She returned home like a soldier returned home from battle. She had victory on her lips and grief in her eyes. She lifted her sword, coated with blood, and said, "A dragon is dead." But Tasper could hear the inaudible, "and so is my best friend." She smiled for Evera, for Enzo, for everyone who hinged so much on her victory, and then she left. Dragon smoke and bitterness pervaded around her, drenching her in a tangle of emotions. Tasper was almost afraid of her.
I can't believe we're hitting two consecutive weeks of this; what a milestone!
At any rate…
Today's word of the day is: surreptitious
Surreptitious, which is an adjective, is defined as "obtained, done, made, etc., by stealth; secret or unauthorized; acting in a stealthy way".
Princess Elleen knew that she only had one shot. If her mother was not going to give her the answers that she desired, then the princess had no choice but to obtain them surreptitiously. Her mother did not often leave her study unlocked and unattended, but thanks to some clever planning on Elleen's part, and some help from her clumsy knight, her mother had to hastily run off to deal with a problem.
It did not take long for Elleen to sneak into her mother's study; the guards that watched over the area had a steady and predictable routine. Once inside, the princess made a beeline for the object that she went through all this trouble for.
"Here it is," she whispered solemnly, "Mother's journal from over a century ago."
Shout out to @Amber who's stuck with this for so long. I hope your dad's impressed with all the new words you've learned! You've more than earned this gold star ⭐️
Also, shout out to all those who've joined in and either learned some new words, or brushed up on old knowledge. Gold star for all of youse, too ⭐️
Awww thanks! My dad is happy with is. He'd actually given Baudolino to read and write down the words I didn't know.
Leila gaze shot up when her door open. Her brother sauntered in, and she surreptitiously sat on the book, scooting around to hide it.
He looked at her. "Dinner's ready." He walked out.
She sighed in relief and put the book in her lap again.
Andromeda surreptitiously crept into the hallway, holding her robe tightly around her. She padded towards the end room, nervously checking for guards around her. She got to the door and silently pushed it open; she gasped. It had the same effect on her as the first time.
She walked forward, craning her neck to look at the tops of the shelves lost in darkness. She went up to a shelf, stroking its content. She found one of interest and pulled it out.
She went to a chair and flipped the book open, inhaling the wonderful smell.
Today's word of the day is: restitution
Restitution, which is a noun, is defined as
Bokoba ignored her mother's griping about the weather as she dragged her towards the castle. Today was finally the day that her mother and the queen would finally make up and put their years-long grudge behind them.
Conarith was being difficult about it, as usual. Bokoba understood where her mother was coming from; after all the hurt and betrayal that the queen had put her and the rest of the family through, Conarith had a true reason to be slow to forgive. The queen owed them all restitution for her deception and crimes against them.
However, Bokoba also understood that the friendship between the two deceptively older women would never mend if it were left to the two them to do so. Bokoba had had enough, and she knew that they had had enough, and so did their families and friends.
Conarith and the queen's toxic feud would end today; Bokoba swore it.
"I demand restitution!" Gerard cried. Anna was trembling with rage behind him. "Your men destroyed our crops, sire. We demand restitution.
The king yawned. "Mr. Gasder, you must understand, my soldiers were merely doing their duty and chasing down the thief.
"They trampled our fields," Gerard growled.
Happy belated Friday the 13th, y'all! What's a better way to celebrate than a word about luck?
Today's word of the day is: serendipity
Serendipity, which is a noun, is defined as
Conarith clapped her hands with excitement; today was shaping up to be quite the day! Not only was her latest trial run a complete success, but through pure serendipity, she had also managed to discover the perfect insulator for her previously failed electrical experiments. Who would have thought that using jute was the key all along?
Reese waltzed through the streets, a foolish grin on her face. She was known to be a lucky person, serendipity always on her side, and today was yet another proof of that.
Walking along the boulevard, she had bumped into Helena Bonham Carter. Helena Bonham Carter! It was a miracle.
Today's word of the day is: erroneous
Erroneous, which is an adjective, is defined as:
Lyra looked sheepishly at the man that she erroneously accused of the crime. This was the second time in a week that she made a false arrest; the prince would surely have her hide for this.
"I guess you're free to go," she mumbled. "No hard feelings, right?"
The man angrily wrenched his arm out of Lyra's grasp, and, after some choice words, made his leave.
Sir Nicholas gasped at his daughter's snort. "Elizabeth, that is not the way a lady behaves!" He slapped her hand and pushed the teacup her way. "I will not let you continue this erroneous behaviour."
He frowned and looked ahead at their guest. "My apologies for interrupting you, Duchess. You were saying?"
The Duchess gave Eli a small smile before turning back to her father. "The terrible political situation."
Today's word of the day is: lackadaisical
Lackadaisical, which is an adjective, "lacking enthusiasm and determination; carelessly lazy".
Paprika sighed at her sister's lackadaisical response to the idea of going out on the town.
"Seras, you can't just stay inside all the time," she whined. "You need to go out and meet people!"
"There's nothing for me out there," Seras said as she turned over in her bed and pulled her cover over herself. "Have fun, sis."
Felicia frowned at her lackadaisical daughter. "Honey, I said Disneyland."
Cookie grunted. "Cool."
Felicia grabbed the iPad from the girl's hands. "Are you listening to me? We're going to Disneyland," she repeated. Cookie's eyes widened.
"Oh, my god, SERIOUSLY?" she squealed. Felicia rolled her eyes but couldn't help but smile.
"Seriously." Cookie launched herself at her and hugged her hard.
Today's word of the day is: judicious
Judicious, which is an adjective, is defined as:
General Eric smiled to himself as he watched his lieutenant hurry off to carry his latest orders. Eric could not be more lucky to have his cousin on his side; there was no man on all of the Goddess' green earth who was more studious and judicious as he when it came to running an army. Eric was not too proud to admit it…to himself, at least.He was self-aware enough to know that if he had to run things for one day without his Lt. General, the queen's army would be all the worse for it. However, Eric considered himself to be shrewd and cunning in his own right. After all, whom other than himself would have been able to look past his cousin's indiscretions to recognize his talents, and then put them to use?
Eric had failed to think of anyone else who could.
As a side note, sorry that I'm so terrible at keeping the Day count up-to-date. I'm sure you all have noticed by now 🤦🏽
(SORRY I missed yesterday, rough day)
Aspen walked along the corridor, starched uniform stiff and uncomfortable. And yet he needed to stay judicious. Jamie wasn't doing well and it was his job to make sure she healed.
(AND sorry this is so short can't stay for long)
Don't even worry about it @Amber There's no obligation to do this every single day, this is just an exercise to help out anyone who needs or wants it. And you can make your example as long or as short as you want (I know I've skimped on it more than once), this isn't school lol.
In fact, IIRC, my example for lackadaisical was just as short.
OK lol thanks XD
Today's word of the day is: palpitate
Palpitate, which is a verb, is defined as:
Paprika cried out in shock as she and her partner, Sunshine, narrowly avoided a collision with another racer.
"Wow, this whole Grand Prix thing is intense!" she exclaimed. "Are you ok, Sunshine?"
The seal popped his head out of the sand to offer a loud, confirming bark.
"Where'd you learn a word like 'palpitation'?" Paprika asked. "Eh, doesn't matter. But yeah, my heart's pounding, too. What a rush!"
The object palpitated in her hand. She tightened her grip on it and it burst into dust. She looked up in shock. "Um, Connor? I think I broke the fuzzy fuzz fuzzball." He looked up, annoyed.
"Again, Red? Just, put everything down and keep your hands off of everything." She nodded and went to a shelf. It was full of vials, one of which she grabbed off and uncorked.
Today's word of the day is: facet
Facet, which is a noun, is defined as an "aspect {or} phase".
Conarith fell to her knees and lowered her head to the ground. "I swear to you, I will worship and praise and honor you with every facet of my being, oh Great Goddess!"
The Goddess smiled and gently nudged Conarith to sit back up. "And I swear to you that I will afford you the same love and protection and warmth that I give to all the people and creatures of this earth, even if you are not of us. All you have to do is promise me one thing."
"Anything," Conarith said immediately. "I would do anything for you."
"Promise me that you will live your life to its fullest potential," said the Goddess, "and promise me that you will use your faith and power to help others as I have helped you."
Today's word of the day is: retrograde
Retrograde, which is an adjective and a verb, is defined as:
Adjective
Verb
Conarith stared forlornly out the window at her children playing with their father. How could she bring herself to tell them that her mental state was being to retrograde? That the nightmares were coming back clearer than ever before?
Today's word of the day is: disingenuous
Disingenuous, which is an adjective, is defined as "lacking in frankness, candor, or sincerity; falsely or hypocritically ingenuous; insincere"
Conarith scoffed at the queen's explanation for her betrayal. She could hardly believe how disingenuous her former friend was being. The witch could have been outright lied to, and that would have been better than whatever the queen believed this to be. The ex-General trying to make excuses for his monstrosity was less insulting than this.
"Spare me your century-old platitudes," said Conarith. "If this is what you think passes as an apology, then you just wasted our time."
Nathan swallowed hard. "I didn't do anything," Nathan said disingenuously.
Illoya grabbed him by the hair and yanked him to his feet. "You lie." She smiled her dazzling smile, gorgeous as ever. Nathan averted his eyes.
"I am not lying. Lillian talked me into it," he said quietly.
Illoya let him go and he fell to the floor, panting. She chuckled, kicked him across the room and walked away.
Today's word of the day is: hegemony
Hegemony, which is a noun, is defined as:
Dinah gazed northward as her legacy burned around her, her fists clenched in rage.
Why did this happen? Everything was going so smoothly. Her girls were happy; her customers were happy; she was happy. But of course, the Kingdom would never allow someone with just a fraction of power have an inch of happiness under its watch. The hegemony had to be protected, after all. Even if the Queen refused to admit it in the public political sphere, her iron grip on the land was as unforgiving as her armies.
As Dinah stood among the ashes of her former home, she made a solemn vow.
"Even if it costs me my life," she whispered before turning her back on everything that she once knew and loved, "those bastards will pay for what they've done to us."
Lia had a natural skill when it came to hegemony. She could make a troop of men follow her to war with a word. A single word.
And she'd done it. She'd led them to battle and had witnessed every single one of their deaths first hand. It wasn't something she'd soon forget.
Today's word of the day is: surmount
Surmount, which is a verb, is defined as:
Warning: mentions of blood and body horror
After surmounting the first horse that she could get her hands on, Lyra sped off into the night. Her bones were beginning to crack, and she could feel her insides twist and rebel, but she pressed on. The pain was almost unreal, and the blood that ran from her eyes blinded her, but all she could do was hope that her body working double time to heal her would be enough. As the ice threatened to seal her throat for the third time in as many minutes, Lyra pressed on.
She had to get home.
No matter what horrors the Divine had planned for her in the ensuing hours for her insolence, Lyra had to save her sister.