#feng: I have a once in a lifetime chance to do something so funny and nobody will ever know

[mitternacht]

Actually the most hilarious reveal of this chapter was the fact that Feng had no reason to de-age Rip a whole 15 years to heal him of his injuries in L100 (other than to make himself younger obvs). That man did it primarily because he thought it would be funny and you can’t change my mind. Do you think anyone else knew the 15 years wasn’t necessary or did everyone kinda say yeah 15 years sounds about right to heal a guy and never questioned it.

[blackidyll]

@qserasera I AM HERE TO RAMBLE!!!!!!!!

first prefacing this by saying MASSIVE 2.2 TRAILBLAZE QUEST SPOILERS! in case anyone random is reading this! but also i played it over like 9 days just chipping at the quest in bits and pieces so my memory might not be the best (i wish we could replay quests! there was so much going on!!)

I have two big thoughts about jingheng/hengjing this patch

1 - dan heng is just constantly itching to use that jade abacus huh. first, he uses it to prove a point with boothill. then in the first part of the quest, he actually does use it (with a sweet astral express family moment, saying that he's willing to use this once-in-a-lifetime item because his companions are once-in-a-life-time people who are important to him). then when he is awoken from the Order's Dream and told that they need A Lot of Other People to introduce chaos into the harmony/order of the dreamers, he goes -obviously it means we have to call in the luofu!!-

like, i cannot get over the fact that he was just willing to drag the entire luofu's army into this thing with penacony. everyone else has to talk him out of it? dh without the astral express family holding him back just goes feral? on the one hand it's endearing that his first thought is always to turn to jing yuan for help, but also this reinforces something he has in common with dan feng, and it's that they make Very Extreme and Illogical Decisions when their friends are threatened. like, it's funny from our perspective but had he really used the jade abacus, i don't doubt that jy would honour his promise. he would bring the luofu's armies to penanony. and what would happen if they all get absorbed into Ena the Order's dream? it's clear that brute strength alone (other than acheron's nihility) cannot break the dream (even welt who has a herscherr core and trailblazer themselves with a stellaron couldn't do it on their own), like there's no logical reason to expose so many other people to Ena's influence when the chances of them getting trapped is so high.

i enjoy all the memes about dh and the jade abacus but i like digging into the implications behind his thought process more ヾ(•ω•`)o

2 - the whole sequence with dhil and jy fighting together back-to-back is entirely a dream. this is really funny to me. like at first i was a bit disappointed that it wasn't real, but like. outside the game, someone at Hoyoverse decided that they HAD to bring jing yuan into the story. they couldn't go two patches without giving him an amazing animated cutscene. they couldn't logically write jy going to to the charmony festival, so they decided to port him there in a dream instead. someone at in charge at HYV ships jhj and i love it.

inside the game... it's never clear whose dream we're experiencing during that first fight with sunday. is it trailblazer's? because that means in their eyes jy and dhil are a unit that cannot be separated. (like, they could have just dreamed dh coming to the rescue alone, clearly the azure dragon was enough to smash into sunday's harmonious choir). is it dan heng's dream? even more amazing, he dreams of saving his astral express friends fighting back to back and absolutely in synch with jing yuan.

(is it just sunday/ena subliminally pulling things from people's mind to manifest the most ideal dream? which means most of the astral express believed dhil and jy to be the most ideal rescue team for it to be the dream that is created. and also they believed jy to be the best person to mediate between the IPC and penacony? they really admire jing yuan, huh).

--

anyway. i remember thinking how weird jing yuan's presence in the quest was, like it felt like someone high up in the HYV team wanted it so the writers were forced to write him in... and then we get that ending credits and black swan telling us the story as we fall asleep........... and then, the twist! all my weird instincts were RIGHT... this trailblaze quest was a trip.

PS: i love dan heng and boothill's friendship, they are hilarious. i want boothill to meet jing yuan so badly. i just think their dynamic could go in so many directions, also with boothill being a galaxy ranger which jing yuan had wished he could be so he could travel the stars and help people on the way... many things to chew on here!

i kno they likely didn't mean to frame it this way, but i loveee the cdrama overtones of 'are u threatening us? my boyfriend has status and power backing him, and gave us this specific seal to use if we ever need to call on him. do Not test me.'

[ralphsspiritualstuff]

But I’m a Taurus! Why am I not Rich?

Ah, the Sun in Taurus. Sensual. Earthy. Eating the highest quality chocolates all day. Well, at least that’s the stereotype going around the internet. While it is true that Sun in Taurus people often have wealth-related qualities because of Taurus’ natural ability to plant a seed and watch it grow into a harvest, wealth is a trait that has more to do with Venus, the ruling planet of Taurus, and the second house, the ruling house of Taurus.

The Sun is one of two astrological “lights” and unlike the other inner bodies (Mercury, Mars, Venus, Ceres*) the Sun is something we do passively, not actively. In fact, many people don’t identify with their Sun sign because the Sun has become a stereotype machine so mutated from its original form that nobody would recognize it. The Sun in Taurus is about staking out a claim and working to reap its harvest. As a Sun in Taurus, you are going to feel the most energized when you’re “farming”, whether that be literal farming or metaphorical farming. This can translate to being wealthy, but the Taurus Sun energy will only come out when the house it’s in is activated or a planet it’s aspected by is activated.

For example, somebody’s down to earth Taurus Sun energy may not manifest with their friends (like an 11th house Sun) because it manifests when they’re at home (4th House Sun). As a Sun in Taurus, you WILL be able to feel it’s energy in one of the twelve houses below, but it may not be like the stereotype. It is also very possible, and this is covered below the house list, that your sun has a harsh aspect to it.

1st House Taurus Sun: This placement identifies very strongly with its body and things it can touch. For first house Taurus Suns, what is around them tells them and what they have shows them who they are. They are not necessarily materialistic, but they often see themselves as breadwinners and are often feel most themselves when they are watching something they’ve planted grow. In a way, they see themselves in everything they plant.

2nd House Taurus Sun: Ok, in this case you’ve probably got some money or if you don’t, you’re certainly wanting it more than just about anyone else. In Taurus’ ruling house, the Sun in Taurus feels most at home. This Sun placement tends to earn money by doing what Taurus does: planting seeds, often times in a very physical way. There may be a tendency for this placement to collect things unnecessarily and could create somebody who keeps things in the off chance they may need them, regardless of how small that chance is. But hey, they’re prepared when others aren’t.

3rd House Taurus Sun: It’s not about what you know, it’s who you know, right? Sun in Taurus in the Third house collects connections like no other. While they often don’t farm people intentionally, they end up doing so by consistently maintaining networks and keeping open lines of communication. This in turn tends to open up paths for the 3rd House Taurus Sun because they often have a connection or “in”.

4th House Taurus Sun: This placement tends to be very strongly connected to its roots and is likely to never leave where it’s from. In the chance they move, this placement is incredible at building a new home from scratch (with all the homey love that rivals even Cancer) and is likely to collect property wherever they are. After all, isn’t owning farmable property true wealth?

5th House Taurus Sun: Inclined to build and create, this placement is great for any type of physical art such as sculpting. Natives with this placement may also be drawn to construction work and take immense pride in what they build. Generally, these people are quite crafty, ranging from small handmade items to large works of construction. They don’t just make art, they make art with practical value.

6th House Taurus Sun: While these people may have very specific diets because they are very affected by what they eat even more so than other Taureans, they do so because they intuitively know what is good for their body and what is not. Arts and sciences dealing with creating a healthy environment or way of life such as dietician work, yoga, feng shui, and practical architecture are all great lines of work for this placement. Even if not done a professional setting, these are likely daily tasks for this placement. They’re also nearly impossible to get off course when they’re on a schedule, for better or for worse.

7th House Taurus Sun: This placement thrives on peace and harmony like many 7th house placements, but in Taurus, this is likely a more physical harmony than a mental or emotional one. Natives with a 7th House Taurus Sun are able to take real world objects and find the balance in them, which often manifests as them being great with art or other activities that involve objects being where they need to be. This placement also thrives in stable environments and can be counted on to be there when others need them, sometimes resulting in them giving too much of what they have to someone they care about.

8th House Taurus Sun: This placement often feels like they “own” everyone else’s problems. With the 8th house strongly related to what others have, having a Sun in Taurus, which is so much about owning what is one’s own, can be a bit of a tricky predicament. This can be an advantage when dealing with business prospects, as this placement is likely to be able to seize something that someone else is no longer using and make it into something workable, but it can also lead to identity issues where the native is unable to tell when something belongs to them and when it belongs to someone else. Really, though, once it’s exchanged, does it matter where it came from?

9th House Aries Sun: The 9th house is a funny place for a Taurus Sun, a house in which adventure and leaving behind what you previously knew doesn’t make much sense with a Sun so focused on seeing something through, but when these two energies get combined, you get an interesting mix of luck and follow through. Mainly, this manifests through the “luck” component of the 9th house, where Taurus Suns just happen to build the right idea or plant in the right spot. They typically stick to one ideology throughout their lifetime, but that one path is what takes them everywhere they go whether it be a goal or other commitment.  

10th House Taurus Sun: This native is likely the classic “gonna build myself from the ground up” type and when they’ve committed to a path, they’re stuck to it. With the Taurus Sun’s good sense, these people, although perhaps unaware of how most of the business world works, are determined to make something they can be respected for. In the 10th house, Taurus’ stubbornness pays off because they can see something they want to accomplish and continue to want it even after the initial allure wears off.

11th House Taurus Sun: With 11th House objectivity and Taurean possessiveness, this placement may treat people like objects to a certain degree and “collect” friends. This doesn’t mean that they don’t care about them by any means, it’s just that is placement is so afraid of losing people and is so determined to keep a group together that they will try very hard to hold on to the group. Because of this, they may be driven to find ways to keep their friendships intact that aren’t the most conventional with 11th House inventiveness, but it works for them.

12th House Taurus Sun: This placement instinctively knows what the universe is made of. They don’t have to be told how to build something, and often times they build by default. This ability may be hidden from them but obviously apparent to everyone else, and they may not realize how stubbornly they stick to something once they’ve started. This placement is almost never in anybody’s way and they prefer to peacefully build in peace.  

Ok, so maybe that nailed your Sun and maybe it didn’t, the house a Sun is in isn’t the only factor to how it manifests. Those interpretations are true for people who have an easy time manifesting their Sun with easy blue (trines, sextiles, conjunctions) or a neutral time with neutral green aspects (semi-sextiles, quincuxes) but people who have harder time with hard red aspects (squares, semi-squares, oppositions) might feel a little left out.  If you have a hard aspect to your Sun, it might feel a little more like these descriptions below:

Leo Planet Square Sun in Taurus: With Leo’s equally stubborn but much less practical energy, Leo planets can put a damper on Taurean sensibility with their need to express themselves. The downside of this aspect is that Leo planets may make it to where Taurus planets are able to have less and do less (because they give it away for free in some way to feel grand or noticed) but the upside is that when these two are successfully combined, Taurus is able to build something bigger than it ever thought possible.

Scorpio Oppose Sun in Taurus: With Scorpio’s equally fixated but destruction oriented rather than construction oriented energy, planets in Scorpio can really drag a Taurus Sun down. As a result, Taurus is likely to experience setbacks from their constructions (of any kind, in any house) being constantly destroyed. There is, however, an upside to this; Taurus can never build something that is faulty. With the Scorpio planet constantly chipping away at weaker constructions, when Taurus is able to complete something, it is rock solid.

Aquarius Planet Square Sun in Taurus: Aquarius isn’t the most down to earth sign, often being associated with aliens and other far-off-in-space happenings, so the Sun in Taurus may feel like it’s being invaded by this outsider. While Aquarius planets may want to remove the Taurus Sun from its home (whatever house it’s in to be literal) and be frustrated by Taurus’ inability to fly, when the two are combined it can result in Taurus being taken further into innovation than it previously thought possible and Aquarius’ ideas finally being able to manifest, if only partially due to physical constraints.

So far we’ve been focusing on the Sun in Taurus how it really is, but why did the stereotypes develop the way they did? That has mostly to do with borrowing characteristics from Venus, the ruling planet of Taurus. The placement of our Venus shows us how we possess things and how we decide what is valuable and what is not. While the Sun does have to do to a degree with value, the stereotype of the wealthy/generous Taurus is more common for people who have very earthy Venus placements (Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn), very active Venus placements (2nd house, easy aspect to the Sun and or Jupiter), very receptive Venus placements (Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces) and/or very hard working Venus aspects (10th house, easy aspect to Ceres and or Saturn).

If you have any questions about your Taurus Sun or a friend’s, feel free to leave a comment below or inbox me. Be sure to subscribe for more astrology content!

-Ralph