#who described them as Patootie Miette

[secretmellowblog]

So, what does “Patron-Minette” mean? If you put it in google translate:

Are they really “boss pussy”???

Kinda, the real meaning is basically an elaborate pun.

As Hugo notes in the novel, the gang’s name comes from the French phrase “des potron minette,” an idiomatic French phrase which refers to the time around dawn. The literal translation of the phrase is “kitty butt”— “potron” being an archaic word for for butt and “minette” being a slightly cute term for a cat.

"Des potron Minette" became a term for dawn because cats prowl around in the dawn.

As Hugo says, it's similar to the phrase "entre chien et loup"— between dog and wolf— which is a poetic term for twilight. (It’s a a liminal time between dog and wolf, a time so dark you can no longer tell the difference between a dog and wolf, etc.)

However, the gang makes a pun on the phrase and calls themselves pATron Minette instead of Potron Minette, because “patron” means “boss.”

They were like “cat butt? No…Cat BOSS”

[nickyroethemarinebiologist]

I've been really excited to talk about the dragon breeds in the pirate book because it's SO fun to describe them and give each breed little quirks and characteristics. I have a spreadsheet of all the (known) dragon species of this universe (which is also shared with a second book series I may or may not be planning)

So here's some fun info on all the mentioned dragon breeds so far!!

First of all we have my dear boy Timor; he's a Golden-crested Sharpnose, of course, which are one of the smallest Sharpnose breeds (I only did that so he could fit on the ship even at full growth) and are based off Golden Eagles, so shape-wise they look a little like this

But in terms of colouring it ranges from a more common brown-gold mix, to almost entirely brown, to a brighter, full gold colour like Timor!!

(A Common Sharpnose is based off of a Long-crested Eagle, so looks more like this)

They're very good at imitating people's habits and 'tamed' Sharpnoses will often pick up on the speech patterns of the people around them subconsciously

Moving swiftly to Caritas, my sweet little guy. He's a Silver Pinnet, though he's not actually silver. I did that on purpose as a funny little nod to the naming conventions of birds (e.g. Golden eagles are actually brown, etc)

Pinnets are the smallest breed that's considered 'tameable', though Silver Pinnets are a little bigger and faster than the common breed. They're pretty much exclusively couriers, and they're based off of a Sandgrouse in shape:

Where as colouring wise they're very similar to a pheasant hen, with very little range between individuals (though every Pinnet has a distinct mottling pattern! Like human fingerprints) so something like this

Then there's dear Fancy (Elliott's dragon) and the two dragons he's napping with in chapter four

Fancy is a Royal Spinewing, and he's based off a Great Blue Heron:

Spinewings are very flashy and have great manoeuvreability in the air, so overall they're widely considered to be a very impressive and VERY valuable breed. However they are also very dim.

Fancy specifically isn't very bright however he talks like Miette ('you KICK Miette? You kick her body like the football?') and I think it is very endearing

The two dragons napping with him are currently unnamed and likely will never be named, unless I can work them into the story somehow. But they're Creepers (closely related to Stonecreepers) which are based off Wallcreepers (a lot of creeping going on here) so:

Little cutie patootie pies

There's also the briefly mentioned younger captain who comes up with Davis, he IS named and he will be reappearing, and so will his dragon!!

The dragon is a Little Dipper, which are based off Turnstones, so she looks something like this!!

And last but by no means at all least, we have Tolly!!

Tolerans is a Slipwing, so he's based off a bird called a Pheasant Coucal, which I had never heard of until I happened upon it on wikipedia entirely by chance. He looks a little like this:

Slipwings aren't a very smart breed but they like having things to do and will get antsy if they sit around for too long. Tolly's personal favourites are flying and reading poetry with Riley, though whether he understands it at all is an entirely different matter

Slipwings are very closely related to Weefs, which are a more shorefaring dragon breed, so while Slipwings themselves are more suited to land, they can swim pretty well and naturally love being in the water (in contrast to Timor, who was born at sea and loves it dearly, but has never once tried to swim and probably never will)