#based speech recognition

[the-latest-research]

Speech and Voice Recognition Market to be Worth $56.07 Billion by 2030

Meticulous Research®—leading global market research company, published a research report titled, ‘Speech and Voice Recognition Market by Function (Speech, Voice Recognition), Technology (AI and Non-AI), Deployment Mode (Cloud, On-premise), End User (Consumer Electronics, Automotive, BFSI, Other End Users), and Geography - Global Forecast to 2030.’

Speech Recognition Market Booming with AI and Growing Applications

The speech recognition market is poised for significant growth, reaching an estimated $56.07 billion by 2030 at a CAGR of 19.1%, acoording to Meticulous Research®. This surge is fueled by several key trends:

Voice Biometrics on the Rise: Security systems and financial applications are increasingly adopting voice biometrics for user authentication, offering a convenient and secure solution.

Voice Assistants Take Center Stage: Virtual assistants powered by AI are transforming how we interact with technology in homes, cars, and workplaces.

Smart Devices Drive Demand: The proliferation of voice-enabled smart speakers, wearables, and appliances is creating a strong demand for accurate speech recognition technology.

Download Sample Report Here @ https://www.meticulousresearch.com/download-sample-report/cp_id=5038

Challenges and Opportunities in Speech Recognition

Despite its growth potential, the market faces some hurdles:

Accent and Dialect Hurdles: Current systems may struggle with regional variations in speech patterns, requiring ongoing development for wider adoption.

Background Noise Interference: Speech recognition accuracy can be hampered by ambient noise, demanding improvements in noise cancellation techniques.

However, exciting opportunities lie ahead:

AI Integration Enhances Functionality: The integration of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning is continuously improving speech recognition accuracy and functionality.

Multilingual Communication: Speech recognition is poised to play a vital role in bridging language barriers by facilitating translation of rare and local languages.

Voice Authentication Gains Traction: The growing demand for secure mobile banking and other applications is driving the adoption of voice authentication technologies.

Market Segmentation Highlights

The report also explores various segments within the speech recognition market:

Function: Speech recognition (converting speech to text) holds the dominant market share due to the widespread use of AI and smart devices.

Technology: AI-powered speech recognition is leading the way due to its effectiveness in powering virtual assistants and other intelligent applications.

Deployment Mode: Cloud-based deployments are gaining traction due to their scalability, affordability, and ease of use, particularly for small and medium businesses.

End User: The IT and telecommunications sector currently holds the largest share, but the consumer electronics segment is expected to witness the fastest growth due to the rising popularity of voice-enabled devices.

Geography: North America dominates the market due to the presence of major technology players and a strong focus on improving customer service experiences.

By understanding these trends and segmentation, businesses can capitalize on the immense potential of the speech recognition market.

Key Players:

Some of the key players operating in the speech and voice recognition market are Microsoft Corporation (U.S.), Amazon Web Services, Inc. (U.S.), Google LLC (U.S.), IBM Corporation (U.S.), Verint Systems Inc. (U.S.), Baidu, Inc. (China), Apple Inc. (U.S.), Speechmatics (U.K.), Sensory, Inc. (U.S.), AssemblyAI, Inc. (U.S.), iFLYTEK Co., Ltd. (China), LumenVox (U.S.), SESTEK (Turkey), and Dolbey Systems, Inc. (U.S.).Contact Us: Meticulous Research® Email- sales@meticulousresearch.com Contact Sales- +1-646-781-8004 Connect with us on LinkedIn- https://www.linkedin.com/company/meticulous-research

[echoekhi]

I’m Declaring War Against “What If” Videos: Project Copy-Knight

What Are “What If” Videos?

These videos follow a common recipe: A narrator, given a fandom (usually anime ones like My Hero Academia and Naruto), explores an alternative timeline where something is different. Maybe the main character has extra powers, maybe a key plot point goes differently. They then go on and make up a whole new story, detailing the conflicts and romance between characters, much like an ordinary fanfic.

Except, they are fanfics. Actual fanfics, pulled off AO3, FFN and Wattpad, given a different title, with random thumbnail and background images added to them, narrated by computer text-to-speech synthesizers.

They are very easy to make: pick a fanfic, copy all the text into a text-to-speech generator, mix the resulting audio file with some generic art from the fandom as the background, give it a snappy title like “What if Deku had the Power of Ten Rings”, photoshop an attention-grabbing thumbnail, dump it onto YouTube and get thousands of views.

In fact, the process is so straightforward and requires so little effort, it’s pretty clear some of these channels have automated pipelines to pump these out en-masse. They don’t bother with asking the fic authors for permission. Sometimes they don’t even bother with putting the fic’s link in the description or crediting the author. These content-farms then monetise these videos, so they get a cut from YouTube’s ads.

In short, an industry has emerged from the systematic copyright theft of fanfiction, for profit.

Project Copy-Knight

Since the adversaries almost certainly have automated systems set up for this, the only realistic countermeasure is with another automated system. Identifying fanfics manually by listening to the videos and searching them up with tags is just too slow and impractical.

And so, I came up with a simple automated pipeline to identify the original authors of “What If” videos.

It would go download these videos, run speech recognition on it, search the text through a database full of AO3 fics, and identify which work it came from. After manual confirmation, the original authors will be notified that their works have been subject to copyright theft, and instructions provided on how to DMCA-strike the channel out of existence.

I built a prototype over the weekend, and it works surprisingly well:

On a randomly-selected YouTube channel (in this case Infinite Paradox Fanfic), the toolchain was able to identify the origin of half of the content. The raw output, after manual verification, turned out to be extremely accurate. The time taken to identify the source of a video was about 5 minutes, most of those were spent running Whisper, and the actual full-text-search query and Levenshtein analysis was less than 5 seconds.

The other videos probably came from fanfiction websites other than AO3, like fanfiction.net or Wattpad. As I do not have access to archives of those websites, I cannot identify the other ones, but they are almost certainly not original.

Armed with this fantastic proof-of-concept, I’m officially declaring war against “What If” videos. The mission statement of Project Copy-Knight will be the elimination of “What If” videos based on the theft of AO3 content on YouTube.

I Need Your Help

I am acutely aware that I cannot accomplish this on my own. There are many moving parts in this system that simply cannot be completely automated – like the selection of YouTube channels to feed into the toolchain, the manual verification step to prevent false-positives being sent to authors, the reaching-out to authors who have comments disabled, etc, etc.

So, if you are interested in helping to defend fanworks, or just want to have a chat or ask about the technical details of the toolchain, please consider joining my Discord server. I could really use your help.

------

See full blog article and acknowledgements here: https://echoekhi.com/2023/11/25/project-copy-knight/

[northopalshore]

ପ Lunar Return Chart ଓ

Observations

🪞 A lunar Return chart refers to the chart you get based on the position of the moon, returning to where it was (sign & degree) as in your natal chart. every month. This post only applies to the lunar return chart & it's overlay with the natal chart! Based on both personal experience and those observed from people in real life. Meant to be a guide and not a 1:1 occurrence!

Please don't repost on other sites without permission ʕ⁠´⁠•⁠ᴥ⁠•⁠`⁠ʔฅ

Northopalshores' Masterlist| lunar return chart | paid readings

₊ ˚ ⊹ ࣭ ⭑ . ₊ ⊹ .₊๋‧₊ ˚ ⊹ ࣭ ⭑ . ₊ ⊹ .₊๋‧₊ ˚ ⊹ ࣭ ⭑ . ₊ ⊹ .₊๋‧₊ ˚ ⊹ ࣭ ⭑ ⊹ .₊๋‧₊ ˚ ⊹ ࣭ ⭑

꒰ა. (get a personal lunar return reading from yours truly ♡) stackable! ໒꒱ ‧

🍡 Mars in the 2nd House means you will be very prone to overspending or making "blackout" purchases

🍡 Pluto & Chiron in the 2nd House can mean taking out or paying a loan, overspending, or in some cases even lawsuits. If you have a business it can mean a loss of income as well.

🍡 Pluto in the 1st House you'll be changing something about your looks

🍡 Pluto in the 6th House you'll be adding or subtracting something to/from your routine from now on; exercising, getting a job, studying

🍡 Chiron in the 1st House your skin could get paler this month, or you may be finding ways to improve your looks. If Venus or Neptune is accompanying Chiron here then it could be a strong desire for a glow up (which you will take action upon).

🍡 Venus & Chiron in the 1st House you may change your look but feel rather insecure or unsure about it at first (think it went wrong or made you look worse). Though, you'll grow attached to the look eventually.

🍡Venus in Pisces in the 8th House (especially in Cancer degrees) you could be reminiscing a close friend or lover, someone that was dear to you that had passed or separated from recently (or a long time ago) but still remain close to your heart

🍡 Lilith in the 3rd House regretting something you've said before, being confronted for something verbally or online, catching arguments, you may feel like you're stumbling your words a lot this month

🍡 Moon in the 10th House wanting to be seen, feeling rather pressured (people may expect much from you this month)

🍡 Sun in the 3rd House going for interviews, giving speeches, short trips, having a busy schedule

🍡 Uranus in the 10th House switching up careers doing something extra with how you present yourself, putting yourself out there, gaining more recognition and making a bold decision for yourself reputation/career wise (even something you never thought you'd do).

🍡 Neptune in the 8th House past experiences coming to haunt you, it doesn't have to be bad or traumatic but it does bring heavily feelings especially if you've experienced a loss recently. You're just more sensitive this month.

🍡 8th house Stellium aside from feeling drained, potential rude awakenings or changing something about yourself, things you own can start to break down or need replacement. Renewing something in your life whether literally or metaphorically.

🍡 Uranus in the 6th House unexpected work coming your way! A sudden change of plans and routine that you didn't really plan to happen. If you were busy before this, then this offers you more time to relax.

🍡 Jupiter in the 2nd House you may gain more money this month, or feel more generous with it

🍡 Chiron in the 12th House lack of sleep, insomnia, feeling incredibly tired throughout the month

🍡 Aries 1st House Stellium you might want to make sudden changes to your appearances (not something planned), craving a new fresh look that's louder or gives more life into the way you look or dress

🍡 Fama (408) conjuncting Ascendant you'll gain more recognition this month likely for your looks (it doesn't have to be that big or a boost but still, it's more than usual!)

🍡 Marriage asteroids in the 2nd, 6th & 10th House it's like you're married to your work or job lol. You'll commit more of yourself into your responsibilities is what I mean.

₊ ˚ ⊹ ࣭ ⭑ . ₊ ⊹ .₊๋‧₊ ˚ ⊹ ࣭ ⭑ . ₊ ⊹ .₊๋‧₊ ˚ ⊹ ࣭ ⭑ . ₊ ⊹ .₊๋‧₊ ˚ ⊹ ࣭ ⭑ ⊹ .₊๋‧₊ ˚ ⊹ ࣭ ⭑

🥠 Mars in the 6th House a lot of things will require your attention this month, your schedule could be stacked & you may be covering more ground (doing more work) than you usually would. Also, you could start working out or focusing on your health.

🥠 Mars in the 5th House a potential suitor could show up somewhere this month or some sort of competition, other than that you could be more eager to go on fun trips with friends. That desire to do something fun is strong this month, subsequently the opportunity for that to happen may show up a couple times throughout the month.

🥠 Venus in the 2nd House spending money on beauty products, buying clothes or supplements, you could be earning a decent sum of money this month.

🥠 Saturn conjunct Neptune in the 1st House looking, feeling acting tired. Could be due to a lack of sleep this month i.e you could notice your skin getting duller than it usually is.

🥠 Jupiter in the 10th House your image or reputation will increase this month, people may look up to you or you may meet people who admire & respect you. People may vouch for you this month.

🥠 Jupiter in the 11th House you are likely to gain some popularity or attention this month, you could also gain new friends or followers that like you. You may also be in contact with more people (communicating especially online). Either way, your social circle is expanding.

🥠 Sun, Venus Mars or Neptune in the 8th House you may be stalked this month in some way this month.

🥠 Eros (433) in the 1st House or Conjunct the ascendant you are likely to be more passionate, and have more perseverance this month. You could want to appear sexier too (or just come off that way subconsciously).

🥠 Mars in the 10th House you may be in charge of a program or managing someone/something. Either way, you'll be directing people to do certain things somewhere within the month.

🥠 Mars in the 12th House you are likely to receive more breakers or moments of stagnancy throughout the month, some things may be cancelled or delayed and you may feel less energized. (If Mars is in the 12th in your LRC but LRC Mars lands in your natal 6th house when overlayed, then past delayed work may catch up with you or you may be a lack of motivation or energy even if/because you have a lot to do)

🥠 Chiron in the 7th House misunderstandings, fights, "cheating", flaking or bailing on you/someone, competition, or other stress inducing issues may arise between you and a partner (whether romantic or not), especially if in Pisces, Scorpio or Aries!

🥠 Mars in the 4th House moving towards home. You could move back to your parents house, visit them or come back home after a long, long departure (like if you've been traveling for months or lived at a different place before this).

🥠 Uranus square Saturn a very, very rude long-term awakening awaits you

🥠 11th House ruler in Pisces in the 12th House a possible loss of an old friend

🥠 Stellium in the 12th House feeling lost, unsure or tired & overwhelmed with thoughts and life, fears and expectations colliding. For some though, it can mean leaving or moving homes/countries/towns.

🥠 Venus in the 12th House or Venus retrograde in the 7th regretting or reliving past romantic mistakes or feeling left out in your love life. Someone from the past returning.

₊ ˚ ⊹ ࣭ ⭑ . ₊ ⊹ .₊๋‧₊ ˚ ⊹ ࣭ ⭑ . ₊ ⊹ .₊๋‧₊ ˚ ⊹ ࣭ ⭑ . ₊ ⊹ .₊๋‧₊ ˚ ⊹ ࣭ ⭑ ⊹ .₊๋‧₊ ˚ ⊹ ࣭ ⭑

Ciao, angels of darkness. Support?

@northopalshore

[harmoonix]

🦁𝙃𝙖𝙠𝙪𝙣𝙖 𝙈𝙖𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙖🦁

(Astrology Observations)

𓃭~ 𝕫𝕚𝕞𝕓𝕒𝕓𝕨𝕖 ~𓃭

❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂

❂ 𝕴𝖙'𝖘 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖈𝖎𝖗𝖈𝖑𝖊 𝖔𝖋 𝖑𝖎𝖋𝖊 ❂

──────────────────────

☀️ Leo Placements especially Sun/Moon/Rising/Venus have a shining face/body in general their skin shines a lot and is good because it indicates healthy skin, they may also have a very complex beauty like you need to stare at them for a bit to just admire their beauty

☀️ 5°, 17°, and the 29th° degrees indicate fame and recognition, sometimes getting a lot of attention, on the sun/ascendant/midhaven can give those things (Jupiter in those degrees extends the beauty of the native)

☀️Juno in Fire Signs love with a passion and need a passionate relationship/partner, they're very fierce and need to feel loved at fullest

☀️ Aquarius/Virgo Moon/Rising/Mercury are so analytical, they will analyze everything about a person like their eyes/face/clothes/body/behavior etc.. 😲😲

☀️ Scorpio Venus/Mars/Rising/Juno can definitely experience getting or having jealous partners, (or possesive) their partners can be clingy as well

☀️ Venus in your 7th house is in perfect harmony/will attract a lot of love/partners/harmony in their relationships and full of blessings

☀️ North Node aspecting Sun/Pluto/Saturn/Chiron literally gives the vibe of Lion King because of "Circle of life", like to experience things and to evolve and going from different circles of life to another

❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂

❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂

☀️Mercury/Moon in Pisces or at Pisces Degrees (12°, 24°) have a serene/peaceful voice, I know so many people with both Pisces Mercury & Moon they are having such a calm sweet voice ❣️

☀️Try to analyze your ruler planet persona chart to discover more things about yourself, if you have 2 ruler planets look at both persona chart, if you have Leo Rising your own chart is the sun natal chart ❣️

☀️Pluto aspecting the ascendant natives are not only mesmerizing but they're full of evolution as well, you'll learn so many things if you have someone with those aspects beside you, they can teach you/make you evolve with them

──────────────────────

From the day we arrive on the planet

And blinking step into the sun

There's more to see than can ever be seen

More to do than can ever be done

──────────────────────

☀️ Don't forget that the house you have Pisces in is also ruled by the Jupiter not only by Neptune, in traditional astrology Pisces is ruled by Jupiter

☀️ Sun in Leo/Leo in the 8th house have such a magnetic energy, they're like a gemstone 💎 shinning and full of mystery in the same time

☀️ Gemini Placements esp Rising and Mars are captivating people, these natives are always having the best stories to share, they're also very communicative and open to everything

☀️ Leo/Libra/Taurus/Pisces Moons know how to give themselves and others a love treatment, I know so many of them cheering others up to make them feel better and happy

❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂

❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂

☀️ I admire 9th house placements for their love for travelling and seeing the worlds beautiful nature, they're also outgoing from young ages and that makes them to be wild and free when they grow up

☀️ 10°, 22° are hardworking degrees, on midhaven/sun/ascendant give the vibe of a hardworking person, also shows a lot of influence upon others

☀️ 11° 23° degrees are influential degrees, on Venus these degrees can influence others based on the beauty or their fashion style/ on the midhaven influence about their work or career/on Mercury influencing about their voice/speech

☀️ Sagittarius/Aries and Gemini Degrees usually are the people talk very fast in a conversation and at the end the people can end up like "Sorry can you repeat again"

☀️ Chiron in the 4th/6th/12th houses natives may like to stay alone for a bit to relax or to calm themselves, they really need peace of mind

☀️ Sun/Mars in the 10th house shows someone who is focusing a lot on their work/job/career and its very confident about it, they may also stay over the program or overworking to put more on themselves

☀️ Venus aspecting the north node has a very beautiful journey in life, to learn how to love themselves and how to be loved, to learn what healthy and true love feels like (all aspects)

☀️ Ascendant aspecting the Moon are having a specific beauty, some of them may have big sparkling eyes, maybe oval face, beautiful smile

❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂

❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂

☀️ Lilith Leo/Lilith in the 5th house or Lilith aspecting Sun can feel unseen/unloved at times or they can feel people like people don't give them the attention they deserve, and is not like that, I know there is someone who loves you for who you are ❣️❣️❣️

☀️ Moon/Venus and North Node in the 3rd house create a very beautiful connection with their siblings (if they have) and a harmonious relationships

☀️ Pluto in the 2nd house has a transformative energy towards their value and worth, because you have to realize that you're worth it and you deserve the best

��─────────────────────

There's far too much to take in here

More to find than can ever be found

But the sun rolling high

Through the sapphire sky

Keeps great and small on the endless round

──────────────────────

☀️ Mercury/Jupiter/ Venus & Sun in the 11th house create wonderful friendships, their friends can be everything for some of these natives and be a blessing in their lives ❣️

☀️ Jupiter aspecting the Sun/Moon or Ascendant can make the native extremely optimistic and lucky, they are having a good vibe and love to see/make other people happy with their presence

☀️ Aries Moon/Rising/Venus/Sun can be clingy/possesive and over protective it kills me sometimes how underatted these placements are when it comes to those things

☀️Mars in Earth Signs feels so full with responsibiliies at times, Mars struggles and loves it here in the same time, it gives them an bossy aura or energy too

☀️ Mars/Jupiter/Saturn/Pluto in the 1st house natives usually have a lot of body strength, they can work in gym or maybe having a muscle body or a good fit and still be strong

❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂

❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂

☀️ Neptune in the 1st house natives are having a great connection with their subconscious or spiritual world. These natives are highly spiritual and easily connect with their subconscious mind/soul

☀️ Neptune at 1°, 13° and 25th° degrees usually have a lot of energy and easily can get overstimulated, they be doing more things at once and hate it when it gets boring

☀️ Lilith aspecting Mars can be the ultimate femme fatale energy let me tell you how tricky this placement is cus it makes people to hate and love you in the same time (to hate you I mean some people may just not like you and because Mars is a male planet those people can be men at times)

☀️ Uranus/Sun aspecting Mars can bless the native with a lot of body motion,they can be good at dancing in general things that have to do with body movement

☀️ Uranus aspecting Sun is a vibe I swear, I love their energy they're like "C'mon let's do this thing I'm so excited for it" and the next minute they be coming with another idea and another ✨ innovative✨

☀️ Dark Lilith (58) in the 8th/12th house for in Scorpio/Pisces the native has surreal energy, not gonna lie we talk about dark lilith here these so it manifest with rage/intensity/mystery and even hypnotic vibes at times

☀️ If you have your ascendant not aspecting that many planets in your chart or an empty ascendant you'll have an easy time with discovering yourself and feeling like yourself

☀️ Having an empty 7th house is actually beneficial because long terms relationships will come easier for you with this house being empty

❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂

❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂

☀️ Capricorn Placements are known for being hardworking and respected in their environments but I cannot stand the fact when someone calls them cold or mean or idk what other things because I rarely met Capricorns like that, I say this as a Capricorn Myself 🐐♑

☀️ Uranus aspecting Venus natives can manifest in 2 categories as, wanting or having multiple crushes or people that you like or find attractive or being confused in their love life (omg sometimes indicating love triangles forgot that)

──────────────────────

It's the circle of life❂

❂And it moves us all

Through despair and hope❂

❂Through faith and love

──────────────────────

☀️Sun or Moon in the 9th house or in Sagittarius can have a passion about writing ✍🏼 like in their diaries or maybe writing books/mini stories

☀️ Pluto in Scorpio Generation was meant to bring back things that were classified by people as "taboo/forbidden" how many celebrities during the Pluto in Scorpio Generation were called bad names because they were bringing such things back...😨😨

☀️ Ascendant sextile or semi - sextile the sun has an easily likeable energy, a lot of people can like them because of their personality and aura

❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂

❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂

☀️ Whenever I say "aspecting" in my observations I also mean the "parallels and contra parallels" and even the "minor aspects" like "quintile/Bi-quintile/semi-sextile/semi-square etc...

☀️ "Quintile" aspects are very beneficial idk why so many people consider them minor aspects they're pretty powerful in the chart

☀️ Aries and in general a lot of fire placements in the chart shows a hot temper, someone who gets easily angered or annoyed but not like in a crazy way

☀️ Juno asteroid code (3) in Pisces or Pisces Degrees (12°, 24°) have a special bounding, maybe love at first sight?? Falling in love quickly too and sometimes shy in love

☀️Juno asteroid code (3) in Capricorn or in Capricorn Degrees (10°, 22°) most natives have a long lasting relationships, respectful placements, even successful and hardworking partners

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𓃭Nants ingonyama bagithi baba

Sithi uhm ingonyama𓃭

──────────────────────

❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂

──────────────────────

𓃭Nants ingonyama bagithi baba

Sithi uhm ingonyama𓃭

──────────────────────

❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂𓃭•°•°❂

☀️ I remember vividly that last year on the same day I posted some Venus notes observations, for this year I wanted the theme to be different and I choose my favorite Disney movie: The Lion King (The movie from 2019 had me crying on me knees), the native language,the storyline, THE MUSIC OFC and the flora/fauna & overall the sub-saharan Africa is wonderful and beautiful, and because it happens to be my birthday in the same day I wanted to make this post in time 🥳☀️ The funny thing is that finally now I can check that solar return chart for the new year 2024 🥳

☀️ I hope you all have an amazing day full of love, blessings, a good vibe/energy and just do the things you love and that make you happy ☀️

H a r m o o n i x 4/2024

[another-goblin]

I've seen a lot of interesting opinions about Dr. Ratio. Some of them I disagree with. So I decided to compile a little list of why I disagree with them. The first part will be about things that seem factually incorrect, and the second part is about things that are rather a matter of interpretation and context.

As always, I might be wrong, so feel free to correct me.

1. Things that seem factually incorrect. 

"Ratio is an egoist and does everything for attention and recognition" - I don't remember him ever saying or doing anything that would indicate that. He saved these researchers secretly and made our TB take all the credit. He later even calls himself a "supporting character". He gets angry if we ask him for an autograph.

"He doesn't care about people" - yes, if you skipped his passionate speech to Screwllum about how much he cares about people. But also, everything he does in the game is helping people (saving these researchers on Herta station, offering us his help later in the express dialogues and messages - offering us to enroll in university, participate in devates, turn the express into a weapon, later helping Aventurine with his plan, helping him to find information, and so on).

"He hasn't achieved anything in science" - the list of his scientific achievements is easily available, I wouldn't say it's nothing. But I'll also leave this here:

Even his dedicated hater disagrees with this.

"Ratio's note did nothing to convince Aventurine to stay alive, it was all Acheron" - from how I see it, he was fully determined to end his life up until he read that note. Otherwise, why would they introduce the note at all? Why did Acheron feel the need to remind him of it?

"He never wanted to draw the gaze of Nous" and "He still wants it" - we can deduce that it isn't true from different parts of the game (he actually wanted it in the past but doesn't anymore), but that is a direct confirmation:

(I trust Screwllum's opinion.)

"Everybody hates him in-universe" - this is interesting because I even heard this from his fans. And it might sort of feel intuitive, but I don't remember any evidence of that. He literally has an in-universe fan club. People who knew him closely talk about him warmly in his character stories. The only person I remember ever expressing any negativity towards him was some shcolar in the Simulatred Universe, but I don't think it counts. I'll talk more about his students in particular later, but short version: I don't think they hate him either.

"I hate it when he tells me 'Zero points, get out' and throws chalk at me, that's mean" - that's so weirdly specific, but I've seen it a dozen times already. And, like, why??? He tells it to his enemies, not to us. I mean, nobody's angry at Serval for electrocuting her fans with her guitar just because that's what she does in her fighting animation.

Speaking of combat voice lines, if we wait too long, most characters get irritated and try to hurry us up. Meanwhile Ratio:

'That's okay, take your time, it's a turn-based game after all.'

"He's physically abusive to his students, he throws chalk at them" - similar to the previous point. I don't remember any mention of him doing that. The only case of him using physical force against a (potential) student was when, as a TA, he threw away a rich asshole who tried to buy a degree. And yes, in the boring real world, I wouldn't approve of that, but in the world of the game - well done, good ridance!

"He doesn't tolerate people disagreeing with him, he thinks he's always right"

"He's responsible for the crisis at Herta Station" - how though? I saw this opinion several times, and I'm really curious what people mean by that. Did he himself endanger these researchers by teleporting them who knows where, then faked the video from Duke Inferno, and so on? But why stop here while we're at it , maybe he also impersonated Ruan Mei, left the bug on the station, abandoned the poor cat-creatrures and drugged us with a cake?…

"He's worse than Dottore from Genshin" - technically it's a matter of opinion, but I think nobody will mind if I put it in the 'just wrong' category. But yeah, that's an opinion I've heard. I've got no idea what they meant, but it made me think, how many people did he help and save, both in the game and in his past? Probably more than most of the characters we've met so far. And he doesn't seem to discriminate, it's not 'I'll save my people'. He cured that disease for everybody's benefit, he saved Herta's researchers, he helped TB unravel the events on the station and then proceeded to pester them offering his help, he cosideres some troubled IPC executive 'his responsibility' and so on.

"He actually betrayed Aventurine" - no comments. Come on, play the game, read the dialogues.

1.5. A little intermission.

The thing that's hard to deny is that he definitely doesn't mince his words. Whether you see it as him being a rude asshole, being justifiably angry, brutally honest, sarcastic, or snarky, or showing tough love, or just being incapable of expressing himself in an adequate and socially acceptable way, it's up to you. I can understand how some people might be uncomfortable with that. I personally find it an interesting character trait. (I mean, he isn't even capable of expressing positive feelings in a normal way, what did you expect of him?):

There is also a very interesting (but rather confusing) thing that can be missed if you are unwilling to see further than the initial shallow impression, but it is impossible to unsee once you've noticed it. He sees himself as a teacher in two very different ways. It can be missed at first because both ways are described in very similar words. These ways are: 

a teacher in a traditional sense (let's call it 'academic teacher'); 

and as something akin to a 'life coach', just helping people and making them realize that they shloud (and can) rely on themselves.

The thing is, we never see him in his 'academic teacher' role. As far as we know, he only acts this way with his university students. We never see him teaching anybody any scientific stuff, or berating people for their lack of knowledge and education. Yet he says that he considers everybody his students. But what does he mean if it's not about knowledge? He means it in the second 'life coach' meaning. Therefore, he sees literally everybody as worthy of his help and support.

BTW, I feel like his main problem as a character is that people tend to settle on the first impression they get of him and are unwilling to see further than that. Meanwhile, the game continues to explore his personality, revealing that most things about him are actually the opposite of what they might seem at first. That's why so many people think that he calls everybody idiots for being less smart than him, that he's egoistic and unfeeling, that he values knowledge above all, and so on. So if you actually have interest in him as a character, I'd encourage you to look at him more closely.

2. Now to the things that are more open to interpretation.

"He uses mean words" -to be honest, I'm not a big fan of writers making him use these words (idiots, fools, stupidity, and so on) because, first, they are usually used as just empty insults. (I'm curious whether he uses similar words in Chinese or something more nuanced). So I can understand how it can put some people off. And the second problem is that it feels like he means different things every time he uses these words. It's quite confusing. Here is a post where people helped me find different cases of him using these words; you can check it out yourself.

Let's look closer at some of these cases: 

-'While geniuses wander among the stars, the ordinary can't even trace their footsteps. Those less gifted have no choice but to walk alone, enduring a lifetime of tumbles and triumphs. But even a life marked by failure is a life worth living — it is only in moments of solitude and despair, when help is absent, that fools grasp how to pick themselves up' He seems to contrast geniuses with fools here, so fools are everybody who's not a genius. So if you are inclined to see him this way, if you squint, you can technically see it as him insulting people based on their intellectual abilities, right?… Except, he includes himself among these fools, so no:

So it's basically 'all who are not geniuses are fools, including me'. Which is an interesting way to put it, but it definitely doesn't mean ''you are all fools for not being as smart as me''.

But he mostly uses these words when he talks about his fellow scholars:

-'First, with the headpiece on, isolated from my five senses, I can think without interference. And second, I don't have to set eyes on stupid people' - we only see him wearing the plaster head on Herta's Station, a place full of the most brilliant minds in the universe. We never see him using it again with normal people, so the word 'stupid' here can't be about people's intelligence.

There is also an interesting little detail:

He admires her intelligence (although in a sarcastic manner) in his 'about Herta' voiceline. He doesn't wear his 'anti-stupid' mask when he's with TB or Aventurine, but he always wears it with Herta. Which is very telling, and indicates again what he means by 'stupid'.

Some other examples:

-'(…)the fools from the Guild with ambitions beyond stars should be banished from my sight and thereby mind' -'Don't invert priorities like these dolts from the guild' -'I cannot stand fools, idiots, or imbeciles. Seeing them fills me with dread. Regrettably, this space station is just like the Intelligentsia Guild — devoid of geniuses and filled with mediocrity' -'Ah, the Technology Department. Charming little place, isn't it? Madam Yabuli does possess some semblance of competence, but her subordinates? Oh, they're a riot — brimming with enthusiasm yet utterly devoid of intellect. It's as if evolution halted prematurely for them'

He is absolutely RUTHLESS when he talks about scientists, because he expects a lot from them.

So no, I don't think he'd call you an idiot for not being an A student, or having learning difficulties, or just lacking an interest in learning. He absolutely would though if you were a brilliant scientist, priveledged with great education, resources, and a personal lab, squandering your talents and funds on a useless vanity project, or hoarding potentially life-saving knowledge for yourself, to use as a commodity.

"But he does call people idiots!" - I've noticed that most of the time he uses these 'insults' he talks about some groups of people.

I could only think of 3 times when he called an individual an idiot. He calls Aventurine an idiot because he 'lost' the stones (but it doesn't count because he plays a role and pretends that he hates Aven). A scholar in an event in SU complains of Ratio calling him an idiot (I'm not sure it actually happened, it's just a story in SU).

But there is one case of him calling somebody an idiot and actually meaning it. And who is this poor victim of his terrible verbal abuse? It's himself. Whoops. (speaking of how he's supposedly full of himself and thinks that he's better than the others.)

"He would call me an idiot because of my supposed lack of knowledge/education/intelligence" - I showed in the previous point why I think he wouldn't (he never seems to use these words to mean that).

But also consider this. During his interactions with Aventurine on Penacony Ratio mostly plays a role for Sunday, pretending that he despises Aventurine. That's why we can't draw any conclusions about his personality from most of their dialogues. But the moments when he breaks the role are extremely telling.

Let's look at one of them from the beginning. They argue; Ratio calls Aventurine an idiot for 'ruining their plan'. And then Aventurine mentions that he didn't go to school and lacks formal education. If there ever was a good time to call someone an idiot for being uneducated, that's it! That's what Sunday expects to hear (because his plan hinges on Ratio valuing knowledge above all else).

And what does he do? He fucking apologizes! Even for the role and for the sake of their plan, he can't bring himself to insult someone for being uneducated.

"He's mean to TB" - it's a matter of interpretation, but his behavior with us didn't strike me as mean or demeaning. He was just being sarcastic and snarky as always (and I understand that it's not everybody's cup of tea).

The situation was time-sensitive and precarious. We don't know how much control he had over it. He tried to make us realize what's going on as fast as possible, pretending that he himself is clueless. Because his goal was to show the recearchers that despite the presence of 2-3 geniuses on board, none of them were able to save them. If he just publicly saved everybody, it would be just another genius appearing out of nowhere and saving the day, which would go against his goals and his philosophy.

And later, our TB seems to regard him with a mix of respect and amusement (calling him Professor, asking for an autograph), no resentment here. So TB didn't think he was mean either.

"He values knowledge above all, he's obsessed with teaching people stuff, and he doesn't understand/accept that other people might have other priorities" - I'd argue that literally the opposite is true. He doesn't impose his knowledge on anybody against their will, and we never see him berate anybody for their lack of knowledge or education.

Sunday isn't the first person to misunderstand him that badly, and he's not having it. Even though at this point in the story, his and Aventurine's plan hinges on Sunday's misunderstanding. But I think his position is very clear: pursuit of knowledge above all is a matter of petty pride.

He says it when we ask him why he doesn't nag us about getting our act together, before a party. So basically "if learning makes you feel bad (doesn't enhance your living) then you are doing it wrong, go and have fun".

This probably isn't considered canon, but it illustrates how he sees knowledge. Here is an analogy. If I had an apple orchard, and I thought my apples were awesome and they'd make a great gift, and you should feel free to ask me if you want some. It doesn't mean that I shove my apples into people's mouths against their will and then call them idiots and spit on them when they don't like it.

"He's a bad person because he didn't help us fight the big bug" - he knew who we are. It's not in his habit to directly involve himself where he's not needed, it would go against his philosophy ('you should count on yourself; you can do it'). It's not like he left us to die; he must have known how capable our TB is. BTW, he was still looking after us, seemingly ready to come to our help:

Besides, currently nothing indicates that (outside of the turn-based gameplay) he's anything more than a normal human being. He would be a hindrance in a fight. 

"He's a bad teacher" - (first, here is an interesting post about this from the point of view of an actual teacher)

So yeah, it's about the 3% passing rate. Yes, it can mean that only 3% of his students end up learning something. It's possible that he's such a bumbling idiot of a teacher that he doesn't even understand how bad he is. It's possible that he's somehow still allowed to teach despite being THAT bad.

But I think it's much more possible (and consistent with his philosophy) that he just has very high standards. A 3% rate doesn't mean that only 3% know anything. Students might benefit enormously from his classes, even without passing. They still have all their valuable skills and knowledge.

But also, let's not forget that he doesn't teach children. He teaches at the university. And I don't think it's some 101 basics; it's likely something related to his research and discoveries, some extremely advanced cutting-edge stuff. So his students are already extremely well educated adults, who want to achieve more. He would probably see lowering his standards as a betrayal of his students.

"His students hate him" - I didn't get that impression. On the contrary, they seem quite interested in him (some times in really creepy ways):

The only indication that they might have something against him is this:

It's either a literal roll-call of actual adults who shed literal tears during his classes, or it's just students being their normal cheeky selves, being overdramatic about a strict teacher. 

An example that came to mind: I can whine about how ruthless my gym trainer is and how I couldn't walk for a week after the last leg day. And his other clients would agree. But everybody understands that it's an expression of approval, not contempt. And maybe a bit of a humble brag.

Besides, if we decide to take that post at face value, then we'll have to take this literally too, meaning that his students consider him an actual God. And I don't think it's true:

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

There are still a lot of hot takes I disagree with that I haven't mentioned, but I'm too tired. This took WAY too long. Other cases are mostly quote-mining and deliberatly taking what he says out of context, which isn't very interesting to argue against (just read the full dialogue and consider the context). And also different variations on 'he's an asshole, he hates people, he thinks he's better than others, he'd call you an idiot for this or that, he's elitist, he only values knowledge and intelligence' and so on, but I think I addressed it sufficiently.

So yeah, that was my little character research. This wasn't written for his haters (I dislike some characters myself, and I wouldn't probably read 3K words about how I should change my mind). It was rather for the people who kind of like him, but who feel sad thinking how he'd probably call them idiots or something. I hope I was able to help you see him in a different way. He wouldn't call you an idiot, he'd support you.

[spacedace]

Here have another dc x dp Super Serious Chaos snippet I remembered about lol

As always feel free to take this as a (too long) prompt if anyone is interested 😄

---

Ghosts and Kryptonians, as it turned out, had a bit of overlap when it came to biology.

Not much, admittedly, considering that ghost biology was largely…made up, as best as any of the League’s medical staff could figure and as best as the Yetis could explain. They were usually human shaped - at least those that had been human in life were usually human shaped - but they were made entirely out of ectoplasm, a highly mutable substance that could appear incredibly unpredictable in how it behaved if you weren’t intimately familiar with how it worked. A ghost’s biology, as much as it could be called, depended entirely on the ghost, what they thought their biology should be and how they felt at any given point of time.

Still, there were some things that were more or less standard that were familiar enough. Super strength and speed, heightened senses, flight. Fangs too, though those tend to vary a great deal more in size when it came to ghosts compared to Kryptonians. Most interesting of all though - at least as far as Jon was concerned at the moment - was the fact that like Kryptonians, ghosts could purr.

And they used their purring in much the same way as Kryptonians. Self-soothing, encouraging healing, expressing happiness or - as the case might be in the here and now - bonding.

That’s what Danny had said was the point of this purring when he’d shown up and taken stock of the situation. Elle, out of her mind on some weird strain of supernatural flower thanks to some demon deciding to try and drug her into compliance and marry her - gross, Jon was glad it had been torn to shreds, he was kinda disappointed he didn’t get to help really - was reduced entirely to very basic ghostly instincts. She’d lost human speech, lost understanding of the world around her, and lost grip on who she was. Something that could have been incredibly dangerous - and had been for the dumbass demon that had orchestrated the whole scheme, Elle had eviscerated it with a viciousness that threatened to awaken something in him if he thought about it too much - though thankfully for them Elle had some semblance of recognition of who they were.

Well. Some of them, at least.

She’d very much had not seemed aware of who most of the Justice League members that responded to the situation were and had been just as intent on doing to them what she’d done to the demon. Jon and Damian were for sure going to get a lecture later on it, but them jumping in between their out of control friend and the others had been the right call. They knew how she fought better than anyone, knew how to counter her without hurting her and how to use her own overwhelming strength and power against her if need be.

Besides, they knew Elle.

They trusted her. Even as she lost semblance of her form and started looking more like…well okay Jon couldn’t really say what Elle looked like at the time. Damian called it eldritch and Jon can’t help but agree that it was the right word for it. Looking at her straight on for too long while she’d been in attack mode hurt and his brain sort of just…slid off any attempts to describe just what he was seeing when he looked at her. So eldritch seemed the right fit, even if he felt a bit bad having to describe her as such. Elle hated Lovecraft with a fiery passion, she’d despise knowing that anything associated with him was applied to her.

Jon was getting distracted. The point was, even if Elle was reduced to base ghostly instincts and acting aggressive and trying to eat Green Lantern, Jon and D knew that she’d never hurt them. And for the record they’d been right!

She’d frozen in the air as they dove in front of GL and into her line of sight, furious screeching going quiet and form settling back down into a more familiar - and comprehensible - shape and let loose a series of chirps and trills and whistling notes. And while no one could understand exactly what they meant, Jon and Damian could feel the emotions she put into the sounds. Happiness and relief and safe-safe-safe that made them realize that some of her aggression must have been from thinking that something had happened to them.

The next thing either of them had known they were wrapped up in a whole lot of Elle - body significantly more human-shaped, though still a bit indistinct when it came to her features - as she gave low rumbling purrs. She wouldn’t let anyone else near them - hissing and growling warningly in ways that made ears bleed when his dad and Bruce tried to creep closer, pulling him and D behind her protectively - but she was at least content to not attack anyone so long as no one got too close.

“It should wear off in about a week.” Danny said, butting his head like a cat against Elle’s as he checked on them. Elle recognized her father as she had Jon and Damian and had been fine letting him close, though notable did not try and pull him in on their impromptu cuddle session. “Probably less if we can get her back to her Lair in the Zone. Having outsiders near her Grave after fighting off an enemy is probably making things worse.”

Danny drifted back towards where the League was awkwardly huddled at a safe distance, giving a comforting trill when Elle’s purring stopped and she gave a nervous little chirp. She clung to Jon and Damian a little tighter from where she’d wrapped her wispy tail around them, glowing green eyes locked on the League suspiciously, but she stayed where she was. Jon purred himself, trying to match the low frequency she’d been using earlier to draw her attention back to them and keep her calm. Damian, unable to purr but undeterred by the limitation of human vocal chords, hummed softly as well. Elle gave an adorable little mrrp and pulled them even closer to her, nuzzling beneath each of their chins in turn, purr starting back up again.

“I was under the impression Phantasma wasn’t dead in the…traditional way.” Jon’s dad said, face pinching in concern. “Or that her grave would be near…” He motioned to the dark cave around them, lit only by literal hellfire in shades of red and orange. They were roughly a fifty miles from any kind of civilization, in some mountainous location in Europe. Possibly Finland? Jon hadn’t been paying much attention outside of following Elle’s distress beacon as quickly as possible without the wind speed suffocating Damian in the process.

Danny shook his head. “Oh she’s not. She’s Mirrorborn.” He waved a hand blandly, unaware or ignoring the League’s confusion at the term, “I don’t mean that kind of grave. I mean her Grave, capital ‘G’ and all. It’s like, hmm,” He paused, looking considering before offering, “I guess the closest thing might be like a pack? Like wolves, sorta. She’s in my Grave, since I’m her Reflected.” Danny motioned towards where Elle was now happily purring again, running her very sharp - and disturbingly longer than usual - clawed fingers through his and Damian’s hair. It was soothing, even with the vague notion that he should be worried about getting sliced to bits lazily popping up at the back of Jon’s mind. “But she’s old enough to go out and make a Grave of her own, and she’s claimed those two as part of it.”

“Claimed?” Bruce asked, voice lower than usual and definitely more dangerous. He hadn’t looked away from them the entire time, even when Danny showed up.

The older ghost gave a reassuring smile, “It sounds way more possessive than it is. It just means that her Core recognizes them as people she cares about a lot.” He glanced over towards them again expression going soft and fond. “The claiming is less a mark of ownership and more of like a ‘Back off’ sign for anyone who might try and fuck with them.”

Danny waved a hand in their direction again, “It’s what she’s doing now with all the cuddling. There was danger and she couldn’t find her Grave, so she panicked and lashed out. When they showed up she went into protection mode, it’s why she won’t let you near.” He glanced over to make sure the League understood, at their various nods he continued, “The cuddling is partially letting her know their safe, but it’s also making sure they’re absolutely covered with her ecto-signature so that anything that can sense it thinks twice before trying to go after them.” Danny’s grin went cheeky, “She’s basically giving them the Infinite Realm’s version of Scary Dog privileges. There’s not much in the Zone that’d be willing to fuck with the Grave of someone in our family.”

“Hn.” Bruce said, though Jon could see that some of the sharpness had left the line of his shoulders. “She doesn’t recognize us as members of her Grave?”

Danny shrugged. “Don’t take it personally. She likes you guys a lot - you’d probably be dead right now if she didn’t, even with those two keeping her calm - but there’s a difference from being friends with someone and having them as part of your Grave.”

No one looked terribly reassured.

Possibly due to the implication that Elle could kill them all more than the idea that she’d try while in such an altered state. And probably Jon should be worried about that too, but it wasn’t all that much of a surprise, really. He’d seen Elle beat Damian at Go before. They were usually tied 50/50 these days. If she could do that, there really was no hope for the Justice League - even his Dad, though he probably shouldn’t say that out loud.

Oh well. Point was, Damian absolutely could destroy the entire Justice League - Kryptonians and all - probably without even lifting a finger if he really put his mind to it and Elle was just as brilliant when it came to wily plays and unbeatable strategies and overwhelming force.

Okay so he might, a little bit, be totally in love with the both of them and believe they were the single most impressive and unstoppable people in the universe. That had no baring on his estimation on their abilities to take over the world if they ever decided they wanted to. It did, admittedly, probably skew his thoughts on if they ever would try their hands at world domination, but only a little.

Anyway he was 95% certain he could convince them to knock it off before they actually launched any world domination plans.

99% if he had time to get Ma to make cinnamon rolls before he went to talk them down.

Not the point, really. The point, right now, was that Elle had made him and D part of her Grave. That she cared for them enough that not even being reduced to her most dangerous, aggressive state, almost completely unable to distinguish friend from foe, was enough to keep her from knowing who they were.

(J’onn J’onzz - scanning the emotions and surface thoughts of the three young heroes to make sure no one was in danger or distress - would like to note to the young man that that was also not the point.

He had the distinct feeling, however, that any attempt to bring that up would go entirely over the young Kryptonian’s head.)

“So!” Danny said clapping his hands together decisively as he flashed a wide grin at Jon's dad and Bruce, “Who wants to pack these two some bags while I get them all moved to Ellie’s Lair?”

[wirewitchviolet]

That thing about 'the arc of history bending towards justice...'

I'm pretty sure I've gone on about this before, and I'm pretty sure I'm preaching to the choir, but I just had a well-intentioned acquaintance try to give an inspirational speech about American trans people's fears right now, and his heart was in the right place, but all his facts were wrong, in some really important ways. I feel like the perspective he has is the same one as... basically every decent person who isn't like, intimately familiar with WPATH, so please spread this around, and please if you only read one rambling history lesson from a trans person about the current state of things, make it this one.

So here's the big problem. Trans people get brought up in the mainstream media a LOT these days, but the framing is totally wrong. The impression people get is that there is presently a big push for new trans rights, where we want proper government recognition, and trans women in particular want to be able to use public women's restrooms, and play on girls-only sports teams, and a dozen other things. That is a lie you are being fed. These are all rights we ALREADY HAD, for decades. Possibly centuries depending what we're talking about specifically and where we're talking, even. The big issue right now is that a bunch of bigots just woke up one day about 10 years ago and decided that nothing else they were angling for was getting them anywhere with the general public, so hey let's make a boogieman out of this minority of a minority nobody knows the first thing about and act like all the horrors they're inflicting are just them enforcing some totally fictional status quo.

Speaking personally, I can say that The Trans Agenda in like 2014 was something like: 1- I'm gonna make a nice big pot of chili. 2- I'm gonna maybe replay some old video games from the '90s I haven't taken down off the shelf in a while. And OK maybe 3- It'd be cool if it weren't just the medical professionals who specifically specialize in trans stuff had enough of an education to know that when there's a difference in how a drug is going to effect men vs. women, it's for reasons directly tied to the levels of various hormones, or would at least trust their trans patients to know what we're talking about and not give us the wrong doses of things and maybe kill us as a result. And also like, treat us for regular things like broken arms (real example) without weirdly panicking about some prescription we're on they don't recognize.

There was absolutely not a point where some trans woman started petitioning the government or whatever to let her pee in a toilet with a little placard of a stick figure in a dress in front. We've just been doing that the whole time. Nobody's ever had a problem with that. You didn't know we were in there? OK. If I'm like at a restaurant and have to use the bathroom, I don't know how many of the other women in there have like, type O blood. I also don't care, and I think everyone would agree it was weird if I suddenly did care, and demand they post a guard out front asking to see driver's licenses. Just completely out of the blue some nutcases from the UK started foaming at the mouth and writing weird tabloid articles about their completely unfounded fears that... I don't even know. Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs might put on a wig and follow them into the bathroom, dose them with chloroform, and drag them to some basement dungeon through some series of secret passages or something.

This was based on literally nothing at all, to be clear. Like, people pushing for this went and did serious research for anything even anecdotal to back them up on this, and didn't actually find anything. Then they started walking into public restrooms with cameras throwing doors open on people and going "see? See? Some creep could totally do this if we don't ban trans people from using bathrooms!" And... somehow this got traction? I figure it's because coincidentally there was this whole other thing going where people were looking at how every building had equal numbers of men's and women's rooms and saying "you know, like, 90% of people who come in here are the same gender and we end up with really long lines, what if we just took the signs down and told everyone to just use whichever?" which... when it's happening at the same time Chicken Little is ranting and raving about the boogieman wearing a cheap wig, wires got crossed? And suddenly we've got waves of legislation passing all over about who's allowed to use what bathrooms with weird standards that'd involve like DNA tests to actually enforce properly. Absurd stuff.

Meanwhile, your average trans activist at the time was just like... sitting there eating a sandwich and going "huh, they're making a TV series based on Fargo? That's an odd thing to happen out of the blue. And yeah we started going "hey, what the hell?" when this stuff started passing because like... yeah that's what you do when you see an article in the local newspaper that says you can't go to the bathroom at work or whatever without swabbing your cheek and waiting for lab results for 3 weeks first or whatever.

Same deal with sports. Major sports organizations like the Olympics have been weirdly paranoid about men pretending to be women since 1950. And there have been, to the best of my ability to research... zero men who have actually done this. And while the weird standards used for this have been used to kick a good number of women out over the years, none of those women have been trans, for what that's worth. Really, the whole gender testing thing has only ever been used for horrifying stuff like forcing women to strip in front of random creeps, or let them do "invasive internal exams" and of course so many incidents where some woman who isn't white wins at something and people move the goalposts to in some way to get her specifically banned. You may be thinking, "wait didn't I just see a whole bunch of news coverage about someone getting banned after some gender testing thing? She was trans right?" No. You're thinking of Caster Semenya. She's a woman. A cis woman. F on her birth certificate, born with standard issue female genitals, has periods, all that. People are just being weird racists there and crossing the streams with random transphobia. That and just... half-reading stories and making stuff up.

To the best of my knowledge, the total count of trans athletes who have competed in the Olympics would actually be... three nonbinary people, who so far as I can tell all competed against people with the same gender they had on their birth certificates, nothing done medically, so, nobody should have any problem there. Caitlyn Jenner, who didn't come out as a woman until like... 40 years after competing, on the men's team, and Laurel Hubbard, the first and only trans woman to compete at the Olympics as a woman, who placed... dead last, flubbing all three of her lifts.

If we just look at sports in general, OK, there WAS one big famous where a trans woman wanted to compete in a major sporting event, was banned from it, took the organizers to court over it, and the eventual ruling was there was no reason at all she shouldn't be allowed to play against other women. Renée Richards. And this was all the way back in 1976. Nearly 50 years ago now.

And of course in more recent years, again, after a bunch of random bigots just completely out of the blue started losing their minds about trans people with no prompting and started lobbying for new laws banning us from all kinds of things nobody had had a problem with us doing forever, there was Mack Beggs, a trans guy, who was forced, by one of those aforementioned baffling reactionary new laws, to compete on his high school's girl's wrestling team. He didn't want to be there, they didn't want him to be there, but the law said hey, F on your birth certificate, we're classifying you as a girl despite how clearly wrong that is. And then there's been a bunch of other weird cases like that like one state banning trans girls from playing any sports with other girls which only affected one single girl in the entire state, who was playing lacrosse on a team that wouldn't have even existed if she hadn't personally organized it.

But the point here is, trans people aren't asking for anything here. We're just standing here, and people are flipping out and banning us from doing all these things without any prompting. And hell, I THINK this one got shot down in higher courts, but when Florida got the brain worms on this and started passing all the anti-trans legislation they could think of, they actually included a ban on us just standing there! The wording was something like (and I apologize that I can't find it, search engines are useless now), "if a child can potentially see someone who was assigned male at birth who is wearing women's clothes, it's considered sexual assault."

It's important to understand what's actually going on here, both because what's going on here is just plain terrifying, but also because there is this huge segment of the population who has this weird idea that people's rights only ever get better, there's just some weird arbitrary ratcheting where you have to take a number and get in line. Like, "hey, used to be only white men could vote, then eventually the Progress bar filled enough that we let white women start voting too. Then we had to wait for it to fill up again, hey, we're ending this whole segregation of black people thing. Gotta give it another 30 years or so to fill up, now hey, gay people can get married! Don't be impatient trans folks, you just need to stay in line and wait for it to fill again for your turn!"

That's not how anything has ever actually worked. It would frankly be absolutely insane if it actually did, but like, this is an idea people get in their heads because history textbooks really like to gloss over all the stuff that makes the country look pretty bad and promote this whole "stuff is just always getting better!" vibe. But no, sometimes, things just straight up get worse for people. Ten years ago I could go to the damn bathroom, I could have social media accounts, I could access all the medications I need to live, I could safely set foot in any given state in the country... at least if I kept some witnesses around at all times to verify I was not in fact hitting on my would-be murderer in any of the black states on this map.

The problem is NOT that with Trump in power, the pause button is getting hit on trans people climbing towards some state of finally getting to be regular people. We were (largely) already there, and there's been a huge push over the past decade to strip that away from us. And Trump plus the rest of the Republican party in general have made very specific promises to make that way worse real real soon, including several things that will straight up kill a ton of us.

Like, when I'm talking about losing access to necessary medical treatments, I'm not talking about "THE SURGERY" and magic pills that give you boobs or beards. A lot of trans people are trans because there's weird medical stuff that in addition to messing with what does and doesn't grow mess with things like whether your blood flows properly and whether various organs do what they should. Just one of those many things the average person doesn't know, because everything written about us is from deranged bigots making crap up.

[lilmisshellfireswritingblog]

Make the Friendship Bracelets

Pairings: Rockstar!EddieMunson x Reader

Based off a Tweet regarding the tattoos and friendship bracelets Kieran Culkin was wearing at the Golden Globes saying it was Eddie as a girl dad at the Grammy's. I knew I had to write it.

A/N: This is probably the most healing thing I have ever written as someone with daddy issues my gods. I hope you like it too.

Warnings: Pure fluff. Tooth rotting sweetness. Dad!Eddie.

Separator banner credit to: sweetmelodygraphics.

It was a cool, crisp February night in 1990 and the soft hum of the television echoed through the living room where you sat with your four-year-old daughter, Melody, curled up in your lap. The Grammy Awards were in full swing, filling the screen with glitz and glamour as the biggest names in the music industry gathered to celebrate their successes.

For you and Melody, however, the awards weren’t just about watching the famous faces or listening to the grand speeches from musicians. Tonight was about Eddie — your husband, her father. Corroded Coffin was nominated for Best New Artist and you couldn’t be prouder. This moment had been a long time coming. You’d watched Eddie pour his heart and soul into the band for years, sacrificing so much just to get to this point and now, he was at the Grammy Awards, receiving the recognition he always deserved with his first ever nomination.

You were sure there would be more to follow in the years to come. 

“Mommy, is Daddy gonna win?” Melody asked, her voice full of innocent excitement. She didn’t really understand the significance of the awards or the industry, but she knew one thing: Daddy was her hero.

You smiled, brushing her messy curls she definitely inherited from Eddie from her face. “I hope so, sweetie,” you said, giving her a soft squeeze.

Melody beamed up at you, her bright eyes wide with trust. “He’s the best, right?”

You chuckled and nodded. “Yes, he is, Mel Bel.”

The moment was almost surreal. The camera cut to the stage and you saw Eddie for the first time tonight after he left the house. His wild hair, his signature leather jacket, and that mischievous grin that never quite left his face… He was so Eddie, and yet, tonight, even more so if it were even possible

He was about to win a Grammy. You could feel it.

“And the Grammy for Best New Artist goes to... Corroded Coffin!” The announcer’s voice rang out, and Melody squealed in delight, her tiny body bouncing on your lap.

“Daddy! Daddy!” she cried, her hands reaching for the screen as if she could touch him through the TV. Her face lit up with the kind of joy only a child could feel, pure and untainted by the weight of the world.

You laughed softly, hugging her close as Eddie stood from his seat, grinning from ear to ear. His bandmates cheered around him, and you could see the excitement in their eyes as they made their way to the stage. Eddie was already thanking the band and the fans and making his speech, but it was his last words that made your heart skip a beat.

“....Especially to my daughter, Melody,” Eddie said, his voice carrying through the microphone. His eyes glanced directly into the camera, and for a brief moment, it was like the whole world melted away. “I love you, kid. This is for you.”

You felt the warmth of pride fill your chest as you looked down at Melody. Her eyes were as wide as saucers, and she was absolutely glowing with joy. “Mom! He said my name! He said my name!” she squealed, her little hands clapping together in excitement.

You nodded, your heart swelling. “He sure did, sweetie. He’s so proud of you.”

But then something else caught your eye — something that made your heart stop and your breath catch in your throat. As Eddie held the Grammy, his arm extended, gesturing toward the audience, his sleeves slid up. That’s when you saw it.

His arms were covered — not in the usual tattoos you knew he had, but in bright, colorful, exaggerated fake tattoos. Dragons, flames, flowers, and skulls in every neon and pastel hue. The tattoos were so vividly out of place that you couldn’t help but smile. 

But also on his wrist were the friendship bracelets Melody had made over the past week — the same ones she had spent hours weaving together with tiny beads before handing it over to you to tie the string into a knot. 

Melody had made him a set for the Grammys and Eddie had worn them proudly, as though they were the most important thing in the world.

One bracelet had the word DAD spelled out in tiny, colorful beads. Another had stars and hearts, a masterpiece of Melody’s four-year-old imagination. Yet another with Corroded Coffin misspelled as Coroded Cofin. The mismatched colors, the mismatched beads — they were perfect. It was like a small piece of Melody’s world, her love, her joy, wrapped around Eddie’s wrist for all the world to see.

Melody gasped, her hands covering her mouth. “Mom, look! Daddy’s wearing them!” she cried, her voice filled with awe and pride. “He’s wearing my bracelets! The ones I made for him!”

You couldn’t help but laugh, wiping a tear from the corner of your eye. “Yes, sweetie, he’s wearing them,” you said, your voice thick with emotion. “He loves them. He wouldn’t leave without them. I told you!”

Eddie didn’t seem to notice the camera zooming in on his bracelets or the fake tattoos that were so obviously out of place. He was too busy soaking in the moment and the excitement of the win. His attention was entirely on the band and the fans, on the Grammy Award in his hand, and on the world that had just opened its arms to him.

For you, the moment wasn’t just about the Grammy. It wasn’t about the fake tattoos or the glamour. It was about the fact that Eddie, in the middle of this massive achievement, had made room for Melody — her love, her creativity, her heart — to be part of it. It was as though, even in the middle of a world so far removed from the one you and Melody lived in, Eddie had made sure to carry a piece of home with him.

Melody was still jumping up and down on the couch, her eyes glued to the screen. “I’m gonna make him more!” she said, her voice full of determination. “Next time, I’m making him a whole sleeve of tattoos! Maybe even one on his head!”

You chuckled, wiping your eyes. “I think he’d love that, sweetie.”

As Eddie wrapped up his speech, his voice filled with gratitude, you couldn’t help but marvel at the way everything had come together. Eddie was a rock star, but to Melody, he was simply dad — the man who wore her creations with pride, who accepted her love in whatever form it came. Whether it was in the shape of a handmade bracelet or a silly fake tattoo, it didn’t matter. What mattered was that it was from her. 

And that was everything.

When the broadcast cut to commercial, Melody looked up at you with sparkling eyes. “Do you think Daddy knows I love him so much?” she asked, her voice suddenly quiet, almost serious.

You smiled softly, kissing the top of her head. “Oh, sweetie. He knows. I think he feels it every day. I know he does.”

You held Melody a little tighter, your heart full as you watched the rest of the show with your daughter in your arms. Tonight wasn’t just about Eddie winning a Grammy. It was about the quiet, beautiful moments that made up your family — the love that could never be measured by awards or accolades. It was about the joy you shared with each other and the way Eddie wore that love for the world to see, no matter how unpolished, no matter how messy.

EDDIE’S POV

Eddie Munson’s hands were shaking as he stepped up to the stage, his knees wobbling just a little. It wasn’t because he wasn’t used to being on stage. Hell, he had performed in front of crowds thousands of times with no issue. It was just that this moment felt different. This was the Grammys. The one award ceremony that, for so long, seemed like an impossibly far-off dream and here he was, walking up to accept the award for Best New Artist like it was no big deal.

To Eddie Munson, it was a big deal. This was his band and he had proved everyone wrong. 

He was trying to keep his cool but he couldn’t stop the wild rush of adrenaline in his veins. He tried to hold the golden statue steady after the announcer handed it to him, but his fingers kept twitching, like it was going to slip right out of his hand. His bandmates were already clapping behind him, grinning, cheering him on to make his speech. However, Eddie couldn’t focus on them right now. He had to think about what he was going to say as the frontman of Corroded Coffin. 

“Uh, thank you so much,” he mumbled into the microphone, his voice hoarse. “I don’t know what to say. This is… Jesus H. Christ…. This is crazy. Wow.”

The crowd laughed. He half-smiled at them, but his mind wasn’t really here. He was already thinking about the one person he needed to thank the most.

He looked out across the sea of people and felt the weight of their eyes on him. Everyone who had ever doubted him, everyone who had laughed when he said he’d make it, everyone who thought Corroded Coffin was just a phase.

But then he thought of her.

Of Melody.

The tiny girl back at home, probably jumping up and down in front of the TV with her mom. Probably waving her arms, shouting for Daddy like she always did whenever he was on television. Eddie could picture her now — her bright eyes filled with excitement, her little voice calling out to him. He could almost hear it. “Daddy! Daddy! Look! You won!”

He wasn’t just up here for himself. He was up here for her.

“First, I’ve gotta thank my bandmates,” Eddie said, his eyes scanning the faces behind him. “Couldn’t do this without them. We’ve been through hell and back together and this is just as much theirs as it is mine. And of course…the fans… We wouldn’t be here without you guys.”

They cheered, slapping him on the back and Eddie felt that familiar warmth spread through his chest. This was a team effort and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

Then, it was time for the moment he had been waiting for. The moment that, no matter how insane this night was, was what truly mattered to him.

“I gotta thank my family, especially to my daughter, Melody,” Eddie said, his voice carrying through the microphone. His eyes glanced directly into the camera and for a brief moment, it was like the whole world melted away. “I love you, kid. This is for you.”

The words left his mouth before he could even think about them. Melody. His little girl, the reason he woke up every morning and pushed himself harder than he ever thought he could. He thought about her sitting on the couch at home, probably with you, smiling so big her cheeks must hurt. He thought about her little hands, the ones that had made him those silly fake tattoos, the ones that now decorated his arms. He had nearly forgotten about them, but now, looking down at his forearms, his heart swelled with pride.

The tattoos were ridiculous. There was no getting around it. Flames, dragons, flowers, skulls, all in bright neon and pastel colors. They looked like something out of a 1980s cartoon — over the top and completely out of place on a red carpet. But he didn’t care. Why should he?

What mattered was that those tattoos, every single one of them, had been made by Melody. She had begged him to let her put them on him. She practically climbed up his legs while he was getting ready. 

And he let her put every single tattoo on him. Every single one. He had to. Because, to him, they weren’t just tattoos. They were a piece of her. A piece of his heart.

He then caught a glimpse of the “DAD” bracelet that was wrapped around his wrist. It had been clumsily woven by Melody, each bead painstakingly placed by her small fingers, a little lopsided and uneven. But it didn’t matter. It was perfect.

“Melody,” he whispered into the mic again, his eyes glazing over with tears for a moment. “I love you, kid.”

He didn’t know if the crowd heard it or if they even cared, but it didn’t matter. As far as Eddie was concerned, Melody was the one who had truly given him everything. She was the reason he fought for this life, for this crazy, unpredictable journey. She was the reason he was standing here at the Grammys, looking out at the world like he didn’t quite belong but didn’t care either.

This was his moment, but it was equally hers too.

And if the world didn’t understand why he was wearing fake tattoos that had no business being on a rockstar’s arms, or if they thought it was silly or unprofessional, he didn’t care.

Because he wasn’t doing this for them.

He was doing it for her. (And it was metal as fuck.)

Yeah, I’m a mess, Eddie thought with a grin, glancing at the camera that had zoomed in on his tattoos and bracelets. But this is my mess. And damn, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

The crowd’s applause grew louder and Eddie snapped back to reality. His heart was racing, the adrenaline still pumping through his veins. He raised the Grammy higher, the light reflecting off it like some kind of symbol of everything he had fought for.

He couldn’t wait to get home. To see her face. To hold her close. To thank her for making him wear those damn bracelets and for making him wear those ridiculous tattoos. He wanted to hug her tight, tell her how much he loved her and how much she meant to him. 

For now, however, he had this moment. He had the Grammy and he had Melody’s love wrapped around his wrist as a physical representation of her love for him.

“Thanks, kid,” Eddie whispered under his breath, walking off the stage with his bandmates. “I couldn’t have done it without you.”

Eddie Munson stepped through the front door, a quiet sigh escaping his lips as the cool night air from outside hit him. The house was still, a soft quietness settling over everything like a blanket. The weight of the Grammy was still heavy in his hand but it felt like it belonged there now. Like it was a part of him.

He kicked off his boots at the door, careful not to make too much noise. He hadn’t gotten home too late, but there was something about the stillness of the house that made him feel like he was walking on eggshells. The last thing he wanted to do was disturb anyone’s sleep. 

He glanced around the living room, his eyes immediately locking onto the stack of pillows on the couch where you must’ve been earlier. You had probably been watching the broadcast, cheering him on, sharing the excitement with Melody. A part of him wanted to burst in there, to see you both and tell you about the night, to hold you and laugh about the ridiculous tattoos and the fake dragons on his arms.

But another part of him, the quieter part, wanted to let the moment sink in, just for a second.

He walked toward the hallway, gently pushing open the door to Melody’s room. The dim light from the hallway spilled across her tiny bed, casting a soft glow on the scene before him.

There she was, asleep — his little girl, wrapped up in her blankets, her small body curled up in that familiar way she always slept. Her face was peaceful, her breath soft and steady. She was so tiny. So innocent.

Eddie’s heart swelled as he took in the sight. He leaned against the doorframe for a moment, just watching her sleep. He couldn’t help it. The weight of the Grammy in his hand felt like nothing compared to this moment. This was the real prize. The thing he had fought for; the thing that made everything worth it.

His mind flashed back to the stage, the moment he had held that golden trophy up to the crowd, and then looked down at his arms, back down at the fake tattoos, at the bracelet that spelled DAD. He’d been proud to wear them. Proud to wear them for her. Proud to show the world that no matter how big he got, no matter what happened with the band, Melody would always be the one who made him feel like he had won everything.

A soft chuckle escaped his lips as he thought about the absurdity of it all. Fake tattoos. Friendship bracelets. He hadn’t even noticed until he’d been on stage just how ridiculous they were. To him, they were the most important thing in the world.

He stepped closer to her bed, kneeling down beside it, still clutching the Grammy in one hand. He leaned in slightly, brushing a stray curl from her forehead.

"Hey, kiddo," he whispered, his voice barely audible. "We did it. We won.”

He reached out, gently taking her tiny hand in his and squeezing it softly. She didn’t stir, just kept breathing evenly in her sleep, but Eddie smiled at the feel of her hand in his.

There was a moment when the weight of the night seemed to fall away, and for the first time in hours, Eddie felt calm. No stage lights, no roaring crowd, no flashing cameras. Just him and his daughter.

He reached for the Grammy, hesitating for only a second, before placing it gently on the little dresser next to her bed. The glimmer of gold caught the light, but it didn’t matter. The real treasure was lying right here, in this room. It was the way her hand fit so perfectly in his. The way she had made him those silly bracelets that he’d worn like a badge of honor.

"I’ve got everything I need right here. The Grammy is just extra," Eddie muttered quietly to himself, glancing down at the trophy again before turning back to Melody.

He sat on the edge of her bed, just for a moment, his heart full of love. He had made it. Not just to the Grammys, not just as a rock star, but to this — to this family. To her.

And as he sat there, his fingers lightly brushing the top of her head, he whispered again, just loud enough for her to hear in her sleep: "I love you so much, Melody. You’re my everything. This Grammy is for you. Always."

With that, Eddie stood, giving her one last lingering look before slipping out of the room as quietly as he had entered. He made his way to the kitchen, the house still as a tomb, and found a note on the counter from you, probably written earlier in the night while he’d been at the awards show.

It was simple, but it hit him like a wave: “I’m so proud of you, Eddie. We both are. See you when you get home. We love you so much.”

His lips curved into a smile as he ran his fingers over the note, the words sinking deep into his chest. 

Eddie could feel the weight of the Grammy now even while it wasn’t in his hand. Not in the sense of its physical heaviness, but in the way it was almost like a symbol — of everything he had fought for. Of everything he had gained. Not fame, not money, not recognition. But the one thing that mattered more than anything else: his family. 

His world.

That was the only victory that ever mattered.

For once, Eddie Munson felt like he had everything.

[witchyintention]

🕯 “Blessed Be”: More Than Just a Witchy Goodbye

What it Means, Where it Comes From, and Why it Still Matters

“Blessed Be.” Two little words. Said at the end of spells, the close of emails, whispered in ritual circles, and splashed across every witchy graphic on Instagram. Some folks say it like a benediction. Some toss it out like a “good vibes only” sticker. Some say it’s Wiccan-only. Others? Just think it sounds pretty.

But what’s the truth? Where does Blessed Be actually come from? And why does it still hold so much power?

Let’s lift the veil.

✨ A Spell in a Greeting

At its heart, Blessed Be is not just a cute sign-off. It’s an invocation of goodwill, a magical micro-blessing. It's the spiritual version of looking someone in the eyes and saying:

“May you be blessed in all you do, may your path be lit, and your magic protected.”

When we say Blessed Be, we’re participating in an age-old tradition of sacred words being used to convey spiritual force. It's not just intention — it's a frequency.

And in the magical worldview, words have power. Names are spells. So are blessings. When spoken with clarity and purpose, Blessed Be is both a greeting and an energetic transfer. It's “I see the sacred in you” wrapped in velvet and sage smoke.

📜 The Real Origins of “Blessed Be”

Most modern witches first encounter Blessed Be through books, online communities, or Wicca-adjacent practices. It became widely known thanks to Gerald Gardner, the British civil servant who helped found modern Wicca in the 1950s.

But Gardner didn’t invent it. Neither did TikTok.

“Blessed be” is found in many spiritual and religious texts. Its earliest forms trace back to:

Medieval Catholic blessings: “Blessed be the name of the Lord” was a common phrase in Latin and English prayer.

Hebrew prayers and Psalms: “Blessed be He who…” was used in honor of divine presence.

Folk traditions across Europe: Blessings like “Be ye blessed,” “Bless this house,” or “Blessed be the hands that make this bread” were part of everyday life.

So when Gardner and later witches used the phrase, they weren’t pulling it from thin air. They were reclaiming and repurposing sacred language into a magical, earth-based context.

It also appears prominently in The Wiccan Rede, a poem and ethical guideline often cited by Wiccans:

“Eight words the Wiccan Rede fulfill: An it harm none, do what ye will. Blessed be.”

From there, it blossomed. It spread across covens, books, rituals, and eventually, social media. Now, it lives far beyond its original form — used by eclectic witches, green witches, chaos magicians, spirit workers, and solitary practitioners across the globe.

🔮 Original Ritual Use vs. Modern Witch Culture

In Traditional Wicca:

Blessed Be was spoken between initiated coven members as part of sacred rites.

It often followed ritual acts like the Fivefold Kiss, where one partner blesses another’s feet, knees, womb, lips, and breast, each with the words: “Blessed be thy feet that have brought thee in…”

The phrase held a coded sacredness, a sign of spiritual intimacy and mutual recognition.

Today:

It’s often used like a spiritual “hello” or “goodbye.”

Common in online posts, tarot readings, spell books, and witchy captions.

Said with reverence, casualness, joy, sass, or all of the above.

Used by witches from all paths, not just Wiccans.

And here’s the kicker: That doesn’t make it less sacred — just more alive.

⚠️ “Can Anyone Say It?” — Gatekeeping vs. Respect

Let’s be real. Some folks are protective of Blessed Be, saying it “belongs” to Wicca or formal tradition.

Here’s the thing: language is fluid, but intention is everything.

Can anyone say Blessed Be? Technically, yes.

Should anyone say it? Only if you’re going to say it with care.

Using it flippantly — like it’s just glittery fluff — disrespects its roots. But using it with intention, even if you're not Wiccan, honors the interconnected web of spiritual speech that has always crossed borders, traditions, and cultures.

The real key? Know what you’re saying. Mean it. Speak it with awareness.

🌍 Global Echoes: Blessings Across Traditions

The energy of Blessed Be isn’t exclusive to English-speaking witches.

You’ll find similar greetings and blessings in cultures around the world:

Namaste (Hinduism) – “The divine in me honors the divine in you.”

Ashe (Yoruba) – The spiritual force behind words and actions.

Shalom / Salaam – Peace, wholeness, and divine completeness.

Sláinte (Irish) – A toast to your health and well-being.

So mote it be – An affirmation of magical truth and manifestation.

Each culture has its own way of speaking power, of greeting not just the person but their spirit, their ancestors, their path. Blessed Be is just one thread in that sacred web.

🧹 When to Use “Blessed Be”

Here are some times when Blessed Be feels natural — and powerful:

At the end of a ritual or spellcasting circle

When writing in your grimoire or Book of Shadows

Signing off on a spiritual email, post, or newsletter

Greeting or parting from fellow witches

In prayer, chant, or spoken affirmations

Before bed, whispered to your guides or ancestors

And if you’re a writer, poet, content creator, or just deeply magical soul? Use it when you want to bless your words.

✨ Final Reflection: It's a Legacy

When you say Blessed Be, you join a legacy. One that spans from village folk healers to modern-day TikTok witches. From ancient altars to online rituals. From whispered devotions to shouted spells.

It’s not just a tagline. It’s a thread.

A spell.

A prayer.

A promise.

And every time you say it with awareness, you’re not just honoring tradition — you’re keeping it alive.

So next time you say it, say it like you mean it.

Say it like it’s holy. Say it like it’s magic.

Blessed Be. 🌙

[eff4freddie]

Touch | Part Four

Your skills are tested more than ever, and Joel finds a way to thank you for everything you do for Jackson.

Words: 6.2k

Part Three | Series Masterlist | Part Five

Warnings: depictions of childbirth, here there be smut (this chapter is a lot), fingering, praise, Joel is grumpy but horny, Joel has unique ways of showing his appreciation, we continue to stan an apocalyptic grump

Minors DNI

Later, you would be grateful that your makeshift massage table had the good grace to collapse when it was just you on it. You’d been leaning over it, all your weight on one corner trying to set the towels right, when you heard the telltale creak of wood. You yelped as it gave way, landing heavily on your knee and for a moment the pain took your breath away, as you suddenly found yourself crouched amongst the detritus of your usefulness in Jackson. For a long moment you were stunned, your brain trying to catch up, before you felt the tears pricking at the back of your eyes, your jaw aching where your mouth turned down. Your first real thought was that Joel had been right. Your second was that you had no idea how to tally this loss.

You felt helpless, made small and childlike by the shock and the pain, and you wondered if it would mean you’d have to leave Jackson. The town council had been dubious at best but you’d made it in based on Maria’s championing of the cause, and you couldn’t bring yourself now to consider how you would need to survive on your own in the cold, in the dark, realising that the last three months of warmth and safety had made you soft, had dulled your senses. You should never have leant on the table the way you had been, you should never have been so careless. You looked down at your shaking hands.

You saw in them your mother. Your memories of her skin, papery thin across her palms, across her knuckles. How easily she would bruise as her treatment went on, how you went from being able to push down into the sinew to dusting light across the surface, how towards the end all she could tolerate was your fingertips, dragging gentle so as not to tear.

You wiped the tears off your face with your mother’s hands, your own only capable of destruction.

—

The expedition to recover the raider’s stash started the following morning, and you along with most of Jackson went to the gate to see them off. Marla was smiling, riding high on her chestnut horse, her eyes bright and wild looking over the crowd. Your eyes, too, scanned over the faces, your tummy somersaulting with the prospect of seeing Joel. You had no idea if you wanted him to be there, if you were worried that he would speak to you or more worried that he wouldn’t, if he would look through you, keep his eyes empty of any recognition, or if he would stare you down, that same look of naked wanting written clear on his face. You felt your cheeks turn traitorously red at the thought of it, a bolt of something sharp and hot between your thighs. In the time since Maria’s kitchen you had wondered if you had misinterpreted, your mind playing the moment back but this time Joel is disgusted, this time Joel is confused, this time it’s Joel who legs it down the hallway and out into the freezing cold. You found yourself trying to cling to the real memory, trying to hold it safe and fragile in your palm, scared of it and scared of cracking it, brittle little thing that it was.

There were no speeches when Marla and the six departed Jackson. Even Jacob, who you expected to grandstand, was quiet. You spotted Ray on the other side of the street, his eyes never leaving Marla’s back until the gate closes behind her. He looked like he wanted to cry, and you took a step towards him before you saw Simon appear, gripping him by the shoulder and steering him towards the mess hall. You decided not to try and catch up to them, your knee aching from standing so long in the cold.

As you swung around to head home a pair of eyes caught yours, and it took you a moment to recognise that Joel’s daughter was watching you, likely had been quietly regarding you, from her position leant up against a fence post. For a moment you just stared at her, her gaze unwavering and her face unreadable. She looked so small, but so wired, her arms held tight against her body. You recognised it, the perennial fight or flight, and you felt a pang of something sad and hopeful, a flip of the gut. You smiled warmly at her, nodding your head. She hesitated, but nodded back, and disappeared into the dissipating crowd. She may not be Joel’s actual daughter, you thought, but they are so very much the same.

You were halfway home before you heard your name being called, a frantic edge to it that made the hair on your arms stand up. You turned, searching for Tommy and finding him barrelling towards you, stopping only when he can hold onto your arms to steady himself, nearly toppling the both of you in the process.

‘God, what is it?’ you asked, unable to get the fear out of your voice and thinking immediately that something was wrong with Joel, the sinking feeling in your gut dislodging bile snd sending it rushing into your throat.

‘Maria,’ Tommy said, and it’s no better, ‘she’s started…it’s happening and,’ he sucked in another gulp of clean mountain air, coughed for a second like he was choking on it, ‘she’s asked for you,’ he finished.

‘For me?’ You repeated, and now you really heard the panic. Tommy swallowed hard and nodded at you, his eyes big and brown and terrified, and you found yourself moving, heading straight to their house without even considering if this was the sane thing to do. You stopped, suddenly, and Tommy nearly slammed into your back. ‘Wait, did you call on the doctor as well?’ you ask, and Tommy sighed.

‘She doesn’t trust ‘em,’ he said, as if this was in any way a reasonable explanation. ‘She made me promise not to call on him unless it was really needed.’

‘Tommy, she’s having a baby. It’s needed,’ you said, and you watched his face fall. You knew in that moment he would do anything for her, that this was testing him more than anything ever had, and you remembered that this was what family was: throwing yourself under the bus just to properly entertain their nonsense.

‘I’m coming, of course,’ you said, and you saw his shoulders relax. ‘When I say so, you go get the doc. I can be the bad guy,’ you finished. Tommy nodded his head so hard he nearly shook his cowboy hat off, and you were off then, determined to be the sensible one, an Apocalyptic Doula with nothing but a twenty-year-old knowledge of human anatomy and a shattered massage table.

You had only just stepped onto the front porch when you heard the low moan, and you felt your stomach twist. Turning back to look at Tommy you saw the way his mouth was set firm and grim in a line, the way he searched your eyes for some kind of reassurance. You had attended a birth once, in the QZ, and it had happened in the bathtub out of fear that FEDRA would cart the woman off and cut her open rather than waste ether on her, waste the time of properly welcoming a new life into a dead world. That baby had arrived squawking and angry, an entirely appropriate response, and you had stood behind the midwife holding the towels and trying not to look at the remnants of what had brought him here. This was the limit of your qualifications, and looking back at Tommy’s pinched face you realised it would have to be enough.

You forged on, reaching down into your gut and pulling some strength from somewhere around your tailbone. In the entry way your eyes adjusted to the dark.

‘She wanted the curtains drawn, wanted the dark’ Tommy explained behind you, and you thought immediately of an injured cat seeking out the damp privacy under a house to tend to its wounds, to face the horror of its own mortality away from prying eyes.

‘That’s good, it’s calming,’ you said, and you saw how soundly this reassured him, two breaths from full blown panic as he was. ‘Do you have towels?’ you asked, and he scurried off to get them, grateful to have something to do.

In the living room Maria was on her knees, leaning over the arm of the sofa and resting her head in the bend of her arms. For a second you thought she was praying, but you heard her deep breaths in and out through her nose and you realised she had retreated somewhere inside herself, the pain sending her reeling back from her own skin. You got in behind her, hissing as you leant on your bad knee, and pushed your hands into the small of her back, over her hips, supporting her pelvis as it worked to expand enough to let the baby through. She sighed, relaxing into you, so that you held some of her weight in your arms.

‘Thank you,’ she breathed. ‘I knew you could help.’ You felt a twang of pride inside your ribcage, and you hummed your acknowledgment to her.

‘How long?’ you asked, and she sighed.

‘Feels like months,’ she said, turning slightly towards you. You took the opportunity to reposition her, sliding your arm under her belly to round her spine out, and she groaned in relief. ‘Had been feeling something for the last day or so, nothing regular, I thought false labour maybe?’ She stopped speaking for a second and you watched as her belly seized, felt the ripple of muscle under your palm. You went back to rubbing hard circles into her hips as she breathed through it, finding that you matched her, that you sucked the air in as she did, shared it between you, caught yourself in the moment of relief when she slumped back against you. ‘Lost my plug around dinner last night, though, waters this morning.’

You did some rough calculations in your head, considering this and by the way she was still able to speak, you estimated she wasn’t even halfway there. You steeled yourself for hours and hours of this, felt a sliver of panic slice at your windpipe.

‘Why haven’t you called the doctor?’ you asked, and she huffed out a tired, joyless laugh.

‘You’ve seen him,’ she said, and you had - when you had quarantined on arrival, and as soon as you’d seen him you’d wanted to make a Dougie Houser joke, but you had realised he would be even too young to know the reference. You wouldn’t have been surprised if he tried to check your pulse in your elbow.

‘I’ve done this once before,’ she said, and you fought hard against the instinct to ask for more, to mask your surprise. She was quiet for a moment, gently circling her hips in the air. ‘I know I’m asking a lot,’ she said, and you heard the doubt in her voice.

‘Not too much,’ you reassured her, ‘but I reserve the right to call an actual professional if required.’

Maria snorted through her nose. ‘Let me know if you find one,’ she said.

—

Maria laboured into the afternoon, sometimes kneeling, sometimes pacing, sometimes lying on the sofa with a pillow between her knees. You kept her cool, collecting her sweat in a damp towel and handing it off to Tommy to rinse, the stressed soon-to-be-father hovering always in your peripheral view. Occasionally he would ask you how things were progressing, as if you had a magic wand or an invisible ultrasound machine, but Maria eventually got tired of him asking and snapped at him to shut it, that no one had any idea. It wasn’t the reassurance he was looking for.

As the sun set Maria started to get more agitated, finding it hard to get comfortable in any position. Unable to carry her full weight, you had Tommy come over and hold her up while she groaned and swore into his neck. You could see that she was tiring, made worse by the fact that there was no clarity on how much longer it would be, how much longer it should be, that the three of you were holding your breath trying to figure out if danger was lurking around the corner, like it so often was.

She had taken to letting out her breath in long moans, the sound almost mournful, as you and Tommy took turns to sway with her, as you held her hand, as you patted her hair back away from her face. Occasionally you would look into her eyes and see that she was barely there, that the pain had now stolen her away completely, that she had left her body to do its work without her tagging along for the ride. Only occasionally would she speak to refuse medical attention, and then not again for minutes at a time.

It was around this point, when the moaning became constant, when it appeared that there was no Maria in the room, that Tommy swore under his breath, gathered his coat and stomped out the front door. Maria didn’t look up from her position slumped over the back of the couch and you didn’t mention it to her, hoping that Dougie was ready to earn his keep.

Ten minutes later you heard the door open again and two sets of footsteps, calling over your shoulder that you hoped he’d brought the good drugs. You heard a laugh, a huff of a thing that froze you on the spot.

‘If I had those ya reckon I’d be here?’ Joel asked, and you wondered if this would be the thing that finally sent you careening over the edge: opening a pregnant woman’s hips with your hands while the man you had a raging crush on sassed you from the doorway.

‘Tommy?’ you asked him as he appeared behind his big brother, eyes anxiously roaming over Maria.

‘Joel has seen this before,’ he said, not looking at you so not seeing the look of surprise on your face that you quickly wiped from your features, your eyes flitting to Joel to see if he he’d caught you and knowing, in your guts just knowing, that he had. ‘I figured he could tell us if it’s going ok.’

You couldn’t help a little ripple of unearned indignation at this, and you informed them that you had it under control. It was difficult for them to hear, though, as this was also the moment Maria chose to bend further at the hips, brace her knees, and bellow from deep within her soul.

Joel regarded this silently for a moment. Tension hung in the air while you all waited for his assessment. ‘Totally normal,’ he said, as if Maria hadn’t just unleashed a screaming banshee from the fifth circle of hell. ‘I’ll leave you to it.’

‘No, stay,’ Tommy said, too quickly, stepping towards Maria and rubbing sweet but ineffectual circles on her shoulder. ‘I mean, you can…if things get…’

‘You can stand at the business end with a catcher’s mitt,’ Maria said, from somewhere under her own elbow, shrugging off Tommy. You grinned, falling just a little bit more in love with her by the minute.

‘Tried a bath?’ Joel asked, and you were about to offer to start drawing it when Maria shook her head.

‘Too narrow,’ she said, sounding breathless but resolute. ‘Need her with me and we wont both fit.’ You beamed at this, unable to stop yourself turning to Joel feeling just a little smug. You’d been at this for hours and he thought he could come in and fix it in five minutes? He cocked a knee and put a hand on his hip, and you could see that in any other situation he would have rolled his eyes. As you looked away you just caught his little grin in your peripheral vision.

He turned to Tommy. ‘I really don’t know what I can do here,’ he said, but Tommy stopped him.

‘Just stay,’ he said, and you realised that he was appealing to his older brother to stick by him, that he was telling Joel that he felt safer with him there. You realised that Joel, as gruff and stoic as he was, was comfort for Tommy. You realised that you agreed.

—

You tried to get Maria to eat some dry bread around dinnertime but she refused it, tired and sweaty and back deep inside herself. Tommy brought out ice chips from the freezer for her to chew on and you avoided looking at them for too long, the memory of the cold across your teeth as you held Joel by the wrist too strong, and too ill-fitting for what lay ahead of you. You studiously avoided Joel’s eyes, only glancing up long enough to see that he, too, was avoiding what Tommy held in his hand.

Around 10 pm Maria started wanting to retreat up to the bedroom, and you followed her up the stairs slowly to make sure her legs wouldn’t give out. It took three contractions to get up there, her face screwed up tight against the bannister, bracing herself against the wall, and when she reached the landing she wailed that she couldn’t do it anymore, that she wasn’t strong enough. At the bottom of the stairs you heard Joel inform Tommy that she was close, that it was time for the doctor. He slipped away into the night to bring him, while Tommy helped hoist Maria onto the mattress. Within moments she was up again, on all fours and howling, as you encouraged her to swing low into her hips, to drop down and let her pelvis open. She told you, rightfully, to fuck off.

‘Do you need to push?’ you asked her, thinking back to the delivery you saw in the bath in the QZ, racking your brains trying to remember how the midwife handled it.

‘I don’t know, I don’t know,’ Maria cried, and you reached out to wrap your hand around your wrist.

‘I think that means no,’ you said, trying to scrounge together some confidence to push into your voice. ‘I reckon you’ll know when you feel it.’ Maria nodded at you, her head bent back to look at you through her armpit, and you gave her what you hoped was a reassuring smile.

‘You can do this,’ you said, and you knew, looking at her on all fours on her mattress, hair wild and matted and eyes now shut tight against the pain, primal and urgent and so incredibly strong, that it was true.

You felt a hand on your arm gently pulling you away, and you stood to see Dougie Howser at the end of the bed. You repositioned yourself so that Maria could see you, sat at the headboard and let her rest her head on your shoulder. You looked over to see Tommy getting down on his knees to lean beside her, Joel in the doorway watching on. His eyes met yours and for a moment the world was silent. An understanding seemed to pass between you, that what you were witnessing was sacred and precious, but that it belonged to the people in front of you, that it was not for either of you to share.

‘Ok,’ Dougie said, and you were surprised his voice didn’t break as he spoke. ‘We’re close but we’re not quite there yet.’ It bothered you that he said ‘we’ as if he was also writhing on the bed howling in agony, but the one functioning synapse you had left advised you now was not the time to point this out.

Maria groaned when she heard this, turning her head to Tommy and panting, as he rested his forehead on hers. You were close enough that you could hear her urgent whisper to him that she couldn’t do it, that it was going to split her open, and the way that he soothed her, how he held the back of her head and whispered words of love and courage, how he knew she was hurting but that she could do it, how he loved her, more than anything, but how much in awe of her he was that she was going to make him a dad. You felt heat in the back of your eyes, swallowing sour across your throat, the intimacy of the moment so breathtaking that you wanted to turn away from it, even as it played out almost entirely in your lap. You looked over Tommy’s back to Joel, saw that he had heard it too, that he had witnessed this moment, saw the way he stood steadfast in the face of such naked love. Saw that he was holding your gaze, letting you borrow some of his strength to carry you through it, to be able to resist the instinct to shy away.

‘Oh!’ Maria suddenly exclaimed, her eyes wide as she snapped her head up to look at you. ‘I have to push!’ You watched as Dougie ducked down behind her again, busied himself underneath her, before returning to the surface and nodding to Tommy that it was time. Your remaining synapse again advised you not to point out that he had just said she wasn’t there yet, then promptly joined all your other brain cells in death.

‘Ok baby,’ Tommy said, and Maria reared up then, swinging her legs down so that her knees were back on the floor, her elbows digging into the mattress. You reached out and held her hand.

‘Can she do it like this?’ Tommy asked and you answered for Dougie, knowing the answer almost innately, not wanting him to try and put her on her back.

‘Let gravity help,’ you said. ‘Let her do it how her instincts tell her to.’

In the end, Joel didn’t need a catcher’s mitt. Maria and Tommy’s baby boy slid into his father’s hands and onto his chest, the younger Miller gasping with awe and love while the very youngest Miller gave his dad a piece of his mind. The shrill cries were somehow the sweetest thing you had heard, somehow a symphony of life and resistance, and you found yourself surging with hope at the sight of him, wiggly and squirming and covered in goo. Joel appeared with the towels and Tommy wrapped him up, while you helped Maria back onto the bed and into a comfortable position. You backed away then, over to the doorframe where Joel had stood vigil for so long, letting the new parents luxuriate in their first moments with their creation. After a few moments Joel came and stood by your side and you almost let yourself reach out, take his hand in yours, so awed were you by the events of the last twelve hours.

—

Joel offered to walk you home and you let him, the adrenaline retreating to leave just plain exhaustion in its wake. You had been wired right up until you pulled your coat on, the warmth of it reminding your tired bones of the need for rest.

‘Oh my god,’ you said, as Joel pulled Maria’s door shut behind you and ushered you down the front steps. He smiled at your tired excitement.

‘Somethin’, right?’ he asked, and you just nodded, didn’t have the words, couldn’t find them even as you jumbled through your brain.

‘She was amazing,’ you replied, your breath fanning out in front of you in the midnight chill.

‘She had a good team,’ he replied, and you grinned back at him.

The walk back to your house was only a few minutes, but with each step the exhaustion and the cold got in under your clothes and held you hard and bony by the knee. You’d managed to ignore the pain of it when Maria needed you, but now the ache had settled in. You started to limp.

‘What’s that about?’ Joel asked you, nodding towards your feet.

‘Oh I hurt my knee, you were right, the massage table did come down.’ You were focussed on your feet in front of you, trying hard to slide on the ice, so you yelped a little in surprise when Joel grabbed your arm snd stopped you.

‘You hurt?’ he asked, and in his eyes you saw genuine worry. He faltered, collecting himself. ‘Was anyone hurt?’ he tried again.

‘No it was just me,’ you said, and you turned away from him to keep walking, hearing his footsteps quicken to catch up with you. Your eyes were stinging from the cold and the weight of the day. ‘I was, am, so grateful to Tommy for finding it for me but the table was huge, I had to climb onto it to get the towels right each time, and it was hard to get into a good position sometimes so I had to kind of lean over to get at someone’s shoulders…’ you pantomimed this in thin air, raising one leg up to demonstrate how you would need to contort yourself, and nearly slipped. Joel grabbed you by the armpit to steady you, grunting as you leant on him. ‘Sorry,’ you said, wondering if the fatigue had made you delirious. ‘Slippery,’ you helpfully clarified, as Joel nodded once at you but didn’t let you go.

You expected him to drop you at your front door, but he followed you onto the porch and down your corridor. It felt strange, having just witnessed the miracle of life, to throw him out straight after, so you didn’t, listening to him shuck off his jacket and hang it by the door. He stopped at the doorway of your treatment room, regarding the mess of splintered wood on the floor.

‘Yeah, I know. I’ll clean it up, it’s just really heavy,’ you said and you weren’t sure if you meant the weight of the wood, exactly. You sighed, heading into the kitchen and then stopping when you remembered what tends to happen when you and Joel sit down at a table, and doubled back to flop down on your sofa. You lifted your knee and started rubbing at it over your jeans. You heard the floorboards creaking under Joel’s feet as he continued to inspect the damage in your treatment room.

‘You want some tea?’ you called our to him after a while. He appeared over your shoulder, grinning when he saw you slumped into the cushions.

‘Reckon if I did I’d have to make it myself,’ he said, and you closed your eyes snd hummed your agreement. Instead, he came and sat down next to you, his weight nearly causing the rusted springs to collapse you into him. You watched his eyes roam your meagre belongings.

‘Wood was rotting through at the top of the legs,’ he said after a while. You rubbed absently at your knee and nodded. ‘Tommy wouldn’t have checked, he ain’t careful. Back on the old job sites I spent half my time checking his work, correctin’ his mistakes before the boss got onto em.’

‘He’s lucky to have you,’ you said, honestly. He looked over at you, and you thought you saw the faintest hint of pink under his patchy beard. You wanted to pull him to you and nip on the skin. You swallowed.

‘That botherin’ ya?’ he asked, and you panicked for a second that he knew what you’d just been imagining, before you realised he meant your knee. You nodded, and he grunted in acknowledgement.

‘Show me what to do,’ he said, and your breath caught in your throat.

‘What?’ you asked, frozen in place next to him. He was avoiding your gaze, but he slipped an arm behind you and pulled you over to the coffee table, so that you sat facing him, squarely between his knees. He put his hands on your shin, and you just managed to hold in a gasp.

‘Show me,’ he said, nodding down to his hands.

Your mouth was bone dry, your throat threatening to collapse in on itself. His hands were so warm, scorching through your jeans. ‘Umm…’ you started, taking a second to catch your breath. He waited patiently for you to continue, his thumb gently rubbing back and forth on the inside of your knee. ‘Well, I landed right on it so you don’t want to really massage the knee cap,’ you started, casting your eyes down to your leg where it felt almost safe. ‘It’s better to try and move some of the fluid, support the tendons around it because they got a bit of a sudden stretch as well.’

He made a sound in his throat to indicate he was listening, moving his hands to brace either side of your knee.

‘It’s really about gripping around the back of the leg while you kind of make little circles with your thumbs,’ you said, demonstrating with your own hands in front of your face. ‘Sometimes I imagine it’s like I’m smearing toast on butter,’ you went on, and he huffed out a quiet laugh.

‘You butter your toast with your thumbs?’ he asked, gently ribbing you again.

‘And what if I do?’ you shot back, pretending to be offended. He smiled, returning to his work.

‘This good?’ he asked, and you hummed. ‘What about here?’ he asked, moving his hands above your knee and holding firm. He let out a shaky breath and you watched his face as he kept his eyes trained on his hands. The heat from them was scorching, and you felt sweat break out on the back of your neck. ‘Can I do anything here?’

You wanted to laugh, a giggle forming in your chest and threatening to pop out into the air between you. You wanted to tell him he could do anything anywhere, but you gripped hard on the edge of the coffee table and steeled yourself.

‘Same thing but just rather than circles try and kind of push down towards the knee.’ His grip was firm, his hands so strong. You held your jaw shut tight, not sure whether you wanted to laugh or scream, the wings brushing so hard against the inside of your ribcage now you wouldn’t have been surprised if the feather started to strip away, if you opened your mouth and coughed them up onto the rug.

‘I gotta tell ya, I thought you were lyin’ about going to school for this,’ he confessed, and your attention snapped back to the man in front of you. ‘You must have been young on outbreak day,’ he said, and you nodded. ‘But I saw how you were with Maria tonight I…I knew it then. I was wrong, and I’m sorry.’

‘It’s ok,’ you said, your voice quiet. ‘I was young, but my mum…when I was 15 she got…and she needed so much medical help, one of the things that they said would help with the chemo was…so I went to school for it on the weekends and…I helped her.’ You were aware you had yet to finish a full sentence, but your poor brain was scrambling to understand what was happening, had been scrambling all day. You saw again your mother and father standing at the kitchen sink peeling potatoes, your mother’s favourite knitted beanie covering her head. Honey I’m going to Jackson. See if I care.

You came back into the room, your mind drifting back to the man in front of you, who was watching you openly now, his hands still on your knee.

‘So beautiful,’ he said, almost to himself. You felt heat bloom across your chest. ‘Doin’ so much for so many people. Will you let me do something for you?’

Your vision blurred, your eyes watery, and you nodded, suddenly shy. He stood and tugged you up into standing, coming forward to support your weight, his lower hand on your back and your nose buried in his shoulder. You felt him grip the button of your jeans, popping it open with one hand.

‘Take these off baby, so I can take care of you,’ he said and your fingers moved of their own accord, pushing the denim off your legs and down to your feet, where he helped you step out of them. He sat you back down on the coffee table, getting onto the floor in front of you, inspecting your now naked knee as he held it in his hands. His bare skin on your bare skin, his pulse against yours.

He clicked his tongue at the sight of the purple and yellow bruise blooming across it. ‘Poor little thing,’ he cooed, bending down to place a feather light kiss on it, his hand gripping the back of it, his fingers digging into the flesh of your inner thigh. You broke out in shivers, temporarily unable to speak, letting out a breathy whimper when he moved his hand up to pull you towards him, the edge of the table digging into your bottom. ‘I know, baby,’ he hummed, his voice gravelly and dipped in sin. Your cunt throbbed in time to your thundering pulse, the heat between your legs unbearable, making you want to squirm, but he held you fast.

‘Can I do anything here?’ he asked, moving his hand up, his other mirroring his actions on your other thigh, his fingers close enough to brush against your panties but he stayed achingly far from your centre. He pulled your thighs apart, making room for himself as he shuffled forward. You shook your head, willing him closer, higher and further, inside. ‘No?’ he asked, pretending not to understand, and you nearly cried out. The ache was unlike anything you had ever experienced, the heat and the pulse of it stopping you from forming any kind of cogent thought.

He moved his hands to bracket your hips, his thumbs rubbing circles on the crest of the bone, and you keened, staring imploringly into his sparkling brown eyes. If he was going to continue to torture you, you were not going to stand for it, the moment you regained your ability to move.

‘I’m sorry, baby,’ he said, but the bastard didn’t mean it. ‘You’re so good to us, so good to this town. I won’t tease ya.’

And he didn’t, then, slipping his hands under your underwear and running his fingers up against your dripping seam. You gasped, rocking your hips into his hand, as he circled your clit with one hand and pushed two strong, thick fingers into your cunt. He watched your face as you screwed your eyes shut, the pleasure almost painful in its entirety, sending sparks into your fingertips and down to the tip of your tongue. You heard the hoarseness of your voice as you cried out into the quiet of your living room, your hands flying to grip Joel’s flannel shirt.

‘Joel!’ you gasped, genuinely surprised by the way he had set your entire nervous system ablaze.

‘Sssh,’ he said, ‘I know baby, I know.’ He manoeuvred his hands inside your underwear, stretching the stitching almost to breaking point, and you didn’t fucking care if he destroyed every piece of clothing you owned, would ever own.

‘Take them off, take them,’ you muttered, pulling at them to get free, suddenly feeling the cotton too tight across your hips. He gripped them, stripped you of them in one swoop, barely missing a beat as he pumped in and out of you.

‘So good to me, so good to us,’ he muttered, his eyes watching the contortions of your face as he systematically took you apart. ‘Slipping that ice into that mouth,’ he added, and you would have been shy about it except that you were currently spread open on yet another table, every breath pushing you closer to toppling over the edge.

You felt your cunt gripping, your weight now bearing down on his hand, as you reached forward and grabbed him by the wrist, pushing him further into you, to graze against the spongey spot you could never reach yourself.

‘Oh, fuck, baby,’ he said, as you moaned high and tight, ‘show me how you like it, show me how to help you.’

‘There, there,’ you whimpered, the weight in your pelvis heavy now, the heat expanding out into your limbs, the speed of it breathtaking, as if all your life you had been waiting for this one man to touch you. ‘Please,’ you added, a gasping benediction to nothing in particular.

When you came, hips circling Joel’s pumping hand, your own grasped in his shirt, head thrown back to the ceiling and eyes shut tight, you forgot for a moment. Forgot to tally your losses, to keep the running sheet in your head of grief and of fury. Forgot the world had ended, taking with it first your family, then your home, and then your self. Forgot for a moment the dying light over the mountains surrounding Jackson, the cold and the bite of winter nipping fast into your bones. For a moment you floated, anchored as you were to the world by Joel’s touch, his breath hot on your neck as he repeated and repeated and repeated your name.

Taglist: let me know if you want me to add you!

@orcasoul

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[isthepame]

Football, fame, and solitude

In the emotional and thematic climax of the Neo Egoist League, Blue Lock concludes this arc not with shouts of victory, but with silences that resonate louder than any ovation. Chapter 301 presents a delicate counterpoint between the noise of fame and the echo of intimacy, and in that contrast, its true heart emerges: the insatiable desire that drives the players, and what is sacrificed in its name.

Kaiser and Ness: ruin, redemption, and the spell of affection

The first act of the chapter is a fall. Kaiser, broken, faces utter loss: not only of victory, but of the image he held of himself. His rhetoric is filled with self-loathing “I’m trash,” “I’m destroyed” as if his worth depended solely on winning. In front of him, Ness takes a step that subverts everything we’ve seen from him up until now: no longer a servant, but an individual who chooses to stay. “I’m not going to do what you say anymore,” he says, and it’s perhaps his most powerful line in the entire manga.

What follows is not a promise of success, nor a motivational speech. Ness speaks of a spell, a cure for the broken Kaiser. He speaks of affection, of humanity. What he’s trying to revive is not the player, but the human being. Until this point, football seemed to consume everything. But Ness reminds us that bonds when not based on dependence or manipulation can also be a form of resistance.

The parade of new heroes: masks of glory

The scene shifts abruptly, transporting us to a bus with the 23 players, still unaware of where they’re headed. There are jokes, anxiety, trivialities. The confinement in the bus recalls the early episodes of Blue Lock, when everyone was merely a number. But now, they’re about to face the other extreme: the public showcase.

The parade in Roppongi is the consecration of this transformation. The world applauds them, shouts their names, fights for their images. It’s the highest point of visibility they’ve ever experienced. Yet, Isagi’s monologue blankets it all with a disturbing haze of clarity: “With a single shot, you can become a hero or plummet.”

That line encapsulates the essence of the new football: there is no safety net, only the vertigo of the result. The spectacle is glorious, yes, but it’s also cruel.

Compared to the early days of the manga (that closed space, without windows, filled with psychological bars this parade is an external triumph). But internally, the bars remain. They’ve changed form: now they’re made of expectations.

The silence of Nagi: a world without football

And then, just as the noise reaches its peak, Blue Lock chooses to be silent.

The chapter ends with Nagi. Alone. At home. Facing his cactus, Choki, the same one that accompanied him before entering Blue Lock. His monologue is neither a celebration, nor a reflection. It’s a statement: “Nothing has changed. We’ve simply returned to the routine, to an empty everyday life.”

This ending contrasts with the frenzy of the parade. While everyone bathes in applause, Nagi returns to square one. There are no teammates. No football. Only the void. His “I’m back” doesn’t sound like victory; it’s a surrender, an acceptance that, without that competitive fire, the world loses its colour. Nagi represents the player whose motivation was external—the duo with Reo and now that that bond is broken, he seems to wonder if there’s anything left to fight for.

The comparison couldn’t be starker: while Isagi sees the summit as an abyss he must climb, Nagi looks at his surroundings as a desert he doesn’t know how to fill. One finds meaning in the vertigo; the other drowns in the silence.

Conclusion

The chapter doesn’t close with a coronation, but with an open question. What is left of the human being after submitting to a system that turns them into a hero? Is that recognition worth it when bonds, certainties, and even purpose crumble off-screen?

Blue Lock has often shown us that egoism can be a tool for greatness. But in this chapter, it suggests that it can also be an unbearable burden if not balanced with humanity, with meaning, with something beyond the result.

Because when everything fades away, when there are no stadiums, no applause, no rivals... the only thing left is silence. And not everyone knows how to live in it.

By @isthepame

[edensvessel]

　　﹒　external signs vs internal signs . . .

note: this is all my own upg !!! whether or not you decide to follow this is up to you !!! if it makes your worship easier and makes sense with your beliefs, then by all means, feel free to adopt it.

in my practice, what makes most sense to me is the concept of internal signs and external signs. most deities have their own style of signs, and it usually falls into either of them. sometimes even both.

　౨ৎ　external signs

these are the more difficult ones to discern, for me at least. these are signs exhibited in the external world. for example, seeing a number associated with your deity or seeing your deity's domain more often if it's uncommon, or seeing your deity's associations more often. usually, i find these somewhat unreliable unless they're super obvious, mainly because as humans, we have a tendency for pattern recognition and confirmation bias. for these kinds of signs, it's very important to consider the mundane before the magical. a rule of thumb many like to apply when it comes to external signs is: if it happens three times or more, it's more likely that it's a sign. otherwise, don't bother.

　౨ৎ　internal signs

these are much easier for me to personally discern! these are signs exhibited within yourself. for example, dreams, meditations, information obtained through clairs, channelling, etc. for these kinds of signs, it is CRUCIAL to recognise your own thought patterns beforehand. for example, i tend to think in words. one word after the other. when i get an internal message from a deity, depending on the deity, it's either a full message that i have to translate to words or a full message in words that's not a consistent stream of words rather like a whole paragraph dropped in my brain. i also observe the speech patterns and vocabulary used, both my own and any potential messages. as far as dreams go, i confirm if a dream is from a deity through divination.

　౨ৎ　extra

there is a third kind, which combines both of them, but i find the only thing that falls under that intersection is divination. it relies both on an external component (a physical tool) and an internal component (the reader's interpretation).

　౨ৎ　how do i know which one xyz deity falls under?

usually, that would correspond with the deity's particular domains. for example, hermes usually uses external signs while apollon primarily uses internal signs or a mixture. it may differ based on your experiences, but i find that's usually how it works.

i hope this helps!

[beardedmrbean]

Few in the media seemed eager to attend a ceremony last week in Washington, D.C., where the prestigious American Academy of Sciences and Letters was awarding its top intellectual freedom award.

The problem may have been the recipient: Stanford Professor Dr. Jay Bhattacharya.

Bhattacharya has spent years being vilified by the media over his dissenting views on the pandemic. As one of the signatories of the 2020 Great Barrington Declaration, he was canceled, censored, and even received death threats.

That open letter called on government officials and public health authorities to rethink the mandatory lockdowns and other extreme measures in light of past pandemics.

All the signatories became targets of an orthodoxy enforced by an alliance of political, corporate, media, and academic groups. Most were blocked on social media despite being accomplished scientists with expertise in this area.

It did not matter that positions once denounced as “conspiracy theories” have been recognized or embraced by many.

Some argued that there was no need to shut down schools, which has led to a crisis in mental illness among the young and the loss of critical years of education. Other nations heeded such advice with more limited shutdowns (including keeping schools open) and did not experience our losses.

Others argued that the virus’s origin was likely the Chinese research lab in Wuhan. That position was denounced by the Washington Post as a “debunked” coronavirus “conspiracy theory.” The New York Times Science and Health reporter Apoorva Mandavilli called any mention of the lab theory “racist.”

Federal agencies now support the lab theory as the most likely based on the scientific evidence.

The Biden administration tried to censor this Stanford doctor, but he won in court

Likewise, many questioned the efficacy of those blue surgical masks and supported natural immunity to the virus — both positions were later recognized by the government.

Others questioned the six-foot rule used to shut down many businesses as unsupported by science. In congressional testimony, Dr. Anthony Fauci recently admitted that the 6-foot rule “sort of just appeared” and “wasn’t based on data.” Yet not only did the rule result in heavily enforced rules (and meltdowns) in public areas, the media further ostracized dissenting critics.

Again, Fauci and other scientists did little to stand up for these scientists or call for free speech to be protected. As I discuss in my new book, “The Indispensable Right,” the result is that we never really had a national debate on many of these issues and the result of massive social and economic costs.

I spoke at the University of Chicago with Bhattacharya and other dissenting scientists in the front row a couple of years ago. After the event, I asked them how many had been welcomed back to their faculties or associations since the recognition of some of their positions.

They all said that they were still treated as pariahs for challenging the groupthink culture.

Now the scientific community is recognizing the courage shown by Bhattacharya and others with its annual Robert J. Zimmer Medal for Intellectual Freedom.

So what about all of those in government, academia, and the media who spent years hounding these scientists?

Universities shred their ethics to aid Biden’s social-media censorship

Biden Administration officials and Democratic members targeted Bhattacharya and demanded his censorship. For example, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) attacked  Bhattacharya and others who challenged the official narrative during the pandemic. Krishnamoorthi expressed outrage that the scientists were even allowed to testify as “a purveyor of COVID-19 misinformation.”

Journalists and columnists also supported the censorship and blacklisting of these scientists. In the Los Angeles Times, columnist Michael Hiltzik decried how “we’re living in an upside-down world” because Stanford allowed these scientists to speak at a scientific forum. He was outraged that, while “Bhattacharya’s name doesn’t appear in the event announcement,” he was an event organizer. Hiltzik also wrote a column titled “The COVID lab leak claim isn’t just an attack on science, but a threat to public health.” 

Then there are those lionized censors at Twitter who shadow-banned Bhattacharya. As former CEO Parag Agrawal generally explained, the “focus [was] less on thinking about free speech … [but[ who can be heard.”

None of this means that Bhattacharya or others were right in all of their views. Instead, many of the most influential voices in the media, government, and academia worked to prevent this discussion from occurring when it was most needed.

There is still a debate over Bhattacharya’s “herd immunity” theories, but there is little debate over the herd mentality used to cancel him.

The Academy was right to honor Bhattacharya. It is equally right to condemn all those who sought to silence a scientist who is now being praised for resisting their campaign to silence him and others.

[tiktowafel]

personal lore dump for Shihai Kuroiro!! (where i'm probably a little mean to him but it's out of love guys i swear)

verrry late for his birthday but it's here!! :] love this kid. so many thoughts about him to share

i'll just start with the part that i find the most important - the core of his character, to me, is that he is not what he says he is and not what he desperately tries to convince himself and everyone else that he is.

i'm mostly basing this off of how ultra analysis gives him one of the two lowest wits scores in his class (as shown above) despite the fact that he calls himself "the scheming hero" and spends half his joint training match dramatically talking about trickery and psychological traps - while i like to ignore canon sometimes, this little piece of information is something i could never disregard. it's so endearing to me, plus him apparently trying really hard to seem way cooler than he actually is fits with the chuunibyou archetype he's supposed to represent.

severe headcanon territory & a generally slightly lengthy textpost under the read more lol

now, why do i hc he's that way in the first place? well, basically: his whole life he's admired underground heroes very strongly and ended up developing this very idealized mental picture of the perfect underground hero - a mysterious lonely mastermind who hides in the shadows and avoids the spotlight, quietly pulling all the strings and relying on plans and schemes instead of a powerful quirk and flashy moves. but despite all the dirty tricks they're capable of, their heart is in the right place - in fact in a way their motivations are far more noble than those of all the popular celebrity heroes, because they don't care about fame or recognition, they act out of a genuine want to do good. this is what Kuroiro aspires to be and what he bases his entire persona on, pretty much.

and that's because this is also the only kind of hero he could ever identify with - he was always an odd, withdrawn kid who had trouble making friends. he couldn't see himself in all those shiny charismatic always-in-the-spotlight heroes that everyone else seemed to love. so when he learned about underground heroes, he fell in love instantly and decided this is who he wanted to be, over time forming this perfect underground hero image to set as his goal.

except, again, a lot of traits possessed by this ideal of a hero aren't really in line with what Kuroiro himself actually is. he's nowhere this badass. he's nowhere this smart. he kinda sucks at this whole scheming thing actually! he's sneaky, sure, that's by nature of his quirk - but his schemes are way less elaborate than he likes to make them seem, most of the time they're just ways for himself to catch people off guard. he doesn't have the multi-step coordination-based planning capablity of Kendo or Tokage, the adaptability of Honenuki or the sheer sophistication of Monoma (note that almost all of 1-b's plan during joint training match 2 was invented by Kendo and Kuroiro's only strategic contribution was tricking 1-a into thinking he was gonna target Tokoyami so he could ambush Aoyama instead - which is something yeah but still nothing particularly complicated). and he hates that about himself, because intelligence is something that he values and admires so so much - so he exaggerates his strategic prowess a lot, with his hero title and dramatic speeches and all, and does everything in his power not to be perceived as stupid (often failing miserably). it's out of insecurity.

he's also not that much of a lone wolf, either. he does have a strong tendency to isolate himself from others, which is partially because he's convinced himself that he's destined to walk a lonely path in life & content with it (what's a better way of coping with your childhood loneliness than romanticizing it) and partially because the fact that he's constantly putting up a facade does by itself kinda prevent him from forming proper relationships, BUT he's not really happy this way. he's introverted but ultimately not meant to be alone. he does need friends! and he does wish for a romantic relationship, too! but, of course, he sucks at managing those feelings, as we can judge by his interactions with Kinoko and his general incapability of normally talking to girls mentioned in ultra analysis.

i actually really like that he has a crush on Kinoko specifically because it plays really well into everything that i said earlier in this post! remember that something he admires a lot about underground heroes is that they don't care about fame and recognition, and therefore in his view have the most genuine motivations? i like to believe that odd as it is, he actually has a very strong moral compass and greatly values selflessness. so, imagine how he feels when he learns that Kinoko, whom he already has a crush on because she's cute and she's nice to him and she has a really cool quirk (something something mushrooms like darkness so they must be meant to be), wants to be an idol hero. bro's devastated. those people are the epitome of modern hero society's shallowness and superficiality, and she wants to be one! she apparently wants to spend her precious time doing silly little dance routines and shaking people's hands at conventions instead of dedicating it all to proper hero work! and Kuroiro still has a crush on her! that witch...!

and you see, Kinoko isn't actually a shallow person. what motivates her to become and idol hero isn't selfishness (refer to my old Kinoko headcanon list - some things in there are a tiny bit outdated but my headcanon on why she wants to be an idol is still the same!). except Kuroiro doesn't get to know that at first so he remains bewildered and conflicted for quite some time - and i just think that's funny y'know? he eventually learns more about her (second hand, they don't directly talk to each other much, in canon i think Kinoko doesn't even pay much attention to him in general 😭) and starts to change his mind, probably falling even harder in the process - but still the whole thing is complete disaster on his side. he was always shy around her, now there's also... all this, no wonder he can't talk to her at all!!

so, to sum it up: Kuroiro is intense, he's surprisingly idealistic, he's tragically insecure, and he has some very rigid ideas about himself and the world around him that he probably needs to let go of. he's just a mess of a teenager with a lot of to figure out - and he does figure it out, he does get his happy ending eventually! (a conversation with Kinoko, among other things, is something that definitely would be a crucial part in his,, character arc, i guess? and y'know what, while i do really like them as a couple, i think them just getting to talk things out is a "happy ending" regardless of whether they end up together)

OH and by the way: i'm not saying that he's like, going against himself at all times! he's not an actual master schemer or a complete lone wolf but a lot of things about how he acts are perfectly genuine. his affinity for all things dark is genuine, his interest in taboos is genuine, and his love for theatrics is also genuine! in that matter, it's actually not a phase lol he's just like that :] would be blasphemous to say otherwise, that's what we all love him for..!

aaand this concludes my little essay about one of my favorite 1b kids!! the picture of him that i have in my head is very clear, that's why he's the first character that i chose to write this kind of post about - i'm just pretty confident about the hcs i have for him haha. i'm also thinking about writing a more lighthearted list of hcs to complete the vision (ya know, like the good ol days) because there's STILL so much that i haven't shared since it didn't fit this post - so stay tuned for that if you enjoyed this!! see you next month probably

[cachicabra]

Why's it so hard to find Saint-Just's writings in English? I have been reading your Organt translation (thank you!!) and I downloaded the Oeuvres linked on Wikipedia, but I have a shitty American high school education in French haha so... it's gonna be a task. I keep seeing references to his philosophy & politics but it's so hard to find the actual original sources. How is the work of someone so famous so obscure?! Is it somewhere that I just haven't found?

I'm not saying I won't sit here typing it into Google Translate but I'm sure actual translators would do better!

Thanks for your question! When I was first getting into Frev, I was frustrated by the same thing.

For Saint-Just in particular, I don’t think he’s studied much outside of France. If anyone attended primary school in France, I’d be interested in knowing how he is discussed in class, so feel free to chime in.

I can only speak to my American educational experience, but the French Revolution was discussed only briefly and very simplified: Marie Antoinette was super into cake and then Robespierre showed up and murdered everyone. The end.

In that context, SJ was a relatively minor figure; Camille gets a shoutout if the Bastille is mentioned, but that’s the extent of what we’re taught in America.

Organt isn’t considered a shining example of French literature in SJ’s time or in ours. It’s just not good compared to other writings from the time (although it has its moments). I don’t think there’s a demand for this relatively obscure text in English by the general public or historians broadly. It’s very niche and you only know about it if you happen to learn more about SJ specifically. Even he distanced himself from that work after it flopped. I’ve thought that he probably wouldn’t care to have it translated into more languages- his work and writings for the Revolution were closer to his heart in the end.

I’ll admit that I am disappointed that the biographies that exist about him have not been translated into English. To me, those would have more mass appeal to people than his poem (unless you are researching that work specifically).

I think Organt is still very interesting in that we see an SJ before the drastic change of his life. It’s an important base for him, but not so much outside of that context.

His speeches and other writings have a better chance of being translated into English. Again, there’s a lack of demand for it from the public. You’d have to have an academic intentionally publish those if only for the sake of contributing to the pool of resources and many of them are frying bigger fish. He’s famous to us because we’re into the French Revolution, but the average person outside of France probably only recognizes the Big Names like Antoinette, Robespierre, Marat, and King Louis (again, from my experience as an American).

It also doesn’t help that he had a whopping 2 years of participation before he died. Had he lived, I think he would have gone on to have a brilliant career and gained more prominent recognition. He accomplished a lot in the time he had, but the loss of his potential is a greater wound. Who knows? He could have been a bigger name if he had more time and thus we have more demand for his works in other languages.

For now, we get to have what he did leave behind and even “unofficial” attempts at translating his work and his story are important to the study of history. This lovely community here has shown how much they want to continue to tell the stories of not just SJ, but of the other revolutionary figures. Any knowledge is good knowledge, even if you have to struggle to get it yourself.

I know this was long, but these were just my thoughts. Others are free to add their own!

[angelicabr]

So, as someone who loves reading about star signs, I’ve done their astral charts a long time ago.

Decided to share now and analyze what I can (I’m no expert).

Paul’s astral chart:

Paul is

Gemini sun - his star signs, a very communicative sign and very binary as well. Gemini is an air sign, making them quick-thinking, social, and mentally active. They thrive on variety, new experiences, and stimulating conversations. They can be both serious and playful, deep and lighthearted - VERY BINARY.

Leo moon - a need to shine, a very confident person, who is very expressive through art and a bit sensitive to criticism. Paul is such a magnetic person, you can clearly see his Leo moon.

Virgo rising - a practical and analytical person, who is detail oriented and very much a perfectionist. You can see working Paul here. It’s never good enough, there’s always room for improvement.

Gemini Mercury - Gemini again, and it’s the planet of communication. Quick thinking, sharp wit, curious mind and EXCELLENT communication skills. The sign here is in its home.

Taurus Venus - Loves physical touch, cuddling, and all forms of sensual pleasure, even good food, beautiful scents, music, and luxury. Loves romance, but takes time to fall in love. A very lustful placement and a very strong sign to have as a Venus.

Leo mars - Leo again. Dramatic, courageous, and enthusiastic quality, making these people natural leaders with a strong will and an intense drive to make their mark. Determined and loves to win. Can be stubborn and persistent. I can also see Paul being VERY sarcastic, as a Leo myself - and mars is related to how you put energy, even anger. So you can imagine a kicking the door Paul.

Cancer Jupiter - Someone caring and nurturing, very protective and generous. Makes decisions based on gut feelings rather than just pure logic.

Gemini Saturn - Gemini again. A Gemini Saturn brings structure, discipline, and challenges to the realm of communication, learning, and mental processes. Saturn represents responsibility, limits, and long-term growth, while Gemini rules intellect, speech, adaptability, and curiosity. This combination creates someone who is highly intelligent but may struggle with self-expression, overthinking, or confidence in their ideas.

Gemini Uranus - Uranus represents rebellion, sudden change, originality, and futuristic thinking, while Gemini rules the intellect, speech, curiosity, and adaptability. This combination creates someone who is mentally sharp, eccentric, and full of unconventional ideas that can challenge or revolutionize traditional ways of thinking. Has a mind that operates in unpredictable, fast-paced ways, often seeing possibilities others miss. Loves learning new things but can struggle with focus, constantly jumping between interests.

Virgo Neptune - both highly idealistic and deeply critical, blending mystical sensitivity with a need for order and structure. Can pick up on details and subtle energies that others overlook. Has artistic or spiritual visions but struggles to feel they are ever “good enough.”

Leo Pluto - This placement creates someone who is magnetically powerful, fiercely individualistic, and destined for profound personal reinvention. Commands attention naturally, whether they try to or not. Their aura is intense, and they have a strong, charismatic energy. Needs to express themselves boldly—through creativity, leadership, or personal style.

Virgo True Node - They may struggle with being too critical of themselves or others and must learn that progress is better than perfection. Instead of waiting for things to “flow,” they need to take deliberate action to build a stable life.

Leo Chiron - Chiron in Leo suggests deep wounds related to self-expression, recognition, creativity, or personal identity. Chiron represents our deepest wound and healing journey, and in Leo, this often means struggles with self-worth, confidence, or the ability to shine authentically. There may be a deep-seated fear of not being special, talented, or worthy of attention. Even if they appear confident, they may doubt their own greatness, beauty, or uniqueness. May have a complicated relationship with power, leadership, or standing out in a crowd.

I’ll post the others’ as well.

I had some help analyzing it, as I said I’m no expert. I typed what I know and went through the internet for what I don’t.

Anyway 🥰