#we don’t know his patronymic so it’s not that I assume | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

livlepretre · 3 years ago

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Hey! I have a quick question about the FE universe! At what point does the TVD canon lore end for FE? Are you working within the entire universe's canon including the later seasons of TVD and The Originals? Where like Freya exists and the Originals have a crazy aunt or like in TVD, there's the travelers and the sirens and I'm pretty sure the Devil is a character later on. The later seasons ran out of ideas so they just get progressively crazier as time goes on and they retcon a lot of stuff.

Very good question!

The short answer is that I am cherry picking based on what I like and what I do not like (mostly because of retconning making the story so much less horrifying and tragic later on). Basically, you can pretty much assume that everything through about season 3 of tvd is canon-- with the exception that I hate hate hate the Viking!backstory introduced in season 3 of tvd and do not plan to ever include it or mention it. I'm planning to remain vague on this topic, but you can assume that the Originals actually hail from Eastern Europe and have changed their names numerous times over the years (hence "Mikaelson" isn't even a name they would have originally had as humans, just something they used for a time later on-- I don't even like or subscribe to the idea that they had a surname at all, because the concept is a bit alien to the Middle Ages-- it seems to me that they would have had patronyms instead).

For the Originals, I guess more or less the canon elements of season 1 & 2, and if anything else seems good to cherry pick, I'll grab it.

There are certain elements of tvd which it's implied have happened in Mystic Falls, like the Gilbert rings causing problems on the Other Side, Jeremy being a Hunter, or Bonnie learning Expression, but those are really just table dressing for the fact that life goes on with or without Elena observing it.

For what I will not include because I don't like it, you'll have to read under the cut because this is sort of salty:

In my fics, Amara never existed. Tatia was the first person to wear that face, and the only two doppelgangers are Katherine and Elena. This is partially because having Tatia as a doppelganger/having her survive the Originals becoming vampires just totally wrecks the tragedy of it all-- and the origin story should be unbearably tragic.

I may occasionally reference Silas, but the part where Stefan is also a doppelganger is not something that you will ever find in my fic universes.

Nadia as a character only ever exists as the baby Katherine tragically lost-- there is no vampire!Nadia storyline because it destroys a fundamental element of tragedy in Katherine's story arc.

I don't like the idea that Katherine is a Traveler because the idea that she had to have special powers as a human seems like a cheap writing decision to me, so if I ever happen to include Travelers (I'm not sure why I would but you never know, they were interesting as a whole), Katherine would not be related to them. I am very attached to the idea that the doppelgangers are just human girls with special blood that has all this power that they can't themselves access directly, so they must rely on their wits to survive. I love the idea that what's actually special about them is their unique personality, their ruthlessness and their spirit and their ability to do what no one else would dare to do. Not their special powers.

I'm also not into the heretic witch vampires or anything that lessens the horror of vampirism or allows for any middle ground there. I'm pretty strict on early rules, that you are either a witch or a werewolf or a vampire, and that becoming a vampire negates anything else you are. The only exception is Klaus, and his hybrids, because of the special blood magic performed with Elena (too much of my world building speculates on why Elena's blood is so special, so it's key to this idea that Nature can be Unbalanced).

Honestly I never even got through season 6 of tvd and never past season 2 of the Originals, so there is a lot of stuff I'm unlikely to work with just because it's outside of my knowledge and also one of my goals is to write about those early canon elements and then add in elements from mythology and literature that combine well with what we were given. So, no sirens, no devils, and I don't think Dahlia or Freya would be relevant to this fic. (But: I'm not deadset against them necessarily as characters-- it's just that most of this fic was planned out while season 3 of tvd was airing.)

I think that covers it?

#anonymous #fairytale ending

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sixth-light · 4 years ago

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Hi, I have a question about Nicky's name. Is Nicolo di Genova likely to be his full name? Is he the only Nicolo in Genova? I'm obviously not an expert but I thought in Europe you would also have a last name, either named after your occupation like Smith or Miller or named after your father like - Son of .. - I just think his name is kinda vague but maybe I'm just overthinking this. Thanks!!

Surname usage varied across Europe historically and wasn’t consistent anywhere until a lot later than the eleventh century; my understanding is that there were noble families in Italy using family surnames by then, but that definitely wasn’t true in other countries. It wouldn’t be unusual for an average knight or soldier (or priest) to have no surname at all, and even if he did, often not one that was a surname in the modern sense of a family name that passes consistently from generation to generation.

I think if Nicolò was calling himself Nicolò di Genova in 1099-ish, it most likely means one of two things: it’s a way to describe where he’s from when that matters (I am Nicolò, from Genova) or he’s part of the ruling family of Genova (I am Nicolò, of the family which controls Genova).

So it’s not exactly a surname in the way we would understand it (a family name), but it’s definitely a surname in the historical sense - a second name to distinguish him from other people called Nicolò - and he almost definitely wouldn’t have used it IN Genova because there’s no way he was the only Nicolò there! He could have used another, or no surname at all, depending on the context. Or maybe he only started using it when he was travelling with Yusuf, and it became a meaningful way to describe himself.

I don’t know enough about the structure of Italian names to know whether it’s likely he would have had a patronymic he doesn’t use when introducing himself now, but in the comic he introduces himself as ‘Nicolò di Genova’ and nothing else, so I think it’s pretty safe to assume that’s the name he chooses to be known by.

Very keen to hear from anybody who knows more detail about naming in medieval Italian city-states, though!

#the old guard #nicolò di genova #names #today we use 'family name' and 'surname' interchangeably #but historically they indicate different things #not all surnames were family names #in many parts of Europe for a long time NONE were #if you were Jack Tailor it was because you were a tailor #your kid wouldn't be William Tailor unless he kept up the trade #Anonymous

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heroesofenvellfan · 3 years ago

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Why it’s so hard to translate the grown-ups’ names

Mrs. Johnson, Mrs. Norton, Mr. Palmer and Mr. Turner. That’s what the english dub called our three real world grown-ups (whose names were mentioned in the series, that is). And, for the sake of not overcomplicating and not spreading misinformation, I went with it in my subtitles (although I changed Mrs. into Miss, since neither Mary nor Helena are actually married). But what are their names really like?

You may have heard that in the original Miss Johnson is called Marya Stepanovna, Miss Norton is called Yelena Viktorovna and Mr. Palmer (the school principal) is called Arlen Semyonovich. I will mostly speak about Mary and Helena here, they’re more important characters and it’s faster. “Marya” is a way to say “Maria”, which is a russian (or probably generally slavic) pronounciation of “Mary”, but "Mary" isn’t used in Russia. “Yelena” is a russian (or probably generally slavic) pronounciation of the name “Helena”.

Why haven’t I translated their names just like that? Well, you see, while it may seem like those are “name + surename”, they’re actually “name + patronymic”. A patronymic is a name derived from the name of a father or ancestor, typically by the addition of a prefix or suffix.

In russian there is no “Mr.”, “Mrs.” or “Miss”. Instead, to be polite and show respect when speaking to a person, we say a person’s name with their patronymic.

If I did translate them as Marya Stepanovna and Yelena Viktorovna, you:

1) would assume “Stepanovna” and “Viktorovna” are their surenames

2) wouldn’t know that it’s a polite way for children to speak to their elders

That was a translation method 1, which I could’ve potentially gone with, but, as you can see, it has serious downsides.

Now onto translation method 2 - “Miss + their actual surenames”.

Well, first of all, since Mary and Helena are always spoken to in a polite manner (with the exception of Mourgarth, who calls Mary simply by her name because he’s just sassy like that), their surenames are never mentioned in the series. Anton, however, told us their surenames - for Mary it’s Cherepakhova and for Helena it’s Novikova (not related to Larsen’s family).

“So that’s it! Call them Miss Cherepakhova and Miss Novikova then!”. Well, I’m afraid it’s not that easy.

The downsides here are:

1) you wouldn’t know the actual russian polite way for children to speak to their elders

2) calling them like this would combine an english aspect with a russian one, which would be kind of weird

3) you wouldn’t know where the hell that came from, since nobody says that on screen or in the english dub

4) nobody knows Mr. Palmer’s surename.

Although, now that I think about it, I wish I went with this translation.

Art’s dad is a whole other topic. Even though he’s being referred to as Mr. Turner in the english dub, his name is actually Alexey. Alexey Mesheryakov. While I could’ve called him Mr. Mesheryakov by the second method, there’s a certain difference between what kids call the teachers and Art’s dad.

In russian he’s being called “dyadya Lyosha” by the kids. “Lyosha” is short for “Alexey”, and that’s a short name friends and family use. Those unfamiliar with a person would never use a short name like this.

“Dyadya” is... very complicated to translate. As I previously said, russians don’t have “Mr.”, “Mrs.” or “Miss”. But since Kira, Vic and Phil are on more friendly terms with Art’s dad, they call him “dyadya”. It can only be translated as “uncle” to english, but it’s actually also used as a less-formal and only slightly polite way for children to call grown-ups. Little kids can point at male strangers on the street and say “That dyadya something-something” instead of “That man something-something”. Saying “man” is more formal, with no familiarity.

In the end, Kira, Vic and Phil call Art’s dad “Mr.”, but in a much less formal way. They can’t call him simply “Lyosha”, it would sound as if they’re friends and not polite enough.

PHEW, that was a lot! I hope y’all understood what I was trying to say ^^’

#heroes of envell #герои энвелла

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floatingbook · 4 years ago

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On names and naming

- Reading: Tales of the Lavender Menace by Karla Jay

Discussed during a consciousness-raising meeting:

“For instance, many of us grappled together and by ourselves with the implications of naming. The most obvious manifestation of this power is the fact that in most countries women bear the surname of their fathers and then of their husbands. A woman “loses” her name when she marries, but in fact she has never had her own name. only her father’s. Worse still is the possibility of not having a father because to be “illegitimate” is to lack the imprimatur of patriarchal approval.” p. 55

As a woman, you have your father’s or your husband’s name, you’re dispossessed of all your matriarchal origins. It also is very likely that your patriarchal origins are a lie—and I do not mean this as a critic of the women in our ancestry who had children who did not get the name of their biological father, but as a critic of this despicable tradition. Men do a fraction of the work and yet get to brand a newborn as their own, as if the woman giving birth was no more than a possession.

We all know what weights names carry. There’s no denying it. Some names get you despised, some get you laughed at, some drown you in their commonness. They used to reveal who you were: names were carved out of professions (take “Smith”, “Steward”, “Butler”, “Cook”, or “Lefevre/Lefebvre” in French, “Mercier” as well) or out of places of dwelling (e.g. “Hall”, “Brooks” in English; “Dupont”, “Dubois” in French). But that meaning is fast lost with physical and social mobility, with traumas and rebellions, with the pace of society.

“Many of the women in Redstockings changed their names in rebellion against the patriarchy, often choosing to use their mother’s names. In addition to being a symbolic gesture, adopting a nom de guerre made it just a tad more difficult for the government to figure out who we were and where our paltry bank accounts were stowed when it came time to incarcerate us. As much as I wanted to drop my patronymic, however, I wasn’t eager to claim my mother’s name. Instead I decided to substitute “Jay”, my middle initial, for my last name. // When I tried out my new name, Karla Jay, it felt immediately like a more accurate representation of who I was. I realized changing my name was not only about challenging the patriarchy—it was also about untangling my own identity from my family history.”

Changing your name, starting with a brand new one, is a way to give yourself a clean slate. It’s a statement: I don’t want to belong to this family, I am not one of your possession. It’s a form of rebellion against the tradition that hands out last names. The point is to get rid of the branding connotation of the last name (either inherited from the father or taken in marriage) that turns a woman into just another piece of furniture that makes up the wealth of the men in her life.

“I understood for the first time that I had, in fact, always detested my birth name, Karla Jayne Berlin. Well, not all of it. Karla seemed to me an original first name, and I felt comfortable with it. […] His [Karla Jay’s father] first fought was to name me Gale because I had been born in a blizzard. My mother objected, so he chose my name from a list of freighters he spotted in the shipping news that he read every day in conjunction with his work. I’m lucky, I suppose, that a ship with a name like the Brunhilde didn’t dock then. Fortunately, the Karla Dane steamed into or out of port the week I was born, and my father was determined that would be my name. My mother persuaded him to change my middle name to Jayne instead of Dane, with the addition of an elegant Y.

But if I liked my first name, I hated the surname Berlin. For one thing, I’m not German. My ancestors came from the finest shtetls in England, Austria, and Ukraine. My paternal grandfather was from England, and for a long time I supposed that he had been assigned the name of a city when he entered the United States; immigration agents had a way back then of altering what they considered unpronounceable names. Years later, I discovered that my grandfather had changed his name himself. […]

I wasn’t particularly fond of my middle name either; people often assumed it was hyphenated to my first name. My mother and even Jessica, my best friend, called me Karla Jayne to get my attention when they were angry. As far back as I could remember, I had used my middle initial in place of Jayne. But I did like the “Jay” part. Some of my fond association with the word was based on pleasant times in summer camp. During my first summer there I was only five. I was placed in J-Bunk—probably an abbreviation for Junior Bunk—a place for children considered too young to be away from home for two months. J-Bunk was my first taste of freedom, a fun-filled life in the Catskills. Furthermore, Jay rhymes with “gay”.” p. 55-56

First names are given to us by our parents, who can be short-sighted, equipped with a taste that does not intersect with ours, or just unconscious of what a certain name entails. First names both mean a lot and nothing at all, and by that I mean that a first name is attached to you yourself first and foremost. Its main vocation is to designate you personally, to make you as individual, separated, specific in your existence, as opposed to the surname, which marks the bearer as part of a whole, the family, the bloodline, and as a woman a part of the possessions of a man. So it’s easier to grow into your first name, to make room into it for all the facets of your existence, than it is to get rid of the yoke of the surname. Hence the question, what to do with these patriarchal, misogynistic surnames?

Should we shun the surnames we were born or married into? What do we replace them with, then? Something that sounds nice to us? Something that holds a personal meaning? Something that describe an occupation we hold, a place we settled in? Do we choose a system that allows for the tracing of the matrilineal line? But then how do we agree collectively on a system, so that it is lisible and understandable? Where do we find the coherence? Do we even need the coherence?

“Changing my name was also a way of to “divorce” my parents, to let them know that I had never accepted them in that role. As children my brother and I both fantasized that we had been adopted.” p. 56

Again, a rupture with patriarchy and with abusive parents. We have surnames because there are too many humans on this planet to be able to identify them easily with just one name. Do we need those surnames to keep us sequestrated with our parents? Or could they just be changed to something like “of” followed by the name of the city we live in? Rejecting the surnames we get from birth is also a rejection of the obligatory love and respect we are supposed to feel for our parents, who can sometimes be undeserving of them.

“I didn’t change my name legally until 1978. I felt that it would be a paradox for me to petition a male court to change a name that patriarchal law had imposed on me in the first place. But after I had co-edited three anthologies as Karla Jay, only old friends, relatives, and old people at work new that I had any other name. I felt fragmented and decided to hire a lawyer to execute a legal name change.” p. 57

We live in a society, not in a vacuum. Sometimes we have to go through processes we find tasteless or distasteful, because we still need them to be understood, to be perceived by others around us. Here is information on the process in France (Site officiel de l’administration française).

“I have now spent a full three-fifths of my life as Karla Jay. In the rare instances when I run into someone from my childhood or high school who still calls me Karla Berlin, I have the distinct feeling that they have mistaken me for someone else.” p. 57

So who gets to do the naming? Are our names things that should be gifted from us by our parents? By our mothers only? Should every daughter get to name herself, when she feels or knows she has found a name for herself? When she has made name for herself?

#on names and naming #karla jay #tales of the lavender menace #personal commentary #women's liberation

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ofstories-archive · 5 years ago

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before i was a liar, i was something else. cast out. out of kingdoms. families. universes. again. and again. and again.

trigger warnings for death, murder, suicide, abuse, trauma, & cannibalism.

( nat wolff, diana silvers. unknown, physically twenty-three. he/him, they/them, she/her. ) everything’s fine, LOKI LAUFEYSON, you’re in the good place! do you remember your last days in MARVEL COMICS? but don’t worry, your ( stories told around a fire, the green glow of magic, & black nailpolish ) will fit perfectly with the rest of the good place, so long as you commit to the GOOD KING despite your tendency to commit to ( insecurities ) that the architect of the good place said you were. it’ll just be like a fun acting exercise! just play along and everything will continue to be fun.

so.... i’m going to assume we all know who loki is, yeah? the norse god of mischief, (adoptive) brother of thor, prince of asgard, etc. that’s all true to this loki, but if you’re only familiar with the mcu, there will be differences as i write a strictly comics/earth-616 based loki !

spoilers for most comics loki’s appeared in since 2010ish, but mostly loki: agent of asgard, thor (2018), war of the realms, and loki (2019).

stats can be found here.

BIO

i’m going try and speed through the first portion of this bio seeing as like.... loki’s technically died multiple times and been reincarnated (....basically), and i write the current, third incarnation of them. so i’m only going to briefly mention the important stuff from the previous incarnations. and if any of this is confusing, 1) i’m sorry, and 2) i know.

original loki.

son of laufey, the king of jotunheim. laufey was (physically) abusive to loki. loki wound up getting taken / being adopted by odin and freyja. loki is fully aware of being adopted, and that he’s not an asgardian and is in fact a frost giant.

he, at some point, went back in time and brutally murdered laufey for being abusive (and also messed with things and basically manipulated the events that led to him being adopted).

he did some really messed up stuff, wound up being known as the god of evil rather than the god of mischief. hated being defined by that, ends up trying to change but kinda sorta died.

kid loki.

loki wound up being reincarnated, as a child.

he’s... the loki that could have and should have been? he’s.... great. if loki were a true hero. he used his tricks for good, tried to help people.

but literally no one trusts him because he’s the reincarnation of, yknow, the god of evil.

he’s being haunted by an echo/ghost of the original loki, a magpie known as ikol.

long story made short, ikol basically manipulates kid loki into dying.

ikol kills kid loki and steals his body.

and here we are, at the third loki - the specific one i write. they’ve just committed the “crime that will not be forgiven”. absolutely no one but loki themself knows about this.

they join the young avengers, trying to steal billy kaplan’s powers. but things don’t go at all as planned, and they leave the team behind after somewhat helping fix the mess they had created.

they wind up working for the allmother (freyja, idunn, and gaea) in an attempt to redeem themself, to make up for everything they’ve done wrong in the past.

it goes... poorly, given that king loki - a loki from the future - shows up and promises the allmother that asgard will be everything they want, all for the low price of loki being the eternal villain.

loki, understandably, is less than pleased about this, and eventually through a whole lotta shit happening, the truth about kid loki comes out.

queue the trauma conga line! 1) thor tries to kill loki, can’t bring himself to do it. still breaks loki’s arm and knocks out a tooth. 2) the asgardians declare loki to be worth no more than the dirt under their feet. 3) freyja banishes loki and sends them into exile. 4) odin gives them some very dubious life advice, and then sets them on fire.

king loki explains to loki exactly why loki will always be the villain, why they will never be accepted or loved or wanted.

it’s because they’re the god of lies, and no matter how much good they do, how can anyone trust someone with that for a title?

they get sent to “the metaphorical space. the place we lokis always go for the final act.” and have a lovely conversation with the original loki and kid loki who basically....

og loki tells ikol that they have to accept that all they will ever be is the villain, while kid loki offers ikol the option of dying, of killing themself. and that’s it. loki’s lot in life is to either be a villain or to die.

but, because they have an amazing best friend (verity willis) who talks them off either ledge, they choose the third option: a happy ending, redefining who they are because they don’t have to be what anyone else tells them they have to be.

because stories? stories are lies that people want to hear, lies that people love. and loki winds up becoming the god of stories, instead of staying the god of lies.

it makes more sense in context.

but it’s not about loki wanting to be accepted by others, not really. when odin says that loki is finally thor’s equal and that loki’s worthy, loki basically tells him to fuck off.

because see... loki’s arc is about them accepting themself and learning to love themself, and less about them actually being accepted by others.

but because this is loki nothing’s ever good and happy for long.

laufey’s back from the dead, and loki’s tasked with working with him to be a double agent for asgard (even though technically loki’s still in exile ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ )

shit keeps happening.

more shit happens.

then war of the realms !

during this time..... laufey finds out that loki’s a double agent and.... he eats loki.

yes, you read that and my trigger warning for cannibalism correctly. i wish i was joking or lying about this, but i’m not.

loki has a sword and cuts their way out of laufey’s stomach, killing laufey in the proccess. and in doing so becomes the king of jotunheim.

they do not want that throne. they don’t want any throne, really. they would gladly abdicate, but thor, who’s the allfather by this point, won’t let them.

none of the frost giants want loki as king, either but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

a bit more shit happens.

they wind up locked in the raft, a maximum security prison built to contain super-powered criminals. however, loki can still use magic in their cell because they’re apparently not really a villain, and therefore the raft’s rules of neutralizing super villains powers can’t hold any sway over them.

loki winds up breaking out of the cell because they can and that’s what they do.

and here’s where i break from canon and into the rp.

there’s fighting over the throne for jotunheim, and loki eventually wound up getting killed as a result.

the fake life presented to them is something along the lines of if loki hadn’t ever died before and was like kid loki (ie, good but through less than good means) the whole while.

EXTRAS

loki prefers being referred to as laufeyson/laufeysdottir over odinson/odinsdottir but will reply to either. they ultimately prefer no patronym be used at all, though.

their memories are... jumbled. they don’t remember everything from past lives, and they have memories of events that have never actually happened.

here in The Good Place™ loki 1000000% feels like they don’t belong.

partially because of how many times they’ve died and come back to life, like. they reckon they aren’t going to stick around very long.

partially because this seems too much like an alternate reality version of valhalla, and they know that’s not where they’d end up.

and partially because like... they’re a norse god. this isn’t one of their afterlifes. this is something else, and loki doesn’t know what to make of it.

they’re a resident of colohuara.

read their wiki pages they’re more cohesive than this is lmao. og loki + kid loki + ikol

i’m so sorry about how long this got. if you read through all of it, i love you and owe you my life.

if anyone would like to plot, just throw me a dm !!!

#gplaces.intro #let's gooooooo #also pls do yourself a favor and just. don't read this.#check their wiki pages instead lmao #tw murder #tw suicide #tw abuse #tw cannibalism

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allofthefeelings · 5 years ago

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Please tell me about Baby Bug and Bucky going back to synagogue for the first time with her?

He doesn’t plan to take Bug to the synagogue until she’s at least old enough to sit through the kids’ services- Bucky can’t quite remember being a squirming toddler trying to sit straight on the pews, but there’s a hole in his memory that makes it feel familiar anyway- but because no one in his life (besides Natalia- no, he’s not thinking about that) can keep silent worth a damn, the rabbi ends up phoning him barely three weeks in.

"Mazel tov!" the Rabbi says, before even saying hello.

Bucky hasn’t been to synagogue in a month, but that’s par for the course when he has missions; no one expects him to be a regular attendee. He’s still covered in slime from the giant octopod in the Hudson, so he assumes this is just another call about a prayer to say when he encounters a specific type of monster. "Thank you?" he tries.

"What’s her name?"

"I don’t think she has a name, she was just trying to eat the Javits."

"What? Oh, no, not that." He says it like the sea creature trying to devour a landmark wasn’t particularly noteworthy- which, to be fair, it probably wasn’t anymore. "The baby."

The baby. It takes Bucky a minute to get his brain back in order, and even though they were planning to keep her a secret, the answer spills out before he can catch it. "Oh. Bug. We call her Bug."

"Maureen told me you haven’t scheduled a naming yet," the rabbi says.

Maureen is the temple secretary. She knows everything that happens to the congregation. Bucky tries to figure out who ratted him out to her. He’s pretty sure Maureen’s wife works at Stark Industries, but he’s also pretty sure that Steve is an asshole who’s still holding a grudge from when Bucky may or may not have told Sam about the first time Steve attempted to shave, and he definitely knows that Pepper isn’t the one who’s likely to have failed at discretion.

"Everything just happened really fast," Bucky says, which is true and also a good way to sidestep the implied question. It wasn’t that he and Sam never intended to take Bug to religious services; it’s just that the world was big and scary and if anyone looked at their daughter sideways Bucky would probably kill them. Keeping her in their apartment was for everyone else’s safety, really.

"Well, don’t worry, we can schedule it as soon as you’re ready. I know some families don’t even want to consider a Hebrew name until the formal adoption papers have been signed." The Rabbi sounds like he’s being comforting, and for other families that have adopted babies, this probably is, but all Bucky can think of is the legal hurdles that Pepper’s lawyers are handling because if Bucky had to he would probably torch City Hall.

"I think that’s probably going to take some time," Bucky says delicately, because few people know the hazards of re-homing a Russian spy experiment better than he does.

"Well, please reach out and let us know whatever we can do. All of us here are happy to be a resource. And to welcome your daughter to the congregation, of course."

Bucky thinks about Natasha, who never knew where she was from and never had any family but the Avengers, but who had a patronym that hinted at Jewish roots anyway. He thinks of the name Alian, and what the female form of it could be. "I’ll let you know, Rabbi," he says. "Thank you."

As he heads to the decontamination shower, he thinks maybe he doesn’t need to kick Steve’s ass too badly. There are worse things he could do than bring his kid into a community.

#allofthereplies #tygermama #Bucky Barnes #Jewish Bucky Barnes #Baby Bug

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ebaeschnbliah · 6 years ago

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SCANDINAVIAN REFERENCES

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In Sherlock BBC - and also a little bit outside of it

While writing on DISTRACTION & CONSEQUENCES and CABIN ON THE MEADOW, involving Phil with his ‘explosive’ car and the Hiker with the bashed-in head, I couldn’t fail to notice that Phil’s unmoving car is a SAAB … which is a Swedish brand.

According to the informations given during the promotion campaingn for the Escapre Room, TheGameIsNow, Sherlock lives currently in Sweden. Since these aren’t the only occasions where Scandinavian regions are mentioned in Sherlock BBC, the suspicion inevitably arose that those references could be of some importance. Reason enough to make another little list. :)

TBC below the cut ….

Short definition of Scandinavia

The term Scandinavia in local usage covers the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.

In English usage, Scandinavia also sometimes refers to the Scandinavian Peninsula, or to the broader region including Finland and Iceland. x

A Scandal in Belgravia

As mentioned above, Phil’s immobile car, which ‘explodes’ and thus distracts the Hiker who, as a consequence, is killed by his own boomerang, is of the Swedish brand SAAB.

The Empty Hearse

Mr. Howard Shilcott, the ‘train guy (and mirror for Sherlock), possesses important informations about the Underground station at Sumatra Road, which once was built but then closed before it ever opened. He wears a ‘funny hat with earflaps’ made of Islandic sheep wool. That hat becomes an object of significance when Sherlock invites his brother to play deductions with him, just like in the old days.

MYCROFT: The earlier patches are extensively sun-bleached, so he’s worn it abroad – in Peru. SHERLOCK: Peru? MYCROFT: This is a chullo – the classic headgear of the Andes. It’s made of alpaca. SHERLOCK: No. MYCROFT: No? SHERLOCK: Icelandic sheep wool. Similar, but very distinctive if you know what you’re looking for. I’ve written a blog on the varying tensile strengths of different natural fibres.

His Last Vow

The main villain of this episode is designed after Doyle’s British character Charles Augustus Milverton. For some reason, in this adaptation, name and origin of the man have been changed into Charles Augustus Magnussen, who is now from Denmark. The fact that he is ‘foreign’ is driven home explicitly right at the beginning of the episode by the dialogue as well as the accent of the man, who is played by Danish actor Lars Mikkelsen.

GARVIE: Do you think it right that a newspaper proprietor, a private individual and, in fact, a foreign national should have such regular access to our Prime Minister? MAGNUSSEN: I don’t think it’s wrong that a private individual should accept an invitation. However, you have my sincere apologies for being foreign.

The Six Thatchers

Mr. Kingsley, a client, thinks that Sherlock’s deductions, once explained, are actually dead simple. Highly annoyed, Sherlock spontaneously invents a ludicrous story and tells the shocked man that his wife is actually Greta Bengtsdotter, Swedish by birth and the most dangerous spy in the world. She secretly works for none other than James Moriarty and uses her unsuspecting husband as cover to hide her true intentions which will finally precipitate in World War III.

The first location Mary visits on her hiatus is Norddal in Norway. That’s a small place (ca. 1660 inhabitants) deep inside the Storfjord. Here she picks up a fake passport hidden inside the stonewall of a coastal watchtower. Her new name, Gabrielle Ashdown, is taken from TPLOSH, where Holmes chooses the pseudonym ‘Mr. and Mrs. Ashdown’ for himself and Gabrielle Valladon, the woman who consulted him in the case of her missing husband but is actually Ilse von Hofmannsthal, a German spy who pretends to be Mrs. Valladon.

The Final Problem

One of the very last scenes of this episode shows a man dressed as Viking, including the (cliched) horned helmet. He lies motionless on the floor in the livingroom of 221b Baker Street (played by Paul Weller). John bends over him and examines his left eye.

Vikings were highly skilled Norse seafarers who raided and pillaged (like pirates) with their infamous longboats (also well known as dragonboats). They acted as mercenaries but also as merchants, who traded goods across wide areas of Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, European Russia and the North Atlantic islands. Some of them even reached the North-Eastern coast of North America. (X)

That Viking is not the only character in this story who ‘wears horns’. Furthermore, cow horns are also connected to the eye-goddess Hathor, whose other, dangerous side is represented by lioness goddess Sekhmet.

The way this Viking lays there … one leg sharply angled at the knee, the foot shoved beneath the other, outstretched leg and both arms straight beside his torso … it’s a bit odd and strangely reminds me of the ‘dancing men’ drawn on the blackboard in the shot displayed immediately before this one. It almost looks like the way this man lies there could have some meaning.

And something else comes to mind: the way John bends over the Viking stunningly resembles the scene from Magnussen’s office in HLV, when Sherlock got shot by Mary. One could even say, there are three potential ‘pirates’ gathered in Magnusson’s bedroom in that scene ... Sherlock, John and ‘Viking descendent’ Magnussen. Interesting ...

The Game is Now - Escape Room Promotion

With the cliffhanger of The Final Problem in mind and still no official announcement regarding a fifth series on the horizon, one could come to the assumption that the ‘TheGameIsNow- EscapeRoom’ event serves as a sort of interlude and somehow resembles a ‘SherlockBBC-Hiatus’ (hopefully). Isn’t it interesting that here too, Scandinavia seems to play a role?

During the conversation with Mycroft, in the intercepted message Nr 1, Sherlock mentions that he currently is in Sweden.

During the intercepted message Nr 2 a map of Scandinavia is shown in the background with informations regarding its natural recources: iron ore, copper, zinc, gold, IKEA and uranium.

Additionally Mycroft confirms a second time where his brother might be found at the moment: ‘Missing, rumoured to be in Sweden’ is written below a picture of Sherlock, kept in black and white, but temporarily overlaid with pink and green (Study in Pink and Green)

Scandinavian canon reference regarding the ‘hiatus’

In Doyle’s original story The Empty House, Sherlock Holmes tells Dr. Watson after their reunion that, for some time during his hiatus, he had stayed in Norway under a fake identity.

“You may have read of the remarkable explorations of a Norwegian named Sigerson, but I am sure that it never occurred to you that you were receiving news of your friend.” (ACD, The Empty House)

Using Sherlock’s own words from The Great Game, one could say that, by now, the story told in Sherlock BBC as well as the EscapeRoom event have a … ‘distinctly Scandinavian feeling about it’. :)

Some Scandinavian side notes outside Sherlock BBC

Not Sherlock related. Should be taken with caution and humor:

Radio Times, November 2018: Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss reveale that Danish actor Claes Bang will be playing Dracula in their new series. ‘Hell has a new boss’ says the headline. Strictly speaking, the boss in Hell is generally considered to be the Devil (maybe also his grandma :) but surely not Dracula, who is after all just a human who desired immortal strength to protect and revenge the ones whom he loved. At least, that’s the story told in ….

Dracula Untold (2014) - some quotes:

"One day I will call on you to serve me in an immortal game of revenge … to unleash my wrath against the one who betrayed me."

“This is not a game!”

"Oh, what better way to endure eternity. For this, is the ultimate game. Light versus dark, hope versus despair. And all the world's fate hangs into the balance."

Vlad Dracula meets his creator Let the games begin

“You want me to shake hands with you in Hell? I shall not disappoint you.“ (Sherlock at Jim Moriarty, TRF)

How Dracula BBC came into being

“It came about several years ago,” Gatiss said. “We were filming — we’d just started the third series of Sherlock, where he comes back from the dead, and we had to break off after two days to go to the RTS Awards (March, 2013) and I had a picture on my phone of Benedict silhouetted against the door of Mrs Hudson’s room. I showed it to Ben Stephenson, who was then the Head of Drama [at the BBC], and I said, ‘Looks like Dracula’. And he said, ‘Do you want to do it?'” (RadioTimes, April 2019)

“We’re gonna go all Dane“

The same article from RadioTimes, contains an interview with Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss. When asked about their upcomming mini-series ‘Dracula’, if there will be more ‘homegrown talents’ among the cast, the producers answered the question in their most familiar way - with lots of laughter and giggling - obviously taking much pleasure in the announcement of their new ‘informations’.

“No, no ..., it’s strictly Dane from now on. We're only casting over Denmark. I don’t think Denmark’s being sufficiently represented and so we’re gonna go all Dane.”

Strictly Danes …. well, well …. I’m more curious than ever ... and extremely exited! :))))

On Scandinavian name-giving tradition

It is a well known custom in Scandinavian regions to create personal names based on the given name of one’s father, grandfather or male ancestor by adding the ending -son/-sen/-søn or -dotter/-dottir/-dattir. This is called a patronymic (while the same method based on the mother’s name is called matronymic). A good example for this in Sherlock BBC is the character Charles Augustus Magnussen …. Magnus-sen = son of Magnus.

This kind of Scandinavian name-giving tradition is based entirely on first names. Just assuming though, this method would also be applied to last names, then ... a female descendent of someone with the family name ‘Bang’ could be named ... ‘Bangsdotter’. :)))

A last funny detail: the subtitles for Sherlock BBC, Series 4 (British Edition), display the name of the famous Swedish spy, Sherlock invents in TST, as Greta Bengsdotter. The correct spelling of the first name of Greta’s father (used here as patronymic) isn’t Beng though …. but Bengt.

Bengt (female, Bengta) is the Swedish equivalent of … Benedict. :)))

As I said above ... to be taken with caution and humor. :)))))

Thanks @callie-ariane for the scripts. Related post by @tendergingergirl

Mai 2019

#scandinavian references #sherlock bbc #the game is now #escape room #scandinavia #sweden #norway #denmark #iceland #dracula untold #hell has a new boss #let the games begin #this is not a game #vlad dracula

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nazyalvnskys · 6 years ago

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zoyalai daughter headcanons

i rarely do these but i physically cannot stop thinking about this ask so here we go

her first name is liliyana and her middle name, assuming they exist in ravka, is alina (i wasn’t too fond of this idea before reading kos but now it makes sense for zoyalai to name their daughter after alina). she also has the patronymic nikolaevna—again, assuming that this can exist side-by-side with the middle name.

she has zoya’s raven-black hair and nikolai’s hazel eyes. she has light brown skin (suli zoya!) and a smattering of freckles on her nose. obviously, being the child of nikolai lantsov and zoya nazyalensky, she’s mindblowingly beautiful and has the smarts to go with it.

liliyana is their firstborn and their only child for several years. she’s named the heir to the ravkan throne at birth, being the first princess to hold such a title.

her natural affinity is fabrikating. eventually, zoya helps her expand her repertoire of powers to span all three orders (is this possible?).

unlike a lot of fabrikators, liliyana doesn’t spend a lot of time in the workshops, especially as she grows older. she likes being a materialnik, but (oddly enough) she’s more interested in politics than either of her parents is.

as a child, she can get away with pretty much anything in the palace. with nikolai’s charm, she can usually coerce the staff into letting her do things that they never should have under normal circumstances. at the same time, everyone’s intimidated by her because she definitely inherited at least a fraction of zoya’s scariness.

speaking of inherited traits, arrogance is definitely among them. many times, something liliyana says can be expected to be met with an exasperated eyeroll—though, she herself has the impeccably timed eyeroll perfected to a gold standard.

lilyana is bffs with tolya and the only one who appreciates (or tolerates) his near-constant recitation of poetry. she starts interjecting snippets of poetry into her own speech just to annoy everyone else and nikolai and zoya aren’t sure whether to burst out laughing or crying, but tolya is smitten.

additionally, the entire palace squad essentially adopts liliyana. genya and nadia are in love on sight. tamar, while pretending not to grow attached, quickly becomes liliyana’s fourth mom. she’s the one to first teach lilyana how to throw a punch and heft a sword. who needs a battalion of nursemaids and nannies when you have all the most influential people in ravka fussing over you and teaching you life skills?

they each have different nicknames for her and are constantly trying to one-up each other. liliyana pretends to be annoyed most of the time but they all know she loves it.

being a fabrikator, liliyana ends up spending a lot of time with david when she’s a child. although they don’t let him teach regular classes at the little palace, they make an exception for liliyana to help her master her skills. david and liliyana unexpectedly become Best Buddies, and liliyana first learns how to build explosives and machinery from david. nikolai is bitter that he didn’t get a chance to teach her himself.

partially as a result of her time spent in the materialki workshops, liliyana is often inciting chaos in one way or another in both the little palace and the grand palace. she’s definitely better at not getting caught tamer than nikolai was in his childhood, but he appreciates it nonetheless. zoya is stricter, but can occasionally be found snickering at her daughter’s shenanigans.

liliyana smiles often (unlike zoya), though most of the time it’s more of a smirk or a sardonic grin. she’s definitely more approachable than her mother. cross the line, however, and you’ll find yourself facing the type of ruthless vindication only the daughter of zoya nazyalensky could conceive. (if someone trashes zoya? oh boy liliyana won’t hold back)

she doesn’t talk as incessantly as nikolai does, but she does have his wit and ability to get others to listen to her whenever she speaks. you can bet that, like nikolai, liliyana knows every servant in both palaces by name by the time she turns fourteen.

liliyana will do anything either a) on a dare or b) out of spite (peak slytherdor?). she’s driven enough that she’s usually able to get whatever she wants to do done either by sheer willpower or by convincing someone else to do it for her. being the heir apparent of ravka does have its perks.

i was going to continue but it ended up being essentially “the future of ravka if all goes well”,,, so perhaps i’ll make a part ii in the future?

#zoyalai #zoya nazyalensky #nikolai lantsov #kos #kos spoilers #king of scars #nikolai duology #tgt #grishaverse #leigh bardugo #lbardugo #the grisha trilogy #tolya yul bataar #tamar kir bataar #grisha triumvirate

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csykora · 7 years ago

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i don't know if you know the answer, but if you do, would you mind explaining why some Russian names are always transliterated the same way (like Никита to Nikita), but some very much aren't? i've seen Evgeni, Evgeny, Evgenii, Yevgeni, and Yevgeny - is one 'more right' than the others?

Thanks for asking! You’re right, there’s some whacky variation in the League right now, and it’s something I’ve been wanting to talk about for a while.

(I’m going to focus on North American English speakers: if you’re not, sorry! The basics should still apply and make sense.)

The NHL follows the International Ice Hockey Federations 2011 standard for transcription of Russian names. Probably.

The NHL is a loose confederation of franchises. Historically, it’s been up to each team what they wrote on their Russian players’ jerseys. A lot of their creations were more artistic than phonetically accurate, but the surname would stay pretty consistent for PR and jersey purposes. First names were a free for all, with the team and official NHL media or licensed materials like video games all spelling them differently.

It’s still technically up to teams, but since 2011 the League is pushing a little harder to pick one spelling and stick with it across all media, and to have the spelling reflect how the name should be said.

Any Russian player who came over before 2011 is grandfathered in as whatever spelling they were assigned at the time, for PR reasons. (Like Craig MacTavish being the only one on the ice without a helmet, but less horrible.) Anyone who debuts in the League today should, theoretically, be assigned a spelling that follows the new rules.

The IIHF transcription standard has three basic principles:

Sound-emulating: Yevgeni instead of Evgeny

Simplicity: Yevgeni instead of Yevgeny, Alexander instead of Aleksandr

Consistency: same spelling for same name (and different spelling for different names)

Sound-emulating

What does Russian sound like?

youtube

This is one of my recital pieces, Tchaikovsky’s Moy geni, moy angel. Music is a great snapshot of the sounds that a language likes to use, particularly the vowels. Listening here, you’re going to hear a lot of “eh” and “ooh”, a lot of soft schwa sounds, and no “ae” or “oh”—the only long vowel is “ee”. You might pick up an odd nasal quality to a lot of those sounds, as if the singer is actually say, “yeh” or “yoo”.

Russian has different phonemes than North American English. A phoneme is “any of the speech sounds which are perceived to be a single distinctive sound in the language. An example is the English phoneme /k/, which occurs in words such as cat, kit, scat, skit.” There are a couple Russian consonants that seem to give English-speakers trouble (most obviously Ж in hockey fandom. The (Y)evgeni(i)ys just have to go and confuse North Americans more by also calling each other Женя, “Zhenya”, which fans often try to say with a G or a J sound. It’s pronounced like the S in “pleasure” or “treasure.”) But mostly, it’s all about the vowels, which don’t line up with English spelling or pronunciation very neatly.

In North American schools your teacher probably talked about how English has long and short vowel sounds.

And Y does double duty, as a mystery vowel and a consonant that can jump in before or after other vowels.

You’re not really going to hear any long vowel sounds in Russian, except for ē. Instead, Russian has hard and soft vowels:

The hard vowels are close to English short vowels. The matching soft vowel is pronounced pretty much the same but you glide into them with a “y” sound.

So Э and E are “ĕ” and “yĕ.”

O and ё are “ŏ” and “yŏ.”

(Standard Russian speakers splinch O and A (“ŏ” and “ă”) into a schwa sound, a phenomenon called аканье/akanye.)

And so on.

The exception is Ы and и, who are both shifty characters. Ы drifts between ĕ and ĭ, and и moves between ĭ and the long e sound.

(“и” also happens to mean “and.” You’ll hear hockey players, especially Kuznetsov, make a sort of horrible high-pitched eeeee sound all the time in interviews. That’s Russian Hockey Player for “…uh….” )

й is the Cyrillic character for the Y-consonant sound after a vowel, as in “Moй/Moy”. The symbols ь and Ъ can also appear on their own, and they palatalize the consonant before (adding a sort of Y twist to the end of it), or explicitly forbid you from doing that. This sound is rendered with a J or a Y after the consonant in different Russian transliteration systems. The IIHF uses Y.

So when we get transliterating, we’re going to have to have Ys all up in everything.

Евгений

This is where the many Yevgenis come in.

Every Евгений is best said as “Yev-gen-ee-y.” (I’d say it kind of ends in a little Y twist, but that’s because it’s kind of easier to say and a Cyrillic spelling artifact. You say “Yevgeneeee” or “Yevgenee-y” depending on your natural voice and how quickly you’re speaking.)

You don’t necessarily say the first syllable with a heavy Y like “yeah,” but the glide has to be there. “Eh-vgen-ee” would be an entirely different name, spelled Эвгений. And Э just isn’t a very popular sound in Russian: only 2 male names start with it. Maybe there’re some hipster parents out there naming their son Эвгений right now to annoy people, but otherwise, no.

Simplicity

Since Y is playing an important role in the basic vowels, we don’t really want to use it to represent the long e sound the way it sometimes does in English.

So “Yevgeni” is preferred over “Yevgeny” or “Yevgeniy.” Yevgeniy is the most technically accurate, but let’s be honest, North Americans are going to pronounce them all the same and the second two are just way too much Y.

The one time you will see reliably Ys standing alone is in patronymics. Yevgeni Kuznetsov’s father is also named Yevgeni, so his full, intensely boring name is Евгений Евгеньевич. “Yevgeneey Yevgen-ee-e-vich” is not exactly a delight to have to say. The suffix -евич/-evich means something, so you don’t change the letters in there, but you can drop the last vowel of the first name and palatalize the last consonant, making it into an easier “nyuh” sound. So it becomes “Yevgenyuh-evich,” which we can transliterate as Yevgenyevich.

With a name like “Aleksandr,” the IIHF standard says go ahead and spell it as the familiar “Alexander,” because you’re gonna pronounce the two the say anyway.

Consistency

So every Евгений whose name is pronounced the same way should be spelled the same way—and players whose names are pronounced differently…should be spelled differently.

Семён и Сёмин

The IIHF standards were introduced after feedback from Russian players, most directly Semyon Varlamov.

By 2011 the NHL had officially spelled Varlamov’s given name, Семён, as:

Simeon

Semyen

Simyan

Simyon

Semin

and of course, Semen.

Ah, cross-cultural respect.

Listen, the fact it’s Varlamov makes that feel just. But it was being done randomly to everyone.

And it was especially on the nose because Varlamov was on the same team as Александр Сёмин—Alexander Semin.

Semin’s surname, Сёмин, is pronounced something like “Syaw-min”. (Akanye turns it into an A-sound, which is how his nickname, Сёмa, is pretty much pronounced “Sam,” rather than the way North American fans probably read it when they see “Sema.”) Under IIHF rules, his current KHL jersey is spelled SYOMIN.

But when he entered the NHL someone said, “That sure looks like an e to me,” and wrote down “S-E-M-I-N” Few years later that same spelling wizard looked at Семён (pronounced “Sim-yawn”) and said, “Man, I got this.”

Team officials, media, fans, even their teammates read the Latin spellings, naturally assumed their names were pronounced the same way, and went around calling both of them the same thing. Someone yells something that sounds like “semen” in the locker room, or on the ice in the middle of a game, and both of them have to turn around.

Semyon addressed the pronunciation with media, pointed out the confusion with his own teammate, filed paperwork to officially change the spelling (because he had to do that, the League had functionally taken away his name), and contacted the IIHF to ask them to step in, which they did.

(Semin did…nothing, because he would literally rather turn into a snow leopard and run away to nap in the sunshine and eat flowers and squirrels and live in the forest forever than talk to an official. So his name is still spelled SEMIN.)

More “Right”

Pronunciation isn’t a moral issue. As we grow up, our mouths learn to shape the phonemes we’re using all the time and our brains trim away the nerve connections for making sounds we don’t need. Some of us can learn some of those back, and some of us can’t, and we certainly can’t learn very well if we don’t have examples and help.

And it is strikingly hard to find that for Russian in North America.

Until the ’90s, management and especially announcers had no way to hear names pronounced before they had to try to spell or say them because there was no real cultural exchange between North America and the USSR: no TV, no radio, no way to hear the voices of Russian people except briefly on the ice. Miracle had Al Michaels recreate his goal calls because at the time he’d only had a hasty list of the Soviet line-up that he begged off the officials, and he took a wild swing at Vyacheslav Fetisov. A decade later Fetisov came to America and we were able to hear him speak and learn his name.

It’s unimaginable now, but when Ovechkin was drafted, many broadcasters were calling him “Alexander ov-itch-kin,” not “Oh-veh-chkin.” Because they actually did do their homework: they were trying to listen to Russian-language broadcasters and recreate their pronunciation. If you hear a Russian speaker say it, the middle vowel does sound a lot more like an I than a drawling North American “eh.” But then we all said it a thousand times a day and our mouths settled into sounds that are comfortable for us.

Which is fine, we’re not in any way Wrong for calling him “Oh-veh-chkin.” Just saying a Russian person’s name differently than native speakers say it isn’t a horrible thing. (‘Native speakers’ of every language fight each other all the time, too.) What matters is respect: trying our best to transliterate and pronounce a name shows that we’re listening to that person and we’re valuing them.

I think it says something that it’s still hard to hear any Russian in North America, it’s still hard to learn these names, and so we still say them in a very North American way. Even if we’re not the ones making it, the Russian voice still mostly exists in our consciousness as a joke.

Sometimes that joke feeds into innocent not-quite-accuracies. And sometimes like with the Se(i)(y)(o)mi(y)(o)ns, it feeds something that feels a little…less of us.

It’s been 16 years* and we’re still turning their names, one of the few personal things they were able to bring with them to the foreign world of North America, into dick jokes. It’s hardly the worst insult in the world or in the NHL: making each others’ names into dick jokes is hockey players’ primary sport. It’s just that the foundation of the joke is, “I actually didn’t take the time to listen to you say your own name,” and that makes it seem small of us. And it seems smaller after they made repeated requests and took legal action to ask for their names back, and we’ve not only kept doing it, most of us don’t know or remember that they asked us to stop.

some very much aren’t

It’s worth remembering Russians still make up a small percentage of the NHL, and most of the active Russian NHLers came over before 2011.The Russian voice in North American hockey is still small. So the spelling of Russian names is still controlled by North Americans NHL officials, and it’s a small and wild pool of possible spellings. Change comes slowly, if it comes at all.

Most of the new prospects’ surnames do seem to have been effectively standardized, but I’m not really sure where future Yevgenis stand at this point in the NHL. Евгений Свечников is the newest I know of: under IIHF rules he’s Yevgeni Svechnikov, but it seems he’s still being spelled “Evgeny” in the NHL. Because it’s such a common name and several Yevgeni-spelled-Evgenys have been high-profile players, we’re all already used to seeing Evgeni and Evgeny, and NHL officials might easily choose to keep using them for PR reasons.

This was fun! somebody ask me about nicknames or patronymics or the Czechs next, please. I need to keep expanding my embarrassing tabloid glitterbomb vocabulary.

#long post cw #Russian language #semyon varlamov mention #Sasha Semin #evgeny kuznetsov #nhl media

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ofmirth · 4 years ago

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avan jogia & anya chalotra, he/they/she, over one thousand ➜ ➜ ➜ the real enemy is out there, but they don’t stand a chance against LOKI and their INTELLIGENCE, SORCERY, & GODLY POWERS. better known as THE GOD OF MISCHIEF, this ANTI-HERO won’t be caught off guard.

trigger warnings for abuse, trauma, death, & suicide.

heya, folks ! my name’s ev, and i’m here to bring y’all a certain trickster god. i usually write a 100% comics / earth-616 based loki, but in trying to keep with the group’s plot, i’m going to basically be combining the mcu with the comics for their backstory while my actual portrayal will be based a lot more off the comics. basically, uh, loki’s going to be maybe 20% mcu and 80% comics? something like that?

BASICS

name: loki laufeyson/odinson alias: ikol, god of mischief, god(dess) of stories, mistress of strategies, lord of lies age: over one thousand, physically early twenties birthday: unknown, possibly december 17 gender: genderfluid pronouns: he/him, they/them, she/her alignment: chaotic neutral full stats can be found HERE

BACKSTORY

i can only assume that everyone knows the mcu, especially where loki’s concerned, so i’m going to ever-so slightly gloss over those events and really talk about where things are going to intersect with the comics.

so. loki. son of laufey, king of the frost giants. loki ends up being taken from jotunheim and raised alongside thor, the son of odin, who’s the king of asgard. loki is fully aware that he is adopted and he remembers certain things about his life prior to being brought to asgard, mainly that he is a frost giant and that laufey was (physically) abusive to him.

events of thor 1 happen mostly the same as in the mcu, the only major difference being that loki, yknow, knows he’s a frost giant and adopted. so him being lied to like that was never a thing. but he’s still pissed about being the second son and not worthy and all that. avengers 1 is also largely the same (though i ... disagree with loki being controlled by the mind stone or whatever that whole thing was. influenced, sure. controlled, absolutely not.).

the dark world is where things are going to veer straight into the comics. mostly in that when loki "died” to save jane, he actually did die. but, loki being loki, isn’t going to stay dead for long and he winds up being reincarnated as a child, also known as kid loki.

kid loki is basically what loki could have and should have been, if he’d been good rather than evil. but alas, he winds up being haunted, for lack of a better term, by a ghost/copy/echo of the previous loki.

the echo is known as ikol, and long story made very short, he murders kid loki and steals his body. no one aside from loki knows about the murder, either. but now ikol is loki, and everyone thinks they’re still the second loki, still kid loki. it was really tragic, everyone was crying.

so loki, the third loki now, is essentially caught between the two lokis - two different stories pulling at them and changing them. one saying that loki can be good, at least sort of, and one saying that loki’s still and only going to be evil. loki eventually winds up on a path wanting a redemption arc, and it goes moderately okay for a time, before shit hits the fan in a colossal way.

long story made short once again, loki finds out that their destiny, the guaranteed future in store for them, is ... to always be the villain, and that no matter how they try to change and redeem themself, the asgardians will never trust them, much less love or accept them. and along the course of loki finding this out, the truth about kid loki comes out as well. loki is consequently banished from asgard and kinda sorta disowned?

anyway

loki’s basically winds up being given a choice - to either accept that all they’ll ever be is a villain, or they can kill themself. but they choose neither of those, and instead make a third option, which is basically to... rewrite themself a happy ending. and since their happiness / why they always wind up the villain largely hinges on what other people expect of them and what other people think about them, they basically just... don’t care - can’t care - that other people (cough the asgardians cough), distrust them, don’t like them, and don’t accept them.

and now we’re gonna be getting back into the mcu. loki’s living on earth, just vibing when i guess thor shows up? and we get the events of ragnarok, then infinity war(if that’s part of the plot here?). except loki doesn’t really quite die, this time they did fake their death and just kinda. go back to living on earth - specifically in new york city - and avoiding most everyone that might know who they really are.

EXTRA

in regards to their patronym - laufeyson vs odinson - loki will very very rarely use either of them. laufeyson / laufeysdottir is what they’re more likely to use if one is needed, mostly for dramatic effect (ie, “i am loki, son of laufey. the prince of asgard. the lord of lies, and the god of stories.”), while odinson / odinsdottir is almost exclusively used if they’re including themself with their siblings (ie, referring to thor and themself as odinsons, or hela and themself as odinsdottirs). in general, though, they prefer to be just loki.

some of the, uh, finer details of their backstory are debatable depending on if/when we get other characters from thor (mainly thor himself).

#m;intro #❆ ― ᴛʜᴀᴛ's ᴛʜᴇ ᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ sᴛᴏʀɪᴇs. ‣ musings.

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niedolia · 8 years ago

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psa for the yoi fandom: russian names & how to use them

Russian guides: masterpost | patronyms | terms of affection | answered asks

I’m going to start by swearing this isn’t me just complaining but a general resource for the Yuri on Ice fandom because I’ve noticed some mistakes in the naming conventions used among the fandom and want to help correct them. Especially in how the fandom treats diminutives. I absolutely love seeing the huge amount of interest in Russian diminutives, etc. in fanart and fics and hopefully this breakdown will help continue that trend and interest and even spur some more ideas in fandom content.

So let’s go through some important details below the cut!

note beforehand: I use the spelling Viktor for transliterative reasons.

the basics of russian names

By now this is pretty common knowledge but I’m going to explain Russian names anyway, using our lovely Viktor as my example.

First name: Viktor. self-explanatory.

Patronymic: It’s not a middle name. It is not a middle name that gets to be chosen like in America/etc. It is derived from the name of a person’s father and has an ending depending on whether they’re male or female. No Russian character in YoI has a patronymic and I’m going to explain why this really sucks and how we can get around this in the meantime below.

Surname: Nikiforov. self-explanatory. But do know that for females, their surnames will have an -a at the end, ie Mila Babicheva.

- as a side note, just because a character’s surname ends in -ovich or something similar doesn’t necessarily mean they are ethnically Russian. Other Eastern Slavic nations use similar endings on their surnames, so you should be relying more on the first part of a surname than the ending if you’re trying to find the character’s true origin. Georgi Popovich is a good example: his surname is Ukrainian and Belarussian even though he skates for Russia. I doubt this will come up much but it might be a nice thing to know.

the next part is about formality & when to use patronymics. if you’re a modern-based writer & couldn’t care less, go down to the diminutive part.

patronymics & why YoI has creators screwed over here !!!

I’m sure a lot of us have heard it by now: the complaint rising from foreigners trying to read Russian novels that there are too many names for one person. The reason overall is pretty simple: how you call a Russian person depends on close you are to them. There’s three basic levels on how you should address someone, but the last two mix a lot so we’ll go over that later:

Strangers, formal situations: First name + Patronym

Friends: Diminutive

Close Friends, family, lovers: Diminutive & Pet name

We’re going to go over the first level then go from there in degrees of intimacy between two people. Plus there’s some things wrong with the above basic levels, but for simplicity and understanding sake, we’re going to start here and then improve.

I’m going to say now to those writing modern stuff: you can skip to the next part if you want. I explain why below but honestly it’s just me proving the show got this part right. Historical/Fantasy AU writers, you’re in for the long haul.

This is where this fandom is irreversibly screwed until more information comes. I can only hope whoever reads this doesn’t need to worry. Good luck to those who do.

Side tip: it’s not the best equivalent but if you’re having a difficult time understanding when to use patronyms, think of them as like versions of English “Mister” and “Miss”. Or, if you speak Spanish/French/etc., it’s like the continued name equivalent of using the formal “you”. You’d use these for say, your teacher or friend’s mother, not so much for your friend. I’ve also seen it be compared to Japanese “-san” but I’m not sure how correct that is.

The First name + Patronym structure is used for: formal situations, much older people, your doctor, teachers, and those higher than you career-wise. Notice something? This isn’t used for strangers absolutely all the time until you become friends - unless you’re in a formal situation like with a doctor or interviewing for a job. This creates level 1.5, which I will introduce below.

I’m going to split this in 2 parts, depending on what type of art you’re creating:

Modern: chill, my dude. Patronyms have nothing on you. Thank your dear Russians for that, their understanding toward our customs and adjusting - a lot, actually. While Russians might introduce themselves as First name + Patronymic, this can get dropped pretty quickly with anyone under 40 years old and not your boss/new doctor/etc. This is due to recent shifting trends with Westernization and is especially going to be followed by our Russian skaters when they’re at the GPF, etc.

This is where we get level 1.5: addressing someone by their full name (and by formal “you” but that’s lost in English). No nicknames, no patronyms. It’s casual without being too casual. This is what you use for coworkers, loose friends, etc. This is how Viktor is going to address Georgi.

What does this mean for modern fics?

Don’t worry about the patronymic. Our Russian skaters + Yakov (not Lilia though, Lilia is something else, be afraid) are okay with being addressed by just their first names (though I feel Yakov has no choice thanks to Viktor).

Don’t go to diminutives until characters are closer. Especially if it’s a younger character to an older one - ie. even if Yurio was a completely different person, it would be inappropriate for him to call Viktor Vitya.

Go. Be free. Why are you reading this section? Skip to the next part.

Historical/Fantasy AUs: Patronyms stopped being A Big Deal recently, so basically people under 50 years old no longer use them outside of formal situations. So if your AU is within the past couple decades, just use the modern format and go on with your life. If it takes place a long time ago or is one of those fantasy AUs with princes and whatnot, this is the section for you.

Hopefully you read the modern part because that there is your base. You know now that the First name + Patronym structure is used for formal situations. Historically, the patronym is going to be used in formal situations, by colleagues, by acquaintances, and by those younger than you.

Yes, that means Yurio should be sucking it up and calling Viktor by his name and patronym - twice over, in fact, since he’s a colleague of Viktor’s. Unless your Yurio gets Upgraded to friend, he’s stuck in this section.

It also means that Viktor and Georgi probably address each other with their patronyms, Yakov should be addressed so, etc. Technically Yuuri should call Viktor this way too when they first meet, but this really depends on the AU - whether Yuuri will know this or not, whether Viktor will feel compelled to correct him, etc. Then with time characters can upgrade to just first names and then just diminutives. The pacing depends on how fast your characters are moving.

But Vasilek, we don’t know any of the Russian characters’ patronyms!

I know, fam, we’re not in a Good Way.

Unless you’re writing Yurio, then I have a good theory for you below.

But for the rest, you basically got 3 options here:

Yakov as a father: ngl, I love Yakov as a father figure. So if you want to make it official in your fic and blow off canon, here’s an easy option to getting your patronym. Yakovlevich is the patronym for a son of Yakov. So, Viktor can be Viktor Yakovlevich Nikiforov. Make your own rules. Also as a note: a person can legally change their patronym to distance themselves from their father / recognize their adopted father, so Viktor changing his patronym for Yakov is perfectly okay to do - both in modern and historical/fantasy AUs (see this post for details).

Make it up: yeah. Just pull a patronym and take it. Make your own rules. It’s more accurate than there not being anything at all. And if Viktor’s/whoever’s father’s name is revealed? Just say that the father ditched and the mother picked another patronym. So, to take my middle name as a self-indulgent example, Viktor could be Viktor Vasilievich Nikiforov. Luckily patronyms are more set in their form so they can be constructed easily for males & females (usually -ovich/-evich��for males & -ovna/-evna for females) but I’ve explained all of this in better detail + added some more tips about patronymics here.

Leave it out. How unexciting.

This applies to Viktor, Yakov, and every other Russian except Yurio. If anyone has any other suggestions for the patronyms please contact me and I’ll add it, but I can’t think of much else.

So why is Yurio so special??????

Yurio’s special because we know two things about him: his grandfather’s name & some background information from an interview stating that his family is broken. And even then, we know that his grandfather raised him. We can assume that his father is unknown/some similar excuse. According to Russian law, if the father is not known, the mother is allowed to choose any patronymic she wishes for the child - just as long as it’s a patronym.

The most common practice in this case? To use the child’s maternal grandfather’s name as the patronym.

Yurio’s grandfather is named Nikolai. So, unless officially stated otherwise, we can accurately say that Yurio’s full name is:

Yuri Nikolaevich Plisetsky.

Taking their relationship to a whole new level, huh?

level two: diminutives

Alright, we’re safely out of the formal atmosphere and closer than just coworkers. We hang out, we know each other fairly well, we met a few months ago. We’re friends! We can use diminutives!

The fandom actually has a pretty good grasp on the diminutives. It’s not just a nickname; it’s not a childhood nickname, it’s not cute or childish or anything like that. Diminutives are used at all ages in casual settings. They’re short and end in -a usually which is how we identify them. Viktor has been called Vitya by his family, Yakov + other teachers, friends (ie Christophe), and even lovers all his life and will remain Vitya to them ‘til the day he dies. When Nikolai Plisetsky asks Yurio to pass the salt at dinner, he calls him Yura. Hell, Viktor could be asking someone new out for a drink and introduce himself as Vitya. It’s just a casual language thing.

Y’all got this part down. It’s some of the details after that that get hazy. I’m going to use Viktor & Yuuri as my example below but do know that these rules apply to the rest of the Russians; ie. Otabek calling Yuri Yura consistently while they’re just friends, etc.

THIS IS THE IMPORTANT STUFF WRITERS !!!

1. Since Russian, Japanese, and English all work differently, Viktor’s probably going to tell Yuuri when he’s okay with being called Vitya. That timeline is up to you, but realistically, I bet Viktor tells Yuuri straight up that he can start calling him Vitya. And knowing Yuuri, Viktor is going to be the one to initiate this. Give me all of the permission scenes, I love them, please.

2. Once Viktor tells Yuuri he can call him Vitya & Yuuri agrees, don’t have Yuuri switch back to calling him Viktor! Unless they break up (ha), there’s no going back. Viktor is Vitya now, permanently. And knowing Viktor’s Extra-ness, he’d probably be devastated if Yuuri backtracked on that after calling him Vitya. Keep consistent. Viktor - agreement to call him Vitya - Vitya. - Exception: office AU and the like. If Yuuri and Viktor are in a business meeting/in some other formal setting then, and only then, is it chill for Yuuri to switch back temporarily. Otherwise? He’s Vitya now.

3. Viktor is ‘Vitya’, not any other diminutive! No, he is not Tora or any others of the like. (Pet names are another matter, but can have the same rule). Viktor is canonically called ‘Vitya’ as a diminutive. He probably wouldn’t answer to the others, that’s not how he introduced himself as. I know there’s a lot of cool diminutives but seriously, remember that consistency is key for level 2. It would be the Russian equivalent of someone named James and goes by Jim suddenly being called Jem. Diminutives are usually chosen by the parents so Viktor will have grown up hearing Vitya and not, say, Tora. It’d be weird and possibly inappropriate to use something else if you accidentally grab an affectionate diminutive. And just to give you an idea of how permanent a diminutive can be: some parents will decide on their child’s diminutive before deciding their full name (ie Anna and Anastasia have similar diminutives so the parent will have to choose between these two for their already established diminutive). - Exception: Vitka is okay on level 2.5.

4. For those of you with some drama in your fic, I did get a very interesting question: how would Yuuri address Viktor when they’re fighting? If they’re in the Vitya stage already and it’s not a big fight, Yuuri could switch back to using Viktor during it, that would get his point across. If he’s still calling Viktor by his first name and/or it’s a big fight, go for the full Viktor Nikiforov. Leave out the patronymic. Remember that the First name + Patronym is considered respectful; that’s not what you want. But using the First + Surname when Viktor is right there is considered rude and would produce the right effect. It’s like when your mom calls you because you’re in trouble.

so what the heck is level 2.5 vasya ???

Level 2.5 is colloquial diminutives. This is Vitka instead of Vitya.

Colloquial diminutives are for really good friends, this is for your bromance, now with an extra -k. Yep, these ones are recognizable by the k present in them (so Viktor - Vitka, Anna - Anka, etc.). So if you think Viktor and Christophe are real chill buds, Christophe’s probably gonna call him Vitka sometimes when they’re hanging out together. Or if Yuuri wanted to show that he’s at that stage with Viktor, he can start using Vitka; since they’re already at the Vitya stage and it’s pretty obvious when you’re bff’s with someone, Yuuri could start using this without Viktor’s permission once he felt like it.

In fact, Viktor would probably freak out in joy if he does.

The context for when Vitya vs Vitka should be used is kinda weird to explain in English because at some level they’re interchangeable. The closest we have is the James - Jim - Jimmy name tree, following the Name - Diminutive - Colloquial Diminutive in this case. So think of it like this: diminutives are casual & colloquial diminutives are hardcore casual while also noting that this person is your bff all in one. You wouldn’t introduce your best bro as Jimmy or Jim (unless you’re Cpt. Jim Kirk trying to charm the ladies) to a stranger, you’d start with James. Then when they get to know each other it’s Jim. Then a few years later you find James and the stranger playing Super Mario w/e with the stranger yelling “get out of my way, Jimmy” at the top of his lungs. It’s casual and intimate, more so than Jim, without getting into romance terms either.

Now this scenario, playing a video game, would fit Viktor and Christophe perfectly and demonstrate a natural time for when to use Vitka. It could also fit in for when Yuuri and Viktor are watching a movie alone, etc.

Diminutive vs colloquial diminutives are highly interchangeable and it’s going to depend on the mood of your scene. If you use it, just make sure the two people are close friends and in a casual setting (ie at home, the park, what have you). Because it’s basically an even more intimate form of Vitya without getting into pet names, and a hardcore mode of Jim vs Jimmy. It’s also a much smaller step than going from Viktor to Vitya; it’s more of an acknowledgment of the stronger friendship.

Tread carefully with these! If two people aren’t that great of friends it can be seen as an insult, as belittling. So if Yuri is mad at Mila, he’s going to call her Milka. - This goes back to historical times when a person would refer to themselves to a superior by their colloquial diminutive - ie peasant Viktor will call himself Vitka when talking to the Tsar. But the same connotation wouldn’t carry over to peers - fellow peasant Christophe could call Viktor Vitka too and it would be alright, just a way of communicating their friendship. - Modern times are a bit different; Vitka is still seen as being lower. So even though it can communicate friendship, you should go easy with it and only use it in extremely casual situations. In other terms, you’re not going to call your friend “Jim-boy” just anywhere.

When in doubt, stick with the plain diminutive or upgrade to a pet name.

level 3: affectionate diminutives / pet names

This level can get weird and confusing, ngl.

Pet names are reserved for really close friends, family, and lovers (and children like Yurio. children are referred to as their diminutives/pet names fairly often). That’s it!

It’s also worth nothing that teachers do not use these. They will use diminutives, but not colloquial diminutives or pet names with their students. This illustrates just how close Yakov and Yuri really are for Yakov to call him Yurochka.

Pet forms are pretty easy to recognize, I won’t get into that. I’m going to tell you all the other scary stuff.

This is the level where Yuuri probably shouldn’t expect an invitation to call Viktor Vitenka, unless Viktor is being Extra. But I think after the kiss, it should be pretty obvious that they’re at level 3. This is gonna vary by your fics: general rule of thumb, if they’re dating & know it, go for it. That’s not the hard part.

The hard part is knowing when to switch between diminutive/colloquial/pet form. That is all in the atmosphere of your fic. And while my general rule of thumb is to stick to one diminutive and one pet name for simplicity’s sake, the truth is Russians do use more than one pet name. Get rekt, right? Luckily pet forms are just for people the character is really close to such as spouses and family (ie both Nikolai Plisetsky and Yakov are going to call Yuri Yurochka). Otherwise, you should be avoiding these.

There’s a random string of exceptions to this last rule. While you generally should avoid pet forms unless they’re really close, they can be used on a friend’s birthday or when a character is doing something nice for a friend. For example, Viktor might call Yuri Yurochka on his birthday and then probably get murdered afterwards. Just use pet names carefully.

So should Yuuri be calling Viktor Vitenka all the time then? Nah, and I doubt Yuuri would feel comfortable with that (though Viktor might like it lol). Natives obviously have it down more but there’s some general patterns for when to use pet forms for a spouse:

Holidays (Valentine’s Day, lol), birthdays, when expressing their love, during great emotion in general (ie when Yakov calls Yuri by his pet name after he skates). Probably also for when a character really wants something from another (ie if Yuuri wanted Viktor to do something for him, he could switch to Viktor’s pet name), kind of like how Americans will say “Honey dearest, can you x for me?” to their spouses.

Now if you said something like, “Vasyusha, pass the salt.”, I’d probably question it. That’s where you should be saying just the diminutive or maybe colloquial diminutives. In fact, spouses/etc. tend to stick to the plain diminutive (ie Vitya) until given a reason otherwise like expressing love or great emotion (I can give further examples but I think Yakov and Yuri above sum it up well). It’s a very personal name is what I’m saying.

vasyka for the love of ice just sum all that up

So to give some sort of pattern for us non-natives, this should be the general timeline for what Yuuri calls Viktor:

Viktor + Patronym: too formal and outdated for modern

Viktor: when they first meet onwards / if Yuuri is in a softcore fight with Viktor after they’ve reached Vitya level

Vitya: they’re friends & invites Yuuri to & usually from then onwards

Vitka: they’re in a very casual setting (ie alone)

Vitenka / Vityasha / etc.: they’re lovers & Yuuri feels like it’s the right time to call Viktor this

Viktor Nikiforov: they’re in a fight and Yuuri’s pulling out the big guns

DIMINUTIVES

Here’s some Russian diminutives for Viktor, Yuri, and Yuuri (by popular demand). Please keep in mind that Vitya is canon and you should not go changing that out for another diminutive (which is why I’m not providing any others for Viktor). Since Yuri & Yuuri are phonetically close, some do use Russian diminutives for Yuri for Japanese Yuuri - personally I don’t see much wrong with that and Viktor Extra Nikiforov would probably do it anyway, so feel free to have Viktor call Yuuri any of the diminutives/pet forms below. Since not all of these diminutives are in common use, I’ve italicized the most common ones. These come from some Russian websites so if you want me to transliterate any other diminutives (ie for Mila) feel free to message me!

Viktor Pet Forms: Vitenka (Витенька), Vityusha (Витюша), Vityasha (Витяша), Vityacya (Витяся), Vityakha (Витяха), Vityosha (Витёша), Vityulya (Витюля), Vityunya (Витюня), Vityucya (Витюся), Vityukha (Витюха), Vishuta (Вишута), Viktorka (Викторка), Viktucya (Виктуся), Vitasha (Виташа), Vitunchik (Витунчик)

Yuri / Yuuri Russian, Diminutives: Yura (Юра), Yurik (Юрик), Yusha (Юша), Yurchik (Юрчик), Yurok (Юрок), Yuka (Юка), Yurka (Юрка), Yurets (Юрец) Pet Forms: Yurochka (Юрочка), Yuronka (Юронка), Yuranya (Юраня), Yuracya (Юрася), Yurakha (Юраха), Yurasha (Юраша), Yurchenya (Юрченя)

but vasyusha, this made no sense / i have more questions / i have something to contribute to this post !!

Message me, my dude !!! I’m open to answering more questions and I’ll do so to the best of my ability or at least hook you up with some resources. Don’t be afraid to ask me, my life is this language, I welcome questions!

Also!! Shout to to my two beta-readers, @nihonlove & @dokurochrome for reading over this, asking questions and for clarification, and encouraging this post! You two are amazing <3

#feel free to reblog !#yuri on ice #yoi #victuuriwriters #victor nikiforov #yuri plisetsky #;; writing #i tried to demonstrate in real time by using my middle name vasily #dont call me vaska tho lol. vasilek or vasya is fine #feel free to message me if anyone needs additional clarification !#i'll write up the patronymic post soon then one on actual russian nicknames #vasileks russian crash course

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linelpisffxiv · 7 years ago

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The First Night in Dragonhead

Doing something a little different. This was a bit ambitious way back when I started. Instead of mostly being shitposting and a Haurchefant shrine, I kinda wanted to make my own story. You saw bits of it in the “Lin’s Journal” entries from early on, but I also wanted to do some missing scenes and flash fiction.

Since I’m in Heavensward, and that means A’lin’s happiness is living on borrowed time, I might as well do some vignettes of her budding relationship.

These are going to have a slightly less hyper-confident snarky Lin, though she’s still mostly confident and snarky. This story is probably the point where she’s at the least, still dealing with everything that happened at the Waking Sands, and struggling with constantly being shown the door in her first encounter in Coerthas.

Eyes. Two bright blue eyes sat in front of her. Each seemed as big as a plump turkey. Maybe even larger. Just what did they come from? Around the table, several men focused on them. She tried to get details, but all she could tell was that they were all elezen, and their mouths looked almost like a voidsent. Too wide, too hungry. Some seemed to slobber at the sight of the eyes.

“We have slayed Ratatoskr. Her eyes shall give us power!” the man at the head of the table said. He was dressed richer than the others.

“To think she was fool enough to come to us, thinking the war between us was truly dead with that woman,” another said.

How many people were around her? She didn’t know. It seemed like too many. She couldn’t count.

One next to her shouted “To power! And a new rise to Ishgard!”

With that, one cut the eyes open, some liquid in the middle. Each took part of the eye and feasted. The liquid drunk as if wine or ale, the shell ripped to shreds like a wolf eating a karakul. Her dream focused on the mouths, each differing, each joyous in what they had done.

“Power! Ishgard!”

Those words kept repeating. Kept thrumming in her head. Everything became a blur.

A’lin woke up. It was one of those rare occurrences where she felt like she was catapulted from her dream into a sitting position. Oh, she had vivid dreams before. Ever since she left home, she’d gotten several.

She went through Mor Dhona on her way to Gridania. Maybe the Aether there affected her.

Or maybe it was just falling asleep in an unfamiliar place. It happened that first night in Gridania, and the first night she spent in the church. The bed in Dragonhead wasn’t that comfortable, either.

Well, the food had been quite nice, and the company was refreshing after the Observatorium. Lord Haurchefant had a nice smile and was very curious about everything she had done. He even provided her with a warm coat for when she’d go outside.

In the dying light of the candle by her bed, she pulled on her trousers and boots. The coat would be nice, but wouldn’t protect her alone.

She walked along the hallway, one hand on the wall. She could find her way back later. The Aetheryte would be glowing outside, no matter the hour. Her tail swished from side to side, as nervous as her legs.

And certainly someone would know the way back to the room she had been provided.

It took a good five minutes for Lin to find a way outside. The warm blue glow of the crystal comforted her. Like when she used the Aetheryte to teleport between towns. Just being near one gave her that feeling of floating in water. Comfort. If Vesper Bay had one, instead of having to go to Horizon, mayber her uncle could have been saved. Instead, there was a statue of some rich Lalafell in a mask like the one Yda wore.

“Not the first we had here in Dragonhead,” the voice of the commander said. “But after everything that happened in the calamity, the old one didn’t work. Cost Lord Fortemps quite a bit, along with the fortifications.”

She looked over to him. “I wasn’t admiring it or anything. Just… I don’t know.”

The blue glow reflected in his eyes. The same silvery blue as his hair.

“Why are you awake, Lord Greystone?”

She watched him cover his mouth for a second (Silvairre did that when he lied. Was that an Elezen trait in general?) before he lowered it. “I haven’t had time yet to sleep. Your friends have hardly retired. You only did so two bells ago.”

Great. The past times she had dreams like that one, it actually was well past the middle of the night. It would explain why her candle was still lit.

It took her a few seconds to decide whether or not she’d tell him. “I can’t sleep. It’s hard doing so in new places.” And the past few weeks had been nothing but new places. She rarely slept well anymore, but the dreams only came in times of stress.

“Master Alphinaud says you have felled two primals, Miss Gra’eme. If that is true, then certainly you bring sleep to those around you. Just the way you sparred with my soldiers shows what an amazing archer you are.”

“Thank you,” she said. Her tail stilled. “For the words, for the place to sleep. Everything. I hope I can help save Lord Francel.”

Haurchefant took a few steps towards her. “I know you will, A’lin. He’s my dearest friend, and I’m thankful he sent a great adventurer my way.” His mouth curled into a smile. Pale, thin lips. Chapped with the cold of Coerthas’s newly eternal winter.

She couldn’t look away from them.

She couldn’t look away from him.

“Miss Gra’eme? I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have used your first name.”

“A’lin is fine.” The way he had said it sounded nice. Ishgardians were believed to be intolerant of others. However, when they were tolerant, when they were welcoming, they made everything sound better.

At least that was how his voice sounded.

“A’lin, then. I must ask, however, did you get any sleep in that bed? Is there something that could make it easier to sleep in a new place?”

Her hands knit together. “I got some, but I had a nightmare. It was… vivid. It’s hard to stop thinking about it.”

He put his hand on hers. He was still in his armor, still wearing gloves. A knight’s work must never be done, especially one in command of a camp like Dragonhead.

“I can help you stop.” He had a smile on his face. “In the past five years, I’ve come to appreciate warm drinks. There’s this one bean from Vylbrand that makes the most heavenly drink when ground and mixed with warm milk. My younger brother sent me some of the ground bean a week ago, and I’ve been waiting for a chance to use it.”

She knew just what he spoke of, kukuru milk. It wasn’t common back home, but it was a nice treat when she could get it. “That sounds nice, um… Haurchefant.” She sounded out the name on her lips. Elezen names were odd to her, even after the time she spent in Gridania. She had given her permission for him to just use her clan and given name, without her patronym. Was he fine with her using his first name.

Haurchefant smiled. It started as she spoke his name. Permission given, it seemed. “I believe you know the way to the mess, then. I have to get the can of powder. I love the people here, but a gift from Emmanellain is something to be kept precious.”

With that, he gave a small bow and walked down the steps.

A’lin knew the way, as he had assumed, to the kitchens. They were right by where the merchant offered his services.

At night, though, everything seemed different. Not many people were around. The kitchen door was solid from top to bottom. Likely to keep the cold out and heat in.

It didn’t take more than a few minutes before Haurchefant showed up. He was out-of-breath, the chainmail clanking against itself. “You stayed. I was afraid you’d leave. I forgot where I hid the tin at first. I thought maybe one of the others found it.” He held up something in his hand. “But I found it. No powder missing.”

His voice was so warm by itself. A’lin could hear how special the tin was. A gift from family that he didn’t want to share with anyone.

It seemed she wasn’t just anyone.

He opened the door and there was still light. The stove was out, but the torches still held light.

Haurchefant didn’t shy away from taking one of the torches and lighting up the stovetop. He found items he needed with little trouble, to her surprise.

Lin sat down at a small table in the kitchens, near the stove. “Have you done this before? With other people?”

“I can’t make much. Just the basics for survival and this.” He poured the milk into a saucepan. “And I share my chocolate with those who need it.”

Chocolate? Was that what Kukuru was called here in Coerthas? She wanted to ask, but he focused on the milk.

“What of you, A’lin?”

“I can roast meat. But I was a hunter back home, not a keeper.”

The mention of home made her pause for a second. Her uncle Aba taught her. But then she saw Aba’s corpse in her mind. Praying to Azeyma to welcome him into Thal’s domain.

There were reasons she found her Patron easier to speak of.

“An adventurer and a hunter. You definitely can teach my men a few things about which Karakul to hunt.”

He laughed as he spoke. Unaware of her memories surging back.

Lin briefly thought he laughed at her pain, but he didn’t even look at her.

Haurchefant kept the conversation light as he prepared the drinks. It helped bring her back to the present. Some of what he said was about himself, or about Dragonhead, or Coerthas. His favorite places, his duties. Day-to-day things that made his life bearable. How he loved when he had time to visit Francel, and knew perfectly well he wasn’t the kind to consort with dragons.

He asked about her, but it seemed that whenever she almost remembered the Rising Stones Massacre, a question about something completely different came.

Finally, he came over with a large mug in each hand. Haurchefant held one out to her. “The time for talk is over for now. I hope this quells your nightmares, friend.”

The milk was steamed, something she’d only had a few times before. Heat came off the top of the drink, letting her take in the scent of the kukuru. It was different than other times. Stronger in the best of ways.

The first sip was much too hot. She should have waited. That said, the taste was rich, and clearly what she wanted. She set the drink down after she swallowed what was in her mouth.

Haurchefant ran around the table she sat at and put his hand on hers. “Are you fine? I should have told you to not drink the hot chocolate so soon.”

A’lin turned her hand around and let it hold onto his. “I should have known better. Back home, Kukuru Milk was normally served chilled.”

“Is that what it’s called where you’re from?”

She nodded her head. “Back in Vylbrand, Kukuru beans are fairly plenty, as you probably guessed. My mother was — is — skilled in cooking, and prepared all her spices herself. She’d even add some cinnamon and anise sometimes. Or even dried mint.”

“I’ve seen mixes like those before, but I never tried them. The sellers in the Jeweled Crozier price them quite high sometime. Much higher than this. My brother may gift me with chocolate, but he would never gift me with anything but this mix. Perhaps I need go to Vylbrand when I can. Alas, the Dravanians seem to only be attacking more often than before the calamity.”

He was good conversation, Lin had to admit that. And while some parts remained closed in how he spoke, such as his family other than the earlier slips about his younger brother, it pulled her mind from the nightmare. It took only a few minutes until the drink in her hands had cooled just enough to be drinkable, but not so cold as to defeat the name of “hot chocolate.”

However, as she got up, she realized that while she knew where the kitchens were, she couldn’t remember where her room was. “Ah, Haurchefant,” she said. “It was dark in the hallway, and I didn’t pay attention to where my room was.” The floor perhaps, but not exactly where it was.

She watched his lips curl into a smile. “Is that an invitation of some sort, A’lin?”

She realized as he spoke that she hadn’t made her intention clear, just to guide her back. Was he thinking of something else?

Something else wouldn’t be unwelcome. She’d watched his every move that they’d been together since the Aetheryte.

“Direction,” she said. Her voice jumped up an octave as she stammered out the word. “I just wanted direction to where my room is. I know it’s next to Alphinaud’s or Cid’s, but other than that—” Her cheeks heated up, but she still couldn’t look away.

Lin thought perhaps he looked disappointed. No, he was disappointed. It wasn’t the eyes, it was the slight drop of his mouth.

Haurchefant knelt down beside her. “Chocolate is good to wash away nightmares, but if you truly have trouble sleeping, well, if you didn’t intend an invitation, let me make it clear I offer one for you. My bedchambers, if you wish.”

That was forward, but honestly, she preferred forward. She needed forward right now. And a clear sign he was interested and his question had been hopeful, not rude, well, at least he was interested.

She nodded her head. “I wish. I mean, yes.” How forward and plain could she speak? She took a breath. “Your bedchambers would be most welcome.” She could control herself. She had been flirting some that afternoon. She had done a few unneeded jumps when she trained his troops. Kept her back towards the camp, in case he watched.

“I’d love to see how you put the agility you demonstrated earlier to use.”

Definitely not just there to chase away her nightmare.

He put his hand on her waist. “Now, I believe you need directions to my bedchambers.”

She knew she would sleep well that night.

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mexcine2 · 8 years ago

Photo

The Amazing Colossal Irishman -- Get Outta Town (1960) poster

Although I generally choose subjects for these essays which—in addition to providing fodder for my witty commentary—are reasonably competent in both an artistic and marketing sense, today’s poster doesn’t necessarily fit that criteria. This poster isn’t especially inspired and doesn’t seem to have that “hook” that might pique the ticket-buying interest of movie audiences. However, Get Outta Town is a sentimental favourite and the poster is worthy of examination.

As noted above, I have a soft spot for Get Outta Town (the movie, not the poster so much). Clearly a low-budget vanity project for actor Doug Wilson, the film has nice noir-ish feel to it, the location shooting adds verisimilitude, and the vernacularised title* draws attention (apparently the working title was “The Day Kelly Came Home,” which isn’t bad; the picture was re-released in 1964 as Gangster’s Revenge, which sounds like a generic translation of a Japanese yakuza movie title).

*[ Get Outta Town was the first in a planned trilogy, to be followed by Fuhgettaboutit and Whatsamattayou. Alright, that’s totally not true. As far as I know.]

Most of the behind-the-camera personnel behind Get Outta Town don’t have extensive Hollywood credits. Executive producer William B. Hale might be the same “William B. Hale” who made a 1950s documentary on the Watts Towers entitled “The Towers,” but this is unconfirmed. Co-producer/director Charles Davis is only cited by IMDB as the director of one other, later independent film (assuming this is the same Charles Davis); cinematographer Larry Raimond has a handful of credits spanning nearly 3 decades. Scripter Bob Wehling seems to have had the most work experience, directing a couple of features and doing some acting in additional to his writing chores. Co-producer and star Doug Wilson has a handful of TV appearances on his resumé, and IMDB also indicates he was a film editor, although no credits are provided.

[To be fair, technical credits on episodic Fifties television series are not well documented, so at least some of these people could have been hard-working professionals, just not on theatrical features. As an aside, Get Outta Town’s on-screen credits are in the familiar “Sixties TV sitcom” font, which subliminally reinforces the television-industry connections of the cast and crew.]

Get Outta Town carries a 1959 copyright date by “MCP Film Distributing Co.” (the production company is listed variously as “Albex Films” and “Davis-Wilson Productions”) and was released in 1960 by Sterling World Distributors (the 1964 re-release was handled by Beckman Film Corp.). A fair amount of “paper” can be found for Get Outta Town, including the one-sheet poster illustrated here, lobby cards (I think I even own one), and an insert.

The poster for Get Outta Town (which spells the title Get Outta’ Town, although the film itself doesn’t have the apostrophe) isn’t horrible, but is rather bland. The yellow background was, for some reason, a popular motif in some Fifties-Sixties cinema posters: perhaps the designers thought it was eye-catching or made the artwork “pop” more than a white background would. To me, it signifies “cheap indie film,” though, but I suppose that could be a conditioned response based on the number of posters I’ve seen like this, as opposed to a strictly artistic evaluation.

[More yellow-background posters, from a quick scroll thru www.wrongsideoftheart.com: Carnival Rock, Because of Eve, Cage of Evil, Curse of the Faceless Man, Eighteen and Anxious, Fingerprints Don’t Lie, Girl Fever, Girl on the Run, Liane Jungle Goddess, Red Lips, Right Hand of the Devil, Teenage Zombies, The Violent Years, Wild for Kicks, The Naked Road, Teenage Thunder, Operation Conspiracy, New Orleans Uncensored, Five Guns West, The Party Crashers, Chained for Life, The Incredible Petrified World, The Woman Eater, Voodoo Island, and many more. The titles alone give you an idea of the class of movies that used the garish yellow background in this era.]

The main image is, of course, of producer-star Doug Wilson. He’s big, burly, with muscular arms and a hairy chest revealed by his unbuttoned shirt. There’s a sort of John Wayne-ish vibe about this portrait, and it was probably not coincidental. I’m of two minds about this. First, the art does convey the impression of a tough, action-oriented, even working-class protagonist, perhaps a truck driver or an oil rig worker or a longshoreman or a construction boss, etc. (this is somewhat at odds with the tone of the film itself, which is more of an urban crime picture). On the other hand, Doug Wilson stars in the movie but he’s not a movie star, so a gigantic painting of him, mostly devoid of context, might not be the best sales tactic. He’s looming over a cityscape, there’s a dead body and two women, but mostly this is DOUG WILSON, TOUGH GUY. Take it or leave it.

Two women are pictured on the poster. The poster’s text (to be discussed shortly) suggests these are the protagonist’s “two girl friends,” and we can surmise that Lefty is the good girl (modest top and skirt combo, tasteful necklace) and Righty is the bad girl (spaghetti-strapped gown with a fringed hem, bare shoulders), but they are both awkwardly posed and both share the same shocked and apprehensive expression. They’re his “girl friends?” They seem to be regarding him fearfully, not affectionately. Maybe it’s awe of his massive masculinity that makes them look that way.

Thus, while the artwork and design aren’t crude or confusing, the exact nature of the film is hazy. Perhaps the text can clear this up? But if you’re relying on the printed words on a poster to educate your audience about what to expect, you’ve got one strike against you to begin with.

The Get Outta Town poster’s text is relatively on-point. “Kelly turned the town upside down the day they killed his kid brother!” Got it: revenge motive for town-inversion. “He took the law into his own hands!” His own big, meaty, tough-guy hands. How would you describe Kelly? “A two-fisted Irishman with two girl friends!” One girlfriend for each fist, it seems.

[Doug Wilson is credited as “Kelly Oleson”—I don’t remember if his heritage is explained in the film itself, but “Oleson” is a “Danish-Norwegian patronymic surname,” according to the unimpeachable source for everything, Wikipedia. Even if you spell it “Olson,” it’s still Scandinavian, not Irish. But I guess “two-fisted Irishman” sounds better than “two-fisted Scandinavian.” Unless of course you’re Scandinavian.]

The poster indicates the film has an “All-Star Hollywood Cast.” You keep using those words. I do not think they mean what you think they mean. Perhaps you do know, you’re just hoping we don’t call your bluff. “All-Star Hollywood Cast?” Doug Wilson was in an episode of “Rawhide.” And two episodes of “Science Fiction Theater!” Jeanne Baird did a lot of television in the Fifties and Marilyn O’Connor played “Rita—Saloon Gal” in an episode of “Tombstone Territory.” The rest of the cast is a mixture of people who made a few other appearances (mostly on television) and those whose sole IMDB claim to fame is Get Outta Town. So we’ll give them “Hollywood Cast,” but I’m calling shenanigans on “All-Star.”

The text on the Get Outta Town insert poster is significantly different than the one-sheet’s. The top tag-line is hilarious: “ ‘Squirrel’s’ Tongue Slipped!” No, it’s not an erotic movie shot at a furry convention, “Squirrel” is the name of a minor character in Get Outta Tongue. He let something slip, you see, “...and Kelly’s Fists Went Into Action!” [btw, “Kelly’s Fists” would have been a good alternate title for the film.] “This Irishman cleaned up gangland when police didn’t!” Also “His love for two girls solved a nasty crime!” However, it also caused considerable heart-ache.

The poster for Get Outta Town isn’t bad—technically speaking, the art and design are professional—but it’s not unique or compelling, especially given the no-star nature of the production. In a way that’s too bad, because the film itself is rather enjoyable in its way.

#film poster #get outta town

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