#Gad Line+

[melit0n]

And so my favourite Ancient Greek site ever; Delphi!!

This place (and, of course, the mythos behind the oracle of Delphi herself) has been a fixation for me for years, so I was buzzing basically the entire time I was there.

While everything I saw was beyond gorgeous, this place took the cake. An absolute trek up a mountain side (with a further trek if you wanted to see the Pythian stadium, which I happily did), but we'll worth it. Massive props to everyone and everyone who traveled from literally anywhere in order to get a prophecy.

Speaking of prophecy (info dump under the cut)...

Okay! So! Delphi, aside from being a temple of Apollo, was considered the centre of the classical Greek world (and just the world in general), for a long time, mainly because it was the seat of the Pythia; the high priestess, aka, the oracle of Delphi. Which, fun fact, in Greek shares the same root word for 'womb'.

Now, the temples (as well as the village, various treasuries, gymnasium and theatre) at Delphi are of varying ages, with the temple of Apollo being built around 7th century BCE, before being burnt down in 548ish BC, and then again in the 4th century BC. The ones which you can see (and are in the photos 😌) are all from the 4th century BC. Two thousand plus years old.

Isn't that insane? Sure, not the oldest thing in the world, but walked by so many people. Awesome, in the truest meaning of the word I fear.

But, onto the Pythia. For a bit of context, the original site of Delphi is believed to have housed a different God, suspected to be Gaia, who's son/daughter (varies depending on what translation of the myth you're reading into), named Python (sometimes called Drakon // Drakaina) resided in a cave. When Apollo took over the site, he killed it, and, when he did, it caused a great chasm to open up in the Earth and spew gas. Henceforth, the oracle was known as the Pythia.

She would've also sat on a tripod over this chasm, of which with inhalation of the gas, the spirit of Apollo could posses her in order to give prophecies.

It's been debated whether this chasm did or didn't exist—it is highly possible for one to have been there; the area is known for earthquakes, and natural gas that causes hallucinations, such as methane, ethane and ethylene is able to come from the ground—but, either way, the priestess was high as balls when giving these prophecies. Either from gas, laurel (known in the modern age as Oleander), or both.

So, imagine, you've been travelling from Athens to Delphi for a week or two, have waited a month to see this oracle, only to step into a dim temple to see a lady probably between 40-60 years old, dressed as a young woman, with visable gas spewing out from underneath her, and she spews what sounds like absolute nonsense, in which, very helpfully, a priest translates into poetry for you to take home, which turns out to be scarily accurate. I'd be damn sure the Olympians existed too.

Her being so accurate is, in fact, what brought Delphi such high prestige.

While the idea of living breathing oracle is very cool, the way Delphi was set up aided her being so precise. As noted before, Delphi was considered a hub (would've had street markets, banks, small villages, religious sects etc.), with almost everyone there to see the oracle—people would be waiting weeks to months for a visit from her—and, during this time, they'd interact and talk with those around them. War plans would be drunkenly shared, marriages would be quietly talked of, and most of these conversations between generals and kings, and their messangers and servants, were all heard and noted down by the various priests in the area, who'd provide information to the oracle, and slip in some more details in their 'translation'.

Interesting, no?

The oracle of Delphi is dates back to about 1400 BC, with her last prophecy being delivered about 390 CE, to a Roman Emperor who began stating various laws to end pagan (classical Hellenistic) activities.

[zizzy-rie]

Rock Monkies AU - Wukong's disappearance after the battle with DBK

How will Macaque react to this information?

"Liu'er Mihou knows Sun Wukong far more than anyone could imagine. After all, he did live his life for him and with him. He was his right-hand man, his other half, his husband... After learning what happened in the battle with DBK, Liu'er denies it. The staff was one of Wukong's most priceless possessions. He never leaves it behind... Unless... Liu'er runs to the hill. He doesn't believe it, he doesn't believe anything bad could happen to Wukong... To his xingan... And yet, as he stands there at the foot of the hill, his very eyes see the staff, standing erect at the top, with no owner in sight."

"The villagers trembled, hearing the screams. They thought another attack was going to happen. But it hit them, how mournful the sound was, devastation and despair thick in the scream.

It haunted them, almost as much as the Demon Bull King's roar."

- excerpt from a drabble @bogswell-kampilan wrote two years ago.

Yaling btw is Qiuyue's birthname.

[nexus-nebulae]

suddenly realising that a decent amount of our system's dysfunctions might be due to OCD 😭😭😭

[dailyrannells]

say the lines, dummy.

[coarsesalt]

why do celebrities have their own food lines now? it's getting weird..

[likeabxrdinflight]

once we finish the analysis of the trauma memoir, I really gotta revisit the ocd discussion with my therapist because...reasons

[crazyworldofemmamarie]

I am just gonna come out and say it, Olaf's Frozen Adventure is actually really good and I need to watch this every year

[subdigitals]

welcome back to earth yumi.....welcome back to our world yumi.....

[midnightshindig]

Rex x female reader using the following prompt:

"You're losing blood" no I know exactly where it is. The floor. Don't ever underestimate me.

Reader has a crush on Rex and doesn’t like seeing him hurt after battles but doesn’t want him to know she has feelings for him

Rex Splode X F!Reader

I LOVE this prompt, he's a cocky bitch and he knows it

thank you for the request!!

uh fair warning I was watching a LOT of Tenchi Muyo Universe before this so the romance is very anime, sorry

hcs under the cut

Rex is reckless and you know it

It's the biggest sticking point in your friendship with him

Well... friendship isn't the best definition for it.

Rex shamelessly flirts with you, and little does he know, but you have real feelings for him

but cmon, this is Rex we're talking about, he doesn't do real feelings.

He's just a fuckboy, and you can't stomach the idea of having to experience that side of Rex

So you grit your teeth with his joking pickup lines and patch him up when he comes home from a fight battered and bruised

you're the healer of your group, your powers exclusively functioning as a way to regenerate bodily self-healing functions

You tend to stay on the outskirts of battle, or behind at HQ if the threat proves to be something you could die interacting with

So when, one day, Rex comes home from a fight for the Declaration of Independence, bruised and bleeding fucking everywhere, you can't help but be frustrated

"Gah- Rex!!" You stood up from the couch rapidly, as Rex entered the lounge, getting his blood all over the floor "In the infirmiry, NOW. You're losing blood-"

"Iii Know EXACTLY where my blood is-" Rex slurred, holding his stomach together with his arm "Ittssssson the floor-!" He held up a pointed finger in contempt "Don't ever underestimate me, bittch---" he slurred harder, and you had to goad him into the infirmity

"Damnit Rex do not do this to me right now-" despite your angry words, a tone of care belied it all

"Cmonnnnnn, I'm not worried-got a pretty nurseta patch meup!" he grinned, his bloody teeth shining under the harsh light of your makeshift infirmity

"Gad... Damnit... Cmere-" You put your hands over him, a warm glow emitting as his body rapidly stitched itself together "why do you do this?" you asked, frustration lacing your voice

"do what?" Rex asked, his speech more articulate as you healed him "My job?"

You yanked your hands back, the pain returning to his body

"Yes, Rex! Why are you so fucking reckless? You could DIE. You're not like Eve or Mark or even Rudy- you can't just fly away when the fight gets too much. A building could fall on you and I can't heal the dead!"

Rex stared at you for a minute before folding his arms "Y/n I'm a superhero, it's all I came. It's super cute you're so worried about me, but I'm fine."

"No you're not!! If it weren't for me you'd be bleeding out in the den right now!"

"It's a good thing I'm all yours, then. Isn't it?" He was trying to play down the situation with a cocky grin, but all it did was piss you off more

"and would you stop hitting on me? You don't think I realize what you're doing? I get that you flirt with me and its funny or whatever-" You groaned, holding a hand to your forehead "but I've seen how you treat the people you hook up with, and how you treat the people who really love you."

you sucked in a breath, turning away from him "So while I'm healing you, just drop it, you dick."

Rex didn't understand why you were being so touchy, sitting up painfully to rest a palm on your shoulder

"Hey.... are you.... are you like okay?" He asked cautiously, tilting his head

You flinched at his touch, before sighing and releasing all the tension in your shoulders.

You flopped back next to him on the hospital bed, exasperated with trying to hold your emotions together and giving in

"I like you, Rex. Like a lot. And I don't know what to do with that."

"Oh." Rex looked down at you, blinking as he processed "That's... that's whats up."

You rolled your eyes at him, sitting him with your legs off the side of the bed

"Yeah, and it's like... really hard to keep it together when you come back to beat up. Bulletproof and Rudy and Amanda are all so much less bruised than you are, and it scares the shit out of me." Your tone was almost dull, like you gave up and were just getting it all off your chest

"and I know you treat women horribly- or at least you did? You like... turned a new leaf after getting shot in the head, and I don't know what that spells for me, or how you feel about me." You looked back at him, stern faced "But you can't keep teasing me like this. I can't handle it."

Rex rubbed the back of his neck, contemplating the best course of action

"I mean... I'm not teasing you, Y/n. You know that."

"I actually don't know that."

Rex's eyes widened "Oh. Well yeah, no, I'm not teasing you. I'm just- ugh... fuck. I don't know. I didn't want to be a dick and try and rush you, cuz you're important and keep me alive and I care about you."

"So.... now what? What does that mean? You like me?" You droned on, still viewing Rex as playing with you and being dishonest

Rex groaned "God you're not getting this-" He grabbed your hand and held it to his heart, it was beating rapid-fire as the warm glow of your ability eased the pain of his wounds

"I like you too, Y/n. And not like you're just hot and cool-- and you are-- but I mean I want to go out with you! Like normal people!"

Your face flushed as his heart beat quicker with every passing minute

"Oh... that's cool" you gave a wobbly smile, the heat in your face unbearable

"That's cool?" Rex laughed, the tension easing in the room

"Nooooo- Rex you know what I mean!!" You laughed back, shaking him by the arm a little

He cried out in pain

"Oh, sorry, right, healing, yeah." You pushed him gently back onto the hospital bed, laying your hands over him "Sorry ^^"

Rex looked up at you with a smile "I'm going to be more careful on missions, on one condition."

"shoot"

"You let me take you out."

Your eyes widened and your hands tensed "Uhm- yeah, i'd like that."

"Then I'll be more careful."

"Thank you"

A sweet moment of silence passed as you continued to heal him, the two of you sharing a smile

[tizzychardia]

Did anyone else who's chronically ill/disabled/disordered grow up with a parent in the medical field and still get gaslighted to hell and back that everything is fine and that you're just being dramatic? What the fuck is up with that.

My mom is a registered nurse who's second in command to an entire assisted living facility, who also:

- Dismissed my GAD, MDD, & PTSD diagnosis with the excuse of "Everyone gets a little anxious and depressed sometimes. Everyone goes through bad things. You suck it up and push through it."

- Ignored both my binge eating issues and my restrictive diet later on because "growth comes with weight changes" (I dropped 70 pounds in less than a year, I made it clear I was struggling and was dealing with a Body Dysmorphia diagnosis.)

- Forced me to push through days of vomiting and fatigue when my autonomic nervous system first started going haywire in 2020 after covid, because "Education is more important and you're just trying to skip out on school."

- Believed that my tooth pains were from me being lazy and not brushing, when in reality, my adult canines were growing through my gums and messing with my braces, which resulted in dental surgery to correct.

- Refused to believe that I was sick with the flu in 2021 to where it developed into the worst sinus infection of my life and knocked me out of commission completely for two weeks. Every time I've gotten sick after that, it almost turns into an ER visit because I can't breathe.

- Refused to believe that my throat was hurting all the time - it turns out I was a few months away from tonsillitis on account of how massive they were, which resulted in a delayed tonsillectomy.

- Believed that my vision was getting worse because I supposedly wasn't changing my contacts as much as I should, ended up being a lazy eye mixed with my autonomic nervous system disregulating my muscle control & blood flow, causing my vision to rapidly get worse. I am now completely blind in one eye and have shit-poor vision in the other.

- Refused to believe that I had sun poisoning, which turned into a cellulitis infection that was left untreated for six days to the point where I was dangerously close to sepsis and ended up suffering permanent nerve damage in my legs.

- Didn't believe that I had POTS and told me it was just low blood pressure and low blood sugar from not eating well or hydrating enough. I was diagnosed with POTS in February of this year.

- Believed that in April after a massive flare that I was just being dramatic and lazy and not getting up enough, that my symptoms and stomach pains were just "normal POTS things." Resulted in three weeks of untreated GERD which was burning a hole through my stomach lining and esophagus.

Like what the fuck bro. Where the hell did you get your degree.

[somuch-4-stardust]

ABOUT ME! through blinkies nd stamps ☆ pt 1

source, very brief description, and explanation for each image under the cut

from blinkie cafe, bones w text saying "recovering rexic" - i have anorexia nervosa from blinkie cafe, stars in space w text saying "autistic & anxious" - i am diagnosed with ASD and GAD from blinkie cafe, blue pop up box w text saying "TOMMY FRANKLIN" - thats my first and middle names :3

from here, dark blue blinkie with white wings that says "guardian angel"- i like angels a lot :> from this post, blinkie with skulls and text saying "The Black Parade" - mcr reference/album... i love the black parade from here, brown blinkie with light pink text saying "love cant save you only my new powers can" - i was so excited to find this omg its based off a piece of clandestine merch that quotes a line from star wars

from this post, a bouncing line of bones - i just like bones lol. from here, blue blinkie w text saying "HE/HIM" - those r my prns! from this post, black and red blinkie saying "I <3 REVENGE"- for me personally this is a mikey revenge way and pete wentz's "i <3 revenge" clan shirt reference

from this post, a blinkie w a green alien head and text saying "abductable" - aliens hmu and let me leave this planet... from this post, a blinkie with two plushies saying "SQUISHMALLOW"- i love squishmallows theyre one of my special interests and also i am a squishmallow from here, blinkie of a line of discs - i just like cds !!

from this post, flashing red and white blinkie saying "i dont wanna grow up!" - literally just real idk from here, blinkie with handprints that says "Ghost Lover" - i love ghost i am a ghost real true from this, dark green blinkie w a skeleton that says "kick someone enough and they will not get up HAIL THE SUN"- i fw hail the sun!!!!!!!

from here, blue glittery blinkie w text saying "MADE OF STARDUST" - its true im made of stardust. also i love the stars from this post, blinkie of an ipod and music notes w text saying "i love my ipod!" - its true. i love my ipods :D from here, black and pale blue blinkie that says "always sleepy" - i am truly always sleepy!

from this, blinkie that says "what are you waiting for? KISS HER KISS HER" - lyrics from fob's a little less 16 candles which is one of my favorite songs and i love fob yyayayy from here, blue blinkie with an eyeball and bottle of mouthwash that says "mouthwashing" - i quite enjoy mouthwashing (video game) and also this persons blinkies were GORGEOUS from here, a dandelion yellow crayon- u have no idea how excited i was to find this. i love dandelion crayons (discontinued crayola color) and i collect them !!!!!! YAY!

from here, stamp of van gogh's wheat field w cypresses - i lovee van gogh :3 from this post, stamp that cycles through different emoticons - i like and use emoticons :33 ._. 0.0 <3 from this post, stamp that says "Pluto is a planet!" - i believe pluto is a planet and im from Illinois so.

from this post, stamp of a wii u and text that says "i <3 nintendo wii" - AGREE! dark blue stamp saying "FAGGOT"- self explanatory... im gay from here, stamp of the 3ds logo- i love my 3ds!!!

from here, stamp that says "back from the dead!" - they tried to get rid of me but im back (im a ghost literally fr fr) from this post, stamp that says "I <3 minecraft" - i love minecraft !!! from here, stamp w an apple that says "i love apples" - im lowkey obsessed with apples!!!!!!!!!!!

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

😗 WIBTA for asking someone out on a date if i'm aro and only want to learn how it feels in order to write/think about it contextually?

pretty much what's on the tin. apparently people want every relationship to end up working out long-term. i've been asked out before and have felt absolutely nothing other than "this might be interesting/funny", and i have no idea if asking someone out on, effectively, a fake date, would be an asshole move. this is a sort of "if they're interested in continuing the relationship then i'm fine with that, though i doubt i'll feel anything" situation, ie: i'm fine with being a significant other, and i'm fine with a relationship. i just (probably) won't experience any attraction in return. action matters more than thought, no? i do like this guy, but in the past as soon as i've 'confessed' any positive feelings i have melt away and it just becomes kind of ehh.

i know people will say something along the lines of "just tell him it's an experiment" but i don't want to hurt his feelings like that? and if in the future i miraculously don't turn out to be aro and end up being demi or something it will be super awkward. i have GAD so i'm probably overthinking this but it's been eating at me for weeks and will continue to for the forseeable future.

note: all the 'probably's and 'maybe's is because i'm trying to think of this scientifically. until proven guilty, i can possibly feel love and hold those kinds of connections.

any advice beyond "you'd be an asshole" or "just don't lol" would be helpful.

What are these acronyms?

[kydrogendragon]

"I simply said I believed he was lonely. And that was the reason for the games he had played with me back in Port Townsend," Edwin says, sitting with one leg resting on the knee of his other.

It's late in the New Inn and Hob just finished cleaning up the lobby. The Dead Boy Detective group—or as Hob joked, the Scooby Gang—have taken up a near permanent residence here now, given that Hob doesn't mind their presence and lets Crystal stay with them rent-free. In return, she helps out with designing the chalkboard ads he keeps outside the inn.

"And how'd his royal highness take that?" Charles laughs.

"Quite well, actually," Edwin replies. "I do believe we parted on good terms, given everything that happened. He gifted me that lily and parted amicably."

"Huh, weird. Figured he'd be the kind to get grumpy about being called lonely," Crystal says, circling the rim of the glass in front of her with her finger.

"Oooh, maybe he really is lonely and by you saying that, and him giving you that flower, that was his shy way of agreeing with you and wishing you would stay so he could be un-lonely!" Niko chimes.

"You do remember him, right? Same Cat King? That man does nothing shyly. Man? Cat? Whatever." Crystal says.

"Well, I think it's romantic," Niko replies. She whips her head back to Edwin, clapping her hands together. "You should have said you were lonely too, Edwin! Then it would have been the perfect moment to lean in for a kiss cause you both could be lonely together!"

Edwin clears his throat. "Well. I did, perhaps, say something along those lines, but I assure you there was no kissing nor being 'lonely together'."

"Yo Gad-man? Everything alright there? You look like you've seen a ghost," Charles says with a smirk. Hob realizes, in that moment, he's stopped stacking chairs half-way. His mind, lost both in the kid's conversation but also playing his meeting from 1889 on loop.

It's not often, he imagines, that one calls a supernatural being lonely, with the intent of telling them you're lonely as well, but clearly it went much better for Edwin than it had Hob. He's trying not to feel jealous over it. It's an irrational emotion. And it was clearly a different situation to him and Dream.

But still.

He shakes his head and stacks the chair back on the table, where it should have been minutes ago. "Fine, fine! Just running low on steam. Long week."

The kids shrug and return to their conversation, drifting away from the Cat King and onto their latest mystery. Hob retreats to the back and sighs. He never did get to explain himself properly to Dream, who also happens to be a king. What is with this weird amount of similarities? Maybe that's just guaranteed to happen if you live so long. Regardless, they never did talk much of that meeting. Or much of before, honestly. Hob wonders if Dream even knew what he had been trying to say back then. It certainly wasn't to accuse him of being lonely or to somehow gloat that Hob wasn't. Because he was. He was lonely, too.

Now, unlike Edwin's story, he'd have loved if his conversation had ended with that kiss like Niko said. Course that would never happen but he would have taken a smile. Or parting amicably. Literally anything else than storming out into the rain.

Hob rests his head against the cool metal of the fridge and sighs. Maybe one day he can try and redo that day with Dream, though he'll probably make the man swear he won't storm out again first.

[theseekeroftruth]

The forest around them fell silent, absorbing the sounds of their voices, as if the sky and earth were holding their breath, listening to what was about to happen. Claire stood before Jamie, feeling the cold seep into her fingers, but he, as always, was the first to embrace her hands with his, wrapping her in his warm palms as if to block the fear and despair that had taken hold of her heart. He looked at her as though he was trying to memorize every line, every feature of her face, to carry her image with him into eternity.

"Ye must go, Sassenach," he said softly, his voice holding such strength that the mountains themselves might tremble. "Feumaidh tu falbh, a’ bhana-choigreach. You must return to yer own time. Here, there's naught left for ye but darkness and war."

Claire looked at him, struggling with despair, with the force that seemed to draw her back to the stones. She did not want to leave him; she could not bear the thought of abandoning him to face a battle that would erase his presence from this world.

"I can't leave you, Jamie," she whispered, her voice shaking. "You are my life, my love, my light. I want to stay with you, even if it means the end."

He touched her cheek, running his warm hand over her face as if trying to wipe away her tears and at the same time remember the feel of her skin. Sadness flashed in his eyes, deep as the very ocean that would separate them. But Jamie would not allow himself to show weakness, understanding that his strength was her only anchor now.

"Ye must live for both of us, Claire," he said, his voice quiet but as firm as granite. "Fiù ged a tha sin a’ ciallachadh gum feum thu falbh. I need to ken that ye’ll be safe, that ye’ll live, breathe, despite all that lies ahead for me here. Air ar son fhèin, airson ar pàiste."

Her soul resisted. She tried to hold back, but tears rolled down her cheeks anyway. Claire reached for him as if lost in a desert, yearning for the last drop of water. But he continued to warm her hands, his fingers like an anchor, holding her in the moment, keeping her steady.

"I'll wait for you," she whispered, almost soundlessly, like a prayer sent to him and to fate. "In every moment, in every life. We will meet again. Come back to me, soldier."

Jamie released her hands but then embraced her shoulders one last time, pulling her close, as though his embrace could tear through the very fabric of time and space, saving them both from the inevitable. Then, slowly, carefully, he leaned down and pressed his lips to hers in a final kiss, full of despair, love, and forgiveness that would not die, even in the face of death.

"I will find ye, Sassenach," he said, letting her go, his voice steady and strong as the mountains surrounding them. "Ann an saoghal sam bith, ann an àm sam bith. Bidh mi gad shireadh gus an ruig mi ort a-rithist. Gus am faigh sinn a chèile."

[theoutcastrogue]

Scene from The New Art and Mystery of Gossiping, Being a Genuine Account of All the Women’s Clubs in and about the City and Suburbs of London, c.1760 showing some of the swear words that most raised pulses in early modern England.

"I stumbled upon this question as a historical consultant for a new drama set in the 16th century, when I needed to assess whether certain curse words in the script would have been familiar to the Tudors. The revelation – given away in the title of Melissa Mohr’s wonderful book Holy Sh*t – is that all swear words concern what is sacred or what is scatological. In the Middle Ages, the worst words had been about what was holy; by the 18th century they were about bodily functions. The 16th century was a period when what was considered obscene was in flux.

The most offensive words still used God’s name: God’s blood, God’s wounds, God’s bones, death, flesh, foot, heart, arms, nails, body, sides, guts, tongue, eyes. A statute of 1606 forbade the use of words that ‘iestingly or prophanely’ spoke the name of God in plays. Damn and hell were early modern variations of such blasphemous oaths (bloody came later), as were the euphemistic asseverations, gad, gog and egad.

Many words we consider, at best, crude were medieval common-or-garden words of description – arse, shit, fart, bollocks, prick, piss, turd – and were not considered obscene. To say ‘I’m going to piss’ was the equivalent of saying ‘I’m going to wee’ today and was politer than the new 16th-century vulgarity, ‘I’m going to take a leak’. Putting body parts or products where they shouldn’t normally be created delightfully defiant phrases such as ‘turd in your teeth’, which appears in the 1509 compendium of the Oxford don John Stanbridge. Non-literal uses of these words – which is what tends to be required for swearing – like ‘take the piss’, ‘on the piss’, ‘piss off’ – all seem to be 20th-century flourishes. For the latter, the Tudors would have substituted something diabolical – ‘the devil rot thee’ – or epidemiological – ‘a pox on you’.

But the scatological was starting to become obscene. Sard, swive and fuck were all slightly rude words for sexual intercourse. An early recorded use of the f-word was a piece of marginalia by an anonymous monk writing in 1528 in a manuscript copy of Cicero’s De officiis (a treatise on moral philosophy). The inscription reads: ‘O d fuckin Abbot’. Given that the use of the f-word as an intensifier didn’t catch on for another three centuries, this is likely a punchy comment on the abbot’s immoral behaviour.

Frig and jape were also on the cusp of offensiveness. Randle Cotgrave’s 1611 French-English dictionary translates the French fringue as ‘to lecher or lasciviously frig with the tail’ (tail was a euphemism for penis). Cunt was also starting to move from being the most direct word to describe a part of the anatomy into obscenity. Shakespeare makes jokes in Hamlet about ‘country matters’ in which he clearly means (as the next line says) what ‘lie[s] between maids’ legs’. Bugger remained a non-explicit word for anal sex.

Today many of these words have an admirable grammatical flexibility for which the Tudors had no clear substitute. For a phrase to express unfortunate circumstances that seem impossible to overcome (‘we’re fucked’), the Historical Thesaurus of English tells us that they would have proclaimed themselves to be ‘in hot water’ (first use 1537), ‘in a pickle’ (1562), ‘in straits’ (1565) or, in the most extreme predicament, at one’s ‘utter shift’ (c.1604). To ‘fuck up’ or spoil something, they’d have used ‘to bodge’ or ‘to botch’. To say something was codswallop, baloney, bollocks, they’d have gone with trumpery, baggage, rubbish or the wonderful reduplicating terms that appear in the 1570s and 80s: flim-flam, fiddle-faddle, or fible-fable.

But, holy words aside, if you really wanted to offend someone in the 16th century, you’d call them a whore, knave, thief, harlot, cuckold, or false. They still cared more about a reputation for behaving badly than how to describe the behaviour itself."

– Suzannah Lipscomb

[lizardrosen]

If he closed his eyes, the tears tracking down his cheeks could almost feel like her cool hand touching him to let him know it was all okay. But her body would still be lying there in front of him, and not for much longer, and after that all he'd have was his imagination.

"God have mercy on her soul," he intoned, "and on all Christian souls, i pray you, God." He could barely finish the prayer because those had been her words and he only now saw that it had been her goodbye all along.

Worse, if she knew even then that she was leaving for her death, did that mean all those wretched rumors were true?

“Why?”

Laertes was speaking to no one again. The poor boy had quite lost his mind, and who could blame him? He’d lost everything else.

Still, he blinked at the unmoving figure of his sister, who was very much dead. “You left me here,” he whispered, feeling himself choke on his words, “you left me here and you didn’t even say goodbye.”

Tagging YOU, Ronnie 🫵 and also @veil-of-exordia and @moonlarked !! <33