#and some pronunciations and a map later

[mapsontheweb]

Percentage of letters that are vowels in each language's word for "egg".

by 99685-96-8

To preface: I am not a linguist, so there's a high probability there are some mistakes in this map. Please don't vilify me if I misrepresented your language in this map.

Edit: Friulian should be 50%, not 100%. Updated map.

Here's a version of the map with language labels.

Here's a version of the map with percentage labels.

This map mostly stemmed from a stupid thought in my head, when I realized the Dutch word (I am Dutch) for egg (ei) only consists of vowels. This sparked the question of how this property is distributed across European languages.

One search for a language map later (thanks Wikipedia!) and dozens of searches for translations and alphabets later (there are approximately 60 languages on this map) (thanks Wikipedia and also Wiktionary!) and now we know!

(As "vowel," I defined a letter that can have a vowel sound in the corresponding language. For many languages, it was hard to find pronunciation guides for the specific word while finding a translation was easier, so I decided to focus on letters instead of phonemes. Furthermore, for some languages in the base map, I could not find a trustworthy translation, hence the "no data" for some languages. Digraphs in some Cyrillic alphabets were counted as a single letter.)

Happy Easter!

Main sources:

Base map from Wikimedia Commons

Most translations from Wiktionary

Ladin translation from the Istituto Cultural Ladin

Sámi translations from the Oahpa portal of the University of Tromsø

Scots translation from scots-online.org

[becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys]

Hello I am going on a holiday to Eryri next month & I like to read up about an area before going there... do u have any reading or documentary or podcast recs? I'm particularly interested in the ecology & minority language activism & like. Peoples history & rural lives! I know this is stuff u know about in Wales but idk if north Wales is ur region! Míle buiochas ón Eireann!

Fáilte go dtí an Bhreatain Bheag! Or croeso i Gymru. Exciting! Keep an eye on the notes for others chiming in with good recs for documentaries and the like, I'm going to just give a super quick guide

Okay, pronunciation guide for place names and that is here in written form and here in video form. I cannot recommend strongly enough that you try to use the Welsh place names rather than the English translations. Duolingo is flawed but serviceable if you want to hear and learn some basic phrases. If you can at least throw out a 'bore da' to people you pass/shopkeepers, you'll be very well liked. You don't need to be fluent by any means, but Making An Effort is seen as, like, the nicest and politest and most wonderful thing in Wales, and particularly in regions like Eryri.

Because! It's one of the biggest remaining Welsh language strongholds. If you look at language maps over time in Wales, a pattern emerges:

And the current (2021) figures show this:

And you are going to this bit:

So you're heading into the Welshest bit in all of Wales! And the bit with the strongest and longest history of Welsh, too.

Which also means there's a lot of activism-related stuff in that area. It's probably worth you reading up on the history of Tryweryn (which was a bit further east, but sets the scene well); there was also a BIG thing a couple of decades ago where activists would burn down English-owned holiday homes (while they were empty in winter, not, like, with the English in them). This is because, in addition to the usual issues with the social impacts of holiday homes (driving up prices meaning locals can't live there, eroding communities, etc), holiday homes in Welsh language heartlands are a significant and tangible threat to the language. Even today, the issue of holiday homes is an extremely touchy subject, as is the issue of (mostly-English) people moving into the area because "It's so pretty!!!" and then not learning the language.

(Yet another reason they will love you if you Make An Effort)

Historically speaking, you'll be in a chunk of the country that was the ancestral seat of the last kings of Wales (Gwynedd). The final one, Llywelyn ein Llyw Olaf, was ambushed and murdered in 1282, which was the beginning of the end for fighting off English rule. In fact, Owain Glyndŵr later crowned himself king of Wales for about two years, but weirdly, no one acknowledges this as real kingship for some reason - if you google his name, he's always listed as a soldier or military commander, which really opens up a whole "Who gets to say when someone is royalty" debate, but he did actually claim descent from the House of Aberffraw anyway, so ultimately it still links back to Llywelyn.

Ecology! Temperate alpine. There actually isn't a global scientific distinction between hill and mountain, but most countries set an arbitrary height standard. This means it varies from country to country depending on how tall their topology is. Wales, however, bucks this trend, and instead decides based on what is formally referred to as 'land use' and colloquially referred to as 'Vibes'. If it's a hill, it's tamed - if it's a mountain, it's wild. This means Eryri is fairly short by the standards of tedious foreigners who regard mountains as a sort of geological dick waving competition, but it's in fact a whole mountain range; it's also older than Saturn's rings. And, crucially, it's very much sufficiently above sea level to have an alpine ecosystem.

There are three endemic (i.e. not occurring anywhere else in the world) species in Eryri, to whit:

The Snowdon lily. A small and delicate flower growing in protected and inaccessible spots on yr Wyddfa (formally known as Snowdon). Excessively vulnerable to trampling, so the national park keeps sections where it grows fenced off.

The Snowdon beetle. RAINBOW BEETLE.

The gwyniad. A sub-species of whitefish until recently exclusively found in Llyn Tegid (Bala Lake), trapped there after the ice age and now developing its own genetic profile distinct from other whitefish. Some dickhead in the 80s introduced the ruffe to the lake for fishing, and the ruffe eats the gwyniad's eggs, so they've now transplanted eggs to Llyn Arenig Fawr nearby as a conservation measure.

There's also feral goats. And Welsh mountain ponies. Ooh, and, red kites - in the UK red kites were so heavily persecuted they eventually fell to just 7 breeding pairs in Wales. We established a protected zone and hired Nepalese Gurkhas to guard the nests and thus saved it from extirpation so successfully they later translocated Welsh birds to other spots in the UK. It's a big conservation success story, and now red kites are considered to be the national bird of Wales. They have a very distinctive silhouette, too, look for the forked tail.

Oh, and, we have a unique habitat type called ffridd, which you see a lot of in Eryri.

Final wildlife pictures to close:

Anyway - have a great time! Enjoy muchly.

[gumnut-logic]

John Tracy hated taking public transport.

He hated the cramped seats, the invasion of his personal space, the fact the bus stopped every few minutes to pick up more passengers and the noise.

It was stressful, annoying and far too full of people.

But the astrolabs were too far from the dorm to hike it or bike it, so bus it was.

He mapped out the most direct route, left early to avoid the crowds and handled it the best he could. Earphones helped and he never travelled without his tablet and a network connection.

He made do.

He made do for over a year. Every morning and every night.

The work was fascinating and he thoroughly enjoyed it. He considered getting a car, but it wasn’t practical and parking was non-existent, so he stuck with the bus.

Despite the fact he hated it.

Every trip he buried himself in his own world whether it be his work, research, a good book or even a movie. He shut the world out and more importantly anyone who sat next to him.

Sometimes this was not possible.

Because sometimes they spoke to him.

John had been brought up polite. His grandmother would have slapped his wrist if she found out he was ignoring people. So, he always replied. Often concisely, but always watching his manners.

That often opened the floodgates. Because if there was anything common between big cities it was the people who were lost in them, desperately alone in a sea of faces.

John liked being alone to a certain extent, but he was blessed with a close and large family.

Some people had no one.

So, ever so reluctantly, he found himself answering their call for help.

The first was Mrs Bucklin. She was a tiny woman, well dressed, but slightly scented with mothballs as if her clothes hadn’t been out of the closet in a long time.

She sat right beside him and immediately enquired as to what he was doing.

At the time he was coding a new game and her sharp voice startled him enough for his fingers to slip and enter a chain of commands he had not intended. He would have sworn if he was alone, but the program righted itself and the new commands, instead of corrupting and crashing the function, actually appeared to improve it. He frowned and hastily input some bridging structures so the code wouldn’t fragment, idly wondering if the error would improve the game, ruin it, have him need to rewrite the whole section or be the spark that would initiate sentience.

Great, his tablet would rise up and eat him while he was distracted by a random bus passenger.

She did apologise and he did reassure her that it was all okay in the hope she would let him be.

She didn’t.

He learnt she had three cats, a niece in another country (he didn’t gather which because the woman’s pronunciation defied translation), that she had lost her son in the Global Conflict, she liked his hair (that was a first) and that he looked like an intelligent young man.

He acknowledged her quietly and politely as he eyed his code and the results of an initial compile test. How did it do that?

Her cats were named Scottie, Gordy and Allie.

He did blink at that, but didn’t comment.

Eventually, she said goodbye and got off the bus at her stop.

He would have forgotten about her, except she sat next to him the next day and the day after that.

Apparently, this was her route to work, and he was such a polite young man.

Three weeks later she admitted he made her feel safe just by being there. She had been mugged three times in her life and public transport was as much a bane for her as it was for him.

He actively kept an eye out for her after that.

Gus was a different matter.

Gus didn’t have a home and he often rode the bus just for the air conditioning and comfort.

He sat on the other side of the walkway to John. He didn’t say much and would likely have never said anything if it hadn’t been for the gang of boys who decided to throw verbal potshots at him one day.

John had had an all-nighter with exams coming up, so he was cranky. His latest project had stalled – the same game he had been tackling when Mrs Bucklin had startled him. The core of the program had become a little unpredictable and he couldn’t work out why.

So, when a group of teenagers crawled to the back of the bus and started needling a fellow passenger, it was not only a situation where the innocent man appeared to need a bit of a rescue, but it also pissed John off.

There were four of them. Teenagers flocked in groups apparently. He’d never been one for that formation himself, but he knew of them, had encountered them and Virgil had kicked a few of their asses for him.

John was in college now.

He could kick his own fair share of ass quite happily.

“Leave the man alone, or I will call the police.” He raised his voice, but not his head, transmitting all the body language of how beneath his notice they were and how he might respond if they didn’t comply.

“Mind your own business, kook!”

There was always a brave one amongst the group, usually the ringleader, the head dickhead.

At least they were only teenagers.

This time he did look up and put all that communication theory into the coldest stare possible. “Excuse me?”

All four of them froze. Hell, they couldn’t be older than fifteen, somewhere between Gordy and Alan. If either of his brothers acted like this, there were three older brothers who would quite firmly re-educate them on proper conduct.

Not that he thought either of his younger brothers would do such a thing.

In any case, all four of them stared at him wide-eyed. The eldest swore and climbed out of his seat just as the bus pulled up at the next stop. He snarled at John as he stalked past, spitting profanities. His cohorts followed and they climbed off the bus.

It was lovely and quiet after that and John went back to tackling his misbehaving program.

“Thank you, sir.”

John blinked up at the unkempt man who had been the centre of the teenagers’ torment.

A small smile. “You’re welcome.”

Was this variable being changed by the program itself? How the hell could it do that?

He didn’t fail to notice after that incident that Gus, as he introduced himself the next time they met, always sat near John on his rides, morning or evening.

John met other people. Mrs Magarey and her three young children always needed a hand with her pram. John sometimes took advantage of this and stuck the pram in the footwell of the seat next to him so no-one could sit there.

That made Mrs Bucklin sit behind him and whisper her stories in his ear.

He wasn’t sure if he was comfortable with that either.

Two other students from his faculty took the same bus as well. Ridley was in the year behind him and always had a friend on the phone. She chattered a lot and he learnt to tune her out.

Well, until the day he boarded the bus and found her crying into her tablet.

She had lost her entire thesis in a computer crash. He was polite. He enquired and she answered, staring up at him as if she had never seen him before. Which was entirely possible. John didn’t like to draw attention to himself.

He accompanied her off the bus that day and delved into her damaged computer. He dug up her thesis and she gushed all over him, even crying into his sweater.

He hugged her awkwardly and wished her all the best.

After that, she always said hello and had a smile for him.

John smiled back, but his program was still not behaving. It acted as if it had a mind of its own and it was very distracting.

Mrs Bucklin said it sounded like cat number two, Gordy. Never behaving, but always loveable.

John stared at her when she said that, and wondered if she knew more than she was letting on.

The day Virgil landed in the seat beside him on the way to the labs startled him enough to drop his tablet.

“Hey, Johnny.”

He fumbled between the seats for the device. “Don’t call me Johnny.”

“Sorry.” But he could tell Virgil was anything but.

His fingers touched the cool metal of his tablet and he scrabbled for it. “What are you doing here?”

“Can’t a brother drop in on his brother to see how he is doing?”

John eyed him. If it was Scott sitting next to him or Gordon, he might have been suspicious of any double meaning his brother might be communicating. But this was Virgil and although the engineer had a sense of humour that could cut when necessary, this wasn’t his style.

“I guess he can. But why the bus?”

Virgil shrugged. “Didn’t catch you early enough. Barely caught the bus behind you. I thought your classes didn’t start until later.”

“They don’t.”

“Then why are you up so early?”

It was John’s turn to shrug. “Just avoiding the crowds, I guess.”

Virgil eyed him with a slightly worried frown.

“And who is this lovely young man who has taken my seat?”

Oh god.

Virgil stared up at Mrs Bucklin as she bustled in to sit behind them.

An internal sigh. “Mrs Bucklin, this is my brother Virgil.”

“Your brother?” She eyed Virgil as if inspecting him for sale. “Doesn’t look like you at all. Where’s the red hair?”

Virgil arched a dark eyebrow.

“Nevertheless, Mrs Bucklin, Virgil is my older brother.”

“Then how come we haven’t met before? You’ve been travelling this route for a year now and we haven’t seen hide or hair of him.” She continued to glare at Virgil as if he was a threat.

Virgil was shifting in his seat, his expression decidedly wary.

“Virgil has been assisting my father on a project. He’s an engineer. I’m unsure what he is doing here right now.”

“Hmph, well, in my opinion, he should have been here earlier.” She addressed Virgil directly. “Did you know your sweet little brother has been a bastion of this bus route, defending and assisting all?”

What?

John’s head shot up. “Mrs Bucklin-“

“Don’t you go all humble pie on me, young man. I saw what you did to those teenagers and how you help young Mollie every week. That girl is going to work herself into an early grave. And poor Gus, you’ve given him a new reason to try. Did you know he has enrolled himself in a course? Got himself a grant from the government and everything. Got help from that employment assistance group. Not to mention that doe-eyed young student who stares at you with love hearts floating about her head. I don’t know what you did for her, but I have no doubt she would do anything for you if you asked.” She turned back to Virgil, accusation in her eyes. “Why haven’t you been looking after your brother?”

Virgil’s wide eyes darted between John and the older woman.

John had no idea what to say.

“Well?” Mrs Bucklin’s glare was determined.

“Ah-“

“Is this man harassing you?”

John looked up to see Gus looming over Virgil.

You know, the Virgil who lifted weights that weighed more than his brothers on a daily basis.

John frowned. Gus had a new coat on and was looking much healthier than the last time he paid attention. “No, Gus. This is my older brother Virgil.”

And Virgil was subjected to another staring glare. “Doesn’t look like your brother.”

What?!

“I can assure you that he is indeed my caring older brother and he is not neglecting me in any way.”

Gus grunted, still glaring at Virgil. He nodded in John’s direction. “Make sure he eats more. He’s too skinny.”

That started Mrs Bucklin off again. “My goodness, yes. John you do not eat enough. Have you tried any of those recipes I recommended?”

Gus was still eyeing Virgil.

Virgil appeared to be regretting several recent life choices.

“I’m fine, Mrs Bucklin.” He raised his hands. “And both of you, Virgil is not responsible for my wellbeing.”

His tablet beeped. A glance and he found a text message from Ridley. You okay over there?

He looked up and found her at the other end of the bus staring back at him worriedly.

A sigh.

A flick of his fingers. I’m fine.

He turned back to Virgil who was literally cornered, only for his tablet to chime again.

You free tonight?

Oh, for the love of-

“Guys, Virgil is my big brother. He looks after me. He cares. I’m fine. He’s here for a visit. I don’t know why yet. Stop glaring at him.”

Gus grunted again and wandered off to his seat. He didn’t stop eyeing John’s brother for a second.

Mrs Bucklin let off a slightly miffed sound before leaning back in her seat. “He better. Or I have a mind to bring Scottie with me next time. Or maybe Gordy. To teach him a lesson.”

What the hell?

“No need, Mrs Bucklin. I assure you.”

Virgil was staring at John as if he wasn’t sure what planet he was on.

John sighed.

Yeah, he hated public transport.

It was stressful, annoying and far too full of people.

His tablet pinged again. This time it was the program he was working on. It was claiming it was dawn despite the fact the sun had risen an hour ago. He let out an exasperated hiss.

Virgil was still staring at him.

Damn public transport.

-o-o-o-

[worseforwords]

Manchester Meet-cute (Ona Batlle x Reader)

This is my first ever fic! I hope you like it :)

One January morning, in an unexpected turn of events, you found yourself wandering the streets of Manchester all by yourself. This was not how you had planned to spend your England-visit: just yesterday you met up with your friend Amy, who lived in Liverpool, to go on a small road trip to visit another friend in London, and to do some sightseeing in both Manchester and Birmingham on the way there. However, Amy had the infuriating ability to fall in love with a stranger in under a second, and that is exactly what she did a mere 3 hours before your arrival. At least she had the decency to take you on a small tour trough Liverpool and to drop you off in Manchester the next day, before hopping on a plane to Paris herself with some guy named Louis, or Luke or whatever.

So here you were, all by yourself in a new city in a foreign country. You weren’t used to traveling alone, but you actually didn’t mind some peace and quiet for once. You bought a map somewhere and spend majority of the morning sightseeing the city centre. For English standards, the weather had actually been quite nice, which of course was too good to be true. Around noon, it suddenly started pouring and you quickly made your way into a lovely little coffee shop. You went up to the coffee bar and ordered a large cappuccino. After some smalltalk with the barista you picked up your coffee to head to a free table by the window. Your small journey to the table was rudely interrupted however, when a rather hasty individual collided with your elbow connected to your coffee holding hand. You watched as if in slow motion as your cup flew up in the air and the entirety of its hot contents came raining down on you and soaked your favourite sweater. 

“AY DIOS MIO! I am so, so sorry. Why am I such an idiot?” A panicked voice cried out whilst you rapidly wiped as much of your large cappuccino of your face and sweater as you could. “It’s okay, don’t worry about it” you spoke, still wiping. “No, it’s not! Let me at least buy you a new coffee, please?” “You really don’t have to-” “I insist.” You finally looked up at the clumsy sweater ruining girl in front of you, only to be met with a pair of beautiful hazel eyes and a slightly worried smile. “Yeah, okay”

“Sorry about your sweater” She said, handing you a fresh cappuccino. “How much did it cost? I’ll give you some money for a new one.” “No, you don’t have to do that. It’s all good.” You answered, not willing to accept such a generous offer from a stranger. “Please, it’s a nice sweater, I have to make it up to you somehow.” She begged, still looking rather concerned. “You know what, you can tell me what I should do or see in Manchester on a Sunday. It’s my first time here.”

You sat down at a table together and she talked about her favourite places around Manchester for a while and you listened attentively whilst sipping your coffee. “I am Y/N by the way” you said after a while, realising you never properly introduced yourselves. “Hi Y/N” she smiled, having the same realisation “I am Ona”. “So, Ona, not to be blunt, but you are not from here either, are you?” “No I am not” she giggled, “I am from Spain, but I’ve lived here for a while now.”. “Ah, la bella españa” you tried your very best at the pronunciation. “¿Hablas español?” she asked, her eyes widening slightly. “No, no, un poco, pero no es bien” you stuttered shyly. Ona giggled again at your face growing redder by the second. “That wasn’t bad you know.” “Thanks” you said, certain that she was just being polite. 

“So erm,” you started, slowly getting red again “do you maybe feel like visiting any of those places you were talking about earlier, like now, with me?” Ona checked the time on her phone. “Oh shit, erm, I sort of have to go now, I have a football match later.” You suddenly realised how bold your question was and started to regret ever asking it when she quickly added: “But maybe we can meet up afterwards? I’ll show you around Manchester by night” She send you a small wink which made your cheeks flush yet again. “Yeah, sure that sounds amazing. So where is this football match?” You asked, taking the last sip of your coffee. “Old Trafford” Ona mumbled. You surely would’ve spat it out your coffee you hadn’t just swallowed it. “I’m sorry, did you just say Old Trafford? As in, the Manchester United stadium?” “Well look who did their homework” Ona smiled. You just stared at her, too stunned to speak. “What? Okay yes, I play for United, I am a professional footballer.” You continued your staring, this time with your mouth wide open. She rolled her eyes “It’s not a big deal, it’s just my job.” She smiled again “That is so cool” You finally spoke. “Are you any good?” “Well I do play for United, soo, I guess I’m all right.” She chuckled. “Right yeah, of course, sorry.” You said, mentally smacking yourself on the head for asking such a stupid question. “You know, Y/N, if you don’t have anything to do today you could come watch the game later, if you want to judge for yourself wether I am any good.” She offered. “Unless you don’t want to of course, I don’t even know if you like football, so no pressure, I won’t mind if you say no so-” “I would love that” You interrupted. “And I’m sure you’re great.” Now it was her turn to blush. “Okay, I do really have to go now, but I will send you all the info once I get you a seat.” Ona said whilst getting up and hastily putting on her coat. “Ona,” you spoke, and she stopped to look at you “exactly how will you send me the info?” “Text” she answered quickly whilst continuing to gather her things. “Oh, of course, idiota” she mumbled to herself “so, erm, can I get your number, Y/N?” “I thought you’d never ask” you chuckled.

After a shower and a change of clothes at the hotel you were staying at, you hopped on a bus towards Old Trafford. It was crowded with people in United jerseys and hoodies, talking about the upcoming game. You overheard people mentioning Ona’s name a few times, and started to realise she was a very important player. You lightly chuckled to yourself, amazed at how you got yourself into this situation.

Ona arranged for you to sit in the family and friends area, which felt a little strange, given you just met the girl a couple of hours ago, but you felt honoured nonetheless. United played against Liverpool. It was a though game, but they fought through. Ona was amazing. You didn’t know much about football, apart from what your dad used to scream at the TV, but it was very clear that she had a key role in the game and you pitied anyone who had to go head to head with her. 

After the final whistle blew you watched as the players walked around the field, waving at and thanking the fans. They ended up at the friends and family section, but you politely remained in your seat, not wanting to bother Ona and giving her some time with her friends. Ona, however, upon arriving at the section, looked rather disappointed, scanning the stands with her eyes. When she finally spotted you, a large smile appeared on her face as she waved at you to come over. 

“Thank you for coming, I hope you enjoyed it” she said. “Thank you for inviting me” you answered. “Soo, was I any good?” she asked, smirk on her face. “I guess you were all right” you joked. The two of you briefly chatted about the game before she got pulled away by some teammates. “Go have fun” you said, sending her a wink. “I’ll be quick, just a shower and then I’ll meet you out back?” She gave you a quick hug before heading towards the dressing rooms.

You sat in the lounge area for a bit and Ona texted you some details about where you could meet later. You felt a little guilty about taking her away from the team celebrations, so you texted back:

You: Hey, it’s okay if you want to go celebrate with your teammates, you don’t have to hang out with me you know…

Ona: No, I want to. I promised you Manchester by night!

Ona: Besides, you’re way more fun than these morons anyways ;)

You: Okay, see you there :)

You were leaning against the gate post whilst looking at the January sun already starting to set, when you were startled by a the sudden feeling of a hand on your shoulder. “I love watching the sun set and rise, always reminds me of the Lion King. I love the Lion King.” You turned around to see a familiar pair of hazel eyes looking at you expectantly. “Sorry for making you wait. I got you something though”. Ona handed you a paper bag with something bright red in it. “I still owed you a sweater, remember?” She smiled. You opened the bag further to find a hoodie with a big Manchester United logo on it. You turned it around to see the number 2 printed on the back. “That’s my number!” She said excitedly. “I know, I just saw you play in it, remember? Thank you, Ona. You really didn’t have to, but it’s really nice to have something to remember you by.” Both your cheeks flushed slightly at that comment. 

Ona quickly ordered a cab to get you two back to the city centre. She clearly had a plan in mind for the evening as she guided you through Manchester. She briefly stopped at certain sights to tell you some fun fact or story. “Are you hungry?” She asked after walking around for about two hours. “I could eat.” You answered. “Good, I know the perfect place.” She replied confidently. She took you to a small restaurant by the river. “You like Spanish food?” Ona asked. “¡Sí, me gusta la comida española!” You answered in your best Spanish accent, making Ona giggle.

You sat down at a table for two by the window. “Hola Ona, nice to see you again” the waiter spoke, handing you both your menus. “Are the other girls not coming today?” “Hola Mateo. No, just us.” “Claro” Mateo the waiter noticed you trying desperately to figure out the Spanish menu, looking rather confused and chuckled lightly. He turned back to Ona: “¿Es una cena romántica, o solo amigas?” Ona quickly glanced at you to check if you understood any of that, but you kept your eyes glued to the menu, wanting to hear her answer. “No lo sé todavía. Espero que sí.” You quickly looked at Ona to see a blush appear on her cheeks, but you moved your eyes back to your menu before she could catch you. “Claro,” he smiled. “buena suerte con esa, Ona” He now turned back to you “Would you like an English menu?” “Yes, please” He quickly handed you one from the bar before sending Ona a final wink and moving to another table.

“What was that about?” You asked Ona with a small grin on your face. “Nothing, just joking around.” It was now her turn to practically stick her head into the menu even though she knew it by heart, just to avoid eye contact. “Any recommendations?” You quickly changed the subject to slightly ease the tension. “Sí, do you like lobster?” 

You both ordered a dish called Arròs caldós amb llamàntol and some white wine to pair with it. It was a Catalan dish with creamy rice and lobster. Ona explained how it was one of her favourite things to eat back home, and how she often came to this restaurant to enjoy the familiarity and how it made her feel at peace. You couldn’t help but stare at the twinkle that appeared in her eyes as she spoke about her home. Even though you were quite full from the lobster, Ona insisted you’d try her favourite dessert, so you ended up sharing one Crema Catalana which, as the name suggested, was also a Catalan dish. After a bit of debate you convinced Ona to split the bill, as the lobster was quite expensive and she had already given you enough today.

You left the restaurant two hours later, very full and a little tipsy. Ona suggested to walk along the river for a bit, which you happily accepted. The conversation fell quiet as you looked up at the semi-clear night sky. There were some clouds here and there, and the many city lights caused some light pollution, but you could still see the stars fairly clearly. You almost walked into a fence as you were looking up, lost in thought. “Woah, careful there” Ona giggled. “I guess stargazing works better laying down on the ground” you replied. You proceeded the walk, now looking at your feet rather than at the sky, when Ona suddenly pulled you to the side. She guided you towards a patch of grass. “We can lay down here, if you want?” You just smiled as you lay yourself down on the cold grass, Ona following your lead as she plopped down next to you. 

“I don’t really know anything about stars, do you?” She admitted. “See that W right there?” You pointed upwards. When you got no reaction you scooted a little closer so you could point from her point of view. “Ah yes, I see it now.” She exclaimed. “That’s Cassiopeia, the vain queen. The greek mythology says she was placed in the sky by Poseidon as punishment for her vanity. Essentially he said she was to full of herself.” You chuckled. “I’m sorry, I must be boring you with this random information” You apologised. “No, no, please tell me more!” You felt her hand lightly brushing yours as you carried on telling her random facts about the stars and constellations. After a while you ran out of information and you fell silent. “Ona,” you spoke, taking a deep breath “mi español no es bueno. Pero entiendo un poco lo que dices.” You tried in your best Spanish, not knowing how to use the past tense yet. Ona suddenly shot up. “I KNEW IT” she yelled “you did understand! Why didn’t you say something” You sat up as well. “I was curious to hear your answer.” You smiled slyly. Ona playfully shoved your shoulder.  “Well I’m curious to hear your answer as well.” She boldly stated. You felt your stomach drop at the question but tried to remain cool on the outside. You swallowed and leaned in slightly. Your faces were now only a few inches apart. You looked at her lips but waited for her to respond first. Ona leaned in further, almost completely closing the space between the two of you when you suddenly heard a voice from behind you. “Go on then, kiss, ladies! I don’t mind seeing that at all. Hot!” You turned around to see a group of adult men making kissy faces at you from a distance. “Come on let’s go” you both got up quickly and you let out a relieved sigh when the men didn’t follow you.

“I’m sorry that just happened.” Ona spoke when you had returned to a busier, safer street. “Me too, I feel gross” “Yeah, I get it. It’s okay if you want to go back to your hotel or something if you feel safer there.” She asked carefully. “Maybe, but erm,” you started, not knowing how to not come on too strong in finishing your sentence “I might feel even safer if you join me?” You paused for a second. “I mean, we don’t have to do anything, we can just chill and watch a movie or something or - never mind forget it I’m sorry for even sug-” “Hey, hey,” she took a hold of your face to stop you from rambling “don’t worry, I would love that.”

It wasn’t common for you to stay in a hotel, given that you mostly preferred hostels or, if you were feeling fancy, the occasional airbnb. However, Amy, who lived a more decadent lifestyle, had insisted on booking a hotel for the two of you, stating she’d “rather sleep on the street than enter one of those bed bug infested hell holes you call a hostel”. So here you were, unlocking the door to your two person suite, paid for by Amy, with a girl on your arm who definitely was not Amy. Ona audibly gasped when you opened the door. “Woah, I didn’t take you for the luxurious type, Y/N. And here I was worrying about your sweater.” You chuckled at her reaction, before explaining the whole Amy situation.

“Terrible friend, if you ask me. Good thing you met me.” She winked. “Yeah, well, we got each other through so much. I will always forgive her.” You replied. “Still though, she shouldn’t have ditched you like that” “Yeah well, at least she’s still paying for the room” Ona’s expression suddenly changed. “Soo they have her credit card information, no?” She looked at the minibar, then back at you, then at the minibar again as a mischievous grin appeared on her face. You hesitated. “Oh come on, she deserves a little payback” You finally gave in and the two of you grabbed a few way overpriced beers and snacks. “Wanna watch a movie?”

You settled on the couch with your snacks and beers and without asking you turned on the Lion King. Ona’s eyes lit up at opening shot of the sunrise. She turned to face you. “You remembered” she whispered, a smile appearing on her face. “Of course I did, you told me just a few hours ago” you jokingly replied. Ona didn’t laugh, and when you looked at her you saw her eyes were still fixated on you. You stared into each others eyes for a bit when you noticed her eyes glancing down at your lips for just a second. You gathered as much courage as you could as you decided it was your turn to be bold. “I also remember something else that erm, you know, almost happened.” You leaned in slightly, very proud of your smoothness but also nervous as you weren’t sure she understood what you were hinting at. Ona moved closer to you and leaned in as well, gaze alternating between your eyes and lips, anxiously waiting for you to make the first move. Noticing this, you knew you could finally take away the mere inch that was left in between both your lips, which you did, very slowly. Your lips landed on hers as gently as humanly possible, and the world around you disappeared for a second. You slowly came back when you felt a hand on your cheek. Ona pulled herself closer to you, which encouraged you to deepen the kiss. Her hand had now moved to the back of your neck, rubbing your jaw with her thumb. The kiss soon turned into a rather heated make-out, which continued for a while. By the time you pulled away, circle of life had just ended in the background. “Sorry we missed the best song” you chuckled. Ona opened up her arms. You accepted the invite and cuddled up against her. 

You watched the movie in silence for a while, although you didn’t process much of what was happening on the screen, too distracted by what had just happened and by the hand lightly stroking your forearm the whole time. You held it together until halfway through Hakuna Matata, when Onas hand slowly moved to your inner thigh and the tension became too much. You turned your head towards her rather abruptly, accidentally startling her and she quickly pulled her hand away entirely. “I’m sorry, too much?” Her eyes widened, concern apparent in her face. “No, no, don’t worry, I like it. I just erm,” you paused, contemplating what to say next “I’m not really watching the movie anymore, you know?” You finally admitted. “Oh, we can watch something else if you want?” Ona replied quickly. You looked at her with a slightly raised an eyebrow, waiting for her to realise what you meant. “What? Oh. Ooooh” she really dragged out the o’s in that last one. “Well erm, is it a good distraction at least?” “Yes, definitely” you answered a little too quickly. “Want to get distracted some more? You could, you know, distract me back, if you want?” She said, with a slight smirk. She didn’t need to ask you that twice as you got up and pulled her towards your queen-sized hotel bed.

About 8 hours later, a soft thud woke you up from the coma you had been in, followed by what you could only assume was a series of Spanish swearwords. You slowly opened your eyes to find Ona wrapped up in a blanked, grabbing her toe with one hand whilst rummaging between the clothes scattered around the hotel floor with the other one. You realised she must be trying to sneak out without waking you, so you decided to turn around and pretend to still be asleep. This movement, however, did not go unnoticed as Ona suddenly stopped in her tracks. “Shit, did I wake you?” She whispered. You turned back around to face her. “Good morning, Ona. It’s okay if you want to sneak out you know, no hard feel-” “No, no, it’s not like that.” She interrupted “I just have training in a bit. And you were sleeping so soundly, I didn’t want to wake you.” She smiled. “Well in that case, don’t you need breakfast first?” You asked. “I was just going to get something on the way there actually, got any better ideas?” She replied “How about some roomservice, it’s on me! Well, actually it’s on Amy.” You winked. “Great plan!”

After filling up on the luxurious hotel breakfast, Ona put on her sneakers and coat and you walked her to the door as you started to feel a little sad about her leaving. Before she opened the door she turned around to look at you. “I had a really nice time, Y/N.” She said, smiling softly. “Me too, I’m glad I met you.” You replied. You stood there for a while, staring into each others eyes. “See you again, I hope.” She eventually said. “Yeah, me too” You said, and she turned around to open the door. You watched as she walked away down the hallway, finally closing the door when she turned a corner. 

You plopped down on the bed and let out a deep sigh. Many thoughts and feelings were coursing through you stomach and brain as you gazed at the ceiling. On the one hand there was excitement, about what had happened the day before. Meeting this amazing girl and having an amazing time with her. Then there was confidence, because for some reason this amazing girl seemed to take a liking to you. But then on the other hand there was this nervousness creeping up inside you, about the “What now?”, the uncertainty of it all. And to top it all off there was sadness, knowing you were only there for a couple more days before having to return home, to your stupid job. 

But for now you tried to focus on the positive parts. Thinking about the day (and especially the evening) before brought a smile to your face and, even though you didn’t want to admit it, butterflies to your stomach. “Damn Y/N, what have you gotten yourself into this time” You said to yourself as you smacked a pillow into your own head. You shot straight up as you realised it: you just pulled an Amy.

Part 2

[ihavedonenothingright]

Captive Prince: Historical References and Naming Conventions

Hi all! I've had this idea in my head for a while now, and I finally had some time (and an Ancient Greek dictionary), so I figured I'd give it a shot. I've always been fascinated by Pacat's worldbuilding, particularly the naming conventions, and as a classicist myself, I wanted to dissect them. So that's what this is. My focus is mainly going to be on Akielos since I don't have as in-depth a knowledge of French, but I'll go through some Veretian names too (je n'ai pas étudié le français depuis deux années, mais Arles… je voudrais parler d'Arles…)

I'm not approaching this with any kind of formal, academic structure, so if something wonky gets through, please let me know! And lastly, I have no idea how many of these are intentional on Pacat's part. This analysis is less about authorial intent and more about how the associations inherent in these names can lend to our interpretation of the work. I'll also be doing this analysis over a few different posts since there is a lot I want to cover. For post #1:

Country Names

This post will solely feature Vere and Akielos since that's already a lot, but I will tackle Patras et. al. later on. There's some very interesting stuff there that I would be remiss not to look at. Of our subjects for today, Vere is the simpler, and the one I am absolutely certain Pacat intended, so I'll start with it.

Vere

Disclaimer: I am in love with this choice. The word itself is actually a Classical Latin adverb derived from the adjective "vērus," meaning "true," and in Latin it's spelled "vērē" (though you will not see those macrons in extant texts, those are a modern pronunciation and differentiation aid). Vērē can be translated a handful of ways; often it's used for emphasis, and in that case it's usually translated as "indeed," but "truly," "rightly," "exactly," and "truthfully" all work in different contexts. Extrapolate vērus and its derivatives for around a thousand years and you get the Old French word "verai" (ouah c'est vrai !) which means, well, "true."

It's also close in spelling and pronunciation to the modern French "verre," which means "glass," which isn't entirely relevant, but is cool. It makes me think of shiny, fragile displays of opulence like the Galerie des Glaces in Versailles. 

The first reason I really like this name is that it calls back to Artes, the Roman-inspired kingdom that we're told once encompassed all of Vere and Akielos, while still fitting current Veretian (aka half-old-half-modern French) grammar and pronunciation. The second is, naturally, that it fits so well into the series' themes of truth, deception, and verisimilitude. The second we're introduced to Vere, and by extension Laurent, there's a subtle hint there that both he and his country are, at their core, more real, genuine, and truthful than Damen and Akielos. We're already building towards Damen's Kings Rising line, "I have never known a truer man." Even if you don't recognize the Latin, your brain will make the connection between Vere and verisimilitude later. It's perfect, 10/10 Pacat, could not have done it better.

And just for fun: a Latin example!

Commentarii de Bello Civili, 2:27. Latin and English available here. 

Hi, sive vere quam habuerant opinionem ad eum perferunt, sive etiam auribus Vari serviunt…

Loeb Translation: "Whether they convey to him the opinion that they really held, or whether they only flatter his ears…" (165)

Slightly more literal translation (by me): "Whether these ones truly convey to him the opinion as they held it, or rather are subservient to Varius' ears…"

Akielos

The name "Akielos" is a lot more… nebulous. I don't know if there is a Greek print of Captive Prince, but my guess is it would be spelled Άκιελος (modern Greek speakers please weigh in, I'm only a year or so into Ancient Greek so I haven't really touched accent marks). That doesn't map neatly to any modern or ancient greek word—at least that I know of. What is does remind me of is Ἀχιλῆος (Achileos) from Ἀχιλλεύς (Achilleus), aka, Achilles. They're so close that I actually realized lately I had unconsciously been pronouncing Akielos as "Akileos" for a while; and in fact, this makes the Veretian spelling "Achelos" make a bit more sense. English and French both use a hard "ch" to represent χ in Greek words; so I imagine, in universe, that the word might actually be spelled Άχιελος. It wouldn't even surprise me if this was the way Pacat originally wanted to spell it, but had to change it for ease of comprehension.

I did have some other interpretations of the name, but I think this is the strongest. Because in addition to the obvious association, the name Ἀχιλλεύς is thought to be derived from the words ἄχος, "distress/grief" and λαός, "people," making it either "the grief" or "grief of/to the people" depending on who you ask (you rely on cases for that sort of distinction in Greek and they're not exactly present here. iykyk).

I really like the idea of Akielos being associated with grief; we're first introduced to it as a country in mourning, and then later on, as the cause of grief in Delfeur. And then you have the association with Achilles, himself a prolific brother killer, who Pacat references later in 'The Fall of Inachtos,' our in-universe Iliad. Insane levels of grief on grief on grief. Plus, because it looks closer to the genitive form, I automatically associate it with the opening line of the Iliad:

μῆνιν ἄειδε θεὰ Πηληϊάδεω Ἀχιλῆος

menin aeide thea Peleiadeo Achileos

Sing, goddess, the anger of Achilles, Peleus' son

So we can throw a little rage into the equation. As a treat. 

Also important to note that the -os there is a masculine ending. It doesn't have the most bearing, but it does mean that if we want to be strictly accurate to Ancient (and modern!) Greek grammar, I have to throw a quick article in front of it, making our final "how do the Akielons spell Akielos?" answer: ὁ Άχιελος ("ho Achielos"). The ὁ here is equivalent to le in French, with the major distinction being that in French, you don't typically need an article in front of a proper noun, whereas you do in Greek.

That's it for today's analysis! See you guys next time around for Patras, Artes, and (maybe) Arles, Ios, and Delfeur/Delpha.

Part 2 >>

[jeannereames]

If you could choose a soundtrack to be Alexander's theme, what would you pick? Both the historical Alexander and Dancing With the Lion's Alexandros

Ha, already did!

Alexander's Playlist

For those unaware, the books have a website Alexander's Macedonia. There are links in the back of the books, but not sure how many readers actually notice those things? There's a fair bit of backmatter the publisher didn't want to put in the novel. I insisted on the map, and the author's note at the back of book 2 Rise. (Also reproduced on the website for those who want to read it after readinb book 1.)

But some things I wish they'd included aren't there (as some readers complained at NOT having them). The glossary and list of characters, gods, months, etc. What's under "Guides for Readers."

The website also has pronunciation of names, what they looked like (statues), vlogs of Macedonia, etc. These do actually work better on a website as they include both audio and visual files.

The playlist, however, was just for fun. It fits the historical man as much as the fictional. In fact, the playlist was constructed to reflect his entire career, not just the novels. Yes, it's heavy metal because, you know, Alexander.

Finally, there are some cut scenes that didn't appear in the novels, together with some "extra" scene I wrote later, that would fit in the year between the books.

So if you read the novels, or even just the first book, and weren't aware of all this "stuff," there you go!

And now, because I AM actually curious if/where people find out about the website, a poll!

[headingalaxys-spicy]

Love your writing! Can we have a yandere Spain, Italy and Romano (separately) with a tourist love interest that loves their country (it's been their dream to visit one day and they finally do) and is visiting with a tour group for a week?

Me finally getting out of the pit of my mind to write yay! And I apologize that this ask is late as hell. I hope you like it anon. Have an epic Saturday!

Italy

He’d just awoken from his mid-afternoon siesta. While slightly groggy from his slumber, he’d been eager for food. As he trailed along the medieval streets, he passed by a small group of adventurous tourists that spanned beyond the standard touristy sites like Rome and wanted to dive deeper into the hidden gems that were commonly missed when people came to visit Italy. One particular person stood out to Feliciano from the group of only 7 people. The twinkle that shinned in your eyes as you were engrossed in the tour guide's speech about the History of the Colleoni Chapel. He had to stand in amusement as you did have a notebook taking down some notes so you could admire the memory much more fondly later. Feliciano thought that that was charming, and it sent a few cupid arrows to his heart, all of which made a direct hit. He trailed behind your group for a while with stealth as he snagged a Trapizzano from one of the street vendors; he was enthralled by your excitement to learn more about his country.

As your small group was allowed to disperse for a few hours before they headed to another small town in North Italy decided that it was the right time for him to approach you. “Ciao, carino(a)~ Would you like to join me so that I can show you some of the best cities of this city? Even better than that of your tour guides? I can promise I’ll get you back before your group leaves.”

He’s going to be shocked that you could speak some Italian with some fluency. You struggled with the grammar and pronunciation but he adored you even more for even trying to learn the language even before your visit. He was enamored with you even more.

He’s going to take you on an extravagant adventure that was Disneyequse and entirely magical.

The two of you all giggly and high on the moment of excitement and on the buds of young love that engulfed your senses. The two of you were fully present in the moment. He took you to the Bergamo city gate, that was overgrown with the wildflowers of Northern Italy. The pastel and muted hues of yellows, pinks, and blues. It felt like you were alive in a Renaissance painting. The two of you at this point were now holding hands as he guided you through it’s rich history. He knew about intimate details that made him sound like a distinguished professor who’s been alive for hundreds of years. Even though he looked to only be in his mid-20s, you admired this charming Italian’s dedication to share in the culture of his nation. You allowed yourself to let your eyes roam the ancient pebbles of the ground that paved your way. It was nothing like you experienced from (nation).

“Come Carino(a) I have another fantastic sight to show!” His warm smile tingled your heart like Tinkerbells fairy dust and made it flutter.

‘So this is what falling in love feels like?’ You silently question yourself as you want to take a snapshot of the moment and keep it hidden in your diary so that you can come back to the moment whenever you felt sadness.

“Alright.”

Feliciano picked up his pace, and you were on a stone-carved staircase covered in beautiful florals.

He brought you down through some of the secret passages within the Venetian walls. The ancient stone reminded you of what you’d seen in countless history books, maps, encyclopedias, etc. But none could capture the mystique of the buildings and all of the intricate details of actually being there. As you reached an opening to a rooftop, it overlooked all of the city; the view was majestic. You could see the terra cotta and white colors that defined the city’s landscape.

“Wow, it’s lovely up here, Feliciano. I’m glad I met you today; you made this adventure much more fun.” You couldn’t hold back the smile that had made its way to your face.

“I’m glad Y/N.” He pulls out a lily and places it gently in your hair. As the sun set, you felt him kiss you on the forehead. “Addio mio(a) amore.”

And with that the next thing you knew, you were back in the van with the other tourists that were happily chatting about what they were able to do in Bergamo. Your mind was still at a loss to figure out if what you experienced was real but when you reach into your hair the lily was still there pure white and glowing.

Romano

You were enjoying your tour of the Amalfi coastline you weren’t aware of the dangerous group of inidivudals that were eyeing you to harass and steal some of your belongings. They had recognized that you spoke in broken Italain. Plus since you were somewhat shy and not overly confident showon in your body language it was easy for them to see that you were a forginer attached to a small group of far more adventurous tourists that had a deeper interest in Italian culture than the common tourist sites. You were the perfect target for their attack. You were in the middle of trying to figure out which of the seashell necklaces your best friend would like back at home as a souvenir. You were interrupted when this group had descended upon you and the other adventurer from your tour group. You tensed up and tried to understand the rapid Italian that they were whispering to one another discreetly. You were able to understand the words ‘idiota’ and ‘sciocco’ and immediately knew their attention was not on the vendor that you were currently at. You looked over your shoulder to see if the other person from your group was with you but see that they had already wandered away. With tension in the air and your nerves on high alert you decided that picking whatever necklace and paying for it would be your best bet of escape. As you tried to deiscretly grab only the amount of money that you needed from your pocket, someone had made a deliberate dive for your backpack yaking it off you. You were jerked backwards and everything was like a massive blur. For a few moments you’d wondered if you’d gone blind. You heard some other shouting and curses in Italian. It took you a few moments to recognize that you hadn’t hit the ground but someone had managed to catch you and break your fall.

It was a dark brown-haired Italian man that looked to be in his mi-20’s with a curious curl sticking out of the side of his head.

“Mi dispiace donna/ uomo. Some of my people do misbehave. And your backpack has unfortunately been ripped in half but don’t worry there are always more bags. He gives you a charming smile that you can’t help but giggle at. He was cute you had to admit.

“My name is Romano, what is yours?”

“Y/N” You reply promptly with a blush on your face. “Thanks for helping me out. I’m here on an extended toru of sorts and my Italian isn’t all that great.”

“Well, I can always help you practice and I can show you the hidden gems, after all I’m pure Italian.” He jokes. His accent sounded like harmony in your ears.

The two of you will send the afternoon on the white sandy beaches. The two of you wander around barefoot and free letting the sand sink you further into the wondrous day dream you found yourself in. He tells you about his legendary Grandpa that he affectionately calls Rome. You thought of it as adorable. He’s a gentleman to you for the entire day. He takes you to the Museo della Carta, where the history of paper-making began in one of the earlier centuries. He talks about how he loved to come here and collect paper so that he could keep journals about his life living with his “mentor”. His family history sounded complicated and you wanted to ask but felt like it may have been a bit to personal on the first day of knowing the mysterious but charming man.

As the two of you made your way to the pier that streched over the clear curulean waters that were pristine. It looked as if you were inside one of your fairytale books.

“So Bello(a) there is one more place that I’d like you to see before you’re off to the next city. I promise you’re going to love this place.” He hooks his arm around yours and the two of you head off for the mountains that are somewhat steep, but they have flora and fauna of the Italian coastline. You see a few cuckoos, swifts, and European doves fly by the two of you. The first bird of which was to tell of your future fate with the Italian once you returned back someday for good.

He brought you to Villa Rufolo the masses of pink and white flowers shone the brightest amidst all of the other plants.

“Wow, this place is beautiful!” You took a few moments to take in the enchanting sight. Romano seizes the chance to take your hand in once more and bring you to one of his favorite plants that he’d grown quite fond of the Viburnum tinus flower.

“It was one of my grandfathers' favorites and I’ve grown quite fond of it just like you.”

Spain

You’d been roaming around all day in Calella de Palafrugell a small fishing town that was in the Northern part of Spain situated by the waters. You and a few of your friends decided to camp in one of the picturesque sites called Camping La Siesta. You booked a cabin that had bare beds and a basic bathroom. It was simple accommodations. Not like you needed much since you wouldn’t be inside for much of the time anyways.

“Time to hit the pool guys! Time is a wasting!” You were eager to show off your new swimsuit and do some cannon balls to annoy your best friends. They lagged behind you since jetlag had essentially sapped the majority of the energy they had for the day.

In your rush to get to the pool, you bumped into a Spainaird and a Portuguese man.

“Oh uh, Lo Siento.” Thanking god that some of your Spanish were still useful after being out of school for a little while.

When the man that you’d bumped into turned around the first thing that mesmerized you about him was his verdant green eyes that sparkled brightly in the sunlight. You had to think twice if you were looking at gems or eyes.

“Esta bien. Ningún daño hecho” (No problem. No harm done.) His wide grin made your stomach fill with a flurry of butterflies. Antonio reached out to help you up.

“Are you okay chica(o)?”

“Yeah I’m fine just excited to finally take a swim! It’s been a long flight and it’s been forever since I’ve actually had time for a long vacation!” Excited at the prospect of not having to work for the next couple of weeks.

“Oh well, I guess I’ll be seeing you there! I and my friend are headed there was well!”

“Want to just go together?” (You got that rizz reader.)

“Ah of course!” Glad that you asked because he found you to be quite alluring yourself.

The two of you will spend the entire day together getting to know each other. It will be fun. It feels like that forgotten summer vacation where you’d found your childhood best friend / future lover but never got to see them again because fate can sometimes be cruel that way.

The two of you will be bored of the pool pretty bored so Anotnio will suggest that the two of you spice things up by finding all of the better views and seeing all the secret beautiful sites of his country that most normal tourists will miss. (Yes, the two of you ditch Portugal. Not that it matters because the dude is like on his mid-morning siesta.)

Your heart fills with endless excitement of the prospect of getting to take epic pictures and being led by a handsome stranger.

“Alright Y/N you better text us and take this taser with you if he gets creepy!” One of your friends states concerned for you but feels at ease about you being able to have a once-in-a-lifetime whirlwind adventure with a possible handsome lover. Antiono’s looks did have a disarming effect to them. The three of you were chatting where’d you’d wanted to meet for dinner that night.

“Don’t worry ya’ll I can protect myself.” You send them off with a wink, dressed in your finest summer attire. Once you made your way outside you saw Antino decked out in tan shorts, hiking boots, and a slightly unbuttoned button-up short sleeve, you believed that man could look good in anything.

“Come let's head to the beach!” He grabbed your hand eagerly and you two took the forest trail that was about a mile long to get to the beach. You allowed your mind to be related by his smooth Spanish accent that flowed like fresh red wine. Listening to him talk about the history of his land was intoxicating. Why couldn’t all history lessons be taught by attractive men with culturally accurate accents? You thought to yourself.

Antonio picked up his pace when he began to see the outline of the water at the beach.

“Whoa!” You were almost tripped up by some of the larger rocks that were on the defined dirty pathway.

“Oh lo siento, Y/N! I get excited when I’m able to show off my nation to a beautiful person. Hahaha.” His smile beamed brightly but so did the blush and pink flowers that appeared out of thin air.

Pleasantly shocked you decide to take the lead.

“Well you can kiss me on the lips if you can beat me to the beach!” You quickly peck him on the cheek and make a mad dash off to the la playa where he will tackle you to the sand and win.

[lune-de-miel-au-paradis]

Meet my OC from Star-crossed :

*drumroll*

Nina Cerasus

Pic from artbreeder

Pronunciation of her name : Nee-nuh

Family stuff:

22 standard years old born in Naboo (in Heavenbound fic she is 32)

she has a rare heart disease HCM

when her mom got sick her dad left them

her mom died when she was 7 years old

she was raised by her grandmother

she goes to law school

her best friend is Polina who is a vampire

and Anfisa a who is a fae

Appearance:

female

pale skin (comes from her disease)

160 cm, 5'2 feet

skinny but fit and flexible (side effect of her meds and pilates classes)

her cheeks looks blushed (side effect from her meds)

she has freckles

she has diastema (visible gap between her two front upper teeth)

she wears glasses at home and contact lenses when she goes out

she has brunette straight hair, mid length and with curtain bangs, she wears it in different up dos and braids like Nabooan women and likes to clip pearls and star clips in the locks

her hands are always cold (comes from the meds from her disease)

she smells like cherries, almond and mint tea (inspired by tom ford's lost cherry perfume)

she has tattoos: one is on her spine shows different phases of the moon, also it glows in the dark, several ones on her fingers she has tiny dainty stars and constellations, and on the inner side of her hip is a loth wolf in a tribal style art, and a quote on her bacl ankles "Ad astra, per aspera."

her style includes gem colored light fabric dresses, mostly pant suits with cut outs

she has a bracelet a red string with a star shaped lucky charm (gift from her gran for protection)

she has a pair of jade droplet earrings, and an enchanted red amber pendant (both gifts from Maul)

she likes sparkly make up and nailpolish

she has a raspy seductive voice (inspired by sofia bush's voice)

Personality:

she is rather introvert and close to herself

likes to argue, good at keeping information to herself (she is to be a lawyer duh)

she has trust issues, and abandonment issues

says that she doesn't believe in love or relationships but secretly hopeless romantic

only dates but never in a relationship till she meets Maul and later Wolffe in my Heavenboun fic

doesn't like jedi or any Force user, she thinks they are snobs and dogmatics, but later she'll like Master Plo and his wolf pack

she isvery inteligent speaks in several languages

she enjoys art, music, dancing and reading

she is a bit of a nerd when it comes to astronomy (not the horoscope one)

she is currious and patient (especially with Maul)

she looks down on men, she thinks they all liars, and cheaters, and only good to manipulate/to be an acessory/ to please her in bed till she founds love

she will do everything to her friends and loved ones

she has a soft spot for Anfisa (my other OC)

hard to open up but actually super sweet

maybe a bit impulsive, but at same time she has a 5 year plan already

they call her the "ice queen" because her specialty is freezing out people and always looks calm and collected but under the hard shell she panic a lot

Other:

she is a party girl but only because she loves dancing

her hobby is star gazing and her dream job is to be a star cartographer

she never left Naboo before, but dreams to travel the galaxy and make star maps in Star-Crossed fic, in Heavenbound she leaves in Couruscant

she is allergic to tooka cat fur

she can't drive a ship

pretty good in self defense and shooting (both comes from Polina's idea to join self defense classes)

she collects celestial themed jewelry

she is terrible at cooking

to quit smoking she learnt how to tie a knot with her tounge from a cherry stem, so she always carry some cherries with her

AN: So that's all I could collect in this moment. Sorry for any mistype or bad English this is not my first language. Other character deep dive list and mood boards are in plans so I hope you'll like her as much as I do.

I plan to make one about what characters and persons inspired her personality, looks and name (no it not comes from mine even though it's similar to my nickname)

💖

Nika

Taglist: @hellhound5925 @cloneloverrrrr @stardustbee @the-chains-are-the-easy-part @firstofficerwiggles

[stepswowdsen]

【KHR AU】 XanLena & Selena Rambles ❤️💜🍷🪷

Sen's KHR OCs

Nguyễn Selena (Nguyễn Nguyệt Vân Liên)

Lê Thiên Linh

Selena Doodles (Quick redraws) 💜✨

I resketched Selena's hair 💜

Oh and I also used the eyes from the Selena wearing Vietnamese traditional clothes, Việt Phục (áo tấc) drawing.

Both look nice but I think it fits my art style more

I resketched these quickly so it's not as refined but I'm still experimenting/trying to decide how I want Selena's hair to be drawn, whether I want to keep the curls in the back or not

I also wanna give Selena a TYL (Ten Years Later) design like the rest of the KHR cast has.

I feel like Selena's ponytail is pretty iconic to her design?

So I'd just add a bun on top of the ponytail in her TYL design (whenever I get the chance to design it in the future)

Also put the rest of my WIPs and rambles under the cut

Btw I've drawn Linh before but I need to redraw the sketch sometime

I love gradient maps! They've really been spicing up my arts. I looove choosing colours. It's so fun to play around with them

(Excuse the old art of Selena I still need to redraw it)

Examples with my beloved Selena and my beloved KuroEne 😘💗🫶

Selena and her NB swag 💜

XanLena ❤️💜

XanLena chibis and a quick Selena chibi I sketched recently

Trying to experiment… I think I should redraw the Xanxus and Selena chibis at some point

I'll keep the core features like the eyes and colours! I'll just fix up some stuff

Drawing chibis is actually harder than drawing normally for me 😭

I also drew another quick Selena chibi

Selena 💜🪷

1: OG colours 2: Hue Shift + Gradient Map 3: Gradient Map

I prefer the 2nd one best because I love the purple + pink gradient, but the muted pink one (last one) is also cute.

These drawings are old btw

KuroEne 🖤💙

Selena's Name 💜🪷

"Japan has a custom called 'ateji' which is to give foreign words kanji characters based on their sounds, and this tradition is used to create kanji names for people with non-Japanese names."

So for example, just based on what I know, when Viet names are translated to Japanese, they're either written in katakana, or, if they're Sino-Viet (use Chinese characters), then you can either make a JP reading of the name (if possible with the characters), or write the pronunciation of the name in furigana on top of the kanji.

I learned new things recently on how to translate Vietnamese names to Japanese too.

C: Oooh I see :D That's cool!

...

For example, the unorthodox/non-standard reading that I chose of Selena's Viet name, Nguyễn Nguyệt Vân Liên (阮月雲蓮), is Gen Suzuha. It uses the same characters.

Because I wanted to give Selena a JP alias as well since she travels a lot. The multiple names are for ease when she travels

阮 - Ruǎn (CN), Nguyễn (VN), Gen (JP)

The most common Viet last name Nguyễn is translated as either Gen (阮) or Guen (グエン) in JP

In VN, Nguyễn is not pronounced with a hard English -g like that btw. It's hard to describe unless I make a video but in EN it's pronounced more like "Nwehen" or "Nghwin," said as 1 syllable

Sino Viet = Part of the Vietnamese vocabularly of Chinese origin

Furigana = Furigana are the characters on top of kanji that gives the pronunciation in Japanese.

…

At first I was conflicted whether to write Selena's name as セレナ (Serena) or せりな (Serina) in Japanese

Cuz I pronounce Selena's name as Seh-lee-nah. Though Seh-leh-nah (JP pronunciation) is fine too

Though these EN names are often romanized/transliterated like this in JP:

Selena: セレナ (Serena) Selina/Serina: せりな (Serina)

I went with the 1st one at first, but I ended up choosing the 2nd one cuz it matches closer to the pronunciation of Selena's name

Selena's Name (Continued) 🌙🪷

Selena's names:

English name: Nguyễn Selena (グエン・セリナ)

Vietnamese name: Nguyễn Nguyệt Vân Liên (阮月雲蓮)

Japanese alias name: Gen Suzuha (阮月雲蓮)

The most common Vietnamese last name that about ~40% of Viet folks have, Nguyễn, is written as either グエン (Guen) or 阮 (Gen) in JP. It doesn't match the Viet pronunciation, but it's the closest we can get in JP.

I write my KHR OC, Selena's name as セレナ (Serena) in Japanese, to match the spelling of her name in English, but the pronunciation of the name Selena in English is like "Seh-lee-nah." That's how I pronounce it.

I pronounce XanLena's ship name as "Zan-lee-nah" personally.

Cuz I just checked the Wikipedia pages of famous people to see how Selena is written

I don't mind if others pronounce it as "Suh-lee-nah" or "Seh-leh-nah." That's why I was wondering if I wanted to write her name in katakana to match the spelling or the pronunciation...

Ideas for Selena's name spellings:

セレナ (Serena) → Selena

せりな (Serina) → Selina, Celina

セレーナ (Sereena) → Selena, Serena

セリーナ (Seriina) → Serina, Selina

So any of these spellings could work. English words have stressed syllables, but Japanese doesn't really have that and has pitch accent instead.

Cuz Selena's Viet name, Liên (蓮) means "lotus." In Japanese names, the character 蓮 for lotus is read as "Ren."

So one hand, this spelling ends up being closer to her Viet name. But the other spelling is closer to the way her name should be pronounced.

I've seen せりな (Serina) be used for "Selena" before, because the 2nd is usually used for the spellings, "Selina, Celina," so I went with the 1st one at first. But then eventually chose the 2nd one.

I'm still deciding on it though... Also you can go against the conventional spellings.

Misc Rambles

Me: Was checking the automated Google Translate of my fave ships for fun

FGO:

リンぐだ (RinGuda) → LimGuda

(Google Translate: RinGuda)

WATGBS AU:

イダ竜 (IdaTatsu) → IdaTatsu

(Google Translate: IdaRyu)

KHR AU:

ザンレナ (ZanRena) → XanLena

(Google Translate: ZanRena)

MAGI:

ジュダアリ (JudaAri) → JudaAli

(Google Translate: JudaAli)

KAGEPRO:

黒コノエネ (KuroKonoEne) → KuroKonoEne

(Google Translate: KuroKonoe)

...

These are actually pretty close but IdaTatsu turning into IdaRyu and KuroKonoEne turning into KuroKonoe 😭

S: Idate I didn’t know you were dating Tatsumiya’s genderbent version Ryuki

Me: Cuz I was just reminded of how Cinna said Google Translate would turn GokuTsuna into Tuna's prison 😭

S: TSUNA'S PRISON

Me: TUNA... 🐟

S: 🐟

Me: IdaTatsu yuri and yaoi would be based!

Kanji for 竜 (Dragon) in Tatsumiya's name can be read as Ryu or Tatsu depending on the reading

S: Oh my

Me: Oh and Google Translate turning my MMBN/EXE ships, BluesRock into BullRock, or EnNetsu (Enzan/Netto) into Flame Heat

S: I guess in this reading they took Ryu Ahahaha IdaTatsu Yuri 🤭😳

S: Just like how that refrigerator caught on fire

Me: LMAO

I'm curious to see more funny Google Translate versions of ship names

S: LOL

Kinda miss when ship names were like Flame heat or Ice heart but also maybe I’m kinda glad it’s just their names fused now

Me: WSDSHSS they have a cute charm to them but thank god the ship names that are just portmanteaus (two charas' names together) are not impossible to remember. From Cinna before:

C: I think it's insanely funny when Google TL translates GokuTsuna as "Tuna's prison" like yeah Tuna prison that's my ship!

S: HELLO HELP

Me: Reminds me of KuroKonoEne/KuroEne getting translated as Black Kono Energy sometimes

S: Man I love my ship, oh their name? Yeah it’s TUNA’S PRISON, hope that helps!

C: I have Tuna's prison for GokuTsuna and Homo bull for EnBlues 👍👍👍👍👍

S: Maybe we don’t need creative ship names we just need whatever Google translates

Me: It's so funny cuz KHR's EA/JP fandom mainly used numbers for ship names cuz the syllables in charas' names sound like numbers in JP or CN, depending on the reading

(Btw I'm just putting the context for any mutuals who aren't familiar with KHR)

Like they're easy to remember if you're learning the language

So the fandom puts these numbers or letters together for ship names

Ex.

2 = Tsu

5 = Go

7 = Na

9 = Kyu

Ex.

18 = Hibari

59 = Gokudera

27 = Tsuna

...

S: RIP to me cause I don’t know Japanese but Wowie

Me: Cinna was like "The numbers are impossible for me to remember I swear if I tried remembering them I'd one day be logging into my bank account with them" 😭😂

S: LOL

Google passwords? Nah just give me a password with the ship name in numbers in Japanese and I’ll be set for life

Me: For charas who don't have number representations (non JP names), they use letters

X = Xanxus (ザンザス, Zanzasu)

3 = San (Sounds the closest to "Zan" that we can get)

S: Ooooo

Oh I’ve just been pronouncing Xanxus as Zansus LMAO 💀

Me: HELP WSSHDSH

S: LOL

Me: I remember Cinna's reaction from back then 😭😂

S: First Idate, now Xanxus, so who else will fall victim to my American pronunciation

LIKE I HAD BEEN PRONOUNCING HIS NAME AS EYE-DATE (I DATE) INSTEAD OF THE JP PRONUNCIATION 😭

Me: 😭😭😭

S: LMAO

Me: Tbf Xanxus is probably a cool made up name made up by Amano

S: Oooo probably

Tho I didn’t assume so cause Ik there’s a lot of foreign names that sound made up but they aren’t

Me: All of the other Varia members are named after the 7 Deadly Sins, except Xanxus cuz his name is special 🤭💖🫶

S: Xanxus is a special little boy 🫶

Me: But yeah with the 7 Deadly Sins theme-ing of the Varia, that includes Belphegor (Bel)

S: Would Selena notice that his name is not a deadly sin and call him special for that

S: Ooooooo

Me: That'd be cute! I think she'd notice that his name is special and especially fitting for him 🤭

Xanxus was named for his flame as a kid, since he was born on 10/10, so he has two of the Roman numeral X's in his name, and so believed from birth that he'd become Vongola 10th boss

Xanxus manifested a really rare and special flame, the Flame of Wrath

S: He was born on 10/10 to be a 10/10

Me: Saur true!!! 💖

Me: Let me see if I can find the Varia being 7 Deadly Sins themed

Here

Source: (X)

S: “To join Varia you must speak a minimum of seven languages“ what are they doing with seven languages, Mr. Worldwides???

Me: YEAH THAT'S CRAZY WSSDSHDSSH

I imagine Selena knows 4 languages:

Vietnamese, English, Japanese, Italian

But then gets taught the rest cuz they seem ""lax"" on this rule

I MEAN I CAN SEE SQUALO BEING STRICT ABOUT IT AND PESTERING HER AS A TIRED CHAOTIC "OLDER BROTHER" FIGURE

But I don't see it as the ultimate requirement or whatever.

So then Selena gets given a tutor to learn the rest

S: OHHH omg if they were strict on it fuckkk

Me: Vietnamese, English, Japanese, Italian

I just assume it's obviously not the most important requirement to become a Varia member tho cuz they wanted to hire a ~10 y/o kid Fran for his illusionist skills, because Fran is one of the best illusionists. And I doubt this kid knows 7???

So yeah they care more about the member being able to work well with them as an assassin.

AKA their skills, being proficient in killing people, ability to adapt with them in fights... Basically what really matters.

S: Selena my girl you gotta get the last of the 7 Dragon Balls of languages or something I actually don’t know how many are there

I would be sweating bullets if I were her and I didn’t know seven languages only to be met with a “Oh yeah dw about it you can learn the rest“

Me: So yeah Squalo probably gets her a tutor and tells her to learn the rest ASFFGFHJKLL

S: Who put the 7 language there as a rule anyways ‼️‼️ I’m kidding but omg 😭

S: She can always learn Spanish, if she already knows Italian it’s gonna be a breeze

Me: I just remember that this trivia has always existed since I was 12 but I could never find a source for it? Might come from some old JP magazine of KHR

I'm not very sure.

S: Oooooo

Me: OHHH so true!

S: Saur true!!! Amano goes into a magazine interview, “Oh yeah Varia members need to learn 7 languages to join“ doesn’t elaborate, never does

Me: Also in one of the KHR omake side stories, Lussuria tries asking Xanxus "if the rumours of Xanxus knowing 12 languages are true"

(.) 🧍

S: HELP

Me: And grumpy assassin leader Xanxus just doesn't answer. So typical! /pos /endearing

7 IS ALREADY CRAZY, BUT 12, BRO???

The Varia members, Xanxus especially, are definitely linguistically gifted.

S: By the time he’s old he’s gonna learn every language in the world

S: So true‼️‼️

S: It’s okay on the positive note he can always tell Selena he loves her in different languages

Or he’s more of a acts of service kinda guy

S: IKR 12 IS CRAAZZYYY

I could barely grasp 2

Me: He's definitely more of a Gifts and Acts of Service guy so he'll gift her gifts like flowers she loves ❤️

Like Xanxus probably has the servants wrap flowers for her and gift her her favourite ones. Lotus flowers, Wisteria, Peonies, etc.

S: Awwww so romantic 💖

Me: Oh the fact that Xanxus would learn Viet for Selena is very cute

Like he just learns it without telling her, and just surprises her when he suddenly starts speaking fluent Viet to her

S: OOOOOOO

Choosing the Spelling for Selena's Name

S: Oooooo I like Serina

Me: Yeahhh I like it too cuz it matches the pronunciation of her name. I've also seen some people use せりな (Serina) for Selena as well, it's just not as common as Selina and Celina

Though you can also go against conventional spellings in JP!

Like I read peoples’ rambles and one person brought up an example of a “Sarah” who hated the standard サラ (Sara) and instead uses セラ (Sera) so it’s not an issue

Me: Also ty Snow for your input and for chatting with me this morning, bestie!

S: Of course!! <3

Oomfie Osmosis

S: I'm just following your blorbo rambles through the oomfie osmosis but where does KHR take place? Is it in Japan?

C: It's mainly in Japan, but Italy is very plot relevant

Me: The main cast lives in Japan. So, the protag, Tsuna, and his Guardians (Vongola 10th Generation members).

But secondary characters like the Varia, live in Italy, and come to Japan when necessary/for work/for plot reasons. They also like to go to Japan on vacation

Me: LMFAO

Also even for series that my friends are into where I don’t know the series, my friends' faves become my faves too by association, through the osmosis, and my comfort characters and skrunklies in law

Comfort character/skrunkly in law through the osmosis, to skrunkly of mine!

[mapsontheweb]

Pronunciation of Old Norse "hv-" in its descendants. In words like "hvítr/white" and "hvalr/whale".

by jkvatterholm

Sources are tens of old books and various maps.

Like this for Västgötaland, and this for Iceland, and many more.

It's a remake of an old map, but I hope this is more accurate and easy to look at.

This is an old sound. In Indo-European you find it as *ḱw, which turned into things like Latin "qu". The Proto-Germanic *xʷ turned into other Germanic languages, like Old High German /w/, later /v/, and Old English /ʍ/, which in recent years have started to turn into /w/ and /f/, though some still pronounce it the old way.

Here's some of it spoken:

Hw- in Northern Jutland: link

Kv- area in Finland: Link.

V- area in sout-east Norway: Link.

Kv- area of Iceland: link.

W- area of middle Sweden: link.

An interesting thing is that the question words like "what" and "which" did not always get affected the same way. In eastern Norway, Western Sweden and in Estonia the V got dropped instead, leading to words like hvat>hat>åt, or hvorsu>hosse>ossen etc

[styrmwb]

Favorite Final Fantasy Music (FFXIV - Stormblood)

I don't think the copypasta has reached Stormblood yet BUT ANYWAYS 2ND EXPANSION LET'S DO ITTTTTT! This is when I started playing XIV! Lots of fond memories of TP (0 fond memories of TP). Something Stormbloood does, very similar to XIII, is the main motif. That shit is EVERYWHERE. And luckily, it's Amazing, so I literally am not complaining about hearing it all the time (spot #1 on this list goes to the stormblood quest accepted tune).

Something I will preface with is a lot of the music I love here is in the Omegascape raids but it's all (mostly) remixes! I love all of those songs but it would be doing this soundtrack a disservice to put any of them in this list (That Dancing Mad version is fucking dope though)

5. Crimson Sunrise Easily my second favorite main city theme. I feel like I can't say much about the melody, cause it is The Stormblood Motif and I'm probably gonna say some more about it later down the list, but I will say I love the instruments used here. The flute and plucking (I think it's a shamisen) is really calming, and the slow tempo of the drums (taiko?) add to this, while also giving that grand nature befitting of a huge city.

4. Dangertek Completely different vibe from the last song. This was originally introduced in PvP, but I more commonly experience it in treasure maps. It's an absolutely banger techno remix of Hard to Kill, the FATE Boss theme, and it's my favorite version of the two. The melody is sick, the guitar playing it rocks, and that heavy beat is a bop. I also really love the interlude section that I can only describe with the BADADUNBADADUNBADADUN noise going back into the Hard to Kill riff again but from a distance, it's so coollllllll I love this song

3. Triumph Part 2 of The Stormblood Motif; but I think this version is the most stand out example. This also includes the Ala Mhigo anthem for an epic combination of both sides of the expansion, a lot of eastern instruments included. I love the start of this song with the japanese flute and the more middle eastern sounding guitar (I have learned that this is called an Oud!) again, showing that combination of two ends. The Ala Mhigo anthem played by the brass builds up the intensity of the song, and then The Stormblood Motif rockets it into pure hype. It's so hard not to sing along to it every time it plays! The finale of this song sounds like a spiral wind down while still keeping the energy. It's impossible to hate any dungeons in this expansion when you know you're gonna hear this at the end. (STORM OF BLOOD, BORN FROM BLOOD, OF OUR FALLEN BROTHERRRRRSSSS! BORN UPON OUR HANDS, CRADLED IN OUR ARMS, SWELLING IN OUR HEAAAAAARTS! RAISE YOUR WEARY HEAD, HEED THE CALL TO ARMS, RINGING IN YOUR HEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAART!!!!)

2. Amatsu Kaze Bringing in that classic Primals rock to this list in my favorite way, Amatsu Kaze is a song I literally liked so much I learned to sing to it despite not knowing Japanese (I'm sure my pronunciation is horrible don't worry I keep it private). That fucking bass at the start is legendary, not to mention the electric strumming and the strange vibraphone like pongs creating a super unique sound. It's not a very high speed intense rush song, but that slower deliberate nature is perfect for Byakko being this massive brutal creature. To the main meat of the song, I love how it's the first lyrical song in XIV to be in Japanese! I mean, like, I don't see why they wouldn't cause it literally takes place in the Far East, but I still love it. The verse sounds like he's holding in his anger, the refrain getting more angry, and then finally screaming in the chorus (I looked up music words for this I hope I'm using them right). The very end of the song before the loop sounds like an absolutely mindless rage, looping and spiraling before calming down once more. What else is really cool about the lyrics is it's actually telling Byakko and Tenzen's story (also shoutouts to the XI reference let's goooo), which the next of the Four Lords' song also does. This song is addictive to listen to, only getting more hype as it continues. In the Primals version, it even has Yoshi-P singing it which is fucking outstanding. (KAZE TODOROKE KAZE TODOROKE KAZE TODOROKEEEEEEEEEE)

1. The Worm's Tail COME DON THE MASK OF BLIND BETRAYAL E'ER DOES THE HEAD DEVOUR ITS TAIL AS IRON BENDS TO STEEL O'ER MY RIVALS I PREVAIL! This song has a beginning so fucking epic, they use it twice in the game (granted the second time was a medley BUT UHH SHUT UP). The Worm's Tail is my favorite final boss theme out of all of the XIV expansions. As you can probably tell, I fucking love that intro. The massive choir setting the stage as you fly into the heavens on a giant fucking dragon that you're literally trying to kill, the drums slamming to raise the song further, I hate using this word so much, but it's fuckin epic! The final note brings tears to my eyes. When the song actually starts, it goes into this really really cool melody that's very bouncy and I THINK it's waltz like? please feel free to correct me on this I need to expand my words but I hope you get what I mean. It's a very unique rhythm. I love the middle part between it looping, continuing to raise the song even higher, almost like that audio illusion that keeps going up despite not actually going up? It gives that illusion of height as it should. The entire way through, the orchestra continues to sound heavy and grand even during the "calmer" parts, which for the size of this fight and Shinryu himself, I think is perfect. Finally, we reach The Stormblood Motif Part 3. The finale of this expansion HAS to fucking have it. The melody itself already sounds uplifting, it already stokes the fires in your heart. Combine it with the sound of this song and the context of the fight, and it brings it to the highest level it could possibly go. Last thoughts, cause I couldn't put them anywhere else, but while the base version is mainly gibberish vocals, the official orchestral version actually adds lyrics (same with Ultima and Heroes), and this song is essentially sung By Zenos. It talks of rising above, it talks about being the beginning and the end, and it's even partly sung in latin, befitting the Garlean Empire. The entire song is Zenos's victory chant against you, but you almost combat him equally with Storm of Blood overtaking the entire song. It's fuckin poetic, man.

Honorable mentions are: Prelude - Long March Home, Heroes of Stormblood, Gates of the Moon, Beauty's Wicked Wiles, Answer on High, Wayward Daughter, eScape, Sunset, Sunrise, and From the Dragon's Wake. (and again like every song in Omegascape and Return to Ivalice (those songs are just straight ports but tactics music fucks))

[gumnut-logic]

John Tracy hated taking public transport.

He hated the cramped seats, the invasion of his personal space, the fact the bus stopped every few minutes to pick up more passengers and the noise.

It was stressful, annoying and far too full of people.

But the astrolabs were too far from the dorm to hike it or bike it, so bus it was.

He mapped out the most direct route, left early to avoid the crowds and handled it the best he could. Earphones helped and he never travelled without his tablet and a network connection.

He made do.

He made do for over a year. Every morning and every night.

The work was fascinating and he thoroughly enjoyed it. He considered getting a car, but it wasn’t practical and parking was non-existent, so he stuck with the bus.

Despite the fact he hated it.

Every trip he buried himself in his own world whether it be his work, research, a good book or even a movie. He shut the world out and more importantly anyone who sat next to him.

Sometimes this was not possible.

Because sometimes they spoke to him.

John had been brought up polite. His grandmother would have slapped his wrist if she found out he was ignoring people. So, he always replied. Often concisely, but always watching his manners.

That often opened the floodgates. Because if there was anything common between big cities it was the people who were lost in them, desperately alone in a sea of faces.

John liked being alone to a certain extent, but he was blessed with a close and large family.

Some people had no one.

So, ever so reluctantly, he found himself answering their call for help.

The first was Mrs Bucklin. She was a tiny woman, well dressed, but slightly scented with mothballs as if her clothes hadn’t been out of the closet in a long time.

She sat right beside him and immediately enquired as to what he was doing.

At the time he was coding a new game and her sharp voice startled him enough for his fingers to slip and enter a chain of commands he had not intended. He would have sworn if he was alone, but the program righted itself and the new commands, instead of corrupting and crashing the function, actually appeared to improve it. He frowned and hastily input some bridging structures so the code wouldn’t fragment, idly wondering if the error would improve the game, ruin it, have him need to rewrite the whole section or be the spark that would initiate sentience.

Great, his tablet would rise up and eat him while he was distracted by a random bus passenger.

She did apologise and he did reassure her that it was all okay in the hope she would let him be.

She didn’t.

He learnt she had three cats, a niece in another country (he didn’t gather which because the woman’s pronunciation defied translation), that she had lost her son in the Global Conflict, she liked his hair (that was a first) and that he looked like an intelligent young man.

He acknowledged her quietly and politely as he eyed his code and the results of an initial compile test. How did it do that?

Her cats were named Scottie, Gordy and Allie.

He did blink at that, but didn’t comment.

Eventually, she said goodbye and got off the bus at her stop.

He would have forgotten about her, except she sat next to him the next day and the day after that.

Apparently, this was her route to work, and he was such a polite young man.

Three weeks later she admitted he made her feel safe just by being there. She had been mugged three times in her life and public transport was as much a bane for her as it was for him.

He actively kept an eye out for her after that.

Gus was a different matter.

Gus didn’t have a home and he often rode the bus just for the air conditioning and comfort.

He sat on the other side of the walkway to John. He didn’t say much and would likely have never said anything if it hadn’t been for the gang of boys who decided to throw verbal potshots at him one day.

John had had an all-nighter with exams coming up, so he was cranky. His latest project had stalled – the same game he had been tackling when Mrs Bucklin had startled him. The core of the program had become a little unpredictable and he couldn’t work out why.

So, when a group of teenagers crawled to the back of the bus and started needling a fellow passenger, it was not only a situation where the innocent man appeared to need a bit of a rescue, but it also pissed John off.

There were four of them. Teenagers flocked in groups apparently. He’d never been one for that formation himself, but he knew of them, had encountered them and Virgil had kicked a few of their asses for him.

John was in college now.

He could kick his own fair share of ass quite happily.

“Leave the man alone, or I will call the police.” He raised his voice, but not his head, transmitting all the body language of how beneath his notice they were and how he might respond if they didn’t comply.

“Mind your own business, kook!”

There was always a brave one amongst the group, usually the ringleader, the head dickhead.

At least they were only teenagers.

This time he did look up and put all that communication theory into the coldest stare possible. “Excuse me?”

All four of them froze. Hell, they couldn’t be older than fifteen, somewhere between Gordy and Alan. If either of his brothers acted like this, there were three older brothers who would quite firmly re-educate them on proper conduct.

Not that he thought either of his younger brothers would do such a thing.

In any case, all four of them stared at him wide-eyed. The eldest swore and climbed out of his seat just as the bus pulled up at the next stop. He snarled at John as he stalked past, spitting profanities. His cohorts followed and they climbed off the bus.

It was lovely and quiet after that and John went back to tackling his misbehaving program.

“Thank you, sir.”

John blinked up at the unkempt man who had been the centre of the teenagers’ torment.

A small smile. “You’re welcome.”

Was this variable being changed by the program itself? How the hell could it do that?

He didn’t fail to notice after that incident that Gus, as he introduced himself the next time they met, always sat near John on his rides, morning or evening.

John met other people. Mrs Magarey and her three young children always needed a hand with her pram. John sometimes took advantage of this and stuck the pram in the footwell of the seat next to him so no-one could sit there.

That made Mrs Bucklin sit behind him and whisper her stories in his ear.

He wasn’t sure if he was comfortable with that either.

Two other students from his faculty took the same bus as well. Ridley was in the year behind him and always had a friend on the phone. She chattered a lot and he learnt to tune her out.

Well, until the day he boarded the bus and found her crying into her tablet.

She had lost her entire thesis in a computer crash. He was polite. He enquired and she answered, staring up at him as if she had never seen him before. Which was entirely possible. John didn’t like to draw attention to himself.

He accompanied her off the bus that day and delved into her damaged computer. He dug up her thesis and she gushed all over him, even crying into his sweater.

He hugged her awkwardly and wished her all the best.

After that, she always said hello and had a smile for him.

John smiled back, but his program was still not behaving. It acted as if it had a mind of its own and it was very distracting.

Mrs Bucklin said it sounded like cat number two, Gordy. Never behaving, but always loveable.

John stared at her when she said that, and wondered if she knew more than she was letting on.

The day Virgil landed in the seat beside him on the way to the labs startled him enough to drop his tablet.

“Hey, Johnny.”

He fumbled between the seats for the device. “Don’t call me Johnny.”

“Sorry.” But he could tell Virgil was anything but.

His fingers touched the cool metal of his tablet and he scrabbled for it. “What are you doing here?”

“Can’t a brother drop in on his brother to see how he is doing?”

John eyed him. If it was Scott sitting next to him or Gordon, he might have been suspicious of any double meaning his brother might be communicating. But this was Virgil and although the engineer had a sense of humour that could cut when necessary, this wasn’t his style.

“I guess he can. But why the bus?”

Virgil shrugged. “Didn’t catch you early enough. Barely caught the bus behind you. I thought your classes didn’t start until later.”

“They don’t.”

“Then why are you up so early?”

It was John’s turn to shrug. “Just avoiding the crowds, I guess.”

Virgil eyed him with a slightly worried frown.

“And who is this lovely young man who has taken my seat?”

Oh god.

Virgil stared up at Mrs Bucklin as she bustled in to sit behind them.

An internal sigh. “Mrs Bucklin, this is my brother Virgil.”

“Your brother?” She eyed Virgil as if inspecting him for sale. “Doesn’t look like you at all. Where’s the red hair?”

Virgil arched a dark eyebrow.

“Nevertheless, Mrs Bucklin, Virgil is my older brother.”

“Then how come we haven’t met before? You’ve been travelling this route for a year now and we haven’t seen hide or hair of him.” She continued to glare at Virgil as if he was a threat.

Virgil was shifting in his seat, his expression decidedly wary.

“Virgil has been assisting my father on a project. He’s an engineer. I’m unsure what he is doing here right now.”

“Hmph, well, in my opinion, he should have been here earlier.” She addressed Virgil directly. “Did you know your sweet little brother has been a bastion of this bus route, defending and assisting all?”

What?

John’s head shot up. “Mrs Bucklin-“

“Don’t you go all humble pie on me, young man. I saw what you did to those teenagers and how you help young Mollie every week. That girl is going to work herself into an early grave. And poor Gus, you’ve given him a new reason to try. Did you know he has enrolled himself in a course? Got himself a grant from the government and everything. Got help from that employment assistance group. Not to mention that doe-eyed young student who stares at you with love hearts floating about her head. I don’t know what you did for her, but I have no doubt she would do anything for you if you asked.” She turned back to Virgil, accusation in her eyes. “Why haven’t you been looking after your brother?”

Virgil’s wide eyes darted between John and the older woman.

John had no idea what to say.

“Well?” Mrs Bucklin’s glare was determined.

“Ah-“

“Is this man harassing you?”

John looked up to see Gus looming over Virgil.

You know, the Virgil who lifted weights that weighed more than his brothers on a daily basis.

John frowned. Gus had a new coat on and was looking much healthier than the last time he paid attention. “No, Gus. This is my older brother Virgil.”

And Virgil was subjected to another staring glare. “Doesn’t look like your brother.”

What?!

“I can assure you that he is indeed my caring older brother and he is not neglecting me in any way.”

Gus grunted, still glaring at Virgil. He nodded in John’s direction. “Make sure he eats more. He’s too skinny.”

That started Mrs Bucklin off again. “My goodness, yes. John you do not eat enough. Have you tried any of those recipes I recommended?”

Gus was still eyeing Virgil.

Virgil appeared to be regretting several recent life choices.

“I’m fine, Mrs Bucklin.” He raised his hands. “And both of you, Virgil is not responsible for my wellbeing.”

His tablet beeped. A glance and he found a text message from Ridley. You okay over there?

He looked up and found her at the other end of the bus staring back at him worriedly.

A sigh.

A flick of his fingers. I’m fine.

He turned back to Virgil who was literally cornered, only for his tablet to chime again.

 You free tonight?

Oh, for the love of-

“Guys, Virgil is my big brother. He looks after me. He cares. I’m fine. He’s here for a visit. I don’t know why yet. Stop glaring at him.”

Gus grunted again and wandered off to his seat. He didn’t stop eyeing John’s brother for a second.

Mrs Bucklin let off a slightly miffed sound before leaning back in her seat. “He better. Or I have a mind to bring Scottie with me next time. Or maybe Gordy. To teach him a lesson.”

What the hell?

“No need, Mrs Bucklin. I assure you.”

Virgil was staring at John as if he wasn’t sure what planet he was on.

John sighed.

Yeah, he hated public transport.

It was stressful, annoying and far too full of people.

His tablet pinged again. This time it was the program he was working on. It was claiming it was dawn despite the fact the sun had risen an hour ago. He let out an exasperated hiss.

Virgil was still staring at him.

Damn public transport.

-o-o-o-

[supersabbatical2024]

4/25/24: Come ON…word from the home front is that we are now missing one chicken, “Poppy,” the grey one. The Maplewood Fox was seen chasing “Agent 99” (another chicken) inside the coop area, but my BRAVE sister chased the fox 🦊 out of the henhouse 🐓 What is going on with our animals in Maplewood? Take good care of your creatures, people. 🐴 🐕 🐱 🐒 🐠 🦛

A few days ago it was time for the Spa portion of our vacation. We had a recommendation for spa treatments from our VRBO host ( whose house we are staying in). So rather than go to one of the 10,000 salons nearby, we took the challenge and drove out of town to seek out our host Carole Boulet’s personal salon…quite the adventure! I was impressed with our tenacity and Claude’s ability to do numerous K-turns in THE tiniest parking lots EVER. The spa ladies wore little uniforms and everything, and they were very nice about my French. The facial was lovely. Then, for Part Two of the pampering, Claude sent me out on my own for my manicure…I guess he had had it with hauling me around to my various beauty appointments. SO for the first time, I ventured out on my OWN, with specific instructions from Claude AND Google maps, and ended up at a little shop on Rue Gambetta, called Sunny Nails! They spoke no English, but I met a French gal who was also getting a mani, and she helped me tell them what I wanted. Mon amie Sophie The French Gal, my new BFF, has an uncle who is “very rich,” and lives in Massachusetts. We chatted, Sophie taught me some French, and I taught her how to pronounce the word “pittoresque” in English—picturesque—which is a tough one, when you think about it: PIK-CHER-ESK. I feel like there are not a lot of CH’s in french, am I right? C’est vrai? Feel free to tell me I’m wrong in the comments (I don’t know how to comment on a tumblr blog but I think you can). My brave sister I’m sure will not hesitate to let me know if my grammar/pronunciation/tense is wrong…That reminds me of when my sister and I were traveling together a couple years ago, and we were chatting with a gal and we asked if she had a sister. The gal said “no…” so my sis, Pammy, said, “if you don’t have a sister, how do you know what’s wrong with you??”

That was sort of a random story, and I guess you kind of have to have a sister to understand. Or a really close friend who’s not afraid to tell you what’s what, or that you have your shirt on inside out. But there ya go 👩‍❤️‍👩. I’m thinking about ya sis! She’s probably not reading this blog, as she is actually back at my house in NJ, taking care of our mom, Normie, for two weeks. David took the first shift, and now Pammy has taken over. Don’t forget to keep the fox out of the henhouse Pammy, and THANKS 🙏

Yesterday, we did basically nothing except shop and eat 🥐🥐 🥐 🥐🥐 🥐 🥐🥐 🥐 🥐🥐 🥐 🥐🥐 🥐 and I’m having trouble even remembering right now, so I will set that aside and post some photos of two days ago, when we had a travel day and drove to Cassis…more later. We have received more bad news from NJ about Oreo…he is really struggling. He’s a good dog, and he has had a really amazing run. I’m grateful to my friends who are helping him and us to figure out the right thing to do, and get through this…

[bestest-goblin]

This this THIS! If people in the country you're visiting know you are willing to take on some of the burden of translating - even if the results are bad, if they see you TRYING - they feel appreciated and your dealings will be much more positive. Plus you will experience the delight of being a Good Guest in the country kind enough to be hosting you.

Key phrases I always try to memorise: - Hello & Goodbye - Sorry &/or Excuse me (often they are related!) - Yes/No - Please, Thank You and THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!! - I would like... (and then you can just point at things. Menu items, locations on maps, things on shelves you want to buy) - and if there is genuinely no time to learn these, or it's too much to remember, just learn "I'm sorry. I'm English/American. I don't speak X language." I've made it work with just these, and it's been really positive. When I said the correct Thank You to a waiter in Hong Kong who helped me when the ordering app broke, an older lady next to me did a double take and nodded at me. Another time I thanked a ticket guy (with the other Thank You) and even though I know my pronunciation was tolerable at best, he was just beaming! It was such a nice feeling to have made him happy with something so simple. Also, the Western European languages are all REALLY similar, because they're usually some mash-up of Latin and Germanic, so you DONT NEED AS MUCH VOCAB AS YOU THINK. French, Italian and Spanish have a lot in common, and so do German and Dutch. I once had a whole conversation with an Italian market trader selling biscuits near Turin. She had no English and I only had my 10 Useful Phrases in Italian. But I asked about the biscuit flavours (with help from a phrasebook) and we got talking.

Long story short she gave me a second pack of biscuits for free (Grazie Mille!) because we'd had such a good conversation. We had no shared vocabulary but enough of the words were close enough to my High School French that with a bit of arm-waving we could piece it together, and had a lot of fun doing it.

Later on the same trip I ended up translating French train announcements into English for a Filipino tour group sitting near me. Their second language was fluent English, but they knew no French at all and they wanted to check they were on the right train. They thought I was translating word-for-word but what was actually happening was I heard "French French PORTES French FERMENT French DEPART French MAINTENANT French French French SEIZE VOITURES French French CAFETERIA French CENTRE DU TRAIN French French ONZE French ARRIVERONS French French TRIEZE HEURE ET DEMI." I understood maybe one word in ten, but that was enough to figure out "Ok, the doors are closing because we are leaving now. This train is sixteen carriages long, they're selling food and snacks half way down the train in carriage eight, and we're due to arrive in Paris at one thirty this afternoon."

You just need a few key phrases and some friendly body language. It'll get you a long way.

[summaryi]

When the Moon Hatched - Sarah A. Parker

reluctant 2/5

ok i havent finished yet but

the world is interesting so far

not enough known about characters

-------

but the one thing that might push this into DNF territory for me DESPITE THE INTERESTING WORLD

is the fucking fantasy spelling of known and existing concepts

like fucking dae and day

if you make up a creature person place concept whatever

yeah have it your way

use the beautiful spellings of faerie instead of fairy

but fucking

having to read dae which means day when the word day already exists and dae just means day

not my cup of tea

but i press on

wanna know about these moons

and the POV switches are in such tiny font compared to the rest of the text i was flipping back and forth to find it

and something just happened but im like?? i didnt have the time to get invested

so this doesnt mean anything to me

---

ive kept reading and im really torn???? some parts are breathtakingly sweet and soft, like a nostalgic memory

and some parts are

so

disjointed

huh??

i feel like a third of it is lovingly crafted

and tbe other two thirds are just slapped together to fill pages

its a weird fucking experience

-----

im fucking incensed what the hell

one of the chapters ripped my heart out and tore it into shreds

and three chapters later there are so many fucking unnecessary made up fantasy words just crammed together holy hell

was this written by two different people

and if youre going to use your own made up words

give us some fucking explanation or show and tell

if i dont know whats going on because none of the words make sense how can i fucking read jesus christ

what the hell is going on in this book

im actually pissed because the quality of the writing is so inconsistent

----

ok i finished it

am i fucking stupid? is it the kindle editions? or do all these books keep fucking putting pronunciation guides and glossaries at the back with zero indication they're there, not even a * or page at the front

maybe its a me problem but holy fuck

put the map at the back and the definitions and pronunciation at tne FRONT

AND THE FUCKING TRIGGER WARNINGS TOO WHY ARE THEY the last possible item

is it me??? am i the problem???

but like, ok, have the separate pronunciation guide and the glossary or definitions at the end

i still want some kind of BRIEF in-story explanation

people DO this to GREAT effect

it's fucking practical

and it does NOT break the stupid "show, dont tell" rule to have a character just do a quick "oh, MC is new/amnesiac/willfully ignorant, here's a 2 sentence primer"

anyways

overall, hate this book

it is NOT for me

i can sort of see why its paced and split the way it is? but also i cant

it feels very.......... it just feels like only a tiny sliver of the entire book is well polished

and the rest of it is slag, just tossed in

like????

the parts that i enjoy were enough to get me to finish the book but holy shit im pissed off

it could be so good!!!! but it's not!!!! overall the idea and the plot and all the strings are very good!!! but its so badly woven!!!!!!! except for a few shining hero moments

but what the fuck!!! it should all be equally good!!!!!!!!!!!

am i just a hater??? idk everyones fucking sucking this books dick and like

its like

a delicious meal that got dropped in a puddle full of shit

like there are pieces i liked! they were good! i see the potential! but fucking christ it was not a michelin experience and those tasty bites were not worth the rest of this meal??????? aaaaakrslhbgliugraiaubefigawrlharfk

[valcuda]

Just ran into an annoying issue with Scela.

I'm working on a language for her story, Selaguix, and something I want to do with her character, is have her occasionally say something in Selaguix. So if she's speaking in English, she might something like "Oh I've heard of your kind before, fela, or humans, with your fancy science."

Unfortunately, I'm running into a bit of an issue. I wrote the language with Latin letters, but changed the sound they make. You might have read "fela" as "Fella", but it's pronounced "Theh-la" (with a soft Th).

This issue never occurred to me before, since I imagined Scela speaking it, so the only thing that mattered was the pronunciation, not the spelling. And since I know how to read the language, this was never an issue.

I've also run into another issue, most everyone speaks Selaguix, cause Felaguix (English) was created by the humans, while Selaguix was made by the feges! (Non-humans. Or basically the monsters)

This means, I'm gonna run into the issue of needing to acknowledge that most of the book is a translation, while some of it isn't, while still mixing in Scela saying Selaguix words while speaking Felaguix, but would it even work in this context, since the only time you'll see Selaguix words in a conversation is when she's NOT speaking Selaguix, but instead speaking English and adding Selaguix words! Which use different pronunciation from the English words surrounding it!

If she was just speaking Felaguix/English, like I imagine her doing in my mind, (I develop characters out of story, and Selaguix also isn't developed enough to use exclusively yet, nor do I even know it well enough to speak/write in it without looking words up in my dictionary) then it'd be as easy as just putting Selaguix in a different font, or transliterating it. Instead, I have a fucking NIGHTMARE SITUATION!!

I could have 3 different fonts. One for when the conversation is being translated from Selaguix, one for when the conversation is in English, and one for when she says something in Selaguix, while speaking English. I think that's the only way I could go about doing this.

Of course, there's the whole question of "Why even do this in the first place", when I could have the whole book just be a translation of Selaguix, and only use it for place names and such. But that just feels kinda boring to me! It feels like I'd be wasting the language, when I could do something interesting with it.

With Scela occasionally speaking a word of Selaguix during an English conversation, you'd slowly learn Selaguix throughout the book, thanks to her conversations. Then when Scela goes to fesiln, you know fe- is a prefix associated with humans, so fesiln must be related to humans!

Then later, Scela might be talking, and say "Well this is a sad little siln you have here, or town I guess you'd call it," and suddenly you know what "fesiln" must mean! Human Town. (fesiln isn't a real place, I have yet to actually start working on the map, and had to create the word "siln" on the spot cause I had no word for village/town/nation)

I'm kinda debating if I want to have Scela get transported to a different world, where the story takes place, but I feel that'd just be cheap. This is ironically a similar issue I faced with Skizzy, which Scela was meant to resolve. She needs her world to make sense, but she can't really work in it.

I'll probably just have her speak in translated Selaguix the whole book, skimming over conversations where she speaks Felaguix. (Ironically the whole reason Felaguix has to exist is for "Multiverse Heroes", which I promised to myself I'd scrap, but I've brought back in a minor capacity.)