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headingalaxys-spicy · 1 year

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The Golden Nightingale

(Formerly the Heart of Gold)

Prologue

In each new century there is a human that is born with a heart of gold . If that human is married, killed, or has made love to a nation that nation in turn will have the ability to become stronger, heal their economy, replenish their resources, etc. So you can imagine why nations have underground wars and hunting groups searching for that specific human during that century.

When the first human appeared in the 1300s England was the first to discover what his ancient family lineage had written about in one of his spellbooks. When he finally did find a human that met all of the characteris specified in the books he devised a plan. He built a type of friendship with the human first. Eventually he was able to ask them if sometimes they felt different from other humans and

‘Do you sometimes make the flowers grow?’

‘What?’

*Thwack*

The next thing that the poor human knew was they were shackled to the wall in a dark and dingy place. With a strange boy right before him.

“Well it is time to show you how well Kirkland's Family magic can obtain your powers.” The smallest of the three. He pulls out his wand and begins his heart harvesting chant.

As the light of days grows shorter

As the hunger of night grows near

From the depths of hell I summon thee

Harvesting hands time to reap for what I need.

From the dust and the cobweb filled room out sprung hands from the cobblestone floor. Made of rock and wind with a daunting grass hook in hand ready to strike.

Winter draws closer and I’m in desperate need

The hand draws back and calculates the trajectory to its target.

Bring me the Golden Heart so I can satiate my need

And just like that the human was gone but a blinding golden glow took the humans place. England collected the much sought after specimen and absorbed it in his wand. After a few moments any or the cuts or bruises that he had on his body vanished.

“I feel amazing!”

From there it was set in history that England would become stronger and control almost all of the world during the Age of Discovery, he had managed to become an empire with no real sign of being subdued.

Britain had become greedy and hated that each new century it was harder and harder to find the Gold Nightingale. Last time they had appeared in the U.S. (1794). While he was working out the finer details of the Jay Treaty it was hard bearing that trip somewhat of England as he was angered that he couldn’t hold onto America. He had failed to find the Gold Nightingale from 1400-1600 however the second human that he tailored to his needs he married and was able to gain more fertile land and build up his industries thanks to the added kick that came with being in love with a Golden Nightingale. Alas when the human died and could give no more, England laid them down to rest and from that point all of the surrounding land that lacked life suddenly became vibrant and healthy again. England felt himself become stronger for a few moments as the land around him expanded and held many hidden gems beneath the surface. The Golden Nightingales’ final gift.

The secret of the Golden Nightingale got out in the 1800s when the Napoleonic wars heated tensions between Britain and France. In a last ditch effort to prevent England from continuing his bombardment on him he threatened to tell the world about his secret. He learned about it through some crafty espionage. Due to England's pride he didn’t listen and didn’t believe France’s bluff. The world was told.

They heeded his message and countries began their own specialized hunts for the Golden Nightingales.

*Present Day*

You wanted to live a normal happy life. You were finally on the rise in your career and your creative platforms seemed to be taking off as well. Until several guards from the G8 came clamoring on your apartment door with a decree that you must be subdued and captured so that deliberations can begin.

“Uhhhh ….I’m not a criminal you know.” With your statement sounding more like a question.

“We know. You’ve just been born with a gift…..” He brings out a scanner and points it at your heart and for a few moments you felt strange…. A force had taken over your body and for a few moments you were transparent with nothing but your Gold Heart being visible to the eight guards.

“Yes! MY DUDES WE FINALL-” The American’s shouting was cut short from a slap to the head by an annoyed posh officer with messy yellowish hair. “HEY! The hell was that for?”

“Keep your voice down, you twat. It is 11pm at night and people do have to sleep.”

“My Country really needs this one guys I need some help restoring the canals and the drought really has taken a toll on me.” The whiny brunette Italian cries.

“Italy. Calm yourself. There has to be deliberations first on who gets zhem. We’ve discussed this already.”

“Well I would treat them with love and tenderness and that would show the lot of you on how to shine.” A longer haired guard with a heavily thick French accent chimed in. “They’ll become my territory and loving partner.”

The bickering between the eight of them got all the more intense. Except for the tallest who seemed to simply be fixated on your form and making sure you don’t try to escape. After a few more moments of arguing you’d had enough.

“Alright! THAT'S ENOUGH.” You shout over them. “If this is some dumbass prank, congratulations, I’m annoyed. I hope that is satisfying enough for you. Now, I have work in the morning so if you’ll excuse me-” As you tried to slam your door in the face of the obnoxious group the tallest had his large hand in the way preventing you from closing it and leaving a slight imprint of his hand on your door considering the amount of that collided with his palm.

“Nyet.” Was the old word he said while gazing down at you. While a smile was plastered to his face his eyes spoke a different type of truth.

“You go nowhere, Golden Nightingale.” The eight of them stated together in a creepy unison that made your skin crawl.

⭐️Hope you guys enjoyed this one I hope to continue to work on this one and others continuously. ⭐️

#hetalia #hetalia fandom #hws #headingalaxys writes stuff #yandere hetalia #golden nightingale au #headingalaxys spicy #hetalia fanfiction writer #hetalia fanfiction #yandere x reader #hetalia x reader #headingalaxys spicy writes

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bike42 · 7 months

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Wednesday September 27, 2023 - Day 4

Due to “hurricane fragments,” the morning part of the hike was cut out. It had rained a bit overnight, but wasn’t raining when we set out just after 9am.

Shuttle 45 min to Hemmick Bay - plan to hike up to Dodman (Deadman’s) Peak (400 ft), dangerous part of the coast (for boats, not hikers). We met Mike in the parking lot, near Lower Penare Farmhouse, where his Great Gran was born. Six branches of his family lived here when he was a child. They lived self sufficiently - no running water, electricity or gas until the 70s.

We walked through a mile long “Iron Age Ditch” more than 2000 years old (500BC). They think it was a hill fort, as it’s a fabulous defensive position, but there is no evidence that people lived within the fort. The trench was fantastic. In spots, it had been cut away to give farmers access to fields on either side, so we could see the underlying rock level with massive hedges on top.

At the top was a large granite Cross, erected in 1896 as a monument to seafarers that wrecked on the rocks below but were able to scale the cliffs up here to safety. It was thought this hill might possess some special mystical powers.

Near the cross was Coast Guard watch hut / signal station from 1810 - Napoleanic Wars. Had a system of large posts they’d raise flags that could be seen at the next station. Watching for invaders and smugglers (before free trade). For over 100 years, smuggling was a big industry here. Legend says Cornish had donkeys with lights that would lure ships to wreck. Wrecking / recovering from a wrecked ship was an industry as well. Mike says his family are caretakers of the hut, and inside someone had inscribed a nice tribute to Mike himself on the wall! The hut was fenced in to keep the Dartmore wild ponies outside the hut! We saw about 5 and Jeff pulled an apple out of his pack and fed it to a couple of them. They were skittish, but they took the apple from his hand!

We stopped for Lunch at Gorran Haven beach - famous fish n chips shop. This is Mike’s home town and after lunch we did a walking tour with Mike around town. Mike had talked about rowing, and he showed us the boat he rows in on the beach. It’s called “Gig Rowing” and the name comes from racing out to a boat to be able to ferry the captain, therefore “winning” the gig. There were a few people with dogs on the beach, but the wind was growing quite strong, and even though the harbor was quite protected, the waves were serious. The Quay was built in 1818, and it was primarily a fishing harbor.

Next he took us to St Just Church - built by a lovable pirate, foundation goes back to 1200, most of the rest of it is from the 1400s. Methodism took roots in Cornwall, and this church fell into a state of disrepair. In the 1880’s the Church of England was revived church was rebuilt (it had been used to store fisherman supplies).

Walking tour continued through a tiny little street that has been restored to the cobblestones of the 1800’s, complete with the trough where sewage would run downhill. Mike pointed out the cottages are built with an outside stair kneading to the second story. Typically, the family lived up there and fishing supplies and sardine presses were stored down below. We stopped at the Mermaid Cafe, where most of us got an ice cream cone to go, and then we resumed walking uphill.

It had been windy all day, but after lunch we had periodic episodes of rain and the wind picked up significantly. I put on my rain coat, but not my rain pants or gaiters. It was quite warm, and when the rain came, it came sideways! I tried to take a video, but was unable to hold my phone still! I’d never hiked in wind like that, and while we were on a ridge over a cliff, the wind was blowing us away from the cliff so it didn’t feel unsafe. It was actually fun and I was laughing so hard. You had to stay low and move strategically - planting your poles hard and only lifting your foot after you had a secure pole plant. I didn’t see the wind blow anyone over, but it sure felt like that could happen!

Eventually, we turned and headed downhill and the gusts weren’t so bad. We passed a small beach with a boat launch and there were three seals there riding the waves.

Eventually, we arrived in Mevagissey where we said goodbye to Mike. It was fantastic to have him along to teach us about Cornish history and culture. We met up with the van that had driven some of our tour mates from lunch to town. There were two spots on the van heading to the hotel, but Drake had just had a fall and needed to have his arm iced and bandaged so we let him and Karen go. The other van was giving us time to shop, which we didn’t feel the need to do, so we headed into a pub and had a whisky. From Mevagissey, we were supposed to have a 45 minute boat ride to Fowey, but the ferry wasn’t running due to the high winds. Instead, we had a 45 minute van ride. I was surprised the area we drove through was so developed, we’ve just been in these quaint little villages!

Foley is a Commercial sea port with a big harbor. We checked into the Fowey Harbour Hotel, a sister property to our first hotel. Happy to see complimentary gin in the room again! Quick showers, then we were back down for Sian, a

Storyteller who they’ve arranged to entertain us tonight! Sian told us that Cornwall is a place of legends! She told several stories of Giants; one that lived at St Michael's Mount that was killed by Jack the Giant Slayer. She also told us about Piske (pixey) that live in the forest … you can be piske-led / and need carry salt or turn a piece of clothing inside out to keep safe. Finally, she told a few tales of Mermaids, including the story of that “Sand Dume” that Perry had told us a few days ago!

We were on our own for dinner, so Jeff and I walked down to the village where there were lots of options. We settled on a pizzeria where we split an arugula (rocket) salad, pizza and half bottle of wine. We had a nice buzz on then, and ran into Kathy & Henry who helped lead us back to the hotel!

I’m working hard to stay in the moment, but I can’t keep my thoughts away from the end of this trip. We’ll layover in Atlanta for six nights as the BrightStar Owners Conference starts there on Tuesday (Monday for Jeff’s Performance Group) and it didn’t make sense to fly Atlanta to Madison and then back to Atlanta the next day! The BrightStar annual meeting has always been a highlight for me, however it’ll be a lot different for us this year given that we’ve sold our HomeCare franchises back to BrightStar and are the only franchisees of BrightStar Senior Living. As I’ve been hiking I’ve been thinking about how different it’ll be and how other owners may react to us this year in our different status.

I also found myself for the first time missing “home” and family. Wondering how my plants are doing, wondering what’s going on at our Lake Home and sorry to miss our first “fall” season change up there. One of the best benefits of travel might just be the appreciation of “home.”

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henry-jwell · 1 year

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JWZ-BM160/230 Blow Molding Machine

Performance and advantages Suitable for producing different kinds of safety barrel, traffic divided blocks. Optional bottom sealing, product eject, core-pulling movement elements. Adopt high output extrusion system, accumulating die head. Will offer clients die heads with smooth extrusion, careful design, precise processing and good after-sale service. In order to meet different demands of the polymer materials, different layer structures and other special demands, all the die heads are designed by modern three dimensional designing softwares, so the channel of thermo-plastics is the best one for the customers. Open&Closing system 1. Toggle struction 2. Common three platen and three tie bar struction Lubrication system This auto-lubrication system can lubricate the system with a set cycle automaticlly. Output system 1. Take out robot 2. Scrapping collect together,convey,crusher into one unit Hydraulic controlling system uses servo-controlled technology to control the movements of actuators, and all the elements used in hydraulic system are famous brands, it has advantages as follows:quick response and high energy-efficiency. Optional hydraulic system could save about 50% energy. Technical Parameters Model Unit BM160 BM230 Max product volume L 160 230 Dry cycle Pc/h 300 280 Die head structure Accumulating type Main screw diameter mm 100 120 Max plasticizing capacity (PE) kg/h 240 350 Driving motor Kw 90 132 Accumulating volume L 18 24 Oil pump motor power Kw 22 22 Clamping force KN 800 900 Space between platen mm 500-1400 800-1800 Platen size W*H mm 1120*1200 1320*1600 Max.mould size mm 900*1450 1200*1800 Heating power of die head Kw 30 36 Machine dimension L*W*H m 7*3.5*4 8.2*3.5*5.5 Machine weight T 20 36 Total power Kw 172 230 Note: Informations listed above are for reference only, the production line can be designed by customer’s requirements. Product image display Read the full article

#AutomaticBlowMoldingMachine #BlowMoldingMachine #FullElectricBlowMoldingMachine #StretchBlowMolding

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doiefy · 3 years

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respice finem // nakamoto yuta // preview

respice finem: consider the end

prequel to at dawn

From the 1400s to the 80s to the present day, vampire crime has always ran rampant after dark. When you meet a strikingly dangerous vampire in the late 80s, he’s everything you’ve wanted, and everything you need to combat the coldness of vampirism: attention, thrills, someone else who understands what it’s like to be alone. You run with the chaos, succumb to the mayhem, but you lose sight of the fallout. Consider the end, they say—because contrary to all the monsters’ promises whispered in your ear, there is no such thing as eternity. Not even for the worst of them. Not even for you.

genre: modern vampire, crime pairing: vampire!yuta x vampire!reader (gn, no pronouns), human!johnny x reader warnings: language, use of alcohol and mentions of drugs, mentions of murder (in preview). The rest of the story will involve: violence, murder, major character death, suicide, graphic depictions of blood and some gore, use of alcohol and drugs, gambling, blackmail, blood sharing, huge age gaps (due to immortality), very toxic relationships, vague mentions of stalking, some misogynistic undertones, implications of assault, suggestive scenes and implications of sex, heavy angst towards the end. word count: 0.7k preview, expected 45k total

other notes: This is definitely the heaviest fic I’ve written so far, so please make sure to note all warnings and notes before reading. The full list of warnings and notes will be available when the full fic is posted. This preview is relatively tame.

taglist: @neonun-au @hyuckworld @jensrose reply, message or ask to be added.

release date: December 15, 2021

i. Astra inclinant, sed non obligant. The stars incline us, they do not bind us.

There was a certain numbness that came with vampirism.

You’d first felt it years ago, somewhere beyond the reach of your memories, in the late 1800s. The details had faded a bit to time, but you couldn’t forget the flickering candlelight and ear-splitting noise, a perfect backdrop for a soul-shattering epiphany: the reality that you’d been cursed to walk the earth for eternity.

It was quite difficult to explain. You used to think it was a sort of coldness—certainly, you’d felt a rush of wind and chills up your spine when the realization first dawned upon you. In some way, it was as if all the time you’d spent subject to this pale and sickly form had trapped you within the confines of your own mind, encased you in a thin layer of ice that refused to melt even on the warmest of days. You were all too aware of every thought in your head, too deep in contemplation to have any regard for the outside world; and yet at times you felt nothing but your musings being pulled into a dark void. Frost accumulated on your skin with every passing year, and yet an inexplicable heat danced along your fingertips, brimming in some cold corner of your body.

At times you felt a surge of something akin to adrenaline, a rush of life through your otherwise lifeless body. Other times you felt nothing but the absence of breath in your lungs. Urge and then apathy. Longing and then restraint.

You mused over it every now and then; the thoughts of eternity and immortality seemed to swirl into your head whenever you reached the high you’d been chasing, like an ever-present reminder of what awaited you once the adrenaline disappeared. It was there when you’d met the charming stranger at the bar, perhaps a little softer when you’d both had enough to drink, but still there when he showed you to his hotel room.

His lips moved hurriedly against yours, and you pulled him insistently closer, tangling your fingers into his hair. Truthfully, you couldn’t remember his name, nor did you have any idea as to who he was. A businessman or a CEO, you think he might’ve mentioned earlier; and you could tell as much, from the watch on his wrist and the woody notes of an expensive cologne. In the late 1980s, Gangnam District was transforming from a grim neighbourhood into a glamorous hub for fashion and nightlife—and it seemed he stood in the midst of it. The details of his occupation would be revealed to you just a couple minutes later, but for now he was just another one night stand. Admittedly an attractive one, but a nameless face nonetheless.

He soon broke away to unlock the door, and you unconsciously chased after him, a little too brazen to be embarrassed when he laughed at you.

“Patience, my darling,” he chuckled. There was a familiar lift to his words that almost matched yours, a slightest hesitancy despite his fluency like Korean wasn’t his first language. He didn’t look Korean either, though the paleness of his skin made it hard to attribute him to anywhere at all. “We have all the time in the world.”

“The years go by quickly, yet an hour passes so slowly,” you retorted, and pulled him in for another heated kiss the moment you were inside. You quickly found yourself shoved up against the closed door, your wrists pinned above your head as his free hand wandered along your waist. You felt his cold fingers swipe against your hip, nails just about digging into your skin. His eyes glowed yellow in the darkness: hungrily, almost wolfishly, and it sent an excited tremor down your spine.

“At a certain point, when you’ve accumulated as many years as I have, you’ll learn to cherish it,” he said, almost breathlessly now that you were trailing your lips along his jaw. He groaned, swung you around, setting you down onto the bed with ease. “Eternity isn’t as monotonous and mundane as you’d think.”

You let your teeth graze his neck, just as a warning. “I didn’t come here to listen to your musings, pretty boy.”

His lips twitched upwards. “Shall we, then?”

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joisbishmyoga · 3 years

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Ok, to go with my headcanon about the Hogwarts Founders (to wit: based on etymology, they can't be contemporous), I have headcanons about Hogwarts castle itself.

Number one! It, like the Founders, was ALSO not all contemporous. (And my apologies that I still can't find the goddamn keep-reading option.)

Helga never-actually-Hufflepuff's Hogwarts, c. 990-1090:

The original and oldest part of the school is the tower that now houses the famous moving staircases and the Headmaster's Office. (It wasn't alone, though: it had a number of outbuildings, stables and smithies and such, that have long since vanished.)

The tower was not, at the time, a hollow column full of moving staircases. It was a defensive watchtower akin to Threave Castle in Scotland, though somewhat taller and a little bit larger. It was also not round at the time, which can still be seen in the fact that the interior is square; later generations simply added walls to make it round. There are almost certainly late medieval and Renaissance defenses, as well as secret passages, built into the space between the original tower and the rounding walls.

The tower's long-since-removed floors:

Cellars (wine and cold storage).

Ground floor (entrance, reception, kitchens).

2nd floor, in the American style of count (dining, Helga's room). 3rd floor (classrooms)

4th floor (dorms: divided by gender and class rather than age)

5th floor (servants and defense).

The cellars expanded regularly over the centuries, a new room or corridor or floor built every time the castle's population (or political demands, see below) needed more cold storage.

The conical roof and the modern Headmaster's suite were added at a much later date.

Rowena Hraefenclew's Hogwarts, c. 1050-1150:

The first expansion of the castle was the modern-day Great Hall, though it lacked the enchanted ceiling attributed later to Ravenclaw. The recieving of guests was transferred to this space from the original tower, and the grand entertainments of medieval feasts and banquets were added to school life -- a requirement of any social networking, as Rowena steered the school through the political mess of the era without getting entangled in any of it.

(The enchanted ceiling was a Renaissance creation, adding light to what had been a very dim space. The original enchantment wasn't of the sky, though, and the modern ceiling would appall the people of the 1400s: what is so grand or impressive or artistic about just making the roof invisible?

(Not having a masterpiece of Christian religious art looming over the heads of hundreds -- thousands -- of magicals who'd just lived through zealous persecution, is what. The people who charmed it all invisible considered the frescoes to be quite gauche and impolitic.))

Salazar Slytherin and Godric Gryffindor's Hogwarts, c. 1150-1250:

The High Middle Ages brought a massive amount of upheaval to England (and France: half of the modern nation was ruled by England at the start of this period), as well as the rest of Europe. This is the era later connected to Robin Hood, the age of the Magna Carta and Richard the Lionheart and Prince (King) John... and that is where we begin, with Richard faffing off to join the (many, many, MANY) Crusades, and King John losing the entirety of the French regions of his rule. Loss of land = loss of wealth --> spikes in taxes and fees on nobles --> furious nobles --> Magna Carta + King John's reputation forever in the toilet + the absentee and therefore not interfering with nobles' power and money King Richard getting lauded as the best king ever (spoiler: he v much was NOT).

Richard's career included internecine rebellions, uprisings, cruelty in what provinces he bothered to rule (in France), and widespread Jewish persecution. (Things that are pretty much always in Europe: Jewish persecution. The Crusades were mostly massive disasters that did very little to Islamic rule and population in the Holy Land, but exterminated some 90% of Jewish Europe on the way. HSST.)

All of this is to say that Salazar and Godric's Hogwarts expanded to accomodate thousands of Jewish, wandering-poor, and magical refugees from the Continent: Hogwarts was still the only formal, centralized school of magic in all of Europe, and would be for several more decades.

The school still didn't reach the modern extent by the end of this building period, but got up to about 50 percent, adding almost everything on one side of the ravine that cuts through the bluff. Except for the clock tower, the Great Hall's half of the school was complete.

This is also when Hogsmeade changed from being a House-Elf farming settlement to a human town, and for the same reason: Continental refugees, largely from the Childrens' Crusade -- thousands of people of all ages, later thought to all be children due to a misunderstanding in language. (The word for "child" was co-opted to mean "the working/wandering poor": basically, "the (socially) powerless".)

The post-Founders' Hogwarts, c. 1250-1900:

The second half of the school, the conical tower rooftops (and rooms inside them), the internal plumbing for baths (but not toilets), and all the bridges -- both the stone ones across the ravine and the wooden one to Hogsmeade -- were all built in a hurry in the late 1500 and early 1600s, this time to handle refugees during the last few decades before the Statute of Secrecy. The modern Headmaster's Office was also built at this time, as high as possible to cover all approaches to Hogwarts.

Unlike the stone bridges of the ravine, the bridge to Hogsmeade has always been made of wood, in order to be easily destroyed should the castle come under attack. (And in fact it actually has been destroyed several times, most recently in the 1970s as a pre-emptive measure against Voldemort. It was then rebuilt in 1982 with more nostalgia than construction skill.)

As mentioned before, this -- the early 1600s -- is when the Great Hall's enchanted fresco ceiling was rendered invisible.

The T-shaped clock wing on the Great Hall's side, being a six-story pendulum-type clock, was built in the early 1800s, and improved in the late 1800s for accuracy and not whacking students around like golf balls. (The restrooms were also added and improved at these times.)

The greenhouses were built around 1900: Dumbledore might well have had Herbology classes before they were put in.

Now then. That is all headcanon #1. Construction headcanon #2:

Hogwarts is in TERRIBLE condition.

The famous enchanted ceiling is perhaps the most obvious damaged spot. Or it would be if it hadn't been charmed invisible. While it had Owl Post holes in it. (For the record, the easiest way to bring down, say, a barn? Chop a 3x3 ft. hole in the roof and wait ten years.) For the last four or five centuries, every time someone on staff noticed they were getting dripped on, they just threw an Impervious Charm up at the ceiling and considered the leak magically fixed. There's literally nothing left but the Impervious charms and a few scraps of gold leaf.

The stairs are another trouble spot. Centuries of people walking on them should have them worn down in the middle to look like you cut a bowl in half vertically. Would have, but the House Elves have been pulling the stone up flat again for centuries, and eventually started using magic to color-match and add enough support to the remaining stone to take people's weight. Some of the well-known trick stairs that like to disappear? That's not the magic being playful. That's the magic of late House Elves fritzing out to show there's no step left. (The moving stairs have also ground down their joints to nothing.)

It's the same across the entire castle. Centuries of manipulating the materials and covering wear with illusions and throwing Impervious Charms at drafts and drips means a lot of Hogwarts is nothing but swiss cheese and fading spells cast by long-deceased magicals anymore.

(Or it was, until the Battle of Hogwarts in 1998 disrupted enough of the remaining spells to drop them. Voldemort's forces were powerful, but not THAT powerful.)

(A large percentage of the two generations following Harry's were saved by the Battle of Hogwarts. Slytherin House was a misaimed hex away from flooding, and most of the towers were going to collapse with a few more winters of ice picking away at the mortar. Of course if the previous several centuries of magicals had just bothered to check...)

#harry potter #hogwarts #headcanon #how i wish i could quit you #tl;dr #history is more interesting and complex and gives you a lot more material than standard fantasy tropes do

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the-spiderweb · 2 years

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Tarot Readings

A little clarifiers for the readings ahead

The exact history of tarot is, in simple terms, havily debated, especially before the 1800s. Tarot cards date back to the mid 1400s in Europe. Namely Italy. If you know anything about tarot whatsoever, you also know that tarot is known to have come from Romani, which I will clarify next. These groups were primarily in Europe, leaving their influence across that part of the world, but from what is known we can say that those groups stayed very close to France and Italy. Tarot originated as what historians cite as a card game with suits almost the exact as what we know them to be today: staves (wands), discs (coins), cups, and swords. By the time we reach the eighteenth century, tarot had officially been switched into being a divination tool, as playing cards of all types were becoming more and more popular as a divination tool. At this time is when meanings were being assigned to the cards and spreads were being created. Two name things happened during this time- it was theorized that it was based on the stories of Egyptian mythology, which was no true but was accepted to be, and a deck released specifically for divination purposes. The next step was naturally spiritualism of this type to become a popular past time for specifically the upper class people. The last stop on this condensed history is the Rider-Waite-Smith deck creation, where human figures were incorporated into the design. Of course, this is not everything or the most detailed but this is what you need to know

Divination- a practice of determining the significance of an event, looking forward to the future, or otherwise seeking knowledge from higher beings (various entities, guides, deities, the universe, etc)

Remember that each deck has a personality and an energy specific to that deck? When you are looking at tarot decks, you will probably be drawn to specific decks. This can happen for various reasons, just trust in your intuition for this one. As will be stated several times in the rest of this post, your instincts and intuition are the most important aspects of all divination forms but especially so for cards.

As stated in my previous post, a tarot deck includes 78 cards, 22 of which are the major arcana. The practice of tarot is quite simple when you think about it, shuffle the deck and pull out anywhere between one and twenty cards depending on what you are reading for, but it is a lot more nuanced than that.

For a proper reading to occur, a couple things must happen (note: the personal touches will be coloured in red and have a space at the bottom to explain how and why it is optional and provide some alternative examples. The major note here- everyone's practice is different and should not be exclusively based on what I say)

If you are looking to do this reading with a specific entity, make sure to set that intention beforehand

Connect with the energies. This often requires some sort of medititaion even if it is minor. You will have to connect to the energy of whoever you are reading for while holding the deck. IF this is a reading for yourself, do not skip this step, make sure to connect to your energy. This is to ensure the results are the absolute most accurate. Not everyone does this and I've found that those people could be much more accurate in their readings (I learned this the hard way)

Begin shuffling with the questions in mind. You can shuffle for one question at once or all at once, this part is up to personal preference. For a spread, I will do all at once but individual if it's just a one or two card question. You do not need to be thinking of the questions the entire time

Listen to your instincts. This is a very intuition based practice, do not think too much about it. Often, a spread that is intended for only five cards can have ten, sometimes 15 cards. If you feel like you need to draw extra cards, there's a reason for it. There is no room to doubt yourself here

Look at the meanings. These are the details like what calls to you in the image on the cards, the assigned meanings, your own little notes about what the cards mean, anything you feel would help determine the meanings. There is room for interpretation always, the assigned meanings can be pretty vague and you need to evaluate what it means for that specific read. When you start writing down the interpretations, go with your gut. Sometimes you know what the meaning is before it's in words

Always note patterns. A reading with all of one suit or exclusively major arcana will be an important thing to make note of, even if it doesn't seem obvious why at the time. Often there are smaller details and signs, not every deity is prone to making themselves known in huge ways. Some prefer more subtle notes. I didn't notice Loki for quite a while because she (Loki is genderfluid and I alternate pronouns, please do not open an ask about this unless you want to know more about my relationship to him) decided to get my attention in those smaller details

1. Not everyone will need, or want, this step. For deity readings, it's often just clarified beforehand that you want a deity reading and nothing past, especially for identification readings. It's a common belief that the cards will tell you what you need to know in that specific circumstance and that you'll understand what it means once you start looking

5. Not everyone writes the answers. When doing personal readings, it's common to forget or to just not write it down. I'm not sure of the logic of this one, writing down readings can be beneficial to noting the patterns in your readings and when looking back for whatever reason, but I'm not here to judge what you do. Everyone is subject to their opinion and practice

#adonissays #digital grimoire #grimoire of spica #witchcraft #magick #buddhist witch #beginner witch #witch lessons #tarot #tarot cards #history of tarot #tarot reading

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thirdtofifth · 4 years

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Harpoon Spider Large aberration, chaotic evil Armor Class 16 (natural armor) Hit Points 114 (12d10 + 48) Speed 40 ft., climb 20 ft. Str 17, Dex 19, Con 18, Int 14, Wis 12, Cha 9 Saving Throws Dex +7 Skills Perception +4, Stealth +7 Senses darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 14 Languages Common, Undercommon Challenge 5 (1800 XP) Harpoons. The harpoon spider has two harpoon fangs attached to long filaments. The filament can be attacked (AC 20; 10 hit points; immunity to poison and psychic damage). Destroying the harpoon filament deals no damage to the harpoon spider. It takes the harpoon spider 1 week to regrow all of its lost harpoons and filaments. Spines. Whenever a creature makes a melee attack against the harpoon spider while within 5 feet of it, that creature takes 4 (1d8) piercing damage. Actions Multiattack. The harpoon spider makes one harpoon fang attack, then one bite attack. Harpoon Fang. Ranged Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, range 30 ft., one creature. Hit: 11 (2d6+4) piercing damage. If the target is a Large or smaller creature, it must succeed on a DC 14 Strength saving throw or be pulled into an unoccupied space within 5 feet of the harpoon spider. A creature that fails its save is also grappled by the harpoon spider (escape DC 14). Until this grapple ends, the harpoon spider can't use the same harpoon fang on another target. Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 8 (1d8+4) piercing damage. If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a DC 14 Constitution saving throw or take an additional 14 (4d6) poison damage.

These subterranean monsters often lurk in the Underdark, though there are rumors of variants that lurk on the surface. They hide among the rocks, shooting out a harpoon fang attached to a long fleshy tendon they can quickly retract, dragging their foe to them so they can deliver a lethal venomous bite. It hunts in a large territory around its lair, where it brings incapacitated foes after impaling them on its spines. A cruel creature, it often has fun playing with its captured prey before consuming it. These creatures can also be found in the company of ettercaps and giant spiders. A harpoon spider is around 8 feet long and weighs about 1400 pounds.

Originally from the Monster Manual III. An anonymous request. If there is a monster from 3.5 or Pathfinder that you want to see converted to 5e, feel free to send me a message or submit a monster request on the submit page. I have gotten to many requests, many are works in progress and are completed but simply need workshopping before release.

#thirdtofifth CR 5 #thirdtofifth aberration #d&d 5e #d&d #dnd #dnd 3.5 #d&d 3.5 #dungeons and dragons #d&d homebrew #d&d monster

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wafflesandkruge · 4 years

Text

the old guard au (zoyalai) (2/2)

Part 1

modern time

They’ve picked up a few other immortals along the way and now they go around the world trying to make it just a bit better

They found Jesper first when he died during the American Revolution. They stayed around a bit to harass the British bc they all hated the British

Inej died during the Third Anglo-Maratha war in India in the early 1800s, they again stayed to harass the British

Kuwei is the newest immortal, was a Chinese soldier who died defending his village during WWII

They also found Harshaw in Ireland during the Nine Years’ War in 1600 (again, the British) but while fighting in WWI, his wounds stopped healing and he died. That’s when they all realize they’re somewhat mortal and they become more careful from then on

They have an assignment in Russia where a terrorist group was holding an entire town hostage and threatening to kill everyone if the government didn’t meet their demands

Although the severity of the situation isn’t lost on them, Nikolai’s more cheerful than he’s been in a while to be back in his home country

He’s been annoying Zoya all day about them taking a little detour just by themselves after the mission to visit some of his favorite places “They don’t even exist anymore, Nikolai.” “But we can just stand there. And imagine.”

The mission is going great, as usual, the bad guys are baffled their bullet wounds close right up, blah blah blah

Near the end of the last skirmish, Nikolai throws himself in front of Zoya to take a bullet for her

She rolls her eyes, it’s an annoying habit he’s picked up. It’s cute though, she’ll give him that. She continues shooting, and soon enough, there are no terrorists left

Sighing, she holsters her gun. “Where to now, Lantsov?”

There’s no response.

She turns around and Nikolai is on the ground, a hand clutched to his side. His eyes are wide with an almost child-like confusion “It’s still bleeding. Why is it still bleeding?”

Zoya’s blood runs cold. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

“I-I don’t know, it’s not healing. It should have healed by now, right?”

She pulls his shirt up, and sure enough, blood is still gushing out of him.

She screams for a medic in English, Russian, Ukranian, desperate

“I still want to be with you guys.”

The four of them are clustered around Nikolai’s bed in the hospital. He’s almost okay to be discharged, but Zoya isn’t having it. It’s been so long since they’ve had to deal with actual injury and medicine has changed so much that she’s not sure what to trust “Like hell you are. We have that house in Madrid, you can stay there until we figure this out.” The other immortals not so subtly exit the room to let them have the big argument that’s been brewing for a while

“You could die!” She’s furious and pacing, her upset apparent. She can’t even begin to imagine spending centuries alone if he- She can barely remember a time before Nikolai “I could have died in Russia! But at least now I know I’m mortal. If we’re careful-” “No. You would never let us protect you like that. Tell me, if there was a gun pointed at me, would you hesitate to put yourself in front of me? Knowing you would die?” He’s silent, his jaw tight. She knows that’s his stubborn look. “I can’t lose you too, anbe. Please.” This is the closest to begging Zoya has ever gotten. “I don’t want special treatment. You can’t ship me off to a retirement home just yet,” he says with a brittle smile. “I don’t want to be away from you. Would you be willing to put off what we’ve been doing since the 1400s just to spend a few domestic decades with me while the world goes to shit?” Zoya immediately opens her mouth to say “of course,” but then she pauses. She knows it would be a lie. He knew her too well “I’ll be fine,” he says gently. “You won’t get rid of me that easily.”

It’s another day, another mission The team has adjusted surprisingly well to having to account for Nikolai being mortal and other than a few scrapes and scratches, he’s been miraculously unscathed They’re in Prague now, clearing out a terrorist cell It’s not a difficult mission, but Zoya can’t help feeling uneasy Then she sees a terrorist she assumed was dead raise his gun towards Nikolai’s turned back and without thinking, she throws herself between them It hits her chest and she’s knocked back into Nikolai, but she still manages to shoot the terrorist

She swears softly in Tamil. “You know, they say you don’t build up an immunity to gunshots but I think otherwise.” She presses a hand to her chest, wincing, and waiting for the wound to knit itself back together It doesn’t Nikolai must have caught on, because suddenly his hands are on her face, her chest, everywhere. Panic floods his voice. “Milaya?” “I don’t know- I don’t think I’m healing.” Zoya blinks rapidly. Her chest hurts so badly and black spots blur her vision, the way they used to before where she’d wake up a few minutes later completely fine. But she knew she wouldn’t wake up this time. “Anbe,” she murmurs, interlacing her hand with Nikolai’s. “It’s okay. It’s okay. Vse budet khorosho.” Dimly, she’s aware of Jes calling for an ambulance, Inej and Kuwei at a respectful distance, their heads bowed Nikolai is crying now. “Don’t leave me. Please. We can go to Madrid like you wanted.” She tries smiling. “That’d be nice.” “Ya lyublyu tyebya, Please, Zoya. Open your eyes. They’re almost here.” “Ya lyublyu tyebya, anbe.” She opens her eyes for what feels like the last time so she can look at the face of the man she’s loved for centuries, but centuries never felt as long as those precious few seconds

epilogue

I’m mean and left this on a cliffhanger, but there’s an epilogue bc @storm-dog-pirate insisted, go thank her

#when to post epilogue 😈😈#tumblr formatting is garbage rip i apologize to your eyes #kos #king of scars #kos writing #zoya #nikolai #zoyalai #grishaverse #leigh bardugo #my writing #the old guard au

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darkelfshadow · 4 years

Text

Session Summary - 91

AKA “Sacred Order Of Akabar”

Adventures in Taggriell

Session 91 (Date: 7th August 2020)

Players Present:

- Rob (Known as “Varis”) Elf Male.

- Bob (Known as “Sir Krondor) Dwarf Male.

- Paul (Known as “Labarett”) Elf Male.

- Travis (Known as “Trenchant”) Human Male.

- John (Known as “Ragnar”) Dwarf Male.

Absent Players

- Arthur (Known as “Gim”) Dwarf Male. <Played by Bob>

NPC

- (Known as “Naillae”) Elf Female. <Controlled by DM>

Summary

- Fireday, 12th Gozran in the year 815 (Second Era). Early Summer.

- The party begin this session, late in the evening, still exploring the hidden Yuan-ti hideout under the city of Phlan.

- The party decide to take a long rest, hoping to awaken and continue exploring the rest of the hideout before getting caught. During this time, Ragnar takes one of the shields from the armoury to replace his destroyed one. Labaret reads the recovered journal and learns this group is but one part, of a larger organisation, known as the Sacred Order Of Akabar. This Order operates in human lands and cities, attracting recruits to the worship of Dendar. This cell of the Order, located in Phlan, kept watch on the closest human lands to the Serpent Hills of the Yuan-ti. The Order had been instructed to find a stolen artefact known as the Eyes Of Dendar. A Teleport Circle scroll was also obtained, with instructions to use it to return the artefact to Gill-tan-garas, the largest and most defended of the Yuan-ti dens. However, no Teleport Sigil was provided to target that location.

- During the night’s watch, two wandering Yuan-ti Serpentine Monks came across the party but were quickly dispatched before they could alert the rest of the hideout.

- Starday, 13th Gozran in the year 815 (Second Era). Early Summer.

- After their rest, the party awoke in the early morning and used the two serpent keys to open the large metal snake door. On the other side, a long well lit hallway with a shallow pool was revealed. Two large snake statues, partially blocking the hallway, poured green liquid from their open mouths into basins.

- Not wishing to enter the shallow pool, the party began using some bunk beds to make a bridge across it, but were interrupted half way across by Serpentine Monks using a lever to begin closing the snake doors behind them and filling the pool with poisonous aquatic snakes.

- The party forced their way across the pool, fighting onwards, and rounded a corner to find two Yuan-ti Malisons guarding a prison cell. The party managed to get to the levers and stop the snake door closing, and freeze the shallow pool, allowing safe passage over it. Soon the two Malisons and Serpentine Monks were defeated.

- The party kept watch and readied themselves against a nearby thick black curtain, blocking a passageway that showed some light on the other side. The sound of movement had been heard from the other side.

- During this time, the prison cell was opened and three prisoners were allowed to leave. In their haste, the party neglected to warn the prisoners to keep to the markers above, and tragically the party would later discover all three prisoners dead in a blade trap.

- Labarett’s mage hand began to pull aside the black curtain, and immediately arrows came shooting outwards towards Varis, who also returned fire from his bow. Not wishing to waste time, the Dwarven cousins, Sir Krondor and Gim rushed past the curtain and into a large study and prayer room. Five Yuan-ti Purebloods were soon joined by a Yuan-ti Nightmare Speaker.

- The Nightmare Speaker looked identical to the Den Mother the party had killed back in the Serpentine Hills, and this creature spoke like she recognised the party. The creature hissed that the party were the ones to steal the Eyes Of Dendar.

- Not understanding what the creature meant, the party pressed onwards with the attack. The Purebloods dropped quickly whilst the Nightmare Speaker was sending dark ethereal tendrils of necrotic energy to thrust into and search the party, causing sever damage and harm in the process.

- Under the combined might of the party, all the Yuan-ti forces fell.

- A quantity of religious books on the Yuan-ti were taken.

- Moving onwards, through a wooden door, Sir Krondor and Gim snuck forwards, down a long narrow passageway towards a well lit chamber. They came across two more Yuan-ti Nightmare speakers, identical in appearance to the others. Immediately, one of the Nightmare Speakers filled the narrow corridor in thick, dark ethereal tenderils, so packed together that they blocked all vision. The tendrils were only visible when Ragnar used a Daylight spell to illuminate the area.

- The corridor was not blocked long however, as Labarett run through the tenderis, which were slowing him down, and made it through the other side. Wasting no time, he ran straight for the closest Nightmare Speaker and slashed a mighty blow across her chest and shoulder. With a shriek of pain, her concentration faltered, and the dark tendrils vanished.

- Their way now clear, the rest of the party stormed into the chamber, attacking the two Nightmare Speakers. Eventually, after a long battle both creatures were killed. Searching the chamber, another leather bound book was recovered. This book contained a map of the Serpent Hills and a Teleport Sigil was recorded on it, for Gill-tan-garas.

- A secret door was located that gave direct access to the hideout exit. The party left and made their way through the sewers and to the nearest grate. After discovering they were on the outside of the city, near a large and heavily fortified keep (Grimshackle Jail), they kept to the sewers and made their way back into the city and popped out of a sewer grate south of the Podol Plaza.

- Making their way over to the Cracked Crown Inn, Labarett handed back the Will-O-Wisp catcher to Seranolla The Whisperer. Moving next door, Trenchant advised Olisara Lightsong about the information regarding who one of the Rebel Leaders were. Olisara recognises the surname, and informs the party that this Greycastle must be Captain Jhessail Greycastle, of the now defunct Knights Of The Black Fist. She was second in charge of the Knights. The Harpers believed she was dead, along with the killed Knight Commander Ector Brahms, when there was no news of her after the Cult invasion. Olisara thanks the party for this information as it may now be possible to find Greycastle.

- The party head back to their ship, the Frostskimmr, thanks to a diversion made by the Harpers to get the party past the Cult forces guarding the jetty. Captain Lerustah is relived to see the party, as he was due to set sail away, at the end of daylight today if the party had not returned.

- Now with more time, the other book recovered from the hide out is read. It explains that the Eyes Of Dendar are in fact two gems. These gems, hidden by magic, had been lost for eons until both were recently recovered. However, it would appear that the party had unknowingly stolen them from the Yuan-ti den in the Serpent Hills.

- After Maccath The Crimson looks over the party’s treasure and identifies the enchanted Mace and the dagger located from the Hideout, the party insist that she look over the gems they carry. At first she states they are all normal and not magical, but at the insistence of the party, she keeps trying to detect any magical presence. Eventually, after much trying and effort, and with a large push of arcane force she manages to detect the hidden magical aura on two gems. With some effort she removes a permanent illusion and concealment enchantment over the gems, and as she does so, two blue round aquamarine gems change appearance to two yellow eye shaped gems. Maccath advises the party they are of great magical power, and would appear to be some type of magical key.

XP Allocation

Group - Combined (This is equally divided by the number of players who were involved)

Quests (Only quests that are completed or rendered undoable, during this session, are shown here)

- “Hidden Menace Removed” - Remove Order of Akabar from Phlan = 1000 XP

- “We’re saved!” - Ensure prisoners escape safely = -600 XP Penalty

- “Too late now” - Deliver Will-O-Wisps to Seranolla = 1000 XP <Labarett only>

- “Breed Crumbs” - Advise Olisara whom one of the Rebel Leaders is (Greycastle) = 500 XP

- Quest Milestone - Unlock “The Eyes Of Dendar” Quest = 500 XP

Creatures Overcome

- Yuan-ti Serpentine Monks = 1800 XP

- Yuan-ti Malisons = 1400 XP

- Yuan-ti Purebloods = 1000 XP

- Yuan-ti Nightmare Speakers = 3300 XP

Individual (This is only given to that person and is not divided amongst all players)

Special Bonus (Outstanding Role Playing)

Nil

XP Levels and Player Allocations

Player : Start + Received = Total (Notes)

Rob : 117676 + 1271 = 118947

Arthur : 93977 + 953 = 94930

John : 88199 + 1271 = 89470

Travis : 107574 + 1271 = 108845

Paul : 96057 + 2271 = 98328

Bob : 106621 + 1589 = 108210

NPC (Naillae) : + (636)

#D&D #DnD #5th #5e #rot

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bomberappeal3-blog · 3 years

Text

Why no One Has facelifts anymore

just How To obtain a Firmer vaginal Canal - Bucks Vaginal Tightening cream evaluation.

Content

minor Injuries & Procedures.

Hifu Treatment boggled The Mind!

What Is The Hifu Treatment?

What Foods reason Cellulite?

Electric Cryotherapy Vs Nitrogen Cryotherapy.

Hifu facelift treatment expense.

small Injuries & Procedures.

The term was initially made use of metaphorically to describe official formality by Charles Dickens (). captured red-handed - caught in the act of doing something wrong, or promptly later on with proof showing, to make sure that rejection is meaningless - the expression 'captured openly' has maintained a regular significance for well over a hundred years. The openly photo is uncomplicated sufficient to have actually advanced from common speech, that is to claim, there's unlikely to have actually been one single quote that came from the expression. read the riot act - to reprove highly - from the Trouble Act of 1716, whose terms stated that a team of twelve or more individuals must disperse if someone in authority reviewed a portion of the act out loud to them.

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Sadly official resources appear not to support the idea, interesting though it is. upper crust - high class - based on the image of a pie symbolizing the populace, with the upper class (1870 Maker recommends the noble 10%) going to the top. Some have actually suggested - debatably - that the term is from middle ages times when home-baked bread was usually burnt at the base leading to the customized of reserving the better high quality upper crust for one's betters.

Derived from the Greek, 'parapherne' suggesting 'beyond dower' (dower implying a widow's share of her hubby's estate). pansy - the blossom of the violet family/effeminate male - originally from the French pensee (technically pensée) suggesting an idea, from the verb penser, to assume, based on organization with the blossom's usage for rememberance or souvenir. Wimp initially came into English in the 1400s as pancy before developing right into its contemporary pansy type in the late 1500s, which was first videotaped in English in 1597 according to Chambers. The French word ultimately stems from the Latin pensare, suggesting to consider, where the modern English word serious obtains. The pejorative use words pansy referring to an effeminate male or a male acting in a weak or 'girly' method is a 20th century adaptation. The Pale also explained a part of Russia to which Jews were restricted.

The 'well-drinks' would certainly be those given unless the client defined a certain manufacturer's name, as well as would be generic as opposed to widely-known brand names. ' Well' drinks would be acquired in by the establishment in quantity at lower expense than the extra pricey makes, as well as would as a result generate a bigger profit margin. Recognized brands were/are consequently rationally referred to as 'call' beverages. The reality that the 'well' in a bar is also called the 'rail' would appear to provide weight to the expression's 'court well' origins.

What is the purpose of a labiaplasty?

The labiaplasty procedure aims to decrease the size of the labia minora (inner tissues of the female genitalia) so that it is flush with the labia majora (outer part of the female genitalia). This procedure involves utilizing several different surgical techniques depending on the patient's specific situation.

on the wagon/fall off the wagon - abstain from drinking alcohol/ start consuming once more after trying to abstain - both terms have actually been in usage for around a hundred years. ' On the wagon', which preceded, is a reduced expression originated from 'on the water wagon'. Before paved and also tarmac would certainly roads, water wagons used to spray the dust roadways to maintain dirt down, and also anyone avoiding booze was said to be 'on the water wagon', no question since the water wagon presented a practical alcohol-free icon. If any person can aim me in the direction of trustworthy record of this recommended origin please do.

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Hifu Treatment was Unbelievable!

There absolutely appear to be long-standing recommendations to 'soldiers' in darts video games, for instance when numbers on the board are alloted to players who then 'kill' each other's soldiers by landing darts in the relevant numbers. The intimation of the expression is to a tough and also painstaking or discouraging leisure activity, for which a video game functions as the metaphor. According to internet language customer group discussion '6s and Sevens' is the title of a collection of short stories by O. This is undoubtedly absolutely nothing to do with the beginnings of the idea, simply an another sign as to development of plural use of the term. Maker in 1870, as usually, gets my vote - he states that the expression '6 yea seven' was a Hebrew phrase meaning 'an indefinite number'. By ramification this would certainly make the expression numerous hundreds of, as well as possibly more than a couple of thousand, years of ages. scapegoat - an individual condemned for an issue - from the old Jewish annual personalized, whereby two goats were brought prior to the change of the tabernacle by the high priest on the Day of Satisfaction.

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expedition - take a trip a huge distance, generally over hard ground - - it's Afrikaans, southern of Africa, entering English around 1850, initially describing travelling or moving slowly over a lengthy tough distance by ox-wagon. Trip was earlier trekken in Dutch, the major resource language of Afrikaans, when it implied march, journey, and also earlier pull or attract. Prior to Dutch, the word's roots are Old Germanic words such as trechan, indicating pull, additionally considered the mostly likely origin of the word track in the context of impacts and also train lines. neat - organized - late middle English from words 'trend', the expansion originally implying points done promptly and methodically. Words 'trend' came from older European languages, derived from words 'Tid', 'tith' and also 'tidiz' which implied 'time'. spinster - single lady - in Saxon times a lady was not considered suitable for marriage up until she could spin yarn properly. Remarkably, and in comparable chauvanistic blood vessel, words 'partner' stems from the Anglo-Saxon 'wyfan', to weave, next after spinning in the cloth-making procedure.

What Is The Hifu Treatment?

Whatever their accurate beginnings Heywood's collection is typically the initial tape-recorded uses these phrases, and also apart from any various other debate it puts their age clearly at 1546, if not earlier. Dramatist and quip writer John Heywood (c.1497-c.1580) is a particularly notable personality in the history of expressions and sayings, thus this section committed to him right here. Heywood was in fact a favourite dramatist of Henry VIII as well as Queen Mary I, and it is likely that his writings would have acquired additional prestige in the times due to his celebrity links. rotate a yarn - tell a fanciful tale or a tall tale - According to Chambers the expression was originally a nautical one, first appearing in print concerning 1812.

No, we wouldn't advise expectant ladies to undertake this treatment.

You will certainly see prompt outcomes, nonetheless, results will remain to create and enhance 3 months message procedure.

This treatment takes up to 1 hour depending upon the number of areas you wish to treat without downtime required, people can be available in even on lunch breaks and also return to function with no problems.

You will see several of the outcomes quickly, with proceeding improvements in the 6 months following your treatment.

Nonetheless, Ultraformer is applicable without anaesthesia in a high percentage of situations - actually, many individuals report no discomfort with treatment.

No, you can go back to function as well as regular life quickly after the treatment.

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doughnut/donut - we understand the doughnut word beginnings, but doughnut significance ₤ 75? The derivations test demonstrates that word and also expressions beginnings can be used easily in tests, to teach about language, as well as likewise to emphasise the relevance of cultural diversity in language as well as interactions development. If you have modifications or further information regarding the words, mottos, expressions origins and also derivations on this page, please send them. I'm not able to address all such enquiries directly although picked ones will be released on this web page. These derivations have actually been looked into from a variety of sources, which are referenced at the end of this area. These reference resources consist of thousands a lot more sayings, expressions, origins and meanings.

Indeed spinning yarn was a significant as well as crucial maritime activity, and also indispensable to rope production. In many cases a winch was utilized, run by two males, that probably passed their time working together telling tales of all types, that makes the nautical derivation of the allegory extremely most likely and also extremely plausible.

Comparable old expressions existed in Dutch (quacken salf - modern Dutch equivalent would certainly be kwakzalver, generally indicating a fake doctor or specialist, thanks M Muller), Norweigian, and also Swedish. ' Salve' stemmed from the Latin 'salvia' (indicating the natural herb 'sage'), which was a prominent solution in middle ages times (5-15th century).

stroller - a child carriage - acquired in the late 1800s from the initial word perambulator (perambulate is an old acceptation 'perambulate a place'). maintain the pot boiling/potboiler - preserve an efficient activity or routine/poor high quality novel - these are 2 old relevant metaphoric expressions. ' Maintain the pot steaming' alludes to the demand to refuel the fire to maintain a food pot boiling, which converts to mean keep effort/input so as to proceed producing/achieving something or various other. body and face toning have actually suggested the SWANK cabins originated from transatlantic trips whose affluent travelers preferred the sun both means. Some even suggest the acronym was published on P&O's tickets, who operated the cruisings to India. In any event words classy seems to have actually been in usage meaning a dandy or wisely clothed other by 1890.

What Foods reason Cellulite?

We normally carry out a repair service procedure at the very same time of the hysterectomy. If you wish to prevent a hysterectomy, we have the unique competence of offering key-hole prolapse surgical treatment with protecting the womb. Here are several of one of the most typical contemporary expressions that appeared in Heywood's 1546 collection.

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The O-Shot® can help to restore your sex drive and decrease painful intercourse by increasing lubrication. The O-Shot® can improve urinary incontinence, returning your urinary control. cryolipolysis treats stress incontinence as well as an overactive bladder.

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The close relationship between culture and also language - particularly the impact of French words in English background - is also interesting, and this link attributes in several words as well as expressions beginnings. The lingua franca entry also assists clarify this, as well as the natural nature of language modification and also development. This treatment is executed in ladies with prolapse of the womb, to achieve excellent altitude of the top of the vaginal area. It entails a cut in the vaginal area adhered to by elimination of the womb. The genital skin is shut after that as well as a pack and catheter inserted over night. They must come out in the next morning and you can expect to go home next day or the day after.

Does FemiLift last forever?

How long will the results of the FemiLift procedure last? As long as the patient follows the instructions of the medical provider, the results are long-lasting, usually several years.

The alleged YAHOO acronyms origins are false as well as retrospective creations, although there might really be some truth in the concept that Yahoo's founders picked the YA element because it represented 'Yet An additional'. xmas - xmas - x is the Greek letter 'chi', and the very first letter of the Greek word 'christos' definition 'anointed one'; first used in the 4th century. white elephant - something that becomes unwanted as well as very pricey to preserve - from the story of the old King of Siam that made a present of a white elephant to courtiers he desired to destroy. The original expression was 'to have a white elephant to maintain', implying to be strained with the cost of looking after something very pricey. well beverage - spirit or cocktail beverage from a bar - a bar's most frequently offered drinks are maintained in the 'well' or 'rail' for very easy gain access to by the bartender. As such the bottles are placed below counter-level in front of the bartender, as opposed to behind on a rack.

Can you become a virgin again after 7 years?

Many people also believe that people who have sex with someone of the same sex can lose their virginity through oral or anal intercourse. But regardless, there is no way to “regain” virginity — being someone who never had sexual intercourse — no matter how long anyone goes without having sexual intercourse.

The Old French word is stemmed from Latin 'amare' implying 'to like'. alligator - the reptile - words has Spanish origins dating back a minimum of 500 years, whose language initially described the monster in the UNITED STATES and particularly the Mid-Americas, such as to provide the root of the modern-day English word. Alligators were obviously originally called El Lagarto de Indias, 'el lagarto', realistically indicating 'the lizard'. At first the word went into English as lagarto in the mid-1500s, after which it became aligarto towards the late 1500s, and afterwards was efficiently revised to allegater by Shakespeare when he utilized the word in Romeo as well as Juliet, in 1623. It seems that the contemporary Spanish word for reptile is lagartija, as well as lagarto currently suggests alligator.

Does laser tightening really work?

Bottom line: Laser resurfacing can tighten skin, usually better than any other skin-tightening procedure. It can also diminish fine lines, wrinkles, and dark spots on the skin, such as age spots. The tradeoff is that it requires downtime and has a greater risk of possible side effects, such as scarring.

There were several ancient North European mythological images and expressions connecting pet cats and also pet dogs with the weather, storms, wind and rain, which will unquestionably have added to the growth of the contemporary expression. Dogs and also wolves have long been a symbol of the wind, and both pets come with Odin the tornado god. Old German folklore revealed photos of a barking canine's or wolf's head to depict the wind. quack - incompetent or fake physician - from 'quack salver' which in the 19th century as well as earlier implied 'flatterer of salves'.

Hifu face Lift therapy cost.

sackbut - trombone - comparable expressions developed in French, Spanish and Portuguese, all based upon the initial Latin 'sacra buccina' meaning 'sacred trumpet'. riff-raff - common individuals - initially meant 'rags and also sweepings' from Anglo-Saxon 'rief' implying dustcloth, and also 'raff' indicating sweepings. bureaucracy - bureaucracy, management blockage, time-consuming main processes - from the middle-to-late English customized for lawyers and also government officials to link documents along with red tape.

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star-anise · 5 years

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i was hoping my last ask would get me a free rant without having to make a dreaded choice uhhhhhhh do maybe washcloths or fake smile?

Hahaha no you have to specify what white person thing you want a rant about, or else I’m paralyzed by too many choices. And nb. by “white” I generally mean white Anglo-Saxon Protestant; WASPs have traditionally been held up as the cultural standard everyone else n North America or other British colonies should follow, and the “whiteness” of different European ethnicities in those colonies is generally judged by how assimilated they are to the WASP ideal. So my observations will not apply very well to, for example, other European ethnicities, or people from areas colonized by those other European groups.

WASHCLOTHS. Related to another trap, Guest Towels Guests Must Never Use. Which are usually distinguished by their elaborateness and a thin layer of dust. As a certified White Person (Anglo Canadian) I can say: This is a real actual literal thing my family does. If I stay at an aunt’s house, I don’t use her guest towels; I walk past the guest towels on the towel rack and ask my hostess, “What towel do you want me to use?” and she fetches me a new, less nice, towel out of the linen closet.

The actual washcloth meant to be used is hung somewhere separate. When I was about 13, I rebelled against sharing a washcloth with my brothers, bought my own washcloth from a department store, embroidered my name on it, and zealously defended it against all comers. These days, my older brother has four children. When we go to his house to eat dinner, his children all wash their hands before they eat… and then wipe them dry on a single towel hung in the downstairs bathroom, which his guests also use. So we all wash our hands and then share germs. I… think? There might be a bar on the opposite wall with guest towels hanging on it? But my eyes have been trained to skate right over guest towels. They’re decor, not things we actually use.

Why White People Do This:

1. Washing and cleanliness… have not traditionally held a central place in European life the way, say, wudu does in Islam. Although priests ritually wash their hands before performing the consecration of Mass, nobody else in the congregation has to. This is partly because in Christian Scripture, Jesus says that if something is ritually pure but spiritually suspect, it should be treated as impure, which Christians kind of took to mean “ritual purity and cleanliness rituals are things non-Christians do.”

So in the 19th century, a German doctor discovered that you could reduce the rate of infection dramatically when doctors washed their hands and instruments between dissecting dead bodies and attending in childbirth. Doctors were OFFENDED and APPALLED by this–partly because the guy pointing it out was an asshole, yes, but partly because there was a feeling that “a gentleman’s hands are always clean”, so it was offensive to say their hands were dirty because it impugned their class and education.

Cleanliness is hugely related to class and status–I could go on a LOT more here about how in the 19th century, British and American attempts to “educate” and “civilize” poor white people and people of colour included imposing standards of hygiene on them that felt cruel and punitive–scrubbing skin raw, using caustic soap, delousing with kerosene–partly because white people didn’t have a very advanced idea of what chemicals made good cosmetics, and there wasn’t much awareness of the need for oils or moisturizers. (For a long time very few sources of natural oil, like canola, olives, or sunflowers, or even petroleum products, were available in Britain, so until somewhat recently they only really had pine tar and animal fat, which they used for everything from making soap to lighting lamps to greasing cart axels.) And the 19th century cleanliness movement did not have a good opinion of traditional bathing methods like the sauna, banya, or steam room, where sweat was scraped off the skin. So people who HAD hygiene rituals that worked for them, when they emigrated to western Europe or North America, got shamed and discouraged from using them. It was just expected that part of “civilizing” a child who hadn’t been “well brought up” was forcefully ducking them in a bath and scrubbing them while they screamed and fought you.

So for white people from everything but the highest classes, if you go a few generations back, there’s this feeling that cleanliness is something unnatural and unpleasant, something imposed by a punitive authoritarian force, and not something intrinsically desirable. Old men used to talk about “taking a bath once a year, whether I need it or not,” and fear of losing their “protective coating of dirt.” Which makes sense when you realize how awful old cosmetics used to feel.

I mean, as I type this, I’m applying Vaseline to the hangnails on my fingers, because when I use soap in the bath or do the dishes or wash my hands after going to the bathroom, the soap strips oil from my skin and dries it out, leading it to crack and bleed. This is a really common problem but the current solution seems to be “women carry tiny bottles of moisturizer everywhere in their purses, and men… suffer if they want to seem manly, and then post memes to facebook about how rough and terrible their hands look to emphasize their heterosexual masculinity.”

This also relates to why white people say racist things about people of colour being “dirty” when they use natural methods of keeping their hair or skin clean. The white conception of cleanliness is honestly really fucked up.

2. Cloth holds an especially weird place in white society. I mean, lots of cultures everywhere like their cloth to look nice! But in Europe and American colonies in the 1600s there was an extra special movement to restrict women economically and bar them from business and public life–so while a rich woman could run a business outside the home and buy and sell in 1400, that freedom was disappearing in 1600. Only women of the ~lower classes~ did real actual work. And the religious sentiment at the time really emphasized Purity, Hard Work, Productiveness, and No Fun. So women were supposed to stay inside all the time and not participate in industry! But they were always supposed to be busy. The saying was literally “Idle hands are the devil’s tools”.

That turned embroidery from an aesthetic, decorative art into a moral act. You didn’t embroider to make something pretty; you embroidered for the good of your soul. Fancy embroidered pieces displayed in a home were meant to demonstrate a) that the house was rich enough to have idle women, and b) the moral purity and obedience to gender norms of the women of the house. (This also extends to things like quilts, lace doilies, hooked rugs, etc.)

So towels used to be made of linen, a plain flat cloth, and then embroidered and otherwise embellished. My mom, in the 1960s, learned how to do embroidery where you painstakingly pull a few threads out of a piece of linen, and then embellish the place where the threads have been taken out.

Linen, incidentally, is a strange and amazing fabric. When new, freshly starched and ironed, it is flat and crisp. But pressure and moisture can change it really easily. When I sew with linen, I just have to lick my fingers and fold it over, and it stays like that–something most fabrics don’t do. So if you actually use a linen towel to dry your hands, you will crumple it in a way that is very hard to reverse.

Therefore: Fancy linens were displayed prominently in the home as a status symbol, but a guest who wanted to stay on his hostess’s good side did not use them. There are a lot of ettiquettes around using linens when you absolutely have to, like just gently wiping your fingers on a towel, that diminished the damage the fabric would take.

So, I mean, actually rich people used their good towels, because if they ruin them, they can just get new ones. Fancy linens were intended for high-class guests who knew how to keep from damaging them. So using someone’s guest towels sent the message, “I am so high-status that I’m WORTH potentially ruining something that took a ton of work to make and maintain.” Or, if you obviously weren’t that high status, “I don’t know about the work that goes into making nice things, or don’t value the work you did and don’t care how much effort you’ll have to go to because I wanted to wipe my face.”

But that was in the days of linen. Guest towels are going out of fashion, partly because modern terrycloth towels are almost impossible to crease or ruin, so it doesn’t really matter if guests use them. But even with terrycloth towels, homeowners sometimes like to create really elaborate towel displays. I don’t know how those people feel when guests use them, but as a white girl I feel really uncomfortable taking a towel display in somebody else’s house apart, and try to wipe my hands while causing the least disturbance possible.

Oh, I guess I should mention that invisible tests no one will ever mention if you fail are absolutely a white person thing. Like, if you watch costumed period drama movies, there’s often a scene where someone is really unbearable and rude, and everyone is super polite and awkward and just sits there and says nothing. That’s not consciously an exclusive practice; from the perspective of white people it’s just an ingrained reflex, “Freeze and smile when something awkward happens and then later cut them out of your life.”

That reflex comes because the Industrial Revolution and colonization (1600s-1800s) led to a lot of class mobility. Ordinary men could get involved in business and become wealthier than the hereditary landowners! Which the hereditary landowners felt super threatened by, so they went out of their way to cultivate manners and standards that were very unlike those used by the common people. Upperclass accents became more marked and exaggerated; dictionaries decided to make English spelling and grammar especially hard to learn; manners got super weird and unintuitive. They wanted to make it as hard as possible for common people to fit into high society.

Therefore, to enable that system, the rule became: Never tell someone when they’re fucking up. If they know what they’re doing wrong, they’ll FIX it, and then they’ll fit in better! And that would lead to the absolute downfall of Western civilization! Which would of course be a bad thing! And that got codified as The Right And Desirable Way To Do Things. A low-class person might say “Hey, you just insulted me, I’m upset,” but someone with aspirations of rising higher in life learned to freeze and say nothing. That was how you defined “polite”.

So like I said, if I, as a white person, point out to other liberal white people that the freeze-and-smile-awkwardly response is really exclusionary to people from different backgrounds, they go, “Oh my gosh, you’re right!” and we can talk about changing it. It’s why white people invented assertiveness training. It’s a thing white people have to unpack and decolonize. But it’s not commonly a conscious attempt to exclude someone by not letting them know they’re breaking the rules.

ANYWAY. Towels.

So IF someone has guest towels taking up their towel rack in their bathroom, there’s very little room left for the actual towels. (Unless they’re like my aunt, whose bathroom literally has a second towel rack to accommodate her guest towel arrangement) Therefore: The entire fucking family sharing a single washcloth because that’s all they have room for, and it doesn’t feel that important not to share.

WHITE CULTURE IS WEIRD AS HELL.

And if you come to my house? You’re allowed to use my guest towels. It’s what they’re there for.

#staranise original #white culture #lis explains white people shit #AND I DIDN'T EVEN NAMECHECK CALVINISM ONCE #chucktaylorupset

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thecatsaesthetics · 5 years

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Round-Up:l Historical Fiction I’ve read in the past 6 months or so…

I wanted to do a round-up, I don’t think I’ve told people here but I got a job last December where I work from 3pm to 11pm as a data processor and I’m not allowed to have my phone or anything on me but an mp3 player. So I’ve been listening to audible books after audible books. So today I’ve going to give you a short round-up of the books I’ve listened to.

Becoming Marie Antoinette by Juliet Grey:

This book centers on the Young Marie Antoinette, through her childhood to her accession to the French Throne. It’s a rather good take on the character of Marie Antoinette, they show how underprepared she was for life at the French Court. How different the Austrian Court was. They showed how Maria Theresa had to fight battle after battle to ensure the alliance took place. The marriage of Louis and Marie was so well done. The author really took her time to slowly build the relationship up and highlight how deep there love for each other became. This book was actually perfect for a historical fiction novel, stuck to the facts, very well researched about the era and had interesting characters. The only issue I had is a series but the rest of the series isn’t available in audiobook format. I hope one day the other two books get narrated and I can listen to them.

The Romanov Empress by C. W. Gortner:

This book centers on Tsarina Maria “Minnie” Feodorovna (mother of Nicholas II), it starts with her sisters in the engagement of the future Edward VII and to WWI and the aftermath of the Russian Revolution. The book closes out on Minnie and her remaining children fleeing to Great Britain.

Now this book was very conflicting for me. The problem I had with this book was the characterization of Alexandra Feodorovna (Nicholas II’s wife). It seems Gortner is of the opinion that Alexandra caused the downfall of the Romanov’s, which frankly just isn’t true. The problem for me is, it could be Gortner doesn’t actually believe this, historically Minnie and Alexandra didn’t get along, the book is written from Minnie’s POV. So it’s natural that there is a lot Alexandra hate, but it also seemed over the top. The book blames Alexandra for Nicholas for celebrating after the Khodynka Tragedy (which literally ensured his poor reputation amongst the people). However, everything I’ve read on the topic indicates it was Nicholas’ uncles that insisted the parties continue. To blame Alexandra for every action Nicholas took is just incredibly unfair and simply not true. Alexandra certainly wasn’t a victim but we really need to let Nicholas II stand on his own. If you’re interested the History of Russian Rulers did amazing podcast episodes on Nicholas and really showed how his own actions led to his demise. Now the positives of this book are it really highlights Minnie’s relationship with her sister Alexandra of Denmark (who was the wife of Edward VII). It also shows how interconnected all the families of the first WWI was. The characterization of Alexander III is spot on, and the love between him and Minnie is incredibly believable. I also loved Alexander II in this book (his good and bad sides). Minnie’s relationship with her sister in law Maria of Mecklenburgh adds spice to the book. They were true frenemies. The book does a great job of taking you back to the late 1800s and into the last hours of Imperial Russia. They also highlight the danger the last Romanovs were truly in and how naïve they were to the challenges they were facing. It also showed how Minnie and Alexander’s parenting came back to bit them. Minnie seems to just face conflict after conflict with all of her children. But it’s also heartbreaking to read her reaction to her sons (not just Nicholas but also her son Michael) and grandchildren were murdered. Not to mention the other children she lost (to illness). Also the death of Alexander III was touching. If you’re interesting in Russian history I would give this a go, but take the Alexandra stuff with a huge grain of salt.

The Queens Vows by C. W. Gortner:

This book centers on Isabel of Castile, going from her childhood to events of 1492. Now I’m going to say this if you’re interested in Gortner as an author you should read this book. Out of the three books I’ve read by him this is the one I believe is most worth your time. His exploration into the character of Isabel is near perfect. While he does have a few inaccuracies (which he mentions at the end of the book) they only add to the story. This book was really able to capture the 1400s for me in a way no other book has to date.

The marriage between Isabel and Ferdinand in this book is extremely well done. You get to see how much they love each other and how troubled the marriage could be. I truly enjoyed the characterization of her brother Henry IV. The weaknesses he had and the struggle between him and Isabel. If you enjoyed the Isabel TV Series this would be a great add on. It’s not exactly the same (Gortner makes it near certain that Isabel’s niece is illegitimate unlike the show) but it’s a perfect add on if you have been craving more since the show ended. I think Gortner handled the Jewish expulsion of 1492 very well. He notes in the back we really don’t know what went through Isabel’s head during that decision, he chose to take one version of it. He also notes how incredibly powerful the idea of damnation was, and that even if Isabel had no personal issues with Jewish people in her realm the overwhelming religious pressure cannot be denied. I agree with him on this point, and while it’s easy for us (in the 21st century) laugh off the idea of damnation in 1492 it was a part of there reality.

The Vatican Princess by C. W. Gortner:

This follows the life of Lucrezia Borgia from the start of her father’s succession to the papacy to her entering her marriage with Alfonso d’Este. This one by Gortner was my least favorite. Like the other two, it was incredibly well researched and it does a great job pulling you back. However, I personally didn’t like the characterizations or the route he chose at times. I’m going to give spoilers for the book FYI so scroll past if you don’t want to know. He took the route of victim Lucrezia, which doesn’t appeal to me very much. Also he had Vannozza dei Cattanei hate her daughter for steal the attention of Rodrigo, it has Giovanni Sforza be an abusive ass who sexually assaults her, it has Rodrigo sending Giulia to sleep with Giovanni Sforza to keep him off Lucrezia (And sleep with Juan as well for some reason), it has her brother Juan rape and impregnate her and he does this because he’s upset Cesare killed his lover Prince Cem and wants to hurt Cesare, has Rodrigo grow to despise Lucrezia for Cesare murdering Juan, Rodrigo allows Cesare to murder Alfonso of Aragon to hurt Lucrezia like he was hurt by Juan’s death, oh also Cesare doesn’t murder Juan for the rape itself it’s more about Juan getting to have Lucrezia “first”, it also has Vannozza upset with Lucrezia for Juan raping her as well, and has Lucrezia end up despising Cesare after the murder of Alfonso of Aragon.

Now I’m not a Borgia expert by any means but the book seems to just be filled with nonsense to me. The only good parts of this book were Sancha of Aragon and Lucrezia’s friendship (WHICH BOTH TV SERIES DENIED ME OF) and Giulia Farnese massively calling out Rodrigo for basically pimping her out. While I find the latter inaccurate it was enjoyable to read Giulia talk about how Rodrigo took her when she was barely more than a child and ruined her. Personally, I’d skip this book it’s really not worth it.

The Accidental Empress and Sisi Empress on Her Own by Allison Pataki:

This follows the life of Empress Sisi of Austria-Hungary from her childhood to her assassination.

This is a series but the two books were read by different people so it didn’t feel like to me. I think all series should have to be read by the same person. To sum it up, the first book is interesting and the second book is a dud.

The first book I enjoyed so much, it follows Sisi from her childhood to the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867. It follows her disasters marriage with Emperor Franz Joseph at the age of 15, her struggles with her mother in law, her struggles with postpartum depression, and her romance with the Hungarian Count Andrassy. The first book really makes you feel bad for Sisi, she struggles with a rather cold abusive man who claims to love her (but only really loves her image not her) and her struggle for freedom in the Austrian Court. Sisi is more or less pushed out of Franz Joseph and her children’s life. Franz replaces her with mistresses and her mother in law takes over the role of mother to her children. The book ends on a clear high note (Sisi gaining Hungary proper status in the Empire) and honestly the author should have left it there.

The second book is set after the birth of her final child Valerie (the only child she’s allowed to raise) and to her assassination. The book was a drag, I personally didn’t like the narrator and it took me forever to finish the book. The book makes Sisi incredibly unlikable, it makes it seem more like she abandoned her husband and family rather than being pushed out. The book opens up with Sisi having the opportunity to oversee Crown Prince Rudolf’s (And to have more involvement in his upbringing) but would rather go to Britain to ride horses. She basically is framed as being responsible for his tragedy. The author also ruins the love story she had set up between Andrassy and Sisi (which I had adored in the previous book). Now I understand you have to keep with history but you can’t set up a massive love story in the first book and they tear it down a few chapters in by the second book. The whole second book was a massive let down, I’d reread the first one but not the second one.

The Summer Queen, The Winter Crown, The Autumn Throne, by Elizabeth Chadwick: This book series centers on Eleanor of Aquitaine from childhood to death.

This series was by far one of my favorite reads of 2019. You should really believe the hype about this series, it truly is that good. Now the books span a massive amount of time so I can’t go into everything but it was 1000% worth reading. The books explore the early Medieval World incredibly well. The author takes a highly realistic approach to Eleanor (who at the end of her first novel claims wasn’t a woman ahead of her time but rather a woman of her time) with a few dramatizations. This book series should be picked up for a TV series on Starz, HBO, or Showtime. It has all the material you need to make an epic TV series. I highly enjoyed the exploration of her marriages to both Louis VIII of France and Henry II of England. How different and yet strikingly similar the relationships were. The only slight issue I have is the author does tend to go the route of King John evil, King Richard I good. Which I personally don’t believe is true. However, they do a great job showing that even though Richard is Eleanor’s favorite she does love John. Again the books take a highly realistic approach to Eleanor so the author more or less stays away from all the rumors about her (with the expectation of one which I find to add more to the series rather than take away). This is a must-read series, and I can only hope Elizabeth Chadwick will write more series like this. I also hope one day a TV network picks up the novels to adapt.

House of Rejoicing (Part 1), Storm in the Sky (Part 2), Eater of Hearts (Part 3) (The Book of Coming Forth by Day Series) by Libbie Hawker: These books have multiple points of view (GRRM style) set in Ancient Egypt during the Amarna Era. Starting at the end of Amenhotep III and to the death of King Tut. The POVs range from Kiya, Nefertiti, Tiye, Sitamun, Beketaten, Horemheb, Meritaten, and Ankhesenpaaten (I might have missed some but idk). This series is not for the light of heart, the books include rape, incest, pedophilia, violence against women, etc. I mean this book series is just a lot to take in. The author goes down the route that Akhenaten was an abusive pedophile screwing every barely 13-year-old girl he could get his hands on (his daughters, sisters, sister in law etc). The concept of this series was excellent. A multi-narrative series set in Ancient Egypt, however, the series just misses the mark. I feel like Hawker wanted this to be the ASOIAF of Ancient Egypt novels but couldn’t commit. One of the biggest writing issues I had with this was how short the books were for A. the number of POVs we had, and B. for the span of time we went through. I think this series would have benefited from more books and longer novels. The author also tries to dive into the misogyny and how it affected women. However again she just misses the mark somehow. I could see what she was attempting but it just never got there if you know what I mean. I think this series feels more a draft than a finished product. Also, the plot is a jumbled mess. Now it’s Ancient Egypt you can really do anything (especially with the Amarna era) but this series was so out there… and I’ve read Philippa Gregory. Some of the things that happened nearly had me bursting out laughing at work. I really can’t get into all craziness of this series but it’s a lot just trust me. Like I said Akhenaten is a pedophile (actually a lot of the men were) in this book, which idk I don’t feel comfortable with how all of the problematic stuff was handled. The first book was the best book of the series and the last two are really where the craziness begins. But truly I would skip this series unless you up for hours of nonsense and craziness.

#book round up #historical fiction #personal #long post

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