Ra-Ra-Rasputin ...

[Nosferaazar]

So, on the ride home from campus, the brother and I engaged in a discussion regarding the name Rasputin (and how it'd be most fitting for a cat or parrot), which lead me to - of course - wikipedia the infamous man (side note: amusing how nouns like "wikipedia" and "google" have become verbalized).

Well, I couldn't stop there. From that point I proceeded to branch off into each individual page of the Romanov family, reading about the five children and their accompanying personalities, relationships with their parents, and relationships with each other. It was quite enlightening, to say the least. I learned that little Alexei was his mother's favorite; Olga, the eldest, was a strong-minded and stubborn leader-type; Tatiana had the best relationship with her mother; Maria dreamt of motherhood; Anastasia was a rambunctious youth with a snappy temper and an "imp" like personality.

Reading about their deaths was sort of sobering. Graphic as they were, I never really stopped and considered what it would have been like to go through what they did in their final moments. Surging terror and confusion, no doubt. Just imagine someone hunting you and your family down and brutally slaughtering each member as if they meant nothing. All this as a teenager, even.

This I contemplated as I perused the text and antique photos.
... then I got distracted looking at youtube videos of baby foxes =x