What's the most ridiculous thing you've ever seen in a beauty or hair salon?

So all my life I've had to diet and/or exercise to keep under 145 lbs. I'm 5"6. I've also been a big sleeper-inner and would struggle to get up at 9 and would sleep til 11 if I could. These are the main things.
Sometime in the past year, my appetite has really decreased and I lost 20+ pounds (have to make myself eat to stay there, and I can't seem to gain). I still go to bed around midnight, but I've became an early riser, ready to go at 7 and unable to sleep in past 830 even when I've gone to bed late. Thing is, I have a ton of energy. More than I used to. I only get light-headed when I stand up too fast.
There are other things too, like being more regular with my BMs, getting so hot at the slightest exertion , and my hair growing fast (when it used to grow slower than average).
When I first started losing weight without explanation, I naturally assumed I was dying. I have had blood/hormone tests, a colonoscopy, endoscopy, ultrasound, and it's all fine. Thyroid has been checked twice.
It seems like my metabolism has suddenly sped up, right? I mean, I'm not mad, but I've just never heard of such a thing. Has anyone experienced or heard of this sometimes happening with age/early menopause (which my mom did have)? I would be remiss to leave out that these changes started happening after I had had COVID at least twice (and the vaccines)!

my narcissistic dad has a tendency to put down my appearance, always commenting on my eyebrows, face and hair. Ive had body dysmorphia so im especially perhaps sensitive to any comments.
It’s really not his place as im 19f and leaving for university soon. Yesterday I spent my own money to go to a hair salon for the first time for some highlights ive been wanting for a while. My hair naturally, is dark, but the change was noticeable, I was so excited for it and even brought my friend along as she also wanted to be there for me. I also didnt want to go too light and have my parents say ive ruined my hair and look bad.
Even though I planned to walk home my dad turned up, and said he’d drop my friend home too, as soon as we get in the car hes asking what did u even get done, saying he was imagining gold or blonde hair, something bright. I explained that it might look lighter when the toner washes out but after having spent nearly 6hrs i was internally so gutted. He continues to berate me and making stupid jokes like “how much did it cost to get nothing” in front of my friend and shes just awkwardly laughed. I started crying after she left and he said “i just said that in front of her as a joke i swear theres a difference”.. like what.
Im also learning to drive and drove home in the car when we dropped her- and i began crying again whilst because i was so overwhelmed after what his jokes and he punched me whilst I was driving it was so scary and this morning hes asking to go driving as if nothing happened.

Wondering if anyone has experienced this (I asked askdocs but nothin').
So all my life I've had to diet and/or exercise to keep under 145 lbs. I'm 5"6. I've also been a big sleeper-inner and would struggle to get up at 9 and would sleep til 11 if I could. These are the main things.
I'm 35 now and sometime in the past year, my appetite has really decreased and I lost 20+ pounds (have to make myself eat to stay there, and I can't seem to gain). I still go to bed around midnight, but I've became an early riser, ready to go at 7 and unable to sleep in past 830 even when I've gone to bed late. Thing is, I have a ton of energy. More than I used to. I only get light-headed when I stand up too fast.
There are other things too, like being more regular with my BMs, getting so hot at the slightest exertion , and my hair growing fast enough that my hairdresser has commented (and she never even knew it used to grow slower than average)
When I first started losing weight without explanation, I naturally assumed I was dying. I have had blood/hormone tests, a colonoscopy, endoscopy, ultrasound, and it's all fine. Thyroid has been checked twice.
It seems like my metabolism has suddenly sped up, right?.I mean, I'm not mad, but I've just never heard of such a thing. Has anyone experienced or heard of this sometimes happening with age/early menopause (which my mom did have)? I would be remiss to leave out that these changes started happening after I had had COVID at least twice (and the vaccines)!

So I’m curious what people’s thoughts are about tipping these days. Every store I go in practically has a tip screen you have to Bypass to pay with a credit card. If someone is at the register at a bagel store, for example, am I expected to tip them? It seems unreasonable. It’s almost as if you don’t know what the price of things are because you’ll have a tip to add. Hair salons, nails, restaurants, porters. It goes on and on. I live on a budget so it’s a bit much at times. Thoughts?

I hate everything about my hair, from its color to its texture. Its very frizzy and thick so i need to spend fortune on some treatments to tame it. Im also not allowed to cut it to a manageable length, not even a little trim so it being very long makes it even more unmanageable. The only thing i can do is straighten it with iron which doesnt work as my hair explodes in humid air after few hours, even if i were to spend hours straightening it it will still go back to its original texture after few hours. I also especially hate the color of my hair, its so pitch black but im not allowed to color it, it makes me look like dora the explorer. My black hair harshens my already masculine face even more, i just hate black hair so much, im stuck with it. I wish i was like one of those girls who dye their hair various colors on occasions and carry all of them well. I always hated my black hair but was never allowed to color it, so i wish i was naturally born with light brown hair or something and no hair color suits my ugly skin complexion. Everything about my hair is ugly, it looks like witch hair.

So we all know that the DEATH mv and the hatching show different ways the pink like creature (which ill just call new form) arise. While it is very possible the DEATH mv is different from the movie and is just there to feed us with visuals - I like to believe that at the end she was digging her way into an underground portal or something which leads to her egg, since if we take into account, the bunny's were still burying her meaning that by that point the new form was just as she said it "a ghost" - that could just be the rising to the new form from crybaby to give the message of DEATH before she digs herself into the portal which leads to her new form's natural process of nucleus forming, womb, etc.
In the movie, Crybaby and Angelita in k-12 don't remember their past forms. So the DEATH mv could just be the new form rising as a spirit/vision of the new her all matured (with hair) while remembering and saying goodbye/killing her old form and as she digs at the end she finally rebirths into a seeable creature that doesn't remember her life.

Part 1
I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know what to think even.
Emily knows my biological mom?
“Why didn’t you tell me before?” I asked.
Emily’s smile was as thin as ice. “I didn’t think you were ready. Now you are.”
“Ready for what?”
“You’ll know soon enough. Sleep tight, Skye. You have to go to school tomorrow.”
I couldn’t sleep. All I saw, in my nightmares and painted on the ceiling, was Alfie’s face. He whispered my name while I dreamed and wriggled into my happiest memories. I woke up screaming as his body twisted and swelled.
We will meet again. Alfie hissed through a series of clicks.
It was too quiet when I woke up the next morning. I was used to Emily yelling for me to wake up for school or my dad rushing to get dressed for work and brushing his teeth or the smell of burned bacon and pancakes and eggs down from the kitchen. Or at the very least Alfie ringing my ears off to tell me he was waiting too long outside.
But the silence whispered through the halls, sneaking into my room and tickling my heart. I rubbed my eyes and sat with my knees tucked against my chest, watching the sun rise. The sky was lit in gold as the darkness slithered away, but it was as if dawn had never arrived at all.
I got dressed and headed downstairs. At that point I realised exactly why the house was so quiet and my heart stopped cold.
Most of the stuff we owned was packed up into boxes; and anything that was too big was covered by translucent tarps. Emily and my dad were huddled together in the kitchen. They looked so lost, so hollow, like they’d just come back from Alfie’s funeral and had not stopped crying since.
“Hey morning,” I said tersely.
“Morning,” Emily said. She still wasn’t looking at me. “Did you sleep well or do you still look like a panda bear?”
“Ha ha.” I made myself some coffee. It tasted like muddy water.
Emily looked at the clock. “You better hurry up or you’ll be late for school, Sleepy Skye.”
“But—” The night before was still spinning in my mind. Questions bubbled to the back of my throat, dying on my lips.
Emily placed a hand on my shoulder.
“Don’t worry, Skye. I’ll explain more later when the time is right.”
School felt like forever. All of my classes passed in a blur. Everyone avoided me like the plague, and whispered behind their hands when I walked past. I didn’t really care. I rested my head on my hands and wished Alfie was here. Whispering that everything would be okay.
Creak
When the last bell rang I plodded through the halls. The chatter around me had blended into a monotonous stream of nothing. I looked around me and saw Alfie’s face around me, in the couples making out near the lockers, in the teenagers huddled together like penguins.
My heart ached again.
Alfie…
My dad’s van was waiting for me at the school entrance, coughing up smoke like an old, retired dragon. It was jammed full of boxes and things wrapped in bubble paper. I was surprised it could even move a centimetre without something breaking inside.
“Hop in Skye,” said my dad, poking his head out of one window.
“Um, where are we going?”
“To my old place,” Emily explained, poking her head out of the other window. “I—we—thought it would be good for you, for…for the both of us.”
“After…after…y’know.”
Alfie died.
The wind was still once more, as if mourning over him in its deep grief too. I crumbled against the side of the van, letting hot tears stream down my cheeks.
Alfie…
Without a word more I climbed into the van and my dad sped off immediately. I gazed outside the window, watching country roads blend into billboards and highways, and let the van rock me into a soothing sleep.
“We’re here. Wake up, Sleepy Skye.”
Emily’s house, as it turned out, was a two-storey monster tucked away from the heart of the city. The paint was peeling away and the bricks underneath were slick with slime. Mold crawled between the bricks and stayed there, dying the house green. I turned away and nearly threw up.
“This way,” Emily said, climbing a set of stairs. It was really dark, and everything was covered in shadow. The only source of light was a small Gothic window that shone through the gloom in a weak white arm. Set at the side of the stairwell was a black iron door. I started towards it, but Emily glared at me, so I abandoned the door and followed her.
The second floor was surprisingly well-kept. The floors were swept and the walls clean of dust. Picture frames depicting bugs and scarabs hung onto the wall, polished until it shone. There was even a pot of tea on the table.
“Knock yourself out,” Emily said as she collapsed onto the couch. She closed her eyes.
“Make yourself at home.”
“It stinks,” I observed, wrinkling my nose.
In fact it was the worst stink I had ever smelled in my life. It tore through the walls and floors like it was made of paper and I gagged. I sprinted to the window, stuck my head out and breathed in relief.
Emily raised an eyebrow.
“There’s some…construction going on downstairs,” she explained. “We just got here, so bear with it a little longer, okay Skye?”
“Yeah,” I choked. My eyes were watering. If I could see the smell it would be a big black cloud hovering in the air, howling and shaking in its stinky fury.
“Can I explore the city? I need some fresh air.”
“Go ahead,” Emily said, turning away. “Just be back for dinner.”
I nodded. I had never sprinted out of my old house so fast in my life, rubbing my smarting eyes. Even at the distance I could smell it, and once again I felt like throwing up.
After some time I slowed to a walk and really started to look around. It wasn’t much of a city—and it also wasn’t much of a town—but somewhere in between. It was getting quite late in the day with the sun streaming slowly in from the west, but the town felt…alive in a way. Shopkeepers hollered their wares from the inside of their ornate walls, and people were strolling on the streets, their arms interlocked laughing and whistling.
I tried not to think of Alfie.
A couple of blocks away I saw a large diner, its neon sign beckoning me inside. Getting closer I could smell heaven: char-grilled meats, fresh cakes and cookies, and something else in a fryer or oven.
My stomach growled. I wiped off my drool with my sleeves.
Pushing the door open, I went in.
The diner was abuzz with chatter and laughter; people were toasting each other with glasses of beer and ale. Yet everything died the moment I came in. Time stood still; heads swiveled to look at me and a collective gasp rose from the frozen crowd. I felt like an animal in a zoo as I navigated through the chaos and found a table to sit.
“Don’t mind ‘em.”
The speaker was a living Popeye, with a big, floppy nose and bigger arms that bulged with muscles and fat and a tattoo of a beetle instead of an anchor. He was wearing a greasy, bloody apron and a cap that was too small for a nest of blonde hair.
“It’s been a while since we had anyone new around here. Thirteen years, in fact. Also, hold on…”
He squinted hard at me, his eyes moving from my head down to my legs.
“Are you Skye?”
Goosebumps pricked my skin once more. I looked outside and realised the wind had once again stood still.
“Yes! How do you know?”
The man opposite me thought for a moment, then shouted something to the kitchens. Then he sat down opposite me and grinned, revealing yellowed teeth.
“Your stepmom talks about you a lot. She adores you, you know.”
He cupped my head in his hands and brushed a lock of hair off my head. Tears welled in his eyes.
“You look a lot like your mom. Same face, same eyes.”
He knocked on my face like it was a piece of wood.
Click clock
“Rock solid too.”
My hair stood up on my skin as I stared straight into the eyes of this man who I just met.
“Y-you know my biological mom too?”
The man’s smile grew even wider. “Let’s just say…kind of.”
He extended his hand. “I’m sorry I haven’t introduced myself earlier. Call me Mr Lancaster. I’m the owner here.”
“I’m pleased to meet you too,” I replied, shaking his hand.
“Boss? Everything is ready.”
One of the waiters skidded to a halt near our table. He was a handsome youth—freckles and curly red hair. He held out a huge plastic bag to me.
Mr Lancaster smiled at me in a way that made my heart melt.
“Fish and chips. And I threw in some strawberry milkshakes as well. It’s one of our best dishes on the menu. Emily is always going on and on about how crazy you are for ‘em.”
“Wow! Thank you Mr Lancaster!”
“It’s on the house too. A welcome gift from me. Tell your stepmom she doesn’t have to pay back a single cent.”
He glanced out at the darkening sky, sweat mopping his brow.
“You better be going now. It’s getting late. See you soon, Skye. You’re always welcome here.”
And with that, he practically shoved me out of the door.
The bell tinkled as I stumbled onto the street, nearly tripping over the food. It was really heavy, mind you. Like a thousand dumb-bells made out of solid gold. By the time I reached my flat my arms ached.
I dropped the takeaway on the floor and sat down on one of the stairs to rest. The sun had completely set at this point; long, thin shadows crawled across the wall to the corners. Soon I was plunged in darkness. I could barely see my hand in front of my face.
My vision suddenly cleared, and I realised I could see. Somehow. Dark shapes shifted and twisted before my eyes, but I could still make out details of every brick, every scratch on the stairs and wall. The takeaway sat untouched before me.
It was like looking through an extremely grainy CCTV.
BANG BANG BANG!
As the bangs echoed throughout the hallway I froze, the excitement of my discovery gone.
BANG BANG BANG!
SKYYYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEE!
My name was shouted with great abandon, the call tinged with sorrow and pain. I inched closer and realised that it was coming from the iron door.
SKYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEE!
Whoever was calling me was thrashing against the door, making the hinges shake. I backed away, my heart in my throat. All the hair on my skin was standing up straight.
BANG BANG BANG!
The stink slapped me in the face, making my nose itch. My eyes didn’t leave the door as I scrambled up the stairs to the main apartment, leaving everything in the dust.
It was only when I slammed the door behind me and sprinted down the hallway to my bedroom did I realise I forgot the takeaway still sitting at the bottom of the stairs.
Oh well I told myself, trying to calm my shaking heart. I can go back in a few minutes.
I’m sure Emily and Dad won’t mind.
The city had fallen asleep. The hustle and bustle seemed to have vanished with the last of the sun. The streets were illuminated faintly with lamps that shone like a halo. My room looked like it belonged in a horror movie.
I lay on my bed for a while, squeezing my eyes shut and listening to my heart beat. The screams had long died down, but I somehow heard them long and clear in my mind, as if blasted by an invisible loudspeaker.
SKYEEEEEEE!
Low and loud, like a foghorn from a ship lost at sea.
SKYEEEEEEEEE!
“Shut up!” I screamed, my eyes welling with tears. I curled up in a ball and squeezed my head with my pillow. Even then the screams rammed against the sides of my head, over and over again, and I was dizzy from the pain.
Eventually I got out of bed and wandered throughout the house, hoping for something to distract myself from the eternal noise. The apartment was shaded in the same grainy darkness, except for the dining-room, which was glowing invitingly like a crackling campfire. Something clanged and tinkled. Cutlery probably. Either Emily or my dad setting the table. My stomach grumbled. The smell from the diner was making me hungry.
I started towards the dining room but then I heard it. A strange chitter-chatter. Like crickets, even though we lived so far from nature.
It was coming from the pictures hanging on the wall.
I hadn’t paid much attention to them when I first came in, but now it was drawing me closer like a moth to a flame. The bugs chittered again, and their legs twisted and struggled, almost like it was dancing. Looking closer, I realised that all the pictures depicted the same figure. A woman in various poses with the head of a bug with too-large eyes. She was wearing a dress that shone like fire and was glaring at the camera.
“Mom?”
I clapped my hand over my mouth. I didn’t know where that came from. I looked nothing like her. I didn’t know her. It was my first time seeing her.
But Alfie…
No, no, no! I’m mad! I must be going mad! It’s the screams, I thought, the screams were driving me cuckoo! Making me think crazy thoughts!
I forced myself to look away and shove those thoughts out of my mind. I didn’t know what to believe anymore.
“Skye? Dinner time!”
Emily’s calls broke through the confusing mess in my head. I was grateful that she came to my rescue. Glancing back at the photo of my mum (no, she isn’t! How can I be related to…that?), I scurried down the hallway and into the dining room.
Emily had saved the takeaway.
It sat between us on the newly-dusted table. Emily pulled out foil containers and set one each before me and my dad.
“Mr Lancaster called about the fish and chips,” she explained. “He was delighted to have met you, Skye.”
She ruffled my hair, and chuckled as she handed me a strawberry milkshake. “But it looked like his little delivery girl got cold feet on her first order, eh?”
“Emily!” I groaned. I took a long sip and licked my lips. The milkshake was delicious. Rich, creamy and filled with enough sugar to make my insulin go straight into overdrive.
“Hey,” I noted, sitting down after a while. The pure sweetness of that drink was enough to make my head spin. “Mr Lancaster made some extra fish and chips.”
And it stank too. Almost as much as whatever is behind that iron door.
“Oh, that’s nothing,” Emily said quickly, sweeping the bag off the table and rushing it to the kitchen. “Mr Lancaster always makes me extra. He knows I’m always hungry after midnight!”
I chuckled nervously, feeling the weight of my worries lift off my shoulders. Emily did eat a lot after midnight. A couple of times I had spotted her sneaking to the living room with the television on and a bag of chips.
Yet this particular container stuck out like a sore thumb. Not just the smell, or how big it was compared to the others, but…but, was it me or was it glowing?
I buried that thought into the deepest recesses of my mind. No. I had enough wild and crazy thoughts and visions for one night.
Succumbing to them was not what Alfie would have wanted.
That was not what any of us would have wanted.
Once we had finished dinner, I helped to clear the table and wash the cutlery. Emily turned to me and said:
“I’ve got some things to do tonight. Take care, Skye, and take care of your dad.”
“He does not look well.”
Sick actually. Dad looked like he was going to throw up. He staggered to the couch and passed out on the leather. I couldn’t help but pity him. Fifty-six years old, and all that oil into the fish and chips was not doing his heart any good.
“I’ll look after him,” I promised.
“Good girl.” Emily gave me another thin smile. She pulled on a jacket—a black jacket with a golden rim—and gave me a kiss on my forehead.
“I won’t be long.”
Emily strode out of the house, taking the last box of fish and chips with her. There was something clinking in her pocket, like suits or armor banging together. And just as she stepped out of the front door, she pulled out that something from her pocket. I only saw it for a brief second, but it was enough to make my heart race.
It was a key. But not just any key.
This one was black. Like evil. Like ash. Like the iron door.
It smirked at me as it hid back in her pocket. A shiver ran up my spine.
“Emily, wait!”
“Is there a problem, Skye?”
“Yeah. I wanna ask you something.”
I took a deep, shaky breath. There was a lump in my throat and my heart was beating way too fast.
“The iron door on the first floor…what’s behind it?”
“It’s nothing, Skye,” Emily said. Her eyes darted to somewhere behind me and fixed on one of the bug women. “Just some of my old stuff, y’know? From before I met your dad?”
“Right…”
“Now I have to go. I’ll be late otherwise. I’ll see you later, okay Skye?”
I swallowed as I watched her leave. Uncertainty still sat tight in my stomach, wound up like a spring, and wouldn’t let go.
“Dad? You okay?”
No response. My dad was out like a light.
Then his eyes shot open.
I gulped.
They got bigger and bigger. I saw each individual vein popping out and weaving into each other like mini spider webs.
Then it bulged and swelled. His head enlarged to accommodate it.
Chills shot down my spine as I realised exactly what was going on.
“Dad?”
Click click click.
His lips split and burst into mandibles. I scrambled over and held his hand.
“Don’t do this to me. Don’t be like Alfie.”
I was crying. I was shaking. Oh god, I was shaking so bad it felt like I was in an earthquake.
Click click click
I scrambled over and held his hand. It only seemed to make it worse, however. I watched as it shrank and turned black and folded into itself.
“Dad! Fight it!”
He hunched over and coughed out so much more blood.
Ack ack ack
“DAD!”
His spine was curving over and hardening into a black shell. I dropped his hand and backed away into a corner, my face white.
Ack ack ack.
The floor was blooming. Grass spread thin like a carpet and tall trees grew. I saw red flowers explode onto new branches, like a bundle of fireworks.
My dad clicked and clacked, as if enjoying the new scenery.
No…
My skin was crawling. Literally. I looked down and saw bumps pulsing beneath the folds, marching along to my heartbeat. Then it broke and a cockroach popped out. It took a deep breath, bowed, clicked and clacked in the same rhythm as my dad’s—slow and steady, a pulse—
And…
And I SWEAR I heard the cockroach say:
“Your Highness.”
I screamed. It bounced off new grass and fresh flora.
I’m really going mad now.
I pinched myself, wondering if I was living in some kind of nightmare. But I wasn’t. It was as real as the still lights from the street lamps shining in through the window.
Click clack.
More cockroaches were spilling out from my skin like a dam left unchecked. My dad looked at me inquisitively. Cement was quickly turning into dirt.
Click clack
My thoughts were clambering over each other as I squatted, paralysed in my corner, watching the cockroaches with my mouth open. My dad—no longer human—crawled into the walls and towards me. Staring at the roaches and slowly reaching out to them. They squeaked and climbed over him.
This was too much. I did the only thing I could think of.
My phone was butter in my hands. My vision blurred and I kept on punching in the wrong numbers.
Thankfully, Emily answered the phone on the first ring.
I took a deep breath and screamed into the receiver. My voice was shaking so bad I was surprised I could say anything at all.
“EMILY! HELP!”
SK

Final part in the series about the mirroring act between the three Aen Elle elves & their Continental counterparts. Previous works: Black Knights: Parallels Between Eredin & Cahir Love(less) Sorcerers: Parallels Between Avallac'h & Vilgefortz
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“Emperors rule their empires, but two things they cannot rule: their hearts and their time. Those two things belong to the empire.”
“The end justifies the means.”
Leaders of the highest order for their people, both rulers pursue the greater good at the expense of decency and their own humanity. A greater good to be achieved through similar means – by begetting the child who is prophesised.

Intent

In the Witcher, both Auberon and Emhyr are embroiled in a plot of siring the child of prophecy with Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon – their blood relative. Genetically, the incest is a matter of degree: Emhyr is Ciri’s biological father, Auberon Ciri’s ancestor 8 generations past. Symbolically, however, the degree collapses with Auberon because a few human generations are meaningless to elves. They call Ciri Lara’s daughter, effectively deeming Ciri Auberon’s granddaughter. But the reader – not unlike Ciri herself – won’t know about this until the very end of the tale.
Notionally, both rulers bind their actions with Ithlinne’s prophecy. The problem with prophecies is they decouple arguments from verification, lending themselves to the rationalization of all and any action. At least insofar as knowing the future accurately is impossible. This is the case for humanity, it is not the case for elves. Elven prophecies were made by the elves and for the elves in the first place. Consequently, the degree to which each ruler knows the prophecy to be true and believes in it differs. For Emhyr, mystical secret knowledge of the universe is irrelevant in comparison to political expedience: reason of state is what the tomorrow will bring. The Nilfgaardian Emperor is neither a mystic nor a fatalist. Contrary to the Alder King – a Sage, a ruler, and an elder – who has witnessed and likely verified some of what the Seers have prophesised. Elves conceive of the nature of time as cyclical in which the fate of things is tied up in the endless repetition of endings giving birth to new beginnings, the dance of attraction between life and death, two sides of the same coin which form the singular eternal truth of existence – change is only an eternal reoccurrence and re-arrangement of all. Auberon, you see, is a bit of a mystic. And even without Seers privy to secret knowledge, an extraordinary life span reduces the elves’ proclivity to black swan fallacy, or at least pushes the error probabilities. But at the end of the day, mysticism takes the cake.
The idea that either ruler must be the progenitor, however, comes at the instigation of an outside force.
Shortly after Ciri’s birth Emhyr is visited by a sorcerer. Emhyr has a strong aversion to mages; he was cursed by one. Even so, Vilgefortz proves himself capable of helping him regain the Nilfgaardian throne and is straightforward about what he wishes in exchange – gratitude, favours, privileges, power. Vilgefortz tells Emhyr about Ithlinne’s prophecy – a version about the fate of the world; a human interpretation. Then he plants the seed as to what Emhyr should do to steer the fate of this world. Naturally, he has his own agenda. It is not a huge leap of imagination to conceive of Auberon having been similarly persuaded by Avallac’h (an elven Knowing One who thematically parallels the human Vilgefortz). Not only are Avallac’h and Auberon tied by broken familial bonds, they are each a participant of the Elder Blood programme; and each, a Sage. Avallac’h serves nearly as a double for Auberon, his own fate also tied with Ciri’s. And Auberon is a “willing unwilling” in his arrangement with Ciri; implied so in his rage when he reveals Ciri ought to be grateful to him for lowering himself to the endeavour at all. There is an alternative.
Neither the Emperor nor the Alder King is pursuing the incestuous course of action out of lust. But both have the option to waive being the sire. Ithlinne’s prophecy is not explicit about the father of the Swallow’s child. For elves the match is backed by science. For humanity – pragmatism.
Emhyr has ordered to wipe out the Usurper’s name from the annals of history and is cementing his earthly power, conquering and ensuring the succession laws play out in his favour. Not only is he legitimatizing his rule over Cintra – the gateway to the North – by marrying its last monarch’s granddaughter, by keeping it in the family, he is also consolidating his rule among the Nilfgaardian aristocracy. The Emperor’s concern lies with the dynastic struggle for power: it is his blood that should rule the world and because history is bending its arc according to Nilfgaard’s dictation that means surmounting the Nilfgaardian succession laws. From such perspective, not fathering Ciri’s child would create numerous problems. Ciri as Emhyr’s heir would remain behind any other male offspring he might have (with any Nilfgaardian aristocrat). Ciri might not be acknowledged as a legitimate successor in Nilfgaard in the first place as she is a foreigner, born in Cintra at a time when her father was not yet an emperor; a bastard, effectively, and a girl besides. Ciri’s husband, moreover, may have designs on power himself and his remaining under Emhyr’s control, or Ciri’s control, is not a guarantee. It is difficult to be the correctly-shaped chess piece in a game of interests of the state. That a widely recited prophecy about the fate of the world can lend an aura of destiny to the brutal political machinations undertaken to seek retribution and pursue earthly power is convenient; a descendant who will be the ruler of the world – a bonus. But to get there sacrifices must be made.

‘Cirilla,’ continued the emperor, ‘will be happy, like most of the queens I was talking about. It will come with time. Cirilla will transfer the love that I do not demand at all onto the son I will beget with her. An archduke, and later an emperor. An emperor who will beget a son. A son, who will be the ruler of the world and will save the world from destruction. Thus speaks the prophecy whose exact contents only I know.’ ’What I am doing, I am doing for posterity. To save the world.’ - Lady of the Lake

Notably, the manner in which the Emperor claims to understand Ithlinne’s prophecy does not make guarantees that a father’s incest with his daughter will ensure his progeny will one day save the world. The saviour is a few generations away and the causal arrow between now and then is not direct: the son could die, could father a child with a genetically non-fitting partner, could be sterile, or could turn out to be a daughter altogether. Not to even begin with what the world needs saving from in the first place; again, elven prophecies were written by the elves and for the elves. Emhyr var Emreis is neither an elf, a geneticist, an idealist nor a mystic. He is an autocrat.
Elder Blood is the creation of elves and it is elves who understand how their genetic abilities play into handling what was foretold by Ithlinne. Emhyr’s daughter, the Lady of Time and Space, is the descendant of an Alder King who has utilized Hen Ichaer in the past and whose ambitions lie in an altogether different ball park than that of an Emperor of one single world. Appropriately to the Saga’s love for subversion, it is ironic that human understanding of elven prophecies remains on the level of poetry, while elves – the irritatingly poetic, mystical species – can read the science elevating the prophetic jargon into something more. Which regardless does not invalidate the problem with prophecies: they lend themselves to the rationalization of action, frequently covering up the real horses the powerful might have in the race. Legitimatization of the ruler’s right to remain the leader of their people is relevant in Auberon’s life too. More on that when we return to the Fisher King parable and the nature of curses upon the two rulers.

Role & Relationships

Let’s take a look at the characters’ personalities.
Appearance: a play of contrasts
A very tall, slender elf with long fingers and ashen hair shot with snow-white streaks. An elf with the most extraordinary eyes – as on all Elder Blood carriers – reminiscent of molten lead. A man with black, shiny, wavy hair bordering an angular, masculine face that is dominated by a prominent nose (hooked, presumably, or Roman if you like). The Emperor of Nilfgaard does not resemble an androgynous elf by any means. But this does not mean nothing remains in him of the elven gene pool. Not only does Emhyr’s etymological origin link with the Romano-Celtic world underpinning all things elven in the Witcher. Nilfgaardians are effectively the Romano-Brytons. The human population in the South of the Continent mixed with elves heavily, retaining a lot of elven law, customs, language, and DNA. As Avallac’h says about heritability, “the father matters,” and Emhyr was one half of the equation for getting Ciri.
Rex Regum - King of Kings
The readers are probably more familiar with the imperial system and how that features in the depiction of Nilfgaard. Auberon Muircetach’s position as the Supreme Leader of the Aen Elle – as opposed to merely a “king” – is instead much more reminiscent of the station of a High King.
Ancient and early kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland boast many High Kings (e.g. Ard Rí Érenn Brian Boru, Ard Rí Alban Macbeth, Vortigern, King of the Britons, etc). The High King was usually elected and set above lesser rulers and warlords as an overlord in a land that shared a high degree of cultural unity. Emperors usually ruled over culturally different lands (regularly obtained through recent or ongoing conquests). In character such high kingship was sacred: the duties of the ruler were largely ceremonial and somewhat restricted, unless war, natural disaster or any other realm-wide occasion created a need for a unified command structure. The Irish High King, for example, was quite straightforwardly a ruler who laid claim to all of the land of the Emerald Isle. Noteworthy, because the ruler is frequently seen as the embodiment of the land, associated with the health and well-being of the realm that the land sustains. In quasi-religious terms, High Kings gained their power through a marriage to, or sexual relationship with, a sovereignty goddess; frequently, a mother goddess who was associated with the life-giving land. As one of the most frequently studied elements of the Celtic cosmology, this feature is instantly recognisable in the outlook of the elves in the Witcher and factors heavily into Auberon’s relationship with Ciri. Ciri who is the avatar of the Triple Goddess – the Virgin, the Pregnant Mother, and the Old Woman Death. As Sapkowski notes in Swiat króla Artura. Maladie:

“…no Wiccan mystery in honour of the Great Triple, cannot be performed, [without] the goblet and the sword. Grail and Excalibur. The rest is silence.”

Through the Triple Goddess’ interaction with her God-counterpart (a ruler who briefly assumes the role of the god) is showcased the eternal cycle of life – one which cannot be realised without the interaction of the cup (feminine) & the sword (male). Excalibur is the symbol of rightful sovereignty and its wielders are frequently powerful men, but Ciri is a woman and a woman is the Grail, bringing salvation and new life. To possess the Grail is to legitimize oneself as the ruler, as the leader, protector, and father figure of the realm. Thus a King of Kings must do exactly that. A protector, a father figure, and a druid (wise man) merge into a symbolic whole in the Supreme Leader of the elves.
(But Ciri is also the witcher girl and owns a sword, unyielding before the matter of her gender. And though many a men might take her for the Lady of the Lake, she is not about to part with her sword.)
The realm is all
From early age, Emhyr’s father instilled an understanding in his heir that nothing counts more than the interest of the state. The blood of the Emreis family must be on the throne. Fergus never abdicated, not after torture, not even after his son was turned into a mutant hedgehog in front of his eyes. Love for his child did not sway Fergus from having his son suffer in the interests of power and the realm. This is how the shard of ice in Emhyr’s heart forms. Auberon, equally, “thinks of England” when attempting to regain his daughter’s legacy and restore their people’s power. The circumstances of Lara’s demise, however, beg the question about the Alder King’s role in facilitating or enabling the conditions that let things spiral out of control and break beyond repair. The stakes were infinitely higher for Auberon than they are for Emreis’ dynastic struggle. But what would an answer to this question change? In their cold hearts these characters see themselves each as duty-bound.
Ambitious and gloried, they nevertheless occupy different stages in their lives.
Emhyr’s ambition burns bright and fresh. Auberon’s has dwindled into a shadow of the past; buried under having witnessed and lived through the sacrifices that a ruler makes in the name of power. Emhyr chooses to seek retribution and power beyond what would befall him should he accept his life as Duny (the cursed, pitiful Duny), the prince consort of Cintra. Never losing sight of his goal, love and human happiness become temporary phases and means to an end, and Emhyr returns to Cintra only in the form of flames and death to pursue his daughter in insane ambition. The White Flame retains an active disposition; a lust for life. Neither Emhyr nor Auberon gallop at the head of their armies though, leading instead from the rear. They have lackeys for carrying out their will remotely (e.g. Cahir and Eredin). Emhyr, however, is said to be otherwise highly involved in the ruling of his empire, even if many revolutionaries who had helped him on the throne had hoped he would remain but a banner of the revolution. In contrast, the Alder King has more or less withdrawn from life and active service. In presence of Avallac’h and Eredin, Auberon appears much more like the standard Emhyr had refused to become. Of course, many decisions the equivalent of which Auberon has already made are still ahead of Emhyr, including as concerns the freedom of his daughter.
A ruler’s heart
Did Emhyr believe that he would be able to see Pavetta in Ciri and thus push through with the incest? Did Auberon hope to glance the memory of his wife in the eyes of Lara’s “daughter” and manage in this way? As already noted, neither ruler is pursuing their plans out of lust, but as lust must be induced for the act to bear fruit I cannot help but wonder what these characters must do to themselves to follow through with their plans. Because the love that is called for between a woman and a man in order for new life and hope to be born is in this instance abnormal. Yet it is undoubtedly love that plays a huge role in determining both Emhyr’s and Auberon’s eventual fate.
Until the emergence of false-Ciri, Emhyr var Emreis is said to have had numerous ladies in the imperial court. Little is known about Auberon’s disposition, but by the time Ciri starts frequenting his bed chamber it has become evident the image of a dowager king fits the elf like a glove; disaffected with romantic dalliance, he is still aware of the courtly intrigue and expectations surrounding it.

The next evening, for the first time, the Alder King betrayed his impatience. She found him hunched over the table where a looking glass framed in amber was lying. White powder had been sprinkled on it. It’s beginning, she thought. … At one moment Ciri was certain it was about to happen. But it didn’t. At least not all the way. And once again he became impatient. He stood up and threw a sable fur over his shoulders. He stood like that, turned away, staring at the window and the moon. - Lady of the Lake

Emhyr’s marriage to Pavetta, Ciri’s mother, was an unhappy one. In his own words, he did not love “the melancholy wench with her permanently lowered eyes,” and eventually would have had the vigilant Pavetta killed. Inadvertently, Emhyr caused Pavetta’s death anyway.

‘I wonder how a man feels after murdering his wife,’ the Witcher said coldly. ‘Lousy,’ replied Emhyr without delay. ‘I felt and I feel lousy and bloody shabby. Even the fact that I never loved her doesn’t change that. The end justifies the means, yet I sincerely do regret her death. I didn’t want it or plan it. Pavetta died by accident.’ ‘You’re lying,’ Geralt said dryly, ‘and that doesn’t befit an emperor. Pavetta could not live. She had unmasked you. And would never have let you do what you wanted to do to Ciri.’ ‘She would have lived,’ Emhyr retorted. ‘Somewhere … far away. There are enough castles … Darn Rowan, for instance. I couldn’t have killed her.’ ‘Even for an end that was justified by the means?’ ‘One can always find a less drastic means.’ The emperor wiped his face. ‘There are always plenty of them.’ ‘Not always,’ said the Witcher, looking him in the eyes. Emhyr avoided his gaze. ‘That’s exactly what I thought,’ Geralt said, nodding. - Lady of the Lake

After Pavetta’s demise Emhyr hounds his own daughter to the ends of the earth, killing her grandmother, burning down her home, and driving Ciri into an exile from which she never fully recovers. An exile which kills the innocence in her; the snow-white streaks in Ciri’s hair are from the trauma. In contrast, Auberon does not seem to even know what became of Shiadhal – his partner and the mother of their daughter together. On the verge of death he confuses Ciri for Shiadhal and says, “I am glad you are here. You know, they told me you had died.” The Alder King recalls Shiadhal affectionately, in the same loving breath as he recalls their daughter Lara. Lara whose exile – voluntary or not – killed her.
When Ciri was six years old, Emhyr took a lock of hair from her and held onto it; out of sentiment and for his court sorcerers to use. One of Auberon’s last lines to Ciri involves tying a loose ribbon back into Lara’s hair.
In regard to their brides-to-be, both rulers are saddled with fakes. A fake Ciri-Pavetta and a fake Shiadhal-Lara. But Emhyr’s and Auberon’s attitude toward the fake is diametrically opposite. Emhyr sees false-Cirilla as “a diamond in the rough.” Auberon calls Ciri “a pearl in pig shit, a diamond on the finger of a rotting corpse.” For Emhyr, a diamond is the essence of his poor peasant girl. While a pearl in pig shit, for Auberon, remains the essence of Ciri. Neither ruler can entirely ignore the social vigilance extended toward the ruler’s bedchamber either. The idea of a “foreign bride” is frowned upon among the Nilfgaardian aristocracy; it decreases their ability to influence the Emperor. Ciri’s social status at Tir ná Lia is never explicitly addressed, but the presence of human servants – all of whom that the reader sees are female – and casual xenophobia from Auberon himself does not make it hard to venture a guess.

‘If I were … the real Cirilla … the emperor would look more favourably on me. But I’m only a counterfeit. A poor imitation. A double, not worthy of anything. Nothing …’ - False-Cirilla Lady of the Lake
‘It’s all my fault,’ she mumbled. ‘That scar blights me, I know. I know what you see when you look at me. There’s not much elf left in me. A gold nugget in a pile of compost—’ - Ciri Lady of the Lake

The Alder King is unable to bring himself to love Ciri. The Emperor relents, caring for his daughter at last as a father should at the very end, in the one moment where it matters. Moreover, Emhyr ends up eventually marrying his own reason of state and comes to love the false-Cirilla. The contrasts do not end here. Real Ciri threatens to tear Emhyr’s throat out for what he is planning to do to her (unknowing that he is her father), yet with Auberon Ciri turns submissive and grows attached. She weeps over Auberon’s corpse and vows vengeance on Eredin for killing the Alder King. Ironic as Auberon never intended to let Ciri go, while Emhyr does let his daughter walk free. The shard in Auberon’s heart never melts. It shifts in Emhyr’s.
In their last meeting with the girl, both rulers implicitly reveal their blood relation to Ciri.

Cursed Rulers of the World

Emhyr’s tale begins and is framed with a curse. Likewise Auberon’s. And for both it is love in its different manifestations that will shift the curse just enough to offer closure. For healing largely entails obtaining closure.

‘They were silent for a long time. The scent of spring suddenly made them feel light-headed. Both of them. ‘In spite of appearances,’ Emhyr finally said dully, ‘being empress is not an easy job. I don’t know if I’ll be able to love you.’ She nodded to show she also knew. He saw a tear on her cheek. Just like in Stygga Castle, he felt the tiny shard of cold glass lodged in his heart shift.’ - Lady of the Lake

The reference to H. C. Andersen’s fairy tale of the Snow Queen is self-evident. Emhyr var Emreis is an Emperor whose heart has been pierced by a shard of ice. In the Saga the legend is elven and refers to the Winter Queen who conducts a Wild Hunt as she travels the land, casting hard, sharp, tiny shards of ice around her. Whose eye or heart is pierced by one of them is lost; they will abandon everything and will set off after the Queen, the one who wounded them so gravely as to become the sole aim and end of their life.
There are two ways in which to interpret the way Sapkowski applies the legend of the Snow Queen in the Saga. First, as a complement to the author’s stance that in life - where most things are shit - the Holy Grail is a woman, because it is the love of a woman and the hope a woman instils that often makes men act in inconceivable ways; love is the great motivator and the great balancer of scales. Almost as powerful as death. Or more so?

‘I would not like to put forward the theory that hunting for the wild pig was the primordial example of the search for the Grail. I don’t want to be so trivial. I will - after Parnicki and Dante - identify the Grail with the real goal of the great effort of mythical heroes. I prefer to identify the Grail with Olwen, from under whose feet, as she walked, white clovers grew. I prefer to identify the Grail with Lydia, who was loved by Parry. I like New York in June… How about you? Because I think the Grail is a woman. It is worth investing a lot of time and effort in order to find it and gain it, to understand it. And that’s the moral.’ - A. Sapkowski Swiat króla Artura. Maladie

In this reading, we find the framing to the stories of Geralt and Yennefer, Lara and Cregennan, Avallac’h and Lara, and many others. Including the story of Ciri herself – for Ciri is ultimately the author’s Grail in more ways than one. More than one party goes to great lengths to solicit her favour in a guise that includes elements of a love relationship but not the heart of it.
Secondly, we can interpret the legend in universal terms: the shard of ice is the definitive experience of our lives which distorts reality and makes the rest of our lives spin around it in one way or another. For Emhyr, such an experience could have been the trauma experienced in his youth. Fergus’ uncompromising death conditioned the boy early on to sacrifice personal feelings to the cause and let the only true feeling in his heart remain forever locked behind the ends a ruler must go to unthinkable lengths to achieve. Fergus did not deem his son above suffering for a cause and the son learned the lesson. Until…
In Andersen’s Snow Queen, Gerda manages to find her brother Kai in the Snow Queen’s castle, but despite her calls his heart remains cold as ice. Only when Gerda cries in despair do her tears finally melt the ice and remove the piece of glass from Kai’s eyes and heart. In the Witcher, the shard in Emhyr’s heart moves first upon witnessing his true daughter’s angry tears. For the second time – in thanks to the bogus princess of Cintra; his poor raison d’etat.
It brings us to the defining contrast in Emhyr’s and Auberon’s stories, and it concerns alleviating the suffering of those are bound to you by blood or love.
Recalling another case of incest that resulted in Adda the strigga, we may remember that the Temerian king recognises that his daughter is suffering and insists on disenchanting her instead of killing her. Realising that your own blood – who has been thrown into this world of suffering thanks to you – is suffering and consequently choosing to do something to alleviate this suffering fortifies the Saga’s faith in enduring human decency. Geralt himself is thoroughly vexed by the prospect of letting the same evil happen to Ciri that happened to himself and does everything within his power to prevent it (failing, trying anyway). Here lives the redemption of man, and in redemption his rebirth.

‘They passed a pond, empty and melancholy. The ancient carp released by Emperor Torres had died two days earlier. “I’ll release a new, young, strong, beautiful specimen,” thought Emhyr var Emreis, “I’ll order a medal with my likeness and the date to be attached to it. Vaesse deireadh aep eigean. Something has ended, something is beginning. It’s a new era. New times. A new life. So let there be a new carp too, dammit.”’ - Lady of the Lake

As Emhyr and false-Cirilla take a stroll in the gardens after Stygga, they pass a sculpture of a pelican pecking open its own breast to feed its young on its blood. An allegory of noble sacrifice and also of great love – as False-Ciri tells us.

‘Do you think—’ he turned her to face him and pursed his lips ‘—that a torn-open breast hurts less because of that?’ ‘I don’t know …’ she stammered. ‘Your Imperial Majesty … I …’ He took hold of her hand. He felt her shudder; the shudder ran along his hand, arm and shoulder. ‘My father,’ he said, ‘was a great ruler, but never had a head for legends or myths, never had time for them. And always mixed them up. Whenever he brought me here, to the park, I remember it like yesterday, he always said that the sculpture shows a pelican rising from its ashes.’ - Lady of the Lake

It is difficult to set aside our trauma and not pass it on to our children. Letting our children be free to choose and not sacrificing them on the altar of our fate is to rip open ourselves, calcified and bound to our path, and to feel all of it as we grope in the dark to feel for them. Emhyr’s father might not have gotten it entirely wrong, though his mind at the time was set on making his child an extension of himself. The cycle of death and rebirth begins and ends within that to which we give birth. Giving our children a chance before it is too late, we also give a chance to ourselves. By finding it in his heart to extend to his daughter the courtesy his father Fergus never extended to him - by letting Ciri free - Emhyr lets the part of himself that has defined his entire life die. His end stops justifying the means. He breaks the cycle on the edge of the precipice to which he has brought them and thus allows for the possibility of new beginnings for himself and for Ciri.
In a sense, False-Cirilla and Emhyr get the ending Ciri and Auberon might have gotten if –
If.
The story of Auberon Muircetach achieves a fundamentally different resolution.

‘What does the spear with the bloody blade mean? Why does the King with the lanced thigh suffer and what does it mean? What is the meaning of the maiden in white carrying a grail, a silver bowl—?’ - Galahad Lady of the Lake

Galahad asks the questions that the innocent Perceval in his Story of the Grail failed to ask, thus losing his chance at freeing the Fisher King from his curse. And the Fisher King is the guardian of mysteries, among them the Holy Grail. But it is not because of gain that a chivalric knight with a shining sword should seek to free the Fisher King from his curse, but rather because it is a human thing to do. Sapkowski claims to be partial to Wolfram von Eschenbach’s rendition of the Grail myth in Parsifal. Wolfram’s message, according to Sapkowski, is the following:

‘Let’s not wait for the revelation and the command that comes from above, let’s not wait for any Deus vult. Let’s look for the grail in ourselves. Because the Grail is nobility, it is the love of a neighbor, it is an ability for compassion. Real chivalric ideals, towards which it is worth looking for the right path, cutting through the wild forest, where, as they quote, “there is no road, no path”. Everyone has to find their path on their own. But it is not true that there is only one path. There are many of them. Infinitely many. … Being human is important. Heart.’ ‘I prefer the humanism of Wolfram von Eschenbach and Terry Gilliam from the idiosyncrasies of bitter Cistercian scribes and Bernard of Clairvaux…’ - A. Sapkowski Swiat króla Artura: Maladie

The unimaginable sadness in Auberon’s eyes belies the suffering of the Alder King who is the avatar of the Fisher King. In the Witcher’s story between elves and humans, it is the elven males who all share aspects of the Fisher King’s fate, because they are the keepers of their Grail – the protectors of elven women. Auberon’s wound is wrought by time: by surviving his wife and daughter, by the witnessing of the fading of his ambitions and the results of pursuing them without success. He has lost his line. The Fisher King’s injury represents the inability to produce an heir. A ruler who is the protector and physical embodiment of his land, yet remains barren, sterile, or without a true-born successor, bodes ill for the realm. The Alder King’s injury consists in having lost control of the source of his people’s power, leaving the elves imprisoned and scattered across two worlds. Auberon’s personal tragedy, however, subsists in the lost power having been functionally manifest in a daughter.

‘Lara.’ The Alder King moved his head, and touched his neck as though his royal torc’h was garrotting him. ‘Caemm a me, luned. Come to me, daughter. Caemm a me, elaine.’ Ciri sensed death in his breath. - Lady of the Lake

Elder Blood is indeed an accursed blood because it enslaves its carriers to its purpose. Emhyr has a theoretical chance to walk away from the pursuit of earthly power; the construct is social. Elder Blood, however, has a particular and real, magical function, and in virtue of being a genetic mutation it is embedded in the gene-carrying individuals. Functionally, Elder Blood allows to shape fate with degrees of freedom unimaginable for an ordinary individual. It’s a difference comparable to the one between a character in a story and the story’s author. Therefore the Aen Saevherne – the carriers of the gene – are bound to the thing they carry within their DNA that allows them to a greater and lesser degree shape the fate of reality. However dearly Auberon, or Lara, might have ever wished to untie themselves from their own essence, it seems impossible. The loss of control over power then is quite simply so pivotal as to necessitate a moment of original sin.
As already witnessed by way of the legend of the Winter Queen, the original “myths” of the Witcher world usually originate among elves; humans, the interlopers, push themselves into those myths only later. This creates an interesting conundrum. In Parsifal, the Fisher King is injured as punishment for taking a wife who is not meant for him. A Grail keeper is to marry the woman the Grail determines for him, which – if we equate woman with the Grail – is what the woman determines. Unfortunately, we know nothing about Shiadhal, so we cannot verify if this part of the legend dovetails. But generally, in a wholly elven world which may have matriarchal tendencies, in lieu of worshipping the mother Goddess, such cosmology is relatively unproblematic. Except suddenly there are humans too. And Auberon – the highest leader of elves and the father of the new scion of Elder Blood – is indirectly injured because a human sorcerer – Cregennan – turns himself into a Grail keeper (in place of another, special elf) by taking a woman not meant for him.

‘Witcher,’ she whispered, kissing his cheek, ‘there’s no romance in you. And I… I like elven legends, they are so captivating. What a pity humans don’t have any legends like that. Perhaps one day they will? Perhaps they’ll create some? But what would human legends deal with? All around, wherever one looks, there’s greyness and dullness. Even things which begin beautifully lead swiftly to boredom and dreariness, to that human ritual, that wearisome rhythm called life.’ - Yennefer Sword of Destiny

Cregennan’s injury is to die. But what about the original Fisher King figure? What is Auberon’s original sin in this?
I see two possibilities. It could be that Auberon in his ambition hastened his daughter’s way into exile and, in a display of his displeasure, never made any effort to ease his daughter in to the personal sacrifices they, as Aen Saevherne, must make; walking without blinking to the end of the path Emhyr turned away from. It could equally be that Auberon, instead of locking Lara up in a tower to protect her from the folly of youth, let her go to Cregennan. It could be an amalgam of both, and the misjudgement of a father who allows freedom, who feels for his child, and is rewarded with an irreversible injury is probably the greater tragedy.
Because, regardless of the origin of the curse upon Auberon, one thing does not change – the icy eternity in the Alder King’s heart never fractures.

‘‘Zireael,’ he said. ‘Loc’hlaith. You are indeed destiny, O Lady of the Lake. Mine too, as it transpires.’ - Auberon Lady of the Lake

Ciri passes through the shadow world of the Alders; a manifestation of fate. Her footsteps sowing discord and movement and change into the immutable, time-locked amber of the elven utopia. Her presence providing the trigger that will unshackle the past from future in a world where for a long time nothing has changed, died, or been reborn. She is destined and destiny, annihilation and rebirth, the grain of sand in the gears of the great mechanism; a strange girl. The child of hope and the Goddess who ought to be Three. Lara, the true daughter of the Alder King, is dead. Emhyr’s daughter still lives. There is nothing Auberon can do for Lara anymore and thus the ice in Auberon’s heart has crystallised. Emhyr still has a chance; he is where Auberon once was. And yet, there is one thing Ciri, the witcher girl with a sword of her own, can still do for the Alder King.

‘Va’esse deireadh aep eigean… But,’ he finished with a sigh, ‘it’s good that something is beginning.’ They heard a long-drawn-out peal of thunder outside the window. The storm was still far away. But it was approaching fast. ‘In spite of everything,’ he said, ‘I very much don’t want to die, Zireael. And I’m so sorry that I must. Who’d have thought it? I thought I wouldn’t regret it. I’ve lived long, I’ve experienced everything. I’ve become bored with everything … but nonetheless I feel regret. And do you know what else? Come closer. I’ll tell you in confidence. Let it be our secret.’ She bent forward. ‘I’m afraid,’ he whispered. ‘I know.’ ‘Are you with me?’ ‘Yes, I am.’ - Auberon Lady of the Lake

The only way Ciri the Grail knight will be able to find her true self – the Grail – is to cure the suffering Alder King from his curse. Ciri’s presence in the world of the Alders is after all also part of her coming of age story. Through becoming Auberon’s destiny, Ciri must close the circle for him and bring closure. He would never let her go because the shard in Auberon’s heart is no longer able to melt. Auberon does not follow the motif of alleviating the suffering of one’s blood and/or love; and he dies. The roles are reversed, in fact. It is Ciri who realises Auberon is suffering. So Ciri must do what only she can do, because remaining human is important. Heart is important. The sacrifice a ruler makes on the altar of power includes his own heart, which is why there should never be only one, but always two; always.

‘Time is like the ancient Ouroboros. Time is fleeting moments, grains of sand passing through an hourglass. Time is the moments and events we so readily try to measure. But the ancient Ouroboros reminds us that in every moment, in every instant, in every event, is hidden the past, the present and the future. Eternity is hidden in every moment. Every departure is at once a return, every farewell is a greeting, every return is a parting. Everything is simultaneously a beginning and an end. ‘And you too,’ he said, not looking at her at all, ‘are at once the beginning and the end. And because we are discussing destiny, know that it is precisely your destiny. To be the beginning and the end. Do you understand?’ She hesitated for a moment. But his glowing eyes forced her to answer. ‘I do.’ - Lady of the Lake

Death Crone to Auberon Muircetach, Ciri never becomes the Mother Goddess in the Saga. It is a choice she must make for herself and the choice still lies ahead of her. The predicate to making such a choice at least for now, however, she achieves; she goes her own way. In a sense then, both rulers are father figures, who through their choices “beget” the child who is destined. Perhaps this too the Knowing Ones knew, and for this reason Auberon never could have budged, never could have changed his mind in regard to his purpose in the long and winding story of his life. Something is ending, but something is also beginning. A good ruler is responsible for the flourishing of their realm, for providing hope. It is Ciri’s role to be the beginning and the end, and though there might be ways in which to nudge the hand of Fate, whatever is destined must happen. Destiny, however accursed, must run its course.
That is the hope and the release.

Hi!
I am a man with short 4a/4b curls. At the barber, I usually get a taper faded haircut, so I only have to worry about the top.
I love my hair, but I’ve been struggling with finding the right styling product. I’ve tried waxes, pomades, curl creams, gels, mousses, almost every type of styling product known to humankind haha. They all give me either, crunchy, dry, sticky or weighted down hair with a lot of shrinkage. I always go for natural product and stuff that hydrates my hair. I tried not putting in any styler at all, but this leaves my hair dull and frizzy.
What I am looking for is a product that gives my hair a natural shine, tames my frizz, gives it volume and leaves it soft to the touch. Does anyone have any recommendations? Many thanks in advance!

Okay so, I (18afab) have been in a rather weird dilemma of sorts. Ever since my childhood, I never felt like I was not a girl (I even had a dream were I was seen as a boy that I described as a nightmare where my hair was completely cut off and I was assigned at the boys' table). But I wouldn't say I am the most feminine girl either, I had always wanted to be more tomboyish, I was into being active and playing sports, I dont particularly enjoy wearing skirts or dresses but I often see dress where I am like "oh I'd kinda want to wear that". Starting from last 2 years or so, I had also picked up make up, doing it as a creative outlet every now and then or when I am going out with certain people. I should also add I am bisexual (more so heteromantic bisexual because I can't really see myself dating a girl in the long term). Despite all of this, I sometimes feel like I don't belong with other women, sometimes I feel too masculine to be one. I find myself acquiring the mannerisms and thinking patterns of men in my life, (example my facial expressions are basically the same as my dad's). I dont particularly feel uncomfortable with having the body parts of a woman, especially in the bottom area, I prefer what I have. But sometimes I feel uncomfortable with my breasts. But lately I found myself not relating to the person I see in the mirror. I dont know how else to explain it. It feels as if I am a video game player controlling a character that I dont have a connection to. I feel as tho I am losing the sense of self I had for the last 2 years, the idea of the person I wanted to be. It feels unreachable. And so I ended up questioning my gender again. This had happened once before where it completely wrecked me with anxiousness. It was during covid isolation. I feel like I was too masculine, I felt like I was a guy trying to pretend to be a girl and the aspect of feeling like a man made me feel so uncomfortable. I went to see a psychologist because of it, and I told her about the various things and she helped me come to the conclusion that I didn't need to decide anything right that second, and I should just allow myself to exist and if there is anything about my appearance that is making me uncomfortable, I should look into changing that. I told her that my masculine hands and me being hairy was making me the most uncomfortable. I waxed my arms for a brief time and I was feeling better actually. Then when schools reopened, I started feeling better, I had a boyfriend at the time and I didnt think back to that questioning again for 2-3 years. But everytime the time interval (around new years and winter) where I had that crisis came close, I would feel grim, not necessary question anything or feel uncomfortable with how I was presenting, just that feeling of anxiousness and feeling gray would return in a dimmed way because those few weeks really were agony for me, I had lost like 3-4 kgs due to being anxious and not being able to eat anything, crying so much that I would just throw up what I had eaten. But for those 2-3 years outside of those time intervals, I was happy with who I was, besides little insecurities I had that didnt have much to do with my gender identity. I was hopeful towards the future, I was feeling like myself again, I had found a career I really wanted to do, I had made new friends in university. I had started a new relationship with a guy and him calling me his girlfriend, would give me butterflies and make me feel on cloud 9, and doing intimate talks regarding sexuality with him didnt feel odd, I didnt feel uncomfortable at all or that I was being someone I wasnt, the only things that made me feel reluctant was my inexperience in that topic and feeling embarrassed. Imagining scenarios with him where I was percieved as a girl didnt disturb me, it was actually nice and enjoyable and natural. We have broken up since, even tho I still have feelings for him and he has for me, it was the wrong time for us. Ever since that break up, I have been continually feelings worse and worse, and now my university is online due to a local occurance. I have been isolated from my friends, we barely get the chance to meet up between classes and assignments. Due to these factors, my gender identity crisis has returned. I found myself not relating to the person I see in the mirror, I felt like I wanted to cut off my hands, rip my face off because both kept reminding me of this situation. I have imagined interacting with the world in a way a guy or a nonbinary person would and I dont find it particularly enjoyable, I can barely imagine it at all. But I also dont feel like I am who I was, I feel dissociated from the sense of self I had where I was happy. I dont feel like I am the woman I was, I feel like a ghost, and I dont know what to make of it. My brain is constantly like "what if you are actually a trans man and you have been surpressing it so much, what if your attraction to men is just you wanting to be like them, and you dont actually feel like a woman and you have been putting up a front your entire life" It isnt pleasant, it is rather anxiety inducing and imagining myself as presenting as another gender doesn't help at all, if anything it makes the churning feeling in my stomach worse. And when I imagine interacting with the world as a woman, that's what feels natural but I find myself relating to awkward guy characters like Newt Scamander more and more, but when I imagine myself in scenarios I never imagine myself as a guy, my personas are always women, or always feminine presenting. I dont know what my point is exactly, it feels like my brain is constantly working to induce anxiety on me and feeling like I am not myself is not helping either. Can any of you bring some light into what I am experiencing? I dont know where else to talk about this and I need some relief until I can talk with my psychologist again. Sorry for the long post.

This is a short summary of how various Bleach characters could be fused into the Avatar universe, with regards to their powers and abilities, and how they would fit in the world of Avatar. Additionally, snippets about how the lore of the Bleach universe might fit in with the lore of the Avatar universe. Note that this is a fanwork and there are elements that I have changed slightly. Also this does allude to certain elements in the Thousand Year Blood War arc that have not been released in anime format.

Yamamoto

The most powerful firebender in recorded history whose strength surpassed the Avatar's. His unmatched prowess with flame allows him to not just produce vast quantities of fire, but also directly manipulate the volatile element (similar to how a waterbender bends water); additionally, he can control his inner flame to allow him to maintaining his mental and physical state (in a similar manner to how Kyoshi lived hundreds of years). He left the Fire Nation and founded the Soul Society during the reign of Fire Lord Yosor, during this time of great upheaval many people, from all nations flocked to the Soul Society, under the protection of the most powerful and dangerous warriors at the time. Since that day, the Soul Society has remained as a neutral fifth nation, despite many external attempts to "unite" it with both the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom.

Soi Fon

The Fon Clan were originally a group of Air Nomads who were captured and subjugated by the Shihoin Clan before the era of Avatar Szeto, when the Soul Society was founded the Shihoin Clan brought along the Fon Clan as their retainers. As the centuries pass nothing remains of the Fon's nomadic heritage other than their bending, with Soi Fon being one of the last remaining air benders and the 9th clan head. She utilises her bending to manipulate the air currents and pressure around her body, allowing her to move at speeds faster than the human eye can see. She carries a short blade on her back, and wears a black and gold gauntlet with a middle finger stinger; the stinger contains a poison which can kill with two stabs. Her most powerful technique involves encircling her body with a hyper-sonic vortex of air, once created she can maintain this vortex indefinitely.

Gin Ichimaru

An incredibly cunning earthbender; without warning he can rapidly move the ground under his opponents feet, which he uses to create openings to strike with his blade. However, his blade is where his true power lies, he claims that he has mastered metalbending a particular alloy which forms his blade. It appears as though he thins and stretches his blade allowing him to lunge and strike at opponents from great distances. However this is a lie, he has actually mastered bending a the dust of a rare substance, which is both extremely poisonous and capable of being compressed into a dense blade. During battle, he earthbends his blade expanding the dust at incredible speed to slice through his opponents before returning all of the substance to it's original blade form (to keep the poisonous nature of the blade a secret). The top-speed of his dust expansion technique is faster than the human eye can follow, however he only unleashes the true speed in the last moments of a strike, to keep his opponent's off-guard and guarantee a hit.

Unohana Retsu

The first and most brutal bloodbender in history, in every nation she was regarded as the most heinous villain alive, bringing slaughter and death wherever she went. In battle, her used a large curved blade to slice open her opponents, before draining the blood from their body through the newly formed wound; she would then use this new blood to create razor thin sweeping arcs of blood to carve through yet more opponents, thus repeating the cycle. Additionally, she used her bloodbending on herself, forcibly moving her body at incredible speeds to make her one of the deadliest swordsman in the world. However, as the decades passed (after the Soul Society was formed) the stories about this monster faded over time, eventually becoming myth and legend. This is because Unohana forsook her murderous ways and instead utilised her bloodbending with her natural waterbending healing to become one of the most powerful healers in the world. As a consequence over this mastery of healing and self-bloodbending Unohana has successfully extended her lifespan by hundreds of years and granted herself eternal youth.

Sosuke Aizen

A charismatic and intelligent waterbender who has completely mastered spirit bending and seeks to use this ability to transform himself beyond his present human body. As a water bender his control over the element is so fine that he can create illusions to manipulate his opponents. He controls the water vapour in the air to diffuse and reflect light to create a visual component to his illusions; he vibrates the water molecules in the air to produce pressure waves to either create false sounds or mask real sounds. However, it is his studies into the spirit realm and spirit bending are what make him exceptionally dangerous; Aizen came to the conclusion that there is no single spirit (other than Vaatu) which is stronger than Raava. Therefore, to surpass the Avatar he would need to forge a new spirit by amalgamating the souls of humans and lesser spirits. Through the process of creation, this forged spirits will would be subjugated by Aizen's own will, thus when he merges with the amalgam Aizen will retain his sense of self.

Byakuya Kuchiki

A calm and collected metalbender, who is renowned for his absolute control over the substance Cobalt. Cobalt is a light pink metal with a silvery white surface; the blade of the Kuchiki clan hereditary weapon is made from this substance. In battle, Byakuya separates his single blade into hundreds of razor thin slices that float around him, these blades have the appearance of cherry blossom petals dancing in an invisible breeze. He swarms his opponents with the petals, killing them through thousands of cuts, all the while using metalbending to maintain the edges of the blades. His skill with manipulating the metal is so great that is he capable of controlling and generating lightning using the magnetic properties of the metal. The Kuchiki clan are one of the founding bodies of the Soul Society, they were once a noble clan from the city of Tienhaishi, but fled as the city was razed to the ground by the vengeful spirit, General Old Iron. Several years ago, Byakuya defied his clan elders and married a refugee waterbender who was originally from beyond the Soul Society.

Sajin Komamura

A loyal and kind-hearted member of the Wolfman Clan, Koamura is regarded as one of the most powerful earthbenders in the world. His signature technique is to earthbend a colossal earthen golem, over three-hundred feet tall, which copies his movements. Among all mortal creatures, there is no other capable of moving that amount of earth for hours on end. The Wolfman Clan originated during the Era of Raava, and were humans who were cursed by spirits with a beastly appearance because of their sins in life. The clan has remained hidden for many years; however, a young Komamura left his clan to explore the wider world. However, he was deeply scarred by the times when he was spurned by humans for his appearance; forcing him to wear armour which covered his entire body. His travels eventually lead him to the Soul Society, where he was greeted and accepted by Yamamoto. Finally, with a place to call home, he became close friends with the blind-man Tōsen.

Shunsui Kyōraku

A laid-back and flamboyant swordsman, who merged with Kemurikage, a dark spirit of a grieving mother who lost their child to the violent warlord, Toz. Shunsui’s abilities are not elemental based, but instead derived from the spirits yearning for the lost days when her child would sit with her and play games. Shunsui can make children’s games a reality, through this he can conjure illusions, travel through shadows, and turn non-lethal blows deadly. He is originally from the Fire Nation, and traveled to the soul society when he was young, at the behest of his brother’s widow, the then current head of the Ise Clan. Through his deep connection with the dark spirits, Shunsui sealed away the Ise Clan’s legendary artifact to prevent anymore deaths. Shunsui remained in the Soul Society as steward of the Ise Clan artifact, training his spirit bending abilities under Yamamoto and mastering the skills of swordsmanship.

Kaname Tōsen

A blind earthbender who is a master of neutral jing, he can controls the vibrations of all earth and dust within his vicinity. His signature technique is to use his earthbending to grind the ground in the area to dust, then lift the dust into the air and hold it perfectly still. The dust forms a dome which blocks all light and the stillness of the particles means that sounds are dampened to nothing; thus rendinger all inside the dome blind and deaf. He even dampens his footsteps thus becoming invisible to those who sense using tremors in the ground. The airbourne dust becomes an extension of Tōsen’s senses, allowing him to feel the minute movements of his opponents in all directions. This ability can be used offensively, moving the dust particles rapidly to create high pitched resonating sounds and small shockwaves. He has dedicated his life to battling injustice and corruption, after his dearest friend, Kakyō, was murdered by her husband.

Tōshirō Hitsugaya

One of the most powerful waterbenders in the world, Hitsugaya was blessed by the great heavenly ice dragon Hyōrinmaru. Hitsugaya can control the water in the surrounding atmosphere, cooling the vapour to form fearsome dragons of ice and water. Hitsugaya’s immense power is eclipsed by both his intellect and potential, he utilised the principles of thermodynamics in conjunction with his bending, to form fire resistant barriers made from thin layers of ice separated by a vacuum. His greatest achievement is using his waterbending to lift and control a large set of ice wings which are connected to his back, allowing him to fly. Thus he is the Soul Societies most powerful aerial combatant. He was born in the Soul Society, and alongside his close friend Hinamori he was raised by his grandmother. But once she left to train her firebending, he found that his power was growing wild, and that it was hurting the ones closest to him. He began training as a way to gain control, help those around him, and protect the Soul Society from attacks.

Kenpachi Zaraki

The most dangerous non-bender in the world, similar to how the Avatar merged with Raava and became the embodiment of balance and harmony, Zaraki Kenpachi is a human who has merged with a nameless malevolent oni spirit, who is the embodiment of battle and slaughter. Through this union, Zaraki became stronger, faster and more durable than any other mortal alive, although the spirit could not reincarnate, he could slow the rate at which Zaraki aged. As Zaraki fights, he enters into a euphoric frenzy, merging closer with his spirit; the stronger the opponent the closer Zaraki merges with his spirit. The origins of this individual are unknown, even to himself, however he has wandered the world seeking a battle that will finally bring him joy. In the beginning of the Hundred Year War, Zaraki had made his way to the Soul Society, and finally found his fated opponent; Unohana Yachiru’s bloodbending enhancement allowed her to survive against Zaraki’s onslaught. However, as the battle progressed, he realised that if he were to win, then he would never again be able to experience the extasy of battle like this again. He subconsciously weakened the connection with his spirit and eventually lost that battle.

Mayuri Kurotsuchi

One of the most intelligent men in the world, Mayuri Kurotsuchi is an earthbender who has mastered the art of bending pure rare metals, such as gold. He travels with a golden sword and a large golden golem in the shape of an insect-like monster. Mayuri utilises the non-reactive nature of gold to contain plethora of chemicals and poison within his sword and golem, with each substance being confined within it’s own sealed golden compartment. Should he require a given amount of a pure chemical, he changes the porosity of the gold, so that it may emit the substance. If he requires a mixture of substances, he bends an empty vial within his golem and then siphons off chemicals from the other containers into this new vial to react together (using substances like platinum as a catalyst). He is widely regarded to be a sadistic monster, who holds no regard for human life. In his youth he trained under the legendary Shutara Senjumaru before being imprisoned for his horrific experiments. He was eventually released by Kisuke Urahara, for his technical mind.

Jūshirō Ukitake

A spiritual Firebender who was blessed by the Moon Spirit Tui and has mastered the rare ability to energy-bend. When Ukitake was young he developed a fatal lung disease, his parents prayed to every spirit they knew till eventually the spirit of the Moon answered their prayers. This blessing healed his lungs, turned his hair white, and allowed him to feel the ebb and flow of the energy around him, bending it as if it were water. Ukitake is able to bend the flames as if they were water, regardless if he produced them or not. Additionally, Ukitake is the progenitor of lightning redirection, a technique that would be passed down to the Dragon of the West, Iroh, when the general travelled to the Soul Society in the aftermath of the Siege of Ba Sing Se. Ukitake’s kind nature and unwavering belief in good, has allowed him to develop a connection to the spirit world, where he mastered the ability to manipulate spiritual energy. Through this he bonded with his long-time close friend Kyōraku.

Chōjirō Sasakibe

An exceptionally loyal Firebender who has served Yamamoto since the foundation of the Soul Society. Despite his rank and appearance, he is a deadly warrior who has mastered and the art of lightning bending, and pushed beyond the limits of what was originally thought possible. Utilising heat-bending in conjunction with his lightning, he is capable of summoning vast thunderbolts from the sky, eclipsing any lightning generated by a mortal. Additionally, through careful chi control and artful lightning manipulation, he has slowed his aging so that he may serve alongside his commander.

Marechiyo Ōmaeda

A large but crafty non-bender, Marechiyo Ōmaeda is descended from a long line of professional hitmen. Prior to the formation of the Soul Society, the Ōmaeda family were a small time bandit clan in, what is known today as, the Fire Nation. However, upon the defection of Yamamoto and the formation of the Soul Society, the Ōmaeda family prospered and profited in the ensuring war. Eventually, they would come to serve as another vassal house for the Shihoin clan, alongside the Fon clan. Marechiyo Ōmaeda is the heir to the family fortune, and currently serves under Soi Fon, much to her chagrin. Despite his appearance, he is an exceptionally fast combatant and a cunning fighter, utilising his opponents assumptions about his size to bludgeon them in the head with a massive spiked iron ball, which is his signature weapon. However, he is exceptionally cowardly, and will utilising smoke and tear gas bombs to facilitate his escape.

Izuru Kira

An introspective and tactical earthbender who utilises a family technique to energybend. The Kira family were descended from a lesser prince of the Earth Kingdom royal family; during the Wars of Secrets and Daggers, the patriarch was killed and the remaining family fled out of fear. Pleading their case before the sages and judges of the Soul Society, the family was allowed to settle within the protective walls and hold some amount of political power, befitting their former status. Izuru Kira has mastered the family technique of the “earthen crush” whereby the user imparts their earthen chi into an object that they touch, allowing them to bend the object or person directly downwards, crushing them. This powerful technique requires the bender touch the target, so that they may impart their chi.

Isane Kotetsu

The protégé of Unohana, this waterbender is second only to her master in terms of healing capabilities. Her grandfather was originally from the Southern Water Tribe and fled to the Soul Society during the raids, bringing with him the tribes scrolls of healing, which were passed down through the family. She and her sister were originally split during their brief time in the slums; however, fortune smiled upon Isane as she was reunited with her sister within the Soul Society. Unbenownest to the pair, Unohana sponsered both of their entries, and holds a genuine affection for Isane, something which the ancient bloodbender had never felt before.

Momo Hinamori

An exceptionally clever firebender who has mastered the art of altering the trajectory of her fire mid-flight. Similar to how energybenders utilise the connections between all living creatures to search, Hinamori can utilise those connections as pathways to channel her fire, giving her a dangerous degree of accuracy. She was born in the Soul Society, and alongside her close friend Tōshirō she was raised by her grandmother. However, inspired by the powerful benders who defended the Soul Society and fuelled by her desire to protect her friends, she left to begin her firebending training. Her focus on academics and on connections within energy bending is how she was introduced to Aizen, a well established defender of the Soul Society; she grew enamoured with him, which only encouraged her to pursue her firebending techniques further, so that she may protect her family alongside such a powerful figure.

Renji Abarai

Renji Abarai was born in the slums outside of the Soul Society, the areas that consist of the refugees and families who are awaiting judgement on if they may be granted citizenship. The soldiers who patrol these areas are purely to deter foreign invaders, resulting in a lawless sprawl of shanty towns. After Renji’s childhood companion, Rukia was adopted by one of the noble houses within the Soul Society, he began training in one of the nearby valleys, where he encountered a wild spirit. The jungle this spirit ruled over was burned to ash by the Fire Nation, and it was left aimless and wandering. Renji began to bond with the spirit and promised a better life for them, if the spirit bonded with him. After this union, Renji was able to gain citizenship within the Soul Society because he demonstrated his immense physical abilities, that had been enhanced through the union. After training with Zaraki, who possessed a similar spiritual nature, he came to serve Byakuya Kuchiki, the adopted older brother of his childhood companion Rukia.

Tetsuzaemon Iba

A dangerous non-bender who specialises in swordsmanship and hand to hand combat. Originally he was the leader of one of the many gangs who ruled over the slums, having inherited the position from his mother. However, after an Earth Kingdom raid devastated his hometown, he vowed to protect those under his care, and enlisted in the army of the Soul Society. Iba’s loyalty to the Soul Society and his Captain are well renowned; his skill as a fighter is exceptional as he is always training to master all forms of combat. Nanao Ise
Nanao Ise is the last of a long line of matrilineal priestesses, who oversaw and carried out rituals and rites related to spirits. To accomplish this task, the Ise clan passed down a sacred blade which can reflect energy in all forms. It is regarded as the pinnacle of energy bending, and it is through this scared blade that Nanao is training to become a master of energy bending. Her superior, Kyoraku, was a close friend of the family, and was entrusted with the blade until Nanao was of age to begin training. Her tutors are the aforementioned Kyōraku and the affable Ukitake; her personality is diametrically opposed to these two, she is a serious and pragmatic person, yet she remains respectful to her teachers in the spiritual arts.

Shūhei Hisagi

Shūhei Hisagi is one of the few air-benders within the bounds of the Soul Society, he is descended from monks who fled during Sozin’s attack on the temples. However, as a result of the air-bender purges, Hisagi learned nothing about air-bending philosophy nor the cultural roots. Despite this, he is a master air-bender who has developed his own philosophy on the balance between life and death. It is this understanding of balance, that drives his unique, and aggressive, air-bending techniques, which are focused on manipulating air currents around a pair of chained scythes. He is highly respected within the Soul Society, and is the managing editor of the largest newspaper within the Soul Society … despite his inability to write a popular article.

Rangiku Matsumoto

Rangiku Matsumoto is a gregarious and lively Earth-bender, who grew-up alongside Gin Ichimaru within the slums outside the Soul Society. To gain entry into the Soul Society she trained to become adept at the art of dust and ash bending, she moves these particles at high speed to cut through an opponent as easily as a sword. The elders of the Shiba clan, one of the founding clans of the Soul Society, sponsored her entry and assigned her to assist the, then, head of the clan. Her outgoing personality has made her popular within multiple circles, and she is close friends with many other of the defenders of the Soul Society including Hisagi and Kira.

Yachiru Kusajishi

Yachiru Kusajishi is a dark spirit, bound to the mortal realm, that took the form of a human child. Initially, this spirit was formless without thought or body; however, the area that this spirit inhabited became the site for a series of violent and bloody conflicts. Out of the bloodlust and suffering this spirit began to grow and bond with the creature that exhibited the greatest lust for battle: that being the future Kenpachi Zaraki. Eventually, this bond became strong enough to allow the spirit to manifest within the physical realm. This juvenile spirit was adopted by Zaraki, becoming a surrogate daughter. Through interaction with humans beyond violence, the spirit grew into a person in her own right; becoming a bubbly and excitable child. Despite this, she is a dangerous combatant; her physical nature as a spirit makes her both faster and stronger than any mortal. Through her upbringing she associated violence with playing, her favourite game is “dodge”, wherein she attacks an opponent to force them to dodge. However, the trick of this game is that she has the ability to hit an opponent both “before” and “after” the hit, making dodging nigh impossible.

Nemu Kurotsuchi

Similar to Yachiru, Nemu Kurotsuchi is a dark spirit bound to the mortal realm who took the form of a young woman. However, she was artificially created by the mad scientist Mayuri, who captured and tortured spirits, forcing them into subservience and then manifesting those in a homunculus body. Through many repeated attempts Mayuri succeeded in the creation of Nemu; however, his experiments could not be kept secret for long. Under direct orders from both the governing body of the Soul Society, and Yamamoto himself. Mayuri’s ability to energy-bend was sealed completely and Nemu was removed from his custody. She has taken residence with Kyoraku, Ukitake and Nanao, and is regaining the free will that was so cruelly taken from her. Similar to Yachiru, whom she shares a kindred bond with, Nemu is faster and stronger than any mortal and has an incredible durability as a result of her Homunculi body. Additionally, there are several chemicals and aspects of her mortal form, which are only known to Mayuri himself.

Rukia Kuchiki

Rukia Kuchiki is a powerful water-bender with an affinity for manipulating ice and snow. She was a refugee from a Northern Water Tribe outpost, and was carried to the slums outside the Soul Society by her sister, Hisana. In a desperate attempt for survival, Rukia’s sister abandoned her within the slums when she was less than a year old. Rukia grew up alongside Renji within these dangerous areas; however, Hisana had not forgotten about her and upon her deathbed Hisana made her husband, Byakuya, promise to bring Rukia to safety. After Byakuya fulfilled that promise, Rukia began training her waterbending and developed her own style, distinct from the traditional Northern Water Tribe form. This new form is to waterbending what the dancing dragons is to firebending, an elegant form which alters the fundamental principles. Rather than the fluidity and change, Rukia focused on the rigidity and stillness of water. This philosophy was inspired by her earthbending step-brother, and allows Rukia to form structures of super-cold ice at temperatures that are unnatural even by spirits.

This is a short summary of how various Bleach characters could be fused into the Avatar universe, with regards to their powers and abilities, and how they would fit in the world of Avatar. Additionally, snippets about how the lore of the Bleach universe might fit in with the lore of the Avatar universe. Note that this is a fanwork and there are elements that I have changed slightly. Also this does allude to certain elements in the Thousand Year Blood War arc that have not been released in anime format.

Yamamoto

The most powerful firebender in recorded history whose strength surpassed the Avatar's. His unmatched prowess with flame allows him to not just produce vast quantities of fire, but also directly manipulate the volatile element (similar to how a waterbender bends water); additionally, he can control his inner flame to allow him to maintaining his mental and physical state (in a similar manner to how Kyoshi lived hundreds of years). He left the Fire Nation and founded the Soul Society during the reign of Fire Lord Yosor, during this time of great upheaval many people, from all nations flocked to the Soul Society, under the protection of the most powerful and dangerous warriors at the time. Since that day, the Soul Society has remained as a neutral fifth nation, despite many external attempts to "unite" it with both the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom.

Soi Fon

The Fon Clan were originally a group of Air Nomads who were captured and subjugated by the Shihoin Clan before the era of Avatar Szeto, when the Soul Society was founded the Shihoin Clan brought along the Fon Clan as their retainers. As the centuries pass nothing remains of the Fon's nomadic heritage other than their bending, with Soi Fon being one of the last remaining air benders and the 9th clan head. She utilises her bending to manipulate the air currents and pressure around her body, allowing her to move at speeds faster than the human eye can see. She carries a short blade on her back, and wears a black and gold gauntlet with a middle finger stinger; the stinger contains a poison which can kill with two stabs. Her most powerful technique involves encircling her body with a hyper-sonic vortex of air, once created she can maintain this vortex indefinitely.

Gin Ichimaru

An incredibly cunning earthbender; without warning he can rapidly move the ground under his opponents feet, which he uses to create openings to strike with his blade. However, his blade is where his true power lies, he claims that he has mastered metalbending a particular alloy which forms his blade. It appears as though he thins and stretches his blade allowing him to lunge and strike at opponents from great distances. However this is a lie, he has actually mastered bending a the dust of a rare substance, which is both extremely poisonous and capable of being compressed into a dense blade. During battle, he earthbends his blade expanding the dust at incredible speed to slice through his opponents before returning all of the substance to it's original blade form (to keep the poisonous nature of the blade a secret). The top-speed of his dust expansion technique is faster than the human eye can follow, however he only unleashes the true speed in the last moments of a strike, to keep his opponent's off-guard and guarantee a hit.

Unohana Retsu

The first and most brutal bloodbender in history, in every nation she was regarded as the most heinous villain alive, bringing slaughter and death wherever she went. In battle, her used a large curved blade to slice open her opponents, before draining the blood from their body through the newly formed wound; she would then use this new blood to create razor thin sweeping arcs of blood to carve through yet more opponents, thus repeating the cycle. Additionally, she used her bloodbending on herself, forcibly moving her body at incredible speeds to make her one of the deadliest swordsman in the world. However, as the decades passed (after the Soul Society was formed) the stories about this monster faded over time, eventually becoming myth and legend. This is because Unohana forsook her murderous ways and instead utilised her bloodbending with her natural waterbending healing to become one of the most powerful healers in the world. As a consequence over this mastery of healing and self-bloodbending Unohana has successfully extended her lifespan by hundreds of years and granted herself eternal youth.

Sosuke Aizen

A charismatic and intelligent waterbender who has completely mastered spirit bending and seeks to use this ability to transform himself beyond his present human body. As a water bender his control over the element is so fine that he can create illusions to manipulate his opponents. He controls the water vapour in the air to diffuse and reflect light to create a visual component to his illusions; he vibrates the water molecules in the air to produce pressure waves to either create false sounds or mask real sounds. However, it is his studies into the spirit realm and spirit bending are what make him exceptionally dangerous; Aizen came to the conclusion that there is no single spirit (other than Vaatu) which is stronger than Raava. Therefore, to surpass the Avatar he would need to forge a new spirit by amalgamating the souls of humans and lesser spirits. Through the process of creation, this forged spirits will would be subjugated by Aizen's own will, thus when he merges with the amalgam Aizen will retain his sense of self.

Byakuya Kuchiki

A calm and collected metalbender, who is renowned for his absolute control over the substance Cobalt. Cobalt is a light pink metal with a silvery white surface; the blade of the Kuchiki clan hereditary weapon is made from this substance. In battle, Byakuya separates his single blade into hundreds of razor thin slices that float around him, these blades have the appearance of cherry blossom petals dancing in an invisible breeze. He swarms his opponents with the petals, killing them through thousands of cuts, all the while using metalbending to maintain the edges of the blades. His skill with manipulating the metal is so great that is he capable of controlling and generating lightning using the magnetic properties of the metal. The Kuchiki clan are one of the founding bodies of the Soul Society, they were once a noble clan from the city of Tienhaishi, but fled as the city was razed to the ground by the vengeful spirit, General Old Iron. Several years ago, Byakuya defied his clan elders and married a refugee waterbender who was originally from beyond the Soul Society.

Sajin Komamura

A loyal and kind-hearted member of the Wolfman Clan, Koamura is regarded as one of the most powerful earthbenders in the world. His signature technique is to earthbend a colossal earthen golem, over three-hundred feet tall, which copies his movements. Among all mortal creatures, there is no other capable of moving that amount of earth for hours on end. The Wolfman Clan originated during the Era of Raava, and were humans who were cursed by spirits with a beastly appearance because of their sins in life. The clan has remained hidden for many years; however, a young Komamura left his clan to explore the wider world. However, he was deeply scarred by the times when he was spurned by humans for his appearance; forcing him to wear armour which covered his entire body. His travels eventually lead him to the Soul Society, where he was greeted and accepted by Yamamoto. Finally, with a place to call home, he became close friends with the blind-man Tōsen.

Shunsui Kyōraku

A laid-back and flamboyant swordsman, who merged with Kemurikage, a dark spirit of a grieving mother who lost their child to the violent warlord, Toz. Shunsui’s abilities are not elemental based, but instead derived from the spirits yearning for the lost days when her child would sit with her and play games. Shunsui can make children’s games a reality, through this he can conjure illusions, travel through shadows, and turn non-lethal blows deadly. He is originally from the Fire Nation, and traveled to the soul society when he was young, at the behest of his brother’s widow, the then current head of the Ise Clan. Through his deep connection with the dark spirits, Shunsui sealed away the Ise Clan’s legendary artifact to prevent anymore deaths. Shunsui remained in the Soul Society as steward of the Ise Clan artifact, training his spirit bending abilities under Yamamoto and mastering the skills of swordsmanship.

Kaname Tōsen

A blind earthbender who is a master of neutral jing, he can controls the vibrations of all earth and dust within his vicinity. His signature technique is to use his earthbending to grind the ground in the area to dust, then lift the dust into the air and hold it perfectly still. The dust forms a dome which blocks all light and the stillness of the particles means that sounds are dampened to nothing; thus rendinger all inside the dome blind and deaf. He even dampens his footsteps thus becoming invisible to those who sense using tremors in the ground. The airbourne dust becomes an extension of Tōsen’s senses, allowing him to feel the minute movements of his opponents in all directions. This ability can be used offensively, moving the dust particles rapidly to create high pitched resonating sounds and small shockwaves. He has dedicated his life to battling injustice and corruption, after his dearest friend, Kakyō, was murdered by her husband.

Tōshirō Hitsugaya

One of the most powerful waterbenders in the world, Hitsugaya was blessed by the great heavenly ice dragon Hyōrinmaru. Hitsugaya can control the water in the surrounding atmosphere, cooling the vapour to form fearsome dragons of ice and water. Hitsugaya’s immense power is eclipsed by both his intellect and potential, he utilised the principles of thermodynamics in conjunction with his bending, to form fire resistant barriers made from thin layers of ice separated by a vacuum. His greatest achievement is using his waterbending to lift and control a large set of ice wings which are connected to his back, allowing him to fly. Thus he is the Soul Societies most powerful aerial combatant. He was born in the Soul Society, and alongside his close friend Hinamori he was raised by his grandmother. But once she left to train her firebending, he found that his power was growing wild, and that it was hurting the ones closest to him. He began training as a way to gain control, help those around him, and protect the Soul Society from attacks.

Kenpachi Zaraki

The most dangerous non-bender in the world, similar to how the Avatar merged with Raava and became the embodiment of balance and harmony, Zaraki Kenpachi is a human who has merged with a nameless malevolent oni spirit, who is the embodiment of battle and slaughter. Through this union, Zaraki became stronger, faster and more durable than any other mortal alive, although the spirit could not reincarnate, he could slow the rate at which Zaraki aged. As Zaraki fights, he enters into a euphoric frenzy, merging closer with his spirit; the stronger the opponent the closer Zaraki merges with his spirit. The origins of this individual are unknown, even to himself, however he has wandered the world seeking a battle that will finally bring him joy. In the beginning of the Hundred Year War, Zaraki had made his way to the Soul Society, and finally found his fated opponent; Unohana Yachiru’s bloodbending enhancement allowed her to survive against Zaraki’s onslaught. However, as the battle progressed, he realised that if he were to win, then he would never again be able to experience the extasy of battle like this again. He subconsciously weakened the connection with his spirit and eventually lost that battle.

Mayuri Kurotsuchi

One of the most intelligent men in the world, Mayuri Kurotsuchi is an earthbender who has mastered the art of bending pure rare metals, such as gold. He travels with a golden sword and a large golden golem in the shape of an insect-like monster. Mayuri utilises the non-reactive nature of gold to contain plethora of chemicals and poison within his sword and golem, with each substance being confined within it’s own sealed golden compartment. Should he require a given amount of a pure chemical, he changes the porosity of the gold, so that it may emit the substance. If he requires a mixture of substances, he bends an empty vial within his golem and then siphons off chemicals from the other containers into this new vial to react together (using substances like platinum as a catalyst). He is widely regarded to be a sadistic monster, who holds no regard for human life. In his youth he trained under the legendary Shutara Senjumaru before being imprisoned for his horrific experiments. He was eventually released by Kisuke Urahara, for his technical mind.

Jūshirō Ukitake

A spiritual Firebender who was blessed by the Moon Spirit Tui and has mastered the rare ability to energy-bend. When Ukitake was young he developed a fatal lung disease, his parents prayed to every spirit they knew till eventually the spirit of the Moon answered their prayers. This blessing healed his lungs, turned his hair white, and allowed him to feel the ebb and flow of the energy around him, bending it as if it were water. Ukitake is able to bend the flames as if they were water, regardless if he produced them or not. Additionally, Ukitake is the progenitor of lightning redirection, a technique that would be passed down to the Dragon of the West, Iroh, when the general travelled to the Soul Society in the aftermath of the Siege of Ba Sing Se. Ukitake’s kind nature and unwavering belief in good, has allowed him to develop a connection to the spirit world, where he mastered the ability to manipulate spiritual energy. Through this he bonded with his long-time close friend Kyōraku.

Chōjirō Sasakibe

An exceptionally loyal Firebender who has served Yamamoto since the foundation of the Soul Society. Despite his rank and appearance, he is a deadly warrior who has mastered and the art of lightning bending, and pushed beyond the limits of what was originally thought possible. Utilising heat-bending in conjunction with his lightning, he is capable of summoning vast thunderbolts from the sky, eclipsing any lightning generated by a mortal. Additionally, through careful chi control and artful lightning manipulation, he has slowed his aging so that he may serve alongside his commander.

Marechiyo Ōmaeda

A large but crafty non-bender, Marechiyo Ōmaeda is descended from a long line of professional hitmen. Prior to the formation of the Soul Society, the Ōmaeda family were a small time bandit clan in, what is known today as, the Fire Nation. However, upon the defection of Yamamoto and the formation of the Soul Society, the Ōmaeda family prospered and profited in the ensuring war. Eventually, they would come to serve as another vassal house for the Shihoin clan, alongside the Fon clan. Marechiyo Ōmaeda is the heir to the family fortune, and currently serves under Soi Fon, much to her chagrin. Despite his appearance, he is an exceptionally fast combatant and a cunning fighter, utilising his opponents assumptions about his size to bludgeon them in the head with a massive spiked iron ball, which is his signature weapon. However, he is exceptionally cowardly, and will utilising smoke and tear gas bombs to facilitate his escape.

Izuru Kira

An introspective and tactical earthbender who utilises a family technique to energybend. The Kira family were descended from a lesser prince of the Earth Kingdom royal family; during the Wars of Secrets and Daggers, the patriarch was killed and the remaining family fled out of fear. Pleading their case before the sages and judges of the Soul Society, the family was allowed to settle within the protective walls and hold some amount of political power, befitting their former status. Izuru Kira has mastered the family technique of the “earthen crush” whereby the user imparts their earthen chi into an object that they touch, allowing them to bend the object or person directly downwards, crushing them. This powerful technique requires the bender touch the target, so that they may impart their chi.

Isane Kotetsu

The protégé of Unohana, this waterbender is second only to her master in terms of healing capabilities. Her grandfather was originally from the Southern Water Tribe and fled to the Soul Society during the raids, bringing with him the tribes scrolls of healing, which were passed down through the family. She and her sister were originally split during their brief time in the slums; however, fortune smiled upon Isane as she was reunited with her sister within the Soul Society. Unbenownest to the pair, Unohana sponsered both of their entries, and holds a genuine affection for Isane, something which the ancient bloodbender had never felt before.

Momo Hinamori

An exceptionally clever firebender who has mastered the art of altering the trajectory of her fire mid-flight. Similar to how energybenders utilise the connections between all living creatures to search, Hinamori can utilise those connections as pathways to channel her fire, giving her a dangerous degree of accuracy. She was born in the Soul Society, and alongside her close friend Tōshirō she was raised by her grandmother. However, inspired by the powerful benders who defended the Soul Society and fuelled by her desire to protect her friends, she left to begin her firebending training. Her focus on academics and on connections within energy bending is how she was introduced to Aizen, a well established defender of the Soul Society; she grew enamoured with him, which only encouraged her to pursue her firebending techniques further, so that she may protect her family alongside such a powerful figure.

Renji Abarai

Renji Abarai was born in the slums outside of the Soul Society, the areas that consist of the refugees and families who are awaiting judgement on if they may be granted citizenship. The soldiers who patrol these areas are purely to deter foreign invaders, resulting in a lawless sprawl of shanty towns. After Renji’s childhood companion, Rukia was adopted by one of the noble houses within the Soul Society, he began training in one of the nearby valleys, where he encountered a wild spirit. The jungle this spirit ruled over was burned to ash by the Fire Nation, and it was left aimless and wandering. Renji began to bond with the spirit and promised a better life for them, if the spirit bonded with him. After this union, Renji was able to gain citizenship within the Soul Society because he demonstrated his immense physical abilities, that had been enhanced through the union. After training with Zaraki, who possessed a similar spiritual nature, he came to serve Byakuya Kuchiki, the adopted older brother of his childhood companion Rukia.

Tetsuzaemon Iba

A dangerous non-bender who specialises in swordsmanship and hand to hand combat. Originally he was the leader of one of the many gangs who ruled over the slums, having inherited the position from his mother. However, after an Earth Kingdom raid devastated his hometown, he vowed to protect those under his care, and enlisted in the army of the Soul Society. Iba’s loyalty to the Soul Society and his Captain are well renowned; his skill as a fighter is exceptional as he is always training to master all forms of combat. Nanao Ise
Nanao Ise is the last of a long line of matrilineal priestesses, who oversaw and carried out rituals and rites related to spirits. To accomplish this task, the Ise clan passed down a sacred blade which can reflect energy in all forms. It is regarded as the pinnacle of energy bending, and it is through this scared blade that Nanao is training to become a master of energy bending. Her superior, Kyoraku, was a close friend of the family, and was entrusted with the blade until Nanao was of age to begin training. Her tutors are the aforementioned Kyōraku and the affable Ukitake; her personality is diametrically opposed to these two, she is a serious and pragmatic person, yet she remains respectful to her teachers in the spiritual arts.

Shūhei Hisagi

Shūhei Hisagi is one of the few air-benders within the bounds of the Soul Society, he is descended from monks who fled during Sozin’s attack on the temples. However, as a result of the air-bender purges, Hisagi learned nothing about air-bending philosophy nor the cultural roots. Despite this, he is a master air-bender who has developed his own philosophy on the balance between life and death. It is this understanding of balance, that drives his unique, and aggressive, air-bending techniques, which are focused on manipulating air currents around a pair of chained scythes. He is highly respected within the Soul Society, and is the managing editor of the largest newspaper within the Soul Society … despite his inability to write a popular article.

Rangiku Matsumoto

Rangiku Matsumoto is a gregarious and lively Earth-bender, who grew-up alongside Gin Ichimaru within the slums outside the Soul Society. To gain entry into the Soul Society she trained to become adept at the art of dust and ash bending, she moves these particles at high speed to cut through an opponent as easily as a sword. The elders of the Shiba clan, one of the founding clans of the Soul Society, sponsored her entry and assigned her to assist the, then, head of the clan. Her outgoing personality has made her popular within multiple circles, and she is close friends with many other of the defenders of the Soul Society including Hisagi and Kira.

Yachiru Kusajishi

Yachiru Kusajishi is a dark spirit, bound to the mortal realm, that took the form of a human child. Initially, this spirit was formless without thought or body; however, the area that this spirit inhabited became the site for a series of violent and bloody conflicts. Out of the bloodlust and suffering this spirit began to grow and bond with the creature that exhibited the greatest lust for battle: that being the future Kenpachi Zaraki. Eventually, this bond became strong enough to allow the spirit to manifest within the physical realm. This juvenile spirit was adopted by Zaraki, becoming a surrogate daughter. Through interaction with humans beyond violence, the spirit grew into a person in her own right; becoming a bubbly and excitable child. Despite this, she is a dangerous combatant; her physical nature as a spirit makes her both faster and stronger than any mortal. Through her upbringing she associated violence with playing, her favourite game is “dodge”, wherein she attacks an opponent to force them to dodge. However, the trick of this game is that she has the ability to hit an opponent both “before” and “after” the hit, making dodging nigh impossible.

Nemu Kurotsuchi

Similar to Yachiru, Nemu Kurotsuchi is a dark spirit bound to the mortal realm who took the form of a young woman. However, she was artificially created by the mad scientist Mayuri, who captured and tortured spirits, forcing them into subservience and then manifesting those in a homunculus body. Through many repeated attempts Mayuri succeeded in the creation of Nemu; however, his experiments could not be kept secret for long. Under direct orders from both the governing body of the Soul Society, and Yamamoto himself. Mayuri’s ability to energy-bend was sealed completely and Nemu was removed from his custody. She has taken residence with Kyoraku, Ukitake and Nanao, and is regaining the free will that was so cruelly taken from her. Similar to Yachiru, whom she shares a kindred bond with, Nemu is faster and stronger than any mortal and has an incredible durability as a result of her Homunculi body. Additionally, there are several chemicals and aspects of her mortal form, which are only known to Mayuri himself.

Rukia Kuchiki

Rukia Kuchiki is a powerful water-bender with an affinity for manipulating ice and snow. She was a refugee from a Northern Water Tribe outpost, and was carried to the slums outside the Soul Society by her sister, Hisana. In a desperate attempt for survival, Rukia’s sister abandoned her within the slums when she was less than a year old. Rukia grew up alongside Renji within these dangerous areas; however, Hisana had not forgotten about her and upon her deathbed Hisana made her husband, Byakuya, promise to bring Rukia to safety. After Byakuya fulfilled that promise, Rukia began training her waterbending and developed her own style, distinct from the traditional Northern Water Tribe form. This new form is to waterbending what the dancing dragons is to firebending, an elegant form which alters the fundamental principles. Rather than the fluidity and change, Rukia focused on the rigidity and stillness of water. This philosophy was inspired by her earthbending step-brother, and allows Rukia to form structures of super-cold ice at temperatures that are unnatural even by spirits.

Besides the soaring cost of living, I feel that it's getting harder to justify just cruising in a position for without trying to climb the ladder to higher roles or launching one's own company and being ruthless and entrepreneurial.
Of course there's benefits to climbing the ladder and being one's own boss but that level of responsibility and stress surely isn't appealing to many people (most people even) and nor is the entrepreneurial / risk-taking lifestyle.
Yet I'm hearing more and more snide remarks and offhand comments from friend and colleagues insinuating complacency and ambitionlessness toward those who have for instance held the same position for 'too long' in their minds or who seems to be content working a role that's deemed to be 'beneath them'.
I recently told someone I was thinking of pursuing disability support or social work and they made a joking comment about how I had so much potential - but there's an undertone of sincerity to these facetious remarks, an idea that if one can than they should (and would) take on the most prestigious course or lavish job available to them. (Sidenote: it's the same with dating. People tend to assume that any guy would be with the most conventionally attractive woman he could possibly land, completely ignoring personal preferences, emotional compatibility. My friend had a conventionally extremely attractive girl and you would hear people mentioning how well he had done for himself. They didn't know she's bipolar and once abducted his dog and threatened to skin it. He now has a less conventionally attractive but less insane partner and as expected there have been comments about how Tim has downgraded blah blah, it's pathetic)
There's also the pressure for everyone and their dog to have side hustles, not just as a form of supplemental income but almost as proof that you have business acumen and competency. According to instagram Bio's virtually everyone is a CEO of some bedroom nail salon or doggy mind reading or a sustainable clothing brand that uses pubic hairs or something ridiculous.
I'm told I have a terrible work ethic. I want to work the absolute bare minimum that allows me to pay the bills and indulge in hobbies and interests, and put a little aside for travelling - granted this actually requires a pretty significant income these days. But I want to invest most of my time and energy into friendships and hobbies/interests and when I was working 45+ hours a week these all began to degrade majorly and I began to question what the hell I was bothering for - just so I can survive? just so I can buy a soulless house an hour from the CBD and have my two week holiday to Indonesia every two years? Hence why I'm searching for a more intrinsically rewarding form of work.
I digress, do you feel the pressure too?

*h2loupehk^- > G. alṓpēx, Arm. ałuēs, Skt. lopāśá-s, A. luumóo ‘fox’, Ni. livaša, Kt. řavéki, Kv. vříka, *-aka > Is. urvesok
*rompek’ > *rompec’ > *repomc’ > *repäns’ > F. repo, Es. rebane, Mv. r’ives’, Hn. raasz
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These have been seen as loans, but no Iranian word matches completely (various Dardic ones also given for comparison), so either not a loan or some changes in PU obscured its origin. The *-ns’ (if original) would match G. as a C-stem (with -C > -0 in nom. for PU). If related, evidence that u was w after V, vp > mp (maybe like A. luumóo, other ev. that Dardic m \ v alternated). In *h2loupehk^- > G. alṓpēx, *ovp > *o_p > *ōp (like dáphnē \ daukhnā- ‘laurel’, with u disappearing before ph but not kh showing it was *v even in very old dialects). The k^ : c’ found in so many words seems to support their relation.
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Skt. caṭaka- ‘sparrow’, Hi. ciṛā, Ben. côṛai, B. čOṛkuṛi ‘bird’, Rom. čiriklo
*či(n)čä > Sm. cicce ‘sparrow / small bird’, *či(n)čikä > Skp. čičik(a)
*c’iNc’V(kV) > Nen. s’inc’ek ‘small bird’
*c’Vlc’V > Mi. c’ül’c’ ‘wading bird (redshank?)’
*čäčkä > Z. čakčej, Mv. šekšej ‘spotted woodpecker’
*čac’kV > Sm. cisku ‘falcon’
*s’äRkc’e > Z čikči, F. sääksi ‘kite’, Es. sääsk
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It is hard to think all these words are unrelated. Only a small group of Indo-Iran. languages have the basic word for ‘bird’ contain č-k-R. Dardic languages often show assim. of affricates (c-č > č-č , etc.) if *ki > *c’i in *čaṛkiṛu > čaṛc’iṛu etc. It is again likely r > R > k in some.
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*k^h2anku- > Skt. śaŋkú- ‘twig/peg/post/stake/spike/stick/arrow’
*čxeŋkV > Sm. *cэŋkē prop/strut/support’, Ud. čog ‘nail’, Hn. csegely ‘wedge-shaped field/meadow’
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This supposes *cseg ‘wedge’ >> csegely. The cs- instead of s- in Hn. might be caused by a cluster instead of plain č (reasonaly it would be čx or c’x ) and the IE words have -a-, meaning h2 should be there. This is unlikely to be chance.
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Skt. nā́man-, G. ónuma, Lac. énuma-, Arm. anun, TA ñom, TB ñem; *nime > F. nimi ‘name’
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This is a hard one. There’s a vague similarity, but what kind of strange changes could have brought this *nime about? It’s a little too much for me. I’ll have to come back to this later, using all my faculties to their fullest.
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*dhuh2tó- ‘shaken / fanned’, *dhuh2ti-s ‘smoke’ > Skt. dhūtá- \ dhutá- ‘shaken / agitated’, B. dukti ‘soul / last breath’; *dhuxti > *dhwati > *lwali > *lewle > F. löyly ‘spirit / steam from the sauna stove’, Hn. lélëk ‘soul’
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More t > l. That it is closest to Dardic with Toch. uh2 > ua > wa would be important.
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*-es, *V-:s (pl); *-t
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This would make the most sense if s > θ in some environments in PU (after V but not before C, for ex.). If s could merge with t, the odd treatment of t in PU, like t > l, could be from the same change. This would mean t > l could come from t > θ > l. This means s > l would be possible between V’s (that is, for -s- and -s, the difference is > l but not after C, not word-final).
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*wes- > OE wesan ‘be/remain’, Skt. vásati ‘dwell’, TB woloktär ‘dwells’; *wole- > F. ole- ‘be’
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This is what would be required if they were related; the similarity to TB is clear, but this is usually taken as contamination with koloktär (below)
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*kWelh- > G. pélomai ‘move’, Skt. cárati ‘move/wander’, TB koloktär ‘follows’; F. kulke- ‘go/walk/travel’
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If they were related; the similarity to TB is clear. Toch. had k / 0 (which I say came from *x in
>
*memsuxā- > *pesukā- > TA puskāñ
*memsuxā- > *pesuā- > *peswā- > TB passoñ ‘muscles’
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*lewax^- > *lewa(k)- > TA lu, pl. lwāk
*lewax^- > *lewa(s)- > TB luwo, pl. lwāsa ‘animal’
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*gWHoluwxo- > *guluxo- > Arm. glux ‘head/summit/end / chief’
*gWHoluwāx > *golwā > R. golová ‘head’, Li. galvà
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*mxulto:(n) > *mxëlto > TA mkälto ‘young’, malto ‘in the first place’
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Toch. and Arm. having some *x > k / 0 would match *k > *x > 0 in:
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Skt. srákva- \ sṛkvaṇ- ‘corner of mouth’, TB *sǝrkwan- > *sǝrxwan- > särwāna (pl. tan.) ‘face’
>
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L. dingua, TA käntu, TB kantwo; *kääle > F. kieli
or
Li. liežùvis, Kh. ligìni ‘tongue’ (reanalyzed with *leig^h- ‘lick’ ); *leikwi > *läike > *kääle > F. kieli
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If close to Toch., similar to *mntis > L. menti-; *manti > *menle > *meele > F. mieli ‘reason/understanding’). That it is closest to Toch. would be important.
If close to Dardic, the long *ää would correspond to *ei (which would need to be shortened before CC elsewhere). That it is closest to IE with reanalyzed forms would be important.
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*h2anti- \ -o- \ -0- > Skt. ánta- ‘end/limit’, Go. andeis, H. hanz() = xant-s ‘front’, TA ānt, TB ānte ‘surface/forehead’; *anli > *ajŋe ‘brain/temple’ F. aivo(t), H. agy
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This seems to show nt > ŋl then l > l’ before front, l’ > j after N (before nl > _l ). A similar case, with no fronting in tu vs. ti
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*pett(u)ro- > Arm. pHetur ‘feather’, Skt. pátatra- ‘wing/feather’, pátra- / páttra-
*pewturo > *pimtulo > *piŋlule > *piŋul \ *piŋe > Es. püvi, F. pyy ‘hazelhen’, Mv. povo, H. fogoly \ fogor-\fogu-madár
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In which dissim. of l-l in *piŋlule > *piŋul prevented loss of ŋ. The opt. change of tt > wt in Arm. is similar (see Skt. aṃ-vitti- ‘not finding’, Arm. an-giwt ‘not found’; *wid-ti- >Arm. giwt -i- ‘finding / invention’, git -i- ‘finding / gift’). The alt. of w \ m \ ŋ seen in others (*pilŋ- \ *pilm- \ *pilv- ‘dark, cloud’; *xaŋ’t’a- > ŋ \ n’ \ m > X. âŋǝt ‘horn/antler’, Mi. ān’t, Nen. n’amtǝ). Other met. might have created:
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*pimtula > *limputa > *linta \ *lunta > F. lintu ‘bird’, X. lont \ tunt ‘goose’, Hn. lúd
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in which the alt. of 2 V’s in i \ u come from *i-u in the older form, just like i \ u for ‘fly’:
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*pimtula > *pimlula > *limpula > *limplä \ *lum(p)lä > *lum(p)ä(l)- \ *lim(p)ä(l)- > H. libëg- \ lebëg- ‘float’, libben- ‘fly up / flutter’, levegöö ‘air’, Ud. lob-, lobal- ‘fly’, Z. leb-, le.bal-
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*polh1o- ‘broad’ > OCS polŭ ‘side/shore’; *päxlä > Mv. päl’ ‘side’, Sm. bælle ‘side/half (lengthwise)’, F. -piele
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If h1 = x^ this palatal would opt. change V > front. Met. of lx > xl
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*pah2g^s(a)lo- > G. pássalos ‘peg’, L. *pakslos > pālus ‘stake’; *paaK^lo > *pääK^lo > *peele > Es. peel ‘pole/post’, F. pieli ‘(door)post/jamb’, Hn. ajtó-fél
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If native, h2 = x would prevent xg^ from becoming xd^; after VxC > V:C, this palatal g^ would opt. change V > front. It’s possible the double K(^) here caused both length, then long V before a C > 0 was raised. This explanation would be unavailable if a loan from L. (or indirectly).
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*gWrh2ur- > Go. kaurus, G. barús, Skt. gurú- ‘heavy’; *gWraxur > *gWraurǝ > *läwlǝ > F. läyli ‘heavy’
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As in Arm., old *-ur in u-stems. If final -V added after all -r, it might only remain in those words that would become monosyl. if lost. It’s also possible -x- was lost in Vxu and Vxi first ( > Vwu and Vji ), hard to tell. Looking at this, it’s possible that TB krāmär did not come from a derivative in *-mr or *-wr but instead directly:
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*gWrh2ur- > *gWraxur > *gWrawur > *gwrawur > *grawur > *gramur >TB krāmär ‘weight’, kramartse ‘heavy’
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with w-w dissim., then w > m by u.
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*wedo- > Arm. get ‘river’, *do-are-wedo- > W. darwedd ‘bubbling/fountain/spring’
*wete > F. vesi, g. veden, Mi. wit(’), Hn. víz, acc. vizet
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*wediko- > *wed’iko- > *woð’kV > Z. vol’ ‘small river’
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Now, if *wete means ‘water’ and *woð’kV ‘small river’, doesn’t that imply the existence of *-kV as a diminutive? As in F. poika ‘son/boy’? The alt. of e / o here would show either ablaut or optional rounding; whichever you pick, both seen in IE in this word (*wodo:r > *wudo:r in G.). The sound that became either *t or *ð’ implies either d > t / ð’ in different environments or ð > t / ð’ (and voicing as original would be preferred, since *tk > *dk would not be ususal).
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Skt. putraká- ‘little son/boy/child’, *pütRak^á > *pöxäc^a > Kt. pe-éts \ pe-éz, Dm. paai, A. phay- / phoó ‘boy’; *polraka > F. poika ‘son/boy’
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V-harmony u-a > o-a again. The change of t > l after V as before could give *polraka > *porlaka > *porlka > *pojka > F. poika (with no more ex.), but the palatalization in Dardic could be responsible instead (it could be that the suffix was *-akx^a- not *-aka- , etc., hard to tell).
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*webh- > OE webb ‘web/weft/woven work’, *webhto- ‘cloth’ > Av. ubdaēna-; *wepte- ‘catch with a net’ > Mr. wapte-, Ud. votes
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If this shows the existence of PU *weptV- ‘net’ to a verb *wepte- ‘catch with a net’, it would be hard not to see IE.
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*syuh1- ’sew / stitch’, L. sūtor ‘shoemaker’, OPr schumeno ‘shoemaker’s filament’
*syuh1to- > OHG siut ‘suture/seam’, Skt. syūtá-, Li. siútas; *s(j)ukto > *sukse > F. suksi ‘ski / snowshoe’
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If t > θ first, kθ > ks before θ > l. The many matches of h : k don’t seem like chance.
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G. kurtía ‘wickerwork shield’, kúrtē ‘fish-basket’, Skt. kuti(:)- ‘hut’
*kuta > *kota > F. kota, Sm. goatte ‘tent / Lapp hut’
*külä > F. kylä ‘village/dwelling’, Mi. kül ‘house’
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If rt only opt. > rl, it would fit. There are too many words with the same meaning showing front vs. back harmony to be coincidence. Some are caused by *jV (jalka ‘foot / leg’ vs. *jelkä > jälki ‘footprint’), this would require opt. u > ü > u / i as in Arm., Dardic. The same in *wülä below.
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*ud- > Go. ut, Skt. ud-; *wülä \ *wilä \ *wile > ylä- ‘uppehigh(er)’, yle-mpi
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With d > l, u- > wu-; if not a derivative, it would require opt. u > ü > u / i as in Arm., Dardic. The same in Skt. kuti(:)- ‘hut’; *kuta > *kota > F. kota, Sm. goatte ‘tent / Lapp hut’, *külä > Mi. kül ‘house’)
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*ud-t(e)ro- > Skt. úttara- ‘upper’; *udteRo > *uðtego > *tuðego > *tuð’ka > F. tutka ‘tip/peak’, Mi. tal’ǝk
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Met. before any further changes of dt (if the same as tt).
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*(s)kermn- > Skt. cárman- ‘skin/hide’; *k’er’man > *c’eð’mä > *c’ämd’e > *c’äpte > Sm. čävddë ‘skin/bark’, Nen. s’āpt
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The same change in G. pérdix ‘partridge’; *perdā > *pað’ta > Mi. pal’tā ‘black grouse’, Hn. fajd, then met. (maybe d’m > md’ > bd > pt was regular).
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*septǝmó- ‘7th’ > G. hebdomós, OPr sep(t)mas, L. septimus; *s’eŋ’c’emä > F. seitsemä- ‘7’, Z. s’iz’im
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The great similarity and possibility of Ce > C’e being so strong makes a relation nearly certain. Now, if this might come from a word with -pt- and it contains -ŋ’c’- there instead (or whatever cluster you prefer), shouldn’t this be taken as evidence that pt could change into mt \ ŋt before palatalization? This is because of he alt. of w \ m \ ŋ seen in others (*pilŋ- \ *pilm- \ *pilv- ‘dark, cloud’; *xaŋ’t’a- > ŋ \ n’ \ m > X. âŋǝt ‘horn/antler’, Mi. ān’t, Nen. n’amtǝ; *petturo- > *pewturo > *pimtulo > *piŋlule > *piŋul \ *piŋe > Es. püvi, F. pyy ‘hazelhen’, Mv. povo, H. fogoly \ fogor-\fogu-madár). That tt and pt could become mt matches Arm. (with tt / pt > wt(H) all possible). This kind of coincidence is not believable.
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If the ‘7th’ > ‘7’ change was shared in the higher numbers, the clusters *-tt- in both ‘5’ and ‘6’ would be from *-CCto- in ‘5th’ and ‘6th’ in IE. Some also added *-ti-, which might be closer.
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*y(e)mho- > ON Ymir, Skt. yamá- ‘twin’; *jaxma > F. jama \ jaama ‘joint’, Sm. juomek ‘twin lamb’
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If this is a loan, it would show metathesis and IE *h > *x in reconstructions, good evidence for its existence for those who have made a case for Vx vs V: or V > V: in the past.
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*wag^- > G. ágnūmi ‘break/shatter’, Skt. vájra-s ‘Indra’s thunderbolt’, Av. vazra- ‘Mithra’s club’; *vas’ara > F. vasara ‘hammer’, TB bhaśīr ‘lightning’
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These seem like loans into both PU and Toch. The V’s in both probably come from *vadz’ǝra- with various V’s (ǝ > i is expected in Indic, Skt. vs. Pkt). Likely Iran. *vadz’ǝra- > *vaz’ǝra- > PU *vas’ara, Indic *vadz’ǝra- > *vadžǝra- > *vadžira- etc. A loan of this age does not show that *Kr would become KVr in PU in native words (or earlier loans).
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*k^oh3no-s ? > G. kônos ‘(pine-)cone / spinning top? / bullroarer?’, Skt. śān(.)a-s ‘whetstone’, MP afsān, Shu. pisēn, Os. insōn(ë), Kh. usàn, Rom. (y)asan; *päxnV > Ud. penon, Hn. fen- ‘sharpen/whet / whetstone’
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If a loan, it is closest to Shu. pisēn which would show CVC- > CC- (like Skt. pāṃsulá- ‘dusty’, Ni. pasalä ‘dust’, *psulá > Dk. phúla ‘ashes’; *psora > Hn. por ‘dust/powdeashes’). If native, it would show the unexplained *pk^- or *nk^- \ *mk^- in Indo-Iran. was old (many different affixes attached to a noun make little sense). Note the *h causing opt. n > ṇ (maybe a similar hn > nHnH in Dv.).
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*hanhtukāh \ *hanhtikāh > Li. antuka ‘snipe’, Slavic *ontĭka > R. utka ‘duck’; *s’oðka > F. sotka ‘scaup (diving duck)’, Mv. s’ulgo
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If utka ‘duck’ : sotka ‘scaup (diving duck)’ is wrong, it would be odd. If right, it would show V > 0 creating *tuk > *θuk > *ðk or similar in the middle syllables. If syllabic h > a, a sequence
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*hanhtukāh
*hanatukāh
*hnatukāh
*hnaθukāh
*hnaθkāh
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might work. It depends on the nature of the first *h- (whether x or x^ > s^ (or dissim. of x-x earlier)). If *x^ > *s’ here, *Cn- > C- at some point. In H. lahanza(n)-, it’s possible that *h- > *R- > l- (instead of n-n, which did not exist in PIE at least).
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Since *toktaŋ’ > X. taxtǝŋ, F. tohtaja \ tohtava ‘Arctic loon / black-throated diver’ seems to be met. of the form that also gave *s’oðka > F. sotka ‘scaup (diving duck)’ (both similar diving birds), it’s likely:
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*x^anxtukāx ( = *hanhtukāh )
*x^aŋxtukāx
*x^aŋatukāx
*x^aŋaθukāx
*x^aŋaθukā
*x^aŋaθokā u-a > o-a
*x^ŋaθokā
*x^ŋaθkā *x^ŋoθkā
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with V1-V2 > either when middle V > 0 (like *pimtula > *limputa > *linta \ *lunta > F. lintu ‘bird’, X. lont \ tunt ‘goose’). Then, the very odd form would undergo several cases of met. and assim., which were regular would be hard to tell:
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*x^ŋoθkā
*s^ŋoθkā
*s^oθkā
*s’oðka
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*x^ŋoθkā
*s^ŋoθkā
*θ^ŋoθkā fric-assim.
*θ^ŋokθā met.
*t^ŋoktā reg.?
*tŋ^oktā
*toktāŋ^
*toktaŋ’
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This also seems to be behind the various words for types of duck, all very similar and showing met., assim., even if not IE:
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*xaŋV(t’)- ‘polar duck’ > Sm. haŋŋā, Nen. ŋāŋū, En. ŋau, Nna. ŋaŋod’a ‘duck’
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*ka(n)c’V
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*če(n)čV
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*wajc’V
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The likeness of these words to each other and *xaŋV(t’)- to IE *hanht(i)-, etc., seems like more than chance. Some of the likely changes:
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*kaŋ’c’V > *k’aŋc’V > *čanc’V
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*k’aŋc’V > *k’amc’V > *k’awc’V > *wak’c’V > *wajc’V
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with some of the developments not certain due to the unique clusters.
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*mangyo- ‘man’ > Slavic *monžjo- > R. muž; *man’c’V > F. mies, Mi. man’s’i, OHn. mogy-, H. magy-
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This has been seen as a loan; whatever source would still show a change within PU.
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Iran. *muxšti- ‘fist’ > Avestan mušti-, *müRšti- > Kv. mř'üšt, *muxštika- > Ni. mustik; *mučkV > Ud. mïžïk, Mv. mokšna
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This has been seen as a loan; whatever source would still show a change V > 0 in mid. syllable, št(‘) > č.
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*peu- / *pau- ‘cut / divide’ >> L. putāre ‘cut/trim/prune’, *ambi- > amputāre ‘cut off’, *pautsk^- > TA putk- ‘cut / divide/distinguish/separate/share’, TB pautk-; *päčkä- > Mv. pečke- ‘cut’, F. pätki- ‘cut into pieces’, *püčkV- > pytki- ‘cut into long slices’, *pučkV- > puhkaise- ‘pierce/puncture’, Mr. püškä- ‘sting/bite (of insects)’
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The alt. in PU could show *au / *aü > *äü etc. That *pautsk^- > pautk- : *päčkä- : *püčkV- : *pučkV- might not be true, with all the other similarities between PU and Toch. (*kWelh- > G. pélomai ‘move’, Skt. cárati ‘move/wander’, TB koloktär ‘follows’; F. kulke- ‘go/walk/travel’; *pedyāx > TA päts, TB patsa ‘bottom’; *potsjä > *pesä > F. pesä ‘nest’; etc.) requires some explanation; the alt. within PU would need *au or *aü independent of this, but its match is telling.
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*g^hans(o\i)- > OHG gans, E. goose, Skt. haṃsá- ‘goose / swan’, OIr géis ‘swan’; *jomkc’e(n) > F. joutsen ‘swan’, Sm. njuk’čâ, Mr. jükšǝ; Y. jaŋdže ‘goose’
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These are much too similar to be unrelated. The nasal in Nkc’ can’t be determined from internal ev., but either IE or Y. would require a > o by m. The changes to k^ in *h2ag^- > L. agō ‘drive/act’; *aja- > F. aja- ‘drive/chase’; *h2ak^ma:h2 > G. akmḗ ‘point/edge’; *äjmä ‘needle’; show that k^ > x^ or γ^ / V_V or V_N were matched by g^h > j (except before i ). Palatalized nT > ŋT’ also in *h2anti- > TB ānte ‘surface/forehead’; *anli > *ajŋe ‘brain/temple’ > F. aivo(t). This differing from *mangyo- : *man’c’V might show different timing of pal. by y vs. i or alt. in the pronunciation of n’ (like for m / ng, etc.).
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Likely that this includes:
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*γ’ansi- = *g^hansi-
*γ’ans’i-
*γ’aŋs’i-
*γ’aŋks’i-
*γ’amks’i-
*γ’omks’i-
*jomks’i-
*jomkc’i-
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with the same changes seen elsewhere (ŋ > m opt., rounding by P, pal. before front); it’s likely n’ > ŋ’ after a V, ŋ’- > n’- word-initial, if reg.).
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*yuhs(o)- ‘soup’ > Skt. yu(:)s.á-, Li. júšė, *yuhmo- > G. zū́mē ‘leaven’, zōmós ‘broth’; *jamV > Mv. jam ‘soup’, Nga. jamâ ‘gruel of blood/meat/flouwater’
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This would show uh > wa as in *dhuh2ti-s > B. dukti ‘soul / last breath’; *dhuxti > *dhwati > *lwali > *lewle > F. löyly ‘spirit / steam from the sauna stove’, Hn. lélëk ‘soul’; then *jwama > *jama.
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*gWiyó- > G. biós, Skt. jiyā́-, Av. jyā- ‘bowstring / sinew’; *jijä > *jäji > *jäje > je ‘broad strap’, Skp. tjyy, Kam. t’ī; Y. juo ‘girdle/belt’
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*gWiy(e)tlo- > L. fīlum \ fīlus ‘string/cord’, Li. gīsla ‘vein/sinew’; *jetlax > *jätnex > *jäntek > F. jänne ‘bowstring / sinew’, *jätnex > *jänne > jänni ‘frenulum of tongue’
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*gWiyó- : *jäje is not in need of great thought. Obviously these words look very much like IE ones (a 2-syllable word with j-y vs. y-y in such a specialized meaning would be unlikely, and this is unlikely match # 45), and the existence of extensions with t in both (or s > t or t > s, if needed) would be hard to explain. This shows merger of g^h and gW before front (if not an assim. of C-j > j-j after palatalization). Some of this could depend on opt. gW > gw (as previous). Again, for CVC- > CC-, this would give *jij- > *j- in *jetlax (or similar depending on timing); both *-etlo- and *-tlo- are seen in tool-words, maybe ablaut in IE. Other words show n / l within PU, so if tl > tn was not regular, the same here. The fem. *-āh > *-ax seems needed to explain ev. of other words in Samoyed with -’ (glottal stop) where the rest have -0.
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*sh2ai- > H. ishiya- ‘bind’, ishuzzi- ‘belt/sash’, *sh2aito- > L. saeta ‘coarse haibristle’, Arm. haytHem ‘attach’; *sitV > F. sito- ‘bind/fasten’, side, gen. siteen ‘bandage’
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Either original ai > i(i) or ablaut.
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More opt. ŋ > m in
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*y(e)mho- > ON Ymir, Skt. yamá- ‘twin’; *jaxma > F. jama \ jaama ‘joint’, Sm. juomek ‘twin lamb’
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*jäsŋe > Mv. jäz’n’ä, Mr. ježǝŋ, F. jäsen ‘joint/limb’
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which might show ŋ’ > n’ in some (if *ymho- = *ymx^o- > *yax^ma- with met. of palatalization after x^ > s^).
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The existence of alt. within PU is clear; these words require an explanation no matter what their source:
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*yah2giyo- > *yagi- \ *yago- > OIr aig ‘ice’, ON jaki ‘piece of ice’, Wx. yaz ‘glacier’, Kh. yòz ‘ice’; *jäxŋje > *jäŋxe > F. jää ‘ice’, Sm. jiekŋa
*jaŋka ‘ice hole’ in Samoyed (showing *ja- ( > *jä- ) was opt. in all )
*jäxkšV > Mr. jükše- ‘become cold’, F. jä(ä)hty- ‘cool (down)’
*jänte- > Mi. jant-, Z. jed- ‘freeze’
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If g or γ > ŋ in *jäŋe, the lack of a nasal in *jäxkšV is explained as the oldest form. This shows opt. *ja > *jä (*jäŋe ‘ice’, *jaŋka ‘ice hole’), matching other *a-i, *a-j. PIE *ya(h2)giyo- giving the *eh > *ah ( > *a ) and opt. dissim. of y-y > y-0 (to explain o- vs. i-stems) would allow similar variants in PU with *x and *j > C to be related. As in opt. j > s’ previously, this would show kj > ks’ > kš (like xj > xs’ > š for *pekW-ye\o- > *pek’-yo- > *pix’yo- > *pišä- ‘bake/roast’). The 2 C’s in *jaŋka vs. *jänte- also come from changes to j; since this shows γ > ŋ in *jäŋe, j > γ’ would also be able to become ŋ’, and other words show this. If some of this created ŋŋ’, a change > ŋŋ > ŋk is possible (other paths exist). With g^ > d^ > t^ > t in others, *jänte- could come from ŋγ ‘> ŋg’ (and a shift of palatalization to ŋ’g might be the source of ŋk also, hard to tell). This would also show that *ä-o > *ä-e occurred, and if for all front V, it would explain the many *-e and *-a in PU as partly from *-o-.
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These same changes in F. jalka ‘foot / leg’, jälki ‘footprint, etc., seem to show more ev. of ja \ jä (and fronting caused by j or front V’s in general). With the l > n in *gWiy(e)tlāh > *jijetlax > *jetlax > *jätnex, it makes sense that these words were related (some say loans):
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*g^heh1- > *gēn- > E. go, G. kikhā́nō ‘reach/find / overtake’, Alb. ngah ‘run/hasten’, Skt. jáhāti ‘*leave > abandon / renounce’
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Skt. jáŋghā- ‘ankle/shank’, Os. zëng(ë) ‘shin/stalk’ >> L. zanga \ zancha ‘Parthian shoe’, It. zanca ‘leg’
*jalka > F. jalka ‘foot / leg’
*jelkä > F. jälki ‘footprint / track/trace/trail’
*jVCka > *jokkV-tta > *jo:h-ta > F. juohtua ‘come up / arise’, Mv. jaka- ‘walk’
*jänxe- > *jäŋV > F. jää- ‘remain’, Hn. jön \ jő \ jöv- \ jö- \ győn \ gyün(n) ‘come’, Mi. ji- \ jäj- \ jüw- \ jin’kve ‘(be)come’
*jekkV- ‘dance’ > Mi. jēk-
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The many changes are, again, needed even if not a loan, not related, but only within PU. Since a root is often called by the word for ‘foot’ in other languages (even zëng(ë) ‘shin/stalk’ is part of this range of meaning), the similar changes in these words are likely ev. of other alternation:
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*jekkVrV ‘root’ > Ms. jükäär, Hn. gyökér
*jälŋV ‘stump’ > Sm. jâlŋes
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*(s)kermn- > Skt. cárman- ‘skin/hide’; *k’er’man > *c’eð’mä > *c’ämd’e > *c’äpte > Sm. čävddë ‘skin/bark’, Nen. s’āpt
*k’er’man > *kelmä > F. kelmä ‘membrane/surface’, kelme(e-) ‘white surface layer of birchbark’, Z. ken’
*kal’we > F. kalvo ‘membrane’, Mi. khal’p ‘*skin (flakes) > dandruff’, xal’ǝp ‘white surface layer of birchbark’
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It is not reasonable that so many words for ‘skin/bark’ with the same shape be considered unrelated. I’ll add that in many languages, simply translating these as ‘skin’ not ‘membrane/surface (layer)’ is done, but since the distinction exists in English I avoided this to keep from appearing to only give data favoring my interpretation. These show m > w (as previous), and probably k’-r’ > k-r’ before k’ > c’ (compare opt. n’-l’ in *n’el’ja \ *nel’ja ‘4’ )
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There are many examples of metathesis of K-P and P-K in Balto-Slavic. This has led to a loan being used to explain some of:
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*pekW- ‘cook’ > Skt. pácyate, L. coquere, R. pekú, Li. kepù
*pexje- \ *pexije- > Mv. pije-, Hn. fő- ‘cook/boil’, En. feri’a-
*pišä- > Sm. bâsse- ‘roast on a spit’, Ud. pïž ‘bake/roast’, Mi. pīt- ‘cook/brew’
*kewje- \ *keje-? > F. keittä- ‘boil/cook’, Hn. köved- ‘boiled down’
*kips’ä > F. kypsä ‘ripe/cooked/baked’
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I do not think 4 different IE languages happened to give 4 different loans at 4 different times into Uralic. There is no IE with e-y > i-y, p > w / 0, etc., needed for all (or maybe any) of these. The met. in R. pekú, Li. kepù is tempting, but this would still need pj > wj ( > j ), pj > ps’, e-j > i-j or some set of changes to explain all this. Since some of these are ‘ripe’ vs. ‘cook’ by itself, the odd cluster in *pekWwó- > Skt. pakvá- ‘cooked/baked/ripe’ might be responsible for met. to fix kWw, creating 2 sets. The alt. of e \ i in both groups is unlikely to be from separate causes; no IE with e > i here could be responsible, and there aren’t two IE with e > i AND k-p < p-k in one, not in the other. The same alt. in both groups then shows both groups were native, with a change not seen elsewher, more V-harmony. What I think happened:
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*pekW-ye\o- > *pekwye- > *pekweye- > *pekwiye- > *pexije- ‘cook/boil’
*pekW-ye\o- > *pek’-yo- > *pix’yo- > *pišä- ‘bake/roast’
*pekW-wó- > *kWep-wó- > *kWep-yó- > *k(w)ipja > *kips’ä ‘ripe/cooked/baked’
*kWep-yó- > *kWew-yó- > *kewje- ‘boil/cook’
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This requires alt. of kW \ kw and p \ f \ w (elsewhere), with j > dz’ > s’ opt. This p / w is required here in PU even for the alt. in F. keittä- ‘boil/cook’, kypsä ‘ripe/cooked/baked’. No matter what the source is, it exists, and has never been applied to other words. Knowing that p > w (or p > 0, depending on the timing and which reconstruction of PU is right) is possible, but never looking for matches of p : w when checking for cognates is not a useful method. The other examples of alt. also are needed within PU, even if ALL of these are loans, due to not being found in known IE languages. This means that we can get *witte ‘5’ from *penkWto- (as *septǝmó- ‘7th’ > L. septimus; *s’eŋ’c’emä > F. seitsemä- ‘7’). If the ‘7th’ > ‘7’ change was shared in the higher numbers, the clusters *-tt- in both ‘5’ and ‘6’ would be from *-CCto- in ‘5th’ and ‘6th’ in IE. This *(k)swek^sto- > *kutte ‘6’ might show a common set of changes:
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*penkWto- *kswek^sto-
*fenxWto- *xswex^sto-
*fenxWto- *xwex^sto-
*finxWto- *xwex^sto-
*finxWto- *xwox^sto-
*finxWto- *xwox^xto-
*finxWto- *xwojxto-
*fixWto- *xwojxto-
*fitto- *xwojtto-
*fitto- *xojtto-
*witto- *xojtto-
*witto- *xujtto-
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Though the details are not clear due to clusters like nkWt and k^st only occurring here (more on the other changes below), Cxt > Ctt probably is best.
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Other oddities created by *kWw in IE include:
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*pekWwó- > Skt. pakvá- ‘cooked/baked/ripe’, *pekWpó- > *mekpo > TB map(p)e ‘ripe’
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with the same kWw > kp > p in *leikW- > Latin (re)linquere, *likWwotor > *likpotor > TB lipetär ‘is left over’. Usually, p-p > m-p would seem odd, but with the other changes of m > p in Toch. for no reason, the opposite caused by dissim. fits.
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In the same way, PU makes other changes in Toch. understandable. The closest match of:
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*pedyāx > TA päts, TB patsa ‘bottom’; *potsjä > *pesä > F. pesä ‘nest’
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*ped(y)o- \ *pod(y)o- ‘place, ground, soil’ > G. pedíon ‘plain’, pédon ‘ground’, OCS podŭ ‘ground/foundation’, Ni. pad ‘foundation’, *eni- > MIr ined ‘place’, *enpodyo- > *yäpoy > TB yapoy, TA ype ‘land/country’
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shows that PU dy > s (not s’ or c’ ) which seems to be from the difference of T before front V vs. j. It is easiest to explain if te > t’e, tj > t’j > ts’j first, before any other palatals > affricates, ts’j > č (deleting j ), later č > š > s before ṣ > š etc. (Skt. mákṣā- ‘fly’; *mekše > Mv. mekš ‘bee’). This same type could occur before loss of voicing, so dj and tj might differe in some way if only dy > ǰ > s. If the same sequence happened in Toch., then č or ǰ as an intermediate leading to ts would allow the apparent loss of d in *enpodyo- > *yenpoǰo- > *yäpoy to be explained y the same assim. of y-ǰ > y-y that I see in:
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Skt. prayuj- ‘yoke/join/harness to / unite with’, also fem. noun ‘team’ >> *prayuyo- > *pyauryo > TB pyorye (fem.) ‘yoke’
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which is probably an early loan before devoicing in Toch. It is unlikely a complicated sequence like this could be made more clear by PU data if patsa : pesä were unrelated.
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*puk^syo- > Av. pusa-, NP fuš, Skt. púccha-m ‘tail/rod’, Hi. pūñch ‘tail/rear’, B. punzuṛO ‘tail’, *pačhoóḍ > Dk. p(h)ačoó \ čipóoy.
*po(n)čoxa > Mr. pač, X. poč, Mi. ponš-pun ‘tailfeather’, Nen. panco ‘tail’, En. batu’o
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The *-x- is retained in Samoyed, others > 0 (opt. or between unstressed V’s?). Sine the suffix in Dardic and Dk. is probably -ula- > -uḍa- (as in Skt. lāNgūla-m & Sh. lʌmúṭi ‘tail’), probably analogy added it. This would require either a loan or a shared descent within IE. The similar words would then show met. in:
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*poksyora > *pksyora > *poryaks > *pol’akš > Mi. pōl’ǝx ‘tail of reindeers’, Mh. pula ‘tail’, Mr. pulŭkš *behind/back > ‘shoulder(joint)’
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The opt. p > w might merge with w > m in
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*mä(n)c’Vx > Mi. man’s’ik ‘tail of reindeers’, Skp. mätjä
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The origin of -N- in the Indic words (Hi. pūñch ‘tail/rear’, B. punzuṛO ‘tail’) being shared by PU would require either a loan or a shared descent within IE. The origin of this seems to be y > y~ (nasalized). This is seen in Indo-Iran.:
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Bu. kHakHā́yo ‘shelled walnut’, Shina kHakHaái~
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*h2loupehk^- > Skt. lopāśá-s > *lovāyá- > Kh. ḷòw, Dk. ló(o)i ‘fox’, Sh. lo(o)i~
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*madhy~a- ‘middle’ > Braj māhi~ ‘in’, Hi. māñjh
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*puk^syo- > Skt. púccha-m ‘tail/rod’, Hi. pūñch ‘tail/rear’, B. punzuṛO ‘tail’
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This seems to become n in causatives like *kōreye- > Dk. (g)uráa- \ (g)uraaná ‘make _ do’, and apparent old causatives like *lōgheye- > Dk. lukh(ā)na ‘hide’. Also, old loans from Dardic (or related) to Bu. show y > n also:
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Skt. méṣī- ‘ewe’, *méṣiy- > *méṣiy~ >> *méṣin > Bu. meénis ‘ewe over one year but not a mother’
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Skt. videś[í]ya- ‘foreign’, Kv. vičó ‘guest’, Ni. vidišä, Kt. vadašó, *vadišiy~a >> *waišin > Bu. aíšen \ oóšin
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This could come from intermediate y > ŋ^ > n^ > n. Other PU words show y > ŋ (and opt. ŋ > m, as previously). It is impossible for such an odd set of changes to be independent in supposedly unrelated languages that seem more like sub-branches to me.

Tape-in extension placement requires proper sectioning, tape application, and blending to achieve a natural and seamless look

Ill start off with my basics, I don't have limits to the roleplay besides death, but if you do express them to me clearly and when roleplaying, if you find yourself uncomfortable tell me to stop what I'm doing wrong please. I usually write around semi to adv literate, but i can go even longer if i get super into it, otherwise i really do try to match my partners length. Im chill with anything from the shorter end of semi-lit to longer end of adv-lit. I am in the GMT time zone if that is of any help, i write in third person only and do so on discord.
The OC Im going to use for this is named Jade. She's 6'1, 29F, has white curly/fluffy shoulder length hair. Typically wears a tight fitted top, dress pants and gloves, trench or lab coat is depending on the weather. She has bright green eyes, is pretty pale and wears round glasses. She's extremely smart, and works on and off in the biochem industry (both her now dead parents were wealthy enough to give her inheritence thats left her not needing a full time, consistent job). Personality wise, she's quite closed off and naturally hostile, not extremely expressive besides when her anger issues spike, rarely trusts anyone she isnt fully sure she can actually truly trust. Not a lot of people know personal details to her life.
I like a lot of different genres, scifi, modern, fantasy, you name it I'd probably do it. I'd love to slot Jade into a "ethnically&morally questionable (mad) scientist" kind of role if you'd enjoy that, and I'd like to do the roleplay in a sci-fi space travel kind of setting but im open to anything else if youre interested in my OC but dont like Scifi. Theres lots of different kinds of things/plots/ideas within that kind of universe i enjoy, but if you need anything to go off of I enjoy mainly weird power dynamics, opposites attract, meeting by fate and toxic relationships kind of stuff. On the opposite attracts kind of topic, I think I think from Jade's description its clear what id be looking for in your OC. I think pairing an OC whos smalleshoter, sweet and a little naive with Jade would suit my tastes, and make how Jade interacts with the OC more pleasant. We could start off right from how they meet, or them in an already committed longterm relationship, so really we could come up with pretty much anything together.
If you're interested in, dm me. Include your OC+ details in your dm if thats possible, along with what kind of plot you'd be interested in/if youre not interested in anything sci-fi.

Ill start off with my basics, I don't have limits to the roleplay besides death, but if you do express them to me clearly and when roleplaying, if you find yourself uncomfortable tell me to stop what I'm doing wrong please. I usually write around semi to adv literate, but i can go even longer if i get super into it, otherwise i really do try to match my partners length. Im chill with anything from the shorter end of semi-lit to longer end of adv-lit. I am in the GMT time zone if that is of any help, i write in third person only and do so on discord.
The OC Im going to use for this is named Jade. She's 6'1, 29F, has white curly/fluffy shoulder length hair. Typically wears a tight fitted top, dress pants and gloves, trench or lab coat is depending on the weather. She has bright green eyes, is pretty pale and wears round glasses. She's extremely smart, and works on and off in the biochem industry (both her now dead parents were wealthy enough to give her inheritence thats left her not needing a full time, consistent job). Personality wise, she's quite closed off and naturally hostile, not extremely expressive besides when her anger issues spike, rarely trusts anyone she isnt fully sure she can actually truly trust. Not a lot of people know personal details to her life.
I like a lot of different genres, scifi, modern, fantasy, you name it I'd probably do it. I'd love to slot Jade into a "ethnically&morally questionable (mad) scientist" kind of role if you'd enjoy that, and I'd like to do the roleplay in a sci-fi space travel kind of setting but im open to anything else if youre interested in my OC but dont like Scifi. Theres lots of different kinds of things/plots/ideas within that kind of universe i enjoy, but if you need anything to go off of I enjoy mainly weird power dynamics, opposites attract, meeting by fate and toxic relationships kind of stuff. On the opposite attracts kind of topic, I think I think from Jade's description its clear what id be looking for in your OC. I think pairing an OC whos smalleshoter, sweet and a little naive with Jade would suit my tastes, and make how Jade interacts with the OC more pleasant. We could start off right from how they meet, or them in an already committed longterm relationship, so really we could come up with pretty much anything together.
If you're interested in, dm me. Include your OC+ details in your dm if thats possible, along with what kind of plot you'd be interested in/if youre not interested in anything sci-fi.