#words of wisdom fr

[eye-of-yelough]

realising that gortash’s uhhh. mind control (i guess that’s the right word?) over aeryn would’ve made his wisdom stat decline, not his intelligence… right? like being psychologically malleable and easily subdued is a sign of low wisdom, not low intelligence, right?

(can you tell bg3 is my first dnd media and my lowest stat irl is intelligence?)

which sucks a little bit. a lot actually. because wisdom is also generally the stat that makes you emotionally intelligent, intuitive, insightful, good at reading people, etc, which aeryn is. so. i don’t really know what to do with that.

[skillzissue]

Hello there! I hope September is treating you kindly ❤️Remember to hydrate much, smile more & have a sweet sweet day!

WHAT UR SO SWEET???? Thank you for the reminder!!! It’s so fucking hot down where I Iive, it was 107 yesterday 💀💀

I loved waking up to this message, have a wonderful day and make sure to take care of yourself too!

[heeheehoohoo8]

If I have one bit of wisdom I’d like impart to teenagers at my wise and wizened age of 23 it’s… *feebly coughs*… it’s… sing teenage dirtbag by wheatus as badly and as loudly as possible! Because it just don’t hit the same anymore :(

[noxtivagus]

thinking of. my ocs a bit rn.. >.>

[astrobydalia]

🪐 Astro Observations!!!✨

Happy 2024 babes! Here’s to another year sharing astrology stuff with all of you 🤩

work by astrobydalia

Yes water moons have great intuition and could be psychic but I very often notice they tend to allow their personal feelings interfere with their decisions and could tend to not follow their intuition as much. The ones that have a more reliable or unbiased intuition imo are Earth moons and Aquarius moon.

Scorpio Venus really do gravitate to unhealthy relationships… All their connections tend to have unfair or imbalanced dynamics to them where there’s no equal give and take. They believe love means throwing yourself and your life away for another person (or they expect someone to give everything away for them) with little to nothing in return. They may not understand the difference between deep intimacy and unhealthy attachment

Libra placements and their ability to appear likable even when they have the shittiest personality deep down

In my opinion Moon is the most important planet if you really wanna begin to know someone at their core. Ultimately no planet can give you full info without the context of the whole chart tho (#AllPlanetsMatter), but you can really uncarcarve sm about someone just by moon placement/aspects/degree, etc. Moon rules your needs and so it really cements your personality and its an energy that you'll project in so many areas of your life (relationships, career, etc)

Fixed Mars are ARGUMENTATIVE fr fr. They need to have the last word and will die on that hill if they have to💀Honorable mention: Virgo/Gemini Mars due to Mercury influence but they’re more about friendly banter and aren’t as stubborn

80% of Aries Moons I've met were very philosophical/spiritual/religious. They can develop a self-awareness that gives them a lot of wisdom. The other 20% were just adult toddlers and very egotistic...

Capricorn placements and their internalized elitism. They really do believe some people are better than others which is the shadow of Capricorn unfortunately

Aquarius Moons are some of the most traumatized people I know fr fr. Whenever I get to know their life and backstory Im always like bro….😶😶 It makes me so sad cause they always bring such good vibes everywhere (they have a playful aura) when in reality there’s a depth of pain underneath you wouldn’t even fathom through that unbothered persona. The OG misunderstood.

We all know Scorpio is all about depth, intensity and looking beyond the surface but I’ve very often observed the exact opposite in scorpio placements. They could tend to be very superficial, greedy and materialistic, more obsessed with wealth and status than any earth placement (it all comes down to power). In such cases their interest in occult or deep topics could also be superficial or opportunistic, like they only see it as something that could give them a leg up in life or help them avoid unseen threats but that's about it.

Cancer Risings do not come across as sensitive at all. They tend to have a rather sassy personality and are pretty defensive 90% of the time tbh. Think about it, are crabs 🦀 cute and cuddly? No, you actually actually have to be very careful around one cause they sting lol. They do wear their heart on their sleeves and are very sensitive and perceptive but because of this they constantly feel like their vulnerability is out for everyone to see hence the guarded attitude.

^I've also noticed they are VERY opinionated and will hold on very tightly to how they think/feel about something. This results in having a reputation for being kinda bold and sharp (Aries 10th). Pro tip: do NOT question these native's morals or integrity unless you wanna see a very snappy side to them, they respond very very very badly if you even insinuate that they might be hypocritical in their values/what matters to them

The interpretation that Aquarius in the 4th house means you’re an outcasted black sheep in the family low-key doesn’t make sense to me tbh. Aquarius is the sign of camaraderie, friendship, inclusivity and community. All the people that I’ve seen with this placement were actually very bonded to their roots and considered their family (and the people they bonded with during childhood) to be "their people" (they also keep their friends close to heart). These natives do tend to distinct themselves as they grow up but this is due to Leo 10th house. I've noticed their family is in general very supportive of them or at the very least they received some input in their upbringing that made them feel special and/or like their uniqueness was celebrated. Feel free to share your opinion/experience tho

I've noticed Virgo Mars people have a perfect balance between being confident in themselves and fulling trusting their abilities while also staying humble and acknowledge room for improvement. Very mature and self-accountable and they're also great people to work with cause they are highly appreciative of good contribution

Sagittarius placements and their ability to be casually rude in a charming way??? 😭

Moon in the 10th house do not have a reputation for being emotional at all, it's quite the opposite they dislike exposing their feelings like that. A lot of their energy is spent trying to appear put-together and emotionally stable. The ones I've noticed have a reputation for being moody or sensitive are Mars in the 10th house

Venus-Moon aspects probably grew up in an environment that fed up this idea they had to be beautiful and conventionally likable in order to be worthy of love. These natives tend to base their self-worth on the amount of emotional validation they get from others and struggle telling the difference between kindness and love

A couple notes on everyone’s fave topic: 8th house synastry

We all know this overlay deals with power dynamics. On a general basis I’ve noticed it’s the planet person who tends to have the upper hand. Exeption: Moon. When your moon falls in someone’s 8th house you tend to be vulnerable one due to the soft nature of this planet, but the house person secretly feels more intimidated

You will NAWT be able to keep secrets from someone you have 8th house synastry with specially if you’re the house person. Sooner or later they’ll see through you, circumstances might force you to expose yourself or you’ll simply feel drawn to revealing the truth to them. With water synastry in general you will feel drawn to share more deep or hidden parts of yourself/your life but with the 8th house you can’t help it, like there’s almost an accusatory tension between the two that grows the more you try to hide something from them

Something I see no one mentioning about 8th house synastry is the planet person always feels intimidated by the house person's success. The planet person will try to take part in the house person's success by taking some credit and have a sense of control over what belongs to the house person, it's giving Kanye's "I made that bitch famous". At best the planet person would want to help boost the house person's endeavors. Either way, when someone's planets land on your 8th house, you will never feel like something is completely yours anymore, somehow the planet person will "take" something away from you that you can't get back making you feel like you owe them or they owe you something big (8th house=debt), which is why this overlay very often goes south and tends to be very depleting.

If we're talking business (which 8th house deals with that) the house person is likely to take a risk on the planet person, invest on them (can be money, time, resources, trust, etc) in hopes that it'll pay off. The house person is most likely to loose something from their involvement with the planet person, but they can also gain a lot from the planet person if the investment pays off. In either case, one could tend to exploit the other if there’s any ill intent from the individual

Water mars people are very smothering in their affection tbh. Once you’ve been chosen, get ready to be bombarded by their attention a bit more each time. Secret stalker vibes.This doesn’t always mean they love you tho, if underdeveloped they may want to “bond” in order to have emotional control over you and use you. For them it’s easy to get what they want through manipulation so leading people on or fooling around is something they tend to do a lot

Going back to the affection topic, water venus are smothering too but they go about their obsession devotion in a much more soft and non-domineering way where they give a lot of power away to their partner

People with Gemini+Scorpio placements in their chart embody the mischievous trickster archetype fr fr. They’re funny but also a menace. Have an ease to become that type of deceitful manipulator who thrives in chaos

I have a theory that your Moon represents the kind of bond or relationship you have with your mother but Ceres represents how your mother actually is

Capricorn and Scorpio placements are huge tsunderes imo 😭

Chiron in Sagittarius/9th house have become disappointed with religious and/or academic institutions. For them both systems are essentially flawed and don't work or don't make sense

+When it comes to religion I've seen a lot of them being atheist and skeptics. Some others still believed in god/universe/etc. but they did not want to support any stablished religious institution and instead have preferred to craft their own belief system. In both cases, they saw the institutionalization of believe systems as something that hindered their freedom of thought and expansion

+When it comes to academics a very similar thing happens. They felt like collage and the educational system restricted their mind instead of expanding it so they just preferred to walk their own path and find growth elsewhere. A friend of mine with this placement quit collage and the other people I've seen who did finish it all said they had a kinda dreadful and/or unfulfilling collage experience which they low-key regret

If you’ve ever felt powerless in the house where you have your pluto, that’s because you gave your power away to the opposite house. For example, if you have Pluto in the 5th house and you felt powerless when it comes to expression, your creativity, etc that’s because you gave too much power to the public opinion/peer pressure (11th house) and what they may say about you if you express yourself genuinely

Scorpio Moons always battle with that "am I a good person?", "am I a monster deep down?" inner conflict. They are more in touch with darker emotions and experiences than the average person so for them it's particularly easy to channel their shadow. This can often make them doubt their own integrity or think they are doomed to never feel happiness and inner peace. This is moon's debilitation for a reason, their inner emotional world is ruled by chaos and turmoil and they tend to be a bit too comfortable (moon) in toxicity and drama, nothing is ever light-hearted for them. If developed this ability of staying in touch with the shadow side of things can actually give them lots of awareness and resilience for the darker sides of the world as well as a very solid moral compass and compassion

Leo Moons likely had grandiose standards forced on them that inflated their self-importance. It's giving "mommy told me I am the best and most special of all" which is great but now they be carrying that mindset for the rest of their lives and this is where lot of their infamous sensitivity and fragile ego comes from cause not fulfilling these standards deeply hurts their heart. In consequence they tend to be more unprepared to accept humbling experiences that'll make them mature

virgo risings are funny!!!! I haven't seen anyone mention this, but every virgo rising I've met cracked me UP, they are so witty and never misse a chance to throw in a cheeky joke every 2 minutes. I think this is overlooked because they keep a rather awkward demeanor to them which often makes for a rather dry delivery. Best examples of this are Ryan Raynolds, Keanue Reeves, Emma Watson, Cole Sprouse...

Also, all Virgo risings I've met tend to come across as huge snobs so it's very common that people don't take their humor or friendliness seriously

Honestly I've noticed this theme with Virgo/6th house inner placements in general where their judgemental nature always makes them unfriendly or snarky to some degree. They can be the kind of people who are never happy with anything and always have a bone to pick.

My main theory as to why Leo risings are the most shy out of all Leo placements is because a lot of them grew up in very problematic and dysfunctional families (Scorpio 4th house) where they were shamed for showing vulnerability or being genuine (Cancer 12th house)

I’ve noticed Aries Suns and Capricorn Suns tend to relate a lot to their fathers, they tend to have very similar character traits as their fathers. For good or for bad their relationship with their father is always very important in their personality.

I find that LEO Suns and Sagittarius Suns always be having daddy issues tho like 😭😭😭😭

One thing about Capricorn is they can be literal billionaires and yet will still refuse to spend a dime on something they think is not worth it

Mutable Moons don’t commit 10000% to things, they’re the type to always have a foot out just in case. They're most likely to commit to things if they don't feel forced or expected to stay permanently

Cardinal energy is very consistent and responsable. People with prominent cardinal placements have a really developed sense of agency, focus and direction (imo this will be more obvious with moon, mars and asc). There's something about them that always gives me this put together "I've got this" kinda vibe, they always seem like they've got it together and always know what to do even when they're lost.

Fixed mercuries and their inability to understand or accept that two different points can be true

Sun/Leo in the 3rd house could want to have a nice car, an expensive or luxurious car from a well-known brand

I’ve seen people saying Venus-Mars conjunction gives it girl vibes. This is also HIGHLY true for Mars-ruled Venus (Aries/Scorpio Venus) or Venus-ruled Mars (Libra/Taurus Mars)

work by astrobydalia

[dadcred]

hi! it's been a bit since i've shared any french ffxiv playthrough notes, but i've been making my way through endwalker recently, and while there have been quite a few differences i've noted, this is the one i want to share most so far. please excuse any spelling errors or missing words!

the scene: upon meeting hydaelyn after completing the aitiascope dungeon, she speaks directly to each scion.

to alphinaud:

en: thou dost pursue an impossible dream, yet knowing this, you pursue it nevertheless. and thou has learnt to depend on others as they do thee.

fr: your world fell apart when you realized that there was no absolute justice, and yet, your friends extended you a hand

to alisae:

en: thy yearning for the power to save the powerless hath ever driven thee to greater heights, thou hast grown strong.

fr: your strength on its own has sometimes revealed itself not to be enough to achieve your wishes, but whenever your powerlessness tourmented you, your idol was there totake you along in their wake.

to thancred:

en: though those closest to thee no longer walket by thy side, their love remaineth thy guiding light

fr: despite your grief of not having been able to protect the person whom you cherished the most, you never relinquished the love that lived in you and it has led you to find a new hope.

to urianger:

en: for duty's sake, thou has been bound by truths unutterable time and time again. yet thy heart never wavered, as they companions will attest.

fr: as for you, you suffered from not knowing how to express the essence of your emotions. fortunately, those whom you surround yourself with didn't need words to read into your heart.

to yshtola:

en: in thy pursuit of mysteries great, all thou believed was called into question. undaunted, thy thirst for knowledge remaineth unquenched.

fr: the truth is often deformed, sometimes forgotten. but even after having accepted this as fact, you never abandoned your quest for wisdom in the hopes of finding that which you searched

to estinien:

en: the fires of hatred that once burned in thy heart burneth no more. from their ashes doth spring light and love, warm and pure.

fr: hatred scorched your earths and consumed your people in great numbers, but a glimmer of hope surged forth from the white ashes to reveal an azure future

to graha:

en: as witness to black calamity, thou despaired at man's helplessness. resolved, thou didst unite a distant world on the brink of collapse.

fr: you endeavored to do the impossible to save a world from an unprecedented catastrophe, and after that, having convinced a whole people that they could write their own destiny, you accepted to live your own adventure.

[badchoicesworld]

Heyyyy I really love ur writing! And also kind of ur vibe as a person 😳 but anyway!

Since you said we can be specific, I wanted to ask about Hobie getting a just a little bit flustered when receiving genuine heartfelt compliments and affection through words bc it catches him off guard. He'd also find the reader a bit naive at first only to find out that they're actually incredibly cunning and calculated. They just come across as naive bc they're so ridiculously sweet once they trust someone :3 (and it always looks like they trust quickly bc they have insane psychoanalytic abilities but now I'm rambling;;; (⁠´⁠⊙⁠ω⁠⊙⁠`⁠)! )

Hope this isn't too much ^^"

hobie realises you’re not as naive as he thought

hobie brown x gn!reader

omggg 😳 tyy anonnnn you got me blushing n shit 🤭 but no fr, ty that’s so sweet lmao <33 and no, this was perfect, ily

warnings: none

pairing: hobie brown x gn!reader

requests: masterlist plz

★⋆ ⋆☆⋆ ☠︎︎ ⋆☆⋆⋆★✧

on first inspection, to hobie, you appear to be this person that trusts way too easily and immediately treats people way too kind for a person you just met- you seem clueless and completely naive when it comes to putting your trust in others since you’re so quick to do it

hobie doesn’t think it’s a bad trait at all to be inherently kind, but when you’re kind to literally everyone you immediately deem trustworthy, it’s like you’re looking to get hurt

he might occasionally have one of his rants to you about the ins and outs of the “real world”, propaganda that surrounds you, distracting you from the truth, the sharks at the top of it all, the people that would take advantage of you

there’s no ill intent, he just really thinks you’re gonna get hurt like that

and who wants that ?

so yeah, anyway, when he first meets you, he can basically see the switch once you’ve realised he’s trust worthy

you’re the sweetest person ever without prompt, and it admittedly looks like nativity to him at first

but because you now trust him, it means you’ll be a sweetheart to him

at first, it’s small compliments that he can appreciate- maybe something about his style or rebellious attitude that he’s heard all before

but you suddenly amp it up for no reason one day and it just completely turns the tides

if you’re aware of his secret identity, you change his perception of you completely when you basically soul read him

you manage to craft the most heartfelt, genuine, sincere acknowledgement of the sacrifices he’s made, along with genuine thanks and somehow stating the closest interpretation of his emotions that he’s ever heard before. from someone that isn’t him, anyway

hell, you’ve maybe even just helped him realise a few things about himself

he’s fucking gobsmacked

he stares at you as if you’ve just said the most outrageous but enlightening thing ever to be uttered

slack jawed, eyes wide, completely silenced for a solid while

he’s eventually able to process wtf you just said to him, and now he’s just trying to play it off with a really goofy grin that doesn’t hide he’s flustered

hobie’s doing all sorts with his hands to try distract the both of you- gestures while he tried to defend the little of his pride he has left, holding the back of his neck, maybe nudging you or shaking your whole frame

he gets the faintest idea that you might be just a little less naive than he though, but not entirely

that might have just been a lucky guess, after all

you’re definitely smarter in his eyes, though

depending on your status, if you’re a spider-person, from a different dimension, from his dimension- it doesn’t matter, he’s intrigued by you now

might brag a bit or be like “can you believe this?” when he sees you soul reading someone else

now there’s been multiple times throughout your guys’ friendship where you manage to slap him with some ungodly wisdom relating to him out of absolutely nowhere, and it never fails to catch him off guard

of course, hobie’s effortlessly cool, so being caught off guard is gonna keep making him feel a little vulnerable and flustered

especially when you just casually do one of the most in depth psychoanalysis of him ever for like the third time this week

he’s starting to think that you know something the rest of the multiverse doesn’t, how do you do that ?

“alright, alright! allow it, man, allow it.”

he’s laughing, but he’s also questioning where you stand in the world, are you secret intelligence ? tf is goin on

if you weaponise this ability to read people like an open book, then he can have fun with it

now it’s funny

especially if you guys are spider-people together and he just casually points out a villain you’ve been assigned to, with a look that says “ruin them”

this can also happen to random people on the street

it’s like how he can completely destroy peoples perception and faith in the establishment n all that, if you so choose, you can really make people feel seen or completely vulnerable or called out

after these encounters with bad people, he realises something about you

you’re somehow able to just know who to trust, and your guts never wrong

he wonders if it’s your spider-sense at first, if you have that

now he’s starting to piece everything together

you can easily distinguish between the good and bad people- the good you immediately trust and treat like an old friend

the bad, you never give the time of day

you’re always so quick to trust, and naive

but it’s starting to become clear to hobie that this isn’t nativity, you just have an uncanny ability to know people before they even introduce themselves

it’s kind of reassuring in a way, if he’s ever doubtful about someone, he’ll go to you and be like “thoughts?” then you can relay this insanely detailed psychoanalysis of this person you’ve just met

now he sees you as this incredibly insightful person, a lovely individual who has the potential to ruin lives with your insane ability to call people out

bonus:

if you guys are spider-people together, you’re both pretty well known for running your mouths

you instil fear

★⋆ ⋆☆⋆ ☠︎︎ ⋆☆⋆⋆★✧

as always, lemme know if this ate or not and i’ll try my best to fix it !

[issacballsac]

“Being Apart of The Sk8 Crew„

Just rewatched Sk8 the infinity and now I wish I had friends so ! Gn reader

Joe | “I wanna marry your abs!”

Y’all would meet your first time at S

Obviously you’d be amazed by his skating and even if u don’t like men he’s hot as hell bro don’t lie

One of two things happens

You A. Run up to him and ask abt his skating techniques and such

Or B. He actually walks up to you to talk about your skating(only if ur good ofc💀)

He’s such a dad

If you’re younger than him he’s constantly trying to sound smart/give you wisdom

Sometimes it’s solid advice the other times it’s pure nonsense

If you like to cook/want to learn he’ll happily teach you

If not he’ll settle for a new taste tester

He would def make jokes all the time

Some genuinely funny

He expects you to laugh at all of them even if it wasn’t funny

He’d appreciate it if you didn’t cock block him like everyone else

Despite being quick to take off his shirt he’s very fashionable and takes pride in his looks obviously

If you ever needed fashion advice best go to him!

He’s a pretty laid back guy so you wouldn’t get into arguments often

Would love to skate everywhere but he’s like…got a job and responsibilities so..

Still a great dad friend to have

Honestly would care and worry over you if you got into some dumb shit so don’t do anything stupid and he won’t worry

Joe for the win🗣️‼️

Cherry/Kaoru | A.I. Advancement

You’d meet when he paid a visit to Joe’s restaurant

Ofc you knew of him bc he’s popular but you never MET Kaoru

You def walked in on their date arguing

It was so awkward u were jus like:🧍‍♂️

“Is this a bad time time to visit you?”

“Hey! Kaoru this is [ ], the kid I was talking about.”

“What a peculiar child to willingly hang around you.”

“Whatever you say, Pinky.”

He’s kinda weird with his whole AI stuff but other than that a great friend

Makes snarky comments with you

Unless ur too nice to make snide remarks

Constantly complains abt the angle of your turns

Unironically would show up at your parent teacher conferences(if you’re still in the lower schooling ofc)

Would never admit it but he loves each of his friends and would be genuinely concerned if anything happened

Shadow | Petty Clown

Oh when y’all met you wanted to throw hands

I imagine something similar to his introduction with Reki

Bro straight up threw an explosive in your face???(smoke bomb maybe but still)

He may be petty but you’re pettier(is that even a word?💀)

You found out he worked at a flower shop bc lets be FR he doesn’t look much different outside of S

Lil arguments here lil threats there and you leave with a nice assortment of flowers

Bro side eyes you EVERYTIME y’all cross paths at S😭

After the whole gang is assembled y’all no longer act this way towards one another

Bros the only responsible adult of this group

He def did your makeup once and you broke out the next day💀

“Are you sure you know what you’re doin’?”

“Trust me, kid.”

“I don’t know why but I don’t.”

You try and help him with his relationship endeavors but it never works out😭

He’ll go to the gym with you if you don’t wanna go alone

Gym bros‼️🗣️

Miya | Catty Child

This fucker

Y’all are quite the duo

Annoying ass mfs whenever and wherever you go

If you have any sort of pet it’s his pet now

Bros the animal whisperer

He’d have to be interested in your skating for y’all to become friends

So pretend ur decent or even amazing; however big ur delusion allows itself to be🫡

He’s smart but would invite you somewhere under the premise of studying just to goof around

If he needs a second player for his game bro is gonna drag your ass so y’all can play

Goes shopping with you just to complain about how everything is ugly in the stores

“That’s not cute, who thought selling this was a good idea?”

“Bitch—if you’re going to be negative the whole time go home‼️”

Reki | Redheaded Menace

If you thought you + Miya was a devious duo just imagine you and Reki

Y’all would prob meet second after you and Joe met

Bc he works at a skate shop

And you need skating stuff(you can tell I’m not a skater💀)

If you’re just a good skater and don’t know actual science and shit behind it he’s constantly telling you about it like you care

You guys cruise around together for fun

He made your current board and you’ll never get another one that’s not from him

You teach him any and all tricks/skills you know

Probably took you to his house to give you your current board bc he was working on it in his house and you met all of his family

His mom is just happy he’s got some friends

You become besties with his mom

She gossips abt news and celebrities with you

Claims ur like her other child(forget the rest of them👺)

Makes you lunch bc she’s nice like that

You let him ramble abt stuff he’s interested in even if you aren’t listening fully

Would silently beg you to stay back with him during the hot spring scavenge bc he’s scared

Forces you to watch horror movies with him bc he gets scared and needs someone else with him

Bro would be elated the whole day if you called him cool

Snow/Langa | Canadian Curiosity

Omg he’s Canadian?😦 Seize him!

Obviously being involved with S you would’ve heard of Snow but Reki would’ve introduced y’all before the big news

Bro would shove him in your face as if he’s a shiny trophy(at the beginning ofc)

“This is Langa! New guy from my class apparently he’s interested in skating.”

“Sick—he’s so pale.”

“He’s from Canada.”

“Oh.”

Bro is so oblivious it’s crazy

You gotta like SPELL IT OUT for him if you’re ever alluding to smth

Langa stays hungry and would go out to eat with you anytime

You and Reki would def help him decorate his room bc it’s…bland

It’s not bad but there’s no personality

He tells you abt his favourite dishes back in Canada and y’all try and locate any places in Japan that might sell smth similar

If not you guys attempt to make it yourselves at his house

His mom walks in on y’all ruining the kitchen💀

“Langa I’m…home.”

“Hey, Mom.”

“Hey Langa’s Mom!”

Bro is a skating addict and will skate whenever and wherever

Wants to race you like at least twice every week

Loser pays for dinner

You help him with his reading and writing and if you didn’t already know he’d teach you English

[tanadrin]

(Note: this is all totally non-rigorous free association)

Famously, the King James Version of the Bible translates Exodus 22:18 as "thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." This is one of those translations, though, that has suffered for passing through multiple different cultural lenses over the textual history of Exodus. Alternate modern translations say things like "put to death any woman who does evil magic," "*wizards* thou shalt not suffer to live," or even "whoever has sexual relations with an animal must be put to death."

In the Septuagint, the underlying word is translated φάρμακος; despite the connotation of the English word, a masculine noun; the word is associated with magical arts in general, but is *especially* associated with poison. It's from φάρμακον, a word which can mean either "poison" or "drug," and is the origin of "pharmacy." Greek had a rich vocabulary for the supernatural: an older and more general word seems to be γοητεία, "charm, jugglery, sorcery," from γόης, "sorcerer, wizard, juggler, cheat." That it includes in its semantic field the concept of sleight-of-hand shows that mundane deception is countenanced as a possible explanation for claims of magical power, which no doubt contributes to the dim social reception of magic, but also shows a neat symmetry with the modern concept of the stage magician, whom we publicly acknowledge as really being just a particular kind of illusionist and entertainer. Another Greek word for magic is, well, μάγος, the source of the English word, ultimately a borrowing from Old Persian maguš. A maguš was simply a priest of Mazda in the old Zoroastrian religion; the word is of uncertain etymology, but its connotations in Greek arise from crediting a Greek mythical version of Zoroaster with the invention of magic and astrology, showing us that perhaps orientalism of one sort or another has long been part of European traditions of the occult. There is also  θαυματουργία, "wonder-working, doing miracles, wizardry."

But the Septuagint word choice is an odd one; as I understand it, the actual underlying lexical item is מְכַשֵּׁפָה/mekhashefah, the feminine form of מְכַשֵּׁף/mekhashef. The root of this word seems to be כשף/KH-SH-F, which has been glossed various ways. One gloss I find particularly interesting is "cut." Kenneth Kitchen links this etymology to the cutting of herbs; thus, a mekhashef is a kind of herbalist, and the context, as with pharmakos, is the fear of poisons--the feminine form might also make sense here, as it seems plausible that just as in our modern society, poisoning was a more reliable tool for killing for women than for men, for whom the possibility of physically overpowering their enemies was less likely.

But I think it's interesting to note other ways in which magic is about division and breaking. Though in modern fantasy a "warlock" is either just a generic wicked sorcerer, or a summoner of demons, the word comes from Old English wǣrloga ("promise-deceiver"), a deceiver, a breaker of oaths. A warlock is thus someone who dissolves social ties, or even betrays their baptismal vows by making an unholy vow, an un-promise, to Satan himself. The English "witch" comes from the Old English wiċċa or wiċċe (masculine and feminine forms respectively), from Proto-Germanic *wikkô, "sorcerer, necromancer," from the verb *wikkōną, "to practice sorcery." One likely derivation of *wikkōną is the Proto-Indo-European stem *weyk-, "to separate, to divide, to choose." This may be a reference to cleromancy, the casting of lots; many ancient words for magic link together fortunetelling of various kinds (the second element in words like "necromancy" and "cleromancy" is ancient Greek μᾰντείᾱ, "divination, prophecy, fortune-telling), but here again the concept of separation appears in a way that is difficult to ignore.

The Romans, like the Greeks, looked east for their wisdom, and were also obsessed with divination in particular, so their words for magic are often borrowed from Greek, or concern forms of fortune-telling in particular: haruspicina, the inspection of entrails; the genius or numen, language of spiritual presence and will (the latter not dissimilar to the mana of Polynesia); auspicium, the interpretation of omens, especially the flights of birds. Perhaps other kinds of magic invoked skepticism: Pliny argues that, except possibly in the making of potions (the Romans, no less than the Greeks and the Hebrews, knew that the right herbs could kill!), most claims of magic were simply lies--though there was little harm in apotropaic wards to set the mind at ease. Apuleius granted the existence of spirits and demons, and both Augustus and Constantine worried enough about magic to try to suppress its practice.

In Sanskrit, magic was apparently sometimes called इन्द्रजाल/indrajala, "Indra's net," a metaphor for emptiness, a word that foregrounds the idea of fraud and illusion. Similarly, the word माया/maya means "magic," but also "illusion," being in that way akin to the English notion of glamour found in fairy-stories. There is also possibly semantic overlap with German Zauber, whose meaning is "magic," but which is etymologically connected to Old English tēafor, "to paint [a picture]," and Icelandic töfrar, "enchantment." (Icelandic also has galdur, "sorcery," but also "[conjuring] trick.") Chinese offers the root 魔/mo2, which according to Wiktionary is from Sanskrit मार/mara, "death, pestilence;" in Chinese it takes on theurgic qualities: "devil, demon, magic, the unnatural, crazy," depending on the context it's found in: 魔羅, a kind of Buddhist demon; 魔術, "magic," as in an illusion imitating the supernatural; 瘋魔, "to be insane, to be fascinated by, to be enchanted by," a concept of obsessive madness shared in other cultures, including our own.

A full cross-cultural, historical comparison of words pertaining to magic is far beyond my capabilities, of course; but exploring current in the vocabulary and historical development of words around magic is interesting so far as it peels back the thick systematizing, empirical layer within our culture and helps us glimpse how these ideas functioned in the past. Nowadays, magic is often prototypically the magic of high fantasy: it is systematic, little more than a flashy kind of science, even if it is one accessed through mental discipline rather than mechanical instruments. Magic is patterned, stable, fundamentally knowable, because we are so thoroughly grounded in systems of knowledge that understand the whole world as patterned and knowable that we cannot imagine anything else. We redefine magic in ways that simplify it down to nothing: to be little more than abstract spiritual practice, moral therapeutic deism with countercultural window-dressing, or to mean nothing more than simply acting on the world. But is that really in keeping with the spirit of the thing, as it is has been imagined for most of history?

Magic is about many things. It is about division: discrimination, separation, cutting. Cutting the body of the sacrifice, to prod at its bloody insides; cutting breath from a living victim; cutting off the sacred from the unholy, and vice-versa. It is about speaking, chanting, singing, the form and the performance of words. It is about writing (itself a word which means to cut or carve into something). It is about deception: lies in pursuit of status or money, lies to avoid culpability for murder, lies about secret knowledge. It is about feeling oneself inhabiting a world filled with intentional beings, beings with a will and nature unknown and perhaps unknowable to you. Spirits of the dead, of the air, and of the wild world; the genius loci, the demon, the hungry ghost. It of a world when the night could claim real darkness, when the stars were forever an inscrutable mystery, and when the terrifying unknown could intrude into your life at a moment's notice. Even modern occultism feels like a nonsensical imitation of the past, with emphasis on benign enlightenment or spiritual growth, when ancient magic was rife with murder, curses, treachery, and simple human greed. The huckster fortune-teller, who cynically defrauds their customrs, is closer to the spirit of magic than the observant neo-pagan.

We are mostly too sure of ourselves, and too confident in our ability to understand even that which is at first horrifying and inexplicable, to really replicate the feeling of that kind of magic. A world in which that kind of magic is possible is a world in which the last few centuries of philosophy and epistemology and science are shown to be so profoundly wrong that we are left with nothing but naive superstition and fear. Or else, it is a world where all these basic forms of inquiry that we take for granted simply do not work--because if they did work, we would be back in our own comforting, familiar world, a world of rationalism and enlightenment, albeit perhaps with a few of the phenomenological incidentals changed. I wonder if it is really possibly anymore for us to tell stories in the mode of that older world. With the exception of certain kinds of horror, I don't really know of anything that comes close.

[hedgehog-moss]

Top 3 Annoying Translation Mistakes I’ve Read This Year (from least to most annoying):

Category I - lazy calques that let you feel the original text under the translation, not in a good way

(English -> French) In the French translation of Hugh Howey’s Sand (Outresable), the word “robe” at one point was mistranslated as... robe. Come on! In French that’s a dress, the English “robe” is what we call a robe de chambre. And it matters! The protagonist is knocking at his mother’s door and she opens it wearing a robe rather than clothes, which (in context) suggests that she was having sex; when you translate it as opening the door in a dress, the reader pictures her looking put together and wonders why her teenage son is feeling angrily embarrassed. Sure there will be more context clues in the rest of the paragraph, but your translation is not supposed to make it harder for the reader to form an accurate mental picture.

Category II - clunky sentences that make the text unpleasant or confusing to read

(I almost used the French translation of Julian Fellowes’ Past Imperfect as an example, but I suspect the original of being clunkily written as well. Still I gave a couple of examples of clumsy sentences at the end of my review that really should have been noticed and fixed.)

(Japanese -> French) Some sentences in the French translation of Masuji Ibuse’s 黒い雨 (Pluie noire) were so clumsy I had to re-read them several times, including the very first sentence. In English it is translated very neatly as: “For several years past, S. Shizuma had been aware of his niece Yasuko as a weight on his mind. What was worse, he had a presentiment that the weight was going to remain with him for still more years to come.”

In French we get this: “S. Shizuma avait depuis plusieurs années le cœur lourd au sujet de sa nièce Yasuko ; et pas seulement depuis plusieurs années, car il sentait bien que ce poids indicible doublerait, triplerait avec le temps.”

If the idea is that this past worry is likely to persist or worsen in the future, “et pas seulement depuis plusieurs années” is a confusing (and repetitive!) way of phrasing it. It suggests something that extends further into the past, not the future... In contrast, the Spanish translation uses the exact same “what was worse” phrasing as the English one: “Y, lo que era peor, tenía el presentimiento de que esta carga seguiría agobiándole indeciblemente aún durante muchos años.”

Another example (among many) where both the English and Spanish translations use the same simple phrasing while the French translator seems to get tangled up in her own syntax:

EN: “In the event, though, he proved to have shown more care than wisdom.”

SP: “Sea como sea, el caso es que demostró tener más prudencia que sabiduría.”

FR: “Or, ces doubles précautions avaient produit un effet en quelque sorte aussi stupide qu’elles avaient été avisées [...]” This character tried to do the wise / cautious thing and it resulted in something bad, I get it. But the English & Spanish translations are objectively neater and less syntactically muddled than “his double precautions produced an effect in some way as stupid as they had been wise.”

Category III (the worst) - mistranslations that actually influence the way the reader experiences the story or characters

(French -> English) The English translator of Valérie Perrin’s Trois (Three) seemed either confused by or not able to recognise a lot of French slang, which she translated literally. At one point the word “pisseuses”, a derogatory term for girls (yeah it comes from piss) is translated very literally as girls “who wet themselves.” It’s like if the English word “bitches” was translated as “female dogs” in another language where the term is neutral, instead of using a word with equivalent sexist connotations. The word ‘pisseuses’ here is part of a misogynistic character’s internal narration. He’s an adult man thinking of teenage girls as bitches; instead the inexplicable translation “girls who wet themselves” just leaves you baffled.

The same issue pops up again later on, when the same character thinks of an old woman as “la vieille bigote”—bigot means very religious in French, but here it’s not to be taken literally, it’s used as a generic derogatory term for an old woman. The English translation is “the pious old woman”—too literal ! It sounds almost respectful? Or at the very least neutral, when actually the male narrator is thinking of the woman as “this old hag.” Also their exchange had nothing at all to do with religion so you’re left confused as to how he came to think that she was pious.

It sounds like nitpicking but these are pretty big mistakes in that they not only make things confusing but also impact characterisation. You’re not supposed to turn a character’s negative thoughts into neutral ones. The translator does it again to a female character later on, this time with the opposite effect—making her less sympathetic. She is describing her life (married to a rich but controlling man) as “des vacances à perpétuité.” In English, her life becomes “a never-ending vacation”, thus erasing the very strong connotation of prison carried by the French phrase 'in perpetuity’. You could have found some phrasing around the idea of a “life sentence” maybe—we’re supposed to empathise with this character who consciously experiences her life as a gilded cage, and softening the phrase in the translation reduces the reader’s ability to do that by making it sound like this rich woman is just bored with her life of leisure. Sometimes even small mistranslations can end up having a significant impact on how the reader reacts to a story and its characters.

None of the above are awful translations if you take the book as a whole, but all four of these books are by best-selling authors so if they get so many poorly-translated words or sentences what hope is there for the rest...!

[isa-ghost]

ok

*insert coin*

Can I ask for q!Phil hcs BUT when he's fully un Bird mode :D

Jokes on you that's easy, those are just more plain qPhil hcs for me >:D

qPhil headcanons masterlist

Sometimes if he's in a fight that he's not taking seriously he'll put some goofy ass music on in his headphones. Some favorites include the Mario invincibility star theme, Waltz of the Meatball Man, and the kind of bubbly anime ending music that plays over an emotionally devastating scene

After way too much stress, once he gets Chayanne & Lullah to bed and is on his own he'll go somewhere and just. Scream. For as long as it takes. And then he chugs tea or noodle broth to prevent his throat from dying on him.

Sleep schedules his beloathed <- wants to spend more time with a bunch of islanders he doesn't get to see often

Out of the 3 polycule members, Fit is best at cheering him up. He knows Phil best and the extent to which he lacks a filter sometimes is too powerful for Phil not to at least smile at

His wheeze laugh is the best thing ever to the the kids. If the two of them can make him wheeze, they know they've done their job right.

As soon as he knows something is safe (the maze, an event site like the code builds, that new mountain at old Spawn, etc) he's the first one to start exploring. He's been that way as long as he can remember ;)

*Slaps top of his head* This old man can fit so much survivor's guilt in him

He's only old in age and wisdom, if you try to imply he's geriatric he will get SO out of pocket about the things he's done with Fit & Etoiles and you will regret it

Okay so I've talked about how his worst fear is not having control, especially of himself. And I've talked about other fears of his, but I don't think I've mentioned his fear of loss yet. He tries to pretend he isn't, he'll insist he isn't, and to some degree he isn't Entirely wrong, but he is afraid. Being as old as he is means you get a bit desensitized to loss because it's natural when the things and people around you don't live for as long as you do. The part of it Phil fears, or maybe hates is a better word, is all the emotional turmoil after. That bone-deep ache of grief, the heaviness that refuses to leave his chest, how easy it is to emotionally compromise him, the hollowness that consumes him. The way he can't think or sleep properly, how his motivation is completely wiped out, how embarrassing it feels to not be at 100% in front of people. He HATES the aftermath of it all.

Excursions, Shuniji, and ofc Weirdest Year by C418 are Phil grief songs, in this essay I will

The Federation has learned that if they want Phil to attend an event he isn't particularly interested in, all they have to do is have really good food there, especially Latino food

He does legitimately gag a little when he kills a mob and flies or maggots come out of it. That's not just drama, he fr is like 🤢. It reminds him of the first time he saw Ender King's corpse

A fraction of the reason why he has people he trusts very deeply, like Fit, whitelisted on his security stuff is bc he knows if he ever got too depressed (like when the kids were missing), he'd never leave the house and just bum around feeling awful despite being restless. Having them whitelisted means they can get in and force him to get some air and stop festering in his emotions.

See I could get into a whole analysis abt this but like. So many of my angst hcs for him are abt how he's kinda shit at taking care of himself, esp when the people he cares for the most are removed from the equation. But it's not that he's incapable of it, he's not a baby or something like that. It's another part of how he's so locked into being the caretaker, the protector, the Strong One, the wise one, etc etc etc that he Hates being in the reversed role. He's gone so long without it that now it's foreign and unpleasant to him. He feels weak & like a burden. But at the same time, going so long without being in the reversed role is unhealthy and he NEEDS to be the one taken care of or protected sometimes. Everyone does. It's a double-edged sword: be the caretaker, shoulder everything & suffer OR be the one taken care of, feel awful about it for one reason or another. He can't win. He hates the latter but he needs it occasionally just like anyone else. He prefers the former, but the toll it takes over time is extensive.

It's why he'll do little things in an attempt to remedy it. To avoid being full-on taken care of for once while also not Only doing the reverse. Watching the sunset with the kids, adventuring in new and exciting places, sparring with friends, etc. His escape is making vivid fond memories to look back on and smile about, even if they don't always fix his emotional state. At least he isn't fully neglecting himself.

[orthodoxsoul]

I Dream of A Church

+ I dream of a church; her master is Jesus Christ alone.

+ I dream of a church; her members seek the life of righteousness at all times.

+ I dream of a church; her youth see the Life flow from their church.

+ I dream of a church; her elders enjoy her warmth in the sunset of their lives.

+ I dream of a church; rooted in her heritage, and present always to face all new.

+ I dream of a church; who allows the Holy Spirit to act.

+ I dream of a church; who does not attribute false names to the Holy Spirit, to justify her decay.

+ I dream of a church; her spiritual fathers are pure and righteous.

+ I dream of a church; who opens the door for the youth to find themselves in Christ. And I detest a church who teaches the youth that the only way to God is the blind obedience that erases their personality that God created.

+ I dream of a church; who welcomes the world with joy.

+ I dream of a church; who does not confine the world within its walls, but goes off into the world to make it a church.

+ I dream of a church; who does not handle the issues with human wisdom, but by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

+ I dream of a church; that gives the last word to her Master and seeks, ceaselessly, to determine the compatibility of her decisions with His vision.

+ I dream of a church; who gets up after every fall.

+ I dream of a church; who plants her feet on the ground but she looks up to heavens.

+ I dream of a church; who leaves the human scales and seeks to take on the stature of Jesus Christ.

+ I dream of a church who deals with money to serve the needs of God’s people.

+ I dream of a church; who does not limit herself to just being a building, but realizes that the true church is the living church.

+ I dream of a church; who shares with the believers their worries, and concerns, and sorrows.

+ I dream of a church; who is an oasis for consolation in the desert of this world.

+ I dream of a church; who knows how to rejoice in God, and how to give this joy to the people.

+ I dream of a church; who discerns the peace of Jesus Christ from the peace of the world.

+ I dream of a church; who lives the fulfillment of the life.

+ I dream of a resurrectional church.

+ I dream of a church; who prioritizes welfare.

+ I dream of a church; who knows the language of this world, and evangelizes it in a language that the people of the world will understand.

+ I dream of a church; who lives love every day.

+ I dream of a church; who integrates the talents of her people without putting them in the race of completion.

+ I dream of a church; who does not differentiate between clergy and laity, but deals with all as royal priesthood.

+ I dream of a church; who does not accept a goal less than sainthood, and works to nourish the life with the kingdom of God.

+ I dream of a church; who is not led by human desires.

+ I dream of a church; who her poorest and richest are equal in value and respect.

+ I dream of a church; who doesn't stop working to actualize the Kingdom of God.

+ I dream of a church; who is the body of Christ on earth.

O God save us from the institutionalized church that puts her Master to death and keeps only His name.

- Metropolitan Saba (Esber) of Bosra, Horan and Jabal Al-Arabia

(Translated by Fr. Damaskinos Issa)

The Church is perfect but the people in it are not.

[lu-dao-writes]

— 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐨𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫 & 𝐇𝐢𝐬 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐀𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 (𝙆𝙪𝙧𝙖𝙨 𝙭 𝘼𝙞𝙨)

˚ ༘♡ ·˚𝙎𝙮𝙣𝙤𝙥𝙨𝙞𝙨 Friends help one another without a price.

𝙒𝙖𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜(𝙨) non-traditional a/b/o dynamics/omegaverse, anal/gay sex, alpha/alpha pair, knotting, rut, romantic tension, some angst all thanks to kuras, ais being a good man fr (and gay asf), overstimulation, crying, forced eye contact, mdni.

𝘼/𝙉 This came out FAR more romantic than I thought it would, and I adore it tbh. I took a break so all three rest of the days will come out today! ‎𐦍 ༘ ⋆ ࿐

day 𝐈 | day 𝐈𝐈 | day 𝐈𝐈𝐈 | day 𝐈𝐕 | day 𝐕𝐈 | day 𝐕𝐈𝐈

Kuras miscalculated.

He didn’t anticipate being struck with a rut at this time and on this day.

Although his ruts are sporadic he would feel the symptoms beforehand.

But this was sudden. No build up whatsoever. He closed his clinic in a hurry and quickly fled lowtown, venturing towards the Seaspring to inform Ais of his sudden departure, and ask for him to care for the clinic when he gets the chance.

Kuras also doesn’t anticipate this.

“I can help you out. Gotta be better than trying to sit through it on your own.”

Kuras is at a loss for words, the words to decline the offer stuck in his throat. He’s chosen to never care for his ruts, believing he doesn’t deserve such luxury.

So why is he having such difficulty saying no to Ais..?

Ais is a respectable man; always helping when Kuras needs it and is an exceptional listener and conversationalist. But he’s trouble, being the master of the Seaspring and being a reckless fighter.

He feels Ais come closer, the demon smiling at him benignantly. “Come on, doc. Think of it as a friend helping another friend. I expect nothing back, and the choice is yours.”

And Kuras lets himself fall into bed with him.

Ais has learned to appreciate the beauty of things, even if it’s small and or fleeting.

He’s always found Kuras to be a beautiful man; a beautiful man full of secrets and wisdom.

He’s not sure if he’ll ever get to see Kuras like this, or have another experience like this with him, so he savors and commits it to memory.

Kuras’s long, ombré hair is spread out like beautifully curved brush strokes, his skin heated and glowing alluringly thanks to the candlelight, and his molten gold eyes are hazy and dark with lust and longing.

Longing for what, is something Ais isn’t completely sure, but his gut says it’s pain.

He won’t be giving him that type of pain.

Throughout the throes of passion, Ais has Kuras in many vulnerable positions, keeping his strokes deep, purposeful, and a touch bit fast here and there, and of course forcing eye contact.

Ais keeps himself quiet, focusing on pulling each and every moan, whimper, groan, and cry from Kuras until he was left trembling and in tears, his cock soon shooting out blanks.

When they were soon secured in place, Ais sweetly toys with Kuras’s hair, red eyes gazing at him fondly while his other hand traces kanji on his skin, the other man trying to come down from ecstasy.

[narikine]

Dragon a Day - 2 @dragonaday-fr

"You usher me with words of wisdom, but your truth is full of teeth."

» My avatar dragon has been Blossom for a good while now. She might be my prettiest Imp!

[queen-of-scissors]

I saw your "god of the multiverse" thing where reader tells them abt the other games theyve played and i just-- JFJSJFJEBOFJSNFEOFN I AM JUMPING SO HARD ON THIS HYPE TRAIN--

I only have two words for you.

Among. Us.

You're welcome.

BUT LIKE FR FR THO-- HOW WOULD THEY REACT?? Since the entire thing is literally cooperate or die for crewmate, or Eat Hot Chip And Lie / Gaslight Gatekeep Girlboss for imp

And like, imagine them being named Dolos or Apate as a new epithet if they enjoy lying as crewmate to stir the pot or just regular lying as imp (dolos was the spirit of trickery, apate was the personification of deceit-- you can make either kaeya, albedo, ruebedo or dain give the title since theyre all from khanriah)

Or like-- they could also be rlly uncomfy with being imp and just being a model crewmate and they could be given the epithet Eleos or Anteros because of it

Just-- THSKFJSKDJWJ soooo many possibilities for reader/creator

And like-- oh my gOD IMAGINE THEM TRYING TO MAKE THE ACOLYTES PLAY IT AHAHAHA

The murder?? Theres gonna be a LOT

Sorry if there was a lot, i just rlly enjoy what you've written so far!! Have a nice day :))

GOOD SHİT GOOD SHİT THATS SUM GOOD SHİT RİGHT THERE!!!!

First, explaing the game.

Everyones reactions will be diffrent about it, no matter how you explain it;

The scared ones

Noelle, Diluc (brother flashbacks),Barbara, Bennett, Razor (lupical PROTEC lupical!! NO KİLL), sucrose, Jean, Yelan (you... Kill your friends??)

The impressed ones

Kaeya, Childe, Venti, Hu Tao, Yanfei (sees it as a usefull skill), zhongli (MF is impressed by anything u do smh), Lisa, Ei, Yae miko

The confused ones (what why would you?)

Ganyu, Xiao, Diluc, İtto (doesn't even understand the rules), kuki shinobu, Kazuha

"İ WANNA TRY!!! oh wait does this count as blasphemy-"

Childe, Venti, Albedo, KLEE (actually thinks it like a game), Yelan (ok since you said its not actually killing them i wanna try), İTTO, Nahida (knows its a game), Heizou

Now if we were the imposter you are right. İt doesnt matter if you are bad at it, they are going to call you as some god that has been assosiated with trickery.

İ wrote a story about it. But didn't make the reader as imposter because no one wouldn't dare to say you are an imposter. Even as a joke

ESPECİALLY if it was a traitor!AU. Tough im not sure that they would even play if that were the case

-----------------------

İ made the story of how you got the title a bit long, i hope you like it :)

More under the cut!

______________________________________

"Have you guys ever played 'vampire'?"

Your voice echoed in the throne room, they looked confused, they weren't expecting your answer to be another question.

You were bored out of your mind. Watching people come and go in the room just for them to ask for your guidance about daily stuff was a pain, both phsicaly and emotionaly. So you opened your phone to get a bit of a downtime while no one was there to ask for your divine wisdom.

"Forgive my rudeness, Your highness. But... What does that have to do with it?" Said Albedo, who got there for your divine wisdom.

"You asked what i was doing in my device, so in order for me to answer, you must for answer my question."

"Vampires..." He mumbled "aren't those imaginary, humanoid monsters that drink blood to survive?"

"Ah, ok. i see that you never played."

"Play what exactly?"

"So its a game about a group of villagers trying to find a vampire/werewolf among them.

You choose one host, and that person controlls the whole game, The other players all close their eyes and the host walks among them, and picks a vampire.

Each night, the vampire chosses someone to kill and that person is eleminated, and each day, the other players try to find the vampire and kill them.

İf they choose the wrong person that person is also eliminated."

Acolytes look at eachother, that sounds so fun?!(deffinetly not the kill eachother without killing eachother one is the reason not at aaaallll)

"Ohh, İ see," Kaeya said, impressed "so this game also tests you ability to not get caught and lie, as well as finding lies. This is interesting!"

"...turnes out, you might have a chance after all, since the creator favors imposters and all." Diluc half whispered to him.

Lets pretend we didn't hear him for his sake.

"Yeah so on my phone im playing it but this version is harder."

"OHHH i wanna try!" Klee said exitedly!

Jean stoped her "Klee, the creators device is a holy one, so we cant just ask them to give it to us for our desires."

"Actually i dont mind! Does anyone else wanna play?"

The smartest yandere ones were having a light yagami moment ("if i agree to play they might think im a murderer and discard me but if i don't play they will think im avoiding these types of games because im a murderer myself and i would get discarded again. Oh i know, i will wait someone to take the bait and say 'of everyone is playing then i will too' then no one will suspect me hahahahHAHAHA İTS ALL ACORDİNG TO PLAN-)

"İm... Sorry your Grace but... İ think i will just watch." The depressed Yaksha said, he hates to dissapoint you but he doesnt want to kill people that he concidered friends, even if its fake.

Zhongli looked at you and his gaze softened.

"İ shall join if Your highness would join as well."

"But of course!!" There is no way you're going to miss THİS OPPORTUNİTY.

_____________________________

The game.

This isn't the game where you taught them how to play. (Which... Took like.... 3 whole days. İm not writing that)

Yae and Venti (a dangerous duo smh) asked for your permision to make the event prised. You agreed, this might make things more fun! They didn't told you what it was though.

PLAYERS: ChildE, Bombombaku (Klee), windbornbard (Venti), foxlady (Yae miko), Rockhead (zhongli(venti messed it up)), (your choise of player name), COOLGUY (itto), Al Haitham, Ei, Dreamy (Nahida)

.

.

.

İt started as you being a crewmate. The god team were immediatly on your side, attempting to keep an eye on you. But as soon as you shot them an angry glare from across the room, they left you alone.

you were a bit worried that the imposter was going to get too scared and not kill you for the whole game just because you are the creator, and having the gods in Real life be at your Side even in the game might scare them even more.

You watched as rockhead leave the caffeteria, Ei going to the opposite direction from him. But windbornbard did not move at all. Not even an inch.

You made your character walk up to him, wondering if he is having connection problems, just as you tried to get him to move, he killed you and ran away.

..... That smart mother fu-

Honestly, you weren't mad at all, (just a bit if you game rage alot like me) because this could help to ease tention in the first few rounds.

You followed windbornbard a little, wondering if he is going to get another kill. You both passed the boiler room and through security camera room. Seeing other players and fake tasking.

.

DEAD BODY FOUND

Your toughts were cut short as they discovered COOLGUY's body.

Windbornbard gasped "the creator is dead?!"

Your throne room was filled with whispers, and angry mumbling, completely forgetting that COOLGUY is also dead (poor itto).

"Who would dare such a thing?! İ tought the gods were going to be at their Side the whole game!" ChildE said panicing, as if you actually got killed.

Al haitham picked on quickly, "if there was an agreement on protecting them. That can only mean that one of the archons is the traitor."

"Maybe, both of the imposters are gods?" Foxlady spoke in her teasing voice, profably to see Ei's reaction. "After all, theres only one way that they can get away with this, trap them and leave no witnesses behind."

"What you are saying is unlikely," Dreamy objected. "if that were the case, one of the archons would be dead as well, as all of us promised to protect them, one of us would have to witness the murder and the second imposter would kill the other god."

"Uhhhh... Guys?? İm also dead??? HELLO???"

Rockhead cutted in. "Sadly, we cant make any assumptions on who killed our creator, since we all parted ways to do our tasks by ourselves when..." He trailed off in the end, Coughing to hide his emberrasment, he didnt want to admit that he got scared.

"Then im voting to skip the vote." Windbornbard said. Someone find this man, you can't deal with his smug face if he wins!!

And thus, everyone skiped the meeting an no one got voted out.

-------

Next round you decided to do your tasks. That might help the crew a bit. While you go through the corridors you noticed Al haitham and windbornbard is going to somewhere together, and its not the first time you caught them walking Side by side. You're not sure if Al haitham got suspicious of venti or he is an imposter as well. Either way its an interesting duo. Maybe you should check the cameras.

You went to security room and looked through.

Blockhead was standing in the corridor, watchin Ei from a distance.

ChildE was avoiding everyone, immideatly leaving if the room has a player inside, he is taking it so seriously, he is profably not an imposter, you thought.

Klee was getting in and out of the rooms, Following random people and waiting just besides the door. İt suspicious but it could be that she is just exited to play.

You closed the security camera window, and looked across the real world room instead.

İtto placed the phone you gave him to his side and crossed his arms, pouting because he was the first one to die. Trying to look at other peoples phones from where he stood, to find the other imposter.

You could see the sweats forming at zhongli's forehead. He was SUPER concentrated. Why was he, amongst all of the other acolytes, being so serious about it anyway?

You looked at the traitor, who realised you were looking at him and smiled at you. You smiled back, at least one of them is having fun!

Suddenly his smile grew bigger and went back to his phone. Uh-oh he has an idea doesnt he.

EMERGENCY MEETİNG

"AL HAİTAM STOP FOLLOWİNG ME" he partly screamed.

"You misunderstand me, i was just following to make sure you are not a traitor."

"Oh realy?! Then explain why while we were in the room to the east, the doors were locked and you started to chase me?"

"...that did not happen."

Foxlady cutted in "now that you mention it, i do remember that one of the rooms that had my tasks was blocked by a door."

"İM VOTİNG AL HAİTHAM" windbornbard said. İts all going acording to plan hehehehehe. Some other started to back him up as well.

"Wait."

Everyone in the room turned to Blockhead.

"İ understand that all the evidence seems to be targeting hım. But i know my bard friend here for quite long, i can tell when he is being serious." He looked at windbornbard, "could it be that you are trying to blame Al Haitham for your crimes against our creator?"

"You seem to have quite the imagination old friend" he said calmly, imitiating him "it is as you say, we've known eachother for a few thousand years after all. So i too, can read your emotions."

Venti once again turned to you "your highness said so themselves, it is just a game afterall, so theres no need for me to treat it as a war between rivals. Of course im not in my serious mood."

He turned back to him "now thats out of the way, i must ask, why did you gets so offensive and tried to protect Al Haitham? Kind of... What was the world? SUS? don't you think?"

You almost burst out laughing, it was so funny hearing it from him, he sounded like a grandpa who is learning internet lingo, despite his youmg voice.

"Are you suggesting that, i am the one who killed the creator?"

"Now i didn't say that, you could be the one that killed 'COOLGUY', since you have strick policies when it comes to the creator."

They glared at eachother while Ei voiced her opinion. "What bard sais sounds very belivable, while mr Zhongli also made a convincing point. İ suggest that we vote Al Haitham, and if he does turn out to be an imposter, we can figure out from there."

"Well, it seems i can't get myself out of this one even if i try. İt was a very fun game." Haitham sighed. He accepted defeat, just like that? This isn't like him.

"İ expected for you to fight a bit more over this, not gonna lie"

"İ was more interested in the gameplay, rather than the prize itself. So being able to see the working mechanics was enough for me."

"Ah i see, maybe i can teach you sometime?" You asked innocently, not caring of the angry glares that turned to him as soon as you said that.

"İ belive the academia would bother us as soon as we got out, so that wouldnt be productive." He crossed his arms, knowing that this knowladge could profably get him killed. "But i do appriciate the tought, thank you, your highness"

Everyone hold their breath as the result was written in the stars.

AL HAİTHAM WAS THE İMPOSTER

-------------

Everyone, including the ghosts stayed in the positions they spawned in. What now? Do they do an emergency meeting again and vote zhongli off? But is this right to assume right away? Should they wait a bit longer for evidence?

Before the meeting cooldown ends, everyone finally made up their mind. They all went back to their tasks.

You almost finished all of them, but the bar was only half full. Acolytes are too busy trying to find the last imposter that everyone seem to forget doing tasks causes instant win.

This round was worse, the lights go out, random doors closing and opening, causing panic among people, but venti was nowhere to be seen. Maybe he is doing this because he paniced, He has to kill 6 players all by himself afterall.

EMERGENCY MEETİNG

Ei, Klee and Dreamy died

"hOLY shit- 3 people died?!" İtto screamed.

"This can only mean one thing.." childE said, he was the one that pressed the meeting button. "Mr. Zhongli, care to explain?"

Everyone in the room looked at both of them

"İm not sure what you mean, Childe, would you be as kind as to enlighten me?" He said calmly, but it was obvious that he was getting irritated.

"The whole round, the rooms were randomly opening and closing. İ can tell that was a trap to create confusion, windbornbard has experianced the same thing. Only the smart ones that are experianced with faking their identities can think of this trick."

Oh this was a personal attack-

"İ agree with your opinion, however, i suggest that you choose the next words carefully, afterall, there is only 3 players left. İf we happen to fail finding the imposter now. We might not win this game."

Foxlady stoped both of them, realising this conversation contains topics from Real life"now now, lets not fight, even though the prize is grand, it is just a game after all."

Yeah what is the prize anyway?

She added "But i must say, what you said is quite right, only the ones that has an experiance to fake their identities can in fact create confusion skillfully"

"See? She agrees with me-"

"Hey now, have some manners. Don't you know that it's rude to interrupt while a lady is speaking?" She teased. ChildE cursed himself for being overly exited while she continued;

"However, the reasoning for you to claim blockhead- ah i meant Mr Zhongli- is an imposter is not realy a strong one. Since everyone in this room have experianced acting as another person."

Venti jumped in "yeah, aren't YOU the one that uses a fake identity in the first place? Harbinger of shneznaya?"

"How curious," zhongli added "blaming people is exactly what the imposter would do. İf i hadn't known better, i would have said that you are the imposter that is trying to cover up."

Yae raised a Brow "hmm? Do you have something else to say?"

"Not that it matters of course, but i have noticed that my usually talkative friend seem to be rather silent." He eyed Venti "And we have accused hım for being an imposter before."

"İm just watching, as you guys make this whole game about yourselves. İ have been having fun with my tasks!"

"Oh realy?" Yae teased, "what was the last task that you have done?"

"İ... Uh... The wires?"

"Which ones?"

"İn the.... Upper part of the ship."

"İs there even wires on there?"

"Yes there is! İ meant the caffeteria!"

"You were having fun with matching colors? My aren't you childish~"

"İ uhh well- you asked me the last task i've done! Not my favorite one!"

"Why are you stuttering bard?" Zhongli pressed on.

"You never got questioned by the shrine Maiden?! She is scary" he whispered

"Of course not, unlike you, i am not someone that causes trouble."

"OH come on! Why are you all mean to me all of a sudden?!"

"Yeah im voting him." Said childE.

"İm only voting for you because you told me im scary and that hurt my feelings" she laughed.

"Well, Barbatos, any last words?"

"İ was sooo close, thats not fair ;;"

WİNDBORNBARD WAS THE İMPOSTER.

Crewmates win!!

__________________________

.

.

.

.

Childe stoped you from leaving. "Your highness, do you have a moment?"

"İ guess? What is it?"

"Since this competition doesnt realy have öne winner. How do we know who won?"

"Zhongli, Yae miko and you won, because all of you survived untill the end."

"....does that mean you will go on a date with all of us..?"

"Wait what-? A date??"

"Fox lady said that the winner is going to have a date with you."

"İ DİDN'T KNOW THAT????"

"THEY DİDNT TOLD YOU?!"

_____________

The whole tevat was mourning their loss. The day you were killed by the hands of someone they knew you held dear, there were offerings to your shrine, silent appologies were made.

The weather was rainy, as the world cried with your followers.

This is the scene you were greated with as you walked towards the shrine that made for you, after giving the winner the... Prize...

"Uhh guys.. im not dead?"

"Sometimes we can still hear their voice..."

Your acolytes was eternaly happy for your short visit ("guys i didn't leave-"). You never died. Anyone could still feel your presence when they looked at the sky, to the infinity.

You are the

İnfinity.

The undying one...

"Oh your Grace welcome how have you been? :D"

"The game was fun and all, but do you guys have to make everything dramatic?"

"Speaking of the game, were you the one that found the imposter? But got killed because of it? "

"Man i wish. Maybe next time i won't die immediatly!"

______

[astrobydalia]

more observations (lost count)✨

Hello guys! Life's been crazy lately and I barely have time to make any of the master posts I wanted to, so you'll be getting lost of observation posts that I've been collecting in my drafts for the past months. As always, enjoy!

❗️long post

work by astrobydalia

✨ Sagittarius and Aquarius are so fucking similar. Both of them are chaotic af, love their freedom and think they're smarter than everyone else. People who have both of these in their big 6 have the most unhinged

✨ Libra is WAY more obsessed with perfection than Virgo

✨ Whenever I had Libra or Taurus ASC on my Solar return chart I was lazy AS FUCK. I had no motivation to work whatsoever during those years, all I wanted to do was vibe and enjoy life. I also felt very relaxed and stress-free, when difficulties came I just went with the flow

✨ What is up with Gemini risings and always feeling intellectually insecure all the time? Literally their #1 insecurity is feeling like they are dumb or like they’re not good enough for highly abstract and intellectual tasks/professions. They come across as someone immature who lacks wisdom or has a superficial/simplistic view of things. I feel like this is because they attract people who are a bit of know-it-alls (Sagittarius DSC) and they have a reputation for being scattered-brained (Pisces 10th house) so people tent to infantilize them a lot.

^^^But let me tell you this not true at all, Gemini risings are some of the most brilliant people I’ve met with so much potential. Their problem is that they allow overthinking to get the best of them and end up doubting themselves 24/7. These are the type of people who have amazing ideas but they never pursue any them. They really struggle making decisions for themselves, they always need to ask for opinions first which is not a bad thing but this makes them come across as incapable or as someone who lacks self-sufficiency

✨ Mercurial signs (Virgo and Gemini) like to focus on concrete things and immediate reality, they process life by connecting one thing at a time and taking info as it comes, they focus on what's going on around them cause Mercury is all about multiplicity and details. With Jupiter signs on the other hand (Sag and Pisces) one thing about them is they don't care about details as long as things make sense as a whole, they see life from a more broad and general perspective, they prefer having a birds eye view of things because Jupiter is all about expansion and therefore it likes to encompass many things at once. This is why Virgo and Gemini rule mundane life themes and immediate reality while Sag and Pisces are more about general life lessons and higher knowledge

✨ Scorpio moons/8th house moons are the definition of an energy vampire fr. They just have a really poor understanding of healthy emotional boundaries, they expect you to give your all but aren't willing to reciprocate and always turn everything into a manipulation or mind game somehow which makes it pretty exhausting to be around them in the long run. Don't get me wrong, most of the ones I’ve met were very and good people but they always end up taking my energy away and make me feel emotionally burnt out

✨ Mercury-Mars aspects have this "it is what it is" mentality and really dislike over complicating things by reading too deep into them. They tend to think things exactly as they seem. This does not mean they're simplistic, on the contrary this makes them surprisingly insightful fast thinkers and are not the type to be easily fooled

✨ I've seen people saying that hard aspects between Mercury-Pluto makes people misunderstand your words. This is not true, this happens with Neptune cause Neptune rules delusion, but Pluto is a very blunt and straightforward planet cause it's all about revealing the dark truths. Mercury-Pluto aspects makes someone very deliberate with their words and they know exactly what to say to make their message stick. You will understand their words exactly how they want you to understand them. What happens with hard aspects is that the native tends to have a more provocative approach in the things they say, they don't care if you're offended by what they say as long as what they say makes an impact. People can misunderstand their intentions because of this, but not their words

✨ The ironic thing about Aquarius placements is that they are very good when it comes to connecting with the masses, the public usually feels very drawn to them because they're very good at appealing to collective values which makes them come across as relatable to many people as a result. However, when you actually try to relate to them or connect one-on-one, you will find yourself with someone that is surprisingly elusive, distant and more distrustful than Scorpio placements which is a huge contrast from the welcoming vibe they give off to the public. I've found that the only way you will get close to an Aquarius placements is on THEIR terms lmao, if they've decided they like you, it'll be them who will approach you and/or make the effort to engage with you

✨ A reocurring thing I've seen with Virgo placements is that they really dislike big changes and prefer to stay in control. I think this is not mentioned often cause it's kinda weird to say that about a mutable sign, but Virgos being mercury+earth ruled they feel comfortable relying on facts, data, observations, etc and they use all this tangible info to navigate reality, that's why they rule daily life and routines because they invest a lot of their energy on factually understanding and categorizing their reality (earth signs in general are very attached to the tangible). Their mutable nature shows in that they easily use their knowledge to adapt, find solutions and fix what’s wrong but when they are in situations where these "categories" prove to be useless (aka Pisces themes), they get very triggered cause that means they no longer have control of their reality

✨ That being said another reoccurring thing I’ve noticed with Virgo placements is that they love to predict things. But not in a mystical sense it’s more like they enjoy understanding things in such way that they’re able to easily put a label on them and easily predict what’s going on or how something works

✨ I have not seen a single Taurus placement who didn’t have the most insanely sexy and pleasant voice ever. Doesn’t matter if they sing of not, just hearing their voice is so delightful

✨ Aquarius Mercury really believe their opinions are the most ultimate and correct opinions out there. They are certain that their judgment is always 100% objective (aka always true) so in their mind if you slightly disagree with them that means you’re mediocre, dumb or narrow-minded.

✨ There's always a duality in all mutable signs. Sagittarius can be very humorous and optimistic but also very dark and profound. Gemini can be curious and chaotic but also very analytical and logical. Virgo can be picky and perfectionistic but also very permissive and conformist. Pisces can be very compassionate and wise but also very detached and clueless

✨ Neptune does not do well in air houses/signs at all simply because air energy rules (different types of) information and connections, while Neptune is all delusion and confusion. Also air energy is purely cerebral and rational while Neptune appeals to the unconscious

✨ I have not fact-checked this but I feel like it's safe to say that Mars rules testosterone. Testosterone is a hormone associated to violence or impulsive behavior, sex drive, red blood cells (blood), masculinity, etc That's literally all mars

✨ People always talk about how Capricorn moons have had a rough life but I've noticed this is also very true for Sagittarius Moons?? Responsibilities are not imposed on them like Capricorn, in their case they have to build up wisdom about life through pure and raw experience without anyone giving them a heads up or any pointers first, that's why they grow up feeling like they're fully on their own. Things work out for them at the end but they always have most MESSY life experience it's really crazy

✨ Both domicile and afflicted Mars are ambitious and determined but the main difference is that Libra/Taurus/Cancer Mars need to find some type of enjoyment or fulfillment in their goals in order to get motivated while Capricorn/Aries/Scorpio Mars find motivation in the challenge and endure through stuff they don't find pleasant

✨ From what I've seen males with Scorpio placements are very superficial and will gaslight as a lifestyle. They are the type of people who look the other way or brush things off or never takes anything seriously and I've noticed they do this so they never have to take accountability.

✨ Neptune/Pisces energy either gives “glamorous and ethereal” vibes or “weird in an extremely cringe way” vibes, there’s no in-between

✨ A reoccurring thing I've noticed with those who have Chiron in Taurus/2nd house or Chiron-Venus is that they often have dubious morality or double standards because they don't have a solid values

✨ Every single Libra Moon/rising female I’ve met embodied the material girl stereotype. They really have this “instagram girl” vibes to them if that makes sense

✨ Those with Sagittarius in the 5th house can actually find a lot of joy and happiness in becoming parents or they have a lot of fun with children

✨ Scorpio Mars can't stand not knowing what's going on around them and at first I thought this was bc they were suspicious/paranoid but then I realized it’s because they’re just controlling as shit. They come across as very chill and care fee but they’re actually SUPER controlling dude. Even when they know for sure that they can trust you and you’re doing nothing wrong they still want to keep taps on you and won’t leave you alone. They won't bluntly violate your privacy but will still find ways to always know what you're up to

✨ The resentful and spiteful stereotype associated to Scorpio actually belongs to Leo placements imo. They can be very reactive and childish when you insult their ego and will make it very known that they won't let it go

✨ Cancer North Node people always have some sort of issue or inner conflict with of having kids. They feel drawn to the idea of becoming a parent but deep down they low-key don't? I've also seen many women with this placement who had fertility issues

I have the theory that these natives are conflicted in this topic because they see family as an achievement or a societal expectation (Capricorn south node) so in this life time they have to know what it's like to desire a family for the right reasons and not because they feel like they 'should'

✨ Capricorn risings really are hyper-aware of their public image and how others perceive them. That's why they always end up becoming very popular and respected, cause they know very well where they "stand" publicly so they know how to successfully curate their own reputation. It's not surprising to see this placement a lot in celebrities

✨ Pluto in the 12th house are genuinely unsure of who they can trust which leads to a lot of paranoia and projection. The type to ignore the most obvious red flags but then automatically doubt your loyalty cus you spoke in a suspicious tone

✨ Pisces/12th house placements 🤝 disappearing. Y’all shit on Gemini for ghosting but have you ever met a pisces/12th houser?

✨ Saturn in 5th house people had parents (namely father) who were overly critical of them and their self-expression. Doesn’t necessarily mean they were unsupportive of the native but they were quite hard on the native’s creativity

✨ I've seen a lot of bullies/mean girls have Aquarius placements. Honorable mentions: virgo, Leo, libra

✨ Neptune-ASC people are really good at making themselves invisible when they want and/or making parts of themselves go completely unnoticed even if they're bluntly obvious. I've noticed they actually get away with a lot cause they have this tendency to not be accurately seen by others if that makes sense

✨ Neurodivergent individuals usually have Mercury harshly aspecting (conjunction, square, opposition and inconjuction) Uranus and Saturn. Said Mercury is more often than not in a water house/sign/degree or in Aries. Of course not everyone with these aspects will be neurodivergent, but it's just a pattern I've seen

✨ Pluto-ASC people most of the times fail to have a lighthearted view towards life. They always want to look beyond the surface of things which doesn't really allow them to enjoy life as it is. They often get a reputation for looking too deep into everything and in turn the Pluto-asc native often sees others as superficial

✨ Virgo risings are huge conformist and won’t go after anything that’s outside their immediate boundaries. They only make an effort towards things that are accessible and will quickly lose interest in anything that has difficult availability or requires them to go way out of their comfort zone. They're overall pretty self-serving.

✨ I know several people diagnosed with OCD. All of them have Virgo AND 6th house placements, 22º in their big 3, Scorpio Mercury/Moon and Mercury dominance

work by astrobydalia