#some of them have parts that Do correspond with specific moments!

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

Hi I'm back I Passed out and when I woke up I realized I Made this so Have it (The songs might correspond to specific moments you've talked about before, all in all, this is about 70 Minutes of Songs). Feel free to also bash my music tastes, I can Take it.

Sleepwalk (Forrest Day)

Rule #21 - Memento Mori (Fish in a Birdcage)

Puppet Loosely Strung (The Correspondents)

Curses (The Crane Wives)

Lights Go Down (I DONT KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME)

Creature (Half Alive)

Rule #4 - Fish in a Birdcage (Fish in a Birdcage)

Dr. Sunshine is Dead (Will Wood and the Tapeworms)

I'll Sleep When I'm Dead (Set it Off)

Stressed Out (Twenty One Pilots)

Problems (Mother Mother)

Oh Ana (Mother Mother)

New Invention (I DONT KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME)

Golden (Elysewood)

Absinthe (I DONT KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME)

Turn the Lights Off (Tally Hall)

Identity (Grandson)

Rät (Penelope Scott)

Wires (The Neighborhood)

SugarCrash! (ElyOtto)

one, i am in No position to bash anyone's music tastes. i will listen to anything and everything and my main playlist is titled "Clusterfuck" due to it being a mash of Everything i listen to and not-dislike

two, i've listened to some of these! Creature is on my WH playlist! New Invention is an absolute fucking banger! same with Turn The Lights Off and Sleepwalk! the rest of em have been added to my clusterfuck playlist

three, Most Of These Fit Pretty Fucking Well. they also helped me figure some au mechanics / ideas out, so thank you!! and most of the ones that didn't strike me as Lights Out have been added to my WH playlist lol

[evanbuckleyweek]

Evan Buckley Week 2024

The prompts for Evan Buckley Week 2024 are here!

This event celebrating our very own Evan "Buck" Buckley from 9-1-1 will be held from the 12th until the 18th of August 2024.

You don't need to sign up to participate, just make sure that when you post your work here on Tumblr, you use the tag #buckweek2024. Since tags can get a bit finicky here on Tumblr, you can choose to let us know you posted by also tagging @evanbuckleyweek in your post. Fics posted to ao3 can be added to the Evan Buckley Week 2024 collection.

We've provided prompts for edits as well as fanfiction and art. However, you don't have to stick to one specific list. We encourage you to choose from whichever one sparks joy, as long as you make sure to post on the corresponding day the prompt belongs to!

Edits

For edits, we have some prompts for you where you can pick your Buck-related favorites to make an edit with. All kinds of edits are welcome! Show us your gifs, image-edits and collages!

Day 1: Buck + favorite rescue

Day 2: Buck + favorite line

Day 3: Buck + favorite near death experience

Day 4: Buck + hugs

Day 5: Buck + bi disaster moments

Day 6: Buck + love language

Day 7: favorite headcanon or free choice

Fic & art

For fics and art we're giving you a few prompts to choose from every day. You can choose only one of these, or choose to combine two or all three of them! Every day consists of a line, a theme and a feeling.

Every part of the prompts is completely open to your interpretation. Surprise us with your creativity! We look forward to your fics and all variations of art and other creative works!

Day 1: “Why did you do that?” | reckless behavior | fear

Day 2: “This is my home” | catharsis | hope

Day 3: “Stop lying” | walking away | anger

Day 4: "I really don't like thunderstorms" | late night conversations | anxiety

Day 5: “I wonder what it would have been like if I had known sooner” | bi pride | acceptance

Day 6: "that's why I love you" | love languages | joy

Day 7: favorite headcanon or free choice

Some last things before you go and create your masterpieces:

Please make sure that your fics on ao3 are tagged with the proper ratings and warnings.

We want to ask you to refrain from submitting any of the following: works with character bashing or ship bashing as well as works containing explicit rape/non-con, pedophilia and incest (exploring the aftermath or trauma of these things is okay). Fics that do contain any of these will not be accepted into the ao3 collection and posts will not be reblogged to the Evan Buckley Week blog.

If you have a question, check our FAQ page to see if the answer is there or drop an ask in our inbox!

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Do you have any headcanons or anything of the sort regarding Precipice Moirai/PreMo? I'd like to hear what your thoughts are about them!

I don't think about Premo a ton (for people who are confused, this is Idia's favorite idol group), but here's how I personally picture them:

They're sisters.

They look youngish (or "ageless") but they're actually a bazillion years old. Don't ask them about how old they are or they'll give you that smile that doesn't fully reach their eyes.

Because they're so old, they've seen sooo much and are thus easily bored. They live for listening in on drama and scandals because those can get so absurd it provides some fleeting entertainment to them.

In interviews and talk shows, they drop very archaic, outdated jokes and have refined manners of speaking. It's an odd mix of how your grandma might talk combined with modern anachronisms (slang). It's very "how do you do, fellow kids" energy.

They get along in public, but they constantly bicker and act overly competitive in private (usually over borrowed items).

They came up with a really complicated and dark “anime-esque” backstory for how their group got together. No one knows if the backstory is really true or if it’s something their marketing team came up with as part of their “lore”.

In some interpretations, the Fates are specified as Clotho (who spins the threads of fate with her spindle), Lachesis (who measures the threads of fate using a measuring tape), and Atropos (who cuts the threads of fate using shears). In other interpretations, Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos represent past, present, and future respectively.

I think of each girl as being representative of one place in time. For example, the Fate representative of the present may be a carefree party goer who wants to "live in the moment", without thinking much of the consequences (the future) or her previous mistakes (the past).

I see Premo banking on these themes as motifs or image items for the corresponding idol girl (so one represents the past with her spindle, one represents the present with her measuring tape, etc.). I also headcanon that the idols have their own merch and fandom hand signals which make reference to each Fate's respective task. For example, there may be scissors on a Premo T-shirt or a scissor-like hand shape or cutting motion made to signal that you stan "Atropos" of the Fates.

Eyes are a prominent motif and are more universally associated with the group as a whole rather than an individual member. (This is because the Fates were fighting over a single eyeball in Disney's Hercules.)

It’s implied that the girls wear black, but I headcanon that most of their outfits are monochromatic, save for like maybe a few colorful accessories.

It would be cool if they also incorporated elements of Japanese mythology into their group's theme. More specifically, I love the idea of the three girls wearing a red ribbon or some slash of red on their outfits each time they perform. This would be a reference to the "red thread of fate" which permeates many east Asian cultures. It is said that this "thread of fate" connects you to someone you are destined to meet someday, someone who will change your life in some significant way. Typically this means romantically (which would fit in the culture of Japan promoting idols as "pure" and "avaliable" to their fans), but it can also be interpreted platonically. I think this makes a lot of sense given that the Fates are marketed as "three girls bound by Fate".

They blend traditional dance and attire with modern practices. It's very important to them to retain their history and culture, as well as to share it with a new generation so that they are preserved for the future.

They partner up/collaborate with organizations and programs that seek to educate others about history, such as museums and restoration projects. Again, this is because Premo truly cares about preserving history and teaching it to others.

[princedesnuees]

CALL ME MAYBE — gn!reader x jaehyun.

pairing: gn!reader x jaehyun. genre: hurt/comfort, angst, smut. summary: you work as a phone sex operator. naturally, one of your customer wants something a bit specific... warnings: phone sex. words: 1.5k

It is your duty to take care of your customer during the allotted time. This is your job as a phone sex operator, after all. The call time is determined by the amount paid. Some customers just need twenty minutes. Sometimes much more. Maybe all day. Maybe the entire night. You don't mind, you like doing this. What just was for spending time changed into a real full time job. Everybody says you're made for this. And you would be a liar if you say that you're not good at satisfying your phone correspondent.

It's late at night. You've just ended with an old man. The lonely kind, not really interesting, quite sad actually. But you had nice time. At the end, he sounded happy and thanked you before hang up. Mission accomplished.

And now, what?

You don't have time to think. The phone's ringing.

You pick up, comfortably seated in your chair. Usually, it's you who starts the conversation. And you were willing to do so, until a voice rises from the receiver.

"Hi."

As usual, it's a man. You smile against the phone. What a soft, deep voice you hear.

"Hey baby… How you doing?"

"Not really good."

"Oh… Would you like speak about it?"

Other usual part of your job: the therapist side. You are used to listening to your customers complaining about their life, what's going on, what weighs on them. And it's a side of this job you truly like. Get to know someone. Their past, their present. What they went through. Their dreams, their fears. You can imagine every details just by closing your eyes. And in all these stories, all you have to do is listen and comfort them in a very special way.

"My wife left me."

"Baby. I'm sorry…"

"Don't be. I was never there for her."

"How do you feel?"

"In a shitty way."

"Need me to reassure you a little…?"

"Yeah. That's why I phoned you. They say… You're a good listener."

"And I will. Do you mind telling me your name?"

"Call me Jay."

"Jay… What a sweet name."

"I'll pay for one hour. Maybe more."

"Alright, Jay. I'm all yours. What do you need tonight?"

"Someone who can… help me to make the pain go."

"You feel really, really sad about what happened, don't you…"

"Yeah."

You listen closely, and then hear like a sob. Of course, it must be awfully difficult.

"You were together since a long time?"

"Almost five years. I've been… dumb. Y'know. Too much taken by my career. Money, fame, all that stuff. But now… It just doesn't have sense anymore. I realized it too late."

Sadness is blending to his voice.

"Baby… Everything will be okay. Don't blame yourself. You did your best." You whisper on a reassuring tone.

"I even wonder if she cheated on me. No. I know she did."

"Don't think about it. Think about yourself and your well-being. I'm here for you baby. Just ask me something that could bring you joy. Anything I can do."

"It's been a couple of weeks I didn't cum, you know. I can't anymore. That makes me sad when I try with someone else, and I don't like to do it alone. Watching porn doesn't do anything to me. I even feel disgusted."

"Okay, sweetheart. Do you want me to talk, to help you cum?"

"… Yeah. I want."

"Are you sitting comfortably?"

"I'm on the ground of my kitchen."

Oh. That's unusual.

"Everything's okay, baby?…" You want to be sure.

"Yeah. I was… cooking when I started to feel bad. Really bad. My wife used to prepare diner before I got home. It reminded me her, while she was cooking. That's stupid, I know."

"Not, it's not. Jay, don't think your feeling are stupids. They are important, and so you are."

"Maybe."

"Would you like to stay here?"

"Yeah. Don't want to go upstairs. It's okay. The tiles are warm now."

And then, you hear a soft laugh. Really, really soft. Almost inaudible. But that makes you smile.

"Fine, Jay. Let's start. Remember, this is your moment. You can ask me whatever you want or need."

"Okay."

"Relax yourself, baby… I'm here. I'm with you. Imagine me, standing by your side. You're not alone. I can hug you if you want. Do you?"

"Yeah."

"I'm here, my arms around your waist… You can put your head on my shoulder, close your eyes…" At this moment, your voice was akin to that of a mother soothing her child. A gentle, nurturing voice, one in which everyone would like to take refuge. This is the way you do. Comforting your visitor the time they come to you. "There… How do you feel, baby?"

A long silence responds. But you're not worried. Some people need this time. Time that life didn't grant them. And you were right. A few seconds later, his voice arises.

"I… feel good…"

"Can you feel my hand on your hips, right now? Can you… feel… my warmth enveloping you?"

"Hmm…"

You listen, carefully. Each sound is an important hint of your customer's mood.

"Jay… I'm sure… you have… a wonderful body… Don't you? Because I can sense it just by touching you."

"Touch me more."

"Where do you want me to touch, baby?"

"Go under my shirt."

"Alright. I'm here, right now… Do you feel it? My hand on your body… It's warm, Jay…"

"Yeah… Warm."

"Can I go on your thighs? I promise, I'm not heavy… And… this will be… more pleasant."

"Go on."

"Aah… It's been… a while since… I went over a man like you…"

"Hmm…"

You hear him moaning, proof that he begins to feel really relaxed. Perfect.

"You know… Since I am all yours… Would you like to… try something with me?"

"Yeah."

"Can we put off this belt? Let me do it for you… There…"

His breath is heavier. You don't have intention to stop.

"Hey, Jay… Don't you feel… too tight…?"

"I… I'm… I try to… caressing… myself…"

"That's good… Do it at your pace, baby, okay?… What are you thinking about…?"

"You. Your pelvis… against mine…"

"Hmm… This is exactly… what I do… Can you feel me… rubbing gently on you…?"

"Yeah. I… fucking feel it."

Your smile is wider. Maybe you've started to caress yourself, too.

"Jay… Is that a big, generous and warm cock I can feel beneath these pants…?"

"Fuck…"

"Yeah, that is. Oh my god… It's harder and harder… Hmm…"

"Touch it."

"It's been a while you didn't use your pretty cock, Jay… But don't worry because… Tonight… This will change. And I can assure you… That you're well-endowed. To be honest, I've rarely seen a beautiful cock like yours during a while."

"Shit, this is… Aaah… Take it in your hand."

"And I'm doing, baby. There… Just under your underwear… There it is… Hello, beautiful one…"

You can imagine the size wobbling in your little hand.

"Look, I can't even take it in one hand… And you're not this hard yet… Jesus…"

"P-put your goddamn…"

"Hmm ? My…"

"You're goddamn lips."

"Baby… You want me to suck your big dick?"

"Fucking do it."

"There I am… My lips all over your tip… Like this… Hmm… Your… delicious… huge… cock…"

He's moaning louder each second. This is astonishing how his voice can be this deep. You've never heard this kind of tone before, this is arousing you in your chair. Thighs closed, you're trembling like a leaf.

"Jay… I'm gonna… swallow it… entirely… Is that okay for you, baby?…"

"Don't ask: go for it. Eat it. Make it disappear inside your little mouth."

"I'm coming, baby. Let yourself go, I'm going to devour your lovely cock. My tongue wrapped around your pretty veins… Do you see me? Going up and down… Tongue lapping your dick, like a thirsty bitch… Hmm… God, you have such a wondrous taste…"

There you are. Your slow, erotic tone who made fall so many men before. It's not difficult to imagine your client masturbating himself like a damn one. You almost can hear him doing so. His wonderful cock you are sucking until the last drop.

"Fuck… Fuuuuu…. I… Aaaaah… This is… so… fucking good… Haaan…"

"Yeah baby? Do you want me to go faster? Let me do…"

"I… I gonna…"

"Your little whore is going to swallow everything until your balls are totally empty, you know that, Jay…?"

"H-… Oh my…! Hmmm… AAAAH !"

And there are the fireworks. Your man's voice explodes with magnificence. You let him enjoy this moment. His moment. A slight smile on your lips covered by his generous cum. You clean up the little mess by one movement of your tongue.

"Is this good, baby…?"

"Hell… Yeah… I… 've just… stained myself."

"You must be lovely. I'd love to see you, right now…"

"Fucking Christ. I had so much in my balls."

"Do you feel better, now?"

"Fuck yes. Much better."

"Can I lick your cum?"

"Come here, honey."

Oh yeah. You were going to find him soon as expected.

[cinderella-ish]

Adulting: What did everyone do after the curse broke?

So, I have a LOT of headcanons as to what the different characters did after the curse broke. We do get several answers in Another, but for the answers we don't get, here's what I think happened!

Tohru: I don't think the specific nature of her job would be terribly important to her, so much as just entering into the workforce. From her outfit in the Prelude epilogue, it seems like she's not doing manual labor (like cleaning, which was what I initially thought she'd be doing, since she had experience). I wonder if she's an employee at a school; her colleague kind of looks like an elementary or middle school teacher to me. I don't think Tohru would be able to teach without further education, and she was very clear that she did not want to pursue further study. I'm not sure if Japan has classified staff/paraprofessionals or an equivalent, but I think she'd be amazing at that job. I also think she probably became a stay-at-home parent as soon as she and Kyo had the means for her to do so.

Kyo: we know he became a karate instructor, and I just bet he's a fabulous teacher. I think him eventually taking over the Sohma dojo would be a full circle moment for both him and the Sohma family.

Saki: I can honestly see a lot of different jobs for her. Some favorites that I've seen in fanfic are art gallery employee, ghost hunter, and food critic. I have her becoming a hairstylist in Bloom Within Us, after attending beauty school through correspondence. Her clients ADORE her and she uses her wave-reading to make sure they're satisfied and tell them anything they really need to hear. It's common for appointments to end with her clients crying and hugging her because she's just healed some childhood wound of theirs. I could also see her becoming a ritual mortician, preparing the departed for their funeral (which would include hair, makeup, etc...) I think she'd be really good at working with grieving families and getting the deceased to look just right.

Arisa: she worked to put herself through junior college after she moved in with Kureno (though they had the money, she insisted on doing it for herself), and became a nurse in elder care. She makes friends with the crankiest old folks and cries like a baby when one of them dies.

Yuki: I shared in my Yuki headcanons post that I see Yuki going into politics and eventually working in international relations. I see him wanting to see the world far outside of the Sohma estate.

Machi: I always pictured her becoming an accountant.

Kakeru: we know he goes to college, and that he wants to help Komaki's family with their business, so I always assumed he'd major in something that would help with that. Maybe business management?

Momiji: we know he went on to take over his father's corporation. In my Momiji headcanons post, I shared that I see him going to university in Germany, and getting his MBA (or the equivalent). I think he'd need to know this before beginning his third year, so I suspect his father sat him down at some point during his second year to bring up the possibility of taking over his business, and told Momiji of his intent to "adopt" him so he could officially be part of their family again without raising his mother's suspicions (in Japan, it's common for CEOs to adopt their successors). I think this is what would've led Momiji to pursue business instead of music. I do think music is probably still a huge part of his life; I suspect he still plays violin casually, and he probably has a season subscription to orchestras in both Tokyo and Berlin (or wherever the German branch of his father's company is).

Kagura: she studied childcare, and I actually think that's a spectacular fit for her. When she's not being a total yandere over Kyo, she's a very nurturing and big-sisterly character.

Rin: so, I think Rin would continue to have major health problems for the rest of her life, and would probably struggle to find work that accommodates her needs and doesn't trigger any of her stress-related symptoms. I think she'd have short stints in a few jobs, like maybe retail, or modeling, or something artistic or design-y, but eventually I could see her just taking commissions for her own artwork when she feels like it. She seems like someone who wants very badly to contribute, and I think it would take a lot for her to accept that her body won't let her work full-time or on someone else's schedule, but Haru (and all her friends) would gently encourage her to take better care of herself, and at some point I think she'd accept that working for someone else just isn't sustainable for her long-term. (Though, pregnancy would also be extremely risky for her, and I'm surprised they had kids, let alone TWINS.)

Haru: I love that he does metalwork and makes most of his own accessories, so I always imagine him continuing that. I could also see him picking up odd jobs (like dog-walking? why does that seem like something he'd do?) from time to time. I think an independent, artisan-type job would suit him best.

Kisa and Hiro: most of the fandom seems to have Kisa becoming a teacher and Hiro becoming a lawyer, and those are absolutely perfect jobs for them.

Ritsu and Mitsuru: I like to imagine that Ritsu goes to work for Ayame, specializing in styling traditional clothing. This is how Ritsu comes back around to wearing whatever tf he wants, which ends up being a mix of "women's" kimonos and more flamboyant menswear (like his idol, Ayame). He and Mitsuru do eventually get married, and Mitsuru's the one who ends up running the onsen, because that girl deserves to relax!!!

Ayame, Mine, Shigure, Akito, Hatori, and Mayu: we mostly know what these characters do as of Another, and I don't have a ton to add except for Mayu (see below).

Megumi: Since we know Megumi becomes a teacher at Kaibara, I also headcanon that Mayu's still a much-loved teacher at Kaibara in Another, and that she and Megumi are work besties who like to mess with Makoto Takei when he's being especially obnoxious. I also headcanon that Mayu eventually introduces him to his future wife, since we know he likes older women.

Kureno: I imagine he'd become someone else's assistant; even better if he can work from home.

Yusuke and Hiroshi: In Bloom Within Us, Yusuke helps his dad run a grocery they own, and Hiroshi becomes a doctor (GP). I think, if I were only going off canon and not the elaborate backstories I created for them, I could imagine Hiroshi being someone who emcees events (almost a la Ryan Seacrest? but on a much smaller scale) and Yusuke I could see working at a University as like, a freshman advisor or residence life director. Basically someone who makes sure everyone's adjusting well to the campus and who people can go to with questions. I could actually see both of them doing this.

Kimi and Nao: side note, I kind of ship these two? But anyway, I can see Nao becoming a very stressed out CEO or (more likely) director of a non-profit, and I can totally see Kimi as someone whose job it is to secure donations for that non-profit, which she absolutely does by flirting with prospective donors. They'd be almost frighteningly effective when working together...

What do you think? Did I miss anyone?

Also, I almost used the scene where Tohru imagines their future together while at Kyoko's grave for the header image, but it made me cry, so...

[eretzyisrael]

JTA and Andrew Lapin

Almost as soon as the piece appeared online, it began drawing criticism from within the Guernica staff. Founded in 2004 partly in response to the Iraq War and named after Pablo Picasso's famous anti-war painting, the nonprofit magazine has long married literary bona fides and left-wing politics.

Joshua Gutterman Tranen, an anti-Zionist Jewish writer who has published in Guernica in the past, specifically pointed out a passage he found objectionable in which Chen briefly pauses her volunteer work after October 7, writing, "How could I continue after Hamas had massacred and kidnapped so many civilians, including Road to Recovery members, such as Vivian Silver, a longtime Canadian peace activist? And I have to admit, I was afraid for my own life."

"The moment in the Guernica essay where the Israeli writer – who never considers why Palestinian children don't have access to adequate healthcare b/c of colonization and apartheid – says she has to stop assisting them getting medical support because of 'Hamas,'" Tranen tweeted. "This is genocidal."

Chen's essay is not the first time progressive Jews and Israelis have been condemned for being insufficiently critical of Israel. The official movement to boycott Israel, for example, called for a boycott of Standing Together, an Israeli-Palestinian coexistence group that opposes the war, saying that the group promotes "normalization" of Israel. And when Haymarket Books, a left-wing publisher, recently announced a book co-authored by longtime leaders of the anti-Zionist group Jewish Voice for Peace, it drew sharp criticism on Instagram – in part because one author, who supports boycotting Israel, is married to an Israeli and has family members in Israel.

For some Jews who have questioned their place in progressive and literary spaces since October 7, Guernica's retraction offered new evidence of a toxic discourse in which no Israeli or Jew can pass muster.

"THIS is what was beyond the pale? This essay of nuance, lived experiences, fears, hopes, and continuing to strive in her own way for peace?" tweeted Sara Yael Hirschhorn, a historian of modern Israel who has written about her own struggle to sustain her liberal Zionist outlook after the attack, after reading the retracted piece. "Obviously this is just a bigoted decision about an Israeli and Jewish author … This virtual burning of books is bareknuckled antisemitism."

Emily Fox Kaplan, a Jewish writer who had shared the essay before it was retracted, wrote that she saw the criticism of Chen's essay as part of a much wider dynamic.

"The problem, when it really comes down to it, is that it presents an Israeli as human," she tweeted. "The people who are losing their minds about this want to believe that there are no civilians in Israel. They want a simple good guys/bad guys binary, and this creates cognitive dissonance."

Some non-Jewish writers also lamented the piece's retraction.

Matt Gallagher, a war correspondent who is also a veteran and who opposes the Israel-Hamas war, said his own work had benefited from reading thoughtful authors whose perspectives were different from his own.

"If you want the war in Gaza to end, as I do," he tweeted, "shouting down calm Israeli voices mulling the ruin of it all isn't going to help."

[school-of-roses]

✧☆Introduction to Set Up☆✧

Everyone starts somewhere! Setting up for a ritual can be a whole process that some look forward to, some dread, and others simply see as part of the process. This can apply for home grown or found rituals alike.  More ceremonial practices might have their own rules for how one should set up for their rituals that are specific to them, but if you are making your own, you own this part of the process too.

Cleansing and Warding

More often than not you’re going to want to cleanse and ward a space before you do a spell. This cleans the slate and readies the space for your intent. This is also when you might ward against unwelcome spirits or against those who might seek to undermine your working. While not everyone is going to make a hobby of making enemies of other witches, the person undermining your working might even be yourself, your own self doubt, your own conflicted wishes.  This is the moment you leave that at the door. Cleanse out what does not serve you, ward against it while you work, and have faith in yourself to carry through unimpeded.  This is your space now.

Who, What, When, Where, and Why?

Who?

Who is going to be part of a spell can range from a group to those who will be present metaphysically.  Your guides might be part of this process, your friends might be apart of the process. You may even say a prayer to ask a deity or similar entity for their help with the proceedings. Regardless, those who are present should know that this is what is happening.  You largely don’t want anyone interrupting.  

What?

Spellwork often involves materials or other objects that correspond with what you are trying to do. This is your substance.  These are your elements.  You may want to make a checklist of all the components you will need, or construct the spell where you keep all of your witchy objects to have it be burnt, buried, or returned to nature to complete your spell. This is going to vary by spell.  Other things to consider are what you have your spell in, what you plan to do with it after, and how this can be done. (You wouldn’t bury forever a non-biodegradable vessel or burn something that produces toxic gas for example.)

When?

Those who prescribe more to astrology are going to use the position of the stars or phases of the moon to decide when to perform a spell.  Those that follow the equinoxes/ solstices, or the wheel of the year might pick times when the veil (the separation between the physical and the metaphysical) is thinner.  Those that follow saints or other religions might pick specific holidays to plan for when their guides, patrons, or deities will be able to offer them the most assistance.

Where?

 Many witches take to doing their craft in their home, and will have an altar of sorts that they do their spellwork around. However, many practitioners will also take into account place as an aspect of their working.  They may go out into the woods to get more help from nature or take advantage of very old corresponding trees that they don’t have to take clippings from in order to utilize. It also might be the best way to find a space that you can temporarily designate as your own, or where you won’t be bothered.

The ease of using an altar means that you have to be less concerned about not having everything with you that you plan to use.  If this is the case you can have everything set up ahead of time, or just in reach for when you need it.  However, if you plan to go somewhere else, you might want to pack a travel altar (a smaller, often easily concealable, altar to take with you).  This will act as your witchy toolbox.

Why?

Setting up as a process is important to many for a variety of personal reasons. As you progress as a witch you may do more rituatual preparation or you may do less.  It can help get you in the right headspace, involve divination to decide if it’s worth it, or just be a more literal act of preparing tools, objects, and a clean quiet space. Your reasons are your own, and all of them are completely valid ways to approach the craft.

Sealing and Taking Down

Once you’ve sealed, signifying that this now comes to a close you may want to start undoing everything you’ve put up to perform the spell. This begins the process of returning the space to the way it was prior.  If this is your home it might include taking down the warding around the spell.  If this is out in nature remember to take only memories and leave only footprints.  Usually in the reverse order that you put everything up. I still use righty-tighty lefty-loosey. Many also cleanse the space afterwards.

I have a tendency to leave things for a few days the way they are because I have the executive function of a goldfish, but whether you do this can depend heavily on location, living situation, and how much you put up in the first place.  If most of what you did was clean the house and light some candles this isn’t a big deal, but if there are tripping hazards, something a child or pet could get into, or something that could attract wild animals, you’re probably going to want to be prompt with taking it down.

[elysiumblue]

Pick a card - Stop worrying! 😄

Hi. Things do be happening recently so I feel that it will be helpful if I do a general reading on helping you to stop worrying on something.

The messages of this reading are more specific than expected, so don't force the messages to fit if it's not right for you. You can always choose another pile or another reading. Also the messages are quite heavy so don't read it if you're not ready for intense messages.

Anyway, I hope this reading can help you to stop worrying about things and create something better in the future.

👇🏻 Pick an emoji that you felt drawn to 👇🏻

And find the corresponding reading for you below!

Pile 1

I can see that you're at your breaking point. You're so mentally, or maybe even physically drained. It feels like the weight of the whole world and your whole past is crashing on you, and you have zero idea how to deal with this situation.

Idea. All you need is an idea to get out of all this crap, and to be more precise, a new idea. I can see some of you are currently suffering from being screwed over by fake friends, backstabbers, or suffering the consequences of that kind of situation. You're so tired of having to deal with stupid people constantly, and hey, this is where the problem lies. You're surrounded by crappy people and this is why you cannot get out of this nightmarish state. You need to talk to better people.

You need to meet and talk to wise people, such as a teacher, a spiritual advisor, a priest, or maybe even your own father. I can see that they're probably a male and are older than you. The older people part may not match your situation but I can feel it strongly that they are a male. If you're not able to talk to someone physically, then you should read some new books or videos and receive new ideas from those people. Anyway, that wise man will teach you how to get out of the situation and become a better person living a better life. Even if they're not helping with your situation directly, there will be something they tell you that will give you a lightbulb moment, and set you free from the situation. He will make you realize your worth again, and remind you that you don't need to be stuck with those losers to make your life work, because you are always good enough on your own.

If you're working on a new project and are worrying about how can you pull it off without the "help" of those "friends" and "allies", you should really stop worrying about the consequences of cutting them off because I can see that there will be better people connecting with you after you ditching those losers. They may not be as experienced as the people you are with now, but they have the passion and most importantly, they will not screw you over. They may not look friendly or may be the type that doesn't want to make friends, but it doesn't mean that they're here to make enemies. Sometimes, you don't have to be friends with your partners to make things work. You both just have to focus on the same goal, put more effort in the goal and less effort in making drama instead.

Pile 2

I can see that you're mourning the loss of someone, who is/was probably a female. They can be still alive or not. I can hear a very specific situation that someone is being haunted by the loss of their mother and is having nightmares about it. For some of you, it can be a breakup.

Anyway, I can see that you're not living in the present. You're still fixating on the past and you really have to move on. Memories are just memories in your brain and sometimes they're not even that real. The more you hold on to them, the more distorted they become, like a worn out book you read too many times, or an old photo that you take out to look at for too many times. The past you think that is beautiful, may not be as beautiful as they are. Also, going back to the past is not an option in this world. You can only move on and move further away from the past as time goes on. It will be better for you if you focus on being optimistic and creating a better future, instead of holding onto the past.

Believe in yourself. You can be happy on your own and create something great that's truly belongs to you, and will never leave you. What you truly owns can be with you for the rest of your life, like achievements and talents. I can hear a very specific advice that you should try make a movie of your life, and it will lead to great success. Anyway, don't be a slave of the past, and also anyone from the past. You always have control over your own life. Time to discover your true self and write your own story.

Pile 3

The situation I see for pile 3 is quite specific, so if it doesn't fit, this is not your pile and you can choose another one/ another reading.

You are extremely jealous of someone. It feels like their beauty or their talent is shining so bright that it hurts your eyes and their existence is reminding you how useless you are. You really want to do something to get rid of the negativity this person brought to your life so your mind can finally be at peace. However, I can see that the approach you're planning to use is not really nice. For some of you, you may be the one that is receiving the jealousy and it's a heads up for you to tell you someone is plotting some not so nice things on you. If this is the case, then just read this message in a different perspective.

This reading is to remind you that your tricks will not work as it is not backed up by the universe. It will be better for you to give up your plans because it will not work the way you wanted anyway, so giving up is the best option.

You probably feel very hurt by this person, but you have to remember that they are doing anything to hurt you. They are using their gifts and it shall not be a reason for them to be punished. Everyone is gifted in something but it will be harder to find your gift if you focus too much on why you're so bad at something. Instead of plotting on them, use the energy to better yourself. Even if your talent is the same as them, and it seems that you are not able to be better than them no matter how hard you try, it still doesn't mean that you should give up on yourself. Sometimes you just happen to meet a genius that is sent to earth to be good at that thing. But it still doesn't mean that you should stop trying, because life is not a competition. If doing that thing is what makes you happy, then continue doing it. Focus on the joy it brings you, instead of comparing yourself to others. Only you can make yourself happy and that person is worse than you in doing this.

[hehearse]

ive been saying this to friends already & felt the need to say it to you specifically but. you truly do have a knack to putting scenes onto paper in a way that makes it look easy. im not saying it actually is (no art is ever truly easy) but the way you translate the novel into illustrations just fascinates me.... especially with orv which has some pretty surreal parts that i had found hard to picture in images- but then here you come along and yeah! of course it would look like that!

i guess what im trying to say is that i really admire your ability to portray the books more abstract moments. things like kim dokjas body falling apart- id never have thought to draw it the way you do, like a statue falling apart and putting itself back together. but it feels Right now that ive seen it, and i struggle to picture it any other way now! i could very easily imagine an edition of the book accompanied by your black and white series at the corresponding scenes, and it would be dope as all hell <3

lastly. you give me so much emotional damage its not even funny. happy ill fitting clothes parody of an embrace (checks calendar) friday. i am bleeding internally. (coughs up blood)

GASP!! thank you so much !! :"3 it's SO EXCITING to find out that the way i draw it resonates with youu!! infecting you with images haunting my brain, THAT'S what i am here for. spreading my evil thoughts and images.

and orv is so fun, it's such a cool challenge to make an illustration feel like the piece of text it relates to. (which is why i try to sketch them out as i read. freshest vibes.)

and HEHE. good. continue suffering with me <3 (the ill fitting clothes days are still hilarious to me. how did this even happen. good for you though <3)

[lets-try-some-writing]

The Grim Dark Archives: Statement #002 Symbiote

[Statement taken from [Redacted] on the 5th of September 2004, one year and a month after the Autobots have made their presence known and begun corresponding with human personnel. So far there have been no issues with [Redacted]'s presence in [Redacted: Classified information] aside from their occasional bouts of paranoia.

[Redacted] has proven useful in compiling information and cataloging data for government agents when not having their statements taken. There has been little for us to ask them as we have been processing their prior statement and doing our best to apply what useable information came with it. However the Autobots recently requested access to high caliber machinery and vehicles. They claim it is so that they can scan the vehicles in question and take on their form as they have already shown possible with their acquisition of alternate modes in the form of civilian transports.

This request caused some concern amongst high command, and so to gain greater insight before we offer a response, [Redacted] was asked to explain in greater detail the process by which Cybertronians take on their vehicular modes and what it entails. As usual, their statement is concerning but fascinating.

Statement begins.]

══════════════════'

Ah yes, our ability to adapt yet again rears its helm, or I suppose head would be the proper term for you organics... Whatever the case, it is a fascinating subject. Compared to the mental adaptation we Cybertronians undergo when associating with a new race, our physical adaptations are less... prominent. Well, at least to you organics.

We didn't always have T-cogs you know. In the very beginning, when the first of us were forged... we had no such ability. Only one of the original Thirteen possessed the ability to transform, and it was from his great gift we have the ability now. But of course, with all gifts from gods, there is a price attached to it.

Nothing is ever without consequence.

Are you confused yet? I suppose you would be. You don't even know who the Thirteen are do you? That is a story for another time. For now all you need to know is that the Thirteen are the minor deities that serve our creator, and each of them had gifts and powers, some of which have been granted to us. Enough of that though, I should get back on topic.

The T-cog is one of our most vital organs when it comes to surviving on other worlds. However it is not a natural part of our biology, at least not when we are first forged. The T-cog is a symbiote that we infuse into our beings. With that said, it is not an easy symbiote to obtain for all sorts of reasons. Aside from the plethora of medical complications that come from attempting to swap T-cogs or infuse a mech with a symbiote from one of the dead, T-cog symbiotes only come from the Well with the newly forged. A grown mech cannot go down to the Well in search of a new symbiote and hope to survive. The symbiotes down there would simply avoid or devour the mech in question, sucking them dry of power and serving no purpose without the vital co-dependent growth that our young and the symbiote undergo together.

Yes, yes I will explain the specifics of what the T-cog does in a moment. Do not rush me. The history is just as vital as the function.

Now, as I was saying, the symbiote attaches itself to a developing protoform long before the spark of it is fully connected. The symbiote leeches off the energy being used to grow the protoform and so to survive and continue feeding, it adapts. The immune systems of our young can sense an invader once the spark fully settles, so to avoid being destroyed, the symbiote changes to match our biology as much as it can. It reads our innate preference for adaptation and it shifts. It looks into the code of our newsparks and deep in the dark of our maker's frame it merges with the body of its host.

That concept must be terrifying to you humans, right? Such a leech would kill you, but for us? No, for us the T-cog is a blessing that comes with a few... downsides.

The T-cog constantly feeds off us in a steady drain. Thus to remain stable we consume energon more frequently as we age until our systems settle and the symbiote fully merges with our biology and receives energon as much as the rest of our frames. It can be rather painful during those early vorns as the symbiote settles and energon is siphoned from other organs. We always take great care to watch over our young during that time. While it is undesirable and quite possibly a death sentence, an overactive T-cog can and often is removed during this stage. If the mech is lucky, they may be able to acquire another due to their youth, but as a general rule, mecha who fail to bond to their T-cog are bipedal for life.

That whole bonding process takes up to ten vorns, roughly two to three hundred years for you little things. Once complete, the T-cog finally brings some benefits. The symbiote has no intelligence, but it has enough of a mind to be able to force our innate ability to adapt into overdrive. It merges with our already present minor transformation capabilities to grant us the ability to take on the vehicular mode of machines. Of course what we can transform into depends on the symbiote, how fully it integrated, and how large the mech in question is.

There is a great deal of biological lingo involved that I neither know or care for, so to put it simply, the T-cog attaches to our sensory and processing systems. It gains a certain degree of control and we gain the ability to take on the forms of other vehicles through mass displacement and simple reformatting. By the time the symbiote settles there aren't usually any issues, but if damaged it can begin acting strangely. There have been cases where removed T-cogs have been returned to their hosts only to then fail to allow the mech to replicate an alternate mode properly. Those situations... are often rather disgusting to see, even for our kind.

The forms those poor mecha bear due to the damage sustained to their symbiotes... it is safe to say they often forgo transformation unless required, hoping and praying that it fixes itself.

To conclude this statement, I would guess that the Autobots are asking for higher caliber vehicles simply so that they need not waste energy obtaining more alternate modes. It consumes a great deal of energy and the symbiotes are more likely to... cause great bodily distress if pushed too far with too many new alternate modes. I personally wouldn't worry too much about it. Alternate modes are merely our way of blending in, at least on a backwater world like yours. If your technology was more worthy of note, I would say hide your vehicles, but as it is, my kin are more dangerous in their root modes than in their alt.

══════════════════'

[Statement ends.

It was rather concerning how calm [Redacted] was when giving their statement compared to their prior experience. It seems that [Redacted] is most comfortable discussing topics of old history and biology and panics when asked to answer questions relating to more recent history or events.

This information is useful, but it does raise a few concerning questions.

How often have these aliens altered their forms and biology? What even are they at their core? Its obvious by interacting with [Redacted] that not all Cybertronians are as [Redacted] claims, but that makes me wonder... Do these aliens even know what they are? Or has it all been lost with time, war, and constant adaptation?

Whatever the case, it is currently irrelevant. [Redacted] will reveal more with time, and eventually I am sure these questions will answer themselves.

Agent Witwicky signing off.

Recording ends.]

[opalspring]

Some observations and color-coding in Cat

Here are some thoughts/observations about Cat, though especially about the color-coding.

The car and walking scenes

In Cat, the car scene has some interesting details about Kazui and Hinako’s relationship in my opinion. 

Hinako is shown to be the one initially interested in Kazui, who notices this:

And then we get this frame, with Kazui looking to his left while turning the wheel with a seductive face. At first glance, it looks like he noticed Hinako’s affection for him and is implied to reciprocate. The thing is though, with the composition in the scene only showing Kazui and Hinako separately, we can’t be sure he’s looking at her specifically here: it’s left ambiguous (propably on purpose).

I’ll go in detail about this later, but basically I think that at that point in time, Kazui was already planning to use Hinako’s feelings for him to get closer to a certain someone.

Then we get to the walking scene. There’s one frame in particular there that I feel gives a lot of interesting context to Kazui’s story:

To discuss it further, we need to talk about color-coding in Cat. There are three colors in particular that are important in the mv: blue, magenta and yellow.

I think the colors are each supposed to represent either a person, or a concept. One association we can easily make to start is Kazui and blue.

It’s used in the beginning sequence when only he is on screen, and is a very similar shade of blue as the one on his prisoner uniform’s straps.

(I should have picked a better pic but I mean specifically the straps and not the other blue like the one for 007)

There’s another scene that also seemingly ties Kazui with blue: 

This frame seems to cement Kazui’s association with blue. Additionally, it’s probably safe to say Hinako’s color is magenta with that logic.

And what about yellow? Well, for that color we have to do a little more digging. But one thing is for certain, it’s as important as Kazui’s blue and Hinako’s magenta. 

The reason for that is these two shots:

Using Kazui and Hinako’s colors for this sequence makes sense, but why is yellow mingled in as well? This part alludes to how Kazui is potentially using Hinako’s feelings, so what is the yellow doing there too?

That’s the part where we can begin to guess who yellow refers to. It’s possible Kazui had a third person in mind when marrying Hinako. Specifically, someone he would be able to see more if he and Hinako were married.

This goes into conjecture territory, but the only character from Kazui’s story that could fit this role in my opinion is his childhood friend/the bartender, who he talks about a lot in his interrogation questions.

Kazui and the bartender/ childhood friend

(From now on, I’ll assume yellow refers to the childhood friend for this theory and refer to him as CF) 

There are more parts in the mv that allude to the link between Kazui, Hinako and maybe-the bartender, like this shot:

What’s interesting here, aside from the color combination, is how despite Hinako’s color being present, the colors forming the 01 and taking up most of the space are Kazui’s and the CF’s.

This coupled with the lyrics on screen at that moment, we can assume Kazui’s dream refers to being close with the CF.

Another detail regarding are the French lyrics that overlap with the yellow 1. They translate to that part from the lyrics:

All those things I wanna do that I can’t say out loud

I gotta keep it inside and act

The beating of this heart… see… it’s no longer about good and bad… it isn’t

I realize the futility, but I still can’t help but dream

So maybe these words were meant to be directed at the CF.

There are other moments in the mv where blue and yellow get mingled together, and when we couple them with the corresponding lyrics on screen, we get combinations like this:

Here, his feelings he ignored regarding the CF (blue and yellow are mixed together). We also get a hint that Hinako and the CF are linked together somehow with the magenta mixing with the yellow.

We haven’t mentioned lime before but maybe it could be a representation of Kazui’s love for men, or men in general? “I just wanted to touch (a man)”

Interestingly, the combination of Kazui’s blue with lime gets us the same green color as Kazui’s blue + the CF’s yellow. We’ll talk about this in a later section.

Here, Kazui knows the CF is out of his league, both because they’re both married to different people, and since the CF is most likely straight (from the lyrics “If only your heart would change, but that’s not possible” from half).

Here Hinako realizes her relationship to Kazui was a lie, and that he was potentially only interested in her because of her link to the CF (maybe they’re siblings or something similar).

And in the following scene, after Hinako dies, only Kazui and the CF are left in the equation.

Now we can go back to that frame that was mentioned earlier. We theorized on which color refers to which character, and it puts some things in perspective.

On the right part of the frame, Kazui is standing on the blue stripe, representing him, so nothing too special. 

Similarly, Hinako is placed around the magenta one, herself. And although the framing stops us from looking further on the right, the yellow stripe hints that a third person is actually standing there: the bartender/childhood friend in this theory.

This puts the rest of this sequence in a whole new light. After all, if Kazui is proposing to Hinako, why isn’t he facing her in the frame before? That may be because it’s actually the CF he’s looking at.

This could explain the magic trick: the bouquet changes into a ring for a reason. If the intent was to “just” propose to Hinako, what’s the need for the bouquet and the trick animation? 

From my interpretation, the bouquet is actually meant for the CF, and the ring Kazui gives Hinako could be an excuse to get closer to the CF if he and Hinako really have a link (like being siblings or something).

Color inversion

There’s a frame at the beginning of the mv that comes by so quick you have to put the video on 0.25% speed to take a screenshot of it, this one:

Since it appears at the mv’s beginning, I think this frame is meant to give us some clues regarding the mv in general. 

We see color combinations (red and blue) like in the rest of the video but what’s interesting here in my opinion is the white circle on the right: it shows us a different color combination by inverting the colors.

So I think this is a guideline for the viewers to apply through the mv: invert the colors to discover hidden details.

One thing we can note is is that: red=cyan and blue (Kazui)= orange

Remember the lime color and how it could represent Kazui’s love for men? Let’s try to invert the colors and see how it compares to the combination of yellow and blue, romantic in Kazui’s mind:

These two combinations result in the same (or very similar) shades of pink, so maybe pink refers to romantic love in the mv. 

Going back to the red+blue=pink combo we saw earlier, this makes me think that red/cyan might represent Kazui’s homosexuality/love for men as a whole (since red + blue (Kazui) = pink (romantic love)).

Also, another thing regarding this frame and the “Kazui was using Hinako from the beginning” theory: at the moment Kazui notices Hinako’s crush on him, we can see that his “thoughts” on the left go from:

 lime (love for men (?)) + blue (Kazui) = green (or pink=love, see pic above) to:

 magenta (Hinako), with lime (love for men (?)) and yellow (CF), but barely mingled in

This is what made me think Kazui got the idea of marrying Hinako, but with an ulterior motive (getting closer to the CF, who may be Hinako’s sibling or acquaintance). Who knows though.

Here, was the bouquet actually meant for cyan= a man? (if we assume red= desire for men/homosexuality)

Remember how green/purple represent the bartender/CF in this theory? Here it could show Kazui’s married life with Hinako… but how he’s secretly dreaming of the same life, but with his childhood friend.

This one in particular is really interesting because it could be a confirmation that the apple is meant to represent the CF. The red/cyan apples could represent men in general, with the CF getting a special place as a green/purple apple. So it puts the entirety of half in a new context:

…

…….I see what you did there, M. Mukuhara

“Sorry Hinako, but I actually like *the bartender*” ? No, that’s probably not how Kazui said it and he probably came out by saying he’s gay, but the reason that made him come out was the CF (maybe)…

Pretty sure Kazui and the bartender/CF had an “adventure” of some sorts here

There are probably a lot more I missed, but it’s interesting how the staff (maybe) created a link between both mvs.

Thanks for reading!

[thesorcererpoet]

So I’ve been a little quiet lately. I’m going to be doing a lot of updates to this blog soon. I will still keep writing as I always have, as it’s something I literally just do all the time, so please don’t worry because I’m not going to stop with the poetry any time soon.

For the last few days, I have been working on an astrological compatibility chart (synastry) for a friend, so I have been very busy.

Next week, I am off work so from then I will be revamping things a bit and start posting a bit more about my spiritual work.

As a brief explanation though for those curious, I am a practitioner of Chaos Magick, which is the idea of using belief as a tool. Chaos magick operates on the principle that you can adopt all different kinds of spiritual principles and use them at will as they were intended and then choose to use something different, even contradictory at will. This is called paradigm shifting or belief shifting. Chaos magick also allows you the freedom to work with your own correspondences and even invent your own systems of magic.

One of the main things Chaos magic utilises, is a practice called sigil magick. Sigil Magick works by allowing you to craft your own magical symbols using several methods. The most commonly used one is derived from taking a statement of intent, removing all of the repeating letters and vowels and then taking the remaining letters and creating a monogram out of them which looks like a little picture made from the letters. The best way to do this is to generate a little monogram so the letters are not consciously recognisable. The next step is to forget your intent. If you can deliberately do so then this process is quite fast. The idea is that lusting after the result will prevent it from working.

Sigil magic is kind of like planting a seed in the unconscious mind, which you allow yourself to do the magic for you. This is thought to be where all kinds of primal forces, which came from former evolutions, reside. These primal forces are what the inventor of sigil magic called atavistic nostalgia, literally what your body remembers of its ancient ancestry.

To plant the sigil, chaos magicians work with various altered and trance states of mind, some of which are naturally occurring. Often we use things like meditation, a sudden shock, holding breath until you can’t, drumming, various rituals. There are many myriad ways to plant a sigil. My favourite way is to blow all of the air out of my lungs until I gasp, while staring at the sigil. In the moment, when you gasp, your conscious mind is briefly forced to be silent which allows the sigil to enter into the unconscious uninhibited. Once the sigil has been implanted, you must then destroy it, commonly by burning it.

While I use many chaos magic specific techniques, I also work with an array of different systems at various times. Much of my very favourite work comes from working magic, which is my English heritage. Now, by this, I don’t mean Wicca. I tend to find I do a lot of work with bible magic, old English charms and the grimoires.

A grimoire, meaning grammar in old French, is a magical instruction book, showing techniques for rituals which can put you in contact with spirits. They also contain various spells which are not full summoning rituals, but are instead simpler workings designed to get results for various needs. The most well known grimoire is known as The Goetia which is the first part of a compilation of different magic books called The Lemegeton or The Lesser Key of Solomon. This book has a bit of a reputation as these spirits are considered as being demons. However, I know from my own practice that if you treat them with respect and don’t approach these practices from a place of fear, all will usually be fine. However, these practices are not for inexperienced practitioners. Before working with grimoires, it is important to know how to banish, to make sure you follow spiritual cleansing routines, learn how to make holy water. Be sure you know what you are doing so you know how to deal with it should anything go awry. Much easier then, it is to begin with various levels of simpler spell work and to get confident before approaching the bigger rituals.

While I am big fan of traditional magic practices such as these, I am by no means an advocate for doing things to the letter. Experimentation is really the only way to even get this stuff to work nowadays, since we no longer have access to a lot to the items, or trades people like blacksmiths etc who you need to get to do the work in front of you. My own practice is a blend of ancient rites, Christian prayers and using what is available to me in the 21st century. Much of this stuff was only made operable to me at all because of chaos magic.

While these two sets of interlinking ideas make up the bulk of my practice, I do work within many other systems. I am fond of modern witchcraft, which seems to be like Wicca but eschewing a lot of the old restrictions, the sexism and some of the other more odious elements (for instance, no you do not need to be naked to do magic, that’s just silly). I also work a lot with runes and rune magic, as well as with the Norse gods. I have a deep and long running connections to Taoism, particularly with the divination book, the I Ching which has literally saved my life (it drew my attention to what would have been an electrical fire in my old flat, I wouldn’t be alive without that divination). I actually have much to say on the I Ching but I will save that for another post, however I will say it has taught me so much and I have an immense amount of gratitude towards the oracle since it has come into my life. I also have worked a lot with Thelema, particularly engaging in the book of Thoth Tarot as well as some Golden Dawn practices. However my preferences for magic are mostly rooted in older traditions, mainly grimoires, European folk magic and British cunning craft.

All this aside, I have also been divining for others for many years now and I know many systems of divination inside and out. I am particularly knowledgeable about tarot, mainly following after the Rider-Waite system of tarot, developed by Arthur Edward Waite and Pamala Coleman-Smith of the Golden Dawn. As I have previously mentioned, I work with Runes and The I Ching. I also work with something called Geomancy, which was very popular during the renaissance, and came before tarot. Geomancy is actually very ancient but is still widely used in a lot of African and Middle Eastern countries. It’s methods have been preserved in the fourth book of occult philosophy, attributed to Cornelius Agrippa (his three books and fourth book are about 500 years old and contain a lot of source material for many of the magic books that came after). Geomancy works by poking holes in a box of blessed dirty until your intuition tells you to stop. You count the holes and then work out if it’s odd or even, then generate the various diagrams, which are eventually arranged into a table of astrological houses and read. You can also generate the numbers using a pen and paper or using coins, or dice or various other methods. I will probably demonstrate this stuff soon. As I have already mentioned, I am into astrology, although I am really only just learning at the moment. I also practice scrying, which is the act of causing visions using a crystal ball, black mirror, bowl of water or various other reflective surfaces. I also have my own, self invented system of dice magic which I am currently working on updating.

I will be offering my various divination services soon.

Anyway, thank you for reading my big, long infodump. I will post more cool stuff soon x

[the-bunnys-code]

Eclipse's design for the film! It's a little rough around the edges right now in terms of the fine details for a piece of artwork, but this will serve as a great reference for now! A more polished reference will definitely come someday, probably as a continued edit of this one.

I actually had a bit of a journey with this design, part of which may or may not have been experienced by the original designers. It honestly wouldn't surprise me if the same thought process was had when creating the original Eclipse. Full story under the cut:

Let's begin with what I had to work with. First, I took a look at Eclipse's canonical design and identified which parts were from either Sun or Moon's designs.

From top to bottom, we have some of Sun's rays, Moon's hat, Sun's right eye and arm and Moon's left eye and arm, and Moon's pants pattern gradually fading into Sun's pattern.

Beginning with what I knew I had to tackle first, of course the Daycare Attendant I am working with is not ruined, just mildly damaged from a fight, and even then, they are repaired and decide to remain Eclipse (for the most part.) With that in mind, I decided to create the first design as if they were completely repaired, something not seen until the end of the film. I could always wear them down a bit later, it would be easier to do it that way than the other way around.

I began from the bottom working up, layering Moon's design over Sun's and erasing the lower half of the pants until I had a nice fade between the two. This involved coloring over some stars with blue and then erasing once more to get the pattern you see now. Next, I erased Moon's right arm, making it so that the arms corresponded to the canon design. From there, I moved to the vest. For those who have not been following this project (or just missed the post in which I discussed it,) I added a vest to the Daycare Attendant's designs for two reasons: The initial reason was because I had designed the other animatronics to look more furry than robotic by removing the obvious creases between their joints and other articulations, but when I applied this same effect to the Daycare Attendant, they looked rather... bare. I added the vest to not only make them look a little more modest (sorry, I can't think of a better word for what I mean at the moment) but to also lightly imply their past as a member of the theatre, which is actually discussed more in depth later in the film. This is what the vest looks like in both Sun and Moon forms:

I decided to apply the same effect to the vest that the pants had, so I erased a little bit of the blue vest from the bottom to give it a gradient. It sort of came out looking like a sunrise!

As you can see, I also added little sun and moon emblems on the vest for both of them respectively. I wanted this to reflect the shape of Eclipse's head in a way, so I started working on the face to establish that.

Eclipse's canon face/head is a little different than what I did. They have Moon's hat at the very top of their head with 6/9 (nice) of Sun's rays pointing out from either side. My Daycare Attendant has seven rays to make up for the fact that they're big and wide as I wanted them to be floppy rather than rigid, and Moon's hat is rather big as well. Before I even started, I sort of had an idea for how I wanted Eclipse's head to look. Where did I get that idea from? This, actually:

This is the Utilidoor navigational decal for the Daycare... whatever that means! But that is what the Wiki said.

I like the way this thing looks, so I followed along more with this than Eclipse's actual design. I might try making it look more like canon someday in terms of ray and hat placement, but I like how it's obvious as to what Moon's hat is from the front. I also have to keep in mind that, as I said, my Sun's rays are floppy for expressive purposes. They sort of mimic cat ears in many cases, specifically the two on either side of the top one. I think that maybe a lack of one of those on Eclipse's design sort of signified that they were beaten up and had been through some tough stuff, kind of like how a stray cat maybe has a shorter/cut/missing ear or has an irritated ear folded over. I kind of like that for Eclipse's design.

With the shape of their head completed, it was time to shape their face a little more. I started with the eyelashes by making them so that they weren't perked up like Sun's but weren't droopy like Moon's, overall just a nice meet in the middle. For this reference alone, and just to make a cute detail, I made it so that they were grinning with teeth to sort of also be a midpoint between Sun's open mouth and Moon's close smile. It also makes them look a tad bit mischievous, but that's just a bonus! There was one thing that kept bugging me though, and it was the fact that the right side of their face was Sun's color and the left side was Moon's color. it's an eclipse, shouldn't the part of their face that's moon-shaped be moon-colored and the other part be sun-colored? On a separate layer, I decided to color it this way to see how it looked:

...

I went back to the original coloring that was more closely inspired by the canon design. I could probably go on for a bit about some ideas I have about why this looks as wrong as it does, and it probably has to do with the imbalance of certain colors, but I don't want to think about it too hard right now. This is the part that I wonder if the original designer(s) went through, which would be very funny if they did (but also wouldn't surprise me if they didn't for some other reason.) Lastly in terms of their face, I kept the eye colors that corresponded to the colors of each design that covered each side of their face, and what do you know, it's just like the canon design too!

With that all said and done, I finalized the design with the emblem that reflected the shape of Eclipse's head, having four rays peeking out from behind a crescent moon.

And that's how I put together Eclipse's design for this project! Thank you for reading!

[dogaquarium]

Hey Laika, I saw your post about nightmares and I hope you’re doing alright :( that sounds really hard and on top of all the other stressors must be rough.

I’ve been curious about your thoughts on alien 9 recently, and was wondering your thoughts on it! If thats too much to think about right now how about some of your favorite foods or items?

Hope this helps a little 🫶 <:D

Hi star thank you so very much for the ask <3 I'm feeling a little better now, just takes a little bit of wind out of me whenever I wake up from something like that. Let me focus on answering your questions now though....

Asking me my thoughts on alien 9 in such a vague sense is a recipe for disaster, lol. I have so many thoughts and opinions on so many different elements of it. So feel free to ask for specifics later if you'd like, but I suppose I'll do a quick overview on as many things as I possibly can! Also going to try to make this as relatively spoiler free as possible since I'm pretty sure neither you nor a few other people following this blog have seen it yet, and I'm not sure if you're interested in attending movie night or not whenever I have time to plan a date for that.

Boy, where do I even start..... alien 9 is something so special to me. The entire franchise definitely does have its issues, and I do wish some moments were expanded upon or changed slightly. The pacing can be a little strange in the OVA, and even stranger in the manga (which is one reason I enjoy the anime a lot more; the manga sometimes feels almost detatched entirely). But it's something really valuable as it is regardless. It's such a foundational media for me that I came away from differently. Something I've found a lot of comfort and security in! The characters are all extremely charming, the story itself tackles such serious taboo topics in a proper sense, such a large part of it corresponds to the young queer experience, it doesn't poke fun at childhood mental illness, the core concept of the universe it exists within is endlessly compelling, the list goes on..... plus, kumi's character themes of identity (which I've already mentioned in precious posts) is something you can dig into forever. It's all so interesting. And it resonates a lot with me!

Episode 3 is one I'm especially excited for everyone to experience when I stream it. It's my personal favorite episode for a lot of reasons that I think we're masterfully tackled. It's a beach/vacation episode! Which sounds, admittedly, very frivolous and unimportant in the grand scheme of things. And to some degree it is!!! But what I personally find so compelling about episode 3 is the fact that it serves as a medium through which we can see how the main three girls function outside of a traumatic environment. It provides a baseline for us. It allows the audience to see them just be kids. I truly do not think it'd be as impactful of a series for me without that.

And now, since you can't have a general dump of my thoughts on alien 9 without mentioning the spinoffs.. prepare yourself......

I firmly believe that hitoshi tomizawa should have not been allowed to expand on this franchise any further after the original story had been wrapped up because after seeing what he's done with it you're bound to get a headache. There's two spinoffs from the original three classic volumes: namely alien 9-emulators and alien 9-next. I will not dwell on emulators (at least in this ask) because my rant on it will likely be even longer than this response, but know that with the way it handles the original subject material, it's not only incredibly insensitive, but I'd go as far as saying actively harmful. Tomizawa is a fuckin pedophile which SHINES in his later works in particular, and is very ironic considering so much of the point of the original classic series concerns the harm done by csa and how cyclical it can become (most blatantly in relation to kasumi's character). That's all I'll get into it for now because if I talk any more on it I'll get even more pissed. Idk where to even begin with Next, though.... such a strange expansion of the universe...... this spinoff takes place after the girls have all grown up and are on some kind of outer space mission.. idk how to even explain it to you and it's been far too long since I've read it but it's utter horseshit, such an anomalous entry in the series. Also the art style changed to be 3D models for no reason and it's ugly as sin.

Besides all the....... obviously glaring problems with both next and emulators..... there are also some simpler things that don't work for me in them. Namely kumi and yuri's relationship! In the classic volumes, such a major plot point is the evolution of their relationship from one that is tense, angry, and unhealthy to one that is mutually supportive and uplifting. There's a lot to be said about this change in relation to both parties- be it relaring to kumi's home life/preconceived expectations of her to yuri's mental illnesses/the way others treat her due to that. They act the way they do for a reason, is what I mean. And so when the audience finally gets the relief of them forming a genuine bond together, you expect that to be that, it's a plot point wrapped up and done with. And does stay wrapped up..... in the classic volumes, at least. In the spinoffs, kumi suddenly reverts back into someone aggressive and untrusting. Yuri reverts back into someone who has made no advances in her bravery and independence. All because fuckin tomizawa had no idea how to craft a story with meaning after he finished the first three volumes.

^ so cutes.. awwee......

I suppose this turned more into a response of why I dislike all the spinoffs rather than why I like the originals.. oh well..... easier to avoid spoilers in that way I suppose. Maybe you still found this interesting enough? Don't hesitate to ask more if I didn't answer how you'd expected!

[bbygirl-aemond]

do you have any advice for planning out the story and each chapter? im trying to plan out this fic idea i have but i don’t really know how so i thought i’d ask one of the best ao3 authors i’ve seen

oh bby i'm about to go into SO much detail that i'm sure you didn't ask for but here we go! i've spent countless hours of my life on fic planning, and it usually goes entirely unseen by y'all! i'll try to use parts of my earlier planning for stormbreak as an example so as to avoid spoilers while giving you the ability to see how the plans translate into the finished product. this will also give anyone who's interested a cool behind-the-scenes look at how some of stormbreak's chapters evolved from my earliest notes!

i organize all of my planning in google drive, and i have several distinct stages i go through that increase in detail the further along you go.

at the broadest level, i have two documents that i use for brainstorming. one of them, called "snippets," is miscellaneous little half-thoughts and snippets or late-night ideas. it includes both scenes and characterizations. it's basically little notes and reminders to myself. these snippets can usually be worked into the fic at mostly any point. this document is pretty long; about 50 pages. here are some examples of the types of things i put in this doc, including something that inspired a scene later in chapter 11:

the second brainstorming document is called "scenes." this is basically a list of every single interaction and moment that i want to happen. each line of text will represent one of the povs that will end up in stormbreak, with usually 2-3 povs per chapter. each sentence is super brief, like max 10 words, and i'll usually spit them out without regard to chronology since some scenes can be worked in anywhere.

now beginning to put things together i have the document i call "chronological events." here, the scenes are all put in a specific chronological order. i'll assign chronology to certain scenes that have chronological flexibility. and each scene will be expanded into 3-4 bullet points that get at how this scene will advance the plot (through politics, characters, or relationships). here's an example of what this looked like for the scene that became alicent's pov in chapter 12:

and for the scene that became aemond and daeron's povs later in the same chapter:

the "chronological events" document is what i reference first any time i'm going through the planning process for a new chapter. it reminds me of what i need to accomplish with the chapter.

so now let's say i've looked at this document and want to proceed to the initial outline for the chapter. i write these in documents within a folder called "short chapter outlines," and each document is titled "short chapter X outline," with X just corresponding to the number in the actual fic. this will expand the bullet points from "chronological events" into an a few actual paragraphs, and add in some extra padding that isn't strictly plot-relevant but helps to build out the scenes. this is an example of what this looked like for the scene that became aemond's pov in chapter 2:

you can also see that this doesn't always end up being fully translated into the end product. in this example, i changed the events towards the end when writing the actual chapter because it made more sense to me.

okay now we go onto the last stage of planning before i write the actual chapter: the long outline. just like with the short versions, i keep these documents in a "long chapter outlines" folder and each doc is titled "long chapter X outline." it further expands upon the short outline; i'll put the short outline on the left half of the screen to look at it while i write the long outline on the right half of the screen. this is basically me stream-of-consciousness writing the chapter. the goal is to get the entire scene hammered out, pretty much paragraph by paragraph. if there are any particular descriptions, lines of dialogue, or even brief moments that i get stuck on, i write them in shorthand and don't worry about making them pretty. here's an example of this, from the scene that became aemond's pov at the start of chapter 6:

you can see that i expanded on most of these paragraphs and polished the sentences between this and the final chapter. but also that the level of detail here is really high.

lastly, we have the actual chapter, which i write based off of this long outline. i put the long outline on the left side and the chapter itself on the right side of my screen so i can see both at once. i write all of my chapters in microsoft word because that's the format i've written stories in since i was a child and it's where my creativity works best for whatever weird reason. the chapter always stays very true to the long outline, but as you'll see if you compare the long outline above to the actual chapter 6 i do add in a bunch of extra detail. the long outline is usually between 4,000 and 5,000 words and 10-15 pages, while my chapters are pretty much upwards of 9,000 words and 20+ pages. so it about doubles in length at this step.

i do most of my editing (switching certain lines and paragraphs around) as i write this first full draft of the chapter. so when i'm proofreading, i'm only ever checking for errors and seeing if i want to replace any words or phrases with a better idea. this last step usually doesn't take me more than a hour.

from there on, you guys are familiar with the end result! as a note, the "chronological events" and "short chapter outlines" are all fully completed for this story! i prefer to finish this level of planning before even beginning to seriously write. it helps me to lay the foundation for my plot twists from the very beginning of the fic!

[godbirdart]

do you have anything you can share of your rps on proboards? i too miss those days.

ohh man i miss those days so much. my small group of friends in junior high were really into writing about our sparkledog ocs on proboards. we had our own private one dedicated exclusively to our ocs. all our ocs had human, quad and anthro forms and there were so many romantic scandals and plots going on it was MCU levels of convoluted sometimes.

sidenote my best friend at the time and i had a monopoly on the oc roster [it just happened that way] and made up a bunch of wolf gods that drew inspo from greek/roman mythology. each one was a deity of Something and had unique powers. EVERYONE was paired with a mate that somehow managed to corresponded with their own respective power. they had so much going on we often had multiple threads specifically for certain paired characters. if i remember right we created threads for refs, threads for lore, specific universe categories and so on. there was a point i'd even made a seperate website using my neopets-petpage level of html understanding [not too unlike refsheet.net or charahub], listing the bios and relationships of our characters.

my fondest memory was spending the better part of a school year rewriting our ocs into Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End. no, we never rewrote the first or second film. ONLY the third. during this rp we were juggling multiple characters at once, and we did our best to give each character SOMETHING to do. I don't remember which scene we were rewriting but my friend had this old wolf dude named Bon who had NOTHING to do in the moment, so she ended up writing "Bon Breathed" full stop and that shit has stuck with me as the most hilarious thing for well over a decade. We rewrote one or two other things, like Underworld, but the PotC 3 au one was the longest running one.

we all rped together for a few years. by the end of high school i was super interested in making a webcomic for a bit because i'd just discovered resident evil and saw the blackblood wolves starting their comic on deviantart, buuut everyone else was being pressured into picking career paths and/or had lost their creative spark. gotta grow up, i guess.

I've long since lost contact with every person from that group. the majority dropped off the face of the planet immediately after graduation. it sucks, but I still have a bunch of their OC art carefully stored in page protectors in a binder on the shelf beside my desk. i still have notes on each character, and i still have some art from our early deviantart days saved on an external hard drive. i'll likely never see those people again, but the memories leave a warm fond feeling in my chest. i frequently catch myself wondering if i should start that comic i always wanted to make with them.