#latin geekery

[cargopantsman]

Fuck dude, I could sing Inner Universe which is Latin, Russian and English. but that's not a measure of competency as much as geekery.

Submitted by @sky-the-snail-fanatic

[modernwizard]

“Aut regnere aut servire”: Alison continues talking to Scintilla, the Master’s TARDIS

I just posted a bunch of new chapters of my Scream of the Shalka fanfic, The Accidental Ambassador, at AO3.

The excerpt below finds our protagonist Alison explaining to Scintilla, the Master’s TARDIS, exactly what she did to him:

“May I ask you a question, mistress?” Scintilla speaks up. “Forgive my boldness, but what have you done to my Master? You must know his motto -- aut regnere aut servire.” Either rule or serve. “And you are only one of two people in the universe to put him on the other side of the equation.”

“The other being the Doctor?”

“Yes, the one who keeps us both here by force because they do not trust us to stay otherwise!” Scintilla’s voice crackles like flames. “And yet you possess plenty of power, but no force. What did you do?”

Alison says the first thing that comes to her head: “I told him that, if he acted like a decent person, then he would have a choice of which part to play -- or which parts plural, I suppose.”

Scintilla chuckles. “Well, I can assure you that he expected nothing of that -- neither the assumption that he could be decent nor even the possibility of having a choice. Hmmm… Anyway, his study is right up ahead, just five paces and thence to your left, but -- “ She trails off. “You know -- I have envied you so very much, mistress, especially since you have been occupying all of his time recently.”

“We’re trying to prevent a civil war! And the Doctor’s been sick! We’ve had work to do!”

“I know; I know. And yet, being jealous, I wondered how a mere human could be more important to him than I. Now that I’ve seen you, though, I know exactly why you’re the Magister’s Domina: you make him happy.”

“Thank you...I think.” Is that good? What happens when you make an evil alien super-powered robot happy? Does he become so ecstatic that he tricks the Doctor, escapes the TARDIS, and flies off in Scintilla to resume the mind-fucking, murder, and mayhem he’s always coveted? “Excuse me -- I’m going to talk to the Magister now.” In an attempt to escape this rather embarrassing turn that the conversation has taken, Alison fairly dives through a door as dark and ornate as the clock.

[goodticklebrain]

POCKET BLOGS: Saye Anything

Hey everyone! Mya here. I’m really excited today to introduce a new feature here on Good Tickle Brain: POCKET BLOGS! As regular readers will know, since 2019 I have been working on my comics with the world’s first, foremost, and possibly only pocket dramaturg, Kate Pitt. (For more on Kate, including the etymology of the term “pocket dramaturg”, check out this Q&A with her.)

Kate is, if anything, an even bigger Shakespeare geek than me, and certainly has a bigger Shakespeare brain. I will often text her a random Shakespeare fact and say “Isn’t this cool?”, only to receive back “YES, and…” followed by a dozen more related facts, complete with footnotes. As I am taking the month off, I thought it only fair to share some of her delightful geekery and expertise with all of you.

So sit back and get ready to peer into some of the most geeky, random, and entertaining corners of the Shakespeare-verse with Good Tickle Brain’s new series of POCKET BLOGS!

Spare a thought for poor Lord Saye. The ill-fated lord’s entrance in Henry VI Part II is often overlooked because he arrives at the same time as Queen Margaret. Margaret makes consistently dramatic entrances across the four Shakespeare plays she appears in and there is an excellent chance that someone is about to be stabbed, slapped, or screamed at if she is nearby. 

In this scene, Margaret enters carrying the severed head of her very dead ex-lover the Duke of Suffolk, and talks affectionately to it while her husband King Henry desperately tries to work out how to put down a major rebellion. 

Saye is in the middle of all this and spends most of his first scene (and he’s only got two) standing around awkwardly while the King and Queen talk to everyone who isn’t him. It can’t feel great to be ignored in favor of someone who is missing his trunk and all of his limbs, and when King Henry finally turns towards Saye it is to point out that the advancing rebels would very much like to turn his head into a tote bag just like Suffolk’s.

Cue the awkward laughter and a messenger running in with the news that the rebels have arrived and everyone present who still has their heels should immediately betake themselves to them and get out of town. King Henry reminds Lord Saye that everyone hates him (because he raised taxes and can speak French) and he should probably join the bravely-running-away royals. 

Lord Saye however, declares that he will stay and face the rebels. He is innocent after all. Why should he flee when he has done nothing wrong? At this point, practiced Shakespearean audiences will be reaching for the popcorn. Declaring innocence never ever (ever) works when attempting to avoid unpleasant consequences in Shakespeare and indeed, Lord Saye is captured less than forty lines later and dragged before the rebels to be interrogated. 

Jack Cade, the leader of the rebellion, accuses Saye of such abominable crimes as printing, teaching grammar to children, and dressing his horse in excessively fancy horse-clothes. Saye is definitely not guilty of the first indictment, as this scene takes place in 1450 and the first books in England weren’t printed until at least twenty-five years later.

Regardless, the rebels continue to hurl increasingly ridiculous accusations at Lord Saye – “thou hast men about thee that usually talk of a noun and a verb” – while he confidently bats them aside by speaking Latin and quoting Caesar’s Commentaries. Not necessarily the best strategy when negotiating with angry men with pikes, but Saye also demonstrates that he can speak eloquently in plain English: 

Tell me, wherein have I offended most? Have I affected wealth or honor? Speak. Are my chests filled up with extorted gold? Is my apparel sumptuous to behold? Whom have I injured, that you seek my death? These hands are free from guiltless blood-shedding, This breast from harboring foul deceitful thoughts. O, let me live! 

Lord Saye’s contention that his hands are “free from guiltless blood-shedding” is equivocal, given that he menacingly indicates elsewhere that he has definitely shed some blood: “Great men have reaching hands. Oft have I struck those that I never saw, and struck them dead.” There were rumors that Saye was involved in the murder of Henry VI’s uncle Duke Humphrey, though Shakespeare depicts that death as definitely Suffolk’s fault.

In addition to being a cunning politician and a huge classics nerd, Lord Saye is also a war hero. Jack Cade contemptuously challenges him, “when struck’st thou one blow in the field?” but Saye fought with Henry V in France. He is now in his mid-fifties and past his fighting days (the rebels mock his palsy) but Lord Saye feels that his prior service to his country should save his life. 

Cade disagrees. Even though he admits, “I feel remorse in myself with his words”, he orders Saye to be dragged offstage and beheaded. The rebels also break into Saye’s son-in-law’s house and behead him too. They then put both their heads on pikes and parade around London smushing the heads together to make them look like they are kissing because the rebels are apparently twelve. 

Lord Saye is one in a long line of Shakespeare characters who appear briefly and die quickly. Cinna the Poet in Caesar, Young Seward and The Family Macduff in Macbeth, Cornwall’s servant in Lear: all of their deaths, like Saye’s, serve to make the bad guys look worse. However, Jack Cade and his crew have already murdered innocent people before Saye comes on the scene, so what does his death teach the audience that they don’t already know? Dramatically, there may be an argument for cutting this scene. Next week however, I’ll explain the extravagantly silly reasons why I am delighted by Lord Saye and think he should be in every production. (Hint: he’s related to Shakespeare!)

by Kate Pitt

[dollsahoy]

I was in a tabletop game where our gnome bard made friends with a NPC fox who decided, at the end of one session, to tag along with our group.  The DM promised to have a name and backstory for the fox at the next session.

The next session starts, and--now, remember, this was Husband’s old gaming group, I had never played with them before, and we, overall, came from very different backgrounds of geekery--and the DM proudly tells us the fox’s name is

(I was expecting something like, say, Fleetfoot Firetail, or Silent Paws, or Clever Red--something based on aspects of being a fox)

the DM proudly tells us the fox’s name is

Vulpes.

And me

being me

immediately says

“The fox’s name is fox in Latin?”

and the DM looks surprised that I would possibly know  that.

Different kinds of geek.

[eldritchsun]

bc one of my pics of the girls blew up, i’m getting self conscious of my 2011-era blog description, so here it is for posterity in all its cringy glory:

Live free, never die. We're brilliant I’m Jay! 25. -> tv series, films, that gay shit, comic books, books, philosophy, women, art, latin and ancient world history, science-fiction, general geekery and nerdism, huge glasses and beautiful person/world appreciation. Currently hypnotised by : the Silmarillion, Lord of the Rings. Previously: X-Men:First Love. The X-Files. The Social Network. Mass Effect. Game of Thrones. Les Misérables. DC and the Batfamily. The Marvel Universe (X-Men+Spiderman+Hawkeye). Sherlock Holmes (2009). Merlin. Teenaged Lycanthropes. This is forever an Andrew Garfield appreciation blog i'm also giantanimatedrobots.tumblr.com where i indulge my love of super heterosexual anime. HUFFLEPUFF

just so you all know, this is STILL an andrew garfield appreciation blog, i’m just healthily ashamed to admit it now. 

[bleak-nomads]

fuck man I know I post about them a lot but in the crazy crossover fic there’s just such a contrast between the way Angel talks to Mae (tense, overtones of threatening, slightly pretentious) and the way he talks to Blondie (easygoing, a seamless mix of lazy cowboy talk with his latin geekery). Idk it warms my cold black heart seeing them I love them

[rannadylin]

30 questions

Time to prolong the snow day peacefulness by responding to meme tags and such instead of starting my grading?

RULES: answer 30 questions and tag 10 blogs you are contractually obligated to know Thank you @storyknitter for the tag! (Wait, contractually obligated to know...what? the rules? 10 blogs? When did I sign a contract to know 10 blogs?)

Nicknames: Bookie (my aunt’s play on my name being Becki and, well, I like books?); Cupcake Girl (only a long time ago, when one of my sister’s high school friends came to visit whiile I was baking cupcakes and called me that ever after); Magistra (hey I teach Latin 😊) Gender/pronouns: feminini generis sum Star sign: Virgo Height:  5’3”? 5’2”? Somewhere in there Time:  2:12 pm Birthday: September 18 Favorite bands: Out of the Grey, The Piano Guys, Matapat Favorite solo artist: Matthew West Song stuck in your head: none at the moment? Last movie you watched?:  The Last Jedi Last show?: Critical Role, CAMPAIGN TWO EPISODE ONE WHEEEEE!

Why did you create your blog?: Uh…Dragon Age fandom? I’m not sure anymore What do you post?: Lots of Pillars of Eternity lately, and there’s been a lull in the Critical Role but hey the new season has begun so the queue is filling fast. Also – my knitting, writing, and lately I’m drawing things too. And the occasional classical geekery (Hi I’m Magistra and I teach Latin!) Last thing you googled?: Falchion – only because I saw the post that yes indeed there was a leap in the search statistics for it at that particular moment last night in CR 2.1 and I laughed and jumped on that bandwagon. Other blogs: @lanaemagistra sideblog for my knitting bucket list. @pillarspromptsweekly which I run for PoE writers’ inspiration. Some others from the days of trying to do a separate sideblog for each of my fandoms and keep this one all Dragon Age, which have idled since I no longer care much about dividing the posts thus… AO3: Yep Do you get asks?: Not on any huge regular basis but the occasional ones keep things interesting! How did you get the idea for your URL?: I have no idea where I came up with it initially but it was for a Star Wars fic character for fic I never ended up writing so now I use it for my go-to username. I follow: 648, of which a bunch are probably inactive nowadays Followers: 696 Average hours of sleep: 7-8 probably on school nights. Lucky number: Three Instruments: Flute, and a bit of piano (a very, very tiny bit). What are you wearing?: Vox Machina t-shirt (a must for watching the first episode in which the CR cast are NOT Vox Machina anymore, right?) and snow-day sweatpants. Dream job: Anything bookish, really. Writer, editor/proofreader, librarian, but teaching is fun as long as you don’t get bogged down in the stuff outside of actual teaching, like all the paperwork and meetings and such. And as long as you don’t assign too much that you then have to grade… Dream trip: All the Roman ruins everywhere. Favorite food: All of it. Currently really loving my mom’s cheesy potato soup though. Significant other?:  No Last book I read: The Beauty of Darkness, Mary E. Pearson Top 3 fictional universes: Middle-earth, Star Wars, and…um…the realm of Greco-Roman mythology totally counts, right?

Tagging: @grumpy-jedi @queen-scribbles @shimmer-like-agirl @quinnlocke @haledamage @lyriumrebel @theherocomplex @unwritten-fantasy @sayonaramidnight @captainofthefallen but no contractual obligations here!

[feanory]

I was tagged by the sweetie @pocalda

Rules: answer the questions and tag 20 people.

1. How tall are you? 168cm ish

2. What color and style is your hair? It’s brown but the bottom is lighter. I want to dye it all brown again soon tho. Oh and it’s just.. hanging there

3. What color are your eyes? Blue-grey ish

4. Do you wear glasses? Nope

5. Do you have braces? Not anymore

6. What is your fashion sense? Comfortable! I do wanna wear cooler stuff tho but it’s hard

7. Do you have any siblings? Yes I have a younger and an older sister

8. What kind of student are you? A horrible one. But I made it!

9. What are your favourite subjects? English and Latin were awesome

10. What are your favourite TV shows? Outlander, Dirk Gently’s, Doctor Who

11. Favourite books? Tolkien’s books obviously

12. Favorite pastimes? I have no idea what I’m doing all the time. I do enjoy online shopping tho for geekery things :D Also, I should read more

13. Any regrets? Yes ofcourse but let’s not think about those

14. What is your dream job? Author

15. Do you want to get married? Naah not really. I think marriage is a weird tradition and also I couldn’t be in the spotlight for a day because anxiety

16. Do you want to have kids and how many? Mehhh I don’t want to think about that yet

17. How many countries have you visited? Oooh okay let’s count. I think it’s ten, San Marino included hehe

Okay I’m gonna tag a few people this time: @denethor, @jonsofwinterfell. @chuckxavier, @elrondd, @kamikazekatze

[tyleroakley-obsessed]

Ed. Note: Nerd culture is in. Here’s Aisling with some events we’d traditionally think of as “nerdy”. I’d love to add more to this list, so leave me a note in the comments or better yet, submit your events here.  I grew up reading Asimov, Bradbury and Tolkien, and watching Buck Rogers, the original Battlestar Galactica, and Cosmos with Carl Sagan. I was the kid who asked Santa to bring me telescopes and encyclopedias for my birthday, and who later voluntarily took four years of Latin. I’ve been hooked on Star Wars since I was six, when my dad took me to see Return of the Jedi in the theater. I was, by most accounts, a pretty nerdy kid. In Ireland last year, my daughter and I visited Game of Thrones and Star Wars filming locations, and the previous year we’d traveled to Disney World for Star Wars Weekend. I was in college by the time the first Harry Potter book was released, so my kid is now schooling me in all things Hogwarts and I’m digging it. So, by all accounts, I’m still pretty nerdy. I even share a name with a faerie from Magic: The Gathering, so there’s really no escaping it. Kindred spirits, here are ten upcoming Memphis events to celebrate our nerdom: 1. Mid-South Renaissance Faire, USA Baseball Stadium Millington,  August 26 – 27, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m., $10 adults/$12 kids 6-12//under 6 free The theme of this year’s faire, held in the Shire of Shelby, will be the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.  Learn Elizabethan dances, be knighted by the Queen herself, browse the merchant rows, enjoy the performers, sail the seas with the Mid-South Buccaneers, and cheer on your favorite jouster. 2. Game Night with 901 Comics, Memphis Made Brewing, August 27, 1-7 p.m., Free, Kid-Friendly Memphis Made Brewing and 901 Comics present Game Night at the tap room on Cooper, next to the I Love Memphis mural, with board games, role-playing games, a pop-up gaming shop, gaming workshop and more. Bring the whole fam. 3. Nerd Night 8, Rec Room, August 30, 7-10 p.m., Free, 18 and Up Rec Room is pretty nerdy. Tron, ping pong, Trivial Pursuit….it houses all the treasures cherished by every boy I had a crush on in the eighties. So much nostalgia. Nerd Nite is held each month in more than 90 cities across the world. It’s a networking event for nerds featuring speakers delivering brief presentations about different topics, and there’s booze. Make sure you arrive early….Nerd Night fills up fast. 4. Magic the Gathering Booster Draft Tournament, 901 Comics, September 1 at 6 p.m., September 3 at 4 p.m. Midtown Magic fans, keep an eye on the 901 Comics Facebook page for news about more gatherings. 5. Harry Potter Trivia Night, September 7, The Arcade (7 p.m.), Canvas (8 p.m.), Pimento’s Kitchen (6:30) and Memphis Made Brewing Company (6:30), Free, All Ages Cerrito Live hosts trivia nights at venues across the city, with theme nights focused on everything from Star Wars to Game of Thrones to Bob’s Burgers. Although it’s free to play, teams are required to register for themed trivia nights. Harry Potter Trivia Night is so popular it requires four simultaneous locations. Shout out to my fellow Hufflepuffs!   6. Potterfest, Rec Room, September 10, 12-9 p.m., $5-$10, All Ages PotterFest is a celebration of everyone’s favorite school of wizardy and witchcraft, featuring performers, costumes contests, wand making, transfiguration, and live onstage sorting!   7. Memphis Comic Expo, Agricenter International, September 16-17, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., $20 Adults/$5 Kids/Free for Kids Under 6, All Ages This convention focuses on comic creators from across the Mid-South. It’s a family-friendly event featuring a cosplay contest and guarantees fun for everyone, regardless of your knowledge of comics. Star Wars cosplay at Two Rivers Bookstore. 8. Star Wars X-Wing Miniature Tournament, Comic Cellar Cards, Comics and Games, September 16, 1-5 p.m., $5 Comic Cellar hosts monthly X-Wing tournaments and new players are encouraged to participate. Bring your favorite ships and characters, prepared to do space combat.   9. Lord of the Rings Trivia, Tamp & Tap, September 27, 7 p.m., Free, All Ages Cerrito Trivia also calls upon you to muster the Rohirrim, light the beacons and head Downtown for LOTR Trivia Night. If I’m a Hufflepuff, I guess that would make me a hobbit, too. Cosplay, y’all. 10. Memphis Comic and Fantasy Convention, Guest House at Graceland, November 17-19, $15 – $40 The Memphis Comic and Fantasy Convention features three glorious days of geekery. There will be panels, gaming, costumes, and visiting artists and writers. Schedule TBA. About the Author Aisling Maki is a freelance writer, editor, and public and media relations specialist with awards from The Associated Press, Society of Professional Journalists and Public Relations Society of America, as well as several awards for fiction writing. Her work has appeared in publications in more than 20 countries. You can usually find her cheering on the Grizzlies, doing outdoorsy things, or traveling with her daughter, Brídín. They live in Cooper-Young with a dog, a guinea pig and a pair of pet mice. Are you a home owner in Memphis, with a broken garage door? Call ASAP garage door today at 901-461-0385 or checkout http://ift.tt/1B5z3Pc

http://ilovememphisblog.com/2017/08/upcoming-nerdy-memphis-events/

[exesandocs-blog]

Demi De Santis || SPN

Name: + Demi De Santis Full Name: + Demetria Elvira Valeria Bonaventura De Santis Nickname(s): + Demi || Everyone, and it’s what she prefers

+ Demetria || Only Cas + DeeDee || Her family + Booberella || Charlie Age: + 27 Birthday: + May 25th Zodiac: + Gemini Birthplace: + Cicero, Illinois

Occupation: + Hunter

+ Bartender || It’s your best bet if you’re after secrets Appearance: + D E M I || 120 lbs. 5’4’’ || Dark brown hair, chocolate eyes Species: + Seer || Her family has a long history of having various abilities Powers (If any): + Telepathy || She can read minds, but hates it + Foresight || She has visions, flashes or dreams of things that are going to happen + Mental Manipulation || She can change people’s moods and thoughts Weaknesses: + Her abilities || She is not 100% in control of them + Vulnerability || While she is capable of reading and manipulate others minds, she cannot block others out from doing the same

+ Possession || She has a deep fear of being possessed

Family: + Mother Tullia and father Quentin|| Both alive, her father was a hunter, but has passed the torch on to Demi.

+ Older brother Damian and older sister Catalina (Cat) || Both alive, trained hunters, but not active unless absolutely necessary. Personality: + Chill and optimistic most of the time. Can be a bit of a drama queen if she’s upset.

+ Has resting bitch face, so is often mistaken for being mad or moody.

+ She is very opinionated and strong, can be a bitch when called for. She tries not to be one otherwise, it’s just that she “hears” so much negativity every day it’s hard to not be at least a little bit misanthropic.

+ With her friends she’s completely different. She lets more loose and she can get quite silly. She has a bit of an explosive personality, which can be both good and bad. Sexuality: Pansexual Likes: + Cities || She grew up in a suburb, so she loves getting lost in cities, blending in

+ Traveling || It’s not like she has much of a choice, but she still enjoys it

+ Silly love songs || She has a very diverse taste in music, but they’re her guilty pleasure

+ Music || Not only because music is awesome, but it also helps quiet down all the voices Dislikes: + Feeling restless || She needs to take life a little bit slower, she is a bit fidgety

+ Demons, man… || They just give her the chills

+ Vampires || Effing douchebags, the lot of them

+ Sleeping in her car || It gets old really fast Quirks/Habits:

+ Picking at her nails || When she’s restless + Twirling a strand of hair, a necklace, a hair tie, whatever around her finger || When she’s bored + Avoiding eye-contact|| She feels uncomfortable with looking people in the eye. Window to the soul and all that…

+ She names all her aliases after characters from her favorite books.

Biography: + In the Bonaventura family it’s a long-standing tradition that every generation has at least one hunter. All three of the siblings has been trained to become just that, but at 18 they are given the choice. Stay or leave. They don’t actively hunt until then. Demi is very proud, almost stoic, and knew from a young age that she would follow in her father’s footsteps. She never felt cut out for a nine to five office job. + She hunted with her father for the first five years or so, then she started to work cases on her own. Her siblings don’t actively hunt, but they help her out sometimes. It was on one of her journey alone that Demi bumped into Sam and Dean, because they were hunting the same thing. She joined them in a couple of cases after that, and remain in contact with them. She’s especially close with Sam, as they have the same approach to hunting; do the research. Demi considers Sam almost as much of a brother to her as her own brother is.

+ Her specialty knowledge-wise are all kinds of ghosts, poltergeists, spectres, etc. She doesn’t shy away from other monsters, but she feels like she helps in more than one way by helping restless souls pass over.

+ Nowadays she teams up with Charlie Bradbury a lot, she’s the closest thing she’s had to a partner on the job. They’re very close friends, they have the same interests outside of hunting, and they share a certain sense of humor that’s probably only funny to the two of them. Can your character fight?:  + Yes. She knows hand to hand combat and how to use several weapons. Her go-to weapons are her father’s silver daggers, which was given to her as a rite of passage. She also uses guns, she’s a good shot. Extra information: + She’s a smart-mouth, but she can back it up.

+ She’s quite a geek, but exactly like her close friend Charlie, she is proud of it. Sisters in both arms and geekery.

+ She studies languages on her downtime. She finds it useful when she’s undercover. + In addition to English, she also speaks Italian, Spanish (grew up tri-lingual), Russian, Greek, Latin and Sindarin. But she doesn’t exactly flaunt that last one. ;p She’s currently learning Scandinavian languages.

+ She has several small tattoos in various places on her body. They’re all very subtle, you have to know where to look. + She is girly, but those looks deceive. She looks innocent enough, but she’s tougher and stronger than she looks. Favorite Music Styles: + She loves music, and her favorite bands and musicians are from vary different genres. Clothing Styles: + Casual || 

+ Formal || 

Instruments: + Piano, but she mainly sings. And writes songs. Secretly, when no one is listening. It’s like a therapeutical, spiritual thing for her, because she gets to focus on one thing only. Tattoos?: + Like mentioned earlier, there are a few, but they’re all pretty small. They’re mostly abstract designs, except for one along the arch of her left foot, which says “

[+ Not a tattoo, and she isn’t aware of it yet, but she has an Enochian protection sigil on the back of her right shoulder. | This one depends on the plot.] Piercings?: + Several earlobe piercings, along with a heart-shaped daith piercing in her left ear. Scars?: + Quite a few, but her skin heals well and she’s so pale they’re barely visible. Theme song(s):

+ That’s What You Get https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOJgagK9P5U Paramore + Out Tonight https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AB0WKJXax1s from Rent

+ Fight Like A Girl https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpd9AZ6twC8 Emilie Autumn

+ Rock N Roll Thugs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBhsqn6mUSc Icon For Hire

+ Daughters Of Darkness https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XQ1FB3Rz0g Halestorm (a joke between her and Charlie)

Quotes: + "Oh, God… Why are all monsters sloppy eaters?” || At a particularly nasty crime scene

+ “Those coordinates lead to an abandoned warehouse in the middle of nowhere…quelle surprise!” || About a demon’s rather blatantly obvious “hiding place”

+ “Oh trust me, Deanie, I can mix a drink so mean your ancestors would feel it!” || About not underestimating her skills as a bartender, even if it’s just a cover-job

+ “Actual hell, actually.” || Whenever someone uses the expression “What the actual hell…”

+ “In bocca al lupo!” || “Good luck” or “break a leg” in Italian

[modernwizard]

The Master is hate-reading -- with a red pen...

Excerpt from the next story in my Reverberations of the Shalka series, which is, of course, fanfic about the alternative Ninth Doctor’s adventure, The Scream of the Shalka. I’m not in it for the Doctor as much as for the Doctor’s companions: one sharp-witted, astute, unintimidatable black British woman, Alison Cheney, plus a very sardonic and very robotic Master. The upcoming story is entirely dialogic, and I sure hope that you can tell who’s who. :p

Can you tell what he’s reading? >:}

Note: In the first story, Alison refused to call the Master by his name; her alternative name for him is Magister, which is like Teacher. His alternative name for her is Domina, which is like Lady/Ruler/Owner. Magister is pronounced MAJ [as in magic] ee stare. Domina is DOE mee nuh. Magisterial and dominatrix are not accurate pronunciation guides. :p

“How’s the studying going?”

“It’s...intriguing.”

“I can tell by the eyebrow.”

“Oh?”

“Yes, it’s clearly an eyebrow of great puzzlement. What’s up? Do you have any questions? If you do, I can answer them, and I swear that I won’t be embarrassed...probably.”

“I have a question. How did this ever get published? English is my forty-fifth -- or maybe forty-sixth -- language, and this is by a native speaker, yet I still find errors on every page.”

“I told you to do research. I didn’t tell you to proofread! You must be a real hit at parties.”

“I don’t attend parties.”

“Yeah, I know. Ever since you threatened to kill that poor person who misused the subjunctive, the invites have kind of dried up.”

“Heh. Shhhh, I’m reading.”

“Must be pretty good if you’re halfway through the third book after as many hours.”

“Actually...beyond the abysmal grammar, I truly cannot discern the quality.”

“Latin snob and nitpicker of the universe loses critical faculties? Alert the media!”

“Domina carissima…mirabillisima…obsequentissima... Domina provocantissima -- tace!” Domina, my loveliest, my most marvelous, my most gracious and obedient… --And also my most provoking -- shut up! “If you’d like to pester me, you could at least make yourself useful in the process. Read this and tell me what you think.”

“Permission to speak?”

“As you would say, I don’t know. Are you going to say anything good?”

“Was that an actual order -- to read this book?”

“Well, if you’re unfamiliar with what is apparently a modern classic in the subject of your purported expertise, I humbly submit that you should acquaint yourself with the work in some way....unless, of course, you have some objection.”

“As a matter of fact, I do.”

“Which?”

“This is barely legible. You impaled it one, two...twenty-seven times with your red pen.”

“My apologies. Bad grammar is a hard limit.”

“Soooo...then...what are you doing with like nine hundred pages of it?”

“Reading almost despite myself. It’s a distinctly novel experience -- and not just because it’s a novel.”

“Okay, well, if my evil alien super-powered robot says it’s weird, now I’m absolutely dying of curiosity.”

“Try the first book. I only started stabbing in earnest with the second and third.”

[ironbound-oberon]

if anyone ever calls you juvenile, just call them puerile!

that's because juvenile is derived from the latin word "iuvenis," which means "youth," or "young man," while puerile is derived from the latin word "puer," which means "boy."

so they're calling you kinda young, but you're calling them younger than you.