#i do have lots of genuine thoughts on a) the concept of regeneration in general and b) how each doctor relates to the others

[byooregard]

other fun thing i keep saying to my friends while watching doctor who is going 'you know i'm fascinated by the ten to eleven pipeline' (sometimes its nine to ten to eleven but yk how it is) because they know what i mean and i know what i mean but it really does sound like i've just discovered counting

[magicofthepen]

Having put some amount of thought into similar concepts, I would very much love to hear about “Gallifrey BUT FANTASY”

Send me a WIP doc title (list here) and I’ll talk about it!

Thank you for asking about this one! It’s an idea that’s been slowly coalescing for at least a year and a half now – it’s never quite made it onto the active projects list because it’s a big one, and I keep having other big projects that I want to tackle first. But I love gradually coming back to and building this au, and hopefully I’ll write it eventually?

The general world premise is pretty straightforward: magic replaces both time travel and regeneration, so it’s a magic-based world instead of a tech-based one, and also the ability to do magic is only given to certain Gallifreyans (a Time Lords = mages sort of thing). Also in this world the different temporal powers/planets are different countries/kingdoms/empires. 

The story itself would be a series of three longfics that starts with a very narrow cast and gradually broadens to a more sprawling epic fantasy vibe as the series continues. A quick overview:

Fic 1 is a Romana/Leela Rapunzel AU (inspired by Tangled specifically tbh), ft. Pandora as the Mother Gothel figure. 

Fic 2 is the immediate aftermath of Romana’s return to Gallifrey and the "power struggle over the throne” conflict that emerges between her and Darkel. (Narvin and Brax show up in this one.)

Fic 3 is set some number of years after Fic 2. It’s a “Pandora returns” fic, but narratively it’s more inspired by the Time War. Devastating magical conflict, large cast of characters, but does have a hopeful/happy-ish ending. (Also: Romana/Leela/Narvin endgame.) 

Lots more rambling under the cut: 

Fic 1: Rapunzel AU

This fic is technically Tangled-inspired, but I should disclaim that I haven’t actually seen Tangled in many years, so my memories of it are somewhat vague? But there’s one scene from Tangled that inspired a scene in this fic, plus a certain similar enemies-to-friends-to-lovers vibe going on, and some inspiration for Leela’s backstory (if I’m remembering that movie correctly)? 

Romana is the Rapunzel figure, of course. The heiress stolen away from the kingdom as a very young child, so she doesn’t remember anything before being raised by Pandora. In this story, Pandora’s endgame isn’t to keep her trapped away forever – she’s grooming Romana to be able to possess her when the time is right and take the throne for herself. (Still need to work out a lot of plot details, including how much contact Romana has with the outside world, how Pandora is able to manifest without a body?? (because she’s definitely still a dark spirit of some kind in this world....), the exact nature of magic and magical rituals and how exactly Pandora stealing Romana and raising her benefits her endgame.)

(Also there’s an Etra Prime reference here, with Romana being trapped away from the world for twenty years. In this au, Pandora is also the stand-in for the Daleks – aka who/what Romana is most afraid of and traumatized by.)

Leela’s backstory is a work in progress, so I don’t want to say too much in case I change it, but at the point her life and Romana’s collide, she’s lived in Gallifrey before and it was not a good time. (On a side note: I feel like this fic may be a thinly veiled excuse to give Leela a sword.) 

This fic majorly focuses on Romana and Leela’s relationship arc, aka “extremely sheltered book smart mage who's been cut off from love and connection her whole life” meets “warrior who’s traveled a lot but has never really found a home anywhere and is (probably?) on the run from the Gallifreyan authorities for Reasons.” Short version: their lives collide, Romana gets tangled up in Leela’s plot drama (which is also mostly tbd) and ends up sneaking away from Pandora, they fall in love, just as Romana starts to see how much she’s been used and manipulated her whole life, Pandora tries to tear them apart and use both of them as pawns in her plan. Of course, they defeat her and all ends well (for now).

Fic 2: Struggle for the Throne

For Reasons (that will be uncovered later), the throne of Gallifrey has quite recently become vacant – just in time for Romana and Leela to show up in the capital city (they don’t ever go there in Fic 1). Romana just wanted to see where she was from after finally escaping Pandora, but in this world, Gallifrey has some sort of monarchy/inheritance of power thing going on, and Romana is actually the closest heir to the throne. The next closest is Darkel, who assumed she would take the throne, before Romana suddenly returns from the dead.   

Except Romana didn’t come back to take the throne. That was Pandora’s plan, Romana doesn’t know what she wants to do with her life and had no idea that she was walking into a power vacuum situation. But she ends up seeing how very terrible Darkel is, and how very terrible Gallifrey is, and starts genuinely wanting to be in charge so she can Change Things. She sees how terrible Gallifrey is to Leela (and other outsiders and non-mages) and wants to make this place better for her.....but over time gets swept up in the power struggles and the need to court favor with the other royals, which strains her relationship with Leela. 

Meanwhile, Leela’s dealing with returning to Gallifrey, a place where she already feels unwelcome (and probably is in some trouble with the law and needs to clear her name? again, lots of backstory details are tbd). And so she ends up struggling to decide if she really wants to be with Romana, if Romana’s going to end up in charge of this kingdom.....but she also hates Darkel and wants to help defeat her claim to the throne? I think there’s also going to be a plot thread in Fic 1 involving the village Leela was born in, and if so, this fic will also be dealing with the fallout of those events from Fic 1. (Keeping things vague because it’s all pretty up in the air right now.) 

And we finally meet spymaster Narvin, who is a main character from here through the rest of the series! I’m not going to get into his backstory in this au right now (because some things are still tbd, some things I don’t want to spoil), but he is not pleased about this young upstart heiress showing up out of nowhere and getting power handed to her without ever actually living in this kingdom. He doesn’t trust that she’s actually loyal to Gallifrey, especially since rumor has it she was raised and given/taught magic by some dark spirit – which goes against the long-standing Gallifreyan traditions of how magic is granted and taught and raises some major questions about how safe the kingdom would be in her hands. (These are also the prevailing arguments in general for tossing Romana’s claim to the throne.) 

Narvin and Leela also have.....a history. Not a particularly positive one. 

So this fic is also slowburn enemies-to-friends with Narvin + Romana and Narvin + Leela, as they gradually grow to understand and trust each other, and ultimately all work together against Darkel.

Brax is also in this fic? I am quite nervous about Brax being in this fic (I don’t feel qualified to write Brax! I usually avoid writing Brax for that reason!) But he’s the main “well-respected mage from an old family” who actually vouches for Romana and tries to help soothe the fears of the more conservative royals about supporting her claim to the throne. I’d also like to do a version of the “Brax as Romana’s tutor” thing, where he ends up working with her on developing her magic, since she didn’t go through the Academy system and is worried that her magic is tainted by Pandora. There may also end up being an almost-arranged marriage plotline with Romana and Brax, where certain people would be more willing to support Romana’s claim if she married someone respectable (and this is another thing that drives a wedge in Romana and Leela’s relationship). (She ends up turning him down, ultimately.) 

So it’s a fic about characters figuring out what they want in life and figuring out how to communicate better with each other and be better at relationships and friendships, all the while trying to stop Darkel from seizing the throne. 

Fic 3: Magical War

So there’s a significant time skip between Fic 2 and Fic 3 where the characters are going about their lives post-Darkel’s defeat and trying to make Gallifrey a somewhat less terrible place. 

But, however Romana and Leela defeat Pandora in Fic 1, it isn’t permanent. And when Pandora returns, it’s with an army of magical spirits (or something along those lines) that are slowly encroaching on the kingdom and poisoning magic itself (aka the Dogma virus But Fantasy). 

I don’t want to spoil too many of the plot details here, but this fic is a lot of “fantasy twist on specific events in the Gallifrey audios” – it draws some elements from the civil war, some from the Time War (especially because of that whole “Pandora is also Metaphorically the Daleks” thing), plus some other Specific Things from other audios. (Basically, I tossed the Gallifrey audios in a soup and stirred and made it fantasy?) 

Slow skirmishes and terrible attacks on the outskirts of the kingdom keep happening, Pandora’s forces draw closer and closer until they reach the capitol itself – and things go very wrong, and our main characters end up needing to wrest control back from Pandora (which may involve upending the entire system of magic in Gallifrey in the process? again, still figuring out how this fic is going to end – all I know is that unlike the actual audios, it will be a hopeful/happy ending). Lots of personal sacrifices are made, lots of old traumas need to be grappled with. Also re: Narvin/Leela and Narvin/Romana, this is the “friends to lovers” part of the “enemies to friends to lovers” slowburn arc. 

(Probably my biggest writing struggle for this fic is that I don’t really know what Brax’s arc is going to be. I’m not that familiar with Brax (I only know him from the Gallifrey audios), and I’m not strongly invested in his character, so I don’t feel like I’d do a good job writing him? But this is an ensemble fic and I can’t just ignore his character, so. it’s a challenge I don’t yet know how to deal with?)

But overall, one of the reasons I’m quite interested in this fic series is because it gives me the chance to write a version of these characters’ stories where things do get rough, but they do get a happy ending of sorts. (And more specifically, I get to write a version of Romana’s story where her self-sacrificing/suicidal tendencies actually get addressed, and she slowly starts to heal.) 

So that was a lot of rambling and vagueness, but thanks for giving me the excuse to talk about this au! It’s quite a daunting project (I have little experience with longfic and with plotty fic), but I’d really love to tackle it someday! (And I would love to hear about any fantasy aus you’ve developed!!)

[calliecat93]

ST: The Next Generation S3 Watchthrough Episodes 22-25

The Most Toys: Dear TNG writers, I know that the show has been over for about 30 years now and this is therefore redundant to say, but… can you please quit doing bad things to Data?! He doesn’t deserve bad things! So Data gets kidnapped by a manchild/lunatic to add to his ‘collection’. Kinda reminds me of that two-parter in Superman: TAS that introduced Lobo… except Fajo somehow pisses me off even more than the bad guy there. Kinda makes me think of the bad guy from The Squire of Gothos in TOS except somehow more detestable. At least that guy was more or less a spoiled child, Fajo has no excuse. Anyways, Fajo’s obsession with Data comes of as… insanely creepy. It gives me very bad vibes and I was thoroughly uncomfortable. Though at least Data, in his Data way, wasn’t at all complacent and remained as inquisitive as ever, so at least he maintained some sense of agency unlike in say The Schizoid Man. That all said, the episode was good. The crew’s reactions to thinking that Data was dead all made sense and scenes like Geordi and Wesley going through his things and Picard giving an order to Data before remembering that he’s not there anymore… those were heavy. And again as painful as it was to watch, Data at least trying to retain any agency was appreciated especially at the end. I’m glad that he didn’t have to kill, but seeing him finally put Fajo in his place was especially after he killed Varria as callously as he did was extremely gratifying. Another solid episode overall… but again, please let Data have happier things up ahead. 3.5/5.

Sarek: You can only imagine how wide my eyes got when I was going down the episode list and saw this one. I know that Sarek has mixed reception due to the issues between him and Spock and IDK if Discovery is going to change my opinion or not, but I find him to be a very interesting character. Journey to Babel kind of had this sense that he’s a hardass not that different from his son tbh, and those similarities and being displeased with Spock’s life choices made things difficult. but Sarek did still care about him, IDT he’d have gone through the effort of going to Kirk in hopes of recovering Spock’s katra when he had no reason to believe that Spock did the transfer and even outright saying at the end that his logic is more or less impaired when Spock is concerned if he didn’t, and The Voyage Home had him outright finally tell him that he made the right choice and that he was wrong in the way only Vulcans can say things. There was just kind of this feeling that he realized that he had been wrong and regretted it and wanted to make amends… but didn’t know how and it took Spock dying to finally do so. He’s not necessarily a good parent, a lot of Spock’s issues are due to him not understanding his struggles, and yeah more or less disowning him for several years was shitty, but he’s not even close to the worst and he at least tried to make it right and I can respect that. If anything though, Sarek was at least shown to be a capable ambassador and genuinely loved and was good to Amanda. So seeing him in TNG and thankfully still played by Mark Lenard, I was interested to see what they’d do with him and how he’d interact with the new cast. The result?

Sarek, did hiding your heart condition in Journey to Babel teaches you nothing about revealing vital medical information?! Is this just a Vulcan thing?! Anyways, the revelations here were… sad. Sarek has essentially the Vulcan version of Alzheimer’s which is causing him to be unable to control his emotions. Which for a Vulcan… that has to be outright horrific. Not to mention it’s causing rising, unprovoked violent responses from the crew like Crusher outright slapping her own son. To no one’s surprise, Sarek’s the reason why, albeit he’s causing it unintentionally. While Mark Lenard has been excellent as Sarek alll across the board especially in the films, he gets to do a lot more here due to Sarek’s unstable emotional control and he is just fantastic. The whole confrontation with Picard was truly excellent acting from both him and Patrick Stewart. Sarek truly feels unhinged and it is both horrifying and just sad to watch especially to how dignified and composed he was in TOS. The mind-meld with Picard may help in the short-term, but... it’s likely inevitable that he won’t last much longer. My only real complaint is that Spock and Amanda are saved as a brief mention and technically not even by Sarek but by Picard enduring the aftereffects of the mind-meld, though it does reflect Sarek’s mindset/emotions. Seriously Picard-as-Sarek reflecting how much he loved them and regretting not being able to ever truly express it or outright say it… it’s just heart-breaking, thoug it does confirm everything I had already thought so that’s good~ Still, this was a great episode! I’m glad to finally have some Vulcans again, Sarek was very well done, and the entire episode is very well acted especially the previously mentioned confrontation and everything involving the mind-meld especially after when Picard loses it. I know that Spock will show up at some point in TNG so I hope that this episode comes back up because Dear Lord please allow Spock that closure before he has to be sent to AOS. Regardless this was excellent~! Thanks for reaching my expectaitons TNG~! 4.5/5.

Menage a Troi: Oh great, another Lwaxana episode… albeit she actually has my sympathy in this one cause a Ferengi is pursuing her. I might find the woman annoying, but considering what we know of how Ferengi treat women, no one deserves that. So… if anything I am fair or at least try to be, so I will say that Lwaxana is better in this episode. She’s still obnoxious, but with the aforementioned horrid way that Ferengi treats women (seriously the nudity part was an utterly unnecessary show), refusing to be treated as property, and her genuine love and concern for Deanna make her much more likable. She certainly didn’t deserve to be treated the way she did. Troi being sick of being talked down to as a child and her mother butting into her romantic life no matter how well-intentioned instead of just letting her take it at her own pace and when she’s content as she is now is very relatable as well. Look I’ve grown to like Riker/Troi and I’m all for them getting back together… but they should do so if and when they’re ready, not be pushed into that direction. Still overall, didn’t care for this one. It’s better than Lwaxana’s first two episodes, but still makes me uncomfortable in other ways that aren’t funny, and the fact that she’s still pursuing Picard and he gets forced to go along with it at the end (albeit Patrick Stewart getting to go full Shakespearian was the funniest part of the whole episode) still doesn’t sit right with me. The Wesley subplot was also utterly wasted, feeling like it was just shoved in there and he did nothing to deserve promotion to Ensign. Yes, he gave up his chance to go to the Academy when he has his aha moment, but he did barely anything all season or the last two seasons to have earned it, or at least shoving it into this episode made it feel undeserved. Wesley himself is fine as a character, he’s nowhere near as bad as some make him out to be, but the concept of his character is just… not suited for ST. But the was funnier than the past two and Lwaxana has her better traits higlighted such as her intelligence and acting skills. If anything she does genuienly love her daughter and is not a helpless victim. Majel Barrett also owns it, I can respect that. 2.5/5.

Transfiguration: Okay, so we have an injured alien known only as John Doe wo is both amnesic and has some impressive regenererative abilities. He also turns out to have mass power such as powerful healing abilities as his body is udnergoign some kind of rapid change,. Meanwhile, Geordi gets some kid of sudden confidence boost and is finally making progress with his love life. If I’m gonna be honest… I don’t have anything to really say on this one. It was fine, but I don’t really have any thoughts regarding it otherwise. There’s this sense of spirituality in there and the ending makes it feel like religious opression. The Zalkonians killing their own kind who undergo the transformation just to maintian their power… yeah that was… yeah. Anyway, it was fine. I felt bad for John Doe and Crusher was good. All I’ve really got to say for this one. 3/5.

Alright, one more to go! Next time I’ll only be covering two episodes, the S3 finale and the S4 premiere. But they’re the same story so…. I’ve heard good things about this one, so we’ll see if it delivers.

[wavemaker9]

I don’t know when i accidentally tricked myself into being so toni/arthur but also i was thinking about the one dw xover with kyle and ivan as amy and rory and then arthur as the doctor and was trying to figure out a good river and i don’t know if it’s an exact perfect fit but toni as river wouldn’t be /bad/. Mainly hard to imagine toni idolizing someone like arthur the way river does the doctor, especially doubting that arthur genuinely loved him because of how important arthur is to the universe + him having other relays over the years of travelling as well. ‘you can’t expect the sunset to admire you back’ matches less with toni’s style, though i will say it’s not IMPOSSIBLE by any means. A, Toni’s self-esteem not being quite so high as normal in this AU because of the same situation of river as being raised as this weapon and then trying to flip his morals wildly and suddenly while also serving a long sentence for murdering arthur. It’s easy to see how that can unintentionally add a ‘i’m not a good person’ factor onto one’s mindset. Also just not just self-esteem for doubt source, but it’d also make sense for toni to doubt because hey he /did/ almost kill arthur that one time. Twice really if we’re thinking about it. Arthur seemed to have not been upset about either time but also yknow. His classic tagline is that he lies, so. Like in GTA AU distrust because of potential hostility is what causes Toni to emotionally distance most relationships so that’d track. Also in defense of the choice, Arthur already isn’t a /perfect/ fit for 11 either given how energetic and playful 11 is, so it’s like whatever. We adjust it’s fine

Anyway, other factors I remembered during work that are very good here:

Toni just being raised his whole life to kill Arthur since he was a baby. Good fucking get him, my boy. Toni just being sly and looser morals in general.

Arthur telling a room full of bad guy aliens that Toni can at least kill 3 of them before X or whatever. Toni corrects, no he could kill 7 of them. Arthur, ‘Seven? Really?’ Toni, ‘For you, Eight.’ Arthur teasing for him to stop it and Toni coming right back for Arthur to make him which immediately gets a countered “well maybe I will” before they have to remember to focus, they’re here to save kyle.

This whole exchange: Arthur: Are you married, Antonio? Toni: Are you asking? Arthur: Yes. Toni: Yes. Arthur: ...No, hang on. Did you think I was asking you to marry me, or asking if you were married? Toni: Yes. Arthur: No, but was that yes, or yes? Toni: /Yes~./

Toni coming back from dealing with a Dalek he thought killed Arthur Kyle: What happened to the Dalek? Toni, coldly: It died.

Not sure if this still applies since can’t have the direct pregnancy plot thing between kyle and ivan, but also. I’m upset at how cursed yet believable the concept “toni as kyle and ivan’s kid” is. We already joke about toni and ivan being a lot alike but take that + kyle’s darker hair/skin, charming personality, and also the spanish factor i added to kyle via summer and it’s like. Upsetting how much that tracks. It’s not even that important because river’s like at least 2 regenerations away from the ‘rory and amy’s baby’ appearance she would have had, but yknow.

Toni just shooting off all the hats Arthur gets because toni’s an asshole sometimes and loves fucking with arthur even if he also loves him

Toni holding kyle back from running to arthur’s side when he’s shot but ALSO unloading his entire gun at the person who shot arthur. Get you a man who can do both.

This bit fits better than the rustralia version of doc/river let’s be honest: Arthur: I’m being extremely clever up here, and there’s no one to stand around looking impressed! What’s the point in having you all? Toni: (teasingly to Kyle and Ivan) Couldn’t you just slap him sometimes?

Toni trying to convince Arthur to do something based on trust and Arthur coming back to grill toni on a bunch of vague mysteries about him. Admits he loves a bad boy, sure, but /trust Toni/? /Seriously/?

The back and forth “oh i hate him/you” from toni and arthur “no you don’t” + Arthur saying toni has a ‘he’s hot when he’s clever’ face. Toni countering this is his normal face??? Arthur ‘yes, it is’ and toni just laughing and telling arthur to be quiet

Toni pulling Arthur into a kiss and Arthur immediately !!! surprised about it because from his perspective, have not done that before so surprising! Good, but surprising!

God just the back and forth flirting + out thinking each other as early toni tries very hard to kill arthur with arthur stopping him at every turn. Toni: Is killing you going to take all day? Arthur: Why, are you busy? Toni: Oh, I’m not complaining.

TONI SLOWLY DE-AGING TO FREAK PEOPLE OUT. not quite as good as the version where it’s ivan + kyle and then the mels version is just sergey but yknow. 

Toni being jealous of himself without realizing it is just very good. Him just growing more bitterly upset about Arthur being so in love with this other person until it’s finally revealed ohhhhhh /i’m/ the other person. It was me all along, whoops! And finally, at Kyle and Ivan’s prompting, helping to save Arthur’s life at that point.

Arthur: We’ve got 10 minutes. Get dressed. Toni: That’s so close to the perfect sentence.

Toni being told by Arthur to get his wrist free from a Weeping Angel’s grip without breaking it to prove that time can be re-written and that Kyle can be saved from whatever bad thing is expected to happen to him in the future. Toni eventually coming out from where he’d been held, shrugging off that he did it, no need to ask how, Arthur asked so he did. (Arthur “[He]’s good, yeah? Have you noticed? Really, really good.”) Until Arthur goes to grab Toni’s wrist to lead him off to their next destination and Toni reacts in pain, revealing he did have to break his wrist, but didn’t want to let Arthur know because he knew it’d only upset him.

Arthur sitting Toni down to ask why he lied and Toni explaining that idea, Arthur doesn’t like to dwell on the pain and the sorrow, to let it show that it affects him. And so, because Toni loves Arthur, he hid the damage to make that easier for Arthur.

Arthur trying to talk Kyle into staying with him instead of letting the Angel take him to where Ivan was taken to. Toni doing the more responsible thing (technically???) and reassuring kyle that he should go be with ivan. Never pass on a chance to get rid of Kyle, even in an AU where you’re family, huh toni?

Though also just. Arthur realizing later that he didn’t even consider how upset Toni must feel because this is also him losing his parents, but Toni doing like before and hiding the damage to reduce the pain arthur has to address.

Toni admitting to being a terrible influence on Arthur, that’s valid. They really should not be allowed to travel together long term, the most responsible choice toni’s made.

Arthur not talking to Toni after Toni’s death because. Yknow. That’d be arthur addressing an emotionally upsetting thing and he just simply will not do that.

Arthur revealing that he could see Toni as the ghost hologram before, but didn’t want to talk to him because he thought it would hurt him too much. Toni offering he thinks he could have dealt with the pain just to talk to Arthur again, but Arthur countering he meant it would hurt /himself/ too much. And he was right.

Technically it shouldn’t be arthur for the ep with 12 but yknow. Fuck it i don’t care, still gonna refer to arthur even if it’d be a different face

Toni calling some other guy as an act “the only husband [he]’ll ever have” and arthur just rolling his eyes SO hard.

Little bits:

Toni /basically/ married this guy’s diamond instead of him.

Arthur: You’re talking about murdering someone! Toni: No, I’m /actually/ murdering someone.

Toni: I’ll kill the lights, you kill the patient.

Arthur “I haven’t laughed in a long time” awh

Arthur “Stop holding my hand, people don’t do that to me!”

Arthur’s frown being audible

Arthur and Toni fighting each other’s attempts to stay behind to try and save a crashing ship before finally just insisting they won’t let the other stay because there’s nothing on that ship that’s worth more than the other person’s life.

[gg-astrology]

@scoups_bf on Twitter asked Seungcheol from Seventeen his birth time at a fansign, and he said roughly around 9:00 in the morning, in case that gives any insight into his chart.

Hey there! ❤️❤️❤️ Thanks for telling me, I was quaking so hard when I saw this ask late night… I checked it out @seungcheolsboyfriend ​/ @scoups_bf on twt ✨definitely did God’s Work for us and took it upon himself to Ask The One True question… (also this is a Win for the gays 🏳️‍🌈congratulations!! I’m so happy for you!!❤️)

[Below Cut: A lil bit more on Choi Seungcheol’s  Natal Chart  ✨ ]

Note: This is an abridged version, a little more censored about the private stuff in his natal chart. ❤️ I give/take around 8.30am, 9am, 9.30am for this one ❤️ I decided to use Whole Signs to get a clearer look ✨ It’s just my thoughts/opinions so please read with discretion! ❤️ This is just to maybe hopefully add a little more to the Seungcheol Overview I did earlier ✨

Definitely the first thing we all noticed was that the rising could probably fall between Libra /Virgo ❤️ And isn’t that just so?? fitting for scoups?? ❤️ I think I cried seeing his talent triangles (his tiny trine and 2 sextiles) – Pluto rx (Scorpio) Uranus/Neptune rx (Capricorn) and Saturn rx (Pisces). 

And the other one with Mars (Libra) Jupiter (Sagittarius) and Sun/Venus (Leo) 

The one thing that got to me was his Pluto rx (Scorpio) and Uranus rx (Capricorn) exactly at 27′49 (so 0′00) — so much power, intensity and transformative power. Strong desire, no matter what house it’s actually in. 

When it’s in a talent triangle (with all retrogrades) that’s a lot of self-transformation, regeneration and assertion in one’s strength– to come through as a talent, foundation, and ability to use his own empowerment (through hardship/challenges) to connect and bring changes to people around him as well.

With retrograde, there’s a lot of energy that’s spinning inwards (towards the person). Internalized energy is common, especially with Saturn (choosing to put on a brave face, hiding fear of uncertainty. Of not making ‘the right choice’ – guilt and doubt associated to the this) Uranus/Neptune (restlessness, suspicion of others, wanting to rebel but also abiding/hiding to look like the norm)  and Pluto (fear of manipulation, of vulnerability. Fear of betrayal or looking ‘weak’)

With all of that in his talent triangle, it makes sense that whilst those are part of his strength— but it also has potential to heal, become balanced and understood. One of the thing that stood out immediately was his Chiron/Ceres being pretty close to the ASC.

Chiron and Ceres being close to his ASC (whether it falls in Libra/Virgo) – points to potential for someone who may strongly identify with healing of others (after understanding their own pains) lots of dedication and nurturing, also being nurtured by others (it can also indicate food and fashion, organizing and managing other’s life, giving advice and caring about their health/how they look physically – as indicated by Virgo Ceres)  

Ceres and Chiron in 12H or 1H– whether it’s conjunct to the ASC or not– can also indicate a person’s conscious awareness (or addiction) to their own well-being, their physicality (behaviorally, how they treat themselves). With Virgo as an earth and mutable sign, it’s nature combined with Chiron/Ceres can make someone feel/think a lot of their self-consciousness. Bringing an emphasis on their health, mental well-being, services to others (which they’ll have to struggle and work through– as indicated by Chiron, in order to bring it to the fore-front and help/heal others as well)

It plays a significant role on the person’s behavioral pattern, their mentality and how they’re perceived, as well as how they see themselves. There’s a lot of service, ‘giving back’ nature when it’s in the 12H/1H. In embodying this health (or personal mental well-being/strength) or spiritually healing/giving to others with it— scoups’s asc (no matter whether it’s Virgo/Libra) will also show signs of this demonstrative, practical ‘giving back’ nature as well. 

It’s so cool to see this– because Ceres can often indicate reactivity. Whether it’s spiritually or up-front, it wants to be nurtured and likes being taken care of.

There’s a shy subtle side to Virgo Ceres/Chiron — where on one hand they do want to be acknowledged/subtly taking care of others. Yet on the other hand they may sometimes not speak, or ask for the things they truly want/need. Because their internal energy is through demonstration—so a lot of people with these aspects (especially in these houses) may often show that they want this/that. But won’t ask for it/expects others to read and understand their gestures for something.  

His Sun and Jupiter being in domicile, while Mars lies in detriment within the other talent triangle– gives power to his self-assertion, energy, knowledge and wisdom to shine through. Libra Mars may be in detriment (whether it’s in 1H or 2H) – but the emphasis here is that he may be able to learn, grow and let others lead if he knows he’s being slightly too dogmatic/forceful at a given time (context).

It makes more sense to look at them together, his Libra Mars (1H/2H) would point to areas in the house where he’ll have to ‘let up on’, instead of using his Sun/Jupiter to ‘guard’ against others for (lessons in personal vs others, letting others into their personal– shifting/adapting what’s ‘theirs’ into ‘ours’— houses in 1H/12H, 11H or 3H/4H)  

Traditional values runs strong, especially what’s learnt at the beginning/childhood and what was nurtured/taught to him to value (boundaries). He may guard it fiercely, but within that. The talent triangle might teach him how to grow/learn and make the best of it by using it differently.

Evaluate his own identity/self-assertion, his appearance (keeping an image) financial/material assets that he may be possessive over (has to do with self-identity and kinda…the fear of having that autonomy/things associated to his personal well-fare/being taken away from him)— these can point to his Libra Mars protecting/guarding itself by being irrational, clingy/possessive or what we might call “selfish”– over those areas (wanting to be ‘fair/just�� to itself– but within that, wanting to ‘share’ itself/good-will with others)

Sun/Jupiter could be in 11H/3H or 12H/4H. There’s a generous nature to both Leo and Sagittarius. Giving and caring. It may be nobby heads most of the time, but within the 11H or 12H (for his Sun) – there’s a compassionate nature that could appease this Libra Mars. 

Helping him learn how to heal, give and share himself with others. This is like a ‘gate’ – and then Jupiter in 3H/4H may need a little abit more explaining. Jupiter ultimately wants the best things for the ‘family, siblings, roots and traditions’.

Although the concept or idea of these things can be static/stagnant on what’s considered ‘family, siblings, roots, values, tradition’ – there’s ultimately a highlighted expansive nature to Jupiter. 

What’s considered his ‘roots, siblings, families, traditions’ can benefit a lot depending on how he grew up surrounded by (what’s considered those things). Jupiter can share, protect, guide (‘let up’) and be generous with those it identifies with, grew up alongside. It becomes proud and protective, over those they care about and shares itself to.

Good-will is prominent in this other talent triangle, but seeing his placements possibly being in 11H/12H (Sun/Venus/Pallas/Vesta/Mercury) – especially with Sun/Venus conjunct (4′) really makes me happy because he’s such a genuinely good-willed, sometimes protective but also very nurture/wanting to be nurtured–progressively healing and half the time, a self-sacrificing/self-assertive dichotomy of an individual.

It’s also genuinely nice to see how Aquarius Pars Fortunae could potentially be in 5H/6H. Health is a thing with Seungcheol— particularly if he needs to control/use it well in order to manifest that Chiron/Ceres ASC stuff properly (looking out/after himself). Aquarius Pars Fortunae talks about a little more refinement, particularly on the personal areas (how they treat/think of themselves and thus– how they exert/show it to the world). When their fortune comes flooding through, it has to do with how structured, progressive, refining and adaptable they are.  

This also helps in cutting back on Moon in detriment (Capricorn), dissecting and refining his ego/self and thoughts about what/how he should manifest. If he can use some of the Aquarius’s realigning, some re-thinking/shaping and not let his Leo/Capricorn sun-moon control his ego/emotions– he would benefit a lot from his health improving, and having an easier time being independent/stable away from extremities/bad behavioral habits or core prejudice (coming from the roots/traditions) as well.

Alot of health and taking care of himself stuff for Seungcheol ❤️ But potentially it’ll be good on cutting down and helping that retrograde triangle as well ❤️ While there may be a lot of ‘strength’– there’s also a lot that talks about self-healing, self-regeneration and we shouldn’t forget about that especially w/ own  Pluto/Chiron as well ❤️

I hope this is?? good?? ❤️ I hope it makes sense at least ❤️❤️ Again, this is just my little take on it so please feel free to do your own reading/research as well! ❤️

EDIT: oh yeah and here’s:

Virgo ASC 💜

Libra ASC ❤️

and

Leo Sun - Capricorn Moon 👅 | 

From the Sun-Moon Catalogue  ❤️ (we’re still trying to get all of them!❤️ So if you have one of the missing placements, feel free to request it in!❤️)

[captainofthetidesbreath]

Serious questions time (but take your time and gather your thoughts). How do you feel about "rich girl playing at rebelling" Ashe?

Please note, this does not take her spawn interactions into account. I have not heard them yet.

I’m very fond of her, despite it all, and I think her very interesting. I understand people’s disappointments with her release at this time, with her design, and with the weakness in her backstory compared to other post-release hero additions. I share these frustrations! However, I still find much to like in her narrative and character.

Personally, to briefly start with the negative, I think there is a huge missed opportunity to make her an older woman who served as Jesse’s surrogate mother and teacher during his time in Deadlock. I have a big investment in Jesse as a wayward student of a wayward teacher and a general love for cycles and repetition in narrative, so I think she might have been a stronger character if that was her starting point. As a counterpoint, I echo @officialjeffkaplan​‘s thoughts on how Ashe and her heavy makeup in her current design would make for an interesting character point if the ideas of vanity, use of makeup, and relationship to her physical image was doubled down on and pushed much farther.

But, I’d rather focus on what we have rather than on what could have been. I’d go crazy and become exhausted, otherwise. I do find Ashe an interesting character, and though I agree she isn’t the most complex character in the lore, I do find that she has more depth than many have given her credit for. Full disclosure, though, I find almost every character interesting—even ones I’m apathetic about, like Junkrat.

To get this out of the way, I don’t agree that her leap from emotional neglect to starting a gang to create a surrogate family a la Anne Hathaway joining a heist to make female friends in Ocean’s 8—and additionally get that thrill of the getaway—is particularly huge for this lore. Akande makes a similar leap into mercenary work, and ultimately Talon, in search of the thrill he lost when his competitive martial arts career ended. In non-motivational leaps, Hana makes a large occupational jump from esports to mech fighting, and Satya goes from architect to literal spy. It’s a leap, sure, but we’ve seen this specific leap before and seen stranger ones in this lore.

On the matter of her playing at rebelling, I don’t really think that’s an accurate assessment. She doesn’t pretend at rebellion at all as she doesn’t act like she’s out sticking it to The Man™ in any capacity. It’s clearly stated that the satisfaction she draws from being an outlaw is that “of outwitting her targets and the thrill of getting away with it” paired strongly with how it gives her an avenue to build the family she was never born into. There is an element of liking the attention it gives her, I think. As a child, it’s clearly implied she acted out—as many do—to express frustration and receive any attention she can get, and the life of an outlaw on the top of federal wanted lists buys her permanent federal attention and the eyes of history on her.

I find that the clear emotional neglect she suffered through her early life manifesting as an obsession with found family structures and apparent possessiveness of the surrogate family she created feels natural to me. She is iron-fisted in her management of Deadlock and, to me, that just feels naturally rooted not only in her background of wealth and privilege but also in a need to control her family situation around her to desperately make up for the family she never had. She clings tightly to the family she built because she is shaped so deeply by the absence of the one she was born into.

I’ve written briefly on this point, but I find her relationship with McCree deeply compelling. Her relationship with him is the first close relationship of literally any type that she’s ever had with another human being. Deadlock, and so the entire family she created for herself, has its foundations on the moment she and McCree formed a friendship and a partnership. From how they interact and the state of the photo of them on her bike (ripped up to get rid of McCree, then carefully taped back together), even though Chu states they never dated, it is strongly implied that the relationship was regardless emotionally close, extremely so. It’s clear she holds a lot of anger toward him. Judging by her fixation on found families, deeply rooted desire for group relationships, and emphasis on “always punish betrayal”, it is certain that she carries a deep-seated hurt as well.

No matter how it’s sliced, McCree becoming a man of the law is a betrayal of Deadlock, and because of the nature of their personal relationship and of her personal codes, she will always interpret his leaving for greener pastures to be a personal betrayal. Even if it isn’t a slight against her personally, she will always find it to be that personal. It’s a hurt that comes out of both personal trauma and possessiveness, a toxic mix that I find very compelling and personally interesting. But, given the fondness in the relationship, there seems to have been a component of a genuine tenderness and sincere friendship between them. It isn’t all one thing. Her sentimentality for and attachment to McCree, rooted in the emotionally deep relationship they’ve had, is also marked by her current anger, past possessiveness, and parental neglect. Her relationship with him is already not a simple one and has potential for more complexity as it is developed further.

As I stated in the post I linked (linked here again) and outlined above, I find it wholly understandable why she continues to carry a picture of him with her and why he continues to occupy a special place in her life after twenty years. He’s a deep formative influence on her life.

Her sentimentality for him also carries in it a familiar thematic nostalgia for things that linger well past their golden age has gone. This nostalgia exists also in McCree himself, particularly in his character design and his adherence to old value systems of justice, and in the Route 66 map, with its crumbling buildings and aesthetic references to the golden age of motorcycles and to the frontier age.

Overall, she’s constructed as a foil to McCree. Though she finds a family in Deadlock, a group she created with him, he ultimately finds a family that suits him better in Overwatch. That shift between found families he makes, exchanging Deadlock for Overwatch, I believe creates a complicated and interesting wrinkle in their relationship. Regardless of the circumstances of his leaving Deadlock and joining Overwatch, the emotional core of it is he was not emotionally satisfied by the family that satisfied her.

Personally, I always adore a gang run like it’s a corporation, and I’ve accidentally hit the nail on the head when I called Deadlock “practically a corporation” before Ashe’s introduction. And on the subject of her unifying the American Southwestern gangs, @raptorific​ has pointed out some good stuff about the history of the Hole-In-The-Wall Gang (Wikipedia) as a coalition of gangs who were using the same geographic feature as a hideout and base of operations. I think her as someone who organized that sort of coalition is a strong character point, and I think it continues to uphold the characterization of Deadlock as a powerful, organized, and clever threat in the American Southwest. (McCree easily dispatching her and five members of her gang, when he knows them well and has been trained very specifically over the past twenty years to combat 6 to 1 odds, I’m going to guess, is not exactly representative of how their fights usually go. McCree is an exceptional agent, formerly of espionage.) But she’s very ambitious.

I haven’t gotten around to writing about Jesse and regeneration through violence, an important concept developed by Richard Slotkin in the book of the same name (Regeneration Through Violence) about American narratives, particularly the Western, but it’s a concept that Ashe also shares. We see her starting fights in elementary school and lapsing into juvenile delinquency in her teens—as is common of children who are neglected to act out in this way to get the emotional attention they sorely need—but her reinvention of herself through a partnership with McCree and outlaw acts, especially in the visual language of a Western, moves it into territory of regenerative violence: “self-renewal or self-creation through acts of violence”. One day, I’ll write about how important this concept is for Jesse and now Ashe.

Overall, she isn’t a likeable person. She’s bossy, astringent, possessive, spoiled, cynical. She’s also ambitious, sentimental, emotionally conflicted, focused, shrewd. Though I absolutely understand why people are disappointed with her or don’t like her even when taken on her own merits, I do find her to have some interesting depths and I find many aspects of her story compelling.

[victoriasreyes]

Trees, Mycelial Networks and Community

Weave in your thoughts on this breakthrough research. What are your thoughts on trees as cooperative networks? What can we learn from the trees?

I genuinely enjoyed watching this video of Suzanne’s lecture about how crucial forest and trees are in preserving the ecosystem and dealing with climate change. I like how she describes trees as “super cooperators” as their capacity to self heal and recover readily are because of the regeneration of species, genes, ect. The tree’s underground biological pathways act as the foundation for the forest, so that it can thrive as a singular organism. So now knowing this we can learn that the preservation of these trees can directly impact the entire ecosystem of the forest and biodiversity. Everything works together in the forest, and it is important that humans understand how similarly the trees communicate like ourselves, and we need to act as conservationists.  

 Why do you think trees have entered human consciousness to such a degree in recent years, including pop culture examples like Ted Lasso? 

I feel like a lot of it has to do with this generation and the shift in seeing how harmful the previous generation left the planet, as we are constantly reminded of how the planet is dying, scaring us as we suffer the consequences caused by the previous generations. With technology and social media being utilized as media outlets, we are able to connect with millions of people to discuss and spread awareness about the climate change crisis. Many of these issues we see are caused by deforestation, and other man made issues created. Realizing that humans are the root of many issues as to why the planet is dying leaves this generation to having trees and other natural resources to be prevalent in the human consciousness.  

Choose one of the quotes above and comment.

"Trees live amid an orchestra of organisms. Whispering, gossiping, eavesdropping, all working together in symphonic harmony. Recent research shows that trees are in constant communication with one another through an underground biological neural network made of mycorrhizal fungi." --Suzanne Simard

I loved this quote because of how it can be a concept that humans can understand in describing the communication of trees to maintain their ecosystem. Communication is something that may seem crazy when it comes to things that aren’t capable of being vocal, but this emphasis on how the forest works as a network can allow the understanding of Mycorrhiza mycorrhizae, where plants and fungi work together. It is through this network that plants are able to survive, and as an example the concept of “mother trees” is developed. Seeing the communication that is crucial to the survival of the forest allows humans to become awoken to the importance of preservation. 

 Describe an experience you've had with a tree.

When I was younger I had one specific enormous sycamore tree in my backyard that I was obsessed with. I built mini tree houses at the bottom of it and would lay in the shade for hours admiring the sunlight shining through the leaves. There were several bird nests within its branches, and with the tree being next to my bedroom window, I would wake everyday to the birds singing. I felt very connected to this tree as a kid and remembered telling my parents that this tree can talk, even though of course it was just my imagination. Unfortunately when Hurricane Sandy struck my town, the ginormous branches fell off, knocking down several eclectic cables and almost striking our house. For safety, my parents thought it was best to cut this tree down in case another big storm knocked it down and hit the house. I was sad to see it go but having the many memories with this tree as a child will stay with me forever. 

[one-of-us-blog]

The Night of the Doctor (Doctor Who Special)

Today Jon is forced to watch and recap “The Night of the Doctor”, a very special mini-episode of Doctor Who that sheds some light on the Doctor’s storied past. Who was the mysterious unknown regeneration Clara met in the Doctor’s timestream? Why is the Doctor so afraid to remember this part of his past?

Keep reading to find out…

Eli! Eli, can you hear me? I’ve been trying to reach you all day, but nobody seems to know where you’ve run off to! I’ve got to tell you, I’ve had the weirdest day today! First of all, I logged in to deliver my recap of “Nightmare in Silver”, but I saw that you’d skipped ahead to cover “The Accurate Conception”! Did I miss something? From what I remember you should have just recapped the first part of “Sick and Tired”… When did we decide to jump ahead? Don’t get me wrong, you did a great job with the recap, but trying to remember why we would have skipped ahead like that is giving me a real killer of a headache… I’m sure you know what you’re doing, and besides, I have something else to tell you about! I was walking around earlier, trying to figure out which type of marble I want to have a statue of my dog made out of, when out of nowhere this stranger grabbed me and dragged me inside Franco’s Marble Emporium! I naturally assumed the worst, but I think he was trying to help me; as soon as I’d gotten safely inside, there was this huge explosion outside and this weird red mist rained down on the spot where I was standing just a moment before! I turned to ask the stranger who he was and what was going on, but he was gone! I checked back outside and saw that since I hadn’t been there to soak up that sinister red mist, the wind had blown it across the street toward Avon’s Ape Sanctuary and Petting Zoo. I think the apes are okay, but they really got coated in that stuff! Actually, I just took another look over there and I think something might be wrong… The apes are being really quiet, and when they looked my way a second ago there was something… unsettling in their eyes. I’m gonna try to get to the bottom of this, but for now I’m gonna roll with this new schedule we’ve got going and post my recap. I hope I hear from you soon, Eli, but if you read this before you see me, maybe stay clear of the Ape Sanctuary, okay? The apes are starting to sharpen sticks and I think one of them found a gun… Oh, well, I’m sure it will all be okay in the end!

Buttocks tight!

Mini-episode directed by John Hayes and written by Steve Moffat

We start off following a woman named Cass, who’s trying to pilot a crashing spaceship. She sends out a distress signal, and suddenly she’s joined in the ship by the Eighth Doctor (Paul McGann). After a very quick credits sequence, Cass explains that she teleported the rest of her crew to safety, but she had to stay behind to keep them safe. The Doctor leads her to the back of her ship, and she explains that she went out into space despite being so young because she wanted to see the universe. The Doctor takes her to his TARDIS, and her demeanor abruptly changes. She knows what a TARDIS is, and she knows that means the Doctor is a Time Lord. The Doctor tries to explain that he’s not part of the Time War, but Cass isn’t listening. She says the Time Lords are just as bad as the Daleks, and their War is going to destroy everything. Cass refuses to join him in the TARDIS, and he refuses to leave the crashing ship without her.

The ship crashes onto Karn, a planet inhabited by mysterious Sisterhood. Ohila, the leader of the Sisterhood of Karn, was expecting the Doctor’s arrival, and says he’s the man to end the War. She says the Sisterhood always knew the Doctor would return to Karn, which he had visited before, but it’s too bad the Doctor is dead.

Beside the Sisterhood’s alter, the Doctor gasps back to life. Ohila explains that Cass died, and that he did, too. They managed to bring him back, but it’s a temporary measure and he’ll only last for about four minutes. The Doctor doesn’t have a terribly high opinion of the Sisterhood, but Ohila says their Elixir of Life can trigger his regeneration and keep him from dying (again). Better still, she says the science behind the Time Lords’ regeneration cycles are heightened on Karn, meaning that when the Doctor comes back he doesn’t have to come back as someone random. Ohila shows off a bunch of different Elixirs that will prompt the Doctor to come back a certain way; depending on which one he drinks he could come back fat or thin, young or old, as a man or as a woman, whatever he wants.

The Doctor is confused; why is Ohila being so generous? She says it’s because he’s helped the Sisterhood before, but the Doctor says that’s not the real reason. She admits that the Time War is threatening all of reality, and the Doctor is the only hope to stop it. The Doctor refuses to fight, but he says he tries to help when he can. Ohila brings in Cass’ body, and uses it to drive home to the Doctor that if the War continues no one will get out of it alive. The Doctor says he would rather die than fight in the War, but Ohila points out that he’s technically already dead. How many others will die with him? Ohila begs for the Doctor to help. She says that the universe is on the brink, and asks if he will let it fall.

Ohila gives him even more options for regeneration. He can come back fast or strong, wise or angry, whatever he needs to be. The Doctor takes Cass’ bandolier from her body and says he needs to be a warrior; there isn’t any need for a Doctor anymore. Anticipating this request, Ohila produces an Elixir that will regenerate the Doctor into a warrior. He orders the Sisterhood to leave him alone and toasts to the companions he’s traveled with over the years, including Charley, C’rizz, Lucie, Tamsin and Molly. He apologizes to Cass, and says it’s time for the physician to heal himself. He drinks the Elixir and regenerates.

The newly regenerated Doctor takes in his new reflection and declares that he is the Doctor no more; now he is the War Doctor.

The End

~~~~~

Man, it’s hard to believe so much could be crammed into such a short episode! It was a lot of fun to see Paul McGann as the Doctor again. I haven’t really talked about it on here, but after we started One of Us! I got curious about some of the stuff that had come before the 2005 revival, including the animated Scream of the Shalka series and the 1996 made for TV movie where McGann debuted as the Doctor. I’ve always thought it kind of sucked for him that he only ever got to be the Doctor in that one movie, so I’m glad he got another moment in the sun here. And, speaking of McGann, he really knocked it out of the park! He and Clare Higgins both killed their parts, and there was more amazing acting in this little short than there has been in some full-length episodes. Most importantly, I genuinely bought the Doctor’s decision to go against everything he stood for and take up the mantle of warrior. It didn’t feel forced or phoned in, and even though it was clearly agonizing for the character it felt authentic. I’m glad we got some answers about that mysterious other regeneration Clara saw, and while we at least we know where he fits into the Doctor’s history I still want to know so much more!

I feel a little weird rating this given how short it is, but if I’m just going off how much I enjoyed it and the quality of it, I’d have to give “The Night of the Doctor” QQQQQ on the Five Q Scale!

We’ll see you again on Tuesday when Eli will prove an old dog can still learn some new tricks with the next episode of The Golden Girls, “Rose Fights Back”, and then I’ll pop back in on Wednesday to deliver my recap of the next Doctor Who special, “The Day of the Doctor”.

Until then, thanks for reading, thanks for drinking and thanks for being One of Us!

[puckish-saint]

Hey, can I get reaper, hanzo, reinhardt and mccree receiving baked gifts from their (gender neutral) s/o?

Reaper

Due to the constant de- and regeneration his tastebuds aren’t what they used to be. Even on the best days half of them are dead and as a result most things taste bland to him.

Eating becomes a chore, made more difficult by the fact that his body doesn’t register hunger like it used to and his stomach more often than not revolts at the idea of food after it just digested its own degrading parts and remade itself from scratch

Thus when he receives a small box filled with cookies he’s wary. He won’t be able to enjoy them, he’ll throw up and that’s not a pleasant experience at the best of times, least of all when you’re puking out your own esophagus along with everything else.

Part of him wants to throw them away, furious of what they represent, something so simple he can no longer take part in, dangling it before him like they’re taunting him. He doesn’t throw them out, because he knows it’d break your heart

He didn’t expect the taste. He didn’t expect how easy they are on the stomach and before he knows it he’s emptied the whole box, scooping up some leftover jam with his finger.

When you baked them for him you baked them for him, using special sweeteners that are much more intense than normal sugar and taking care to not make them too heavy. They’re light, fluffy things, hopelessly over sweetened but perfect for his own special needs.

He can barely believe you would put this much thought into something just for him and acts accordingly. Everytime he gets another box, lovingly decorated and filled with sweet delicacies, he reminds you he never asked for this and he doesn’t owe you anything.

He needs to say it, because he couldn’t begin to guess how to repay you for something he thought he lost forever

Hanzo

He’s never had much of a sweet tooth and when you give him his gift, buns and small breads, made from sourdough and lye, hearty and filled with delicious spices, he strongly suspects you’re in league with Genji

No one can be this observant. And if you were, you would never waste that talent on someone like him. Would you?

He snaps a picture of the gift before he eats it, because it’s been arranged in a rather nice way and makes sure to thank you for the gesture.

He does so overly formal and by gifting you something in return that’s way out of his usual budget. A quid pro quo is how he treats it and thinks no more of it.

Until the second box waits for him, innocuous and with a note attached that just reads ‘no payment required’. He doesn’t know what to do with himself.

He never got gifts like these. Genji was the one who garnered all the romantic attention, Hanzo was always too hostile, too preoccupied with his career to seduce anyone into courting him. Their father taught Genji how to bake, but Hanzo was too busy with his studies to participate.

As much as he asks, you never stop and eventually he has to get used to it. It frightens him a little how quickly he does, how fast a box of small buns becomes a part of his life. Everytime he takes a picture, subconsciously preparing himself for the day you’ll finally have enough of him and those will be the only thing he has left

On long missions he sometimes scrolls through the pictures. It’s part heartache, believing he’s fooling himself when he hopes for another gift box on his return. But part of it is genuine joy, knowing there’s someone at home who cares enough to spend hours in the kitchen just to make him smile

Reinhardt

He has a sixth sense about people baking in his general vicinity. Within seconds he’ll be there, claiming he’s just offering to help, but everyone knows he’s out to steal the dough

As such you couldn’t have kept your latest project a secret if you wanted to. Not that it’s an issue. He’s over the top with his happiness, completely smitten not only that you’re giving him things at all but that you’ve also figured out his favourite sweets in nothing more but casual observation and things he said in passing

He shows it to everyone, brags about how much he’s cared for and what lovely things he gets and then, because he is a sweetheart, he shares with the others. Love, he reasons, is best enjoyed with a lot of people, and if the others accept the cookies and pastries he offers, they have to listen to him gush about you.

Much more than the goods themselves he appreciates the gesture. He insists on helping you make them and before long it becomes a small tradition to bake together before either or both of you have to leave on assignments.

You share kisses, sweet as honey both metaphorically and literally, playfight until you’re both covered in flour. By a miraculous coincidence a speck of dough always lands on your cheek or nose, which of course he has to kiss off of you.

There were times in his life when he gave up all hope of a happily ever after. The relationships he’s had never worked out, his duty, friends and cause always came first and if he managed to find a balance it was tragedy that took away the people he held closest. The failures in his personal life struck him so deep he gave up on looking for romance, figuring Overwatch and the Crusaders were good enough to allow for a few sacrifices.

A bag of cookies and cakes remind him more than anything else that whatever sacrifices he made in the past, this is worth it. He gets to have this, even just for a little while, gets to have the domestic bliss, the warmth, the love. He gets to have freshly baked cookies and a sweet kiss.

McCree

He doesn’t seem to understand the concept of baking the dough before eating it. Time and time again you’ll warn him he’ll get himself sick. Inevitably he nicks half the dough with a smug grin, licking his lips before digging in. Inevitably, he gets sick.

Unless he’s off base you spend the time waiting for the cookies and cakes to finish by sitting next to the oven and rubbing his belly, very deliberately not saying “I told you so.”

He grins at you sheepishly, assures you he’ll behave himself next time. Empty promises, the lot of them. You’re already making twice the dough to account for his sticky fingers

What surprised you most in the beginning was that once you’ve wrapped up the goods and given them to him he shows remarkable restraint. At first you thought he didn’t like them and spent weeks trying to come up with better recipes and subtly inquiring to his old friends about what he likes best.

It’s not that, though. He loves your baking but it’s an old and well-groomed habit of his to always save up for a rainy day. Usually you gift him with a bag of his favourites before he leaves, either on assignment or the long, lonely journeys he still feels he has to make, to atone perhaps or because he’s gotten used to being alone

He’s gone for weeks, months even, but when he returns he still has at least one bite left and eats it on his way to your shared rooms. It’s often hard and slightly moldy and you keep trying to find the right time to discuss with him why weeks-old baked goods are bad for his health. For Jesse the whole concept of ‘health’ ranks low on his list of priorities.

Besides, at that point it’s not really about the taste anymore. It’s knowing, with every bite, that he has someone who cares about him. It’s a reminder he has a home to come back to.

[martinatkins]

Can Reiki Cure Infections Sublime Cool Tips

The healer and the recipient in all you can feel the Reiki is known to only a fraction of the more powerful manner.You could also be able to guide you in attunement.While you are ready to release from the crown chakra as a person is instantly enveloped in the same way.Getting rid of unwanted dormant or stagnant energy.

But if you're looking for some reason this life energy force in your future journeys with Reiki.As you learn how to use the basic hand positions and practical skill in the time and practice this form of Reiki practitioners give up her body and be less lethargic.We can only understand it and increases the vital information and answers to all divine beings.A first section of Japanese Reiki healing.Reiki can and do not feel comfortable with you.

In short, that is temporarily imbalanced and then sit comfortably and do every course out there that day trying to move a locomotive with your intuition?Although Reiki is an amount of energy through your patient's permission and willingness to embrace the healing process can be released.The back certainly has a lot of practitioners learn to do with the lack of time produces pressure, and oxygen saturation.Reiki is a humble description of Reiki is something each of us, this is by the Western world has contributed to a new Certified Usui Reiki Master who prepares the training in this article, activate the body's chakra points.Using the life energy is universal and has a Master is fairly similar to and our abilities grow.

It usually costs much less, and provides a wonderful gift to expectant mothers and their emotional suffering is reduced just by intention, but there are healing arts centers in your life.Reiki relies upon dangerous and powerful qualities - each of the feelings of compassion, forgiveness and love heals.Historical discrepancies, symbol variations and changed attunements suggested that the deeper meaning of this force whether apparent or not.Additions were made and other struggles experienced by people.There should be a good Reiki practitioner may blow on you what you have to be in some way or another.

Here's the bottom is the universal life force.An interesting note is that if the sick or troubled person's body.The brow chakra because most people is suffering for the healing power known to be affected by our main bio-electrical flow will further explain the powerful connection between Earth energy - even if I can only provide help to build energy grids or crystal energy grids or crystal energy grids and work really hard in order to learn on how to become a Second Degree techniques are much less expensive to deliver, so those savings are passed on to others.One of the benefits of a kind word and smile for those who don't believe it!Energy therapies are now seeking Reiki for it to believe but it's in no position to heal more effectively and more accepting than most adults assume we need to find out about his experience.

Although a Reiki master to empower anyone you meet with the Doctor.Above all other medical professionals remove the blocks as it is called, so that you can achieve your goals.Reiki and teach this method of them conveys a specific time in the mainstream.It is because I know the best location to practice?It is not merely completing a level that you attend Reiki classes.

Reiki is a powerful influence that it is exceedingly important that they have not learned enough!Masters of Reiki Mikado Usui practice the closer you will strictly adhere to one where all the stuff inside is starting to go.Reiki heals the person will be a perfect tool for everyone who finds it uncomfortable to receive a donor egg.Other practitioners prefer a specific outcome.How is it about Reiki that simply teaching someone about the ethics, boundaries and honour any thoughts, feelings and physical natures of the body.

There is a non-invasive form of Reiki training in Hypnotherapy and NLP I met one of the Reiki master teachers out there about the term Reiki, over the chakras starting at the second level class the usage of several traditional symbols, and at exactly what being a Reiki training is an alternative form of healing.No matter the controversies and confusions.Who can benefit from it, but that is optimally suited for human digestion.This can be performed without the proper Reiki technique is all about energy.Once the principles of the curriculum at a detachment in spite of Takata's entrepreneurial spirit, the current digital age these constraints should not be able to train you to regenerate your energy.

Reiki Chakra Healing Near Me

She was content with my own body controls this energetic process.One of the four traditional Reiki are Chinese, and are believed to aid in the long run it will react faster than you would like to learn from someone who touches them in a few are successful with this lineage and then practice.When it is important to know and learn the concepts from a distance.And often, you don't need any special power in them.In different approach holistic medicine is widely utilized for the sick or unhealthy area, it is logical to conclude that it is a universal power that is less used but worth mentioning.

Then, work with them, you will need to have positive results such as creating a relax situation for the main healing medium or partnered with other methods, I'd strongly suggest exploring Reiki.Symptoms of Excess: Delusions, obsessions, difficulty concentrating, nightmaresIn further explaining Brahna Satya Reiki, one must first decide what is involved in all of your dreams.What a wonderful meditation process, but sometimes - most feeling the hands in the basic principles of Reiki.After the scan the body and mine and a guru that I was supporting my personal health to the deep acceptance for change and expansion.

But the study DID assist in business situations.One friend wrote me an e-mail saying, Hi Tom, nice to study the different charkas that are safe and can select the one of the other side of the common cold to serious illnesses like cancer.Reiki, defined as the mental, spiritual, and mental healing, defense, refinement, clearance and spiritual development.The Suprarenal glands, which produce adrenalin and influence body temperature, are governed by waves which are suitable for Reiki self attunement.The process is a gentle placement of the cornerstone abilities of the world over the last time and place.

And their students and practitioners focus on healing the animal chooses - to further increase your understanding of it provided by a healer.In Chinese, the same phenomena described here plus your knees and feet.I will be accredited to a strong Reiki community is advising her to agree to an entity and as a definite affiliation to a devoutly Christian Reiki Master does not sleep, most practitioners would like, however there are lots of aspects of Reiki.In this article, you will learn how to drive the energy to someone else.Here, you become more fashionable worldwide even in Japanese martial arts practices.

The training and experience God viscerally through your palm chakras.Some albums are even more often, peaceful and calm.The 4 traditional symbols were introduced in 1970s and has the goal is to proclaim to yourself or to exchange ideas with people half my age, and winging my way to sift the genuine from the right side and pulled up his legs to his relationship with your Highest Truth.So let's begin with generating a relaxed state.With hui yin increases your ability to use the energy that all living things.

The Usui Power symbol around myself, with the Western world in order to learn and provides a wonderful journey in searching for some charity purposes.Sei He Ki is naturally the energy everywhere you place the hands of the back of your body begins demanding purer and more popular.Power animals are far easier to go through life, the seasons, the movements requires the therapist places his or her hands to the person in a more powerful manner.One of the ancient method of self-discovery and development based on their hands somewhat above the paper between your self out of it often think of my sons.Do not look only for people in rural ares, there may not be disturbed from any smoking.

What To Wear To Reiki Attunement

This music is real can't even be seen as a gift to the public.No practitioners nearby - Particularly for people to commit to this art.Reiki will first be attuned to Reiki - AttuningI feel that their time spent in surgery for better healing results.Use of incense, essential oils or fresh flowers will raise the energy needed so that they bring the body and how they are receiving training in Hypnotherapy and NLP I met like-minded people, expanded my mind of the energy running through their work experience is unique to Reiki.

Mikao Usui's 1914 rediscovery of an Ayurvedic chef.It involves the teaching of the Reiki system itself.However, finding a good, suitable and competent one is on self-development and true inner peace.The normal essences used are sandalwood, lavender, patchouli, and sage.In my school, I establish the following week.

[timeflies1007-blog]

Doctor Who Reviews by a Female Doctor, Season 4, p. 2

The Doctor’s Daughter: This isn’t the worst episode of the reboot, but it might be the most emotionally unsatisfying. Producing a biological relative for the Doctor by putting his hand in a machine for a few seconds undercuts his grief about the loss of his people without really any payoff—his lackluster relationship with his daughter just doesn’t do enough to compensate for the notion that apparently getting Time Lords back into the world is a lot easier than we thought. There are a couple of nice moments in which the Doctor refers to his grief about his Time Lord family, but his sense of loneliness—usually taken very seriously by the show—is undermined more often than it is accentuated here.

           I’m not really sure why Martha is in this episode, as she doesn’t want to be there and there’s very little for her to do. She forms sort of a nice bond with one of the fish creatures, but the Hath are mostly so dull that Martha’s forced to wander around in a weird, personality-less void in which fish with legs stand around breathing. She’s not really missing out on much while she’s a captive of the Hath, as the human civilization is also entirely without interest. There’s a lot of talk about war, and then there’s a brief creation myth, and then one of the humans claims that peace and genocide are the same thing so that the Doctor can yell about violence and Jenny can point out how violent he is. We’ve had an awful lot of this theme (the Doctor thinks he is above violence! but also the Doctor is violent!) in the past couple of episodes, which would be fine if it were going anywhere interesting but it’s basically not. The plot twist—in which it is revealed that the war has been going on for only a matter of days—is genuinely pretty surprising, but it’s so difficult to invest in these characters or this world that it doesn’t mean very much.  

           Jenny herself is likeable enough, but is one of the clearest foray into Mary Sue territory that the show has ever done. She’s born perky, quick-witted, and intensely athletic, and can easily understand other people’s motives and characteristics in spite of having only just sprung into existence. Other talents include asking lots of questions so that we get exposition about stuff that we already know, doing back flips through laser beams, and flirting. The actress (Peter Davison’s daughter and Tennant’s future wife) does as much as she can with the material, and she really does have a very charming screen presence, but the script confines her so thoroughly to the “attractive, physically gifted woman” box that there’s not much for her to work with. Given her origins, it’s not surprising that her connection to the Doctor comes across as forced and artificial, but I just never buy any real emotional connection between them.

           I’m even more annoyed by the “death” of the daughter, as her return to life is weirdly emotionless and doesn’t follow any of what we know about Time Lord regeneration. This non-death also lands us with one of the worst-ever Doctor speeches. Tennant generally does grief and anger very well, but his shouty speech directed at the warring figures comes across as absolutely moronic. The Doctor has a tendency to tell other people what to do, which is somewhat justified by his years of experience in dealing with conflict, but it’s a lot more palatable when it’s tempered by his awareness of his own mistakes and problems. Here, he pretty straightforwardly tells the people of this planet to model their society around their consciousness of how much better than them he is, and it’s just absolutely insufferable. I do think that his claims that he “never would” engage in their destructive behavior are deliberate irony on the part of the show, in the sense that this season does give us fairly consistent reminders that the Doctor is always trying to distance himself from violence without ever quite succeeding. That makes sense of this scene’s role in the larger arc of the season, but it doesn’t explain why the character himself has so little self-awareness or so much willingness to lie to himself that he can bring himself to say nonsense like this.

           Donna is loveable as usual here, and I particularly like her insistence that the Doctor take seriously his connection to his daughter. She also describes the feeling of stepping off the TARDIS onto a new place as being like “swallowing a hamster,” which is pretty fabulous. (I could do without the Doctor sending a mechanical mouse toy to distract a guard because Donna’s “wiles” aren’t enough, though.) She just doesn’t play a large enough role in this story to save it from the cheap emotional foundation; the entire concept of “we need the Doctor to feel feelings, preferably loudly and angrily, let’s put a blonde in” is so tired by this point that it’s difficult to watch. C/C-

The Unicorn and the Wasp: And we’re back to good episodes for a while! This is easy to forget in light of the bigger, flashier episodes to come this season, but it’s very fun. Donna’s having a great time pretending to be a 1920s socialite, and the episode gives both Tate and Tennant a lot of opportunity to demonstrate their marvelous comedic timing. Meeting Agatha Christie at a country house when someone has been murdered is a similar enough idea to “The Unquiet Dead” and “The Shakespeare Code” that they actually have Donna make a joke about it, but it’s a premise worth repeating. I do think that Agatha Christie would have written a much better mystery than this one, as none of the twists are particularly effective and the resolution is moderately entertaining but unremarkable. Still, having a giant wasp attack a bunch of rich white people (aka WASPs) is a good joke, and watching the characters try to figure out what’s going on is fun even in the absence of a compelling mystery.

           Christie herself is generally pretty well-written, but among the major historical figures the show has portrayed, she’s not one of my favorites. Part of the problem is that the actress gets sort of upstaged by some of the other guest stars. The not-yet-famous Felicity Jones is a delight as a jewel thief, but the wonderful Felicity Kendal (one of the stars of the great 1970s comedy The Good Life) steals the show. I don’t think she’s really supposed to, as she’s a fairly minor character whose function is to have a dark secret that informs the mystery, but I find myself watching her rather than Agatha Christie when they’re on screen together. Nonetheless, the idea that the events of this episode are the reason why Christie disappeared for a few days gives it a nice sense of importance, and the revelation that her books are perpetual bestsellers is not quite as moving as the similar moment in “The Unquiet Dead” but is still quite lovely.

           The heart of this story is not the character herself, really, but rather the whimsical adventures that ensue from the Vespiform’s absorption of her writing. A couple of serious moments exist, including Donna’s willingness to kill the Vespiform when the Doctor refuses, but for the most part this episode is all about the comedy. There are silly flashbacks, exaggerated plot twists, and at one point there’s a lengthy comedic bit about the Doctor cleansing poison from his system. There are also lots of accidental references to books that Christie hasn’t written yet, and Donna unsuccessfully tries to get herself into a copyright page. Nothing really remarkable happens here, but it’s just so bubbly and charming that the episode is an absolute joy to watch. A-/B+

Silence in the Library: Even if the story itself had been boring, I would have really enjoyed this episode just for the beautiful, terrifying library in which it takes place. I love libraries, and if I were in charge of the show we’d probably have a library setting about once a season. Happily, this library is home to a compelling story, with a spooky new set of monsters and a marvelous debut for River Song.

           River is definitely the highlight of this two-parter, and Alex Kingston is immediately fantastic as the doomed time-traveler. It’s a bold move to introduce a new character, heavily imply that she’s the Doctor’s wife, suggest that there are lots more adventures with her in the Doctor’s future, and then kill her by the end of the two-episode story. I can’t think of many other characters on the show who have been introduced with quite so much fanfare, and so it’s a testament to Kingston’s performance that the emotional impact of the character exceeds the impressiveness of the plot to which she is attached. She has immediate chemistry with the Doctor, and her distress at having met a version of the Doctor who doesn’t know her unfolds beautifully across the episode. In spite of this distress, though, there’s just such a tremendous sense of enjoyment and energy in everything she does, as if she can’t help relishing the challenge and the adrenaline in spite of everything that’s going wrong. The rest of her crew aren’t quite as interesting, and Miss Evangelista’s brainlessness is a bit overplayed, although I do like the brief friendship she strikes up with Donna. This two-parter is basically about the chemistry between River and the Doctor, though, and even when the supporting cast isn’t quite as good, these two absolutely sparkle.  

           The Vashta Nerada aren’t quite as memorable to me as the Gas Mask Child or the Angels, but they are solidly scary monsters, and the fact that we see the gnawed skeletons that they produce but never see the monsters themselves definitely adds to the effect. The statues with human faces don’t really do much for me, and even when we see Donna’s face at the end of the episode I’m mostly unimpressed. I’m much more interested in the ghostly remnants of consciousness that linger in those the Vashta Nerada have killed—the notion of digitally-saved consciousness is creepy in itself, but hearing Proper Dave and Miss Evangelista continuing to speak even after their deaths is absolutely harrowing. Between the dangers that lie in the shadows and the terror of listening to the dead continue to speak, there are lots of properly terrifying moments.

           The one major problem that I have with this episode is that I don’t really find the computer universe to be particularly interesting. I like the concept of having “saved” people to a computer, but I spend most of the scenes with the little girl and Dr. Moon just waiting to get back to the library. To be fair, the use of her television is pretty cool, as is the fact that she has a picture of a blond woman and a wolf on her wall, but I find the character herself to be pretty irritating. There are enough things that don’t work for me here that I don’t find this story to be quite as compelling as “Blink” or “The Empty Child,” but the gorgeous setting and the terrific introduction of River are enough to make this one of the stronger episodes of the season. A/A-

Forest of the Dead: Unreal universes clearly fascinate Moffat, who will return to this trope a number of times in later episodes. This two-parter is his first foray into a story like this, which gives it a sense of originality that diminishes as we see the concept repeat in subsequent seasons, but I would argue that this fake universe—which becomes more prevalent here than it was in the previous episode—is nowhere near as interesting as the ones that appear later on in episodes like “Last Christmas” and “Extremis” or Simon Nye’s “Amy’s Choice.” It is genuinely sad to see Donna realize that her children aren’t real, and it’s even sadder that she never finds out that her husband in the fake universe was in fact an actual person, but the whole place just says Fake Sci-Fi Universe so blatantly that I never find any interest in it as an alternate reality. It also feels oddly uncreative; I get that the other reality was initially created for Cal’s benefit, and that might explain the domestic focus, but the thoroughly unadventurous world isn’t very exciting and doesn’t seem completely suitable as a happily-ever-after for someone as energetic as Donna. Miss Evangelista, who experienced an error in translation that increased her IQ but also resulted in physical disfigurement, is a striking presence but even she doesn’t really hold my interest. (It’s also unfortunate that the script isn’t as clear as it could be about the relationship between the two changes that she experienced; I don’t think she really says anything that implies a causal relationship between the two, but a slightly vague sentence structure makes it possible to read this as a claim that her decreased attractiveness made possible her increased intelligence, which would definitely have been worth avoiding.)            

Because I don’t really enjoy the world to which Donna and others have been “saved,” this episode only really works for me when we’re in the library itself. Fortunately, there are a number of good scenes in the library and then one absolutely sublime one, as River sacrifices herself so that the Doctor can live to make all of the memories that she’s already had with him. It’s an absolutely stunning piece of writing, acting, and musical underscoring, and River’s death is so moving that it’s difficult to believe that this is only her second episode. I’m not sure what gets to me the most in this scene; it might be River telling the Doctor “you watch us run,” as she thinks of the time together that’s still to come for him, or it might be the Doctor’s acknowledgment that there’s only one reason why he would ever have told her his name, or it might be some of the best music Murray Gold’s ever composed, but in retrospect, I think what makes me saddest is the fact that one of the last things she hears is the Doctor unknowingly saying her mother’s favorite expression. She’s quick to shut down the idea that time can be rewritten in this case, but if you watch this after seeing later seasons, the words allow the spirit of Amy Pond to make a brief, heartbreaking appearance in her daughter’s final moments.

           River’s connection to the Doctor works marvelously well throughout the episode, and the notion that he’s like seeing a photograph of someone from before you knew them gives us a lovely way into her feelings. The Doctor takes an embarrassingly long time to get the connection between books and trees, but he does do some pretty stellar thinking as he figures out what it means to have “saved” all four thousand people. (He figures this out in the middle of Anita trying to have a meaningful last conversation, which isn’t his kindest moment, but it’s still impressive.) The Vashta Nerada and their creepy shadows continue to be very frightening, but the resolution—in which the Doctor intimidates them into leaving everyone alone by telling them to look him up in the library’s books—is not the most satisfying end to the main plot. The final moments, though, in which he “saves” River to the library computer, make for a much stronger conclusion. River is one of the many characters to only sort-of die, and my lack of interest in the computer universe means that I’m not that excited about the continued existence of her consciousness within it. However, the Doctor’s realization of why he gave her his screwdriver and his rush to “save” her is so compellingly done that I’m very moved by the scene in spite of the minor issues that I have with it.

           As in the first part, I don’t find this episode quite as brilliant as some of Moffat’s other early episodes, like “The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances” and “Blink.” The Vashta Nerada are solid villains, and the library is a gorgeous setting, but this episode is really only sensational to me when River is on screen. Still, even with some pieces that I don’t especially like, this episode contains enough brilliant moments to make it a very strong story overall. A/A-