#babushka answers

[babushka-of-chaossss]

hello fellow being of chaos >:]

olla

*hands you lighter* go and arson my child

[fiddles-ifs]

you doung multiple projects at the same time partially out of spite is so petty and i fucking love it. get their ass bro LMAO

One thing you must know is that I was raised by a collective of ancient Eastern European women. I will die on any hill and do anything for spite.

[dlstmxkakwldrlarchive]

the singles shooting behind… funny how he looks just like my man…..

HEY🫵🏾🫵🏾 it's OUR man

[eyesofcuriosity]

⚑ Have you been forgiven for a mistake you’ve made? ♛ Have you ever seen drama be maturely sorted out? ♞ Do you tend to ignore drama?

⚑ Have you been forgiven for a mistake you’ve made?

/Yes and no it depends on the person. I'm very open-minded but also stubborn person. It all comes to a perspective in my opinion I may as have offended people with my action but I will always want to know how exactly? It is a bit saddening when people don't give you a clear response since well...how can one improve? Then again I'm not saint I have also stepped away from people that I don't feel close to. If its someone I consider a friend or I want to be friends with well then I want to talk and try to mend things.

to sum it up: eh...

♛ Have you ever seen drama be maturely sorted out?

/Actually yes and it happened pretty recently a dear neighbor ;) and a new blog I started following had an issue and honestly, they took it like an adult and provided their own perspective on the issue. Which made me warm up to them quickly.

♞ Do you tend to ignore drama?

/Depends what kind of drama it is? But for the most part I try to stay away, if its about irl situation things that are out of our control....yeah man I cant deal with that I'm already too tired. If its something community related to it include people I know of...I miiiiiight pay attention to see how things are going.

[parcai]

WHAT ARE THE BIRTHDAY PLANS YOU SICKO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT ARE WE DOING!!!!!!!!!!

📞🤨 hello authorities id like 2 report a suspicious person

[karlachismylife]

Already I find myself in your asks ehehe

I notice I didn't give you the required banana for my first ask so here, to make up for it: 🍌

And three for this ask as well! 🍌🍌🍌 (you'll see why so many banan in a moment... Apologies in advance)

I have three language questions! :D

I read through one of your posts about affectionate nicknames and cool nicknames and the like. A lot of the examples had "ka" at the end (for the cutesy names). Is there a reason for this? Like etymology wise?

This could be COMPLETELY wrong but I heard "babushka" can be super insulting. Like. People would hate you on the street for saying it. But also... grandma?? So????

So I notice a lot of writers have Russian characters speak English then substitute a word for Russian. (In the specific example that made me think of this it was "Get out of my way идиот") Is this common for actual Russian native speakers that also learn/know English? If so does it go the other way around too? (like do those speaking full Russian sentences sometimes use English words?)(I would imagine not. No real reason for me to think that though)

Thank you very much for sharing all of your knowledge!! It is well appreciated :]

Yassss thank you for the bananas!!! They are very needed after two exams in a row.

Ending "-ka" in words.

Yes, there is a reason for this. If we simplify, Russian words have following structure: prefix + root + suffix + ending. Let's talk about nouns only for now to make it easier, but other parts of speech follow more or less the same general rules with some corrections.

The root is, well, the root, it carries the main meaning of the word, names the thing itself.

Ending is changeable when we put words in different cases, it does not change the meaning of the word, it only changes the grammatical form. When we say "I am a gorilla" and "I see a gorilla" in Russian these will be two different cases and therefore the ending will change ("я горилла" [ya gorilla] VS "я вижу гориллу" [ya vizhu gorillu]).

Prefixes and/or suffixes are added to change the MEANING of the word. This way we can form words with entirely new meanings (still tied to the root of the word, so for example we take the word окно [okno] (window), give it a prefix and a suffix and get подоконник [podokonnik] (window sill). The prefix под- [pod-] that has a twin preposition под literally means "under", so подоконник is a thing under the window. Makes sense, right?

But there also are suffixes that change the meaning of the word, but it's still the same object we're talking about, just, for example a very big one or small one - where the dimunitive suffixes come into play. There are quite many of them, and "-к-" is one of them. There are also several longer ones that include the letter "к", like "-очк- " [-ochk-] or "ик" [-yk-]. So these + an "-а" ending (typical for 1st declination that includes feminine and masculine gender nouns) make up a lot of dimunitive forms of nouns. I'll show on several of the words I used in my affectionate words post.

рыба [ryba] (fish) consists of рыб-а (root-ending) рыбка [rybka] (little fish) consists of рыб-к-а (root-suffix-ending)

звезда [zv'ezda] (star) consists of звезд-а (root-ending) звёздочка [zvyozdochka] (little star/starshine) consists of звёзд-очк-а (root-suffix-ending)

кот [kot] (cat, usually male) consists of кот- (root-empty ending) котик [kot'ik] (cat but affectionately, small cat but not same as kitten) consists of кот-ик- (root-suffix-empty ending)

*also a separate note, but suffix "-к-" also has another meaning which is to make words feminitives, so идиот [idiot] is a male idiot and идиотка [idiotka] is a female idiot, not a "small idiot"

I hope this made sense, I tried to kinda make it short and not go too far into word-building, but this should answer your question I think.

Offensive "babuska"

I honestly have no idea why would anyone tell you that, because yes, it's literally "grandma". I suppose women can be offended if you call them this word because of the whole weird "we have to always pretend everyone is younger than they are" thing, I literally witnessed yesterday a girl being extremely upset she was referred to as "woman", not "girl". So yeah, I guess don't call women that unless they're literally someone's grandma or they look more ancient that Lenin's body in the mausoleum, but it's not like a curseword or inappropriate. Man, I really wish we still had the soviet thing where everyone was called "comrade" (I do that unironically in all languages but people do kinda side-eye me in Russia for it because of connotations). But this literally is THE perfect word to call people. No misendering, no wrong age identification, moderately friendly but not too much in case they're not comfortable with it... bring "tovarish'" back!!!

Language cocktails

Actually no, we do not insert Russian words into English/any other language speech normally :) Instead, many people, at least from my circle, because we consume a lot of content in English and sometimes other languages (for studies, work, leisure), we often insert English words into Russian. And often English words get like widely appropriated into the langage, we use "cringe" as a noun and made a verb out of it with Russian verb formation rules. Globalization is no joke!

Of course the most realistic situation where someone would insert a Russian word into English dialogue is if they forgot the word in English (here is a wonderful NikPrice thing from my beloved comrade on the topic). But! I can tell you how I use this "inserts Russian words when speaking English" thing in my writing, mostly with my Russian-Ukrainian OC: it's a deliberate thing she does to often conceal the meaning of her words (when she is being affectionate but pretends she's not), or if she wants to ephasize her Slavic descent, or when she cusses someone out, because let's be real, nothing hits like Russian cursewords. Plus when the situation is emotional/stressful or the character is not fully conscious (drifting off or passing out), speaking non-native languages can be hard.

Also in your specific example it doesn't make much sense to me since идиот and idiot are basically the same word, just with different stress syllables.

I hope this helped! I am very sleep deprived and have a fever and another further math exam in ~12 hours so if there are stupid mistakes or something makes no sense, tell me plz >< And feel free to reach out for anything else!

[stargazer-sims]

TLC (3)

previous

Nikolai: Look, Sasha, who's that? Is it Grandma?

Alexander: *squeals*

Elena: You used to make that same noise whenever your Grandpa came home from work, Kolya. You always got excited to see him.

Nikolai: I'm not sure if I should be embarrassed or amused by that

Elena: Amused. It's much better for your mental health.

Alexander: *happy noises*

Elena: Come here, Sasha. Let Grandma give you a cuddle.

Nikolai: Thanks for agreeing to take him.

Elena: I should be thanking you. I get to close the shop tomorrow and spend the entire day with my grandbaby.

Nikolai: You're going to close the shop? Where are Deb and Rose?

Elena: Debbie is on holiday with her husband, and Rose had dental surgery yesterday, so she's taking a few days off. I do give my employees personal time, you know.

Nikolai: I never assumed you didn't. This is going to inconvenience your customers though, isn't it?

Elena: Any more than you staying home tomorrow is going to inconvenience everyone at the rink? They'll survive a little inconvenience.

Nikolai: Okay, point made.

Elena: Silly Daddy, worrying about inconveniencing people. Everyone knows the world revolves around you, don't they, Sasha?

Nikolai: I'm pretty sure he does think that, actually.

Elena: As he should. Have you packed his bag yet?

Nikolai: No, not yet. I kinda had my hands full with Mishka, and I was busy making Sasha's formula for you. Oh, he should eat before he goes, speaking of that. When I got home, he and Mishka were both passed out on the couch, so I have no idea when Mishka last fed him. He's probably starving.

Elena: I'll feed him.

Nikolai: Thanks. Would you mind packing his bag too?

Elena: Of course.

Nikolai: Mishka made you a list, although you probably don't need it.

Elena: I'll look at it, since he went to the trouble of making it. Then you can tell him I checked off everything on it.

Nikolai: Thank you. He'll appreciate that. He's really worried about being away from Sasha for the night.

Elena: That's not surprising. I was beside myself the first time I left you and your sister overnight. Grandpa took good care of you, but that didn't stop me from wanting to burst into tears every time I thought about how much you might be missing me.

Nikolai: So, it's normal? Mishka isn't overreacting because of his anxiety?

Elena: Well, I can't say if he's overreacting or not since I haven't seen him, but if you're asking if it's scary to leave your baby with your in-laws overnight for the first time, then the answer is yes. No matter how much you love and trust them, they're not your parents and there's bound to be a tiny bit of doubt.

Nikolai: I never thought of it like that. I guess that explains why I'm not as worried as him.

Elena: That, and you've always been fairly unflappable. It must be hard for little Mishka, not having his own mother here.

Nikolai: I think so. He talks to her almost every day, but it's not the same as being close by. She's coming to see us before the end of the summer though, and I think Vika is coming with her too, so that'll be good for him.

Elena: And for this little one as well. Your babushka is going to travel a very long way to meet you, Sasha, and I know she's going to fall in love with you.

Nikolai: I hope she does. I got the impression she's really coming for Mishka, not for Sasha or me. She's not a huge fan of mine, and neither her nor Dr. Vasiliev are particularly thrilled by the whole science baby situation.

Elena: Dr. Vasiliev? You don't call your father-in-law by his name?

Nikolai: You met him at our wedding. Would you call him Ivan?

Elena: You're asking the wrong person. You know I would, if for no other reason than to knock some of the pride out of him.

Nikolai: I don't think I'm as brave as you. The man intimidates me.

Elena: Don't let him do that. He may not like you, but he doesn't have the right to intrude on your happiness, or to impose his opinions on your family. If he's not pleased with Mishka's choices, that's entirely his problem. You and Mishka are grown men, and you don't need anyone's permission or approval to create the life you want for yourselves.

Nikolai: I... yeah. I'm not going to tell him that.

Elena: If I ever see him in person again, I might. If we can embrace little Mishka and welcome him as part of our family, the least your father-in-law can do for you is have the courtesy to respect you.

Nikolai: Remind me never to get on your bad side.

Elena: Don't worry. I can't even imagine what you'd have to do for that to happen.

Nikolai: I know I don't say this enough, but I'm really glad you're my mother.

Elena:That goes both ways, and it goes for Mishka too. I'm honestly glad to call him my bonus child, and I'm especially glad we have this little man. Your father and I don't even care about that science lab business. As far as we're concerned, Sasha is perfect. How you and Mishka had him doesn't change anything.

Nikolai: That means a lot.

Elena: It's the truth.

Elena: There we go, little man. You're all done with your late dinner. Can you burp?

Nikolai: You should probably have a towel or something. He spits up a lot.

Elena: Grandma doesn't mind a little spit. That's what the washing machine is for.

Nikolai: You think Grandma can teach Daddy how to have a stronger stomach? The first time he spit up on me, let's just say he wasn't the only one doing it.

Elena: *laughing* You didn't tell me that before.

Nikolai: It was a little embarrassing to admit. Mishka's like you, though. It doesn't seem to bother him, and he doesn't use a towel on his shoulder either.

Elena: It gets easier, I promise. Here, why don't you wash his face, and then maybe you can hang out with your father for a bit while I pack his bag.

Nikolai: Okay.

Mike: You were in there for a long time.

Nikolai: Sorry about that. Sasha had to eat, and Mama wanted to feed him, so I just stayed in there to talk. You could've came in too, if you wanted to.

Mike: It's fine. The cats were keeping me entertained.

Nikolai: They're not very good conversationalists.

Mike: Neither am I, so it worked out.

Nikolai: You shouldn't underestimate yourself. Being shy doesn't mean you have nothing to talk about.

Mike: Have I ever told you how much like your grandfather you are? That sounds like something he'd tell me.

Nikolai: Being told I'm like Grandpa is a compliment.

Mike: That's how I meant it. What's your mother still doing in Sasha's room, by the way? I thought you'd both be done in there.

Nikolai: She's putting some stuff together for him. I didn't have a chance to do it before you guys got here. Mishka needed me, and I was kind of frazzled trying to figure out how to do all the things by myself.

Mike: I guess it's a good thing that we're running off with the grandbaby, then.

Nikolai: As long as you bring him back.

Mike: You know your mother. She'd keep him forever if she thought she could get away with it.

Nikolai: She could, but then she'd have to keep Mishka too. It took some convincing for him to let you take Sasha for the night. If you don't bring him back tomorrow afternoon, I wouldn't put it past Mishka to come looking for him, sick or not.

Mike: We'll bring him back. If Mishka isn't feeling better by tomorrow evening, maybe your mother can stay here with you for a couple of days instead.

Nikolai: Could you manage by yourself? Like, with meals and everything?

Mike: Probably not, but you have a kitchen. I'd just come here to eat.

Nikolai: Why don't you just come and stay as well? That'd make more sense.

Mike: Well, if you insist...

Nikolai: *laughing*

Alexander: *giggling*

Mike: Did he just laugh too?

Nikolai: Yeah, he's been doing that for about a week now. He does it when he sees somebody he likes. Mishka, me, Beth-Anne... He goes wild when he sees Beth-Anne.

Elena: *from the doorway* Look what Grandma has, Sasha! It's your overnight bag.

Alexander: *excited squeaking*

Mike: I guess the sleepover is already off to a good start.

Nikolai: Sasha, you be good for Grandma and Grandpa, okay? Don't give them too much trouble. Papa and I will see you tomorrow.

Mike: Don't worry. We'll look after him, and I'm sure he won't give us any problems.

Nikolai: I know you'll take good care of him. We're going to miss him, that's all.

Elena: We'll call you in the morning so you can say hello. And you tell Mishka not to worry. He can FaceTime me as much as he wants.

Nikolai: I'll suggest he tries to keep the FaceTime calls to a reasonable amount.

Elena: What did I just say, Nikolai? As often as he wants. I don't want him to feel like he can't check in. That's not going to help him learn to trust us, is it? Better for him to call me twenty times to assure himself I'm taking care of his baby as well as he could than to give him a reason to think we don't want him to know what we're up to.

Nikolai: I guess you're right.

Elena: Of course I'm right. Eventually, Mishka won't be so upset about being away from Sasha, but you have to let him work up to that point. You shouldn’t rush him into anything.

Mike: Like all those kids you teach. You wouldn’t rush them.

Nikolai: Mishka isn’t a kid.

Elena: No, but all of this is new to him.

Nikolai: It’s new to me too.

Elena: It is, but he’s not as resilient as you. I think you imagine risks are like speed bumps. For him, I’d say he sees them more like mountains, and you’re going to need to let him climb at his own pace.

[dreamweave01]

now it seems that the spirits demand more info on this swap au (specifically foot clan and other villains)

No of course I didn't forget to answer this idk what you're talking about that doesn't sound like me at all 👀

Admittedly, I don't really have a ton thought out. I kinda didn't realize just how many villains the turtles have in 2012 until I got to working on it lol.

The foot were still wiped out by the Hamato back when Oroku Saki was too young to remember. Splinter took over the Hamato and basically made them evil for lack of a simpler explanation.

Shit went down, and Oroku Saki took in Karai/Miwa and decided to flee to the States. He received aid in his and his adopted daughter's escape from a close friend of his, Takeshi, (a.k.a. Tigerclaw UwU).

In this au, Tigerclaw is still a bounty hunter. However, he's a good man who lives by a strict code. He may be the best of the best, but he refuses to kill a single soul, him seeing the act of taking another's life as horrendous.

Once in the U.S., Tigerclaw returned to Japan, continuing with his line of work while personally keeping an eye on the Hamato as a means to protect Saki. He visits maybe once or twice a year, and is a beloved uncle figure to Karai.

Now, in the states, Oroku Saki didn't really know anyone. He was in a foreign country with a foreign culture; on top of that, he's a single father trying to care for a young girl barely a year old. It's a lot to handle alone.

Until one day, while Saki and Karai were grocery shopping in the big city, (Karai being the adventurous toddler I'm sure she was) decided to wander off when her adopted father wasn't looking.

Saki nearly had a heart attack, searching for what felt like hours before finally finding two men playing with her outside of a russian themed bakery.

They introduced themselves as Anton Zeck and Ivan Steranko (who would later be given the nicknames Bebop and Rocksteady by Raphael)

Ivan and Anton would become close friends with Saki, acting as Karai's adopted uncles.

The russian themed bakery? That's owned by Ivan, using his Babushka's old recipes to recreate what he calls an "Authentic Mother-Russia Experience"

I'm still trying to figure out what Anton does for a living. What I do know however is that he spends way too much of his time trying to sneak into Ivan's kitchen.

The two are a bit eccentric, but they're loyal to the end.

In case it isn't clear already, I swapped Rocksteady with Murakami San, and tagged Bebop along because I didn't dare separate the dynamic duo <3

Hopefully that answers your question!

[sgiandubh]

Who are you ?

Dear (probably returning to piss me off) Nagging Anon,

This question is periodically asked. Last time I answered, briefly and cheekily (but honestly) was on July 17th: https://www.tumblr.com/sgiandubh/723050835494502400/who-are-you?source=share

I also doxed myself almost completely, lest you think you are talking to The Babushka Lady or a 55 years old grumpy Swedish man, and also to deny Mordor a comfortable upper hand into blackmailing or trying to scare me (keep running, bitches). With a bit of intellectual resources and two Google clicks (I promise exactly two clicks, not more), you can easily find the rest. Check the archives - they are chock-a-block full with clues.

I am who I always said I was. I see no interest in lying, even if this seems to be the national sport of Mordor.

Now, answers might diverge, if you ask...

*urv - 'the worst of the worst'

Marple - 'a nutcase, pretentious lawyer' (never took the bar path and I explained why in great detail)

Moo - 'an idiot'

Contemplating Outlander - 'a woman with no critical sense... is she really an attorney?'

All this spit and spite amuse me beyond measure. If they were in front of me, in full official capacity, I'd really like to see their faces.

Really.

Right now, I am a rather sleepy person, on an Athenian couch. Listening exactly to this (it's a random playlist, don't dream):

Happy? Sad? Confused?

[sunevial]

Reasons Why You Should Move To The Torn Veil

It's a night market

It's a giant, sprawling, night market full of people from a million worlds who have come to trade and to live and to rest and to find themselves

There's boats with people on them and the people on the boats in the river can sell you things

GOOD

PUBLIC

TRANSIT

A dragon runs the city

Specifically, an undead dragon, who turned her body into ice and now possesses both a giant dragon-sized suit of armor and a smaller humanoid shaped construct, runs the city guard

She gives paladins sworn to the city cool dragon weapons

And she's very excitable

YOU DON'T NEED A CAR. THE STREETCARS MIGHT BE HAUNTED, BUT YOU DON'T NEED TO PAY FOR CAR INSURANCE

There's good liches

Well, morally complex and slightly scary liches, but good liches

One of them runs a library. My friends think the lich that runs the library is hot (not wrong)

Vampire blood bars

Or blood in juice boxes if you prefer that

And art deco vampire speakeasies

These posts about the wildest oneshot I've ever ran will make more sense because I ran that oneshot in the Torn Veil

(i said more sense, not complete sense, the math my friends did still breaks my brain)

STREETCARS, NARROW ROADS THAT DON'T REALLY FIT HUGE CARS, GONDOLAS, FLYING CARRIAGES DRIVEN BY LICENSED PROFESSIONALS

Corner stores and restaurants from every culture, real or otherwise, serving foods that have existed forever and do not exist anymore

Memory river that lets you travel to a million different afterlives

Fishing in the memory river for memories

Slime Carriage Driver

ACCESSIBLE

DENSE

URBAN

HOUSING

I'm queer and mixed SEAsian and this is what happens when I'm allowed to be incredibly self indulgant

The answer is Haunted Spooky Less Fucked Up Sigil, apparently

The massive park full of nature spirits born from plants left at people's gravesites

Necrodancer rave clubs with ghosts playing EDM and power metal

Specifically made constructs that can house ghosts and other spirits, giving them back a semblance of agency after being violently separated from their bodies

Or cause they want a ghost mech

Pop off

CATACOMBS HOUSING SKELETONS FOR THE SKELETON WAR

THE CITY IS FIRMLY ON THE SIDE OF THE SKELETONS

BY THE WAY

IF THAT WASN'T ABUNDANTLY CLEAR

They're used for the defense of the city and are largely controlled by said necrodancers playing the EDM and power metal

It's always dusk

And a little chilly but in a nice way

Well, sometimes it's warmer, the dragon in charge of the city guard can also control the weather

She does that so the farmers can get rain

The skeletons also pick fruit on the farms btw

There's many uses for a skeleton and sometimes those uses are animating it so the skeleton can pick delicate fruit that has to be harvested by hand

A friend of mine loved this place so much that there was a real timeline where he ran a oneshot in the setting before I was able to run a oneshot in the setting

The oneshot took place in a place called the Dead n' Breakfast

It's run by a skeleton who's also a vampire

Her name is Constance

I love her

NO RENT

WHY IS THERE NO RENT YOU MAY ASK

WELL BECAUSE THE CITY JUST MAKES BUILDINGS AND NEW FLOORS TO APARTMENT BUILDINGS APPEAR OUT OF THIN AIR

(you do need to pay a little bit of tax though)

(because while the city has figured out how to make modern buildings, it has not figured out electricity or plumbing or streetcar rails)

btw the city is alive

kinda

sorta

hard to explain

Street Food

Every Street Food Ever

Like if you want some, it's there, and it's real nice and real cheap and sometimes people will just give you food for free

Sometimes a nice ghost makes it for you

Sometimes it's a skeleton babushka

The knowledge that there's other people caught between life and death, that there is a place for the lost and the wandering, that there is a place where life and death have different meanings and that complicated relationships with life and death can be a little less so, that families can reunite long, long after they were supposed to, that there is a place that calls the lost and calls them home and calls them somewhere that is safe, it is a place you can be finally safe

Ghost Macy's

[babushka-of-chaossss]

hi!!💌Send this to the twelve nicest people you know or who seem to have a good heart and if you get five back you must be pretty awesome >:]]]]💌

Awwwwhfhehehheje thank you so muchhhh!!!!

[scaratrina]

Tag Game: Character Profile

Rules: fill out the information for one of your OCs!

my entire existence now orbits around Yekaterina like she’s the sun and i’m the moon with abandonment issues so YES i will be doing her. in every sense of the word. spiritually, emotionally, biblically. she owns me.

if you're seeing this, congrats! you’ve been emotionally hexed into doing this too. i don’t have enough mutuals to tag more ppl (my kingdom for a friend pls i am just a sad adult with wifi)

shoutout to @evilmenenjoyer for tagging me and enabling this descent into character obsession <3

(i got real unhinged with the answers so there’s a read more bc i love u and your poor little thumbs. ok LET'S GOOOOOOO also i’m doing this on my phone so pls pretend typos are intentional aesthetic choices)

Name: Yekaterina Mikhaylovna Zhdanova, as Russian as it gets. quick name lore drop: Yekaterina is the russian form of Katherine, meaning “pure”, Mikhaylovna means “daughter of Mikhail” (daddy issues: activated), Zhdanova comes from zhdat, meaning “to wait”. girl’s literally “pure daughter of mikhail who waits.” like yeah no wonder

Species: tragically, only human.

Age: 25 and aging poorly.

Gender: female, against her will.

Appearance: short answer? mikey madison coded but only bcs anora dropped like a gift from god right when i needed a visual. long answer? she's about 175cm which, in saiko's words from the upcoming voodoo dolly chapter, makes her look like “a doll some kid tried to stretch like taffy.” like she’s all legs, short torso, proportions be freakin. eyes? dark brown but like, not aesthetic hazel dark. these are ‘black holes in broad daylight’ dark. her hair’s naturally light brown but she dyes it darker. moles scattered across her skin, freckles come out when she stands in the sun too long (not often tho bc the sun is a luxury she cannot afford)

(Niragi just texted me to say she has small boobies but like ok shut up king ur face is uneven)

Occupation: she’s a hostess. she’s been hostessing since she was 22-ish, right after finishing uni. truly a rags-to-trauma pipeline.

Family: ok so here’s why I had to put a 'read more' on this post. her biological father? ghosted so hard he might as well be a cryptid. never met the man. But fuck him, she had enough family. Yekaterina grew up in Sovetskaya Gavan, a fishing port where the wind screams louder than ur inner thoughts. lived with her mom, Irina, her uncle Nikolai and her maternal grandparents (and here we go):

oh my god okay so Galina Anatolyevna. babushka. where do we even start. first of all: she’s built like the kind of woman you don’t offer help to, because she’ll deck you with the same hand she’s using to carry three sacks of potatoes and a live chicken. born sometime in the tail-end of the 1920s probably, but refuses to confirm her age because “a lady never tells” (except she absolutely does, just lies about it every single time).

galina was a nurse back when needles were the size of knitting needles and anesthesia was “bite this leather strap and think of the Motherland.” she worked through winters that froze your spit midair and summers that smelled like fish and diesel. she could stitch up a wound with one hand and stir soup with the other.

her first husband? dead within a year. nobody asks what happened. galina just says “he had weak lungs” and then looks into the middle distance like she’s listening to ghosts. (he did die of tuberculosis tho) second husband lasted longer. a sailor, he cheated once and came home to find all his belongings in the snow and a goat in his bed. the goat’s name was boris and it stayed. third husband, viktor, he was the one. she met him in the 50s while throwing a boot at a street performer who was off-key. viktor caught the boot, handed it back, and said “you have good aim, comrade.” she married him a week later. he brought her tea in the mornings.

she raised irina with the same tenderness you use to handle live grenades, firm, loud, and with many slaps to the back of the head “for thinking stupid thoughts.” she wasn’t like that with Katyusha tho. when yekaterina was born, she said “finally, someone with my nose” and then stole the baby for two weeks. no one stopped her. they didn’t dare. would 100% survive the borderlands out of sheer will and a rolling pin.

dedushka, formerly Viktar Leanidavich Barysevich, but he’s gone by Viktor Leonidovich since 1944 when he dragged himself halfway across a war-torn continent and assumed the name of a dead Russian soldier to stay alive. he was seventeen, half-starved, a soldier by force not choice. when the battalion fell, he didn’t go back. instead, he kept walking east (taking the train). he hit Sovetskaya Gavan, he’d buried his real name, burned the last of his documents, and decided: no more war. i’m gonna fish now. said if the sea ever kills him, at least it’s honest.

viktar/viktor still smokes like he’s in a noir film. his bedtime stories? 70% soviet propaganda, 30% deeply unverified war tales, 100% traumatizing. he calls everyone “comrade” half-ironically, and thinks western tv is THE enemy (but won’t stop watching Columbo reruns dubbed in russian). retired now, but still tries to teach his grandkids how to gut a fish and overthrow a government “just in case.”

five kids followed. irina was the fourth born and the favorite (though both deny it like it’s classified intel). the full chaotic line-up of Yekaterina’s uncles and aunt:

1. alexei (eldest, the prototype) - came out looking fifty years old and hasn't changed since. tried to be the responsible one but it’s hard when your siblings are actual goblins. joined the navy at 18, got a tattoo of an anchor, and now tells long-winded stories that start with “when I was your age” and end with someone throwing up on a submarine.

2. mikhail (the feral one) - born angry. probably bit someone before he could walk. constantly covered in bruises and mysterious stains, always had a slingshot or firecracker on him. grew up to become a mechanic and now swears exclusively in engine noises. 

3. lidya (the girlboss) - eldest daughter. had her life planned at 7, including a wedding with a man named sergei who owned goats and a truck. didn't happen, but she did become a mid-level bureaucrat with a death glare that can silence grown men. galina's secret weapon!!

4. irina (the favorite, allegedly) - the youngest for a looong time. learned how to lie with her face at age 10 and never looked back. had that “don’t touch me” aura since birth. the only one galina would share her secret vodka stash with. ran off young though.

5. nikolai (the accident) - 12 years younger than irina and everyone knows he was a surprise. the baby. spoiled rotten and still insists he “had it hardest.” soft, sweet, probably writes poetry in secret and denies it with his whole chest. galina calls him “my little cabbage” and he still blushes. works some cushy job in Vladivostok and sends his siblings passive-aggressive postcards like “hope you’re all still alive.”

brief backstory drop: Irina was supposed to be the golden child, good grades, violin kid, big dreams, but ended up pregnant at 20ish and decided if life was gonna beat her down, she’d fight back. raised Yekaterina with the help of Galina (who still yells at the TV like it’s 1987) and Viktor (who once scared off a tax collector with a harpoon). then viktor died, dropped dead on the pier one foggy Friday. irina did not take it well, like at all. so what did she do? girl packed her bags, grabbed Yekaterina, and very illegally dipped outta russia. like full-on cartoon escape arc. no papers, no plan, just raw emotional energy and a fake passport. destination sapporo, japan. irina ended up meeting Yamamoto Haruki, a soft-spoken salaryman whose biggest crimes were unpaid parking tickets and loving his mother too much who lived near the Shioya beach (that's the house Yekaterina spends her teenage summers at after said mom died not even a decade later). just a guy. wore button-ups. always had a pen. worked a boring desk job at a mid-sized import company.

Irina and Haruki got married after a month and by some miracle of paperwork and sheer nepotism, Haruki managed to legally adopt Yekaterina as his own daughter. not emotionally, not in the “let’s have family bonding time” way. but in the “i will sign every document to keep you safe, and then go back to filing taxes” kind of way. and listen. that’s love in its own weird spreadsheet-coded way.

THIS IS IRINA BCS I SAID SO (bonus parallels with her daughter igh)

Pets: She doesn't have time nor the space for them in tokyo but back in shioya she had. seven. cats. not hers, they just showed up and never left, four-legged squatters with zero respect for personal space and impeccable vibes. they were street cats with benefits. each one had a name SO: Zayka (little bunny), Mochi (soft, round you get it), Kotenok (kitten), Kumo (cloud or spider, depends on the mood), Pushok (fluff), Bublik (bagel), Yoru (night).

Best friends: people can only make fun of you if they know where it hurts. so, she’s emotionally constipated, but self-aware. she knows she walls herself off. she just thinks it’s smarter that way. at TUFS (tokyo university of foreign studies), there were a few people she clicked with. not best friends, but friendly collisions. they still text sometimes: birthday stickers, drunk selfies, memes in three languages.

Describe her room: chaos is the dominant aesthetic. the floor is buried. half heels, half clothing that may or may not be clean. LOOOOTS OF BOOKS, no libary or space for them. there's a glittery red bra slung over a plastic chair, a wrinkled hostess dress clinging to the doorknob like it’s begging not to be worn again tonight. a chipped vanity mirror leans against the wall, surrounded by half-dead falsies, stray bobby pins, and a shrine of makeup. scattered receipts, crumpled tissues, a stack of empty combini bento boxes with chopsticks jammed in at odd angles. a coffee cup filled with pens that don’t work. a full ashtray next to a Hello Kitty cup half full of flat soda. her bed isn’t really a bed; it’s a mattress, aggressively unmade. the bed is under the window bcs she's lazy and she smokes in bed.

for visual learners lmao:

Way of speaking: Voice is naturally low, dry, and raspy, like she smoked through childhood (she did) and drank gravel (she might have). but when she’s on the job, it shoots up into this nasal, fake-sweet tone. she has a wide mouth, unsettlingly wide. the kind that shows all her teeth when she talks, and she does smile when she talks, a lot.

she speaks Tokyo standard Japanese with perfect grammar and absolutely no accent, unless she’s been on the phone with her mama. then it’s like someone dropped a gulag in Shibuya. and sometimes, when she’s annoyed? Kansai-ben comes out. not because she’s from there, but because it makes her sound funnier and meaner. she picked it up from her uni friend Tomo and now uses it exclusively to insult men who try to touch her without tipping.

Physical Characteristics (posture, gestures, attitude): back straight, shoulders down, like she’s always being watched and kind of likes it. resting bitch face. gestures a lot with her hands, not because she’s dramatic (she is), but because the nails demand it.

Items in her bag/purse: pack of gum (the mint kind that tastes like it's trying to kill you), half-empty lipstick, nail glue (just in case), two receipts from when she bought something way overpriced, a bottle of water that's been in there for 3 days, random hair ties, phone charger that’s always tangled, broken compact mirror, small knife (for... safety?), a crumpled napkin, 3 different lip balms, credit card

Hobbies: Taking long walks in the city when she wants to feel lost, debating random topics with herself, reading weird self-help books that she’ll never actually use, scrolling through fashion stores but never actually buying anything, collecting books and lots of broken things (but pretending she’s not hoarding) LIKE a single chair with a broken leg, it’s not usable, it’s just “part of the room now”. chipped statues from flea markets. a cracked hand mirror that she insists is “good luck now”. single earrings she finds, she makes up stories about who lost them and why.

Favorite sport: ice skating/figure skating, she used to watch it with her grandma on a tiny TV in the kitchen and continued when she moved to Japan.

Abilities/talents/powers: girl has a freakish core strength from doing flips on a rug-beating bar as a kid. and don’t even get me started on the poledancing, it’s like her abs were made to handle all the crap life throws at her. with sturdy as fuck ankles, her equilibrium is some next-level witchcraft, have you seen the amount of crazy heel shapes strippers pulls off? meanwhile, she’s not gonna win any sprinting races, she’s more of a 'take her time and still make it look effortless' kind of gal. mentally tho, she's a language sponge. i’m talking three completely different alphabets. russian, japanese, english? doesn’t matter, it’s like she was born with a multilingual brain and a ridiculous ability to absorb whatever's thrown at her. can’t even imagine the mental gymnastics her brain does switching between all of them

Relationships (how they are with other people): Yekaterina’s been through so much crap, dealing with Niragi was like a twisted cherry on top of a really messed up cake. and before anyone even says his name, just know he wasn't the first 'monster' in her life. nah, she’s met worse, way worse, but somehow those earlier demons built her for the current nightmare. now she’s emotionally avoidant, like, “you can be here but don’t touch me,” and trust??? forget about it. this girl struggles with intimacy, don’t even try getting close unless you’re prepared for a cold shoulder or a sharp word to keep things at arm’s length. and if she does open up, it’s probably not in the way you’d hope, more like a casual "you can stay but I’m still doing my own thing", always acting like she’s fine doing her solo thing even if it’s literally destroying her inside.

Fears: Yekaterina has this gnawing fear of being dragged back to Russia like she is a failure, having to deal with her mom’s expectations of a life that’s never really gonna happen. she’s terrified she’ll end up stuck, forced to sell her body forever, either through some loveless marriage or, worse, in the sex work she pretends doesn’t exist in her head. that job she’s in? it’s ruining her life slowly, bit by bit, and she can’t shake the fear that it’s all gonna end in some messed up, irreversible way. on top of all that, she’s always paranoid about being abandoned. it’s like, if she lets anyone close, they’ll just dip, and she’s left holding the bag. on a much lighter tone, the one thing she fears more than all of that? routine. like, just the thought of mind-numbing, soul-sucking repetition every damn day makes her skin crawl.

Faults: where do we even begin. Let’s just say, her mama really went above and beyond to screw her up. emotionally distant? check. this girl has trust issues so deep, you need a shovel to find the bottom. everyone’s a potential liar or traitor in her eyes, even the ones who mean well. she’s got walls so high, you need a ladder just to get a peek inside. she’s also self-reliant to the point of being too independent, no one can help her, because nobody knows what she needs better than she does (or so she tells herself) the world’s problems don’t exist unless she wants them to. if things get too close to reality, she’ll shut down or isolate herself. WHO THE FUCK taught her the survivalist way of life but forgot to mention that maybe, just maybe, you don’t have to go through life alone, IRINA???

Good points: she makes you feel cooler just by standing next to her. this isn’t a personality trait it’s just physics ok im kidding. loyally feral btw. she’s ride or die in the most inconvenient way possible. like if she’s decided you’re one of her people? congrats. she’ll be emotionally unavailable but will absolutely show up at 2am. she remembers things, the little things, like your favorite snack, the way you twist your hair when you’re anxious, the fact that you ate seafood ten years ago, got food poisoning and never ate seafood ever again. genuinely kind in the “i will hex your enemies and buy you cake” way; Chaotic Good you know. actually soft if she goes to therapy!

What they want more than anything else: she wants to be chosen, not for usefulness, not for how hot she looks in red lipstick, not for her drama or her ability to lie better than most people breathe. she wants someone to look at the worst parts of her, the broken, mean, self-sabotaging bits, and choose her. (so enemies to lovers kinda) she wants to belong somewhere, to someone, not like property, not like some toxic romcom mess, but like, soul-level, scary-level belonging. she wants to be able to breathe without checking the exits. and she wants to be held like she’s not something anyone has to survive!! (go to therapy I say as they drag me in the asylum)

[gammacousin]

Rebecca Banner Jr.: *answering the phone* “Hello?”

Melina Vostokoff: “My dear. Where is your mother?”

Young Rebecca Banner Jr.: “That sort of depends. She said if Uncle Tony calls, she's in the woods carrying an ax and just buried a body. If Tetya calls, she's on a date with daddy—”

Melina Vostokoff: “-What about me, h-h-honey?”

Young Rebecca Banner Jr.: “She told me to hang up, but we’re in too deep for that, babushka.”

[elfboyeros]

Decorating

It's December which means: Holidays! I'm gonna attempt to have oneshots for some of the universes I have that will come out throughout the months, and here is where we start. Big Masterlist | Purus Sanguis Masterlist

Wilhelm has never been fond of winter weather and the season around it. After hitting middle age, the cold air hurt his old joint, and the snow covering the roads made it more dangerous to leave the house. He hated being trapped in his home, unable to get to his law office, even if the mountains were beautifully covered in snow, and he enjoyed just staring out his large windows with a cup of coffee. His dark house was always devoid of any festive décor during the Christmas season; the only thing he would do during Christmas was give to those in need if he could get out of the house, on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

However, that was before he had Mrs. Belladonna.

A woman with a talent for decorating amongst over aptitudes has made the winter season more than just enjoyable for the great Mr. Con Vester, along with making their home beautiful and warm (granted she did that every single day of the year).

“Belladonna?” Wilhelm calls, after entering the house, promptly hit with the smell of cherries and cloves, he sighs at the instant feeling of warmth overtaking him as he kicks his shoes off. Taking off his winter coat, scarf, and suit jacket a little concerned that he hasn’t gotten a response he walks toward the living room, “Mein Schawn?” he enquires, seeing the ladder in the archway without her atop it, the living room decorated, a fire in the fireplace, and the Christmas tree up and lit up, before looking at their second story balcony and seeing his wife hanging over the railing attempting to securing large bows and pine garland on the dark wooden railing. “Bela!” he exclaims, seeing her tiny frame almost falling over the railing, “Good Christ! What are you doing!?”

“Hi, my beloved! I’m decorating!” she remarks, cheerfully, “How was your day?”

“It was fine,” He answers, “Would you like help?”

“I’ve got it.”

Wilhelm sighs, before climbing the ladder, “You are going to get me a heart attack, dear, let me help you,” he comments, “I’ll hold it you, you tie it.”

“I don’t know, what you are worried about, I did the ends just fine,” Belladonna mentions.

Wilhelm narrows his eyes at her as she finishes tying the decorations. “Why are you giving me that angry old man look?” she asks.

“You couldn’t have waited until I got home, could you?” he asks. “And you did not just call me old?!”

“I wanted it done,” she answers, “Beloved, you are old. You mention being old at least once a week.”

“Get down here,” Wilhelm commands, softly before descending the ladder.

“Yes sir,” Belladonna replies, heading towards the stairs.

“Stop that!”

Belladonna giggles while making her way downstairs, stopping by the kitchen to turn off the stove to prevent the simmering pot from burning. She grabs Wilhelm and herself a nice warm beverage before finding him lying across the couch with an arm over his eyes. She places the mugs on the coffee table and lays herself on top of him. The arm covering his eyes secured itself around her waist preventing her from moving.

“Are you mad at me?” Belladonna coos.

“Of course not,” Wilhelm mutters.

Belladonna smiles as he kisses her softly. Truly, there is nothing else, no one but the two of them exists and they are the last to be on earth in their beautiful home, or at least that’s what it feels like.

“You just scared me,” Wilhelm sighs when they finally part, brushing his fingers through her hair, “The last thing I want to come home to is you with broken bones because you toppled over the baster.”

“I’m sorry,” she exhales, “I am aware I get a little too excited about Christmas. I will stop messing with the decorations on the balcony without help.”

“Is there a reason you like Christmas so much, mien schwan?”

“Babushka and Mama loved Christmas,” Belladonna begins to explain. “They would decorate and bake the whole month of December, Some of my favorite memories of the both of them are from around the Christmas season. I remember Mama dancing around the kitchen while she made Medovik and Babushka making Christmas dresses for my cousins.”

Wilhelm patiently listens to her as she recalled fond memories, “When they died there was no Christmas, actually no real holidays, but not being able to celebrate Christmas hurt, so when I got married, I thought that maybe I could bring back that joy I had as a small child with the two people that I love the most, but he didn’t care and of course, he would say he hated Christmas, so I stopped celebrating.”

Wilhelm hums, following along with her story. “Thank you for killing him, by the way,” Belladonna remarks before continuing, “I know you’re not too fond of winter and the cold because of your old bones—”

“I’m going to ignore that,” he comments making Belladonna giggle.

“—but being with you made me love Christmas again. Being able to decorate, bake, volunteer, and just do things with you makes every year more exciting than the last,” she adds, “Like most things, you have given me the chance to live again and actually love life.”

“Where are you going?”

Wilhelm smiles he may not be fond of the cold, but she’s given him a reason to “take Christmas seriously."

Watching her rise up and off of him, he soon follows, sitting up as if to chase after her and the warmth he feels with her in his arms.

“To finish decorating,” she answers, getting off the couch, “I still need to put the wreath together, and I want to put the metal tree stacks down the walkway outside.”

“Can’t this wait until tomorrow?” Wilhelm asks.

“If I get it done this afternoon, I get to spend more time with you tomorrow.”

Wilhelm hums happily, following her out of the living room, “Wait one second,” he remarks, grabbing her wrist as she walks toward where she had all the boxes of Christmas decorations.

Spinning her around to face, she giggles as he pulls her close and embraces her. As she constantly sighs in his ear with her arms around his neck both warm and at peace. “Come get me if you need any help whatsoever,” Wilhelm mutters as his lips trail down to her collarbone, causing Belladonna to arch her back against him.

“I’ll come get you when I get ready to go outside,” she hums before he lets her go.

“Are you sure you want my old bones to get out in the cold?” he jokes.

“You’ll be fine. You've spent over 300 winters with your old bones,” she retorts, kissing his cheek, “and I’ll always want your old bones.”

Wilhelm chuckles watching her walk off to a random room in their house, he’ll never say it out loud, but she’s made him love Christmas.

[maridotnet]

Get to know you game! Answer the questions and tag 9 people you want to know better.

:DD aww omg thank you @bittersweetresilience for the tag, i'm so proud of myself for actually seeing it lolol

Last song listened to: something by fleetwood mac? probably Silver Springs or Edge of Seventeen! I've been working my way through their music lately, presumably in preparation for my male manipulator era

Currently watching: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Currently reading: The Way of Kings and a book of poetry my sister got me for Christmas, also my textbooks for the semester :')

Currently obsessed with: writing things by hand, hot water bottles at the foot of my bed, a jar of caramel my friend made me, dipping bread in soup, wearing silk scarves over my head babushka-style for protection against the wintry humidity

@yunyin @mozzygan @nemaliwrites @pisoprano @celestialtitania @torvalvt @rosekasa @monpetitchattriste @kasienda @i-wiggle-i-squirm-bc-i-am-a-worm

[sylviareviar]

Okay, so just to let everyone know, I guess I should give some context for why I've been a bit more active lately.

First of all, my mom left about a week ago for Israel to tend to her mother-- my grandmother, Babushka Sveta-- who had fallen (multiple times, and she even HID it from us!) and landed in the hospital needing an emergency surgery on her lungs.

Babushka Sveta told my mom she was fine, over and over, and when my mom asked, "Aren't you scared to go into surgery?" Babushka couldn't give a proper answer.

She was scared, and she died scared. After the operation, she was intubated so she could be fed through her neck. In trying to remove the tube, she became unstable, so they had to do another operation to try and save her life.

The doctor had other patients to attend to, so the operation was delayed by two days. After they finally got to her, they said it may take her a few days to wake up.

A few days passed. Today, she passed away roughly an hour ago as of writing this post.

Meanwhile, while my mom had been away in Israel, I had been left alone with my younger sibling to take care of and feed them. They're only two years younger than me (so, they're grown-up), but they have joint problems and depression, and it's difficult for them to care for themself without external prodding. I've been making sure they at least eat breakfast and dinner, since they have an aversion to food as well.

Up until now, I've been trying to keep myself happy so I could take care of my sibling, manage upkeep of the house AND us both, as well as keeping up with homework. That's why I've been so active on Tumblr lately; my muse came back and I've been trying to be a lot more attentive to myself.

Long story short: Babushka Sveta just passed away, so I may be a bit more selective with posts right now. I also may be even more active or less active, I have no idea. But I'm not going to stop RPing because I need the distraction right now. Sorry for not saying anything sooner, everyone.