little_details

Setting is medieval without a specific period set in mind yet.

My main character is a rather short and rather skinny seventeen year old, who still looks young enough to be considered a boy, which tends to make authority figures try to treat him like a child whenever they can. This, and his typical attitude, which tends to be very defiant, and insubordinate gets him into a lot of trouble, especially when he is captured and held as a hostage...

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And I think I'm done being scary now.

Yep, me again with more questions for my Assassin's Creed fic (same one featured in the previous question I asked). I started working on it again which means more research.

Situation: My character due to unfortunate circumstances ends up becoming an assassin posing as a Courtesan and is taken under the wing of an assassin/Madame of a brothel. Her whole duty is to gather information, and if it be necessary, get close to the target and kill them with stealthy means. Most notably poisons.

Question 1: While keeping up the facade of a Courtesan, what sort of mannerisms would she use, like flirting methods and advertising her wares so to speak, what sort of clothing would she wear?

Question 2: What kind of poisons would have been used in Renaissance Italy that would act quickly and quietly? Preferably something that could be slipped into food or drink.

I googled 'Life of a Courtesan in Renaissance Italy',  'Renaissance Italy Courtesan clothing'. I can't remember all the terms I used while doing poison research.

Setting: The novel is set in an original fantasy world, circa mid 18th century or so.

Searched: "insomnia", "chronic insomnia", "effects of long term insomnia", "physical effects of insomnia", this Newsweek article

I'm basically attempting to cobble together a timeline of physical effects that my main character will suffer thanks to long-term sleep issues. The source amounts to a curse, so there are no medical or emotional issues keeping her from sleeping properly. She does sleep every night- when it starts, she just feels less rested but is getting more than 7 hours of sleep. As it progresses, she starts waking earlier and earlier, until she's only getting maybe four hours of sleep a night. I want this progression to take several years, if that's not completely unreasonable.

I know that physical symptoms of inadequate sleep include memory issues, difficulty concentrating, hallucinations, depression, muscle fatigue and irritability, but I'm having trouble figuring out how quickly these symptoms would manifest. If my MC was accustomed to 8 hours of sleep and spent six months only getting 7, would she experience symptoms initially and then begin to adapt to less sleep, and then have a recurrence of symptoms when her sleep reduced to 7 hours? At what point would her body stop adapting to diminished sleep and just compound the symptoms? What sorts of things would she be hallucinating, and how little sleep in a night does a person need to start having hallucinations?

I'm not sure if it matters, but the MC is a physically fit and active woman somewhere between 18 and 22- I haven't settled on an age just yet. She also deals with significant stress, as she is a pirate in increasingly law enforcement-infested waters.

Thanks in advance! I really appreciate the help.

Cut for classiness.

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Setting: Modern Day Virginia
Scenario/Question: To keep it short (in my absence of being able to properly explain what the heck is going on) I need to know how likely a girl between the ages of six and eight is to recover from intentional cyanide poisoning

I searched "cyanide poisoning in children" "pediatric cyanide poisoning" "cyanide poisoning treatment", and things of the same nature. All I came up with is that accidental poisoning is very rare and that studies in Europe shows that vitamin B12 can be used to treat cyanide poisoning. 

Setting: modern day UK
Scenario: Adam is riding a motorbike with Charles as a passenger, preferably along an A-road or motorway. Adam isn't wearing his helmet, having given it to Charlie, and the bike isn't exactly designed to carry a passenger. They have an accident (possibly caused by a police chase, I haven't decided on that yet) that leads to Adam being killed and Charles being seriously injured.

Part 1: Is there any limit on how fast a motorcyclist can go with a passenger? Are motorbikes with passengers banned from going on the motorways or A-roads for safety reasons? And would cops pursue a motorcyclist that is breaking the laws as I've mentioned above, or would it be judged as too dangerous?

Search: "uk highway code" (not as helpful as one might think), "motorbike motorway riding", "motorbike passenger laws", "police motorbike pursuit"

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Sorry if I've rambled or been unclear about anything.