#i try not to go too crazy with historical accuracies

[monochromatictoad]

I know y'all have probably caught on by now, but I do try to have some historically accuracy in my Castlevania fics, and let me tell y'all something, it's really fun to look up small details of the fic setting.

Like, for example, in my Zobek/Gabriel fic, make a mention that the Tea Zobek offered Gabriel was an expensive gift. That's because tea was expensive in that era, and usually was only drunk by the wealthy. Now, mind you, I couldn't find any verifications on if Asian countries were trading tea with Europe in the 11th century, so this tea is probably just a blend of Mugwort and Lavender and Chamomile.

[dxckgrxsonx]

Out of office is ON. Absolutely ZERO customer service duties until Monday and I am sososo relieved!

May i give you all a look at my exbf!dick WIP?

**

Watching that first edge of your relationship catch at the precipice of failure felt so much like grief it was alarming; letting go has never been something you’re good at, especially not when it comes to him.

But you couldn’t stop Dick Grayson from slipping through your fingers the same way he couldn’t stop you from slipping through his.

Ending the relationship was a mutual decision. But that fact brought no relief. He was still leaving you, and in the terrible reflection of that, you were leaving him too.

There was no coming back from that.

**

Your relationship ends on a Tuesday and first thing Wednesday morning you walk into Titans Tower to find Dick standing at the kitchen counter.

Time stalls, your whole life stuttering in a furious backfire.

Whatever you were expecting. It wasn’t this.

Memory blooms against the palms of your hands and it’s tangible, focus hard enough and your fingers could trip along the interlocking bones of his spine. It’s historic recollection, almost twelve months eclipsing the time it takes to blink; one trip around the sun together and your life comes back to you irrevocably changed.

Three hours of sleep isn’t enough to deal with this; you don’t think any amount of sleep is enough for this.

Dick stares at the wall just past your head, mug held halfway to his mouth. He’s still wearing the same clothes as last night, doesn’t look like he’s slept for even a minute, and you could throw a dart at what you’re feeling about that and still not pinpoint it exactly.

Silence seems to echo, then swell, and you can't help but fumble in the face of it, caught in foreign territory. You wasn’t quite sure what you were expecting, but seeing him again so soon wasn’t really on the list. For a moment you consider turning on the balls of your feet and leaving, and yet, you know that won’t solve anything.

A cup of coffee is pushed across the counter in your direction and you stare at it, bewilderment shoved up against the roof of your mouth. You know it’s made exactly the way you like it; know with the same sort of certainty that you bring into mission briefings, the same concrete accuracy you display in combat.

It feels like you’re going fucking crazy.

Glancing at Dick you try to gauge the look on his face but you can’t.

When you first starting dating it was hard to read between his lines–difficult to spot the miniscule changes in his mannerisms–you could stare him straight in the face and miss the switch; miss the split second where emotion filters through the cracks and he shuts it down, hides behind a smooth facade of indifference.

After all the time you spent together it got easier. You learnt. But you look at him now and you might as well have never known him at all.

Dick opens his mouth and every muscle along your spine flexes in preparation, "Let’s not make this weird, yeah?"

Your teeth grind.

What a fucking diplomat.

One thing about you is this: you’re petty. Hand on heart you can’t help it. You get wronged and hit back in the lowest form you can think of–the most inconvenient way your mind can conjure up. The satisfaction you get from it is unparalleled.

Years ago, your uncle told you to leave your own house after a disagreement and in retaliation you parked your car so close to his bumper he couldn’t get out of the space. Then you blocked his number and didn’t come back for three days.

Not once did you regret it.

Dick knows exactly what you’re like; who you are on the inside, and yet he arrives at the solution of damage control. As if that would have ever gotten a positive reaction out of you–as if there would be any moment in your life where you wouldn’t bite all the way back to your molars into something glaringly spiteful.

There’s a split second where you wonder if he’s doing it on purpose.

He knows you on a level you can’t speak about–knows you through all four seasons and right down to the cosmic dust that interlocks with the fabric of your being–and he’s so brilliantly clever. Strategist since he was a child. You don’t have a doubt in your mind that he knows what you’re about to do before you do it. The revelation stings the same way a papercut does, wound superficial and with clean edges, yet painful no matter what.

Dick Grayson knows you, and in a fit of something helpless and tearful, you wish he didn’t.

The mug of coffee tips in your fingers and you pour the whole damn thing down the drain.

“Yeah.” You say, blinking furiously, refusing to acknowledge the wobble in your voice. “Fuck that.”

Dick stares at you the whole time–the blue of his eyes almost flashing with something un-named–his free hand tightening into a fist. The exhilaration is damning, blood rushing up to greet the sick satisfaction sparking in the hollow of your throat.

Fuck him.

Fuck him so goddamn much.

**

[sorenphelps]

All the artwork I made for the fanfic Crazy Ex-Boyfriend by @amethystheart2421 for this year's @rsbigbang!

It was a wild run, we got paired up quite late due to our original pairs dropping out of the Bang, and even though it was already December and time was running thin, I decided to make this whole deal a way bigger challenge than it supposed to be... So I ended up drawing all 7 fantasy sequences, trying to mimic a different style for all of them, and finishing both versions of the banners I had in mind. I know, I know, but I swear even I wasn't aware that I am such an overachiever either!

Also, I usually like to hide little details as easter eggs on all of my artwork, so naturally this was the case with these too. I'm gonna list them one by one, also share a little story about each piece, sort of like a "directors cut werk", just so we stick to the screenplay motif. The numbers in brackets lists the order in which I drew the pictures.

The banners (1.,9.): I haven't watched Crazy Ex-Girlfriend the show, so I really had no idea about this whole thing, hence my initial idea of re-drawing one of the official promo posters of the show as the banner. But then Nicole shared the first scene with me when we got paired up, and also told me that her original artist wanted to draw the stargazing scene, which I also really liked. I sketched out both versions to see which one would look better, and also to warm up a bit for this version of the characters. (Nicole also shared some faceclaims, so except Sirius' and Lily's design, I tried to stick to her vision as much as I could.) The Netflix poster was considered the final one for quite a while. The stargazing banner was the last piece of artwork I finished, which I also edited to be used as Chapter dividers. I liked the idea so much I actually referenced the starry sky on the other pictures too. On the Netflix banner, Remus' socks and Sirius' suit handkerchief (how do you call those things in English, gahh) both have the starry pattern.

The western (3.): By this time it was decided that I'd do all fantasy sequences in a different art style, but I couldn't really come up with any specific style which could have fit the western vibes, so the characters are drawn in my own usual style, only the colouring is different. I tried to go for a sepia effect, without using a filter, I think I could pull it off well enough. I was considering to draw Sirius as a Native American for this, because I just don't see him as Caucasian in general, and also, Black Dog sounds like a badly translated indigenous name... But I discarded this idea for the sake of "historical accuracy" (and to save time, haha), as I think they wouldn't visit a saloon this way. I added the starry sky pattern to Sirius' handkerchief and... scarf? (I really should learn how certain textil items are called in English...) There is a wanted poster in the background with Voldy. And I swear I didn't mean to draw Remus looking this horny, it just kinda happened by accident! He is sure VERY fascinated by Sirius'... pistol.😜

The Star Trek (6.): My original idea was to draw like usual and just add so many lensflares to the picture that it's not visible if I copied another style or not. But in the meantime I started to watch Star Trek: Strange New Worlds with my bf and also found out that there is a new cartoon too, so it was then settled. This style is very different from my own, but it was so much fun! It was weird not to draw every single strand of hair in excruciating detail, actually that was the hardest part, haha! I struggled a bit with the placement of the lensflares too, the first version had too many and too bright, it had a disco vibe rather than a spaceship. I wanted to add easter eggs to the background screen, but I was running out of time, so there's only one light blue star similar on the screen! Also now I know that the uniform colors are not really consistent in Star Trek, and Remus’ might have had to be gold as Captain…🤷🏻‍♀️

The Disney (2.): This one sparked the first idea in my head after I read all fantasy scenes Nicole kindly shared with me. When I first sketched this, I still had no idea that I will end up drawing for every chapter and the style copying was not settled either. It started with this piece, I had the vision of the wolf chasing scene from Beauty and the Beast, and we were discussing whether it's plausible to collect berries during the winter or not... I've tried to make the final piece look as classic Disney as I can, and since I could pull it off, it was not a question anymore whether I'd try to do this with other styles for the other scenes. Retrospectively, this one was the easiest to make, apparently my usual style is not that far from Disney (I grew up watching those movies, so it's not a surprise), but I had to really focus on drawing the animals, it's been ages since I last drew any! (The trick is to give them eyebrows, and bam, it's Disney style!) Sirius' armour, clothes and sword has the star, and I also designed his own "crest" with the black dog and a star on his shoulder plate. The whole concept of the picture is Sirius' side being very bright coloured, while Remus' with the scary wolves in the background being very dark. This might have worked better if it was not set in the winter, but I wanted to stick to the Beauty and the Beast vision I had.

The Comicbook (4.): I was very excited for this one, I really like the looks of the old Batman the animated series, and the way some of his comics are drawn. It's such a unique style, I really like the simple shapes and bold contrasts. Well, it turned out I am very bad at this! I struggled quite a bit trying to capture what I had in mind, but I couldn't even come close to it... So I kinda cheated a bit because I just traced the lineart directly from the reference pictures of Batman comic books I found online. I tried to make Remus less buff, but it looked very weird, so I let him keep his muscular Batman body instead. I drew the wolf mask and the whole Sirius panel, and the coloring went smoothly after I finalized the lineart, even though I only realized that I switched the colour schemes of Remus' superhero outfit when I looked up the quotes for the comic panels, oops. Overall I like how it looks, but I am not that proud of it as I had to "cheat".

The Hobbit (5.): I've probably spent the most time with this one! I actually really like Martin Freeman as an older Remus FC, so I was quite excited to do this piece. My original idea was to mimic John Howe's style, as he is the Tolkien illustrator god, but his level of skill and mine are very very far from each other... and as I struggled a lot with the Batman piece, I felt like going for a smaller challenge. That's why I decided to have a go at Alphonse Mucha's art nouveau style. Turned out it was the worst possible idea! 🤣 The whole point of art nouveau is depicting attractive ladies in an ethereal way... But if you switch the ladies with a fat hobbit, the vibe def won't be the same! The first version just looks so extremely absurd, it's both awful and hilarious. By the time I could fix the pose so it wouldn't look as ridiculous, the final style looked nothing like art nouveau... I still have no idea what style it is now, not my own or any of the ones I tried to capture, that's for sure. I considered adding the star pattern to that tablecloth, but I decided that the lupin flowers in the foreground and the whomping willow-like tree are enough reference for this pic! I like how it turned out in the end tho, I think I could do justice for the watercolor-looking coloring technique, and the end result looks a bit like a fancier version of old children's book illustrations... Which is essentially what The Hobbit is, so it all sorted itself out by the end.

The Anime (7.): I like anime (I'm a little picky about them tho), so it was not a question that I would give this style a try! I am a huge fan of cyberpunk (the genre), so initially wanted to do that, I'm such a slut for Ghost in the Shell and I really like the aesthetics of the Akira posters, but after reading the actual scene, it was not really fitting. So I saved the cyberpunk AU for later, and went for the post-apocalyptic vibe instead. Obviously anime had a great influence on my art style, so similar to the Disney one, it was not that much of a challenge to mimic it. However I'm not that good at drawing backgrounds, and oh boy, I really made myself get over this obstacle with this series of pictures! Also as I was more comfortable with this piece, I actually added the starry sky pattern from the beginning to the scarf/blanket Remus has on this picture!

The Sitcom (8.): The original idea was to copy Hanna Barbera's old family cartoons' style, but as my deadline was very close and after reading the scene I realized that it will have a shitton of characters, I quickly abandoned my original plan. So this one is drawn in my own style, sort of, the designs of the characters are more aligned with Nicole's vision (sans Sirius, Lily, and partly Peter). The hardest part was definitely to figure out how I could fit 10 characters into one picture, let alone sitting in a living room! Also, I had to actually draw the living room too, considering perspective and scaling... Something I am not that good at. In the end the coffee table is maybe a little too big, but I needed that to hide the legs of the characters sitting on the sofa, haha! Also, the sofa is the Millennial Dark Green Velvet Sofa, because I also want to have one and it really emphasizes the general existential dread! (Just kidding.) Also also, I just realized that I have no idea how to eat tacos without making a mess (they are not that popular where I live). I added the starry sky pattern to Sirius' shirt, and gave a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles T-shirt to Peter, as he is talking about that in the scene. I wanted to squeeze in further references to the newspaper Remus is holding, but it was too tiny. The star from Knight Sirius' armour is in the background on the bookshelf. Also that globe just makes no sense but I had no better idea how to fill the empty space 😅. Molly is holding a mug with "BEST MOM" written on it, and I intentionally made Marlene's eye colour the same as Remus', who btw should have worn a bathrobe according to the original scene, but it was too late to fix that by the time I realized it. All in all, I am quite satisfied with how it turned out, it has the necessary sitcom vibes. And it is kinda a record for me in terms of number of characters drawn (the most was 12, but that one has no background, so I'd call it a tie!)!! I am very proud of myself for pulling this piece off, it really is the achievement of the year!

TLDR; (I mean really, my rambling is just too long!) I am happy that I was paired up with Nicole, working with her was such a creative process! My absolute favourite thing to do is work on AUs, and she has provided me with the opportunity to do so, I am grateful! It was truly a pleasure to participate in this (even if it's not that clear from all the complaining I just had above, haha)! If you ask me nicely I might show you the cursed first version of the hobbit picture!

[lady0ctavia]

As We Ponder Belief

(2p!Prussia x Reader) - Chapter 29

Note: This story is based vaguely during the mid 1200s in Eastern Europe where the Teutonic Knights fought the Northern Crusades to try and convert the native pagan population to Christianity. As a result, this story will have heavy religious themes all throughout. It should also be noted that, while referencing real-life events and locations, I am not striving for full historical accuracy. This is for the sake of the story I am telling.

Once again, this series will have heavy religious themes throughout, including discussions of bible stories, doctrine, and scripture verses, as well as critical analysis of Christian doctrine and beliefs. So, if you don't like that, you will want to skip out on this.

Gillen walked around the infirmary, beginning to busy himself with organizing materials on the shelves, wincing every time he lifted his right arm. Biting his lip, he lowered the arm and grimaced.

I know I shouldn't be up and about, but I'm tired of lying in bed. I remember (y/n) was the same way.

He chuckled to himself upon remembering how (y/n) would get so stir-crazy she would start taking walks with Gilbert around the fortress, despite his wishes for her to stay in bed.

I used to be so annoyed with her. We discussed and debated religious topics and challenged one another's views, though I cannot say her critiques were unfounded, especially looking back. The girl is quite brilliant in her own way, I'll give her that. I feel she was probably right about a few things.

He internally mused with a fond smile as he raised a hand to rest on his shoulder, a dull pain beginning to form in the muscle. He grunted, a scowl forming as he further assessed the damage on his body. As he did so, he heard someone enter the room and looked up to find Gilbert walking toward him.

"You really should stay in bed. Or at the very least refrain from doing anything with that arm," Gilbert stopped before him, arms crossed over his chest. He appeared tense, though Gillen wasn't about to ask why.

"I know. I just don't like feeling stagnant, that's all," Gillen replied while taking a seat on one of the beds, still resting a hand on his shoulder. "I am starting to think I won't be able to fight anymore."

"Nonsense!" Gilbert shook his head and waved a hand in the air dismissively. "You just need to heal up!"

"Gilbert, you performed the surgery yourself. You saw the damage. The arrow went straight through the muscle and was left in too long before removal. After I'm fully healed, I have no doubt I will be able to return to my medical work. But as for fighting, I fear our days of dueling are behind me."

Gilbert's expression seemed sad, his lips pressed into a thin line before responding. "I'm sorry that it took so long to get to you. We wanted to get to you earlier, but other knights were..." He trailed off before taking a seat next to his brother.

"You have no reason to feel ashamed, Gilbert," Gillen reassured his brother. "You, (y/n), Albrecht, and even Captain Nikolaus all made the right call. I was relatively fine after the bleeding had initially stopped, but other knights were lying on death's doorstep. You were right to make them the priority."

"Thank you," Gilbert breathed out. "Sorry, that's just been on my mind."

"Understandable, but I must say, I think I may be a little grateful, in a way," Gillen wondered aloud. Gilbert seemed confused.

"Grateful? How?"

"Gilbert, you remember I was initially preparing to go to the German Hosue of Saint Mary in Jerusalem, right?" Gillen asked, to which Gilbert nodded, prompting Gillen to continue. "I only ever wanted to be a doctor. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy sword-fighting and dueling, especially with you. But I can't say I ever liked fighting."

Gilbert seemed gloomy, but accepting regardless. "It can be nasty business, true. But someone has to do it," He stated with a shrug of his shoulders.

Just then, a thought crossed through Gillen's mind. "Gilbert, what are your thoughts on the Teutonic Knights?"

"Hm? What do you mean?"

"What I mean is, are we doing things the right way? Particularly when you take into account the commandment of Thou shalt not kill?"

Gilbert quickly went from confused to exasperated. "Oh come now, Gillen, we've been over this. Remember what I said? There are exceptions to this commandment. Don't let (y/n) get into your head."

"But what if she was right? What if the Order's way of spreading Christianity is wrong? How can we know if we are truly justified?" Gillen questioned, appalling Gilbert.

"Do you hear yourself? Gillen, our orders from God Himself," His voice was quiet with disbelief, as if unable to process what he was hearing.

"Orders that contradict His doctrine?" Gillen met his brother's gaze, a tense silence building between the two before Gilbert broke it, sighing and hardening his expression.

"It’s not up to us to try and decipher every last bit of doctrine, Gillen. Besides, the Holy Scriptures were written in the past. We're living in the present, and in the present, God wants us to convert these pagans by any means necessary. And if that means executing those who refuse to abide by the one, true God, then it must be so. Gillen, this was what God has asked of us to do." There was a desperation in Gilbert's eyes and an ironclad resolve in his tone as he spoke. A resolve that did not seem to phase Gillen in the slightest, his deadpan expression returning. The tension in the air was so thick one could cut it with a knife.

"What God has asked us to do, or the Pope?" Gillen shot back.

"The Pope operates as God’s voice here on Earth. His voice is God’s voice. End of story. And for all you know, God may have changed his mind on–"

"If God is a truly perfect, all-knowing, omnipotent being, then He wouldn't have to change His mind on some of His most basic doctrines. And I think we need to remember that the Pope is just a man. Man is fallible, inherently flawed, and prone to making mistakes. How are we supposed to know that this isn’t so much God's will as it is the Pope's?" The words fell out of Gillen's mouth so naturally, surprising both him and Gilbert. But he knew where, or rather who, this was coming from. Gilbert's mouth hung open before responding, his words now shocked and almost horrified. All before transitioning to anger.

"Do… Do you have any idea what you’re saying? Gillen this is heresy! How can you say all of this? You know what you signed on for when you joined the Teutonic Knights! To fight for Christ!"

"Like I just said, Gilbert, I didn't choose to fight for Christ, I wanted to heal! I wanted to be a guardian and a doctor, not a soldier! I was dragged in here," Gillen sighed. "And I'm starting to question the legitimacy of our mission."

"Gillen, where is all this coming from?!"

Gillen looked away and to the floor. His mind felt like clay. Changing and taking a new shape with every impact. And his heart felt heavy, already knowing that Gilbert wasn't going to like the answer to his question. Gilbert narrowed his eyes.

"It's her, isn't it?"

"It's more than that, Gilbert. It's... It's complicated," Gillen's brow furrowed, as if trying to come up with a better answer. One that would satiate his brother.

"But it doesn't have to be. Gillen, just talk to me," Gilbert pleaded, his voice weak as he pressed a hand to Gillen's back.

Gillen looked at his older brother and became equal parts worried and unsettled by what he saw. He appeared to be on the verge of... Well, he couldn't quite tell what, exactly. Not tears, but the man certainly seemed to be reaching a limit of some kind. He sounded desperate. Like he was scared of losing something.

"Gilbert, do you think it makes sense for me, a doctor, to stay with an Order that is hurting people? Granted, the pagans in the land have given us nothing but trouble. But at the same time, we kill people. And (y/n)..."

"What about (y/n)?" Gilbert tensed.

"She hates it." He relented. "And when I come to think about it, I'm not sure I've ever been at ease about it either. I have tried so hard to harden my heart when I go into combat. And for the longest time, that did the trick. But when we went to save (y/n)... Gilbert, I wanted nothing more than to kill the man who took her. But when I raised my sword, I saw the look in her eyes. I saw fear. And I don't want to be one who causes that, not to her. Not to anyone."

Gilbert's eyes softened, though he still appeared unstable. "You need to forget about her, Gillen. She will be leaving tomorrow morning, whether you like it or not. Regardless of how any of us feel, she needs to go. Captain’s orders."

Gilbert got up to leave. As he walked away, he left his younger brother with only a few, final words. "Denken Sie daran, wo Ihre Loyalität liegt, Gillen. Und bitte, mach keine Dummheiten."

Upon leaving, Gillen laid back on the bed, staring at the curved ceiling above him. Almost mindlessly, he uttered his thoughts aloud.

"Ich weiß bereits, wo meine Loyalität liegt. Entweder jetzt oder nie."

Previous Chapter - Next Chapter

As always, let me know your thoughts on the latest chapter!

Translations:

"Denken Sie daran, wo Ihre Loyalität liegt, Gillen. Und bitte, mach keine Dummheiten." - "Remember where your loyalties lie, Gillen. And please, don't do anything stupid."

"Ich weiß bereits, wo meine Loyalität liegt." - "I already know where my loyalties lie. It's either now or never."

[usergrantaire]

some gilded age s2 episode 5 thots

- oh larry 💀 don’t worry man you’ll be over it in a month

- omg turner mrs winterton duke dinner sabotage???

- im so desperate to know more about maud like if she is a lesbian or not

- ada’s moving so fast with the reverend….. i want her to be happy but knowing jf this can’t possibly end well 😵‍💫

- i trust erica armstrong dunbar but why do i get the feeling something awful is going to happen while peggy is in the south

- finally some larry/marian interaction, we’ve been starved

- naur not agnes ambushing the reverend

- “we both love ada” “then stop being so selfish” ma’am are you HEARING yourself 😭

- no, deaths and injuries do not always have to be “part of it”, mr russell 🤡

- noooooo gladys baby where’s your chemise omg 😭 and the historical accuracy is usually so good too

- oh bertha is already setting gladys up to be sold off to the duke

- “don’t decide anything without talking to marian first” im sorry but what would MARIAN know??? she got strung along and ended up dumped by a gold digger

- ah so mrs roebling is masquerading as mr roebling

- “he preaches savagery and violence to bring about political change” well historically nothing else has been quite as effective 😬 sooooo

- keep unionising babes remember that you don’t need the boss but the boss sure as fuck needs you

- patrick page has truly carved out a niche for himself playing daddy capitalism huh

- oh oscar’s gonna ruin himself trying to help maud

- con artist maud??? she could still be a lesbian it’s just irrelevant to the scamming

- ugh mcneil just let watson or collier or whoever the fuck he is speak to flora

- bertha’s really going to sell gladys to a duke just to get back at mrs winterton isn’t she lol

- does anyone need this many footmen at a single dinner

- julian fellowes LOVES a soup sabotage subplot

- AMBER GRAY!!!!!!

- never have so many talented singers been hired not to sing omg

- nobody takes this show seriously anyway give us a musical episode lmfao

- poor mr winterton a hot young wife isn’t all it’s cracked up to be is it

- yupppp i called it (peggy in the south)

- we’re finally getting to the “gilded” part of the show with the rich white people soup sabotage nonsense followed by a chaser of terror and violence

- oh foreshadowing when marian asks ada if she has no doubts

- she’s gonna jilt dashiell at the altar i can feel it

- i love maud beaton’s increasingly crazy hats so much

- leave it to agnes to make a dramatic entrance

and that’s it for the week folks see y’all next week

[mastabas-and-mushussu]

Since Tumblr is for being an unhinged nerd, I'm going to throw ideas at the wall for my own pagan practice and let y'all listen.

Since there is only a certain level of historical accuracy achievable, at the mercy of the Changing Times (living alone in an apartment with no city temple available) and also Information Scarcity (I do not have access to academic journals about cultus relating to my gods), I am in a constant state of both Learning and Grafting Ideas On that I think are suitable and a bit fun.

I'm mostly interested in Nisaba, mother of scribes, generally wonderful and awesome and partially represented by the literal written word itself.

I am also an extreme Elder Scrolls nerd and the dragon language/Way of the Voice has my attention for obvious reasons. It's obviously rooted in some other concepts (Buddhism maybe? not my area) but worship of language through language is exactly my idea of a good time. Meditating on the importance of words and where they come from, what they mean, why they mean that- that mostly comes down to etymology, but part of me is doing that 24/7 anyway. Silence as a form of worship also interests me. Like fasting from words, emphasizing the importance of them by experiencing their lack. Or, in the case of the Greybeards, only speaking when there is no other choice.

It's part of why I'm motivated to learn ASL, though that's a whole other rant. Suffice it to say that ASL doesn't work to enable someone who's selectively mute if nobody around understands it anyway.

I'm not entirely sure how practical a vow of silence is though, even if I'd just do it for a week or something. Everything everywhere requires speech, from dealing with managers and customers to apologizing for bumping someone in the hall. From what little I know, fasting rules say that you can eat/drink for health and emergency reasons, but what about words? Part of it, I think, is I'm afraid of being so weird that I get fired or excluded from things on sight. Which is hilarious considering how weird I already am.

I want to try some sort of Way Of The Voice mindfulness/silence thing for Nisaba, but the silence part in particular is driving me crazy. It's not supposed to be easy, but there are reasonable limits to "not easy" too, I think. Problem is the only time I actually speak with my mouth is in a drive-through or at work anyway. Maybe social media restriction???

Eh. Have a ramble. Anyone else tried using silence in worship?

[gemsofgreece]

Sadly, Cleopatra isn’t the only one, they did it with Anne Boleyn, Charles V, Marie-Antoinette, China and Japan’s indigenous people. I mean, they still think that Caucasian means white.

I don’t understand why they refuse to explore or portray West Africa, East Africa, or Sub-Saharan Africa, its people, mythologies, religions. It has countless ethnic nationalities, and very rich and diverse cultures.

My theory is that it is because of two reasons:

This is an African American thing. Secondarily, similar ideas might be supported by next generation immigrants in West Europe at most. I find it wrong that it is called “Afrocentrism” because that trend does not represent indigenous people of Africa, or indigenous people in general, their concerns or their wishes. If you check videos about the whole Cleopatra discourse, Africans do not support the case, they feel weird about it and even embarrassed by the way African Americans tackle these topics. African Americans do not fight for Africa. They fight for their own place in the American society and because they have an extremely traumatic past imposed on them by the American whites, they see this movement in a peaceful yet clearly vengeful perspective. African Americans try to claim more space in societies that were traditionally considered white or colonialist. They do not care nowhere as much about empowering or boosting the voice and development of African countries as at this point they feel distant from them. They too are Americans now, after all. The ulterior incentive is not to present, praise and attract interest for African or other POC culture but rather to be seen as capable of competing with or even toppling white history and culture. Unfortunately, this very ill thought strategy is applied to feminism too. Instead of presenting women as complex people with their strengths, ideas, aspirations and motives, they force them always to a comparison with men or they have to aggressively belittle men and have women assume their positions (ie the James Bond discourse). That’s why the first Wonder Woman movie was so acclaimed and successful in its feminism with both women and men - it was an original female character who also worked peacefully with men. Unfortunately they don’t seem to take the hint of WW for what works and what doesn’t. And to go back to the original topic, this is why Black Panther is also much more acclaimed and successful than all those idiotic projects twisting history to a laughable degree. But these are superheroes and, therefore, also parts of the American culture. To ask Americans to go deep in studying African and Asian cultures and produce accurate and sensitive art from them is too much work and it is not even what they want to talk about anyway.

95% of these movies are made or produced by rich whites. Rich whites follow the trends of the time with zero interest in historical accuracy or sensitivity about other places in the world. A rich white American producer does not care how well his movie will be received in Tanzania or Yemen. He cares how many African or Asian Americans will go to the cinemas. This is the audience they cater to, plus white wokes which is another big trend that can provide his movie with a lot of traction. Neither Africa nor Asia nor indigenous communities in the Americas and Oceania have a remotely considerable benefit out of any of these. Nothing will change in Kenya or in Kenyan people’s everyday lives, concerns and challenges just because Anne Boleyn is now black. It’s been called USA and West Europe’s guilt syndrome but I think it is mostly the realisation that a pretence of a guilt syndrome pays well in these countries’ media production because some people in these countries suck it up like crazy.

[philtstone]

Sam & Bucky, “grabbing onto their arm”

soooo ... i watched "why didnt they ask evans?" remembered that i loved agatha christie novels and immediately landed here. obviously wave the historical accuracy away bc i did just enough research for Flavour but not much for anything else. premise: everything remains the same as canon except bucky didnt fall off the train & a whole lot of characters were born much earlier in the 1900s. this isn't technically finished yet but it's enough to justify answering the prompt; i want to try to get the latter half of this "part" done & perhaps if the fates align even write a part 2 to actually complete the story but for now have this!! if you'd like to see more pls let me know <3 thanks for the prompt zainab love u

Sam figures this is just typical. So he’d decided to go to New York – get that loan. Hell, they need that loan. Boy, don’t do it, Sarah had said, but Sam figured it was his right just as anyone else’s, and Stark talked all that talk about his new GI grant. They won’t have you, Sarah said, and like an idiot Sam went anyway. He went, and he sat himself down in that nice fancy apartment building lobby across the room from the saddest lookin’ white fella he’d seen in a while, which was saying a hell of a lot. He got up, walked over, he spoke to the nice receptionist, he wrote his name down.

Of course, he was right – they would’ve taken him. Had the paperwork done up and everything. Stark may have been a bit crazy, hell if Sam knew, but he had money to throw at things. 

Only then, the very next day, Howard Stark died. 

HEADLINE EXCLUSIVE: HOWARD STARK FOUND DEAD IN ALLEY BEHIND MANHATTAN APARTMENT

The New York Times, Monday, October 12th, 1947

Nation mourns death of eccentric millionaire inventor and war hero Howard Stark, found dead of a gunshot wound this morning in the alleyway behind his Manhattan home. With him, also dead, was socialite fiance Maria Caruso. Police have yet to identify the nature of the death but have not ruled out suicide. However, sources confirm that the firearm found at the scene was not Stark’s, but rather belonged to Stark’s comrade and fellow veteran Sgt. James Buchanan Barnes.  

The thing about Peggy is that she understands him, which is just a bitch and a half sometimes.

“You threw the weapon out.”

She’s repeating this, flatly, but with enough inflection that Bucky comprehends the are you perhaps a massive idiot implied therein. Peg would say it like that too — use perhaps and massive and arch her eyebrows.

Bucky presses his hands harder where they’re clutched at his temples and grimaces. “Look, I wasn’t thinking clearly, alright?”

“James.”

James, full name, not Jim like when she’s being chummy and of course Agent Margaret Carter of His Majesty’s Royal Service never quite got around to following Steve’s lead on the Bucky front. Bucky grimaces harder. Peggy will stare and be sardonic and, God help him suspicious until he explains.

“I dunno what you want me to say, Peg – it was there in the drawer and I couldn’t bear lookin’ at it anymore.” 

Her resultant expression is just a touch too understanding for his taste. 

“How the hell would I know that tossing a Colt into the Hudson in the middle of the night would get Howard killed?” Bucky adds, to move past it.

Minutely as possible Peggy flinches. Balls of steel, he’s always said. The other guys thought the same, but none of them had the guts to say it aloud. Speaking of other guys –

“Dugan’s coming over.”

“Like hell he is,” Bucky says.

Peggy takes an elegant drag of her cigarette. She’s sitting at the dull brown edge of his made-up bed and being careful enough that the ashes don’t spill. What difference that’ll make Bucky’s not sure. His apartment’s the definition of sad. Becca nearly cried last week when she visited, but then instead of crying yelled at him ‘til he relented and got a pillow. 

“Evidently,” says Peggy, still on the topic of Dum-Dum, “he has not considered the double agent angle. His wife made you casserole.”

“Mm,” says Bucky, grim. He walks over to his meager kitchen, pulls a dusty bottle out from the cabinet and unscrews it. “Gonna get him killed one of these days.”

“Given my ongoing conviction that you are not in fact a spy –”

“Jury’s out on you though,” Bucky says, raising the bottle at her.

“-- you do realize that you are a prime suspect in the murder of our close personal friend.” She blows out. “If we can’t rely on our comrades, we’re rather fucked.”

“I am, you mean.”

Her mouth turns mulish and she looks away to the window then back. Maybe she did mean we, lumping the two of them under the tarp of some morbid umbrella. Steve’s dead and gone and sacrificed nobly, isn’t he.

“You didn’t kill Howard and he didn’t damn well kill himself,” says Peggy, steely. “I’d like to know which bastard did.”

Bucky puts his drink down. Sighs. Crosses his arms.

“So?”

“I’ll poke around at SSR –”

“You really do think it’s a spy –”

“Stay here. Word is they don’t want this in the press just yet, which, well. Neither of us were born yesterday.” 

“You callin’ me old, Agent Carter?” he asks, just on the right edge of bratty.

Peggy steamrolls forward, “Don’t do anything untoward, please.”

“You’re the one sitting on the bed of an unmarried man,” Bucky says. He walks over to the window and tugs it open, letting cigarette smoke out and giving him an eye to the dank alley below. It’s spring and the sunlight’s pale and his room’s not too high up; were anyone to jump, they’d barely sprain an ankle. And Howard’s fucking dead. Bucky turns back and flicks a thumb under his chin. “C’mon,” he says, “gimme the rest of your cigarette. I’m the one wanted for murder.”

“Christ,” Peggy mutters, getting to her feet. 

She hands the cigarette over anyway, and Bucky spends the minute it takes her to leave wiping off the lipstick stains. It’s a lost cause, more or less. 

He has to put it out, against the peeling windowsill. 

Sam’s rung the service bell a third time when the receptionist finally appears. 

“Concierge’s assistant,” she corrects in a trill voice. Her curls are pinned tightly and her skirt waist more so. The red of her lipstick clashes garishly with her hair. Her nametag reads Dolores. “Can I help you?”

“Um, yeah,” says Sam, “Ma’am.” He grips his bag. “I'm here to inquire about my loan.”

The lobby he’s in is just as fancy as it was the first time around, with tall ceilings and crystal chandeliers and fine imported rugs on the floors. It was pretty empty last time too, quiet and genteel the way rich white people pretend to be. Only last time Sam was kept company not just by Miss Dollie’s red lipstick but the scowling, oblivious man she kept batting her lashes at; this time the place is empty. Police have roped off the elevator and even the white folks’ plush seating area is out of bounds. Dollie looks pastier than usual.

“Oh,” says Dolores, “oh. From –”

“Yesterday,” Sam says, slow and expectant.

“You’d better go home,” says Dolores.

“They took my name down,” says Sam, a second time. “I wrote it on paper and everything.”

Dolores has busied herself with some stationary thing under the desk and distractedly says, “I just don’t think dead people can give loans. It’s a shame, don’t you think? He was a real dreamboat.”

“Ma’am – Ms. Dolores –” She stops looking wistful about Stark’s erstwhile good looks and refocuses, “Now c’mon. I paid train money for this. My sister’s got two kids – our family’s business is on the line. I’d like to talk to someone.”

“I’d guess you oughta get a lawyer,” Dolores says mournfully. 

“Dollie,” Sam starts, “can I call you Dollie?” She perks up, which is inconvenient, as Sam remembers that he knows better than to flirt with a white woman. “Don’t they have some kind of insurance in place?” he asks. “His family – estate, somethin’? I mean, Howard Stark, a guy like that wouldn’t leave millions lyin’ around.”

Not that Sam knows much about men like Howard Stark. But if the police won’t bother listening to him, he’s just gotta run with his own theories.

“Jeez,” says Dollie, sniffing. “I couldn’t tell you. The whole back door’s swarming with cops. No one’s even gone through the rooms yet.” And then she says, “Oh – oh!” And bursts into tears.

Sam hovers awkwardly on the other side of the reception desk and offers her his ratty handkerchief until she has collected herself enough to wave him off with one hand and stumble away to the bathroom. Her low heels thump unevenly on the carpeted floor as she goes. He straightens the tie of his dress uniform and looks around again. He can hear voices, but far past the desk, closer to the alley door and the mail room. Hell, he’d bet even the cleaning staff have been either sent home or brought in for questioning. 

“Ain’t this just our luck,” Sam mutters. 

There’s no one around. The elevator is right there. Sam takes a deep breath and heads upstairs.

Upstairs is fancier than downstairs in the sense that Sam’s been in lobbies before but has never been in the type of suite that takes up a whole floor. The tall gilded windows look out on nearly all of Manhattan. Someone – he guesses the same police who told him to stop wasting their time, they had better things to be dealing with – has taped off the entrance to each room, but other than that, Dollie was right: it’s more or less untouched. 

Which makes sense, ‘cause there’s a whole lot to touch. Sam can barely see the bedroom (with its big four-poster bed) or the bathroom (with its marble counter) because there is stuff everywhere. There’s a painter’s easel with a feminine aura to it in the corner and paints laid out, slowly drying, and yesterday morning’s newspaper. A large cylindrical contraption moves back and forth beside the desk, over the carpet in one corner, like someone forgot it there; it emits a loud suctioning noise (Sam can see the carpet hole forming) while steaming a smoking jacket to misshapenness at the same time. The coffee machine has three levels, one each for cream, milk, and sugar; the coffee smells burned. These are not the weird things. The weird things are the three stacks of metal drawers emitting a strange humming noise, and the industrial sized ice box, and the half-deconstructed bicycle sitting on top of the desk with what looks like a freakier version of a machine gun strapped to the handlebars. It has wires and hydraulics and everything comin’ out of its ends.

“Just check the desk and leave, Sam,” Sam mutters to himself, pushing down his nerves. You’re the fool who got yourself into this, says Sarah’s voice in his head.

She ain’t wrong. 

The glossy desk is smaller than Sam expected. He checks it; two drawers with locks on them, and the third opens to a couple loose lead pencils rolling around. He supposes an important man like Howard Stark wouldn’t keep his papers sitting just anywhere. Under the desk, maybe?

Nothing. Not even a damn cardboard box. 

He straightens, hums at the locked doors. In front of him a lopsided chalkboard reads CADILLAC IN OUTER SPACE???? ASK JARVIS in giant block letters. 

“Going around wastin’ my time …” Sam mutters, picking his bag up and rubbing behind his neck. “Maybe we do need a lawyer.” 

Then he narrows his eyes. 

There.

Right there.

Someone has picked the lock. 

The first drawer sits just off its latch and the second has scuff marks under where the key goes in. “Well, shit,” he mutters. He gets back down on his knees. There is definitely a splinter, right down the middle of the second lock, like someone wrenched at it when a gentle picking didn’t do the job. “Now why the hell would he have to do that if he’s got a key?”

Sam’s habit of asking himself rhetorical questions is very suddenly put on the spot when, instead of the silence he usually anticipates, he is answered by a faint creak from the foyer beyond the study door. Sam freezes. He doesn’t think his dress uniform is enough to stop him getting arrested if anyone were to find him here now. Then again, with these locks and the general strangeness of the situation, arrest could be the safer option. Scooping up his bag, Sam slowly rises to his feet and pads softly around the desk, just barely missing the steam-cylinder and its jacket (it lets out a sad whistle), and slips a small pocket knife out from the inside of his left sock. He stalls at the doorframe, trying to breathe as quietly as he can. There’s definitely someone on the other side.

Inhaling sharply, he pounces.

“Oomph!”

“Shit!”

On instinct Sam grabs the arm that swings at him. He brings his knee up and his elbow down and there is a moment where they grapple, with strong emphasis on the moment part – very suddenly Sam finds his arm knocked out of the way and himself grabbed by beneath his chin, and slammed into the foyer wall like his cousin Deedee’s flour sack doll, so hard that all the breathe leaves his lungs in one fell swoop. His hat gets knocked off of his head with the force of it and falls to the floor.

Sam blinks. There is a scruffy, pale face in front of him, which features two big blue eyes that are blinking right back, looking equally startled.

They stay frozen like that for the space of two heartbeats. Sam’s fingers tighten where they’re fisted at the guy’s collar, refusing to yield. He’s pretty sure his knife has skidded under the shoe rack. 

He really liked that knife, dammit.

“Who the hell are you?” asks the man suddenly, both loud and Brooklyn about it.

“Funny,” wheezes Sam, “I could ask you the same thing.”

He releases Sam, which is nice of him. Stumbling, he moves a few steps back, and looks quite suddenly more bewildered than before. He’s not much taller than Sam is, with dark floppy hair that hangs over one eyebrow and a frame like a heavyweight boxer. Despite his startling strength – Sam aint exactly the smallest of men – there’s an exhaustion that sits fragile under his eyes and a tense, well-concealed tremble in one arm. There’s something very familiar about his face. His slacks have scuffs at the knees and he’s wearing a lumpy-looking knit sweater that does little to mask what Sam’s dress greens are plainly revealing to him – that whoever he’s just run headlong into, trespassing in a dead guy’s bedroom, is a fellow soldier.

Or was, anyway. No more war to fight and die in. Sam tugs at the hem of his jacket. It’ll be a pain in the ass to steam again, and Sarah will raise hell about it ‘cause he’ll beg to borrow her steamer. They don’t get all that nice starching stuff at the dive motels Sam can afford. 

“No one’s supposed to be up here,” insists the man, still looking baffled. 

Sam straightens and rubs at his jaw, which feels like it just got caught in an industrial press.

“Sorry to disappoint,” says Sam, “but I am. Why are you here?”

“I asked first,” says the man, so unselfconsciously mulish that Sam can only stare.

“I didn’t just slam me into a wall.”

“You came at me with a knife!” protests the guy, which Sam thinks is a little unfair; that knife was kind of useless. He narrows his eyes. He oughta pick his hat up from the floor, but he figures it’d be kind of stupid to let his guard down. They stand there, eye to eye, at impasse. After the weird-looking carpet cleaner has whistled three times the man says,

“You don’t look like a German spy,” muttered, like he’s really thinkin’ about it.

“Seriously?” splutters Sam. He says this so forcefully that the other guy has the nerve to look a little offended. But now, come on – come on, Sam thinks. It’s a fair question. Only Sam’s been having a really difficult forty-eight hours, so he doesn’t appreciate it.

He decides to consider the situation a bit more fairly; how does he know this crumb hasn’t been having a tough time, too? 

It’s here that something big and important feeling clicks in Sam’s head. He’s seen that scowl before – just yesterday, ignoring poor Miss Dollie.

And just this morning, in the papers plastered all over his motel lobby.

“Oh,” says Sam, “you gotta be kidding me.” 

But alas, there’s no kidding to be had. 

“From the paper – they think you killed him, man!”

Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes pales three shades under what little tan he has, but otherwise doesn’t react. 

“You shouldn’t be here,” he says instead, a divot deepening between his thick eyebrows. “It isn’t safe.”

“Yeah, no kidding,” says Sam. “Some guy just grabbed me by the throat.”

Barnes does not seem to find this amusing. Instead, he looks a funny cross between ornery and miserable, and sets his jaw to considerable mulish effect. Sam hums to himself. Fact of the matter is, Barnes has had plenty of opportunity to kill Sam so far and hasn’t taken advantage of it. If he really was guilty – Sam thinks, briefly considering the warped mind of a cold-blooded killer, a few inches removed from the necessities of soldierhood – wouldn’t he want to get rid of any witnesses or evidence? 

And yet here Sam is, very much not dead.

“Well … you don’t look like a murderer,” he says aloud, slowly, but keeps his arms crossed. Somehow despite his sardonic tone and clear mockery (at least, that’s what Sam hopes is coming across), there is something profoundly relieved about the expression that flickers across Barnes’s face.

Then it is back to its customary scowl.

“You gotta leave,” he repeats firmly, pacing once, back and then forth. Sam watches him carefully; there’s that tremble again, along with a steady, even tone and deliberate eye to the skyline behind them. More than just Barnes’s face is familiar. 

But Sam is still annoyed.

“Through the window?”

“There’s – a stairwell.”

“Through the stairwell definitely crawling with cops?”

“For the love of God –”

“I am just listing my options, here.”

“Just leave, go away, pretend you never saw me,” Barnes says, waving two hands in front of Sam’s face like he’s batting the whole morning away, and looking harassed. “Okay? Jesus, it ain’t that hard.”

“Pretend I never saw you, creepin’ around the apartment of the fella you’re supposed to have killed,” Sam says. “Yeah, no, I’m gonna tell somebody.”

“Seriously?!” It’s Barnes’s turn to sound offensively incredulous.

“Or,” Sam says, “you could tell me what’s goin’ on.”

There’s a long pause. Sam hardly thinks his voice is friendly – if anything, he’s annoyed as hell – but Barnes opens his mouth, two beats, a sudden vulnerability stuck to his chin. Too vulnerable for whatever Sam’s asking. In that split second it sucks the breath outta the room.

Sam doesn’t have any idea what it is that’s just made Barnes’s head whip around until a bullet explodes into the lobby mirror above their heads.

“Fuck!”

Two rough hands shove him back into the study and Sam nearly knocks over the artillery bicycle; he looks up in time to see Barnes throwing his lanky frame against the opposing wall and holding his arms up over his head, yelling loudly in annoyance when another three bullets spray into the beautiful engraved wood above their heads and nearly bring down the chandelier. The coffee maker starts whistling out of control. Sam groans. 

“Gimme your gun!” demands Barnes, which is beyond unhelpful.

“I don’t have a gun,” says Sam, waving one hand in the air to demonstrate this. “Where’s your gun?”

“I threw it in the fucking Hudson!” says Barnes. He looks like a guy who’s had a very long forty-eight hours; Sam can relate. “I’ve been framed for murder, remember?”

“We actually never established that that’s the truth,” Sam feels the need to point out, a second before another bullet tears through the poor over-steamed suit jacket.

Bang.

“Common sense!” exclaims Barnes.

Bang.

“Somethin’ you don’t seem to have much of!” yells Sam.

Bang.

“THERE IS A MAN SHOOTING AT US.”

Bang.

“HOW IS THAT MY FAULT?!” 

Jiminy Christmas, says Sarah’s voice in Sam’s head. His sister is not gonna be happy about this.

They scramble for the front door as another two bullets sound off. Sam just barely has the time to reach down and grab his hat, and can just make out a slight, shadowed figure ducking back behind the wardrobe in the bedroom before they burst into the elevator lobby – right in time for the elevator door to ding open, and the tomato-red of the huffing police commissioner’s face to peek through.

Barnes has grabbed him by the arm again and pushed him into the stairwell going back downstairs before Sam has any time to react. 

And, maybe importantly, before any of the many police officers squeezing themselves out into the hallway can see him.

Huh, he thinks, a second before the other man’s bulky shoulders burst through the door in turn, knock haphazardly into Sam, and half tumble them down the staircase with a garbled, “Come on, move!” tacked right onto the end.

“Can’t run anywhere with you fallin’ on top of me!” Sam says.

“Jesus, Mary and Joseph!”

And for all that Sam was raised Southern Baptist, he has to agree.

[minny5ca2018]

Just how far apart is the show Magnificent Century from the history of real life people

Just exactly how far apart are they?

At the outset the opening credits advise that it is historical fiction based on the history of real life people and events.

That is certainly true. Show is well acted on the other hand and has all the ear marks of a soap opera.

In the show, Hurrem finds herself constantly attacked and verbally put down by the likes of the mother Valide Sultan, Mahidevran, Ibrihim and others.

She is treated like the slave and concubine she is. Suleiman's family resent her when she fast becomes the Sultan's favorite, particularly Mahidevran, the mother of Mustafa, Suleiman's oldest son.

Mahidevran, together with her goon, Gulsah go around plotting against Hurrem at every turn. First, Mahidevran beats her to a pulp, and then Gulsah gets a harem girl to poison her food while she is with Suleiman. Not good. Their actions backfire and they only instill the ire of Suleiman as their reward.

Their actions only serve to drive Hurrem even closer to Suleiman's affections. Early on, it's plain: the boy is whipped. He's so smitten.

Worse the mother throws Hurrem in the dungeon - big mistake. When Suleiman finds out, he's furious and verbally tears a strip off poor Sum Bul and orders her release.

In soap opera fashion, the show winds and twists and turns. Still Suleiman keeps going back to Hurrem and children are the result. First a son and a daughter. Then she gets banished to the hunting lodge for a murder she didn't commit.

Now forgiven, she goes back to Suleiman's bed, and yup, you guessed it, another son is born.

The girl by now is obviously his favorite concubine and Mahidevran and the Valide Sultan are furious. It just progresses until it reaches a point where Hurrem starts to lash back at them in retaliation. The way she was treated? Can anyone blame her?

A captured slave to concubine to favorite concubine and the family and Mahidevran are lashing out at her. She starts to scheme and plot against them. She starts using the underlings, the servant people around her to bring her information and do her bidding. It proves to be a very effective and useful network as the series progresses.

And so it goes. Let's face it, this girl's scheming in this show, well she could teach Rachel Cory a thing or two when she was a scheming bitch as Rachel Davis on Another World.

Anything that Hurrem does is motivated by love in my opinion. She seeks to lash out at those who hurt her and who are a threat to Suleiman and her children. She seeks to protect what she feels is hers.

In the show, she's been attacked by Mahidevran, poisoned, thrown in a dungeon, banished several times, and had a dagger taken to her. They've set fire to her, cast a spell on her (worst of it was incense burning as black smoke making her crazy, hallucinate and sleep walk) and killed her horse. Now come on, the horse was below the belt. Under those circumstances, can you blame her for hitting back? Each time she is attacked, she only comes back stronger. You'd think they'd learn. But nope.

Once she is the legal wife of the Sultan, they still try to treat her like dirt. Uhhh, big mistake when Suleiman gangs up on them.

The actress playing Hurrem in the beginning is Meryem Uzerli, an absolute icon, she is so talented. She can go to such emotional extremes, all in one scene. She is outstanding. The best actress to do that level of emotion in the past, oddly enough in my mind, was Victoria Wyndham as Rachel Cory. Just an excellent actress.

The second actress to play Hurrem, Vahide Piercin, is good too as the older and more mature Hurrem. She has a different approach to the role, but in her own way, did a good job overall. You definitely see her improve as the series moves on. In those final moments, in her scenes as Hurrem, I cried my eyes out. And I have never cried before, ever.

But still while the acting overall is excellent, in my mind the show is off the mark with regard to historical accuracy. You can sure claim fiction because of it.

Some of the differences include, according to various books, and articles.

Ibrahim was not married to the sister

He was married to another woman show creation for drama with Hatice

Suleiman was faithful to Hurrem, particularly once he married her. One indication of this - Suleiman had four children before meeting Hurrem, three of which died, leaving only Mustafa. His only other children were the six he had with Hurrem - one boy died as a toddler. There were no others. It certainly supports the monogamous theory.

Once married she moved into the private quarters beside Suleiman. She also kept her quarters in the old Palace where the mother, the children and the harem was housed.

He married her in 1534 when his mother died. Hurrem at that point took over the mother's role in running the harem. There were various staff running the operations and continued to do so, under Hurrem's supervision.

Once married, she became Empress consort as the legal wife of Suleiman Khan and took the title Haseki Sultan or Haseki Hurrem Sultan. She received a wage of 2000 aspers a day

One common element, Hurrem, before they were married, threatened to kill herself unless Suleiman sent the two gifted Russian concubines away in the show. She confronted Suleiman and wanted him to kill her. Though angry Suleiman in the end sends them away to appease Hurrem.

According to one account, an ambassador related a similar story about the real Hurrem. The mother and her son both, had each received a Russian concubine as a gift. The mother promptly gave hers to her son. But apparently Hurrem was so upset at the prospect of sharing Suleiman, she pulled a tantrum and fell down weeping. To mollify her, the Sultan sent them away.

There are many characters who are show inventions and not reality from history. They include Firuze, Princess Isabella, Nigar Kalfa and many others.

Thus the show, with its purpose for drama and soap opera style, is very much fiction at times.

The worst offense in my mind is the relationship between Suleiman and Hurrem. They definitely bring across the theme that they love each other no matter what happens or what Hurrem does. In the end Suleiman in the show always forgives her. But beyond that, in my mind, they fail them. Every source I have read says he was faithful to Hurrem. They were monogamous. She moved into the quarters beside his once they were married.

In the show, Suleiman is a doubting Susan and thinks the worst of Hurrem much of the time while falling under the deception of the others. He gets angry and reacts badly. Banishes her and more. But he always forgives her because all in all love wins.

But Magnificent Century certainly at times should have been introduced to a history book. I like the show, as it is well acted, but their treatment of Suleiman and Hurrem in this respect sticks in my craw.

I am a history buff and a stickler for detail.

It bugs me.

It just does.

[heinkeltheiscariot]

All those people who experience massive butt-burning effects when others RP as Millenium characters and make an exception for people who choose to RP as Walter... how incredibly hypocritical are you, really? :) 

The guy sold out a little kid, and let her crazy uncle try to freaking kill her because he made a deal with Major back then, during the WW2, then, in a critical moment, he betrayed his comrades and Integra. And yet it’s ok to RP as Walter because he’s sassy and not okay to RP as any Millenium character, yeah? Wow. So righteous. Much sense. Walter C. Dornez was a traitor, an accomplice, a piece of shit who was ready to sacrifice anyone for his selfish reasons, the guy literally FOUGHT for nazis - and yet no one is here to call people who choose him as their RP-person bastards and so on. 

No one should get bullied. You attack not the fictional characters, you attack real people who get really upset. You are fucking cowards who prefer to send anon hate and start a fucking crusade in tags. Start with yourself and your holier-than-you attitude. Start with thinking that maybe mass-killer Alucard who tortured innocent people and didn’t give a tiny rat’s ass for a life of a human - is a character who you shouldn’t RP, huh? Or the killers that are Iscariots? Catholics? Or even Pip Bernadotte, who got paid for killing people, ANY people? No? Too hard to argue with that, right?

If you are so unbelievably stupid that you actually think that whitewashing nazis and RP-ing as a fictional character represented in Hellsing as a Nazi for historical accuracy reasons is the same thing, I suggest doing that: go fuck yourself. I’m done being nice and trying to politely explain where the fuck you are wrong. 

This post isn’t directed to one single person and if you are reading this and thinking “omg this is a personal attack on me” - don’t flatter yourself, because it is not a personal attack on someone. If I have a problem with a person, I will go to the person’s messages and tell my problem, no anon needed. This post appeared because of a group of hypocritical people who keep starting the wars in Hellsing fandom again and again and again, and I’m sick of that. Wanna get offended? Go and get offended with the lack of education you received, morons. Stop pursuing people who play the characters they like. 

And if you have so much free time to take part in this fucking war on tumblr... then you have the time to go out and find a job.

[the-fandom-is-now-my-life]

Hc inverse au! Fem Reader in Victorian era England and ynm characters are in our time.

You are a character in an anime and ynm are in real life

Williams

( he seems like the type to be into really dense, historical mangas)

He first read a manga featuring you when one of his students left their copy on their desk and he had to overview some students while they were using the presentation room.

He mostly just sat in the first row while the group of teens were recording hamlet for the theater class.

He didn't really took the story seriously so he started reading a lady who was trying to seduce a noble for a few pages, he was about to leave the manga given that he supposed it was a hentai but when you poisoned them with the wine cup he found it interesting

The main character had a set of very strong ideals that weren't so common in the historical context, be it strip nobles and royals from benefits, be a suffragette, or something similar .He ate the manga in five minutes

When he returns home (and leaves the item in lost objects, ofc) he checks online to buy the first volume to see if the background and sort are interesting along with every other volume and official light novel and Novella . He usually isn't home from very early to very late at night so it would be Louis most likely the one who receives the box with the books

"Brother, did you buy a box full of comics" Louis asks from the kitchen after he feels his older brother returning home

" oh? They already arrived? I thought they would be here next week" well Louis always was worries about how his brother didn't have any hobbies aside from teaching at the University so he was happy that he found something else to do with his life

He would ask for a sick day on a Monday or Friday so he could plan everything that was needed at his class that day and spend the weekend lazing around and reading the various volumes and the light novels. That day Louis and albert almost cried of happiness, that was the first time he took a sick day in all of his teaching years to take a break

The type of fan who creates theories that everything is symbolism, how they are ambidextrous to show that even if they intend good sometimes their methods are too extreme or how their hat was placed or the color of their clothes show their political affiliation. Nothing can be just a coincidence with him, everything means something

Is a big pain in the ass about historical inaccuracies, be it dress, manners or social hierarchy being off

" But listen this is the late Victorian era, where is their crinoline??/ They are supposed to be a Victorian dandy and the writer wants me to believe they would wear that? In that society?" williams turned on the lights to his younger brother room while walking in circles as if he was trying to calm down

" Williams it's 3 am. Please I want to sleep"

" Oh and don't let me get started when they crossdressed/dressed as lady northinburg, that tight lacing scene made me so angry" he was dragging his words, Louis guessed he was sleep drunk " how much I hate that, karolina or bernadette would kill those producers if they saw it" Louis simply opted to sleep while his brother was ranting about how the hairstyles were al wrong

When speaking of merchandising he appreciates his mature and elegant reputation so he would buy small things like cute stationery and notebooks and a few pens. Most of them either are about the main character, you, or have the anime title or something similar

A few students think that the professor brings some childish pens in case some student forgets one and he doesn't have to give them his mechanical pencil. He actually uses those pens when he is grading the exams. His notebook annotations look a lot cleaner and are more colorfully bc of the markers and pens

When and if your manga gets and anime he would be 100 percent bitching about how they skipped, if you are a minor character, scenes where you are introduced or you character gets development.

" Oh my goodness, they skipped to this ark? And 'the mask'? In that ark we get the development of many characters, yn, edward, Amélie, Alex. We are absolutely robed of their backgrounds and aspirations and how they are all connected"

" Brother be honest with yourself, you only wanted more animated yn, you follow their voice actor on twitter"

" That is not my point!"

Albert

he was watching it when he came late

Albert usually keeps company to his youngest brother until around 5-6 pm, then he leaves for work and returns around 12 am and eats dinner alone mostly.

When he returns from his job the house is more often than not totally dark so he makes his way to the kitchen and microwaves the leftovers and eats silently.

But one day it seems like Louis or williams forgot to turn off the TV before going to bed, he was about to turn it off but decided that watching something with the tv muted wouldn't wake his brothers up and kept watching.

He didn't pay much attention to it at the start but it became routine, he comes home, heats the food, sits down and watches that show so he grew quite fond of it

How much attention he pays to it depends on the type of plot it has, if it is light-hearted humor he would most likely not pay much attention but laugh when a joke came, one the other hand, if it's a more serious he would find it hard to take his eyes away from the screen

Second least likely to buy merchandising, if he buys it's mostly to wear home, a one size too big shirt for a pj (mostly for the comedy anime) or, if they aren't childish and look professional maybe a pocket watch like the one x character uses ( in the more serious one)

Won't buy the mangas if there are any because he is happy watching the animated version and already has to read a lot at work, but if he is gifted the volumes he will read them sparingly, maybe he will finish one volume every week and a half, unlike williams.

Louis

He spends most of his time home because of his illness and doesn't like to stress too much given that it makes the symptoms worse, he enjoys light hearted comedies or cooking in the victorian era or those typical time travelers who now have to live in different situations than those they are used to

He most likely found it after doing all the housework and being bored so he opted to browse the TV or netflix and fell on one specific serie

If it is a comedy he will listen to it while cleaning or cooking, he feels like he does everything faster and the housework is more enjoyable that way.

If it's a cooking related program he will watch as entertainment after doing everything and to get ideas what to cook, he is always surprised with the recipes that your character comes up with, be them savory ( things he will absolutely do the next day for lunch or dinner) or sweet ( things he will make more sparingly given he can't have too much sugar). I think of mangas and series like the duchess' 50 te recipes or shokugeki no soma

If it the third option he was interested on the alternatives to modern things, like how to make a more natural soap with animal fat and wood ash, or how to use certain plants to help a headache or stomach bug.

With merchandising he doesn't buy much, some kitchenware and some bowls mugs and maybe a tea set that isn't much of an eyesore. Overall he isn't all that crazy over that kind of things if there is a cooking book he will definitely buy it

He, like albert, doesn't care much about historical accuracy and if the events that happen are cohesive, he is there to have fun

Fred

He watched it because he heard his classmates talk about it and wanted to join them but was too scared to bother them if he didn't know anything. Baby has the social abilities of an anxious lobster

He comes home from college and looks the anime up in his phone and, like every broke college student, he watches it from an illegal streaming service.

He gets hooked up and stays all night watching it until his clock snaps him out of his trance and makes him drag his feet to his 7:30 am class

Fred tries and fails to talk to the group so, after the lesson, he drags himself to his room to be miserable alone. It's not until he reaches a certain chapter or episode where you say something that make him think, " if you wish to be loved you must face first your fear to be known" he keeps thinking about it, he didn't truly ever talk to the group, he cowarded before even trying.

The next week at that same lecture he approaches the group and tries to make some small talk

" Oh hey uhm i heard the past class that you liked (maga name)" he was this close to running to his desk and act as if nothing happened

" Yeah! You like it too?" The boy seemed to notice fred was nervous

" Yes! I really like it, what is you favorite character? Mine is yn" he certainly didn't have any favorite one before but after this he thinks your character is pretty good " they are really inspiring"

In terms of merch he is broke so there is none, If he had any money to spare he would buy notebooks and even those chibi statues or funko pops

[lady0ctavia]

As We Ponder Belief

(2p!Prussia x Reader) - Chapter 5

Note: This story is based vaguely during the mid 1200s in Eastern Europe where the Teutonic Knights fought the Northern Crusades to try and convert the native pagan population to Christianity. As a result, this story will have heavy religious themes all throughout. It should also be noted that, while referencing real-life events and locations, I am not striving for full historical accuracy. This is for the sake of the story I am telling.

Once again, this series will have heavy religious themes throughout, including discussions of bible stories, doctrine, and scripture verses, as well as critical analysis of Christian doctrine and beliefs. So, if you don't like that, you will want to skip out on this.

Gilbert came by later with breakfast for (y/n). However, he came by with a different knight instead of having Gillen by his side. One who, similar to Gillen, remained fairly quiet while Gilbert rambled on and on to (y/n).

I suppose Gillen doesn't want to see me for the time being. I wonder what bothered him?

After finishing her meal, (y/n) thanked the gentlemen before reaching for her crutches.

"Going somewhere?" Gilbert asked, handing her plate and fork to the other knight.

"I want to go for a walk. All I've done since I've gotten here is lay down, sleep, and occasionally go down the hall to use the bathroom. I'm starting to feel a little stir-crazy," She stated, fumbling with her crutches as she slowly brought herself upward.

"Well then, I'll accompany you!" Gilbert proclaimed, gesturing to himself with a hand over his heart, to which (y/n) nodded in approval.

Gilbert stayed beside her as she hobbled out of the room on her crutches. Once in the hall, Gilbert waved the other knight off, which he complied, leaving in the opposite direction.

"Wait, Gilbert. Are we not supposed to have one other person around?" She asked.

"If we were in a closed room, yes. But seeing as we're out and about, we should be fine. Besides, that guy is a bit of a killjoy," Gilbert laughed with his last comment, which was curious to (y/n), seeing as Gillen wasn't the most humorous man either. But even so, something still drew her to him. Was it his eyes? The way he treated her? She wasn't sure.

As the duo went down the hall, she noted that while the floor seemed to be made of wood and tile, the walls were all of reddish brick. Wooden archways stretched up around the walls, criss-crossing along the curved ceilings. Along the brick walls were decorated windows, each one with small, intricate details in the framing. Light shone in through each opening, illuminating the halls while also giving her a view of a green, grassy courtyard outside. (y/n) was surprised by the beauty of the fortress. Earlier she'd just quickly shuffle down the hall and back again. But now that she was taking her time, she could see just how lovely the architecture truly was. As she slowly hobbled across the floor, she realized that the air felt a little too quiet.

"Say, Gilbert," She started, prompting a hum from the man walking by her side. "Where are the other knights? It feels sort of barren here right now."

"Some of the knights are off doing patrols around the area. Others are riding out to warn other villages of the rising pagan threat. Other knights are potentially going to stay in those villages to protect the residents. The only reason Gillen and I are staying here is to keep an eye on you," He stated matter-of-factly. "After what happened with your village, the knights are on high alert."

(y/n) felt a pang of sadness in her chest at the mention of her now-decimated village, as well as a shiver up her spine, recalling the hellish visuals of that night. Gilbert must have sensed her change in mood, or at the very least understood it was a touchy subject because he followed up with a likewise response.

"I know that Captain Nikolaus went to apologize to you the other day. Saying that he takes responsibility. But," He sighed, running a hand through his white hair. "I wanted you to know that I'm sorry, too. We all are. What happened that night should have never been. We kept two guards by the town to alert us of any warning signs of an attack, but apparently, the pagans were sneaky. And on that night they struck so quickly that they barely had time to react. One guard survived, but the other was killed."

Upon hearing about the guards in her village, (y/n) recalled the image of a knight with ice-blue eyes. "Gilbert, was the guard that survived Gillen, by chance?"

"He was," Gilbert seemed surprised. "You mean to tell me you met him before the attack?"

"Not exactly," (y/n) admitted. "I just saw him earlier that day."

Gilbert nodded in acknowledgment. As the knight and the maiden continued their stroll, she began to wonder about Gillen. In particular, how he behaved earlier that day.

"Gilbert, can I ask you a question about your brother?" She asked.

"Depends on the question," He smirked.

"I think I bothered him earlier today."

"What makes you think that?" Gilbert looked in her direction, raising a brow as the two of them rounded a corner, continuing their stroll.

"Well," (y/n) started. "Earlier when he was changing my bandages we got to talking about how he happens to be both a doctor and a knight. He explained that he was aiming to work in a hospital in the Holy Land, but when I asked him why he was here and not there, he seemed to get upset. He refused to answer my last question, instead just heading out as soon as the treatment was finished."

Gilbert looked ahead and sucked in a breath through gritted teeth. "Well you see, here's the thing. The Teutonic Order itself actually began as a charity organization in Jerusalem. Specifically a hospital. The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary. This hospital was established to help aid pilgrims coming to the Holy Land. However, when the Holy Roman Emperor and the Pope set their sights on spreading Christianity throughout Eastern Europe, they declared that the knights should leave their post in Jerusalem to fulfill this new mission.

"It was during this time, or shortly afterward, that Gillen and I were to join the knights. I only joined as a knight, by the way, I'm no doctor. I would have just gone down to defend pilgrims. Anyway... So instead of going down to the Holy Land as a doctor like he initially planned, he ended up getting wrapped up in a crusade he didn't ask for."

(y/n) took the time to digest his words, taking in the information. While listening she began to feel a great deal of sympathy for Gillen. So that's why. He had all these plans for his future, only for life to rip the rug out from under him.

"That sounds terrible," (y/n) commented.

"Eh, yes and no," Gilbert gave a light, half-hearted shrug before continuing. "While it is true that he didn't want to come up north, he still gets to be a doctor up here while still fulfilling the other duties of the Teutonic Order. As well as taking the same vows and whatnot."

"Vows?" (y/n)'s interest was piqued. "What are the vows? I knew a vow of celibacy was one, but there are others?"

Gilbert nodded, grinning ear to ear, as if thrilled to share some of what he knew, or at the very least gush about the order itself. "When a man joins the Order of the Teutonic Knights, he takes upon himself three vows; poverty, obedience, and celibacy. Very similar to the brothers of the Knights Templar, believe it or not," Gilbert said matter-of-factly before going into an explanation.

"The vow of poverty says that we are to have very few personal belongings. We each have only one or two changes of clothes, and some of us even keep a bible on hand. Everything else is shared by the brothers of the Order. The vow of obedience is fairly straightforward. We vow to follow and obey God and the Virgin Mary, as well as the Master of the Order and his eventual successors, even until death." Gilbert and (y/n) rounded another corner before he continued.

"And lastly, the vow of celibacy. With this, we promise not only to the Order, but to God, that we will never marry, nor have any sexual relations of any kind. Granted, there are some exceptions to this last one. Some brothers decide to do a half-service to the Order, helping only with a campaign or two. Those men may have a wife back home, or be able to marry once their service is complete. But for those of us here, we're full-time knights. So we take that particular vow quite seriously."

(y/n) nodded along, continuing to hobble along her crutches to keep up with Gilbert. "I see," she replied, "I'll be honest, I did not realize so much went into being a knight in the order. It almost sounds a little stressful. Why such strict rules?"

"They are to help us fulfill our duties as warriors of Christ!" Gilbert took a step back to stand before (y/n), balling his hands into fists and placing them on his hips, puffing out his chest with pride.

"And to keep you from acting out and getting off-task."

A familiar voice interrupted the conversation. Turning around, (y/n) and Gilbert were met with Gillen making his way down the hall. (y/n) felt her heart stop for a moment as he came forward, the memories of that morning surging back to her. As well as their conversation and the unfortunate way it ended.

Gillen sighed. "Gilbert, I asked you to come by and help me in the infirmary as soon as you were done serving (y/n) breakfast."

Gilbert comically responded with a sheepish grin and a dramatic shrug of his arms. "She got bored and wanted to walk around. Like I was going to let her wander off by herself!" He snickered, his tone containing a twinge of self-righteousness.

Gillen only shook his head before casting his eyes upon (y/n), who appeared to flinch at his gaze. His eyes felt cold. "Are you feeling well?" He asked.

"Just a little sore," she admitted, trying not to look him in the eye. "I should be fine, though."

As if sensing her discomfort, he responded, saying, "If you are uneasy about earlier, please do not worry about it. It is just procedure." He then turned to his older twin brother. "If you would, please escort Miss (l/n) back to her room. Judging by the distance, I would say she's had enough walking today. After which I need you in the infirmary," Gillen turned on his heel and headed back down the hall, but not without adding another comment. "I need your help making sure I have enough bandages and herbs for any knights that may come in injured over the next few days."

After making a small comment about his brother being almost as much of a killjoy as the other knight from before, he helped (y/n) turn around and head back down the hall.

Previous Chapter - Next Chapter

Alright, this one feels much better than the version I initially posted. As always, let me know what you think!

[juminly]

Hellooo 🌸 I was wondering if you can write a few IkemenVampire headcanons related to ballroom dancing? If I would choose characters it would be Comte, Theodorus, and Napoleon?

Hello there! ❤ This ask literally made my day! I absolutely adore ballroom so I’m just gonna let my imagination run and take you on this ride with me! 

PS: A lot of the dance styles that I will be mentioning are a bit more modern so kindly disregard the historical/timeline accuracy. This is just a speculation of what they would enjoy and also portray a certain aspect of their personality (in my humble opinion). Also, I am no expert in ballroom dancing so there might be some inaccuracy. 

For each dance style, a song was chosen. Feel free to play it, close your eyes and imagine yourself dancing with your suitor. Comte de Saint-Germain 

Was there any type of ballroom dance this man couldn’t do? The answer is no. But, for the sake of writing this, I’ll be choosing one… try to.

This man is the incarnation of grace and the sight of him alone is enough to make one whimper. He will have you joined by the hip, his shoulders and back in perfect posture while he holds you up and he anchors you to him. He guides you around the dancefloor and it’s simply effortless. What other than a slow waltz?

It wouldn’t even matter if you fumble on your feet, he guides you across in a seamless trajectory as you danced around the dancefloor as rhythmically as the serene ebb and flow of a river.

He smiles down at you and watches how your hair just floats around you, making you appear like an otherworldly creature, an apparition of something holy and sacred. You were his treasure and he held you in a way that foretold his deep adoration for you.

His loving gaze would linger on your face, watching how your cheeks grow light shades of rose by the second from the movement but also the intimacy of his embrace.  

The slow tempo of the music and the dance gives him all the time to marvel at your beauty and appreciate your presence with him while his feet glide almost thoughtlessly on the ground, seemingly carrying you around.

The moment you would step onto the dancefloor, you were both captivated with another, living in a world where only the two of you existed. He would lean down and whisper softly in your ear, his voice velvety low “Vous êtes absolument ravissante, ma chérie.”

And while he danced with you, he would recite to you the most romantic of words, written by him and by other writers.

He quoted Honore de Balzac to you, his husky voice seeping into your skin and propelling your entire existence into a frenzy of heightened emotions. Anything he said to you in French, he would later on translate it, rendering you even more speechless.

“Tu as tout ce qui me plaît. Tu exhales pour moi, le parfum le plus enivrant qu'une femme puisse avoir, cela seul est un trésor d'amour. Je t'aime avec un fanatisme qui n'exclut pas cette ravissante quiétude d'un amour sans orages possibles. Oui, dis-toi bien que je respire par l'air que tu aspires, que je ne puis jamais avoir d'autre pensée que toi. Tu es la fin de tout pour moi.”

Comte simply made it hard to breathe.

Song choice would be: Earned It (Slowed) by the Weekend.

Another style of ballroom dance that this man would absolutely excel in: the Argentinian Tango.

Rest assured that the moment you slide your body against his, his hands traveling and tracing the curves and lines of your body, your legs twining with one another and he’s got you ensnared and he doesn’t plan on letting you go.

Theodorus Van Gogh

You cannot deny that this man exudes a unique sense of elegance.

Yes, he can be an asshole sometimes, pretty blunt and seems inconsiderate and selfish but he is much more than that. First impressions shouldn’t last for long and they don’t especially when you get to know more about him.

Considering his upbringing and his line of work, this man possesses almost envious poise and frustrating charm (you just can’t resist him even if you want to smack his smug handsome face).

You absolutely wouldn’t expect it from him but this man knows how to have fun and he takes you on an exhilarating ride. Out of all dances, the one he enjoys the most is the quickstep.

What was most surprising was the excitement that oozed from him and the challenge in his eyes.

This was such a different side to him but boy, this man knows how to show a girl some good fun (especially if he is completely smitten with her… and you were the lucky girl).

He is surprisingly quick on his feet and his smile would stretch across his face while he guides you around, one chassé after another, as he twirled around

It’s a wild ride, your heart hammering hard in your chest with the melody booming around the room and your laughter echoing so harmoniously, blessing this man with the most pleasant sound he’s ever heard.

The music is upbeat and his feet meticulously shuffle with exquisite coordination and fluidity as he literally floats on the ground, running across the ballroom like he owned the damn place.

He would definitely tease you and call you a clumsy Knabbeltje when you would trip. However, he’d just hold you even tighter and continue moving like a marionette controlled so skillfully.

He secretly loves the fact that you have to rely on him to guide you and teach you the steps. He wants to be able to share these moments of happiness with you and create more of them too.

He looks liberated and carefree, like the world is his for the taking as long as he has you in his arms. You never thought you would ever see such an expression on this man’s face but there are so many sides to him that the world has yet to see.

Song choice would be: The World Is Mine by Hooverphonic. (and with you, he feels so divine)

On a more sensual note, this man doesn’t give an absolute damn. He wants to claim every single inch of you, your bodies flush against one another and touching you even where his hands cannot reach.

What other than the bachata? If you still weren’t physically intimate with one another, you would definitely know, feel and see how intensely this man craved you. His gaze would be heavy with yearning and his touch and movements beyond tantalizing.

You had absolutely no idea that Theodorus could roll his hips like that. The moment he did, he smirked as you bit your lips, clearly affected by his very obvious ministrations.

It made your heart flutter and your skin grow hotter as your desire and need for him would heighten with every beat of the music.

This melody and vibe of this song absolutely describes the rise of emotions and the slow burn of desire that would eventually consume you: Crazy (Bachata Remix by DJ Karui) covered by Daniela Andrade.

Napoleon

What else would you expect from the former Emperor of France? A dance that is inspired by the military: the Paso Doble.

The movement of your bodies was fierce, a battle of dominance between lovers, the collision of unbridled lust and love fused into one.

Your eyes locked on his, unable to look away. He wouldn’t even allow it, even if you wanted to. His eyes were gleeful and his smile was almost diabolical as you paced around each other, linking your arms together as you pushed yourselves against one another and pulled away.

There was no telling who was the predator and who was the prey and it made it all the more exciting… undeniably exhilarating.

You could feel the adrenaline rushing through your veins while your heart pumped loudly in your chest, almost to the point of aching, your heartbeats ringing loudly in your ears.

The atmosphere around you was dense and the tension was so tangible and almost unbearable. Every moment your bodies would meet, the inexorable need within you was too hard to ignore and it threatened to make you crumble.

The moment one of you backed down, the other would be victorious and you knew that Napoleon was starved for victory, his eyes already feasting on you the way he would when he’d make love to you.

He loved to see you display such strength before a fighter such as himself. You were astonishing as you challenged him head-on and your dances (fights) would always end with a searing kiss.

Song choice would be: Hisoka’s Theme by Yoshihisa Hirano

Feedback and comments are much appreciated ❤ I hope you enjoyed this ^~^ Masterlist

[dearamericaroyaldiaries]

Get In Losers. We’re Going Witch Hunting

I Walk in Dread- 1691(-1692), Deliverance Trembly

By Lisa Rowe Fraustino

Don’t judge the picture. Google had no images that I felt comfortable using license wise so I took a (bad) picture of my copy.

Age of Protagonist: 12

#ReadingThoughts

-Before I even start I am digging the Puritan names. First Remember Patience and now Deliverance (and I would come to find ANOTHER MEM!!).

-My edition looses points or not having a ribbon even though it’s hardcover. This negatively impacts my reading experience for Reasons.

-Hold it. Is her uncles’ name really Razor Strap? I know Puritans were big on using random phrases from the Bible for their naming, but is that really a phrase in the Bible? Also, Sister Mem had me confused it was Mem from the last book for a hot second.

-SO do Mem and Deliverance just live with their uncle? Just the three of them? (The answer I quickly found was yes.)

-I appreciate the lesson on town politics. That's important for the Salem area in 1692ish.

-I am confused by what’s happening with the year. Why is it Dec 31, 1691, then Jan. 1, 1691, and then Jan. 2, 1691/2. There is a bullshit explanation in the about the author section. If you’re worried about Accuracy when it comes to the Julian vs Gregorian calendar, put something in the text. You’re average grade schooler isn’t going to jump to that . If I remember correctly, there’s something about the Gregorian calendar differing from the Julian calendar in the Anastasia book that is handled better. Liv explains other things to the reader, why not this?

-Why is a 12 year old more responsible than a 17 year old? Especially in 1692. Mem should at least have a higher opinion of herself in the family hierarchy and be preparing to keep her own house as a wife.

-Again, I feel Mem should be more mature than Liv.

-Liv can use her sister’s boy-craziness to her advantage. Mem is willing to shovel shit if there are attractive members of the opposite sex in the vicinity.

-Allergies=Witchcraft. That explains so much about me and my life. Though I suppose it makes sense from a 17th century Puritan POV.

-Mem wants to be a stepmom to 9 kids all of whom are most likely closer to her age than she would be to the potential husband?  The last part might not be a big concern in the time period but good gracious that’s too many kids for my liking.

-Age update- some of the kids would be older than her or her age.

-I feel the average target reader would need an explanation of what “God’s Elect” means. Most 12 year olds don’t have a strong grasp on post-Reformation Protestant Theology.

-Poor Liv. She wants to fit un but is failing spectacularly.

-Is Liv going to be among the accused? She’s not on the best of terms with the accusers and has been or will be associated with at least three people who were accused and killed.

- They used the strong trick for loose teeth in the 17th century? I have no evidence or data to argue one side or the other but I am suspicious. Somewhat amused, but suspicious.

-I find the tithing man hilarious. I want a stick with a fuzzy rabbit foot on one end and a knob for whacking people on the other. Also, he deserved getting thumped back by the one guy,

-I am calling bullshit on Goody Corey sniffing out only girl scent. Either it’s a bit or she’s a witch, not her husband. (Spoilers: He’s accused and refuses to confess so the town can’t take his land and is pressed to death while trying to get a confession. Post reading note: I totally forgot/didn’t know that Goody Corey was also accused and killed.)

-I don’t know really anything about the real Goody Corey, but she seems like a stand-in for an enlightened modern person, above the provincial notions of witchcraft and the commonplace racism toward Amer Indians. I’m not saying everyone thought they were the devil, but a majority thought that they were superior to the indigenous peoples of the American colonies.

-Mr. Cooper’s letter is too vague! We need deets!

-Because this is told through Livs’ eyes everyone asking about their uncle and checking in on them comes off as invasive and nosy but as an adult, a twelve year old and a seventeen year old have been left on a farm by themselves for almost two months at this point is an issue. Is he ever coming back?

-WHAT!? Goody Corey has a bi-racial son born when she was estranged from her first husband? Prepare for a wikipedia tangent because I had to a a google to corroborate this. Wikepedia backs this up but what it doesn’t back up is the timeline. I read her as in her 40s or 50s in the book. According to wikepedia (don’t judge me, it’s good for basic facts and a starting point) she was 72ish in 1692 and this biracial son was her first child who would have been 50ish at this point and was born before Martha Corey was ever married. *End Tangent* Good for her though if she did indeed five her husband an earful after Liv left.

-Hold on. Mr. Cooper wants to talk to Uncle Razor Strap about Mem marrying Darcy, not him. Mem is gonna be devastated.

-Would electricity have been a concept a) known in 1692 and b) be well enough known that a random 12 year old in the colonies with little formal schooling would be comfortable enough using the phrase “electrical lightning.” No, I will not be googling this. Googling historical facts is one thing, googling sciencey things is another thing entirely,

-Did the girls hear the stories and then claim to have witnessed ZYX or did they independently corroborate the stories? One is much less suspect than the other.

-At this point I wonder will we ever meet Uncle Razor Strap? Is he dead? Is he trying to get back to Salem? Is he abandoning them?

-I feel the leap to “Am I a witch?” after having a weird dream about nursing a baby Sarah Goode is sensible as someone who has been about to call the Vatican several times when their period was late. In those cases clearly the only explanation was pregnancy, even when physically impossible just as being a witch is Livs’ conclusion here. 

-Hopefully the girls can just get out of the Salem area soon and the landlord giving them to the end of the month is a neat enough excuse.

-So Mem thinks that Goody Corey is a witch but is okay with Liv going over there?

-How scary it would be to worry that the one family member you have in the area, who should be protecting you because you’re 12, might accuse you of witchcraft.

-I am delighted the the horse can act as a chaperone. Really? Okay.

-How does the horse give permission to whisk a fainted person into the house? It’s a horse.

-So now Mem is forcing Liv to read her diary to her. Rude.

Thoughts on the Afterward

Meh. Mem marries Darcy but dies young so Liv gets her man. They return to Salem. They don’t go West like they talked about. Liv has a gagillion great grands. No one ever fount her journal. Meh. I’m happy she was happy and all but meh.

Overall Thoughts After Reading

It took almost 200 pages to get through four months. I think I just don’t care for the author. I should have liked this book. It ticks multiple boxes that should be my jam but something about it just... is a no for me. Maybe it’s because I have zero nostalgia for this book. It took me about 4.5 months to get through this book and finding it boring is one of them. No one seems like a well rounded character who has any growth. Last book Mem had a whole arc where she came to terms with losing her mother  but this time Liv didn’t really seem to change or grow.

I had high hopes. This book came out right as I was aging out of Dear America but I remember the hype around it on the Scholastic website. (Yes I was a wee nerd who hung out on the Scholastic website.) Sadly I was disappointed.

Also, we nope out of the actual trials. The first trial wasn’t held until JUNE. The book ends on April 30. Yes, we get to see the initial hysteria and flurry of accusations and arrests, but this was just the beginning. This seems like a cop-out.

Rating: 3/10 Sisterly Cat-Fights

Other contenders included False Accusations (this one seemed unfair because while I believe no one who was accused of witchcraft during the Salem Witch Hysteria was actually practicing witchcraft, I can’t say with confidence that the accusers were all lying. They may have believed honestly that they were afflicted by witches so calling them false accusations seem disingenuous.) and Bible Verses because Puritans. In the end, I had to honor the brutal way Mem and Live went after each other. Apparently in addition to being sickly, Mem was also small because how else could a 12 year old take her 17 year old sister like that. 

[chemicalpink]

Hey, I hope you are doing good this was a thing that was wondering me so there are lot of bts future spouse /soulmate/twinflame videos being made on youtube and honestly everyone is being psychic like it has become a shitshow and what was previously just for curiosity fun and entertainment are becoming extremely emotionally invested in the topic especially for maknae line soulmate it would be interesting if the can do a tarot reading or your spiritual experience why is the future spouse saga turning ugly and does universe what us to know something through it !? Because it's becoming pretty crazy right now

Okay so I believe that yes, the spiritual part has a lot to do behind this occurrence, but I also think its roots lay on psicosocial matters and honestly I could go on for days about this but I’ll try to restrict it to a few points that you’ve mentioned

Why all of a sudden everyone seems to be tarot readers/astrologers/psychic?

The capitalism behind celebrities and how does that play a part in what is going on?

Are these people accurate at all?

How does energy shifting play a part in this?

Is the soulmate journey even something a third person would be able to note?

But first a Disclaimer: this opinion/rant is based on my experience with spirituality, I am obviously a mere mortal, so I do not hold the absolute truth. Spirituality is a constant learning process and it is open to discussion and interpretation of each person. I am also now a proud sociologist graduate that specialises in a lot of the stuff that has to do with what anon is asking, I’m a social behaviouralist applied to the entertainment industry as well but I’ll also provide my resources in the end.

A/N: Some of you might not yet be ready to read all of this, if I see ANY of you trying to start beef with me, even after the disclaimer, I'm gonna block you. If you want to talk more about it or want to discuss it further, DO SO OFF ANON. ISTG you’ve been warned, I’ve been working on this for the longest time, it even has resources to back all of it up! I’m so glad anon asked, I’m done being diplomatic on this topic (I know people that usually ask stuff are so respectful and i love you guys for it, this note is for those people that regularly jump on my asks to stir things up)

You guys are in for a whole academic article if you decide to read this

SO FUN AND EXCITINGGGG Let us start with behavioural economics as our base to understand the whole phenomenon, it's such a broad and kinda complex concept (especially since I’m trying to extrapolate it to this particular scenario) so let me do my best. It has a lot to do with trend following, although at least to me, it's unclear how exactly this content came to be (soulmate readings, channeling messages, etc) I am guessing it had something to do with an intersectionality between the general spirituality boom that we’ve met with during the pandemic and some person that just as any other marketable opportunity, saw a bridge between fandom life and this spiritual life (both prominent trends in the last two years or so) and honestly, it worked perfectly, whatever their initial intentions were, they threw out a new “product” and it kind of sold itself, two different trends coming together… turned into a behavioural game theory where if you played the part that allows your content to be consumed, you’ll get rewarded for it. In more simple words, tarot meets fandoms (alternatively, tarot meets BTS) is great as it is! but the fan behaviour (which we’ll talk about in a bit) positions the most private parts of the celebrities’ lives to be much more interesting than things that we are already able to see (personal experience, love readings do so much better than idk career readings and it all comes down to behavioural trends of perceiving ‘love’ as something very intimate)

Now, this is where we’ll begin to talk about capitalism as a whole, even in non-monetary systems like social media, where it takes more of a rewarding system via likes, views, reblogs, etc. The whole principle of us living in such a system is being aspirational, we see others profiting off of something, we might want to reach out and do the same so we can profit ourselves, which honestly, I think is what happened with the whole BTS soulmate readings boom, they get a lot of attention, and as a basic market law, as demand goes up and a few people that initially did these readings are no longer capable to satisfy the need of the people wanting to know all the tea, there are market opportunities for other people to do the same thing and increase the offer, although since this whole theory is behavioural, it is very context-dependant, which ends up not following the principle of the consumers being rational about how much and what content they consume, they just sort of consume all of it, regardless of whether the content creator is qualified to offer such content or not, which ultimately only adds onto a never ending cycle of more people claiming they are tarot readers/astrologers/psychics and fear nothing because this is the internet, you don't really have to enter any qualifications to be able to create content, whether someone is reliable in internet terms is basically all about how many likes they’ve got (which is why I always tell you guys to please consume content responsible).

When it comes to accuracy- I guess that’s the hardest part of all, we can’t just have pointers that would automatically tells us if someone’s craft is valid or not, since everyone’s craft is different all craft is valid to a certain extent (you can easily find scammers of course but that’s another story) what we can have are personal standards and deciding what content to consume or whose content to consume, but that’s entirely a personal decision and since so many people are invested in it- it seems really hard that these “market tendencies” might change any time soon. On that same note of accuracy, I really feel the need to talk about a major occurrence I’ve come across in this whole soulmate scene, minors. Now, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with being a minor and approaching spirituality (I was very much a minor when I started) but there’s a huge difference between just playing around and deciding to create content for the whole world to have access to. Of course I’m aware not all tarot readers in the BTS fandom are minors, and ARMY is very diverse and even if they were only minors it would be wrong to invalidate them, but we can’t ignore the statistics of it when touching this particular topic, according to 2020 data, 50,31% of ARMY are below 18 years old, and 42,59% are between 18-29 but why is this important? because the exact historical and economic moment we are living in mainly impacts these two age groups, thus making all 92,90% of ARMY a potential target to consuming or falling in a behavioural game theory of creating this content without them necessarily being qualified for it. But hey, why do you keep talking about the importance of being qualified? Glad you asked, creating spiritual content all comes down to one amazing term: accountability.

And this will explore two main phases of it, one applicable for that 50,31% that could potentially be drawn to create spiritual content and other for the 42,59% that could potentially be dragged to creating that content without much spiritual knowledge. For the first one, it has a lot to do with cognitive aspects, young people tend to do stuff without much further thought about how their actions impact other people, which, as they should, they are kids, they shouldn’t have to worry too much about emotional responsibility as us adults do, furthermore, they are in life stages where they can’t really comprehend many abstract concepts that we later learn in life, and spirituality is one of those concepts, so they tend to just have fun with it with no regards on how their content might impact other minors (this is where the whole feeding a false scenario that is potentially delusional in exchange of more views, likes comes into play) on a more spiritual level, they also aren’t able to comprehend the boundaries of the celebrities they’re reading for, us readers have to always be careful about the information we give out since it is not ours to give. As for the second group, some of this is still applicable since theorists consider a full cognitive maturity until 23 years of age, but since it is very intersectional itself, i would found it more to a spiritual responsibility, since they are young adults, and if they haven’t been spiritually guided as kids, they’re most probably eager to learn and just awakening yet to some of them the drive to this spirituality is content creation instead of inner work, so they get their hands on a tarot deck, might kind of read a few things, call it a day and start reading for BTS (note: not all of them, I’m aware)

As for the maknae line being the most sought out people with this content, I guess it kinda makes sense now that I’ve said all of the information above, maknae line is closest to the age group of 92,90% of ARMY, so they instantly become more marketable to this content creation and the whole Game Theory that we are seeing. With all that being said, and just adding a note coming from my own spiritual experience, soulmates in any form are a difficult topic for a third person to prode, which is why I, personally, tend to not touch that topic, love is one hell of a concept, especially since we all have different conceptions of love and interpersonal relationships. I do know for a fact that there’s only so far we can go in terms of fated connections, like with astrology, but even then, we would have to know their birth times exactly (so we can check for any indicator or a soulmate connection), and/or compare BTS with the rest of the world’s population in order to accurately tell if someone has a soulmate synastry/overlay/composite with them. Also, soulmate journeys are intimate and we are all just fans, what right do we even have to look for things that do not and will never belong to us?

This is why I’m always telling you guys to PLEASE consume content responsibly! Really! Us content consumers also have our part to play that can help us get more accurate, more drama-free content

REFERENCES (what? you thought I was joking? they’re in alphabetical order)

ARMYCENSUS 2020

Loewenstein, G., O’Donoghue, T., & Rabin, M. (2003). Projection bias in predicting future utility. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 118(4), 1209-1248.

March, J. G. (1978). Bounded rationality, ambiguity, and the engineering of choice. The Bell Journal of Economics, 9(2), 587-608.

Markus, H. R., & Kitayama, S. (1991). Culture and the self: Implications for cognition, emotion and motivation Psychological Review, 98, 224-253.

Mazar, N., Amir, O., & Ariely, D. (2008). The dishonesty of honest people: A theory of self-concept maintenance. Journal of Marketing Research, 45(6), 633-644.

Murphy, S. T., & Zajonc, R. B. (1993). Affect, cognition, and awareness: Affective priming with optimal and suboptimal stimulus exposures. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64, 723-729.

Samson, A., & Voyer, B. (2014). Emergency purchasing situations: Implications for consumer decision-making. Journal of Economic Psychology, 44, 21-33.

Schwartz, B. (2004). The paradox of choice: Why more is less. New York: Ecco.

Shah, A. K., & Oppenheimer, D. M. (2008). Heuristics made easy: an effort-reduction framework. Psychological Bulletin, 134(2), 207-222.

Thaler, R. H. (2015). Misbehaving: The making of behavioral economics. Allen Lane.

Thaler, R. H. (2008). Mental accounting and consumer choice. Marketing Science, 27, 15-25.

Wood, W., & Neal, D. T. (2009). The habitual consumer. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 19, 579-592.

[ryukyuan-sunflower]

I have been reading your fuugen monster of a fic (which hands down is the landmark fanfiction of this fandom) and i just wanted to say that i am so unbelievably in awe of your talent, and bain, and skills and reading that story genuinely has changed my view of fuugen and made it so much more...real. I cannot thank you enough for all that you have done for this fandom and yet all i can do is try so; Thank you. So so much 💕

Wow. ...Please excuse me for a moment. I just need to grab a glass of water. 

... *wipes eyes with tissue* 

 Huh? Oh, I um...spilled the water. In my eyes. Ahem. Where was I? Ah, yes. 

 I'm glad that my fanfic has allowed you to see Fuugen in a new light. More "real" as you said. Actually, that's why the story features so many flashbacks to the anime in key moments. Though, it's assumed that Mugen and Fuu are falling in love as the journey goes on, the flashbacks reveal that they already were in love all along in the anime. But circumstances always worked against them before...like Fuu getting thrown in a brothel in Episode 4...and Mugen going back to save her, but she never finds out. So now, being thrown in a brothel AGAIN in Chapter 17-19, we see a familiar occurrence, yet with all new circumstances and outcomes for Mugen and Fuu. So I guess I'm trying to not only tie up loose ends (like Yatsuha and Hankichi in Chapters 13-15) but also untying the knots that Mugen and Fuu missed out on in the anime. 

 Finding the Four Eyed Samurai...WITH YOU? still requires a LOT of work. There's still 15 chapters to go. And I'm sure you noticed that the earliest chapters are...well, written VERY poorly by comparison of the later ones. 

I originally started writing it 9 years ago, when I was 13/14. Thank you for carrying on through the earliest ones. Even some of the later ones need work too. The only ones that are currently in my mind, "done" with need of minor fixes, are Chapters 13-19 and 32-45. Everything else, particularly 1-12, needs overhauls.

 Since Chapter 45, the end of the Tsuru and Giri arc, I have not been writing Chapter 46. Instead, I have dedicated time to rewriting from the ground up. 

 Currently, I'm working on the rework of the "ghost arc", which is now a whole episodic story, with side characters, a mystery plot, and somehow, more Fuugen highlights. Fuu and Mugen sharing a bed? Well, that's about the extent of what has stayed intact, but for a far more logical, and plot driven reason, if you can believe that. No pointless fluff anymore. Not in this fanfic. But you'll have to wait and see how this happens XD 

 On fanfiction right now, it's still the same two chapters from all those years ago... But I am extending it to a four-chapter story. I have the first two chapters of it completed, and working on the third. However, even when I finish all four parts, I can't post it on the website, as some of the details in it retcon other things in earlier chapters. 

 (If anyone else is interested in reading the rewrites before they get posted on the website in May or June, please let me know! I have so much content finished that I can't post!!) 

 Most majorly, Mugen and Fuu in the retcon will meet in Yokosuka. Not Edo. This is because the ghost chapters will take place in Edo, as part of historical accuracy and reference to real history and mythos of the ghost this arc is being based off of. Yokosuka chosen as the retcon place they reunite in, is in reference to "Letters from Yokosuka" by Nujabes. It is also in reference to the fact that Yokosuka is known historically for where Commodore Matthew Perry from America first landed to open trade with Japan: a nod to the chanpuru concept of American Hiphop meeting Japanese history. 

 Because of these certain retcons, it sucks that I have to wait until i finish ALL the retcons, instead of arc by arc, like I'd initally been doing. I'd already posted the brothel arc rewrite, and then the Yatsuha arc rewrite after. But now...I can't post the ghost arc. It may take until May or June to have them all done...

If you ever wonder if rewrites have been posted yet, check out my Fanfiction profile, where I post what I have recently finishing revising. 

 Aside from the rewrites though, an all new will be posted after that. 

Chapter 46 will star Jin. He hasn't been featured since Chapter 28, when Shino was confirmed pregnant, and we meet the two boys, Norio and Mirai. His little makeshift family and new way of life will be the focus. Strangely enough, writing about him has gotten me...emotional?...Perhaps because he is still separated from his best friends... And, well...the end of the last arc just happened, and he has no idea what his friends are going through. He will be in his own state of distress for reasons he can't quite place. It's almost like they're all still connected, even when they're apart. 

 But anyway, I work on this fanfic every single day now, whenever I have free time. I remember, for nine years I took suuuper long hiatuses. But, ever since Covid-19 struck, inspiration and motivation struck me too. 

Everything was getting so crazy in the world, and I just wanted to give a little glimmer of happiness to readers who were still waiting. In the darkest, most hopeless moments of my life, there were so many readers that sent me such kind reviews and comments about the story. 

 But during 2020 and now, my life is ironically at its very best. So...I wanted to return the favor to everyone who had no idea what their words helped me persevere through. I am so blessed to still have such supportive and enthusiastic readers, even after all these years. If there is ever month long hiatuses (like now. I havent updated since December), know that I am actually working on it obsessively. 

 Your words mean so much to me. More than you will ever know. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. 

 OH BOY. I need water again. What a long tangent this turned into. 

I hope that, no matter how long it takes, you will continue to read and enjoy this journey to find the Four-Eyed samurai to the very end. ...More importantly, will Mugen ever get his 100 damn dumplings?! 

 In the meantime, I hope you enjoy my many Fuugen proof posts on Tumblr as well!