​i want to write many books just filled with my thoughts so i can organize n share them with the world to last for a long time

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐚𝐮𝐫𝐮𝐬-𝐒𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐩𝐢𝐨 𝐚𝐱𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐬

PLEASE READ:

long post - thank you for 2k! i apologize for the wait but this took me a longggg time to prepare.

it’s also important to note that planets in taurus/scorpio will effect how you resonate with the interpretations below

reminder that readings are open! i’m now selling persona chart readings of planets/angles as well

take with a grain of salt

1st (scorpio) - 7th (taurus)❤️: relationships are a source of comfort and wisdom. scorpio risings’ experience of reality has to do with trust, hard truths, and taking back your power but their relations with others often bring a sense of peace and value into their lives. people may perceive you to be useful and smart in these similar qualities as well. your partnerships help to balance out the chaos and even insecurity you face at times with your identity and precense in the world

2nd (scorpio) - 8th (taurus) ❤️‍🔥: you are powerful in your resources/skills and in the way you support yourself overall. in this lifetime, how you find worth and appreciation for yourself and what you have (skills, physical resources, etc…). you may feel suppressed or face much controversy for what you value or for how you choose to support yourself monetary-wise or as a person. your biggest comeback story in life may have to do with self-esteem and with how you accumulate worth and value (physical or moral/mental) into your life and goals.

although there may be much turbulence and important realizations/truths that are found in how you support yourself and your goals, the transformations and scary things you face in life ironically enough can bring you lots of support if you choose to make good use out of it (which taurus is naturally good at). of course, this is the house of fears and traumas so a big part of your life story may include building your own sense of independence by learning from times of distress.

3rd (scorpio) - 9th (taurus) 💋: you could be especially sensitive to input from others and be able to pick up undertones and double meanings from others easily. communication, creativity (especially having to do with hands or written words), is your superpower. you grab others’ attention easily with your stories and artistic output when you learn to harness your fears/limitations effectively. this also makes you very intelligent of your community + gossip because scorpio rules over extremes as well

while in your everyday communication and daily life you may uncover and discuss skeleton’s in other people’s closet and may be doing a lot of activities that use a lot of your energy (scorpio is ruled by mars, planet of action), this makes you very comfortable (taurus) in being able to adapt to different environments and perspectives (9th house). having taurus in this house can make someone very wise because they find value and meaning in variety.

4th (scorpio) - 10th (taurus) 💄: people with scorpio in this house have usually had some sort of significant event or trauma regarding their family or childhood or may have regrets as to their actions in the past. these people could be born out of either extreme poverty or wealth too. these people’s sense of safety/privacy can be very important to them or they could feel like this aspect of their life is being compromised often (mars = conflict) but you could also find safety/comfort in curiousity or things that are “off-limits”.

if the private/emotional life of the native is exacerbated and transformative for them the career and reputation for the native is where they feel appreciated and most creative. having these signs in this house-axis can be indicative of a strong comeback story (extreme poverty to extreme wealth or even the other way around). the career-field can be very fulfilling (emotionally or monetary wise) and where you are grateful or feel lucky for the events your work presents.

5th (scorpio) - 11th (taurus) 🌹: feelings of creativity, romance, and happiness are taken to extreme lows and highs throughout life. if you’re a cancer rising, i believe this is where the “moody” reputation for us comes from. like leo rising, there could have been significant changes or revelations during childhood that changed your way of deriving happiness and familial support. these people may crave for luxury and overindulgence and can do so by turning their pain into power. scorpio in this house can make someone very grateful as well.

if our sense of happiness and luck undergoes significant change and gives us our “comebacks” throughout life, the 11th house is where we have already found peace and prosperity with our place in society. we encounter valuable experiences when polishing our individualism (5th) within our community (11th). we can find personal contentment and growth in accepting our individual, unique role amongst the people around us. you may like to surround yourself with confident people as well.

6th (scorpio) - 12th (taurus) 👠: these people can feel very unlucky or trapped throughout life, with the 6h ruling bad luck + burdens and scorpio relating to extremes. scorpio is a smart zodiac i’ve noticed as well, so these people usually have a certain way (especially that requires much energy) of doing their work and job that could defy others’ expectations. extreme focus on a certain obstacle or insecurities is also possible and can take awhile to finally figure out what makes you feel secure and satisfied with how you manage your burdens.

if your everyday burdens and responsibilities test your strength to the max in this lifetime, your imagination, creativity and solitude is where you find peace. it could also be that these people do unusual things to satisfy their need for pleasure and wholeness, because the 12th house is where we are easily misled. these people are internally comfortable with their thoughts and ideas, regardless of how odd they may be because it takes them to a place of stability from their scorpio 6h.

7th (scorpio) - 1st (taurus) 🍒: these natives’ partnerships/commitments make the native have to look more deeply into their underlying intentions or feelings with said partnerships/commitment. this can bring a lot of disturbing but also very eye-opening and insightful experiences that affects the native’s identity and ambitions going forth. scorpio can also be a curious sign so there can be a little bit of investigative or persistent approach to your partnerships and this is where your power can derive from.

it may seem like your partnerships “destroy” parts of your identity, because you approach the world from a sense of wholeness and peace. at least, these are circumstances that you are ambitious to achieve in your life. pleasure and steadiness are big life themes and at first it may seem like life is rather dull or boring, but similar to scorpio in its opposite function, taurus asks us to dig a little deeper into the simpler things in life and to find enjoyment.

8th (scorpio) - 2nd (taurus) 🍫: when dealing with other people’s problems (financially, intimate connection, debts, etc…) it brings about experiences that require you to fix what’s wrong or holding you back in life in rather uncomfortable ways. this can indicate someone who is afraid to acknowledge psychological blockages or who lacks the necessary bravery/instincts to attack underlying problems. you could earn valuable assets (tangible or not) from others when you engage with activities that are “gross” but healing/heroic.

this native survives on feeling complete. having a sense of wholeness is very important to these people and makes these people very resourceful because they are able to make the seemingly mundane valuable and able to work in their favor. these people are good at feeling in control of their life, future, and choices because they are committed and secure in their abilities. these people place much importance on authenticity, diversity, and self-sufficiency.

9th (scorpio) - 3rd (taurus) ❤️: when achieving mastery/global knowledge, and self-discovery it may have to do with bringing up topics that you ignored or swept under the rug especially having to do with your identity/precense (in context of the world and society). your global approach and experiences have to do with dealing uncomfortable topics in order to achieve better awareness and understanding of all aspects of the world. how you navigate foreign environments and your sense of flexibility is your strength.

if foreign experiences provide you with strength through perseverance, your intuition and familiar environments provide you with strength through growth (tangible or not). although it may seem like the everyday social rituals and ideas (including intuition), can appear mundane, this setup of houses gives an opportunity to grow a garden that provides roots, beauty, and good taste in the way you perceive and express yourself local environments.

10th (scorpio) - 4th (taurus) 🪭: these people have to have a ton of intiative when working in their career and towards their big goals in life. it may feel as though these people have to start from a bad hand of cards (compared to everybody else) in order to make it to the top or that their working conditions and/or responsibilities throughout life may feel difficult to complete or deals with high stakes/status. but even though there are difficult tasks they have to be done and you have drive/resourcefulness to do it!!

if the workplace is where you see the thorns in your garden (where you have to get rid of them) your home life and condition is where you see the roses. taurus is good at being able to attract good circumstances for themselves because taurus is very representative of wholeness and the feeling of completion. there’s probably more opportunities for you to setup and manage your domestic life the way you like. wisdom may be found through your domestic life too.

11th (scorpio) - 5th (taurus) 🧨: your surrounding communities/people who support you seem to try to pick you apart. you may feel as if the people who you’re around with don’t actually support you or that there’s something incomplete or “wrong” with the circumstances and people that made you successful, imposter syndrome possibly? your supporters/friends could show you things you couldn’t see before, likely for the better although they may reveal this in dramatic or difficult circumstances.

if you feel incomplete about the people/circumstances that support your public achievements, your creativity and lust for life is where you find contentment. these people feel most stable and appreciated for their talents and way of enjoying themselves. for these people, they find stability, growth, and satisfaction when they engage with activities that bring them happiness. they find beauty and appreciation from others for their self-expression/creatvity.

12th (scorpio) - 6th (taurus) ♠️: your drive to feel complete is what can you mislead you in life. this may be because you feel as if there’s always something missing or not being to shown to you but you are persistent in finding what that something is. this same energy can make the native very wise because they have to overcome their demons over and over again throughout life. but at the same time, you could also feel like your sense of resourcefulness and strength fails to manifest in reality.

if there’s conflict/determination in trying to protect yourself from things that induce bad energy, then there’s likely to be tranquility and acceptance in doing activities that can put your life back on track. the 6h is known as the house of bad fortune in astrology so these people are good at being able to find the most reliable way out of a difficult situation. and while these natives could be good at finding solutions, slacking off and overindulgence can lead to oversight with tasks.

once again thank you for 2k!

hope you enjoyed🥰

symbiote König x reader

I'm not allowed to start any new aus/stories until I finish a few, but I need to expel these worms from my brain. (also remind me to write something about Eddie Brock/Symbiote Ghoap x reader later)

I don't know if you guys know much about Venom lore, but symbiotes don't have a default system of morality: they take on the same traits and moral values as their hosts. They were created as a sort of world-conquering mindless evil force, but when symbiotes bonded to hosts who wanted to do good, they took on those moralities and became ashamed of their purpose. After they imprisoned the dude who made them to be evil (Knull, btw) they just made up a lie that their species was naturally benevolent.

So picture this: symbiote König who's been captured alongside several others of his kind and brought to Earth by the Life Foundation to study their abilities. I like the idea of symbiote König being similar to Eddie Brock's Venom: he's had bad and good hosts, but the bad ones fucked him up really bad, so now he's the König we know: arrogant and confident in his proficiency in violence, but deeply awkward, lonely, and lost. Getting kidnapped and taken to yet another foreign planet to be poked and prodded and experimented on is just his luck.

But then there's you. A pretty little scientist, not much more than a lab assistant, really. Your first encounter with him consists of you touching a finger to the glass of his prison, and him, curious, moving himself to press his inky dark goop where your skin presses against the glass. You giggle before quickly remembering yourself and skittering away. Symbiotes aren't fond of sounds, but he wouldn't mind hearing that one again...

It's little encounters like that that endears you to him. It didn't take him long to decide he hated humans: they're slow and unintelligent and nowhere near as elegant of a killer as he is, and yet they've managed to trap him and torment him. He's quickly noted as being the most unpredictable and violent of the captured symbiotes. But he likes you, who visits him and talks to him. To you, it doesn't mean much: you may as well be talking to a lab rat, finding an outlet to vent your frustrations about your insane work hours, demanding managers, and meagre pay. To him, he's absorbing everything you tell him, longing to touch you without glass in the way. What would it be like to bond with you, he wonders? To merge symbiote with flesh, and become two moving as one?

He'd like to be inside you, in more ways than one perhaps.

He may have fucked that up, though. It wasn't his fault, that day. They were starving him, these idiotic humans, starving all of them. He had no choice but to eviscerate and wholly consume the poor man sent into his glass cage. But you had been watching, eyes wide in terror, as blood and viscera burst everywhere. If he had a heart, it would have ached as he watched you skitter away...

And yet...there may be something deeply wrong with you, just as there is something wrong with him. Because you're back the next day, a new fascination in your eyes. Instead of talking at him, you talk to him now, asking him questions he only wishes he could answer. If he could just reach you, he could communicate...

König gets his wish the day it all goes awry. A whistleblower breaks in and makes off with one of his breathren, and the next person to stumble upon the scene is his little scientist, who doesn't hesitate to start smashing the glass of his prison. "It's not right," you mutter over and over again. "It's not right..."

He can detect your heartbeat speeding up as he drags himself across the floor to reach you. You shy away out of instinct, and he pauses. There are alarms ringing out now, awful terrible loud sounds, and he would prefer to get out of here immediately, but he refuses to do anything that would drive you away for good. He watches as you heave a deep shaky breath, then reach out a hand to him.

He glides up your hand and wrist, working his way into your body, the symbiosis instant and easy. You're a perfect match. He knew you would be. The armed guards burst through the door, but you have nothing to worry about as he envelops your body. You become a six foot ten behemoth, face hidden by what almost looks like a veil—something he picked up from a former host. You're barely aware of what's happening, too overwhelmed and confused to parse what's going on. But he knows what he's doing.

After he gets you to safety, the two of you will have all the time in the world to get to know each other.

Hi there - I'm trans and Jewish and I'd like to share my perspective on the "trans genocide" thing. I don't think we're experiencing active genocide in the US; that's definitely an extreme and offensive statement to make regarding what's happening. However, I do think that the increasing legislation attacking trans rights and autonomy as well as an increasingly polarized public view of trans people points to the potential for a worse situation that moves closer to genocide.

Now, personally, I live in a state where no laws limiting trans rights have passed. I was able to legally begin my medical transition when I was 15, I've never experienced transphobic violence, and the majority of people around me are supportive of my transition. My experience is similar to most other trans people in my area, with varying degrees of familial support.

But nation wide, we have seen an increase of trans people being murdered, and a massive increase in anti-trans legislation. This legislation aims to strip trans people of their autonomy and privacy. It seeks to put trans children in danger, remove information about what it is to be trans or queer from children's access, and enforce archaic ideas about what it means to be a man or woman.

Most of this is happening because right wing politicians can capitalize on moral outrage and fear to win votes. They're scapegoating trans people instead of trying to improve the lives of their constituents. This is kind of politician's thing, so it's not surprising in any way. However, when those policies successfully do win these politicians support, they'll have to make them more extreme. They'll want to make it illegal to exist as a trans person in public.

Now I'm not saying that that's genocide. I think we're an awfully long way off from trans people being mass arrested for being trans, and then murdered by the state. But we are in a rising climate of fear, and I don't think the trans people calling this the seventh stage of genocide are doing so out of bad faith. I think they're doing that because they are terrified of having their right to take life-saving medication, or have protection in the workplace, or be able to use a bathroom, or have children, or wear what they want to wear taken away. And they're terrified of those things because the bills on the table in states across the country put those rights in jeopardy. And if calling this a genocide makes people pay attention? I'm not super mad about it.

Hi, thank you for sharing your perspective on this. I appreciate it.

Your fear is primarily based on sensationalist headlines and interpretations of the law that are unfounded. I can assure you, you are not even in the early stages of a genocide.

But nation wide, we have seen an increase of trans people being murdered

In 2021, the Human Rights Campaign recorded 50 deaths of trans, nonbinary and GNC people.

In 2022, the HRC recorded 38 deaths (source). So. If we take these numbers at face value, that's a decrease of nearly 25% in one year, in a growing section of the population.

Taking these numbers and the size of the transgender population in the US (1.6 million), in 2021, trans people had a death rate of 3.1/100k, and in 2022, this dropped to 2.4. Again, the numbers provided by the HRC include nonbinary and GNC people, and accidental deaths.

Some of these aren't even murders or intentional homicides. They just say they were killed. I wouldn't consider these numbers reliable whatsoever, but they're the only estimate we have for now. There are so few trans deaths that they can fit on a single Wikipedia page, along with a little blurb about their life and who they were. It would be impossible to do something similar with victims of femicide, since there are too many to count. This page lists victims of femicide, only in Canada, only in 2022, and it is nearly as long as the Wikipedia page I listed above.

This is a perfect segue to my next point, which is to compare trans genocide to femicide, which is actually real. Women are killed so often that the UN has to categorize female murder victims as either killings (unnatural deaths), intentional homicides or gender-related killings (hate crimes, therefore considered in femicide statistics).

The intentional homicide rate for female victims in the US is 2.9/100k (data from 2021), and it is steadily increasing after having been on the decline since the mid-90s.

That only includes the pink and red circles shown in the UN's chart, not accidental deaths or unknown deaths like the HRC includes in their counts. Some countries have as many as 10.6/100k women die a year.

TL;DR: The murder rate for trans people in the US is not increasing, it is decreasing. This isn't indicative of a trans genocide in the slightest.

But nation wide, we have seen [...] a massive increase in anti-trans legislation.

As I was saying earlier, this idea stems from sensationalist headlines. It's concerning to me how widespread the misinformation about anti trans legislation really is, when house bills are publicly available online. You can literally do a quick Google search and find that most of these bills are nothing burgers.

Unfortunately, it's easier for you to just go on a website like translegislation.com and have them tell you what these bills say. I'll do some of the work for you and go through how these sites lie to you.

Alabama imposing criminal penalties on providers of trans healthcare? Sounds scary. Let's see what the source they linked, the HRC, has to say.

Ah. So it's specifically regarding transgender youth. As in, minors. This is after going through an insanely long title detailing how bad the bill is. The trans legislation tracker essentially lies by omission, implying that all trans healthcare is being criminalized.

Going to the bill in question, AL SB184, we can see that it actually acknowledges the existence of dysphoria in children.

However, they also acknowledge that this feeling may be fleeting, and that making permanent changes to a child's body solely on account of the child's personal sense of identity is unwise.

I won't go through every single bill here, as this post is already very long, but you get the idea. Feel free to send another ask if you would like me to look at specific bills.

Back to your ask: the way you speak of these bills shows that you've never read them for yourself or know how legislation works, since you're acting like it's the beginning of Armageddon.

This legislation aims to strip trans people of their autonomy and privacy. It seeks to put trans children in danger, remove information about what it is to be trans or queer from children's access, and enforce archaic ideas about what it means to be a man or woman.

I'm assuming by autonomy and privacy, you mean the choice to undergo medical transition and the bathroom/locker room/women's sports issue respectively.

Bills limiting "gender-affirming" care are focused on children, since puberty blockers like Lupron are now known to have very negative and permanent effects. The bills don't ban adults from choosing to take HRT. It's extremely profitable for doctors to continue to prescribe HRT and for surgeons to continue to recommend expensive plastic surgeries. Legislation won't go that route unless there's a massive shift in public perception.

The "Save Women's Sports Act" literally just limits participation in women's school sports to females only. That's it. The trans legislation tracker even acknowledges this.

Most of these bills are copy pasted from eachother, which is why they're all dubbed as "Save Women's Sports." Here's a snippet from HB61 in Ohio:

If someone's sex is brought into question, a simple blood test is all that's needed. Contrary to what the media may have led you to believe, there are no forcible genital inspections. No trans person is being forced to undress for this. Only 6 trans "girls" are affected by this in Ohio, out of 400k total athletes in girl's sports. So I'm not sure why this feels like a precursor to genocide to you.

remove information about what it is to be trans or queer from children's access,

Personally, I don't think children should be aware that medical transition is even a remote possibility unless they are in extreme psychological distress related to their sex. Even then, therapy is usually the best solution. I don't think the "Gender Unicorn," a surprisingly complex graphic created in part by an alleged violent rapist and groomer, should be used in classrooms to teach children about gender ideology. Gender ideology should be taught to college students who are better equipped to form their own opinion, not children who barely know how to read.

There are better, more useful things to push in our education curriculum, like compulsory comprehensive sex ed. That way, young men don't learn about sex through violent pornography, and young girls don't accidentally get pregnant without knowing what it means. This would also be a good time to teach them about sexual orientation. Leaving it up to the parents or focusing on abstinence evidently doesn't work.

enforce archaic ideas about what it means to be a man or woman.

The lack of self-awareness here is pretty astounding. The trans movement actively enforces these archaic ideas of gender by telling tomboys that they might actually be a boy. This implies that femininity is what makes womanhood, which is objectively untrue.

By telling masculine women that they are men and feminine men that they are women, you're literally enforcing the gender roles you say you're destroying.

They'll want to make it illegal to exist as a trans person in public.

You can speculate about this all you want, but you can't see laws limiting child transition and keeping sports sex-segregated as writing on the wall. We're not even close to that.

Now I'm not saying that that's genocide. I think we're an awfully long way off from trans people being mass arrested for being trans, and then murdered by the state.

I'm glad to hear you are moderately sane.

But we are in a rising climate of fear,

Your phrasing reminds me of US politics in the wake of 9/11. When people act out of fear, decisions are made in haste, and wars are started over made-up WMDs. Being fearful clouds your judgement.

Look around you. You're safe and accepted. The trans flag is flown almost everywhere in June. A trans woman won the NCAA National Champion title just last year. For International Women's Day, multiple companies featured trans women. Time Magazine featured many trans women as Women of the Year. Language is now inclusive, so women don't actually exist anymore. We're just uterus havers. This is all to cater to trans people.

Yeah. It's getting to be a bit much, isn't it? Don't you expect the least bit of pushback, especially from women? We aren't living in fear of some invisible boogeyman. We are angry at how rapidly our hard work has been undone.

We're pissed that after decades of feminist progress, we've regressed to being considered non-men once again.

and I don't think the trans people calling this the seventh stage of genocide are doing so out of bad faith. I think they're doing that because they are terrified of having their right to take life-saving medication, or have protection in the workplace, or be able to use a bathroom, or have children, or wear what they want to wear taken away.

Puberty blockers and HRT do not save lives. They actually haven't been proven to have a substantial enough effect on mental health to consider them an adequate treatment for gender dysphoria.

2. Trans people have the same basic human rights as any other human being.

3. Many places are adding gender-neutral bathrooms in order to accommodate the growing trans population. No one is checking your genitals at the door of a bathroom, no one cares that much. I care about girls being assaulted at school by boys in skirts and the school boards covering it up in the name of trans acceptance (x).

4. Trans people remove their own ability to have children by going on puberty blockers, HRT and even eventually physically castrating themselves. If you mean the ability to adopt or foster children, I don't know. Gay and lesbian couples still have a hard time adopting to this day, so progress can be made in that department.

To conclude this hodgepodge of various facts, screenshots and links, I'll leave you with this:

I fundamentally disagree with you that crying "genocide" is in any way helpful for your community. It's not. Most of Western society might have forgotten what genocide looks like or doesn't even know what the word means anymore, but you should know better as a Jew.

The attention trans people get from saying that they're going through a genocide is overwhelmingly negative from people on both ends of the political spectrum at this point. People are annoyed at trans people for making shit up, which ruins your movement's credibility.

When you have to lie to get someone's attention, you've already lost.

I’ve never seen a separated au with Leo being raised by big mama, what do you think that would be like? (Since he’s kinda rebellious)

For the record, there are AUs where Leo's been raised by Big Mama, the ones I know of are Gemini AU by tangledinink and True Colors AU by v-albion. I'm not super familiar with either of them, but they're there if you wanna check them out.

That being said-

LEO being raised by BIG MAMA omg I have THOUGHTS

Listen, I don't see enough people compare Leo to Big Mama, but he's quite similar to her. Splinter and BM never got a kid together, BUT IF THEY DID that kid would literally be Leo he's basically just a fusion of the two of them!!

As I've mentioned several times before because I love bringing it up, Leo is strategic, quick-witted, observant and good at talking. In the show (as well as in my own AU) Leo's strengths aren't really recognized, let alone aknowledged for a big portion of the story. Because of that, for a long time he doesn't really get the chance to develop these skills, as much potential Leo has to become a master planner his impulsiveness and inexperience has a tendency to get him into trouble.

BUT! All of these skills also happen to be skills that Big Mama has and would value in Leo. So if he were to actually have to opportunity to not only be raised by BM but also trained by her for his entire life. If he got to properly learn strategy, planning, manipulation...?

... Holy shit Leo would be terrifying.

Think about it, canon!Leo managed to out-smart BM in Many Unhappy Returns without any real experience, just imagine what he could do with a whole life-time of training.... yikes!

Not sure what exactly Big Mama and Leo's relationship would look like. In my opinion she would view him as her son and love him dearly, especially if she knew that he's Splinter's biological son.... it's just that BM has interesting ways of showing affection. ("The love of my life just proposed to me?? Great! I'm gonna lock him up in my gladiator fighting ring for the rest of eternity!") She'd at the very least be quite controlling, I imagine.

As you pointed out, Leo can be quite rebellious, so that mixed with Big Mama's obsessive need to be in complete control of everyone around her would certainly cause some tension. Actually... considering how clever Leo would be in this AU... uh oh.

All of these qualities that BM initially appreciated and encouraged in Leo, what if, as Leo became more and more capable, Big Mama started to eventually view them in a more negative light? If she feels like she's loosing control over Leo, if she interprets Leo's rebellion as not just a normal teenage need for independence but rather him malicously working against her. What if she starts viewing him not as an asset or as a tool, but rather a threat?

If BM has reason to believe that Leo might try to overthrow her and take control over her criminal empire, she might take preemptive action and get rid of him before he has the chance to get rid of her.... Not like murder-get-rid-of, I don't think she'd just kill him, lol! But like lock him up, maybe throw him into the Battle Nexus, I dunno. Anything that would allow her to remain in control of both him and her business.

As for Leo, maybe he would actually try to overthrow BM. Considering he was raised by a literal mafia boss, his moral compass is gonna be a bit wack. Maybe Leo's desire for control over himself would cause him to try to seize control over his mother's business. Oooooorrrrr maybe Leo just wants some independance but doesn't actually want to compete with BM, so when she interprets his actions and behavior as malicious he's not prepared for that at all and, as a result, is more than a little hurt that his own mother would take such extreme actions against him. Who knows?

Hhhhhhh there's a lot of fun posibilities here but MAN I'm not really in the mood to work on an entirely new AU. Maybe I'll create some art for it I dunno, this concept is really fun, but I'm not gonna turn this into a proper Thing, so if anyone else wanna steal this concept and explore it for themselves, feel more than free to do that!

so i'm writing a scene where jessie writes the entire story herself (the irony is not lost on me), and, it's supposed to be the most perfect world she can think of. it's impossible NOT to compare her decisions to ones that i've thought about drake making, their solutions to the same problems side-by-side. for example, jessie assumes that she cannot get around death being a necessity with life. obviously, the planet would overpopulate. people would get tired of being alive. she decides instead that death should be more like getting tired and going to sleep forever one day, without the aging or sickness. drake would never settle for allowing death. i've spent a lot of time idly trying to figure out how xe would change... well, with omnipotence, anything, everything, in order to accommodate this demand -- and there are many different ways, which can be flawed when interacting with other problems. but the important part is that drake wouldn't settle for death. drake makes a mandatory end result, takes the current reality, and works until the beginning and end goal meet. jessie doesn't challenge reality's initial stipulations or the basic arguments about the logistics of non-death, even with unlimited power. we know that jessie is more authority-oriented in her basic value system; it's obvious when she's a child, and it's obvious when she's a god. she had good parents and a happy childhood; the authority figures in her life provided what she needed if she listened (and if she didn't). it was in her best interest to develop a worldview where authority was Good; she had no need to question them. reality says there are limited resources, and we will fix it by making people and creatures die and become resources, and jessie said "okay, got it boss." drake didn't have terrible parents, but nonetheless had experiences of authority's failure that were deeply formative for xem. even if xyr parents had been perfect, the body dysphoria would have always meant the reality that was provided was not enough. if xyr body, arguably the most fundamental reality xe will ever know, trapped in it regardless of all other factors, doomed to die when it dies, was something xe had to question to find any happiness, it must be very easy to apply this mentality to other dissatisfactions with reality. drake's rigid and often extreme moral beliefs, while they may seem more like they should produce a ruthless dictator than jessie's emotionally-driven decision-making style, are intrinsically linked to suffering and a desire for relief from it. ironically, both of these characters deal with similar themes -- a desire for impossible realities, and a hatred for the world they live in with all of its imperfections. jessie's impossible desire may simply be the freedom from desire altogether; to finally for once not feel an emptiness radiating Want. drake's impossible desire is more straightforward and less easily described -- paradoxical self-actualization and ego death. their similarities make them fun to compare, because they really could not be more different. any which way, i wanted to write down these thoughts about the characters -- jessie in particular -- before they Disintegrated Into The Ether

Your Seven & Blazar art gives me life. Thank you for the Ultra food in gen.

On a deeper note, I'm curious to hear your opinion on how Seven would interact with Gento. Both of them are fathers, & tho Gento transforms into Blazar, you can argue that Blazar is his partner/ "kid" in a way. Both of them would also go above & beyond to protect Earth to the point of self-destruction.

Yet, unlike Seven, Gento wants to be involved with Jun (in 1 episode, he outright tells his dad to stop being a try hard) & makes it known. He's also less uh....morally dubious record-wise.

Thoughts?

Ooh! I like this idea! Yes please give me more how Character A interacts with Character B prompts, I live for these kinds of discussions!

For context, I'll be considering Gento during the events of Blazar 2023, and Seven after the events of Mega Monster Battle 2009 (M78 timeline).

Firstly, let's state on record that any invading alien and kaiju is lucky that Seven and Gento are not defending Earth at the same time, because they’d be an absolutely deadly duo. With Seven’s strong adaptability and knowledge on extraterrestrial subjects, coupled with Gento’s leadership and strategic mindset, topped off with their resourcefulness, combat experience and determination -- they'd keep Earth safe for as long as they both lived. If they worked well together and trusted each other, they'd be nigh unstoppable.

Despite this, their interactions could vary drastically depending on how much trust they can establish between them, how willing they are to work together, and whether the safety of Earth is at stake during their interactions.

Gento is a strong leader who places great value in the contributions of his team, and often devises plans with all of his team in mind. While he does give out dangerous orders, he ultimately functions best when all of his team is on board with him on his ideas. Seven is substantially less worried about team rapport and building trust etc., and prefers to work alone as an agent. He does care for his teammates, but believes that some hands-off/harsh treatment is necessary so that his teammates can 'develop' (Taro 1973 Ep 33 & 34, Leo 1975). Thus, Seven wouldn't last long in Gento's team, given how Gento values his team members and their relationships, and how tightly-knit Gento runs his operations. Gento may still decide to work with Seven at arm's length, as he'd recognise that Seven is a powerful ally, or an even more powerful opponent to have.

While their goals and dedication regarding Earth are similar, their values are inherently different. As you’ve pointed out, Gento puts his family as a close priority — it’s unlikely that he’d do anything to compromise his family at this stage. Seven's close to opposite: not only has Seven excused himself from Zero’s upbringing, but has a history of choosing Earth over the lives of his own brothers (Leo 1975, Ep 39), though he does show immense difficulty making those decisions. Any argument/conflict between Gento and Seven would likely force Gento to play the moral side of missions -- which he is admittedly not strong at. There is a high chance that Seven could make Gento follow through with something he'd end up regretting later.

Their relationship could go either way. If they were to interact on good terms, it's likely that they'd establish an odd informant/agent relationship. It wouldn't take Gento long to figure out Seven isn't human, but he'd likely see that as a resource more than anything. Given Gento's penchant for holding important secrets, he'd keep any interaction with this weird alien informant as a secret from his team and/or family. On healthy terms, they'll spend their off times exchanging grapevine news, comparing monster research, sharing stories about their sons, or maybe engaging in some hiking or fishing together. Seven and Gento can relate on many things, including the stresses of their duties, any accident or alien related trauma, or their concern for their families. On a deeper level, they could talk about their decisions, regrets, fears, or the times where they came close to becoming the monsters they were fighting so hard to protect Earth from. They'll disagree on a lot of things, but they'd hold a decent respect for each other as fellow Earth protectors.

On the other hand, if they're unable to build any sort of trust between each other, and if saving the Earth requires a sacrifice of any of their values, Gento and Seven could turn out as rivals or foes. Both of them are stubborn and unwilling to compromise on their values -- Gento will go against any plans that risk the loss of his family or his team, and Seven will not accept anything that puts many humans at risk of any danger, even if it's other humans. Seven is a horrible enemy for any species to deal with; his lethal special techniques, astute observations and his unwavering willpower makes him dangerous and difficult to oppose. Equally, Gento's charisma, composure and methodical approach to strategy means that he'll find way more allies and resources, and he'll be able to form more elaborate plots against Seven once he figures out Seven's weaker points. It would take a third party to stop their fight from worsening (maybe their sons, their teammates, or even Blazar), because any actual conflict between Gento and Seven wouldn't end until one of them has been removed from the picture.

Regardless, I don't think they'd be in any position to ignore each other -- their duties and lives are way too similar for them to stay as strangers!

I can imagine that their first interaction would be anything but normal ;D Maybe someone found some aliens attacking cities and towns, claiming they were original inhabitants of Earth before the humans apparently invaded. Maybe Seven’s in the middle of investigating a weird Ultraman with a warbling warcry and a fondness for veggie juice. They’d probably only meet at times when the Earth is in serious danger, and Seven's oddly timely appearances during times of crisis would 100% arouse suspicion from SKaRD. Simultaneously, Seven's got a track record of being weirdly interested in humans -- he'd end up following Gento in the distance during his missions, popping up to interfere with missions or to part with cryptic advice, which will cause Gento no end of confusion or frustration. Then eventually, when Seven inevitably gets caught by the authorities and pulled into interrogation as Dan Moroboshi, or when Gento gets caught in some alien skirmish while a human-sized Seven is in action, or when SKaRD witnesses some bird-like or buffalo-like kaiju materialise to help Blazar in a fight -- they'll get a chance to properly talk.

That's just my initial thoughts! I'd expect that there'd be more nuance between Seven and Gento, as there are a lot of parallels between their characters. Their dynamics would be different depending on which iterations of those characters we'd be using: e.g. Gento would have a lot to teach 1967 Seven on how not to be gullible weirdo who doesn't listen to his team, and he’d have a lot to say about 1974 Captain Moroboshi. Also, Heisei Seven is a force of terror that I don't want to subject either Gento or SKaRD to. If they'd ever meet up in stage-shows/movies though, I'd like for them to be friends.

TL;DR Gento and Seven could turn out as confidantes, or they'll end up stopping each other from saving Earth. Now I want fanfic of this

its suddenly occured to me that as soon as Simon Petrikov makes an official return as feeling like a member of the main AT cast in his own right, Jake is no longer present. It's still unclear how much of it is Jake having retired prior to his death, or if he was already dead by the events of Obsidian, but it feels like Simon has taken up the role Jake originally occupies.

Essentially when you look at Simon's events in Obsidian and the apparent role he seems to have among the bigger Finn-PB-Marceline-Simon party and group dynamic, he shares a LOT of surprisingly similar traits with Jake:

EXPERIENCED PARTY MEMBER: Jake isn't the oldest member of the group by any stretch, but the other characters TREAT him like he is; he's generally considered to have the most life experience, and he is often treated as being the wisest one. How much of this is objectively true is up for debate and a question for how much of it is just character viewpoints coming in, but Simon definitely has the most life experience. It's arguably one of his more defining traits, since having so much of it against his will is one aspect of the crown. Simon is also a pretty dang smart and emotionally intelligent person, though he doesn't acknowledge it.

THE DAD GUY: In the sense of 'being an older guy that the other characters talk to for advice and reassurance that can be relied upon to solve problems'. Jake isn't precisely a father to Finn in particular by any means, but he IS an older brother who can sometimes come off as having raised Finn, and he is definitely a dad. (Admittedly only for... well, a day because the Pups age weird, and it clearly bothers him, but it still counts.) As for Simon, him being a Dad is probably the thing that most hammered down his characterization and redefined him to such a colossal extent that Simon Petrikov overnight went from being the tragic origin of the Ice King to 'HOLY FUCKING SHIT HE WAS MARCELINE'S REAL DAD!!!!!', with all the implications of his character since. Simon is a dad, and his role as a dad underpins so much of what he seems to value and want more than anything else.

HYPER COMPETENT IN SPECIFIC FIELDS THAT FEEL MORE MUNDANE THAN THE OTHERS: Finn hits things and does Dungeon Adventure stuff. Princess Bubblegum is practically a text book mad scientist alight with the maddening light of GENIUS ITSELF. Marceline, interestingly, comes off very heavily as a parallel to Finn and Jake as a combo package, but the thing that characterizes Jake and by extension Simon for this argument is that they don't do the fancy stuff the other characters do. Jake hits stuff with his magic powers, but in practice he's a pretty blunt force person who doesn't do much of anything outside that, and Simon is notable in that he comes off as being kind of a useless weenie who THINKS he's a useless weenie... until the call of danger comes, and he abruptly shifts into overdrive and almost effortlessly solves the problems he faces without hesitation or any self preservation. In Obsidian he arranges a big calvary team completely on his own, off screen and without prompting, and in Fionna And Cake we see more of this. Simon THINKS he's useless while Jake doesn't care, but both of them are startlingly hyper competent in the narrow field of 'its kinda boring compared to the others but they do it'.

MORAL AMBIGUITY: This is probably the most potentially contentious one, but bear with me. Jake has an established history as a thief and general Dude Doing Crimes, and its not particularly clear if he stopped because he regretted it or just because he became more responsible for Finn. He doesn't SEEM like he regrets it in the slightest, either. Throughout the series it's a running theme that while Jake is generally wiser he's also way more prone to saying messed up stuff or suggesting iffy things for comedic purpose or just on a whim; taken seriously, it can feel like Jake is straight up Chaotic Neutral without much interest in the ethics he does, just about caring about specific people and not much else besides that.

Now let's look at Simon. The current fandom vibe is 'academic weenie with a bubble butt that screams in danger a lot', and this IS technically true, but its not the whole story. Ice King WAS a villain, and genuinely the most recurring threat throughout the series, and while that was part of the crown, the other wearers show it doesn't come out of nowhere. The potential to be Ice King, the callous and destructive brute force, is part of Simon in a whole 'there's two people in the mirror, the one you see and the one you DON'T want to see' kind of way. But during the course of Fionna And Cake we see Simon abducting someone he hates to use them as a magical battery and when they die from it he's more upset about losing his chance and not that someone DIED, when he watches a parallel version of himself wither away he brushes it off as 'oh they were a bad Simon'. It's not implausible Simon did some... STUFF back in the days of the post-war world to ensure he and more importantly Marceline survived. He has a history of revealing that underneath his weenie exterior, he's a solid mass of cold metal that's like biting on tin foil.

All in all, it feels that as Jake has implicitly left the narrative, Simon has been neatly dropped into fulfilling roughly the same role Jake originally did to the rest of the group, or at least that Jake's general narrative purpose of 'does more wacky things for giggles' has been generally split between Finn and Marceline, while Simon has taken on some of his Experienced Family Member and Moral Ambiguity bits.

Whenever you talk about Callum and Claudia and moral ambiguity, I always think of this quote

"A hero would sacrifice you to save the world, but a villain would sacrifice the world to save you."

I love your metas, and I thought you might find this interesting (unless you already had this one in the back of your head lol)

Now, part of this may be because I grew up with PJO - a series with a very heroic, brave, and loving main character whose in-universe fatal flaw is "To save a friend you would sacrifice the world" - but I tend to err away from this dichotomy of villain-hero and subsequent selfish-selfishness in general.

The hero "saving a loved one vs the the world" is an age old conflict and also an inherently fantastical scenario, as it's a literal trolley problem on a level no real life person will ever experience (there can certainly be similar things in IRL war when a lot of hard, otherwise unfathomable choices have to be made). And, traditionally, most villains cover up their schemes with notions of doing things for the Greater Good (hi Viren!) even if their actions are also things that are conveniently benefitting themselves. And typically, the hero is the Hero precisely because they understand that recognizing the personhood of the individual and that it's important to always value the individual (of which the many are made of) is a crucial cornerstone of well, valuing life at all.

This sort of trolley problem is something that TDP comes back to over and over again and most of the time, the 'right' choice is defending the life of the (innocent) individual under attack no matter the otherwise personal consequence.

Runaan: You let him live, but you killed us all!

Sol Regem: No, you have two choices. You all die, or just the wretched evil human dies.

To do otherwise leads to Sarai's death as a narrative punishment. (ATLA explores this too, with Aang being literally Killed the second he successfully, albeit reluctantly, gives up his attachment to Katara. Which is harsh but very indicative, I think, as far as narrative punishments go, and reaffirmed in the finale with Aang being given a third path precisely because he refuses to surrender his attachments a second time.)

That's not to say heroes never prioritize the greater good. Rayla is very world focused ("This could end the war and change the world!" / not taking Claudia's deal in 4x09) and Ezran exchanges his freedom/safety for the chance for his soldiers to be able to lay down their arms and it's a primary concern for him in S4 ("But the kingdom needs me" "The world needs you"). Callum smashes the primal stone to hatch Zym. But, most importantly, the Heroic thing to do is to choose to lay down your life, not solely offer up others', for those causes or choices. And Viren's hesitation and later inflated self importance (among other emotions) is his Original Sin, series wise. (Even the fact he refuses to give up the egg and offer it as a possible plea for Harrow's life; he'd rather sacrifice his own because of his own paranoia than risk giving Xadia a 'weapon'.)

In many ways, TDP says "The villain will sacrifice you for their notion of the world (who counts as a person, etc), and the hero will save you even at the potential cost of the their world, re: themselves".

However, because this is TDP, even this dichotomy isn't Simple or clear cut. Runaan and his troupe all willfully give their lives for an ultimately lost cause that will only create more suffering and was, per the words of the story and reaction of the other characters, completely Unnecessary; Claudia is certainly prioritizing the life of the individual, but with a complete lack of regard for any other life forms as a dark mage (and isn't thinking through the long term consequences, but more on that here).

TDP also calls into question the nobility or necessity of self or self imposed sacrifice, particularly in Rayla's character and where and how it can be taken to a dangerous level. For example, her walking away from the drake is a character regression, not a progression, precisely because it throws away the life of the individual (something she largely never did before) while also reaffirming that she's far too prone to throwing her own life away unnecessarily/unfairly.

So. Where does this leave us? And what does this mean for Callum and Claudia?

Well, I think there's a few consistencies:

1) Are you sacrificing yourself because you feel like you have to (obligation and guilt) or are you sacrificing yourself because it is the right thing to do (harm mitigation)?

This is probably where Rayla and Harrow fall the most. That's also not to say this dichotomy is solid, as it can definitely be flexible / bleed into each other (Harrow's surrender of his life in 1x03 is, I believe, both). But it is useful in differentiating when Rayla is being noble (saving Zym, 2x07, 3x09, possibly 4x09) vs when she's being self-punishing (1x02, 3x08, Through the Moon, definitely 4x09).

2) Are you sacrificing others in ways you would not sacrifice yourself? Are you sacrificing yourself in ways you would not sacrifice others?

This is where I think Runaan, Viren, Rayla, and Callum primarily fall into. Viren is the only one who really hardcore engages with the first question (yes, he'll sacrifice himself, but it's almost always with an edge of disregard to others and/or a sense of ego), with Runaan, Rayla, Callum, and Claudia all leaning towards the second one. "You're going to be better now, that's all that matters" "It doesn't matter what happens to me, live or die this dragon goes home" "If me dying is the only way for you and Zym to get across safely, then it's time for me to meet the end" and "I am already dead".

3) Are you actively chasing a self destructive/sacrificial pattern or is it something you are pushed into and then have to react to?

This is the key difference (most of the time) I think between Claudia and Rayla (first option) and Callum (second option). For me, I perpetually come back to the way Callum is willing to risk his life, most often, only when he has hope of survival (i.e. he lays down his life for Ez but also immediately argues that he should get to live; Rayla talks him down in 3x01 with two words and Callum immediately starts looking for another plan; he jumps off the Pinnacle with the hope of wings). This is in direct contrast to Claudia and to Rayla. Where Ezran argues in 3x02 that children shouldn't pay for their parents' mistakes, Rayla argues the exact opposite and that she should die in 3x08. The "pushed into a corner" Callum vs Claudia "seeking it out" seems pretty consistent, but I could see Callum seeking it out a bit more in S5, particularly in relation to the coins (but we'll have to see).

Closing Thoughts

To be clear, I don't think TDP is interested in giving a Definite answer about self sacrifice and selfishness vs selflessness (sacrificing yourself can be selfish; saving yourself can be selfless; selfishness is not always a vice and sacrifice is not always a virtue). I think it's a theme, as a subset of grief and relationships, that the story has chosen to Explore in a variety of different ways.

One of the main reasons I've always leaned towards Callum and Claudia paralleling each other more directly is 1) they always have (Claudia comes up with the switching spell in 1x01 because of Callum, and that's precisely what Callum executes when he says he's Ezran, for ex), 2) Aaravos' pawns ("a song of love and loss" "Aaravos chose as his instruments" "those who fail tests of love," etc.) and 3) Claudia is primed to be the one pushing for Aaravos to be freed.

This is somewhat sympathetic because it's for her dad, but Viren-Claudia have a complicated to unhealthy kind of dynamic, and Viren isn't really a character most of the audience cares about being saved (nor does he himself, and he's already been Saved once), so the sympathy can only go so far. However, it's still pretty clear that they're both set up to get atonement/redemption arcs to a degree. The easiest way to not have Claudia be incredibly demonized is for another, good guy character, to make the same/a similar choice for a similar reason. I've gone on record saying I think Callum will either make a conscious choice where he knows he could be risking Aaravos' freedom if it snowballs, or an active choice directly freeing Aaravos, simply because who else would have the incentive, who else has the foreshadowing, and it ties together the thematic overhaul of S4 pretty well, as well as Callum's associations with Freedom thematically.

Because valuing the individual over the world isn't Wrong, just like valuing the world over the individual isn't necessarily Right. It depends on bond, sympathy, circumstance, the attitude and role of the character you're saving and who's doing the saving and how. I've said it before that every character in TDP typically wants the same thing - to protect their loved ones - and so their methods - what they're willing to do or not do, and how they do it - is what creates the moral and ethical spectrum of the show.

TLDR; sometimes we sacrifice the right things for the wrong reasons, or the wrong things for the right reasons. Claudia still doesn't think/know that Aaravos is evil (because she is a Legend at ignoring red flags and her own prejudice); Callum does. Claudia doing all this to save her father out of her own desperation would offer up a nice parallel of Callum also doing something out of desperation to protect/save the people he loves. I think they both have a great capacity to be Wrong, while (in Callum's case) also somewhat doing the Right Thing. That's why it's Moral Dubiousness, after all.

And also why his Tales of Xadia bio spells it out for us 3 different times:

Liberty: I'm beholden to my inner circle, not some silly kingdom.

Devotion: I value those close to me more than anyone or anything.

Has the lowest Justice (the defined desire to do What's Right) score of any of the main heroic characters in the trio or in the show, other than Lujanne

my thoughts and values align with yours re: STIs and risk AND i keep coming up against resistance to the recent discussions as a high-risk person still living almost entirely isolated amidst the ongoing pandemic. and when i take a second to breathe and think, i realize these are not conflicting at all. the friction isn't that i view illness morally or that i think we should avoid all risk. it's that the majority of folks without question take precautions to reduce STI exposure but the majority of people no longer consider doing the so minorly inconvenient precautions to reduce the spread of covid, which i would argue is much riskier than STIs at this point. and it's so exhausting because then i have to, based on my risk analysis of covid, take way more precautions because no one else is looking out for me. community care and harm reduction are my biggest driving values and i grieve how absent they are around me. i just wanted to share in case others are feeling similarly while reading this discussion. you rock and i so hope i get to engage in a beautiful public kinky scene some day.

Hey, thanks so much for sharing and walking us through your thought process.

What I might add is that individual people might not seemingly put much effort into COVID mitigation anymore because they have next to zero institutional support in doing so. Many of my disabled friends have to work in areas with a high risk of COVID exposure: waiting tables, stocking grocery store shelves, working as home health aids or phlebotomists, or teaching in schools. Some of them are high risk themselves, but because they have no choice but to work in areas where their life is put on the line, they have very high stress decompression needs and feel already resigned to their disposability in society, and so they do also go out to bars with their friends or hold parties or visit clubs.

I also know people who are able to socially distance quite strictly, test regularly, are vaccinated and boosted, but who intentionally make plans to visit cruising spaces or gay orgies very rarely so that they can remain relatively safe COVID wise but also not kill themselves out of despair (I'm not being hyperbolic here, that's exactly what some people have told me are the competing risks they face when they balance COVID exposure against isolation. And I know that many high risk populations face these same severe negative mental health outcomes too -- in fact, I know high risk people who choose to go out in public at times in order to remain sane, but who have to sit with the fact that it could be a mortal danger to do so).

I also think about how the queer community came together in the fight against AIDS to make condoms available, to educate one another about safer sex practices or harm reductionist practices, to engage in sex together in risk mitigating ways (such as gloved fisting) and how they pushed for the government to make drug treatment available to them. I see a lot of queer and disabled advocacy groups doing similar work today to spread accurate data on COVID as best they can, promote masking, organize solely outdoor events, encourage vaccination, and remind people of the stakes.

And I see such a massive gap between the ways in which risk mitigation was made possible through such community efforts, and how catastrophically the government fails us regarding COVID. We are not given free tests anymore. Vaccines aren't free anymore either. It is no longer a state of emergency. Many of us have been forced back into in-person work at our jobs. Our unemployment benefits have been cut. Student loan payments are roaring back into action. Disability benefits and medicare's expansion is rolling back. We no longer have accurate testing and tracing data. Masks are no longer required.

If a person wants to behave responsibly regarding COVID, how are they even supposed to? They can wear a mask in public and not experience in-person community to the extend they might like or need. But they can't actually prevent themselves from getting or spreading the virus because they've been forced back to work. I understand many people do not even take these small steps to reduce harm and that it is dismaying and outrageous. And I think you have ever right to feel outraged by it. But I also think individual behavior flows from social support and institutional pressure, and nearly all of that is heading in the wrong direction right now.

And I think about how collective the push for better government interventions regarding AIDS was, and how much the push regarding COVID instead is focused on targeting individual people for the actions they've made within a very unsupportive context. It was not beneficial to view individuals who had bareback sex or shot heroin as the origin of HIV, and I don't think it's helpful to understand COVID as a phenomenon of individuals failing to mask now.

Granted, it took HIV activism YEARS to get to the point of ACT UP. And we're not so many years deep into COVID yet comparatively. Personally when I look at all these facts in context I see a population that largely did take COVID seriously for a time, but who, due to a mix of institutional failure, mass misinformation, risk resignation, and despair, no longer do so in their behavior.

I don't believe in moralizing emotions and I think from your perspective you're affected by all these factors PLUS the massive risk of developing Long Covid symptoms or worse. And I know you know and live all this shit already so forgive me for preaching to the choir. But I do want to gently push back against the idea that most people don't care about COVID the way they care about STI's. I believe our discourse on both has been horrifically poisoned by individualism, capitalism, and institutional failure.

Some articles I have written on the subject:

This book was read by me in November

Norwegian wood Haruki Murakami

I just finished reading “Norwegian Wood” by Murakami and would like to share my impressions and conclusions about this book. After reading it, it leaves a very melancholy but pleasant aftertaste; the author did a very good job in this and created a very addictive atmosphere. There is no sharp plot in this book; it tells about people, their daily lives, problems, and experiences, and more than once I caught myself thinking that the lives of the characters can often be similar to ours. Everyone openly talks about their problems and oddities, and on the one hand, it looks easy and simple, but on the other hand, it does not always help to cope with a difficult moral state, and this is very sad. Also, the theme of death and the value of human life and, in principle, each individual person constantly creeps in here. What's the thought? Every death does not pass by, and it leaves a deep imprint on the human soul, but at the same time, it always gives some lesson, and everyone decides for themselves how it will affect their future lives. About the value of people: each person is unique; everyone is crazy different and interesting in their own way.

There are no bad people; everyone just perceives the same person differently: for some he’s strange, for others he’s very cool, for others he’s talented and smart, and for others he’s a complete asshole who doesn’t care about others. If someone does not see your positive sides and perceives your uniqueness and individuality negatively, then the person is not yours. A book about a mysterious forest in which it is easy to get lost, lose your bearings, and never find the right path This forest is inside each of us. In it, you can find answers to all questions, explore every hidden corner of your soul, directly or through intermediaries, and constantly move towards the truth, even if it is very difficult. A book about the formation of personality, about pain, confusion of the soul, loneliness, and, of course, about the color and diversity of the Japanese soul.

Each person in the main character’s life is his way of self-healing. Healing the wounds inflicted by fate. Watanabe could not cope with the loss of his best friend Kizuki, could not help him, and did not know how to help himself. As he grew closer to Naoko, he tried desperately to pull her through, to help her cope, not realizing that he was struggling to heal his own wounds, to overcome loneliness and the fear of death.

All the people who meet him on the path of life are sick, broken, confused, and clutching at a fragile life with tenacious hands, and he furiously tries to help them with his last strength, imbued with everyone’s life, lives it, has compassion, and lets go. A wounded soul, like a tree trunk, tries to straighten up, blossom, and grow, striving for the sky no matter what. Every person he meets is experienced, accepted, and understood. The stormtrooper helped him discover purity in life and cleanse himself of dirty space and dirty thoughts. Nagasawa opened in him an understanding of the possibilities of the breadth of the world and the mind, as well as criticism of morality and unprincipled principles.

Over time, Watanabe stops tormenting himself and decides to start a new life. Having moved, he receives it, but at the same time, many experiences cover him like a wave covers a weak raft. Midori, the girl who lit the spark of life in him, turns away from him, doing this for educational reasons. She succeeds in this very well; she pulls him out of the world of the dead, in which he has already found himself with one foot. She brings him to his senses over and over again, thereby trying to help herself cope with loneliness and traumatic, destructive events.

So, together, they climb to a new life, to the sky and fresh wind, leaving the past behind.

At the end of the story, Watanabe helps another person, Reiko, indirectly helping herself. Pure, non-carnal, platonic love.

And Watanabe begins to understand that the stem of his life has become strong enough to try to be happy. Of course, this journey has just begun and will never end. This truly amazing resistance to death and the natural desire for light cause the power of life to awaken in everyone.

I was quite surprised by this book, because in fact, nothing extraordinary or unusual happens here, but nevertheless it grabs you and doesn’t let you go, because ordinary life is described here, and the problems of the characters can often be close to the reader. A fluid and smooth description of everyday life, surroundings, small everyday events that in their own way influence the subsequent lives of the characters and their moral state, growth or fall, stories from the past... all this really hooked me. The book is definitely worth reading. She teaches us to cherish every moment, like watching wildflowers in a vase, because they fade so quickly... they remain forever in our memory, because our life consists of them.

Thoughts and Observations From the Movie, Part 3/4

Hello! It part 3 of mine silly thoughts and observations from the Rise movie :3

I stopped to look at and highlight this scene mostly because mmm good angst. Leo is an absolutely ferocious fighter, no sarcasm or exaggeration here, but he’s extremely sentimental and kind and protective of his family in turn. As someone who absolutely breaks down when a compromise cannot be found to reconcile two conflicting morals, Leo’s hesitation to fight a threat to his family that happens to be part of his family is downright painful. 

Can you imagine the deflated feeling of dying hope that comes with seeing a glimpse of a vulnerable Raph in a body no longer under its owner’s control? To think you saw your brother shine through only to realize you were wrong? It looked like Raph’s pain because the mind in control exhausted the body. Ouch.

Further content below the cut!

FURTHERMORE! This parallel is everything to me. Leo makes a very similar expression both times, and the shot of his face shows his head angled in the exact same way, both times. Both times, Leo’s life is in danger, and both times, Raph is there. 

The difference is that the first time, Raph is protecting Leo’s life, and the second time, Raph is the danger to Leo’s life. Note also that Raph is physically placed above Leo when he’s trying to save his brother, and Leo is placed physically over Raph when he’s trying to save his brother. Visually speaking, these cues are genius, and I absolutely live for that. It’s what makes both scenes so powerful without most people even realizing there was a connection or a visual representation of the emotion involved.

More Donnie love/angst! This scene also strikes me as being incredibly boosting of Donnie’s strength. Someone else half pointed something here out, and I want to amplify it: Donnie likely has the least prowess with his ninpo/mystic powers out of the four brothers, which gives a little more meaning to this part.

Recall that Donnie was most reluctant to embrace magic, first off. One, because he has some amazing technological mastery that allows him to accomplish many of the same feats magic can, so he finds value in being able to do that without the help of some outside source that doesn’t have any connection to his ability. And, if you remember the episode where he and April visit a witch town, you know that it goes deeper than this in that he’s scared magic of any kind is in itself something that can render him obsolete; because it’s his ability with tech that defines who he is on the team, at least in his eyes.

All that to say it took him the longest to embrace and learn to use his ninpo, really. And once he did get to that point, it was made clear that he used it to enhance his mind’s ambitions and create mystic tech. He’s good at what he does, but each brother has a distinct style or purpose to their ninpo, and while Donnie’s is helpful and overall cool in its own right, by nature it’s not a protective magic like, say, Raph’s. 

So, Donnie has the least experience with his ninpo, and shield making was very definitely not his forte, which means that in this scene it can be assumed the shield he makes to protect him and Mikey is already not very strong, and as it was the Krang punched through it like it was nothing. He and Mikey are both temporarily knocked out as they’re hit out of the sky, both going completely limp in their freefall. 

(As an aside, GOSH I love Donnie being protective over Mikey, just an A+ trope. I might make a separate compilation of screenshots showcasing all the times Donnie and Mikey hung onto and protected each other, and it’s a surprisingly high count)

Immediately after Donnie and Mikey are yote out the sky, Leo directs Raph to go save them, and I wanted to show the screenshot he does this in because I missed the tears in Leo’s eyes the first few times I watched the movie. 

Leo is utterly terrified for his brothers. Pressure is high, he only just got the four of them out of their last immediate danger, and these boys just threw pretty much everything they’ve got at a literal world-ending threat with no effect. Then, without so much as 10 seconds to breathe when coming to this conclusion, both his little brothers are knocked out of the sky, and he had to send his only big brother away to make sure they don’t straight up die, leaving Leo completely alone with an enemy he can’t seem to beat. I’d be crying too, man.

Additionally, I’ve always been curious as to how exactly Raph grabbed both Mikey and Donnie just before engulfing the three of them in a Mega-Ninpo-Raph-Projection. Now I know, and, yeah, it does look like a giant hug. I’m soft for how caringly he wraps them in his arms, almost like he’s cradling them. No doubt he’s got the same fears as Leo running through his head at a million miles a minute, and as an eldest sibling myself I’m impressed with how well he kept his composure.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

so ive only watched a few spn episodes ever, and your tags whenever you talk about any batfam member and comparing it to them makes me curious about your full thoughts regarding them, as in: who do you think dick is more like between dean and sam?

Dick shares qualities and experiences with both brothers, but I personally think he's more like Sam than he is like Dean.

I think when Dick was younger, he more closely resembled Dean in the sense that he started fighting young as Robin, and he wanted to be Robin. Likewise, Dean was brought into the hunter fold (or the knowledge of it) earlier on in life, and he enjoyed hunting, unlike Sam.

Dick and Dean also had a more similar relationship with their fathers. Bruce had high expectations for Dick to be Robin while John had high expectations for Dean to protect and provide for Sam. Essentially, if Bruce and John told their sons to jump, Dick and Dean would be the ones asking, "How high?"

Despite that, I think Dick and Sam are more similar for the following reasons:

Dick and Sam are more independent. Dick left Robin behind as well as his place at Bruce's side so he could become his own man and hero. Sam left a life of hunting behind to go to college and to live a normal life. Sam was also left by himself a lot when John and Dean went hunting, leaving him to fend for himself many times.

Dick went to law school and apparently has a law degree. Sam went to Stanford and intended to go to law school until he got dragged back into the hunting business. Speaking of school, Dick and Sam were more academically studious than Dean.

Dick and Sam are both good at leading teams. Dick has led multiple teams, and Sam led a group of hunters to take down the British Men of Letters as well as led members from the apocalypse world.

Dick and Sam both have a repeated history of loss of autonomy. Both are possessed or taken control of quite a few times.

Dick and Sam are generally more health conscious and aren't as gluttonous as Dean.

Dick and Sam are more empathetic/compassionate. Dick is willing to extend a hand to others even when they stumble on their path. Sam's empathy deals more with morality and how he realizes that not all monsters are inherently bad and that they don't all deserve to die. Sam can also be a lot more gentle and understanding when dealing with monsters or victims (hence why Dean once remarked that Sam was always saying "pansy" stuff to people).

Sam would absolutely murder Joker if given the chance since he HATES clowns and fears them. Dick and Sam have clown killing solidarity.

Dick and Sam's guilt has pushed them to extremes on a few occasions. For example, Dick and the Blockbuster situation. Dick tried to convict himself to prison over it. According to Bruce, he had also been showing suicidal tendencies during that period. Sam is similar in that he saw his imprisonment in hell for 100+ years as atonement for his sin (aka getting tricked into freeing Lucifer from his cage which then started the apocalypse). He also was going to let himself die after doing a series of trials because he no longer valued his life after viewing himself as a screw-up/unworthy.

When they take parental roles, Dick and Sam are more patient and understanding with their kids. Dick with Damian and Sam with Jack (Jack is a nephilim who becomes Castiel, Sam, and Dean's kid). Now Dean is actually great with kids (no surprise since he's got a baby brother) but he's horrible to Jack. I actually don't even like to think of him as one of Jack's parents because he never really trusted Jack and wanted him dead multiple times. (SPN characterization was not always... the best... in those later seasons alksda.) And listen, sometimes Dick did lose his patience with Damian, but he was never horrible to him the way Dean was with Jack.

There are also ways Dick, Sam, and Dean are all similar such as how they're all clever and inventive. Dick's a detective and uses his skills to solve problems. He also builds gadgets or inventions to assist him in his cases.

Hunting monsters also involves some form of detective work, but Sam is smart in other ways such as figuring out how to do a reverse exorcism on the spot. In season 11 when Sam got infected by a rabid virus and was trying to find a cure, he lured a rabid man to him with a video and then zapped him with a taser he built with materials from a hardware store.

Sam will be referred to as the brains of the operation, but Dean is smart as well, and Sam even says so in canon. Dean's good at lore and at figuring things out on a hunt. Plus, he's an amazing mechanic and knows how to work a car, which is something that he shares in common with Dick. Sam is less so involved with the mechanics of the car, but Dean taught him more about it before he was dragged to hell.

All three of them are also intimate with sacrifice. In general, they give up so much of their own lives to help others. In specific, Dick sacrificed everything to infiltrate Spyral. Sam sacrificed himself to lock Lucifer away in hell. Dean sacrificed the rest of his life to bring Sam back to life. And those are only a few examples. They sacrifice so much more.

Sam Porter Bridges' MBTI + Enneagram Typology (pt. 1)

MBTI: ISTP (Ti-Se-Ni-Fe)

Enneagram: 9w8

Instinctual Variant: sp/sx

Tritype: 963

(Higgs analysis)

MBTI Analysis

Like Higgs, Sam's MBTI is pretty easy to identify right off. Words I frequently hear to describe ISTPs: quiet, gruff, grumpy, grouchy, closed-off, etc. There are tons of these guys in fiction. Arthur Morgan, Daryl Dixon, Jim Hopper, John Wick, etc etc that should give you a sense of the archetype at hand. That good old, salt-of-the-earth, jack-of-all-trades, reliable tough guy who's a real softie deep down behind a facade of aloof moodiness and outward dissatisfaction.

ISTP describes Sam very well. He's resourceful, observant, direct, authentic, independent, steadfast, spontaneous, unapologetic, insensitive at times, private/reserved, and skeptical. For the most part, ISTPs are straightforward and easy to get a read on. True to type, Sam is usually grounded in his present reality, doesn't tend to leap to assumptions or go along with them when others do, relies on his own experience and resolve, and he approaches life with a level head. Behind that initial impression, ISTPs are one of the most difficult personalities to get to know deeply... or at all. They march to the beat of their own drum, keep their emotions locked down tight most of the time, and are very slow to trust. Prying and prodding doesn't work with these folks, unless you're looking to provoke an aggressive reaction, in which case you'll likely get it. Given his aphenphosmphobia, this goes triple for Sam for the broad majority of Death Stranding's runtime; we see a few examples of other characters pushing him to the point that he bites back, i.e. telling Deadman off when he brought up his wife and child.

Most of my character analysis leans on Sam's internal monologue from the Death Stranding novelization, as it's a very detailed peek inside his head, into his mind's inner workings and his overall emotional tendencies. Keep that in mind going forward.

ISTPs are one of the most introverted personality types, alongside INTJs, and are often social hermits, lone wolves with little regard for social norms and accepted rules. They're easily frustrated by a world built on social conventions that are based in emotional values, so they move through it at their own pace and keep their heads down. ISTPs are staunch pragmatists, quietly navigating life through material sensibilities and their own unique creativity; they're driven by instinct. Like ENTP (see: Higgs) they're attracted to novelty and freedom. And, believe it or not, ISTP is just as rebellious as ENTP, they're merely quieter about it, preferring to keep it to themselves unless pushed otherwise. The best concise example of this shared rejection of societal values that I can think of is Sam saying "covering the world in cable didn't bring an end to war and suffering, don't be surprised if it all comes apart when you try to do it again" vs. Ludens (essentially Higgs' perspective of the game in song form) saying, "a world covered in cables was never wired to last, so don't act so surprised when the program starts to crash." Looking closely, Sam and Higgs actually have strikingly similar worldviews, and Sam spends much of the novel wondering if Higgs has a good point beneath his madness, admitting only to himself that he understands the position Higgs is coming from. In spite of himself, a big part of Sam agrees with Higgs and empathizes with him. ISTPs are often dismissed as morally bankrupt, when in fact they always have their own moral code formed by their dominant logic and deeply-buried sensitivities. They're liable to snap if they're backed into a corner and have their personal liberty or privacy infringed upon. Autonomy is king to this type, so it's unsurprising that many ISTPs end up anarchists and libertarians.

Function Stack Breakdown

Ti (introverted thinking): Don't mind me, gonna copy a little bit of this from Higgs' post... shhhhh... Personalities ruled by Ti act based on logic over emotion, processing the world through what makes sense and where their curiosity takes them. They love puzzles, problems in need of solutions, and detail-oriented issues. However, in the ISTP, a major roadblock to the satisfaction of a good day's work is the involvement of other people. They prefer to work alone, or in small groups/with a close partner, as they're quickly exhausted by interpersonal politics. You point an ISTP to a practical job, they'll grumble about it and then gladly do it, by themselves, thank you. This is self-evident in Sam; as a solo porter, he's a rarity of self-reliance, which in the Death Stranding universe would be suicidal if he wasn't a repatriate, and it's still risky af. After all, the primary reason most porters have partners is to maintain their sanity, keep an eye out for chiral contamination and MULE syndrome, etc. It's stated multiple times that portering alone is ill-advised and only possible for those with a very strong force of will, which Sam of course has in spades. Sam's primary function of Ti manifests as independence of thought, as mentioned above. In describing Higgs as a truth-seeker, Sam acknowledged a value the two of them share, as Sam has a sharp eye for lies and a significant urge to uncover deeper truths about the world, other people, and himself. He's highly critical, filtering his observations through a cool and collected lens of rationality, not bending to the speculations and blind optimism shown by his colleagues, investigating matters on his own with careful footing, waiting for evidence before drawing conclusions. I.e., he thought it incredibly naive of Bridges to place such high hopes in the hematic weapons they created using his blood, based on the fact that they seemingly counted on them working as intended without testing them first. Unlike ENTP Higgs, Sam's Ti doesn't take second place to any idealism or restless imagination. Instead, his logic leads him, giving him the stick-to-itiveness to finish what he starts; he isn't intimidated by the minute details of a task, he just does what he has to do and gets the job done. Because Ti is constantly questioning everything at all times, genuine, earned trust is invaluable to ISTPs. Having a person they can be completely themselves with, entirely open with, someone who gets it, is a breath of fresh air to the ISTP, and is a precious rarity to them. Once you lose that trust, you'll likely never get it back. See: Sam and Bridget Strand.

Se (extroverted sensing): You can think of the latter three functions in a cognitive stack as "serving" the dominant function, which is especially true in the case of Ti-Se. Se's role as a function is observing and being present in one's external world, taking note of outward details and external sensory information, which is then fed through Ti to analyze and draw conclusions from. Secondary Se produces keen senses and a high degree of awareness. Thanks to the Se function, ISTPs remain in tune with their environments, notice details others might miss, and react quickly to threats and other stimulus. Unlike personalities that lead with intuition, ISTPs process the world in concrete terms, with few applied metaphors, projected meaning, or comforting illusions, taking the world as it is, not how it could or should be. This gets interesting when the tertiary function is properly developed.

Ni (introverted intuition): Ah, Ni, my oldest and closest friend, being an INTJ myself and thus Ni-dominant. I'm well-equipped to explain this one. Ni is more or less the opposite of Se (just as Ti and Fe are opposing forces in many ways), painting a layer of personal meaning and subjectivity over everything encountered in the world, highly concerned with personal insights and metaphorical/artistic value. Ni is extremely sentimental, clinging to the past with a fierce nostalgia, trusting one's own viewpoint and experience. Interestingly, even when it works unconsciously, Ni influences the ISTP personality further towards independent thought and the instills the innate desire to color outside the established lines in life. Ni seeks personal truth above all else. As mentioned in the Higgs post, the tertiary function is a point of conflict for all personality types, and it doesn't usually develop until middle age unless significant trauma work or self-awareness development occurs earlier in life. (Yeah, I copied that from the prev post, sorry not sorry). And... just like Higgs, Sam has both. Thus, his tertiary Ni is reasonably well-developed, though he does't share much of it with others... at all. He exhibits a well-tuned sense of what certain symbols and ideas mean to him, e.g. from novel: finding a worn-down bone on the Beach, getting incredibly sentimental about how nothing and no one gets the privilege of decaying anymore, feelings sad that life instead is erased from the world in such a brutal manner as necrosis/cremation/voidouts/etc. ("They weren’t returned to this world.") He gives into the urge to lick it on impulse (Sam do also be licking things!!), I presume in an effort to feel connected to the past, as well as curiosity. (Ugh, I love him.) Ne and Ni are extremely detached by nature, despite being defined by their creation of a desire to feel like part of the world, a craving for a sense of rightness and belonging. In the ISTP, Ni shapes the closely-guarded inner world. Hopes, dreams, self-esteem, the deepest of emotions: things ISTPs are extremely private about and protective of, only ever sharing with a select and trusted few, if at all. Ni operates in a going-between manner, using past experiences and insights to predict future outcomes and look forward with a sense of uniquely personal wisdom, which Sam employs quite often with his views on death, connection, humanity, so forth. There's a hushed sort of reverence and respect to his private inner world, buried beneath a layer of messianic guilt, shown in his attachment to history and relics of the pre-Stranding world. There's something so sadly ironic about a man who is the so-called "bridge to the future" holding deep sentiment for the past. Moving on... *sniff.* something in my eye... One more key function of Ni in the ISTP: deduction. Above all, Ni seeks patterns. It draws lines between things like facts, events, and symbols, interpreting their meaning. In a well-developed ISTP, the Ti-Ni axis works from a healthy basis of belief founded on logic, attaching significance to details to form a bigger picture. Example: Sam telling Bridges to study the blood on his broken boots, based on the fact that the BTs reacted to it "more than once." Ni plays a support character to a scientific approach here. Pattern -> deduction -> idea. The Se-Ni axis plays a similar role, as Ni contrasts established insights and sentiments with sensory information, connecting dots between things that might otherwise seem unrelated. Observe, then scrutinize; Ni helps Se to see the forest beyond the trees.

Fe (extroverted feeling): You can think of Fe in terms of group morality, the "us" contained in a person's principles. Because of Fe's role as a Ti-dom's inferior function, ISTPs can come across rather Fi-adjacent, being the rugged individualists they are. True, both IxTPs and personalities with strong Fi move against the grain in society and with their own principles, but in the ISTP, nitpicky, critical, skeptical, distrusting, reliable Ti dictates the approach. Thus, Fe is an awkward bedfellow, its nature highly empathetic, people-pleasing, and to an ISTP, inconveniently warm and fuzzy about things like community and partnership. As the inferior function, and therefore the point of insecurity, discomfort, and stress, ISTP's Fe makes them rather connection-averse; they're capable of great empathy, fellow feeling, and can get caught up in the idea of group harmony (more on that when discussing Sam being enneagram 9), but it's likely to leave said individual feeling drained and moody. Push an ISTP too far, too quickly in this area, and they're liable to leave and never come back... Oh look, that's exactly what Sam did the second time he left Bridges at the end of DS. Still, like any personality type, ISTPs grow and become happier people when they confront their inferior function and learn to occupy it in a healthy way, rather than solely relying on it as a rescue function in times of stress. Sam benefits from forming connections and nurturing this side of himself. Being the bridge, the rope, the strand. Doing so, and forming a strong connection with Lou, enables him to cope with his aphenphosmphobia again. (I say "cope," not "cure," it came back once, it can come back again, speaking as an agoraphobe whose issues come and go with variable severity. Lots of factors at play with phobias.) As an ISTP, Sam needs a balance between personal space/freedom and connection/community to be his best self. This is doubly true in light of him being enneagram 9.

Final thoughts before moving on

ISTP and ENTP share a lot of similarities in their emotional needs, as well as their general attitude about life, but they differ in taking a passive vs. active role in society, so it's no wonder Sam and Higgs have a natural sort of sun/moon dynamic... But let's focus on just Sam. Firstly, he's a classic example of the "grumpy but soft" trope, which is undeniably lovable. ISTPs don't form a large array of deep personal attachments, so the ones they do have are extremely valuable and lifelong if trust is maintained. This is a personality that would jump in front of a moving train without hesitation to protect a loved one. Lucky for Sam (and us), he'll survive! Heh. Seriously, though, ISTPs are loyal and devoted as fuck once they're committed. If you've played Red Dead Redemption 2, take a long look at Arthur Morgan (also enneagram 9!) and you'll see what I mean. While they aren't the best communicators, still waters run deep, and ISTPs are a wellspring of insights, an individualistic set of principles, and strong emotions with love and fierce passion to give. They’re unfortunately prone to getting bogged down in others’ expectations, doing what’s expected of them when they’re unhealthy enough to cave under pressure and slip into people-pleasing habits, doing as they’re told/asked, which fundamentally goes against their rebellious nature. Sam throwing himself headlong into the role Bridges expected of him (twice!) despite not believing in their ideals or methods is a key example. In such circumstances, ISTPs retreat into themselves and trudge along miserably, spite growing all the while. Hence Sam being crabby but subdued for most of the game, only to lash out fiercely at Higgs when provoked and then verbally unload all of his personal resentments—none of it having to do with Higgs!—while hitting him in the final fight.

ISTPs often have a thrill-seeking side (see: Sam laughing and cheering on the ziplines) because they love to cut loose, forget their problems, and have fun. Room to play, both intellectually and physically, is a core need. In these moments, ISTPs radiate joy and crave adventure. They love to joke around and laugh, for once, when they finally have an opportunity to do so. They’re not above playing devil’s advocate and indulging in a good debate if they have the spare energy for it. As an ISTP, Sam is headstrong, creative, and far more vulnerable than he lets on.

(part two: enneagram deep dive)

Tag list: @goldenbridgessss @pylonium

Im not going to lie step kiddos; I’ve been feeling really sad an inadequate as of late. But instead of being angry and upset we’re going to sit down and work it out together

Heres some bread I baked (:

Pick a picture (srry no meme today)

Pick a card

Power 🧠:

Four of disks, Chesed through earth,

The hard work of three has paid off now bitch its imposter syndrome time. While having stability and having the fruits of your labor something about it seems almost untrustworthy. You may have a fear of loss, or perhaps a greed for more depending on the struggle to get here. While you finally achieve stability do not over estimate it or underestimate yourself you do deserve good things.

Princess of Cups 🐢🪽:

Venus in water signs, Earth in the waters of Briah, Malkuth

You are on an island surrounded by water around you. You may be missing research, depth, or wisdom at the moment but you do have a moment of emotional freedom. Secluded and alone you can feel out your emotions however you can also sink into the emotions and give into day dreaming which is where you can feel inadequate to dreams you may be incapable of achieving atm.

Prince of swords 🦚 ⚔️:

21° Cap to 20° Aqu, Airs of Yetzirah, Tiphareth

OKAY so the air aspect of air: at best you’re pure manifestation and a plethora of creative thoughts at your worst you can be confusing and argumentative. Without any of the other elements its like hermes story of using his intelligence to cheat and lie through life. You need to get out of your head. Use your creativity but stop being mean to yourself. Utilize the other elements to manifest while also try and do something which will chase them mean voices away (I feel you girl its not easy :(

Story:

You know I’ve been all over the internet and I’m on tiktok because spending a humiliating amount of time looking at food online is my only hobby. But as of late witchtok took me back into its clutches. Now I don’t consider myself a witch: im a chaos magician but to each their own with their titles. The shocking combination of “tinned fishtok” aka rich people trying to appropriate and raise the value of my beloved canned fish. Along with the constant argument between practitioners of morals or karma or what have you. But I am about to end this whole debate. Yes; an no. Listen we live in a world where nothing is real yet everything is real at the same time. Our paradigms are shaped differently and are unique based upon our lives and experiences. Everyones moral code will be different. No you probably won’t change anyones mind by yelling at them on the internet. The other thing to look at is not every intention is going to be 100% good all the time and not every intention can be 100% bad. The words themselves good and bad are also subjective. While I think it’s admirable that some practitioners want to dedicate themselves to the “good” theres more than good out there. And what happens if your suppressed “bad” feelings come out in a negative way? So here it is; nothing is real and everything is real all at once. Thats why so many people who you would think would have similar practices have very different ones because the way magic looks and manifests to them depends on their reality which is different from their peers or yours. Anyways thats my rant I hope you come around for a rant/story/ reading another time I love that so many of you like my readings. (:

alien life

I’ve been baking this in my insta-oven brain that the depictions of alien life fascinate me. Particularly sentient life. We have three different variants of alien and I’ve yet to see another.

They’re better than us. They live in utopia’s in comparison to our world and consider our world barbaric in our treatment of each other. This idea is subdivided further into anti-human ‘please will our alien superiors ever come spare us’ type rhetoric and ‘well at least we have heart - something you’ll never have’ derived from our human belief there is something so special about us that would always set us apart. (And blends of both and neither)

They’re the same as us. They have just as many faults as us, and a nature similar to our own. Used to either prove that humanity is doomed to be as we are because ‘look aliens are just as cruel and kind sometimes’ or that maybe we’re all capable of best and worst. We’re about equal judging by human morals but different in biology and culture.

They’re worse than us. They live in a dystopia compared to us and we consider them barbaric or dumb or too strict/firm. These have the options of being ‘look us human liberators have come with our tech and kindness to be your saviours’ or ‘well maybe the moral of the story is even societies where their people are treated like scum can become space faring’ (And both and neither and a whole lot more)

Each have more variants than I mentioned but you can categorise each version under one of these headings. We either think they’re better, we’re the same (though different) or they’re worse. Each version comes loaded with human politics, morality and norms, each used by the author of the speculation to in some way make a comment about us. Because we may be on the brink of finding life out there somewhere, we’re still a bit away from finding sentient life and another whole bit away from being able to meet them. Speculation at this moment in time can only view the ‘what ifs’ through the narrow lens of our human experience.

It’s the same way we’ll never understand what it’s like to be any other animal or plant etc. on this Earth. Each day we take a step back, reevaluate our human centrism and realise the creatures around us are capable of a whole lot more. Heck, only a few decades ago we didn’t believe babies felt pain until a year old! (Even if we’d already proved it) Us as a species can forget to step outside our own heads, to consider the experience of even another of our kind until faced with damning evidence. We built our culture (and I’m speaking general Western values) around the priority of self and the belief we are special. Learning empathy is not a requirement — but I think it should be our law.

I am infinitely fascinated by the experience of this planet I will never feel. How it is to first take flight, to out grow my shell, to bark and yap and run with glee to my person. I will never be a worm in the soil nor an amoeba in the sea. I will never know what it’s like to be any other thing but human and any other person but me.

I won’t live to see us touch down on alien soil. I won’t see what humanity will be when we great the first life form other than our own. I won’t know if we extend a hand to shake and realise that this species way of greeting is a slap to the face nor will I know if we won’t be greeted by them first. I won’t be there.

I’m here right now.