#chio answers

[alatismeni-theitsa]

Genuine question: you often talk about the West as if Greece wasn't Western and that leaves me in doubt… isn't it Western? I always see Greece referred to as such, so I figured it was. Like, I imagine there must be some details that don't completely fit into Western molds, but in general, isn't Greece Western and is it even considered one of the main origins of the West?

Hii! This is a very good question for someone who needs context!

In summary: Greece is not exactly Western. In fact, it has more things in common with countries that are considered Eastern. Greece definitely wasn't that "Western" in ancient times compared to the rest of the countries that are considered definitely Western today. Also, Europe has taken some stuff from Greece but most things it took are not Greek in culture, meaning they don't relate to us and we don't relate to them.

But from someone who's not from our general region and has little idea about our culture, there needs to be a big explanation, so all I have to say is:

Disclaimer 1: Let's appoint the US, the UK, and Germany as some examples of "definitely western" countries, as a guide. They are surely considered Western due to their geography and history.

Disclaimer 2: I'll speak in very broad terms about nationalities. In no way this is an attack on individuals who live in these countries. The statements are meant to be political and capture generic national sentiments. For example, the sentence "historically the Greeks don't like the Turks" doesn't mean that Greeks and Turks haven't lived (and continue) to live in peace under certain circumstances.

Everything exists within proper context and even I am using "Western" in a specific context. What is called "Western" today is a standard created by the European countries of Western Europe. And it doesn't make sense cause there are no clear limits between cultures. It's all a gradient, as I said in the past.

I also don't like how by "Western" we imply "progressive and technologically advanced". I haven't seen people fight about whether Albania is Western, although it's more Western than Greece geographically.

In fact, many a time I've seen maps like the one below isolate Greece and put it in the Western category but so many nations right above and west of Greece are not Western?? Notice how they show "West" = "pre-colonial/colonial nations/global empires (what I refer to as "the West" in my posts) + Greece" 😂 (Usually Turkey is also excluded, so I won't comment too much on that right now.) I mean... isn't this whole presentation... weird?? It's not even based on who is a NATO ally and who's not.

Greece is one of the most eastern European countries. Greeks existed in Minor Asia for thousands of years (Asian Greeks baby!) and we literally are right next to where Asia begins. Our capital for almost a thousand years was Constantinople which is in modern Turkiye, and Greeks still make pilgrimage there.

Our differences with the countries posing as the of the West are far greater than they want you to believe. The reason is that the western European powerful nations still want to claim the ancient Greek stuff as the basis of their national identity, and to do so they have to lump us in with their own kind. Only very recently they got "gracious" enough to do that. For most of history they claimed all things ancient Greek for themselves buuut they saw Greeks as "fallen from glory" and "mixed" and "these can't be the descendants of the ancients we admire!" (They had idealised our ancestors a looot in their minds, and by their own NW European standards) That's why maps such as the above exist.

The cultural divide in ancient times was much larger. We were kissing with tongue with Persians, Palestinians, Phoenicians and Lower Egyptians. The battle with Persians wasn't - as today west Europeans and the US want to frame it as a battle between East and West. The Persians were our freaking neighbours! 😂 Our cultures were - and still are - very similar. (Food, music, expression/openness, social politeness, phrasing)

Then came the old Rome, then came the Renaissance, and in these periods Western Europe got a bit more influenced by Greek aesthetics, for sure. But as I said the divide was greater when speaking about ancient times. Okay, our neighbors on the Italian and Iberian peninsula would be more like us, but the Germanic, Anglo-Saxon, Celtic, Norse, and Danish tribes were quite unrelated to the Greeks culturally. Even half of Italy (the Northern part) today don't see us as neighbors, because they are closer to other nations by land. (verified this with some friends abroad)

To go back to why I usually exclude Greece from "Western": "Western" is a standard term that former (and modern) colonial powers have created and choose to identify themselves and others with (if they deem them "worthy enough").

As I said, the term can be synonymous with power and progress, but it ignores powerful countries such as India, China, Japan, Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Iran which have greater industries and more power than Greece. (This is a 2017 map but it still holds, I feel😂) Notice that Greece is not even at the bottom.

Greeks also often feel we don't fit the Western mold. Usually, however, they use the term "European" to substitute the "Western" term but in our minds it's the same thing. Additionally, most Greeks growing up - especially with the rise of communication with other Balkanians through the internet - realise that we have most things in common with our geographical neighbours. The video below is an example of that.

So, why don't we feel that European/Western?

As I mentioned in the beginning, Europe is not Greek in culture. Few of the things West Europe took from us were partly influenced by the cultural climate at the time (like philosophy and the three-act structure of theater). What about the rest? What do trigonometry and astronomy and people voting have to do with one's culture? I mean are people supposed to understand my culture through functions and equations, or the 5th century BCE aesthetics of the human body?

(And to answer your question, no. They have no idea how our names, words, culture food, and music have been. They often confuse clearly Latin words with Greek words, and that's the pinnacle of their interaction with our culture😂)

We have more in common with Turks, Persians and Lebanese than we have with Germans and Swedes. Because Middle Easterners and Northeast Africans have been our neighbors for millennia. To further demonstrate the point, Greeks in Northwestern Europe feel more comfortable with Arabs, Turks, Persians and Indians than with anyone else. And they don't vibe with the Northwestern locals that much because the Greek culture is not close to theirs. (That's a generalization of course but you can't imagine how many Greeks I've heard stating that)

I don't find it unreasonable for someone to lump Greece with the Western countries because that's where our allies are at the moment. As a nation, we look to Western nations for infrastructure (Although it doesn't work too well for us sometimes because the compatibility isn't there. Like the EU gives us money to plant certain trees that are not good for our climate and how often shit catches fire here). And, of course, sometimes Greece happens to be… geographically western than many countries. So in this case "western" also applies.

At the same time, someone should bear in mind that Greece has existed under the pressure-ehhh influence of Western European nations for a long time. After the fifteenth century, they've been stealing our artifacts, fetishizing our struggles, not listening to our people in Greek cultural characteristics (such as the language), noting our "unattractive" looks (and skin sometimes) etc. I mean, they still do all of this stuff sooo… how are we supposed to feel comfortable in the same group as them?

Add the Turkish occupation from 500-600 years so there's additional Islamic and Middle Eastern influence, and cultural exchange from Greeks and towards Greeks in the Ottoman Empire.

There's also the matter of religion and East Europe is religiously and - to a large degree - culturally Orthodox. This plays a larger part in the cultural divide between West and East Europe. In fact, religion played a big part, a thousand years ago, in the schism between west and east Europe.

This difference in cultures, and the dismissive attitude of the West towards Greeks and other East Europeans, shows from Charlemagne's time. A thousand years ago and more, West Europeans were calling Greeks (and generally Eastern Romans/ Byzantines) barbarians and degenerates. Greece has been orientalised a lot in Western art over the past few centuries.

The first colonial "stock company" in History was in the Byzantine/Hellenic island of Chios in the 14th century, established by Genoese occupiers! The island was managed by a monopoly share-charter "Company", Maona. The Company held the monopoly of the world's unique Chiot mastic, as well as control of the import and export trade, while many locals became slave-workers. The "Latins" (Genoese) took hundreds of buildings and homes for themselves. Later the Maona company expanded in Cyprus.

It had come to a point where Greeks and Byzantines in general preferred to be conquered by the Turks rather than the Latins (Francs, Venetians, Genoese). You can find the full history of this conflict in this article.

One should also bear in mind Greeks have been through slavery on a national level (called "chattel" too), and faced oppression, assimilation, and genocide. What I mean is: If someone is representative of the Western Powers…. that's not us 😂 We only play pretend. We are not the ones making the rules or decisions. For example, our PM asked the state of Israel (with which we are supposedly allies under Western contracts) to not harm the Greeks in Gaza, then the Greek Orthodox temple was bombed and our Western allies didn't give a shit.

Greece smiles and nods along so it can sit at the table with the Big Boys. It's not a Big Boy and I doubt it'll ever be for a long time. It can't turn towards the East (because Turkey, the old political and religious enemy) so it turns towards the West. And it has become an obedient puppy of the US and Germany. And if we refuse to play pretend, there's always some type of punishment. I won't absolve our country from all political responsibility. I'm just saying that we usually lack the power for things to go our way.

The reason for our nation's existence is the Western colonial powers (in Greece we call them the Big Powers) wanting to destabilise the Ottoman empire. They didn't give a shit about the Greek state existing. I mean sure they appreciated having one more pawn in the area, but they mainly wanted the Ottoman power to dwindle. The Big Powers gave and took land from us as they saw fit, for their own interests. (They did the same with other nations, too, of course). Our country's debt to the Big Powers started before our nation formed when they sold us half-ruined ships for a very high price.

(Although our debt became significantly worse after 2009, when our people gave money to stabilise their banks.)

So I ask again, how is a Greek - politically and socially - to feel comfortable in the Western group? Especially when we have actual neighbors in the Balkans and the Middle East who are almost like us culture-wise? And, don't East nations have Mathematics and Philosophy and Democracy (most at least) and Theatre and Astrophysics? In the study of things coming from Greece they have nothing to envy from the West. They were studying this stuff waaaay earlier, too!

So the argument of "who has taken the most from Greece" is purely political because if we actually measured, our neighbors are the ones who have the most similarities to us. (Yes, the political and social corruption rates too, as I've been told 😂)

Not to mention there can be found colonial/imperial attitudes from Western European nations which Greece cannot identify with. Except for the obvious neo-colonialism and the pressure to have more military bases on our grounds, there are more.

Some of these attitudes are; refusing to communicate in English, refusing to use subtitles and insisting on watching everything dubbed, straight up altering the names of foreign colleagues to appeal to them more, nitpicking on shades of white and what shade of white is "bad", having the impression that the world is as safe and comfortable as their own country, only getting you out of second class in their minds when you start speaking their language fluently exhibiting one of the highest forms of assimilation, treating East European cultures like an exhibition or a theme park.

Don't be mistaken, the use of language is a power play. Greece also has colorism, but the NW nations take it to another level, trust. It would kill them to admit they might have the same skin tone as someone from China, whereas the Greeks (although not void of racism) wouldn't think to compare the skin tones as different. And they don't categorize slightly darker peoples compared to theirs as another "race" entirely.

I know I rumbled again but there are many things to consider when it comes to Greece's position on the map that's not limited to geography. I also want to put many disclaimers and explanations around because someone away from our area is missing context, and they might misinterpret our notions through their own lens. Hopefully, my answer covered the main points and gave a better picture of our identification.

#answered #the west #idk what other tags to use here :p #greek history #greece #maps #identification #colonialism #chios #latins

[wierdartistmarcell]

Hello 👋

I checked out your blog, The artwork 👀 was very cool ❤️❤️

Are you taking/accepting art requests?

#digital art #answered #ask response #my asks #ask me stuff #requests #queer artist #chio

[o3o-aya]

🧩 I was so happy to see part 8 I did a little dance

I’m so glad I was able to make you happy 😃❤️

#aya answers 🪷 #lovely moots 💕 #beloved chio!!!

[highpriestessarchives]

Know Thyself: How This One Exercise Shaped My Writing

“Know Thyself” Interpretations

Heraclitus: “It belongs to all men to know themselves and think well.”

Charles H. Kahn: this fragment echoes a traditional belief that “know thyself" had an essentially similar meaning to the second Delphic maxim, “nothing too much;” both sayings might be considered alternative ways of describing the virtue of sophrosyne.

Heraclitus defines sophrosyne as the art of “perceiving things according to their nature,” apparently referring to the perception of objective, material facts. If so, and if self-knowledge is the same as sophrosyne, then, as Kahn writes, “the deepest structure of the self will be recognized as co-extensive with the universe in general … so true self-knowledge will coincide with knowledge of the cosmic order.”

A fragment from Ion of Chios provides the earliest explicit reference to the maxim. It reads: “This ‘know yourself’ is a saying not so big, but such a task Zeus alone of the gods understands.”

“The unexamined life is not worth living” -Socrates

Soliloquies of Augustine: The book has the form of an “inner dialogue" in which questions are posed, discussions take place and answers are provided, leading to self-knowledge. The first book begins with an inner dialogue which seeks to know a soul. In the second book it becomes clear that the soul Augustine wants to get to know is his own.

The Consolation of Philosophy: Boethius writes The Consolation of Philosophy as a conversation between himself and a female personification of philosophy, referred to as “Lady Philosophy.” Philosophy consoles Boethius by discussing the transitory nature of wealth, fame, and power (“no man can ever truly be secure until he has been forsaken by Fortune"), and the ultimate superiority of things of the mind, which she calls the “one true good.” She contends that happiness comes from within, and that virtue is all that one truly has because it is not imperiled by the vicissitudes of fortune.

Meditations: Marcus Aurelius likely didn’t intend for Meditations to be published, as the work centered around his own self-analysis and self-guidance. Aurelius advocates finding one's place in the universe and sees that everything came from nature, and so everything shall return to it in due time. Another strong theme is of maintaining focus and to be without distraction all the while maintaining strong ethical principles such as “Being a good man.”

...to think that all of these classic works are “regular” people figuring themselves out. I decided to do the same.

Writing My Own “Soliloquy”

I’d like to clarify that I, in no way shape or form, see myself as this great thinker or philosopher or anything like that. I recognize that this practice is but one way to understand myself, especially since I struggle with mental health and a lot of spiritual questions (but that’s another topic).

In choosing to write my own soliloquy, I am becoming my own Devil’s Advocate. Like Boethius, I’ve decided to structure my journaling as if I am arguing with someone. I will choose a topic that I am passionate about or that I am having my own crisis over, such as “Why do I not believe I am a good person?” or “Why do I prefer logic over emotion?” or even “What draws me to classical paintings?”

What I found is that anything and everything that I am attached to says something about me on a deeper level.

Here is where it gets a little tricky: in continuing to argue with myself, I’ve found that I get better at coming up with counter points. In other words, this self-analysis becomes more and more complex the more used to it you get. It’s almost like you’re playing some mind chess and this fictional opponent, who is also you, as they are but your own Devil’s Advocate, is also getting better and learning with you.

But, to me, that is what makes this “Know Thyself” maxim important. You are not meant to have a full-fledged answer. We are constantly evolving and changing, as will our knowledge of how we perceive ourselves and how we perceive the world in response to it.

How It Affects My Writing

To start with the obvious, the character development and creation changes so much when you get to know yourself. At least, for me, the world becomes less and less black and white (not that it ever was black and white to begin with). Because of that, my characters become more dimensional.

I am no longer afraid to write controversy. There is a... debate, for a lack of better words, on the media literacy rate nowadays. Because of this, I would fear that, just because I wrote about it, people would assume that I am in support of it; or, for example, just because there is a mainstream focus on one demographic, that nuances of that focus cannot be written about (again, another topic).

However, writing my soliloquies reminds me that my work is meant to be a message from myself to the audience first and entertainment second.

As artists, authors, creators, etc., there is a danger in losing ourselves to appease the masses. There is the question of whether we should create what we want or stick to what is trending, and I’m not immune to that spiral, either.

In knowing yourself, you become your #1 advocate. You know what your boundaries are, what your morals are, and what your values are. It gets harder to allow those who don’t do that same work to sway your pen.

Closing Words

Whatever form that takes, get to know yourself. For me, that’s journaling whenever I can as if I’m debating with someone. Grab a journal meant specifically for this exercise and go crazy! No one’s going to read it (unless you become someone like Marcus Aurelius and your own version of Meditations comes out. In which case... sorry?)

Never stop challenging the way you think, too. It can be uncomfortable and hard, but change always is. Perhaps you will stick to your ideals, and that’s okay, too! Do not live life on the easy path.

As always, these exercises are not a substitute for professional or medical help. I will always encourage those who need it to seek therapy, as I believe it is a great tool to use alongside this exercise, should one feel inclined to do so.

#writers of tumblr #writing wip #writers #writers on tumblr #writing #writeblr #writers and poets #authorlife #indie author #author #authors of tumblr #writer #fiction #creative writing #novel writing #books and novels #readers #philosophy #life #soliloquy

[kazuki86]

I have nothing if I don't have you

(Chapter 4)

Kakashi parked his car right in front of Senju Cafe. As he said when he took Tenzo home that time, tonight he came. He came to try the coffee provided at the cafe. He also came because he wanted to know what the inside of Senju Cafe was like, because at that time he didn't have time to go in. But...the number one reason why he came....was...because he want to meet Tenzo.

Today is Saturday, so Tenzo didn't come to his house to work as a nanny. That's why he want to see Tenzo. Kakashi himself felt strange, why he "want to" see Tenzo, and now when he was standing in front of the cafe door, for some reason his feelings were pounding.

"What's wrong with me?" Kakashi shook his head. He then inhaled and exhaled, then pushed open the cafe door.

Ting tong!

The bell hanging at the top of the door rang when Kakashi opened it.

"WELCOME!" Greeted a voice in its usual cheerful tone. That's Tenzo's voice.

"Oh...welcome sir!" Tenzo said surprised

As usual, his shoulder-length brunet hair was left loose and he was still wearing a t-shirt with a picture of a cat (this time turquoise). His wide eyes looked right at Kakashi.

So sweet and cute as usual...Kakashi thought.

"Please sit down sir..." said Tenzo with a smile.

Kakashi realized then nodded. He closed the cafe door then he walked towards the counter where Tenzo was. While walking, Kakashi could inhale the aroma of coffee and hear the strains of 90's ballad songs.

Kakashi sat in the middle seat, right in front of Tenzo.

"How are you, sir?"

"Umm...fine.."

I'm so glad you came here, sir...". Tenzo said it sincerely and innocently, without realizing that his words made Kakashi's face turn red.

"This is the menu, sir. What would you like to order?"

Kakashi cleared his throat to get rid of his awkwardness and accepted the menu Tenzo offered. "Thank you. Umm...I'll just order a hot americano..." answered Kakashi while looking at the menu.

"One hot americano. Alright. Would you like to order some food too, sir?"

"Oh...ummm...I'll order a cheese and smoked beef croisant."

"Okay. Please wait a moment sir, your order is coming soon." Kakashi nodded.

While waiting, Kakashi paid attention to the inside of the cafe. There are 3 tables with 2 chairs facing each other at each table. One table near the door, one table in the corner of the room, and one near the counter. A man and a woman were seen sitting opposite each other at a table near the door, chatting. Meanwhile, at the corner table, an old woman was sitting alone, knitting. At the counter itself there were 3 chairs, and Kakashi sat in the middle chair. Even though it's not spacious, the cafe feels comfortable.

"Thanks for waiting, sir. This is your order..." said Tenzo while placing a cup of hot americano and a plate of warm cheese and smoked beef croisant.

"Oh...thank you. Are you alone? Where's your aunt?"

"Aunt Tsunade is resting upstairs because of a cold, sir..."

"Oh...i see." Kakashi took his coffee cup, inhaled the aroma, then took a sip. "Hummm... really delicious..." he said.

"I'm glad you like it, sir."

"To be honest, I'm curious... when you made coffee for me yesterday, the coffee tasted much better than what I make. Even though I'm sure you made the sachet coffee that I usually make too, right?"

"Really, sir?"

Kakashi nodded. "How can you make it taste better?"

Tenzo smiled "Oh...that's a secret, sir..." he said while blinking one eye. Kakashi became embarrassed.

"We'll go home, Tenzo!" said the male visitor.

"Thank you very much for the coffee!" said the female visitor

"You're welcome, Izumo, Shizune. Please come again..." answered Tenzo while waving his hand.

"See you Grandma Chio!" said Izumo and Shizune while waving at the old woman who was knitting at the corner table. The woman looked up and smiled.

When Izumo and Shizune closed the door, Tenzo asked Kakashi.

"They look like a very lovely couple, don't they sir?" Tenzo said.

"Huh???" Kakashi turned towards the door... "Yeah, I think so..." He wasn't really sure about the answer because he had only glanced at them briefly.

"They first met in this cafe, sir..."

"Did they?"

Tenzo nodded. "It was raining heavily at that time, while Shizune had to immediately return to her office, but she didn't bring an umbrella. Coincidentally Izumo brought an umbrella, and he offered to take Shizune..."

"Oh... I see... what a coincidence..." said Kakashi in response.

"It seems the Cupid was also here at that time, and shot his arrow at them..." Tenzo chukled. "By the way sir, is it okay to leave the kids at home at night?"

"Oh... I was supposed to be at home with them tonight. But suddenly there was a meeting at the office. In the past, when there was no nanny and I had to work late into the night, sometimes I took them to the office. Or if it turned out it wasn't possible to invite them, then I was forced to leave them at home. Actually, on the one hand, I felt guilty. But on the other hand, I felt it could be an opportunity for Sakura to look after her younger siblings."

"I'm sure Sakura can be relied on, sir. She's a good older sister and will definitely look after her younger siblings..." said Tenzo while remembering the incident at school some time ago when Sakura tried to protect Sai. "Does that mean you're working overtime today, sir?"

"Not really... it was just a meeting to announce that our company had succeeded in winning the tender of government headquarter renovation.."

"Excellent! Congratulations, sir. I'm happy to hear that."

"Thank you. And after the announcement, people in the office immediately celebrated it by drinking at their regular bar."

"You're not going with them, sir?"

"Of course not. I'm not young anymore and I don't really like drinking like that. Besides, I don't want to set a bad example for the children. What would happen if they saw me coming home drunk..." said Kakashi.

Tenzo smiled. "You are really a good father, sir."

"Am I?" Kakashi felt his cheeks flush again.

Luckily, suddenly the cell phone in his pocket rang. From Gai. Kakashi signaled to Tenzo that he had to take the call first. Tenzo invited him then went to tidy up the cups and plates on Izumo and Shizune's table.

"What?"

"My friend, I don't see you anywhere in this bar. Where are you hiding"

"Sorry, I didn't go to the bar..."

"What? Why? Don't tell me that you're afraid of getting drunk and revealing all your secrets to us..." came Genma's voice. Looks like Gai turns on the loudspeaker.

"No. I have another thing to do."

"What thing?" Genma asked again.

"It's personal." Kakashi answered briefly.

"Ooooh... could it be that you're dating the new nanny, huh?" Gai asked in a loud voice.

"Don't be inconsequential!" Kakashi said quickly.

"Kakashi...you've always been bad at lying. You must be having a romantic dinner with her, right?" Genma said.

Kakashi just sighed. "Alright, have fun, guys..." Kakashi was about to end the conversation.

"Wait! Wait! It's okay if you can not go to this bar tonight. But I think you should join the tomorrow night event..." said Gai.

"Tomorrow night event?"

"To celebrate our success, Anko suggested that there be a party at the office tomorrow night."

"A party?"

"More precisely, a couple dance party..."

"Couple dance party? What for?"

"According to Anko, apart from celebrating our success in winning a big tender, the party will allow all employees to get to know each other better. I know, that sounds ridiculous, but the director, her father of course, agreed to it. And obliged everyone to come . Especially you.."

"Me?"

"Yes, you. Well actually Kakashi, Gai and I felt that Anko had a special purpose when proposing this dance party. And it must be related to you..." said Genma.

Kakashi sighed. "I am not interested of that party or the things you mentioned earlier at all..."

"Yeah...we know it, buddy. But it would feel strange if everyone came and you didn't. After all, you're the leader on this project..." Genma said again.

"You're still lucky, Kakashi... because it won't be difficult for you to find a partner for tomorrow's dance party. Meanwhile, us? I'm not sure anyone will want to partner with us." Gai said.

Kakashi didn't say anything.

"Okay buddy, we will take another drink. Have a nice date there..." Gai said again in a teasing tone.

Kakashi put his cellphone on the table. Take another breath. Honestly, he wasn't at all interested in coming to the dance party tomorrow. There is nothing wrong with celebrating the success of winning a tender. After all, it is obtained through serious struggle and preparation. He himself even lacked sleep to prepare it. But the real work, namely the renovation process, hasn't started yet. So there's no need to celebrate it excessively.

Besides that, he also doesn't want any further relationship with Anko. Just as a co-worker. And he also didn't want to leave his children at home.

'But it would feel strange if everyone came and you didn't. After all, you are the leader of this project...' Genma's words rang in his mind again.

But... a couple dance party????

"Is something wrong, sir?" Tenzo's voice broke his reverie.

"Oh...nothing. Just a phone call from the office guys..."

"Do they look for you because you don't join them, sir?"

"Oh...not really. They just told me that tomorrow will be a dance party at the office.."

"A dance party?"

"A couple dance party to be more precise..."

"Wow...very interesting!"

"Really? I won't join the party..."

"Why, sir???"

Kakashi was confused about how to explain it to Tenzo, so he answered briefly "I can't dance..."

Tenzo gaped.

"What?" Kakashi asked.

"You won't come there tomorrow just because you can't dance?"

"Umm...yes..." Kakashi answered hesitantly.

Tenzo sighed. "Alright then, I will teach you, sir." Tenzo said with his hands on his hips.

"Wait...you don't need to..."

Tenzo tapped the tablet screen next to the cash register, selecting a song. Then walked out of the counter, heading towards Kakashi. The intro music from the song "I Have Nothing" by Whitney Houston was heard.

"Tenzo...i can't dance..."

"That's why I'm gonna teach you, sir."

"But...."

"Come on!" Tenzo grabbed Kakashi's right hand and took him to the middle of the room. They stand facing each other. Tenzo put Kakashi's right hand behind his left waist, then put his left hand on Kakashi's right shoulder. Then he raised Kakashi's left hand and held it.

"Just follow my steps, sir..." Tenzo whispered near Kakashi's ear. Kakashi felt that now his face was completely red.

Share my life

Take me for what I am

'Cause I'll never change

All my colors for you

Take my love

I'll never ask for too much

Just all that you are

And everything that you do

Kakashi repeatedly made the wrong move and stepped on Tenzo's foot.

"Sorry..." said Kakashi. He stopped walking.

"It's alright, sir. You can do it. Just relax and feel the music..." said Tenzo smiling.

In such that close position with Tenzo, Kakashi didn't know how he could relax. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

"Ready, sir?" Tenzo asked. Kakashi nodded. And they started walking again.

I don't really need to look

Very much further

I don't want to have to go

Where you don't follow

I won't hold it back anymore

This passion inside

Can't run from myself

There's nowhere to hide

Even though he tried to relax, sometimes Kakashi still had difficulty adjusting his steps.

"Don't look under, sir... Just look at me..." said Tenzo smiling. Finally, slowly, Kakashi began to be able to take steps and adapt to Tenzo's steps.

Don't make me close one more door

I don't want to hurt anymore

Stay in my arms if you dare

Or must I imagine you there

Don't walk away from me

I have nothing, nothing, nothing

If I don't have you, you, you, you, you, you

Tenzo removed his left hand from Kakashi's shoulder, then by lifting his right hand which was still holding Kakashi's left hand, Tenzo spun beautifully. Then he grabbed Kakashi's shoulder again.

"You did it, sir!" Tenzo said happily.

Kakashi looked at Tenzo, his right hand was still holding Tenzo's waist, and his left hand was still holding Tenzo's right hand, time seemed to stop, and that's when his heart said... I have nothing... if I don't have you...

"Umm...Sir..." said Tenzo

"Huh???" Kakashi realized.

"You can let go of me now..."

"Oh, sorry..."

The two of them were a bit awkward...

Thankfully the awkward atmosphere was then broken up by Grandma Chio.

"Tenzo dear... I'll go home..." said Grandma Chio.

"Oh...alright, granma chio. It's always nice to have you here. Please come back again..."

"I will. And this is for you, dear..." Grandma Chio put a knitted scarf around Tenzo's neck.

"Oh...grandma chio...this is so beautiful...thank you so much..."

"You're welcome, dear. This really suits you. You are so beautiful too..." said Grandma Chio, smiling and touching Tenzo's cheek. She then turned to Kakashi. "I can see that you are a good guy." She said while patting Kakashi's shoulder. "Please take care of Tenzo..." she added while whispering near Kakashi's ear and making Kakashi's face blush again...

"Alright, I'm gonna go home now..." Grandma Chio walked towards the door then turned to face Kakashi and Tenzo and said "I think...the Cupid has released his arrow again in this cafe..." then Grandma Chio opened the door and left the cafe.

Kakashi and Tenzo were silent and the atmosphere became awkward again.

"Umm...I think the kids are waiting for me at home...so...I have to go home too..." said Kakashi while scratching the back of his head.

"Oh...you right sir...they must be...waiting for you..." said Tenzo.

Kakashi paid for his coffee and croisant.

"Umm...thank you so much for the coffee and the croisant...and also...for the dance lesson..." said kakashi.

"You're very welcome, sir. Thanks for your coming to night.."

Kakashi nodded. "Umm...see you..."

Tenzo smiled. Kakashi then turned and walked towards the door.

The next morning, while cleaning the cafe with his aunt, Tenzo's cell phone rang, it was Kakashi.

"Good morning sir.."

"Morning tenzo. Umm...I'm sorry for calling you this morning. Can you help me?"

"Sure. What can I do for you, sir?"

"Umm...I think I will come to the party tonight."

"That's great, sir"

"And that's why I want to know...if you can help me to accompany my kids tonight?"

"Ummm..." Tenzo looked at his aunt. From behind the counter, Tsunade, who was counting money at the cash register, seemed to know what Tenzo meant, then she smiled and nodded. "Alright sir, I will come to your house tonight..." replied Tenzo.

"Great! I'm really sorry for bothering you..."

"No problem, sir."

That evening, Kakashi came downstairs dressed neatly.

"Wow dad...you look so handsome tonight!" Sakura said.

"Just tonight? Don't I usually look handsome?"

Sakura laughed "Of course you always look handsome. But tonight you look a million more..".

Kakashi laughed and rubbed Sakura's head. "Thanks, darling."

"Honestly, I don't like that couple dance party..." said Sakura.

"Why?"

"Because there is no one in your office who is suitable to be your dance partner. I don't like all the female employees in your office. I can see that they have hidden intentions when they see or talk to you. Moreover, that woman with black hair tied into a ponytail above..."

"You mean...Anko?"

"Yes, she is. She looks cunning. You have to be careful with her."

Kakashi laughed. "I will be careful. Thanks for your suggestion, sakura."

Ting tong! The doorbell rang.

"That must be Tenzo..." said Sakura. He immediately rushed to open the door excitedly. "Tenzooo!" Sakura said immediately hugging Tenzo.

"Good evening, Sakura." Tenzo said while hugging Sakura.

"Come in!" Sakura took Tenzo inside.

"Good evening, sir." Tenzo said

"Evening, Tenzo. I'll go now. I'll leave the kids with you."

"You can count on me, sir."

And Kakashi left.

An hour and a half passed.

Tenzo closed Naruto's room, after reading five story books and he fell asleep before the fifth book was finished. It looks like Sakura and Sai have also fallen asleep in their rooms.

Tenzo came downstair. When he was about to sit on the sofa, he heard the sound of Kakashi's car. Tenzo looked at the clock. "He came back so quickly?" he thought.

Kakashi opened the door.

"Welcome home, sir. Umm...I thought you would be home late. Is the party over, sir?:

"Not yet. But my business there are finished. So I'm going home."

"Oh...and how about the couple dance, sir?"

"I didn't dance there.."

"Why, sir?

"Because...How can I dance there...if my dance partner...is here?"

Tenzo looked clueless.

Kakashi took off his jacket and draped it on the sofa. Then he took out his cellphone and played Whitney Houston's song, I have nothing. Then put it on the table. The intro of the song was heard and Kakashi approached Tenzo.

"Shall we dance?" Kakashi said while extending his right hand.

Tenzo was surprised, then smiled, and accepted Kakashi's outstretched hand. And they danced.

Faintly hearing music playing, Sakura woke up, then opened her room door He saw Sai squatting near the stairs looking down.

"Sai? What are you doing?"

Sai motioned to Sakura to lower her voice, then pointed downstairs. Sakura walked over to sai and crouched down next to him, then looked down at the floor. And she was surprised...

"So beautiful..." Sakura said in awe. "Feels like it's been a long time I haven't seen dad so happy like that...". Sai smiled and nodded in agreement.

Kakashi and Tenzo continued dancing. Until when the song ends and Tenzo finishes spinning beautifully...

Right in the lyrics 'I have nothing, nothing, nothing....if I don't have youuu....' Kakashi grabbed Tenzo. His left hand wrapped around Tenzo's waist and his right hand touched tenzo's cheek. He then whispered in Tenzo's ear "I will have nothing, if I don't have you...tenzo..."

Tenzo was surprised to hear Kakashi's whisper. A second later, a warm and comfortable feeling filled his heart. "Me too, sir..." Tenzo answered softly.

Kakashi's eyes meet Tenzo. Their faces inch closer....and closer...until they can feel each other's breath...

Suddenly...

"Aww...I can't see anything!!!" Naruto's voice of protest was heard.

"Shut up! Don't make any noise!" Sakura said.

"Sakura, you not only close his eyes, but also his nose...Naruto won't be able to breathe..." Sai said flatly.

Kakashi and Tenzo both looked upstairs...

"Guys???" Kakashi said surprised.

"You haven't slept yet?" Tenzo asked, no less surprised.

Sakura, Sai, and Naruto looked downstairs..

"Umm...sorry dad...we don't want to interrupt you two..." Sakura said cautiously. "I just want to go to the bathroom..." he added.

"No, I'm the one who wants to go to the bathroom..." Sai said flatly.

"No... they obviously didn't go to the bathroom, but were squatting here watching dad and Tenzo... I was the one who wanted to go to the bathroom..." said Naruto.

Tenzo chuckled while Kakashi sighed. "Alright...alright...just go to the bathroom..." said kakashi.

"Umm...sir...I think it's time for me to go home..." said Tenzo reluctantly.

"Oh...right...I am really sorry for making you go home late. I will drive you home..."

"You don't need to, sir. You have to accompany them. I can go home by myself..." said Tenzo smiling.

"Ummm...what if Tenzo stays here tonight?" Sai suggested.

"Agree! Please sleep here tonight, tenzo!" Sakura said excitedly.

"How about we all sleep together?" Naruto suggested.

"We....all?" Kakashi asked.

"Yes!" Sakura, Sai and Naruto answered in unison.

Kakashi turned to Tenzo. Tenzo smiled while nodding. So that night the five of them slept together in Kakashi's room. Naruto slept in the middle between Sai and Sakura. Meanwhile Kakashi was next to Sai and Tenzo was next to Sakura. Thankfully the mattress was big enough to accommodate the five of them who were now fast asleep hugging each other.

If seen from above, the view looks like a family photo.

But, can they really be a family, If someone suddenly appears unexpectedly?

To be continued... :)

@swinginmakerbonkplaid

@loadbearinonion

@leaf-tycoon

@kaylalovefanfic

@spicayama

#naruto #kakashi x tenzo #kakashi x yamato #kakayama #kakashi #kakashi yamato #hatake kakashi #tenzashi #hatake kakashi/yamato tenzo(u) #yamato tenzo #kakashi/yamato

[jpdoingwords]

Assassin's Creed Odyssey Fanfiction

Three long fics and a bunch of shorts, drabble, and incomplete fics. Multiple ships, mostly mlm, some het.

All works are rated M unless otherwise noted, because there is canon-typical violence at times and there are multiple mild sex scenes. Some of these works are explicit - please be sure to check before reading if you aren't into that.

All on AO3 unless otherwise noted.

The Good Spartan

aka. the Alexidas The Good Spartan Summary: It's 431 BCE. Brasidas prepares to take up his first major posting, unaware of all that lays before him in the coming years of the Peloponnesian War. The story is told almost entirely from Brasidas' perspective and follows him from before his first major historical action at Methone to his last, at Amphipolis. This is a crossover between AC Odyssey and Thucydides' history, The Peloponnesian War, favouring Thucydides. I am being as historically accurate as I can, game canon is paid lip service at best. Historical notes are included at the end of each chapter. Snippets on Tumblr: Bardas || Antidas || Diomede || Adimantos In Every Life (The Good Spartan Poem) (Alexios’ POV). The Good Spartan Drabble [Google docs, More additions to come in time.]

Another Life: [Alternative Ending of The Good Spartan, WIP]. Summary: Brasidas survives the Battle of Amphipolis, thanks to Alexios' visit to the Underworld; but even before the battle, he knew he'd never go back to Sparta. He's no longer a good Spartan, nor willing to make the sacrifices required to go on pretending to be one. He just needs to persuade Alexios, and recover from his wounds… and together, find somewhere they might have a little peace.

Another Kind of Odyssey series:

aka. the Thalexios The Warmth of Home Summary: After the events of Odyssey, Alexios has been hiding from the world, loitering in the northern regions of Greece. When he decides to return to Athens for the winter, Demosthenes seeks him out for a job only he can do - whether he wants to or not. This leads him to cross paths with Thaletas again, discovering that this old flame burns the brightest of all.

Unfinished Business Summary: Stentor arrives at Stymphalos, where Thaletas and Alexios settled three years previously. He comes with a message: Alcibiades is in Sparta, and wants to see Alexios - urgently. Answering this seemingly innocent request will sweep them all into events they could not foresee, and had hoped would never occur...

The Turning Tide Summary: Spring, 413BCE. The Peace of Nikias has ended. Sparta and Athens are at one another's throats again. Before the Peace, Sparta was having few successes; but they have a plan they hope will turn the tide against Athens... Against this backdrop of renewed hostilities, Alexios and Thaletas are called upon to complete a mission for King Agis, which will test them and their relationship in ways they haven’t been tested before...

In the Heart of Things Summary: 412BCE. Reunited after a difficult year, Alexios and Thaletas have been sent to Chios by King Agis to keep an eye on the situation there as the theatre of the Peloponnesian War shifts eastwards, into the islands. There, they will discover more than they could have bargained for about themselves and their people, and what it is that lies at the heart of things...

A Few Olives Summary: Alexios decided to buy a farm. Thaletas went along with it. But the plan was not what he had expected, but then nothing ever had been with Alexios. This is the story of a relationship that has grown up in difficult times, and peace is now the hardest thing to deal with. Thaletas struggles to know himself, and Alexios doesn’t understand. Sometimes things must break before they can be reformed.

The Fire and the Flood Series:

aka. The Alexithenes This series is rated E. An Athenian Summer Summary: Early in the War, Alexios allows Socrates to lure him to Athens for the summer. During his stay in the city, his relationship with Demosthenes, not yet a general of Athens, will change significantly... But as the war rages on, will the pressures of the messy world beyond Athens' walls bring the pair together or drive them apart? This story takes liberties with canon; as much as possible, I try to keep characters true to their game-selves; original characters are mostly secondary characters, though of necessity I have provided Demosthenes with more character than he had in the game. Alexios is not immortal; his father is Nikolaos.

The Blue Cloak Alexios and Timotheos are flirting with the idea of being an item when, in order to help the brothers move past the events in canon, Alexios comes up with a plan to further Lykinos' dream of being a poet in Athens. Things take an unexpected turn when Alexios finds himself waking up aboard the Adrestia wearing a cloak he has never seen before.... aka. drunk Alexios gets himself into a situation. This is the edited version of a story previously published as So it is With Us. This version has an additional chapter added at the end and has been rewritten in parts, particularly the first half.

Short and Experimental Pieces

aka. The Deimos fic Shadow-Twin He felt like neither Deimos nor Alexios. They were two skins he’d shed - and what remained now? What new skin might he grow? Who might he become? They’d all demanded answers of him at one time or another. They’d all asked where he’d been when he went out, what he’d been doing. With concern or with curiosity or what they perhaps thought of as friendship. What they meant was: Let me in. Tell me who are you. He gave always the same reply: a grunt. How could he answer that when he didn’t know?

From the Darkness, Light: Brasidas & Deimos!Kassandra Having failed to keep his involvement in the assassination of the Monger in Korinth under wraps, Brasidas is sent by the Kings to Paros on a 'special mission' which he suspects is a punishment. His task is to find a missing lokhagos, but what he uncovers is far bigger and darker than the abduction of one man.

aka the Herodietas (Thaletas x Herodianos) Rising to the Surface: Rated E for the first two parts. After the events during the Mykonos arc of the story, Thaletas is left behind to face the consequences of Alexios' actions. Herodianos, who has been his loyal friend for a long time, does everything he can to comfort him - and so the hands of the Fates are set to work. This was an exercise in writing - Smut, Fluff and Angst, a chapter for each, in that order. Features the power of puppies to dispel the pain of existence.

It Was Just Red "Nothing ever ends poetically. It ends and we turn it into poetry. All that blood was never once beautiful. It was just red." Kait Rakowski This story was prompted by a post I saw recently on Tumblr. It showed Kass sitting at the empty table back in Sparta during the final dinner scene, against which the poster had written something along the lines of: this is the best possible ending – the least amount of Spartans left alive. The following work is an exercise in exploring what that outcome might look like, and seeks to detail some sense of the possible shifting feelings Alexios might have around losing his whole family, mostly at his own hands (a version of the game I’ve never played and frankly never will) and to explore the main question this post prompted in me: Is there a way in which I might believe this could be the best outcome? Fair warning: This work doesn’t honour the game timeline, and as always, I'm disinterested in strict compliance with canon. It’s canon divergent from the get-go simply because it’s Alexios, anyway.

Odyssey Drabble Summary: This is a collection of odds and ends I wrote alongside longer pieces, mainly in response to prompt lists. So far, these consist of: Four based on the tarot: Alexios as a teenager throwing himself into the sea to Anais' horror (an early version of a piece included in It Was Only Red); Brasidas finding himself in the Underworld (a tiny fix-it fic); a tentative beginning to a Daphnae fic I've always contemplated writing; a scene with Demosthenes and Alexios which fits nowhere else; two snippets of modern day AU with an Alexidas focus; and a random Brasidas x reader which I have never written before and quite likely won't again. I will be adding to this collection in time, as I continue working through a significant amount of files that I had forgotten existed (and maybe a few little new things).

#assassin's creed odyssey #fanfiction #jpdoingwords #alexios of sparta #brasidas #brasidas of sparta #alexidas #thalexios #thaletas

[hashimada-week]

HashiMada Week 2023 Prompt List

Sunday, July 9: Childhood Crush | Reunion | Old Age

Monday, July 10: Yokai | Festivals | Samurai

Tuesday, July 11: Mokuton | Healing | Sage

Wednesday, July 12: Love | Lust | Loss

Thursday July, 13: Sharingan | Katon | Rikkudo

Friday, July 14: Honeypot | Flowers | Sparring

Saturday July, 15: Swap AU | Free Day | “I didn’t know who else to turn to”

.🔥🍃.

HashiMada Week Merch

Thank you everyone for your support, it has been decided there’s enough interest that we will be making merch for HashiMada Week. More details and an entire FAQ will be coming soon but the simple details are as such:

You must participate in HashiMada Week in at least one day to be eligible for it.

It will be shipped both domestically (US) and internationally for free! Shipping costs were the biggest hurdle for everyone and we want to give back to the HashiMada community and celebrate our ship!

The form to fill out to get your merch will open the first day of HashiMada Week and stay open until the last late posting date.

We will showcase the merch on June 9th, our HashiMada Week sneak-peek day!

Vote in the poll to decide our merch type (March 20 - 27)

Fill out a merch artist application for your chance to design our merch and get your own copies! (March 20 - April 5)

. 🍃🔥.

Who can submit work?

This is an open event so everyone can participate!

How do I submit work?

Tumblr: post/link work @ this blog (@hashimada-week) and tag it with #hashimadaweek2023

Twitter: @hashimadaweek and #hashimadaweek2023

Ao3 Collection: HashiMada Week 2023 

What kind of work will be accepted?

Pretty much anything! Fanart, fics, edits, AMVs, headcanon/meta posts etc. As long as it follows our rules.

How literal with these prompts do I have to be?

Interpret them however you like, in whatever kind of AU/scenario, as long as it follows our rules. Make them all G-rated/E-rated, happy/tragic, fluffy/gory, or anything in-between!

Do you allow early/late posting?

Please do not post anything early, the mod will not be checking  the tags until the start day of the event, with one exception.

On June 9th (a month before the event starts) we will have a sneak peek event. Tag any work with #hashimadaweek2023sneakpeek  on Tumblr or Twitter and we’ll reblog it! (You can also @ us too on either platform.) Again, this is 100% optional and if you share a sneak peek, you are not obligated to finish/post the work for the event itself. This is just for fun!

Late posting will be allowed by two weeks until the end of July.

Check out our FAQs for more questions/answers.

. 🔥🍃 .

Rules

- No sexism, homophobia, racism, etc. in works.

- No bashing any characters.

- NSFW allowed, but follow Tumblr guidelines on-site (tag properly, read more breaks, cropped, etc. if it applies)

-  Hashimada/Madahashi should be the focus of the work. One-sided dynamics  are allowed, but Hashirama and Madara should still be the main focus.  Otherwise no other ships with these characters and no OT3 with them for  this event. Other background ships allowed.

Not allowed: underаge, rаpe/non-cоn/dub-cоn, incеst, A/B/О AUs, works (esp sexual NFSW) featuring degradаtion/аbuse in the pairing

.🍃🔥 .

Please ask or dm if you have any questions!

Mod: @mira–mira

(Art by @chio-tyan)

@narutoandborutoevents @narutoborutoeventscalendar

#hashimada #madahashi #madara uchiha #hashirama senju #senju hashirama #uchiha madara #madara #hashirama #madara x hashirama #hashirama x madara #prompts

[gemsofgreece]

Which are the most beautiful places in Greece? Aside from mykono and santorini which are beautiful but they are the obvious answer 😉

First, let me tell you what isn’t. Mykonos is generally not among the most beautiful places in Greece. It might come off as a surprise to foreign people but you don’t go to Mykonos because of its beauty. You go for the jet set / celebrity vibes. That’s not to say it isn’t beautiful or that you wouldn’t love it if you went there - it has gorgeous settlements and nice beaches - but compared to other places I wouldn’t even rank it in the top 25, let alone top 2.

Santorini is another case. It’s one of a kind, not only in Greece but worldwide too. But even that can’t guarantee one will definitely like it. For example, my dad can name almost 10 islands he likes more than Santorini, which seems insane to me, but beauty is a very subjective matter.

Which is why I have trouble coming up with an answer for you. There are so many things that make a place beautiful. How can I objectively compare coastal and mountainous regions or beautiful towns or other peculiar attractions (outstanding landscapes or major historical/ cultural regions)? It depends on what everybody prefers. As I’ve said before, Greece’s strong card is that it is more or less everywhere beautiful. You have to make a really odd touristic choice to land on a truly plain place.

The only thing I can do is find the best regarding specific types of beauty. The rankings are in no particular order.

Best beaches and coastal regions:

Mostly found in the Heptanese (Ionian) islands and the Epirote coast opposite them [1], Chalcidice [2], Mount Pelion, the Sporades islands and Euboea island [3], Crete island [4], the Dodecanese islands [5], the South Peloponnese [6], Samos island [7], Thasos island [8] and some of the Cyclades islands (i.e the Small Cyclades) [9].

Best mountainous regions:

The Pindus mountain range and Agrafa mountains covering almost all of Epirus, Southwest Macedonia, West Thessaly, Northwest Sterea Hellas [1]. The rest of the mountains of Sterea Hellas [2]. The two mountain ranges of Crete island [3]. The mountainous core of Arcadia in Peloponnese, Feneos in Corinth and Mount Taygetus in Laconia [4]. Mount Olympus where Larissa meets Pieria [5]. Mount Voras in Pella [6] and Mount Falakro in Drama [7]. Mount Pelion in Magnesia [8].

Best forests, wetlands and ecoregions:

The forests in Thrace and East Macedonia [1], Kerkini in Serres, Skra lake in Kilkis and the waterfalls of Edessa [2], the Perspa lakes and the wildlife shelters in Kastoria and Florina [3], the National Woodland parks in Ioannina and Grevena [4], the Marine Park in Alonissos island and the forests in Mount Pelion [5], Plastira Lake in Karditsa [6], the many wetlands of Aetolia-Acarnania [7], the Marine Park of Zakynthos island [8], wetlands and forests in Elis [9], Feneos in Corinthia [10], Gorge of Samaria in Chania [11].

Prettiest towns or most interesting urban centers:

Kavala, Xanthi and the Pomak villages of Thrace [1], Thessaloniki [2], Kastoria, Ioannina, its surrounding Zagorohoria villages and Parga in Preveza [3], Kerkyra (Corfu) island [4], Volos and the traditional villages of Mount Pelion [5], Athens [6], Nafplion, the Saronic islands and the mountain villages of Arcadia [7], Lesvos and Chios islands [8], all the Cyclades islands and Skyros island [9], the Dodecanese islands [10] and Chania town [11].

Best historical sites:

Ancient Pella, Vergina in Imathia, Amphipolis in Serres and all monuments and museums in Thessaloniki [1], the Monastic State of Mount Athos [2], Kerkyra (Corfu) island [3], Delphi and all historical sites in Athens [4], basically all of Peloponnese [5], many of the Cyclades islands and the largest of the Dodecanese islands [6] and all archaeological and historical sites in most of Crete [7].

Best unique regions, standalone areas, natural and cultural wonders etc:

Meteora in Trikala is a category on its own [1], Santorini but also other places in Cyclades islands too (i.e Milos) [2], Samothrace [3], Livaditis of Xanthi, the tallest waterfall in the Balkans, in a challenging to access region [4], the autonomous Monastic State of Mount Athos [5], the sand dunes in Lemnos island and the petrified forest in Lesvos island [6], Vikos Gorge in Ioannina [7], Melissani lake in Cephalonia island and the Blue Caves in Zakynthos island [8], Polylimnio in Messenia and Diros caves in Laconia [9], several features in Chania (i.e Balos lagoon, Elafonissi pink beach, Samaria gorge) [10], the Corinth Canal in Corinthia [11] and the Servia gorge and Bouharia in Kozani [12]. 

Important note: This was an attempt to narrow it down. I excluded dozens of locations with beautiful archaeological museums, ancient theatres, tombs etc. I excluded many areas with pretty mountain villages. I excluded half the good beaches. I have certainly forgotten stuff. For example, I haven't coloured even once a place I really like. But in general I think the result is decent. Not perfect but not that far off either.

#greece #travel #travelling #tourist guide #greek facts #anon #ask

[bestiarium]

The Kallikantzaroi [Greek folklore]

In the folklore of Greece and surrounding countries, there are tales of the Kallikantzaroi, a race of evil goblin-like creatures. These monsters resembled giant, humanoid creatures with black fur with the ears of a donkey, the hind legs of a donkey and very large reproductive organs (Kallikantzaroi are always male). The details vary: sometimes they were blind, tiny, or deaf.

In Greece, it was believed these creatures could only be seen during the twelve days of Christmas, when they crawled out of their tunnels to plague the people on the surface world. During this time the creatures would plague people by scaring them, stealing food, urinating on food and similar annoying pranks. They roam villages by riding on horses, although sometimes their mounts are large roosters instead. During the rest of the year, they spend all of their time deep under the ground, where they try to saw the world tree. Should they ever succeed in this task, the tree that holds up the world will fall down and the world will be destroyed. Luckily, every Kallikantzaros forgets about this task during the holiday season. When they come back down in January, the monsters find that the world tree has completely healed itself in their absence, and they start sawing again. The concept of the ‘world tree’ used here refers to a tree that supposedly held up our world. It originates from old Greek paganism.

Every Kallikantzaros used to be human, for in the 17th century it was said that boys born between Christmas’ Eve and New Year’s Eve were destined to turn into one of these creatures (later, this belief changed to children born on Christmas day specifically). To prevent this from happening, the people of Chios (Greece) had a ritual where the newborn child was held close to an open flame to burn their feet. After the soles are scorched, the infant is soothed. We can assume this practice was well intentioned but in reality, all it accomplished was the torture of innocent babies.

Also in Chios, it was said that in the last week of December, all Kallikantzaroi went into a frenzy. During this phase, the creatures ran around and clawed at anyone they found – for they have very long and sharp nails – and asked them “hemp or lead?” If the victim answered “hemp”, they would be attacked further and left half dead. Conversely, if they answered “lead”, the monsters would leave them alone.

Merry Christmas, by the way! I wish you all happy holidays, and stay safe from the tree-cutting holiday goblins!

Source: Ginzburg, C., 1991, Ecstasies: deciphering the Witches’ Sabbath, Pantheon. (Image source 1: ΟΕΔΒ, 1961, image taken from Wikipedia) (Image 2: the Kallikantzaroi sawing at the base of the world tree. Image source: ΟΕΔΒ, 1961, image taken from Wikipedia.)

#Greek mythology #humanoid creatures #monsters #mythical creatures #strange tree cutting holiday goblins #folktales

[beba-780]

A Tale of Destiny

The drawings of the story are currently on my other profile @chio-780, you can find them with the same "#a tale of destiny".

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

· The environment of the story will occur in the same way as in the game, everything will be set in the 14th century (14), and after seeing the new season of Ninjago: Dragons Rising it seemed like a good idea that the 16 kingdoms are seen as new countries or islands that Kai, Nya and Lloyd must travel to get the answers they seek about what is happening with Lloyd. Since if you watched the new season, you will see that the continent of Ninjago expanded quite a bit after the Fusion combined the 16 kingdoms in the land of Ninjago.

· In the game Hugo has a strange disease called "The First Macula", but in my story Lloyd will have something similar to what happens to Hugo, only it will be more different and it is not just a disease as mentioned in the game. Lloyd would have been what is called "Gift", a power that is granted by the gods of Ninjago to humans who have a strong connection with nature, these gifts do not occur often, this cannot happen to anyone since it is rare for a person is born with this Gift of the gods, it is also due to the fact that part of the energy of the gods flows through the world.

· Something about the Gifts is that the person who possesses them has the choice to use them or not, but if they were to use them they must have self-control in themselves, since using their powers without experience could cause irreparable damage or even death, and not only the bearers of the Gifts, but also thousands of people who are around them and they could also destroy a country or an entire island. The gifts of the bearers can also be corrupted in different ways, this could even affect the entire world as the corruption would reach various corners of the earth and could plunge the entire world into eternal darkness.

· In Ninjago the Gifts are known as a disease or curse to some. Humans think that the Gifts are curses through black magic, those who believe that it is a disease have the idea that it was created by the Gods to punish humans who were born impure and dangerous to the world, others believe that they are special humans who can develop various abilities that help the environment around them, and others also believe that people who possess Gifts are incarnations of the Gods. The only thing they know about the gifts is that they do not manifest daily, since it is rarely born in a person who has a great connection with nature, and that is the only data confirmed by all.

· To know that a person has a Gift, he is born with a strange mark on his chest, each mark is different depending on the person, the bearer will have the ability to control different elements of nature, even nature itself can grant him new abilities the wearer depending on his connection with it, can control the life energy of anything around him, he would also have control over animals, but using these abilities brings a cost to the wearer himself.

· These negative effects of the Gifts would be both minor and major pain in different parts of the body, and this depends on how the bearer uses his Gift, more counting the time in which he uses it, this would also generate supernatural abilities, spells that can be weak to older and fever, both low and high depending on the condition of the carrier.

· The existence of the Gift holders has generated many Ninjago inquisitions to hunt them down to eliminate them, even people exclude the holders thinking that they could put everyone in danger due to their abilities, but the people who raise them must have access to special elixirs to contain their abilities and over time the Gift will weaken and no longer be a danger to the wielder, but wielders who strengthen their Gift can either stay hidden or expose themselves, as they train their Gift to keep it low. Control must take time, but the wielder can be trained in any way.

· Furthermore, if a person wants to possess a Gift, but was not born with one, he can take the blood of a carrier and inject it himself to possess a Gift, but this could cause the same consequences as a carrier, but the pain would be the same double, since the Gift was not born in him and his body could not easily contain it, apart from the fact that once the person injects himself with the blood of a carrier into it, he must recite a spell so that the gift does not destroy his body.

· In the story, Lloyd will not be the biological son of Ray and Maya, parents of Kai and Nya, nor of Garmadon or Misako, who are the kings of Ninjago, since they will all have a different role. Lloyd, being the bearer of a Gift, was born in a small agricultural town where its inhabitants dedicated themselves to planting and hunting, it was a fairly naturalistic town, since they supplied themselves with everything the forest gave them, they did not follow any religion and only they respected the forest and performed all kinds of natural remedies. But then one day the town was infected by a dangerous plague, this alerted the kingdom's Church who immediately, and behind King Garmadon's back, sent church knights and their faithful followers to purge the town without a trace of all that was left. who lived there Lloyd's biological mother managed to save him from the extermination carried out by the knights and the followers of the Church by putting the newborn Lloyd in a basket so that the current of the river would carry him away from the place so that he would be safe.

· Lloyd's basket arrived at the grounds of the noble Smith family, where Kai, the eldest son, and Nya, the youngest daughter, found it on the river bank where they used to play every day. They immediately took the baby to his parents, there Maya and Ray discover that Lloyd is a carrier of a Gift because of the mark on his chest, Ray undertakes a trip to where Lloyd's town was and upon arrival he discovers that the entire place was reduced to ashes and all its inhabitants were massacred, Ray gave notice of this to King Garmadon and gave a strong rebuke to the Church.

· Ray and Maya immediately took a liking to Lloyd, and decided to make him part of the Smith family, who were well known in the kingdom as a family of knights loyal to the kingdom of Ninjago for many generations. But they kept the fact that Lloyd was a Quirk a secret from everyone, even from their two children Kai and Nya. So Maya, being a master alchemist, contacted the Order, an organization of wizards, sages, and alchemists from around the world to help find a cure for Lloyd.

· Fearing that someone would find out that Lloyd was a Quirk, they decided to keep Lloyd inside the castle for most of the time. Only a few important members of the Order know that Lloyd is a Quirk, only Wu, doctor, sage and Master Alchemist was named Lloyd's official doctor and helped Maya in his research, even giving Lloyd elixirs for his healing. Don was controlled and asleep, in addition, he gave him other medical treatments so that the Don would not affect Lloyd in any other way during his growth. But her visits to the Smith family were secret, and no one else knew what she was doing with Lloyd.

· Kai and Nya didn't understand why their new brother was excluded from almost everyone and only received visits from Doctor Wu and not from another doctor, but even so, that didn't stop them from spending time with him. The three of them grew up together as good brothers and were very close, since they couldn't take him outside on their parents' orders, they spent all their time playing in the castle gardens.

· When they weren't with Lloyd, Kai and Nya were doing their duties as future heirs to Smith Castle, Kai spending time training alongside his father and other knights, Nya studying to be a Master Alchemist like her mother and a leader for her home grounds and his people, but since the two brothers were very close, they both spent their time studying in the same place and training from time to time just for their father, so they could better defend their home and the kingdom.

· Despite the fact that the brothers lived well together, the day came when everything changed, when Lloyd turned three years old it seemed that his Gift was also growing with him, since black roots began to grow around his mark and these little by little they spread through his body. Wu informed Maya that on an island that belonged to the Order Lloyd could be better treated and they could contain his power, Maya accepted this and embarked towards the Order's island.

· After Maya and Lloyd left for the island, Ray told his children Kai and Nya that Lloyd suffered from a disease that could only be treated on the island of the Order, but still the two brothers continued with their lives and duties under their father's upbringing, but they always received letters from their mother and that at least comforted them both knowing that their mother still missed and loved them, as well as knowing that Lloyd was growing well and that his illness was going well treated.

· After two years, Maya and Lloyd return to their home, already with Lloyd's Gift at least repressed thanks to the special elixirs of the members of the Order of the island plus other treatments, but Maya still did not discover how to cure Lloyd, but she did not give up, and thanks to the notes of the Order on the Gifts, magic and the Gods, she herself investigated how to find a way to cure Lloyd.

· Even though Lloyd was already a five-year-old boy, he was still shut out from the world and only allowed to walk inside the castle. He could not even spend much time at the party that his father organized for his and his mother's return, nor did he talk much with his older brothers, since being away from home made him a shy child, but after a few days little by little He spoke again with his brothers Kai and Nya, but more with Nya, since Kai spent most of his time training or going hunting with his father. In addition, he entertained himself by reading or playing with his toys in his room, the little he knew about the outside world was thanks to his books.

· Days after Maya and Lloyd returned, a member of the Order turned traitor and gave information to the Church about Lloyd's existence and that he possessed a Gift. Again defying King Garmadon's orders, the Church ordered his knights to invade the lands of the noble knight Ray Smith to capture Lloyd.

· The Church is made up of members just as powerful and influential as King Garmadon, with each generation his idealism about the Gods twisted and each new leader was acquiring too excessive and demanding perfectionism, which generated several conflicts in various parts of the kingdom of Ninjago.

· Currently the Church is led by the Grand Inquisitor Pythor P. Chumsworth, who in his philosophy is absolute perfection, behind the king's back he can also decide who lives and who dies, and his number of followers increased after illnesses and diseases Plagues will mysteriously increase in Ninjago, but these events were caused by him as he plans to subdue the entire kingdom of Ninjago under his rule and purge the people who are not worthy of him, as well as finish off once and for all with the bearers of Impure Gifts for him.

· The reason why he was able to cause various attacks of plagues, plagues, and people contracting serious and infectious diseases, is because in his power he has the fearsome black knight Morro, who is a loyal follower of Inquisitor Pythor and the Church, and The most relevant thing about him is that Morro is a carrier of a Gift, what is known is that Pythor took him under his care as a child in order to take advantage of his Gift, he fiercely trained him to control his Gift and filled his head of absurd things about the Church and the world so that Morro would only follow orders from the Church and from Pythor himself, being indoctrinated in this way his Gift became corrupted and caused him to awaken supernatural powers that allowed him to control hordes of murderous rats, insects, pests like crows and bats more in causing people to be infected with all kinds of diseases, as well as wreaking havoc on many farm crops so that when people were in famine they would go to Church and become faithful followers of Pythor.

· Morro is known almost only by the title of black knight, he is feared for being a fierce warrior who mercilessly attacks his enemies, has no mercy on his opponents and destroys without remorse everything that the Church asks of him, due to his hatred and rage his Quirk became too corrupted that it makes his appearance scary and threatening, he hardly ever takes off his helmet, but when he does people mention that he looks like a ghost, plus having black roots running across his face. He uses his supernatural powers to send all kinds of hordes of plagues and diseases to towns that are despised by the Church.

· What seemed to be a normal day for the Smith family turned into a nightmare after Pythor and Morro's men attacked the Smith castle, murdering the inhabitants while demanding that they bring Lloyd, Ray and Maya to them. To make his children flee through a secret passage that would lead them out of the castle, Morro took Ray and Maya prisoner so he could interrogate them in the Church, only Kai, Nya and Lloyd didn't know it, since the three of them had to jump into the He laughed after seeing how a horde of rats began to appear destroying everything in their path. But before they ran away, Maya told them to go with Wu to help them with Lloyd.

· Kai, Nya and Lloyd set out on the journey to Wu's farm, and it was lucky that Kai knew the way as he would sometimes accompany his father to escort Wu close to his home for his safety. Both older brothers knew that they had to keep Lloyd safe at all costs, since after all they were the only family Lloyd had left, and they were hopeful that Wu could help them in whatever they needed for Lloyd's treatment.

· Despite being an important member of the Order, Wu had to keep a profile before people, he bought a farm where he could live peacefully and could continue his research for the Order and the kingdom, since he was not only Lloyd's doctor, if not also Garmadon's trusted doctor, thanks to this the Order obtained more benefits for their cause, in this way they were able to avoid the men of the Church and continue in the shadows without the Order being threatened.

· But Wu does not live alone, with him live his three apprentices: Cole Bucket, Zane Julien and Jay Walker, the three joined the Order to give good benefits to their families, which traveled together in a pilgrim caravan that offered great trades and shows all over Ninjago. Wu offered to be their teacher when they came to the Order, so the three of them have been helping him on his farm ever since and he teaches them all sorts of things to be Order members. Cole, Zane, and Jay know about Lloyd's condition, since Wu told them about the Gifts and how he has been handling Lloyd all this time, and being an important man who often travels on King Garmadon's duty or for the Order, the three apprentices stay on the farm taking care of everything and when Wu is back the three can take a few days off to go find their families in the caravan they grew up in.

· The history of Cole, Zane and Jay is not that interesting, the three of them grew up together in the caravan in which their families travel and since then they have been together at all times, they learned about the Order after Wu helped several people in his family caravan who were infected by a disease, then they met other members during their travels, the members of the Order explained to the three boys everything that was inside the Order, and enthusiastically the three decided to join the Order to help their families somehow, Wu recognized them and decided to be the teacher of the three, he has taken them to various places so that they had experience and thanks to this the three were able to become more independent in the real world.

· After moving to the farm, Cole, Zane and Jay were able to make their skills flourish better than ever, under Wu's supervision the three of them were able to develop good skills that helped the Order a lot, Cole was able to do heavy work and get all kinds of ingredients, he trained to be someone who defended his friends, studied alchemy a lot, and was able to be a great translator and linguist thanks to Wu's teachings.

· Zane focused a lot on medicine and science like his father, since he is the doctor of the caravan in which he travels, he learned to know even some basic spells thanks to Wu and he knew how to experiment with new medicines that are more effective than those that people use daily. Also, use magic and alchemy to be able to make healing remedies that help people. Wu even brought several of Zane's recipes to the Order, which were accepted to Zane's great honor. He also learned to treat all kinds of injuries, he was even able to heal the broken bone of a farmer who was a neighbor of Wu. In addition, Zane has a pet falcon named Falcon that he raised himself and uses it to send messages to Wu when he's away.

· With Jay, the only thing that fascinated him was inventing things, he used alchemy minerals to increase his machines, almost all of his inventions are kept in the barn, where he even tests with animals, Jay wants to be a great inventor who can helping people, something their parents try to do as they travel in the caravan. One of his funny stories is that he once created a small catapult and to test it he put a chicken as a test subject, but the catapult turned out to be throwing things too far which made the chicken fly off the farm, as punishment. Wu ordered him to find the chicken. Several of his inventions were also brought to the Order and only a few were accepted.

· After Kai, Nya and Lloyd went through almost hell to Wu's farm, he received them and so everyone began to get to know each other better, now the plan was to reach King Garmadon's territory so they could find refuge away from men of the Church, but to get there they must face thousands of dangers in order to reach King Garmadon safely and find a way to defeat the forces of Pythor and his followers.

· Although Pythor's plan is to take over the kingdom, he must still obtain Lloyd's raw power as if he uses Morro's blood he could die, since Morro's Quirk was corrupted long ago, and he is now a victim of the disease that I think he's beyond desperate to find Lloyd.

· During the trip Kai and Nya begin to connect again with Lloyd as in the past, they also begin to understand Lloyd's Quirk better, even Lloyd himself begins to awaken his new abilities that could be useful during the trip. Now they are just three brothers trying to survive and find a way to stay together.

#ninjago #ninjago au #au #ninjago headcanons #ninjago headcanon #headcanons #headcanon #a tale of destiny #a tale of destiny au #ninjago a tale of destiny #ninjago a tale of destiny au #lego ninjago

[paganimagevault]

The Greeks preserve the bridge of Darius by John Steeple Davis 1900

"They then sent the division of the Scythians to which the Sauromatae were attached, and which was led by Scopasis, to speak with those Ionians guarding the bridge over the Ister; as for those of the Scythians who remained behind, it was decided that they should no longer decoy the Persians, but attack them whenever they were foraging for provision. So they watched for the time when Darius' men were foraging, and did as they had planned.

When the first division of the Scythians came to the bridge—the division that had first been appointed to stand on guard by the Maeetian lake and had now been sent to the Ister to speak with the Ionians—they said, “Ionians, we have come to bring you freedom, if you will only listen to us. We understand that Darius has directed you to guard the bridge for sixty days only, and if he does not come within that time, then to go away to your homes. Now then, do what will leave you guiltless in his eyes as in ours: stay here for the time appointed; and after that, leave.” So the Ionians promised to do this, and the Scythians made their way back with all haste.

...

And as the Persian army was for the most part infantry and did not know the roads (which were not marked), while the Scythians were horsemen and knew the short cuts, they went wide of each other, and the Scythians reached the bridge long before the Persians.

There, perceiving that the Persians had not yet come, they said to the Ionians, who were in their ships, “Ionians, the days have exceeded the number, and you are wrong to be here still.

Since it was fear that kept you here, now break the bridge in haste and go, free and happy men, thanking the Gods and the Scythians. As for him that was once your master, we will leave him in such plight that never again will he lead his army against any nation.”

Then the Ionians held a council. Miltiades the Athenian, general and sovereign of the Chersonesites of the Hellespont, advised that they do as the Scythians said and set Ionia free.

But Histiaeus of Miletus advised the opposite. He said, “It is owing to Darius that each of us is sovereign of his city; if Darius' power is overthrown, we shall no longer be able to rule, I in Miletus or any of you elsewhere; for all the cities will choose democracy rather than despotism.”

When Histiaeus explained this, all of them at once inclined to his view, although they had first sided with Miltiades.

Those high in Darius' favor who gave their vote were Daphnis of Abydos, Hippoclus of Lampsacus, Herophantus of Parium, Metrodorus of Proconnesus, Aristagoras of Cyzicus, Ariston of Byzantium, all from the Hellespont and sovereigns of cities there; and from Ionia, Strattis of Chios, Aiaces of Samos, Laodamas of Phocaea, and Histiaeus of Miletus who opposed the plan of Miltiades. As for the Aeolians, their only notable man present was Aristagoras of Cymae.

When these accepted Histiaeus' view, they decided to act upon it in the following way: to break as much of the bridge on the Scythian side as a bowshot from there carried, so that they seem to be doing something when in fact they were doing nothing, and that the Scythians not try to force their way across the bridge over the Ister; and to say while they were breaking the portion of the bridge on the Scythian side, that they would do all that the Scythians desired.

This was the plan they adopted; and then Histiaeus answered for them all, and said, “You have come with good advice, Scythians, and your urgency is timely: you guide us well and we do you a convenient service; for, as you see, we are breaking the bridge, and will be diligent about it, as we want to be free.

But while we are breaking the bridge, this is your opportunity to go and find the Persians, and when you have found them, punish them as they deserve on our behalf and on your own.”

So the Scythians, trusting the Ionians' word once more, turned back to look for the Persians; but they missed the way by which their enemies returned. The Scythians themselves were to blame for this, because they had destroyed the horses' pasturage in that region and blocked the wells.

Had they not done, they could, if they had wished, easily have found the Persians. But as it was, that part of their plan which they had thought the best was the very cause of their going astray."

-Herodotus, The Histories, Book 4.128-140

#scythian #ancient greece #persian history #history #ancient history #darius the great #book art #literature #herodotus #20th century art #art #john steeple davis

[o3o-aya]

Why is no one congratulating me on Sasuke and our wedding 🙄 I’m marrying him to 🙄💅✨

Chio my love

✨no✨

#aya answers #lovely moots 💕 #beloved chio!!! #i will fucking fight you #i love you but-

[tickling-giggles]

What are your fav tickle scenes?

Probably the one from Chio’s school road

Free!, and SAO

#kiara answers #kiara talks #anime tickling #sao tickle #chio’s school road #Free!tickle #anon ask

[mask131]

Fragments of fright (6)

From Edouard Brasey's "The Great Encyclopedia of the Marvelous"

Some Greek undeads

Vrukolak

[Note by OP: The name of the creature is a bizarre subject... You see, the original Greek term for them is "vrykolakas" or "vrukolakas" - which is why I take the English form "vrukolak", even though they are also sometimes known in the English world as "vukodlak". Note however that, in France for example, the term became "Broucolaques" - which is also found in other European countries. Take for example The Witcher who uses the Polish version that in English becomes "brukolak".]

The vrukolaks are found in Greek islands - most notably on Santorini in the Egean Sea. A vrukolak is a person who died in a "state of sin" (not confessed, not receiving the last Christian rites, having committed crimes for which they they were not purified), but also a person who wasn't properly honored during their funerals, or a person who died with a debt to pay, a revenge to perform or a question of honor to settle. These undeads do not rot like a regular corpse - rather, their still living and un-rotting bodies haunt the living and drink their blood like vampires. However, unlike vampires which are octurnal creatures, vrukolaks act as much during the day as during the night. The vrukolak will keep terrorizing the living until either their "mission" is accomplished, or until they obtained reparation for whatever offense they received.

Collin de Plancy wrote about the "broucolaques" that they were Greek vampires, most of them being the "spectres" of excommunicate people - unable to rot in their graves, these wraiths appeared during the day as during the night, and it was a very dangerous thing to meet one. Léon Allatius, in the sixteenth century, wrote even more about these creatures. He explained that in the island of Chio, the inhabitants only anser to their name being called if it is called twice - because the vrukolak are only able to call someone's name once, and cannot repeat it a second time. The inhabitants also believe that if a vrukolak calls the name of a living person, and if this person answers, the wraith will disappear - but in return the person who answered the call will die in a few days. It is something that was common with the vampies of Bohemia and Moravia. Collin de Plancy added that, to prevent the vrukolaks, the Greeks unburied the ghost of the assumed wraith and burned it after reciting some prayers. Once the body was turned to ashes, the vrukolak stopped appearing. Another way to get rid of a vrukolak as to exile them to a small, deserted island - like all demons, vrukolaks cannot stand salt and so they are unable to cross the sea.

Sometimes, however, the vrukolak do not return to terrorize the living - they can return because of some debt of honor. In this case, no frontier, no limit and no obstacle can stop them from preventing their mission - they can cross the sea as they crossed the world of the dead back to the living. A famous story from the Sporades islands tells of a young girl name Arete, who lived with her mother and nine brothers. A wealthy Persian merchant who was passing by wanted to make her his wife - but the girl's mother refused to let her daughter leave her household despite the potential husband being a very good suitor. Her younger son, Constantin, then solemny promised her, if there was such a need, to go fetch himself his sister and bring her back home, wherever she was - and it was thanks to this vow that Arete's mother allowed her to leave with her husband. Years passed, and Arete never sent any news of her situation back home. Her mother hadn't forgotten her, and regretted sending her away. Even worse - a deadly epidemic stuck the island, and the nine brothers of Arete died. Their mother doubly cried - she hadn't just lost her sons, but also her daughter since Constantin now could never bring her back. However, enraged, she went to the cemetery and before Constantin's tumb she said "Constantin, I remind you of your word. Go seek your sister, and brng her back. May you never rest in your grave until you made well of your promise!" She then went back to her home, and stayed in bed for three days.

The fourth evening, a violent wind blew over the island. The door of the house opened itself brutally and Constantin appeared there, half-rotten, his clothes in tatters. He held in his arms his asleep sister - he had turned into a vrukolak, and had gone to Persia to bring her back. Afraid, the mother tried to banish the ghost, and did so by throwing a handful of salt in a jar of water saying "My son, may your curse dissolve like this salt in water. Rest n peace now." Immediately, the vrukolak left home and returned to his grave, while the mother died in the arms of her daughter.

Kallikantzaros

Also called Karakonzule, Karkantzari (Macedonia), karkansoli, kakanxholi (Albania), karakondzi (Bulgaria), karakondzuli (Serbia), karanjoloz (Croatia) and carcazol (Armenia)

The kallikantzaros (in plural, kallikantzari) is an undead that drinks the blood of humans and beasts. It is found all over the Balkans, but is most prominent and dominant in Greece. Three types of people become kallikantzari after their death: children died without being baptized, foreigners dying on local ground, or the people born between Christmas and the Epiphany. The kallikantzari appear in the shape of hairy man, with goat feet and goat ears (making them similar to the satyrs of Greek mythology). Just like these ancient beings, the kallikantzari are said to greatly love dancing, and enjoying the pleasures of the flesh with women. But a kallikantzaros can also take animal shape - turning into a horse, a dog, or a wolf. In the latter case, they are called likokantzari, a Balkanic variation of the "werewolf". The kallikantzari have a leader - the Koutsodaimonas (Kutsodaimonas), who is identical to a kallikantzaros except for the fact that he has horns, and looks wilder, savager, more demonic than the others. The koutsodaimonas protects the kallikantzari from any attacks against them, and encourages them to perform evil deeds. The only way to repel or banish this entity is by brandishing before him a burning "Christmas torch".

In the island of Lesbos, the kallikantzari are rather human-looking imps or dwarfs, with hooked nails, and pointy caps. They enter human houses between Christmas and the Epiphany - during thosefifteen days, they turn the house-upside down, break everything, make all sorts of noises, steal precious jewels, kill pigs by drinking their blood and eating their entrails - and they also collect the pigs' hair, with which they make their caps. To force these invaders to flee, one must spread ashes alongside every wall, and hang above their doors a pig's head.

#fragments of fright #undeads #vampires #greek folklore #vampire lore

[homhymndaily]

ὦ κοῦραι, τίς δ᾽ ὔμμιν ἀνὴρ ἥδιστος ἀοιδῶν

ἐνθάδε πωλεῖται, καὶ τέῳ τέρπεσθε μάλιστα;

ὑμεῖς δ᾽ εὖ μάλα πᾶσαι ὑποκρίνασθαι ἀφήμως:

τυφλὸς ἀνήρ, οἰκεῖ δὲ Χίῳ ἔνι παιπαλοέσσῃ

τοῦ μᾶσαι μετόπισθεν ἀριστεύσουσιν ἀοιδαί.

“Whom think ye, girls, is the sweetest singer that comes here, and in whom do you most delight?” Then answer, each and all, with one voice: “He is a blind man, and dwells in rocky Chios: his lays are evermore supreme.” (Homeric hymn to Apollo, 169-173, trans. Evelyn-White)

126 Delian girls (gnc) have already gathered to read the evermore supreme Homeric Hymns! Thank you all so much, and see you all on September 19th!

#hom hymn daily #fun fact: this passage is why the greeks/previous scholars thought homer was the author of the HOMERIC hymns!

[themarcspector-hasmovedblogs]

wip wednesday

tagged by: @multiverse-of-themind (thanks! 🥳🤠)

tagging: @gothamrains / @moonsaints / @deathlessfable/ @thelittlestspider / @theaisstillhere / @elizabethtaylors / @fayelistic and anyone who wants to share whatever they're working on too. say i tagged you!

note: i am doing fic//tober & fl/ufftober this year and these are excerpts from stuff i'm writing for both as a challenge to post my work instead of hoarding it. some things will likely be edited before i post it properly. it's all fandom x oc influenced stuff, cause i am still trying to figure out which prompts i wanna use for my original works. characterizations might be choppy cause they're all first rough drafts.

1) cloud x matt

Claudia smiles a bit, brushing Matt's cheek with her gloved left hand.

“The Man Without Fear? Scared?” she teases, using the same hand that comforts him to pinch his cheek and make him give her that infamous Matty smile. “You’re fucking with me. Clowning me, really.”

He chuckles. “Maybe? Maybe not.”

“You’re full of shit, then.” She says in a way that says she doesn’t believe he actually is full of shit, and that she's messing around. Then, right after that, she pulls him by his tie to kiss her.

It’s not a long, passionate kiss but it is enough to prove she means what she says. Because, if she didn’t, he would have to deal with her walking away and leaving him with nothing. “But scout’s honor…which, I realize you can’t see...But, I'm swearing on thin mints, and you know I don't fuck around when it comes to thin mints."

2) cloud x marc...she is attempting to bond...lmfaoooo

“You know, I doubt anyone’s ever told you this, but you bring a whole different meaning to 'what would you do if you had God in a box?',” Claudia had told Marc one day, taking a sip from her coffee cup as she looked at him with her very tired eyes.

“How did you answer that question when you were asked?” Marc asked, diverting the question away from his own response, as he typically did when they talked about things that revealed a little too much.

“I always said I would throw it, once it reached my hands. It sounded like too much responsibility -- too much I wouldn't want to know." Her shoulders shrugged and she made a face. "I guess that said - and still says – a lot about me,” she replied, taking another sip of her coffee. "And truthfully, I don't get how you do it, honestly. It sounds like a headache."

"Do what?"

"Walk around with a God in a box..."

3) sidney x matt (crack ship potential! accidental thing that happened due to one of the prompts giving me an IDEA!) but sid is dreaming. this isn't a real confession.

Matt let out a slight chuckle. “Nobody warned you about me, huh?” he asked, teasing. “I thought you knew when I hired you. I thought you knew the rumors?”

“That you’re a blind guy who falls down stairs a lot and has the most excellent hearing ever?” she asked.

“That I’m Daredevil,” he said seriously.

Sidney scoffed. “That doesn’t make any sense though.”

“That’s because you wear rose-tinted glasses.” He said right back.

“You literally wear red glasses, Matt,” she replied dryly.

4) cloud x elektra tw: violence, but it's kind of cartoony sjkdfhksjdf I HATE THEM LOVE THEM

"You two really need to stop playing this games of kill or be killed," Matt says to both Cloud and Elektra sternly, as they sit on the couch.

Cloud's got her leg draped over Elektra's legs, and Elektra's arm is wrapped around Claudia, and they're both holding in laughter because they're being lectured over their ridiculous little game.

"Why though? I looooove pushing Claudia off buildings, and she thinks it's incredibly funny when she comes back to life. No one's actually getting hurt here, Mathew." Elektra argues, before letting out a laugh.

Claudia laughs back. "And Elektra's a fun challenge. Do you know how hard it IS to kill her? I'm pretty sure she took on gh.ost rider once...Killing her is kind of a little ego boost for me. Like, who else can say they killed The Elek//tra Nat//chios 44 times and lived to tell the the tale?"

#noswipstuff #sjfsldsd the elektra one makes me laugh....the god in the box idk how i feel about it. might edit it a lot. and the sid x matt one #is actually sid asleep on her desk and putting pieces together in a dream LOL #and cloud and matt are just being cloud and matt