#yes i also did etymology researches lmao

[atlantis-just-drowned]

Magic tricks aren't for cats

Based on @thewigsnatcher764's ask :D

A/N : I made it a small story because I was inspired, oops? Also please consider reblogging instead of liking posts because likes don't boost posts and just make them die <3

"Encore ?! Aw, come on mon minou, how do you manage to fail this trick everytime ?"

Pluto looked up from the small coin that has fallen from his hand, and stared at his friend, deadpan. Duke were offering him this half-amused, half-confused grin that he was starting to know well.

"You're bad at explaining it." The short boy answered, still not impressed by the gap between their respective skills in magic tricks.

Duke exaggerated a shocked gasp, laying a hand on his chest in faked disbelief. "Comment peux-tu dire une chose pareille!" As he spoke, his dark-haired friend bent down and picked the golden coin, looking at it closely. "You're the one who's bad at understanding what I say!"

Without even answering to the dig, Pluto tried to reproduce the trick again. He closed his fingers around the buck, attempting to hide it away, but despite his agility, his fingers ripped, sending the coin into the air as he tried to catch it in flight, the round slice bouncing on the skin of his hands and changing direction, until it touched the floor. Again.

The pale-skinned boy looked up at Duke again. "Deer?"

For a second, the magician furrowed his brows, puzzled both by his friend's inability to success the trick, and by his terrible accent. "No. Dire. It means to say, to express with words."

"So..." Pluto looked down for a second, searching in his memory for something that he knew a lot better than magic tricks. "It's latin."

This time, Duke didn't fake the massive confusion that his expression was showing as he answered with disbelief, while his friend picked the coin again. "Quoi? No! It's French!"

The short boy looked up at Duke, raising a brow underneath his black strand of hair. "What I mean is... It comes from the classic latin dīcĕre. Isn't it ?"

The brown-skinned man took a moment to connect the dots, before his usual, prideful smile came back and he walked closer to Pluto, grabbing his shoulders in a friendly way. "I couldn't tell you even if I wanted to, mon minou. De nous deux, I'm not the nerd. Now what about we try this little trick again?"

Pluto sighed, deceived to see his diversion had been noticed. Looking at the coin in his hand, he complained. "But why don't you teach me some French instead? I'm sure I'd be better at it than I will ever be with your weird pranks!"

Those last words made Duke frown slightly, his ego touched. "Je ne te permet pas! Those tricks are very distracting and useful!" His sulking didn't last long however, and the trickster cracked an amused smile at his friend's annoyance. Raising a finger in the air, he continued cheerfully. "Besides! You really think I would grant you with the capacité to comprehend such a sophisticated language that is French?"

Rumbling a little in annoyance, Pluto hid his hands in his pockets and tried to argue. "It it really that complicated ? It just sounds like you put weird syllabus next to each others and twist your tongue at impossible angles."

Duke snickered, enjoying his friend's grumpiness as he answered on the same tone as before, determined not to let the pale-skinned boy have his way. "Oh, no mon minou! You need a lot more finesse than that! Well..." The magician looked at his friend with a smirk. "At least enough of it to manage the simplest tricks."

The black-haired student deadpanned at him, unmoved by Duke's attempt to motivate him. Moving away from him and taking the coin out of his pocket again, Pluto put it in evidence for his friend to see, before closing his fingers around it, and throwing the buck over his shoulder. Opening his hands again, he showed his two empty palms to a not-so-convinced Duke, who looked at him curiously. "Here. I succeed. It disappeared."

The brown-skinned trickster laughed frantically, amused. "Ha! Je ne l'avais pas vu venir! I didn't expect that!" He stopped his laugh and wiped an imaginary tear from the edge of his eye. "Oh well, mon minou..." As he spoke, enjoyment in his voice, Duke came closer to the short boy, and wrapped his arm around Pluto's shoulders, before leading him to the dinning hall. "Alright, alright, laisses tomber, let's drop this for now. Our friends are surely waiting for us downstairs."

And with that, the black-haired boy was safe from Duke's teaching methods. At least for now.

[dxmagedrose]

GET TO KNOW THE BLOGGER!

Tagged by: my lover @hammurabicomplex​ I’m tagging: anyone and everyone who wants to pick this one up! share with the class if you feel like it! tag me in it!!

PRESENTING. RANDOM DEEP DIVE WITH INDIGO-MUN AT 2AM ;

FIRST NAME Good fucking question… It’s (sort-of) currently Dylann! I was Kieran before that, though; it’s still used as one of my first names and I’m not used to Dylann quite yet bc I’ve just started using it. 

Indigo is one of my middle names though, and I’ve used it as an online handle elsewhere forever so I use it here now!  [ Fun etymology facts: Dylan(n) is a mythology name generally meaning “born of the wave” (aspiring diver & a water witch at heart). Kieran means “little dark one” bc of my love for horror, && I chose Indigo bc as a kid to be it was neither boy (blue) or purple (girl) and was both and neither as well as my absolute favorite color as this vibrant ass mystical color. ]

STRANGE FACT ABOUT YOURSELF hmmmmm…. I’m a horror lover at heart, so as a child (I wanna say 12), I was walking through an antique store (I have a few cool finds, I considered putting my other one as the fact tbh) and I turned the corner and I saw these two dolls staring back at me at the foot of the stairs of this antique building. my blood froze, and i felt my stomach drop. i got actual, physical goosebumps stumbling across these two creepy dolls staring back at me in the corner, and i couldn’t leave the store without them. perhaps the little painted porcelain boy would be somewhat spooky by himself if it wasn’t for the terrifying lidded gaze of the porcelain girl with the hairline fractures and slightly open lips. i cant look at her. i dont really find dolls scary, I like to find the spookier ones ones, and she makes me paranoid as hell. i keep her face covered and her up in my closet except for when i bring her out to show her off proudly as the spookiest thing I have but……. i dont really collect dolls anymore.  even thinking about her brings a fearful tear to my eye.  i don’t like to think about her for very long, but that’s why I’m so fucking proud to own her. ( YES — I’m THAT white person in the horror film )

TOP THREE PHYSICAL THINGS YOU FIND ATTRACTIVE ON A PERSON hhhhh a beardy jawline, high cheekbones, crooked canine teeth >:3c

A FOOD YOU COULD EAT FOREVER AND NOT GET BORED OF b.l.t.’s with avocado. ahhhh. my mouth is watering just thinking about it, oh my god. just a bit of salt and pepper???

A FOOD YOU HATE barbecue anything, i hate the taste of bbq sauce, you keep your nasty black goo to yourselves at the grill. twice in my life i have presented with barbecue pizza and both times i cried literal tears. why would you do such a horrible thing to a person? what kind of a monster are you? how do you sleep at night?!

GUILTY PLEASURE the sims. constantly. always. i’ve sunk thousands of hours into my households. oh also uhhhhhh i run two 80s horror blogs, one being a shitpost blog with occasional art of mine and one gremlin fanfic ship blog for horrible, terrible self indulgent fanfics i’ll get the courage to finish writing & post so i can be cancelled on tumblr for at some point. NO, i won’t link them. as i pretend they’re even all that hard to find, within a day i was found on both by someone i admire here a lot :’) ilu bby thnk u eternally for supporting ur local horrifying dumbass wtf

WHAT DO YOU SLEEP IN the same clothes i’ve been wearing all day usually, my sweats & long sleeve raglans or my hoodies. i like being cozy day & and out. and ugh. efoort. just throw me in a blanket in a cool room and im out.

SERIOUS RELATIONSHIPS OR FLINGS serious relationships with some openness or poly. i wish i could fling! just not exactly easy for demisexual autistics lmao.

IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN THE PAST AND CHANGE ONE THING ABOUT YOUR LIFE, WOULD YOU AND WHAT WOULD IT BE I think I would be adopted by my grandma as a kid. It would save me some trauma but mostly I think it would get my autism diagnosed way earlier and save me angsting all these years of wondering why & thinking it’s my fault I’m struggling so much and so loud and affectionate and different in a world that i didnt fit in the same way. 

ARE YOU AN AFFECTIONATE PERSON when i get drunk i text people how much they mean to me in my life. does that answer your question? ahhh. i’m sometimes a cuddle monster with friends, i message people with long texts about how much they mean to me, but I sometimes really don’t like to be touched at all. 

A MOVIE YOU COULD WATCH OVER AND OVER AGAIN FLYPAPER.  F L Y P A P E R.  FLYPAPER.  FLY, and, I can’t stress this enough, fucking PAPER. ( Though also Whole Nine Yards and both Re-Animator & Bride ). I have watched Flypaper already like, 5 times this week and I’m still not done, and the other movies have been on repeat for days in this household within the last year. In the past it has also been Donnie Darko & the new Nightmare on Elm Street.  roast me.

FAVORITE BOOK White Fang by Jack London. Have I actually ever finished it? No. Do I still own a copy I’ve had since childhood thru multiple dogs eating it, taking it to and from school, and highlighting and circling all the best parts of chapter one ever since I was a kid and it was too hard of a book for me to read? You bet your ass. If I ever need inspiration I just reread chapter 1. Although one of my other favorites was Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes. But White Fang is like, a weirdly personal text. We stan London’s writing in this household.

YOU HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO KEEP ANY ANIMAL AS A PET, WHAT DO YOU CHOOSE FENNEC FOX!! I used to daydream about having my own named Shiloh when I was a lil kid. they’re adorable little things and i am obsessed. i mean, gimme any fox and im happy, marble foxes, red foxes… but I was obsessed with fennec foxes. Also tbh ferrets. I want a ferret.

TOP FIVE FICTIONAL SHIPS [IF YOU ARE AN RP BLOG, YOU CAN USE YOUR OWN SHIPS AS WELL] Rosa & @ninetyscnds‘s Luke, Rosa & @iimpulsivity is already screaming my name, Rosa & Constantine, Jesse & Andrea from Breaking Bad, and the joker and harley of 80s sci-fi Dan & Herbert from Re-Ani.  I am but a simple opossum. 

PIE OR CAKE Pie! I’ll take both pumpkin & melty apple over cake. also, cheesecake is more pie than cake soooo, pie wins.

FAVORITE SCENT my dogs / my blanket. :’)  It’s the most grounding smell in the world. 

CELEBRITY CRUSH oliver jackson-cohen, i’m fucking GAY and im angry about it. there i was, minding my own business, and i saw that asshole in a certain SHIRTLESS GIF and it AWOKE SOMETHING IN ME. dont talk to me about it, holy shit im obsessed with beardy men now god fuckkdafjaask i hate him why did he make me this gay i was perfectly fine being into girls but NOOOOOO him and his dumb hairy chest and sweet rugged face and I——  I also am obsessed with the archaeologist & television personality Josh Gates and may or may not be considering making a fan blog for him bc idk if my anthropology docuseries host is Dad or Daddy but i love him lots

IF YOU COULD TRAVEL ANYWHERE, WHERE WOULD YOU GO I would go on a dive with anthropologists and archaeologists doing fieldwork research in the ancient cenotes of the Yucatán Peninsula. My actual dream job, catch me crying & fantasizing about being underwater documenting Mayan skulls given as offerings. Fuckkkk, I love anthropology so much!!  take me anywhere in the world to immerse myself into culture & archaeology.

INTROVERT OR EXTROVERT Introvert. I have a real life friend I see roughly once a month, and that’s it. Plenty of online relationships, I’m chatty, message me all day every day. but i dont do people well.

DO YOU SCARE EASILY I used to! Really bad. I don’t as much anymore. I do get paranoia a lot still. Having therapists telling you that the FBI could be outside your house watching you through your windows will kind of nervous. ( no google results for: yes hello fbi i am a writer please dont put me on watchlists i just have research i need to do for this idea im working on, would you like to try again? ) I have nightmares nightly but not they never make me afraid, they just make me feel like crap. jumpscares and loud noises and seeing people reaching into their pockets dont set off as many brain alarms anymore tho!! progress haha.

IPHONE OR ANDROID I like my android better bc of capabilities but meh

DO YOU PLAY ANY VIDEO GAMES My mom, her husband & I play COD for family game night, and Silent Hill is my life’s blood. I’ve sunken hours into Sims & Skyrim, and Norman Jayden from Heavy Rain is my #1 fictional character in existence, why do i love the druggie babies

DREAM JOB Oh… You’re asking me to pick? I’d love to be an anthropologist doing work out in the field. Underwater archaeology is peak, but I’m also heavily considering being a body recovery diver or police diver. I’d love to see myself in uniform someday, if possible. Just the thought makes me teary eyed & proud.

WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH A MILLION DOLLARS fund my person creative & educational endeavors. get myself a spooky ass abandoned house to make my own home to create in, and travel to the world’s best dive sites. just live a mild life of education, creation & exploration. that’s the dream TM.

FICTIONAL CHARACTER YOU HATE dr. hill is a gross and whiny lil bitch this post brought to u by the miskatonic crew, how is everyone here an even worse bad guy than herbert west precious dan excluded talk shit get hit tho john winchester from spn and both walter white & todd from breaking bad are all in my crew of hated characters. i jusT…   the reani novel is difficult to read because i have to deal with this old sack of shit.

FANDOM THAT YOU WERE ONCE A PART OF BUT AREN’T ANY LONGER Supernatural :-)

… AND THIS CONCLUDES A DEEP DIVE WITH INDIGO!! //

[kittoforos]

i was tagged by @worldapprentice​! Thanks! (and thanks for the compliment)

1. Which language(s) do you know/are you learning?

My native language is American English, I know Russian well enough to blush but not deny it when people tell their friends i’m ‘fluent’, and I’m currently studying French! (in a low-key way which i plan to step up this winter... unless i end up doing German then. it depends on logistical factors tbh i like both languages a lot and would ultimately like to learn both i think). I took Spanish in school and I used to speak it decently, but I’ve forgotten almost all of it and want to get it back someday soon. And many more...

2. Why did you start learning these languages?

I started learning Russian to better understand the culture that gave rise to Russian and Soviet music, which I’ve always loved, and I keep studying it to understand poetry and complex prose... and complex politics...

3. Is English your native language? If not when did you learn it?

English is my native language, but that doesn’t mean i’m not still learning it!

4. What’s your favorite movie you’ve watched in your target language?

Oh, this is hard... “Русалка” (2007) probably? or “Большой” (2017). And i have a really soft spot in my heart for like, “Конец Санкт-Петербурга” (1927). And i mean, Tarkovsky is Tarkovsky, согласитесь

For French, Godart’s “La Chinoise” (1968), which i watched a few days ago. The Mao Mao song is still playing at the back of my head lmao lmao

For German, “Der Junge Karl Marx” (2017), which i watched on a plane...

I don’t remember as I’ve ever actually sat down and watched a movie in Spanish. Send me recommendations?

5. What’s your favorite word in every language you speak?

In English, i really love the word “conspiracy” for its etymology (i studied Latin in high school— literally it’s “breathing together”)

In Russian... hmm, i’ll have to think about this. Probably “неистовство”, because i’m in love with Vissarion Belinsky (and being able to pronounce it shows me how far i’ve come lol)

In Spanish, “estadounidense”, because i love being able to state my nationality without the vague imperialism of “american”. and like, “soñar”, because deep down i’m basic as all hell (and it’s a cognate with Russian).

In French, “orage” because i’m charmed that it comes from Latin “aura” (Latin influences my preferences more strongly than i thought, it seems) or “matin” because... i just like it. it reminds me of monasteries

In German (which i don’t speak lol), “Akkord”. that seems odd maybe but i’m a classical singer and i use this word a lot (many, many songs are in fact about songs— plus it’s the same word in Russian!) and i love how it sounds. Oft hat ein Seufzer, deiner Harf' entflossen, ein süßer, heiliger Akkord von dir...

6. What are your best resources to learn a language?

Native speaker friends!! and YouTube channels! and poems/music. I’m a very auditory learner, and if i hear how a word/phrase/grammatical structure sounds in a spoken/sung context i’m much more likely to remember it than if i’ve only read it on the page 

I have a couple of grammar books for Russian but honestly i very rarely use them. god bless викисловарь lmao. If i’m unsure about how to use a particular syntactical structure i usually just google a sentence with it the way i think is right and see if the results make sense. It’s a surprisingly effective method, once you get to the point where you can determine whether the results mean what you’re trying to say...

7. What language would you start studying right know?

Czech!

8. What country do you live in? What’s the official language of your country?

I live in the Unites States of America, which has no official language (contrary to popular belief...)

9. Tell us a moment when knowing another language turned out helpful.

I’ve had literally countless such moments since i got comfortable in Russian especially at border crossings and on public transport in unfamiliar central european cities/russian towns at night lol , both abroad and in the U.S. i’ve made tons of friends and important contacts from all over the place just because i speak Russian, and of course it’s vital for my academic work in Russian lit/history

and sometimes the little Latin and Spanish i learned in high school crop up in my life as well.

sometimes even my extremely weak knowledge of Irish has come in handy to express a specific feeling.

learning languages is basically never a waste of time.

10. How do you plan to use the languages you know/you are learning? (E.g. do you wanna be a translator, do you wanna teach others, etc)

I want to be an academic (research and teaching) in the field of Slavic languages and literatures and do a lot of translation, maybe some linguistic research too. and maybe in my heart of hearts i want to write poetry...

11. Do you have a different personality for every language? If yes, which one do you prefer?

i guess i’m more direct and more intense when i speak Russian, and my humor in Russian is maybe a little darker, more subtle, and much more literary/referential (whereas my English humor is, if i’m honest, mostly based around bad puns). i’ve also been told that i speak lower in my (already fairly low) vocal register in Russian than in English a lot of the time, although i suspect that that’s a factor of comfort. I speak at a higher pitch when i’m uncomfortable/trying to ingratiate myself with some (usually, although not always, male) authority, and Russian for me is kind of like the linguistic equivalent of a big soft grey blanket/coat in which i can wrap myself up and avoid a) accumulated angst related to the social stressors i grew up with, which are connected irrevocably to English as my native language and b) the emotional repercussions i would otherwise face for discussing certain things. i saw a study that said that’s true for most people who speak more than one language that they didn’t acquire simultaneously, it’s easier to talk about strong emotions and charged topics in L2. i’ve also only ever lived on my own in Russian, so to speak, which probably has something to do with it...