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#which makes sense. they need to be for us to notice the pattern and apply it later
99thpercentile · 2 months
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places where the audio distorts
image ids under the cut
tmagp 4:
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the audio distorts when people lie.
I imagine this knowledge will come in handy later.
[id: ALICE: This is not something you go poking around in. Not if you want to keep your job… or your neck. SAM: (a little amused) Okay, okay! I get it. Consider me scared straight. "Consider me scared straight" is highlighted. end id]
[id: LENA: Now, while I understand your concerns, you need to understand that Colin has held the IT Manager position for some time without incident, and although he is somewhat… frustrated with his current assignment, he can request help from the central IT team at any time. I am certain that should he find his responsibilities unmanageable, he will request assistance. Or resign, of course. Either way, the problem will resolve itself. "Or resign, of course" is highlighted. end id]
[id: CELIA: Is there any way to look up specific files? ALICE: Like what? CELIA: Oh, I don’t know. Every case about… being buried alive, or meat, or… whatever. ALICE: Well, there’s a search bar, but it doesn’t actually do anything. You’d have to dig through them all manually. (suspicious) – Why do you ask? CELIA: Just figuring it all out. Ah well, I guess I’ll need to find Bigfoot on my own time. "Just figuring it all out" is highlighted. end id]
[id: GERTRUDE: I see. Well, I’m sorry, but I don’t think Gerry can help you – GERRY: (casually) Yeah, I barely remember any of it. "I don’t think Gerry can help you" is highlighted. end id]
[id: GERRY: Oh yeah, but I was pretty young. I remember filling in a bunch of forms and questionnaires, then some old men asking me questions about what books I liked to read, who did I look up to, that kind of thing. And then I left. SAM: (disappointed) That’s all? GERRY: Yeah, afraid so. Other than just sitting around with a bunch of other kids in a room that smelled like old books. "Yeah, afraid so" is highlighted. end id]
[id: CELIA: I’m trying to look into… Weird physics stuff: time travel, other dimensions, teleportation, all that good stuff. Freddy doesn’t really do searches, so you could keep an eye out and let me know if any come up in your cases? SAM: Uh, sounds a bit sci-fi compared to our usuals. What’s this for? (amused breath) You’re not doing research for that podcast you were on, are you? CELIA: (surprised) You know about that? SAM: I might have given you a quick Google. CELIA: Then… yeah. I’m doing a favor for Georgie. "yeah. I’m doing a favor for Georgie" is highlighted. end id]
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venusiancharisma · 2 months
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Unblocking Your Potential: Understanding Mars Placement in Your Natal Chart
Exploring the depths of your astrological chart, particularly the placement of Mars, can unveil powerful insights into the barriers obstructing your potential. Understanding how your unique Mars placement influences your drive, energy, and assertiveness can shed light on the areas where you may be facing obstacles. By delving into this aspect of your natal chart, we will elucidate how to identify and confront these blockages, empowering you to take the necessary steps towards unleashing your full potential.
Demystifying the Mars Placement in Your Natal Chart
What Exactly is the Mars Placement?
In astrology, the Mars placement refers to the position of the planet Mars at the time of your birth, which is documented in your natal chart. This placement is crucial because Mars is associated with how you express anger, your sexual drive, your initiative, and your overall energy levels. It's the cosmic fuel that powers your actions and desires. Think of it as a signature of your assertiveness and the force behind how you assert yourself in various life situations. Each zodiac sign that Mars can occupy lends a different flavor to these characteristics, and understanding this can help you make sense of not just your actions, but your reactions to challenges and opportunities. Knowing your Mars placement can offer enlightenment on how you pursue your goals and deal with conflict, providing a key to unlocking your true potential.
Impact of Mars Placement in Your Natal Chart
The impact of Mars placement in your natal chart is profound. It governs your courage and combativeness, influencing how you tackle life's battles. A well-placed Mars can mean you're naturally gifted with leadership qualities and a strong will. You likely approach challenges head-on and aren’t afraid to take risks. Conversely, a challenging Mars placement might indicate a tendency towards aggression or impulsiveness. It can show potential areas of life where you experience frustration or where you might need to develop patience. Mars also affects your passion and drive, which can play a significant role in career choices and hobbies. Essentially, the placement of Mars serves as a guide for harnessing your energy constructively. When you understand the power of this placement, you can better navigate your path, using your innate strengths to overcome obstacles and achieve your desires.
How the Mars Placement Relates to Your Potential
Mars placement is like a map to your innate potential. It gives clues about the best ways for you to channel your energy and ambition. If Mars is in a dominant position in your chart, you may find that you have strong leadership qualities and the potential to initiate action in areas where others hesitate. It can indicate a natural ability to push boundaries and break new ground. On the other hand, if Mars is in a more challenging position, it may point to the need for greater self-awareness in how you assert yourself, suggesting that your greatest potential could be realized by learning to moderate your impulses. By understanding your Mars placement, you can discover the most effective ways to apply your energy and drive, turning your raw potential into realized achievements. This knowledge empowers you to focus your efforts where they will be most fruitful, leading to personal growth and success.
Discovering Your Blocks: How Mars Holds You Back
Identifying Your Personal Blockages
When Mars is unfavorably aligned in your natal chart, it can create personal blockages that manifest in various aspects of your life. Identifying these blockages is the first step towards understanding how they may be holding you back. Look for patterns of frustration, where you feel repeated resistance or where anger surfaces disproportionately. These are indicators of where Mars may be working against you. You might also notice areas where you have an excess of energy but lack direction, causing you to spin your wheels without making progress. Pay attention to feelings of inadequacy or a lack of confidence in certain situations, as these can signal blockages related to the assertive qualities of Mars. By pinpointing these obstacles, you're preparing to challenge and overcome them, moving closer to realizing your full potential. Recognizing these signs is crucial for the journey towards self-improvement and empowerment.
Understanding Impact of Mars on Common Blockages
The influence of Mars on common blockages is significant because it affects how we deal with challenges and pursue our goals. For instance, if Mars is in a position that squares other planets in your chart, you might face hurdles in assertiveness, experiencing either too much aggression or not enough. This can lead to conflict in relationships or passivity in career advancement. If Mars is in retrograde in your natal chart, you might find yourself holding back when you should be pushing forward, leading to missed opportunities and regret. Alternatively, a harmonious Mars placement can sometimes make one overly reliant on their ability to easily conquer obstacles, causing complacency. By understanding how Mars impacts these common blockages, you can strategize ways to balance your energies, ensuring that assertiveness doesn't turn into hostility and that drive doesn't devolve into burnout.
Role of Mars in Inhibition and Fear
Mars plays a crucial role in how we confront or succumb to inhibition and fear. When Mars's energy is suppressed or its placement forms challenging aspects with other planets in your natal chart, it can result in internalized fear, causing hesitation and self-doubt. This can manifest as an inability to take decisive action, leading to a sense of stagnation. On the flip side, an overactive Mars might push you to act out of fear, resulting in reckless decisions or unnecessary confrontations. Understanding the position of Mars can throw light on the source of these fears and inhibitions. It can guide you to balance its energies, allowing you to face fears with courage and to act with confidence without being foolhardy. Knowledge of your Mars placement can be a powerful tool in learning to navigate fear, transforming it from a hindrance into a motivator for growth.
Illuminating the Path: How to Overcome Your Mars Blockages
Practical Steps to Unlock Your Potential
To unlock your potential by overcoming Mars blockages, start by reflecting on moments when you've felt held back. Analyze these situations: What triggered your response? What were the outcomes? Next, practice assertiveness in low-stakes environments to build confidence. Exercise is another practical step; it channels Mars energy constructively, reducing stress and increasing vitality. Additionally, set small, achievable goals that align with your Mars placement to gradually build momentum. For example, if your Mars is in a creative sign like Pisces, start a small art project. If it's in a strategic sign like Scorpio, plan a step-by-step approach to a complex task. By taking these practical steps, you actively work with your Mars energy rather than against it, allowing you to break through the barriers that previously seemed insurmountable.
Astrological Remedies to Mars-Related Issues
Astrological remedies for Mars-related issues can be an effective way to balance its energies. One such remedy is to wear or carry gemstones associated with Mars, such as red coral, which can enhance vitality and courage. Another approach is to meditate on or chant mantras that correspond to Mars, helping to calm aggression and increase determination. Engaging in activities that honor Mars, like martial arts or competitive sports, can also redirect its combative energies in a positive way. Additionally, incorporating the color red into your daily life can stimulate Mars energy, while also serving as a reminder to remain grounded and centered. Astrology also suggests that being mindful of Mars transits and retrogrades can help you anticipate and prepare for periods of potential conflict or assertiveness. By using these remedies, you can align more harmoniously with the influence of Mars and use its power to your advantage.
Harnessing the Energy of Mars for Self-Improvement
Harnessing the energy of Mars is about channeling its raw power for constructive self-improvement. Begin by setting clear intentions that resonate with Mars’s qualities like strength and determination. Engage in activities that challenge you physically and mentally, fostering discipline and resilience which are in harmony with Mars's spirit. Adopting a proactive mindset is also key; take initiative in areas of your life where you've previously held back due to fear or indecision. Furthermore, using visualization techniques to imagine successfully overcoming obstacles can help you tap into Mars's dynamic energy. Establish routines that encourage action and follow through, and be willing to confront issues directly, which can lead to breakthroughs in personal growth. By consciously working with Mars energy, you invite more focus, passion, and vitality into your life, driving significant self-improvement and empowerment.
The Power of Mars: Turning Blocks into Building Blocks
How Mars Blockages Can Serve as Lessons
Mars blockages can actually serve as valuable lessons that contribute to our personal growth. When we encounter obstacles related to our Mars placement, it forces us to pause and re-evaluate our approach. These moments of reflection can teach us about our inherent strengths and weaknesses, showing us how we can become more balanced individuals. For example, if impatience is a recurring issue, a Mars blockage might be a lesson in cultivating patience and timing. Alternatively, if passivity is the problem, a Mars challenge could push you to develop assertiveness and to stand up for your beliefs. By viewing these blockages as opportunities for learning, you can transform them into tools for building resilience and character. It's about flipping the narrative and using the very things that seem to hold you back as stepping stones to reach new levels of achievement and self-awareness.
Embracing Mars: Growth Through Struggle
Embracing Mars means recognizing that growth often comes through struggle and that our challenges can catalyze transformation. The warrior energy of Mars invites us to face our battles head-on, knowing that each confrontation is a chance to strengthen our resolve and develop courage. When we accept the struggles linked to our Mars placement as part of our journey, we open ourselves to the lessons they bring. It's about understanding that the friction caused by Mars's challenging aspects can create a spark that ignites change. By embracing these struggles, we not only learn to navigate them more effectively but also to appreciate the fortitude and self-reliance they build within us. The key is to approach each struggle with a mindset of perseverance and to use the fiery energy of Mars as a source of motivation rather than a cause for frustration.
Using Mars Energy: Converting Blocks into Empowerment
Converting blocks into empowerment requires using Mars energy to fuel positive change. To do this, first acknowledge the blockage and understand its root in Mars's influence. This self-awareness is a form of empowerment in itself, as it moves you from a place of reaction to one of control. Then, consciously redirect the potent energy of Mars from the blockage into constructive actions. For instance, if you find yourself with a short temper, channel that intensity into passion for a project or cause. If you face stagnation, use the dynamic force of Mars to kickstart a new fitness regime or to tackle a project you've been postponing. By intentionally shifting where and how Mars's energy expresses itself, you transform potential liabilities into assets. This approach not only empowers you but can also serve as an inspiring example to others who may face similar challenges.
Mars and Beyond: Continuing Your Astrological Journey
Integrating Your Mars Understanding into Overall Astrological Knowledge
Integrating your understanding of Mars into your broader astrological knowledge can offer a more comprehensive view of your personal journey. Consider how Mars interacts with other planetary placements in your chart, such as your Sun sign, which represents your core being, or your Moon sign, which reflects your emotional landscape. Understanding these dynamics can reveal how your drive and assertiveness (Mars) influence your life purpose (Sun) and emotional responses (Moon). For a holistic view, also examine how Mars's placement affects your relationships, career, and personal growth. Look at aspects between Mars and other planets to understand the flow of energy in your chart. This integrated approach allows you to make more informed decisions and to harness the full spectrum of your astrological profile. The goal is to create a synergy between the various elements of your chart, using the insights gained to live a more balanced and fulfilling life.
How Other Planets Interact with Your Mars Placement
The interaction of Mars with other planets in your natal chart can significantly influence its expression. When Mars forms aspects with planets like Jupiter, you may find your assertiveness is magnified, providing a boost in confidence and expansion of will. If it's interacting with Saturn, you could experience a tempering of your Mars energy, demanding discipline and patience. Venus in relation to Mars can affect your passion and relationships, blending the energies of desire and affection. The Sun's aspect to Mars will often amplify your vitality and drive, while the Moon's aspect can affect how you express your assertiveness emotionally. It's important to understand these planetary relationships because they can either harmonize with or challenge your Mars placement, affecting how you experience and use your energy. These interactions are not just isolated influences; they form a complex web that dictates the ebb and flow of your personal power and initiative.
Exploring Further: What Next in Your Natal Chart Journey?
After delving into the role of Mars in your life, the next steps in your natal chart journey involve a deeper exploration of the other celestial influences. Each planet has its own significance, such as Venus's sway over love and relationships, Mercury's impact on communication, and Saturn's lessons in discipline and structure. Studying the houses in your chart can provide context for how these planetary energies manifest in different areas of your life. Consider learning about the transits, which are the movements of planets at the current time and how they interact with your natal chart, offering insights into the timing of events and phases of life. Look into the progressions, a technique that symbolizes your chart's evolution over time. By continuing your astrological education, you can gain a more nuanced understanding of your personal dynamics and life's unfolding narrative, empowering you to navigate it with greater wisdom.
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ingravinoveritas · 2 months
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What do you make of David sayin he’s an ally, not an active participant (in queer subcultures)?
Did he come out as straight? I’m not sure anyone has ever asked him directly, not that he needs to give any explanations, I’m just curious because he gives off such a queer vibe even when he’s been married forever.
https://www.attitude.co.uk/culture/david-tennant-on-the-spice-girls-spiceworld-movie-was-being-developed-before-they-even-released-a-single-459815/
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Oh, my Asks/DMs have been blowing up over this one. I did have a chance to read this interview with David (is it me, or is he doing nonstop press lately?) and...wow. Definitely enjoyable, and noticeably more unhinged/queer than most of his other interviews (which makes sense, given that Attitude is an LGBTQ-focused publication). But let's get a screenshot up of the most talked about bit, so we can discuss:
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Obviously there is a lot going on here, so I'm just going to go with what stood out to me most. I don't think there is anything in the world less surprising than David naming bears first, given certain preferences of his (which I've discussed several times previously on my blog).
What's really interesting though is that the question was asking about queer subcultures, but all of the ones David listed are used primarily (AFAIK, though someone please do correct me if I am wrong) in mlm/gay male relationships. "Queer" can be many things, after all--gay, lesbian, bisexual, pansexual, ace--and yet when David heard "queer subcultures" he specifically went for the mlm/gay ones, and that definitely feels like an interesting choice.
The second thing that I felt was worth discussing is that a lot of the reactions I've seen to this is people saying how adorably clueless David is, or how "he's a little confused, but he's got the spirit." And I'm sort of perplexed by this because we are talking about an almost 53-year-old man here, and I believe he knows damn well what all of those terms/subcultures are.
It's been brought to my attention (from what I would consider a very trustworthy source) that David is not at all as technologically illiterate as he pretends to be. Instead, it's actually part of a persona that he puts on to avoid dealing with issues that would arise from people knowing he is online. I had an inkling of this just from Georgia saying David was the one who set up all the equipment for when they filmed Staged at home (because why would such a task be put in the hands of someone who is hopeless with technology?). But having this confirmed also aligns with David creating a fake personal assistant in the early days of his career so he wouldn't have to fulfill certain social obligations, and to put a barrier between his real self and the world.
So why, then, wouldn't the same pattern possibly apply here?
I know there also tends to be this image of David as a "bumbling, goofy dad" type, and that's definitely part of him and what makes him so charming. But I don't think he is a fool, either--especially not after listening to him talk about Shakespeare or politics or anything else at length--and I think he certainly knows how to answer these types of questions. I think David is more than clever enough to give answers that are cheeky but not revealing, because he knows the purpose of all this is to promote the BAFTAs, not to be a deep, probing exposé on the life and times of David Tennant.
Which then brings me to the big, gay elephant standing in the middle of the room--a.k.a., "I'm an ally rather than an active participant." (Again...so many interesting word choices going on here, and none of it feels like an accident.)
Going back to what I mentioned about the focus of these interviews, I'd like to point out one notable thing that David himself said in the Radio Times interview earlier this week:
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This, I think, sums up what we are seeing in all of these interviews: The version of David that he feels is safe to present to the world. He makes it clear as well that he is not going to reveal areas of his personal life while up on stage, and I would say that the same thing applies to these interviews. (It also speaks volumes that in the year 2024, the version of himself he feels safe presenting in these interviews is one who fully knows what bears and twinks--sorry, twinkies--are.)
So no, I don't think David is coming out as straight. I don't think he's coming out as anything, in fact, because he knows these interviews are not the place for that to happen. And I think that saying he is an ally but not an active participant makes the most sense as an answer for a public interview, but neither that nor being in a straight-passing relationship necessarily makes him any less potentially queer.
To reiterate what I said above, there is no one way to be queer. For some people, being queer absolutely can mean going to leather bars and participating in subcultures. But for other people, "queer" can mean something very different. It can mean being a Kinsey 2 just floating along doing your thing until you meet that one person who changes everything. The person who makes you go, "I've usually been more into this and not as much into this...but I'm definitely into you." It can mean being attracted to/falling for someone--a co-star, maybe?--that you never expected to feel that way about. And if David is queer, maybe that also means not shying away from anything, but at the same time not wanting to take the spotlight off the awards and the nominees celebrating one of the most important nights of their lives.
Those are my thoughts on the Attitude interview and David's answers, at any rate. Happy as always to hear from my followers with your takes. Thank you for writing in! x
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One of the many things I love about YOI is how it ignores gender norms. Like Viktor wearing androgynous costumes as a junior because it matched his looks? Lovely. Yuuri learning how to dance like a woman as he explores Eros? Great! Let this boy do whatever he needs to find his unique Eros expression. Mila practising lifts on Yurio? Please give me more.
None of these form a pattern that indicates anything about these characters' gender or, more generally their queerness (spoiler: these could apply to a number of labels or to none; gender is a societal construct and the reasons to not want to conform to it are various), the show is that vague and it seems a deliberate choice. Viktor eventually changed his style and image. Yuuri finds his unique, masculine expression of Eros in episode 6 when he seduces Viktor with his own charms (as conveyed through the use of the masculine pronoun "boku"). These characters live in a world where gender norms don't matter and where everyone can express themselves and explore certain aspects of their personality without anyone telling them that it's not "appropriate" for their gender.
And you can spin this further in your personal headcanon. If Viktor wants to wear a women's yukata because he loves the flower print, he can do that. If Yuuri wants to do ballet in pointé shoes because it challenges his sense of balance, no one can stop him. (In my fics, Viktor wears such shoes for that purpose and because he loves the laces.) If Chris wants to wear an evening gown and high heels because he loves how it emphasises his thighs and his bum, he can just go for it. If Yurio wants to wear a mini-skirt to ripped jeans, no one will bully him for it. If Mila wants to skate in black skates because it matches the colour of her costumes better than white skates, no one would care (same goes for white skates for any of the male characters). If Phichit wants to wear make-up, no one would give him strange looks.
The beauty of Yuri on Ice is that the characters are free to do these things without having to fear judgement or repercussions. They are free to choose how they want to express themselves, be it for image reasons, because of a character they portray in their figure skating routines, because it ties into a certain aspect of their queerness, or because they just prefer this over a traditional expression. In the world of YOI, it just doesn't matter. I would love to live in that world.
Edit: I wrote a meta analysis about Yuuri's exploration of Eros throughout the show that discusses things like the pronouns etc. in more detail here.
(You might notice that I don't count hair length as gender norm because for many people it's a stylistic choice. I'm thinking of all the metalheads and women with pixie haircuts, which have been normalised in most societies I know of.)
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atinycafe · 10 months
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just want yeosang to sit between my thighs while he rubs his face on my boobs because he's had a hard day and nothing but his oral fixation can help himmmmMMmMmmM
warnings: nsfw under the cut, fem bodied reader, breast play, poc friendly!! (no mention of pink nips), acc very soft, use of pet names (baby), no penetration, no orgasm, yeo is so bbygirl, 1.2k wrds author's notes: i had to physically stop myself from writing boobs so many times. like i just wanted to use the word boobs so bad but i have 2 much respect 4 yeosang masterlist
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the front door swings open, and you immediately recognize yeosang's arrival by the distinct sound of his sneakers hitting the floor. you divert your attention from the manga scans on your phone, glancing at the oversized clock mounted above your bedroom door. it proudly displays the time: 11 pm. you chuckle to yourself, realizing you could've easily checked your phone for the time instead of craning your neck towards the clock.
after a few minutes, yeosang enters the room, a half-empty smoothie cup in his hands. you recall preparing that smoothie for him earlier, sending him a picture of the ingredients and asking which fruits he preferred. a soft smile graces your lips as you realize his eagerness to taste it, evident by how he immediately went for the smoothie upon entering your home. he casually tosses his adidas jacket onto the nearby sofa chair before gulping down the berry juice. placing the glass on the nightstand, where it typically resides, he heads to the bathroom.
wordlessly, he begins his nightly skincare routine while you return to your manga. yeosang is a quiet lover, and his silence doesn't bother you. you know he'll seek your company when he's ready. occasionally, you steal glances at him in the bathroom from your room, furrowing your brows when you notice he's brushing his teeth after applying creams to his face.
once he finishes everything, he returns to the room and approaches the bluetooth stereo radio. connecting his phone, a song starts playing in the background—lana del rey's "million dollar man" fills the room. yeosang then turns towards you, his bangs obscuring his eyes, and playfully leaps onto the bed, crawling towards the space created by your outstretched arms, which cradle your phone. you emit a soft chuckle, planting a gentle kiss on the crown of his head as he nestles his face against your chest, inhaling deeply.
"did you have a good day, yeo?" you whisper, your tone tender as you pose the question. he huffs softly, shaking his head from side to side, prompting a frown to form on your face. pulling his head away from your body, where he was nearly suffocating himself, you place both palms on his face and lightly squeeze, coaxing a pout from his lips.
"what happened, baby? do you want to talk about it?" you ask, mirroring his pout as he mumbles something about it being "just comeback season." you hum in understanding. he averts his gaze momentarily, lost in thought, before nervously meeting your eyes once more. sensing the wheels turning in his mind, you raise an eyebrow inquisitively.
"can i… can i do something? it'll make me feel better," he clears his throat, a rosy blush tinting his cheeks beneath your fingers. you nod, confused as to why he feels the need to ask your permission for anything.
biting his lip, he moves your hands from his face and leans towards you, resting his face in the crook of your neck. he peppers open-mouthed kisses along your skin, teasingly nibbling on the flesh as he gradually works his way downward, softly biting your collarbone.
oh. okay.
you adjust yourself against the soft pillows supporting your back, finding a comfortable position as yeosang continues his tender exploration. the camisole you're wearing fails to conceal your cleavage, which elicits a contented sigh from him as he settles against the gentle swell of your breasts. his tongue ventures out, tracing leisurely patterns on your skin, leaving a trail of delicate sensations in its wake. his eyes shut, and you can almost sense the flutter of his lashes with each movement he makes.
relaxing into the plush mounds of pillows, you allow yourself to surrender to the soothing rhythm of his tongue, which lulls you into a state of tranquil bliss. with closed eyes, your fingers find their way into his hair, gently combing through the dark strands as he lowers the edges of your chemisette, unveiling your chest. a small, throaty sound escapes him as his gaze fixates on them, already anticipating the weight of them that will soon grace his tongue.
he wastes no time, eagerly seizing both of your breasts and pressing them together, relishing in the delightful sensation of their softness in his palms. he increases the pressure, observing how the flesh swells and fills the spaces between his fingers, fighting off a moan that threatens to escape his lips, unlike you. your breath comes out in heavy pants, the stimulation evoking small whimpers from you.
"thought it was supposed to be me who's enjoying this," he playfully teases, to which you respond with a pleading "stop," accompanied by a chuckle from him. finally, he bends down to take one of your breasts into his mouth, his warm tongue making contact with the slowly hardening bud, eliciting a pleasurable response from you.
he swirls his tongue around the darker flesh and applies a firm suction. the sudden action elicits a moan from your lips, and you can sense him smiling against your skin. he nibbles softly, gripping onto the bud and tugging at it before eventually releasing his hold.
he moans out, unable to contain his desire, "fuck, your tits are perfect. i wish i could have them in my mouth all the time," his voice filled with longing as he admires the glistening, wet flesh under the room's illumination.
moving to the other breast, he lightly pinches the bud, coaxing it to awaken, and you let out a delighted squeal. "sorry baby, i'll make it better," he reassures you before capturing the sensitive nipple between his lips, slurping loudly before releasing it. his gaze fixates on the string of saliva that connects you both, unable to resist the temptation. he lowers himself once again, running his tongue flat against the moist skin.
drawing back momentarily, he brings your breasts together once more, deliberately spitting on them, his fingers now gliding through the slick liquid, teasing the sensitive flesh. lost in the intensity of the moment, his touch becomes more forceful, squeezing, pinching, and pressing firmly upon the now sensitized mounds. you make no effort to stifle the moans that escape your lips, your fingers tightly grasping his hair. his focus snaps back to reality when you pull him into a quick kiss.
"you have to let me fuck them next time," he muses absentmindedly, and you eagerly nod in agreement. the mere thought of his pretty dick sliding through them, the sensation of his pulsating shaft pressing against your skin, sends a wave of excitement coursing through your being, leaving you feeling light-headed with anticipation.
his mouth now wide open, he eagerly takes in as much flesh as possible, his weight pressing down on you as he fully relaxes into the moment. sucking with gentle motions, the hypnotic rhythm lulls his mind into a blissful haze, momentarily erasing thoughts of demanding choreography and lingering musical notes. in this intimate space, it's only the two of you.
the weightiness of your breast causes his tongue to slacken, allowing drool to escape from his mouth, unabashedly cascading onto your unsuspecting nipple. his other hand skillfully works, pumping and occasionally rolling the bud between his dexterous fingertips.
soon enough, sleep overtakes him, his mouth still latched onto your breast, while his palm remains pressed flat against the other. you offer a soft smile as you hear the muffled snores escaping from his mouth, harmonizing with the warmth of your body. grabbing your phone, you open the camera and swiftly capture a series of selfies you'll send him tomorrow at work to tease him.
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natalyarose · 13 days
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My Journey With Ayanamsa
It feels fitting that my first astrological post be a write up on one of my most profound astrological journeys. I started studying astrology avidly when I was in my teens, and soon discovered the magic of Vedic Astrology & Nakshatras .
Learning of the Nakshatras and the beauty of what they have to offer opened up a world of knowledge and patterns that feel almost criminal to be aware of. I mean, no amount of knowledge or spirituality can be a 'cheat code' to bypass enduring and navigating Earthly life, but it just shocks me the pure transparency of the cosmic patterns found applying Vedic astrology. I mean, Tropical astrology without Nakshatras was already magical to explore, but Nakshatras took the cake haha.
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I noticed very early on that Lahiri Ayanamsa didn't seem accurate, but at the time I didn't know about Ayanamsa and was driving myself utterly mad trying to understand why not only my own, but other charts I'd observed seemed to off by at least a couple of degrees.
I am someone who is born at the end of a Nakshatra. The more I delved into Nakshatras, the more it became clear that somehow, I belonged to the latter Lunar Mansion to the one that showed up in many calculations.
Everything about me (and others who had the same dilemma), down to my personality, upbringing, mannerisms, art, outfit choices and even my physical appearance aligned with the prospect of calculations being altered at least a couple of degrees.
A lot of people told me that maybe some people are just anomalies, I even started theorising that maybe some peoples' spirits didn't inhabit their body until a couple of hours after birth (lol), but that was me clutching at straws- also, the ascendant would change too much if were the case & it were a birth time issue.
Eventually I discovered Ayanamsa, and I realised, I wasn't crazy!
I learnt that Lahiri Ayanamsa was the most commonly used Nakshatra only because it was the one selected by the Indian government. They needed one consistent, passable Ayanamsa to settle confusions & standardize dates for various celebrations.
The Ayanamsa was created by a Mathematician with little knowledge of astrology. There was just an urgent need to pick at least one definitive calculation irrespective of whether it was necessarily the most accurate. I mean, I'm sure they would've wanted it to be accurate too, but that wasn't the main goal.
I am quoting renowned Vedic astrologer, Ernst Wilhelm on this- but even NC Lahiri- the creator of Lahiri later admitted his own calculation was flawed, and noted that if he could go back in time he would have altered the Ayanamsa by a few degrees.
Before Lahiri Ayanamsa, the most commonly followed Ayanamsa were Revati based ayanamsas (True Revati, Usha/Shashi, Hipparchus, Sassanian).
Ernst Wilhelm devoted extensive time, observation, testing and intuitive understanding to cleverly creating his own Ayanamsa which ever since I discovered it, makes a world of sense to me. So many things in both my own chart & others' just clicked. There were a lot of inconsistencies I used to explain away by being like 'hmm it must be their d9' or 'huh, I guess their other placements are just stronger than that one'. I found that a lot of these things that didn't quite make sense were naturally rectified by using Ernst's Ayanamsa.
Before finding Ernst Wilhelm's Dhruva Galactic Center (I can thank @makingspiritualityreal for my stumbling across it on tumblr, thankyou for sharing your knowledge lovely!! ♡), I used Raman Ayanamsa. I wasn't certain it was the absolute best one, but it did seem to rectify a lot of the issues I was coming across- however there were many instances where I would for example; see and feel the influence of a transit a little bit before it occurred even using Raman calculations. So, I did suspect the degrees should be a little further forward, and Dhruva Galactic Center perfectly aligns with that.
The intuitive line of thought behind Wilhelm's Ayanamsa is also awesome! The concept that the 'correct' Ayanamsa would be based on the Galactic Center- the heart of our galaxy- which lies in the very middle of Mula, 'the root' 'the truth'... it just makes too much sense!
Since Ernst Wilhelm's Ayanamsa is only accessible through his Kala astrology software, I've been using Usha/Shashi Ayanamsa on Astroseek since it is ever so slightly different, but almost the same in value to Dhruva Galactic Center. EDIT: @bdandelion informed me that there actually is an Astroseek Ayanamsa called 'Galactic Center Mid-Mula' that is essentially the same as Ernst Wilhelm's Ayanamsa! I'm not sure how I missed this, I think I just got confused haha, but how exciting!!
I am and always will keep an open mind when it comes to Ayanamsa and all astrological things; if I closed off my perception because one guy said one thing, I would not know even half of the things I know, but for now, that is my story/journey with Ayanamsa :)
I'm so grateful to know what I know, because I spent a good year of my life (when I should've been focusing in school among other things, lol) frantically trying to understand why the astrology I loved didn't seem to make mathematical sense, why some people and placements weren't fitting. To me, this has been a big test of my faith in my own intuition. I knew something was up, and I did think I was going mad for a while, but I followed that trail and found a wealth of knowledge I am blessed to have.
To be clear, I have no desire to force other people to follow the same calculation- I understand it would also be jarring for people. It would shift quite a lot of things for some people and all, but for what it's worth, I think part of being a good astrologer is keeping that open mind and heart to potential new information. Like with science- keep an open mind, entertain every idea, and don't fully latch onto something until you have sufficient reason to believe it!
Peace and love my guys! ♡
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halemerry · 9 months
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All the "Aziraphale lied" meta readings got me thinking back to a thought I had on my first watch that I had previously dismissed (as possibly just weird/clunky writing); in the bar scene where Aziraphale reveals to Crowley what he told the archangels to cover up their miracle, Crowley suggests essentially that Az SHOULD just miracle Nina to fall in love with Maggie to which he responds really dismissively "oh, it doesn't work like that" and then the concept is dropped. idk WHY he'd lie about it but at the time it confused me because this implies you CAN'T miracle people to fall in love (which wouldn't make sense bc then the archangels probably wouldn't have bought that story?) additionally wouldn't Crowley himself be aware what can or can't be achieved with miracles? Again idk if this is anything but the moment always struck me as odd but it could just be them trying to cover up a plothole
So I think there's a couple things in play here.
Firstly, the archangel gang is a bit clueless. They don't have much guidance and they haven't taken the time to be on Earth like Az has so their knowledge of how stuff works, especially in regards to humans is a bit unreliable.
Secondly, we know that one of Crowley's defining traits is his imagination. He interacts with the world and the things in it in a way most angels and demons would never dream of. Stopping time is the flashiest example of this but he actually does it quite a bit through other avenues whether it's turning goats into crows or imagining a burning car is perfectly fine. There's not much that seems automatically out of scope to Crowley. The fact he can imagine a lot of this as possible is what makes them possible in the first place. Sometimes these things are even subconsciously or even in reverse - notably he never has to fill the Bentley with fuel simply because it never occurs to him that he would need to. The sheer fact Aziraphale doesn't think it can work that way matters in itself.
Now even ignoring that, the way Aziraphale's miracles work in the Ball actually tells us he's being honest when he says that. He can miracle everyone into new clothes and new social patterns but he can't necessarily make them not notice it's weird. Applying that to love would likely act similarly - with Nina being at least a little aware something was off.
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teaberrii · 10 months
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Chapter 8: Friend or Foe
You've been Cupid for as long as you can remember. You've brought countless soulmates together, yet you've never found love.
When you're assigned to bring two childhood friends back together, it should be simple until you unexpectedly catch feelings for the mysterious and cold Ph.D. student, Dan Heng, the man with a soulmate… the man with answers to your past.
Dan Heng/You
Notes:
Cross-posted on Ao3
Female reader
Chapter index at the end of chapter one
A man with a white ponytail and golden eyes walks up to a large window with a view of Xianzhou’s horizon. The sky has become a blended mix of warm hues that makes the bright lights of many of the city’s skyscrapers stand out.
The man has a hand in his pocket, his cold stare on the city as he listens to the person on the other side. Finally, he asks, “Do you have a name?”
“…I don’t. But it’s a man in his mid-twenties. Apparently, a Ph.D. student is using him as a test subject.”
The golden-eyed man narrows his eyes. “...Ph.D. student? Get me a name."
“Yes, Boss.”
The man ends the call and slips the phone into his dress shirt pocket. He still has his eyes on the scenery when he senses a presence behind him.
“I was expecting you,” he says, not turning around. Lan stands beside a large uniquely-shaped desk with two large monitors and a laptop. The man faces the God and extends his arm as if welcoming him. “It’s nice to see you again, Lan.”
“Save the theatrics, Jing Yuan.”
“You visit every time this God damn disease reappears. Why not make things a little more interesting?”
Lan walks up beside him. “Here’s a little piece of news for you. The disease is changing… again. I visited the man you just heard about.”
“…How did you find him?”
Jing Yuan isn’t surprised at Lan’s silence. Ever since they met in his mid-twenties, Lan has been secretive. Yet this nature is how they make this alliance work.
“…Do you believe me now?”
Jing Yuan was in a hospital washroom the day he had to listen to the doctors his fianceé’s family had hired to cure her. But even the best of the best had ultimately failed. Unable to keep his temper in check, he’d gone to calm himself in the washroom.
“I don’t know what kind of tricks you’re pulling," Jing Yuan said, looking from the man to the lack of reflection in the mirror. "But—“
Suddenly, he was mysteriously thrown and pinned against the washroom wall, the impact nearly knocking him unconscious. Lan slowly walked closer, but Jing Yuan couldn’t free himself from whatever force was holding him against the wall.
“There are no tricks. I assure you.”
Then, Jing Yuan falls to the floor, coughing and gasping for air. He glared at him. “…What the fuck do you want?”
Lan put a foot on top of him and forced him to the ground. “I’d start talking nicely if I were you.”
Jing Yuan’s blood ran cold as he couldn’t move anything… but his eyes.
“…What do you want with me?” he finally spat.
"I've known about The Withering for a while. I have my theories, but I need someone to be my eyes and ears.”
Jing Yuan smiled wryly. “In your fucking dre—argh!”
Eventually, Lan slightly eased the pressure on Jing Yuan’s spine. “Don't you want answers?”
“It’s not like you have them.”
“I’m closer than you will ever be.”
“Then, why do you need my help? Aren’t you a God?”
“No one can accomplish things solely on their own,” Lan said. “Unfortunately, that cliché also applies to Gods. This disease is not of this world, which is why you have no answers.” As soon as Jing Yuan could move, he immediately got to his feet. “The Withering isn’t supposed to exist. Not in this period, at least.”
“…Don’t tell me it was one of you who did this. What? Is it fun to see humans suffer?”
“…Someone’s laughing,” Lan said. “But it’s not me. If I knew, I wouldn’t be here trying to figure out who's behind this.”
Jing Yuan narrowed his eyes. Could he trust him?
“There’s a reason why The Withering is here," Lan continued. "Didn't you notice a pattern?" When Jing Yuan looked away, Lan smiled. “The Withering seems to target people from powerful and wealthy families.  You could be its next victim.” Jing Yuan stiffened. “I want to find out why it’s here and get rid of it… for good.”
“Am I supposed to trust you?”
“I don’t trust you as much as you don’t trust me. But we need each other to get what we want.”
“…As long as you don’t ask any unnecessary questions about how I do things.”
Lan scoffed. “I could care less about your family being involved in the black market. But, the same goes for you. We don’t need to ask about anything we don't need to know. How does that sound?”
“Did you forget our deal?” Lan asks.
“Forget I asked,” Jing Yuan says, waving his hand dismissively. “What's his name?”
“Caelus.”
“…I’ve heard of him.”
“Well, I’d be surprised if you didn’t,” Lan says. “His family has loose ties to yours.”
“Do they?” Jing Yuan asks nonchalantly. “I don’t keep track.” Then, more seriously, “Did you talk to him?”
“...Rather than talk, I saw it’s getting worse.”
Jing Yuan’s phone goes off, so he turns around to answer it.
“Dan Heng,” the man on the other end says. “That’s his name."
“Great.” Jing Yuan turns around but Lan is already gone. “…Now, get me a number.”
◆◆◆
The room is dimly lit as Caelus sits on his bed with his phone. He's been trying to sleep for the past few hours, but every time he closes his eyes, he sees the terrified look on the man's face. Everything happened so fast that Caelus still can't explain it.
One moment he was fine. The next, his body felt like it was on fire as a bubbling rage took his emotions by storm. He could only describe it as a craving for violence. The man had been unfortunate enough to be caught in Caelus's emotional whirlwind.
Caelus hears the door slide open, and his doctor walks in. "...How are you feeling?"
“...Fine,” Caelus says without looking at him.
His doctor walks up to his bed. “This might be a new development.” Caelus looks at him. “The Withering has never caused someone to become violent before.”
“You think it has something to do with the disease?”
“We’re looking into it. Unless there’s something you didn’t tell us.”
"No. I told you everything," Caelus answers. "I… don't know what came over me." The doctor looks at Caelus's hand. It's only been a few days, but the pigment has almost reached the bottom of his fingers. Caelus covers his hand with a bandage wrap. "Are there any answers you can give me why it's spreading so fast?"
“...We’re looking into that, too.”
Caelus glares at him. “That’s all you say. Isn’t there anything you can give me?” When the doctor's shoulders fall, Caelus looks down. “...I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to lose my temper like that.”
"...We did find something interesting. It won't help identify why this is happening, unfortunately, but it's worth noting." He sits next to Caelus. "With each victim, a new symptom appears. The first person, she became brain dead. There was a faint pigment on her skin, but it became more noticeable when the next person was infected. But he was infected in the neck. Eventually, the disease began spreading faster. And now there's you… with symptoms that are consistent with the past victims. But this time, you're experiencing violent tendencies."
“Gosh, I wonder what could be next,” Caelus mutters. “Blood from the eyes? The mouth? Are victims eventually going to turn into zombies?”
"...I understand your frustration, Caelus. But it's not just me working around the clock to help.” The doctor stands. “Get some sleep. Your friend is visiting you tomorrow.”
Caelus hears the door shut and looks out the window as a drizzle starts to fall. Lightning flashes once, and he sees a man's reflection in the window. Startled, Caelus turns around, but no one is there. He looks back, and the reflection is gone. Caelus doesn't know which he should be more afraid of. That he's becoming delusional or the man he saw looked exactly like his friend… only with horns.
◆◆◆
“Ooh, so is this what getting a buzz feels like?”
"I think you've had enough, Pom," you say, looking at your friend who's drinking happily with Nanook and Gepard.
“Aw… but—”
“You should probably listen to her, rabbit,” Nanook interrupts. “Or she’ll never stop nagging.”
“Well, this is a first,” Idrila says. “Nanook being oddly responsible.”
The God swirls the alcohol in his drink. “Isn’t the kid taking a while?”
You glance at the entrance to the restaurant. You never expect Nanook to notice that Dan Heng has been out for a while. He'd gone outside to take a call, and you'd be lying if you weren't curious about what was keeping him, too.
“I’ll go—”
You and Stelle look at each other, a slight surprise on your faces.
Nanook laughs. “Never thought the kid would be so popular.”
“Quit it,” Idrila chides.
“...I’ll go check on him,” you say, standing.
After you exit the restaurant, you walk a short distance away and hear Dan Heng’s voice.
“...Marriage?”
You stop.
“I’m not even thinking about that right now. Let alone—”
Dan Heng is facing away from you, but it’s the first time you can hear a slight distress in his tone.
“...And have you talked to Stelle about this? What does she think?” Dan Heng suddenly turns around, and his eyes widen upon seeing you. “...Okay. I have to go. I’ll call you later.”
He ends the call and slips his phone into his pocket just as you say, “You were taking a while, so I thought I’d check if everything’s okay.” You hope he doesn’t think you’d been purposely eavesdropping.
“Everything’s fine.” He walks toward you. “That was my father.”
“Ah…”
Just when you think he will drop the conversation, he says, "...You said I had a soulmate. Is it Stelle?"
You've gone down this route before of telling people who their soulmates were to make your life easier. While it worked in some cases, in others it strengthened their resolve not to get with that person, which obviously made your job a lot harder. Somehow, you feel Dan Heng will fall into the latter category.
“Why do you ask?”
Dan Heng sighs. “It’s my father. He’s been dropping hints that Stelle and I would make a good match.”
“...That’s news to me.”
“So, you haven’t been pulling strings?”
You aren't surprised he asked what he knows, but why does it annoy you?
“No,” you say firmly. “I haven’t done anything.”
“...I see.”
“Has he been pressuring you to get married?”
"No, but he has asked me if I'm thinking about settling down with someone."
“But you’re still young! You have time.”
Dan Heng steps toward you and slightly leans down. “...Mind if I ask you how old you are?”
“Take a wild guess,” you deadpan. Dan Heng tilts his head as if examining you. “...What? Do I have something on my face?”
"You look like you'd be around my age."
“...If I’m being honest, I don’t know how old I really am,” you say, looking away.
“So, you’ve looked this way for as long as you can remember,” Dan Heng says, and you slowly look at him. “...I bet a lot of people would be dying to know your skincare secrets.”
You cross your arms. “Well, I’m not sharing.”
Then, both of you crack a little smile.
"This is just a theory…" Dan Heng says, "But perhaps this was what you looked like when you started doing your job as Cupid.”
“That would make sense. I’ve only had visions of myself when I was younger… never older.”
“Then… maybe this was the age when your time also stopped.”
“...Well, I guess the question is what will it take for it to start again.”
“Again… this is just a theory”—the look in his eyes softens—“maybe it’s when you meet your soulmate.”
"...That's a nice fantasy. But, I doubt it."
"Why?"
You shrug. "I've never fallen in love. Not that I can remember, at least."
"You haven't met the right person."
"I suppose. But, love is the last thing on my mind right now. How can I love someone if I don't even know who I am?"
"Self-discovery isn't always a lonely journey. I assume you didn't start having dreams or visions about your past life without meeting certain people first."
"...Like you?"
"Like me." A corner of Dan Heng’s lips curves into a ghost of a smirk. “But if I ever see a wrinkle, I’ll let you know.”
“I’d rather you keep that to yourself,” you joke.
“For now, I’m going to treat you as if you’re the same age as me."
“Does it matter if I was older or younger?”
"Juniors typically respect their elders more. While those who are older usually give guidance to their juniors. It's Xianzhou's culture."
“Well, we may look the same age, but I’m still older than you,” you say with a teasing smile.
Dan Heng scoffs quietly. “Does this mean I should call you Sister Cupid?”
“Why does it sound like you’re going to start confessing your sins?” Then, with a small smile, you say, “But I shall listen, O’ Young One.”
“...Then, I expect a serious answer.” Dan Heng gently grabs your wrist and pulls you a little closer to him. “Is it a sin… if a human falls in love with a God?”
Seconds turn into minutes. It’s as if the world around you slowly melts away as you hold Dan Heng’s stare. “...That’s…”
“Dan Heng!” Stelle’s voice immediately makes you step away from him like a child getting caught with their hand in a cookie jar. Stells walks up and looks at you. “Both of you were taking a while.”
“She—”
“He—”
You and Dan Heng look at each other.
“...We were just talking,” Dan Heng finally says.
“Well, we’re just about ready to go,” Stelle says. She looks at you. “Pom looks like he’s going to pass out, by the way.”
You sigh. Looks like you’re playing babysitter for the night.
Once you return to the restaurant, you see Pom’s drowsy-looking face. Gepard is supporting him.
“For once, it’s not my fault,” Nanook says, slightly raising his hands as if to declare innocence.
“And for once, he’s right,” Idrila says. “He was the one who stopped Pom from completely passing out.”
“Is he going to be okay?” March asks.
“We’ll make sure he gets home safe,” Gepard says.
Dan Heng puts Pom’s other arm around him, helping Gepard support him.
“Well, this has been fun,” Nanook says, once everyone is outside of the restaurant. “I wouldn’t mind doing this again.”
“Maybe with a little less alcohol next time,” you say.
"And more of you and the kid." He looks at Dan Heng, whose poker face doesn't change. You look from Nanook to Dan Heng and back to the God. "He pretty much kept you the entire evening."
“Well, I guess Cupid thinks he’s better company than you, Nanook.”
Nanook frowns at Idrila. “Gosh. I thought you were on my side, Idrila. But I guess I was wrong.”
Idrila loops a friendly arm around Nanook’s and winks at you. “I’ll make sure he won’t cause trouble on the way back.”
You smile at her. “I’m counting on you.”
Then, they’re off, but even a short distance away, you can still hear their bickering.
“C’mon, Stelle, we should get going, too!”
You turn and see March looking as if she’s ready to leave. But Stelle has her eyes on Dan Heng.
“Something wrong, Stelle?” Gepard asks.
“Oh, um… it’s nothing. Get home safely.”
Then, she walks away in another direction with March.
Pom groans and attempts to stand on his own. His world is spinning, all except for one person. He squints as he tries to focus on the person that seems to be getting closer… and closer.
“...Pom.”
Your voice is faint as if you're standing a distance away. When in truth, you're standing right next to him with Gepard and Dan Heng. Pom blinks once, and his eyes widen when he sees Dan Heng in front of him. Except… when did he have horns?
“...Pom!”
Pom blinks again, and he sees your face. "Cu…Cupid?" That's when he realizes you're in front of him, and Gepard and Dan Heng are standing on either side. "Wha… what happened?"
“You started walking randomly,” Gepard says. “...In the wrong direction.”
Pom turns to Dan Heng. “...You were”—Pom hiccups—”you were walking towards me.”
“...No, I wasn’t.”
You sigh. “C’mon, Pom. Let’s go home.”
“R…Right.”
By the time you and Pom get home, it’s late evening. Pom has collapsed on the couch as you walk Gepard and Dan Heng to the door.
“Thanks for helping get him back,” you say.
“Hopefully, his hangover won’t be too bad,” Gepard says.
You give your friend a small wave as he walks back to the elevator. But before Dan Heng can follow, you say his name. He turns around.
"Your question from earlier," you say. "I never heard about that happening… so I don't have an answer."
"Do you think it'd be any different than love between humans?"
"...Probably not."
Dan Heng smiles slightly. "It'd be chemistry worth exploring."
Perhaps it's the way he's looking at you that makes your face warm. Though the butterflies are short-lived when Gepard peeks around the corner and asks, "What's taking so long?"
Dan Heng gives you one last look and walks off.
You sigh softly and close the door. Why does it seem like he will be the death of you? When you head into the living room, your eyes widen when you don’t see Pom on the couch.
“Pom?” you call.
Silence.
You quickly head to his room, the washroom, and the kitchen. Eventually, you find Pom lying on your bed. You gently shake him.
“...Pom. Wake up.”
He groans, but suddenly you hear him say, "...Young…"
It's not until you see him sweating that you shake him harder. "Pom. Get up." Pom's eyes suddenly open, and your friend slowly sits up with your help. "...Are you okay? You were sweating."
"...Yeah," Pom mutters; he puts his hand on his forehead. Then, he looks around. "Wasn't… Wasn't I sleeping on the couch?"
"Yeah, you were. But, you ended up here." You sit next to him. “...You said Young's name in your sleep."
“He was here,” Pom says quietly.
You glance around. “...Here? Like… in the apartment? Are you sure it was him?”
Pom nods. “He told me his name. Everything was blurry and spinning, but I know it was our place. He was standing in the living room, and he told me something… interesting.” You wait with bated breath as Pom looks at the locket around your neck. “...He’s tied to that locket. If we can get it to open”—Pom looks at you—“it’ll set him free.”
◆◆◆
Dan Heng has just entered his room when his phone rings. He picks it up from the table and sees it's an unknown number. He ignores it, but when the calls persist, he finally picks it up.
“...Hello?”
"Dan Heng. It's nice to meet you."
The calm and masculine voice doesn't sound familiar.
"Who is this?"
Jing Yuan looks away from his open laptop. “...Someone who's on your side. We want the same thing, so let's help each other out."
"...What are you talking about?"
"A cure," Jing Yuan says sternly. "To help your friend."
Dan Heng's eyes widen. "Who are you?" 
"This conversation will be more meaningful in person. Let's meet. Shall we?"
“You’re asking me to meet when I don’t even have a name.”
"Is my name that important?"
"I'm not going to meet with someone who's going to waste my time."
"You need me more than I need you, so I suggest you start cooperating."
Dan Heng tightens his grip on his phone.
"Before Caelus, your mother was one of the victims," the man continues.
Dan Heng's blood runs cold.
"My fianceé was also one of them."
"If you truly want to help, why are you being so secretive?" Dan Heng asks. 
"Because The Withering shouldn't exist in the first place," Jing Yuan says sternly. "Trust me when I say that it puts us in danger the more people know."
"Enough with the riddles."
Jing Yuan smiles. "Fine. Answer me this, Dan Heng. Do you believe in Gods?"
Chapter 9
Tag list: @suoshiii @lordbugs @seirenspinel @lxry-chxn @tanspostsblog @theprinceofkhaos @nqctre @lunavixia @akwardbiscuit @klementime
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zenithabovemarshland · 3 months
Text
Gloomy little observations about synastry, Saturn return, the 12H...
Looking at my synastry with my family and friends and realizing how we are not built to understand one another. It's actually wild to see how much we all tend to orient our lives around our Moons and Saturns. (Unless much therapy has been had.) In the end we all act like Cancer.
8H and 12H placements... in a birth chart and also in synastry. I am intimately aware of their unpopularity when trying to have relationships with others. Feels like I am subservient to their needs (12H), and my usefulness to them is contingent on their needs (8H). (For 8H, it kind of feels like people need to be ready for me in order to receive me. I can't just offer my perspective or share something anout myself, I need to wait to be asked. Otherwise, people don't see me, and/or even react to me with anger.)
Kind of feels like I really can only feel like myself and fully breathe when I'm alone. The phrasing of this is interesting because my Moon sign, Libra, is underrepresented in my circle. So I actually feel like my life lacks air, and I can only have air, feed my Moon, when I'm alone?
Been thinking a lot about my Saturn return. My Saturn is in Pisces 12H. I noticed from when Saturn ingressed into Pisces that I've been very aware of the bonds I have with others (codependence), more able to address those patterns in myself, and also much more open to mystical things. (I've had phases in the past but this time feels so much more peaceful a transition.) Saturn return feels like readiness. The stuff I've been trying to do is suddenly happening, so the readiness is there. "Finally..." feeling.
My teacher said that Cap Suns tend to have an easier time with Saturn returns. And I'm also a day chart, which in Hellenistic astrology makes Saturn behave. So those are some disclaimers for others to consider.
Almost my whole chart is locked up by Saturn by aspect, so chains are slowly releasing. My life is moving when it hasn't moved before. Feels a bit like being unleashed.
Looked at my Saturn cycle. When Saturn was at the applying square to my natal Saturn, I felt a huge shift. It's one of my favourite accomplishments of my life so far. I actually finished writing a book. I had never finished anything before (Mars oppose Saturn in nativity), so it was huge. (If I remember right this was also one of those spiritual phases I had.)
I'm wondering if the rule of thumb that people aren't fully aware of their 12H is only true if they don't have a highlighted 12H. When people have planets that land in my 12H by synastry, I am aware. I feel like I'm leaning backwards to them. I feel dependent on their satisfaction. I observe that I lose focus on my dreams the moment they enter a room. (Ruler of my 12H is Saturn, stuck in a T-square with Mars and Jupiter, so that makes sense.) But that could also be that they're likely to hit my Saturn.
The Neptune transit through Pisces has been... something. I'm not 100% sure what I've noticed about it yet.
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greenplumbboblover · 6 months
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Looking at your Downloads page, I see you have a section entitled "Terms of Uses", in which you have numerous restrictions on how players may use your CC. I was wondering where you think you get the right to restrict usage of your material, since EA owns all rights to anything made for Sims games. Additionally, and in particular, the Sims 3 EULA specifically says that there can be no restrictions on how players use each others CC (section 2B4). Why do you think these laws don't apply to you?
Hey there,
First things first: I get why people ask others about this. I really do. But I think we sometimes forget that, TOUs, from a *legal* perspective, are incorrectly set up. (with other words, even with my TOU, I could technically never send a DMCA claim as the setup is incorrect).
We shouldn't forget that creator TOUs are there from a more morally correct perspective. My personal feelings on people just grabbing my items, especially meshes I meshed without asking, and then claiming as their own is just a dick move. Whether the EULA allows it or not. In the end, we're a community. Not a company.
Conversions on the other hand, that i've done (which my TOU does say) you can do all you'd like with it, as I don't own those meshes/textures at all. All rights reserved there.
Now, diving into the contract:
Section 2B4 says the following:
B. Contributing Content through The Sims 3 Launcher (Emphasis on LAUNCHER here)
(...) 4. In exchange for the right to use content contributed by other users through the Software, when you contribute content through the Software, you expressly grant to other users of the Software the non‐exclusive, perpetual, transferable, worldwide, irrevocable right to access and use, copy, modify, display, perform, and create and distribute derivative works from, your contributed content in connection with the Software, and to distribute and otherwise communicate your contributed content as a component of works that they create using the Software, for example, The Sims lots or The Sims videos, without further notice, attribution or compensation to you. You hereby waive any moral rights of paternity, publication, reputation, or attribution under applicable law with respect to EA’s and other players’ use and enjoyment of such content contributions in connection with the Software.
(SOURCE: https://media.contentapi.ea.com/content/dam/eacom/en-us/eula/eula-the-sims-3-row-pc-11-2015.pdf)
The way I, personally, understand it, and I read Copyrighting & Rights documents A LOT for my work and often confirm my findings with a third party, is:
It has to be content that's from and to the Launcher. Specifically with the exchange website in mind. We're talking Lots, Sims, Sims3pack store items. Videos recorded from TS3 > The sims 3 Launcher. Screenshots even. This is what this section specifically refers to.
The content needs to have come in a Sims3Pack specifically. Package files cannot be installed through the launcher, and therefore rules this part of the contract out as a potential illegal move. In fact, reading the full contract, it's a very gray area in said contract.
The "Software" (The sims 3) can't make meshes for you. It can't make textures, it can't make a script mod for you, but what it can make is the following within the game itself to share: Lots, Sims, Worlds (well, the TS3 Worlds EULA would come into play here, which is practically the same as TS3's), CASPart presets (So NOT CASparts), Patterns (again, TS3 Pattern tool EULA, assuming you didn't use a third party tool for this instead). Sharing "Objects" (in the sense of simply Presets), Pets and "Tattoos" (in the sense that, within CAS, you save your "Layered" tattoos and then share it on the exchange). With other words, the things you download OR share from/to the exhange, but not limited to third party websites, where the content also has to be installed through the Launcher. Those are the people you want to talk to, when they're complaining that people are modifying their Sims3packaged Sim/Lot. I'm the wrong target for this EULA honestly and sending this ask to.
In fact, just to do other people some favours, let's go through the whole Section B in a summarised, humanly readable way (Remember this is for the LAUNCHER)
EA/Origin account grants you the ability to download/upload from and to the launcher and it's websites (The Exchange for example)
Don't upload copyrighted stuff to the Exchange. EA has the rights to remove them then.
EA can use your lots/sims/presets of CASparts/objects in their promotion materials. As well as your images and videos even. You automatically grant permission to this once you share it to an EA website. (The Exchange)
See above.
The part that I do find interesting, and I know TS2's EULA had the same thing, is the following (I bolded the interesting part):
2. Intellectual Property Rights and Ownership. A. Reservation of Rights. You have purchased a limited license to the Software and your rights are limited to the license grant above and subject to this License. You may not otherwise copy, display, distribute, perform, publish, modify, or use the Software or any component of it. You are prohibited from making a copy of the Software available on a network where it could be used or downloaded by multiple users. Except as expressly licensed to you herein, EA and its licensors, as applicable, owns and reserves all right, title and interest in the Software, and all related data, characters, themes, objects, storyline, images, photographs, graphics, animations, video, music, text, and the associated copyrights, trademarks, moral rights and other intellectual property rights therein. This License is limited to the intellectual property rights of EA and its licensors in the Software and does not include any rights to other patents or intellectual property. Except to the extent permitted under applicable law, you may not decompile, disassemble, reverse engineer or created derivative works of the Software by any means whatsoever. You may not remove, alter, or obscure any product identification, copyright, or other intellectual property notices in the Software. All rights not expressly granted herein are reserved to EA
Now, you may think the term "Created Derivative works" must mean specifically modified meshes, but I'm guessing this was actually put in for in case someone is modifying Speed tree trees.
Besides, the meaning is:
Derivative work refers to a copyrighted work that comes from another copyrighted work. Copyrights allow their owners to decide how their works can be used, including creating new derivative works off of the original product.
Regarding the part of software modification: Third-party tools (such as S3PE) would seriously edge the line here, contract speaking. They don't have disassembled/reverse engineered code of the "Software" but they do create a copy of the content(s) in memory. (Think: meshes, textures, reading of package files)
The contract, however, is in this section extremely vague for a court to figure out whether they also mean textures/meshes taken from the game and modified as an override.
So if I have some feedback for their lawyers who wrote this, here you go :p. Though, let's be honest, the contract is only set up with EA's services in mind. I actually think those are the huge shortcomings in this contract.
Sorry this got so long. But I've had these talks SO often, that it's getting a bit tiring.
Please PLEASE PLEASE send the contract first to a third party that has a degree in law (which I have done, to someone who does international laws & Software laws), before sending asks like these. I know you mean it out of goodwill, I really do, but it's simply incorrect the way you're interpreting it.
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thewertsearch · 1 year
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Ask Comp 13/4 - 2
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Yup! The Alpha timeline offers a novel solution to the problem of Sylladex capacity. If the Captcha index only needs to be consistent in the Alpha timeline, then it doesn't have to worry about reserving index space for every possible item.
If this is how things work, then the Sylladex isn't predestined, per se - it's enforced. Everyone has a finite set of objects that they're allowed to captchalogue, and if you pick up anything else, your index is invalidated - and your timeline is pruned.
You could still call it predestination, if you were so inclined, but that's only partially accurate. It's more that you're coerced into 'choosing' one particular destination - or else.
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I'm loving these voice headcanons. Scratch as Emperor Belos is inspired.
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What the hell? That's amazing.
Based on my (admittedly limited) experience with web administration, it's not all that surprising, either. Hacks like this are shockingly common.
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No worries! The vast majority of followers don't actually interact with these posts' notes, but I still assume they're reading them. Just a quirk of Tumblr's norms.
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My best guess is that the drones would arrive when the troll is on the cusp of adulthood, shortly before they leave Alternia. That would give them as much time as possible to form potent relationships - which would, in turn, give the Empire the most potent wrigglers.
I still think it would motivate younger trolls, though. I mean, if all single people are executed at eighteen, you might feel a little pressure to enter the dating game early.
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Never forget the Der-sayer incident.
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Rereading it, Karkat scans as sad, angry, resigned, confused, lonely, and trying to bottle up an avalanche of "FRESH RAGE."
I think we're both half right, here - he's drowning in a tide of pretty much every negative emotion imaginable.
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Thank you!! We triple-checked, and it seems like Tumblr ate the first half of this ask :(
Much appreciated, though!! I love that metaphor for coming up with scattershot theories.
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Oh, that makes sense. Can't believe I missed a Hussie pun, but that one was a little harder to notice.
This makes it sound like the universe is tethering her to life, just as she tethers it. What is up with this lady?
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That's true! I'm pretty sure it's both.
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I'd always imagined Equius as being pretty tall. They're all the same height in sprite art though, so I think it's another case of sprite art being non-representative.
I'm withholding judgement on the Meowrails until we get more interactions between them. Their early conversations were a little worrying, but it's possible that Hussie hadn't fully fleshed out the concept of Moirallegiance at the time. We'll see how they interact now that how their quadrant works has been expanded on.
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[ Problem sleuth is still hosted there😁- C ]
It still seems to work for me!
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Oh, fun! I guess John's birthday does sort of fall into a half-pattern with the others.
Still, it would have made more sense for him to be in a line with the other Players - his Chumhandle doesn't match theirs, either, so maybe John's just a weird case.
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Thank you! I feel like this sort of analysis can only really be applied to fictional characters, though. Everything a character says or does is the result of a deliberate choice made by a writer, and I can use my knowledge of that fact to frame my analysis.
In real life, though, people just say shit - often for no reason, or for reasons they don't understand themselves. People are a lot more complicated than even the most well-written character, and understanding them requires a whole different skillset!
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Someone also posted Hussie's author comment about this. It's been years since I watched the movie - and if I recall correctly, it was also pretty meta itself. Maybe I need to watch it again, as reading material for Homestuck.
ferretlady97 submitted: talking about the book commentary reminded me of something i was gonna send you when the troll black queen took off her ring but forgot "Note that when she takes the ring off six orbs are filled. Three players from the blue team have entered the session, and three from the red team. Aradia was the second of the blue team to enter. Nepeta was third. Aradia's entry is when the frog mutations took effect on the ring-wearer. And then an interval passed before Nepeta's entry. Which means the queen actually spent a decent amount of time looking like a frog, deliberating whether or not she could put up with this for an entire game session. Ultimately, she couldn't hang in there. But this does imply she at least tried." i just think it's funny thanks for your time
The language used here - the fact that she couldn't 'put up' with her transformation into a frog, and couldn't 'hang in there' - seems to imply that doing so harms her in some way.
All the frog symbolism is still a closed book to me. What exactly does Bilious Slick represent or symbolize that Derse hates so much?
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[ you got another ask about LOLCAT but it has classpect spoilers so I'm saving it for later - C ]
I suppose that could work - but then again, it seems that 25% of all Lands have some association with water, so it can't always represent Life. I do want to come back to this later, though, when the Classes and Aspects are better defined.
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Send away! It'll be a while until I use them, though.
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I appreciate it! That's a minimum bound that I'd have to pick up the pace to reach, at this point.
Hey, what can I say? I'm here for a good time, and a long time. >:)
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I keep forgetting that LOSS is a references to a fanfic. I associate it more with you, the LOSS Anon!
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If she can't, she's definitely phrasing things in a misleading way, trying to imply that she can. The Tavros scene is arguable, but I really can't think of any other way to interpret how she talks about the Consorts, unless she's straight up lying - and she really doesn't do that much.
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Vriska 100%s the game, but skips all the cutscenes?
...yeah, I can see it. Every side quest is another chance to win!!!!!!!! >::::)
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the pursuer-distancer dyad & how it applies to the world of BL
Not too surprisingly, since I have a psychology PhD, I notice a lot of examples in my BL-watching of psychological concepts related to relationship dynamics and sometimes individual characteristics. I also probably like BLs because I’ve sought them out in part because they present an opportunity to do some complex thinking about relationships and how we approach them. 
A quick thing to note: BL characters are, of course, not real. But their stories resonate with us because they have some kind of relationship to reality. There’s a continuum from very realistic and highly relatable, to heightened for effect (this can make it easier to see certain things clearly, so they can still teach us useful things about real life), all the way to highly unrealistic stuff where we can relate to it because unusual experiences symbolically stand in for something else (see the classic “sure, he’s a murderer, but he’s my babygirl” phenomenon).
This post is about pursuer-distancer dynamics in relationships. I’m going to explain the concept as quickly and simply as I can, then talk a little bit about BL tropes and specific examples. I hope that if I keep writing about stuff like this, this is a post I can link to for background info in the future.
Most of the stuff I’ve seen on pursuer-distancer dynamics stems from Harriet Lerner’s work. She’s a Bowenian family systems therapist with a feminist bent who has written a lot of incisive but accessible books for popular audiences. Family systems theory is a way of looking at relationships as complex systems in which our patterns of behavior are interrelated. Hopefully that last sentence will make more sense after I explain further. For now, let’s dive in.
Here’s Lerner introducing the concepts of pursuers and distancers with a bulleted list from her book The Dance of Anger, excerpted below:
PURSUERS
• react to anxiety by seeking greater togetherness in a relationship.
• place a high value on talking things out and expressing feelings, and believe others should do the same.
• feel rejected and take it personally when someone close to them wants more time and space alone or away from the relationship.
• tend to pursue harder and then coldly withdraw when an important person seeks distance.
DISTANCERS
• seek emotional distance or physical space when stress is high.
• consider themselves to be self-reliant and private persons—more “do-it-yourselfers” than help-seekers.
• have difficulty showing their needy, vulnerable, and dependent sides.
• open up most freely when they are not pushed or pursued.
Sometimes we see these roles happen in clear-cut ways similar to what Lerner describes. But they can also show up in more complex ways. Roles can vary both between and within relationships. In other words, you can be a distancer in one relationship and a pursuer in another, and you can be both a pursuer and a distancer in different areas within the same relationship.
In healthy relationships that aren’t under any particular stress, pursuing and distancing would still happen. But partners would be free to engage in either as needed in a flexible way instead of being stuck in entrenched roles. 
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Side note: there’s a difference between pursuing in the sense of wanting to be in a relationship with someone and pursuing a partner emotionally in an established relationship, just as there’s a difference between distancing yourself from a potential partner and distancing yourself from an established partner. I’m including a shot from Semantic Error above because it has a quality that not very many BLs have: the seme seems like he’s be a pursuer in a relationship, and the uke seems like he’d be a distancer.
So, why do we get caught in these entrenched, interrelated roles in relationships?
Lerner sees them as a sort of unspoken deal that we make with people we’re close to because deep down, we want to avoid acknowledging certain needs and the emotions that come with them. It’s a fairly universal thing that human beings both crave intimacy and fear it. But this is hard to acknowledge. It’s tempting to disavow either our need for closeness or our need for independence.
As Lerner puts it:
Emotional pursuers protect emotional distancers. By doing the work of expressing the neediness, clingingness, and wish for closeness for both partners, pursuers make it possible for distancers to avoid confronting their own dependency wishes and insecurities.
It goes both ways. Distancers can convince themselves that they don’t have a need for closeness because their pursuer is holding all of the neediness for them. Pursuers can convince themselves they don’t have any desire to avoid intimacy because their distancer will hold that for them. 
Not only do we make these unspoken bargains within relationships, but our tendencies to pursue or distance inform the partners we choose in the first place. Those of us with a tendency to pursue may gravitate to partners with a tendency to distance, or vice versa.
So, what’s the alternative? Lerner writes that relationships are healthier and more honest when both partners can acknowledge both their need for intimacy and their need for independence. 
Before I move on to BL-specific stuff, a couple things to note. First, the way in which pursuer and distancer roles are complementary is a pattern that comes up in a lot of other relationship roles. There are a number of ways in which we sort of delegate certain relational tasks or emotional states within a relationship and disavow those they have assigned to the other person. Second, the tendency to pursue or distance is related to other factors, such as attachment style, and I may get into some of those in other posts.
So, on to BL tropes. Let’s start by looking at maybe the most foundational BL trope, the seme/uke pairing. I honestly think I’m still working on fully grasping that concept. But of the varying definitions I’ve seen, I much prefer ones that define the seme as the person doing the pursuing and the uke as the person being pursued (rather than putting it in terms of semes as “aggressive” or making gross assumptions about topping and bottoming). It’s pretty obvious from the use of “pursue” here that the idea of a pursuer/distancer dynamic readily applies here, although it doesn’t map on perfectly.
So, what do Lerner’s ideas about pursuer/distancer dyads tell us about the ways BL dyads negotiate closeness?
It helps to explain the appeal of tsundere characters as ukes. Not as a fictional character, but their appeal to a seme. Watching a BL with a sweet seme and a grouchy uke, you might look at that seme and say, “poor thing, too bad he has to like someone who’s so grumpy” and see him as fully and sincerely seeking as much intimacy with the uke as he can get. But why did this person who’s supposedly so interested in intimacy fall for someone so prickly? Pursuers find distancers appealing because they can chase after them all they want and while, hopefully, they’ll catch up to them at times and experience some intimacy, it won’t be too easy. If it was too easy, the pursuer would 1) get more intimacy than they bargained for and 2) have to admit to themselves and their tsundere that they need distance sometimes too.
The reverse is also true. A uke can better afford to distance himself, or push a seme away, because on some level he trusts the seme to continue to pursue.
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One thing I didn’t get into above but that Lerner points out: when a pursuer gets fed up with pursuing and not “catching” their partner enough, they tend to engage in what she calls “reactive distance.” This isn’t like when a pursuer calmly and authentically gets in touch with their need for independence and acts on it, making their approach to their relationship more balanced. It’s when a pursuer feels rejected and, well, pouts. I can think of a few examples of this in BLs but the first one that comes to my mind is from To My Star 2. (Spoilers ahead!) Seo Joon spends most of the season doing a serious full-court press to try to get Ji Woo back. In the face of a lot of rejection, some of it distinctly mean-spirited, he just keeps trying. And then, suddenly, he doesn’t. He takes his camper out to the woods where he has no phone reception, and when his management can’t get in contact with him, Ji Woo panics and is afraid something terrible has happened to him. But when he finds him calmly drinking a beer beside his camper, Seo Joon’s manner has changed drastically--he’s cold and dismissive. He still actually wants Ji Woo back. But he’s gotten to the point where he’s hurt enough to get into reactive distance mode. Later in the show, he does something similar. When Ji Woo finally wants to reconcile, Seo Joon is reluctant (for a little while). Chasing Ji Woo (while Ji Woo distances himself) was easier than dealing with all of the questions that come with reconciling with him, like whether he can really feel safe resuming a relationship with someone who ghosted him for a year. (I should note that there seems to be reasonable disagreement about who the seme is in this relationship, if indeed there is one in the strictest sense, but Seo Joon is definitely a pursuer in the family systems sense.)
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There are other ways, besides choosing a distancer as their object of interest, in which a pursuer can build in safety mechanisms to make sure their pursuit doesn’t result in more intimacy than they can handle. I’m thinking of Utsukushii Kare here. I have a lot of thoughts here that should probably be in a separate post. I’ll just say that Hira and Kiyoi are both intensely ambivalent about intimacy and that despite Hira largely pursuing Kiyoi and Kiyoi mostly acting as the distancer, they turn those roles inside out and backwards and randomly trade positions. Honestly half my reason for writing this is so that I can pull all of these ideas into an Utsukushii Kare post later because they are a great example about how these dynamics can turn into a tangled mess.
I’ll leave it at that for the moment. As I said above, I’m planning to pull from these ideas for at least one in-depth post on Utsukushii Kare and if there’s interest and I have the time and energy I’ll try doing something similar about some other constructs that apply to BLs in a useful way.
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canarybell · 5 months
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something something sequel and S2/S3 connection
(This is another mostly Ctrl-C Ctrl-V of my speculations from another place, because I don't have enough brains to rephrase it; and I want it to be here in case I make a post concerning my speculations about Archangel Michael and their role in S3)
We know S3 is based on the drafts of the unwritten sequel of the book!GO. We also know S2 is a "bridge" between S1 and S3, kinda tying in one knot the ending of S1 and the beginning of the sequel book. We can assume from Neil's recent post that most (if not all) important things that should have happened in the sequel, will happen in S3 and didn't happen in S2 yet.
So what can we assume based on this information?
The main difference between book ending and S1 ending is that in the end of S1 aziracrow don't work on their respective offices anymore. In the book it's might be not that clear, but with Adam promising they don't have anything to worry about, and with them trying to find out what their head offices actually think on Sunday and not hide from them, I suppose A&C still work for Hell and Heaven after the events of the book. There is also "Crowley & Aziraphale’s New Year’s Wishes" written by Terry&Neil in 00s in which aziracrow still work there while IPod exists (with book set up in 1990 it definitely happens after the Armageddon't).
I can't find a source right now, but I remember Neil directly saying (after S1) that archangels in the series were borrowed from sequel drafts. It's also worth noticing that in the book we never saw Heaven the way we saw it in S1, and also there were no angels in the book aside from Aziraphale and The Metatron (and Death, who called himself Azrael, but...well, I'm not sure it applies to TV series in any way).
We also know that the sequel dealt with a Second Coming and angels were acting like Jesus' bodygards (and lost him). We also know what Aziraphale was supposed to do in the sequel (watching some videos in the hotel), but I can't recall anything to be said about Crowley's occupation in a meantime...but maybe I just didn't search hard enough?
So, as I see it, the sequel should have been revolved around an Apocalypse initiated by Heaven this time (the way in the first book it was initiated by Hell). Crowley had a task to deliver an Antichrist in GO1, so in a sequel Aziraphale was ordered to do something concerning Jesus. I guess he even was supposed to be promoted (maybe not for the Supreme Archangel position, but still promoted) in a sequel too – because of his knowledge of Earth he could genuinely seen as the best candidate to be used in the “Second Coming” project in a book version. There were probably some insights into the Heaven politics – we saw some demons in the book 1 after all.
(It also made me make some assumptions about Archangel Michael role in S1/sequel/S2, as there are some interesting patterns, especially if we look into the cut scene of the bookshop opening in S1 script…but that’s a theory for another day. It also ties them with Muriel, however strange it might sound without a context)
The problem of implementing this into TV series is that, as I pointed above, TV!Aziracrow post-S1 are known traitors and outlaws (that actually would make a lot more sense if S1 existed without any continuation – there is a big headscratcher in a book for me called “Was Ligur revived and did anyone care about his murder post-Armageddon’t?”, which S1 covered). You need to set up a whole story so Aziraphale could just go back to Heaven and do whatever he needed to do there for the plot. Crowley, on the other hand…we’ll see in S3, but I suspect his role in the sequel didn’t require him actively work for Hell, especially if he needed to be on Earth most of the plot; and whatever interactions that he needed to have with Downstairs can be covered in the TV series by him interacting with Shax.
So the main point of S2 in this case was mostly to set up Aziraphale going back to Heaven. And maybe to get rid of Gabriel – I suppose he had a role in the sequel too, but if his main role in its drafts was to just be an annoying and stupid boss (as he was in S1 and wasn’t in a book, as he wasn’t present there), he couldn’t continue to just be one in the series, pretending that saying “Shut your stupid mouth and die” to Crowley!Aziraphale never happened. And getting rid of him was probably seen as a better/simpler solution than trying to come up with a story where he, with his story with Aziraphale, still had the same functions as his book-sequel version.
And yeah, other archangels don't like and/or trust Aziraphale too (okay, I'm hesitant about Saraquel, but they are a dark horse anyway). But they very visibly didn't like Aziraphale in S1 too, even before his...accomplishments. So that might be the point of their characters? Maybe in the sequel archangels simply didn't like their new equal/boss, and in S3 their dislike will just have more basis? Especially in Michael's case.
.....one thing that bothers me, actually, is how much the "S3 is based on the sequel, S2 not so much" might affect our theories about S3? Like, 25 Lazari miracle. If it wasn't in the sequel drafts (and tbh I'm not sure it could even happen there - what for book!A&C would do the joint miracle? If it even happened, it should have been something minor enough that it could be replaced by hiding Gabriel definitely-not-in-the-sequel subplot...), how much should we rely on it in our theories? Can we even make it a main point of our assumptions?
Although, the sequel drafts were just this - drafts, not a finished story. We don't know how detailed they were, and how many plot points weren't really finished back then. Like, idk, there might be "Aziraphale and Crowley get out of [some trouble] - we will think how they can do it later" note, and back then "later" never happened. But now "how" can be resolved with the use of 25 Lazari Chekhov Gun, and it would be legit for the TV series universe...
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everythingsf1ne23 · 1 month
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𝐒𝐡𝐞’𝐬 𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐈 𝐖𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐁𝐞 (𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝟑) | 
𝘔𝘪𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘦𝘭 𝘒𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘢 & 𝘞𝘢𝘺𝘯𝘦 𝘔𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘨𝘢𝘯
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𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 🎀💕:
@yarrystyleeza If you want to be added check out my pinned post! 
𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬 💌:
My goal is to be more productive in terms of writing this week ‘cause I’ve been lacking with the fics and also enjoy Michael’s pov at the end my lovelies ~Jess
𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 📝:
in which, Molly takes her shopping but she is spotted which is a shock as she is believed to have died 
𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳’𝘴 𝘗𝘰𝘷:
I pose in the mirror after I apply my makeup but then I laugh, 
“oh gosh” I say to myself realising that I’ve probably put too much blush on 
but you can never have too much blush right?
I have my hair in a ponytail which is unusual as I love it done but I wanna be different for once,
My phone buzzes and I check it to see that Molly is on her way to pick me up for our shopping trip, 
I hear a whistle behind me 
so I turn to see Wayne,
“You’re looking absolutely stunning as you always do” I feel my cheeks turning red and with my blush, I probably look like a tomato 
“Aww thank you!” I get up off the chair at my vanity and I give him a hug
“You make me the happiest” I tell Wayne as he holds me tightly in the hug 
“I’m glad that I do and I’m definitely the happiest when I’m around you, you’re the best thing that has ever happened to me”
I hear a car beeping and I look out the window to see Molly’s car 
“I better go otherwise Molly will probably leave without me” I smile at Wayne and he smiles back 
“Well enjoy yourself my love”
I give him a quick kiss then I grab my leather jacket along with my handbag 
“I will, see you later, I love you” 
I shut the front door behind me and I get into the passenger’s seat of Molly’s car 
“You two must be so loved up, I was almost thinking that you weren’t coming with me” 
“Of course I was still coming with you, I always enjoy our shopping trips and we really are, Wayne is honestly my everything” 
“You seem so much brighter and that’s so lovely to see” 
“How are things going with Michael?” 
“Things are really good with us” 
Soon enough we arrive at the shopping centre, some of the shops weren’t our style so we didn’t bother going into them, 
I pick out a white corset top and I pair it with bright orange pants 
I’ve been loving colour recently so I’ve been trying to bring them into all my outfits,
I decide that I need Molly’s opinion as she has great fashion sense,
“Molly what do you think?”
“It’s certainly your style, you should definitely get them” 
Afterwards we walk into a more expensive, boutique aesthetic shop 
Molly looks at the blue summer dress 
“That’s nice isn’t it?” she asks me and I nod in agreement 
“Ooh yes it’s lovely”
Molly notices the price tag 
“Well it’s very expensive especially for our pharmacist wages, we should probably be getting more for what we do”
“Yeah I definitely can agree on that one, when I was being a dj at concerts for some friends I was getting more money” 
“You were a dj? Teach me how to do it please!”
“Of course I will and yeah when I left for America last year, I decided to do something different with my life” 
“Stop that’s actually super cool, we should have a party so you can show off your dj skills” Molly giggles and I smile at her
“I’d love that, I haven’t done it in so long”
I notice some skirts in the corner of my eye so I walk quickly over 
“I haven’t bought a new skirt in so long” 
I think to myself and I look through the rack of skirts, some were mini and other were long 
I observe a cute long green flower patterned skirt but once I see the price tag I realise that I should probably leave it there,
Suddenly I have the feeling that someone’s watching me so I turn slightly and I notice that it is Viking sitting down on a small couch with his phone in his hands, 
Does he know that it’s me? I ask myself but then Molly comes over to me
“Let’s go see some other shops” she links arms with me and leads us out of the boutique. 
𝘔𝘪𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘦𝘭’𝘴 𝘗𝘰𝘷:
I’m currently at Amanda and Jimmy’s house as Eric apparently has something important to tell us,
“What do you think this is about?” 
I ask Amanda,
“I honestly don’t know, sure it could be about anything knowing Viking”
The front door bursts open which the three of us can only assume that it’s him
“You’ll never guess who I saw today when I was out shopping with Nikki”
Viking tells us and he is clearly in a grumpy mood as usual with him lately,
“Well no need to keep us in suspense, 
who was it?” 
“You know Moore’s cousin the one who helped him set up the shooting that killed Jamie, the one who is supposed to be dead”
“You’re actually joking right?” Amanda asks him
“Of course I’m not fucking joking, 
look there’s a photo of her”
I look and I notice that it is Molly’s friend who works with her in the pharmacy, I say nothing as I know that she’s a good person according to Molly.
“She must be really sneaky if she pulled that off, I wonder where she went” Jimmy remarks and Viking speaks up again
“I heard her speaking to her friend and apparently she was being a dj in America, I’ve done some digging and I found her new Instagram and everything” 
Viking passes his phone around once again, I could see her photos and videos with the same people, must be her friends.
“According to her Instagram, she has been in America, Europe and Asia touring with her friends at their concerts, there was even concerts here in Dublin” 
“Jesus you’ve found out a lot of information” Amanda responds 
“Nikki helped me too so I can’t take all the credit, but she could possibly be a threat so we should keep an eye on her”
I know that she is Molly’s closest friend so I can’t let anyone in the family hurt her whether she is a threat or not, I know that she means a lot to Molly so I’ll have to protect them both,
Viking turns to leave but then he turns back 
“Oh and also Wayne Madigan is following her too, so she must know him as well”
“We’re dealing with him right now so I’m sure that they’re not planning anything together” I tell him 
“If you say so Michael”
“I know so!”, I respond and then Viking finally leaves which means that I can also go home. 
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A lot of people are celebrating Valentines Day this weekend, so I am resharing this post today. The image is from a ritual done in honour of Aphrodite, on this date, over fifteen years ago! On Love Magic For Valentines Day You can use the magic of Valentine's Day to improve your life, no matter if you are single, in a relationship, or in more than one. Love has no limits, it makes us all better human beings, and has many faces that can be turned into effective forms of magic. Here are some examples: · Self Love You don't need a partner to experience Love, because you are already there and you can (and should) love yourself, in any way you choose. Self love is attraction and manifestation magic, as you are setting a pattern; as you treat yourself, the Universe will treat you. Pamper your physical body, rest without guilt, take yourself out to a favourite place, cook yourself a feast; give yourself what you give to others, without measure. · Spiritual / Divine Love If you have a relationship with deities who represent Love in your pantheon, it is a perfect time to do special offerings, cleanse their altar, and just spend time in their company, rejoicing in your relationship with them. (Please notice that I personally think that this can be done with any other Deity who has a place of Love in your heart, no matter which is their patronage.) If you don't have a relationship with deities who represent Love, or don't worship at all, you can always do guided meditations focused on Love to feed your vibration – this will help you align with the power of this day without interfering in your regular devotions or practises. · Sensuality This applies to your own experience of sensuality, to experiences shared with another, and with others. As a form of magic where the self and the other(s) overlap, there is a great amount of power in any actions where sensuality is included. Explore the senses, be grateful for the body that feels and gives, and for the many ways in which Love and sensuality intertwine, collaborate, and can become one. · Partnership This applies to all forms of partnerships – couples, friendships, polyamorous relationships, and everywhere where Love can be found. To just spend time with the people who live in your heart, to do nice things for them, to tell them how much you love them and appreciate them, is a very powerful way to place yourself in alignment with this day. It does not need to be a date in any traditional day; just make sure that you open your heart, and share your connection. And finally: don't forget that love does not equal being in a couple, or having intercourse, or even being romantic. Love is for EVERYONE, as the source of all Life and the fountain from where Spìrit flows onto all of us – and its power to benefit you has no limit. Do not allow capitalism to tell you what this day is or isn't, and never hand its power away by thinking that if you are not following clichés, this day is doomed for you. Single people, asexual people, aromantic people, grieving people, can ALL benefit from the magic and power of this energy, as fully as any other.
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If Dave is a Naturally Occurring Creature He Would Have Descended From Basically a Giraffe
Ok so you might be starting to notice a pattern with my rationals.
I make some bizarre, frankly insane, unhinged, and and shitpost-esque claim and then I go into detail as to why it actually makes sense.
This is no exception.
This doesn’t apply if he’s just some magical creature or was created in a lab, only if he evolved naturally which actually is surprisingly possible. Specifically with the theory of him being an alien lifeform that somehow ended up on earth. Which again, shitpost like idea that actually has some reasoning behind it.
To not go too far in, everything about Dave’s biology is possible, the only thing unlikely if he’s an alien is the fact he’s so humanoid, so much so in fact that he could be wrongly classified as a metahuman. He is also compared by Jack to an alien ingame, although Jack might not be a good source because he clearly doesn’t know what Dave is just as much as the next guy, and they probably dated or at least hooked up in Vegas. Jack also seems to think he’s just deformed at points in the game, which no, he’s not.
Doggo himself claims Dave is a Cryptid, not a human, but a Cryptid is not a set creature so he could still be just about anything. Also Dave is biologically impossible to actually be human. While he is humanlike to a point of strangeness for his evolution being so convenient, he can’t possibly be human. Why? Because any one of Dave’s weird traits is FAR too much for a human deformation. He has scales, a stretching and retractable neck, he’s purple, his blood is purple, his teeth are rarely visible, he is missing a ton of facial features, and more. A deformed human could not have any of these traits especially not all together. For instance, purple pigmentation is insanely rare and our bodies most definitely do not contain the chemicals for it, much less for purple blood and scales.
Now to get onto the actual theory.
In every environment there are a set number or niches, these being different diets, hunting strategies, and adaptions any animal can lean towards.
Most of these don’t matter for the essay, only the one that both earth Giraffes and Dave would have to fill, that of the so called “Browser”.
My theory for this is that Dave’s species was a small, apelike omnivore specializing in eating insect like creatures and plants. However they were likely at the bottom of the food chain, needing to hide a lot, and struggling with heavy competition from other local animals with similar diets who were much more adept for eating this way. However there was no creature yet that could take advantage of treetops.
Mixed with the need to be still able to fit into small spaces use tools, and not be horribly unbalanced as Dave’s species was probably at least semi-bipedal and already capable of using rudimentary tools when the evolution started in this direction as if he hadn’t been he would probably just be a giraffe with a retractable neck and no sentience.
My theory on how the neck works is that it doesn’t actually add any more length, rather there’s an empty pocket in his body in which it coils up on itself and still sticks out slightly, the muscles in both his neck, torso, and legs would probably have to be pretty strong to support this but it would allow the species to be both human sized to avoid extra predation and still be the only creature to be able to capitalize on the foliage on top of the trees. The neck probably got shorter as necessity was removed as survival traits often tend to regress in sentient creatures, for instance humans can no longer digest raw meat when once we could.
I know it’s weird that I have gone as far as to try to explain Dave’s neck and it’s possible evolutionary purpose given that he’s a self proclaimed “aubergine” in a meme game and is simply referred to as a Cryptid, however I loved Alien Biospheres, All Tomorrows, Man after Man, and the many other thousands of speculative biology projects and I love DSAF, so I can’t help but biologically analyze the character who the other characters canonically can’t identify species wise.
This essay is over now, begone.
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