*Insert witty quote*

Athlete. Έλληνες. Grad Student. Cultural Anthropologist. Primary focus: cultures of Southeast Asia and South Asia. Lazy ass. Surprisingly Busy

[culturalanthroparty-blog]

AU Galore!

String Theory Entanglement in Labyrinths

Summary: “I was reassured that if this was blank, you would be reading it”

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A small preview from one of the chapters…

Soccer|Football Au ( where Blackbird is an university football player, Vocruen is a medic–with Meron and Veloce acting as his student interns)

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[…]

“I’ve got me some fractured ribs.” Blackbird answers causally, slipping her jersey up high enough to gently pat at the dark wine-colored skin hiding underneath. “Aside from that and the feeling of molten lava pouring over my lung every time I breathe, can’t really complain much at all.”

“How are you so sure they’re not broken? You got pretty roughed up during the game.” Veloce hums, helping the struggling player fully lifting up the heavily sweat stained shirt and tsk-ing at the rapidly forming bruise.

“You mean from that epic slide tackle, or my awesome rough and tumble fight at the beginning of over time? Or everything else in-between.”

“Stop it with the pompous smirk, Blackbird. It’s very unbecoming.”

“Please, I’ve had my ribs fucked up many times before—“ Blackbird grunts, ignoring the soft amused snort and the cool touch running along her skin. “I know what it feels like, and what it shouldn’t feel like.”

“This is definitely not broken, huh?” Veloce smiles amusingly, giving a firm pat and laughed at the muffled yell it elicits, “How much you want to bet on it.”

“Can’t really think too well with you feeling me up, Veloce.”

Rolling her eyes, the medic prods around at the bruise with a disgusted expression. “Not really liking how this looks.”

“What can I say, you always bring the best and worst out of me.” Blackbird laughs, almost ticklish, as Veloce began painstakingly examining almost every old calcium deposits from her old war wounds (as she affectionately called them) littering her ribcage with surprisingly tender care.

And then silence—

Not the sexual tension kind of silence Blackbird would usually associate with someone staring intently at her well-defined and sculpted abdomen (not that she was bragging or anything). But the kind that screamed ‘I’m-concerned-for-your-well-being’ type of silence—

Quite frankly, it was starting to become obvious; to the point of awkward.

Keep reading

[lacedaemonians]

Just put up a wip for something that is in the works. Head over to read more about wtf is going on... I'm planning on hiding my junk in that account so there isn't so much clutter

[lacedaemonians]

This Place Was A Shelter

A/N: Still in the middle of doing field work... so here. Have something that was written exactly 2 years ago.

Series: Carciphona     Copyright © Shilin Huang

Characters(s): Blackbird

Song inspiration:  Out to Sea || This Place Was A Shelter

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                                      This Place Was a Shelter

Summary: On the first day, the bleeding stopped. On the second day, her fever broke. On the fifth day, she woke up.

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It burns. It festers. It bellows and resonates.

There’s this dull ache, an intangible heaviness, ringing in her ears.

The sounds of pleading. The howls of murder. The hollers of blood-curling laughter.

At first it started out as a soft lull—a gentle high-pitched buzz—lost somewhere between the throbbing pressure nestled behind tightly shut eyes, the crushing force leaning into the center of her chest, and the thick smell of burning white sagebrush and mugwort wafting in the air. It’s a sound filled of silent screams. It’s calming, yet frantic; and it’s the only thing she noticed, the only constant that greeted her, during the moments floating in and out of consciousness. And if she can concentrate hard enough she can almost hear her name echoing somewhere in the darkness. 

“What happened?” Her voice is heavy, lost amongst being scratched against her throat, and vanishes—becomes swallowed— somewhere within the dry tongue and torpid breaths. She can’t even hear her own words against the white noise. But, then again, maybe she never spoke at all in the first place. There’s this sensation of someone (of something) pressing right into her;  just shouting—as if they were begging, sobbing, moaning, laughing, angered all at once.

                                             click to read more    

[okolnir]

10 years ago, I started working on the first version of my current webcomic Carciphona, titled “Blackbird” back then. I did it all for myself and for fun, knowing there is no way the quality of my work could amount to anything important. Little would I know that 10 years later the story would take such a drastic turn, and that I would receive the support I have now in order to continue drawing, and even printing, this story.

Thank you all so much for helping me get to where I am right now! Carciphona is one of the dearest things to my heart, regardless of its success, and I am lucky to have your support to be able to continue to work on it. We’ve come so far together, and I can’t wait to show you all the things that are to come!

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click here to download the HD version!

You can read carciphona for free at: http://carciphona.com

Full process video, layered psd files will be available for my May 18-31 patrons at http://patreon.com/shilin!

[lacedaemonians]

Fun facts #2

Etymology and methodology: There’s also a combination of Greek and Latin terms used for certain things as well.

Phoenikos = Combination of two words. Phoenix (Latin: phoenix, Greek: phoinix). Phoiniko also is Greek for “crimson”.

Pierrhus= Ancient Greek name meaning "flame colored" or "color of fire" (Greek: Pyrrhos, Latin: Pyrrhus). Allusion, both in terms of origin and significance, to general/king Pyrrhus of Epirus.

*According to legend, Achilles' alias as Pyrrha “red haired girl” was given to him by his mother to avoid fulfilling his prophecy within the Trojan War.

--

As to why: The reason for 'red' is pretty obvious. Auresque seemingly has a lot of phoenix imagery associated with her, plus those fire birds also have some importance within the history of the Carciphona universe. Because of this, I wanted both sides of Veloce's family [predominately the Visrins] to reflect this in some shape or form. 

*Originally [the great-uncle] was just Phoinikos, but I wanted two for one

*The surname of Veloce’s father—there are more reasons as to why she has to use it than just protection .

*Pierrhus= is of course inspired by the term Phyrric victory (“hollow victory”).

[lacedaemonians]

Fun facts #1

Etymology: The codenames derived from legitimate words, or are in combination with random ass words because I have no idea how language works in Carciphona. From what I can gather, I’m pretty sure that there’s one main universal language. However, in this AU, years of war and linguistic isolation has created new dialects and drastically different languages all together.  

So

Thai-guur= Is a word in the Thai language. Expect it’s actually a word meant to pronounce an English word using the Thai Language.

                 Thai-guur = a Thai proper noun, loanword       (English = Tiger)

Singh-a = derives from the Sanskrit Singh, meaning “Lion” . A middle name (connecting to warrior or royal heritage) or surname used by many communities throughout the history of India.

Orang-hutang= originating in Malay/Indonesia: from Orang-Hutan (“people of the forest”), also known as Orangutang in the West. Originally was a word referring to forest dwelling people in general. In this case it’s used in reference to the ape.

*If I can’t help it, everyone’s codename involves animals.

[lacedaemonians]

Character Synopsis

Will be updated appropriately when needed:

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Veloce Pierrhus [Visrin]: Seventeen years old and very much confused at the moment

[?] Pierrhus : “Your father was a compassionate man, but utterly stupid.” A genuine benevolent soul who was far too optimistic for their own good. Betrothed to Auresque at a young age— died a few years after Veloce was born. Neither talk about him much at all—both for different reasons.

Vocruen (?): A distant relative of Auresque’s family. “cousin” is a loose term, but regional cultural kinship structures would dictate otherwise. Also makes it easier than Auresque dubbing him “The son of that one person who I don’t want to trip over a cliff”

Known as quite the brilliant young lad. Primarily is Auresque’s stalwart assistant, but has a handful of personal endeavors: all which require travel. Frequently helps revise his aunts speeches to prevent  offending large groups of people, since Auresque lacks a mental filter at most times.

Auresque Visrin: Holds a title equivalent for Ambassador-at-Large; Has an iron grip with a tendency to turn 180 on certain global issues. Can easily change the tide. No one really questions her— however, many tend to question her moral compass—or the fact if she even has one. Even the strongest are intimidated by her for their own reasons.

Somewhat adored in the public’s eye, greatly in thanks to Vocruen. Seems to be a person who runs things behind the scene.

                                                    Click to view more

[lacedaemonians]

Sun Worship and Stone Alters

A/N: This is a AU fanwork. Carciphona and its characters belong to Shilin Huang

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                                   Sun Worship and Stone Altars

Summary: The moment Blackbird woke up she knew something completely unnecessary was going to happen. She just wished her gut feeling wasn’t so accurate all the damn time.

                                              ——————

Blackbird always took great pride in the fact that she had an absolute perfect record.

Marksmanship: never missed a shot. Mission success rate: as high as the sun itself. Collateral damage: nearly unheard of.

She trusted her instincts after all, and sometimes hard work could only be made pinnacle when coupled with raw natural talent, quick thinking, and a keen eye for spotting trouble. So the moment she saw one of her senior blood-brothers halfway asleep and casually waving to her in front of the public park water fountain she knew something was off.

Brother Thai-guuhr was a man known for many things, his peculiar habits and unorthodox methods being the most famous, but having the capability of waking up early in the morning (an hour after sunrise, no less) was not on the list. If anything, his tendency of getting into risky and completely outrageous adventures—such as the whole accidently hijacking a coastguard ship situation occurring last year – was more reliable than his circadian rhythm.

“Hey little bird.” He sounded as enthusiastic as she felt, glancing over his aviators lackadaisically.

Blackbird gave out a short yawn, jabbing his ribs with her fist once she managed to swerve her scuffling to beeline past him. If she had given him a stronger punch, she would’ve been watching him topple into the water at the moment.

That would’ve defiantly brightened her morning. Considerably—by a large margin.

“Hey assface.” Blackbird volleyed, not bothering to look back to see that he had fallen in step with her slow stroll until he playfully shoulder checked her. Rolling her eyes, she pushed back momentarily; more focused on attempting to enjoy finishing the half-eaten convent-store bought chocolate donut and scalding green tea—which was honestly far too bitter to have any redeemable qualities whatsoever.

Haphazardly she swept her cup around, motioning to the sky and not caring if she was spraying him. “What’s goin’ on over here?” As if the universe wanted to emphasize her point a particularly low flying news helicopter casted overhead, sirens blaring off in the distance.

“A lot of things, apparently.” He nonchalantly replied, shrugging as he glimpsed at the rising billows of smoke.

They might’ve been talking about the weather, for all it seemed.

Aside from the fact that a majority of the downtown area seemed lit on fire and that the city’s southeast district, which was always known for its usual nightlife bustle, was completely deserted; they just might’ve been. 

                                              click to read more 

[lacedaemonians]

Olive Branches and Sunrises (II)

A/N: This is a AU fanwork. Carciphona and its characters belong to Shilin Huang.

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It was around the fifth consecutive one-sided phone conversation, all brief and primarily consisting of grunts and single worded replies, did Veloce realize that they were unmistakably outside of the city limits.

With feet unashamedly propped on top of the center console, Veloce folded her hands neatly in her lap as she glanced around expectantly. Aside from the driver, who seemed at odds ends with her casual spoken tone on the phone call with her paranoid manner of constantly looking over her shoulder, everyone else seemed more interested in either looking into the distance or half-asleep.

While there was no end in sight, at least they had slowed down to a leisurely pace. Though Veloce had a inkling suspicion that the close run-in with a migrating ibex herd, all who did not take great care to a car horn blaring at them (and made their opinions well known) , was a large cause for that current development. Honestly, she never saw anyone casually shift into a perfect three-point turn with a charging army of wild animals in hot pursuit before. It was quite impressive, actually. Especially considering the narrow time and space.

They clearly weren’t upstanding citizens when it came to wildlife protection or interaction, quite frankly. But then again, she couldn’t say the same for herself—

At least, she knew better than to provoke wild animals in the first place.

It wasn’t their fault, Veloce had admonished. They were foreigners, after all.  Of course they wouldn’t know any better.

“So…” Veloce drawled, interjecting into the taciturnity and trying her best to actually seem interested, “what are your plans for the day?”

Everyone simply kept looking ahead as Veloce gave out a thoughtful hum and nodded along with the silence. 

While pointless, her mother always said the best way to win over dignitaries in a false sense of blasé was with small talk. One must always place reconnaissance before any plan of action. Control the conversation; test out the battle grounds; understand the stakes on each side; and observe any nuances in body language and expressions before milking out any information worthy of forcing someone’s hand, or to turn the tides in ones favor. Torture was always the next step; but she doubted they would appreciate that sentiment.               

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[lacedaemonians]

Olive Branches and Sunrises (I)

AN: This is a AU fanwork of Carciphona © Shilin Huang

                                                            ———

                      Prequel:   Olive Branches and Sunrises (part I)

Summary: Veloce made it a habit to usually not get spirited away in the early hours of the morning—and it worked for the last seventeen years— but apparently the universe made today an exception.

                                                      ——————-

It was at dawn when Veloce found herself sandwiched comfortably within a tightly packed car; barreling down the cliffside scenic route at speeds clearly unfit for the narrow road.

Flanked by two stoic men and windows tinted as dark as their sunglasses, Veloce gave out a long stifled yawn before listening back to the hushed argument between the man and women up front fighting over the radio. While she couldn’t understand what language they were speaking in, she guessed that the only source of entertainment she would be having for a while was to see how long the front passenger would last before the driver slapped his creeping hand away from the dial again.

As bizarre as it may seem, being kidnapped(?) in the early hours of the morning was pretty much uneventful and quiet; not to mention with a picturesque view.

While she might have not been an expert on unlawful detaining and false imprisonment [one of the downsides of being homeschooled, she supposed], she was pretty certain there would be at least some form of cliché involving threatening, interrogation, taunting, restraints, or manhandling on anyone’s behalf. That’s how all the overdramatic went anyways; but then again illegal activities probably didn’t have a set rubric or schematics that were required to abide by.

There was, however, the obvious fact of everyone giving her the cold shoulder.

For the most part, her abductors seemed to ignore that she was even there in the first place—occasionally sneaking a glimpse here or there. It was if she had barged in on an important conversation they were intimately engaged in and didn’t know what to do with her since she wouldn’t leave—not like she could anyways.

Maybe they were as baffled as she was about this situation.

                                                 click to read more 

[lacedaemonians]

Midnight Rituals | Summoning Demons

A/N: This is a AU fanwork. Carciphona and its characters are the brain child of Shilin Huang. That being said: if anyone seems out of character, I am sorry. I don’t have enough shame to offer you, so I only can give you my shitty words and sentence structure. Also, grammar and I aren’t on the best of terms.

   —                                                  

Summary: Veloce wears her shame as a badge of honor: Visrins were supposed to carry the weight of the world on their shoulders, not hide underneath comforters.

                                                           Prelude

                              Midnights Rituals and Summoning Demons

Up until the age of eight, Veloce had a habit of sneaking into rooms during the dead of night.

It wasn’t really much of a triumph. While the floorboards were as old as the blood spilt from a revived nation, they were surprisingly sturdy enough to mask her mischief. She was a master in her own element, to say the least.

Many years were spent plotting and succeeding silent revenge for the wasted hours sitting through uncomfortable dress fittings; confiscated animals she brought in for pets; and the ungodly amount of vegetables she was forced to eat, which was most likely a passive-aggressive upshot for the ‘Great Mudslide through the Kitchen’ catastrophe—also affectionately dubbed The Second Catharsis. (An event which everyone was barred to speak of yet would always be fresh in minds for many years to come)

She maneuvered the hallways as if it was her own battlefield, and she bowed down to the wrath of no one.

Auresque did however instill her with manners: always knock and patiently wait to be escorted inside when it came to the master bedroom—everything else was fair game for lock picking. If the staff woke up to the sight marker of moustaches and graffiti on their face, frogs or snakes in their bed, or their hand in warm water—it was their fault.

Her mother rarely punished her for the late-night excursions. Stealth was a skill that had to be acquired, she would respond with a final tone before the topic would be officially dropped (her cousin Vocruen, on the other hand, dealt out chastisement and disciple with the frequency of refugee resettlement camps spilling across the borders). And unless Veloce was trying to form a coup d’état in the backyard, she rarely gave her the time of day. That fact wasn’t going to change when the sun went down, or during the nights when the devils finally came out.

                                                    click to read more