#just me thinking about language and multiculturalism

[sentientcave]

Last line(s) challenge! Tagged by the one and only @glossysoap (if you have good taste go read her snippet of her Orc Price project because it is HOT)

Here's a little bit from chapter 6 of Retirement Party featuring poorly translated Spanish (If any friends or followers speak Spanish, especially Filipino Spanish (which has, notably, been on the decline for a long while, but it's the language that Dalisay and her grandmother have in common, since Dalisay doesn't speak Tagalog and Lola's English is so-so), and want to help me out, give me a holler. It's probably an unnecessary detail but we love unnecessary details here.)

Segment below the cut!

You're not sure what possesses you, but you get up, and you make him sit, and you go to fix his coffee and wrap a bag of frozen peas in a tea towel. When you turn around, he's reached across the table to pull your laptop closer, smiling at the camera when Lola claps her hands together, delighted.

"Es guapo, Dalisay. Pero no joven, ¿eh?" She says, laughing. He's handsome, Dalisay. But not young, huh?

"No," he agrees, "soy demasiado mayor para ella. Todavía soy lo suficientemente egoísta como para intentarlo de todos modos.” I'm too old for her. I'm still selfish enough to try anyway.

You set down the coffee and glare at him. But you still gently set the ice pack on his raised ankle, squeaking as he pulls you into his lap, sitting you on his other thigh. "John!" You protest.

"Oh, relájate, apo,” Lola chides, laughing, unhelpfully reading the situation just the way John wants her to. She seems impressed by John's accented Spanish, happy to not need to use English to speak with him. "Yo también fui joven una vez. Me preocupaba que ella nunca encontrara a alguien.” Oh lighten up, apo. I was young once too. I was worried she would never find someone.

"No es que ella no pudiera,” John says. "Ella es tan hermosa, pero mantiene la distancia." It's not that she couldn't. She's so beautiful, but she keeps her distance.

Tagging (no pressure): @dragonnarrative-writes , @mortuarywriting and @charliemwrites

[yanderedrabbles]

About the bride kidnapping thing. While I understand that the idea is very cool, I would advise against specifically having it be the Kyrgyzstani tradition. When it comes to showing these sorts of traditions in fiction, unless you’re part of that culture or well informed on the issue it’s easy to accidentally portray harmful stereotypes. Vice in particular has made documentaries about minority cultures that blow issues out of proportion to portray them as backwards (I don’t know about this documentary because I haven’t seen it). Point is that this could end up going very badly. With that said it would be cool if there’s a family of yanderes or yandere town who have the tradition of kidnapping their children’s beloved.

I'm really glad you brought this up anon. It sort of has me wondering about the "should you write outside your culture" debate. And where the line between cultural appreciation and cultural appropriation lies.

In media, lots of cultures and cultural practices get boiled down to the sensational; orientalism, fetishization of the other, the idea of the "exotic."

How should we respond to that as writers and creators? The obvious answer is to do research, to treat foreign cultures with all the nuance and care they deserve. ("Foreign" being relative of course, what's strange to you might be pretty mundane to me).

But it's not quite so simple. Lot's of us are writing from positions of privilege. Can we speak on cultural issues as well as someone from a minority community can? Are our voices overshadowing the people we claim to be representing?

This is especially tricky in fiction. Do we have the right to take someone else's culture and use it for our own entertainment?

Conversely, do we have a duty to be representative in our writing? On the one hand, your readers should be able to see themselves in your writing. Plenty of us grew up without really seeing our peers or our culture in the media. It's alienating. If I have the platform to ease some of that alienation, shouldn't I use it?

On the other hand, I can't always do these things justice. No matter how much research you do, nuance can still be hard to grasp. Furthermore, using foreign culture in my work can very much be seen as manipulative. Using minority identities to grow my audience. Pandering. Placating.

It's a difficult thing to balance. And largely influenced by personal ideas of identity and culture. I don't talk that much about my country, but it's very multicultural. Intersections not just of race, but of ethnicity, religion and language. Engaging in traditions and beliefs outside your own are a given.

I think that's a big factor behind my work. Usually my yanderes aren't any particular race or nationality, but I've made plenty of exceptions. I've written characters from different countries and cultures. I've written different sexual orientations and races.

Do I get it right all the time? Hell no.

I've had so many incredible readers point out my errors and give me advice when it comes to dealing with culture in my writing.

I think that's beautiful. I think that's the best way to interact with cultures outside your own - listen and learn and admit when you get it wrong.

In terms of ala kachuu, I was actually hoping to ask my Kyrgyz followers to beta read the fic before I publish it, given the nature of the topic.

I'm curious where you guys stand on the topic though - especially if you're a POC. Does a writer's background matter? Should they stick to what they know or should they write outside their experience?

[poppetsisters]

Why it Matters that the Vampire in Sinners is Irish

Part of investigating my own Irish identity inevitably forces me to reckon with Ireland's colonized soul. When I attempted to find literature about pre-catholic Irish folklore for a comic I'm working on, the best resources were decades out of print books and texts in dead languages.

Meanwhile, head into any Barnes and Noble and you'll find a plethora of Irish myth representing the revised Catholic interpretation of those myths. With few exceptions, the cultural identity of pre-colonial Ireland has long been erased.

When people say Irish people were, at one point, not considered white, the takeaway shouldn't be "well of course they're white, look at their skin" it should be that whiteness is the social construct supremacists use to "other" those they don't consider themselves. Ireland had to be violently colonized with war, famine, and christianity for them to eventually be considered white.

What this means in the present is that I, half-Irish living in North America, am disconnected from my ancestry in a way that I may never be able to reconnect to, because the Ireland that I miss in my soul has been replaced with a colonized history, a colonized culture, and a colonized soul.

Sinners (2025) is probably gonna be the movie of the year for several reasons, and one of them is how Remmick, the irish vampire, acts as the perfect antagonist to the film's themes.

In what is perhaps the film moment of 2025, Sammy plays I Lied To You with such passion and spirit that the past and future are connected. The threads of blues, of identity, of culture travel back to ancient ritual ceremonies and forward to rock and roll, EDM, and rap. It's not just black american culture represented either, we see peoples representing east asians and west africans alike. In one beauitiful moment, everything is connected.

It's this connection that Remmick wants desperately for himself.

In a later scene, Remmick does his own version of this moment using the song Rocky Road to Dublin, but it's... not the same. Despite his multicultural attendance, the song is entirely a celebration of Irish culture and ONLY Irish culture (and post-colonial at that!) He has no ability to reach into the past or future because he himself has been so violently disconnected from his own heritage. Remmick is no longer irish, he is now white.

The vampirism in the movie is whiteness. It's the loss of cultural identity in favour of the mass. It's the appropriation of others to replace what is missing. It's to collect but not connect.

That's why he want's Sammy's ability: he's trying to fill the void caused by his assimilation into whiteness, but he can only think to do it by enacting the same violence enacted on his people. By taking.

In other words, Ireland is what's going to happen to Black America if Remmick wins.

[kaurwreck]

Paradoxes Nothing in the world is as soft, as weak, as water; nothing else can wear away the hard, the strong, and remain unaltered. Soft overcomes hard, weak overcomes strong. Everybody knows it, nobody uses the knowledge. So the wise say: By bearing common defilements you become a sacrificer at the altar of earth; by bearing common evils you become a lord of the world. Right words sound wrong. [Ch. 78 of Tao Te Ching, ascribed to Lao Tzu; English version by Ursual K. Le Guin]

I'm water like how raging rivers are water, so I also find solace and praxis in Ch. 63 (excerpted from the same English version as above):

Consider Beginnings Do without doing. Act without action. Savor the flavorless. Treat the small as large, the few as many. Meet injury with the power of goodness. Study the hard while it's easy. Do big things while they're small. The hardest jobs in the world start out easy, the great affairs of the world start small. So the wise soul, by never dealing with great things, gets great things done. Now, since taking things too lightly makes them worthless, and taking things too easy makes them hard, the wise soul, by treating the easy as hard, doesn't find anything hard.

I'd recommend the entire Tao Te Ching, actually, for self cultivating mettle, but if nothing else, the above is presently, as ever, salient.

If you'd like something more literally applicable, however —

Living With Change When the government's dull and confused, the people are placid. When the government's sharp and keen, the people are discontented. Alas! misery lies under happiness, and happiness sits on misery, alas! Who knows where it will end? Nothing is certain. The normal changes into the monstrous, the fortunate into the unfortunate, and our bewilderment goes on and on. And so the wise shape without cutting, square without sawing, true without forcing. They are the light that does not shine.

(In other words, according to Ursula K. Le Guin's footnote to the above Ch. 58, Taoists gain their ends without the use of means.)

I won't promise it'll be okay, regardless of what happens over the next few days, but I can promise the outcome is navigable.

[eff-plays]

Goddd I keep seeing ppl defend the use of "non-binary" and saying it's unapologetic and doesn't allow for interpretation and how that's good because that means bigots and chuds won't be able to look away and deny anything.

And like cool I'm glad that you found this empowering in some way but to imply that anybody who doesn't is a hater who doesn't get it or a bigot is uuh. Well it's fucking insane and I'm tired of being nice about it!! Sorry dude! If you think anybody who's uncomfortable with Taash's writing is a bad person then you're brain broken!

First of all the implication that representation should be written to pre-empt the reactions of bigots rather than to organically depict and integrate the people you're claiming you care about kinda sucks ass?? Kinda insane actually? And also like ... how has that worked out for them lmao. Taash has become the icon for Veilguard itself among the very chuds it set out to prove something to.

Second of all. Dorian didn't go around saying "I am a homosexual man. I am gay" but we still knew what the fuck his story was about. Sera didn't say "yeah I'm a lesbian btw" and we still knew! If they'd established that using modern language was something that was fine in previous games, this wouldn't have been as jarring. But they didn't!

Third of all I'm fucking tired of having my own discomfort with the writing of Taash be sneered at as though I, a literal nonbinary person who literally has a mother who doesn't "get it" and literally has struggled to figure out where I belong due to my multicultural, immigrant existence, am the same as a trans/enbyphobe for not liking the fucking SLOP I'm being served.

Like, it's fine! It's fine if you like Taash! I'm glad you relate to them and that you see yourself reflected in them! Genuinely! I wish I could say the fucking same! But if I have to see another fucking "um actually Taash is so so so so important to me and anybody who doesn't feel the same way is just a bitter hater and a bigot who doesn't GET IT" I'm going to start blasting.

The blanket-dismissal of genuine criticism as bigotry or just "not getting it" or implying that anybody not comfortable with this "representation" somehow has no emotional intelligence is so much fucking WORSE to see than the reactionary chuds. Like okay wow you, the person supposedly pretending to be SOOO concerned with enby rep in video games are telling ME, a fellow enby, that I'm the same as an anti-woke reactionary assholes who hate us both? Is this a joke??

Well, to be fair, I have yet to see anybody actually, like, tell me they're nonbinary but liked Taash. Mostly it's people going "well yeah um anybody OVER THERE who doesn't like them or is made uncomfortable by their writing is a bigot" without acknowledging that fellow enbies might fucking hate their writing, too. Because that would be acknowledging valid criticism. And we can't fucking have that, can we?

Fuck, man. You felt that Taash was good rep. I felt that it was bad rep. We're both entitled to feel this way, but you don't get to dismiss ME as a bigot because I wasn't pleased with this depiction of a nonbinary person.

Any enby, trans or cis (ally) haters of Taash who also didn't like their writing have my full permission to use all of my Taash hater posts to back up any argument they might have for why their writing sucks. I do not even care anymore. I'm a proud nonbinary multicultural Taash hater and anybody who tells me I'm wrong or bigoted for this can eat my shorts.

Also can we please. Can we please fucking stop with the "well you didn't have a problem with the word MAN or WOMAN so why does this bother you?" Like be so for serious. Be so so so so for serious. I won't even pretend that's a valid argument.

Anyway, give it up for the FIRST TRUE AND BEST ENBY REP IN DRAGON AGE:

[parasolladyansy]

hi!! i'm the same anon from the languages ask. (thank you for answering btw!! it was very interesting!) i've been having thoughts about pokemon languages for a WHILE, and i'd like to know what do you think was the expansion of "japanese" (let's say hisuian) from hisui to the other regions. if the pearl/diamond clan speaks "japanese", then the galaxy corps learned it from them, yeah? or were they settlers from before that were ALREADY speaking "japanese" (therefore there is no conflict with kanto, johto and hoenn speaking "japanese" too, even if it might have evolved slightly differently)? i have this headcanon that celestica people (who were there even before than the clans) spoke our equivalent "russian" instead, what do you think of that?

also THE LAST CHAPTERS OF THE D&P REWRITE HAVE BEEN HEARTBREAKING AND AMAZING THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE SMALL REUNION I LOVED IT ;;;

also if i am annoying feel free to tell me to stop i am Sorry ;; i just like languages a lot.

Hm! I would imagine they were all speaking Japanese, if we were to believe that they all came from “Japanese” regions originally (which I find very likely - there are a couple who have descendants further out in the world like Unova or Kalos, but for the times, I think it makes more sense for them to be from Kanto, Johto, or Hoenn).

I would actually guess that the Celestica people would have spoken “Ainu”, as I think the Celestica people are supposed to represent the indigenous people living in Hokkaido, the Ainu (the story of Legends Arceus being based on the colonization of Hokkaido in the mid-1800’s).

Another thought is that they could be speaking the Pokemon equivalent of an ancient Hellenistic language like Latin, as all the ruins & the Temple of Sinnoh are more styled like ancient Grecian / Roman architecture:

If so, my memories of Art History make me wonder if it’s a reference to the Silk Road at all? Though honestly, I think it’s to communicate that the Pokemon world is a lot more multicultural & diverse than ours is / was (like people who live in “Japanese” regions don’t seem to necessarily be genetically Japanese you know? Ikrit’s an example of that, being white rather than asian) &/or it just “looks ancient” lol.

As for Russian - the Ainu people lived (live?) in Russia as well as northern Japan, so maybe? I could see it being a substitute for Ainu, seeing as it’s an almost dead language, & could make sense in universe? Depends on the direction one wants to go in I guess! If it were me, while I COULD try to excavate my old memories of high-school Latin lol, I’d want to try including Ainu in some way, even if it’s a couple words or a phrase. ;u;

Thank you very much! I hope you keep enjoying the story (lol it’s all good - I love world building, & languages are a part of it!)

PS: Oh! I forgot - while all the “Japanese” regions probably speak “Japanese”, different parts of Japan have their own dialects, much like how different parts of the US have their own words, phrases, & accents.

This showed up in Legends Arceus when Kamado had a moment of losing his cool - in the US English, he seemed to have an almost Southern / country accent, but in Japanese, he talks in a Kansai accent (aka Johto accent). The more you know!

[my-zen-space]

I need to express how I feel about The Old Guard movies. And how I feel is OBSESSED!

I had to rewatch the first movie before watching the second (cz honestly I didn't remember any specifics other than Joe's monologue when he was captured about how he feels about Nicky 🫶🏻).

But my GOD these are good movies!

The action sequences are on point, the mythology element is really interesting, the locations around the world are amazing and Charlize is just 👌🏼🔥

Also, am I the only one who loves how multicultural the cast is?! A South African, two Americans, a Dutch-Tunisian, an Italian, a Belgian, a Vietnamese, a Brit of Nigerian origin and a Brit of Malaysian origin.

Assuming there will be a third movie (i meaaan, after that cliffhanger, how can there NOT be?), some of the few things I would wanna see are:

More mythological or historical flashbacks with the immortals (think Legends of Tomorrow, how in the earlier seasons, we would see the Legends intervene in real historical events)

Some confirmation hopefully of the romantic relationship between Andy and Quynh. I know we already have LGBTQ representation in these movies but you can’t have Andy looking like THAT and not have her be queer!

More insight on Tuah and his knowledge/research on the immortals e.g. how they came into existence etc.

More Italian from Nicky and Joe. And more foreign languages in general

More travel to new countries (perhaps Greece?)

The additional of a new character perhaps with an amazing casting choice?

This is just me but… perhaps no mullet on Andy? 🙈 I’m sorry! I’m just not a fan, personally. I much preferred her hair in the first movie. But to each their own.

[breezemoonriver]

Ok so. The httyd live action. Hoooooo boy.

I went in generally hopeful bc I knew they had Dean back on the team and(while somehow Chris still carries the heart of the franchise case in point httyd3) he at least cares about the movie, so I knew it would be better than the shitty Disney ones

True, it was better, but like, that’s a very low bar xD They luckily didn’t make many changes, I heard ppl complain that it was a shot for shot remake but while that isn’t true I think playing it safe is the better option with an already objectively 10/10 cult classic movie

The changes they made were almost always to the detriment of the movie. Bear in mind I watched it in a different language(which is a whole other can of worms boy was the hundub and translation horrible) but that still doesn’t help the stupid added dialogue. They took away iconic lines too, no “I did this” from Hiccup and Stoick, no “you don’t have to go out there[to fight the red death]” only some stupid bullshit character assassination which I can’t even remember rn, not even the excuse me barmaid scene!! Like how.

Also the humor too, they took away most jokes that landed, only to make it more ““““mature””””, and kept the basic filler one-liners which did nothing, I can’t remember any joke that I laughed on.

The characters were dead, I’m very sorry to Nico Parker especially bc I’m sure she’s a wonderful actress and she does actually give off major Astrid vibes, but the way they rewrote her character to a literal antagonist??? At some point I literally rooted for a dragon to eat her and I’m so surprised bc I’m generally not worked up by characters like this. It’s just complete character assassination and it made the romantic flight cut even more jarring. Astrid even apologizes to toothless, instead of hiccup, who she hurt and why toothless took her on the scare ride and if that doesn’t show complete lack of understanding of the characters idk what does. Overall they’re just much meaner, fishlegs gets bullied a lot, and not like a “yea ok we’re Viking teens we’re assholes to everyone and each other” way as in the original movie, they’re literally bullying him just bc his obsession with dragons? It has a very ableist undertone which I can’t really put into words but I very much didn’t like it. The twins got watered down as well, ik the only thing they had going for them in the first movie is dumb funny pranksters but they’re not even funny here! Tuff got regressed to his httyd3 horrible womanizer self, which I very much hate, and Ruff is just. There??? Idek if she does anything, but she’s now actually rude which is sad. Also she’s played by a plus size actress, which I would have no problem with if they did not do that only to make a fatphobic joke which I very much have a problem with. Like that’s rude af. Hiccup I had little to no problem with, maybe it’s bc he’s the mc and they payed more attention to him but eh who knows. His character mostly suffered from the bad lines and the bouncing off of the others. The one who imo stayed pretty much in character is snotlout. He’s just consistently being himself, and there even was a point (a scene where he vaults over hiccups table to sit next to him and accidentally kicks his cup sending water flying everywhere) where I exclaimed “yea that’s snotlout alright, he would definitely do that”. So overall he’s fine.

But let’s talk about the bigger changes. HOOOOOOO BOY buckle up bc I have some choice words(not really bc I want this to be constructive and objective afai can reach that o-o). So Berk is now some kind of a multicultural nomadesque refuge, which on one hand is actually very cool bc the around 400 ppl in Berk would’ve counted as a massive city the significance of New York in the Viking world, where lots of different people from trade routes all over the world would show up or even settle. The only problem is that the plot doesn’t work in that case. Berk fights the dragons because they’ve been there for 400 years as of rtte and they’re stubborn fucks /affectionate and that island and village is a home to them. Otherwise it would’ve been as easy to just pack up and leave (cough cough that’s why httyd3 doesn’t work cough). The whole “we came here only because we were searching for dragons to kill” is a literal antithesis of the message of the movie???? Like what were you thinking? Smh. Also I did not buy the whole “Astrid wants to be chief even tho hiccup is still in line for the title” thing and the way she seems to be Stoick’s right hand thingy? And how he wasn’t disappointed in hiccup, his own son who he cares about his own way and who literally got a monstrous nightmare on his unarmed twink ass but the very competent Astrid, who went in the arena just to save him??? Like how is that source for disappointment????

Some changes were actually for the better, which surprised me very pleasantly; first off, snotlout got fleshed out a bit, while very briefly but his relationship with spitelout got some scenes, which I’m quite happy about bc it benefits his character and shows why he’s the way he is. (Which is sadly worthless in the live action bc the main bully is actually Astrid) Second, Gothi got a cool af upgrade, got mentioned by name and even got to do some cool vǫlva stuff other than just babysitting the gang. Also her house looks just as cool as in the movies and I hope it’s still on the very peak of the cliff bc it’s so funny and iirc the fandom has/had a running joke abt how she gets up there. Such is the curse of someone who always ends up liking the protag and one specific background character with little to no content xD

The visuals were not bad, the cg was at certain places wonky but I know how hard it is to pull off so no complaints there, but the cinematography left a few things to be desired. Some shots were forced and some looked like volunteer art students took them at a school show. Even the ones they tried to replicate too; mostly the lighting fucks it up. Some landscape shots, especially the wide shots with Berk actually looked pretty tho. But the dragons also looked awful, the one who looked closest to their original counterpart was stormfly(I loved how bright her colors were) and barf and belch were okay but the others are just hideous I’m sorry. Meatlug my sweetheart looks like a week old dried turd and I literally can’t see the dragon shape and hookfang got demoted to Generic GOT Dragon no.13464 #notmyhookfang :,( Toothless also just looked awkward but everyone already dissected his design so I’m not going to beat a dead horse here

The music was mostly good, John Powell wrote a phenomenal score for the original and I think he managed to bring out the best from this hard situation too John Powell is love John Powell is life that man does not have one single bad track god he’s amazing :3 I’m quite sad that they did not bring Sticks and stones by Jónsi and the art of Nico Marlet back for the end credits, that Vikings have their tea football stadium chorus thing with the nature documentary slideshow did not do it for me but that’s just my personal opinion.

Overall, it could’ve been much worse but I wouldn’t watch it again. It was a fun experience especially with me going with my best friend, but I wouldn’t pay a ticket for it. If you’re interested, just pirate it or watch the og one, as soon as I got home and had dinner I sat down with my sister and watched the original just as a brain cleanser. It’s the definition of I’m not mad but disappointed, which is apparently the best we can get at this year and time. At least I got a cool cup and an adorable toothless figurine out of it :3

Also idk if it was a regular fish or something else but either way I really hope Mason got paid very well for the fish scene xDDD

And please don’t look if I made any mistakes it’s 4 am and I’ve been suffering with an insane migraine thx byeeeee <3

[witchbitchartist]

Does anyone else headcanon some of the Winx Club characters as either multilingual or English being a second, maybe even a third language? Is it just me?

For example, Riven. I see him as growing up in a multicultural area and picking up on different languages to the point that he is pretty fluent in them.

Please let me know! I am very curious if it’s just me and my special interest in learning about different cultures (and my adoration of them) or others think the same.

[theflowergothic]

okay so to break down K and her portuguese, i'm just gonna start this off by saying i'm a native portuguese speaker, born in portugal, but i grew up in switzerland in a multicultural community so i grew up both hearing and speaking european and brasilian portuguese

for those who don't know, the difference between the two is a bit bigger than british/american english, so some pronounciations are different, some words are different, but the main thing about it is that european portuguese is a lot more short (it almost sounds slavic in the way it's spoken), whilst brasilian portuguese is longer, more rounded out (so the way they add an "ee" sound to the end of the words yk like hot dog becoming hotee dogee)

i've also not seen the full conference, only the few videos posted by the official conference page and by K's fanpages, but this is what i've noticed so far:

the first video is one where she speaks about the amount of followers she has, so i'm gonna put it here word by word, in both languages

PT:

K: Mas quando eu penso par- por exemplo nos numeros... ehm... é... que me assistem, dois milhões de seguidor, você tentar imaginar isso num estádio, não- não cabe num estádio de fútebol, então, a gente tenta não pensar nisso- M: Mais vale não pensar K: Mas eu sei que... tem... muitos homens, muitas mulheres, muitas idades diferentes que tão ali- (video cuts here)

EN:

K: But when I think to- for example about the numbers... um... eh... that watch me [my page], two million followers, you try to imagine that in a stadium, they don't- they don't fit in a football stadium, so, i try not to think about that- M: it's better not to think about that K: But I know that... there's... many men, many women, may different ages that are there [on her page, following her] (video cuts here)

the first thing i noted in this video is that she does not seem comfortable at all. she seems to be hesitating a lot, looking for words, for something to say, and this is obvious in the way she sometimes gets words wrong (for example using "par" then correcting to "por", see the blue words, it's kind of the equivalent to starting to say "to example" then correcting it to "for example").

the second one is how she uses the green words. so she uses "seguidor" (follower) instead of "seguidores" (followers), and "tentar" (trying to) instead of "tenta" (try to). now this is a thing you sometimes find in brasilian portuguese, but it's more of a shortened kind of thing, you know? like the brasilian equivalent to saying "innit" instead of "isn't it". it's not wrong, per se, but it does feel sort of unnatural in the way she says it, because it feels like she stopped in the middle of pronouncing the first word (so forgot the plural part to followers) and mispronounced the second one but was fortunate enough that it still worked (tenta is a soft "a" sound, while tentar is a hard "ah" sound)

the last thing i noticed in this video is how quick she was to say the "many men" part of the speech, it was the part she was most certain about. then there's was the smallest pause before "many women, many ages". this could be nothing, but i did think it was interesting.

the second video talks about her being born in the limelight and what she did with the attention it brought her.

PT:

K: Quando a gente... nasce... com essa exposição, quase que... vira normal, apesar de que... você nunca se sente 100% confortável com... quanto que as pessoas... querem te ver ou saber da sua vida. Mas... um dia eu pensei assim: "como é que eu posso usar de uma maneira positiva?" (video cuts)

EN:

K: When you're... born... with that kind of exposure, it almost... becomes normal, even though... you never feel 100% comfortable with... how much people... want to see you or know about your life. But... one day I thought: "how can I use this in a positive way?" (video cuts)

again, the big thing here is how much she hesitates. she seems to be doing a good job covering it up with her hand gestures and eye contact flickering between the audience and the interviewer, but the hesitation is very much there. personally, i think it might have to do with the fact that she's spewing nothing but bullshit here, but whatever.

linguistically, again, it's more in her pronounciation of "100%", so the red. the word would be said "cem por cento" but she say it more like "sem-p-cent" which is coincidentally a lot more european/short than the normal brasilian way of lengthening the words, but even in a european standpoint, it just sounds like she fumbled over the word.

the last video i saw was one where she was talking about her perfect start to the mornings, mentioning P.

PT:

K: Um abraço dela [P] muito aper-apertado... aquele aconchego de manhã... tomar um café, e comecar o dia assim, pra mim... é- (video cuts)

EN:

K: A hug from her [P] really ti- tight... those morning cuddles... have a coffee, e starting the day like that, for me... it's- (video cuts)

once again, you'll be sick of me saying this, but the constant hesitation is still there. again, it's like she's searching for every word cause she simply doesn't know what to say. also there was a very clear stutter in the orange part, when she said "tight" hug from P, followed by a hesitation before "those morning cuddles". she sounded more assured talking about coffee than about her and her daughter's morning bonding session.

but in general, over all three videos, i noticed especially that she has a hint of a french accent in some words that slip in here and there. it's obvious to me cause i grew up in the french-speaking part of switzerland so i'm used to hearing french speakers trying to say portuguese words, but others might not notice it so much. other than that, she seemed like she was trying to portray herself as comfortable but it was obvious in her voice and in her words that either she wasn't sure what to say, or how to say it. so this linguistic problem could either come from her not being that good of a portuguese speaker when it comes to public speaking about big topics such as these, or it could simply be because she's trying to bullshit her way through this conference and spewing lie after lie.

anyways, apologies for how long this was, but i hope it was educational in some way, and i do hope that some brasilian speakers will be able to add in their two cents about some of these things because, like i said, i did work mostly off of european portuguese, so people with the same accent and dialect as her will surely be able to say a lot more than me <3

I can finally post this breakdown yaaaaay thank you

(And as someone who loves the technicalities of languages, this is super fascinating to me)

[theshipsong]

astrology and tarot are entwined to me because i got into them when it was trendy, 2017-18, which was absolutely a result of content creators and urban outfitters preying on panic and helplessness among a certain demographic (college educated young women) with trump's first election. of course some of these content creators had been at the game for years beforehand, some simply had client practices and hopped onto digital media best they could, but there was certainly a Boom that i think reemerged in 2020 with COVID

but besides market factors, it all stuck with me because 1) it felt like a natural exploration for a lapsed catholic who'd been an atheist since i was 15 and 2) i did my level best to do it all spending the least money. i bought one mass market deck, the centennial waite-smith, and learned to read tarot with friends who still read tarot to this day. i bought used astrology books published before this boom and learned everything else online. what maintains my interest is the community i've found, like any other hobby. but.

i've ultimately been consistent in believing in free will. so the disclaimer that astrology is "just for fun" before putting on the language of someone who believes that planets have influence on us, or that the same force that moves planets moves us or what have you, felt dishonest to me and still does, which is why i mostly do astrology for fictional characters now. i still love astrology. i like medieval astrology and see it as proto-astronomy like alchemy is proto-chemistry. but actually applying it to life? following transits closely and planning around them? that's a lot of work for something i don't believe in

whereas tarot feels more humble. astrology's gravitas is from its age, of course; we've always looked at the sky, and in the west it's bound up in hellenistic mythology, which feels universal while in reality being extremely provincial. tarot cannot predate the printing press by much, and its persistent imagery in french and italian decks is late medieval to early modern and distinctly catholic (the high priestess and hierophant are the popess and pope), while the very recent rider waite-smith deck with its iconic illustrations is a british invention that seems to obfuscate its own origins with no distinctive culture in its figures besides "the (european, occasionally oriental) past," besides appropriating kabbalah to further confuse things.

i find it easier to be honest about tarot's smallness because we have a print archive of how contextual it is, how it varies between countries and centuries consistent with increased literacy and multiculturalism. western astrologers have to try very hard to get away from venus/aphrodite and mars/ares and end up with nonspecific, generalized mush, whereas the proliferation of indie tarot decks is something very beautiful to me. i may not jive with some or even most of them—i've bought three total and only use one—but tarot has always been inculturated. both mediums have PR about fate and the supposedly ancient/transcendent wisdom of their crafts that only a minority of us care about challenging, and astrology has a worse go of it by being so damn old

but tarot is unique to its context and, if done honestly, claims to be no more than that, whereas astrology makes bolder claims by involving the planets. the anarchist emma goldman (yes i know she's racist): "i do not believe in god because i believe in man," and man made the tarot wholesale. man also made astrology in that humans imbued natural phenomena with meaning, but nature is the closest thing we have to god, so i'd rather not.

[dr-spencer-reids-queen]

The Uncanny Valley: Final Part

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Female!Reader

Word Count: ~2.6k

Summary: Therapy isn't something you're taking too well, but if you want to keep your job, you'll continue to go. you're forced to confront thoughts and memories of your own family when you come across the father of the unsub.

Warnings: canon violence, canon language, canon talk of death, methods of kill

Season Five Masterlist

Author’s Note: I do not own anything from Criminal Minds. All credit goes to their respective owners. If there are any warnings that exceed the normal death/kills from the show, I will list them.

x

If drugs are being used, then a doctor might know something about it that the team won't. Rossi calls in a doctor who is around all different types of drugs to get a professional opinion on the case.

"So, doctor, if a diabetic were given this battery of drugs to keep her paralyzed, what would the reaction be?"

"Diabetics metabolize everything they consume differently which includes drugs. It all gets broken down to blood sugar at varying rates. Most likely, this patient seized up minutes after she was medicated."

"You're saying she's already dead?"

"Probably. Although, there is another possibility. Bethany's condition could break down the drugs faster than the other victims. She might regain control of her body. Every hour that she doesn't turn up is a reason for hope."

"We're still running out of time. If the drugs don't kill Bethany, she's not gonna last long without insulin."

You and Spencer take it upon yourself to talk to a collector to try and get into the mindset of someone like the unsub. There is a store in town that is owned by a collector who likes to sell some of his things and give them to other people who are collecting the same things he is. Spencer breaks down the situation you're in without giving too much information away. He's still a civilian who doesn't need to know police business.

"Look, collectors are good, honest people. Just because you enjoy dolls doesn't make you a freak or a pedophile."

"We appreciate that sir, but the woman that we're looking for has lost her ability to control her obsession. She's killed three women trying to recreate a type of doll she had a child."

"Describe the line to me."

"There's a pattern to the victims. They're all in their twenties and petite."

"Most doll lines revolve around infants. Is she dressing them like babies?"

"No, she's not." Spencer looks at you to see you studying the things he has in his store. You're not touching anything but you are fiddling with your fingers as you look. "Their wardrobe consists of chiffon dresses worn by one blond woman, a redhead, and a black woman."

"Is she sewing the dresses herself?"

"How did you know that?"

The store owner goes around the counter and takes out a big book of dolls. He flips through the pages to the ones he thinks are the ones the unsub is trying to recreate.

"It's the Valois line. They were a local company back in the late eighties. They promoted feminism and multiculturalism. Strong, independent girls from different backgrounds who could still be friends."

"Y/N, check this out." You walk over to Spencer and study the contents of the book. "Each doll has a birth certificate to fill out, a form to describe their lives, and a kit to sew your own clothes."

"JJ said she's been at this for a while. She's probably been sewing since she was a little kid."

"Wait a minute. Sir, what's this contest that they held?" Spencer asks when he sees an ad in the book.

"That was to see who could come up with the most imaginative doll. Sew a dress and write an essay to describe her. If you won the contest, you'd have your doll featured in next year's line."

"That didn't end well, did it?"

"No."

"It's a classic tool child psychologists use. Tell me a story with these dolls sort of way."

"When the company got essays with thinly veiled references to physical or sexual abuse, they turned the entry forms and the dolls over to the police. The publicity killed the line."

"You said the company was local, right? They might still have the clothes in evidence."

The detective was able to get the dolls that were in evidence once you asked him to. By the time you got back to the station, Derek was reading some of the essays while JJ and Emily were inspecting the dolls. You used to have a doll like that when you were a child. Your dad gave you one to dress up with doll clothes. You didn't have the skill to sew and it's not like your parents were gonna do that for you.

You grab one of the dolls and think back to your childhood. You got a lot of dolls, in fact.

"How are the essays going?" Spencer asks Derek.

"It makes for some pretty depressing reading. Prentiss is having a good time."

"Hey, these dolls are like little time capsules only eighties fashion wasn't so kind to them. I'm surprised how many little girls knew how to make shoulder pads. How's it going on your end, JJ?"

"I got a list of vendors the victims went to--tailors and seamstresses, that sort of thing."

"JJ, you said something about a handkerchief hem, right?" Emily asks.

Emily shows her the hem on some of the clothes on the dolls.

"That's exactly like what she sews for her victims."

"What's the name on the entry?"

"Samantha Malcolm."

"She's on my list," JJ says.

"Wait a minute, guys. I have her essay around here somewhere." He looks for it. "Right here. 'Sally doesn't like the room with the lightning.' That can't be good."

You take out your phone and call Penelope to get information on Samatha.

"Okay guys, I just got Samantha's medical records. Oh, my god, she was doomed. Like Emily Bronte doomed, like Shakespeare doomed."

"What happened to her?" Hotch asks.

"Right. For the first ten years, nothing. Then, she starts a battery of electroshock treatments."

"At ten? Who subjects a child to ECT?" Spencer wonders.

"That would be her father, Dr. Arthur Malcolm. He runs an inpatient mental health facility for troubled young people called New Lives. At first, the essay that Samantha wrote raised some flags, but her father explained that the therapy was to deal with the recent death of her mother. After that, he started her on a serious regimen of anti-psychotic drugs which he weaned her off of a few years ago."

"It explains her familiarity with medication. Where is she now?"

"Her father declared her incompetent so he's still the legal guardian. Everything is in his name, and all of her records list New Lives as her residence."

"She can't keep victims in an inpatient facility. She needs privacy. Garcia, what about real estate holdings in her father's name?"

"Just his own, but New Lives has a bunch of outpatient and halfway houses all over town."

"JJ, where does she work?"

She checks her list. "I have her placed at three different shops around town."

"Alright, let's split up and cover the shops and the facility."

"I want to go to New Lives," Spencer says. "Whether or not she's there, I want to talk to the father. There are literally hundreds of therapies to help kids through loss. Electroshock is not one of them."

"Take Rossi and Y/N," Hotch says.

Rossi drives both of you to Arthur's facility that's right smack dab in the middle of town. You step out of the car and feel the sense that someone is watching you. You look around and know Samantha is out there. She's close whether on purpose or just passing through.

"What is it?" Spencer asks.

"She's here. I feel her. I can't find her, though."

There are too many people walking around that her energy mixes with everyone else's. Rossi takes you two inside and gets approval to talk to Dr. Malcolm. The second you see the doctor, you freeze in your steps. He becomes blurry through your tears but neither Rossi nor Spencer notice you. Rossi begins explaining the situation briefly but you can't hear the words coming out of his mouth.

"I am very confused, gentlemen. What does this have to do with Samantha?"

"We need to talk to her. Is she here?"

"No, she's at work."

"Does she live here or did you move her into one of your halfway houses?"

"As a matter of fact, she is in one of my houses."

"We'll need the address."

"I need to know what this is about."

"She might be tied to a series of abductions."

"That's not possible. It's not my daughter," Dr. Malcolm shakes his head.

"Is Samantha on her own at this house? There are no other patients, right?"

"She thought that was best and I agreed."

Rossi looks back at Spencer and notices the painful look on your face.

"Y/N, are you okay?"

Spencer turns to look at you and grabs your hand to which you squeeze. The feeling and energy you're getting from Dr. Malcolm is the same one you got from your rapist. It's similar to the same feeling you've been getting with your dad recently, but you're not going to open that door.

"I know a child molester when I see one."

"I beg your pardon?"

"You subjected Samantha to electroshock therapy when she was ten. The effects of that would be permanent, especially at that age but you knew that, didn't you?"

"My wife died when Samantha was ten and she never recovered. I tried everything. Child psychiatry and pet therapy. Nothing helped. She was cutting herself. She was in pain. But I want to go back to the part where you're accusing me of being a child molester."

"Really? Okay. I noticed you have toys in your office. Why are they here?"

"I use them in my therapy."

"I understand that, but why are they on the top shelf away from where any kids can reach them?"

"They're reminders of patients that I've helped."

"Okay." You grab one of the toys from the shelf. "What was the name of the girl you helped with this one?"

"Jenny Larson."

You grab another one. "This one? What was the name of the girl you helped with this one?"

"Abigail Moore."

"How about this one?"

"Linda Krauss."

"I'm assuming these girls are nine or twelve, right?"

"My PhDs are on the effect of trauma on prepubescent girls. I do not appreciate what you're implying," he glares.

"I'm not implying anything. I'm making an inference. An inference is an educated guess, and based on that, I form a hypothesis. For instance, my hypothesis here is that after you raped your daughter, you submitted her to electroshock treatment to make sure she stayed quiet."

"This is outrageous!"

"Then, out of guilt, you bought her toys. More specifically, you bought her a line of dolls. Because that's what serial molesters do. They give gifts. So, you continued the pattern with your other patients and once they left your care, you added their toys to your collection."

You pause to think about your own situation. Your father gave you a bunch of toys to keep you happy. Maybe there is no correlation and you're reading into but you'd rather not think of your own father in that light.

"I'm sorry, you can't back up your story, Agent."

"This is why I love my job, doctor," you laugh. "The jury is your peers and the witnesses will be Jenny, Abagail, and Linda. The DA will put them on the stand and I'm going to personally bring these dolls in. We'll watch how they react." You start to raise your voice and slam your hand on his desk which scares him. "Not to mention your goddamn energy painting a not-so-pretty picture of you fucking these girls!"

Spencer pulls you back to help calm you down and Rossi steps in to take over.

"Or you could tell us where your daughter is, and we'll tell the DA you cooperated. Once we walk out this door, that deal comes off the table."

You turn to leave the room and Dr. Malcolm says something right before Spencer can leave.

"2529 Adams Street. You'll tell them, right? That I cooperated?"

"Where are the other toys? The collection isn't complete," you glare.

Dr. Malcolm has no choice but to give them up. He gives you the dolls he took from his daughter, the ones that made her start kidnapping in the first place. Rossi informs the rest of the team where to go, but Spencer thinks it's best if he goes in first. Samantha is mentally unstable so she needs to be approached delicately and carefully.

Spencer goes in knowing he can talk her down while you go in so you can help the girls she's taken.

"Samantha?" She is in the middle of taking care of her victims and she gasps when she hears Spencer's voice. As he is talking to her, you have your gun out and trained on her. "My name is Spencer and this is Y/N. We're with the FBI. I know what your father did to you, and I want you to know that he can never, ever hurt you again."

"He never touched me," she shakes her head. "He's a good father. He loves me."

You say the same thing about your father.

"I know that he probably forced you to say those things. He'd punish you if you got it wrong and send you to the room with the lightning."

"Yeah," she nods.

"The dolls that your father gave you after he hurt you, what would happen to them?"

"He kept them in his office with the other toys, but when I moved out, I had to take my friends with me. I couldn't leave them behind."

As he keeps her talking, you slowly move to the right to get closer to the girls who are begging you with their eyes.

"Of course. When you went to get them, what did you find? He gave them to another girl, didn't he?" She nods emotionally. "Do you want them back?"

"He said I couldn't. He said they were gone for good."

"He lied. He's been lying to you for a long time. Do you want to see them?"

"Can I?"

"Yeah." Spencer reveals he has the box of dolls and she immediately goes over to him. This is when you put your gun away and tend to the girls. "Do you want to play with them?

"Don't worry, you girls are safe," you say.

You take out each IV tube from each of the girl's arms. If they could cry, they would. Bethany is the one with diabetes so she is able to move a lot more. The drugs Samantha gave her wore of quickly.

"Thank you," she whispers.

"It's clear. We need medical in here," Spencer says into his earpiece. When the team comes into the house, Samantha panics that she isn't going to see her dolls again. "Hey, Samantha? You need to go with these men but your friends can go with you, okay?"

"They won't take them away?"

"I promise no one will ever take them away again."

She is taken away but she is happy because of her dolls.

"Well done, Agent Reid."

"Thanks."

Rossi goes over to you and wraps an arm around your shoulder for comfort.

"Are you okay?"

"No," you whisper painfully.

Another job well done. Another successful case. It doesn't feel that way. It feels like the world is caving in on you and you can't get to safety. You dread going to sleep but you know you have to at least try. Maybe this time you won't have another nightmare. That's the hope, right?

You're back here again. You're back in the same nightmare. The same car is on the side of the road where you're walking. Someone grabs you from behind. Who is it? It doesn't matter. You scream out for help. You kick and fight to get away. It's no use. Whoever grabbed you has a tight hold on you.

Help! Someone help! Anyone! No one is coming to help you. You're all alone. Spencer stands on the other side of the street just watching. Help! Spencer, please! He doesn't do anything but stands there watching you get dragged into the car.

Spencer!

"Y/N, wake up. You're having a nightmare."

You gasp awake and look around the room to make sure you're not actually inside that car. You're covered in sweat and tears.

"Spencer?"

"I'm right here. You're okay."

"No, I'm not," you sob. You turn over in his arms and cry into his chest. "Please make this stop."

Spencer is heartbroken for you. He doesn't know how to help and it's killing him.

"In life, unlike chess, the game continues after checkmate." - Isaac Asimov

x

Follow my library blog @aqueenslibrary​​​​​​ where I reblog all my stories, so you can put notifications on there without the extra stuff :)

[liriostigre]

Hiiii ty for such a great uquiz!! Would it be possible to see the description of all the books you could get matched to? I’m curious what the vibes are for the rest!!

hi 🌷 here you go:

White Teeth by Zadie Smith: Excessive, maximalist and very ambitious multigenerational and multicultural epic novel that starts with the unlikely friendship between Archie Jones and Samad Iqbal. It explores themes of race, identity and the intersections of culture, heritage, and modernity. Clever and hilarious dialogue, very creative when it comes to language and style, unique and bold when it comes to narrative. Perhaps a flawed novel due to its ambition, but excellent nonetheless.

Despair by Vladimir Nabokov: Excellent writing; very ambitious and stylish. It is somewhat a twisted novel but you will find a lot of humor despite. The narrator speaks directly to the reader as he writes what he regards as his perfect crime. This novel is one of Nabokov's earliest works in which one can easily identify themes and literary devices that the author explored later in his most known works.

The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño: Brilliant and stunning novel about poets and poetry! Very dense and challenging; it requires patience from the reader. This novel is so infinitely dear to me that i can't even explain its brilliance, but i have to give you at least an idea of the plot so: The story is arranged in three parts and told from multiple points of view. It starts in Mexico City, in the 70s, and continues across decades and continents. It follows the adventures and misadventures of Arturo Belano and Ulises Lima—poets, drug dealers, wanderes, criminals. Now, about the themes, the writing, the style, the narration? Just absolutely perfect even at its most tedious, difficult and anticlimactic parts.

The Hearing Trumpet by Leonora Carrington: Unconventional, absurd, imaginative and exuberantly surreal apocalyptic fairytale quest. It follows 92 year old Marian who is sent off to a peculiar old-age home. If you aren't familiar with Leanora Carrington's art you should look at some of her paintings because this wonderful novel feels just like her surrealist paintings!

Mrs. Caliban by Rachel Ingalls: This novella tells the story of a love affair between a depressed suburban housewife and an amphibian creature who escaped a scientific research center. It might sound like a quirky fiction story but it actually deals with the most mundane and banal aspects of life and human relationships. Brilliantly written; neat and precise prose, wonderful storytelling. The author knew what she was doing and not a single word she wrote was wasted.

The Borrowers by Mary Norton: Delicately written little adventure about tiny people who live in the secret places of houses. I am enamored (obsessed!!) with miniatures—dollhouses, dioramas, fairies—so imagine how dear this book is to me.

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn: The murders of two girls bring reporter Camille Preaker back to her hometown. As she works to uncover the truth about those crimes, Camille finds herself forced to unravel the psychological puzzle of her own past. Very entertaining read. It has best seller written all over it (which might not be the biggest compliment lol but i mean for this genre so it is a compliment).

Rage by Sergio Bizzio: Claustrophobic, anxiety inducing, fast-paced psychological thriller that made me think of Bong Joon-ho's Parasite the whole 4 hours it took me to read it. I read it in it's original language, Spanish, and i particularly loved the dialogue; its idiosyncrasies and authenticity (tqm Argentina!)

High Fidelity by Nick Hornby: Rob, an obsessive music fan, reminisces his top five worst break ups to understand his most recent heartbreak. He is a very arrogant and cynical guy who defines his entire life through records, and because he is constantly interacting with music that almost exclusively deals with love—and a very idealistic version of it—he finds himself unsatisfied with the way his life has turned out.

[magpiemagica]

COMMON PBS KIDS W!!

Carl the Collector, their new series about a raccoon boy who like to collect things, stars an autistic boy in the lead roll. Alongside that, he also has a fox friend on the spectrum.

Carl's voice actor is also autistic and there are autistic people present every step of the production process.

This is such a win for disability representation in children's programming. Honestly, I'm not surprised. PBS KIDS has always been a strong ally to our community and even the autism episodes from a while ago like in Arthur still hold up pretty well. Their commitment to kindness and respect does not go unnoticed!!

(Long Side Note: This relates to my fear surrounding my fear of Project 2025, a multi year plan created by The Heritage Project of the American GOP/right wing party. This plan is facist in nature (I recommend doing your own research, I am not saying this lightly) and one of its plans would be the abolishment of The Department of Education (Section 3, Part 11, page 319) You know the ones that help fund PBS Kids? This is rationalized by fear of the "inappropriate political indoctrination of our children" with an emphasis on “traditional families” and “rejecting gender ideology and critical race theory”. Critical race theory is the societal discussion of race and ethnicity btw. Same with "gender ideology". I usually don’t get political on my blog because it is supposed to be my happy place. So much shit is happening internationally and nationally right now that I want a place where I can just rant about stuff that's less serious, you know? But I feel like I need to bring this up when talking about PBS.

The United States is a multicultural country. Seeing a diverse group of kids on TV isn't indoctrination and people existing in a way different from you isn't a personal attack. It's just how people exist. Families speak multiple languages. Kids can be raised by a single parent, a mom and dad, or two moms/dads. People are different from each other; they have different physical features, wear different clothes, have different voices, and navigate their lives in different ways. And that is what makes humanity so vast and special. Kids deserve to see people who look like them, act like them, and have backgrounds like them on screen. And people who don’t represent them as well. I don’t like to “stan” companies or organizations. However, PBS Kids is putting in the work to bring comfort and education to children all over the country and I think that's pretty awesome. You can tell by watching these shows the care that was put in and I really hope that PBS Kids is still around by the time I graduate college. I would love to work there. PBS Kids brought me so much joy as a kid, growing up with shows like Super Why, Sid the Science Kid, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, Dinosaur Train, and of course, Sesame Street. I hope children today are having that same experience with these shows <3)

[altaissiatla]

Regarding some of the headcanons, I see Walburga Irene Black, Narcissa E. Black, etc. Do you have full headcanons on the middle names of all of the House of Black?

The kind of naming conventions I like to follow are:

First Name: a celestial figure or god-like being, like a star or constellation named after Greek myths, usually the part of the person that will be of most use to the family.

Middle Name: a name of their own, their true name in a way, something for themselves and sometimes matrilineal/patrilineal in nature--a side of themselves that they can choose to step into.

Last Name: Black

With this we'll have something like:

1. Walburga: of Germanic origin, meaning "power of the fortress", "strong protection". Variant of the St. Walburga, the patron saint against dog bites, mad dogs, coughs, plagues, famine, rabies, hydrophobia and storms; guardian of boatmen, farmers, harvests, mariners, watermen... this makes me depressed a little every time I remember Sirius (a black dog) and Regulus (drowned on a mission by the sea) 2. Irene: derived from the Greek word for "peace"; also named after the asteroid 14 Irene (an asteroid named after the Greek personification of peace and daughter of Zeus, is neither a saint nor a star, just a minor planet...); a name to mimic her mother's, Irma. Extra sad if you think about how most of the fandom perceives her to be the exact opposite of peace. 3. Black

I also have this thing of liking the way certain words or names sound and flow and even how certain words simply look together. It might be a multicultural language learning habit of mine, linguistic/aesthetic fascination, the autism, the synesthesia...I don't know.

Examples:

Walburga Irene Black

Alphard Pollux Black

Cygnus Ignatius Black

Orion Rigel Black (nearly named him Orion Barnebe)

Sirius Orion Black

Regulus Arcturus Black (named after paternal grandfather and granduncle)

Narcissa Edythe Black (Cygnus wanted to name her Narcissa Errai Black, Errai being the name of a binary star system in the constellation Draco; Edythe is more feminine...very demure, very Rosier, reminiscent of Druella--often referred to as Ella. With this we can see that Draco was named after his mother and grandmother in a Black Family convention)

The names of the earlier generations before Walburga are still a work in progress. Some I think are best suited just for one name (Andromeda and Bellatrix) and that's kind of tragic if you think about it.

The other names I have compiled so far are all OCs descended from the main branch (Cygnus-Pollux-Walburga) continued in my fanfic's universe. The branch will continue through Alphard and Walburga, who give us:

Vérene Rasalas & Regulus Arcturus = both pureblood children but not related by blood = both named after a star from the constellation of Leo = Rasalas (Head of the Lion); Regulus (Heart of the Lion) = their son, Rasalas Altais Black (married Elliette "Eli" Dubois) -- their grandchildren, Ara Marie Black, Altair Valerion & Carina Selene Black

Without trying to give too much away for future works of mine:

Ara will marry a Rosier (descended through Felix Rosier) Altair will marry a Sallow (a descendant of Sebastian Sallow) Carina was briefly engaged to a Scamander (a descendant of Pandora Lovegood)

And they will all keep the Black name because these kids are born in (Ara and Altair) 2023 and (Carina) 2025. They are going to be so integrated with modern muggle society and conventions because of their parents and grandmother.

Ara hyphenates are surname but makes sure that Black is last.

Altair is lucky his wife wanted his last name.

And poor Carina...yeah no, I will not elaborate on this now.

Their children will go on and marry other familiar names in wizarding societies all over the world (Goldstein, Zabini, Dubois, Shacklebolt etc.) which goes to highlight the Royal Family/Dynasty vibe I wanted to give the Blacks, minus the toxic blood purity culture, because WE ARE BREAKING GENERATIONAL CURSES ONE OC AT A TIME while parallelling and drawing from their ancestors.

Seeing as they will never have a squib ever again, you could argue that with the introduction of Vérene's blood (a highly skilled user of Ancient Magic), their magic is what makes them always pure.

This is also to show that Walburga's prophecy was right! She and Vérene basically become like the Queen Victoria's of the wizarding world (First Mistress of House Black and the Forever Mistress).

[flaming-thing]

What was your Weird Childhood Obsession™️?

As someone who is ✨️autistic✨️, I had a lot (A LOT) of weird obsessions as a child. Below or some of the funnier/more uncommon ones:

- Plugs. Plug sockets. Wires. In the UK, plugs have 3 prongs (earth wire, live and neutral), and the plastic caseing isn't (or at least didn't used to be) melted together. I watched my dad take apart a plug one time to replace the fuse, and that was it. By age 5 I was able to completely take apart a plug, including removing all screws, wires and the fuse, and could put it back together again using a different wire or plug to the one I had originally. Obviously I wasn't allowed to do this without one of my parents with me, but we saved a lot of money on replacement wires and chargers for about 2 years as I just replaced the wires inside instead of buying a whole new cord lol

- linguistics. I read a book when I was about 9 on ancient Egypt, and I got very interested in how they were able to read when their language didn't have words, only pictures, and how it ended up being like that. I asked my teacher, who gave me a book about where languages come from, and I read the whole thing in one sitting. I was absolutely flabbergasted that so many different languages and dialects could come from a single extinct language. I went around my (very multicultural) class and asked everyone where they were from and what language was spoken in their country. I then tried to find out as much as I could about how each language developed and how it relates to others. I told my teacher who let me do a presentation on it for show and tell that week! I'm still interested in linguistics, so I'm forever grateful to that teacher

- space. No more needs to be said. Planets. Stars. I could name all 88 constellations and knew everything about the planets (how long their years where, the angle of the axial tilt, how fast they spun ect)

- DOGS!! I could recognise so many different breeds of dog

- glassblowing? I never got to do it myself, but we went to a glass museum (I know it sounds boring, it was so so interesting) and they had demos that you could watch of people blowing glass. Safe to say I watched 7 consecutive demos that day. My parents actually just left to go looking round some more because they knew I would still be there when they got back 😂 (dw they talked to one of the people who worked in that area who agreed to make sure I didn't wander off, they didn't just leave lol)

- an extension of the last one: glass jars. I had so, so many jars just on my shelf. Jam jars. Glass cups and bottles. Glass bowls. Condiment jars. You name it, I had it. I actually still have most of them on top of my bookshelf, lol

- city planning. Don't ask. 8 year old me was fascinated by how cities where designed apparently (honestly i stil am, but that's not the point). I think everyone around me got sick of me pointing out the reasons why cities look the way they do evrytime we drove through

- utensils. I don't even know why. I had a collection of old utensils, like old salad forks and stuff, that all had cool designs on, but I have no idea where they are now

I realise this is quite a lot of text, very sorry about that. I was a wierd kid. I do not apologise for that 🤗