#if we go any faster they'll cancel it. of this I'm sure

[omarfor-orchestra]

I said I wanted to gatekeep my Rai fictions didn't I?

[dark-frosted-heart]

Your Favorite Body - Matias Asbrink

As usual, can’t guarantee 100% accuracy on this.

On a night in Achroite when snow fell like petals—

Emma: It's so interesting you'll be able to walk through the forest without any light even though it's night.

Matias: Yeah, it's a phenomenon called snowglow. It's when moonlight reflects off a bed of snow and scatters, making its surroundings brighter. After your eyes adjust to it, the snow will look like it has a faint glow and you'll be treated to a splendid, magical scene.

Emma: Hehe, I'm really looking forward to it! Thank you so much for arranging this!

Matias: You're a dear friend and I've been looking forward to seeing it with you.

A few days ago, we had talked about the "beauty of the forest at night", which led to me going out with Prince Matias.

It was still early, so we stopped at a cafe. As we were chatting, Prince Matias suddenly stared at me intently from across the table.

Matias: By the way, do you have clothes for the cold? The forest's cold at night. You'll need to wear more clothes than usual.

Emma: Yes, I have enough. I brought extra layers and also brought the gloves and scarf that you gave me.

Matias: Well that's a relief. Still, just to be safe, let's warm up here.

Prince Matias smiled and sipped his coffee.

I went to grab my cup too when—

Emma: Woah!

The metal cup was hotter than I expected and I pulled my hand back.

The cup ended up flying toward Prince Matias, its contents spilling out...

Emma: P-prince Matias! Are you okay?

Matias: Yeah, I'm fine. How about you?

Emma: I'm fine...I'm so sorry about that!

I rushed over to Prince Matias' side and wiped his coat and shirt with a linen cloth.

(This is bad, it's not coming off at all. And he's pretty wet...)

I didn't give up though, and grabbed his shirt. Snow shadow-colored eyes shifted from side to side.

Matias: ...

Emma: It's hot too. Did you get burned?

Matias: Like I said before, I'm fine. I only got a little wet, it's no problem. [to himself] I never imagined that a fantasy of mine from back when I was a student would come true.

Emma: Hm? I'm glad you didn't get hurt. I'm so sorry for the stain. Please let me give you a replacement next time.

Matias: There's no need. I'm pretty good at cleaning stains since it's something I had to do often while I was a student. However, it won't be good to go into the forest like this.

(That's true. He'll freeze right away with wet clothes)

Emma: Then let's cancel our outing today.

(It's unfortunate, but it's better than Prince Matias catching a cold)

Matias: No, I'd rather not. I know—

--

After leaving the cafe, Prince Matias took me to a nearby inn.

Matias: If I air them out in a warm room, they'll dry faster. We still have some time. Let's stay here for a while. This inn's a favorite of mine.

Matias sounded pretty cheerful and didn't blame me at all.

(He's so nice)

My chest warmed at the thought as I headed toward the back of the room.

Emma: I'll light the lamps.

Matias: No, hold on...I'll light this candle.

(This candle?)

Prince Matias picked up a candle from a shelf nearby and lit it with a sense of familiarity.

The room was immediately bathed in a warm light and the intricate decorations on the candle holders stood out.

Emma: ...Amazing.

Matias: Do you like it?

Emma: Yes, it's reeeally lovely! I was looking forward to seeing the snowglow, but this is a magical scene too...thank you for bringing me here.

Matias: Yeah. Even thought part of our original plan, I'm glad I got to see this with you.

His snow shadow-colored eyes narrowed slowly with his calm smile.

His soft smile was so captivating that I forgot how to breathe.

(I'm not sure why...but my heart's suddenly beating really fast)

While I was trying to calm my heart down, Prince Matias reached up to his shirt—

Emma: ...Prince Matias!

Matias: Hm, what's wrong?

(I was just about to faint from how charming his expression was, and now he's stripping!)

Flustered, I turned away, but that didn't calm me down.

Matias: Miss Emma, what's wrong?

Emma: ...You suddenly started taking your clothes off and it surprised me...

Matias: I have to take them off if I want them to dry.

Matias spoke calmly, oblivious to my internal panicking.

Matias: Like I said back at the cafe, my clothes would often get dirty while I was a student. When you put mischievous boys together, chaos happens...

(...I get it now. This is something Prince Matias is used to)

(And doing this is fine for him since we're friends, despite being of different genders)

I took deep breaths to calm my heart...

Matias: Miss Emma, are you okay?

He appeared from behind me and I jolted in surprise.

Emma: I-I-I-I'm fine! So...

(This is bad. If Prince Matias keeps getting closer while radiating all that charm, I'm going to...)

I backed away hastily and ended up stumbling back onto the bed.

Emma: Ah...

Matias: ...You're not fine at all. There's obviously something wrong with you.

Prince Matias got on the bed and sat beside me.

While I looked at his worried, snow shadow-colored eyes, a long hand instantly reached toward me.

A large palm touched my forehead and Prince Matias' furrowed his brows.

Matias: You do feel a bit hot. Shall I light more lamps?

Though I was thankful for his concern, I disagreed.

(...I'm definitely blushing. I can't let him see me like this)

Emma: Please don't...Um, just leave them as is...

The way I said those words was like I was imploring him and Prince Matias stared at me.

Matias [to himself]: It's like my fantasies with my consort have become a reality.

(I was dizzy and couldn't think straight)

(...I can't avoid this anymore. I'm already at my limit. I have to be honest with him...)

Making up my mind, I looked into his snow shadow-colored eyes and opened my mouth.

Emma: I'm embarrassed! ...You're just too alluring right now...

Matias: Alluring?

Emma: Yes...My heart was already racing from how sexy you are, and then when you started undressing, I couldn't look at you anymore...

Prince Matias looked stunned and dipped his head slightly with a serious look.

Matias: ...I-I see. I...wasn't being considerate. Sorry. I'm aware that you're not like my schoolmates, but...

Emma: No, I'm sorry I can't act normally.

Matias: Miss Emma, please don't apologize. It's my fault for being inconsiderate. Besides, you're far too—

Emma: Far too...?

Matias: ...Nevermind, it's nothing. In any case, the fault's mine. ...(<_<)

(I can't tell since it's dark, but is Prince Matias feeling a little embarrassed?)

Matias: I'm not sure why, but...when I'm with you, I experience these feelings that I don't with other women.

Emma: ...I might be the same. And not just today, but when I'm with you, I sometimes get these strange feelings... Ah, do you hate it when people think about you like this?

Matias: When you say strange feeling, do you mean a "distasteful" feeling?

Emma: N-no!

Matias: Then it's okay. I don't mind if you think of me like that. Rather...

Prince Matias cut himself off and smiled happily.

That smile was filled with so much more allure than I had ever experienced before.

(My heart's pounding too fast for me to think about anything else)

(And yet it's odd how comforting it is)

For the time being, in this candlelit dream-like room, I stared at Prince Matias and forgot about everything else.

I'm never sure if I should translate 色香 as charming, alluring, or sexy

[beardedmrbean]

Yet another year of Bastille Day fireworks

Heya ! This one is probably going to be a bit longer than other years so I'm writing it as a submission instead of an ask.

This year's festivities are brought to you by the city of Oissel. Since I'm back from Paris, I was gonna go watch the one in Sotteville-les-Rouen, my all-time favorite, but my sister offered to pay for dinner if the rest of the family went with her, and, well... the ribs were great. She claims the fireworks in Oissel are renowned throughout the country, I call BS, but we'll see.

Bit sad I couldn't watch the one in Sotteville since this year they chose "Girl Power" as a theme. Considering their past failure at making a french flag, I wanted to see what a "Grill Power" themed firework show would look like 😂

The children of Oissel made an anthem for the city to be played before the show started. I'd rate it a 6 for effort. The lyrics are on point, but it's a bit bland and nondescript, and from a music theory standpoint it's as easy as can be. No syncopation, irregular time, swing rhythm, triplets, nothing, it was as bare-bones as an anthem can be. But hey, they say it was 100% made by the children, so I won't be too harsh.

And of course, the "Hey, remember the Olympics ???" speech before the show. Can't say I didn't expect it.

Alright, the fireworks are starting, so from here on out these are my post-show impressions :

Can't believe it's been a year since I said I wanted to fly a plane and I haven't done much towards that goal. I think every Bastille Day is gonna be my yearly "Have I learned to fly a plane yet ?" checkup.

Shit I missed the steam sale.

Nice use of colors. Orange and purple, cyan-green-yellow, and of course the right shades of blue, white, and red. Straight As on that one. They also had colored lights on the ground and floodlights pointed at the sky to color the smoke, which is a nice touch. I couldn't help but be reminded of the bisexual lighting meme from a few years ago, though.

Back outside of Paris, and the songs are mostly in english, call that confirmation bias but I think the parisians are patriotism georg. We've had "Jump" by Van Halen, "We are the Champions", "The Final Countdown", all straight bangers. Not a single french song, even Freddy Mercury's "Barcelona", but that's okay I'm not very patriotic either so that cancels out nicely.

The fluid dynamics of a crowd leaving through a very small gate seem very interesting to study. It's like they have negative viscosity, the closer you are to the wall the faster you move. There's even a hole because people are coming from two different directions at once ! That's awesome ! I am SO falling into a rabbit hole when I get home and google this.

Turns out it was so crowded because there's a single stall right outside, making a queue and blocking the flow of people. I do wish I could grab a bite to eat after this, but that's the only stall, there's at least fifty people waiting there, and there's nay a McDonald's around like last year in Paris, so that'll have to wait. The demand for post-fireworks snacks is probably so elastic you could fit a raccoon through it.

Overall, that was some good fireworks. They seem to know their stuff better than the guys in Sotteville, but I kinda miss the obvious mistakes I can point at and laugh. And the readily available snacks around. ________________

Submitted by @givrally

I got sidetracked with the attempted assassination thing, sorry back to you now.

I can think of tons of ways that a girl power theme could go wrong, gotta invite the Spice Girls if you want it to be sure to go right.

I would have loved to have heard the song from the children, kids can be so creative, can't be any weirder than Stravinsky's Rite of Spring anyhow.

We've got a distraction here on the Olympics for a bit, but they'll be back.

you'll get your flying in, you're still young

same here, computer crapped out and over the course of 2 week I finally ran out of energy to try and bring it back to life and got a new one

Must be nice to see colours like that, I being colourblind is hard to explain though

Venturi effect

"The demand for post-fireworks snacks is probably so elastic you could fit a raccoon through it."

I don't know what this means but I'm going to start using it regardless

this was a wonderful breakdown and while I agree the reporting on the mess ups and the thing a couple years ago where y'all had the the US flag involved with Springsteen and Cotton Eyed Joe.

If I ever have the means I'm going to have to find my way up that way for a Bastille Day celebration, they sound like a hoot.

[marmolita]

are we just cursed in December or??? details behind the cut, cw for cancer, death (don't worry me and my husband and kids are fine)

So last December we went to visit my family for the holidays as usual and it was kind of a total nightmare. Mr Lita was having panic attacks because we found that chipmunks had excavated a city under our porch and destabilized it and he was afraid of rodents getting into our house, my sister had COVID, and Southwest airlines totally fucked up so that we had to book a different flight home days later than we intended. It was altogether a miserable month.

This year, my mom's coming out here and everything was looking good! Mr Lita was doing fine, nothing's wrong with the house, etc.

Except, we just found out his dad has stage 4 pancreatic cancer. This was literally a couple days ago so we don't have much info yet but his parents had a friend pass from pancreatic cancer recently and it was only six weeks from her diagnosis to passing. He's already trying to sort out his financial papers and make funeral plans and he hasn't even had a biopsy yet. I believe he intends to only seek palliative or hospice care, which tbh is very reasonable given the extremely short timeline for most people with pancreatic cancer.

The day after we found that out, my kid who has anxiety and emetophobia had her first major panic attack in months because having a cold with a wet cough freaked her out, and is still not quite back to her normal yet. We haven't told the kids about their grandpa's cancer yet.

My mom's coming out to spend the holidays with us next Friday and I'm like gosh!!! How am I gonna make this a fun holiday season for my kids when their grandpa is dying!!! How am I gonna make sure my anxious kid doesn't start having panic attacks about whether she herself might have cancer!!! I don't know if he's going to die in two weeks or a month or six months and I don't know how to plan fun things for my kids with the knowledge that we may have to cancel at any moment if things go south even faster than they already are.

My sister-in-law is on vacation in New Zealand for this entire month so gosh I hope he at least has a month of time so she can get back to see him. He has a biopsy on Tuesday and his first appointment with the oncologist the day after Christmas which seems interminably far away. I feel completely helpless to help my in-laws or my husband right now and I fucking suck at keeping a brave face because i will cry at a moment's notice.

We're going to have to tell the kids tomorrow I think because my brother-in-law is gonna come down and they'll want to get together and so they'll need to know. I know it's better for my kids if I can be calm and confident talking to them about it but I simply cannot have a conversation about this without bawling.

And I wanted to do all this fun stuff with my kids and my mom for Christmas! And I know that my father in law wants my kids to be happy and having fun and not worrying about him! But how am I supposed to do that!! My sister and her family are coming a couple days after Christmas too and idk whether everything will be fine or whether there will be additional drama there. 😩 What do I do if he takes a turn for the worse very rapidly and doesn't even make it through the month?

I kind of hate how this part of it was easier at least when my dad passed away. He was in ill health for a long time and we knew he probably wouldn't be around more than another year but we didn't have a specific terminal outcome for most of that time so it was easy to not think about it too much. Then when he couldn't do dialysis anymore it was basically a very specific timeline and we knew he would not be around more than two weeks from that point. It was awful and I hated it but at least we knew.

[kobblefort]

Rushsly: The Early Days 2

She's done it! Osgi made a wool turban. Besides "menacing with spikes of sheep wool"(???) it has no real interesting aspects, but it's pretty valuable and now I have one less kobold meltdown to worry about. The kobolds also demanded I build a temple for "The Goldenrod Creed," a religion about worshipping rainbows and the rain. And yeah sure I can get down with rainbows, I fuck with rainbows.

Looks pretty cool I think. Their priest is called "Holy Fish." I gave the job to a new arrival called "Cokuk Warnbarbs" and I'm sure I won't regret placing a hateful, greedy kobold in a position of religious authority.

Humans showed up to trade and seem to just be stuck here. The rabbits haven't left either. We didn't actually have any crafts to trade with the humans so they just sort of stood around. Eventually I read that when this happens you can get them to leave by deleting the trade depot. However this also made the humans just drop everything they brought and leave. I guess that made it our stuff. Well this could be a funny exploit but I don't know if they'll just see it as stealing.

Before the migrant wave even finishes I have to make it clear that this is not a hunter-friendly fortress. If you want to run around shooting arrows do that shit somewhere else. We don't do that here.

We're getting quite a sizeable population now and whoa hey hold up what the fuck

Some ratfolk dickhead broke in!!! A peasant Almda is just punching the absolute fuck out of her. Just going at her head like a fucking speedbag.

I mean holy shit

I love when they say this.

As Almda beat the ratfolk to death, a woodcrafter created their masterpiece across the room. Can you imagine being that kobold. Just like "whoa, that's crazy. I'm busy though"

Things are going smoothly. I'm trying a different bedroom setup for once. Glass production is going kind of slow, they keep canceling stuff because they "need sand-bearing item" (it's usually right next to them but they won't use it for some reason) I'm sure there's some way to fix this but I'm not sure what it is. "I ball to remember" - thought that came to me so vividly while i walked through the kitchen that I had to say it out loud. "I ball to forget" the only logical conclusion to that thought.

Rushsly was elevated to a Warren (kobble version of a barony) and crystal glass operations are up and fucking running baby!!! Big things poppin!!!!! We also have enough fucking iron and billon to get absolutely rich but the faster the economy go up the sooner we're likely to get raided and there's still no military here. You might be wondering how I got all these magma furnaces without embarking on a volcano or digging into Caverns 3 well baby I fucking cheated. I busted open DFhack with ` and I went to gui/liquids and I made some little magma pockets. I don't know how to get kobbles to move around buckets of magma without killing themselves in the process but if I did I would still probably do this. I'm still ultimately just using the resources I have and I'd never outright cheat to fix a kobble's mood or survive a siege or anything like that, sometimes I just get sick of the clerical bullshit! Maybe that sounds fun to you. Maybe it sounds insane for me to say that about a game that is, in essence, literally just clerical bullshit, but what is more insane than caring? I am still going to attempt to make steel completely legitimately, if you think me speeding things up so that I don't have to deforest the entire map and wait three times as long for the coal to actually get moved around ruins the integrity of the fortress then I don't know just stop fucking reading and you'll be better off.

We are also establishing a hospital even before we establish a barracks (I have decided to go the military route after all though traps are still in the cards) and guess how I got those water tiles two z-levels beneath those wells. Go ahead guess. Actually it's not a great solution because they will eventually dry up given enough use and I certainly don't want to manually re-fill them but by the time that becomes a problem I should be able to breach the caverns (relatively) safely and make me a mother fucking pump stack. I refuse to use windmills because I believe they make power too easy while also providing a really bad defensive weakness (I have had a forgotten beast break in through the axle tunnels and slaughter my entire fortress because of that one-tile-wide vulnerability) so drawing waterwheel power from the caverns is simply what I'm going to have to do. And yes I know that's a weird double standard for a guy who magically summons the water and magma from console commands but this is not a competitive game!!! When you boot up Dwarf Fortress it's YOUR choice whether you want to play as some kind of omnipotent god, minor deity, or literally just advisor to your little ant-farm of fake people. And I like being a minor deity with power over little time-and-effort-saving things but ultimately leaving matters of actual survival in the hands of my kobbles.

Just found a fat-ass native platinum vein, you wish you were me so bad.

A big part of why I'm so hesitant to breach the cavern layers is actually just that once you do, all your un-floored areas start growing cave fungus, which I hate. It can even start growing trees which will bust through your entire base but you can't really cut them down early you just have to literally build floor over them which is annoying and takes up so many resources. Some of it, like the red fungus, looks cool but most of it just looks ugly. However it does let you pasture your animals indoors which is always a boon, invaders fucking love to kill animals and if you can just have them sealed off in their own little chamber where nothing bad happens to them you don't have to worry about them. Once the kobolds get barracks set up and a bit of training under their belts I guess I'm just going to have to deal with it.

Right we've fucked around long enough, barracks time. And I smoothed them because if they're going to be stuck "constant training" they may as well get to enjoy the place. I particularly like having the dungeon right next to the barracks because it means any attempted jailbreakers will have to try and sneak through a room full of heavily-armored goons who are in the middle of swinging their weapons around. I don't really have the logistics set up for leather armor but I have an absolute fuckton of iron so it might be good enough to just make a 10-kobble melee squad and 10-kobble xbow squad with iron armor. For some reason, holding off until I have steel production up and running just seems like a bad idea.

I saw this notification and thought "oh shit, is there another thief or something" but it turned out my kobble actually just had a panic attack at work thinking about her friend dying in the Fucked Up Bridge Incident. This is a fucked up game. If you ever ask "what kind of god would make monkeys that get anxiety and have to drive big metal boxes to go operate a deep fryer all day," well, us I guess. We do that. Maybe this is what "god made man in his own image" means right. We've literally evolved so much that we can simulate being the same uncaring god doing the same awful things to little unassuming people. As above so below. I feel pretty normal playing Dwarf Fortress. It feels like a very natural behavior to me. Am I simply taking after my own creator

Ratfolk tried to sneak in, but gave up the element of surprise by shooting at some boar halfway across the map. Welp time to lock shit down! To be honest they seem more like they got lost on a hunting trip than they came here to fuck with us but we don't actually need to go topside for much of anything. And that "anything" includes making a good 10 or 20 sets of iron armor. Be our guests ratfolk... stay as long as you like.

Sometimes when I'm just sitting here doing this, I think about how happy I'd be with a soul-sucking spreadsheet job. Like the guy from OfficeSpace was such a bitch! What was with Generation X and going "no maaan, you don't want a job with fixed hours where you don't get cut or burned or blow out your knees! Having the same weekend every week and only having to worry about fucking up your posture will suck your soul out, maaaan!" Passing papers around pointlessly and doing fake social niceties for it sounds great. If it's so bad then give up your fucking paid vacations and holidays off and liveable pay and just switch places with the guy pushing carts around the Wal-Mart parking lot while 60 year old Xanax addicts in pickup trucks and SUVs try to run him down as practice for when they finally live their ultimate wish fulfillment by driving their car into a bunch of protestors for daring to temporarily mildly inconvenience them.

Not now bunnies

Oh I guess they have no beef with each other. That sort of makes sense they're both rodents right. Well uhh they just keep standing there on the edge of the map.

It seems kind of arrogant for William Shakespeare to say "All the world's a stage." Maybe not arrogant, but I don't know, of course you see it that way, you're a fucking playwright. What about everyone else? To the dishwasher, is all the world that salad you barely even took three bites of? What about to the soldier? Is all the world a target, a threat, an enemy? It is convenient for us to only see life through a pinhole. Both for us and the next pigeon up on the higher wire. Life isn't really a play or a fight or any one thing but as long as you never drop out you don't have to worry about that. You can stay right on a track and become a software engineering guy who can't cook instant noodles for himself or tell the difference between different species of trees. People always told me "ginkgo biloba trees smell like cum" but I've never smelled it. I've never really considered cum to have a smell, maybe I just don't have smelly cum. I mean I know the smell of a cum rag you toss in the corner of a room that you ended up forgetting for way too long and had to throw away, but that's more of just a bacterial smell to me I think and I've never smelled something like that while I was walking out in public, even around ginkgo biloba trees. It feels like you can generate infinite cum in life sometimes, like even when you haven't eaten or drank you can still make some come out of you, but you will run out eventually. I'm not sure about the "semen retention" guys, I kind of believe more in the "balance of fluids" thing. You can definitely have an excess of cum sometimes and it makes you act like a fucking idiot. If you don't jack off or otherwise dispel excess semen (as if anybody even has sex anymore - Not gonna catch me doing that nerd shit!) at least once every few days everyone can tell and they think you're wound-up and stuck-up and way too aggressive over little things. At the same time if you masturbate too much that's also weird and everyone can tell that too. Just do it once every two or three days to keep your levels normal. Hop on e621, punch in "breast_expansion dragon" and you're good to go. You're normal again.

Some migrants showed up, got into some martial trances, and then all died futilely to the four ratfolk rangers that kinda just won't fuck off. Well, actually, one of them went home. I guess he got his fill of fucking around. I don't really feel the urge to take revenge because I didn't know any of those guys really. We don't really need a fish cleaner and we certainly don't need any milkers or shearers so I don't know what to tell you. Bad day to show up. You really should have phoned ahead. You really should not have showed up to your girlfriend's house after she ignored your calls for like 3 hours obviously she was cheating on you!!! Sometimes a girl is just giving you those psilocybin mushrooms to try and subtlely convince you that you want to break up instead of just saying "we should break up" maybe direct communication isn't that great maybe you should just play weird interpetive-dance games with each other trying to change each other's minds instead. Sorry. I said I wasn't going to talk about David Cage.

Alsrta, previously the gelder, is now our Caravan Voice (manager) because Anl was stuck in a strange mood that I thought was going to fail but we managed to sneak a kobble out to collect a single log for him. She seems better at it anyway. Also, after drinking booze straight from the barrel even though there are plenty of cups, she gave birth to three children: Anl Crystaldepth (badass name) Iltos Coveredspells (decent name) and Zhatrsi Homagebutters (I'm sorry lil lady) making the need for protection clearer than ever. Death and birth within just moments of each other. Existence, even in this little pixelated simulation, is far too complicated to ever summarize with just a witty quote, but we keep trying. Maybe there really is an all-encompassing philosophical Theory Of Everything that's catchy and fits in as many characters as a tweet. Before they let the Twitter Blue perverts write as much as they want, I mean. I'm not sure 140 is realistic but 280 could probably fit it. Everything in the whole universe can be flattened into one slogan. Why else would everyone be trying to build an ideology out of little quotes and zingers

The kobolds are dancing around and listening to stories casually like there aren't any murderous ratfolk creeping around outside. Feels kind of opposite to real life. Everyone locked away in their McMansion is glued to one of three boxes telling them that everything is going to hell and everyone is out to get them and that we are in an untold flood of violence and despair. Then you go outside and you walk through that "bad neighborhood" and it's just people going to the store to get fucking groceries like everybody else. But I guess kobolds live more communally. And I can't say I'd ever want my bedroom to be right next to anyone else's ever again - even if I do get a box and a cabinet!

Some of that food they be making sounds good as hell

Kody Inkblighted has an appropriate name for someone who is regaling everyone with poetry. Apparently it also thought the last person doing poetry sucked.

DANKNESS AND NOTHING MORE LOL!!!!!

That peasant got their head bashed in with a crossbow so fucking hard that it exploded. That's pretty fucked up. I guess it's kinda even for our kobble punching that thief in the head over and over until they died but we only killed one of them and they killed five of us and it's not like we went out to fuck with them, they were literally sneaking around trying to steal our stuff. Well folks I hit 30 images and I'm high as fuck and honestly the things I'm about to do to a tuna sandwich would not be allowed on television in ANY country. I'll be here though not doing shit else so expect another post in I don't know a few hours I guess

[iviarellereads]

Exit Strategy, Chapter 6

(Curious what I'm doing here? Read this post! For the link index and a primer on The Murderbot Diaries, read this one! Like what you see? Send me a Ko-Fi.)

In which feelings about non-fictional humans are inconvenient.

Murderbot and Mensah go as far as they can in the backbone infrastructure, and take a maintenance pod to the port. MB uses the pod's cameras to examine them, but finds no blood or heretofore undetected bullet holes. Still, Mensah looks like she's been through it. MB points out that they need to look calm, so nobody alerts on them. Mensah takes a deep breath and says they're good at looking calm. MB can't, or doesn't, argue.(1)

They exit in a busy area of the station mall, and make their way through. MB finds it more natural to move through a group of humans while guiding one. The crowd starts to thin, and when MB double checks, it learns this is normal between waves of arrivals.

Still, it wants, or needs, more intel. It carefully hacks into the high-level security feeds, which it tags as StationSecAdmin, sure that GrayCris will eventually buy off the station security and/or Port Authority to let Palisade into the port to look for them. But, they'll want to search the hotel area first, since that's cheaper. As long as the rest of the Preservation team made it, it'll be fine.

It knows it was a mistake even to think that.(2)

It sets some alerts on the security feed, and backburners it. Mensah asks if it will be easier if they talk as they move. MB says that depends what they talk about. As they move, Mensah asks why Sanctuary Moon is MB's favourite. MB is surprised Mensah's seen it. She admits she wanted to see the one MB referred to in their first mission together, and then she liked it, and watched more, curious why MB would enjoy such human problems and not be sick of them.

In between, MB navigates the decreasingly populated station mall, thinks about the ways GrayCris could trick them, but as the conversation goes on, it thinks more about its history, focusing more on the questions.

MB admits that Sanctuary Moon was the first show it watched after hacking its governor module. The show made it feel like a person. Mensah says it is a person, MB counters, not under the law, even on Preservation. Mensah asks why it felt that way, and MB has to bring up its memory from the archive to find a reason: the show kept it company without… it trails off, and Mensah finishes, without requiring it to interact.

MB feels strangely vulnerable at being perceived so accurately. It wonders if it wasn't afraid of learning she wasn't its friend, but of learning that she was.(3)

In response, it tells Mensah that it's not going with her, on the shuttle. She protests, she can protect it from any consequences. MB says, because she owns it. Mensah says that's what everyone else thinks, but we--(4) She stops, takes a breath, and says she understands why MB doesn't trust her.

Unfortunately, one of MB's alerts trips, in StationSecAdmin. A non-station security operation has been approved. The same second, the emergency klaxon sounds. MB stops Mensah, knowing they'll be identified faster if they keep moving when nobody else is. The public feed announces a take shelter/shelter in place order. MB sees a ship cancel their disembark, telling passengers to get back aboard.

MB takes Mensah's hand and runs. They get four meters away from the gate they need when hard barriers close it. The gate locks are on a different system, PortSec, one MB doesn't have time to hack, because three Palisade SecUnits and their drones are coming.

Instead of hacking, MB thinks of the humans who authorized the shelter in place. It sends messages to both StationSecAdmin and PortSec, saying it's a contracted SecUnit and it needs its client to get to the specific shuttle bay. It begs, it will stay, but let her go.(5)

Someone is listening, and opens the gate just enough for a person to squeeze through. MB practically shoves Mensah through, giving her the slot for the company shuttle. Mensah protests when the gate closes behind her, but MB tells her to go, it will find another ship off this station, and backburners her feed knowing it's a lie.

It sounds all self-sacrificing and dramatic, telling it this way. And I guess it was, maybe. What I was mostly thinking was that there wasn’t going to be one dead SecUnit on this embarkation floor, there were going to be four. Sending SecUnits after me was one thing. But they sent SecUnits after my client. No one gets to walk away from that.(6)

There's an extended action sequence,(7) during which MB deploys the code it was writing in the hotel room(8) to great effect. MB takes out two of the SecUnit-Hostiles, and while trying to track the remaining one, realizes Mensah is yelling at it on the feed that Gurathin is manually opening a gate and it should get ready to go through.

My first impulse was to yell at Mensah to get in the damn shuttle and go. I didn’t do this so she and the others could hang around and get caught and shot and whatever. (I don’t know why I was reluctant to take the offered way out. I didn’t want to get shot to pieces, or get caught and memory wiped and taken apart. I had all these new shows to watch. But I still kind of wanted to stay here and just destroy things belonging to Palisade and GrayCrisSec until they destroyed me.)(9)

Unfortunately, shortly after this, MB loses control of its chaos code. It takes a rough shot at Hostile One, but doesn't get it in a vulnerable spot. When Hostile One reacts, it realizes that HO is a Combat SecUnit, which causes a cascade of impressions. That's why it was able to override MB's code. MB finds it flattering that GrayCris shelled out the big bucks to take it out. PortSec probably didn't okay that detail and will be very upset. And finally, MB believes it's going to die.

MB runs, scrambles, and frantics its way through the confrontation. Hostile One suggests it surrender. MB offers instead to hack its governor module and free it, with resources. It asks what the CSU wants.

It wants to kill MB.

MB asks why, it doesn't even know it. MB deploys a half-assed backup version of the chaos code, and tries to get in a shot at HO, but knows it can't win in these conditions. Which means GrayCris will win, which hurts more than its impending death.

Over the feed, Mensah shouted, Now! It’s opening now! Drone cam showed the barrier section had just started to slide up. I pulled my drones around me like a shield and bolted for it. Three steps away I felt a sharp impact in the back of my right knee. I dove and scrambled under just as Hostile One hit the barrier. Armored arms shoved through the opening and I yelled, “Drop it! Drop it!” and discharged my weapon into the gap. Hostile One jerked back and the barrier slammed into place.(10)

=====

(1) Which do you think? I lean toward it having faith in Mensah, but I can definitely see the "mm, sure jan" side of the debate as well. (2) At least Murderbot can own its mistakes. (3) FRIENDSHIP! Friendship and rainbows and hope and mutual respect and understanding. (4) "We know better," is how I think that sentence wanted to go. We as in Preservation, maybe, or just Mensah and Murderbot. But definitely "That's what they think, but we know better." (5) I like to think, here, that the people working for these corporations… they still have empathy, sometimes. And sometimes, someone will do the right thing just because it's right. Otherwise the fact that this works makes no sense. (6) "I'm not worth the fuss of defending, but you DON'T TOUCH MY HUMANS YOU MONSTERS!" -Murderbot, basically (7) You know by now, I'm no good at these. Even when I found the inconsistency about Abene's helmet, it was only because so much focus was put on it separate from the sequence and I couldn't be sure I wasn't still missing something in all the descriptive stuff that my brain just interprets as white noise. Here? Nothin, sorry. (8) Top notch payoff of that little aside. (9) And here, I think this comes back to the point I made in 6. MB still doesn't think it's worth the fuss. Its opinion of itself still isn't very high: it can be useful under the right circumstances, but it believes itself fundamentally lesser. Honestly, I think this self-deprecation is the part of Murderbot I relate the hardest to. I can know that I am loved, and still think, sometimes, deep down, that I'm not worth it. But it's okay, MB. I can trust, and maybe you can, someday, too. (10) That was altogether TOO CLOSE for my heart.

[the-firebird69]

Is adjusting the TV it's a little bit high says that we say no when you're watching it it's a perfect height cuz they reclines and he pulls the phone back that's another thing too it shouldn't be charging it while he's talking now I'm going ahead and we're working on stuff we believe that he hit a jackpot today no it's an older idea and he introduced it already he said similar stuff but Garth pointed out a couple pointers one the trumpsters don't seem to want to do it and they think that people go after them for money because they have a treasury spot they have the second and third positions in social security and it seems like they're using it to having to sit here and then try to hit other groups. And that's what we see a lot of people see that. You're also holding on to thier money. A lot of people think that if they pay him it'll be worse. And we think that they would be worse yes. But they refuse to pay him and it really becoming nothing. So listen to their talk they say they can't do it and things will become harsh. Curry cheeseman argues it's her money her code Trump says they can use it against us and have us send out their stuff Terry cheeseman says in what good are we when nobody like he says it's not worth even being here it's worse then I'm back and forth feel like an hour they went back and forth that is. Then they said this we don't have a leg to stand on we're not doing stuff right we're not doing anything and they started blabbing it and they just kept doing it and saying it. Finally it end up like this we need to stop saying it it's what's happening I'm just sitting here saying it's happening when nothing's happening they looked at each other and said we don't have any positive things in our lives our kids hate us he hates us the max haters they don't want us to cut him a check so we don't want to do it

John remillard said a lot of people think social security doesn't want to do that and they really don't and could be them and they might actually mess with social security afterwards because they're not told they're never told to pay people they do it because they're The helpful people now there is that sense but the people in there are not getting it to him and they're saying he's a burden and more so the sun says I should move out and start yelling and screaming they arrive at they're just supporting him barely and they're fine with it. No this has been going on for like 14 years or something almost and we're actually very sick of it and they owe money cuz they didn't give enough earlier on only all it's like 450,000 did they shorted him and he couldn't use it he could have used it but they wanted to keep them on there like he's working for them when they've really given him more or less a dead end. What's going on today all of this accounted for nothing really is happening. So on son says if there's a freeze out they'll figure out who it is it might help this one the insult by the clones. The other ones in the office influencing them not to do anything and they're threatening them it's been said a lot and they don't hear it and they don't see it. With the freeze out down here after and we expect a lot of threats because they didn't cancel it now they do it every month but it's a minor thing but after these ships are up they're going to be pissing all over the place and they'll say that you didn't cancel it but we think that the freeze out I'm sure this round and they'll be very pissed off and then you get some money to go to Utah and Tommy f is and thinks it's a good idea cuz there he is one and everyone can see that they're trying and it's kind of a clever thing and something we do. You're very good reasons to do it I'm writing down the best reason.

It really takes that kind of event that's coming up pretty quick and they're going to use the keys to do it and very soon very soon it's going to be within a few days even or a week no we think it's going to have to be a lot faster than that they're going to get ready to launch and they're moving it right now they are attacking several of the huge diamond caverns the ones way down there. It takes hours to get there sometimes and with big machines days so what's going on that way and so within three or four days we think they're going to launch the freezer will occur our son will still be here and they'll blame social security out loud and all the time in the past people would blame the other party but not out loud but eventually they figure it out but they're going to figure out right away and very hard lots of times

Thor Freya

I found out it's pretty big for my nephew a while ago but now it's revisited and I see that it is very big it's well beyond anything that I want to mess with and I do see what you're saying so you can't give me any money and stuff and whatever and you're helping but even Tommy F got screwed up with that I thought that was amazing I see what it's saying he knows how it works what he does is risk but he knows what time it is a lot that we were fooled and he was saying it earlier to everyone and everybody knows they retreated to these giant caverns and they sent the bases on fire and it was cuz they were losing

Garth

And Garth does not feel big or important so he says it and it's intense

Olympus

There's a word for a pretty smart but that is some wicked stuff what he said it's very true it's very potent and we're going to war with them now cuz they're hitting our people because we didn't cancel social security I sort of get it we're in the game but we're kind of not in it and it just bothering him and bothering him it looks like little kids really are falling down and he saw what happened with my son he's trying to ease couldn't do it it's like too much in his face made him hungry for a lot of donuts and orange juice so he went to town for it and he said oh Jesus you know it's it's too much and and he didn't get it

Trump

[creesepee]

우리 (US)

Samantha's POV

I drove as fast as I could, from 80 to 200km. I don't care about the surroundings, nor the phone ringing. I felt numb. I'm pretty sure, hindi yun basta rehearsal lang. They were alone in the room, didn't have any script on their hands, and wala silang sinabi after the kiss. They just stared at each other. And if walang glass sa door, hindi ko pa makikita. She kissed him and he did not back out. He let her kiss him. Putangina ang sakit.

I wanted to call Jian and Zari but I'm pretty sure they'll just get worried, or mad at him. I just want to go home. My tears fell one by one as I drove on the way home. I don't want to overthink but… what if he's just using me all this time? To what? Get her back? He had his time to bring her back to his life, but he kept pushing her away! My mind went black as something popped out. He used to tell me he felt comfortable being with me whenever he saw Sunshine. What an asshole. A fucking asshole. Now I realized what he meant.

I parked my car outside and went immediately to my room, passing through my studio and living room. I curled up on the bed while crying, thinking what did I do to deserve such? I turned off my phone before tucking myself in the blanket, crying my heart out because of the pain that I've been secretly keeping for the rest of the month. 

--------------------------------------------------

Paul's POV

My eyebrows furrowed as Sunny pulled away from the 'kiss'. I clenched my fist when Samantha popped up on my mind.

"Thanks," she said after a minute and smiled before walking out. When she was nowhere in the staff room, I let out the breath that I've been holding back ever since earlier. Fuck, I will never forgive myself if ever Samantha knew about this. Fuck Sunshine too for using me.

My phone rang and it's from Tita Claire. I don't want to answer but she rarely calls me when we're together.

"Tita?" Bungad ko. I heard her munching from the other line.

"Hello, Paul? Nagkita ba kayo?"

My eyebrows furrowed even more. "Nino?"

"Ni Samantha? Nandito siya eh kaso she texted me na uuwi nalang daw. I thought tapos na kayo mag usap kaya umuwi nalang siya. Nagkausap na ba kayo?"

My heart dropped with what she said. Samantha came? Fuck.I immediately ended the call and changed my clothes as fast as I could and went straight to the tent where the staff were there. All of them are eating a pack lunch so I guess one of the cast must've paid.

"Oh Paul? Ang nice ng girlfriend mo! Nagpakain siya satin," the hairstylist laughed. My heart tightened more as I heard them praise me with the thoughtfulness of my girlfriend. Ignoring them all, I called the director. He turned around immediately when he saw how panicked I was.

"Direk. I need to go. Can we cancel today's shoot?"

All of them went silent. No one dared to speak. Even Tita Claire walked beside me.

"Anong sinasabi mo Paulito?"

"May emergency ba?" The director said. I nodded at him and showed how desperate I am. I know they're a bit disappointed at me because everything's set. We've been filming since 5am and I suddenly cancelled it.

"Why?" Tita claired nudged me. I can't look at her though. My guilt is creeping up on me. If I can't cancel this and I don't leave, I'll lose her. I'm pretty sure.

"Is this a life and death situation? Why are you in a rush? Bakit need i-cancel?"

"This is a matter between my life and my death, direk. I think kung hindi ako aalis, mawawala siya sa buhay ko. Please," I whispered. Direk's lips parted with how I sounded. After taking a glance at the rest of the team, he nodded at me, understanding what I meant. I muttered my thank you before turning to Tita.

"Tita I'm really sorry," I held her hand and smiled sadly before turning my back on everyone. I ran as fast as I could towards the parking lot and started the engine in no time. I also tried to call Samantha but it keeps on saying out of coverage. My heart is starting to beat faster because of nervousness. Where could she be? Home? Studio? In the end, I drove straight to her apartment. I didn't waste any of my time and started knocking on her door when I arrived. I know I have spare keys, but I only use that when she tells me to.

"Samantha!" I yelled. "Samantha, open the door!"

I kept calling her phone as I yelled her name. I don't know if she's home. I can wait here if she's not here. 

"Baby, please pick up the phone—"

I stopped muttering when the door suddenly opened. The door behind revealed Samantha's cold gaze that sent shivers down to my spine. It was the first time she looked at me like that. And I just know, today is my last day.

"Sam–"

"Anong kailangan mo?"

"Baby–"

"Anong ginagawa mo dito?"

I sighed as I tried to hold her hand but she avoided it and clasped her hands together. Her stare never changed. It also has an unshed tears. Her eyes are red and she looks like she's been crying for a while now.

"Umalis kana."

"Can we talk?" My lips trembled. I saw how she secretly scoffed and opened the door wider, letting me in. When I went inside, she slammed the door and walked inside her apartment. I followed her after.

"Sam, please."

"Ano?" She turned around. I saw how her chest heaved up and down, like she was panting and out of breath and her eyes were both glistening with tears. I bit my lips as my heart tightened at the sight.

"Ano, Paul? Anong please? Finally, may maririnig na ako sa'yo? Ano?"

"What happened?" I said slowly.

"What happened daw tangina," she murmured. She looked up before gulping.  "Wala, kaya bumalik kana."

"Samantha, tell me. May nakita ka ba?" I was hesitant to say that but oh well, it slipped.

She smirked and leaned on the counter. She's in the kitchen while I remain my distance from her and stay in the living room. "Yung alin?"

"Yung…"

"Yung ano Paul Symon? Kasi gusto ko manggaling sa'yo."

"Yung halik." I stuttered. I don't have any excuse. All I want is to just kneel in front of her and beg for her forgiveness.

"Rehearsal? Kung rehearsal yun, wala lang sa'kin. Trabaho is trabaho."

"Sam–" I tried to step forward but she suddenly broke the glass that she's been holding.

"Pero tangina naman. Pumunta ka dito para mag explain so mali yung pinapaniwalaan ko? Sabihin mo sa'kin Paul, anong meron sa inyo?"

My heart shattered into pieces as I heard her voice break. Never in my dreams that I imagined us like this. I closed my eyes and remained silent.

--------------------------------------------------

Samantha's POV

Mas lalo pang sumikip ang dibdib ko nung di siya sumagot. Gusto kong sabunutin ang sarili. 

"Are you cheating on me?"

He suddenly looked up and furiously shook his head. "Of course not."

"Then what?! Ang dami-dami ko na ngang source Paul, diyos ko. Ang dami dami ko ng nakikita na parati kayong magkasama, mapa may camera man or wala, lunch or break. Halos araw-araw! Pero never kitang tinanong ha?" I raised my voice. Yung mga kinimkim ko, gusto kong isabog ngayon. "Never kitang tinanong about diyan. Kasi may tiwala ako sa'yo! Ni hindi mo nga ako narinig magreklamo na nawawalan kanang time sa'kin eh! Tapos ito makikita ko, unang bisita ko palang? Tangina." I rubbed my face.

"It's not like that, baby. Please let me explain first?"

Hindi ako sumagot. I keep sobbing quietly while my back is facing him. Hindi manlang siya lumapit para aluhin ako. Nakakagago. Parang first timer sa relasyon, di marunong mag-alo. Hindi na siya nagsalita nang wala siyang marinig sa'kin kung hindi iyak. Nang kumalma na, nagsalita ako.

"Mahal mo ba talaga ako? Or laro lang to sa'yo?" I couldn't see his face since my back was on him but when he called my name in a serious tone, I turned around.

"It's not funny na naman? Do I look like I'm joking right now?"

"Samantha, of course mahal kita–"

What he said made me cry even more. "Ano? Mahal mo 'ko?"

"I love you, okay? Stop thinking that I don't. Baby…" he worriedly walked towards me and stopped when he saw the broken glass on the floor. He became alarmed when he realized I had stepped on one, but I wasn't bothered at all. I kept crying as I finally heard the three words from his mouth. After 3 months.

"Wow. Akala ko ako lang nagmamahal sa relasyong to," I whispered enough for him to hear. He froze on his spot and stared at me. "Ni isang beses din, never ko narinig yan sa'yo. Ako parati."

"Sam…."

I smiled at him while the tears kept falling down. "Ayoko naman manumbat. Kaso gusto kong maramdaman na worth it yung first relationship ko. All I did was to accept you, understand you, wait for you, comfort you. Even gave you my virginity. Ano lang nareceive ko? Material gifts? sweet words? Let's say you exerted efforts nung di pa tayo. Pero, ganun lang? Paul, I wanted more. I wanted an assurance. I wanted an effort too now that we're in a relationship. I wanted to feel loved. Takot ako pumasok sa relasyon, alam mo yan. Pero sumugal ako sa'yo."

With a blur vision, I saw him wiping his cheeks and walked towards me. He held my hand and kissed it while he's silently crying. I let him do that because I don't have any energy now to fight. Naubos na sa mga sinabi ko. Last na to at papalabasin ko na siya, kung di pa niya idedefend sarili niya.

"Did you only take me for granted? I wonder why did it have to be me? Wala namang special sa'kin. Did you only wanted to have sex with me? Dahil wala pang experience? Kasi mas masarap pag ganun?" He tightened his hold on my hand but I ignored it. "Everytime pagod ka galing filming, yan parati ginagawa natin. And after that, matutulog ka agad. Ako? Gusto mo malaman kung ano ginagawa ko? Humihiling lang ako na sana what we're doing is making you rest, making you happy. Tapos kinabukasan, pag gigising ako, wala kana. Tangina, gusto ko kaawaan sarili ko kasi napaka pure naman ng pagmamahal na binibigay ko sa'yo, pero ito narereceive ko galing sa'yo? Kagaguhan?" He sniffed and stayed silent. That's it. I'm done. Inagaw ko ang kamay ko at lumakad papuntang living room, without minding the pain on my feet.

"Umalis kana." I laid down on the sofa and put my arms on my face to cover my tired eyes. I didn't hear anything but his footsteps are telling me he's going to the terrace. Maya-maya ay naririnig ko na ang pag walis niya sa mga bubog. He never said anything. Hindi ko siya sinabihan pero wala akong pake sa ginagawa niya. I heard more noises after that until I felt a pair of hands holding my feet carefully so I flinched and got up. Iiwas sana ako pero hinawakan niya yun ng mahigpit.

"Gagamutin ko lang, dumudugo," even though his voice sounds like he's hurting, I didn't buy that. Mas nasasaktan ako ngayon. I laid down again and let him do what he wanted. After a minute of silence, he spoke.

"I know I'm at fault. Kanina, what you saw was not a rehearsal. But I'm not also confirming it is real. We have a co-lead that has been hitting Sunshine Lee. Every filming, paulit-ulit naming inuulit yung scene kasi paiba-iba siya ng sinasabi, malayo sa script. The director wanted us to be natural. So we tried our very best to get close. And Sunshine's idea to get the co-lead out of the picture is to make him jealous. I know it sounds ridiculous, but she's just using me. And I know it will sound like an excuse that I agreed to her plan. Earlier, I felt like crying. Because when that guy entered the room, Sunny just kissed me out of nowhere and I know I have to hold it in because he's there. But you know what hurts? It's when I thought of you right away. Maybe you're right. I cheated. I cheated on you, baby, that time," he paused. "Everyday, napapagod ako, Sam. Sa filming, sa set up namin ni Sunny, sa trabaho ko. Gustong gusto ko umuwi sa'yo, araw-araw yun na hiling ko. Dahil ikaw lang pahinga ko. If only you can ask Sunshine Lee on how I always stare at your picture on my phone every break because of missing you. We have reconciled and we're staying as an acquaintance, as a colleague. And no more," he continued while carefully patting the cotton ball on my wound. His voice is getting hoarse. But I just keep my eyes closed. "I'm also very sorry if I lack many things. If every text of yours, I couldn't reply. If I was not too vocal about loving you. But I seriously do, Sam. I love you, more than I love myself. And I don't have any excuses about what you've said. Because you're right. I'm an asshole who only took your kindness for granted. I always thought that you're so understanding, and that everything is alright between us. Not knowing that I'm breaking us already. I'm really sorry, Sam."

He finished cleaning up the wound and even plastered it with a band aid. I felt his presence beside me and leaned his forehead on my forearm. I felt his tears fall there so I bit my lip to suppress mine.

"But, Sam," his voice cracked so he cleared his throat first before he continued. "Please, don't leave me?"

Nararamdaman ko na ang pagbara ng lalamunan ko nung narinig ko ang boses niya. He's making me weak.

"I can't afford to lose you. I'd rather lose my career over you. Please."

I stayed quiet and did not mind him. I want to let him know that I'm sleeping. Even though my heart is breaking at how desperate he is, hindi ako magpapadala. Atleast not now.

"I'll make it up to you. Please give me a chance to prove my love for you. This time all of the love languages. I'll surely do everything that I can. Please, baby. Just this once. I love you so much." He sobbed and took my hand before kissing it longer. "I'll come back tomorrow and beg for you like this again. Just don't let this end between us. I'm really sorry, my love, I'm really sorry."

He got up and I heard him sighed heavily before whispering "I love you's" and went out. I slowly put my hands together on my face and cried silently.

[henlex]

Jung Jaehyun Birth Chart!

I didn't realize we had his birth time so this is fun!!

Ok so first off I'm kind of surprised 😂 I have 2 of my big 3 in common. I genuinely didnt expect that!!

Anyway!! He has so so much Aquarius😂 idk if I've ever seen that much of one sign. Then the libra too☠ this man is mostly air. But pisces rising and taurus moon help to balance that a bit.

Rising

Pisces: water. They're like chameleons. They change depending on who's around them. They're very good at reading a room, and adjusting to the atmosphere. They can be rather shy but also talkative! They also have a kind of dreamy quality about them. They cant seem to get their head out of the clouds. Can be forgetful/ messy and tend to lose things. Very intuitive and creative.

They also tend to have bigger, watery eyes/ long eye lashes.

Sun

Aquarius: air. They're very unique individuals, they dont like to follow the crowd. Progressive and forward thinking. Very cooperative, they work well in a group. Very intellectual and observant, while unbiased they can be stubborn in their ideals. They desire freedom and individuality more than anything. They can seem slightly removed, and impersonal but they care deeply about humanity. They have large overarching perspectives about everything. They care very much for equality and fairness for all.

Moon

Taurus: earth. Comfort is their main driving force. They have a strong desire for stability and home. They avoid change (because they want the comfort of what they know/ the familiar). This can also make them slow moving and hard to get them started. They would genuinely lay in bed all day😂. Very sensual in nature, they're very attuned to their senses. This also makes them want things that are pleasing, like soft blankets, comfortable clothes are more important than style, etc. They have a very calming presence. Very sturdy and protective. Been known to love cuddles/hugs and can be quite affectionate. Thrive on routine.

Mercury

Aquarius. Unconventional self expression, they like to break the rules. Very observant, they love debate. Aquarius are detached and intellectual in nature. Don't like being scheduled....I'm pretty that's cancelled out by the taurus moon tho😂 They can be seen as strange but always have something interesting to say. Good sense of humor.....and like to shock people💆‍♀️

Venus

Aquarius. They'll try to impress with their open-mindedness and unique qualities. They try to showcase how different they are and can come off a little aloof at first. They're a bit unconventional when it comes to love. They're drawn to relationships that are out of the ordinary. They hate any type of restrictions and expect a certain amount of freedom but will give the other the same in return. They have a slightly detached form of love, where it's quite intellectually based. They want their lovers to also be a good friend. They avoid emotional displays (good and bad) at all costs.

Mars

Libra: they love thinking through every single option before making a decision. Incredibly indecisive (mixed with the taurus moon he could really drive a faster moving fire sign insane). They can procrastinate in their decision making as well because they want to make sure they're making the RIGHT one. Generally optimistic, they think the world is meant to be fair. They strive for balance. Avoid confrontation but can end up being passive aggressive. Very good at compromising and amazing mediators.

Aquarius Stellium in 12th house

(Having 3 or more planets in the same sign)

At it's most basic this just means this person exemplifies the traits of that sign and with 5 that's A Lot

The 12th house is all about the hidden, subconscious, spiritual parts of ourselves.

Aquarius stelliums are full of contradictions, like they're pulled in two different directions. Or the desire for something but only the will to go surface level before moving on. They have a very restless energy. (This could honestly do him well in this profession because of the constant different things going on and forms of expression)

But in the 12th house this can be more behind the scenes, quietly working away at things. He's not necessarily doing things for the recognition.

North Node Opposition Ascendant

I just find this really interesting. It's like he's most comfortable being in his ascendant but his soul mission is to almost embrace the opposite. This can make these people feel like they're going against the norm. They can be a bit disconnected from their social environment. This can make them unpopular. It may make it very hard to evolve (but with the open-mindedness of his aquarius should make it easier) They can come off as serious or rigid.

Anyway north node virgo mean he's meant to tap into the present. Ground himself, focus on detail and routine. Being compassionate and serving others. Because south node is pisces, his default is to have his head in the clouds but he's meant to keep his feet on the ground now.

Anyway lmk if you have any questions!💖