#distinct from the czechs i know i know

[ohsalome]

And I am once again reminding you that for centuries, Ukraine wasn't given its own voice in the world discourse. Our history, politics, culture were written by the people who colonised us and benefited from convincing the world (and us!) of a distorted picture. A good majority of information in English language that exists about Ukraine, that you believe to be the default knowledge of the world, is such distorted information. Because that is how russian propaganda work. They take a snippet of truth and blow it out of proportion and add a bouquet of lies to it and repeat it many-many times until you think that it is just basic information about the world that everyone knows.

No, Ukraine is not run by nazi. Ukraine has a non-zero percent of nazi population that is marginalized out of politics because their rhetoric is not relatable to the majority of the electorate, which leans towards socialistic populism and anarchism.

No, ukraine is not "brotherly nation" with russia. Antropoligically we belong to the same slavic family of nations that includes many other eastern europeans like czechs, polish, moldovan etc. There is no reason to select russians, belorussians and ukrainians into a distinct category that isn't political. The idea of "three brotherly nations" was literally created by a theologist Theofan Prokopovych as a part of philosophical justification to russian imperialism in the 19th century meaning of the word.

No, DNR and LNR are not "people's republics". They were created by russian army, run by the russian army and following the orders from the kremlin. Russis spent decades trying to create a dissident movement in the eastern Ukraine but failed and stepped down to brute force. Everything you see in the southern Ukraine now has happened in the east in 2014. The only difference is that y'all swallowed russian lies back then.

No, Crimea didn't have a "referendum to join russia". Russian soldiers occupied the peninsula, forced the politicians under the gunpoint to announce the referendum, and made sure that the results would be the ones they like. The native population of the peninsula, crimean tatars, that had been twice genocided by the russians in the past, boycotted the referendum. Despite making up only ~12% of the population, crimean tatar rallies were much more numerous than those of the russians in Crimea. The people who "supported" the "return of Crimea" were russian nationals, who moved to the peninsula after the ethnic cleansing of the native population and proclaimed that "it has always been theirs".

No, Ukraine doesn't have a "government-run kill list". Myrotvorets is (1) run by the volunteers, not the government, (2) is a database of pro-russian propagandists, and (3) hardly anyone on that database has been killed so far. FFS, our current first lady used to be in this database.

No, Ukraine didn't ban russian language. Ukraine has implemented laws that would help ukrainian book, music, film industry survive the competition with russian industry that has for many years monopolised our market. Ukraine has implemented the law that our politicians need to know ukrainian language if they want to hold office (this will sound surreal, but many didn't. Can you imagine such scenario in any other country? A spanish minister that doesn't speak spanish?). Ukraine has implemented a law that websites, advertisements published in foreign languages need to have the information accessible in ukrainian as well Ukraine has implemented laws that state that ukrainian citizens have a right to governmental service in Ukrainian. And if you bothered to open the law you criticise at least ONCE, you would have seen that every article has a clarification "the communication can happen in any language as long as both parties consent, but if the consumer requests to be served in ukrainian, the provider is obligated to respond to them in ukrainian".

No, Ukraine doesn't use the war as an excuse to repress the political opposition. The only people that have been "repressed" are the ones who have been colluding with ruZzia and have helped in organising the invasion of Ukraine. FFS one of those "poor oppositioners" is literally putin's godfather, and another visits russian tv channels agitating russians to nuke Kyiv. The proof against them is overwhelming and well-documented, and ukrainian civil society has been pressuring our government to stop them for literal years. Even today, many russian agents remain in governmental structures.

No, Euromaidan was not a "coup". It was a response of civil society to the police brutality and usurpation of power. We do not need white saviours to tell us that being beat up at peaceful protests is bad. We have enough agency to understand this without external help.

It's almost a year of this war. It's high time for people to stop spreading russian propaganda, especially if they claim to support Ukraine. I am yet to see a "both sides are wrong" argument that wasn't based on russian propaganda.

#ukraine #war in ukraine #russia #russian invasion of ukraine #politics #russo ukrainian war #russian propaganda

[puffein]

i'll be with you, someday

pairings: wanda maximoff x reader summary: even though you and wanda are continually entangled by fate while being in two distinct worlds, life and the challenges of dating a superhero outweighed fate's favors. warnings: fluff, angst word count: 3722 a/n: kaowjwekakak i am so nervous posting this. help, but i hope u enjoy reading this!! my first ficcc post :D

general masterlist

The first time you had met Wanda Maximoff was in the harsh breezy air of Europe, particularly a country located in the central-southeast. A small eastern country called Sokovia, tucked between Slovakia and Czech Republic, despite the country being small, the remnants of the bombings that happened years ago, were big enough to make the country gain attention from different countries especially their loud voices and public outcry in the streets of the country's capital city Novi Grad. 

The country was small but it gained the attention of every news network, particularly, yours. As a news reporter, life is not all about being shoved in a studio, making up a firm smile, and reading fast blurry lines on a small monitor. No, it's much more than that, it also means to get yourself shoved in dangerous matters. 

You wouldn't call the protests dangerous but as time passed by the cries were getting heated, louder, and the smoke was getting thick.

However, you cannot be phased by this. Not when a camera is steadily situated right in front of your face. 

"... organized protests on the streets of Novi Grad, the capital city of the country, Sokovia has been—" 

A fast whirring object flies past your shoulders as you flinch hard enough to toss yourself to the side. The object steadily launches itself on the big camera, glasses flying everywhere. Biting your lip to cut off whatever scream is bubbling in your chest, a gasp makes out of your trembling lips as a hand clasp tightly on your wrist. 

A girl–no, definitely a woman. The woman walks fast and hurriedly, she shoves you into an alleyway so far away from the crowd, the loud bearing of your chest was indescribable and suffocating.

"Why are Westerners so idiotic." her accented voice made your form straightened. 

Your brows furrowed rightfully at hers, "I am not—"

She puts up a hand, her brown hair tightly secured and gathered away from the curves of her face, you can see the sharp arches of her features, the prominent cheekbones sitting right on her cheeks going downwards. She glowers at you, "Get you and your camera away from here. If you want news, do it from a distance." 

You didn't know the woman you had met in Sokovia would stick up on your being for so long, but she did save you even after her blatant insults of you being careless and idiotic, which by the way is true. 

You didn't know that woman would shake the world with a much bigger coverage. 

Years later, you found yourself again in the country of Sokovia. A tip was passed by at your news network that something big will happen in the country and as the ever-loving favorite of your boss. He tossed you again in Europe, not caring if this tip was something like throwing you as a snack in a cage full of hungry wolves or in a simpler thought if it was even real.

But oh boy, you were wrong.

The tip was real. 

You would rather have yourself as a snack in a cage full of wolves than see yourself meters away from the ground. 

The capital city of Sokovia lifted itself off from the ground, screaming citizens blur the panic settling in your loud beating chest and the microphone you held against your chest trembles as it falls below you. A mistake was made when you looked down, the remaining parts of the city were no longer visible as clouds cleared off any vision of the city from below, the slight shaking of the ground pushed your weakened knees, shoving you face-front in the blue sky. 

Your voice reverberates loudly throughout the flying city, before you could fully fall and meet the end of your life, a wisping red smoke wraps itself on your hips pulling you far away from the edge of the city. 

The woman huffs out a breath, "You again?" 

"I don't —" 

And off she goes, running towards the panicking crowds, leaving your heaving chest and the shaking bones of your being in an alleyway. 

You thought that was the end of it all. 

It was the second time you have met her, and it was the second time you have come to learn her name. The name Wanda Maximoff.

The major event in Sokovia prompted you to shove a resignation letter to your fuming boss. Just a year after the traumatic event you had endured and the abuse you had experienced in your workplace, you are now a diligent owner of a small coffee shop.

Tucked between the nicely scented flower shop and an old apartment, your coffee shop was the only source of income you have. After resigning and possibly giving up the dream of becoming a news anchor, you had hoped this coffee shop would be enough to feed the starving energy of your impossible dream. 

"Hello, what can I do—"

Green eyes stared right at your soul, her eyes darted away to read the menu placed at the top of your head, a tinge of red blossoms at her cheeks, "What can you recommend?"

Clearing your throat, you shoved down the squeal bubbling in the depth of your chest, "Our cinnamon coffee has well-received feedbacks."

It's been a year since she saved you for the second time, you badly want to say your gratitude to her. To form coherent thoughts with words full of appreciation for her works and her bravery.

She nods, the dark green cap she's wearing hides half of her face but you see the slight twitch of the corners of her mouth. Her hand full of rings taps lightly on her thighs as she awaits for the coffee to go. 

When her coffee arrived, your breathing quickens at the brisk touch of her thumbs over the side of your fingers. She mutters a small thank you and you are faced with the fleeing form of a woman called Wanda Maximoff.

That should be the end, right? Meeting a superhero so frequently as you had met her is not normal. 

Not when she frequently buys coffee in your coffee shop, the same order she had brought when she very first set foot on your small premises. 

The frequent visit she had made you confused about the blossoming crush you are having with the Sokovian. Your interactions with her are no longer than 30 seconds, it consisted of asking what she wants, you would ask her how she was and she would curtly reply with a one-liner and it made you awkward. You are just doing your job. Why are you being awkward when it comes to her?

When she would come on her fifth visit, you promised yourself to take the courage to finally talk to her for longer than 30 seconds. So, when she comes in the early mornings of New York, wearing a cap over her head, and a coat that works wonders on her overall appearance, your courage wavers slightly. 

And it wavers greatly when a redhead trails behind the brown-haired woman.

The black widow flickers her eyes on your gaping form, a slight twitch of a grin plasters on her face as she walks beside Wanda towards you, carrying an aura no one could top off. 

"Hello," you cursed yourself for making your voice shake in a very obvious manner. "What can I get for you today?"

The redhead glances at the younger woman beside her, and a smirk beams out of the sharp edges of her face, "Oh, we are not here to order." the widow casually says. 

Bumping the back of her hand to the sides of a silent woman beside her, the widow only gives you a smile as she shoves Wanda painfully close to the counter. 

Wanda curses, "How are you?" she winces at the word.

You look between the grinning redhead and the woman who has a red face, you give out a confused smile, "I am good, Wanda. How are you?"

"Jesus." the widow curses under her breath, gliding her feet towards Wanda's as she kicks it in passion. 

Knees wavering from the sudden kick, Wanda exclaims the words, "Fuc— Can I take you out on a date?" 

And that's how you got yourself a superhero girlfriend. 

It's been months since Wanda started dating you, you were everything she could have asked for, you bring out the radiant glow of the sun, your love is like a breeze tinged with the smell of the sea, and the touches you had made with her are anchors of her shaking boats. You calm the crashing waves of her life.

She knew what she was bringing to you after she had asked you out on a date. But she wants to have something, she wants to be selfish just this once. 

"What are you cooking?" your voice made its way into her ears, a big grin plaster automatically on her face.

Wanda turns her head over her shoulders, lowering herself slightly to catch the height of your lips. She hears the humming of your voice as her tongue darts leisurely on your bottom lip.

You grin, pulling away to wrap your hands around her middle section, "Smells good by the way." you mutter, kissing her shoulder. 

Wanda laughs, "I am only heating the food Nat brought last night, is that okay?" 

She feels the nod of your head against her shoulder, your cheeks pressed up tightly against it as she sighs at the comforts of your warm body. 

"How was the interview?" she finally asks.

You were silent for the first few seconds, "It was fine, I think."

Wanda can hear the doubt in your voice and the loud ringing of your thoughts, she fully turns herself to look at you. Her hands placed tenderly on your cheeks, "I just knew you rocked that interview."

After months of pondering if you should continue the dream you had thrown for the safety of your being, you had concluded that one bad news network is not equal to all of them. So, you prompted yourself in an interview to get the dreams you had let go.

"Rocked.." you ponder on the word, Wanda rolls her eyes with fondness pooling deep in her chest. "Definitely."

"But seriously, you will get this job. I just knew it. You are passionate and hardworking. Any news network would be lucky to have you, baby, you should know that." you beamed at her words, tiptoeing to kiss her properly.

"What would I do without you?" you quietly said between the kisses.

"Probably alone and starving, detka." she grins, biting playfully on your lip as you groan at the stinging pain. 

Relationship with Wanda was beautiful, like the scenery out of a postcard. But not everything is beautiful, every relationship passes by a rocky road that will either tumble the couple down or help them grow. 

So, when the absence of her presence in your life became more prominent as days passed by into months, you knew something was wrong. 

You are clearly informed of her work, of how everything was confidential but that did not stop the constricting pain your heart felt when she would go like a ghost and would come back like nothing had happened. Like she didn't just leave you all alone with no words.

You do not know where you and Wanda are placed. 

Are you two being tumbled down? or is this another thing that would help build the bonded relationship you two have?

When you woke up in the middle of the night only to have your eyes focused on a slumped form in the middle of the kitchen, the words came blaring down like an ambulance. 

"Jesus, are you okay?" kneeling in front of her, you tuck your hands in her arms to pull her up. 

Your hands go limp as she pushes you away, "Hurts, let me be here. It'll pass." she croaks out, eyes closed tightly. 

Your eyes scan the heavy movement of her chest, the stained shirt she wore does not make your chest calm. You lean in again, your hands hovering over the blood pooling at the side of her body, she grabs your wrist tightly, "I told you, it will pass."

When she opened her eyes to see the glistening eyes of yours, filled with unshed tears, her heart broke. She forces herself to sit up, biting her tongue hard to keep the scream of pain for herself. "Detka, I promise. I will be fine. I had it checked before coming here, just forgot to change, okay?" 

You nod at her words, blinking a few times to calm the beating of your heart.

"But you have to rest on the bed, not here." 

"I know, baby. Just give me a few minutes, hm? And I'll be there beside you, go." 

When you didn't move after her words, Wanda smiled at you, "I'll be with you, I promise. Please." 

And you left her alone with her pain, just like every other night.

Wanda would rather suffer in silence than make you see the pain scattering all over her body. She does not want your eyes to scan her battered body, it will break her to see you sob just because she has been careless on a mission. 

It was not worth it.

Her actions shouldn't weigh down on your stability and as every mission piles one after another, it becomes more dangerous, more eye-opening. 

She didn't want to admit it but what she has been asking from you was unfair. Asking you to leave her alone after making you see the bruises on her face or the remnants of the mission was unfair to you. She cannot just let you see she's suffering and pushes you away. 

But that was the only thing she could do. She would rather be choosing that option over and over again than choosing the choice of completely leaving you. No more sights of bruises, no more her and you.

Wanda lets herself be selfish once more.

When the light rays of the sun push itselves through the windows of your small apartment, you wake up with the soft lips of your significant other. 

Peppering your face with soft kisses, Wanda kneels at the side of your bed, leaning down once more to kiss your forehead, "Wake up, detka. I made breakfast." 

You stirred in your sleep, hands reaching out to touch the cheeks of Wanda but hovered on top of it, halting your movements.

Wanda frowns. 

You opened your eyes, "Is it gonna hurt if I touch it?" you point out a bruise on her cheekbones, Wanda stills at your question. Her heart plummeted at your fragile quiet voice. 

She nods slowly, "You can touch anywhere, sweetheart. I am fine now, I visited the med bay while you slept, everything is fine." 

You sit up on your bed, shaking off the sleep in your eyes, you stare at her. "Can I kiss you?"

Wanda smiles, leaning in, "You don't have to ask." 

Meeting your lips halfway with the warm feeling of the cascading sunlight on her back was something Wanda wants to have for the rest of her life. The soft feeling of your lips against her, the smell of coffee, you. Everything is perfect for her.

And she knows a perfect person like you wouldn't last with a person so imperfect like her.

The bruises on Wanda's face were not halfway cured when she was asked again to go on a mission. It was still purple and swollen when she heard the call from Steve. A mission to infiltrate a newly discovered base of Hydra. It was located somewhere in Europe, it was miles away from New York, miles away from you.

It was just another day of you and Wanda lounging in the walls of your apartment, the chilling icy-cold air of the night felt sharp on your skin, her face was still healing from her past mission when she suddenly excuses herself to answer the taunting ringing of her phone. 

She had kissed your forehead before walking away to give herself privacy and the kiss that felt comforting before weighs down indescribably in the depths of your chest.

You watch the frowning of her brows, how she nibbles her bottom lip to how the muscle in her jaw twitches as her head bobs in something that was being discussed on her phone.

You look away, eyeing the show you two have been watching, the voices on it fading out. You knew what was coming and you should be accustomed to it by how frequently she leaves for her job but it did not make it easier for you, it just became harder. 

Her presence came like a tidal wave, scooting herself closer to your form as her hand snaked around your waist pulling you flushed on her. She kisses the side of your head slowly, her lips lingering on your warm skin.

You sigh, leaden feelings set heavily on your chest, "You're leaving, again?"

Wanda gulps the remaining bitter taste in her mouth, nudging your cheeks with her nose, "I'm sorry."

"It's fine." you snap. You didn't mean to make your voice let out the feelings you have thrust down on your chest. But it did and it's like the small crack of an incoming big wave from a dam that's been left too full.

Wanda grips your waist, resting her forehead on your shoulders, she breathes in the scent you had emitted, "I'll be back before you'll know it, baby."

"You always say that and yet, you always come home months after." you ground your jaw hard and painful as Wanda snapped her mouth shut. 

She lets you hear the silence of her essence, the slow breathing from her lungs, the flowery scent she has. She lets you have it, for she knows the truth of your words. 

"I'm sorry," she starts, smoothing the skin on your waist. "I'll be back." 

"How long do I have to believe that?" your voice wavered, any control you have left for clutching your feelings in your grasp is now gone. The feelings you had been feeling ran out of your mouth fast and heavy. 

"I'll always be back, when did I lie, Y/N?" Wanda replies.

"How long till you just finally don't? I have seen you hurt so many times, Wanda. I don't want to see your dead body or– or do I even have the right to see it if it happens or will it be confidential?" you moved away from her, hugging yourself as you felt the heavy material of her sweater, making you feel more miserable.

"Don't think that." Wanda's voice was firm and hardened. 

"I always think that! What do you think my thoughts will be after you have walked away to offer yourself in such dangerous missions." your throat closes up instantly, a sob breaking out of your mouth, 

"You– you, you can read minds, how come you have never known I was hurting?" 

Wanda's green eyes gleamed with sadness at your outburst. Do you have to ask such an obvious question?

Of course, she had known. She had always known how much she was weighing you down, how these frequent absences of hers are taking a toll on you mentally and emotionally. She does not want to acknowledge how she's taking the life out of you, how day by day your eyes have lost their light, just because of her. 

She turns a blind eye to all of that. She always did.

She deserves to be a little more selfish, right?

So, she cradles your cheeks tenderly, your eyes burning with grief at a loss that you know will happen.

"It's gonna be fine, I will be back, I promise. Please, stop crying." she wipes your tears gently, the padding of her thumbs gliding smoothly below your eyes. She leans in to kiss it, shuddering at the wetness she felt on her lips.

"I'll be with you, baby. Please, stop. I'll be—" Wanda's lips instantly pressed together as you yank your figure away from her tight grasp. 

Pacing away from her, your brows creased in apprehension, "It's either be with me or le— work." the timbres of your voice falters.

"I can't be here, with you. You had lost everything, Wanda. Why do you want to lose yourself? You have saved many, it's okay to stop." your voice pleaded.

Wanda's eyes swam with tears as she finally felt the cracking of the ground, the awareness of the reality that was unfolding before her eyes didn't feel real. 

She didn't want it to feel real yet as her eyes settled on your dishevelled state everything came crashing down on her hard and excruciatingly painful.

She took a step forward, and with her shaky hands, she took your cold ones and brought it to her trembling lips. "Everything will be fine, please don't do this," she begged.

"I am so tired of crying myself to sleep. I have forgotten what it's like to have a mind so peaceful, Wanda. But my mind is far from peace if you are away from me," the vision you had before is long gone, replaced by a blurry sight of tears and heartbreak. "I am just asking you to stay. To choose yourself, to choose us and stay." 

"Please, don't make me choose."

"Then, leave." 

The hands grasped tightly on yours stilled. Wanda froze in front of you, her wide eyes staring directly at yours, she looks for a sign that you're gonna take back the words you have sputtered, that everything is just a mistake on your part but when you remained grounded, and when you let her hear the loudness of your silence, her face contorted in pain at your words. 

She felt the walls closing in on her.

"Baby, detka, I have no—"

"You have asked me to not let you choose. That is an answer, Wanda." your voice quivered, and you whisk your hands away from her hold.

"Leave, I'm sure Steve will appreciate your early arrival." you turned your back to the woman you will be mourning, chest leaden with grief-stricken feelings as you grieve for the loss of your love.

And you left her alone with her pain, just like every other night.

general masterlist

#wanda maximoff #wanda x reader #wanda x you #wanda maximoff x female reader #wanda maximoff x fem!reader #wanda maximoff fluff #wanda maximoff angst #wanda maximoff fanfiction #wanda maximoff x y/n #wanda maximoff oneshot #wanda maximoff fanfic #wanda maximoff x reader #marvel fanfiction #mcu oneshot #wanda maximoff x gender neutral reader #wanda maximoff imagine #wanda maximoff x you

[murakamijeva-muza]

“The Greek word for "return" is nostos. Algos means "suffering." So nostalgia is the suffering caused by an unappeased yearning to return. To express that fundamental notion most Europeans can utilize a word derived from the Greek (nostalgia, nostalgie) as well as other words with roots in their national languages: añoranza, say the Spaniards; saudade, say the Portuguese. In each language these words have a different semantic nuance. Often they mean only the sadness caused by the impossibility of returning to one's country: a longing for country, for home. What in English is called "homesickness." Or in German: Heimweh. In Dutch: heimwee. But this reduces that great notion to just its spatial element. One of the oldest European languages, Icelandic (like English) makes a distinction between two terms: söknuour: nostalgia in its general sense; and heimprá: longing for the homeland. Czechs have the Greek-derived nostalgie as well as their own noun, stesk, and their own verb; the most moving, Czech expression of love: styska se mi po tobe ("I yearn for you," "I'm nostalgic for you"; "I cannot bear the pain of your absence"). In Spanish añoranza comes from the verb añorar (to feel nostalgia), which comes from the Catalan enyorar, itself derived from the Latin word ignorare (to be unaware of, not know, not experience; to lack or miss), In that etymological light nostalgia seems something like the pain of ignorance, of not knowing. You are far away, and I don't know what has become of you. My country is far away, and I don't know what is happening there. Certain languages have problems with nostalgia: the French can only express it by the noun from the Greek root, and have no verb for it; they can say Je m'ennuie de toi (I miss you), but the word s'ennuyer is weak, cold -- anyhow too light for so grave a feeling. The Germans rarely use the Greek-derived term Nostalgie, and tend to say Sehnsucht in speaking of the desire for an absent thing. But Sehnsucht can refer both to something that has existed and to something that has never existed (a new adventure), and therefore it does not necessarily imply the nostos idea; to include in Sehnsucht the obsession with returning would require adding a complementary phrase: Sehnsucht nach der Vergangenheit, nach der verlorenen Kindheit, nach der ersten Liebe (longing for the past, for lost childhood, for a first love).” ― Milan Kundera, Ignorance

#milan kundera #milan kundera quote #quote #quotes #nostalgia #nostalgic #ignorance #milan kundera ignorance #quotations #book quotes #book quote #book quotations #literature #etymology #word origins #longing #word play #yearning #word #words #word meaning #meaning #nostalgia meaning

[hero-israel]

Speaking as a Jewish leftist, I've always noticed antisemitic leftists constantly shift the goalposts when it comes to our ethnic background. I'll see them constantly calling Ashkenazim white but when I see people providing pictures of Ashkenazim who don't look white at all these same people will scream about how you're cherry picking. Like huh?? You claim all Ashkenazim are white... Then cry cherry picking when you're shown Ashkenazim that don't fit whatever imagine of Ashkenazim you've conjured up in your head??

I'm not even Ashkenazim (I'm Sephardic) but it's something I've seen A LOT; especially on Twitter. It's so g-ddamn annoying. It definitely leaves me feeling alienated; even more so because I'm also Indigenous.

I assume you mean pictures like these? My grandfather was born on an actual shtetl in Poland, and he was a spitting-image lookalike for Hafez Assad.

American leftists really struggle with the concept of ethnicity, with there being any groupings beyond their own idiosyncratic color-binarist categories. The same people who constantly lecture about how we need to learn so much from European politics seem not to grasp that Europe is structured to recognize Germans and Russians and whatnot as distinct ethnicities, not to know or care why Czechs and Slovaks got a two-state solution.

What is especially infuriating is when these leftists screamed bloody murder when Jews gained inclusion under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as an ethnic group of ultimately Mediterranean origin. From their startpoint that Jews aren't "real," that we are strictly a religion to believe or not-believe, not a people or a nation to belong to, they saw Trump manufacturing a nonexistent ethnic component for Jews to make it easier to exterminate us (through the well-known "actually, kill these people" subclause of the Civil Rights act of 1964). I had a recent very unpleasant conversation with a Jewish leftist friend who had never heard of Tay-Sachs and who repeatedly insisted that I must have misunderstood a report about some other group.

These same leftists will of course recognize Arabs as "real," even though under U.S. law Arabs have been categorized as white for over a century.

[havana-syndrom]

A galery of bad choices

My very short EESU fanfiction, involving my beloved boys Erhardt and Radím. @dresden-syndrome's OCs A little peek into Radíms life written by yours truly.

cw: violence, captivity

_____________

This was already a bad day. Radím could feel something was off from the moment he woke up. He felt tense this whole week, but… when was the last time he felt any different in this never ending nightmare.

To make matters worse it seemed like Erhardt got up on the wrong side of bed too. And, as always, he made it Radíms problem. Any other day he would’ve just absorbed it, finished his chores quickly and disapear from his owners sight.

But not today.

Radím felt anger bubbling within his veins. Despite his best efforts, his owner didn’t let him catch a breath. The air was stiff and the collar around his neck felt like a noose. He learned very soon to just bite his tongue and do as he’s told, the consequences of a slightest disobedience were visible for weeks. Radím didn't want to get beaten again, knowing  just how much Günther loved every oportunity to hurt him and even more so putting his handiwork on display for everyone to see. A gallery of bad choices.

Another round of degrading remarks showered Radím like an acid rain. With the last insult ringing in his ears, Radíms eyes clouded with rage. For a brief moment he lost control and a quiet curse slipped pass his clenched teeth.

'Bolševická svině’ he hissed under his breath. (bolshevik swine)

A wave of relief washed over him, that single speckle of rebellion made him feel like he still didn't loose his personhood.

His bliss was cut short by panicked yelp as Erhardt grabbed his collar and yanked him back. Radíms heart raced as he was forced to meet his owners gaze, the dark eyes bore into his, sending shivers down his spine. Slight twitch of Günthers nose hinted what emotions were lurking under the unexpresive mask.

The boys blood froze as he heard a sentence in perfect Czech.

'Zopakuj to.' (say that again)

Life flashed before Radíms eyes, his tiny heart hammered against his ribcage like a captured bird. His voice got caught in his throat, paralysed by the suffocating doom.

The boys train of thought was violently stopped and so was his ability to breathe. With a cruel twist of a wrist Günther hoisted him up by the collar. Radím was forced to his tiptoes, desperately trying to alleviate some pressure crushing his windpipe.

Erhardt sneered at the sight of his pet trashing like a fish out of water, frantically clawing onto the leather collar in desperate attempt to free himself. Radím dug his nails into the hand holding his collar, trying to pry it away, which only prompted Erhardt to lift him up a bit more.

Radíms feet barely touched the ground, his hands clenched the leather mercilessly constricted around his neck. Darkness creeping from the corners of his eyes only accelerated the boys panic. Tiny blips of light danced around his vision as he struggled against the iron grip of his cruel master.

The room was filled with sounds of choking and gurgling. After a solid minute, a dull thud echoed through the concrete walls, shortly followed by violent cough and laboured wheezing.

Radíms attempt to get off the ground was met with a forceful kick in the ribs. The boy whined like a dog as sharp pain shot through his body. He wanted to crawl away but Erhardt quickly stomped on the leash, preventing any further escape attempts.

'Worthless rat.'

Radim was forced back to the cold floor by the crushing weight of Günters military boot on his back. He squirmed under the weight of the man menacingly looming over him.

‚…ungrateful vermin.‘

The malice seeping from his masters words made the young man tremble. Radíms eyes widened in horror when he heard a distinct click of Günters thick belt coming undone.

'I will teach you humility'

#hello #whump community #enjoy this nutritious meal #EESU #Erhardt Günther #Radím Štušek #truly a divine combination #military whump #totalitarian #whump

[mybeingthere]

Noemi Conan, born in Warsaw, Poland in 1987. Lives and works in London tells"

"I was born in Warsaw but raised in a small town in the West of Poland called Boleslawiec, also known as Bunzlau, which is quite close to the German-Czech border and is known for its distinctive ceramic decoration. It's a small town, probably 40,000 to 50,000 inhabitants. I was a teenager when Poland joined the EU and quite a lot of people left. I remember it as a town with just children, old people, and single mums because everyone else who could’ve left to work somewhere that paid better, did so as soon as it was possible. I had left Poland on occasions when I’d go to work in other European countries over the summer and then return home for school or university during the academic year. I would spend all of my summers in the Netherlands or Germany, working picking strawberries or tulips, or working in horrible cafes. But I officially moved away in 2015.

I only started painting aged 30, before which I spent a lot of my time in the usual, low-skilled jobs that migrants do. I left Poland aged 21 and travelled around Europe, spending a year in Norway working as a flight attendant for RyanAir - legends.

During this time I was based in Oslo where it's not quite 24 hours of sunshine, but the sun would set at 11pm, it would be dark for two hours and then it would be bright again. I didn’t mind the winters so much, I guess being from the Northern Hemisphere you acclimatise to going to work in the dark and coming home in the dark. But having sunlight both day and night in the summer was extreme and really messed with my head. Over the summers I became rather neurotic but I didn’t really think about it much until later when I saw an Edvard Munch exhibition with those weird green skies. They are usually winter-scapes but the sickliness of the sky immediately transported me back to that crazy year in Norway where I wasn’t sleeping because I didn’t know how to deal with the sunlight continually blaring through the windows. It's a weird environment to be thrown into." Continue

[bogkeep]

foreign country ask game: 8, 29, 18?

8. do you get confused with other nationalities? if so, which ones and by whom?

every scandinavian gets confused with which scandinavian country they're from, so i've been mistaken for swedish or danish by Everyone Outside Of Scandinavia plenty of times haha. also finnish - when i worked a couple summer seasons at a café up in northern norway, all of my coworkers were finns and a lot of the bus drivers and visitors were finns, so they all spoke finnish at me assuming i too, would understand.

an interesting twist is how many norwegians have thought i'm foreign! which is half true, since my mother is czech and i speak the language and all that, but a lot of people have had some kind of HMMM YOU DON'T SEEM FULLY NORWEGIAN WHERE ARE YOU FROMMMMM attitude towards me. is it the autism? sometimes it's because people don't understand how my name is theodor and think it must be a feminine name in another language. so it goes. maybe it's the dialect thing, which leads me to -

18. do you speak with a dialect of your native language?

i do! norway has really distinct and diverse dialects which makes anyone speaking Correct Bokmål sound like an alien (oslo isn't real. oslo can't hurt me). where i was born, the Far North, has a very distinct and beautiful dialect that has a saami/finnish lilt to it, but since my family moved south when i was like 4 years old i wasn't able to hold on to it. this can probably be said for every archetypical norwegian dialect, but the trøndelag area dialect is often imitated for comedic purposes and it always felt to me like it doesn't get taken very seriously and just got this unfortunate vibe to it. when Baby Haiz tried to pick up on a lot of words and sounds from local kindergarteners, adults tended to point out changes in my speech which made me really self-conscious about it, which in turn made me try to NOT pick up on the dialect, leading me with a sort of washed out trønder dialect with traces of northern influence and a LOT of internalized shame about it. didn't help when middle school classmates would laugh at me for the way i intonated words like 'corn' or something. AUTISM NIGHTMARE. everyone from the south read me as a trønder, people in trøndelag can be a bit 50/50 on it, and people from northern norway somehow clock my remnants of finnmarking. and i just repeat 'hæ?' at everyone regardless where they're from because i've got ~*Auditory Processing Disorder*~

29. does your region/city have a beef with another place in your country?

not that i know of tbh! i do think northern norway as a whole harbors some easily warranted bitterness from being neglected by the government in the south and having to suffer stupid political decisions made by people in oslo who have no idea what it's like up there, but that's... normal country stuff probably hahaha

#thanks for the asks!

[trainsinanime]

For the ask game: Do you think RL railway enthusiasts are comparable to internet fandom?

Yeah absolutely. Now, it's not identical to say an anime or French TV show fandom, it has its own expressions and experiences and industry behind it; it's comparable to internet fandom in the same way that sports or car enthusiasts are comparable to internet fandom. Very different, and yet very much the same.

Railway enthusiasts have their own unofficial fan lingo. If I talk about a shed, a Ludmilla, a Quietschie (squeaky), a Hamster, Taurus, Ferkeltaxi (piglet cab), Swiss crocodile, or similar, those are all trains and many rail fans will know exactly which ones I mean (I have all of those on my model railroad, except for a "shed" because those are just ugly).

Rail fans also have fan art, most famously in the form of model railroads which can be anything from fun toys to intricate pieces of artistic expression, but also drawings, paintings, classical music (thanks Arthur Honegger) and so on. Train photography is also a huge field. I used to do lots of that.

And these subcultures intersect, but aren't identical. There are plenty of model railroaders who don't care about actual railroads at all, and vice versa. In model railroading, it's also divided by which scale or scales you have. I use N gauge, the smallest practical one (Z heads you know I'm right), and someone who models European 0 gauge - I really have almost no point of contact with them. Let alone American O gauge (yes, one's the number, the other is the letter), with their Lionel and third rail, that's a part of the hobby that is a complete mystery to me.

You also absolutely get big fan events. I sat out the ones in Friedrichshafen and Leipzig, but I was at the one in Göppingen this year, which was simultaneously massive and one of the smaller ones I've seen. It's not the same as a "fandom con", there is nobody there cosplaying a Czech freight car (well, except for me), and there are no autograph sessions for famous creators (except for Hagen von Ortloff sometimes), but you do see (invited) clubs bring their model railroads. There are also a lot of shops around for model railroad stuff and railroad memorabilia. My personal favorite: The bin at the Lemke stand. I got some really fun stuff there, including e.g. the Quietschie.

Compared to internet fandoms, the whole thing tends to skew older; the median rail fan is a retired white man. There are also more classic infrastructures, like official clubs with official meeting hours and so on. Not really my style, to be honest, but it exists. It's also a field where classic printed publications still hold a lot of sway, some aimed at fans of the real thing, some aimed at model railroaders, some at both, some at specific sections of any of these groups.

That being said, there is also a huge internet component. I'm not really active there, because e.g. the Drehscheibe-Online forum is incredibly interesting but also every other thread devolves into a flame war immediately. But it is a huge thing.

Rail fan culture doesn't necessarily look like the thing that came out of Star Trek fanzines to bulletin boards to eventually Tumblr pipeline, it has its own distinct history and expressions. But at the end of the day it is the same thing: We narrativise the things we're interested in, and we identify with them, and we seek others who we can share that with. And that sparks creativity, and it sparks people who try to make money off of it, and it absolutely sparks flame wars and people identifying with certain teams and so on. It's fun!

#trains #railroads #fandom #rail fan #does this answer the question? I feel like I've just been rambling #no current plans to buy a shed but if Kato re-releases theirs in the red crossrail livery I might start to wonder

[luulapants]

hi! wondering if ur still doing the etymology of names? if u r, i’d love to hear about the name marian :-)

Marian is a great example of convergent evolution in a name - that is, two or more names with distinct sources that came to be spelled and pronounced the same way. There are lots of examples of this phenomenon, but the vast majority are simple one-syllable nicknames. In this way, Marian is unusual.

The first road to Marian comes from the Hebrew Miriam. This is the root version of the bountiful "Mary" family tree, which the Virgin Mary has come to dominate in consciousness. In fact, that Mary would have called herself Maryam, the Aramaic version and a popular name for Jewish girls. The oldest known Miriam was the sister of Moses, which means it was probably based on an Egyptian name, though the origin is uncertain. The most likely meaning is "loved" or "beloved." Miriam became the New Testament Greek Maria, as it was preserved in many European languages, except for French which took Marie, from which Mary was derived. Marian comes not from Mary, however, but from Marion, a French nickname of Marie. As a Medieval-era name, it's hard to gauge its history of popularity exactly, but Maid Marian, a 1500s addition to the Robin Hood legends, appears in records of May Day celebrations before she became the love interest of the Prince of Thieves. We know her name was derived from Miriam because she is also linked to a 1300s French story of Robin et Marion.

Our second route to Marian comes to us from a pagan source - the distinctly masculine Roman god of war, Mars. This became a Roman given name in the form of Marius, Marinus, and Marianus, male names, as well as the feminine version, Mariana. Czech, Polish, and Romanian all take their version of Marian, both male and female, from Marianus, probably thanks to St. Marianus of Bardowick, an 8th century deacon killed by pagans during Charlemagne's conquest and forcible conversion to Christianity of the Saxon region.

Due to their identical spelling, both Marians are tracked together in usage records. Before the start of modern baby name record keeping, we know that both have been popular in their respective spheres - Eastern and Western Europe - for a very long time, with the Roman version being slightly older. In the US, Marian was in the top 300 from the time that records began in 1880, peaking at 64 in 1924, until a sudden, steady, and ultimately calamitous decline which began in 1955. I want to show you this portion of the ranking chart, because I find this fascinating:

As you can see, there was a small spike in usage in 1954 immediately before the decline began. I would probably attribute this to Disney's 1952 The Story of Robin Hood. What we see in the chart is a backlash effect common after a sudden surge in name popularity: suddenly everyone is naming their baby Marian and it's "too popular" or seen as a fad name. What's particularly interesting here, though, is that this was already an exceptionally popular name! That peak was nowhere near the 1920s popularity of Marian. However, it makes more sense if you look at a different visualization - "number of times used" rather than ranking.

Why is the jump so much more pronounced here? Well, look at the timing. This was the start of the baby boom. In that context, a backlash effect makes more sense.

Outside the US, baby name rankings are not so extensive, so we can only see hints that we can infer from. Marian had a similar 1950s spike in the UK and Wales. In the Czech republic, Marian is popular only as a boys' name, which became popular in the 1940s and fell of the charts in 2012. In Spain, Marian was popular for boys from '55-'95, at which point it became popular for girls and not boys. These days, it does not seem to be particularly popular anywhere.

Thanks, Disney!

#names #asks

[ohsalome]

I was watching a video about history of Shcendryk, which would be more familiar to you as "Carol of the bells", and I am so upset about not knowing enough about the history of this song. As you know, it was popularised in 1919 by the choir of Oleksandr Koshyts touring the Europe and USA. The beginning of the 20th century is also a time when the Ukraine as a country we know today was being born, and ukrainian politicians in Europe were struggling to gain allies against russia which wanted to keep Ukraine all to itself as a colony. Despite our best attempts, noone took us seriously back then. And this choir tour was the thing that helped europeans understand that we really are our own people, distinct from russians, and capable of our own subjectivity.

Just read these two quotes written before the tour and after it.

As you know, before the arrival of the Ukrainian Republican Chapel, the Czechs were supporters of a united indivisible Russia, and they looked at our separatism as a betrayal. Moskowites managed to convince the Czechs that we do not exist, that we are russians. So, I talked with Jaroslav Křička for several hours about various topics. But he did not even want me to speak to him in Ukrainian, and only at his request I spoke to him in Russian. After several hours of conversation with him, I got the impression that I could not convince him of the appropriateness of our [national] competition, and so we parted.

Joseph Pelensky - Ukrainian historian, art historian, professor, full member of the National Academy of Sciences.

And this quote is from article written by that very man critical to the idea of ukrainian national identity after he visited the concert:

It is hard for the hand to write criticism when the heart sings praise. Ukrainians came and won. I think that we knew little about them and hurt them greatly when we unconsciously and without information united them against their will with the Russian people. Our desire for a great and indivisible Russia is a weak argument against the nature of the whole Ukrainian people.

Jaroslav Křička - Czech composer, bronze medalist of the Olympic Games in the Art Competition.

Not much really changed during this century, didn't it?

#ukraine #ukrainian history #ukrainian culture #ukrainian music #art #art history #music #music history #carol of the bells #christmas music #christmas

[theraddishhouse]

Obligatory Explanation Post

This is my long explanation of how my oc, Radek Antonov, is involved in The Owl House both episode wise and generally in the story. I’m putting it under a cut for when it pops up on people’s dashboards, but it’ll be linked in a pinned post on my blog later.

I’ll also put my TWs here.

While The Owl House remains pretty unchanged in its usual TWs, Radek’s backstory and relationships might be upsetting for some people. There’s mentions and descriptions of relationship abuse (emotional/verbal/physical), physical injuries, religious trauma, house burning, and death. Please read at your own discretion.

This isn’t a formal AU. I haven’t changed anything fundamental about the story aside from my character, Radek’s, involvement. “The Raddish House” is just a joke you don’t have to call it that.

Radek is a mild self insert. Obviously IRL I’m not a 9 foot tall witch from the boiling isles. But, a lot of aspects of Radek’s character are just exaggerated personality traits I have, and a lot of his experiences are similar to mine or metaphors for things I’ve gone through. For this reason, Radek is very very personal to me.

Alright now lets get to the fun stuff shall we?

Basic Information

First things first, Radek Antonov is bigender and uses any pronouns, including neos. This isn’t terribly relevant to the story but it’s fun! Radek is intended to be Czech-coded, obviously not actually czech because they’re a witch from the boiling isles, but yeah. Radek also has PTSD, which I also have.

I use he/him pretty consistently throughout this document to avoid confusion when referring to Radek.

Season 2

I want to cover how Radek appears in the show before going into his backstory since I think that’s basically how it’d work if he was actually in the show. These are rough outlines, not entirely “this is exactly how the episode would go”.

Debut Episode - “A White-Eyed Witch”

Summary: Luz and Eda seek out an old witch in the woods who might have ties to the human realm, but not everything is as it seems.

It opens on a scene similar to the ones from Phillip’s journals - but it’s not Phillip. A person named Radek claims to have taken his journal for the evening to detail what he’s about to do. In the shadow puppets, he has long hair and six fingers. He claims to be looking for something “Phillip deeply desires,” although Radek expresses doubts about the purpose of it or or even the likelihood it exists. The text ends with Radek wishing Phillip would even wish him good luck.

Eda and Luz realize Radek was likely one of Phillip’s “companions” on his adventures, though Eda expresses some confusion. An old house in the woods belongs to an Exiled Witch by the name of Radek, and after some convincing from Luz, they decide to visit him under the assumption he’s related to the witch in Phillip’s journal, as Eda remembers him having six fingers.

When they arrive, the house is dark but clearly not abandoned, just a little weathered. Decor lines the porch of the house. Eda and Luz knock nervously and after a moment are received by a black haired person who ducks through the door to look down at them. He does have the six fingers, and notably has one bright white eye, and a white dragon palisman that sits on his shoulder. He narrows his eyes on Luz, but greets them friendly enough and offers them tea inside. Eda is nervous the whole time, but Luz believes Radek to be genuine. There’s a distinct dissonance between the two wild witches, where Eda’s color scheme is red, and warm, she’s fun and motherly, with her house full of nick knacks and oddities for the hell of it, Radek’s color scheme is blue and cold, and the dimly lit house is littered with objects, books, and the occasional sacrificial knife. Half of Radek’s face remains covered by his hair and the shadows of the house.

Luz asks Radek if he knows anything about an ancestor of his who might have had journeys in the human realm, or even encountered a human. Radek sort of chuckles at this but nods, and explains that Luz might find some evidence of such a journey here. He directs her to his office down the hall to look through the books and journals there. He urges Eda to check the upstairs, however, saying his spare storage room might have a physical item. He reassures them nothing is dangerous, and they’re free to explore.

However, when Luz starts traveling down the hall, she finds it gets longer and the end of it further away the farther she walks, and that behind her, the open entrance to the dining-living room she once was in is different, instead a wall with a left and right turn. Suddenly trapped in an illusionist’s maze, she calls out for Eda and frantically runs along the halls to find steps upstairs.

Meanwhile, Eda is trapped in her own maze, the storage room of boxes expanding as she turns corners and looks behind them. Eventually after phasing through a stack, she realizes the trick and tries to search for Luz, wanting to get them out as soon as possible. Eventually she finds a knife and starts pulling at floorboards, though a hand suddenly appears over hers. Eda is just about to jab at the floorboards again when she sees it appear and looks up, Radek inches from her face. Radke urges her not to damage the house, as the illusion would only grow more angry. Eda condemns Radek for tricking them, but Radek merely smiles and shakes his head. It’s not Radek doing this. It’s the house. It has secrets it’d like to keep, and until Eda can prove she’s not there to destroy these secrets, it’ll keep her lost. Eda reaches for Radek but goes right through him, and he fades into smoke.

Luz quickly realizes the illusion isn’t harmful, just confusing, as theres no traps or anything out to get her. She takes a few deep breaths, and tries to clear her mind and remember what exactly she’s looking for. She wants to find blueprints, or at least a guide, for how to construct a portal back to the human realm herself. When she opens her eyes, the hallway is straight ahead and leads to one, singular door. When Luz enters, Radek turns to look at her and smiles. He doesn’t say anything, and Luz suddenly passes out.

After the fade to black, Luz wakes up with Eda hugging her, also asleep, on the ground outside the house. She wakes Eda up and shows her the blueprints and spare letters she acquired and Eda has whittling tools - with the symbol of an owl carved into the hilts.

Appearance in Elsewhere and Elsewhen

This episode is complicated...I don’t have everything written out yet, but Radek is very much present in it. I’m still debating if Radek is Phillip’s companion throughout the episode or if Radek isn’t there and make an appearance at the end. but either way, Luz recognizes Radek. He also presses a kiss to Phillip’s head at some point to indicate their relationship. Good times had by all. Phillip asks for time alone to reveal the collector and eat the palisman at the end.

Additional Scene in Hollow Mind

Throughout Hollow Mind Radek is pictured in some of the background memories.

Hunter runs away at the end of Hollow Mind after throwing off his cloak. We get an additional scene of him running and ending up somewhere in the woods. He stops to get his bearings and hyperventilate, looking around frantically. A cloaked shadowy figure with one white eye appears behind, but is quickly revealed by the lighting to just be Radek, who Hunter backs up into. Radek smiles kindly when he looks down at him, and Hunter’s shoulders relax a bit.

Labyrinth Runners & S2 Finale

Hunter is implied to stay with Radek and in Labyrinth Hunters hasn’t been staying at Hexside, but rather with Radek, who has given him some hand-me-downs. He sneaks out when Radek leaves for errands, however, and goes to Hexside to investigate his options. Gus makes a joke his clothes are “remarkably mint-condition” given the era they’re from and Hunter gives him a confused look. The episode mostly progresses as normal.

I don’t have as much of a long draft of how Radek’s existence affects the happenings of the final 3 episodes of S3, but regardless, Radek chooses to look after Hunter and the other kids but eventually ends up with Belos in his throne room. It’s probably some sort of capture, since Belos for all intensive purposes means to take Radek with him to the human realm. When Luz arrives, it’s not quite clear what exactly happened, but there’s some unbound rope and an unconscious Radek at the foot of the portal. A broken palisman lies nearby, and Belos stands up to look back at Kikirmora and Luz. Radek weakly turns to look at him, reaching up for a moment before passing out. His hand holds his ankle enough to trip him slightly, however, and he looks back at Radek’s unconscious body with concern for a moment before Luz tries to jump him.

In the end, Radek ends up going through the portal with the kids and embraces all of them as they go through. He’s shown with a hand on Hunter’s shoulder in front of Camila’s house later on.

Season 3 - Thanks to Them

IDEALLY this season would have been totally full so I could explain every arc that Radek goes through but unfortunately that doesn’t happen. I have so many ideas, I have no doubt I’ll end up updating this eventually to include more of my full thoughts.

There’s the scene montage with the kids living in the human realm for months and it’s interspersed also with Radek there. He’s generally shown wearing a loose sweater and sweatpants, and theres a moment where Hunter goes into his “bedroom” is the abandoned house and he’s got one glowy white eye in the darkness, and he screams (it’s played for comedy). Eventually Radek gets a nicer outfit and an eyepatch. It’s meant to be implied Radek went through a depressive state before managing to pull himself out of it, with a little help from Camila. In my brain where there’s a full season 3, so much stuff happens including a backstory episode but oh well. Radek and Camila also DEFINITELY have a thing for each other that is obvious to everyone aside from them.

Later in Thanks to Them, Hunter calls Radek mom, this is pretty normal for them. Radek still seems to be a bit of homebody, mostly due to his alarmingly unnatural appearance. He can shrink, but only for small periods of time and notably has a distaste for it. He can’t really write everything off as body mods like the witchlets can. However, he likes to help out Camila around the house and takes care of things like chores and keeping an eye on the kids.

Radek enjoys the Halloween festivities and wears a nun costume with some blood splatter and a fake knife to greet kids at the door with, and stays home with Camila and Vee. However, later, when Camila comes running to find Hunter possessed, Radek comes along too to rescue them. Belos offers for Radek to come with him but he refuses, wanting to stay with Hunter and their new family. He leaves with Hunter through the portal at the end and looks back at Camila with a frightened gaze.

So what the actual hell is really happening?

First, some context for the Wittebros: they’re Puritans, but less because their family was and more so because their community was.

Caleb and Phillip were orphaned at a young age. Their mom was burned at the stake for being a “witch”, and their father, unable to cope, abandoned them. Caleb took his younger brother Phillip and ran, having to essentially raise himself and his younger brother.

Phillip and Caleb were involved in the religious aspects of their community at Gravesfield and took up witch hunting, though Caleb, who remembered their mother’s death, quickly had doubts about it. Phillip was too young to remember and found a lot of comfort in their religious community and fell further into it while Caleb fell out of it.

Phillip and Caleb are German and know both German and English.

Why does Radek know Phillip?

Radek found Phillip after one of his first trips to the demon realm. He ended up there accidentally after his brother told him a story about it. After arriving there he passed out from the shock and Radek found him, kicked him to see if he was alive, and when Phillip promptly screamed awake Radek invited him inside for some food and an ice pack for the kick. They hit it off pretty quickly and were good friends. Phillip tolerated Radek being a witch because Radek was exceptionally kind to him and made him feel seen.

Phillip, Caleb, Evelyn and Radek were amiable with one another for a long time. Phillip always had reservations about the demon realm and felt their crossing over was not a good thing, but kept these feelings to himself. His love for Radek especially kept these feelings buried.

Phillip confessed his love to Radek by giving him one of his crosses, their version of a promise ring, and the cross that hangs higher on his chest is still that cross. The back is inscribed with their initials.

Their peace would not last long. One night Caleb confesses he has plans to live in the demon realm with Evelyn. Permanently. This releases all of Phillip’s pent up feelings about the demon realm, their crossing over, and etc. In their argument, they accidentally knock over some candles and set the house on fire. Phillip prevents their escape and instead challenges his brother to a knife duel. If Phillip wins, Caleb stays, and if Caleb wins, he can go.

Phillip kills his brother by stabbing him in the gut and leaves him to bleed out.

When the house is just a few ashes he takes Caleb’s coat and the knife, running away and ends up in the demon realm. He confesses that Caleb is dead to Radek, and they both cry and grieve before Radek asks him some questions about how. Phillip is covered in blood - and Radek begins to put together the pieces, but when Phillip yells at him, Radek simply believes it was an accident and that stirring him won’t help.

After this,  they come to find out the portal between their realms in closed.

Whats the deal with Radek helping Phillip?

Radek helps Phillip find a way to get back to the human realm under the assumption its because he wishes to still move between them. Radek becomes his “companion” in many of these journals and Phillip notes that he doesn’t perish. Instead, there’s a later entry that Phillip writes where he claims Radek has disappeared. I’ll cover their disappearance (& reappearance) later.

Radek is relatively unaware of his intentions to destroy the demon realm but realizes them slowly after his development of the first grimwalker and his cult.

After Radek speaks with his grimwalker/golden guard named Conrad, and sees he looks not-quite-like Caleb, Radek confronts Phillip and says he won’t help him anymore, telling him to stop, before Radek has to stop him himself. He refuses, and out of rage, uses his “magic” on Radek, blackening his eye and spreading those branching marks out from it. He was absorbing some of Radek’s magic this way, but stops after Radek collapses, writhing in pain and wailing and crying. He leaves Radek there.

So why is Radek still alive and still young?

Radek didn’t go through eating palismen or anything like that.

Phillip convinced Radek he was frightened his mission wouldn’t succeed within his lifetime and asked him to find him the cure for death - immortality. Radek was hesitant at first but knew already of where to go to find it. By the Titans head. He promises Phillip he’ll come back with something, and says he’ll leave the next day in the afternoon to prepare. Before he leaves, he takes Phillip’s journal and writes his own entry in it, which Luz and Eda see.

When he arrives at his destination, he finds a pool of titan’s blood and jars some of it, puts it in his bag. He holds onto this, but doesn’t seem to be under the impression that’s what he’s looking for. He walks further into the cavern and suddenly slips and falls, hitting a large stalagmite and slicing his arm clean off. Bleeding out, crying, and in his pained state trying to put his arm back on, a large, dormant G-d awakens from her slumber and sees Radek. In her sleep, she’d been keeping an eye on Phillip, and having finally lured Radek there, she promises she can give Radek what he’s looking for: Immortality. But only to Radek. It would prevent him from bleeding out in the cavern and going unnoticed in history. But there was a condition - Radek would give something up for it, and he’d have to keep an eye on Phillip until he died.

Radek accepted immediately, frightened of death and assuming the Gd would simply take his arm or another physical aspect of him. However, when he wakes up later, still in pain and bleeding out, he doesn’t immediately realize what the Gd took. That is, until he comes back with his arm off, and sees Phillip, and he suddenly feels only emptiness staring at him. All the joy, glee, or positive emotions he might’ve felt at returning to his lover are gone - replaced with an emptiness, and Radek realizes that was the cost of his immortality. Not his arm, not a sense, but half of his emotions.

Phillip instantly notices this change in Radek but brushes it off as the pain, and sews his arm back on. It...heals.

Radek is unconditionally immortal and doesn’t age or die.

Final Thoughts & Conclusion

This probably gonna be updated as I have more ideas. For now this is everything canon. The only part I didn’t mention is that Radek and Camila are endgame, not Radek and Belos. If you haven’t gotten it by now, Belos and Radek are not healthy for each other and never will be! I’ll expand upon more intimate moments between them through my art and writing and that’ll hopefully be shown pretty clearly. Phillip still actively gaslights, betrays, and hurts Radek. Radek stays because he loves him and he doesn’t really know what it should be like.

Radek eventually gets his emotions back thanks to Hunter. The joy he feels having him for a son eventually cracks the “lock” the Gd put on his emotions and he feels happy again.

I hope you enjoyed :)

#talks #toh oc #toh #the owl house #the owl house oc

[crystal-tit]

for those who don't know here's your guide to bread AND OTHER THINGS 😍 feel free to add more in reblogs

toast bread

also often called sandwich bread is soft and honestly very american, most commonly used bread in toasters (Slovak: toastový chlieb)

bread (chlieb)

comes in many varieties. such as potato bread, whole wheat bread, protein bread, you name it! it's good.

brioche (brioška)

a sweet pastry of French origin whose high egg and butter content gives it a rich and tender crumb. Chef Joël Robuchon described it as "light and slightly puffy, more or less fine, according to the proportion of butter and eggs"

vianočka

Vánočka is a plaited bread, baked in Czech Republic and Slovakia (in Slovak called vianočka) traditionally at Christmas time. Such special festive Christmas bread made from white flour, either in the form of a wedge or of plaited shape was first mentioned around 1400 by Benedictine monk Jan of Holešov in his work Treatise on Christmas Eve. According to his interpretation, this pastry symbolized Christ Child wrapped in cloth

Brötchen/žemľa/etc

smol baby bread

rožok/rohlík

bread stick but better

i am very much aware that many of these contain bread in their description but that's only because that's the most accurate word in english for some stupid reason but the distinction between them is very important because if you have vianočka with ham people will assume you're crazy

[writingonesdreams]

Hello, hello and happy sts to you, Dreams ^^ I hope you're having a lovely one.

So, I'm really curious about this since it's not something I've ever been able to do - When you create an AU for a story, where do you start? What does the process of deciding on and creating an alternate universe for the characters look like? How do you keep your AUs and the project that they're from distinct and separate from each other? How do you keep track of what moments happened in which universe for the characters? Do your AUs ever turn out to be more interesting to you than the original story?

Hehe this is a really good question set :D Going to put it under read more, my lady.

AUs are the most impulsive and playful parts of the writing process for me. The part I censor the least, actively and unconsciously.

An AU can start from anything. A situation, a dialogue, a scene on the train, an interesting movie clip, a series that sparks a setting or an idea. Anything I'm consuming, watching or seeing, when suddenly, bam, one of my OCs is there. For that one scene, one little instance. I take it and run with it. Develop it further out of sheer fun while I walk the dog and listen to music. Sometimes they are dead ends and the AU ends after two scenes. Sometimes they create a completely new fascinating situation that creates a new conflict that gives me ideas for new wip scenes or totally new stories. There is no way to know, just dive into it.

I trust my subconscious on choosing these moments though. Whenever a character gets inserted, it's usually because something about the scene/song/movie/character/situation touches upon something related to them. Part of their arc, theme, problem, state. There tend to be deeply emotional and fitting reasons why that OC gets thrown into that situation, why my brain chose to connect them.

For example the czech tv series I'm watching, called "Therapy". It's literally about a very good psychologist and his sessions with patients, the other characters. We don't know what happens anywhere outside of his office and the counciling, which gives it very specific lens to look through and lots of puzzle pieces to put together. One of the main characters in the first season, Igor, was very similar to Zephyr. I wanted to make them friends. I wanted to make Zephyr go to such therapies with this psychologists - cause their probelms and situations were similar and they could relate to each other. I also experimented with Skye being the therapist and meeting Zephyr as a patient. I also dreamed about Skye befriending and falling for Igor, saving him. As I was later thinking about it, it was because their dynamic would have been similar to Skye and Zephyr - Zephyr as this perfectionalistic soldier type struggling to ask for help while falling apart and Skye as the person to give him and anchor and provide him with comfort. By wondering about this scene I also realized one of Skye's deepest fears is not being able to give Zephyr comfort. That she feels his distress but him pushing her away is a sig of her failure, because he doesn't see her as strong and reliable enough to give him that comfort. This has been a thoughtline in Tears of Iron all along, but I never realized it this distinctly. My knowledge of the whole complexity around giving and accepting comfort I'm trying to tackle in the main story crystallized out of this therapy AU.

So the AUs can be very informative, or just wild and unbelievable and fun. They don't have to make sense or be meaningful, but the scenes that stick, they usually are and often inspire a new conflict or scene or dialogue or new understanding of the story.

They start from a single scene or situation that either can or can't be built upon.

How do I keep them apart? They start with a situation that couldn't happen in the main story. Skye can't be a lawyer in the Suits wealthy company, Zephyr can't be a regular soldier going to therapy, Leander isn't riding cosmic ships etc. The setting and the situation completely change the character's journeys and circumstances, but not who they are at their core. That's why these stories often feel like literal alternate universes and not distinct stories that would work with just anybody or a new cast. Because the characters are the same, but their core gets explored in different worlds/cards/conditions.

The more developed and complex an AU gets, the more she tests the quality and interest factor of the original wip idea. Stormkeeper plot changed so many times, cause I kept following whatever AU was the most fun. The normal world AU, the kings AU, the dark city AU do the same, they test if they wouldn't better stories than the main wip. But they usually aren't. There is a reason the main one is main XD something about it sticks, where the AUs fall apart or become too exhausting or just don't have so much content in them and span only a short story. But I'm ready to follow the AU idea that proves more interesting than the main story.

Thanks for stopping by, Ren, hope this was understandable :D

#writeblr #sts #ask #wip meta #AUs #writing process #wip: tears of iron

[illgiveyouahint]

Sometimes I wish I could explain to foreigners what the relationship of Czechs and Slovaks is.

'Cause we really are like sisterly nations. We used to be part of one empire for a really long time, then were one country for a quite some time and yet we were always quite separate in our identities and yet close enough that we still argue whether something is czech or slovak originally. Our languages are so similar that we can easily work in each other countries but they're still very distinct and czechs for example don't know how to speak or talk slovak.

But it goes even beyond that. Like even though it's been 30 years since we were one country we always feel this bond and so we always are aware of what's happening in each other countries and kinda idk I guess you kinda feel like it's partially still a bit your country too, you know?

Like for example: There was historically a tradition of czech president talking to the czechs on Christmas. Now Czechs have an asshole for a president. Slovaks have by some miracle chose a really lovely graceful amazing smart female president. So on Christmas the Czech TV actually played a speech from Slovak's president. And idk I feel proud that they have her.

The brutal murder of a slovak journalist and his girlfriend couple of years ago has truly shaken czech scene too and is still being felt here.

Now that one of the biggest mafia bosses and a slovak's ex-prime minister is quite possibly going to jail the Czechs are rooting for Slovaks to get it right.

Idk if I'm explaining it right. But there's just this bond. And like we can talk shit to each other and hate on each other but at the same time we instantly click in any foreign setting and there's just this like no need to explain because we are one mentality, you know what I mean?

#idk if I'm explainging it right #and I'm sure that there's other examples in other countries like this #but the ones I can think of right now #are usually countries that have been at war with each other #and so they have this baggage #while we were never at war with each other #and our separation was quite peaceful and after an agreement

[maplesummer4]

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[drinkacefahz]

Please, meet The Lost Girl. 

“The Sundrop isn't the Flower, anymore. -- it’s Rapunzel."

Per the earlier recipe on the Sundrop Punch I really did want to develop a thematic drink for Raps, you know, something a little more delicate. When I want to start somewhere, I go to the old reliable formula: The Last Word. From the equal-parts formula of Gin, Green Chartreuse, Maraschino*, and lime we learn a lot about flavor balancing. While equal parts riffs don’t have to stick to the base-herbal/botanical-modifier-acid, its where the most famous come from. 

26.13% ABV | Yield: ~4.75 fl oz after shaking | Last Word, Equal Parts, Modern Twist, Themed Cocktail

In a shaker with one large cube and either two smaller or one large cube cracked, add

1oz or 30ml Aquavit

1oz or 30ml Becherovka or Jaegermeister

1oz or 30ml Saint Germain Elderflower Liqueur

1oz or 30ml lemon juice 

Give it a nice, firm hard shake so that the large cube aerates the juice and liqueurs while the smaller pieces of ice can provide chilling and dilution. I would say between 8-12 seconds, OR, when you feel the shaker cool significantly to the touch. Strain into preferred glass [this is a Libbey Irish Coffee glass] with a tightly closed gate or even double strain with a fine mesh strainer, and garnish with either a long, thin lemon twist, or a lightly candied lemon peel. 

When I made the Oleosaccrum used in the punch, I afterward I put the peels in a low oven to sort of quasi-candy them as a garnish. Well, this particular piece twisted PERFECTLY to garnish the Princess’s drink. Having had much of their oils and water content pulled out  and emulsified with the sugar via capillary action and osmosis, the leftover peels are often relatively workable; one could try to shape several so the residual sugar lets them stick when dehydrated and create a flower-like shape as an alternate garnish! 

Specifically, I wanted to try the Aquavit as base, much for its restorative symbology, plus I like the caraway, it plays nice with our herbal liqueur: hailing from Karlsbad, Czech Republic, for 200+ years, Becherovka is a iconic example of the frequently overlooked category of bitters and herbal liqueurs that aren’t red Italian or amaro. Jaegermeister has some similarities especially with their woodsy cinnamon base notes and is easier to find in stores. For our modifying liqueur, I had to nod to the Sundrop with Saint Germain, a cordial or liqueur of the elder tree’s blossoms, which at the very least, eldertrees grow all over Europe.  

If you’re enjoying these please let me know! I hope to develop one for Eugene, and potentially a couple different drinks for Varian and Cass, Also, i think Max and Pascal deserve a cocktail too. As a treat. Some may be nonalcoholic, but Ill always use the ABV calculator if there’s alcohol, because readers deserve to make informed choices. 

*Most cherry liqueurs are made with the Morello or other distinctly sour cherry varieties, often homemade macerations, maraschino uses the marasca, which is related to the morello, but distinct and the production of maraschino liqueur results in a different flavor profile, level of sweetness, clarity, and level of nutty/woodsy flavors. Cherry Heering, produced in Holland for 200 years, is the most famous of a thicker, fruiter and more viscious variety[and is what old tiki recipes call “cherry brandy”] but homemade sour cherry cordial are found throughout Europe. Maraschino, Heering, and Kirschwasser, a clear German cherry brandy, are not substitutes for each other. This may come up in a future drink. 

#rapunzel #tangled the series #the last word #cocktail riff #aquavit #becherovka #st germain #themed cocktail #tts #tangled #alcohol #tangled cocktails #last word #equal parts