#little to no time or effort into interacting with their creation or teaching them the rules around how society wants them to be

[cold-knees]

Frankenstein's monster will always be a metaphor for autism to me

[permanentmess]

pacman (peter maximoff x mutant!fem!reader)

a/n: i had this idea after i bought a handheld pacman game. reader in this has powers that allow her/them to control and create technology. basically has mechanical mastery but like as a power. no set time period for this really, but peter and reader are in their 20s

warnings: none! just fluff, mild language, mentions of one minor injury. angst if you squint

summary: reader notices that peter gets bored often and decides to make him a gift

word count: 974

GIF NOT MINE

~~~

It had taken hours to create it. You spent so much time holed away in a tiny lab area that you were given to practice your powers. Hank practically begged you to leave and interact with someone other than him because of how long it had taken. 

All the little things you had begun to notice about Peter Maximoff were piling up in your mind. It had gotten to the point where journaling was almost making it worse, and Jean and Charles kept looking at you with pleading looks in their eyes. They’d chastise you in your head, telling you to just tell him so your brain could quiet down. 

Not in the mood to ruin the vibe the school had going though, you stuck to your details that you kept safely guarded in your heart. How he’d fidget, his favorite games, the movies he’d stand and watch while getting side tracked in the lounge, the bands he loved, and the boredom he inevitably got 5 minutes into a plane ride to a mission. 

You smiled as you boxed your creation and put it safely in your room.

…..

“Peter!” you call out to him when you see him in the hallway later that week. You were done teaching for the day and you knew he was too. He looks up from the paper a student was showing him and nods at the kid, sending him on his way.  

“Hey! What’s going on?” he says, speeding up to you and brushing against your side. You both start walking in sync to the dining area. 

“Just got done teaching for the day,” you say quickly. “Listen, I have something for you.” 

He lights up a little. “What is it? Tell me, tell me-”

You laugh at him. “Hold on a minute, geez. We gotta eat dinner first, and then you can have it.” You arrive at the dining room and stop at the end of the line. 

He groans dramatically and you laugh. “You’re so mean to me, and for what? Can I have a hint at least?” He hands you a plate before grabbing one for himself. 

“Hmm,” you pretend to ponder as you scoop food onto your plate. “Nope.” You look at him with a playful smile on your face as he pouts at you. 

The times you laughed the most are when you were with Peter. Your face usually hurts after you guys hang out, and that was pretty much everyday since you arrived at the school. Even when he accidentally bruised your foot from running over it so fast, he still managed to make you laugh in an effort to apologize. 

You both sit down to eat. “You’ll live.” 

~~

He barely makes it through dinner. You’re surprised he doesn’t super speed you to your room once you put your plates away. He is practically dragging you there though. 

Once you make it to your room, you purposely start moving slowly to unlock the door. He playfully smacks your arm and you laugh at him, moving at a normal speed (well, for you that is). 

“Okay, you have to sit patiently and wait,” you say, gesturing to your bed. “I have to grab it from where I hid it.” 

He snorts but obliges. You raise your eyebrows to make sure he stays while you open your dresser drawer, reaching under a shirt to grab out the small box. 

“I spent a lot of time making this, which is where I’ve been disappearing to lately. If it breaks just let me know.” You’re shaking a little bit, heart rate slowly getting higher. You hope he doesn’t notice as you hand him the box. 

He looks up at you with soft eyes before he opens it. Despite his super speed, he opens the box slowly and unwraps the gift. He gasps. 

“No fucking way. Is this what I think it is?” You let a small smile seep through on your face as you nod. “How did you do this? Holy shit, wait, you made this?” 

You grin, finally relaxing a little now that you know he likes it. “The hardest part was the plastic but I had Hank and Xavier help a little bit. That’s why I asked you if I could look at your PacMan machine though.” 

Before you even realize what’s happening, he’s standing up and pulling you in for a tight hug. You’re taken aback but quickly relax into it, wrapping your arms around him tightly. He pulls back after a minute, still holding you slightly in his arms. 

“I’m really glad you like it. I know how much you like that game, so I figured you could use a smaller version instead of having to go to yo-" You’re cut off when Peter’s lips attach to yours.

Despite your shock, you melt into the kiss almost immediately. He pulls you closer by your hips once you relax, and you reach up to run your hands through his hair. He sighs and pulls back once you do, resting his forehead against yours with his eyes shut. You both catch your breath for a moment. 

“Sorry, I-”

“Maximoff, why are you apologizing for kissing me?” He smiles at that, pressing another quick peck to your lips. 

“I guess I should say sorry for not doing it sooner.” He’s running his thumbs along the side of your hips, causing you to shiver. “Are you cold?” 

“No. Unless it gets me one of your hoodies. In that case, yes.” He laughs at you and pulls you in, cradling your head against his chest. You wrap your arms around him again, content with just standing here like this. 

“You can have as many as you want.” He pauses for a moment. “You want to cuddle in one while I try this thing out?” 

“Hell yeah.”

[space-station-nursery]

◜☄️𓂃 Ways to help your CG when they're feeling down ‧ 🚀◞ (LDR)

Not all of these are guaranteed to work, but they're a very good start! Take into consideration the things your CG likes to do, and how they would help you when you're feeling down

⁺　　◍ 　 . 　 ⁺　　☆　　⁺ 　 . 　 ◍　　⁺

⧼ 1 ⧽ Send them a package!

Create a small care package to send them. maybe make them a bracelet, find them a stuffy of their favorite animal, and maybe add their favorite snacks! Even handmade gifts/crafts and written letters are good enough for your box! Remember, this is coming from the heart

⧼ 2 ⧽ Ask if they want to videocall or other!

For some CGs, just seeing their little is enough to cheer them up! Talk to them, make silly faces, tell funnie stories, anything that might make them laugh! Even if they don't, they'll be smiling for your efforts

⧼ 3 ⧽ Offer to do their favorite things!

Whether it be playing a game, watching a movie, or listening to music, offer to do it with them so they have some company! Indulge a little in their activities and they'll be more than happy to teach you or talk to you about it!

⧼ 4 ⧽ Draw them a picture, or make them a song! DO NOT RE-WRITE OR POST AS OWN

Creations from their little one are guaranteed to put a smile on their face! Maybe you can even mail the drawing to them!! If you aren’t very good at making up stories you could read your favorite story to them instead!

⧼ 5 ⧽ Tell them how much you love them

Sometimes, a CG just needs to know that they're doing well. Remind your CG that you love and appreciate them through things like sending a card, writing a letter, or simply expressing your love through text or phone call!

⧼ 6 ⧽ Let them have some alone time

Some CGs may just need some time to themselves when they're feeling down. it's important to let them know that you're gonna be okay alone and that you will be there for them when they are ready to come back. This can be helpful to feel less overwhelmed and less stressed.

⁺　　◍ 　 . 　 ⁺　　☆　　⁺ 　 . 　 ◍　　⁺

18+ Blogs|| AB!DL|| DD!LG|| Do not interact

Fact OTD: Amongst the big cats, the lion is the only social animal. While other big cat species have a mostly solitary life in the wild, lions almost always live in groups, called prides, of up to 30 adults and their offspring.

[lyrical-obsessions]

fanfic etiquette

alright, It's time I come up in here again and teach some y'all about some etiquette.

Just because you read and interact with a writer's fics, that does not make you entitled to their time, effort, or attention.

Rule of thumb: If you don't have explicit permission or know the person so well to where you know all their preferences, then don't do it. Don't tag, don't message with creations, don't force your works on them, just, be respectful of that person's time, and boundaries.

onto asking for feedback, if it's posted, then don't message other people about it if you haven't explicitly posted on the fic that you want feedback. Same rules of thumb apply.

ALSO! WITH FEEDBACK: You have to be receptive of critique. Critique isn't inherently negative, and is meant to improve the piece as a whole. (Just because your feelings get hurt during critique, it doesn't mean it's meant to hurt you.)

We clear? anything else to add? Do we got a deal? Thanks for coming to my mini ted talk.

The moral of the story, please respect the author's time and boundaries. It's getting a little parasocial up in here.

I'll post again soon about how to get good feedback, and how to give good feedback on fiction.

[fullofsunsetwhispers]

Which minions from Xiaolin Showdown are your favorite? Chase's fallen warriors, Jack's jackbots, Katnappe's bioengineered kittens, Wuya's stone golems, Pandabubba's goons, etc?

Even tho Chase's warriors have diverse, culture-accurate designs, I'll go with jackbots as my no1 favs. They need a hug. I feel strongly sympathetic toward them mostly because they're being destroyed in every episode 😭. Other characters should give them more slack but I guess it's impossible due to the fact they're programmed this way - their main purpose is to fight/ protect Jack.

I like these little touches throughout the series when they behave more human-like. Like when they're aware of their surroundings and don't want to destroy buildings.

Shoutout to that particular Jackbot, which instead of breaking the window- opened it. These robots know some manners!

Oh, and when they agreed to play with Megan. Extra cute of them

In addition, that cowboy-jackbot, which picks up the flowers always makes me smile. What a gentle robotic bandit.

All of Jack's creations in general have cool designs and have more depth than it seems at the first glance. So, that's why they're stars of the show alongside the main cast.

As I said, I love Chase's warriors almost equally. I love that scene in which they all thought together in their human forms. However, I'm kinda salty that it's all we got (well there is also that showdown for Omi's freedom but y'know I would love to see more content with them).

Katnappe's bioengineered kittens are nu-uh for me. As Raimundo said once: 'hey! watch the claws'. Encounter with them is rather painful so I would prefer not to get too close to them.

But I am impressed with Ashley's knowledge and skills in that field. She even managed to teach them how to walk on two legs and hold trays.

As for Wuya's golems - they're probably in the 3rd place on my list. They seem indestructible, so they're formidable threats. BUT! When they're not told to fight they're so goofy I love that. The way they were interacting with Raimundo can be summed up with the statement 'they're trying their best but they have no idea what they're doing' and I appreciate all of their (failed) efforts to entertain Raimundo.

Just look at them. They're excited they could play with Rai <3

However, there is one particular Rock Creature, which stole my heart.

Baby. Baby boy. Polite and full of joy. Little guy with a cute diaper. Also deserves a hug!

I really respect Pandabubba's goons for some reason. They learned there are artifacts that grant magical superpowers and quite quickly adjusted to them.

Maybe the other reason I like them lies in the fact that for the majority of the episode they appeared to be serious and competent and THEN that image is destroyed (in the scene in which they show their boss the fake wus). I stan the brotp of the black and white suit guys.

On top of that, it seems they really do like their boss. That was very considerate of them to cheer on Pandabubba during the showdown.

What a pity they're only one-episode characters. They're silly but they have their own charm to them. Determined to get the job done and more importantly they can tell when they should act more professional or enthusiastic, depending on the situation.

Anon didn't mention Cyclops. He also has a special place in my heart. Fella oblivious most of the time but thanks to him there are nice comedic moments in the show. Big red baby man <3

[govindhtech]

FlexiSAF AI Learning Platform For African Education Sector

The AI Learning Platform from FlexiSAF Scales for the Education Sector in Africa. Software company FlexiSAF is dedicated to using technology to enhance education across Africa. Through Intel Liftoff for Startups, members may get the processing capacity required to address technical obstacles.

Distinct AI

Distinction AI, a new product from FlexiSAF, was created to help students and provide individualized learning at scale. They provide 1.8 million practice questions, 12,000 students from 150 institutions, interactive flashcards, an AI tutor that enables students to study interactively, and over 500,000 curriculum-aligned practice questions.

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Additionally, the technology enables lecturers to concentrate on providing individualized teaching and qualitative feedback by automating the generation of material and grading.

Evolution of FlexiSAF

FlexiSAF was founded by Faiz Bashir, the CEO, who was inspired to create the company by combining his background in programming with his observations of the difficulties he had when assembling reports in high school.

He created software to improve this procedure as a remedy. When he was a university student, he had already released the software’s first version and received encouraging feedback from many institutions. It dawned on him then that FlexiSAF was a full-time position.

Issues Teachers and Students Face and How FlexiSAF Addresses Them

Data integrity problems, laborious manual procedures, and income and data loss are challenges faced by many African institutions and schools. These issues impede the institution’s expansion and efficacy.

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These issues have been resolved by SAFrecords, a cloud-based educational institution management system, which streamlines administrative procedures as well as learning management.

Students often have trouble obtaining curriculum-aligned information and have little access to high-quality study materials.

The Distinction of FlexiSAF AI solves these problems by offering curriculum-aligned learning materials and an AI tutor that students may use to learn from relevant content.

The First Challenges and Intel’s Involvement

Upon the debut of Distinction AI, a number of challenges were encountered, such as latency problems and guaranteeing unique content creation. Scaling problems were further brought about by the restrictions of token constraints.

One important tool in assisting us in overcoming these challenges has been the Intel Liftoff initiative. Intel had access to the GPU resources of the Intel Developer Cloud, which allowed us to investigate and test a range of AI models. They’ve been able to push the limits of what their platform can do because to its powerful features.

Furthermore, their AI efforts have benefited greatly from the lively community inside the Liftoff program and the assistance of the Intel technical team. Intel can now proceed more quickly, and a lot of the things they were unsure of before are now crystal apparent. Their plan for Distinction AI is right on.

Effects on Learning

Through the implementation of their products, which have been used by over 800 schools, handling the records of over 2 million students, and empowering over 20,000 instructors, FlexiSAF has had a significant influence on the education sector.

For FlexiSAF, Distinction AI represents a significant turning point. Over 12,000 students from 150 institutions have used it since its introduction, and 1.8 million practice questions have been made available.

With regard to the future, FlexiSAF is highly enthusiastic about Distinction AI’s potential and the momentum they have already achieved. Their goal is to increase their capacity to provide students individualized, scalable learning experiences. What lies ahead

Expanding their reach to higher education institutions around Africa is part of FlexiSAF‘s expansion plan, which aims to empower millions of students with cutting-edge, easily accessible educational solutions. Through an emphasis on translation and customization, they want to tackle a variety of learning obstacles and increase their influence worldwide.

Improving Education Through Useful Software

Intel provide comprehensive education solutions, using technology to transform education and streamline all procedures for educational establishments, corporations, and schools.

Answers for Higher Education Establishments

Higher education institutions can use SAFrecords as a one-stop shop for fee collection, student registration, transcripts, paperless senate, accommodation management, alumni applications, insightful dashboards that are arranged hierarchically, and various regulatory reports.

Remedies for Elementary and Primary Schools

Easy-to-use, reasonably priced, and adaptable school management software that streamlines elementary and secondary school operations.

Tailored to the requirements of your school

Preserves the security of all records

Simple, intuitive, and responsive user interface

Thorough reports that are beneficial for choosing decisions

Improve Your Performance in a Model Exam Environment

The best study aid available for both domestic and foreign examinations. Exam applicants may evaluate their preparedness for tests like the IELTS, SAT, MCAT, WAEC, NECO, and JAMB and hone their abilities in a simulated exam environment with intelligent practice tests.

Online Application Simplified

Managing an organization is a difficult job. Applications shouldn’t be more difficult to accept. SAFApply offers a comprehensive application and registration management system, regardless of whether you are taking registrations for courses and training programs or applications for school entrance.

Records Management Made Simpler for Postsecondary Institutions

Utilize SAFrecords, the all-in-one school administration system, to efficiently manage the records of your schools.

In a safe and effective way, process transcripts, issue certificates and results, oversee student registration, assign students to dorms, calculate grades and CGPA, accept payments, and carry out other administrative duties.

Take Advantage of SAFrecords for Your Organization

Reduces Work and Time

Consolidate all of your data in one location and automate your procedures.

You can now concentrate on giving pupils a high-quality education and giving them agency.

Easy & Secure Payment Processing

Take advantage of the greatest degree of security with a hassle-free fee collection system.

Choose a secure method to safeguard your private financial information.

Quick and Effective Compilation of Results

Calculate your CGPA and results in a few clicks. Attain precision and effectiveness in little or no time.

Simple Record Recovery

Keep all of your institution’s records in one safe place.

Get fast access to your records whenever you need them and do away with the need for paper records.

Read more on govindhtech.com

[medpulse]

Al-Khwarizmi: Forming technology before it even existed

In the annals of history, there are few figures whose contributions have had as profound an impact on the course of human knowledge as Al-Khwarizmi. A luminary of the Islamic Golden Age, Al-Khwarizmi's name is synonymous with brilliance, creation, and the relentless pursuit of wisdom and powerful understanding. While his legacy spans multiple disciplines, his indelible mark on the development of artificial intelligence (AI) stands as a testament to his visionary intellect.

At the dawn of the 9th century, Al-Khwarizmi revolutionised the world with his groundbreaking work in mathematics, astronomy, and geography. But it was his pioneering efforts in the realm of algorithms that would forever alter the trajectory of technological progress. The very concept of an algorithm, a set of precise instructions for solving a problem, owes its existence to Al-Khwarizmi's genius. His mastery of algebra and calculation birthed a new era of computational thinking, paving the way for the intricate AI systems that define our modern world.

The heartbeat of AI lies in algorithms—the intricate web of instructions that power everything from self-driving cars to speech recognition software. These algorithms, based on the principles laid down by Al-Khwarizmi centuries ago, are the catalysts for creation, driving the evolution of AI technologies into realms once thought unimaginable. Without Al-Khwarizmi's foundational work, the very essence of AI as we know it today would be a distant dream.

But Al-Khwarizmi's legacy extends beyond algorithms alone. His profound insights into astronomy and geometry have woven themselves into the fabric of AI development, shaping the very essence of machine learning, computer vision, and robotics. The mathematical constructs he elucidated serve as the bedrock upon which the edifice of modern AI stands tall, reaching ever higher into the uncharted skies of technological progress.

How exactly is Al-Khwarizmi’s work related to AI? Answering that would unfortunately have me putting aside my historically nostalgic pen, putting on my dark web glasses, and forcing my scientific pen into work! Here is how it goes: Algorithms are a crucial component in AI systems, as they allow computers to learn and make decisions based on data provided to them. In essence, algorithms are a set of instructions that a computer program follows to achieve a desired outcome; they direct the system to what’s right and what’s wrong based on the perceived value. AI algorithms are massive sets of rules; for example, the ChatGPT database is estimated to be 45TB. AI systems are typically designed to learn, reason, perceive, and interact with the environment to solve problems, achieve specific objectives, or make predictions based on data inputs. Some of the most popular AI algorithms are deep learning, which uses neural networks to recognise patterns and features in data; natural language processing, which enables computers to understand human language; and reinforcement learning, which teaches a computer to make decisions and take actions in a given environment through trial and error. These algorithms are constantly being improved and refined, and they are essential to the development of AI systems that can solve complex problems and make accurate predictions in a variety of fields. Now let’s take off these boring glasses and return to what this beautiful little article was originally about. The grandfather of computing.

As we gaze upon the marvels of AI that surround us today, let us not forget the extraordinary figure of Al-Khwarizmi, whose brilliance illuminates our path forward. His contributions, born of a mind bound by ancient technology yet unbound by imagination and convention, continue to reverberate through the corridors of time, inspiring generations of creators to push the boundaries of what is possible. In the grand tapestry of human achievement, Al-Khwarizmi's legacy in AI development shines brightly as a beacon of ingenuity, guiding us towards a future limited only by the depths of our imagination. May you forever rest in peace, beloved Al-Khwarizmi ❤️.

[sakuraswordly]

Poara: Rose made me feel... like I was everything. But in the end she left me. I feel so empty. Without her....I feel nothing...

Neil: (I'm not hear anything. Here! Fake ✌!)

Punch: (I know.... Shhhhh!!) So what are you going to do now? I mean with us….?

Neil: (Don't forget about yourself...Don't forget about yourself, Miss Pearl.)

Punch: (Neil...Shut up.)

Poara: I won't go anywhere now because I had to find a place for me and my freedom.

Punch: The heart that says this is you, right? Something that really comes from your heart

Poara: Heh...with Jerk and Useless Neil I guess?

Neil: 😰!!!!

Punch: (He's finally quiet.....)

Poara: I'm joking. Hope that he didn't hear anything that I said earlier.

Punch: (He did hear you........)

Poara: I chose to be strong to move forward and this time I do it for myself. Nothing is holding me back now. No one is pushing me around now. I am the only one, Pearl.

Punch: And this is your real name, right?

Poara: Let me tell you a story from the past to earn my trust.

"Prophets protested that the end has come too soon. Rulers call upon their people to fight. Scholars say it is only too late." "A few still cling to hope, believing that some of them can still endure . . ."

"Until the true threat makes its appearance."

"It feeds from beyond the stars."

Poara: Sefar arrived and destroyed the then-greatest and most advanced civilization and defeated the Gods, killing many of them, and was the direct cause of the God's decline. Sefar's actions literally knocked humanity back into the stone age, and also led to the whole deal with God's creation King Gilgamesh as a last effort to reclaim their glory. She was quite literally a "Destroyer of Civilization" and the "Scourge of Gods". Attila the Hun arrived and destroyed what is regarded as the then-greatest and most advanced civilization of its time. Attila's actions damaged Rome so significantly that any chance of recovery it may have had was wiped out. Attila's actions caused a decline of civilization in Europe, leading to the Dark Ages, a period of some 500 years where little to no learning or advancement occurred. Attila was quite literally a "Destroyer of Civilization" and was commonly called "The Scourge of God".

Neil: (................!! That's.......!!)

Punch: ........!! That was from my dream!

Poara: Yes....This is...

Punch: Are you sure about this?

Poara: Yes, I am certainly sure. I had no regret no matter what happened. I think it's time I should be free from Rose. Thank you for always guiding me.

Neil: (Wait.....what about me?! Ah! Eva! Let me gooooo!)

Source Character:

Pearl is a member of the Crystal Gems. She was Pink Diamond's second Pearl, one of Rose Quartz's closest followers and her sole confidant. Pearl is one of the last surviving Gems on Earth who joined the Crystal Gems in their rebellion against the Gem Homeworld. Pearl would afterwards protect the Earth with her friends over the next several millennia, while later teaching Steven the ways of Gems. Years later, Pearl no longer suffers from issues of self-worth and finds her way, knowing she is herself. Though she is struck and has her memories wiped by Spinel's rejuvenator, she gets her memories back by having Greg and Steven fuse into Steg, who reminds her of her independence. Pearl now teaches at Little Homeschool, teaching Gems how to interact with human beings. While she previously seemed to find interaction with humans uncomfortable, Pearl now actively partakes in it and encourages other Gems to do the same.

She is Velber 02, also known as the White Titan, or the Ark of the Stars, one of the ships that surround the main Velber "Harvester Star." The ship entered the solar system with her "older brother" and "younger sister" fourteen thousand years ago, Velber 01 and Velber 03, and she eventually landed on the Moon. She invaded the Moon Cell and Earth simultaneously, becoming known as Sefar. She invaded SERAPH as an Anti Cell, and also sent her own data to Earth to create a material body (avatar), invading both at the same time. She did huge damage to the Moon Cell but was ultimately beaten; however the Moon Cell had no way to wipe her out and thus she was sealed away. The Altera (Moon) stayed in the Star of Tears which became the separated territory known as the "Zero Dark". On Earth, Sefar destroyed most of mankind's earliest civilizations, including Atlantis in an event that would be remembered as the Leukosmachia. Because the Twelve Machine Gods of Atlantis abided by their territory, they were unable to defeat Sefar by themselves whilst they would have as a group. Sefar in particular claimed Ares' personal sword as a trophy, after which the remnants of the gods survived minus their true bodies. Before Sefar could destroy the world, she was killed by the wielder of the holy sword on Earth. Her corpse became the basis for several beings such as the Gigas who fought in the Gigantomachia and the Valkyries (such as Brynhildr) who became Odin's daughters. Karl der Große encountering the mummified remains of Sefar in the Alps gave him his desire to unify the world, and Astolfo describes how after coming in contact with Sefar Karl became like a different person. The core essence of Sefar's body then became the Altera of Earth who would be eventually found by the Huns. On the Moon however, 14000 years past and Altera of the Moon wakes up as the Velber approach the galaxy again.

Explanation 14(Analysis)

Pearl is an idealist with knowledge of a variety of topics. Many things provide value to the organization. Pearl likes symmetry. Although she is a perfectionist and boasts from time to time, Pearl also suffers from low self-esteem. In "Friend Ship," she admits that she relies heavily on others to validate her. which revolves around a strong inferiority complex Pearls are viewed as property rather than gems. This forces her to take decisive action to prove herself. But instead of letting other people's words define Pearl, she took the initiative. Pearl seemed to understand this in her heart. She is willing to risk her life to protect Rose to prove her worth. This goes so far as to almost turn Connie into a replica of her low self-esteem during the sword. Training If it weren't for Steven's intervention, Pearl would be easily confused and overwhelmed by the unknown or when her plans failed. This can lead to her judgment being clouded or cause her to act on impulse rather than thinking logically. Her inner turmoil regarding her love for Rose (and subsequent disappearance) caused Pearl to lash out at Steven and the Crystal Gems more than once. At times, Pearl didn't realize she was being selfish because she thought she always did everything for others. Her burning desire to feel "stronger" and more victorious as a Crystal Gem leads her to further betray the trust and basic principles of her friends. When she realized how much she had hurt others. Pearl will apologize and do her best to make things right and work hard to counteract any harm she may have suffered. This is why she is still stuck in the past that she will never forget. Despite her pessimism about humanity, Pearl is extremely dedicated to her mission of protecting humanity, more or less out of love, loyalty, and Admiration for Rose Quartz, however, she found some aspects of the world quite fascinating. Even though she doesn't understand human society very well, She can pay for stolen amethyst, cat cookies and garnet in "Gem Glow", drive Greg's van in "Ocean Gem", and make repairs in "House Guest". type In "Back to the Barn", it is revealed that the Pearl was not created for fighting. But to follow orders, however, Pearl was trained to fight Rose. Peridot also refers to pearls as jewellery or just tools that are displayed as a status symbol and used to perform menial tasks. Pearl's appearance does meet this standard, though. In addition to her pessimism and perfectionism, Pearl is also polite and reserved towards others. She keeps everything tidy. Her extreme attention to order and order.

"I want to feel that I am important. I want her to acknowledge me that I am worthy."

In Tsubasa of Phantasia, Garnet, Amethyst, and Steven never existed and left Pearl alone without a companion. She survived alone and took Rose's legacy without saying "Good Bye" and "Thank you" Pearl doesn't know anymore what she will do if Rose's task given to her is finally complete. What will she do now without her? She is still stuck in the past that she will never forget. Until Punch admits that she is the best manager in the organization as an alien. Even Skinner himself acknowledged her. Pearl is more laid back and confident, as when Skinner says she's the boss she agrees, showing that she's accepted she's a part of this team even if she's different.

In Tsofph Season 8(Story of Daily Life)

Tsofph's story in this one with the Steven Universe timeline was never ever to have existed because, in Tsofph's story, Pink Diamond or Rose Quartz was dead and left her legacy to her beloved servant, Pearl. Pearl was the only the Norns species left in this world. She was the smallest of them all. Titan Aliens in the past were named for their various elements, crystals and gems.

After that Kujaku created new titans called White Titans and Umbral Star.

Sefar or Giant God Altera was felled by Peter Pan in Tsofph season 11 who wields Excalibur.

After Punch's group from Tsofph season 11 defeats all white titans Pearl creates an artifact for those ancient aliens to return home to the earth and Pearl lives together with the ancient aliens. However, their settlement on the islands was short-lived because the threat that destroyed their planet followed them, causing them to flee towards the location of what is now known as Angel Island. However, the Ancients were wiped out from the earth due to unknown circumstances, leaving nothing except their creations on the Starfall Islands and Angel Island as their spirits began inhabiting their good luck charms which became Koco, their characteristics and appearance are inherited by their descendant: Chaos.

[shlokaconcepts]

Promote Your Business On LinkedIn For Free | Best Branding Agency Bangalore

Promote Your Business On LinkedIn For Free

Your potential clientele and the next recruits are on LinkedIn, and you wish to connect with them and promote your business on LinkedIn. So now you should advertise on LinkedIn, however, you lack the means to execute a high-impact LinkedIn ad campaign or experiment with LinkedIn video advertising just yet.

Not to worry. Not all is lost. Inside this blog, we will teach you how to utilize LinkedIn to advertise and market your business for free.

best branding agency in Bangalore

How Does Promote Itself A Business On LinkedIn?

LinkedIn is an unusual platform. As more than just a result, promoting on LinkedIn can turn out to be a little tricky. LinkedIn combines an online recruitment platform, a social media platform, as well as a professional social networking site. It knows further about you than any other medium. Nobody knows where you went to school or what organizations you work for on Twitter or even on Instagram, but it’s all there on LinkedIn.

As a result, promoting on LinkedIn appears to be a bit different. Posting announcements and connecting within your network in the comments section is still a vital element of a well-rounded marketing approach, but there are a few more methods you can attempt.

One’s LinkedIn Business Profile becomes the most valuable piece of LinkedIn real estate. Utilize it as a marketing tactic by carefully updating it with material tailored to your target audience. One may even filter postings by subject so that each visitor sees just the most relevant information.

Here Are A Few Things To Keep In Mind When Promoting Your Business On LinkedIn –

Keep your headlines and text to 140 words or less, with a clear call to action. Avoid using standard photographs and instead, use video and original images to add visual appeal. Integrate it with major social media management applications to make page maintenance easier. The profile page is the starting point for whatever sort of business you wish to advertise on LinkedIn.

For you to attract potential partners and clients, you must have an appealing profile that explains what you do and provides them with a reason to interact with you. Whenever it concerns content creation, you have two major options. You may replicate a current blog article and re-publish it on LinkedIn, or you can compose a new post that answers a question or solves an issue that your ideal LinkedIn connection is facing.

Establishing a reputation and good relationships takes time and work, so be selective when joining a group. Join active communities with actual dialogues and avoid groups that are all about self-promotion – if the latest 5-6 posts had minimal participation, this group is definitely not for you. When you can’t discover exactly what you’re searching for and are ready to go all-in and create your own community, you may create your own LinkedIn group.

Since these LinkedIn marketing efforts don’t really necessitate a monetary expenditure, nevertheless do necessitate time and dedication. It is indeed a smart option to tackle these free activities in the same way you would your paid efforts. Begin with defined goals and select the KPIs that will be used to assess achievement. Then, describe your approach for achieving your goals by utilising LinkedIn’s free and paid capabilities.

If you need assistance in handling your LinkedIn profile and Promote your business on LinkedIn for free, we are here to help you. Reach us at Shloka Concepts

[jenojaemssss]

nct dream as your boyfriend

nct dream x gn!reader

fluffy boyfriend!nct dream headcanons because it's 2 am and i'm all up in my head <3 also because i have no motivation to work on dont need it and am holding it off as much as i possibly can before finalizing it <3

lee mark

just the softest boy

we already know he really enjoys playing the guitar

so i feel like he’s the type to wake up at like 3 in the morning with a melody in mind

like he wakes up in cold sweat because he has such a good idea and he CANNOT forget it

he’d record a snippet of it and send it to you after he perfects it

but this is rare because he’d rather hear your reaction

mark isn’t the type to facetime; he’d rather just call you or just come over to see you in person

so a lot of the time you’d get an incoming phone call

at 3 in the morning

because he forgets the time when he’s immersed in his craft

and because it’s a phone call, he can’t see you squinting at your phone

but you’d try your best to not make it obvious that you were already asleep

and then he’d go on and on about how he was in the middle of writing something and thought about you

his voice literally just wakes you up because he’s so excited over his creation

“ready to hear it?”

and after playing it for you he’d have the widest, goofiest smile on his face

he’d be so proud of yourself after you give him a personal round of applause

but his grin doesn’t stay on for long because there’d be banging on his wall from his housemates telling him to shut up

this happened so often that they don’t even have to say anything, just forcefully tap their wall and he’d get the hint

usually then, he’d finally realize how late-or technically, early- it was getting

“ah shit, fuck were you sleeping when i called?”

and you’d just chuckle because he’s so damn cute

and then you’d remind him how much you love and enjoy his hobby

and how it makes you happy getting to listen to him play his guitar

“you do know you don’t have to pick up, right?”

but you’d just smile even wider and he could hear it over the phone and he’d smile too

your smile is so endearing to him

and when he was the reason you’re smiling, it sends him through the clouds

because how could HE be the cause of such a beautiful smile

“hey, baby?”

“yeah, mark?”

“i love you.”

and you’d giggle so hard because he still gives you butterflies

“i love you, too, mageolli.”

“bro, did hyuck teach you that?” he squeaks

another bang on his wall makes him jump and he ends up whispering to you for about another hour

huang renjun

this man loves to read, so whenever he’s reading a book he really likes, he’d annotate it with the intentions of giving it to you

sometimes he’d highlight funny things and write little notes like “this made me laugh and i thought you’d like it too”

so fucking endearing let me tell you

and when he comes across romantic lines, he’d highlight them in pink and write little notes on how it reminded him of you

when he’s done with the book and gives it to you, you’d find cute little highlighted portions with notes and messages directed for you

sometimes, he’d write you cute little messages on the inside cover, kind of like an introduction to his annotations

he’d also write a mini introduction to the content of the book, but in his own cute way

“i found this book really funny (those funny scenes are highlighted in yellow) and there were a lot of scenes where the interactions between the two main characters reminded me of you and i, so those are highlighted in purple”

and a bunch of other notes related to his annotations

the back cover has a mini summary and all his personal thoughts after finishing the book

“could they BE anymore stupid? he should have confessed to her when…” and many more angry-renjun reactions

there was one time he was reading pride and prejudice and came across this line

“in vain i have struggled. it will not do. my feelings will not be repressed. you must allow me to tell you how ardently i admire and love you.”

he was about to pull out his highlighter and smear the bright pink across it but pauses

and then he just slams the book closed because he remembers how much of an asshole mr. darcy was in this book

and how much he hated pride and prejudice

he was only reading it again because you asked him to read it with you

the two of you often picked out your favorite books and had the other one read it and discuss it with each other after you both finished

kind of like a personal book club

this time around you picked this wretched book and he was not having it

but then you pulled out the puppy eyes

he gagged in front of you and asked that if he’d read it with you, you wouldn’t pull that shit again

internally he loved it, he just doesn’t like showing it physically

anyways, after slamming the book shut he stood up from the couch but was so pissed off with the fucking book that he called you

“babe, why is lizzy so fucking idiotic?”

you’re just as confused as he is, but for a totally different reason

“i know we’re supposed to discuss when we’re finished but i just cannot read this book anymore.”

lee jeno

the type of boyfriend that has a really hard time expressing his feelings in words

so he’d show it in his actions instead

his love language is most likely physical touch

but at the same time he seems like the type to not enjoy too much physical affection in public

yet he still needs to be touching you: always

just small gestures to keep in physical contact with you

it reassures him that you’re still there

in public, he’d make an effort to hold pinkies

like he’d interlock them when you’re walking around the grocery store or just when you go on walks together

oh yeah, jeno really likes walks

like when the two of you are having a really rough day or when you’re both just not in the best mood, he’d ask to go on walks to clear your minds

it’s his way of telling you that he’s there for you

on the rough days, instead of holding your pinky, he’d intertwine your hands instead

and when you guys argue over things and he doesn’t know what to say, he’d leave the room for a bit so that you don’t say things you don’t really mean to each other

jeno is a good man, he was raised right

so he KNOWS when he’s at fault

and when he realizes what he’s done and takes all the things you say into consideration, you’d hear the sink running or the vacuum turn on

he’d clean your apartment for you as an apology

back to the physical touch aspect of him

rare *public* back hugs here and there but only around people he’s comfortable with

but when you’re alone??

he would literally CLING onto you, personal bubble does not exist to this man

wraps his arms around your waist when you cook or do the dishes, playing footsies when you eat, all of that

sometimes when you’re both on the couch doing work on separate laptops he’d make it a literal mission to be in physical contact with you

like even if it interferes with his work, he’s gotta be touching you

he’d have one leg thrown over your torso if your hands are too busy with something

it’s really endearing because if you moved at all, like even just a little and he wasn’t able to have a part of his body on yours, he’d start pouting

he’d reach his arms or legs out in a grabbing motion and not say anything

and then you’d have to reposition yourself so that the two of you would be able to work and he still be able to touch you

and his smiles, the fucking smiles when he gets to hold your hand after you guys finish working on whatever you needed to work on

his cuddles are top tier too, and he’d make sure you guys get at least 30 minutes of cuddles a day

lee donghyuck

the whiniest, most annoying (but adorable) boyfriend ever

like jeno, he needs to be in physical contact with you, but instead of quietly pouting or reaching for you, he’d YELL

“y/n! hold my hand!”

“but i’m typing-”

“babe, hold my hand!!!!” *intense pouting*

he normally drops it when he knows you’re actually busy, but when he knows you’re just watching a movie or something, he keeps pestering you until you hold his hand

and when you do, he takes the opportunity to POUNCE on you like he just deadass lays on top of you

and you let him because it’s actually really comforting having his weight on top of you

NOSE KISSES!!!!!! lots of those

and forehead pecks

it goes both ways, though, because he likes receiving those too!!!!! fairness!!!!!

he’s the type to play tricks on you, but never takes it too far because he doesn’t want to hurt you in any way

and he spoils you a lot

like not with materialistic things (though sometimes he does) but more with arguments and when it comes to picking what to do/eat for the day

he’s the type to always think before his actions, yet when he’s around you, all logic is thrown to the side

“you wanna go bungee jumping? bet!” (even though he’s afraid of heights)

he gets two of everything when he goes to the store; one for him and one for you

and when you first started dating, you got a bit shy because of this due to the fact that he’s spending extra on you

you felt bad he was spending extra money so whenever you were buying things, you followed his habit and do the same thing

and for the first couple months he’d say that it’s fine and everything but when you both got really comfortable around each other, he’d be really witty with his comebacks

“no, i don’t wanna share with you” or “pay me back then”

sometimes the casual, “no, you’re gonna eat all of it and leave me nothing”

soon enough, the two of you fell into the habit of buying two of everything wherever you went (besides the things that you both know the other person hates)

also, when you first started dating, a lot of it was just casually hanging out at a park or walking around a random neighborhood and getting food nearby

street food you can take on the go >>>> food from fancy restaurants

and also, when you first started getting snacks for each other and he didn’t know what you liked, he got one of everything

like for example, the first time you guys had a movie night at your place, he went to the store but didn’t know what brand of chips you preferred so he bought both kinds

(he learned that day what your favorite snacks and brands were and he remembered it forever)

na jaemin

HUGS!

jaemin is the king of hugs, like no one, absolutely NO ONE can beat him when it comes to hugs

they’re always so warm and he always knows whenever you need one

he’s kind of like a battery pack, so whenever you hug him, you feel recharged and energized

because all his hugs are full of love and you can literally feel it radiating off of him

“jaems, i need-”

you can’t even finish your sentence because he’s already engulfing you

“i know, baby”

sometimes you’d tease him and say things like, “i was gonna ask for some water” or some shit like that and he’d get all pouty

and when he’s about to let go, you just pull him into you more

so obviously, he’s another fan of physical affection

but unlike jeno and hyuck, he’s not quite the clingy type

he will give you your space and will not invade your personal bubble, but instead just show that he’s there by doing other things

whenever he sees that your water glass is half empty, he’d go refill it

would always ask if you wanted a snack

would feed you his food when you were busy working on your laptop

just little actions to show that he’s paying attention to you

you pick up on his habit and slowly become more tentative too

he’s also the type that shows the overprotective type of affection too

like, when it gets cold and he notices you shiver a little, he’d immediately take off his sweater/hoodie/jacket, whatever, and give it to you

or whenever your clothes seem to be bothering you, he’d offer you his shirt or pants or anything for you to feel more comfortable

he really enjoys cooking for you, so you’d have little cooking dates every once in a while where he teaches you a recipe or you teach him something

and it always either ends up in a disaster or a really appetizing success, no mediocre food in this household

the disasters are normally when you’re in charge of the cooking because you get distracted by jaemin’s crackheadery

he talks to the fucking vegetables and asks them how their day was before chopping them up, like what the fuck?

the normally tentative jaemin gets distracted because he’s making you laugh

he loves hearing you laugh, so he keeps doing what he’s doing to get to hear it more

so sometimes you forget you’re boiling something, you forget there’s something on the stove and shit starts spilling out

you’re both panicking and looking for the fire extinguisher

jaemin just ends up smacking it with whatever he’s holding and the flames go out and you both end up laughing and rolling around on the floor for the next 10 minutes

zhong chenle

can be the most evil or the most adoring boyfriend, there is no inbetween

like some days, he’d tease you to the point you ignore him while other days he’s all cuddly, snuggled up against you while hyping you up like you’re some sort of insta baddie

but a constant is that he will ALWAYS call you cute

you say something stupid? “cute.”

you CALL him stupid? “how cute!”

you drop your phone in the toilet? “cute.”

he has an obsession with that word, but it doesn’t really bother or annoy you because you really like hearing him say it

even when you guys play video games

you’re both beast at battle royale games, so you’re both constantly playing with one another

you guys normally don’t play when you see each other/ meet up because you spend that time doing other quality couple things

like bicker over what to order or where to get boba from for the day

so instead you guys normally play video games together at 3 in the morning after finishing up all your work for the day

whenever you’d knock down an enemy, you’d hear him from the other end of the phone shouting things like, “y/n that kill was so sexy!” (he picked that up from jaemin)

when you make noises after either missing or hitting your target, he’d chuckle to himself and mumble a little, “cute.”

soon enough you’re also picking up the habit and calling him cute all the damn time too

at first, he insisted that you stopped calling him cute because it was HIS line

“babe, i know i’m adorable, but stop calling me cute.”

“no.”

more bickering because he is so persistent

eventually got used to it and you two would have little squabbles over how the other is overusing it when you're BOTH doing it

not normally the type to be showing physical affection, but will cuddle when he’s sleepy

he feels safe when he’s holding you so he’s at peace and can fall asleep easily

he probably likes petting your hair when he’s the big spoon, and likes it when you pet his hair when he’s the little spoon

OMG WAIT he’s probably the type to have you lay on his lap (or vice versa) and just play with your hair (or have you play with his hair)!!!!!!!

like y’all are just chilling on the couch watching some basketball game and he just lays on your lap out of nowhere

“time for human contact!”

you’d just laugh and start combing your hand through his hair and he closes his eyes and ends up falling asleep

park jisung

the best friend type of boyfriend where the most couply thing you end up doing is going yo the zoo and feeding animals

he really likes when you guys go to the gift shop and play with the little toys they have

he’s super interested in the little things and is fascinated by everything big and small

you find that shit so cute and secretly take pictures of him staring at the miniature figures of lions

he catches on after seeing you changed your wallpaper to a picture of him holding a giraffe puppet and having it look at him

he holds your finger when you walk around so that you both don’t get lost

but his hands are really big compared to yours, so you switch to holding his finger instead and he physically melts because he thinks it looks so cute

i think your typical dates are the ones that involve a lot of walking around BECAUSE of the fact that you hold onto his finger

(jk, but like...he just thinks it’s really cute)

(so much so that it becomes a habit when you’re just hanging out)

(watching a movie? here, hold my finger. grocery shopping? here, hold it.)

you guys go to the amusement park often too

you hold onto each other’s fingers and wander around the park looking for rides that jisung can ride because he's scared of action

but you like roller coasters, and jisung always feels bad because you never ride them when you two go together

so one time, when there was one you really wanted to go on but you knew it would have scared jisung

so you decided to pass up on it because you didn’t want to leave him alone

but he was noticing how your eyes kept lingering on the coaster and he broke

“y/n, i’ll go on it with you”

and you’re shocked because you didn’t even say you wanted to go on it, like you just looked at it but he caught on

and you tried to brush it off and insisting that you could go on a ride you both liked

but he was so stern about it because he knew how much you wanted to go on it

i think he’s the type of boyfriend that normally gets over his fears when he is encouraged by his partner, and in this case, his form of encouragement was making you happy

he just likes seeing you happy in general

so internally, he’s hyping himself up while you’re cheering for him

and although he’s scared shitless, he goes through with it because he knows that this is a fear he needs to get over, so might as well get it over with while making you smile!

and so when it’s your turn to get on the ride, he gets cold feet, kinda, but you grab onto his hand, not his finger, and rub your thumb over it to reassure him that it’ll be fine

and it was honestly not that bad because he felt safe with you holding his hand the entire time

and when the ride finishes and he sees how happy you are, he thinks to himself that it was so worth it because you’re beaming

he makes a note

holding your hand > holding fingers

[aphrodicted]

The 12 Houses

In this post I will talk about astrological houses. Every astrological chart has 12 houses. Depending on our astrological chart, it may be that one or two houses are of greater importance because they have a large number of planets in them. The more planets you find in a house, the more important that house will be to you. What does each house represent? What information can you give us?

If you want to learn more, I recommend reading Kabaleb.

1st House or Ascendant

The 1st House represents our personality and our outward appearance: how others see us, the first impression we make when entering a place or presenting ourselves to a group of people. The genetics we inherit from our parents is likely to focus on this house and our physical condition.

In this house we find the tools we have in this life to fulfill our solar program or our life goal. In addition, this house will tell us the energy we will have to take the initiative in the different situations of our life.

2nd House

The 2nd House is the abode of rest, which allows the individual to rest from creative tasks and dedicate themselves extensively to what they like, without falling on their person. Therefore, peace and rest are indicated here. Along with rest, this house indicates the way, the attitude, of the individual towards their obligations.

This is the house of the material rewards we will get in this life and how we will get them. The collections of this reward will be materialized in money in our world, but at the cosmic level it is where it is organized and decides when and how the individual will collect these material rewards. On some occasions, we expect a charge that isn’t made because we aren’t in the right place to obtain such a charge, since the individual isn’t doing what they should do. This can happen when the planets in this house are poorly aspected.

Therefore, the 2nd House talks about our resources (mostly materials, although it can also refer to internal resources) and the use we can give to them. Our relationship and how we manage them will also be key in this house.

Unlike other houses, the 2nd House talks about the assets generated by ourselves, with our effort and work, whether in this or another life. The resources that we obtain in this life don’t have to be those that we generate in our day to day, but they can be a reward for what we did in a previous life.

Along with resources, this house talks about our material possessions and how we manage and use these possessions (our ability to spend and save these possessions and rewards). It isn’t wrong to relate this house to money and our financial stability, since here we will know where our benefits will come from.

3rd House

The 3rd House represents how the individual pours their thoughts on the physical space where they live. Also, this is the home of our brothers (biologica or not)and your relationship with them. Apart from the brothers, in this house are our blood relatives (such as uncles or cousins), but not our parents, who will be seen in other houses.

Neighbors, whether they are from the same building or the neighborhood, and your relationship with them. Any element that is part of the environment in the life of the person, contacts and relationships with beings and things around us unfolds.

Short trips, words and writings with which the individual expresses his way of seeing the world. Therefore, the 3rd House is the manifestation of human thought and our communicative capacity at all levels (written, oral, etc.). Memory can also be found in this house.

This house governs everything related to expression and all the ways in which it can be disclosed: from speech or writing to the press, radio, television, cinema, etc. Any means that serve the individual to express themselves and dialogue will be reflected in this house.

Depending on how well or poorly this house is, the individual will have more or less facility to express themselves and access to the use of the means mentioned above. For example, the individual may have a lot to say, but little access to the means to express themselves. A 3rd House full of planets, announces the individual will work with their thought in an intense and deep way, either positively or negatively. It will be someone with great mental activity.

Finally, this house is about our experience in primary school (primary studies) and this can be reflected here. Along with it, bureaucratic processes, commercial interactions, sales and purchases... can be seen in this house.

4th House

This house informs us of the birth of our emotions, our prenatal life, our childhood and early youth.

We will be able to see how our relationship with the family will be. If we talk about our family, the house especially marks our relationship with the mother and what she will be like. Although it also tells us about the family that we will form in the future. In this house our origins, our ancestors are treated. In addition, it can indicate the individual's birthplace and how ingrained the particular location feels.

It tells us about the structure of our home, both the physical (our home) and our inner home (our inner world). When we talk about our conventional home, it will also address all of the domestic problems that we may face, either under the care of our parents or in our own home after becoming independent from them. Finally, this house can also tell us about the businesses that we create ourselves, since we can extrapolate ourselves to our second home.

In our 4th House the fall of spirituality on feelings will take place. The 4th House represents our inner emotions, those that we haven’t yet externalized. Everything that is in the individual from the past: our prenatal life, our childhood and our early youth. If 4th House is highlighted by the transit of the Sun, elements of our past lives, of our current past, our childhood or our youth.

Our 4th House talks about our mother. Especially how our relationship with her will be. The work of our 4th House is our spiritual rebirth, which we will achieve by getting closer to our mother, our child world, the scenes of our childhood, the friends we had then.

5th House

The 5th House represents luck. Traditional Astrology places in this house the earnings of the individual through games of chance, speculation, luck or free time. This house represents “doing what pleases us”. The lot I’m talking about is the "help of God", a gift of providence. This luck will depend on the will that the individual has put at the service of the divine work. When the 5th House is activated (either by planetary transits or a lunation), luck will fall on the individual and will result in positive circumstances in love, work, studies, business, gambling... Luck will fall in the area that the person wants most, although if there is some kind of karma in that area, luck can have no effect.

In addition, the 5th House will represent our most unconditional loves: those relationships in which we have loved without expecting anything in return. Those relationships will manifest in our present in the form of love. It isn’t an interested love, but the love that we awaken in people who don’t ask us for anything in return. People who are willing to do anything for us, even if we let them down.

The 5th House represents luck (commonly known as well). How lucky the individual is in this life will depend on our attitude in our past lives. If the individual has been generous and has helped others, in this life they will be rewarded with winnings in lotteries or games, for example.

Children are also represented in our 5th House. Depending on the sign that governs our 5th House, we will be able to know what our children will be like and whether or not it will cost us to conceive them (among others). If our children aren’t carriers of the love that we expected from them, it can be the cause of bad planetary aspects in our birth chart. Everything will become painful and the relationship with the children will be painful and unsatisfactory.

Our creations and our freedom are also inside 5th House. The sign and the planets that are in this house will show us the source of the individual's freedom. This house talks about how to be free, how to overcome the law of karma and where (physical place) the individual will find the freedom that will help them to show themselves as they are (their conscience), without masks or social pressure.

Finally, the 5th House tells us about teaching, what we have ingrained within us. What does the earth bestow on the individual in abundance.

6th House

The 6th House represents the abandonment of everything we have been accumulating to start from scratch. That’s why this house is related to diseases. Especially the vulnerable sectors of our physical body and our habits. In the end, this is the house of health, so all the elements related to our physical and mental health will be found here. From our relationship with food to the physical or psychic conflicts that we can have with ourselves that are the result of our Ego.

On the other hand, it’s the house of commitments. Here we will find all those commitments that we make with our actions and that later we don’t want to recognize or carry out. They are past commitments that we don’t want to accept in the present.

This is house of service. According to Traditional Astrology, these services refer to obligatory services, our subordinate jobs, but our relationship with service will be discussed: how we serve others and how they serve us. It will also deal with the relationship that we will have with everything that is inferior to us: subordinates, domestic animals, vices or perverse habits.

If the 6th House is heavily loaded with planets, this warns us that the individual has many tendencies that have reached their limit in this life. Therefore, you must end all of them. The individual will spend their life cleaning and expelling all the old and useless that are from previous lives and, in the end, it may be that in this life they have a life of servitude.

7th House

The creative capacity of the individual will depend on the collaboration of they other Self. The 7th House can be understood as the search for our other Self, that being, that part, which has the qualities that complement us. The individual doesn’t feel complete only with theselves, so tehy need a complement to feel full.

The position of the 7th House will define the place, the direction, to which the individual will go to look for their complement and where they will begin to create their place of coexistence. This will be conditioned by their character and the work they do abroad, since the 7th House is at the opposite point of the Ascendant.

The 7th House tells us how our spouse will be, their situation, their means, their family, their destiny and all the details that we want about their idiosyncrasy. Also the type of people we choose to achieve our goals (our collaborators, partners or coworkers), as well as our capacity for community life and teamwork (how we are in teamwork, our collaboration in these, etc.). In general, the 7th House talks about social relationships and how we will live them. Besides, we can find here information about contracts and labor agreements that we can reach.

The enemies we do know are also here.

On the other hand, in this house we can find cooperation. If we cooperate with our surroundings, how much cooperation will we receive from the outside or the lack of it in our life. In the same way, and related to cooperation, the collective consciousness is represented in this house. The feeling, the idea or the concept of "us" as a collective.

8th House

The 8th House symbolizes the world of desires and spirituality that may exist in it. This house can be considered that of secret passions because its effects take place inside the individual.

Because of its relationship with Scorpio, this house talks about generation (the act of generating, creating): the individual's aptitude or not for the generation. This concept of "generation" can be related to sexual relations. A poorly aspected 8th House will create difficulties of some kind for any generative activity. These generative activities can range from the conception of a child to the creation of a company or a specific project. However, the individual's difficulties in conceiving children can be seen more clearly in the 5th House than in this one.

The 8th House is the house of joys, as are all houses of fixed signs, and these joys can be “legitimate joys”, those sentimental ones that go from pure emotions to the impure joys of wanting to possess, bend, command over others. The aspects in the 8th House can tell what kind of joys the individual will experience. The illegitimate joys will be those derived from social and political power, the desire for power and wealth. The 8th House can also tell us about the money or material earnings that come through the spouse, partners, income, inheritances or donations. Because the money earned by our own effort corresponds to the 2nd House.

The 8th House is also a very emotional house. It represents the internalization of emotions, our internal feelings, our internal fears and passions, and the structure of all these emotions. This House tells us about our loves (lovers and courtships) and how we will live our sexual relationships (and sex in general) throughout our lives. As I mentioned before, it is the house of the "generation", so fertility and fertility are also represented here.

The 8th House talks about the relationship between our present life and the results of past lives. If the 8th House is in an Earth sign, it means that the individual finishes a cycle and the material gains obtained in this life will be the payment of past efforts in past lives. In some way, the individual will receive their material reward for everything previously done. On the other hand, if the 8th House is in a sign of Fire, the individual begins a new cycle and everything he receives will have no relation to their past performances.

This house is closely related to death and how the individual will die: in what circumstances, what will be the cause, in what place, etc.

Last but not least, The 8th House talks about the individual's psychic abilities/level and what kind of relationship the individual will have with them. People who have certain planets in this house will be sensitive to things invisible to most. For example, the water signs in this house or planets like the Moon, Neptune or Uranus can grant the individual outstanding psychic powers.

9th House

It’s the home of long trips, but we will not only understand these trips as a common trip to a foreign country, but it is the home of physical and internal trips. If it is the house of travel, the foreigner and our relationship with all the elements (things, people...) that come from abroad: how we will accept or deny everything foreign.

The 9th House covers higher studies. If the 3rd House was talking about primary studies, this house tells us about university studies and the like. Closely related to studies, this house talks about the search for knowledge by the individual and, if it is well-regarded, the individual will easily find the knowledge he wants.

Ruled by Sagittarius, the Zodiac philosopher, this house will speak about our relationship with our inner teacher, religion, philosophy and spirituality. Intuition, inspiration and spiritual vision both of oneself and of the collective (world). Therefore, this house will define the expansion and mental and spiritual evolution that the individual will live during their life. In the end, the 9th House is the house of the spirit, spirituality.

Finally, here we will find our ethics and morals and our acceptance or denial of it: if we follow established morality or some rebels against any morality. The 9th House defines our relationship with justice and trials.

10th House

The 10th House talks about work. However, society interprets work as a profession, but the things that the individual dominates aren’t always those that they carry out professionally. The 10th House also represents the activities that are done by vocation and working professionally and making money from other activities.

Here you will see the social projection of the individual along with their professional vocation (or activities that he does for entertainment, but that bring them financial satisfaction). A 10th House with good looks can advertise the ease that the individual has for leadership positions, while some negative aspects in this house recommend the individual to dedicate themselves to work related to the 6th House (if the regents of said house are positive). Some bad aspects in this house announce difficulties to exercise command, work in precarious companies or work adversities.

Continuing with the labor issue, the 10th House can help the individual to know what type of professions are best for their working life. Here we will indicate the professions to which the individual is most prepared to achieve and, furthermore, in which areas the individual is a teacher of teachers (what we are good at and what we can teach).

Unlike the 8th House, the 10th House tells us about the father figure: our father. Therefore, this house will tell us what our relationship with them will be like, what he will be like with us, etc. Also the relationship with our superiors in the workplace: bosses, authorities... In addition, in this house you can also see the relationship with our employees if we don’t work for ourselves (self-employed).

On the other hand, prestige, honor and our place in society (thanks to our profession) and our reputation.

11th House

Traditional Astrology defines this house as that of friends and protectors (and social relationships in general). These friends will be the people with whom we will interact without passion, since our romantic interests and our lovers are in other houses. This house talks about people who think like us, those who share our thoughts and our social intentions. Therefore, here we will define what our friends will be like and what relationship we will share with them.

This house talks about goals and dreams. Also about long-term projects. The goals or dreams this house talks about will always be those planned, structured and the individual has been working on for a long time. They aren’t easy dreams to achieve. Therefore, the soil and the ambition of the individual will be defined in this house, and it will tell what these dreams are like and if the individual will have difficulty achieving them. A poorly designed 11th House will announce the individual will have difficulty achieving their dreams and will not be easily satisfied.

A well-respected 11th House will help us easily find the right friends, those with whom we can think and share dreams. The desired friends will manifest themselves because we will let ourselves be seen and they will be able to find us. On the contrary, a poorly designed house, the disorder will settle in the psyche of the individual and, in the end, the friends who appear in their life will create conflicts or protectors that don’t protect us, but throw us into danger. People who share thoughts or dreams with us will judge us inappropriately and they will have wrong ideas about us.

This house talks about our inner thought and how we structure our thoughts.

12th House

There are many astrologers who consider Pisces as the sign through which emotions are externalized and, therefore, the 12th House is the most human of all Earthly Houses. Through the 12th House, the individual's feelings are channeled towards the environment in which they libe and, in this way, he or she becomes a little god who creates their world from the ideas they emit.

The 12th House is considered the house of the tests or difficulties (emotional tests) the individual will face to create their world based on their feelings. However, the world isn’t the same for everyone, so each person must act and adjust the circumstances around them will help them understand the importance of understanding with the people around them and, finally, accepting the functions of the 7th House: form groups and establish cooperation with the people around us.

If the feelings of the individual, when creating or adjusting, are positive, the person will build a world of goodness and brotherhood, thus freeing their environment from impurities. If, on the contrary, their feelings are negative, the individual will create a corrupt world full of vice that will lead to drama, destruction and negativity. Therefore, the 12th House will talk about what the environment of the individual is like.

Along with tests or difficulties, the subconscious has an important role.

The 12th House is the house of the secret enemies, the jails, the impediments, the deprivation of liberty produced by the need for our feelings to fit into a reality that doesn’t allow them to exist. When the feelings, the desires, don’t fit, the individual becomes violent and tries to force things. This reaction prevents them from being free, since they don’t let themselves flow, but they live forcing something that isn’t possible.

This house talks about the Karma (the Law of Action-Reaction or Cause-Consequence) that the individual will have during this life. This house is related to Divine Grace (which we have mentioned in a previous house). On the other hand, it can be considered as the house of charity, be it the charity that we give to the world or the one we receive from it and the people around us. The 12th House is related to hospitalizations and medical interventions you may receive. Furthermore, this house defines loneliness and the individual's relationship with loneliness and the role of the individual in secret societies.

Traditional Astrology considers the 12th House as that of secrets and mysteries. This is true, since the 12th House expresses our inner world and, normally, the individual keeps secret everything that has to do with their feelings (they keep it as a secret to others). A 12th House full of planets or with its ruling planet with numerous aspects, defines us as an individual who will put great efforts in building their environment (their world) in their image and likeness, being able to face others, lead a very hectic life and full of experiences (which will be positive or negative depending on the aspects).

[swanlake1998]

Article: Tokenism vs. Representation: How Can We Tell Them Apart?

Date: January 19, 2021

By: Theresa Ruth Howard

Last year's Black Lives Matter protests jolted the ballet world into action. All of a sudden, things that once "took time" instantaneously became easy fixes, like it was an episode of Oprah's favorite things for Black people: "You get an opportunity, and you get an opportunity!" Much of this sudden, reactionary change has elicited high levels of skepticism, prompting the query: Is this true representation or is it merely tokenism?

There is empirical data that white people seldom keep word when it comes to BIPOC individuals. Social justice (especially when it comes to Black people) has almost always been a trend, a tool wielded to benefit white people more in the end, and there usually is an end marked by a lull and a slow, silent rolling back of the majority of what has been accomplished.

In the early stages of addressing systemic racism, until companies have a proven track record, it will always be a "damned when you do, damned if you don't" situation. Trust must be earned. Nothing done will be enough because it feels like trying to make an ocean out of a desert with an eye dropper.

That is not to say that there isn't meaningful progress being made. We are in the midst of a global shift. Power is being redistributed, rules and criteria are being altered. The standards of what was once acceptable, or enough, no longer suffice. People are no longer just "grateful" to have a seat at the table—not only do they expect to eat, they want to help plan the menu. The truth is, we lack a suitable metric to measure this progress because we have never been here before.

What is “representation”? What exactly is “tokenism”? 



The Oxford Dictionary defines "tokenism" as "the practice or policy of making merely a token effort or granting only minimal concessions, especially to minority or suppressed groups."

The complexity of the question "What qualifies as tokenism and what as representation?" rivals that of Blackness itself. There is often a conflation perhaps because representation is part and parcel of tokenism, making it difficult to discern one from the other, or at what point it shifts. What it looks like for the bystander may not be how it is experienced by the person in the situation.

It is important to note that the act of being the "only" or one of a few does not in and of itself amount to tokenism. Too often that assumption is made by the public and it is unfair, reductive and wounding to those holding those spaces. What determines tokenism depends more on why and how someone occupies the space.

This is where the process of diversification gets slippery, manufacturing conflicts of confidence for Black dancers who, like sacrificial lambs, may question the reasons they were hired, cast or promoted. Were they given an opportunity for their talent, or because they are Black, and in what measure? These are often the speculative whispers from colleagues, classmates, parents and patrons. It is a psychological head trip to which one will rarely get a satisfactory answer.

The way diversification is approached says everything. When the motivations are authentic, there will be respect, sensitivity and mindfulness; an effort to cultivate cultural competence will be made. This requires a great deal of humility. In order to be able to interact effectively with people of different cultures, racial and ethnic backgrounds, you have to admit that you have blind spots, and are ignorant of things and, more importantly, are desirous to learn. This requires engaging them as human beings, not just tools as a means to an end.

Faculty additions 

The recent hiring of full-time Black faculty members at Boston Ballet School (Andrea Long-Naidu), Pacific Northwest Ballet School (Ikolo Griffin), San Francisco Ballet School (Jason Ambrose) and School of American Ballet (Aesha Ash) all came to fruition during the COVID-19 crisis and the BLM reckonings. All four schools were part of the Equity Project's 21-ballet-organization learning cohort—the three-year partnership between Dance Theatre of Harlem, Dance/USA and the International Association of Blacks in Dance that aimed to increase the presence of Blacks in ballet, onstage and off. (Full disclosure, I was a member of the design and facilitation team.) There were a number of school directors in the room, including BBS director Margaret Tracey, PNB's Peter Boal (artistic director of both school and company), SFBS's former administrator Andrea Yannone and director Patrick Armand, and SAB's chairman of faculty Kay Mazzo.

One of the constant discussions was the importance of having representation on school faculties; it was drilled into their psyches. There were multiple conversations, and eventually the ball started rolling downhill. Unfortunately, the news of these faculty additions was only made public after last summer's social media protests by Black ballet dancers, making them appear reactionary.

The announcements began with a cacophony of press about Ash's appointment at SAB, which was met with underground backlash. Much like the overwhelming coverage about New York City Ballet's first Black Marie in 2019, which other companies had been quietly and consistently doing for years (without fanfare), the jump over contrition and bolt towards heroism for many soured representation into tokenism. In contrast, when Balanchine took Arthur Mitchell into NYCB as its first Black principal dancer, Mitchell asked that there not be a press release heralding the advancement. Instead, he wanted simply to appear onstage as a matter of fact.

When you wave a flag too hard late in the game, and are overly pleased with the little you have done over decades, you get no pat on the back. Though pleased for Sister Ash, inherent distrust has the Black community sitting with its arms folded, watching and waiting to be served the pudding that holds the proof of change.

This is the flip side of the representation coin. Organizations can dust their hands off and feel good about the progress they have made, while the actual burden and responsibility of "representing" gets laid squarely on these new Black hires. Ironically, these Black instructors return to the space of racial isolation they inhabited as dancers, with one major difference: Now they are expected to be an agent of change.

With the media blitz around her being SAB's first full-time Black faculty member, Ash is very clear when I ask her what her role is. "I am a teacher," she says. "I am not there to transform the entire structure. I was hired to be a teacher and I am hyper-focused on being the best darn teacher that I can be."

Her refrain sounds exactly like most Black ballet dancers who just want to dance, but whose very presence is a statement of silent resistance to a centuries-old system of whiteness. With this lack of representation, coupled with the increased visibility via social media—whether intended or not—they are instantaneously branded as "role models," and saddled with the pressure of expectations from the public at large, the Black community specifically, as well as their organization.

For these new faculty members, if and when their institutions make a faux pas, you can be certain the first question will be "Where were they?" When presented with this reality, Ash resolutely replies, "Let's make it very clear that I'm not the executive director or the artistic director of the School of American Ballet. But if I see things that don't look right to me, I'm absolutely going to feel very comfortable going in there and saying 'This does not look right.' " She sees her role as a long-time member of the Alumni Advisory Committee on Diversity and Inclusion as the space to do that.

Conversely, when asked what Ash's role is, Mazzo replies—along with giving glowing compliments about Ash's teaching abilities—"We feel that we hired an activist who wants to make more change," referring to her creation of her Swan Dreams Project. "We'll look to her for her perspective, her opinions or insights or feedback. It'll carry an enormous amount of weight as we continue to evolve and learn. I think she might not even realize what that means."

It could well be within this sliver of obfuscation that genuine representation can curdle into tokenism—the space where boundaries are unclear and assumptions are made. There has to be an agreement and clear boundaries with veto power enabling a person to control the way their Blackness, gender, sexual orientation or identity (in body and voice) are utilized both internally and externally for it not to wander into the realm of tokenism.

A person's desire to participate (and to what degree) should not be assumed because they represent a particular demographic. Having your thoughts, feelings, experience and emotional labor taken into consideration is something that is often not afforded to marginalized people. Being granted the power of choice with regards to participation, though not the norm, would be equitable. In this way the truest measure of whether something is tokenizing lies with the person in the experience: If they have agency and are empowered, it matters little how things appear.

In extending the invitation to Andrea Long-Naidu to join the Boston Ballet School, director Margaret Tracey was clear: "I need someone like this to hold me accountable. Knowing Andrea's commitment to supporting the Black student in the white ballet world made me think this is the kind of person I need on my team." The discussions between the two solidified what feels like a developing partnership.

Long-Naidu is looking for a space that will allow her to stretch into her desire to be a part of the change, and influence the field's push towards diversification. "I want to be at a high-level ballet institution where I am working with dancers, where I can make a difference," she says. Over the past five years she has been stepping into her power, both as an educator and as an advocate. "I am finding my voice in this work. I want to be a part of helping predominantly white institutions be more welcoming for Black bodies."

It helps that the two share history as former NYCB dancers, allowing for the uncomfortable dialogue necessary both for the learning curve and the strengthening of the new allyship. They align in their growth journeys: Tracey is prepared to receive radical feedback and Long-Naidu is ready to share. "Andrea is my first hire where I have shifted my focus from whether this outside person is a good fit for us to making sure that our environment is not stuck in a place that may not allow someone like her to fit in," says Tracey.

Casting and marketing

We all want to see Black and brown dancers rise through the ranks. What we don't want is Black dancers being cast when they are not ready, or prepared for a role just for a company to showcase it has them. This is the epitome of tokenism and sets dancers up to fail, a luxury, by virtue of their Blackness, they do not have. Blackness is held to a different standard so unlike their white peers, whose failings are their own, the "representation" Black dancers carry comes with the heavy burden of the entire race.

Artistic directors might not view it this way when casting, but being culturally competent would mean taking this into consideration. When fast-tracking a Black dancer, true equity would mean providing the extra support (technical and emotional) they might need to have them succeed. Hence, it's not about what is normally done; it is about what is necessary in this instance.

Tokenism in casting can stigmatize the dancer amongst their peers and the artistic staff, setting off the cascade of whispering echoes of "They only got it because they are Black." Even though white people have been getting opportunities because they are white for eons, it creates yet another level of isolation, stress and vulnerability in a Black dancer, potentially crippling both their confidence and their career.

Ballet organizations that have been actively working to educate and examine themselves, and are successfully expanding recruitment, increasing diversity in training pipelines, company rosters, faculties and administration, are grappling with how to best communicate progress without tooting their own horns too loudly. This is the space between a rock and a hard place; if they quietly go about their work, no one will know, and if they promote too heavily it could be perceived as pandering.

This culture shift demands transparency. Gone are the days of blind acceptance; the people demand receipts. Ballet has seldom had to explain itself, aloft at the pinnacle of the dance hierarchy, supported by centuries of tradition, the very act of "showing" deemed beneath it. Those days are on the wane.

The majority of ballet companies use the traditional rankings system. Star power is real, ballet lovers are loyalist, and marketing campaigns often follow suit by using images of principal artists or those performing lead roles. Hence, when most of your diversity (specifically Black dancers) resides in the corps de ballet, purposefully diverting from the marketing norms to telegraph the presence of nonwhite artists is by definition tokenism.

That is, of course, if marketing followed that hierarchy to begin with. When Tamara Rojo took the helm of English National Ballet in 2012, the company underwent a rebrand, highlighting ENB as a company that tells stories. Together with Heather Clark Charrington (director of marketing and communications since 2014), she transformed the promotional black-and-white backstage images into evocative art pieces capturing a moment, feeling or mood of a work. Together, Rojo and Charrington identify the dancer who can best capture it, regardless of rank or role. Many times there isn't correlation between the dancer on the poster and the principals on the stage.

Ironically, this nonhierarchical norm had gone unnoticed until 2018, when the breathtakingly stunning poster of Swan Lake featuring Precious Adams was released, and comments about casting and tokenism were raised. This is a prime example of when righteous indignation based on assumptions and lack of knowledge results in possible collateral damage to the very person you are advocating for. If companies are expected to do better by their artists, then the public needs to check itself, as well.

We need new procedures and practices to check our work. If your whole marketing department is white, perhaps consider enlisting the eyes of nonwhite members of the organization or cultivating external critical friends to look through a different lens to vet images and copy. The trick is you have to trust and listen to their feedback.

COVID commissions

The call to give Black choreographers opportunities was right up there with the call for ballet teachers, and the excuse was the same: "We can't find them." It seems that the glow from the world being on fire illuminated the field such that suddenly Black choreographers could be seen raining from the sky like extraterrestrial squids in Watchmen.

Black folk have been in the game long enough to know that the majority of recent commissions are purely reactionary. "Of course when I received multiple commissions, it crossed my mind that it was in alignment with the Black Lives Matter movement…and being a Black woman I tick two boxes," says Francesca Harper, who has eight commissions on deck. "I have been creating films since the beginning of my career—two of the companies came to me specifically because I can create something for film."

However, the nagging question of Blackness versus talent conjures uncertainty. "You wonder, Are they really looking at me?" asks Harper. "Are they looking at my work? That, for me, is always a painful moment."

Darrell Grand Moultrie is another of the numerous Black choreographers the ballet world is now inviting to take center stage, albeit virtually. While he has choreographed repeatedly on Atlanta Ballet, Colorado Ballet, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Cincinnati Ballet, BalletMet, Ailey II, Milwaukee Ballet, Tulsa Ballet, Richmond Ballet, Smuin Ballet, Sacramento Ballet, when American Ballet Theatre's Kevin McKenzie called to extend an invitation, according to Moultire, McKenzie apologetically said, "Unfortunately, I have not been exposed to your work."

Before Moultrie accepted the commission to choreograph in a bubble for ABT's virtual gala in November, he made three things clear: "First of all, I wanted this to be on the Met stage," Moultrie says. The second was a commitment to make that happen post-COVID. The third was he wanted to up McKenzie's "exposure" to Black choreographers in the game. McKenzie agreed.

"I think my commission with ABT is Kevin opening up to see who is out here," Moultrie says. However, that work should have already happened: Over the term of the Equity Project (which ABT was a part of), names of Black choreographers were often bandied about, including veterans Donald Byrd, Robert Garland, the overlooked Christopher Huggins, and Jennifer Archibald, who deserves a bump up, and Amy Hall Garner, who is on the come up.

The "it takes time" and "we can't find" mantras are to some degree the by-product of a lackadaisical attitude. One can believe that these recent gestures are earnest attempts to right a wrong. But the ease with which it could have been done before (and was not) is insulting, and makes it look and feel like tokenism.

It always feels like when Black people's houses are on fire, white folk can't seem to find a cup of water to fill it, yet when their houses are ablaze, here we come with buckets and hoses, always in service. At this critical time when the world is operating in crisis mode and on the learning curve of working remotely and presenting digitally, it feels like Blackness is used as a convenient tool to get out of the diversity doghouse. The fact that these opportunities are being given with anemic budgets cannot be overlooked and one has to wonder if these commissions offer parity.

Black people are too familiar with this type of post-woke euphoria, white guilt and shame married to a need to save face, creating just enough access and opportunity to smother the flames. Then, slowly, things begin to settle pretty much where they were before.

That being said, this time feels different (though we say that every time) because the landscape and the rules have changed. Increased exposure, transparency, the power of influencers' individual platforms and call-out culture all make it possible for anyone to write or contribute to the narrative. This collaborative quilt of divergent perspectives, which in time will become history, will now include more voices and experiences, forming a mosaic revealing a more comprehensive picture.

The work that ballet is attempting is a process, not a project. As to whether or not this is sustainable representation or mere tokenism, Moultrie sums it up this way: "We know what is happening right now is just a reaction. A good reaction, but only time will tell."

[imaginaryelle]

Would you do anything with Wei Ying and the 4 main Juniors like either a fic or just how they interact in the show compared to the older generations

(Many thanks to @miyuki4s for the awesome beta work!)

*

It’s a banquet. A banquet Wei Wuxian was not, technically, invited to, but which he is attending nevertheless because no one in charge figured out he wasn’t supposed to be there until he’d already been offered food.

Such kind servants the Yao Sect has. Such a contrast to their sour Sect Leader, who keeps staring into his wine as if it’s turned to vinegar on his lips.

Wei Wuxian decides not to test his welcome too long—yes, he had been rather useful on the night hunt this afternoon, and yes, his role in Jin Guangyao’s downfall and the known fact of the Chief Cultivator’s favor do buy him a certain amount of social standing with the major Sects, but he’s not going to sit in a man’s hall all night mocking him with his very presence.

Well, he might.

Okay, he definitely would, except the wine is merely decent and the conversation is stilted and, frankly, boring. It would be bearable if he was getting to watch Lan Wangji endure it as well, but alas, the Chief Cultivator has pressing business in Yunmeng, apparently, which must be quite pressing indeed for Jiang Cheng to ask for him and which Wei Wuxian is certain would only be made more difficult by his own presence, even if he does still worry about Jiang Cheng, somewhere in a not-so-secret corner of his heart. So instead of making small talk or setting off into the night he takes his wine and bows out of the hall to Sect Leader Yao’s disgruntled nod of acknowledgment and goes in search of better entertainment.

He finds it just around the side of the disciples’ dormitories, behind a stand of magnolia trees.

Lan Jingyi, Ouyang Zizhen and several other vaguely familiar young members of various clans are sitting in what looks to be a small garden, huddled around what is quite probably either illicitly procured food or, more probably, wine. There’s a flash of gold near the center, and Wei Wuxian is able to answer the slightly-nagging question of where his nephew disappeared to halfway through the feast. Fairy, thankfully, is nowhere in sight. He wonders, for just a moment, whether they purposefully left Lan Sizhui’s reasonable voice out of this clearly ill-advised venture before he catches sight of him half-hidden behind Lan Jingyi’s shoulder, a look of fond exasperation on his face.

Wei Wuxian takes a drink of his own wine and prepares to keep walking—there’s probably a rooftop somewhere with a good view of both the garden and the waning moon to keep him entertained without disturbing anyone else’s fun.

“Ah! Wei-qianbei!” It’s one of the ones Wei Wuxian doesn’t quite remember who greets him, which is a little embarrassing, but the boy’s wearing Yao sect robes and looks like he lost a fight with a thorn bush—ah. Young master Liang Fai, who got a little too up close and personal with a malevolent spirit this afternoon. He beckons Wei Wuxian closer, either ignoring or not noticing those of his companions who freeze in place—Lan Jingyi and two other Lans try valiantly to look as if they have not touched alcohol and Lan Sizhui offers up a slightly chagrined smile—or those who are making only mildly obvious efforts to stop him. Jin Ling looks for a moment as if he might bolt through a nearby bush. “Wei-qianbei, can you teach us that talisman you used today? The one that banished the mist.”

A few of the others actually do look interested in that, even Jin Ling, at least until Wei Wuxian shakes his head.

“You can achieve the same effect with a basic spirit-repelling talisman,” he informs them. Blood is stronger than ink, of course, but he remembers their eagerness in Yi City. Best not to mention that. “It’s nothing special.”

“What about your ward-breaker then?” Lan Jingyi asks. Wei Wuxian arches an eyebrow at him.

“Hanguang-jun did a lecture on it,” Lan Sizhui puts in, soft-spoken and reasonable as ever. “On your inventions, like spirit-attraction flags. He said you had a ward-breaker talisman.”

“I might,” Wei Wuxian allows, though it was never really a secret. “How good’s your brushwork?”

The next half hour is a delightful rush of fresh ink, waving paper and bright enthusiasm. Enthusiasm, of course, is key in the creation of this particular talisman. Enthusiasm, focus, and delicate control of a brush. A few of them can produce a handful of sparks in their first tries. Jin Ling and Lan Sizhui each manage one butterfly, to their evident glee and Wei Wuxian’s lavish praise. Ouyang Zizhen manages a quietly smug three, to general acclaim. They finish the wine, and someone steals more, and an hour goes by and the moon rises higher and then Jin Ling, a little flushed but entirely determined, asks:

“Can you tell us about the Sunshot Campaign?”

Everyone goes quiet. Wei Wuxian laughs, too loud in the long shadows. He is burningly aware that Lan Sizhui—Wen Yuan—is sitting somewhere on his left.

“Surely you’ve learned all about that already,” he says. His smile feels stretched too-thin across his face.

“Not really.” Jin Ling frowns. Wei Wuxian can’t decide if the expression makes him look more like Jin Zixuan or Jiang Cheng, but it’s familiar frustration either way. “Jiujiu won’t tell me anything and—” he stops, lips pressing tight together.

“There are a few stories,” Ouyang Zizhen says in a sort of hushed whisper that makes everyone lean in closer. “but it’s strange, they’re always—”

“It’s always the same stories,” Liang Fai says. “No matter who you ask. It’s always about how awful Wen Ruohan and his sons were, and then the Yin Iron, and the razing of Cloud Recesses and Lotus Pier. Then the Sects rise and Lian—and Meng Yao goes undercover, and Chifeng-zun lays siege to Nightless City.”

“My father always says the Wens reached too far,” Ouyang Zizhen adds. “That they were arrogant and thought they held the authority of the Heavens themselves. But when I ask what happened before the war, or why they attacked Cloud Recesses, he just talks in circles. Sometimes I’m not even sure he knows the answer at all.”

“There’s not much detail,” says Lan Jingyi. “Honestly, I’ve gotten more out of merchants and kids playing in the street than most cultivators. There are more stories about you, really. After. When you were at the Burial Mounds.”

Wei Wuxian sighs. Of course there are. Just as now, when there are so many stories of Jin Guangyao, once more Meng Yao to the vindictive and impressionable, and how people always knew he was up to something. Even at the time, when the events were fresh in everyone’s mind, no one had wanted to remember who the Wens were before the war. If they had, Wei Wuxian might not have been the only one standing by the survivors.

He finds Lan Sizhui’s eyes in the dim moonlight, but Lan Sizhui only stares back at him, as calm and composed as if he’s waiting for a lecture in Cloud Recesses. All the young faces around him are intent and watchful. Waiting. Waiting for him to prove, as he has so many times before, that he’s different from their parents. Because he is, just—maybe not as different as they think.

“It was a war,” he says. “There are better things to talk about. Like—oh, the clouds, the clouds are very nice tonight.”

The clouds are nice. For the record. Worthy of poetry even. But of course these are determined young cultivators. They aren’t just going to let this go.

“It’s when most of them earned their titles,” Jin Ling says. Insists. “And they weren’t—you weren’t—that much older than we are. Not really. What’s so bad that we can’t know it?”

Wei Wuxian remembers a sudden flash of sky, of grass scraping at his scalp and cheek as his brother’s hands closed around his neck. He remembers his sister’s hands, raw and swollen from scrubbing and boiling cloth for bandages. The way Lan Wangji had turned away when he’d asked, and your brother? Your uncle? in the Xuanwu cave. The taste of corpse-dirt in the back of his throat.

There are many, many things that no one should ever have to know. And yet … Jin Ling asks so little of him, in the usual way of things. And not every memory is a weakness their elders will resent.

“What do you know about the Yin Iron?” he asks. It’s a safe enough subject—for one thing, he’s something of an expert, and that’s something he made his peace with long ago. For another, it doesn’t reach too deep into the scars lurking under his skin, and he knows that it has to be part of what Jiang Cheng doesn’t talk about: watching his new recruits, cultivators who trusted and believed in him, become mindless foes with the same face. These young cultivators have seen corpse puppets, but they’ve never seen someone turn before their eyes. Someone they knew and fought alongside. Someone they called brother or sister. He can’t imagine Lan Wangji or anyone else from that time talking about it either.

“It can be used to control corpses,” Lan Jingyi says promptly. “To make them stronger. And used too long, the Yin energy can be damaging to the spirit.”

Wei Wuxian snorts. Of course the Lans would teach that second part. He wonders if they also teach of Lan Yi’s sacrifice, these days. He picks up his brush again and sketches an incomplete array—unbalanced and open ended. Energy ever re-directed against its source.

“Have you thought about what control of corpses means, on a battlefield without Yin Iron of your own? Where every fallen ally can become an enemy?”

The sudden stillness around him would indicate that no, they haven’t. More than one looks like his wine is not agreeing with him.

Wei Wuxian picks up another piece of paper and starts a new talisman—fire, to burn away impurities. “There’s a lot I really don’t remember.” He laughs a little and lights the paper with a twist of his fingers. “My memory has always been bad.”

There is quiet as the paper burns to ash and the night breeze sweeps even that away. Wei Wuxian reaches for the wine and pours himself another drink, and that seems to break the moment at least a little. Jin Ling looks particularly disappointed, and Wei Wuxian is debating telling the one or two actually decent stories he has of Jin Zixuan when someone else speaks first.

“But, Wei-qianbei …” Ouyang Zizhen looks around at his friends and Sect brothers, and then back to Wei Wuxian, determination hardening his features. “If we don’t know how it happened, how will we know how to stop it happening again?”

There are nods around the circle, and Wei Wuxian takes another drink to swallow back the tightness rising in his throat. “I’m really not the right person to ask,” he says.  It’s a very noble sentiment they’re nurturing of course, but the world had turned on him much the same way it had on the Wens, and —ahah. He gestures at Lan Jingyi and Lan Sizhui, triumphant.

“Hanguang-jun,” he says. They stare at him.

“Hanguang-jun doesn’t talk about the war either.” Lan Sizhui’s gaze doesn’t waver, trained on Wei Wuxian.

“There are innumerable things our esteemed Chief Cultivator never puts into words,” Wei Wuxian agrees with a languid wave of his hand, “but does that really mean you don’t know what he thinks?”

Lan Sizhui blinks, then smiles at him.

“The seminars,” says Jin Ling. “He’s setting up—I don’t know, really, lectures and trainings and things, in Gusu and Caiyi, inviting people to speak or visit from all over. Jiujiu says he’ll probably be pushing the rest of us to do that too, soon.”

Ouyang Zizhen nods. “The watchtowers were Jin Guangyao’s project after the war, right? My father says Hanguang-jun wants something better than watchtowers. That he’s working on a new talisman, like the Jin Clan’s butterfly messengers.”

Jin Ling frowns, his hands tightening around his sword. “He hasn’t mentioned the butterfly messengers to me.”

“It’s Hanguang-jun. I don’t think he said anything about it to anyone, Father just saw him writing talismans that turn into pigeons after that conference focused on the towers.”

“Sect Leader Yao doesn’t like how he’s treating the smaller sects.” Liang Fai turns his helmet between his hands, his expression thoughtful. “He says the Chief Cultivator will recognize even just two people as a new sect, if they own so much as a single house to train out of. It’s making the bigger sects nervous.”

“I’m not nervous,” says Jin Ling, scowling at him. “And neither is the Jiang Sect.”

“Ah, ah!” Wei Wuxian interrupts before tensions can draw any higher and waves his hands in the space between Jin Ling and Liang Fai. “Let’s talk about something else. Right?”

Jin Ling looks away, but the conversation doesn’t change. 

“He’s worried about communication and response time,” says Lan Jingyi. “He’s always said it’s a cultivator’s job to go where the need is.”

“If more people can identify a problem, or know the right techniques, it won’t get out of hand,” Ouyang Zizhen agrees. “And with more sects, there are more cultivators in more places. It makes sense.”

“He travels.” All eyes shift to Lan Sizhui, who looks only at Wei Wuxian. “That’s part of what you mean, isn’t it? When Lianfang-zun was Chief Cultivator, everyone went to Lanling to speak with him. To the home of the Jin Sect. But Hanguang-jun doesn’t accept as many visiting parties. Most of the time, he goes to them.”

Lan Jingyi’s face scrunches up, doubtful. “I thought that was because he didn’t want to host so many banquets.”

“He still has to attend just as many,” Lan Sizhui points out. “Maybe more, even.”

“He’s staying neutral,” Jin Ling says, sudden and with an expression like he’s even surprising himself. “He can’t speak for Gusu Lan. That’s why Grandmaster Qiren is still at every conference. Because he’s Chief Cultivator, but not Sect Leader.”

That seems to be some sort of breaking point—several people start talking at once, and Wei Wuxian slowly eases himself out of the circle; he’s not needed anymore, and he should probably see himself out before Sect Leader Yao feels forced to offer him a place to sleep. Also, he’s out of wine.

Lan Sizhui meets him at the gates.

“Tell him we’re happy to help, with anything.”

Wei Wuxian frowns at him, confused. “Tell who?”

“Hanguang-jun. When you see him.” Lan Sizhui smiles and pets Little Apple’s nose. “Tell him we want to help. Even Jin Ling, though he might grumble about it.”

Wei Wuxian feels a sudden pang of homesickness—for the familiar walls of Lotus Pier, and for Lan Wangji’s steady presence at his side. But traveling to Yunmeng is no better an idea now that it was this afternoon.

“Ah, A-Yuan,” he says, “you can tell him yourself. You’ll probably see him before I do.” 

Lan Sizhui looks doubtful, but he doesn’t argue. He seems to hesitate a moment, and then he sort of lunges into Wei Wuxian’s side and hugs him. 

“What—”

“Thank you,” Lan Sizhui says as Wei Wuxian tries to figure out what to do with his hands. They’ve only done this a few times, still, and he’s not entirely sure what’s allowed when, and he’s desperately anxious to not mess it up.

“For what?” he asks, settling his free hand on Lan Sizhui’s back. 

“For helping us,” Lan Sizhui says, almost at a whisper, and Wei Wuxian is sure they’re not talking about the gaggle of young cultivators in the garden anymore. He tightens the curl of his arm.

“You don’t need to thank me, A-Yuan. I—”

“Ning-shushu told me a little,” Lan Sizhui interrupts him, the words half-muffled in his collar. “And I’ve heard—I know all the same stories as the rest of them. I mean it. Thank you.”

Wei Wuxian shakes his head, but he doesn’t protest aloud again. Instead he wraps his other arm around Lan Sizhui as well, and tucks his chin over Lan Sizhui’s white-clad shoulder. He watches the gauzy clouds drift slowly across the brightness of the moon and makes a silent promise: 

This time, they’ll do better.

[appleandelder]

Getting to Know a Plant Ally

The first step is Identification. There are hundreds and thousands of plants so carefully curating your arsenal of plant allies is crucial. Consider local and abundant species first, ones with cultural significance, and those you find personally called to. A good collection of 10-13 plants could fulfill all the needs you could ever desire, but as someone who loves knowledge, knowing more is always nice.

Once you have chosen your subject(s) so begins the research and one should highly consider creating a Materia Medica/Herbal Grimoire.

It is important to realize that even if you don’t intend to use herbs medicinaly, they are by nature medicine. It is important to understand how herbs interact with our body and environment (ie. pets and children) before working with them. Making tea and burning incense are common forms of working with herbs casually that could have ill effects for some people. So take some time to gather some facts from reputable sources (note you’re sources in your notes! Trust me it helps) and put together a little (or elaborate) reference book. Hard facts and dedicating time to learning the phyical knowledge of a plant I believe is necessary for understanding its spirit and metaphysical nature as well.

Things to include in a detailed entry:

Botanical and other names, and etymology

Physical description

Origins and role in the ecosystem

Growing habits and Community: where to find

When and how to harvest / parts used

Energetics and Observations: taste, smell, feel and other notes

Chemical constituents (essential oils)

Actions: how it interacts with the human body, what it does and where it shows effects

Contraindications and safety

History: folklore-current use, cultural significance, and scientific studies

Magical workings and spiritual teachings: depending on your path include correspondences, planetary associations, relations to spirits and deities, and other esoteric knowledge.

Recipes

References

*I may have missed something so the above list may be expanded

Herbal Intensives

It is important to do the research described above to determine which of the following exercises are safe to perform with your subject. Not all plant allies should be used in the following so please take proper precautions before performing exercises.

When introducing yourself to a plant ally it is important to start with gentle interactions and work your way up to ones more intense. The following exercises are written in an order that will reflect this.

Sight Exercise: carefully examine your subject for five minutes, study every aspect carefully. Really hold your gaze for the full time. When the five minutes of observation is up: turn away from your subject and close your eyes for a full thirty seconds. Hold the image of your subject in your mind’s eye. After thirty seconds of visualization, without looking back at your subject, draw what you see. This drawing is Not to be of fine detail (unless that’s totally your thing and you can do it without effort) it can be deconstructed or messy, it could be just a blur of color or even a symbol if that’s what you see. The point is to catch a glimpse of the plant spirit, or to find what most sticks out to you. After completling this exersice a more detailed diagram of the subject can be drawn for your notes.

Smell exercise: jot down your notes inbetween each different sample. Without disturbing the subject, notice any latent smells. Next, crush material in between your fingers, waking up aroma. Notice the difference between fresh and dry samples (if you have them). Boil sample in a pot of water and experience the aroma released through steam. Grind dry material and burn over hot charcoal and experience the aroma through smoke. Some thoughts to consider: does the aroma evoke emotions, bring up memories, or conjure images? Does it linger or dissipate quickly? Where on the spectrum of odor is the aroma; we can sense ten different odors [x]. As part of your Herbal Grimoire research why plants produce the odors they do. Inquire about terpenes and how they help plants build a relationship with the world around them and how they also effect humans. Taking these facts into consideration what can you deduce about the plant spirit as a being and what energy it holds?

Touch exercise: start by simply feeling the subject: notice it’s texture, is it robust or delicate? What do these observations tell you about the plant, how does it's form relate to it's function? For a deeper touch exercise create an herbal hand bath. Gather subject material and place in a heat proof bowl (a good handful maybe 1/4-1/2 cup), cover material with boiling water and let steep for 15 minuets. Pour off steaped water into a basin big enough to submerge your hands. When water is safe to touch soak your hands in the warm herbal bath for 8-10 minutes. Record your experience: was it astringent or conditioning, warming or cooling, etc etc. Repeat exercise but let bath cool completely and soak in cold water. Note any differences.

Taste exercise: take a small amount of the subject material and let it rest on the tongue for a moment. After noting any immediate sensation, chew and savor the flavor. Is it sweet or bitter? Describe it's taste? Does it evoke any feelings or cause any physical response? Let the material linger in your mouth to appreciate all levels of flavor. Now make an herbal tea. Take one to two table spoons of material and let steep in six ounces water 210 degrees for 6-8 minutes but drink with material still in cup. Sip slowly, take each moment to notice the development of flavor as it brews longer. Once completed consider interpreting signs in material, note any other feelings/experiences. Try exercise with both dry and fresh material if available, repeat with cold infusion instead, note any difference.

Create: while the previous exercises offer more immediate preparation, this is the next step in forming an intimate relationship with a plant ally. Now is the time for more intense creations. Using your subject alone (not in an herbal blend) create something that requires more time and effort: make an infused oil, tincture, salve, cook with it, distill essential oil and hydrosol, use it in a spell, etc. Once your creation is completed: record results, note successes and failures, write down how much you use and experiences with each application.

Meditate / Hearing exercise: all of the previous exercises are indeed meditations in themselves. But dedicating the time to a more simple meditation builds support with a plant ally. One may use a tincture, perhaps smoke some subject material, anoint themselves with infused oil, or just bask in the presence of the physical plant ally. The point to is to notice the subtle and the unseen and invite the subject into your existence with full attention. Afterwards make note of any experiences. Did you hear (learn) anything from your plant ally? This exercise can range from gentle to intense. *a note that hearing is not necessarily literal in this case*

It is important to consider time. There should be no rush when acquainting oneself with plant allies. Introductions can take days to months and relationships will be built over years. The learning with never cease.

*as always consult with a professional before using herbs medicinally, if you are pregnant, or on any medication. This is for education and curios only not for the treatment of illness or disease.*

[thesupremepuff]

I’m new to Tumblr so I hope I don’t screw this up, but here I wrote a fanfic for The Soul Stone War, an interactive fiction game by @intimidatingpuffinstudios! There is somewhat of a spoiler in here so be advised before reading, SPOILER ALERT! Hope anyone who reads it likes it! ❤️ Pairing: Tristan (OC) x Eledwen Warnings: Absolutely none, aside from the fact that my formatting stinks because I don’t know what I’m doing. 😂

A Memory Restored

Tristan couldn’t tear his gaze away from his soulmate’s expression; even beneath the hood of her cloak, he could see her staring intently at something, but what? He and his companions had only just entered the small town, yet it seemed the picture of peace. Overgrown grass moved in the wind like waves, smiling faces reflected a content population, and cheerful music could be heard from the open windows of the inn. His brown eyes scanned their surroundings as one hand came to rest on the hilt of his sword—had Eledwen’s cover been broken in a matter of minutes?

After a moment’s search, he found his target, what had drawn the attention of his soulmate: a positively nefarious group of little girls making flower crowns. A few of them had decided Straasa would be the perfect model for them, with the bolder ones tugging on his sleeve and pleading with a puppy eyed expression Tristan knew his friend couldn’t deny. Well, that’s a relief. He had just begun to unclench his jaw when he took another glance at Eledwen and realized he recognized that look. A sense of wistfulness lurked in her eyes, with the corners of her lips quirking up for just a moment as her gaze moved from one crown to another in wonder. He could feel the weight on her heart, a longing for what could have been, just like at the Festival of Pies. And just like at the festival that night, he knew he had to do something—anything—to restore what was missing.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

As the group left town the following morning, Tristan’s face lit up in a bright, albeit tired, smile: he had learned how to make a flower crown, and Eledwen had no idea. He couldn’t have done it without a certain elf’s help; she had been instrumental to making his plan work, being the only one who could find a way to distract Eledwen for hours on end. Meanwhile, he had taken up a wholly unfamiliar occupation as a flower crown model for the village children, posing for what felt like ages as they drew him wearing their creations. In exchange for his undying patience, they taught him how to craft the crowns himself. He had a feeling the malicious little gremlins took a long time to teach him on purpose, but that didn’t matter anymore. At least, that’s what he tried to remind himself as he grimaced at the crick in his neck.

“My one, are you alright?”

Her smooth voice seemed to dull the ache a little bit, and he turned to see her brows furrowed as she studied his face.

“Mmhm, yeah, I’m alright,” Tristan replied, wrapping an arm around her shoulders, strong shoulders that seemed to carry the weight of the world on them sometimes.

“In fact,” he continued with a smile, “I’m better than alright.” Eledwen hummed in contentment as she snaked an arm around the small of his back. Oh, he could hardly wait for the reveal later.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Well, Frell. Tristan paced around the woods, searching like a madman for the soft, pink flowers like the children had used at the village as the others set up camp. They were nowhere to be seen. In this entire valley, he’d seen the little suckers wherever they traveled. Then, the one night he needs them, they abandon him? What kind of sick cosmic joke was this?

Grumbling under his breath about feeding the next pink bud he saw to Agnes in retribution, he saw it: a patch of stunning violet and white flowers. What they were, he had no clue; having grown up in Trident’s Teeth, it took little effort for him to distinguish between varieties of trout, but plants? The extent of his knowledge on flowers was that he thought they were pretty. And had he known any better, he wouldn’t have grabbed the stems so enthusiastically; he did not know better.

He yanked his hand back with a curse—the freaking flower had skewered him! The insolence! With a huff he took a closer look at the things; each one was covered with sharp thorns, an obstacle he had not been prepared to face by his teachers. His stomach began to drop; what if he didn’t do this right? He didn’t want to bring her a mangled heap of weeds, accidentally stripped of their petals from his inexperience.

Then he remembered her face, the way she eyed the delicate crafts in the village. Tristan had fallen in love with a beautiful soul that was hurting, a pillar of strength who had weathered storm after ruthless storm. Pressure began to build behind his eyes, and he swallowed thickly as he made a solemn promise to himself: he would ignore the pain of a thousand thorns, fight any evil, say whatever needed saying—if every night he could hold her in his arms and feel her heartbeat, knowing it kept beating looking forward to another day, then he would do anything.

A shadow soared over the trees, but Tristan knew not to be startled. He stood, watching Eledwen fly away to scout the area as she always did when they set up camp. A chuckle slipped past his lips; every time he saw her fly, he felt like the luckiest guy in the world. The thought of someone looking at her wings in anything but awe bewildered him. This, at least, was going according to plan; she would be gone for about an hour, his window of opportunity. There wasn’t a moment to waste, then. Gritting his teeth, he set to work.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Upon returning to the campsite, Eledwen immediately sensed something amiss. Morkai and Straasa sat talking in front of the crackling fire as Daelynn practiced with her lute opposite them. Tristan would usually be there, too, and he usually would have already approached her, liking to keep an eye on the sky for her silhouette. Instead, she saw his shadow sitting in their tent, only visible because of the lantern he had lit inside.

She didn’t hesitate to enter; was her one not feeling well?

The sight that welcomed her once she had stepped inside was one she would never forget. Her love sat cross-legged, a smile lighting up his entire face at the sight of her. With one swift motion he stood and hid something behind his back, his broad shoulders practically shaking in excitement. She opened her mouth to speak, but he beat her to it.

“I—I made you something. Back at the village, I noticed these and, I thought you might like one of your own. Here, stick your hands out and close your eyes.” He seemed almost...nervous? Why was he nervous around her? Eledwen’s eyebrow rose at the request, but she complied anyway; she trusted her soulmate, and she couldn’t help but be curious.

Something soft and fragile met her palms, a sensation that reminded her of days gone by many years ago. Could it be...? Her eyes flew open at the thought, and she saw she was right: it was a flower crown, the most beautiful one she had ever seen, in fact. Pure ivory petals contrasted bright purple ones, stems woven together intricately to hold the structure together. It was perfect. She felt moisture run down her face as she met his equally watery gaze, familiar crooked smile eliciting a shaky laugh that she nearly didn’t recognize as her own.

“Tristan, I...it’s—I love it. Thank you so much, my one.” Eledwen had never been overcome with such happiness; no one had ever made her a gift before, let alone one so thoughtful. How had he noticed? She had been subtle in her observation of the crowns at the village, she knew it.

When his hands came up to hold her own, another wave of emotion hit her: they were covered in cloth. That’s when she noticed the little pile in the corner of the tent. About the size of an anthill, a mound of thorns lay beside where he had sat. A blush rose to his cheeks as she gently laid down his hard work and examined his bandaged hands.

“Don’t worry, I’m fine, really,” he whispered, bringing his hand up to cup her cheek. She leaned into his touch, pausing to press a kiss to his palm, never breaking eye contact.

“Tristan, you shouldn’t have—“

“You’re worth it.” These words were spoken with such confidence, she didn’t have it in her to argue. And for the first time in her life, she felt like maybe it was true. So when he picked up the flower crown and gently placed it on her head, she didn’t say a word. Eledwen giggled—she had forgotten she could giggle—and graced her soulmate with the most radiant smile he had ever seen. She held him and never wanted to let go, kissed him and never wanted to stop. And for as long as she could help it, she never would.

[shlokaconcepts]

Promote Your Business On LinkedIn For Free | Digital Branding Agency | Shloka Concept

Your potential clientele and the next recruits are on LinkedIn, and you wish to connect with them and promote your business on LinkedIn. So now you should advertise on LinkedIn, however, you lack the means to execute a high-impact LinkedIn ad campaign or experiment with LinkedIn video advertising just yet.

Not to worry. Not all is lost. Inside this blog, we will teach you how to utilize LinkedIn to advertise and market your business for free.

digital branding agency

How Does Promote Itself A Business On LinkedIn?

LinkedIn is an unusual platform. As more than just a result, promoting on LinkedIn can turn out to be a little tricky. LinkedIn combines an online recruitment platform, a social media platform, as well as a professional social networking site. It knows further about you than any other medium. Nobody knows where you went to school or what organizations you work for on Twitter or even on Instagram, but it’s all there on LinkedIn.

As a result, promoting on LinkedIn appears to be a bit different. Posting announcements and connecting within your network in the comments section is still a vital element of a well-rounded marketing approach, but there are a few more methods you can attempt.

One’s LinkedIn Business Profile becomes the most valuable piece of LinkedIn real estate. Utilize it as a marketing tactic by carefully updating it with material tailored to your target audience. One may even filter postings by subject so that each visitor sees just the most relevant information.

Here Are A Few Things To Keep In Mind When Promoting Your Business On LinkedIn –

Keep your headlines and text to 140 words or less, with a clear call to action. Avoid using standard photographs and instead, use video and original images to add visual appeal. Integrate it with major social media management applications to make page maintenance easier. The profile page is the starting point for whatever sort of business you wish to advertise on LinkedIn.

For you to attract potential partners and clients, you must have an appealing profile that explains what you do and provides them with a reason to interact with you. Whenever it concerns content creation, you have two major options. You may replicate a current blog article and re-publish it on LinkedIn, or you can compose a new post that answers a question or solves an issue that your ideal LinkedIn connection is facing.

Establishing a reputation and good relationships takes time and work, so be selective when joining a group. Join active communities with actual dialogues and avoid groups that are all about self-promotion – if the latest 5-6 posts had minimal participation, this group is definitely not for you. When you can’t discover exactly what you’re searching for and are ready to go all-in and create your own community, you may create your own LinkedIn group.

Since these LinkedIn marketing efforts don’t really necessitate a monetary expenditure, nevertheless do necessitate time and dedication. It is indeed a smart option to tackle these free activities in the same way you would your paid efforts. Begin with defined goals and select the KPIs that will be used to assess achievement. Then, describe your approach for achieving your goals by utilising LinkedIn’s free and paid capabilities.

If you need assistance in handling your LinkedIn profile and Promote your business on LinkedIn for free, we are here to help you. Reach us at Shloka Concepts