#chilliberry

Your least favourite character and you are forced to share a (small) flat for a month. What happens? Saeros keeps telling me to brush my hair and then well nag at each other and eventually I'll give in. After 30 days of his beautytips I have the most gorgeous hair in town. The fun thing is, only I have actual reasons to dislike him because he has zero previous knowledge of me. Therefore, if he tries to be at least a little bit civil and not badmouth my mother, I guess I'll end up finding him tolerable.

How would you describe your voice? What about your accent? Do you like it? I'm sort of self-conscious about my voice, trying to avoid a nasal or creaky voice. When I'm nervous it easily becomes a bit monotonous in prosody... then again, if I really start babbling, my intonation can be quite lively. As for my accent: if we're going for English accent, mine is something similar to Estruary or Eastern Anglia accent, because once when we were visiting Anglia, one person said I sound like a local teenager. (I chose to take it as a compliment). My Finnish and Swedish accents are just the regular accents of the region I live in. I like all my accents because I'm somehow attached to them and they feel like a part of me.

Tea or coffee or neither? Definitely tea. I dislike coffee, but tea is nice whether flavoured or not.

What is the book/film/story with the most frustrating ending, in your opinion? Hm, I'm sure there are many. I usually hate endings that are no real conclusions and leave all the threads hanging. But answering something from the top of my head, I'll say the Hunger Games-trilogy, because of how such a thrilling series could right by the last chapters suddenly become so dragging, whining and annoying, and just ugh -- I'm sorry, but I hated the ending.

What do you see yourself doing in ten years’ time? In 2023? My guess is I'll be a teacher... it's not my dream job, but looking at what jobs are available for someone with my education, it seems to be the most likely. Hopefully no less than secondary education/high school level, where the students would at least be motivated (it's a level that in Finland is techincally voluntary). I also hope I'll also be travelling a lot.

What is your favourite food? I like most pasta foods, vegetarian or not. Lasagna, spaghetti, and macaroni casserole (preferrably homemade). Also tomatoes. And salmiakki, if that counts? (Salty liquorice -- it's candy.)

Have you ever come to ship a pairing that you told yourself you never would? What was it, and what eventually made you ship it? I'm not sure. Maybe Melkor/Sauron -- it's mostly a crackpairing that occasionally amuses me, but I used to think it was mostly just weird. I think it was the crackiness and the fanart that made me like it.

What was the last song you listened to? Currently listening to Coldplay's Things I don't understand

When you were younger, what did you want to be when you grew up? We visited Legoland, Denmark, when I was around 7. I then decided working there, building the miniature cities, would be fun.

It’s your favourite character’s birthday, and you’re throwing them a surprise party. What do you plan? What happens? If possible, I'll get all his parents, grandparents, brothers and favourite cousins (and if possible, his dog) to be there. There will be lots fun activities and food for everybody... I just want to cheer him up in some way, and I feel all of his near and dear should be there to help him forget about Lúthien... If this is a setting where his family isn't available, I guess I'll take him paintballing or to a zoo.

Do you have any interesting mnemonics that you use to remember things? No, nothing I have come up with myself, at least. How boring!

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Finally: Questions for the tagged ones: (And when I say fav or least fav character, you can choose whatever fandom you like.)

1. What's the biggest fandom on tumblr that you are part of? 2. What song describes your favourite character the best? Share a part of the lyrics that fit. 3. Describe your favourite kind of / your dream sandwich -- bread and topping! 4. What's your favourite place in your home country (other than your home)? 5. Suppose your favourite character and your least favourite character had a lovechild. What would the child be like? 6. How easy do you find forgiving someone who hurt your feelings? Or apologizing to someone you think overreacted? 7. Name a film you have seen but think is overrated. 8. Your favourite (or least disliked) realityshow or tv-competition? 9. Do you prefer reading fanfics (or other stories, in case you don't read fanfics) with happy/fluffy endings or with tragic endings? 10. At morning, do you brush your teeth before or after breakfast (or not at all)? 11. If you could be a fictional character from any series/book/film for one day and one day only, who would you be and what would you do, knowing that whatever you do will affect the whole canon of the series?

1. What is the quickest thing a stranger can do to make you angry? Make you happy?

2. If you could utterly change the fandom interpretation of one character, who would you pick? (Bonus: what would the new interpretation be?)

3. What is the last thing that made you laugh? Last thing that made you cry?

4. If you could have $10,000 or professional-level skills at a hobby of yours, which would you choose? 

5. Out of all the characters in Tolkien's legendarium, who would you choose to rule Westeros from the Iron Throne?

6. Have you cried over the Battle of Tears Unnumbered? What's the scene in Tolkien's works that affects you the most?

7. What's the coolest thing you (or a friend of yours) have ever done?

8. You and your least favorite Silmarillion character suddenly wake up in Nan Dungortheb. You can go toward the spiders, toward Himlad, or towards Doriath. Which way do you chose? Which way do they choose? How long until you die?

9. What's the pairing or character you've scoured the tags and every single archive for and still not found precisely the fic you want? What's the fic you want?

10. Your favorite thing about yourself:

11. Your favorite thing about your favorite Tolkien character:

Questions Answered:

1. Which of these races would you least like to be: Elf, Human, Dwarf, Hobbit, Ent. 

Ent. Sorry, Ents! Treebeard was actually one of my favorite LoTR characters, but I would be utterly miserable as an Ent. I have no patience and I don't approve of their philosophy on intervention. 

 2. Would you accept $1 Million to leave your country and never set foot in it again? $100,000? 

Nope. I have no job skills anywhere else and I think I'd miss my family a lot. And $1 million would not actually buy very many plane tickets for them. 

 3. Do you identify with a Hogwarts House, and if so which one? Pottermore says I am a Gryffindor. I'm reasonably certain Pottermore is wrong. I am a Ravenclaw. 

 4. Suppose you know that tomorrow you will meet someone in the street with whom you could have the most satisfying relationship imaginable. But in six months, they will die. Knowing you’ll have that pain to go through – will you still go out and meet them? Yes.

 5. What if, instead of dying in the above question, the person will betray you? Would that make a difference? Does it make a difference? Yes. Does it change my answer? No. (Well, actually, I suppose it depends on what we mean by "betray" me. Cheat on me? I'd mostly be terribly disappointed that  they didn't just say 'hey, let's not be monogamous' in the first place. Sell my organs to the Russian mafia? Then I'd rather never have never met them.) 

 6.  If you knew the zombie apocalypse was going to start in one week, what would you do? There's a really excellent Quora answer on how to survive the zombie apocalypse. I'd probably follow that advice. 

7. If a friend was infected with zombie plague, and you knew they would turn any minute, would you be able to shoot them? What if they were asking you to? Yes to both. I feel very strongly that euthanasia for the fatally ill should be easily available (it's not, around here) and I also feel very strongly that killing to save other innocent lives is permissible. So morally it's easy. Practically it would be very difficult and I'd probably not forgive myself.

 8. Which of these do you think is the most/least important to you in life? Security, love, power, excitement, knowledge. Love most, power least. 

 9. If you could revisit any day in history, but not interfere, where would you go? This was difficult. If I had time to prepare in advance and learn the language, I'd go way, way back to some time in ancient history, just an ordinary day where I could observe the people. Rome, maybe? If I'm stuck with no preparation and a language barrier...when men walked on the Moon.

 10. You are in a burning building, and can only save one thing: The blueprints for a time machine; a magic bottle of water that will cure almost any wound/illness (enough for maybe 2-3 uses); or the only surviving blue-cat (the last of its species). What do you do? Time machine, obviously. Then you go back in time and stop the building from burning down. (Although if this is excluded as a possibility I still pick the time machine.)

 11. You can save one character from fandom from their fate – but you have to take their place in the narrative (without screwing up the story too much). Who would you pick? Nienor! Then I can marry Turin and not be his sister, which solves a lot of problems. And if anyone deserves a break it's them. (And I don't think the Feanorians would appreciate being saved from their fate by having a random mortal take their place in the narrative.)

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1. If you could spend an entire day with one fictional character, who would it be and why? Feanor! Because I have so many questions about Quenya and Valinor and the notes he took on northern Þindarin after arriving in Beleriand and... well... actually everything. The risk of death is acceptable. 

2. Growing up, what was your best Halloween costume, in your opinion?

In fifth grade I took an empty refrigerator box and went as a box of milk. It was so bulky I couldn't sit down in school, which was the point. I was pretty proud of it.

3. You have the choice between traveling 100 years into the past, or 100 years into the future. Which do you pick and why?

Hundred years into the future. I'm ridiculously curious what we'll invent, but mostly how social norms would have changed. 

4. Most memorable thing that’s ever happened at a family party?

My grandfather and grandmother divorced about twenty years ago. They were both at my graduation party, but neither expected the other to show up. My grandmother walked up to my grandfather and said, "Hi, I'm Pam, lintamande's grandmother. How do you know her?"

And he looked at her and said "Pam... it's Doug. We were married for twenty years."

5. Last book you read, and what you thought about it?  Would you recommend it?

Arda Reconstructed: The history of the Published Silmarillion, on adenydd's recommendation (she has recommended two of the books I've enjoyed most this year). It's half charts which are tremendously useful as reference, and half insightful commentary. (Dawn Felagund has an excellent review here.) Yes, I recommend it, or you could just not read it and then let me publish its insights one by one as meta posts on this blog and feel smart.

6. Open the most recent Word document you’ve been working in, and copy and paste the first sentence. 

In happier times Maitimo had kept the key to his suites beneath a sculpture of Varda in the foyer. The sculpture was one of Nerdanel’s, the chillingly convincing sort, and as Findekano now lifted her up by the armpits he had to resist the urge to apologize.

7. If you could ask your future self one question, what would it be?

If you could give your past self one piece of advice, what would it be?

8. If you could live anywhere in any time period in history (excluding modern times), when and where would you live?

Um... as close to modern times as permitted? I love reading about history but I'd be miserable living in it. Unless we're counting Arda as our own past world, in which case, please drop me in on the unrest in Estolad.

9. (I’m hoping you’ve either seen Pacific Rim or know enough of it from tumblr; if not, I’m sorry.) The kaiju attacks have begun- what do you do?

Move back in with my parents in Colorado, far away from the ocean. Drown my worries in alcohol and Silmarillion fluff fic.

10. You can give one fictional character one piece of advice. What is it?

Are they guaranteed to follow it? If so, Feanor, apologize to your half-brother and set things genuinely right with him. If not: Feanor, Manwe intends to establish at the festival that you are unworthy of the leadership of the Noldor because you have become paranoid and possessive of the Silmarils. You can prove him wrong if you just take the Silmarils to Taniquetil.

11. If you could snap your fingers and automatically be fluent in one language that you don’t already speak, what would it be?

New Questions:

1. Which of these races would you least like to be: Elf, Human, Dwarf, Hobbit, Ent.

 2. Would you accept $1 Million to leave your country and never set foot in it again? $100,000?

 3. Do you identify with a Hogwarts House, and if so which one?

 4. Suppose you know that tomorrow you will meet someone in the street with whom you could have the most satisfying relationship imaginable. But in six months, they will die. Knowing you’ll have that pain to go through – will you still go out and meet them?

 5. What if, instead of dying in the above question, the person will betray you? Would that make a difference?

 6.  If you knew the zombie apocalypse was going to start in one week, what would you do?

7. If a friend was infected with zombie plague, and you knew they would turn any minute, would you be able to shoot them? What if they were asking you to?

 8. Which of these do you think is the most/least important to you in life? Security, love, power, excitement, knowledge.

 9. If you could revisit any day in history, but not interfere, where would you go?

 10. You are in a burning building, and can only save one thing: The blueprints for a time machine; a magic bottle of water that will cure almost any wound/illness (enough for maybe 2-3 uses); or the only surviving blue-cat (the last of its species). What do you do?

 11. You can save one character from fandom from their fate – but you have to take their place in the narrative (without screwing up the story too much). Who would you pick?

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My answers to heckofabecca's questions!

1. What is the most common thing older relatives tell you when they see you?

Bearing in mind they all have glasses and the most common offender was registered partially sighted – some variant on “you look nice”, even if I slouch up in a hoodie and jeans with my hair roughly scraped back. I think it’s their way of saying “it’s nice to see you”, even when I look like crap.

2. Have you ever read a book and identified with a character so much it was like a splash of water to the face?

I think when I read the Inkheart books, I saw my younger self in Meggie at the beginning, and it was kind of painful because I just don’t read as much as I used to, and...I was sad I wasn’t like her so much as I used to be.

3. Describe your dream meal.

Okay, so for a starter, we will have duck pancakes with hoi sin sauce. For a main course...my Dad’s Spaghetti Carbonara, I know it sounds boring but it’s not. Then for desert, apple crumble and custard. With coffee afterwards.

4. What do you do for fun outside of the internet?

I like to hang out with international students – I help run a cafe night for them, do cheesy touristy things, make them feel at home, learn about where they’re from. I also help at a youth club, because that’s my excuse to play stupid games like hide and seek in the dark, and whup their asses on the wii (that’s a complete lie I don’t think I’ve ever beaten anyone at any game). I like writing, and reading, and drawing stuff....buuuut you hear about that on the internet, so.

5. Three things on your bucket list?

- See the northern lights

- Go back to Ghana

- Visit New Zealand

6. What kind of house/apartment would you want to live in? In what place?

I dunno, I can’t see myself settling anywhere at the moment. And like, I’m old enough that foreign students are surprised I’m not married yet, so...if it has a comfy bed, I’ll stay almost anywhere in the world? I might start wanting a house one day...OOH OOH maybe a narrow boat, that would be...inconvenient, but fun!

7. We all get sick sometimes (some people more so than others)— what’s your least favorite symptom?

Death Sore throat is really annoying.

8. What is your favorite series and why? (Book, movie, tv, comic— whatever you like!)

Ooooooh...it’s hard to say, I like loads of series, but favourites change a lot. Probably Firefly, Dr. Who, and also Castle (my only non-sci-fi/fantasy fandom) are my favourite TV series at the moment. But I think for staying power, it will always be Harry Potter. Something can always crop up and remind me how much I loved it.

9. Tell me an unpopular opinion you have! About anything!

Popular in some circles, unpopular enough to get you arrested in others: I think Jesus is amazing.

10. Invent a holiday: what would you celebrate?

International Food Day. Everyone has to make awesome food, and share it with as many people as possible. Preferably people you don’t know all that well, so you can make new friends (and eat new food).

11. Have you ever read an actually life-changing book? (If you have, could you let me know? I am compiling a list of books that have changed people’s lives. It’s sadly short— help lengthen it!)