#it's giving clair it's French

[chaoticnerdsstuff]

Sketched my pookie Maleficent

[deadgirlsam]

we just got a haircut a day ago and i was really devastated over it until someone said it looks like late seasons sam hair ^.^

[the-halfling-prince]

Outlander S3:

Marseli: Listen here, you English whore-

Claire: 😶

Fergus: Hey that's my mom don't call my mommy a whore

[servantofthefates]

The Gift of Claircognizance

What is it?

The word is made up of two: the French “clair”, meaning clear, and “cognizance”, which means knowing. “Clear knowing”. The ability to know things without realizing how.

Such knowledge can be about a person’s true intentions, authentic feelings or real worth; the right path to take; or what really happened to a missing object or person.

Who bestows it?

You could be the first in your bloodline to receive this gift from the divine. Or it could be something you inherited from one of your ancestors.

In my family’s faith, it is specifically Uranus, Neptune and Pluto who give this present.

It comes from a power that science is incapable of explaining or accepting.

Where does the knowing come from?

It is different for everybody.

For some, it is knowledge subtly and quickly installed in your mind by a supernatural being: a deity, an ancestor, a ghost or an entity.

For others, it is a result of amplified logical thinking: an ability to read people’s facial expressions and gestures, or a talent for deductive reasoning.

Can I trust it?

Countless people claim to have claircognizance, when really, what they have is just a penchant for jumping to conclusions.

To be certain you have this gift, make a record of every knowing that comes to you. After some time, write down whether you were wrong or right.

If at least nine out of every ten instances have proven to be reliable, then you are a bona fide claircognizant. If seven to eight were correct, you might have this gift, but you still need to develop it. Anything less than seven is just luck, and that is not something one should trust.

[chefkids]

thoughts on this article: https://dnyuz.com/2024/06/29/the-bear-jeremy-allen-white-explains-why-carmy-daydreams-of-sydney/

Sorry but I refuse to believe that Carmy finds peace in Sydney because she's just such a wonderful coworker. His panic attack in Season 2 was about his relationship with Claire and his family, nothing at all work related. He was not thinking about "Wow Sydney has some serious cooking skills!" there. He thought of the first time her met her, and when she came back to him when he thought she was gone forever. He has also worked with the best chef's on this planet with far better skills than Sydney, many of whom were calming and supportive presence in his life.

In Season 3 the thing that sets him off is seeing an imagine of meeting Claire in his mind. Then he is reminded of his fight with Richie.

He tries to think of The French Laundry and then Noma to calm down. Then he tries to think of Nat at Marcus's mom's funeral.

And only after that when Sydney talks to him he calms down. He's always stressing about work, in that moment the trigger was Claire, not work, and the peace was Sydney. Not because she is helping him do his job or work, but because her presence brings him peace and pulls him away from what causes him anxiety, which is remembering Claire who is tied in his mind to so much family trauma.

You can't shoot down what was already written! Carmy took Claire to Sheridan Road and Post Office like UPS, those are both tied to Sydney. He made her Sydney's pasta that led to her coming to him. He had a far more intense and passionate moment with her under the table making promises of prioritizing her over his girlfriend, never letting her fail, promising to always be there for her, giving her the most thoughtful gift one could imagine. Far more than he has ever had with Claire.

So what he's trying to say is that they have this deep cosmic connection, intense passion, and she brings him peace and happiness and security but the only thing he could never possibly have is any form of physical attraction towards her? That Sydney can meet all of his emotional needs and work needs and share the same interests and goals and passions. But Claire will always win at the end of the day, in spite of the lack of peace she actually brings him and there being seemingly no actual shared interests between them, because he just wants to sleep with her? Like...

1. I don't buy that Carmy has absolutely no possible interest in Sydney in terms of physical attraction.

2. If that's genuinely the case, and this is all ending with her either leaving forever and Carmy giving up or staying as his calming sidekick while he's endgame Claire, it is basically putting Sydney in some sort of black woman savior trope for him whose purpose is to serve him and his story and his progress while remaining undesirable, while also simultaneously giving her nothing back because he can't uphold any promises to her cause he's too damn busy thinking of Claire.

If they wanted to keep them platonic they could have done so after Season 1 without constantly drawing comparisons between Sydney and Claire and making her everything he wants and needs except being ya know.... his white girlfriend.

[kaibutsushidousha]

Danganronpa has too many characters so I'll be tackling the "How'd you render their names in Ace Attorney style of name translation" question one game at a time. Here's for DR1.

Please send different ideas if you have them.

Makoto Naegi

Calqued meaning for Naegi: Sapling

Calqued meaning for Makoto: Honesty

Explicit functionality: In Ishimaru's introduction, he praises the meaning of Naegi's given name, so it must explicitly represent a virtue Ishimaru believes in.

Implicit functionality for Naegi: The meaning of Naegi contributes to giving off the image that he's Small Guy Little the Most Harmless Creature In The World. Also ties in with Makoto's and Komaru's image colors being green and brown.

Implicit functionality for Makoto: Truth-adjacent name because he's an investigative VN protagonist.

Realism level: Both names exist.

Futureproofing needs: Naegi is a surname he shares with Komaru, so it needs to be a name that also works for her. Swapping name and surname to get something more usable is often an option but not here. Whatever Naegi becomes needs to still be the surname because of Komaru.

Explicit functionality is always the priority, so Makoto needs to become something like Ernest or Truman. Truman is a name that feels like it needs to be saved for V3, but at first glance, there isn't anyone there who really fits it.

Bush is a real name that connects the small and the green, but it doesn't give off a tone of harmlessness thanks to a few Georges. Stuart Little has me under the impression that Little is also a real surname but it's missing the green aspect. Green is another real name with the opposite problem.

Out of all our options, I'd go with Truman Green for our protagonist, mainly because Green sounds convenient for Komaru's naming needs. I won't settle on a name for Komaru ahead of DRAE's turn because this sounds like a bonus challenge more difficult than any of the mandatory tasks, but at least I'm confident I won't need to come back and change this one later.

Sayaka Maizono

Calqued meaning for Maizono: Dance Garden

Calqued meaning for Sayaka: Not determinable because Sayaka doesn't have kanji but Sayaka generally means dazzling, clear, or audible and her DR2 swordsmanship scroll present spells her name with kanji meaning "Scabbard Flower".

Explicit functionality: A sword-themed present in DR2 is named after her.

Implicit functionality for Maizono: A dance garden sounds like a metaphorical name for a stage.

Implicit functionality for Sayaka: An intriguing mix of direct meanings and ironies. Dazzling alludes to the classic metaphor of idols as shining stars, clear is ironic with how she hides her feelings most of the time, and audible is both. Direct in how Japan is listening to her songs and ironic in how she became an idol because her father wouldn't give her any attention.

Realism level: Fictional but so believable that another game already used this exact name 12 years before Danganronpa did (that's what DR2's sword scroll is referencing)

This is a rare case where we can ignore the explicit functionality if we want to. Claire is a popular given name that conveniently covers all meanings of Sayaka, makes a musical reference through Claire de Lune (another case of a name that would hit differently in V3 but doesn't fit anyone in its cast), and could be used in a sword flash allusion. Dance is a real English surname but it feels too untouched, so I'd Frenchify it into Danse, matching with the French origins of Claire. Claire Danse it is.

Leon Kuwata

Calqued meaning for Kuwata: Mulberry fields

Calqued meaning for Reon/Leon: Clever Gratitude

Explicit functionality for Kuwata: He says in a Free Time Event that he wants to be like the star vocalist Kuwata Keisuke and not like the baseball star Kuwata Masumi.

Explicit functionality for Leon: Needs to be mistaken with numbers when written upside-down, preferably in a foreign alphabet.

Implicit functionalities: Honestly, none. Both names are very in-your-face about why they were chosen.

Realism level: Leon written in kanji is a name that exists nowadays but I can't find evidence that it predates Danganronpa.

The Kuwatas quote can be done with Axl Rose and Pete Rose.

A lazy solution to Leon is keeping it as Leon and helping the puzzle's difficulty level by making Claire Danse's calligraphy suck. There's no authentic way to redo that puzzle, but the closest option is having her write Greek. It's an alphabet recognizable enough to a Western audience even nowhere nearly as recognizable as the Roman alphabet is to a post-Americanization Japanese audience.

Our Greek alphabet tools are 1=I or ι =I or i, 2=ζ=z, 3=ξ=x, 3=Ε or ε=E or e, 4=η=h or e or i, 4=Π or π=P or p, 6=an ugly φ=f, 8=an ugly Θ or θ=th, 0=Ο or ο=O or o, and 0=σ=s. That gives us genuinely subtle and believable options like Fox spelled 306 or Seth spelled 038.

Seth makes for the better puzzle, but going on vibes and the believability level of a Japanese Leon, I'll go with Fox Rose.

Chihiro Fujisaki

Calqued meaning for Fujisaki: Blossom of False Binarism

Calqued meaning for Chihiro: Thousand Depths (poetic term for "1.8288 kilometers")

Explicit functionality: Gender-neutral name.

Implicit functionality for Fujisaki: The unique kanji choice for the name is probably there for the computer theme since TRUE/FALSE responses and binary codes are popular programming motifs.

Definitely accidental functionality for Fujisaki: The Japanese word for nonbinary has nothing to do with this, but it's curiously serendipitous that Fujisaki has a negative binary in his name. A strong irony since a huge part of his personal tragedy happened because his gender views were extremely binary.

Probably accidental functionality for Chihiro: Chihiro was originally a male name but became more commonly perceived as a feminine name since the release of the film Spirited Away. Assuming Danganronpa 1 is set in 2012, Fujisaki would be 8 years old when the movie came out, and that could be what inspired his idea in-universe.

Realism level: Fujisaki is a real name when written with kanji meaning "Cape of Wisterias". The "False Dualities" version is Danganronpa-original. Chihiro is a common name, however.

Futureproofing needs: Chiaki is named after him, so it's better to make the decision for Chiaki now. Chihiro means "thousand depths" as a poetic unit of distance and Chiaki means "thousand autumns" as a poetic unit of time. The space and time duality is not relevant to their characters (it's a false binarism, if you will) so it's only important here that they have subtly contrasting names.

Chihiro is hard to narrow down because any unisex name technically fits. Cody is a unisex name that covers Fujisaki's computer motifs, so that would allow the surname to be entirely dedicated to matching Nanami's but that would just shift the "can't narrow it down" problem to the surname.

Wikipedia's page for unisex names has this nifty list of names grouped by theme, so we can pick Chihiro and Chiaki as a pair of unisex names from the same group. I can't explain why, but having them both named after months, birds, or Kingdom Hearts feels right.

Month route: I'll go with August for Chihiro since that works best with Chihiro's masculine origins. Chiaki could be October to nod to the autumn meaning of her original name but that's not really relevant and October is really ugly as a person's name. May works for her because aside from being a month, it's a word associated with potential.

Bird route: Phoenix works for Chihiro because Alter-Ego is sorta like a revival. Phoenix is also a funny nod to how Chihiro is Mia Fey's name. Chiaki since the name Nanami reflects the tropicality of Jabberwock Island, she should have a tropical bird name and Starling is the only tropical bird name that doesn't suck as a human name as far as I can remember.

Kingdom Hearts route: The Nanami name kinda dictates that Chiaki becomes Kairi here, which works for me, but I'm not feeling any of the Chihiro options. I'm not calling him Marluxia.

Pheonix Pewter feels like the best option, stealing an idea for a computer-themed name from Uchikoshi, but going with the bird route locks me out of using bird names for anyone other than Fujisaki and Nanami. That's a huge resource to lose. I gotta think about the name economy to continue this project long term. On the other hand, losing access to month names for everyone else is not a considerable loss. I'll stick with August Pewter for now but I might come back to this one later.

Touko Fukawa

Calqued meaning for Fukawa: Rotten River

Calqued meaning for Touko: Winter Girl

Calqued meaning for Shou: Fly

Explicit functionality for Shou: The investigators gave a generic male name to the serial killer because they hadn't figured out she's a girl.

Explicit functionality for Fukawa: Shou makes a pun with the name Fukawa since she's fujoshi (lit. "rotten girl").

Implicitly functionalities: None that I can think of. I guess Touko is not a sunny name so it doesn't clash with her gloomy vibe.

Most likely accidental functionality for Touko: The name Touko means "Winter Girl" and the name Fuyuhiko means "Winter Boy" but they have any onscreen interactions or major parallels.

Realism level: Fukawa exists with different kanji (more commonly meaning "deep river") but the Rotten River version is made up. Derogatory words don't tend go in real surnames. Touko is a super common name for girls born in the winter.

I'll start with the obvious. Genocide Jack does everything that needs to be with Geno's name. The loc also invents "Jill" because she's a girl but I'll ignore that and keep our Jack as comfortable with her ostensibly masculine name as she is in the original. Now let’s go to what needs the bare minimum of original thought.

Touko can stay as Winter, but I'd prefer using winter in another language just to be less lazy about it. Zima is winter in most Slavic languages and is a real surname. We can work with this if we make our first swap here. Derive the family name from the name Touko and the given name from Fukawa.

So we need a given name that works with the fujoshi pun, which came to me surprisingly easy. Blair -> BL-er. The Blair Witch Project being a big and influential thing also helps putting the necessary gloomy vibes to Blair Zima's name.

Byakuya Togami

Calqued meaning for Togami: Ten Gods

Calqued meaning for Byakuya: White night (as in the astronomical term)

Explicit functionalities: None as far as I remember.

Implicit functionalities: Sounding fucking awesome.

Realism level: Both extremely rare names that technically exist.

This is honestly a little too anything goes, which makes it more difficult than having tight specifications to work with. I'll tentatively go with Artorius Decatheo. Artorius is tryhard version of Arthur, so there's the kingly image association, and shares its word root with Arctic, making a nod the place where the midnight sun (byakuya) happens. Decatheo is just Ten Gods in Greek.

Mondo Oowada

Calqued meaning for Oowada: Fields of Yamato

Calqued meaning for Mondo: Crest Earth

Calqued meaning for Daiya: Big A (as in the letter A from Roman alphabet)

Explicit functionality for Daiya and Mondo: Daiya's gang was named Crazy Diamond after Daiya (Dia) and Mondo (Mond).

Intertextuality for Daiya and Mondo: Their gang name alludes to Crazy Diamond, the Stand of Josuke Higashikata, a character who emulates Japanese delinquent aesthetics in homage to a stranger who saved his life.

Implicit functionality for Oowada: Bousouzoku were a particularly ultranationalistic subculture and having surname containing Japan's "most Japanese" name is probably supposed to reflect that.

Implicit functionality for Daiya and Mondo: A big stereotype about Japanese delinquents from the 90s and 2000s is that they later had kids with ridiculous names often formed by slapping rare kanji together to forcibly form an English word with it. Daiya and Mondo are key examples of these tacky and stupid "son of ex-delinquents" name.

Realism level: Oowada is not a too uncommon surname. Daiya and Mondo really sound made up but Kodaka says he studied with real people named that.

Ok, this one is extremely Japanese both in content and structure. There are too many factors to reasonably really on easy equivalence strategies, we have to play bold. I can exploit the delinquent trend of forcing English names into Japanese and flip it to represent another subculture, albeit a much younger and still developing one. I'm talking about punk weebs. We solve the Jojo reference issue by directly naming Daiya "Jotaro" and Mondo "Josuke".

Special thanks to the punk guy in my city with the baby named Sasuke. You help me here in a manner very fittingly similar to how the brothers Daiya and Mondo from Kodaka's school helped him.

Now for Oowada I don't have a neat solution. American biker gangs had the same origins as their Japanese counterpart (WWII veterans failing to properly reintegrate post-war) and the consequences of that to the subculture (macho patriotism) were the same. But American bikers love using hell and crime as motifs in their names and aesthetics, and somehow Hellman is a real and common surname, so I suppose Josuke Hellman fits. I'm waiting for better ideas in the comments.

The gang name can stay Crazy Diamond in theory, but I think I'd prefer renaming it to Shining Diamond as jokeful nod to Jojo's silly localization practices. I also considered renaming it to Star Platinum since Daiya is Jotaro Hellman now, but I think keeping the name Crazy Diamond-derived is a better fit with how Daiya created the gang for Mondo's sake. (And, on a meta level, with how Mondo/Josuke is the main character among the two)

Kiyotaka Ishimaru

Calqued meaning for Ishimaru: The Stone

Calqued meaning for Kiyotaka: Many Summers Purified

Explicit functionality: None unless you count the Ishida thing.

Implicit functionality for Ishimaru: The Stone carries an idea of solidity and rigidness, which is reflected in Ishimaru's personality.

Implicit functionality for Kiyotaka: Pure vibes, but I think the names Kiyotaka, Toranosuke, and to a lesser extent Takaaki, are all names you can tell come from a traditional family.

Implicit functionality for Ishida: Both Oowada and Ishimaru are decently uncommon names, but when they combine, they form the ridiculously common name Ishida and that's the kind of name joke Kodaka likes a lot.

Realism level: See above for the surname and fusion name. Kiyotaka is a name that exists with different kanji but the version meaning "Many Summers Purified" is unique to Danganronpa.

Starting from the disclaimer: I will not be using the meaning of Ishimaru's name as an excuse to call him Dwayne or Johnson. It's tempting but I promise to restrain myself.

Anyway, the parts using his real names are pretty loose, so we start from Ishida joke as the best place to narrow things down. Oowada being Hellman could have easily segued into a generic surname ending in -man, but in English, it's a lot more natural for people to introduce themselves by their given names, hence why Ishida became Kiyondo into the loc, so I'll work with their first names too.

We're obviously out of options for a notoriously generic English name ending in -suke, so we'll have to take the Jo- from Josuke (Mondo). Since I have Jojo in the brain right now thanks to Mondo, the easiest solution is merge this Jo into Kiyotaka=Nathan to form Jonathan. It works pretty neatly.

The surname doesn't matter as much so I'll take the lazy route on this one. Stone is a real English surname, so The Stone will be Stone. Nathan Stone, that's our guy.

Hifumi Yamada

Calqued meaning for Yamada: Mountain Fields

Calqued meaning for Hifumi: One Two Three

Explicit functionalities: None as far as I remember.

Implicit functionality for Yamada: Satou, Tanaka, and Yamada are the most common Japanese surnames (with I believe Yamada being at the first place at the time of DR1's release), so they're often used in fiction for jokes about names being generic, like how English does with Smith and Doe. Hifumi Yamada's case is about Kodaka liking to pair the goofiest first names with the most generic surnames.

Implicit functionality for Hifumi: His pen name as a doujin author is The Alpha and the Omega, which reflects his name being the first 3 numbers and his birthday being the last day of the year (which is also written using the numbers one, two, and three, but let's not make this harder than it needs to be).

Realism level: 100% the name here with the biggest chance of existing.

Alph Smith is the obvious perfect pick but it feels too easy and too on-your-face. I'd rather go with Uno Smith, that's a real name apparently.

Celestia Ludenberg

Calqued meaning for Yasuhiro: Cheap and Widespread

Calqued meaning for Taeko: Girl of Many Blessings

Explicit functionality for Celestia Ludenberg: Racefaking as white European so poorly that any random shmuck instantly recognizes her name as borderline parodical.

Explicit functionality for Yasuhiro: Her family name is homophonous with Hagakure's given name.

Implicit functionality for Yasuhiro: Cheap and Widespread represents the featureless normie she originally was and the total antithesis of who she wants to be.

Implicit functionality for Taeko: It alludes to how she describes her luck as the active crux of her talent, which ties into [long ramble about her parallels with Makoto].

Realism level: Celestia Ludenberg is a joke of a name even for in-universe standards. Taeko Yasuhiro is perfectly believable, if a bit uncommon.

Celestia Ludenberg is perfectly fine as it is. Grace and Hannah are names meaning something close enough to the "blessings" in Taeko. I'd favor Hannah because Kodaka went out his way to pick the rarer name Taeko over the common Megumi which would have had the same implicit functionality.

Now Yasuhiro needs to be both a surname and a male given name. Luckily, English is a language full of those. As you see below, the meanings of Hagakure's name don't matter that much, so I want prioritize "cheap and widespread" as the core idea of their shared name. This immediately brings me to the names Norman and Jean-Eric, but neither of them works as surnames or fit Hagakure's vibes. Meanwhile, Mondaine looks too French for its purpose being contrary to Celes's ideals and maybe doesn't work as a given name.

Cutting a lot of unproductive thought short, trying to look at things primarily from the "cheap and widespread" angle gave me nothing, but giving more consideration to the meaning and realism level of Hagakure's name, I found a satisfactory answer. I'll explain my logic better on Hagakure's side, but my adaptation of Taeko Yasuhiro is Hannah Arcadian. Arcadism is about romanticizing the farm life of humble peasants, so it fits well as the antithesis to her Celes identity built upon romantization of the castle life of opulent nobles.

Yasuhiro Hagakure

Calqued meaning for Hagakure: Concealed by Leaves (more notably, this is the title of a 1716 book historically considered the most influential manual on the samurai lifestyle)

Calqued meaning for Yasuhiro: Tranquility Comparable to the Lü Musical Scale (the equivalent to this in Western music notation is the Myxolidian scale)

Explicit functionality for Yasuhiro: His given name is homophonous with Taeko's family name.

Implicit functionalities: Both of his names leave a strong impression. Motifs very specific to Japanese history, delivered with distinct and powerful vibes of antiquity. Yasuhiro Hagakure is a name that suggests deep roots. I have a good post about how roots relate to Hagakure's and Celes' characters, you should check it.

Realism level: lol, lmao even. Hagakure is not a real family name. Yasuhiro is a very common given name with dozens of versions, but Hagakure's version makes a point to use the most ancient kanji it can fit, genuinely Heian poetry stuff, creating a version of Yasuhiro that doesn't exist in real life.

Well, I already told you about Arcadian. It's a name that fits in the "tranquility" meaning of Yasuhiro, and the name's overall appeal to classic literature associations to the point of unrealism. It doesn't tie too greatly with his character, but neither does the Japanese original. I'm pretty sure this name was chosen for Celes first and then just randomly slapped appropriate 10th century kanji.

That said, Yasuhiro Hagakure manages to have the most distinctively Japanese name in the series that has a guy named Korekiyo in it, so I think it would be appropriate for his Americanized counterpart to still have one (1) Japanese name. I considering picking a notable family name from the Heian period, maybe Abe or Minamoto, perhaps even Tsuchimikado in reference to Tsuchimikado Yasuhiro, but ultimately I decided to go with Arcadian Emishi to value Hagakure's identity as a hairy man of Touhoku.

Sakura Oogami

Calqued meaning for Oogami: Great God

Calqued meaning for Sakura: Not determinable because Sakura doesn't have kanji but Sakura generally means cherry tree or cherry blossom.

Explicit functionality: People familiar with her martial artist carreer are more likely to know her by the nickname Ogre, derived from the Ooga part of her real name.

Implicit functionality for Oogami: Sounding fucking awesome.

Implicit functionality for Sakura: Cherry blossoms are the flowers most commonly associated with refined femininity in Japanese flower language and that's a really important part of Sakura's identity. The use of hiragana instead of kanji also adds to the image of traditional femininity.

Realism level: Sakura is an extremely common name. Oogami is one of Japan's oldest surnames, tied to an ancient clans of priests and sorceres dedicated to worship of Ookuninushi, but the surname is rare nowadays because most of the clan changed their surname to Miwa in 648. Even then, I'd be surprised if no real person was ever named Sakura Oogami.

This was easier than I thought. Mary naturally comes an answer for Sakura's equivalent to the idea of "most common and tradiotinally feminine name ever". The Oogami/Ogre wordplay was a bit more of challenge. I really wanted to work Ogre in English too, but I still don't have any ideas. I know the Yugioh Vrains dub used the anagram Gore for its ogre-themed character, but I think this lacks the solemnty Oogami has.

Luckily, one of the ogre's closest equivalents is the orc, a creature with a name that easily strecthes into Orcus, the name of the Roman god of oaths. Orcus is also syncretized with Hades, which is a god that really fits with Sakura's sense of responsibility and characterization based on being less scary than she superficially looks, aside from being a lord of the underworld like the Ookuninushi historically tied with the Oogami name. I'm very satisfied with Mary "Orc" Orcus.

Aoi Asahina

Calqued meaning for Asahina: Morning sun? (Note: the question mark is actually part of the meaning, not an indication that I'm unsure about the translation)

Calqued meaning for Aoi: Hollyhock

Explicit functionality: None as far as I remember.

Implicit functionality for Asahina: The morning sun as a symbol of cheerfulness.

Implicit functionality for Aoi: Her name is homophonous with the color blue, associated with water, and consequently her talent as a swimmer.

Realism level: Both names are common enough that this exact combination has a higher chance of existing in the real world than not. One thing completely irrelevant to Aoi's character but cool enough for me to want to tell is that the Asahina family was originally a samurai clan founded by Asahina Yoshihide, and one the main tales about him is that he was so strong that after he died, he almost effortlessly defeated the king of hell in battle and forced him to show the way to paradise.

Ok, I kinda nothing to work with here. I guess I can just throw any combination of brightness-related or water-related names. Sunny Aguado, Aqua Solberg, Joy Fisher, Allegra Blue, Felicia Aquarius, Marina Summers, etc. There's no real element that gives any name option an edge above the rest. I really like Marisol here because it's a name that means "sea and sun" but unfortunately that leaves zero content to make a surname out of.

Aoi Asahina is an alliteration so maybe we can use that to narrow down to options like Aurora Attwater, Ariel Aelius, Mitra Marin, or Lana Luz. My final call will be Sapphire Solano, but there's really hundreds of ways this one can go. I changed the decided answer at least twice during the making of this post.

Mukuro Ikusaba

Calqued meaning for Ikusaba: War Blade

Calqued meaning for Mukuro: Not determinable because Mukuro doesn't have kanji but the word mukuro means corpse. However, if we were to assume the Mu in Mukuro must mean halberd, the most plausible configuration would be "Halberd Black".

Explicit functionality for Mukuro: Combining the Mu from Mukuro and the Jun from Junko, you form Mujun (contradiction).

Implicit functionality for Ikusaba: Tying to her soldier image while having more edge than a military-grade combat knife.

Implicit functionality for Mukuro: "Corpse" accurately describes her in her first appearance after her name is revealed.

Realism level: Zero. The Ikusaba surname is invented by Kodaka, and the name Mukuro comes up in anime sometimes but it's literally illegal to name your kid Corpse.

This is one was surprisingly interesting. Corpse Warblade is iconic and deservedly remained a meme in the fandom for years, so I wish I could keep it as is, but unfortunately it fails the most important functionality. It has to fit with Junko to form a word that can be associated with the mysteries the mystery game wants you to solve.

One of the first decisions I made for this post was to call Junko "Doxie" and look for an appropriate word beginning with Para for Mukuro. Later, when checking Doxie's realism level, I found out it's a rare name nowadays because the name became a word with sexual connotations. Incredibly lucky coincidence, to be honest. I think the meaning of Doxie actually fits Junko surprisingly well as representation of the gyaru subculture in its originating ideas.

But enough of Junko invading her sister's section. The name I chose for Mukuro is Parathion. It's the name of a poison, although not one weaponized against humans. Not great but it's the best the Paradox composition has to offer and I like Doxie too much to look for alternatives.

So, for that, Parathion's last name needs to carry Mukuro's corpse meaning, the tryhard edgelord aesthetic, the soldier imagery, and if possible also fit in the war blade meaning. That's a lot of things for just one name to do. I thought of Bloodshed as a surname that referred to war while doubling as an allusion to how Mukuro's own blood was already shed, but that felt a little obtuse. I ultimately decided to prioritize Mukuro's status as a corpse at the cost of the other aspects, and settled for the name Parathion Bloodless.

Kyouko Kirigiri

Calqued meaning for Kirigiri: Mist Cutter

Calqued meaning for Kyouko: Echo Girl, alternatively Audible Girl

Explicit functionality: None as far as I remember.

Implicit functionality for Kirigiri: Fog is a symbol of mystery so it fits for the detective family to say they sever and end it.

Implicit functionality for Kyouko that's is most likely a stretch but I need something to work with here: Kyouko is a girl who is heard. Whenever she talks, the other characters pay attention and take her words seriously. I can't remember an exception to this from the top of my head.

Silly alliteration: Every kanji in her name starts with a K sound (the g in giri is just a k vocalized with a dakuten).

Realism level: Kirigiri is made up by Kodaka and, as far as I can find, used only by Danganronpa and Genshin Impact to this day. Kyouko is a common name in many kanji configurations, including this one.

For reference, Genshin Impact localization names its Kirigiri sword as Mistsplitter Reforged. Great pick but not too relevant to us since it lacks the alliteration.

I wanted to insist in mist instead of any synonym because of its similar sounds to mystery, but the best name I could get from that was Mistmince, which is significant worse than Fogfeller both in epicness and in sounding like a name. So our alliteration will be on the F.

From this point onwards, we reach almost Asahina levels of "this can take forever and have almost 50 equally correct answers". Our options are every feminine one-syllable name that starts with an F or two-syllable names that both syllables have F. But we have to pick one. Fifer is definitely not a common name, but it has two F syllables and means "piper", which is a sound-related profession and is associated with the Pied Piper of Hamelin, which sorta tied to my stretchy idea of the name Kyouko representing the way she natural leadership, so Fifer Fogfeller it is.

Junko Enoshima

Calqued meaning for Enoshima: Inlet's Island

Calqued meaning for Junko: Shield Girl

Calqued meaning for Otonashi: Without sound (idiomatic expression meaning "lying low")

Calqued meaning for Ryouko: Breezy Girl (if we're working with archaic meanings, can alternatively be Innocent Girl)

Explicit functionality for Junko: The shield (jun) in her name is meant to be part of the word contradiction (mujun), written with the kanji for halberd and shield. Play case 5 of the first Ace Attorney game to know why.

Implicit functionality for Enoshima: Enoshima is a small tourist island in Kanagawa whose main attraction is a giant temple complex dedicated to the worship of goddess Benzaiten, popularly nicknamed Benten. Benzaiten is the goddess of pretty much everything that flows and constantly changes, most notably water, wind, music, words, poetry, knowledge, arts, and beauty.

Implicit functionality for Otonashi: Junko Enoshima sure isn't making any big moves in Danganronpa/Zero.

Implicit functionality for Ryouko: She very much has a breezy personality. No matter how many horrifying situations come her, she'll remain chill enough to drop a hearty and confident "Not my problem".

Implicit functionality for Ryouko if we were taking archaic meanings into consideration (we aren't): Otonashi hasn't done a single bad thing, it was all that weird Junko Enoshima chick she knows nothing about.

Possibly intentional functionality but I'm not sure: The most common configuration of the name Junko is with kanji meaning "Pure Girl", but this Junko's configuration rejects the purity kanji, reflecting the roots of the gyaru subculture as rebellion against Japan's purity culture.

Realism level: Enoshima exists only as the name of a location, not being a real person name. Junko is somewhat common in many kanji configurations (used to be a lot more prevalent around the 60s) but the "Shield Girl" version is unique to Danganronpa. The only non-Danganronpa-related mention of "Shield Girl" Junko I could find online is an early FGO interview where Takeuchi mentions Junko as placeholder name for Mash Kyrielight during development. Otonashi is a dying surname, perhaps much more common in fiction than in real life at this point. Ryouko is pretty normal.

I already covered Doxie in Mukuro's section. Really lucky pick. And the surname for it is just as lucky. This one should theoretically be hard because Benzaiten's domains of eloquence, fluidity, wisdom, and beauty make her a goddess very specific to what compose Junko's character. I don't think there's any Western goddess that covers all bases. The element of constant change, which might be the most important thing, is something I don't think I've seen in any other religion. But somehow Benten is a real English surname so here I miraculously get Doxie Benten as the easiest name in this post. I'm sure that in this hypothetical localization timeline, a lot of people will correctly associate the name Benten with Junko's multiple "transformation" but think the reference is Ben 10.

Now, I'm a huge sucker for dumb and obvious names playing on the word "incognito" and that's the energy I wanted to bring to Otonashi, but I need to do it without laying Zero's twist too obviously. Otonashi is known as the Super High School Level Analyst, so I think I can get away with Bree Cogito, three letters removed from incognito, as her talent can mislead the reader to think Cogito was chosen because it means "think".

[footballfanficwriter]

International Friendly, not so Friendly

Summary:where Kylian is pissed about the game against Germany

"Maman?"

"Oui?"

"Where is papa?"

"Getting ready for his match love, that's why we need to get ready and head to the Stadium to watch him play"

Today is the first International break of the year  that means Kylian is gonna be back to Captaining the team again

"I can't find my shoe Maman"

"Here it is Babe"

"Thank you"

"You're welcome"

"Ok let's go"

Claire and I make our way out of the house and to the Garage where the car is parked

I buckle her up in her seat and we start making our way to the Stadium

When we arrive it's noisy, the sound of French people dominates the stadium, cheering and chanting the player's names as they do their warm ups

As we arrive I spot Kylian and he only notices us after 10 minutes and sends us a wave and a kiss

Claire gigles and kicks her legs that barley touch the ground  in her seat as she watches her father do what he loves

Kylian occasionally sends waves our way and the only thing they are doing is making claire more excited

The game starts a small Volkswagen car comes onto the pitch and Kai Haverts picks it up

The refs blows the whistle and Kai kicks the ball to Tony Kroos who send it to Florian Wirtz who shoots the ball and sends it hitting the back of the net

The German players Celebrate the goal

And the once dominating sound of the French has now stopped the only cheers coming from the German Supporters that only take up a small portion of the Stadium compared to the French that take up most of it

I watch Kylian's reaction and he doesn't look pleased to say the least, turning my head and looking next to me I see the once excited and giddy girl with her mouth open and eyes big, just like her father's in that very moment

"Maman what happened?"

"They scored ma cheri"

"Merde" she says

I turn with my head and looks at her with a shocked expression

"Claire who taught you that word?

"Uncle Ethan"

"I'm gonna kill him"

The game goes on and by the time it's full time Germany have won

Again the Sound of the French has now died down

Partly because some had already left in the 65th Minute when they saw how the game was going to end

The score is 0-2 and understandably all the French players want to get off the pitch as soon as possible

"Maman"

"Oui?"

"Can we go get Papa and go home now"

"Yeah let's go"

We make our way down and wait for Kylian to take his shower

After 30 minutes he comes out and gives Claire and I Hugs

"Ca va Papa?"

"Oui ca va ma cheri, je très bien" he says putting a fake smile on his face

We make our way to the car in silence, Kylian buckles Claire up and I go to the driver's seat and start the engine

The whole car ride home is silent, the tension is thick as hell, I don't want to say anything so I'll just keep quiet and focus on the road

When we get home Kylian gets out of the car, unbuckled Claire and they make their way into the house while I get that bags we went with

I enter the house and walk to Claire's room to leave her bag in her room and as I'm about to walk in i hear Claire and Kylian talking

"Why are you upset Papa?"

"We lost Claire" he says taking out some pajamas from her wardrobe

"But we'll get them next Time right?'

"Mhm, c'mon arms up so we can get you into this shirt"

Claire lifts her arms up and Kylian helps her get into her Pajamas

"Papa?"

"Oui?"

"Did you get hurt?"

"No, my love, I just need to get some ice on my foot it will be fine, c'mon teeth"

They walk to Claire's bathroom and she brushes her teeth

"Whach abut unchle TchTch, ish he gonna be fun?"

"What?"

Claire spits her toothpaste out and says

"I said what about uncle Tchou-Tchou is he gonna be fine?, he looked really hurt during the game"

"I don't know, but I hope he is, we need him for Tuesday's game"

"Yeah"

"Ok Bug, bedtime now, c'mon"

Kylian Carries Claire to her bed and tucks her in

"Bonne nuit papa"

"Bonne nuit ma cherie"

"Je'taime"

"Je t'aime aussi"

He closes her door and finds me standing in the passage

I don't say anything to him but I come in for a hug and he lays his head on my shoulder and sights

"Merde" he says

I slightly chuckle a bit and he looks at me and asks what

"Your daughter said the exact same thing when I told her they scored"

"Where did she learn that from?"

"Ton Fére" ( your Brother)

He laughs and we walk to our room and get ready for bed

The next day I'm woken up with my Daughter barging into the room and her hair all over the place

"Claire, tu veux quoi"( what do you want)

"Je veut mon pere"( I want my father)

"Kylian,  C'est ta Fille, Elle veut toi" I say (you Daughter wants you)

He wakes up and looks at Claire who's stood at the end of the bed

"Hello Bug, what can I help you with?"

"I made something for you" she says using her shy voice

"Ok let's see it"

She hands Kylian the card  she made him filled with a whole lot of glitter

She drew a picture of Kylian kicking a ball and scoring a goal

"I saw how upset you were yesterday so I made you a card to show you that next time you can do it pasque t'es mon pére"(because you're my dad)

Kylian smiles, gives her a hug and kiss on her forehead

"Where did you find the time to make this love?" I ask

"I stayed up all night"

"What Claire?"

"C'mon"

We walk into Claire's room and see papers and glitter everywhere

"Merde alors" I say ( Holy sh*t)

"Mon deiu" Kylian says ( My God)

"Claire, how did this room get like this?"

"I was making Papa's card and I thought if I'm making a card for Papa then Maman will feel left out and she'll feel bad and think I don't love her and don't want you to...

"Breath Honey" I tell her because she was rambling without taking breaths

She takes a deep breath and continues talking

"I don't want you to feel bad or think that I don't love you so I made you a card aswell, here" she says

She walks to one of her drawers and pulls out a blue card

"I made it in your favorite color so you'll like it more"

I take the card and look at the picture that Is drawn

It's a picture of me and Claire

"Aww, amore merci, c'est tres beau" ( love thank you, it's so beautiful)

"De rein Maman" ( you're welcome Mom)

"Now we need to get you to sleep because you're gonna be cranky the whole day if not"

I help her out of her pajamas since they have glitter glue on them and need to be washed, I then give her one of my shirts to wear and the stupid child starts imitating me, making Kylian laugh as he watches Claire being funny

I chuckle and say  "Go sleep in my room Claire"

"Ok, j'taime Maman"

"Je t'aime aussi ma cherie"

She walks to my room and climbs on the bed

"Get the brooms" I tell Kylian

"What why me?"

"It's your fault she did this in the first place"

While we're cleaning the room Kylian speaks up

"You know we're actually lucky to have her as our Daughter"

"Yeah we are, she really is an Angel "

"Well most of the time"

"We've birthed a Comedian"

"That's definitely true, can you imagine how she's gonna be when she's older?"

"Oh God please, don't say that, I can already see it"

He laughs and gets back to sweeping the Glitter the floor

[youaresimplylovely]

“Fast and Fabulous: A Driven Love” 

---- A love story between a Formula 1 Driver and a Supermodel

Chapter 1 (Next Chapter) Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6

Pairing: Carlos Sainz!Formula 1 Driver x Famous Supermodel!Reader

Words: 562 words

Warnings: First time writing so if there are any errors, feel free to say so!! :>> nevertheless no warnings on this first chapter

Somehow proofread :')

Summary: Getting to know the Dela Cruz family

Lights flickered across the room, and a young man's voice was heard across the room. A loud groan escaped his voice. Sighing softly, the man approached the light switch, turning it off. "I thought Dad was supposed to fix this," he mumbled, going to another room with better lighting. He grabbed the scattered papers on the kitchen counter, fixing the order of the documents. He sat on the dining table chairs with the papers in his hand. 

"Ahem." he cleared his throat, sighing but not too loud. He stared at the first page of the papers in his hand as he started reading. “Y/N Claire Rose Althea Sophia Amélie Genevieve Katherine Dela Cruz.” He smiled softly. "Not including her mother's last name." He snickered, scratching his back with his hand. He continues reading the paper in his hand. "Where were we? Ah yes, Y/N Claire Rose Althea Sophia Amélie Genevieve Katherine Dela Cruz.” He reiterated the woman's name. "Such a long dang name." He rolled his eyes, baffled that the woman's name was long. 

"Y/N is a famous supermodel, considered one of the most beautiful women. She is part American, part French, part Spanish, and part Filipino." The young man ran his hands through his hair, scrunching his nose. "Who knew that combining Asian genes with American and European ones would make 'the most beautiful woman.'" He gestured with air quotes and sarcasm in his tone. "The woman came from the renowned 'Dela Cruz' family. A prominent family, the father being Jean Louis Dela Cruz, A man who is half American and half French; you could say he's part Spanish, too. Hence, the last name 'Dela Cruz.'"

The young man pouted, thinking how a half-American and half-French man could have his last name be 'Dela Cruz' on Earth. He shakes his head, shaking the thought off as he continues reading. "The man married a famous beauty queen from the Philippines, Maria Lucia Garcia, a woman who is half Filipino and half Spanish." The young man groaned, scrunching his whole face now. He thought to himself, how can this family be so confusing. "Esto no puede ser real (This can not be real)," he muttered in his weird but manageable Spanish accent.

"The two fell in love and had 5 beautiful children. The first child was Mark Cedric Dela Cruz, the second was James Diego Dela Cruz, Daniel Ezekiel Dela Cruz, and the fourth was Y/N Claire Rose Althea Sophia Amélie Genevieve Katherine Dela Cruz." He groans, rolling his eyes and causing him to laugh. "The woman's name is so long 'cause she's the only girl and definitely a daddy's girl." He chuckles, sighing as he lays back against the chair. “And the last child, Paolo Gabriel Dela Cruz a.k.a ‘Pao’.” 

Before the young man could continue, footsteps approaching the kitchen were heard. A woman snickered, sitting next to the young man. She gave him a weird look, scrunching her face. “¿Qué diablos estás haciendo pao? (What the hell are you doing, Pao?)" you laughed, nudging his shoulder as you sat beside him. Your beautiful Spanish accent causes your brother to smile softly. "Um, excuse me, Y/N. This is a school project; I had to do a family background." Pao rolled his eyes at you, giving you a playful, disgusted look. "I didn't know college students' homework was like that nowadays." You giggled.

[lulublack90]

Prompt 19 - Class

@jegulus-microfic April 19, Word count 847

Previous part First part

Regulus dropped James’s hand as soon as the door was closed. He stood there awkwardly, not sure what to do with himself. James had just hugged him. Actually hugged him, and not because his ankle was buggered. 

“Sorry you had to deal with all that,” He gestured widely, trying to encompass the whole situation. He stared at the carpet, not able to meet James’s eyes. What if he’d had enough of his shenanigans and spent the rest of his holiday doing what he came here to do?

“No problem,” James replied, grinning from ear to ear. “I nearly mistakenly got thrown out of the hotel by this huge ginger guy. I’ve never been thrown out of anywhere it was class!” James grabbed Regulus’s hand again and gently dragged him to the bed so he could sit down. 

Regulus made himself comfortable, only now realising he hadn’t eaten dinner as his stomach gave a loud, angry rumble.

“Have you not eaten?” James said aghast. 

“No. I haven’t had time to, what with everything going on.” He could feel his cheeks heating and knew they’d be burning red. James opened the bedside table and threw the menu at him.

“Order something.” He said before jumping on the bed and stealing the remote. 

Regulus scanned the list of rich French cuisine the hotel offered as room service, and a wave of nausea flooded his body. 

“I really want a burger or something like that. But I they don’t have anything like that.” He said, putting the menu aside. He’d wait until he could order breakfast. 

“Yes, hi, I’m in room 212. Yes, that’s right, Mr Black. Well, the thing is, he really wants a burger and chips… You will! Oh, Molly, you absolute angel… No, no, I had food with my parents, though I wouldn’t say no to some popcorn to go with the film… Perfect, thank you so much… Yes, I’m sure we will, you too. Bye now.” James hung up the phone before Regulus could protest. “Twenty minutes,” He told Regulus as he flicked down the menu on the TV.

Regulus stared at James as he continued to click the remote. No one apart from Sirius had cared about his wants like that, and James didn’t even expect anything in return, only to watch a film with him. Regulus was suddenly overcome with emotion and, without thinking, moved forward to wrap his arms around James and bury his head in the other man’s back. 

“Thank you,” He whispered into the thick muscle. James shuffled, and Regulus unexpectedly found himself cradled in James’s lap. He blinked rapidly, his brain trying to figure out what had just happened. 

“What about Stardust? I love that film.” James’s deep voice vibrated from his chest into Regulus’s. Regulus’s mouth went dry. Unable to speak, he nodded. James grinned at him, clicked play on Claire Danes’s face and wriggled them back until his back rested against the headboard. 

They were so absorbed in their quiet bubble that they didn’t hear the knock at the suite door or the gentle tap at the bedroom door. They did, however, notice when Sirius opened the door so forcefully it banged off the wall. 

“Aww, don’t you two look cosy?” Regulus tried to slide off James’s lap, but James wrapped a gentle hand around his waist, giving him the option to move if he wanted. But signalling that he didn’t mind if he stayed. Regulus stayed.“Your food is here,” Sirius smirked at them as he carried a tray over and placed it on the bedside table. “Bon appétit!” Sirius exclaimed with a flourish and an exaggerated bow before he left them to it. Just before he completely left the room, he tilted his head back in. “Oh, just so you know, Remus is staying over tonight. Not that you were going to, but probably don’t come into my room. I don’t want to scar you for life.” He winked, and he was gone. 

James’s laugh bounced Regulus against his chest, and with one arm still wrapped around him, James spun to grab the food. 

Regulus’s mouth watered at the sight of his dinner. It was exactly what he wanted. He bit into it and groaned.  Before he could even finish the food in his mouth, he had to swat James’s hand away from his plate when he caught him trying to steal his chips. 

“Mine!” He mumbled around his mouthful of food, narrowing his eyes.

“Oh, go on just one. Please.” James pleaded. Regulus rolled his eyes and picked up a chip for James to take. But instead of taking it with his free hand, James leant forward and snagged it between his teeth, chuckling as he chomped it into his mouth. “Thanks, love.” He said as he grabbed the bowl of popcorn off the tray. 

They spent the rest of the film steadily making their way through the popcorn, falling asleep in each other’s arms halfway through Labyrinth, which on a normal day Regulus would have found unacceptable behaviour. But it hadn’t been a normal day.     

Next part

[brian-in-finance]

Instagram

•••••

•••••

WHAT THE STARS ARE SAYING

Check out why so many famed actors use Backstage

Trusted since 1960

Founded in 1960, Backstage has a storied history of serving the entertainment industry. For over 60 years Backstage has served as a casting resource and news source for actors, performers, directors, producers, agents, and casting directors.

Over that time, Backstage Magazine has also appeared on numerous TV shows, such as “Mad Men,” “Entourage,” “Glee,” “Oprah,” NBC's “Today” show, Comedy Central's “@Midnight”, NY1's “On Stage,” and “Saturday Night Live,” as well as multiple mentions on shows like “Inside the Actor’s Studio,” “Girls,” and appearances in films such as “13 Going on 30,” the Farrelly brothers' “Stuck on You” and Spike Lee's “Girl 6,” and even a mention in Woody Allen's short-story collection “Mere Anarchy” and Augusten Burroughs' novel “Sellevision” – and Backstage has received accolades from multiple Academy Award-, Emmy-, and Tony-winning actors and directors. (Plus, the hit musical “The Last Five Years” even includes Backstage in its lyrics: “Here's a headshot guy and a new Backstage / Where you're right for something on every page.”)

CAITRÍONA BALFE

ACTRESS

"I still get Backstage emails 'cause I still subscribe to Backstage. [Backstage is) kind of the Bible in the beginning, which is amazing. Samuel French and Backstage go hand in hand, you know? You go there for your plays when you're in classes, and then you get your Backstage."

Backstage 1

•••••

Brian’s Note: The following story originally appeared in April 2015. Most recent update is December 2020.

The Gorgeous Determination of Caitríona Balfe

Caitríona Balfe is on the move. That's been true most of her adult life— especially the 10 years she was modeling for Victoria's Secret, Dolce & Gabbana, and others—but as she sits on the rooftop patio of a West Hollywood hotel in mid-March, she mentions that she's pulling up stakes from Los Angeles.

"It just feels silly to have an empty place for 10 months until I figure out what I'm doing with my life," the Irish-born actor says. "I've rented the same place for the last four years and now I have to give it up." Her apartment is being razed to put in condos, but her departure from L.A. is extra poignant considering this is the city where Balfe journeyed when she decided to put aside that successful modeling career and focus on the vocation she'd always wanted: acting.

Photo: Luc-Richard Elie

"I've moved so much since I was 18," she says. "I mean, l've lived so many places. New York, I lived in for almost eight years [while modeling], and that's been the longest of anywhere since I left Ireland. But L.A. is where I came and said, 'OK, this is what I wanna do with my life.' "

She refuses to think of her move as a permanent one, though. "I'll be back," she declares, "but it feels really sad. My little apartment, it's got so many memories."

Balfe's sadness is no doubt mitigated by the fact that part of her need to move is due to the precipitous rise in her fortunes. She'll soon be flying to Scotland to shoot the second season of "Outlander," which returns to Starz April 4 to conclude Season 1.

When last we saw Balfe's Claire, the resourceful British nurse who comes home after World War |I only to be inexplicably teleported into the 18th-century Highlands, she was half-naked with a knife to her breast. Don't worry: Claire will get out of that scrape, but more perils await-to say nothing of the emerging multi-era romantic triangle developing between her, the Scottish warrior Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan), and her 20th-century husband, Frank Randall (Tobias Menzies), who wonders where she's gone.

Based on the much-beloved Diana Gabaldon novels and developed for television by "Battlestar Galactica" rebooter Ronald D. Moore, "Outlander" is an ostensibly lush period-piece-within-a-period-piece drama that's consistently richer and thornier than its romance-novel trappings suggest. And much of the credit goes to Balfe, who had managed small parts in films such as “Super 8” and “Now You See Me” before landing the central role in this adaptation.

In person, Balfe is far less imposing than the steely Claire, who has to weather the dangers of being a woman in sexist, violent Scotland in the 1740s. Cast late in the preproduction of “Outlander”—Moore has mentioned in interviews how hard it was to find the right Claire—she didn’t have time to consider what the role would do to her life. “I’m so bad on social media," she confesses on this warm afternoon, nestled underneath a cabana. "I had set up an account on Twitter maybe a year or so before I got this job and had, I thought, a lot of followers — 250 or something, and most of them are my friends. Within about a month or two, it was thousands of people — and my phone, I didn't know how to turn off the alerts, so it was just going all the time. That was the beginning of the awareness."

Growing up in the small Irish community of Monaghan, Balfe had considered acting from an early age. ("I was devastated that I wasn't a child actor," she says, smiling. But after traveling to Dublin to study theater, she changed course once she received an offer to model. It wasn't a secret passion of hers, but who turns down a trip to Paris? "My parents felt that I should finish college," Balfe recalls, "but l'm slightly headstrong, so l took their advice and I completely ignored it."

Over the next decade, she lived in France, Italy, Germany, and Japan, her modeling inexperience hardly a detriment. "You'd be amazed how little information or training goes into it," she says. "When I first arrived in Paris, I was told to take a bus to the office. I left my suitcase — I barely spoke any French — and someone took me across the street, helped me buy a Carte Orange. They printed out five addresses that I had to go to that day, and then they sent me off." She still remembers at 18 riding the subway alongside 16-year-old aspiring Russian models, who knew no French or English, homesick and sobbing their eyes out. "That was just the way it was," says Balfe. "You become pretty tough. When I went to Japan, it was similar: They would drive you to their castings, but the minute you got a job, it would be like, 'Here's an address, here's a map. Good luck.' They don't have signposts in English in Japan, so the map and the address are not always very helpful."

Hear Balfe recount her early misadventures in modeling and you can't help but think of Claire, who's equally thrown to the wolves once she arrives in the 18th century amid people wary of the English in general and assertive women in particular. "Honestly, l've been in so many situations in my life where you just are completely displaced," Balfe says. “You have to adapt very quickly and figure it out. I definitely think that informs Claire a lot. It helped me understand her."

Did moving to Paris at such a young age teach Balfe that she can cope in any circumstance? "I think I didn't really realize that until many years later," she replies. "I have a great knack of not thinking about things and just going for it. You learn the hard way sometimes that you're able to get through, but sometimes it's quite tough when you're in a situation where you don't know anyone and you're trying to find your way around cities. But if an opportunity presents itself and it seems like a good idea, l'm just like, 'OK, let's do it, then I'll figure it out.'”

The decision to reconnect with her acting ambitions was conducted just as boldly. Ready to quit modeling, she moved to Los Angeles because a writer she was dating lived there. He was the only person she knew, but she had read a Vanity Fair interview with Amy Adams in which she said she trained with Warner Loughlin. "I could walk to that place from my ex-boyfriend's house," she says, "so l was like, 'Well, I'm gonna go there because I can't really drive. I started from scratch. I didn't have any managers, I didn't know any agents, I hadn't acted in almost a decade." But she just kept taking classes, moving from Loughlin to the studios of Sanford Meisner and Judith Weston. "I think when I first got here, I had a nice little air of delusion: 'It's gonna work out,'" she says with a laugh. “You just don't know how."

And then came "Outlander." By email, Moore admits that he didn't know Balfe's work until her audition tape came unsolicited to his office from her agent. Once she was chosen for Claire, he made it clear how demanding the job would be. “I told her in our first meeting that this was going to be an even bigger responsibility and workload than the normal TV lead," he writes. "Because the story was being told from Claire's point of view, Cait was going to be in every scene, every day for months, which is an extraordinary amount of work, far beyond what most actors are ever asked to do."

Moore's warning didn't faze Balfe. Writes Moore, "After she met with the president of Starz... and it was clear that she was going to land the role, I walked her to the elevator and just before the doors closed on her, I said 'Your life is about to change forever,' and she gave me a grin that was both thrilled and slightly nervous. I never saw her hesitate after that."

She's never hesitated before. As Balfe prepares to say goodbye to L.A. (for now, she thinks back to her early days in the city, trying to convince casting directors that she was more than just a model. "I went on many, many, many, many auditions that were Hot Girl No. 2 — you wanna shoot yourself," she says, laughing. "But, you know, I'm very lucky that l was even getting those auditions in the beginning. And it toughens you up. At least for me, to have that fuel to prove people wrong—it definitely spurs me on and makes me wanna work harder." Then she smiles conspiratorially. "And shove it to them."

Backstage 2

Remember… I told her in our first meeting that this was going to be an even bigger responsibility and workload than the normal TV lead. — Ronald D Moore

[lemon-natalia]

The Locked Tomb Reaction - The Unwanted Guest

it’s taken a while, but finally I’ve been able to get around to liveblogging this! my understanding is that The Unwanted Guest takes place in that period of time where Palamedes is ousting Ianthe from Naberius’s body? so i’m intrigued to see what actually happens, as well as how Muir writes in a new theatre-play format

‘kissing or feeding; we can’t be sure’ haha what the fuck. we’re really going in right off the bat with the surrealist horror here. i had a feeling that Ianthe’s mindscape might be a disturbing place, and apparently i was right

ok so i’m willing to suspend my disbelief that this is just a description for the reader to understand the concept but … does either Palamedes or Ianthe’s subconscious know what a 20th century English butler is?

ohhh my god Ianthe’s in a French maid costume, is this because Palamedes considers it sexy. this is so cursed. once again suspension of disbelief, but do either of these characters know what France is?

i am very much enjoying the dynamic between the two of them here, especially how unimpressed Palamedes is with, well, everything Ianthe 

oooh okay thats intriguing, there’s another person’s voice here. my first instinct is that it’s Camilla, given Palamedes is currently in her body

wow Palamedes’ immediate response to a game of essentially 20 questions is to immediately get philosophical and start a debate about whether the soul can be changed. he sounds like the kind of person who would be absolute hell to play Scrabble or Trivial Pursuit against 

what they’re talking about here is very interesting though. i like the little glimpses we get, primarily through the Sixth and the Fifth, about what academia and science looks like in a world with necromancy. whether the soul can be changed is kind of a big hypothetical in the real world, but in TLT where you can literally summon or ‘consume’ a person’s soul it would be much more directly relevant 

also a very interesting point (at least what I think he’s saying?) from Palamedes here that just because the Lyctors lived for 10,000 years doesn’t necessarily mean that the thanergy powering them is perpetual, it could just be declining very very slowly

okay so the Voice just started talking about ‘Camilla’s idea’, so presumably not her unless she’s talking about herself in third person? it could theoretically just be Palamedes debating with himself? 

Palamedes briefly trying to play bad cop/Ace Attorney and intimidate Ianthe is hilarious 

Ianthe’s insistence that she didn’t murder Naberius because it was his job to die for her anyway is an … interesting perspective

‘she and I both understand that the goal is always worth the cost’ ngl i think Harrow herself would have something to say about that, given she literally gave herself a Claire’s lobotomy in the hope of saving Gideon. it wasn’t so much Harrow who decided that Lyctorhood was worth defeating Cytherea, but Gideon deciding for her 

once again i feel horribly bad for Naberius Tern, whose worst crime was pretty much just being an asshole

hah has Palamedes picked up a cigarette habit from Pyrrha. i’m enjoying the insight into his thought process here given that he generally comes off as knowing more than other people all the time, so it’s nice to see him actually in the process of figuring stuff out 

‘She wandered around like she was the protagonist’ HAH Ianthe i have bad news for you 

aww it’s sweet to get Pal’s view on Gideon here, namely that he thinks she’s smarter than even she gives herself credit for and that he was initially jealous of her dynamic with ‘Dulcinea’ but came to like her anyways

‘My problem was reminding myself you were a child’ ohhh my god the mysterious voice is Dulcinea! i can’t believe this is literally the only time we’ve seen Pal and Dulcinea actually interact. and isn't this possibly the first time that they've had an 'in person' (so to speak) interaction since most of their relationship was sending letters to each other?? oh i am not okay

okayy i’m interested in what Dulcinea’s saying here about how she seems to have died again and ‘something awful’ happened to her soul … it doesn’t seem to totally line up with what happened at the end of HtN, especially with her mention that there are two shores on the River. again everything seems to point to the nature of the River playing a big part in AtN 

woooh Magnus Quinn reference, my beloved 

oooh i love the contrast between Ianthe’s descriptions of her relationships with Corona and Babs - despite Babs being the one who was actually the cavalier, the kind of co-dependent relationship she has with Corona is much closer to the relationship between the other cavaliers and their necromancers. which is why the fact that she’s apparently the only Lyctor to outright murder their cavalier vs her admission that she wouldn’t have used Corona is very interesting to me

‘Coronabeth herself is part of your goal’ i’m very interested in the long-term goal of Ianthe in general. obviously one part was becoming a Lyctor, but i do wonder if she has something else planned, i doubt she’s content to just sort of do what John wants her to do forever

‘Jeannemary Chatur regaled me with the story at breakfast’ woooh Jeannemary reference. also this is such a cute detail

ooooh Palamedes's newfound cigarette habit is from Ianthe not Pyrrha, that's very fun

and Palamedes’ final point here that the soul is permeable is not just very satisfying against Ianthe’s general smugness, but has very interesting implications for all of the Lyctor characters, especially the fact that their titles are named after their cavaliers. for example, how much of Mercy’s devotion originally came from her versus the fact that Christabel pre-Res was a literal nun. and what does it mean for John and Alecto exactly - how much of the same person, or even human, is he after literally eating the soul of a planet

ok this isn’t to do with the Unwanted Guest exactly but i am very concerned by the notice at the very end that ‘Hell Will Break Loose’ in AtN. it already sounds ominous enough without considering that the previous notice, ‘Gideon will return’ at the end of HtN was done in the most painful way possible 

overall i really enjoyed this! what i really like about the additional short stories Muir writes for TLT is that you get to see little character moments and explore bits of the lore that would have dragged the main story down a bit, so it was very fun to see Palamedes and Ianthe interact one-on-one and debate a bit

and now i really have run out of stuff to liveblog about these books rip my sanity

[weskie]

Random thoughts:

-Weskiepoo rarely goes drinking beyond getting a bit tipsy because he’s actually such a fucking idiot when he’s drunk. I once saw a mini comic about a very inebriated Albert crashing the Birkins’ wedding with his intoxicated shenanigans and it has never left me since

-He is a polyglot thanks to his extensive grooming teaching. He can speak Italian, French, Spanish, Russian, Japanese, and can carry a basic conversation in German, Romanian, and Dutch. He will use this for Evil (read: dirty talking in foreign languages to watch you melt) as well as Good (read: telling you he loves you more than life itself in languages you don’t speak so you’ll never know the true gravity of his adoration)

-He’s a gossip whore. He acts like he doesn’t give a shit but he EATS UP every shred of gossip he hears from everyone. Tell him about your workplace drama he will devour it.

-He babysat Sherry quite a bit and is actually her Godfather. He finds her adorable and charming and was extremely distressed at the thought of her dying in Raccoon City, so when he found out about Leon and Claire saving her, he felt inclined to spare them his wrath as much as he could (he found out that Sherry was alive after CVX, he wouldn’t have attacked Claire if he knew).

-He’s one of those people that literally no one expects to be good with kids or even like kids but he’s actually quite good with children. He’s mostly neutral about them, doesn’t love nor hate them, but if he finds an unattended child you bet your ass he’s gonna look after them until he can find their guardian. Very good at keeping kids distracted

-Autistic as fuck. This is why he wears the sunglasses and gloves. He stims with Uroboros

drunk wesker gets on the karaoke machine, full send. it's how we ended up with that one pokerface cover from him >:)

and god i love the one about the gossip too. he's a listener. and sure, his presence dominates whatever room he's in, but i guarantee that man used to hang back and listen to all of the drama the old s.t.a.r.s. crew used to talk about. love lives, family matters, random happenings in the city... it's all entertainment to him. even during his time at umbrella, i imagine he'd eavesdrop now and then. and why would anyone care? it's not like wesker is known for being a talker.

also goddddd imagining him being good with kids gives me baby fever (and i don't even want kids 😭). wesker with some kiddo resting on his lap while he reads an incident report aloud, leaving out all the scary parts, mind you.

these are all so good 😭😭 wesker on the brain forever and ever

[citrine-elephant]

heavily inspired by @/silvercap and this

revisiting (boba) parasite papa leon.

the infection can be similar to the facehugger method, or it can be like lepotitsa.

for the lepotitsa method, it's quick. leon gets ambushed, doesn't have time to scream before that thing's french kissing him, and he blacks out after it's done and over with. he's found unconscious and it looks like he simply fell (or was pushed over) and hit his head.

the duration of incubation is about a week. he's hungry, then he's irritable, then he's starving, and then he's isolating. very quickly bitchy and moody and a lil angry brooding chicken.

it presents first with the stomach ache. leon's no good at hiding his pain and he brushes it off with a joke. "christopher redfield, did you get me pregnant?" after enough prodding, this joke shuts down the conversation entirely. especially when claire scoffs in disgust because now she knows her brother is fucking leon.

the way he isolates is easy to pick up on. when the insisting to see a doctor, or professor rebecca chambers, turns into leon snapping at them to leave him the fuck alone, they back down. suspiciously, of course. like damn leon, OUCH, but... it's unusual for him. they think.... maybe he's relapsing.... he's a prick when he's drunk, but...

chris probably wants to start arguing, but claire talks him down from pissing off leon more. she points out how odd this is. jill's probs scribbling notes with squinted eyes in the background. she's watching him, doesn't trust this whatsoever. she definitely gives rebecca a shout...

but even if his symptoms are obvious to the people around him, he still manages to evade capture and examination before he's got the nest built. he's gone MIA. no one can find him.

and while leon's incubating his parasite spawn... he knows something is wrong. he doesn't remember his infection. but he knows something is happening and this isn't good. but he doesn't say anything. he knows he should, but he wants to stay quiet. he needs to stay quiet.

and when he starts instinctively sealing the nest with some substance clearly not supposed to come out of his stomach... he knows.... but he doesn't care. he does, but he can't. he has to protect the nest.

it's when chris manages to break in that leon is immediately hissing and snarling at him. chris sees the fucking thing cradled in his arms. chris sees the sickly change in leon's eyes. the round, subtly red glow of the eggs glued to the walls.

eventually, after fighting the angry chicken and pinning him down. after killing all of leon's poor parasite spawns. it's found out that they don't have to put him down, too. thank god.

after a few days, the paternal rage is gone. whatever was making him so enraged and defensive made it out of his system. the idea for this parasite being -> multiple infections, preservation of the host. it really only works if the host is viable. and leon proves he's definitely robust enough for it. something something, the manufacture wants breeding machines or something. something horrifying like that. why waste a good host if he can continue making monsters?

there would also be downtime. while leon would no longer feel the need to protect these things, there's still pheromones that dissuade the infector bioweapon from trying it again. perfecting this weapon means not killing the host, and the poor guy's already exhausted.

there's this image haunting my brain of leon feeding this ugly little thing like a baby bird and-

[dragonsdendoodles]

hi! just wanted you to know that I love your art and you have some of the most correct Enoch hcs ever.

will you please provide some more?🥺🥺🥺

please?

Thank you so much!!! Absolutely I will, I will talk about that one all day if you let me

When he’s not around, Horace can be found with a homunculus chilling somewhere on him, usually in his hands, on his shoulder, or on his hat. Just so Enoch can keep an eye on him. Not that he’s worried or anything (that would imply he has feelings)

He gets along surprisingly well with Olive and Claire when he’s not actively trying to annoy them. They’ll follow him around and he’ll let them play with his homunculi or put on puppet shows for them, and if she asks he’ll carry Claire around and give her piggyback rides, though most of the time he’ll pretend he’s annoyed with her for asking.

He’s very good with kids in general, just completely subconsciously. He doesn’t have a clue how that happened. In his words, small children like him and he has no idea why.

He has a love-hate relationship with his scars from the end of TDODA. Some days he thinks they’re badass, but some days he also gets really insecure about them because of other people’s reactions to them. When that happens, he’ll refuse to leave the loop or even sometimes his room for the rest of the day.

Enoch is actually very shy when meeting new people. If an ymbryne-in-training or someone new or important comes to the loop to talk to Miss Peregrine, he’ll spy on them from outside or from another room, but if they try to actually talk to him he retreats to the basement and doesn’t come out until they’re gone.

He can play trombone. Notice I did not say he could do it well.

He can also play piano, but that’s less a headcanon and more something kinda confirmed by MOW when he’s stated to have used up six hearts teaching a skeleton to play piano.

He was bullied pretty badly by Abe in the short time they lived together, but none of the kids fully believed him when he said something. He doesn’t blame them—he was new, and when he was new he was even more prickly and defensive than usual, so they’d usually assume he started it and was upset Abe was finishing it when he almost never did. He never told anyone how bad it got until he vented about it to Horace almost a century later, who now completely resents Abe. He refuses to let anyone even mention it to Jacob for fear of tainting his grandfather’s image in his head.

Enoch is one of if not the pickiest eater in the entire house. He has lived weeks off of McDonald’s French fries from the present and Jacob’s retrieval of them for him because everything else sounded like poison.

Noor introduced him to Hot Wheels and he is obsessed. He has a collection of them in his room and Miss Peregrine had to make a rule within the first day that he can’t put mouse hearts in them and make them into homemade RC cars because they’re too small to see on the floor and Bronwyn nearly got a concussion from trying to dodge one thinking it was a bug.

If he has any pride merch from the present at all, regardless of orientation, he has pins and buttons. Nothing else. Enoch does not see the point of all the different flags and symbols but he does see the beauty in being able to chase Horace around the house trying to stab him. The fact that the pins haven’t been confiscated is a miracle.

He chews on things to stim. Favorite objects include every pencil he has ever owned, a lanyard Jacob gave him from a college he’s never heard of, his nails until they start tasting like formaldehyde, and Horace’s fingers. Horace has given up on trying to stop this.

I have many, MANY more should you want more. Mostly for Enoch and Horace but for any of the kids really I think about them A Lot

[rocksalt-and-pie]

alright I've made a more in depth list of episodes I would like to see in a fanservice season 16 as previously mentioned in my other post:

- human Impala (should be portrayed by a 55+ years old actor or actress with a strong Detroit accent and a very loud deep voice. they have arthritis in their shoulders because Dean never oils their creaking door hinges)

- Sam and Dean body swap (the potential for jokes is just top tier and the outtakes from this will be out of this world) (Jensen playing Jared playing Sam and the other way around sounds like absolute chaos)

Cas immediately recognizes Dean even in Sam's body and it's revealed that all this time he has been looking directly at Dean's soul 😭 (no kissing in this episode though. God the psychological damage a Misha/Jared kiss would cause)

- parallel universe with female Sam and Dean that they get sent to and meet each other / alternatively: some kind of gender swap curse that makes them turn into women (the potential for misogynistic jokes turning into more understanding and therefore changed behavior is just chef's kiss)

Bonus points for Cas off-handedly mentioning that he doesn't think it's weird that he wasn't affected by the curse because technically he has no gender and the body he inhabits is just a vessel (close up on Dean's face Thinking Thoughts)

Rowena takes care of it and compliments the female versions of them and it's kinda gay ("do we have to turn you back? Shame, would have been nice to have some female company, we could have formed a coven! Or done other fun things" cut to irritated glances being exchanged between the brothers/sisters)

- Jack and Claire teaming up for a hunt (preferably saving their damsel in distress father and step-dad that got trapped in some dangerous place where they finally have nothing but time to talk things out because there is no way to escape, you have to be freed from the outside)

- stanford era Dean flashbacks (feeling lost and alone on the road)

- Bobby and Rufus in the 80s flashbacks (including baby Winchesters!)

- Bigfoot hunt (the teddy bear episode doesn't count) but it's just an escaped gorilla or something. I just wanna see them hiking again okay I like the woods

- some, like, desert monster idk. filmed on location in Arizona or Nevada in the sweltering heat. the boys being forced to remove layer after layer of plaid. show me Dean in a tank top (handprint included)

- birthday episode (either Sam's or Dean's idc. How come that in 15 years there was never a case taking place during one of their birthdays!)

- an actual wedding, either Sam and Eileen or Jody and Donna or Dean and [gun shots]

- beach episode, show me those bathing suits. give me a Bond girl moment

- another Wayward Sisters episode please

- reverse French mistake although it would be absolutely fucking insufferable and I would hate it with all my heart (but it would be sooo funny)

- resolve all the other loose threads of open ended episodes (there are so many! The tulpa from season 1! The girls in the hotel from the haunted house episode in season 2! Jesse the antichrist kid from season 5! The witch twins and how one of them brought the other back from the dead! The kid of that monster friend of Sam's that Dean killed in season 8 i think and told him to his face to come looking for him when he's grown up! That's five whole episodes right there!! and those are just the ones i could come up with from the top of my head but I'm sure there's more)

- BRING BACK BELA FOR JUST ONE SCENE PLEASE

- a lot of you mentioned a proper musical episode, which. sure why not. a curse that makes you sing/perceive everything happening as music perhaps?

- and then of course. The coconuts gently colliding but this goes without saying

[toomuchracket]

that picture is giving dad!matty in literally any of the au’s. like imagine girlie went out for the day with a few friends and left matty alone with the kid(s) and when she got home he was just PASSED OUT on the couch (and maybe there’s a baby or two on his chest as well)

dad!matty for real, he's been playing tea parties and dress up and watching old barbie animated movies for HOURS with dylan and elena and baby phoebe - when you get home (ever so slightly tipsy after bottomless brunch i fear), the older two are calmly playing barbies on the living room floor, and you join them and talk about your respective days while matty and phoebe (on his chest, like you said) having a snoring contest on the sofa lol. all of the girls are in their princess dress, and matty is COVERED in makeup - you hope to god it's the claire's stuff and not your glossier, which dylan has been eyeing up recently - and glitter; he looks so cute, actually, and when you shuffle over to him to wake him up (you and the girls were like "it's very peaceful but actually maybe we should wake daddy up. we're hungry" lol) you notice he has sparkly purple nail polish on too. maybe it's the 4 french martinis you had, but you actually get a bit emosh looking at him like that. like, he loves your daughters SO much, he'll do anything with and for them, and just like... yeah, you fell in love with the right person all those years ago. and also it's really fun getting to take the makeup off him later and forcibly give him a skincare routine while he grumbles at you but simultaneously looks at you like you hung the moon - just like old times, back in the flat. so cute <3