#solar gave this series a name

[solarmorrigan]

Hands Where I Can See Them, Part 3

Part 1 | Part 2

Eddie doesn’t sleep until the small hours of the morning. Mostly, he spends the night going over and over things in his head, wondering at everything he’d somehow misread.

The way Steve had always stayed after they had sex. The way he’d curled close to Eddie, showering him with soft touches and affection well after he’d technically needed to. The way Steve had started cooking dinner; trying out new, fancy-sounding recipes and trying to make it special, even when it was just the two of them. The way Steve had brought Eddie fucking flowers once, and had met his skeptical look with a shrug, saying that he figured maybe no one had ever bothered to bring Eddie flowers, and “Everyone deserves to get them once in a while.”

(The way Eddie had encouraged Steve to stay, had eaten up every bit of affection and hungered for more, had nudged playfully at Steve’s feet under the table while they ate, had kept those flowers well past death and still has one pressed between the pages of a notebook.)

It had all been there, so plain that even his bandmates had seen it, but Eddie – Eddie hadn’t let himself consider for a moment that it was something he could have. And now, because he’d told himself he couldn’t have something like that, he doesn’t get to.

A self-fulfilling fucking prophesy.

He finally falls asleep, miserable and alone in his bed for the first time in weeks, and wakes to someone banging on the front door.

Full rays of sunlight are streaming through Eddie’s window, and a quick glance at the clock tells him that it’s a lot later in the morning than he’d anticipated Steve showing up to get his things. One of the few complaints Eddie has (had) about sleeping with Steve is his chronic and apparently incurable early-riserism, but it’s past eleven a.m.

It’s late enough, in fact, that Wayne has probably come home and is trying to sleep, so Eddie rolls out of bed to get to the door before the knocking wakes Wayne.

Shedding his own sleepy haze as he jogs for the door, it occurs to Eddie that Steve knows Wayne’s work schedule and that, no matter how pissed he is, he wouldn’t be petty enough to take it out on Wayne.

So then who–

Eddie pulls the door open, interrupting his visitor mid-knock, to reveal the scowling face of Robin Buckley.

–ah.

Well, Eddie can’t say he hadn’t been expecting her, but he’d sort of assumed she would come with Steve attached. He glances out towards the driveway and sees only his van, Wayne’s truck, and Robin’s bike.

“He’s not here,” Robin says, curt and sharp. “I just came to get some of his stuff.”

That, Eddie hadn’t been expecting. He knows he fucked up, he knows Steve is hurt, but so much so that he’s outright avoiding Eddie? Eddie doesn’t think there’s ever been a conflict that Steve hasn’t met head-on, and he hadn’t expected this to be an exception.

All the same, he steps aside to let Robin in, prepared to fetch whatever she needs. He’d spent part of the night wondering whether he should gather Steve’s stuff up to make it easier for him, or if that would make it look like he was eager to have Steve out of his life; he’d eventually decided to just leave everything where it is.

“He said his migraine meds are here. And his spare glasses,” Robin says, and shit, that would explain where Steve is.

“How bad is it?” Eddie asks.

“Bad.” Robin answers shortly.

Eddie nods, gesturing for Robin to follow him back towards the bathroom.

He doesn’t know much about migraines, but he’s been learning. He knows most of Steve’s triggers (prolonged loud noise, heat, no sleep, stress) and he knows how to keep things dark and calm when one hits. He’s sat with Steve through a particularly bad attack, lying in bed with him, holding him carefully, watching tears stream out from beneath closed eyelids (not an emotional response so much as a physical reaction to the overwhelming pain) and feeling like his own eyes might well up, too, for the frustration of how useless he’d felt.

He directs Robin to the medicine cabinet and leaves her there while he heads back to his bedroom for Steve’s glasses. When he comes back, he sees Robin shoving some of Steve’s hair products into her backpack and feels a pang of upset somewhere in his chest. The shampoo had been one of the first pieces of Steve that had found permanent residence at Eddie’s place, sliding in next to his own soap after Steve had spent several mornings in a row complaining about not having his usual shit to shower with.

At the time, it had only made sense for Steve to have some toiletries there, since he stayed over so often. In retrospect, Eddie can see how it could have seemed like permission – and invitation. Welcoming. (And hell – hadn’t it been?)

Eddie hands Robin the glasses, and she tucks them carefully into a side pocket.

“I can’t stay away very long,” Robin says, voice crackling with banked anger, “so if you’re going to try to give me a reason not to come back later and kill you, make it snappy.”

(Make it snappy. Eddie almost wants to laugh, sort of wants to cry; it sounds exactly like the lame kind of turn of phrase Robin would have picked up from Steve.)

For all Eddie prides himself on his ability to improvise, on his extemporaneous speeches and infamous rants, he comes up empty. He’d spent all night wondering how he could have missed it all, why he hadn’t paid more attention, and he doesn’t even have an answer for himself, much less for Robin.

All he can really tell her is, “I didn’t know.”

“Oh, bullshit, you didn’t know!” Robin snaps, and Eddie rushes to quiet her. “Don’t you shush–”

“You can be pissed, just do it quietly,” Eddie hisses. “My uncle is asleep.”

The barest fraction of ire slips from Robin’s expression, and she jerks her head back towards the living area, following behind when Eddie goes.

“We both know Steve,” she says once they’re standing by the half wall that separates the kitchen from the living room, voice lower now but no less intense. “When he loves, he does it loud. Everyone else could see it from miles away, and it was right in your face. There is no way you didn’t know.”

“I didn’t–” Eddie drags a hand down his face in aggravated uncertainty as he tries to articulate. “I didn’t know it was an option!”

Robin’s eyes narrow, arms crossing over her chest as she regards him suspiciously. “You’re gonna have to elaborate on that one, Munson.”

“I mean – I’ve hooked up with people before, and it… didn’t change anything. Sex is just sex, right? Sex with a stranger doesn’t make them less strange, sex with a bar buddy doesn’t magically make you closer, and I thought – with Steve, I just didn’t think it would – I just didn’t think,” Eddie admits. “I never thought he’d want to be more than my friend, I didn’t think he liked relationships, I figured what we had already was more than I could possibly have earned, so I just never even let it be an option. Practically fucking blinded myself, apparently. Just told myself it was ridiculous and… here we are.”

“That’s depressing as hell, first of all,” Robin says, tone still sharp, “but it’s not a good goddamn excuse. What the hell would you have even done differently if you’d thought it was an option?”

“Honestly?” Eddie gives a strained laugh, letting his head fall back and making his confession to the ceiling. “Probably the exact same fucking things, just– on purpose. Sooner. More. I would’ve… known, and I could’ve appreciated it.”

There’s a long moment of silence, and when Eddie finally looks back down, Robin’s eyes are boring into him, startling in their intensity. It feels like she’s flaying him down past the bone, down to whatever the hell is at the core of him.

“Let me make this clear: I am not on your side. I will never be on your side if it comes down to you or Steve,” Robin says slowly, and Eddie only nods, because he knows that already. “Because, you know, I have never seen him happier than when he was with you – or when he thought he was with you, or whatever the fuck happened. But I have also never seen him more upset than he was last night, and I never want to see it again. You fucking crushed him, Eddie. You made him feel like he was stupid for seeing things that weren’t there, you treated everything the two of you did together like it meant nothing, you humiliated him in front of your friends–”

Eddie winces. “I didn’t mean–”

“I know,” Robin cuts in sharply. “If I thought you’d done any of that on purpose, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. I’d probably already be crossing state lines to avoid murder charges. I know you didn’t mean to, but that’s not a fucking excuse. It still happened.”

“Okay, I know I fucked up. I know,” Eddie grinds out. “But you can’t get on my ass for not acknowledging a relationship I didn’t even know I was in. We never talked about it, okay?”

“It’s not about the relationship!” Robin only just keeps her voice to a hushed yell. “Should Steve have tried to talk to you seriously about it? Put a real label to it? Probably, yeah! But you–” she jabs a finger at him, “you didn’t pay any attention to him. You didn’t think about whether his feelings might change, you didn’t think about why he was acting differently around you, you didn’t think at all, you just took.”

Eddie opens his mouth, but nothing comes out. He wants to argue that Steve is an adult who can make his own decisions, who had made his own decision, and he certainly hadn’t started sleeping with Eddie blindly. He wants to say that Steve had known what it meant to fall into bed with him, but he’s starting to understand that maybe he’s the one who hadn’t realized what it meant to fall into bed with Steve.

“You took him for granted, and that’s– that’s the worst part in all of this. Even if you were in some bullshit friends with benefits arrangement, you’re still supposed to be friends, but you just–” Robin pauses, pursing her lips around a frown. “People don’t fight for Steve, you know that? They just– I don’t know why, but they don’t, and it makes me so fucking angry, because he just gives people everything, without even thinking about it. He makes loving people look so easy that they forget that it's not and they take it for granted. They don’t treat it like it’s something special to hold onto. And I didn’t think you would be on the list of people who let him down like that.”

Eddie sort of wishes Robin had just tried to hit him instead. It would hurt less.

“I don’t… I don’t know how to fix this,” he admits. “You can yell at me all you want, and I’ll deserve it, but that’s not going to make it better. It’s not gonna make me suddenly able to un-fuck everything up.”

“I’m yelling at you because I want you to understand exactly what you did,” Robin says. “Because he’s going to forgive you.”

“He’s– what?” Eddie asks brows furrowed.

“We both know he is. Of course he’s going to forgive you. He’s probably already halfway to convincing himself this was all his fault. I’m not saying he won��t be angry and hurt for a while, but– he’ll forgive you, and he’ll want to be your friend again,” Robin says, low and serious. “So, no, you can’t un-fuck up. But make sure you’re worth that forgiveness.”

Eddie isn’t sure what to say to that. He isn’t sure there is anything to say to that. But it seems like Robin is done with him anyway. She hikes her bag higher up on her shoulders and turns for the door.

“Hey,” he finally manages, and Robin turns back to cut an impatient look at him. “I can give you a ride back. If you want. Get the meds back to him faster.”

“I can get back just fine,” Robin says, pulling the door open and tossing one last shot back at him as she leaves. “You were fine dismissing him last night – why start caring now?”

The door bangs shut behind her, robbing Eddie of the chance to argue – and he would have, because he does. He fucking does care about Steve. And if Steve gives him the chance, Eddie is going to fucking prove it.

No one fights for Steve? Fine. Then Eddie’s going to start right now.

Part 4

-

Tags: @bushbees, @y0urnewstepp4r3nt

[wonders-of-the-cosmos]

Mariner program

The Mariner program was conducted by the American space agency NASA to explore other planets. Between 1962 and late 1973, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) designed and built 10 robotic interplanetary probes named Mariner to explore the inner Solar System - visiting the planets Venus, Mars and Mercury for the first time, and returning to Venus and Mars for additional close observations.

The program included a number of interplanetary firsts, including the first planetary flyby, the planetary orbiter, and the first gravity assist maneuver. Of the 10 vehicles in the Mariner series, seven were successful, forming the starting point for many subsequent NASA/JPL space probe programs. 

The name of the Mariner program was decided in "May 1960-at the suggestion of Edgar M. Cortright" to have the "planetary mission probes ... patterned after nautical terms, to convey 'the impression of travel to great distances and remote lands.'" That "decision was the basis for naming Mariner, Ranger, Surveyor, and Viking probes."

Each spacecraft was to carry solar panels that would be pointed toward the Sun and a dish antenna that would be pointed at Earth. Each would also carry a host of scientific instruments. Some of the instruments, such as cameras, would need to be pointed at the target body it was studying. Other instruments were non-directional and studied phenomena such as magnetic fields and charged particles. JPL engineers proposed to make the Mariners "three-axis-stabilized," meaning that unlike other space probes they would not spin.

Mariner 1 and Mariner 2

Mariner 1 and Mariner 2 were two deep-space probes making up NASA's Mariner-R project. The primary goal of the project was to develop and launch two spacecraft sequentially to the near vicinity of Venus, receive communications from the spacecraft and to perform radiometric temperature measurements of the planet. A secondary objective was to make interplanetary magnetic field and/or particle measurements on the way to, and in the vicinity of, Venus.

Animation of Mariner 2's trajectory from August 27, 1962, to December 31, 1962. Mariner 2 · Venus · Earth.

Mariners 3 and 4

Sisterships Mariner 3 and Mariner 4 were Mars flyby missions.

Mariner 3 was launched on November 5, 1964, but the shroud encasing the spacecraft atop its rocket failed to open properly and Mariner 3 did not get to Mars.

Mariner 4, launched on November 28, 1964, was the first successful flyby of the planet Mars and gave the first glimpse of Mars at close range

This archival image is an enhanced contrast version of the first Mars photograph released on July 15, 1965. This is man's first close-up photograph of another planet -- a photographic representation of digital data radioed from Mars by the Mariner 4 spacecraft. Data was either sent to Earth immediately for acquisition or stored on an onboard tape recorder for later transmission.

The pictures, played back from a small tape recorder over a long period, showed lunar-type impact craters (just beginning to be photographed at close range from the Moon), some of them touched with frost in the chill Martian evening. 

Mariner 5

The Mariner 5 spacecraft was launched to Venus on June 14, 1967, and arrived in the vicinity of the planet in October 1967. It carried a complement of experiments to probe Venus' atmosphere with radio waves, scan its brightness in ultraviolet light, and sample the solar particles and magnetic field fluctuations above the planet.

Mariners 6 and 7

Mariners 6 and 7 were identical teammates in a two-spacecraft mission to Mars. Mariner 6 was launched on February 24, 1969, followed by Mariner 7 on March 21, 1969. They flew over the equator and southern hemisphere of the planet Mars.

Mariners 8 and 9

Mariner 8 and Mariner 9 were identical sister craft designed to map the Martian surface simultaneously, but Mariner 8 was lost in a launch vehicle failure. Mariner 9 was launched in May 1971 and became the first artificial satellite of Mars. 

Mariner 10

The Mariner 10 spacecraft launched on November 3, 1973, and was the first to use a gravity assist trajectory, accelerating as it entered the gravitational influence of Venus, then being flung by the planet's gravity onto a slightly different course to reach Mercury. It was also the first spacecraft to encounter two planets at close range, and for 33 years the only spacecraft to photograph Mercury in closeup.

Venus in real colors, processed from clear and blue filtered Mariner 10 images

Mariner 10's photograph of Venus in ultraviolet light (photo color-enhanced to simulate Venus's natural color as the human eye would see it)

This mosaic shows the planet Mercury as seen by Mariner 10 as it sped away from the planet on March 29, 1974.

source x, x | images x

[wh0reforcoriolanussnow]

Baby Blues || D. Targaryen x oc (Dear Motherhood Series)

GIF by @fireandbloodsource DIVIDERS by @straywords

summary: In which a 15 year old Leyla Hightower experiences postpartum depression and all of the Red Keep and Daemon himself, feel the wrath of it. (head-canon to second choice)

Dear Motherhood Series Masterlist

warning: oc is 15 when she gives birth

The babe’s cries was all the could be heard inside the birthing chamber. The handmaidens all gushed at the baby as they cleaned her up. Leyla laid there motionless. She had never experienced so much pain in all of her years.

Her head slowly turned to the door to which Daemon entered with a smile plastered on his face. He immediately moved to the bed where his Lady wife laid and kissed her forehead, “You did such a good job, ñuha ābrazȳrys” He whispered as Leyla only gave a tight lipped smile (my wife)

She watched as he moved away from her and to their daughter who they already found a name, Alyssa. All the noises around the room had become muffled to the young Hightower and she didn’t even realise that Daemon was talking to her.

“Leyla? I asked if you want to hold her” He cradled the little girl in his arms. She didn’t want to in all honesty. She felt so incredibly exhausted and her body still ached from delivering her child mere minutes ago.

“Okay” She whispered before Daemon laid the babe on her chest to which she groaned. “Why isn’t she properly cleaned” The young girl quipped , her head turned to the handmaidens who quickly apologised and scooped her up to clean her properly.

Watching the whole ordeal, Daemon held Leyla’s hand. “How are you feeling? I imagine the labour was not easy?” He attempted to comfort her but Leyla stared off into the distance, not replying to him.

The prince moved form the bed to a handmaiden, “Did anything happen during the labour?” He questioned as he stared at his Lady Wife. “No your Grace, everything went normal” She replied before curtsying and walking away.

~

Leyla walked alongside her Husband, a 2 month old Alyssa in her arms. The two walked into Godswood where there was a celebration held for her sister’s pregnancy.

Whispers could be heard around as they stared at the young Hightower. Daemon too felt the tense atmosphere as he rested his hand on the curve of Leyla’s back. Her face was cold and expressionless.

The past 2 months Leyla had been acting incredibly off. Everyone could notice it people around the Keep would constantly gossip and whisper about it. Maybe it was the fact that she was only 15, and yet she already has child to the Rogue Prince himself.

“If you wish to talk about me, at least talk to my face about it” Leyla’s cold words stunned the group of highborn ladies as they look down to the ground; Daemon too glares at the group who were gossiping about his Lady Wife.

She continued walking to her father, King Viserys, and her sister who saw the ordeal. “Sister, how are you” Alicent gives a warm smile to the younger as she hugs her, cautious of the baby in her arms. “The same as always, sister” Leyla deadpanned before turning to greet the King and her father.

Alicent looks to Daemon with a sad expression as he sighs. Leyla beckons for the wet nurse who quickly took the child out of her arms. She couldn’t even find it in herself to look at her daughter as she was taken away.

Both Daemon and Leyla were taken around to different conversations and the whole time, she would stare down at her cup and not utter a word. “Should we go retire to your solar?” The silver haired men says lowly against her head as she nods, Daemon knew she wanted rest, she didn’t even want to be here but she didn’t want to hurt her sister’s feelings by not showing up.

Leyla let out a loud sigh once she sat down. Daemon sat at the chair opposite and busied himself with a book. The wet nurse placed Alyssa back in her mothers arms. Soon after she immediately started crying as Leyla rocked her to try to stop her loud wails but to no avail, the Targaryen babe continued.

Daemon rubbed his temples as he watched his Lady Wife attempting to calm down their daughter. “Hasn’t she already been fed and changed?” Leyla looked to the wet nurse who looked nervous but nonetheless nodded.

“Then why does she keep crying?!” She muttered annoyed at her baby. “Take her, she’s driving me insane” The young Hightower stood up, ready to give Alyssa back to the wet nurse. “Alyssa is not going to be comforted by the wet nurse but by you Leyla” Daemon sternly spoke, his eyes not leaving the book.

Both the wet nurse and Leyla look at Daemon, Alyssa’s cries intensifying by the minute. “I am already exhausted as it is Daemon-“ “Your her mother, you should be able to soothe your own child, am I wrong?” Daemon finally looks up.

Leyla was baffled, she opened her mouth and closed it soon after. She felt like bawling her eyes out too. “Please, please, please Alyssa stop crying.” Her voice cracked as she patted the babe’s back and walked around her solar desperately trying to calm down her daughter.

The wet nurse and Daemon watch her as tears fall down Leyla’s eyes, Alyssa had still not stopped crying. Daemon stood up and walked over to Leyla and took their daughter from her arms.

He calmed her down in an instant as Leyla sat down, her hand massaging her forehead. The wet nurse took the baby from Daemon so that he could comfort his Lady Wife.

He said nothing as he moved her head against her chest as she sobbed. “I am so exhausted Daemon, Alyssa- she’s-she’s so much work and its draining me” She quietly spoke as Daemon did nothing but listen to her troubles and stroke her back soothingly.

“I am no cut out to be a mother-“ The door to her solar opened loudly and startled the girl. Quickly sitting up and wiping the remainder of her tears, Daemon rolled his eyes and leaned back on the chair, oh how he hated seeing his face around. If he wasn’t his wife’s father, Daemon would have slit his throat ages ago.

Otto first looked at the wet nurse who was rocking his granddaughter in her arms before looking at Leyla. With a stern voice he orders the wet nurse to leave, and then Daemon. “If you think I’m leaving my wife in the presence of her cunt of a father, your wrong” He chuckles as Otto’s lips part in disbelief.

“You think I’d harm my own flesh and blood, my Prince?” He raises an eyebrow at the silver haired man. With a shrug of his shoulders, Daemon looks at Leyla who’s gaze is on her hands as she picks at her nails. He holds her hand to stop her from harming herself before looming up at Otto.

“You’ve harmed her enough by arranging this marriage. Now, you either speak to her whilst I’m here or you don’t speak to her at all” Otto scoffs shaking his head before taking a seat opposite the two. “Daemon. It’s okay” Leyla finally looks up to him.

He lets out a breathe, “I’m not leaving this room,” He says before standing up and making his way to the bookshelf. The two Hightower’s watch the Prince before their attention go back to each other.

“There has been talk around the Red Keep that you have been acting differently,” He starts off, “And do you believe them? They’re just talk father, they know nothing” Leyla scoffs in disbelief. The fact that he assumes the talk is true without even consulting with his own daughter about it was sad.

“I don’t have to believe them Leyla, I have seen it myself,” Otto stares into his daughter’s soul as she gulps. His comment made Daemon look to the two. “It’s not difficult to notice how ignorant you are to your own child. Gods, you walk around the place like a ghost Leyla!” He half shouts.

Daemon makes his presence known as he takes a seat near the two of them. Leyla glances at him before looking at her father again, “Father I’ve just been tired and she’s alot of work!-“ “Don’t act as if you take care of the child. Your wet nurse and maids do.”

Daemon chuckles, “She takes better care of her own child than you ever did when Leyla’s mother died” He butts in. Ignoring the Prince’s comment Otto continues, “People are saying you are incapable of being a mother-“ “Because I am!” Leyla yells, leaning forward in her seat as tears start rolling down her face again.

Daemon shifts in his seat as he leans over and rubs her arm. Otto looks taken aback, he was not expecting that answer from her daughter. “Oh please father,” She chokes back a chuckle, “Don’t act as if you’re surprised. I’m 15 for gods sake! Of course I’m incapable of looking after another human being, what did you expect?” Leyla spat in anger.

All her pent up emotions building up from the past 2 months were finally spilling out. “You act as if it is my fault for your ill-manner behaviour towards your own flesh and flood!” Otto points to her. “If it wasn’t for your pressure of producing heirs for Daemon and this marriage, I wouldn’t be in this situation” Leyla spoke through gritted teeth.

Silence filled the room. “I think it’s best you leave, Otto” Daemon stands up and looks down at him. The man scoffs and gives one final look to his daughter before leaving the room.

[laifromthecosmos]

Mula Nakshatra: The Primordial Cosmic Force.

versão em pt-br

Tropical Astrology orients the zodiac to the point of the Vernal Equinox, which marks the beginning of the sign of Aries. Vedic astrology orients the zodiac from the 'Galactic Center' to the center of the Galactic Sun, where influences pass through us via the fixed constellation of Sagittarius. The Galactic Center is called 'Brahma,' the creative force, or 'Vishnunabhi,' the navel of Vishnu. From the Sun emanates the light that determines life and intelligence on Earth, directing the seven rays of creation and the distribution of Karma.

In terms of sidereal astrology, the Galactic Center is located at the beginning of Sagittarius. In the Vedic system, it is found in the lunar constellation (nakshatras) called 'Mula,' which means 'the root' or 'origin.' Mula can thus be seen as the first in the series of lunar constellations. It marks 13º 20' of Sagittarius, in the middle of which the Galactic Center is located. The last in the series of lunar constellations is Jyeshta, which means 'the eldest,' found at the end of Scorpio. This shows that the ancients knew of the Galactic Center and named the constellations accordingly. The Mayans identified the Galactic Center as Hunab Ku, representing the Supreme God and Supreme Creator. It is considered the 'Mother's Womb' that constantly gives birth and gave birth to the Sun and the planet Earth. It is believed that Hunab Ku directs everything that happens in the Galaxy from its center through the periodic emission of 'Consciousness Energy.'

The energy of the Galactic Center is primarily transmitted by Jupiter, called 'Guru,' the teacher in Vedic astrology, and by Sagittarius. Jupiter is said to be the teacher of the Gods, the cosmic power of light. In this regard, he is even the teacher of the Sun, the guide of the world. Jupiter represents and directs Galactic Light to the solar system.

This association of Mula with the Galactic Center suggests a strong connection to primordial and cosmic forces, symbolizing the ability to access deep and transformative wisdom that may surface from intense experiences or a spiritual quest. The strong influence of Mula may manifest as a deep connection with these cosmic energies, reflecting a desire to get to the core of issues and seek the truth in its rawest and purest form.

Ketu, the planet that governs Mula, also deals with reaching the core of everything. It stores past Karmas and releases those mature enough to be experienced in the present. It can help gather the necessary tools to fulfill the objective of the present life. This is suggested by the symbolism of the tied roots. Mula, therefore, helps in gathering, meaningfully, the talents developed in past lives.

Mula is concerned with investigating invisible or unknown things. Along with its counterpart Ardra (which lies directly opposite in the zodiac), Mula has the strongest and deepest sense of investigation among all nakshatras. Mula is directly associated with medicinal purposes. In ancient medicinal systems like Ayurveda, roots of various plants are used for medicine preparation. Similarly, Mula is also related to the root of diseases, such as microorganisms like viruses, bacteria, etc. Like everything under Mula's jurisdiction, these microorganisms are invisible to the naked eye. The fact that the roots are tied suggests a sense of limitation. As a result, Mula often does not allow much freedom or dispersion of energies, causing people to dive deep within a limited sphere.

Mula Nakshatra is deeply connected to the figure of Nritti, a powerful and enigmatic goddess of Vedic mythology. Nritti is often associated with destruction, chaos, and dissolution, but her influence goes far beyond just being a destructive force. She represents the primordial forces that deconstruct and dismantle to allow something new and more authentic to emerge. Nritti is the goddess of transformation through destruction. She governs the process of disintegration necessary for renewal and regeneration, reflecting the idea that for growth to occur, something old must be undone. In many ways, Nritti can be seen as the guardian of the boundaries between the known and the unknown, between comfort and chaos, symbolizing moments of crisis that challenge old structures and beliefs, paving the way for personal and spiritual development. Mula's symbol is a bundle of tied roots, representing the exploration of origins, the unveiling of deeper truths, and the search for the essence of any situation. However, to reach the roots, one must undergo processes of destruction and deconstruction, aspects deeply connected to Nritti's energy. Those who have significant planets in Mula Nakshatra may experience intense moments of destruction and rebirth throughout their lives, being called to abandon old identities, beliefs, and situations to transform into something new and more authentic.

Nritti's influence on Mula also emphasizes the importance of facing chaos and the unknown as part of the path to enlightenment. Mula is the nakshatra of deep investigation, where the sought truth is revealed, often in a harsh and challenging way. Nritti guides this quest, ensuring that illusions are destroyed so that the truth, no matter how raw, can emerge.

It is in Mula's nature to quickly cut and destroy things that have lost their value. Most often, it regrets its actions in hindsight. Only when its Universal will is aligned does Mula operate in a wise, Jupiterian manner. The struggle between universality and individuality reaches its peak here, as individuality is at its highest expression. The process of individualization begins in Ashwini, is celebrated in Magha, and culminates with completed individual experiences in Mula. Beyond the realm of the ego and egocentrism, Mula is a proud and arrogant nakshatra, often unable to comprehend its own power and abilities. In some cases, this is good, as its capacity to inflict damage on itself is restricted by its ignorance. Its terrible and demonic side comes from Ketu's negative functioning in its lower aspects, potentially generating ego, vanity, and arrogance, which can lead someone to commit abominable and demonic actions.

[gallifreyanhotfive]

Random Doctor Who Facts You Might Not Know, Part 52

Sorry for the long wait! I got a bit distracted with the new series...

The biofields on Gallifrey are so active that they can keep non-Gallifreyans young. For example, Leela had not aged even after 25 years on Gallifrey. (Audio: Spirit)

The Tenth Doctor recalled that Jamie McCrimmon used to hide the Second Doctor's recorder from him. (Comic: The Forgotten)

The TARDIS chose a name for herself but never told anyone (including the Doctor) what it was. (Short story: Toy Story)

By some accounts, the First Doctor was unaware of Sol prior to running away from Gallifrey. On the other hand, Susan had learned about the solar system and the planet Earth in the classes she took on spatial cartography. (Audio: The Beginning)

The Forge salvaged a Gallifreyan sarcophagus, which is a type of hibernation unit. When the Seventh Doctor, Ace, and Hex opened it, they found an older version of the Doctor inside. (Audio: A Death in the Family)

The Seventh Doctor kept a calendar keeping track of when his friends would die, which is how he knew about Evelyn. (Audio: A Death in the Family)

The Third Doctor possessed an obedience spray. When he used it, he could make people follow his orders. (Comic: Undercover)

The First Doctor used to skip class at the Academy to practice juggling and yo-yoing. (Novel: Match of the Day)

John Smith - an amnesiac Decayed Master - once treated the Seventh Doctor, removing his clothes after they had been charred by a lightning strike and wrapping him in wet towels to ease the pain. Feeling that the Doctor could help restore his memories, John Smith fell into a reverie next to the Doctor and forgot about his other guests at the time. He gave the Doctor water when he woke up and warned him not to move because of the physical trauma he had gone through. (Audio: Master)

When a Time Lord truly goes mad, a part of their mind becomes lost, referred to as Dark Design. This unleashes the dark part of their minds. Those affected by Dark Design are hidden away in institutions. (Novel: Falls the Shadow)

This Dark Design is a true evil within the very DNA of Time Lords. While unaffected Time Lords effectively stabilize space-time, a Time Lord suffering from Dark Design might have the effect of changing the future and the past like a virus. (Novel: The Infinity Doctors)

Dark Design is a lot more intense than Time Lord Insanity and enters mental spaces unfathomable to other species. (Novel: SLEEPY)

Omega was affected by Dark Design and as a result was able to summon an embodiment of his dark side. (Short story: A History of the Universe; TV: The Three Doctors)

The Seventh Doctor had met no sufferers of Dark Design native to his time. However, he knew of possible futures where he would become affected. (Novel: Falls the Shadow)

The above points are particularly interesting when you take into account several incidents in DW Canon. For one, the Master said, "There is some evil in all of us, Doctor, even you. The Valeyard is an amalgamation of the darker sides of your nature, somewhere between your twelfth and final incarnation, and I may say you do not improve with age." Furthermore, the Doctor’s dark side was once again manifested later on as the Dream Lord. There was an additional manifestation of the Doctor’s darkness (or, the weak, insecure, lonely aspect) somewhat dormant in the Sixth's subconsciousness. (TV: The Ultimate Foe, Amy's Choice; Audio: The Widow's Assassin)

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[bestiarium]

The Tsenahale, the ancient giant eagles [Navajo mythology]!

In the distant past, humans were hunted by a group of giant, terrifying monsters collectively known as the Naye’i. Though mankind persevered, they were spread thin and had to live in hiding and in fear. The Naye’i were a diverse group of strange monsters, all of which enjoyed hunting and eating humans. Among them were the Tsenahale, a pair of colossal bird monsters somewhat resembling giant eagles.

They were born from a pile of eagle feathers and they enjoyed grabbing people with their enormous talons and carrying them to the nest, where their unfortunate victims would be eaten by their young. The Tsenahale employed ravens as spies, and these minions told them the hiding spots of humans.

One day, a group of gods and humans came together on a mountaintop and performed a ritual upon two small images of a woman: one made of turquoise, the other made out of a white shell. The group sang a magic song and turned these two small images into real women, fashioning a body for both out of deer skin, corn and magic. These two women were named Estsánatlehi and Yolkaí Estsán, meaning ‘changing woman’ and ‘white shell woman’ respectively. They were left on the mountain, clueless and lonely, but after four days they began to explore their surroundings.

Estsánatlehi, the elder sister, was impregnated by the sun while her sister was impregnated by a waterfall. Four days later, both siblings realized they were pregnant, and another four days later they gave birth to two baby boys, which would later be called the Hero Twins of the Navajo people. As the sisters were not human, neither were their sons, and in only four days they had reached the age of twelve.

As the boys grew older, they longed to meet their father and set out on a journey to find him. Along their travels, they met the spider spirit, a kind old lady who told them that they were fathered by the sun. Spider gave the two young men a magic charm made from eagle feathers, which were potent because they were plucked from living eagles. She also taught them magic to prepare them for their quest, and so they set out to find the sun. This journey is an important story in Navajo religion: the hero twins overcome many challenges and strange creatures using wit (rather than strength), Spider’s magic and the protection from the wind, which had grown fond of them.

Eventually they reached the house of Tsohanoai, the sun god. They found his wife and told him that they were fathered by the sun.

When Tsohanoai came home (and hung the sun on a rack on his wall), he was angry at the intruders, who were too afraid to say anything. This silence was then broken by his wife, who was furious at her solar spouse. After all, if these two young men were indeed his sons then it meant he had been unfaithful to her. So Tsohanoai made them pass a series of deadly trials to prove that they were indeed children of the sun god, and they succeeded using the help of the wind and their eagle feather charms. Tsohanoai admitted defeat, these two lads were indeed his children, and so he armed them with magical weapons so that they could set out and slay the Naye’i. The boys received armor made from flint, an enchanted stone knife, and a series of powerful magical arrows. Upon returning to the world of mortals, one of the twins shot a lightning arrow at the Tsoodzil (which is called Mount Taylor today) and made a large cleft which is still visible to this day. And so, the two heroes set out to fight the Naye’i.

After successfully killing two of the giant beasts, the older brother left to fight the giant eagles, the Tsenahale, which made their nest on a tall black mountain which was shaped like a bird. He had received the name Nayenezgani from his brother, meaning ‘slayer of the Naye’i’. Before arriving at the nest, however, he heard the mighty sound of the monster’s wings, which sounded like a whirlwind, and the beast grabbed the boy in its talons. The Tsenahale dropped its prey from a great height, and the fall would surely have killed Nayenezgani if he didn’t have Spider’s magic feather charm.

Clever as always, the hero decided to play dead until the monster’s children approached him and tried to eat him. Nayenezgani hissed and the giant chicks recoiled, telling their father that this human was still alive and had hissed at them. The monster ignored it and told them that no human could survive a fall like that, so they probably just heard the sound of air escaping from the corpse.

Then the Tsenahale left and Nayenezgani immediately got up and pointed his magical arrows at the chicks. He demanded to know when their parents would return, and where they usually landed. The young birds told him everything he wanted to know, and so Nayenezgani set up an ambush. When the male and female Tsenahale returned, he knew exactly where they would land and shot them with lightning bolt arrows.

Upon seeing their parents dead, the chicks were terrified, but Nayenezgani was wise and thought it would be unjust to kill them too. Instead, he used his magic to turn one of them into an eagle and told it ‘You will provide bones for humans to craft whistles, and feathers to use in their ceremonies. The other chick was turned into an owl and Nayenezgani said to him ‘your hooting will be used by the humans for divination’. And so, instead of growing up to be man-hunting monsters, the chicks were turned into animals that were useful for mankind.

Now the beasts had been slain, but the slayer was stuck in the giant nest with no way to reach the ground below. As luck would have it, the bat spirit happened to pass by and offered to help the young man down in exchange for the feathers of the Tsenahale. Bat put these feathers in her basket, and Nayenezgani warned her not to enter the nearby sunflower field while carrying the monster feathers. Bat ignored his warnings, however, and as soon as she set foot among the sunflowers, all the feathers turned into birds and a large variety of birds suddenly flew out of her basket and dispersed among the world. And that is why there are so many bird species today.

Bat, having no feathers left to embellish herself, was so ashamed of her appearance and decided to never go out during the day. And that is why bats are nocturnal animals.

Sources:

Whitman, W., 1925, Navaho tales, Houghton Mifflin, 217 pp.

Locke, R.F., 2001, The Book of the Navajo, 496 pp., p.102-120.

Feltes-Strigler, M., 2023, A la découverte de la terre sacrée des Navajo – Histoire, légendes et paysages de la Terre-Mère au Ciel-Père, Tredaniel, 249 pp.

(Image source 1: The Giant Eagle by Hurcem Kucukdogan)

(image 2: the hero twins, source: Melvin Bainbridge)

[storytellingbadger]

Sun aka "Blue Eyes" as he appears in my TSAMS Celestial Phenomena AU. Mind the ratings.

(His name is actually just "Sun," but Eclipse gave him a really imaginative monicker because he thinks he's hilarious.)

The sunny half of the blue-sky twins from the "A Place Where It NEVER HAPPENED?!?! in VRChat" canon episode, suddenly in possession of fugitive eclipses. Blue Eyes's Moon never gave up his killcode, and consequently neither of them have ever met an eclipse before. Every day's a school day when you have an inter dimensional portal in your ballpit.

A professional peace-keeper, Blue Eyes is a sunny-model of unusual brevity who thinks an awful lot before he speaks. Capable of extraordinary feats of insight and empathy. Prettiest eyes in all the dimensions. Permanently tired and worried.

Celestial Phenomena is a series mostly from Solar's POV, detailing adventures and catastrophes from the light-hearted to peril and plot. Please enjoy.

[cleolinda]

Weekend links, March 2, 2025

Silent Hill 2 update: If you sneak over to my Patreon, you can watch the first commentary video already (I'll be replacing it with an updated version). I’m still working on the timestamp writeup (links, sources, etc.) and, uh, that updated version with some corrections at the end. I’ve also been formatting the writeup for Tumblr and, uhhh.... it’s like four posts. It’s honestly just embarrassing. But I know what the carving on the church door you might not even notice says, I know why all the oscillating fans are turquoise blue, I’ve found a thematically relevant Goya painting hidden in a shop you don’t even have to enter, and now we all have to suffer for it. 

The second video’s been recorded but isn’t uploaded anywhere, and I’ve finished taking notes for the writeup. I’m taking so long that I might honestly just clip out a few excerpts and put them on my YouTube channel (I have a YouTube channel) (in theory).

(Yes, watching other people play video games IS a valid way to enjoy them, and it’s how I got into playing in the first place.)

Meanwhile: I just wanted to address the idea that medication obscures your real personality, and I ended up writing a memoir.

Reblogs of interest

It was a bad week for celebrity deaths: Roberta Flack ("Killing Me Softly"), after two years diagnosed with ALS; Michelle Trachtenberg (Buffy, Gossip Girl), after a prior liver transplant; and then, under circumstances that still haven’t been explained, Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa.

Now, it’s important to know about the political protests happening in the U.S. (and I hope people run HARD with “Impeach President Musk” for maximum in-fighting), but it was “Vermont insults” that gave me the most joy.

"NASA released the clearest pictures yet of our neighbours in the solar system"

What Queen Nefertiti may have looked like in real life, improved

Microsoft is shutting down Skype

Joann Fabrics is going out of business (+ online alternatives)

“YOU FREAKS CRASHED THE DASHCON SITE AND THEN SOLD OUT THE TICKETS IN UNDER 30 MINUTES” (“I need you all to understand this is a post from February 22, 2025”)

“Help your local library; get books out even if you know you can’t read them all!”

Ursula K. LeGuin: “As you read a book word by word and page by page, you participate in its creation”

This full-series retrospective of Animorphs, however brief, is so unhinged that I went and legally downloaded the entire set of books. 

“Good night to only the team names at the Seattle women’s hockey club” (personal favorite: Rink Pony Club)

Sometimes I wonder what the Victorians would think of “naked” dresses. Anyway, I really like Elie Saab

All they know is charleston, shake cocktail, eat hot chip & lie

“stop what you’re doing right now and look at archaic period terracotta fox scratching its head”

“The bath house duck spirits from Spirited Away, taking a dip in this lava lamp”

Tumblr: Where “Pelican Childcare” is inherently funny

Crow Time: Business bird

Gorgeous Dominique Ramsey art with a Langston Hughes quote

Grocery cats (“but then you scroll down and it’s like oh, there’s a team of cats ringing up that lady’s tea and jam”)

Look this bunny in the eyes and you will understand why I tagged this “become ungovernable”

“where is that cat with the kind and reassuring face”

Paint me like one of your French bears

Hi. 1 quastion

Video

LOTR film fandom has been going strong for 20+ years and we’re not gonna stop now (re: Pippin’s song in Return of the King)

Zelenogorsk is sand bathing

The sacred texts

Periodic reblog: this massive catalogue of parody lyric tweets

“The neurodivergent urge to do this,” or: the origin of a very popular reaction pic

Personal tags of the week

Wet Beast Wednesday is worth a look, plus the newest Beneficent Chain Post (happiness will come to you. “When You Least Expect It. Probably Late March”).

[playedcrowd5610]

Little Hands Make Light Work - Danny Phantom x Transformers Prime

Summary: Starscream goes to the medbay and Danny ends up learning some cybertronian biology.

---

Notes:

Set in a series where Danny finds Starscream one day and decides to start haunting the Decepticons. That's basically all the context you need but if you want more here is the rest of the series:

Haunting the Nemesis

Part 1: Chasing Stars

Part 2: Burning Rubber

Part 3: Adventures of the Decepticons' Pet Ghost Or Tumblr Master List

---

Disclaimer: I am not an expert in cybertronian biology or human biology. So any medical jargon I use is mostly educated guesses and stuff described from content I have read before.

--

Knockout sighed dramatically as he watched Starscream limp into the medbay. “Really, Starscream? I just patched you up from that cave-in a week ago! You can’t seriously need attention again.”

Starscream growled, revealing his fangs. “I’ll have you know this is still part of that incident. You must have messed something up during your expert care, doctor.”

A new, smaller voice chimed in. “He was pacing, and his knee just gave out with a horrible crunching sound.” Knockout’s optics flickered down to the small human clutched in Starscream’s servo.

“Starscream, did you really have to bring your pet here? You’re introducing foreign contaminants into my lab. It was bad enough when you brought that thing with you in your subspace last time.” Knockout crossed his arms over his chassis.

The human glared up at him, mirroring the crossed arms. “Well, I’m the one who made him come, thank you very much, and I’m not leaving until I know he’ll be fine.”

Knockout sneered. “Delightful.” He turned his back to them and pulled out some tools. “Lay on the medical berth while I take a look at it.” 

Starscream took a few pained steps forward and placed the human down on the counter next to the incredibly sharp tools with far too little care. The human stumbled forward but didn’t say anything in retaliation, and only sat down cross-legged to stare at Starscream.

Knockout didn’t waste time focusing on the human and just turned to start looking at Starcream’s knee. His optics narrowed as he examined Starscream’s knee joint. He made an exaggerated tutting noise. “Well, well. What do we have here? It looks like a bolt slipped, not to mention some stress fractures.”

Starscream huffed, his wings twitching in irritation against the medical berth he was laid on. Knockout sighed as he picked up one of his tools from the counter and turned back towards Starscream. “After this, you will need to keep pressure off your leg for two solar cycles.” 

“Good luck getting him to sit still for more than ten minutes,” The human spoke up. “I swear all he does is pace and rant about his plans.” 

Starscream tilted his helm to the side to look at the human. “I don't recall asking your opinion, fleshling.”

The human threw his hands to the side. “Hey, I’m just saying! And if you didn’t strut around like a bird on stilts all the time, maybe your knee wouldn’t have imploded.”  Starscream rolled his optics at the human’s comment.

Knockout scoffed “How do you put up with this thing?” Even though he was secretly smirking at the comment. 

“I have a name you know.” It didn’t occur to Knockout that he never did learn the human’s designation, but he would rather do anything else than ask the human for it. When the human noticed that Knockout wasn’t going to ask he rolled his eyes. “Danny. My name is Danny.” The human -Danny- then gestured towards Starscream. “And don’t worry, he’s been trying to get rid of me for months. I’m like a parasite. Can’t get rid of me if you try.” 

“And believe me, I tried.”  Starscream scoffed.

Knockout transformed his servo into a buzz saw and held it close to the human. “Then allow me to try as well.” Starscream made a strange noise behind him, but the human didn’t so much as flinch at the show of aggression.

Starscream spoke up. “Stop threatening the human and do your job, Knockout.”

Knockout sighed and retracted the buzz saw with a dramatic flourish. “Fine, fine. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have real work to do, and your little... commentary is making this job harder, fleshy.”

Danny rolled his eyes and leaned back as Knockout bent down over Starscream and gripped tight to the joint to bend it to the right angle before pulling out one of his other tools. Out the side of his optic, he saw the human stand and walk closer to the edge of the counter to try and get a better angle of what Knockout was working on. 

“What exactly are you doing to his knee anyway?” He tilted his helm — or, Knockout guessed, the humans called it a head — to the side.

Knockout paused, genuinely surprised at the human’s interest. His optics flickered over to Danny, and he couldn’t resist a small smirk. “Oh? Interested, are we? Well, since you’re clearly dying to know... yes, this bolt connects the joint to the lower strut. Starscream’s stress fractures have weakened the metal around it, which is why his knee gave out.”

The human squinted, trying to follow along. “So, it’s like... when a human sprains their ankle, and the ligaments around it weaken?”

Knockout shrugged, not one hundred percent sure how accurate the human’s analogy was, seeing as Knockout didn’t know scrap about human biology, as he tried to stay away from them as much as possible. “Close enough, I suppose. Except with Cybertronians, we don’t have ligaments. It’s all metal and circuitry. Right now, I’m replacing the damaged components and reinforcing them with new plating.”  He explained idly.

Danny looked intrigued, his gaze fixated on the tech in Knockout’s servo. “And the tool? It just looks like a big soldering iron.”

Knockout raised an optic ridge. “This is a plasma welder. I’m using it to seal these fractures.”

Starscream groaned from the berth, wings flicking again in annoyance. “Do you two mind? I’m the one in need of medical attention here.”

Danny grinned. “Yeah, yeah, we get it. Big, scary mech in pain. Hold your horses.” 

Knockout couldn’t help but chuckle at that before turning down again to continue his work. After working a bit longer and getting the bolt back into place, he picked up a container of sealant and placed it down on the medical berth. 

Knockout huffed, looking at the joint again, annoyed at how small the seeker’s joints were and how hard it was to get his digit under the plating. It would be much easier if Starscream weren’t such a lanky mech. Or… if Knockout’s servos were smaller... He glanced over at the human sitting down again, but this time he had his legs dangling over the edge of the counter, swaying back and forth as he looked on. “Then again human, if you’re so eager to learn, I might as well put you to work.” 

Danny blinked in surprise. “Wait, you want me to help?”

Knockout shrugged casually, as if it were no big deal. “Why not? If you’re going to stay here and pester me, you might as well make yourself useful. Besides, Starscream’s less likely to kick you in the face if you touch the wrong circuit.”

Starscream shot them both a skeptical look before turning to face Knockout directly. “Are you seriously passing your job off to the human?”

Knockout leaned on the berth and closer to Starscream. “I mean, unless you like the feeling of my digits pressing around under your plating, then sure. The human is smaller and it will be less uncomfortable.” That, and there was the added bonus of Knockout not having to get that stuff on his servos again. Starscream simply huffed and crossed his servos over his chest as he tilted his helm to the roof. 

The human jumped off of the counter and landed with a running start on the medical berth, stumbling forward.  He saw Starscream wince slightly at the human’s leap across the gap. Danny waltzed closer to Knockout and toward Starscream’s knee. “Okay, what do I do, Doc?” 

“Take the sealant and put it under the plating over the parts I just welded. It will keep it together and help with the nanobot healing process,” Knockout explained. The human simply nodded and reached up to the container, which was almost as tall as him, and pulled out some of the sealant in a big glob on his hands, turning back to Starscream. Starscream stayed perfectly still during the application, probably trying not to crush the human's fragile fingers in the joint. 

Danny stepped back after applying it and looked up at Knockout, who scoffed and turned his helm away. “Not bad for a fleshling,” He muttered. “Maybe you’re not as useless as I thought.”

Danny smirked. “High praise, coming from you. Does this mean I’m officially going to be the new Decepticon pet lab assistant?” 

Knockout scoffed. “Please, I already have my assistant. You are just lucky he was out on a mission today. I don’t want any more of your carbon-based human filth in my lab...” He paused glancing down at the seeker on the table and back towards the human. “Though I suppose you can work on Starscream whenever he comes in. Maybe then, you can do that scrap on your own and I don’t have to deal with him anymore.”

Starscream sat up off the berth. “If I had my way, neither of you would be rooting around my systems. Yet here we are.” Starscream was ignored as the human addressed Knockout.

“If that will be the case, can I have some data pads on cybertronian biology, specifically seekers? I’ll try and read up before our next inevitable Starscream injury.” The human cocked a hip.

Knockout put a digit to his chin. “I’ll see what I can find. Then, maybe one day, you will actually make a useful second assistant.” The human merely chuckled.

Starscream groaned again. “Primus, spare me. If you two are done bonding, I’d like to get out of here before the next solar cycle.”

“Cool your jets, Heels, I’m coming.” The human responded, looking up at the seeker, who simply picked the human up and tried to balance on one leg.

Knockout did one last vital scan over Starscream and waved him off. “Just make sure to stay off of that leg as much as possible for the next two solar cycles.” 

Starscream muttered something in response which didn’t quite meet Knockout’s audials but the human shouted out a response. “I’ll try my best to keep him off it, Knockout. Thanks again!” He then waved over Starscream’s shoulder that he had climbed up onto. 

That really is one strange human.

---

Haunting the Nemesis

[stellar-collective]

Just for fun: in your Canon, who gets what Element of Harmony?

OH MY GOSH I WAS LITERALLY JUST THINKING ABOUT THESE GUYS AS PONIES OK OK

wELL here’s the thing. we don’t have enough developed characters from the Agency to fill out the Elements of Harmony, so i decided to go a bit AU for this one and turn some villains into heroes so we can have a full bracket!

after much deliberation, i have assigned the following: Agent Phoenix as Magic, Reginald as Laughter, Ollie as Loyalty, Solaris as Honesty, Juniper as Generosity, and Prism as Kindness. i’ll go into detail as to why and also give them all silly pony names and cutie marks and such under the cut :P

Agent Phoenix’s name remains the same (since it’s an alias anyway), and they have a lighter with a phoenix feather behind it as their cutie mark. tbh i have no idea what type of pony they’d be bc like you’d think unicorn bc of their TK but then what’s the point of the implant so maybe they’re a pegasus? idk, doesn’t matter, anyway— besides the fact that they have telekinesis, i made them Magic bc they embody the magical elements of friendship; the sudden click with someone you hardly know, the unlikely ally, the almost supernatural element of it all that makes people care so much about each other that, bound by nothing but mutual affection, they can take down world-ending threats.

Reginald becomes Ruffled Feathers (his friends call him Ruffles). he’s a pegasus with a headset emblazoned with the Agency logo on it for a cutie mark. i made him Laughter because his entire thing is keeping a lighthearted attitude in order to put people at ease. dead-pan jokes, banter, quips—he’s always ready to pick up the mood! he sometimes can’t take things seriously to the point he seems a little heartless, but he really does care!

Ollie becomes Otter Pop! he’s an earth pony with a fish on a hook for his cutie mark. obviously he HAD to be Loyalty bc like *gestures at his entire character* it’s a flaw just as much as a virtue since people tend to use his good-hearted and sincere dedication to take advantage of him, but with a good group of friends behind him, you’ll never find somepony more trustworthy or reliable.

Solaris becomes Commander Solar Flare, a pegasus with a supernova cutie mark. it’s a little difficult to find someone to embody Honesty in a game series about subterfuge, but i think that she can fit the bill. she’s blunt and to-the-point, rarely sugar-coating things. she’s not just brutally honest about the bad things, though; she’s the first to point out an accomplishment or something done right. she’s who you want working on a project with you because you know she won’t hesitate to tell you how things can be improved, but you can also completely trust when she says something is excellent.

Juniper becomes Ivy Veneer, an earth pony with a mask cutie mark. and maybe he’s a changeling too, idk. he may be a bit bratty and egotistical, but i gave him Generosity because he LOVES using the talents he worked his tail off to develop to help others. he’s the first one to suggest throwing a party to celebrate an accomplishment (even if you haven’t fully completed it yet) and if you need it he’s always ready to give you presents or a show or even just his time. yes, he can appear self-centered, but he simply Knows His Worth and wants to make sure his friends know theirs! he’s the guy who will yell at you if you talk bad about yourself lol

Prism becomes Prismatic Mirror, a unicorn with a glowing blue crystal combined with a gear as her cutie mark. she’s Kindness because truly all she wants is to leave behind a world made a little better and sweeter for her presence. sometimes she’ll take her plans too far, getting lost in the details and losing sight of what the person she’s trying to help actually needs, but her strong morals and big heart will always lead her back to doing the right thing.

feels funny making the ieytd villains THIS sympathetic but hopefully it still aligns w their characterizations! either way it was a fun lil exercise. i luv ponies <3

[tarakanpaintedpurple]

Tell me about your oc's

-Guardian Healthcare

Wait

-Guardian Headcanons

FINALLY I CAN RAMBLE ABOUT MY GUARDIANS

So i have two of them for now, a solar hunter named Venik and a stasis hunter Nezabud-17.

Venik

Venik is a human solar hunter. She was resurrected at the Tangled Shore and spent a big portion of her life as Spider‘s dark horse. She escaped, thanks to her Eliksni friend - Amiks - and ghost, Rudd-i (and also two other characters whom i have no art of (yet)).

Upon arrival to the Last City, she mainly made glimmer in Crucible, where she met Nezabud-17. Although they became acquaintances, they didn’t have the chance to become friends until Venik rescued Nezabud from the Hive lair on Titan.

(Small fact: after his rescue from the Hive lair, there was some time before Nezabud acquired his prosthetics, so Venik volunteered to help him get around, and did so by giving him piggyback rides)

Nowadays, Venik main source of glimmer is racing outside of the City and Crucible, although she accepts vanguard missions when paired with Nezabud.

(She also pronounces her Ks and Ss very loudly and distinctively)

Nezabud-17

Nezabud is an ex-solar hunter, who now uses stasis. He was resurrected on Venus and had to hastily get to the Last City, as he and his ghost Fern were noticed by the Vex. In the Last City, Nezabud-17 quickly became full of himself, which led to him making rash decisions, such as:

• almost abandoning his ghost

• using his solar energy in a slapdash manner

• and generally being an ass

All of this almost got Nezabud killed by the Hive, when his solar suddenly gave out, leaving him almost lightless. He was rescued by Venik, and through the series of healing and rethinking his life choices, he managed to get back on his feet and acquire stasis as his new power.

(Small fact: although Nezabud is a stasis user and lives mainly in his base on Europa, he taught Venik how to master her solar abilities, which helped with her spontaneous combusting)

Now, Nezabud-17 is way more humble and approachable, way more considerate of Fern. And also tries to find a way to “win” Traveler’s approval and get his solar abilities back.

(He also has a russian accent. Neither he nor Fern know where it came from.)

Thank you very much for this ask :D

[birindale]

Hi I just wanted to double check something I am pretty sure I read on this blog. Is the origin of C'yra of D'riluth iii from the original cannon or was it a later addition? Also what does "of D'riluth iii" actually mean? I remember there being some vagueness to what it means

Okay there's a long version and a short version of this story.

Short version: It was a later addition. In 2008 Mattel launched a toy line called Masters of the Universe Classics, which could only be ordered through their website and was aimed at the collector market. One of the things they did was include "character bios" in a sort of homage to the G.I. Joe toys of the 80s, which featured 'personnel files' that gave specializations and a brief character history, including their real names (e.g. Duke was actually named Conrad S. Hauser).

Catra's figure was released in 2011 for about $65 USD. Her bio (which I've lifted from a Poe Ghostal review) is as follows:

We (I, and my friends whom I've pestered for opinions) are pretty sure D'Riluth III is the name of her planet, even though another planet in the same solar system (from the New Adventures of He-Man in the 90s) has the Arabic numeral 7, so including Roman numerals is a strange choice.

Long version: There was a fellow working for Mattel at the time named Scott "Toyguru" Neitlich, and he was (and remains to this day) exceptionally bad at things like 'writing' and 'creativity'. He was never very interested in She-Ra, though he loves to tell the story of stealing his sister's doll one year, so to him Catra is simply an agent of the Horde... which, in order to adhere to the 2002-2003 tv show, was now 5,000 years old. This bio directly contradicts the Filmation canon of Catra's mask having belonged to the Magicat queen, for instance, and introduces a number of confusing details.

One of the least popular was Adora being Hordak's "step-daughter" instead of his "adopted daughter", which was already kind of a gray area since he didn't exactly raise her. Scott digging in his heels on the matter was actually how I learned he'd written the thing in the first place:

Now you may be wondering, jeez, it's pretty confusing and the writing isn't great but aren't you being kind of harsh? Surely the push-back from the He-Fans was bad enough. Well give me a minute, dang. This is the long version!

I reached out to him about a year and half ago to ask 1. How it's pronounced, 2. If he could confirm that D'Riluth III is the planet, and 3. If he remembered how he came up with it. He told me the following:

Some backstory here--Scott runs a bit of a one-man content farm, in an effort to avoid paying hosting fees for advertisements or actually engaging in SEO. He is a marketing consultant.

He used to upload a 5-10 minute video every day, but shortly after I contacted him that dropped to only five a week, and his weekly "Director's Commentary" videos about MOTUC figures that he worked on (largely just explaining who the character even is in an unedited stream of consciousness, as his videos became slideshows of google images) moved to bi-weekly.

I was like, okay, he left Mattel in 2014 right? So surely once he's through that year he'll get to this new series.

Nope! He's doing 2015 too! So I reached out again in January, just to like. See if he was still intending to cover the 'real names', which imo should have been part of his commentary to begin with, but...

He had forgotten <3 I explained no, I was asking about these specific questions that I had outlined in my first email (I had replied to his last message in the chain for simplicity's sake), and he just said he'd be doing it soon. So I was like oh, cool, do you know if you'll be doing one a week still? since that would put a Catra video about 4 years out as he does them in release order, and he then promised he'd get to it soon and didn't answer the question.

Annoying, certainly, but whatever. Unless one of us dies horribly I can wait it out, right?

WRONG.

Scott, being an idiot, has not credited a single one of the images he lifted from google over his four years of mostly-daily slideshows. And recently, somebody fucking noticed!

So this guy--Ethan Wilson, a very talented toy photographer and reviewer--was informed that Scott (in his capacity as Spector Creative, the name of his YouTube channel/consulting business) had been using his pictures in videos. Actually, let me use Ethan's own words here:

I decided to dig a little deeper into Spector’s channel, and found 81 instances of my photos being used in 68 of the channels videos.  None of these featured credit to me for use of the photos, and 48 of the 81 instances removed or obstructed my watermarks.

-About This Spector Creative Thing

I very strongly encourage you to read through this linked post, as it gets worse! Somehow!!

Scott, not noticing these as they came in over the course of 10 days, logged in to discover his channel had been taken down. He emailed Ethan in something of a panic to ask that Ethan reverse the claims as a 'professional favor', as Scott got all his clients through his channel's "advertising".

Now you're never gonna believe this... but when he and Ethan came to an understanding, suddenly Scott didn't give a shit.

He released a libelous video claiming Ethan had no rights to the images (he does) and that Scott could use them all he wanted because of Fair Use (he can't) and emailed Ethan the following.

First of all: this is bullshit. Copyright is automatic in the US, trademark wouldn't apply regardless, and as Scott should fucking know by now Ethan doesn't have a 'channel', he has a blog.

Second, he shot himself in the foot with the Fair Use defense by outright stating that his channel is his exclusive advertisement for his business and that he depends on his content to make a living. He said in his first video that it was "educational" 🙄

So Ethan realized Scott was a Fucking Liar and decided he should just copyright claim the rest of Scott's shit, in order to protect his images and rights thereto. YouTube can't take the channel down again unless Ethan is willing to pursue legal action--which he isn't, because he has a full time job and two kids and even though he'd probably win, it's a lot of time and energy.

I and a few others were trying to convince him that it would be worth it anyway, and looking into identifying and contacting the other artists Scott's stolen from over the years, when... Scott released a book. His first-ever graphic novel [looks into the camera like i'm on the office]

drawn entirely by AI.

So we have a frankenstein's monster of copyright infringement masquerading as illustrations (with all the uncanny valley that implies), Scott's technically and practically terrible writing, and the plot is Greek mythology. There are four and a half typos just in the free sample, and that's not including the words in images like his map or logo. He claims the title is a registered trademark but it certainly isn't registered in his state, or federally, and it's already in use by several other brands, so I wouldn't believe him even if he hadn't demonstrated a lack of understanding of copyright & trademark as recently as last week.

So I'm kinda fucking done waiting for answers! I can't trust a thing out of this guy's mouth! And he's pretty stupid, so do I even care what he thinks? I have decided that no. No I do not. I'll check back in 2028 and if he's survived + actually followed through then maybe I'll give his video a watch but until then it is simply pissing me off to remember this guy exists.

Sorry this turned into a rant I'm just really starting to loathe the guy. It's been an infuriating week or two. But uh... No, it's only canon to this one action figure line that ran for a little over a decade. We're certainly not beholden to it, it's more of a fun little in-joke for the fandom these days. You see someone use C'yra and you're like haha I know her! It's fun :3 Regardless of Scott's bullshit I enjoy seeing it around, and it's not like he owns or benefits from it in any way when maybe 1% of the people using it know where it comes from (and the people who know it was him specifically may be limited to the followers that have watched me complain about it).

Thank you for asking, I really do love asks even if the answer isn't what I want it to be lol. I'm happy to verify or explain anything I can!

[kenzieieieiei]

Ask questions abt this au if your interested! :))

To the people who wanted the swap roles/personality tsams au, I gave up on it. The roles and designs were confusing me and it got complicated for my tiny brain to understand, And also I never make aus and I got overwhelmed and artblock. BUT I HAVE A NEW AU IN THE WORKS.

JS A BTW IVE NEVER DRAWN A OLD MAN SO THE CREATOR IS RLLY UGLY..

Also yes their last name is drop like the candy in the game 😭🙏

So this au takes place in the city where sun, moon, earth and lunar live in their own apartment, if you read the notes on the drawings than it explains the situation a lil more, lunar ran away from eclipse and their cousins (Sun and moon) took lunar in (kinda adopting him as a lil brother) than earth started to realize how bad her dad was and decided to look for her siblings (Sun and moon barely met her because they ran away at a young age idk still working on this story a lillllll 😭🙏) so she started to live in Sun and moon's apartment along with lunar.

When eclipse gotten a lil better (I think cuz he started to realize how much of an ass he is) he started hanging out with earth and sometimes crashed at their apartment, the brothers hated it but he was quiet and earth liked him. (NOT A SHIP THEIR COUSINS) Earth helps eclipse with his thoughts and issues as eclipse doesn't rlly open up but he's calm with earth, earth takes care of him always keeping in contact during work while eclipse wanders around the city, earth gives him extra clothes, food and she even washes his clothes and does his hair.

Lunar still hates eclipse but he's learned to kinda deal with him around, they hang out a little as lunar plays video games in the apartment eclipse will sit far away from him on the couch sometimes he will even give him advice on how to play some games!

!!SO THIS PART OF THE AU I MIGHT SCRAP!! SO I CANT PROMISE ITLL STAY APART OF IT!!

Sun and moon work in a cat café lunar will help sometimes but not rlly, he mostly just plays with the cats

Here's some of the cat designs I have so far!

But I might scrap the cat café part, depends how I feel.

JS A WARNIN IVE NEVER MADE A FAMILY TREE AND I HAVE NO IDEA HOW THEY WORK!!

This is an old family tree I've made !!for this au only it's not canon to the real tsbs universe!! I might scrap ruin, maybe the bloodmoon twins etc from this universe

I still have to design solar, killcode and etc. ALSO THE CREATOR AND KILL CODE ARE BROTHERSSS I don't rlly focus on their relationship during the series, I just wanted to link the family tree up yk

TYSM FOR READIN THIS IM SORRY I WENT ON A SPREE I JS NEVER MAKE AUS AND I FINALLY GOT SMTH I ENJOY 🥲

[feralportalmaster]

Eurovision 2024 songs that remind me of the Life Series

“SAND” by SABA (Denmark): Desert Duo

Literally the name of the song is sand

“Guess we built a castle out of sand” metaphorical and literal reference to the Sand Fortress from Third Life

“Yesterday I had you by my side, now we’re just like strangers in the night” general reference to the splitting of friendships between seasons

“Doomsday Blue” by Bambi Thug (Ireland): Double Life PearlescentMoon

Witch themes, Scarlet Pearl

“I know you’re living a lie” Scott living with a soulmate who isn’t actually his

“I guess you’d rather have a star than the moon” solar/tarot themes, Scott=Star, Pearl=Moon, Scott choosing to value himself and his chosen partner over Pearl

“Your favourite color, compared to the others is doom, doomsday blue” Scott’s association with the colour blue

(also plz check out @aresonist they made art of pearl and Doomsday Blues which is awesome)

“Ulveham” by Gåte (Norway): Double Life PearlescentMoon (yes again)

“Ho gav meg ein ham som ulve grå” (Then she gave me skin like a grey wolf), wolf themes remind me of Tilly and her wolf army

“Ho svor meg einsam i skogjen gå” (She cursed me to walk the forest alone), Pearl being abandoned

The song talks about a young maiden who’s mother died (Scott’s relationship with Pearl) and was replaced by an evil stepmother who cast her out (Scott’s relationship with Cleo)

The song also talks about the maiden not being satisfied until she spilled the blood of both her stepmother and her brother (Cleo and by proxy Martyn)

“The Code” by Nemo (Switzerland): Eyes and Ears AU Martyn InTheLittlewood

“I, I went to Hell and back, To find myself on track”, something something Vtuber lore

“I broke the code” general language about hacking the computer system, aka breaking the code of the Watchers

“Somewhere between the O's and ones, That's where I found my kingdom come, My heart beats like a drum” this verse makes me think of Limited Life finale??

(tbh this song could also be Watcher Grian)

Should I add any more songs??

[hyperpotamianarch]

Why is Hannukah 8 days if the oil sufficed for one day? Day 8

Today is the 8th day of Hannukah, or Zot Hannukah as it is known. And I really wanted to bring something interesting to the table. Sadly, though, I noticed a theme in the answers I gave, and the only way to keep up with the theme was to break every rule. So I'm now going to talk about something that technically isn't directly about Hannukah, not to speak of the oil cruse miracle.

In the Gemara, Masechet 'Avodah Zarah 8A, there's a story about Adam HaRishon, the first human. The story goes that after his banishment from the Garden of Eden, Adam saw that the days got shorter and shorter, and he worried that the world is returning to its primal state and this is how his death sentence would be carried. And so, he fasted for eight days, no eating and no drinking. Then, after the eighth day, he saw that the days were getting longer again, so he celebrated for eight days, and for the next year - he made all sixteen days a holiday. The Gemara continues to explain that humanity later took this holiday and made it pagan, but that's another story.

So, what does that have to do with Hannukah? And why in the world did Adam take 8 days for each direction?

Well, the answer to the first of those questions is a little obvious: Hannukah is always during this time of the Solar year, not too far from the Winter Solstice. Whether we like it or not, Hannukah always occurs just around the time polytheistic cultures from around the northern hemisphere celebrate the lengthening of days. Coincidence? Well... Historically it's hard to say otherwise, but when it comes to religion there will always be spiritual explanations.

In order to see what I can say about the second question and how I can tie those holidays together, I went to look at what Maharal of Prague, Rabbi Yehudah Loew, had to say on the topic in his 'Hidushei Aggadot. Now, I didn't bother translating the name of any book so far, but I still want to note that this is an example of something I can't translate. If any of you has even the hint of idea on how to translate the words 'Hidushim (as in חידושי תורה) or Aggadot, I'm all ears. (And don't tell me Aggadot is legends. That's not a good translation.)

Anyway, in this book Maharal goes over the Aggadot of the Gemara and explains them. On this story, he starts of with a surprisingly realistic explanation to the eight days: that's the amount of time it takes to notice a change. I'm bound to agree - from my experience, sunset moves about five minutes in a week on average, based on prayer times for Shabbat. This is just about a noticeable change.

But Maharal isn't known for his realistic explanations. He's known for his ideas on the spiritual meaning of numbers. Or, well, he's known for the legend that he created a Golem, but right after that there's his numerology. So obviously, he doesn't leave it at that. As mentioned in a previous post in this series, his idea of the number 8 is that it's one above nature,a step beyond the world that was created in seven days. He thus explains that Adam fasted for eight days because the loss resulting from his sin is something that comes from within the created world. Therefore, by trying to reach through the number eight to beyond the world, he attempts to pull light from beyond all that, from beyond the created world. And when he saw the days lengthening again - he new it cane from the merit of something beyond the created world, which is why he celebrated eight days.

To try and find a connection, I went to the same book on the portion of the Gemara that tells the story of Hannukah - Shabbat 21B. Maharal talks a lot there about the fight against the Greeks (Seleucids, to be more accurate, but the Hebrew word used is the one for Greeks) and spiritual and numerological explanations on it, including - again - the idea of eight being a number of being above nature, something to do with the different parts of the Temple building and the origin of light not being the seven-armed Menorah but the inside of Kodesh HaKodashim, possibly relating the the idea that the light of the Menorah isn't there to give G-d light, but to show that G-d is among the people of Israel. The light comes from a source above nature. He also touches the idea of Brit Milah being related and a couple of stuff about the Temple and the Tabernacle, the Mishcan. So I suppose there is a connection - the light that comes from a source above the natural world is both what caused the day to start lengthen again and what brought the Hasmoneans light for the Menorah and to defeat the Seleucids.

Oddly enough, Maharal finishes it all by supplying an answer to the Beit Yosef question - one of Beit Yosef's own answers, that only an eighth of the oil burned each day. So IDK. I guess he thinks it fits?

A couple more notes: firstly, Maharal was more or less contemporary to the Beit Yosef. I think he did see the book, though, considering the printing press and everything. Secondly, I have only discovered it today but I accidentally deceived you. I told you I'll give you the original source of every answer, but I didn't know that the Beit Yosef actually took his answers from an older source: Tosafot HaRosh.

To not elaborate too much, Rabbenu Asher bar Yehi'el (AKA the Rosh) was the writer of the Tur's (Rabbi Ya'akov bar Asher's) father, and the last of Ba'alei HaTosafot - a series of Jewish schools of learning across central and western Europe around the 12th-14th centuries. It's more complex, but I'm not sure I can find the right words to explain that. The Rosh predates the Beit Yosef by about two centuries, and the Beit Yosef counts him among his most influential Poskim. So I do think he copied his answers from the Rosh. Which is fine, but I don't appreciate the fact he didn't cite his source.

Final point: the answers I've suggested could be nearly divided to three groups: 1. The miracle did start at the first day, 2. The first day has another miracle, and 3. The number 8 has significant meaning unto itself. Given enough time, I could probably try to explore this in more detail, but I try to make these daily post in a particular timeframe that I've already passed so I think I'll be done for now.

זאת חנוכה שמח!

[bai-rouran]

I’ve been contacted multiple times by people asking for copies of my old Pantalone/Dottore/Baizhu posts since Natlan was released. I sincerely appreciate folks interest, but I will not be reposting those works. They were high-effort, I had a ton of fun writing them and educating folks on history, but the attention they received resulted in monetized content theft, and set off unstable people. Including an obsessive Pantalone fan who spent 6 months using numerous alts to harass me and anyone else who posted about the character, until I finally gave up and deleted. I wish I was joking.

That said… I won’t deprive you of the raw info and feel bad seeing how many people actually liked and missed the posts. Here’s a list of every inspiration Hoyo’s used for Pantalone, Baizhu, and Dottore’s roles/designs so far.

*DON’T READ THIS if you’re concerned with the possibility of spoilers.*

1. Pantalone/Magnifico, greedy/ lecherous villain archetype of the Commedia dell’arte

2. Il Dottore/Gratiano/Balanzone Lombardi, self-important/lecherous archetype of the Commedia dell’arte

3. The Mule/Magnifico from the “Foundation” series by Isaac Asimov (hint-hint, have you met him in Natlan yet? coughSimulankacough)

4. The demon Pan from “The Golden Compass” (shape shifting, hint-hint-hint)

5. Saint Pantaleon/Pantaleimon of Nicomedia (“All Things Like a Lion”, “All-Compassionate”)

6. Saint Pantaleon/Pantaleimon Sudzhaksky the Immortal

7. Puppet/Phantom/Beast/“True” form of Sorcerer King Ganondorf from “The Legend of Zelda” series

8. Raven & Trigon from “Teen Titans”

9. Zhu Bajie (patron saint of masseuses, hostesses, & prostitutes that inspired Ganondorf’s design) and Sun Wuking from 16th century “Journey to the West” by Wu Cheng’en

10. Emperor Wang Mang of China via Zhi Yi’s in-game Classical Chinese reference (Xiao Quan Zhi Yi)

11. Pantaleon Pantoja from “Pantaleon y las Visitadoras” comedic novel/movie about allegedly true military prostitution operation, by Mario Vargas Llosa (coughpearlgalleycough)

12. The Rouran Khaganate and Yujiulu Shelun (hint-hint, you’ve been on Pants’ boats already)

13. Pappus of Alexandria (Pappus Line, projective planes)

14. Pappus of the Attelan Farce (Harbinger to Commedia Pantalone)

15. Kavad I / Sheroe, meaning“The Lion”

16. Kavad II, King of Kings

17. “Siroe” Opera by Handel

18. Khosrow I / Anushirvan, the Immortal Soul

19. Khosrow II, last King of Kings

20. Babak Khorramdin (Zoroastrianism as with “Zandik”)

21. Polonius from Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”

22. Lotus-Eaters from Homer’s “Odyssey” (coughpearlgalleyagaincough, in-game achievement referencing lotus-eaters)

23. Apollonius of Tyana/Balinus, Master of the Talismans (corresponding to certain Sumeru works about a Jinn in a bottle: knock-off Jesus according to Philostratus’ embellishments)

24. Apollonius of Perga (A massive impact crater on the moon is named after him)

25. Mani the Manichaeist Prophet (also knock-off Jesus, commemorated on Baizhu’s birthday)

26. Richard Kuisel & Jean Coutrout, referencing human tendency towards conspiratorial gullibility

27. M.C. Escher, block-art-illusionist. Emphasis on his illusionist dualist works.

28. Xu Xian from “Legend of the White Snake”

29. “Lazzo of the Mirror” (Baizhu/Tartaglia interaction)

30. “Lazzo of Pantalone’s Story” (giant spoiler)

31. Eros (“Love”)

32. Erikepaios, “Power” as Ganondorf’s fragment of the Triforce represents

33. Mithraic lion, Zoroastrian lion deity wrapped in snake

34. Yaldabaoth, false Gnostic god characterized as lion-headed snake (see: Persona 5’s interpretation)

35. Aesclepius/“Surapio” via Enkanomiya

In-Game Hints: Enjou’s manipulations, Natlan’s abyssal enemies, solar themes, “segments,” and the Iniquitous Baptist. Research these characters/stories/histories/topics carefully, then look at how they relate to game lore. Happy hunting!