#also the guy is a Libra so that’s been a challenge in and of itself

[trulymadlysydney]

Also update because I haven’t told you guys about my life in a minute dhsjd I’ve been talking to a guy from hinge for a few weeks and uhhhh on the topic of Saturn return it’s made me realize a whole lot about myself because I was deadass ALL in for this guy and then I had one(1) dream about my horrible ex and woke up and realized oh shit this guy kind of resembles him and oh shit I am terrified of intimacy and vulnerability and clearly there’s something wrong with me if I can’t imagine ever having sex with this guy and I have so many things I need to work through so! Considering making this the year I finally go to ✨therapy✨ because I’ve realized I have a Fearful Avoidant attachment style and all I want to do is run away and ghost him but I’m too far in now so! Yeehaw! That’s what you missed on Glee!!!

[astrochiron]

The Signs :: Channel Orange // Frank Ocean

Aries- Sweet Life

“You've had a landscaper and a house keeper since you were born The starshine always kept you warm”

This line refers to an easy life, one of luxury and means. What’s more, this person has had these things since birth, not even earning these things themselves. An Aries rising chart is called natural, as their houses are led by their associated signs, their life tends flows easily and this person has had a similar life.

“So why see the world, when you got the beach? Don't know why see the world, when you got the beach”

Aries is the sign of self and your own experiences that you don't have to reach out for. This person has trouble seeing outside of their world and, in fact, refuses to branch out. They have the “beach” in their own mind allowing them to ignore the things going on around them.

Overall

This song is a challenge to look outside of oneself and your own comforts to empathize and experience the ways of others. Frank wants her to step outside of her privilege and her pretty surroundings to maybe experience something else, something less curated for them. The lyrics imply a sense of immaturity exhibited by the subject, not fueled by the search of fun but by circumstance.

Taurus- Pink Matter

“That soft pink matter Cotton candy, Majin Buu, oh, oh, ohh Close my eyes and fall into you, you, you My God, she's giving me pleasure” close my eyes and fall into you” 

This line provides sensory imagery of softness and pleasure, two things Taurus is associated with. Cotton candy and Majin Buu (a DBZ character) conjuring up safe and comfortable imagery of childhood and happiness. Frank’s moved on to another source of pleasure though, as this line alludes to sex and the pleasure of it. Taurus is associated with the physical pleasure of sex.

“Pleasure over matter” 

Both pleasure and physical mater are associated with Taurus. Taurus is an Earth sign, associated with physical matters like money, possessions, and even your relationship with your physical body. Pleasure is the ultimate goal and that is bolstered by the maintenance of physical means.

Overall

This song’s focus on the body, especially the feminine one, links it to the feminine sign of Taurus. While Virgo is linked with physical health and routine, Taurus shows how we view and worship the body. This song also focuses on desire, another Taurean trope.

Gemini- Thinkin’ Bout You

“A tornado flew around my room before you came Excuse the mess it made, it usually doesn't rain in”

The chaos and air-related tornado is a perfect symbol for Gemini, a restless and powerful force made of fluent thought and free-ranging speech (Air related things). Frank is also lying to this guy, saying his room is messy because of a tornado. I’m not implying Gemini’s lie, but they certainly have fun with the truth more than most signs.

“Since you think I don't love you, I just thought you were cute That's why I kissed you”

This song displays the inquisitive and impulsive nature of Gemini. Frank kissed the guy because he thought he was cute, plain and simple, almost like school kids on the playground. This also displays the dismissal of romantic disinterest (common in the manner of most air signs) for inquisitiveness.

Overall

The title literally has “thinking” in it, which is Gemini’s superpower as the mutable air sign. The whole song is something of a train of thought ramble that Frank is well known for, honestly. The whole song has a childhood vibe, even supported by Frank saying this is about a time when he was 17 or so. Gemini is linked with our formative years and though, 17 is a bit old for Gemini’s range, it’s still cerebrally nostalgic and witty.

Cancer- Forest Gump

“Forrest Gump You run my mind, boy Running on my mind, boy Forrest Gump”

Cancers have a tendency to linger on thoughts, especially the emotional nature of them. I don't think Cancers are crybabies (I'd give that more to Pisces who cry from happiness, frustration and sadness all in the same hour), but they are very emotionally strong and emotionally stubborn. Their emotions are forefront in memory and so is the way Forest made Frank feel.

“Forrest green, Forrest blues I'm remembering you If this is love, I know it's true I won't forget you”

The “Forest blues” points toward Frank being in feelings over a past situation. Whether over something that happened when they were together or over the break-up itself, Frank is sad and a cancer will never forget how someone made them feel.

Overall

This song has a focus on past feelings for someone, not specific memories. Cancers are very subjective and, instead of remembering facts about a memory, they'd be remembering how they were feeling during the time. As a bonus, the song is  named after an older movie which was itself based in nostalgia.

Leo- Super Rich Kids

“Real love, I'm searching for a real love”

Leos are associated with romance and unconditional love. Their search for joy and the uninhibited feeling of childhood makes them crave and seek true love, sometimes at the detriment of their well being, but aways for the better in the end. No matter how unhealthy, these two searching for genuine love from one another, though finding temporary joy in drugs.

“Caddy-smashing, bratty ass He mad, he snatched his daddy's Jag And used that shit for batting practice”

Earl’s whole rap discusses the more self-destructive traits of Leo. This line in particular shows the sometimes self-centered nature, expressing their anger by inflicting pain on others. Leos are very expressive and, despite their genial nature, are still passionate fire signs. This also a very childish expression of emotion, and our inner-child is linked with this sign.

Overall

Immaturity is often a negative trait associated with fire signs. Leo’s exhibit this immaturity when they may make bad decisions trying to seek love and acceptance, as well as looking for fun and enjoyment in the wrong places. And while not outright said, the subjects of this song seem to blessed (or cursed) with the fame and fortune associated with Leo.

Virgo- Lost

“And I just wanna know Why you ain't been going to work Boss ain't working you like this He can't take care of you like this”

This line display’s Virgo’s focus on work and duty. It also exhibits their often gently direct nature. This is very much a line a Virgo would say to their out-of-work partner, “This place is a mess! And I just wanna know; why you ain’t been going to work?” Virgos also take great care of their partner, even to the extent of being servile at times. He’s taking care of her and giving her a job.

“Hand me my triple weight So I can weigh the work I got on your girl”

Frank’s weighing out his product, showing the minutiae of his drug life. The song could focus on all the stuff he could buy for her, selling all these drugs, or even getting high on them himself, but instead he discusses weighing it up and strapping it to her. Frank employs this girl as a drug mule, being her boss and her lover; providing her employment and care (6th house).

Overall

Frank shows Virgo’s tendency to get caught up in work and the money coming in as opposed to the things that can be done with the money. Frank is always selling to give himself and the girl a better life, every drug run aways being the last one, but never really being the last one. The woman shows Virgo’s dedication to their partner, disregarding their own safety or comfort for their love.

Libra- Pilot Jones

“You're the dealer and the stoner With the sweetest kiss I've ever known”

This line represents the dichotomy of the user and the supplier. She’s both the source of his addiction and she enjoys the outcome of the addiction herself. This shows’s Libras’s tendency to be all things to all people. The last part also points toward Libra’s geniality and tendency to cover up ills and pains with kisses and sweet words.

“But if I got a condo on a cloud Then I guess you can stay at my place”

Despite all the bad decisions and toxicity, Frank is sayin that if he’s in a good place, she will be too. If he gets a raise, she benefits; if he buys a cheesecake, she gets a slice, if not half. When Libra’s are happiest, they want their partner there too, even if their partner was the reason for their unhappiness sometimes.

Overall

This song equates drugs with love, a metaphor I'd definitely associate with Libra. They don't need to be in a relationship, don't get me wrong; but it feels good. Librans lacking in self-expression or happiness or even stimulation, may turn to relationships just out of habit, even if they’re not with a “good” partner or one that is ultimately good for them. Frank is laid back in this song, allowing her to guide his high and really the whole relationship, taking Libra’s laid back and often lax attitude.

Scorpio- Sierra Leone

Spendin' too much time alone (And I just ran outta Trojans) Horses gallop to her throne

We all know about Scorpio’s focus on sex and the intimate connection formed behind it. This includes the first part of this line, as Scorpios tend to have intense relationships, often most intense in solitude with partner. This obviously doesn't involve only sex, but the intimate moments shared between two lovers when by themselves. 

“And a new day will bring about the dawn And a new day will bring another crying babe into the world”

Scorpio is linked with self-transformation, and the imagery of the new day bringing the dawn paints the picture of the whole world being renewed, as well as specifically the characters of this song and their evolutions. The last part of this line points to the birth of the characters’ child. The ultimate rebirth and the ultimate result of Scorpio’s sex and alone time, is a birth itself.

Overall

This song discusses an alternate Frank that got a girl pregnant young. It focuses on how different he’d be and how his life would be. This hypothetical thought experiment is very a very Scorpio thing to me, analyzing “what ifs” and “might be’s”. This song also focuses on the transformation of the characters, especially Frank, from stupid teenaged lovers to responsible parents by the end.

Sagittarius- Monks

“Mosh pits and bare chest Stage diving sky diver Spray the crowd with cold water Now it's mosh pits and wet tits I think I need a cold shower”

This whole verse gives Sagittarian vibes. Sag is ruled by jovial and beneficially social Jupiter. Each line exudes freedom, fun and physical exploration. The parties, lewd behavior, and stimulating music would all be perfect for Sags huge energy and need for experiences.

“African girl speaks in English accent Likes to fuck boys in bands Likes to watch Westerns And ride me without the hands”

This song represents the foreign interests of Sagtttarius. They love accents and different cultures and foreign people (romantically as well as platonically). There’s actually a hodgepodge of cultures represented with the African girl and her English accent with an interest in rock or grunge bands who watches American western movies and an... expansive physical repertoire. 

Overall

This song chronicles a meeting with a groupie, which gives to Sag’s rockstar vibe. Traveling countries, writing songs, and positively affecting masses are all things that Sagittarius is interested in. The groupies, they also probably wouldn't mind. As for the title, a monk, as defined by Oxford is “a member of a religious community of men typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.” While the latter art of this definition sounds more like a Capricorn, evolved Sag’s are very monk-like once they’ve found their cause and their moral path.

Capricorn- Pyramids

“We'll run to the future, shining like diamonds In a rocky world, rocky-rocky world Our skin like bronze and our hair like cashmere As we march to the rhythm on the palace floor”

This line represents Capricorns focus on the future. Frank aims to be decked in gems, sun kissed and confidently walking even in a rocky world. Like Capricorn, he aims to dominate his environment and get the best out of it to his own benefit. He’s focused on improving themself and being presented as prestigious and as a king.

“The way you say my name makes me feel like I'm that nigga but I'm still unemployed You say it's big but you take it, ride cowgirl”

Capricorn’s get off on respect. Capricorn is one of those signs that has a link to sex, but primarily because of the power of it. She says his name like he’s the best, she compliment’s his assets, even if they’re still not too big for her. Even though he’s unemployed, he's still the head of household while they’re having sex. This points toward Capricorn’s sense of joy coming from others’ good perceptions of them, even if it’s not the right one. He’s broke, he may not have the biggest penis, and he may not even be the only one, but she makes him feel like all of those things aren't true.

Overall

Though metaphorical, this song focuses on history and royalty. Cleopatra may have been a Capricorn by some calculations and her outright rule of an empire as woman would support that. She was intelligent and business-minded and well-known. This song also shows a shift in status typically associated with Saturn and Capricorn. Though Saturn typically brings slow-but-sure progression, if the lessons it presents us aren't learned from and taken into account, it can take us down as high as it would drive us up. The character in this song goes from queen Cleopatra to Cleopatra working weekends at the Pyramid. Both demand attention, beseech respect, and accumulate wealth, though society sees them so differently.

Aquarius- Bad Religion

“And you say "Allahu akbar" I told him, "Don't curse me" "Bo Bo, you need prayer" I guess it couldn't hurt me “If it brings me to my knees, it's a bad religion, ooh’

The “bad religion” here shows the Aquarian distrust of religion. The driver tries to bless him, but he isn't interested in spiritual intervention, even though he did mention demons earlier in the song. Aquarians aren’t necessarily interested in or focused on religion because of the typical outright devotion involved in it. It’s a turn off for Aquarians and Frank is associating this with the unrequited love he's experiences with his crush.

‘This unrequited love To me, it's nothin' but a one-man cult”

I have a long analysis behind this next statement that I’m willing to back up one day but: Aquarians are attracted to odd social constructs especially things like cults. Every Aquarian I know has expressed interest in cults, dictatorships, or supreme leadership in the New World Order. That being oddly said, this line points toward Frank seeing himself as a worshiper in one of those cults and he wants the hell out. 

Overall

In this song we see how Frank made his love for this person his God and having it unrequited either caused or further proved his own negative feelings toward the whole idea of devotion and love. Aquarians also aren’t known for expressing their feelings in a conventional sense. Instead of going to a therapist and having to discuss feeling or going to a confidant and having to burden a friend or expose yourself to them, Frank chose to make his taxi driver his shrink, since he’s paying him anyway.

Pisces- Crack Rock

“You don't know how little you matter until you're all alone In the middle of Arkansas with a little rock left in that glass dick”

I’ve noticed that Pisceans have a bit of an inferiority-complex. This is typically portrayed a martyrdom but can even be expressed as. complete feeling of inadequacy and ineffectuality. This is due to their more tendency to outwardly exude peace even if they are in distress. This line also explicitly mentions crack, an extremely addictive substance. Pisces does have a link to addictions, though crack is bit extreme. We could replace crack with any momentarily-good but terminally-bad thing like constant sex, alcohol, less deleterious drugs, or even sleep and food. 

“Don't no one hear a sound Don't no one disturb the peace for riot Don't no one disrupt nirvana Don't no one wanna blow the high”

This line points out how Pisces tends to zone out and escape, especially when the world is a bit too much. Sleep is a common one, as Pisceans tend to have amazing dreams that likely beat a shitty or stressful life/situation. Nirvana, the ultimate escape, is associated with Pisces. They’re constantly trying (whether purposefully or subconsciously) to connect with the Great Other or the Universe or God. Anything blowing their high or disturbing their nirvana is cut off.

Overall

Frank said that he sung this song so it would sound like a smoker singing it. He wanted the fractured breath to show a long past and pain, as well as the self-abuse often an unintentional result of substance abuse. “Crack Rock” could also speak of a physical crack in a rock, separating from himself from the ones he loves due to the addiction. Isolation is common theme for Pisces.

check your moon sign (for the song that makes you comfortable and puts you in your emotions), sun sign (the song that makes you happy and the one you ride around to) and venus sign (the one that speaks to your inner artist).

[medicifm]

*  not  me  actually  writing  an  intro  the  night  before  like  i  always  mean  to  😳  hennyway  hey  biddies  ,  i'm  chloe  ,  im  in  the  snowy  part  of  pst  ,  &  i  use  she / her  pns  .  i’ve  been  . . . . . . .  scouring  the  tags  for  an  rp  like  this  so  im  so  excited  to  bring  this  newish  muse  of  mine  here  !   im  here to  do  the  honours  of  introducing  my  himbo - on - the outside , manipulative - shit - on - the - inside  . . .  oscar  🤡

(  twenty  three , cis  man , he / him  ) ✉ ― hey  babes , have  you  met  OSCAR  MEDICI ?  they’re  working  here  as  THE  HEAD  CHEF  AT  LORENZO’S ,  a  few  villas  down  from  where  you’re  staying  .  you  might  hear  them  singing  ALRIGHTY  APHRODITE  BY  PEACH  PIT  playing  from  their  villa  ,  it’s  their  favourite  song  .  yes  ,  they  hear  that  they  look  like  JACK  GILINSKY  a  lot  ,  actually  -  it’s  really  uncanny  .  their  friends  back  home  in  SYDNEY , AUSTRALIA  say  that  if  they  were  on  a  tv  show  ,  their  trope  would  be  THE  WOLF  IN  SHEEP’S  CLOTHING  ,  how  funny  is  that  ? ✎ chloe , 22 , she/her , pst

𝐢  .

pinterest  |  wanted  plots  |  

𝐢𝐢  .

name  :  oscar  gabriel  medici

age  :  twenty  three

dob  /  sign  :  december  4th  ,  1997  /  sagittarius  sun  ,  leo  moon  ,  libra  rising 

pob  :  sydney , australia

gender / pronouns  :  cis  man  &  he / him / his

career :  head  chef  at  lorenzo’s  ,  full - time  heathen  ,  professional  disappointment  for  mothers  everywhere  .

drinking / drugs / smoking :  yes / more  often  than  he’d  admit / never .  

religion  :  jewish  background  ,  currently  non - practicing .

physical  :  jack  gilinsky  fc ,  dark  brown / black  longish  curls  (  reference  )  ,  dark  brown  eyes  ,  canon  jack  g’s  tattoos  ,  no  piercings  ,  6′2″  ,  175  lbs  ,  lean  but  strong  .  tattoos  a  la  canon!jack  ,  pearly  white  smile  that  he  may  . . .  or  may  not  . . .   use  crest  3D  white  strips  weekly  to  maintain  .  lots  of  burns  &  scars  from  kitchen  mishaps  on  his  hands  &  arms  .

traits  :  hard - working  ,  flighty  ,  intelligent  ,  hedonistic  ,  charismatic  ,  intense  ,  volatile  ,  

other  :  speaks  weird  french  (  aussie  accent  tings  )  ,  tans  easily  but  wears  sunscreen  nonetheless  ,  works  hard  parties  harder  ,  can’t  read  a  lick  of  french  but  spends  a  lot  of  his  free  time  with  a  coffee  &  a  new  paperback  ,  has  a  bit  of  an  internal  vendetta  against  rich  people  (  for  no  real  reason  ,  he  just  doesn’t  like  most  of  them  )  ,  has  ins  with  a  bunch  the  local  farmers  &  visits  them  weekly  ,  pretends  he  isn’t  lowkey  addicted  to  nicotine  administered  via  a  puff  bar  ,  liquor  of  preference  is  tequila  or  red  wine  ,  drives  a  lil  vespa  around  town  for  the  gag  of  it  (  loves  seeing  it  haphazardly  parked  amongst  a  bunch  of  luxury  cars  )  ,  

character  inspo  :  jess  mariano  (  gilmore  girls  )  , gordon  ramsey  🤡 ,  patrick verona ( 10 things i hate about you ) , ferris bueller ( ferris bueller’s day off ) , han solo ( star wars ) .

𝐢𝐢𝐢  .

oscar’s  arrival  was  as  unwanted  to  his  parents  as  could  be  :  a  father  whose  tendencies  leaned  towards  alcoholism  &  abusing  whoever  was  in  arms  reach  ,  a  mother  whose  life  was  more  or  less  spent  at  the  nursing  home  she  worked  as  a  nurse  at  ,  evading  home  .  he  became  a  self - inflicted  loner  ,  preferring  to  do  literally  the  exact  opposite  of  what  was  expected  or  wanted  from  him  .  he  had  a  few  friends  he  ran  with  ,  but  watching  them  all  go  off  &  study  or  prepare  for  university  solidified  in  oscar’s  mind  that  the  non - traditional  route  was  for  him  .  growing  up  by  the  water  ,  oscar  always  felt  more  drawn  to  skip  school  &  head  to  the  beach  than  he  did  obeying  his  parents  wishes  .   

one  of  his  solaces  was  his  grandfather  ,  gabriel  ,  who  owned  an  italian  restaurant  in  a  beach  town  north  of  sydney  .  whenever  the  weather  was bad  &  oscar  felt  like  ditching  class  ,  he’d  head  over  to  his  nono’s  restaurant  where  his  ass  would  be  put  to  work  as  soon  as  he  set  eyes  on  the  restaurant  .  it  was  tough  work  ,  but  challenging  in  a  way  that  fanned  the  flames  in  oscar’s  heart  ,  rather  than  dimming  them  .  by  the  time  he was  a  teenager  he  was  working  in  the  restaurant  everyday  after  school  , an  agreement  between  him  &  his  grandfather  framed  on  the  back  wall  that  stated  that  as  long  as  oscar  kept  from  flunking  out  ,  he  was  allowed  to  spend  as  little  or  as  much  time  in  the  kitchen  as  he  pleased .  

his  absolute  defiance  of  anything  traditional  &  following  the  rules  made  him  unpopular  with  adults  ,  but  lowkey  cool  with  the  girls  .  by  the  time  he  was  sixteen  ,  he  was  losing  his  focus  on  the  restaurant  &  his  grades  &  spending  more  &  more  time  chasing  after  girls  .  his  nono  tried  to  get oscar  to  come  back  &  focus  ,  but  as  always  ,  anything  he’s  asked  to  do  quickly  becomes  the  thing  he’s  running  from  the  most  .

tw  :  death  ,  cancer  .  around  his  eighteenth  birthday  ,  his  grandfather  suddenly  fell  ill  with  a  rare  form  of  cancer  that  took  his  life  six  weeks  after  diagnosis  ,  which  rocked  oscar’s  world  .  he  felt  overwhelming  guilt  that  he  hadn’t  spent  more  time  with  his  grandfather  ,  which  manifested  itself  as  oscar  dropping  out  of  school  a  year  shy  of  graduation  to  commit  himself  fully  to  perfecting  his  grandfather’s  techniques  ,  learning  all  of  his  recipes  (  read  :  pouring  over  dozens  of  handwritten  cookbooks )  in  some  failed  attempt  to  get  back  some  time  with  him  .  oscar  hadn’t  been  close  with  his  parents  in  years  ,  more  or  less  seeing  them  as  wardens  of  a  prison  he  wanted  nothing  to  do  with  .  his  grandfather’s  will  left  him  the  deed  to  the  restaurant  ,  with  an  ask  that  oscar  would  promise  to  act  on  whatever  he  felt  called  towards  ,  rather  than  doing  what  others  expected  of  him  .  to  be  candid  ,  this  whole  situation  crushed  him  .

eventually  ,  he  decided  he’d  had  enough  of  the  stifling  community  he’d  grown  up  in  .  he  sold  the  restaurant  to  one  of  the  regulars  ,  a  wealthy  man  who  he’d  come  to  acknowledge  as  somewhat  of  an  uncle  ;  a  safe  pair  of  hands  who  would  treat  his grandfather’s  legacy  with  as  much  passion  &  respect  as  oscar  himself  would  .  so  he  packed  a  bag  ,  texted  his  mom  that  he  was  going  traveling  ,  &  got  on  a  flight  that  evening  .  he  traveled  all  around  -  first  through  central  america  ,  then  through  europe  ,  throughout  asia  &  africa  ,  &  spent  a  few  months  driving  a  van  across  the  continental  united  states  &  canada  for  fun  . 

eventually  ,  he  started  getting  low - ish  on  money  ,  &  decided  to  settle  in  one  of  his  favourite  places  he’d  visited  :  southern  france  .  he  arrived  in  early  2018  ,  taking  on  whatever  menial  tasks  he  could  while  learning  french  until  he  got  a  position  as  a  line  cook  in  an  italian  restaurant  .  a  few  years  later  ,  he’s  made  his  way  up  to  filling  the  head  chef  position  ,  an  honour  he  takes  with  pride  .  he’s  implemented  many  of  his  own  recipes  while  using  flavours  he’s  learned  from  his  travels  ,  with  ingredients  straight  from  local  farmers  .  he’s  earned  the  restaurant  a  two michelin  star  rating  ,  &  is  constantly  striving  for  more  to  get  that  last  star  (  both  for  his  own  ego  as  well  as  a  secret  debt  to  his  grandfather  )  .

𝐢𝐯  .

ok  but  that  vid  where  gordon  puts  two  pieces  of  bread  on  someone’s  head  &  calls  them  an  idiot  sandwich  ?  that’s  oscar  .  intense  as  fuck  in  the  kitchen  ,  &  best  nobody  catch  an  attitude  about  it  bc  he  will  not  hesitate  to  hand  them  their  ass  on  a  silver  platter  .

another  gordon  reference  :  you  know  how  he’s  the  spawn  of  satan with  adults  ,  but  the  sweetest  ,  most  helpul  guy  with  children  ?  that’s  oscar  with  his  staff  vs  people  he  wants  something  from  .  whether  its  to  sleep  with  them  (  usually  his  first  instinct  to  be  fair  )  ,  their  money  or  clout  ,  or  to  get  into  some  wild  adventure  some  random  resort  staff  wouldn’t  dream  of  getting  into  ,  he  can  turn  on  the  charm  whenever  needed  .

can  go  from  absolutely  demoralizing  someone  in  the  kitchen  to  stepping  out  into  the  lounge  to  schmooze  with  his  friends  or  cougars  who  leave  phat  tips  in  0.2  seconds  .  the  speed  at  which  his  mood  can  completely  180  is  one  of  the  seven  world  wonders  (  last  i  checked  )  .

his  love  language  is  absolutely  acts  of  service  .  catch  him  actually  falling  in  love  once  in  a  blue  moon  &  making  it  his  mission  to  cook  her  extravagant  meals  everyday  .  

the  wolf  in  sheep’s  clothing  label  epitomizes  his  nice  ,  helpful  ,  charismatic  exterior  ,  while  ulterior  motives  &  disdain  for  those  who  grew  up  with  more  money  than  he  did  lurk  beneath  the  surface  . 

he  can  be  MEAN  when  someone  fucks  him  over  or  pushes  him  farther  than  he  wants  -  isn’t  afraid  to  go  for  the  low  blows  or  send  someone  home  with  an  identity  crisis  if  it  protects  himself  .

lowkey  alcoholic  but  he’s  not  ready  for  that  conversation  yet  .  he  sees  it  more  as  perks  of  the  location  &  atmosphere  he’s  found  himself  in  .

also  lowkey  falls  in  love  HARD  ,  like  this  man  is  a  closeted  romantic  but  self - sabotages  all  potential  relationships  before  they  can  get  to  that  point  out  of  fear  he’ll  be  unable  to  live  life  of  his  own  volition  (  takes  a  flaky  philophobic  sagittarius  to  know  a  flaky  philophobic  sagittarius  🤡  )  .  has  probably  only  had  a  few  real  relationships  besides  flings  bc  he’s  afraid  .

𝐯  .

check  out  my  wanted  plots  tag  listed  here  ,  as  well  as  my  pinterest  wanted  plots  board  here  .  here   are  some  other  suggestions  hehe  :

best  friend  /  ride  or  die  :  someone  who  knows  about  his  past  ,  keeps  him  grounded  when  he’s  lk  spiraling  &  wants  to  drop  everything  &  flee  to  some  far  flung  corner  of  the  earth  .

actual  relationship  :  it  was  fast - burn  with  deep  feelings  (  not  them  thinking  they’re  soulmates  after  dating  for  a  month  . . .  pete  &  ariana  type  beat  )  but  completely  unrealistic  .  they  have  their  own  life  ,  he’s  pretty  much  tied  to  the  restaurant  ,  not  to  mention  his  lack  of  sharing  anything  about  his  childhood / life  back  home  .  they  loved  &  cared  for  each  other  ,  but  crashed  &  burned  fairly  quickly  because  of  how  idealistic  it  was  .  they  can  either  be  on  bad  or  good  terms  now  .

hateship  with  sexual  tension  😈

summer  flings  !!

fake  boyfriend  :  he  shows  up  on  her  arm  to  her  family’s  events  where  she’s  expected  to  have  a  partner  .  it’s  not  a  real  relationship  ,  but  her  parents  don’t  need  to  know  that  .  he  plays  the  part  &  satisfies  her  parents  beyond  the  bare  minimum  ,  &  in  return  she  invites  him  to  parties  ,  takes  him  out  on  her  family’s  yacht  ,  etc  etc  .  we  luv  some  symbiosis  

i  can  always  use  more  fwbs  hehehe

squad  :  a  group  of  people  who  do  everything  together  ,  have  a  chaotic  group  chat  ,  have  nicknames  for  one  another  ,  are  utd  on  each  other’s  sex  lives  ,  party  all  night  then  show  up  to  brunch  hungover  together  .  

cat  &  mouse  :  someone  he’s  pursuing  who  isn’t  quite  giving  in  ,  &  vice  versa  .  maybe  it’s  been  going  on  a  few  years  ,  everytime  they’re  in  st  tropez  they  have  this  weird  lil  flirtationship  thing  goin  on  until  she  leaves  ,  they  forget  about  one  another  ,  then  pick  it  right  back  up  when  she  returns  .

confidant  :  preferably  someone  from  a  working  class  background  who  understands  his  plight  of  being  a  worker  amongst  people  who  expect  to  be  waited  on  .

enemies  :  they  don’t  like  his  attitude  ,  &  he  doesn’t  like  them  in  return  .  lots  of  eye  rolls  ,  shit  talking  ,  &  tension  between  their  mutual  friends  .

we’re  sleeping  together  but  we  shouldn’t  be  but  that’s  half  the  fun :  for  whatever  reason  they  became  friends  ,  starting  hooking  up  despite  it  not  being  a  good  idea  (  read  :  he’s  exes  with  one  of  her  friends  ,  her  parents  want  her  focused  on  career  ,  they’re  part  of  the  same  friend  group  ,  etc )  . . . but  now  they  can’t  stop  .  lots  of  stolen  glances  across  rooms  ,  squeezing  past  one  another  in  a  crowded  club  just  close  enough  for  a  quick  touch  to  the  back  ,  quietly  leaving  one  another’s  places  the  morning  after  &  playing  dumb  to  anyone  who  asks  . 

[ofcloudsandstars]

Celestial Forecast

Week 29 - 5

Highlights:

On Wednesday, July 1st, Saturn's retrograde re-enters Capricorn

On Sunday the 5th, The Full moon in Capricorn will be a partial Lunar Eclipse

Hey Guys, I am having a bad habit posting these late but as you can see with all the energy shifts, I am also dealing with a lot of personal shifts and though some are exciting, naturally most of my energy is directed in my every day life. I am going to keep this up best I can but at the end of the week (so close to the eclipse lol yay!) I return to work so lets see how things go.. This weeks theme really seems to be focusing on our ambitions, where we devote our energy towards and if we are using our energy wisely to strive towards our goals. This peak climax of it all will be when the Full Moon in Capricorn at the end of the week is a partial lunar eclipse. Eclipse energy is destructive and brings change so it could bring climatic change in our personal lives to whatever is blocking us from our potential and it can bring massive change globally towards governments, authorities and businesses. Jupiter rx and Pluto rx are still conjunct all this week encouraging us to expand within and connect to our inner sources of power and transformation. This energy will also amplify the themes of goals we need to strive towards especially on a grander scale with Pluto being an outer planet. Lastly I tried to chart Iris, the little asteroid that can help us connect with our inner sources of faith, hope and inspiration as working with smaller celestial bodies can help us tap into larger celestial bodies when they go retrograde but guess what? Iris is also retrograding haha. So Neptune retrograde is just hard reality on full migraine blast with no paracetamol to blunt the pain. Personally my magic has been expressing itself through very practical ways like putting energy in the food I prepare or cleansing space but when it comes to energy work or energy based spells I am not feeling too motivated lately. I feel very much focused on the physical and mundane plane, and with so much Capricorn hard energy happening this week wants us to focus on the physical plane as well and how we can shift things around to help make things happen in the future.

Note: Times are set to UTC.

____________

29th

Mercury rx conjuncts Vesta in Cancer ☾♎ Moon Opposite Chiron and Mars in Aries ☾♎ Moon Squares Jupiter rx and Pluto rx in Capricorn ☾ VOC 14:01 - 23:47 ☾♏ Moon enters Scorpio ☾♏ Moon Squares Saturn rx in Aquarius

Energy: Following the first quarter moon in Libra it feels like a lot of tension build up and strategizing. If you are unsure which path you want to take today may push you in a direction due to aggressive outside influences. If you are already sure and were strategizing before hand, these challenging encounters could bring up obstacles you need to be aware of in order to overcome them. An overarching theme today is Mercury rx conjuncting Vesta in Cancer. The energy may be subtle since Mercury is in retrograde and Vesta is an asteroid which the minor celestial energy focuses on our inner methods and motivations. This transit will bring up how we have gone about pursuing our aspirations and goals towards past goals, especially abandoned projects that may have meant a lot to us emotionally that we may feel called to return to. First the moon will square Jupiter rx and Pluto rx in Capricorn creating tension forcing us to focus on our inner expansion and source of power. This transit can cause us to reflect on our journey so far and feel compelled to make any adjustments to help our inner growth and soul connection. With the theme of Mercury rx conjunct Vesta we could be focusing this energy on how we have pursued our aspirations and goals. Especially with everything shifting so hectically this year, this area of our lives would definitely be up for review. Afterwards the moon will be opposite Chiron in Aries which could bring up a painful external event that could cause us to be aware of our own suffering or suffering of others. With the moon still within orb of the Pluto rx and Jupiter rx square this painful event or memory could push you further in your journey of inner expansion. It may not be a pleasant process but taking time for yourself to reflect and process everything could be better than hanging around other people. Especially because afterwards the moon will be opposite Mars in Aries bringing external challenges or aggressive encounters. Even if you handle the first few lunar transits alright, this one could bring agitated people who did not process them well around you. Additionally this transit could highlight challenges in your way that you may have to overcome. This could be a time of trials like a test where you need to apply lessons previously learned to overcome these presented scenarios. After a break with the void of course, the moon will enter the depths of Scorpio and square Saturn rx in Aquarius. This square can bring up tensions regarding our responsibilities and make us feel forced to focus on them. It can be a bit of a suffocating transit and with the hostility earlier it can make us feel bound by our previous decisions. However facing tasks with courage or using the binding energy to strategize on how you can better address these responsibilities could benefit you in this time. Lunar transits are not too long, they are like chapters in the day so it won't last forever.

Recommendations: Today may feel emotionally aggressive with the lunar transits and how we may apply to energy towards strategizing or reshifting our goals. It's best to take time to reflect or meditate on our strategies and plan to take action. With the oppositions can bring aggressive encounters so putting up protective shields and wards could help today. With the moon opposing Chiron then entering Scorpio, shadow work could be beneficial especially in reflecting on any past experiences that are still causing us pain and helping to heal and reflect on it. _________

30th

Sun conjuncts Mercury rx in Cancer Mercury rx in Cancer sextiles Uranus in Taurus ☾♏ Moon Opposite Eros and Psyche in Taurus ☾♏ Moon Trines Sun, Vesta and Mercury rx in Cancer and Ceres in Pisces

Energy: The theme of the day today will be focusing on the emotional sides of our mental state with the sun conjunct Mercury rx in Cancer. A lot of emotional memories or revelations could change the way we feel towards our families, our homes or what makes us feel secure. Additionally this transit will be heightened with Mercury rx sextiling Uranus in Taurus. There is a push to make changes that could help break habits, bring new perspectives or shift ideas regarding our inner emotional state and feelings towards what makes us feel secure or homely. The moon will trine the sun today and this waxing gibbous phase is a great opportunity to launch projects, take action on goals and get what you need done as the energy will be harmonious and beneficial. With the moon trining Vesta, Mercury rx and Ceres in Pisces there is additional beneficial energy with examining your inner goals and ambitions, reflecting on your mental space and nurturing yourself. It's a good day to review your feelings, make adjustments or break habits where you need to and nurture yourself in this process. The moon will also be opposite Eros and Psyche in Taurus which can bring external sources that can help fuel our inner fire. Perhaps in this window of time when the moon is opposite Eros, you could meet someone or encounter something that ignites your inner fire to take action. With the moon opposite Psyche, there is a focus on karmic lessons that can help us align with our soul. This can amplify the Mercury rx aspects that will ask us to review our emotions and work through them to see which still are beneficial with us to hold on to.

Recommendations: This seems like a gentle yet emotional day. It's a good time for self care routines to help process the emotional journey. Practical daily magic that would be great for this day would be: bath magic, kitchen magic or meditation. Additionally tarot can help with some insight if you want to do some shadow work and get another perspective on your feelings and what you need to let go. _________

1st

Saturn retrograde re-enters into Capricorn Sun in Cancer sextiles Uranus in Taurus ☾♏ Moon Opposite Uranus in Taurus ☾♏ Moon Trines  Neptune rx in Pisces ☾♏ Moon Sextiles Pluto rx and Jupiter rx in Capricorn ☾ VOC 2:20 - 2:21

Energy: July kicks off with Saturn re-entering Capricorn as it continues it's path on retrograde! This re-entry chapter is all about what we have learned previously from Saturn's transit through Capricorn, how it has impacted us karmically now and reviewing the structures and foundations of our lives (and society) especially regarding authorities, governments, businesses and careers. On a macrocosmic scale a lot of governments and systems of authorities would be under review (especially with everything going on) and how they need to be restructured in order to benefit the community more (like how Saturn in Aquarius's transit was so chaotic so far because communities in a lot of western country don't have enough support from the government). On a personal level this can be a time for you to review your responsibilities and internal structures regarding your career or what you have built for yourself so far in life. With Mars in Aries it's certainly a time to look towards things that motivate you. With Pluto rx and Jupiter rx still conjunct however it's a time to reflect on this and try to expand within and connect with yourself before moving forward. We are still in a retrograde period. Along with this energetic shift you have the mighty sun sextiling Uranus creating a push for change. This change can be positive, help break habits and make progress. The Lunar transits will also reflect these themes. First the moon will trine Neptune rx in Pisces which can bring opportunity to review our inner faith and spiritual path. This can bring new enlightening perspectives and potentials to see where we have been deceiving ourselves previously with beliefs that no longer serve us. After the moon will be opposite Uranus in Taurus which can signify external circumstances bringing change or forcing us to evolve in response to it. This window of time may make us feel a bit untethered or out of control of our situation but if you go with the flow and be open minded to change it can bring new perspectives. Lastly the moon will sextile Pluto rx and Jupiter rx in Capricorn giving us a push towards inner transformation and inner expansion. This window of time could help us to process the Moon and Uranus opposition and the changes the Sun and Uranus sextile could bring. It's also a good transit to help with the energetic shift of Saturn re-entering Capricorn. It's a great day for inner transformation, change and growth. After all this the moon will go void of course giving us a moment for a break.

Recommendations: This is a period for re-evaluation and transformation. Meditation, shadow work and divination can help. Divination may still be unclear as we are reaching another eclipse but it could be a good pointer to where you should focus your current energy. Doing beneficial energy work with Uranus and channeling the planetary energy can help you open up to change and use these shifts for beneficial upgrades instead of getting lost in the current of new tides shifting everything around. _________

2nd

☾♐ Moon enters Sagittarius ☾♐ Moon Trines Mars and Chiron in Aries ☾♐ Moon Sextiles Juno and Sappho in Libra

Energy: Today will feel optimistic and expansive as the moon enters Sagittarius. This upbeat energy can be felt as the moon will be amplified through certain aspects throughout the day that will help us to venture towards our genuine interests and authenticity and strive towards what motivates us. First the moon will trine Mars in Aries which can give us a beneficial boost for striving towards what we want. This window of time is fantastic for making the first move towards goals you want to achieve, things you'd like to claim (whether it be new job ventures, asking a desirable someone out on a date, taking risks towards anything you want). This energy will feel directed towards striving towards your genuine interests and attractions as the moon closely after will sextile Sappho in Libra helping us to focus on our true interests that speaks to our inner philosophies. Afterwards the moon will trine Chiron in Aries and sextile Juno in Libra at the same time. The trine will give us a beneficial boost in healing ourselves and others and processing any pain from our past. The sextile with Juno will give us a push to go after what reflects our values and where we should commit our devotion towards. In the past if you've ever felt rejected or unappreciated towards an area, a field (like a vocation) or in a relationship, this transit could help you heal that and revisit trying to reconnect with those areas that you should commit your energy towards.

Recommendations: With the moon in it's waxing gibbous phase and also transiting Sagittarius with these positive aspects, it's a good time to sit down and reflect on where you'd like to channel your energy towards accomplishing a goal that means something to you. Whether it be something creative, something career wise, something romantic or anything, really think about what motivates you and what you want to achieve in this time and work towards that. If you feel you do not have the right materials yet, do some attraction magic to get it your way as this lunar phase is beneficial and can draw it towards you. The energy will feel fiery and optimistic so using fire-based magic could feel in tune with attraction magic (like using an enchanted candle for example).

_________

3rd

Sun in Cancer trines Ceres in Pisces ☾♐ Moon Opposite Venus in Gemini ☾♐ Moon Squares Neptune rx in Pisces ☾ VOC 14:05 - 5:47

Energy: Today will feel a bit more at ease as the theme will be flavored by the Sun's transit trining Ceres in Pisces. When the Sun trines Ceres there is harmonious energy throughout the day that can feel caring and be beneficial when it comes to caring for others and yourself. The issue with trines though they are beneficial, they are so harmonious and easy going you can miss this chill opportunity and take the energy for granted. However the Lunar transits are a bit more disharmonious in comparison so maybe the overarching theme of the day could help smooth them over. First the moon will be squaring Neptune which can give a lot of tension revolving around our inner faith, spiritual path or witchy practice. You may have a circumstance that will call your path into question and it's purpose or authenticity. It can be an uncomfortable time if you are not feeling secure in your practice but it's a good time to reflect on any areas that are not resonating with you. Additionally the Neptune rx square can add additional pressures with escapism (if you take this time to escape or indulge in substances you might go easily under the influence) yet with the retrograde stripping away illusions it may not always feel so satisfying. After this transit the moon will be opposite Venus in Gemini which can bring attention to our relationships in our lives. This can either make us feel lonely and isolated or feel the need to reach out to the other. Additionally this window of time could bring new friendships or relationships into our lives. It's a good time for attraction magic when it comes to people. Finally there will be a void of course starting from the afternoon giving us a break to process everything.

Recommendations: This is a good time to relax and reflect on our spiritual path. Dream magic could help a lot especially since dream meanings will be very direct during this time and can help give us insight. With the venusian lunar energy it will be a good day to show someone close to you that you care by nurturing them in some way. Additionally it's a nice time for attraction magic before the void of course.

_________

4th

Sun conjuncts Vesta in Cancer ☾♑ Moon enters Capricorn ☾♑ Moon Squares Mars and Chiron in Aries and Juno and Sappho in Libra ☾♑ Moon Trines Uranus in Taurus

Energy: Today's theme will be your ambitions and your methods towards striving towards your goals with the Sun and Vesta conjunct in Cancer. This responsible energy will be met with the Moon entering Capricorn giving us a stern yet mature vibe and the ability to focus on tasks we need to complete. There will be tensions with our motivations with the moon squaring Mars in Aries. We may feel frustrated as we aren't sure how to proceed and it may create rash impulses yet it's a good time to reflect on what makes us feel blocked from progressing and strategize ways around that. With the moon squaring Sappho in Libra after there will be tension regarding our relationships to our genuine interests and if we are acting towards them. If we feel blocked from expressing our true selves it's a good time to reflect on that as well. Lastly the moon will square Chiron in Aries and trine Uranus in Taurus at the same time. This may make tension with our inner healing and bring up painful memories yet with the trine with Uranus this gives us beneficial opportunities for easy change and new perspectives. We may learn lessons from our painful past that we weren't able to see before and how to change our present in order to grow from that situation. This can tie into the overall theme with our methods of striving towards our goals and what is keeping us blocked. It's a good time to break habits and try to move forward!

Recommendations: It's a good time to reflect on your goals and what you need to change in order to reach them. It's a good time for shedding what's no longer needed. Though it's the eve of a full moon, tomorrow will be a Lunar Eclipse bringing endings and destruction therefore making it great energy to break down external barriers of what is blocking us. Reflect on what you feel is stifling you and try to make changes with the beneficial Uranus trine. Hold on to what obstacles you feel are in your way and prepare to banish them on tomorrow's Lunar eclipse. _________

5th

Full moon in Capricorn, Lunar Eclipse ☾♑ Moon Conjunct Jupiter rx and Pluto rx in Capricorn ☾♑ Moon Opposite Vesta, Mercury rx and Sun in Cancer ☾♑Moon Sextiles Ceres and Neptune rx in Pisces

Energy: Today's energy will feel POWERFUL! with the Full moon in Capricorn being a partial Lunar Eclipse, bringing endings and breaking down anything in our karmic path especially in regards to things blocking us from our potential with our careers, the government, authorities or anything we are trying to build. Additionally the moon will conjunct Jupiter rx and Pluto rx in Capricorn amplifying this energy with lessons on what we need to expand on within or what sources of power and transformation we need to access within. The moon will be opposite Vesta bringing us opportunities or insights on our goals. Additionally with it being opposite Mercury rx in Cancer it can give us new perspectives or highlight our inner emotions through external events or reveal other's feelings. The moon will also sextile Ceres in Pisces helping us with taking time to be nurturing towards ourselves and others which is needed in this time of change and breaking down old walls that need to be destroyed. Lastly with the moon sextiling Neptune rx in Pisces it's a moment where we will feel pushed to review our spiritual paths and work on our inner faith. It's a fantastic time to be creative and review our beliefs. Overall this eclipse, though destructive as all eclipses are, it feels like a storm that is coming to cleanse and renew and clear paths to allow people to reach their highest potential. It feels very positive.

Recommendations: Eclipse energy can be chaotic and destructive so it's not a good time to charge anything. However with Lunar eclipses it's a great time to do destructive magic that could benefit you such as breaking barriers and obstacles that stand in your way. With the theme of the moon in Capricorn, you can focus on whatever is in the way of your ambitions and break those down. This may be amplified while the moon is opposite Vesta. This time is also great for reflection as the moon will sextile Neptune rx in Pisces and how our beliefs can help us strive towards where we need to be. _________

[astrologysvt]

Soonyoung’s Ideal Type - Natal Chart Reading

For ideal types, I’m not going to be doing specific placements of their ideal partner. Instead, I’m gonna be listing personality traits I think would mesh well with them, as well as focus on their needs and the kind of person who could meet them. what this reading cannot account for is the compromising the members would do on their end for their s/o. so just keep in mind this is only half of the whole picture!

lol whenever i start another soonyoung reading i brace myself cuz how tf am i gonna write 1.5k words ALL ON GEMINI 

but oh man do i find a way.

humor is the way to this guy’s heart. 

someone super funny & playful. 

gemini placements in general tend to get really fixated on people that intrigue them. 

someone with a lot of personality, and i think that aqua influence in him through the 11th house would make him very attracted to someone with very different life experiences from him while meeting him in the middle on likes/dislikes/perspectives. 

(lol i feel like i’ve said this before for literally every member... there’s so much aqua in this group). 

when he has a crush he’s the type to want to text/talk with them constantly, and will look for any excuse to start up a conversation/learn something new about them and spark a new discussion.

his gemini is very much fueled by the excitement of conversations that bounce back and forth, and where two people can freely ignite and fuel each other’s enthusiasm. 

when there is such a lively back and forth, it brings this sense of discovery that he really loves.

whether it’s in learning new things about himself by friction or learning new things about his s/o. 

it validates his need for a reactive audience, and makes it feel like his s/o is doing what they can to see him eye-to-eye which his gemini really appreciates.

and so because of that he’s gonna want someone super responsive who will play along with his jokes, not make him second guess himself when he’s being silly, and will always give him a really great reaction. 

he wants to be hyped up, and with that he also 100% wants to be his s/o’s #1 hype man as he loves relationships where there is a lot of pride in each other.

someone very generous with praise.

his leo rising WANTS TO BE BABIED SO HARD. 

so definitely someone who is willing to dote on him and generally be very thoughtful. 

oh man, he wants to both spoil and be spoiled.

may it be in affection, delicious food, thoughtful gifts, or words of appreciation. 

he is this super contradictory mix of doesn’t want to be told what to do/wants to be taken care of. 

and so i think a dynamic that could meet that is with someone who lets him do his thing, will stand by him/support him even if that just means being someone he can fall back on, and will offer him comfort when he needs it. he just wants to know his s/o will be there for him to lift him at his highs, and really really baby him at his lows.

with a leo rising, this puts all of his gemini placements in aqua’s house which makes him this super independent person who understands his unique place in the world.

he wants to do his own thing and not think twice about it and generally gets really frustrated when he feels he needs approval. 

then that leo in and of itself is incredibly fixed and understands well what he wants. 

then on top of that his gemini makes him super set in his ways about the conclusions he’s come to may it be on situations/stances/interests and so forth. 

but to contradict all of that, his leo rising makes him soooooo susceptible to praise and flattery which kind of frustrates his air placements.

he hates needing approval, but really feels at a loss of he needs to act without support. 

so as i said before, he wants to be hyped up and this just amplifies that.

his s/o should be ready and willing to support him and offer him validation, and preferably before he has to ask for it as this is something that really feeds that leo rising heart. 

his s/o should also just be super physically affectionate as this placement makes him a super cuddly dude!!

so something that i didn’t really get into in his chart first impressions are decans! 

when you’re looking at a chart with so many placements in one sign, to get a deeper/more nuanced analysis you can look at the decans.

his mars and moon are in 2nd decan, so this gives these planets a little tinge of libra influence. 

with the moon and mars, this is going to give his gemini placements an attitude that is a lot more focused on harmony ESPECIALLY considering the relevance these planets have to relationships.

he’s going to want to be with someone who can offer him a very balanced dynamic. 

someone who can meet his gemini’s reach for curiosity/passionate discussion as well as someone who is willing to compromise when necessary.

this is emphasized by his gemini placements that are pretty averse to people who are close-minded/set in their way/immovable by logic and debate. 

but then you throw in that libra and a sense of fairness is incredibly important to maintain in relationships or else he’ll get moody. 

this also makes him kind of flighty because he doesn’t like saying no. 

and so, in a very contradictory fashion, he may benefit from someone who is divisive enough in relationships to say it up front if something is wrong, what needs to get done, and to aid him to act when he needs to as he may find he’s more a people pleaser in closer relationships than he may like/be aware of. 

his sun and venus are in the 3rd decan (aquarius)

so this is interesting, mainly because all of his gemini is already in the 11th house so his aqua influence was incredibly strong to begin with. 

and so this brings strong sense of individuality, desire to set himself apart, as well as a strong emphasis on friends/community. 

he’s very averse to someone who wants to pin him down while also making him very attracted to someone whose very individual.

another way to really catch his intrigue is by being someone very progressive and forward thinking.

lol i also think about how he said on ofd castaway that his ideal type was someone who was a bad girl but nice to him. 

i think the concept of a bad girl would be appealing to him based off the fact the concept in and of itself is very unconventional. 

because of that, someone who is so unconcerned with being ordinary is, in and of itself, very attractive to him. 

i also think it’s important to say that i find aqua influences are going to be the ones who value friendship more than they do romance. 

he would be SO turned off by someone who felt they needed to restrict his interactions with his friends in any way shape or form -- may it be his s/o wanting him to cancel plans to hang out, his s/o wanting him their side at a party, or generally if his s/o saw the way he values friends as a threat to their relationship.

really, any kind of tug away from his friends (no matter how gentle/forceful) is going to deter him from someone. 

moving on from decans tho!

his mercury and moon are conjuct on either side of his mars. 

i think it’s interesting to have both of his moon and mars conjunct each other as this is a very dynamic, very reactive influence to have. 

this makes him that super boisterous, excitable, passionate hoshi we all know and love. 

this also makes him very straight forward in love. 

he’d honestly just think that someone who was as bold/straight-forward as he was, or someone who didn’t blink an eye at his antics would be incredibly attractive to him. 

it’d excite and encourage him. 

mercury also adds to this straight forward sense as he’s very straight to the point and expressive in language~ 

he really appreciates a very simple, predictable, candid communication style with his s/o. 

his sun is conjuct his venus which is super cute as i think this is one of the reasons hoshi is so cuddly. 

when you have the sun in conjuct to venus, you really attribute a lot of those super romantic and soft venusian vibes to him that give us Squishy Hoshi™️ 

he’s certainly a romantic, and would want someone who is very loving and affectionate. 

and kind of snowballing from his libra decan from before, this is what makes him much more accommodating than your run-of-the-mill gemini. 

he’s incredibly concerned with maintaining and seeing to his s/o’s happiness, and makes him want a simple and considerate relationship.

his mars is opposite pluto!!! this one is the WILD one. 

mars meeting pluto in hard aspect is an INCREDIBLY powerful placement. 

they’re both very intense planets -- mars ruling the more carnal aspects of ourselves and then pluto owning the more obsessive parts. 

there is a sense of extremes within him -- extremes in love, extremes in passion, extremes in bouts of anger. 

he’s very drawn to act, and having such a potent/provocative planet like pluto at the whims of the turbulent and fierce mars can give him a great sense of unrest when his gemini mars in challenged. 

so situations that may cause this placement to act out are when he’s being restricted.

gemini’s like the freedom of choice and exploration (may it be in life, career, and relationships) and so he’d really benefit being with someone who allows him to embrace this part of himself as this will avoid potential conflicts with is mars. 

with that, it is also really important that his s/o both give him space to be himself while also being willing to tell him how it is if he’s acting out-of-hand. 

his gemini’s energy is really easy to redirect, so once he’s been given a bit if perspective he gains control of the situation very quickly (see: the whole ofd japan money situation)

but that pluto influence makes his anger very all-consuming so he really struggles to reach that point without external help. 

this placement also makes him very attached/possessive in love. 

i think especially with that leo rising, that he’d want to be with someone who was okay with the idea of them being “his.” 

he wants freedom obviously, but he certainly wants to make it clear to everyone whose his s/o is and would really love it if his partner returned the sentiment as his leo likes the idea of being someone his s/o could be proud of. 

another significant thing to note in terms of relationships is his neptune and jupiter in the 6th house!! 

i think this is SUPER interesting. 

all of his energies are super intense, passionate, potentially impulsive and stubborn. 

but then you put these outer planet influence in the house of virgo that adds a strong emphasis on lifestyle, work, and domesticity. 

he wants to be with a very accountable, reliable, and generous person in daily life thanks to his jupiter in the 6th house.

then you throw in that neptune that makes him incredibly feeling/empathetic that makes him drawn to care for people without hesitation. 

both of these make him very generous/selfless in relationships, especially in terms of providing, supporting, and being generally thoughtful 

(though keep in mind that the 6th house doesn’t really come into play too much in relationships until they’re sharing a space/lifestyle). 

because of that he’d like to be with someone who 1) is equally generous and 2) is going to ensure people (themselves included) do not take advantage of this aspect! 

his openness in this regard makes him rather vulnerable to people with malintent and so someone with a discerning eye could be of benefit to him! 

another kind of interesting way of looking at it: depending on how aware his friends/family/the members are of this aspect in him -- it’s highly probable that someone who is more impulsive, self-focused, and rather insensitive to what they take vs what they give will simply not pass the “can i date soonyoung” test. 

and considering how his aqua influences make him value friendship more than romance, he’s more than likely going to listen to his friends over anything a potential suitor may have to say.  

he’s just really rather gullible in this regard and he MUST be protected. 

he is a very all-or-nothing guy on so many fronts. 

he doesn’t really know what it’s like to be stingy in love/affection. 

and so, if he’s with someone who is more reserved/practical/stoic, this brings a sense that he needs to now be self-conscious of how open he is in this regard which HE HATES. 

so it’s vital that he’s with someone very loving, very open, and just as heavy-handed in affection as he is while also being very aware, thoughtful, and considerate. 

maintaining good feelings in his relationships rely just as much on acknowledging actions as they are on giving. 

oh man, i was totally not able to touch on EVERY single aspect in his chart relating to romance and relationships so this convo can certainly be returned to. 

but the last thing i’ll touch on is his aqua descendent! 

so his rising is in leo which makes him this person who really craves recognition/validation in ways that are very self-indulgent/congratulatory (tho i wouldn’t particularly say “vain”) 

he’s certainly someone very focused on gaining approval, and where he’s gravitated to in life and love is someone who represents the exact opposite of that. 

someone who encourages him by example and validation to be himself, and removing that kind of “i need approval” blockade he may have in his personal life that causes him to second guess himself/prevents him from seeing the full picture of his importance/uniqueness. 

being with someone like that would allow him to be more focused on what he brings to the table, as opposed to simply using other’s reactions as a measurement of his worth.

he’s very much like this in his work, but this unapologetic confidence may not be extended towards relationships/romance.

generally just a sweet boy! 

he wants an exciting relationship where humor is boundless. 

i think he’d be INCREDIBLY delighted by someone who not just meets his wackiness, but attempts to one-up him. 

someone who is brave enough/trusts enough in him to stand with him when he’s putting himself out there, may it be in more serious circumstances or in defense of a really bad joke he’s made. 

and someone who is going to really teach/reinforce to him what he means when he says he values individuality. 

i think this is incredibly relevant to him due to the fact he considers himself an introvert -- there is still a strong part of him that second guesses himself when putting himself out there, that causes a kind of delay/volatility in how he expresses himself socially where he’s A LOT ALL AT ONCE and then fizzles out.

and so i think if someone is able to be that constructive/discerning eye for him while also being able to look at all the wild he is already and meet him half way is something that would 1) make him fall SO HARD but also 2) really make him feel secure enough in himself to the point he’d feel he has a choice in how extra he wants/doesn’t want to be. 

i especially think this is true considering how much more unapologetically weird he is around his members, as opposed to everyone else. 

he’d want to reach that level of comfort with his s/o. 

[graffiastrology]

The Archer, a musical birth chart. Pt2 Capricorn the man

Let's start with :Uranus in Capricorn

Uranus here is not so comfortable and their revolutionary ideas are hold back, Capri is more concerned with real change than fictional utopian ideas, In the case of Swift she took her sweet time to publicly discuss her political views and to be open about her posture on a lot of civil rights, don’t misunderstand me, they were there, just very hidden (the 12 house) but when Capricorn gets down to business they meant it and it can be verified in the tangible changes she made in 2019; she did something beyond the performativity: she pushed a ACT she made a real and tangible change, she was not comfortable just telling homophobes YOU NEED TO CALM DOWN, now we are turning tables (note: At the moment of writing this the equality act has been reintroduced to change.org and is currently at 832k, come guys you have made her debut with 1 million units at the b200 so many times) http://chng.it/5wYyBW4Rvw

But as it is usual with her, the haters were still after her, so much bullshit even after it all, is so easy to go after Saturn on the Ascendant, is it not?

One interpretation of having Saturn in the ascendant is an individual who is prone to be bullied, people are MEAN to them, they doubt their words, and in turn the person becomes so aware of how they come across, some people choose to present themselves in a serious and controlled manner to avoid this, and even more for Saturn in Capricorn, but then we have an opposition, and what does a stern Capricorn stellium say to a soft cancer moon who feels very deeply the words? one day you are going to be living in a big old city, one day you are going to be so big that they can’t hit you, With effort, hard work with a strong work ethic, one day you are going to move the big apple Take your broken heart, put it in a drawer, and it going to sound like WELCOME TO NEW YORK, we have been waiting for you, the Capricornian dream! (Neptune in Capricorn) and now is time to be up in the lights, like diamonds in the sky, you are the LUCKY ONE, Miss swift: money by millions, records after records, your discography is worth so much money, you have an enormous squad of famous friends who have your back when you fight, a big department in New York, but darling... did that fill empty seats at the lunch tables of your past?

And as it is usual with Saturn, he returned. And in her chart it was an intense transit: first for her sagittarian sun then for her ascendent: It was 17 of July of 2016, Saturn was starting his transit in Sagittarius, close to her sun. Meanwhile Pluto was transiting her ascendant, that was the day an influential female libra published an edited conversation that put Taylor in a really bad light. Celebrities rely a lot on images, her image was shattered, and her reputation dragged to the mud celebrities rely a lot on the perception the public has of them, and images are so fragile that a mishap can destroy them, but in her case she had so many people just waiting to have a valid reason to hate her, little it matter to them that the reason was a fabricated lie (if by this point you have not listen to the whole record call, please do so, as it will become very important for the Scorpio section) everything seemed lost, they assassinated her reputation, and then the pain to know that you were lied to, double crossed and declared "death" everything seemed lost for EVERMORE..... but it wasn't. Saturn returns also speak of reclaiming our power, learn lessons and overcome challenges, and its ironic, back on the 1989 world tour she made a big and deep speech that she gave before performing a song that will be the lesson she had to experience in her bones, and it goes like this:

I just hope that you will look in the mirror and remind yourself of what you are, and what you are not. You are not your mistakes. You are not damaged goods or muddy from your failed explorations. You are not the opinion of someone who doesn’t know you. You are a product of the lessons that you’ve learned. You are wiser because you went through something terrible. And you are the person who survived a bunch of rainstorms and kept walking. I now believe that pain makes you stronger, and I now believe that walking through a lot of rainstorms gets you CLEAN.

Unfortunately Saturn was not done yet, and so it returned to her natal lucky Saturn 13°, all 2018 she had Saturn transits, first for her ascendant then by her natal lucky Saturn 13, behind of the scenes the work of 15 years, 15 million tears was sold for 300 million of dollars to a man that participated in her takedown, while she was “kindly” offered to recover 1 master for 1 album, the scooter brought each master for 50 million dollars, while she was asked to give a entire album, AN ENTIRE ERA, for each master, it was not fair, but it legal. Oh Capricorn women, you play by the rules, you hustle, you stay your ground, you let your work speak for itself…and what happens? The system showed to you the place they have selected for you. to continue to work with these men or to just give up and move to something different, Sometimes walking out is the one thing That will find you the right thing

IT WAS TIME TO GO, but go where?

To THE LAKES, to enjoy melancholy and solitude, after all Capricorn is a feminine sign and is in the same axis with cancer and now I want to point to another of her placements: Mercury conjunct Saturn, This one is a challenge and a gift, difficult learning, a lot of repetition to get the grip of concepts, but once this is tackled, it becomes great at using words, it was a running joke that Taylor made swifties grab a dictionary so they can understand the album folklore, and there are lyrics that exemplifies this:

I've come too far to watch some name dropping sleaze Tell me what are my words worth

Its said that mercury in Capricorn are scientific and pragmatic thinkers, but honestly I have found a couple of song writers with this placement who are very poetic , you can say is the conjunction Neptune and Saturn , I like to say that Capricornian mercury is systematic, which is very prominent in Scientists and engineers , but this structural thinking can be applied to arts as well, and also can be a failed system. After all is about connecting points and words, I could also put a selection of the colors of Taylor swift, another recurrent theme in her writing, but you know what? I say that is just Taylor, it has nothing to do with her birth chart.

Mercury is also about our writing style and when I was reading her lover diaries a lot of them had the signature of capricorn "I just cant wait to be older" yeah that is, also this:

Speaking of writing lets talk about folklore, the album of the year 2020! She did that! an by that I mean she created a new perspective for her music, the old tired argument that “she only writes about her exes” fell flat as she made stories about different characters that captivated thousands of new listeners and I can see a placement in action here:

Capricornian Mercury opposite to Cancerian Jupiter :

The history of James, Betty, and Agustine

It was 2020, a terrible, terrible year for almost everybody, and Taylor found herself in a situation outside her control, the lover era was cancelled like pretty much everything else, she was lucky enough to be in a safe and comfortable place, it was when her imagination flew wild and made history with Folklore and Evermore, from these pieces of work she did something people didn’t gave credit: Writing. As she expanded her storytelling abilities outside her life (which she had already explored not just as much) she crafted a story that was connected across various songs:CARDIGAN, AUGUST, BETTY, TIS IS THE DAMN SEASON and DOROTHEA there is one big picture(Jupiter) and each song gives us details(Mercury) in how the participants lived it; they were in the same classroom,: BETTY, Inez, DOROTHEA, James, their teenage years full of dreams and problems, it was just a summer break when James took the train in AUGUST, and had a summer fling, breaking 2 hearts but he came back to apologize, and she accepted him. Meanwhile Dorothea was trying to make it in LA selling dreams and magazines, while Chris missed her until THE DAMN SEASON came around and they connected one last time. If you remember I selected these last songs for the freedom seekers of the zodiac: Sagittarius and Aquarius which let me jump to the next section.

[luna--reading]

[PICK A CARD] WHO WILL ASK ME OUT NEXT?

Hello lovelies~ ♡

This is a pick a card reading for “Who will ask me out next?” Please do find peace if it doesn’t resonate with you~

So take a few minutes to mediate on these 4 piles:

Pile 1 – 4 (from left to right)

Once you’re ready, just scroll below to find the reading that you have chosen!

You can always leave a comment or simply like the post if it resonates with you, thank you so much~ ♡♡♡

Pile 1:

Tarot: 6 of Cups, Judgement, The Tower, 5 of Wands, 2 of Wands

Oracles: Unrequited Love – There’s not enough attraction or chemistry to keep this relationship going. / Lantern Fairy (24) – A clear solution. / Mildew Fairy (15) – Clean-up time. / PURIFICATION / CHANGE / Mediation for Clarity / Virgo

Okay to start off, the sign that I drew is Virgo, so you might be a Virgo or dealing with someone with Virgo strong in their chart. Or strong Virgo in Mars (with The Tower card) or in Pluto (with the Judgement card). Or maybe you or the other person has strong Mars or Pluto energy in either of your charts. But if it doesn’t resonate, then it’s alright as this is just for some of you!

So, I see this person as someone you have a past with, there is a strong ex feeling (to be honest), but if you are single and have no such person, maybe you can click off to another pile or just someone that you know in the past. I feel like this person is someone you have a rough history with, with the 5 of Wands, I see a lot of competition, conflict when you were together with this person in the past, even if it’s not a committed relationship but just some sort of situation-ship. And I see that there has been a lack of balance in this particular connection, things just see like it was unrequited, there was an unstable foundation in this connection, which meant that things crumbled pretty quickly for the both of you.

So, I see this person coming back from the past and I see that you might hesitate when this person really asks you out with the 2 of Wands. You are stuck at crossroads, not knowing if you should accept or reject, because maybe deep down you still have feelings for this person. No matter how did this connection ended previously, you feel like there is still something special within this connection and you are hesitating. Because, I do see that things were rough for you, and it’s kind of like you know you deserve better but you still went ahead with this connection because you felt like you really wanted it and I won’t say you entirely regret it but you are questioning the worth of taking that risk back then.

So, you are hesitating, you don’t know whether history will repeat itself or if things will change. Now, this person there is a change of energy, I strongly feel. With Purification, Change, Mildew Fairy and even the Judgement card which has strong Pluto energy (which speaks of transformation), I see that this person has changed upon the last time you see him/her. This person finally sees that there has been something lacking in the way they deal with relationships, or just things not right so I do see that after this breakup or no contact/communication, they have learnt, and they have start changing. With the Mediation for Clarity, I do see them going within themselves to ask themselves what is it that they want out of this relationship. So, I do see that they have been holding on to their feelings for you and that this has encouraged them to make the changes in the way they deal with relationships.

Now, whether or not you accept this offer, it’s entirely up to you. But I do see that eventually, with the Lantern Fairy as well as the sunflower in the Purification card, I see happiness in your upcoming love life. Maybe you decide to accept this offer and you find that yeah, there are changes and things are just progressing for you. Or maybe you decide to reject this offer and you see things clearer, in the sense that you understand what is it that you really want in relationships. Because the Virgo energy in love also talks about how you might have been hurt in the past, and now you tend to be very choosy or picky in your partners because you just don’t want to get hurt like how you did in the past. But at the same time, I see you as someone who is very analytical when it comes to love, you understand what is it that you want and you don’t want and you set your goals on them very clearly. Or maybe this is the energy that you are asked to embody, to understand yourself first before you make any decisions in love.

Pile 2:

Tarot: 8 of Wands, 3 of Wands, 4 of Swords, The Sun, 7 of Swords

Oracles: Engagement – Your love life is ascending to a higher level of commitment. / URANUS / PLEASURE / FULFILLMENT / COURAGE / Plant the Seeds

To start off, the zodiac sign energy that I have pulled out is Uranus so there might have strong Aquarius in either one of your charts, or might have strong Leo with The Sun card. But there is a very strong mixture of Air (Gemini, Libra, Aquarius) as well as Fire (Aries, Leo, Sagittarius) in your reading. But, if it doesn’t resonate, it’s alright as this is just for some of you!

Okay so I’m seeing this person might be living at a distance from you or you might have known this person either online or when you are traveling. With the strong Wands energy, I do see great attraction from this person. So this person does see you as someone who is very positive, very cheerful, there is an element of feeling fulfilled when he/she is with you. I kind of get the feeling that you guys might be in some sort of situation right now, like it’s not exactly a full-blown relationship but some sort of situation-ship with the Plant the Seeds card. This card, to me, reflects the 7 of Pentacles in tarot so I feel like you guys have already been talking, you guys have already been laying the ground for this foundation for your relationship and the next step will be to ask you out!

I feel like maybe you know this person for quite a short period of time, but things are escalating pretty quickly for the both of you (or at least on this person’s end, they want things to progress quickly with you). Because with the 7 of Swords, I’m not exactly getting a “deception” feeling, I feel like they aren’t hiding anything from you, and I just feel like given your connection with this person, there is no need for them to hide their feelings from you because I do get a sense that this person is actively trying to pursue you. So, when clarified, I feel like what this person is “hiding” is their desire to bring this whole connection to a higher level of commitment with the Engagement card, 4 of Wands and the 2 of Cups. I see that they see you as the perfect match for them and maybe you guys aren’t official yet but they are already seeing that future with you.

Okay so more characteristics or description of this person, so I really do see that this person is someone who seeks pleasure in the little things. They are courageous, they know what they want and I do feel that they will get what they want. They are a go-getter and that they can be creative in the ways that they attain these goals. It’s like this very fiery, passionate energy in dealing with their goals but at the same time, there is this energy of being introverted, keeping to themselves. So, it’s more of like they get easily happy with the things that they have but when there is something that they really want, they will go forward to attain them.

Pile 3:

Tarot: 4 of Cups, 5 of Wands, Queen of Swords, King of Cups, 4 of Wands

Oracles: Stay Optimistic about your Love Life – Positive thinking and faith will bring your romance. / Dragonfly – Live life to the fullest. / SCORPIO / PURIFICATION / Learn from Life

Okay, so the sign that I have pulled is Scorpio, in addition to the King of Cups (which usually represents Scorpio as well but strong water in their chart – Pisces, Cancer, Scorpio) or strong air (Gemini, Libra, Aquarius) in either yours or their chart. But if it doesn’t resonate, it’s alright as this is only for some of you!

So, moving on, I feel like this person has a very optimistic vibe – in regards to love, work or just life in general. They look at things from a very positive perspective and that they are someone that will always live in the present. I feel like on the surface, they might seem like someone who loves a challenge and that they aren’t afraid to fight for what they want. They aren’t afraid to voice out their opinions, or just anything in general. They can be very sharp with their words but I do see them as someone who is very honest in their thoughts.

But deep down, I feel like this person can come off as pretty mysterious, they are someone who has very deep emotions and they might not necessarily voice out these emotions to the people around them. Especially with the Dragonfly, I feel like they are constantly changing, there is this vibe of self-realisation, they know what is it that they should change in order to attain their goals. So, they are very goal-driven but at the same time, they work smart to attain these goals.

With the Dragonfly as well as the sunflower in the Purification card, they see you as someone who brings in joy, happiness and positivity into their life which is kind of in line with their own personality. They might be someone who teaches you important life lessons (or you might have taught them some major life lessons) but I see that this person sees you as someone who is willing to learn from them or just from life in general – someone who seeks for progress in whatever you do. With two 4s card – 4 of Cups and the 4 of wands – they see you as someone who can provide the same stability and security that they can if they were to start on this relationship with you. Afterall, 4s are about stability and security but at the same time, it represents hard work and determination.

So it’s kind of like both of you are pretty similar, or at least that is how they view you and that they really do admire these traits about you, which it could also be a mirroring effect (with the 4 of Wands) whereby you are admiring these traits about them, and it could possibly be the person of interest in your mind.

Pile 4:

Tarot: 5 of Wands, Ace of Pentacles, 6 of Pentacles [3 of Wands, The World, Knight of Wands], Knight of Swords, Queen of Cups

Oracles: Pay Attention to the Red Flags – The signs are cautioning you. / Love Yourself First – Your self-respect makes you romantically attractive. / Fairy of the Divine Hand – Intoxication, distorted view, overindulgence / CANCER / Mediation for Peace and Security / RELEASE / EMBRACING

Okay, so the sign that I have pulled is Cancer, in addition to the Queen of Cups (which usually represents Pisces as well but strong water in their chart – Pisces, Cancer, Scorpio) or strong air (Gemini, Libra, Aquarius) in either yours or their chart. But if it doesn’t resonate, it’s alright as this is only for some of you!

Okay so I have been hearing “work” as I was shuffling through the pile, so maybe you know this person through work but when I asked what are some possible scenarios for you to meet this person, it shows that you might have known this person while travelling. Or travel is an important aspect in your or the other person’s work or just simply travelling is crucial in this connection.

So, for a small group of you, I feel like this person might have some unhealthy habits that might cause a small issue in this connection with the Pay attention to the red flags, Fairy of the Divine Hand and the 5 of Wands. I see that there might have already been a conflict with this person in regards to whatever unhealthy habits or thoughts or just traits with this person. But that is really just a small group of you, from what I see.

So, I feel like this person is a good communicator, they know how to communicate their thoughts clearly, they can be seen as someone who is rather sociable – just having a way with their words. I see them working very hard right now to build on their finances (specifically) with the two Pentacles card. Because its kinds of feel like they take on the Knight of Swords energy and they see you as the Queen of Cups energy. So, there is this sort of imbalance in “status” and that they are trying to improve that imbalance through improving their finances. Or it could be finances are an important aspect in their lives and right now, that’s what they are trying to improve on.

With them seeing you as the Queen of Cups, I feel like they see you as a loving individual, because to me, the Queen of Cups is the most loving queen in the deck and that you have so much love to offer to them. The Knight of Swords, talks about communication but Swords energy also reflect on our thoughts so I do see them thinking of you and with it being the Knight (which is all about taking action), I do see them thinking of taking action, moving towards you because you provide that sense of security to them. I feel like you have been working on yourself which really attracts this person into your life. They see your worth and they see you building on yourself with so much self-love and self-care and now, that’s why they are thinking of taking action towards you by asking you out!

They see a stable foundation that is possible in this connection with the Ace of Pentacles and that they just really want to get things back into balance in regards to their insecurities. Because with the Release card, I see certain negative energy needing to be release before they advance in this connection but I really do see them slowly embracing their weakness, embracing themselves and to move forward. So if you think you might have a history with this person, and now they are coming forth, to tell you that they have already release certain negative patterns and that now they are a changed person.

[queenofmoonstonetarot]

April 2021 Zodiac Predictions

Aries/Aries Risings: You are still the birthday Kings & Queens right now because it is still Aries Season. In the first 2 weeks of April, the sun will be conjunct Venus in Aries in your 1st house & will be sextiling mars in Gemini in your 3rd house of communications. Conjunct means when 2 planets are in the same sign. Venus in your first house will give you a great deal of energy, super keen for new beginnings, to go out in the world, to connect with people, you may be excited to change things about your looks/appearance this month. Our 1st house has to do with our personalities, identities so when Venus is in the 1st house it brings the energy of changing your looks & buying something nice that makes you feel confident. You will be feeling really loved & appreciated this month because venus rules your 7th house of relationships/partnerships. When the Sun conjunct Venus you could be feeling very spoiled this month. Mars, your zodiac’s ruler is in a beautiful aspect to the Sun conjunct Venus in your 3rd house of communications. The first 2 weeks of April will be amazing to promote any services you are offering, promote your job, also a great time to network with clients and a good time for promotions. From April 7th to the 16th Jupiter in Aquarius will be in your 11th house which brings a sense of getting excited to where your life is headed, making plans for your future and a very active time from a social perspective. You could be making plans to see friends you haven’t seen in a long time. This is a very chatty/intellectual time for you. The card I chose for you guys was the 3 of cups, it's a time to feel fulfilled & celebrate with people who make you smile, I feel that surrounding yourself with friends is something that will be important to you this month Aries/Aries Risings.

Taurus/Taurus Risings: It is almost your birthdays Taureans, April 19th we can start lighting the Birthday Candles. The Month is happening in a slow start for you meaning the first 2 weeks in April. Right now Taurus sun is in the 12th house, the 12th house is spending time by yourself, introspection & things that are unseen. Sun will be Conjunct Venus in your 12th house & will be sextiling Mars in Gemini in your 2nd house of money & income. Even though you may be sleepy/isolated the first 2 weeks of April, it does look like you are working on something behind the scenes that is bringing you an increase in your income. Gemini, the planet of communications in your house of incomes is sextiling with the Sun in your 12th house (remember the 12th house means unseen things/below the surface). From the 7th to the 16th of April Jupiter will be sextiling Aquairus in your 10th house of career. Taurus you are pulling some strings behind the scenes so that you can advance in your career. Jupiter is the planet of luck & expansion so it being in your house of career I sense goodluck! You could be doing some secret negotiations this month or maybe you are doing work behind the scenes that you probably don’t want your boss knowing about. You could be getting a job offer & something unseen right now is going to make itself appear. Conversations in regards to your career that is unseen are spoken about in your favor. The tarot card I received the Moon card for you guys. The Moon card jumped out of my deck & I noticed that the Moon is number 18 (1+8=9) 9 = the Hermit card in tarot speaking about introspection & distancing yourself. The Moon card symbolizes things that may not seem clear right now in regards to what may be going on in career, but the fear you are projecting is not actual the results of the outcome, it's time to be patient & to focus on the present instead of the future.

Gemini/Gemini Risings: The Sun will be Conjunct with Aries in your 11th house in the first 2 weeks of April. Also sextiling Mars in your 1st house. You are feeling on fire in terms of your mental connections/intellectual conversations with your friends/coworkers. Jupiter in Aquarius will be in your 9th house, this is a time for you to expand your knowledge, expand your wisdom, and engage with people to learn. Mentally you will be on a high this month. The tarot card I received for you was the 10 of Cups. When the 10 of Cups pops up in a Tarot reading, you have a sense of wholeness, completion, and alignment in your relationships with others. You are experiencing an idyllic state of peace, harmony and love where your dreams and wishes have come true. Take a moment to step back and appreciate everything you accomplished. You created a life of connection and bliss by following your heart and trusting your intuition.

Cancer/Cancer Risings: The first half of April are incredibly focused on your career. Between the 1st & 14th of April the Sun is going to conjunct Venus in Aries in your house of career & sextiling in your 12th house of behind the scenes & introspection. You will be very busy this month & inspired with your career as well. You have a lot of energy to kick of things in your career & if you have been thinking about going a different route in your career you will be supported by others around you. You feel confident to start new projects/a new opportunity. In the past few months something in your home life could have been preventing you from giving your 100% effort into work. There was some stress within something to do with home & pressure is now off your shoulders. The card I received for you Cancers was the 8 of Pentacles. The 8 of Pentacles is a card of apprenticeship and mastery. When this card appears in a Tarot reading, you are working hard to improve your skills and become a master at what you do. You may have recently changed your work, education or financial circumstances, and now you are applying your sheer determination and concentration to master the new skill that you are learning. You are diligent and hard-working and you are applying yourself fully to whatever is at the centre of your attention. As you do the same task over and over, you work your way towards mastery of your craft, and through your perseverance and unwavering attention, you create success.

Leo/Leo Risings: From the 1st of April to the 14th the Sun conjunct with Venus will be in your 9th house of long distance travel, higher mind & higher education. Mars will be sextiling in your 11th house. You will be spending a lot of time in public for the first 2 weeks connecting time with like-minded people who share similar goals & interests. You may be getting some positive news in regards to travel, legal, paperwork & documentation. You are in a really productive mood in regards to your long term future as Mars the aggressive planet will be in your 11th house of long term goals. From the 7th until the 16th of April Jupiter will be in Aquarius in your 7th house of relationships/partnerships. You may be feeling ready to plan in future in regards with your partner, maybe a trip? Planning to get married? Talks about the future together. Officialize a relationship during this time. Spending a lot of time with a partner in social events is also happening this month. The card I received for you was the Ace of Cups. Now is the perfect time for you to open your heart and experience the rich flow of emotion available to you right now. You are more receptive to creative opportunities, loving connections, and deep compassion for other living beings. As with all Aces in the Tarot, this card comes as an invitation. Will you take it? Will you say “Yes!” to Divine love and compassion, and will you run with it? The Ace of Cups carries the potential for spiritual and emotional fulfilment – but only if you embrace it with an open heart. You may be inspired to start a new project, take an art class or even engage in interpretative dance. At this point in your life, you are comfortable with who you are and happily express this part of yourself to others. You see fresh potential in allowing your creative juices to flow. Let your imagination and talent unfurl to new possibilities.

Virgo/Virgo Rising: The first half of the month the Sun will be conjunct Venus in Aries in your 8th house of intimacy, psychological breakthroughs & the 2nd part of month will be focused on 9th house matters meaning higher education, travel & broadening your horizons in some way. Mars will be in Gemini in your 10th house of career. You will have the ability to solve crises at work, to act like the authority figure at work that steps up & helps people overcome some of the challenges that they might face. I feel you are helping out well at your career. Mars the planet of aggression in Gemini means this month you could be intellectualizing in your career & really stepping up to the plate to help. Jupiter will be in Aquarius in your 6th house of day to day life. This means you will be overcoming some sort of stress at work or that you can finally get along or work well with a team member. Also mentally you will be overcoming some things if you mental health hasn’t been the best. You are getting better health wise. I pulled a tarot card for you this month & it was the Ace of Swords. The Sword signifies in this card clarity of thought. The Ace of Sword is the only card besides others (Queen of Swords and Justice) that has an upright sword signifying mental clarity. The other cards in the Swords Suit have slanted/angled swords signifying mental blocks, thoughts turning inwardly. Represents a new beginning, a new idea being formed. Success through clarity and thought. In a relationship meaning, it can mean having the same thoughts/goals as your significant other being on the same page mentally.

Libra/Libra Rising: The first half of the month will be very focused on partnerships/business partnerships. If you are single, you are in very high demand to others. The sun will be conjunct in Venus in Aries in your 7th house. Venus is the ruler of your zodiac sign the planet of love. Romantically I see you hooking up with someone & or meeting someone in the love department. Mars will be sextiling in Gemini in your 9th house, you are going to be very mentally stimulated in relationships the first half of the month & if you are in the process of formalizing a business partnership with Mars in the 9th house in regards to where the partnership is heading. Jupiter in Aquarius will be in your 5th house meaning romantic energy at its best, there is a lot of flirty energy this month for you. I feel a lot of social energy happening for you this month, it is PARTY time! The card I received for you was the 4 of Wands. The castle in the background symbolizes stability. The 4 of Wands is a celebration/enthusiastic card after the planning and the waiting actions are now coming to fruition. There is something definitely to celebrate in the Libra's Life. In a relationship reading this means having or making a solid foundation for the relationship. The 4’s in tarot are all about security and solid foundations. New foundations could be started for my singles.

Scorpio/Scorpio Rising: The first half of April the Aries Sun will Conjunct with Venus in your 6th house of health, day to day routine & work & the 2nd half of April is very focused on your relationships. Sextiling Mars in Gemini in your 8th house of intimacy & psychological breakthroughs. You are driving your energy to solving crises & challenges at work. You will be intellectualizing new ideas in your career. You will be making great strides in regards to your health/mental health. In the 7th through the 16th Jupiter sextiling Aquarius in your 4th house of home & family. You are putting a lot of daily effort in reorganizing your house, maybe working on the house & or working with a family member working things out. You will be leading people at work. The card I received for you was the 6 of Wands. The 6 of Wands shows a victory parade with everyone congratulating him (you), even his horse he is riding. The wreath in this card is symbolic of personal power and success. The 6 of Wands can symbolize a job promotion, a goal reacher or personal confidence with yourself. In a relationship sense this card means you and your partner have goals and you both will achieve them. Your personal power will be achieved in April.

Sagittarius/Sagittarius Rising: The first half of April the Aries Sun will be conjunct in Venus in your 5th house of creativity, creative project & for those of you with children I see lots of activity with your children. Through the 2nd half of April I see you will be drawn to work matters, daily routines & health. Mars in Gemini will be sextiling in your 7th house of long term relationships/partnerships. For those of you who are single this is a fabulous time to put yourself out there, to mingle & to go on dates. Also get involved with people in your circles to things you are passionate about, mingling with your friends, getting together with people you care about. Connecting with your inner child this month is about getting more aligned with your creativity. Channeling a creative outlet. The card I received for you was the Sun card. This card is about embracing vulnerability, adventurous & a bright month for you. The Sun card is #19 (1+9=10) 10 = the Wheel of Fortune good luck & is actually the card of Jupiter ruled by Sagitarrius. The Sun signifies a time where you can feel inner peace, hope, joy & a burst of freedom. All tension is resolved. The Sun card brings happiness for yourself. It also can signify children/pregnancy. An extremely positive card for marriage, gratitude, pregnancy, success in material wealth. Being child-like and enjoying creativity.

Capricorn/Capricorn Risings: The first half of April, Aries Sun will be conjunct with Venus in your 4th house of family & homelife. The first half of the month will be really invested in home life matters & helping family members. The 2nd half of April will be focused on enjoying yourself in the 5th house of creativity & self expression. Mars in Gemini will be sextiling in the 6th house of day to day routine. You could be refreshing the home environment, renovating it, possibly moving & or maybe buying new furniture. From the 7th to the 16th of April Mars will be sextiling Jupiter in Aquarius in your 2nd house of money & income. This is a fabulous time to increase your income. Your talents are being put to good use in your career & I feel there will be collaborations within the career. The card I received for you was the 10 of Pentacles. It shows a solid, stable & comfortable home environment. This card signifies material success. It represents completion, a big purchase (home, card). & success in a business. In a career reading, it means a stable established business containing opportunities for promotion & success. In a relationship reading, it can mean you met someone through career/work or you both have a business partnership together.

Aquarius/Aquarius Rising: In the first half of April the Aries Sun will be conjunct with Venus in the 3rd house of communications. The 2nd half of your month will be in the 4th house of family life & your home. You will be intellectually on fire, you will be conversing with people, networking in business & sales. You will be very mentally stimulated. You will be much more persuasive than normal. You will be communicating with a partner very well. Lots of planning of getting together with friends. I feel a lot of flirtatious energy & a lot of texting flirty messages. There also could be some short distance travel. The card I received for you was the 8 of Wands. The wands are moving so fast it is a period of little to no obstacles. This is a period of you being propelled forward to your goals, resist it and go with the flow. This is also a card of travel hence why there is water in the background. In a relationship sense, getting the 8 of Wands can be a time where you and your partner can enjoy life together without the need to struggle during tough times. Lots of fast communication at this time.

Pisces/Pisces Risings: The first half of April the Aries Sun will be conjunct Venus in the 2nd house of income & finance. You are hustling like no one's business, I see a lot of money coming in April for you. The 2nd half of April Taurus Sun will be in your 3rd house, focusing on communications & short distance travel. Mars in Gemini will be in your 4th house of family & home. You will be buying new furniture for your home, possibly saving up to invest in something in the home or could possibly paying off your home. You are working really hard & your hard work is paying off. The Wheel of life is constantly in motion, turning events to better or worse. Life is changing for the positive to you right now. The wheel is spinning to your advantage. Good luck & good fortune is coming. The universe is working in your favour. Lots of improvements to your finances and in general your life. A turning point, karma, what goes around comes around.

[hermeticimp]

Firefly - Chasing After The Fleet-Footed Messenger

Hey guys! So the next asteroid that I wanted to talk about was is named after our dear Greek trickster Hermes. As my patron, this was the first asteroid I started looking at, at least with this particular project. I’ve spoken about my relationship with him a lot on this blog before, but this time we’ll get to say what my birth chart has to say about our connection. I’m excited! Let’s jump in! 

Hermes - god of travelers, communication, commerce, shepherds, thieves, psychopomps, adventurers, boundaries, messengers, and about a thousand other things. However, most important is this case is that he’s the god astrology. As such, this is great devotional act that I will be taking full advantage of. 

Hermes (69230) is located in Capricorn in the 11th house. It is conjunct Aquarius Uranus and Capricorn Neptune, which are also in the 11th, and trine my Virgo Mercury in the 7th. I’ll break down the individual components before synthesizing them together. 

Aquarius is the sign of individuality, rebellion, and revolution

The 11th house deals with themes of purpose, friendships, groups, societal structures, finding one’s tribe, and resonance

Uranus is the planet of individuation, freedom, epiphanies, and sudden change

Capricorn is the sign of hard work, power, integrity, and self-control

Neptune is the planet of intuition, the unconscious, spirituality, illusions, and transcendence

Virgo is the sign of self-analysis, service, growth, and perfectionism

Mercury is the planet of information, thought, communication, the mind, and observation

The 7th house is about intimate relationships, equality, interdependence, healthy relationships, rapport, support

Conjunctions indicate that the energy of two or more planets blend together and are hard to tell apart

Trines point to two or more planets having a easy-going relationship that can indicate talents and gifts

My initial analysis is that Hermes is a guiding light of sorts for me. He’s inspires me to go after my dreams and aspirations, regardless of how out there they may be. As long as they resonate with and express my inner most desires, he encourages me to pursue them. He sees the potential that I struggle to see myself. He reminds me to have faith in the work that I’ve already done. With that, there’s no expectation that I have to follow any rules of interaction with him that don’t vibe with me. It’s important that I do what feels right for me and not anyone else. Otherwise, I put myself at risk for being led astray, which is a topic that preoccupies my mind already. When I find myself doubting things, he leads me to epiphanies, people, and opportunities that reaffirm my belief in the powers that be. 

Beyond that, I can feel his energy rather easily. Though it is most noticeable when working with others and being authentic to myself, it’s something I’m nearly always rather conscious of. There’s a close bond between the two of us. Communication, information, and intuitive knowledge flow naturally in our relationship. Even when my conscious mind may deny things, my intuitive side doesn’t and he helps bridge the gap between the two. However, he won’t tell me everything. There are times where he challenges me to figure things out on my own as they will make more sense and easier to accept. Some things just won’t sink in without personal experience. Even then, the option to bounce ideas off of him is there. Clues and hints are communicated, but it’s still for me to analyze and piece together. 

One final note is that I find it interesting that this asteroid is trine Mercury. In mythology, Mercury is the Roman counterpart of Hermes. They are both deities of travel, communication, messengers, merchants, wit, thieves, psychopomps, and tricksters. Out of most of the Greco-Roman deities, these two are the most conflated. I admittedly haven’t worked with the Roman pantheon. I just thought it was an intriguing placement. It could indicate that working with both deities could work well. Only time will tell.  All of that being said, how does this compare to my personal relationship with Hermes? Honestly... it fits to a T. Hermes has helped me through a lot. Even when I doubted the existence of deities, I always felt a pull towards him. I have a firm trust in him, much like I would a close friend (11th and 7th houses). When I’ve talked to him, he’s advised me to be more authentic and true to who I am rather than sticking to what others may expect of me (Aquarius Uranus and Capricorn Neptune conjunction). I’ve struggled with how to interact with him on many an occasion because I let what other polytheists said dictate what I did. Never once did that feel right until I saw a post from @underworldariel about approaching relationships with the gods the way it feels right for you (fitting that Ariel herself has some Aquarius placements). That opened up the path that has led me to where I am now - a person who works with and is devoted to the God of Messengers. @lands-end-ada once told me that where Uranus lies is where you’re most prone to get bad advice. Neptune has themes of spirituality. With the close ties between Hermes and these planets in the 11th (resonance, friendships, societal expectations), I think that suits this situation perfectly. 

I do feel closest to him when I’m being of service to others (Virgo) and honoring myself (Aquarius), which allows me to align my professional interests with my personal ones (Capricorn). However, I do see his influence in my more personal relationships. With my friends and family, I’m often the communicator. People come to me with their problems, I mediate (which is admittedly my 7th house Libra Sun too), I pass along messages and information, I give advice, I get people together, and I’m the one who keeps up with what everyone is doing and how they’re feeling. Even though I’m an introvert, it’s a role I’ve fallen into rather naturally. It just feels right to maintain those connections. All of this points to the trine between Hermes and my 7th house Virgo Mercury. Sure, it also indicates the fact that Hermes and I understand each other with perfect ease and comfort, but I’ve been recognizing this aspect playing out more and more recently. With the quarantine and global pandemic, I’ve been keeping up with my loved ones and updating them on each other more often: I’ve arranged a weekly video chat with my friends, talk to family members regularly, entertain my siblings, and relay any info I get on social media about those I don’t talk to as much. I have always related to Hermes’ messenger aspect, but this whole situation just made it stand out all the more. 

Outside than that, there’s been constant reminders to rest before I delve into spiritual topics (Neptune) and work (Capricorn). Part of this has manifested as literal rest, but it’s also about clearly communicating my needs so I don’t end up overwhelmed by others (7th house Mercury). I been having all sorts of “Aha!” moments (Uranus) when it comes to talking about how I feel and how I process things (the latter also pertaining to Mercury). It has shown itself through a desire to roleplay, act, and do creative things (Neptune) as a means to express myself. I’ve even been experimenting with my dance style (hip-hop & latin to interpretive influences). This is how I’ve been learning to cope with my mental and physical health (Virgo & Mercury) through this outbreak. Hermes is lingering around and pushing me towards what I need even if I have trouble sensing him around (11H Neptune). The asteroid is about to start transiting (moving through) my 1st house (personality, outlook, sense of self, self-confidence) in Pisces (spirituality, mysticism, dream, consciousness). It’s very likely that Hermes will start playing an even bigger part in my practice and I’ll be following him further down the rabbit hole (according to Ada’s post here). I’m excited for the adventure! Always am with him.  Thank you so much for reading! Please let me know if you have any questions! ^_^

[jinjojess]

DR Kirigiri Vol. 5 Summary Part I

God, does it feel so nice to back with the characters and storyline that’s arguably my favorite of the franchise.

Let’s get into it, shall we?

So to refresh your memory of DRK4, Yadorigi--seeking revenge for the death of his partner Uosumi in DRK2--solved a case with a bunch of mystery dweebs at an old abandoned school in the mountains and was picked up by Lico via helicopter, Samidare felt up some girls who were tied up in coffins in an abandoned girls’ school, and Kirigiri figured out that Tsutsumi had done a sloppy job of setting up a mystery at the Center for Twin Research which forced him to call her bluff and crash his car off a bridge. Last we left, Babygiri was unconscious and at the mercy of a literal killer.

So clearly we pick back up with Samidare at the girls’ school, because why wouldn’t we?

Honestly, I’m pretty happy with this, since I don’t want the Kirigiri plotline resolved too soon in this book (remember, I need Samidare to think she’s dead for awhile and grieve) and Lico and Yadorigi wasn’t a huge cliffhanger or anything.

Anyway, when we last left Samidare, she had discovered two high school girls tied up in coffins at Libra Girls’ Academy after chasing a black-caped suspect into the room only for them to disappear.  The two girls in question are Nada Tsukiyo, a loud-mouthed brat with traditionally Japanese features like long black hair and pale skin, and her friend and classmate Tooakitsu “Naz” Nazuna, the red-headed, bob cut-sporting calm and polite one. Their physical appearances are both supposed to be ironic given their personalities. Another classmate of theirs, Takezaki Hana, was found dead by Samidare right after she woke up.

Chapter 1 The Mania of Existence: Libra Girls’ Academy - Samidare Yui

In this book, Samidare spends a few moments musing over what the hell Ryuuzouji’s true goal is with these cases, which I also want to know about as well since, as I’ve pointed out before, the rules here make no sense from a dude trying to win or even be fair. Samidare remembers a few things that Ryuuzouji said to her in DRK3 when he wanted her to become his apprentice, like how they both hate evil and will do anything to stop it, and how to do the right thing, sacrifices must be made.

Samidare thinks that’s bullshit though. She hates evil, it’s true, especially since her sister’s death, but she’s nothing like Ryuuzouji. His whole “sacrifice is necessary for the greater good” kind of thinking only makes sense if you’re operating on the kind of genius-level a Triple Zero detective would have; to regular old Samidare, she thinks there are better alternatives.

This is actually really interesting, not only because in the last book Yadorigi has that self-introspection moment where he acknowledges that he’s becoming just as bad at the Committee in the name of vengeance. It’s also because there’s that implication that Samidare could have gone to Kibougamine if she’d continued in high jumping/athletics in general, but she chose not to in order to be a detective, which she considers much more fulfilling given the whole sister abduction trauma she’s got going on. It really highlights the whole culture of excellence that the DRverse is subsumed in and I like that DRK is tackling similar issues as the rest of the mainline series but in a more subtle and personal choice-based way.

It makes Samidare kind of like the anti-Hinata in a way--she rejects her natural talents to do something else she feels is right. I just find that fascinating.

Anyway, Samidare suspects that part of the challenge in these twelve cases is to prove that she’s distinctly different from Ryuuzouji in world view, but she’s got to solve the case in front of her before she can do anything else.

While last time Tsukiyo and Nazuna were accusing Samidare of being the one who tied them up, this time they decide to try and figure out what the last thing they remember is. Turns out, both of them remember hopping a taxi to get to school because of bus delays and not wanting to be late to school. Samidare posits that the Committee might have been behind the traffic jams so that they could get both girls into cabs driven by their operatives and bring them here.

Privately, Samidare considers Nazuna a little too calm and rational under the circumstances, which makes her suspicious, but there isn’t much else to go on at this point.

Tsukiyo muses over why anyone would want to kidnap her. Is it because her parents have money? “You’re rich?” Samidare asks, to which Tsukiyo replies that there are richer people around her. Nazuna also reveals that Takezaki, the victim Samidare found when she woke up, was in the lower caste of their class, so it doesn’t make much sense why she’d be targeted. Samidare also muses that shitty cliques between girls are apparently ubiquitous.

Nazuna is also not believing that Takezaki is really dead without seeing a body, but she can’t exactly stroll over to the other room with her hands and feet bound as they are. Tsukiyo demands that Samidare let them free, but the issue is that the key is nowhere to be found. Samidare tells them to be good while she goes to search for a key.

“What else are we going to do? Hurry up. And while you’re out there, look for a bathroom. You’d better not make me hold it,” Tsukiyo adds.

On her way out of the room, Samidare notes a couple of interesting things: first, the door is a sliding door that closes on its own, similar to sliding doors in hospitals; and there’s no sign of a keyhole or locking mechanism. Since the sliding door rail is on the inside of the room, Samidare wonders if maybe the culprit put a bar in to keep the door closed after they ran inside, but there was no sign of anything holding the door open in the room. And it couldn’t be that the caped figure was just holding the door closed, since Samidare was pulling on it the entire time and they wouldn’t have time to hide.

Huh.

The girls start to yell at her to get going already, so Samidare takes stock of the building. There’s the small, round room with the coffins, connected to the larger chapel with a small hallway. Directly across the way is another narrow corridor that leads to the other round room with the corpse where Samidare woke up. At six o’clock there’s the main entrance, boarded up with thick planks Samidare doesn’t think she could pry off by herself. The chapel itself has about twenty pews plus a pulpit and a raised area with a statue of the Virgin Mary on it and a cross on the wall. There’s also two bathrooms, for men and women, each of which have windows, but they’re boarded up as well. There are no windows anywhere else, all the light provided by bulbs set into the walls.

Samidare notes that the building is in a cross shape, which is common in religious buildings (I personally see it more as an upsidedown capital T, but hey.)

The fact that she’s trapped with no phone or any other way to contact the outside world could be worse, Samidare thinks, since they have that check in call thing set up from the last book around midnight, and once she doesn’t check in, the others will come to her aid. 

Well, so long as every other detective on this case isn’t ALSO trapped in the Duel Noir venue.

Shit.

Congrats, Samidare! You lasted ten whole pages to start worrying about Kirigiri!

...Was Kirigiri-chan okay?

There probably wasn’t any reason to worry she wouldn’t solve her own case. Then I remembered that something bad might happen to her during her dogged pursuit of truth and started worrying again.

I figured it was stemming from my fear that she might disappear forever someday.

I’d get out of here somehow and Kirigiri-chan and I would go back home to the dorm together.

I needed to hurry up and solve this case.

Oh, I’ve missed you, you big insecure gay disaster.

All this thinking of Kirigiri suddenly has made Samidare remember what she said to her on the train before they parted ways in a melodramatic fashion in the last book--keep an eye on zodiac signs.

Oh yeah, guys, did you forget that Ryuuzouji is a Homestuck? Cause I didn’t.

This causes an issue though, since Tsukiyo’s birthday is July 30th and Nazuna’s is August 21st, which makes neither of them Libras. The victim isn’t a Libra either, so either their student ID cards are forged/incorrect, or none of them is the culprit. 

Could it be that the zodiac signs don’t have anything to do with the case? But if Kirigiri has given the theory such serious consideration, Samidare can’t just ignore it.

Trying to figure out where the culprit in the black cape could have gone, Samidare checks under the pulpit at the front of the chapel, but to no avail. She inspects the Mary statue next, only to find that oddly enough this Holy Virgin is sporting some bling...oh no, wait, it’s a key!!

...Too bad the chain is in too small a loop to fit over Mary’s head.

Samidare considers bringing the other two girls into the chapel to the statue, but it would tricky to use the key on such a short chain and such a raised platform on their hands AND feet, so there has to be another way.

Maybe I could get the key if I broke the head off the statue?

There was no way I could do something so blasphemous, though. The Virgin Mary watched over all the students at the school I attended too, so I mentally couldn’t bring myself to break her.

Jesus Christ, Samidare. 

Junko: Which will you choose, Yui-san? Kirigiri or this statue of the Virgin Mother? One of them is going into this volcano one way or another.

Samidare: Errrr...

Kirigiri: Onee-sama, are you serious?

Samidare: Leave me alone! I’m thinking!

Anyway, the good news for Samidare’s eternal soul is that there’s a wheeled platform in the corner that she use to transport Mary into the other room with the key.

The only problem is that when she gets back, announcing she has the key, both girls are missing.

Before she has time to process this though, Tsukiyo tackles Samidare to the ground and shouts for Nazuna to steal the key from her. They’re both pretty shocked and upset to see that Samidare doesn’t have a key on her (though good on them for getting back at her for the unsolicited pat down).

“There’s no key? So you lied to us?”

“It wasn’t a lie,” I groaned. “If you hadn’t attacked me like this, I’d have just handed over the key!”

“Quit your complaining, you kidnapper!”

“I’m not a kidnapper!” Of all the things in the world I could be accused of, that was the one thing I wanted to be called least. “I’m a detective!”

I shoved Tsukiyo off of me and stood up. She gazed up at me from the floor, cowering and looking terrified. Nazuna also looked upset, kneeling on the floor.

Dusting off the sleeve of my coat, I adjusted my collar and took a deep breath to collect myself.

“My name is Samidare Yui. I haven’t told you yet, have I? You may not trust me, but...honestly, I still find the two of you pretty suspicious. So let’s keep an eye on each other and call a truce for now. Is that okay?”

The other two nodded silently.

Samidare then uses the key on the Mary statue to free Tsukiyo, who thanks god and does the sign of the cross. After Tsukiyo frees Nazuna, Samidare gives them the reader’s digest version of the situation they’re in and suggests that since Takezaki is already dead but the case isn’t over and they’re still trapped, the two of them aren’t out of the woods yet and could still be targets. They need to prioritize getting out before anything happens to them.

Nazuna requests to see Takezaki’s body for herself, which Tsukiyo doesn’t seem interested in until Nazuna appeals to her by saying they owe it to a fellow classmate. 

Samidare leads the way back to the other room, chatting about the chapel and everyone confirming that they haven’t been there before, but the school looks pretty good for having been abandoned for 17 years (longer than they’ve been alive, heh...), but Samidare explains that the Committee probably spruced it up to be the set for the Duel Noir.

The two girls also say that they get the feeling that they may have felt someone else’s presence in the room before Samidare opened the coffins, but they couldn’t be sure.

Once they reach hallway to the room where Takezaki is, Samidare has this horrible feeling--she can see that the door, which should have shut automatically--is wide open and showing an empty room. There aren’t even any bloodstains or anything left behind.

Samidare starts having a breakdown about this, throwing out the possibility that the culprit moved the body while she was checking the bathrooms, while Tsukiyo gets disgruntled and wants to look for a way out so she can make her violin lesson on time. 

Too bad the door to the small room isn’t opening.

Nazuna tries it too but can’t open it either.

Tsukiyo at this point loses her shit.

“Th-This can’t be happening? We’re trapped in here, with no TV or phones or anything?” Tsukiyo said, aghast. “Ah, I didn’t even get to go to the bathroom yet!”

“Uh oh, we may be stuck in here for the whole time...”

“What do you mean ‘the whole time’? How long is that?”

“Worst case scenario...six days.”

If the other detectives didn’t come to my rescue, and the culprit intended to win by time out, then we might have to resign ourselves to being stuck here for six days.

“NO! If we stay here for six days, I will die!” Tsukiyo pounded her fists on the door in a panic. “At least bring us food and water! But not hard tap water! Make it soft mineral water! And let me go to the toilet first!”

Nazuna meanwhile is more puzzled by how the door isn’t opening given it doesn’t have a lock on it. That’s when Samidare notices that unlike the other room, the track for this door is on the outside, on the hallway side. She and the girls muse that the caped culprit locked them inside by setting up a bar to prevent the door from being slid open.

Well then.

Samidare’s ego is taking quite a blow.

I guess I really couldn’t do anything by myself.

What would Kirigiri-chan do in this situation?

She was always thinking one step ahead.

And she’d never stopped her trek toward the truth.

That’s right, she’d never avert her eyes from the case in front of her...

I couldn’t give up.

I had to get up and keep going.

“The only thing I can think of is that the culprit’s using some kind of trick.” I stepped away from the door and looked around the room. “I don’t think the body going missing and us being trapped here are unrelated. There’s got to be a secret hidden here that we haven’t found yet.”

“A secret?” Tsukiyo and Nazuna asked in unison, looking over their shoulders at me.

I nodded.

“I will definitely figure out the secret to this mystery,” I announced, not only to myself, but to the culprit who could also be listening.

Part 1 End

I’m so glad the moral of this chapter was WWKD (What Would Kirigiri Do).

Apologies for any typos or anything you may find. I’ll edit a bit later on.

Guys, I am having so much fun reading DRK again. This was a good plan.

See you soon!

NEXT PART >

[lia-nikiforov]

Spring 2018 Anime Final Review

So, uh, this is six months late. I’ve had half of this post in my drafts forever. To make it short, as I’ve mentioned previously, mom lost her job, which has not only been a heavy hit to my sense of stability for the last six months, but also means my time to watch anime was seriously reduced and even now a slight change of plans fucks up my whole schedule and sets me back for a full week. Anyway, nobody cares about any of these shows anymore so let’s get straight to it? I’m gonna ommit the two-cours that continued into the Summer - hopefully I’ll be able to make that post soonish? idk. Worst to best, same as usual

The crappy gender politics pit of shame

Darling in the FRANXX: I think everyone has ripped this show to threads at this point and there isn’t much I could add to that. It is quite funny to me to see how many people flipped out when the show went completely bananas in its last few episodes. Feels a bit like KADO, I’ve been telling y’all this was a ton of empty crap since episode 2, it just took the writing to completely self-destruct for everyone else to notice. A part of me feels tempted to do a long post breaking down just how badly the show collapsed in its final shebang, specifically how every single twist and turn completely nulled any remote kind of message or central thesis the show may have had, but at the same time it doesn’t seem worth the time. In the end, I may have given What is Internal Consistency, The anime way too much credit. It’s not hateful antigay propaganda, it’s just dumb as shits, with a writer and creators who didn’t think for half a second of the implications of what they were doing, and who were so incompetent they couldn’t even conserve the minimal plot and character coherency within a single episode, let alone 24. In other words, Darling isn’t saying “gays shouldn’t exist” but “I have no idea of anything regarding gay people”. What makes it egregious is that the show spent so much time acting like it was “meaningful” and “important” and yet it ended saying absolutely fucking nothing. Except mayb “have babies”. Down to oblivion you go, along with the likes of KADO, to the void of shows that couldn’t even be offensively bad and no one will remember a year from now. Bonus garbage points for the half-assed “bury your gays”.

Nil of Libra Admirari or whatever this show was called: I’m not trying to diss on the show, I just genuinely never remember the title because I have the JP and EN all mixed up. Not that it matters much, as far as I could tell, the show could call Shalabalabatuna and it would have the same significance in regard to the content. But the title isn’t important. In fact, it may be a bit unfair to have this show in this section. For the most part, Main Girl is very self-determined and has an active role in the story.... but then the last two episodes heavily featured a lot of rape threats or rape themes and forced pregnancy (real and threat) and I don’t really understand why they’d go there all of a sudden. One of them was treated relatively well, even empowering the victim in the process, but when the ikemen bad guy was rambling endlessly about how he wanted to impregnate the protagonist it really turned me off :/ I’m also not a fan of “main boy was her secret fiancé all along”, but at least they also handled that somewhat decently. It’s a very disposable series, but since I watched all of Amnesia, I think I owe every otoge adaptation at least the smallest chance to clear that very low bar, and Libra of Nil does it, more competently than most other stuff in the same genre.

Hisone to Masotan: I really, really wanted to love this show. Even now, as I put it in the pit of shame category, I’m pained. There was a good show in this, and a lot of it made it to the screen: an adorable, charming little story about a woman finding her place in the world, making new friends, finding her calling and bonding with an adorable dragon. Unfortunately, it got buried down under this opressing, horrendous gender politics that tried to do something with bringing attention to sexism in the military only to cancel it out making the one dude that embodied that sexism getting rewarded with the affections of a girl he explicitly tried to crush. It also called back on the virgin or whore fallacy and even managed to shove in a “bury your gays” trope. Even though Hisone challenges the ritual bullshit, it’s too little, too late, and she does end up carrying it out anyway, so the defiance to the status quo is of little importance in terms of problematizing the ritual itself. Sorry BONES, it wasn’t meant to be this time. 

The ni fu ni fa section

Ni fu ni fa is a Mexican colloquialism for “It was okay but it didn’t change my life.”

Binan Koukou Chikyuu Boueibu HAPPY KISS: This soft reboot of the franchise had some really great episodes and did an actually good job of developping its characters. For the most part, it achieved what its predecessor did in terms of satirical comedy and I enjoyed it quite a bit. However, what bunked it down so low in the list was the final episode. At some point, the writers forgot they were doing a parody and made the show somewhat self-serious, way closer in tone to the magical girl anime it was supposed to be making fun of, rather than the satire its predecessor was. Whereas S1 ended with the whole Magical boy stuff being revealed as a crappy space reality TV show, this one ended with a real cheesy conflict about happiness and family and blablabla. Which is not bad by itself if this were a Precure show, but that kind of self-serious plot development just didn’t work for this series. I still enjoyed it, and the fanservice episode is one of the best of the whole franchise, but I’m a bit sad the finale missed the mark so badly.

Hinamatsuri: Hinamatsuri was very hit-or-miss for me. There were some truly brilliant episodes, a lot of funny vignettes and heart-warming stories, and then there was some stuff that made me uncomfortable -like every single Hitomi story- or felt unnecessary and dry. It also threw me off that the superpower dynamic completely disappeared in the second half of the show, especially in Anzu’s part of the story. It was okay but I feel like I needed something that felt like a closing, and choosing to end it with Mao who featured very minimally in the show overall didn’t cut it. It’s a fun show, I’d reccommend people check it out, but it felt a bit too disjointed for me

Persona 5: The Animation: This is a hard show to place because I love the looks of it and I think the concept is interesting and pretty cool, but there is something that’s keeping me from connecting emotionally to the story. The part where changing the villains’ heart makes them repent from their sins and become “good” feels very artificial and very tasteless when you’re dealing with rapists and abusers. I ended dropping it at episode 16, I just couldn’t find the motivation to catch up with the 6 episodes i’d fallen behind on because my schedule is a tragedy

Tokyo Ghoul: Re: I guess it’s fair to say I’ve kind of outgrown Tokyo Ghoul. There’s something messy and confusing about how this season panned out, and there comes a point in which misery porn just doesn’t cut it anymore. I still watch because Ishida has a way to make every single goddamn character extremely sympathetic, which makes for an emotionally engaging viewing even when you’re not sure of what the plot is supposed to be or who you should be rooting for. I tried picking up the new season that just started airing and immediately found I had no idea of what was going on, who was on who’s side and in general, who the fuck were 90% of the characters, so I dropped it.

Nanatsu no Taizai: Imashime no Fukkatsu: I’ve mentioned it before, this second season had the opposite problem than the first one: the pace was too slow. It took more than half of it to get to Escanor, and then the season ends at a kind of random spot. I really thought we’d get further along on the story, since Gowther’s backstory was hinted at in the openings, but no such thing happened. They did manage to give us a variety of cool moments and fights, and I love Ban so his scenes with Zhivago and Elaine made me quite happy, though I really wish the romance between Elizabeth and Meliodas wasn’t su dubious and cringy. In light of some revelations that take place further along the manga, going out of their way to emphasize that Meliodas was a sort of mentor figure for Elizabeth when she was a toddler seems unncessary and just very squeamish. I do hope we get a third season though, and an OVA of the Vampires of whatever side story would be great too.

Rokuhoudou Yotsuiro Biyori: I was pleasantly surprised by this show, and it’s closer to being one of my top of the season than it is to “meh”. It had some weaker, cheesier segments, but it also managed great whacky moments and a genuine soothing atmosphere. What surprised me most is that the vanilla looking cast of moderately handsome dudes managed to develop into interesting, funny individuals with a dynamic that made every episode enjoyable. A solid reccommendation for anyone wanting to see delicious looking food and moderately handsome dudes being ridiculous. Also, the cat episode is the best episode of anime ever produced.

The I’m probably the only person alive who enjoys these shows

Mahou Shoujo Ore: This is a difficult show to place because it wasn’t quite as great as I wanted it to be and its parodic nature took me by surprise, but somehow I was still seriously entertained more often than not. The twists in the final quarter and the absolutely bonkers finale was a total riot, but I definitely advise caution before going in, given that some of the jokes may seem insensitive or in poor taste in regards to gender presentation, sexuality and there are even some mild harrassment jokes that certainly made me roll my eyes.

Yowamushi Pedal: Glory Line: I don’t know if anyone’s noticed, but I think through half of the show’s 25 episode run, I was convinced the title was actually Glory Road. It’s kind of anticlimactic that it’s called Glory Line if they don’t actually reach the final Goal btw. Anyway, I feel I say this a lot, but really, if you didn’t like the previous Yowapeda seasons, there’s nothing here for you, and if you did, you’re probably not gonna hop off this late in the game. This season does suffer from the same dragging than its predecessors, with the added issue of being quite pessimistic for no reason in about half the episodes, and a diminished presence for Onoda. I really wish they hadn’t dragged the Day 2 goal so long, I really hoped we’d see the end of the race, but no such luck I guess. Still love most of it and hope we get one more season or a movie to complete the story.

The favorites of the season

Golden Kamuy: In spite of its pacing issues, terrible animation and general clunkiness, I can’t help but love this show. When season 1 ended my feelings for it had mellowed quite a bit, but as soon as I picked up season 2 this Fall I just fell in love all over again. It’s fun, unique, over-the-top in some ways, incredibly grounded in others, and the dynamics between the characters are incredibly charming. 

Hozuki no Reitetsu: It’s hard to talk about this one because it feels repetitive, given how tonally the show remains just the same across its three seasons. It could’ve very well been a one-season, 36 episode show, for how little it changes in spite of the time that transpired between the first season and the second. But in short, the comedy continues to be as spot on as always, the Zashikiwarashi twins are the best addition to the cast. It’s definitely a show I could watch endless episodes off, and the rare case of an episodic series with no overarching plot that I can enjoy wholeheartedly. 

Card Captor Sakura: Clear Card arc: Over the course of the series, I’ve expressed a few concerns and misgivings about how the story of this 20th anniversary sequel was playing out. The final episode was particularly troublesome in that it left the story unfinished in spite of deviating from the manga. In spite of this, more than anything I’m very happy that this continuation still retains what made the original so special, that they captured the magic behind Sakura’s “everything will be alright” spell and gave us the chance to spend more time with these beloved characters and see their stories continue. The slow but sweet development of Sakura and Syaoran’s puppy love is a definite highlight. Needs more Touya/Yukito and Yue in general.

Piano no Mori: This show got heavily overlooked because it was kidnapped by Netflix (pls stop immediately), and then when it was finally unceremoniously dumped a month or two ago, it came under fire for the wonky CGI during the piano scenes -and it is indeed very wonky-. But beyond that, I found the story very engaging, especially because Kai is such a fascinating protagonist, his intense rivalry-friendship with Megane-kun (sorry, it’s been six months, i can’t remember names) is exactly the type I can’t help but root for. Kai’s participation in the final episode gave me goosebumps. I’m very happy we’re getting a continuation,  can’t wait to see how the Chopin competition develops.

Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii: Sweet, funny and absolutely delightful from start to finish, Wotakoi was easily one of the highlights of the season. Although there were some aspects about Cosplayer-senpai and Yuri Otaku-senpai’s (I’m really trying to remember the names, I’m sorry!! ;---;) that didn’t work for me -namely the izakaya segment- Narumi and Hirotaka more than made up for it with their clumsy yet adorable romance. I spent the entirety of the amusement park episode screeching. I really hope we get a continuation -and get a chance to see more of Hirotaka’s brother and his gamer friend too- and that in general we can get more anime about adult stories

Megalobox: Who would’ve thought that a show that wasn’t even in my radar before the season started would’ve end as one of my favorites, possibly of the year? Even as someone who’s only marginally acquainted with Ashita no Joe and has no interst in the sport of boxing, I was completely enthralled by the style and passion of this production. As I said a bit above, intense rivalries are very appealing to me, and the build up in the tension between Joe and Yuri was almost palpable, their mutual respect gave me chills. Definitely the surprise of the season, made even better by its optimistic happy ending to contrast with its predecessor’s tragedy. Megalobox is a unique anniversary project that is closer to an homage and it works perfectly. Definitely check it out.

That’s it for the Spring season! I hope i can do the summer season this weekend and maaaybe even my watchlist for the Fall season. Fingers crossed i won’t get swallowed up in other stuff :’D 

[crystalelemental]

Well, I’ve beaten Awakening.  Again.  On hard mode this time.  Thoughts below.

Okay, for the first half of the game?  Hard mode is substantially more tricky than Normal mode, but completely sane in its challenges.  Around Chapter 16-17, things get a little ridiculous with the power of some enemies and the reinforcements.  At this point, things get out of hand.  Again.  Because the only way to get more experience for my units without grinding or relying on the DLC, is to clear the children paralogues.

Now, I know the paralogues are not meant to be completed at once.  Gerome and Nah have way harder paralogues than the others, so I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to go after theirs later on.  But the problem is...children characters break the game in half, especially if you know about how skill inheritance works and plan around it.  Getting Maribelle to have Galeforce before recruiting Morgan and Brady was devastating, because then we had three powerful mage units whipping around the field, blasting enemies apart and getting a second turn.  Once we had all three, it was over.  And that didn’t even account for getting Severa with the same treatment and ability to go General and Great Knight from Frederick, allowing her to run Aegis, Pavise, and Luna alongside Galeforce by the end of the run.  Like...things got ridiculous really fast.  The kids, as non-promoted units starting out with two of the best skills they inherit, just shoot through levels on the other paths like crazy, and are able to get all the best skills they could want.  Especially when they inherit a healing class like Gerome or Brady.  They just cycle so quickly through War Cleric and get Renewal, and then go to their optimal class where they learn other skills, and now have all sorts of crazy benefits.  Like...you do have the option to not run them, but at that point, why would you not?  The game’s made so easy once they arrive.

That said, I did try to avoid using them.  Right up until Chapter 21, where we actually needed their full power.  But before then, I decided to seriously use Say’ri and Tiki, who went down their flier paths.  They’re both really good.  REALLY good.  Tiki has ridiculous growth rates, although her skillset isn’t particularly impressive.  Say’ri has fantastic skills to inherit, including Galeforce, and has decent enough growths to keep up with the others.  She needed a bit of hand-holding to catch up to the other adult characters, but once on par, she took off.  So those added characters are pretty good.  It’s just a shame about the lack of support conversations, but hey, they can support each other, which actually works out pretty well for both.  The only one I wasn’t particularly impressed with was Anna.  She’s decent, but I never felt like she was keeping up with others, like, say, Libra.  Who has the same role as a healer with some offense and utility, but actually had astonishing growths.  She is useful for picking locks, considering how weak Gaius is, but once you get a kid, you can just reclass them to Thief and pass along Locktouch, invalidating her entirely.

All that is mostly to say that Awakening...feels like it’s terribly balanced.  Like, really terribly.  Hard mode follows the same progression as Normal: the beginning phases are difficult, but once you get the kids, you kinda just steamroll your way through the rest of the game.  It’s no wonder they nerfed children in Fates, honestly.

Oh man, speaking of Fates, let’s talk about story, because they invited that comparison themselves.  Here’s the thing: replaying it, Awakening’s story really is not that strong.  The overall plot itself is, frankly, a bit all over the place.  Like, there are three distinct parts that are technically tied together, but they still feel really disjointed.  Gangrel’s war is setup for the importance of the Fire Emblem, and explains for about five seconds the damage that Chrom’s father did to the continent in his holy war against Plegia, but it never really expands on that.  It’s a strong bit of history that they unfortunately don’t do enough with.  Part 2 is the war against Walhart, and honest to god, this is the reason I call the plot disjointed.  Why is he here?  Yes, Aversa and Validar explain later that Walhart was also seeking to end the reign of gods like Grima, and his desire to end the reign of gods is a nice twisted parallel to his ancestors now that I’ve played Echoes and know about his continent’s history, but...why is he here?  The entire war almost feels irrelevant.  It sets up the whole aspect of the jewels for the Fire Emblem, but that’s just introducing a new fetch quest into the story that it didn’t really need.  The most impactful part of Act 2 is the introduction of Lucina and the concept of the future children, but the war with Valm feels like it could’ve been removed entirely and had no issue.  Like they needed some kind of catalyst to set the stage for introducing Plegia, introducing a conflict that would lead to Plegia having an upper hand in the third act, and giving us the jewel piece so Robin had some sort of gambit to pull against Validar.  But I feel like all of that could’ve been accomplished without this guy!  The second act of this game is by far the weakest, offering almost nothing substantial to the central plot of Lucina’s destroyed future and the resurrection of Grima.  We’re told later on that Walhart’s ambition involved taking down Grima, but most of his presence is spouting nonsense about ending the era of gods while mostly just subjugating people under his will with no explanation for what he’s doing.  Act 3 returns to this, but it’s mostly then a quick run of maps, some of the shortest and easiest in the game, frankly.

Nothing about the story is particularly bad, it just feels like the three acts are heavily disconnected.  There could have been more to tie these parts together into a whole, but it’s mostly left to a bit of exposition that Aversa gives late into the game, explaining that everything was as Validar wished it.  It just would’ve been nice to have a bit more cohesion, even if it were just coming from Lucina tying together how things are meant to go.  Like, she mentions the Basilio thing, but not why his death was so important to the flow of history.  A bit more on those kinds of fronts would’ve been nice.

What the game does excel at, however, it characters.  Man are they good.  A lot of the adults characters are a ton of fun, and all of the kids are fantastic.  This is a game that has a lot of emotional impact because of what the characters are going through.  The main plot may feel disjointed, but that doesn’t at any point lessen the impact of events and reactions to what’s occurring, and this game draws you in more effectively than most.  It’s a little unusual for me, but I think some of it is nostalgia.  I really loved this game when it came out, and grad school was an incredibly rough time, so this was a nice outlet.  It’s really noticeable on this one, especially at the outset of the game.  I’m talking like warmth in the chest kind of positive memories.

My point here is: Awakening may not be the most complex story, or have the most balanced of gameplay, but it’s still a ton of fun, and has a fantastic cast of characters.  I honestly think Awakening will wind up being a game that, much like Blazing Sword and the Radiant games, I’ll come back to routinely just to pick up and play for fun.  It’s not a challenging game, but hey, sometimes you just want to relax, you know?  And I feel like that’s the sense Awakening has.  It’s a relaxing game that’s easy to get engrossed in, and that’s all it needs to be.

[sweet-star-cookie]

For the ask thing: 15 and 22

HELLO I ALMOST FORGOT TO POST THIS OOPSI’m so sorry I wrote way too much again RIIIIIP

15. An OC that is hard to draw / write / RP

Hmm… that’s an interesting one! Drawing mycharacters consistently isn’t as hard for me as itused to be since I finished art school and gotmy skills up, but that doesn’t mean I don’t havea hard time! As for writing, I find villains moredifficult to write in general, because I’m muchbetter at creating protagonists instead. Theideologies and general demeanour of a “goodguy” come more naturally to me, but I do enjoythe challenge of trying to write a good villain! Ironically however, I have one character who has given me trouble in both aspects before, and that would be Snowy here (I love my owl son though fgfdghsdga). 

His design (aside from his armour) has changed quite a bit over time, because of both style development and the fact that he ages throughout his story. Getting his face right was the biggest challenge at first, as the original version of him ended up very close to other characters I’d made at the time. Theimage you see here is the one I am satisfied with as far as his aged up versions are concerned,but it’s all very much in development still.

Speaking of which, writing him is another interesting challenge. A character like Cassie iscloser to what you’d think a typical young fantasy adventure protagonist would be: upbeat,colourful, extroverted, a go-getter. Snowy, on the other hand, is much more reserved, level-headed and methodical. That’s not to say that I’d want Snowy to be any different though, andthat’s also not to say that he isn’t motivated either. The challenge comes in understanding howhe would react to certain things, including his motivations. He shares the “silent sufferer” trait that I have whenexperiencing trauma, but he does not possess the same rampant anxiety as I do, so I oftenhave to re-write scenes based on that. He’s not one to immediately panic or have extreme emotional reactions to things, at least not on the outside.

His backstory shaped this in him; he grew up knowing it was best to keep his head down andwork through the pain, but that gets much harder for him to do later on as the stakes gethigher. Even the strongest warrior can only deal with so much when people’s lives are in peril 9times out of 10, much less a young recruit like Snowy. He may not have rampant anxiety, but he does have rampant heroism like hisfather, finding a problem to solve wherever he goes, whether he can solve it or not. But unlikePrince Arvais, he doesn’t do it for the sake of flourish or fame, and therefore doesn’t care muchfor the spotlight. His inherent desire to help does wear on him as he learns of the realities ofbeing a knight, and his wings carry a lot more societal weight than he first realized. I can definitely relate to certain aspects of this setup, but if I were in this situation I would react very differently, and that’s what I have to consider with Snowy’s character.

Another challenge comes in not making him boring either. As I said earlier, having a morereserved character doesn’t always lend itself as easily to an interesting protagonist, but I knowit can be done. It is possible that the other characters with more outward personalities mightseem more interesting than Snowy anyway, but as long as I still give him a well-developed andwell-rounded character, he should do just fine. ;u; I want to do him justice as best I can, even if it requires more re-writes than usual.

22. An OC you didn’t expect to love

Honestly I love all of my OCs by default, but there is one that I wasn’t expecting to getattached to as much as I did, and that would be my boy Scorpio here. :D

I already loved him for his design and concepts of course, but the more I developed hisbackstory in relation to Ophiuchus and his dynamic with Cassie, I ended up making him a moresignificant character than he was in earlier drafts of the story. I am a sucker for the “edgelordmeets the cinnamon roll” dynamic and his slow transition from reluctant mentor to protectivefather/older brother with Cassie is so fun to write. :’D

He’s actually a bit hard to write too, as, like Snowy, I have to really think about how he wouldreact to certain things with a more reserved personality. But in Scorpio’s case, the contrast in personality between him and Cassie lends itself to a lot of good character moments, especiallywhen she can break down his walls a bit and show the lesser-known parts of his personality.Scorpio’s actually a bit of a prankster when in the right mood, so you can be sure he andCassie bond over that once she gets to know him (probably pranking Aries like Capricorn does,or Libra like Gemini does).

I also love writing the initial encounter stuff too, so I think having both is really what made mefall in love with Scorpio’s character as a whole. How he reacts to meeting Cassie does tie intohis connection with Ophiuchus, but that isn’t apparent until much later. Both Cassie’s Starglassand the one that Ophiuchus had give off the same “aura”, so before Scorpio even sees Cassiehe assumes hostility, sensing its presence. But on first impression, one assumes that Scorpiois hostile simply because that’s who he is, a stone-faced scorpion with a deadly glare and evendeadlier weapons. Taking one look at him would give anyone that impression, and Cassie isunderstandably terrified of him at first. This is amplified even further when she finds out he isher mentor, and thus the dynamic begins.

I really enjoyed the idea of Scorpio mentoring Cassie, as that gives Scorpio’s backstory acyclical nature. Ophiuchus was once Scorpio’s mentor, so having a similar job passed to himwith something as important as the Starglass, you can bet Scorpio’s got some extra baggagewhen it comes to that. Scorpio is also on the younger end of the spectrum in terms of agecompared to the rest of the zodiac (in his 20s, I’d say), so even he has some learning to dowhen it comes to teaching others. His zodiac companion, Scutum, was initially assigned to himas a sort of mentor in his early days as a sign as well, and it wasn’t all smooth sailing either.Despite his cool demeanour, Scorpio’s origins paint him as a lot more volatile than one mightthink. Though in the timeline of this story, that volatility only really shows in moments of trueperil, which is definitely present in the final climax. I’ve been fleshing out that part again lately,so it’ll be cool to have it come to light eventually. :’D

[nousernameavailable000]

Boring Time Likes to Play

Sometimes I wonder, what Time’s been doing all along? Does he sleep? Does he eat his favorite food? Does he like to stroll into the park? Or sleep? Or eat? Or does he just sit around all day pissing everybody’s dirty hair off? pfff..anyway, it doesn’t matter anymore what he do all day, does it? But there is one thing that I’m quite certain, he is quite a boring being. Invisible yet noticed, silent yet loud. He’s gonna sit on his boring old chair sipping his boring tea on his boring tiny table and do you know what keeps him from being drowned in boredom? Well..he simply go to his boring attic, get his boring old box and put it on his boring table. There, he plays with the old chest full of miniatures and one of them looks exactly like me! (sigh) can’t imagine what you can do when you’re bored. But yes! Everybody likes to play, I mean who doesn’t? it does remind me of my childhood though. He took one from the box, then another, then another one—well it does not matter how many boring tiny people he took out, honestly. Anyway, you see what is interesting? It is that when he play he is quite indecisive on when to stop. Yes! He is brutal, inhumane! And that pisses me off! Truthfully. And there is one time, I went into his house for I wanted to play with him or should I say challenge him..and to see how good he is since( as what everybody said). Actually, he used to be my friend. I used to try my very best to catch up on him but things hadn’t gotten pretty well..and here i am challenging him again. Life, this is life...and in the end I still lost. He laughed at me a like a maniac and his boring grin is still in my mind..I hate it. But then I realized..he is not my friend at all, coz friends are always be there for you..and the heck he is fast, too fast and even said that I should not try to be his friend because of the same reason. Though I must say, he is a fair being and a big fan of justice. Well, indeed I am also a fan of him..great guy. Anyway, I walked away from his house realizing that it’s best to just let him be. I tried to keep up..everyone knows and somethings are just the way they are..I just have to learn how to accept it. After all the things I had done, there is one thing I’m hundred percent sure and that is...time will never be on my side (sigh). Yes..time will never be on my side..but lately, I also realized that he does know on how to choose the right moment and choose the right thing for him to side on. Then again, like I had said he is a fair being though boring. Recently, I do not know what had gotten into him, there was a situation where I totally needed help and there he was standing behind me wearing his boring suit of armor. I asked him what he was doing and why?..then he replied “ The Old Man sent me.” I see. He may be a boring being but he will be there for you not because of he wanted to but he ought to and of course because “The Big Boss” said so and he gladly accept and do what His will. In conclusion, there is only one point where this lead to and which makes everything he does makes sense. I remember he had some sick past, he was used and wasted..up until now actually, but that’s what made him who he is. He’s boring and stubborn but loyal of being fair at the same time. That’s Time..yes that is him. So, before I will get carried away, I will end this here sad to say but until next time! Oh! and below is my short poem which I made last 2019. Hope you like it, even just an inch. So, toodles!

Time

Thy invisible yet noticed

Thy silent yet loud

Lonely and empty you flow

To the river of yours you go

Thy righteous and just

All what should be done and must

Thy playful but cannot be trusted

Though he whom cannot be wasted

Neither a friend nor enemy

A Libra of mankind and nature itself

Thy leap clockwise forever

Never be counter flowed however

Thy alone in infinite realm

Waiting to be used and wasted

He rest in the palm of ones hand

A blink then away once again instead

photo by: eskipaper.com

[jolteonjordansh]

Day 3: “Challenger”

Synopsis: Michael arrives to his first destination—Vermilion City of the Kanto Region. Upon his arrival, he sees one of the region’s many gyms and remembers the Pokémon League Challenge of the region. When he enters the gym however, he learns through harsh treatment the rules of the world outside. But nevertheless, he remains diligent in learning about Kanto’s customs first-hand.

Author’s Notes: Day three! Today, I’ve put focus on a story of Michael’s first experiences with the more “typical” regions of the Pokémon world. I know picking the Kanto region might seem cliché and Vermilion City might come off as a sort of weird parallel to Gold and Silver, but of all of the gym leaders I wanted to utilize Lt. Surge because he’s the kind of guy who would give a harsh wake-up call to people who don’t understand the world around them, but he does admire the strength of others when he sees it. Though, the GS Kanto parallel kind of works since Orre was so Johto-heavy, especially in Colosseum. I kind of mixed together Lt. Surge’s anime and game designs… and I just like how much of an ass Lt. Surge was in the anime. He was the kind of gym leader you loved to hate. Also, Maddie Blaustein’s voice works great for him. I kind of just mix some elements of the anime and games in general—with how the Pokémon League works as well as some battles. Please don’t be angry at me for hating and dismissing the four move rule since it makes no sense outside of the games and the anime has never been consistent with it.

The drawing was going to be way more like the VS panels in BW, but I felt that wasn’t enough so I ended up doing something closer to the Iris VS panel in B2W2 and got a little carried away. But hey, at least drawing Lt. Surge shows I can draw buffer characters sort of!

As usual, click on the break below to read today’s one-shot!

Michael pulled one of the Robo Kyogre’s many levers as its fins retracted, the craft slowing down as he could see the docks up ahead. The mere sight of Vermilion City brought Michael in awe. It weren’t as if he had never seen a dock before—Gateon Port was his fundamental image of what a port was like. It was primarily made of steel and metal—completely synthetic with the exception of the desert hills and sands surrounding the area outside. It was entirely urban, completely synchronous with technology.

But Vermilion City was a harmonious blend of the urban world and nature. Several ships, a couple as grand as the S.S. Libra and some no more than simple sailboats were docked at Vermilion’s ports. But past the port wasn’t just a large city that made Gateon Port seem small in comparison, but miles of wildlife surrounding it and even integrated in the city itself. He could see the brilliant greenery mixed within, and he was eager to see it up-close.

Slowing the Robo Kyogre to a cruise, Michael eased it by one of the docks, eventually bringing it to a halt. He opened the hatch and climbed up onto the dock, quickly grabbing the dock’s lines and securing the Robo Kyogre to it. Finally, he leaned towards the Robo Kyogre and shut the hatch, securing it shut as he walked along the pier and towards the entrance of the city.

Already stepping in, he saw more people gathered around than he had ever seen gathered in Gateon Port. Crowds of people walked throughout the city—businessmen, women, parents and their children, trainers and their Pokémon, elderly people, people of different sizes and ethnicities—he hadn’t seen such diversity before. Sailors walked throughout the pier alone, but Michael was eager to walk among the crowds, with so many different people to talk with.

“I’m glad I made a couple of stops along the way,” Michael said aloud. “Otherwise I would have rushed here and wouldn’t have arrived until late last night. And that would have meant I’d have to wait until the next day to check around!”

Navigating around the city, Michael found himself nearly touching shoulders with others at times—an urban inconvenience that most hated. But he found himself so entranced by the sights of the city that he didn’t even care. He accidentally nudged into a few other civilians, occasionally triggering a few scowls or angered responses, but he apologized and went on his way with too much excitement flowing through his veins to pay much mind to it otherwise.

“I can’t believe how many people there are here…” Michael breathed, gazing around the many landmarks around him.  Even for a city, he had never seen one so lively with people and nature. He saw several fisherman by the ocean, catching Water-types on their lines. He saw a huge construction site in the distance, with a wireframe building towering up high, but with humans and Pokémon like Machop and Machoke assisting them alongside. “Wow, there’s people battling Pokémon, helping with Pokémon… There’s even a Pokémon Fan Club!” Michael looked up to a small nearby building, his mind so enamored by just how close humans and Pokémon were tied together in just one city. The closest he had seen this was in Agate Village in Orre, but he didn’t recall such strong companionship between people and Pokémon in most other locations in Orre—perhaps because so few Pokémon actually lived natively in the region.

“There really is a deep bond between some people and Pokémon, maybe even deeper than I realized…” Michael pondered. “I bonded with so many different Pokémon in Orre, but I’ve never seen people bond and rely on Pokémon through so many other methods.”

Lost in thought and wonder, Michael nearly tripped off the curb of the pavement he walked on, snapping him out of his daydreaming state. Looking back up, he saw one of the buildings nearby—perhaps one of the flashiest buildings in the city, adorned with lightning bolts and reading in bold letters, “GYM”.

“Wait a second, this is…” Michael’s face lit up as he stared up the intimidating yet majestic building before him, walking up closer to its large doors. “A Pokémon League gym! This is what so many Pokémon trainers aspire for in these regions. The badges they earn here for their victories with their Pokémon… I have to experience this for myself!”

Michael stepped towards the door, confused as it refused to open in his presence. He then reached towards the door, pulling it open as he assumed perhaps there just weren’t as many automatic doors in the Kanto region. With some force, the Gym’s door opened and walked inside. The gym itself was nearly pitch black, but Michael continued on anyway, stepping around cautiously.

Perhaps this is part of the gym challenge, testing the trainer’s mind… Michael thought. Does this gym specialize in Dark-types? Or Ghost-types? Well, that doesn’t make sense with the lightning bolt theme outside…

He extended his arms out, making sure to feel for any nearby walls, though nothing came in his vicinity. He slowed his pace, being extra cautious as his eyesight barely adjusted to the surrounding darkness. Michael could feel his nerves becoming weak and flimsy—perhaps this was part of what made the Pokémon League Challenge intimidating, striking the nerves of the trainer. Not even the Pre-Gym in Orre was like this—it was a mere survival round challenge until the end. Here, Michael felt more involved, being tested for far more than his battle skills—

“AH!” Michael screamed as he suddenly felt his leg bump into some sort of unknown structure, then tripping down over on the floor. He heard an echoing clatter against the floor and felt multiple objects fall on his body. It felt gunky, slippery and strong smells mixed together and overwhelmed his nostrils. He coughed, pushing the unseen objects that had fallen onto him off of his body. “Ugh, what is this? It smells like garbage!”

“That’s because it is, trespasser!” A voice came from behind Michael as something suddenly grabbed Michael tightly by the arm, forcing him to stumble back onto his feet as it called back out. “Hey! Someone turn on the lights, will you!?”

And on command, rows of lights flashed on from the ceiling, lighting the area. Now being able to see inside the gym, Michael could see it was a large open area, scattered with indeed what he smelled—trash cans, one knocked over with trash scattered on the floor, likely because of his own clumsiness. Feeling the tight grip on his arm, Michael looked over and saw a man in yellow clothes and a hat, wearing a belt with tools attached to it, like an engineer. His body was short but squared, with an annoyed expression on the man’s face.

“T-Trespasser?” Michael asked. “This is a Pokémon League gym, isn’t it? I thought I had the right to challenge it as a trainer.

“You wanted to challenge the gym, huh? Then you better be registered with the Kanto Region’s Pokémon League Challenge.”

“R-Registered?” Michael blinked, surprised with this sudden word. “I-I don’t know anything about registration. S-See, I’m not from around here. I’m from a region pretty far from here, and I just arrived in the Kanto Region today. I thought Pokémon trainers could challenge gyms whenever they’d like.”

“Sounds like you really are new around here,” The engineer said, then yanking Michael towards the door. “If you don’t know what you’re doing, then scram and go learn the rules! Surge isn’t gonna take a moron for a challenger—“

“’Ey! What’s goin’ on out here?”

A deep voice boomed through the gym, freezing the man dragging Michael like a ragdoll in his tracks. Both he and Michael looked forward past the open lobby of trash cans. Up a set of stairs was a large, bulky man in a camouflage coat and baggy pants, with short spikey blonde hair. The man lowered his sunglasses, glancing his eyes down towards the two in the middle of the gym.

“L-Lieutenant Surge!” The engineer stuttered, releasing Michael’s arm as he stood at attention. Michael looked over and saw the stark man trekking down the steps and towards them, only staring perplexedly. It wasn’t until the man came up close that Michael realized just how tall and large the man was, unnerving him just ever so slightly. While he might not have been as buff as Gonzap, his height and muscles still made the leader of Team Snagem look small by comparison.

The large man stared down at Michael, the trainer just over half his own height as he crossed his arms and looked down at him. “So, what’s some kid doing in the gym?”

“H-He broke in, Lieutenant Surge sir!” The engineer promptly replied. “And he wanted to challenge you without even being registered with the Pokémon League! He said he’s never been to Kanto before!”

“So a rookie, huh?” Lieutenant Surge looked down at the engineer. “First of all, you’re the moron because ya forgot that registrations for the Kanto Region’s Pokémon League Challenge hadn’t been open because the last Indigo League ended a couple of weeks ago!” He smacked the back of the engineer’s head, as he whimpered in pain. “So he couldn’t even be registered right now in the first place! And second, lemme look at this guy first before ya talk for me!”

Hearing the engineer apologize feebly, Michael then noticed Lieutenant Surge’s eyes staring directly down at him. His position easily stiffened up, as Surge bent down towards him.

“So did ya come here to challenge me, kid?” Surge asked.

“Y-You’re the gym leader?” Michael squeaked.

“Who else would it be? It ain’t this bumbling idiot trainer, that’s for sure,” Surge glared back down at the engineer, simply taking Surge’s words.

“W-Well, yes, I did. I’d like to challenge you. I’m new here in Kanto, and I’d like to battle—“

“Sorry kid, but the region’s Pokémon League Challenge ain’t runnin’, so I ain’t takin’ challenges,” Surge interrupted, grabbing Michael’s shoulder and turning him around towards the exit. “Come back in about a month or so after ya register, then maybe we’ll talk.”

“I’m not interested in participating in the Kanto Region’s Pokémon League Challenge though!” Michael shouted in reply, turning back around with a more defensive look in his eyes. “My name is Michael, and I came from a far-off region where we don’t have any sort of Pokémon League Challenge. The most we have are spaced out Colosseums where trainers battle in tournaments, and our region has few wild Pokémon to catch. We don’t have gyms or anything. I came here because I wanted to learn just what the people in regions like Kanto do. I want to learn it through first-hand experience.”

Lieutenant Surge blinked at Michael, only to merely shrug at him. “Sorry kid, but I ain’t no teacher and I don’t plan on teachin’ any time soon. You’re barkin’ up the wrong tree.”

“I’m not asking you to teach me how things work!” Michael paused as he took a deep breath, trying to calm his tense feelings. “I just want to experience a gym battle. I’m not asking for much of your time. I’m not even asking for a gym badge or whatever you gym leaders do. I won’t even complain if I lose. Just give me a single one-on-one battle. That’s all I ask.”

Surge raised his eyebrows at Michael, resting his hands on his hips with puzzlement and confusion. “Why are ya so hellbent on havin’ this one battle, kid?”

“Because I came here to see what the rest of the world is like. And I’m not going to back down from doing so that easily.”

Lieutenant Surge stared down at Michael, before releasing a hearty laugh and standing up. “Ya got spunk and spirit kid, I can’t deny that,” He then turned around and began to climb up the stairs, looking back at Michael. “Well, what’re ya waiting for? You gonna step onto the battlefield or what?”

“O-Of course!” Michael’s eyes lit up, but with a grin of confidence as he had managed to argue to victory with probably one of the largest men he had ever seen. He ran forward up the stairs, where past them he could see a paved battle arena. With Michael running past him, Lieutenant Surge looked back at the engineer.

“Hey, you! Don’t just stand there! The kid’s not doing the gym puzzle, so clean up that mess and then hurry up to referee this battle!”

“Y-Yes sir!” The engineer stuttered, immediately beginning to pick up the trash in the middle of the gym as he looked back towards the area of trash bins.

“Excuse me, if I could just ask one question: Why do you have a bunch of trash cans in the middle of your gym?”

The lieutenant rolled his eyes and groaned, but continued. “I already said I wasn’t gonna be your teacher, but I’ll brief ya: Most gyms have a puzzle of some kind to reach before battlin’ the gym leader, where they might have to fight some gym trainers too. Mine has ya dig through trash cans to find switches to disable the electric fence I usually have up in front of the battlefield, and then trainers can battle me.”

“That’s an… interesting choice.”

“Hey, if you’re not willin’ to get down and dirty, you ain’t worthy of fightin’ me. But you’re gettin’ off lucky this time.”

“I see, thank you for explaining that,” Michael saw the engineer rush past him and the lieutenant, standing at the back of the battlefield. He watched Surge then walk towards one side of the battlefield, and saw the other side remained empty. Understanding the set-up, Michael walked towards the opposing side of the battlefield and stood up tall, maintaining his confidence with a proud stance as he reached towards his belt, taking one of his Poké Balls.

With Surge loudly clearing his throat, the engineer tensed up and began to speak as if being ordered around. “This is an unofficial gym match between the Gym Leader Lieutenant Surge and Pokémon Trainer Michael! It shall be a one-on-one single battle with no time limit!” The engineer swallowed and shouted once more. “Let the match begin!”

“Let’s make this quick kid,” Surge said, taking out a Poké Ball and then throwing it forward. “Go get ‘em Raichu!” The Poké Ball opened with a burst of light, forming into an orange electric mouse with a long, whip-like tail and brown ears, as it screeched with energy. Its cries seemed similar to a sort of hiss, exemplifying its fierce nature.

“So you really do specialize in Electric-types after all,” Michael affirmed, then throwing his own Poké Ball. “Works fine by me! Go, Sandslash!” With the Poké Ball opening, out came a brown pangolin-like Pokémon with spikes along its back and long claws on its hands, slashing forward with enthusiasm.

“Well, looks like ya got types down, but that ain’t gonna save ya here! Raichu, Quick Attack!”

“Sandslash, use Protect!”

With Raichu rushing forward on his four legs, Sandslash crossed his arms over his body as a green barrier surrounded him with Raichu slamming into it, though not harmed by the impact. The two Pokémon were now glaring at each other face to face, as Sandslash’s barrier began to fade.

“Now, use Crush Claw!”

With his claws glowing crimson, Sandslash followed up on Michael’s commands as it directly struck Raichu with a blaze of speed, the Electric-type’s cry of pain indicating the power of such a direct hit. Yet the Raichu didn’t cower with pain, but grinned. Waves of electricity suddenly flowed through Sandslash’s body, forcing the Pokémon down on his knees to Michael’s surprise.

“Wh-What the!? Sandslash couldn’t possibly have been affected by an Electric attack like this!”

“Because that was no attack kid,” Lieutenant Surge shared a grin with his Raichu. “You must not be familiar with Raichu’s ability—Static. It doesn’t matter if it’s a Ground-type or not, it’ll paralyze with direct contact regardless.”

Shoot, I thought maybe being a Ground-type would prevent this problem… Michael bit his lower lip.

“Now give it a nice Iron Tail Raichu!”

His whip-like tail glowing, Raichu swiped it into Sandslash. Moving like a swift scythe, Sandslash was slammed into the wall by the hardened tail. After a painful cry, Sandslash forced himself back on his feet, his slow movements indicative of the paralysis.

“You work quick lieutenant, but I’ve fought battles like this before! Sandslash, use Dig!”

“Raichu, after it with a Body Slam!”

Sandslash’s claws tore through the ground, leaving a gaping hole behind. Just as he crawled inside, Raichu’s heavy yet quick body missed by inches. But Raichu stood his ground with a sense of confidence. Not a hint of panic washed over his face like most Pokémon when Sandslash disappeared into his own tunnels. Joining Raichu’s smug grin was Lieutenant Surge, crossing his arms.

“You’re takin’ big risks kid. That Sandslash might not be able to finish that Dig with its paralysis.”

“You know what they say: High risk, high reward!” Michael tightened his cap down on his head, though he could already feel the pressure from Surge despite his own façade. Surge focuses heavy on paralysis techniques… Using Electric-types, having a Pokémon with a Static ability and moves like Body Slam… He wants his opponents to feel as helpless as possible.

Despite the potential oncoming move however, Surge made no commands. No warning for Raichu to be wary, or move out of the way. Not even a body signal or facial expression. Raichu merely stood in place with his same grin as his master.

Something tells me he knows how to deal with Dig strategies, but… Michael called out. “Use Dig!”

Though with a delay, the ground rumbled below in the battlefield. A claw pierced through the ground and at Raichu as Sandslash charged out at his opponent. Right as the claw emerged, Raichu leapt. With Sandslash flying blindly into the air, Raichu smirked down at Sandslash.

“Iron Tail it to the ground Raichu!”

Whipping its glowing tail, Raichu slammed Sandslash back down towards the battlefield. A shriek echoed through the arena as gravity pulled the Ground-type back to earth.

“Now follow up with a Body Slam and ground it good!”

Michael glued his eyes to Raichu as he soared down towards Sandslash. With Sandslash mere feet away from the ground, the stage was set.

“Now, Earthquake!”

As if Michael’s command awakened Sandslash from his once helpless state, his body flipped away from Raichu’s body in a mere wink of an eye, Raichu fell to the ground past Sandslash. With just a moment of Raichu’s own paralysis, Sandslash landed powerfully into the ground, shaking the entire battlefield. Both trainers could feel the ground shaking them to their bones, with Raichu feeling a direct impact as he squealed painfully.

“Not bad… You’re one to improvise, aren’t ya?” Surge verified.

“Dig wasn’t my only plan!” Michael claimed. “I knew I couldn’t secure your Raichu down to the ground, whether or not it knew where Sandslash was coming from, so luring it down was my best way to guarantee a hit.”

“Good to see you’re not wastin’ my time with rookie mistakes then. But I’ll end our battle just as quick anyway! Raichu, Grass Knot!”

A brief viridian shade glowed from Raichu’s eyes. Roots lifted from the cracked ground and tied around Sandslash’s feet, falling from the lack of balance.

“Oh yeah? Here’s a taste of your own medicine—Sandslash, use Rock Tomb!”

With a white aura surrounding it, the many rocks in the broken battlefield surrounding Sandslash rose in the air. Crashing down on Raichu, his concentration on the Grass Knot broke. With Sandslash not only freed, Raichu had become trapped himself with his strength and speed sapped away.

“This ain’t over—your little pebbles don’t mean a thing! Raichu, Mega Punch!”

“Sandslash, Crush Claw!”

Though slowed, Raichu jumped and punched through the rocks surrounding it. Further charging towards Sandslash, the Ground-type’s claws glowed with their red aura as the two clashed. Both Pokémon with fierce strength struggled against each other. Suddenly, sparks flew around Sandslash’s body as his body froze up, Raichu then punching the Pokémon directly in his face as his Crush Claw attack faded away.

“The paralysis!” Michael grit his teeth

“It was gonna catch up to you eventually kid. Good effort, but you’re done!” Lieutenant Surge chortled as he threw his hand forward in command. “Go Raichu! Finish it with a Body Slam!”

“Sandslash! Dig! HURRY!”

Raichu charged towards Sandslash following his own master’s orders. Michael’s desperate command following suit, Sandslash’s senses returned as his claws rapidly ripped through the ground. Raichu’s body slammed into nothing but the fragmented ground as Sandslash escaped. This was no different from Sandslash’s last evasion, except Raichu’s reaction time had clearly increased delay. Rather than jumping back onto his feet, Raichu struggled back up.

“Raichu, what’re you doin’!? Get up and avoid it—”

“NOW SANDSLASH!”

The ground quickly crumbled below Raichu, with sharp talons slicing right through the ground. Directly striking Raichu, the orange mouse Pokémon was tossed into the air with Sandslash’s uppercut. He slammed back into the ground hard, while Sandslash on the other hand managed to land on his feet, though not without stumbling and barely staying afoot.

Surge was ready to demand orders for his Raichu, but it was already evident—Raichu wasn’t even so much as struggling to stand. He was already out cold from the blow, without an ounce of strength to fight back while Sandslash barely remained standing.

“R-Raichu is unable to battle!” The engineer stuttered, as if he feared Surge would scold him for declaring the fact. “Sandslash wins! Victory goes to Michael!”

Michael released a vast sigh of relief, feeling like a boulder had been lifted off his chest as his tensed muscles finally eased. But it was only for but a moment once he felt the adrenaline rush of victory overflow him as he pumped his fists with exhilaration. “Alright! Yes! We won Sandslash! You were awesome!” He couldn’t stop himself from running over to his exhausted Pokémon, gently patting his injured body, with the Pokémon whined but with a hint of delight despite some of his pain.

“Unbelievable, even though this was his first gym battle this kid battled like he really knew what he was doing…” Lieutenant Surge held out his Poké Ball as it shot a red beam towards his fainted Raichu. “Return Raichu,” Sending Raichu back to his Poké Ball, Surge walked up to Michael with his hands placed on his hip, with Michael looking up at him. “I gotta admit kid, I’m impressed. Maybe I’ve just been a little complacent with my break, but ya still battled with some skill.”

“Oh, thanks. I’ve been through some hard battles, but… there’s definitely something unique about gym battles,” Michael explained, his mind trailing off. “A certain sense of excitement that I can’t put into words, even if I wasn’t battling for a badge or a chance in a Pokémon League Challenge or anything… It felt a lot like some of the Colosseum battles I’ve played a part in, but unique in its own right.”

“So’s your curiosity satisfied, or what? Ya don’t need to get all philosophical or whatever.”

“No, no, I couldn’t be happier with the results of this experience…” Michael bowed his head. “This meant a lot to me. Now I understand why trainers are so enthusiastic about this challenge and these experiences. I can’t imagine how much more it means to them.”

“Well, I’ll admit, ya gave me a good fight,” Surge admitted. “Michael, was it? Thanks for the match. I gotta make sure I’m better prepared for when the Pokémon League Challenge really starts around here.

Michael nodded. “I don’t want to take too much more of your time, but I appreciate it so I’ll get out of your hair. Sorry for breaking and entering…” Michael laughed with an awkward tone in his voice. “I’ll make sure to be more careful around the rest of the region.”

“Actually, before ya leave…” Lieutenant Surge then reached into the pocket of his coat, pulling his large fist out towards Michael and opening it up, revealing a tiny yellow and orange brooch shaped similarly to a sun. “How about ya take this as a little souvenir? This is the Thunder Badge I give out to trainers who can defeat me in a gym battle.”

Michael stared in awe of the badge, shining and glimmering in the light, but he immediately shook his head. “I-I couldn’t take this. I’m not an official challenger. I’m not even going to be competing in the Pokémon League Challenge.”

“Relax, kid. I’m the gym leader here, so I get to decide my own rules here. Take it as a little token of appreciation for a good battle—nothin’ more, nothin’ less.”

“Well, alright…” Michael reached and grabbed the Thunder Badge, holding it in the palm of his hand. He never dreamed he would be holding an official Pokémon League badge, nor did he ever intend to do so, yet here he was, and he wasn’t going to let such an experience go to waste. “I won’t forget this Lieutenant Surge. I’ll hold onto it. Thank you for giving me a chance.”

“Sure thing,” Surge said. “But ya better make this whole thing worth something. I don’t make these kinds of exceptions all of the time, so don’t ya take advantage of this for nothin’.”

“I won’t,” Michael nodded with a smile, holding up the badge towards the light as he looked up at it. “This badge is a symbol of something special to come… I’m sure of it.”

[hereticaloracles]

Fuckstrology: Capri-horny

Helios– Oh man, we have both been WAITING to do this one. Capricorn is such a complex sign, and its natives are wild and irresistible. Capricorn has a reputation for being restrained and demure, but that’s only their public persona. Behind closed doors, it gets very 50 shades of grey, very quickly. The obvious joke is that Capricorns love bondage, but I have found that they really get into roleplay. Anything profession related to be sure, but they also really like escorts. For some reason the thought of paying a stranger to slap around their naughty bits is incredibly appealing to these guys, and when I was an escort I loved it. Great tippers, Capricorns! More on that in Pisces season.

Okay, now that THAT’S out of the way, lets get to the good bit. Gather round kiddies, because you are all about to hear Helios’ origin story as an Astrologer. I’ve said before that I started doing this for the absolute worst reasons, and a Capricorn was to blame. Let me explain. My senior year of high school, while my friends were picking out colleges and sneaking drinks at house parties, I had come down with a debilitating sickness. As I do, I hid it from everyone and tried to power through rather than get help and very nearly didn’t graduate. After I shambled across that stage and got my diploma, a shell of my former self at half my weight, I was able to get surgery which only treated the symptoms and pumped me full of more drugs than was sane (not to mention the ones that I got after the surgery). So there I was, barely 18, down an organ and with a newfound pill addiction. I fell in with a bad group of friends, (see here and here) and slowly but surely they took me further down the rabbit hole of debauchery.

At the end of that road was my Capricorn ex. Lets call him D. God, he was beautiful, in the way Lucifer must have been before the fall. A harsh and cold beauty, all edges and angles- inapproachable. He was a Capricorn Sun, Scorpio Moon and had Libra rising. He could work a room and manipulate people in ways I had never seen. He was a drug kingpin in our area, and I reaped the fruits of that. He could slit your throat with a smile on his face and you would gurgle out a thank you with your dying breath. He was that good. We would do things like abandon our jobs for random trips to Boston, or Miami. I learned so much from him, but I lost about two years doing it, in a drug addled haze. To try and stay one step ahead and penetrate his inscrutable mind, I picked up astrology. I began obsessing over every single bit of it that I could find, devouring books and articles at a breakneck pace. Within three months I was an expert. In five months I was writing it. Focusing on that helped me break his spell. I was able to wake up and get on track. Astrology saved my life, and it has taken me to this point. Sure, I had a detour through an apocalypse cult, but that’s for Taurus season!

Artemis-  At first I tried to resist.  She was about to go through boot camp and that was definitely a perfect restriction.  The government would take her away and I wouldn’t need to fight myself anymore.  But she was persistent.

Then came boot camp, and then came college and we were torn a part right in the middle of our passionate affair.  She kept sending me letters, she kept calling me, and I kept falling harder and harder for her.  Once boot camp was over, she still had to remain at the military base for her training (this is where the story gets truly Capricorn).  She shot through her ranks extremely quickly (Cappy fo’ real) and learned the system thoroughly.  She convinced one of her friends to let me borrow her extra uniform, and she had it delivered to me by a non-military friend.  At the time, I was in ROTC at my university, so I knew the formalities by heart.  I put on my suit of armor, a crisp uniform, held my breath, and walked onto base.  I know this is HIGHLY illegal, but it was fucking exhilarating as fuck.  So, you know, obviously hawt.  I gave my salutes.  Heart pounding, I made my way to her living quarters and she quickly shut the door behind her and proceeded to engage in some truly sexy role-play.

Capricorn is the eroticism of bureaucracy.  The sexiness of Saturn; restriction, tension, rules, consequences.  Of course a Capricorn would find the entire situation I was in highly arousing.  The adrenaline I was pumped with made the situation all the more thrilling.  This event began 3 years of intensely passionate, equally exhilarating sexual encounters with the Capricorn.  But fuck, my addiction to Cap energy didn’t stop there.  You have to prove yourself to a Capricorn.  You have to show them you can constantly perform, and the Mars in Taurus in me is just too stubborn to not rise up to a challenge.  Sometimes I felt like the cat, sometimes I felt like the mouse, but I always felt engaged and challenged.  This is probably why I kept having sex with my Capricorn ex up to a year after we broke up. It was a test of my will the entire time.  I had to continuously pry open this Capricorn’s defenses so that she let me in.  But oh gosh, when she let me in, it was explosively passionate.

The tension just let the passion build, like a structure in itself, exponentially growing as we both challenged each other to do better – dig deeper – push harder.  Capricorn is an earth sign, and naturally possesses a high sex drive and an intense connection to their body.  The problem is, they feel they need to reign in all of the intensity behind their stony exterior.  They don’t want to lose.  They don’t want to be taken advantage of.  So they require a little… work.  So it was essentially a battle of Aqua vs Capricorn, and it got more than a bit agonizingly icy.  Prove to me that you’re worth my time.. my attention…  It was addictive for my ego, and the longer our relationship went on – the kinkier our sex lives got.  It started with intensely passionate letter writing, went through an expansive list of experimentation, and ended with her fucking an Aries behind my back.  It really was wonderful hearing her beg to have what we had back, but once the trust is broken – without trust of devotion, what Capricorn wanted to give me, that sort of intense sexuality, it’s fires could not be sustained.

What are the stereotypes?   Capricorn is related to the Devil card in the Tarot; meaning a lover of contracts, binding, tying up, crops, chains, and making sexiness out of restrictive situations.  In the Devil card, there are two humans who are willingly wearing loose chains.  That is exactly what being in a sexual relationship with a Capricorn is like; you choose to be their thrall.  And you do it willingly!  I mean, Caps are notoriously mind blowing in bed because of their ability to reign it back until just the right moments.  They know the power of biding your time – of playing the long game and making the tension build into a crescendo.  I mean, how can you say no when they demand so nicely?

  Fuckstrology: Capri-horny was originally published on Heretical Oracles