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reifromrfa · 6 years ago

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Home: Mysme Travel Zine piece

Hey guys! Here’s my piece for Bon Voyage: A Mysme Travel Zine, @mysmetravelzine ! :D I hope you like it, it’s really special to me because the entire zine was a fun and awesome experience <3 Thank you so much to everyone who supported it!

For this piece, I collaborated with the amazing @aehruh! :D She did the mind-blowing art for my fic ;A; Please do check it out...

>> HERE <<

It’s awesome, I swear <3 Anyway! I hope you guys like the fic! Thank you <3

MC gazes out the plane window, her face bathed in the orange and purple hues of the sky. It seems fitting to be flying home as morning turns into night, signaling the end of another day; the end of their adventure. She turns back to her table, taking in the scattered photographs and the album. On their last day, they were able to pass by a stationery store called Tokyu Hands, where MC was able to get photos printed.

“Oh, those are lovely, MC!” Jaehee exclaims. MC turns around and smiles at her sheepishly.

“I wanted to remember my first trip with you guys,” MC replies shyly. “What do you have there?” she continues, eyeing the overflowing basket of Jaehee. The woman lets out an embarrassed laugh.

“Oh, I just couldn’t help myself. I saw the wonderful notebooks and pens and folders…ehem, well. I got a little too excited. But I saw some cute albums in the shelves there. Perhaps you should buy one, for the photos.”

A wave of nostalgia washes over her as MC scans the photos. Though the memories are still fresh in her mind, her heart flutters in anticipation of going through the past few days once more.

A smile graces her face as she gazes at the photos. The first one is all of them at the airport, waiting for their private plane. It was a selfie by Zen, and they had all crammed into the frame, their faces filled with excitement. It was the first trip of the RFA together, and their first time to go to Japan; all of them were restless balls of energy before the flight.

She turns the page and the next photo shows Zen, a peaceful look on his face as he held a music box in his hands. It was during their second day in Otaru, Hokkaido, when they walked along Sakaimachi Street and entered the large shop selling music boxes. MC had taken the photo sneakily, the peacefulness of Zen as he held a delicate music box in his hands, completely lost in the soft melody, capturing her heart as well.

“Zen, you’ve been listening to that music box for quite some time now,” Jumin comments, coming up behind Zen.

Zen jumps and nearly drops the music box. “YA! You don’t just creep up behind people like that, you jerk!”

“Why don’t you purchase it? As a souvenir?”

“Not everyone is as rich as you, Mr. C&R. I’m saving my money for the food!”

Zen had put down the music box, but MC saw Jumin pick it up and buy it for the silver-haired actor. The corporate heir hadn’t given it to Zen yet, but MC can’t wait for Zen’s reaction when Jumin gives him the music box.

The next photo made MC giggle as she looks at Jumin, a jean apron on top of his winter clothes and a focused look on his face. He held a metal stick in one hand, and a long glass stick in the other. In the picture, his gray eyes are zeroed in on the melted glass as it drips onto the end of the metal stick. V had managed to convince him to try out glass-blowing together.

"Always the perfectionist, Jumin.” V said when the woman behind the cashier hands Jumin his finished bracelet. The blue sphere glinted under the lights and Jumin lets out a soft laugh.

“Of course. Unlike you, I’m not gifted in the arts, but I’m still able to make a decent accessory.”

“I don’t doubt it,” V replies, taking his own finished bracelet then extending his hand towards Jumin. The purple orb was beautiful, and Jumin’s face softens. “To my best friend in the entire universe, know that our friendship will always come first from now on.”

“Funny, I was thinking the same thing,” Jumin says, handing V the bracelet he made and accepting V’s gift to him.

“I’ll cherish this, Jihyun, like I cherish our friendship."

The next photo made her want to cry, the emotions overwhelming her. It's an image of Saeran and Saeyoung, both of them holding onto Hokkaido's popular seven-layered ice creams. Each layer had a different flavor and despite the cold weather, Saeyoung still insisted on getting some.

“You don’t have to, Saeyoung. I’m fine to eat ice cream by myself,” Saeran says, fishing out his wallet from his pockets.

“Nooooo but I want to eat ice cream with my little brother!!!” Saeyoung cries, grabbing random coins and bills from his pockets and shoving it to the cashier. “Two please!”

“Saeyoung. You already have a cold. You don’t have to—”

“Nonsense! God Seven doesn’t get sick!”

Saeyoung’s cold got worse, of course. But MC traces his smile on the photo. Saeran is looking happily at the camera, ice cream in hand. Saeyoung had an arm slung around Saeran’s shoulders and he was grinning at his brother, pure joy visible on his face. After everything they’ve been through, MC is glad this trip gave them the chance to spend time with each other.

They deserve happiness.

Reaching for an upturned image, MC takes it and flips it around before covering her mouth to stifle her laugh. Vanderwood —the newest addition to the RFA —is standing in Maruyama Park, the bare trees and snowy grounds surrounding him. Only…the man has snow on his face.

Saeyoung is crouched in front of him, tears in his eyes as he laughed, while Yoosung has a panic-stricken look on his face, his entire body frozen in fear.

“Yoosung, you better run!!!!” Saeyoung exclaims, scrambling to his feet. Vanderwood runs a hand down his face, brushing off the snow. He glares at the two younger boys and bends down, scooping snow into his hands.

“Yeah, you better run!! You’re lucky I didn’t bring my taser!” he bellows after them, hurling snowballs at the two boys. Saeyoung gets hit by a snowball and he falls dramatically to the ground, groaning in pain. “Yoosung…ack…it hurts...save…yourself!..”

“Noooo!!! Vanderwood-hyung, I’m sorry!!! Don’t kill me!” Yoosung says, running as fast as his legs would take him, looking distressed.

“MC, want some cookies~? I bought these from the Chocolate Factory!” Yoosung asks, his head appearing from the side of his chair and his arm holding onto a house-shaped cookie box. The roof of the house is pulled back to reveal an array of different-colored cookies and MC nods, reaching out for a strawberry-flavored cookie.

“Oh! Wow! Are those photos from the trip? Can I see them?” The young vet unbuckles his seatbelt and moves to sit beside MC, peering over the photos. He laughs when he sees a candid picture of Zen and Vanderwood, both of them too busy slurping their noodles to notice Jaehee taking a shot of them. Then Yoosung picks up another photo of V and himself, standing together under a cherry blossom tree, both of them grinning. Yoosung’s eyes glaze over a little, and MC remembers the moment the shot was taken.

“You know…” Yoosung says, looking up at the falling petals. V looks at him expectantly. Their relationship is held together by a band-aid, and Jihyun knows the boy needs time and space to cope with what happened to his cousin. Being Rika's previous lover strained Jihyun’s relationship with the vet, but he hopes to someday make peace again with Yoosung. “Rika liked looking at the falling petals. I never did understand it. But…now I think I do. Starting over a new leaf, right? Getting rid of the past and starting over?”

Jihyun smiles.

“You don’t need to forget the past. It will always be a part of us. Instead, we learn from it and gather the courage to move forward; to allow ourselves to bloom once more.”

Yoosung looks at the older man…at his friend. And he smiles back.

It was a small gesture, but it gave MC hope that things will be alright between them, as well.

Having realized that he’s been staring at the image for awhile, Yoosung clears his throat and hands it back to MC, sheepishly scratching his cheek. “That’s…you took a great photo, MC!”

Then he shuffles to the rest of the cabin, offering the cookies in his hands. At that moment, MC catches sight of a photo stuck under the album and she carefully retrieves it. A full-blown grin appears on her face as she stares at the picture —9 smiling faces looking back at her. It was the timed group shot Jihyun took from the top of Mt. Moiwa. All of them stood in front of the vast purple and blue sky, the setting sun behind them and glistening white snow under their boots. MC remembers the freezing temperature, but despite their rosy cheeks and chattering teeth, they stood closely to each other, smiling for the camera.

“Jihyun, hurry up!” Saeyoung calls out, linking his arm around Saeran’s while watching Jihyun walk briskly toward them after setting the timer. Saeran, instead of his usual annoyed remark, just smiles.

“Ah, sorry!” Jihyun exclaims, standing next to Jumin. Zen slings an arm around Jaehee and MC, who are at the center of the picture, and he laughs.

“Say ‘cheese’, everyone!” Zen says enthusiastically. Vanderwood stands awkwardly next to Yoosung, but the blonde kid nudges him and grins, forming a peace sign with his hand and screaming ‘Cheese!'. The former agent chuckles and smiles just as the timer goes off.

The best photo of the trip. MC looks at the picture wistfully before looking at the cabin that’s suddenly filled with noise and activity again. Jumin has called for refreshments and snacks for everyone, and Saeyoung has taken it upon himself to gather everyone to the big table in the private plane.

“Is anybody interested in wine?” Jumin asks, looking around the table, to which Zen and Vanderwood both say, “I’ll have a beer."

“Oh~ Could it be? The start of a new pair? My new ship?? My OTP!” Saeyoung exclaims, laughing.

“I have no idea what he just said,” Jaehee says, shaking her head. MC gathers the photos and places them in between the pages, making sure to keep the album properly before joining the group. MC can’t help but look around at all of them, heart overflowing with emotions.

Yes, it’s bittersweet that their adventure has come to an end. But now, she’s looking forward to new travels with her new friends —her family. They may be leaving behind the Land of the Rising Sun, but they’re headed towards a more beautiful place: home. But being here, being surrounded by her loved ones…MC realizes that maybe it isn’t really a destination.

“Are you excited to go home, MC?” Jihyun asks her gently, handing her a glass of wine.

She takes it gratefully and grins.

“I’m already home.”

Check out my other Mysme writings here!

Mango Shake/Ko-fi is always very much appreciated (ᵔᴥᵔ)

I’d be honored to write your story <3

Become a Patron for previews of my original work, Into the Shadows! :)

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xxmisty · 6 years ago

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GUYS, I KEPT MY NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS/GOALS

at the start of the year I had some goals for 2018 but the two I wanted to focus on were drawing at least once per week, and the other was to get back into tumblr.

Whilst i’ve not quite been able to draw every single week (I had patches of severe illness and some weeks during the move where I wasn’t able to) my production has been at a rate of much higher than i’d been planning and aside from when I was down with meningitis last month i’ve drawn several pieces a week for the last couple of months. Oh, also there were two pieces that were V E R Y. S L O W. G O I N G. (Namely the Karolina Dean pointillist piece and Geri halliwell!) because of the extreme detail involved (and a little because of the meningitis in geri’s case :P) but I managed to squeeze 13 pictures in for lucy’s calendar through December on top of other things I drew (plus I had a foray into pixels which I need to start posting properly soon)

I stopped drawing in 1998. I was to make a post explaining this at some point because it took me a while to realise it went back further than i’d realised and why, but I don’t want that to bring down my downright elation that despite all the obstacles I kept to my goal and I have SO MUCH to show for it. It’s thanks to lucy that I was able to do it. She’s done nothing but encourage me all through the year, making sure I have enough electricity, time and medicine to help me Pencil in (ha ha horf) time to create something every week or so and helped me when my hands hurt or I got sick from concentrating too long. She’s give me ideas, inspiration and encouragement, and I cannot express how grateful I am. She is amazing. I love you so much beautiful! <3

And thank YOU. Because my two goals met when I was finally able to get back into tumblr after many years of not being able to spend the time (or electricity, until we moved to the new boat!) on here to really feel at home again. More than that though, it felt like so many people I used to follow here had left in the interim years and any time I came back it was quiet and silent. Dead dash empty inbox. This year it seems a lot of people had returned and my dash was again full of things I wanted to reblog. I’ve also found a bunch of new blogs to follow thanks to newer obsessions we’ve had and the time just flies when i’m browsing here. Thanks for all the giggles, all the stupid shit that you only find in this very special place. And thank you to everyone who has supported me as i’ve posted my art during the year. I know it must have been a slight adjustment for some of you to go from seeing boobies to sketches but you’re still here, and i’m so glad for that. Recently someone i’ve been mutuals with for like 6 years deactivated and that made me really sad. I don’t know if it had anything to do with the adult ban, although it doesn’t make sense in this case, but if they'really reading, please come back and say hi because you’re missed :/

And last but in no way least, thank you Sarah for making me laugh every time I come on here, and being an awesome friend all year long - I canNOT wait to talk about animal crossing with you when the new one comes out I’M GONNA SCREAMMMMM!!!

I have new goals for next year and i’m going to make a post about those later, but i’m feeling sentimental and really wanted to share this today.

Whatever you’re doing tonight, whoever you’re spending it with, I wish you all a very, very happy new year, and a wonderful 2019 <3

#2018 goals #aw yisssssss #about me #new year #moirspritmaterail blogging #sarahssideblog

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yourdlmatchmaker · 6 years ago

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Secret match up~

“Why hello may I have a matchup? I`m 165cm(5`5) petite female with short darkbrown really thick hair, they`re a bit messy because I overwash them. I have olive skin but due to me never leaving my house it looks rather pale. I often wear gray and black with some pastels mixed in. Mainly hoodies. I`m quiet and reserved around other people and often told to “open up!” or/and “smile more” what honestly gets on my nerves sometimes. On bad days it`s easy to annoy and irritate me.(what`s a bit hypocritical because I like to annoy others for fun) I have mixed feelings about drama, on one hand I tought I don`t like it but on the other I would die just to start a fight! I find them exciting, especially the thrill it gives to me! I often come across as sweet and inocennt but people who know me well know that`s the opposite of me, actually XD. It`s hard to get me to open up and a bit…disappointing, I suppose? Once I know I can trust you I become really playful and childlike. I`m sarcastic and I love dark humor. I also have a mean side to me only a few know about. I can say hurtful things when I want to and even make fun of others suffering. I have 0 empathy for people who I don`t know well, this is probably because when I was younger I tried to be nice and helpful just so I get bullied in return. For those I know well and trust, I would do anything. I`m also clingy for someone who spends a lot of time by themselves. I tend to bottle up my emotions what sometimes causes me to lash out at others unintentionally. I`m a bit hedonistic and lazy, tbh I welcome anything to push me not to procastinate. I often feel lonely and touch-starved but refuse to admit it, hence the clingy. I like art and I mostly draw or doodle, I like to paint as well but that happens once upon a blue moon. Same with reading. I love swimming and go out in the water whenever I get an occasion. I take intrest in witchcraft, folklore and demonology. I have Rheumatism (I`m 17 why do i have immune system of my grandma why god why) [[it means that my body hurts on rainy days and im constantly tired, also it makes my joints make popping sounds]] despite that I love the rain, probably because I dislike complete silence also the reason why I sing and dance when I`m alone. I`m told to have a nice singing voice. I don`t trust easily. I`m cool with being told what to do and I`m secretly an emotional masochist(in a, call me names way). Oh yeah btw pls make me anon ~sorry for my english i hope it makes at least a little sense~”

Admin Abi: I’m back! Well…for a little while >.<. Anyway~ Sorry for the wait, but well I hope you lget to see it and liked it ^^’ BTW~ don’t worry about your English or orthography…I’m just the same or worst really :’v

*finishing your match up*

Your romantic match is…

Kanato!

The first thing that comes to my mind is the fact that you two have many things in common~

I imagine the two of you met due to normal-yet-not-so-normal-circunstances. You were brought to the Sakamaki mansion as any other sacrificial bride. To be honest that appeareace of yours gave the wrong image of you to all the brothers…specially Kanato. To be honest you choose him since you were too lazy to think better to be honest. I won’t lie to you…at first the expression “I’m living in hell” would describe your life with Kanato. He’s very unstable and so unpredictable…you are never sure whatever you say or do will affect Kanato. The first thing he tried to change about you was your sense of fashion: he would make change those hoodies you wear to cute lace-fluffy dresses he makes himself. He also make you smile since you are supposed to be a doll: dolls are supposed to be happy and cute ALL THE TIME! He likes to offend you and making you scared or cry…he think you look lovely in those states. I highly recommend you to think before snapping at Kanato, just like you Kanato can be in a really bad mood but not one day… it can be from one second to the other. Just like you Kanato finds enjoyable troubles/dramas and would enjoy greatly if you make him company whenever there’s some discussions between his brothers. It’s funny, because people think you look cute and innocent together…it’s true but just part of that image. Sure, you are adorable together…but you are cute devils that are planning the best way to conquer the world xD

It took you a while to both of you to realize your feeling to each other. You two had their shells/walls very thick. It was during one night that you woke up in the middle of the night and saw that Kananto was no where to be seen. You looked for him and you found him all alone in a room. You asked if he was ok and then you saw he was crying. “The rain…it makes me feel sad and empty” that’s what he told you after a while. Without your permission he simply brought you close and hugged you so he could comfort himself with you. You were surprise, you found the rain comforting and calm, just like Kanato did for graveyards. Slowly you showed Kanato that he wasn’t alone, he had you now. Once that thick walls of yours fell you showed your childish and playful nature. Kanato finds it adorable and it makes you feel more like a cute playful doll. You both have a pretty dark sense of humor so he finds amusing the fact that you can talk about something creepy for others while you both might find it funny. Since you are with Kanato you don’t have to worry about not being empathetic about others, since Kanato isn’t that much of empathetic himself…but who cares in the end? Is not that you have time to worry about others when the only one you need is Kanato. He likes when you draw something for him and he’s pretty crude with the critics, so beware. He also likes your knowledge in all dark topics and he finds it interesting, so you can spend hours talking about them! I think your strongest point in your relationship is the fact that your clingy wishes are all granted with the clingy boyfriend Kanato is. He doesn’t mind the fact you like swimming and he has sometimes descibed you are the little mermaid and even made a cute swimming suit for you! He finds it annoying each time you get sick, but will not let you die, don’t worry~ He takes really good care of his doll after all~

Kanato covers most of your personality’s tarits and that’s why I think Kanato will be ideal for you. You even don’t complain about being told what to do! You make Kanato life’s easier and whole! He couldn’t ask for more! You are just to perfect! You two look amazing together and is pretty obvious you’ll last forever!

Hope you get to see it anon-chan and hope you liked it as well! Thank you for your patience as well!

#match up #match maker #diabolik lovers match up #sorry for the wait #hope you liked it #thanks for the patience #hope you get to read it anon-chan!#anon-chan ;D #I thought you had chuuya for BSD as your icon #I think I saw it wrong…#but I'm a huge fan of that serie myself!#submission #zimnapianka #pusec #is that you?#or I'm confused?

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smilingheroes · 7 years ago

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Please,,,tell me about Fishin,,

Oh!! Thank you for asking!! ahh Im not sure what you’d like to know! But she has two tags you can see info on her in!! However if you have any specific questions not covered in these tags, always feel free to send in another ask and I can answer!! ^v^

First Tag | Second Tag

Also here’s some general info on her under the cut, since it’s..very long ^^;; Thank you so much for expressing interest in fishin!! It always makes me so happy when people ask about her!!

(this was written awhile ago but I don’t think I ever posted it on here? eitherway–)

She’s my own persona ofc, so I drew most of her backstory from my own life ahaha;;

She’s the daughter of two quirk users whose families opposed their union, and disowned them soon after marrying (something that happened in my actual life..so I don’t have barely any relatives outside of my main family unit). My mother married my father out of convenience due to factors I won’t state..and honestly the two eventually came to resent each other for the theoretical anchor they’d weighed themselves down with due to the union. If that hadn’t been enough, I was born sickly from birth…experiencing all kinds of medical issues that took away from most of their money–My mother began to resent me too. My father wanted me to live a better life than he had–but constantly pushed me so far that nothing else mattered…and in the end I wasn’t good enough for either of them. Unlike my brothers who excelled in everything they did–socially and academically and most all, physically. It always felt like I never belonged there in the first place–that because of me, everyone in the family had to work harder. I always felt guilty for being born–for being sick both mentally and physically, etc. There was a lot of abuse in my life growing up–from home and from the outside world. I won’t go into that detail, but it still affects me even today–though I try my hardest to work past it!

My quirks are: Minor aquatic manipulation + Bleeding Heart (a type of healing quirk) along with the appearance of more fishlike features!

Despite my many health issues, my body is undoubtedly durable! Despite all the trials it’s been put through I’ve always survived! For my quirksona, this factored heavily into the use of the quirk ‘Bleeding Heart’–in which I can transfer physical injuries onto my own body. I will experience all the pain and recovery time it takes to heal–of course, the drawback is that I can only take so much of this at a time–and I can not sustain fatal injuries without severe risk to my own life obviously. So it’s not as strong or amazing as a healing quirk like Recovery Girl. I can also manipulate water for short periods of time–using them in mostly defensive purposes. The tactics used make me a rather weak fighter on my own in the end–which is why I strive to work as the best support and one day become the sidekick of an amazing hero! Even if im not popular or that hero gets all the credit! What I want most of all, is to help everyone so they can keep fighting! To protect the safety of those who risk their lives for others!

However, before this dream–I had wanted to do many other things in life–but couldn’t reach them due to circumstance…back then I had no will to smile and only felt like I could exist in the world if I was useful to the people around me. So I was often used and taken advantage of in many ways and by many people who I thought I could trust–I felt that i Deserved the treatment for not being good enough. Even when I wanted to be so much more…

Then a moment came when I realized a new dream. It speaks to a memory in my past where some of the guys in my class took a drawing I was working on and tore it up and stomped on it in front of me, even when I started crying they were all laughing at me. So in the bnha-version…I thought, what if someone had stood up for me then? In bnha-ver. This happens 2 years before Izuku and I attend U.A. We were in different middle schools at the time–but on that day–he happened to be passing by this bullying scene. I imagine he must have traveled around his town a lot to take notes on all the hero/villain happenings after all. And if it were him…It would be the same…his body would move on its own and he would call out to them–even if he was shaking–He couldn’t let something like that happen and not do anything about it! At that moment, for me, a Hero had appeared! It was at his own expense in the end since he ended up getting roughed up–and he apologized afterwards, saying he wasn’t much help–but started to gather the pieces of paper on the ground the best he could. He tried to tape them back together for me…he was going so far for me…a stranger he’d never met before. He was doing so much for someone pitiful like me. He was everything a hero could ever hope to be…and I thought of him as such even at that time when he was quirkless. We never managed to cross paths again after that–but his impact was always on my mind–I decided from then that I wanted to attend U.A. and become someone who could support heroes in every way I could! I kept the taped up drawing hanging in my room to remind me of the Hero that inspired and saved me that day.

I was admitted to U.A. hanging on a thin string due to the combined efforts of my written test score + rescue points. I was obviously admitted into one of the support classes and not the main hero course–but since I was very sickly, I went to see recovery girl a lot and sometimes helped out in her office at my own request. This is where I would meet Izuku for the second time–but this time learn his name–and that’s mostly where our actual friendship and stuff would start–as well as any other interactions with others such as tsuyu, miro, etc.

General Personality overview:

Dark brown short fluffy curly hair/ Short stature, at 5′0, and rather chubby–which makes me very insecure and nervous. In relation to that, i have very frail skin and tend to be covered in bruises/cuts/scraps, which makes me even more anxious. Very shy, and constantly looks like a nervous wreck–however, im willing and open to accept anyone with a smile��especially if they need help with something–even if they’re a complete stranger. Because of this tendency, I tend to be taken advantage of a lot, since im a bit naive and always think the best of those around me. When im close to someone, I can actually be very air-headed and clumsy which causes me to become flustered/embarrassed easily. Despite being sickly from birth, I try not to let the heaviness of my medical conditions weigh me down often. However, I am terribly hard on myself, and tend blame myself for not being good enough–but Im trying to work on this every day, so that I can accept myself better. Drawing is my main passion, since I’ve been unable to go into a more hands-on Marine Biology due to my medical conditions prohibiting me from expeditions and diving. however, I love art just as much, and put my very best effort into practicing and learning new techniques every day! All in all, I want to do my best for the people around me and make them smile!

#smilingheroes chatter #SmilingheroesFACTS

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y00sungshairpin-blog · 7 years ago

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genderbent!rfa +v and saeran with a male!mc? genderbends give me a life worth living (not really but still lolol). i'd especially feel bad for jaehee, bc he'd have to deal with a chat of extremely extra girls for about two years... yikes. thanks in advance!

Yoosung:

she is so dramatic

every time someone contradicts her she’s ready to fight

she is the kind of girl who is afraid of talking about her period and will go bright red if anyone mentions it

she wears skirts but always tops them with oversized sweaters

always has her hands in her pockets

doesn’t like makeup

doesn’t know what a hairbrush is

she slays the hairpins though

in the chat she’s constantly talking about her celebrity crushes and has posters everywhere

hell she has a crush on her own LOLOL character

also plays otome games

MC pampers her with presents

she loves going up to him while he’s cooking and hugging him from behind

she’s the little spoon of course

and loves it when MC plays with her hair

calls MC daddy

Zen:

doesn’t go out without makeu

has the biggest boobs

which she is not afraid to show by wearing tight clothes with long v-necks

she does squats

and yoga

sends provocative selfies in the chatroom and everyone is so sick of it

except Jaehee omg

and MC

he loves her body, her curves, everything about her resembles a goddess

and she loves to show it off in their private time

she lap dances for MC all the time

and sings in the shower like the real Zen

she wears red lingerie a lot

a lot of thongs

she’s extremely romantic and, although she’s always on a diet and encourages MC to eat healthily too, she can’t help but buy him chocolate all the time

when she’s with Jumin she rolls her eyes constantly

and makes remarks on her expensive accessories and how she doesn’t deserve them because she doesn’t realize how valuable they are

and she “doesn’t know how a true lady should wear them”

always stuffs her handbag so that she can use it to hit those catcallers in the face

Jaehee:

he’s so done with life 99% of the time

he looks so gOOD IN A SUIT??

and he is such a gentleman

secretly good at ballet

every time he opens the chat room he sighs

all these girls talking about their bra problems or their periods

he’s really not that interested

especially because he’s G A Y

any time he talks in the chatroom is to act like Jumin’s dad and remind her that she has work to do

or to chat in an extremely gay way with his extremely gay boyfriend MC

buys him flowers and finds time to cook for him

he’s the bottom though

Zen to him is like Beyoncè or Gaga to most gays

he has posters of her everywhere and forces MC to watch her performances together

which MC is kinda indifferent about

bUT HE FULLY SUPPORTS HIS FRIEND SO HE WATCHES AND CHEERS FOR HER

Jumin:

such a diva

always waits for someone to open doors for he

and holds out her hand every time she is introduced to a man until they kiss it

as I said, a diva

she drags the shit out of Zen

but with class

because she is S U P E R I O R

always wears expensive jewelry and those really tiny but stylish clutches where nothing fits

but who needs a big bag when all you need is your phone and your credit card

oh also lipstick

she always wears dark red lipstick

and slays it

she’s had multiple men offer her money to have sex with her

and she was absolutely disgusted

but she’s too nice and S U P E R I O R to slap somebody in the face

so she always has bodyguards with her

her relationship with MC is extremely romantic

much different from the other relationships she has

and in bed she dominates MC and he loves it

she especially likes leaving lipstick markings all over the man’s chest and neck

and obviously won’t admit it but, despite being the giver in the relationship, she wouldn’t mind receiving roses from her boyfriend every day

he just likes roses okay

707:

dat ass

Nicki Minaj who

twerks a lot

has like 6 secret tumblr blogs where she reblogs memes and writes gay fanfic

loves cosplay of course

wears aesthetic clothes

loves baggy jumpers and hats

extra af

she likes making herself pretty for her boyfriend

so she tries many different hairstyles and makeup looks all the time

loves taking pictures

and often asks MC to help her with cosplay photoshoots or regular ones

has names for her boobs

and for MC’s boy parts

in the chatroom she always sends pictures of the outfits she wants to buy and cannot afford because of all the money she spends for her car

is jealous of Zen’s boobs but mocks Yoosung for being the flattest

loves wearing sunglasses and acting mysterious because she’s a secret agent

and hugs her sister all the time

lowkey into phone sex

uses send nudes memes

and it seemed ironic at first

but it wasn’t

also has a vine account

i know vine is dead but fem!707 would totally have one shh

and gets MC into cosplay because she wants to do couple ones

couple goals

stylish af

and she has the clearest skin

likes wearing cute outfits with short skirts and wool sweaters or blouses in pastel colors

once tried giving herself pigtails

MC loved it so much that he basically forced her to wear them every day

not that she didn’t like it

she felt cute in them

she loves taking pictures of course

snapchats her meals

she paints her nails herself

with pastel or light colors

and her makeup is always quite natural but still a work of art

i mean her face is a work of art in itself but she paints another work of art over it

very cuddly with her boyfriend

and makes cute videos of them kissing while laying sleepily on the bed

bought matching friendship bracelets for Jumin and herself

Jumin never leaves home without it

hell she never takes it off

neither does V

she’s very shy when it comes to intimacy but is also very sensitive to MCs touch

despite her innocent looks she is an amazing dirty talker

MC is shook every time

very responsible and generous

when she goes out with Jumin and Seven she ends up paying for everything the latter wants even though Jumin is the rich one

she has the brightest smile and the cutest laugh but she’s very self conscious so she tries to show them as seldom as possible

luckily MC is great at making her laugh

even if what it takes is a tickle war

Saeran:

emo to the extremo

owns a lot of band merch

eye pencil is a must

no makeup other than that

except for mascara purple or black lipstick in special occasions

she loves eating AND making ice cream

but she needs to keep her tough facade so that she can defend her boyfriend from all the hoes that try to hit on him

when she’s alone with MC she really enjoys wearing cuter, girlier clothes

it was weird to her at the beginning but she started to love it when she received a VERY positive response from her boyfriend

very shy and blushy

wears flower crowns at home all the time

likes being cuddled by her boyfriend and doing activities together

she’s always the one who organizes dates

but the thing she enjoys the most is just chilling on the couch

when she feels lonely while hacking she asks MC to sit on her chair and let her sit on his lap

it’s usually at night so he sleepily rests his head on her back and falls asleep with his arms around her waist

she loves it

and when she’s done she stands up and gently kisses her boyfriend to wake him

then grabs his hand and leads him to their bed

and tucks him in before snuggling close to him

he’s still half asleep at this point so he doesn’t even realize it

but she’s really carin and loving and S O F T so she takes care of him in exchange for his support while she’s hacking

always pulls her sister’s hair to tease her

and it always turns into full on fights full of scratching and slapping

they love each other though

it’s playful

sort of

MASTERLIST

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kingoftheravensarchive · 7 years ago

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This is gonna get sappy. Hello! Thank you for 2K (again)!

Honestly, when I left 2-3 yrs ago I didn’t have any intentions on returning, or at least I hoped beyond hope I wouldn’t cave. I did, though. I’ve been sharing headspace with Uni for a long time, though by official count it’s at five years. A fella I’ve spent a lot of one-on-one time with, getting to know, helping him grow, and he, in turn, helping me in a lot of ways. Writing him has been therapeutic in a way I cannot even begin to describe and when we left those years ago it was for a number of reasons. The biggest being that we--or, really, I--felt as though we had overstayed our welcome. Uni wasn’t shiny and new anymore, hadn’t been for some time, so finding people to write with was like pulling teeth. I had just recently been plagiarized, too, and that honestly made me too paranoid with everything/one.

But, lo and behold, I returned at the beginning of the year or so, though my activity was in and out for personal reasons. Since properly returning with a fixed schedule not two months ago, I must say I am so... relieved by the way he’s been [re]accepted back into the RP community. Even despite his divergence, despite my hesitance to divulge too much info, etc. It’s been so refreshing to see him get all this activity, to have people want to interact with him, to want to get to know him. AND BLESS THESE SHIPS, HONESTLY. Basically, we love you all and I would thank you all individually but that’d take a long time. Hence this blurb before the proper bias list to say we appreciate you all and wanna write with everyone!

That being said, this bias list will only cover people I’m very close to, people who’ve been following Uni for a long time, or have simply meant quite a bit to us in recent weeks. Please do not be upset if you’re not listed below, as it’s nothing personal and we do appreciate you! It’s just I follow a LOT of people, and, tbh we aren’t close yet-- that can certainly be changed! I’m very friendly despite the nickname! Never hesitate to IM me or ask for my Discord!

TL;DR hello you are all amazing, thank you so much for all you’ve done for us!! pls buy Uni’s books when I write them lmao. below the cut is my bias list starting with the extra special people!

THE RAVENS

honestly crying for days over these people nbd

@frostkingoftheapocalypse --- HOW HAVE YOU STUCK AROUND FOR THIS LONG? i am amazed. i am also amazed we never talked sooner since we’ve known each other for like... 4 yrs lmfao. AHHH TASHA I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!! you give me so much life and I appreciate our friendship, even if it’s late in the making, bc you’re so sweet and generous and a MOM omg. MOM FRIEND. and your writing has always intimidated me in a good way so to be able to finally, properly write with you is an HONOR tbh. you’re such a bright, unwavering light with such a fleshed out boy who’s BEAUTIFUL, and phenomenal drawings (I have that photo you made of Uni as my phone bg), and I honestly can’t wait to see what else we manage to create together. hit me with that good shit, tbh. I love you, Tash. <3

@sonofagunslinger --- CRIES FOR DAYS. Em ilu with my whole heart and soul tbh like you mean so much to me. thank u for riding on this painful/achingly cute ship with me bc Trickshot gives me so much life. you’re so amazing and such a fantastic friend like wtf. look at all this talent bunched up in one person, I can’t even begin to describe how happy I am you came back to tumblr RP and WANTED TO WRITE WITH ME AGAIN like wtf. Jesse is such a little goddamn shit and I love it (Uni, too, ofc) and the headcanons you have for him and his 10/10 FC choice, and ALSO UR ART WTF. I’m still convinced satan lives in you tho bc you sometimes hit me with serious angst that makes me wanna lie down and d i e. but I love it. I love everything we’ve created for Trickshot SO MUCH. THESE BOYS KILL ME. I LOVE YOU, EM. <3

@velvettclaws --- oh NUT. omg I... adore you so much. how dare you be as amazingly wonderful as you are, I am attacked. when we first started writing together I honestly was like “they are SO out of your league, Vicious, look at this style, look at this talent, look at this characterization, are you kidding? it’s gonna be one interaction and that’s it” but I have never been so wrong. and HAPPILY wrong, too. Gabriel is such a beautiful, flawed, eldritch soul with so much thought put into the intricacies of his life, his being, etc and I’m so honored that he chose Uni to be part of it in some way and that we’re still writing together. I l o v e your writing so much, it’s so pretty and GOALS AF in a lot of ways and combined with lil’ Gabu as a whole and YOU ooc, oh my gosh. I die. like this if you cry every time bc I sure af do. you’re so supportive and encouraging and darling, too precious and pure for us, honestly. but I am so, so grateful for you and Gabriel. thank you. ilu so much <3 ;w;

@oneiromanc --- how do I even begin to explain how much I appreciate and adore you??? let me count the ways... we’d be here for an eternity tbh and by then you’d be so sick of me. c; AHHH BAB omg I love you so fkn much. like our boys themselves are just... so achingly wonderful and I love how spontaneous their relationship was and how far they’ve come in just a short while (writing wise), but also... like you’re so fantastic?? such a supportive, amazing, beautiful person who I only wanna smother with love and all the happiness in the world bc you deserve it and so much more! you’re a light in a dark place and I’m so glad we’ve gotten close bc GAAAAAH. I cry. I adore writing with you and reading the things you create and I’m so... thankful to be part of the process, if only in a small way bc your writing is phenomenal and deserving of all the appreciation, just like you!! I love you so much hnnn! ;w;

@angelofoverwatch --- (i know ur on a hiatus again but that’s okay bc ur still my bff). LENORE... omg... ur such a good. such a pure, kindhearted, sweet soul. you were one of the first people I actually properly WROTE with when I came back and it was... so nice??? I LOVE writing with you more than you know and to see all the thought you’ve put into Angela is inspiring and AMAZING. You’re both two beautiful people and I am so grateful we met bc we got somethin’ goin’ here with our babies that is so wonderful, I love it so much and wanna DO SO MANY THINGS WITH THEM. And I want to buy all your art tbh like holy shit look at this talented af human! ilu bb <3 and we’ll be here for when you return!! and even if not, we’re still here for you!

@fenwxlf --- cries for days I loooove you, Cait, so goddamn much and I know some days I seem kinda “meh” with everything but pls know I appreciate you so much and everything we’ve created together in the last 5 years or so. Fenrir is such a prick, just like his dad, and I LOVE it and how much he’s grown. to be part of that is amazing and honestly I am so honored you picked Uni to be MAIN DAD. and I’m so grateful and flattered tbh that you are so tied in with the raven folklore, too, and have immersed yourself in it. NEED ALL THE BIRBS TBH. I just... you mean so much to me that I can’t properly put it into words but I’m so grateful for our friendship, for being able to write with you, to be part of Fen and Svad’s characterization process/es and... all of it. you’re amazing ooc and I’ve loved to keep up with all you’ve done in the last few years and I’m so happy we never really broke contact even during our hiatus bc you’re a phenomenal friend, irreplaceable. you perfect cinnamon roll /sobs forever. Uni and I love you all soooooo much <3

THE CROWS

the folks who have been around for a long, long, long time tbh. how have you not gotten sick of us?? if i’m missing people, i’m so sorry! if you’ve been around for 3+ years, we are amazed you’re still here, for one, and also SO GRATEFUL. you are the reason I keep writing.

@sultrysupernaturals / @agentharrisonofshield & @stiitchwiitchsera / @jennathearcher / @lilylacey / @mordorshi / @madxwonderland

THE MAGPIES

some special mentions! people who mean a lot to me and/or Uni, people we appreciate so much, whom we’ve adored writing with, etc! i’m definitely missing people on this list! my brain only does so well, y’know.

@ircnwccd / @brazenlass / @talonsaconite / @stxrmurdottir / @asgardianhammer / @valadhxfndr / @maegtig / @zehsvara / @crowsandmalachite / @iisfet / @aldrnaari / @tricksandtreason & @jxrmungand / @viiribus / @strongindependentmen / @iridcscentiisms / @jenniferwallters & @claudiadelicncourt / @vasvvani & @aropoakande / @alalkomeneis / @huntingglory & @sifshieldmaiden / @roipirate

#✄ --- she's vicious oh yes she is ( ooc )#[ bias list ]#long post for ts /////

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lolbtsaus · 8 years ago

Text

Preschool Teacher!Jimin

Before I start this, I wanna say thank you for 4,400 followers !!!! My mind is officially blown, you guys are always so sweet and wonderful so thank you so much for all of the support and just <3 Onto the post, it is time for one third of the maknae line, half of the Busan line, a squishy bub whose cheeks are 10/10 every single time, I am a sucker for chubby cheeks so fetus!chim is like I just wanna squeeze his lil face, Park Jimin aka chim chim

So someone actually requested something about this separately (before I started this series) so I’ll be combining that request and this one, the request was basically for single parent!reader and preschool teacher!Jimin

The biggest softie in the entire world

He’s always really kind and generous to adults so just imagine what’d he be like with a bunch of lil munchkins running around him and using their puppy dog eyes and lil voices to get him to say yes (not that he’d say no in the first place)

The kids l o v e him so much like as much as he adores them, they adore him

He’s a giant kid most of the time and he’s got that really gentle voice and he’s always always always up for a hug

There’s this one time where one of the kids is sick so they stay home for a few days and when they get back, they literally run straight for him and just hug him for a solid five minutes and he’s so so happy

Any chance of being called Mr. Park is gone once one of the kids calls him chim chim

Like there are a couple of times they call him Mr. Park but normally it’s just chim chim or chimmy or, as one of the kids calls him, Jiminie Cricket

Similar to Yoongi, he’s really good with the shyer kids

Jimin is a shy shy shy boy sometimes, like he gets flustered at times and he has that shy smile he does and despite being an actual star, he stills gets really shy when all of the attention is on him (off stage of course)

So he totally gets it when they don’t immediately wanna talk or play with him and he normally just sits next to them quietly and talks to the other kids around them so that they aren’t alone but they’re also not being forced to talk to him

Bc if he just sat next to them, they may feel awkward or pressured to say something but if he’s there and starting a conversation with the group, they can feel more at ease to maybe speak up and join when they want to and they appreciate that

There’s always a kid holding his hand or being carried by him, they just love him so much and he’s so affectionate that they feel like that can be comfortable around him so they’re hugging his legs or his arms (when he’s sitting down) or holding his hand or sometimes sitting on his shoulders

He’s so playful with them like he’s the king of hide and seek

He walks around the classroom and pretends he doesn’t notice the very obvious shoe sticking out from under the table but then a few minutes later he comes back and starts tickling the kid bc their rule is that you aren’t caught until you laugh so he has to make them laugh first and that’s something he’s always been good at doing

So many arts and crafts like that’s basically an everyday thing

He always has new ideas for them like painting a pumpkin or making their own shirts where they get some fabric paint and go to town, anything that’s not too difficult or has anything that could cause some injuries (like scissors) but something where they still get to express themselves and be creative

He always has the class plant, which is normally just something simple and small bc then the kids can take turns watering it every day and they get to see it grow from a tiny seed to an actual plant and then on the final day of class, he takes them out to a community garden where they plant it in the ground so it can continue to grow

He does face painting when they’re in class on Halloween so all of the kids get to line up and he and the TAs make them into whatever they want, tigers, pandas, cheetahs

He’s so so gentle the entire time and he keeps them entertained by telling them a story that involves the animal they’re getting painted as and their eyes are so big and they’re hanging onto every word and he has to hold back a couple giggles bc they just look so cute

Speaking of stories, he’s a ma zing at story telling

He’s always brings in these really cute books and he actually spends a lot of time looking around and searching for good children’s books bc he really really cares about the kids and he wants them to have fun books to read/have read to them

The m o s t encouraging teacher you’ll ever meet

There are times where he’s not fully sure what they’re doing exactly but hey, go for it lil dude

It can be the smallest of achievements or the biggest, he’s gonna congratulate them, he gets so genuinely excited for them and his smile is so big which means they smile too

That’s one of the reasons Jimin loves his job so much, he loves seeing (and helping) the kids grow and watching their personalities develop and seeing them discover new things that he didn’t even notice anymore

Like hell yeah, now that lil boy pointed it out, caterpillars are really cool

They always want him to sing for them at nap time and some of the kids can’t sleep unless he does sing but he doesn’t mind at all, he’ll sing for as long as they want

He also does dances for them like there’s this one time he dresses up as a puppy (on Halloween) and he’s so shy about it but they’re all so excited for it so he does the Snoopy dance

Your son is one of his students

Jimin is always really close with all of his students so of course, your son and him get along really well

Your son always comes home and tells you all the amazing stories of what happened today and he’s always so excited to go back to school bc he knows he’ll get to see Jimin and his friends

After hearing so much about him, you decide to set some time aside to actually be able to stay and talk to Jimin before their class starts and you immediately see why your bby loves him so much

He’s got a cute ass smile, he’s so bubbly but a lil shy and you can tell how much he loves the kids

While you’re talking, these two kids come in and they take off towards him and he just kneels down and opens his arms and you would think they hadn’t seen each other in years bc the kids are just so excited and they’re talking over each other and Jimin’s just giving them this really soft look and it’s official, you’ve got a crush

Jimin offers to have you and your bby over for dinner one night and you agree and your lil boy is just so so excited to be visiting chim

It’s really endearing to see your bby so happy with someone and so at home and Jimin’s so loving towards him the entire night, like he helps feed him his dinner and makes sure his shirt doesn’t get any food on it

You two are talking while bby boy is watching Tom and Jerry and you actually really like Jimin like he’s funny and charming but he’s also really down to earth and kind

The fact that he’s also really good with kids and loves your son who loves him just as much definitely doesn’t help the whole crush situation that’s happening bc you don’t even have to worry about whether or not they’ll get along

“So what do you say next time we go out to a restaurant, maybe just us two?? Like on a date??”

“I’d say that I’ll pick you up at seven”

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smartphone-science · 6 years ago

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The life of Galen is a unique opportunity to look at Roman history from the perspective of a prestigious doctor who became the most influential voice in medicine for a millennium.

People fight for a variety of reasons. We’re intrigued by it when we’re on the receiving end of the news and not of a nearby fist. It fuels our desire for daily drama. In Dostoevsky’s masterpiece, The Brothers Karamazov, a beautiful tension blossoms within the family when the patriarch Fyodor and his son Dmitri fight over the affection of a lady named Grushenka. Conflict ensues. Sometimes people fight not to break hearts but inertia. When Melkor got bored of the song they were playing in the Silmarillion, he fought against the wishes of Elu Iluvatar and played a wicked out of key guitar solo that drastically altered the music of creation, paving the way for a bunch of small folk to save the world. We can survey the annals of literature all day to look for more examples, but we might never find samples as rich as those found in reality, and perhaps there’s no better place to look for conflicts than in one of the most martial cities in history, Rome.

Most interesting for a historian of ideas is when people fight over convictions, be it philosophical, economic, scientific, religious, political, and to the interest of this blog, medical. Rome had plenty of medical fights, some having great importance to the history of medicine. Reasons varied: people fought over correct interpretations of medical (usually Hippocratic) texts, the existence of a particular bone, the cleanest surgical stroke, the best possible cure for a certain disease, or whose teacher was the best. To drive home their points, the contestants used orations and blades, not swords, but their miniature cousins, scalpels. Soldiers and gladiators didn’t have a monopoly on combat in Rome, doctors had their fair share of battles as well.

No need to go to the battlefield for a bloodbath.

The medical culture of Rome was a microcosm of the empire: it was simultaneously brutal and beautiful, like Madame Guillotine dressed as Sailor Moon — beheading monarchs by moonlight, winning revolutions by daylight. Roman doctors lived in a highly-competitive society where success wasn’t simply the result of medical talent. Fixing Flavius’ fractured femur wasn’t gonna cut it: you had to tell others that you were the best at fixing broken thigh bones. An amazing ability to announce your achievements was a must. Mastery in the arts of oration, debate, and, sometimes, pugilism were important implements in a doctor’s medical kit. But aside from having the right tools, developing a committed character was also important. Arriviste physicians needed to be charismatic and convincing in speech, have sound philosophical minds, and possess tenacious spirits to survive and prosper. And in the pages of history, no other doctor in the Roman empire embodied all three than the Greek doctor from Pergamon, Galen.

For being so, Galen rightly deserves his own segment in this series. It is even important to do so. Partly because the life of Galen is very interesting as it is. But most important is its exemplary typification of Roman medical culture. Galen best exhibits the values of Greek intellect and Roman vitality, thus giving us the best possible example of what this partnership looked like when wed. That is to say, he was the living embodiment of the central idea developed in the previous essay, Roman Medicine Was Nurtured by Greek Doctors.

But we can get more from him than just the flavour of medicine in his time.

The life of Galen is an excellent study for the student of Roman history. It is an open window with a wide panoramic view of the empire, starting from the exotic luxuries of Asia minor, to the teeming markets of the Levant, to the busy ports of Egypt, and to the cobbled streets of Rome. To study the life of Galen is to illuminate Roman history from within and without, to make visible Rome’s complexities and confusions (why did the conspirators kill Julius Caesar in their bid to protect the republic when all it did was endanger it more?). Scenes, voices, faces, colours, scents, and diseases from the empire are again animated by the power of his words, for he was not only a tireless doctor, but he was also an incessant writer. Galen wielded a philosophical pen that was as sharp as his medical blade, able to cut through the thick epidermis of everyday Roman life. Every page of Galen’s texts is a dissection of the empire’s political underbelly; an investigation of the invisible social veins that channelled life and energy throughout the empire. Like a master surgeon to anxious juniors, Galen makes the initial incision to start the laparotomy, he then reaches out and hands us his tools: he tasks us to complete the investigation.

Before doctors make a diagnosis, they first need to analyse a patient’s case history. A case or medical history is basically a rundown of things that have happened to a patient that might have led to or caused the complaint. Last Tuesday’s accidental Lego up the rectum explains Friday’s severe gastrointestinal bleeding. So in order for us to really know what Galen was all about we first need to know his history, otherwise we might falsely identify our headaches as casual brain throbbing caused by intense knowledge acquisition.

The story starts in the city of Pergamon, in what was then a Roman colony found on the western lip of modern-day Turkey kissing the Aegean. Long before the Romans held the city’s reigns, Pergamon was home to its own homegrown kingdom. Its monarchs had the bright idea of turning the city into a centre of learning, so they built a large library. Indeed, it was large. It was also excellent. So large and excellent in fact that neighbouring kingdoms wanted one for themselves. In On Architecture, the Roman engineer Vitruvius says that the fifth instalment of the Ptolemaic dynasty, Ptolemy V Epiphanes, “actuated by zeal and great desire for the furtherance of learning” decided to make “a similar one for the same purpose at Alexandria, about the same period.” That later turned out to be the famous and much bigger Library of Alexandria, which was loved by both scholars and arsonists. Though Pergamon’s library was upstaged by its Egyptian counterpart, the city nonetheless maintained its prominence and prestige. Pergamon was “by far the most famous city in Asia” says Pliny the Elder in Natural History. This is the affluence and influence that Galen was born into.

The privilege of Pergamene upbringing didn’t stop there.

Subjugation under Roman command didn’t diminish the Hellenistic tastes of the Pergamene aristocracy and bureaucracy. They carefully cradled it like overprotective parents. Pergamenes were proud of their Greek lineage and tongue. Galen exclusively wrote in Greek despite making his fortune in the Roman empire. Not once did he quote any Latin passage or author. It’s tempting to accuse him of the good ole xenophobia, but proper historical context says that Galen was standing on reasonable ground because Greek was the intellectual language of the empire. In this regard, Pergamon wasn’t unique since widespread Hellenism was felt across the empire. But the privilege Pergamon bestowed upon young Galen wasn’t its uniqueness, but the collection of favourable circumstances that it had developed which altogether conspired to shape the destiny of Galen.

One favourite pastime of the Greeks was to glorify gods. And the Pergamenes, true to their Hellenistic heritage, loved worshipping. Among the gods that they chose to venerate was Asclepius, who, from earlier essays we’ve learned to be the Greek god of healing. They also built him a temple to house his attendants and the sick seeking to be cured by him. Though there is no direct evidence, leaving us to solely rely on speculation, we can suspect Asclepius as the divinity that designed Nicon’s dream.

And dreams were serious business in the ancient world.

Galen’s father, a Greek architect known to posterity by his Romanised name Aelius Nicon, supervised Galen’s education, starting when the boy was very young. When his son reached the age of 14, Nicon hired the best minds around to tutor young Galen in philosophy. His teachers came from various philosophical schools: of those present were a Stoic, a Platonist, a Peripatetic, and an Epicurean. This early introduction to the many branches of philosophy played a pivotal role in the formation of Galen’s unique mind. He would later write in On Anatomical Procedures that this exposure moulded in him an attitude of “never professing myself an adherent of any sect, making rigorous investigation of them with all diligence”.

One night, when Nicon was sleeping soundly, the god Asclepius paid him a visit. The sleep was deep, so there was no resistance on Nicon’s part. To thank him for the easy welcome, Asclepius made Nicon dream of his son: Galen will soon become a successful and popular doctor, if only you’d let him. Nicon woke up, flustered. In the ancient world, gods communicated with mortals through dreams. To discard dreams as rubbish was to deny the gods their will. Nicon wasted no time and told his son about it the following morning. Sweet dreams of expertise. Galen approved, himself now driven to become a medical expert. Who were they to disagree? Nicon was set to make his son a doctor, and he had all the finances to fund Galen’s education.

Galen didn’t choose the medical life, the medical life chose him.

His first foray into medicine happened under the tutelage of Satyrus, a student of the popular Roman doctor Quintus. It was also around this time when Galen first saw the devastating power of disease in wrecking human life, something that he would again, to an even greater extent, face when under the payroll of the Roman royalty. Between 146-148 CE, Galen beheld the spread of what he called “anthrax”. But instead of being deterred, Galen showed early signs of his rash and dauntless character: he faced the disease headlong and recorded everything that he observed. Risque, yes. But it was driven by a desire to know, risks notwithstanding. The outbreak was not a pretty sight, for “many patients were stripped of skin, and some also of the very flesh” (ibid). This was just the first of many unpleasant experiences Galen endured for the sake of knowledge.

A sudden segue to via tristitia happened in the life of Galen when his father died in 148 CE. Galen was just 19 years young and by all accounts had all the rights to sulk and abandon his father’s augury. But giving up was not his wont nor want. Throughout his life — if we’re to base his feelings on the mood of his texts — Galen rarely revealed his emotional state, consistently maintaining a calm and almost detached demeanour, even in the middle of severe situations (like when he first observed anthrax). This is not to say that he felt indifferent to his father’s death. On the contrary, he always held his father’s memory adoringly, peppering his texts here and there with praises for his father’s determined efforts to educate him (he only mentions his mother once in a scathing passage).

With his bag on one shoulder and his father’s dream on the other, Galen headed to Smyrna in 150 CE to start his education abroad. His first stop was the doorstep of the physician Pelops. From him Galen would learn a lot about making drugs (he would cite him as one of his primary sources). However, Galen felt Pelops was keeping away a lot from him, especially the notes and findings of Numisianus, Pelop’s teacher (who was also a student of Quintus, the mentor of Galen’s former teacher Satyrus). Pelops hid Numisianus’ documents from prying eyes, because, according to Galen (ibid), Pelops “preferred that certain theories, as yet unknown, should be attributed to him”. To put it simply, Galen accuses Pelops of plagiarising Numisianus’ works. Needless to say this relationship was in dire need of an immediate amputation.

So Galen removed himself from Smyrna to look for the lost master. He gives a detailed rundown of what happened thereafter (ibid): “Next, I was in Corinth on account of Numisianus, who was himself the most famous of the students of Quintus, and in Alexandria and some other places in which I learned that Numisianus . . . was living”. But despite the many steps taken, Galen never found Numisianus. Perhaps he had died without Galen knowing of it. A huge opportunity missed.

The loss of Numisianus presented chance gains for Galen as it allowed him to mingle with the other medical minds in Alexandria. In his time, Alexandria was the centre for anatomical studies, as it was one of the few (if not the only) cities in the ancient world where human dissection was not considered taboo, (sources say vivisection of criminals were also carried out). The Egyptian practice of mummification made the opening of cadavers a routine operation, devoid of the unnecessary spiritual baggage attached to it by other cultures. This openness to human anatomical explorations was probably what convinced the Greek anatomists Erasistratus and Herophilos to settle in the city and establish their famous anatomical school. So it is not surprising that it was in Alexandria where Galen learned to better his knowledge of anatomy and skills in surgery. “When I first returned from Alexandria”, writes Galen in Compounding Drugs by Kind, “I really and truly learned the treatment of those who were wounded in the tendons.”

When one door closes, don’t fret, look for open bodies instead.

Galen’s adamant search for the best medical education from the best teachers around, even at an early age, shows the strong and lasting influence Nicon had on him, and it is something that would guide Galen all throughout his life. This lifelong dedication to study has its roots planted in Greek intellectual culture, where men of learning devoted their whole lives to the study of philosophy and even natural history, as was the case with Aristotle. Through Nicon’s nurture, Galen was able to pick up the torch of Greek intellectual fire and lit the dark crevices of medical knowledge. What he revealed wasn’t always very nice though, and Galen was at times burned by his own fire as we shall see later.

The study of medicine necessitates actual practice to measure how well a student carries out the instructions and theories learned in the years of study. It was the same for Galen. After years of study in Alexandria, Galen went back home to Pergamon in 157 CE, probably in the hopes of practising there. Did he actively apply for medical positions or endorse himself to the public, there is no telling, for no evidence surfaces. But in 158 CE, Galen tells us of a remarkable development. He says (ibid) that the city’s archierus, or high priest, “decided to entrust to me alone the care of the gladiators, although I was still young as to stage of life.” What prompted the high priest to hire him, even Galen “does not know”. Perhaps he had already cultivated a reputation as a medical prodigy while he was still studying. Or maybe he had found success when he practised in Pergamon. Most likely both.

The high priest made the right choice. Almost immediately, Galen reversed the rather terrible outcomes of his predecessors. The doctors before Galen recorded an impressive sixty gladiator deaths under their care. In Galen’s five year tenure as doctor to the gladiators, he only had an underwhelming two deaths to his name. All the more impressive was the fact that Galen worked alone at a relatively young age for a doctor. “Although, at that time, I had not yet completed thirty years of my age”, recounts Galen in On the Examinations by which the Best Physicians are Recognised, he was already handed the responsibility of treating “all the wounded men who had fought duels in combat.” This was in stark contrast with the medical organisation before his arrival. He continues: “Before my time, two or three of the Elders were in charge.” The confidence and trust bestowed upon him by the authorities is highly indicative of how his skills were appreciated and admired by the Pergamene elite.

Gladiatorial games were mainly conducted to entertain. Fights were carefully choreographed to ensure that no real harm was done to the gladiators. They were what athletes are now, expensive to keep and beloved by the public. Accidents, however, were inevitable. So was grudge and the avante-garde attitude of not sticking to the script. With the arrival of Galen, the realm of entertainment was further stretched to include the operating table. He used his privileged position as a platform to publicly demonstrate surgical techniques learned and innovated by himself. One such demonstration was the case of a wounded “horseman” with a very long laceration “going very deep into the frontal and lower sections of the thigh” and a wide gape “one edge torn upward, the other pulled downwards toward the kneecap”. Galen “attempted to proceed from the so-called lateral joint, and bring together little by little the sundered parts of the muscle with stitches” (Compounding Drugs by Kind). The wound was closed without any complications and infections. Another successful operation added to his fast growing résumé. But like his combative patients, he also dealt with non-human subjects.

Public demonstrations of surgical and medical skills on animals were a common spectacle in the empire. Physicians readily carried out these performances to showcase their skills, dazzling the crowd with precision cuts, popped veins spraying blood in every direction, eviscerated innards, and erudite speech, just like a regular TED Talk but with an extra element of gore. A sanguine theatre where doctors enjoyed prominent roles and elaborate lines while colouring the town red. Who needs gladiators when you have doctors to satisfy your blood lust? It was admittedly lopsided against the animals, as they couldn’t fight back, but the crowd was still captivated. They either cheered or jeered. Despite the obvious disregard for the ethical promise of primum non nocere, Roman physicians were eager to conduct these exhibitions for these had the positive effect of hauling in curious students to study under their influence, thus increasing their sphere of influence and popularity. It also served as a powerful stage to silence your critics in public. This was the case when Galen, on his free time as a doctor to the gladiators, vivisected a monkey. Galen started by disembowelling the monkey, then challenged “the other physicians who were present” to safely return its viscera inside its body before the poor screaming creature lost its life. When none would dare take up the task, Galen, ever the showman, showed them how and easily succeeded in doing so, “making it clear to the intellectuals who were present that” whosoever had abilities like his “should be in charge of the wounded” (On the Examinations by which the Best Physicians are Recognised).

This was Galen’s favoured tactic in proving that he was right: aggressively prove that others were mistaken. Galen garnered a reputation for being stringent and arrogant, always believing himself to be the paramount authority in medicine, second only to Hippocrates. But who could blame him? He had a great education and was able to prove himself correct time and time again without anybody able to prove otherwise. With today’s sensibilities, this may display a lack of class, but Galen’s attitude was perfectly in sync with the class he belonged to. Arrogance, vigour, and a relentless drive for argumentation were currencies flaunted by the intellectual elites of his time. And he was unabashedly one of them.

Having spent the better of five years as the premiere physician in Pergamon, Galen then moved to the biggest ward of them all, the eternal city of Rome. There is no telling what prompted him to do so, and he also doesn’t tell us whether the high priests terminated his contract. Perhaps it was his lust for challenges that drove him to Rome. After all, it was in the notorious streets of Rome where Quintus, the teacher of his own mentor, Satyrus, plied his trade. He may have wanted to get a feel of what it was like to be a doctor in the most famous city in the ancient world. There were also no reasons to stay in Pergamon. All the signs pointed to Rome. His years of education and training had prepared him for the spotlight, and he had everything going well in his favour: he was wealthy, popular, intelligent, and so far, had been mostly lucky.

Galen made many brief stopovers along the way to stock his supplies of drug ingredients. Some of the materials he gathered have been clinically found to immediately raise modern eyebrows, like “black crustaceous rocks and rocks which, when exposed to fire, emit a meagre flame,” (On the Mixtures and Powers of Simple Drugs) which he collected in what is now Palestine. His search for medicament also exposed him to the working and living conditions of rural peasants, an experience that he was proud to recall in his books. Whether he was inside ore mines, sharing tables with farmers, having fortunate encounters — since it was an invitation to study human anatomy — with unfortunate carcasses on the road, or enduring long sea travels, Galen always recorded every bit of information that he accrued, increasing the riches of his mental medical treasury.

Finally, in his 32nd year of his life, Galen arrived on Rome in the spring of 162 CE.

Roman interest in the medical arts slowly snowballed after Julius Caesar set the motions for the republic’s collapse. Greek doctors, who were mostly slaves, comprised the majority of healthcare providers in Rome. Caesar, before being murdered and subsequently turned into a vegetarian option, was the first to inject some sense of healthcare professionalism in Rome with an important edict: Caesar granted Greek doctors Roman citizenship in 46 BCE. Not to be outdone by his adoptive father, Augustus, Rome’s first emperor, blessed doctors with certain tax exemptions and gave them special privileges. Vespasian further enhanced their station by allocating state money for the salary of doctors who were in the business of teaching future physicians. The state and public support enjoyed by doctors in Rome made the city an enticing venue for medical practice. By the time he arrived in Rome, Galen was just another name in the long list of doctors testing the limits of their luck. All roads lead to Rome, indeed.

However, while recent developments improved life prospects for doctors, the local populace lived in constant peril from diseases, infectious or otherwise, thanks to imperial priorities. Augustus and Agrippa may have turned brick to marble, but later emperors spent much of the empire’s energy and fortunes on wars abroad, largely neglecting the marble-lous grandeur of Augustan Rome. As the military was expensive to keep, funding for better public housing and sanitation measures were kept to a low. So people had to make do with what little the state provided them with. They were cramped in very tight horizontal and vertical spaces. Dense was the city, which made pathogens and vectors very happy. There were so many people and so little space that even proximal contact with neighbours was blurred. “One peculiarity of Rome, which is not shared by other cities”, writes Galen in On the Examinations by which the Best Physicians are Recognised, “is that not even neighbours, let alone other inhabitants, know how a patient has died, or by whom he has been treated. This is because the city is great and populous.” It was so crowded that deaths hardly mattered. Dead tenants were easily replaced by other warm bodies looking for homes.

This was the Rome Galen found himself in. It was definitely wealthy but hardly healthy.

To be new in this highly competitive medical environment was difficult. Lonely neophytes were set up against a drove of desperate elder doctors. Luckily for Galen, some Pergamenes preceded him in Rome, so he was not without welcome and support. A compatriot named Teuthras helped butter the way for Galen’s smooth entry into Rome’s medical throng. He was Galen’s first level of support that allowed Galen to build an initial following. Teuthras also served as a wellspring of good advice, which came in handy almost immediately.

Galen was aching to get his career up in running in Rome, so shortly after arriving, he found himself in the middle of a medical snafu. Treatments in Rome were usually a public event, as it was an outgrowth of the Greek practice of conducting lectures out in the open. One day when he was roaming the streets, Galen saw a gathering of people and heard that they were discussing phlebotomy (drawing blood). It was one of his favoured treatments so he joined the fray eager to know what others had to say about it. Conducting the discussion was a sect called (by Galen) the Erasistrateans, who boasted a record of avoiding phlebotomy in their repertoire. Upon hearing the offending group express their reluctance to bleed their patients, Galen immediately engaged them with his preferred mode of dissent: direct confrontation. With obvious disdain and intensity in volume, Galen politely reminded them that they were wrong for omitting phlebotomy from their services. But his was an unfamiliar voice in an unwelcoming environment, and he failed to convince the participants of his gospel. Unable to sway attending opinion to his side, Galen quickly got riled up. But Teuthras was with him and pulled him away from the crowd. Now in safe distance from the more established and well connected rogues, Teuthras offered Galen a sound advice: “You will never influence these men; they are too stupid to remember the patients who were killed by Erasistratus. For what other reason did the patients they are citing now come to die, if not that the remedy of phlebotomy was omitted” (On Venesection against the Erasistrateans at Rome).

Teuthras’ words had an immediate and profound effect, for Galen changed his rather tactless urgency into a well structured (and probably choreographed) demolition. When the second occasion for a showdown occurred, Galen produced a very articulate refutation of the Erasistratean method which won him the reinforced ire of his newfound enemies as well as some fresh followers.

But it would be a mistake to think of Galen as someone like today’s internet trolls. Galen didn’t poke his head around every discussion ready with ornate obloquy and belligerent burns. Despite his rashness, Galen only reserved his contempt for corrections. To right wrongs – the very essence of medicine. Being doctors meant being intellectually responsible for pointing out the medical errors of others, which also required a willingness to wear a bulls eye for the scorn of wrongdoers — Galen wore that to the best of his abilities, for he was duly recognised as the best. He expressed unwavering allegiance to accuracy, but hated the consequences that came with it. In fact, he disdained the benefits of having enemies as it gave him unwanted press and attention. Gossip and defamatory hearsay against him spread like pestilence, forcing his early exit from Rome: “I wanted to escape the slanderous tongues,” Galen writes in On My Own Books, adding that he also planned to refrain from “[saying] anything beyond what was necessary among the patients” and “teaching in public, as before, nor performing demonstrations.” Rome had a sickness unto itself that sucked the life out of its doctors, and not even the great medical mind of Galen could deal with it.

But perhaps it wasn’t a social ill that he ran away from. There is reason to believe that he was only trying to escape the wrath of a virulent disease that had set afoot in the far reaches of the empire. Galen recounts in On My Own Books, “When the great plague began, I immediately left the city and travelled to my homeland.”

Wait a minute, if he was such a good doctor then why did he run away from duty? That’s something salacious journalists might munch for dinner — saucy and trite yet containing no gram of truth. Historian Susan Mattern argues that Galen had no intention to distance himself from the plague, but his motivation to leave Rome was driven by a desire to confront it as per his responsibility as a doctor. She writes in The Prince of Medicine (an excellent biography of Galen from where many of the quotes here are taken from), “Galen fled not from the plague, but toward it —motivated, perhaps, by worry about his hometown and a desire to be there for his people.”

There is no telling what Galen’s true intentions were but he did leave Rome in 166 CE and went back to Pergamon. Retreat from Rome didn’t mean resignation from medicine. It was business as usual in Pergamon: Galen admitted patients, argued here and there, conducted anatomical experiments, and edited some of his books. Life was going well, so Galen thought, until a letter arrived in 168 CE. It was an imperial summon. Apparently, it wasn’t just slander and malice around his name that circulated in Rome, but news of his talents also went viral. The message was simple: the royal household wants you back in the capital. To this there was only one possible reply: compliance. Galen soon found himself taking the trip back to the place he dreaded.

All roads led to Rome, yet again.

In the second season of The Life of Galen in Rome, the drama continues and heats up as even more poisonous tongues lash their malice at Galen’s enviable position. Galen achieved what only a few doctors have and would ever reach: the coveted title of archiatros, physician to the emperor. Along with the honour came financial security as well as the insecurity of others. It was a trade off that was unavoidable, but was Galen now more capable and mature to deal with it.

His appointment came in a unique time in the empire when the first co-emperors sat on the throne of power. However, Lucius Verus died of the plague in 169 CE on his way back to Rome. At that time, Galen was still in Aquileia, tending the sick and infected Roman soldiers, which meant two things: first, Galen couldn’t supervise the treatment of Lucius Verus which could’ve saved the co-emperor’s life; and second, he only served the other co-emperor Marcus Aurelius.

Galen’s sophomore spell turned out to be a period of prolific productivity and mastery. Marcus Aurelius was often abroad fighting on the German front, leaving Galen with enough time to write more books and seek more enemies. His one great task as archiatros was the care of the sickly Commodus, son and heir of Marcus Aurelius. This proved to be a wise decision on the emperor’s part, but a generally frowned upon move by the Romans and later historians: Wise because when young Commodus suffered an intense fever, the best doctor Galen was there to the rescue; damned because Galen cured him and put him back to good health. A positive medical outcome seen by many as a net negative for the empire because Commodus turned out to be a fine emperor of bad taste and abandon.

When Marcus Aurelius did return to Rome in 176 CE, Galen was there to meet him. Included in the arriving imperial entourage were three other doctors who were presumably military medics or personal physicians. Galen met them too. And they were immediately set against each other in a battle of medical alacrity and wisdom.

The emperor brought back with him a medical complaint as a souvenir for all his troubles. He felt ill and convulsive, so he summoned the three doctors and Galen to check up on him. The first to do their examinations were the three, leaving Galen the unenviable task of being last. When it was Galen’s turn to inspect the pained emperor, he didn’t. In On Prognosis, Galen describes the event in full:

“Three doctors had already examined him at dawn and at the eighth hour; they had taken his pulse; and they agreed that this was apparently the opening of an attack of an illness. When I stood by in silence, the emperor looked at me and asked why, when the others had taken his pulse, I alone had not done so. I replied that since they had already done so twice and the peculiarities of his pulse were probably known to them through their experiences on their travels abroad with him, I expected that they could obtain a better diagnosis of his present condition than I. On hearing this, he commanded me to take his pulse. It seemed to me that his pulse, compared with the general norm for each age and constitution, was far from showing the onset of an attack of an illness, and so I said that there was no attack of fever, but his stomach was overloaded with the food he had taken, which had turned to phlegm before excretion, and that this was now quite clear.”

At this point, it’s safe to say that we’ve already established Galen’s superior dexterity and guile over his competitors, so it’s predictable what happened: he was right once again. The emperor ecstatically received his diagnosis, remembering that, indeed, his stomach was a bit upset from all the meals that he had taken. Galen’s accurate medical judgement instantly set him apart from the three doctors, leading the emperor to claim “we have one physician only”, which of course meant Galen.

From this story, two major medical themes arise to serve as important reminders to posterity on how to properly conduct medicine and science.

Opinions always vary: some are patently false without any hope of redemption, while others are true yet incomplete. The task of science is to collect the bits of scattered truth and use it to build structures of knowledge supported by verifiable reality. But to know which fragments are genuine, a rigorous process of sieving the grains of truth is and should always be observed. Nowadays we call this peer review. In medical consultation, this can also mean seeking second opinions. Aurelius asking Galen his opinion on the matter is evocative of this ideal design. To ask for a consensus regardless if ideas and opinions clash with each other, for what matters is that the best ideas from the best minds are canvassed. But what truly stands out in this story is something of the heroic: this episode would have waned in poignancy had Galen been unwilling to challenge his seniors. Reviewing and revising means to test ideas and concepts against extremely high standards — this requires a disposition of strength and fortitude able to withstand the might of authority. Did not Galen exhibit this early on when he challenged the Erasistrateans? And this aforementioned episode is just one of the many fracas where Galen stood up against authority to wave the banner of truth. Galen’s argumentative flair wasn’t indicative of a rebellious tendency nor vagrancy, it was all part of the Hippocratic spirit that Galen passionately embodied in his public and academic life. Thus, while it wasn’t unusual for Galen, his boldness to declare the truth against the more established elders in front of the emperor, in the biggest stage at that time, serves as an example of correct scientific virtue and consequently a crucial lesson to today’s doctors and medical students.

The second and most important tenor in Galen’s diagnosis of Marcus Aurelius was his high valuation of case histories. Galen’s reluctance to examine the emperor after the three doctors have done so exemplifies the Hippocratic demand to view health as the total outcome of a person’s unique history. That is to say, health concerns vary from one person to another as per their life experiences. Galen knew well that he was unfamiliar with the emperor’s day to day life as he was practising in Rome while the emperor was off fighting on foreign soil. He had no insight to the daily regimen of the emperor, leaving him with little to no information about the factors that led to Marcus Aurelius’ complaint. Now, this leaves us with the question: if Galen didn’t have the emperor’s case history as a reference to base his judgement, then how was he able to diagnose Marcus Aurelius correctly and save the emperor’s life? The brilliance of Galen shines through when he read the emperor’s pulse, only after being urged, and matched it with what he had observed from other people of the same age (the case histories of others), which led him to conclude correctly that there was nothing inherently wrong with the emperor. By comparing Marcus Aurelius’ pulse with that of others, Galen ensured that his judgement was informed by research – research that could only have been possible with the study of case histories. This strategy allowed him to prove that the methods of the three doctors were wrong, leading him to devise another stratagem: to look at the events that transpired before the complaint, that is to say, analysing Marcus Aurelius’ case history. The emperor had a lot to eat. His stomach was complaining. Galen said that was causing the pain. Marcus Aurelius agreed. Job done.

It may be tempting to abuse the character and name of Galen for intellectual anarchy. True, there is an element of romance in Galen’s struggles against the doctors of his time that is tempting to emulate, a delectable tale of the underdog succeeding against the odds by virtue of wit, wisdom, and intelligence. But to believe this genre is to remove Galen from the reality of Roman life. The whole truth is hard to know, since we can only dissect the texts left by Galen himself. But it is thanks to his extensive corpus that we are provided with an opportunity to travel back in time and have a closer look at the dynamics of Roman medical life, an institution that Galen dominated and developed so effectively that his importance and impact lasted for a millennium. The life of Galen is a genre of its own – a medical and philosophical odyssey along the august steps of Roman history. But in whatever mode you might read it in, what stands out are his fights, for Galen fought them to bring medicine to the forefront of intellectual life. And, despite all the drama that comes with it, that was and is a fight worth fighting for.

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