#because they’re open about their desires and preferences with each other. communication kings.

[yea-baiyi]

just reread the tgcf extras. tldr hualian’s married life is just, chilling, hanging out, having great sex. they are so free and comfortable, they spend so much time laughing together. which is exactly what marriage should be tbh (silently wipes away tears)

[idontblushsrry]

SFW Alphabet|| Megumi Fushiguro

A/N: Uhhhh I’m back on my bullshit >:) it’s missing Fushiguro hours folks.

Word Count: 2050

A: Affection (How affectionate are they? How do they show affection?)

(If you want some more in depth affection headcanons click here)

Fushiguro is someone who isn’t big on pda but makes up for it in private. In public, he’ll hold your hand but in private he’s laying i your lap while you massage his scalp. Basically, he’s a big softie that just represses his urge to cuddle until he’s alone with you.

B: Best Friend (What would they be like as a best friend? How would the friendship start?)

Best friend Megumi is literally the president of the Y/N defense squad. If anyone has a problem with you, they have a problem with him. Of course, you have to rein him in sometimes and remind him you can fight your own battles, but just know he’s lookin out for you.

C: Cuddles (Do they like to cuddle? How would they cuddle?)

Fushiguro loves to cuddle, but he will repress the urge to do so for as long as possible. Because of that, he doesn’t let you go, preferring to cling to you throughout the night. His cuddles are always deceptively loose too. His arms give you just enough wiggle room but the second you try to get up, it’s like fighting two pythons.

D: Domestic (Do they want to settle down? How are they at cooking and cleaning?)

I don’t think he ever really planned on settling down, Megumi figured that he’d die long before he ever got the chance to settle down. Everyday is pretty much a new experience in terms of domesticity for him, he doesn’t have plans for the future, but as long as you’re with him, he’ll be happy.

E: Ending (If they had to break up with their partner, how would they do it?)

If he ever had to break up with someone, he’d probably ask for help on how to do so. The first person he’d ask (regrettably) would be Gojo who’d tell Megumi to just ghost the person. After asking around some more, he figured Kugisaki’s approach of getting it over with as bluntly as possible (although less mean) was the best option.

F: Fiance(e) (How would they feel about commitment? How quick would they want to get married?)

Megumi isn’t really the type for wedding ceremonies. He’s all about commitment (even though working up to marriage for him is longer than most) but he’s not a fan of being the center of attention, so a wedding ceremony/reception wouldn’t be his thing. If you wanted a ceremony, he’d be willing to compromise somewhat but otherwise, he’s perfectly fine with just going to the courthouse.

G: Gentle (How gentle are they, both physically and emotionally?)

He’s kind of rough around the edges. In private, he can be the sweetest, most tender soul, but in public he’ll put 7 yards of distance between you both if you try to hug him. Basically, he’s very shy, so anything that’ll draw too much attention is a no go (he isn’t opposed to linking pinkies though).

H: Hugs( Do they like hugs? How often do they do it? What are their hugs like?

At first Megumi really only hugged you when he was missing you, sad, or tired. Over time though, he got better at becoming more open with his affection and he’ll hug you whenever he feels the urge to. Despite that though, his hugs still have an undercurrent of desperation in them. He holds on just as tight each time like he’s afraid you’ll disappear.

I: I love you (How fast do they say the L-word)

He’s operating on a very strict ‘If you don’t say it, I won’t’ policy and as such this man will not say a single thing to you unless prompted. He knows deep down that he loves you and that you set off butterflies in his stomach every time you smile, but he never really thought to verbalize that until you say ‘I love you’ first.

J: Jealousy (How jealous do they get? What do they do when they’re jealous)

Megumi doesn’t get jealous, he’s fought side by side with you and he knows you’re more than capable of fending off any unwanted suitors. Megumi put a lot of trust into you by already being in a relationship so to him, it makes no sense to be jealous over you. That all being said, he’s not above the occasional side eye if someone’s getting a little too buddy buddy.

K: Kisses (What are their kisses like? Where do they like to kiss you? Where do they like to be kissed?)

On a normal day, his kisses are so natural, he’s so slow and the pressure is just enough to have you thinking you’ve got all the time in the world. In near death/ post-near death circumstances, he’s a little more feral. When he kisses you like that, it feels like it’s the end of the world and he’s trying to make the most of it.

L: Little ones (How are they around children)

Fushiguro isn’t good with kids that aren’t old enough to communicate. Older kids are fine with him, but guessing what a baby needs based on how loud it’s crying? Hard pass for him and he doesn’t even feel bad about it. The last time he had to watch a baby, he tried to leave one of his shikigami to watch it; long  story short, he had to explain to a cackling Gojo why his demon dogs wouldn’t let him leave to go to the bathroom.

M: Morning (How are mornings spent with them?)

Mornings with Fushiguro are pretty rare. Most of the time you guys don’t really get to sleep in or even spend mornings together since most of the time there’s missions or trainings you’ll have to go to. When you do get the rare morning off, Fushiguro makes the most of it. He sleeps in and doesn’t wake up before 10 no matter what you try. When he does finally wake up, he loves cooking breakfast with you, he’s not the best cook, but he treasures the experience over anything.

N: Night (How are nights spent with them?)

Nights with Megumi are also rare as most curses come out at night and that’s kinda your guys’ job. If all goes well though, you’ll both come back a little earlier and just go straight to sleep. If it’s a late night where the curse took more out of either of you than expected, yall usually stay up and talk and snack until one of you falls asleep or the sun comes up.

O: Open (When would they start revealing things about themselves? Do they say everything at once or wait a while to reveal things slowly?)

It takes him an extremely long time to open up to you about his past. Not because he doesn’t trust you, but because he’s embarrassed and doesn’t want you to think less of him for it (especially during his problem child era). To be honest, you probably find out about certain things from other people. Once he’s cornered confronted, he’ll be completely (albeit a bit grudgingly) honest about it.

P: Patience (How easily angered are they?)

His anger is kind of weird, whereas before, he was a lot quicker to explode, bluntly telling off or even fighting whoever pissed him off, he’s changed. He tries his best to repress his emotions and as such, he comes off as patient, never expressing his true feelings/desires until pushed to the brink. 

Q: Quizzes (How much would they remember about you?  Do they remember every little detail you mention in passing, or do they kind of forget everything?)

He’s the king of remembering details you mention in passing. His love language is partially acts of service so for him, remembering details about you helps him later. Oh remember that one time you needed a pen/pencil but didn’t have one? Never again, this man has a section of his shadows dedicated solely to pencils because of you. Oh what’s that, you like this random song? Guess what just got added to the playlist he made for you. Basically, while he may not look like it, he’s actually a simp and so if he can make your life easier/ make you happy, it’s worth it.

R: Remember (What is their favorite moment in your relationship?)

So Megumi is someone who doesn’t play video games but is really good at them for no reason. One day, you’re playing a game of smash bros. and he’s just kicking your ass, like it was sad. Needless to say, after his 4th win, he “accidently” pressed the wrong button and let you win. He thinks you don’t know he did this but when you won, you kissed him and completely flustered him, to the point that he couldn’t play for a solid 5 minutes. 

S: Security (How protective are they? How would they like to be protected?)

Despite knowing and trusting that you can defend yourself, he’s still super protective of you. You’re one of the few people that he cares about in the world and he’d give everything to see you safe and protected. As for how he’d like to be protected, knock some sense into him every once in a while. He has a habit of self sacrificing so if you want to protect him, remind him that you want to keep him alive as much as he wants to keep you alive.

T: Try (How much effort would they put into dates, anniversaries, gifts, everyday tasks?)

On the outside, his dates are very simple. They usually consist of you and him either staying in or just hanging out at stores and the like. Every once in a while, he’ll try to take you somewhere special, like a cove he found or a festival. For most people, these may be simple dates, but Fushiguro puts so much effort into so may aspects of your dates that honestly, anything bigger would lose the personal touch your dates have.

U: Ugly (What are some bad habits of theirs? (I’m gonna add arguments here because they aren’t on the prompt list I found))

One of his worst habits is his self-sacrificing tendencies. Even during a baseball game, he can’t help but sacrifice himself (especially if it means his friends/ you get to get the glory). With time though, he grows out of this and realizes it’s not selfish to want the best for yourself.

V: Vanity (How concerned are they with their looks?)

He’s giving “I woke up like this” and it’s... it’s something. One might think the style is intentional since obviously, the look could only be achieved with gel, and to an extent, it is intentional. He might use gel to spike it a little more but the man legit rolls out of bed and chooses to leave his hair up like that.

W: Whole (Would they feel incomplete without you?)

No, as much as he loves you, Fushiguro is an introvert. He needs time to just be by himself and unwind every once in a while, so he’s got no complaints if you leave him to his own devices or have to be gone for a long time.

X: (E)xes (Any previous relationship experience. How does that factor into your current relationship?)

Megumi has negative zero relationship experience. He’s never found someone that was worth the risk/ worth opening up to, hell, he just barely got friends when he entered high school. Because of this, every part of your relationship is like navigating uncharted waters.

Y: Yuck (What are some things they wouldn’t like, either in general or in a partner)

He’s less someone to dislike a specific thing/ personality trait, and more someone who doesn’t like different people for different reasons, ex. Todo and Mai. If he had to pick a single trait, it’d probably have to be hypocriticism.

Z: Zzz (What is a sleep habit of theirs?)

He is someone who will fall asleep spread eagle one night and the next be huddled into a tiny little section of the bed. Mercy on you if you try to cuddle because now you’re wrapped up into his unconscious acrobatic routine.

[askthematsunovs]

Characters

Osomatu Matsunov The eldest of the Matsunov Sextuplets, he is the self-proclaimed leader of his brothers and the current heir to the Matsunov castle. As a result he tends to act like he owns the place, albeit in a very lackadaisical way. Unlike some of his other brothers, he makes absolutely no effort to leave the confines of the castle to hunt or to look into vampiric powers. He playfully mentions things like “nobility having to work should be a crime” when in reality he’s just really lazy, a rather deadly trait for a vampire considering their constant need for fresh blood, regardless of social standing. He’s incredibly shameless but ultimately has a kind heart and wishes the best for his brothers in their search for vampiric powers and skills, becoming genuinely excited for them each time a new one is discovered. Osomatu’s unique vampire power is the ability to turn into a demonic, beastial Old World Vampire form, implying he has incredible potential as the only known vampires able to use an Old World form have been the leaders of the Vampire Consul, including famed former Vampire King, Dracula. It should be noted that while Karamatu also has a beastial form, his is not Old World based and is more closely related to lycanthropy.

Karamatu Matsunov The second eldest of the Matsunov Sextuplets, Karamatu is not quite as boisterous or shameless as Osomatu but still has some un-vampirelike tendencies that make him almost equally useless. Despite not knowing anything about humans, he unwittingly plays into their stereotypes of vampires due to his histrionic and dramatic behavior, usually citing random prose and poetry in an effort to appear “sexy” or “cool” along with randomly posing and throwing basic French words into his everyday speech. He seems to know of the human culture portrayed in a few fairytales but, like his brothers, has absolutely no idea what real humans are like. Instead of learning about his vampire heritage as a child, he chose to read human stories, finding them much more fascinating, though seeing as really only a couple human-written books existed in the Matsunov library, he ended up reading the same couple of stories over and over again, thus making him believe humans were two-dimensional and simple. His mimicking (or rather his idea) of “human behavior” is apparent in his attempts to look at himself in a mirror despite having no reflection. Karamatu’s unique vampire power is the ability to shapeshift into a large, muscular werewolf form. It is not common for vampires to be able to shapeshift into wolves, but also not unheard of as a werewolf was one of Dracula’s many forms. Because of his connection to lycanthropy, Karamatu is able to commune with werewolves without them becoming hostile, like they would with most other vampires, their sworn enemies.

Choromatu Matsunov The third eldest of the Matsunov Sextuplets, Choromatu appears to be the only brother concerned with actually looking into their vampire heritage and vampiric potential after their parents leave for the Capital, not wanting any of them to starve. He also tries to take his research on humans further than Karamatu, focusing on learning about their biology and abilities rather than only reading their lore or poetry. Of course, given the limited source material in the Matsunov library on humans, Choromatu usually just ends up looking like a fool, acting like he knows more about humans than the others when really his knowledge is just as limited. He also tends to be a hypocrite, confidently stating that humans are no more intelligent than cattle only to, mere hours later, grovel somewhat pathetically in the presence of an attractive human woman. He also claims that relying on thralls alone would be dishonorable and yet once he discovers his unique vampire power, relies almost entirely on thralls for blood. Even more damning is his eventual discovery and later fanatical obsession with human opera singers. Despite acting like he’s above the others in terms of honor, intelligence, and nobility, at heart, he’s a Matsunov and trying to pretend like he isn’t doesn’t do him much good. Still though, out of all the brothers, he does end up making the most discoveries regarding vampire powers and ultimately is the most knowledgeable about things like vampire culture, science and humans, even if it’s not by much more. Despite his insistence that a reliance on thralls is dishonorable, Choromatu’s unique vampire power is to create thralls en masse. Thralls are soulless husks of humans that can be used for feeding on, manual labor, and other mindless tasks.

Ichimatu Matsunov The fourth eldest son of the Matsunov Sextuplets, Ichimatu is somewhat of a black sheep, even by vampire and Matsunov standards. Despite his gloomy and morose disposition, he’s actually the most harmless of the brothers and has much less of a desire to feed from humans. His lack of a desire to feed on human blood implies that he has a condition referred to by vampires as Şeptelbea (pronounced “Shep-tel-bee”), in which a vampire is able to maintain their vampiric powers through animal blood alone, usually livestock, at the cost of having general lethargy, sluggishness and overall tiredness. While he can drink human blood (and still does at times) and gain the same benefits a regular vampire would, he doesn’t care for the taste and he doesn’t care for how wired it makes him feel, suggesting that human blood to him is like a large amount of caffeine to a human, energizing him at first but causing him to completely crash, whereas animal blood seems to keep him more balanced. How Ichimatu became a Şeptelbea while his five identical brothers did not is unknown but suggests Şeptelbeaism occurs outside the womb and is not based in genetics or blood relation. Ironically, his favorite things are in fact animals, especially cats and bats. He prefers them much more to the company of both humans and vampires and isn’t much for conversation. In fact, he is the only Matsunov brother with a familiar, a little orange cat that is bound to him spiritually. The cat doesn’t need to be with him at all times though and unlike him is able to survive during the day. His disinterest in human blood also means that despite being seen as “cursed” or “afflicted” by other vampires (except his family of course), humans are much more accepting of him and thus, ironically, he has the easiest time out of all of his brothers speaking to humans without getting “weird about it” as he describes it. Not surprisingly, Ichimatu’s unique vampire power is the ability to command animals to do his bidding. He usually uses bats for this as they tend to be readily available in large groups already, but he wouldn’t mind having an army of cats either.

Jyushimatu Matsunov The fifth eldest and second youngest son of the Matsunov Sextuplets, Jyushimatu is the wildcard of the family. He’s loud, wild, energetic, and seems to delight in confusing the hell out of other people. Deep down though, he really just wants to be able to make people he cares about laugh. Despite being a vampire, his disposition is sunny and cheerful, albeit silly. There really isn’t a way to explain why he does the things he does sometimes. For example, rather than opening the lid of his coffin when he wakes up, he just punches through it, requiring one of the other brothers to have to fix it every sunrise before he goes to bed. Out of all the brothers, he seems to be the most naturally attuned to his innate powers. He’s technically the first to show a vampire power through his super strength and eventually starts floating on his own, changing into a bat randomly, retracting and un-retracting his teeth repeatedly for fun, hanging upside down, etc. He seems to be the most excited to use his powers and is the one to use them the most, even in casual conversation. When is he going to turn into a bat? Who knows! When is he going to just start floating and hitting his head on the ceiling mid-conversation? Who knows! The brothers seem to be pretty used to his behavior though, not really commenting on it or seeing it as anything out of the ordinary for him. Jyushimatu’s unique vampire power is the ability to turn himself into sentient fog. This is especially useful when slipping through otherwise impossibly small cracks or crevices, re-materializing on the other side. He can also turn certain parts of his body to fog while still keeping the rest of his body physical. Although not unique to him, Jyushimatu floats around significantly more than the other Matsunovs and seems to prefer it to regular walking.

Todomatu Matsunov The youngest of the Matsunov Sextuplets, Todomatsu is perhaps the least helpless of his brothers when it comes to behaving like a vampire. He’s well-mannered, polite, sociable, and charming, a stark contrast to the others. On the rare occasions that the brothers speak to other vampires, Todomatu is the one doing the most socializing. He doesn’t mind bending the truth to make himself appear more impressive than he actually is, sometimes lying about his kill counts or about how he’s been doing his own hunts for years. His charm can sometimes be a detriment though, as he often gets himself stuck in situations where he has to keep up a lie or facade. Like Osomatu, he’s not very interested in humans but, unlike Osomatu, is also smart enough to realize they’re a potential real threat and that they shouldn’t be underestimated. It takes him quite a while to get used to the idea of having to hunt his own prey after his parents take their trip. Despite his charm, he can also be quite spoiled and childish when he doesn’t get what he wants, expecting to be pampered as the youngest sibling. He’s an opportunist and often takes advantage of situations in a way that will benefit him most. He isn’t heartless though, and genuinely loves all of his brothers, wanting to help them succeed in attaining vampiric powers and skills. Todomatu’s unique vampire power is blood manipulation or bloodbending. He can psychically manipulate the bodies and blood of any creature, even once it’s outside the body. Though he doesn’t usually, this gives him the power to puppeteer living things and control their bodies, as well as the ability to stop peoples’ circulation and cause heart attacks without ever even touching a person. This arguably makes him one of the most dangerous members of the Matsunov family, but luckily, he doesn’t use his powers very often. For the most part, he’ll use it to levitate blood from across the room to his mouth so that he doesn’t have to get up.

Grand Vampire Princess Ava The somewhat recently appointed ruler of vampirekind, she has yet to be officially coronated due to the Vampire Consul insisting she find a consort in a defensive measure after the tragic “Mortal Uprising” that resulted in the previous king’s death, with the logic being that two powerful vampires would be much harder to kill than one. She had already been chosen as Dracula’s successor shortly after she was born and was thus trained by both him and the Vampire Consul for most of her life, rarely getting to leave the Royal Castle or interact much with other vampires. Just as she came of age (for vampires), the “Mortal Uprising” occurred and resulted in the deaths of King Dracula and prominent members of the Vampire Consul, causing the remaining Vampire Consul members and vampirekind as a whole to go into a panic at the unexpected event. Without much time to plan or coordinate, Ava was quickly appointed as ruler in an attempt to avoid further panic among vampire society. Despite sitting on the throne, she has not been coronated yet and thus remains a princess with little actual power. The Vampire Consul currently takes care of all the political and legal affairs of the vampires and has done so for as long as Ava has reigned, about 50 years or so, which is of course considered very recent in vampire terms. Her current duty given to her by the consul is to find a consort among vampire nobility in order to be officially coronated and become queen.

Emma Emma is a peasant girl who lived in the village by the Matsunov castle with her father, who was also her only living relative, until he mysteriously disappeared while on his way to do business in the Capital. The other villagers figured he was killed by the monsters in the forest and held a funeral for him. Sadly, she could not make enough money on her own to keep the house and ended up homeless as a result, becoming well known for doing odd jobs around the village in return for food or shelter. Villagers noted her failing health from her homelessness and suggested she try to become part of the local brothel like many of the other homeless and destitute women usually did. Scared she would have no other option, her luck turned around when she met Karamatu Matsunov after his inability to kill her. The two made a pact that in return for providing the Matsunovs with blood, they would give her food and shelter. She is the first live human that the Matsunovs have encountered and thus tasks herself with teaching them about humans and human culture due to their inexperience. She also inadvertently teaches the Matsunov brothers that humans are more than just “cattle,” and that they too have sentience and emotions. Since moving to Matsunov Castle, Emma takes care of the place during the day, as well as taking occasional visits to the village to buy supplies for both herself and the brothers. She’ll often return from her weekly visits to the village with human books and souvenirs for the brothers to help them in their quest to understand humans and human culture. So far she has been an incredibly helpful friend to the Matsunovs and in return she is treated with kindness and respect, even to the point of the brothers willing to go hungry if they find out her health is failing from blood loss. However, she must be kept a secret from other vampires as befriending humans is seen as strange and pathetic and goes against basic vampire traditions.

[digi-tama-in-your-pocket]

Sloppy little v-pet guide

It feels like the virtual pet community on tumblr is super small and mostly favors Tamagotchi, I feel way unqualified to do this, but here’s a quick, super basic guide to the modern Digimon virtual pets that I know of ( I say modern but I use the term loosely because they’re all very much nostalgia bait )

If you really don’t know anything about virtual pets at all... they’re little LCD key chain games, pet simulators, you feed them and train/play with them to fill up their heart meters, clean up their poop, put them to bed, treat injuries and sickness, watch them grow into new forms, and try to keep them from dying, Digimon sets itself apart from the rest by connecting to to other Digimon V-pets to do battles and more. 

One thing to note is that Most, if not all V-pets can connect to each other even if they’re not the same version. They have a very basic battle system in place if they’re different versions, but it’s slightly more involved if they’re the same version. ( There’s even a fan made device that can connect them to battle online and play in an online digimon game )

Last thing i’ll say is that if you are thinking of getting a Japanese v-pet, all the ones I mention here  are in english, with the exception of the digimon’s name, but that can be looked up by looking over one of the evolution trees on Humulosmon’s website, Digitama Hatchery. 

Perhaps I should move this to it’s own FAQ section on my blog but who even opens people’s blogs anymore? With that out of the way, let’s get this started under a read more!

Digital Monster Ver. 20th ( AKA the DM 20th )

This is the most accessible and affordable Digimon V-pet on the market right now. So affordable that even though Bandai has issued slightly improved versions in Japan for twice the price, most Japanese fans prefer to import these from overseas to save money. Some people have sighted them at Target for $5 but you’ll typically find them for $20.

They look just like the original Digimon virtual pet, but they are actually a special 20th anniversary edition that has some new features... new features that, for some reason, Bandai are not advertising at all, and I don’t know why.

New features not in the original virtual pet include:

Choose from all 5 of the original digimon eggs on one device

Battle the AI opponents in a Colosseum mode 

Raise two digimon at the same time

Your two Digimon can tag-team battle, and some can even fuse into a new digimon ( this is called Jogress, short for “joint progress” )

Put your digimon down for a nap for up to three hours hours in case you’re busy

Keep a log of all the different Digimon you’ve raised, giving you a goal to fill it out

New forms that were not present in the original virtual pets

New unlockable eggs with special digimon inside

You can actually load your save data, so if you need to take a break from your v-pet or you have a low battery, you can just pop out the battery without fear of losing your digimon or your log book progress.

This is the v-pet i’d recommend to everyone who’s interest in Digimon V-pets. It does have it’s downsides though. This v-pet is programmed to poop a lot more frequently than other v-pets for some reason, which becomes a real problem if you’re busy or you over sleep ( pro-tip, set your digimon’s clock ahead a bit so it wakes up when you do. All Digimon wake up at 7AM ), there are also some exclusive eggs locked to certain colors of the device. You’ll have to do a little research on that. Digitama Hatchery has all the info you need on that subject.  It’s also fairly basic compared to other virtual pets, but not by a lot. And lastly, you cannot pause this pet. ( Pro tip, actually you can, but you have to press the reset button to do it )

As mentioned earlier, there is a new version of this device called the Digital Monster Ver. Revival, exclusive to Japan. It lessens the poop frequency, and has a proper pause funtion instead of naps. But it’s twice the price, so I’d say you just put down $20 on the western release.

Digimon Pendulum Ver. 20th ( AKA the Pen 20th )

These are a lot like the Digital Monster Ver. 20th. But instead of being a special reprint of the original virtual pet, they’re a special reprint of the Digimon Pendulum, which didn’t come out in the west as far as I know. The main difference here is that instead of button mashing to battle and train, you shake the device repeatedly.  You have to get to know the rhythm and number of shakes your digimon requires to get the best results.

The key difference between this v-pet and the one above:

They poop a lot less frequently than the DM20th, even when there’s two digimon

The sound is very different

You still get multiple eggs on each device, but with far more exclusives.

You can pause them by putting them to sleep when it’s not their natural bed time

Device makes a subtle sound when the Digimon poops so you know when to clean it

They wake up at 8AM instead of 7AM

A lot more of the digimon can Jogress, in fact most of them can

The eggs are somewhat themed ( beast, aquatic, robots, evil, good, ect. )

These Digimon are very desireable, but they’re also unfortunately very overpriced compared to the DM 20th, as they only came out in Japan. I don’t even want to mention how much I paid to get two of them...  They come in four colors, Silver black, Silver Blue were wave 1, and Beelzemon, and Dukemon themed devices were wave 2... The wave 1 and wave 2 devices share a lot of digimon, but they do have some exclusives.  On top of that, I hear these are prone to losing their save data, so it’s recommended to reset it every time you change the batteries, and handle with care.

Digimon Pendulum Z ( AKA the Pen Z )

This is a lot like the Digimon Pen 20th, but it’s not a special anniversary reprint. It is actually a continuation of the original Pendulums.  So sadly, you only get one egg in these devices. But, the Digimon you can obtain are mostly new Digimon that have not featured in a virtual pet before, and some even make their debut on these devices.  They’re also a tad bit more nuanced. Here’s the key differences between the Pen Z and the Pen 20ths.

One Egg per device like the original 90′s v-pets, which means no tag-team battles

You can only raise one Digimon at a time, but you can “Back up” your Digimon, essentially preserving them in suspended animation where they won’t age or get sick, so you can raise another Digimon. You can have up to three Digimon on your device this way.

Evolution trees are slightly bigger

Hearts fill up and deplete in halves now, and older Digimon can have more hearts than older v-pets

The device tells you how many times you need to shake it for battles, removing the guess work and making it easier

New close ups on your digimon’s face when they perform strong hits

Digimon went back to waking up at 7AM

RPG elements added to the Colosseum, your Digimon now has a level and can earn EXP to get stronger, and to effect what they evolve into. You get a congratulations screen when you beat this mode.

In Colosseum mode you fight three digimon in a row, with the third one being a stronger “boss” digimon

Single use items that can completely fill digimon’s hearts, change their performance in battle, double EXP, and more

Your digimon can have a random event trigger, usually it finds an item or an enemy worth lots of EXP when this happens.

These things are expensive, but not as expensive as the Pen 20th, and are some of the newest virtual pets you can get. In fact, wave 2 of the Pen Z has not even been released yet. You can only get them by pre-ordering through Premium Bandai, they ship out in April, so act while supplies last. You can only pre-order them in packs of three unfortunately. No individuals.

Digital Monster X Ver 1-3 ( AKA DMX, DMX2, and DMX3 )

Here’s the last modern Digimon V-pet I have any kind of experience with. The Digital Monster X. These ones are the most nuanced yet in my opinon, and they have my favorite mechanics.  Also, they come with lore I guess?  If you slip your hands in between the cardboard packaging, you’ll find a tiny comic... of course I can’t read it. But it goes something along the lines of... “ King Drasil, the king of the Digital World, created some kind of virus to kill off Digimon and solve an overpopulation issue, but the Digimon mutated the “X-Antibody” that makes them resist the virus and are rebelling against King Drasil”, it’s wild and weird and I guess there’s more lore that I haven’t dug up yet and a TV special I’ve not seen yet... anyway, onto the pet..

This one no longer has the shaking mechanic and goes back to button presses. But it adds in a new mechanic of it’s own called the X Antibody Indicator...  Actually... this is technically a continuation of the Pendulum X, which introduced the X antibody, but I don’t know much about that v-pet, so I won’t go into it.  And once again, we only choose from one egg this time.

They came out in three waves, each having two devices in each wave, and those devices have some exclusive digimon, but a lot of shared Digimon, so you’ll have to make your own call on weather or not you want more than one v-pet per wave. 

This thing is a lot like the Pendulum Z, so I will use that as a basis, here is what makes this different from the Pendulum Z aside from the shaking mechanic going away

XAI rolls, a new mechanic that involves rolling dice. You do this once daily to determine the random events for the day, you do it before the colosseum to determine how difficult it will be that day, and you do it before each battle to effect how easy it is to land a strong attack.

Colosseum mode battles are now called “areas” and have pixelated Landscapes to make it feel more like a Quest mode rather than a series of battles

Colosseum mode will eventually start throwing more than three enemies at you. Your digimon’s hunger will deplete in the Colosseum, if you make it far enough, there are rest areas in which you can feed your Digimon.

Even larger evolution trees

A lot of evolution trees are locked until you advance far enough into the Colosseum

Most of the Digimon are “X-Antibody” counterparts of existing Digimon ( this won’t mean much on the little pixelated screen, but if you look up their key artwork, you’ll find that they look very different with much more intricate designs than their original counterparts. Think “Alola Pokemon” )

These things are great, probably my favorite mechanically speaking, however, I don’t much care for the X-antibody Digimon, or the Rosters of each V-pet.  And while I did follow an evolution guide on Digitama Hatchery, I often didn’t get what I was aiming for, so maybe I didn’t know what I was doing, idk, it was my first Digimon V-pet outside of the DM20th, so I was still learning.

These ones are also fairly expensive, I probably spent more than I needed to just buying one of these, when I paid the price most people sell two of them for. Only other major warning I hear is that the wave 1 devices have very bad screens that display things way too dark. So keep that in mind...  BUT, before you buy, these things are strongly rumored to be releasing in the west. Meaning they’ll likely be sold for a cheaper, more reasonable price.. the rumor was that they’d be announced early this year, so i’ll give it until March.

And there you go, a little  guide to modern Digimon V-pets. Hope it helps someone, anyone, make a decision if they’re interested at all in these little things. 

These are only the modern V-pets, there’s loads of older pets that likely go for obscene prices, you’ll have to do your own research on those. I really don’t know much about the upcoming Vital Bracelet, and honestly I don’t know if i’m going to get it if it’s tied to fitness. Seems like a poorly timed release during the pandemic if you ask me. And the “Digivice” that looks closer to the devices you see in the anime is not so much a virtual pet as it is an LCD mission mode game.  I have ZERO experience with those but I have ordered one recently, i’ll come back and talk about it when it gets here.

And remember, check out Humulosmon’s website, Digitama Hatchery for tons of resources. At the very least, it’s a good way to see what your Digimon is meant to look like instead of trying to interpret the pixel art yourself.

[anime-lover-forever-1127]

Saiyan Mates {Son Goku} - 2. Stretching

Stretching

*****

Disclaimer - (Cause fanfiction is tricky ground and I hope not to offend the creator of the original story and get sued)

I do not own "Dragon Ball", it belongs to its original creator Akira Toriyama. This is only a fanfiction that I was inspired to write by the original work. Please support the official release. Most of the media - such as the art and illustrations, gifs, video's, etc. used in this fanfiction - are from the web. Thus, most of them aren't mine (because I really, really can't draw) unless mentioned. To fit the story, images are also edited by various apps and websites. So they aren't mine, just edited.

Also if you own a picture or Video that I found online, and you either want your name added, or me to take it down. Please contact me and we can talk it out. P.s. I also ask that you do not copy my work and publish it onto any other website.

If you're gonna use my idea, please ask me (If you ask nicely, I for sure, will agree). If I don't contact you within a week, then just assume I'm giving you the all clear and go for it. Just remember to credit me.

I will be writing out scenes even if my Oc isn't in them. As long as she's mentioned, or influencing the characters in some way. Or maybe because it influences the story. This may seem a bit annoying. But that's just how I write. I like to embed my characters into the story line. Because of this, most of the dialogue/scenes will come from the original work.

Warnings: Spoilers for Dragon Ball Z episode 11, Mentions of killing and death, Mates, Cursing, Violence

*****

Today's Special (Curse word involved)

"You want a whore, buy one.

You want a queen, earn her."

~ Cersei Lannister

*****

{Atena P.O.V.}

I woke up with a yawn, my eyes fluttering open. I was already expecting this. Sleeping gases never worked on me for too long, so I always needed two doses, versus Vegita and Nappa's one dose.

I turned to stare out the pod's only window and grin as I saw a planet in the distance. I rubbed my stiff neck, hmm, maybe stretching my body would help a bit.

I turned on my communication device, "Nappa, Vegeta! Get up!" I screamed as loud as I could.

I heard a groan from Vegeta, "God dammit Atena." He cursed as he woke up.

I smirked, "You up or-"

"I'm up!" He growled out. "But that idiot clearly isn't. Nappa, wake up!" He commanded.

The older man grumbled, "I'm awake. What's going on?" He asked, confused.

"Nothing much. But Atena wants to make a stop and stretch a bit, get some exercise." At this point, Vegeta didn't need his sister to tell him what was on her mind. He saw the planet and knew what she had wanted instantly. "Planet Arlia is right over there. Maybe we could sell it for a nice price."

I nodded, "I'm pretty sure that the party from Araclion is looking to expand. They'd be more than happy to pay a pretty penny for Arlia."

"That sounds good." Nappa agreed, turning on the lights on his space pod. "I hope these Arlians know how to fight. We haven't had any real competition since I can remember."

We then set a course for Arlia. Once we had entered the planet's gravity, we let it pull us down. And landed with a bang.

I climbed out of my pod, only to stare at a complete waste land with broken ruins scattered around.

"Aww man, what a mess. Not much is there." said Nappa from behind me.

"Obviously not." My brother rolled his eyes. "Let's have a look around shall we."

I sighed, "Sure, nothing better to do."

I watched Nappa pat a pillar lightly, only for it to crumble upon impact. "Are you sure you can get a high price for this planet?" He asked me.

"Doubt it." Vegeta answers.

But I shook my head, "On the contrary. As boring as this run down planet is, it's actually a selling point. We could actually charge more on the basis that the people buying it wouldn't need to tear anything down."

"Let's check around a little longer." Says Vegeta.

Our scouter then begins beeping as the ground near us bursts open and two large, blue caterpillar-like creatures attack us. My eyes zone in on their heads, Where two smaller aliens appear to be riding them.

"You are trespassing on Arlian territory." One of them says to us.

"Make one move and we'll blast ya." The other adds. "It was a good day to go hunting after all."

"Let's give them a proper welcome." His friend snickered.

I stare at the two creatures, unimpressed. I turned to my brother, "A proper welcome would be at least 1000 men, for each of us."

My brother rolls his eyes, "Oh please, just look at them. They'd need 10,000 just to land an attack."

"Let's just blast them." Nappa suggests.

"Eassy." Vegeta commands him.

"Surrender peacefully or face the consequences." One of them threatens.

"No." The Saiyan prince answers.

The bug looks surprised, I think at least. It then quickly says, "You left us no choice. Prepare to be destroyed then!" It fires a red beam from his mouth?... I think.

I can see it hit me, but don't feel a thing. The only trace it leaves is the dust that kicks up from the ground.

"That's the end of them." I can hear one of them say.

I let out a yawn, as the other two gasp to see us continuing to stand in front of them as if nothing had happened.

"Surrender at once!" They shout.

"Yeah! Make me!" Nappa screams back.

'Nappa. Surrender to them.' My brother commands us, through the familia bond.

I stare at him, not amused. 'Come one, let's have some fun, we're here.' He tells me.

I sigh, relenting. 'Fine. I'll play along with your little game. But if this ends up another stupid, wimpy male trying to mate with me, your going to owe me. BIG TIME!'

We extend our wrists forward as the two bug-like aliens begin rejoicing, "Yeah, they're giving up."

"I guess we're too much for them." His partner adds.

"They sure are ugly."

"But they'll be good entertainment for the king. Especially the women." One of them says, cuffing my wrists.

I feel my eyebrow twitch at the comment, 'Screw you Vegeta!' I curse through the link.

*****

I yawed in bordem as we were carried in a cage, pulled by the large insects most likely towards where their king is. 'Well if he's a king, he should at least have some guards.' I told the other two.

'That's exactly what I'm hoping for.' My brother responds.

As were herded into a jail cell, the man cackles, "You should be glad to know your cell doesn't have any rate. The prisoners ate them all."

"Oh, joy." I comment drily.

"Why you!" The bug-like creature shouts.

"Wait!" His friend pulls him back. "You know the king prefers his women to be mark free."

"Remind me to get that guy." Nappa growls.

"Sure." I shrug. "But the king's mine." After the sexist comments I can just feel coming my way, I'm deserve to be the one to end that pathetic life, so I'm calling dibs.

"Look at those aliens!" I hear from my left.

"They sure are ugly."

"Maybe they think we're the ugly ones." Another adds.

"Speak for yourself." His friend grunts back.

"Be quiet all of you. It doesn't matter what they look like. They're stuck in here just like the rest of us." One with a golden bangle on his arm chastises the rest of the group. "They're just more victims of that tyrant king. Locked away and left to rot." he says, rubbing his arm.

Yeah buddy, there's no way I'm pulling the pin on that grenade.

But, apparently, I didn't need to. "I'm afraid you visitors have come at a bad time. The new king of Arlia is very ruthless. He uses the prisoners for his own amusement. He even went as far as to steal my wife Lemlia on the day we were to be married. So you can imagine the pain I feel."

I scoffed, "So he's married and handsy. Isn't he the complete package."

I heard footsteps and turned my attention to two females of the race walking towards the cell holding something... pink?

ARE THOSE FRILLS?!

WHO THE HELL USES THAT MUCH LACE?!

Yeah, hell no!

I turn to my brother, "I'm done." And with that, I blast the cell bars open with an energy blast.

The guards instantly begin filling in, only to be met with the same fate as the cell blasts.

"Couldn't leave any for us?" My brother raises an eyebrow.

"Oh come on. Perhaps the ones upstairs may be stronger, though I doubt it." I suggest.

We walk upstairs and to the loudest room in time to hear the king calling for us.

"Don't put yourself out." says Vegeta, "We're already here."

"What's the meaning of this? Why don't these prisoners have an armed escort? And why is that female dressed in such a manner?"

"Dressed? You mean that pink monstrosity? Yeah, you wouldn't catch my dead body in that!" I scoffed.

"I don't know my sire." The alien next to him answered. "No orders were sent to the dungeon."

"Your guards met with an unfortunate accident." Vegeta answered.

"How dare you?"the king shouted, "Soon it will be your turn to be met with an unfortunate accident!" He screams at my brother, and then turns to me. "And you! You should be honoured that I even considered you."

I raised an eyebrow, "Oh please. You aren't even strong enough to be considered my pet, let alone my mate."

Please, as if I ever consider a man like him. He looked like he wouldn't even be able to pin me down. As a Saiyan it was in my natural instincts to desire a strong mate. My true mate may have died on our planet. But that doesn't mean I'd ever even think of having a child with such a weakling.

The man on the throne growls before turning to the cotton candy like women to his right. "You may not want to watch this my dear."

I sighed in exasperation and put a hand on my hip, "Yeah, sure. Tell her to turn away after you were just talking about doing things with another women, you disgusting pig."

"Why you! My guards shall make short work off this repulsive creatures."

"Really?" My brother asks in mock surprise.

"Ah, let's see." The man nodes, tapping his finger. "Yes, we'll test the big one with the shiny head against our champion in combat. The little one may go next, and we'll save the women for last. Now teach them a lesson."

A large alien from behind us then jumped at Nappa, only for Vegeta to shoot a line of energy blast out of his index finger and middle finger. Blasting his head clean off, and killing him instantly.

"Huh? I guess that makes you the new champion Vegeta." Nappa comments.

My brother chuckles only for the king, still calmly counter with. "Not bad. But 10 of our finest warriors have already mastered techniques using energy just like yours."

"They have?" Vegeta asks, turning around, "Interesting. We'd like to fight them."

I nod, "Who knows. Maybe I'll finally get to stretch a bit."

"Ready?" The saiyan prince asks.

The king let out a cry of outrage, "I'll see you suffer for your insolence!"

"Yeah, whatever." Nappa responded, "Can we get on with this already."

"Ah, how dare you!"

I chuckled, "Easy, you just need to spit out the words."

His 'elite' guards became to surround us, and fire off a red energy blast from their mouths in unison.

I touched the small sparks that were left behind. "How weak." I sighed.

"Was that it? It felt real good. It was refreshing." Vegeta antagonised them.

"Oh. I'll make you pay." The king growled. "If you think you can just walk out of here. You're sadly mistaken."

"You know what's funny, Vegeta?" I turned to my brother. "He keeps saying 'I' as if he's going to be the one fighting. It's hilarious."

"Guards! Attack! Destroy them!"

I sighed, "All right. Play times over." I created a circle of energy around me, and then expanded it outward. Then, when it was at the feet of the men, I shot the bright ring of energy upward, slicing off various parts of the aliens. Killing them.

"Aww come on Antenna. Couldn't you have left any for us." Nappa complained.

"What's the point?" I asked, rolling my eyes. "They're all weak."

"Open the gates!" The king commanded in fear.

I then began to hear gears turning and a section of the ground in front of us open. And from it, a large brown insect rose.

"So it's the giant bug from the ground trick?" My brother scoffed.

I shrugged, "I personally liked the giant rat a little better. It's screams were surprisingly nice."

"You need to destroy these creatures. They're bad. Very, very bad!" The king ordered the giant beast pointing at us."

"That's it!" I growl. "I'm done." I walked over to the king, startling him. "Please die." I smile at him kindly, before flicking his forehead with my index finger, and sending his head flying off his body.

"We're bad?" Nappa asks.

"Well a little." Vegeta answers.

"Correction." I challenge, "We're bad people, but great Saiyan's." I pretend to wipe a tear from my eye, "Oh how proud daddy must be."

Vegeta scoffs, "Daddy's girl."

I smirk, "Oh please, your just jealous that I was the favourite."

The large insect takes a swipe at us, only for us to jump up, like some kind of game of skip rope.

Nappa lands on some steps, and the giant bug gives chase.

"Lucky." I pout. "The only thing maybe worth fighting."

It then tries to lunge for Vegeta, only to miss and lose his balance, crashing onto the ground.

It begins shooting lasers at us, at which point we begin flying around.

"Hey ugly!" Nappa calls it. It thrusts a fist at the bald man, only for Nappa to grab the claw.

The bug begins the whimper as Nappa pulls his claw right out.

The creature makes a desperate attempt to capture him in his hands, only for Nappa to jump away at the last second.

"Hey! I got one more little surprise for you." Nappa then throws an energy ball straight at it, blowing him up.

The remaining aliens began crawling out, and at that point I checked out. "See yeah. I'm going back to sleep." With that I enter my pod, and once again set the coordinates for Earth. Only for once again my inner beast begins crawling around in my mind.

'We'll get some action soon." I tell her, figuring she was just feeling caged. I only hear her mutter something about mate.... before the sleeping gas kicks in, and I fall asleep.

*****

There's an Easter egg up there, did anyone spot it?

Heads up, there will definitely be Chi-Chi bashing. For all of you who like her, sorry. But it had to be done for the sake of the story. Remember, this is a fanfiction, so will by amplifying all her flaws by like 50, which can make anyone seem bad. So don't hate on me, the story, or the real Chi-Chi (and she tries her best in her situation). Because this is just a fanfiction.

Also someone pointed out to me that I accidentally wrote Vegeta's name with an 'i', as Vegita, a couple times. So sorry for that guys. And thanks for pointing that out, I'll try my best not to make that mistake again

Another thing I will be changing is - as the story progresses, Goku's saiyan instincts will help sharpen his mind, and his other senses. So smarter, and slightly darker and possessive Goku.

You can read the other chapters of this story (in order) on Wattpad, Quotev, Fanfiction.Net, Ao3, or Webnovel - Under the username Animeloverforever1127 (Under the same title of course). Or you could shuffle around my tumbler, (I’ll try to keep my tags constant) but I’d go with the first - just seems like a lot less work.

[shaorankun]

Guardian Chapter 86 Translation (Guo Changcheng and Chu Shuzhi’s part)

I am currently reading Guardian (鎮魂) and when I got to Chapter 86 in the fan translation (I prefer reading in English) they did not translate this entire part. I only did a light google and didn’t find a proper translation for this so I decided to just complete it myself. I didn’t want to read the rest of the story with a chunk missing, haha. Sharing my labour here for anyone else who might be wanting to read this missing part. I didn’t know where to post this so tumblr it is...

(credit: I’m using the same title from the fan translation I’m reading)

Chapter 86: The Paper-white Face of The Young Ghost King Reflected All of His Desires, Saying Frankly, “Good-looking. I want to hold you.”

Chu Shuzhi did not think that when he returned to Dragon City the first person he would see was Guo Changcheng.

He was just released from his shackles and got back his past items that were forcibly taken by Hell. He was in a good mood. Taking advantage of the Chinese New Year break, he found a wild mass grave1 and retreated for a few days. It wasn’t until he received Wang Zheng’s message that Zhu Hong was planning on resigning that he hurriedly bought a train ticket and rushed back to Dragon City.

The crowd at the train station was bustling. Chu Shuzhi walked forward for a while, looking in all directions for a taxi, and saw Guo Changcheng’s familiar figure—the young man was carrying a huge woven bag, his body was almost curled into a ball2 and he was slowly wiggling about with difficulty.

Just by looking at Guo Changcheng you could tell he did not do much physical work. When he went to school he probably had mediocre grades in Physical Education too. Carrying a big bag, he looked like a snail carrying a heavy shell. People passing by couldn’t help but turn and look at this young man.

Chu Shuzhi was worried he recognized the wrong person at first. Glancing again, he stared at what should have be a sturdy nylon bag open up with a small gap. A lady selling corn at the roadside kindly warned, “Hey, young man, your bag is going to spill!”

Guo Changcheng turned to the voice, but probably because his things were too heavy, when he turned his body he didn’t pay attention to his feet and he stumbled into a luggage being pulled by a young lady who just happened to pass by. Guo Changcheng was flustered and before he could apologize, the young man next to the lady aggressively pushed him. “Watch it, where are you stepping?”

Guo Changcheng was already not standing steadily and once he stumbled, the ‘city wall’ behind his back rumbled and fell. The bottom of the nylon woven bag broke apart and a bunch of outrageous items noisily fell out, including pots, pans, plates and plastic bags of food and clothing. The weirdest thing was that there was also an approximately sixty centimeters in diameter and eight centimeters thick large wooden cutting board—he was basically carrying a mini Walmart.

The young man who pushed him probably just stepped from person to person to fight out a path through the crowded train station. Seeing Guo Changcheng wearing dusty old clothes, he regarded him as a migrant worker returning to the city, and was suddenly disgusted and inexplicably felt a sense of unspeakable superiority. With one hand he was pulling the lady next to him to leave and at the same time complaining, “Knowing there’d be a lot of people and still bringing so much stuff. Are you an idiot? Can you afford to pay for damaging this luggage?”

Guo Changcheng repeatedly apologized. Seeing all the items had fallen on the ground, almost looking stupid, he hurriedly crouched down to pick them up. As he saw the nylon woven bag spill from both ends, he was at a loss and helplessly grabbed his own hair, worried.

It was at that moment that a somewhat skinny hand reached over and easily took both ends of the nylon bag and made a dead knot, making it into the shape of a cloth bag, then placed the junk in the middle of it. Weighing downwards, it looked the same as holding a SpongeBob. With one hand he was able to wrap up the pieces of heavy items.

Guo Changcheng: “Chu Ge3!”

If he had a tail, his wagging could’ve been used as an electric fan. He suddenly forgot that the one standing in front of him was The Zombie Corpse King—in Guo Changcheng’s view, Chu Shuzhi was practically a saviour who fell from the sky.

Chu Shuzhi ignored him. While holding the large nylon bag with one hand, he turned towards the young man who hadn’t gone too far, and with not a good look on his face he said, “The one in front, I advise you roll back here and apologize.”

Usually when Chu Shuzhi was normal it was fine, but when his face sunk he was particularly scary, almost naturally wearing a hint of the vicious gloom of a fugitive. The young man who was just fierce looked at him, appearing fierce but was weak inside, and said, “What else do you want?”

Just as Chu Shuzhi was about to walk towards him, Guo Changcheng held onto him. “Chu Ge, Chu Ge let’s go. It was I who didn’t see just now. I’m sorry.”

Uneasy, he raised his eyes to the other and smiled, holding onto Chu Shuzhi’s cold hand. “My fault, my fault.”

The two in front cussed as they left, completely unaware that they just escaped a crisis.

Chu Shuzhi turned around and looked at Guo Changcheng and thought that not only was he so much of a saint that he was an idiot4, he was pretty much messed up in the brain. To be at this stage of no temper and no courage, even if one didn’t say he didn’t seem like a young and vigorous man, he simply didn’t even seem like a person.

Chu Shuzhi irritably broke away from his hand and pointed at the bag of groceries in his own hand. “Does your family have nothing to eat, that they’re making you spend the New Year selling groceries?”

“No, I’m helping someone deliver this. I didn’t expect the bag to suddenly break.” Guo Changcheng eagerly followed him but also felt rather embarrassed. “I, I, let me carry it, it’s not much further.”

Chu Shuzhi impatiently avoided his hand and frowned. “Lead the way.”

Guo Changcheng immediately was too scared to utter a sound and walked ahead in small steps, leading the way.

Passing by the street in front of the station, they made multiple turns and entered a small alley. They arrived at a shadowed zone of the bustling city. Inside the alley was a row of dilapidated single-story houses. Walking deep inside, a female student with a ponytail was standing at a door, sweeping the floor with a broom. When she saw Guo Changcheng she very happily greeted him, exposing the college break volunteer sign around her neck.

Guo Changcheng felt a little embarrassed when seeing the girl and unnaturally lowered his head. Sounding like a mosquito, he buzzed, “Hello.”

The young lady was not inattentive and seeing Chu Shuzhi holding a big bag, she immediately dropped the broom and helped him open the door. As she walked she asked Guo Changcheng, “Have you registered them? Did you print it out? We have to express gratitude to each person on the internet.”

Guo Changcheng, this boy, he was very slow when he did things and he wasn’t clever. At the unit the always-rushing-them-Zhao would get angry and directly scold him. But in the end when he finished, it was always done very earnestly and meticulously. The reports written, no matter how long or how important or how much paper was wasted, never had a single typo. Slowly, even their nitpicky leader couldn’t say anything.

Guo Changcheng promptly nodded and took out a pile of printed paper from his bag. In total there were seven to eight pages. On them were detailed records of who donated, what was donated, the donor’s contact address, phone number, internet name, e-mail and other information. The value of the donated items varied from Chinese Yuan5 to a Chinese cabbage. It was simply odd and by no means an isolated case.

It turns out this was led by a few of Dragon City’s universities. They were taking advantage of the winter break and came together with some social service groups to organize and create this volunteer operation called “For the Old, For the Young6”. On Guo Changcheng’s side, they specialized in targeting the elderly at the lowest rung of society who, due to various reasons, lost their ability to make a livelihood. In small groups, each were responsible for the long-term care for a set of elderlies.

Because Guo Changcheng was unable to communicate with people, he was unable to take the responsibility of relieving the boredom of the elderly so he ended up with the job of collecting donations from society. Fortunately, the volunteer team had more girls so he was able to help greatly with some physical tasks, using this break to act as a porter.

Chu Shuzhi helped them place the objects down. As it was along the way, he started Guo Changcheng’s car and brought him along to No. 4 Bright Avenue. Guo Changcheng’s palms were damaged by the rubbing of the nylon bag; he sat at the passenger seat quietly and used a wet towel to wipe it.

Since it was rare for Chu Shuzhi to be in the mood to talk, he said a few words to him. “You’re still caring about anyone, are you trying to deliver all living creatures from difficulty?”

Guo Changcheng widened a pair of ignorant eyes and looked at him with astonishment.

Chu Shuzhi changed the question. “Doing this kind of stuff, does your family know?”

Guo Changcheng silently shook his head.

Chu Shuzhi incomprehensively laughed. Then he said, “Then on New Year’s Day did you burn some incense? The way you are, your wishes would easily come true.”

Guo Changcheng shook his head again. He was extremely satisfied with his current life. Apart from his family and friends being safe and healthy, there was nothing else he’d ask for—right now his family and friends seemed safe and healthy so he thought it was better to not trouble Buddha.

Chu Shuzhi took advantage of the traffic light and tilted his head to glance at him. Guo Changcheng was not tall, not strong and also not handsome. His facial features could not be said to be good looking. He was usually very low-key and didn’t own even a single brand name piece of whatever common youngsters thought was popular. Basically you would be unable to find his type in a crowd of people. Because there was always a lack of confidence, there was absolutely never any class.

However, when he sat down and quietly didn’t say anything, his calm expression revealed something unspeakable, natural Zen.

Although Guo Changcheng was a mortal, wine and meat passing his intestines every day, he didn’t understand what practicing spiritual development was, he didn’t even understand all the words in scriptures, and all of the Buddhist Arhats in the entire world were only known through the popular TV show Journey to the West where he only recognized two of them: one Guanyin, one Tathagata. Due to a problem with the actors, even now there was doubt towards the gender.

But Chu Shuzhi could sense that he was acting without regard for others and was peacefully and quietly building something.

It was neither the well-being of this life nor the virtue of the next life.

With Chu Shuzhi’s eyesight and cultivation, he only hazily had a feeling. As for what it was specifically, he couldn’t clearly tell.

Despite Chu Shuzhi not understanding what Guo Changcheng was thinking when doing these things, it didn’t stop the sudden uncomfortable feeling in his heart. There seemed to be a bit of resentment and dissatisfaction.

Even without mentioning anything else, with this child being covered from head to toe in three chi7 thick of virtue, shouldn’t he be living a peaceful and happy life? Why was it that he was born with an unlucky fate? Although everyone knew The Book of Life and Death regarded merits and demerits as very much nonsense, yet didn’t Hell use it rather brazenly?

He stopped speaking. His fanboy Guo Changcheng also didn’t have the courage to actively bring up any topics. The two of them remained silent all the way to No. 4 Bright Avenue. The curtain of night had already descended and all human and ghosts were present.

Once Chu Shuzhi entered the Criminal Investigations division, what came into view first was a group of demon and ghosts with a pair of blank eyes, as if they were collectively hit by a lightning strike.

Before he could even ask what was going on, he saw Wang Zheng turn her head over, trembling as she asked, “Chu Ge, did you know of the matter that Teacher Shen… Shen Wei, was really the Ghost Slayer?”

Chu Shuzhi froze for a bit. After a while, he calmly said, “Oh, that moron Zhao Yunlan, what is he doing that he didn’t come? Where is he? Ran away after messing things up?”

Da Qing was on the side and meowed, “He plunged into Wang Chuan waters.”

Chu Shuzhi: “……Love problems? Suicide?”

Da Qing and Zhu Hong had gotten over the initial shock and already calmed down.

Zhu Hong knew that Zhao Yunlan had on him the Water Dragon Pearl and any place that had water would not be able to harm him. She had just placed the Water Dragon Pearl around Zhao Yunlan’s neck and it was already being used. Zhu Hong felt that if she was a little more suspicious, it would feel like her Snake Uncle Four already knew of something beforehand.

Zhu Hong said, “My guess is that he’s looking for the Ghost Slayer.”

Chu Shuzhi took a quick look and saw that other than Lin Jing, who was still out in the field and already said he’d be taking the midnight train, the No. 4 Bright Avenue members were already all present. With both hands in his pocket, he leaned back against the office door. “I think, let’s have everyone talk about what they separately know. It’s been a mess recently. Let’s focus on the information and figure out what’s really happening. What to do—”

Speaking until here, Chu Shuzhi’s voice suddenly paused, his complexion suddenly didn’t look too good. This made everyone very nervous: “What did Chu Ge think of?”

“Wait, Shen Wei is the Ghost Slayer?” Chu Shuzhi’s face turned green. After a while he muttered, “Fuck I’ve messed up. I’ve teased him so many times before!”

……That’s why they sometimes say that being super calm was just your reflex arc taking too long.

---

野墳坡亂葬崗 [Yě fén pō luàn zàng gǎng] - Not really sure how to translate this. My best guess is it’s a random unmaintained grave. Probably some area with lots of dead bodies like after a war or something.

His body almost bent into a period. A period in Chinese looks like a hollow circle: 。

哥 [Gē] – Brother

Here Chu Ge was thinking that Guo Changcheng ‘Holy Mothered to idiocy’, he holy mothered so much he became ill. Holy mother being The Holy Mother; The Virgin Mary or a goddess.

人民币 [Rén ​mín ​bì] – Renminbi; China’s currency. Yuan is the unit. ‘Chinese Yuan’ is used in international contexts to refer to renminbi.

The name is 老吾老、幼吾幼 [lǎo wú lǎo, yòu wú yòu] – This probably comes from the phrase “老吾老，以及人之老，幼吾幼，以及人之幼” (lǎo wú lǎo , yǐ jí rén zhī lǎo , yòu wú yòu , yǐ jí rén zhī yòu) meaning to honour the elderly as we do our own aged parents and to take care of other’s children as if our own.

尺 [chǐ] – (unit) Chinese foot. It is 1/3 of a meter.

The rest of the chapter can be found here.

[pcssessicn]

☆ . · . miguel bernardeau, twenty-one, male, he / him . · . ☆ fitzwilliam 'fitz' phénix-alvarez lives in that huge mansion over there! no, not that one. look for white stucco walls & terracotta shingles and that’ll be it. the nhl defenseman has offered occasional glimpses of soft yellow walls and an impressive collection of plants in the background of social media posts, but all of that is nothing compared to seeing the opulence in person. they’ve remained protective as ever since moving to tercet court two months ago, but it seems like they might’ve gotten a little more mistrustful too. maybe that’s why they’re rumored to have such a distant relationship with everyone else who lives on this street. ☆ . · . ooc info: ollie, they / them, 21, est . · . ☆ career claim: cale ma/kar.

BASICS

Full name: Fitzwilliam Phénix-Alvarez Nickname: Fitz Birth date: September 29th Languages: English, Spanish, Quebecois Francois Hometown: 

PHYSICAL

Age: 21 Weight: 196 lbs Height: 6′2″ Body build: athletic, lean Eye color: grey-blue Faceclaim: Miguel Bernardeau Glasses or contacts: neither 

Tattoos: a raven in flight over his left shoulder blade, monochromatic vines winding up his left bicep

Scars: most predominantly a thin scar near the base of his neck where a skate slashed him when he was fourteen ; several other smaller scars of less note, especially on his hands --- much less noticeable

PERSONALITY

Good personality traits: observant, calculating, protective Bad personality traits: mistrustful, dishonest, aggressive 

Fitz comes across as very confident and in control, and at ease in his skin. The truth couldn’t be farther from it. He works hard to put forward the easy front he does --- and some days he can’t tell which one is more real. He has a dishonest smile that masquerades as honest, and a tendency to manipulate those around him when necessary to shed suspicion off himself. He can be almost charming at times, at least extremely amiable. Despite all this, Fitz is not rash or impulsive -- in fact everything he does is carefully calculated, though he goes to great lengths so it does not come across as so. The one place he feels truly effortless is on the ice.

He finds it hard to truly allow people close to him and to really see beyond the most superficial layers of himself. Furthermore, there is a deep-seated fear of not being enough and being forgotten ; he finds it easier to not let anyone close so there’s less chance of this happening.

THE STORY ( i rly was gunna try to write this nice and eloquently but... u get this instead 😔 )

— fitz was born to up and coming spanish actress reyna alvarez in chicago. the result of a messy one-night stand, but reyna ultimately decided to keep the baby. he is indeed named after fitzwilliam darcy from pride and prejudice bc his mother’s first breakout role was in a film adaptation of the book and she loved the book after reading it. how unfortunate for him.

— his birth father was never in the picture, but the man he would come to know as his father came into the picture a year or so after his birth. already one of the top architects in north america, paul robert phenix was in chicago for a conference and he and reyna fell in love. fitz has been told it’s was all very romantic. so then the happy family moved to pittsburgh where his father’s architecture firm was based.

— despite growing up with two parents who raked in a fair amount of cash, they made sure nothing was just given to fitz. they’d both had their humble beginnings and big believers in tough love, they made sure not to spoil their son. they did however make sure he was sheltered from the media when it poked around and the two things they did pay for without question were his education and sports.

— he started playing hockey when he was six after seeing a pens game on tv while they were out at dinner and knowing he just had to do it --- and never stopped. he got recruited to the us national team development program when he was sixteen and spent his last two years of high school in michigan living with a billet family most do who are with the program, which gave him a huge sense of “normalcy.” but really he was far from normal, his development taking great steps over those two years leading up to his draft year.

— queue the cale ma/kar career claim lads aka all the hockey development & logistics u can probably skip if u don’t care laksdjf: 

 one year before graduation and a draft, he vocally committed to playing at university of massachusetts - amherst. he went fourth overall to the la kings in the 2017 draft ( yeah technically irl that pick belonged to the avs but sh ), and proceeded to remain loyal to his commitment and play two years at umass despite his new top five prospect status. he was put into a first pair role from the start of his freshman year ( 2017-18 ), was a huge part in bringing the umass team up from the bottom of the standings. he plays for team usa in world juniors 2017 and 2018.

his sophomore year ( 2018-19 ), they make it all the way to the frozen four. fitz gets announced as the hobey baker winner and the day after they get knocked out of the tournament. not long after that he signs his entry contract with the kings and finishes out the season with them. he scores his first nhl goal on his first shot in game 3 of the first round of playoffs irl the kings don’t make playoffs but again shh. they get knocked out in the first round and fitz goes home and trains harder than ever.

he come back to kings training camp the next season ( 2019-20 ) more determined than ever to make the team. he does so out of camp and has an incredible rookie campaign. he gets injured in december and misses a few games but is back mid-january. fitz is given the calder ( award that goes to the best rookie in the nhl ) at the end of the season. technically cale hasn’t won this yet but we all know he will.

— la is a bustling city and fitz is a fan of one night stands : he just doesn’t feel like he has time for a relationship and hookups scratch that itch. he’s not an asshole about it, really. there is typically that understanding that this is a one time, no strings attached thing. but this one girl he sleeps with in march obviously does not get this memo and continues to not get the memo. she starts seriously stalking him in the following months and eventually he gets a restraining order against her ( use ur imagination kids ). he’s not really comfortable staying in his own apartment downtown for the time being though after he still sees her around. he stays with a teammate until the season ends, which then brings us to his connection to tercet court.

— paul robert phenix, now world reknowned architect, had a hand in designing several of the homes on tercet court, including one in the style of old money spanish mediterrianian villas that he designed with his wife in mind to be their new home. fitz’s mother had loved the house and moved in for a few years after the court opened but with her taking fewer roles up in the movie industry and getting exceedingly more lonely, she decided to embrace the more nomadic livestyle of her husband and moved out about a year and a half ago. since then the home stood vacant ( though certainly still cared for by several paid landscapers and maids ) until fitz’s dilemma arose a few months ago.

— a few phone calls and a begrudging agreement to pay the extremely steep taxes on the place for the year ( again, tough love and fitz may be a pro-athlete but he’s still making less than a million a year with his entry level contract ), and fitz moved in about two months ago ( say mid-may ).

MISC

— tri-lingual. father is french-canadian and his mother is spanish. needless to say he grew up a little confused. that worked itself out soon enough though. uses he uses quebois french in-season kind of frequently to talk to a couple teammates. really only uses his spanish to talk to his mother and family.

— since moving in fitz has filled the mansion with plants. he absolutely does not seem like a plant guy but he is... absolutely loves it. his major at umass was kinesology bc he thought it would be the most helpful and knew he wasn’t going to graduate but he snuck in some out-of-major classes on horticulture. truly just likes plants a lot. they don’t judge him.

— probably set up his own puck shooting pad in the backyard. why not there’s enough space. he had to retrieve a couple pucks from the bottom of the pool though which has been good incentive to not miss the net lmao. he also has revamped one of the rooms in the house to have synthetic ice.

— runs in the morning before it gets hot. skates a few days of the week in the afternoon. home gym in the house is definitely a perk but he prefers to work out with others because it feels more productive.

— probably drives like. a range rover.

— offensive defenseman. likes to jump up in the rush and is good at break out passes as well as zone entry. earned his place quarterbacking the first powerplay towards the end of the season. he can be quite physical when he needs to be though and don’t ever go after his goalie. ( his nhl.com player page )

— he’s not a recluse by any means, but he has no desire to built connections in tercet court so probably hasn’t actively reached out. they’re likely to have met outside of the small community or if your character forcibly came and introduced themselves. or if they knew each other already mayhaps??

— oh and he’s bi. like really really bi. obv not advertised given his career path but he’s not having some crisis over it either. it just is. probably has a stack of nda’s next to the condoms ready to go at anytime alsdkfj.

OOC

hey lads. i’m ollie !! for those around for round 1.0 of this rp i played alya ( the sports photog ). i am back and this time going back to what i do best : playing hockey boys 😔😔😔.

[readingsbylibramc]

birth chart reading for @lunarvesta

hello! welcome to your reading. I’m gonna give you a quick overview of what I’m going to analyze about your natal chart. feel free to ask me anything if something isn’t clear, of course. you’ll find out your dominants’ influence on your persona, your physical appearance, impression on others and the way you approach the world; your ego, identity, the real you; your reactions, your desires, inner emotions; your way of expressing your feelings, your mind and ideas; your desires and approach to love; your energy tank, instincts and temperament; in-depth analysis of each house with their rulers and analysis of heavy aspects; love life + soulmates/karmic partners interpretation; your relationship with your friends; your family life; your approach to career and work in general + possible jobs suggestion; your style, fashion sense analysis; life purpose and past life description; basic transits’ analysis to describe your current mood and, last but not least, your secret skills, how to make the most out of your soul and manifest what you desire based on your birth chart.

🦋 chart shape, dominants

your chart is a seesaw shape. your life focuses on different ideals and interests, often constrasting between each other. from one side, this gives you the ability to be adaptable and find solutions easily. on the other hand, you may struggle with balance; for example, you might find yourself dedicating your life to your relationships, neglecting your ego or viceversa. you need to learn how to harmonize these energies.

your dominant planets are mercury, jupiter and pluto. you are an extremely intelligent and open-minded person. you could experience lots of karma in your life, you may come across unfortunate events, but they'll be crucial for your self-growth. you probably have amazing communication skills too.

your dominant sign is gemini. you are a very intelligent individual, you are thirsty for knowledge and you also have great communication skills. you have a witty sense of humor, you're able to make everyone feel at ease with your sympathy. people may say you're two-faced, but in reality you just act in the most appropriate way based on the situation you're in. you despise boredom, you're very experimental in your life, but others may mistake this trait for flakiness.

your dominant element is earth. you're a loyal and stable individual. you value longevity in your relationships, and that makes you quite picky. you can easily appear as cold, as opening up to someone you don't know well is too much of a risk for you. once you do, though, you'll stay forever. money and material possessions are important for you, as you understand that financial stability is one of the main qualifications in life.

🌎 ascendant in libra, 11° / 2nd decan ruled by venus and uranus

you're naturally likeable, you have a particular charm to you that makes everyone drool over you. you're very nice and outgoing, you always try to make others feel at ease. you're very considerate of others' feelings. you strive for fairness and justice, it's the way you approach others and the world. basically, you treat others like they treat you: if they're kind with you, you'll be very sweet. otherwise, you'll turn very sarcastic and harsh, almost cold at a certain point. this can make you seem extremely provocative, especially with your venus conjunct your mars. you're very opinionated, you always feel the need to express your thoughts as you're very proud of them. in addition, since you always decide whether something is right or not, you may come off as a know-it-all. on the other hand, you're very sociable and you enjoy being in company, doesn't matter whether you're with your family, friends, lover etc. you may get to know many people throughout your life, but your friendships may not be much stable. you are surrounded by people, but you could feel lonely particularly often. I also need to point out that libra is ruled by venus, the planet of beauty. you're most likely very attractive and magnetic. even if not necessarily conventionally, people find themselves attracted to you. you may have sparkling doe eyes, with also full lips and a defined cupid's bow. your face is more on the longer side, perhaps you have an heart-shaped face, with high cheekbones and a pointy chin. you may also have naturally amazing, fluffy and flowing hair. your body also has a lot of curves and softness to it. your eyes could also be slightly hooded.

libra ascendant square cancer moon: you may have troubles understanding others’ real feelings for you. you may feel as if everyone hates you, like everyone is talking behind your back when it’s the opposite. you’re particularly sensitive about others’ view and opinion of you, you may get deeply hurt when people criticize you. you could have the tendency to act differently than you usually do, in order to preserve your feelings. this is obviously a toxic behaviour, that fills you up with your own stress and doubles it. due to that, you may become very moody and nervous, ending up hurting others yourself. or maybe, it’s the other way around; your feelings are so overwhelming that you can’t hide them, and that could put you in embarrassing, unpleasant situations. you may show all of your emotions on your face, ready to be read. yet, you probably don’t want to be read, therefore you end up feeling ashamed of your own emotions. the way to cope with this placement is finding someone similiar to you; someone who’s trust-worthy, and very sensitive and empathetic too. someone who’d never judge you for you think or say, and that would always help you becoming the best version of yourself. someone that understands you, without having to explain all of your behaviours and habits.

libra ascendant square cancer jupiter: you probably learn a lot from people around you. you're most likely surrounded by wise, spiritual and possibly foreign individuals in your life. they help you to grow up, both spiritually and mentally. this placement also enhances your libra rising, making you look even more outgoing and approachable. you're also very open-minded, and you rarely have prejudices. the downside to this placement is that you may be depend too much from your friends or lovers, especially when it comes to your beliefs. you're easy to influence, and you may change your mind often if others disagree with you. you could possibly have high expectations from others, creating a false idea of those who surround you. at least, you're aware of your abilities and you have the potential to make the most out of them, but you're modest about it. you don't come off as bossy as other jupiter - asc aspects would.

🌞 sun in taurus, 25° / 3rd decan ruled by venus and saturn

you’re more sharp-witted and pragmatic than the typical taurus. you value stability in both romance and in your day-to-day life, like at work. you take care of your body and style in any sort of way, as your libra ascendant confirms. after all, the 3rd decan of taurus is a great balance of beauty and brain. I imagine that you're not very extroverted, you prefer staying in, but I repeat that you still probably have nice social skills that could take a while to develop. or at least, they're your secret skills. you like keeping your mind active everyday, especially by following your passions. if you’re the logical type, you might enjoy playing sudoku or things like that. on the other hand, if you’re more philosophical you might enjoy reading, writing etc. you have a great sense of duty, that makes you want to excel in whatever you do. in addition to this, you’re also very stubborn. you probably get in arguments with others because you don’t accept their advices/criticism and prefer going your own way. you may also tend to overindulge a bit, and become a bit lazy. you're also very attached to food and you may have the tendency to overeat. yet, since you have a strong earth dominance, you probably don't gain weight easily. you enjoy the finer things in life, but you might struggle with jealousy because of that. you have the tendency to look at other people’s achievements and get disappointed about yours.

taurus sun square aquarius uranus: this aspect makes you crave independency. you like doing things your own way, especially since it’s backed up by your fixed dominance. you’re really creative and intelligent, yet this may be misunderstood by those who surround you. you stand out for the way you think and your interests, and some may even perceive you as ‘weird’. I honestly think that, if well-devolped and paired with a good use of words, this aspect can be highly beneficial for your growth. a lot of successful people, like bill gates and stephen king, have this aspect, as it gives one the ability to imagine unordinary things that can impact society in a good way.

🌙 moon in cancer, 19° / 2nd decan ruled by the moon and pluto

with your moon in cancer, your privacy and security are the centre of your life. you need to be and feel emotionally stable to fully take advantage of all of your skills; for example, if you argue with a loved one of yours, especially if it's someone from your family, you could get very unmotivated to do anything. you need to feel complete to function correctly, and when you can't, you rely on material goods; e.g you may overeat, buy a lot of useless things out of stress, drink... anything that apparently helps you to cope. on the other hand, you're very affectionate, even clingy at times, but your feelings are very pure. because of that, you may also be extremely sensitive, you could be afriad of others' judgment for example. you have a very acute maternal istinct, you're most likely the dad of your group, especially since you have a libra rising, another accommodating sign. it comes natural to you to take care of others and nurture them, you'd definitely make an amazing father. the problem with this trait is that you may sometimes take the blame for something just to protect others, you could often say white lies to help your loved ones. you just want to do something beneficial for others, you're extremely generous, but don't forget that you should take care of yourself first. also, since you feel the need to help others, you may often bottle up your emotions without anyone that is willing to help you work out your problems. make sure to always have some private space in your day-to-day life, it is extremely essential for you to develop your own ideas and also to understand what to do for your personal growth.

🗣 mercury in gemini, 9° / 1st decan ruled by mercury

mercury is in its natural place in gemini, your whole chart flows very well! you have great problem-solving skills, you are extremely intelligent and astute. when you were younger, you probably used to be the winner at games like hide-and-seek. this placement also enhances your thirst for knowledge of any kind, you want to learn at least a little about anything, from science to foreign cultures. yet, since you want to learn so many things all at once, you may lack precision and be a little bit superficial. on the other hand, you're a fast learner, and since you also have your moon in cancer, a water sign, you may also be very intuitive. you may often find people predictable, but in reality you're just ahead of them. you're also very open-minded, even though you still rely more on logic, not like your sister sign is sagittarius. yet, it's easy for you to be flexible in your day-to-day life, you don't have to follow a schedule to have everything under control, even though you may often suffer from stress and headaches due to this lack of organization. you may have a very youthful and positive voice, you just give off good vibes, you know? mercury is also retrograde, so you may have troubles communicating your thoughts in a clear and understandable way. due to this, people may misunderstand your ideas and opinions and viceversa. you're more introspective, you're better at thinking than speaking, which may make you more of a listener.

gemini mercury conjunct gemini saturn: this placement gives you limitations and lessons regarding the way you think and talk. it may be that you're too shy to approach others and to say what you think, so you just don't try. otherwise, if you actually take action and try to overcome this problem, you could get into troubles. that's probably caused by the fact that you don't really pay attention to your words. you're quite straight-forward, and due to your mercury also opposing your pluto you could always seem as if you're up for a fight. you may be particularly pessimistic, or maybe you lack confidence in social interactions due to these problems, which could be possibly caused by your parents, or perhaps interfer in your relationship with your family. in fact, you may argue quite often, and misunderstandings are also common. this is something that gets naturally better with time, but in order for it to happen you need to take action. you may for example start speaking more in school, perhaps you could apply for class president. anything that allows you to challenge your mind and voice, in order to make you gain experiences and become a master at it. many celebrities, once they mastered this hard aspect, got loads of success. you can do that too, you just need to work on it.

gemini mercury opposite sagittarius pluto: you may become a bit manipulative. you probably don’t even realize it, though, as you have the ability to make people do what you want them to do. you probably love being right, especially during arguments, and you always manage to be so thanks to your skills. your words are like knives for others, they can truly cut deep through their ego. you’re direct and blunt, as you just say what you have in mind with no filters. you can develop a provocative attitude without even realizing it, which can obviously cause you conflicts. you need to be more careful about how you communicate your ideas, otherwise you could seriously damage other people’s self-esteem. on the other hand, if you acknowledge your flaws and work on them, this can actually turn into diplomacy. take advantage of your interest in your inner self and of your libra rising to find out how to be a bit more gentle in choosing your words.

❤️ venus in gemini, 25° / 3rd decan ruled by mercury and uranus

this is the flirtiest, most romantic gemini decan, but also the flakiest and most indecisive. your flirting style most probably includes jokes, teasing... stuff like that. even though you may seem flaky, as you like experiencing romance with different types of people, you're actually quite picky. in fact, in order to fall for someone, you need to feel mentally attracted to them, not just physically. someone ignorant and stubborn that doesn't care about learning something more definitely isn't for you. you're not the type to be super romantic and sweet with your partner or just people in general. you show your affection for example by sending them memes, making ironic jokes about them etc. also, when you're into someone, you probably get very talkative! you start asking them simple questions about their life, even things like 'did you have lunch?'. also, you talk about them with all of your friends, and you find yourself thinking costantly about them. you're very curious of nature, but you're only interested in getting to know what catches your eye.

gemini venus opposite sagittarius pluto: you find yourself having crushes on random people often, love at first sight could be common for you. but when you seriously fall for someone, they’re your only thought. you start searching for info about them online, and you wanna become a part of their life too. you love intensely, but not everyone may enjoy that. there are people that could feel overwhelmed by your love, others that would vibe with you and offer you the same kind of affection. ironically, you tend to attract bold, but also independent people that most of the time don’t want anything serious. you’re prone to get jealous and possessive very easily, and this makes you suffer, as you may think there’s something wrong with you. maybe, it may even remind you of something that happened during your childhood, perhaps your parents were also very protective of you. love for you is a constant grow; your relationships will be hard, but there’ll always be something to learn to improve yourself and your confidence. little side-note, you may often date karmic partners, aka partners from your past lives, so you may often experience this 'I’ve already seen you before’-vibe in your new encounters and relationships, and you’ll always learn something from all your relationships.

gemini venus conjunct gemini mars: in relationships, you're probably very intense. you feel strong feelings, and you have no troubles expressing them to your partner. you could even get clingy at some point, even though you could not realize it at first. you're a passionate lover, and you most probably love physical affection. that means that you need a partner that is just as passionate and bold as you are. you may be dominant in relationships, hence you need someone who can stand up for themselves and keep up with you. loving you is a challenge, and you need someone who's willing to try you. the bad side of this aspect is that you may be quite impulsive when it comes to relationships; you could break up with someone all of a sudden, or perhaps you could get angry easily. you're quite dramatic, but you cool down in a short amount of time if it's nothing too serious. you need someone that understand this side of you, and that is willing to stay and accept you with all your flaws.

☄️ mars in gemini, 22° / 3rd decan ruled by mercury and uranus

you're driven by the sense of intelligence. your intellect is your greatest strenght, it's your energy tank. you're interested in a bunch of things, and hence you may have troubles staying focused on one thing at the time. you probably have tons of hobbies, and you may end up not being much precise since you have tons of things that you have and want to do. you cannot stand boredom, you need your day-to-day life to be exciting and, above all, offer you something new to learn and / or experience. you probably fancy being very active: you go out often, you workout, you may also be the type to love partying and things like that. you're extremely witty and curious, and you want to live your life to the fullest. you may often change your style, your opinions, maybe even your personality, and that could make you seem confusing and / or unreliable.

gemini mars opposite sagittarius pluto: with this placement, I assume that when you were younger you were some sort of victim. you could have been bullied, for example, you used to be insecure about the way you looked and were. you could have felt different from others, and they took advantage of that to make you feel even more insecure. or maybe, it was a parent, or every authoritative figure in your life, that restricted you from following your own ideals. because of that, now you constantly feel the need to prove yourself. you probably tend to accumulate a lot of anger all together, which you need to let all out or you could explode. you could find comfort in physical ways to relieve stress, like punching bags, slamming doors, etc. or perhaps, when you're angry you just get overwhelmed by all of your emotions. you may cry, scream, even throw up in certain cases. on the other hand, you are extremely magnetic and attractive to others, you naturally draw people towards you. you're also extremely passionate in whatever you do, you put your whole heart in doing things you love. you're very hard-working and determined to achieve your goals, and I find this beneficial considering that your gemini energy tends to make one superficial. with this aspect, you're probably more dedicated than the common gemini.

🏡 houses, interceptions

your 1st house is in libra. you have a peaceful approach to the world; you most likely don’t like conflicts, you prefer avoiding them, even though you may have some troubles with that due to your blunt gemini mercury opposite pluto. you probably care a lot about your appearance, and because of that you could get insecure from time to time. usually, people with libra in their 1st house look for themselves in others, as their chart is basically upside down. your ideas may often depend on what others think for example, or perhaps you're very sensitive about others' criticism about your looks for example. the ruler of the 1st house is in the 9th house: you could be foreign, or perhaps you have a foreign 'appearance'', people may mistake you as a foreigner. you have a very free-spirited vibe around you, but you also look very approachable. you may be interested in philosophy, literature, possibly also in travelling and foreign languages and cultures. they most likely play an important role in your life.

your 2nd house is in scorpio. this placement can make you seem a bit selfish. in fact, you’re extremely possessive of your possessions, you don’t want to share them with others. there’s a lot of karma around your finances. in fact, if you’re too stingy, it may bite your butt. you need to give in order to receive, so I’d suggest you to share your things more with others. you could share a meal with a friend, for example. you’ll surely get something positive back from it. your finances may not be stable either; they are in constant change, and while this placement can make you earn quite a great amount of money, it can also make you lose everything you have. no inbetweens. the 2nd house is also about self-esteem, your relationship with your appearance. you have contrasting feelings about it; some days, you’re very confident. other days, you hate yourself. you may find flaws in every single picture you take or every pants you try on. it’s a very intense placement, as you may often feel as if you need to change your appearance in order to love yourself. based on other placements in your chart, it could indicate that you overwork yourself to feel more confident. studying, travelling and just feelings smart in general also makes you gain more security in yourself.

your 3rd house is in sagittarius, with also your pluto and chiron placed there. this is an amazing placement for a writer! you’re extremely open-minded and philosophical. you’d probably do great at poetry or just literature in general. you’re thirsty for knowledge, you aspire to learn everything you can, you enjoy being smart and educated. you most likely love comedy, and you have an amazing sense of humor yourself, you’re able to light up the room and make everyone burst into laughter even if you don’t mean to. you’re also very intelligent, you’re able to memorize things fast and you’re also a fast-learner. you may be less into gossips than other libras, as you’re very benevolent and considerate of others’ feelings. in addition, you’re able to see the good in everyone, there’s no reason for you to talk behind someone’s back. actually, it’s the opposite. you’re quite impulsive, you say things as they are. pluto here, in fact, makes it impossible for you to hide your emotions. if you feel sad or angry, people will most likely be able to tell. on the other hand, you’re particularly expressive and deep with your words, they're very memorable in a certain sense. people may find themselves thinking about what you said for days, as you may often hide hidden meanings beyond your sentences. chiron here also makes you very self-conscious about your ideas, though. you may often have great ideas, but you end up keeping them for yourself as you're afraid of saying something wrong. perhaps, you could even have some problems to your voice itself, you could stutter often for example. the ruler of the 3rd house is in the 10th house: your job may involve communication, you'll most probably interact with other people in your future career. or maybe, you might write stuff, hence you could be a writer, a journalist, etc. possibly, you would do well as a therapist too. you may also communicate through artistic outlets, hence you could be an actess, a singer, etc.

your 4th house is in capricorn, with also neptune placed there. I can tell that your childhood was quite complex. not necessarily bad, but there were a few things that you still remember to this day. your parents could have been very hard-working and focused on work, possibly wealthy too. they were very responsible and cared a lot about you, they always made sure you had everything you needed, even though they could have been slightly absent from time to time due to their jobs. they could have also been quite strict or over-protective, perhaps even violent and controlling. or maybe, one of them could have even died. your parents may also be divorced. people with a capricorn ic usually find something missing in their childhood, they had to deal with responsibilities from a young age. it could even be that you started working when you were still a teen. in addition, neptune could have made you a bit more insecure as a child than other capricorn ics. you weren’t much extroverted, you preferred staying in, drawing, playing games etc. possibly, you were also close to arts. the ruler of the 4th house is in the 9th house: you could come from a foreign place, or perhaps you moved houses a lot during your childhood. perhaps, you have someone in your family that is from a different country, culture or religion from yours, or perhaps they're able to speak more than one language. your parents could have been very successful at school, they could actually be professors. you might've always been a smart kid, you could've grown up learning more languages and you were most likely good at school too. you also got to make lots of experiences during your childhood, you might have travelled a lot.

your 5th house is in aquarius, with also uranus placed there. you’re extremely creative, your ideas are very innovative, and you may have particular hobbies, interests or taste than others. when you’re able to fully express yourself, you gain full security and you start experimenting and inventing new things. you could be the type to start new fashion trends, music styles, art styles… basically, you’re a creative genius. your hobbies may also involve astrology, as well as human studies like psychology, or also anything that has to do with technology. you may be into videogames for example, tv series, social media… they’re your way to spend your free-time and relax. your relationships may also be very unconventional; you could usually date people online, or perhaps you may have the potential to meet someone through dating apps. they’re quite unstable, they may end out of the blue for example.

your 6th house is in pisces. in your daily life, you hardly ever have a structured schedule. you go with the flow, you take things as they come. you may often have your head in the clouds, you could get distracted easily and you may literally creative oscar-worthy movies in your head instead of doing what you need to do. your job may involve arts, images, possibly even fame. you should definitely use your creative talents for your possible career. also, you could benefit from helping others; you could be a psychologist or therapist of any kind, a nurse… any place where you’re able to help others. again, you could also help others through your art, hence with your lyrics, books, etc. when it comes to diets, workout routines, skincare routines etc. you could lack consistency, even though your venusian energy makes you more motivated to take care of your appearance. you may sleep a lot, it’s easy for you to feel tired and stressed even when you’re not over-working yourself.

your 7th house is in aries. love is most likely not your priority in life. you need independence, and you’re able to stand up for yourself on your own. you don’t need someone else to help you. you tend to attract partners in your life that are hot-headed, stubborn, assertive and goal-oriented. they strive to be the best at everything they do, they’re extremely competitive and willing to do anything to achieve their goals. basically, you attract very dominant partners, and your other placements suggest that you're quite fine with it, you like being nurtured in a relationship. you may often experience power struggles between you and your partner, which cause you issues in every relationship you get in. in fact, at the same time, you wouldn’t stand someone too submissive either, as you still need someone that would mentally stimulate you. they may actually be quite selfish and self-centered, they’ll care more about their own development rather than that of you two as a couple. an aries 7th house indicates that while you’ll have a very active, passionate spouse, you may also experience lots of arguments and discussions in your marriage life, perhaps even physical violence since mars doesn't make very positive aspects, so beware of that. the ruler of the 7th house is in the 9th house: you may meet your future spouse abroad, or perhaps they're foreign. they could also be from a different culture from yours, or at least they're able to speak more than a language. they'll be very open-minded, but also quite impulsive.

your 8th house is in taurus, with also your sun sitting in this house. you have the most stable, stubborn sign in a house that requires constant change. you probably hate changing your routine and stepping out of your comfort zone. changes are hard for you to accept; you find it hard to change job all of a sudden for example, or even letting go of a toxic friend of yours can be stressful for you. also, you could be quite materialistic and fond of material possessions, causing you to be a bit too stingy, which isn’t good for your karma. another reason that this house contrasts with your 2nd house in scorpio is that you feel like you constantly need to change, but ironically slow taurus makes your changes way slower than usual. sometimes, when they happen, they’re so subtle that you probably can’t even see them or at least notice them at first. yet, they'll actually become the centre of your life. in fact, your existence in this lifetime revolves around constant improvements and learning lessons. this placement may also indicate that you could get an inheritance, even though there may some troubles around it due to your poorly aspected venus. you could also have a violent or painful death.

your 9th house is in gemini, with also mercury, saturn, venus and mars in a stellium. you’re most likely extremely curious about anything the world has to offer. you want to make new experiences and adventures, you want to find out anything about other cultures, places, etc. to open your mind and gain some new knowledge. you probably love travelling, and you may have quite a few dream destinations to visit. the 9th house is also about higher education, and hence you’re probably successful at school. you most likely enjoy studying, and you could get more than one degree actually. or perhaps, you got to study different subjects before choosing your final university, you were quite indecisive at first. you may as well be bilingual, or at least you’re extremely talented at foreign languages. you can probably mimic different accents pretty well, even if you don’t visit other countries. you may also have eccellent communication skills, overall, which could be extremely useful for your future career, but I’ll talk about that later. it could be that your family is also bilingual / foreign, or perhaps they have a different religion / culture. you could also live abroad, possibly with them. venus in this house indicates that you may often date people from a different nationality or culture from yours, and perhaps you'll actually marry someone from abroad as the rest of your chart suggests. you may also find yourself falling for unavailable people, and hence they could either be physically unavailable, like celebrities for example, or even emotionally. they could be already taken, for example. last but not least, saturn is also in this house: you strive for freedom, you want to be your own boss. you don't want others to tell you what to do, but saturn here may make you struggle to achieve your individuality. perhaps, during your childhood, you were restricted from acting the way you wanted. it's like your ideas were disrespected, and you weren't allowed to embrace them, or perhaps you were afraid of the consequences. it may be that when you try to break free from what you consider to be a limitation, you may come across a few struggles that could possibly hurt you. luckily, this is an aspect that will naturally get better time with time as you get more mature. the ruler of the 9th house is in the 9th: you’re an open-minded person who’s probably into history, literature/poetry, philosophy etc. you may also have a knack for studying different languages and travelling a lot, as they help you increase your creativity and hence your inner child.

your 10th house is in cancer, with also the moon and jupiter sitting there. your career needs to be private. that doesn’t mean that you can’t become famous of course, but you prefer being more hidden at job, you may even work from home or from a young age. many celebrities with this placement, in fact, started working when they were still young. also, cancer indicates that your future job will give you the opportunity to express and / or deal with your / others’ feelings and emotions, and considering that the ruler of this house, the moon, is in the 3rd house, I can see you working in the communication field. you could become a writer, a singer, an actress, as well as a nurse, a therapist… anything that allows you to express your emotions while also communicating something is suitable for you. you could possibly also choose the same career as your parents, or you may handle the family’s business for example. you could also end up doing the job of your childhood dreams. you feel the need to pursue a meaningful career in your life, you want to feel emotionally connected to it. you don’t only want something that allows you to earn money, you also want to gain wisdom and maturity from a job, and hence you could even be a bit picky in choosing your future career. yet, you'll be extremely successful and lucky, as jupiter is your most elevated planet. you'll approach your career with optimism, you'll find joy in working, and that will pay you back.

your 11th house is in leo. with this placement, you’re probably very popular among your friends, you’re most likely the most talkative or funniest member of your group. you may also attract very popular people yourself in your friendships, perhaps even celebrities. possibly, you could even make friends that allow you to gain recognition and / or popularity, doesn’t matter whether it’s in school, job, etc. your friends could also help you feeling more confident, you may be way more talkative and sociable when you're in their company, their presence comforts you. you have big dreams for your future, you want to be praised and recognized for your success, and you may actually dream of fame, even though I don't think it's exactly your case. you'd rather be successful in your small environment. the ruler of the 11th house is in the 8th house: you may often receive gifts from your friends. they could be particularly wealthy, too. or maybe, they are your soulmates, and you may learn a lot from them. you could sometimes discuss, but those events will just help you to grow up.

your 12th house is in virgo. this is another placement that indicates that you are an amazing writer! in fact, the 12th house is about secret skills too, and virgo is ruled by mercury, the planet of communication. you do the math. with this placement, though, I feel like you may feel restricted from pursuing your goals, or even a career in the public eye, as you’re quite sensitive to others’ criticism about you. you strive to be perfect all the time, and your libra rising wants to constantly have a nice reputation. a scandal, or even simple haters, would probably be the end of you. you also have venus placed here, meaning that deep down, you actually crave affection from someone else. yet, you may be afraid, or perhaps too shy to approach a possible partner. but remember, the 12th house is also the house of secret talents! in fact, especially with your libra rising, you’re extremely likeable. you shouldn’t be afraid of not being liked back, for example. remember that your love life will get better with time, as you become more mature in that field.

❤️ love life, soulmates

in love, you attract aries, aquarius, leo and virgo placements. your future spouse will most likely have leo and virgo traits placements, maybe a leo - virgo cusp. they’ll be very similiar to you: bold and confident, but also with a warm heart and a hidden insecurity to them. you may meet them during a fun situation, hence at a party, during a vacation, in a restaurant, at a concert, a social gathering… possibly, even online, as I’ve already mentioned before. also, your spouse will most likely be your friend at first, or perhaps you'll get to meet them through your friends. your children will have strong aquarius, possibly capricorn placements. they’ll be very dreamy, they’ll have big goals for their life, and they’ll also be extremely intelligent and creative as well.

👶🏻 family life

your father is probably a very caring person that knows how to stand up for himself when he has to, but he may struggle to do that. he’s very smart, caring and optimistic, and he could come from a different country from yours. maybe he’s of another religion, or he can speak other languages. he could have cancer placements in his chart, possibly sagittarius too. your mother, on the other hand, is a bit more serious and focused on work, but she always made sure you always had what you needed. she was probably the strict parent in the family, I feel like you probably have a better relationship with your dad than with her. also, she may have capricorn, aquarius, pisces or sagittarius placements in her chart. if you have siblings, they most likely have sagittarius, pisces and scorpio placements in their chart. they could also be foreign or skilled at foreign languages, and you may feel very at ease with them. you have an amazing bond with them, you’re able to both relax and have fun together, even though there could have been some power struggles during your early years, you were very jealous.

📊 career

with jupiter as your most elevated planet, I assume you would do well at any career that involves foreign languages. you may work for a multinational agency like the onu, for example. or perhaps, you could be a translator, or you'll just directly move abroad to work. you may also have to travel often. or perhaps, since jupiter is also about education, you could become a teacher or even a professor. you may teach foreign languages, for example, or perhaps you may even work with children, or just people younger than you in general. with that 9th house stellium of yours, you love knowledge and you're also very open-minded, you'd definitely make a great teacher. you could also be great at writing too.

👚 fashion sense, style analysis

I imagine you put a lot of effort into your outifts, yet you don’t show it. you want to look effortlessly good, you don’t want to give the impression that you tried. your style may be quite minimalistic and simple, with lots of jeans, sweatshirts, plain t-shirts… I see you being more into natural shades, like white, grey, beige etc. you’re also not very fond of using too many accessories, you’re stylish but still very simple. you have this natural charm to you, hence you still look good even though your outfits may not be too complex.

👁 past life, life purpose

during your past life, it was hard for you to get out of your comfort-zone. you preferred staying in your small environment rather than challenge yourself. that made you again awareness of how to act in small communities, but this lifetime you need to go farther than that. you need to prove that what you learned in your past life is the key to nurture your skills, and be able to apply them in a larger environment. you may find yourself travelling a lot, gaining lots of widsom from your experiences... in this lifetime, you basically need to learn through the communication abilities you gained in your previous life.

🤔 major transits analysis / september 22nd

uranus is currently transiting your 8th house, and it's going to be conjunct your sun in a few months; I'd keep an eye on this placement, as it can signify a sudden event that could literally change your life, especially since it's going to touch your natal sun. as of now it's not harshly aspected, so I don't think there are many negative effects of it in your life, but it could even manifest as a sudden death. anything that will force you to react and change something in yourself. also, transit mars is currently in your 7th house; you may often find yourself having arguments with people lately, especially with romantic partners, so try to choose your words wisely to avoid conflicts.

🧿 manifest what you want, secret skills

your secret skills revolve around finances and just security in general. with a positive attitude, you may attract material luck: money, clothes, houses… everything that you desire. since you’re a logical person, I assume the most efficient way for you to manifest through the LOA is writing! take a notebook and just write down positive affirmations, such as 'I have the car of my dreams’ etc. you may also write them on post-its and glue them around your house, so that you can accelerate the progress. you can also try to idealize your wish before trying to manifest it. for example, if you want a new sweatshirt, try to imagine yourself wearing it. you could also go into a shop and actually try that sweatshirt it on; being in contact with it will boost the law of attraction even more.

this is the end! thank you again for booking a reading :) hope it resonated with you!

[dailyaudiobible]

08/02/2020 DAB Transcript

2 Chronicles 32:1-33:13, Romans 15:23-16:9, Psalms 25:16-22, Proverbs 20:16-18

Today is the 2nd day of August welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian and it’s great to be here with you as we step into a brand-new week right here at the top of a brand-new month. It's all out in front of us this next month and this week that we have to live into. And it’s just a joy that each and every day we can reach these thresholds together marking another week in God's word as we take the journey of a lifetime through the Bible. So, yeah, great to be here with you today. We’re gonna read from the Christian Standard Bible this week and continue our journey through the book of second Chronicles and the letter to the Romans. And before this week is out, we will have concluded both. In fact, we’re gonna be concluding both at the same time tomorrow, but today is today. So, we’ll read second Chronicles chapter 32 verse 1 through 33 verse 13 today.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word and we thank You for this new month and we thank You for this new week. And we…we find ourselves right here at the threshold of both month and week and so we take note of that. All things are new. This is a new month to live in. This is a new week to live into and we need You now more than ever and that’ll probably never not be our cry. We need You now more than ever, because the more we become aware of Your presence, the more we desire and know that we have no hope without You. And we thank You for Your word because it leads us into this posture where we can open ourselves to become aware of Your guidance and Your leadership and Your comfort in our lives. And, so, we consecrate this week to You. We dedicate set apart this month to You. We want to live into this with all of our hearts fully, fully embracing everything that You lead us to do so that we were Your hands and feet, so that, as we learn from the book of Romans, we…we became a living sacrifice available to You for Your service every day. So come Holy Spirit, we open ourselves to You. Well up from within us and lead us we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

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And, so, check out the community section. This is a place to get connected, especially on social media. Check out the Shop. There are resources there that are…I mean some of them are meant to deepen the journey, some of them are meant to be like partners on the journey. And check it out. Check it out. There resources there for this journey.

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And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement you can hit the Hotline button in the app or you can dial 877-942-4253.

And that's it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you there tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hi this is Daniel calling in from Singapore and today I’d like to pray for America. So, if you’ll allow me. You know, there’s this really old song, this beautiful song that goes like this. It goes [singing starts] oh beautiful for spacious skies for amber waves of grain for purple mountain majesties above the fruited plain. America, America, America God shed his grace on you and crown your good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea [singing stops]. America, we all love you around the world, we all love you and we are praying for you. Dear Lord, I just pray that You will pour out Your grace on this nation of many nations and these people made from many peoples. You pour out Your grace on them afresh and bind them all together with gentle __ of brotherhood of Your love. May they always be the nation that proclaims Your glory. I pray this in Jesus’ name.

__ righteousness. Dear Jesus, our Lord and King we praise You and thank You for by God’s doing we are in Christ Jesus and You are to us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Lord please reveal to us anything that could hurt or lead us away from pleasing Your Father. Protect our heart, body, and soul so that we are armored against the enemy’s lies and attacks. Lord we believe in Your perfect righteousness. Only You Lord are perfect and Jesus perfect righteousness and work on the cross covers us. He paid all our debts. Lord thank You for helping us to be humble, gentle, loving, patient and to remember to think of others first. You take care of us and You give us the opportunity to be Your hands and feet and comfort and love others. Help us to be humble and appreciate everyone, to be You to them, full of love and forgiveness. Lord it is doing Your will not just reading Your holy word that matters. Lord may we remember what the Holy Spirit’s help that Your courage is given to us to put on Your breast plate of righteousness, to empower us to take off selfishness and put on kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, trust in You, peace joy and self-control. We pray this all Your precious prayering warriors. Amen.

Morning everybody this is God’s Smile here. Well I had a rocky night again like most nights. They’re pretty horrendous sometimes and I can do nothing but cry out. And I’m so thankful for the gift of Peter who prays through the night with me. This poor man who is my beautiful husband is up and he has to go to work too and he never moans, and he never complains and I’m so thankful. And, you know what? After a couple hours sleep, I woke up so fresh. Isn’t God so good. I’d like to pray for Soaring on Eagles Wings and for anybody who is in pain and especially nerve pain. Father God we thank You for Soaring on Eagles wings. We thank You for Jesus. Lord we can come to know of it, but You, Your name is written in our hearts. Lord Your name and Your blood covers us and heals us in mind, in emotion, in spirit and in body. Father God we lift her up to You and we would ask that You would touch those nerves Father that are fizzling away that are hurting, causing pain. Dear Lord, would You keel, would You touch, would You kiss away the pain Father God, that she may know Your comfort when she cries out Your name and Your name alone Lord. May that name be powerful in that moment and would that name minister Your will to heal her. In Jesus’ name we pray. Lord Jesus, give her peace to cope while she waits on You, while she waits upon Your precious name in the mighty name of Jesus we ask. And we thank You for Your love. Goodbye everybody. Kiss kiss.

Hi this is a prayer for Mike and his daughter who is a heroin addict I believe and he’s…she’s expecting, and she has already lost two other children. And this is also a prayer I have for the anonymous father who I believe is hearing about abuse that’s going on with his child possibly by the mother. He doesn’t say who Lord but both these men I am praying this prayer. It’s Psalm 25. To you Lord we lift up their souls. In you they trust O God. Do not let them be put to shame nor let their enemies try and __ them. No one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame. The Lord confides to those who fear Him. He makes His covenant known to them. And it goes on to say, turn to me and be gracious to me for I am lonely and afflicted. Yes, dear Lord these men have such heart and a passion for their daughters, and we ask You Lord to honor that and heal them, whatever has to be healed and protect their daughters. And this one woman whose expecting that little baby, Lord we ask that You would protect it. And the troubles of their hearts have multiplied. And we ask You to free them from their anguish. Look upon their afflictions and their distress and take away all their sins. See how my enemies have increased and how fiercely they hate me. Guard their lives and these children’s lives Lord Jesus and rescue them and do not put them to shame for I take…they take refuge in You. May integrity and uprightness protect them because our hope is in You. Redeem Israel of God and redeem these children and these fathers Lord Jesus and protect them and guide them. We thank you Lord for hearing our prayers. In Jesus’ precious name we pray. Amen.

Hi Daily Audio Bible this is My Joy is Full from London and I just want to pray for __ Jackie I just heard you on the community prayer line just praying for joy and I am here agreeing with you. So, heavenly Father I just want…I’m just praying that You give her back her joy Lord. She’s seeking You in this time. She knows that she’s struggling, she knows that she’s supposed to seek You and that’s what she’s doing Lord. And, so, with each day that she spends time with You, comes closer to You, may You fill her with joy. May her joy be so complete Lord. May she be a light to everyone in her life, everyone around her Lord. Give her sense of peace, that anxiety, depression will not overrule her life in Jesus’ name. That the peace will overcome, that she will not stress, will not worry but she will take each day in stride knowing that You are God and You are her Father Lord. And I just ask that You be with her and continue to help her, heal her, heal her mind Lord, heal her feelings, heal her worries. And, yeah, just transform her so that she then becomes a light to other people. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

[oxsix]

The Long Road to Family

Chapter 8- Just the Four of Us

Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7

AO3 link

Finally getting round to posting the LIW chapter of this fic

They're strangers, but not for long.

The apartment the four of them have been shacked up in is pretty cramped.

It's London, and according to the people who'd brought them here—that means there's very little available in their price range. And so, the four of them are stuck sharing a tiny, two bedroom apartment, with tiny twin beds for each of them.

And, well, it's awkward to say the least. They're strangers, at best, and here they are, jammed together in this brand new world they've found themselves in. As if the concept of resurrection and a world 500 years advanced from the one you knew weren't big enough revelations; they're also stuck experiencing it all with a group of women they barely know. They may have known of each other before, but they had never properly met.

Maria has always been a self-assured woman, probably over-stepping the line now and then, but she feels tense in this environment. She's worried about what they'll think of her. They all served later Queens, it would be understandable if they held some resentment.

Joan and Maggie have both immediately bagsied beds in the larger room—it has a view overlooking the street, rather than just the next building over—which means that, awkwardly, Maria is going to have to share with Bessie.

Which is a complicated situation in and of itself.

The four of them are essentially strangers, yes, but with the exception of Maria and Bessie. Maria wasn't really sure what to make of her. They had been extraordinarily close when they'd known each other, but Bessie had been fairly young then, and Maria had a tendency to take the younger ladies under her wing.

She liked to keep an eye on them; make sure they were safe. Evidently she had failed with Bessie, then.

What had happened with Henry—not an affair, really, she'd been too young for that then—had driven a wedge between the three of them. The birth of Henry Fitzroy had been awful for Catalina, a particularly heavy blow to her self-worth. A symbol of Henry's ability to beget a son, and therefore, it led many to wonder if Catherine was the problem.

Including the Queen herself.

It was painful, of course, after so many children lost over the years. And Henry had sent Bessie away, out of some misplaced form of respect for his wife. And Maria never saw her again.

Still, Maria thinks that perhaps it had all been a little unfair. She wishes she could have been there for her then. Could have reached out. She wishes she could have looked out for her properly. But telling the King 'no' never ended well for anyone. There were six very good examples of this that came to mind. But so much of life back then, at court, at least, was about appearances. About public perception.

And so they had remained distant. And proper.

And Maria had never been good at communication. She still isn't, really. She doesn't do well with talking, she never knows how to say what she's feeling. There's so many thoughts and ideas that cloud together in her head, she can't put them into words in a way that satisfies what she means. So, instead, she prefers to show it.

She deals mainly in gestures. The grand, sweeping kind that make her feelings clear, without her having to say anything at all. It was what she had done towards the end of her last life—for Catalina.

She hadn't known how to say what she felt, and she had no way of lessening the pain Henry was putting her through. She didn't have any power, or any say. So she had swallowed her pride and broken the rules in a way she would never normally dare. And she had pushed herself to the limit to be there for her Queen. And as she held her old friend while she took her last breaths, Maria knew her feelings would be understood. Catalina knew Maria cared, and she wouldn't die alone. And that was what mattered.

So, this time, Maria decides this might be the best way to reach out. Another gesture. A smaller one, perhaps. But a gesture all the same. Trying to explain how she felt about all of this would probably leave her with a headache, and with an very offended Bessie. Things tend to come out wrong when Maria says them. So, she resolves to take action.

It's worked for her before.

- - -

Bessie doesn't know what to make of all of this. It's a lot, to be fair, to wake up and find the whole world completely changed. And, in all honesty, she doesn't want to be here, dealing with it all in the company of a group of near-strangers.

She knows she should talk to them; get to know them a little. But she can't. Something inside her is fighting back. She's scared—truth be told. She hadn't had much in the way of friends, last time. There had only been Anna, who she'd served towards the end.

Anna was kind-hearted. She was gentle, and had a knack for making everyone in the room love her. It wasn't surprising that she was the only person Bessie had felt truly cared for her. There may have been others before, who'd looked out for her, or even tried to help her—but none of them had stayed.

She had loved her children, too, but even then, she hadn't been able to be as close to them as she wanted. So much of her life was dictated by expectations. She wasn't supposed to be so open and genuinely affectionate. And she'd stayed in line, for fear of the consequences.

Because being a former mistress of the King put her under a lot of scrutiny.

And now she's back to being alone again. Sat by herself on the edge of her mattress—which is too hard. She's not sure if it's such a bad thing. Maybe it's better this way. She wouldn't get hurt, at least. Most of the people who get close to her only hurt her in the end. They told her pretty lies and then left her when she wasn't useful any more.

She should go out there and talk to them; she knows. But she isn't convinced they'll want her. Maggie and Joan seem to have hit it off already—she can hear them laughing from the other room. And Maria hates her. She knows that much. She must.

Bessie had ruined everything for them. And then she'd been sent away. They must have been glad she was gone. She should never have let Henry near her. But then, how could she have told the King no? He was the King. And she was just one of his wife's ladies in waiting. She was no authority in the matter.

So how could she talk to Maria now?

She hears the door to the bedroom creak open slowly. She looks up to see the woman in question enter. She quickly looks away. She thinks she hear Maria sigh, then. But she's not certain. She turns to gaze out of the window again. She doesn't want to make things awkward between them.

But then she feels a weight settle gently on the bed, just behind where she's sitting. She turns, surprised. Maria is sat on the adjacent side of the bed. A warm cup is pressed into Bessie's hands. It's covered in foam on top, and has a sweet smell. Chocolate.

Maria smiles at her, gently. Bessie smiles back. Maria clinks their cups together, then looks away, a little embarrassed.

She doesn't know what to say. Neither does Maria, evidently. It doesn't matter. They sit there, together, in an odd but not uncomfortable silence. The golden light of the sunset casts a gentle warmth on them both, and they watch the end of their first day in the new world together.

And they wonder if the next day will bring them closer together.

- - -

Now that she's back, Joan feels somewhat adrift. Her whole life before had been dictated by strict rules and expectations. She had served her queen, she had been a wife, and then she had been a mother. She had never been subject to only her own desires.

It's both exciting and daunting at the same time. She is free—truly, at last. But she isn't sure what this freedom means, or what to do with it. And in a way, that makes it all the more exhilarating. It's the first time in her life things haven't been laid out for her.

She sits in the living room, on her own at first. The last dregs of yellow sunlight are streaming in through the blinds. It's beautiful; a good introduction to the new world, Joan thinks. It casts stark shadows from the high city buildings, much higher than Joan would have thought possible in her time.

She leans back. Lets out a quiet sigh of contentment.

And then a little laugh. At the sheer absurdity of her situation. She's not certain this isn't all just an odd dream. Perhaps she's come down with a fever. Or maybe consumption. She could wake up tomorrow back in her old body, and her old life.

She could. But she hopes that's not the case.

This new time is exactly what she needs. A new life; a new start. Beholden to no-one.

She'd loved Jane, deeply so. And her death had been painful. To watch the life fade so slowly from her. Clinging desperately to the possibility that she might recover, staying by her side to the bitter end with the vain hope she might get through this. Only to have all of those hopes be crushed. And little Edward left without a mother.

She's ready to be in charge of herself this time. Not to serve anyone.

She's torn on these new women, though. She's felt it before; the pang of losing a loved one. She isn't sure if she can do it again. Perhaps things would be easier if she had nobody to lose. Still, she misses the companionship.

And she can feel herself caving in already.

Earlier, when they'd first been getting their bearings in the flat, she'd walked in on Maggie in their room, softly singing some old tune to herself. She'd been startled by Joan's entrance, and ended up hitting the side of her head on a shelf, and plummeting directly onto the nightstand next to her bed.

What had followed was a flurry of curses and poorly-strung together apologies from both of them. Joan rushed over to take a look at the other girl's head, where a small bump was forming.

Maggie cradled the top of her head, with a slightly pathetic whimper. The two of them looked at each other then, their frantic energy levelling out a little.

And Joan couldn't help it. It bubbled up inside her, and she started laughing. And Maggie did, too. Until there were tears streaming down their faces and they could barely breathe.

Joan likes her already, in spite of herself. Her resolve to avoid repeating the pains of her past has faded already. She's going to make the same mistakes all over again. And she's not going to regret it—not even a single bit.

She'll endure it all again, if she has to. The fear, and the hope, and the crushing loss.

Because it's worth it; she knows.

- - -

Margaret—no, Maggie—has found herself at a bit of a loss. The world around her is so bizarre and new. It's hard to think about her past in the context of how things are now.

The modern monarchy is an entirely different beast to when she was alive. They're still influential, yes. But they're more public figures than absolute rulers. It's odd, looking at how these things are being talked about, on the 'news' programme that's currently playing. Some of it reminds her very much of her own time.

The way the actions of certain members of the royal family are constantly dissected, pulled a part and scrutinised. It makes her anxious, in a way. Hearing people debate endlessly about the dress the duchess wore, or how she opened a car door for herself, which apparently goes against royal protocol.

So the pomp and circumstance she remembers has stayed the same. And even though Maggie knows things are different now, that members of the royal family cannot simply be executed on trumped-up charges any more—she feels nervous for the woman.

It's silly, really. She knows that. But it brings back memories. Ones she'd rather leave behind. About awful, vitriolic words spread about her mistress. About rumours spreading like wildfire, and ending in such an early death. Such an awful death.

She tries to reassure herself. They don't do that any more. She's perfectly safe. But Maggie remembers how many times she had reassured Anne that things would be fine. And she'd been wrong.

Her chest feels tight, and she tries to bury the feelings again. But memories play before her eyes. She doesn't want to go back there, to witness that again. She holds back tears and tries to steady her breathing. She doesn't want to break down now. Joan is sat on the sofa next to her, only half paying attention to the television, and gently bouncing her leg.

She asks if Joan minds her changing the channel. Joan gives a shrug in response.

She takes the odd, black object in her hand, trying to decipher the meanings of all the little buttons. She moves close to the 'television',  not sure of how the device works, and holds it close to the little blinking red light. She doesn't know what the buttons mean, so she pushes one of the numbers, and hopes she won't break anything.

The screen flickers as the scene playing out on the television changes. Maggie moves back to sit on the sofa. As she sits, Joan shuffles over to sit closer to her. She gives Maggie a small smile—one that inquires if she is alright. She takes a deep breath to steady herself, and smiles back, even if it doesn't quite reach her eyes yet.

She rests her weight against Joan's side, and the other girl leans into it, too. And they stay there for hours, watching television shows they don't really understand just yet. They share in their confusion, and giggle at the things that don't make sense to them, or that would have been outrageous in their day.

And Maggie feels a little bit lighter, like some weight has been taken from her shoulders. Things might be okay this time.

It's the middle of the night when Bessie and Maria finally emerge from their room. Evidently, they don't feel like sleeping, either. They join Maggie and Joan, sitting on the other small sofa in the room, even more confused by the strange device they're watching.

And that's how the four of them see in the next day, talking and laughing and trying to unravel the workings of this strange new world together.

Things have changed. They don't have to serve anyone this time. And maybe they can figure out what it all means, together.

[featherquillpen]

Dæmonology: Quentin Coldwater

I figured if I’m going to go down the rabbit hole of writing a Magicians dæmon AU, I might as well liveblog the process of figuring out the characters’ dæmons, since lots of my followers are interested in how I do dæmonology. So here goes nothing: Quentin Coldwater’s dæmon!

(Be aware: this post is long as hell.)

Other Personality Types

So, first step that helps a lot to focus the mind: figure out the character in other, simpler personality typing systems.

Quentin is a double Hufflepuff by the Sorting Hat Chats system, no question. He is deeply oriented toward fairness and helping people, even when helping people could be viewed as an objective moral wrong (freeing niffin!Alice, helping the Monster.) And he gets things done by sheer dedication, rather than brilliance or improvisation or charging headfirst. 

In MBTI, I would expect Quentin to have Extroverted Feeling in his top two cognitive functions – he cares a lot about the emotions and values of his group.  I’m inclined to say ESFJ, as Quentin thinks in a concrete, detail-oriented way, relying on his established patterns and what has accumulated personal meaning for him, so Introverted Sensing should be a strong function for him. But ISFJ is also very possible.

In the enneagram, Quentin reads to me as a type Six, constantly doubting himself and the world, looking for support and guidance in his friends and in magic itself.

Core Traits

Okay, so what are the central, most defining traits of Quentin Coldwater?

Loyalty. More than any of the other questers in Season 3, Quentin believed in the fellowship of the questers: he figured out the unity key because that concept resonates with him so deeply. He doesn’t make friends easily, but once he does, he’s absolutely ride-or-die for them. Who can forget memory!Quentin’s line “You sacrifice for the people you love; that’s what you do” in 4.05 Escape from the Happy Place? And his loyalty is on a level of the community rather than the individual; unlike someone like Penny or Eliot, Quentin is deeply connected and committed to everyone in the fellowship.

Self-doubt. In his own words, Quentin is constantly finding doors so he can run from himself. He never seems to fully trust his own mind. Sometimes in his insecurity he lashes out (see his behavior to Julia in S1) or tries to take up the mantle of a hero, a king or a quester to feel noble and brave. He values people and situations that make him feel safe and secure. He strongly prefers to work with other people than alone, because it makes him feel more supported and breaks him out of his loop of painful self-doubt.

Detail-oriented. I’m a little dissatisfied with this word, because it implies fussiness and anal-retentiveness, which is not Quentin. What I mean here is that Quentin is oriented toward small things: the present moment, the next step, this detail of the Fillory books, that childhood dance or plate of bacon that will cheer someone up. For goodness sake, his discipline is repair of small objects. Quentin is focused on what is here, now, in his hands – for all that he is a king of Fillory, I think he would flounder if faced with the big picture of running a kingdom.

Heart on his sleeve. Quentin can’t help but be emotionally open; even when he tries to hold back (as he has been doing in S4) it’s obvious how he feels. He’s a bad liar, a worse actor, and while he’s very attuned to the feelings of people around him, he doesn’t manipulate them or influence them in anything but the most earnest way.

I would add that Quentin is compliant (has a hard time setting boundaries or saying no to people), dedicated (does not give up once he’s set his heart on something), dependent (he does not like being alone; he studies in the common room of the cottage, instead of withdrawing like Alice) and shy (wary and awkward around people he doesn’t know.)

Translating to Animal Behaviors

Here’s the step where I translate these traits to animal behaviors as best I can.

Socially speaking, I’m looking for a social, group-living animal, almost certainly one with a consistent, life-long family group that does not easily admit outsiders. This social group should have social hierarchy that is not upset or overturned by dominance battles and the like – an established order like the matriarchy by seniority in an elephant herd.

Given Quentin’s patience and dedication, I’m looking for an animal with high reproductive investment – something that leaves lots of food with its eggs, so they have something to feed on when they hatch (like solitary bees) or lays really big eggs (like kiwis) or does a lot of parental care.

I want an animal that has a lot of safety and vigilance behaviors, especially social safety behaviors, like meerkats who have rotating guard duty, or antelope who rely on safety in numbers. 

I’m looking for animals with low-risk, high-consistency, detail-oriented foraging behaviors. That is, I want animals that use fairly steady food supplies rather than windfall unpredictable ones, and that involve a long steady stream of focused effort rather than varied approaches and risks. Probably animals that forage in groups rather than alone.

I’m looking for animals that show open communication and displays with each other, and that don’t employ secrecy and evasiveness (like crows with a private hoard of food.) 

I specifically do not want animals that have individual territories of any sort; Quentin is far too compliant for that. Group territory defense could make  sense, though. I also want to avoid competitive animals that are always jostling for bigger territories or higher status.

Playing the Field

Next I gather lots of different animal possibilities that fit my behavioral criteria above. So here’s a list of a bunch of animals I think might work, without spending too much time on each one trying to confirm or rule it out. This part is very time-consuming, and relies a lot on my encyclopedic knowledge of animal behavior, though I do refer to various websites to supplement it.

Pigeons

Quails

Small-colony bees (carpenter bee, orchid bee)

Wild dogs and foxes (yes, I know, I can feel Mayakovsky watching me)

Small-group-living lemurs

Domestic dogs (especially sporting breeds)

Zebra finch

Scrub jays

Kinkajou

Yellow-winged bat

Ringtail possums

Note that up to this point, I have spent five hours working on this. For one character. And I’m not done yet. This is why I don’t often write dæmon AUs even though I love them very much.

Narrowing the Field

Now I go through my list, animal by animal, and take notes on what works and what doesn’t. Along the way, I think more deeply about the character and discover the more subtle characteristics that help me distinguish between similar animals.

❌Pigeons

So what I really like about pigeons for Quentin is that they have very high reproductive investment – they produce milk inside their crops that they feed to their young. They’re also nervy little prey animals with a lot of vigilance behavior, while still having that streak of pigeon boldness.

What I don’t like about pigeons is that they have too many competitive/dominance behaviors, and they often socialize outside of established family groups. So I don’t think it’s going to work out.

❌Quails

Quails are almost never spotted alone, they’re nervy vigilant pudgy birds, they look out for each other and warn each other with alarm calls, they invest a lot in reproduction – they lay so many eggs that sometimes they can’t even properly sit on them all, which is so cute. 

I really like these, I think the one problem is that again their social groups are not very consistent, they seem to allow quite a bit of flow in and out of their flocks. I looked into as many species as I could find information on, and they seem to have really fluid social structures allowing members in and out as they please. 

❌Small-colony bees

Now that I do more research into them, I can see that orchid bees and carpenter bees aren’t going to work, because while they usually nest communally, they can nest solitarily, which is too socially flexible. Sweat bees are much too aggressive and competitive. Ruled out.

✔️Wild canines

Wild canines have a lot of desirable characteristics: lots of parental care, group loyalty, close-knit family groups. There are also some canines, especially the smaller ones, that are quite wary and nervy. It’s a matter of narrowing down to the right ones within the group.

Jackals and coyotes are too competitive and socially flexible, so they’re out. Gray foxes and maned wolves are nearly entirely solitary, so they’re out. Dholes, wolves, fennec foxes, and dingos are too assertive and confident. The rest of the foxes are too independent and socially flexible.

However, I really like the look of raccoon dogs and bush dogs. They’re almost never seen alone, but in pairs or small packs which stick together for a long time. They cooperate extensively, and while they are predators, they are also prey, and are reclusive and vigilant by habit. They have overlapping territories without strong borders. The only thing that’s really missing for me are flags for Quentin’s orientation toward detail and the next moment, but I can look into these species further in the next step.

✔️Small-group-living lemurs

I’ve gone through the lemur species, and I like the look of mongoose lemurs. They have small, close-knit, stable family groups with group territory defense. I will look into them more deeply in the next step.

✔️Domestic dogs (especially sporting breeds)

I think of Quentin’s defining trait as loyalty, which is also the defining trait of dogs. Most breeds also fit with Quentin’s Hufflepuff determination and hard work, and his way of being a supportive sidekick to his badass friends. Dogs are also open and communicative and “heart on their sleeve.” I just have to find more nervous, vigilant breeds that are highly detail-oriented.

Carolina dogs are somewhere in between feral and domesticated, and as such are more nervy and vigilant of strangers than most dogs, which seems right.

Kooikerhondjes are very focused, dedicated sporting dogs that look like they fit super well. Other spaniels are also good candidates. 

Phew, there’s a lot of dog breeds out there. Definitely need to delve into this more deeply.

❌Zebra finch

I love the super intense pair bonding in zebra finches, and the nervy prey vigilance, and of course the expressive songs, but they seem very socially flexible and tolerant of strangers in their flocks.

❌Scrub jays

Upon closer inspection, the scrub jay species are super, super specialized to one habitat/food, and I think Quentin has some more breadth and adaptability in him than that.

❌Kinkajou

Kinkajous mostly look good, since they’ve got very affectionate close-knit social groups, they’re reclusive in the forest and avoid aggression, but they tend to forage alone, which is not so great. 

✔️Yellow-winged bat

This one fits extremely, extremely well. They’re pair-bonding bats that are rarely more than a few meters from each other, they cooperate to raise young, they groom together, they talk together, they defend the territory together – and my favorite bit is that here there is a strong analogy to Quentin’s detail orientation. Bats have a trade-off in their echolocation between long-distance and low-detail, or short-distance and high-detail, and yellow-winged bats are strongly toward the short-distance, high-detail end. They focus on prey that are close by.

✔️Ringtail possums

Common ringtail possums are way too chill and low-strung, but the rock ringtail possum is big on sentinel behavior, guard duty, and keeping an eye out for each other. My only major issue with this one is no flag for detail orientation.

The Final Candidates

At this point, I have spent nine hours on this project, and I have a final list of candidates. Now I have to compare and contrast at a very detailed level, and find which one works the best. I will do extensive research on each animal so I can really flesh out my thoughts.

Raccoon dog

Bush dog

Mongoose lemur

Carolina dog

Kooikerhondje

Yellow-winged bat

Rock ringtail possum

What I really like with raccoon dogs is how intensely cooperative they are – they have large litters for dogs their size, they have lots of predators, and so both parents are super involved with the young and in experimental conditions where there are no males all pups die. They groom each other and have lots of touch and sound gestures, they’re very wary of predators on their young, always keeping an eye on them. They’re non-aggressive and don’t fight over territory, they only ever start something if the young are in danger. All of this is great, it’s only that I don’t see any flags for the detail-oriented, “repair of small objects” side of Q.

Bush dogs live in close family groups like wolf packs, and they even hunt cooperatively, which I love. They constantly make little noises so they can hear each other as they move through the forest – cute! Their main predator defense is being inconspicuous and hiding in their burrows from any threat, but they’re not afraid to throw down if the pack is in real danger, as long as they’re facing it together. The biggest problem is that while raccoon dogs are omnivores, bush dogs are hunters, and hunting is not a great analogy for Q’s mode of putting together bits of books, grinding away persistently, and repairing small objects.

Mongoose lemurs live in those small, wolf pack like groups, and they groom and play with each other. They defend territory as a group, backing each other up. I can’t find evidence for strong vigilance/sentinel behaviors, which puts me off.

Domestic dogs in general are loyal, altruistic, open-hearted, empathetic, and dependent on close bonds with others to feel safe and secure. Carolina dogs are sometimes called American dingos because they were not artificially selected; accordingly, they’re a bit feral and quite wary of strangers outside the family they’ve bonded to. They also have a strong prey drive, and I like that drivenness. But again, I don’t see any flags for Q’s Hufflepuff hard work, dedication, and detail focus. With the Kooikerhondje I do see the hard work, as they’re very much working dogs that are rather difficult to keep as mere lapdogs without giving them an outlet, but again none of the detail orientation is in evidence.

I really think the Yellow-winged bat has it. They have the super close bonding family groups, they’re always looking out for each other and helping each other find food and raising the young together. They’re wary of strangers and defend the territory together. They tend to have established roosts that they always revisit – they stick to the familiar when possible. They have social calls, fly in patterns together, and groom each other affectionately. Both parents are very involved in parental care, and the mothers carry the baby around their backs until they can fly. And best of all, they have specific flags for Q’s way of doing things. While most bats fly around blasting echolocation everywhere and catching insects mid-flight, yellow-winged bats are sit-and-wait predators. They have particular roosts they use in different seasons, and they have close-range, very high-resolution echolocation (using FM-type calls.) They sit on the right roost for the time of year, they wait, and when the insects eventually come within echolocation range, they can pinpoint exactly where they are and grab them. I feel like this fits with Q’s areas of comfort and familiarity very well, the way he prefers having something concrete to work on (like a quest) over having to make things up as he goes along, the way he has these zones of expertise where he knows absolutely everything.

Look how cute!

(photo credit Sandra Lee at the Bat Detective blog)

[suzannebcu]

Interviews overview

I interviewed 11 black British students from BCU to discuss their individual experiences of being black in Britain. The responses have provided valuable insight into how black students experience education and life as a black British person. Many themes have come out which show that many black people experience difficulty in many areas of their life.

I noticed gender differences in the responses to my questions. Males found it difficult talking about childhood experiences. The individual would become defensive and respond by saying, ‘what do you mean?’. Research suggests that black males particularly would prefer not to talk about their problems and tend to bottle things up (Harrison, 2015). There was also a gender difference in the duration of the responses. The female students were happy to discuss their challenges in depth whereas the male students kept their responses short and did not expand on the details of the problems they faced. Being defensive can suggest the person not feeling safe about the subject matter or avoiding it be because it may bring memory of past experiences (Khan, 2016). This also clearly illustrates the differing perspectives of what black men feel is a sign of ‘masculinity’.

The configuration of family structures was interesting. I was surprised to learn that many had grown up in a two-parent household. The common preconception of black families is that they mainly consist of single mothers and male partners who are often absent (Gov.uk, 2019). More than half of the students had been brought up by both parents. There were students who had been parented by a maternal grandmother and many had become products of divorce. Having this information helps us to understand what support structures were in place at home to help them navigate the world outside.

I wanted to further understand how the students had felt going through the education system. The majority had felt that they were not supported within the school system. Requests for support were often brushed aside and rarely actioned. They were often referred to black staff for support and perpetuated the idea that only black people will understand my experience. They often felt misinterpreted as their slang and tone of voice would be labelled as ‘aggressive’. Not being understood in this way has consequences for young minds, it can lead to low self-confidence and self-image (Zenger, 2018) .

The Oxford English Dictionary definition of racism is: 

‘Prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is superior.’

The majority of students had experienced some form of racism. Many of the instances described were subtle and often embedded within a compliment. Student X recollects someone saying “you have nice hair your different to other blacks “. This clearly had caused offence but the student struggled to response as it was masked within a seemingly nice comment.

My cohort of students had not experienced being excluded. This result was surprising as research shows that there is a high rate of exclusions of black students in comparison to white students (Gov.uk, 2018). This goes back to my point about how black students behaviour is misinterpreted (ref) . Those that had been excluded it had mean for minor indiscretions. Majority of the candidates were excluded once or never had been .This was very surprising for me because research shows black people have most exclusion in schools compared to white people (John L. Hosp and Michelle K. Hosp, 2001) . Student Y said “I never did anything outstanding in exclusion and hardly fights...I don’t think the staffs knew how to cope with how teenagers spoke and sometimes misinterpreted “ .This shows that there was a lack of understanding teenagers slag and cultures. Staffs normally struggle to understand slag which cause a lot of mis interpretation (Bouie,2014).

Majority of the candidates felt that they were lost of their identity in the UK and heritage .Due to feeling different in the UK and when visiting their parents countries they also felt different because they liked in the UK but their colour skin is different and they were born somewhere different compared to their parents countries so they didn’t feel they had enough things in common exactly. Feeling lost of identity can make you feel like an outsider and different .Not feeling accepted can cause many isolation and depressed and mental health is very high risk with black people (Mental health foundation ,2019) .

Majority of females felt as though they were losing their identity because of their attempt to adapt to the needs of societies trends as such factors were instigated due to the fact they were surrounded by just white people, to become adaptable to this they lost a sense of themselves to please society and fit into the community .Babit from the interviews said “I was around so many white people I forgot I was black sometimes”. Most females had similar answers which meant that they all felt that they were changing and not sure who they were until they left school. This shows they have been always curious of what people think of them and they felt being someone they’re not could give them advantages in life which shows, this however causes a loss in identity, as portrayed in the media, black women have experimented with bleaching and changing features because society shuns then into believing it will enhance their features even make them beautiful. This is all been influenced through the media, and due to the fact that in magazines it reflects on having a particular appearance, skin wise to make the front page. It has also been said the lighter you are, the more beautiful you'll be,  these magazines  strike at the heart of every black woman being radicalised cause of their skin tone prompting low self esteem (Wilson, 2017).

I noticed they often discussed students felt they needed more black teachers so that they had someone to relate to more and diversified the teachers to help support all students. This shows that the individuals felt more accepted and being able to relate was a key fact in their lives and having someone from their country to enable them to understand and not feel alienated. 

All candidates said they didn’t learn enough details of black history month and it was mainly due to Martin Luther King. All candidates either researched about their culture or had been taught by their parents. They often said the black history is covered and people are not able to see the achievements of black history since its overshadowed. For example, that there were King’s and queens of black people in the UK. Black history is often covered, and individuals believe the more people are not aware of their culture or history. In the interview Kisoso said “people can become open minded and less ignorant because knowledge and education is the power of everything “. The more people learn about other cultures it can benefit everyone in different ways (Howard, 2016) . 

There is need of improvements with educating each other and talk about the 50 and 60 years fully what it means to be accepted of another culture. There is always a desire to be whiter you are the more acceptable you will be. 

[fyrapartnersearch]

Stories, stories, stories galore!

Hello, hello! I'm E, and I'm looking for long-term roleplaying partners over Discord OR E-Mail, but preferably Discord. This time I have extremely specific prompts that I'd liked filled. There are five in total and honestly I'd prefer to have just one partner who's open to doing all four, but I know that not many people want to (or can) take on that many. I simply want these four plots filled, I'm not really looking for other plots at this time, I apologize in advance! Now, onto the boring stuff, the rules.

Rules:

Be over 18, preferably over 20 -- just no minors.

Respond with at minimum 2 or more paragraphs (I know how annoying it can be with Discord's character limit, but that's why I made the E-Mail option available!) for each reply, and have it be in 3rd POV, I'm not really comfortable roleplaying with someone that uses 1st or 2nd POV, I'm sorry. :/

I'm a visual person so I do ask that you use faceclaims for your characters, and I do want them to be actual people, not just yourself or drawn/anime characters, please.

Don't be creepy, don't god-mod, don't pester me for replies, and don't meta game. All pretty simple, yet I feel like I have to make it clear, because if I don't I know someone will do it.

That's it! If you can follow those then great, I'm glad you're still interested cause here comes the fun part, the actual plots!

Plot #1: The Other Life

Based on the universe set within Coraline and the concept of the Other Mother or Bedlam, my character would be the Bedlam's latest capture, a girl by the name of Calliope who was lured into her clutches in the late 70s after moving into an apartment with her grandmother. She let the buttons be sowed, and she's just now entering the stage the black cat called 'Bedlam's Bordeom' -- she was no longer wanted. She haunted the home just like a ghost, and she was often warmed that there would hardly be any time at all before the Bedlam would surely devour her soul. So, she hatches a plan. An escape of sorts, the cat reports that there isn't much time left at all; the homes surrounding them had been vacant for years, it was to be demolished within the month. So, Calliope writes letters and stuffs them into the doorway, hoping somebody -- anybody, really -- can read them and help her escape. Thankfully, someone does. That someone can be a new construction worker or the owner of the buildings coming to supervise the demolition, just about anyone. You help Calliope escape, and she sees the world with different eyes for the first time in nearly three decades -- but, will she be able to live in peace or will the Bedlam find a way to drag her back down like planned? I would be playing the person named Calliope, and I don't mind what gender your character plays! This would be filled with slow burn, romance, action, and a bit of horror.

Plot #2: Breaking Away

Set in the late 80s, early 90s, a boy (your character) moves into downtown Harlem with his single mother to make ends meet a little easier. It's there he meets my character Margaret, daughter of the family next door. Her parents are hardworking people and even more hardworking activists, people who contributed heavily to the Black Panther Party and all that it stands for. An impromptu meeting on the steps has our character's quickly becoming friends, and with tensions rising within the community against the world and the constant threat of being caught or killed for what they believe in, Margaret's family is forced to lay extremely low, so low that it begins to suffocate her. She wants to fight for her people, but she wishes to fight for what she wants as well. So, in the middle of a warm June night she knocks on your character's window and asks if he want's to go on a trip. It's there that they steal a volkswagen van and set out across the United States, experiencing all facets of the continent, and each other. This would be filled with slow burn, romance and angst, mainly circling around racial tension -- just a forewarning!

Plot #3: A New World

WW2 is heavily under way, and the US soldiers are finally shipping out to help out the European countries in need. They disperse all throughout Asia and Europe to try and stop German forces from overpowering or influencing those inhabitants to turn against the US soldiers who've come to their aid. In particular, a small Asian village in the Philippines where the platoon would wait for confirmation of German forces moving towards or away from their location. They're welcomed by the natives, more so the chief than anyone else. He implores his daughter, the next in line to rule them, to follow the soldiers and aid them in any way possible, more so the Sergeant than anyone else. The language barrier is hard, at first, but with bits of knowledge and language passed between them, the connection grows stronger. They both know their meeting within this village is temporary and may result in one never returning, but they cannot seem to tell their hearts to stop reaching for what they want. This would be a slow burn with romance, angst and action! I would be playing the village chief's daughter.

Plot #4: The Crown

Set shortly after Queen Elizabeth rises to the throne after her father King George passes. A bit of an Alternate Universe -- now that there is a queen to rule, her eldest born daughter, Vivianne, is now thrust into the rigorous training necessary to take the throne after her mother. Nobody else works her harder than the Prime Minister, a gruff man with words of steel that often grate upon her nerves in ways she wasn't expecting to be possible. It isn't until after a night spent at his home due to the insufferable rain that prevented anybody from moving does she see a side of him she wasn't well aware of before. It is then that the sparks of desire and wonder begin to light between them. The future Queen of England can never allow herself to fully fall for the Prime Minister, yet it seems to be the only sure thing that's going to happen the longer they are within one another's presence. This is definitely a slow burn with romance and angst. I would like a bit of an age gap for this plot -- though nothing stark. Vivianne would be of age, nothing involving minors, and I would be playing Vivianne.

Plot #5: The Only Exception

Moving to a new town in the middle of the school year was one thing -- but moving from California to a small town on the outskirts of Mobile, Alabama was another. A girl who knew no laws was suddenly thrust into a town that was as prim and proper as it was Southern. She couldn't help the disdain, she barely knew her father and now she was to spend the rest of her high school career with him until she turned 18 and was legally able to move out. She was disinterested in anything and everything -- nothing in this backwards town caught her eye. Until the rumblings of cars awoke her from her internal moping session late one night. Curiosity killed the cat, and she found herself sneaking out and heading off towards the noise, where she found essentially all of the children of the town gathered in the clearing, watching cars race down the dirt road. She would've headed back home if the entire sight hadn't entranced her -- finally something good in this town. It wasn't until the winner, the local hotshot, shot her a look that found her searching for a car in the junk yard to salvage the next day. She wanted to wipe that cocky grin off their face for the same reason it had made her stomach tighten -- she hated cocky people. This would be more of a whirlwind romance involving action and angst, I would play the new girl in town.

I hope at least one has piqued your interest, and if not, I totally get it! But, if you're interested in roleplaying, please don't hesitate to message me. My discord is: -,'- soiez -',-#4689, and my email is: virginitea@gmail.com

[eikyuuxparadise-archive]

Info

Tag: 🎶 │ ( pkmn verse ) the crossing fate wears the wind ❞

Status: Single Ship (tentative, depending on muse)

Open for Interactions

All right to start things off. This verse isn’t entirely fleshed out in concern to each characters individual background. A majority of this verse reflects the main verse with the characters being famous idols from both Daikoku Production and Brave Entertainment along with their respective groups ( Kitakore, MooNs, KiLLER KiNG, and THRIVE the collective group being called B-Project ).

Verse Notes

Daikoku Production and Brave Entertainment are based out of the Kalos region. Atsushi Daikoku is the President of Daikoku Production where as Shuuji Daikoku is the President of Brave Entertainment. 

Both agencies share/own a Training School together that produces their idols. 

Sakutaro Yashamaru, is the director of the Training School as well as the Manager for B-Project and its respective units: Kitakore, MooNs, KiLLER KiNG, and THRIVE. His character is a rather suspicious as not many know what’s on his mind.

Tsubasa Sumisora is the A&R of B-Project and its respective units. She new to the game, but she learns and adapts quickly to things thrown at her.

B-Project has had an increasing popularity since their debut in the Kalos Region. With a year of ups and down behind them Atsushi and Shuuji want B-Project and their music to reach others outside of their home region.

Muses involved in Verse

Ryuji and Tomohisa are both part of the unit called Kitakore. Kitakore is a idol Prince type unit of two sweet and cute princess. The two charms is as mysterious as the elegant atmosphere they give. They wish to express their feelings in their songs.

Hometown: Castelia City, Unova

Korekuni, Ryuji: Ryuji isn’t much of a battler and prefers Pokemon Contests to them. Finding it to be more of his area of interest. If he forced into a situation where he has to fight, Ryuji will have no problem with leaving claw marks in his opponent. Pokemon: Purrloin, Absol, Nidorino, Litwick, and Venmoth NOTES: Ryuji is the youngest and only son of the Korekuni family. He has two older sisters before him that along with his mom enjoyed dressing him up as a girl when he was child. Often he was mistaken as a girl because of this. Tomohisa and Ryuji are childhood friends who had enter the training school for idols in Kalos together. The two know each other inside and out, though Tomohisa tend to know more about Ryuji than the cat does about himself.  He best friend with THRIVE’s Ashu Yuta who he pulls pranks together with as well. Ryuji trades skin health care tips with THRIVE’s leader Aizome Kento.

Kitakado, Tomohisa: Tomohisa is either or having no preference to Pokemon Battles or Contests. Merely enjoying the presence and company of his Pokemon. Though, it a bit of a lie as he does prefer battles over contests. He doesn’t want to upset Ryuji with this, so Tomohisa has been keeping it to himself. Pokemon: Alolan Ninetales, Persian, Rapidash, Empoleon, and Salamence

NOTES: Tomohisa is the son of a well known doctor and actress. When his father eventually steps down as director he’ll be taking his place. Though, Tomohisa is rather conflicted by this as he enjoys being an idol. He childhood friends with both Ryuji and Kazuna,but somehow neither have met the other despite them constantly coming over.

Kazuna, Momotaro, Hikaru, Mikado, and Tatsuhiro together form the unit known as MooNs. The group’s name being made up of the first letter in each members last names. MooNs is a lively type unit made up of five individuals each with their unique talent and personalities. They sing more of pop songs during their lives, appear on variety shows, and are bright, impressionable idols.

Home Town: Castelia, Unova

Masunaga, Kazuna Kazuna is also a childhood friend of Tomohisa, but for some reason had not once met Ryuji once the entire time he known Tomohisa. Kazuna is more of a battler than a coordinator. He could never quite grasp the categories and everything else that went with it. More so that it changed to include more in the future. His mom had gone missing from his life months before he went to the Training School in the Kalos region to become an idol to find her. Pokemon Team: Vaporeon, Altaria, Dewgong, Persian, and Arcanine

Home Town: Ecruteak City, Johto

Onzai, Momotaro Momotaro comes from a long line of mediums. He is able to see and communicate with the spirits of the decease and help them move on if they so chose to. His team mostly consist of ghost and psychic type Pokemon as they’re the most helpful to him and his abilities. Somehow he had befriended one Sekimura Mikado when he had gone to the Training School. Though, he not complaining. Pokemon: Mismagius, Mega Sableye, Espeon, Drifblum, and Starmie

Home Town: Iki Town, Alola

Osari, Hikaru Hikaru grew up surrounded by family and friends in the Alola Region. Being a major pillar of support for his mom and siblings after his dad walked out on them at a young age. He had somehow befriended an Aipom that had escaped captured from some questionable people. Eventually they became trainer and partner. He is childhood friends with Nome Tatsuhiro. Pokemon: Aipom, Swellow, Chansey, and Maractus

Nome, Tatsuhiro Tatsuhiro grew up in the house next door to Hikaru’s and somehow quickly bonded with the energetic elder Osari. He a passionate boy with a pure heart and cares deeply about his friends. Tatsuhiro is one to chase after his dreams no matter what. One such dream is to become an idol. Pokemon: Mienshao, Golduck, Crobat, Bisharp, and Kangaskhan

Home Town: Lumiose City, Kalos

Sekimura, Mikado One of the few members of B-Project who originally from Kalos than from another region. Mikado grew up in a household strict on studying. When he aspired to become an idol his parents weren’t exactly thrilled with the idea. Eventually relenting and allowing him to attend the Training School when he scored top marks in all his classes. He an intellectual idol overflowing with knowledge. As an idol he is quite versatile and good at caster jobs due to his intellect. Pokemon: Delcatty, Gardevoir, Dragonair, Quilava, and Slowking

Kento, Goushi, and Yuta all form the unit THRIVE. THRIVE is a Wild type unit who intend to become great artists. Though, their clashing personalities (mainly Kento and Goushi) can often lead them into arguments. Despite this their awareness as as artists is strong and won’t allow them to lose to anyone. THRIVE’s unit name is inspired by the number three and means ‘to prosper as a prisoner of love’. 

Home Town: Sunyshore City, Sinnoh → Lumiose City, Kalos

Aizome, Kento Kento is the result of a love affair his mother had with another when she was still married to his father. His mother had subjected him to a lot of mental abuse and blamed him for her failing marriage to her previous husband. Once a family member heard about the abuse they immediately took him out of that environment and took him with them when they moved to Lumiose City in the Kalos region. Kento managed to recover but has formed insecurities from it. Wanting to be desired and needed by others he had strive to become an idol enrolling in the Training School in Lumoise City. Pokemon Team: Altaria, Dewgong, Alolan Ninetales, Wartortle, and Primarina NOTE(S): When Kento isn’t attending to business pertaining to being an idol he participates in Pokemon Contests. Finding a certain thrill to them. He trades skin health care tips with Kitakore’s Korekuni Ryuji.

Home Town: Cherrygrove City, Johto

Kaneshiro, Goushi Goushi grew up next door to the Teramitsu twins: Yuzuki and Haruhi. He pretty closed to the twins and most of the time can’t be found without the two of them close by. He can be temperamental at times and tend to clash with Kento when it comes to THRIVE’s music as he tend to let his like of rock influence some of their songs. Despite not liking some aspects of being an idol he does take his job seriously. Pokemon Team: Houndoom, Misdreavus, Murkrow, Liepard, Pangoro, and Bisharp NOTE(S): Goushi has a fear of Ghost Pokemon, though it primarily aimed towards Ghastly evolutionary line than anything else. As he had a traumatizing experience with them as a kid. So, it doesn’t help at all that Daikoku Shuuji has a Gengar on his team.

Home Town: Lilycove City, Hoenn

Ashu, Yuta Yuta grew up being around Pokemon Contests for a good portion of his life before he went to the Training School in Kalos. He has a natural talent for contests as well as being an idol. Before becoming an idol he had somehow amass a small following of fans in Lilycove. Though, he not entirely aware of this for some reason as he tend to be oblivious to some things. Pokemon Team: Togepi, Pachirisu, Ambipom, Growlithe, and Pidgeout NOTE(S): Yuta is able to get along with just about anyone. Which can explain him somehow being able to friend Goushi with how temperamental the rocker tends to be. Yuta competes in Pokemon Contests with Ryuji when the two of them don’t have duties as idols to fulfill. Yuta is also and unfortunately has no sense of direction and will easily get lost.

Akane, Miroku, Haruhi, and Yuzuki together form the unit KiLLER KiNG. KiLLER KiNG debuted a year after their senpais in THRIVE and were later added to B-Project some time later. Yuzuki and Haruhi are twins with Akane and Miroku being childhood friends. This give their group their atmosphere feel of boys high school. Their objective is ‘to become your only one’.

Home Town: Dewford Town, Hoenn

Fuda, Akane Akane may be small but he an impressive young man as powerful as anyone else. He grew up being childhood friends with Miroku. Akane was often seen with Miroku around Dewford Town whether it was just goofing off, training, or practicing martial arts together. His first Pokemon is Spoink he had received the Bounce Pokemon as a present from his parents. Akane is the type of a person that once he has his mind set on something it hard to sway him. Pokemon Team: Grumpig, Flareon, Pom-Pom Oricorio, Wigglytuff, and Lanturn NOTE(S): Akane knows Karate. His likes consist of Karaage and Hamburg Steak. Do not allow Akane to get a hold of spray paint or silly string. It will not end well. Do not leave him alone with either Yuta, Ryuji, or both. Dooming yourself to an endless line of pranks.  Akane and Miroku auditioned at the Training School together and both got in.

Shingari, Miroku Miroku is the serious half of his and Akane’s friendship growing up. He the one who would setup their time for any additional training outside their karate lessons. Though, half the time it usually Miroku having to chase Akane and his Spoink around Dewford’s sandy shore with his Meditite than actual training. Never the less it has always proven fun to Miroku. He enjoys getting back at Akane for this. He a low-key sadist when it come to training and Akane has yet to learn this. Pokemon Team: Medicham, Passimian, Persian, Mightyena, and Pa’u Oricorio NOTE(S): Despite being the most mature of KiLLER KiNG (along with Yuzuki) he Miroku is often mistaken as being the oldest in the group. In reality he is actually the youngest in the group being a year younger than Akane, Yuzuki, and Haruhi. He has a muscle fetish.

Home Town: Cherrygrove City, Johto

Teramitsu, Yuzuki and Haruhi Yuzuki and Haruhi are fraternal twins and would have been identical if it weren’t for their hair color. The twins are exact opposites of each other and it really shows with how they act. They grew up as childhood friends with Kaneshiro Goushi and were normally seen with him or close nearby. Both at one point had shown an interest in participating in Pokemon Contests, but have never truly pursued it in the end. The twins have a great relationship to each other. Even if Haruhi has a tendency of dragging Yuzuki out when the latter just wants to stay home with a good book. Yuzuki’s Pokemon Team: Lunatone, Espeon, Sensu Oricorio, and Female Meowstic Haruhi’s Pokemon Team: Solrock, Monferno, Baile Oricorio, and Arcanine NOTE(S): Yuzuki and Haruhi have different atmospheres to them. Yuzuki is mysterious and elegant where as Yuzuki is energetic and rambunctious. Haruhi has a butt fetish and a brother complex when it come to Yuzuki. 

Hometown: Celadon City, Kanto → Lumiose City, Kalos

Daikoku, Atsushi Atsushi is the eldest of the Daikoku children and a pain in his younger brother, Shuuji’s, side. He was once an idol in his prime coming out of the Kanto Region and extended his popularity beyond his home region. Atsushi didn’t specialize in any specific genre more or less dabbling in each one. Some time after he retired from the idol life he had established Daikoku Production in Lumiose City along with Shuuji establishing Brave Entertainment at the same time. Pokemon Team: Hypno, Arcanine, Crobat, Scizor, and Empoleon NOTE(S): Atsushi and Shuuji had purposely planned to establish both their respective agencies at the same time. The Training School that would produce their idols, actors, actresses, etc. would be under both their agencies name. Atsushi is a sadist when it come to Shuuji. Dragging his younger brother to events he would rather not be caught dead at. Thus, becoming a pain in the ass to the younger even when he is trying to help him. Atsushi and Shuuji had moved from Celadon City to Luminose City when they were teenagers due to their father getting a job transfer to another branch of a company he worked at in that region.

Home Town:  Celadon City, Kanto → Lumiose City, Kalos

Daikoku, Shuuji The youngest of the Daikoku children and the one with the most attitude to him. Which probably stems from the torture he has to endure from having Atsushi as an older brother (asshole). Regardless Shuuji does know how to lighten up a little from his normal serious and blunt personality. Shuuji had debuted before Shuuji did and his popularity soured not just because of his music but his persona as well. He specialized in rock and metal more than anything else. There are a few popish songs he done, but he really doesn’t talk about them at all. When he went into retirement he established Brave Entertainment in Luminose City at the same time Atsushi had established Daikoku Production. Pokemon Team: Gengar, Nidoking, Honchkrow, Houndoom, and Weavile NOTE(S): Atsushi and Shuuji had it planned from the start that they would established their own respective agencies and a Training School would be shared between them. Shuuji has a real strong aversion to Pokemon Contests thanks to another idol from a different agency. Thus, he plans Atsushi’s death on a regular basis each and every time Atsushi drags him to one. He a battler through and through, but he does hold a healthy respect for coordinators. Being as he friends with a couple of them. In particular to the one who caused his strong aversion to contests. Though, he not so keen with listening to Kento and Yuuta talk about them. Normally having to kick both of them out of his office. It a common sight to see Shuuji having Atsushi in a headlock when you come into his office. As much as he appreciates his older brother’s help he wish he didn’t. Most time it just to be a pain. Since Goushi has never mentioned nor brought it up, Shuuji is unaware of Goushi’s strong fear of Ghastly and its evolutionary line. His Gengar tend to be out and about in his office when he out. Shuuji was the one who had recruited Tsubasa as B-Project’s (and it respective units) A&R. He had done so upon a recommendation from a mysterious source. He has a slight suspicion on who it was, but hasn’t pursued it.

Home Town: Ultra Megapolis, ???

Yashamaru, Sakutaro His origins at best have always been questioned even by those who have known him for a long time. Sakutaro comes from Ultra Megapolis residing within the alternate dimension called Ultra Space. Ten years prior to Daikoku Production and Brave Entertainment being established in the Kalos region. Sakutaro had emerged from a rift in space appearing in an isolated area in the Alola Region. Not else is known about Sakutaro aside from an untold vendetta against Tsubasa’s dad and a need for revenge against him. Pokemon Team: Ariados, Mismagius, Zoroark, and Medicham NOTE(S): Yashamaru does not blame Tsubasa for the actions her father had taken against his family. So he does not seek revenge through her to get to him. The only ones who know of Yashamaru’s origins best are his Pokemon and the family he had while living in the Alola Reigion. Somewhere along the line he had become the Director of the shared Training School between Daikoku Production and Brave Entertainment. Soon after he had become the manager of B-Project and its respective units. He cares about the boys’ success more than anything else and is willing to step on others to make it possible.

Home Town: Floaroma Town, Sinnoh

Sumisora, Tsubasa Even though her parents are from a big city they had decided to rise their daughter in the small town of Floaroma. Thanks to this Tsubasa has a sixth sense when it comes to sensing change in the environment. Tsubasa has a love for music that come from both her parents and could be found singing and dancing in the flower fields of the town. She is able to recognize the differences in music, when asked how she able to do so Tsubasa immediately changes the topic. It had to do with her father, the man that had disappeared from her and her mother’s life before she became a teenager. Talking about him just brings down her mood dramatically. Pokemon Team: Sylveon, Nidorina, Rapidash, Lapras, Mega Pidgeot, and Meloetta NOTE(S): Tsubasa didn’t technically catch Meloetta as she had befriended the Legendary Pokemon when she was young. Every now and then Meloetta will join her party and travel with her. Most often times Meloetta can be seen following Tsubasa around when it isn’t part of her party. Tsubasa always has an open spot reserved for the Melody Pokemon. Tsubasa didn’t come to the Kalos Region until she was sixteen when her mother decided to move them from the Sinnoh Region. She is completely unaware of her father’s whereabouts and situation as she had lost complete contact with him when she was fourteen. Since then she hasn’t tried to contact him. Unaware of who the man was at the time Tsubasa was ‘scouted’ as B-Project’s A&R when she was mere worker at a music store. Later she found out the one who had recruited her was Daikoku Shuuji. The vendetta Yashamaru has against her father is something Tsubasa is aware of and chooses to acknowledge. Though, she is unaware of what her father was doing at the time and what his exact involvement with Yashamaru is. She glad he isn’t taking his revenge out on her just to get to him.

This now brings you to the end of on the information of B-Project’s Pokemon Verse.

[boricuareads]

All Out: The No-Longer-Secret Stories of Queer Teens Throughout the Ages

Rating: 4.3/5 (taken from the average ratings of all the stories, but i’m giving it 5/5 on Goodreads)

Review: 

I decided to review this anthology mostly because I loved it a lot but also because I have a lot of feelings about this anthology. (20GAYTEEN IS IN FULL POWER AND I’M LOVING IT)

Edited by Saundra Mitchell, this anthology was the queer historical fiction anthology I never knew I needed and that you absolutely will love. The collection of short stories vary in lengths and subjects, some have fantasy laced within them, others magical realism, and some are just historical romances that pack punches.

In the introduction, Mitchell explained the process with which she approached the making of this book, saying that she asked authors to provide a story that they wished they’d had when they were teens with queer characters. The one parameter was that they should take place before the year 2000 (the one exception was Sara Farizan’s, but I’ll get there). There were 17 stories in total, all stories completely different, therefore I am rating the book as a whole and then the stories individually. I’m putting them under a read more because it’s a Long Post.

Rosa by Anna-Marie McLemore (5/5) - I’m getting to a certain point in my life where my preferences are solidifying when it comes to which authors I’d buy books from without hesitation, and Anna Marie is one of those authors for me. I legitimately bought this anthology because I heard her story opened the entire book. I have no shame whatsoever. I felt so happy and full of love after finishing Rosa. It’s like she cradled me in her arms and laid me down on a bed of gentle flowers as the moonlight shone over us and whispered its protection. Like, she really had to write this into her story:

“They took you because you stayed for me,” I said, still keeping my voice to a whisper. “I am poison. Don’t you see that?” .... “You are here and I am alive.” Now his accent turned sharp, not his practiced Spanish. “So tell me what makes you poison.”

[FUCKING SLAY ME] [by the way, Anna-Marie said she may or may not be contemplating writing a full-novel based on this story so AAAAA]

The Sweet Trade by Natalie C. Parker (4.5/5) - In this story, we see runaway brides, the promise of piracy brewing, as well as two women embracing each other’s company away from the patriarchal notions that their time held. I thought it was well-written, knocked it out of the park for me.

And They Don’t Kiss At The End by Nilah Magruder (4/5) - Magruder wrote a short and sweet little story about a black girl avoiding a boy she may or may not like just because she doesn’t feel adequate about her sexuality. It was a really neat exploration of the inner arguments someone who’s ace, but doesn’t have the vocabulary yet for it, might be having. It  also features rollerskating, which is a cool thing I’d never seen in a story.

Burnt Umber by Mackenzi Lee (5/5) - This story made me cringe so much but it was a testament of how well the author can write secondhand embarrassment. Lee managed to inject feeling into her witty dialogue, and it made me want to finish The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue. Revolving around a young Dutch painter having trouble with his human anatomy lessons and the fit young men in his life, the story is full of colors and fumbling artistes. 

The Dresser and the Chambermaid by Robin Talley (4/5) - I liked Talley’s piece, which isn’t surprising because she strikes me as a great writer. I haven’t read any of her books (YET) but I’ve been thinking about it for a while because she gets a lot of praise. I think with this one it solidified my desire to read her books because I really loved this period piece. It gave me some The Handmaiden vibes when they met, but it was sweet and it became more of soft British period film (it even had a cameo of King George I).

New Year by Malinda Lo (4/5) - I was already familiar with Malinda Lo’s writing from reading Ash a year ago. This piece was as lowkey and muted as Ash was, perhaps even more so which is astonishing since most of the story takes place in a hectic Chinese New Year’s celebration in San Francisco’s Chinatown. Following a girl who is still trying to figure out her sexuality and is seeing a woman in drag for the first time with a fine woman by her side, Lo managed to talk about diaspora among Chinese immigrants in San Francisco as well as their culture. It also speaks about the internalized homophobia a queer person of color has to deal with after exposure to so much externalized homophobia.

Molly’s Lips by Dahlia Adler (4/5) - Who knew a story about two grunge best friends living through Kurt Cobain’s suicide as well as mourning his death could be so sweet. Also, best friends to lovers? Yes, please!

The Coven by Kate Scelsa (3.5/5) - I hadn’t realized I’d already read one of her books (Fans of the Impossible Life) until after I finished the book. I didn’t mind this story as much as her previous book, but then again, this book was set in Paris and had a cameo from Gertrude Stein. The story was confusing, and I’m sure that if I reread it I might get it, but for now I shall be confused for a while.

Every Shade of Red by Elliot Wake (5/5) - Elliot Wake’s story was a standout for me; I’m still thinking about it and wondering what’s happening to the characters after that tumultuous ending??? I loved the imagery, the characters, the retelling, even the antagonists (I mean, I hope they die, but they were compelling)! Hey Elliot, why’d you have to do me like this? Tell us about Robin’s fate, I beg of you.

Willows by Scott Tracey (4/5) - Willows is a short story that takes place sometime around the Salem Witch Trials, but in the case of Tracey’s piece it revolves around a boy who’s been cursed and can remember the memories of other cursed people who’d been killed for witchcraft. This was another story that left me confused by the end, yet it was so well-written that I wasn’t mad.

The Girl With The Blue Lantern by Tess Sharpe (5/5) -  I liked Tess Sharpe’s story, it mixed historical fiction and fantasy, which is one of my favorite things to see. It reminded me of what I’ve read of Rae Carson’s Gold Seer trilogy (I’ve only read a few chapters of Walk On Earth a Stranger though), but it was mixed with some sort of mermaid mythology that made it stand apart. I’m glad that Orianna said the gold isn’t Ella’s to take; it made me wonder how different the story would be if it had more of a critique of how the Gold Rush decimated native communities in California.

The Secret Life of a Teenage Boy by Alex Sanchez (3.5/5) - Listen, I’m on record hating Boyfriends with Girlfriends, and I’m still not sure of how I feel about this story, but I liked the writing I guess. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, having some redemptive qualities (Cuban-American family, sibling shenanigans). But I still didn’t like it that much (he really went and wrote a 16 year old kissing a college student and almost had them runaway after JUST meeting). I don’t know what else to say without being mean. 

Walking After Midnight by Kody Keplinger (4.5/5) - This story made me want to make a short film out of it, maybe in black and white, following these two girls who chanced upon meeting after Betsey misses her train.It was lovely and fitting for a story revolving a girl who may be an ace lesbian (? at least that’s how I interpreted her). 

The End of the World As We Know It by Sara Farizan (4/5) - I have many thoughts about Sara Farizan’s books but I found this story okay. It was well-written and she did a good job of building up the relationship between the two main characters. The story was set on New Years’ Eve pre-Y2K, which is what I mentioned earlier in the post. 

Three Witches by Tessa Gratton (3.5/5) - This story was... interesting. It’s set in a convent in Castile during the 16th century, and the main character was sent there by her brother. I said other stories’ endings confused me, but none more than this one. Was it implying the silent nun was the Virgin? IDK, it was strange. Also, the author’s been accused of sexual harassment so I’m not giving the story much weight.

The Inferno & the Butterfly by Shaun David Hutchinson (4.5/5) - I haven’t read any of his books but I’ve heard they’re great, so I’m glad I got a taste of his writing here. His story follows two magicians assistants who have been neglected and abused by their bosses. One of the boys has magic powers of teleportation, but believes it to be a curse. I thought that was compelling, seeing as usually queer characters believe their sexualities are curses (which is actually something that’s seen in some of the stories in this anthology), and actually their sexuality wasn’t seen as strange at all. Kinda maddening that this is still a thing even in a short story collection about queer characters. 

Healing Rosa by Tehlor Kay Mejia (5/5) - From well-known author of queer characters of color to an up-and-coming author of queer characters of color, we went full circle in this anthology. Closing out the collection, Mejia provides a tale of a girl in New Mexico grieving the loss of her curandera abuela as well as her girlfriend. A tale that weaves magical realism into themes of cultural and generational trauma and embracing your culture and those around you in order to heal, I loved it. I think it goes hand in hand with Anna-Marie MClemore’s, especially since both touch on the traumas of war on the oppressed. 

All Out was a great collection, and you should go grab it now! 

(Amazon / B&N / Book Depository) 

[eleanasjourney]

COMPASSION SUNDAY

Why Sponsor?

Last summer, my sister Lisa and I went to a Newsboys concert in Escanaba. There, we had an opportunity to sponsor a child through ChildFund International. Adam Agee (who opened for the Newsboys), gave a powerful presentation, telling about his experience visiting the child they sponsor. He emphasized his amazement at how making such a small change in our lives (giving $36/month), can completely change the life of a child living in extreme poverty. It would ensure that a child has enough food to eat, adequate clothing, clean water for the whole family/household, and/or whatever the greatest need in their family is. All this was possible for the child, because Adam and his wife decided to go out to eat/for coffee one less time per week and use the funds to sponsor another child.

How I Got Involved.

Lisa and I decided to split the cost and sponsor a child. We both trusted the Newsboys, that this is a legit organization. That it was really benefiting the children sponsored in the program and not someone’s private jet. Sponsoring was so much fun! We had a blast sending letters, stickers, and postcards, Within a few weeks, we received our first letter from Meourn Makara. A three-year-old boy from Cambodia.

Why Compassion?

Within a few months, I wanted to sponsor another child. (Child sponsorship is like potato chips. You can’t just have one!) ChildFund is a great organization, but upon doing a little bit more research, I discovered I preferred Compassion International for a few reasons as follows:

1. They use a “three cord” approach to ministry by being: Christ-centered, church based and child focused. “Taken individually each cord is not unique. However, when taken together, why we serve, how we serve and who we serve creates a distinct approach to ministry.”

2. They’re Christ-centered. “Beginning in 1952, when Rev. Everett Swanson first developed special sponsorship programs for individuals, families or churches to help support Korean War orphans for a few dollars a month, we have worked to help children realize their full potential and develop into all God intends them to be.” “Because Jesus is our core, everything we do for children’s meant to reflect God’s heart.”

3. They’re church-based. They do all of their work through partnerships with thousands of local churches in over 25 countries around the world. “We work in partnership with local churches because we desire to equip the Church to fulfill its role as salt and light in the world.”

4. They’re child-focused. “When a child is registered in our Child Sponsorship Program, the beneficiary of the support is the specific sponsored child. Siblings, parents and other caregivers may receive additional or indirect benefits from our programs, but our focus is the one child. Through our holistic child development model, we blend physical, social, economic and spiritual care together to help children in poverty fully mature in every facet of life and transcend what is often a generational legacy of poverty.”

 They’re focused on developing children individually and holistically, prioritizing their safety and protection, financial integrity, (I.e. Digitally scanning letters to save on shipping costs so more of your sponsorship funds go directly to the program,) linking each child to one sponsor, and giving each child a chance to learn about Jesus, respond to the Gospel, and develop a lifelong relationship with God.

My Experience.  Sponsorship is a blast. It’s so exiting receiving your first letter, updated photos, and sending letters, postcards, bookmarks and stickers. In Compassion’s program, children under nine write in a “fill in the blank” format where they answer pre-written questions about their country, weather, school, etc. I have received two letters from Kossiwa Catherine (8 year old girl from Togo, sponsored through Compassion), Telling about her family, her compassion center, prayer requests, and her pet hen. I’ve also received a letter from her pastor and a letter from her Compassion center director, telling about letter distribution, benefits the children receive through sponsorship, and children who were able to receive much needed surgeries. Letters are typically written in a classroom setting, teaching children writing and communication skills. I’ve also received a few letters from Meourn Makara (3 year old boy from Cambodia, sponsored through ChildFund). His letters are translated from Khmer, a language I had never heard of! In his letters, he told us about his family, his favorite toys, and a flood that came through Phnom Penh last summer. His mom folded a paper boat and Makara decorated it with the stickers I sent him, and they sent it back. His letters are always so adorable. In his last letter he said “I wish to receive your letter again someday.”

What Does Getting Started Look Like For You? In Adam Agee’s presentation, he said that his wife wanted to sponsor a child. He then said something he’d said many times in their relationship: “You’re right.” So he said “We cut our cable from 200 channels to 20 channels because we only really watched 2 channels.” For their second child he said they went out to eat/for coffee less often. Making room in the budget to sponsor a child may look different for different people. For instance, Someone might not be able to cut cable but they might decide to buy a cheaper phone plan instead. If you eat out twice a week and spend $9.50 per meal, all it would take to have the funds to sponsor a child would be to eat out 4 less times per month (or only once a week). It becomes so worth it when you receive your first letter. Sponsorship through Compassion International is $38/month and sponsorship through ChildFund International is $36/month. There are many other great sponsorship programs which generally cost $30-$40/month.

Scripture From Compassion’s website, they said: Jesus’ life and teachings shape our programs and guide all aspects of our ministry. From how we work to how we treat people, respect communities and cooperate with nations, our response to a world filled with hundreds of millions of children living in extreme poverty is to love like Jesus did.

Matthew 25:40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ Isaiah 1:17 learn to do good: seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.Proverbs 31:8 Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute.Isaiah 58:6 Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?Isaiah 58:10 And if you spend yourself in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.  

I’d encourage you to look up, and study these verses in their context. It’s God’s Word to us, revealing the heart of the Father for the oppressed. Thanks for taking the time to read this, I hope you’re inspired and encouraged.

-Eleana