#dmitri belikov

[voodoomamajujoo]

I am turning 24 in a few months and now that I think about it, I would not talk to a teenager voluntarily, let alone be attracted to one😭😭

It's making me rethink my liking for Romitri now lmfao 😭

[drmikewatts]

IEEE Transactions on Artificial Intelligence, Volume 6, Issue 1, January 2025

1) Sector-Based Pairs Trading Strategy With Novel Pair Selection Technique

Author(s): Pranjala G. Kolapwar, Uday V. Kulkarni, Jaishri M. Waghmare

Pages: 3 - 13

2) Silver Lining in the Fake News Cloud: Can Large Language Models Help Detect Misinformation?

Author(s): Raghvendra Kumar, Bhargav Goddu, Sriparna Saha, Adam Jatowt

Pages: 14 - 24

3) Reinforcement Learned Multiagent Cooperative Navigation in Hybrid Environment With Relational Graph Learning

Author(s): Wen Ou, Biao Luo, Xiaodong Xu, Yu Feng, Yuqian Zhao

Pages: 25 - 36

4) Intrusion Detection Approach for Industrial Internet of Things Traffic Using Deep Recurrent Author(s): Reinforcement Learning Assisted Federated Learning

Amandeep Kaur

Pages: 37 - 50

5) Migrant Resettlement by Evolutionary Multiobjective Optimization

Author(s): Dan-Xuan Liu, Yu-Ran Gu, Chao Qian, Xin Mu, Ke Tang

Pages: 51 - 65

6) Adaptive Composite Fixed-Time RL-Optimized Control for Nonlinear Systems and Its Application to Intelligent Ship Autopilot

Author(s): Siwen Liu, Yi Zuo, Tieshan Li, Huanqing Wang, Xiaoyang Gao, Yang Xiao

Pages: 66 - 78

7) Preference Prediction-Based Evolutionary Multiobjective Optimization for Gasoline Blending Scheduling

Author(s): Wenxuan Fang, Wei Du, Guo Yu, Renchu He, Yang Tang, Yaochu Jin

Pages: 79 - 92

8) meMIA: Multilevel Ensemble Membership Inference Attack

Author(s): Najeeb Ullah, Muhammad Naveed Aman, Biplab Sikdar

Pages: 93 - 106

9) RD-Net: Residual-Dense Network for Glaucoma Prediction Using Structural Features of Optic Nerve Head

Author(s): Preity, Ashish Kumar Bhandari, Akanksha Jha, Syed Shahnawazuddin

Pages: 107 - 117

10) Policy Consensus-Based Distributed Deterministic Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning Over Directed Graphs

Author(s): Yifan Hu, Junjie Fu, Guanghui Wen, Changyin Sun

Pages: 118 - 131

11) Spiking Diffusion Models

Author(s): Jiahang Cao, Hanzhong Guo, Ziqing Wang, Deming Zhou, Hao Cheng, Qiang Zhang, Renjing Xu

Pages: 132 - 143

12) Face Forgery Detection Based on Fine-Grained Clues and Noise Inconsistency

Author(s): Dengyong Zhang, Ruiyi He, Xin Liao, Feng Li, Jiaxin Chen, Gaobo Yang

Pages: 144 - 158

13) An Improved and Explainable Electricity Price Forecasting Model via SHAP-Based Error Compensation Approach

Author(s): Leena Heistrene, Juri Belikov, Dmitry Baimel, Liran Katzir, Ram Machlev, Kfir Levy, Shie Mannor, Yoash Levron

Pages: 159 - 168

14) Multiobjective Dynamic Flexible Job Shop Scheduling With Biased Objectives via Multitask Genetic Programming

Author(s): Fangfang Zhang, Gaofeng Shi, Yi Mei, Mengjie Zhang

Pages: 169 - 183

15) NPE-DRL: Enhancing Perception Constrained Obstacle Avoidance With Nonexpert Policy Guided Reinforcement Learning

Author(s): Yuhang Zhang, Chao Yan, Jiaping Xiao, Mir Feroskhan

Pages: 184 - 198

16) Efficient CORDIC-Based Activation Functions for RNN Acceleration on FPGAs

Author(s): Wan Shen, Junye Jiang, Minghan Li, Shuanglong Liu

Pages: 199 - 210

17) Boosting Few-Shot Semantic Segmentation With Prior-Driven Edge Feature Enhancement Network

Author(s): Jingkai Ma, Shuang Bai, Wenchao Pan

Pages: 211 - 220

18) Knowledge Probabilization in Ensemble Distillation: Improving Accuracy and Uncertainty Quantification for Object Detectors

Author(s): Yang Yang, Chao Wang, Lei Gong, Min Wu, Zhenghua Chen, Xiang Li, Xianglan Chen, Xuehai Zhou

Pages: 221 - 233

19) Learning Neural Network Classifiers by Distributing Nearest Neighbors on Adaptive Hypersphere

Author(s): Xiaojing Zhang, Shuangrong Liu, Lin Wang, Bo Yang, Jiawei Fan

Pages: 234 - 249

[deckerstarsteam]

vampire academy, 1x05

[cryingoverfictionalcharacterss]

You know how in the books everytime when rose says or does something she shouldn't or something goes to shit Dmitri swears quietly in russian? I want to see show Dmitri do the same.

[hamliet]

Love (is) blood screaming inside you to work its will

(The title is from Buffy the Vampire Slayer but that’s not what this review is about. Mostly not, anyways). 

*clears throat, dons fandom oldie glasses* BACK IN MY DAY WHEN YA WAS GOOD--

No but seriously, in light of the upcoming Vampire Academy TV series, I took the plunge and reread these classic young adult vampire romance novels--both the Vampire Academy and Bloodlines series. I’d read them the first time like... eight years ago? Seven? I don’t even know. It’s been a while. 

And, in doing so, I was reminded why I love young adult literature in the first place. But that’s for the end of this review. For now, let’s get on with it, starting with the Vampire Academy series. 

Vampire Academy

I think VA gets a bad rap for being derivative of Twilight (vampires and romance) and Harry Potter (a boarding school setting). But it’s really got a lot more in common with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, in that it is firmly young adult, uses magical worldbuilding as metaphors for the real-world struggles of teenagers, and actually has character arcs (sorry Twilight). In many ways it is more successful than BTVS in terms of its metaphors (it avoids a lot of the icky subtext of Buffy, particularly around sex), if in general less successful in its character arcs. 

But? Vampire Academy is also incredibly fresh and unique in some ways. 

To start with, in any other YA series, protagonist Rose Hathaway would be the sidekick, and Vasilisa Dragomir would be the protagonist. I mean, think about it: Lissa is the quintessential YA heroine. She’s the last survivor of a royal lineage, has a super secret and dangerous power that could destroy her or save the world, is destined to become queen, and her love interests (and a favorite character of mine, Christian Ozera) is a bad boy with a heart of gold.

Rose is even literally Lissa’s textual sidekick: as a dhampir, Rose tells us from the first chapter that her purpose is to stick by Lissa’s side and protect her life no matter what. Rose is bold, brash, doesn’t think, and has a very casual attitude towards physical romantic encounters. These are all typical traits of the YA Protagonist Sidekick.

But, Rose is the protagonist, not Lissa. It’s an interesting subversion, helped by the fact that both Rose and Lissa are characters with genuine flaws: Lissa is genuinely selfish at times, and Rose can be a jerk who uses people. Their love interests also have real flaws: Christian may have golden intentions, but he has a genuine cruel streak too (and a fascination with fire). Dmitri’s self-sacrificing nature winds up just hurting everyone around him, including Rose.

Which isn’t to say the story doesn’t have issues. It does, and in many ways you can tell Vampire Academy was the author’s first story. The climax in the first book is pretty much entirely told to us rather than shown, to the point where I’m surprised an editor okayed it. Frostbite introduces a bit of creepiness (the tunnel scene is genuinely chilling) and complexity, but doesn’t ever really let the setting and premise breathe because it’s too busy arranging characters to where they need to be for book 3. It’s really not until book 4 that the story really allows its characters to take a breather, and with their inhalation digs deep into the core of what makes Lissa, Christian, Rose, and even Dmitri who they are. Book 5 nails the emotional climax (Lissa and Christian restoring Dmitri’s soul), and Book 6 is an exciting finish. In other words, the story improves with each book, which is exactly what you want to see when reading.

That said, the story’s best strength was, as said before, its characters. They have flaws and strengths, are likable and unlikable each, and have their own unique dynamics with each other. The romance is very present for Rose/Dmitri and Lissa/Christian, but Rose and Lissa’s friendship manages to also pack a major emotional punch, as does Rose’s friendships with Christian, Sydney, Mason, Jill, and Adrian. The overall story’s biggest flaw is that it didn’t spend as much time calling the characters out for their flaws as it could have--it really could have gone deeper in a lot of ways, but as the author seems to settle into her groove, the story winds to a close. Adrian’s question to Rose at the end really cuts to the heart of her character flaws, but the story ends only a few chapters later; we know approximately where she’ll go from there, but it would have been nice to see it. 

"Not just me, little dhampir,' he added quietly. "There's been a lot of collateral damage along the way while you battled against the world. I was a victim, obviously. But what about Jill? What happens to her now that you've abandoned her to the royal wolves? And Eddie? Have you thought about him? And where's your Alchemist?”

Speaking of the romance, Dmitri and Rose are essentially Buffy and Angel, but done well: shown, not told. Also, despite Dmitri also losing his soul right after sex with Rose for the first time, it is clearly not because of sex that he lost his soul: if anything, that helps him hold on in some ways. Hence the metaphor is much more on the sex positive side. That said, yes, it’s problematic that a 24 year old teacher is in love with a 17 year old (okay a week from 18) student. It makes me uncomfortable, and that’s actually usually a huge squick for me. Yet for some reason it works in this series, which is odd and a testament to how the author writers it. 

On metaphors, I loved how at the start of the series, Rose’s automatic “they come first” (with “they” being Lissa for her) isn’t questioned, but is thoroughly unpacked later on. Her friendship with Lissa heals and kills both of them; Lissa can share some of her darkness and mental struggles with Rose, but the toll it takes on her is agonizing to read. When separated, the girls both struggle; they clearly need each other in their lives. Yet depending on each other so intensely is also detrimental to both of their growths. Their shadow-kissed bond is a metaphor for codependency, and it is very well done. 

Speaking of mental health... 

Bloodlines

Bloodlines is honestly where the author knocks it out of the park. Technically a sequel spin-off series, you might think it was trying to recapture the magic of the former, but it becomes both a perfect continuation and a gem in its own right. 

Adrian and Sydney are constantly called on their flaws, with both being challenged to grow throughout the series. Empathy drips off the pages, but their flaws aren’t ever excused either. 

Adrian is a great character, flawed, fun, and lovable at the same time. He’s also one of the best portrayals of addiction and mental illness I’ve ever read about. He is an alcoholic, but he is never defined by his alcoholism. When he falls off the wagon, you feel for him. When we’re finally allowed in his head in book 3 of Bloodlines, we feel his agony, and we too long for release for him. 

It was pretty clear from back in VA that Adrian’s mental issues were metaphors for bipolar disorder (just like Lissa’s was depression), and Bloodlines isn’t afraid to confirm this by giving Adrian the actual diagnosis. Not only that, but Bloodlines goes further and gives Adrian actual psychosis in what is a fairly realistic portrayal according to what I’ve read/seen in real life, yet never, ever defines Adrian by his psychosis. His story is one of learning to live with mental illness, and it’s important. It’s important because it takes a very different approach to mental illness than do most modern books: it doesn’t tell the story from the perspective of “it’s all better now.” Even in the happily-ever-after epilogue, it’s still a part of Adrian. His mental illness is still part of him; not the totality, no, but it’s not not him either.  And it does this without glamorizing it or diminishing the toll (I’m very sick of “mental illness isn’t actually something people suffer from; it’s just different”--for many, it is suffering). Basically, we need more stories with characters and struggles like Adrian Ivashkov. 

Which brings me to a really neat metaphor in the book; at one point, when Sydney refuses to accept Adrian’s feelings for her, she sees Catcher in the Rye on Marcus’s desk. She then thinks to herself how it means Marcus must be “self-absorbed and pretentious.” Marcus then calls her out on this, telling her she is misunderstanding the entire story, and how it’s actually a beautiful book. The Catcher in the Rye is here a symbol for Adrian: rich young boy who pretends to be self-absorbed and pretentious, but is actually a trauma survivor with some serious mental health struggles and a lot of love in his heart. Like Holden, too, Adrian’s future is in protecting the children... but more on that later.

Sydney is a pretty great combination with Adrian: they’re an unlikely couple (opposites attract is a good trope) but beyond that, they actually are fairly similar. Sydney also has an addictive personality--her caffeine habit, eating issues, and her devout faith and morals which she never entirely loses are all dealt with in honest ways. The “reeducation” center they send her to is a very unsubtle metaphor for conversion therapy. Some of the tactics used by the evil Alchemists in the books (like the nausea association) are very real and very much used in conversion therapy for LGBT+ people. It is really effed up, and this story captures the trauma and evil of such a place. 

Adrian and Sydney’s relationship is just hot. It’s passionate, but not melodramatic. It challenges both of them to grow each and every page that they’re together. It could destroy them, but because of their love for each other, they keep choosing to become better people--even when it means pain. It’s hopeful, fun, and everything YA romance should be. Also, the makeout and eventual sex scenes should be examples to all writers about how to write sex scenes that use emotion to perfectly convey the physical, without being gratuitous. They’re explicit about what’s happening without being graphic (or even being erotica; they’re not). 

The “happily ever after” ending is largely earned. There are a million hints from the very first book that the story will end with Adrian and Sydney having a kid--there’s the baby name book, the Callistana recognizing them as its parents, and more. Where the story loses it a bit is in Book 6, which is a shame because while Book 6 was the strongest of VA’s books, it’s the weakest of Bloodlines’ books. Olive, Nina, and Neil were really just introduced to give them Declan, and to make it clear that Rose and Dmitri could have children some day, too. 

To which I say: just do it. Seriously, you’re already going the fairy tale route (like Buffy, VA and Bloodlines are very much fairy tales). So don’t just hint. Do the fairy tale. 

I almost do wonder if that was the initial plan: Sydney and Adrian having a biological kid (even though it’s implied they will, and Declan is very much their son). It fits a little too perfectly with Sydney’s body image issues and her eating issues (particularly around craving foods and denying herself them). There’s also a moment in reeducation where she fears she’s carrying Adrian’s child, but then isn’t, and I honestly wonder if the author flirted with such an idea before scrapping it because a 19-year-old wife and mother might be a bit too much. But the angst and character development potential would have made for a much more satisfying Book 6, honestly. 

But again, I say, wrap up this fairy tale without any apologies. That is my taste, anyways. We have so many beautiful couples, the main ones being Rose and Dmitri, Lissa and Christian, and Sydney and Adrian, but then we have Jill and Eddie, Angeline and Trey, Jackie Terwilliger and Malachi Wolfe, Sonya and Mikhail, Marcus and Carly... it’s an explosion of love, and we even then find out Dmitri and Adrian are cousins (and it works). Just go the whole way. 

Lastly, on the family situations: both series’ show the nuance of broken families. Lissa’s family was whole and happy, but her father still cheated on her mother. Janine Hathaway and Abe Mazur are terrible parents to Rose, but by the end they start redeeming themselves, working to form a good relationship with their daughter--it will never be a typical parent/child relationship because that ship has sailed, but they can make something of their relationships anyways. Daniella Ivashkov and Adrian also fall into this, working together to find a way forward after trauma. 

On the other hand, Sydney and her father, Jared Sage, and Adrian and his father, Nathan Ivashkov, will not reconcile. It seems unequivocally clear that this is not possible, and the story supports this narrative just as it supports the more reconciliatory narratives. This is a nuance stories struggle to hit, and it does it very well.

Along these lines, I would liked some more closure on Dmitri’s family--I’d have liked an update on Viktoria, for example, and I’d have liked an update on Sydney’s mother. Where we left Zoe is very realistic--she loves Sydney and is maturing, but can’t break free from the cult of the alchemists just yet. As someone who left a cult-like religious environment, Zoe’s narrative really resonated with me. 

Final Thoughts

Where I bring it back to YA. 

The whole reason I loved YA, and the reason I write it in my own time, is that it used to be the best combination of plot, themes, character development, and romance--but best of all? 

It asked the questions. 

Nowadays it's all become the genre that has all the answers, and to its detriment. It’s hard to imagine VA not getting Twitter cancelled nowadays. I can’t even defend parts of it as not problematic. And yet it is honest and has an aim as a story that feels real, raw, in a way that contemporary YA of the past few years does not. 

Honestly, and again speaking as someone who grew up in a fundamentalist Christian place, most modern YA is just Christian/inspirational fiction, but with with performative wokeness as finding Jesus. I say this as someone who is still�� religious and very much pro-social justice person. But it’s more concerned with purity than the messy reality of struggling to navigate a complex world. “Empathy” is lauded, but the word is meaningless, because it's not really empathy. What contemporary YA calls empathy is really a method of seeking power, and comforting readers with instructions on how to be a good person rather than discomforting and challenging. I'm all for tearing down the social structures that have oppressed for millennia. Burn it all. But, without empathy/love... is it even going to change anything? 

I'd like to see this question explored, and reading is such a powerful tool to exercise empathy, too. Especially in stories aimed at teenagers, because teenagers are able to understand complexity but are not yet burdened by the same depths of cynicism that adulthood can bring with it.  

Rereading Vampire Academy and Bloodlines reminded me of the reasons I love YA. I’m very excited for it to get an adaptation and reenter the public consciousness. 

[vasilissadragomir]

way too presumptuous VA TV show conlang ~analysis~

okay so as someone who studied linguistics in undergrad the conlang for the new vampire academy tv show is super exciting to me, because it's combining my two favorite things. keep in mind everything i say could be wildly wrong because we have exactly two images of the conlang to work with from the teaser/trailer. here goes:

these are the frames i'm basing my hypotheses on ~Moroian~ off of:

starting with the most likely conclusion first, at the top of the tombstone is the dragons surrounding a crest with a letter on it, and that letter is replicated in the names written in ~moroian~ above the english translation. it looks sort of like an H in english with a hat. because it’s in the crest and at the leftmost side of the second (and longer) word in moroian, that word is likely “dragomir”, but what makes it almost certainly “dragomir” is that it’s on both rhea and eric’s tombstones. as such, we can assume that symbol in the crest stands for a /d/ sound. thus, the language is written most likely written from left to right

additionally, /d/ is only one sound that we can connect with a symbol, though. the first symbol in the top word on rhea’s tombstone in moroian is kind of like a backwards N in english, and it shows up in the top word in eric’s tombstone as well, just in the middle. both rhea and eric have an /r/ sound, but if we’re comparing the placement of that symbol to where it would be in english, it doesn’t match really well. rhea and eric seem to share three symbols on the top word on their tombstones, so it really could be any of them

BUUUUUT

if you look at the second word on both, presumably “dragomir”, there is only one symbol repeated, and that’s the backwards N. there’s only one repeat sound in “dragomir”, so we can assume that symbol is an /r/ sound

the rest is a lot less clear, especially because the tombstone images themselves are so low quality, but if you look at the straps on the masked figure in the second image and on the tombstones you’ll see some little markings above the letters. that to me seems to indicate diacritics, which are common in a lot of languages (including russian and especially romanian !) to adjust the sounds words make, particularly vowels

in addition to the presumed diacritics, the symbol shapes themselves as well as the confirmed used of specific russian vocabulary (molnija, burya, etc), indicate that the language will be rooted in russian and/or romanian. it’s also a lot easier to build a conlang based on one (or more) established language(s), and it fits the heavy influence of russian/romanian culture and history that exists for the moroi in the books. so, i’m assuming that beyond the orthography (writing system), any spoken elements we get of the language will bear some resemblance to russian and/or romanian

tl;dr: the language will probably be read left to right, we can guess at a few of the consonant symbols already, it will likely use diacritics, and based on those factors, confirmed russian vocabulary, the orthography and symbols in use, the source text, and how much easier it is to build a conlang using an existing language, Moroian is likely rooted in russian/romanian

if you made it this far, congrats, you should definitely consider studying linguistics, because this is the type of stuff you do all the time with real (and made up!) languages and it's super fun! also if someone knows the resident vampire academy tv show linguist plz introduce me because i have SO MANY QUESTIONS for the person with my literal dream job

[goldenmagnolias]

LOOK AT THEM

[the-wayside]

I keep seeing those gifs of Dmitri in a tracker(?) but it always looks to me like he's dressed in a Chipendales outfit.

[winnie-the-monster]

This look 🥰

[incompletemelody]

yes, let that hot chick shake up your indoctrinated religious beliefs and rock your world view

[kayparker20]

ME WITH VAMPIRE ACADEMY OML

Jack Sparrow is our inner bookworm

Exhibit A: When you finish a book and don’t know whether to hug it or throw it across the room. 

Exhibit B: When you spend the whole night reading a book

Exhibit C: When people ask if you can do anything other than fangirl and you say you can do this:

Exhibit D: When writers keep separating your OTP

Exhibit E: When the author is writing the next book in the series

Exhibit F: When you open the first page of the book you’ve been waiting for and you know it’s gonna kill you in the most pleasurable ways:

Exhibit G: When you see a bookstore and start “walking” toward it with your friends, family, etc running after you trying to catch you before yet again you’re lost to the land of fiction:

Exhibit H: When your favorite character dies:

And so on and on…

[samdeancass]

Fandom List 2

Here is my first Fandom List

The Big Bang Theory

Sheldon Cooper

Leonard Hofstadter

Howard Wolowitz

Raj Koothrappali

Penny

Never Have I Ever

Paxton Hall-Yoshida

The Duff

Bianca

Wesley

Vampire Academy

Rosemarie Hathaway

Christian Ozera

Dmitri Belikov

Jurassic World

Owen Grady

John Wick

John Wick

Spider-Man (Sam Raimi)

Peter Parker/Spider-Man

Harry Osbourne

The Amazing Spider-Man

Peter Parker/Spider-Man

Morbius

Dr. Michael Morbius

Lucien ‘Milo’ Morbius

Moon Knight

Mark Spector/Moon Knight

Layla El-Faouly

The Umbrella Academy

Luther Hargreeves

Alison Hargreeves

Diego Hargreeves

Klaus Hargreeves

Five Hargreeves

Viktor Hargreeves

Ben Hargreeves

FATE: The Winx Saga

Bloom

Flora

Musa

Beatrix

Stella

Terra

Aisha

Riven

Sky

Silva

Peaky Blinders

Tommy Shelby

Arthur Shelby

John Shelby

Finn Shelby

Ada Thorne

Polly Shelby

Michael Gray

Outer Banks

John Booker Routledge

JJ Maybank

Kiara Carrera

Pope Heyward

Sarah Cameron

Rafe Cameron

Shadowhunters

Jace Weyland

Clary Fray

Alec Lightwood

Magnus Bane

Isabelle Lightwood

Simon Lewis

Rafael

WWE Universe

Seth Rollins 

Roman Reigns

Dean Ambrose

Randy Orton

Finn Balor

The End of the F***king World

Alyssa 

James

Lockwood and Co.

Lucy Carlyle

Anthony Lockwood

George Karim

Titans

Dick Grayson/ Nightwing

Kory Anders/ Starfire

Hank Hall/ Hawk

Dawn Granger/ Dove

Jason Todd/ Red Hood

Gar Logan/ Beast Boy

Rachel Roth/ Raven

Connor Kent

Donna Troy/ Wondergirl

[rinadragomir]

Top 10 fictional characters!!

😯

1 - Hannibal Lecter🥩

2 - Lyra Silvertongue💡

3 - Rose Hathaway🗡

4 - Kit Herondale🍪

5 - Clarice Starling🔦

6 - L (Death Note)🍨🍦

7 - Dmitri Belikov⚔

8 - Tessa Gray📖

9 - Kaz Brekker🧤

10 - Lucie Herondale(or James idk)🌗

[yunatheintrovert]

Headcanon: The events of Prague Spring helped convince Belikov to work as a double-agent for the CIA

Regardless of whether or not Belikov still served as a helicopter pilot in the Soviet military in 1968, I could see the events of Prague Spring with the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia helping disillusion Belikov regarding his perception of the Soviet Union. 

Perhaps, this would be one of the events that really triggered his commitment to actively work for the CIA as a double-agent within the KGB. Maybe after his time as a Soviet advisor in Vietnam training NVA pilots, Belikov briefly goes back to actively serving as a combat helicopter pilot in 1968. 

During that year, Belikov along with 200,000 Soviet troops were given the order to invade Czechoslovakia. As a combat helicopter pilot involved in clandestine operations in the past, Belikov could have been tasked with transporting Spetsnaz teams at checkpoints that needed to be secured in Prague. 

On the frontlines, Belikov would have seen the general resistance among the civilian populace towards the Soviet troops. In addition, the protests and the deaths of civilians (the civilian death toll of Prague Spring was 137) further disillusioned him. 

One of the reasons why I think this is the case is because of how many within the KGB and State Intelligence services in the Soviet Union had negative reactions to Prague Spring. Several defectors and double agents Oleg Gordievsky, Vasili Mitrokhin, and Dmitri Polyakov cited the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia as one of the major reasons why they chose to side with Western Intelligence services. 

Anyways, this is just a headcanon I thought of for Belikov. Out of curiosity, would anyone be interested in headcanons for Bell & Belikov in one of my AUs where they have a past together, by the way? Or just more headcanons involving Belikov in general? I’m having fun rambling off in posts like this haha. 

Well, this was fun to think about. Thanks for reading!

[cryingoverfictionalcharacterss]

So... I just finished the first 4 episodes of Vampire Academy and I have some thoughts...

Buckle up because this is going to be very long.

Also disclaimer english is not my first language so I'm sorry if there are any mistakes.

First of all I want to say that the show itself is not bad. However in my opinion it's a really bad adaptation. They only kept the very basic storyline and the main characters names and changed everything else. The show on its own is ok. Like it's not great but also not bad.

Don't get me wrong I know that when adaptations are made there are going to be changes. A good adaptation doesn't mean everything is exactly like in the book. A good adaptation makes changes but also stays true to the story and characters which is where I think they fucked up.

Take Shadow And Bone for example. A lot was changed in the show- not to mention the combined two books - but it was still one of the best book adaptations in my opinion. And of course there were some things that I didn't like but nothing is perfect and yet when you watched it it still feels like the same story if you know what I mean. I'm not sure how to explain it. The VA TV show tho doesn't feel like the books at all. It feels like a whole different story.

When I heard the news about the adaptation I got very exited but when I heard it's Julie Plec that's adapting it all of my excitement dissappeared. I've read the vampire diaries and I've watched the tv show and even though the show was good (at the beginning) it was almost completely different from the books. So from the start I had very low expectations for the VA show. I wasn't even going to watch it at all but decided to give it a try just in case. And it was exactly as I expected.

I didn't like what they did to the characters. Rose and Dmitri have no chemistry, small but important storylines and details from the book were completely cut of, and the characters are boring versions of the book characters.

A big part of Dmitri's character in the book is that he is like a GOD. He's one of the best guardians and all the students worship him and he's very respected in the community. He's very serious person and described as antisocial but also has dry humor and shows it quite often when he's with Rose from the beginning. Tv Dmitri was just bland and boring.

Lisa was ok, Rose felt like they tried but missed those little details that really make her feel like Rose and please don't even get me started on Christian. They changed his character completely. I miss his sarcasm, I miss his constant bickering with Rose, I miss his sassines.

There are so many more things I could say but this is already too long.

[bleedinknight]

I am currently reading VA. While reading, I felt so much for Dmitri. He is an amazing character. While searching for good fanfics, I found this awesome fic from Dmitri s Pov. So this is what I'm doing now.

After reading each book in the series, I turn to @gigi256 s DMITRI Pov... She 's amazing. Wonderful and captures his voice perfectly.

Right now, on Blood Promise.

I literally only keep my ff.net page at this point so I can know when @gigi256 posts new chapters of DPOV.

Vampire Academy was my first fandom, and while I’m loyal to SJM now, it will always have a special place in my heart.

If you haven’t read VA, I suggest reading it at some point.

And if you have, I suggest you get yourself on over to Gigi’s page and read her DPOV’s from the whole series. She just posted Ch 10 from Spirit Bound.

I’m talking whole books, y'all. She’s done Vampire Academy, Frostbite, Shadow Kiss, Blood Promise and is working on Spirit Bound now. And I cannot freaking wait for Last Sacrifice.

Go. Go now. Run, don’t walk.