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lunasphantom · 3 years

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Mission: Rise of Rivalries-Chapter 1

Synopsis: Phoenix, a top assassin from a very secret group, the definition of girlboss.gaslight.gatekeep.No one knows her name but they call them Raven. A very intelligent killer whose kills have been studied by many (some very entertaining by the way). Studied by people like Dream. Dream, a mysterious detective,works with the government. The only person who found Phoenix,she was hard to track but in the end he did find her. Now, these two establishments come together to take over a shared target, Sleepy Bois Inc. A family who has gotten into illegal business. How will these two sworn enemies, Dream and Phoenix, take over the most powerful family.

TW: blood,knives

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After their first tension filled meeting Dream and Phoenix were ready to go on their first step of their mission. Mexico. Throughout the way to the airport and during their time in the airport Dream was acting nothing but like a child. Unlucky for him Phoenix knew exactly which points to push, which made the whole trip entertaining for her. However it wasn’t nice that he was also being mean to ones around him, leaving Phoenix with a lot of “Excuse me”’s. It was like apologizing for your dad's bad behaviour to service. It’s not like Niki or Puffy could give Phoenix a word of advice for handling him.The plane was lowering down, “Be an asshole to me stop being an asshole to a waitress you are starting to become a Karen.” Phoenix argued towards Dream. Dream didn’t acknowledge her at all but just kept “reading” the file for the mission. Phoenixs takes the file from his hands, harshly. “I was looking through that.” Dream says as he looks through Phoenix’s eyes for the first time. Phoenix takes a big inhale “No you weren’t you were just staring in the void.”

“I was thinking of ways to kill you.” Dream said with a smirk and Phoenix just rolled her eyes ``You are just begging to have your hands around my neck.'' It was Phoenix’s turn to smirk now. Dream got stiff over the change of subject. As the plane lowered down Dream's hand tightened on the seat. “Big man afraid of planes,” Phoenix said in a joking manner, hoping to Dream huffed “Haha very funny.” “Have we figured out our story yet.” “Story for what?” “Our couple story, how we met and stuff” Phoenix explained with a slight annoyance “It’s all written on the file” Dream turned to Phoenix. “But who likes going by the book? I’d say we met at a farm” Dream just rolled his eyes. His previous annoyance was replaced with a glint of playfulness “What if we used the real story of how we met?” Dream said wanting a payback over the mention of his hands on her neck. “Before or after you stabbed me” Phoenix asked not even lowering her voice down, earning an eerie look from the old lady beside her “You stabbed me first.” The bickering of who stabbed who first continued until the plane landed. They got their luggage called a cab to go to their hotel. Throughout all of this none of them said a word.

Their hotel room was nice and large enough for other things (knives,guns,computers) to fit in. “Oh you have got to be kidding me” Dream said as Phoenix was fascinated with the amount of food inside the mini fridge. “What happened?” Phoenix said as she opened a small bottle of vodka.Phoenix’s eyes scanned over the room to see that there is only one bed. “You” said Dream pointing at her “are sleeping on the couch.” “Huh no” “Oh yeah I think so.” “You know how my back gets” “Your back will be fine Y/- Phoenix” Dream spit out her name like venom. Unbothered by the sudden rise of emotions from Dream “Rock paper scissors.The one who reaches 3 wins” “We aren’t kids.” “Do you have any other ideas or are you just afraid of losing?” Dream thought for a minute and finally gave up. “Fine” He marched over her like a child. Both of them got into a sort of a stance position, it was a funny sight to see. Two kids fighting over the bed. The game was intense, especially the last round “Rock paper scissors shoot.” Both of them said at the same time. Dream won against Phoenix. As she was about to scream, Dream's phone rang, it was from George. “Did you two arrive?” “Yes we did.” “Okay put me on speaker I also need to talk to her.” Dream looked at Phoenix who was sitting down in defeat eyeing the couch, trying to seduce it to come to her. Dream put George on speaker “She can hear you know.” “Hey George!” Phoenix yelled since Dream was far away, she stood up and approached Dream so she could hear George. “Oh thank God you are alive.I don't have to get rid of any bodies.” “Not yet.” both of them said at the same time. “If I say please, will you not kill each other?” “If you get down on your knees, sure I’ll consider.” Phoenix replied with a smirk.

George laid out the plan for them. It was easy:

Do good in poker to gain Quackity’s attention (Dreams job.)

Talk with Karl enough to get to know him

Get a game with Quackity

Threaten

Get info

Run

Seemed easy and logical. A plan with 0 risk

Couple hours had passed, and Dream and Phoenix were getting ready. Dream wore a suit, a navy green suit while Phoenix wore a matching dress which suited her body elegantly. Dream also saw how this dress made her look beautiful, powerful, it was like the day they first met.

“You look rather lonely for someone this handsome.” Y/N approached Clay in a confident manner without a smirk, showing that she is quite the humble one when it came to her confidence. Clay chuckled while taking a sip from his drink “You look rather beautiful for someone who will be spending the night alone.” Clay said as he leaned down to her “or maybe I can change that.” Clay whispered into Y/N’s ear. It has been a while, a long while since Y/N had been affected by someone like that. Even though she looked powerful Clay could take her walls down with a simple touch, a whisper even just a look from day one. Y/N leaned in more, she tied her hands around his tie pulling him even more close. “Who said I was going to spend the night alone.” Y/N whispered back to Clay. Let his tie loose and walked over her next target.

“What were we threatening them with again?” Phoenix yelled from the bathroom, making a few last touches on her makeup. “You should know it by now, you will do it after all.” Dream said “Well you didn’t let me change our names and how we met, for the first time I am going by the rules. Might as well know it deeply.” Phoenix told Dream as she looked at him through the mirror “They betrayed SBI, released info apparently, almost causing the downfall of the company.” “Why don’t we just let them take down their own business then?” “People who have the information were killed so the family never found out about the betrayal.”

Y/N P.O.V

“Maybe you should do the talking.” I suggested as I walked towards Dream. “And why is that?” He was trying to tie his navy green tie which made his eyes shine through. “Let me do that,” I muttered to him. Seeming to hear it, he let go of his tie and turned towards me. He wore the same tie when we met. “You know betrayal better than I do.” “Phoenix not again.” Dream growled under his breath. “I am not wrong though. You used me to get to my organization. I read that report you know. Shame you didn’t mention our sex life as well, would’ve been more fun.” “You would’ve liked people to know how I fucked you” “Pretty sure we fucked each other Clay.” I said as I tightened his tie around his neck and he grabbed his knife. He pushed me against the wall, his knife was now on my neck and my hands magically didn’t let the tie slip. “Don’t call me Clay.” “Oooh are you mad that I made you realize you were a real person?” I mocked him. “I can kill you.” “Don’t say that to an assassin, we are way too creative.” His knife went in deeper to my neck, but not deep enough to cut it. He took a big breath in “I am not a traitor, you know that.” I looked into his eyes. One who knew him well would argue that Dream got colder after me. Dream got colder after “love” because he didn’t know how to handle it. I heard these arguments from his friends, these arguments over why he got “cold”. However “Eyes never lie chico.” His eyes were the real traitors for his emotions, which made me think back to everything. “You said you would never leave and you left.” I mumbled. He took a step back, confused by my answer. I let the tie loose, it fell to the floor. I took a deep breath, gained my composure back. “Now, let’s gamble shall we?You’ll be fine without the tie.”

I thought I had the toughest job but it turned out to be easy. Karl Jacobs was probably the nicest bartender/ I just watch people gamble so I can psychoanalyse man I’ve ever met in my entire life. Dream played well enough to impress Quackity and we both deserve an Oscar for our performance as a couple. This came naturally to us. Even before we were “dating”, before I knew about his plans of turning me in. I always blame Dream, but I wasn’t any different. We portrayed what we felt differently even though we were the same drug. Quackity bought our act as a couple and told us that he would love to play a card game together in his office, which was downstairs, and Karl would also be there.

We started going downstairs with Dream's hand on my back. The room wasn’t lit enough but I guess it’s to add to the tension. “Come on gentlemen and lady. Lets play, '' Quackity said with a smirk. I think this whole “come to my basement” was just to get money back from Dream cause that man actually knows how to play poker now. Karl laid out all the cards. “If you cheat I will catch you.” Karl said as he sat down comfortably on his chair. “We’ll see about that.” I said with a tight smile. The game was going on. Dream cheated two times but wasn’t caught. But guess who was….me. “No, give me the card back.” Quackity said sternly. “Oh come on you gamble and you cannot handle cheating.” “Cheating means dishonesty and that is a betrayal of my trust. That's important to me.” He said giving me the deadliest look, he fell right into the trap. “How did they react?” “How did who react?” he asked genuinely intrigued. “How did the SBI family react when they found out you released important information but was shit at covering it.” I said as I leaned over the desk to get closer to Quackity who was sitting in front of me. I heard Karl gulp, the smirk Quackity once carried fell from his face. I got up from the desk “I mean come on! Throwing them into the river.” I said as I traced my hand over Karl. I got a chance to look at Dream who wore a smug triumphant look.

“I can come up with more creative ideas, you know.” I said looking straight at Quackity ``And you both can be my little tests to see which one gets the job done faster and cleaner.” I said and finished it with a smile. “What do you want?” “Information.” Dream replied coldly “Why would we give it to you?” Karl asked “This family isn’t helping you, they are stopping you from growing your own company and you are basically their sl-” “One way or another we are going to get to that family Karl and Quackity.” I cut Dream off. “A family that doesn’t care if I kill you now or later. But I am sure they would be itching to kill you when they find out about the leak.” I leaned down to Quackity “I heard they are also very sensitive about this.” The next move came at a very vulnerable moment: Quackity pushed me against the wall and pulled out a knife and dragged the knife against my stomach. Not deep enough but still a wound that’s going to sting. Since I am used to pain, both internally and externally, I couldn’t show much reaction (which seemed to worry Quackity) “They are holding a ball on the 20th. It’s masked, you can go, I can arrange the invitations.” Quackity whipped his head around and took the knife out. “They are right Quackity we are literally slaves, this family needs to be taken down. You were talking about your own plans last night, this is your chance.” Karl pleaded. Quackity thought for a minute, looked at us “Go. Karl will give you the things you need tomorrow just come here.” he grumbled. That was our queue to leave.

When we arrived at our hotel room I was exhausted. I also lost the rock-paper-scissors game for the bath. Again. As Dream was showering I decided to change into more comfortable clothes. Through the adrenaline and stress I totally forgot about my wound. I was deeply staring into the wound trying to decide whether it’s deep or just a surface-level one. I was into thinkin that I didn’t feel Dream’s presence “Who did this to you?” he whispered. I turned around. He looked at it and touched it. I winced. His eyes were filled with worry “Sorry I-” “I know” I said, trying to sound as reassuring as possible. “It was that Quackity guy wasn’t it.” Dream said sternly. “It’s fine, it has happened before.” “Come here, let me fix it.” he said as he held my hand and dragged me to the bathroom so he could fix my wound.

He pulled out the med kit and cleaned up my wound. Every touch had an electrifying effect on my body. I was extremely tired but his touch seemed to give me back life.He didn’t look at the wound all that much, it was as if he was a pirate who already knew his way around the map, the map being my body. With every touch that could cause me to wince he would look up like a child. He finished it off and got up. Our position wasn’t much different from the one where he was pressing a knife to my neck. Well now it was minus the knife and I wasn’t pressed against a wall. “We can sleep together if you would like?” Dream offered his eyes softening. “I won't mind” I checked my bandage to make sure I didn’t start bleeding again. Dream had already gone inside the bed, I followed him and went on the other side. We didn’t talk after that, we were both silent as if his touch on my body had a silencing curse. After shifting a bit more I finally faced Dream again. “Stop shifting it will start to bleed again.” his eyes were closed “You will get away with my death if I just bleed to death” “The scar isn’t that deep” “You never know” I argued “You and I both know that.” “Fine whatever. You’ll clean up the mess when I die.” I said and turned my back to him “Just go to sleep before I regret taking care of you.” “Sweet dreams Dream” the smirk was lingering on my tone. I heard him chuckle but it was a very muffled chuckle “Good night Phoenix.”

#dream x reader #dreamwastaken #dream mcyt #dream x fem!reader #dream x y/n #mcyt x y/n #quackity x reader #sapnap #sapnap x reader #georgenotfound #mcyt au #dream au #georgenotfound x reader #sleepy bois inc #dream x you #tommyinnit #wilbur soot #technoblade

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wlw-lovestruck-fiction · 3 years

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Hi! Long time lurker, big fan of this blog. Can I request either a headcannon or a fic of Viv Tang?

Basically, it goes like this, it's an AU of some sort, where Viv and the Poppy leave MC. MC tried to hate them and forget them especially Viv, but couldn't do it. So out of spite and care, MC creates a whole organisation that revolves around protecting Viv and the others. (Making sure their heists go well, the police/government never finding them, making sure that their old enemies never get to them etc.) They've been doing this in private, but Viv and the others catch on, and that thought bothers them. Enough to make them distracted in their latest heist.

Their heist went down in shambles, leaving MC's crew to step in and made sure they're safe, leaving MC's mark to take the blame.

They were confused ofc, but MC's crew was just giddy and happy that they get to meet their leader's old crew.

Basically, they meet MC, MC makes them make it up to her.

And we know how in the original Viv route, we try really hard to pry her open and get her to trust us, well Viv does the same, trying to get MC to forgive her. And just angst ending with fluff please?

Lots of Love <3

This will contain both HC and story parts.

…

· After Vivienne leaves MC poisoned in Paris, of course she’s pissed.

· A talk with Jace (and some stress painting) later, MC feels like she has a pretty good grasp of Vivienne’s decision

“She was scared,” she muses, idly playing with one of her brushes, a thoughtful frown on her face as her mind wanders to the other members. “And they were… willing to give her a way out, I guess? Pretty messed up, considering they got me in this whole thing to begin with…”

Thing is, they hadn’t left her without something. Zoe had made sure MC could return to her normal life ‘after you lay low for a bit, probably two months’, advice left in a letter alongside some cash. Enough to buy a few plane tickets around the world. First class.

Even after their most recent decision, MC could recall how careful and welcoming everyone had been. Vivienne was always a mystery, of course, lingering at the edge while MC got to know Jett and Zoe in the Art Club they had formed, or as MC debated with Remy and Leon about a movie they had been watching. With Nikolai, it was mostly challenges Nikolai loved to issue and MC was too proud to deny. But she was always there, in the background. She had become a rather comforting presence, as MC had formed bonds with everyone.

“This was not the best course of action, but they took it anyway.” Vivienne’s choice had been driven by emotion, raw panic, but MC just couldn’t wrap her mind around Nikolai or Zoe, both logical to the bone, supporting it. “There must have been something else, there.”

· With the anger slowly cooling off, MC thought she could almost begin to understand their reasons. The Poppy isn’t the sort of group to taint their hands with blood, not unless it’s absolute necessary.

· Celine had pushed everyone, even if the heist ended on a positive note.

· ‘I believe you have a place with us’, Nikolai had said. MC remembered the heist and how everything could have gone wrong.

· Their talent and quick-thinking are the only reason they got out of that situation relatively unharmed.

· No doubt the rest of their heists carried the same danger.

· MC thought of Celine, gun aiming at her chest, eyes glinting in Vivienne’s direction and made a split-second decision.

· There was no way, no way at all, that she was going to let anything happen to them.

…

· When Vivienne had first noticed the sudden lack of danger in their heists, she was instantly suspicious.

· She couldn’t afford to brush anything off in her line of work.

· Zoe finds the source in no time.

· To say they were confused as an understatement.

“I thought she was back in New York?”

“I don’t understand, why would she choose this?”

“We’re hardly so incompetent as to need a guard.”

“How long has this been happening?”

“Couple months, so maybe they started operating around March?” Zoe throws them a withering look so they’ll shut up, and lets out a long sigh once they do. “Point is, we’ve gained a new stalker, even if it’s her. She got a whole organization going, she’s pretty dedicated.”

“Of course she is, it’s why we choose her in the first place.”

“Technically, Vivienne did.”

“Well, yeah. Still, this is insane. So little time, and yet…”

“MC was always a fighter,” Vivienne says, quietly. “It’s certainly an… interesting choice…”

“She seems to have very good intel,” Zoe continues, eyes glued to her laptop’s screen. “Too good. She knows our every movement.”

“Which means she will be lurking around this heist.” Nikolai drums his fingers against his armchair, a frown firmly in place. “That might be a problem.”

“She’s been doing this for months, but we’ve never caught a glimpse of her. It’s safe to say she won’t approach us, right?”

“We probably shouldn’t, either. Not for now. We need more info on this organization of hers.”

“We’ll proceed as planned.”

· Except nothing goes as planned.

· Jett’s bombs don’t go off when they should, providing no distraction and thus no way of escape for Vivienne and Nikolai.

· No safe way, at any rate.

· The guards get suspicious of their malfunctioning equipment remarkably quick, moving to search the place.

· Remy gets found out first, though he stalls as much as he can.

· It’s enough time for Leon and Nikolai to think for a way out, though Remy is still with the guards.

· The bombs go off at that moment, and Vivienne is trapped.

· It’s at that moment that MC’s crew intervene.

· The guards are the most important issue, and so most of her crew go handle it.

· MC takes care of Vivienne personally.

“Well, that went great.” MC says, flashing Vivienne a cheeky smile when she finds her. Vivienne looks up at her with wide eyes, brown eyes glinting under the light of the room.

“How did you…”

“Questions later, darling. Can you walk?”

Vivienne blinks, taking a deep breath. The motion helps her get rid of most of her surprise. She knows she doesn’t have time to lose, so she accepts MC hand and follows her out. The trip is quiet, of course. Vivienne keeps a carefully neutral expression on, eyes flickering from the woman in front of her to the rest of their escape route.

It’s hard, trying to compare this woman with the one she had kissed all those months ago. She remembers how her hands grasped at her robe, passionate, truthful, those sweet words MC had muttered against Vivienne’s mouth, before the poison had taken effect.

MC had said she would never hurt Vivienne. Vivienne had poisoned her, afraid she would hurt MC.

It didn’t feel like she could hurt the woman before her, though, standing tall and strong and confident, a leader, someone made out of stone. For a moment, Vivienne had the impression poison wouldn’t even work on her anymore.

· MC had changed. It was as clear as the water glimmering outside the organization’s HQ.

· She wasn’t the same bubbly, hopeful girl Vivienne had taken around Paris, teaching everything she could about thievery.

· She wasn’t the same passionate, proud artist she had been, brush in hand, smiling in wonder and then frowning in concentration when she tried to capture something beautiful. Somehow, most of the time, the subject of her painting was Vivienne herself.

· She was steely, snarky, commanding the room with her very presence. All eyes followed her as she went, speaking clear orders for the crew to follow.

· In the beginning, they had stuck to the Gilded Poppy like glue, curious. No doubt they were trying to see why MC cared about them so much to go through this kind of trouble.

· One look from MC was enough to get them to disperse.

· This change… everything it entailed… Vivienne wanted to know more.

“So, how did it feel?” MC had asked her as soon as they got a moment alone. Vivienne shot her a glance, trying to decipher something in her expression.

“How did what feel?”

“Thinking you could force me out of this. You got me in this life.”

“I gave you a way out.”

“But I told you, didn’t I? I wanted this, and you…”

“I’ve lived all my life like this. I didn’t want you to face-”

“Well, maybe you shouldn’t have chosen me, then. Ever think of this little thing called consequences?”

Isadora flashes through her mind, quick, too quick. It leaves a trail of golden hair in the back on her mind, all too real when she closes her eyes. Vivienne presses her lips together, forces herself to focus.

“This organization…”

“Don’t let it get to your head, darling. It’s not you I’m worried about.”

“…The others, then.”

“Yes. Quid pro quo, and all that. I’ll see what I can ask in return later.”

“We didn’t ask you to intervene.”

“You didn’t ask before poisoning me, either. I feel like doing drastic things without asking for permission are common place around here.”

“That doesn’t even-”

“Ah, ah, ah. Did I save your lives, yes or no?”

Jett had said, before they got released from the medical ward, that the plan failing was entirely his fault, after getting too distracted thinking about MC to get his usual formulas right. Vivienne didn’t doubt him – Jett was, after all, very dedicated to his craft. A mistake was unthinkable, unless something of this magnitude managed to get to him.

He felt guilty and weirded out, probably, she thinks bitterly, despite everything being my fault, as per usual.

“…you did.”

The smile that stretches over MC’s face is almost predatory, brown eyes glinting with satisfaction. “That’s what I like to hear.”

#Anonymous #answered #lovestruck #lovestruck fanfiction #lovestruck vivienne #lovestruck qot #queen of thieves #qot vivienne #vivienne tang #queen of thieves vivienne #vivienne x mc #soft angst #light angst #woeful wednesday

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siriannatan · 3 years

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Beeduo Oneshots - Technoblade and Foolish interjection #1

Technoblade spends a lot of his time napping. Naps were nice. No voices, no governments, no people trying to use him. Steve and all the other bears and wolfs were enough to keep the place safe from monsters. Between his naps, he would catch up on rare news with Philza, gathered more firewood, chucked some snow at Ranboo, remove some snow from the roofs. The longest he was up was when Quackity recruited him to help with the Egg, and as much as he didn't like the guy he didn't like the Egg even more. He just regretted they couldn't save everyone the eggheads lured in with that party.

That day Techno said 'hi' to Phil who seemed a bit distracted, and in a hurry, he said something about having to check something in Manberg. He would have to ask about it later. The plan for that day was to gather some firewood, he bid Philza farewell and went out with his axe, not his combat axe he got from Ranboo... It was weird that he was suddenly moving in with Tubbo, not that it was Techno's business, he was still part of the Syndicate and the last president of Manburg seemed to be very much against governments and formal wear on anyone but Ranboo.

It wasn't all that cold that day, for a cold snowy tundra it is, anyone not used to cold would have a bad time but Techno was used to it.

Foolish wasn't having a good time. After the trip to Tubbo's mansion, he made the genius decision to visit 'Philza', he wasn't looking for Phil, he was looking for Technoblade. Everyone was afraid of him and if Foolish managed to befriend the anarchist maybe they wouldn't mess with him and his building projects... Why was everyone living in snowy tundra's can't they live in a nice warm jungle or even better, a dessert. It was far too cold.

As far as wood gathering trips go this one wasn't so bad. Just half an hour was enough to gather enough wood, no lost monsters under the trees, hiding from the sun. Some wild wolves run away as soon as they saw him approach. On the way back, in the corner of his eye, he caught a flash of the sun reflecting off of something. Turning around he saw a person? Should the sun be reflecting off of people's faces? Walking closer he poked the person with a long stick. No response. It was a person, with golden shining skin, both his piglin side and the voices were screaming in his head, conflicting, agreeing. Gold! GoLd! EEEE Help. help. Foolish... Shark-man, Blood for the blood god. EEEE GOLD help Technoblade just pushed it all to the back of his mind. With a heavy sigh, he dropped the bundle of firewood he carried, took off his cape, wrapped it around the person, threw them over his shoulder and after picking up his wood again began the march towards his a little more distant than he thought buildings, plumes of smoke from chimneys and fluffy warm Steve. He really should get over how tall Ranboo is and stop wearing high heeled shoes. At least the golden person wasn't heavy. Techno soft GOLD EMERALDS SOFT Technosoft Philza PHILZA EEEEEEE At least no one was home to mock him in person as he came back with ab unconscious person.

The last thing Foolish remembered from before he passed out was cold. What he felt now was warm, fluffy and was tickling his nose "Achoo".

"Let's hope the cause was Steve and not cold," he hears an unfamiliar voice. It wasn't hard to see who it was, the room was small and full of furniture, Chests, alchemical stands a table and two chairs. Very shabby craftsmanship, Foolish was close to screaming at how simplistic it was. By that table sat the Blade.

Long pink hair let loose reached way past his waist adorned with a golden crown decorated with gems. Narrow thin shoulders devoid of the red cape he heard about, high heeled knee-high boots. Every part of Foolish screamed that this man was dangerous. Especially the red eyes focused entirely on Foolish, he could feel them moving between his forehead and eyes. Foolish didn't want to look him in the eye, instead, he focused on the emerald earring hanging from his ear.

"Steve?" Foolish asked. He could barely feel his limbs.

"My emotional support bear," The Technoblade said, little pig ears in his hair twitched as his jaw pointer a little to Foolish's right. With barely a move of his head, Foolish noticed what was the fluffy thing keeping him warm. A fully grown polar bear, softly breathing as it slept, "he likes ear scratches, I blame Philza and Ranboo for that. I'm Technoblade, but you probably know that," the host introduced himself as Foolish slowly moved his arm to scratch the bear behind his tiny ears, discovering that Thechnoblade's famous cape was currently wrapped around him, helping him keep warm.

"Foolish G. The God of Immortality, Sky and Oceans," he introduced himself, "I've indeed heard about you, Technoblade."

"And what is a god doing in my little anarchist commune?" The blade asked suddenly getting up and moving out of Foolish's eyesight, the right of his vision was just Steve, who was indeed rather happy with behind ear scratches he was receiving.

"Looking for help?" Foolish had nothing but two of his lives to lose, he could as well say it.

"Is there an anti-god government here now?" Technoblade almost sounded amused.

"Not really, it's just... even though I'm a god I'm not good at fighting, I swore off my violent days and people are kind of taking advantage of that, messing with my hard work, with me..."

"And you thought you'd ask me to kill them for you?" that sounded rather threatening.

"Not kill, just hang out around from time to time to spook them? Like if they think we're friends they might leave me alone?" This conversation was going bad way "I can... build something for you? I'm good at building. You saw Tubbo and Ranboo's mansion? I build it. If you need like... a separate house for Steve? Orafakemarriagetoavoidtaxes?" the last part was said very quickly and not necessarily was meant to say.

"Haeh?" Technoblade looked shocked, for the first time since he woke up Foolish saw him lose confidence. For a split second, he wasn't that threatening.

Once the confusion passed Technoblade laughed, loudly, and for a while. Steve gave his master (?was he ever tamed or did he enjoy the warmth and free food?) a puzzled look.

"That beats everything anyone ever used to get me to help them, I haven't laughed that much in a while. A marriage for taxes? There are no taxes here and I pity anyone who would try to tax me o my friends." That was it Foolish was going to lose his second life while trying to protect himself. "Achoo," suddenly the Blade sneezed. "Sorry, so why now? You've been here for a while."

"Ponk moved into my dessert, build a big red eyesore and put a cursed pumpkin on my head. At first, I was planning to take Sam out for a date but apparently, he isn't safe, at least that's what Tubbo said when I went for advice to him."

Techno laughed a bit more. "Why Tubbo? I never heard of him having any dating experiences."

"He and Ranboo are married aren't they?" Foolish asked still petting Steve. Techno's confused face was enough to answer "You had no idea?! It makes sense why they would... with Tubbo being a former president... I messed up. Please don't tell them I told you, knowing Tubbo he'll want another mansion, I can't do it, I hate chandeliers because of the last one I build him!"

"I won't tell them." Techno seemed to be confused at this reaction "I had my suspicions anyway, they spend too much time together for me to not be suspicious. What is your stand on governments?" the pink-haired warrior asked standing up and again disappearing behind Steve.

"Don't like them," Foolish said with a sigh of relief. "I destroyed a few back in my God of Death days..." he smiled fondly at old memories. No one would dare to put a pumpkin on him back then.

"Why did you stop fighting?" Techno asked giving Foolish a mug of tea. "I'm out of sugar, sorry. I would ask Phil for some but he went out and Ranboo is with his husband. Don't feel like going through their stuff."

"There is a limit to how much bloodshed one can handle, how many friends you can die because of your action, how many towns you can raise to the ground," he muttered looking at the dark liquid, it was warm, warm was nice, "I wonder, what is the Blood God's limit?"

"What is any other man's limit?" Techno said, "I know people call me that, I don't mind, it keeps some away on its own, but in the end, I'm just a man, I may not age but I can still be killed."

To say Foolish was shocked would be an understatement. He took nearly on everyone Dream brought to his realm, almost alone not counting an army of Dogs and Philza. He fought them amongst a rain of TNT and Wither's. That was beyond anything any mortal was supposed to be able to do. "I think there is a God who very much enjoys your actions," he said sipping the tea, it was bitter but warm. Steve was snoring again.

"You were there at the Red Ball of whatever?" Technoblade asked ignoring what he had said.

"Yes, I...."

"I'm sorry we couldn't stop them earlier," that was surprising. hearing the most feared person apologise...

"It's okay. I'm not a fan of dying but it's okay, everyone else survived and that's all that matters, the Egg cult is scattered to the four winds, some have left it even. In the end, I'd call the day a win."

"I see..."

For a while, they sat in silence, crackling of fire and Steve's snoring being the only noises in the room until Technoblade sneezed again.

"Do you want your cape back?" Foolish asked, "Steve's plenty warm."

Techno just nodded as he was passed the garment. "I take it you don't like cold."

"Not really, I prefer my summer home, it's in the desert, it's warm there."

"I see... do people often miss with your building projects?"

"Not recently, I don't think many people know where I live and I like it that way. Nice builds don't last long in these lands. But I'm glad I'm here. I made some new friends meet some old friends. It's not all bad here."

Techno just nodded, He looked a bit more like a fearsome warrior now that he had his cape on. "So you need help keeping it that way?"

"And maybe keeping people from requesting outlandish stuff, if possible." Now that the main subject was back the atmosphere turned awkward again.

"So I'll just need to hang out around you sometimes, glare at people if they bother you and be an 'I'm sorry I have a plan with Techno' excuse?"

"Yes?" Foolish muttered into his mug.

"Any relations I need to be aware of? Friends, enemies, family members?" Techno asked.

"Puffy is kind of my father, Eret I used to know a long time ago, we once faked a marriage, destroyed some cults together, doesn't seem to remember me, Tubbo... we're kind of cousins and Ranboo is his husband... most other people I'm rather neutral towards, don't like eggheads... Sam creeps me out lately... Tubbo said he cut off Ponk's arm, don't know if it's true. Dream... Dream is in prison so I guess we won't have to worry about him. Dream XD tends to avoid me." Foolish never really thought about his connections to people on the server. "I'd rather we not cause much bodily harm unless necessary."

Technoblade just nodded, voices were rather quiet ever since Mr God of Immortality Sea and Sky woke up, it was like they were coming to him through a lot of water, and they were much less intensive. That was a nice change. "Okay, so I help you and you build my dogs and bears a nicer kennel? I don't mind what Phil build but the herd outgrew it rather quickly. I hope we don't have to be too showy about it." he finally said.

"I hope you're not agreeing because of what happened at the Ball," Foolish looked at him rather seriously, at least as much as someone buried in blankets, leaning on and petting a bear could be.

"I'm doing it so Quackity stops flirting with me, and to gave bragging rights over Dream," Techno said mate factly, "Look at me chat, I have a Husband and the Teletubby is in prison..." Techno forced a joke out "a warning, I owe Dream a favour. That and voices are quieter near you, is it some part of you being a God?"

Foolish blinked, he didn't know many people with voices like Technoblade's. "I don't think so, I can bring down lightning, enrage the sea, cause sandstorms, nothing to do with voices."

"Hmm, it's getting dark." Technoblade noticed, "want to stay here or should I walk you back to your dessert?"

"I can stay here with Steve and start on that new kennel tomorrow," Foolish shrugged, he wasn't ready for another trek through the snow, "We can go to Eret when coming back to do Ranboo and Tubbo and sign wedding papers."

"Okay, I'll try to figure out somewhere to sleep for you," Techno said with a bit of a laugh at the last part, "and you better tell me about those governments and cults and cities you wrecked."

#dream smp #technoblade #dsmp foolish #technoblade & foolish #foolish gamers

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josefavomjaaga · 3 years

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Helfert, Joachim Murat, Chapter 3, Part 2

(We left Murat claiming to British visitors that he, despite wanting Napoleon to drive the Bourbons out of France, was still totally in the Alies' camp.)

In spite of these assurances, everyone now knew very well what to expect from his side. Moreover, the facts were in stark contradiction with his words. All kinds of armaments were brought to completion with restless haste, throughout the kingdom the press of sailors was ordered to man the vessels; the royal guards, all troops were ordered to be ready to march; his aides-de-camp were constantly on the move in this or that direction. A year earlier Joachim had already begun to give the civil militia a better establishment, this was now continued most assiduously. The capital also received a military guardia di sicurezza, six battalions on foot and an escadron; property and the intelligentsia formed the elements drawn to their service: the wealthy privateers, merchants and tradesmen, professors, civil servants of all grades; a special medal of merit with the motto: "Onore e fedeltà" was created to stimulate their zeal. Ever since the world peace had been concluded, and with explicit reference to this change, Joachim had also tried to create a Sicilian regiment, Neapolitans who had followed Ferdinand IV to the island, but for whom there was now, as Murat thought, no longer any reason to stay abroad; but the influx was very small, the intended regiment never came into being. Among the officers' corps, a very dangerous increase consisted of many Lombards and Romagnoles who had formerly served in the army of the Kingdom of Italy and who, according to the custom of such fugitives from the country, had their mouths full of lofty words, pushed for an immediate upsurge in arms, which would be met with the most brilliant successes: old comrades would flock to them from all parts of Italy, hundreds, thousands of them armed and uniformed, gladly joining the King's army.

These military precautions went hand in hand with some personnel changes in the upper circles of government. The Minister of Finance, Mosbourg, a Frenchman by birth, asked for and received his dismissal - he had made his penny dry and did not want to expose it again to all the storms and rigours of the weather; he became Secretary of State in place of Prince Pignatelli-Cerchiara, who took over the vice-presidency of the Council of State from Cianciulli. The portfolio of finances was given to Baron Nolli, who had to begin his office with the most hateful measures: the merchant class was hit with a compulsory loan of 2 million francs; all the coffers, not excluding those of the hospitals and charitable foundations, were emptied to the last penny. Maghella was once again put in charge of the police; General Manhès became the governor of the capital, two personalities whose very names were disgusting to the people.

The author here in a footnote quotes Mier from a letter of 12 March: "Ces deux individus jouissent de la plus mauvaise réputation et sont détestés comme étrangers".

Under these circumstances, Mier's position in Naples became a very unpleasant one, and he urgently begged Prince Metternich "not to forget him". In the face of Joachim's assertion and that of his organs, in particular the government newspaper, maintaining that the King was in full harmony with Austria, that his policy was also that of Austria, Mier took every opportunity to loudly contradict this: "Austria is rather resolutely opposed to having the peace of Italy disturbed; the King, by pursuing his warlike desires and a delusion of greatness, will drag himself and his own to ruin". He sent a confidential letter to the queen, imploring her to do everything in her power to prevent her husband from making a hasty decision. He had discussions with Gallo, to whom he gave his unreserved opinion and drew his attention to the fact that the first step taken by a Neapolitan soldier across the demarcation line agreed on 28 April at Bologna would have the immediate consequence of breaking the Austrian alliance.

As early as the 12th of March it was said that the King would leave for the army, Mosbourg and Zurlo with him, Gallo and Macdonald to follow, and the Duke of Carignano to conduct foreign affairs in the meantime. The Princess of Wales, on hearing this decision, had offered to precede the King to Ancona; but he had sent her his regrets through the Duke of Roccaromana that he would not be able to receive her there, whereupon she angrily departed that very morning for Civita Vecchia, and from thence to Genoa. But the king's departure did not come to pass for the time being. Once again, doubts had intervened: repeated and strong hints from the Austrian envoy, requests and ideas from the queen, insistent advice from serious men who were in Joachim's confidence [footnote see below, as somewhat longer]. For a moment it had seemed as if everything was to be reversed, regiments that were about to march had been ordered to halt, others had even said that they would be recalled from the Marches.

Then new favourable news arrived of Napoleon's advance in France - from the evening of 10 March, when he entered Lyon, which might have been reported in Naples on the 15th - and now there was no more rest and no more peace for Joachim. He hastily summoned the Council of State, which was attended by the Queen, all the ministers, and the top generals, not to hear the opinion of those present, but to win them over to his own, which he did with all the grandiloquent exuberance of a Gascogner: 8,000 of his own troops, 14 battalions of provincial militia, civic militia without number; in addition, appeals from all parts of the peninsula, here a letter speaking of 12 regiments in readiness, of 12,000 shotguns in stock, there a letter with the promise of four fully equipped regiments, another promising the whole mass of the disbanded Italian army. The majority of those assembled listened to these reckless reports in incredulous distrust; with regret they saw the King's self-deception, and urgently advised against a hasty step: "one should rather await the answers from Vienna and London, the last success of Napoleon's enterprise, the resolutions of the Congress of Vienna on this unexpected change of affairs". Joachim suspended the meeting without passing a resolution that he did not like, sent Count Beaufremont to France with the declaration that the Emperor could count on his services, and let the Roman Court know through Cardinal Fesch that he regarded Napoleon's cause as his own and soon intended to prove to the world that it had never been alien to him.

On the evening of March 15, the Austrian envoy had a conversation with the Duca di Gallo, the contents of which left no further doubt. Joachim's minister complained about the obvious cooling in Austrian sympathies; about the neglect of his monarch's interests on the part of the Viennese Cabinet; about the small amount of effort the Cabinet had made to obtain the king's recognition from the other powers; about the humiliating way in which the king's ministers and other trusted individuals sent there by him were treated in Vienna. "The Congress will come to an end," Gallo concluded, "and Austria will not have fulfilled the promise she made to us. From this we can conclude no other than that she will abandon us in an extreme case, from which it further follows that the King must seek assistance where it is offered and resort to those means which he can hope will help him to his goal...". The next day, Mier appeared before the queen, who, as she complained to him, had been brought completely down by her sorrow, as well as by the continual quarrelling and disputes. "The King thinks," she said, "that Napoleon's successes will help to keep him on the throne. You know my opinion on this point. I will not cease to advise him that if the Vienna Cabinet should decide to oppose Napoleon, there is nothing left for him but to join Austria and follow her system and policy. You see, I am sacrificing my personal feelings and the agony of seeing my family persecuted, covered with shame and reproaches, to the duties of a mother, to the duties of a Queen of Naples. Emperor Francis has remained our loyal ally until this moment, and I am convinced that he will continue to do so in the future, if we know how to deserve it. This is his duty: but his own best interests also require him to do so".

[Footnote] Among them, in the first row, Pietro Colletta who, on March 11, "in his capacity as Councillor of State", sent a letter to the King urging him against any daring enterprise. The unification of Italy was a dream, "un filone di uomini caldi si abbandonerà a questa idea lusinghiera, ma la massa degl' italiani o la spregerà o la riguarderà con indifferenza o si armerà contro di essa". Twenty-five years of war and revolution had created a deep need for peace; the fine phrases used to flatter the passions of the people had lost their power. And how much preparation was needed to bring the war power up to the proper level! "L'armata di V. M. potrebbe esser battuta prima che aiutata!" The King should keep calm, so that time would pass which would only benefit the existence of his dynasty ... F. Palermo who published the letter in Arch. stor. ital. 1856 III p. 62-65, declares himself unable to state whether the letter really reached the king's hand or not.

Okay, this seems huge to me. I had no idea how much Joachim had suffered from being branded a traitor and how much it had weighed on his conscience. "[...] he regarded Napoleon's cause as his own and soon intended to prove to the world that it had never been alien to him." I guess the need to prove to both himself and to the world that he was not a dishonourable being played a huge role in his disastrous decision. (This actually reminds me of a dissertation on Austrian general Mack - the one from the campaign of 1805 - that claimed that similar mental stress led to the latter's irrational behaviour during the time auf Ulm.)

"Onore e fedeltà" may actually be a direct reference to Eugène's (at the time often quoted) proclamation to the people in the Kingdom of Italy, dated February 1, 1814, which publically announced Murat's defection and declared the Neapolitans an enemy to Napoleon's cause. ("Français! Italiens! j'ai confiance en vous; comptez aussi sur moi! Vous y trouverez toujours votre avantage et votre gloire. Soldats! ma devise est Honneur et Fidelité! Qu'elle soit aussi la vôtre; avec elle et l'aide de Dieu nous triompherons enfin de nos ennemis.") Murat basically claims that phrase - that had been directed against him - back.

Naturally I'm also interested in those "fugitives" from Lombardy who had come to Naples and may have presented a highly misleading picture of people's attitude in Northern Italy at the time. In truth, the different political factions there seem to have agreed pretty soon in their dislike of their new Austrian masters (I believe it is in August 1814, only four months after taking over, that Bellegarde has to send military to the Scala of Milan because riots were about to break out) but that does not necessarily mean they were friendly towards the Neapolitans - who by most were considered as foreigners just as much as the French had been. Also, the Austrians seem to have taken immediate measures to remove all rebellious elements from the country; I believe it is Méneval who mentions how all the Lombardian officers suspicious of still being too attached to the old regime, were transferred to Hungary and, on their way there during the Congress in Vienna, stopped by one by one to see their old viceroy. And to probably reproach him for not having marched on Milan in April when the riots broke out.

#joachim murat #naples #italy1815 #hundred days #napoleon #caroline murat #helfert murat

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amphtaminedreams · 3 years

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COVID-19, Negligent Manslaughter, and a Timeline of Tory Indifference

“I feel sorry for Boris Johnson. He is doing the best he can in the situation and I don’t think anybody else could have done a better job.”

[exhibit A: a gem somebody that I’m Facebook friends with reposted earlier]

It’s a sentiment that I cannot quite wrap my head around. I sit here hopeless and furious and trying to hold back tears because it’s been almost a year since England first went into lockdown and yet here we are, almost 100,000 dead, in an even worse position than we were before whilst other countries begin to slowly return to normality. It is clear to me who is to blame for this, however there are a large proportion of people who don’t want to “politicise” the actions of the PRIME MINISTER with regards to his approach towards handling a virus sweeping the country he GOVERNS.

Typically, these kind of posts making the rounds on social media will be accompanied by some kind of photo of Boris Johnson looking somber as if to suggest that the way things have played out were beyond his control and that he is some kind of broken man beleaguered by the suffering he has, despite good intentions, inadvertently caused.

This one in particular of Johnson with his head in his hands is a staple. In reality, this is a photo taken back in 2018 whilst he was receiving flack from party members for comparing Theresa May to a suicide bomber (for her handling of Brexit, ironically) as well as from the papers due to his rumoured (now also proven, in a completely non-surprising turn of events, to be true) affair with his former aide, Carrie Symonds.

So let’s shut this narrative-where we should feel for Boris because he’s doing his best, and apparently a better job than anybody else could’ve done in his situation- down right here. In a supposedly developed country with one of the world’s largest economies, if we’re talking by proportion, our COVID-19 death toll is up there with the worst of them. It seems that every other state figurehead (bar a small handful), and I mean almost every single one of them, is doing a better job. People love to throw figures out there about how densely populated we are to combat damning statistics as if we haven’t got just as many factors playing to our advantage, as if it’s unfair to compare our response to Germany’s or Japan’s or Singapore’s (both of which are far more densely populated) or New Zealand’s or Vietnam’s, but we are an ISLAND with world-leading technology and infrastructure and healthcare equipment and professionals and a relatively high standard of living. In what world is almost 70,000 dead in a country with abundant time and means to prepare a response reflective of said country’s leaders doing a good job?

Apparently we’re supposed to believe that Johnson feels some sense of moral responsibility for this astronomical failure. A man who refuses to acknowledge the multiple children he has fathered outside of his marriages and who has had repeatedly engaged in affairs and one-night stands throughout said marriages. A man who continued to cheat whilst his most recent wife was receiving treatment for cervical cancer, for fuck’s sake. Yep, a real stand-up guy.

So where does this idea that Johnson must feel remorseful for this catastrophe come from? We haven’t seen a second of remorse or a hint of accountability for the lives lost from him nor any members of his cabinet. That much is really no surprise; I have this hypothesis, and it’s not a stretch, that these people do not have an ounce of empathy in their bodies. These ridiculously privileged, privately-educated individuals who have had everything handed to them their entire lives simply cannot put themselves in the shoes of the average working person and that is the problem. Unable to recognise that what distinguishes them from most others is little more than the luck of being born into wealth and the abundance of recourses and connections that has entailed throughout their lives, they see us as beneath them-as less intelligent, less driven, and thus less deserving of the status and respect they enjoy. They see us as a bunch of whining, unmotivated idiots who do not recognise the chokehold they have over our media nor the fact that everything they do is a desperate grab to keep money and power within the hands of a select group of people, an exclusive members club from which most of us are barred (just take a simple Google search and watch Jacob Rees-Mogg’s opinion of the Grenfell victims or the buried Johnson speech where he talks about how inequality is essential). They know that we will squabble amongst ourselves about who is to blame rather than wising up to the truth which is that every decision they make is fuelled by cronyism and the inability to make and follow through with difficult choices, the pandemic being no exception. The supposedly self-made elite see the life of the average working class person as having far less value than their own, and their parties actions over the last 10 years have made that very clear.

It was in December 2019 that the first case of COVID-19 was declared to the World Health Organisation and on March the 11th that they announced they considered it as a pandemic. In Wuhan, people were dying of pneumonia in their clusters. And what was Boris Johnson doing in this time? Well for starters, here in the UK we didn’t even have a pandemic committee-Johnson had scrapped it six months before. If years of benefits cuts and defunding of the NHS in favour of funding nuclear weapon programs, keeping British troops on other people’s lands, and tax breaks for the mega corporations that donate to their party didn’t convince you that the Conservatives have little regard for human life, them getting rid of this committee-whilst a pandemic has been declared year after year as the greatest threat to mankind-should have been the first sign of trouble. As if that wasn’t enough, he also skipped five of the COBRA (meetings are made up of a cross-departmental committee put together to respond to national emergencies and PMs routinely attend those pertaining to crises on the scale of COVID-19) meetings addressing the situation. Whilst other countries were closing their borders and stocking up on PPE, Johnson and his ministers were selling PPE abroad and simply telling people to wash their hands to the length of the tune of happy birthday. Their only policy was one of “herd immunity”, which was in fact not a policy but just an abandonment of their party’s public duty disguised as one, intentionally obfuscated with pseudoscientific jargon.

Even thinking the absolute worst of politicians you would hope that when it came to the point where the UK’s non-response to COVID-19 was becoming an international disgrace, Johnson and his ministers would take proper protective measures if only to save face. But when they eventually seemed to do so, it became clear that the priority was not the safety of the ordinary people affected by the virus. Outsourcing their test and traces system to companies such as Serco, Sitel, Deloitte and G4S rather than public health services, Conservative ministers could not resist attempting to line the pockets of their friends and benefactors in the process. According to the Guardian, instead of reaching out to the experts or using publicly funded services to handle COVID containment measures, the Conservative party has awarded a disgusting £1.5 BILLION WORTH of contracts to businesses with explicit connections to its MPs and donors, the majority of which lack any relative experience of the tasks they’ve been trusted to carry out. Unsurprisingly, the National Audit office found that when awarding contracts relating to the production of COVID-19 protection measures and treatment needs, there was a “high-priority lane” for suppliers referred by senior politicians and officials; companies with a political referral were 10 times more likely to end up winning a government contract than those without. On top of this, it is not hard to draw a link between the late initiation of lockdown measures and preemptive openings of pubs and restaurants against scientific advice to the interests of frequent donors such as Wetherspoons owner Tim Martin. Even if one chooses to ignore the blatantly obvious correlation between the owners of the businesses whose profits were prioritised over safety concerns and the number of those owners who donate to the Conservatives, party officials at the very least were reluctant to follow the lead of many other countries in financing furlough schemes themselves and instead avoided this responsibility by using loose lockdown measures to leave it down to the discretion of small business owners, who couldn’t themselves afford to furlough staff, whether or not to stay open.

Time and time again, as the government flounder and fuck about, favouring personal desires to keep their powerful, high-paying jobs and to satisfy the corporate allies who make this possible, blame has been shifted from the public to care homes to NHS workers and back again whilst we, the public, make the biggest sacrifices of all under the illusion that we were being guided out of this pandemic rather than lied to and thrown under the bus. Whilst the elite continue to pick and choose what rules apply to them, it’s students and the elderly and the vulnerable paying the fines and scrabbling to afford basic living costs and hoping that they don’t lose someone dear to them.

Don’t get me wrong, a large proportion of the public have contributed to the spread too with their selfishness and entitlement and the arrogance it takes to develop a sudden refusal to acknowledge basic science from experts who have studied in the field their whole lives so that they can justify their need to go to the pub (speaking of, it’s absolutely HILARIOUS how many “mental health advocates” are suddenly coming out of the woodworks on football avi Twitter after they’ve spent years calling people on mental health Twitter attention seekers). And don't get me wrong, there were inevitably going to be casualties of this pandemic. But it didn't have to spread to this many people, and there didn’t have to be so many deaths due to a lack of preparation, and this wouldn’t have been the case if it weren’t for the inherent apathy of the Conservative party towards the lives of people of lesser status than them, the reluctance to put those lives before party interests. I wish I felt like there was an end in sight, I wish there was some positive takeaway from all of this, but even now, we continue to see corners being cut with the vaccine lauded as our saving grace and anti-maskers gathering outside hospitals to chant about how “oppressive” it is to be urged to wear a bit of cloth over their faces for the short periods of time in which they leave their houses and all I can think of is the selfishness that runs like poison through our country. It makes me sick and leaves me to question desperately where we go from here. I don’t like unanswered questions, I don’t like feeling politically directionless, and I don’t like the growing fear I have about the state of the world which seems to intensify every single day. In the UK at least, it’s starting to feel like nothing will ever change-we’re told we live in a democracy and yet mainstream media is owned by the people whose interest is to keep their Conservative friends in power. The stronghold they have over print media in particular allows them to continually get away with smearing and defaming every person who comes along and seems to want to actually help ordinary people, without being challenged, to the point where the only kind of “opposition” we’re left with promises nothing but a big boss approved tactical reshuffling of the status quo (which they call “electability”); it doesn’t feel like democracy when the majority of the country are being fed misleading information and convinced against voting in their best interests.

This is the result of that. The state we find ourselves in is the inevitable result of being manipulated into helping the elite build their protective wall whilst the rest of us scrabble to get in and step on each others heads along the way, the people inside shouting over that it’s those even more vulnerable than ourselves that are taking our places. Outside the wall, the earth is falling from beneath our feet, and instead of throwing over the ropes to help us out, the people inside are stockpiling them so they can secure their firm place above ground and then later flog the rest. How many more people have to die before we reach some kind of widespread realisation of that? Where do we go from here and what do we do? Well for one, we can stop spreading those god-fucking-awful textposts on Facebook and get our heads out of our arses. Wear our masks over and wear them over our fucking noses. Have some fucking consideration for others. Don’t wait til an issue affects you personally to give a fuck about it. AND START HOLDING THE FUCKING PRIME MINISTER AND HIS MINISTERS AND HIS ENTIRE PARTY AS WELL AS THE OPPOSITION MPS THAT HAVE SAT BY THE SIDELINES AND ALLOWED THIS TO GO ON WITHOUT PROTEST ACCOUNTABLE. That would be a good start.

I’m so tired. Things didn’t need to be this way, and yet because of the selfishness of the few, thousands upon thousands are dead. It’s not about “throwing around blame”, it’s not about “throwing around” anything, it’s about expecting a leader to do his best to protect lives. If that is “throwing blame”, let’s get things clear, I have no issue with hurtling it torpedo style at those who handed out a death sentence to so many in this country rather than do anything that might compromise their own privilege. Honestly, pass me the shovel after and I’ll happily bury the wreckage in the ground. Who wants to join?:-)

#rant #politics #anti capitalism #anticapitalist #covid-19 #covid #england #labour #socialism #fuck the tories #fuck the torys #fuck boris #rant post

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theotherjourney7 · 4 years

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“The Week In Tory:

1. The government launched a “Fix your bike” voucher website, only to break in less than an hour.

2. The government said we should all lose weight, yet is still issuing vouchers to help us buy burgers.

3. It was revealed the government spent £400m buying a bankrupt satellite company, OneWeb, to replace the Euro GPS system we lose due to Brexit. Months before, a study by MIT found that OneWeb’s tech is 6x less efficient than the EU solution: the worst of the technologies studied.

4. In June the government merged the Dept for International Development into the Foreign Office, and said the move "guaranteed there would be no cuts in International Aid". Only this week the government cut International Aid by £2.9bn.

5. And the government quietly granted permission for your health records to be given to Palantir, a controversial data-mining company said to have worked with Cambridge Analytica on Brexit.

6. It did both these things (numbers 4 & 5) the day parliament broke up, so there couldn’t be any questions.

7. In answer to questions about the Russia Report, the government’s suggested solution is to (I'm not making this up) to ask Russia to tell us who their spies are!

8. Ex-Russian intelligence staff say 85% of their work is not spying, but “political funding and misinformation".

9. Which brings us to Funding and Misinformation news:

1) Since 2012, the Tory party has had almost £3m in donations from members of Putin’s cabinets.

2) 14 current government ministers have received donations from individuals or companies connected to the Russian leadership.

3) Home Secretary Priti Patel said the Russia Report could be ignored because it was now 9 months old and “out of date”! The reason for the report being “out of date” as Ms. Patel claims is the government as it delayed the release of the report for 9 months, and the reasons given were described as “simply not true” (aka "misinformation") by the Intelligence Committee.

10. Now Covid news where Health Secretary Matt Hancock boasted he had met the targets on his “Six tests” on Covid 19. Well Full Fact found 4 of the 6 targets were missed, one target couldn’t be met because it had never been defined, and 1 “relied on a definition [that] does not reflect practice”.

11. The cross-party Media & Culture Committee found that the government’s support for arts was “vague and slow-coming” and “jeopardised UK culture”

12. The cross-party Public Accounts Committee found : 1)there was an “astonishing failure to plan for the economic impact” of Covid 19

2) It also said the policy of discharging patients into care homes was a “reckless and appalling policy error”

3) It called the government “slow, inconsistent [and] negligent”

4) The chair of the Committee said “A competent government does not run a country on the hoof”.

13. More on-the-hoof news: the government quarantined tourists returning from Spain because Spain was a danger! Yet only the day before, Spain had 2 Covid deaths. Britain had 114! Side note the transport secretary was on holiday in Spain, so was effectively trapped by his own department’s decision.

14. Which brings us to Brexit, and a report from London School of Economics showed a WTO Brexit will permanently shrink 16 out of the UK's 24 industry sectors by up to 15% each. Permanently!!!! This report lead to: 1) A Tory MP tweeted “👍🏼WTO here we come!”

2) Another pro-Brexit Tory MP with a grasp of what's to come tweeted “my strong advice is: take the opportunity to live abroad”

3) Dominic Cummings (chief adviser to the Prime Minister Boris Johnson and considered to be the main engineer for Brexit) tweeted that leaving the EU "could be an error”!!!!

15. And now PPE contracts, so prepare to begin eternal screaming:

1) £252m to Ayanda Capital, registered in Mauritius for tax purposes. PPE not delivered.

2) £186m to Uniserve. PPE not delivered.

3) £116m to P14 Medical Supplies, with assets of just £145. PPE not delivered.

4) £108m to PestFix, with just 16 employees. PPE not delivered.

5) £107m to Clandeboye Agencies, a sweet wholesaler. Yes, a sweet wholesaler. PPE not delivered.

6) £40m to Medicine Box Ltd, with assets of just £6000. PPE not delivered.

7) £48m to Initia Ventures Ltd, which registered itself as “dormant” in March. PPE not delivered.

8) £28m to Monarch Acoustics, which makes shop furniture. PPE not delivered.

9) £25m to Luxe Lifestyle, which has no employees, no assets, and no turnover. PPE not delivered.

10) £18m to Aventis Solutions, which has total assets of £332. Not a typo, £332. PPE not delivered.

11) £10m to Medco Solutions, incorporated just 3 days after lockdown, with share capital of (not a typo) £2. PPE not delivered.

In all, approximately £1bn to inexplicable suppliers for PPE that hasn’t been delivered!!!!!

The government still polls well for economic competence. Go figure.

16. Meanwhile a Nuffield Health study found after 10 years of "chronic underinvestment", UK is at the bottom of the league table for health resources; and diagnostics and surgery by the NHS will take 4 years to return to pre-Covid levels! But £1bn for non-existent PPE.

17. The government’s “world beating” test-and-trace programme was described as “scandalous” by the British Medical Journal, and found to miss its 80% target in every Covid hotspot announced this week.

18. And finally, Boris Johnson refused a public enquiry into government handling of Covid 19....”-Russ

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queensdivas · 4 years

Text

Peonies Chapter 1

soOkay so for those of you who didn’t know what the heck just happened. Tumblr decided to screw with the first chapter and not post it properly. Rude I know!

So I jumped on my work computer and going to quickly post it so I don’t get in trouble. Teehee.

Y’all ready for this though! I’m so excited for this one! The vocabulary that I’ve had to use is quite nice and fits the times perfectly!

Next Chapter

masterlist

HERE WE GO!

Peonies a a charming lady

She doesn’t like a spot too shady

Likes to live out in the light

Dressed in red or pink or white

To Bloom brighter than the earth

And to defeat all others

What is it like to be a Duchess who will be Governing a vast amount of Northern Italy? I’m not quite sure yet due to the fact mio padre is still ruling over the land and I’m being tutored in the fine games of politics. Oh do not get me wrong I would rather acquire all of the information of learning to rule rather than taking the responsibility too prematurely.

Handing my reins to the stable boy as I began walking inside the Monastery to meet with Mother Superior Ani. I speak to her for council when it comes to somewhat major decisions in my life. This major decision is traveling to Russia and supporting Catherine in her new life. From what she has told me and what I’ve heard from padre. Russia is an absolute catastrophe.

Something is relaxing about walking through the monastery when the sound of the nuns are singing. The beautiful art of the story of Christ, the only sound besides their songs are the winds blowing and birds chirping. Quite beautiful. Standing in the middle of the courtyard as I waited for Mother Ani to greet me for our chat.

“Good afternoon Lady Chiara.” I was greeted by Sister Calderón along with Sister Grazia. The only set of twin nuns I’ve ever witnessed in my life.

“Good afternoon Sister Calderón. Sister Grazia. I’m assuming that Mother Ani is finishing her afternoon confessions?” Asking them as they both nodded.

“How are we feeling today?” They smiled as they approached me.

“We’re going on a mission trip to Africa very soon!” Sister Calderón cheered as Sister Grazia jumped a little.

“We’re finally leaving!” Sister Grazia exclaimed as I smiled and clapped for them.

“Congratulations you two!”

“I’m assuming they told you about their mission trip?” Mother Ani approached us as they collected themselves in front of her. Nodding and they scurrying off back into the chapel.

“They’re very excited. Mother Ani. I promise not to take much of your time today as I know dinner is soon.”

“It’s quite alright. Shall we stroll in the gardens?” She asked as I nodded. As I mentioned before I go to her for counseling as she is the wisest person I’ve ever met in my entire life. Her wisdom comes from true experience unlike most men in the Catholic Church. We began walking towards the gardens so that we may talk in absolute privacy. I need her advice on my thoughts of going to Russia.

“Mother Ani. What have you heard about Russia?” Halting at my question as I expected her reaction. Shocked and in confusion.

“Why are you asking?” Sighing at her question as we entered the archway into the garden.

“My cousin Catherine has married the Emperor of Russia and I’m quite concerned for her. She’s written some horrific things that have happened to her after only being married to him these past few weeks. He has punched her, killed her bear that he gifted her for their wedding, and even has multiple lovers. I know that’s very normal but that’s not exactly the way Catherine and I were raised. I think I would like to go to Russia and support her as she becomes accustomed to her new life.”

“I say that is a very gracious thing to do for your cousin. But are you prepared to deal with the insanity of the monarch and Russian court?” I’ve heard some very bizarre things about them and I get this feeling Catherine should have some sort of noble ally.

“I have been taught how to deal with any form of court and spoiled Monarchs. And being next in line to Govern these lands, they would not dare to lay a finger on me.They’re too busy with Sweden and if they were to kill me, Italy would align with the Swedish in order to defeat the Russians. So that’s not my concern. My only one being is to keep myself sane. Will you pray for me Mother Ani for a safe return?” We stopped as we faced each other.

“Of course my child. When do you leave?”

“In a few days. Mio Padre is sending me with a brand new horse and arms for self defense. Just in case he says. Needs me to stay alive if I’m to do my duty as a Grand Duchess soon.”

“May God protect you on your journey and your aid in Russia. To think when you were baptized at Basilica di San Francesco. You would become this fair and wise over the years. You will make a beautiful Duchess of Italy.” Her words are always ones of great fulfillment. Always positive and never false. A little overconfident but there’s nothing wrong with having a little confidence in yourself. As long as you can control it without coming off as conceited.

The best gift to bring when arriving at a palace that you're staying for a few weeks is a vast variety of different wines. As a gift I’ve brought wine that has been sitting and aging beautiful for almost sixty years. Both sweet and bitter red wines that as I’ve said, have aged beautifully.

I decided to ride up to the Royal Palace on horseback in order to make an impression on the Emperor when he greets me. Besides if I sit in that carriage another minute my legs and bottom will hate me for the rest of my life.

Leading my carriage (which had my maid Fernanda inside) to see that the front yard of the palace was empty. They must be hunting or in the palace working on running the Empire. Pulling the reigns of my horse as we entered the entryway of the palace into the courtyard. Catherine was standing at the entrance as she looked radiant but yet somewhat good. We were practically sisters till I began my schooling of politics.

Climbing down off my horse as she walked towards me as we both bowed to each other. Which left us giggling at each other to then give each other a hug. I have missed my dear cousin/sister and oldest friend in my life!

“My dear Catherine, it is lovely to see you before me. And an Empress! Last time I saw you we were reading Shakesphere on our boat around Sardinia!” I cheered as we linked arms for us to walk inside the palace.

“I’m glad you have arrived at my new home. Sadly..it is not a home sweet home. Not yet at least.” She commented as I nodded.

“I’ve read in your latest letter and from a few reliable sources. I’m not quite sure how the hell you are managing all of this.” I’m finally able to show my true colors in front of Catherine as I must be proper in front of the family, advisers, and so on and so forth. But with Catherine. It is nothing but honesty and true colors.

“The women of court?” Asking her I could feel her cringe.

“Simple minded with their heads filled with emptiness.” We began walking up the stairs as my servant and others carried my things up the stairs.

“Most of the women in court are filled with only air in their heads. Mother always said that entertaining the women of the court is next to impossible. But don’t worry. I am here and those women don’t know what I will be bringing these next few weeks.” We made it to the top of the stairs as a woman approached us.

“Marial. This is my dear cousin Duchess Chiara! She will be placed in the room next to me and I will be telling her all our plans!” Catherine winked as she had a cheeky smile. Tell me what plans? What has she got up her sleeve?

My room was not as big of course as I am a guest. It was a light blue room that had white flowers painted all over. The bed was very tall and extremely spacious with blue and white bedding. I think in England they would call this the Blue Room. A grand fireplace was lit that was also baby blue with gold trim. Come to think of it there was a lot of gold trim in this room which is sort of weird.

Fernanda and those who were bringing my trucks came into my room as she took around my guest room. I took off my riding hat to throw on the bed as Fernanda sat down on one of the guest chairs.

“It’s very modern. But I miss our home.” I nodded as I began unbuttoning my riding coat.

“So do I already. We remembered to pack Padres guns right?” Asking her as she looked over from the chair.

“Yes. I believe they’re bringing them up now.” She pointed towards the door as the rest of my servant brought in my trunks of different forms of weaponry. My fencing sword, regular sword, muskets, rifles, and pistols. I’m going to hunt some sort of wild beast that lives in this mad land and bring it home as a trinket. A Siberian Tiger would be a very nice trinket to bring home for la famiglia.

Catherine came into the room with her maid in a very powerful march. As if she had something extremely important to tell me. AS in a life or death situation that couldn’t wait to be told.

“We have much to discuss before dinner tonight.” Looking at Fernanda who excused herself. I’ll catch her up on the gossip later.

“Now. I’m glad you decided to come and visit me. I have exciting news that I could use your help desperately with.” She pulled me over to the chairs as her servant stood next to her.

“I’m staging a coup d'état and in dire need of your help.” Not what I was expecting to hear in honesty. A coup? To think last year she was so excited to come to Italy and watch La Serva Padrona. And now a coup?

“I umm..mamma mia a coup? Are you quite sure about this Catherine? I’d rather not see you dead. We have too much fun together.”

“Which is why I have you. You’ve been studying how to rule a land and how to take the necessary steps..

“Catherine. I’ve been raised and tutored in Governing a land to be a Duchess not an Empress.” They’re very different in a weird way..wait why am I making excuses! But I should meet the Emperor to see why she’s forming a Coup and if he’s not as bad as I thought, maybe talk her out of it. Gossip from the court isn’t always trustworthy, obviously.

“Let me experience at least one night with your husband..not sexually of course because that’s disgusting. I sadly can’t be seen helping stage a completely different country's coup. Might make a bad reputation for me. But if it is as bad as everyone is saying. I’m in.” She nodded in my response as a small boy came into our room.

“The Emperor requested your presence.” He told Catherine as she rolled her eyes.

“Get yourself ready for dinner Chiara and make sure you take a drink of something. You’ll definitely need it.” Alcohol? Should’ve brought a few barrels of wine just in case. I’ve never had vodka and I know these Russians drink alcohol as if it was coming from their mothers tit.

~~~

I’ve decided to pull out the big dress tonight as to make an impression on her entire court. The Duchess is here and she’s not meant to be tampered with! My brand new bright red dress that had white trills and designs all across it. I wore the royal sash that was given to me by King Ivrea Spoleto which was pearl white. My hair was of course up (even though it hurts my head a little bit) with pearls wrapping around my mountain of hairstyles. I truly don’t approve of it due to the fact that it takes too long to put up.

“Do I look ready to impress an entire court of Russians.” Looking into the mirror one last time as my chocolate hair looked delectable.

“From what I’ve seen going up and down the stairs of this place. You look absolutely stunning.” Fernanda commented as I smiled at her.

“Oh! You need your knife!” Fernanda commented as I placed my right leg up on the end of my bed as she got into the bottom of my trunk. My grandfather's hunting knife that was given to him by the Queen of Chad when he first took reign. It was a beautiful sycamore that swirled at the base, the blade was a beautiful silver that shines everytime you display it. Even after all these years it looks stunning and deadly. Fernanda allowed me to put on the knife holster around my thigh then placed the knife in its holder.

“Wish me luck for dinner. And I wish you the best of luck with chatting with the servants tonight for dinner. I’ll sneak you some desserts if we have anything that’s a pastry.” Winking at her as she nodded.

Walking out of my room as I opened my fan as I waited for Catherine to come out of her room. I think Fernanda tied my corset a little too tight but not the first time this has happened. Though I’d rather be wearing pants and my button ups. Which will be what I wear when I’m running around the palace. Catherine came out of her room in a beautiful white, pink, and red dress that really made her pure white skin shine. Not to mention her blonde hair shined brightly.

“Are you ready for the show?” She asked as we began walking down the stairs.

“Not quite. But I did sneak a glass of wine into my room so my body is not as tense.” We made it down the bottom of the stairs.

“So who is the biggest ass kisser of the Emperor? There’s always one.”

“His name is Grigor Dymov. He kisses the Emperor's ass so much that he allows his own wife to be his whore.”

“The second hand man married to the Emperors would be whore. If we are to do this I’m assuming we’re going after his right hand man? No. A much more subtle approach will be safer. Not that I’ve made my decision on whether to help, but I'd like to at least like to know your plan of action.”

“We’re first going after Count Orlov who has an understanding of the state of Russia. He’s a modern man who reads all of the famous authors in Europe.”

“I’m assuming he’s in the inner circle then?” Walking down the long hallway then stopping in front of the double doorway.

“Yes. We're here. Just put on a fake smile and we’ll be just fine.”

The doors opened and a wave of heat hit my skin. A mixture of alcohol and what smells like fish hit my nose as I wanted to just go back to my room. But I have to do this and need the impression in order to make my decision.

My fan helped me cool down tremendously as I was looking around at The Emperor's Court. To my right there were some women watching butterflies flying around her in a complete state of awe! They’re butterflies! Oh my goodness it is a show! There of course was dancing in the middle of the room that looked a little unfamiliar. I have to remind myself that I’m not at home and in a completely different country.

Catherine handed me a glass of the clear liquid which is what I’m assuming is Vodka. Lifting my head back as It burned down my entire throat as I shook my head.

“Heavens Catherine!” I laughed as she giggled.

“Definitely helps.” She commented as we began walking further into the room then approaching the women with the butterflies.

“Wow.” Catherine put on this extreme different face and even attitude before me which impressed me.

“I am training them.” The women told us as she began coughing and gagging right in front of us. Holding her hand out to cough out two butterflies! What!

“They do not all make the journey to a new land. Oh and who is this lovely woman.” She asked Catherine as I tried to not scream in horror.

“This is my cousin Duchess Chiara of Italy. This is Aunt Elizbeth of Russia.” We bowed at each other as we sat down on one of the couches that was facing the fireplace. Which of course was absolutely grande with a large elk head hanging above it.

“Let us talk of how you are.” She even had a butterfly drawn on her face! Talk about obsessions.

“I’m quite well. Note my smiling face! My cousin has come to visit me for these next few weeks and I couldn’t be happier.” Smiling as I began looking around the room. Now where is this fat old man that she married and killed her bear! And who also punched her in the stomach.

“I do! Has Emperor Peter also had something to do with this?”

“He has been sweet.”

“Oh. At heart, that is him. You know, as a young boy, Peter would run to his mother, holding aloft a picture he’d drawn or a boat fashioned from leaves, his eyes and words begging for approbation for love. And she would level a gaze at him and hold him in it, and he would fall silent and go so still. And then tears would run from his eyes, and his whole body would begin shaking uncontrollably, and urine would pool at his feet...it was a curious phenomenon.” Catherine and I shared the same facial expression as Elizabeth finished her story to us about Peter. So obviously he wasn’t an old man as I thought and was just a grown child who can’t stand the thought of someone not loving him. Have I made the correct character judgment through his own Aunt? Yes.

“Why would she do that?” Catherine asked as I was also intrigued.

“Everyone has their thing. Hers was cruelty. So I’m asking for some forgiveness, some empathy, from one I can tell is filled with both.” So he’s just a messed up King with mamma and papa issues. Quite ordinary in the monarchs. We began watching Elizabeth playing with her butterflies as a servant offered me a tray of tiny glasses of vodka. Taking one, drinking it then placing it back on the tray. A snap came from Elizabeth as I noticed a butterfly then landed on her finger.

“That is incredible.” I commented as she looked at me.

“Indeed.” Elizabeth went into her own world as Catherine moved herself towards me.

“Ready to meet him?” She asked as I shook my head.

“Non..Non Catherine.” Grabbing my hand for us to start walking towards him. Pushing past all the dancers as I stood a few inches behind her.

“Good evening husband!” Her husband was with another man as I looked down to see he’s in a skirt? They both turned towards her as he had no interest in speaking to us.

“Empress.” He took a sip of his wine as his eyes drifted away from us. Why is he wearing a skirt?

“You look marvelous! And your skirt, it is very pretty.” Why is Catherine kissing her own husband's ass? What woman needs to kiss her own husband's ass! He turned towards us as he flashed himself. Luckily it was all covered.

“Thanks. It also allows one’s cock to swing free in the air. It’s marvelous. Old Madam Bolzoi whipped it up.”

“It’s genius. I apologize if I have been sour face lately. I had my blood in, and you know how that goes..Rrrr.” An excuse that is older than time itself. But usually works because men think they're always being over dramatic during our blood. When in reality they are just horrid creatures.

“Oh, right. I see. Well that explains much.”

“But I feel much restored.” I haven’t seen this much ass kissing since Peter was kissing Jesus’ ass.

“Who the hell are you?” His eyes drifted towards me as I took a step forward.

“My dear husband is my cousin Duchess Chiara of Italy.”

“Emperor.” Bowing in front of him as I then held up myself strong and ready to take on this madman.

“It is truly an honor to be invited here to stay in your breath taking palace. I bring gifts from my home being a beautiful batch of sweet and bitter red wines. In gratitude for letting me stay in your home.” Turning towards the door as about six barrels of wine entered the room as everyone began cheering.

“I hope you enjoy them as a sign of peace from Italy.” Smiling as I knew Catherine would enjoy that little show. Have to make sure the Emperor doesn’t see me as a threat and the goal was achieved.

“God you are stunning. Grigor doesn’t she make your cock hard?” My eyes widened at his statement as all I could do was just stand there.

“Extremely.” He shook his head as I wanted to shoot him. Back home if I was to be talked to like this, the men would be beating the life out of him. I promise you that’s exactly how that happens. My sister was once insulted by an Austrian diplomat..and let’s just say he ended up floating in the Adriatic sea the next morning.

“Tell me, great Emperor. What is the nature of this lively banquet? I've yet to catch up with the issues of Russia.” Everytime I open my mouth up to him, I can feel my skin twisting in regret and my tongue wanting to stop waggling.

“We are honoring some of our wounded who finally won a battle for us against Sweden. Poor fucking guys.” Catherine and I turned our heads to see them in the corner of the room.

“No eyes that one. To never see a naked women or a deer in full fucking fight again. Still, he may fuck ugly women and be happy now.” I’ve never wanted to slap someone so hard in the face!

“Huzzah!” Catherine cheered as she looked completely uncomftorable.

“Let us dance!” Swinging Catherine onto the dance floor as I took a few steps back into the crowd. Grigor I believe his name stood closely beside me as I noticed he was looking at me.

“My apologies Duchess. I did not mean anything by what I said towards you.” Stopping the waving of my fan to face him.

“The right hand man of the Emperor yes?” Asking him as we faced each other.

“Grigor Dymov at your service.” He bowed as I turned off my fake smile.

“I have no service for someone like you. The Emperor's right hand man who kisses his ass so much that shit must be stuck in your ears. I would pity you but being married to the Emporers would be whore. Now that is just..sad. Excuse me.” Walking away from him as I turned my head slightly to see that he was in utter shock.

We walked into the dinning room after the so called dance that her dellusionaly husband made her do as if they were drunk. Catherine and I entered the dining room as The Emperor kicked some sort of General out of his chair as he then moved Elizabeth out of her seat down one more.

“The fat ass gladly gave up his seat. As no Duchess shall be seating with the court members. Greedy fucks.” Peter laughed as I smiled at him. What a rude bastard. But not completely wrong about the people of court.

“Thank you Emperor.” Sitting down as one of the servants pushed my chair in. There were three glasses that sat in front of me at the table. One was filled with wine, another water, then finally a massive one filled with vodka.

A dish appeared at me that looked like some sort of dumpling dish with a side of red..pasty soup? Grabbing my spoon as I poked it as it was meat? Beets? Both? Dipping my spoon into the soup as it tasted..well. The beets were very spiced with a hint of vinegar. The meat was especially spiced but has a sweet after taste. Interesting.

From what I gathered about the Emporer. He’s literally a child that requires all the attention and love from every interaction he has with a person. Which doesn’t come as a surprise due to the fact that the Duke in Sardinia acted just like him, but he ended up jumping into the sea as he learned no one truly loved him. So once Peter realizes that no one truly loves him, maybe he’ll jump into the mouth of a Tiger.

“Tell me Dear. I hope you’re here to bring Catherine happiness. And not here to start trouble between the both of them.” Her Aunt Elizabeth asked me as I took a sip of my water.

“Well. When I received her letter about what happened between them..the bear and the punching. I care about her as if she was my own sister. All I’m here for is her happiness.” A butterfly landed on my nose which made her giggle.

“They see a good soul in you and love it. I hope that you feel welcomed to our home, and it was a good idea bringing wine as a gift. Peter loves his alcohol.” She giggled as I looked down to my nose so watch the butterfly crawl around the tip of it.

“Bring in those Swedish heads!” What? Is that code for a dessert? A servant took away my plate of food that I didn’t even finish yet as I noticed a tray was coming in that had hair on it?

“We will eat dessert under their beady gaze!” Peter giggled as a tray was placed in front of me that..had a Swedish head on it..

God please forgive me.

My stomach turned into knots as I felt the little dinner I had was making its way back up through my throat. Catherine and I looked at each other in disgust as I wanted to run from the room, get on my horse and ride home. Now I see..A coup sounds like a wonderful idea.

The pudding or whatever it was looked delicious but..I can’t..The vomit went into my mouth but I swallowed it back down then drinking my entire glass of water. Just breath Chiara and it will be almost over.

“You rude fucker!” Peter yelled as he lifted his head up to look at his face. Standing up as he began digging his finger into the head.

“Everyone! Poke their fucking eyes out!” He looked so proud of himself! Everyone excluding Catherine and I just sat there as the sound of squishing and eyeballs falling onto the trays filled my heads.

“If you don’t he’ll kill you.” She whispered standing up with the man's head. Doing the sign of the cross as I stood up to lift his head.

“Mi Dispiace. Possa Dio avere pietà della tua anima.” Catherine turned her head as I felt my eyes watering. A single tear fell as I dug my fingers into the first eye. The squishing, blood beginning to drip down my arm as the first eye popped out.

“HUZZAH! DEATH TO THE SWEDISH!” Peter yelled as everyone cheered, drinking their vodka and smashing the glasses onto the floor. Dropping the head onto the tray as everyone began leaving the dining room. My right hand was covered in blood as my toes curled up in my heels from the sight.

The dry blood on my hands was something I couldn’t stop looking at. It’s not that I’ve never seen blood before in my life..but when it comes from..a soldier who probably didn’t even want to fight..I hope that God is merciful to them. They needed to be buried and given a chance to enter the gates of Heaven.

I couldn’t move for..I’m not quite sure how long at this point. Long enough that the servants came into the dinning room to start cleaning up. A woman with a large sack began dropping them into a burlap sack.

“What will you do with them?” Asking the women as she looked up at me.

“Burn them.” No..no. They do not deserve to be burned. Catherine came into the room as I stood up and wanted to scream.

“I’m a Catholic...you’re an Orthodox..we both know their souls can not be saved..but they deserve some sort of burial. Is there a priest in this wretched palace?” She looked upon the dining room then walked over to the servant and then over to me.

“Let them gather the heads and we’ll go speak to the Bishop.” The servant handed us the sack of heads as we began carrying them down the hall as she led me to the Bishops room. It was much heavier than I thought it would be. Never thought I would be thinking a bag of decapitated heads would be heavy! Knocking on the door as he flung it open in annoyance of being distrubed.

“We need you to give these a Christian burial.” SHe ordered as I opened the bag so he could see the horrors of war.

“I can only do a whole body.” He was about to shut the door but I believe the faces that were displayed on Catherines and my face weren't going to take no as an answer. I will send a rider to the Vatican if I have to in order for them to have some sort of entering the gates of heaven.

“I could bless them.” The Bishop told us as I nodded in acceptance of the deal.

A pound of thunder rang out as the heads were gently placed into the hole in the ground. Hard cold rain poured down upon us for Catherine and I to hold hands. We watched as the dirt was beginning to pile on top of their heads. I grabbed my rosary that I wore around my neck for my fingers to hold my cross. The Bishop went on reading from the bible as I softly spoke my own prayer.

“Il Signore ti benedica e ti mantenga, mostrarti la sua faccia e abbi pietà di te. Volse lo sguardo verso di te e ti dava pace. Il Signore ti benedica…..Amen.” Finishing my prayer for the Bishop finished his prayer as he left Catherine and I out in the rain.

“I want to rip the crown off his head myself.” Blurting out as Catherine turned her heads towards me.

“A Coup d'état..sounds like a magnificent plan..”

Taglist:

@mirkwoodshewolf @bonafiderocketqueen @filmslutt @leah-halliwell92 @johndeaconshands @jd-johndeacon-or-jackdaniels @radio-hoo-ha @i-have-a-wonky-eye-too @deck-heart @arrowswithwifi @stardust-killer-queen @the-baby-bookworm @actuallyanita @sadhwstudent

#grigor dymov #grigor dymov x reader #grigor #Gwil #Gwilym Lee #Gwily #The Great #Grigor Dymov x o/c #The Great hbo #elle fanning #catherine the great #peter the third #peter of russia #nicholas hoult #Marial #Count Orlo #Russia #Leo #Vlad

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anotheronechicagobog · 4 years

Text

Tylenol and Tequila Part 3

written by @anotheronechicagobog

Warnings: swearing, mature themes, fire, chemical reactions

A/N: This one is REALLY long. I don’t know the word count but it took up ten pages in google docs with size 11 font, so I hope you guys like it!

Also, I came up with the term ‘Hermann Horde’ to describe him and his kids, I think it’s hilarious, but let me know what you gusy think.

Stella Kidd has always wanted to be a mother. To experience the joy, fear, love, frustration, cheer that being a parent brings. The only problem? She didn’t want to be the one to actually give birth to them and she didn’t agree with surrogacy. But she had been homeless and in the foster system when she wasn’t living with her addict parents, so she knew that there were lots of kids who just needed someone to love them. This had been a point of contention between her and Grant. Biological kid(d)s are the only ones he would accept. It would end in screaming matches, Grant saying at some point that it would happen whether she liked it or not. That should have been a huge red flag for her, but she’d loved him so she ignored it.

With Kelly though, he understood. He understood that if she got pregnant she would have to take leave from being a firefighter for a while, so long as there weren’t complications with the pregnancy that were severe enough to end her career, and that was something he would never ask or expect her to do. When Stella wanted to have a serious conversation about kids he watched her collapse in relief that he shared her opinions. That he thought it would be better for both of them to foster older kids, pre-teens and teenagers.

Kelly had never liked Grant. Always thought that he was a manipulative piece of shit, and every even remotely serious conversation had been about Grant ignoring Stella’s wants, needs, and choices. If Grant showed his face again it would take an army and at least one dragon to stop him from killing Grant.

The only people they’d told were Boden, cause he’d need to know as their chief, Matt and Sylvie because they’d need someone to talk to about it besides each other and references. They’d all been ecstatic for the couple, Sylvie in particular. She didn’t remember much about her time in foster care, but she remembered enough to know how terrible, nightmarish, and broken it was.

Kylie was the first kid who popped up in both their minds. Her dad was a neglectful cop who had multiple families and her mom was a heroin addict. Kylie did what she could to remain afloat, to distance herself from who her parents are and what they do, but it was hard. Her dad just showing up and doing whatever the fuck he wanted and leaving ruins in his wake, and her mom was only around a third of the time, almost always on a bender with whoever she was ‘dating’ that week. Kylie had spent most of her childhood living with her grandma after being placed there by social services but was dumped back on her mom after seven months after her grandma passed three months in the system. The four months she spent being tossed between group homes and foster families were not times she advertised or wanted to remember. Girls on Fire had brought the support that she hadn’t had for so long into her life. When she missed a Girls on Fire meeting Stella got worried, it didn’t correlate with her character.

A call to detective Jay Halstead from Kelly brought out the depressing truth. Her mom had gotten high, signed her out of school, and then dragged her to a scummy abandoned warehouse to help her score some product. Kylie managed to slip away and call 911 for help after the dealer smacked her around for saying ‘no’. But he found her at the end of the call, and he didn’t react well. They’d rushed over to the ED when they found out where she was.

Stella actually started to cry when she saw the state Kylie was in. So frail, monitors beeping, covered in bandages, arm in a sling. Kelly tracked down Natalie to figure out what her condition was, and it wasn’t good. Amelia Wood, a social worker showed up just as she finished explaining everything.

“Hello, I’m Amelia Woods from DCFS, here for Kylie Reyez?”

“Of course, Ms. Woods as I was just explaining to lieutenant Severide, Kylie has a minor concussion five bruised ribs, a shoulder fracture, and we’re waiting on the results from her sexual assault kit.”

“And why would you be explaining it to lieutenant Severide? The only relatives listed in her file are her deceased grandmother, ineligible father detective Mark Reyez, and criminally negligent mother Daphne Adams.”

“My girlfriend Stella Kidd runs a program called Girls on Fire, a fire department outreach program for girls, and Kylie’s signed up for it. When she didn’t show up for the last session she had a really bad feeling and Kylie wasn’t answering her phone so we called some people and found out she was here. We rushed over, Stella’s actually with her now. What, uh, what’s going to happen to Kylie?”

“Well she’s not going to live with either of her parents, and she has no other family, so she’ll go into the system.”

“Group home or foster family?”

“... Group home to start... We’ll try to find a foster for her but that’s unlikely at her age.”

“Stella and I are in the final stages of getting approved as a foster family, would it be possible for Kylie to be placed with us?”

“Who’s the social worker assigned to you?”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After a week in the ED Kylie was permitted to leave, and go to Severide and Kidd’s apartment. Kylie was ecstatic, Stella and Kelly had made it clear that their apartment was a safe place for Kylie, that all she would have to do was be a teenager. There would be some rules and curfew in place but Stella and Kelly were just focusing on making sure that Kylie had a stable home.

When they got home Stella gingerly showed Kylie her room. It was plain, had been seen Matt moved out the year before, but Sylvie had offered to help Kylie decorate it when she was comfortable. “We can arrange for that shopping trip in a few days, let’s just get you settled in first.”

“Ladies, our deep dish order has been placed and should be here in forty minutes. I think that maybe we should take this time to talk about some rules and stuff. Then we can chow down on pizza.”

Stella chuckled at her boyfriend’s attempt at humour, and Kylie smiled at how they looked at each other. “That sounds like a good idea Kel. You ready Kylie?”

“Yeah, let’s hear it.”

“Okay, so curfew is 10:30pm, but if there’s something special going on that night just let us know in advance and we can extend it.”

“School is priority, if you want a part-time job or something that’s fine, but school comes first.”

“Look, we don’t want you drinking or having sex-”

Gagging from Kylie interrupted Stella, “yeah, yeah, it’s gross to talk about with your guardians but we get that as a teenager that’s just something you might get into, so if you need condoms or a ride home or something, just let us know or call, we just want you to be safe. We won’t exactly be happy that you’re partying or whatever, but anything’s better than playing keep-up.”

“And if there’s stuff you want to talk about, we’re here. And if you don’t want to talk to us, that’s okay too. As long as you’re talking to someone, a teacher, guidance counselor, Brett, whoever, just as long as you talk to someone.”

“When we’re on shift we’ll both have our phones on if you need us, we’ll leave you by yourself so no parties, please. If you want to have a friend over that’s fine, but let us know beforehand and we’d like to meet them first.”

“The system actually covers therapy bills so you could even talk to a therapist if you want. And as far as the money from the government goes, we’ll budget it so that some pitches into groceries, and there’s some spending money for your room or stuff you want, but the rest will go into a post-secondary school fund for you, which we’ll also be personally putting some money into.”

“... Really?”

“Yes, really. We are here to make sure that you have support, and that includes making sure you have some money for when you’re out of high school.”

“Thank you...”

“You really don’t need to say ‘thank you’ sweetheart, we’re here to help and love you as much as we can.” The doorbell ended their conversation that left tears brimming the eyes of all three, “I guess it’s time for pizza.”

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There had been some disagreements and adjustments, but overall everyone could agree it had been a complete success. A month later, after the move-in and hours spent convincing Kylie that having money spent on her was okay, Sylvie, Stella and Kylie met up at the nice shopping area of downtown with money to spend. The plan was to spend the morning shopping then meet up with Kelly and the rest of 51 at the park for a picnic with the lovely souls from 51, 21, and MED.

“Where to first, Kylie?”

“Umm, a bedding store maybe?”

“Kylie, we talked about this, it’s okay that we want to spend money on you, okay?”

“Kylie, I went through this too. I still get freaked out when people spend money on me, especially if I didn’t have time to discourage them from doing so. I’m still pretty stingy if I’m honest. I know that it’s hard, you feel panicked and like you’re not worth this, you’re not worth this waste of money. What I find helps is taking lots of deep breaths, going straight to the sale and clearance racks, and remembering that all the stores we’re going to are family businesses, and that by spending money here we are supporting small businesses and people who work really hard to earn money and own a store of their own.”

Kylie thought for a moment, taking in Sylvie’s advice. “Okay, I’ll try that.”

“Okay.”

“So, where to?”

“I could use a couple shirts...” Stella and Sylvie smiled brightly, grabbed onto an arm, and marched over to the nearest boutique.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After dropping everything off at the apartment the three women made it to the park a thirty minutes after the designated time. “‘Bout time you three showed up!”

“Cool it, Halstead, besides, shouldn’t you be spending your girlfriend?”

“Hailey is not my girlfriend!”

“Y’know, it’s kinda funny, Stella didn’t even mention a Hailey...”

“Hey! I have more than enough people on my back about this, I don’t need a kid I haven’t met- oh waiiiiit, you’re Kidd and Severide’s foster right? Well, I’m Jay Halstead, Severide hasn't shut up about you, everyone’s really excited to meet you.”

“Including Hailey.” Jay froze for a second, before an exasperated expression took over his face, then he leaned his head back and groaned loudly before stomping away, leaving nothing but laughter in his wake.

“You know what Stella? I think Kylie should meet Hailey first.”

“Ooooh, yes.”

“Hailey! We have someone we want you to meet!”

They all ran across the field to her after hearing the panicked ‘NOooOOOooo’ from Jay Halstead. The confused blonde greeted them with a chuckle. “Hi, I’m Hailey Upton, you must be Kylie. It’s really great to meet you.”

“You too, I’ve heard a lot about how badass you are.”

“Oh, don’t listen to all that you hear-”

“Ig- *gasp* ignore her. She’s awesome.” A stressed-looking Jay sputtered out as he took his place beside Hailey. “Well,” Kylie slyley started, “I’m not sure that you’re unbiased, but I guess I’ll take your word for it.” Jay panicked, Hailey was confused, Stella and Sylvie were doing everything in their power not to laugh.

“Wha-”

“Maybe she should meet Casey next, hmmm?” He gave a well-placed look to Sylvie and she started to pout.”

“That was cold.”

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It had been a long day, filled with grilled food, cake games, and new family members. Kylie was happy though. It had been a lot, but she felt like she connected with and could count on everyone there. She was full of food and happiness. “That was really fun. It was great to meet everyone.”

“Really you didn’t feel like it was too much?”

“We were worried that we’d overwhelm you.”

“No, I think it was good to do it this way, like ripping off a bandaid.”

“Good. Well we have shift tomorrow, starting at six in the morning. So we should probably head to bed.”

“I’m gonna do the same, I am beat the Hermann Horde really knows how to wear it out of you.”

“The Hermann Horde, oh my god... That describes them perfectly.”

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shift had gone rather smoothly so far, a couple fire drills at local schools, a few fall-down and PD calls for ambo 61, and a smoke-detector check in an apartment building. All was well and good until around two o’clock when Stella got a horrifying phone call from Kylie.

“Stella?”

“Kylie? What’s wrong your voice sounds really shaky.” Kelly’s head snapped up at her words and she gestured for him to come over, he’d arrived and Stella turned the phone so they could both hear and talk just as they heard screams. “Kylie? Kylie!”

“There’s a fire, it’s getting big and we’re trapped and I don’t know what to do.”

“Okay, where is the fire? What lit it? Has anyone called 911 yet?” Kelly prattled off doing his best to be helpful instead of curling into a ball and crying. “Chem room, sulfuric acid and a chlorate, and everyone else is calling 911.”

“Okay, are you near a carbon dioxide extinguisher?”

“Uh, cupboard next to me... Yeah!”

“Pull out the pin, lift the nossel and aim at the BASE of the fire by squeezing the levers together.”

They didn’t get a response but could hear what was happening, it took a few minutes before Kylie picked up the phone again, “it’s ou-t but smoldering or- smoking a bit? What-ever, it was down enough for all of us to- get out, so- we’re running.”

“Oh thank god. We’ll come right away- or do you want us to meet you at the hospital? You need to get medical attention if you were near ractive sulfuric acid.”

“Uh, how about I just keep you on the phone as I get checked out, we can figure it out from there?”

“Okay, we- we’ll wait.” Stella and Kelly just about collapsed in relief, all the members of 51 who had gathered around them smiled and offered them as much comfort as possible. “Hey, um- my foster parents? They’re on the line, they’re firefighters, uh, just want to know what hospital we’re going to, if I’m okay.”

“Well, tell...”

“Stella Kidd and Lieutenant Kelly Severide.”

“Kidd and Lieutenant Severide to meet us at Chicago MED.”

“We’re leaving now.” They both froze and stared at Boden like deers in headlights. “Alright,” in Boden’s usual gruff voice, “mount up everybody. We’re going to MED. We’ll keep our radios on and leave from there if necessary. Kidd, Severide, I’ll need to call in a floater to cover one of you for the rest of shift. It’ll be easier if it’s Kidd, cause at least one of you has to stay with Kylie. I’ll see what I can do about a floater for you though, Severide.”

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Amelia met them at the hospital, there were some incident forms, but because Kylie called them for help and saved herself and her classmates because of it, Amelia just gave them a smile and told them they were doing great. Kylie needed to stay at MED for a couple days because of the smoke she inhaled, but so did her classmates and they kept each other entertained. Then OFI showed up. Seager was quite obviously still carrying a torch for Kelly, but was still very polite to Stella and Kylie. “Well, your story matches up with the evidence we have and the statements collected from your teacher and 29 classmates.”

“Wait, she has 30 classmates, there’s 31 kids in her class.”

“Yes, well, Chad is the only one who’s story is off, but that’s because all the evidence points to him messing around and starting the fire. None of you can say anything to any of the other victims and their families.”

“Got it.”

Seager left with a longing look directed at Kelly, but no one was looking at her. Kylie had started to tear up, the reality that she could have died finally hitting her at full force, and both her parents (what she’d started calling Stella and Kelly in her head) immediately tended to her. Hugging her, letting her know they were there, and that it was okay to cry. So Kylie lay there, shaking and sobbing, as the two people who loved her just as much as her grandmother had, did everything they could to let her know they loved her, and that they had been scared too. That they would be sad if she had died. At some point the tears stopped being about fear and started being about love.

This was the scene that Casey walked in on, he quietly stepped away, knowing just how intimate this moment was supposed to be. He walked back to the waiting room. “Not yet guys, they need some time to themselves. I think it might be better if we came back later with some food or something.” A call came over their walkies before anyone got a chance to agree with their captain.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kylie had transferred schools after the fire, the smoke from the chemical reaction that started the fire had gotten into a vent and messed up the entire air con system, meaning the school had to be shut down for the rest of the year while it was replaced. The air quality was deemed too dangerous for students and staff to even retrieve their stuff from the school. So Kylie had been transferred to the same high school as Lee Henry Hermann. He’d shown her around the school and introduced her to his friends. Things had been going really well until 51 got a call to a mattress factory fire. Kylie hadn’t been around when Otis died, but she could still see how everyone was affected by his death. The fire was so bad that the news had been reporting on it since before school even started and new, terrifying developments were still coming. Kylie was scared, her stomach was so twisted she felt what she could only describe as extreme nausea, she couldn’t focus, and she was practically jumping out of her skin everytime she got a notification on her phone. She couldn’t find Lee anywhere either, she had no way of knowing how he’d be handling it. While he was around to know Otis, his dad had been a firefighter longer than he’d been alive. Maybe he had coping methods.

After another panic grab for her phone Kylie was excused from class with a sympathetic glance from her teacher. She wandered the halls for a few minutes, doing everything not to cry, not to feel hopeless, when one of Lee's friends spotted her. “Henry heads to the greenhouse on bad days.” Was all Donovan said before walking away. Kylie took a breath, hiked her bag higher onto her shoulder, and headed to the greenhouse. What more did she have to fear?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The door was unlocked, so she walked in and... Immediately took off her cardigan. “Lee?”

“Kylie...” His voice wasn’t confident like it usually was, it was hoarse and weak. She maneuvered her way around all the planter boxes before finding Lee sitting on a small, poorly made if she was being honest, wooden bench that was surrounded by peonies of varying colours. It was strange seeing Lee the way he was. Sickly pale, eyes red, exhausted lax muscles. “You’re scared too.”

“Terrified... I don’t know how you’ve dealt with this your whole life...” Kylie couldn’t control her emotions anymore. Lee tugged her by the wrist to sit beside him and wrapped her in his arms. “I don’t know how I’ve dealt with it either. I don’t think I do, really.”

“Does chocolate help? Cause I’ve got some in my bag...”

“Oh, yes. Chocolate helps.” The rest of their last two periods were spent crying, hugging, and eating chocolate in the greenhouse. They didn’t find out until they were leaving that the last of the fire had been put out, and that no first responders had died, and while three had been injured none of them were from firehouse 51.

“This may seem childish, and I know you don’t do this, but I think I’m gonna head to 51... I need to see that they’re okay for myself...”

“The only reason my siblings and I don’t do that is because our mom manages to keep them in the dark still. She used the child safety functions to keep the news from giving us alerts, she only tells us something happened after the ash has settled, or she just tells us that dad had a bad shift a half hour before he gets home. She runs so much interference, but, I... I disabled the child safety stuff when I was twelve, so that I could watch some PG-14 movies, I didn’t find out about the news notifications until a month later. I mean, I saw that news apps were specifically selected when I disabled the setting, but I didn’t think anything of it until they got a call to a train wreck. I had never been more afraid for my dad in my life. I hadn’t fully comprehended just how dangerous my dad’s job was until that day. Every five minutes there was a... higher body count, reports of trouble at the scene, a video of a gas explosion that 51 was barely able to control... I strongly believe that it was the worst day of my life. I wanted to go to the firehouse, I told my mom that I found out from friends, I didn’t want her to turn the news off again... But she told me I couldn’t go see him. I had to wait. It was a long four hour hours. So, I get it. If you want, there’s some time before I have to pick up my brothers and sister. How about we go pick up some doughnuts, then my siblings, and then make a visit to 51.”

“Are you sure? I don’t want you to feel like you have to do this for me.”

“Yeah, this way I get to see my dad after fearing for his life all day and I can use you being worried as an excuse when my mom asks.” Kylie laughed as Lee smirked, proud of his plan.

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“Hey Brett.”

“Hey, I brought you doughnuts, courtesy of the Hermann Horde and Kylie.”

“How annoyed is Hermann that the nickname caught on?”

“Very.”

“So, how do the kids look? I imagine at least Lee Henry and Kylie saw the news today.”

“Kylie looked like she was going to burst into tears when she saw Stella and Severide. Lee looked like a weight came off his shoulders when he saw Hermann. But then, he uh...”

“Hm?”

“Lee Henry looked at Kylie and smiled, really softly, and he got this puppy dog look in his eyes.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I know what I saw.”

“You think there’s something going on?”

“Not yet... But I’m keeping my eye out.”

#One Chicago #Chicago Fire #chicago med #stella kidd #Kelly Severide #stellaride #stella x kelly #kelly severide x stella kidd #matt casey #matt x sylvie #sylvie brett #matt casey x sylvie brett #brettsey #Christopher Herrmann

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exxar1 · 3 years

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Episode 5: Why Machiavelli Would Never Wear a Mask (And Why You Shouldn’t Either)

12/9/2020

Last week’s episode of the Young Heretics podcast was about The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli. The Prince is one of those classics of western lit that I’ve never actually read – or even taken a college class where this was one of the texts. What little I remember about this text is from history class during my junior year in high school. Mrs. Jones (no relation) told us that Machiavelli wrote The Prince as a treatise on political philosophy. He believed that the ends justified the means, and that the best way for a prince to retain power over the people was to rule by fear rather than love. The word “Machavellian” has always been used as a pejorative description in our modern society, often referring to those people who are cold, heartless, and unfeeling. Machiavelli’s name has become synonymous with those characters in popular movies, books and TV shows that attempt to control other characters and events by using various means of deceit and guile.

Now, to be fair, Mrs. Jones’ interpretation and summary of The Prince is not entirely wrong. I did a brief Google search on Machiavelli and The Prince, and about half the links of my search results reaffirmed that view. The other half, however, offered a surprisingly different take on The Prince, one that is also shared by Spencer Klavan on Young Heretics. That podcast is now 29 episodes old, but this is the first one that has presented me with something entirely new – both the text itself and the interpretation of it.

In his advice to the titular prince, Lorenzo de Medici, Machiavelli instructs him on how to best maintain power and control of his subjects and his state. The best way to do this, Machiavelli believed, was for the prince to be feared rather than loved. Also, at times, it would be necessary to use what many would consider to be unjust or immoral means in order to sustain that power and control. Hence Machiavelli’s negative reputation in the history books and modern culture.

But Spencer makes the argument that Machiavelli’s reputation is ill-earned. There’s more to this Italian philosopher than what has been passed down in the history books. To put it simply, Machiavelli was a realist. He addressed human nature – and human behavior – in harsh, realistic terms. This was how Machiavelli viewed the world. To use our vernacular, he didn’t sugarcoat the bad stuff. He understood how people behaved – both the ones in power and the ones being ruled – and he framed his advice to his prince in these simple, realistic terms.

I’ve spent the last several days thinking about this episode, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Spencer chose this episode to air when it did. All over the country, many state governors have issued lockdown orders for their principalities in response to a renewed surge in positive cases of COVID-19. As any of you who know me – either in real life or via social media – can attest, I am a rabid believer in the battle against face masks and the lockdowns. I’m also a firm believer in the actual science – as opposed to the political nonsense spouted by Doctor Fauci and his panel of “experts” – that says over and over how useless and pointless the masks are in the efforts to stop the spread of the corona virus. And, as you also know, I have plenty of time on my hands to think while at my day job, and the other day I came to a rather startling conclusion:

We should all be more like Machiavelli.

When exactly did we, the American people, become a nation of whiny, spoiled, self-entitled sissies? A nation of people who are so terrified of the possibility of dying that we happily give up our most basic freedoms and cower inside our homes or behind masks? Because that's exactly what's happened. The basic liberties and routines of our daily lives and, for many, their very livelihoods, were suddenly halted and/or shut down by our state governors who were acting in response to so-called science and medical “experts” in the effort to save a small, vulnerable percentage of our population. I've lost count of the number of times I've read on social media posts in the last 6 months about how pro-maskers wear a mask to protect their 85 year old grandmother or their 70 year old father. I've been called “heartless” and “pro-Nazi” from strangers in the comments section of news articles whenever I respond with the same argument that I'm going to put forth here.

We of the last couple generations have become so soft and spoiled and lazy that we've forgotten just how harsh and deadly real life can often be. And I'm including myself in that crowd. Those of us born in the last four decades of the 20th century have known nothing but prosperity and comfort, especially if – like me – you grew up in a typically middle class household. This is even more true of anyone born after 1995. I'm speaking of the generation that has never known life without Starbucks, Amazon, Google or a cell phone; the generation that grew up using laptop computers and watching TV by streaming it on the internet. In fact, we've become so complacent that we don't even have to leave our comfort zones to order a Big Mac from McDonald's or groceries from Walmart. When I was growing up in the 80s, I remember having to wait an eternity (4-6 weeks) for a toy to arrive that I had mail-ordered from a Sears catalog. Nowadays, I complain if my Amazon package isn't on my doorstep within 24 hours.

For pretty much all of us, 2020 was a massive wake-up call; a Mike-Tyson-punch-to-the-face or dive-into-Lake-Michigan-in-the-middle-of-December kind of wake-up call. None of us were prepared for a pandemic whose projected death toll was in the millions. Everyone from the top down – the president, our congressmen, our state governors, the national and local health experts – reacted instinctively. The medical experts, especially, were very quick to panic, based primarily on preliminary reports from European countries and China. Many state governors – most of them Democrats – were quick to declare a state of emergency and issue a lockdown order for their respective principalities. Hundreds of thousands of Americans were suddenly without work. Unemployment claims shot through the stratosphere. Congress approved an economic stimulus package. Everyone in the government – both national and local – assured us citizens that the lockdowns were temporary, two months at most.

But, of course, two months became three, then four, and by mid-July, many states were still in phase one or two of their “re-opening”. By this point, even the liberal-controlled mainstream media was reporting on the sudden spike of suicides in the lockdown states. Millions of unemployment claims were stuck in severe backlog, and more and more workers were being put on furlough by their employers – or just simply laid off. Here in Las Vegas, for example, the entire strip was a complete ghost town from mid-March to mid-June. This city's economy is utterly dependent on the tourism industry, and, with all casinos and hotels completely closed, the city as a whole suffered greatly. It's still suffering, in fact, even though most of the strip has been open since mid-July. Almost all the hotels and casinos can only afford to be open from Thursday to Sunday. Thousands here are still unemployed or working two part time jobs for barely minimum wage just to make basic ends meet.

And now, as I write this, our governor – along with those of California, New York, and many others – has declared a second round of lockdowns. In California, both Governor Newsom and the mayor of L.A. have banned indoor AND outdoor dining at all restaurants. And again, we the citizens have been told that this is for our own safety, and that these lockdowns will be temporary. One doesn’t have to look far on Twitter or Facebook to see cell phone videos of desperate, tearful, and/or furious restaurant and bar owners engaged in verbal rages about the injustice of all of this.

Here’s what should have happened clear back in February of this year:

Our leaders – our princes, if you will – both national and local, should have consulted not only the medical experts but also a team of economic and social advisors. The governors of every state should have taken a long, hard look at the long term cost of even a brief economic shutdown versus the projected death toll in the short term if COVID-19 was allowed to run its natural course through the U.S. population. You can already see where I’m headed with this. Our governors chose to shut down their states, to close all “non-essential” businesses, and ordered all citizens to self-quarantine. This was only supposed to be for a few weeks, at most. But we’ve all witnessed the long term effects of these shutdowns – skyrocketing unemployment rates, a rapid, severe spike in suicides and domestic abuse cases, and children who are falling so far behind in school due to “distance learning” that many will simply end up dropping out or repeating the same grade for another year.

Our princes should have been more like Machiavelli. They should have allowed life to continue as normal – no mask mandates, no social distancing orders, and most definitely no mandatory quarantines. Instead, the princes should have advised all citizens that the choice was theirs to self-quarantine or not, and that face masks would also be encouraged but completely optional. The result of this, of course, would mean a very high death toll in the short term. There would be no way to avoid this. As we already know now, face masks and social distancing are pointless and useless when it comes to preventing the spread of COVID. The highest numbers of fatalities would be among those older than 65. Hospitals and morgues would be overwhelmed. Emergency triage centers would have to be established in parking lots and empty football stadiums. For a month or two, the news headlines would be filled each day with the most recent death tolls.

But then, into the third month, the death count would start to go down. As herd immunity was finally achieved, life would, slowly but surely, get back to normal. And through it all, there would have been a slight drop in the regular business of many restaurants, movie theaters, and other recreational businesses that rely on tourism and seasonal traffic. But, ultimately, the country would have recovered from this much faster than they will in our present timeline. As it stands now, hundreds of thousands of small businesses across America have gone bankrupt and closed their doors for good. Even major restaurant chains like Ruby Tuesday and Sweet Tomatoe’s have permanently closed many – if not all – their locations. In the alternate timeline, where they had been allowed to remain open with no restrictions of any kind on the number of customers they were allowed to have inside at any time, these businesses would most likely still be up and running.

Yes, that means that your 75 year old father or your 90 year old grandma would have probably died. But that’s life. Like Machiavelli, I’m not gonna sugarcoat it. Life is hard. If you haven’t figured that out by now, you’re in for a long and frustrating existence on this earth. And lest you think I’m speaking from some superior, unaffected, condescending platform where I have not experienced any loss or hardship this year, let me remind of you of my blog post about my close friend Aaron Walker from a month ago. No, his death was not the result of COVID, as far as I know, but it was sudden, and it was completely unexpected. I’m still feeling his loss. But you know what? Life goes on. We mourn the dead, we bury them, and then we move on. Death is a fact of life. Machiavelli would have understood that, and so should all of us in 2020. This year has seen a lot of death, more than anything in recent decades, in fact. But that’s life. That’s the way life goes sometimes, and trying to avoid that inevitability by forcing face masks and quarantine and shutting down businesses on a whim is not going to change that simple fact.

I know many of you reading this are probably screaming at your phone screen right now, calling me all kinds of names and cursing me. “How can you be so heartless????” you rave. “How can you allow so many elderly and innocents to die just so you can still go to the movies or sit down at McDonald’s to enjoy your iced coffee and Big Mac????” “You’re a murderer because you still refuse to wear a mask in public!!!!”

And you know what? You’re absolutely right. I am probably infecting others by not wearing a mask. I do still want to go to a movie on Friday night and pig out on overpriced popcorn and soda. I do enjoy going out to eat at least once a week with all my friends. And yep, I’m perfectly fine with accepting the reality that many people are going to die because our governors refused to sacrifice the whole society in the chance that it might save a few innocent lives.

In other words, “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one.” That edict is as true today as when Spock said it to Captain Kirk in Star Trek 2 in 1982. Machiavelli would have completely understood that statement, and he also would have understood this: that which doesn’t kill us makes us stronger. We humans have been spreading disease to one another ever since Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden. Death, you see, is the natural consequence of sin. Death is unavoidable, and death comes for us all. For some of us, we are lucky enough to live rich, full lives. For others, death comes all too soon. My grandfather will be 90 years old this year on December 31st. If I were to ask him today if he were ready to shuffle off this mortal coil and be welcomed into the arms of our Heavenly Father, his answer would be an immediate and resounding, “Yes!”. Your 75 year old father or your 85 year old grandmother are most likely looking forward to death. That doesn’t mean you should just kill them now by your own hand to hasten the inevitable. But it does mean that they are ready to meet their maker if their number is up. (And, by the way, is not more cruel to force the elderly to slowly waste away alone, locked up in forced quarantine in nursing homes, not allowed to see or even speak to their loved ones until they eventually die of depression, loneliness or COVID???)

COVID-19 is an act of God. It’s a chance of nature, a random thing that has struck the human race, and none of us have the power to change it or ward it off or protect ourselves and our loved ones against its wrath. As we have been doing since the Tower of Babel, we humans have infected one another and survived many, many plagues worse than this one. So you need to stop your whining, stop your complaining, pick yourself up, and get on with your fucking life. And, while you’re at it, you might want to open your Bible and get acquainted with your Creator. Because, sooner or later, you’re gonna meet him, and if you have not accepted his son, Jesus Christ, as your lord and savior, you will spend eternity in a place that makes COVID look like a summer’s vacation in the Florida Keys.

So, in conclusion, be more like Machiavelli. Throw away your damn mask, rise up against the tyranny of our modern princes, and help me get our lives back to normal. If we do not stand up for our freedoms we will most assuredly lose every last one of them.

Mmmmm-kay???

(And, by the way, if you haven’t been listening to Young Heretics, I strongly advise you to drop everything and begin immediately. Look it up on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. It will change your life.

You’re welcome.)

#covid #covidiot #life #god #mask #liberty #freedom

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musicorgan79 · 3 years

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Emergency Situation Wills As Well As Same Day Wills.

5 Factors To Create A Will.

Content

The Risks Of Do It Yourself Wills & Inexpensive Online Will Creating Solutions.

Making Use Of A Will Creating Solution

Info Youll Require To Offer Your Solicitor.

Years Of Estate Experience.

Will Composing Services, Probate As Well As Estate Preparation.

What's even more, if you choose to utilize a Will-writing service, attempt and locate one that belongs to The Institute of Expert Willwriters. This suggests they run with a code of method approved by the Trading Specification Institute Customer Codes Authorization Plan. trusted-willwriting.co.uk is a making a will aspley heath 's because Will composing is an uncontrolled method, without the same safeguards that lawyers as well as law practice, which undergo rigorous policies, deal.

Professional wills including trust funds or abroad residential or commercial property, or where you want tax obligation recommendations, are likely to set you back ₤ 500 upwards.

All Wills are created online then examined and verified by a team of lawful professionals.

In this article we take a look at the most effective online Will writing services in the UK.

Wills are kept in the client's very own virtual Lockbox giving simplicity of access to executors in the event of death.

There are situations when you certainly require to look for expert help for creating your will. These consist of if you have your very own business, have foreign investments or bank accounts or own building abroad, or if you have people who are economically depending on you however they aren't an instant family member. You must likewise think about obtaining independent monetary advice if you want to decrease the inheritance tax costs as well as concerns facing beneficiaries of your will. The regulation in England as well as Wales states that any person can compose a Will, implying that you or an expert Will author are completely able to do so. However, simply writing a Will does not indicate that it is legitimately legitimate, which could bring about complications and also unnecessary anxiety for enjoyed ones after you die. This is why we recommend choosing a lawyer or expert Will writer to create your Will.

The Risks Of Do It Yourself Wills & Low Cost Online Will Creating Services.

Under UK law you have a great deal of freedom to leave your estate to whoever you such as. However, you need to be aware that legitimately you have to supply sensible assistance to all people that are economically depending on you (eg spouse, youngsters etc.) and also anybody you maintained/supported monetarily. If you do not supply practical support, your Will can be challenged by an application to the High Court. Unfortunately, unlike lots of locations of financial services, Will creating is not a managed market.

They are made together by a married couple and also are created to ensure that the remaining spouse inherits the sum of the deceased's assets. There are legal effects with a joint will in that it can not be changed when one partner has actually passed away. Which comes to be difficult if the making it through companion remarries and also intends to leave something to their brand-new partner. Many people assume fairly incorrectly that all their residential or commercial property and also cash will instantly pass to their spouse, but the reality is that if you do not make a will the legislation regards you to have 'died intestate'. This can be traumatic for your loved ones that might suffer monetary challenge as a result, at once when they the very least need it. This is why it is important to understand exactly how to create a will and its relevance.

Making Use Of A Will Creating Solution

If there are no living relatives acknowledged under these policies, the Crown obtains the lot. Many people are unaware that accountants, as well as solicitors, are able to aid customers formulate a will. It is necessary to pick an accounting professional that specialises in probate (the right to manage a departed individual's estate). Having a will can also help in reducing the amount of inheritance tax payable on the value of the residential or commercial property as well as money you leave. For more details on the current rates, review our blog site on inheritance tax. If you have step-children or kids from previous relationships, they can wind up receiving absolutely nothing. At Percy Hughes & Roberts Solicitors, we have a team of dedicated wills lawyers who prepare to aid you settle your question or issue associating with this location of the legislation as quickly and also efficiently as feasible.

The inheritance tax threshold is currently ₤ 325,000 for a private or up to ₤ 650,000 for a married couple or a pair in a civil collaboration. If your estate is worth greater than this when you pass away, estate tax (presently 40%), will have to be paid on the unwanted. When you provide specific presents, they are regarded to be devoid of tax obligation. That means if tax schedules on your estate, it is paid using the cash and also properties that you have actually not already distributed (your "recurring estate"). So you require to make certain that you do not mistakenly rob those closest to you by making also large gifts to lesser people. Your best alternative is to register to one of a variety of events, running throughout the year, where you can get a lawyer to prepare your will free of charge or at a lowered rate. Free Wills Month, which happens two times a year in March as well as October, enables lawyers in England, Wales and also Northern Ireland to offer those aged 55 and also over a simple will created or upgraded totally free.

Information Youll Need To Offer Your Solicitor.

While solicitors encourage specifying regarding certain things, being extremely details can also be damaging as a result of scenarios transforming. A single will is the best way to secure the estate of an individual whilst mirror wills are the ideal way to secure the estate of a pair. With both types, either you as a private or you and your companion have the ability to specify the family members as well as liked ones you would love to take advantage of your estate after your death. If you own your family members residence outright as well as your single companion or step-children aren't in line to instantly acquire your estate, they can shed their house. With a Will you could give a right to reside in the building or possibly hand down your share of the home to them. A lot of lawyers and also professional Will writers will use to save your Will for you.

At Heritage Wills & Estate Preparation, our team believe that writing something as vital as a Will should be an uncomplicated as well as gratifying experience. Heritage Wills & Estate Preparation make the process simple, offering you the assurance in understanding that your affairs are looked after. If you wish, you can begin writing your Will online, over the phone or face to face, whichever you prefer. The information you supply will then be used to compose the Will in accordance to your wishes. We offer a genuinely custom service, totally customized to your private requirements. Will composing has gotten raised value due to the fact that many individuals currently recognize exactly how troublesome it would be for their loved ones if they were to all of a sudden die. You need to think about estate planning, wills and also trust fund as early as possible to make certain that your loved ones are secured.

Years Of Estate Experience.

By making a Will with Williamsons, you can be assured that your concerns will be answered by a skilled Will author. At Williamsons we have years' of experience of composing Wills and carrying out estates. Kwil is an online service offering support in completing lawful forms in addition to details. The intestacy guidelines in a simplified form - Get the regulations Entitlement to the estate of a deceased person who was domiciled in England & Wales, and also that did not leave a legitimate will. This graph is not meant to be a definitive statement of the legislation covering every collection of scenarios, neither is it legal advice. Legal advice is required when there are circumstances and also problems for which clients need certain lawful answers/solutions. Instead, the federal government has actually set guidelines which mention that has formal authority to act on the management of your estate.

You should additionally name individuals you desire to designate as 'administrators' of your Will. Administrators are individuals that will be in charge of carrying out your dreams and also for figuring out your estate when you pass away. They will require to gather all the assets of the estate, manage all the documents and pay any financial obligations, taxes, funeral expenses and also management expenses out of cash in the estate. They will after that be in charge of transferring any kind of legacies to the beneficiaries named in your Will. Among themain reasons to utilize a lawyer when writing a willis to pre-empt estate tax prices. For estates worth over ₤ 325,000, you will pay 40% in inheritance tax. If you do not leave a will, the inheritance tax is most likely to be higher because of the regulations of intestacy.

You might be asked to think about leaving some money in your will to among the getting involved charities, however there is no commitment. There is likewise Will Aid, which occurs in November, and also Will Relief Scotland in September; these both deal will composing with a volunteer contribution to charity. Intestacy regulations comply with a straight framework whereby partners or civil partners are considered the primary beneficiaries, followed by any organic or lawfully taken on kids or grandkids. access the trusted-willwriting.co.uk making a will shropshire here does not identify the more than three million cohabiting couples in the UK, regardless of the length of time they have actually been together. This can cause untold issues, with the making it through partner possibly losing their residence or not having adequate cash to increase any youngsters.

Gowing Legislation is law office based in Manchester however use their lawful solutions across the country. We are experts in the accident cases and also our group of lawyers have the experience and also experience required to manage your case and also assist you with the cases process. Furthermore, if you have youngsters under 18, you can also make stipulation for them in your will, such as that will be their guardian and also that will care for their monetary concerns. The above listing is a brief summary of the sort of inquiries we respond to on a daily basis.

The federal government policies likewise specify that will receive/inherit. It is unlikely this will match your very own thoughts and also it commonly leads to adverse tax obligation effects, heartache, as well as lost time as well as money. A partner might not receive anything, a home could be divided, kids receive at the age of 18 as well as various other dreams might not be complied with. You can utilize a lawyer, write the Will yourself or use a Will creating service.

You should utilize a lawyer if you're most likely to pay Estate tax or you have complicated family circumstances. Although a well-prepared Will should cover the 'what ifs', many people forget that a Will ought to show your desires at any type of offered time.

Will creating is something you most definitely need to consider promptly. In Why Any person Needs To Have A Will and also The Dangers Of Not Having A Will, you find out specifically why having a Will is so important. You additionally discover the various other functions of creating a Will in The Purpose Of Preparing A Will. You might desire to take lawful suggestions if you find yourself in especially complex scenarios, are handing down a huge estate, or are dividing your home in between lots of people.

But you should keep in mind that the legislation regarding inheritances and exactly how they're taxed can be complex, as well as points could transform in between you creating your Will and when you die. That makes it dangerous to write your own Will with no advice whatsoever. If you choose to do this, you can find themes to assist you online. One of one of the most usual areas individuals require guidance on is inheritance tax.

What are the three conditions to make a will valid?

Requirements for a Will to Be ValidIt must be in writing. Generally, of course, wills are composed on a computer and printed out. The person who made it must have signed and dated it. A will must be signed and dated by the person who made it. Two adult witnesses must have signed it. Witnesses are crucial.

Being an executor can involve a great deal of work and also obligation, specifically with bigger estates. For tiny estates with easy wills, it could be best to appoint a member of the family or close friend as administrator.

Will Creating Solutions, Probate And Estate Preparation.

Nonetheless the majority of people can assemble an easy last will and also testimony efficiently online. In order to help you with the process, we have actually assembled this guide on what you'll require to think about.

The defense you have differs hugely, depending upon who writes it. While there has been an increase in recent years of people finding out just how to compose a will, it's still recommended that you consult a legal representative at some point in the process, specifically if you have a large estate. This short article gives some useful recommendations as well as standards, yet should not be considered legal suggestions.

Complicated wills-- complex wills are a great alternative when you have a relatively big estate, intend to leave money right into a depend on, or you have a service. It meansyour solicitor might have to put in place rulesabout postponing inheritance money for minors or take care of inheritance tax concerns. For over three decades Austin Lafferty's very respected team of attorneys as well as lawyers have actually been serving the individuals of Scotland in all facets of the legislation. We have an excellent track record in providing lawful guidance for individual clients both individual and service.

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Choosing to have a lawyer write your Will makes certain that you are covered by the defenses offered by lawful solution regulators. Therefore, you wouldn't sustain any kind of costs must the Will need to be rewritten after falling short to satisfy any type of lawful needs.

Even if you don't believe your family and also economic circumstance is most likely to change, estate preparation laws do. As an example, many individuals with an existing Will are not aware of changes to the house nil rate band that permits family houses as much as a particular worth to be handed down tax free. Just as an instance, some people think that shared ownership of a home or joint ownership over funds suggests their partner is safeguarded if they were to pass away. In the UK however, intestacy legislations do not currently provide any protection for unmarried companions, indicating having no Will could lead to an unforeseen situation for a companion. Our Wills solicitors will assist guide you via the areas you should consider depending on your present circumstance as well as wishes.

A Certified Solicitor.

However, lots of people designate lawyers as administrators, as well as we can suggest you of the advantages of such an approach for your case. If you pass away without preparing a Will, your estate will be distributed based on the policies of intestacy. This indicates that some portion of your estate will instantly be transferred to your spouse or youngsters. However, the valuation of your assets distrubted will depend on the well worth of your residential or commercial property as well as the terms defined in the title acts. By composing your very own Will, you can make certain that your residential or commercial property is distrubuted specifically just how you desire it to be. The regulation surrounding Wills as well as inheritance in England and Wales is highly complex, and also the amount of paperwork involved can be discouraging.

#how to write a will #free will writing #best will writing service #will writing in uk #will writing in united kingdom #how to make a will #make a will in UK

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multimetaverse · 4 years

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HSMTMTS 1x07 Review

Thanksgiving was a very funny ep that did a great job of building up the cast as a found family. Let’s dig in!

Very wise choice to basically just stick almost the entire cast together for most of the ep. It’s hard on ensemble shows to actually do justice to all the various friendships and relationships that exist among the main characters but it is vitally important that shows like HSMTMTS take the time every once in a while to show the mains all being friends. It was a fun party too and pretty true to life to high school cast parties (minus the alcohol)

I really liked Nini and her Lola, it’s great Filipino rep and on twitter I saw that Lola’s actress was happy to see all the tweets talking about Nini calling her grandma Lola. I liked getting a bit of her backstory and learning about her coming to America when she was Nini’s age. Her line about seeing soldiers marching in her home province is likely a reference to the second world war. If she’s old enough to have memories of either the Japanese invasion and occupation of the Philippines or the American liberation of the Philippines then that would mean she’s in her late 70s or early 80s. The actress does not look anywhere near that old but it would explain why she’s living in a nursing home

We’ve been seeing a more confident Carlos these past couple of eps; some of it is due to Miss Jenn’s support, some due to having succeeded in his relationship with Seb, and some of it is because he has found a truly supportive group among the wildcats. I liked that he and Seb arrived together and I loved that Carlos was bold enough to call Seb honey in front of everyone

EJ should be cancelled for saying that Glee holds up. I think this ep was the most charming EJ has been since the premiere. I did like that he apologized to the girl he poisoned when that plot could have easily been dropped. I laughed when he looked up the trivia answer and then admitted that he couldn’t stop cheating. I get that including EJ seeing his follower count dropping during the sand montage is meant to suggest that to him social media is as serious as what’s going on in the others lives but it falls flat

Ricky and EJ doing the Sharpay and Ryan warmup was hilarious

I like Big Red and Ashlyn a lot more than I thought I would. Big Red was unintentionally very smooth complimenting Ashlyn and it’s easy to see that she isn’t used to being complimented like that. Carlos walking through her talking head session and correcting her was the funniest moment of the ep imo

Miss Jenn and Mr. Mazzara were surprisingly sweet and Big Hero 6 is a great movie. I’m not a huge fan of the enemies to lovers trope but I trust Tim to make it work. We can see this ep that Miss Jenn and Mr. Mazzara have more in common than either of them would likely admit; they’re both dedicated teachers but they’re both very lonely people at heart. And I do think there’s a lot of potential in a messy Miss Jenn, Mike Bowen, and Benjamin Mazzara love triangle. Jenjamin (or is it Bjenn?) is probably the ultimate endgame but I don’t think they’re done with Jike yet. I do want Benjamin to apologize for trying to get Miss Jenn fired though

So looks like we are getting levitating Troy and the musical needs to be in the gym because the theatre burned down

Gina really is Buffy 2.0 right down to the mom working for the government and having to move in exactly 10 days plot. Of all the plots for HSMTMTS to steal from Andi Mack that’s one of the worst they could have chosen. Andi Mack wasn’t able to pull off the Buffy moving plot and the show never fully recovered from the damage that plot caused. For HSMTMTS I don’t think they’ll actually move Gina and because the cast is larger she’s not as important to the show as Buffy was on Andi Mack; Gina is like the 4th or 5th lead but Buffy was the 2nd

Gina’s backstory certainly explains why she is who she is. I liked that confirmation that her dad isn’t in the picture and obviously she’s spent a lot of time on her own over the years. I don’t think her stealing Nini’s phone should have been swept under the rug but I like that her and Nini are friends now and as long as the show doesn’t try to bring back the phone theft later on I’m okay with it being dropped

Unless something radically changes it does seem like the writers decided not to go the route of Gina’s mom being a harsh stage mom. If nothing else, she just seems to busy with work to even be that overbearing and demanding

I’m extremely wary of Nini going to a Denver art school. Andi Mack only had Andi getting into SAVA because it was the series finale, there’s no way the show would have actually been able to pull that off. It’s the same reason they retconned Jonah’s age so he was still in 8th grade in S3, they just wouldn’t have been able to make him being in a different school work

We got some good Rina and Rini this ep. Gina’s hat for Ricky was a sweet gesture and Ricky needed someone to tell him to get out there instead of staying home alone moping. I liked the Rini duet in the beginning and Nini’s jealousy was very apparent. It’s telling that Ricky ended up taking Nini’s advice and calling his mom (and I liked that Nini is still number 1 on his favourites)

I continue to like the writing of the kids. Ricky seems to think that his mom just recently met Todd which is naive in a realistic way for a 16 year old. There’s no way that his mom would have let Todd answer her phone on her behalf while she’s in the shower if she’s only known him for a little while. She was living in Chicago for at least 4 months and very obviously considered her marriage over, she has probably been with Todd for a while and her new relationship was likely a factor in her flying back to SLC to officially end it with Mike

I think HSMTMTS has the best writing about social media I’ve yet seen in a teen oriented show, probably because Tim is under 40

Looking Ahead:

1x08 will be very pivotal for Rini. We’ve gotten a lot of clips leading up to their almost or actual kiss and I’m glad that Nini calls Ricky out for being a punk. Their chemistry really shines through in the clips we’ve seen, especially when Ricky says that Minnie Mouse wasn’t his first crush

I’m glad that Nini isn’t keeping her Denver school application a secret, that was something I hated about the SAVA plot on Andi Mack when Andi kept it a secret from her friends. Denver is similar enough to SLC that if the show wanted to have Nini spend time there it would be easy enough to film in SLC which is why I’m worried they will actually send Nini there at some point

I’m glad that Gina is being honest that she’ll have to leave a day early, I always disliked that Buffy left without saying goodbye to her friends and then ghosted them and that it was never addressed when she came back. I do think the show did too good of a job with Rina so the shift back to Rini might be jarring

We know that the dean of the Denver school is in the audience so she’s likely one of the unexpected guests and I’m sure Ricky’s mom with or without Todd will be another which is likely what leads to Ricky running for a bit before returning to finish the show

Until next week ep Wildcats

#HSMTMTS #Rini #Rina #Seblos #Gina Porter #Ricky Bowen #Nini Salazar-Roberts #EJ Caswell #Big Red #Ashlyn #Miss Jenn #Benjamin Mazzara #Carlos #seb mathew-smith #HSMTMTS Reviews

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mostlysignssomeportents · 4 years

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Pluralistic, your daily link-dose: 26 Feb 2020

Today’s links

Brave autolinks 404s to the Wayback Machine: The internet’s time-traveling, privacy respecting, ad-busting browser.

Clarence Thomas admits he blew it on Brand X: A very safe mea culpa from the man who helped kill Net Neutrality.

Medicare for All would be the biggest take-home pay increase in a generation: Even if my taxes went up by six figures (!), I’d still save money.

The Smithsonian publishes 2.8m hi-rez images into the public domain: Tired: “It belongs in a museum!” Wired: “It belongs to the world!”

McMansion Hell visits 1971: Before “lawyer foyers” there were “paralegal foyers.”

This day in history: 2005, 2015, 2019

Colophon: Recent publications, current writing projects, upcoming appearances, current reading

Brave autolinks 404s to the Wayback Machine (permalink)

A new feature in Brave’s excellent, privacy-centric browser: when you visit a dead page, it automagically checks to see if there’s a cached copy in the Internet Archive and directs you to that instead.

The Archive is crushing it. Working with Wikimedia, they’ve linked every book citation in Wikipedia to the relevant passage in a scanned book in their library section.

Brave’s plugin works on 404 (page not found) errors, and also for 408, 410, 451, 500, 502, 503, 504, 509, 520, 521, 523, 524, 525, and 526 errors (451 is “page censored!”).

https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/26/21154096/brave-browser-wayback-machine-404-internet-archive-lost-pages

Clarence Thomas admits he blew it on Brand X (permalink)

In 2005, Clarence Thomas wrote the majority opinion in Brand X, a case that ratified GW Bush’s FCC’s power to interpret both the statutes and jurisprudence of telcoms law however it wants, overriding judges.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/04-277.ZS.html

That decision meant that GWB’s FCC could arrange telcoms rules to suit the Big Cable donors GWB relied on. It meant that Obama’s FCC could reverse those rules and impose net neutrality. It meant Trump’s FCC could reverse Obama’s FCC and kill net neutrality.

Now, Thomas has written a dissent in Baldwin, a new case published Monday, in which he admits that he blew it in Brand X, by giving political appointees from the administrative branch the power to overrule both Congress and the courts.

https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/19pdf/19-402_o75p.pdf

When the Ajit Pai decision to kill net neutrality was brought before a circuit judge, she called it “unhinged.” Then she upheld it, because Brand X tied her hands.

Unfortunately, Thomas is the sole dissent in Baldwin, whose appeal SCOTUS will not to hear, leaving Brand X unchallenged. Given Thomas’s historic cowardice when it comes to challenging the establishment, this is a nice safe way to mea culpa without risking wrath of plutes.

“Although I authored Brand X, it is never too late to ‘surrende[r] former views to a better considered position.’ Brand X appears to be inconsistent with the Constitution, the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), and traditional tools of statutory interpretation. Because I would revisit Brand X, I respectfully dissent from the denial of certiorari.” -C. Thomas.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/02/clarence-thomas-regrets-ruling-that-ajit-pai-used-to-kill-net-neutrality/

Medicare for All would be the biggest take-home pay increase in a generation (permalink)

UC Berkeley economist Gabriel Zucman: “Because this is my lot in life, I will note again that Medicare for All would lead to the biggest take-home pay increase in a generation for working families, because it would replace private health insurance premiums (a huge privatized head tax) by taxes based on ability to pay.”

https://twitter.com/gabriel_zucman/status/1232295342185558018

We pay more than $2000/mo for gold-plated healthcare from Cigna through my wife’s blue-chip employer, where she is an exec. When my daughter broke a bone, our ER visit to the preferred hospital (across the street from corporate HQ) cost $2700 in excesses.

The kid didn’t even see a doc. $2700 in out-of-pockets was for a Tylenol, an X-ray, and a one-minute consult with a physician’s assistant, who referred us to an orthopedist. The ortho and ER initially refused to treat my daughter unless I signed a binding arbitration waiver.

Cigna also just declined a pain therapy course recommended by my specialist, head of a prominent university’s pain clinic whose papers on the therapy are the most-cited in the field: “It’s experimental.” It will cost me $52,000 in out of pockets if I want to proceed.

So, keeping track: we’re currently spending $24k/yr on health care, and about the same in out-of-pockets, and our care is being rationed. If I want the care the top specialist in the region recommends, that’s another $52k.

Our inadequate private care, literally the best we can buy, would cost us $100k this year if we got the care our doctors recommended; $50k if we decided to ignore their advice and not get that care.

That is to say: if Medicare For All raised our taxes by ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS, we’d be breaking even. And getting better care. I grew up with Canadian healthcare, then 13 years of NHS UK care. The US system, at the very highest tier, is so much worse than either.

The Smithsonian publishes 2.8m hi-rez images into the public domain (permalink)

The Smithsonian has released 2.8 million hi-rez images into the public domain!

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/smithsonian-releases-28-million-images-public-domain-180974263/

The images include reproductions of both 2D and 3D artifacts in the Smithsonian’s collection, from all 19 Smithsonian museums, hosted on an open access platform:

https://www.si.edu/openaccess

200,000 more images are slated for inclusion in 2020, and the scope of the whole project is to digitize all 155,000,000 images in the Smithsonian’s collections and dedicate them to the public domain for any use, including commercial use. It’s part of a “digital first” strategy that eschews hypothetical licensing revenue from art books and penny-postcards in favor of serving the public mission of a museum.

Here’s a crib from a keynote I gave about this to the first Museums and the Web Europe conference in Florence — museums have both an ethical and practical duty to serve the public rather than relying on plutes and licensing.

https://mwf2014.museumsandtheweb.com/paper/glam-and-the-free-world/

Tldr: the public will support you and demand your preservation when austerity-crazed governments want to de-fund you. Plutes won’t — they’ll just offer to buy your collection for their mansions.

Anyway, this is amazeballs. The possibilities for remix, fine art, new work, and computational historical research are endless. This is the Smithsonian we pay our taxes for. It’s a brave, principled move. Go, Smithsonian go!

McMansion Hell visits 1971 (permalink)

The luckiest people in the world have never heard of McMansion Hell because they get to discover Kate Wagner’s superb dunks on architectural excess, cynicism and ill-founded optimism for the very first time!

Lately, Wagner’s been doing a “Yearbook,” revisiting proto-McMansions from 1971 to trace the primitive ancestors of today’s hulking atrocities. The latest installment is a $1.2m, 5000sqft titan in Morris County, New Jersey.

https://mcmansionhell.com/post/610960530721636352/the-mcmansion-hell-yearbook-1971

This beast predates the modern “lawyer foyer” and instead sports a “paralegal foyer,” which ” lacks the transom window above the door that enables the entryway to be seen from the street.”

I could listen to Wagner riff on bad kitchen design ALL DAY.

The realtor’s just rendered a bunch of virtual furnishings into this empty room! Wagner: “Personally I’d love to have a copy of the software that lets you 3D decorate random real estate listings – it’s like the Sims but for realtors.”

Wagner signs off with a promise of a “Brutalism Post.” Swoon!

This day in history (permalink)

#15yrsago: Dismantling fear, uncertainty, and doubt, aimed at Wikipedia and other free knowledge resources https://web.archive.org/web/20050301003539/http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/free_issues/issue_02/fud_based_encyclopedia/

#15yrsago: HOWTO break HP printer cartridge DRM https://constitutionalcode.blogspot.com/2005/02/cartridge-expiration-date-workarounds.html

#15yrsago: @Aaronsw asks why Stanford professors include so few astrologers http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/001588

#15yrsago: Why John Gilmore won’t show his ID at airports http://old.post-gazette.com/pg/05058/462446.stm

#5yrsago: World War 3 Illustrated: prescient outrage from the dawn of the Piketty apocalypse https://boingboing.net/2015/02/26/world-war-3-illustrated-presc.html

#1yrago: Youtube ignored repeated reports about explicit suicide instructions spliced into cartoons on Youtube Kids https://pedimom.com/youtube-kids-scare/

#1yrago: New Orleans reduced homelessness by 90% (and saved a fortune) by giving homeless people homes https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2019/02/19/new-orleans-reducing-homeless-hurricane-katrina

#1yrago: Trump made history: introducing tax cuts made him LESS popular https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2019/02/trump-choose-unpopular-president.html

#1yrago: How the payday loan industry laundered policy by paying academics to write papers that supported its positions https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/02/25/how-payday-lending-industry-insider-tilted-academic-research-its-favor/?utm_term=.92930478ab59

Colophon (permalink)

Today’s top sources: Naked Capitalism (https://nakedcapitalism.com/”), Glenn Fleishman (https://twitter.com/glennf).

Hugo nominators! My story “Unauthorized Bread” is eligible in the Novella category and you can read it free on Ars Technica: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/01/unauthorized-bread-a-near-future-tale-of-refugees-and-sinister-iot-appliances/

Upcoming appearances:

Canada Reads Kelowna: March 5, 6PM, Kelowna Library, 1380 Ellis Street, with CBC’s Sarah Penton https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/cbc-radio-presents-in-conversation-with-cory-doctorow-tickets-96154415445

Currently writing: I just finished a short story, “The Canadian Miracle,” for MIT Tech Review. It’s a story set in the world of my next novel, “The Lost Cause,” a post-GND novel about truth and reconciliation. I’m getting geared up to start work on the novel now, though the timing is going to depend on another pending commission (I’ve been solicited by an NGO) to write a short story set in the world’s prehistory.

Currently reading: Just started Lauren Beukes’s forthcoming Afterland: it’s Y the Last Man plus plus, and two chapters in, it’s amazeballs. Last week, I finished Andrea Bernstein’s “American Oligarchs” this week; it’s a magnificent history of the Kushner and Trump families, showing how they cheated, stole and lied their way into power. I’m getting really into Anna Weiner’s memoir about tech, “Uncanny Valley.” I just loaded Matt Stoller’s “Goliath” onto my underwater MP3 player and I’m listening to it as I swim laps.

Latest podcast: Gopher: When Adversarial Interoperability Burrowed Under the Gatekeepers’ Fortresses: https://craphound.com/podcast/2020/02/24/gopher-when-adversarial-interoperability-burrowed-under-the-gatekeepers-fortresses/

Upcoming books: “Poesy the Monster Slayer” (Jul 2020), a picture book about monsters, bedtime, gender, and kicking ass. Pre-order here: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781626723627?utm_source=socialmedia&utm_medium=socialpost&utm_term=na-poesycorypreorder&utm_content=na-preorder-buynow&utm_campaign=9781626723627

(we’re having a launch for it in Burbank on July 11 at Dark Delicacies and you can get me AND Poesy to sign it and Dark Del will ship it to the monster kids in your life in time for the release date).

“Attack Surface”: The third Little Brother book, Oct 20, 2020.

“Little Brother/Homeland”: A reissue omnibus edition with a very special, s00per s33kr1t intro.

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josefavomjaaga · 3 years

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Helfert, Joachim Murat, Chapter 2, part 2

However, the British Congress Legation also used language very unfavourable to the King of Naples. When in the last days of September the Duke of Campochiaro appeared before Castlereagh to explain to him that "his monarch was prepared to let his troops clear all land beyond the borders of his kingdom, even the Marches promised to him by Austria, but that he would defend Naples itself to the last drop of blood, that he had at his command an armed force of 80,000 men, not counting the militia", the Lord replied evasively: "if King Joachim had intervened in earnest during the last war, his cause would have been different; but his dithering and vacillation had put all claims in suspense, and left open a question now to be decided solely from the standpoint of high policy; besides, he could only advise the King to keep as quiet as possible in the meantime, especially not to take any action against Sicily; any hostility on that side would be regarded by England as a case of war, and she would use all her strength against it" [Footnote 1]. The Duke of Wellington, then accredited to the court of Louis XVIII, and entirely drawn into its interests, most eagerly calculated where the troops could be obtained for a crusade against Naples: 10,000 Sicilians 10,000 Spaniards 12,000 Portuguese 15 to 20,000 from the British garrisons in the Mediterranean, "with such a force the enterprise might be ventured" [Footnote 2]. A pamphlet that appeared in London at this time defending Murat's claims seems to have made little impression in congressional circles.

One of the most ardent advocates in favour of the plan to expel the King of Naples was the representative of Great Britain in Palermo, who also received secret instructions from Castlereagh in the autumn of 1814, no doubt in accordance with Wellington's designs, to make enquiries about Murat's forces and about the mood prevailing in Naples on behalf of the Bourbons. A'Court's despatches spoke only of the "usurper" who should no longer be left on the throne, even though the envoy could not conceal the fact that "it would not be easy to give the matter a turn such that the dignity and faithfulness of the British Cabinet would not suffer shipwreck". Incidentally, it was thought in Palermo that nothing could be risked by an enterprise against Murat; every day, Ferdinand's ministers claimed, they received reports from the mainland saying that the impatience to see the ancestral king in possession of the country again could hardly be restrained. A'Court was furious when he heard that the British Consul Fagan, sent to Naples by Lord Bentinck, had assumed the position of Consul-General there, had gained admittance to the court, exchanged notes with the Minister Gallo, expressing a lively desire to strengthen the good understanding between the government of England and His Majesty's Majesty in Naples, and so on. He denounced him to Lord Castlereagh and at the same time recalled him to his former post in Palermo.

Already in the summer Castlereagh must already have uttered observations like the one mentioned earlier against King Joachim's representatives, which prompted the latter to draw up a memorandum on his attitude in the last campaign and to send it to the British First Secretary of State. This did little to improve his case. For Castlereagh obtained Nugent's and Bentinck's comments on the document, and each of them expressed himself more unfavourably about Murat than the other. "Once the allies had entered into certain obligations," the imperial general said, "they were obliged to fulfil them; but they were also relieved of all further considerations against Murat if he, for his part, had not observed them". Nugent now went through the Neapolitan account of the campaign of last spring point by point and everywhere came to the conclusion that King Joachim, by his strategic intervention, had not benefited but only harmed the allies in Upper Italy: "If the Neapolitan army had not moved, two Austrian battalions and a few squadrons would have sufficed to sweep the country clean, and if Murat, as he is pleased to claim, has conquered the country as far as the Po with his troops, this has been done at our expense, not that of our enemy".

Lord William considered the political rather than the military side, but came to similar conclusions as did the Austrian count. "Murat's policy," was Bentinck's brief opinion, "was calculated to save his crown, and so he always followed whoever seemed to emerge victorious from the struggle. At his court, as in his army, there were two parties at feud with each other and fighting for influence with him, a French and a Neapolitan one; he himself always remained a Frenchman at heart; he was of no use to the allies as a friend and, if fortune had turned his back on us, would have hastened our downfall as an enemy. Between the French and Neapolitan armies throughout the campaign there was obvious understanding; no hostile act was undertaken by either side against the other. A large part of the Neapolitan officers were burning with desire to compete with the French, but the King carefully avoided this. In the affair at Parma, March 6 to 8, the corps of General Nugent was, so to speak, sacrificed by Murat, and it has been said that a number of Neapolitan generals, because of the stain which this has placed on their militaristic character, have signed a letter to Murat" [Footnote 3].

To tell the truth, Murat's more than lax conduct of war in the last campaign was by no means the reason why people were speaking out against him more and more decidedly: it only offered a welcome excuse to be now able to turn away from him with decency, after he had been approached so often in the past. Even if, following the advice of his wise wife, he had been zealous in the interests of the Allies, he would not have been able to maintain the position he actually occupied. It must also be admitted that the "victrix causa", the cause which, after a quarter of a century of humiliations, defeats and losses of all kinds, was finally helped to victory, could have resulted in nothing else than Murat's removal from the throne, which he, too, owed only to the defeats and losses of his opponents at the time. Louis XVIII had hit the nail on the head when he exclaimed: "How can one tolerate a small usurpation after having put an end to a great one?

---

Footnote 1) Castlereagh to A’Court, Vienna October 2, 1814 X (III 2) p. 145 f.

Footnote 2) Wellington to Castlereagh September 12 and to Liverpool, December 25 1814, ibit, p.114 f., 226 — 228. „I concur very much in opinion with the King“, he writes to the First Lord of the Treasury, „that the chances of disturbance, particularly in this country, are very much increased by leaving Murat on the throne of Naples. If he were gone, Bonaparte in Elba would not be an object of great dread“. However, he asked the Minister of Foreign Affairs to not reveal anything about the entire plan for the time being: "The King is anxious that nothing should be said upon the subject at Vienna, until I shall receive an answer from England". In fact, the reply did not actually take the form the bellicose Duke had hoped for. Lord Liverpool agreed with Wellington completely on the main point; only, he said (Bath, 1 January 1815), it was necessary to wait for the time: "The only point which I wish to impress upon you is the absolute impossibility, in the present state of the circumstances and feelings in this country, of our engaging in military operations for the purpose of expelling Murat". Incidentally, in the unfavourable sentiment against Joachim, as in any question of British policy, there were also very material motives at play: "Si cette péninsule retombe dans les mains de la famille Buonaparte, le commerce anglais va à être gêné de nouveau dans cette péninsule, et certainement elle y tombera si de mesures rigoureuses et l'expulsion de Murat de l'Italie ne préviennent ce malheur"; Le Chevalier T. (Tinseau?) to Castlereagh 29 Nov. 1814; ibit p. 211, 243 f.

Footnote 3) Schöll, Recueil VI S. 364—394: Mémoire historique sur la conduite politique et militaire de S. M. le Roi de Naples etc.; S. 395—419 : Observations par le général comte Nugent etc.; S. 435—450: Dépêche de Lord William Bentinck au vicomte Castlereagh en date de Florence le 7 janvier 1815. The first two pieces are undated, but fall into the year 1814, and the memorandum into midsummer, since Castlereagh sent it to Count Bathurst on 6 September.

----

Just to add to this: Colonel Maceroni in his memoirs, as we have seen, had accused Eugène of having informed Austrian commander Bellegarde about the secret negotiations with Murat. This was obviously unnecessary, as Mier’s letters prove the Austrians to be very aware of what was going on anyway. But talked about it he surely had, as even in Paris the British had already taken note:

Lord Castlereagh to Lord Bathurst. Paris, May 3, 1814.

My Lord, I have delayed transmitting the enclosed correspondence for a few days, in the hope that I might be enabled to ascertain whether the Viceroy's assertions of Murat's treachery were supported by any documents on which the Allies could justify a change of policy towards him ; but none have as yet been received : I shall, however, take steps to ascertain the fact. The Austrian Government have no other reluctance on this point than what good faith imposes. As soon as I can learn anything further on this subject, your lordship shall hear from me.

I have, &c.,

CASTLEREAGH.

PS. Since this despatch was closed, I have received despatches from Sir R. Wilson, which throw further light upon Murat's conduct.

(taken from: »Memoirs and Correspondence of Viscount Castlereagh«, Volume X)

During that time, Eugène was still on his way to Munich; so he must have opened up quite a bit to Bellegarde before, when handing over Upper Italy to him. One can assume both commanders agreed heartily in their dislike for poor Murat.

(On a side note: As for the opinion of General Nugent cited above, I’ve recently come across an account of the battle of Raab which this gentleman apparently managed to loose singlehandedly. Not sure I’d put too much faith in his view of military matters.)

#joachim murat #congress of vienna #castlereagh #eugene de beauharnais #italy1814 #helfert murat #bentinck #nugent

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pighelium92 · 4 years

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Understanding The Distinctions In Between A Will And A Trust Fund

Living Wills And Also Development Directives For Medical Choices

Content

If You Don'T Intend To Utilize A Lawyer

Sign Your Will In Front Of Witnesses.

To Determine That Will Take Care Of Your Minor Kid

Trick Documents To Have Alongside Your Last Will And Also Testament.

When Should You Obtain Lawful Advice To Compose Your Will?

Full An Estate Tax Form.

Making Use Of A Lawyer To Write Your Will

What Is Probate?

What To Anticipate From Your Lawyer

If You Don'T Intend To Use A Solicitor

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To Identify Who Will Care For Your Minor Children

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Agency has become a key concept within history, especially since the rise of the “new” social history. But many historians treat agency as a uniquely human attribute, arguing that animals lack the cognitive abilities, self‐awareness, and intentionality to be agents.

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God had a wife, Asherah, whom the Book of Kings suggests was worshipped alongside Yahweh in his temple in Israel, according to an Oxford scholar. In 1967, Raphael Patai was the first historian to mention that the ancient Israelites worshipped both Yahweh and Asherah.

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Using A Lawyer To Create Your Will

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What Is Probate?

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Throughout March and October annually, if you're aged 55 or over you can get in touch with the lawyers participating and also demand a visit.

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If you decline your inheritance, known as disclaiming it, there are unique policies regarding who can acquire.

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keep documents of the amount of hours you work as well as the number of hrs you are furloughed (i.e. not functioning). still have the ability to claim the furlough grant for the hrs their flexibly furloughed workers do not work, contrasted to normal hours they would have worked in that duration.

Whilst on furlough, you might still carry out union or non-union reps tasks and also tasks for the objective of an individual or cumulative representation of employees or other employees. Nonetheless in doing this, you need to not offer services to or produce earnings for, or on behalf of your organisation or a connected or linked organisation. Your civil liberties as a worker are not influenced by being on furlough, including redundancy rights. For the hours you are furloughed your company can not ask you to do help one more linked or connected firm.

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The video footage is used to support your written witness statement. You should make up any type of inconsistencies in date/time within your witness proof offered to us.

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Is libertarian free will?

Metaphysical libertarianism is one philosophical view point under that of incompatibilism. Libertarianism holds onto a concept of free will that requires the agent to be able to take more than one possible course of action under a given set of circumstances.

This consists of being alerted to HMRC on an RTI submission on or prior to 19 March 2020, which associates with a payment of profits in the tax year 2019 to 2020. The demand for there to be repayment of profits in the tax year 2019 to 2020 looks for any kind of staff member being asserted for under the system, irrespective of how frequently they are paid (e.g. weekly, fortnightly or monthly). This will be relevant for those on a yearly pay duration if the last settlement notified to RTI was before 5 April 2019 and also no more payments were notified till after 19 March 2020. As workplace holders, salaried firm directors are eligible to be furloughed and also get assistance via this plan. Company directors owe duties to their business which are set out in the Companies Act 2006.

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We likewise have an obligation to notify the upseting driver of the claimed offence which they have actually committed normally within 14 days of the incident. Please make your entries as soon as possible and in any case within 7 days. This will enable us to adhere to the demands of the Roadway Website Traffic Act. We need your statement; we require to totally understand the circumstance and also individuals have a right to have actually matters heard in a court of law.

From 1 August 2020, your employer will be asked to contribute towards the price of your earnings to guarantee you remain to receive at least 80% of your incomes whilst on furlough. Figure out even more details on how the quantity of give readily available with Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme is altering.

Your company must discuss with you and also make any adjustments to the employment agreement by contract. When your employer is choosing in connection with the procedure, consisting of deciding who to supply furlough to, equal rights and discrimination regulations will apply in the common way. Your employer is accountable for asserting with the Job Retention Plan in your place and also for paying you what you're entitled to.

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purplesurveys · 4 years

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815

At what time of day do you normally feel the best? I love the evening the most. I get to have my coffee, it’s quieter around the house, and it also gets a little bit colder so it’s more fun to hang around by then. Do you normally have to hem pants? I’ve never had to do that before. If I need my pants fixed, I usually ask my lola to do it since she’s good at that kind of stuff. Name one reason why someone should not commit suicide. I can’t speak for other people, but I personally stay because I don’t want to leave Kimi behind and because I’ve seen countless mini-documentaries of parents who were left devastated by their kids taking their own lives. What would you do if you had no one to love and support you? That sounds so fucking bleak. I imagine bringing myself to therapy so I can learn how to deal with such a situation, and so that I at least have one person to talk to. If you didn't have love and support, would you feel life was worth living? No. But that’s why I imagine I’d be going to therapy, so my mind can be changed.

If you had no family nor friends nor money, would you feel life's worth living? These questions are so stressful to mull over and a tad bit triggering lmao, can I pass at this point? If you're unhappy, what would it take to make you fulfilled? Depends on what I need, which differs every time. Sometimes I’d wanna be alone, other times I’d want to be with other people, other times I’d need to drive and take longer routes than usual, or to binge YouTube videos, or a good nap...it’s always different. What was the last thing that upset your stomach? The meds I had to take for my UTI. Feeling poopy was one of its side effects, so even though it didn’t upset my stomach per se I did have to have several trips to the bathroom then. Do you have to go the pharmacy a lot? No, only when something’s wrong with me which doesn’t happen too often. Are you sunburned? I haven’t been sunburned since I was like 10. The tendency just suddenly stopped at some point. Do you wish someone loved you? I have a lot of people who already do, fortunately. Do you call yourself stupid often? Like every other hour lmao. What's a song you love? From Eden - Hozier. Do you miss anyone who was mean to you? Not to my knowledge. I’m glad they aren’t in my life today. Name someone you know who is a cancer survivor. One of my former Filipino teachers in high school. Are you friends with any cancer survivors? I don’t think that I am. Does God often answer your prayers? How was your day today (or yesterday, if it's morning)? It was average. Nothing out of the ordinary happened today but I did like the fact that my parents still left the living room aircon on for most of the day even though summer’s over and the weather’s already begun to be a little colder. Do you wish the sunrise and sunset lasted longer? Not really? I’m fine with the ones we’ve got lol. Would you want to relive your childhood again? Fuck no. It had some nostalgic bits, like the shows I used to watch or me playing outside, but it was far too traumatic for me to miss it as a whole. I’m happy being a grownup.

Were your college years the best years of your life? Not fully. My time in college only peaked by the second half, so it wasn’t all that great. Junior and senior year were very fun and eye-opening, though. Would you rather re-live high school or college? Ooh that’s quite a pickle...both periods had their highs. High school was a lot easier (academically), it was a time when I could fuck up and it was okay, and I found my first group of friends. College was a time of independence, a lot of growing up to do, and I also found my second group of friends. As miserable as I was during my freshman year, I ultimately have to go with college because I hated most of the people in my high school anyway and because I really loved the independence I gained in college, from being able to drive on my own and managing stuff on my own time to being free to choose my class schedule. And also, duh, I passed my dream school? I’d relive my years in UP in a heartbeat. What is the dumbest sports-team mascot you've heard of? Not really familiar with sports mascots to begin with. Are you a sports fan? Err, not really. I’m a pro wrestling fan, but it’s not 100% a sport. Where do you feel like you fit in the most? In my college and in my org. I’m sad that I only get four years with them – three when it comes to my org. Do you hate social classes? Yes. Do you think talent should have anything to do with social class? What? I have no clue what this question is insinuating but lmao of course not. I know some crazy talented people who wouldn’t be considered rich, and I know some bland-ass wealthy people who can’t do anything impressive at all. Name a country who's history you know nothing about. Australia. Name a religion you know nothing or very little about. Zoroastrianism. I only remember the founder. Don't you hate know-it-alls? I hate when they start getting conceited. What is your favorite store at the mall? I love visiting Fully Booked every chance I get. When was the last time you went to the mall? That would be when I had my eye checked last early March, because the clinic I visited was inside the mall. Aside from doing that, I also had late lunch at Marugame Udon which apparently would be the last time I’d have their food for a while, unbeknownst to me :( Do you have a bed or do you sleep on a mattress on the floor? I have a bed. When was the last time you went for a run? LOL never. Have you ever tried hard drugs? No. Which school subject did you hate the most? Back in high school I really hated the advanced math and science classes e.g. chemistry, physics, calculus, trig. In college, I found myself hating philosophy and economics the most. What was the last thing you wore from Aeropostale? I don’t think I ever wore anything from them. Which devotional do you read? I don’t read those. Do you appreciate classic literature? I appreciate and recognize their impact, but I don’t like reading them.

What is something you find strange? People who keep pushing for the All Lives Matter narrative. Cringe. Do you like your natural hair color? Sure. I’ve never actively complained about it, that’s for sure. Would you rather get a pixie cut or get dreadlocks? Pixie cut, because I’m pretty sure getting dreadlocks as a Filipino is a form of cultural appropriation? Would you rather dye your hair or get a perm? Dye it.

Do you keep Christmas lights up year-round? No, we don’t. Have you ever started a new trend? Just me? Lmao no. Do you have any artwork of yours from high school? I definitely don’t. Whenever a teacher would give our artworks back, I crumpled it up as soon as I got it and would throw it away. I just simply rejected all of my attempts to be creative lol. What did you win a scholarship for? I’ve never gotten one. But my university did start implementing free tuition for all undergrads starting in 2017 when I was a sophomore, so it’s kinda like the same thing. Did your college meet your expectations? Yes, and more. UP taught me far more than classroom lessons as it opened my eyes to the more important societal issues happening outside of school. It made me recognize our farmers who never earn the income they deserve; the factory workers stuck in poor working conditions; the jeepney drivers whose work is never respected; the millions of working class Filipinos who simply deserve better; and the government that is more corrupt than I thought. My college on the other hand taught me to be fearless and to never hesitate to search for, report, and defend the truth, and to disseminate just that to the masses. Bottomline is that words can’t even begin to describe how grateful I am to have studied there and I will always be very much in love with my school. What was the best thing about college? The best thing about mine, at least, was the throng of life lessons and eye-opening realizations it gave me. Each of them has been more valuable than any lesson I learned in the classroom. UP taught me that there were a thousand other issues far more important than problems I face in my own privileged bubble, but that I can help facilitate change if I wanted to. How old were you ten years ago? 12. Easily the worst age I’ve been in. What's the best piece of advice you can give someone ten years younger? Stay. It’ll get better. Not instantly, but it does get better. Do you feel like you are old enough and experienced enough to give advice? I think anyone’s fit to give advice no matter how old they are. Even kids can be quite insightful. The differences just lie on the topics people give advice on. How old were you when you started to feel mature and experienced? 17, after I had a series of shitty stuff happen to me at one point in 2015. When I got past those, I could tell I wasn’t the same person that I was, like, two months back. Were your 20's hell? I’m only in my second year lmao, can you get back to me in eight years? What type of bug do you see the most often in your home? We don’t get a lot of bugs at home, fortunately. We have tons of ants though. Do you put off things until the last minute? If I’m not passionate about the task, yes. Do you have the air conditioning on right now? Nope, just the fan. Is your mom the same size as you? She’s slim but she’s still ever so slightly a bit larger. We can technically share clothes but some of them would still look loose on me.

Does camping appeal to you? I have moods where it does and moods where it doesn’t lol. What color is your sleeping bag? I don’t have one. How often do you pray? Do you surrender to Christ daily? When was the last time you went to church? Do you know any Christians who aren't judgmental? Only a handful, and it’s usually people in my age group. Most of the others suck, and I can say this because I’ve had coooooooountless personal experiences with rude, hypocritical, sexist, homophobic, and transphobic Christians and Catholics. Do you believe there are any good people in the world? Of course. What's one thing you are scared of? Flying cockroaches.

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