A New Friend

[xifeng]

Work was not worth writing about, other than to say that if you have enough money to own three different pieces of property, you should be sure you have enough money to PAY YOUR FUCKING MORTGAGE on three different pieces of property. When you don't, and I have to get full copies, meaning the complaint and judgment, which usually evens out to about 10 pages and thus $10 per file, on every single last one of your foreclosed properties, I come to the conclusion that you deserve to die. Thxsomuch for your attention to this matter.

Today, a skinny little black-and-white cat clambered about on the porch. (I learned about this the same way I learn about all potential cats: I caught Callice screaming at him/her/it.) Initially, I wasn't sure if it was a kitten or if it was just an extremely small and malnourished adult cat, and put out some food and water for it; it let me pet it, though didn't purr discernibly, and puttered into the yard to thrash around and heroically climb the bushes. It turns out that the grey cat who is Callice's archnemesis is the black-and-white kitten's mommy. She allowed it to get up on the porch and eat some of the food I put out for it; the kitten's response was, basically, "nom nom nom i has many kibbles" and the momcat's response to my being there was closer to, "Well, okay, you might be all right even if the Ferocious Parti-Coloured Beast doesn't want us here."

Callice was Not Happy about the fact that I petted the kitten and then petted her with the same hand, but she graciously condescended to receive pets anyway.

Thus, we disprove m0mmy's hypothesis that Callice mightn't be threatened by a kitten (her theory is that a kitten could show Callice how to use the litterbox, and my theory is that Callice, if left alone with a kitten, could kill and eat it and then destroy the Midwest with a flood of pee).

I may be going to Bloomington tomorrow. I may also be waiting until Monday, since that's when the books are actually due and the odds of my having work for then are pretty slim, but I'd rather do it when class isn't in session and there's a place to park.

Also, because it is Friday, here is a meme I stole from dethorats! This one is behind a cut, in case you don't care about my rich fantasy life, which is not of general interest. :D


1. Pick one of my characters, any one.
2. I will tell you the origin of his/her/its name. [WARNING: With me, this is liable to be "it came to me" or "it felt right".]
3. I will tell you some random facts surrounding his/her/its creation.
4. I will give you a brief summary of his/her/its backstory, if you desire. Indicate yes or no.
5. You may ask me up to ten questions about the character.

Characters I am at all competent to discuss:

RP Madness
Saul Varthema
Tsai Sin-feng
Meredith Lynch
Akita Yukichi
Fujioka Shirôzaemon

T3h n0v3l OMG [WARNING: Spoil0rz may lurk in the darque troubled waters.]
Ketau
Salki
Teigu
Elina Vandel
(If there's a minor character who intrigues you, go for it, but be aware that the answer may be, "Duuuuuhhhhhh...")

Other Shit What I Done Wrote
Anna
Miadhán ni Míbhain
Taren Derai


Have fun. :D

Comments

[dethorats]

Oooh, Miadhán ni Míbhain for old times' sake and Anna too, if you wish because I like me some Russian Commies. I have no questions yet but hopefully some will come to me (I was lazy on answering this meme, apologies).

One!

[shake-the-stars.livejournal.com]

Being a dissertation on Miadhan. Acute marks left out because LJ hates that when you reply via e-mail D: I've no clue how much of this will be familiar, since I still keep working on it intermittently and it's evolved like whoa in the intervening 12 years or so. XD

Onomastics: I think I got the name, loosely, from Liadhan in Mark of the Horse Lords by Rosemary Sutcliff, which I read part of when I was around 11 and never finished. XD The acute mark was added in about 1999 and indicates the stressed syllable. "Ni" is a particle gacked from Irish Gaelic which means "daughter of", and Mibhain, of course, is her father's name. Internally, the name is derived from the name of the Dunlean indigenes' moon-goddess.

Amazing Origin!: Gym class in 1991, during the archery unit. At 11, I thought it was a pity that there weren't enough ass-kicking female archers. XD Mia has become more of a swordswoman in the intervening years, but she began as an archer. She was originally supposed to be someone's distant ancestor who died mysteriously, but I liked her, so I kept her alive for much longer.

As for appearance: at the time, I liked black hair and green eyes, not realizing that the Mary Sues would overrun this particular coloring many years later. XD In my defense, among Mibhain's people Mia's looks are not considered particularly exotic, and just to be sure of avoiding the Sue Curse, I've also inflicted upon her small breasts, a large ass, and an, uh, extremely prominent nose.

Career Highlights, Extremely Abridged Version: When Mia was a young child, her mother and younger brother died of plague, and she was raised first by her paternal aunt and then by her father's guest-friend, one Prince Andrel. She was inseparable from young Taren Derai, with whom she tasted warfare for the first time (she had more fondness for it than he; Taren missed his calling). Married rather too young, to an eccentric and well-meaning Elf who just didn't get her; had their only child; and quickly came to find domestic life stifling, so bolted back to Evis to return to Taren. They were inseparable, as before, for another ten years until they had a falling-out, which was never resolved.

Returning to Dunlea resulted in massive upheaval: a writ of divorce (privately) and the growing civil strife due to the country's unresolved ethnic issues and political vicissitudes (publicly). When said strife erupted into out-and-out war, Mia reluctantly took up arms again and led a faction, like her father before her. Eventually, after a whole bunch of crap that I haven't got straight in my own mind, she emerged victorious, and was summarily crowned queen--not a job title she'd particularly wanted, but one she'd proven strong enough to hold. Reigned ten years, died peacefully in her sleep.

Damn, two paragraphs for a character I've had 16 years. Go me! I am the mistress of condensation! XD

Two!

[shake-the-stars.livejournal.com]

Being the one about Anna, because I don't think I can pack it all into one comment screen. XD

Onomastics: Anna is a perfectly respectable Russian name, besides being one I like and wouldn't have compunctions about inflicting on a child if I had one. XD Her ochestvo, or patronymic, is Stepanovna, which reflects her father's name (Stepan); her surname, Kharlova (I don't recall if I've mentioned it in canon, but that is her maiden name), is not a particularly common name in Russia, but is a real name nonetheless.

Amazing Origin!: It's totally Nicholas and Alexandra's fault. XD That movie is responsible for the entire late tsarist/early Soviet tip. Anna was initially a tremendous Sue, though. I like to think I've evened her out over the years.

Career Highlights: Anna was born in 1901 to minor nobility, the second of five children; her father, a naturalist, died when she was very young, and her mother took up drink. Anna raised her siblings. Shortly after her older brother was killed in WWI, she discovered Marxism, which for her was like discovering life. Anna had a checkered career as a teenaged revolutionary, though the danger and excitement increased after the Revolution, during which she cut ties with her natal family. She joined a women's brigade and lost her fingers in the war, about which we've read. XD Subsequently, no longer able to use a rifle as effectively, Anna became a cog in Soviet society; she was engaged, once, briefly to Andrei, whom we've met, and wound up marrying Lev. (Hurrah!)

We haven't seen much of Anna's middle and old age, but it's been implied that she was exiled (she is still a Communist after coming to the US) and that Lev predeceased her.

[driley1.livejournal.com]

Why not Akita Yukichi?

#4 is yes, and I can't think of anything for #5. D:

[shake-the-stars.livejournal.com]

I live to serve. :D

Onomastics: Yukichi was named for nineteenth-century educator Fukuzawa Yukichi. Internally, he was named after his father, in a sense (the "kichi" kanji is the same as in his father's name, Kichibei; men in feudal Japan were often named in this manner). I don't remember just where the name Akita came from; it's probably the surname of a historian, and I probably picked it up whilst I was copying out the bibliography of a Japanese history book. The names seemed to fit together, anyway. XD

Amazing Origin!: Yukichi has about a three-year tradition of existence, and began as an extension of a character I was going to write about in a story that never materialized. (This story was so well-thought-out that the characters weren't even named.) Samurai in general, and the Tokugawa period in particular, had been fermenting in my brain for several years, and exploded, with RPtastic results. Yukichi is really wish-fulfillment, in a sense; tall, handsome, gregarious, skilled with a blade, fractious, and above all Manly, he probably epitomizes the phenomenon known as Lee Is Being a Guy on the Int0rw3bz.

Career Highlights: Born in 1654, the eldest of three sons and his father's favorite, Yukichi got into trouble regularly at an early age, a trend which was to recur with disturbing frequency. In 1671, when he was 17, Yukichi's lord died at an advanced age without heirs, and his han was reorganized, effectively forcing Akita p�re to turn ronin and take up teaching to live. Their greatly reduced lifestyle did not appeal to Yukichi, who, after about six months of intermittent warfare with his father, hit the Tokaido in search of better opportunities. He really didn't find many of these, although he did find Fujioka Shirozaemon, the love of his life.

Yukichi works, when he works, as a bodyguard or sell-sword; both have given him ample opportunities to meet girls. He has had a myriad of adventures, one of which almost netted him the death penalty, and most of which have contributed to the greying of Shirozaemon's hair in the 15 years of their relationship.