#bram shepherd

[shintaru]

characters I’ll write for + tags ~ prompt list

Who wants to be tagged for which characters when I post the finished project?

Fic REQUESTS CLOSED

Windbreaker:

Juwan Jang 🦈 TJ

Yumi

Kazuma Takeda

Sung kwon Monster @jesusownsme @cozyunderworld

Mahon Jo

Humming bird

Jo Jay @ankita607 @czyinlive

Junsu Lee / June Lee

Minu yoon

Shelly Scott Dom kang @cozyunderworld @samuelseowife

Sabbath

Hyuk Kwon @inosukehana Wooin yoo @cozyunderworld Vinny hong @ankita607Joker (Hajun) @cozyunderworld @inosukehana

Light Calvary

Owen knight @catsrkool @rossesnd Camilla Nelson

Harry shepherd

Chris D’ Char ~ @rossesnd @cozyunderworld @inosukehana

Noah Austin

League of street

Sangho Choi @cozyunderworld @koiiiiijiii Hwangyeon Choi @koiiiiijiii

Juwon ryu

Kazuma

Kenji ikusaba

Kaneshiro Takeda Ryohei Hachijō Hyōma Nagase

Lookism:

Daniel Park @koiiiiijiii Vasco @koiiiiijiii Jay Hong @koiiiiijiii Zack Lee @koiiiiijiii Jace Park @koiiiiijiii Jiho Park @koiiiiijiii Mary Kim Vin Jin @koiiiiijiii Jaegyeon Na @koiiiiijiii Samuel Seo @vynnyll @samuelseowife @koiiiiijiii @dessmq Eli Jang @koiiiiijiii Johan Seong Jong Gun @vynnyll @koiiiiijiii Joon Goo @koiiiiijiii Jake Kim @vynnyll @koiiiiijiii DG @eugueen @koiiiiijiii Eugene @koiiiiijiii Ryūhei/Nōmen @koiiiiijiii Magami kenta @koiiiiijiii Seonji Yukcho @koiiiiijiii Cho Yisu @koiiiiijiii Cheon taejin @koiiiiijiii gongseob ji @koiiiiijiii gapryong Kim @koiiiiijiii jinyeong park @koiiiiijiii

Jinx:

Jaekyung Kim dan Heesung Yoon gu Baek Junmin

Kuroko’s basketball:

Tetsuya Kuroko Taiga Kagami @cozyunderworld Junpei Hyūga Teppei Kiyoshi Ryōta Kise Yukio Kasamatsu Shintarō Midorima Kazunari Takao Daiki Aomine @cozyunderworld Shōichi Imayoshi Atsushi Murasakibara @cozyunderworld Tatsuya Himuro Seijūrō Akashi @wsknbfanaccnt Reo Mibuchi Makoto Hanamiya Kotarō Hayama Katsunori Harasawa  Chihiro Mayuzumj  momoi satsuki Alex Garcia 

Naruto:

Gaara @aishabbbb kankuro Sasuke @aishabbbb itachi @aishabbbb Kakashi hatake jiraiya Sai Pain sasori orachimaru

blue lock:

Michael Kaiser  shidou Ryusei Meguru Bachira  Rensuke Kunigami Yoichi Isagi  Ryosuke Kira Zantetsu Tsurugi  Reo Mikage  Seishiro Nagi Rin itoshi Sae itoshi Jinpachi Ego pablo cavazos ikki Niko Akira Endoji Jin Kiyora Jingo Raichi Oliver Aiku

one piece:

Luffy @ydkm00 Sanji @hi3431 Zoro Law @nah-idwin Eustass Kid Boa Hancock  Nami  Nico Robin Shanks  Portgas D’Ace  Vivi Nefertari  Crocodile  Smoker Donquixote Doflamingo  Paulie Dracule Mihawk Koby  Pell Hina  Sabo  Katekuri Koala Perona corazon

Bsd:

Osamu Dazai Chuya Nakahara Saigiku Jouno Atsushi Nakajima Doppo Kunikida Ranpo Edogawa Poe Bram Stoker Ryuunosuke Akutagawa

Hell’s paradise:

Gabimaru Aza chobe Aza Toma Yamada Asaemon Shugen Yamada Asaemon Sagiri Yamada Asaemon, Tenza Yamada Asaemon, Shion Yuzuriha

Haikyuu:

Miya atsumu @cozyunderworld Miya osamu Aran ojiro Semi Eita Suna Ushijima wakatoshi Tendou Oikawa toru Tanaka Mad dog kyotani Kentarou Kunimi Akira Bokuto Koutarou Akaashi Keiji daishou suguru Nishinoya Kuroo tetsuro Kenma Kageyama tobio Hinata shoyo Tsukkishima kei Terushima yuji Kita Hoshiumi Yamakoto Lev haiba Haiba Hiroo

jjk:

Gojo Choso Toji Yuta Sukuna Naoya that one hot guy with the mask Nanami

Hsr:

Boothill

Genshin:

Aether Childe ZHONGLI @wsknbfanaccnt scaramouche Kaveh alhaithum

Windbreaker anime:

Burning kabaddi:

@duaajpeg Tatsuya Yoigoshi Kei lura Masato ojo Shinji date Ren takaya Manabu Sakura Yu eikura Yuuki hitomi

Bleach:

Grimmjow Ichigo Renji

Black clover:

Langris vaude Leopald Julius Vangeance Yuno Nozel Asta Luck Magna Klaus Jack Zora

Outer banks:

Rafe JJ Pope

Batman:

Bruce Wayne (bale) Dr. crane (cillian)

Harry Potter:

Draco Voldemort Fred George Harry

Suicide Squad:

Joker (Leto) Harley (Margot)

Jojo’s bizarre adventure:

Dio

Narancia

Anasui

Giorinni

Josuke

[libraryofmoths]

Moth of the Week

African Death’s-Head Hawkmoth

Acherontia atropos

The African death's-head hawkmoth is part of the family Sphingidae and is the most widely recognized of the three species of Death’s-Head Hawkmoth. The species was described in 1758 by Carl Linnaeus. Its common name comes from the skull shape on the back of its thorax. It’s binomial name comes from the river Acheron in Greece, which was believed to lead to the Underworld, and the Greek goddess Atropos respectively.

Description The forewings are black/brown with mottled shades of brown while the hindwings are buff orange with two black/brown stripes that curve with the edge of the hindwing. The head and thorax are the same black/brown color as the forewings interrupted by the brown skull on the back of the thorax. The abdomen is the same buff color as the hindwings with similar stripes of the same color. There is also a single stripe down the center of the abdomen called the “dorsal stripe.”

Average Wingspan: 13 cm (5 in)

Females are large than males with a rounded abdomen tip and larger, thicker antennae

Males have a pointed abdomen tip

Diet and Habitat Larva of this species mainly eat the leaves of potato plants which have alkaloids. The larva accumulate these toxins to become unpalatable to predators. Adults eat the nectar of flowers and stolen honey from the beehives of the Western Honey Bee. They are able to mimic the scent of bees and steal the honey undetected. They use their proboscis, a tube used to drink nectar and honey, to break the honey comb.

Their ranges stretches from the Middle East, as far south as the southern tip of Africa, as far north as southern Great Britain, as far east as India and western Saudi Arabia, and as far west as the Canary Islands and Azores. It is known to move into western Eurasia, but a majority do not survive the winter.

Mating This moth has multiple generations per year. In Africa, the broods are continuous. In the northern range, the larva overwinter in the pupal stage. Eggs are laid singly on the underside of species in mainly Solanaceae but also Physalis, Verbenaceae, Cannabaceae, Oleaceae, Pedaliaceae and others.

Predators This moth can emit a special squeak noise by sucking in air to vibrate a flap in its mouth and throat. The purpose of this squeak is unclear, but the two hypotheses are it is to scare away predators or to mimic the sound of a queen bee makes for the workers to stop moving to easier raid beehives for honey. They are also immune to bee venom and can mimic the scent of bees.

Fun Fact This moth has appeared many times in pop culture as symbols of death and evil:

It appeared in The Hireling Shepherd, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Un Chien Andalou, the promotional marquee posters for The Silence of the Lambs, in the music video to Massive Attack's single, "Butterfly Caught,” and on the American edition's cover of José Saramago's novel Death with Interruptions.

It is mentioned in Susan Hill's Gothic horror novel I'm the King of the Castle and John Keats’s "Ode to Melancholy.”

It is referred to in The Mothman Prophecies.

Finally, the moth is used as a calling card by the serial killer Buffalo Bill. However, in the movie script they are referred to under a different species of death’s-head hawkmoths.

(Source: Wikipedia, Simple English Wikipedia)

[fridgefanatic]

Full cover for my senior thesis comic Rhaco: Geckos of New Caledonia

A children’s edufantasy starring three young geckos learning their place within their community, the ecosystem New Caledonia— and protecting musical ghosts from a mysterious threat through lessons in Song magic!

The main characters are Ves the crested gecko, his best friend Bram the chahoua, and his little half-brother Srax (also crested gecko). In this first installment, we learn about the musical ghost shepherds.

[pantheonames]

Hii

Could I please get name recommendations for a Fyodor fictive (from Bungo stray dogs)

Masc/neu please! And like vague theme of old, writing, and like, imagine the Victorian era, but anything is fine!

I hope I did this right! Thank you!

Masc and neutral old english / Victorian names !

If these dont work feel free to request again!

Old English - Masc:

Ackley , Acton , Afton , Ailen , Alcott , Aldrich , Alfred , Alvin , Atherol ,

Bancroft , Barcley / Barclay , Barden , Baron , Baxter , Beacher , Beaman , Beardsley , Bentley , Bob , Bolton , Booth , Bradford , Bradley / Bradlee / Bradly , Brandon , Brayden , Brent , Brewster , Brock , Broderick , Bromley .

Calder , Caldwen , Calhoun , Carleton , Carlyle , Carington , Carver , Chad , Channing , Chapman , Charles , Chilton , Claiborne , Cleveland , Clifford , Clinton , Clovis , Colby , Colton , Creighton , Cynric ,

Dallin , Dalton , Dane , Darrel , Darwin , Dempster , Denver , Denton , Devon , Dickinson , Digby , Donald , Dudly / Dudley , Dunstan , Durward , Dwennon , Dwight ,

Edward , Egerton , Elmar , Elton , Esmond ,

Farley , Floyd , Forbes , Ford , Fulton,

Gail , Garfield , Garrick , Garyson ,

Hamilton , Harden , Harmen , Harold , Hugh , Hunter , Huntley ,

Jagger , Jarman , Jarvis , Jonsey ,

Kenelm , Kenley , Kent , Kenton , King ,

Lawson , Lincoln , Linwood , Lomar ,

Maitland , Manley , Manning , Marden , Marlow , Millard , Miller , Milton , Morven ,

Nash , Nelson , Newman , Nyle ,

Ogden , Orman , Osbert , Osmond , Oswald , Oswin , Oxford ,

Packard , Pierson , Preston , Putnam ,

Radcliff , Ralph , Ramsey , Ransford , Ransley , Rawlins , Rayburn , Redford , Reginald , Remington , Rider , Ridley , Rigby , Ripley , Rishley , Robert , Rochester , Rodman , Rodney , Rudyard , Rutherford ,

Sanford , Scott , Seabert , Seward , Shaw , Sherlock , Sherman , Sherwood , Shipley / Shiply , Slade , Snowden , Spencer , Spike , Stanley , Stokely , Stroud ,

Telford , Terrel , Thane , Thatcher , Tomkin , Townsend , Tranter , Tripp , Truman ,

Wakefield , Wallace , Walton , Washington , Watson , Wayne , Webster , Wesley , Wetherby , Wheaton , Wheeler , Whitfield , Wilfred , Winston ,

Old English - Neutral:

Addison , Aldercey , Amberjill , Amsden , Ansley , Ashley , Audrey , Averill ,

Barnet / Barnett , Bede , Beldon , Beverly / Beverley , Birch , Blade , Blake , Blossom , Blythe , Bond , Booker , Bray , Brinley , Brook / Brooke , Burgess , Burn / Burne ,

Cameron / Cameryn , Carling , Carter , Chelsea , Columbia , Corin , Corliss , Courland , Currier ,

Daralis , Dawn , Dayton , Demelza , Dixie , Dorset , Dover ,

Eartha , Easter , Eaton , Edda , Edlyn , Edolie , Edsel , Elden / Eldon , Eldridge , Ember , Emerson , Ena , Ewing ,

Fairfax , Fern , Fielding , Fleming , Fleta , Free ,

Gleda , Goldie , Granger , Grayson / Greyson , Gypsy , Gytha ,

Hadley , Halsey , Halton , Harva , Harvey , Haylee , Heather , Hazel , Hilton , Holly , Honey ,

Ida ,

Jillian , Joy ,

Kaelyn , Keyon , Kim , Kimberly / Kimberley , Kinsey , Kipp , Knox ,

Landon , Leigh , Leland , Lind , Litton , Llewellyn , Locke , Love , Luella , Lyndon , Lyre ,

Maida , Maitane , Makepeace , Marsden , Mather , Mead , Missy , Misty ,

North ,

Oakley , Olin ,

Palma , Palmer , Parker , Parr / Parry , Payton , Pell , Penn , Penley , Piper , Poppy ,

Queena ,

Radella , Rae , Raleigh , Raven , Ravinger , Read , Roberta , Rylan ,

Sandon , Selby , Shandy , Shelly , Shepard / Shepherd , Shirley / Shirly , Siddel , Storm , Studs ,

Tanner , Tatum , Thistle , Thorne , Thorpe , Thurlow , Trudy , Tuesday , Tye , Tyne ,

Ulla ,

Vala ,

Ward , Waverly , Wayland , Wells , Wendy , West , Whit , Whitney , Wilona , Wilifred , Winslow , Winter , Winthrop , Woodrow , Write / Wright , Wylie , Wyndam / Wyndham ,

Yadda ,

Victorian Era - Masc:

Abraham , Albert , Alvin , Anton , Archie , Arnold , Arthur , Augustus , Abel , Adrian , Alexander , Amos , Apollo , Archibald ,

Baxter , Benedict , Bernard , Bram , Benjamin , Bert , Bram ,

Charles , Christian , Chester , Claude , Clide / Clyde , Colin , Caspar / Casper , Conrad , Cuthbert ,

Douglas , Duncan , Daniel , David ,

Earl , Edgar , Edison , Edmund , Edward , Edwin , Elmer , Eugene , Ewart ,

Floyd / Floyde , Frank , Frederick , Franklin ,

George , Gilbert , Grover , Griffin / Gryffin / Gryffon / Griffon ,

Harold , Henry , Herbert , Howard , Harry , Herman , Hubert , Hiram , Hugo ,

Ivor ,

Jack , James , John , Julius , Jerome , Joseph ,

Lawrence , Leo , Lester , Livingstone , Lloyd / Loid , Louis / Luis , Ludwig , Luthor / Luther , Leonard , Leopold ,

Mack , Marton / Martin , Matthew / Mattieu / Mathieu , Melvin , Michael , Morris ,

Nicholas , Norman ,

Oliver , Oscar / Oscer , Otis , Otto ,

Palmerston , Patrick / Patric , Percy , Phineas , Percival ,

Raymond , Robert , Roy , Reginald / Reginold ,

Samuel , Sylas / Silas , Stanley , Simeon , Simon , Silvester / Sylvester ,

Thaddeus , Theodore , Thomas , Tesla , Timothy ,

Victor / Viktor / Vicktor , Virgil ,

Walter , Warren , Watson , Wellington , Wilbur , William ,

Victorian Era - Neutral:

Boaz ,

Cassius , Cecil , Clarence , Caius , Cyprian , Cyril ,

Enoch , Ephraim , Ernest , Everett / Everette / Everet , Elijah , Ellis ,

Fletcher , Flossie ,

Harvey ,

Ira , Ives , Irving ,

Jules , Jesse / Jessie / Jessy / Jessye ,

Larken / Larkin , Lord , Leslie / Leslee / Lesley ,

Marion , Merritt ,

Ray ,

Sterling , Sidney / Sydney ,

Temple ,

Wiley ,

Please remember to read the store policy !

[bungostraycreatures]

Bungo Stray Creatures character list: ------------------------------------------------

Armed Detectives Agency: Dazai: Cat Atsushi: Tiger Fukuzawa: Wolf Ranpo: Mongoose Kunikida: German Shepherd Kyoka: Rabbit Kenji: Cow Yosano: Axolotl Katai: Hermit crab Junichiro (and his wack ass sister): Geckos Haruno: Cat Port Mafia: Chuuya: Slug/Fox Verlaine: Snail/Jackal Akutagawa (and by proxy Gin): Hedgehog MORI: Dolphin you gross bastard Elise: Porpoise Hirotsu: porcupine Koyo: Hare Higuchi: Guinea pig Rimbaud: Penguin Kaji: Fork Tailed Katydid Doc: (Poisonous) Salamander lippmann: Golden Retriever Pianoman: King snake shirase: Ram Albatross: an albatross c'mon man Iceman: Crow Oda: Capybara Q: Tasmanian Devil Tachihara: Coyote The Hunting Dogs: Jouno: Bobcat Tecchou: Sheltie dog Terouko: Chihuahua Fukuchi: Mountain Lion Decay of Angels: Fyodor: rat Nikolai: Dove Sigma: Jerboa Bram: Vampire bat The Guild: Francis: Eagle Poe: Raccoon Lucy: Red Panda Lovecraft: octopus Steinbeck: gopher louisa: Magpie herman: Whale Mark: Rooster Nathaniel: Sheep Margret: Llama Uncategorised/I’m lazy (my bad gang): Natsume: cat Ango: Frog Aya: Fruit bat Adam: Pigeon Yokomizo: Legless lizard Sasaki: poison dart frog Gide: Maned wolf Shibusawa: Albino alligator rokuzou: bass Mushitaro: Snake Ivan: Termite

[mouthsfullofsharpteeth]

im a little but fucked up rn but. thoughts on flockguardian x sheep x wolf dynamic (thinking specifically about bram but chip in whatever you want)

hi anon <3 ill be so real i cannot mentally or emotionally handle bram as a singular because the sheer fact that alex is being purposefully excluded makes me want to curl up in the fetal position at the bottom of a hole and live there for the rest of eternity <3

however! i do really love this dynamic, and youre so right that it does totally fit those three's characters. i'd argue that brian and alex could be really interchangeable for the wolf role, but tim and jay definitely fall in line with flock-guardian and sheep LOL, especially in the entry where tim stands up to the operator after jay conks out.

ive been watching a lot of tik toks as of late from these farms where they have livestock and the guardian dogs and the herding dogs, so theyll have their sheep, the anatolian shepherd to protect, and usually a border collie to herd. theres also one specific account i follow called raventree ranch where they ALSO have this farm cat that helps train the new dogs by showing them whos boss and teaching them to be gentler and stuff. and so if youre picking up what im putting down: sheep- jay flock guardian- tim wolf or alternatively herding dog- brian wolf or alternatively farm cat- alex

thanks for the ask, i really hadnt considered this dynamic set up before but i actually really love it lol. picturing jay with little sheep ears and the cute little tails, two dog-ish boys, and fuckin. cat alex kralie. always coming in clutch for the catlex nation

[thethirdromana]

Renfield meanwhile is 59 and is cast as wayyy younger

I didn't check Renfield, hang on:

Dracula (1931) - Dwight Frye, 32

Horror of Dracula (1958) - none

Dracula (1974) - none

Count Dracula (1977) - Jack Shepherd, 37

Dracula (1979) - Tony Haygarth, 34

Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) - Tom Waits, 44

Dracula (2020) - Mark Gatiss, 54

So an average age of 40. And it surprises me to be praising the 2020 adaptation for accuracy!

I do think the way that adaptations tend to bunch the ages together - the younger characters are older, Renfield and to a lesser extent Van Helsing are younger - means the story loses something. Maybe it's not that big a deal, but I like the way it's a story of two distinct generations.

[death-in-a-handbasket]

Ooh on the topic of drinking !!

What would Ayatsuji's favorite drink(s) be? Is he a fruity margarita guy or straight vodka

And any other characters you have in mind I love reading your thoughts!!

OOOH OKAY OKAY.

Yukito: liquor and whiskey. more on the sweet side than not but it def burns, takes a bit for him to get drunk but when he does it is the most vulnerable state you’ll ever see him in, doesn’t drink often but might indulge if there’s something worth celebrating, a lot of his alcohol he has on hand ends up as a cooking ingredient

Tsujimura: likes a good tasty martini but prefers harder drinks because she wants to be badass like all the spy women in her favorite works, can both settle down with a good beer and also do straight vodka if she’s feeling bold (relatively low alcohol tolerance though and passes out after the latter) drinks after work sometimes with coworkers from the special division

Ango: mellow drinker, starts off with whiskey and sips it throughout the night, too responsible most of the time to drink past slightly tipsy, his body is mostly comprised of caffeine instead, might put a little alcohol in the coffee to take the edge off sometimes (only if the day is going really bad and it doesn’t work tbh)

Nikolai: could drink paint thinner if he wanted to (he has) gets rowdier and slightly more emotion when drunk but can somehow still function impeccably well even when plastered, he’s just deeply more chaotic LMAO, probably drinks vodka cut with the fruitiest mix on planet earth because this man likes pizazz, alcohol tolerance so deranged no one is sure if he can actually die from alcohol poisoning

Fyodor: doesn’t drink often because he doesn’t want it to impair his mind plus he’s anemic and like 7 pounds soaking wet, it goes right through him like water so he’s fairly lightweight, but if need be he’ll sip on a little vodka throughout a night and go nap after he’s done

Fukuchi: could down a barrel of sake like a boss but the minute he gets drunk old man peepaw is a damn party animal, drinks socially and for sport but it bites him in the ass every time though we know this man gets WHIPLASH fuckin hangovers

Bram: doesn’t want alcohol but doesn’t dislike it either, cannot get drunk by any stretch, mostly just samples shit from time to time for the flavor

Sigma: liquor and wine boy, prefers not to drink but will do it for show while at the casino, can hold his alcohol but prefers not to go past tipsy, a moderate and chill man

Teruko: can outdrink Fukuchi and remain fully lucid on command. everyone is scared of her

Jouno: not much of an alcohol man, will sample a little sake but he doesn’t especially care for it plus his tolerance is super high, passes on drinks most times

Tecchou: can drink his weight in alcohol, has a preference for beer and sake, but instead of getting rowdy in any way he just takes a nap directly afterwards and wakes up normal the next morning with no hangover, no one is quite sure how he does it

Tachihara: more likely to go out drinking with the pm than the hunting dogs, will drink the fancy stuff if need be but he’s a beer man at heart, you can take the scruff off this boy but it’s still there in his heart, slow drinker but once he gets going he’s super happy and rowdy as shit, not immune to doing shots, helps balance out Chuuya’s bitchiness at times

Hirotsu: old fashioned whiskey man, sips on it throughout the night but never gets drunk, the most sober man drinking in the bar tbh, mostly does it to relax, the guy there to keep Chuuya from being a total dick

Chuuya: a wine guy as we all know, starts out slow and savoring it but then gets emotional and pissy and start downing the damn glass, prone to being an angry drunk and yelling like a little bitch before getting shepherded home

Mori: has seen his fair share of alcohols in his time but prefers to remain sober

Verlaine: likes white wine and vodka, also gets angry tipsy and will judge the quality like a megacunt, no one likes to drink with him

Ranpo: prefers not to drink as he despises most alcohol tastes but can be persuaded into amaretto with how much it tastes like candy, gets loud and affectionate when drunk, will call you an idiot and pass out on your arm

Dazai: will try and drink any and every alcohol, can remain entirely lucid no matter what he’s ingested but he loves acting drunk and passing out anyways for the experience and also to be inconvenient for some people (Kunikida)

Fukuzawa: sake enjoyer, doesn’t drink often but drinks slow and steady, high alcohol tolerance, rarely gets drunk

Yosano: wine lover, gets loud and rowdy when drunk, is a social drinker but also samples different kinds of wine in her free time just to judge the flavors

Higuchi: doesn’t drink often but might mellow out and get sad over a beer or whiskey

Oda: drinks slowly and methodically throughout the night, also a beer or whiskey man, prefers to mostly take in the ambiance of the bar than the experience of the alcohol, might get buzzed but hasn’t taken it much further than there

Francis: drinks socially and mostly champagne, gets more energetic and egotistical the more alcohol enters his body, will spend money on progressively stupider shit as the event goes on because he has no sense of consequences while drunk

Sober gang:

Atsushi: low alcohol tolerance and lowkey kind of scared

Akutagawa: he coughs every time because it burns his throat, could have a decent alcohol tolerance if he wanted to but his body can’t take it

Mushitarou: despises being drunk and hates the taste

Poe: too scared to do it

Nathanial: to religious to do it

Gin: not really her thing

Lucy: could hold her own if she wanted to but she hates the way alcohol makes people act and prefers to pass on it

Kunikida: designated driver and wouldn’t touch alcohol because it violates his ideals

Tanizaki: also too scared to do it but if Naomi was allowed she’d get tipsy for fun

Lovecraft: alcohol has net zero effect on him so he simply Doesn’t

—

THIS WAS SO FUN y’all feel free to request any of your faves I forgot 🙏

[mariacallous]

Dear Hvaldimir,

I know this is not your real name: It’s simply the name that kind Norwegians gave you when you first turned up off the northernmost coast of Norway just over four years ago. (Hval is Norwegian for whale.)  

Now, you’ve been spotted off the coast of southwestern Sweden. Since you can’t identify yourself, we can’t be certain, but beluga whales comfortable with humans are an absolute rarity in that region. Your arrival there highlights the extraordinary work of military animals. You and your fellow animal warriors are, in fact, indispensable. 

Hvaldimir, your many fans still remember how, one day in April 2019, you simply turned up, presenting yourself to Norwegian fishers in the Norwegian Sea. You seemed to be looking for human company, and as soon as the fishers took a closer look, they discovered your harness. “Equipment of St. Petersburg,” it read in English, and it had a mount for a GoPro underwater camera. Had you traveled from Russia? The Russian city of Murmansk is very close to where you made contact with the Norwegians. Marine experts—real and self-appointed—suggested you’d been trained by the Russian armed forces.  

Andreas Fahlman, the research director at Sweden’s Kolmarden Zoo, told Swedish National Television that the visiting whale may in fact be you, and that mammals in the employ of the Russian Armed Forces are trained to, for example, “guard a naval base or certain vessels. But it’s also about finding different objects underneath the water’s surface.” 

Russia, like the United States and other countries, has a long history of using animals in its military operations. Indeed, animals employed by armed forces everywhere work hard. The Romans infamously thought the Alps would keep them safe from intruders, but they hadn’t reckoned the possibility of Hannibal enlisting elephants. With the aid of nearly 40 elephants and more than 30,000 troops, the Carthaginian general and his men succeeded in crossing the mountain range and advancing on Rome.  

Horses, of course, have been central to battles for as long as war has existed. Though they’re still used for mostly ceremonial purposes (such as the fine displays of British military horsemanship during the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II and the coronation of King Charles III), most mounted regiments have been turned into mechanized regiments, where soldiers travel in vehicles such as armored personnel carriers. But such is the military’s affection for its most crucial animal colleagues that originally mounted regiments (known as cavalry, from caballus, the Latin word for horse) that they’ve kept their names.  

Dogs—“four-legged fighters”—have been similarly central to war efforts, and no technology to date can do what they can. “You’ll find U.S. military working dogs serving wherever American troops do,” the U.S. Defense Department’s four-legged fighter webpage explains. During World War I, for example, dogs joined some 6 million horses and mules and tens of thousands of horses and camels in the war effort. Pigeons carried messages better than the technology of the day was able to, and cats caught the rats proliferating in the trenches. Canaries and mice warned of toxic fumes. Today, animal fighters’ training is every bit as rigorous as that of human soldiers, because they have to be equally good.  

“Since they took on the risky tasks of initial entry or first reconnaissance of sensitive places, they were really highly respected team members,” Belgian ex-soldier Bram Couwberghs, who served with German shepherds and Belgian Malinois in Afghanistan and Lebanon (and at home on counterterrorism operations), told me. “And they’re really an excellent search asset for weapons caches, hidden IEDs, luggage at airports, containers in ports, and goods hidden in places like ships and trucks.” So central was the military dog Cairo’s effort in the killing of Osama bin Laden that his handler, a Navy Seal named Will Chesney, went on to write a book about him. 

Marine mammals such as you, Hvaldimir, are intelligent and made for life underwater, which makes you as indispensable to naval operations as dogs, horses, and their fellow terrestrial animals are to army operations. Your entry into military service, though, is more recent. For nearly six and a half decades, the U.S. Navy has trained sea lions and bottlenose dolphins to explore the undersea environment, search for targets of interest to the military, and “engage” those targets, which might mean marking the location of a mine, attaching grabber devices to underwater objects so they can be removed, or patrolling ships against undersea saboteur divers. No robot has this skill set either.  

The Soviet Union launched a similar program in the late 1970s, nearly two decades after the U.S. Navy did. “Within the next year, the Soviets could train marine mammals to be used in military operational systems such as diver assistance and equipment recovery in the Black Sea. The next steps, possible within 2 years, might be training of the animals for more sophisticated tasks such as placement of packages on ships, as well as for use in areas outside the Black Sea,” the CIA wrote in a top-secret 1976 memo, which has since been declassified. 

“Recent evidence indicates that a Soviet capability to train the animals for use in the open-ocean [sic], at least in limited military and intelligence-gathering roles, may now be available,” the memo added. It had been a rocky road for the Soviets, who were so short on marine mammal expertise that they enlisted the services of some of their country’s outstanding circus artists, who wereused to performing with seals. In the end, the Soviet Navy did manage to (forgive the pun) get an undersea mammal program off the ground at its Sevastopol base. Around this time, the U.S. Navy had also begun training beluga whales, which can swim deeper and live in colder waters than dolphins or sea lions, and later the Soviets added beluga whales, too. 

The rest is well-known: the Soviet Union collapsed, and Ukraine (including Crimea, with its port of Sevastopol) gained independence. Even though the Soviet Navy could keep operating at the port of Sevastopol, the aquarium there was taken over by Ukraine, which repurposed the animals for service among children with disabilities. After Russia illegally annexed Crimea in 2014, the Russian Navy relaunched the mammal program. Just before the February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Russian Navy is reported to have put two dolphin pens at the entrance to Sevastopol. Before that, it had put its dolphins to work at its Syrian base in Tartus. Submarine analyst H. I. Sutton surmises that the intelligent mammals’ role consisted of counter-diver operations. As Sutton discovered shortly after you—Hvaldimir—turned up in Norway, Russia’s Northern Fleet had also established whale pens at its Olenya Bay base, not far from the Russian-Norwegian border.  

Yet, despite being essential to military operations, military animals get shockingly little recognition. To be sure, both the U.S. and the Soviet marine mammal programs were classified for a long time, but military dogs and horses are well-known. Yes, military animals have starred in documentaries and films, including Dog (released last year), which features a U.S. Army Ranger, played by Channing Tatum, and Lulu the Belgian Malinois as they travel to the dog’s handler’s funeral. And yes, more than 70 extraordinarily brave dogs, and pigeons (and one cat, but no sea mammals) have been awarded the prestigious PDSA Dickin Medal for Gallantry. This January, Bass—a U.S. Marine Corps four-legged special operations warrior who has served in Somalia, Iraq, and Afghanistan—became the award’ 75th recipient. The Belgian Malinois was recognized for his bravery in carrying out “350 explosive sweeps and 46 missions to capture high-value targets,” especially his clearance of a mined building while under attack by Taliban fighters. 

But apart from a touching memorial to military animals in London’s Hyde Park, the U.S. War Dogs Memorial in New Jersey, and a few small memorial sites around Europe, there’s little permanent tribute to animals’ extraordinary contributions to our defense efforts and the many lives they’ve saved.  

The animals, of course, have no way of knowing whether they serve a democratic government that merely needs to defend its territory or a dictator keen on invading its neighbors.  

That’s why, Hvaldimir, you’ve done a good deed by unwittingly achieving worldwide celebrity. Thanks to Hvaldimir, a global audience is now aware of the presence of working animals in armed forces, whether on behalf of allies or adversaries.  

We’re all hoping you’ll be able to make your way back to the Norwegian Whale Reserve, the fjord turned into your home by generous Norwegian institutions and citizens, but your apparent excursion to Sweden has served as a useful reminder of the hundreds of animals who toil in obscurity in armed forces around the world without getting so much as a news mention.  

[gifsofhubris-a]

[asrisgratitudejournal]

Mean

*Ini titlenya mean as in “jahat” ya, bukan mean average…. Tadinya mau bikin judulnya “thrive” tapi kayanya lebih tepat untuk mendeskripsikan otakku yang cara kerjanya aneh dan jahat ke diriku sendiri…

Kemarin tepat jam segini (18:21) lagi pusing-pusingnya bikin slide untuk Goldschmidt terus udah stuck banget akhirnya setengah jam kemudian langsung ngirim email aja ke Tamsin dan Joost sambil mikir: “AH tau ah, masa bodo amat jelek juga bye.” Arum juga udah ngeliat komputerku sih sebelum dia pulang kemarin pas ku lagi ngerjain slide dan bilang “udah ok kok Non”. Tapi ya namanya otak jahat kena impostor syndrome selalu aja mikir “ini tu jelek Non, this is NOT GOOD enough.” Salah w juga sih, untuk reference ngambil slidenya Emily Mason anak PhD di Cambridge pas dia EGU2020. Ni w tampilin visualnya yang amat sangat bagus:

Pusing gak u…. while slide w betul-betul kosongan, gatau mau bahas apa..

Anyway, yaudah kan, pokoknya tu ngirim email jam 19 lewat dikit, ku-screenshot promptnya ku-pos di instastory (gatau buat apa, tapi kayanya mah ya emang pengen caper aja, gatau ke siapa juga). Eh terus lagi asik-asik nonton apa ya kemarin, youtube aja kayanya, buka hp ada email jam 22. Tamsin bales dan first comment: “This looks very nice.” HUHU JUJUR MAU CRY RASANYA. Slide yang sampah itu dibilang bagus sama Tamsin. Tamsin ngasih komen in each slide gimana supaya lebih bagus. Terus tadi pagi jam 9/10 juga Joost nimpalin: “As Tamsin said, this is great.”

Kayanya ini ku yang kurang words of affirmation pas jaman kecil apa gimana sih. Tapi beneran pas dikasih compliment tuh langsung yang “OHMYGOD Non, well done. Ternyata u ga bodoh-bodoh amat. You did well.” Emang otak w aja dasarnya yang jahat dan mean to myself!!! Compassionnya gaada samsek. Ini gatau datangnya dari mana tapi ya balik lagi berkali-kali ku menemukan fakta bahwa kultur Asia dan Indonesia aja yang aneh mikir kalau Tough love is the best way to make people thrive, which, in fact, is wrong.

Terus yaudah sih inti dari pos ini adalah: lagi-lagi: be kind to people. You never know what they’ve gone through, hari mereka gimana hari itu, lagi capek atau nggak, dsb. Being kind and giving good words sudah terbukti efektif (untuk diriku sendiri) bisa membuat ku berkembang dan jadi lebih baik. Kalau dikasih compliment tu otak mikirnya “OK, I can do better than this so I get more compliments” Nagih.

Hari ini ku capek banget tapi. Pagi kelas pelatnas dari 9.45-11.45 dan ku ber-ide ngesplit kelas: sejam buat mereka ngerjain exercise, while aku mandi dan otw ofis, terus sejam lagi bahas diskusi di ofis. Lalu tebak apa yang terjadi? Pas ku lagi di ofis, BANYAK banget interupsi: Joost dateng jam 11.20 bawa coffee, dia mau run through the slides, Hugh juga dateng bawa print-an abstract manuscript karena dia menemukan keanehan, Arum nyamperin tepat 11.45 karena kami udah janjian buat jalan ke Exeter buat lunch, untungnya si Bram lagi mondar-mandir aja dia cuma ngerjain experiments kayanya. Minta maaf sekali untuk teman-teman yang pelatnas tadi karena sangat tidak kondusif suasana diskusinya for the latter half.

Terus lunch di Exeter. Cuaca Oxford these past 2 days SUCKS. Untungnya tapi ga hujan sih, dingin aja tapi ga basah. Menunya Shepherd’s Pie with lentil sama tadi ambil coleslaw salad. Not bad. Tapi mayan upset karena betulan ditanyain berkali-kali kalau students atau bukan dan udah booking atau belum. Ini gara-gara Oxford pas summer time emang udah running different business aja sih. Colleges terutama, betul-betul bukan lagi berperilaku seperti part of the university, melainkan udah jadi BnB dan host untuk summer school. Semua ini juga kelihatan sekali di hampir semua corner di Oxford hari-hari ini isinya groups of students (little students as in secondary school age atau high school age) jalan dengan SANGAT PELAN, dan blocking the trottoire. Students ini si peserta summer schoolnya. Tadi Arum cerita, dulu Kalina juga pernah cerita sih tapi lupa, dia ngecek harga yang dibayar oleh students ini untuk bisa ke Oxford ikut summer school ini katanya mayan mahal. Bentar googling dulu.

£5995 for two weeks… dan itu masih “starts from”… ku-convert ke IDR kira-kira 115 juta rupiah… pasti belum termasuk tiket pesawat, visa, etc. Dah stres… Tapi ya yaudah namanya juga ada marketnya ye, kalau ada yang beli mah kenapa tidak. OH ini makanya kenapa ye si college getol banget nge-service mereka, karena dapet duit banyak juga kayanya si Dining Hall…

Iya intinya tapi mayan kesel mau makan di kantin sendiri aja diinterogasi berkali-kali udah kaya abis mencuri hiks. Ini pun ku masih bisa makan di college juga setelah kemarin ngemail kitchen booking untuk 2 orang. Kalau dadakan langsung dateng ke college gaakan dikasih masuk kali.

Iya terus balik dari lunch ku duduk-duduk, ngabarin ke Joost dan Hugh kalau ku sudah di ofis, dan mereka pun datang. Joost dateng jam 14 kayanya, bahas ngobrol setengah jam terus di saat bersamaan Hugh datang juga, mayan RAMAI ya ofis w. Tapi akhirnya Hugh bilang nanti balik lagi aja kalau gitu. Terus setengah jam setelah Joost cabs Hugh balik lagi. Duduk bahas-bahas Goldschmidt dsb, dia nanya dong “lo butuh visa dong” “iya huhu makanya ku sudah buat dari February…” jujur sucks, bahas betapa mahalnya harga tiket kereta vs pesawat, terus pergi, eh terus tapi dia dateng lagi yang kedua dengan laptopnya nanya “ini teh maksudnya apa ya”, ku mau bilang “di relative depth 50m” tapi ku tulisnya “in 50m” jadi dia bingung. Tapi tetep baik banget sih orang-orang huhu.

Abis itu setengah jam kayanya mikirin gimana caranya ke London Stadium Sabtu buat nonton The Weeknd Sabtu nanti. IN which I just REALIZED: ku bakal pulang malem banget itu Sabtu, mungkin bakal baru sampe rumah jam 2 lagi kaya waktu nonton Beyonce (semoga nggak sih, jam 1 kaya pas nonton Chris Hadfield lebih preferable), dan besoknya Minggu ku harus ngejar pesawat jam 10 pagi di Luton. Yang adalah ku harus berangkat dari rumah ke Gloucester Green jam 6 pagi. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. Planning yang sangat bagus, Non. To be fair, ku tapi emang udah beli tiket The Weeknd dari 1 Desember 2022…. Dan baru tahu ada Goldschmidt (atau akan berangkat Goldschmidt) 19 Januari 2023…. A month later…. Jadi, siapa yang salah coba LOL. Not me trying to mis-prioritizing important stuff in my life. Cukup lega sih tapi waktu itu beli The Weekndnya yang 8 July bukan 9 July karena pusing juga kalau overlap…

Terus yaudah jadi tadi sorting out apa-apa aja yang harus di-print, beli tiket kereta dari airport di Lyon ke hotel return, bikin akun di provider busnya Lyon supaya receiptnya bisa di-print etc.

Nyempetin setengah jam-sejam buat get back to the slides tapi asli udah JIJIK banget gapengen kerja lagi. OH! Sempet ngerjain manuscript juga dikit, like 15 mins, karena kemarin jam 10 tiba-tiba Erdem ngemail ngajak ketemuan over coffee terus dia bawa coret-coretan manuscript dengan komen “Ini introductionnya panjang juga ya dan kemana-mana, coba dipendekkin” terus yaudah… plus tadi pagi juga Tamsin ngemail nanya ada latest version ga setelah diskusi sama Erdem, soalnya dia mau baca ni draft “while in train in a few days”. Jadi, yaudah barusan ngerapiin itu dulu dikit. Deleteing a few sentences, moved some paragraphs around, terus baru jam 17 tadi ngirim latest version ke Tamsin and Joost.

BROOOOOH BARU SELASA TAPI KENAPA udah ngerasa capek banget banyak banget yang dikerjain HUHU. Gapapa tapi Non, it’s okay, pelan-pelan aja. Mending pusing karena ngerjain banyak daripada pusing karena ga ngerjain apa-apa saking overwhelmednya terus feel guilty beating yourself up!

Ini sekarang mau shutdown komputer dan makan dinner di Tse Noodle sama Iris, dia running late katanya masih di Zara, dan begitu juga saya (akan running late). Dah gitu dulu aja deh curhatan rekapannya. Kemarin weekend nggak melakukan hal yang berarti selain ketemu Mas Rezky dan main ke rumah Marcell. Minggu ku ngapain ya… ga ngapa-ngapain kayanya… di rumah doang dan ke Sainsbury beli tissue toilet. Wow. OH!!! NONTON FANMEETING STRAYKIDS DENGGGG. Sangat bagus dan seru dan worth it.

Yaudah tapi itu dulu aja for now. Duh sebetulnya ada cerita lagi terkait beef-ku dengan Pak Joko aneh banget dia minta ku ngisi kelas pelatihan guru selama 2 jam di jam 8-12 WIB yang adalah jam 2-6 AM di waktu-ku, ya jelas-jelas kubilang gabisa lah!! Eh dia insist: “kan cuma sekali saja, tidak setiap hari, bisa lah ya….” BUSET. DAH STRES JUGA EMANG. So far, ku berhasil negotiate dan meyakinkan beliau bahwa ku gabisa, tapi beliau minta pengganti, jadi ku lagi mikirin dan kontak siapa yang kira-kira bisa ganti. Huft. Ada-ada aja hidup.

Dah itu dulu deh ya. Byea. Have a good week everyone!

30.18 18.57 04/07/2023

[headless-bram]

It all happened quickly. The melting of the snowball that is. Watching Bones halt in his tracks as his target melted in thin air only made Bram laugh as he jogged over to the two who were standing face to face. This could have gone totally wrong and created some argument about throwing snow and having a dog off leash. All things Bram was ready to fight to the death about. A dog like Bones didn't need to be on a lead - he was probably smarter than half this town. Bram would die on that hill. As he got closer though his mind started to play some facial recognition. That was Gem Morey! How did Bram know him...well who didn't - the story of the fire sure people whispered about it and the Morey family seemed to own the town....but Bram paid attention. The concentration helped him with some internal struggles and he most definitely thought this Gem guy was kinda cool. Plus he had seen him around. Hell yeah for this chance meeting - Bram knew he probably had no idea who he was though which was fine. It had only been 5 or 6 months since he arrived and he had kept quiet until now.

Finally reaching the pair Bram laughed; "Hell yeah they seem to be everywhere. Honestly a few of them could take a few hits if you ask me!" To hell with the tourists. "You seem to have stumped Bones here!" Bram reached down at pulled at the shepherds ear a bit. "You're Gem Morey aren't you? I'm Bram..." Hoping like hell to be received hell Bram held out his free hand for a proper handshake.

@gem-morey

snow pitch :: Bram

[kissydevil]

I’m not saying they have to play australian boyfriends in a movie together but they have to play australian boyfriends in a movie together

[likestarsonearthj2]

Happy Father’s Day!

[theartofreadingbyroxxie]

Buchtitel mit D | Top Ten Thursday №20

Ein weiterer #TTT und dieses Mal Bücher, deren Titel mit D beginnen. #TopTenThursday

Buchtitel mit D | Top Ten Thursday №20A, B und C habe ich verpasst, aber für die Buchtitel mit D bin ich mit dabei. Aleshanee von Weltenwanderer ruft, wie jeden Donnerstag, zum TTT auf.Dieses Mal kann ich auch ganz stolz behaupten, dass ich alle zehn Bücher bereits gelesen habe. Die meisten der Bücher haben mich auch wirklich gut unterhalten Meine 10 Buchtitel mit D Daisy Jones & The Six Daisy…