#lightning moment tarot

[outsidereveries]

— ningning and scandals?

disclaimer: as of tuesday, the energy could’ve changed for a bit or drastically. i simply had no time to interpret these readings. my readings might be inaccurate because of changing energies and misinterpretation. i have little to no knowledge of them.

should she be cautious of possible scandals?: four and ace of cups, the sun rx, queen of pentacles, four of wands rx • six of cups rx

i’d say yes. there are warnings of her being a fool, of someone else not doing a promise they made to her, or about her love life. poor venus retrograde..

where has to be?: eight of cups, the star rx, the chariot rx, ace of cups, the hermit rx • king of swords

yeah.. her love life. she has to be cautious of dating scandals. she wants to feel the love from another person to her guys🥺 the kisses, the hugs, the touch🥹 /gen

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[icyg4l]

Summer Lovin: What’s Your Love Life Looking Like This Summer?

hello beautiful people! this is all about what you can expect for this upcoming summer in your love life. this is a continuation of the summer 2024 tarot series! before we get started, i want to say thank you all for supporting me once again. it means a lot as this blog continues to grow. and thank you guys for being patient with me. without further ado, please choose the image that resonates with you.

Top Left-to-Bottom Right: (1-4)

pile one: you just wanna be in your room, huh? i think that you will meet a new person & it will take you some time to get used to their energy. but it feels like you have been single for a while now. you’re not really interested in anyone really. but the new person will ignite something in you. this connection will make you more playful. you will meet this person in a place where you least expect it. i think this person will have to grow on you. it feels like a slow burn. as you two become more connected, i feel like you will acknowledge them as a blessing in your life rather than a burden. it’s time to flirt a little bit. your spirit guides want you to be more warm, open and willing to go somewhere outside of work. get dressed up when you go out. not for the sake of romance, but just for self-appreciation purposes. this person will appreciate your intellect so much. they could be born in the summer and wear brown/earth tones a lot. if this is a masculine person, they have long hair. if this is a feminine person, they wear braids. cherish the moments that you have with this person because i have a feeling this is a fling. this person is someone the universe sent to you because they wanted you to get off the bench lmaoooo.

cards used: ace of wands, 9 of cups, knight of pentacles, 6 of cups, the tower, the hermit, king of cups, queen of wands.

extras: cheez its. broken umbrella. chrome hearts. new lingo. ribbons in hair. recently attended a concert. choker. thigh high boots. beetles.

pile two: you don’t have to search for anyone because they will come looking for you. i feel like you got out of a relationship about 6-12 months ago & now you’re wanting to get back into the field. because you set the intention or looking for a specific person, you’re going to find them at the right time. it’ll be almost lightning speed. but remember, you’re the prize. this person is gentle. you have a roster, don’t you? soon, those numbers will be deleted out of your phone because someone will sweep you off of your feet. i see you being bored with the dating scene as well. but by the end of the summer, you will come across your person. they are average height so don’t expect them to be super tall/short. this person invests a lot of money into their personal scent; this will be one of the things that will catch your attention about them. this will be a relationship that lasts past the summer. this person was sent into your life so that you could believe in love again. love can be the fairytale you deserve and more, darling.

cards used: 10 of cups, the star, 2 of discs, prince of wands, 7 of cups (rx), the hierophant.

extras: sharp eyeliner. being overstimulated. zoo field trip. fetty wap. 5th grade. boba tea. cashapp. blonde curls. “say cheese.” star trek. starstruck (2010).

pile three: “the death of a bachelor” is what i heard. this summer, i feel that you will be undergoing some major changes which will reflect in your feelings about love/dating overall. this pile will experience extreme changes in their love life. think 180. at first, you could be into focusing on your money & being flirtatious. but in the middle of summer, you could play with the idea of being a relationship. by the end of the summer, you could get in a relationship or be exclusive with someone. maybe you’ll break up with the partner you’re currently with & this will shift your views. either way, these changed feelings are a result of the people in your life. your support system will be a major influence. epiphanies will be had about the relationships in your life as a whole. i feel like you’ll be playing ‘catch up’ this summer. making up for lost time comes to mind. whatever the case may be, it feels as though you’ll be back outside, enjoying yourself or trying to. you will develop deeper emotional connections with your friends. you could even fall in love with one of your friends. the person who you’re looking for has a rare physical characteristic (i.e. grey streak of hair, different colored eyes, abnormally long chin, etc). i also think that this person could favor/remind you of your childhood crush. all in all, this person was sent to you to help you get out of your comfort zone. how will you know what you can handle if you haven’t gone through it yet? this is a test of resilience.

cards used: death, justice, 8 of discs, king of wands, the hierophant, 2 of discs, 2 of cups, 3 of swords, page of swords, 10 of discs.

extras: corn dogs. boiling water. chocolate bar. “put it in some rice.” book-to-film adaptation. spilled tea. 11th house energy. looking closely.

pile four: you guys are gonna have a sneaky link this summer. this is something that you desire at the moment. i feel like this will be with someone that you’ve known for a while. i don’t think that y’all are on the best terms right now though. but a mutual attraction between the two of you is there. you will be accompanied with chivalry and late night car rides. other things will happen in this car, if you catch my drift. things will escalate with this person pretty quickly. this isn’t an FWB situation at all. it feels like it’s strictly sexual. this person will help you feel more confident in your body & they’ll help you take ownership of it as well. “my body my choice” is what i heard. please use protection. this person is a hard worker. i feel like a lot of these events will take place after they get off from a long day of work. maybe they ran errands for the day but still want to see you? this person lives alone and they treat their car like their baby. i don’t feel that this will last long but the effects will. take full advantage of the time you have with this person, pile four.

cards used: princess of cups, princess of discs, 2 of swords, 7 of wands, the chariot, 8 of wands, the emperor, 9 of cups.

extras: cheetah print bonnet. airport. accountability. drunk texting. m. night shyamalan.

[clockwayswrites]

A Broken Sort of Normal, Part 14

WC: 2416, Masterpost CW: Panic attack

Endless, convoluted Uno games aside (really, who added tarot cards to Uno?), getting to know Wally’s friends was good. Danny liked them and hanging out with them was easier than he thought it would be, but he felt a little bad every time. Whenever he was there they had to keep masks on and that had to suck. They started dressing down, like Wally did, but it was always masks on for the heroes that wore them. They insisted it wasn’t an issue, but Danny made sure to sometimes have obligations that came up at the same time. He wanted to give them the chance to hang out together as themselves, without the hero suits.

Danny knew how important that was.

After several months and a bit of stumbling, it all found a rhythm. Danny had date nights and nights with the Titans. He also had nights out with coworkers or at the game store. That wasn’t to say it was all easy. Setting up the Justice League Response Team was hard, sometimes impossible seeming, work. There were arguments and issues and more red tape than Danny thought possible. His real job was also exhausting at times. Being a field medic meant dealing with injured and dead which never got easier, though he was grateful to have Wally to go to on the worst days. And then, of course, there was the lightning incident.

It really wasn’t his best moment, in his opinion.

Wally was so excited.

“Come on, come on!” he said as he dragged Danny by the hand. He had been lying in ambush to snag Danny right outside of the door of meeting room B3, otherwise known as the Response Team Lair. (They had been encouraged, repeatedly, to stop calling it a lair. Apparently that a bit too villainous for the comfort of some heroes.)

“What’s the hurry?” Danny asked, purposefully dragging his feet a little just to watch Wally bounce up and down impatiently.

“I’ve been working on a new power! I’ve really gotten it down and I want to show you. So come,” Wally pulled at Danny’s arm, “on already!”

Danny laughed and stopped fighting Wally, who almost stumbled with their sudden movement forward.

“Are we going to a training room then?” Danny asked. While over the months, the main response team planners had gained a lot of freedom throughout the Watchtower, there were still a number of areas they either weren’t allowed or weren’t supposed to go without supervision and the training rooms was one of those. Danny had been a few times with the Titans, but usually it was just to grab someone for a game or a night at Wally’s place.

“Yep! No one is stupid enough to risk the Big Bat’s wrath practicing powers like that outside the training room and this is a new power. I’m going to keep you in the observation room and everything just to be safe.”

“My hero,” Danny said with feeling.

“Always,” Wally replied with a grin. “And speaking of heroes, N is going to be there running the sim for me. Are you up to a meal after? Just something casual at my place with the usual peep?”

Danny thought about that honesty. He knew that Wally was asking because he actually wanted to know if Danny could handle being that social tonight. It was still hard sometimes. “Yeah, it would be good to see them. It’s been a few weeks with how busy things have been.”

“More like several.”

“Several?” Danny asked. He felt chastised even though he knew that’s not what Wally was trying to do. “Well, then definitely yes. I hadn’t realized it had been so long.”

“It’s okay, they all understand. You’re really in the thick of it trying to get the last things done for the response team. We all get being busy.”

“Yeah,” Danny said and let out a huff of air. “I guess you would. But a nice night with friends sounds good. Just please tell me there have been no more rules added to Uno.”

“I can make no such promises,” Wally said with a grin as they stepped through a door. “Nightwing! I have your observer for you.”

“No, not the Danny Fenton? I must be seeing things! Flash, take me to medical, have me tested,” Nightwing said, swooning into Wally’s arms.

“Yeah yeah, I get it, it’s been a little long since we saw each other,” Danny groused, but he couldn’t help the smile at the dramatics.

“It has,” Nightwing said from where he was still draped in Wally’s arms. That really couldn’t be comfortable, but Nightwing looked just as at ease as if he was standing normally. “But are we on for dinner tonight?”

“We are.”

“Yes!” Nightwing said, springing up. “Okay speedy, let’s get this show on the road! I’ll message the others while you warm up. Just signal to me when you’re ready.”

“Sure!” Wally chirped. He pecked Danny on the cheek before he sped off.

In a, well, flash, Wally was on the other side of the thick, blast proof window and stretching.

Danny shifted his weight from foot to foot. “I haven’t ignored him too badly, right? I’ve just been so caught up in finalizing everything. Not that that’s an excuse. I can, like, set alarms for myself. My days have been all thrown off not going to my actual job this last bit…”

“Hey, Danny, no,” Nightwing said. “Would he like to have seen you a little more? Probably, but it’s not like he hasn’t and you two text plenty. He gets that you’re busy, we all do. He’s been good, really.”

“Okay, good,” Danny said, making sure to smile for Nightwing. “I just… don’t want to do wrong by him, you know?”

“Why do you think we all like you so much?” Nightwing teased and bumped their shoulders together. “You’ve been good for him.”

“He’s been better for me, believe me.”

“Luckily not a competition,” Nightwing said. “You really good for a dinner with the group tonight? If you need some time alone with Flash, I can’t say the others are busy and make up an emergency.”

Danny shook his head. “No, dinner with everyone, well, everyone who can make it really does sound nice. They’re making us take the weekend off anyways, so I can just stay over and spend tomorrow with him too..”

“He’d like that I’m sure,” Nightwing agreed. He pulled out his phone typed for a bit until Wally’s voice came through the intercom.

“All good here!”

“You still want the Sigma B pattern?”

“Yeah! That let’s me build up best.”

Nightwing nodded and pulled some things up on the computer before counting down for the training to start. It was fun to be able to sit back and actually watch Wally in action for once instead of having to work. The other really was something.

“The regular training bots have to be taken out in certain ways. Flash is going for pressing one of the buttons,” Nightwing explained. “Training for precise hits helps us heroes who use hand to hand not use too much force on regular people.”

“And keeps the repair budget down?”

Nightwing laughed. “That too. Okay, so he should be getting close now, watch the sphere on the wall there.”

“Close to wha—” Danny swallowed the last part of his question as his mind blanked.

His head banged against something metal and cool. A locker. He was in the locker room. When had he gotten into the locker room?

Someone reached for him and Danny jerked back again, pressing into the little gap between the metal locker and the wall that he had squeezed into. Wally, Wally was paused, hand outstretched. Wally was, Wally had— Danny squeezed his tightly closed so not to see the look of hurt on Wally’s face. It was just that… he swore he could feel still feel the electricity buzzing along Wally’s fingertips.

Wally had shot lightning out of his hands.

“Just… I don’t… don’t touch me right now, please?” Danny whispered.

“Okay, I yeah, okay babe,” Wally said. He sounded heartbroken.

There was some shuffling, footsteps heading away, and the whoosh of the door.

Danny bit his lip to choke back the noise wanting to pull its way out of his throat, but that only served to make his breath catch and stutter in his chest.

“Hey, Danny,” a new voice said later; an hour, a minute? Danny didn’t know. It took Danny another moment to place it as Nightwing. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to try to touch you. I’m just worried about your breathing there. If I count, can you follow along with me?”

Danny didn’t have it in him to nod, but did what he could to follow along. The logical, trained part of his mind knew that even if he didn’t feel like he could breathe, he had to try for even breaths. It would get easier, nothing was actually wrong with his lungs.

“There you go. Do you think you can open your eyes now?”

Spots bloomed across his vision from how tightly he had been squeezing his eyes shut. Danny blinked them away.

“You’re doing so good. Can you talk?”

“Sorry,” Danny rasped.

“Hey, no apologizing. I want you to just keep breathing. I know you’re with me now.”

Danny managed a nod, let his eyes close again as he focused on breathing. When he was feeling a bit more stable, he moved out of where he had tucked himself away.

Nightwing smiled at him. “How about we get you out of here?”

Danny gave a hysterical little laugh. “What, no breakdowns in the Justice League locker room?”

“Oh, no, we’ve all had breakdowns in the locker rooms,” Nightwing said. He got an arm behind Danny and pulled him up. “But that’s how I know it’s not that comfortable. Are you up to Zetaing?”

“As long as you don’t expect me to think,” Danny said as he leaned, helplessly and heavily, into Nigthwing’s support. “Fuck I hate panic attacks.”

Nightwing easily took the weight and started them moving. “The adrenaline crash after them is really something, huh?”

“Yeah, hate it,” Danny agreed. He was aware of them moving through the halls of the Watchtower, but everything was still a bit of a blur.

They stopped near the Zeta tubes where Nightwing grabbed a little bundle. Danny frowned at the earplugs he was handed.

“Your senses are going to be off and the noise of the city might trigger you again. Put these on,” Nightwing said, settling sunglasses on Danny’s nose, “and the earplugs in.”

Danny gave a little nod and did as he was told. Then he obediently tucked into the hoodie he’d been handed. He tucked his nose into it. It smelled like Wally. Nightwing tugged the hood up and moved them to the portal. It wasn’t until they were piling into a taxi that Danny realized that Nightwing put clothing over his suit too. Danny glanced away from Nightwing’s face, now clad only in dark sunglasses.

“Wally’s place?” Danny asked, finally realizing where they were when Nightwing opened the door to the apartment.

He shrugged. “I don’t know where you live and I figured you’d be comfortable here. At least I assume the freak out wasn’t about about Wally as a whole person?”

“A— gods no,” Danny said. He set the sunglasses on Wally’s little side table inside the door. The earplugs got stuffed in a pocket before he rubbed at his face as he made his way to the couch. He felt more terrible every passing moment. “How upset is Wally?”

“He’s not upset at you.”

“Yeah, but…”

The couch dipped on the other side. “Pretty upset. He hates that he hurt you.”

“He didn’t hurt me. I just,” Danny dropped his hands with a sigh and was left blinking at an unmasked Nightwing.

“Hi, Dick Grayson.”

“Oh great, now I know more heroes’ secret IDs. Is Batman going to come and boomerang me for this?”

“Baterang.”

“Baterang, really?”

“I was nine,” Dick said with a little shrug.

Danny snorted. “Don’t pretend you still don’t think it’s a great name, Dick.”

“I can’t tell if you’re insulting me or calling me my name.”

“Can’t it be both?”

Dick chuckled and finally sunk back into the couch. “Good to see this hasn’t slowed down your sass any.”

“I’m told it’s one of my best features,” Danny said with a laugh. The sound was still slightly unhinged sounding, he knew, but he was settling down at least. “Thanks for, you know.”

“It’s no biggie, really. We’ve all had them. Is having Wally close going to set you off again or…?”

“No, I don’t think so? I should be good?” He hoped he would be at least.

Nightwing, Dick, eyed him for a moment before texting something on his phone. A second later Wally was standing in front of the couch.

“You’re not supposed to use your powers out of uniform,” Danny reprimanded on instinct.

“Yeah, fuck that. Are you okay? I’m so sorry. I didn’t even think about the lightning freaking you out because of your accident. That’s what it was, right? Babe—” Wally reached out for him and then pulled himself back.

Danny smiled, sadly, and held open his arms. Wally basically tackled him in a hug.

“I am so, so sorry.”

“Hey, it’s fine,” Danny said, tucking himself against Wally. “I mentioned what the accident was, what, once? Months and months ago? Of course you didn’t think about it.”

“I should have.”

“You can’t remember everything, Wally.”

“I can if it’s about you.”

A flash of a camera went off. Dick lowered his phone unrepentantly. “You two are such saps. Should I call off the others, order you some food, and get out of your hair?”

Danny knew they would, they would all change their plans if they thought that’s what he needed right then. But… “No. No, I think… I think people would be good right now. Better than quiet and getting in my own head, you know?”

“Yeah, I do,” Dick said with far too much familiarity.

Danny felt his phone buzzing with the group chat messages Dick was sending. A little smile tugged at his lips, despite everything. He tucked his face into the crook of Wally’s neck.

“You going to be okay?” Wally asked, voice barely a whisper.

“Of course I will. I have you, hero.”

---

AN: He has Wally, everything will be okay, right? 🥺

I know I know, every identity reveal comes after a panic attack. That's just Danny's sort of luck in this fic! But hey, he's got some good friends out of it!

Hope you enjoyed it and stay delightful, darlings!

[brutalfantasytarot]

Pick A Card Tarot Reading: Which Astrological Planet is Calling for You? ❤️‍🔥

study the images. which one are you drawn to most?

[left to right]

etsy.com/shop/brutalfantasy - for personal readings 🔮

pile one: death

pluto. god of the underworld. regeneration and rebirth. it's time to explore the depths of your psyche. the power of your unconscious mind. sex and art. work on your impulse control. butterflies are significant here - you're being called to connect with them. lotus flowers are significant too.

"there is something moon-soaked and dawn-flavoured about her.

something kissed by the wild and loved by lightning.

she, the goddess of storm hunting and wolves and moonlight magic. she, the queen of the forest, of womanhood more brutal than tragic."

pile two: nine of pentacles

jupiter. sagittarius. winning big. don't chase, attract. you do this by working on yourself. by changing your mindset. by beginning to act like how you would if you were exactly where you wanted to be. work with what you got. over-indulgence only throws your balance off.

"i started calling that girl back. the girl who loved living, the girl who danced instead of walked. the girl who had sunflowers and fireworks in her. i started playing music again, hoping she would come out. i started looking for beautiful moments to experience, so she would feel safe enough to show herself, because i knew she was in there. and she needed my kindness and effort to come to the surface."

s.c lourie

[hunnysnoops]

Main Three + Craig with morbid/odd reader

“I want love to change my friends to enemies and tell me how it’s all my fault.”

Stan:

He lets you draw on him but instead of doodling you take a black marker and start to meticulously draw dotted lines and arrows like you’re a surgeon prepping him for cosmetic surgery.

While helping him with farm chores you go into detail about how you can compost and break down a corpse in soil, he just kinda nods along.

You give him tarot readings every week. He thought they were fake and just did it to entertain you until his week played out exactly like you said it would. When he realized he just froze up and went non verbal.

Stan- “Hey, do you have any spells to curse my dad?”

Met him when he was in his goth era.

The two of you were having a moment in the rain when you told him that he should’ve worn shoes with rubber soles in case he gets struck by lightning.

You started writing his eulogy when you were laying in bed together, bro was trying not to freak out. Just spam texted Kyle.

You’re date idea is taking him to an abandoned house.

You guys bonded over music. Now you help him write songs since you’re so used to writing poetry.

Reader- “You’re into music?”

Stan- “Yeah, I guess so.”

Reader- “Have you heard Carnival of the Animals, R. 125: Aquarium composed by Camille Saint-Saëns and performed by Philippe Entremont, Gaby Casadesus, and Yo-Yo Ma?”

Stan- “Can’t say I have.”

Kyle:

Has veiny arms so when the two of you are just chilling you’ll put your finger on one of the veins and start talking about what would happen if you severed it. He’s lowkey interested from a scientific standpoint.

You’ll straddle his hips and pull his lips back to look at his teeth, poking around in his mouth like a dentist. You’re inches apart.

Reader- “Wow, you have beautiful teeth.”

Kyle- “Thank you?”

He’s kinda fascinated by you but also repulsed by some of the things you do/say.

He came to your house and you were butchering your own meat, left right away.

You listen to The Cure together.

When you climb trees to look for birds and squirrels he’ll climb too to help you.

Will get mad annoyed after listening to you say incredibly out of pocket things while he’s trying to focus on something.

He’ll buy you little knickknacks that remind him of you.

Before he got to know you, he talked mad shit.

Sometimes gets super freaked out by your behaviour, you straight up give him the heebie-jeebies.

Reader- “So this is my collection of human teeth.”

Kyle- “All of those are yours, right?”

Reader- “Actually, none of them are mine.” 😁

Kyle- 😨

Kenny:

Sits through horror movies and weird foreign films with you. He didn’t like it at first but he came around and started sourcing out movies he’d think you like.

You took him to a Wicca ceremony and he had the time of his life.

You taught him how to make flower crowns and now he makes them all the time. He likes to give them to Karen.

When he sees something off-putting or creepy he will immediately take a picture and send it to you.

Reader- “Hey, it’s raining. Do you want to go look for earth worms and build a worm colosseum?”

Kenny- “Hell yeah.”

He likes to go for walks in the forest with you, you guys will look for bugs and pick them up or make them houses of leaves and twigs.

He’ll help you wash the skulls/bones you find.

Never really minded that you were weird, he approached you first because he thought you were hot.

He loves when you play with his hair and tie little braids into it.

You guys tried to recreate The Blair Witch Project but failed miserably when you actually got lost in the woods.

You’ll meet up at the graveyard and just sit in the grass while you talk about ghosts and ghouls. Sometimes you’ll walk around and stop at a specific grave and guess how they died.

Reader- “Would you rather be in Cannibal Holocaust or The Poughkeepsie Tapes?”

Kenny- “Erm, I gotta pick The Poughkeepsie Tapes.”

Craig:

Generally goes along with whatever you want to do.

Reader- “Can we go down to the riverbank to pickup fish heads and then eat out their eyes?”

Craig- “Yeah, sure.”

He’ll just watch you roll around in the mud or set little twig piles on fire, he won’t join in but he also won’t interfere.

You’ll talk to Stripe, not in the baby voice that people usually use to talk to animals but your tone will be dead serious like you’re talking to a grown adult.

The two of you will watch true crime documentaries together.

He’ll fuck up anyone who calls you weird or a freak.

When you’re out in public, you’ll point someone out and predict how they’re going to die.

There’s nothing you can do that’ll shock him, he’s unfazed by everything that you say.

Sometimes gets concerned with you around Stripe.

You’ll disappear for hours at a time and he’ll get worried, sending you a million texts then you’ll randomly show up at his door soaking wet or covered in dirt with no warning.

Craig- “Where have you been? You weren’t answering my texts.”

Reader- “I was meeting with a friend of mine who is alive.”

Craig- “Oh, that’s cool.”

Requests are open! I’m working through a couple right now. Thanks to the anon who requested this.

[santoschristos]

The Magis Grail art by Emma Watkinson The Holy Grail has long been revered in Art as a symbol of the divine feminine. Inspired by the Mythic Tarot, it invokes the Magus card, moment the Magician becomes empowered & picks up the 4 magical elemental tools, the sword, wand, pentacle & grail, & realises he/she is master of their destiny. Essentially its about the process of creation itself from spirit into matter. The fire of the star of venus is the inspiration of spirit, shoots down in lightning to the Magi, he breaths in the air (mind) into the sword, his consort the High priestess breaths the water (emotions) into the grail, & together they plant the seed of manifestation, the pentacle in the earth, which grows in a tree… then bursting forth flowers in a cycle of manifestation as they build a life together. It could be the Magus & High Priestess at the beginning of the major arcana, or the lovers card in the middle…the Beltane dance of masculine & feminine within the weave of the caduceus, or the two figures could describe the hermaphrodite in the world card at the end, symbolising wholeness, completion of a soul and the hero’s journey. “…because two bodies, naked and entwined, leap over time, they are invulnerable, nothing can touch them, they return to the source. There is no you, no I, no tomorrow, no yesterday, no names, the truth of two in a single body, a single soul, oh total being…” --Octavio Paz

[talonabraxas]

Orion ✨ About The Constellation Orion

Let us remember the “Constellation of Orion” of the Egyptians; it is evident that this constellation is governed by 12 Great Masters. Esoterically it is said that those 12 Masters assist each other, but the 6th is always missing, meaning that “In order to attain SeIf-Realisation it is necessary to rend the veil of Isis” or, that is, the Adamic Sexual Veil.

Only in liberating oneself from sex in an absolute manner can one reach final liberation. The difficulty in all of this is, as the saying goes: “wanting to saddle the horse before you’ve caught it”. That is to say, the information given by all of those schools who say that one must liberate one self from sex, but without having fabricated the Solar Bodies.

Firstly, the Solar Bodies must be fabricated, and then sex must be renounced. That is the right way of things, and the things of the right way. In the work, first it is the animal, and later, the spiritual.

The constellation of Orion has a marked influence upon the atomic star which guides us internally which is Ain Soph Paranishpanna, our intimate star. As one Master said: “I raise my eyes to the stars from whence must come my help, but I am always guided by my Star which I have within”.

(Samael Aun Weor, Tarot And Kabbalah, Excerpts from Chapter 37, Arcanum Nº 15)

In Atlantis existed seven important oracles in the physical world, where men studied the wisdom of the stars and consulted the sidereal Gods. The guardians of those mysteries were great initiates. In the oracle of Mars, Martian occultism was taught; in the oracle of Jupiter, the Jupiterian religion; in the oracle of Venus, the arts, and Venusian knowledge; in the oracle of Saturn, the wisdom of Saturn; in the oracle of the Moon, lunar occultism; in the oracle of Mercury, Mercurian wisdom; and in the solar oracle, our Gnostic wisdom.

The ancient priests taught their disciples how to interpret the firmament. Those signs are interpreted basing oneself on the law of philosophical analogies, for example: if you see black stars with your clairvoyance, there is failure for thee. If you see a star fall from heaven at the moment when a friend leaves on a trip, there is going to be a funeral for thy friend. If the star falls on someone, or close to someone important, that personage will die. If a wandering star passes before thee by surprise, someone is leaving thee. If you see two yellow stars separating from each other, it means “war”.

Through thy esoteric studies thou shalt remain under the direction of some planetary genii, and they shall call thee by means of luminous signs that thou shalt learn to recognize. Thou should also comprehend the sparkle of thy celestial Father’s star when he calls thee to instruct thee in the mysteries of Light.

This earth, so dense, that thou inhabits today, will in a remote day be etheric and we will then have the celestial Jerusalem where neither tears nor pain exist. By then, the constellation of Orion which has brought so much bitterness to the world through the north, will shine illuminating a world full of glee and happiness.

“After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter”.

“And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne”.

“And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald”.

“And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold”.

“And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God”.

“And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind”.

“And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle”.

“An the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come”.

“And when those beasts give glory and honor and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever”.

“The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying’ç

“Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created”. (Revelation 4)

May the most profound peace reign in thy hearts.

(Samael Aun Weor, Zodiacal Course, Excerpt from the Chapter “Pisces)

[gingergofastboatsmojito]

Sydney's tower moment #Flimsywalls

And Carmy's.

So, as I mentioned here, Emanuel knows her walls are getting flimsier. And on shipping terms that is actually a good thing.

BUT

On Storer's terms, that may ALSO symbolically mean that Syd is about to come crumbling down and that her relationship with The Bear (both, restaurant and chef) is collapsing, which is what S3 was all about, basically.

I am team Syd threatening to quit Carmy's ass and THAT being the wake-up call he needs to turn it all around, that being said there is a chance that she actually does quit on him and then comes back, -as she usually does- in which case I wish she did that because he crawls and begs and rips Shapiro's head off in the process. Still, in either case, there is NO DOUBT IN MY MIND about Syd staying at The Bear and winning a star there, by Carmy's side, even maybe a JB award too. I'm basing this theory on the fact that they both hit rock bottom in 03x10 but I see that as a BREAKTHROUGH, not a breakdown.

Since Syd is clearly into tarot symbology as her 3 of swords ink indicates

I started thinking outside the box of the flimsy walls analogy I already went over in previous posts, so the image of a building collapsing came to mind, which immediately reminded me of the tower card, and turns out that the meaning of it fits the "Crying game" moment aforementioned.

I really don't wanna dig into it's meaning that deep because I think the superficial meaning fits perfectly, so there's no need to go deeper.

"This card is a powerful catalyst for change and personal transformation. You are being offered a fresh start and a chance to build stronger foundations in your life. This card brings a major life shift and the knowledge that things will never be the same."

How right on the money is that, right?

So both Carmy and Syd are at that evolutionary point of their journeys, they are mirroring each other in a very fucked up way, sure, but also... SOULMATISM.

Syd is at her breaking point and no matter what she chooses, nothing will be the same between Carmy and her after she makes her choice, and the very foundation of their whole relationship is being shaken and will have to be reformulated, re-built in a different and better way because status quo has no chance of being preserved.

"It has to get good or go away".

That's the tower energy that card represents, alongside the traumatic way in which events unfold, where the person feels is no longer in control, and that all those changes, no matter how necessary are being forced upon them. It's harsh.

Again, walls. Sydney is all about walls and for her to make the changes she has to make → (Their Synchronicity) she needed to go through her own tower moment. Carmy also went through his, exactly in the same season → (The end of Carmy). There's absolutely no coincidence in that.

"This card symbolizes the foundation of ashes in which the phoenix is born. The lightning-struck Tower is associated with chaos and destruction of boundaries."

Carmy was her lighting. And in a way, she was his too.

Love is an act of mirroring.

According to the tower card, after this collapse of walls, chaos and destruction, comes the "Phoenix moment". So, we're good. Don't dispair. She's gonna be just fine.

Sydcarmy will be just fine.

More about The tower tarot card → here.

Remember to follow my tag #Gingerpovs 💋

[swampgallows]

like sometimes i pull up a post from like 2016/2017 and im always blown away by the iron chokehold overwatch had on fandom across the board, and how blizzard just shattered their lightning in a bottle for no fucking reason. there were overwatch crossovers with EVERYTHING. overwatch characters as pokemon trainers, as furries, as crystal gems, as every au trope under the sun, their favorite meals, their favorite music, spliced into every meme and vine, wearing different fashion styles, fan skins, decks of cards (not homestuck), decks of cards (homestuck), astrological signs, tarot, everything. and maybe it was just the timing but it really felt like the moment blizz said 'uhh sorry no comics actually' everybody just went 'okay pack it up we're done here' and then the porn ban shut the door behind em. absolutely criminal

[monratarot]

Tarot tips and tricks - Breakup indicators

Please like and reblog if you find this information useful! 🌸🎀💕

//don’t claim it as your own and/or repost it on other platforms//

There are times we are asked about break ups in a tarot reading. It is handy to look at the cards in this context as you are learning their meaning. To see all the cards that have elements of a breakup. So here are all the cards I think of when it comes to a breakup. T

he real story here is that no one single card can tell the whole story when you pull multiple cards. It is how they inter-relate and if you look at the reversals or not.

These are just a few examples of cards that may indicate a breakup in a tarot reading. It's important to remember that the interpretation of these cards can vary depending on the surrounding cards and the overall context of the reading. Trust your intuition and allow the cards to guide you in understanding the situation at hand.

The Hermit

The Hermit, in its solitude, paints a picture of a period where you might find yourself stepping back from social circles and embracing some quality “me time.” It’s like having a chance to focus on your personal and spiritual aspirations while flying solo. So, even though it’s not exactly a “break-up” card, it hints at a phase of self-reflection and enjoying your own company.

Tower

Wow, the Tower card sure doesn’t hold back on the drama! Lightning strikes, flames engulf the building, and people are jumping out of windows. This card paints a vivid picture of significant upheaval or a major shake-up that’s pushing you to see the world from a whole new perspective. It’s like life threw a curveball just when you thought you were cruising in a cozy relationship.

Death

The Death card symbolizes profound change and transformation, marking the conclusion of one phase and the commencement of another. Your relationship may have completed its current cycle and reached its termination point. Consequently, it is imperative to release the past and welcome forthcoming transformations. In many instances, this might entail the impending dissolution of the relationship.

Two of Cups – Reversed

When reversed, the Two of Cups suggests the conclusion of a relationship, often within the framework of a consensual decision to part ways. Both parties have arrived at the mutual understanding that separation is the most suitable course of action, necessitating the dissolution of the once-shared bond.

Three of Swords

In the Three of Swords, we come face to face with a heart pierced by three swords, symbolizing grief, heartbreak, and sorrow. This card might show up when you’ve experienced the end of a relatively new relationship. The silver lining here is the sun peeking through the clouds, reminding us that this heartache is fleeting, and brighter days are on the horizon. You’ll be moving on to greener pastures before you know it.

Five of Swords

The Five of Swords tells a story of a tough battle that didn’t quite end in victory. Maybe you’ve been stuck in a cycle of disagreements and squabbles with your partner, and now you’ve reached the point of parting ways. Even though the arguing has stopped, you might not have that satisfying closure or the last word you hoped for. Instead of dwelling on it, it’s a good moment to release and move forward.

Ten of Pentacles – Reversed

In its upright orientation, the Ten of Pentacles signifies a well-established relationship, potentially indicative of a long-term marriage and the presence of an extensive family network. In contrast, when reversed, this card may imply that the marriage is approaching its conclusion, necessitating the division of family assets and the separation of finances as part of the dissolution process. Additionally, your family and home life may experience significant impacts during this period of change.

[outsidereveries]

HI can i request what kind of scandals do you think nct dream members would most likely get involved to? Thanks for reply!

disclaimer: my knowledge is limited. my readings might be inaccurate because of changing energies and misinterpretation.

mark: ace of pentacles rx, ace of cups, page of swords rx, king of swords rx, queen of swords, theee of wands rx • ten of pentacles

scandal/s involving sasaeng/s going too far spying him.

renjun: queen of wands, the emperor, the hierophant • ten of wands

third person telling something about his relationship with someone who’s really influental. idk if there will be lies if that happens. i see renjun taking responsibility for admitting this? if that is true tho

jeno: five of pentacles, six of wands, knight of swords, two of cups, three of cups rx • the chariot

dating scandal, possibly cheating one. someone who’s obsessed of him.

haechan: nine of wands rx, ten of cups, nine of cups rx, page of cups rx, eight of swords • knight of wands

someone who’s allegedly sick of him and his happiness. lies about seduction?

chenle: the lovers rx, the empress, five of swords, seven of wands rx • five of pentacles

dating scandal when this couple has already broken up.

jaemin: four of pentacles, five of cups, seven of swords • the sun

terrible actions from his side. sneaking, secrets, these things. idk if they will be true though.

jisung: page of swords rx, four of wands rx, temperance, six of pentacles • the moon

sasaeng scandal where jisung said to them their feelings are one-sided.

[theskeletontarot]

EIGHT OF CANES

The Eight of Canes in The Skeleton Tarot Deck is all about speed, momentum, and forward movement. This card embodies the rush of energy that comes when everything is finally falling into place, when plans take off, and when the pace of life accelerates. It’s the wind at your back, pushing you toward your goals with a sense of urgency and purpose.

When the Eight of Canes appears in your reading, it’s a signal that things are about to pick up. This isn’t the time for hesitation or second-guessing; instead, it’s a moment to embrace the momentum and move swiftly toward your objectives. Projects that have been in the works might suddenly gain traction, communication becomes clear and direct, and obstacles that once seemed insurmountable may start to dissolve. It’s all about rapid progress and the excitement of seeing your efforts start to pay off.

But the Eight of Canes also carries a message about the collective energy of a community in motion. When people come together, united by a common goal or vision, the speed of progress can be astonishing. This card is a reminder of the power that comes from shared purpose and collective action. Whether it’s organizing for social change, working on a community project, or simply supporting each other’s dreams, the Eight of Canes highlights the importance of moving forward together.

The Eight of Canes speaks to the potential for rapid transformation when people unite. It encourages you to think about how you can contribute to the collective momentum and how your personal progress can be part of a larger wave of positive change. This card invites you to ride the wave, to trust in the process, and to let the energy of the moment carry you toward your goals.

WHAT TO CONSIDER WHEN THE EIGHT OF CANES APPEARS:

Momentum and Speed: Reflect on the pace of your current projects and goals. Are you ready to move quickly and take advantage of the momentum?

Clear Communication: Consider how you can ensure that your messages are clear and direct. Are you communicating effectively to keep things moving smoothly?

Collective Energy: Think about how your efforts align with the broader energy of your community. Are you contributing to a shared goal or working in sync with others?

Trusting the Process: As things start to accelerate, are you trusting in the process and allowing yourself to be carried forward by the momentum?

WHEN THE EIGHT OF CANES SHOWS UP IN REVERSE:

Delays and Stagnation: Reversed, the Eight of Canes may indicate delays or a slowdown in progress. What’s causing the hold-up, and how can you address it?

Miscommunication: There might be misunderstandings or mixed signals slowing things down. How can you clarify your communication to get back on track?

Overwhelm: The rapid pace might feel overwhelming. Are you struggling to keep up, and how can you manage the pressure without losing momentum?

Resistance to Change: Perhaps you’re resisting the fast-moving energy. Are you holding back from embracing the change? How can you align yourself with the flow?

The Eight of Canes is a card of rapid progress, clear direction, and collective momentum. It urges you to move quickly and confidently, trusting in the energy that’s pushing you forward. Whether it’s your personal journey or a community effort, this card reminds you that when the time is right, progress can happen at lightning speed—so be ready to ride the wave and enjoy the journey.

[kerubimcrepin]

Episode 43 - The Dream Mixer

Instead of opening windows, these guys open the front door.

Man, I sure hope this leads to nothing bad happening during the Wakfu OVA.

Joris has multiple of the same card. Probably not worth reading into, and just a way to not have to do too much work for some intern. I wonder what he was playing, though...

I do want to read into this, though, this doesn't really look like a playing card we've seen before in the series, — instead, looking more like tarot, especially with the way, in the second screenshot, it seems to have some writings on the top and the bottom, — its number and its name?

I want to preface this next section by saying it is very likely not the intention, for this to be Deep, or anything. It's just some cards that look the same. Unlike most times when I am reading into things with at least a bit of a solid proof that things are meant to be read into, here I am reading into things just for the fun of it:

This personally looks to me the most like The Tower tarot, and basically, here's what the internet has to say on the matter:

When The Tower card appears in a Tarot reading, expect the unexpected – massive change, upheaval, destruction and chaos. It may be a divorce, death of a loved one, financial failure, health problems, natural disaster, job loss or any event that shakes you to your core, affecting you spiritually, mentally and physically. There’s no escaping it. Change is here to tear things up, create chaos and destroy everything in its path (but trust me, it’s for your Highest Good). Just when you think you’re safe and comfortable, a Tower moment hits and throws you for a loop. A lightning bolt of clarity and insight cuts through the lies and illusions you have been telling yourself, and now the truth comes to light. Your world may come crashing down before you, in ways you could never have imagined as you realize that you have been building your life on unstable foundations – false assumptions, mistruths, illusions, blatant lies, and so on. Everything you thought to be true has turned on its head. You are now questioning what is real and what is not; what you can rely upon and what you cannot trust. This can be very confusing and disorienting, especially when your core belief systems are challenged. But over time, you will come to see that your original beliefs were built on a false understanding, and your new belief systems are more representative of reality. [...] After a Tower experience, you will grow stronger, wiser and more resilient as you develop a new perspective on life you did not even know existed. These moments are necessary for your spiritual growth and enlightenment, and truth and honesty will bring about a positive change, even if you experience pain and anxiety throughout the process.

Jesus fucking Christ. even while I'm spitballing, the things I am saying still make some amount of sense. Anyway, even though it is an accidental visual, I sure hope Joris being surrounded by The Tower looking ass cards isn't like, an omen of doom to come in like two years.

Haha.

This line is pretty interesting when you remember that one of Kerubim's whole insecurities was being too poor for her, but what follows is more interesting: in his dream, there is always an audience, made up of other Ecaflips.

Watching from the same fourth wall we do.

We had already discussed on this blog that Kerubim has always viewed his life as a performance to some invisible audience, due to his extremely low self-esteem: a performance of being a hero, a masculine man, a successful rich person, and more, — but now we can really confirm this, and see it for ourselves, instead of just making assumptions based on his behaviour.

I do wonder if the audience being ecaflips is just asset reusage, — or if it is him feeling especially judged by his own race?

Perhaps it is the need to live up to its standards. Or maybe, it is a memory of his isolation in the childhood, and the way everyone always watched him and laughed at his class clown antics, and how despite that, he didn't have any friends.

This episode is the other reason, — besides his reactions whenever she kisses his cheek, — why I think Kerubim has a bit of a crush on Simone. (One that he'll never act on or acknowledge, obviously. He's not Like That anymore.)

But he used to be like that. Just unabashedly and openly cheating on Lou.

This imaginary audience laughs at his jokes, laughs at his accidents, and laughs even at his most awful flirting.

Yes, he really was always playing an exaggerated version of himself, and imagining the world laughing at him, as if he were in a sitcom. That's... actually very sad.

Not even cheering him on? Just laughing?

Considering what I had already previously said about Joris, and just how anxious he is portrayed as being, — especially of something happening to Kerubim, — it's interesting that his whole dream is an endless race to prevent some catastrophe that is never explained, but one he is convinced will happen.

Yes, it is just a fun dream that's him being a hero, but there is something to be said about the cyclical, triumphless nature of it.

This entire shore is covered in items from the store, and might be either Kerubim's addition to the shared dreamscape, or a representation of the shared experiences of the three dreamers.

The storm reflects the fact that none of them can find what they're seeking, and the growing anxiety that comes with it.

Despite him flirting with other women, Lou's scorn, Lou's accusation that he'll never be good enough because he can't become a good person, is a big fear for him.

I think that Lou is both a memory, and a representation of Kerubim's thoughts on the way he used to be, — or at least that is the image that the positioning of old Kerubim behind Lou invokes in me.

He hates himself, or at least who he used to be. These words are both something he thinks about himself, and something he thinks Lou would say.

Keke... Can you find this sadidette again, and check her sources?

Because all the sites I check say lily represents growth of beautiful from bad conditions, and also reincarnation. Which totally doesn't remind me of another weird fucking green-white thing in this show.

I want to know more about its sex symbolism instead, cat man!

Anyway, French-speaking readers, — I implore your help in the next post I make: this episode has some reversed audio, during the reversed boat scene, and I'll post it for you to analyse. I had wondered what it said for ages.

This line suggests that consciousness is fluid within the dream, — which answers the question of "which Kerubim is real and which one is a dream construct" that I've had with a very likely "both are real, and represent his different qualities of his character."

This also suggests, that my assumption, that the dream Joris is having is based on his high levels of anxiety he has, is probably correct, — and seemingly affecting Simone's and Kerubim's mental states too.

Joris seems so much like his adult self in this scene, — or so it seems to me. Very pretty.

Also pretty poetic, considering most of his actions as an adult are still fueled by the desire to be Awesome, and his definition of Awesome hasn't changed since he was 7.

THE best flash frames of the whole series.

Screenshots alone don't do this scene justice, so here it is.

There is a lot to unpack here. This is the closest we get to insight into Kerubim's real feelings in the current time, instead of his memories of the past, bad or good.

The thing he loves the most about her is her hair. Which brings to mind the happiest time of young Kerubim's life and their relationship, after he left kitty psych ward.

The line of "I will never have the time to caress them all" can have many different meanings. But the most glaring one to me, is...

She will die before him, and he had, likely, always known that. It was something he could ignore when they were young, but as an old man, who knows what will happen after he dies (not true death, that's for sure, he is not like her), and as someone who has likely seen other people his age die, — the possibility that she might not even be alive due to how many years had passed, is haunting.

And the possibility that he wasted all these years he could have spent with her, the possibility that he might be wasting them even now, if she is alive, is just as bad.

And the saddest thing is that he can't even see the old woman she became. He can only remember her as she was back then.

Would he even recognize her on the street?

This scene begins with the same sad melody as the scene of him missing Lou, but descends into discordant horrific sounds, despite how... comedic it seems. The same way Kerubim's other stupid antics are.

Because consciousness is fluid in this dream, and because Simone was playing the role of Kerubim's audience, — I think Simone and Kerubim are both mad here, with Kerubim's feelings influencing Simone's words, the same way Joris's influenced her in the previous scenes.

Joris doesn't look very happy about this dream anymore. Yet another proof for my hypothesis of this being an anxiety dream, even if by the time he wakes up, he thinks it's a cool one.

Remember what I said during episodes 33 (Noffoub's Fountain) and 35 (the gobbal set) about Joris's anxiety and dislike of change?

Being forced to go to bed is anxiety inducing for Joris, — he knows that it just means that the adults want him out of the way, that they don't want to spend time with him, — and he hates it when the routine changes, because it makes everything unpredictable, with is horrible to his little single-child-with-an-elderly-parent-who-keeps-saying-he'll-die-soon brain.

Haha. Yeah... Anyway.

Like in english, the french word rêve might mean both the dreams one sees at night, and one's hopes and aspirations.

...I don't think he is talking about the first kind here.

[gaykarstaagforever]

I've never liked James Bond movies, other than like two of the Pierce Brosnan ones, and only now because of nostalgia. They're boring when chases aren't happening and too long and his gadgets are unjustifiably impossible and the villains are idiots with stupid schemes, and no one ever just shoots the bastard, leaving him to constantly get out of situations by deus ex machina or blind luck. I don't know what people want from these movies, what makes the "good" ones good or the "bad" ones bad, or why anyone is invested in any of this.

That said, I just watched what is, to me now, the one genuinely good Bond movie: 1973's Live and Let Die.

Bond fights a technologically-advanced drug-dealing voodoo pimp / Caribbean island dictaror, whose evil plan involves giving away a billion dollars of heroin for free. And this plan also involves him somehow successfully killing like 4 secret agents, plus, oh yeah, voodoo and tarot magicks are probably actually real?

This feels like white people mistakenly deciding they know enough about Black people in 1973 to make a movie about their world, and it is exactly as problematic and insane as you'd expect. And I loved every minute of it.

Such gleeful stupidity, done with such a straight face, is a beauty to behold. There is also a 10 minute sequence that is just Smokey and the Bandit, complete with a fat racist idiot Southern sheriff and incompetant Louisiana state police, who get their cars completely destroyed in slapstick comedy wrecks where people crash off ramps into bogs but no one ever gets hurt.

...Except this came out 5 years before Smokey and the Bandit, and maybe the same weekend as the similar White Lightning, so I have no idea who was stealing what from whom. I guess 1973 was just the year to start making fun of Southern law enforcement with funny car accidents.

I'm not complaining. I love this crap. It's just such a specific thing for multiple creatives to seize on at exactly the same moment. I suppose art, like voodoo, is endlessly mysterious.

I got the impression this movie is a critical pariah and was a flop, but neither is true. It made tons of money, and while people in general didn't and don't like Roger Moore as Bond, it seems most people enjoyed the frenetic weirdness going on here.

This was Moore replacing Connery, who set the iconic 1960s Bond bar. Like, hostility to anything new and different was inevitable. I don't feel strongly about Connery's Bond either way, because a lot of those movies are impossibly slow and his charm doesn't redeem them. So I like Moore here. He seems like he's still figuring out how to do the character his way, but that is also inevitable. But he's drool and wry and unflappable, and any lack of charm is fine, considering the movie is far more about jumping from one ridiculous situation to another at a break-neck pace. Bond is really just along for the kooky ride, and Moore manages that.

I love the cars and the costumes. This is peak early 70s, so everything is big and bright primary colors, from the cars to the collars and neckties, to the platform shoes and afro wigs. All the suits have vests. VESTS! The villain dresses his henchmen in bright bluejeans with scarlet polo shirts tucked in. They look like Target associates went rogue. It's beautiful.

Any more analysis of the plot than I've already offered is pointless, because this is a Bond movie. So even at peak wannabe-Blaxploitation goofiness, he's still boldly walking into obvious traps, inappropriately trying to trick certainly-evil women into sleeping with him, and solving every problem with a gimmick watch and desperate flailing that somehow knocks people out.

I don't know why anyone bothers setting elaborate traps for him. Just send a guy to pick him up. He'll know exactly that you've done that and get in the car anyway. That happens twice in this movie! And the same guy is driving!

The watch in this one has an industrial-strength magnet in it, and also the face spins and acts like a tiny buzzsaw. And, fine. That's the right kind of stupid. But how the hell does all that work on tiny watch batteries? I can't forget about that, which is why Bond movies aren't for me. And it makes Bond look bad, because anyone with that watch could probably do exactly what he does. ...Except probably the thing where he uses the magnet to undo the zipper on a woman's dress. That's very specifically a Bond thing, the cheeky predator.

But he's not the only incompetent gadabout, here. Most of the story takes place in the US, and he's working with the CIA. And they are AT LEAST as bad at everything as he is. But they don't have magic watches, so I guess that's why they keep getting stabbed, and poisoned by voodoo snakes, and have to call him in, to do whatever the hell this is:

Jane Seymour is also here. She is a possibly biracial? tarot witch who has virgin powers, and is owned by the Black villain. She gets manhandled and molested all the time, especially by Bond, and his deflowering of her is a major plot point.

As I said before, there are some problematic things going on here.

But the whole affair is so earnestly cheesy and high-energy that it's hard to find fault. They were going for schlock, and they schlocked it. James gets cornered by a hundred people doing a deadly swamp voodoo ritual that involves human sacrifice and a magic robot, and after some of them charge him with machetes, he responds by blindly firing into the crowd and murdering a bunch of them. This culminates with him getting captured by the villain for like the third time, and the guy acts like all this was just part of his plan.

Then Bond wrestles with him a little near a shark tank, but kills him with a Looney Tunes device. 1960s Batman showed more restraint than this. The Austin Powers movies barely referenced this one, because it is already a parody of spy movies. It is a thing of messy, stupid brilliance.

If you don't like Bond movies, this is the Bond movie for you. Everyone can get a laugh out of this, even if they're only laughing at it.

(Also the theme is the best Bond theme ever, but everyone already knows that. It opens the movie with naked women dancing around flaming skulls. That alone probably makes it the best Bond movie.)

[coffeeandmagicaltales]

The Auror&The Devil part 12

AesopSharpxMC (Angst, hints of fluff, TAROT READING disclamer: I'm a witch and this is my own interpretation for the fic purposes)

"Is it nice to steal, huh, young lady?" grumbled Aesop, now in his own form, dabbing Sidó's scraped knee with Wiggenweld Potion, wiping the wound with a clean cotton bud. He wasn't concerned that the girl didn't understand English; his stern expression served as a universal language.

At the beginning she was quite scared that some force incomprehensible to her had brought her back near the orphanage. Now she averted her gaze in offense, lightning bolts striking from her eyes. She didn't even flinch, although the potion must have stung her- brave, angry little fluff. Morana struggled to contain her laughter. She and the girl were indeed similar... Perhaps not in appearance, but they shared a similar spirit.

"Hmm, aj ja som chodila do tohto sirotinca a ako ty som utiekla." (Hmm, I used to go to that orphanage too, and like you, I escaped) Morana began timidly, poking her side with her finger, which immediately elicited giggles, and she gave girl a piece of smoked sausage to eat.

"Naozaj?" (Really?) she asked incredulously and eagerly began devouring the food.

"Áno. Už dávno som stratil rodinu, hľadám ju." (Yes. I lost my family a long time ago, and I've been looking for them) Morana replied, leaning against the low wall on which Aesop sat the three-year-old.

"Boli to tiež čarodejníci?" (Were they also wizards?) she asked.

"Neviem, možno." (I don't know, maybe)

Sidó pondered, and after a moment, with her mouth full, she replied, "Pretože tu žije baba yaga, možno je to tvoja mama." (Because there's a Baba Yaga living here, maybe she's your mom.)

"Ako to?" (How so?)

"Ach, v ruinách hradu. Vraj všetko vie a vidí budúcnosť." (Oh, in the castle ruins. They say she knows and sees everything about the future.)

"Budúcnost..." (The future...) Morana immediately thought of the visions she had... maybe they weren't the result of Ancient Magic, but something she inherited.

"Ako sa voláš?" (What's your name?) she asked, reaching out her hand, greasy from sausage, towards Morana's scar, which made Aesop chuckle and silently say to Morana (when her face was smudged in grease she tried to ged rid off with her sleeve), "You deserve it."

"Morana, a toto je Ezop." (Morana, and this is Aesop.)

"Mám ťa rád." (I like you) she said immediately and added, "Môžem ísť s tebou?" (Can I go with you?)

The seemingly innocent question tugged at Morana's heart. The girl's eyes were full of hope that they would indeed take her with them, wherever that might be, even though she hardly knew them. She preferred to leave with strangers than to stay where she was.

The woman's mind suddenly found itself in Vienna, several years ago.

She sat covered in hops, cowering, trembling upon hearing someone's footsteps, and when someone's hand brushed aside the cones, she saw the face of an older man. He looked at her with surprise, and the kindly gleam in his eyes made her trust him.

"Shhh, calm down, little one. Don't be afraid of me," he said gently and sat her on a barrel. She was missing a shoe, which she had lost somewhere. She didn't understand his words then, but the tone of his voice was very soft and calmed her. He pulled out a checkered handkerchief from his pocket and wiped her dirty face. "Where is (he pointed to Morana) mama... hmmm mutter?"

Morana shook her head, indicating that she was an orphan.

Mr. Dimm scratched his head, surprised by the whole situation. Thoughts raced through his head; he looked into her crystal blue eyes, big and sad, knowing that this child was a blessing from heaven. Before him sat a beautiful girl, the long-awaited child they had dreamed of with Lyra for years.

As soon as they heard footsteps and voices, Morana grabbed his big hand and hid behind him. At that moment, he completely fell for her. Someone wanted to harm her? Over his dead body. He lifted her up and wiped her tears away. For a few moments, they looked into each other's eyes, their fates intertwined.

...Sidó looked at Morana and Aesop alternately, waiting for an answer.

"What did she ask?"

"She wants to go with us."

"Oh..." Aesop let out, also touched by the question, and began to think feverishly. "Well... it's not really a good idea... Where would she live? With whom? You... You're studying, you have plans for the future, and I... I'm old and alone... I work a lot... It wouldn't work out..." he started, as if for a moment, he really considered the idea. Morana sadly shook her head; it didn't make sense. A three-year-old wasn't a puppy to "hang around" with them... And even a puppy should have better care. It was out of the question!

Morana picked her up without a word, and the three of them started silently toward the orphanage. Sidó wet the woman's shoulder with tears, intertwining her hands in her hair, which she clung to tightly, causing Morana's heart to ache. Aesop, following them, saw the sad look in the girl's eyes and did everything not to look at her, knowing that in a moment, he would completely fall apart. Just before the orphanage gate, he dampened a tissue with a few drops of a potion known only to him, to pretend to wipe her nose and put her into a blissful sleep, so that she wouldn't experience the parting.

They handed the sleeping Sidó over to the hands of sister Illuminata, Aesop took care of it with one of the spells, so that the nun would forget that she had seen them and that Sidó had escaped.

"Ugh, how much I'd give for a glass of whiskey... Or three," he muttered as they walked away from the gate and gently stroked Morana's shoulder, who walked beside him in silence, with her head down. "What's on your mind?"

"Ehhhhh..." she grumbled. "I feel terrible. I want to cry. I've had enough."

"Hmm... We can always visit her from time to time, support her financially in her future education. Ask if anyone among our friends would like to adopt her... Does that thought comfort you at least a little?"

"Maaaaaybe," she muttered, then added. "It's good that you're down-to-earth. Your ideas always comfort me..."

Aesop smiled; Morana's words stroked his ego and made it purr.

"She's safe, she has food, nothing's happening to her. Even though that nun, whatever her name is, the Illuminata sister, is terrible, she won't harm her, she takes care of the children - that's what my intuition says, although, well, I'll admit, those big dark eyes made me ready to run away with her for a moment." he laughed. "My next brilliant idea is: let's get back to why we came here... I heard her mention something about Baba Yaga, that's a Slavic term for a witch, isn't it? I saw that it caught your interest."

Morana nodded and sent him a smile.

"The ruins of the castle are nearby; according to Sidó, a witch lives in them who sees the future..."

"Mmmm," Aesop became interested. "Interesting... How far is it?"

"About 5-6 hours from here by foot, I recall those ruins from local legends... people said that they were haunted."

"I like such legends; you immediately know there's something to them. We'll find a carriage and set off!"

"I'm not sure if there are carriages going straight to the castle here..."

Aesop pulled out a tiny vial with a "DANGER" label from Madame Niffleur's bag, certainly not a Polyjuice, and his sly smile seemed very suspicious to Morana. "Did you say something? We're certainly not flying there on a broomstick. Madame Niffleur can be very persuasive."

The afternoon sun, although still scorching the skin, was slowly beginning to descend. Aesop and Mora struggled to climb the slope, from the top of which the ruins of the castle watched over the surrounding hills, resembling the sleeping dragon with its uneven, elongated shape and white scales. Bright, hewn blocks of limestone, from which the fortress was built, sparkled in the light and seamlessly merged with the base of massive rocks, tightly entwined with a tangle of weeds, bushes, and sharp thorns tugging at the wizards' clothes. Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Aesop conceded to the ancient architects who chose this place as an observation point and a true bastion – the view of the hillside ocean was breathtaking, but back then it was crucial for military tactics, and the numerous caves hollowed out in the rocks at the beginning of time provided shelter and were perfect for securing food. A beautiful place surrounded by the history of thousands of people who lived before them, possibly even some of Morana's ancestors... He imagined Morana in a princess's attire, but not the kind a regular princess from books about knights would wear... no... He saw her as she gazed at the green hills with her blue eyes, a just, decisive, calm ruler, but incredibly dangerous to anyone who dared to appear with a foreign banner under her walls... Pearls intertwined in jet-black hair adorned her temples. Her attire? Not just any dress in pastel colors. A gown made of leather and black silk, very comfortable, not restricting movement; a sleek scabbard tightly fastened with a belt to which the best sword and dagger would be attached; wrapped in a cloak of bear fur... which she probably hunted herself... The thought amused him somewhat and sweetened the climb. Queen Morana, the ruler of Nitra. It sounded more than good, huh.

A solitary ruler? Would she have a king? Probably not. This thought amused him again, but after a moment, another, less pleasant thought arose. Many would vie for her hand. Maybe it was due to fatigue, but in his imagination, he saw a knight from a painting that hung in his room at Hogwarts, which resembled of him... Sir Sharp of... what exactly? Hmm, Hogwarts? Aranshire? It didn't matter... He dismounted from the white steed, striding proudly in shining armor amidst the pitifully tumbling bunch of youths writhing at the feet of Queen Morana... He bowed before her, and taking her delicate hand, he brushed her ring with his lips. She smiled, and her eyes sparkled, she lifted his chin, gazing deeply into his dark eyes...

He twisted his foot on a stone, and a bolt of pain pierced his knee. He cursed soundlessly, pushing through the bushes, unable to see a path trodden by deer. Morana walked a little ahead of him, easily navigating the path...

As a disabled person, he probably wouldn't survive long in those times... Most likely, he would buckle under the weight of the armor, become a laughingstock... Not only in the past, though. He lowered his gaze, feeling another wave of uncertainty and disgust towards himself wash over him. A man in the prime of his life, yet he had to be handled like a porcelain figurine, like an old man... Men like him don't dance with princesses, they hide in the shadows and quietly fade away...

"Aesop, everything okay?" Morana's voice snapped him out of his reverie. "You seem... gloomy... Maybe you'd like a break?"

Aesop cleared his throat and shook his head. "I'm perfectly fine... It's very beautiful here, I got lost in thought... Shh!" He suddenly became cautious, as his instinct told him they weren't alone. He stopped, scanning the surroundings; they were practically at the gate. Something moved near it, a shadow. Morana spotted it too. Both exchanged knowing glances and discreetly prepared their wands.

The shadow stood still, leaning against the stone wall. An old woman in a cloak with a hood casting a shadow over the upper part of her face, leaning on a staff. She smiled mysteriously, and in the pale sunlight, her teeth gleamed with gold and silver, tufts of completely white hair grazed her wrinkled tan face. Aesop and Morana cautiously approached her and greeted her uncertainly, their wands behind their back at the ready.

"I knew you would come," she said in English, her voice carrying a strong accent, but not the one people from these parts or any Slavs had. Something Italian, maybe Spanish...

"How do you know we speak English?" Morana asked, looking at her suspiciously.

"I know everything, dear..." the old woman whispered.

Aesop became wary. "You probably heard us from afar. These empty walls must echo sound well..." he interjected, squinting, scrutinizing the woman. She laughed.

"You guessed right. My knowledge comes from what I hear and see, and I listen very attentively and observe carefully, so I know... Come, it's a sin not to welcome guests, especially if they come on business..."

"Business?" Aesop bristled.

"For what other reason would you come here?" she shrugged, leading them along the long courtyard towards a hole in the wall, which was almost blocked by fallen doors. "The castle is haunted, terrible things happen here... That's what they say, so no one comes here without good reason. And so it is. No one visits me without a reason. Only on business."

Morana and Aesop looked at each other, perplexed, not knowing what was happening. With no choice, they followed the old woman through a winding corridor illuminated by candles. Along the walls, hanging from the ceilings, were bunches of dried plants and mushrooms emitting an incredibly intoxicating scent. Lavender, rosemary... there was plenty of that here... They finally reached a small cave or a room that was once a palace cellar. It was quite cozy; the ceiling and walls were covered with carpets, there were plenty of dried plants, trinkets, vials, and jars crowding the shelves, bowls with crushed seeds, ointments, crystals, bubbling distillation flasks in which all sorts of remedies were weighed... In the old royal fireplace, a fire was burning, and above it hung a cauldron with bubbling liquid. The old woman pointed to the table with a wave of her hand. Aesop and Morana took their seats opposite her.

"I came to..." Morana began, but the stranger immediately silenced her.

"Don't say anything, be silent, I will find out myself." she said pleasantly. "What the mouth says does not always speak the heart and mind... And I must see the truth, however... For every magic, it is right to make an offering first. Magic is a gift from the ancient gods, just as they were offered sacrifices, so every use of it, like meeting a friend, should start with a gift and end with gratitude..."

She pulled out a deck of cards from her pocket and began shuffling them. Aesop moved, surprised by her words, but in a fraction of a second, everything became clear to him. "Dammit, she's a Muggle witch." He rolled his eyes and immediately turned to Mora. "We're wasting time, she's a fraud. Tarot, crystals, ointments... Uh, quackery, trying to extort money." he muttered, glaring at the witch. Morana wasn't so sure about that, her intuition, on the other hand, suggested to her that whether a fraud or not, she might have some information about what happened to her family. She took out a coin and placed it on the table.

Before Aesop could protest, the coin disappeared into the witch's pocket, and two cards appeared on the table. One by Morana, the other by him. The woman smiled mysteriously.

"Payment accepted. My question is – who are you, strangers?" she reached for two more cards and laid them below. "What did your pasts bring?" She began shuffling. "And, since you seem to work together... oh!"

From the shuffled deck, only one card shot out and fell on the table, between Morana's and Aesop's line of cards.

"...How might this future unfold for both of you?" She finished, sliding the last card down, but leaving it between Morana's and Aesop's readings.

"Ugh," Sharp grumbled, rolling his eyes. "Well, wonderful, making a fool of myself, splendid..."

The witch silenced him and turned over his card.

THE MAGICIAN

Aesop's eyebrows twitched. Not that he believed her, no, not at all, she was just a simple fortune-teller, but the coincidence intrigued him somewhat.

"Oh yes... The Magician..." the witch began. "It's a card of someone who pursues knowledge, powerful, often invisible to many, which can lead to boasting... Hmmm, it's funny, you see?" She placed a finger on the drawing, and Aesop and Morana leaned in slightly to get a better look. "All the elements that make him up lie before him on the table, as if he's about to examine them, as if he's pulling them out of himself and trying to understand them somehow... He doesn't know what to do with them, they're ready, but unused... His wealth," she pointed to the coin, "the path he has taken," she indicated the staff, "the desires, feelings, and longings he carries within," she pointed to the cup, "and his mind, sharp and extraordinary," she pointed to the sword. "It's all right here before him, yet he separates it from himself, as if he doesn't want to accept it, seeking help from above, in magic, or some 'higher knowledge,' but the answers are literally before him, within reach. He seems lost, uncertain... Is he afraid to reach for them and use them? We'll soon see why, but first, I want to get to know you, young Lady..." She paused and turned to Morana. Meanwhile, Aesop stiffened, not liking how accurate the woman's words were.

Morana's card was swiftly revealed.

THE DEVIL

"Hmm, I didn't expect to see such a card for a young, beautiful lady... But looks can be deceiving. Power surpassing that of the Magician, even black magic! However, my instinct tells me it's just a symbol... A symbol of someone seeking freedom, because you see, Lucifer defied God himself to go his own way, but... I don't see freedom here, but rather enslavement... Something that binds you and won't let go, even though the nooses around the necks of the figures visible here are completely loose and could slip off at any moment, yet they don't escape... It seems to me that something that once helped you turned out to be your false friend... Not a person, no, no... Something you deeply believe in, something whispering all possible negative scenarios into your ear... Why is that? Hm... It's time to learn about your past, shall we? Let's start with the Magician, what made you be here today, in the company of this extraordinary woman, thousands of kilometers from home?" She turned over his next card, and Aesop's stomach churned. A bloodied figure lay on the ground, literally nailed to it with swords. He heard screams and noise in his head, for a fraction of a second, he saw Sholto's dead body lying face down in a pool of blood just like the figure on the card. He averted his gaze, trying not to look at it.

"I'm so sorry..." the witch said gently, seeing how the card panicked him and immediately flipped it over so he wouldn't have to look at it. "You've encountered terrible things, Magician... Blood, suffering, despair... Your own mind has failed you, you've made a mistake somewhere, one that cost you everything... This card speaks for itself and is worse than the Death card because you see, the Death card heralds rebirth, but this... emptiness, nothingness, which clings to you. So much evil has befallen you. However, this card pertains to your past... The future is ahead of you..." She gestured to the mysterious, single card in the middle. Her gaze fell on Morana, who was absorbed in every word she said. "And what befell you, Devil?"

The card was revealed, depicting a very idyllic scene of floating cups and a happy family looking at them, as at the rainbow. However, this idyll was upside down before Morana.

"You've lost your family," the witch concluded. "That's why you can't free yourself from the past, find a place for yourself, stability, and emotions, like water from these ten upside-down cups, spill over..." The old woman looked at the last card and smiled mysteriously, lifting it without showing them what was on it. "This card ripped itself out to you, but it's up to you whether you want to know what's on it, or, judging by what I've seen, it's not the purpose of your visit..." Morana wasn't too eager, and Aesop, even more so, as he had seen enough and wanted to leave.

"I understand." The woman shuffled all the cards back into the deck and rested her intertwined hands on the table. "Magician and Devil... How can I help you?"

"I'm looking for my family," Morana spoke softly. "Something happened in Nitra a years ago; suddenly I found myself in the forest one night with no memory... I'd like to find out what happened then... Maybe you remember something, or at least know someone who spoke of some strange phenomenon, I don't know... It happened on the night of January 1st to 2nd, 1875..."

Baba Yaga pondered for a moment.

"In Nitra? Hmm, not really, I's a dull place... Although, there was a fire in Jelenec at that time, I remember it well. People said the flames burst literally in a split second, as if it was the work of the devil himself, so I was summoned afterward because the neighbors were afraid, fearing it was black magic..." Morana flinched.

"Do you know where it was? What happened?"

"By the lake. I instructed them to sprinkle everything with holy water and bury it, mark it with a stone so that no one would build anything there. Hmm, it's strange, but no one could figure out who lived there, and we all know each other very well here, or at least I know everyone well. There were a few huts in that area. We looked for bodies, asked if anyone knew anything... in vain: we only found a few charred bones and buried them in that place..."

Morana felt a stab in her stomach. That was her home, she was sure of it. And her family was dead.

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Aesop felt touched by the words of the Muggle woman, who had undoubtedly deduced many things about them by observing their reactions to the pathetic cards. It was a game, and she was barely observant and extremely intelligent. He was a real wizard.

"What magic school did you attend?" he asked rather curtly.

"Schools?" she laughed. "None, Magician. My mother taught me spells, her mother taught her based on the knowledge passed down from our mothers. These are old spells, not spectacular, they work slowly, but they are as powerful as yours... Yes, even though I'm old, I saw your wand, which is now barely sticking out from under your sleeve... Don't worry, it's nothing new to me; people like you also visit me. There are quite a few of them living in the area, those who returned from studies in France or somewhere in the north... They come to me for advice on many matters, especially when it's restless in the nearby graves..." The woman turned to Morana. "Go southeast; the lake is nearby. You'll see an empty space between the houses filled with stones. That's the place."

Morana, enveloped in the velvety rays of the setting sun, stood in silence, looking at the pile of bright stones in front of her and a quite large boulder laid on them. It was very quiet, peaceful, and the temperature had dropped thanks to the pleasant chill from the nearby lake, around which wild birds circled, mainly crows living nearby.

She felt strangely absent.

She had reached her home, where she wanted to be. Although she didn't know their names, her family lay buried under her feet; now she could visit this place, she knew where she came from. The puzzle was almost solved.

Well, she should be happy. Feel relieved, from finding her parents' grave, even though the perpetrator of their death could still be at large...

She should be happy.

She felt only confusion.

Anger that her life hadn't changed, that she couldn't call those nameless people "family." She didn't feel an influx of emotions associated with this area, she didn't feel "at home" here. She looked at the boulder and was basically indifferent to everything.

Aesop observed her from a distance, casting Revelio in a few places out of habit to find any clues. Too much time had passed, and Muggles or wizards had already erased all traces. It wasn't comforting at all. Something had been solved, but nothing had really been. Morana seemed even more depressed than before, which saddened him and that annoying fortune-teller, well, a Muggle witch made him sick. He had encountered such frauds mixing in the heads of Muggles in his life and didn't trust them for a penny, and now he calmly analyzed everything she said, making sure she just read their behavior and chose responses based on that...

He kicked a small stone with his healthy foot, annoyed, then took a deep breath and looked at Morana. He let her stand there as long as she needs; she needed time to sort things out in her head. He walked ahead, looking at the surrounding houses... he noticed freshly planted Chinese Chomping Cabbage in the gardens, some Dittany... There were indeed wizards living here. Morana's family was probably one of them, but someone literally wiped them out with an exceptionally strong and cunning spell. Soon Morana approached him.

"Let's go back," she whispered.

"Do you want to look around some more? Maybe ask someone?"

"No," she replied, staring at the ground.

"Do you have anything else to do in Vienna, or can we head straight back to the Highlands?"

"No, I've taken care of everything, orders will come next week straight to the brewery."

Seeing her sad expression, Aesop laid his hand on her shoulder. She flinched, as if awakened from a dream, and looked him in the eyes.

So much had happened in these few days.

"Butter beer?" he offered, smiling warmly and extending his forearm toward her. Morana sent him a hesitant smile. She looked at the boulder one last time and grasped his arm firmly, practically nestling into it. Aesop kept his promise, helping her find her parents, for which she was grateful... and she didn't know how to express it. She tried to say something, but the chaos in her mind completely prevented it.

"Thank you," she whispered, looking him straight in the eyes, and at the same moment, she gently squeezed his arm. Aesop felt her fingers clenching the fabric around his skin, causing it to sting and tremble, as if even his own skin was pleased with Mora's the closeness. He nodded slightly, humbly saying nothing. The investigation had come to an end for now.

For now.

There was a loud crack, and the two wizards disappeared, leaving the hills of Nitra far behind.

End of part 12, thanks for reading.

[sophisticated-creepy]

          The friends spent the next several moments cleaning up the parlor before continuing on their quest of exploring the Manor House for ghosts. With all that had transpired during the attempted séance with Lazare, and Modesta’s tarot reading, they approached the remainder of their investigation with caution. The energy in the house wasn’t threatening, per se, but the air seemed to crackle with a pent up need to release a burst of paranormal activity. It just needed a catalyst to give it the spark and ignite. As a group, they traversed into the underground rooms of the basement, exploring the reserved private party space, trying their best to capture disembodied voices and dancing skeletons. Eventually, their steps brought them outside, where they took advantage of roaming the grounds under the protective gaze of the silver moon peeking out between billowing thunderclouds. A summer’s storm brewed in the distance, the occasional glimmers of lightning leap frogging from cloud to cloud as the cooler air of the storm front fueled a steady breeze to finger through the treetops with a hint of rain scenting the wind.

          They congregated under the old, wooden gazeebo, where a spontaneous play broke out amongst them to perform an impromptu rendition of an amalgamation of fairytales both traditional and newly made up before the watchful eye of Jack’s camcorder lens. He balanced the device on the railing so he, too, could participate in the drama-filled shenanigans of playacting. He jumped into the role of bard, sing-songing his lines effortlessly, Raphael obviously playing the hero knight in shining armor, while Modesta adopted the role of town baker, Lazare, the dastardly woodsman-thief, and Lola donning the guise of duchess. Laughing almost the entire time, they muddled through their “plot” of rescuing the town baker, who had been kidnapped by the woodsman-thief to thwart the duchess’s birthday, for without a baker, there would be no cake, the play then culminating in a swordfight to the death between knight and thief with some sticks they found lying around, whereupon the duchess’s birthday was saved thanks to the power of teamwork and creative ingenuity of the silliest kind.

          Lightning flashed more frequently, and a low growl of thunder was their cue to pack up and head indoors for the remainder of the night. Despite being a haunted house in the path of an oncoming thunderstorm, the rooms felt peaceful, the previous underlying thickness of energy having abated, and the close-knit cluster of friends agreed it was time for bed. Once everyone said their goodnights, they headed towards the grand staircase, but Lola lagged behind to lean in the doorway of the main parlor, observing in the stillness the stately room where the Gray Lady met her passing. A warm arm encircled her shoulders, Raphael’s presence comforting and unhurried, patiently waiting until Lola was ready to retire upstairs. After a heavy sigh, she waved goodnight into the empty room, and hooking her arm around Raphael’s waist, the two of them walked in step towards their bedchamber.

          They showered, the two squeezing into the intimate glass cubicle to quickly wash the day’s events off of each other before the storm grew closer, but it was inevitable to start sharing sweet kisses, each press of their lips lingering longer and longer as the shower continued. Eventually, Lola darted out first, wrapping herself in one of the white, fluffy spa robes hanging on the back of the bathroom door provided by the Manor House, and tossed Raphael his own robe as he stepped out of the shower enclosure after her. The two went about their nighttime routines, Lola finishing first to wait for her love in bed. She stretched herself out on top of the plush, gilded comforter with a pleasant sigh. Absentmindedly, she held out her left hand, admiring her engagement ring around her finger, the other hand twisting the band side to side, catching sparkles in the dim room lighting.

          The jewelry was a fourteen karat white gold vintage inspired twisted band set with diamond accent stones, brandishing a cushion cut amethyst at its center. The ring was stunning, to say the least, and an unexpected surprise when Raphael proposed to her with it, the item far more beautiful than she had ever dreamed of receiving. It was too beautiful, too precious to remove from its black velvet box, but the amount of love emanating from the ring, as well as the man offering it to her, eclipsed the imagined tender fragility of the thin metal, and when Raphael placed the ring upon her finger, it felt as if the jewelry had always belonged there from the start.

          “You’re not having second thoughts, are you?”

          Lola turned her head at Raphael’s voice to see him leaning against the threshold doorframe of the bathroom, the terrycloth of his robe tied at his waist barely containing his broader form. He was smiling, his expression one of contentment as he had been observing her upon the bed. “Perish the thought,” she scoffed, going back to admire her ring.

          “What has you in such deep contemplations?” he asked, walking over to the bed. He sat down at the end on Lola’s side, picking up her legs so her feet rested across his lap, and began to massage one foot, feeling her body melt as he worked the muscles along her arch.

          “Did you notice what Annie called us while giving the tour?” Lola asked. When Raphael shook his head, she continued. “She called us Mr. and Mrs. Glenbrook. That’s the first time anyone has called me that, and we’re not even married yet.”

          “And how does it make you feel to be called my wife?” he asked, a smile slanting his mouth in a handsome grin.

          “Excited,” she replied easily. “Terrified,” she added after a pause. “Happy,” she continued. “Delighted…but nauseous, like I’m going to throw up a bucket full of butterflies.”

          “I didn’t know the idea of becoming my wife had your stomach in such knots,” he laughed, the sound warm and intoxicating.

          “In a good way,” she stressed, laughing with him. “I think I’m just feeling all the feels, and I know it’s technically only a ‘title’, but it’s a pretty big title. What if…I’m not…good enough?”

          “You are more than enough,” he punctuated, leveling her with a look that meant she should know better than to say something so ridiculous.

          “I’m serious. What if we get married, and it turns out I’m horrible?”

          “You have nothing to worry about, as you are already an excellent wife.”

          “We’re not married, you can’t know that,” she countered.

          “Dandelion, how would you describe the role of a wife?” Raphael asked, switching to massage her other foot.

          “Someone who’s loving, attentive, a good partner and communicator, as well as listener,” she answered, ticking off her mental checklist on her fingers.

          “You’re already all of those things and more. Firstly, you have my absolute trust. You’re kind and generous with your mind and heart. You challenge me to be the best version of myself without me feeling judged or belittled, and that’s not even beginning to scratch the surface of your many bewitching attributes in how we work together in this partnership. I have, with every confidence, no doubt that you will not only fit the ‘title’ of wife, but flourish as the already exquisite woman that you are.”

          Lola wiped unshed tears pooling in the corners of her eyes, his loving words reassuring her heart and soothing her soul. “Thank you for believing in me, Honey Love. I will be a good wife for you, and for the record, you’ll make for a pretty spectacular husband yourself, even with your cheesy albeit endearing one-liners.”

          “Naturally,” he preened, “for what good is a husband if he’s not filled with cheese? Now, no more frowns.” He lightly waggled his fingers against the sole of the foot he held, and the appendage was gone before he had the chance to acknowledge the force of her pillow smacking him across his face, the blow sending him sprawling flat on his back over the mattress. His wrists were pinned next by the sides of his head as Lola’s weight settled on top of him as she straddled his waist. Turnabout was fair play, in her mind, and if he was going to be cruel and attack her weakest spot, then she had every right to go after one of his.

          “Thou art a wretched, saucy fellow,” Lola growled as she hovered above Raphael. “Prepare for a taste of thine own medicine.” Her words were all the more satisfying as she watched the expression of his smug, cocksure arrogance shift into terror.

          “Now, Lola, wait just a minute---.”

          But she didn’t wait, she lunged, and buried her nose to snuffle and snarfle like a pig hunting for truffles against his ear. Her tufts of breath and light nibbles around the soft skin sent Raphael into a laughing frenzy, unable to control the dam of his mirthful outburst as the unbearably ticklish sensations of her lips short circuited his senses.

          “Lola!” he guffawed heartily. “Dammit I yield! I yield!”

          She relented in her attack, pulling away from his ear to plant a loving kiss upon his cheek before settling back on his hips, victorious. She released his wrists, resting her hands on the broad plane of his chest that was flushed and slightly heaving from the recent bout of play. He laid beneath her, catching his breath, his hair disheveled and robe splayed open. His eyes sparkled from his laughter, his smile wide and relaxed, and Lola’s heart cocooned in warmth as she remained observing the man with whom even the stars themselves could not compare. A glint of light twinkled in the corner of her left eye, and she reflexively flicked her eyes towards her engagement ring.

          “Are we going to change?” she asked, her voice quiet and tender.

          “Probably,” he answered, equally soft to match her tone.

          “I mean, is this going to change?” Her fingers lightly traced the edge of his chest exposed from the loosened robe. “When we’re married, are we going to eventually drift away from these games and affections?”

          Raphael’s hands came to rest on Lola’s thighs, his thumbs disappearing under the hem of terrycloth bunched up around her legs. “We are going to change,” he said, “but not in the way you’re thinking. If anything, we’re going to find even more ways to be weird. Our relationship is going to grow and evolve the more we grow and evolve to accommodate all the new ways you’ll cause mischief and mayhem and loopholes and schemes.”

          “I’m not all trouble,” she laughed.

          “It’s one of the many reasons why I want you to be my wife, because of your troublemaking talents.”

          “You’re not so innocent yourself, mister. I’ve known you to be a scallywag on occasion,” she teased, prodding his chest playfully.

          “A ‘scallywag’,” he repeated. “I wasn’t aware I had such a devious reputation." His hands moved higher up her legs, completely, now, disappearing under the folds of her robe. She gasped, shifting forward as his palms filled with the roundness of her backside. “However, you are correct. I have plenty of schemes hidden up my sleeves.” He moved his palms in soothing circles on each cheek, and she shivered.

          “Yes, but your schemes involve me more often than not usually underneath you,” she said with a roll of her eyes, the back of her mind having trouble deciding if the sensual attention to her butt was threatening or promising based on his statement.

          “And I plan on spending the rest of our lives crafting more clever and mischievous ways to find you so,” he pledged. His hands stilled when she reached behind her, stopping his ministrations, and he quirked an eyebrow in question.

          “Thank you,” she said, and leaned down, kissing him soundly.

          “I love you,” he announced as their lips parted. “Past, Present, and Future, I love you.”

          “I love you,” she declared against his lips, falling forward to kiss him again. Their mouths worked against each other’s passionately, Lola giving appreciative little moans of encouragement as his hands resumed to knead her ass before trailing his fingers in tingling, heated tracks up and down the backs of her thighs. She had to brace herself against the mattress as he yanked the sash of her robe open, pushing herself up with her hands falling to either side of his head, breaking their kiss and creating a curtain around him of her hair and now fully opened robe. She was completely exposed to him, and he savored every angle and curve and dip of her body, his eyes drinking in her supple form. He swallowed; hard.

          “You’re going to want to grab onto the headboard,” he spoke, his voice laced with gravelly lust, eyes deepening into a darkened sapphire the longer he stared at her hovering above him on all fours.

          Lost in a fog-cloud of hazy, amorous feelings, she soon found herself clutching the top of the sturdy, decorative wooden headboard, her knees still straddling Raphael’s waist, his own body sitting propped up against the soft plethora of satin pillows. She wasn’t sure how he moved them into this new position so quickly, but she didn’t care, as once again his distracting lips landed on her mouth. She moved her hands to grasp his shoulders, wanting to feel him, but he stopped her, guiding her hands back to the headboard.

          “Keep them there,” he said, his lips brushing along her jaw and neck. She nodded in understanding, and he purred. “That’s my girl.”

          “Oh, Jesus,” she gasped as his praise caressed her heart. He commanded in a way that wasn’t commanding, his guiding confidence unraveling her into a sopping puddle of pure bliss. Her head fell back, exposing the vulnerable surface of her neck, and he descended upon her, making sure to favor the fluttering pulse point in feathery kisses, his hands, all the while, exploring, teasing, whispering over tender places. He took his time, treasuring every sound and shivering tremble he coaxed out of her, savoring each pleasurable jolt of electricity that caused her breath to hitch. Her arms began to shake, and he rubbed her elbows as a subtle reminder to keep them from locking up, and she sighed, relaxing when his lips returned to hers.

          The weight of the terrycloth combined with the mingling of their tongues was causing her body to overheat, and she huffed out her frustrations, gruffly mumbling “too hot” as she released the headboard to rid her body of the too cloying fabric, never breaking stride with Raphael as he helped to remove the affronting material. A deluge of rain could be heard pattering the roof as the storm unleashed its fury, the hard staccato of water hitting the windowpanes matching the timing of her wildly beating heart, a crack of thunder rattling her bones as well as the timbers and framework of the house. She embraced him, her hands diving into his hair, her arms wrapping tightly around his neck, flushing herself against him with every plane and curve molding harmoniously together of their bodies.

          “Hands, Dandelion, hands,” Raphael reminded, breaking their kiss to utter his request as he unraveled her arms, again guiding her hands towards the headboard.

          “You’re killing me, Honey Love,” she groaned, taking hold of the bedroom furniture. She shrewdly lowered her hips, slinking down his body to make contact with what she craved, but a light tweak on her backside caused her spine to straighten, a startled yelp of surprise escaping as she reared up high onto her knees.

          “Patience,” he chuckled. “I’m not done honoring your birthday.” Before she could retort, he placed his hands on her waist, holding her steady, and leaned forward to move his lips against her throat. “Happy birthday to you,” he began to softly sing. His heated breath fell over her neck, the vibrations to the low acoustics of his song creating goosebumps to explode and pebble over her skin, her mind frizzling when the kisses at her neck shifted to touch her collar bones to then graze in a devoted, revered gentleness over the tops of her breasts. His nose trailed down her sternum, inhaling her natural scent as he scooted down the mattress, following an imaginary line leading straight to her bellybutton.

          “Happy birthday to you,” he continued the song. His tongue dipped into the hollow of her navel and she nearly fainted from the touch, a strangled, rattling noise of pleasure sounding from the back of her throat as her head fell back from the sensations dancing along the tender skin. Her fingers ached with how hard she clutched the headboard, her body flinching from each delicate swipe of his tongue.

          “Happy birthday, my sweet, delicious Lola,” he sang, descending lower. Teeth nibbled her hip bone, and she could have leapt out of her skin. She was delirious, her head swimming as tiny, electric tickles skittered over every nerve ending, her body hyper aware of her lover’s intended final destination. He lingered too long at her hips, and although the attention wasn’t unappreciated, she feared she was going to collapse if he didn’t proceed.

          “Raphael…please,” she begged, the torturous anticipation of when his lips would move next leaving her breathless, teetering on the verge of her wit’s end.

          He grinned, unable to deny his love of anything. He dragged his fingers down the sides of her waist to grasp her firmly at her hips while peppering her panty line with tantalizing, breathy kisses, easing himself farther down the mattress, concluding his song.

          “Happy birthday to you.”

          All at once, she was flying, surrendering to the dreamy, euphoric weightlessness her soul yearned for, disconnecting from all earthly attachments, her body singing the ancient and sacred song of the angels. A warmth familiar as home bloomed from her chest, crawling up her neck to flush prettily upon her upturned face as every fiber of her body thrummed and pulsated with the language of the universe. Stars erupted behind her eyes in a multitude of cosmic colors as she skyrocketed higher and higher, leaving the world behind, and upon shattering through the clouds of an ethereal dimension, realized heaven had never looked so beautiful.

~*~*~*~*~*~

H-eeey, everybody! Hope you all enjoyed a glimpse into these two lovers' world. Normally, I write closed door/fade to black scenes when it comes to mutually consenting adult special fun time activities, at least, for the public, but I wanted to prop the door open just a little bit.

Plus, we've had a lot of spooky chapters back-to-back, so it was fun breaking up the pace a little bit. More spooky happenings are on the way, so keep an eye out for more of this tale!

Thanks as always for being awesome, and until next time, happy reading!

~Melissa