#why is the Luxembourg army so small?

[toastermoth]

is this too vague? pretty much ANYTHING luxembourg (with a male reader preferably, gn is fine 2 though since it probably wouldn't be any different)

Luxembourg x Male!Reader

Hiiii- I'm not too familiar with Luxembourg so he may seem very ooc- so I apologize </3 I still hope yall enjoy tho! <33333 (Most of these are my interpretation of Lux<3)

I wanna gt this outta the way, KING OF NICKNAMES AND PETNAMES

Would constantly call you his prince, his rose, and beloved!

If you were to travel to Luxembourg he'd show you everywhere from small corner stores to museums.

He's very laid back with you but when around his boss or other countries he returns to his professional & proper manor.

In private if he's stressed braid his hair or play with it in general.

Though busy most days, he always makes sure to text you periodically especially during meetings because he's usually bored.

Can text without looking at his phone (IDK why but I feel like he can perfectly-)

When you're meeting Belgium and Netherlands he held your hand the entire time to make sure that you're alright and would rub shapes into your hands if he notices you getting nervous.

If you aren't comfortable with touch he'll respect that and he'd let you initiate when you want to hold his hand

Would let you drum on his thigh and is very happy whenever you do because it means he can help you even a little bit.

I can see him liking army songs like marching songs or just international songs in general.

Probably has a stuffed animal collection that him and Belgium add to at least once every month (Netherlands would secretly place a bunny plush in there once in a while)

Enjoys coffee dates and if you don't like coffee he'd get you whatever you'd like that isn't coffee

Has a habit of talking to himself and then speaking Luxembourgish which usually you don't know- (If you understand I appluade)

Asks for head rubs when he's especially busy with his boss

Has a bad habit of overworking himself and sometimes he'd come home and pass out on the nearest thing he can crash on which leads you to dragging him to your shared bed and holding him

Secretly enjoys being little spoon but also enjoys being big spoon

If you ever have a bad day and tell him, he's gonna hold you and let you cry into him as he says "That's it my prince.. just let it all out.."

And again if you're not okay with touch he'd let you come to him and if you don't want to he'd hum your favorite song

Would get you your comfort item/food to make you feel better.

If you're mad he's not the greatest with anger since he usually bottles it up but will give you a stuffed animal to punch/bite/kick/get your anger out

If you feel bad after he'll say, "Y/n dear, he okay with it because even Mr. Bear cares about you and wants to make sure that you're alright,"

Has and will beg to have a shared virtual pet with you or tomagochi

All in all though busy and professional, you're one of the people he has closest to his heart and would drop everything for you and is all out an amazing boyfriend!

[myemuisemo]

"The Strange Story of Jonathan Small," part 12 of The Sign of the Four in Letters from Watson, is indeed strange. The truth turns out much more convoluted than the Moonstone-esque "stolen from a temple" explanation I'd been expecting... but still manages to reflect badly on everyone involved.

First, though, there's the small matter of the policeman waiting for Watson in the cab. I'm utterly confused by giving an "inspector" this babysitting duty, since that should be a managerial rank; and the rank did exist in 1890. But that could be my misunderstanding of some change in nomenclature. The real issue is this:

His face clouded over when I showed him the empty box. “There goes the reward!” said he, gloomily. “Where there is no money there is no pay. This night's work would have been worth a tenner each to Sam Brown and me if the treasure had been there.”

How bad is pay if a member of the Metropolitan Police is working for tips?

According to the Friends of the Metropolitan Police Heritage Charity, typical pay in 1890 was 25-35 shillings a week. (This source also provides other juicy tidbits, like the first official rules on handling a murder scene were set as recently as 1879, which explains why so many detectives at Holmes' crime scenes were sloppy about crime scene contamination. And the first Thames Police steam launch was floated in 1885!)

The midpoint of 30 shillings means about USD 266 a week in today's money, or an annual salary in today's USD of $13,832. The current poverty line for a single person is $15,060. Even as approximations, these point to policing not being a well-paid job.

And then we get the story of Jonathan Small.

Small is from Pershore, a village left being by Worcestershire's industrialization and losing population. His "chapel-going" family means he was raised as a Nonconformist: Protestant but not Anglican, most likely Presbyterian or Methodist. By the time of Small's youth in the middle of the 19th century, most civil rights had been restored to Nonconformists, though his family would have been taxed to pay for the Anglican parish church, and he could not have enrolled at Oxford.

The latter seems not to have been an aspiration, since Small was, by his own account, "a bit of a rover." He didn't seek employment in the carpet mills or glove factories -- where, in the usual Victorian manner, conditions were dreadful for most laborers. (Revolutionary Players does a terrific slideshow on the Kidderminster carpet mills.) His "spot of trouble over a girl" would likely have been getting a local young woman pregnant, or perhaps raping a young woman. The subsequent crocodile incident confirms he was a heedless fool, but nothing thereafter rules out being worse than that.

(I'm not dealing with the 3rd Buffs because I understand nothing of Victorian UK Army divisions.)

Small lands on his feet (well, foot) by being hired by The Man With the Most Overtly Racist Name, Mr. Abelwhite, as overseer on an indigo plantation.

From our dear friend Wikipedia:

The demand for indigo in the 19th century is indicated by the fact that in 1897, 7,000 km2 (2,700 sq mi) were dedicated to the cultivation of indican-producing plants, mainly in India. By comparison, the country of Luxembourg is 2,586 km2 (998 sq mi).

Indigo was grown on plantations, farmed by slave or near-slave labor, so yep, Jonathan Small is a slave overseer.

Then comes the 1857 Rebellion. A good ThoughtCo piece explains:

The Sepoy Mutiny was a violent and very bloody uprising against British rule in India in 1857. It is also known by other names: the Indian Mutiny, the Indian Rebellion of 1857, or the Indian Revolt of 1857. In Britain and in the West, it was almost always portrayed as a series of unreasonable and bloodthirsty uprisings spurred by falsehoods about religious insensitivity. In India, it has been viewed quite differently. The events of 1857 have been considered the first outbreak of an independence movement against British rule. The uprising was put down, but the methods employed by the British were so harsh that many in the western world were offended.

The piece goes on to detail the ample reasons that Indians would want to rebel against the occupying UK Army and the British East India Company. The uprising itself was incredibly bloody -- possibly the only thing I recall about Flashman in the Great Game is the graphic descriptions of the carnage, which is not what one reads the Flashman novels for.

Caught up in the fighting, Small ends up at the Agra's Red Fort, which was completed in this form in 1573. The British captured it in 1803. It is enormous -- 94 acres -- and designed to defend from, among other things, battering down the gates with elephants.

This was a real battle site in the 1857 Rebellion... and so here is Small, assigned to guard duty with two Sikhs, who are somehow loyal to the colonizing force.

Many Sikh were loyal soldiers for Great Britain, to the point that Sikhs were popularly idolized as the perfect soldiers. This excerpt from Faithful Fighters, by Kate Imy, gives a sense of how thoroughly British imagination defined Sikhs as loyal soldiers, and how this was problematic on so many dimensions. It's also generally agreed that Britain could not have quashed the 1857 Rebellion without Sikh soldiers.

From this point, everybody becomes driven by greed and pride, including the unfortunate Major Morstan, father of Mary. The only exception in this general degradation of spirit is, surprisingly, Tonga! Being loyal-unto-death to the white man who saved his life is absolutely a trope ascribed to "primitive" peoples, but it's also nobler than anything anyone else does at this stage in the story. (Admittedly, Small tries to be loyal to his Sikh co-conspirators in his original plans for escape, but he's so damn stupid that his loyalty is worthless. He also treats Tonga no better than he would a monkey.)

And so the story winds down, and Watson drops the bombshell that he's engaged to Miss Morstan. Holmes' response raises what I'm sure are false hopes:

I think she is one of the most charming young ladies I ever met, and might have been most useful in such work as we have been doing. She had a decided genius that way: witness the way in which she preserved that Agra plan from all the other papers of her father.

Yes! Include Miss Morstan in your adventures! She is sensible and organized!

I feel in my bones that nothing of the sort will happen. But in a few decades, Dorothy Sayers will devote Gaudy Night to exploring Holmes' claim that love has a bad effect on reason.

Meanwhile, we still don't know what Watson was sending at the post office, back at the beginning.

[portugalisinsa]

A quick skim through the BBC!Ghosts tag tells me that no one has spent too much time trying to decode the Captain’s service ribbons. Lucky you, I did!

The badge on his jacket lapels say that he was in the royal artillery

1939 to 1945 Star: This is awarded to anyone who completed operational service overseas between 3 September 1939 and 8 May 1945 for at least 180 days.

France and Germany Star: Awarded for at least 1 day of operational service in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, The Netherlands or Germany between 6 June 1944 and 8 May 1945.

Defence Medal: Awarded for non-operational service (like training bases, for example) in the UK or overseas. A minimum of 3 years service in either the UK (3 Sep 1939 and 8 May 1945) or in the Home Guard (14 May 1940 and 31 Dec 1944) are required; if stationed overseas, 1 year between 3 Sep 1939 and 2 Sep 1945.

War Medal 1939 to 1945: Awarded to all full time personnel of the armed forces who served at least 28 days between 3 September 1939 and 2 September 1945, no matter where. In Europe, WWII ended in May 1945; this medal was instituted in August 1945.

He doesn’t wear any other clasp, so he didn’t fight in the Battle for Britain or the Battle of the Atlantic (makes sense, those were RAF and Navy stuff mostly). The Africa Star was awarded for a minimum of one day of operational service in North Africa, the Arctic Star was awarded for any amount of time spent fighting in that campaign, and the Pacific, Burma, and Italy Stars were awarded upon entry into an operational area. He was awarded none of these medals, which means he only fought the France and Germany campaign.

He only wears WWII medals, which means he didn’t fight in WWI (it was unlikely he would have anyway, tbh, 41 was the the maximum age to fight in WWII, which would have made him 18 in 1916). The order I’ve written them out in (from top to bottom) is the order they should go left to right. For some reason, the Captain is wearing the ribbon band upside down. That’s a very huge big no good no-no. At first I assumed if was a mistake by the costume people, but it’s been three seasons and that hasn’t been fixed yet so I have to conclude it’s intentional. It could be some kind of BBC directive (idk, “non-army personnel has to wear the uniform in a certain way or it’s an insult to the queen” or some other silly nonsense) or it could be a genuine mistake the Captain made before dying, in which case I assume he’s spent sixty years being massively bothered by this. [ @lagoonnebula6523 said that the director of series 1 and 2 hinted that the reason for this mistake would be revealed in a future series, which I think points to an in universe explanation. Thank you for the info, this is super cool to know!] [Small aside, but I remember googling why the ribbons would be worn upside down and what i found was neat but probably unrelated. Check the tags if you’re interested]

I believe he’s in a service dress, which basically means he was at some kind of event when he died. He’s not in the army equivalent of the white tie, so we’re not talking about something too fancy. Maybe some sort of minor party?

So yeah, dude died after the war ended, and considering he seems used to saying “king” instead of “queen” I feel like he died either before Elizabeth was crowned or just after, so somewhere between August 1945 and around 1953-55

[morlock-holmes]

A while ago @cop-disliker69 posted this image, and it is still bothering me:

Because, like, okay, yes it's very reasonable to be alarmed by people who have power over your livelihood having noxious, nonsensical and constantly shifting rules that they expect you to abide by, but that doesn't mean that they run the country.

Like, imagine that your boss really hates people from Luxembourg. Like, constantly calling them slurs, discriminating against them as customers and employees. And you're from Luxembourg.

That's pretty bad, right?

So imagine that you start saying, "Prejudice against people from Luxembourg is the biggest danger to the continued existence of the United States, a danger so big that there is literally no cost too large to pay for it. Trump once said he liked the people of Luxembourg. If Trump and the Republicans overturn Roe V. Wade I agree that it will end up killing a lot of women. Trying to overturn the election was bad too. But these things are small potatoes compared to the imminent destruction of the commonwealth that will be caused by prejudice against people from Luxembourg, the most dangerous and deadly political tendency at work in the US today."

It sounds absurd but I know, like, five people who keep coming up on my dash and saying exactly that thing about woke politics, that it's so deadly and corrosive that literally any other kind of corruption, violence and danger is preferable as long as it is against wokeness.

And the way Tumblr blocking works I keep seeing them every so often and I'm pretty fucking sick of it.

If your boss is a bigot and an asshole, that's bad, but that doesn't mean it's reasonable to decide that, therefore, people like him run the entire country and must be stopped by any means necessary.

I react to those tweets the same way I reacted years ago to this Garry Trudeau tweet after the Charlie Hebdo shooting about how the Magazine "punched down" and I just went, "Wait a minute, who the fuck shot whom here?"

Like, there's this tendency I see more and more in modern politics to make everything a kind of narrative drama, to ignore the actual power dynamics in any situation and replace them with a kind of idealized power dynamics. Woke people do it and so do Anti-Woke people.

Like, I talk to folks on here who are pretty sure that there are going to be pograms against white land-owners any time now, to which I respond, "With what army?"

"Teachers are going to convince everyone that white people are invaders and it's okay to drive them off their land and the only people opposing it will be every branch of the US government along with the National Guard, Military, Intelligence Services and every Police Force in the country!"

Like, there's this strong and growing belief that the localized power of woke politics must be totally just about to explode into a violent mass movement, despite the absence of any actual mechanism by which that could occur. They don't have mass support or institutional support.

That's why I keep bringing up legislation. Whenever I do that the cynics say, "Oh, it doesn't mean anything that the Woke left has no legislative achievements, because nobody does!"

And I'm sorry, but fucking none of y'all get to come in here and say that to me anymore with Roe V. Wade being overturned.

The Anti-Abortion groups have significant legislative power. Enough power to spend decades passing law after law that blatantly flies in the face of Roe V. Wade, in the hopes of overturning that decision.

The woke types don't have that kind of power. We don't see a country where woke types pass law after law requiring Harvard to use overt racial quotas in hopes of overturning the Supreme Court decisions that make such quotas illegal, we see them struggle and fail to even do as much affirmative action as the Supreme Court allows, let alone passing crazy super far-left laws just to provoke court cases.

And maybe this all seems like ridiculous hair splitting, but, again, I see a lot of people out there who are convinced that the US is one step away from anti-white lynch mobs roaming the streets with impunity, and their entire politics is based on that fear.

And it is so detached from reality that it scares the shit out of me, watching it get more and more popular in this country.

Because the anti-woke people do pass legislation.

[vladdocs]

Life of Dracula from age 7 to 14 - Part 2 By Lyzhina Svetlana Sergeevna (Лыжина Светлана Сергеевна) Original in Russian: http://samlib.ru/l/lyzhina_s_s/dracula_7_14_2.shtml Annotation: A continuation of the previous article. Here details Dracula's life after 11 years and primarily the events in the family - the birth of two new brothers, the death of his mother and the appearance of his stepmother, the sending of Dracula to Turkey. In the last article it was mentioned that Dracula's life changed abruptly when he was about 7 years old. The family moved from the house in Sighisoara to the palace in Targoviste, and Dracula and his brother began to be intensively taught various sciences. However, at this time not only Dracula's place of residence and the way of life itself changed - the composition of the family changed: first, Dracula's mother died, and her place was taken by her stepmother; and second, 2 new brothers appeared. New brothers and stepmother It was in Targoviste that Dracula had a brother, with whom he later had to go to Turkey - the same Radu. In some biographies you can read that Radu was born back in Sighisoara, but about Sighisoara it is a mistake. Radu was not born earlier than August 1437, which is confirmed by documents. The fact is that Dracula's father was in the habit of listing his sons by name in those charters that were donations. There is a charter of 23 August 1437, which lists only two sons - Dracula's older brother and Dracula himself. But the charter of August 2, 1439 listed three sons - the same plus Radu. This gives historians a reason to say that Radu was born between August of 1437 and August of 1439. No one can say for sure who Radu's mother was. However, there is indirect confirmation that it is the same woman (Princess Vasilika), who gave birth to Dracula and his older brother. This confirmation is contained in a charter of August 7, 1445, where Dracula's elder brother, Dracula himself and Radu are named as "first-born" sons. Nevertheless, the word "first-born" can be interpreted differently - either all three sons were born of the first wife, or all three sons are full heirs to the throne. Unfortunately, Dracula's father was not in the habit of indicating in the charters, from whom this or that son was born, so now we have gaps in the genealogies. The only certainty is that by 1445 Dracula's mother had already died, and his father married a woman named Colzuna, who came from a Romanian market town located on the Danube and called Braila. Apparently Colzuna was much less noble than Dracula's mother. Dracula's mother was the daughter of a Moldavian prince, while Colzuna was at best the daughter of a boyar or even the daughter of a merchant. Colzuna is known mainly because she caused Dracula to have another younger brother, later nicknamed "The Monk". Initially this brother was a monk, but then he was tonsured and began to reign, but it happened after the death of Dracula, and in 1445 Monk was a very young child, if he was born at all. In the charter of August 7, 1445 this Monk is not mentioned, but it is possible that he is not mentioned precisely because his father did not consider him a "first-born", i.e. heir to the throne, and decided to give him to God, i.e. to the monastery. In general, there is more speculation than fact, but there is nothing to be done about it. Paternal Wars When talking about Dracula's life from the age of 7 to 14, it is necessary to mention another important event that took place in this period - from about the age of 13 Dracula began to attend the Boyars' Council. Dracula was not old enough to fully participate in the meetings, so he was supposed to just sit near his father's throne and listen to what others were saying. About a year before that, the council began to invite Dracula's elder brother (also as an observer), so most probably from 1442 the brothers were present at the council together, and this very presence replaced the science of "politics", which according to the Byzantine system of education was supposed to be mastered

after the age of 17. Listening to other people's conversations, Dracula had to finally figure out how his father builds relationships with his neighbors, and these relationships are very confused. Back in 1431, Emperor Sigismund of Luxembourg, admitting Dracula's father to the Order of the Dragon, entrusted the new member of the Order an honorary duty to guard the southern border of the Kingdom of Hungary, ie Transylvania, which (recall) is at that time the Hungarian territory. It was not just an obligation, but a condition of support for the claim to the Romanian throne. Of course, no one expected Father Dracula to ride along the border like a border guard with a small band of loyal servants. Dracula's father was expected to keep the Turks out of Transylvania by making his territory (the Duchy of Romania) something of a human shield. Dracula's father accepted this condition, but soon after ascending the throne he went to the court of the Turkish sultan, where he confirmed the obligations that the former Romanian prince had to Turkey. Essentially, there were two obligations: 1) to pay tribute, and 2) to participate in Turkish campaigns. The only problem was that the Turks were very often at war with the Hungarians, so Dracula's father willy-nilly assumed mutually exclusive obligations: on the one hand he was supposed to defend the Hungarian border, and on the other hand he was supposed to attack the same border with the Turkish army. It would be very funny if it were not so sad, and the saddest thing about this situation is that Father Dracula had no choice. Not to go to Turkey would automatically mean declaring war on Turkey, and war at the beginning of his reign would mean the end of his reign for Father Dracula. That is why a year and a half after ascending the throne, in the spring of 1438, Dracula's father came to Transylvania with the Turkish army, and when the Transylvanian inhabitants turned to him for protection, he replied something like, "Oh, you better not resist, or else it will be even worse. Naturally, the Hungarians were not pleased with such behavior of father Dracula, so in order to placate the Hungarian neighbors, in the spring of 1442, together with the magnate Janos Hunyadi, who was the de facto ruler of Hungary, he destroyed 10,000 Turks in Transylvania. This, however, was not enough for Janosz, and he demanded that Dracula's father participate in a great campaign against the Turks, an idea that Janosz had been hatching for several years. Dracula's father refused. The destruction of 10,000 Turks in Transylvania could somehow be concealed, but to participate in a campaign when one had to enter Turkish territory would be an open challenge to the Sultan. Janos Hunyadi was very offended by this refusal. He was so offended that he decided to put another prince, a certain Basarab, on the Romanian throne. Then Dracula's father turned to the Sultan for help... ... And here we come to a new interesting episode in the life of Dracula himself, who was a teenager at the time. Period of Freedom In the summer of 1442 Dracula's father went to Turkey to negotiate with the sultan and was stuck there for 8 months. An obscure Basarab sat on the throne in Targoviste, and Dracula and his brothers were hiding somewhere at the time. Perhaps one of the boyars loyal to Dracula's father had hidden them away - that we do not know - but it is unlikely that the boyar benefactor or anyone cared about the further education of Dracula and his older brother. There were enough problems as it was! It turns out that control over the brothers dramatically weakened, and just at this time (according to some historians) Dracula was experiencing the most reckless years of his maturation - he had already reached the age of 13. Oh, how coincidental! Of course, if Dracula was born in 1431, then nothing particularly remarkable could happen. What can you do at the age of 11! However, if Dracula was born in 1429 or 1430, the situation is much more interesting. From the summer of 1442 to the spring of 1443, the teenager was

unattended by his father and educators, so he probably took advantage of the situation to learn things that wise mentors do not teach. The only person who could have slowed Dracula down was his older brother, but he was the same teenager, only 1-2 years older... Further commentary is superfluous. Anyway, in the spring of 1443, Dracula's father returned from Turkey with the Turkish army, deposed Basarab from the throne and again engaged in the education of his older teenage sons, whose life went back to its old ways with all its austerities. Hostage in Turkey Contrary to popular belief, Dracula and his younger brother Radu were not sent to Turkey immediately after their father regained power. They lived in Targoviste for about a year, and did not go to the sultan until the summer of 1444. The Sultan was not concerned about the hostages at that time. He was preoccupied with military affairs, because on July 22, 1443 Janos Hunyadi began a crusade against the Turks, which had long been planned, and fought very successfully - the crusaders gained one victory after another and advanced very far into the Turkish territory. The only thing that could stop the crusaders' advance was the winter cold. The campaign of Janos Hunyadi was remembered in history as the Long Campaign and lasted till January 1444. Serbs, Poles, Czechs as well as German and French knights took part in the campaign. Dracula's father did not participate in the campaign with his army, as he was still at odds with Janos. In the spring of 1444, negotiations for an armistice between Janos Hunyadi and the sultan began. Dracula's father joined the negotiations, which resulted in a formal reconciliation between Romanians and Hungarians, with Janos agreeing that Romania could remain under Turkish influence. On June 12, 1444 negotiations were completed. The documents record the Sultan's demands to Dracula's father - "he must send us a pledge". By "bail" it was meant that Dracula and his brother Radu, who were about 14 and 6 years old respectively at the time, should come to the Turkish court. Dracula's father took his sons to Turkey no later than the end of July 1444, and what happened next is told in another article.

[tkc-info]

Her Apprentice

OCtober 2021 day 6 - mask

2009

Mirror Luxembourg was a very small city, and so very alien to Hunter. He was used to the congested roads, enormous buildings, and the immenseness of his Mummy’s Shanghai. And still, Luxembourg was nothing like Daddy’s village in Yunnan, nor Hunter’s isolated house.

Being in a city divided in two was a surreal experience to Hunter. Daddy had carried him on his shoulders to Luxembourg’s upper floor, and then to the uppermost spot in the city. Hunter had seen how very small the city was —and the trees and fairytale landscape that loomed little beyond its borders— and thought how much of a canvas it looked.

Hunter was not a painter, but he had wanted to make the fluffy clouds rain red, and dozens of mini xíngtiān dance around the prairies while the bāshé crawled in search of a victim. He had dreamed about all that last night, and it had felt all so real —he’d felt the rain hitting his head; heard the xíngtiān’s heavy footsteps— and what had probably been a nightmare became a memory Hunter wanted to draw. But he wasn’t a painter.

Sekros da Silva, on the contrary, was. When Daddy and Hunter had entered Lucienne da Silva and Werner Flammang’s house in the outskirts of Luxembourg, they’d found Sekros painting an automaton’s face in bright reds and cold blues. His mother had explained that he had a flair for the arts.

That’s when Sekros had turned to Hunter for the first time. He’d blinked at him owlishly silver eyes, and said, “I was doing Wolfgang’s avant-garde makeup.”

Hunter didn’t know what ‘avant-garde’ meant, but Daddy had smiled at Sekros as if smitten, so Hunter had followed suit and smiled as well. Lucienne da Silva had been the only one who hadn’t smiled; instead, she’d told the automaton to take Sekros and Hunter ‘somewhere else’, and Daddy that they would have their reunion in the adjacent room.

Now, Hunter sat in Sekros’s bed as the imlium continued painting Wolfgang’s face. Sekros’s room was very artist-y: the walls were painted colourfully (most likely by Sekros himself) and covered in the imlium’s drawings. The one closest to Hunter showed two figures that had been named ‘Wolfgang’ and ‘Me’ in Sazla, Luxembourgish, German, and French (Daddy had told Hunter people in Luxembourg spoke three languages, which was very cool —but Sekros had ended up writing ‘Wolfgang’ the same way three times).

“Do you want me to put makeup on you?” Sekros suddenly asked. He’d climbed down Wolfgang’s arms and was staring at Hunter in a way that made Hunter very uncomfortable.

He didn’t like being stared at a lot; his amber and brown eyes were weird and ugly, unlike Daddy, Mummy and Sis’s dark ones. Still, Sekros wasn’t looking at him with any judgement, and the uneasiness in Hunter’s tummy eased.

“I don’t think I like wearing makeup, but thank you.” he eventually said.

Sekros only shrugged. “That’s okay. Do you want to help me put makeup on Wolfgang?”

Hunter thought Wolfgang already had enough makeup on, but readily jumped off Sekros’s bed and made to join him in front of the automaton. “Okay.”

Sekros smiled for the first time, his teeth very white. Then, he handed Hunter a pencil he called ‘lidstrich’ and told him to do whatever. Hunter hand’t known that a Lidstrich was an eyeliner, so he used it to draw Wolfgang a fake moustache.

At first, Sekros and him worked in silence, but soon shifted to ever-more animated conversation. Hunter was very pleasantly surprised by the imlium; he’d never thought making friends was that easy! Or perhaps it was only Sekros who was easy to befriend.

The imlium asked Hunter many questions, and cracked jokes here and there that made Hunter giggle. He told Hunter he wanted to be a painter and an astronaut and the Commander-in-chief of the Archaic Army, and asked him whether he wanted to see something ‘really cool’.

“Yes!” Hunter answered.

Sekros nodded wisely. Then took Hunter’s hand and dragged him away from Wolfgang, to sit at his bed.

“I am really good at morphing.” Sekros whispered, as if telling a secret “I can become any animal you want.” he frowned “But koalas. And kangaroos. And elephants. And giraffes. And fish. Do you want me to be a cat?”

Hunter nodded vigorously. Sekros smiled at him, and —as he did so— his skin began growing fur, and he became smaller and smaller. His pointy ears went to the top of his head in the form of fluffy triangles. A few seconds later, a silver-eyed kitten was meowing victoriously at Hunter, who clapped happily.

An idea suddenly formed in his mind. “Sekros?” Hunter asked “I had a dream yesterday, and I saw some very cool things. Can you become Xíngtiān for me?”

Sekros slowly morphed back to his normal body; he cocked his head to the side and frowned. “What is a xíngtiān?”

“A monster!” Hunter flailed his arms “He’s this big. Xíngtiān was decapitated because he wanted to kill Tiān, but didn’t stay dead and fights with his tummy as mouth and chest as eyes.”

Sis said Xíngtiān was creepy, but Hunter found him really cool.

Unfortunately, Sekros hadn’t seemed to understand Hunter. “Can you paint him?”

“No.” Hunter shook his head “I’m not a good painter like you. But—” his eyes widened “I can describe him?”

“Okay.”

And thus, Hunter began saying everything he remembered of Xíngtiān: he had very big eyes like Hunter’s where his nipples should be, his mouth was all his tummy so he didn’t have a belly bottom, he was always frowning and dancing, he didn’t wear any clothes but Hunter would very much appreciate if Sekros kept his pants…

It was funny, because the more he talked, the more he saw the monster. Xíngtiān was breathing down Sekros’s back, an ax in his right hand and a shield in his left one.

Sekros’s eyes were very wide.

“Shuren!” he exclaimed, because Hunter still went by his birth name at the time “I can see Xíngtiān!”

“You can?” Hunter asked, very happy. Even though he’d just noticed his vision was beginning to blur a little bit.

“No, I mean yes.” Sekros shook his head “I mean I can see him. See see.”

Hunter’s mouth opened without him wanting it to. Sekros and him were very little —Hunter wasn’t five yet— but they both knew what that meant.

Hunter had awakened to his insignia.

It now made sense why his eyes were doing funny things. Using your insignia for the first time was difficult and people usually grazed the line of overexertion. For a mirage like Hunter, masking Sekros (and his) vision was naturally taking its toll.

“Stop masking!” Sekros urged “I don’t need to see Xíngtiān now!”

Hunter frowned, trying to guess exactly how to stop masking. Would cease thinking of Xíngtiān help? It did, but Hunter had to spend a few minutes trying to control himself.

When he was back to normal, Sekros rewarded him with a very big grin and hastened to drag him out his room. He and Hunter ran across his house to the room Daddy and Sekros’s parents were meeting.

The adults looked very surprised —Sekros’s parents even a little bit annoyed— but jumped to action the moment Hunter exclaimed, “Daddy, I’m a mirage!”

Daddy’s face became the happiest Hunter had seen in a very long time. He immediately materialised at his son’s side, and swept him up his feet. Daddy spun Hunter round and round, and kissed his cheek proudly in between exclamations of joy. “My Shuren, are you really a mirage? This is incredible, incredible!”

Hunter giggled as Daddy spun him round and round more. “I am a mirage! I am a mirage!”

He felt so good. Hunter was only four, but he had the impression Mummy and Daddy had been hoping he was either a mirage or a historian. They often spoke of their friends Dahlia and Matthias Everitt, who’d had those insignias respectively. Mummy and Daddy loved their friends very dearly, and now they must be very happy that Hunter shared insignias with one of them.

Because Mummy was also very happy to know Hunter could mask the senses. When Daddy announced what had happened after coming back from Luxembourg, she’d also ran to Hunter, swept him up his feet, and spun him round and round.

“Like Dahlia, like Dahlia.” she’d repeated happily.

Afterwards, Mummy and Daddy assured Hunter that they loved him regardless of whether he was a mirage or a puppeteer. That they’d only got a little ‘carried away’.

But Hunter was already curious.

Mummy and Daddy —he’d noticed— spoke of Dahlia as if she were the most powerful mirage alive. They told him she’d mastered immersion and could fully mask whoever she wanted into whatever she wanted.

How cool was that? Hunter heard his parents’s stories of their friend’s grandeur, and imagined what it would be like. Creating a whole reality. Putting a tailor-made mask on someone or himself, and being the master of your worlds.

That’s when he decided: he wanted to be like Dahlia Everitt.

@oc-growth-and-development @wagnerthedragon @iloveallmyocs @littleturtle95 @goodknightfriends

[stefciastark]

Birthday ~ Webpril Day 21

A/N: A fraction late but here nonetheless! I had too many little ideas warring at once in my head with this prompt so I can thank overthinking for my delay in putting this one out. Hope you enjoy the ensuing fluff xx

~Read it on AO3

~Read it on FFN

“Just get him a Swiss Army Knife or something, I dunno. You’re overthinking this, Peter!”

“He’s literally Iron Man, Ned, I don’t think he needs a Swiss Army Knife,” Peter pinched the bridge of his nose, holding his phone to his ear with his unoccupied hand. “And I’m not overthinking this. Mr Stark’s done a lot for me, y’know?”

“Okay, okay.” Ned’s response was laced with exasperation, having listened to Peter’s struggle for almost two weeks in a row. “Just go to the mall, I’m sure you’ll figure something out.”

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

It had been four hours. Peter was sure he’d never even been shopping at a mall for four hours in his life, ever, and he was very sure he didn’t want to make a habit of it. The stores that looked like they would have gifts that Tony would like were completely out of Peter’s price range, and what he could afford at those shops were limited to either a pair of socks, a three pack of underwear, or the smallest tin size of hair gel. They weren’t exactly the gifts Peter had in mind. What do you get the guy who has given you a lab, a suit, a home away from home and - basically - a father?

He was almost ready to give up, go home, and just settle for a really heartfelt phone call and an IOU. Almost. Weaving his way through the labyrinthine shopping centre, one last shop caught his eye. He decided to give one of the tourist trap souvenir shops a shot. At this point, Peter didn’t have a lot to lose.

The moment he walked in, Peter immediately debated on turning around and just leaving. He was immediately assaulted by various forms of kitsch, primarily in the form of cheaply made tchotchkes. On his right were shelves filled with snow globes hosting some of New York’s most iconic architecture, plastic and metal models of the Empire State Building, and ashtrays. Who even bought ashtrays anymore? On his left were spinning towers housing keychains with numerous names in alphabetical order, magnets, and bottle openers. Nothing immediately caught his eye as being gift worthy. Peter shook his head, doing some on-the-spot soul searching as to why he even walked into that particular store. He chalked it up to his Spidey Sense - anything to avoid taking personal responsibility at this point.

Peter took one more scan around the store, and paused. Along the back wall there were rows of mugs, decorated with stock photos of New York and the (now) obligatory Avengers merchandise. His gaze quickly passed over those and instead settled on the section with family-themed mugs. Peter couldn’t quite explain why, but he felt like he’d find what he was looking for there.

Within moments, Peter set his eyes on a chalk white mug that had ‘#1 Dad’ plastered across the side in large black letters.

Perfect.

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

Tony wasn’t much for birthdays, especially not since the ‘Great Malibu Birthday Party of 2010’. Rhodey still enjoyed - maybe a little bit too much - reminding Tony of the events of that night. Finally, just over five years later, they were able to look back on it all and laugh rather than wince at the memory. It had just been a series of disasters permanently ingrained into Tony’s brain.

It had been years since he’d properly celebrated, and when he did he preferred to keep it a bit more lowkey and would usually eventually disappear from the scene early to have a quiet night in the labs.

The moment Tony saw a small box on his desk down in the laboratory, he froze. It was haphazardly covered in black wrapping paper, tied together with a silver and gold ribbon that just strangely enough gave off an atmosphere that screamed ‘last minute panic’ and ‘improvisation’.

Tony wasn’t sure whether to call Happy and ask him to come over and open it with a pair of robot hands taped to the end of a 10-foot pole, or just risk biting the bullet. Maybe literally. He never did like getting handed things, and that included being handed things - that he wasn’t expecting - via his desk.

Deciding that any terrorist or criminal that would want to kill him would have done a better wrapping job, he pulled out his chair and sat down in front of the maybe-box-of-doom. Peeling the thickly folded side corner open, the tape popping off easily, he unwrapped the paper to reveal a plain cardboard box. Nothing like more recycling to show that Tony Stark really did have the planet’s best interests at heart.

Prying open the lid, a white mug was nestled amongst cardboard supports. Inside of the mug, however, was what looked like a small white business card. ´Happy Birthday Mr Stark!’ was written in sharply angled print. A smile spread its way across Tony’s features; leave it to the kid to feel the need to get him something.

Upon removing the mug from its box, the brightness of the white ceramic almost hurt his eyes in contrast to the darker metallic shades that prevailed in the lab. It was only when he turned it around that the large black letters in Helvetica - definitely printed in caps lock - greeted him. ‘#1 Dad’. Damn straight he was.

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

The following day - a Monday - Steve, Natasha, Clint, Bruce, and Tony were sat suffering through a post-mission briefing at the hands of Nick Fury. Thor conveniently had to return to Asgard. The week prior had seen half of the Luxembourg Gardens in Paris uprooted, and Fury had had enough of trying to coach the team on appropriate PR. Neither Bruce or Clint wanted to be the face of the apology, Natasha was far too blunt and unapologetic, so that left Steve and Tony as the final two candidates.

Before Steve or Fury could make eye contact with Tony and elect him as their spokesperson, he picked up his mug, text facing the present company, and stared distantly out the window as he sipped the last of his morning brew.

[mizanurtumb]

Atlantic Charter: The Beginning of the Rise of the United States as a Superpower

August, 1941. World War II is going on. All around then the triumph of the Axis Powers. Germany and its junior partner, Italy, were then the masters of the European mainland. The vast expanse of Europe from the Baltic Sea to the Atlantic Ocean was then under the influence of the Axis Powers. France has fallen. The mighty 'Mistress of the Sea' Britain has not yet conceded defeat, but they have been defeated by intense Axis air strikes. Axis forces continue to attack the communist superpower, the Soviet Union. Axis forces are rushing towards Moscow with lightning speed, crushing the famous Red Army. Meanwhile, Japan has occupied a large area of ​​China as well as Indochina. In Africa, the Axis powers are waging a fierce battle with the Allies. Only one major power is still out of the war - the United States.

The United States was the largest economic power in the world at that time. In fact, they became the world's major economic power before the turn of the twentieth century. The devastation in Europe during the First World War strengthened their position. The United States participated in the war at the end of World War I and distanced itself from international politics as much as possible in order to avoid being caught up in the whirlpool of post-war European politics. They maintained neutrality in the early stages even after the outbreak of World War II, but their sympathies were largely with the British and French-led allies.

But by August 1941, 'sympathy' alone was not enough for almost cornered Britain. The British wanted to involve the United States in this war at any cost. By the time France fell, almost the whole of Europe was under the control of the Axis Powers, and the British colonies were in revolt. In this situation, Britain had no choice but to involve the United States directly in the war to avoid defeat. Only the huge industrial and military capabilities of the United States could save Britain.

It is pertinent to note that in September 1940, the United States and Britain signed the 'Destroyer for Base' agreement. Through this agreement, the Americans provided Britain with 50 destroyers and in return the United States gained the right to establish military bases in the British colonies in North America and the Caribbean. This agreement was one of the reasons why Britain was not forced to surrender to the Axis Powers in 1940. The military equipment obtained through this agreement helped Britain to continue the war. But U.S. public opinion was still strongly opposed to participating in the war, so the United States refrained from participating directly in the war. But some U.S. policymakers were in favor of participating in the war because they thought it would open the door to possibilities for the United States.

By August 1941, their idea had taken root. At the time, the Soviet Union was engaged in a deadly struggle against the Axis Powers, and the Allies feared that the Axis Powers would lose. For Britain and the United States, the possible defeat of the Soviet Union was an ominous sign, because if the Soviet Union was defeated, the Axis powers would have the opportunity to seize the vast territory of Eurasia and use it in the fight against Britain (and possibly the United States). In this situation, Britain and the United States decided to strengthen mutual cooperation and to determine what the post-war world would look like if the Allies won the war. The result of this resolution is the 'Atlantic Charter'.

On 9 August 1941, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill arrived in the Gulf of Pleasantia off the southeast coast of Newfoundland aboard the British warship HMS Prince of Wales. He was welcomed at the US Naval Station in Argentina by US President Franklin Roosevelt aboard the USS Augusta. Their interview was kept secret from the whole world. The Americans knew their president was on a 10-day fishing holiday! It should be noted that at that time Newfoundland was a British Dominion (Autonomous Colony), and now it is part of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

From 9 to 12 August, talks were held between Roosevelt and Churchill and top officials from both states. It later became known as the Atlantic Conference. The conference was followed on 14 August by a joint declaration by the President and the Prime Minister, which later became known as the Atlantic Charter. Note that the Atlantic Charter was not a formal treaty, nor was it a treaty signed by anyone. It was the culmination of a series of agreements between the United States and the United Kingdom, which were publicized in the form of declarations and thus gained worldwide recognition. Roosevelt later compared the Atlantic Charter to an unwritten British constitution and commented that the Atlantic Charter did not exist on paper, but everyone knew it existed.

It is pertinent to note that even after the proclamation of the Atlantic Charter, the United States refrained from joining the war directly for several months due to internal political reasons. But it became clear that the United States had linked its destiny with the Allies. On December 6, 1941, three months after the Atlantic Summit, Japan attacked the United States naval and air base at Pearl Harbor, and in response the United States declared war on Japan. Through this the United States became directly involved in World War II, and emerged as an economic and military superpower at the end of World War II. And the Atlantic Charter played an important role in their emergence as a superpower.

The Atlantic Charter outlined the post-World War II world. Note that the Atlantic Charter is not the first 'declaration' in this regard. Earlier, on 12 June 1941, Britain and its four Dominions (Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa), the expatriate governments of six European countries (Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Norway, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Yugoslavia and France) The alternative to the German-controlled ‘Vichy France’ (the French government) collectively issued the ‘Declaration of the Palace of St. James’ or the ‘Declaration of London’. Through this declaration, the states pledged to refrain from making peace with the Axis powers separately and to recognize the right of the free nations to voluntarily cooperate with each other. 'Anglo-Soviet Treaty' of 12 July 1941 Was signed and through this agreement Britain and the Soviet Union pledged to refrain from making peace with the Axis powers separately. The 'Atlantic Charter' was a logical extension of this process.

The Atlantic Charter had a total of 6 articles. These are as follows:

(1) The United States and Britain will not claim any land after the war.

(2) The United States and Britain are not interested in seeing a change in ownership of a territory against the will of its inhabitants.

(3) The United States and the United Kingdom respect the right of each nation to choose its own system of government and are keen to return it to the nations whose sovereign rights and sovereignty have been taken away.

(4) The United States and Britain shall endeavor to maintain equal rights in the conduct of trade and procurement of raw materials for each nation, large and small, victorious and victorious in the post-war period.

(5) The United States and the United Kingdom are keen to maintain full economic cooperation among all nations in order to improve the conditions of workers, ensure economic progress and social security.

(6) After the final destruction of Nazism, the United States and Britain are willing to establish a peace that will allow every nation to live safely within its borders and free from fear and poverty.

(6) The United States and Britain are willing to ensure the right to free movement at sea.

(6) The United States and Britain believe that every nation in the world should abandon the use of force and take steps for full disarmament.

From the general point of view, the Atlantic Charter was a declaration that was very ‘noble’ and ‘ethical’. It discourages the practice of resolving political disputes through force and land grabbing. It emphasizes the right of each nation to choose its own system of governance, the right to free trade, the right to form alliances and the right to free movement at sea. At the same time, emphasis has been placed on disarmament, poverty alleviation and economic cooperation.

Apparently the clauses of the charter seem to be very noble. The Atlantic Charter is described as a milestone in history. In general terms, the Atlantic Charter is the landmark treaty that has led to the end of global colonialism and the establishment of the United Nations to establish world peace. But considering the context, the subtle motives of these clauses become clear, and then they can no longer be termed as 'noble motives'.

The most important clause of the Atlantic Charter is the third clause of the treaty. Through it, the United States and Britain recognized the right of nations around the world to self-determination. But the United States and Britain themselves were imperialist powers and they themselves had suppressed the right of different nations to self-determination. Why, then, were they so concerned about the “right of nations to self-determination”?

It should be noted that before the Second World War, Britain was the owner of a huge empire worldwide. In fact, the British Empire was the largest empire in human history. "The sun never sets in the British Empire" - they proudly referred to it. The British deprived the people of present day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Malaysia, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Gambia and many other similar states of their 'right to self-determination'. The United States, on the other hand, promoted itself as anti-imperialist, but in practice they themselves were a colonial state. Not only did they seize large tracts of land from North American natives, but they also seized vast tracts of land from Mexico, as well as from the Philippines, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, and many other territories.

In this context, the declaration of support for the "right of nations to self-determination" by the US and the British was virtually self-contradictory. But even then the United States and Britain included this clause in the Atlantic Declaration. In fact, at that time, US and British statesmen realized that after World War II, it would no longer be possible for Western European states to retain control of their colonial empires. Nationalist thought spread widely in several colonies, and the successive defeats of other Western European colonial states, including Britain, near the Axis powers at the beginning of World War II intensified the desire for independence in the colonies. On the other hand, the war destroyed the economies and infrastructure of these European nations.

By August 1941, British statesmen had realized that no matter what the outcome of the war, it would not be possible for the British to maintain control over their vast colonial empire with the economy destroyed at the end of the war. Therefore, they decided to withdraw from the most anarchic colonies as soon as possible after the war and to maintain control over the prosperous African colonies and some other strategically important colonies.

Note that in the end, the British had to give up almost their entire colonial empire. But even then the end of the British Empire was relatively peaceful. Other Western European colonial powers could not be as realistic as Britain, so after World War II France became involved in bloody wars in Indochina and Algeria, the Netherlands in Indonesia, and Portugal in southern Africa.

But there was still an important question before Britain - to whom would they hand over the dominion of this vast empire, the dominion of the world? After the retreat of the British from the colonies all over the world, to whom will the world domination go? To the German Nazis, against whom they are engaged in a deadly war? In the hands of the French, who have virtually surrendered to the Germans? Or to the Soviet communists, who want to spread their 'terrible' (from a British point of view) ideology all over the world? The world ruled by Germany, France or the Soviet Union was not desirable to Britain, so they decided that their most suitable successor for world domination would be the United States, a capitalist democratic state like Britain and part of the English-speaking world.

However, it should not be underestimated that Britain readily agreed to cede its empire and global dominance to the United States. In this case, the pressure of the United States on Britain played an important role. Britain's weakness was not unknown to the Americans, and they wanted to use this situation to their advantage as much as possible. They knew that Britain had no choice but to accept US aid. To this end, they pressured Britain to grant independence to the British colonies and to gain British support for the Atlantic Charter clause on the "right of nations to self-determination." However, after the declaration of the Atlantic Charter, Churchill explained that this right would only apply to German-occupied territories. But later events make it clear that the 'right to self-determination' mentioned in the charter

However, the question may be raised, how could the United States benefit from the loss of the British colonies? To answer this question, we need to look at the structure of the world economy. During World War II, the United States was the world's largest economic power and industrial producer. U.S. policymakers realized that it would take them a long time after the war to make up for the losses suffered by the major powers in World War II. At this time, the United States will be the economic center of the world. In this case, if the British (and other) colonies became independent, there would be no need for the United States to occupy them. Because the economic situation of the colonies at that time was very bad, And in the post-independence period they had to depend on the developed northern states for economic development. And since the economies of all the major powers, except the United States, have been devastated by World War II, the newly independent states will have no choice but to accept economic and political control of the United States.

The idea of ​​the Americans later proved to be correct. In World War II, Britain, France, and other Western European colonial powers, the Soviet Union, China, and Japan all suffered heavy losses. On the other hand, the mainland of the United States was out of the realm of the battlefield, so the war caused the U.S. economy to swell. After World War II, more than 50% of the world's production came from the United States. In this situation, the newly independent states of Africa and Asia naturally depend on the United States to overcome their economic woes. Through this the United States emerged as the new superpower of the world.

Thus Article III of the Atlantic Charter played an important role in the rise of the United States as a superpower. However, other sections of the charter did not play a less important role in this regard. According to Articles 4 and 5 of the Charter, the United States and Britain agreed to expand global free trade and economic cooperation. In this case, it should be noted that free trade means trade between different countries as far as possible without taxes / duties / quotas etc. In such a case, the state with the highest amount of product will benefit the most. After World War II, the United States was the world's leading industrial producer. The production capacity of Western Europe, the Soviet Union, China and Japan was significantly reduced as a result of the war.

Similarly, at the end of World War II, the 'Bretton Woods System' was established to assist in the economic reconstruction of war-torn countries and to strengthen global economic cooperation. As part of this arrangement, two bodies, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, were formed and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade was signed. The main task of the World Bank is to provide loans to various countries for long-term development. The task of the International Monetary Fund is to provide short-term loans to various countries to avoid sudden economic crises. And the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade was intended to promote free trade worldwide.

The United States was the world's major economic power in the latter part of World War II, so the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund came under de facto US control. Similarly, the expansion of free trade benefits the United States the most. After all, through the Bretton Woods system, states accept gold and the US dollar as interchangeable, and as a result they stockpile dollars instead of gold. As a result, the key to their wealth passed into the hands of the United States. In the early 1970s, the United States abolished the exchangeability of gold and the dollar, and became the de facto regulator of the world economy. Since other countries have so far failed to agree on a global currency as an alternative to the US dollar, the US dollar still dominates the world economy.

Overall, the implementation of the provisions of the Atlantic Charter provides an opportunity to establish U.S. authority worldwide. The independent states created by the end of colonialism became dependent on the United States in the face of their own economic weakness. The expansion of free trade has enabled the United States to export and profit from its products worldwide. In the context of U.S. economic domination, global financial institutions set up to strengthen economic cooperation have effectively become tools of U.S. influence. Above all, through the ratification of this charter, the then world power Britain agreed to peacefully hand over the flag of global domination to the United States. Thus the implementation of the Atlantic Charter made the United States a global superpower, and the United States still exists as the most powerful state in the world.

[diamondnokouzai]

talking abt the visual novel characters under the cut <3

mayhart player character. red-haired human commoner, youngest child of her family, last child born of her mother before mother died and father remarried. shorter than average (5′2″ as female, 5′5″ as male) named mayhart because she was born on the fourth of may. wild & uncontrollable, bearing a rage that she herself doesn’t even understand. grew up a commoner alongside her childhood friend yerick. widely rumored in town to be a changeling- she doesn’t act the way a normal human should, never knowing when to leave well enough alone or how to calm down and settle for her lot in life (the number of times when she, accompanied with yerick, has been chased back to town by some beast she provoked in the woods is uncountable). was recently conscripted into the army and adopted by the duchess koballe after her latent magic appeared. one of very few people who can use offensive magic and not purely reconnaissance/traveling magic. finally has an outlet for her rage, and somewhat hates the things she does. wears standard military uniform but badly- doesnt entirely understand how all the straps & bindings work and will not learn :) as the player character, she can be male or female. as a male, his rage turns inward, and as a result he is less open with his own emotions and keeps all his feelings hidden within himself. openly contemptuous of the war, but far more polite than his female counterpart. neither version holds any respect for anyone who hurts the weak. neither can hold their liquor either. 21 in human years

demavieve eldest princess of the draconic realm- as such, the future sovereign. the draconic realm is the only country allied with perine in this war which makes several people very nervous (its like if the us allied with luxembourg in a war against belgium france germany & the uk excep the us was the only country with nukes). demavieve has a very strong sense of honor though so constrains herself to a human form along with swordplay. this is less dangerous than it seems because if demavieves human form dies then she just turns back into her draconic form. her human form also has red hair, but its far more tameable than mayhart’s. she wears it tied back in a ponytail in general. she wears a perine knight’s uniform with vestments from the draconic realm to signify that she is (a) a foreign-lent soldier and (b) a commander. her human form is muscular and about 6′6″. hot and well aware of it.arrogant but also very friendly about it- ‘you love me? haha, of course you are! you seem great too!’. kind of sees this whole thing as a game- dragons live a lot longer than humans, and something like this is just a blip on her radar. very low empathy until someone she cares about is hurt at which point everything goes out the window (and she cares about pretty much all the perine soldiers- not in a very respectful way, but she loves them all and she goes apeshit sometimes). very friendly with serenina. can absolutely hold her liquor. only romanceable as f!mayhart. 23 in human years, ~150 in real time.

serenina the only princess of the former emperor and empress. i spoke about her in more detail in another post so this is gonna mostly be glossed over. wears her hair in afropuffs cause she does her own hair and shes proud of it. temporal (reconnaissance) magic. desperate to please. legally only friends with demavieve, although also friendly with yerick. about 5′0″ although she desperately wants to grow taller (unlikely). her eyes look like theyre black but if you look closely (which she probably wont let you do) theyre actually purple/indigo. is completely out of touch with the rest of the world because shes a princess but she is also very sincere and tries her best to be helpful when she can. very expressionless and sensible. not very well-liked as the former princess of the warmongering emperor and empress. actually very touch starved. does not wear standard military uniform outside of mage’s robes, which she wears over tea dresses (which is another reason some soldiers dislike her) is kept away from alcohol as much as grayson can and as such will get drunk off half a cup of wine. sleepy drunk. 18 in human years.

grayson the bastard son of the former emperor, sereninas older half-brother. grew up as a commoner in the same area as serenina & yerick until he was brought into the royal castle at age 9. fiercely protective of serenina. faux affable- you know the ‘expressionless smile’ princes from otome games/manga always have? thats graysons face pretty much always. legally not eligible to the crown (due to some religious issues with committing patricide & stepmatricide) but like. like hes already doing everything? yk how it is. highest commander of his troops attempting to broker peace with the other countries perine was at war with (most noticeably alloue, nawolem, & farik in order to attack caledonia, which was the puppeteer behind the former reign) but is not above underhanded methods/tactics including attacking noncombatant targets (they dont even have geneva). very intelligent & very calculating- consistently calculates highest reward/lowest risk maneuvers and has them executed flawlessly. his own cunning scares him on occasion, but he mostly locks that away- theres no time for those kinds of feelings in war. a foil to f!mayhart- she is wild, he is restrained; she shows her true feelings regardless, he always acts at a happy neutral; mayhart confronts her uncomfortable feelings, grayson hides them from everyone. about 5′11″, has long dreads that he keeps tied back. dressed in perfect military regalia, including commander’s cape & military crown (basically just a circlet). also cant hold his liquor- hes nearly as bad as serenina. 25 in human years.

izyn the son of count dau claire, the only noble house in perine that has been loyal to grayson since before the deaths of the former emperor and empress. very quiet because he has social anxiety. completely brainless. very friendly but his height (6′4″) and imposing aura (he gets nervous) means that the only people who can easily communicate with him are yerick and grayson. black hair, cropped short, and green eyes. skilled swordsman, mid-commander. will get trapped in an unwinnable situation which yerick needs to save him from. wears his military uniform right but...........not really? he wears the base uniform right but always forgets his commander’s cape. has a dedicated fanbase that came about when he did his training shirtless. literally doesnt think that any of his problems are that deep (honestly doesnt think anything is that deep). suffice to say, theres a reason why count dau claire never shows up and doesnt seem to be involved in any of the decision making of the count’s matters. very protective of yerick (younger brother). is the most visibly affected by the war- as the one who is usually in the center of the violence and doesnt have a survival cheat like demavieve, he has pretty bad ptsd which coupled with his anxiety issues make him a hot mess. his hobbies include hiding in dark rooms that have been reinforced to the point where literally only yerick can get in. despite his size he gets drunk very easily- not as bad as grayson & serenina, but 1-2 mugs of beer puts him out. 26 in human years. only romanceable as m!mayhart

yerick adopted son of count dau clarie. childhood friend of mayhart. born an orphan, an old woman took care of him til he was 4 and she died. stuck around mayharts town cause their family would give him food whenever he stopped by. still ended up fairly malnourished. small but vicious- hes screamed at mayhart lots of times for the stupid shit they would get him into and is not afraid to smack some sense into them. however he is not a good fighter because hes physically very weak- most of his energy in developing went to his magical capabilities, which came to fruition when he was 6. about a year after that (with a great deal more shunning from the townsfolk besides mayhart), he was adopted by count dau claire. was sealed with a subordination seal (used in order to ensure compliance with reasonable requests as long as a reasonable argument is made) for a year to ensure that he wouldnt run away. izyn liked him right away, but it took about 18 months for yerick to not be completely vicious whenever he was approached. as of the modern day of the vn, yerick is as protective over izyn as izyn is him- yerick has seen some of the worst of the world, and in his opinion izyn has not (this is despite the fact that izyn helped overthrow the royal family at age 15 but in fairness to him izyn told yerick none of this) so he wants to make sure his big brother stays happy. yerick holds absolutely no loyalty towards count dau claire or even to grayson- he is loyal to his own needs first, with a decent second being izyn and an even further distant third being mayhart & their family. very prickly & well acquainted with the fact that most people are inherently selfish and would turn away from an orphan on the streets. abandonment issues. his spatial magic is mostly used on rescue ops (mostly mostly getting izyn out of situations where hes surrounded by enemy soldiers but this extends to other perine soldiers). wears his uniform properly, including mage’s robes & commander’s cape over the standard perine uniform. hates to ever appear weak ever, so when he has to go to the medical tent izyn has to either force him there or pretend to be tsundere and throw bandages at him. izyn desperately wants to dote on him but that is one of yericks Hard Boundaries. theres like ONE time when yerick falls asleep because of arcane overexertion and izyn piggybacks him back to camp and yerick acts like its the most shameful secret in the world. foil to m!mayhart- very open with his anger & feelings and shows when he is angry and accepts that part of himself, open with his loyalties and doesnt give a fuck about it, doesnt like the war but does respect it. despite his size, it takes easily 3 barrels of alcohol to even get him tipsy, izyns lack of alcohol tolerance pisses him off cause he has to walk him back to his tent. 5′4″ and wants to grow taller but has accepted his fate. 19 in human years.

eliya legally not a combatant. former princess of caledonia, was discovered at 12 to hold the power of the divine will and so was sent away from her mother and father (who she perceived as loving) to be raised within the church as a holy sacrifice (those who hold the power of the divine will release a huge psychic shockwave when theyre killed, so she was basically raised to be a holy tyke bomb). has a lot of religious obsession, prays 3x a day and has been brainwashed into believing in the power of holy judgement- essentially, her church handler (aka the deacon of the church where she was raised) has raised her to believe that if she commits a sin she’ll be killed so she has a LOT of anxiety over doing the right thing.at the same time shes been brainwashed into believing that doing anything in the service of the throne of caledonia is morally & theologically correct. shes also had occasional contact with her parents (like a yearly dinner or smth) and so still has a lot of loyalty to them due to how they manipulated her and her relationship with her little siblings (7 yrs younger x 2, 2 yrs younger, 13 yrs younger). completely devoted to her church, would gladly martyr herself for them (however this wouldnt trigger the shockwave needed by the army). is loyal to her parents, the deacon, and then the church. is captured by the perine army after a raid on a noncombatant area and spends a lot of time figuring herself out. foil to serenina (esp in terms of loyalty & parents/siblings, emotions (eliya has a lot of them and shows them, serenina is the opposite), their royal treatment, their relationship with trust (serenina doesnt, eliya does and worringly easily). long golden hair, light blue eyes. wears neither a military uniform nor a priests’ uniform, instead wears a one-piece white ‘dress’ (really more a tunic/oversized shirt) & is barefoot. desperate for attention, praise, love, etc. widely disliked due to her POW status but she really thinks shes making all these friends. has quite literally not been able to make her own choices since she was 12 years old. above average alcohol tolerance but nowhere near yerick. 19 in human years.

[highsocietyhq]

☾ ° › TO EXACT REVENGE 

Small incidents were happening all over the world. It was a small wonder considering the unbearable political atmosphere. Information leakages were plaguing Russia. First the incidents were small, insignificant so to say, but gradually they grew bigger and more extensive. At first, Russia directed its attention to Iceland, a country that had a history with espionage, but as they dug around they realized the country wasn’t the culprit. However, Russia discovered something else: the king of Iceland was dying. His health having deteriorated over the past few months. Once Russia found out about it, the whole world did. The secret was out and Alacrity did not appreciate the way they had been kept in the dark. Russia couldn’t care less though: they had not found the answer they had been looking for. South Korea came to their aid, hoping the joined effort would result in a victory of one sorts. 

☾ ° › FOR YOURSELF OR FOR YOUR FRIENDS

France’s need for money had raised several questions but only a selected few had known whole the truth. Some answers were given in June. At the end of the month, French troops began marching to the north-eastern border of the country. The move was done quickly, efficiently and without a warning whatsoever. The duchy of Lorraine was swarming with soldiers bearing the French flag. As the news reached Belgium and Germany, the countries began moving their own military as well --- but it was all too late to prevent what had been planned. By the time Equanimity forces were somewhat prepared, France had invaded Luxembourg. 

☾ ° › IS NOT ONLY A RIGHT

Finland had lost --- that much had been clear the past months. All invaders had been driven away from Russia months ago, and everyone had been waiting for the negotiations to result in a peace treaty. Expectations aren’t always met. By the time the news reached the southern capital, Russian troops had advanced from the north, through the duchy of Lapland, and were advancing towards the south.  More Russian soldiers came from the east from Karelia. Not only was the Finnish army terribly unprepared, they lacked the resources to fight on two fronts. Within a week the Russian forces had overtaken Helsinki, and seized power. The parliament building and the royal palace were occupied with Russians.

☾ ° › IT IS AN ABSOLUTE DUTY

Despite the controversial reputation that Alacrity held, they had one thing to offer that the other alliances did not have: independence from other members. France did as it pleased --- but no one else was dragged into the fight. No one else paid for the country’s decisions. Portugal had acted on its own --- and they had dealt with the situation mainly on their own. Confluence and Equanimity had more restricting dynamics, which was why Sweden chose to leave Equanimity for Alacrity. Alacrity, indeed, was a slightly different alliance: fighting within was not impossible at all. Tensions were rising between England and Ireland over Northern Ireland. Both governments were suspicious of the other’s actions and no amount of negotiating could have saved the situation. The atmosphere resulted in minor attacks on both sides of the border. 

[roedenrersroun1979-blog]

Athos dwelt in the Rue Ferou, within two steps of the Luxembourg. His apartment consisted of two small chambers, very nicely fitted up, in a furnished house, the hostess of which, still young and still really handsome, cast tender glances uselessly at him. Some fragments of past splendor appeared here and there upon the walls of this modest lodging; a sword, for example, richly embossed, which belonged by its make to the times of Francis I, the hilt of which alone, encrusted with precious stones, might be worth two hundred pistoles, and which, nevertheless, in his moments of greatest distress Athos had never pledged or offered for sale. "How is your superb house in the Rue Saint Andr des Arcs coming on? 'Tis a Louvre. I love greatly the apricot tree which is carved on the door, with this play of words:"Alas! Master Claude, all 무안출장샵 that masonry costeth me dear. In proportion as the house is erected, I am ruined.". Aanya has exercised the right to question the ethics and motivations of a leader. A small fault I have with the show is how we don't know much about the other kingdoms' awareness how much do they know? Maybe she's aware of what Katolis did regarding Thunder, maybe this has been hidden from the other kingdoms, but why on earth would she blindly follow him? She wants to assess the situation herself, make sure she can trust what Viren is saying. As mentioned before, no country would immediately prepare their army just from the words of one person, they'd investigate and check themselves to prevent unnecessary conflict. Last fall I started noticing some small breakouts and went to the derm because I refuse to tolerate acne for any amount of time (I waited a long time to push for Accutane and regret waiting so long). I got prescribed Aczone and Retin A micro. I didn find the Aczone did much. The sleeping area comprises 5 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms. The master bedroom zone is unique in its 무안출장샵 kind, it consists of a boiserie lined dressing room, a large corner master bedroom with armed closet and fabulous views on Villa Borghese greenery and Saint Peter's dome and en suite oversized master bathroom with shower and bathtub. The remaining 4 bedrooms are all very spacious, two of them have en suite bathrooms and two others share a bathroom, placed in between. Plagued by dry, cracked feet? A pedicure may be the first thing you think of but all you really need is a jar of petroleum jelly, a pair of socks and a good night's sleep. Smooth a thin layer of ointment on the top and bottom of each foot before going to bed (the socks help keep the jelly on your feet, not your sheets) and wake up in the morning to find hard skin has been softened and cracks gone. By healing dry, cracked and calloused skin, feet become more resistant to blistering and hot spots.. Keep in mind that it freaking hot at the tropical coast, I am wearing a sleeveless top, we dancing and are all sweaty af. I guess he decided to shoot his shot at this moment because while my hands were up clasping the pole, I felt this long, wet thing go up my armpit. He had full on licked my entire armpit!! My gross, sweaty armpit. And Jeffree has shown through actions that he does not believe he is a superior race, over other races. It such a tired critique. And at the end of the day. He would have been arrested for trespassing if he wasn't actually waiting for me. In the USA being homeless is criminalized in many places. Paying $5 to sleep in someone's driveway is basically paying $5 to not get arrested.

[inaheartbeat-phff]

Chapter 1

Monday, January 5th 2015, 8:30am Noordeinde Palace, The Hague, Netherlands

Her Royal Highness, The Princess of Orange will be representing His Majesty King Willem-Alexander for the Royal tour this year.

The Princess of Orange will be touring the United Kingdom for 14 days.

The Princess of Orange is excited to spend time with her Godmother, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

The Princess of Orange will be staying at Buckingham Palace during her stay in London, Balmoral Castle when in Scotland and Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland.

The Princess of Orange will be posting on her royal highness' official twitter and instagram page before and during her tour.  

"I think that should do it." Princess Arabella said as she finish reading the subsequent tweets that announce this year's royal tour. "Thank you Adam." she thanked her press secretary for the announcement.  "Hopefully we'll get some positive responses." Turning to her private secretary, Jane,  "Let's start our itinerary for the trip shall we? Please take out the catalogue as well, we need to see which jewellery to bring."

"To start off, the royal tour will kick start in March 11th and it will end on the 25th. You'll be greeted by the Prime Minister, David Cameron at the Tarmac along with the press and a few members of the public. You'll have a 15 minutes walkabout and then you'll be having lunch with the Queen and her family. After lunch is free and that night you'll have a state dinner at Buckingham Palace." Jane said the itinerary for the first day.

"Yes, I will be wearing the Rose Cut Diamond Bandeau for the state dinner, but bring the Laurel Wreath Tiara as well for back up. Make sure Eva pick a selection of dress and outfits to wear for the trip by Wednesday if possible. I want to be able to choose and pack asap."

"Yes your highness. I will also forward the tiaras selection as well as the outfits once its finalised to Julia so she can plan the makeup and hair." Jane said as she wrote it down in her tablet.

"We have been liaising with Her Majesty The Queen's security details as well as Scotland Yard to go over the security measures. Everything is on track and if anything were so to happen, you will be escorted to a bunker nearest to your location. All locations you are to visit or go have been checked out and will be checked out again nearer to the day. Every possible exit and entry has been thought out and barricades will be made once you’re there. MI-5 and MI-6 agents will be spread out undercover when you're outdoors and all personnel's have been checked." Arabella’s head of security Finn reported.

Two hours later and the meeting was finally over. They’ve gone through so many scenarios and finalize their schedules so that all that's left to do is to actually go on the tour. Standing up, Arabella said her thanks to everyone and walked back to her office. Once she entered the office, she took a deep breath and sat down on her really comfortable chair.

While checking on her emails and her charities, someone knocked on her office door once before opening it. It was a custom to do that here, whenever a royal member was in a room, closed door or not, the staff will knock once before entering the room. It was a sign as respect and it was easier without her having to say come in all the time.

Her butler, Pieter, who goes everywhere with her, stepped into the room and announce one of her ladies in waiting with a bow. "Ms. Sara your highness." With another bow, he exited the room. It was tradition that whoever visited her, or wanted to speak with her, they would be announced first by her footman or as you can say, butler. That's why Pieter, the fifty something year old man, have worked with her for years, since she was eighteen and took up more royal duties.

"Your Royal Highness" Sara spoke with a small curtsy. Once she have straightened up, she came closer to where Arabella was sitting and gave her a document of papers. On that document were her day to day activities for the month.

Arabella, also known as the Princess of Orange or as the crown princess of the Netherlands, has an army of entourage, there to make her lives easier and would require to go everywhere with her. Her private secretary, Jane, is the one who arranges meetings and all the important royal stuff. However, her ladies in waiting, Sara and Anna, were the ones who schedule her days, whether it will be with lunch or meetings or even her royal duties etc. Without Sara or Anna, her life would not be as systematic or as organised as it is, which is an important thing as she is a senior member of the Royal family and is the heir apparent.

"Your Highness, your schedule for this week starting today is as follows, Monday 05/01/15 - 2:15pm, meeting with parliament    5:30pm, high tea with Her Majesty, Queen Maxima    8:30pm, dinner with hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg Tuesday 06/01/15 - 9:00am, breakfast with the prime minister    1:30pm, lunch with HRH Prince Henry of Wales    5:00pm, afternoon jog/walk at the palace gardens    8:30pm, Dinner with HRH Prince Henry of Wales Wednesday 07/01/15 - 7:00am, morning jog          11:30am, brunch with Children's Peace Foundation          5:30pm, tea Thursday 08/01/15 - 10:00am, visit the Centre for Safety and Development     8:30pm, dinner with His Majesty The King and family Friday 09/01/15 to Sunday 11/01/15 - Birthday Weekend retreat to the Alps joined by HRH Prince Henry of Wales, HRH The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, HRH Hereditary Grand Duke and Duchess of Luxembourg, HRH Princess Madeleine and her husband, Christopher O'Neill, Ms Charlotte Casiraghi and Mr Gad Elmaleh.

The following week after your return from the Alps, there will be many celebrations of your 30th birthday ma'am. That includes a parade on Monday, a portrait reveal on Tuesday, a press conference and photo op with international and national television on Wednesday, State dinner on Thursday, a new hospital wing in honour of your name on Friday, a charity concert celebrating your birthday on Saturday and a charity football match on Sunday, Your highness."

Reading through the papers and the additional information given for each event, she signed the confirmation document before handing it back to Sara to be processed. That was how it works here, the schedules are just rough drafts that is acceptable to change. Once she'd been briefed, she would put in Arabella’s input, whether she want to do the engagement or not before signing the confirmation document. Once she'd signed that, the schedule will be sent to the communication's department to be written out and put out to the public. It will be a concise version and only official engagements will be added in. This way, the Dutch press will have a few days' notice to send their designated photographers on those events. It is known that there is an agreement with the press and the royal family in the Netherlands, that while we are working, they have every right to take pictures and film, however, during our private time, they are not allowed to take pictures.

"Is that all Sara?" Arabella asked her lady in waiting, going over my schedule once again.

"Yes your highness." She then did a small curtsy again before going out the door.

It was eleven thirty when Sara was done briefing her about her engagements and fifteen minutes later, Pieter knocked on the door again before coming inside.

"Lunch will be served at 12pm your royal highness and your glam team will arrive there at 12:45pm to get you ready for the parliament meeting." with a bow, he then exit the room and Arabella was left to finish up on her paperwork about her charities before she need to go to the dining room.

Right now, She was at the Noordeinde Palace at The Hague. That's where all the royal offices are located just like how in the UK, their offices are at St. James palace. They generally like to keep their offices at the same place so all their meetings will be held here. Of course they have their own private offices at home but this is where typically most of their staff works.  

Her father, King Willem-Alexander's office is located at the Ring, which is at the centre of the palace, her step-mother, Queen Maxima's office is located at the West wing and her offices are located in the East wing. Joint meetings and offices for the three of them is located at the ring as well. There is only three offices in this palace as her half siblings are only eleven, nine and six years old. Right now, all the announcements or anything important will come from her father's or step-mother's offices, however, once they have grown up and have their own offices, it will all be located at the West wing together with her step mother as they are not in direct line of the throne if she were to have children. That is if they decide to have a royal public life.

This is how the line of succession will go, her father is the King. As a first born, Arabella will be the first in line and heir to the throne. Right now, her sister Amalia is second in line, while Alexia is third and Ariene is fourth in line to the throne. At fifth in line to the throne is her uncle, Constantijn, followed by her cousins Eloise, Claus-Casimir and Leorore respectedly. And finally, the last in the order of succession is her great aunt, Margriet, who is Oma's sister. (Oma is what she call her grandmother, Beatrix)

When the clock strikes twelve, Pieter knocked and announced that the food is ready. With a sigh, she saved my work before shutting off the computer and putting the important documents where they should be. Standing up, she walked out the door and turned left. Walking down the hall, she turned right before going into the second door on her left, which is the dining room.

Sitting at the head of the table, food quickly got out from the side door and was served promptly. After the delicious three course meal, Arabella stepped out of the dining room and went back to the hallway. A few doors down was her dressing room and usually where her glam team would prep her if she was at Noordeinde Palace and are needed for an engagement.

When the clock strikes quarter to one, Pieter knocked on the door before announcing the glam team, or as she likes to call them, the glam squad. They are there to make her look good and look poised and as regal and all that fun stuff. Arabella can do her own hair and makeup as well as pick her own clothes. However, if she were to do that, her hair would be in a braid, with minimal makeup and wearing jeans and a t-shirt. Something not appropriate for the crown princess to be seen in Public.

"Your Royal Highness, Mr. Issac, Ms. Eva and Ms. Julia has arrived. Do I let them in Your highness?" Pieter asked.

"Yes yes, let them in. If anyone would like to reach me, connect the line. I don’t have my phone with me right now Pieter." She told him.

"Yes Ma'am." He said before bowing and leaving the room. Not a second later, the three musketeers knocked on the door before entering. Each of them bowing and curtsying in respect before moving closer towards her.

"Madam Arabella, How are you?" Issac asked. He's there to do her hair. I swear he is such a hair god, he can make her birds nest of a hair look amazing.

"I am well thank you Issac, what look are you doing for me today?" She likes to ask and chat with her stylists and make conversation during their time together. That way, they bonded and she feel comfortable with them. She didn’t want to be that person who doesn’t like to talk to them and just sit there and play with their phones like a spoiled brat.

Before working with Arabella, Issac was a freelance hair stylist that works on mostly bridal hairstyle. When she turned 18, he was 25 and was looking for a more permanent job. She sat through a lot of interviews with many hairstylists doing her hair the same kind of style, and each of them either is too flamboyant, used too much hairspray, made her look old or just plain nervous. When Issac came in, he greeted her with a bow, asked her how she was that morning and calmly did her hair. While he was working on Arabella’s hair, he kept the small talk. She didn’t feel any harsh tugging or any pulling. Once he was done, he gave her a mirror and asked her what she thinks. It was the same hairstyle that has been done by various other hairstylist, some who have done other royals before, but it looked amazing. It was the same simply hairstyle, yet he added his own twist to it that made it unique and amazing. That was when she knew she had to keep him. He's been with her ever since.

"I was thinking of doing some lose curls and just let it fall naturally. Since it's only a parliament meeting, I don’t want to overdo it." Issac said as he start shampooing her hair. The dressing room we have is one that is like a salon and spa. It has one of those seats where there's a sink and chair so you can wash your hair and all that stuff.

"Madam Arabella, your skin is absolutely glowing this morning!" Her makeup artist Julia exclaimed. "Perhaps we should keep it natural today."

"Anything is fine." she said

Arabella met Julia when she had an even in the UK when I was 16. It was a state dinner, and at that time Oma wanted to bring her along. It was a really fancy event so she had to have a makeup artist to do my makeup. Her hair was done by Oma's hair stylist at the time. They clicked instantly and Arabella love how Julia knows her skin type and what works. She doesn’t make her look cakey and she always look flawless and glowing at the end of the session. Immediately, whenever she have events or even a dance at school, she would call her and ask her to do the makeup. Once Arabella turned 18, she hired Julia permanently to be her makeup artist.

"As for your outfit today, I was thinking of something nude but still chic and regal." Her stylists, Eva said.

Eva has been her stylist since she was ten years old and her mother had just passed away. She had been there for her when she went on her first date, her mother's funeral and everything in between. She is the only person Arabella would trust with her outfits as she knows her style and respects me if I didn’t want to wear what she had suggested.

An hour later and she was ready to go.

The meeting with Parliament took a few hours and it was half past four by the time she has finish and is on her way home from Binnenhof.

Arabella was really tired and have a pounding headache from that meeting with parliament. Since she became heir apparent in 2013, it was her duty to represent her father in parliamentary meetings. The more important ones that decides the fate of the country are the only ones that her father attends. Monthly meetings and others are the ones that she is required to attend. Don’t get her wrong, she loves being a part of all these decisions and having her input put into consideration, but most of the time, these meetings are extremely boring and usually there isn't much to discuss. The monthly meetings are just to keep each party informed about what the other is doing that month and to keep the royal family in the loop of everything. Since she's turning 30 next week, this particular meeting was about her finally settling down and get married. Of course they knew that she was in a relationship with Harry for three years now but the topic of marriage hasn’t been in the conversations yet.

Both families have known about the relationship and how serious they are in each other. It's mostly just a matter of WHEN he would propose, not if. Since Harry's turning 30 later this year, Arabella is sure that he's getting some talks about marriage soon enough. She would very much like it if they were to get married, its just he would have to sacrifice more than she would since she is heir and not fourth in line.

Once she does marry, she still have to go to these boring parliament meetings but at least she would have someone by her side to make things less boring for her.

Speaking of Harry, her phone was ringing in her clutch so she took it out and accepted the call.

"Pinky's Pleasure Palace…. What's your pleasure?" I answered the phone in a low voice, hopefully coming across as seductive.

"I really hope you know who you answered the phone to and not just answering them with that line all the time." she heard a deep voice chuckle on the other line.

"Of course I knew who was calling ginger. Can you imagine me answering the phone like that to aunty lilibet?" She laughed, relaxing to her seat.

"How was your day love?" Harry asked on the other line. Arabella could hear some rustling of papers on the other line.

"It was long. Had a meeting this morning with my advisors on the tour this year. We've set a date and the place where we will be going." she said smiling to herself. I wonder if he knows or not. He probably does. The announcement was made while I was in the parliament meeting. She thought.

"Really? Where will you be off to this year Your Royal Highness? Can I guess that you'll be with your charming boyfriend for two weeks?" he ask slyly on the phone.

"Are you? Spending my engagements and travel with me? Oh Harry, is it true?" She asked him hopefully. It really would be amazing to have him with me on the tour. Especially for her to see whether or not he is cut out for this life. Being crown prince is different from being third in line to the throne like he has been his entire life. He was the spare. He knows he will never be in King one day. Arabella on the other hand has been raised, bred and breathed being the heir. She was in William's place growing up, when her Oma was still Queen. She knew what to do once her father becomes king and what responsibility she has.

"Yes. Granny thought it would do me good to be with you on your engagements. Of course there are some engagements I'm not going and even if I am, its mostly as a guide and also to accompany you during your tour. Do you have your schedule for the tour yet?" he asked excited to be able to spend two weeks with his other half, even though most of the time she would be working.

"No not yet, Jane, Adam and Finn are finalising the technical part of the tour before passing it over to Sara and Anna to work out the schedule part of the trip." She shrugged looking out the window, seeing the greenery pass by.

"I tend to forget that you have an army of people doing your work and a whole bunch of protocols and process you need to follow. Whenever Granny sends me for a tour, her office is usually the one planning the trip and I just show up and look pretty." Harry laughed on the other line.

"Yes well, my office has been trained to do this for forever so I think I'm used to it I guess."

"What else did you do today Bel?" He asked. It was quiet on his end of the line meaning to say that he was paying attention to her now and not multi-tasking.

"I got a briefing for this week as well as my birthday celebrations the following week. January is always been a busy month, its mostly meetings about the upcoming year, events and all that. I also had a parliament meeting this afternoon. Actually, I'm on the way from Binnenhof to Huis ten Bosch. It was really boring. They brought up marriage again. Saying things like, I'm not getting any younger, I need to have an heir before I turn forty. Stuff like that. I just told them that when we're ready, we're ready." Arabella ranted to Harry. It was really annoying for her to have the parliament try and control her life. Not that they have any power against her or anything, really, she can do as she pleased as long as its legal. It just gets really frustrating for her when the parliament thinks they can control her. News flash, no one can control her, and her father will be damned if he let them pressure her into doing something she doesn’t want to do. "Anyways, I'm on my way to have tea with Maxima now, and tonight I'm having dinner with Guillaume at some restaurant I don’t know where."

"I see." Harry said lowly. Since he was turned thirty last year, his grandmother and the office have been pressuring him to get married as well. only in his case, they can control his life and will probably make him do something for the better of the family. Lately, they're ratings have been low, due to Kate not doing much public engagements and the press not seeing enough of George in public. The Family's rating have been dropping and if he doesn’t do anything soon, he was afraid what would happen. Arabella on the other hand, has been a total star the past two years, stepping up as heir of the throne and doing everything she possibly could to please the public yet keep to herself. In a way he was jealous of how the press is over there and wish that the agreement they had with the press would be the same in the UK as well.

"My flight is leaving tomorrow morning at 9am. I should be there around 11am." he said on the phone.

"hm, I have breakfast with the PM tomorrow morning at nine. After that I'm all yours. What did you do today love?" She asked him, seeing as they have 10 minutes left of the journey.

"Not as busy as you were Bel. I just have a few meetings about Sentebale and also about the Invictus games next year." He said.

"Oh, no engagements today?" she asked him.

"Nope. I don’t have one until towards the end of January so for the next two weeks, I'm all yours." he said on the other side.

"Are you serious? You're not joking are you Henry? You mean to tell me that you're staying for my birthday celebrations? All the events? Have Aunty Lilibet gave you permission. Please say she has, I don’t want you to get into trouble." Arabella said with hope in her voice.

"Yes. I am serious Bella. She was the one who suggested that I stay there since I was there already." he said over the phone. Harry knew why he was staying there for her birthday celebration. It was a surprise so he wasn’t going to tell her why.

"Oh Harry! That's wonderful news. I can't wait to see you tomorrow. Will you be staying with me?" She asked him smiling.

"I know love. Yes, I am staying with you, I hope you don’t mind."

Arabella could see Huis Ten Bosch in the distance as she was approaching the gates. "Harry, I've got to go love. I'll see you tomorrow okay? I’ll have Pieter and Mina prepare your suite for you. Barend will pick you up from the airport tomorrow, so look out for him will you?" Arabella asked.

"I will love. Take care. I love you." Harry said on the phone.

"I love you too Charming." She replied before hanging up. Arabella turned to put her phone back inside the purse and looked up to the front seat, which was occupied by Markus, her driver and Finn, her protection officer.

"Finn, isn't it exciting? Harry spending two weeks here as well as attending my birthday events. I hope he got what it takes, I'll be so heartbroken if he's not cut out for the job." She sighed in her seat.

"I'm sure he will be the right man for the job ma'am." Finn replied

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Monday, January 5th, 5:30pm Huis ten Bosch

"Her Royal Highness, The Princess of Orange, Princess Arabella of the Netherlands, your majesty."

Maxima was in her sitting room watching the news when Arabella got there.

She just changed her outfit quickly when she got there and pulled her hair into a ponytail. It was a semi-formal event so there was no need for her to wear her skin tight dress. 

When Arabella was within two feet of her step-mother, Maxima, she gave a small curtsy of respect for her queen. Once she was standing straight again, she quickly gave Maxima a hug and kissed her cheeks.

"How are you today mija?" Maxima asked her as she holds her step daughter at arm's length, checking her over to see if she was okay.

"I'm doing okay mama," Arabella started calling Maxima mama when she was sixteen years old. It was one of those days that she wanted to be a normal girl and not second in line to the throne. It was an emotional day and Maxima was there to console her soon-to-be step-daughter. Maxima told her that being normal is not that much fun. How she should be lucky to be a royal and be proud of herself that her voice is heard at such a young age. It was then that Arabella knew, Maxima will never replace her mummy, but she will be her mama. One who would love her unconditionally and will help  shape her into a strong beautiful woman.

"I'm happy to hear that my dear." Maxima smiled. "Come, let's have tea and catch up." She beckoned her eldest to the couch where their tea sat waiting to be poured.

Once they each have their tea in their hands, they caught up with each other. Arabella would always try to find time in her busy schedule to meet with her step-mother every week if possible. She needed to tell her everything that that’s going on and what she should do. She always goes to Maxima for advice because Maxima will always be the voice of reason in Arabella. Her father on the other hand is always the goofball teddy bear and wouldn’t know how to advice the young girl at all. Follow your heart, he would say. That doesn’t help anybody Arabella thought.

Arabella told Maxima about the upcoming weeks as well as the royal tour to the UK. She also told Maxima how excited she is to spend her birthday with Harry and how he's staying for the duration of her Birthday week.  She also told Maxima about the parliament being pushy and pushing her to marriage when she doesn’t know if Harry is fit for this life or not.

"I mean, I know that he's no common boy, but he's always been so carefree you know mama. He's one of those people that jokes around and make everyone laugh. He doesn’t like all those political stuff and you know how he doesn’t want to be king. He could see the stress of it in William and had assured himself he would never be king. By marrying me, he would have to sacrifice so much. He wouldn’t be able to spend much time with family, he will be three hours away, he would have to spend Christmas and other holidays here instead of England. I don’t know if I could do that to him mama. I don’t think I can take his freedom away." Arabella spoke. Her heart broke just thinking of not being able to spend the rest of her life with Harry. He was her anchor, the one who keeps her from losing her mind and staying down to earth.

"I don’t think that's your choice mija. He knows what he signed up for when he got to know you back in 2011. He definitely knows what he was doing in 2012 when he asked you to be his girlfriend. I don’t think he would have stayed this long if he is not cut out for this job. Mija, he has grown up thinking he was third in line to the british throne. He has grown up treated as a spare. He knows that you will be Queen one day, he knows what he signed up for. Trust your heart Mija. It knows what's important. Do you want a life with him mija? To grow old together and have kids?" Maxima asked her daughter.

"of course I do mama. I dream of that all the time. I don’t think I can see anyone else to be with than him." Arabella confessed.

"Then you have nothing to be worried about Mija." Maxima smiled at her eldest daughter. Even though Arabella was not her biological daughter, Maxima would always think of her as one of her own. She saw her mija grew up from an awkward teenager to a beautiful woman and she couldn’t be more proud.

"Now, tell me how you feel turning thirty." Maxima asked smiling at her daughter. No matter what happens, she is proud to call her, her daughter.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Two hours later and she was done with tea and caught up with Maxima. She then went up to her room in the west wing of the palace and got ready for her dinner with Guillaume. She hasn’t seen him in ages as they are quite busy people.

She was super tired from the day but knew that this was only the beginning. She could feel it in her gut that her year will only get busier as it pass on.

Next Chapter ->

[aliesafenlock]

Au pair Magda is not Hungarian

As a Call the Midwife fan born and raised in Budapest, I was so excited when I heard about the addition of a Hungarian character to my favorite TV show: the Turners’ new au pair, Magda. Unfortunately, upon seeing her debut in s07e02, I was sorely disappointed with the unusual lack of cultural competence displayed by the show.  Magda is simply not Hungarian - read under the cut to find out why. Light spoilers for s07e02 to follow.

1. Let’s start with the character’s name. Magda is a common Hungarian name but Magdalena is definitely not. It’s used in Slavic languages, such as Polish and Czech, but the Hungarian equivalent is Magdolna. Could they not have done basic research so they at least got the name right?

2. Magda speaks with a heavy Russian or Polish accent, which many Westerners might mistake for Hungarian, except Hungarian sounds nothing like that and is not related to Slavic languages. (It’s not even Indo-European, like most European languages, but Finno-Ugric, related only to Finnish and Estonian.) No, we don’t all “talk like that” in Central and Eastern Europe.

3. The actress playing Magda is Polish-Norwegian Nina Yndis. It’s very common for Westerners to assume that the Eastern Bloc of Europe - the former Communist nations behind the Iron Curtain - was a culturally homogeneous mass of countries. The producers must have thought that casting an actress from one of these easily-confused nations to play a character from another would be Good Enough™ and no one would know the difference. Given that there are almost 100,000 Hungarian immigrants in Great Britain (many of them young women nannying British children), this is quite a miscalculation.

4. Series 7 takes place in 1963, only 7 years after the 1956 anti-Communist revolution in Hungary that was brutally crushed by the Soviet army.  Although many Hungarians escaped to the West as refugees in that week, the borders were locked down after that and it was very difficult to leave the country, with a few exceptions such as diplomats. Ordinary Hungarians, if they were lucky enough to have a passport at all, were restricted to traveling to other Communist nations. The idea that in 1963 a young Hungarian woman could casually hop around Western Europe as an au pair (Brussels, Amsterdam, Madrid, Paris, and now London) is preposterous and historically inaccurate.

5. Magda's wardrobe is far more fashionable and expensive than the apparel sold at the government-owned clothing shops in Hungary at the time. I showed screenshots to my mother who was a teenager in 1963 and became a clothes designer later. She said the only way a Hungarian girl would have these kinds of clothes at that time was if some rich relative sent them to her from America!

Bonus pop culture tidbit: When Timothy mentioned Radio Luxembourg, a real Hungarian would have definitely said something. In the 1950s and 60s, “Luxi” became a symbol of Western pop culture for Hungarians as the only way they could listen to Western music. The station was even was rumored to be jammed by the Communist government.

I know these might seem like insignificant whines about a minor character coming from a small, obscure country. But why make Magda Hungarian at all if they won’t bother researching what that culture entailed or, at the very least, casting a native Hungarian speaker to play her? Why make her come from any nation under Communist dictatorship and pretend she could travel freely? Considering the show’s usual commitment to historical accuracy, I’m really puzzled by this apparent carelessness.

[thearrangment-phff]

XIII. Catastrophic

December 2016

The high walls of the historic two-story castle brought Isabella joy, pain, pride, and shame. Her grandfather stood at the door with a cane in his hand and a smile on his lips. Isabella went to him giving him a kiss on each cheek and a small curtsy. When she was in public with her family she was taught at a young age, that kisses on the cheek and a small curtsy was important. Her mother and elder sister spent months trying to perfect everything.

Harry watched as Isabella and her grandfather spoke another, language –most likely French, seeing how German has a harshness to its language- and Harry was forced to be in the background. He thought about learning French or German, that way he wasn't oblivious to the conversation. Harry was also sure Isabella's family would love the fact he learned another language to communicate with them.

Isabella laughed at something her grandfather said and Harry really wished he had a translator right now like he would have one when he went to a foreign country to avoid awkwardness. Harry watched as she nodded at the former Grand Duke of Luxembourg before turning her attention to Harry.

She grabbed onto his hand bringing him closer to her and her grandfather. Harry extended his arm out to the aging former monarch. Something the former Grand Duke took to account with a nod. His grip was weak on Harry's hand and when they both pulled back Harry bowed to him. Jean smiled and nodded at him before turning around and walking into Fischbach Castle.

Isabella grabbed onto Harry's upper arm and began to walk. Harry looked at the simple decorations that covered the castle walls. This was more a home than a castle in Harry's mind. Fischbach Castle was different from Kensington Palace, or even Buckingham. Though, he didn't think there were many places that could compare to those two palaces in the world.

Harry and Isabella were lead into a drawing room where another man held the former monarch into a chair. Jean nodded at his granddaughter, allowing her to sit down and Harry to join her. Despite being a people person, Harry was nervous. Jean, was Isabella's grandfather, and he made Harry more nervous than because of the language barrier. Isabella placed her hand on Harry's thigh and started to speak French to her grandfather. Whatever she had said made Jean nod at her and Isabella smile.

"Belle has told me that your grandmother is the Queen of England. I have met her on multiple occasions over the years and she is a great woman I must say," smiled Jean. His English wasn't bad, but Jean did have a thick mixed accent.

"Thank you. I'm sure she would appreciate your kind words," replied Harry.

"I told my grandfather you were in the Royal Army. He was also in the British Army and went to Sandhurst before fighting during the second world war," explained Isabella as Harry placed his hand over hers.

For the next two hours, Harry and Jean talked about Sandhurst, and Harry found out the Luxembourg Grand Ducal Family had a tradition of all sons going there before joining their home countries army. Some of the Liechtenstein princes even picked up this tradition as well because of Isabella’s aunt Margaretha of Luxembourg who married a Prince of Liechtenstein. When he and Isabella had children he had no doubt they will continue Jean’s tradition and in a way, Harry could start that same tradition with his own sons.

Harry then mentioned the Invictus Games and his work with veterans since joining the Royal Army. Jean had a great admiration for Harry's work and Harry even invited Jean to the next Invictus Games in Toronto if he could make it. Harry then started asking about World War Two and Jean explained the German occupation of Luxembourg.  

Isabella heard the stories growing up, from family and in school. Harry knew some stuff about WW2, mostly about the British Royal Family's experience, but he never knew about Luxembourg during the war. Jean told Harry the story about fleeing the night before the Germans invaded Luxembourg escaping to France. The Luxembourg Grand Ducal Family were then exiled to Portugal, United Kingdom, and finally the United States after that. Jean volunteered for the Irish Guards while in the United Kingdom during exile.  

Then Jean and Harry shared personal stories of their experiences at the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst. The two men had much more in common than first realized. Both held the rank of Lieutenant before being promoted to Captain. Jean then told Harry the story of landing in Normandy and fighting in the Battle for Caen, which was fought to liberate Brussels during their German occupation. Then Harry remembered that Isabella's grandmother was a Princess of Belgium before her marriage. When Harry brought her up, Jean smiled at the thought of his wife and then said that she and the King of the Belgians were under house arrest by the Germans during the war.

Harry remembered the stories about Belgium during the Second World War and his father once mentioned that King Leopold III of Belgium was a hated man for surrendering Belgium to the Nazis, and though lives were lost, much more were saved.

Jean then explained that he fought for the liberation of Luxembourg just a couple of months later. After the war, for almost 20 years, Jean served as Colonel of the Regiment of the Irish Guards, often riding in uniform behind Queen Elizabeth II during the Sovereign's Birthday Parade. That's when Harry began to remember faint memories of the former Grand Duke and his grandparents.

Isabella barely said a word as Harry and her grandfather created a bonding moment. All Isabella could do was smile at Harry as he spoke so passionately about his work with veterans then look so intense as he heard her grandfather's stories of World War Two. Not once did her hand leave Harry's thigh and she did notice whenever he talked about veterans he jaw would clench, he would bite his lip once or twice, and gripped her hand just a little tighter. When Harry heard the stories of World War Two from Jean, Harry's hand would leave hers, and find its way to her knees and squeeze occasionally.  

She had no objection to the touching, not only because she liked it, but because it showed her grandfather that they were a unit. In a way, Harry did depend on Isabella when in the presence of her family. If they were going to make this arrangement work, they needed to rely on each other. Harry began to trust Isabella more after not only seeing a glimpse of her life, but also the moments they spent alone in her apartment talking. It had been about 8 months of getting to know each other and Harry didn't have a complaint in his body... maybe a complaint about all the plane trips.

"Grandpapa, I'm afraid Harry and I need to get ready for tonight. As you do," insisted Isabella as she began to get up from the chair and Harry's touch.

Jean nodded at his granddaughter and spoke French before leaving the room. Isabella and Harry were left alone and she couldn't help but hug Harry. She had been so proud of him and her grandfather had told her that he really liked Harry.

"I am so proud of you," smiled Isabella as she pulled away from him, "I didn't think you and my grandfather would get along so quickly. He really likes you, Harry."

"He's a fascinating man. All those stories... they were captivating. I can't believe he even remembered fighting the second world war so vividly."

"My great-uncle Otto had amazing stories about World War Two. He publicly denounced Nazism and had a bounty on him. If caught he would be immediately sentenced to death. I had several family members actually sent to concentration camps. Uncle Otto helped over 15,000 Austrians and Austrian Jews flee when the Germans came. My great-grandmother Empress Zita did the same, and as a mother of 8 with no citizenship, she was forced into exile. My other great-grandparents, Eugene and Philippine, hid Jewish children in their castle of Belœil during the Nazi occupation of Belgium. Despite being shameful of my family, and I am also quite proud of them," stated Isabella.

Harry then thought about the Halloween costume party when he was a teenager and made the mistake of wearing Nazi armband. He was shameful after it had happened, but when the pictures were leaked it became more hate than shame. Then Harry wondered if Isabella knew of those photos.  

"I would have loved to hear those stories, had I known you earlier. Now that I think about it I really should read up on your family. Your great-grandparents seemed to have been amazing people," decided Harry.

"Of course. One pair was an Emperor and Empress, but he died young and my great-grandmother spent almost 70 years in widowhood and exile. Another were humanitarians and my great-grandmother Philippine entered a 30-yearlong widowhood as well. The third, my great-grandmother Charlotte was a monarch in her own right, but in her later life spent 15 years without her husband by her side. Then the last, and most tragic of all. My great-grandmother Astrid was in an accident and my great-grandfather was found clutching her dead body in his arms as he screamed her name. There is only one word to describe my family and it's catastrophic," spoke Isabella.

Harry could find no words of comfort for Isabella instead he reached his hand out to her and waited until her hand molded into his, "Come on. We do need to get ready."

Isabella and Harry walked up to their rooms hand in hand and Harry saw the stares of some of the housekeepers and other people who worked in the castle. Harry leaned to whisper in Isabella's ear, "Why are they staring?"

"Maybe they know who you are?" Asked Isabella in an attempt to reply but Harry could hear her being sarcastic with him.

"Doubt I would be so popular in Luxembourg," replied Harry.

"I think you're popular everywhere. You are Prince Harry after all," teased Isabella.

"Is that my compliment for the day? I do prefer those little nicknames you have for me," smiled Harry.

"You'll have to earn those nicknames tonight," proclaimed Isabella as she disappeared into the bathroom.

Some 20 minutes later Isabella came out with a black dress and her hair in a fancy up-do. She paid no attention to Harry as she clasped her necklace around her neck and looked in the mirror, "Are you ready?"

"I just need to put on shoes," replied Harry.

"Hurry up. My grandfather will be waiting downstairs and I really don't want to keep in waiting," said Isabella as she began to walk to the door.

"How long were they married?" Asked Harry.

"A little over 50 years."

"Think we can last that long?"

Isabella gave him a small smile and nod, "We take everything day by day."

[wikitopx]

In case you need to remind that the relationship between France and Germany heaven is always intimate, go to Thionville in the Grand Est Region.

The town, near the Luxembourg border, has been under intense debate since its inception and has witnessed six sieges in just 500 years. The more recent conflicts between the nations have left the landscape littered with fortresses, some built when Lorraine was annexed by Germany and others part of the ambitious French Maginot Line. Thionville was loaded into the heavy industry after the war, and although iron mines and steel plants were deposited in the past, their memories were kept in museums and gardens. Discover the best things to do in Thionville.

[toc]

1. Ouvrage Hackenberg

If you want somewhere to start a tour of the Maginot Line, turn it into a rural fortress east of Thionville. The Ouvrage Hackenburg never faced a frontal assault, so the concrete shell and labyrinth of underground tunnels are still intact.

One of the blocks here has been restored to working order, and you’ll take the elevator to the bowels of the fortress and ride on the electric train that serviced these tunnels.

The tour is exhaustive, demonstrating the working gun turrets and explaining every technical detail you could want to know, including how the tunnels were cleverly designed to extract smoke and gas.

2. Tour aux Puces

The oldest monument in the city is the former site of a castle built by the Earl of Luxembourg. The Tour aux Puces (Tower of the Fleas) would have been raised around the 11th or 12th centuries and was modified right up to the 16th century.

Its current 14-sided design is from the time of the Spanish occupation when it was integrated into a sequence of defenses on the Moselle River. The oldest walls are on the northeastern side where you can still see the stonework from the 1000s.

3. Musée de la Tour aux Puces

To get a handle on Thionville’s complex history step inside the tower where there’s a museum with a large hoard of artifacts to inspect. You’ll get a chronological summary of the main episodes in the town’s past, from prehistory up to the Renaissance.

The appeal has been updated with modern systems and helpful explanations that come with its screen. You’ll see Neolithic hand axes, Gallo-Roman sculptures, Merovingian jewelry and beautifully carved tombstones from the late middle ages.

4. Fort de Guentrange

Here’s another sight that reveals Thionville’s complex heritage. It’s a formidable construction and was actually one of a whole program of fortifications between here and Metz.

Despite the enormous amount spent on this fortress, it never saw any action and escaped the damage during World War II attacks when it stored weapons like V-bombs. -first.

There are regular 90-minute tours of this enormous installation that could hold a garrison of 2,000 men and was fitted with eight long-range guns and early telephone communications.

5. Mines de Fer de Neufchef

The northwestern side of Lorraine is pocked with iron mines that were sunk two hundred years ago but closed down after the war. Two of these have been kept as museums to educate the next generation about the region’s bygone iron and steel industry.

The local one is minutes west of Thionville at Neufchef and has maintained 1.5 kilometers of underground galleries.

You’ll be talked through it all by a former miner, before entering several well laid-out rooms explaining the day-to-day life of a miner and the geology that made the industry possible.

6. Zoo d’Amnéville

In 15 minutes, you'll be at the largest zoo in eastern France, with 1,500 animals from 360 species. The Zoo d’Amnéville stands out for its gorillas and orangutans and is spread over 18 hectares of meadow and woodland.

The Plaine Africaine is a highpoint, with giraffes, zebras, ostriches, and antelopes coexisting in a three-hectare enclosure. Attendance at the park has skyrocketed over the past few years after the zoo revealed Tiger World programs, using domesticated tigers.

These are 45-minute spectacles with a dozen big cats, but they’re a controversial addition and have seen the zoo downgraded to a temporary member of the European Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

7. Sights around Thionville

Thionville is a small town, so you can make a tour of Thionville in a few hours. As with the attractions and attractions on this list, there are a few small landmarks to search for. One is the Autel de la Patrie (Altar of the Fatherland), a highly rare memorial to the Revolution, erected in 1796 and featuring the Masonic symbol of the Eye of Providence.

The town’s streets are edged by some lovely old houses from between the 1400s and 1700s, as well as more extravagant hôtels particuliers. See the Hôtel de Créhange-Pittange from the 18th century and the town hall, which is, in fact, a converted convent dating to 1641.

8. Château de Volkrange

A little further from the western suburb of Thionville, is a delicate 1200-year-old castle embedded in a 30-hectare park. In the spring and summer, the hotel comes to life with workshops for ancestral crafts and activities such as cutting stones, stained glass, and manuscript lighting.

The property itself suffered serious damage in the Thirty Years’ War, then to be restored in the 18th century. On the grounds, you can also poke around outbuildings like the beautiful 18th-century dovecote and the stables.

9. Jardin des Traces

Boarding Moselle at Uckange is an extraordinary garden advertised as Islamic Le Jardin de l'Impossible. You probably know why when you see it because the attraction lies in the darkness of a blast furnace on an old industrial estate.

And although this isn’t the ideal location for a garden to thrive in, it’s a perfect statement of the Moselle department’s industrial past and what it wants to be in the future.

The garden has three sections, each dealing with a different aspect of the iron industry, from the elements that came together to make it thrive, to the people who traveled from all over Europe to work here.

And finally, there’s a statement about the region in the future and its commitment to renewable energy.

10. Église Saint-Maximin

Thionville’s solid-looking church was built in the French Classical style in the middle of the 18th century. The French army really had a hand in their design when they wanted the two towers above the western portal to be watchful positions.

But it has an interior that really shines, especially the high altar and the Tripitaka. The latter is a true historical document, along with the organ styles of France and North Germany, as it was modified during the 19th century when Thionville was both French and German.

This marvelous instrument has 4,500 pipes played with three 56-note keyboards and a 30-note set of pedals.

More ideals for you: Top 10 things to do in Teramo

From : https://wikitopx.com/travel/top-10-things-to-do-in-thionville-709965.html