#and also his philosophy was frankly interesting

[amaranthdahlia]

if you won't be mine ... then

[mariocki]

Fat Man on a Beach (HTV, 1974)

"I'm going to read some more poems now. Erm. It may be that if you want to go and have a cup of tea, this would be a good time. I know that's what you masses are like. The mention of poetry and off you go."

[bloodyshadow1]

it's funny how Adaine might have been the perfect Bad Kid for Porter to corrupt yet he didn't even know her name. She was the younger unfavorite daughter in her family, prone to panic attacks and lashing out. She wanted to punch people in the face the first day of school, she's the first one of the Bad Kids who killed a person instead of a monster and she did it with a melee weapon.

Even after she is in a healthier environment she is actually more vicious than fearful like she was in freshman year. She lashes out against authority figures and injustice, she is proud of killing her father by punching off his head. everytime someone wrongs her she response twice as hard in a fury that even the rest of the party doesn't match.

And to make things worse, the Wizard teacher is a condescending bitch who talks down to her students. It would have been so easy for him to take Adaine under his wing. She's literally everything he pretended Fig was and now she's turning her anger on him. The guy is not only a bad teacher, an all around dick, but he's also as bad at proselytizing as Kristen is.

Frankly all of the bad kids were kind of perfect for him and his plans, if a bit too headstrong and willful, but he was never clever enough as he thinks. That's why he's being mocked by a bunch of teenagers when he tries to get them to debate him/ engage with his philosophy

*Edit*

I actually liked this idea so much I started an au if you're interested

Part 1 Part 2

[ohnoitstbskyen]

I know it would probably bring a lot of hate comments but I am begging you to roast the hazbin character designs because I'd love to have someone properly articulate why they don't work so I could send it to people who won't believe me when I tell them. 🫠 Understandable if you don't want to get into it though.

I don't think there's that much there to roast, honestly?

Those designs are clearly an extremely specific stylistic choice, and because that style is consistent throughout the show, it ultimately feels coherent with itself.

There are trade-offs being made. Because Hazbin's design style is SO stylized and so heavy on decoration and detailing, because it puts a lot of emphasis on costuming, it isn't as good at communicating specific character storytelling as a more grounded style could be (it's kind of the same tradeoff that stuff like Genshin Impact makes).

Like, why does Sir Pentious' hat have an eye and a mouth on it that makes its own expressions? Apparently not for very much reason at all, except that Pentious has a bit of an eyes-motif going on in his design and it was one more place to put an extra eye. And that's a valid criticism of his design, but also the entire show is designed like that, so frankly it would be weirder and more out of place if his design alone didn't have that kind of overelaborate decoration going on.

It does create a situation where I have a hard time "reading" the character designs sometimes. For example, Vox, Alastor and Pentious all wear a similar style of suit with upwards-turned shoulders, butterflies and pinstripes. Now, am I meant to read that as Vox imitating Alastor due to his crippling need to replace and outdo him, and Pentious imitating the style of powerful Overlords because he thinks that possessing their level of power will finally give him relief from his paranoia and self-loathing?

Or is it just a design fixation of the creator who keeps putting their characters in suits because that's just what they like? I can't really be sure, because sometimes design elements are used to intentionally tell stories about how characters relate to themselves, their world and one another, but plenty of other times designs look the way they do Because Of Vibes.

But again, that lack of clarity is clearly an intentional trade-off - and the benefit of that trade-off is a design style that is extremely varied, wild, expressive and memorable. Hazbin Hotel seems like a very easy show to draw fanart of, and a very fun show to draw fanart of. Those designs (especially the hyper-expressive faces) are begging to be the subjects of traumatic headcanons, unbearably cotton-candy soft fluff fantasies and weird, taboo, homoerotic power dynamics. Slaps roof of character design, this bad boy can express so much vicarious emotional intensity.

It's very exuberant, very excited about itself and very self-indulgent, it's a style that prioritizes visual impact and visual interest over readability (something which the animators of the show navigate with real skill, props to them) and individual aesthetics over worldbuilding.

And I don't blame anyone for being turned off by that (I certainly was the first time I started seeing those designs going around), but I would struggle to call the show's designs "bad" when they are clearly achieving exactly what they want to achieve.

I have some criticisms, especially re: how the show treats skinny bodies as an unquestioned, desirable default, and employs fatness as a means of alienating and abjecting the audience. That sucks very badly, and is a serious disappointment, and one of the few places where the show feels like it is being cowardly in its design philosophy. But I don't have it in me to do some kind of Hazbin Hotel Sucks And Here's Why takedown, its problems are not unique or extreme enough to warrant it, at least not as I currently understand them.

[wordslikesilver]

I am once again thinking about Hoarah Loux, the only man Marika ever trusted and the only man she ever loved. It’s such an insane thing to think about the fact that the second last boss of Elden Ring is Some Guy. He is literally just A Human Man. Marika looks at this fucking raving barbarian man and decides to My Fair Lady him into a Lord like the deranged woman she is by assigning him a babysitter to perpetually gnaw on his neck whenever he’s in public. As insane as all that sounds, let’s break down that imagery a little because it’s actually really good! His babysitter is the king of beasts, a lion named Serosh, who digs his claws and his fangs into Hoarah Loux’s body to keep him suppressed and restrained enough in temperament to now be fit to be named Godfrey, The First Elden Lord of Queen Marika.

Serosh is frankly quite mysterious as far as what he actually is goes but as far as story themes go, he’s a really interesting symbol of lordship. The lion basically IS Godfrey’s crown, it’s what makes him Godfrey. The symbolism is essentially stating in a very overt way that this man is more savage than all the beasts of the world. In Elden Ring, beasts with five fingers indicate an enlightened or elevated intelligence, blessed by the greater will. It’s fascinating how it’s basically stating that Serosh is more intelligent, refined and noble than Hoarah Loux, that this man is more wild and savage than the greatest of all the beasts in the world. That only a beast king could teach this man to be a Lord. Godfrey can rip him apart anytime but he doesn’t. It takes more than strength of body to wear a crown and he knows it. He needs Serosh to honour and do right by Marika. He is showing his opponents a courtesy, as he puts it. Morgott takes after his example and so too is Radahn inspired by him. It’s really wonderful imagery.

There’s more to the symbolism. My knowledge of alchemy is, I completely admit, too surface level to elegantly speak at length but I’ve done some light reading online to back up my confidence in what I’m saying. We know Miyazaki loves dark edgy anime like Berserk and I posit that he also gained inspiration from the anime/manga Hellsing, in which the main character recites the line “I am the bird of Hermes, eating my own wings to make me tame.” This line comes from the Ripley Scroll and is theorized to have many meanings but popularly is presumed to mean giving up higher philosophy and knowledge to live normally on the earth as a human. Miyazaki uses lots of alchemical symbolism in his works, Elden Ring especially (go watch Quelaag’s videos!) so I could be totally full of shit about hellsing but I’m completely confident that Godfrey is meant to be an inversion (like literally everything else about his character) of what the Bird of Hermes represents. Godhood is a prison, a shackling. The entire plot is Marika (and Ranni tbh) trying to escape that imprisonment. Godfrey loves Marika enough to chain himself down, to eat his own wings, to pull out his own teeth and claws for her to make himself tame and ascend to lordship.

What’s especially fascinating about him is that he carries Serosh out into the badlands with him, as the opening cutscene shows. Cut dialogue indicates he already knew the Elden Ring would shatter and the tarnished would be beckoned to return. That Marika told him her plan in full before she took from him and his warriors the grace of gold and sent them away. A line from him saying to trust in gold, always, that it will guide our fates to our true destiny has wonderful implications I would certainly love to expand on in another post maybe. Hoarah Loux was just a human man and Marika trusted him enough to tell him everything. Trusted him with her gambit to escape the shackles of godhood. This is the fascinating part about taking Serosh with him. Keeping himself disciplined enough to remain a Lord when he returns. To hold back his aching heart just enough that he could follow through on this dark plan and allow his wife to protect him from the machinations of the greater will by sending him away. Also note that in that opening cutscene, he’s being crucified, with a lion about his shoulders and spear buried in his abdomen. They could not be milking the Jesus imagery harder if they tried. The Bird of Hermes is also thought to represent Christ, more points for that symbolism.

I love Godfrey so much as a character. He loved his sons and he loved his wife. The tenderness that he holds Morgott with is enough to make me cry. How he wished he could’ve seen him sooner, I’m all too sure. He’s the only other character we see guided by grace in the entire game. Marika guides you and her beloved husband, that’s it, that’s how much she trusts him. When he rips Serosh from his shoulders, you understand how Marika felt such faith in him. In Elden Ring, it is through battle that you face the true self of an opponent. Godfrey reveals to you Hoarah Loux, Warrior Chieftain of the Badlands. It is a test. Are you worthy to free her? Can you do what I could not? I have shown you courtesy enough as a Lord. You served me well, Serosh. I relieve you of your burden and feel only gratitude for your service. Now begins the test. Are you, tarnished, stronger than the only man who was strong enough to bear the burden of Lordship? Are you stronger than the only man that Queen Marika ever trusted? Are you stronger than the only man she ever loved?

[unpickled-olive]

Realizing that, while I like Destiny lore, what I love is Seth Dickinson's writing.

The Final Shape was a lovely story and the characters' archs were all emotional and satisfying. Maybe a nostalgic tear was shed for Cayde bonding with his reformed, resurrected killer.

But the things that have kept me coming back for 9 years were missing. I thought there'd be concrete answers about the Traveler, or some more thorough insights into the Witness, or even good lore on the Dread. I was hoping for another great lore book to join the ranks of Books of Sorrow, Unveiling, Mysterious Logbook, Marasenna, Last Days of Kraken Mare, etc. Some philosophy and horror, a genesis or exegesis or thorough backstory on a yet unexamined character/species.

Sadly, I didn't find those. The Dread's origin is that the Witness made them. Do they think and feel? TBD. The Traveler's conclusion was something like "you just have to have faith <3." Fine for the characters, but not for the readers/players of a 10-year-old mystery.

There's some nice things. The Micah-10 Traveler interpretations are cool, as is her origin story. And the foreshadowing still has me excited for the Dreadnaught, a yet unseen Disciple, etc. But I think key parts of what made Destiny lore so alluring for me are diminished.

Maybe it's the layoffs at Bungie. Maybe it's new writers going in a different direction. Either way, the aspects of sci-fi/space fantasy—ancient mysteries, metaphysical warfare, _____—have taken the back seat to personal drama that frankly isn't that interesting or fleshed out.

Maya could be an interesting antagonist, but she needed more backstory than "this simulation was evil or something" and more nuance than "the Vanguard are coercive, so I will coerce all of humanity." Why not explore what her presence means for the Vex, or the other simulations helping Praedyth escape the Vault?

The Witness trying to sway various characters was fine, but that has been covered so many times, especially in Beyond Light.

All that said, back to Seth: their absence in TFS made me realize how huge their presence in the lore was for my love of Destiny. I finally went and read their original works. What an incredible writer.

First, I read Exordia, the first/only entry into a dark mindfuck of a space opera. Its horrific in abstract ways: mysterious alien monoliths that poison reality around them. It's horrific in grounded ways, too: the alien invasion plays off of parallels with the Anfal campaign and the US involvement in Iraq. It's campy at times (with a villain who shouts "I love genocide!") but also profound. There's souls and date, but also math. There's also my favorite trope: mysterious, ancient architects.

After that, I read Baru Cormorant—all three books in a month. It's tragic and inspiring and genius. Originally I couldn't get through the first chapter because of the "fantasy" label. I've already read Earthsea and wasn't in the mood for wizards on boats. But I had the wrong impression. Understandable, because there is just no succinct way to label it.

Is it even fantasy? Honestly, I still don't know.

What it is is its own world. One that the inhabitants haven't fully mapped. One whose past is a must and whose future is uncertain. It's about hegemony. It's about purpose, obsession, and revenge. It's about revolution and community.

The colonizer culture is a kaleidoscope of different influences. Seafaring. Peri-industrial. Eugenic. It strikes me as something like 17th century Britain with a 20th century grasp of science. They don't have guns, but they do have both Greek fire and lobotomies. The story plays with different cultural views on indigenous rights, race, sexuality, and gender in ways that commentary real life while serving as interesting world building.

This story also weaves an insane amount of intellectual concepts into it. But rather than bog it down, they lift it up. The fate of the republic hinges on a myriad of different questions: is evolution Lamarckian or Darwinian? Can mathematical proofs usurp cultural hegemony? How do economics influence history? Most importantly, can you destroy the enemy from within before it destroys you?

It is not just cerebral, but tragic and heartbreaking. I saw the end of the first book coming, and yet I was devastated by the last chapter. Crushed like no ending has ever really crushed me. I didn't want it to happen.

There will likely be some time before the final book comes out, which is understandable. So much research goes into these. So many plot threads need to be woven together. So many mysteries not yet confronted.

This is all to say: if you like what I like about Destiny–thorough examinations of ancient mysteries, sci-fi takes on souls and magic, fantasy takes on science and technology, obsessive characters and vividly fucked up monsters, cancer and math as motifs, metaphors manifesting, and genius characters written by genius authors–give Seth Dickinson a chance.

[blueikeproductions]

So the other TFONE Prime cards came out, so what I’ll do is just cover the ones I don’t have much to say about here.

First up Solus Prime.

Solus has had the weirdest design philosophies. This design seems to be primarily based on the Prime Wars webseries look.

Which is the superior design vs her original look which has this weird HR Geiger Species vibe I’m not fond of.

Solus’ primary claim to fame is being the first female Transformer, and the only one among the Primes, making most of the famous weapons in the general lore, and pry most tragic: getting shot by The Fallen and dying. Her body serving as the basis for the Well of Allsparks, meaning she functionally given birth to all Transformers going forward. There’s a… lot to unpack there, not helped is shows like RiD15 and Cyberverse use her name as an exclamation/cuss in “Sweet Solus Prime!” Unlike the older lore, ONE Solus dies by Sentinel’s actions, absolving Megatronus of the matter, which honestly I kinda prefer. Whether Solus and Megs were romantically involved here is unknown. I think what I’m most surprised by is the movie resisted giving Elita Solus’ Cog, since I guarantee older stuff would’ve done that. Outside of both being girls tho’, Solus does fit Elita’s hard working personality more than Alchemist and Onyx.

Nexus Prime

Not gonna lie, I’m kinda disappointed about this one. His gimmick is he’s the first Combiner, which again contradicts Aligned’s claim Amalgamous is the first converting robot with the first Cog. The ONE design pushes it more into a G1 Blitzwing direction, with vestigial nods to the combiner idea in that he looks to combine from a jet and tank in particular, again mirroring Blitzwing.

Though it also could be a reference to Flywheels.

Nexus Prime’s original designs nevertheless make his Combiner gimmick expressed more clearly.

So it feels like a bit of a downgrade to me. His gun shield looks like it formed from a tank component to me, but that could be a stretch… Maybe he really IS a Duocon in this universe.

Liege Maximo

If there’s one thing Liege is known for, it’s not having a consistent design.

As we’ve gone from whatever this is supposed to be…

To Loki because the MCU was really popular back then.

The new design still uses Marvel Loki as the basis, but dials it back considerably, instead making him more of a generic knight. Notably the inclusion of a sword is interesting, as Aligned states his weapons are poisonous Legion Darts. Maximo’s initial concept painted HIM as the first Decepticon, of which Megatron and the others are descended from, an evil being created by Primus to counterbalance the first Prime via G2. Because Megatronus later inherited a lot of this, he instead was cast as more of a manipulative trickster, still evil, but not to the same extent as his G2 version was. Liege Maximo is also the Prime of false starts, as his G2 and IDW selves were set up as the next major villain but cancellation saw this unresolved. G2 Liege Maximo saw conclusion in what was unofficial fan fiction written by Furman, while IDW Liege Maximo was unceremoniously killed by Shockwave-Onyx in the main book. His only role that saw a proper conclusion was in RiD15, where he was the villain of the day in a chapter book causing problems for the Autobots because he was bored in the Prime Realm and wanted a cheap thrill. RiD is also the only place his Loki like characteristics were played around with. Because the Primes in ONE appear to all be benevolent, it’s not clear if Megatronus or Liege Maximo are still supposed to be the evil ones or not, but the more heroic looking Liege says no to me.

Amalgamous Prime

The mad lads finally made this horrifying thing work.

Pushing it into a four armed ED-209 direction is much better, and frankly going by his more “primitive” build, they can easily make future Shockwave toys into Amalgamamous. This guy’s claim to fame in the modern lore is being the first actual Transformer with the first Cog, which again is contradicted by Nexus and (possibly) Onyx also being able to Transform… Aligned lore says his Cog informed all future robots on Cybertron of the ability to Transform, but ONE streamlines it that ALL the Primes had Cogs and the ability to Transform, making Amalgamous somewhat redundant. Aligned also claims his direct descendants are “Shifters”, Transformers with omni transformation, rather than the standard robot to vehicle.

Aligned didn’t really do much with this concept because you can’t realistically make a toy of such a thing nor is it feasible to have them as reoccurring characters for both expenses and being OP, with TFP Makeshift and RID15 Pseudo being depicted as shadow creatures in their default mode. The Shifters haven’t returned post Aligned so I think it’s an abandoned concept. Future stuff I would assume would instead say Triple Changers and Six Changers are AP’s direct descendants since they’re much easier to work with in toy and fiction. His new Robot Mode makes me think he turns into a tank, but I’m also not sure if his head is his chest or not….

Vector Prime

Aside from his head and colors, the TFONE version is straight up the original Galaxy Force version.

Though his colors evoke one of Vector Prime’s influences, the Marvel G1 Last Autobot.

Vector Prime’s best known role is in Cybertron/Galaxy Force, where as the Primus appointed guardian of time, he joined the Autobots of the present day to find the Cyber Planet Keys to close the Black Hole that threatened the universe, as it was the end of time. Galaxy Force also showed Vector Prime can manipulate time, but it was a drain on his energy, and using it too much would kill him. Notably he used a brief display of this early on to save the kids and Mini-Cons from certain death, but I guess this version of Vector couldn’t do the same to defeat Sentinel & the Quints…

[greenerteacups]

Your writing of Sirius is one of my favorites in fic. It made me wonder... Do you think he went through a similar path as Lionheart Draco? Was he already kind of a rebel and against his family's traditions and that's why he went to Gryffindor, or the circumstances of his sorting forced him to unlearn a lot of internalized radical bigotry?

It seems interesting to me that kind of a lot of Blacks of his generation decided to do something that went against the family. Andromeda, Regulus.

Thank you!

One of the central strands of my interpretation of Sirius is that he grew up a privileged rich boy at the center of the wizarding universe — more or less exactly the position Draco would have had, if Lucius had lived — and while he has family problems that drive him out of his parents' influence, his basic priors still tell him that he is, in fact, ultra-special and deserving of attention. He has a lot of disgust for pureblood culture, and he's thought about it enough to have articulate reasons that it's wrong, but there's also a strain of emotional tension running between him and his family that motivates his efforts to distance himself from them.

For instance, I think that early Sirius (circa 1971) already had a poor relationship with Walburga and Orion, which primed him to question their philosophy of anything in general, but it wasn't until he got to Hogwarts that he was able to learn exactly why their views were wrong, which not coincidentally involved a swift, emotionally devoted friendship with a "half-breed." I am absolutely positive that Sirius made a lot of fuckups in his first years at Hogwarts related to the unconscious prejudice that someone from his station would realistically hold; frankly, he just doesn't strike me as the kind of person who would Do The Work on his own, and like, even if he was, 11-year-old Sirius Black was not reading Audre Lorde and Paolo Freire on the train home for the holidays. The children of bigoted people tend to sound like bigots, because young children are functionally parrots for their parents' ideas. That doesn't make them bigots, but it means you have to treat them with care.

So like, yeah, Sirius probably called a lot of people some nasty names, for no better reason than that's what his family calls them, and he seriously never thought about why that's shitty to do. And he probably got in fights with people because he didn't understand why they were so mad at him, and he didn't think it was his fault for repeating something he heard his mom say once, and man, don't they get that he's one of the good ones? And also, I don't think it's entirely a coincidence that his best friend is another pureblood boy! Who would, even if he didn't share Sirius's prejudices, probably have a lot more grace and ease in forgiving him for his fuckups!

TLDR: At first, I'm sure that some of this was just Sirius rebelling against whatever his parents wanted, but the thing about friendships is that they tend to outgrow the reasons they started, and by the time he runs away from home at 15, I imagine he had developed strong opinions of his own about pureblood ideology. And it would have taken a lot of time and patience from the people around him, but I think that Sirius does have a good heart, even if he's a bit of a jackass, and he earnestly tries to do right by the people he cares about. Which is why I think he has the conversation with Draco in Book 4; he's remembering his own inauspicious beginnings as someone with a lot of shit to unlearn.

[thedaythatwas]

TW: Hegel.

So, what’s up with Shuake and dialectics? Click below to watch this user (who is not a philosopher) give this (frankly too invested) analysis a shot!

Something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately is the fact that most– but not all– of Joker’s confidant routes involve some sort of transaction. Joker does something for someone, Joker gets a favor in return. Joker’s identity revolves around what he can do for others. He’s got a different mask (haha game mechanic is narrative device etc.) for everyone in his life. 

Getting a little bit in my head about this led me to a (not-all-that-novel) realization: Akechi’s confidant route is largely non-transactional. Sure, he says that he wants to meet with you to talk about the Phantom Thieves, but that more or less directly translates to just wanting to hang out with you. The “favor” that you're doing for Akechi, if we follow the logic of some of the other confidant routes, is spending time with him. (Which is of course also about getting close to Joker for metaverse recon purposes… But I’d argue that amounts to more or less the same thing in the long run anyway). Really, that’s what your relationship with him is, up until you realize the heart he needs you to change is actually one of the big-bads of the game. And at that point… Well… 

Where am I going with this? I’ve also been thinking a lot about Hegel (I’ve seen some really fun posting about Akechi and Hegel on here this past week– thank you philosophy P5R tumblr!). Akechi’s paraphrasing of Hegel goes a little something like “advancement cannot occur without both thesis and antithesis.” Hilariously, this is how he frames his desire to talk to you more, his flirting is just like me forreal I understand him etc. etc. BUT! The interesting thing here is that the game is cueing you to view your relationship with Akechi through the lens of Hegel’s dialectics.

More on that to follow, but first, I want to plug the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy’s page on Hegel’s Dialectics here– If you haven’t used it before, SEP is a reliable, peer-reviewed source. It’s great. I use it like. All the time. It’s good for getting the gist of big ideas when you don’t have time to read full texts. (Also if I get any of this wrong please know that philosophy is not my field and I’m totally open to constructive criticism.)

Hegel’s dialectical process revolves around three key moments: the moment of understanding, the dialectical moment, and the speculative moment. These moments can also be referred to as thesis, antithesis, and synthesis. The moment of understanding, thesis, is the point at which an idea is seemingly stable. In the dialectical moment, antithesis, this idea “sublates” itself– the idea is challenged and destabilized because an inherent contradiction in the idea has been made apparent–importantly, part of the idea is preserved. The speculative moment, synthesis, negates the contradiction. A new idea takes form, containing elements of the original idea that was sublated (Marx’s theory of history, anyone?) 

This process continues on and on. Ideas naturally reveal their contradictions, are destabilized, and resolve their contradictions through the creation of a new idea, which is challenged again. This is because the dialectical moment does not come from outside an idea. Antithesis is not an external push against thesis, but rather, the moment when thesis is forced into instability because of its own tightly-bound restriction. 

So back to what I was saying. The game kicks off your relationship with Akechi with a nod to, uh, all of that. Could this be a throwaway comment? Of course! But it’s much more fun to work under the assumption that it isn’t. So bear with me. Akechi is framing himself and Joker as thesis and antithesis. What does that mean? Why do I think it has something to do with Akechi and Joker’s relationship being non-transactional?

Previously, I’ve thought that in the context of their relationship, Akechi represented thesis, and Joker antithesis. This isn’t exactly true (at least per the criteria above) but I do think I was on the right track. 

At the beginning of his story, we can think of Akechi’s worldview as thesis. The world is a stage, and he is a performer. His entire life is dedicated to destroying Shido. It’s a key narrative element of P5 that Akechi doesn’t have confidant relationships (as contrasted by Joker, who has many confidants and becomes stronger through building up those bonds). He views himself as deceiving literally everyone in his life for his goals– his “fans,” his father, the Phantom Thieves. He doesn’t trust, because to him, trust is failure. 

Still, he’s starving for approval, and not just from Shido. You can see the inherent conflict between his desires and beliefs in just about every interaction he has with Joker, particularly those where Akechi overshares about his past. He desperately wants someone to hear him. I don’t think his (primary) aim in that was to strategically win Joker’s trust by showing vulnerability– if that was all he was going for, I doubt Akechi would have been so honest. He omitted information, sure, but he gave Joker the honest-to-god broad strokes of his childhood.  

When Joker comes into his life, Akechi comes to realize that his stable worldview might be wrong. Watching Joker and the rest of the Phantom Thieves reveals the cracks in his own internal logic. Joker has friendships and he is stronger because of them. When Akechi sacrifices himself for the Phantom Thieves on Shido’s ship, we see his moment of synthesis. If Akechi really still internalized all of what he said in his “Teammates? Friends? To hell with that!” monologue, he wouldn’t trust Joker to change Shido’s heart in his stead. To be clear– he probably would have reached this point with or without Joker’s intervention. Joker just happens to push Akechi towards self-sublation a little bit faster.

In Royal, we see a new iteration of Akechi. He doesn’t really regret his actions, and he is still very distinctly Akechi, but we can see that his original perception of the world has made a shift. He is willing to team up with Joker. While he may not place a great deal of faith in all of the PTs, he certainly has real trust in the protagonist. He’s learned that he can be recognized (dare I say loved?) without being perfect, and accordingly, his driving desire for approval has been displaced by his desire to never be so completely under anyone else’s control again.

But ok— that’s kind of an old take. Perhaps a hotter one: I’d also like to propose that Akechi does the same for Joker. 

As mentioned above, Joker’s identity for most of the game is defined by what he can do for the people around him. While a large part of this has to do with the fact that he is a playable character, this is a game, and a game needs to have things for you to do– it wouldn’t be very fun otherwise– it also seems pretty clear that this is part of his characterization. Joker is selfless to a fault. Like Akechi, he is a wildcard who can take on multiple personas. Unlike Akechi, instead of having a handful of personas directly linked to the core of his character development, Joker has as many personas as you want him to. He literally has a mask for every situation. You can equip a persona of the correct arcana to level up your relationships faster– a game mechanic, but also, an interesting meta statement about how Joker bonds with his confidants.

In Royal, however, Joker has the option to do something for himself. His greatest wish isn’t for someone else's happiness– it’s to have Akechi back, for selfish reasons, I would argue. Joker can sacrifice reality to keep him in his life, and depending on the actions you choose to take, sometimes, he does.

Loving Akechi teaches Joker to be selfish. This is especially poignant when you think of how adamantly opposed Akechi is to staying in Maruki's reality. Giving up the true reality to keep Akechi is a wholly selfish act on Joker's part, nothing altruistic about it. And if he doesn't make that choice? Well, don't forget about how Joker spent his wish.

He would have learned how to do this without Akechi– one tends to realize that neverending self-sacrifice is unsustainable sooner rather than later. Again, Akechi just pushes Joker towards effecting that self-sublation a little faster.

By spending time with Joker, Akechi learns that there are people he can truly trust. By spending time with Akechi, Joker learns how to put himself first. Their confidant relationship from this perspective is not only transactional, it’s actually one of the most transactional relationships in the game. Joker actively impacts how Akechi sees himself and the world around him, and vice versa. Their relationship is profoundly transformative for the both of them. To paraphrase Akechi, advancement cannot occur without both thesis and antithesis.

But also, we can forget dialectics for a second. Even without a fun analytical lens, Akechi’s confidant route centers two misunderstood people who find understanding in each other. That’s enough for me!

[tenderlady]

hi love!! out of curiosity, i didn't know about the lindsay ellis video, how bad is it?

hey, friend!

so, the video itself is here:

in the interest of full disclosure, i haven't actually seen it, so i really can't comment on the quality. my beef is not with lindsay ellis or the work that she's doing--as far as youtubers go, i think she's actually one of the better ones. this video might actually be good! but i haven't watched it, so i, frankly, don't know. my beef is much more with the video essay as a form and what it's doing rather than with lindsay ellis, or this video, specifically.

i'm guessing you're asking because of my tags on this post, which articulates a lot of my issues with the video essay industrial complex lmao, which gets at a lot of my discomfort with them. i used to watch video essays (a lot!), and a lot of my friends still do. like a lot of people, when i got out of grad school, i found i wasn't reading as much anymore, but i still wanted to be stimulated intellectually, and video essays were a good way to do that. but eventually i realized that i wasn't actually Learning Anything lol.

as ismatu gwendolyn says in her piece, "short-form video entertains more than it sticks." this was the place i was finding myself getting into when i was watching video essays a lot, and also the place i see my friends getting into. they are video (and arguably this isn't really short-form since it's over an hour long but i digress), but i find that most people i know don't actually Watch Them the way that you would watch a movie or, say, a lecture in a college class. instead they listen to them as you would listen to a podcast or an audiobook, which is to say While Doing Other Things. some of this is definitely because of the way our current economy is structured (a lot of the people listening to video essays are very busy, i.e., in university or working in a professional desk-type job, or have minimal downtime when not doing those things and have to double dip with their free time, so like things they can use to multi-task), and that is something i totally understand. but if we're looking at these as pedagogical objects (teaching tools from people who are trying to impart knowledge in some kind of way) they're actually not very effective. i respect folks like philosophy tube or contrapoints who include reading lists with their videos, but how many people are actually turning to these original sources? another of gwendolyn's points that i absolutely agree with is that you are engaging with a work in a totally different way by reading it. you have to give a written text your full attention, which is why the backbone of education is still Reading. this full attention forces you to have a deeper engagement with a text than you would while listening to it ambiently, or even just watching it. i get that there are people who can't do this for various reasons, but if actually sitting down with the texts a video essayist is talking about is available to you, you will find a totally different experience, even if those texts are just beatlebooks lol. (additionally, primary video texts--like interview footage of the beatles and yoko--are also hugely informative and different from the interpretive work i'm assuming is happening in lindsay's video)

i actually watched a good chunk of contrapoints' most recent video on desire but ended up dipping around the middle because she brought up anne carson and i realized i could just be reading anne carson lmao. i told a friend about this and he looked at me like i had sprouted an extra head and said "i never really thought about doing that. you're probably the only person i know who's ever done that." i get that like, 5 nerds in usamerica are hardly a representative sample, but that is the kind of behavior i see with video essays: people using them to fill a void of silence while they work/study/play video games/fold laundry rather than engaging with the material critically and learning in a concerted way.

the entertainment aspect is also something that bugs me, but i am a joyless hag, so that may just be me. i have a similar issue with john oliver. folks like oliver and the video essayists are definitely making complex issues more accessible to people who may be unfamiliar, but i don't know if they actually do much in the way of using that opened door to get people anywhere. there's also the issue of video essays being monetized. this isn't to say that Theory(TM) Isn't Monetized (they are published in journals and books, which you often have to buy), but that monetization isn't embedded into the work itself the way it is with video essays. nothing kills the vibe for me like talking about the great works of a philosopher and getting jumpscared by an ad for rocketmortgage or nordvpn halfway through.

like i said: i've watched video essays from time to time. i still do! but sometime in the last like.....4 or 5 years i realized that there were other things i could be doing with my One Wild & Precious Life.

to bring it back to the lindsay ellis video: i had a bunch of irl's (including a fucking ex that i don't talk to anymore!!!!!) send it to me, and i'm sure lindsay does a good job, but i kind of doubt she's going to tell me anything i don't already know lmao. one thing i love about the beatles fandom on here is that (for the most part) we aren't afraid to actually do Real Research Ourselves. the girlies are reading primary sources!!!! i just feel like the lindsay ellis beatle video is Not For Me, but feel free to prove me wrong!

[cryptidcorners]

Dorian “Zib” Zibowski x Reader Headcanons

= Character: Dorian “Zib” Zibowski

= Media: Lackadaisy

= Prompt: N/A

= Description: Just some Headcanons!

= Request: N/A

= Tags: Fluff !, Headcanons, Cute Stuff, Established Relationship (can be viewed as Romantic or Platonic) + Reader is !GN

= Warnings: None

Knowing Zib, he'd definitely be very blunt around you. As well as hysterically honest. He doesn't hide anything, so you aren't free from his comments. Of course, Zib doesn't have any ill intent, it's just how he is. So it's always unexpected when he sees you or other people take it too personally.

Zib has no care for those above or lower than him. As in, he'll be straightforward and offend them no matter what. You're definitely not safe from this, nobody is.

He's a very passionate man, since he still remains within Lackadaisy performing despite the lack of customers. So, expect a lot of saxophone playing & serenading! If you happen to play an instrument, he'd definitely encourage you to play. Even if it's just for a small crowd. Zib values music more than anything (including smoking & acholic beverages).

For meetups, Zib would prefer the Speakeasy; but if we're talking about miscellaneous locations, it'd probably be in cheap restaurants (preferably Italian if he truly has an appetite), lonely streets or areas where he can smoke in peace. He isn't the type to explore rich, clean areas like a lot of other men, and frankly, I don't think he gives a hoot.

He's pretty affectionate, mostly in private. He appreciates cuddling a lot, especially after a rough night. Zib doesn't think affection should be limited to romance, so if you two are alone, he'll definitely hug you a lot.

Pretty sure it's been confirmed he enjoys Eastern religions and philosophy. He's pretty shy about talking about his interests, mostly because he likes to keep an apathetic, cool outside demeanor. If you somehow get him to open up, Zib would never shut up. Once you open the door, you won't be able to close it for a long time.

Surprisingly, he's very comforting. Any hardships at all, Zib will always be at your aid. He's also gentle as well, especially due to it being a vulnerable moment for both of you.

[discopolice]

so the thing about islands of wakfu is it's where wakfu peaked. I will give that the gameplay is not good. but from the perspective of the world-building, the art direction, the music, it's the zenith (the zinit, even /rimshot) of what ankama was able to do, particularly with eliatropes

and i think that's why s4 landed as so disappointing to me! i've been subsisting on this one beautifully-written game for over a decade, so when i heard more of an eliatrope focus for s4, i was very excited - i'd been asking for this for years, to flesh out more of the web between them and the goddess and their actual culture and the ways they lived. or like.... something.

instead we get.... a poorly explained temple, and plot holes. we get none of the nuance we saw with qilby's relationship to the goddess or the eliatrope people as a whole, nor the nuance we saw with the almost-distance the goddess took from their people in IoW. the religion and philosophy aspects remain entirely unexplored. chibi as a character remains unexplored despite living and dying over an entire ova.

and part of me expected this, right? we know that IoW is no longer canon (in parts; the bit with the goddess and the dragon remains canon because i guess he liked that, and some of the copy from the MMO DLC indicates they may be keeping chibi/mina). perhaps i expected some of the themes to remain intact, but tot seems more interested in writing about his own family than in complexities of worldbuilding. and that's his prerogative! but it bores me and that's also why I write fanfiction

on that note, I also feel like a fossil when people wring their hands about shipping members of the eliatrope council being "literally incest" or "proshipping" or w/e because that has historically not been the tack they've taken. when i write, i want to make it clear that i write primarily drawing from IoW as my inspiration - to the point i've considered retagging my work on ao3 to reflect this. my stuff needs the context of this game, the world-building, the lines in it.

not helped by the fact that it's almost lost media - it's not available to purchase anywhere, few people own an xbox 360 anymore, and while it seems to play well with xenia (pc xbox emulator) per one youtube video, few people are likely to take the time to locate the rom (which, frankly, i'll just give to you if you ask) and set xenia up for a game that's annoying to play and no longer canon. i'd still encourage folks to watch a playthrough; it's really something that needs to be experienced.

[valerieofavonlea]

I think we as a fandom are overthinking the terms of the duel too much

So I just went through and reread most of Taravangian's chapters for a different theory, and something really stuck out to me, especially in RoW.

We were given some frankly kind of vague terms at the end of RoW between Dalinar and Odium, and with a long wait in between books, what else are we supposed to do other than pick apart every tiny detail and theorize? I have some thoughts.

This might get a little rambley so buckle in.

Let's establish a few things, and then I have a point, I promise. I know everyone is focusing on the draw, on not making a plan for if no one wins, because of Wit's story. That makes sense and could be obvious foreshadowing. But Dalinar in the moment kind of threw out everything Wit had carefully prepared and put together very simple terms. I still don't know that there's a whole lot of room for a draw with the terms we have, nor does Todium imply a draw when he's reviewing the deal, but a victory:

"The way to win was to make sure that, no matter the outcome, you were satisfied. Odium should never have entered a deal he could not absolutely control. 'It can still be done,' Taravangian realized, seeing the possibilities -so subtle- that his predecessor had missed. 'Yes... Dalinar has set himself up... to fail. I can beat him.'"

I'd also like to point out how Odium operates, as stated on at least two separate occasions:

"Should we write... a contract?" "Our word is the contract. I am not some spren of Honor, who seeks to obey only the strictest letter of a promise. If you have an agreement from me, I will keep it in spirit, not merely in word."

and

"This isn't some deal with a Voidbringer from your myths, where one tricks the other with some silly twist of language."

Now it is unclear if this is a Rayse philosophy or something the shard itself is bound to, but it is interesting nonetheless.

Now, onto my main point. Taravangian is a scheming, conniving character who spent four books paying chess, outsmarting and manipulating, and very very carefully planning. His arc in RoW is quite interesting then, as he gets dumber and dumber, he begins to see less value in the intelligence. For all his smarts, all his planning, he has managed to save just one city out of an entire planet, landed himself an execution as a traitor, and burned countless potential allies.

"Smart Taravangian has proven insufficient. Smart Taravangian has failed. He hasn't just been made intelligent. He's been given a coin and a curse. Intelligence on one side. Compass on the other. When smart, he assured that compassion was the curse. But was it really? Or was the curse that he could never have both at once?"

By the end of RoW, Taravangian has become so much a being of pure emotion that he's constantly attracting spren, and he has become the perfect vessel for a shard of pure emotion.

The old Taravangian would have chosen the scheming, the wordplay, outwitting anyone and everyone he could have. The old Taravangian would have reveled in a tiny tiny loophole or trick of wording only he could see, but he got a whole lot of nowhere with all that scheming.

"Odium had bet so much upon Dalinar being his champion. Now that was in chaos. The god bragged about his plans, but Taravangian knew firsthand that you could plan and plan and plan, but if one man's choices didn't align to your will, it didn't matter. A thousand wrong plans were no more useful than a single wrong one."

So, what if he is leaning all the way into the passion thing now rather than the intelligence he was chasing for most of his life? Because the scheming and trying to overthink didn't work out that well for him, but the emotion, the feelings, that's what got him this power (and the capacity to save everyone). So the question becomes, are we as a fandom approaching the duel incorrectly, trying to think too hard about loopholes and the specific wording, when this new version of Todium would be more likely to use an emotional approach? Something to think about.

[maokomi]

ᥫ᭡ Reblogs are greatly appreciated !!

.ೃ࿔*:･ 「𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐬.」 gn reader, sweetheart boyfriend Childe, modern AU, gooey lovey-dovey feelings, established relationship

Inspired by, of all things, a hypothetical situation presented by my Philosophy professor. So thanks, sir Louise. 

You step out of the airport terminal, gaze fixed on your phone. Around you, people bustle past you and your luggage like a river around a stone. Some grumble and give you stink eyes for being too slow, but you pay them no mind, one string away from snapping.

“Damn it,” you grumble, fiddling with your phone and the taxi-booking app you’ve got open. There’s urgency and annoyance behind the force in which you jam your fingers against the screen, scowling down at the ‘Fully Booked! Please wait a moment’ that’s been flashing across your screen in garish red letters for the past five minutes. 

It’s too fucking early for this— the sun is barely over the horizon, and you can practically hear the entire community waking up with a groggy yawn. You’re tired from the flight, hungry, jet lagged and frankly you just want to meet your boyfriend at home and take a long, long nap and waste the morning away. But apparently the rest of these sleep-deprived travelers also have a similar goal— and they’ve even beaten you to the commute, too.

You don’t give up for another few minutes, frantically refreshing the app in hopes that your luck will turn around, but no dice. With a defeated sigh, you jam the phone back into your pocket, a hand reaching to your temple to soothe the incoming headache. All it takes is a few seconds for you to resign yourself to your fate of having to take the overcrowded bus back home. Hopefully the archons smile down on you and you get to sit beside someone decent. Not someone overly interested in getting your number. Or a person who spends the entire ride back on their phone, obnoxiously yelling into their device. You shudder. With the way your morning is going, it’d be just your luck that that’s exactly who you end up beside.

Not for the first time, you let yourself think about calling Childe to pick you up, but you quickly chase the thought away. 

It’s tempting. So, so tempting. 

He’s probably in bed right now, warm under the covers. He’d probably recognize your specific ringtone, would pick up in a heartbeat even if he’s half asleep. And you already know that he’d half-heartedly whine about it being so early in the morning, even if you both know that he’s already pulling on some going-out clothes and looking for his car keys.

Childe would drop everything and anything if you ask, which is exactly why you don’t want him picking you up. Because, if your past calls are anything to go by, he’s been having a rather rough week himself, and you’d rather brave a packed bus and motion sickness than willingly pull him away from some well deserved rest.

Thoughts of your boyfriend, happily enjoying his day off steel your resolve, and with a resolute nod to your head, you begin to turn to the airport bus stop.

Then a whistle cuts through the air and —like some fucking drama— it’s as if the crowd parts and Childe, all bed-headed and grinning, is leisurely jogging up to you.

All you can do at first is stare at him in surprise because what the fuck you must be more tired than you thought,  you’re actually full-on hallucinating now. 

But Childe easily comes over, one hand immediately going for the handle of your luggage, the other wrapping around your middle. He pulls you into a one-armed hug, pressing a soft, fond kiss to your forehead and wow there is no way this is a hallucination.

“Hey sweetheart.” Childe grins at you when you pull away to look at him, almost looking amused at how bewildered you are.

And you, ever so jet lagged and exhausted, can only managed to say: “You… you’re here. Uh. Hi.”

“Hey.” You can practically hear the grin in his voice. For good measure, he plants a kiss on your nose. “What, you really thought I wouldn’t be able to come pick you up? Didn’t know you think so little of me, babe.”

You splutter, not even able to form proper words aside from the occasional ‘Wh—‘ that you manage to get out.

“Your google account is still logged in on my phone,” Childe says to your unverbalized question. He shrugs apologetically as begins gently leading you in the direction he came, a hand guiding you at the small of your back. “Didn’t mean to snoop, I swear, but when the email with your flight details came in I saw the time and had a feeling you were planning to hoof it without telling anyone. Which, by the way—“

He pinches your side. Not enough to hurt, but you yelp at the surprise of it.  

“—not super smart when you have a very willing boyfriend with a car ready to pick you up at the drop of a hat.”

You sigh, jabbing him back with an elbow, but all he does is grin wider. “You said you were tired! I didn’t wanna drag you out of bed or anything.”

“Well then consider me very willingly leaving the bed of my own volition, then.”

You roll your eyes, about to voice another argument that is more just for petty, affectionate bickering than actual argument, when Childe pauses and pulls you close, silencing you with a kiss to the crown of your head. You can feel the fond grin he wears.

“Missed you, sweetheart. Let’s get you home, then we can both go back to bed, okay?”

[tarotnoob]

BTS group reading 6/18/24

This is the full BTS reading I did around the Jin discharge/reunion. I think that's important to note since I caught the vibe around that event as opposed to everyone being at their respective bases.

Disclaimer: Tarot readings are not fact; please don't let anyone make you feel they are. Using tarot readings as proof of anything related to BTS or the members is, frankly, silly.

You can also check out the reading I just did for Jimin. There were things that I noticed in Tae/Jimin's readings here that seemed connected. What does that mean? Nothing other than their energies crossed, so I interpreted it as having a convo about some stuff.

Essentially while there's a process to tarot, there's also a bit of guesswork trying to work out the pieces. Not to mention readers operate with their own biases.

RM - Even before I looked at the guidebook for the Oracle cards I got the sense that this is his time to not really give a s*** about anything. I feel like he's working on trying to take things less seriously so much to the point that he might be trying to go out of his comfort zone. I feel like he's trying to simplify things in his life, whether this means literally getting rid of clutter or getting rid of the BS. There's a lot of energy focused on the self. Whether this is more self-help books or working out or even pampering himself in some ways. The spirit card also makes me think that maybe he could be reading more philosophy books or even diving into different religions or spiritualities. If he has time off, I still think that he likes to spend it in nature. 

I really think that there's a lot of energy being put into physical fitness and health. He might even be eating better and simplifying his diet. I think that in terms of clarity he's definitely seeing things about what he wants to do in the future. He might be thinking a lot ahead to the next steps that they could take as a group or just him himself on projects. The candle and spirit definitely gives me Ace of wands vibes. So he might actually be working on a collaboration with somebody. I guess that could be a romantic spark as well. It kind of has a romantic vibe there. But it could just be vibing with people who are on his same wavelength. Talking about life and all kinds of things related to that. I see a greater sense of understanding his purpose and what he wants to do and where he wants to go and how he wants to be perceived. I just really get a no-nonsense don't give s*** kind of vibe. I think people do that when they need to shed something. They need to just start over because he was getting too frustrated and worked up and realized that he just had to go back to the basics or throw it all away. But I mean he's not doing it by being a hermit. Even with the number nine popping up lol. There could be some of that but I still see him being rather a social with other people who think similarly or interesting that way to him. I definitely see him talking to somebody about the future though. Having two figures in each card's could mean again like a partner or one specific friend or could stand in for a group of people but he's definitely making plans with someone besides himself. If not specific plans together then just a person that he likes to talk to about the future. 

I'm also feeling like he's more in a very sensitive and feminine type of energy where he's more open to receiving possibly. Like so more interested in learning and gaining knowledge and getting in touch with taking care of himself both mentally and physically. I feel like you probably also bought something really nice recently. Like some type of luxury item. From a car to a house to like a really nice watch or a piece of art. But I definitely feel like he's spending if it makes him feel better. I know that's getting away from decluttering but I think he's like I don't give a f*** I'm just going to buy things that make me happy and look aesthetic. 

Jin

Jin has strength and nature. This could be specific to a trip coming up in Leo season for him. So very soon. Where he might take a vacation to someplace where you would think of nature. It could be anywhere from Jeju to the mountains to getting away from Korea but I get a sense of somebody probably taking a trip to a location that's not necessarily a busy city. It could be to go camping probably. I think also it means like a sense of wonder. In the book it says something like and every walk with nature, one receives far more than he seeks. And the keywords are gifts wonders and home. I just feel like this is going to be a time of relief for him to do things that are fun and carefree. I wonder if he's able if he goes on the trip will he like do a live or share a diary about it. It could involve music or gathering with people from the music industry as in friends or it could just be a situation where they go to camp and they have a campfire and it's very chill. It could even be like something I don't want to say spiritual but like a retreat where you have events that make you relax like yoga or sound baths. 

That doesn't really sound like him but that's kind of the vibe I'm getting. Or like a get together where people play music but it's not like loud music. It would be like you know if you get by campfire on somebody has an acoustic guitar. So they play folk or soft music together and just sing acapella. I see him having a good and relaxing time. Just trying to get back into the groove of things not trying to rush into something. Not to say that he might not start working on music right away. But I just see him even if he's doing that he's kind of playing around and trying to have fun and relax. Also maybe a lot of appreciation for what it means to have your own time and to not be stuck in the military anymore. I'm sure that sounds obvious but when I did a reading for him right before all the guys met the other day, I actually cried because of the cards that came out. Because it was just such a lovely energy. 

This is somebody who like has really figured out how not to let external things affect him and to just live in the now and like to approach things with such a wondrous and joyous type of energy. I think he is a person of strong character. If there's anything that he wants to do he has the willpower to do it. I don't think he lets anybody step over his boundaries. I think they've already said this but there's an energy of being a kid. I'm not saying he's immature. You could look at him and say the pranks or the things he says are silly and that's immature but it's not from that. It's from someone who just has decided not to let negative things affect him or even if they do because he's human, he won't let them beat him down I guess? Because life is too short? I feel like there's a lot of wisdom people could get from him if they sat and had a chat with him. And you could get him to be a bit serious. I think he doesn't want to be serious. Not because he's avoiding anything but just like he doesn't want to be lol. That's not his vibe. But yeah I think he's ready to rest and relax and recharge right now and so I would definitely expect him to take a trip very shortly to a location where he can feel relaxed. 

Yoongi

I'm a little surprised to see joyous especially given the tarot cards. But joyous here the keywords are appreciation, overflowing choice. The intention phrase for it is choose to spread your joy contagiously. You will keep your spirit healthy. Your joy will make others happy. The quote that goes with it is from Carlos Santana and it says if you carry joy in your heart, you can heal any moment. 

On the one hand I can't tell if I'm being biased especially given his tarot cards but then how I feel he probably feels about his military service. So part of me is wondering if this joyous card is a bit sarcastic. But when you read the description it's a lot like gratitude or being optimistic. Which I do think he is. It's living and practicing an existence of being joyful needs to come within. Celebrate being alive and having the freedom to make your own choices. Follow the path leading upwards and see the candy jar as half full rather than half empty. Positive thoughts and actions will attract higher vibration surrounding you, granting you pure joy. I have wondered from things he's said for years now if he has not necessarily a spiritual practice but more like a mental practice of letting things go and not having attachments. 

So I think he has adapted some of that to life. The tarot cards kind of indicate I don't want to say bitterness. But we have the nine of wands which is a little bit defensive or having seen some s*** or being determined and the devil tends to have those like negative self thoughts. The joyous part could be advice for him for how he feels right now. I can only imagine how someone like that feels when they have to do something that they don't believe in. I don't think he gives a s*** about military service. He probably doesn't think that he should be doing it. He probably doesn't believe in anything that has to do with authority or nationality or patriotism. I'm not saying he would be a critic or anything although there's much to criticize so it wouldn't surprise me. So I think this is kind of a difficult thing for him to wrap his head around so he's just trying to see the silver lining. Which is probably that eventually it will be over. I think he's trying to find things to be grateful for. I think he's looking forward to the end. 

I have always wondered if he has a companion or like a partner of some kind. I don't think it's a friend. I do lean toward a companion, I feel like they've been together for a while, and I feel like this person provides comfort as much as possible and could be the joy that he finds in what is probably an annoying experience for him right now. I think probably this person is the only one kind of keeping him grounded. I think the relationship could be a little codependent in that regard. I also feel like there's something hidden. Something sneaky or secret. This could be anything like something he's doing in secret. That could be the relationship. Or somebody involved is doing something that he's not aware of or he's doing something that other people aren't aware of. It's interesting that in all the cards there is this little extra animal. Which is part of why I'm leaning toward there is somebody significant in his life that provides comfort. That or he just got a dog lol. 

15, 9 and 6 could be relevant so maybe something happening in September between September 6th and 15th. Something that could be a secret being revealed. I'm not like super confident in that I'm just guessing what the numbers could mean if anything. I'm kind of seeing five of wands as well within this nine of wands, so there could be other types of conflicts happening. These sticks are burning and this is a snowman and that dog is also made of flames so technically the snowman could melt under the heat. And the devil obviously hell. Kind of silly but like literally he could be somewhere right now that is extremely hot lol. He could feel under pressure or feel the heat. There could be some type of temptation. It could be that he is involved with someone or something that could potentially cause harm to him. Of either a slight degree or more than that. Something that he's doing or indulging and might be kind of iffy but at the moment it seems to be bringing him joy or happiness or a way to get through stuff. I don't really know what that could be. 

Besides indulging in a relationship that's codependent, it's not like he could really be doing drugs or abusing substances. I think it's something else it's like tempting but at the same time it's harmful. I don't know what that could be given him not being able to do much. It could also be that like he's in a situation where he can't react the way he wants and feels confined. But that's me just like assuming things. I'm not really feeling anything. The devil is also a card about restriction so again maybe feeling restrained and kind of at his limit. I mean that sounds really dramatic, this is obviously somebody who can handle anything but like I just can only imagine him being incredibly irritated that he has to do this stuff. I just hear him being really sarcastic in my head about the idea of joyous. Like yeah what a joy this is. But he knows he's going to stick through it so what can he do. I mean he can't go into it completely like I hate this because he'd be miserable. 

Even though I think he's miserable but he's trying his best to find the things that make it endurable. I also wonder if with this person whether it's a new person or like I felt like an old person that maybe this person has like melted him in some ways and made him softer. Maybe because this person has seen him through good and bad. But I would definitely guess that if it's a person it's a bit codependent. Like they don't want to go out with everybody they would rather just stay in by themselves and only interact with each other. Kind of like when you invite a friend and no matter how many times you invite the friend they always want to ask if they can bring their partner. Which some people might be like what's wrong with that well that's weird. Okay it's weird. You can separate for a night to hang out with friends. And often your friends don't necessarily want to hang out with your partner. But yeah I'm not really getting much other than like irritation and sarcasm and just dealing with it and probably a person involved in his life that's pretty serious and is sticking close to him. But something about it is a little maybe toxic. Because again the snowman wants to take care of the little flame dog but the flame dog does end up melting him. But he seems to really like this person and I would guess it's a woman Yes. She might be older than him. I know all the little animals and stuff look younger but like I feel like she could be older 

It could even be that he's actually the little pet in every single card because of how much he seems to look up to her or be like obsessed with her. And if in her eyes that she's rather powerful and like caring and taking care of him. That's why I kind of think she's probably older by at least 5 years it could be more than that. Anyway. I think I said that last time I did a reading about him where I felt like he was talking to somebody about creative projects. And I think it's the same person probably so. Don't ask him to marry you because I'm pretty sure he's already got somebody in mind and it's pretty serious and probably long-term. But it's just a guess and a feeling. I don't feel 100% about anything going on with him. 

But I do probably think he's taken. However I feel like it's a non-traditional type of relationship. As in like they don't like labels or it could be open. But it just doesn't feel traditional hetero dynamics. I think they would call it like a companionship or even like one's a superpower and one's a familiar. She might also be kind of spiritual or has that same type of interest in those philosophical ideas without being spiritual. She could even be a little witchy. She could be into Japanese religions or spirituality or be Japanese I say that because of the fox. And they have legends about foxes being able to change shape. And this animal seems to keep changing shape in the different cards from being a dog to a fox to whatever is with the devil. So in that way in terms of non-traditional this woman is just not into labels. Maybe they're even non-binary? I don't really feel like that though I feel like they're quite feminine in nature but it's more not believing in labels and thinking everything is a social construct with a bit of scientific spirituality thrown in lol. I just don't see them as into incense and tarot yet they apply certain philosophies like that to things. Anyway interesting. 

J-Hope

I am not surprised that he would somehow pull the focus card out of a lot of really like spiritual worded Oracle cards lol. I am always thinking of him as being high focused and a little not uptight but like wound a little bit tight yeah. Very respectful and kind of serious. But deeply charming. As for the photo we have somebody who is in a white gown with flowers. And we have the four of wands, so it's almost giving like a wedding vibe. I think I said this in a past reading about him too where I thought there was some kind of wedding so I don't know why that keeps coming up with him. If you look at the four of wands as well that guy has like white hair and it reminds me of J-Hope when he had that white blonde hair before he enlisted. So there's definitely I mean I would look at it and be like okay well somebody is putting their attention into like an event that looks like a wedding and there's a little bit of anxiousness and anxiety about it. I don't know is he going to get married, is he going to a wedding, is he going to be in a wedding? The other thing could be there's some type of celebration or contest coming up where he would perform and there's some anxiety and he's just focused on that event right now. 

Reading the book for focus also sounds a lot like somebody and the steps you would take to manifest something and make something happen. Especially like achievements or things that you want to accomplish. So it's putting in the effort toward that and being aware of what you want. So there is a moment of celebration that he's working toward and focused on. This could be like any of them where it's a focus on being discharged and celebrating that moment afterward. And maybe he's like super highly anxious and focused on that specific countdown day. So I think he's really looking forward to the end. And at the end there could be some kind of celebration that would include a wedding. I don't know if it's he's seeing somebody I don't know. There are lots of people in our lives who could get married but it's just interesting that he got four of wands and this card looks so much like a bride carrying flowers. They're both carrying flowers. So there's nervousness here. I mean we won't know until he gets out but maybe he has promised somebody that at the end of his discharge they could celebrate something. It could be anybody else throwing a wedding or party but I'm just saying it's looking like I want to imagine a situation where he is with a woman Yes a woman probably very likely and they're both looking forward to this moment and there's a celebration and there are flowers and there is somebody in a white dress so I'm just saying. 

It's interesting that the focus card talks about manifestation and creating things when the character on the four of wands is the person who created BMO and a lot of robots. So there's this idea of creating a dream reality. Creating his own happiness. Highly focused on what's going to make him happy and what's coming up in the future. There's also an interesting take on flowers. It could be that being with Jin now he has flowers in mind and that's how he associates the end. It could be a focus on beauty and happiness and things that are good. Also to have flowers you have to put in the dedication to grow them. And when you do that something really beautiful comes out and you've created something.they are white roses so it could signify like a friend getting married. 

Of course I like don't see anything in the cards to indicates to me a person that he's seeing now or whatever. I'm just like literally this is exactly what it looks like on the cards. But like I said it could be a friend's wedding. Once he gets out and he's looking forward to that. Or it could be way in the distant future that there's some type of marriage. We have the numbers four and the numbers 9. So this could be something for next April or it could be something in September or the event could take place on the 4th or 9th of a month. I don't think he's getting out until early October maybe. I'm not sure of the specific date. But maybe he's getting out on like the 9th or the 4th I don't know. But there is no way a guy as amazing as he is is not dating somebody. Like I don't know if any of them were dating and they took a break because obviously it'd be difficult to keep a relationship while you're enlisted. Especially for JK and JM who are like in the middle of nowhere and mountains and apparently it's hard for them to get a lot of time off. 

I'm not sure what to totally make of the nine of swords beyond being like a generally anxious as a person always he seems to be. But this character has a harp and the swords kind of make me think of communication and writing. So I think when he gets anxious he might be writing and working on things like at night you know when he's in bed and about to go to sleep. I also think this just indicates dreams. I'm really focused on the wavy one the second one from the bottom. I don't know why. Although it does kind of remind me when you like put a song together and you see the waves of the sounds. Also in the nine of swords on the bed there's another woman who looks like she has a bridal dress on lol. It's clearly princess bubble gum but it looks like yeah so I'm sorry but I definitely think there's a wedding coming up for him. It would be weird to be that focused on a friend's wedding unless it's like your best friend or you're going to be in it or you're worried about whether you're going to get out in time to make it to the wedding. But somebody's getting married 

Jimin

Okay for Jimin. We have the sun which can indicate Leo timing or Leo signs and we have Divinity. Kind of interesting already because flame princess is a royal person and people used to think that being royal was a divine right or divinely given. Despite there being a moon in the divinity card I also get the sense that it could just as easily be the Sun instead of the moon here. Or it's just a mix of the sun and the moon meaning feminine and masculine energies happening at the same time. Because the divinity card would definitely make me think of high priestess right which is a very feminine energy and in the sun is that powerful masculine energy. So there's like a balance theme happening here. 

More about the divinity card. So the intention says embrace your soul and true self. You are filled with the ability, strength, and knowledge you need to navigate your life's path. It's interesting that it says strength which is the other leo card. So I think clarity and bravery and being bold and getting out there or bringing something into the light could be a part of this. This could be more about the balance of those energies. If we're talking about the high priestess which usually means secret and we have a card about clarity, there could be a revelation of some sort that's happening for him or about him or will happen to him. It's such a nice balance of energy lol. Because there's such a softness and empress vibe and high priestess vibe rolled into this divinity card. It's very soft and elegant and then you have this powerful loud sun card. And flame princess is focusing on this crown and this particular red jewel but she's also not wearing it on her head. We see that there is red prominent on both cards. There's also a little bit of yellow and then a bit of green but I'm mostly seeing red which is the root chakra. Yellow would be solar plexus green would be heart.

I'm also wondering if he's kind of in the mood to dye his hair red lol. Or like he was just talking about what color will I dye my hair when I see you again and I'm wondering if right now he has an idea in his head that it will be red. Or is he like I'm between red and blonde because we see yellow here too. Another line associated with the divinity card is never forget that you have the spark of divine in you. Whatever you do or don't do won't change this fact. And the keywords are wise, sacred, deity. I kind of feel like both cards are talking about a deity or a god or the divine or fate or whatever you want to call it. Spiritual wisdom. He always has very spiritual cards and more often than not I typically get cards for him that are like the sun, the moon, death. Like with other members I tend to also get a seven card with him at some point. 

The number for the Sun card is 19 or 1 and 9 or 10. So any of those numbers could be significant in some way. More about the card it says you are quite surely a goddess with extraordinary powers and in other worldly realm. Hold yourself to the highest standard of exquisite excellence. You are walking on this earth to make the difference that was intended for you to achieve. Stand tall on the highest mountain. This line is interesting. Once you reach the apex, you will discover the entire spectrum of the rainbow waiting just for you. It's weird because I think that the universe has special intentions for him which can probably create a lot of tough burdens and challenges and lessons for that type of person. There's a lot of focus on embracing who you are and you know embracing the feminine aspects and the beautiful aspects and the graceful aspects. So the card is really encouraging the feminine traits or skills or talents of his personality and even of his physical looks. 

But then like you see this other card that definitely represents all those masculine traits. I'm not necessarily seeing a conflict. I'm pretty sure that he's mostly resolved a lot of the issues he used to have about what it means to be masculine versus can I accept these feminine aspects of myself and how will these be perceived. I kind of thought that would come up again going into a place like the military where you can't paint your nails, you can't wear makeup, you can't dye your hair, and I thought he was maybe worried about what he would look like without his hair and not being able to present himself as an idol. I don't see conflict here maybe if I clarified. I see someone embracing both sides. I feel like sometimes the fandom misrepresents him and it's interesting because everything he stands for is in contradiction with what the fandom likes to do to him. 

Because he is sometimes seen as “slighter” physically or because he did contemporary or ballet or because he has that feminine type of face that's very beautiful and artistic or he wears jewelry. But sometimes the fandom likes to treat him in this very heteronormative type of way where it's like okay well he's a little bit more “fem” than the other guys so that must mean that maybe he's gay or somewhere within that LGBT spectrum which is none of anybody's f****** business but anyway. But like what he has always said is that labels can be silly. There's a moment in maybe it was bon voyage the first one where he said you know what does it mean to be a man. He's always saying let men cry. 

And that's not to say he's always been that way because I remember this moment in an interview and JK was being asked what do you think about bikinis and he said something like I know all I need to know about bikinis and then jm says something like they don't even see us as men do they. And we know that at the beginning he thought he (Jm) had to be a muscle pig and ironically he's kind of switched roles with JK and JK became the muscle pig (but he doesn't seem put off by showing a fem side these days). So I don't know what's going on there with the flipping of the roles… or that both of them have kind of learned from each other about embracing both sides because I don't know if you saw the Calvin Klein cropped shirt photo but it's one of my favorite photos of jk and I think he looks amazing. Just as amazing as when he dresses in all leather and masculine fashion. But anyway my point was going to be you can't put people in a box because of your conceived notions of what you think people could be based on looks or how they act. 

So I can understand why he's also interested in both sides and you know how do I balance this and where do I fit. And I think you can have those qualities and be extremely powerful and still quite masculine in that energy. I just think he conveys both and he always has to me. I find him very beautiful in his dance and then when he puts on makeup and dresses up it's just beautiful. I don't think oh well he looks girly. And then you see him in in the soop wearing a baggy shirt and some shorts and chopping wood. Or he's got a baseball cap and a jacket and he's just like looking like any other well-dressed guy. 

What's my point? I just think it's probably always going to be a part of his life or the earlier part of his life to figure out the balance of those traits and what society tells him they mean but what he feels they mean could be completely different to that and then just balancing that within himself. I also just think he has spiritual powers lol. There's always something so sexy about him and that's probably the wrong word but it's because I just think the moon really fits him so well. But then yet it's clear that Sun is another aspect of his personality. This is a person that's meant to shine and can be bold but is quite like on the other side of it quiet and soft and elegant. Because you could look at these two figures and these cards and look at divinity with the cloak and then you look at the flame princess and it looks like that figure could be cloaked in flames but also it could be that flame princess is wearing this cloak and then she's taking it off. Maybe red is also his favorite color lol. 

So it's like somebody who is a feminine being or body or embraces that feminine energy being cloaked in a color that is a masculine energy. I also see it as somebody who's extremely passionate but it's like a quiet passion. Not that you'll never physically see his passion but it's such a strange thing to have to describe. But I'll just say it reminds me of dancing. Like specifically contemporary dancing. You have to make these fairly simple movements and portray them just using your body and emotions. And you have to do that in an elegant and sleek and slow way. And you have to contain it. It's like a contained passion right. And flame princess is also a very passionate character. And she probably had a moment too where she didn't know if she wanted to wear the crown and take over from her dad and so there has to be this choice of you know am I going to wear this crown and do this. And that could be about: do I want to wear this label do I want to openly wear a label of how I describe or see myself. But in Divinity there's a bit like it is hidden by this cloak right but then looking at this crown maybe I'm looking at the day where I don't have to hide in this cloak. I'm not trying to make this a metaphor, I'm not assuming anything about him because hiding things about yourself makes sense as a celebrity. you can hide all kinds of things especially when you have this complex about if people see parts of you that they don't like especially when you're a person you're a Libra of course and you don't want anybody to dislike you so you're afraid to show certain parts for fear of turning people away from you. 

Even if you're confident in yourself so I feel like one side of him wants to be able to show everything that he is but then there's this other part that wants to keep it hidden right to keep it secret for whatever reason. But there is hope here I think and looking at this crown keep feeling like this is somebody who's looking at something and dreaming of what could be and since it's a card about clarity it also feels like being able to live in the light and do this and be bold about it and like wear that crown. I still don't feel any conflict between the cards like I'm either this or that or I'm ashamed to live in the cloak. I just think they're two parts of him and I think he wants clarity and wants success as well. There's like quiet hungry passion for success. Yes I mean like physical success and awards and validation. Being the best, and having it to do with performance for sure. Like he gets super excited about the idea of performance and super excited about the idea of awards and winning things and being acknowledged in that way. I can also see the love of roleplay and even of costumes. Because look at how dramatic that is to be wearing that cloak and then her little warrior outfit. It almost looks like a kendo outfit though doesn't it too. 

Maybe he'll win a martial arts award while he's in the military. I also feel like maybe he'll win an award. I think I said that in his longer reading but like maybe he gets an award for a job well done for something. Oh you know and now that I look at the sun I'm starting to see Jack skellington's face in the Sun with like the stitches as the mouth and the little eyes. Anyway. There's a lot I could look at for in his cards and I feel like his cards always convey this type of feminine masculine energy with the moon and the sun. How he can be this quiet person walking through the woods but at the same time he could be this regal royal hot-blooded all in red flame princess right out in the sunlight for everyone to see. So it would make me think you know yeah he might perform wildly on stage and be very loud about it but he's also a very private person. I also wonder if there's a place he can go by the base. 

I personally think and have seen in the cards that there are a lot of mountains and I think I've already heard people say that but I wonder if there's a spot with trees that he can go to to take a walk. Even in the Sun card it looks like a barren rocky mountainous place and you have to put on this uniform. But then there's this very peaceful woods area with trees. If he doesn't have that then maybe there's some way that he can find this type of peace even at the base. Like looking at this little object like the crown can help transport him. So this could also be him on his phone when he gets to read it at night he's reading stories. Like manga or fantasy fiction novels. Or maybe putting on these costumes and going into this role as performer is also kind of like a safe space that he dreams about. 

You know since I thought his album was very cinematic in the way that the songs told stories or how visual it was or how concrete the video concepts were. I'm also seeing like okay this divinity card represents his imagination and flame princess is looking at this crown and imagining scenarios. Like if you are a writer sometimes you can imagine scenes like movies in your head so it could be him imagining himself in these different roles like being this cloaked figure and playing RPGs but also that feels tied to how he imagines songs or his love of movies. It feels very creative. Or maybe he can imagine things like paintings. Maybe he's inspired by art. There's probably just a lot of stuff about him that we don't know. I would love to have a chat with him because I find him pretty relatable. I think he's a tough cookie, I think people often underestimate him and treat him like s*** especially people in our own fandom, but this is a really strong and caring and creative and talented person that seems to also have some type of blessing from the universe. Like if he actually took up tarot and tried spiritual practices I think he would be able to do it intuitively or his power/gifts comes from his ability to interact with people and heal them oh well.

Anyway, I know that wasn't specific but I just think it's a bit of a time for him to figure out some things about himself and who he is and what he wants to show. Again, I'm not saying that the cards say he is XYZ. But the cards just say that he hides some aspects of himself, which we all do. And I think that that can be a struggle for him. But I think he has an ability to visualize very strongly and that might be why he is able to manifest certain things. I think he sees songs or scenes for songs or videos very concretely. But that also tells me that he probably visualizes things that he wants or things he hopes for the future very clearly as well. 

Do I think that any external debate from the fandom or anywhere else reaches him and still affects him in terms of that feminine versus masculine energy? I don't really think so. I doubt he pays that much attention to comments anymore or at least I hope he doesn't. Besides that aspect of feminine versus masculine, there also seems to be a layer of public versus private. However, this has gotten pretty long so cut it off here especially since they already did a longer reading for him. 

Taehyung - 

I took a couple days break before I did the last two. So tae has some interesting cards. For the tarot, there is high priestess and death. Uniquely spiritual cards, about wisdom, also about things that are somewhat secret. That's a little bit interesting because I feel like it's slightly tied into some things with Jimin. But putting that aside let's just talk about the tarot, high priestess can indicate knowledge, or secret knowledge, intuition, having to do with the moon, feminine energy. While death represents Pluto, cycles of death and rebirth, what they have in common is both cards indicate something being hidden or subconscious. So we definitely know that there is something pointing here to things that are hidden or covered or secret or quiet. So we have to look at the oracle cards, one says goddess. The other says serenity. Goddess gives me the vibes of going back to high priestess or empress even but looking at it you might also think about three of cups or even three of pentacles. Serenity kind of makes me think of hanged man. What also comes to mind is the serenity prayer, which ironically has the same sort of message about letting go of things that you can't control.

I put the Oracle box away and just kept the pictures but now I need to look up what the oracles are. Honestly I wasn't really going to post the group readings but I kind of feel inclined to after seeing that Jimin has a new album coming out. So I feel a bit excited about talking about some of these things coming up in the readings. 

To talk about serenity, the keywords are acceptance, peace, choice. The intention says make peace with your situation, unless you can and want to make a change for a better outcome. Serenity comes when you trade expectations for acceptance. 

So before we move on to the next Oracle I'm again getting the same thing as the tarot which is I feel like he's totally embracing military life and what's happening wholeheartedly. It doesn't surprise me that this matches the energy of his letter. It's different than jins outlook about him going into the military or his general state of mind which is often you know live in the moment. But even when Jin lives in the moment It's as if he is having a reaction to the world and it's not like a genuinely carefree attitude. It's something that is practice by him and is almost like a meditation or when you have to practice a certain mindset. Whereas with Tae this feels like organically I don't give a f*** That's not putting it right because it's not like there's this rebellious thing. It's just like excitement for the unknown and what is to come and just like completely having his arms open to it and going with the flow. Which is probably something he's always done throughout life. And I think that explains some aspects of what's going on here. The secret stuff or the hidden stuff is a little bit something else. Which we might find in the last Oracle so let's see. 

Also sometimes when you get multiple secret cards it's also possible that someone doesn't want to show you something or it's unknown. So with goddess, the keywords are sacred, light, warrior. it says every stage of life lays the foundation for the next stage of life. Treasure each stage of life. And the intention says magic runs deeply through your veins, be wild and free. Awaken your soul and embrace all of your journeys around the Sun, whether they are traditional or all your own shining uniqueness. We are all warrior woman. 

Mentioning the sun when Jimin got that, I'm again maybe drawn to something connecting jm and tae in this reading. I'm not sure what that is and maybe it plays into the secret. Definitely since the goddess tends to look like three of cups and one of the women seems to be pregnant, which could be kind of like an empress vibe, you have to wonder if lol he's full of secrets. That might have to do with Jimin. There's also more moon energy because the goddess card talks about triple moon goddess. Which again makes me think of high priestess and empress. Then it says fundamentally, she is the same person entwined and wrapped into one being. Each life stage is associated with a phase of the moon. That's fascinating because literally we have death which is about life cycles and he got besides the moon card the other Moon card. The death card is a card I associate with Jimin. So again there's like some tie here in this current energy in this current reading that seems to be connecting tae and JM. I'm not entirely sure what that is or how it connects to what I said about Jimin in this reading. It could be that the things that Jm is hiding within himself or cloaking or however you want to call it, that these are things that he has recently shared with Tae. Over the phone or through a message or whatever. So that might be why they are connected a little bit. Or a lot, hard to say. I do see in the goddess card we have three people discussing things amongst themselves. I think it's like a deep conversation because we have the moon. I'm not getting three of pentacles unless there's some practicality to it but I see three people discussing something deep and important. 

The middle person seems to have a lot to say it could be because she's pregnant. They might be talking about something not just deep and emotional but having to do with the cycles like life and death or what are we going to do next in the future. My guess is they probably did have a deep conversation in the last couple of weeks. Because I'm definitely feeling strong ties at least on taes side where we're talking about secrets and cycles and maybe a little bit of abundance but that's kind of vague. We have elements of letting go of control and kind of accepting what's coming. So I think they probably shared some thoughts about life and who knows. Like I said you know with Jimin, it felt like he was reflecting on his place in the universe so it's very likely these two had some type of deep, emotional, extraordinary conversation lol. Like the kind where you are on the phone or your FaceTiming and possibly staying late into the night. I don't know how that would be possible with military or maybe they had it in the time that they were together. I think I pulled the cards for the group after the reunion. That doesn't mean I know when the timing is I'm just saying they spent time together so maybe that's possible. 

I think it also means that tae has been fairly sociable in the military. I think he is connecting easily with other people. I think that even so, I don't think he is getting super close to these people. It might be a very superficial type of relationship. I'm not sure on what deep type of level he's connecting with the people that he's meeting. But he's probably having fun. I almost wonder if he's purposely like not opening up. It might seem very much that he's being social and like talking to people but it almost feel like there's some barrier he's put up with new people that he's meeting where he presents as having fun and letting go but like inside I'm getting this feeling that he can't open up to just anybody. Unlike say a conversation he could have with Jimin. Where they have very deep conversations obviously based on years of trust and being okay to be vulnerable with each other. And I find I'm getting emotional lol that they are so deeply trusting of each other. That they probably know all kinds of secrets about one another. And definitely ride or die. I know that's very probably obvious to people. It's just interesting that I'm feeling this bond when those two are separated right now. But I don't think that that matters much when they come together. And I think that Jimin still reaches out to tae when he needs to talk and vice versa. 

I mean it also in the goddess card there is a sense of gossip as well. Like news being shared amongst the three women. Almost like you know besides having deep conversations there's this sense of urgency like oh hey I heard this thing by the way and then you call up your friend and you're like hey I heard this have you heard this is it true. I don't know what it would be about. It could be related to those deep conversations. Or it could be something separate. 

I think a lot of the feminine energy that's coming through really has to do with receiving. I think this ties in to being open to accepting whatever is coming his way. But I also think literally he's receiving things like secrets and information. This could be from people around him or it could be specifically other friends or members. Again I feel like a tie to Jimin. Jimin has shared something with him that's a secret. Probably. Again not necessarily gossip but information and secrets. Which can be hopes and dreams or fears or all kinds of things. 

I also wonder if he's a bit lonelier than he gives off. I don't doubt that he's probably making the best of what's happening and is probably genuinely enjoying these things. But I get the sense of somebody who's a bit alone. You don't get the moon coming up constantly to not have like some little bit of you that's lonesome. Do I want to say feeling misunderstood? Sort of. Not as in oh I feel so sorry for myself but more as in not always feeling like he belongs. Feeling out of place describes it better. Like imagine if you were an alien. And you looked like a human. You came to this world. You look like everybody else. But you just don't belong or that's how you interpret it anyway. I mean Tata is coming to mind but that's just how I feel right now. He might say all these fun things in a letter and it might be very convincing but I just feel like he's a little bit alone. Alone might be different than lonely. I mean it is different. 

So I feel more like the word is alone. Not lonely. Again I just keep getting more Jimin and how they must have had some conversation about life and cycles and what's next. Everything I said about Jimin and those things that he's reflecting on I just feel somehow it's tied to tae. And when I did the longer reading for Jimin, when I was talking about a friend from the past, I almost wanted to tie it to tae but it didn't make sense so I just deleted it and then I ignored it. But I wonder if some of that actually is connected to tae. If you end up reading that longer reading, it's about somebody from jimin's past coming back. I optimistically said it was about closure for both of them but given any situation it could just be somebody who feels unsettled about something that happened between themselves and Jimin. And has come back. I'm not saying if that encounter that I was reading about is either positive and harmless or like a little bit negative and concerning. I didn't look into that. I just knew that the person who felt left behind in that scenario was holding on to some negativity about being abandoned. 

So this could be somebody they both know. And there could be things going on with this person showing up again already maybe. I thought maybe they would show up in the future but it's possible that this person has already showed up. It's a person that these two know. It's just the possibility. As for whether these are the secrets being exchanged between the two. I don't know. I was feeling more like it was more about conversations regarding life. But this would also make sense for the hey did you hear about this. Maybe they had a conversation that was like hey do you remember this person from back XYZ. I heard from them and it's a little weird. I don't know. Or they're talking about rumors not sure. That would probably be a waste of their time though. But I definitely feel an exchange of some type of secret information. Only between them. Or a small group. I don't feel like it's serious or anything but I just don't really know there. 

That might go back to the serenity and conversations about you know there's nothing you can do about it. 

However looking at serenity again it says you know make peace with your situation unless you can and want to make a change for a better outcome. This reminds me of the idea of a two of wands… and you can choose a path where you don't do anything and maybe nothing happens or you can expect it to go away. Or you can take action. It says a better outcome. It does go back to reminding me of if you had an issue with somebody in the past and you can choose to ignore them or ignore it. Or if they're doing something weird with you you can actually take action and confront them and do something about it. I'm not saying that's what's happening here I'm just offering something. In the art for the serenity card it looks like a witch but she's actually a mermaid and she's sitting on the cliff with a cat familiar. When we think of this position and a mermaid usually it's somebody maybe considering well I guess in case of the Little mermaid it would be pondering if she wants to give up her tail to join the human world. So this could be about an unfulfilled wish or desire. It could be that this desire is already here and now you have a choice to make. 

The art is a little lonely or is giving me that vibe. I get the idea of again back to this conversation they're having… talking about feeling alone. And it's like I want to be able to feel like I am a part of that world lol. It's weird we're talking about this and I literally was talking about aliens. So definitely this is probably on to something. But we have somebody contemplating how they want to be part of something, but they feel kind of alienated from that even when surrounded by people or even somebody who is very good at drawing people to them. Or seeming like they are perfectly extroverted or sociable. But it's kind of like an act. I don't want to say that I think he's fake. It's coming across like somebody who's trying to find that feeling of belonging. But just can't seem to make it click. My guess is there are probably few people that tae feels absolutely himself around and I do think one of them is Jimin. 

As for his other friends that's a possibility too. I don't know enough about them to dig deep into what I'm seeing. But even in this picture we have one lonely person talking to a cat. So the cat could be one particular person like Jimin or the cat isn't anybody. Like it could be you know a dog. As in this person is feeling alone and doesn't have anybody in particular they're speaking too. I get that from the art like this is someone who is just alone and the cat isn't necessarily anybody that we know of. I also think maybe there is some acceptance and peace. Not just about being in the military. Now I'm sitting this more as someone who is accepted a feeling inside of themselves. Maybe he has accepted that he's always going to feel this way at times. Like he's always going to feel a little bit lonely or sad in any situation. I think he contemplates it more than we probably realize. I guess I want to say he might not come off seriously in content. At least that's even my perception of him. But I'm seeing somebody who does a lot of deep thinking about life. And then he has these conversations with someone like Jimin. I'm sure there are plenty of other members he converses with. But I'm just seeing Jimin at the moment. 

Let me look at the tarot cards again I have to scroll all the way to the top to see if there's any imagery I want to focus in on… I just see more of someone who is told certain information and then is left contemplating about things. And the information is shared or gathered or received among multiple people and then one person is left alone thinking. I see that with the high priestess card as well. Somebody who seems to be holding on to something. And then a death card that also signifies things that are hidden or secret and being resolute. I think he is probably a lot of people go to him to tell secrets to him because they know he won't ever say anything. So I think he knows a lot of things about a lot of people. From being directly told or other people go to him to tell him about things. I don't think he particularly gossips himself. At least not anymore unless it's still like someone like Jimin lol. As for digging into whether it has any relations to a romantic situation. I don't see anything. I remember reading for him previously and feeling strongly that there was someone. There is feminine energy around here but I really think that's about receiving things. Receiving information and being open to new experiences. Almost in an experimental way. The only relationship I see clearly has to do with Jimin. And I'm not saying that's romantic lol. I'm just saying they are closer than you will probably ever know when we already think that they're close. 

But even then there is something about tae that feels like devastatingly alone in this universe. I think some people just feel that way. If they're an old soul or they haven't found that perfect match outside of like maybe a platonic soul mate. Which is great too but like not that one single person that you would expect to be a romantic match. That might just like make you feel like oh I'm not alone. I think that sounding a lot bleaker than it is but I do I just get the sense of feeling like an alien. All the time. Everywhere. And then brief times of closeness with people close to him. He might have also come across some life wisdom. To me it feels more self-developed and not somebody came and told him some advice on how to live life. I mean I guess that's possible given that somebody in the cards looks like they're talking about information amongst each other and then somebody's contemplating right. but overall it still feels like it's self-made wisdom. But yeah it almost feels like somebody came and told him something and then you had to go have a think about it. 

Granted it could be vice versa and it's like contemplating about something and then going to talk to friends about it. But it's a secret lol. It's a secret in the sense that sure maybe it's not meant for us. If it wasn't meant for me to read it wouldn't show up in the cards. So I'm saying the information is meant to stay only among the couple of people that he's speaking to about it. It could be that he's actually depressed. I'm not seeing tons of that. But it could be like you know I'm a little sad. I'm a little lonely sometimes even when I'm around people. This could be a theme that he's felt throughout his life. It is a little sad. It actually reminds me of the little Prince. I know we associate that with Jimin. But I am getting somebody who's dressed up like the little Prince and sitting on the planet and maybe he has the little rose to talk to. But even when he's talking to the Rose it's like the rose doesn't really get it. Like the rose just can't human. So it's still really lonely. 

I mean beyond that it seems like he's okay. Given times. Well you could say something like oh between cancer season and Scorpio season perhaps this information or this feeling of being alone could be happening then. I'm more inclined to read something related to the moon in Scorpio. That definitely would be a time about feeling things deeply or being deeply introspective. It could be about a timing thing. I'm not sure when the next moon in Scorpio is. I'm not sure what his moon is. But there's a lot of deep reflecting and receiving information. This information could be coming from people or it could be coming like from the universe. In terms of like sudden thoughts and moods coming to him to contemplate about life and cycles and stages of life. But there's definitely secrets in hidden things involved. That might be the barrier for me not to see exactly what is being talked about and that's fine. Oh lol apparently the moon is in Scorpio right now. That's weird. So again this is a conversation that probably recently happened or just happened is happening now. Again they were together recently so that's probably a good time to have a longer deeper conversation. 

I mean it would also just reflect that I'm doing the reading right now lol. So this is about current energy. 

What else can I say. Both cards are about water energy. There's the moon and there's Pluto. I mean both bodies here represent cycles and phases. Things that are hidden, emotions. So definitely a lot of strong emotions that are either buried underneath or hopefully something that he talked about recently to somebody. I do feel that that has to be the case given what the one card looks like. But that card is also a lot about phases. It just seems interesting that he and Jimin both have similar things on their mind at the moment. Which maybe they always exist on each other's wavelengths somehow. Just like how women sometimes cycle up on their periods who knows. So yeah I think you know if they could talk and have a live in the next few weeks they would say something like oh when we met up for the reunion Tae and Jimin had a long conversation about life and changes. 

Again secret feelings or sharing secrets with one another. But I think a lot of that is also about the things that he hides. From a lot of people. And maybe it's simply about how lonely he feels. I don't know what to do about that. I kind of feel for him. I don't think he gets depressed when he is away from the people he can talk to. I think he just endures. You know how some people feel lonely and they just feel so sorry for themselves or they think they just can't find a match. But he just…can't seem to find people to relate to and doesn't try to fake it. And I'm saying this isn't always surface stuff this is something he probably hides but it's not like he's not aware. He just hides it and this is a lot how he feels on the inside. 

I felt a bit focused on the flag on the death card but I don't really know what that means. Plus I can't see it very well in the photo because I'm pretty blind. 

So I think that pretty much covers everything I see for right now. It could change in a month you know. So let's move on 

Jungkook 

10 of cups and abundance. I mean what can you say. On the surface that certainly looks like emotional happiness and abundance of love. Being around family. This could be at this particular moment when I did the cards which was around the reunion they could have been celebrating and having a great time. And he could have just been vibing. Not that there's anything wrong with being happy lol. There are times when I have read his cards in the last 6 months and it looked like he was having a good time. Ironically it was around the time when there was like a military game that they were doing. And I got the sense that he was enjoying himself during that? Or at least that time. I don't know if he participated in the games but there was like cards I had that involved fun or playtime and being in the mountains and it just felt fine. So let me look up that Oracle card for abundance. He's just happy or he's something else. Like there's not a lot of thought happening there. That didn't sound right lol. So again 10 of cups, this is as good as you can get. If it were a relationship it would be super happy and ecstatic. It can also be a card about family. Blood or otherwise. I mean if I wasn't trying to look too deeply I'd be like yep looks happy. Looks like he has an abundance of happiness. Why question? 

So looking at the abundance card you have a witch and two cats. It almost looks like one cat has its nipples pierced lol. That's just kind of funny. The witch is holding a basket of again I can't see anything but maybe it's like a basket of the moon and stars. If that's not it then it's just apples but that would make sense since they're growing on the trees. I don't know. So we have a sense of stars and moons. There's another phase connection here. Stars usually represent wishes or goals. There seems to be two other cats. So again maybe there was a conversation among the three youngest of BTS recently. I am not sure on that so it's just interesting there are three and I keep getting this idea of phases. So it says abundance is not something we acquire. It is something we tune into. The key words are harvest, grateful, overflowing. The intention says count your blessings, goodness prevails. Your life is full and you have all you need. 

I didn't do this for the others but I'm going to go ahead and read the whole page for this. Delve deeply into your life…past, present, and future. Take into account even the smallest gifts that have been bestowed on you. As humans, we sometimes forget that the simplest blessings are often the most important and meaningful. We think we will always have them. Life is fragile and can change in one second. Begin this very moment showing the universe appreciation. The sun has risen another day. Again the sun being mentioned here. Continuing on it's warm rays offer you comfort as they wrap around you. The moon hovers above, glowing in the night sky. Her dim light casts dancing shadows allowing you to dream. That sounds like stars and goals and stuff. These are just two examples of miracles in themselves. Simply say thank you to the universe.

We can talk about the tarot. We have Jake and Lady rainicorn. This certainly would indicate potentially romantic love. I mean they are husband and wife so it could also be a familial love. It could be that he was literally meeting up with family as well. This could be BTS or literal family and just having a good time. There's the potential that there was also a romantic meetup of some kind or an abundance of a romantic type of love happening. The rainbow kind of makes me lean toward love actually. It could mean other things lol like celebrating pride month. A rainbow has seven colors. So I think maybe it was just a real appreciation for that moment that he got to spend with BTS. 

I don't think there's much to read into his cards. Like I'd love to read in and maybe it had some insight into the military life. I don't think from his letter that he's having a super amazing blast all the time. So I think in this one moment that I shuffled his cards, he was having a good time. It could also be the universe's way of saying you know you don't really have anything to complain about. That you have everything you need, that you have a lot right now. That might be something he realizes that he doesn't want for anything. I just see the card saying this is somebody with a lot to be thankful for. Especially when it comes to people who care about him. I wonder if he got spoiled a little bit during this reunion. Let me just like since I actually have the Oracle cards around shuffle one more. And just get an extra vibe check for him not like I'm trying to be like okay it's suspicious that he's this happy and fulfilled. If I were in the military would I feel that way? But it doesn't matter because it's about in the moment what was he feeling when I shuffled the cards. So I got three cards. 

We have unity so again I'm kind of sensing a reunion there. We have nurture which has a picture of somebody by the fire with all of these little pet companions. And we have soulful that has an owl that looks like a baby owl on the branches and then there's a little be above it or wasp not sure. The owl makes me think of him. Lol it has these big eyes and it looks like a baby owl. I don't know what the b or wasp represents. This owl is so cute lol. It really does look just like him. I kind of feel like this baby owl is maybe watching the witches in this unity circle. It's 8 which is joined hands in a circle under the moon. And then you have this lovely cozy image of the witch reading a book around the fireplace. So yeah it feels like a family or cozy together and the little owl is kind of taking it in with wonder and appreciating it. And I think that makes sense for the tarot cards right. Around all these people and having a good time and feeling comforted and loved and cared for. So whatever was happening in that moment for him it was a very good feeling. I should probably take a picture so you can see how f****** cute this owl is

So I don't know where he was. But it looks like there was a party, there was this feeling that reminds me of in bon voyage 4. When they played the card games and they were listening to their old music and started dancing around. Like when they listened to their old songs and then JK heard his part with his young self rapping and then he like danced around out of embarrassment and it was so cute…. Yeah so probably not in the military at this moment. Probably just taking it in. Trying to ingrain the image of whatever happened into his mind so that when he's alone he can remember it. I'm still really curious about this little wasp/beathing. A hornet? Maybe I should look up what that means as a spirit animal. Well a hornet is about tenacity and determination. That doesn't really fit the image so maybe it's just a bee. And it's about honey and something sweet. It could be about being stung about something. It could be that he was buzzed at the moment lol. It could represent somebody on his mind in particular. Now I have to look it up to see what the hell this card says about the bee. Okay creepy I turned right to the page. It says happiness resides not in possessions, and not in gold, happiness dwells in the soul. That's interesting since he had the ten of cups. 

It says feeling, depth, journey is the keywords. The intention is let your magical light glow around you. Soft stardust will dance like fireflies and the wondrous Twilight sky. Interesting again because that's what looks like is happening in the unity card. So maybe they got together and they were singing and dancing. Movie there was a fireplace or they were in somebody's house or had rented a house that was very cozy and maybe even near the woods. It just feels like a really cozy and nice atmosphere. And it was like kind of like balm to the soul maybe. Like a honey. I want to also read this card for you. 

Since I obviously feel most drawn to this card. Your soul is the spiritual part of your being. Look closely into the mirror of your innermost existence and you will find your deepest, Ross, most authentic thoughts and feelings. Each memory and experience that is part of your soul is safely tucked away inside of you. Light the sparks in your soul. Be carefree. Let your colors dance wildly around you. This kind of looks like the ten of cups card by the way. As in like dancing around and being carefree. Let your colors dance wildly around you. Dig deep and your garden will flourish and bloom and Leslie. Your own sole journey is very personal. Protect your internal soulful powers. You are the keeper of them. Remember, you are a wondrous soulful being who knows you best of all

And almost immediately the one song started playing in my head. Like who are you You're not the girl I fell in love with. Anyway yeah. 

I'm just so curious about this stupid little bee it didn't get explained in the car did it. Let me pull one more card and be like okay what is the deal with this b. 

Ironically I got the card balance. Isn't that crazy how you're like what's the deal with this b which voice to text refuses to say b e e. So we're definitely going to rebalance. It's just a card with trees at the bottom and then the moon and there's like this branch coming in that looks like it's covering the moon. So let's look at balance real quick especially since we have a confirmed b.

Of course be is also an album. So I think we are again confirming that maybe when BTS got together they were singing some of their old songs. Or even watching old videos where they sing or whatever. 

Okay so keywords for balance, then, being, namaste. The intention says find your happy medium, take care of your mind, body and spirit. Find yours in explore your being strive to create balance. The other part says self-care is, fundamentally, about bringing balance back to a life that has grown imbalance from too many commitments or responsibilities. Well that's interesting right. So I think he must have had this moment during the reunion probably where he spent time with the group and it was a very healing moment. They probably danced and shared stories and had a good old time and it made him feel like he was having fun and it was a really nice cozy warm feeling for him. That's it. I don't think there's more to read in that moment other than we have put to catch a glimpse of him having really nice time with the group of people. And it made him feel in balance after moments of probably not feeling quite like himself or feeling out of balance. And I still don't fully know what to bee was about besides leading us to another card. I guess it also looks like a shrimp lol. Maybe he was just really hungry for shrimp at but the time.

I don't really see anything else for him. You can't argue with abundance in 10 of cups. 

It's not much to go on but in terms of dates, the 10th could be a significant date for JK. That doesn't really narrow it down. Or the month of October can be significant for him as well. We just have in terms of numbers 1 or 10 to go on. So something about the self or something about completion or something about a cycle. That's sort of vague so I would just assume that we're close to the end of a cycle. Is it time for a full moon? Did we just have one. I don't remember but usually you start saying tens around the time that it would be a full moon. But again 10 of cups emotional abundance, literal abundance Oracle card. Yeah. Pretty good cards to get. Maybe he'll receive something in October in terms of abundance. Like whether it's emotional abundance or like a ten of pentacles abundance. 

Or something about the number 10 it will be significant in terms of abundance. I don't know but like for example putting out a song or album called 10 or getting 10 on the billboard or releasing something on the 10th or releasing something in October.. if it were a song, it would be a dance track I think. Like electronic dance music or trap music Wait is that the right thing I want to say. So maybe after jm releases music in July you might see more music from JK in October. That's just a guess. I guess besides having some electronic music happening, there could be like soulful music or slower music. Something that would be comforting and quiet. Maybe you'll see like a b or a hornet or something on the jacket cover I don't know. Or maybe the album title will start with b. Or song that starts with b. Or he's wearing a yellow jacket lol. Or it's about the 10th track on an album. Which would be surprising since none of them seem to have more than a handful of tracks. Or maybe if you go back and look at Golden whatever the 10th track was.

In case you're wondering, it's shot glass of tears so maybe that's relevant. Maybe that's a mood. There you go!

Okay wait I went to look at the song lyrics. And besides mentioning the Sun, I was drawn to the 42 and body because first of all I was like what the hell does that mean. I didn't listen to Golden a lot. I love standing next to you but the rest of the songs I couldn't really relate to I'll say. Though I think I remember shot glass full of tears and it was fine. So I found this I don't know if that song was written by somebody British or not 

I love interesting since we were actually talking about 10. But supposedly yeah okay someone on Twitter was like oh it's about hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy. I'm reading more like this is probably what it meant but like slang that most of us don't know. I'm American. I have never heard anybody say this. And I don't watch Love Island. 

So it's saying that yeah whatever her body is perfect or something. A 10. But also I think it's still stands about the number 42, which the other side of it is yes related to hitchhikers. And then there's this thing about how 42 is the ultimate answer to whatever ultimate question but nobody knows what the actual question is. This has been like a running thing through a lot of entertainment stuff. If you ever watched the old show X-Files. Mulders apartment number was 42 based on this. Point being that yes it does represent the mysteries of the universe. So I think it's a mix of all of that. You're probably like WTF but I mean related to his cars there's something about an ideal or something feeling or saving perfect in this moment. There's also a sense of maybe serendipity. Something coming together. Something the universe has put together serendipitously that feels perfect, that feels like a 10. 

[gabessquishytum]

I wanna riff off the Ancient Rome ask with my own, but instead of Rome it's Greek babey!!!!

So the old Byzantine Emperors had a bodyguard group called the Varangian guard. They were foreigners to the Empire and loyal only to the Emperor.

Hob is one such guard. He was kidnapped at an early age when his village was attacked by Norsemen. Since then he's fought his way around Europe before being invited into the guard. He's not big on the whole Christianity thing, but he can at least enjoy serving such a pretty Emperor.

On the flip side, Dream is miserable. As Emperor, his head is constantly in peril of being put on the pike. He's got to keep his neighbors from spilling into his territory, he's got to keep trade lines to the east open for business, even the church threatens to break apart and there will be riots in the streets. There already have been when two factions of chariot fans joined forces and nearly burned down Constantinople.

Fortunately, he has his guard around him. Men who can't and won't be bought off or forced into killing him due to the machinations of the other noble houses or even his own siblings. Hob is one of the few he trusts absolutely with his life.

Hob accompanies him to church, where even he is not permitted a weapon. Hob watches over him when he visits the bathhouse and is the only one allowed in the room when he bares his Imperial person so to speak. He even is the sole guard positioned inside the royal bedchamber to watch over the king as he sleeps. He does his job well enough and speaks so little to the various other nobles and Imperial family members that there is little thought of him. He just does his job really well.

What they don't know is Hob has grown to be more than just a body guard. He's Dream's closest companion. He has been given a thorough education in Latin and Greek, how to read and write, he's even sat in on a few philosophy and poetry lessons to better entertain his employer.

In turn, Dream has allowed himself to be less guarded around Hob. They've talked and chatted about loves lost and won. About Dream's idea of the soul being blind until it's had a true, satisfying love. Hob wants to be that love and as such has also been satisfying his Emperor with not only his company but his body as well. It is a sin in the church, but Dream doesn't care. He's an Emperor after all.

This all changed when a Persian assassin snuck into the palace and attempted to kill the Emperor to provoke a war the Byzantines were sure to lose. The assassin was killed by Hob before he could make his attempt on his Emperor's life, but the damage is done. He locks himself in the imperial apartments, refusing to come out except for the high holy days when he spends all his time in church. He refuses to attend senate meetings. He communicates only through Hob. He is completely isolated from the rest of the world.

Some of the noble families titter and gripe about how close a foreign heathen is to the Emperor. How closely he stands to the throne when Dream does make his scant few public appearances. But the Emperor is safe at least. Just so long as Hob can continue to pay the Persians off that is.

🎸

Oh poor Dream, I don't envy him! Except for the fact that he has Hob protecting him 24/7. That is a pretty enviable position to be in!

I really like the emperor/guard situation. The intimacy of that relationship. And there's something especially intimate in the fact that Hob is a foreigner here with absolutely no loyalty or interest elsewhere. It's like he's totally focused on Dream. At this point he doesn't even really have a home to go back to: Dream is his home, his family, his everything. Maybe that's too much for the members of the court and maybe they don't like how close the emperor has become to this common indentured bodyguard. Frankly, Hob doesn't care. He doesnt care about anything in the world, except for Dream.

As much as he hates to see the love of his life so scared and helpless, locked away in his rooms like a precious jewel... it is admittedly a great convenience for Hob to have him in one place all the time. They spend so much of their time in privacy, they become quite used to expressing their love and living a simpler, more domestic life. Sometimes Dream almost seems to forget his troubles when he's lying in his luxurious bed with his head on Hob’s chest.

It isn't only himself he's keeping safe, of course. If Dream isn't in any danger then neither is Hob. Seeing Hob wrestling with that assassin and finally finishing him off was one of the worst moments of Dream’s life. He was terrified that the one man he loves would be killed, all for his sake.

Hob is safe in the imperial apartments with Dream. No assassins will piece their iron doors. Hob may be paying the Persians off, but Dream is paying for Hob’s safety too. And it's worth it. Every moment of Hob’s safety is worth whatever Dream has to give.