#french horn suffering

[rockchatterbox]

i have a school band concert tonight and the french horns just sit there resting for 25 measures straight in one of the songs. theres more rests after that that last about 4 measures each. the five of us also have to sit behind the clarinets while they play the cool part and we hold a high c.

[slashingdisneypasta]

Disney Villains Only being able to Speak their First Language to Eachother

Hey fellow Hetalians (No such thing as an ex-Hetalian, y'all know that), remember that post about all the characters only being able to speak their countries official languages for a day?? And the chaos that would've ensued?? This is inspired by that post XD

Imagine the Disney Villains getting hexed by like, Mama Odie or Merryweather or Merlin or someone, so they can all only speak and understand their first language for a month.

Yes. A whole month.

The Toon Patrol are seriously struggling because Greasy keeps talking really fast Spanish at them but the rest have no idea what he's saying. Eventually Smartass decides to lock him in a separate room until this can be figured out and you can just hear banging and vague Spanish coming out the crack.

Ernesto is trying to figure out what some of the English speakers are saying because every 11th word is kinda familiar and they speak slow (Especially the rotund, yodelling fellow) but he keeps getting distracted by this faint Spanish yelling coming from another room.

Hades and Jafar stand off to the side near a wall just watching all the mess. They cant understand each other of course but no one else can understand them either so there's really nothing else to do. Hades will occasionally point something out, like Gaston leaning his sweaty arm on Frollo's shoulder and Frollo struggling to not buckle under the weight, and they'll chuckle. (Yes, laughter. The universal language XD)

Speaking of the French speakers-- they're suffering. Frollo hates his fellow French speakers for all being such sinners, Lady Tremaine hates the others because they're idiots or they have too much attitude towards her (*Cough* mal), Maleficent looks down on them all because they're all magic-less plebs, Edgar hates them because they all have money, and Gaston keeps talking about himself and someone is going to hit him. But they all try to keep it together, keep it classy, though most of them have elected to just not talk except for Gaston.

The oddest pairing is probably Hans and Ursula. She speaks Danish, or a dialect similar to it, and he is either Norwegian or Icelandic. If he's Norwegian, they're trying to figure out what the other is saying. Its mostly Ursula flirting with him and him carefully deciphering her words... and then facepalming. ikke til å tro (Unbelievable). But she keeps making like she has something important to tell him, like how to fix this huge predicament, and he keeps falling for it XD

Hilda and Mother Gothel speak German together and basically check out of this mess- like, do they want to understand what insanity Gaston and Jafar are saying again?? Or Frollo?? Haha, No...

Scroop speaks a harsh alien dialect and Silver's just standing next to him like yeah, yeah... you know i dont understand a word you're saying? *... realises scroop cant understand him either and sighs* Ahhh... *Rubs the bridge of his nose*

Rourke approaches the Horned King, curious why he's just standing there doing nothing and gets a string of growly Welsh and promptly... leaves... Like nope. Not today. That crap sounded like an ancient curse and that is not on todays schedule, thanks.

Clayton claims to have visited half these countries (Truth) and could figure out what many of the other villains are saying if he wanted (Exaggeration) so Cruella's like okay great... go and Captain Hook's like that's marvelous! go ahead then my good fellow!. He goes up to Shan Yu and immediately fails.

Shan Yu is usually pretty quiet around the other villains, so him standing there unreadable though faintly amused by them all is... not out of the ordinary XDD

If you have more to add, please feel free! XD

[a-roguish-gambit]

Idea Morph or Kevin Sydney use to be Warren favorite actor secret crush maybe seeing them at the mansion would completely brighten him up a bit?

Fun fact: one of the early "cures" (i.e. methods of bringing one out of a PTSD episode) after PTSD was initially discovered was having performers come in and sing and entertain the soldiers suffering from it. So that would probably be their go to. Warren's family being a big donor of the Xavier institute might ask to have him visit every so often as a form of treatment. Morph is happy to get to do some show tune performances again, and some of the kids who have been practicing instruments join in too for various recitals of what they have been practicing. (Evan has been learning the French horn, Gambit can play guitar, rogue has violin training she's picking up again, and Kitty can play piano, and jean plays harpsicord, and Kurt is very happy he found out about mallet instruments like marimba and has been learning several at once) it becomes a weekly therapy session for him. Warren starts leaving a generous donation to the institute himself for the help. Charles insists it's not necessary, but Warren always replies "if nothing else use it as a gift to the kids to let them have some fun."

Coney Island and ocean city trips become a regular thing as a result.

[ymeisli]

pursing my marching band codywan au so here’s my lineup

obi-wan

Euphonium player

THERES A METHOD TO MY MADNESS

he feels low brassy to me but not low brass enough for like the boring parts

that’s why euphonium is perfect for him because it’s low brass but you get interesting parts

Cody

trumpet

he’s the only normal one there

Anakin

soooo drumline

cymbals in freshmen year, switches to tenors, and ends up a loud ass snare player

he just likes making noise bro

Ahsoka

ALTO SAX

ALTO SAX

ALTO SAX

Padme

Mellophone/French horn

no explanation

i love her

obi wan and cody are the drum majors obi wan the head dm and cody assistant dm. yoda plays bari sax and is the bd. obi wan kenobi suffers everyday because he is forced to sit next to quinlan vos (trombone)

i don’t know what what to do with anyone else send help i need ideas!! scenarios!!! people and their instruments!!! 😭😭

[roachymochi]

Got an idea impossible to coalesce about fingers and horns in the Land of Shadow.

finger ruins being properly ancients and the inhabitants of the land at the time, seeing the divine in them, trying to commune with them to become fingers themselves.

The way the finger mushroom grow in cluster like a seven fingered hand (like Rykards')

The fingercreepers being called "finger-grubs" in french version

Hornsents worshipping horns cluster as a true manifestation of the divine

The inquisitors of the ruling class having two clusters of horns on each side of the head

The way hornsents horns looks like fat grubs bursting out of flesh.

The duality imagery being both an hornsent and two fingers trademark

How the hornsent suffer from a bug transformation disease

The presence of Metyr, and her wound, and her hatred, and the formless mother craving wound and violence against the golden order, granting her blessing to the omens.

How there are so many aspects of the Crucible but the Hornsent are solely focused on horns as a blessing.

The existence of the wormface, and their codename being Déracinée. Like people who lost their land. and how their worm covered face look similar to the horns growing down on the hornsent grandma

The Hornsent (NPC) stone grub Mask being used in rituals and somehow having the highest focus stat of the game.

How worms are growing in the pots and make food for the prisonners, all that linked to an hallowing ritual

Like. Are divine horns just a manifestation of the fingers in human (and animal) flesh. How would that work. Horns as Worms as Fingers.

[hazbinsponsoredbyvee]

My brain would not shut the fuck up for 2 seconds, so to satisfy it, have a compilation of out of context questions and shitty takes:

1. So I sold my soul to Alastor for jambalaya (would've done it for free frfr), what do i call you now? Sir? Boss? Daddy? AHEM, what do your souls even do? Will I just join the hotel? Cuz I'm fine with that.

2. Can Angel shoot webs out of his ass? (I don't know where the fuck this came from)

3. Husk, do you blink slowly at the people you trust and love? Cuz cats do that.

4. Charlie do you bleat like a goat?

5. Does Alastor taste like venison? Experience rut? Also, can you make different calls besides squeaks and bleats? Do your horns get stuck on shit? Ever broke Vox's screen with a 'love tap'? Also did you know there's a ship with you and your mom? That shit is vile

6. Do y'all know Lilith is just in heaven, drinking a slushie on the beach while y'all are out here suffering?

7. Luci what's your opinion on the other sins? (All of em)

8. Vox what your best 'Alastor got drunk and cuddly story?' Also did you ever convinced him to wear a dress? (I'm not talking about the bets, talking about you actually managing to convince him yourself, no strings attached, to wear a dress.) Is your dick a cable? Do you eat batteries? And are you aware of how creative your simps are? (ESPECIALLY ON PINTEREST ISTG PEOPLE ARE NOT WELL)

9. Vaggie, did you ever watch Encanto and notice that Mirabel sounds like you? Also, you're Spanish, right? (Yay, like me, matchy), what's your fave dish?

10. Val what was the fucking point of trying to drug Vox? Like? Even if it worked, Alastor would've fucked you up so hard your dick would come out of your mouth. Did you just think he'd be mad at Vox for getting fucking raped? Idiot.

11. Husk, did you ever perform in front of a crowd? Because if I'd have your voice, I'd never shut up.

12. Niffty, have you heard of Vox's employee, Baxter? He's like Sir. Pentios but a way better bad boy, about your height, and a mad scientist. Bet he could make experiments on your bugs and find new ways to kill em or sum.

13. Velvette, my fucking queen, on my knees for you, ugh, it's your voice or your personality, idk what, but I want it. Give it. I love u queen. What's your fave dress you ever made?

14. If Vox would be a princess, he'd be a greedy princess. I scouted the internet for anything, and after being reminded that El Dorado exists, I think the best I found is Chel. She's smart and greedy, and wants more gold. That's the best i found. Or just fuck it and you're Ariel but a shark. Now I have to draw that.

15. Angel did you discover you were gay back when you were alive or in hell? Also, how was it Italy? I plan on visiting and maybe going to a concert at it, cause the language sounds so fucking pretty and idk how to describe it, just beauty.

16. So, Alastor, is Niffty in a contract with you afterall, or did she just exist in your house one day and you just adopted her? Also, Charlie can now technically call you dad, cause your her mom's boyfriend, so maybe stepdad? Second dad?

17. Charlie girl, you did it! You fixed your mommy issues with your dad, your new mom, and your mom's boyfriend.

18. Hazbing hotel should be renamed issues hotel, cuz we got Daddy issues (Angel, Alastor, Husk I think?), Mommy issues (Charlie ((she kinda solved them)), Pentios maybe), parent issues (Husk ig, Vox, maybe velvette? Cuz if she was just 19 ((young kween, we stan u girl)), I imagine her parents sucked ((boo, tomato tomato))), uh, just straight up issues (Luci, Vaggie, I recon Val had a shitty life) and a shitton of trauma.

19. Alastor did you wear cattle shoes back when you were alive? Also, how is New Orleans? I think it looks really pretty and has a beautiful beautiful culture. Maybe if I have money, I'll visit! See where my fave serial killer murderer came from. Also, is French hard to learn? I'd like to give it a shot. Last thing: drop that lash care girllll, why do men have such pretty lashes? Scratch that, why are men like you so pretty?

20. Be gay, do crime, eat boys up, idk, peace ✌️

—a very sleep deprived bird anon

1. So I sold my soul to Alastor for jambalaya (would've done it for free frfr), what do i call you now? Sir? Boss? Daddy? AHEM, what do your souls even do? Will I just join the hotel? Cuz I'm fine with that.

"Boss will do just fine. And you can do as you please - I'm not like some, who require their souls to tirelessly work for them. I'll call on you if I have need."

2. Can Angel shoot webs out of his ass? (I don't know where the fuck this came from)

"Uh, no."

3. Husk, do you blink slowly at the people you trust and love? Cuz cats do that.

"Not that I'm aware of."

4. Charlie do you bleat like a goat?

"Um, no, I'm... not a goat."

5. Does Alastor taste like venison? Experience rut? Also, can you make different calls besides squeaks and bleats? Do your horns get stuck on shit? Ever broke Vox's screen with a 'love tap'? Also did you know there's a ship with you and your mom? That shit is vile

"I suppose my flavor profile might bear some similarities to venison, but I imagine I do taste rather different. I don't experience rut, I can make different sounds, and no, my horns do not get stuck - I can shrink them easily. I have broken Vox's screen while fighting and when he's attempted to wake me up, but I wouldn't qualify either as a 'love tap'. And I do wish you hadn't shared that."

6. Do y'all know Lilith is just in heaven, drinking a slushie on the beach while y'all are out here suffering?

"Yeah, you're not the first person to share that. But Charlie doesn't know, and I'm keeping it that way until I get more answers. It would crush her."

7. Luci what's your opinion on the other sins? (All of em)

"They're like family, and like most families, I get along with some more than others. Ozzie is definitely who I'm closest to, Bee's always fun, Lev's cool, Belphi's great, Satan and I butt heads sometimes, and Mammon... can admittedly get on my nerves."

8. Vox what your best 'Alastor got drunk and cuddly story?' Also did you ever convinced him to wear a dress? (I'm not talking about the bets, talking about you actually managing to convince him yourself, no strings attached, to wear a dress.) Is your dick a cable? Do you eat batteries? And are you aware of how creative your simps are? (ESPECIALLY ON PINTEREST ISTG PEOPLE ARE NOT WELL)

"I'm not telling you a whole story when you asked so fucking much. No, I haven't gotten him in a dress outside of the bet. Do you have any idea how much he hates deviating from his look? And no, my dick is not a cable, and I don't eat batteries. But yes, of course my simps are very creative. Right, Mel?"

9. Vaggie, did you ever watch Encanto and notice that Mirabel sounds like you? Also, you're Spanish, right? (Yay, like me, matchy), what's your fave dish?

"I haven't noticed that, and um... as I've mentioned before, I don't really have any memories before joining Adam's army. I used to think I was Heavenborn, but I get these flashes, and... I think I might be from Central America? I don't know. I do love tamales, I know that."

10. Val what was the fucking point of trying to drug Vox? Like? Even if it worked, Alastor would've fucked you up so hard your dick would come out of your mouth. Did you just think he'd be mad at Vox for getting fucking raped? Idiot.

"They weren't even together yet. Alastor wouldn't have even known anything happened, if you idiotas hadn't gotten involved. Voxxy just would have chosen to stay with me, and their little budding romance would have fizzled out as it should have."

11. Husk, did you ever perform in front of a crowd? Because if I'd have your voice, I'd never shut up.

"I mean, I used to be a stage magician, so... yeah."

12. Niffty, have you heard of Vox's employee, Baxter? He's like Sir. Pentios but a way better bad boy, about your height, and a mad scientist. Bet he could make experiments on your bugs and find new ways to kill em or sum.

"Ooooh, Vox, I want to meet Baxter!"

13. Velvette, my fucking queen, on my knees for you, ugh, it's your voice or your personality, idk what, but I want it. Give it. I love u queen. What's your fave dress you ever made?

"Everything I make is the best - how the fuck can I pick one favorite?"

14. If Vox would be a princess, he'd be a greedy princess. I scouted the internet for anything, and after being reminded that El Dorado exists, I think the best I found is Chel. She's smart and greedy, and wants more gold. That's the best i found. Or just fuck it and you're Ariel but a shark. Now I have to draw that.

"Haven't seen it, so I'll take your word for it."

15. Angel did you discover you were gay back when you were alive or in hell? Also, how was it Italy? I plan on visiting and maybe going to a concert at it, cause the language sounds so fucking pretty and idk how to describe it, just beauty.

"When I was alive, and uh... yeah, my family's Italian, but I'm from New York. Lived there my whole life. Neva' been to Italy."

16. So, Alastor, is Niffty in a contract with you afterall, or did she just exist in your house one day and you just adopted her? Also, Charlie can now technically call you dad, cause your her mom's boyfriend, so maybe stepdad? Second dad?

"Niffty is my friend - of course I don't own her soul! And I was already a father-figure to Charlie, but I never seriously meant that she should call me dad."

17. Charlie girl, you did it! You fixed your mommy issues with your dad, your new mom, and your mom's boyfriend.

"Uh... I don't think that's how that works..."

18. Hazbing hotel should be renamed issues hotel, cuz we got Daddy issues (Angel, Alastor, Husk I think?), Mommy issues (Charlie ((she kinda solved them)), Pentios maybe), parent issues (Husk ig, Vox, maybe velvette? Cuz if she was just 19 ((young kween, we stan u girl)), I imagine her parents sucked ((boo, tomato tomato))), uh, just straight up issues (Luci, Vaggie, I recon Val had a shitty life) and a shitton of trauma.

"Fuck off, my dad was awesome."

"And for the last time, I don't have 'daddy issues'. My mother did just fine on her own."

19. Alastor did you wear cattle shoes back when you were alive? Also, how is New Orleans? I think it looks really pretty and has a beautiful beautiful culture. Maybe if I have money, I'll visit! See where my fave serial killer murderer came from. Also, is French hard to learn? I'd like to give it a shot. Last thing: drop that lash care girllll, why do men have such pretty lashes? Scratch that, why are men like you so pretty?

"I did, and New Orleans is indeed beautiful. I strongly recommend a visit! And I must admit, I don't speak fluent French. I can speak some Creole French that I picked up throughout my life. It was never something I studied, though. As for your last question, I'm afraid I don't quite know how to answer that."

Note from Mel: Please only send one or two asks at a time. This was a bit overwhelming, and it makes tagging complicated.

[cottoncandiescupcakes]

Weirdest Dutch words when literally translated.

Peanut butter = pindakaas = peanut cheese

Ladybug = lieveheersbeestje = sweet ruling small beast

Other word for lady bug = kapoentje = a word also used for a small rooster

Sandwich = boterham = butter ham

Hippo = nijlpaard = horse of the nile

Some weird cuss words:

mierenneuker = ant fucker

kloothommel = ball sack bumblebee

Pissebed = isopod. 'Pee in bed'

Oorwurm = ear worm or earwig

ijsberen = polar bearing aka pacing back and forth

pannekoek = pancake, also used to call someone an idiot.

The word 'gadverdamme' which basically means disgusting or ew, also shortened into 'gadver'

is a word taken from the cuss word 'godverdomme' which means god damn me, also shortened into 'godver'.

Pestlijer = plague sufferer. Other used with tyfus (typhus) and kanker (cancer)

Val dood = fall to your death

Ga naar de hel = go to hell

More word random words

Eekhoorn = squirrel aka old word for oak tree horn

Eenhoorn = unicorn aka one horn

Neushoorn = rhino aka nose horn

Patatje oorlog = war fries. French fries with peanut sauce, mayonaise and raw chopped onions. Way better than it sounds.

Hollandse nieuwe = Dutch new, the first caught young herring of the season to be eaten raw

Klok house = apple core aka clock house

Handschoenen = hand shoes, gloves.

Spijkerbroek = iron nail pants. Jeans.

@ is called an apenstaartje or monkey's tail

Schildpad aka turtle = shielded toad

Slachtoffer = slaughter sacrifice which is the Dutch word for ANY victim. Could be murder could be like, you got scammed.

The Dutch word for gums is tandvlees aka TOOTH MEAT

We are on crack

Slakken = snails

Naaktslakken = ‘naked snails’ (slug)

Mushroom is a paddestoel aka a chair for toads.

Vogelbekdier is platypus but it means literally bird beak animal

Huppelkut - skipping c*nt, a ditzy girl

Bakvis - baking fish, a teenage girl

Zeehond - sea dog aka seal LOL

[dustedmagazine]

Cloud Cult — Alchemy Creek (Earthology)

Alchemy Creek is Cloud Cult’s 12th album. During the late 2010s, the band had taken a hiatus. Their return in 2022 with the album Metamorphosis was an excellent release, leaning into a chamber pop aesthetic with an enlarged cohort of musicians, some playing classical instruments. The same lineup returns for Alchemy Creek: Craig Minowa, singer, songwriter, pianist and guitarist, is joined by violinist Shannon Frid-Rubin, drummer Jeremy Harvey, Shawn Neary playing bass, banjo and trombone, Sarah Perbix, playing keyboard, French horn and trumpet and Daniel Zamzow, playing cello and mandola. An unorthodox contributor to their shows and videos is the live painter Scott West. Together they make music that extols environmental causes, compassion for fellow humans, and catharsis for emotional suffering in the post-pandemic era.

“I Am a Forcefield” is a song that reminds us that our inner child can be a protective force, a reminder of our sense of self. Christopher Robin, leading a band of imaginary friends, battles it out with the demons of aversion in a lyric ripe with metaphor, encouraging those in similar circumstances. Minowa sings full on emo here with Harvey’s strong support on the drums. The rest of the group engages in a repetitive harmonic progression that grows to a roar by the song’s climax, only to slowly recede to give the floor to a final vocal chorus. “Vision in a Field” is a message to a friend carrying similar burdens. The narrator’s suggestion, “lay it down and run like hell.” A similar trope that I particularly liked, “It’s not about the easy days, it’s how you run through the fire.”  Here the band ebbs and flows in intensity, affording Minowa plenty of room to sing but interesting textures to support him.

“As Beautiful As It Hurts” is probably my favorite song on the recording. The video shows Minowa accompanying himself at a well-used, worn upright piano. Strings and French horn also surround his singing, which is distressed with delay. “I Need to Think it's Going to Be Alright” goes the world-weary refrain, and vivid emotional distress assaults the song’s narrator nearly throughout. Finding beauty and hope in the midst of pain, an aforementioned album theme, coalesces in this moving song.

Alchemy Creek is remarkable in that most bands do not find nearly as much songwriting inspiration on their twelfth album. Dare we hope for baker’s dozen?

Christian Carey

[camisoledadparis]

THIS DAY IN GAY HISTORY

based on: The White Crane Institute's 'Gay Wisdom', Gay Birthdays, Gay For Today, Famous GLBT, glbt-Gay Encylopedia, Today in Gay History, Wikipedia, and more … November 23

1876 – Manuel De Falla, Spanish composer, born (d.1946); Pablo Picasso is quoted as saying that he considered de Falla the shyest man he had ever met, "even smaller than myself, and as modest and withdrawn as an oyster shell ..." He was said to have been involved in a ménage á trois with composer Maurice Ravel and pianist Ricardo Viñes.

De Falla became close friends with Diaghalev and Massine, with whom he collaborated on The Three-Cornered Hat. It was, incidentally, immediately after the first performance of this ballet, that Massine announced his engagement to Lydia Sokolova, who had just performed the leading role, and was then dismissed from the Ballet Russes by the enraged Diaghelev.

1924 – The famed British-American anthropologist Colin Turnbull was born on this date (d.1994). Best known for this groundbreaking books The Forest People & The Mountain People, Turnbull was also one of the first anthropologists to work in the field of ethnomusicology.

Turnbull was an unconventional scholar who rejected neutrality. He idealized the BaMbuti and reviled the Ik, and described the latter as lacking any sense of altruism, in that they force their children out of their homes at the age of three, and gorge on whatever occasional excesses of food they might find until they became sick, rather than save or share. However, several anthropologists have since argued that a particularly serious famine suffered by the Ik during the period of Turnbull's visit may have distorted their normal behavior and customs, and some passages in his book make it clear that the behavior and customs of the Ik during the period he describes were drastically different from what was normal for them before they were uprooted from their original way of life.

Turnbull with MButi children.

In the US, he lived with his professional collaborator and partner of 30 years, the African American Dr. Joseph Towles, as an openly gay, interracial couple in one of the most conservative areas of the 1960s - rural Virginia.

During this time he also took up the political cause of death row inmates. After his partner's death in 1988, Turnbull, strongly affected, gave all his belongings to the United Negro College Fund. In 1989, he moved to Bloomington, Indiana to participate to the building of Tibetan Cultural Center with his friend Thupten Jigme Norbu, elder brother of the 14th Dalai Lama. In 1991 - 1992, he moved to Dharamsala, India where he took the monks' vow of Tibetan Buddhism, given to him by the Dalai Lama. He was then given a buddhist name.

He died in Virginia in 1994, aged 69. Both Towles and Turnbull died from complications of AIDS.

1926 – Roger Englander (d.2021) was an American director and producer. He won a Primetime Emmy Award and was nominated for five more in the category Outstanding Directing.

Born in Clevelend, Ohio, Englander attended Cleveland Heights High School where he studied piano, trumpet and French horn; he also conducted the school orchestra. He studied drama, composition and theory at the University of Chicago and graduated in 1945.

Englander produced all 53 episodes for Leonard Bernstein's Young People's Concerts at CBS from 1958 until 1972. Earlier, he was the prop manager for Bernstein's production of Benjamin Britten's Peter Grimes at Tanglewood in 1946. He staged several of Gian Carlo Menotti's operas, including The Telephone and The Medium for WPTZ (Philadelphia).

Englander wrote Opera, What's All the Screaming About? in 1983. He also directed several episodes of Omnibus and produced episodes of The Bell Telephone Hour which earned him a Peabody Award in 1959.

Englander died in February 2021, of pneumonia at the hospital in Newport, Rhode Island, at the age of 94. He was survived by his long-time companion Michael Dupré.

1933 – The New York tabloid Broadway Brevities, under the headline "Fags Tickle Nudes," published an article warning that "Pansy men of the nation" were invading steam baths and turning them into replicas of the orgy houses in Rome at the time of Nero.

Joe Zee (R) and husband Rob Younkers

1968 – Joe Zee is a Hong Kong-born Canadian fashion stylist, journalist, and producer, known for Entertainment Tonight (1981), FABLife (2015) and Celebrity Style Story (2012). Zee served as creative director of Elle for seven years. He became editor-in-chief and executive creative officer of Yahoo! Style in April 2014. He resigned from Yahoo in June 2017.

Zee was born in Hong Kong and at the age of one, moved to Toronto where he grew up. He began working in fashion in 1990, at age 22, and ultimately moved to New York City enrolling at the Fashion Institute of Technology.

In the mid-1990s, Zee met stylist Lori Goldstein at an Allure party, and soon became her assistant.

He was described in a New York Times profile as a leader in the mass market and digital transformation of fashion: "a chatty and approachable ambassador of fashion who has aggressively thrust himself in front of hoi polloi using Twitter, blogs, v-logs and—most visibly—television."

Zee was a recurring character as boss of the reality series The City. He has also appeared on episodes of Ugly Betty, Mistresses, and General Hospital as himself. He was one of the co-hosts of the ABC daytime talk show The Fab Life.

In 2010, he made an appearance on Gossip Girl as himself.In 2015, he released his book That's What Fashion Is: Lessons and Stories from My Nonstop, Mostly Glamorous Life in Style. Zee is married to Rob Younkers, host of Logo TV's Secret Guide to Fabulous

1989 – On this date the Natural Bears Classification System was unveiled on a Usenet group. The NBCS or "bear code" is a set of symbols using letters, numbers and other characters commonly found on modern, Western computer keyboards, and used for the self-identification of those who self-identify as "bears" in the sense of a mature gay or bisexual man with facial or substantial body hair. This classification scheme was created by Bob Donahue and Jeff Stoner, and was based on the way in which star and galaxy classification systems used characteristics of an object to derive a classifying identifier.

The format of the NBCS is a sequence of space-separated descriptions that each take the form, "XMme" where X is a letter indicating some trait; M is an optional magnitude indicated by either a number or a sequence of + or - characters (the former are used for rankings that have a broad, but discrete range while the latter is used for more comparative measurements); m is an optional modifier such as "v" which indicates variability of the trait; and e is any extra (such as a parenthesized magnitude that indicates a range from the magnitude outside the parentheses to the magnitude inside).

The format includes physical traits such as "B" for beard density/length, "f" for body hair (or "fur"), "t" for height (or "tallness"), and "w" for weight. It also includes personality traits such as "d" for "the daddy factor" and sexual preferences such as "k" for "the kinky factor."

A sample bear code is: B4 d+c e+ f+ g++ k+ m w t+ r (+?)

Translation: Reasonably thick beard, definite Daddy, cub tendencies, (endowment) gets attention, above average fur, loves groping/pawing/touching, (Kinkiness) loves most things, (Muscle) some definition, Blue collar, average weight, tall, (sex) plays under special circumstances.

1998 – The Georgia Supreme Court voted 6-1 to overturn the state's sodomy law. In the majority opinion, Chief Justice Robert Benham wrote, "We cannot think of any other activity that reasonable persons would rank as more private and more deserving of protection from governmental interference than consensual, private, adult sexual activity." Since the decision was based on the Georgia constitution rather than the US constitution, the decision could not be appealed.

2009 – On this date the city council of Charleston, South Carolina passed ordinances expanding the city's existing policy prohibiting discrimination in housing to include age, sexual orientation and gender identity. How important is this? In American history there is probably no other conservative city than Charleston. The Civil War was virtually born in Charleston and it is a city that was founded on the slave trade and the institutionalization of the most conservative, landowning families.

But that was then and this is now. Although the state is still a conservative hotbed, Charleston is a more cosmopolitan and urbane city. It also has a spirit of liberalism and openness. So this can only be seen as a sign of how far we have come.

The council also passed a public accommodations ordinance prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status, disability, age or sexual orientation. Charleston joins a number of other cities in the south with comprehensive anti-discrimination ordinances including Charleston WV, New Orleans LA, Atlanta GA, Covington KY and Columbia SC.

2014 – In Brazil, the world's first largest same-sex wedding with 160 couples takes place in Rio de Janeiro. It was the fifth time mass same-sex weddings were held in Brazil. (The following year 185 couples married.) Claudio Nascimento of Rio Sem Homophobia (Rio without Homophobia) says, "It is an affirmative action to call attention to all of the achievements and challenges in the area of civil and human rights of the LGBT community." Brazil broke the Guinness World Record for the largest pride parade in 2009 with 4 million attendees. Same-sex marriage has been legal in Brazil since May 16, 2013, though it had already been legally recognized since 2004.

[the-loveliest-lotus]

Kloktober 2023: Day 3 - Mordhaus Costume Ball

I have had the intrusive thought of Vater Orlaag dressed as Black Beard loosely based off of the version of Black Beard from Our Flag Means Death for two or three weeks now. This is probably rated about Teen and as usual includes my OC Lucy. 1,711 words below the cut. <3 Also wanted to mention that Charles' costume description was inspired by this post by @chordsykat

“Master, you’re certain that I’m the best choice for this?”

“Out of anyone here, you’re the best at masking yourself.” At least, he was the best at it other than Salacia, but Salacia couldn't exactly go to the Ball even disguised, the Dead Man would recognize him immediately.

Vater Orlaag nodded, but internally he felt the equivalent of a long-suffering sigh.

~~~~~

The Mordhaus Costume Ball was, in a word, opulent. The room that the band typically used to put on performances for new Klokateers was cleared out and decorated with Victorian Gothic décor, and they were calling it the “Mask of the Red Deth” Costume Ball. It was mostly other celebrities who had been invited, metal musicians and musicians that the band had simply met with throughout the years, but there were also some actors milling about and a few high-ranking Klokateers who were in attendance as guests, a reward for their service to the band.

Everyone in the band was dressed to the nines: Nathan was wearing a black ruffled shirt and leather pants that tied rather than buttoned up. His mask was a leather skull in metallic gold. Murderface wore something more period accurate for nobility that had actually made him feel attractive when he looked in the mirror, a black and red mask complimenting the outfit. Toki wore something that looked almost like a dark Viking outfit in blacks and greens with a mask that had long golden horns as part of it. Skwisgaar looked elf-like, opting for a more androgynous costume in whites and golds, and accented with silver elf ear jewelry combined with a wire wrapped mask.

Pickles looked, in a word, stunning. His dreads were up, and he was wearing tight leather pants, knee high boots, and a black shirt underneath a black and red leather trench coat with pointed shoulders. His mask looked like a black and red skull, emphasizing the theme of the Ball. Lucy was in a corseted black and blood red ball gown with spider web mesh sleeves and a traditional French style corset top, straight lined at the top allowing for what most would consider a minor wardrobe malfunction, something that she had convinced Charles to allow her to get away with because she was “in her own damned ‘haus and the French used to do this as a fashion statement.” He had only agreed because the look genuinely was elegant, if not distracting. The front of the skirt only just covered her, showing off the same spider print mesh on her legs, and the back of the gown trailed slightly. She held a fan in her hand all night, and her leather mask was an intricate black cat with red, silver and gold detailing, matching the elegant collar that she was wearing with rose details tooled into the leather. Her hair was down, but there were two braids that started near her forehead and met and the back of her head like a crown, her bright rainbow hair juxtaposed with her outfit, yet somehow meshing with it perfectly.

Dick was wearing something that could be better characterized as steampunk than anything else, playing up his cybernetic eyes almost as though they were part of his mask. Even Charles was dressed up, his outfit featuring a sleek black corset that emphasized his form and a mask that looked oddly like a darker version of Facebones.

The party was in full swing, and everyone was in bright spirits, mingling, dancing, and socializing. Lucy was having a relatively in-depth conversation with Pickles, when he walked into the room. Lucy happened to glance over at the door just as he was coming in, her hand stopping mid-fan. She lost any semblance of what her best friend was saying in that moment, her eyes drinking the man in. His mask was simple black leather, only covering around his piercing blue eyes that looked like they had thick black eyeliner around them. His long, flowing wavy hair and beard were midnight black, almost as though he had dyed it just for the event, and it looked as though there was smoke coming out of the intricate braids on his beard that were curled outward. The outfit that he wore was entirely made of leather, tight leather pants hugging thick, strong thighs that left nothing to the imagination, a leather jacket that was missing one arm revealing an arm that was toned and strong, leather half gloves, and several belts, one of which had a holster with a dagger in it. He must have stood at almost 7 feet tall and he was buzzing with an intense energy.

Lucy was so busy ogling the man that she hadn’t noticed that Pickles had followed her gaze and had gone silent, now ogling him himself. “Holy shit, dood. Look, I know ya gaht first dibs, but if ya strike out er if he’s down fer a little Double Trouble, come get me, ahlreet? Fuck.”

Lucy nodded, not taking her eyes off of him. “Yeah. Gods, that’d be hot… Who the fuck is he?”

“I don’t know, but if ya don’t get over there, someone else will.”

She was already turning to start walking over to him, “You sure you don’t mind if-“

“Luce, that someone else is gahnna be me in about 5 seconds, go.”

Pickles did not need to tell Lucy twice. She was walking at a speed that indicated any semblance of dignity and restraint had already gone out the window. When she got closer, she made sure to walk with a confident stride, walking right up to him with a wicked little grin on her face.

Vater had seen her walk over, and was currently doing his absolute best not to openly stare at her chest. It didn't help in the slightest that he had an irritating attraction to this woman since the first day that she popped up on the Tribunal's giant screen during a meeting. He didn’t want to allow himself to get distracted, but part of the success of his mission of getting the information that Salacia had wanted was blending in, and that meant social pleasantries. Even still, he was hoping that she wouldn’t prove to be too much of a distraction.

Lucy stopped in front of him, her eyes full of Devilish promise and offering her hand to shake his. “I couldn’t help but notice you coming in from across the room and I had to come over to compliment your costume and introduce myself.”

He didn’t get where he was without knowing how to be charming, so when she offered her hand, Vater took it and brought it to his lips, kissing it and nibbling the knuckle slightly all while looking her in the eyes with a gaze that could have been hypnotic. Lucy bit her lip and visibly shivered, her pupils dilating from the sheer intensity of the moment, making him grin at her reaction. “Your costume choice is rather stunning as well.”

"Holy sweet Jesus, his voice." She had the thought that he could read her the period table of elements and she'd still listen without complaint. Lucy blushed and stepped in a little closer to him, reaching out and running her hand slowly and deliberately down his exposed forearm, “Why don’t we go get a drink and chat, maybe get to know each other before I inevitably drag you out of here with me?”

He chuckled darkly. She was wonderfully brazen. Perhaps he could find all the information that Salacia had needed from her. There was some distant part of his mind telling him that he was lying to himself and not to allow himself to get distracted by the slip of a woman, but that part was being loudly drowned out by the warmth of her body now very close to him and the sound of her sultry laughter.

The two of them talked for a while, Vater finding out absolutely nothing that Salacia needed and forgetting about the mission entirely after about two minutes of being in her presence.

When she finally officially invited him back to her room, Lucy raised a playful eyebrow at him, “What’s the chance you swing both ways?”

He looked at her inquisitively, and then saw her look over at Pickles, following her gaze. The Drummer was in rare form tonight, the man cleaned up well. It certainly wouldn’t be Vater’s first time with a man. There was a predatory smile on his face that made Lucy’s pupils dilate and her body shiver. From across the room, Pickles glanced up at the two of them, and seeing the look on the tall man’s face it was a wonder that he didn’t bolt across the room at them.

Pickles had a cocky smirk on his face as he approached them, walking straight up to Vater with an unholy amount of confidence, “Well, hey d’ere, tall, dark, an’ dangerous. Yah ready fer a little Double Trouble?”

There was a dark little chuckle that had Lucy and Pickles weak in the knees as the three of them walked out, one of them to each of his arms, barely making it to Lucy’s room and not coming out until sometime the next afternoon. Lucy and Pickles practically limped down to the kitchen, using each other to keep themselves upright, grinning like idiots, and Vater left with two phone numbers and very insistent “call me’s” and “get home safe’s” from the two of them.

~~~~~

When Vater arrived back at the bunker, he went immediately to see Salacia, knowing that he was hours late for the previously planned private debriefing. He was still in costume and looked as though he had got no sleep.

“What did you manage to find out?” Salacia asked him, already having the needling feeling that the mission had been a failure.

Vater looked at him, wondering if he could bullshit his way through the fact that the mission itself had failed before it started. “I was able to determine that the band can be… very persuasive… when they want to be Master.” He kept the fact that he now had two of their phone numbers to himself.

Salacia eyed the love bites on his servant’s neck and scowled.

Bonus vibe:

[crodur]

Ancient and distant dragons (part II)

Last time we saw what the Chinese, Sumerian and Slavic civilizations understood by ''dragon'', along with other groups related to those. So, let's see other examples of this idea, close coincidences and divergences!

I would talk in depth about the European dragon itself. However, and oddly enough, such mythical being is not entirely original, like the examples we're trying to gather, more like a very baroque conglomerate of influences that eventually came to be the winged lizard we all know. So let's talk, instead, about the roots behind it.

However, it's inspirations are quite curious. The European or Conventional Dragon, is a mixture of two different ''dragonlike beings'', both unaware of each other, as far as we know!

The first influence is, surprisingly the Sumerian Mušḫuššu we previously looked at. Told you that the idea of an animal with reptilian traits would stick around!

Second one is more obscure. It is believed the Dacian Drakon could be a major player. This creature has a very confusing genealogy, being on it's own the result of a lot of artistic depictions of beasts, streetching as far as the 8th century BCE, and for over a thousand years it suffered a great amount of changes, being consistently depicted as a mixture of a snake and another, different animal.

By the time the Roman Empire assimilated the Dacians (located where modern Romania is) at 2th c. AD and incorporated the creature into their own mythos, it was mostly a wolf headed, thick snake. It was quite important for the native Dacians, represented as a protecting spirit in both millitary vexilloids and wind instruments such as horns.

A ferocious Dacian Drako, engraved in the Roman Tracian column.

Those two creatures (Drakon and Mušḫuššu) loosely permeated, along with other influences such as local, folklore beasts of many sorts, and depictions of snakes as the root of evil (a consistent avatar of the Christian Devil, as soon as in the Genesis book of the Bible, but in many other occasions, such as Isaiah book [14:29]).

All those influences, after centuries of obscurity, were gradually sewn together during the Middle Ages (remember, most classical knowledge and folklore was reduced to residual traces during this historial period) into the big, bad dragon that the forces of good must defeat.

A winged snake, a somewhat popular heraldic symbol (this one in particular is from 17th century, though). A possible additional influence in this dense melting pot?

The slavic dragons we saw in the previous post most likely were a direct influence of this trend, one of the many types created by mixing chimeras and local beasts alike.

What we can safely say, is that the european dragons are a byproduct of many ideas of different ages and places colliding together. We all influence each other through the time!

Of course, there were many differing interpretations under the umbrella of dragonhood, here's a french one that incorporates particular body proportions, and devilish goat horns (from the 1410 manuscript The Crucifixion by a follower of Egerton Master). What an awe inspiring fiend!

But let's put the european ones aside, and take another loooong leap. How about... you guessed it...

Mesoamerica!

Mayas, Toltecs, and others do have, too, a remote tradition of dragonlike monsters who weren't mere beasts, but even reached the status of godhood!

The cosmology of many different groups in upper central america has in common the reverence of a being called ''the feathered snake'', adored since XV century BCE, and until the arrival of the Castillian crown, some 3000 years later. Wow!

The first peoples that depicted such a being were the Olmecs, considered as one of the first greater cultural identities in the Americas. Here's the first known feathered snake, in La Venta settlement:

A feather crested, giant snake with a man (who wears a fanged helmet), considered by some as his alter-ego. The bag the man holds appears to represent a ritual of sorts, and his earpiece implies high ranking status.

The Olmecs left, as we said, a long lasting legacy that affected cultures far away from their territories.

The serpent would later be adopted into the maya God Kꞌuꞌukꞌul Kaan (lit. Feathered Snake), represented in many royal steels (as we saw here) as the being that allows an ajaw (lord) to see his ancestors, and win their favor to be crowned. In the case of the Toltecs, it was named Quetzacoatl (both names sound vaguely similar)

A feathered serpent, found among the ruins of the maya Poqomam kingdom, with a human head pecking out, as per usual with maya iconography.

The Toltec, and later on Aztec Quetzacoatl, God of light, life, civilization and knowledge. Notice how this version was more birdlike, totally covered by feathers, but also with a mouth whose jaw contracted into a spiral, almost resembling a pair of twirled whiskers (not intended, but still curious).

That's some long lasting impression, to say the least!

In the following post, we'll see some more dragonlikes, also created fortuitously and with no connection with the rest of this really extended family. Remember that I only write small pieces of info, and usually I do skim over a lot when covering these topics, so if you want to know more, I encourage you to keep researching on ANYTHING that has caught your attention. (Or, well, ask me for an indepth post apart, which I would gladly investigate and redact).

Until next time!

[citrusreadstoa]

Reading The Burning Maze: Chapter 1 (SPOILERS)

"To Melpomene, the Muse of Tragedy / I hope you're pleased with yourself" Melpomene is laughing in the distance. She's very pleased.

"NO. I refuse to share this part of my story." Oki doki. *closes book* We're done for the day. Jkjkjk he's just embarassed.

"In these pages, only suffering awaits." I love suffering! Gimme more!

"across pits of darkness and around lakes of poison" We were lied to. The Labyrinth is not any less malicious than before. Does this sound like a tamer Labyrinth to you?

"Except that our cloven guide, the satyr Grover Underwood, did not seem to know the way." You think the satyr that is terrified of the underground knows his way around the underground? Y'all delusional. You want a Labyrinth guide, get Rachel. I'm assuming Grover will be of more help later on if and when they go into the Labyrinth again.

"The bumps of his horns were clearly visible beneath the hat." What happened to the rasta cap? I guess everyone needs a change of pace now and then.

"Like... cacti." Like saguaro cacti?! Like the cacti the Erymanthian Boar ate when it dropped the questing party off at the junkyard of the gods?! The lands of scorching death line is killing me, man.

"I just didn't think we'd be wandering around down here for two days." How can you be sure it's been two days? Percabeth got stuck in the Labyrinth for a couple minutes and a full hour passed outside. Please tell me you've been keeping track whenever you poke out into the regular world.

"Perhaps I was too brusque," BRUSQUE (adj.): abrupt or offhand in speech or manner

"And plenty of our own fires." . . . "Best not to talk about it... here." Grover! If we're all gonna die, we need to know so we can make the best of our last days on this Earth! Are the walls listening or something? Don't you dare tell me yet another shoulda-been-dead person is controlling this damn maze again.

"His expression turned wistful," Idk about you, but I would not be wistful about almost dying in a living maze where no one but the walls will hear me scream.

"perhaps coffee and lemon-maple cronuts" CRONUT (n.): (paraphrasing Wikipedia) Invented and trademarked in 2013 by French pastry chef Dominique Ansel, the Cronut is a doughnut-like pastry made from croissant-like dough, filled with flavored cream, and fried in grapeseed oil.

"I wanted to believe my powers were simply recharging." Storybook characters never catch the cold. Fantasy characters' powers are never "just recharging."

"I couldn't even remember the taste of ambrosia, or the names of my sun-chariot horses, or the face of my twin sister, Artemis." That is incredibly concerning. We're talking about something he ate every day, horses he saw and drove every day, and his twin sister with whom he grew up and spent time with -- all three of these every day for thousands of years. His memory deteriorates along with his powers? It's this bad?!

"across the corridor in front of us roared a sheet of yellow fire," Eyyy, cover art!

"But we've wandered into his part of the maze." The Triumvirate's part. The part that belongs to the third emperor. "SCREEE!" The cry of a giant fire-breathing basilisk, I bet. Or a giant fire-breathing cockroach. Serpents and roaches?

"Some sort of avian creature." Giant flying fire-breathing basilisks! Oh wait, the owls. Right. Owls on the cover.

"Grover whipped out his panpipe . . . Meg knelt before the seeds" Super Gardening Bros! Wahoo!

"using its thick black tongue" Do owls have tongues that long? "My sight grew fuzzy. My knees turned to rubber." Does it sap his energy by drinking his blood?

"Strix" That word means nothing to me. I know jack diddly squat about strixes. "Well, killing it could be a problem." Can never kill monsters these day. All endangered species this and invulnerable hide that. Back in my day, you just sliced its head off and that was that.

"giggle nectar" I'm sorry? You tellin' me that the divine equivalent of anesthesia is officially, professionally, and canonically called giggle nectar?

"K-killing the bird will curse you" So it's an arai-lite.

[burlveneer-music]

Yael Nachshon Levin - Tigers and Hummingbirds - vocal chamber jazz

"Tigers and Hummingbirds" is a musical illustration of my personal healing process. Thank god for music. Music is a loyal and truthful friend. I feel absolutely blessed for being able to participate in the process of creating it. Dealing with CPTSD (complex post trauma) is a lifetime journey one can’t handle alone. I have been isolating my suffering for many years. About 2 years ago, after facing my personal ‘dead end’, I made a vow to dedicate myself to my own healing. This was the most significant step forward. That was the beginning of a long and winding road (still on that road) of searching the source of suffering in me, searching for ways to heal and practicing my way through life, hoping to find some light in the darkness that took hold of me for so long. Along this road I have found incredible humans who have guided me in their own way and knowledge with compassion and dedication. I might not have survived without the help of these wonderful people. With this album I hope to encourage the listener to trust your gut feeling, to acknowledge your pain, and to know you are not alone. There are ways to heal. There is light, and above all there is love. “There’s a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in” (Leonard Cohen). All songs by Yael Nachshon Levin Except 'Feel at home' - Lyrics by Yael Nachshon Levin & Aviv Noiman. Music by Aviv Noiman. Musicians: Yael Nachshon Levin - Lead Vocals Haggai Cohen Milo - Bass Tomer Moked Blum - Guitars / Viola /Bouzouki /Backing Vocals Earl Harvin - Drums Justin Stanton - Hammond / Piano / wurlitzer /Rhodes Guy Sternberg - Moog Synthesizer Gili Schwarzman - Flute Sarah Young - Oboe James Scannell - Clarinet / Bass Clarinet/ Bass Flute Mor Biron - Bassoon Merav Goldman - French horn Sebastian Studnizki - Trumpet Choir: Mika Harri Peggy Marmuth Avia Shoshani Clarissa Farran Anastasia Maschkowski Matthias Lück Erik Lautenschläger Avshalom Caspi Tomer Moked Blum Tomer Maschkowski

[gatekeeperwatchman]

Is a Unicorn a Pagan belief followed by the GOP and How did they find their way to ideologies of American History? Unicorns In world mythology and folklore, a fantastic animal usually portrayed as a small horse like creature with a single horn protruding from its head. In European mythologies the unicorn is usually viewed as a beneficent being. A medieval description of the fantastic animal is found in Le Bestiaire Divin de Guillaume Clerc de Normandie.

The Unicorn has but one horn in the middle of its forehead. It is the only animal that ventures to attack the elephant; and so sharp is the nail of its foot, that with one blow it can rip the belly out of that beast. Hunters can catch the unicorn only by placing a young virgin in his haunts. No sooner does he see the damsel, than he runs towards her, and lies down at her feet, and so suffers himself to be captured by the hunters. The unicorn represents Jesus Christ, who took on Him our nature in the Virgin’s womb. . . . Its one horn signifies the Gospel of Truth.

The European belief in unicorns stems in part from ancient pagan Greek sources as well as the Septuagint versions of the Hebrew scripture. When the Hebrew Bible was translated into Greek, the Hebrew word reem, which might mean a wild ox, was translated monokeros (one-horned). This rendering was followed in later Latin versions of the Bible, which in turn influenced English translations such as the King James Version. The Book of Numbers (23:22) says: “God brought them out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn.”

The Revised Standard Version of the Bible in its translation of the verse substitutes “wild ox” for unicorn. One medieval Jewish folktale said the unicorn had perished in Noah’s flood because it was too large to enter the ark. Another Jewish folktale argued that God never destroys his own creation; if the unicorn was too large to get into the ark, then God would have let it swim behind the ark.

Along with the unicorn as a beneficent symbol, such as Jesus Christ, the animal was also identified with evil and death. In The Golden Legend, a series of saints’ lives by Jacobus de Voragine written in the 13th century, the “unicorn is the figure of Death, which continually followeth man and desireth to seize him.” Death rides a unicorn in some late medieval Books of Hours. In the Ancrene Riwle, a 12th-century book of rules for nuns, the unicorn appears as a symbol of wrath, along with the lion for pride, the serpent for envy, and the bear for sloth.

The Church Fathers at the Council of Trent, held in the 16th century, forbade the use of the unicorn as a symbol of Christ. One legend they cited was from Leonardo da Vinci’s Bestiary, in which the artist made the unicorn a symbol of lust. The unicorn’s horn was thought to have magic curative powers; many late medieval monasteries and cathedrals were believed to possess them, and they appear in inventories of Queen Elizabeth I and other monarchs of the period. Powders purporting to be made from crushed unicorn horns were sold by apothecaries.

As late as the French Revolution the unicorn was believed to exist, and a “unicorn’s” horn was used to detect poison in food fed to royalty. In Chinese mythology the unicorn was one of the four animals of good omen, the others being the phoenix, the dragon, and the tortoise. According to one story, when Confucius was born, a unicorn spit out a piece of jade with the inscription announcing the event: “Son of the essence of water, kingdoms shall pass away, but you will be a king, though without a throne.” James Thurber, in his Fables for Our Time (1940), includes a comical episode called “The Unicorn in the Garden.”

https://occult-world.com/unicorn/

From: Steven P. Miller Jacksonville, Florida., Duval County, USA. Instagram: steven_parker_miller_1956, Twitter: @GatekeeperWatchman1, @ParkermillerQ, Parker Miller Stevens (Gatekeeper1) …@StevenPMiller6 Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/gatekeeperwatchman URL: linkedin.com/in/steven-miller-b1ab21259 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ElderStevenMiller; #GWIG, #GWIN, #GWINGO, #Ephraim1, #IAM, #Sparkermiller, #Eldermiller1981

[toweringclam]

Tanith the Warrior (Octopath OC)

"Passion! Glory! Beauty! Strength! I am Tanith, and someday all the world will cheer my name!"

Links to previous: Osanna the Cleric, Clyde the Merchant, Tusitala the Dancer, Opal the Thief, Penelope the Scholar, Adam the Apothecary

Name: Tanith Job: Warrior Gender: Female Element: None Latent Power: Roar of the Crowd (Monsters target her this turn, she suffers greatly reduced damage on the next attack) Appearance: Muscular and curvy, wearing extremely impractical armor designed to show off her body. Carries a short sword and small circular shield. Fluffy bombshell hair. Always smiling. Kind of a bimbofied gladiator look tbh. Friendly Action: Challenge Unfriendly Action: Tribute (Level-based item acquisition) Starting Region: Saltlands. A desert that serves as the center of power for the Sacred Flame and Crimson Crusade. It's scrubbier than previous deserts, based more on the desert parts of Israel than the Sahara. Starting Town: Cure. A coastal town within the Flame's territory. It's notable for its large amphitheater for gladiatorial combat. These days the fights are to submission, knockout, or first blood. Intentional killing of opponents is prohibited. Starting Story: Tanith has always been remarkably strong for a girl. Even without training she could easily match the boys in sheer strength. She felt self-conscious about this until she was taken in by an aging gladiator who taught her that her strength is beauty and her beauty is strength. He trained her for the ring and she was happy to take part, but gets frustrated by the feeling she's being held back by her gender. With her mentor's encouragement, she sets out on her own. Goal: To work her way up the ranks as a gladiator and prove that she is the best there is. Battle Motif: "To Restore Glory," a triumphant piece focusing on bugles and french horns.

Visually, Tanith is inspired by a cross between Xena and Yang (RWBY). Personality-wise, I see her as the Tressa/Agnea of the group. She's an idealist who wants to prove herself and is relentlessly positive, even when she runs up against the darker aspects of her profession.

The fact the Sacred Flame is running a gladiatorial arena should kinda tell you how far they've fallen. Essentially the Saltlands are a crusader state, with squabbling nobles controlling a foreign region, one that they conquered with military force. The Crimson Crusade is the root of the corruption in the Sacred Flame church, and it's their actions that have stained the Flame with blood.

Much like Penelope, Tanith is perfect. I have not changed her at all since her initial concept.

[inwhvspers]

☼☾ ( MADCHEN AMICK, 45 / 26 , SHE/THEY, DEMI FEMALE, SIKA DEER PÚCA ) - have you seen AOIFE VAUGHN?  they’ve been living in afon vale for 45 YEARS and they really think they’re safe. people say that they’re ERUDITE but i heard they’re DISMISSIVE. you can usually find them working as a/an BARTENDER at THE ROYAL OAK. they’ve tried hard to keep KILLED THEIR MOTHER buried but the truth always comes out. a few things that remind me of them are … soft freckles across her nose; the scent of fur trees in her hair; fairy lights in apartment windows; faded lip prints on mirrors; a smile that can melt hearts.

basics.

name: aoife vaughn

age: 26 (45)

gender: demi female

species: puca (sika deer)

sexuality: demisexual / demiromantic

occupation: bartender, the royal oak

hometown: afon vale

ethnicity: caucasian

languages: english, gaelic, french

physical.

height: 5'5"

build: lithe

hair: light brown; long, wavy/curly hair for most of the time unless she chooses to straighten it. wild and free, like her spirit.

eyes: hazel, doe-eyed

tattoos: small deer marking on her left hip, a rook on her right wrist.

piercings: twice on each earlobe, helix, rook

personal style: a lot of muted colors and soft fabrics, often choosing comfort over style and function over form. gravitates towards softer greens, reds, blues, and 'smokier' colors. has been known to dye parts of her hair temporarily but always ends up back with the light brown. can often be seen with her deer horns when wandering the forest. always a smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose that get a second layer of 'whiter' freckles when she's in partial deer form.

psychological.

positive: erudite, free-spirited, creative

negative: dismissive, secretive, touchy, absent minded

MBTI: istj

enneagram: the investigator

temperament: choleric

family.

father: calum vaugn (alive, estranged) , npc

mother: catrione vaugn (deceased) , npc 

brother: (alive), open

aunt: (alive), open

headcanons.

her name is pronounced like 'eva' but with a softer v leaning more towards an f.

often slips into partial deer form if left alone to her own devices and especially if she's wandering the woods. full deer form is more likely in the woods, obviously.

one of her antlers/horns is tinged at the tip a bit more reddish but it's barely perceptible most of the time.

she has a pet rabbit named thumper.

she makes videos for tiktok sometimes with specific filters... yes, she tries to look like a deer. it's fine.

she and rory have known each other a while, probably since school but didn't really get into the best friend/ride or die zone until a bit later, but now they're inseparable and she'll easily fight someone for her.

she has an allergy to grapes.

she practices reading tarot and will sometimes do that for bar patrons; she also designed her own deck and it's extremely personal to her (she is a decent artist, at least)

she has absolute shit luck in most things. she's the one who always bangs her toes into furniture or cracks brand new phone screens almost immediately.

aoife sees a therapist of sorts but makes sure it's v quiet and sort of out of the way so no one sees her do it. she's already weird enough, she thinks (hopefully I can write her getting over this stigma because ew)

cw: abuse (child through young adult; physical and mental), abandonment, murder, death of a parent.

biography.

aoife's father left when she was young and she's resented him ever since.

her mother was taking care of her but very much not in a safe way and aoife suffered a lot under her.

she was kept from the outside world a lot in the beginning, her mother having lost the thread of reality and deciding they should live in a cabin off in the woods somewhere.

as she grew, the abuse turned more physical and at some points she was forced to be in deer form for days at a time and took lashings if she wandered too far from home.

aoife was a teenager when she'd finally had enough and lashed out. she hadn't meant for it to end how it did, with her mother impaled on her deer horns, but that is how it went.

it took a while for her to wash the blood off of her horns in half-form and to burn the body, but she did. Her mother's bones are somewhere in the woods near the cabin she used to call home, now abandoned.

aoife moved into the city proper at 17 and found her father's sister, being taken in and taken care of. She never told her aunt how it happened, but said her mother had died and her father had run off long ago and the woman was kind and looked after her. She could tell aoife had been abused and was gentle with her, which was new for aoife.

school was a revelation. she wasn't illiterate or anything as before her mother had lost the plot she'd taught her to read and gave her lessons... they just became less pleasant as time went on. the socialization however was so new and freeing and she immediately fell into all the worst, wrong crowds and got into trouble a lot.

her aunt was worried but let it go because honestly, the girl had been through a lot. when aoife hit 20 though she started to put the law to hand. she knew eventually aoife was leave her but for now she had to try and keep her safe.

aoife mellowed, still very much leaning towards the idea of bad decisions. this leads to one night stands and pushing away the 'right ones' for fear of something bad happening.

she now lives on her own, but calls her aunt every now and again to check in because she's the one she thinks of as her mother even after only a handful of years.

she's intelligent and could have still pivoted into some kind of degree if she'd wanted, but she chose to just stay where she was and take a job bartending.

she has her regulars that she's quite fond of and always offers a smile and a crinkle of her freckled nose for them when they come in.

connections.

best friend taken by rory!

friends, misc.

rival

potential love interests, slow burn

exes, misc.

favored bar patrons

other puca

someone who knows about her mom but is keeping it to themselves.