building of such importance and beauty be just a fictional house?? Of course not!!

Meet the Rokkaen, a gorgeous light blue European-style building in Kuwana, Mie prefecture!

The official Visit Mie website reports: "Completed in 1913, Rokkaen is an old European building with a four-story tower combined with a Japanese-style structure. It boasts a garden in the front complete with a pond. It was built by Josiah Conder, a British architect who also designed the Rokumeikan". Even this building, just like the former Moji Mitsui Club, was designated as an Important Cultural Property of Japan in 1997.

As you can see, this is what the manga shows of this building, and at first glance it might seem like a different mansion because the tower doesn't appear, but worry not: it is still the very same building, only showing the left side of it! The tower on the right side is hidden by the trees (and the Japanese side of the building is missing).

I've checked a bit the interiors from the anime and manga, and while in the anime I didn't recognize particularly any room (the style is still similar though, particularly the half-wall panelings), in the manga there's one scene where it is incontrovertibly featured the sun room on the second floor: it's when Sakura wanders inside and eventually finds Nadeshiko's room!

From the accuracy of the drawing, we can assume Mokona sensei worked closely with different pictures of the real life building! 😉

At this link you can even take a virtual tour of Rokkaen! But if you really want to visit it in person, then take note of the address below:

Rokkaen 663-5 Kuwana City, Kuwana 511-0005 Mie Prefecture JAPAN *Admission fees required to visit the building More info on how to reach the place on this page, using an online translator.

Tomoeda Aquarium - Kaiyukan Aquarium

As for Clear Card, this building only appears in the anime, but it is another one that got a second chance after having appeared in the old anime first: the Tomoeda Aquarium! I still remember how the choice to feature this building again for a very important episode was met with lots of criticism from the SyaoSaku fandom at the time of announcement of episode 9, only to end up making everyone fall in love with the portrayal of Sakura and Syaoran's first date ever. ✨ The magical and intimate atmosphere of an aquarium, with its soft lights and pretty colored fishes, got an unrivaled charm! Well, it seems the design of this magical place (where Kaito and Akiho will have a date of their own later on - only mentioned and manga-only, for now) was inspired by a real existing aquarium, the Kaiyukan Aquarium in Osaka!!

And of course, for CCS, they couldn't choose an average aquarium: Kaiyukan was, when it first opened in 1990, the largest public aquarium in the entire world. Nowadays that record has been surpassed by other aquariums, but it's still one of the largest. Goes without saying, but the design was the same even in the old anime.

Not everything we saw of this aquarium in CCS comes from Kaiyukan, though. It seems like the iconic cylindrical tank (yes, the one that broke twice in the anime) might have been inspired by AquaDom, which was a very popular aquarium situated in the lobby of the Radisson Collection Hotel in Berlin, Germany. This aquarium held the World Record title for the biggest cylindrical aquarium in the world. Why do I talk in past tense? ...Well, this might seem like a joke, you might have heard about it or not, but sometimes fiction turns into reality and on December 16th, 2022 the big tank suddenly ruptured, destroying itself and propelling 1 million litres of water and 1.500 tropical fishes into nearby facilities and streets, with devastating damage. Only two people got hurt from the glass debris since this happened early in the morning (before 6 am), but if this happened even just an hour later, the human damage would've been so much worse, on top of everything else. Unfortunately, all the fishes died. ☹️ When the news came out, I saw a lot of Japanese fans relating the incident to what happened in CCS. 😅

Well, I can't leave information to visit AquaDom anymore, since it seems they don't have any intention to re-build the cylindrical aquarium, but I can certainly do so for the pretty Kaiyukan aquarium in Osaka, so if you visit nearby, definitely check it out! 😉

Kaiyukan Aquarium 1-1-10 Kaigandori, Minato-ku, Osaka City 552-0022 JAPAN *Tickets required Additional access info here.

Old Library of Trinity College & The Eiffel Tower

Alright, alright, I'll admit it: these two come straight from my obsession for YunaAki, hence why I've lumped them together. 😆 When I started getting more and more involved in the story of these two, I (over)analyzed all their panels together, in hope to understand them better and grasp some foreshadowings on the story. And chapter 39 of the manga is particularly dear to me because it showed some fragments of their travels together around the world. I got so interested in that scene in particular, that I started to look if I could recognize the places depicted. And while I had a hard time recognizing some of them, there are two places that are actually existing buildings in real life!

One is the old library of the Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland! When I saw that huge library in the corner of the manga page, I had to look for it. It looked so majestic and beautiful that it had to have a real life inspiration. And it took me to just type "biggest libraries in the world" on Google, to find it! As you can see from the panel circled in purple above, Mokona sensei reproduced (simplifying the design) the one that's called "The Long Room", the biggest and most important room of this impressive library, hosting around 200.000 old books in its 65 mt of length. There are also marble busts lining the room, which have been just vaguely sketched by Mokona sensei, but they do appear along with the seats in the middle of the aisle, indicated by my magenta arrow. The old library is just one building of the Library of the Trinity College, but it is also famous for housing The Book of Kells, which is "an illuminated manuscript and Celtic Gospel book in Latin, containing the four Gospels of the New Testament together with various prefatory texts and tables", as reported by Wikipedia. When Akiho was introduced, they didn't mention she had lived in Ireland, and even though this technically could be just a randomly referenced library and nothing else, it's nice to imagine Akiho and Kaito lived there too. But they DID mention that those two lived in France for a period, hence why the next feature was easier to spot:

Despite the design is sliiiightly different (it's not a perfect tracing of the original, particularly where it seems to be corresponding to the second level deck), I think it's apparent this was meant to suggest the Eiffel Tower and the period they lived in France. The "atmosphere" of the scene also kinda fits it (Kaito always manages to get the best houses - like what do you mean they got an apartment with a view on La Tour Eiffel while they were living in France?? 😆). I don't think the Eiffel Tower needs any introduction, as it's one of the most famous and iconic towers in the world (even the Tokyo Tower is inspired to it!).

So let's just leave some basic info here in case you're traveling the world and want to visit the two locations above:

The old library of Trinity College Old Library, College Green, South-East Inner City, Dublin 2, D02 VR66 IRELAND *Admission fee and pre-booking info here. (Note that currently most of the books have been removed from the Long Room as part of a redevelopment project and will be moved back when works are done)

The Eiffel Tower Av. Gustave Eiffel, 75007 Paris, FRANCE *Admission fee required Additional access info here.

Special Feature / The Pictures in Sakura's Bedroom - Hong Kong

And I've chosen to end this post with an extra: not all of them are buildings but it's something I've already featured in another post loooooooong time ago on this same blog, and I believe it deserves to be featured and collected here again, along with all the other buildings of this arc, for easier reference!!

Have you ever wondered what are the pictures pinned to the wall of Sakura's bedroom in the Clear Card anime? When episode 1 aired on January 7th 2018, some chinese fans were lightning-fast to spot the landscapes depicted in those mysterious photos - they might have looked like some random photos at first glance, but in this anime nothing is left to chance!!

They actually were a very conscious, deliberate choice of the anime staff: they're all referencing landscapes from Hong Kong!!! The chinese fans recognized all the places immediately (and from blurry shots of episode 1, at that!) but later on director Morio Asaka confirmed in the interview of the Starter Book that they were in fact postcards that Syaoran sent to Sakura from Hong Kong during the time they've spent apart between 6th grade and 1st year of middle school.

When I first saw the post from the chinese fans, I remember my heart exploded with tenderness for SyaoSaku, but even more so when director Asaka confirmed it: it was a testament to the efforts made by our two lovebirds to keep their bond alive, waiting for the moment when they would finally be together again. And seeing that Sakura filled her personal space with Syaoran's home gave me a good idea of how much she had been missing him, and used those postcards to "wrap herself in his presence" whenever she needed to. I always appreciated so much this little "present" from the anime staff, always so careful in depicting feelings even through these little details. So let's review what each of those postcards depict (sorry for having to do it like this, but I ran out of pics allowed)

First column The Peak Tower Temple Street Ngong Ping 360 cable car Second column Victoria Harbour ferry Victoria Peak night view

For these ones, as they're just hidden cameos, I prefer leaving a convenient link for each of those places/attractions so you can delve far and wide into the interesting info provided by the official websites (all in English), and maybe even plan your next visit to Hong Kong!

And I believe that's everything, for what I could spot, but if you find other buildings in the Clear Card anime or manga that are clearly referencing real life buildings, let me know and I'll add them here to this post with credits!! ✨✨✨

Remember you can always check the other posts of this series through the hashtag #clear card trivia !

Are you already planning your next trip for a Clear Card pilgrimage?? 😆

[drnikolatesla]

Nikola Tesla and His Achievements

Although the system of world wireless power transmission consumed most of his attention throughout his life, Nikola Tesla still brought the world many wonderful inventions and discoveries. Stated in chronological order, some of the more notable ones are:

The rotating magnetic field, 1882;

System of arc lighting, 1886;

Tesla motor and system of alternating current power transmission that utilized the rotating magnetic field discovery creating polyphase systems of AC, 1888;

System of electrical conversion and distribution by oscillatory discharges, 1889;

Generators of high-frequency currents and effects of these, 1890;

Transmission of energy through a single wire without return, 1891;

The “Tesla coil,” or oscillation transformer, which was the basis to his wireless transmission of energy making Tesla the true father of radio, 1891;

Investigations of high-frequency effects and phenomena, 1891-93;

System of transmission of intelligence and power without wires, 1891-1905;

Neon light signs, 1893;

Researches and discoveries in radiations, material streams and emanations, today known as X-rays, and X-ray imaging, 1893-1898;

Mechanical oscillators and generators of electrical oscillations, 1894-95;

Radioactivity and cosmic ray discovery published in a series of papers in the "Electrical Review,” New York, 1896-1898;

High-potential vacuum tubes, 1896-1898;

Explained the harms of X-rays and safer ways to use them, 1897;

High-potential magnifying transmitter, 1897;

Economic transmission of energy by refrigeration, 1898;

Remote control, or what Tesla called his “Art of Telautomatics,” 1897-99;

Discovery of stationary electrical waves in the earth, 1899;

Art of transmitting energy by stationary waves through earth, 1899-1900;

Burning of atmospheric nitrogen, and production of other electrical effects of transcending intensities, 1899-1900;

Apparatus for the utilization of cosmic radiation, 1901;

Art of Individualization. Tesla described this as a method of absolute privacy in wireless communication, 1902-1903;

Magnifying transmitter on a large scale, 1902;

Speedometers on new principles, means for lightning protection, types of steam and gas turbines, pressure and vacuum pumps and other apparatus, 1916-1926.

Teleforce, or his “New Art of Projecting Concentrated Non-Dispersive Energy Through Natural Media.” This is his particle beam weapon, circa 1930s.

[dross-the-fish]

if you (or any followers) are interested in Dark Shadows, it’s on tubi.com free with ads, no account needed.

for you personally i’d recommend jumping in at season 13 ep 06 (701) that’s the start of the 1897 time travel arc

Thank you for the recommendation!

[mysterious-secret-garden]

Jacques Wagrez - The Voices of Joan of Arc, 1897 (painting).

Versions >> 1 | 2

[chris-jennings-needs-a-nap]

Someone take this app from me

[lonestarbattleship]

USS MAINE (ARC-1) at anchor.

Date: 1897

Library of Congress: LC-DIG-det-4a25824

Colorized by Steven Walker: link

[thepastisalreadywritten]

Thérèse of Lisieux (1873-1897) dressed up as Joan of Arc.

The only photograph of a canonized saint cosplaying as another saint, 1895.

[aceofstars0]

✨️💜Basil timeline💜✨️

I just need a way to keep track of this guy lmao. Normal storyline is written in the default text color.

Purple streak

Milo kocho

Basil is also 3 years older than Tanjiro and 4 years older than milo :)

~200: an incoming war with another planet threatening extinction causes the rulers of basil's home planet to send out a project they've been working on: a meteor with the components of life. They launch it, with no idea if it will even work or hit a planet with life or not.

~900: Basil's meteor lands off the shore of Japan. It releases a large swell of water. The Japanese people investigate, but are unable to find anything of importance,so they let it be

~1300: alien bugs emerge from the meteor and investigate the humans. They relay information back to the meteor, which crafts the perfect formula for its own human.

April 23, 1897: Basil emerges from the meteor and floats to the nearby shore.

April 24, 1897: a passerby notices basil and brings him to the nearby orphanage.

1898: Basil is kicked out of the orphanage and brought into the Butterfly Mansion

1901: Basil loses his arm to an incident at the orphanage.

1905/1906: Basil and Milo meet

June 1907: Basil is kicked out of the orphanage and becomes homeless.

August 1908: Shinobu and Kanae find Basil on the side of the road. He is adopted into the Butterfly Mansion and begins training to be a demon slayer.

1912: Basil and Milo meet.

1914: Basil fights Akaza, losing their right arm. Rengoku also lives. He is named Meteor Hashira.

Here's how old he is for some of the important events:

Basil is 16 when Tanjiro's family is killed

Basil is 18 during the infinity castle arc

This was so annoying to make 😭 the dates are so vague so I tried my best 🥲

Also @larz-barz if you want me to add anything or if there's something I forgot just tell me :)

[purplesurveys]

1897

1~ What quality do you value most highly in others? Considering the traditional and backwards culture my country is known to live by, I appreciate someone who's open-minded and thinks in a more modern, less discriminating way.

2~ Are you more aggressive or mellow? It depends...this is a very broad question. I can be aggressive when it comes to people or things I deeply care about, and mostly mellow-ly nonchalant towards everything else.

3~ Who has made the biggest sacrifice for you? My parents, easily.

4~ Do you take any vitamins or medication? I don't. Nothing regular.

5~ Do you want to grow old with someone? It would be nice to grow old with my best friend, but I also don't, like, actively pressure her to do so. She has her own future and family to think about, and I don't mind being one of the supporting characters in her arc. It would just be nice to have the rest of our lives together.

6~ Do you treat others better or worse than yourself and why? It used to be 100% better than myself, but I'm slowly starting to prioritize myself now too. That being said, I've started to enforce boundaries and to learn how to say no when I want to.

7~ What sound is annoying you right now? Eh, nothing. It's fairly silent at the moment.

8~ Where was your last vacation to? We had back to back trips to Bulacan, Vietnam, and Tagaytay the last month. My family also booked a last-minute weekend someplace south but I didn't go with as I went to Hans and Angela's engagement party that same time.

9~ Where was your last car ride to? My uncle's new place! He finally moved into the home he's been building and finishing up the last few years and it's beautiful.

10~ Where did you last walk to? Just upstairs, here to my bedroom.

11~ What gives you a peaceful feeling? Rainy weather.

12~ Are you a light sleeper? No, I'm usually nearly impossible to wake up which is why I always need 4-5 consecutive alarms set.

13~ When you sleep next to someone who usually falls asleep first? I get veeeerrryyyy conscious sleeping around other people, so it's usually them.

14~ How many people have a piece of your heart? Like less than 10.

15~ What do your salt and pepper shakers look like? They're not shakers; they're just tupperwares with their own scoops.

16~ When was the last time you hurt yourself? Intentionally? Years ago. Maybe 6 or 7 years ago. Unintentionally – happens a lot, so yesterday would be my best guess.

17~ Would you rather live in the city, suburbs or the country? City. I grew up in the suburbs my entire life and don't know the sound of a bustling city at all. I'd love to be surrounded by it now that I'm at pretty much the peak of my 20s.

18~ Have you ever built something? I'm sure I have.

19~ Are you more of a maker and giver, or a taker and user? Taker and user. I like going by other people's lead.

20~ Do you take naps? Rarely. Only when I'm extremely, extremely beat – like yesterday.

21~ Do you buy holiday gifts early or at the last minute? I always do it last-minute and get stressed every time lol, I never learn.

22~ Do you laugh when there is no joke and dance when there is no music? Dance, yes. But I don't think I've ever laughed out of nowhere. I always at least remember some kind of memory.

23~ If someone else were to describe you what would you hope they would say? That I have been mentally strong. Or thoughtful – that would honestly be nice to hear, too.

24~ What is the dirtiest habit you can think of? Like, of anyone? I saw someone on Reddit say they enjoy cleaning out their shower drain and that the more hair they get out of it, the better. Something I never expected to read that day tbh lol

25~ Do you ever need ‘quiet time’? Absolutely, and I need it more and more these days since there's now so much more demanded of me at my job, with everyone having eyes on my every move. By the end of every fucking week I'm just out and do not want to deal with anything and anyone.

26~ Do you think it is harder for a parent to outlive their child or for the child to outlive their parent? The former definitely, just because that's not usually expected to happen. My aunt had her son (my uncle) pass at 40; there's not a week I don't think of her and how she's doing.

27~ What was your best find from a flea market, garage sale, ebay or thrift? I found a copy of the WWE Encyclopedia in pristine condition at a secondhand book store. Copped that shit i m m e d i a t e l y.

28~ What is one selfish thing you tend to do? Prioritize myself and my feelings.

29~ What kinds of people do you find intimidating? Mostly people who have had more experience than I've had in our industry. It's intimidation coming from a place of respect, though – I try not to be actively scared of them and instead take the opportunity to learn from them no matter what their mentorship style is (unless they are assholes lol, which I won't tolerate. But thankfully I've never had to encounter someone of the sort).

30~ Out of everyone you know who has the most unique personality? Ades probably? He's the kind of smart that almost makes him weird, but I've never found it off-putting. I like hearing his thoughts whenever I can.

31~ When do you do your best thinking? After-work hours, ie anytime after 6 PM; or on the weekends – which is the time I get to think without needing to worry about deadlines.

32~ What was a choice that you didn’t want to make but you had to? Choosing to move on from my ex four years ago; I genuinely thought there was still a chance we could get back together. I was desperate and delusional at the start, trying to still keep up conversations with her whenever I could and thinking that any reply from her was progress in the direction I wanted. Soon enough I realized that she wanted nothing to do with me anymore and seemed perfectly fine and free without me, and that made it much easier to move past.

33~ Have you ever written a letter to a soldier? No.

34~ What does your favorite coffee mug look like? It's just a plain black glass mug.

35~ What age do you think it is most difficult to be? From my own observation of others around me, 25 seems to be quite the hurdle. Everyone seems to be so pressured and is doing a bunch of stuff to overcome the quarter-life crisis...but personally I think I've handled it quite well and am proud of that.

36~ Do you think you could handle a day in jail? I think my anxiety would eat me alive for the better part of it, but it's a day. I think I'd be able to manage, even if barely.

37~ Who is the most overbearing person you know? L.

38~ Have you ever been on a trampoline? Sure.

39~ What do you use batteries for the most often? My Army lightstick, hah.

40~ Would you prefer to wrap your own presents or have them all gift wrapped? I'm terrible at wrapping presents so I either have my sister do it (if we still have time, because I do my gift shopping last minute like I said) or I just buy a bunch of paper bags to put my gifts in.

[kenwarps]

introducing 🥁🥁🥁

SERENE DRAGNEEL 🤗

—> this is my fairy tail oc i’ve been working on for the past two months, so i hope y’all enjoy her and her story!!!

—> Mircalla nickname explanation:

Carmilla is an 1872 Gothic Novella by Irish author Sheridan Le Fanu and one of the earliest works of vampire fiction, predating Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897) by 25 years. … The story is narrated by a young woman preyed upon by a female vampire named Carmilla, who is later revealed to be Mircalla, Countess Karnstein. The character is a prototypical example of the lesbian vampire, expressing romantic desire towards the protagonist.

LORE!!

Serene was conceived 400 odd years ago, but only her mother knew she was pregnant. She was supposed to die along side her parents and Natsu following the dragon attack, but her mother used what little magic she had left to encase Serene with magic until she was found by a wandering Dragon Slayer. While Zeref spent his time trying to resurrect Natsu, a certain Dragon Slayer and Celestial Mage were trying to break the spell that encased Serene. a few years later. (At this point, Acnologia was a fresh Dragon Slayer, therefore wasn’t consumed by vengeance, yet.)

Natsu and Serene were “reborn” roughly around the same time.

Serene’s birthday is June 21, X372, making her birthday Summer Solstice, as well as her being 5 during the 400 Year Project.

Anna Heartfilia became the prime guardian of Serene, and taught her Devil Slayer Magic using books Zeref had given her (unbeknownst what the purpose was for).

The Dragneel Siblings were originally 7 years apart until stuff happened. (Zeref was cursed at 19, Natsu turned 12 the day of the 400 Year Project, and Serene was 5.)

After the 7 year gap, the Dragneels are all roughly the same age physically, with Zeref maintaining his 19 y/o appearance, Natsu being stuck in time at 18y/o, and Serene aging naturally during that time. Both Natsu and Serene turned 19 following Team Tenrou’s return early March X791.

Serene joined Fairy Tail two years after Team Tenrou went missing. Her guild mates were unsure of what her magic was, even after dueling with her.

She was allowed to go on S-Class Quests, which rewards went to funding the search for their missing members.

She kept to herself most of the time. She feared her magic and the fact she used to be a mage for hire, regardless of the job, would isolate her from the guild, so she isolated herself before she could be cast out. She became less reserved when Team Tenrou returned, but still lurked and didn’t talk much.

She met Master Makarov after he heard Macao was allowing someone to take S-Class Quests while they were away. They had a discussion and Serene was no longer allowed to go on these quests alone.

However, prior to Team Tenrou’s return, Serene had gotten the approval to go on the 10 Year Quest and was preparing to depart. Makarov allowed her to continue her quest. (This is what she was doing during the Grand Magic Games Arc and most of the Tartaros Arc.)

She returns from her quest, successful, near the end of the Tartaros Arc. She claims the quest wasn’t the real 10 years quest, and that the client only said it would take 10 years in hopes that someone would take the false challenge.

When the guild disbanded, she formed a partnership with Gildarts to finish the remaining quests on the quest board. They wrapped up their quests in roughly three months. While together, Serene opened up to Gildarts about her relationship with Natsu. They have a heartfelt conversation, mainly Gildarts telling her to not wait too long as he wishes Cana told him sooner that he was her father. Shortly after, they run into Natsu before all going separate ways.

A few months later, Serene runs into two Avatar members: Mary and Gray Fullbuster. Mary and Serene fight with Serene coming out the victor. Gray doesn’t recognize her, but her does recognize her—their—guild mark, indicating she was a member prior to the guild disbanding. Serene throws some insults Gray’s way before walking away.

She entered the war against Alavarez following Irene’s casting of Universe One.

She briefly fights against Larcade. He uses his starvation spell against her, but that only results in her taking a chomp out of him. He flees to go rescue Dimaria.

Serene then heads over to the guild hall, where she’s found watching Natsu and Zeref fight as she “finds it entertaining.”

During the peak of their fight, Serene accidentally lets it slip that Natsu and Zeref are her brothers when Zeref asks why she was simply watching them fight. Both siblings believed Natsu was unconscious, so Serene explained herself. Afterwards, Natsu bounces up while Zeref is distracted and their fight continues.

After the war, Natsu confronts Serene about what she said, which she confirms as the truth. Her fear of being rejected hits its peak, but her fear is immediately squashed when she’s met with a hug from Natsu.

During Lucy’s Kemu Zaleon reward celebration a year later, she shares how Natsu and Serene have started building their relationship over the past year, as well as how Serene’s become more open and friendly around the guild hall.

More to come :)

[archivist-crow]

On this day:

MYSTERY AIRSHIP WAVE OF 1896

On November 17, 1896, it was a dark and stormy night in Sacramento, California, as hundreds of people watched three lights traveling through the sky, illuminating the dark, oblong shape that they were attached to. The object traveled about 350 yards above the rooftops.

Five days later it returned and was witnessed by thousands of people during the half hour it took to cross the city. One man heard a shout from above, "Throw her up higher; she'll hit the steeple." He claims to have seen two men peddling a bicycle-type frame, which was attached to the object. Another man with a telescope saw a lamp that was "an electric arc light of intense power." Later that night the flying object was sighted above San Francisco, where it was observed by thousands. The airship cruised above the famous Cliff House on the Pacific Coast, where it activated a searchlight that cast a beam over 500 feet and frightened the seals off Seal Rock.

Earlier that year a sighting had been reported in Rossland, British Columbia. A report said "a strange aerial body…approached the town, paused momentarily above a nearby mountain peak, made seven wide circles in the sky and then sped away on a straight course.

The thing was described as a “luminous ball of fire that glowed amidst a halo of variegated colours." The object took a quarter of an hour to complete its maneuvers and was watched by many Rossland citizens.

Numerous sightings of airships were reported until May 1897. Sightings took place during both the day and the night and described oblong shapes with multicolored lights and often propellers, fins, and wings as well. The eyes of many thousands of people followed the airship as it crossed the continent from west to east.

Text from: Almanac of the Infamous, the Incredible, and the Ignored by Juanita Rose Violins, published by Weiser Books, 2009

[aheathen-conceivably]

Mon Cher ami (my dear friend), I have a question for you: if your decades challenge was a TV series, which season would it be in now with the Zelda storyline in the 1920s? And I also want to be more daring: episode number and title? (referring to Zelda's last post).

Could Jo be considered a spin-off or would it be part of the current season?

forgive me but being a TV series lover, since I've been following your decades challenge I imagine that it could be perfect for a TV series 😍

Oh Vivi, wow!! You have really outdone yourself with this ask. I have thought about what other medium I would like to see The Darlingtons in and my top choice is always a TV series. I think that they do the most justice to long form narratives and I would love to see my story actually move as well as set to sounds and music.

So I see season 1 as the prequel combined with the 1890s up until the family moves to Henford in 1897. Then that season would end when Rosella turns 17 and Virginia turns 13 in 1909. This is really when the narrative switches to their perspectives and their arcs at Harrington manor and in the suffragette movement begin.

Then we would have the third season span all of the 1910s, with the first half centered on Rosella and the second half centered on Virginia and the war. This season would end with Oliver’s death and Zelda leaving Henford.

Thus, the fourth season would open with this shot, and would be the series entry into the 1920s and New Orleans. This is the first decade I really see broken into two seasons, as it has two self contained arcs (the second, of course, we have yet to see play out). The fourth season would thus have ended with this post, when Florence goes back to England.

We have thus just begun season 5. Zelda, Antoine, and Josephine’s latest posts would all be season 5, episode 1. As we’ll see, Josephine’s plot line is integral to this entire arc and she is one of the three main characters of this gen (the other two being Antoine and Zelda of course). Tomorrow’s post is also part of episode one, and Monday’s will bring us into episode two.

But I am no good at naming things so I’ll leave that one up to you in the comments 😊