#people are trying to influence others all the time and its not always necessarily a bad thing

[xiexiecaptain]

Been listening to a lot of Dr. Steven Hassan (expert on cults/authoritarian control tactics and licensed mental health practitioner) talk about coercive influence lately.

And a huge thing is sleep deprivation. Sleep deprivation is a key factor in influencing peoples minds because when you are sleep deprived, your prefrontal cortex is highly impaired. This is important because this part of your brain is responsible for functions related to critical thinking, logical reasoning & reality testing, decision making, and emotional & behavioral regulation, among other things. This makes you much more suggestable to others' whole-cloth agendas and potentially coercive ideas.

According to the CDC, nearly 1/3 of American adults are chronically sleep deprived and the NIH reports nearly 40% of American adults have reported falling asleep during the day without meaning to. Roughly the same amounts (1 out of 3 and 1 out of 4 depending on the age group) of Canadian adults are chronically sleep deprived.

Getting enough sleep FOR YOU is a HUGE protective factor against people and groups influencing your thought patterns. (Sleep needs DO vary among individuals due to a number of factors but the average adult needs between 7-9 hours while teenagers ages 13-18 need 8-10 hours, again according to the CDC.) This "influence" could be something as intense and insidious as cult recruiters, but also something as "minor" as non-straightforward advertising, reactionary politics, or black-and-white thinking.

Getting enough sleep (as well as enough food and non-sleep rest) helps you think for yourself and practice critical thinking to your full potential! This protective factor cannot be understated. If a group/religious organization/company/etc you are in is consistently pushing to deny you adequate sleep, that is a RED FLAG.

For people interested in learning more I highly recommend Dr. Hassan's books including and his landmark Combatting Cult Mind Control: Guide to Protection, Rescue, and Recovery from Destructive Cults.

For people more multimedia-oriented, he has many many wonderful interviews he's done (found easily by searching his name on Youtube) about his personal experience being coerced into and rescued from a cult in his early 20s, and the analytical tool he developed called the BITE Model to help assess any kind of group or movement for various types of unethical/coercive influence factors! He also has a wonderful podcast that interviews people who have left cults/high control groups called "The Influence Continuum" that you can find pretty much anywhere you get your podcasts!

There's tons of free resources including his BITE Model and his Influence Continuum Model (which helps people place influencing factors on a scale from ethical to unethical) which can be found on his website freedomofmind.com)

[rxmxa]

random astro observations part 13.✨

✨just for fun im just talking random ass shit based on PERSONALL observations..✨

PART TWELVE. 📀

virgo risings and people getting intimidated by the way they speak (scorpio 3rd house). But then when you get know and befriend them theyre so sweet (pisces 7h, cancer 11h). My virgo rising bestie & when i first met her in college she was speaking in class and i was like woah shes smart asf and intense 😭

or sag risings and them speaking to people in a direct yet still obscure manner! or sometimes even cold in a sense.. like girl what do u really mean fr 🤨 (aqua 3h). But then you get closer with them and they love to chat with you (gemini 7h) and make anytime u hang out a pleasant and nice time (libra 11h). my sag rising friend throws the best parties (going all out with the decor, presentation of food, having a theme & ofc taking nice pics after… real libra 11h shit).

taurus risings and them communicating in a very soft, comforting manner (cancer 3h) and as you get closer you notice their intensity in their relationships with people (scorpio 7h) and their giving, helpful nature in their friendships (pisces 11h).

another thing about taurus risings, you can bet they are getting FREAKYYY with their partner with that scorpio 7h 😭they are very private with their relationships and rarely reveal personal details about it unless they trust you. my taurus rising cousin and she never shares anything about her bf (whats mine is mine you dont need to worry about it) energy. and she also has mentioned she doesnt need to give ppl a reason to try to found out for themselves what a great time shes having lmfaooo

also my taurus rising coworkers and one time we all went out for drinks and one of our coworkers was complaining about how women always have a shit time when having seggs with men and my taurus rising coworker was like “wellppp cant relate.”.. and i oop 🙈

the 2nd house rules the vocal chords and as an aries 2h sometimes when im excited or even mad i sound like a 12 year old 😭 like naruto when hes giving one of his NEVER GIVE UP NEVER BACK DOWNNN speech. I also feel like if you have scorpio or aries 2h people always think you're mad and want you to "calm down" when you talk. like no im not mad have you ever heard of being fucking passionate? hmmm?

In general, aries placements could also find they get a lot of patronizing comments or aries women could even find that men often try to "mainsplain" them. just bc aries are being assertive doesnt mean theyre being reckless or not seeing the big picture.. its all a balance. Aries DOES have this youthful /bold energy, but that doesnt mean they cant be wise people who prefer to learn by doing, even if others mistake their approach for inexperience..

we know plutonians can be seen as having this “abrasive” energy to other people. it can throw them off or make them be like “oh i dont like them.” but pluto doms recognize other plutonian people its that silent understand lmaooo its giving "real recognize real😎 " overall tho pluto dom ppl try to give others the benefit of the doubt (not necessarily bc they like them but just bc they wanna feel the energy on their own). like if people are talking shit about someone pluto doms might sit back and stay silent about it. they do their digging on their own. theyre not gonna let the crowd influence how they feel about someone. plutonians will be DOING THEIR DIGGING FIRST no matter what.

I remember a time when my cousin, who’s a Scorpio rising, asked me if I liked one of her friends (not in a romantic way). I said, 'Yeah, why?' and she replied, 'Oh, just asking because she said she feels like you don’t like her, but I knew she was overthinking it.'" We moved on from the conversation, but later, I realized that was such a typical Scorpio rising move. Instead of just telling me, 'Hey, my friend feels like you don’t like her,' she asked me that question first to confirm or deny it. I felt like she did that on purpose to make it harder for me to lie, even though I wouldn’t have lied in the first place. It annoyed me because, like, why would I lie about something like that??? But then I understood it’s just her nature. Scorpio risings ask questions in a detective ass way because they want to dig for the truth and feel out people’s responses.

plutonians and scorpios do that shit all the time, tilting their heads like little cats, squinting, being all like "oh..hmm, why do you think that?" like no im about to do this shit with u rn sherlock fuckin JONES u know WHYYY

in my moon aspects post ppl asked me if it still applied with “harminous aspects” and yes. it still does. just bc u think its easier doesnt negate the energy. for ex i have moon trine neptune and my mom (moon) has always been in her own world (neptune). and other family members find her energy “endearing” or ask me to “be kinder to her” but its also hard when your mom often times cares more about the world of what ifs in her head more than the real world with her daughter ... also my moms way of coping (moon) at times would literally be by saying in front of the family as soon she got home that she hates her life and wish she could “grow wings and be somewhere far away from everyone ” like delulu was always the solution for her 😭….

but also i wonder if people with moon-neptune placements feel confused (neptune) about motherhood (moon) in general. i use to say i didn't want kids but as ive gotten older i do like the idea of it. it just feels very....… [static noises]

nui.views on instagram reminds me of the aries-libra axis so much. Most of her videos have titles like “how to be soft and direct” or “how to balance sharp and soft expressions.” usually titles along those lines. We know theres always time to read the room (libra) but also knowing when its time to stand up or speak up! (aries) and nui.views basically says it’s possible to do both.

12h moons & their moms being their biggest enemyyy is crazy!! 🤨 the passive aggressive behavior, entitlement, hating from the sidelines. AND the expectation of the 12h moon child to “repay” or be “grateful” mother for all they did. my ex had a 12h scorpio moon and brooo anytime they got a good thing, mom would make it all about her (for ex they bought a new car, mom was LIVIDDDDD). the moon can show how mom takes advantage. for ex: scorpio moon in the 12h and mom (moon) is possessive about the resources (scorpio) you have or over you in general. taurus moon and mom (moon) is possessive about your money (taurus) or maybe even holds over your head that “she feeds you.” i have a coworker with a 12h taurus moon and her mom constantly borrows money from her or literally steals it and never pays it back. capricorn moon and mom may feel like your accomplishments belong to her or “you wouldn’t be successful without all i did” energy.

^ their can be a lot of enmeshment with the mom with this placement (especially if their is a moon-pluto aspect) but its something the 12h moon person has to decide to sever or break from on their own and on their own time. this placement has to deal with the “mother always knows best😊😊😊😊” energy

12th house Moon women and other women (Moon) being their hidden enemies (12th house) is so real! I remember at my old job, one of my coworkers had a 12th house Aquarius Moon, and all the women would talk so much shit about her behind her back. (To be fair, she wasn’t doing her job well, but their comments were just unnecessarily nasty.) I used to feel bad for her in meetings because everyone would act normal to her face. I wasn’t at that job long… With this placement, it's common for other women (whether friends, family, or acquaintances) to secretly harbor resentment, jealousy, or animosity that isn’t obvious on the surface. Plus, with 12th house placements, if the person is genuinely doing something wrong or needs feedback, instead of being honest, people often use that as an excuse to bring up unrelated complaints or things they don’t like, turning it into something bigger than it is!! Like girl how did you go from talking about her customer service skills to talking about her haircut be fr!

how do you guys feel about people who plan their pregnancies to get a sign/ birth chart they are compatible with for their child? not gonna lie I use to think that shit was crazy but then I think about the 12h synastry and squares I have with my mom and im like... this shii couldve been way cuter...

gemini placements are the people that wake up in the middle of the night to google a random fact. its a itch they gotta scratch 😭 me with my chart ruler gemini jupiter in the 3h. trying to do type a paper for a class in one sitting? well no i got sidetracked reading about how to defend yourself against bear attacks which led me to bear survival stories on reddit which led me to reading about polar bears which led me to finding an article about the farmer that got attacked and eaten by his own hog named teddy and then… boom . its 3am.

Its so hard though like we know the "jack of all trades" label that comes with mercurial energy but damn what if I just wanna be a jack of one trade and be really good at that one thing? I bounce around from thing to thing because im always getting these diff ideas but im really working on finishing something once I start it. its just hard.... sometimes I b having a lot to yap about, ya know? (ive had many diff hobbies, writing fan-fiction, painting, making candles, crocheting, LMAOOO its just chaos sometimes)

sometimes aspects can be very literal. im spilling some family tea sorry tia but for ex my aunt has venus conjuct pluto in the 10th house and her relationships (venus) are known for (10h) being taboo or just frowned upon (10h). She dated her besties ex-husband and it caused A LOT OF drama and then he fucking died bro...like?? Being known for (10h) her lovers (venus) dying (pluto)?????? im not trying to be a judgmental asshole but also its so disappointing though when people use aspects like this for evil? fucking ur besties man as soon as they get divorced? with that venus-pluto in the 10h she could've found herself a successful ass business man!

my bestie is a teacher and she was telling me about how the kids were sharing about what they wanna be when they grow up and when it got to this one girls turn she said she wanted to be a basketball player or some shit like that (the point is it was a very 5th grade response similar to her peers) but then like the kids started clapping when she said hers??? LMAOOOO and to me that is the most sun-venus SHIT EVER. and then she told me all the the 5th grade tea, how some of the boys have a crush on her haha. shes admired and well liked (venus) just for being who she is (sun)!

moon-venus is different. my experience with venus-moon aspect has consisted of women always feeling comfortable enough to confide me, me feeling more comfy with women around, children loving me, children in my family venting to me (im that one cousin the babies reach out to first to get picked up ejeje). the moon is about the inner self, privacy, and our home life. A moon-venus person might be very well-liked, but often in a more low-key, intimate way. They're the type of person you confide in or feel safe with, rather than someone who shines in the spotlight or dominates a social scene the way a sun-venus person would. both aspects make a person likable, but in different way. sun-venus is more about being confident and noticeable, while moon-venus is more about being caring and emotionally connected with others.

btw doing personalized astro observations in the style of the way i usually write my random ones but instead based on your birth chart 😙🥰

[celestialtarot11]

PAC 💙 Your Magical Gifts! 🦋

Hi friends! Today we’ll be looking at something a little different than normal 👀 your magical gifts! What kind of superhuman would you be? I just thought this was something fun to do! Im curious to see what message spirit will have! As always, your love is appreciated 💙🦋 enjoy!

Pile 1: Hi there pile 1! Welcome 💙🦋 I see you have the power of abundance and power! I heard Prowess as soon as I shuffled 😍 so a strong person indeed! But I feel your power comes from your intuition, the trust you have with your soul. I heard soul process, so you have the ability to not only alchemize your soul and heal inner wounds, but also help others. As a result you appear as a mirror, encouraging people around you to start their healing. But I also am hearing with great power comes great responsibility lol, so essentially, your power May intimidate others which doesn’t mean its bad! Others feel small and vulnerable because you see to their soul. Eyes are the window to your soul—so maybe you have prominent eyes, or something is unique about your eyes! Which adds to your glamour and power 🌀 I also see you have the ability to attract new souls seeking deeper connections in this lifetime, I think you know you aren’t meant to do this alone. Your figure would be human like, I don’t necessarily see any supernatural to your figure! But I think some of you like that—blending in more even though you know deep down, thats not all there is to you 💙🌀 You may be have scorpio in your chart or strong mars placement! Or aries too! Love and peace pile 1’s! Please comment reblog and share this post 🥺

Pile 2: Hi pile 2’s! Welcome babes 🦋🐬 I feel like you guys are connected to the air element a lot! So maybe you have a lot of air in your chart. I feel like you guys could be represented by a horse—or maybe that is your spirit guide or animal companion! Or you just feel drawn to horses lol. For you I feel like Mercury is very strong for you, even if you don’t have it in your chart, Mercurys influence is big! You are a smooth talker with your power and charisma, able to charm your way in to anyones pants ;) but on a deeper note, you are able to analyze people on a deep level right away! And no one can hide a thing from you because you will sense it immediately. Razor sharp mind and intuition. I feel like you go with your head a lot more than your heart, and its served you well, because I can see your power lies in speaking your truth and boundaries and communication. “No, this is what I need. Yes I like this. Let’s do this. Or no I need to pull back my energy because this person is being shady.” You will notice things immediately. I feel like your third eye is very active, and you may have visions or “inklings” or “feelings” before things happen. You can see the future as a gift. And I also heard sometimes its hard for you because its a huge responsibility in itself. People try to hide from you but you see it all. Its like you know immediately who to pick apart from the crowd (whether they’re amazing or not!) but you do it for your safety! If you know someone is amazing for you you’ll feel it deep down. But the horse is symbolic for power and strength, and also grace. I feel like you are graceful within your movements and enjoy subtly, although you’re not afraid of a good time! Voice, lips are a prominent feature for you and/or your body! Maybe you go to the gym! But thank you pile 2’s for being here 💙🌀 Please continue to support this blog as its greatly appreciated!

Pile 3: Welcome pile 3’s! 🌀🦋🌀Wow okay you guys have a powerful energy! I heard “ride like lightning crash like thunder,” as I shuffled the cards! I feel like you guys know how to make an entrance and leave 🥰 “hate to see you go, love to see you walk away,” wow! You guys have the presence of a goddess/god! I feel people may want to “bow” down to you, or pay you respect, or be on their good behavior for you. There’s something about people feeling in awe by your presence and actions. And people know not to mess with you. Your energy takes up space and you’re not afraid of that! Your power lies in your presence. I know it may not sound like a lot, but your energy speaks for itself here. I feel that you guys are subtle, move in private, whilst somehow attracting attention! I feel you guys are a mystery to those around you and I’m actually being shown mist. Like fog rolling in. Thats you guys, I feel there is so much I don’t understand yet I’m captivated to go in more. You guys have such strong allure and captivity! Your power lies in your ability to lure in whatever you want! People, connections, money, new timelines, manifestations. I also feel you may have Neptune 1h or moon 12h/1h! And its like im trying to grab the mist and nothing is in my hand, because its vapor. I feel like people really try to figure you out but you are a mystery, and I think thats a power because you may be surrounded by unhealthy people at the moment. And being a mystery is better than being an open book! I feel like you guys are connected to Zeus for some reason, lightning and thunder storms. I love it! You guys are not afraid of bringing in a storm to make people realize what needs healing. Not that you’ll force people no, but rather, you awaken people. Maybe you work with Zeus, or find greek mythology beautiful! Or like thunderstorms lol. You guys are the beauty of the night 🌀💙🦋 Thank you pile 3! Please continue to support this blog always 🥺

Thanks so much everyone! Making this was so much fun actually and I was so excited to hear the messages! Very unique and beautiful 😍🌀💙 Dont forget to stay hydrated and eat well loves! Your kindness is appreciated.

Paid Readings 🐬🦋🌀

[justalittlesolarpunk]

hi! i love your blog :D do you have any advice to implement low waste and solarpunk aspects into everyday life with a tight budget? keep doing what you do!

Hi!

Thanks for asking - I’ve had this question before and it’s definitely a real problem. Organic, plastic free food is expensive. So is handmade durable clothing, and train fares these days. It can feel like only the rich can be solarpunks, which is pretty counterintuitive given its anticapitalist ideology. But! I’m here to tell you there’s lots you can do to bring solarpunk into your life in a cost-effective way.

To start with, lots of solarpunk spaces are free or cheap. Get a library card and you can borrow as many books and DVDs and other resources as you like. Look up to see if there’s a library of things in your neighbourhood, and join a buy nothing or stuff for free group online. Download TooGoodToGo, which lets you access food from local cafes and restaurants which would otherwise go to waste. See if there’s a repair cafe that operates near you - I managed to get a pair of trousers mended at one of these for free, and I had been thinking I would need to pay a tailor (which is fine if you can afford it! Skilled labour deserves fair wages!). In some places plant-based food is cheaper, so when it is, choose it. But in others it will cost more than animal products so you have to decide on a case by case basis whether saving money or a particular diet is more important to you.

There’s lots else you can do for minimal spending or that actually saves you money. Walking to work or school avoids the expenditure in the petrol for a drive or a bus fare. If you’re within walking distance and able to do so, I’d recommend it. Joining your local chapter of Extinction Rebellion, Friends of The Earth, Greenpeace, The A22 network or any other active climate group in your area is almost always free and just involves a small weekly time commitment. This will introduce you to activists and inform you about protests and public meetings you can attend.

If you have the time in your week and the physical ability, which I acknowledge many people don’t, you can also join some sort of volunteer group looking after a nature reserve or tending a community garden (which might also give you access to free or discounted food). Learning to forage is also a good skill as that really is free food!

Depending on where you are, a green electricity tariff *can* also be less expensive. If this is the case and you have control over your provider, it’s worth switching to it. Buying books and clothes secondhand will also be better for the environment and your bank balance. Teaching yourself about the climate and the natural world with podcasts, YouTube, online free articles and other resources is also free and the knowledge will help you keep solarpunk at the front of your mind. Read good news stories online whenever you can, to remind you that good things are happening already.

If you’re employed, you can also try to influence green policy at your workplace or in your trade union. If you’re at school or university, joining (or setting up!) the environmental society and/or lobbying for change at the SU are both good ideas and shouldn’t necessarily cost you anything. If you can - and I know this is inaccessible for a big swathe of the population - put a very small amount of money aside whenever possible, because the more you save the more you can afford to buy better products, donate to causes, help out the needy in your community, travel in a greener way, and other more expensive choices. It’s all about that dual power.

Hope this helps get you started!

[anim-ttrpgs]

All TTRPGs are "Narrative-Focused."

I feel like I have got to remind TTRPG players (and even worse, remind TTRPG designers) that “story” and “narrative” are happening the entire time they’re playing no matter what.

There is no such thing as "Roleplay vs Rollplay," it's always roleplay and it's always narrative, whether you are rolling the dice or not.

“Crunch” and "combat' is not “when there’s no story or narrative just a bunch of boring numbers” and “fluff” is not “the time that the boring numbers step aside and let there be an actual narrative.”

“Crunch” is when the rules and/or the dice influence the story or narrative in some way, and “fluff” is when a player (including the game master) has to come up with a part of the story or narrative without any mechanical scaffolding supporting its emergence.

This isn’t a factor of just combat, but combat tends to be what people say this about the most. It’s not “combat vs roleplay”, or "roleplay vs rollplay", combat is roleplay, combat is part of the story.

There is no-such thing as a "more narratively focused TTRPG", all TTRPGs are equally narrative-focused, you just might not be recognizing the narrative because it isn't the narrative you're trying to tell. Even combat-focused games like D&D5e are telling a narrative story, it's just a narrative story about larger-than-life heroes who get into lots and lots of fights. All of those crunchy numbers on the character sheet are "roleplay mechanics." The Fighter's role is to engage the enemy head-on, the Rogue's role is to sneak around an attack the enemy from behind. That is their role in battle and that is their role in the story, because the story is about a group of battling battlers and the battles they battle. What a character is good at and what they are bad at is part of their characterization, and their characterization is part of the narrative. You're playing a game that is meant to tell the same type of story as a Marvel movie.

In fact if you’re playing a game like any edition of D&D, that is based around combat, then combat is actually the most important part of the story, because that is the time that a protagonist can fail in their goals and/or die.

If you’re playing an RPG, and you’re finding that the rules and dice are constantly getting in the way of the story you’re trying to tell—well first of all let me remind you that TTRPG stories are supposed to be emergent, if the DM keeps faking dice rolls to keep the story "on track", you aren't really telling an emergent story—and secondly then that is a glaring sign that you are playing the game wrong, and you are playing the wrong game. And when you search for the right game, you don’t necessarily need a system with less rules, you could be very happy with a system with a lot of rules as long as you play a system with rules that support the kind of narrative you’re trying to tell.

I've said it in another post before, that for TTRPGs, rules are like wind, and the narrative is like a sailboat. You might be having to push your boat up-wind, and feel frustrated with all the wind pushing back against you as you try to make a combat-focused game like any edition of D&D be all about characters calmly working out their differences. You might think then that you need less rules/less wind, and that crunch, dice-rolling, and/or combat are the opposite of storytelling and roleplaying, but it isn't. You need to find some wind/rules that are blowing in the direction you want the story to go. You need to find a different game. No, you really can't just homebrew combat out of the game.

If you don't like combat, you need to find an RPG that isn't focused on combat. If you do like combat, well, still find a different game than D&D5e becuase its combat is pretty bad compared to like every other edition of D&D and every other combat-focused fantasy RPG. If you don't like D&D5e combat you might even find that you really enjoy some other game's combat if you give it a shot.

Here is a post about escaping from WotC, D&D5e, and the legitimately harmful effects it has. It also has a great many more resources for that than this post does.

I'm listing one resource here because it's my post. The A.N.I.M. TTRPG Book Club can a good starting point for where to find a game that better suits your needs. It’s a discord server that treats playing TTRPGs like a book club, with the goal of introducing members to a wide variety of games other than D&D5e. RPGs are nominated by members, then we hold a vote to decide what to read and play for a short campaign, then we repeat. There is no financial, time, or schedule investment required to join this book club, I promise it is very schedule-friendly, because we assign people to different groups based of schedule compatibility. You don’t have to play each campaign, or any campaign, you can just read along and participate in discussion that way. And if you can’t afford to buy the rulebook we’re going to be reading, we will make sure you get a PDF of it for free. That is how committed we are to getting non-D&D5e RPGs into people’s hands. Here is an invite link.

if you want to support me and my team specifically Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy, our debut TTRPG, is going to launch on Kickstarter on April 10th and we need all the help we can get. Set a reminder from the Kickstarter page through this link.

If you’re interested in a more updated and improved version of Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy than the free demo you got from our website, there’s plenty of ways to get one!

Subscribe to our Patreon where we frequently roll our new updates for the prerelease version!

Donate to our ko-fi and send us an email with proof that you did, and we’ll email you back with the full Eureka prerelease package with the most updated version at the time of responding! (The email address can be found if you scroll down to the bottom of our website.)

We also have merchanise.

[changbinsboobs]

haii can you do skz ideal types? like physique and personality. thank youu

Hi:) since i want to do those readings properly im gonna do them one by one and since i already have some for individual members i'll use this ask to start with chan:)

So, i originally started doing an Ideal Type reading but it got hijacked😅 so i guess im reading on his current energy. I'll try to still add something about his ideal type if i manage getting past the bitter energy but i think ill have to redo it some other time since i believe his opinion would be very influenced by his current feelings right now.

Take it with a grain of salt!!!

Chan's current energy / Ideal Typ

For his physical type i got pretty weird cards ngl, 3 of them are the tower, 5 of cups and 5 of wands, the 4th one's queen of pentacles. Tbh i didn't really get any hints about anything physical. He seems angry and bitter.

I think this reading is gonna be hijacked by something else he wants to talk about. I sense he has had a bitter experience thats still fresh in his mind, i think he got dumped tbh!

Like im seeing a situation with lots of bickering. Ogmg ok wait i have so much to say about it this situation has so many layers!

He feels like he lost something great and regrets his stupid actions.

At the same time tho he thinks its that persons fault and if they were better he wouldn't have acted in a way that would get him dumped.

But then again he feels like he's at fault and regrets it a lot.

But he's also so angry cuz they kept having fights, and she kept exhausting him and he kept not being enough. He feels horrible when he's not enough! He doesn't want to feel like that. He wants to live up to her expectations, to peoples expectations. But he just couldn't in this situation with that person.

It seems like he actually got himself a high quality girl - the he couldn't keep obviously. And he's in so much distress with all his conflicting feelings and thoughts. Im sry but im getting a bit angry at him here🙄 its that male stupidity with lack of accountability whatsoever! You cant expect to give the bare minimum, to be an excuse of a "man" and except to get all the perks real man and masculinity gets you! Deal with the consequences bro🙄 -> not necessarily meaning him, im just seeing the picture from his view, so idk how "horrible" he actually was, i was rather talking about the general population of useless men that just have the audacity to expect the best when they themselves aren't worthy of it and then get mad when they can't keep it.

Anyways back to chan - im also getting mommy's boy vibes here omg its getting worse😩😭 i feel like with this situation he's like "forget her bro, she's not worth it. Your mom used to cook and clean, and take care of 3 children and do everything by herself and she didn't whine and was always so giving. I want a woman like that! This girl wasn't lie my mother - she's not worth it, get over her and stop feeling guilty." Don't take that monologue word for word i was rather training to paint the feeling behind his thoughts.

So yeah we have that...tbh i didn't expect him to have a reaction like that like with the comparison to his mom. The rest i expected, but this? Damn🥲

Also this whole situation seems very dramatic, but what I've noticed in the male population overall is that they tend to blow things way put of proportion, and so knowing chan and his tendencies for a victim-complex, pick me, delulu and stuff - im pretty sure this situation might've been not dramatic at all. Just 2-3 little discussions (not full blown arguments and fights as he depicts it) or even just opposing opinions, where he just felt attacked in some way just by her disagreeing or something...and then after a few dates or weeks of dating she politely told him she doesn't want to see him anymore cuz they don't see compatiable and he broke down.

Again idk how things are for real cuz i haven read the other girls energy nor have i read just the energy itself, im just reading HIS energy and perception, but it feels really needy and excagerated so thats whats leading me to believe that it might not be nearly as bad.

So i managed to get some cards on his ideal types personality only and i got those: 3 of cups, 6 of pentacles, page of cups & king of wands.

His types a younger, more innocent and inexperienced girl he can take care of and teach and lead.

She likes a girl that's social but shy. Someone he can take with when meeting his friends and show of. But as i said - social enough for him to be able to do that - but but also shy so he stays sure that theres no risk of her "going wild" (goddamn bro u forreal?🫠)

Im actually getting something about physical appearance - slender, middle hight, like just a bit shorter than him, prefferably forreign with lighter skin and ginger or light brown or dark blonde hair. Im also seeing big head? Like yk this type of body with very slender narrow shoulders, long lanky arms and legs, but a bigger head where it also seems disproportionate to the body? Its so specific i almost think thats what his last girl looked like.

And he also wants a girl thats submissive and will see up to him and make him feel like a boss or a king or a ...daddy (🤢 im sry i just cant hold in the cringe)

In conclusion - i think this ideal type i got from the cards isn't his true ideal type but rather something that came out of spite. Like if i had to guess he's describing the girl he lost, but without her empowering qualities so that he doesn't get hurt.

Judging on the energy of this reading and previous ones ive done i think he has had a think for strong dominant women because he's fascinated with inner strength and power and always wanted to conquer a woman like that because in his head it meant he has that amount of power and strength the said woman had and even more - since he has managed to tame and conquer her. Now that he's tried tho he got met with the cold reality and got a slap in the face realizing he might not be fit for the task just yet and is just sour about it😃

As weird and unexpected this reading was i really enjoyed it cuz it was really shocking to me actually and even gave me a bit of a slap in the face, reminding me how he's just a man...and that he apparently does stupid things like any other guy too.

[sixthwater]

Energy of the Fourth House

When discussing the placements within this post, I’ll be talking about the energy within the home and not what your childhood was like. The dominant personalities that your parents might have had  and the morals that they wanted to teach you. The lessons that have lived subtly within you as you grew up, ones that you might fall back on without realizing when the world gets to be too much. The fourth house speaks more to how your home felt, the energy it gave off, and how your parents presented itself. Your IC will be more reflective of what you experienced or how you were as a kid.

Aries: Active and Independent household (surprise surprise). Those growing up with these elements are usually surrounded by those who want to integrate some sort of outdoor activity in their family time or were encouraged to try out for an extracurricular activity at some point in their adolescence. Things weren’t usually slow in the house and people were usually coming and going; whether that’s just movement within the home or people literally headed in and out to run errands or have fun. The other aspect of this sign is a tendency to flex a ‘selfish’ mindset. The guardians tend to disregard or not immediately listen to what others in the household crave or need for themselves. It’s not always on purpose or it’s from a wounded childhood themselves, but there is a quality of guardians prioritizing activities or things they prefer and assuming others want it as well without realizing. It can play out as them encouraging their child to try out for activities because they believe it’s best, passing judgment on social groups, choosing room styles, etc. Aries energy can be excitable and an initiator, so it tends to be very blunt and doesn’t overthink too much. It expects the other party to speak up, so when it doesn’t it assumes everything is okay. This is where it leads to the opposing Libra energy later on. It also, indirectly, can sometimes help the child stand up for themselves or get them to eventually speak up or become more vocal about things that they want for themselves. It leads to the balancing act within Libra as the overwhelming energy might lead one to be too explosive after suppressing for so long, but that’s another long conversation. With time, if the native can look back and learn to balance their experiences, they will become someone who knows when to listen to others but also speak up when feeling overlooked.

Taurus: When you have Taurus coloring your fourth house, it will absolutely lead to security. However, it will be more of a physical feeling of security and sometimes it won’t necessarily go beyond that. As a family unit, the goal will always be to make sure that everyone is cared for and has a roof over their head. There’s food on the table, clothes on their back, that they’re provided for no matter what. Even when things get difficult, the providers will ensure that those who need to be taken care of get their needs met first. This also tends to make the home and the family look put together during big events or get-togethers. Big ‘get dressed we’re having people over’ syndrome here. On its ‘days off’, there is a relaxed energy surrounding the family and home; it can seem somewhat messy at times or not care as much if the children make a mess playing games. they are either turned on to seem very put together or turned off and natural. The issue here is the influence of Venus and Earth. There is a desire to be among those that are ‘of the elite’, but they don’t ‘try too hard’ to have that lifestyle. It can cause some stress within the family as there’s an unmentioned desire to always be presentable during the right time, but if someone screws it up there is some tension for the next day or so since their reputation can get smudged. The emotional care can also be muted. The guardians won’t necessarily shy away from love, but it won’t be that ‘all encompassing’ love that people associate with families. It can range from long talks that don’t necessarily touch on the actual issue or short ones that end with “well I’m here if you need me you know that” due to awkwardness. Regardless, there is a legitimate and loyal love to be found with this sign, it is the sister sign of Scorpio after all.

Gemini: This home will be very active mentally. The parents will either be very knowledgeable of the family tree and it’s heritage, or there won’t be a trace of it. While they won’t be very proactive, they will also encourage and support the native in all their academic endeavors; traditional or not. The home can seem calm or soothing, but something is always happening. They may celebrate holidays as a way to spend time together, or there just may be many antics within the home. There is just a light-hearted energy flowing throughout the house, but not necessarily an emotional one. Everyone is on the go and they interact, but it’s not necessarily deep. Family members may interact with each other on a daily basis, but they may not know each other’s favorite foods or personal fears even after decades. There is also a possibility for there to be age gaps between siblings, which adds onto the somewhat distant relationship within the home and imbalance between how the parents relate to each child. The native with this sign may end up being the youngest, and sees the home as their own playground; usually metaphorically but it may also be literally. They are more prone to having a somewhat disconnected relationship to their family, and there is an emphasis on questioning many things in general growing up (and they may grow frustrated if there is no answer or they can tell they’re being denied). The guardians themselves can come off as being checked out and very lax. They will always be willing to teach their child informal knowledge like secret recipes, life hacks, silly tricks, etc. Due to the native naturally being inquisitive and dabbling in many things, the parents won’t worry too much about their studies but they will be disappointed if they fail or get a severe punishment from the school. At it’s best, this is an informal, hands off household. At it’s worst it can end up being turbulent for the native.

Cancer: The fourth house is able to shine here, which can be good and bad. The native will experience a very loving and nurturing home. The natives will more than likely experience that of a stereotypical home, what writers first think of when they reference the white picket fence and someone who came from a stabilized childhood. The home will be stuffed with mementos or scrapbooks; the parents will have a bad habit of keeping anything that represents a landmark or loving memory for members of the family well beyond their expiration date. They will be sensitive people; often in-tune with their children and more than likely keep up to date with their interests and current events to the best of their abilities. There is a high chance of having family recipes or emphasis on quality times with this sign coloring your fourth house. The issue is that sometimes these actions can become smothering or possibly cross boundaries for the native. Due to the tight-knit bond that is created, the guardians can become hurt or confused if their child does not tell them everything, which is bound to happen at times. They struggle to completely hide their hurt or sentimentality over changes within the home, but they do their best to adjust to small things like their kids no longer participating in family events, hanging out with friends more, rebelling more, etc. The guardians will not notice if they’re ‘embarrassing’ their child, since their main worry is losing connection with their children. Those who are not well adjusted will have a tendency to lean on their children instead of giving them a place to always come back to for shelter. They see their children as their safe haven instead since this wound has not been healed within themselves yet, and as the native tries to fight back or distance themselves, the guardian might see it as them being ungrateful. They need to heal wounds before this house can shine in the way that it should. Parents who are balanced will always be able to provide a safe and warm home for the native to run back to if they need it, but they will not force it upon them.

Leo: This one will be answered differently since it’s not as stereotypical beneath the surface. It’s split between the guardians behaving like children themselves and avoiding responsibility, or they can be involved in creative endeavors themselves, thus introducing and surrounding the native to the creative field at an early age. A smaller branch is that the native will showcase their natural talents from an early age, and will either have those talents encouraged or seen as an annoyance from the parents. One thing for sure, is that no matter what artistic and honest expression will find their way to the native. The world will find a way to make sure the native is able to express their inner child or is able to get their talents out into the world. They will find a way to protect and nurture what is pure within the soul of a Native with Leo covering the Fourth House when it comes to their inner child. Real world examples would be Danny Trejo; having a childhood that most people would write off as someone who is unfortunate and taken by the streets thus it was too late for him, but has the big name that he has now and, fitting the theme, made the series Spy Kids – causing him to be loved by children. On the opposite end we then have Miley Cyrus, which I shouldn’t have to explain but her relatives are nearly all musicians: Billy Ray Cyrus and technically Dolly Parton, and of course her siblings were involved in the Disney scene so they ended up being musicians between that or having a gift for singing themselves. Miley was usually with her father on his tours if I recall, and her mother Tish managed her during her Disney years. So this is one of the ways Leo can play out over your fourth. It is either all encompassing or the guardians will end up being a bit immature; wanting to live their dreams through their children and not stepping up to the plate of parenthood. Even if their home environment is not secure, the natives will always be guided to a community or friends where they can express themselves sincerely, or simply to the right place at the right time. Whether it’s the native’s subconscious innocence or sheer will, it is impossible to fully extinguish the sun, especially when they’re young.

Virgo: The cerebral energy turns a bit more stable and serious with Virgo over the fourth. The home will look polished, but not over the top. They will have the necessities and anything more will be seen as a treat to celebrate big events or achievements. The main energy is that what happens in the home is consistent and reliable. The parents make sure there isn’t much chaos or upheaval within the household so the children aren’t upset or distracted by what goes on. There is dedication to the house and they make sure that either party has their life balanced so it doesn’t disturb everyone else, and any issues are dealt with behind the scenes. Importance is also placed on formal education. There is a high chance that the parents will do their best to get their kid into the best school that they can, or they will be very involved in their academics and extracurriculars. The success rate of this depends on the native; the household may be stable, but the household may end up being very stale or boring in the eyes of the native as a child. There isn’t much external stimulation, so the native may either go through the motions and be a dutiful student, or they may completely ignore their studies to dive fully into a passion that excites them. The parents will not be very vocal with their expectations but the native will catch on quickly what behavior is acceptable and what isn’t. While every placement is capable of creativity, this is a sleeper agent of incredible artistic ability. It is usually covered up by the practical energy the native is first introduced to and it takes some time for them to find it, and usually the native is quite critical of themselves. There’s also a decision on what to focus on and struggle to balance both academics as well as their passion, but with time the native will be able to shine in both areas.

Libra: Reminiscent of a Taurus fourth house, but the focus is shifted elsewhere. It is all about presentation with this house – in more ways than one. The house will more than likely be presentable or everyone knows to pick up behind themselves and to not make large messes. Manners are taught and enforced at an early age, but the guardians will not be overly aggressive. They will usually try to be fair with punishments and encourage communication. This extends to the community around you as well, so the relationship or ‘care’ can feel a bit empty at times since it’s stretched so thin. Emphasis on being connected with those around them and building relationships is very important with this house. As a kid, you probably saw your parents interacting with your neighbors a lot, or possibly engaging with your school activities if they needed help. Generally, the guardians will try to be involved in their kid’s lives as well as the community – sometimes it can become unbalanced, sometimes it’s too much, but it’s out of love). However, they still worry about presentation and how others perceive their family. They might get on their kids about how they dress or their speech, to an annoying degree. Ironically, this isn’t the main source of tension, it’s the slightly detached energy in the home. There is love, support, and fun within the home, but at the same time, deep talks, connection, or bonds don’t have anywhere to really grow. None of this really causes a problem until something needs to be discussed and the person wonders when or if there’s ever a right time for it. Discussions will attempt to go deep, but they will always be open and try to be fair about the topic – attempting to give helpful solutions while being understanding of how the person is feeling. The issue is getting past the first step of pointing out the elephants in the room.

Scorpio: The natives with this fourth house can experience a protective childhood. Not in the stereotypical sense, but the native’s experiences will be controlled in a way. Their guardians will let them have fun, take risks even, but under their control and watchful eye. Think about it as if Saturn is overseeing them. If the guardian doesn’t believe their child will be safe or can handle events at a certain age, then they’ll be denied until the time is right. There will be times that they’ll let their child go out and explore the world in their eyes, but in reality stepping stones and barriers are still in place. AKA, their child can be quickly protected at a moment’s notice either by them or a relative that is within reach, or they’ve already made rough plans for their child’s success. There can also be an air of deep connection or bonding within the family home. They want to know or understand their child and can possibly be hurt if this is interrupted or doesn’t go as planned. They don’t really place emphasis on what the home looks like, but there will probably be family dinners or game nights – something that will give space for conversation or a feeling of safety or openness between family members. There is a chance that if the bond is not as deep as the guardian craves, they can react negatively depending on how mature the person is. Regardless of if it’s out of love, the parent can either become overbearing or slightly distant or cold as a means to cope with what didn’t go ‘according to plan’. However, there is always a sense of connection and relativity. The guardian will always feel the need to be there for their family despite what is presented on the surface.

Sagittarius: Natives with this fourth house will usually hear things like ‘moving around a lot, street or life knowledge over book knowledge’ etcetc, which is true! There’s more to it though. There is a high chance that the guardians will have a career that requires them to be away from home most of the time, or to travel constantly. If not, there is a chance that the family will move around a lot either to follow different career or school opportunities. They do not want to be constrained by the idea of meeting a goal and stopping there, they want to see what life has to offer and aren’t afraid to go after it. On the other hand, some parents aren’t too keen on the constant adjustments, but it’s expected of them. This leads to the family building a strong and close bond with each other, and not worrying too much about external bonds. The desire will be there, but they are used to being on the move and short lived friendships or connections. So relying on the family becomes a theme. This might also lead some natives to yearn for a stable adulthood even if they enjoyed the constant movement as a child. The guardians won’t enforce strict household rules, but they will want their children to uphold strong morals or stick by a certain ethical code. This, along with the slight loose hand of the parents, will lead to the native learning more about the ways of life as opposed to book knowledge. Their upbringing can bring attention to them, positive or negative, but it also means that they interact with a larger walk of life. This quality can give a weird blend of knowing your parent is your guardian while they also feel like a best friend, making lines a bit blurry and having the chance to either feel like there was no structure within the home or you ended up having to parent yourself at times.

Capricorn: Natives with this energy over the fourth usually experience a ‘tense’ household. By that, I mean that all things associated with domesticity are muted or subtle. Guardians will usually focus on raising the native responsibly or instilling strong morals, but can sometimes forget to bring the emotional aspect into the mix. The parents will believe in their children to an extreme degree, which can put stress on the child to feel like even a B can be seen as a failure. The issue is usually that the parents communicate or deal with issues in such a serious manner that, when young, the native cannot differentiate when their parents are truly disappointed in them and when they’re not. Affection will usually be shown by example as opposed to verbally. There can be instances where the Guardian is more focused on work, but it can also play out with them pushing the native to be perfect due to their belief in them. A double-edged sword basically. There will be a lot of rules implemented or the native will usually attend a private, charter, all girls/boys or high profile school. The parents want nothing but the best for their child, but tend to go overboard and end up dropping a lot of pressure and giving their children forms of performance anxiety by accident. Due to pressures or how strict the household is, the native will learn how to sneak around their guardians at an early age. If you know someone with a Capricorn fourth house, there is a high chance they know various tricks and have snuck out of the house more times than they can count. They may not be rebellious by nature, but the restrictions that are placed on them give the native a chance to get creative which may help them later on in life.

Aquarius: The natives who will end up maturing themselves without realizing. When you have Aquarius sitting in the fourth house, there will always be a quality that makes you stand out from those around you. You could either be a foreigner, your traditions are unique, the familial roles within your home aren’t the standard, etc. It can relate to Sagittarius in a way, except where people will either be enamored or flock to Sagittarius, they will point or stare at Aquarius. The way the home operates does not disturb the native necessarily, since they were raised within it and grow used to it over time. This can also manifest in smaller ways such as one guardian working night/erratic shifts, not celebrating holidays, different displays of affection, etc. Regardless, the native will soon become aware of how different they are to their classmates. The native will react in two ways: to avoid attention and keep their head down, or not be bothered and simply normalize their lives as much as they can, answering any questions that come their way. Despite the assumptions, the home can be very receptive and loving. It takes on the Aquarian qualities quite literally; the guardians will be a bit hands off but their love will be felt in other ways. You have to find it in other ways. Due to this combination, the native will subconsciously mature quickly. They will more often than not need to have their own special cove for themselves since they are prone to feeling out of place and out of body within themselves until their middle or late teens.

Pisces: Those having Pisces over their fourth house might have a loose grasp of their childhood memories. There’s a very caring and soft energy to be felt for natives that have this sign here. There’s a possibility that they could have been coddled in their younger years in some way as well. Caretakers will view the native as someone who is very sensitive or they will have their own made up perception of them. So the native might be someone who isn’t excitable but still sociable, however that will be twisted into being shy or closed off when described by their guardian. For those who are sensitive, the side effect of them being sheltered is very high. If the native doesn’t go out of their way to experience life themselves, breaking free of their parent’s grasp will happen later in life. This doesn’t create much conflict outwardly as it does internally; the family will seem very mellow and loving, wanting what’s best for the child. However, the child will also not place too much importance on what they might want since they also tend to be adaptable, not very fussy, and care about their guardian’s happiness. Due to this misunderstanding, the guardian’s can sometimes push their will onto the native — which usually is never ill-intentioned. This is what causes the rose-colored glasses view of their childhood. There are memories that they might throw away or emotions they could suppress whenever revisiting their childhood. They could be well aware of the difficult circumstances of their past but still wash over them with a ‘it wasn’t so bad’ smile. There is a martyrdom that comes with Pisces where if their family is happy, then they’re happy. These kinks will be worked out at some point in their later teenage or adult years when they can no longer outrun the beast.

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[enduringmoth]

thoughts on marvin's abuse, care's existence and paul's transness

taking a break from my usual bg3 posting to talk a little bit about my newer hyperfixation through the lens of queer allegory

necessary author's note: i am an afab transmasculine nonbinary person. obviously, while i do believe my transness does lend my opinion authenticity, at the same time, being trans myself does not mean i can't be transphobic -- so if any of the contents of this post set off alarm bells, please tell me.

trigger & content warnings: child abuse, kidnapping, torture, general petscop badness. obvious spoilers for petscop in its entirety, as well as references to the recent youtube deepdive by nexpo.

TL;DR -- perpetuating the idea that someone can force someone else to be a different gender than they are is harmful to trans people. however, all things involve considerable nuance. to pretend that marvin's actions could not have influenced paul's sense of self in the slightest discredits paul's lived experiences, and i believe a more trauma-informed dialogue about paul could be worth exploring as a community.

my preferred theory explaining petscop is that marvin tried to make care more like lina through abuse and "failed". after this, care would eventually end up in lina's home, and transition to paul.

(simply to make all of this less confusing, i'm going to call paul pretransition "care", though i will avoid pronouns. this is not me trying to invalidate paul, it's just so i don't have to keep saying "paul before he transitioned" or similar phrases.)

it is not a result of marvin's "failure" that care transitioned to paul. but i do believe there is a link between paul's perceptions of self and the trauma he endured pretransition -- and discussing these things gives us a deeper understanding of paul and his history.

obviously there is no "canon" answer to petscop. but im seeing this theory discussed a lot within the tags, and i personally agree with it -- i just feel some of those who are saying we cannot consider marvin's actions are not necessarily accurate, either.

what i am positing is that while marvin certainly did not make paul trans and i would never claim that he did, we understand that marvin's abuse of care -- his cruelty towards care, his warping of care's perception of appearance and self-worth -- is certainly a factor in how paul must see himself.

marvin's treatment of care was poor enough that paul struggles to recall that time of his life. he thinks they are different people -- and in a way, they certainly are (and i've seen DID theories for them which i also enjoy because of this) -- and has clearly repressed what it meant to be marvin's child.

marvin locked care in a basement for six months. that is no small amount of time, and it likely had no small amount of affect on paul. we can assume based on the implications of some school scenes that marvin was trying to convince care to be more like lina during this time. care escaped, and returned home -- though eventually, we know from belle's dialogue that paul would find his way to lina.

"do you remember the day you were born?"

paul's "birth" occurred after marvin's abuse, and though it was not a result of it, there is something almost poetic about following the thread of paul's life from care to his authentic self that plays as a foil to the heinous rebirthing practiced by marvin and rainer.

contrasted with what happened to belle (and seemingly others), paul chose (a form of) rebirth -- transition. marvin tried to make lina be reborn through care. instead, care resisted -- and he would eventually become paul, and that strikes me as so narratively compelling. it's not to spite marvin and please don't think i'm saying that, as care was naturally always paul -- it is simply self-discovery at its most raw and beautiful, and i love it.

the above is why i love petscop as a queer allegory. taking ownership of one's future and selfhood, even when others are trying to tell you who to be.

and that's why i think saying marvin made his afab child transition in rejection of martin's quest for lina -- or that marvin tried to make his amab child transition to care/lina, as nexpo posited -- is so wrong, and harmful.

yet, paul's trauma is real. it happened. and it's a part of him that should be able to be discussed for what it is.

as someone with extensive trauma history, i can tell you that my gender expression and personal identity are in some way connected to pieces of trauma, because those pieces are part of me. i am not trans because of my trauma, but my gender and my trauma are parts of me at the same time -- i am not each of my pieces, but a sum of my whole.

the point i'm trying to make here is that while i think nexpo genuinely missed the mark here with this whole "care never existed, marvin tried to make paul a girl" thing, i do think there needs to be room for a trauma-informed discussion around paul.

i hope that all made sense. if any of this is harmful/transphobic, please let me know. i genuinely love this game and i think it's so fascinating to discuss. /gen

[seafoamreadings]

week of february 4th, 2024

these are written predominantly for the *rising* signs but they are also intuitively "channeled" enough that they should work for any dominant energy you have! (try your sun if you don't know rising, or more advanced readers can try moon, anywhere you have a stellium, etc and see what works best for you!)

aries: if you've been hoping to boost your reputation, public image, career status, or social networking situation, this week is the week for it. you have mars action, 10th house action, and aquarian `11th house action all on your side. update your CV or whatever you need to do!

taurus: aquarian vibes tend to not be ones that come to you most naturally, but uranus in your sign for years has likely made you a little more comfortable with such genius/eccentric humanitarianism. this week is hyper-aquarian, so really lean into that developing side of yourself.

gemini: your ruling planet mercury flits into aquarius and promptly conjoins pluto. you'll need to get used to this occurring about once a year now for the next decade; it is odin-like psychopompic vibe. the huginn and muninn side of mercury and the ferryman. you now live in the liminal spaces in between here and the underworld.

cancerians: overall it's a great time to be a crab-sign! possible caveat: be careful with your money, taxes, investments, and any other shared resources. this is the shift in focus due to pluto changing sign. meanwhile, this week and actually for the next couple months, capricorn hosts ceres. this is a comfortable vibe for you in partnership, as long as your needs are well met.

leo: it's like everyone just hangs out in your 7th house now, as mercury makes its ingress into aquarius. this does affect your relationships in ways you haven't likely seen in ages. talk things out rather than rehearsing madeup scenarios in your head.

virgo: this week is astrologically busy so your entire chart likely teems with activity but something to consider especially is that both of your ruling planets (ceres and mercury) ingress into new signs this week. ceres heads for capricorn, so nurture your funloving side and don't get too bogged down in productivity or responsibility. mercury moves into aquarius, conjoining pluto at the beginning of the week, so you can effectively overhaul your daily routines or any diet plan or similar situation you have going on. make sure it works FOR you and you're not just dragging yourself along!

libra: while pluto into aquarius may not have necessarily been your idea of a fun time, now that other planets pile into that sign and there is a new moon there, you can really milk the fun parts of that house. no use sitting around feeling sorry for yourself, do something, anything, that lights you up a little bit. or a lot!

scorpio: you can set new moon intentions this week around your home, family of origin, or ancestral lineage for really good results. meanwhile capricorn and your 3rd house are busy so if you have letters to write, texts to send, or ads to post, this is the time to do it and if not, a journal can be really useful!

sagittarius: money and trade are a focus for you this week. there may be some challenges in this regard, but nothing you can't overcome with some effort. if you have writing or communication projects to work on, the new moon gives them a little shove in a good direction.

capricorn: people act like money is always a major focus for your sign and truly it can be. this week it goes double though due to capricorn+aquarius influences. building anything, literally or metaphorically, is also auspicious at this time.

aquarius: for some of you the vibe increases your life force and for others it can feel draining. it depends a lot on how you're handling pluto. getting used to it yet? mercury's arrival may help - some astrologers (but not all) consider it exalted in your sign. you also get a new moon this week, so you can do intentions and manifestations around your vital energy.

pisces: so much activity in your twelfth house can be emotionally stressful especially being that you are such a sensitive soul. try not to take any hardships that might occur personally, and whatever opportunities you have to be a miracle in someone else's life, take it.

[dearweirdme]

https://www.tumblr.com/dearweirdme/757802362042761216/httpswwwtumblrcomdearweirdme7577272183235706

Hey, I’m the one who sent you the ask the other day about taekook’s dynamic evolving. I did read your response aswell as some of the other anon asks responding to my ask and just wanted to say everything I said was from my point of view and not influenced by any other person’s thoughts. I was aware that my opinions were not going to be met with approvals because i know that tkkrs see things very differently but I just thought i’d share.

I decided to use my own life experiences because before I kinda got distant with my bestfriend, I also highly doubted the ITS talk because I couldn’t understand how they could claim taekook grew a little distant in such a short amount of time and the way we all still saw them physically affectionate and close to each other just didn’t make sense to me then but I understood how things like that could happen after what happened with my bestfriend. I am aware that sometimes too we project without realizing it but the difference between me now and the me I was before the whole thing with my bestfriend is that now, I understand that sometimes, you don’t have to have an argument or fight or issue with someone you are really close to for distance to creep in. Sometimes the distance creeps in because of circumstances not necessarily in our control like life events, physical distance from each other and stuff like that. People sometimes very naturally grow apart without having any issues with each other and that is what I meant. My bestfriend and I are nothing like we used to be before but we still love and care about each other so much and will be there for each other if needed. Sometimes it is impossible to understand certain things unless we personally experience them. I could be wrong but I just see now how things like that are possible and this is something I couldn’t see or understand before because I had never experienced it or knew anyone who had.

About Jk and Jimin’s living situations that I mentioned earlier, these are some pictures I found.

https://x.com/koongelic/status/1497134143192600577?s=46

https://x.com/koongelic/status/1496106980360208385?s=46

https://x.com/jjksonyeondan/status/1477296197178114049?s=46

Some of these pictures are taken in Nine one. You can compare to Namjoon and Jimin’s apartments. When you add these to the timeline of Jikook sharing a car right until mid 2021 when Jimin bought the apartment, plus Jimin mentioning that he was with Jk at 4am on his birthday back in 2020 and jikook arriving late for the radio interview back in 2020 when all the members were out of the dorm already, it makes sense. Namjoon also spoke to Jk about a coffee shop that was infront of “their” house during one of their lives and there is a coffee shop right infront of Nine one which people guessed he was talking about.

I think the members shared rides depend on how close they live to each other, for example, Yoonjin have shared a car for the longest time because they live 5 minutes from each other so I guess it is convinient for one car to pick up members who live close than sending individual cars. Minimoni have been sharing a car since mid 2021, taekook too have shared cars since they don’t live far from each other and back in 2019 when Jk first had his first apartment in Hobi’s apartment complex (which he has now given to his brother) he shared a car with Hobi for sometime too.

I feel like the ITS talk is forever going to be a very confusing topic for so many people and I can honestly see why some people would have doubts about it as I did too until I came to realize that human relationships and dynamics are very complex. Nothing is a one size fits all and as much as many people try to think they know everything, there is always some context or information we are missing which might put things more into perspective. I guess so many think that distance could only come with two people having fights or disagreements and that when this distance comes, there would always be noticeable physical distance as well but this isn’t always the case because sometimes we just outgrow certain people at certain points of our lives or just naturally grow apart from them maybe because we are on different wavelengths or just cannot relate to each other anymore as we used to. My bf and I got distant because we were both on very different wavelengths and in completely different spaces that we couldn’t relate to each other anymore. Does this mean we lost the love we had for each other, no but that emotional bonding which came from being able to completely relate to and understand each other just isn’t there as much. Maybe one day we would get back on the same frequency as I believe Taekook did and only get closer than ever. Same thing happens in romantic relationships too and even marriages when at certain points you just feel yourself getting so distant from your partner that it almost feels like you don’t really know each other anymore.

Anyways, just thought I should mention that I didn’t mean anything bad with my previous ask and just wanted to explain things further but we don’t have to agree on things because as I said, I could be wrong and also sometimes it is impossible for people to understand things if they haven’t personally experienced them. Thanks for being so nice in your response and I appreciate the concern❤️

Hi again!

I think the problem some have with this, is that while you say you are a newer fan, you also make it come across as though your ideas have not been influenced by others. As a newer fan (and I am also relatively new, nothing wrong with that) we do rely on certain influences from others. The points you used before to argue your case, come from a certain side of fandom.. and we can see that, because we've seen it before. Now to you, those might seem neutral takes, but they are not. When you say for instance "I remember..." while talking about something that happened in 2018.. you don't actually remember that time and what the vibe was like.. you remember watching the footage and the vibe you felt during that time. There is a difference there that should be acknowledged. When you talk about all the rides Jkk shared.. you most likely remember people (accounts, blogs) mentioning that, because you cannot have witnessed it yourself. And I don't mean to say that Jkk sharing rides wasn't true.. I mean to point out that you are biased (as am I ofcourse) and that Tkkrs who were around during 2016 have a different recollection of how the vibes were. From what it looks like to us is that you do not weigh Tkkrs opinions and accounts as heavily as you do accounts of other sides of fandom. Having multiple angles is important, but when we show reasons as to why we disagree.. all too often our ideas are just set aside as 'delusional' when the actual footage is literally just there.

I do understand what you mean when you talk about people drifting apart naturally without there having been actual issues. The thing with the ITS talk though, is that it's heavily implied that there was an issue that they had to work through. It's even said that things were almost back to how they used to be. It implies that a certain level of friendship should be met, which is weird. I think the ITS talk was something they used to make sense of why things looked weird before, and why they were about to change.

I think there is a lot that point to Tae and Jk still having been close on many different levels during 2016-2020 and beyond. A lot has to do with the looks of understanding they shared, but things like that are hard to point out with a single picture or vid. A few examples of what I feel speaks to their continuous closeness though:

2016:

2017:

Not an indication of closeness perse, but certainly one of attraction..

Borrowing this from Kayla (@taekooktimeline).

Jk rushing past people to walk next to Tae and holding his hand.

2018:

Yoongi's text to Tae and Jk and the way they all responded to that..

Tae himself saying that Jk listens to him when he's troubled and gives advice.

Jk wanting Tae to room with him in Malta and the way they sleep.

2019:

Besides the obvious closeness in the season greetings footage, this is quite something to say about someone.

This very confusing live in which it does become clear that at least Tae thought they were sharing a room. And during which it also seems Tae did not actually leave.

Also... a very strong year for physical closeness and magnetism.

Jk pointing at Tae.

2020:

As far as bodylanguage goes.. this cannot be more obvious. This is not two people being distant but still feeling close enough to cuddle. This is Jk being protective and comforting to Tae.

Overall, I think 2020 shows a care and connection between Tae and Jk that is undeniable. Jk's awareness of Tae and the way he was feeling is huge. The whole year leading up to the ITS talk shows moments of connection. Of them clinging to each other. It's absolutely possible that something felt off, because of the way Tae had been feeling... but that had nothing to do with their closeness I believe.

[physalian]

Evil MacGuffins (Or an excuse to gush about Lord of the Rings)

It’s kind of crazy how so much of Tolkien’s worldbuilding has defined fantasy. The default for Elves and Dwarves, fantasy kingdoms, character archetypes, themes, and motifs come from Tolkien’s works.

But you know what’s rarely ever redone in modern fantasy? The One Ring. Probably because works piggybacking off the success of their predecessors rarely understand the themes of what made the original so legendary *cough* teen dystopia *cough*.

So—the One Ring.

Addressing the infamous Eagles “plot hole” once again for any stragglers who still think *gotcha* for this masterpiece: 1) The Eagles were busy. 2) The Eagles are not subtle at all and this mission required absolute stealth, because the one place the One Ring can be destroyed is in Sauron’s house, thus the closer they get to destroying it, the closer Sauron gets to just reaching out and taking it. 3) There were 9 Nazgul and Fellbeasts in the way. 4) The Eagles are basically gods, second only to the actual gods of the world. This makes them deeply inadvisable to go anywhere near the One Ring.

Why? Yes the Ring gives you some random powers like invisibility and slower aging but its purpose is temptation and political power. As you can see in the movie’s prologue, all the Rings of Power were subservient to Sauron’s master ring, the One Ring, to bend to his will… to varying degrees of success.

The power of the One Ring is proportional to the power of its wielder, giving you social and political influence over all your followers. So if you’re, say, a king of men, and you become Sauron’s minion, you’re going to lead your kingdom to ruin doing his bidding whether you realize you’re doing it or not. If you have no political or social power, like, say a hobbit? The Ring doesn’t have much use for you and you, seeing no benefit to world domination, are more resistant to its beguiling.

All this to say: The story makes it very clear that Frodo has to be the ring-bearer because he’s impervious to the Ring’s wiles. Anyone more competent, like Aragorn or Legolas, or Gandalf, are more susceptible to its power. The more power you have, the more destruction you will wreak under the Ring’s influence, and everyone bends to the Ring’s will eventually, no matter how good your intentions.

Eagles are great. Evil Eagles would be very, very bad.

Gandalf is great. Evil Gandalf looks like Saruman, and we all saw how that went.

That is a built-in plot armor I never see in modern fiction—Why?

—

One of the many messages of LOTR is not “good always triumphs” but instead “evil always loses”. The difference being here that it’s not necessarily the Power of Friendship that defeats evil, it’s evil’s selfish and self-sabotaging nature that eats itself to its own demise.

Example: Neither Frodo nor Sam strike the killing blow on Gollum. Gollum falls fighting Frodo for the Ring and can't let go of it to save himself. The Power of Friendship saves Frodo, but it doesn't destroy the Ring.

The One Ring is a MacGuffin like no other in that it’s not just a cool inanimate and useless object that only holds meaning to the characters that want it—the Ring is its own character enticing all these people to lust after it and fall on their own swords doing so.

Obviously, if you find the enemy’s magic weapon in your possession, you’re going to want to use it against them, which is exactly Boromir’s argument. Any other story and you’d have a difficult time justifying why your characters wouldn’t seize this golden opportunity. In this story, by the weapon’s very nature, trying to use it is exactly what it, and its creator, wants.

The point of the Ring, and at least my interpretation of its meaning, is this: When you’re going up against the evil and corrupt, you cannot let yourself become corrupted trying to defeat it, or else the cycle will never be broken. Or, “Hate can­not dri­ve out hate; only love can do that.”

I almost wish we had seen it seriously tempt the more powerful characters—like seeing Aragorn forced to use it in an emergency the way Frodo does several times. See what it does to him and how hard it is to resist this beguiling weapon’s siren song.

“Evil weapon is super conveniently powerful and would solve all our problems but alas, it has some nasty side effects” has been done before, frequently in anime. Usually, though, that weapon isn’t the centerpiece of the story. It’s the edgy side-character’s Hail Mary when things have gone Very Wrong.

—

Most LOTR copycats focus on the cool species and the magical lands and the magic systems and a generically evil villain who wants world domination. Yes, Sauron is, by modern standards, pretty one-note. He wants to rule the world. Why? Because he’s Evil and Prideful. There’s nothing wrong with a pure-evil villain, they can be highly entertaining without angst dragging them down.

However, Pure Evil villains work best when either they’re incredibly charismatic, like Disney Renaissance villains, or they’re just the face of the metaphor. Ozai from ATLA does not need character development, Netflix. He may be the face of the Fire Nation, but it’s his regime and this one element’s unbalanced crusade for world domination that’s the “villain”.

Sauron isn’t even a giant, corporeal eye in the book. He’s just this disembodied entity represented by the eye in visions. His influence and how it motivates legions of orcs, humans, and anyone else tempted by power, is the “villain”.

The One Ring serves as his thematic proxy. It’s not just a magic ring, it’s a cosmic mousetrap waiting to spring on anyone proud enough to think they can overcome it.

And I just never see that in modern fantasy.

—

TLDR; There is no MacGuffin quite like the One Ring and no, the Eagles aren’t a lazy or forgotten deus ex machina. When you’re coming up with your heroes and villains in fantasy and sci-fi, consider something like the Ring as this double-edged sword that has everyone gunning for it either unknowing that it’s exactly what the villain wants, or too proud to think they can fall victim to it.

[paradoxicalrising]

More Astrology Observations :D

(reminder i’m not a professional and i do not do birth chart readings)

- Mars in Leo: congratulations! u win first place for “the most horny mars placement” i’ve met too many mars in leo people that literally just wanna smash, they didn’t care about the emotional undercurrents of being intimate, they just wanted that physical reassurance.

- cancer moon men literally want to be in a relationship with their mom. very oedipus coded. not in any obvious or actual way but like they look for people who have traits of their own mother. even if they don’t look up to her or necessarily like her, they will get romantically involved only if the person reminds them of their mom.

- jupiter and sun positively aspecting each other in synastry is the type of synergy where anything the jupiter person does, the sun person will laugh. they think the sun shines out of the jupiter persons ass fr. very much a laughable, jovial, light hearted placement to have with someone.

- aries moon: every aries moon i’ve met has been shy at first. like they have that notable firecracker, passionate aries energy but it’s definitely hidden at first. when they meet new people especially they are like completely quiet kinda just observing the other persons energy. i’ve also noticed aries moons have a specific hobby or thing they like focusing their energy on which is kinda like an emotional release.

- fire moon: people with their moon in the fire element need a physical release for their emotions in general. it could be doing research, crafting, working out, or playing music. whatever it is, it helps the fire moon person put that emotional energy into a physical form so they feel like it has a rightful place and it’s kinda like validation for experiencing that emotion.

- air moon: now air moons have been the ones to be the most extroverted in my opinion. maybe not full extrovert but it’s like it comes over them when they’re in a social setting with someone who is more shy than them so they have this obligation to help the other person socialize and talk. it’s very sweet. also special note, gemini moon will never not talk to a stranger so no matter what other placements are influencing them, they will always be extrovert or ambivert because that hunger to know more will not allow them to shut up.

- moon in the first house: please start studying the moon cycle, its phases and what they mean because you are quite literally already being influenced by the moon bc everyone is like 70% water bUT! in your case specifically, big events in your life are likely to align with the cycles of the moon since it’s in an angular house ruling over your physical body and presence.

- pisces moon: and their substance abuse struggles. i get it fr but like maybe slow downnnnnnn and try to take breaks every now and again. especially when it’s liquid, namely alcohol. i’ve met too many pisces moons that are like “it opens me up” or “it takes away the shyness” like yes but also maybe you just need to work on grounding yourself in reality more, let yourself feel your emotions, grow some self awareness. and maybe spend some time in a body of water like the ocean, a lake, even a pool or bath. you don’t need external substances to tell you who you are or to postpone the pain of feeling your emotions. i’ve found a lot of pisces moon people that grew up in families that conditioned them to push away their feelings, being strong for others, and basically playing a part instead of being themselves. you are allowed to be yourself and to express who you are !!!!!! don’t let your family keep you down

-venus in virgo: knowing exactly what you want and denying people bc they don’t fit the idea in your head. i can talk all day about the pisces/ virgo axis being in venus. virgo is a little unrealistic like a pisces bc they want their partner to be the perfect match whereas pisces needs to be more realistic bc their partner needs a job, a car, and maybe should move out of their parents house. sometimes i think virgo venus people are lucky if they finally work through their perfectionism, their relationships are truly admirable bc they are devoted partners and they find some of the most doting and service oriented lovers. but it’s especially difficult if ur gen z bc u likely have venus square pluto showing that the person goes through drastic transformation either through heartbreak or through a healthy relationship contradicting the way they were shown affection and love by others in childhood.

- venus square pluto: try to work through those control issues and attachment issues in order to find the love you desire. and be open to change, love will change you one way or the other.

[harmonic-melodii]

Writerly Questionnaire

Thanks, @davycoquette, It's time for me to drop some more lore about myself! My answers will most likely end up longwinded. And here's a link to the original post too for the questions if you'd like to fill them out yourself! Link

About You

When did you start writing?

I started writing around 2016, so when I was about 12 years old. I was already an avid reader and devoured every single book I came across. Back then my stories were much more fantastical, but the passion never died.

Are the genres/themes you enjoy reading different from the ones you write?

I will never write Historical Fiction despite it being one of my favorite genres to read. Books that delve into alternative history or simple romance stories that take place around historic events have always held a special place in my heart. Why will I never write in that genre? Because I'm not built for the research that goes into creating those settings.

I also enjoy the occasional romance novel, though I don't write romance-specific stories. The lightheartedness is a much-needed break from the gritty stories and concepts I write. At most I include romantic subplots in some things, but I don't like focusing on romance as a plot.

Is there an author (or just a fellow writer!) you want to emulate, or one to whom you’re often compared?

Not for my fantasy works. For sci-fi, I would like to emulate Ray Bradbury. I've always loved his books and short stories. And how he wrote about the human condition and its interactions with technology for better and worse. Though I cannot say I have written anything as profound yet.

As for poetry, I'm heavily inspired by many African-American poets like Langston Hughes and Maya Angelou. As a young black woman myself, I hold a lot of respect for similar artists in my discipline that came before me. And while my poems are inspired by my experiences and struggles with race, I believe they can bridge gaps of understanding.

Overall, I have never been compared to any authors.

Can you tell me a little about your writing space(s)? (Room, coffee shop, desk, etc.)

My writing spaces are as chaotic and fluid as me. Sometimes I will be sitting at my desk with a water bottle and typing on my computer. Other times I'll lie in bed at 2 am typing furiously into my notes app. Hell, I have a tiny spiral notebook that's a bunch of index cards with entire plots and character profiles. I write wherever and whenever I can.

What’s your most effective way to muster up some muse?

Music. I create countless playlists, some of which I'll share soon. I probably have over 70 total. Not all for my WIP or other characters that exist, but all of them are for writing in some form or another. Otherwise, I try to regularly consume new media. That is a lot harder because it takes so much energy for me to engage with new content, but when it works it works.

Did the place(s) you grew up in influence the people and places you write about?

Not necessarily. Very little of my inspiration comes from the beach town I grew up in. Rather I'm influenced by places where I've endured insane life trauma. Don't worry, there's no trauma dumping here. I want to write about those places because it allows me to visit them again safely and on my own terms.

As for people, yes a handful of my characters are inspired by people I've met. Some are not the best. But hey, it makes for decent inspiration.

Are there any recurring themes in your writing, and if so, do they surprise you at all?

I feel like I always gravitate towards writing about religion in some form or another. I was raised Christian myself and currently identify as Agonistic. I like deconstructing faith and what it means to believe in something greater than yourself. So it doesn't entirely surprise me that I circle back to religion in one way or another.

I also write a lot about family dynamics and the platonic love or lack thereof within those dynamics. And about the limits of love and what is considered "too much".

Your Characters

Me? Talking about the lesbians in my novel?? Yep!

Would you please tell me about your current favorite character? (Current WIP, past WIP, never used, etc.)

Hands down my favorite character in the cast is Aaliyah. She's the main protagonist. An optimistic college freshman, who has an intense thirst for knowledge. She was raised by her father, Ezra, all on his own. Ever since she could remember it's only been the two of them. She's funny, sweet, but very sheltered at the end of the day.

Which of your characters do you think you’d be friends with in real life?

I think I'd be decent friends with Graham. She's a guitarist in a rock band. A little rough around the edges, but I'd love to hear the music she plays.

Which of your characters would you dislike the most if you met them?

It'd probably be Ezra. He's a strict man and quite judgmental of people. If anything he'd dislike me first and I'd simply have to fire back on principle.

Tell me about the process of coming up with of one, all, or any of your characters.

In general, all of my characters start as an idea or concept. For example: Graham came to fruition because I thought it'd be funny for the man who oversees campus safety at this small college to have a rebellious daughter. Then slowly, I add more details about who she is as a person. I ask "why?" questions all of the time. Once I have a solid idea of who they are, I connect them to other characters. Sometimes relationships come before the solid idea and they help.

Do you notice any recurring themes/traits among your characters?

I write so many lgbtq+ and people of color. I genuinely don't think I have many cishet white characters. Because if they're not straight, then they're bisexual, lesbian, or asexual. I write a handful of trans people (Graham my darling beloved is trans). And I don't write a ton of white people because I enjoy writing things that represent me and my communities.

When it comes to this specific unnamed WIP the characters share themes of guilt, love, and rebellion. Which is what creates the perfect storm of the plot they find themselves in.

How do you picture them? (As real people you imagined, as models/actors who exist in real life, as imaginary artwork, as artwork you made or commissioned, anime style, etc.)

I use picrews to imagine what my characters look like. I don't draw and I prefer the blank canvas I get with avatar creators. It's very freeing.

Your Writing

What’s your reason for writing?

I write to share my thoughts and feelings. My opinions will be heard one way or another.

Is there a specific comment or type of comment you find particularly motivating coming from your readers?

Honestly, most comments are motivating enough. Just the idea that someone looked at my work and felt compelled to write something about it is enough for me.

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer?

Character building and writing tension. I feel both go hand in hand when you're writing scenes. The stronger the character the better potential for a tangible relationship between the two.

What have you been frequently told your greatest writing strength is by others?

Professors have complimented me on tension and character-building. I've been told I have the ability to really dig things out.

How do you feel about your own writing? (Answer in whatever way you interpret this question.)

It's fun and cool. Best hobby ever!

If you were the last person on earth and knew your writing would never be read by another human, would you still write?

Definitely. In fact, I'd probably write in obscure and weird places. Like I'd get paint and write lines of poetry on the street. Things like that. All of my writing doesn't need to be read, I just like getting it out of my head.

When you write, are you influenced by what others might enjoy reading, or do you write purely what you enjoy? If it’s a mix of the two, which holds the most influence?

As someone who has also written fanfiction, I don't care what other people enjoy. I write for myself first and foremost. Because for every single person who doesn't like my writing, I know there's at least a handful of people who love it. If I focused on what people enjoyed reading I simply wouldn't be writing my WIP novel.

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Tag list time !

@sodaliteskull @honeybewrites @cowboybrunch @writeblragenda

+ Open tag to anyone else who wants to participate!

[redroomroaving]

Writer Interview Tag

Ok, it took me 8 days to get here, but I’m finally responding to this lovely tag from @lemonsrosesandlavender I adored reading yours, it was so interesting!

I've tagged a few people in this post later on and would love any of them to join in and have a go at this if they'd like to share their own answers :).

Answers under the cut, because this got long - I touch on some personal stuff a bit here, so CW for chronic pain discussion.

When did you start writing?

I’ve been writing nonsense since I was a kid, largely - I have old notebooks from when I was very young I still keep full of little characters and story snippets I used to write mostly to entertain myself on long car journeys  - I had one particularly ridiculous sci-fi story written as a series of diary entries across 4 notebooks I started when I was like … I wanna say 10? Boy.

I attempted my first actual novel at about 16. Tried it again at 21. Tried it again at 26. I’m sat, still, on my first draft of something I actually could do something with that I started 10 years ago. Me and writing have had a bit of a journey, largely due to some workplace related trauma - but coming back to it after all this time has been a lot like coming home, really. I think I’ve always been, as my mother would put it; ‘away with the fairies’.

Are there different themes or genres you enjoy reading than what you write?

The honest answer is ‘probably not’. I rather enjoy non-fiction, but in terms of genres of fiction and themes within, I’d say I’m a very broad reader and outside of fic I’ve tried my hand at quite a lot of genres; I’ve dabbled in sci-fi and horror particularly, because that’s my happy zone.

Before joining the BG fandom my answer to this question would have been ‘Romance’, actually, because it was something I liked to read but didn’t necessarily feel brave enough to write; but truly, writing fic has pushed me right through my reticence to write romance of my own, and now it’s sort of all I write, I think!

Outside of that, I’m afraid I’m shamelessly drawn to the sorts of things I’d want to write.

Is there a writer you want to emulate or get compared to often?

I’ve not really been compared to anyone specifically; I’ve had a very flattering comparison of my themes in one particular story with Neil Gaiman - which is of course the kind of comparison anyone would be very happy to hear, but overall I’m not sure I’m prolific enough for that sort of thing ;).

I’m not sure who I’m trying to write like - if I’m trying to write like anyone - I like to think my prose style is reasonably my own but is almost inevitably really an amalgamation of all the people I’ve grown up reading and loving. 

Mostly, I’m a fan of the sort of magic realism/fantasy zone that doesn’t take itself too seriously, and a narrative voice that reflects that, and peppers it in around the characters own thoughts  - my bigger influences are probably in the Mervyn Peake, Warren Ellis, Pratchett, George Elliot, Peter S. Beagle sort of zone. 

To an extent, my interest in cinema and television is also a massive influence on how I write; I’ve spent most of my academic career working on breaking down scenes, the construction of frames - the threading of narratives on screen - and I don’t like to discount my favourite filmmakers and screenwriters as part of what I’m trying to achieve, too. 

Nothing should be in a scene without purpose - even if its superfluous presence is the purpose - and I keep that locked right to my heart. 

Can you tell me a bit about your writing space?

I don’t have a dedicated space particularly - my phone at 3am, by the coffee machine between meetings, the dining room table at times, my desk at other times - scribbled in the back of a notebook on the bus.

I’m a deeply disorganised person, and my creative process is much like my life; full of piles of laundry done in fits of productivity, half stacked and waiting to be put in their proper places; invariably, waiting forever.

What's your most effective way to muster up a muse?

I have no good answer for this either - writing, for me, is rather like possession. When it has seized me I’ll readily throw down thousands of words in a flurry, and when it’s gone, it is gone. There’s little in between.

If I can’t find it - it’s usually time to steep myself, and let things sit and soak into the bones for a while. Throw on a bit of music and let it turn around in my head without trying to force it out - a tactic that for me, at least, never works - imagine some scenarios or conversations, until something or other takes root. 

Half the time it’s just about sitting in my character’s heads for a bit until I feel like I really know them, and could respond as them to questions and queries readily - this is something I’ve carried over from being a long time Dungeon Master - whose prep for sessions was about 15% maps and monster stats and 85% ‘stewing in my NPCs until there’s no question the players can ask I can’t answer in character’. 

There’s nothing quite like the mania and rush of when the muse takes control, and it’s always a bit of a sorry experience when you find yourself on the other side of it, wondering once again where it went. 

Are there any recurring themes in your writing? Do they surprise you?

A few big ones - two that don’t surprise me, and one that does.

The first – coming to terms with what you were supposed to be, and what you are - the trajectory of my life hasn’t been particularly straightforward - I made a lot of decisions based on what I felt I owed to other people in my youth, my obligations to others, particularly family, steered my path towards disaster and the breakdown of my health, career, and life. I started over and found a new path. It’s not been easy. 

Over and over again I’m drawn to characters that have trajectories like this; who are coming to terms with what they thought they were supposed to be, the role they were supposed to have, and how they failed to meet those expectations - or in the case of some - how those expectations failed them. 

The second - pain, and finding the purpose within it. I have chronic pain of an unhelpful sort, acquired during the stuff I just mentioned - that can truly only be described as purposeless. In fact, I’ve had a clinician quite literally describe it as such (although the word they used was ‘pointless and unhelpful’).

I won’t pretend that’s been easy to live with, or that when I say ‘it is what it is’ whilst my body screams at me literally all seconds of all days and won't ever stop doing so forever, I’m just saying that because I can’t say anything else.

It’s not particularly surprising I ended up exploring this theme, inevitably. It’s probably why ‘Sufferer, I shall’, my Donnick x Abdirak fic, and that pairing that was so unexpected and clotheslined me out of nowhere, is the one that matters most to me. 

Finally, the theme that surprised me - is finding purpose and growth in love; for me, the heart of all the romances I write, big or small, is based on this foundation. If there’s no trajectory for individual growth, enhanced and augmented by a relationship with another - usually through the ways in which we can connect and more importantly gently contrast to push one another forward - I am not interested in the romance.

I’m painfully, painfully demisexual, so my romances need to be so dripping with Feelings it’s embarrassing. I didn’t know this about myself until I started writing it, but now I see it everywhere, and all of these three come together into a rather depressing sort of whole. I’ll sum up.

I’m constantly trying to build a happier tale than my own.

That one got sad, but it’s also the answer to this next question. 

What is your reason for writing?

See above. Writing gives me joy, but it also helps me to create a kinder, warmer world than the one I live in - even when I’m exploring its darker parts. 

Is there any specific comment or type of comment you find particularly motivating?

I love any comments, I truly do - they all fill me with joy - just to know someone has read something I’ve written.

I’d like to take a moment, though, to shout out to a few people in particular - because I think commenting is an art in and of itself, and instead of talking about what motivates me, I’d like to thank some people for motivating me.

When @benicemurphy found my Rolan x Geraldus fic ‘the Harper in the Tower’ I started getting some of the most insightful, most moving comments I’d ever received. The way in which you so perceptively saw every tiny hint, every theme and thread just absolutely floored me. Anyone who gets a comment from you should be honoured to do so.

This goes too for @cedar-phoenix, who I don’t think I have on tumblr (Cedar! found you!) - but who might be one of the most perceptive people I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting. You have an absolute gift.

@graysparrowao3 left me some of the most punch in the face comments I’ve ever had on ‘Sufferer, I shall’. Watching your trajectory of reading the story and being greeted with ‘WHAT THE ACTUAL HELL’ truly, truly made my year. 

I love it when a commenter pulls out specific lines or moments that they enjoyed - especially because it’s never the ones I expect! @tavyliasin and @n1ghtmeri left me some of the most emotional comments on ‘Sufferer’ I’ve ever had the pleasure of receiving, and @darkurgetrash picking out specific lines of my Klaus x Kar’niss fic always gets me chomping at the bit to write more. It takes time and effort to leave the sorts of comments you do, and I want you all to know how deeply I appreciate it.

And of course, my dear @lizziemajestic - the only commenter who has left me a sobbing voice note. You have no idea how much that meant, and how much it has continued to mean, to me. 

How do you want to be thought about by your readers?

Honestly - I’m not really sure how to answer this. I hope it’s a warm cup of coffee; a bit of nourishment. I hope they can see how deeply I feel what I write, and that some of that comes through in the words they read - too.

I really care about all these silly little guys - and if reading it makes them smile, or cry, or really anything at all, that’s what I wanted, I think.

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer?

I’m terrible at talking about my own strengths so expect this to be a rubbish answer.

I like to think I’m good at character voices; I spend a lot of time thinking about and puzzling out how a character would speak and think - and as I predominantly, if not exclusively, write canon characters and NPCs, I hope I am able to capture their voices in a way that feels natural and organic. 

I never force a character to do anything - it doesn’t work, for starters - but I really do try to let them guide what’s happening and follow them where they lead. I hope that comes across in what I write and helps create something that feels in character and plausible, no matter what’s happening; I struggle at times with worrying this might mean things seem boring, or fail to meet expectations people might have of how things are going to go - but it’s a principle I stick to. If I’m changing something fundamentally about a character it feels wrong - and that’s a guiding principle I hold.

This extends to romances and relationships; I hope, at least, I build connections between characters that feel organic and earned, even when sometimes they are characters who literally have never interacted at all before. Finding the organic spark of connection is what I most enjoy writing. 

I hope I’m pretty good at environmental storytelling, too. It’s important to show character in the same way we show ourselves - in our environments, our habits and the spaces we occupy. Everything you do, the things you surround yourself with; that’s just as much you as the you in your skull. 

When you write, are you influenced by what others might enjoy reading, or do you write purely for yourself, or a mix of both?

“Why write if not to fill the world with the kinds of things I want to read?”

I try to write mostly for myself. I’ve written a few things based on prompts and ideas for others, and do enjoy that - but first and foremost, I’m writing for my own sake.

How do you feel about your own writing?

Mostly good. Mostly. I’m not the best, nor do I want to be - I try not to engage too much with thinking about the wider space and how I’m comparing to others - I know I’m plundering down in some obscure mines at times, and that’s ok - that’s where I chose to be.

I’m not good at complimenting myself, but, I have managed to write some things I’m genuinely proud of as part of finding my way back to writing full stop. 

Overall though, I think I’m just happy to -be- writing. After so long being unable to do so because of the pain and being unable to use my arms, and feeling like writing was the thing that ruined me, finding a way back to some creative joy and reclaiming my pain as purposeful has been, genuinely, a lifeline.

I apologise that this got all deep and sad. I hope if you’ve read this, you know how grateful I am to you all; I’ve been so lucky to find this space, and all of you, and myself again too.

[omghallucinations]

aries moon

alongside virgo rising this is my white whale of i feel like people get her wrong (also houses especially the 11th, but not the point rn)

i often see, and have in past even thought, "omg felix is an aries moon, weird! not what i would've thought! doesn't make sense!" but yes it does because

an aries moon is a baby that you should not cross*

*how much and why you should not cross the baby is heavily dependent on other chart factors (as is the moon itself, aspects with other planets or houses could make the moon much less obviously aries moon-y)

an aries sun is often A Lot, assertive, jump don't look, full of life, leader, etc (dependent on chart factors) but an aries moon is completely different because. and this might shock you. the sun is not the moon. i know that sounds obvious but when i really thought about what that meant in practice my astro vision changed like i got supersight

your sun is your ego in an earth-sense, your self-expression, it's bright you see its influence bc it's shining on everything, although it's not like. inside of things. it heats things up, it lights or shadows things, it is the force around which everything else rotates, but it's not inside of things. it's a big part of who you are and you both need it to grow and grow towards it (bc the sun isn't necessarily who you always are automatically, we all gotta grow bud)--but it's not what drives or sets off your actions and reactions

your moon is your ego in a soul-sense, what makes you feel safe, your security, ur emotions but like ur therapy emotions the ones that fuck u up or save you or both. those kneejerk subconscious reactions. you feel the moon's influence because it's pulling on the water in your body and making animals and children act up it's specific to you and probably causing a lot of unconscious compulsive behavior

if you are born on idk the 8th of june or the 9th of june or the 10th of june you will have a gemini sun, the degree will change by like 2 max, but there will be like 3 or 4 moons that will be possibilities and within each day you can have dozens of different aspects to the moon. this is what i mean by more specific to you

ur sun is very important, again with the shining and the revolving around, but your moon is the one that's making you act up. she ain't changin much. ur sun evolves with you and you evolve with it, but ur moon... you gotta learn to live and work with her my friend!!

aries is the start of the zodiac. it's the baby. it's so excited to be there and express itself. it's cardinal (action, starting) fire (passion, creation). it's the spark. but while it is pretty logical and easy to understand for the sun to be in a fire sign, lighting up and heating and gravity-ing all around it, well an aries moon is gonna have that spark and fire pulling on their insides.

another metaphor--you know how when a baby or a little kid experiences an emotion or a sensation for the first time and it is clearly insane to them, they can't process it, they have to be soothed right now they're gonna react huge (for a good reason!!! what a crazy thing to experience for the first time and most of them can't talk yet!)--this is aries moon.

instincts, full of life, imagination, searching, discovering. a kind of innocence and brightness. they gotta do stuff. you ever try to make a toddler sit still for an hour? hell no, they're gonna pull on every cabinet door until something happens. they're gonna touch everything in the room. action/starting things/injecting some life in there (whatever that means to each person) is how they feel safe.

some known or likely aries moons:

stray kids felix, ateez jongho, seventeen woozi

bts jin, bts taehyung, blackpink rosé

ok i got tired of finding photos, but also seventeen jun, enhypen jake, daniel radcliffe, mitch marner off hockey, charles leclerc off f1 and more! but do you see what i mean?

there are a lot of things that change the way any moon will express itself, some people's moons are more hidden/shielded and no one has the same aspects/house/etc but fundamentally aries moons all have this need to explore and experience and act and move and do things. this can often express like:

reacting with big startling pure feelings

gotta find meaning and excitement

drive, urgency

brave, almost in an innocent foolhardy way like baby doesn't understand fire hot kind of mood.

really creative (starting fire)

needs praise and enthusiastic acceptance of their unique identity

and also a baby. things seem new to them. they have a little bit of that "baby tries (new food) for the first time" energy in their subconscious and/or their emotions.

some aries moons are new baby (felix) or baby with an old soul (taehyung's moon conjunct his south node gives him how u say le past life memories) but they are all baby you should not cross. maybe u shouldn't cross them because they can actually kill you (jongho) or because someone else will kill you (felix, although i feel like if he applied himself he could also kill you) but either way, just a good plan not to cross them.

i think aries sun (especially since the sun is exalted in aries) is such a powerful character and often obvious in the people who are aries suns (like, blackpink lisa or kiss of life julie) that it makes it easy to mistake aries the sign as just aries sun. moon in aries sun. venus in aries sun. that's why it seems confusing that ateez yeosang is an aries rising--we think of aries rising just as aries sun, but it's very different. does that make sense at all idk

one astrology book i read said that the signs were like ingredients, but the way they're prepared is totally different. so like, if aries is salt, salt in a savory dish comes out very different than salt in chocolate chip cookies. i remember the author saying it was the "danger of cookbook style astrology" and lol what i just did was essentially cookbook style astrology (moon in aries is never just moon in aries, it's moon in aries in house aspected to planets in sign in house, etc) but maybe it still worked for you lmao

[nualaofthefaerie]

Hello!! I come with questions for Madame Nuala President 🎤✨??

So I can see how Sandflower could be established since it has a solid foundation on canon BUT what about Immortalflower? Or Immortal Sandflower? ( hope I’m not mixing ships names! I mean Hob x Nuala x Dream)

Do you have any Headcanons as to how those ships come to be? I would be interested in knowing more about them!

Thank you 🖤

You are so not mixing them, dear. It is ImmortalSandFlower, ISF for short.

We have come to it! The idiots at the end of the road. My creme de la creme of polycules.

Okay, so before Miss Madam President gets too excited, this post will be structured in the following way *puts my big girl glasses on*:

Why do I think ISF works so much more for me than any other trio?

My personal headcanons for them

Note to the people: I too have some Dreamling inclinations, I just love WOMEN damn it. Also, she is not my self-insert (that too has been in my inbox). I too want to be a man who is not an idiot and WILL LOVE miss Nuala like she has never been loved before. She is my wife, my girlfriend, my muse. I have no interest in those men. I am in love with her. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

ALRIGHT! It's all under the flower line so I don't do the thing where I clog the tag.

Why ISF works so much more for me than any other trio?

In the short of it - they have such compatible personalities. It's insane. I have a picture I send to my friends every time I try to explain Morpheus - Hob - Nuala.

This is how they exist in my head. When they are in couples, their dynamics LARGELY differ, but together, they share the emotional burden of each other - Moon/Star/Sun dynamic. Morpheus is the tired moon, Hob is the bright star, and Nuala is the warm sun, and together they make the whole sky.

It's a very warm triangle, and to me, they are a real love triangle because each loves the other and they stand alone as couples. When they are a polycule, their power dynamics also equal out if that makes sense. Morpheus does not necessarily hold more power over them anymore, so I like that about it as well.

To illustrate their couple dynamics better, I will give examples. I love to give these examples so people see how versatile they are. (happy screaming).

Dreamling

I will not go into details, but my quintessential Dreamling is 1789 Dreamling.

I think this is the era that really summarizes their dynamic quite well - Morpheus doesn't really force himself on Robert but still holds a considerable amount of power that could equate to him having influence over Robert's life decisions. Robert on the other hand is also very independent, he respects Morpheus, but is not afraid of him anymore. So I enjoy 1789 Dreamling a lot.

2. Sandflower

I won't use the comics to explain what is THE Sandflower dynamic because the real summarized Sandflower dynamic is them:

I can swear this on my soul, when Nuala and Morpheus begin to act like Elizabeth and Darcy in the show, remember, you heard it here first. Their opposite views on the world, their stubborness, the way he treats her in canon as if she is no more but a mere inconvinience but in reality he constantly does things to protect her, is very Darcy and Elizabeth of them. And as I have always said, Nuala has always stood her ground and protected who she is and where she came from.

3. Immortalflower

There is one perfect media that encapsulates Hob x Nuala's relationship SO good that there is no reason to explain further to people because they usually get it from the get go.

THEM. Hob and Nuala have THEE Eugene and Rapunzel dynamic. Consider the fact Nuala has never been to the Waking world, she knows nothing about it and Hob is this Immortal man that has been to every corner of the planet already. Her enthusiasm about everything she doesn't know about sparks back his love of everything he does know. So they are very gentle, loving, fluffy, a bit silly, goofy.

Separated, each couple can stand on its own and be entertaining and complex, while being something completely new and interesting when together, which is VERY rare to me. So they compel me TERRIBLY.

ONTO HEADCANNONS

I have DOMESTIC headcannons the most. If anyone wants spicy HC, you'll have to ask separately. But just so we know, we do offer the Spicy version of the menu.

SO! This is based on the concept of Retired!Morpheus:

The three of them live together in the inn

Morpheus is either a children's book author or a librarian

Hob owns the Inn and does his little Professor gig to the side

Nuala transforms a part of the Inn into a beautiful patissiere, full of pink mugs and live plants and fresh bread, pasteries and wonderful unique blends of teas she learned from her fairy home

They play a board game together once a week

Read together on the couch every night

Saturdays are for movies (Nuala adores animation and Morpheus doesn't understand the appeal of cinema entirely)

When they do go on dates, they usually let Nuala pick where she wants to go because it's her enthusiasm about seeing something new that is more precious to the good old Dreamling who has seen all there is to see from Earth than being on a date per se

Hob cooks, always

Morpheus is a wine mom

Nuala runs around the kitchen to entertain more than to help at any capacity, but she has a talent for vegeterian dishes, but Hob is not a big fan, but they compromise, they compromise

Each of them kind of has their own room, but also they always end up sleeping together in someone else's room.

My hc are all primarily domestic, or maybe my mood is like that right now.

I will now do something very shameless and admit I have already written an ISF one-shot. It's called "Set Me Free" and it's a Sea AU - Dreamling Pirates and Mermaid Nuala. It's one of my favourite things I have written and it's quite fun short story!

I hope my answer was interesting! If there is any other questions, inquires or suggestions or thoughts, my Asks and DMs are always open!

Love,

Li 🪷