#and i am not sure how was it with castor's nickname

[wolframpant]

Domina and the children of the next Julio-Claudian generation

[toonqueen]

Duckvember Day 1: Dead Duck (Part 1)

lololol Part 2 coming SOON hopefully.

Okay this story has OCs that are the adult kids of Mighty Ducks the Animated Series. HERE IS A CHEAT SHEET SINCE NOT MANY READ MY STORIES BACK IN HIGHSCHOOL. (Only One Many Here Has. lol) This story is very

Luke-  Duke’s son that pretty much looks exactly like him but has both eyes. Super smart but does not apply himself because of gifted child burnout. @fluxchix is responsible for him.

Maestro - Son of Canard and Luceria Decoy that fell out of a portal one day, like you do. Super sweet guy even though he has seen some shit. Also he's deaf so I'm writing SIGNED instead of SAID a lot.

Tayshia - Tanya and Wildwing daughter that someone while having loving parents turned out to be kinda a jerk man. Wtf is up with that?

Karma - Grin’s son, I really don’t have  much to explain here. 

Mercedes - Nosedive’s daughter. Everything you find annoying about Nosedive but then doubled. 

Molissa - Duke's daughter and Luke's younger sister.

Castor and Blaster - Mallory’s twins.  Funny story I can’t remember these two’s real names. These were their nicknames. I actually rarely ever wrote them so LOLOLOL. 

Rex - Dragaunus’ son that is good and working with the ducks because he’s the bad bitch Mercedes was able to pull by being autistic 

Tyrant - not related to Dragaunus in any way, just a new saurian from limbo that is the new bad guy or something.

THIS STORY IS LUKE AND MAESTRO CENTERED. 

Betaed by @cataradical but the next part may be unbetaed because I am unsupervised.

—-----------------------

 “Thank you for the ride. You do not have to stick around,” signed Maestro as he sat in the passenger seat. He had been excited all day to go to the bookstore. The book he wanted the author to sign was sitting in his lap.

“Ah, I’ll be in the area. There’s stuff on the other side of the street I’m going to check out,” replied Luke, signing as he spoke aloud.

“Cool. I will text you when I am done,” Maestro signed as he smiled, “I do not know how long the line is going to be. He is famous enough to draw a crowd.”

“Take your time. There’s no rush. Maybe we can have dinner afterwards,” Luke said and signed. Maestro put on the device that helped him hear. It was something Tanya had created a short while ago that easily wrapped around the back of his head and ended at a circular shape on each end. It wasn’t 100% helpful with hearing speech, but it was what he normally wore in battle mode so he could not be surprised and attacked from behind. 

“A quick dinner. I wanted to finish packing tonight,” Maestro signed, smile widening. He opened  the truck door to get out. He closed the door, tucked the book under his arm, and waved his friend off.. Luke snickered and waved in return before the other duck disappeared into the store.

Luke headed to the strip mall across the street. He was sure he could find something to waste his time on for a few hours. He didn’t want to go back to his empty apartment and for sure did not want to go back to the Pond and be forced to practice. 

Luke barely had a chance to park when he already received a text message from Maestro. He expected it to be a long paragraph explaining something that happened at the signing. Instead it was a short message: “Pick me up now. Please.”

Luke hopped back into the pickup, returned to the bookstore. Maestro was waiting outside with a very neutral expression. His copy of the book was no longer in his arms.

Luke parked the truck and Maestro got in without saying a word. Angrily buckled himself up.

“Uh, that was quick... How did it go?” Luke said as he signed, a little bit unsure about asking because it clearly did not go well. 

“Not good. Can we go to your apartment?” Maestro signed back as he dropped his messenger back onto his lap. The book didn’t appear to be inside, either.

“Okay…” Luke trailed off, replying with a simple “okay” in sign.

The drive was awkwardly quiet. Maestro stared out the window, hugging his bag. When they pulled off at an exit and stopped at a red light, he finally broke the silence. Without looking at Luke, he spoke aloud, “He didn’t even give me the chance to explain. He just said I was mocking his work.” Most of his enunciation and tone was clear but when it came to longer words they were more mumbled. Before Luke could say anything, he continued, “I mean. I knew better than to mention Limbo. I just said there is warring on our home planet and he just– just shot me down. I mean. It’s the elephant in the room that no one talks about, but it’s kinda common knowledge that alien ducks are here because our planet sucks right now. So wouldn’t it make sense there would be someone in my situation?” 

Luke nodded, not sure of what to say at that moment. He then realized Maestro wouldn’t see his nod so he reached over to give the upset duck a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder. 

Maestro looked over at Luke; he wasn’t crying but his eyes were misty. 

Luke went to speak but was interrupted by an angry honk from the car behind him. The light had turned green. The gray duck grumbled to himself, annoyed, and resumed driving.

Maestro looked a little amused at Luke’s frustrated reaction to being honked at. He wiped a tear from his eye, chuckling, “Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize,” Luke added verbally. He then signed his response, forgetting a moment Maestro wouldn’t understand him. It was frustrating for him that he couldn’t communicate with his friend while driving. 

Maestro could tell Luke thought that he had missed the words. “Do not worry. I am watching your beak now,” he reassured softly with a light smile despite his watery eyes. 

“Did you still want to go out to eat?” asked Luke. 

“No,” Maestro replied verbally. He spoke softly because Luke had to keep his eyes on the road, but still signed a bit out of habit. “I am going to take a nap. I was up until 4 AM, so excited to meet this guy. I do not want to go back to the pond right now because Tanya would see I was upset and mom all up on me.”

Luke took a moment to process what Maestro said. “Yeah, it's fine,” he replied. “You can crash at my place. I have a few things to do so I’ll drop you off first.” 

----------- 

A Short Time Later

—---------

“What kind of dump did you send me to?” the gentleman spoke into his cellphone as he got off the elevator. He angrily dug into his pocket for the hotel room key. “I’m on the third floor. THIRD FLOOR.”

There was a pause as the man stopped in front of the door, finally retrieving the key card. “I don’t care if it's a five star hotel. I don’t care what actors stay here. This place is as bad as that so-called bookstore you sent me to. I’ll call you in the morning.”

The author shoved open the door, tossing the key and phone on the dresser. He took off his jacket, dumped it on the couch as he entered the small office space in the large, fancy hotel room. Before he could switch on the light, he heard an abrupt <i>click</i> from the desk. It was followed by the flicker of fire from a lighter. 

The author, confused, turned on the light.

Luke sat on the desk, lighting his cigarette clamped in his beak. He took a drag, held it between his fingers. In his other hand was a copy of the author’s book, opened about a third way through. “So here’s the shit I don’t get,” he said coldly. “Your book is like, 10% about this former child soldier in Uganda, and then the other 90% about telling others how to cope. You, a guy who has never experienced the horrors of war. Where’s this child soldier you spoke about? The boy who actually had to endure all this pain and misery?”

“How did you get in here! The security in this place is… how!” the human seemed rather stunned. 

The duck ignored his outburst, flipping through the book. “Not a word from the guy in here… It's like you’re making money off his trauma. Wow. Does he get any of the residuals off your book sales, because I mean, come on. Or is this some sorta ‘Memories of a Geisha’ bullshit?”

“What is this? I’m calling the police!” the man went back to the table he had left his phone. The grey feathered duck stayed on the desk as he flipped through to read the next page of the book. When the human picked up the phone he saw he had no signal. He tried calling out but just got a defunct noise in the return. He then picked up the hotel phone but it had no ring tone

“Don’t worry man. I’m her to just talk,” Luke called from the other room. The sound of him getting off the desk could be heard, “Comon, we just need to discuss a little situation.”

The author went to leave the hotel room, but the doorknob didn’t work. 

“You know, EMP shit isn’t just stuff for sci fi movies,” the grey duck added as he came to the office doorway, “Man, everything is fucking automated nowadays. Even that silly hotel room lock.” 

“What do you want?” The man glared at the gray duck. The human didn’t seem scared but knew he was in possible danger. 

“Heh, can’t you at least guess? Maybe?” He stood. “I mean, it's not that often you see two alien ducks in one day,” Luke said as he leaned against the office doorway. He took another puff from his cigarette.

“You’re threatening me because I called out that other duck’s publicity stunt?” the author snapped. 

“Alright, first of all, there was no one from ‘our media’ with him,” Luke gave finger quotations as he spoke, cigarette bouncing between a pair, “he came alone and stood in line with all the others. Why couldn’t you just sign his fucking book and let it go?”

“What kind of PTSD trauma do you ducks have? You play hockey, right? You’re celebrities. I don’t see anything about your experiences related to the contents in my book,” the human ranted, more annoyed than anything else.

“Look, you could &lt;;i>technically</i> say that about any of the other ducks around my age born on Earth.,” Luke explained irritably. “But Maestro wasn’t, okay? He came to this planet when he was fourteen. I think he’s only told me about half of the shit he went through before he got to Earth. He really, <i>really</i> liked your book.” He didn’t expect the author to understand, however. “And even though you’re an asshole, obviously, the book helped him a lot. I could tell.”

Luke stood up right, moving closer to the author. The human stood his ground. Completely unempathetic, just as the duck guessed. 

“And what, praytell, did you want me to do about your friend’s problem?” the author demanded, crossing his arms. 

Luke rubbed his own forehead. God, this man was dense. “You wrote a book to help people, and your attitude is like… <i>this</i>?” he sighed. “Look, how about this. Wait a few days, and then send him a signed copy of your book with a nice short note apologizing.”

“And what if I don’t?” the human replied, unfazed. 

“How bad would it look if the advocate against child soldiers was taking blood diamond money this whole time?” Luke threatened, biting down on the cigarette. He took out his phone and opened up a search.

“I’ve done no such thing,” the author grumbled as he loosened the tie from his collar a bit.

“Oh, I can probably find connections in half an hour. If not, I can make a few up, all 100% believable,” Luke stated as he typed on his smartphone, “I might even have it done in fifteen minutes.”

“Impossible. Get out of here now,” the human said sternly, but it also had a slight tone of worry.

“You really want to try me? I’ve already shown that our advanced alien technology just blocked all the electronics in your room. Don’t you think that I could do more?” Luke asked rhetorically.   The other paused and let out a defeated sigh.

“All this because I hurt your friend’s feelings?” the human replied.

“Yep!” Luke could only reply as he gave what could only be described as  a sarcastic ‘buddy buddy’ patting on the back to the author, “I’ll check up on you and make sure you do as I said. Alright?”

“I will,” the author grumbled, reluctantly taking Luke’s threat seriously. Luke was heading away from the author and to the nearby window.

“Then, I’ll catch you later,” Luke replied before opening the window, “and if you breathe a word of this to the cops, I’ll know.”

“Uh.... alright,” the author said unsure as he saw the duck disappear out the window and probably take the fire escape down. Before the human could say anything else he was gone. 

As Luke was walking to the maroon truck he was borrowing he received a text. 

Mae: Where are you at? I just woke up. 

Mae: Not asking because I expect you to come back. 

Mae: Just asking. No rush. 

Luke saw the messages as he got into the maroon pickup. He replied back.

Luke:  I was just picking up your favorite donuts, from that little place across town. 

Mae: Oh geez. You didn’t have to!

Mae: Thank you! <3

Mae: I’m actually hungry for real food now but I’ll eat one on the way to real food or something. Ha.

Luke: Alright. I’ll come pick you up. :)

After he replied he put the phone in the passenger's seat with the box of donuts he really did get before his meeting with the author.

[quoteablebooks]

Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult, Fiction

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars 

Summary:

Every seven years, the Agon begins. As punishment for a past rebellion, nine Greek gods are forced to walk the earth as mortals, hunted by the descendants of ancient bloodlines, all eager to kill a god and seize their divine power and immortality.

Long ago, Lore Perseous fled that brutal world in the wake of her family's sadistic murder by a rival line, turning her back on the hunt's promises of eternal glory. For years she's pushed away any thought of revenge against the man--now a god--responsible for their deaths. Yet as the next hunt dawns over New York City, two participants seek out her help: Castor, a childhood friend of Lore believed long dead, and a gravely wounded Athena, among the last of the original gods. The goddess offers an alliance against their mutual enemy and, at last, a way for Lore to leave the Agon behind forever. But Lore's decision to bind her fate to Athena's and rejoin the hunt will come at a deadly cost--and still may not be enough to stop the rise of a new god with the power to bring humanity to its knees.

*Opinions*

Full disclosure, the only reason I knew about this book was because of social media, hence the creation of my Goodreads Shelf, social media made me do it of which this is the first entry. Now, as much as the premise sounded interesting and I attempt to be unbiased about books, I did not go into this with a lot of hope given that most of the views I had seen had not been favorable. However, as I could check this out of the library and not take a physical book with me on a vacation, I figured it was a good time to decide for myself how I felt about Lore. At the end of the day, Lore was better than I was expecting from past reviews, but also very forgettable.

Lore follows Melora, nicknamed Lore to add a layer to the title of the novel, who is a descendent of the ancient Greek hero Perseus, which makes her fate bound to a hunt of the gods in the Agon that happens every seven years due to the gods’ betrayal of Zeus. If one of the Hunters kills a god, they are able to take their power and ascend to immortality until the next Agon where they will be hunted. Lore has left this life behind at the beginning of the novel as it was this brutal lifestyle that leads to the death of her entire family. However, when her old best friend and a wounded Goddess find her as she attempts to fade into the bustle of New York City during this Agon, Lore reenters the life she attempted to escape in the hopes of avenging her family and keeping herself alive for the next seven days. When I heard the premise of this novel, I was really excited about it because I love a good retelling or use of mythology, especially Greek. However, I felt as if a lot of time wasn’t spent on the interesting parts of the novel, such as what had really happened to cause Zeus to cast out the nine Gods, so instead Lore can run all over New York in times no even knowing where she was going or why. The only original God that we spent time with was Athena and while I like that she is as complicated in this novel as she is in myth, she is still a very flat character and nothing she did was surprising at all. In fact, nothing in this novel surprised me in the slightest as everything was telegraphed to the reader at least a chapter before it happened. Artemis was probably the most interesting character in the novel and she is in perhaps ten pages of this 500-page novel. The novel also didn’t do any favors to ancient Greek culture or any of the characters that aren’t part of Lore’s inner circle. Almost every character that Lore interacted with, aside from Iro, is just so unbelievably awful that it was hard to take them seriously. Also, the amount of misogyny was hard to believe in a story that was supposed to be set in modern times. I get that they live in this bubble protected by money and tradition, but child brides? Really? The brutality of the hunters and the houses would have been enough to show this world was backward and why Lore would want to escape, but the continued discounting of women as anything other than to provide children was ridiculous and took me out of the story. The characters of the story all fell very flat to me, as does the romance, mostly because you saw everything coming. The first time we meet Castor, even before we know who he is, you know that he’s the love interest from how he was described. While I wanted to like Castor, Miles, Van, and Lore, they never did anything to gain my affection. Part of this was probably because this novel was constantly the group running somewhere, running into a barrier, failing at whatever task they were trying to complete, and running again. After the third setback, it was started to become a little tedious to watch the group plan for pages knowing that it was going to fail or it was going to go wrong in some way. I was on a train when I read this so I powered through, but if I could have done other things it would have taken me a lot longer to get through this novel. One last issue was that New York City and Lore’s love for it ends up being a crux in the plot of the novel, but I only felt that love at times when it was convenient to the plot. Sure, Lore wants to save those not in the hunt during the cataclysmic events that happen over the seven days, which the fact that was just brushed over that all this was just being brushed aside is a completely different issue, doesn’t mean she is in love with the city as much as she had a heart. Other than mentioning a few landmarks, it was Athena telling Lore that she was attached to the city more than the reader seeing that Lore loved New York City. In fact, it was Athena’s passion and determination to save the city after seeing so many fall that saved New York, not Lore. Overall, not the worst thing that I have ever read, but not something I’m going to recommend to others. The ending was so completely anticlimactic that it isn’t even worth noting other than to say that it was predictable and ridiculous after everything leading up to it. I am sad that I didn’t like this novel because it is such an interesting premise, but it just fell very flat to me in several areas. I’ll be interested to see how I feel about other Alexandra Bracken novels.

[my-faves-said-gay-rights]

17 Questions 17 People

Tagged by @strawsmultifandomtrashcan thanks youuuu

Nicknames: I have a friend who calls me klo klo and that's it, though my friends and I use names like babe and sweetie for each other lmao

Zodiac: Scorpio

Height: not sure but like 168cm?

Last thing I googled: my Spotify stats

Song stuck in my head: right now is a very rare moment where I don't have one in my head

Number of followers: 660

Amount of sleep I got: 7 hours? I either sleep for way too long or not long enough tbh I'm a disaster

Lucky number: I don't have one but I'll say 7 because bts

Favourite song: oh boy uhhhhh I'll say "cherry wine" by hozier, "the other side of paradise" by glass animals, "wake" by the antlers (hearing that song live was a truly transcendent experience, I was sobbing), rock + roll by eden, and "Dixon's girl" by dessa (castor the twin version). It's impossible for me to choose just one but these are the ones that have been faves over the years

Favourite instruments: violin

Dream job: film director but I doubt that'll ever happen lol

Aesthetic: I'm queer I can't choose just one???? I guess I'll say grunge cus that's how I dress

Favourite author: I haven't been able to read a book in years so I'll say the childhood classic Jacqueline Wilson cus I literally read every single one of her books and I partly blame her for who I am today, plus earlier this year she came out as gay so that's cool

Favourite animal noise: that's a strangely specific question. The first to come to mind is that noise cats make when you touch them and they're like surprised?? You know the one I mean?? The start up noise???

Random: ummmm I have an older sister and older brother

Tagging @newdayslinguine @gayfeministbroadwayyeet @kyungsoorose @yuniixoxo @uglykitten @kingparkjinyoung @transrightsjimin @loonarmiyane @aliensuhyun @badwolfwhitewolfbug

[childrenoflight-darkness-nothing]

I tried to update the post and tumblr crashed every time. *caelum and Clarissa voice* this is homophobic.

Get your shit together please tumblr!!!!! Anyways, it’s not as long of an update as the last two 4.5kish word updates but like it’s 2.5k and that’s pretty good in its own right??? Fluff?? They can!! A bit!! As a treat!!

[[MORE]]

-

“It’s really not that bad,” she said, trying to make light of the situation when Adair sat down to examine her leg. Trying to crack a joke. Do anything to get that worried frown off of his face. She couldn’t see it through the mask, but Aislin knew it was there. His brow knitted together in concentration as he worked.

He was gentle as he cleaned the wound, muttering apologies whenever she winced. But aside from that he was silent. He hadn’t said anything to her since he’d found her in the hallway; not really.

And that was worse than anything else he could’ve done. Even yelling would’ve been better. At least that would be something. Aislin knew it had been reckless to run back inside that building. Reckless and fairly stupid. But she couldn’t leave anyone behind. She wouldn’t. And she hadn’t even given it a second thought and she’d ran back in after Ferret. If Adair was upset with her… he had every right to be. She’d defied orders, endangering herself and the mission in the process.

She just wished he would say something. Anything.

Aislin was silent as he tended to her wounds, first the gash on her leg and then he bandaged up her arm. She stayed silent as he filled a bowl with water and started to clean the blood off of her. A pointless task. Between Clarissa, Ferret, and her own wounds it would take a change of clothes and a warm shower before she’d be able to even remember the concept of clean again. But she let him do it; scrubbing at her hands first. His fingers traced lightly over the place a ring should’ve been before he moved on to her right hand.

She didn’t stop him until he’d returned the cloth to the water bowl, rinsing it. Her fingers traced over his cheek before she’d pulled his mask away, wanting to see his face.

“Abair rud éigin,” Aislin practically begged, tears beginning to form in her eyes. If he was mad she could handle it, she more than deserved it, but what she couldn’t take was another minute of his deafening silence. “Say something, please.”

Adair glanced at her with a shaky breath, his arms tangling around her waist in the next second as he pulled her close. “You can’t just—you have to be more careful, my love.”

“I was careful,” she promised. “I made it back, didn’t I?”

“Yes but,” Adair pulled away from her, his voice breaking as he took her face in his hands. His touch gentle. Eyes pleading. “You can’t just run back into buildings that are falling apart like that. You can’t. Ferret knew the risk when he volunteered, so did everyone in that team. They all—we all know what we’re getting into. You can’t just—“

Aislin rested her palm against the back of his hand, her head leaning into his touch. Her tone was soft, even, as she asked if he would’ve done any differently. If he would’ve left Ferret for dead. She already knew his answer of course. But she wanted to hear him say it. Wanted him to hear himself say it.

“No, of course not. But that’s different.”

“How?”

——

She’d changed into a pair of scrubs, insistent on helping out at the hospital after getting herself cleaned up. Not that anyone had let her do much with her limping around the ward. Aislin wasn’t badly injured, but the stitches in her thigh pulled painfully whenever she took a step.

Aislin made her rounds checking on everyone until Clarissa came out of surgery and was transferred into a room. Deirdre was the first into the room, worry pulling at the corners of her mouth. She wasn’t directly involved with the Revolution, but she knew enough and frequented the hospital whenever Clarissa found herself hurt on a mission. Which was too often for the redhead’s liking. Aislin followed close behind into the room, finding Deirdre already studying the monitors.

“What does that one mean?” Deirdre pointed to one of the flashing lights. “And that one?”

Aislin gave them a quick glance. “Everything’s normal,” she assured before placing a hand on Deirdre’s back who turned to face her. “She was perfectly alert when I found her, making jokes even. Once the anesthetic wears off she’ll wake up. It’ll be a long recovery for sure, but Claire will pull through. She’ll be fine, Rey.”

Deirdre’s frown deepened at the nickname but she said nothing before falling into a chair at Clarissa’s beside.

When Deirdre continued to say nothing, Aislin pulled out Claire’s chart, studying over the Doctor’s notes before pointing out various injuries. She knew it would help Deirdre to know exactly what was wrong. “Fractured radius and ulna, right side. As well as a dislocated shoulder.” Her hand hovered over Clarissa’s casted forearm before gesturing to her right shoulder. “Three… no four broken ribs. She’ll need to be careful while those heal, or she could puncture a lung. Gunshot wound to the abdomen, it was a clean shot. Straight through and it didn’t puncture anything important. Worst case is an infection. Minor concussion. And a shattered femur, probably from when the building collapsed. That one is honestly going to be the worst of it. And she will be out of commission for a while, while it heals.”

Deirdre nodded along, compiling the list of injuries through her mind. It was truly nothing too serious. Especially after she’d heard of one of the other members of Claire’s team who had barely made it out with his life. Things could be worse. Everything could be so much worse. But still her girlfriend laid there pale and bruised and dead to the world.

“Thank you, Aislin,” she finally said.

Aislin nodded silently, giving Deirdre’s shoulder a slight squeeze before she limped out of the room. She found Castor brooding against the wall outside, arms crossed over his chest and head leaned down so that his icy stare was focused on the floor.

“You can go inside you know, Deirdre won’t mind.”

“I know.”

She squinted at him, tilting her head to the side as she noticed a tear in his shirt sleeve. The dark fabric stained with something even darker. Blood she figured. “Did you get that looked at?”

“Did I get what looked at?”

Of course he hadn’t… She sighed, shaking her head before pulling up his shirt sleeve to reveal a bullet wound. “It’s still in there… God...” Aislin let out a breath. “Never mind, you can’t go in there because you’re coming with me. And we’re getting that taken care of. Doctors orders.”

“Orders? Like you so graciously followed orders? And last I checked, you’re not a doctor,” he reminded her. “I’ll take care of it myself, later.” Castor shrugged his shoulders, wincing ever so slightly at the movement.

“I almost was.” She crossed her arms over her chest, returning his stern gaze. And pointedly ignoring his jab about her not following orders. She’d done the right thing, and she refused to apologize for it. The only thing she would apologize for was worrying Adair, and Carrick. She could still feel the way the lad had pulled her into a tight hug. Throwing his arms around her with a broken sob immediately after seeing her. The boy had quickly schooled his features plastering on a mask that would rival even Castor, but in that split second more guilt had hit her then when she’d been faced with Adair’s worried silence.

“Either way,” she continued. “I am more qualified than you are, so either follow me or I will drag you to an exam room myself. And that is a threat.”

“You, and what army exactly?” Castor gave her a ghost of a grin, a small shred of emotion reserved purely for his sisters and Tyde.

“I don’t need one.”

——

Aislin had gotten him to an exam room with little more argument. He sat on the table obediently while she washed her hands and pulled on a pair of gloves.

Castor pulled off his shirt, tugging the dried cloth fibers away from the wound as Aislin sat down beside him. He didn’t wince or even groan as she dug the bullet out with a pair of tweezers, keeping himself perfectly still from years of conditioning.

“You know,” she finally said, once she’d gotten the bullet out. The metal clinked into a bowl as she set it aside. “It’s a wonder I never noticed you and ‘Rissa were involved in all of this before. You’ve got enough scars to rival me, and you two seemed to always be covered in one bruise or cut or another.”

“We never wanted you involved. You finding out about us was a short step to you enlisting yourself…” he started with a small frown. “Once you get an idea in your head no one can sway you from it. Determined. And loyal to a fault,” he said the last word with a printed glance in her direction and she merely grinned at him. “And we were right, here you are. Back from your first mission, with a bullet wound of your own to show for it. Though that is Clarissa’s fault… giving us away by setting you up with MacClyde of all people.”

Aislin’s hand stilled over his wound. “You disapprove?”

“It’s not that…” Castor sighed glancing down at his hand. “He is good for you. And you’re happier than I’ve ever seen you. But, Aislin, you’ve been through enough already. Too much for one lifetime, much less ten. And this life, it isn’t easy–“

“He…” she started. “Adair was going to leave. Or try to, at least. For me.”

“You stopped him, of course.”

“I didn’t want him to regret anything. And we both know, involved as he is, the Revolution never really would have left him.” Aislin shook her head, returning to Castor’s wound. She cleaned it, trying to make sure she had gotten every fragment of the bullet out before she began stitching it up. “I chose this, Cas. I knew what I was getting into.”

The muscles in his arm tensed when she made the first stitch, a betrayal of calm exterior. He really hated needles. Castor said nothing more as Aislin stitches him up, his mind traveling to his sister in the other room. He’d gotten a rundown of her injuries from Johnson as soon as she’d been pulled out of surgery before he’d left to assist Avanda with Ferret.

Guilt still gnawed at him for nearly leaving the smuggler behind. And if it hadn't been Clarissa or Aislin on that mission with him, he would have run back into that building himself. He hated having even needed to assign her to the mission. But she had been the only medic available with any chance of holding her own if a fight broke out. The best equipped to keep the sabotage team stable as they made it back to base.

His jaw ticked as Aislin finished up with the stitches in silence. She cleaned him up, bandaging the wound before leaving him alone with a soft word. And a gentle order to go see Clarissa.

He’d made it into Clarissa’s room with just enough time to see Deirdre slipping a ring on his sisters finger. They said nothing to each other, Castor only giving her a slight nod. Deirdre had been welcomed into the family long ago. It was about time things were made official.

——

“Oh, no you don’t, MacClyde,” Adair tested the name in her ear, having just left Ferret’s room and catching her from behind by her waist as she left Claire’s room for the third time that night before she could restart her rounds. She beamed rolling her eyes a little. “You’ve done enough playing hero for one night, everyone is stable. The nurses can handle it. Let yourself rest, love. I’d rather you not pull out those stitches.”

“And what of you?” Aislin questioned turning around to face him. She took his face in her hands, trailing her fingers softly over his cheeks. Between the mission, and his work in the hospital after, Adair looked truly exhausted. Though she’d be lying if she said she didn’t feel the same. “You’ve done just as much I have.”

He rested his head against her forehead, speaking slowly. “If I do recall mo sholas, I’m not the one who had a building collapse on top of them.”

“Nearly collapse,” she corrected with a gentle smile. “There is a difference, however slight. And everything worked out fine.”

“That doesn’t make it any better.”

“I’m fine, love—“

“MacClyde,” Ciáran called from a few feet away, drawing both of their attention as they turned to face him. He tossed something to Adair, gold glinted in the light as it flew. Ciáran quickly left without another word, leaving Aislin with a raised brow as Adair opened his palm. His mother’s—now Aislin’s ring rested in his open hand.

“I’d wondered where that went,” he mused aloud, turning it softly over in his hand.

Aislin smiled softly as Adair grabbed her left hand. “I didn’t want to risk losing it, so I left it in my locker,” she confessed. It’d been one of the last things she’d done before leaving with Castor and everyone else on the extraction mission, placing the ring securely on a shelf in her shared locker with Clarissa. “Ciáran probably found it when Clarissa had him go grab some of her things.”

“Back where it belongs,” he whispered as he slipped the ring on her finger. Adair kissed her slowly, one hand tangled in her hair, the other on her waist pulling her closer. “Let’s go home,” he said when he pulled away. “I’ve got someone I want you to meet, but it can wait until tomorrow.”

Aislin nodded before resting her forehead against his shoulder. Too tired to even really process what he meant, the day finally starting to catch up with her. Someone to meet? She didn’t even question it. She still couldn’t wrap her head around the fact that she’d run a mission, and a successful one at that. Or that she hadn’t frozen in fear when things had turned dangerous. And if she was being honest, it had been a little thrilling being out in the field actually doing something. Maybe she could actually make a difference in this Revolution yet.

Adair held her for a moment longer before gently guiding her out of the base. He only let Aislin limp a few steps beside him before scooping her up into his arms. She didn’t even protest as he carried her to the truck. Adair left her in the passenger seat with a quick kiss to the temple and promises to be back in just a moment. He went back into the base, saying his goodbyes and wrapping up a last few things.

Aislin was asleep by the time he made it back out.

[xslytherclawx-writes]

cassius warbeck’s excerpt

from the last chapter of Who Would Sign Himself a Candidate for My Affections?

-

Castor Black hated dinner parties. He’d hated them even when he’d been happy – those brief three years with Dorian that had ended all too abruptly on top of the astronomy tower eighteen months prior almost to the day – and he hated them especially now when he was miserable and he knew his parents and sister were likely gearing up to set him up with an eligible witch.

Angela had been unbearable since she’d come to the realisation that she loved her husband, and Castor hated her for it. He didn’t understand why she couldn’t just let him be miserable – to live out the rest of his days in peace and have to live with the fact that he’d stood next to the man he loved as he’d sworn to spend the rest of his life with a witch.

He was seated between two girls whose names he couldn’t remember, and directly across from Patroclus Potter. He’d known Patroclus in school, and counted him, therefore, as a tentatively friendly face during the dinner. He’d been a Ravenclaw Prefect, rather bookish and friendly. He could always start a conversation about literature or history, and trust that Patroclus take part.

Patroclus was doubtlessly there for the same reason, after all; he was the same age as Castor and still single, while his older brother (Castor’s brother-in-law’s childhood best friend, Augustus) was married with two small children.

Patroclus caught Castor’s eye as Augustus began to talk politics, and raised his eyebrows as if to say, If I have to hear this again, I’ll scream.

Castor returned the look in kind. I’ll scream with you.

-

The men retired to their brandy and cigars, and Castor was about to follow them when Patroclus caught him by the arm. “I wanted to take a walk around the grounds. Castor – would you mind showing me around?”

Castor thought he saw something like a sparkle in Patroclus’s warm brown eyes, but he shrugged it off. Surely he’d been mistaken. That didn’t, however, mean he was about to be rude. “Certainly,” he agreed, and led Patroclus out to the grounds.

They walked and made small conversation as Castor explained every statue, and when they reached the French gardens, Patroclus looked around, laced his fingers through Castor’s, and smiled. “You don’t have to keep calling me Patroclus, you know,” he said. “It’s awfully long. Just ‘Pat’ is fine.”

“I thought – everyone called you Patroclus?”

Patroclus wrinkled his nose. “I actually rather despise being called by my full name.”

Pat sounded rather Muggle, and common, but Castor didn’t voice this. After all, the Blacks had fallen far since he’d been born. Who was he to judge a nickname? “All right,” he said instead. “Pat.”

Patroclus seemed to light up at that. “May I confess something to you?” he asked.

Castor tried to think of what in the world Patroclus could possibly confess – they barely knew each other, and it could be anything, really. He nodded in spite of all of that. “Of course.”

Patroclus exhaled and looked almost demure, and Castor was going to ask what, exactly, he wanted to confess when Patroclus closed the gap between them and brushed his lips against his in a chaste kiss. Castor felt his stomach drop and his heart start pounding in his throat. As quickly as he’d kissed him, Patroclus was now a foot away.

“I…” Castor began. Surely he’d misunderstood. Somehow. He couldn’t fathom how he could misunderstand a kiss, but there was no possibility that the kiss had been meant as a romantic gesture. Even Dorian hadn’t wanted him; why would Patroclus?

“Forgive me,” Patroclus said. He didn’t meet Castor’s eyes. “Perhaps I’ve overstepped by assuming that you are… the way that I am.”

“The… the way that you are?” Castor asked.

Patroclus smiled, though it looked strained. “My proclivities… are toward wizards. Witches don’t factor in at all.”

Castor thought he understood, but it was absurd. There was no way that he was understanding what was happening, because that would mean that Patroclus had been right under his nose this whole time. “I’m sorry?”

“Shall I be a bit more blunt?” Patroclus asked.

“Please do.”

Patroclus kissed him again, then, still chaste. “Very well. I’ve never understood what other wizards see in witches, and instead, I’d rather be with other wizards – in the way that most wizards are with witches. And in order to not mince words, I’ll state outright that I do mean sexually and romantically. I’d like to take a husband, some day, but I’m unsure whether our laws will allow for such a thing.”

So he hadn’t misunderstood at all. “And where do I factor into this?”

Patroclus laughed. “By Merlin, you do want everything laid out as clearly as possible, don’t you?” He kissed Castor again, this time less chaste, but he pulled away before Castor had a chance to kiss him back. “I have thought about kissing you every day of my life since our fifth year at Hogwarts – since our first patrol together, if you must know. You and only you.”

Castor felt lightheaded. His heart was pounding, and his brain was working overtime to try to piece this together. The words made sense individually, but… why would Patroclus want to be with him? That didn’t make any sense at all.

“If you don’t want that, just say the word,” Patroclus said. “I understand that you’ve responsibilities that I don’t share.”

“I barely know you,” Castor said instead.

“You can get to know me,” Patroclus said. “I’m hardly proposing marriage… I’m simply telling you that I’d like to be with you.”

He looked at Patroclus in the moonlight. He’d always been handsome; he was tall and thin, in the way that Potter men often were. His dark brown hair looked black in the light, and his soft, warm brown eyes looked rather darker, too. His nose was slightly long and thin, but it didn’t take away from his good looks. He looked the polar opposite of Dorian, and there was something comforting about that.

“I…” Castor began. “How can I be sure that you won’t decide to leave me for a witch?” Perhaps it was a bit too blunt, but it needed to be asked.

Patroclus pressed kiss after kiss to Castor’s jaw. “Because witches do nothing for me, and I’ve never cared for convention, and I’ve no family line to carry on – my brother already has two sons, as I’m sure you know.” He wrapped his free arm around Castor’s waist – Castor realised with more than a hint of embarrassment that their hands were still entwined.

Patroclus felt warm and solid against him, and Castor hadn’t fully realised how starved for affection he’d been. Castor realised he wanted this. He wasn’t sure if he wanted it because it was Patroclus, or if he wanted it because he was lonely, but with Patroclus pressed against him, he wasn’t about to think on it.

“If you leave me for a witch,” Castor said, “I’ll kill you. I mean it.”

Patroclus grinned. “Wouldn’t expect anything less from a Black. You’ve nothing to worry about, though.”

“Or another wizard,” Castor said. “I’ll kill him first and make you watch, and then kill you.”

Patroclus slid his hand down to cup Castor’s arse. “As I said: you’ve nothing to worry about.”

“I’m serious,” Castor said. “I’ll kill you.”

“I know you’re serious,” Patroclus said. “That’s a risk I’m willing to take. I’ve been mad about you for four years, Castor.”

“I know all the curses,” Castor said. “I can do it.”

Patroclus pressed a kiss to Castor’s neck. “Is this how you do foreplay? Threatening to kill me? Because it doesn’t quite work for me, I must say.”

“I’m serious, Pat,” Castor said. “I’ll murder you in cold blood.” Anything, after all, would be better than a repeat of what had happened on the Astronomy Tower.

“I believe you, Castor,” Patroclus said. “I still want to be with you.”

“All right,” Castor said, his brain finally starting to accept Patroclus’s words. “Tonight?”

Patroclus blinked and then glanced over Castor’s shoulders back to the manor. “Well,” he said, “I suppose they all already know of our inclinations.”

“I suppose they do,” Castor said, trying desperately not to think of the time Angela had walked in on him with Dorian. 

“I live alone,” Patroclus said.

Castor fought his nerves and managed to place a chaste kiss on Patroclus’s cheek. “Take me there.”

Patroclus grinned and Disapparated.

[chriska-partners-4-life]

Not All Birthdays Are Happy

Here’s some sadness that entered into my brain Sunday morning, and now you all get to suffer with me! I’m looking forward to all the hate you guys are going to give me. Next thing I post I promise wont be so depressing! Yeah, It’s probably what you think it is, and yes it takes place after... ya know.

It was early Friday afternoon when Harrison heard his phone ring for what seemed like the hundredth time already today. Texts and calls from family, friends, and former co-stars had been pouring in for his birthday. Liam had told him happy birthday when he woke up, Georgia shot him a text that said HBD, Ben and Willard had both called him earlier that morning, and Malcolm sent a text telling him Happy Birthday.

When he looked down to see who the caller was, he couldn’t help but grin.

“Hey kiddo,” he answered.

“Funny you should use that word,” the person on the other end laughed.

“Oh god, Billie what did you do?” Harrison chuckled and shook his head.

“Well you know that picture, the one we took with Mark at celebration last year.” she asked, knowing he would know.

“Yeah,” Harrison’s voice became a bit weary.

“Well I may have put it on instagram again with the caption ‘Happy birthday 2 my #semispacedaddy.” Billie was laughing as she said the last part.

“Billie Catherine,” Harrison over dramatically sighed, “what am I going to do with you, young lady?”

“Oh c’mon, it’s funny and you know it.” she told him. “Plus mom would’ve gotten a kick out of it.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” he conceded, “she would have thought it was hilarious.” There was a moment of quite.

“Any plans for your birthday, sweetheart?” Harrison asked.

“Yeah, having a party tomorrow for my friends, but as for the actual day, not much since it’s a weekday.”

“That sounds like fun, I hope you have a good time.”

“Thanks Harrison.” Billie told him, and there was so much more he wanted to say to her, but felt like now wasn’t the right time.

“Well, I will let you go, I know it’s the start of the weekend and I bet you have all kinds of plans, but don’t be afraid to come over. You know where I live and you are always welcome.”

“I may take you up on that offer soon.” Billie told him. “I love you, Harrison.”

“I love you too, kiddo. Bye.”

As he hung up the phone, he thought about Carrie and her little girl that had grown up right before his eyes.

The following Tuesday, Harrison was sitting at the kitchen table, reading the news on his iPad when his phone rang. Unlike when he saw this name on Friday, his heart was filled with mild sadness.

“Hey kiddo,” he answered, once again.

“Hey Harrison, you know how you said to come over whenever,” Billie asked, her voice straining, he could hear the tears she was struggling to keep back.

“Of course, sweetie.” he said. “I’m hear all day if you need to come over.”

“Well, I’m outside your front door,” she told him, voice breaking.

“Hang tight, I’ll be right there.” He hung up the phone, and walked quickly to the door.

As he opened the door, his heart broke at Billie on the verge of losing it. He took no time in pulling her into a hug and comforting her. He closed the door behind her, and the two of them stood in the foyer. His own heart ached as he realized she was about the same height at her mother, and fit in the same spot Carrie used to.

“Hey, it’s gonna be alright, it’s okay, you’re okay.” Harrison repeated several times as she cried into his shirt. He rubbed her back and whispered to her that everything would be okay, and that he was there for her.

After about 5 minutes, she pulled back slightly. “Rough morning?” he asked. Billie nodded, wiping her cheeks. “Thinking about your mom and grandma?” he said, not so much a question, but statement. When she nodded again, he pulled her back in.

“Hey, they are so proud of everything you have accomplished, and so am I.” he told her. “You are a smart, funny, successful, young woman with a good head on her shoulders.” he reassured her. The two of them walked towards the kitchen and sat on a could of stools at the bar. After they were settle, Harrison looked at her momentarily, trying to find something to say.

“Have I ever told you about how I tried to find ways to put your mom into labor the day before and of my birthday?” Harrison asked, trying to change the subject and make the young woman smile.

“I think I heard that story once or twice, but I don’t remember it very well.” she told him.

“Well, when it was nearing my birthday, and you still hadn’t arrived, I had made a joke to Carrie that you were just waiting to be born on the best day.” This made Billie smile momentarily. “She was feeling miserable being so pregnant, and I guess my joke started to sound better and better. So she came up to me and said, give it your all hotshot. So, I asked Melissa some ways to induce labor, and after we ruled out some of the one that just were not happening,” Harrison shot her a look telling her all she needed to know, “we decided on a few. We fed her pineapple and spicy food, but that just caused heartburn, and stomach acid issues. Castor oil, which looked so unpleasant and I felt bad after that one, because the smell was awful enough. We waited and waited all day the day before, and nothing.” Harrison was now deeply lost in thought, and Billie watched as he told the story, not really realizing she was there.

“The day of my 50th birthday, we had a bash at a restaurant, and your mom rode with us. If I remember correctly, your dad was working because it was a weekday, so it was me, you mother, Melissa and the kids. I took one car with your mother and Melissa took the kids in the other. On the way, I found just about every bump and old cobblestone street I could find on the way to the restaurant.” Harrison laughed at the memory, eyes tearing up a bit. “I think I even resorting to trying to scare you out of her. You were stubborn, just like her though, and weren’t gonna come out before you were good and ready.” Harrison came back to the present and laid a hand on Billie’s shoulder, giving a gentle squeeze.

“It was finally 4 days later and you entered the world. You were a beautiful baby, and I came to visit you as soon as I could. You were and always will be her pride and joy, baby girl.” Billie teared up once again at the nickname he saved for only special moments. “You know I would bring her back if I could. I would give anything, and I mean anything, for her to be here. It wasn’t her time, and I’m so sorry you are having to go through this.” He pulled her into another hug. “She is so proud of you, and I am too. You know the two of them are bragging about you wherever they are. Debbie is trying to take all the credit, and Carrie is just shaking her head and interjecting where she is wrong.”

“Hey, I know you had a birthday party over the weekend, but do you have any plans for today?” Harrison asked.

“No, nothing really, was just going to sit at the house, probably see Austen.” Billie informed him.

“Well, if your boyfriend doesn’t mind you spending time with this old man, maybe we could hang out for the day?”

Harrison watched as her face lit up for the first time since she knocked on the door. “Yeah, I would really enjoy that, we don’t get to see each other enough anymore.” She paused for a moment. “Are you sure that’s what you really want to do? I’m sure you’re busy, or could be doing better things.”

“Well like you just said, we don’t get to see much of each other since you’ve grown up on me. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “God, I can’t believe you’re 26 years old. God, I’m really getting old here.”

“Yeah, you are.”

“Hey! You aren’t supposed to agree!” Harrison playfully pouts.

“Don’t worry, I’l make sure you won’t get put into a home.” Billie winked at him.

“Did I mention you’re my favorite?” Harrison laughed.

Billie laughed at the statement. “But I’m not even you’re kid.”

“You are in every way that counts, baby girl. Every way that counts.”

[raevanmun]

why were you drawn to each one of your characters?

Apparently you and @symmarilshatterunwra​ are both sadists.I have to preface this response with a little literarydrivel. I am a huge, HUGE fan of transgressive fiction. In my writing I have done my best to adhere tothe basic elements of the genre, though my writing style is often more floridthan is typical. So, all of my characters tend to have deviant pasts, secretsand proclivities that are both a source of relief from lives that are eitherbanal and meaningless or are broken by trauma and sometimes a mixture of thetwo.Usually, a narrative emerges either from some music, a pieceof art, or just musing in general and sometimes through the combined creativeeffort of myself and a writing partner. A few of these characters have beenconceived of with and for partners I have or have had.Raerys (Rosewood) Songbrook - Raerys’ isa compilation of feelings and narratives that I spliced together from writingdone with @symmarilshatterunwra​ and a deep interest in actual cults that I have. I havespent several hundred hours watching various documentaries about religiouscults. Raerys family were involved in a very fringe cult of Sun WorshipingQuel’dorei. In it there is love of power for power’s sake, the corruption thatcomes from that and the fanatical drive to create a “pure” blood line thatwould create the greatest minds in the pursuit of the Arcane. That pursuit of apure bloodline and the use of both religious doctrine and sexual coercion aremain themes in her life, start to finish.Her journey is one of cleansing and redemption, a move towardwholeness and healing after a life of privileged trauma.The next I have to take in Tandem - because their stories areintertwined.Kaereah andPhaedrei Bitterdawn - The Bitterdawn sisters are opposite ends of theemotional and social spectrum. This is due to some really shitty stuff thathappened when they were growing up. They are in truth, half sisters. Phaedreiis the elder of them. Kaereah is the baby of the family and the result ofan “Oooops” their mother had after having been widowed.   Phaedrei is responsible to a fault, is taciturn, cruel and fairly ACE. Headcannon says she's never been with anyone, romantically or otherwise. She's toofocused on her work, on her magic, on herself and the compartments of her life.She is deeply sad, a dank sort of depression eats at her and keeps her at arm'slength from anyone. Kaereah is the opposite side of the same coin. She is gregarious, friendly, andgenerally "open" to people she meets, but then, she's also aprostitute and has been for many years. She is not really open, any more sothan her sister, though she has been in love once. Was hurt terribly, and sincehas walled off her emotions and used sex as a way of life and a weapon since. They are in equal parts the unfortunate reaction to a childhood in which theironly role model found validation in relationships, not in herself or herchildren. Determined not to follow in their mother's footsteps they respondedvery differently, only to arrive at essentially the same emotional place. Theyhate one another, because both judge the other as maladjusted, without seeingthe irony of their situations and having any empathy for the other and all thatthey have suffered.Nolah Blackfyre - Nolah is a amalgamof rogue tropes, which are usually played out by men. I was drawn to her as acharacter because she is a SHE. She is devil may care, full of swagger andpomp, but she's also wears that like a mask, hiding behind it is a ruthlesskiller who no one would ever imagine is capable of the things she is. She isalso, an incurable romantic, seeking for that perfect lover who to quote TheEagles, "won't blow my cover, but they're so hard to find." As I posted ages ago on her tumblr, she is made of cigarettes and song lyrics.She is a poet, a ponderous creature who writes secret poetry and who is tragicin all the ways that rogues usually are.

Kordelaine Sunbriar - Kordelaine ismy idea of a "millennial belf." She likes techno, house and trancemusic. She is into her gadgets, thinks the world is all fucked up but feelspretty powerless to fix it. It sounds strange I know, but she's in no smallpart inspired by both of my sons, one who has had some issues with drugaddiction and depression and the other who is a quiet and very nerdy kid. I was drawn to her as a way to sort of tap into what I enjoy most about millennials.What makes them interesting to me as a GenX'r. Their music, their sardonic viewof the world, their desire for community and connection in a world that isincreasingly small and yet isolated by technology.

Tzilli Bloodsky - I am drawn toTzilli because who doesn't want to play a comic book villain? She's a completeasshole. She's a narcissistic, overly intellectual anarchist who is really justa nihilist. She is in her mind, "Self Made" in the same way that mostAyn Rand female characters are...  whichis also fun to mock and play with. She's really just Ra's al Ghul with tits anda cute face.Selkara Blackvale - Selkarah and herTwin Selakiir are Castor and Pollux. Or were... until something terriblehappened. She was always the darker half, the dangerous one, the thinker ofdeep and dark thoughts. He was the kind one, the sweet one, the good one... andthen the Void. I am drawn to Selkara because she has been utterly undone withher brother's corruption. Thrust from the role of the corruptor into the role of the caretaker has lefther unbalanced, freewheeling and frightened. She now struggles with theknowledge of her brother's slowly creeping madness, to feel him mentally,spiritually and emotionally within her, but unable to affect what is theeventual outcome of his state. The struggle to change horses midstream and become a hero in her own life iswhat is interesting about Selkara, that and her adoration and love for Rey. Reyhas helped to soften her, to support her transformation from shadowy bitch intosomething deeper, more and closer to wholeness. Rila Greenleaf - Rila is the Fool ofthe Tarot, but in female form. She is the child in William Blake's Songs of Innocenceand Songs of Experience. She is moving from utter ignorance through temptation,corruption and with luck, out the other side. I am drawn to Rila's arc in thesame way that anyone who's read De Sade's "Justine" is drawn to thecharacter and the conclusion of her story. How does the madness of absolutelibertinism end if it is born by one of a completely pure soul?

Jonadori Winterborne - Jona has beenbashed around in some pretty unfortunate rp arcs. She's not broken but she'sbeen reworked a bunch and at present I am not sure I am utterly in touch withher. So, I am not sure what to say about her in this respect.

Aembrose/Ambrose Longroad - Aembrose is a side character inRaerys' larger story. I originally made him just to play a part in herprogression, but there has been some interest in maintaining him as acharacter. I just haven't found found his voice yet. I am working on it.

Joaquin Brightquiver - He is a new character, very wetbehind the ears yet, but I am drawn to him because of his romantic and artisticsensibilities. He's a loner, been kicked around a good deal by life, but heloves to pain, he's consumed by his art, wine and women. He could be great, agreat and well-respected painter, but his addictions to alcohol and women whoare trouble keep him from being able to really move forward as an artist. I amdrawn to him, for the voice he offers.I don't usually play men, but when I write him, or plot for him, I feel such astrength of narrative that I feel sort of compelled to see the guy out. We'llsee if I really get under him and into his pov, it is still emerging, but whatI have done with him, I have really enjoyed.

Bryonny Larkspur - Bryonny is not yet entirelyfleshed out, that said... I find that character creation requires interaction,at least to firm up details. However, she's interesting to me from a conceptualpoint of view. Unlike Nolah who is despite her vocation a pretty easy to getalong with lady, Bryonny is far more "muy macho" and I have nicknamedher "The Shootist," in order to make the connection between her andold school male western tropes. She's a female in a man's world, she's mean andruthless.  I haven't written a characterlike her in a long time, and perhaps it is the opportunity to write one again,re-working the idea and refining it that makes her interesting to me.Violet Dal'vir - Violet is theoldest character I have here. She's an Apostate Blood Knight who for manyreasons rejects "current" Sin'dorei culture and wallows in her angstand resentment. She has little use for others, little use for friends orcompanions. The only people she's known for some time who care for her or caredfor her, eventually left her behind because she could not and would not bebudged from her bigotry and her dogmatic and uncompromising dedication to aregime and a world that no longer exists.I like her, because she's kind of my "Uncle Rukus" character. She issocial commentary turned inside out and upside down. If I bring Violet aroundto interact with your characters, you can expect it is because either I thinkyour character is too fluffy, or too edgy. She likes to shave the plumes offone and knock the corners off the other. This is why, in many ways, I equateher with trolling. Greneda Brightmorn - Greneda is thenewest of my characters and I won't lie, I've pretty much fallen in love withher. She is a taste of all my favorite old time movie vixens, mashed up with agood dose of Lucile Ball and Carol Burnett. She feminine exaggerated, she's gota dirty mind, a warm laugh and she loves people, all sorts of people. She likesto use politeness like a weapon, relies heavily on her "Blanche" likemanner when social situations get difficult or taxing, and when she'scomfortable with people or her context, she's a delightful companion.  I am deeply drawn to her, because I lovepeople like her in real life.

Thank you @ouroandarGreat if somewhat difficult question to answer. 

[witchcastors]

Time For a Tag Game

Ayyyyy thanks @loki-and-steve for tagging me! Rules: Answer 30 questions about yourself, then tag people you want to get to know better nickname: Liv gender: Female star sign: Taurus height: 5′9" time: 6:11pm favourite bands: Arctic Monkeys, The 1975, The Stokes, Motley Crue, Alt J, Bastille, Glass Animals, FOB favourite solo artists: Lana Del Rey, Halsey, Melanie Martinez, Hozier, Lady Gaga, Beyonce, Ke$ha, Nicki Minaj song stuck in my head: Ease My Mind by Hayley Kiyoko last movie watched: Currently watching Manchester by the Sea last show watched: Its called Yuki Yuna and it is an anime trash ripoff of madoka lol when did i create my blog: This one is brand new! 2017 (I miss my old blogs so much 😭) what do i post: All things witchy and spooky and spacey, with the occasional mix of sappy, cute things last thing i googled: The Alienist IMBD (I’m SO excited to see how it turns out) do you have any other blogs?: I’ve got a marvel, a disney, an anime blog do you get asks: no because y'all refuse my love why did you choose your url: I love the castor/pollux constellation and it’s a play on words as well (imma witch/caster), it’s also one of the names of my first familiar baby… following: 234 followers: 181 (y'all pls love me) favourite colors: Sapphire blue, violet, lavender, rich greens and purples average hours of sleep: either 4 of 7 or 9, my sleep schedule sucks lucky number: 8 instrument: Piano, I’m very basic. The violin is pretty, too. what am i wearing?: Patterned shorts and a black tank top how many blankets do i sleep with? ALL THE BLANKETS. I’m a blanket goblin. Last I counted was 9 I think? dream job: I wanna own my own witch shop and cat-adoption house. I also want to write, but eh. dream trip: France, Italy, Germany, Russia…I wanna see so much favourite food: Steak. And candy. PEACHOS ARE LIFE. nationality: so white I could be a vampire favourite song now: Hurricane by Luke Combs (I’m also country trash sometimes) birthday: May 1 (I’m a beltane baby!) I tag: @loudlikeluke , @toddchavezace , @agenderlizards , @littlewitchystar and @zimbellina also whoever else would like to give this ago! Make sure to tag me, I’d love to get to know you 💖

[friendlyneighborhoodwhateve-blog]

The Hogwarts Revolution // A Next Gen Story

For my friends in here as always: @always-blame-jefferson , @hannahbakcr and @allthebrighteststars

Also, @lookaroundlookaroundhowlucky , for making me feel the happiest I’ve been in a couple of weeks.

Let me not forget @ravenclaw-nerd-105 for ramdomly geeking out over Harry Potter with me.

Word count: 1900

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7

Part 8/ ?

Cast / Masterlist

AN: I’m sorry for the time between chapters for those of you who are reading this story. College has been hell, I’ve just started a new job and I’m pretty sure anxiety has become a permanent resident. That being said, please enjoy these chapter and give me some validation.

-

October Second, 2015

11:35 PM

“It’ll be fine, it’ll be fine, it’ll be fine…” He murmured the mantra, holding onto his legs, pressed against the corner of the room. But he knew it was coming.

How had the night ended so terribly, Albus thought to himself as he watched Scorpius sleep on the infirmary bed with rose by his side. They were all having fun until James showed up, he could feel his breath come out in short puffs, his heart beating erratically in his chest, his head began to swim as thought clouded his mind.

It’s all my fault, my fault, my fault.

If he hadn’t insisted on going to the party, maybe his best friend wouldn’t be in this situation.

What would he do if Scorpius hated him once he woke up, of course Madam Pomfrey had assured him it wouldn’t happen but what if? The tingling in the tips of his fingers increased and he wiped the sweat away on his pants.

The boy’s head rose when the sound of footsteps was heard entering the infirmary. While Lyra went to talk to Rose and Scorpius, Lorcan went to talk to the frightened kid, the older girl was only able to mutter a few words due to the intense anger she was feeling.

“I am going to kill James Potter.”

-

TWENTY SIX HOURS EARLIER

It was another ordinary day at Hogwarts. Well, as ordinary as it got in a school for witchcraft and wizardry. Currently, Teddy was presiding over a meeting with the prefects about the school, it seemed that lately the tension between the houses had risen to a whole new level and Minerva had made finding some sort of solution their responsibility. The group was made up of twenty four people in total: Teddy (Edward actually but calling him by his full names was weird) and Elena Cortez, Head Boy and Girl, Elena was one of the nicest girls anyone had ever met, plus extremely brilliant academically, of course she would be the head girl.

Then there were the prefects, for Gryffindor they were Lorcan Scamander and May Winston in the fifth year, a muggle born girl that was one the triplets best friends, the sixth year prefects were Linda Prince and Christian Cortes, seventh year was represented by Liana Verita and Mason Carter; the Ravenclaw fifth year prefects were none other than Lysander Scamander and Victoire Weasley, secretly everyone hoped they’d somehow end up together, sixth year had Roxanne Weasley and Wes Blythe, it had been a surprise to everyone when the girl had been sorted into Ravenclaw given her parents were both Gryffindors, lastly Hayley Fields and Carlos Valente were the seventh year prefects.

As for the Hufflepuff representatives, they were Augusta Longbottom and Castor Spinnet in fifth year, both of them were incredible people, for year six the representatives were Cassandra Lenn and Spencer Morgan, Molly Weasley II and Rafael Vidal finalized the Hufflepuff representatives. Lastly, for the Slytherin house, fifth year prefects were Lyra Scamander and Lin Pisani, sixth year had Philippa Chou and Rami Nadeau to represent it and to close the group came Tish Diggle and Ezra McKean for the seventh year.

“This week we had four unauthorized duels, three fist fights and the prank the Gryffindors pulled landed three people in the infirmary with allergic reactions.”

On Thursday morning, during lunch, James and his friends decided that it’d be a fun idea to make Puffapods appear on the Slytherin table, an otherwise harmless prank had it not been for the fact that three people had ended up in the infirmary because of it, Lyra included among them; the fumes the plant emitted while blooming triggered a reaction similar to asthma. Lorcan sat beside his sister, who still was a bit shaken. Everyone in the room was infuriated but there was virtually nothing they could do, at least during the day.

“I suggest an integration party.” Said Wes Blythe, soon being followed by murmurs of agreement. “Maybe a costume party where upon entering you are put under a spell to be virtually unrecognizable until a certain time.”

The idea was nice. Maybe without the labels of the houses people would learn that there was more to each other than where they were placed, if everyone could do that life would be much easier.

After the meeting it was decided that the party would be held at the Great Hall on Saturday night, students of every age would be able to attend under the supervision of the prefects and head students. The use of a costume was obligatory but you could go literally as anything you wanted, the magic was that no one would be able to tell it was you. At midnight, the spell would be lifted. After the last details were set, the students sent an owl to Minerva, which she promptly answered with a positive feedback.

“Let’s go to bed everyone, we have very busy day tomorrow.” Not that Teddy himself would actually go to bed, he just had to give a somewhat good example.  Truth was that just like he had inherited his father’s gentle and calm personality, he had also inherited his mother’s lack of ability to behave, it was just better concealed.

He then walked to his best friend, who was still shaken from the sever allergic reaction from the previous day.

“Hey Eddie.” This nickname only surfaced when she was either very tired or sick. Lin, her housemate that had been talking to her until now took his leave and went away. 

“Come on, Ly.”

Lorcan and Lysander watched from a small distance as the pair left, the boy’s right arm draped around their sister shoulder, the girl barely being able to stand upright. Sure James was one of their best friends despite all of his actions but now he had crossed a line. 

-

TWELVE HOURS EARLIER

The last month had been hard for all of them.

Albus  was fairing very well academically, along with his friends Rose and Scorpius but since his father had heard of his sorting, he hadn’t sent a single letter to him. As impulsive as she was, Lyra had nearly sent Harry Potter a howler sevral time, if it wasn’t for Victoire she’d probably have sent at least three. Rose, Scorpius and him had become very good friends but somehow he still felt left out most of the time. 

Not today, today there would be a sort of costume party and after a lot of nagging on his part, his friends had agreed to go with him, neither of them were exactly party people but the idea was rather fun. So Rose would go as Jesse Quick from The Flash, not that she liked the show that much but she loved Jesse’s character; Scorpius as a Jedi, after he had been introduced to Star Wars at one of the Slytherin Movie Nights it was pretty much the only thing he could think about; and Albus was going as Percy Jackson, because he had become his favorite character over summer. Lyra helped the younger kids get ready with Tori, Dominique and a bunch of other people. 

When everyone from year three and under was ready to go, the older ones got ready, Tori was going as Supergirl, Dominique and Michelle were going as Korra and Asami, Lorcan and Lysander thought it would be funny so they were going as Thing One and Thing Two, Lyra was going as Anastasia and Teddy as Dmitri, others like James, Carter or Fred would decide their costumes fifteen minutes before it was time to go.

THREE HOURS EARLIER

Before everything began, Headmistress McGonagall passed by the Hall to check everything, she had to say that the group had impressed her greatly. The ceilings echantment had been temporarily altered to display fireworks instead of the night sky, the tables had been pushed to the far walls and were covered in black tablecloths with colorful tableware. All in all, the hall looked great, they had surely made great choices with the prefects and head students.

It wasn’t long before the students began gathering in front of the doors to enter the party, Lorcan and Lysander were already under the charm that made the person unrecognizable so they had been in charge of putting everyone else under it. The prefects and head students however, were under a different version of the charm, they could recognize themselves between them but to other students they would only look strangely familiar.

James, whose  last minute costume was Gaston from Beauty and the Beast, had only gone to the party for the sake of it. He thought that the whole point of it was ridiculous, if they weren’t supposed to care which house a person had been sorted into, why were there houses in the first place? But then again, his brother had been sorted into Slytherin and he wasn’t all that he had been taught, neither was Lyra or Dominique.

Still, better safe then sorry. During the party he had steered clear of anyone who looked suspicious to him (that meant anyone who looke like a Slytherin), however he did have fun. At about ten in the evening, the girl prefects and Elena, the head girl were sitting in the corner of a table talking about their respective crushes (some of them had far too many, while others had none when Augusta asked Lyra who was her crush.

“Merlin, Auggie, it feels like we’re all the way back in first year.” 

“You didn’t answer her question, Miss Scamander. Is it a certain seventh year Hufflepuff?” Retorted Hayley, the girl was wearing a very extravagant Ursula costume. For some unknow reason, Lyra blushed.

“I don’t know, maybe. The thing is I’m not really certain if I like Teddy in that way, but I could fall for him so easily that it’s kind of scary.”

Lyra and Teddy knew that they woould somehow end up together, it was one of the things you just know deep in your heart, there had never been another option for either of them. 

At about fifteen minutes until midnight, they began going to their positions around the hall to lift the charm. The excitment in the atmosphere was nearly touchable, James was blissfully unaware of the fact that the people he had been hanging out with for the past couple of hours were all in Slytherin. 

When midnight hit the charm was lifted and the reactions wer mostly good but one in particular caught everyone’s attention. James Potter who until now was animatedly talking with the small group around him took a step back, the people around him were people he remembered seeing around the castle wearing green and silver. 

Suddenly, everything he believed wasn’t as clear anymore and everything he wanted was to leave the party. In his haste to leave he ended up pushing several people out of the way, one of them being Scorpius Malfoy. In that moment several things happened, the first one was Lyra yealling James’s name, the second was his arm swinging when he turned around, the third was his arm hitting Scorpius which in turn made the small boy stumble and fall to the ground awkwardly bending his leg. A resounding crack was heard. James disappeared like a ghost.

[survivor-algonquin-blog]

IMMUNITY RESULTS #1

Hope everyone got their groove on!!! Let's get to the results,,,

But first let's meet our lovely JUDGES!!!!

Zach!!

Hey! Zach here. A couple of main seasons under my belt and lucky enough to have played with all of the hosts. I've done this challenge and work in entertainment, so I'll be bringing a critical eye to the table and have no reservations about not holding back. Good luck!

Sarah!!

Hi my name is Sarah. Ive played 7 main ts seasons so I am officially qualified to judge now. I cant wait to see what yall did.

Vilma!!

Hi I'm Vilma and all you need to know about me is that I have a burning love for music videos so I hope y'all put in your best effort tonight <3

Now let's get to some music videos!

Castor's Music Video & Explanation

This is the official submission for the Castor Tribe. We choose to do the music video “Bring me to Life” by Evanescence. This song has a strong theme of Duality throughout the lyrics, and we chose to represent that by only using two tribemates for the lip-syncing portion of this challenge. The video focuses on Bobby, crying out for help, but being shut down by his inner thoughts, portrayed by Bryan. At the beginning of the video, you can clearly see the inner turmoil going on, shown through the colour colour changes and spinning screen. Throughout this portion, it is clear he is listening to Bryan, and letting it hold him back, keeping all these negative emotions inside. About half way through the video, there is a clear tone change, with the scarf starting to come off, signifying an opening up, of Bobby starting to let his thoughts out in a healthy way, and his inner voice becoming quieter and less relevant as time goes on. The video ends on a dark room, lit by a single light, showing that as dark as things may seem, there will always be light at the end of the tunnel, you just must keep moving forward. We felt that this was a good representation for survivor for several reasons. Firstly, in order to progress far in the game, you must be able to rely on other people to keep you sane. One of the Key elements of survivor is the ability to outlast the other players, and that requires you to mentally outlast them as well. You can clearly see that on the Edge of Extinction season, where it is only the mental fortitude of these voted off contestants giving them a chance now. Secondly, there have been several survivor Contestants that have struggled with the ideas of self-doubt, and depression both during and after the show, most notably, Sugar, after Survivor Heroes Vs Villains, as well as Spencer Bledsoe, after Game Changers. Finally, no matter how dark you may think your prospects in survivor are, if you believe there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and keep pushing through, you will always be able to make an impact. We chose to make the video focus on only two of our tribemates because most submissions for these types of challenges tend to include almost all the tribe members, and we wanted to create something that stands out. All of us contributed to the final product in several different ways. Firstly, we had Lilly, who was the Creative Director, and Task Manager. She came up with the narrative and focused on creating a realistic schedule in order to get everything done on time, and to a good quality. Bobby and Bryan, you saw in the music video, as our lead lip-syncers. Aaliyah was the editor of this video, putting to use her skill in a way much better than anyone else on our tribe could have accomplished. Finally, Michael and Jack created the write up, in order to communicate our thoughts to the judges, to show the amount of effort we put into this project.

Zach:

Creativity:6

The explanation for idea of the music video was strong and well intentioned, if not wholly originally, but I’m not sure it is entirely reflected in what got with the video. I appreciate the deliberate choice to use only two members of the cast to support that idea, so I can’t ding for points there, but I don’t think what we got was what we were promised in the explanation.

Effort: 7

Going off of the intro text, I’ll take it in good faith that everyone contributed as much as was mentioned, and despite execution, I cannot fault their efforts if they all tried.

Composition: 5

Any time there’s a vertical video, it’s going to hurt a little, but I won’t dwell on that too much. I will say that the video ending before the song ends does not help its case. Also, the idea behind the colors and the black and white to show emotional change was a good thought, but did not have the payoff that it should have had. The rationale behind it feels more film school interpretation of something after the fact than intended execution.

Theme: 7

The theme as explained was a solid one, and definitely can see tones of it in the performances and set dress of the actors. Nice job. Bryan will haunt my dreams.

All-in-all, I think this was a good effort and it’s obvious that this team works together well and has lofty ideas. I think the technical skill might be lacking, and it seems like everyone here is very structured in their thinking. I prefer that way of thought so I’m with them, but they needed a little more creative flair here to pull it off.

Sarah:Creativity: 5/10

Effort: 5/10

Composition (editing): 7/10

Theme: 8/10

I wish I saw everyone from the tribe in this but I get your reasoning behind it. It was still just overall ok

Vilma:

Creativity: 4/10

You made a creative decision to include only two people of your tribe in the lip sync and while I appreciate the ballsy move I can’t help but feel I would’ve enjoyed the video more if more people were included in it.

Effort: 5/10

Bobby was the king of the show and really put his soul into it.

Composition: 4/10

Rule number one in music videos: film horizontally! Overall I wasn’t a huge fan of the constant use of cheap looking effects but otherwise the editing was fine.

Theme: 6/10

I think the duality theme in your video was nice an well thought-out but it would be a bit hard to understand without your thorough explanation of it.

Castor Total: 69/120

Elan's Music Video & Explanation

She walks! She talks! She twerks! She's BARBIE! Jump, dance, and sing with your very own customizable doll! Dress her up and take her out. Barbie is your BEST FRIEND! You can be a Barbie Girl too! SHE'S BARBIE! (batteries not included)

Zach:

Creativity: 7

The idea of using Barbie girl for the song was a strong and out of the blue choice, making it look like a commercial really took it over the top. I can’t go higher than 8 because they used a lot of the original music video to cover gaps, but overall, more creative an idea than I’ve seen in a while, and the execution was beautiful which leads me to:

Effort: 8

To put what they put together as quickly as they did takes a lot of coordination from whomever was putting it together, but the fact that most people went so far as to dress as “Barbies” shows that almost everyone was committed to the gag. There were a couple of people who obviously didn’t have as much time to give to this, but substituting them as the Ken was a nice save.

Composition: 9

Obviously when working with iPhones and computer cameras, the visual leaves something to be lacking, but that is more than made up for here with the various superpositions, graphics, texts, crawls, and cuts. It felt like I was watching a bizarro QVC commercial that was as fun to watch as Barbies are to play with, keeping them right on mark for their:

Theme: 9

The fact that this is basically a weird commercial for Barbies is as fantastic as they are plastic. Every inch of it was filled with something to reinforce the theme, whether it was ordering details, people playing with the toys, warnings, calls to actions, or disclaimers (the bottom Mattel crawl was a brilliant example of all three categories of judgement coalescing to reinforce the them.

I wasn’t planning on rating anyone high, but this was weird, original, well done, and fun. Nice job. It was visual candy, high energy, and all surface, which I wouldn’t typically go for, but that’s what Barbie is about.

Sarah:Creativity: 9/10

Effort: 10/10

Composition (editing): 10/10

Theme: 8/10

You guys impressed the fuck out of me and made me literally LOL.

Vilma:

Creativity: 8/10

Cute outfits, cute barbie nicknames, cute editing, cute CuTe CUTE I want these slutty barbies to myself

Effort: 9/10

The barbie QUEENS and the editor guy did a phenomenal job. It looks like most of your tribe participated, although the Barbies outshined the Ken’s a bit. But overall you guys really put yourself out there and put in the most effort.

Composition: 10/10

The editing was ON POINT. Great job ten out of ten.

Theme: 8/10.

I stan the barbie theme and song choice btw Aqua is a Danish band so I love me some nordic representation <3 My only complaint is I wish you introduced us to the handsome Kens too.

Elan Total: 105/120

Hibou's Music Video & Explanation

We lip synced Survivor by Destiny's Child. Due to time constraints Gavin couldn't be in the video, but it doesn't matter since Sammy stole the show. :) The editing got a little weird at the end. Some of the file types were different and that causes playback issues. Also the deadline was fast approaching so the sequences towards the end are a little longer. :p

Zach:

Creativity: 2

Hate to be harsh, but going for Survivor for Survivor is a little too on the nose. Listen, it’s a great song, and some people have some great energy, but creatively, this was low hanging fruit. On top of that, the video is literally just lip-syncing, which is basically like playing a Borneo Game in 2019. Given that they’d be given plenty of examples of other ways this can be done well, I can’t rate this high. To paraphrase the song “you’re better than that.”

Effort: 4

To the people that contributed to this, I appreciate your attempt. The one guy who really embraced the challenge, got a mic, light-up glasses, the hat, et al, if this was based on just your effort, I could go much higher. It’s as high as it is because of you. Unfortunately, it’s a team challenge, and for the brief moments that we saw most of the other players, you can see them reading the words on the screen as they capture their performance. I hope everyone enjoyed it more than it shows, but again, to the point of the song “you’ve gotta work harder.”

Composition: 2

Vertical videos really just need to be turned 90 degrees and it would feel like we’re watching a movie. Or if you’re given vertical videos, copy the layer, move it to the back, enlarge, and blur. It will make it instantly more watchable. This grade isn’t solely because of that though (3 vertical videos don’t help though). The titles screen is cute, but assembled poorly. Some of the text is covered some of the pictures. There’s no real pace to guide us through the song. The cuts seem arbitrary. Editing is very hard and never appreciated, so to whomever put this together, if you did your best, nice job and I encourage to stick with it, but kinda feels like “I’m not gonna give up” was something you were saying to yourself over and over again when trying to make this work.

Theme: 2

Picking this song was a bold choice since it’s so obvious, but you can’t lose points in this category based on choice alone. But given that choice, you have to really knock it out of the park, and I don’t think the bat even touched the ball with this one. There’s nothing here that screams either Survivor nor what Destiny Child was singing about, I don’t know if we’d be weaker without this song in our life.

Look, I hate to be critical, especially since it’s obvious some people put it in a lot more work with this than others, but to be honest, this wasn’t a shining example of what you’re all capable of. It’s hard putting these together, and maybe it just wasn’t worth it this time. Making music videos can be fun or terrible depending on with whom you work. I wish you the best, but I feel like because of this, for one of you “I’m gonna make it, here on Survivor” just isn’t true.

Sarah: Creativity: 4/10

Effort: 3/10

Composition (editing): 6/10

Theme: 4/10

You tried.

Vilma:

Creativity: 4/10

I feel like you guys could’ve been more creative with your Survivor theme. I like that you introduced everyone in the beginning but other than that the video was very simple.

Effort: 6/10

Most of your tribe seemed to participate and that’s always nice to see. Some of you guys were really feeling it too so big props to that!

Composition: 3/10

Again, gotta deduct some points for not filming horizontally. Plus the lip syncing was VERY off most of the time, such a simple thing to fix and the video would’ve seemed much more professional!

Theme: 5/10

Your song choice is literally perfect, you GUYS are survivors and you know it but I wish you would’ve included little skits or something to emphasize the theme.

Hibou Total: 45/120

Congratulations to Castor and Elan for winning immunity!! which unfortunately means Hibou you will be heading to tribal council, where you will be voting off the first person in Tumblr Survivor Algonquin. Tribal will be live over Google Hangouts, and we plan to start at 9:00 EST. please let the hosts know beforehand if you will be able to attend tribal council or not.

[thisdaynews]

Pecans, Jay Leno and the Oxford comma: Hidden gems of the impeachment transcripts

New Post has been published on https://thebiafrastar.com/pecans-jay-leno-and-the-oxford-comma-hidden-gems-of-the-impeachment-transcripts/

Pecans, Jay Leno and the Oxford comma: Hidden gems of the impeachment transcripts

Nickname-checked

When Marie Yovanovitch, the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, sat for a deposition on Oct. 11, Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) had some questions for the ex-envoy about her nickname.

MEADOWS:“And since we’re out of time, I just want to know one thing. Ambassador Volker said awful nice things about you, and he said that you’re called Masha.” YOVANOVITCH:“Yes.” MEADOWS:“Where did you get that name from?” YOVANOVITCH:“Well, despite my posting to Ukraine, I’m actually half Russian, and it’s a Russian nickname.” MEADOWS:“I yield back.”

Asked and answered

Yovanovitch had little patience for a meandering line of inquiry by another GOP lawmaker, Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.), who wanted to know more about her professional relationship with a staffer on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

ZELDIN:“Did you know this person?” YOVANOVITCH:“Yes.” ZELDIN:“And how did — where did you know that person from?” YOVANOVITCH:“She had previously worked at the State Department.” ZELDIN:“And how do you know that person at the State Department?” YOVANOVITCH:“Because she worked at the State Department.”

‘Locker room’ talk

About two-thirds of the way through Yovanovitch’s deposition, House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) prepared to hand over questioning to Republicans in the room, but not without first making a brief housekeeping announcement that — if his staffers are to be believed — was likely much welcomed.

SCHIFF:“And just to let members know, we are going to turn the air back on. It’s feast or famine here, and we’re — my staff tells me it started to smell like a locker room in here. So we’ll turn it over to the minority and we’ll turn the air back on.”

‘Follow me on Twitter’

As lawmakers prepared to wrap up their marathon questioning of Yovanovitch, she revealed that Gordon Sondland, the U.S. Ambassador to the European Union, implied to her at one point that to save her job, it would be helpful for her to publicly express support for Trump on social media.

But Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.) injected some levity into the deposition, plugging his Twitter account and prompting some light (if puzzling) ribbing from his colleagues.

MALINOWSKI:Okay. Finally, I would say to aIl of my colleagues on both sides that I would be honored if you followed me on Twitter, and I will not accuse you of monitoring me. My handle is @malinowski. MEADOWS:How do you spell that one? MALINOWSKI:It’s hard. Almost as hard as Yovanovitch. YOVANOVITCH:Exactly. Thank you. SCHIFF:Mr. Goldman. GOLDMAN:Thank you. Just a few last things. You ultimately — SCHIFF:I thought your handle was @pecan.

More pecans

During an exchange between Yovanovitch, Meadows and Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) about so-called “unmasking,” Perry apparently stood to abruptly leave the room. Yovanovitch then asked whether someone could repeat the question posed to her.

YOVANOVITCH:“Okay. So —” MEADOWS:“You can answer. He’s got to run.” PERRY:“I’ll be back.” YOVANOVITCH:“Okay.” PERRY:“Sorry. Thank you.” MEADOWS:“It’s nothing you said.” STEVE CASTOR (Republican staff of the House Oversight Committee):“Welcome to Congress.” YOVANOVITCH:“So I got lost a little bit in the conversation. Are we talking about –“ DANIEL GOLDMAN (the House Intelligence Committee’s senior adviser and director of investigations):“Let’s ask him to repeat it. Oh.” MEADOWS:“You can ask the pecans.”

‘I watch HBO’

During his appearance before House impeachment investigators on Oct. 17, Sondland sought to head off questions regarding his knowledge of Rudy Giuliani’s interest in Burisma, a Ukrainian energy firm on whose board Hunter Biden served.

Sondland suggested he was more likely catching up on “Game of Thrones” than tuning into the former New York mayor’s frequent cable news appearances.

CASTOR:“Before I get into this letter, there was some frustration about whether you had seen that New York Times article. I mean, there’s a lot of media nowadays. You know, have you seen every article, every story that references Rudy Giuliani since you began your post?” SONDLAND:“No. I mean, I have so many cables and other things to read, I just don’t have time.” CASTOR:“And you’re not watching TV, U.S. TV at night when you’re i n Brussels?” SONDLAND:“Sometimes.” CASTOR:“Okay. So have you seen Rudy Giuliani on — you know, discuss these issues on TV?” SONDLAND:“I watch HBO.”

‘The three amigos’ ride again

Sondland was also forced to answer for a nickname bestowed upon him and two other administration officials — Energy Secretary Rick Perry and Kurt Volker, the former special envoy for Ukraine negotiations — during a trip to the Eastern European nation’s capital.

Adam Schiff, the House Intelligence chairman who Trump has memorably mocked as a “pencil neck” and “little Adam Schitt,” weighed in with some perspective.

GOLDMAN:“Did you and Ambassador Volker and Secretary Perry ever develop a nickname for the three of you?” SONDLAND:“I think you’re referring to the three amigos.” GOLDMAN:“Yeah, who coined that?” SONDLAND:“I think we were all in Kyiv together, and someone walked up to US, and said, you look like the three amigos, we were all standing together, and I think that’s where it came from.” GOLDMAN:“You kind of liked that nickname, right?” SONDLAND:“I don’t —” MR. LUSKIN:“We’ve all heard worse.” THE CHAIRMAN:“I can attest to that.”

Zelensky’s late-night ‘hero’

Almost halfway through House investigators’ deposition with Sondland, the ambassador described a dinner party in Brussels celebrating U.S. Independence Day attended by Zelensky, State Department officials and other world leaders.

Sondland said U.S. officials saw the dinner, which followed a much larger event, “as an opportunity to present President Zelensky to various EU and U.S. officials and to build upon the enhanced government ties.” He sought to correct the record on a few points, telling investigators that “contrary to some reporting, [U2 lead singer] Bono did not attend or perform.” He also disclosed an entertaining revelation into Zelensky’s comedic role models.

SONDLAND: “The subject of the dinner was not Ukraine and was not President Zelensky. The Prime Minister of Romania was there. The President of Poland was there. Jay Leno was there. Mr. Kushner was there. There were a lot of celebrities, guests, and it was a very sort of light-hearted evening. It was not a business dinner.” GOLDMAN:“Did President Zelensky, as a comedian, get along well with Jay Leno?” SONDLAND:“He was honored to meet him. Apparently, Jay Leno was his hero.”

‘The Greenland question’

William Taylor’s testimony before lawmakers on Oct. 22 regarding his knowledge of the Ukraine scandal included a reference to an odd diplomatic dust-up that originated in the White House — Trump’s short-lived bid to purchase Greenland.

Taylor, the top American envoy to Ukraine, said the president’s fascination over the summer with the U.S. government potentially buying the semi-autonomous Arctic territory made it difficult to schedule a meeting between Trump and senior administration officials regarding the resumption of military aid to Ukraine.

SCHIFF:“What do you deduce from that, that our alIy is fighting with the Russians, but all of these agencies that support this can’t get a meeting with the President to discuss it?” TAYLOR:“It turns out, Mr. Chairman, that those principals, as we call them, were on different trips at different times. I think this was also about the time of the Greenland question, about purchasing Greenland, which took up a lot of energy in the NSC.” SCHIFF:“Okay. That’s disturbing for a whole different reason.”

Fishing for an explanation

Taylor’s testimony before impeachment investigators made waves when his lengthy opening statement became the first evidence tying Trump directly to a quid pro quo.

It was also notable for the extent of personal recordkeeping that Taylor described to lawmakers, prompting Rep. Ted Lieu to take an odd approach to attempt to explain the contrast between Taylor’s deep recollection of crucial events with Sondland’s, who later substantially revised his testimony.

LIEU:“The public reporting on Ambassador Sondland’s testimony is that he didn’t remember a lot of stuff. You have a number of conversations here with Ambassador Sondland. I just want to make sure, in those conversations, there was no indication he was under the influence of alcohol, correct?” TAYLOR:“Correct.” LIEU:“He didn’t slur his words, correct?” TAYLOR:“Correct.” LIEU:“There was no indication that he was under any medications that caused him short-term memory loss, correct?” TAYLOR:“Not that I know of.” LIEU:“Okay.”

Under the sea

Fiona Hill, a former National Security Council official, may have been hunkered down in a basement-level SCIF when she was deposed on Oct. 14, but on a few occasions during her testimony, she was able to reminisce about some underwater activities she enjoyed while on her summer vacation.

CASTOR:“Did you speak with anyone? You had left on the 19th, but had you spoken to anybody about the call?” HILL:“I did not. I was on vacation [redacted]. And at the time the phone call took place, I think, based on my date-stamp on my phones, I was snorkeling.” VOICE:“You were under water.” HILL:“I was under water, yeah. It was a pretty good alibi. I didn’t take underwater pictures, but, you know, I can basically —”

Politics and punctuation

In addition to being quizzed on matters related to the potential impeachment of a president, Hill was asked to weigh in on another particularly divisive issue.

DANIEL NOBLE (Democratic counsel):“Are you a fan of the Oxford comma?” HILL:“I’m confused, is kind of basically where I am. Because when I was growing up, they changed the comma formatting, and then when I came here, I found there was all kinds of different comma formatting. So I tend to put commas everywhere.”

Looking for leakers

In the middle of Hill’s testimony, word began to get out about some of the substance of her deposition. When a GOP staffer began to ask her about Manu Raju, a CNN reporter omnipresent on Capitol Hill, Hill noted she’d had a pretty ironclad alibi. Raju, for his part, backed up her story.

DAVID BREWER (Republican staffer for Oversight Committee):“Ma’am, today at 1:16, Manu Raju, who I understand is a reporter for CNN —” HILL:“Who?” BREWER:“Manu Raju.” HILL:“I don’ t know who that is. Manu Raju?” BREWER:“He’s a reporter, I understand, from CNN. He tweeted some substance of your testimony here today.” HILL:“I don’t know how that was possible because I’ve been in here with you the whole time.” BREWER:“That’s what I was going to ask you. Have you spoken —” HILL:“There’s been lots of people in and out, so I suppose you should ask your colleagues if somebody’s been talking to CNN.” BREWER:“So, just for the record, you have not spoken to Manu Raju since you’ve been here today?” HILL:“I have not had my telephone. I have been in your full and I have not met with Manu Raju in the bathroom here. And I think you can attest you saw me in the bathroom. And they have had full custody of me at all times.” BREWER:“And just one last question, ma’am: Have you directed anyone on your behalf to speak with Mr. Raju about your testimony?” HILL:“No. I don’ t know who Manu Raju is.”

Call me, beep me

At one point in her testimony, Hill described how broad Sondland’s jurisdiction appeared to be, complaining that the EU ambassador frequently bypassed her White House-issued phone, giving officials her personal phone number instead, and sending these people to the White House where they believed they had a meeting with NSC officials. She called the issue “comical” but also “deeply concerning.”

HILL:“And so I was spending an inordinate amount of time trying to coordinate in some fashion with Ambassador Sondland on a whole range of issues related to visits by heads of states, meetings. And Ambassador Sondland would frequently give people my personal cell phone to call up and demand meetings with Ambassador BoIton or with me.

“We had all kinds of officials from Europe, particularly when [redacted] was the the president in the office of the European Union, literally appearing at the gates of the White House, calling on our personal phones, which are actually in lock boxes, so it was kind of difficult to get hold of them. I’d find endless messages from irate [redacted] officials who’d been told that they were supposed to meet with me by Ambassador Sondland.”

Sibling rivalry

Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, an Army officer and Ukraine specialist on the National Security Council, was a unique witness in that he’s got an identical twin brother who just so happens to also serve in the White House, as the top ethics lawyer on the National Security Council. Vindman, whose testimony was among the most damaging collected by impeachment investigators, couldn’t let his deposition go by without taking a dig at his womb-mate.

CASTOR:Okay. After you spoke with Eisenbeng, who else did you communicate to about this meeting? VINDMAN:So my kid brother, my twin brother is on the White House National Security Council legal team. CASTOR:And is Is he your kid brother or your twin brother? VINDMAN:He’s 9 minutes younger. He’s my kid brother, whether he Iikes it on not. I told him I was going to get that in there

‘I don’t know her’

Before Vindman could get underway with questions from Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), one of his attorneys need to get something taken care of. Namely, just who they were being quizzed by.

MICHAEL VOLKOV (Vindman’s attorney):First off, I don’t know who you are, if you could identify yourself for the record. But second off, could you be specific as to two calls? We’re talking about one call here. CASTOR:“This is Representative Stefanik.” REP. ELISESTEFANIK:“I’m on the House Intelligence Committee.” VOLKOV:“Okay. I don’t know who you were. I apologize —” STEFANIK:“Yeah. I’m from New York. I’m a third term member.” CASTOR:“There’s no staffers talking except for me and the Members.” VOLKOV:“I understand that and I appreciate that, I just didn’t —” STEFANIK:“I get asked this a lot.” VOLKOV:“Oh, that’s good.” STEFANIK:“No, it’s not good. But I will continue my line of questioning, which is, the witness testified—”

Read More

[minty-minho-blog]

The hair fall treatment Diaries

We’d appreciate to hear your opinions pertaining to hair loss shampoos. We want to hear what you think and we promise to respond immediately. How to speed up hair growth? There are lots of one of a kind hair loss treatment options you could quicken the hair growth. In addition, you need to take in healthy meals and nourish the hair with Specific oils to help make your hair glow. You may also go with hair regrowth treatment which helps in hair re-growth. Scientists are beginning to inch nearer to locating a cure for that lacking hair dilemma. But in the meantime, here are some confirmed approaches to avoid baldness, and aid grow again missing hair. An additional advertising point is this merchandise is Risk-free for all pores and skin and hair kinds, including sensitive pores and skin. Men shouldn't have to cope with dry skin beneath their beard. White, flaky and itchy beard dandruff ... Okay, Even when you are pleased and absolutely nothing is stressing you out, nonetheless transferring your booty can Increase blood circulation of your body (including the scalp). And as we saw higher than, extra blood circulation signifies additional oxygen and more nourishment  to your hair. Got a question and can’t discover the appropriate reply on-line? Fret not as Answeropedia welcomes you to raise a question and you may see a wide array of real responses right away. Keep https://www.wikihow.com/Stop-Hair-Loss-Naturally as simple as feasible. You could pre-condition your hair with coconut or almond oil then shampoo. Additionally, you'll be able to substitute the conditioner with plant infusion or hair rinse (see another place). It's been argued that dandruff could lead to hair loss; whilst there’s no direct url, it’s surely truly worth noting right here. You may want to test shaving, other styling techniques and goods, scarves, a wig, or simply a hairpiece. Talk with a hair stylist for ideas. These nonmedical solutions can be used to go over lasting or short-term hair loss. This illness interferes While using the hair growth cycle by resulting in a follicle to prematurely leave the anagen, or Lively growth, phase and enter the resting, or telogen stage. The hair growth while in the affected follicles is lessened or stopped wholly. It can also occur to the confront in spots in which the hair is frequently styled. Plucking or waxing one particular's eyebrows often, such as, can generate suppressed hair growth in the area. Have you at any time heard about Monat as being a solution for hair loss especially thinning from publish partum. I are actually employing a year and my final results were Nearly immediate. About three weeks in ibhad new regrowth. Alpecin can be a German-dependent organization that’s barely new to your hair-loss match; after all, they’ve existed because 1905. They offer various items designed to deal with hair loss, such as an following-shampoo liquid.

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Also known as linseed, alsi or jawas, flaxseeds are among the richest plant resources of omega-3 fatty acids. These essential fats moisturise the scalp skin from in and support cut down dryness and flakiness.  Thus, it may possibly Increase the indicators of dandruff, eczema and acne. Normally, clients can see it get started Performing in six to 8 months, however it might also minimize sexual intercourse drive, maximize breast sizing, and lead to erectile dysfunction, Based on Merck Manuals. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-SiXXn3EKKI2t7btdwEplw 's also harmful for Expecting women to the touch the crumbly tablet powder. Blend all elements inside the container of the decision. Combine perfectly, and be sure you combine comprehensively right before Each individual use. Hunting for a hair growth shampoo that stops dandruff at the same time? Nizoral has created an item that has the precise Gains you are seeking. Hi beautiful, welcome to hair buddha. I'm Minaz, an ex-training Neuro-Physiotherapist turned natural – hair – therapist! I am writing to share my experiences on natural hair care which has been successful not just on me but also on a lot of wonderful people today close to me. In order to be healthier, our system desires the appropriate pH equilibrium. As I’m guaranteed you may consider, Should the pH is wrong (way too acidic or also alkaline) then the body doesn’t truly functionality really very well. When further investigation is required to grasp the exact mechanism better, PSO exhibits “beneficial anabolic (result) on hair growth … in individuals with delicate to moderate male sample hair loss”. Even though it might not block DHT (at the very least, this has however to be researched), the part it plays inside the regulation on the Wnt pathway is just not a single to get downplayed. Which means SM04554 could The general influence of consuming this acidic-weighted diet regime more than many years is that the human body by itself commences to become acidic. The excellent news is anxiety-similar hair loss is often temporary, assuming that the strain function is momentary In 2007, the main laser treatment for hair loss was approved through the FDA. Just one unique products will be the Hairmax Lasercomb, and it makes use of lower-level light to: Unfortunately, it seems that RU58841 experimentation has ceased for your foreseeable long run on account of home legal rights transfer. It continues to be to be noticed whether or not even more scientific studies (specifically in people) might be carried out. Hair affirmation is a strong Software that can help you worry considerably less and treatment superior for your personal hair. It is possible to build your very own affirmation and visualize yourself obtaining it. Soon after metabolism happens There's a material leftover, a little like There's an ‘ash’ which happens to be leftover after the fire has ‘metabolised (burnt as a result of) the wood.

hair growth vitamins Secrets

If suitable beard care is essential to you personally, Then you definitely're probably getting beard oil. But Imagine if I explained to ... It is usually practical if as you are completed showering to experience you hair with chilly h2o before you get out. As this oil is very viscous, blend the castor oil by having an equal level of coconut, olive, or almond oil. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hair_care with it and leave it on for thirty to forty five minutes. Then shampoo your hair. Jojoba oil. It’s really similar in texture to sebum, the natural oil produced by your scalp that lubricates your hair and keeps it healthier. Many of it is going to grow back again but you will have to attend on it perhaps a few months and it could grow back again weak and susceptible to breakage. The neatest thing you could potentially do is consume healthful and nourish your scalp -- and find out a doctor for tips. Professional medical industry experts need to distinguish hair loss from breakage of the hair shaft from hair loss due to diminished hair growth. Surgical methods like hair transplants might be handy for a few women along with Guys to "fill in" thinned-out parts. Like minoxidil (aka Rogaine), Ketoconazole continues to be identified as a fantastic hair loss treatment. Ketoconazole is the key ingredient in several anti-dandruff and regrowth shampoos, and analysis with the Countrywide Institute of Well being (NIH) has demonstrated which the normal utilization of a 2% Ketoconazole shampoo can cause increased hair density and dimensions. I signify, It appears fairly evident, brief, and straightforward, so I’m going to check out it. Y’all ought to attempt it. Also I put my nickname at college as my title bc I are likely to get pretty offended incredibly very easily so my mates gave me that name. Alopecia areata is definitely an autoimmune problem during which the body attacks its very own hair follicles. Most individuals, having said that, do not have systemic troubles and want no health care checks. Some scientific tests have argued that dandruff can lead to an harmful scalp and trigger balding. Fortunately, ketoconazole is the key component in Nizoral that works to stop dandruff and improve hair. The precise reason behind this pattern is unknown. (The male hormones included are current in equally Males and women.) It is no surprise that ‘hair loss cures 2020’ is a particularly common look for phrase in Google. You’d Assume by that point we’d discover how to stop hairs from falling out of heads. Gentle sufficient for even by far the most sensitive pores and skin and hair forms, Pure Biology incorporates natural extracts, oils, biotin and keratin, which perform to stimulate hair growth and maintenance destruction. The 3HC Hair Stimulating Complex contained in Pure Biology’s formula is totally revolutionary, since it stimulates cells that deal with hair follicle improvement.

hair growth shampoo Options

Anagen effluvium - is common hair loss all around the physique resulting from chemotherapy, immunotherapy, or radiotherapy. The hair loss is frequently non permanent and grows back again right after a particular length of time. Surgical procedures or hair transplants: Surgical hair restoration strategies include different versions of hair transplantation (getting hair in the again and Placing it near the front) or scalp reduction (slicing away bald spots and stitching the rest together). Transplant techniques have enhanced greatly lately. They are able to make way more appealing and natural-wanting benefits than more mature strategies that from time to time leave a "checkerboard" or hair plug appear. The ingredients are Light on hair strands, and at the time dried, the hair flows easily without causing tangles. In case you are experiencing hair loss resulting from scalp troubles like dandruff, or rough strands, then this is the greatest shampoo to utilize. "It is really feasible to take 1 or another or the two," Kaufman says. "But if an individual isn't about to use Rogaine twice everyday, or take the Propecia tablet as soon as every single day, he shouldn't utilize them." The expression "ringworm" or "ringworms" refers to fungal bacterial infections which might be over the surface area of the pores and skin. A Actual physical examination in the affected pores and skin, evaluation of pores and skin scrapings underneath the microscope, and lifestyle assessments may also help Physicians make the appropriate distinctions. At the conclusion of the day, The obvious way to get these nutrients is by eating a balanced, real food stuff-based mostly diet regime that features a lot of nutrient-dense foods. Later on indications and signals that labor that labor is are the lady’s drinking water breaking, and when contractions start. While tales about hats choking off follicles or prolonged hair pulling within the roots can be extra folklore, repeat hair trauma like tightly woven hair pulled again and dependable friction can probably worsen or lead to localized hair loss in some people today. Traction alopecia - can be a condition of hair loss which is frequent in women. It happens resulting from pressure during the hair shafts because of very tight ponytails, braids, or pigtails. Vitamin B3, B7, C, and vitamin H are the nutrients that endorse hair growth. Either you are able to eat foods rich in these or choose dietary supplements. Immediately after viewing product depth webpages, glimpse below to locate an uncomplicated method to navigate back again to webpages you are interested in. Medical practitioners check with prevalent baldness as "androgenetic alopecia" or "androgenic alopecia," which means that a combination of hormones and heredity (genetics) is critical to acquire the ailment. Sure. Since coconut oil is full of potassium, it retains the scalp overall health, and encourages the growth of latest hair, rendering it the most beneficial treatment for hair regrowth. Alopecia universalis - is usually an autoimmune disorder wherein there is overall hair loss all over the overall body, together with eyebrows, eyelashes, and pubic hair. It's considered to be the most intense form of alopecia areata.

Considerations To Know About hair fall

This condition interferes Along with the hair growth cycle by creating a follicle to prematurely go away the anagen, or active growth, phase and enter the resting, or telogen period. The hair growth from the affected follicles is lessened or stopped entirely. The best way to try to eat? Sprinkle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9LctCQxINs with your salads, or insert them to the smoothies, or when earning bread/naan/rotis. You may also make delectable flaxseed chutney. Rogaine (minoxidil). Below sure instances, this topical (placed on the pores and skin) preparing appears to offer modest regrowth of hair on regions of the scalp which have absent bald. Rogaine operates on hair follicles to reverse their shrinking approach to encourage new hair growth. The consequences are most promising in younger people who find themselves just beginning to show indications of balding or who've tiny bald patches. The medication is really a solution that is applied to balding places two times a day and must be ongoing indefinitely; hair loss will recur if the appliance is stopped. https://www.pinterest.com/healthhomeremedies/steptoremedies/ is usually a hair loss sickness which can happen in any individual at any stage of lifestyle. Particularly Alopecia areata is surely an autoimmune condition that triggers hair to spontaneously fall out. It is mainly characterised by bald patches about the scalp or other aspects of the human body, and can eventually result in baldness through the whole human body. For now, just know that there are several hair growth health supplements, pills, and vitamins in the marketplace. We’ll contact on the best kinds on this page, but be cautious of inferior products which do practically nothing more than overload you with specific vitamins and minerals devoid of carrying out a matter for hair growth. Rated the ideal shampoo for hair regrowth in 2017 and all over again in 2018 by field pros, Ultrax Labs Hair Surge is a brand that’s successful a lot of awards for its Remarkable-excellent products. This organization has created pretty an impact on heads all over the place, and warrants to generally be at the top of our record. Hair affirmation is a robust Software that can help you are worried considerably less and treatment greater for the hair. You can produce your own affirmation and visualize by yourself acquiring it. Argan oil requires Centre stage With this shampoo, and this major ingredient is stuffed with vitamin E and fatty acids to promote nutritious hair and skin. Shedding https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdXQUKza1U0 ? It might an easy fix-like receiving more or less of the vitamin-or trickier to take care of. Begin Slideshow Every single product or service we element continues to be independently selected and reviewed by our editorial group. In case you create a acquire using the inbound links included, we may possibly earn Fee. Ketoconazole helps prevent your follicles from discomfort and inflammation, which subsequently stops hair thinning and loss. With 1% Ketoconazole (or 2% by using a prescription), this item has enough of the essential component to kill the fungi liable for triggering dandruff. What to do: If you are doing working experience hair loss, be confident that your hair will grow back in several months. “It’s a traditional factor and it'll do the job its way out,” Dr. Glashofer says. Whilst Propecia has much more steady success, minoxidil is more dependent on the person. Dramatic results such as new regrowth could be witnessed in people who react properly, but they are the minority. Minoxidil, like Propecia, is significantly better at hair routine maintenance. read more will allow you to hold the hair you are doing have for for a longer time, but only if you employ it each day. Comment:u have to do each of the 10redemedies so as to see changes or You should do what u a comfortable with This top rated unisex shampoo for hair loss was meant to revitalize, improve, and guard hair on Adult men and women alike.

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The crucial element component in Nizoral is ketoconazole, which minimizes hair follicle inflammation that contributes to hair loss. Ketoconazole also kills fungi that lead to dandruff, but there’s not so much of it as to get toxic (which massive quantities of ketoconazole can be). steptoremedies.com for yourself is….vs . Ultrax, it would appear A great deal inexpensive to use a combination of Lipogaine Massive 5 and Nizoral. Is there a tremendous dropoff in results by using the latter alternative? And the company is so assured of their product which they even give you a ninety-working day income-back promise, and that means you basically get a threat-no cost trial. There may be literally no motive not to get the item and provides it a shot. Swedish firm Follicum is carrying out PhaseIIA scientific research on application in their modified peptide formulation right injected to your scalp. Prolonged, shiny and healthier hair can be an simply achievable objective, delivered you dedicate a while to hair treatment and observe these valuable all-natural healthy hair ideas. Whisk an egg. Blend in four tablespoons of grapeseed oil and a few drops of lavender oil. Apply it for your hair and scalp and go away it on for fifty percent an hour or so. Ultimately, rinse it out and shampoo your hair as regular. Within an field fraught with bogus statements and shady businesses, this list of the best hair loss shampoos for guys and women continues to be investigated and evaluated comprehensively. Although it’s vital that you do not forget that hair loss can have a lot of underlying will cause and a great shampoo with top quality substances can be Component of an effective treatment, it’s tough to argue With all the Many independent clients who have discovered these items helpful. Actual success take plenty of time for you to display. Not to mention, In the event your hair is thinner, and you also started doing something about it, it'll get time for the new “regrown” hairs to become noticeable. They need to have the perfect time to grow. Seborrheic dermatitis and scalp bacterial infections result in issues like itchy scalp and gentle hair loss. So, recognize any fundamental troubles contributing to hair difficulties and handle them without delay so they don’t hamper your hair growth attempts. The phrase "ringworm" or "ringworms" refers to fungal bacterial infections which have been about the area in the pores and skin. A Actual physical assessment from the afflicted pores and skin, analysis of skin scrapings beneath the microscope, and tradition exams can assist Medical professionals make the suitable distinctions. Even though there are A great deal even worse things that can happen to someone than losing their hair, there’s also no denying how extremely discouraging it might be. There are several motives for hair loss, together with genetics, and a lot more solutions and solutions around which declare to slow its progress although even growing new hair. Discovering 1 that actually works in your case, nevertheless, may be easier stated than accomplished. But we’re here to help you. In steptoremedies.com analyze a number of topics had been capable of regrow whole heads of hair. Regrettably, sustained use of this kind of medications will likely have critical Uncomfortable side effects. Many of such issues could be side stepped if a topical method may be developed. Researchers with the Department of Dermatology and Genetics and Growth at Columbia University Clinical center are now learning other JAK inhibitors in placebo controlled reports. But our testimonials of the very best shampoos for hair growth can present you with hope and assist you to come across the ideal products for you. Recognizing for the fact at an early age whether anyone will be predisposed to losing their hair will make a tremendous variation. This will likely assist that individual be capable of system, finances, and study their selections ahead of their hair even begins thinning.

Helping https://twitter.com/steptoremedies/ Realize The Advantages Of hair regrowth

I keep in mind how it feels. Sensation helpless that I was slowly but surely likely bald and there was nothing at all I could do over it. Neither group observed improvement for the a few-month mark, but sizeable improvement was observed at six months. , then I strongly urge you to definitely perform more investigate. When hair transplantion can provide an aesthetic Increase, it’s not The solution for your hair loss woes. You’ll however need to operate to take care of the root induce But the most effective possibility is to eat fresh or dried amla every single day. I've A different great selection – I consider 1tsp amla powder or triphala with a glass of drinking water each and every morning – It’s among the best detox drink you could find. Even more fascinating is, when men and women from these regions transfer to international locations much like the US their chance of likely bald also improves up towards the nationwide ordinary. The main team been given a day by day nutritional supplement (which contained 400mg of PSO), while the 2nd group obtained a placebo dietary supplement. Femina has long been capturing the essence with the Indian woman for fifty eight decades now, and it has evolved with her over time bringing the world to her doorstep. And now, Here is your possibility to obtain the dope on all the things--from celebs and trend, beauty and wellness, to Life-style and associations--shipped on to your inbox. In addition skilled suggestions, polls, contests and various interactive article content and a complete large amount far more! Hi there wonderful, welcome to hair buddha. little herbs am Minaz, an ex-practising Neuro-Physiotherapist turned natural – hair – therapist! I'm producing to share my experiences on natural hair care which has been successful not just on me but in addition on lots of amazing folks all-around me. This assortment of microbes that make up the human human body is called the microbiome and we are just getting out how significant a healthier microbiome is for Total health (and hair health.) Although further more study is needed to understand the precise mechanism greater, PSO shows “positive anabolic (effect) on hair growth … in patients with delicate to moderate male sample hair loss”. SM04554 is really an experimental drug that’s currently getting analyzed by researchers for a hair loss treatment. The scientists assert this “wonder cure” is effective by regulating the Wnt pathway, which happens to be a protein pathway believed to acquire particular outcomes on hair growth. It’s very clear that the listing of micro organism killing modern-day innovations is lengthy. It’s challenging to do everything without having functioning into a thing created to eliminate micro organism in a single form or A further. Don’t be concerned about investigating your hair line at this stage being an indicator; simply just observe the have an impact on the foods have on Your whole body when you reintroduce them. more info from stepto remedies at the rear of PSO’s achievements is considered to get its inhibition on the enzyme 5AR. As a result of this, DHT is then blocked from staying manufactured and, hence, are not able to wreak havoc to the hair follicles.

[liberianjue]

For a few months now, I have been meaning to write this personal story about my hair.  Each time I try to, it just seems so personal to put out there. One part is like “why would anyone want to hear you write a long blog about your hair?” There are many other more important things I could be commenting on right now- like the current tense elections and political climate at right now in Liberia, like corruption. like…but hair?

Hair???!!

Anyway, today is thanksgiving day in Liberia and I felt I needed to do something with this unexpected free time on my hand that was not work. So, here I am sharing a personal story. And yes about my hair.

For millions of women around the world with “nappy” hair, it’s a constant myriad of emotions and moods about our hair. It ranges from being in love, falling out of love, frustration, resignation, etc.

I am no exception. I used to have had a love hate relationship with my hair for years.

From an early age we are conditioned into feeling how “tough” and difficult our hair is to manage. I remember that I eagerly waited to turn 12 to be able to be officially allowed to try the “white crack” on my hair so it could be straight, silky and manageable. Of course, as the nickname depicts, you get hooked. There is a constant cycle of needed to retouch to maintain that full straightness.

In the process, we burn and damage our hair. Over the years, I went through several heartbreaks due to my over use of perms and chemicals in my hair. There is this constant search for the right products. This one is good for black women hair. This is good for conditioning. This one shines. This one moisturizes. Before long we have tabletops full of various hair products, a variety of brands. Always searching. Always unappeased.

Of course I have had my share of hair adventures and experiments. I have cut it, dyed it many colors, permed, over permed, braided and weaved it, too often to even remember.

Cornrows

Micro braids

In recent years, there has been a revolution of the nappy hair. We have come to see it differently.

It is en-vogue to appreciate the various nappiness of our hair. It is actually okay not to be ashamed of the nappy texture but to embrace its versatility. Everywhere I look, I see black women proudly and adventurously trying out new ways to embrace our unique and versatile hair.

Pregnant with my first child, I decided to lay off perm – after reading all those online articles that said it was not safe for the baby.  I decided to grow out my hair. And so, I fluctuated between braiding it and keeping it weaved for months at a time. In between, I treated myself to new fad two-finger twist. It was nice, but it was still the constant struggle of going to the salon for hours, sitting for hours to have the hair braided. Then there was the additional hours spent unbraiding it. All of this left me constantly annoyed, antsy, tired and with short-lived appeasement.

After about a year and upon delivery, I got frustrated and went back to my perm addiction. Few weeks in, I was angry and unfulfilled.

So, I resorted to doing only micro braids. For one year, it seemed nice. I had no need for salons for up to 3-4 months at a time. My head was very light weight.  But, there was still the stress of sitting for up to 9 hours to get them braided and another 9 plus hours just to loosen them.

You get the picture. I do not have 9 hours in any 24-hour cycle just to do my hair.

Quite simply, I could not afford to do that! Additionally, the hair STILL seemed to be breaking! AND those “100% human hair” didn’t come cheap either.

I was nearly at a point of cutting the hair and sporting a low cut for a few years when IT happened. In January of 2013 I saw a strange hair style on a friend. Samantha lives in Ghana. She was wearing what looked like tiny braids. I kept staring trying to figure out if they were extensions cleverly weaved or braided. I couldn’t figure what they really were. They looked like nothing I had seen before.

I was intrigued.

 “Sisterlocs”, she said.

I had never heard of it. She explained that they were strands of her hair interlocked into tiny locs. They were not the usual dreadlocks. I touched them and confirmed they were her own hair. They looked beautiful, felt soft and seemed manageable.

I fell in love!

I knew I had to know more. I googled it. The more I learned, the more I got interested. I found a new resolution: To give myself 6 months within which to research further about sisterlocs, and to figure out if I would still be as interested as I was after 6 months.  If I still was, I would try it out and if I did not like it I would cut my hair after a few months.  After all, it’s not like I had not cut my hair before, right?

After 6 months, I was still in love. I was still interested. I decided to take the first big step towards locking my hair. I chopped it off. With only new nappy growth, my hair was down to about an inch.

newly chopped

2 finger twist

Ha!

in late May 2013 I made the final decision. My transition began to loc my hair.

Four and  a half years later, it has proven to be one of the best decisions I have made in my adult life.

I feel fulfilled. Free. Liberated! My hair has blossomed. My hair and I are finally a peace with each other.

Today, I love the freedom to not worry about sitting in salon for hours and using up my Saturdays just doing my hair. I am also spared the hassle of waking up too early to fix my hair inpreparation for the day or even worries of protecting my expensive “human hair” from damage due to unexpected down pours. I also have less concerns about loosing my hair or its breakage due to various chemical applications.

And, it is quite cheap to maintain. What can beat that?

Except for twice a year when I apply light hair coloring, I no longer apply chemicals to my hair. I use only natural oils. They include, coconut oil, olive oil, tea tree oil and castor oil.  All of these I am able to buy at a very low price right in my home country Liberia.

In the years since I locked my hair, it has opened a new and happier chapter in my relationship with my hair. My hair has grown at a pace that amazes even me. In four and a half years, I have gone from an inch of hair when I chopped it off and locked it to 11 full and healthy inches of nappy hair.

Nappy IS pretty.

newly locked

newly locked

I am free of the constant stress about what do with my hair in the next two weeks or even the next month. One thing for sure, I will look the same today as I would the next two weeks or the one month. The fact that it is my own hair gives me added sense of confidence and pride in myself and about my appearance. And I look fashionable.

Of course I get stares and compliments about my hair from both men and women. I treat each compliment with a smile. I also cannot say that I do not secretly enjoy the chatter when I go down to the local market and overhear the market women wondering whispers that my hair HAS to be extension or cleverly weaved. I can’t say I blame them. I did the same.

I have had many queries about how I manage my hair. Here are few things I do:

Wash it about 2x a month. Depending on the heat and sweat from exercise I do it more. But generally 2x a month.

I oil it once a week (or when I remember hah) with a natural oil mixture I do myself comprising of coconut oil, castor oil, olive oil, tea tree oil)

Because my hair at the front is very fine and prone to falling off very easily, I try not to do too many twisting and pulling of my hair to cause more hair loss and damage to my front hair

Retighten every 6 weeks.

That’s it.

We live in a world of stereotypes. My decision has further reinforced my impression that natural can be beautiful.

I am raising a beautiful daughter. And I am inspiring her to accept her hair as unique, rich and beautiful as naturally as it is. Yes, she can grow up and choose to want to perm it, weave it or braid it. But it should be her decision to explore, and one with which she must be content and afford to do. What I hope she will learn is that her natural hair is beautiful and she can choose to keep it as natural as she desires.

Today in Liberia, I am happy to see the various trend towards natural hairstyles. There is an evolving pride in the way Liberian women are wearing and displaying their natural hair.

A whole new industry is developing. There are young Liberian women entrepreneurs like Satta Wahab of Naz Naturals, Thelma Debrah of Kouzoya’s Nature who are making their own natural products and brands to promote the growth and easy management natural hair. Together, we embracing our nappyness in all its unique splendor and beauty.

So what can I say about my love affair with my hair? We are at the happily married couple stage, where you now know your partner well enough to know how to navigate and accommodate each other. You know what you need to do to keep the peace.

The evolution and love affair with my hair For a few months now, I have been meaning to write this personal story about my hair.