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aelaer · 4 years ago

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Re: Blood in Your Veins

Hey so uh.

As anyone who’s been following me for a while knows, I started the serial “The Blood In Your Veins” about this time last year (it used to be ‘my veins’ but retitled it on its move to AO3 because execution of prompt had changed a bit over writing). It’s a prompt that I couldn’t stop thinking about and just dabbled in slowly to see where it went. Then 2020 fully hit and my writing came to almost a complete stop until about October, which is when I began again on Illuminating the Shadows, which was finished and posted in December.

Anyway, I’ve been poking and prodding fairly continuously at The Blood in Your Veins. The first four parts that I posted originally here on tumblr are now all on AO3, and once part 5′s up I’ll link it here and link everyone who wanted alerts to the updates then so they can see the new part. Then all future parts will be linked here as well.

(Cut because why the *hell* did I write this much about this?)

I’ve been slow in posting because I, against better judgement but why not, decided to post it as a WIP. But that means I keep on making edits to older parts because I think of something new that should be addressed earlier in the story. Like uh, when I was writing part 9, I realized I needed to go back to part 5 and add an addendum. When I was writing part 12, I realized I totally forgot a part that I ended up adding in part 8, because I needed it for a future connection. This happens all the time in my writing and makes posting WIPs almost dangerous because my thinking is rarely linear if the story takes place over a course of more than a couple days. Thus the very slow posting.

So this silly little prompt thing that I was just prodding and poking at to see where it went? The farking doc passed 50k words tonight. Yup.

Granted, like 10k of that is probably outlining, personal notes, and A/Ns filled to the brim with meta, medical science, fake science, and technical/computer engineering because I love talking about it and giving people info to access easily for their own knowledge. I figure I can’t be the only one who finds this stuff super fascinating and fanfic makes it unique in that it’s not a book where the research is irrelevant, you can show off all the interesting stuff right here and talk about it with people! I love that about fanfic, so much. Sometimes the A/Ns are just as interesting as the story in some stories.

So it’s gonna be a bit slow for however long, but I finished 11 parts (with 10 betaed), have the 12th largely written out (though I’m not 100% sure about it yet so I want to poke at it more), and parts uh, 13 to 17ish outlined. But considering I was like “yeah this is 8 parts at most” like, at the beginning of this, that number is bound to change because characters keep saying things and doing things (including the supporting OCs, who are demanding to be fully fleshed out within the bounds of supporting character roles).

And yeah, this is just a ramble of what I’ve been mostly doing as I haven’t been super active on tumblr this month as this has consumed most of my free time. I haven’t read a lot of works either, and once this is completed I hope to remedy that, before I go into my next two big projects (which were meant to be what I was working on *now*, but then this took over and what will you do. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to complete three novel-length fics in the course of the year, but I’ll see what I can do. I really want to tell these stories).

Uh, this was really long. Sorry, I’m super verbose and don’t know how to be like, succinct. My old boss, two bosses ago now, used to quote Twain about brevity being a sign of wit, but if it is, call me 100% unwitty because I like to ramble. And then I always feel a little bit guilty for writing *so much* about my bullshit, so I feel like if you read this far, you 100% deserve to read a preview of an upcoming section. Especially since you pressed the Read More button! So here you go, thanks for reading my rambles. This is a section from the longest part so far, part 8. It’s a long little bit!

---

"How high's the toxicity now?" Tony asked as he stepped off the scale.

"Yesterday's blood sample came back at 0.45 milligrams per kilogram of your weight," Stephen replied. He snapped on a pair of latex gloves.

Tony offered his arm for the blood draw. "And if 3 milligrams is the magic number for fatality, that'd put my current blood toxicity at 15%."

Stephen inserted the needle at the crook of Tony's elbow and watched the tube fill up. "That's not quite how it works."

"It makes sense to me."

"That's still not how it works." He removed the needle and capped the tube, and as he put everything away, explained, "Saying that your blood toxicity is at 15% implies that you're talking about the whole volume of blood in your body. You're probably at about 5,500 milliliters with your weight, and with the density of blood equaling about 1.06 grams per milliliter, it is like you're saying—"

"That 874.5 grams of my blood is toxic, yeah, yeah, I know," Tony interrupted. By now he was setting up the table for their breakfast.

"I was getting there."

"You were going too slow," he shot back easily. Stephen gave the engineer a look at the comment, but Tony ignored it. "Yeah, I know it's not my whole body's blood volume. Obviously. But putting a percentage on how long until I reach the point that I'm dead makes sense to me. I'm not measuring the whole volume of my blood, I'm measuring how much more can I handle until I'm dead."

Stephen shot him a frown. "It doesn't make sense to call it 'blood toxicity' then."

"Maybe not to you, but it does to me. And I'd design such a measuring tool for me."

The statement caught him off guard. "Design?" He finished packing up the kit and joined Tony at the table.

"Well, if I wasn't stuck in here, I'd design something to automatically read a blood sample, like how glucose meters read blood sugar levels. Wouldn't be hard to engineer something like that. And I'd have it give me the amount of toxicity as a percentage relating to how far along it was until the amount was lethal. Sure, I could memorize the numbers, but the percentage would be more concrete in my head."

Stephen smeared butter over a piece of bread as he listened. He shook his head at the end of Tony's explanation. "Wouldn't work for the consumer market; there's too much room for interpretation as to what the percentage means."

Tony huffed. "Well, like I said, it'd be for me. Not the consumer market."

His brow furrowed. "You're telling me that you can make a blood test as simple as the one used for testing blood sugar levels for something as rare as palladium poisoning?"

He narrowed his eyes. "... yes…"

"You can make it portable like the glucose meters?"

"Yeah, of course."

"And affordable to most hospitals?"

Tony looked up in thought. "I don't usually factor in the costs of materials and manufacturing in personal projects, and others do the number crunching to see if my ideas are viable for production in company projects. If they aren't, but I really want them to be, I'll tinker a bit more, sure."

Stephen couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Do you realize the amount of money you could save for both hospitals and patients across the country with such technology? Specialized blood tests—like for many metal poisonings, for instance—aren't offered at every hospital. It may not be available even in every state. Those types of lab results can take weeks to get back to a doctor and the patient. And you're saying that you can not only potentially create this type of technology, but that you may be able to make it affordable if you really want them to be?"

"Well yeah, sure. I've done it a few times with other things. I could probably do that with a blood meter thing. I doubt the tech's that complicated."

His mouth was partially hanging open, Stephen realized this, but he couldn't bother at the moment. He was flabbergasted. The first thought that came to mind went to his mouth, unfiltered. "And you spent the last two decades building weapons."

"Don't." The word was sharp and filled with an overabundance of emotion.

Stephen fell silent. He crossed a boundary he had yet to see before now, and he was not so callous as to push against it. Instead he turned to his meal and focused on eating. He avoided looking at the other man.

A couple minutes later, Tony spoke again. It was low, pensive. Thoughtful. "There was a good reason I shut down weapons manufacturing after I got back from Afghanistan, you know. If the department ever comes back, it will be with major restrictions and modifications. Likely more defensive than offensive. More shields, less missiles. But in the meantime I've been restructuring. Expanded in commercial aerospace and industry. We entered the energy market properly. Consumer products is coming soon—end of the year, probably." A pause. "Don't see why we can't look into medical tech, either. Certainly wouldn't hurt to try."

He could only nod and say, "It certainly wouldn't."

#my writing #my wips #fic snippet #stephen strange #tony stark #also why do my fics spiral out of control like this #i mean really

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callistolivia · 5 years ago

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Ancient Genetics, The Ascendant, and Physical Appearance

It’s been about two years since I posted a complete list for interpreting how the ascendant plays a part in the physical appearance and I think an updated version is long overdue.

My original post was research mostly compiled from Evangeline Adam’s book “Your Place in the Sun.” At the time, I was really only just starting to get into astrology and thought this was somewhat of a holy grail for interpreting the ascendant. I had also obtained an illustrated book by Howard M. Duff titled, “Astrological Types.” The book showcases caricatures of each of the signs. This book was great for illustrating the way the signs behaved physically as well as specific physical details, except there was one major issue with this book; all of the drawings were clearly euro-centric and 9/12 of them were male depictions. This ultimately makes the book useless to anyone who wants to study people. Having more years of experience, I now have a strengthened intuition and felt the need to explore ancient genetics and their correlation to astrology. I had already previously looked into astrological rulership over countries in this post. The information in that post was gathered from Rex E. Bills’ “The Rulership Book.” This book is a directory on astrological correspondence to just about everything. The information in that book was collected from several astrologers therefore it has some credibility. My only concern is how relevant the information is now as it was written in the 70s– biases may prevail. I personally would not recommend that book to anyone with a poor intuition. My post on countries/places needs an update as well for I haven’t stopped to ask why those are the designated rulerships to those countries and places. I’ve become more and more interested in exploring ancient civilizations, studying their culture, religion, and politics and drawing the astrological correspondence to such. I now also feel that it is necessary to provide people with astrological correspondence to ancient genetics and backgrounds when discussing the ascendant’s influence on physical appearance because of the importance of genetics itself. The biggest argument against astrology’s influence on physical appearance IS genetics, but the thing is, they’re all tied together. I would like to note that this is only the beginning of my research. These are my findings now, and are subject to expand or change in the future (as we saw with my last post on physical appearance.)

I came up with an explanation using astrology as a tool (as one may say astrology is meant to be a tool for understanding the universe). Using the laws of astrology, evolution of modern man and genetics can be explained with rulerships and symbolism of planets, houses, signs, and their relationships between each other.

In the chart I’ve created, I’ve labelled the Imum Coeli (IC) “Ancestor” for the reasons being that modern man came out of maternal roots both literally and symbolically. The rises and falls of man can easily be represented through the ages of time and just after the Golden Age of Leo, the world entered the Age of the Mother Goddess; a time of matriarchal society. At this time, Cancer and Lunar themes influenced society and cultures and ideas, as does the following sign in the following age and so on. I emphasis the significance of the Age of Cancer to modern man as Cancer would then represent ancestry to us in the future and its opposing sign, Capricorn would represent history to us as well. Modern man’s genetics are rooted in the sign Cancer, respectively.

(Above – Khoi-san girl and her grandmother)

The roots of modern man are said to be traced back to South Africa from the once thriving Khoi-San tribe. What is particularly interesting about this ancient rooted tribe is their culture and how it heavily focuses on retained and unchanged tradition (a very Cancerian influence). Not only that, but the retained traditions are very watery in essence; weddings are considered private ceremonies, death is treated as a very natural occurrence (very different from how its treated in Western culture nowadays), trancing and spirit world travelling are practiced, shamanship is practiced, some groups revere the moon, hunter-gatherer style of living is still put into practice, adeptness in observing behaviour patterns of animals (habitual behaviour ruled under the Moon). Another particularly interesting aspect of their religious practices is the trance dance practiced by the shamans. They describe reaching their spiritual trance having a lot to do with a “stomach potency” and if you know astrology, then you would see the significance in correlation of the stomach to the sign Cancer. Apparently the trance dance has an affect on the stomach muscles and alters posture in the people who practice it too. Among other evidence to demonstrate their watery influenced society and culture, I think it’s fair to say Khoi-san tribe is ruled under the Moon and is ruled under Cancer. This being the case, and if the Khoi-san tribe are carriers of the earliest genetics to modern man, then it makes perfect sense to associate man’s physical and cultural roots to the sign Cancer and the Moon.

(Above map – from this website)

At some point, our ancestors obviously migrated to parts of Northern Africa and then some groups eventually out of Africa to escape the direct sun when albinism began to occur and the un-melaninated people could not survive in the conditions so close to the equator. From there, we see civilizations develop in all parts of the world with genetic variations and varying levels of melanin, but all traces back to their Cancer ruled roots. I believe Saturn/Capricorn’s cardinal direction marks historical moments in genetics and respectively opposes the Moon and the roots in the graph illustrated. While Saturn may represent recessiveness, we have to keep in mind that its traditional rulers were both Capricorn AND Aquarius (Aquarius now ruled by Uranus in modern astrology and that discovery itself also signifies evolution...). If we consider the recessive qualities of Saturn along with the rapid and sudden evolutionary qualities, we could see this opposition symbolizing the sudden variation in genetics; when recessive genes are activated. An example of this is the first occurrence of albinism in genetics as well as any other sudden opposites of the dominant genetics in humans. An example of the Aquarian evolutionary qualities could be how humans have become much taller in height overtime. The next component to be addressed in the chart is the other cardinal directions being occupied by Mars and Venus. Aries/Mars and Libra/Venus, as opposed to Cancer and Capricorn, symbolize a forward direction. In Stephen Arroyo’s book, Astrology, Psychology, & The Four Elements he writes, “The cardinal signs represent centrifugal radiating energy and correlate with the principle of action in definite direction. The “positive” cardinal signs, Aries and Libra, are concerned with action in the present, based upon future considerations.” So while the negative cardinal archetypes occupy what is significant in the past, we can say the positive cardinal archetypes symbolize future outcomes. It’s also important to note that Mars is in most cases considered a malefic planet whereas Venus is in most cases considered a benefic planet; it is particularly notable depending on what interchanges they make with other planets, in this case interchanges between them and either the Moon or Saturn. I’ve categorized the interchanges as ascending, descending, recessing, and prevailing labelled on the chart (figure 1). I’ve also included the Sun in this equation for the sake of unity and as well as its symbolism being the life giving planet; its qualities being warm, moist, and light. The “prevailing” interchange (Moon-Venus) symbolises dominant, unmasked genetics that are, for the most part, benefic. The “recessive” interchange (Mars-Saturn) symbolises recessive, masked genetics that are, for the most part, malefic. The ascending and descending interchanges represent a very unique relationship that these interchanges have according to laws of astrology.

In Robert Zoller’s, The Arabic Parts in Astrology, he explains very clearly important relations planets have with each other. The figure above is the “Septenary.” It symbolises the polarization between one planet to another and then how it is reconciled by a third point. I highly recommend this book even if you have no interest in Arabic parts because it goes over core principles in astrology. If we go back to the idea that Sun is always in the equation for creation, then you will see that the Sun in the Septenary has two paths, the Moon and Saturn. When creation (the Sun) chooses the path of the Moon, it is reconciled in Mars. When creation chooses the path of Saturn, it is reconciled in Venus. So the ascending path (Moon-Mars) thus symbolises masked genetics that manifest under Mars’ positive qualities and the descending path (Saturn-Venus) then, respectively, symbolises unmasked genetics that manifest under Venus’ negative qualities because it has to compensate for cold, dryness of Saturn.

What I would like people to take from this is an astrological perspective of genetics. I created the chart (figure 1) as, and only, an explanation for modern man’s emergence and how we can categorize different genes (but not just genes– culture, society, psychology as well) within these archetypes and planets and the relationships between each other. The main issue with my original post on physical appearance was the lack of explanation for why this was associated with this archetype or this planet. There are definite reasons why, for example, Aries is associated with red hair despite it being the rarest hair colour and its occurance in people is also rare, especially if the person’s genetics are deeply rooted to their ancestors, then it’s impossible, if not next to. It is because at some point in history an unmasked gene is activated and is ruled by whichever planet or whichever archetype respectively.

Just a side note; if any of you are particularly interested in learning more about genetics and not from an astrological perspective, I highly recommend this website. The writers have dedicated an immense amount of effort into bringing forth truth. They primarily focus on black history for the main reason being that it’s been heavily white-washed.

I feel now I can actually move into the actual ascendant descriptions having stressed the importance of genetics and roots above all. Also, with all of this emphasis on roots and ancestry, it may be worthwhile to take a look at the Imum Coeli’s condition in one’s natal chart in correlation to that. Just like in my previous post on physical appearance, I cannot stress enough how important it is to realize I am not telling you what you look like based on your sign. I’m putting this info out here to help you understand why certain features about you or someone else are the way they are as well as help you spot the rising signs in people! I also need to stress yet again that aspects to the ascendant (especially conjunctions), planets in the first house, the condition of the chart ruler, the Sun sign, domicile planets, and stelliums can all be significant influencers to a person’s appearance. So I shouldn’t be bombarded with asks saying “I look nothing like that!” once this finally gets posted, right? This is meant to be a tool for people to understand correspondence to astrology’s physical manifestations. Each description of the signs is the archetype in its extremes, so by all means, an individual of such and such ascending may not have all the characteristics of that sign. I will also include some notes on planetary influences in this post so you can understand how a planet will interact with the ascendant.

Without further ado, the signs,

Aries

The Aries ascendant often walks head first in a pioneer fashion and the ancient groups of Aries-influenced people were quite pioneering literally. The body usually doesn’t hold onto fat and builds muscle quite easily. Aries ascendants are prone to issues relating to the skin such as acne or eczema. The skin is usually quite textured and dry. Caucasian Aries folk may even have a very apparent ruddy complexion. When Aries manifests in its particular forms, red hair and white hair genetics manifest as well as unpigmented, large eyes. There tends to be two different types of Aries rising, the first type carries a care-free, yet curious expression. Their eyes are as luminous and big as Pisces, but lack the daze. The eyebrows are honest and unsuspecting in the first type. In both types, the eyebrows tend to be bushy which is obviously more apparent in dark haired Aries. The head shape looking at it from a profile angle is convex making the chin not very prominent (some dramatic illustrated examples below.)

Looking straight on in both types, they usually have a heart-shaped face. The second type has a keener expression; the eyebrows are more arched and lower to the eyes. The chin is slightly more distinguished than the first type. The nose on either type can be big or small, but is often pointed and is often bigger on the first type and smaller on the second. There may be a bump in the bridge. Both types are drawn to warm colours and that may be expressed through wearing lots of reds or choosing to dye their hair reds or blondes. Some astrologers claim that people with the Aries appearance have a distinct Aries symbol apparent to their face in the way that their forehead and eyebrow bones are shaped, you will see that in the third celebrity example quite prominently. Mars (Planetary ruler of Aries and Scorpio) can be associated with freckles, so it is not uncommon to find that people with significant Mars or Aries influences have freckles, or rather, their freckles are trademark to their appearance. Aries is more associated with freckles clusters, light freckles, and birthmarks and Scorpio is more associated with beauty marks and dark moles.

(Above – Rihanna. Listed as an Aries rising on Astrotheme so its subject to inaccuracy, but she has definite Aries features to her; heart shaped face and keen expression. Eyes are lighter in colour which is also a common Aries manifestation.)

(Above – Tyra Banks. Listed as a Cancer rising on Astrotheme, so again, its subject to inaccuracy for the exact time, but her birth day makes her a definite Aries Moon and Aries Mars; a significant amount of Aries energy to see Aries qualities in the ascending expression. Lighter eyes once again being a very Arian manifestation, but also the choice to fashion lighter hair.)

(Above – Leonard Nimoy. Aries sun and listed as a Scorpio rising on Astrotheme, so the exact time of birth is subject to inaccuracy. But this is the perfect example of face shape many astrologers describe Aries folk to have; the brow bones curving into the nose in such a way that looks like the symbol for Aries.)

(Above – Devon Aoki; exact birth time unknown, Leo Sun, Aries Moon, Mars in Scorpio)

Taurus

The Taurus ascending takes a slow approach in their movements. Their movements are also graceful (unless the chart ruler is badly placed, then the Venusian aspects are poorly expressed). Often they have stocky bodies and broader shoulders; female Taurus tend to be curvaceous. Their build is a representation of Taurus’ ability for resistance; they can carry a lot on their shoulders either metaphorically or literally. There’s a general warmness to the presence of true Taurus risings. Their hair is often deep, warm colours with a luxuriousness to it. Their eyes are often deep and warm– the same goes for complexion. Staple Taurus risings often have clear complexions (afflicted Venus or prominent Mars aspects will contradict clear complexions) and warm undertones. Their skin has a firm essence and evokes the desire to touch! They appear unprovokable and quiet while they may not be. Facial features in general are either full or wide– full lips, wide nose bridge, wider jaw, wider glabella, etc. The face shape is quite square which is common for fixed signs and their profile is straight.

(Above – sketched interpretations of Taurus rising.)

(Above – Celebrities with Taurus rising ((no, this is not the line-up for the next Twilight movie)); George Lucas, Taurus Sun, Taurus Ascending; Mariah Carey, Aries Sun, Taurus Ascending; Taylor Lautner, Aquarius Sun, Taurus Moon, Taurus Ascending; Robert Patterson, Taurus Sun, Taurus Ascending.)

(Above – Gigi Hadid, Taurus Sun, Taurus Ascending.)

None of the celebrity examples really demonstrate the wider glabella I mentioned before, likely due to their other influences, but I’ve seen it first hand in Taurus risings. The brows are often either further apart or even alined perfect to the nose. The bridge of the nose is almost aligned with the nostrils. In the context of mass, the nose can manifest either big or small, but it does not extend outward the same way Aries risings are.

Gemini

When a person’s ascending sign is in Gemini, their movements are quick and sometimes nervous and fidgety. Gemini rising can speed up the movements of even the slower sun signs, such as Taurus. They tend to use a lot of hand/arm movements when expressing themselves. Their eyes often appear surprised or alert most of the time and their movements are also quick and dart around. There is a child-like interest or curiosity they have with their environment; there is a need to absorb everything in their immediate environment. We can see this in Gemini’s need for variety in social situations. Geminis (both rising and sun) love stories and learning– this voluntary mental activity is what really keeps them appearing youthful.

In Howard M. Duff’s interpretation of Gemini (caricature above) he points out that Gemini risings tend to have “Gemini Bumps” which are prominent temples in the skull. Sometimes Gemini risings also have a higher, more receded hairline in this area too, making the temples more prominent. Overall, Gemini risings tend to have sharp or bony features, especially in the more masculine expressed ones. Cheekbones and jawline can be quite prominent. Gemini rising’s nose can be big or small, but is usually on the small side, especially in feminine expressed Geminis. Their nose can be long and pointed or short and snub, but the main recurrence in Gemini noses is the round tip and lack of a bump in the bridge. Their lips can be wide or thin, but are often flat and look very compressed when their mouth is closed. Their eyes are more often further apart than centered and lower than risen (or rather, they appear lower with a proceeding and longer skull). Their bony and sharp features may result in very defined eye sockets. Their skull and face can either appear somewhat long or short and small; it’s important to note the changeability mutable signs have. The short and small face variation are especially prominent in femininely expressed Geminis and are often described by people as “pixie-like” with their small chin, round face, and button nose. Gemini rising’s body shape is usually thin, lanky, and tall. Very rarely can they hold onto fat. They usually have a very active metabolism and in medical astrology terms, one might consider the prominence of Gemini/Mercury in malefic disposition having a connection to hyperthyroidism. Obviously, prominence of say, Taurus or water archetypes may generate the opposite in a person; it is very possible for a Gemini rising to also not be thin if we consider other factors, as we should.

(Above – Lauryn Hill; Exact birth time unknown; Gemini Sun, Gemini Mercury, prominent fire influences as well. She has very feminine, Gemini facial features; pixie-like face shape, compressed lips, position of the eyes... It’s also important to note her musical talent and her versatility (writing, rapping, and singing) being a very Gemini characteristic.)

(Above – Billy Idol; Gemini Ascending, Sagittarius Sun, Gemini Moon. He has Gemini facial features in his face shape and positioning of his features.)

Cancer

People with Cancer rising, more often than not, have larger bodies. The feminine, watery archetype naturally holds onto fat and water weight. Their body shape can be curveious or round. In some cases there are boneier Cancers, and even in the plump Cancers, their faces are still well defined; high defined cheekbones, chin, skull definition, etc. Cancer risings are not, by any means, slow in their movements. They can exert a ton of energy in their movements and are a close second in terms of strength in comparison to the other powerful water sign, Scorpio. Cancer’s face is often round; the skull is also round and sometimes bulbous. Cancer’s profile is usually straight and flat As mentioned before, they tend to have high, defined cheekbones, but do not look under-nourished as Virgo or Gemini can look sometimes; they tend to have full cheeks, and a clear complexion– a face of good health in terms of shape and texture. Their complexion is a reflection of the moon, Cancer’s ruler. Their skin is reflective, moist, and bounces/absorbs light. A Cancer’s complexion usually has quite cool undertones and Cancers lacking melanin are very pallid and sometimes sallow looking. They tend to have full, round lips and short, snub, sometimes upturned, noses. If the Lunar energy is weak in the Cancer rising’s chart and Jupiter or Saturn carries prominence, this will modify the nose to either be hooked down and bumpy or bony and defined. Cancer ascendants are usually described as having large, luminous eyes, but over time observing Cancers, this isn’t a feature that stands out to me as being Cancerian, especially as Cancers get older, their wrinkles in a sense “water-out” the eyes and make them appear small and not a facial focal point of Cancers. If there is something to be said about Cancer rising eyes, there is a sense of vulnerability in their gaze. May have defined eye sockets like Gemini.

(Above – Lisa Bonet; Scorpio sun, Taurus moon, Cancer rising. Quite a bit of Scorpio qualities to this Cancer rising, but the lunar qualities are still present.)

(Above – Liv Tyler; Cancer Sun, Cancer Rising, Saturn in the first house.)

Leo

Leos generally have a sense of regality or loveliness about them, but loveliness unlike a Taurus or Libra, for they are not always conventionally alluring, rather they exempt loveliness through their level of self-appreciation and self-expression. This is demonstrated by the way they hold themselves (some go to the extent of walking chest first) and grooming. Though stereotypical, their hair can be of prominence; lots of volume, often thick, curly, and textured. Despite a Leo’s hair being their pride, Leos can be prone to balding. Their face often has some sort of beast-like or catty quality to it, especially the more feminine expressed Leo possess cat-like resemblance with the positioning and shape of their eyes and nose. Facial proportions and sizes tend to be average and their facial profile is usually straight (if not straight, they may have an underbite profile). Their lips have a definite cupid’s bow shape, similar to Libra. Their body is usually triangular shaped; slim hips -broad shoulders ratio. In a Leo ascending’s youth, fat tends to stay off the body, but if they dabble in pleasures in excess as they get older, they may become somewhat top heavier; fat is distributed to the stomach, shoulders, and face/neck. Their skin’s complexion is often clear, but in bad health the skin can become noticeably textured and inflamed. Leo lacking melanin can become noticeably ruddy; some are naturally ruddy in complexion (some Leos are prone to rosacea), but environment and the body’s condition plays a large part.

(Above – Emmanuelle Béart; Leo Sun, Leo Ascendant)

(Above – Maria Grazia Cucinotta; Leo Sun, Leo Moon, Leo rising)

(Above – Jack Nicholson; Taurus sun, Leo Ascendant)

(Above – Socrates (artistic depiction); said to be a Taurus sun, Cancer moon, Leo rising according to this source. Appearance wise, it is extremely plausible that Socrates was a Leo rising, but I also think it’s plausible that he was a Cancer rising. He has both very Cancerian and Leoian physical traits about him if the depictions of him are accurate. In both cases, his chart ruler fits certain physical traits as well. Read Cancer’s description as well to see what I mean. I see a fascinating resemblance to Jack Nicholson who is also a Taurus sun, Leo rising.)

Virgo

Virgo ascending often has the same quick quality in terms of movement as Gemini, but it seems with intent and precision (and this makes sense for the analytic earth sign). There can also be the same sense of nervousness as Mercury ruled charts makes the body’s nerves sensitive. If very airy, their body will most likely be quite petite, but if they’re more earthy, then their body will be bulkier. Often quite tall in stature. A prominent feature of Virgo’s is their nose in relation to their eyes; often their face looks as if it’s slightly pinched at the bridge between the eyes. The brow is quite straight, unlike an Aries for example. Their nose is straight, long, and down pointing; sometimes bird-like. Their nostrils may be wide, risen, or flared looking. The eyes are most often small, or present smallness and darkness. Their face is often oval in shape, but I’ve seen plenty of Virgo risings with a rather short face, vertically speaking. Many astrologers have pointed out the mutuableness of Virgo risings makes other placements in a chart easily overpower it’s appearance, so spotting Virgo risings with other prominent influences in their chart can be quite difficult. I’ll include a handful of celebrity portraits for a bit (and I mean literally only a bit because Virgo’s appearance really ranges) of Virgo rising’s dynamic range with other influences.

(Above – Uma Thurman; Virgo rising with a Taurus Sun, Aquarius Moon, and Mercury in Taurus.)

(Above – Augustus (artistic depiction); said to be a Virgo Rising with a Virgo Sun and Capricorn Moon)

Libra

Libra risings can easily be described as the socialite of the zodiac, although that may only be in appearance as there are also recluse Libra risings too, when other placements contradict that (such as the person’s lights). They possess a natural social quality because of Libra’s magnetic and charming energy; people are drawn to them even if they aren’t a people-person. Libra risings often look very “put together” in the way they dress and present themselves. Unlike Taurus, the other Venus ruled ascendant, Libra risings are not likely to possess stocky bodies, however can be prone to weight gain (moreso later in life than in youth). Individuals with a heavy amount of Libra influences may be prone to indulgence. Libras like pleasure, so when an individual is a true socialite Libra, they are often put into an environment where they have access to excessive amounts of alcohol, sugar, food, etc. and this would be where proneness to indulgence is rooted. However, there are Libras who are just naturally plus-sized, especially later in life (and there are natural causes to that such as a change in the body’s hormones as one ages.) Libras tend to have curvaceous body types; the lower back and buttocks especially being a shapely feature. A Libra’s facial profile is often straight and the face itself may be flat and round similar to Cancer risings. Their nose can range in size and length, but the bridge is often straight. Nostrils may be wide or flared; looking straight-on the nostrils and nasolabial folds can be described as having a distinct definition to them. Being ruled under the hot planet Venus, Libras tend to have a lot of warm physical characteristics. This includes having warm or olive undertones in the skin, deep, warm hair colours (either by choice or naturally), and warm eyes. Although eye colour itself can range and is strongly tied to genetics, it is more of a Libra trait to have darker eye colours, especially deep browns and black. Libras tend to have a laidback and friendly expression in the eyes. Their eyes can naturally enchant others; they can really make a person feel listened to when a Libra is focused on them. Sometimes the iris appears as if they may be wearing circle lenses or as if they were painted on, similar to a doll’s glassy eyes. Their lips can range in size, but often have a defined cupid’s bow. While plenty of non-Libra individuals may have dimples, dimples are correlated to the sign Libra. Overall, Libras tend to have softer features.

(Above - Dwayne Johnson; Taurus Sun, Capricorn Moon, Libra rising, Uranus within 5 degrees of the ascendant)

(Above – Kate Winslet; Libra sun, Libra moon, Libra rising.)

(Above – Raven Symoné; Sagittarius sun, Scorpio moon, Libra rising.)

Scorpio

Scorpios are probably the most distinct looking and easiest to spot. Scorpios tend to have stocky, broad bodies. Sometimes there are very petite manifestations too. They may be tall and the ones who aren’t tall make up their height in their powerful presence. Just about everything about Scorpio rising’s appearance is distinct and defined. Their eyebrows are often dark, thick, and sharp. The brow bone is often low and the eyes are positioned with depth. Their eyes hold a strong, keen expression. Often the eyelids are not very defined, usually hooded. Although you don’t need to be a Scorpio to have an epicanthic fold, hooded eyes and monolids have a correlation to the sign Scorpio. Scorpio rising’s hair is usually dark or fashioned dark. Their nose makes their profile very distinct. Their nose can range in size and is often hooked and may have a bump in the bridge. The nostrils are usually flared, risen, and possess a bit of a snarl to them. Many astrologers describe their nose to be “bird-like,” but that may confuse them with Virgo risings who also have a “bird-like” nose and vice versa. I have a whole post on the differences between Virgo, Scorpio, and Pisces noses here. When Scorpio risings speak, the words come from their teeth rather than their lips. What I mean by this is if you consider the opposite, a person who really enunciates with their lips, you can get an idea of a person who enunciates with their teeth. Their skin is usually of a clear complexion, although being a water elemental, the skin leans more towards oily rather than dry and being ruled under the planet Mars, acne can be common. Their skin tends to have golden or warm undertones. I mention in the Aries section that Mars has a correlation to freckles. It is not uncommon for Scorpio risings to have distinct beauty marks or moles and other dark freckles.

(Above – Priyanka Chopra; Scorpio Ascendant, Cancer Sun, Gemini Moon)

( Above – Björk Guðmundsdóttir; Scorpio Ascendant, Scorpio Sun, Scorpio Moon)

(Above – Leonardo DiCaprio; Libra Ascendant, Scorpio Sun, Mars and Venus in Scorpio, Pluto 5 degrees away from the Ascendant)

Sagittarius

Sagittarius’ are notoriously considered by most astrologers as “horse-looking” based on their face shape and stature/posture, but I personally regard them as more deer or doe looking (though you could argue horses and deer aren’t much different I suppose).

Their face and skull are long in profile, the forehair may be very sloped. They usually have long noses, but it will range in mass. There may be a bump in the bridge or it may just be smooth and straight. Heavy Jupiter influence will make the nose more hooked and likely to have a bump whereas heavy lunar influence can make the nose more upturned with a straight or flatter bridge. They usually have a defined or bulbous tip, which is why I think of deer when I think of Sagittarius because the snout or nose of a deer is a focal point in their appearance. Like deer, they have another major focal point which is the eyes. Sagittarius tend to have very doe-like eyes. They can be big, similar to Pisces, but lack the dazed expression Pisces usually has. Their eyes, along with the doe-like largeness, are bright, honest-looking, and alert. The brow is often risen, sometimes surprised-looking, usually give off an honest expression. Although more notable in a Sagittarius sun than ascending, Sagittarius are known for smiling and laughing a lot. They tend to have very full, bright, infectious smiles. May have prominent jowls. Sagittarius ascendants tend to be lean in their youth and gain weight in their later years. They tend to hold most of their weight in the stomach and thighs. As opposed to Leo’s body shape with broader shoulders and narrow hips, Sagittarius tend to have broader hips than shoulders. They tend to have very strong femurs. Sagittarius’ limbs are usually long; long legs, arms, fingers, etc. This can be notable in people with Sun or Moon in Sagittarius as well; Sagittarius influences often make a big impact when it’s present in the chart.

(Above – Elizabeth Taylor; Sagittarius Ascendant, Pisces Sun, Scorpio Moon)

(Above – Oprah Winfrey; Sagittarius Ascendant, Aquarius Sun, Sagittarius Moon)

(Above – Will.i.am; Sagittarius Ascendant, Pisces Sun, Aries Moon, Jupiter in Pisces)

(Above – Sinéad O'Connor [Shuhada Sadaqat]; Sagittarius Ascendant, Sagittarius Sun, Libra Moon)

Capricorn

The keyword to describing the Capricorn’s physical manifestation is structure. They often have very structured features. A Capricorn’s body can manifest in two ways, the first being in association to Capricorn earthy strength, the body is often big-boned and wide with definition in the joints (e.g. knees, elbows, etc.). The second way they tend to manifest is very petite and short in stature with small features. However, the second type still retains some level of Capricorn/Saturn’s crystallization and these people can appear to have a stillness in their expression, as if they are a marble statue. As was mentioned before, they have very structured features. They have strong facial features and prominent bone structure; a strong jaw and strong set of teeth; prominent cartilage in the nose; shapely glabella in juxtaposition to the eyes; bony skull/temples. Their eyes are often small with keen eyesight (unless otherwise afflicted in the birth chart by the Sun or Mars). Their lips are also usually small and shapely, or thin and wide. Their skin usually has neutral to cool undertones. In Evangeline Adam’s book “Your Place in the Sun,” she mentions Capricorn risings tend to have an excessive amount of hair. I’m not sure if I can agree with that observation or not, but I suppose it would explain someone like Lorde’s (Capricorn rising) hair... Capricorn/Saturn also has rulership over hair.

(Above – [Left] Hayley Williams; Capricorn Sun Conjunct Saturn. [Right] Lana Del Rey; Cancer Sun, Scorpio Ascendant with Saturn in the first house. Saturn has a strong, crystallizing influence on one’s appearance. It adds a structural component as I mentioned before.)

(Above – John Legend; Capricorn Ascendant, Capricorn Sun, Sagittarius Moon, Mars Conjunct Ascendant)

(Above – Joan Jett; Capricorn Ascendant, Virgo Sun, Aquarius Moon/Moon in the 1st House)

(Above – Sean Connery; Capricorn Ascendant, Virgo Sun, Virgo Moon, Saturn in Capricorn Conjuncting Ascendant.)

Aquarius

The Aquarius ascendant is described by most astrologers as very angular looking; square and straight features. This may be to do with its traditional ruler Saturn, and just like Capricorn, there is a lot of structure or crystallization in their physical appearance. Fixed signs in general lack a fluid appearance, with the exception of some Scorpio manifestations. Aquarius rising is similar to Taurus in that they both have a straight side profile, but Aquarius’ other facial features are likely to be sharper, such as the jawline. Aquarius have a very square jawline, noticeable from either the side profile or straight on. Other notable sharper, chiseled features of an Aquarius is their chin, cheekbones, and skull. Naturally, people who have Aquarius rising will range in height (especially if we take into consideration the traditional planetary ruler, Saturn), but tallness does have correlation to the sign Aquarius and the planet Uranus. Aside from height, they tend to hold themselves high with a very straight posture. While the body may become broad with muscle, Aquarius tend to be slim. Their eyes are usually set somewhat further apart as opposed to together. This is usually accompanied with a broad glabella. The outer corner of the eyes flick out and tilt up giving the eye a particular definition trademark to Aquarian eyes. External epicanthus (heaviness of the eyelid fold on the outer corners of the eyes) has some correlation to Aquarius too. There is nothing particular about their noses in contrast to some of the other signs which have noses that bring forth a lot of the sign’s character. Their nose may range in size, but never very big or very small. The bridge may resemble that of a Taurus nose or the bridge may be slimmer in comparison to the glabella and tip. Their lips are often small and thin. Aquarian and Uranus influences have a tendency to give people an androgynous expression; men being effeminate and female being masculine.

(Above – Matt Dillon; Aquarius Ascendant, Aquarius Sun, Taurus Moon, Saturn, Sun, and Mars in the first house)

( Above – Michael C. Hall; Aquarius Ascendant, Aquarius Sun, Taurus Moon)

( Above – Roberta Flack; Aquarius Ascendant, Aquarius Sun, Aquarius Moon)

Pisces

Pisces is another sign with a particular distinctiveness that makes them easy to sought out. They often have an overall mysterious and magnetic aura to them (not to be confused with Scorpio’s magnetic aura which is more like a looming, powerful seduction. Pisces is more hypnotic and confusing). It is accompanied by a dazed expression in their eyes, which are often big and particular. Some Pisces appear relaxed and wise whereas others appear confused or “out of it.” They tend to have thick, rounded eyebrows. There are two variations of a Pisces’ nose; the first being often large, hooked, and with a bump in the bridge. The second being small, snub, and may be round, but usually lacks definition. The first type has correlation to Jupiter. The second the Moon (and maybe Neptune? I don’t see outer planets presenting themselves physically usually. They often serve their expression through a person’s aura, an example being Pisces’ mysterious magnetic energy). Overall, a Pisces facial features are very soft and lack definition with the exception of the hooked nose which stands out when present. Everything is rounded; the chin, the jawline isn’t very defined, round cheeks, etc. Pisces tend to have a plump pout; both top and bottom lips are full. Their body is often very rounded and larger. They usually have shorter limbs (arms, legs, fingers, etc.). These individuals will naturally range in height, but there is some correlation to the extremes (very tall and very short). Some astrologers claim there are extremes in the size of a Pisces’ feet, some very small feet, others very large. Their skin tends to have cool to neutral undertones.

(Above – Oscar Isaac; birth time unknown, Pisces Sun. I included him because he has very prominent Pisces features.)

(Above – Billie Eilish; Pisces Ascendant, Sagittarius Sun, Aquarius Moon)

(Above – Kajol; Pisces Ascendant, Leo Sun, Pisces Moon, Jupiter in Pisces/1st House)

(Above – Erykah Badu; Pisces Sun, Pisces Moon, Sagittarius Ascendant)

That summarizes all of the signs, but before I consider this post finished, I just wanted to stress again that these descriptions are not meant to be me telling you what you look like based on your Ascendant or Sun sign. I also want to stress just how limited of a selection there is in terms of examples. When searching for my examples, there were two criteria, one being that they needed to demonstrate somewhat of a clear, prominent influence of the sign mentioned, and two being the birth data’s accuracy. I am limited to using celebrity examples and unfortunately that is even more limited when not all celebrities have a reliable source for their birth time (I only pick celebrities with a A or AA rodden ratings). I am limited to celebrities who have that birth information available or were made of interest to professional astrologers who have either personal dealt with these celebrities charts or have gone out of their way to find the information themselves. There is really only so much extent I would go to collect someone’s birth time in respect to their privacy which is why I only picked what was available to the public. If I’m honest, I would opt out from using celebrity examples completely if I could because I do feel its invasive to view someone so critically, but for the sake of sharing my research I have done so. I am also nowhere near skilled enough at portrait art and human anatomy which is why I didn’t feel inclined to do an artistic depiction of every archetype. The final thing I want to stress is that this is all just my theory that I developed based on my research. Have an open mind, but take everything with a grain of salt

I’ll include additional notes below,

-The Fixed mode makes for very square or angular appearances.

-The Mutable mode makes for dynamic appearances ranging from sharp (think triangular or diamond) to round.

-Fire makes for robustness, Air makes for leanness, Earth makes for bulkiness, and Water makes for heaviness.

-Lots of Mercury, Virgo, or Gemini influences can increase metabolism.

-Venus and the Moon decreases metabolism.

-Jupiter increases, enlarges, expands, and grows

-Saturn decreases, minimizes, shrinks, and debilitates

#astrology #physical appearance #the signs #the zodiac #aries #taurus #gemini #cancer #leo #virgo #libra #scorpio #sagittarius #capricorn #aquarius #pisces

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imagine-loki · 5 years ago

Text

Gifted

Title: Gifted (Sequel to Giftless)

CHAPTER NO./ONE SHOT: 50/?

AUTHOR: nekoamamori ORIGINAL IMAGINE:

Imagine that you are Stark’s niece and you secretly share a strong relationship with Loki since he entered the crew. One day you get hurt so bad during a mission that you are about to die. Loki knows a spell that will save you and share his immortality with you but you and he will be linked forever sharing thoughts, pain, emotions…

RATING: T NOTES/WARNINGS: Also on AO3 click here

You spent the next month bouncing between your classes where Loki hung out on campus with you when you weren’t actually in class, patrol, healings for the Avengers, and dance practice for the ball. It was a lot of work, but not the most you’d been through and being with Loki helped.

“Thor and Sif want to come visit,” Loki told you the day before the ball.

“Are they coming for the ball?” you asked him excitedly. It would be fun to have them there. They obviously knew how to dance and a ball was something the Asgardians could understand easily.

Loki nodded. “It will not be a problem, will it?” he didn’t want to upset Fury anymore than any of the rest of you did. You shook your head and texted Fury to let him know Thor and Sif would be attending the ball, and coming to town. “Great! Mother will be opening the portal for them in a couple minutes.” It was much easier now that you all had the portal spell to use that instead of trekking all the way to the bifrost.

"We should get downstairs, then,” you commented dryly. It had been a late start that morning and you had neglected to get out of bed so far. It was nearly noon. Oops.

You got out of the bed no matter how reluctantly and summoned clothes for yourself, a simple pair of jeans and a t-shirt. You tied your hair back in a simple tail. You were getting stupidly fancily dressed up tomorrow so today was extra casual and lazy. At least that was the plan. Loki could just deal with you being lazy and casual today. He still pouted at you anyway. “C'mon, Lo. We want to be downstairs before our Lady Mother opens the portal,” you reminded him. That didn’t stop you from still having to grab his hand and physically pull him from the bed.

You were both laughing as you made our way downstairs to the commonroom where the portal would open. “What are you two up to?” Tony asked at your laughing, looking up from whatever he was reading. “It was so quiet with you sleeping in,” he teased.

“Thor and Sif are coming to visit,” you explained. “We need to be down here to greet them,”

“Why are they coming here?” Tony asked, more curious than anything. He liked Thor, so of course he didn’t mind that he was coming to visit.

“They would like to attend the ball tomorrow,” Loki replied eagerly and a bit excitedly, which was strange for when he was speaking with Tony. He was usually more wary around your uncle.

Which sparked another question. “How do they even know about the ball?” you asked Loki, turning your attention up to him.

“Mother asked for an update about what was going on here, and if we’d heard anything from Balder. I mentioned that there was a ball coming up,” he replied, but there was something off about his explanation. It wasn’t a lie, not really, thanks to him you’d have been able to smell if it was. But he was skipping something.

You didn’t argue with him.

Yet.

But you did make a note that he was keeping something from you. It seemed so unlike him.

A minute later, the portal crackled open. You and Loki both stepped back from it to allow Thor and Sif to walk through. You greeted them with hugs as per usual though Loki gave them more formal greetings, until Thor squished him in a bone-crushing hug. “Welcome to Earth,” you told Sif, who hadn’t been to Earth in a rather long while, and never to the tower.

“Thank you sister,” she replied with a smile. She went over to greet Loki once he was free of Thor’s hug. Thor came over and gave you another hug. You didn’t get squished, since you submitted to it willingly. “Sister, we wish to go visit your parents to pay our respects,” Sif told you formally once she had greeted Loki.

You nodded, expecting that. It was their way after all. “Of course.” you looked over at Tony. “Do you want to come too?” you asked him. It had been awhile since either of you had been to visit.

He nodded. “Yeah, just let you go change.” He was wearing lounge clothes since today was supposed to be a lazy day..

“Need me to-?” you asked, offering him a hand. You had already used magic to change into a green sundress which was much more appropriate for visiting your parents.

Tony hesitated but finally held out his hand. “Fine,” he grumbled. You didn’t think he really liked anyone using magic on him, but it was a quick spell and would get you out of here sooner. With a flash of magic he was dressed and ready.

“Lo, take care of Thor, will you?”

“Of course, Sig,” he replied. You rolled your eyes. He was teasing you with your superhero name as a direct result of you calling him ‘Lo’ in front of his family.

You turned to Sif and offered her a hand. “Will you allow me to conjure you Earth clothes?” you asked her more formally than truly necessary. You didn’t know her as well as Thor and sometimes still found yourself unsure about her and about whether she’d appreciate your using magic on her behalf.

“That would be appreciated,” she replied with a smile. You relaxed then, and took her hand. You summoned her a very pretty maxi dress, which was very flattering to her figure. You took a look at her left hand, which was covered in the swirls of her own soulbond with Thor. You summoned a wedding ring set for her and slipped them on the appropriate finger. It was costume jewelry, but looked real enough for this purpose. You tossed the gold ring for Thor to him. He caught it and slipped it on, remembering it from the last time he was on Earth. “What is this?” she asked, indicating the rings.

“It’s a wedding ring set, the Earthen symbol that someone is married. The diamond ring is an engagement ring. Generally the man presents it to his lady when he asks her to agree to the Earthen equivalent of the soulbond. The plain bands are exchanged during the ceremony,” you explained. “I gave Thor the gold ring to wear last time he was here to protect him from admiring females,” you added with a grin.

She laughed at that. “I am sure the females were very entranced by his form,” she added, smiling fondly at her husband. You didn’t blame her. Thor’s physique was very attractive.

“Quite entranced,”

“Shall we, ladies?” Loki asked, drawing your attention away from discussing Thor’s body. You both laughed at him, but agreed that you should head out.

“You’re driving, Uncle!” you announced. Tony growled at you, but it was half-hearted at best. "I need to call the florist on the way anyway,” you reminded him.

“Fine, imp. I’ll drive,” Tony smirked and led the way out to where he was parked. You offered Sif shotgun, even though it was your to claim, but she refused, preferring to sit with Thor in the back. So you took shotgun and made a quick call to the florist. On the way, Tony, Loki, and Thor went into the liquor store to pick out something for your dad. You and Sif sat chatting in the car while you waited for them. You still weren’t of age and didn’t want to make a fuss with the store thinking Tony was buying it for you. “Thor tried to pick out an entire case of beer for dad,“ Tony grumbled as he drove you to the florist which caused you all to laugh.

"What!? It is a warrior’s drink!” Thor protested, making you all laugh harder.

Mary had your flower order ready when you arrived at her shop. It only took you a minute to go in and collect the flowers. The order went on your tab.

After that, you drove straight to the cemetery and to your parents’ graves. You and Tony went up first with your offering of flowers and alcohol and greeted your parents, apologizing for not visiting more often. You stepped back and Sif stepped up next, kneeling and murmuring a prayer. Loki was flipping the pages of a spellbook while she did. You looked over at him, but he was distracted with his spellbook. “Lo, you don’t have to do that-“ you started, but knew he wouldn’t listen as per usual.

"I would like to. Would you assist me?” he asked. You realized there was no arguing with him. He had a reason for wanting to do this. So you nodded and took his hand so you could recite the spell together. You kissed him when it was cast, but ran to greet your parents a moment later. You couldn’t help it. You got to see them corporeally again, even though they’d been dead for years.

You introduced Sif to them, and Thor properly since he could speak that day and hadn’t been able to last time. You caught them up on everything you’d been up to, while getting lots of hugs in. At one point, you noticed that all of the boys took dad off to the side. You and Sif tried to ignore whatever they were doing and mom helped by asking Sif something about Asgard to distract you both. You had a feeling mom knew what the boys were up to, but apparently you weren’t allowed to know.

“Did you get the message from Frigga?” Sif asked you while the boys were distracted.

You nodded, remembering that ominous note. “Did she have any other hints or warnings to go with it?“ you asked softly. You still hadn’t told Loki about the note and knew that you shouldn’t.

Sif shook her head, regret in her eyes. "No hints, but she said to ask for our help if you need it when the time comes,”

“What message?” your mom asked, looking between the two of you confused.

“Loki’s mom gets premonitions of the future. She saw something happen and sent me a warning,” you explained a little of it. Mom didn’t need all of the details of this. Not of this.

“I’m sure whatever it is, it will be ok,” she answered instead of pressing the matter. You was grateful to her for not pressing it.

“I’m sure it will,” you answered her with a smile and changed the subject to the next day’s ball.

You spent a long time talking with everyone, sitting on a picnic blanket by their graves. “Loki, if you don’t end the spell soon, Thor’s going to have to carry you home. And me along with you,” you told him. You had been feeding him power to maintain the spell and could feel the effects. Loki nodded, though he looked sad that it couldn’t keep it going. “Lo, that spell is insanely draining. You know that as well as I do. Don’t feel bad that we can’t keep it going. We got to visit and actually see my parents,” you reminded him.

“Yeah, Loki, the fact that you can give us this at all is amazing,” Tony said. We all just stared at him for saying something complimentary to Loki, but Tony didn’t acknowledge it.

You and Tony both said your goodbyes, with the usual bittersweet tears and promises to mom that you’d take care of each other. Loki ended the spell and you felt the backlash of power. You couldn’t stop it. All you could do was wrap your arms around Loki’s slim frame and offer your support so he wouldn’t collapse. Though you weren’t much better “I’m alright,“ he promised you. His power levels were so low. That spell was stupidly draining.

"Sure you are,” you replied sarcastically.

Thor stepped toward you. “Allow me,” he bid you gently. “Go say your goodbyes,” you nodded and let him take Loki’s weight from you.

“Thor! I can stand!“ Loki protested a moment later, when he was thrown over Thor’s shoulder. You laughed and made your way over to Tony so you could say your last goodbyes to your parents.

"Thank you for coming with us,” you told Sif as we walked back to the car.

“Thank you for allowing me to come pay my respects,” she replied formally, pausing her laughing at Loki, who had fallen asleep on Thor’s shoulder while arguing for his brother to put him down. He was adorable when he was so stubborn and pouty.

#Loki #Lover #Submitted fic #submission #gifted #Chapter 50 #nekoamamori

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dreams-of-kalopsia · 5 years ago

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The Logic of Them

Summary: On Pidge’s graduation day, Lance hands her a tablet with a video that would change her life.

A @plancesecretsanta 2019 fic for @ursamiiinor. Merry Christmas, Dia! Sorry for the delay. Here’s your college AU gift fic! ^u^

Read it on AO3.

----

Lance handed Pidge a tablet, and she stared blankly at the device. “What do I do with this?”

He arched his brows at her. “What do you usually do with tablets, Pidge?”

“A lot, so just tell me which one I should do.”

“Everyone wanted to congratulate you,” he finally explained, securing a pair of earbuds in her ears before taking the seat beside her. “I compiled their greetings into one video since most of them can’t make it today.”

“Oh.” Pidge edged closer to Lance and gave him her other earbud so they could watch the video together. She was excited to hear from everybody again.

Two years ago, Shiro had qualified as an astronaut candidate and had left to train for space travel. While she heard from him regularly, and while she also got updates on his training from Matt, who’d become an astronaut before Shiro, she still looked forward to seeing how he’d been.

Meanwhile, Hunk had returned to his hometown last year to apply everything he’d learned about green engineering. Same for Keith and Allura. Only Lance had stayed from their batch, and only Pidge, a year younger than them, was left to graduate a year later.

The video started with everyone—from friends to family—in their video squares, congratulating her for graduating. She beamed instantly. All the people she loved, close at hand despite being far away.

Keith’s square zoomed in to its full size.

He frowned at the camera. Or the one behind it, most likely. “I go first?"

Pidge heard Lance’s hushed “Yeah. Just go say something.”

Keith huffed, crossed his arms, then began: “Pidge and Lance aren’t the typical couple. They don’t hold hands. They don’t go on dates. They’re literally best friends who label themselves as a couple. Their announcement was so sudden it didn’t even sink in for five minutes.” He glared. “Who announces something like that as if they’re just going out to get food, anyway?”

“Did it seem like that?” Lance asked from behind the camera. She had the same question in mind, so she tried to remember that moment.

* * *

Even though she was focused on editing a code due in fifteen minutes, Pidge could feel Lance’s nervousness rolling off of him from the couch across from her. She couldn’t understand why he was so tense; she was pretty sure they’d been obvious with their feelings these past few months that the others wouldn’t really be surprised. Still, she shot him a reassuring look, knowing that that would calm him down. It did, as always. It practically worked like a charm.

He called everyone’s attention with a “Hey, guys?” She felt him falter. She glanced at him and met his questioning eyes. “Let’s tell them, Pidge?”

“Sure.” Another reassuring look his way, and she was lost in her code again, typing at full speed to meet her deadline.

“Tell us what?” Hunk asked absently between chewing noises.

“We’re in a relationship now. Well, have been for two months.”

Pidge didn’t notice the complete silence until she’d pressed the enter key to send in her work. She looked up then, finding astonished, dumbfounded expressions on everyone’s faces and utter confusion on Lance’s—an expression that no doubt matched hers.

“What?” she asked, her question reverberating in the still silent living room of Shiro and Keith’s shared apartment.

“What?” Allura asked back.

“What ‘what’?” Lance asked back, too.

And they all stared at each other in more confusion.

* * *

“And yet,” Keith continued, recalling Pidge from her recollection, “somehow, they made sense.” He smiled, and the video switched to Hunk.

“I introduced them,” Hunk said smugly, making her chuckle. His grin was as bright and warm as the summer view behind him, if not more. “Pidge and I were classmates in this course that required a thesis-level project—I mean, who does that?! Our university, apparently, but I digress.”

He shifted in his seat, his eyes twinkling with excitement. “So. Eve of our deadline and we’re stressed out of our minds. Local pizza shack about to close. What did I do? I snuck her into our dorm. My best mate and roommate Lance—bless you—”

“Thank you,” came Lance’s distant voice.

“—opened the doors from inside after curfew, quick introduction, then Pidge and I were back at work. Aaand…” he drawled. “I don’t know if she’d ever realized, but the nickname ‘Pidge’ wasn’t actually ‘Pidge’.”

“Oh no. No no no no. Hunk, don’t say another word,” Lance’s disembodied voice had taken on a warning tone that Hunk, as his best friend, easily disregarded.

“Pidge, you hearing this? That night you met each other and you had your full snark on? He called you a bi—” A hand, obviously Lance’s, clamped over Hunk’s mouth before he could finish.

The video switched again, showing a slightly disheveled, post-laughter, but more formal Hunk. “I’ve been informed that some very important people might be viewing this. I apologize for the rowdiness you witnessed a few seconds prior.”

Pidge paused the video to smirk at the not-camera Lance by her side. “You dared call me something remotely derogatory, Lance?”

His face paled a bit before darkening with a blush. “W-We didn’t have the best first impressions of each other, Pidge.”

When he avoided all her efforts to establish eye contact, she burst out laughing. “Don’t worry, I knew from the start.”

“Wh-Really?”

“Anyone with clean ears will pick up on your noisy grumbling, you know?”

“Oh. Sorry for calling you that, Pidge.”

She shrugged. “It’s fine. The nickname that came from it stuck, anyway.”

He grinned at her, then motioned for her to continue watching.

“For people as dramatic as Lance and as explosive as Pidge, they sure are quiet as a couple. They’re honestly the most boring couple out there.”

“Hey!”

Hunk’s hands went up in a placating gesture. “Hey, don’t get me wrong, man. You guys are two of the coolest people I know. But nothing ever happens with you two! Remember that time Pidge got her appendix removed and she was coming out of her anesthesia-induced coma?”

Pidge tried to recall it. There wasn’t much that happened; the surgery was a success, and Hunk was the first person she found upon waking up, watching over her from a bedside chair.

“Pidge asked where you were, and I thought she was still loopy from the anesthesia so I said, ‘Who do you think gave you your heart?’ And she just stared at me blankly in her trademark way that told you she can’t comprehend what you’re saying, so if you can please say something with a minimum IQ level of one hundred. Then she said with perfect articulation, ‘I had an appendectomy, Hunk, not a heart surgery.’” Hunk looked at the camera, at her. “You could be in the middle of a brain surgery and still hack into the national security systems.”

Laughter bubbled right from her belly. She missed Hunk and his humor so much.

“Anyway, so I told Pidge the truth that Lance was out getting food for her visitors, and then she fell asleep on me. Hence my point stands: boring couple.” He sighed and shook his head in mock disappointment.

What he didn’t know was that his joke had a delayed effect on Pidge, because she could remember bawling when she saw Lance for the first time after her surgery.

“But if boring means no drama means stable, then it’s a blessing that my best buds have the most boring relationship ever.”

With one last salute from Hunk, the video showed Shiro next. Pidge’s chest swelled with pride upon seeing him in a NASA shirt. Like her father and brother, he wore the brand well.

“Lance and Pidge argue often, but rarely do they fight. When they do, strange things happen. Trees in the College of Engineering would seem less vibrant, and the fountain near the College of Letters and Science would stop spouting water. Thanks to Hunk’s talent for goss—” Shiro caught himself, smiled sheepishly, and corrected, “—storytelling, it has since become an urban legend that when the fountain suddenly dries up and the trees along the path to Engineering look like they’re wilting, a student from either college got into a fight with someone they really love from the other college.

“The simple and logical explanations for these rare phenomena are that tired students have altered perceptions of their surroundings, and that the malfunction in the fountain’s pipes just happens to coincide with the equally rare times that Pidge and Lance fight.” He leaned in towards the camera with a conspiratorial smirk. “Here’s my secret though…” He paused, and Pidge held her breath in anticipation. “I don’t think the real explanation is as simple or logical as that.”

The next person to appear caught her off-guard. He wasn’t in the opening greeting, so she figured he was a last-minute addition. It didn’t keep the smile from tugging at the corners of her lips, though.

It was Dr. Smythe, her thesis adviser.

“Pidge—no, Katie Holt, or as I prefer to call her, Number Five, as my fifth consecutive award-winning undergraduate thesis advisee,” he said as a long preamble, stroking his mustache in his own way of preening, “elevates everything she does to unprecedented levels: her classes, her thesis, her contributions to our academic research, her overthinking, and her neglect of herself when in pursuit of something that piques her interest—unintentional, I’m sure, but neglect nonetheless.” Even though she’d just shaken her adviser’s hand as his friend instead of his student not three hours ago, Pidge felt scolded like a kid.

“Worried as I was for her well-being her whole thesis process, I did something unforgivable for an adviser to do!” Dr. Smythe took a dramatic breath that had Pidge’s heart stopping in shock. “I withheld information from my protégée!”

He did what?! Would it affect her thesis, her graduation, her future prospects?!

“I told her there was no way to cut the runtime for one of our computers, when in fact she could have cut it down by a third, or even half! Ah, forgive me, Number Five!” He grabbed the camera by the sides and cried into it in all his genius eccentricity. “I did it for your sake! You never take breaks outside of that waiting time; it was the only time your lover could help calm your nerves!”

Pidge felt her face heat up.

“‘L-Lover’?!” Lance sputtered. The camera’s angle straightened; Dr. Smythe must’ve let go of it now.

Her adviser leveled an odd look where Lance was off-cam. “Yes! Aren’t you her lover? You’ve been lurking outside the labs the whole year.”

“Ye—I mean—To call me that so directly…”

Dr. Smythe pulled on his mustache once. “Get used to it, young man.” And then the video switched again.

It was an abrupt ending for her thesis adviser’s part, but Pidge all but forgot about him when she saw Allura beaming at her.

“Hi, Pidge,” Pidge’s best friend and only childhood friend greeted with a wave. “Congratulations again on graduating. Oh, I miss you so much!” Pidge’s fingers traced Allura’s face ever so lightly on the tablet. She missed her friends—her family outside of her family—so much it almost hurt. “I’ve been asked to say something about you and Lance as a couple.”

“Something good, preferably,” video-Lance quipped, earning a laugh from Allura. She glanced somewhere off-center, probably at where Lance had been filming.

“Alright. Something good, then. Some thoughts I’ve kept in my heart for as long as I’ve known you both.

“You couldn’t be more opposite to each other—gods know how you damage our ears with your bickering. And yet you work perfectly together when it mattered most. You balance each other out. Lance, you lift Pidge up whenever her realism bordered on pessimism. Pidge, you tether Lance whenever his head starts floating to the clouds with his easygoing optimism. Lance is the people-person—I’m sure we all agree on that?” Allura confirmed, teasing eyes looking straight at the camera. Pidge giggled and nodded. “While Pidge understands the world, and perhaps even the universe, at its core.

“Pidge learned from a young age how to build walls to defend herself from envious people who want to drag her down. But Lance, with your big family, you’ve learned how to deconstruct them in order to connect with others.” Allura’s eyes welled with tears, and Pidge’s mirrored them. “You’ve met and challenged Pidge on all levels, Lance. I’m so happy she’s finally found her match in you.”

The camera caught a sniffling sound. “Thanks, Allura.”

Allura’s video cut off with her smiling and dabbing her cheeks with tissue.

Lance’s parents came next, congratulating Pidge enthusiastically and inviting her to their home for a graduation feast.

“Our son brags about his many former girlfriends, but… you are the only one he has ever taken home,” his mother said, the gleam of mischief in her eyes.

“Mom!” Lance whispered harshly. “You gotta give a better message!”

“Let me try.” The camera shifted a bit to focus on Lance’s father. “Our son has had trouble finding his place, being the youngest among his siblings. He told us that you put him in his place, when you met. He said because of that, he found his place and could finally move forward.” The wrinkles at the corners of his eyes deepened as he smiled. “Thank you, Katie.

“Is that good, son?”

“Yeah… Yeah. Thanks, Mom. Thanks, Dad.”

Pidge could see where this was going—or at least, where it could possibly go. The montage of everyone congratulating her at the start may just be a façade. But since Lance was still in his seat, not fumbling for a tiny box or kneeling on the ground, she couldn’t be sure.

That was until Matt’s face appeared. Then her tears started falling. Because this was her family next. Whatever they had to say about her and Lance would greatly affect their relationship. This was their time to frankly voice out their issues with either of them, and yet Matt was grinning.

“You got me at a good time,” he told the off-cam Lance, who chuckled.

“Three days before launch. I’d say I’m still great at crunch time one year after graduating.”

Matt laughed before turning to the camera. “Hey, Pidge! Congrats on graduating!” His smile turned apologetic. “Sorry I can’t be there to watch you walk on stage and shake hands with people you’ve probably never met your entire college life.” He stopped and waggled his eyebrows expectantly; he knew she’d laugh at his joke. The apologetic smile returned. “And sorry for taking Dad here with me. We need his supervision for the new docking procedure we’ll be trying out. Give Mom some space hugs for me, will you? And if you ever need advice… you can consult Dad’s favorite book any time.” He winked, and she received his secret message successfully.

“Okay. On to matters I’d rather not talk about.”

“Matt!”

Matt’s carefree guffaw made Pidge’s heart ache for her brother’s presence. She mentally calculated the time elapsed since his crew’s launch. Their rocket should be orbiting Earth right about now, preparing to align with the International Space Station.

“I would never forget your first dinner with us. I can tell you really wanted to impress us with your research in the fields we specialize in. But that wasn’t what ended up impressing us. It was how you managed to hit on Mom after you ran out of things to talk about regarding our specialties.”

“It wasn’t on purpose!” Lance protested, and though Pidge couldn’t see him, she knew that the Lance behind the camera was blushing hard. She glanced at the Lance sitting next to her, sending him an amused—albeit tearful—smirk. He returned a sheepish grin.

* * *

“You’ve gone silent, Lance,” Mom said as she sliced her steak.

Lance stiffened. Pidge knew how much he wanted to leave a good impression on her family. So far, so good. Everything they’d rehearsed, as well as the crash course she’d given him, was paying off. But for some reason, he didn’t seem to think so and had stopped participating in conversations.

“Oh, um…” He swallowed, drank water, then swallowed again. “M-Must be in my genes to be speechless in the face of beauty,” he blurted out in one breath.

The whole table went silent. Awkwardly silent for a full ten seconds. Lance’s face was dark with mortification, Pidge’s family was sitting thunderstruck by his response, and Pidge was starting to wonder if organizing this dinner had been a mistake.

But then Mom and Matt burst into laughter, Dad following suit.

“Sorry, son,” Dad said, regarding Lance a little more warmly than a few seconds ago. “Colleen is spoken for. May I introduce you to my daughter Katie instead?”

The wide smile that spread across Lance’s lips seemed to chase away his embarrassment. He looked at Pidge with bright eyes, and her heart temporarily forgot its rhythm. “I’d love that, Sir.”

* * *

“I know,” Matt assured with a chuckle. “But that accidental thing showed us that you specialized in your own field, too. In building connections with people.

“Pidge—Katie has never been good at making friends. I think only Allura was stubborn enough to get through to her, and it took years. You changed that. You helped my sister expand her world. Now, you mean the world to her.” He directed a kind smile slightly to the left. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you are her world.”

His eyes softened, then he stood from his seat, opening his arms. After a few moments, Lance appeared on-screen to return the hug. The sight brought fresh tears to Pidge’s eyes.

“I leave her in your care, brother,” Matt said. “She’ll probably argue that she can take care of herself. She’s right about that, but it’s still reassuring to know she’s in good hands either way.”

Lance sniffled twice before replying, “Thank you, brother.”

Matt clapped Lance’s back. “No problem. Now let’s look for tissues before the staff suspect you’re infecting me with colds.”

They both snickered.

When the video switched to her parents’ smiling faces, Pidge’s hands became damp with sweat and her heart began to pound. She knew they’d already given Lance their blessing, seeing as this video existed, but this would be the first time she’d be hearing what they thought about her relationship with Lance.

The first thing she noticed was their clothes. They were wearing the unexpectedly awesome sweaters Lance’s grandmother had knitted for them last Christmas. A lump formed in her throat at the realization; she had to lower her voice so she could still speak with words instead of inarticulate sobs.

“How long have you been planning this?” she asked, eyes not straying from the screen.

“A while,” Lance answered just as quietly.

“Congratulations on your graduation, Katie,” Mom greeted.

“We’re so proud of you, Katie. So proud,” Dad added.

“You must have figured out what this video is really for by now,” Mom continued, to which Dad nodded.

“You must have deduced that we’ve given our blessing as well.”

“All that’s left for us to do is endorse this young man…” At Mom’s cue, Lance peeked from the corner of the screen and waved. “…to you.” Pidge glimpsed the obvious signs of nervousness on his face. It carried over to her as she waited for her parents’ “endorsement” of Lance.

“Lance came from a completely different background from us. He didn’t know anything about astrophysics, molecular biology, or computer engineering more than any other layperson did.” Pidge winced at Mom’s knowing smirk. “Don’t try to deny it, young lady; we know you two planned out what he would be talking about with us the first time he came over.”

Dad chuckled. “Lance hadn’t always been able to keep up with our discussions, but he was always willing to learn. He strived to see things from your perspective and understand you better. I’ve never seen you more patient than when you would explain a concept to him, Katie.” He glanced at Lance. “I’ve never seen a more receptive student, either.”

He redirected his gaze to the camera, smiling gently at Pidge. “You told him about the universe, showed how galaxies worked, demonstrated gravitational forces, and explained why the sun, moon, and stars existed. I hope you wouldn’t wonder too much how he realized he has fallen into orbit around you.”

Lance’s hand slipped into hers as the video faded out. Pidge felt something press onto her palm. She felt a ring press onto her palm, and she almost started crying again. Instead, she took a deep, shaky breath to calm the tumult of emotions within her. Lance remained patiently quiet by her side. They watched the flock of graduates and guests in front of them in the meantime, the cacophony of congratulations and goodbyes and promises to keep in touch filling the silence between them.

“You’re not getting down on one knee?” she teased eventually, once she was confident enough to speak.

“I could,” he replied, “but do you want me to?”

“No, actually.”

“Thought so.” She could hear the mirth in his voice. The sound calmed her down further.

“Everybody won’t be satisfied with anything less than showy, though.”

He hummed in thought. “I’ll consider it.”

“Maybe they’ll even make you do something Matt and Shiro will see from space.”

“Maybe.” He shrugged. “It all depends on your answer.”

She turned towards him, willing him to meet her eyes. “You already know my answer.”

When he did, she was struck anew by how his eyes shone with everything he didn’t need to tell her out loud, and how they regarded her with understanding, and how absolutely, breathlessly beautiful they were. “I want to hear it anyway.” Like the hue of a clear day. Like the shade of a calm sea. Like the color of love. “Will you marry me, Pidge?”

Pidge twined her fingers around Lance’s, beaming up at him. “You know I will, Lance.”

#PlancesecretSanta2019 #plance secret santa #ursamiiinor #plance #hope you like it!#writings

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vfdarkness · 4 years ago

Text

Ep 10 - The Black Door Part III

Intro

You’re shopping at the grocery store.

As you walk past an aisle - the lights flicker - then go out.

You’re now standing in an arrangement of tall, long stones with strange, glowing carvings across their surface.

Heavy footsteps vibrate from a shadowy stone enclave.

(A beat)

You need my help.

[AVFD music fades in]

This is A Voice From Darkness

[AVFD music fades out]

Act I

Hello, and once again welcome to A Voice From Darkness. We’ve got a packed show tonight - multiple national alerts, an interesting question from a listener that I’ll do my best to answer, a longer than normal Today In Odd America segment, and later I’ll be talking to returning caller Amanda - who you might remember is haunted by a black door. I’m afraid I recently stood her up after promising a solution to her problems. I’m sure she, as well as you listeners out there - will want an explanation. Stay tuned for the second half of our show for that conversation. But now - why don’t we jump right into our first segment - national alerts.

National Alerts

On our last episode, Bob from Minnesota sent in a question about a diner in Montana where the staff and at least some of the customers appeared to be repeating conversations - all of which were scripted. Bob revealed that he saw a copy of the script and he was in it and was supposed to say things he never would. It may not surprise you then that our first national alert this evening is for Montana. Just off I-94 between Miles City and Forsyth there’s a diner called Spoon’s Favor. Do not stop at this diner. After our last episode I messaged Bob for further information. He provided me the name and location of the diner, however he told me he went back there himself. He eats there everyday now. He has pleasant conversations with the waitress and regulars. He encouraged me to stop by Spoon’s Favor myself. He is in the script. The script gives him knowledge and comfort he never had before - he told me. However, I am not in the script, but he’s sure they could write me, or anyone else, in. He thinks things will be better off once everyone is in the script - in some way or another. He declined to provide further information as that’s as much as he was scripted to say. I’m still not sure what this script is, if it manifests in other ways outside this Montana diner, but I’ll keep you updated as more information is uncovered.

Our second national alert is for my home city of Chicago. The Chicago Spire has once again appeared - do not go into it. For those unfamiliar with the building, it’s a skyscraper off Lakeshore Drive that began construction in 2007, but was never finished. Somehow, someway, the finished building - a spiraling structure that extends 150 stories into the sky - started appearing intermittently in 2012. Usually it only manifests for a few hours, never for more than a day. People have gone into the building - firefighters and other first responders, tourists, the generally curious - no one has ever stepped back out of the building though. The Spire typically waits for at least one person to step inside before disappearing. Don’t let it be you.

Quick Questions

On to our next segment, quick questions - I answer questions you’ve emailed or tweeted at us. Normally I’d provide our email address and twitter handle for you to send us more questions, however we’ll be taking a break after this episode so we won’t be taking any more questions at this time. Onto this week’s question: Elise writes us: Dr. Ryder, a large hourglass appeared on my dining room table a few days ago. The sand falls at strange intervals. The grains don’t continuously pour down at a standard rate, but instead a single grain will come down. Then either a few seconds - or possibly a few minutes - later another grain will. I’ve tried lifting the hourglass to turn it over but it’s impossible. What is the hourglass? Why is it here? And what is it counting down to?

Elise, for the past few centuries there’s been written accounts of what you’ve described. The Ominous Hourglasses - as these timepieces - are traditionally called appear before people to warn them of an upcoming disaster. Carved into the base and columns of the hourglass should be imagery of some kind - falling leaves, snowflakes - something to indicate the season the disaster will occur. There should be other carvings as well to help you figure out what sort of disaster the timepiece is counting down to. Previously, a rifle was carved into one of the columns and counted down to a shooting. That said, there’s only a handful of times when the receiver of the hourglass has been able to interpret the carvings and then prevent the disaster. Some believe the carvings have a more cruel meaning - The Fates, in some form, mocking us for trying to know and change the future. That said, if you’d like help attempting to decipher the hourglass carvings - I know a specialist on the topic and I’m sure they’d be happy to help you.

That was our only quick question for this week. Next up, we have an extended edition of Today In Odd America, and then we’ll be back with Amanda on the line.

Today In Odd America

Today In Odd America we find ourselves in Davenport, Iowa. The year 1859. James Kheller walked to his tannery shop on River Street as the sun rose. When he neared his place of business he was hit by an unexpected sight. Across the street from his tannery there’d always been an empty lot. A small piece of undeveloped land. But now there stood a two storey brick building. It hadn’t been there the previous night when he’d closed shop.

James was taken aback by what seemed an impossible sight. But he approached the strange new structure to get a better sense of what it was.

The brick building had a wide display window and across it were painted three characters. E, W, and between them - an ampersand. As James pondered what the E&W stood for, a man in a grey tophat and matching overcoat came out the front door. “Hello, sir,” the man in grey said. “I see you’re admiring my shop. Might you like to come inside and see what we have to offer?”

James remained where he stood.

“Your store didn’t exist last night,” he told the man in grey. The man removed his hat and dusted off the top. As he did James saw the man’s left hand was missing its ring finger.

“The Grand Eastern & Western Coffee Company existed in my dreams last night,” the man in grey said. “And what Gilman Halifax dreams, becomes true.” He stepped closer to James - who in turn instinctively stepped back. He was afraid of this man- Halifax - him and his shop that materialized in the middle of night. Halifax gave a wolfish grin - delighting in James’ fear.

“Now sir, I insist you come inside my shop. I insist you start your day - start everyday - with some of my coffee. You’ll never find another substance so fine in the waking world.”

James was too afraid to refuse the man, and so he followed him in.

Despite its mysterious origins, The Grand Eastern & Western Coffee Company - or E&W as it was more commonly called, was successful. Their coffee was good yet somehow cheaper than every other supplier in the river city. Three previously-existing Davenport coffee shops went out of business within the year - unable to match E&Ws prices. Meanwhile E&W opened a second location across the river on the Illinois side in Rock Island. Once again, the shop sprung up overnight. However the citizens of Rock Island were so delighted to have their own E&W they didn’t ask too many questions.

Some folks on both the Illinois and Iowa sides of the river complained of sleepless nights. Strange dreams of packing containers with a black sand like substance inside a dark brick warehouse. But no one of prominence had such dreams, and so those who complained went unheard.

Gilman Halifax, despite owning these stores, was rarely seen in Davenport or Rock Island. He kept on the move - always traveling - scouting new locations to expand his operations. Davenport, Iowa was the perfect place for him to start his empire. He was easily able to journey by steamboat north and south on the Mississippi - from Minnesota to Louisanna. E&Ws soon populated towns all along the river. In 1869, the transcontinental railroad was finished. The Rock Island railway made it possible to travel virtually anywhere in the country - thus fulfilling the company’s name and promise - Folks from New York City to San Francisco began their mornings with Halifax’s coffee.

As E&Ws sprung up, the shops became larger and stocked more items. Sugar and candies, plates, flatware, canned goods. They became convenient locations to do the bulk - if not all - of one’s shopping. Other businesses that sold these same items suffered when E&Ws appeared in their towns. The Chicago Dispatch dubbed E&W - the dream of the average consumer, but the nightmare of the small business man. The newspaper ran several critical headlines of E&W and attempted to dig up the history of Halifax. One editorial from the paper went so far as to call E&Ws “...cancerous tumors spreading across the nation - threatening to rob America of its health, entrepreneurial spirit, and everything that made it grand.” But Halifax bought the paper. Instead of criticism The Dispatch then carried E&W coupons in every Sunday edition and never again spoke a negative word about the owner or his stores. Halifax would go on to purchase dozens of newspapers. When a paper was too big for him to purchase, he’d often sue it for libel or slander. His cases had little merit, but they had the chilling effect he wanted - newspapers stopped printing his name. That’s not to say papers stopped talking of Halifax entirely. No, they became more clever. Editorial cartoons portrayed him as a trickster salesman. The most famous such illustration labeled him “The Traveling Salesman.” The nickname stuck.

Despite the declining press coverage, it became impossible for the nation to ignore the plague of nightmares had by so many. Nearly one in a thirty Americans reported terrible and lucid dreams of working all night in dark brick buildings - filling shipping containers with black sand. But the nightmares were not equally distributed across all Americans. Newly freed slaves and immigrant communities, especially those that spoke little or no English, found themselves disproportionately affected by the warehouse and black sand nightmares.

Herman Peake, a man blinded while a slave on a Georgia plantation claimed he couldn’t see these nightmares, but could smell them. And they smelled like E&W coffee. He was not the only one to tie E&W to the increasing wave of nightmares.

A lawsuit was raised against The Grand Eastern & Western Coffee Company on behalf of the People of the United States. The case made its way to the Supreme Court. The year was 1880 and Justice Stephen Johnson Field refused to have the court hear the case - claiming that the founding fathers intended for the Constitution to rule over America - not the Land of Nod.

Sleep strikes were waged across the country. Strikers organized into large groups and made sure few were ever asleep at any given time - never enough to do any meaningful work in Halifax’s nightmare factories. Alongside the strikes, hundreds of E&Ws were vandalized. The shops nearly destroyed and their wares stolen. In some cases the shop’s coffee was used to help the sleep strikers stay awake. In an homage to the Boston Tea Party, coffee from the flagship store in Davenport was thrown into the Mississippi River.

Where the supreme court refused to act, congress felt the need to step in to stop the strikes, vandalism, and wakeful unproductivity that now plagued the nation. Legislation was hastily proposed and passed in both chambers guaranteeing the rights of all Americans to not be forced to perform dream labor. Rutherford B. Hayes signed the legislation into law.

One would think this newly-passed labor regulation would spell the end of The Grand Eastern & Western Coffee Company, but no. Gilman Halifax merely changed tactics. The law said he couldn’t force Americans to perform labour in their dreams. But if he could get workers to agree to work under his terms - to strike a deal with him - then all was fair.

Much like when he first built his empire, Halifax traveled the country. He sought out the poorest and most desperate communities. He struck deals with them, and his coffee and wares were once again produced. His stores restocked.

But Americans by and large rejected Halifax. E&Ws continued to be vandalized - their products stolen or destroyed. Meanwhile, newspapers Halfiax didn’t own once again characterized him in monstrous terms. The New York Times in 1892 referred to him as a “A specter haunting the country. The boogeyman of small towns across America - The Traveling Salesman.”

The Grand Eastern & Western Coffee Company couldn’t continue with Halifax in charge. Decades before, it’d become publicly traded. Shareholders demanded Halifax leave his own company. He fought the calls for his registration at first, but before the beginning of the twenty century, Halifax conceded defeat.

Without Halifax, E&Ws once again became profitable. They continued many of their unethical business practices that began under their founder - disenfranchising labor, buying out the press to prevent criticism. But In the 1930s, they were sued by the federal government under newly passed antitrust legislation. They were forced to divide their storefronts, manufacturing, and media companies into separate businesses.

In the 1970s, E&Ws were closing nationwide - Unable to keep up with the changing times and competition. By 2008 there was only one store left - their once flagship location in Davenport. That is - until the flood. The Mississippi River washed over downtown Davenport. This event caused massive damage to many buildings. But in the case of the first and last E&W - the flood waters seemingly swept the building away. Causing it to disappear from the earth - as mysteriously as it had once appeared.

But what happened to Gilman Halifax, The Original Traveling Salesman? No one knows. At the turn of the 20th century he disappeared from the public. Newspapers at the time speculated about his absence - but no investigative reporter ever found a conclusive answer to where he went. A popular phrase from this era was - “Where is Halifax?” - meaning to invoke a question without a definite answer.

Halifax’s disappearance is so complete that he makes little or no appearance in our history textbooks. I’ve searched through a dozen high school American history books. Halifax isn’t mentioned - even in passing - in eight of them. In three he’s noted as “a successful 19th century businessman…” without any further qualification. Only one textbook mentions his labor practices and the subsequent strikes and laws passed - though these are hastily summarized in two paragraphs. Beyond high school history books, there’s no academic or journalistic documents that explain where he came from or where he went to at the dawn of the 20th century. We might as well still use the phrase, “Where is Halifax?” today.

And we shouldn’t be surprised then that a new figure has emerged wearing the mantle of The Traveling Salesman - someone darker and more dangerous than the original. We’ve been left without the weapons necessary to stand against him. Hopefully it’s not too late to learn the lessons we need to once again defeat this dark being. But I believe I’ve gone on long enough on this subject for tonight. Back to our main show.

ACT II

TIOA music fades out.

RYDER

And we're back. On the line we have, Amanda who -

AMANDA

(interrupts)

You said you had a solution to the black door. Something that'd get rid of it. Then you just-

RYDER

(interrupts)

Yes, I'm sorry, but you need to-

AMANDA

I don't need to do anything. You need to tell me why the door still follows me. Why it's here right now instead of a memory. You're supposed to be THE specialist for these things. If you can't help... I can't keep living like this. Not when there's an obvious solution that's been here all along.

A beat.

AMANDA

I've decided. I'll open the door. Tonight. I'm prepared to - if you're not able - or willing - to get rid of it.

RYDER

Amanda, you can't do that - you have no idea what will happen if-

AMANDA

(interrupts)

I know what will happen if I don't. The door will keep appearing. People will be possessed in my presence - attempt to hurt me. Or hurt themselves - while telling me to open the door. Last week. Last week the door appeared as I was walking into my apartment building. Across the street there was a little girl. She had the bad luck of turning at the wrong time.

Locking her eyes on the black door. She stepped into the street - into traffic - to get closer and to tell me to: "Open the door."

RYDER

Is she... is she alright?

AMANDA

Does it matter to you? Really? I have a thousand stories like that.

Amanda breathes heavily - frustrated.

AMANDA

We were supposed to meet - you said you had a solution. And then there's radio silence on your end - until now.

RYDER

Because I realized my solution would only make things worse.

AMANDA

There's no way whatever you found could make what I'm going through worse.

RYDER

Back when I called you - I called you too soon. I should have waited, but-

AMANDA

(interrupts)

It was right after the episode of your show - the one where your old friend called-

RYDER

Alec Byrd. I wouldn't exactly call him a friend. But yes. You're right. I called you immediately after. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that. I should have waited, thought things through more. That was wrong of me - to get your hopes up. But my hopes were up. As soon as he said he had my grandfather's knife - a knife that cuts through shadow - to sever shadow from flesh - I thought for sure I had something that could help you.

AMANDA

Because the black door is...

RYDER

Your shadow. At least in part. Shadow, mirror, memory, dream, spirit, and flesh. Those are the elements that comprise the dark metaphysics. All things supernatural are reducible to at least one of them. I don't know how - or why - but the black door is made of your shadow.

AMANDA

Did Alec not give you the knife?

RYDER

No, I have it.

AMANDA

Then why didn't you-

RYDER

(interrupts)

I'm explaining. I'll explain. When Alec called, he said he stole my grandfather's knife and cut his own shadow off in one of Ravenswood's courtyards. He then commanded it to find and kill me. Which, thankfully it didn't do.

A beat.

RYDER

But what became of this now autonomous dark being? Since Alec called, I couldn't get that question out of my head. How had his shadow existed independent of him for so long - and not get seen. Not be noticed at the greatest school of supernatural scholarship in the country?

AMANDA

Why do you think his shadow was still at your old school after all those years? Couldn't it have gone anywhere by that point?

RYDER

Ravenswood is fortified by tall stone walls. Walls that if you were to walk next to them, you'd notice two things. Ivy creeps over all the old barriers that separate the mundane world from the university. But in addition to the flora - there are runes carved into the stones. Runes meant to both repel and attract the otherworldly. To invite the unreal onto Ravenswood grounds - and then trap it once it's within. Alec severed his shadow in Ravenswood - and so his shadow would be trapped there. And more than that - My sister had a suspicion. She checked back to the date of his expulsion. Alec did what he did twelve days before the first beheading.

AMANDA

Beheading?

RYDER

There's been a series of them. They've happened at Ravenswood for years. Not only has the killer - long thought to be a supernatural entity - never been caught - but also never seen. I've always hated this nickname, but students, and faculty I'm afraid, call the killer: The Joyful Executioner.

AMANDA

And your sister realized this thing that's been killing students - supposedly at the best supernatural school ever - not only has it not been stopped, but faculty didn't even realize what it was? Some expelled kid's revenge shadow?

RYDER

Well when you reduce it like that - you trivialize several important-

AMANDA

(interrupts)

All I want to know is why if you have this knife that could cut the black door off me - why you won't use it.

RYDER

My grandfather couldn't control his shadow once it was free of him. Alec Byrd's shadow transformed into a monster that has haunted Ravenswood for decades, killing students, all while evading talented supernatural scholars and practitioners. The Black Door - we don't know what it is - not truly - where it leads, what it opens to. What would happen to it if we untether it from you? For all we know it'd become something like The Joyful Executioner for the whole world. We already know it can influence others. Imagine how much worse it'd become once it were unbound.

A beat.

RYDER

Amanda, you have to see the danger I'm laying out - understand why we can't severe the door from you. At least not yet. Give me time. Shadow magic... is elusive. Those who've mastered it tend to, well, remain in the shadows. They don't write scholarly works or bring their knowledge to light. But I believe with time, I could-

[From Amanda's end of the phone - there's the sound of a door opening.

The dark ambience that opens all episodes of our show is heard from Amanda's end.]

RYDER

Amanda you didn't.

AMANDA

I had to. The little girl I mentioned before.

When she stepped into traffic, all she said was, "Open the-" and the word "door" never came out her mouth. A car hit her. Every day that you can't help me - you're asking me to be complicit in some awful event. That girl wasn't the first to die because of the door. But you don't see the dead - this, to you - is an abstract problem to solve. You're an armchair detective. There's blood on your hands, but you don't see it. There's blood on my hands too for waiting so long. And I do see it. I see it all the time. And I can't wait any longer. I can't let my hands get any bloodier.

A beat.

AMANDA

All I see from the other side of the door is darkness. But far far off in the distance - there's a tiny pinprick of light. I wonder what'll happen if I go to it.

RYDER

You have no idea the consequences of what you're doing - you think your hands are bloody now - whatever will happen if you go through-

AMANDA

(interrupts)

Whatever those consequences are - if there even are any - maybe you'll treat them with some urgency now. The Traveling Salesman said you wouldn't be able to help me. I wish I'd believed him sooner. That little girl would still be alive. Goodbye, Dr. Ryder.

RYDER

Amanda, wait, we can still-

[There are footsteps. And the door shuts. The dark ambiance is gone.]

A beat.

RYDER

Julian, I don't know what you've set into motion. But whatever it is - it will fail. I promise you that.

A beat.

RYDER

That's all for tonight. I need to- I need to go make some preparations. You'll hear my voice again though - in another time, another place. This has been A Voice From Darkness - goodnight.

Outro Music.

#a voice from darkness #audiodrama #audiofiction #transcript #avfd #horror

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eldritchsurveys · 4 years ago

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914.

1) What are some positive things, realizations or habits that came out of quarantine for you? >> I think I’m going to have to actually follow at least one survey taker because I’m tired of having to go to their actual blog every time I want to find surveys (Lane stopped appearing in the #survey tag for me around the time that tumblr updated the dash, for some reason, and he’s probably not the only one but I haven’t figured out who else got axed yet). So if you get a follow from aynrandslashfiction, it’s just me. EDIT: Realised I didn’t answer the question, pfffft. The best thing that has come out of pandemic for me is physical distancing, tbh. I mean, I’d prefer to not have the pandemic, of course. I’ve been dealing with people’s inability to maintain personal space for years and I would continue if I had to, but, you know.

2) How do you feel about people who are “workaholics”? Would you consider yourself one? How do you personally maintain a work-life balance? If you aren’t working, what personal activity or task takes up most of your time? >> I feel the same way about workaholics that I do about any other kind of -holic -- they’re probably escaping something in their life/past that they find intolerable, and I also feel like I would not want to get emotionally involved with them.

3) How financially responsible would you say you are? What could you spend less money on? >> As financially responsible as I can be on an income that is not meant to be liveable. It’s not like I can be terribly irresponsible, because I just don’t have enough money to blow in the first place.

4) How would you describe yourself as a friend? What value would you say you bring to your friends? >> I don’t know how to describe myself as a friend. I don’t know what makes me valuable in a human interaction at all. This is the kind of understanding that is helped by testimonials from other people, and I don’t have enough data.

5) In psychology they say that our romantic relationships are an extension of our relationships with our parents, and that we tend to choose our partners based on whatever was lacking in our childhood, or that we are attracted to traumas and sufferings that are familiar to us rather than the unknown. Can you relate to this? >> Of course I can relate to that.

6) Is there a specific type of survey you miss taking? How or where do you find new surveys to take these days? >> I mean, I don’t know. I don’t find new surveys very easily these days because there’s just not a lot of new ones being made, not like back in the day. That’s partially why I decided to follow along with the 5k Survey -- at least I know I don’t have to worry about finding new surveys for a while (and I can save-to-draft the good surveys I do run into, so I have a nice little pile of ones to take in between 5k entries, or in the future).

7) Do you still care about tags on surveys? When you see surveys that you know don’t credit the maker nowadays, how do you feel? >> I don’t care about it because it just doesn’t seem like much of a priority. If there’s already a tag on it, I usually just leave it there.

8) Is there anyone in your life who knows about your survey-taking habits? How would / do you explain the concept of our community to someone, if you ever have to? >> I’m relatively sure Sparrow knows about it, since I’ve been taking them for years, and I also occasionally mention them in conversations. It’s pretty easy to explain, I think, although my explanation varies depending on the person’s familiarity with the internet. Sometimes I reference MySpace bulletins or Quizilla, sometimes I describe them as open-ended essay questions taken for fun and introspection, etc.

9) What happened the last time you had a disagreement or falling out with a friend? Or the last time you had to apologize to someone? >> I don’t remember. It probably just went badly.

10) Can you tell when you are not well-liked? What do you do when you feel someone is not particularly fond of you? Can you remember the last time you were in that situation? >> I don’t know if I can tell or not. I guess it depends on the person and their level of aggressiveness -- some people are more obvious about their dislike for other people than others are. And as far as what I do, it depends on who the person is and what kind of mental health day I’m having. Sometimes I don’t care, but other times my brain gets stuck on a loop trying to figure out what I did wrong. Either way, even if my brain is on negativity-loop central, I still don’t try to convince them to like me or anything. I know better than that (and most of the time I don’t actually want them to change their mind, it’s not about that -- it’s just the shame spiral).

11) How would you say your preference in movies or TV shows changed from when you were a teenager vs. now? >> I think I still like the same stuff, I’ve just added even more stuff that I like now.

12) Apart from price and location, what are some deciding factors when choosing a house for you? What is something you love the most in your current home, and what would you change if you could? >> For me, my needs revolve around having my own bedroom, having a decent-sized bathroom and kitchen, and having enough windows. There are other things that I might like too, like hardwood floors, that are just hard to get along with all the other stuff (idk what everyone’s obsession with carpet is, but god, is it hard to find non-carpeted apartments that are within budget and have the other most important boxes checked). What I like most about this apartment is that I have my own room, tbh. Otherwise it’s pretty unremarkable.

13) Do you know any “influencers” in real life? How much are you actually likely to follow an influencer’s advice or recommendations? >> I don’t. I have sub-zero interest in influencers and I think the concept is rather socially and personally damaging.

14) What emotion is the hardest for you to express? Can you think of a time when you felt force or successfully expressed this emotion? >> All emotions are impossibly hard for me to express unless I’m alone (and even then, if the shame spiral starts, you can best believe I’ll even deny my emotions to my own fucking self). I’ve been trying to work on it -- not expressing emotions around others, that’s going to take a while, just... expressing them to myself -- and let me tell you, it’s a lot of work. What’s it like to have parents that did not completely retard your emotional and social development, setting you up for a string of human relationships that also further reinforce the idea that your emotions are huge disgusting ugly things that should be ignored at best and punished at worst?

15) How do you feel about job interviews? Are you good at negotiation? Was there a time when you felt you didn’t do so well during the interview, but still got the job? >> I have never been on a proper job interview, and I’m pretty sure I would bomb it just by being... you know. Not neurotypical. (I could fake it for an interview, sure, but here’s the problem with that: if it works, and I get hired, then they’ll expect me to behave like that. Which I do not, normally. And the only thing worse than not getting hired in the first place is having a horrible time on the job, failing miserably at things, pissing everyone off, and eventually getting fired.)

#surveys #survey #random survey #oof. just remembered that i /used/ to follow lane and then hallie manipulated me into unfollowing him #god. what a fucking mess. what a fucking. mess

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rainybears · 5 years ago

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Island Tracking Spreadsheet 1.0

Hey so I just put together this (still pretty rough tbh) Island Tracking Spreadsheet because I wanna play new horizons now and I needed to do something about it, and also I like making spreadsheets to keep track of things, but I figured some other people may be interested in using this. But also it could very easily be adjusted to be used for New Leaf or honestly any AC game I think? Right now it has sections for:

General Island Info

Islander (player) Info

Current Villagers

Past Villagers

Fish, Bug, Deepsea Creature, Fossil Collections

This part is blank except for a few examples bc those lists most likely won’t be available until the game has been out for a lil while

Tbh there’s a good amount of this that is just based on assumptions (dream address, fish sizes/bell worths being static, etc.), but that’s why this is version 1.0 lol

If you wanna use this, just save a copy of it to your drive! Also under the cut I’m gonna put some previews of each page and explanations on how they work bc it’s gonna be long

Ok so first up we have the Island Info Page:

This one’s pretty straight forward with a spot for a screenshot of your town, some self-explanatory stuff, columns for the things in your town, and a spot for your map.

Next is the Islander Info:

Since we don’t really know how the tools are gonna work I just kinda left a pretty big space for you to keep track of which ones you have (the stuff written in is just examples, idk what the actual options will be).

For the house expansion section, each room has 3 squares under it where the first square is the base room (first build the house/first add that room), the second is the first expansion of the room, and the third is the second expansion. To check these off, just type a “/” into the little box and it’ll automatically change color. Alternatively, to clear it out, just delete the contents.

(The lil portrait of my future character is from here!)

Next is Villagers!

I have Sterling as my example because he’s my favorite. Again, pretty self-explanatory here; right now it’s set up so that there’s 10 slots for villagers, but to add more spaces, just select the whole section (you can shift-click the image and the notes to get it all at once) and copy and paste it further down.

And now Past Villagers:

I chose Klaus because he moved into my New Leaf town about two inches from my house and destroyed my paths, flowers, perfect peach trees, and future flower arch locations in like 2014 :–| but anyways, this is essentially exactly the same thing as the current villager section, except it now has a “move-out date” slot.

Next is Fish:

Okay so this is kinda set up for you to fill it out as you go, but I think once the game is released and I can get my hands on all this info, I’ll post an updated version with all the concrete dates/times/sizes?

The boxes in this one work the same way as the house expansion boxes, to fill them in, just type a “/”. There’s 7 boxes; one for each shadow size, and an additional one for a fin for the sharks. It’s also set up for you to type a “-” (or anything. you could type a bunch of “~” to show it wiggling if u want) in each box to show eel shadows.

Boxes for the months are exactly the same as all the others.

The columns for if the fish has been donated/caught automatically change color if you type “yes” or “no” in them, otherwise they’ll just stay blank.

Ok moving onto bugs:

Same exact thing as fish, except there’s a column for if you need to do something/use another tool first (like how in NL to get a centipede, you have to strike a rock with the shovel to get it to pop out).

Deepsea creatures:

Again, exactly the same, but no special columns this time.

And finally, fossils:

idk why I took such a big screenshot for this one lmao, but it’s exactly the same as before but a lot fewer columns bc you just dig em up (unless they expand upon it??).

And that’s it! If anyone has any suggestions on things to add, please send me an ask bc it’s past midnight where I am and I probably missed some stuff bc I made this in like 2.5 hours.

#animal crossing new horizons #acnh #animal crossing nh #ac new horizons #animal crossing

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fragmentsofchaldea · 6 years ago

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I know the title is ominous and borderline click-baity, but I don’t wish to mislead at any point with this. So, I’ll get right to the point about the long-awaited announcement.

The Fragments Series’ Tentative Future

To put it simply, FoC’s routine update schedule will probably be breaking apart as the best possible outcome. Even with all the revisions, finishing spring cleaning, and future plans I’ve had, this is all just a hobby in the end. (Kinda feel like Agravain at the end of Camelot).

Better explanation below the line.

I’ve been talking with SKYS about this for a bit before raising it with everyone, but the time has come to be very forward. My career has always taken priority for obvious reasons, but in all honesty, I’ve been letting it ‘stay level’ for a bit too long. If FoC’s development and update routine as a hobby wasn’t big enough of an indication, allow me to put it bluntly: I’m a very ambitious person who throws a ridiculous amount of energy into anything I feel is worthy of my investment.

Obviously, the career sits at the top, but it’s been sitting mellow compared to earlier years. It’s partially because I found very stable work for my freelancing, but it wasn’t going to be enough. I’m too ambitious for my own good and get restless when change doesn’t happen for one reason or another. At this point, I’ve come to terms that blockade was me holding myself content, but I could be doing far better than I am. So I’ll be ramping up my career’s former activity considerably.

That’s really bad news for anything considered a hobby/interest, especially one that takes up a lot more time than most that can’t be multi-tasked (FoC). To put things into perspective, the long time (or decently recent) fans would know how sporadic my update schedule was in March before I left on a big trip. It would be like that, except far more often due to trip frequency. In 2014 alone I did eight separate trips and spent over 3-4 months away from home working internationally. That’s what I’m looking to be doing again, except for more stints.

Obviously, that comes at a cost of time, which means I’ll be looking into anything that can be thrown aside that may put unnecessary strain on that. To be absolutely honest, the only reason FoC isn’t being pushed aside immediately with little regard is because I know it has a very, very silent but fairly sized fanbase. It’s because of you all and the fun I have that I’m actually considering salvaging its continuation.

However, that comes down to fans.

As I’ve also talked about with SKYS, my motivation for FoC gets pretty topsy-turvy even though I’ve made absolutely no mention to it for appearance’s sake. It’s a hobby that I enjoy doing most of the time. I like sharing a world that’s built in my head that many have come to enjoy, but I also weigh my time heavily. There are plenty of times I stare at the rather silent statistics and wonder just how many are taking my update schedule for granted, or that this would just continue on forever like a serial comic. From fav/follow/like growth to feedback, I weigh it all heavily. I don’t get paid (and don’t want any sort of monetary donations), so those are the only form of currency/assurance that what I’m doing is appreciated.

Yet, usually only a few voice for the many, as is sadly the case with most things. So, as I said, I have to leave the ball in your court, because you’re the one that often keep me motivated to write. I’m currently piecing together a good chunk of my schedule and am fitting the puzzle together for free time in 2019, and likely even quarter 4 this year if some contracts look manageable. In that undisclosed amount of time it takes me to do so, this is your opportunity to convince me to try and make at least some time for FoC.

If the response is good, I’ll see about salvaging uploads here and there on a sporadic basis. If it’s really great, I’ll even see if I can’t keep it the way it is while I’m home ‘on break’. And if it fails to influence me, then the abrupt end of the series is very likely going to be within the next two or three months. As a note, regardless of what happens, this is very likely a death sentence for future Supplements and their rapid upload schedules. There’s no way I can fit the time for that, so I’d need to figure out how to best handle those so the singularities could be enjoyed at least in some way.

This isn’t a threat or attention-whoring/pandering request to “like, subscribe, and leave a comment below the video.” This is a courtesy and show of appreciation to the fanbase so you have a chance to act on something I’d otherwise decide completely on my own. I weigh my time heavily: If the results aren’t worth my time, it’ll just be axed. The world can always continue to grow in my head, but sharing had always been optional.

So consider this your opportunity to save something you enjoy and convince me its steady updates were not being taken for granted. Feel free to use the Discord, tumblr messenger, or ff.net reviews/messages to do so, though it’s best to find a medium where you’re not exactly limited on space. The tumblr anon ask box is easily the worst method, to be honest. It’d be nice if you left some name/tag too.

As a tiny update for the next month, though, after September 10th’s update, FoC should be back on its usual weekly upload schedule for a month or two.

P.S - Sorry if it sounded pretty dramatic or grave, but it’s simply what it is: Fragments’ boom and bust is that my career is successful and keeps me floating. I look forward to hearing from you should you choose to do so.

#fragments of chaldea #scheduling conflict #author announcement #fanfiction #fanfic

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thedivinefish · 3 years ago

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TGIWednesday: Releasing judgment download

TGIWednesday News

So we all do it ...whether it’s looking at someone driving a Bentley or a homeless person... I'm talking about judgement. If and when you can and as often as possible, release any and all judgement about any and everything. Discernment and direction are different and needed - opinion and positionality about things is fine too. Judgement seems to have that negative connotation of putting something or someone down so we’re releasing our need to do that as you read this now. The Buddha said, “be an observer of the play, not a participant” and I believe that means to be of joy, help others without getting caught up on the stage of ego and judgement. Keep this in mind throughout today and everyday and send people that are less fortunate than you; vibes of love and compassion and for those driving the six-figure car, bless them and ask Spirit to bless them and you with all you could ever need. Join us for our monthly Zoom call which appropriately enough is dedicated to Empaths, those that are easily affected by others and take on other people’s energy We will clear you of it and strengthen your protection!

TGIWednesday Download

~ RELEASING JUDGMENT ~ I believe, think, know and feel that I can release over-judging myself and others. I am ready, willing and able to accept people for who they are without imposing my way of life on them. I know, when, where, how and why to be at peace with the actions of others and to stick to my own customized beautiful life journey. I am asking in all languages and throughout all time lines and so it is. May the rest of your life be the best of your life and remember to make progress every day!

July 28th Zoom Event

NEXT SCHEDULED ZOOM EVENT

JULY 28TH at 7:30pm ET (July 29th if you're in Europe/AUS) https://calendly.com/jmh-calls/july-switches-event

Theme: Healing the Empath

All of us are empathic to a degree, some more than others. Here are the types of issues and challenges we will clear:

You can feel other people’s exact pain and then take it on for hours or a day later like their headache or stomach ache

Agoraphobic? Fear of crowds? Can’t get off the couch? Fear of getting the vaccine? Fear of not getting the vaccine?

Taking on the stress of others at work in addition to your own. Overly stressed about life and living.

Feeling sensations/or pain where the doctors can’t find anything wrong!

Experiencing ground hog day, living the same day over and over again

Dog days of Summer/heat and feel like doing nothing because what’s the point?

We will bring in peace and grounding, restore vigor and strengthen your ability to move forward in life. Bring in more direction and discernment as well as abundance. Experience and feel other’s issues without taking them on co-create healthy boundaries and restore our angelic factory settings!

Those who are registered...Submit your Top 3 related topics to support@jimmymackhealing by 3pm the day of the event.

From the Fish Box

Q & A WITH JIMMY Q) "Would you recommend another session and does whatever was cleared in the first session intended to be permanent or is it something we have to keep fishing for? From the one session we had, do you expect any changes to occur straight away? Do I need to be fishing every day as well? I have read the MLF starter kit but unsure if I am doing this right. If I test positive for a statement - am I supposed to fish downwards from heaven to ground or am I supposed to leave it and not fish at all since its already positive? I was a bit confused because in my call I thought I heard you say 'good, we don't need to do anything with that' when it was positive? How do the audios work? Are they just meant to be listened to without fishing?" - Rachel S. A) "The choice is yours as to what you feel/intuit would work best regarding a 2nd session. Changes can be sudden and profound while others take time, and we never know what will happen and that’s part of the fascination of My Liquid Fish Change made simple. The Audio MP3’s are plug and play meaning all you have to do is listen to them! Think of yourself/life/fishing as a garden and daily there is something that needs to be done in the garden. If it already tests positive on a statement for something you desire, then leave it. You could also hit on other related word tracks to reinforce it.. There is also a course online https://jimmymackhealing.com/certification-program whenever you decide to take that. Yes you’ll want to fish daily and it would be hard for me to answer all your questions about fishing because it would create more questions and after 9 books and an e-course, you can see that while it’s simple, it is also deep and has tangents and angles/angels involved in it!" - Jimmy Mack

FREE Show Appearances

QUANTUM HOME SANCTUARY SUMMIT III - Hosted by Helena Reilly RUN DATES JULY 23rd to AUGUST 1st I’m going to be speaking & taking callers for FREE on SUNDAY JULY 25th.

Quantum field and vibrational experts are now revealing the Codes that have dropped in from the Quantum Future! Every day you’ll get to experience a new code activation that will move you, in real-time, towards understanding, expressing, and living your unique soul genius! This is the clarity you’ve been waiting for. Register for FREE here! >>>>

YOU WEALTH REVOLUTION with host Darius Barazandeh ENCORE REPLAY - Magical, Mystical Atlantean Technology to Discover Your Destiny MONDAY JULY 26th 4pm Eastern Free to Register here: https://vy371.isrefer.com/go/ywr/jimmymack/

Watch and listen to hundreds of Radio Show replays for FREE here in the archives from the Jimmy Mack Healing Radio show: https://thejimmymackhealingshow.com/

Book A Session in Tampa

SWANN HOLISTIC HEALTH SOLUTIONS

Jimmy Mack will be offering sessions at Dr. Charla Tempone’s office at Swann Holistic Health Solutions The next opportunity to see Jimmy in Tampa office is FRIDAY JULY 30th - from 10-4pm 403 S. Habana Ave. Tampa, FL 33609 Just south of Azeele next to Skin Savvy http://www.ctholisticsolutions.com

Please call their office directly at ?? (813) 873-7773 in order to get on the schedule for 15-minutes $38 or 30-minutes $68. If you’re new to working with me, I suggest you schedule 30 minutes.

Fish Food

The Daily Bread To Feed The Fish

Tell the Fish - 365 Daily Inspirations and Affirmations - by Jimmy Mack JULY 21ST "Today I will welcome the unexplainable and that which seems improbable and impossible. I will enjoy happenstance and that which has no explanation. I will smile over that which brings me peace, love, and joy."

**Can't See The Full Email? Click Here to View Online**

Receive 24/7 Prayers from Jimmy

Your name will be added to a special VIP Prayer list where Jimmy will use his intelligent computer software, src4you which runs 24/7, to delete the negative and increase the strength of the positive creating a higher probability of favorable outcomes for you.

In addition, throughout the full 30-days, Jimmy will be dialing into your energetic signature each day upon rising and make certain that you are a clear yes, unclear to no and running forward before you start your day. He is doing the heavy lifting for you around 3am NY time while most of you are asleep in order to smooth out your way and increase your most favorable life outcomes.

The 30-day service is now being offered exclusively and you also have the option of selecting an ongoing subscription ($95/month) which is managed through PayPal only.

Upon written email request, for each new order we offer a one-time email analysis via the intelligent healing software that Jimmy uses on your behalf. Most clients have had amazing results and outcomes!

You can add yourself and those living in your immediate household and yes you can include pets! Merely include everyone’s names and Jimmy will add them to his daily prayers.

You can run this monthly and stop at any time after the 30 days is up, you will have the opportunity to renew and update your list each month but are under no obligation. I believe you will experience magical transformations and make progress every day!

?For those who aren't familiar,? below is ?a? list of the? 30+? audio?s in the MyBeliefWorks series.... Find a topic that addresses your issue(s), click on the link to read more. We had a lot of help downloading & channeling these over the years & they keep getting better. Don't forget... you can share these with your immediate friends and family.

Receiving Abundance Freedom from Abuse Overcoming Addiction Body Scan: Head to Toe Healing Experiencing Bountiful Harvest Igniting Creative Spark Discovering Your Destiny Daily GPS Reset Releasing Dark Energies/Fears Crossroads -Decision Making Diet & Exercise Support Education & Learning Support Healing Family Relationships Attracting a Financial Windfall Gold Coin: More Money in All Forms

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divinefishingtips · 3 years ago

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TGIWednesday News

TGIWednesday Download

July 28th Zoom Event

NEXT SCHEDULED ZOOM EVENT