#big year for natural philosophers

[astriiformes]

Fucked up that Copernicus' De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium and Andreas Vesalius' De Humani Corporis Fabrica were published the same year. 1543 was just like. Hey what if all of science changed so much forever.

[keeps-ache]

[walking around, peering into people's faces like i'm in an art exhibit] hm. nice

[facts-i-just-made-up]

Who Will Be Kamala's VP? The Short List:

With today's announcement that Joe Biden will not seek re-election, the first question on the mind of America is who will be Kamala Harris's running mate? Here is FIJMU's shortlist:

Jeff Mackler

Jeff Mackler is a centrist politician who is popular with both parties, lacking any controversial opinions. His 100% tax rate and total dissolution of the military are also popular with pacifists, communists, anarchists, and even many 18th century European philosophers. He may be the safest bet.

John Goodman

Actor John Goodman has played a solid sidekick in The Big Lebowski, Monsters Inc., and Transformers 4: Age of Explosions. He should be a fun action Vice President with a comedic edge, who appeals to republican voters who think his gun-toting conspiracy nut Big Lebowski role is really who he actually is.

Hannah Montana

Hannah Montana's popularity with kids can likely rally younger voters. Though she has not been seen in many years, Vice Presient Harris's meetings with unassuming teenager Miley Stewart have led some to wonder if this might be her comeback tour.

An Adorable Puppy

Though Trump's election despite his criminal, misogynist, and dictatorial boasts shows that pure simple stupid name recognition accounts for 90% of voter preference, that last 10% is entirely about physical appearance and what is prettier than a lovable puppy like the little canine pictured above?

Messmer the Impaler

The most experienced nominee with 75,000 years in politics is of course, Messmer the Impaler from Elden Ring's new DLC expansion. Having slaughtered millions in a brutal crusade of fire, shrouded his lands in shadow, and reigned from a dark room at the top of a monolithic keep, he would also be the most innocent and kindest natured American politician to date.

[gowns]

Leave the door open for the unknown, the door into the dark. That's where the most important things come from, where you yourself came from, and where you will go.

Three years ago I was giving a workshop in the Rockies. A student came in bearing a quote from what she said was the pre-Socratic philosopher Meno. It read, "How will you go about finding that thing the nature of which is totally unknown to you?" I copied it down, and it has stayed with me since.

The student made big transparent photographs of swimmers underwater and hung them from the ceiling with the light shining through them, so that to walk among them was to have the shadows of swimmers travel across your body in a space that itself came to seem aquatic and mysterious.

The question she carried struck me as the basic tactical question in life. The things we want are transformative, and we don't know or only think we know what is on the other side of that transformation. Love, wisdom, grace, inspiration -- how do you go about finding these things that are in some ways about extending the boundaries of the self into unknown territory, about becoming someone else?

- Rebecca Solnit, "Open Door" from A Field Guide to Getting Lost

[bouquetface]

Future Spouse Based on Nakshatra - Pt. One

Please read the following for accuracy:

Check for which nakshatra of your dakarkaka.

You may want to check the nakshatra of your Venus (for wife) and Jupiter (for husband) as well.

You may want to read for your moon & AatmaKaaraka nakshatra to see if the traits apply to you.

DISCLAIMER: Keep in mind accuracy is influenced by the ENTIRE natal chart.

SHRAVANA:

General Neutral traits:

Often tall & lean. Ofc not always.

Talkative. Often witty/clever & educated.

Wealthy - Can come from a family that has a known name within their community. Or they will build wealth and become known in their community.

Drawn to social & humanitarian causes. They can help change lives - in small ways or big. EX: Provide jobs, Provide help of some sort to people who need it.

Modest person - may express this as being mostly uninterested in materialistic things.

Quick learner. Good listeners Good teachers & counsellors.

Often marry partners who are helpful to them. Spouses can be open minded. Married life is generally said to be good.

Negative traits:

Open minded views BUT stubborn to change views once decided on.

Gossip often. Jealous people. This creates many enemies/haters. This will be a problem as they often care A LOT about their reputation. However, it is only a problem IF people find out. Often, they are generally well liked & well spoken upon meeting.

ASHLESHA:

General Neutral traits:

Responsible. Independent. Protective. Likely due to being the eldest sibling.

Analytical & Clever.

Good communication skills - writing or speaking.

Good humour. Entertaining personality. As a result a popular personality.

Leadership qualities. Likely to work their way up in their industry or company.

Adaptable & philosophical side to them.

Not conventionally attractive. Considered “lucky” as they often find a spouse who is more attractive than them.

Negative traits:

Intelligence can be used to manipulate.

Secretive. Keep true feelings to themselves.

Prone to depression, anxiety, and overall negative feelings. May be due to keeping a lot to themselves. Can feel burdened with too much responsibility.

VISHAKHA:

General Neutral traits:

Round face. Often Attractive. Cute & soft appearance. Simple modest style.

Attracts jealously - sometimes from family members of the same sex. EX: younger sister loves you but dislikes being in your shadow. Mother loves you but criticizes your life choices - career or romantic partner or other things.

Good communicators. Persuasive. May enjoy reading/writing poetry.

Success comes at their own efforts. If they desire it AND work for it, they can succeed in academics & career.

Leadership qualities combined with their communication makes it likely they have leadership roles in career - EX: Managing, teaching, someone to be respected/looked up to by newcomers in the field.

Negative traits:

Controlling. Prone to jealously. This can lead to difficult romantic relationships in their younger years.

Others may judge this person on their appearance. People will try to tear them down. Often, they have strong comebacks.

Others may try to take advantage of this person’s good nature. While they appear sweet & polite, they aren’t naive or stupid. They will catch on to people who are untruthful or fake.

SHATABHISHA:

General neutral traits:

Large forehead, attractive eyes. Prominent butt.

Honest - sometimes harsh. The type of person who may unintentionally hurt your feelings. Speak before thinking.

Good memory. Analytical. Likes to dig deeper - get to the root of the problem. This may make them good in fields of research like sciences.

Better writers than they are talkers. Clever people.

Able to defend themselves. & often it is said they will defeat their haters & conquer despite obstacles.

Likely to enjoy thinking type games - EX: Wordle, crosswords, puzzles, chess, checkers, etc.

Negative traits:

Argumentative. Fights with family. Likely misunderstood by the family. Results in anger for the family.

Being misunderstood makes them uncommunicative. Will struggle with periods of loneliness in life.

Wish to hide any signs of weakness. May appear emotionless/lacking compassion - however, they are compassionate, they just don’t like showing it.

Stubborn.

Feel restricted. Experience periods of deep isolation.

JYESTHA:

General Neutral traits:

Curly hair. Sharp features. Above average height. Muscular body. Generally, attractive. Eventually, become physically active.

Generally small social circle - few true close friends.

Gain wealth later in life. Often the most successful in their family.

Independent. Doesn’t like to rely on others. Good organizer.

Generally humble, chill/down to earth.

Negative traits:

Bad childhoods. Struggles in early life. Anger towards family. Ego is a problem with these people. Unlikely to fully resolve a conflict - will hold secret resentment.

Manipulative tendencies - Secretive about true feelings/intentions.

ROHINI:

General Neutral traits:

Often attractive. Broad shoulders. Lean body type.

Polite & Charismatic. Good listener. Helpful. Builds good karma. Often popular & social.

Generally truthful but will lie to appear nice.

Responsible. Strong devotion towards their family. Will go out of their way to help family and other loved ones.

Often has a good education. Good career. Financially does well.

Good moral compass. Strong sense of purpose - this can manifest as being career orientated.

Negative traits:

Can be quick to anger. Can seek revenge. Difficulty forgiving. Difficulty holding oneself accountable.

Indulgent side shown after marriage - EX: they may end up indulging too much in foods that are bad for their health. They may overspend/become overly materialistic.

MRIGASHIRA:

General Neutral traits:

Long faces. Large bodies - may be bulky or physically tall.

Friendly. Good social life - often well-liked/popular.

Intelligent. Curious, open to learning new things. Witty person. Flirty.

Good communicators. Good debaters. Enjoy learning more/exploring more.

Action orientated people. Hardworking people. Leadership roles in career.

Negative traits:

Short attention span. Many interests. Do not realize when they are being friendly or being flirty - may upset their marriage partner.

Experience bad relationships -could become suspicious of their partners.

Secretly desire being the center of attention. Insecure. Need for validation.

PURVA BHADRAPADA:

General Neutral traits:

Often tall. Expressive eyes. Often smiling. Can appear mischievous.

Unique people - unconventional behaviours &/or interests.

Logical. Witty. Success in academics is likely.

Self-reliant. Good communicators. Likely to obtain good to moderate wealth.

Imaginative. Future orientated. Dislikes injustice.

Negative traits:

Eccentric behaviour can make them unpredictable. Not the best person to depend on.

Not the most generous. Understanding to other’s issues but at the end of the day, they’re looking out for their own desires.

Later in life, must be cautious of financial or marriage problems. These problems are often a result of immature behaviours. They can be resolved if correct steps are taken.

UTTARA PHALGUNI:

Mix of sharp and soft features. Narrow, sharp eyes. Soft cheeks & face. Sharp jawline. Smaller forehead.

Friendly. Well liked. Benefits from connections. Mostly will experience a comfortable life.

Artistic interests. Ambitious. Like to create.

Compassionate. Generous. Reliable. Dependable. These traits make them popular. Their connections help them gain comfort & wealth.

Open minded to an extent. Certain beliefs are unchangeable with these individuals.

Negative traits:

Receive a lot of help and luck - they may not acknowledge this/be ungrateful. EX: Claiming to be self made when it is not true.

Can have a “my way or no way” mindset at times. Some will view them as arrogant and bossy/demanding.

REVATI:

General Neutral traits:

Moderately tall. Good complexion. Heart-shaped/pouty lip. Stick out in a crowd due to appearance.

Good hygiene. Sociable. Well-liked by most. This can help them advance in career.

May have a wealthy or well connected family. This can help them in career or education. EX: Parents will pay tuition or for transportation.

Lover of animals. Nurturing personality - however, often have children later in life or not at all.

Creative. Artistic interests or skill like drawing/painting as a hobby.

Negative traits:

Vicious when hurt. Can become angry when they feel their compassion & generosity is not being reciprocated.

Karmic relationship with people in the family.

Struggle with insecurities. Results in self doubt & low self esteem.

[mothhball]

Positive Reinforcement

Pairing | Jonathan Crane x delusional!Reader (fem)

Warnings | 18+ SMUT, DUB-CON (bc Jon is playing a little hard to get), L-BOMB, fingering, oral sex (both m + f receiving), deepthroating, brief breathplay, mutual body worship, p in v sex, unprotected sex, multiple rounds, overstim, clothed male/naked female, threats of drugging, violence mention, reader is a little unhinged

Summary | You’re convinced he’s the one, but you’ve been causing nothing but trouble for Jonathan. Maybe it’s time to switch up the strategy.

Words | 6.2k

Notes | FILTH. Jon may be ooc, whoops. Honestly, this is very self-indulgent and was a struggle to write lol

Arkham certainly has its charms. From the noisy, dark hallways to the scratchy and shapeless patient uniforms - there’s something for everyone here. As far as you’re concerned, you’re here for no reason. At least no serious reason. You’re a lover and a fighter. Literally just a girl. Even though the GCPD certainly didn’t agree when they arrested you for attempted murder, assault, breaking and entering, and a bunch of other rude accusations.

Your ex broke your heart, so you crashed your car into him in an attempt to get back at him, breaking both his legs in the process. He may never walk again – big deal! A crime of passion, your honor! Revenge for the two years that you’ve wasted on a person, only for him to break up with you once he noticed the tracker sown into the bottom hem of his favorite jacket. Bummer.

But life goes on, and as long as your heart can beat, it can love. And the person who made you believe in romance again is sitting right in front of you in his office, narrowing his eyes as he stares you down over the rim of the coffee cup he’s sipping from. If only you could trade places with an inanimate object. Jonathan Crane in his entirety is worth the stay at Arkham. He’s worth the uncomfortable bed, colorless food and horrible daytime television that’s always running in the recreation room. Who needs freedom when you have love?

Crane was the first to listen to you. The first person to let you speak and philosophize about the nature of your devotion and the way you love people. And he didn’t judge you. At least not out loud.

But now, two months after being admitted to the asylum, he’s grown tired and agitated. Unhealthy attachment and mood-natural delusionships involving someone who wants nothing to do with you. That’s the addition to your diagnosis that Crane is currently rattling off right in front of you, but you’re too busy staring at every detail of his face, trying to manifest his hands on your skin and his tongue down your throat.

“Are you trying to go for a new record in weeks spent in solitary confinement?” Crane sets down the cup to have a free hand to rub his temple with.

The question makes you smile. Oh, he’s always so funny. So charming. But being sentenced to solitude wasn’t the goal you had in mind when you smashed another patient’s face into the cafeteria wall, not easing up until her teeth were scattered around like the shiny pearls of a rich lady’s ripped necklace. Even though you were hosed down by a guard and received a fresh set of clothes, the other woman’s dried blood is still crusted under the nail of your left ring finger. A secret little sign of your devotion. You didn’t do it out of anger or jealousy either. You did it because you knew that Crane would be forced to sit you down for an emergency therapy session. It’s his own fault for reducing your sessions to only once a week.

A playfully coy smile pulls at the corners of your lips, and you lean forward a little, wanting to get a better look at him even though you’ve already perfectly memorized every detail of him after just the first two days of being here.

“She shouldn’t have provoked me. I was defending myself. You understand me. Right, Jonathan?”

You slowly inch your hand across the table, almost making contact with his fingertips until he opts to grab your file instead. It’s a pointed gesture, and you quietly mourn the chance for physical contact with him. Crane clears his throat to bring your focus back to the here and now. And of course, the first thing he does is correct you.

“Whistler?” You furrow your eyebrows. “What does she have to do with this? I thought… I thought you were trying to help me.”

“It’s Dr. Crane for you. And I understand that you have very little self-control.” He pauses for a moment, struggling with a sudden surge of anger before he manages to continue. “I’ll be honest. My patience is wearing thin. You’re a danger to the other inmates, and Dr. Whistler of all people already offered to take you off my hands.”

This revelation makes you perk up suddenly, and there’s a bitter taste in your mouth. He’s thinking of giving you away?

“Yes, emphasis on trying. But as you can see, we’re not getting anywhere, are we? And Whistler mentioned how optimistic she is about your case. If you want my opinion, I think she’s itching to test out some new sedatives we’ve added to the catalog.” Crane adjusts his glasses, and the way he speaks almost makes you think he doesn’t care. But you’re sure he does. Of course he does. He has to. Nevertheless, the mere thought of not seeing him on a regular basis makes anxiety crawl up your spine, and you absently pick at your cuticles until you tear a little too deep, and another line of red pools around your fingernail.

“You can’t do this,” you try to argue, searching your brain for any good reason for him to keep you aside from the fact that you two belong together. You briefly lick your lips, daring to appeal to his pride. “If you hand me off, everyone will know that you failed. They’ll all know that you gave up on me because you couldn’t handle me.”

Crane’s eyes narrow into cold slits, and his grip on your file tightens. Uh-oh. That’s a very ugly expression on your darling doctor. He’s quiet for a moment, silently reigning himself back in. The rage that’s simmering beneath his skin dissipates a little when he has a sudden idea.

Maybe a different approach could work better. Realization sets in, and he almost wants to smack himself for not thinking of this sooner. Evidently, you don't care that much for punishment. Solitary confinement and restriction from activities do little to keep you in check. But how about a different motivation? How about reward?

"Alright, here's what we're going to do. We'll keep up the weekly frequency of solo therapy sessions." He thinks out loud, crossing his arms over his chest and occasionally tapping his fingers on his biceps. You want to voice your protest about not getting more sessions with him, but he continues with this lovely, rumbly tone that he uses whenever he's planning something and getting matter-of-fact with you. It's like catnip for your ears, almost making you melt in your little grippy socks.

"And if I don't hear any complaints about you from the other members of staff, you'll get a reward each time. So, be a good girl for a week and you'll get a treat. Easy, right?"

His eyebrows are raised expectantly as he waits for your reply, and you think about his offer, picking at your sleeve as you weigh out the pros and cons.

"Do I get to pick the reward?" you eventually ask, looking back at him with a glint in your eyes that he immediately recognizes. Crane firmly shakes his head, resisting the urge to roll his eyes.

"No. Because I know what you'll choose."

"Then I'm not doing it."

Crane sighs, pulling out his work phone.

"I'll give Whistler a call," he states, concentrating on trying not to smirk at the way your expression falls. Like threatening a child by calling Santa.

"Wait! No, I - ... how about a compromise?" You plead, not missing the parallel either. But if you don't want to settle for coal (or in this case, withdrawal from your man), you'll have to suck it up.

Crane looks up from his phone, thumb hovering over the buttons for another moment before he tucks it back into the pocket of his suit jacket. "A compromise? Doll, we’re not arguing over who does the dishes and brings out the trash. You have no say in this aside from agreeing to either a good or a bad time.”

Damn. Did he have to make it domestic?

“Let me burst your bubble for a moment,” He continues, not allowing you to fantasize over his choice of words for longer than necessary. “You have no power here. No agency, no privileges. You’re not ‘doing’ anything, you’re having things ‘done to’ you. You may think you have me in the palm of your hand, because I’m forced to see you every time you get yourself into trouble, but I could just as well keep you drugged and docile for the rest of your indefinite stay here. So,” he leans forward, resting his palms on the table and clearing his throat.

“No more nonsense. This is your very last warning. If you lash out again, I’ll hand you over to Dr. Whistler, advise her to keep you sedated and move onto other much more interesting and agreeable patients, my reputation be damned.”

The silence that follows his words is deafening, and you can hear the blood rushing in your ears as the air suddenly feels thinner. Tears well up in your eyes. Bitter tears of shame and disappointment, and you feel like a petulant child, but it does nothing to stop them from rolling down your face and dripping onto the table below.

Crane stiffens, visibly taken aback by your sudden display of emotion. He thought he’s seen it all from you. The smirks, the winking, the way you bite your lip in an attempt to seduce a man who’s as emotionally available as one of the brick walls making up this very building. Part of him wants to escape the conversation immediately, but it’s his job to at least attempt to help you through your issues, and leaving you in a state of distress is the entire opposite of that.

“Listen,” he starts, almost tentative. “I don’t want to do any of that. Not really. I want to keep working with you. And I believe you’ve made a little progress so far, but you’d be even further along if you’d stop antagonizing everyone for a chance to speak to me.”

“But I need to. You don’t understand.”

“Understand what?”

You sniffle, unable to articulate properly. He should know. He should understand from a single second of eye contact. Yet here you are, forced to spell it out for him. Crane’s eyes soften ever so slightly, and he pulls out a pack of pocket tissues, sliding it across the desk so you can dry your tears. His tone is calmer now, almost gentle.

“Why are you doing this? All of this resistance… the altercations with other patients… your life could be so easy. So why?”

“To make you notice me,” you sniffle, gingerly patting your cheeks with one of the paper tissues. Crane’s eyebrows furrow in response.

“You don’t think I would’ve noticed you without all of this mess?” He tilts his head, slightly amused by your melodramatic performance. You scoff at the question, frowning when he actually smirks at you this time.

“No, you wouldn’t. You wouldn’t notice me if I were a model patient. You wouldn’t spare me a single glance if I was docile like the others… I want you to think about me even when your shift is over.”

Crane shrugs, letting out a sigh through his nose as he does. A corner of his lip twitches, and you can’t tell whether it’s in amusement or disgust. The fact that you tried to manipulate him by being a ‘bad’ patient irritates him, but he has to admit that your strategy worked.

“You’re right. I wouldn’t notice you. You have no idea how difficult and repetitive this job gets… how much the faces start to blur together after a while. You’re not very special at all, if I’m being honest.”

The comment and the monotony in his voice sting, and just for a split second, the mask of sweetness slips to reveal the anger and hurt in your eyes. You quickly manage to reel yourself back in, and you clear your throat as you look away from him. At least he’s being honest with you. The basis of a good and healthy relationship.

“I could… make myself special to you.” A pause.

“Do you think you’re capable of doing that? I mean, so far, you’ve just been causing problems and it’s getting stale. Can you really do something better for me?”

“I can be good… I could show you how I feel for you.” It’s a gamble and you know it. But the possible reward outweighs the risk. At least to your infatuated brain. Crane shifts in his seat, deciding to humor you.

“How do you feel for me? Enlighten me a little bit.”

“I’m in love with you. I love you.” Your sweetheart bristles like a cat, and you feel let down by his reaction. During the countless times you’ve fantasized about this moment in the showers, scrubbing yourself with cheap soap, he was elated by your confession. But the real-life Jonathan Crane just looks at you with mild pity. Pity that doesn’t quite reach his eyes.

“That was… fast. Didn’t even waste a moment to admit it. But I suppose it’s expected from you,” he sighs, shaking his head as he writes something down in your file. You’re quick to defend yourself. This isn’t a joke to you, after all. You’re laying your heart completely bare, ripping apart skin and flesh to expose the bloody, weakly beating thing to his unimpressed eyes.

“I mean it.”

He lets out a low whistle, and his eyebrows raise ever so slightly. For an agonizingly long moment (about 30 seconds), he punishes your honesty with silence before he finally sets his pen down and looks at you.

 “Then do something to prove it.” He says it so nonchalantly. As if he’s not really expecting anything at all. But he’s severely underestimating how deep your devotion runs for him. Your chair screeches across the floor as you get up, and Crane looks alarmed for a fleeting moment before you lower yourself to your knees and crawl under his desk until you come up between his thighs. Your sweetheart’s eyes soften, and he reaches down to brush his fingers through your hair almost instinctively.

“I’ll show you…” you murmur softly, running your hands over his thighs and lightly digging your nails into the fabric of his slacks. Crane lets out a barely audible sigh, shifting a little in his seat to part his legs for easier access. So considerate. Your man really is such a darling.

Looking up at him from beneath the table, you make quick work of his belt and zipper before you pull up his shirt that he kept tucked into his pants. Your mouth waters at the sight of his skin, and you lean in to kiss his stomach while your hand moves to palm his cock through his boxers. Crane hisses softly, keeping his eyes locked on your devoted form between his thighs, and a shiver runs down his spine when you pull down his underwear, exposing him to the cool air of his office.

“God… your cock is so beautiful… you don’t know how long I’ve been dreaming of sucking you off…” you murmur, eyes lighting up as you wrap your hand around him. Crane licks his lips, unsure how to feel about the compliment. You’ve been his biggest headache for months now, and yet here you are, sweettalking him while you’re sitting under his desk with your fingers around his dick.

“I bet you taste as sweet as you look.” You giggle, gathering some saliva in your mouth before you let it dribble down onto his tip so you can pump his cock more easily. Crane’s brows furrow, and you smile up at him before licking from his base up to his tip, causing him to twitch against your tongue. You know he’s always pent up, always stressed, and you don’t really have to worry about him seeking release elsewhere since he’s always focused on his work. And, in some abstract way, always focused on you.

Loyalty. Another pillar of an unbreakable bond.

You can feel him hardening within your grasp, and you swear you can hear an almost silent breath of relief when you finally take his cock into your mouth. You start off slow, moaning at the feeling of his length on your tongue, and you continue to caress his thighs and stomach in an effort to worship him like he deserves.

“No teeth, doll.” He smirks down at you, smoothing his thumb over your cheekbone as you continue to suck the precum from his tip. The taste of him makes your mind fog up, and you nod eagerly, pulling away from him for just a moment to answer properly.

“Cross my heart, Jon.” Your mouth is back on him within seconds, and you bob your head up and down, taking him deeper down your throat every time. Crane hisses in response, and his grip on your hair tightens.

“It’s still Dr. Crane to you…” His protest is half-hearted at best, and you witness his composure crumbling in real time as you suck him off like you’re trying to devour him whole. You’re on a mission. A mission to drive him to the brink of insanity like his mere presence does you. Crane huffs out another sharp breath, and his hips twitch forward, generously helping you to breach your throat barrier and causing you to splutter around him. Tears well up in your eyes, but you stay down on his cock, pushing down all the way until the neatly trimmed hair on the base of his length tickles your nose.

“Fuck… You’re so pretty when you gag on it.”

You pull off of him, only managing to swallow half the spit that gathered in your mouth while the rest drips down your chin, but he doesn’t seem to mind at all. Crane’s hand massages the back of your head encouragingly, and you flash him a bright smile before you go back down at him with a little more vigor.

After a while, you go to catch your breath, but before you can pull away completely, both his hands shoot out to grab your head and push you back down on his cock. Your eyes widen, and you let out a slight noise of protest as he begins to fuck into your throat. Drool dribbles down your chin, soiling the shirt of your patient uniform while your nails dig into Crane’s thighs in an attempt to ground yourself. He clenches his jaw, moaning through his teeth while your throat contracts around him.

“Perfect little cocksucker… so eager to show me your love…” He cuts himself off with a little grunt, and his grip on your head tightens as he moves your skull up and down. “All the way down… yes, keep your tongue out…”

You continue to gag around his length, trying to keep up with the rhythm of his thrusts as he forces his cock down your pharynx, enjoying the way your muscles clench and contract. His soft moans become more urgent, and pride makes your heart swell. He’s making these noises because of you.

“That’s it… good girl. Eyes on me. I want you to look at my face when I cum down your pretty little throat...”

You whine in response, nodding your head as best as you can, and you start to work in tandem with him as he gets close. The moment you feel him pulse on your tongue, he pushes you down all the way again, and his hand reaches around to your face. You catch a dark glint in his eyes when he suddenly pinches your nose shut, constricting your airflow completely as he chokes you on his cock. You struggle against him, but he doesn’t budge as his eyes fall shut and he grunts out more praise. Panic rises in your chest, and your muscles convulse in a desperate attempt to get air into your neglected lungs. And it’s exactly this panic in your eyes that pushes Crane over the edge and he shoots his load directly down your throat, giving you no other option but to swallow the hot ropes of cum that he lazily continues to fuck into your mouth.

Finally, he lets go of your head, and you immediately flinch back to suck in some much-needed air. The both of you are panting, and you keep your watery eyes locked on his satisfied expression while strings of spit still connect your swollen lips to the flushed head of his cock.

“You okay?”

“Yeah...“ you breathe out in reply, trying to swallow the soreness in your throat. Crane’s hand reaches out to you again, caressing your head like a cherished pet, and he chuckles to himself.

“Catch your breath, doll. That was one hell of a way to prove yourself…” He murmurs, reaching across the table to retrieve the pack of pocket tissues and hand it to you. Your fingers are a little shaky as you wipe the mess from your chin and neck, and you slowly return to your chair. Crane’s brows furrow when he watches you retreat, and you blink at him.

Immediately, your thoughts begin to spiral. What are you doing? Sitting back down, that much is evident. Did he want you to stay and keep on sucking him off? Were you supposed to keep the spit on your face intact? Does he – Crane effectively snaps you out of your mental gymnastics routine by brushing his foot against your calf, and you’re immediately focused on the butterflies that fill up your chest.

“What?”

“What are you doing?” He asks, not bothering to elaborate.

“As far as I’m concerned, you behaved very well just now. So, I’d like to keep my word and reward you.”

He points over to the leather couch in the corner of his office, and you find yourself standing before he can even fully extend his arm. Crane follows after you, leading you with his hands on your hips until your knees softly bump against the furniture. He’s pressed up behind you, breathing in the scent of your skin while his hands begin to trail all over your body. You tilt your head back, resting it on his shoulder as his touch slips under your shirt, and you can feel the way his fingers are trembling against your flesh. Crane clicks his tongue as he pinches your nipples, slowly rolling the hardening bud between index and thumb in a way that makes you jolt in his grasp.

“Let me see what I’m working with, doll,” he murmurs, pulling your shirt over your head and tossing it aside before the cotton bustier that the asylum provided follows suit. Your first instinct is to shy away, but he grabs your shoulders and spins you around to get a good look at you. His gaze is detached. Clinical. And you can feel yourself shrinking away until he finally decides to open his mouth. “Fucking hell… maybe I should’ve indulged you sooner.”

It isn’t much in terms of a compliment, but to you it might as well be a marriage proposal. Your breath catches in your lungs as Crane leans in, sucking your nipple into his mouth while his hands wander lower to push down your pants and sneak into your underwear. He chuckles when his fingers dip into the mess that has built up between your thighs.

“Did sucking my cock make you this wet already?”

“I mean… it is a pretty cock…” you try to defend your already half-unraveled state, and he lets out a laugh. A genuine one of honest amusement, and the noise makes your heart soar up into the sky.

“Quiet. Lie back on the couch for me, sweetheart.” The new pet name almost makes your body collapse in on itself. Your back meets the cold faux leather, and you let out a quiet hiss of discomfort as you sink a little into the cushions. Crane pulls your pants and underwear off completely, letting them join the already existing pile on the floor before he gets on the couch with you. He grabs your thighs, pulling you a little closer so he can rest your legs over his shoulders while he lies flat between them. His breath ghosts over your pussy, and he spreads your folds open with his thumbs to get a good look at your drooling entrance.

“Pretty… so, so pretty,” he murmurs, kissing up the insides of your thighs before he circles his tongue around your eager hole, savoring your taste with a deep, guttural groan.

You reach out your hand to hold his, but he swats it away, causing you to give his hair a harsh tug when he doesn’t do as you want him to. This, however makes him answer with a rough bite to the meat of your thigh, and you’re almost embarrassed by the wanton noise that slips past your lips. Pain tingles down your spine, and you try to sit up, only for him to push you back down. In a second attempt, you manage to catch his hand and immediately link your fingers together so he can’t escape your clammy, possessive grip. To your absolute delight, he’s not even trying to this time around. You knew he’d come around.

His tongue dances around your dripping entrance yet again, licking a stripe up your pussy that makes your grip on his hand tighten and your toes curl. Finally, finally, he sinks a finger into you, already sliding in to where his digit meets his palm, and he moans along with you when he feels how your pussy flutters around him.

“Jonathan…”

For the first time, he doesn’t correct you. Instead, he chooses to lean in and devour you, eagerly lapping at your juicy cunt as he presses the pad of his fingers against that sweet spot inside of you. He’s insatiable, parting your folds with his tongue and groaning at your taste as you grind your clit against the diligent muscle. And his eyes. Oh, God his eyes. He’s almost crushing you beneath his heated gaze, keeping you pinned while he eats you out like a starved man. Now, it’s Jonathan’s turn to get messy, and he doesn’t mind in the slightest as your saccharine slick coats his chin. He adds another finger into your cunt, pulling away from your clit to bite and suck on your thighs while he stretches you open.

“Fuck – “

“Just another finger, doll. Let yourself go for me…” He murmurs between licks and gentle bites as he returns to your pussy, his glasses fogging up from the heat.

Your hands are still intertwined, even as your back arches and you continue to pant and moan out his name. Even as your breath hitches when he latches back onto that sensitive bundle of nerves. Even when he adds a third finger and you finally come on his tongue with a wail that sounds as blissful as it does delirious.

Your brain is clouded by euphoria, and your bite your lip to keep quiet as he continues to pump his fingers inside of you. You can hear the mess he’s made between your thighs. A mix of his saliva and your juices, and Jonathan is not wasting a single drop of it. Pleasure quickly turns to overstimulation, and you only faintly register the little laugh he lets out at your state.

“Christ, I want to kiss that expression off your face… Actually, don’t mind if I do.”

Jonathan leans over you, laughing again when he gets a closer look at your expression. And then months of yearning and dreams of romance become reality when his lips meet yours. Fireworks go off in your head, and you immediately pull him closer, almost causing him to topple over on top of you. It’s messy and overly excited on your part, but you couldn’t care less as your teeth clash a few times and you lick against his tongue and taste yourself on it.

Jonathan pulls back for a moment, despite the vise grip you have on his shoulders, but he calms you by pressing his lips against your brow, whispering like he’s trying to calm a wild animal. “Easy there… come on, be good.”

You whine in response, but when his thumb brushes over your clit again, your body jolts and you immediately shut up. Jonathan pushes his own pants down further, freeing his leaking cock again and giving himself a few pumps before he pushes his hips forward to coat his length in your slick. Every time the heard of his cock brushes up against you, you let out a soft little noise, and it’s in that moment that Jonathan decides he’d like to hear a lot more of it in the future. He grits his teeth, slowly sinking into your cunt while keeping his eyes fixed on yours.

Once upon a time, you were nothing special. You have an interesting backstory, sure. And your obsession with him does wonders for his ego. But right here, right now, something cracks the stony façade and he silently dares to venture a little further into the dreamworld you’ve built around the two of you. He sees parts of himself in you. The obsessive, volatile behavior. The inability to love in a way that’s considered normal. The desire to possess something or someone in its entirety.

You shiver when he bottoms out inside of you, his hips meeting yours and slightly squishing you into the faux leather cushions of the couch. You’re still tight and sensitive from your previous climax, and Jonathan can feel your pulse in the velvety walls of your pussy that’s clenched around him. Despite your heightened sensitivity, his thumb returns to your clit, rubbing a tight figure eight into it that makes your head spin. His other hand leaves yours, grabbing your jaw instead to keep you from squirming.

“You’re gonna come for me again,” he states, rubbing you a little faster and applying more pressure along with it. Your muscles tighten, and your heart hammers in your chest as you stare up at him through half-lidded eyes.

“C… can you – “

“Move?” he finishes for you, pressing his forehead against yours. “Only if you cum again, I’m afraid. It’ll be another reward.”

You sob out a moan, face scrunching up when that familiar pressure begins to build inside of you for a second time. Jonathan keeps his hand on your jaw, watching every twitch and flinch of your expression with a look of genuine fascination.

“God, why would anyone ever leave you…” he murmurs, and his word pierce right into your heart and the black depths of your lonely little soul. “Pretty thing… if you didn’t break his legs, I’d recommend for him to get a cell on the opposite end of the hall…”

Your breath hitches as he continues to rub your clit and softly speak to you. “Insanity, I tell you… abandoning such a cute toy... It’s beyond me.” He lets out a soft groan when you tighten around his cock. “That’s it… thaaat’s it.”

You reach the edge again, clenching your eyes shut as you come a second time. Jonathan captures your lips with his own yet again, and while you’re stuck on cloud nine, he pulls his cock out all the way only to slam back inside with an intensity that pushes the air from your lungs. You cry into his mouth as he picks up a consistent, slow rhythm of deep thrusts that make your eyes clench shut. Jonathan releases you from the kiss and gives your jaw a little warning squeeze, wanting your eyes to stay on his while he’s rearranging your anatomy with his cock.

“There we go… stretched open so well.”

You squirm back on your elbows, looking up at him with dilated pupils and burning cheeks, but he grabs your waist and pulls you back right to the base of his cock. A truly sinful noise spills from your lips and for a moment you don't even register that it came from you.

Crane chuckles as he starts to roll his hips again, his right hand hovering dangerously close to your poor, abused clit again. A silent threat almost. Then again, he's quite literally threatening you with a good time.

"S'too much...," you groan out, your body rocking every time he spears you open with his girth.

"Shh... no, no.." he tuts, tightening his grip to prevent you from escaping. "You're gonna stay right here and take it. Stay right. Fucking. Here."

Every word he speaks is empathized by a sharp thrust into your drooling cunt, causing you to howl in pleasure and claw at his back. Every nerve in your body is on fire, drowning you in sweet, sweet agony.

"You wanted this, right? For months you've been begging. And now it's suddenly too much?"

You can only nod, babbling some incoherent nonsense in response. Crane lets out a condescending laugh which quickly twists into a moan when you clench around his cock. No matter how much he tries to pretend, he's just as close as you are.

His fingers dig into the flesh of your thighs, clinging to you like you're a lifeboat in a storm as he keeps on thrusting into your slick heat.

"So good for me... God, you're so beautiful when you're sweet and obedient... accepting your reward like a good little patient."

You look up at him, trying to focus on his flushed face even though your eyes are rolling back in your head. Crane leans down to capture your mouth in another heated kiss, nipping at your lips and tasting your tongue while he moans down your throat.

The rhythm of his hips stutters when he pulls away to press his face into the crook of your neck, and suck and bite at your skin in a desperate attempt to leave traces of himself.

“Are you going to cum again?” He groans into your skin, flattening his tongue against your pulse.

“N… no…” you whine

“No? This –“ He’s cut off by a moan of his own, and it takes a moment for him to pull himself together to finish his sentence. “This is your reward, doll… We’re going to have to work on – fffuck – on gratitude…”

“I can’t...! Please… please…” you beg, but you’re not sure what you’re even begging for. Certainly not for him to stop.

“You can’t? Well… you’re going to.” His thrusts begin to get faster and more erratic as he tries to fuck into you as deeply as possible “Do it for me, hm? Just for me…”

“No- fuck, please! Jonathan -!!” Tears well up in your eyes from the delicious pain, and you actually scream when he starts to rub your clit again. Colors explode behind your closed eyelids. “Please, please, please- “

“I know you can do it… one more time, doll… Just one more time…”

And you finally do as you’re told, cumming around his cock with an intensity that feels as if someone punched you in the gut. Your brain short-circuits, and you’re not even making noises anymore as he fucks you through your climax like you’re a toy that was handmade for his pleasure.

“Fuuuck – Christ, fuck -“ Jonathan’s voice completely lacks the air of authority and superiority that you are so used to when he whimpers into your neck, his hands tightening around you. It feels like you’re wrapped in cotton, and you can only hear him faintly due to the volume of your pulse that’s hammering in your ears. Finally, his hips still, and he sinks down on top of you as he finishes inside of your fluttering cunt. Rational thought is absent in this moment, and you’re absolutely certain that this is what paradise must feel like. Connected to the one you love so dearly. Overwhelmed by pleasure.

For a long while, the office is silent aside from the rugged breathing that’s coming from both of you, and you bask in his warmth, absolutely content to stay like this for the rest of time. Jonathan clears his dry throat, lifting himself up onto his elbows as he looks down at you, and you’re struck by overwhelming affection once again.

“I love you…”

“Shut up…” But there’s no bite to it. He huffs out a laugh and shakes his head, and for a moment, there’s a very real glimpse of fondness in his eyes. Crane stays silent, taking in your features like it’s the first time he sees you properly, and his hand comes up to gingerly trace over your cheekbone and eyebrow before he brushes a strand of hair out of your forehead. Then finally, he lets out a soft breath before he murmurs gently, intimately.

“Looks like I’ll have to come up with more rewards in the future.”

[coefore]

I did it! This is an IDW AU born while watching The Green Knight (2021), specifically from one movie shot that I'd like to redraw. I was torn on whether or not to draw them all as robots or humans, so I started making designs for their human counterparts first - mostly because it is more fun to come up with clothes and accessories. I will eventually tackle a robot version. This is a long post, btw!

Indeed, this is a completely separate version from the Lion King AU I had come up with a couple of years ago, I just borrowed the crowns because I really liked those designs lol.

But let's set the stage under the cut. You can listen to the playlist on spotify dedicated to it: I've placed the songs in sequence so that they can create a certain vibe for the scenes I had in mind. You can read the plot part while listening.

Some character traits

This royalty au supposes a parliamentary monarchy (like the UK, Spain or Japan). This work is an in-between of later Roman/early Medieval aesthetics and some Futuristic Stuff. The Autobot brand is the royal family crest, while the Decepticon brand can be used to signal the Protector and their entourage, but only in formal settings outside the nation. Usually, the Protector can show elements of the Decepticon colours (red) in their attires.

Optimus Prime

Optimus is prideful and domineering: he knows he has the power to do real damage to people. After all, he was born into royalty and has known no other life. He has anger outbursts, but that's a side effect of his paranoia. At the start of the story, he is not the prime yet. He's around 23-24, already suffering from a mental affliction much like schizophrenia, but, just as in ye old days, the court and his father (Zeta) are not really concerned about his odd behaviours. "He is just volatile", you know. He is also dramatic, making big scenes when his emotions are too cooped up. Optimus, though, is not intentionally cruel - this isn't a Shattered Glass au where he wants some kind of bloodlust sated. He has a deep inner mind, feeling much more like a philosopher and a writer than a brute. This makes him a little naive, too, having people in court (like Prowl) taking advantage of him - and sometimes even Megatron uses his influence on Optimus to stir him where he wants to. He reads a lot, is curious, and is deeply in love with Megatron - sometimes becoming a little cringy about it. He can be a bit of a goofball, telling jokes and being rather affectionate with his family. Sadly, he's a Pisces.

Megatron

Megatron is a diligent engineer who just so happens to pick the Prime's son's interest at some point while assisting his father (Terminus, a strict, distant man) in a job at court. Optimus and Megatron are the same age. He is aloof, quiet and a very good listener. That means he often allows people to speak over him or for him - that doesn't mean, however, that he isn't going to correct them or speak his mind. He is just a careful man. Coming from a rather cold family environment, he has a hard time expressing his emotions, both verbally and physically: he kisses and hugs, sure, but that doesn't come naturally to him. After becoming protector, he has a hard time getting used to the court lifestyle since he is quite bothered by the intricacies of royal "rituals", may they be clothing, hairstyles or make-up choices. Or Starscream fussing over him about that all day. He also often stands up against abuse of power, especially from Optimus. They fight quite a lot. He enjoys drawing (buildings, like architecture) and reading novels, but he's not particularly cultured. He is also, sadly, an Aquarius. (And transgender, but this has no political or social bearing in the story besides being Rodimus' biological carrier).

Prowl

Prowl is about fifteen years older than Optimus, becoming his advisor once Zeta Prime passes in "a tragic accident". He is ambitious, cunning and... Deceptive. His ultimate goal is to push Optimus to insanity, convince the parliament he is unfit to rule and become reagent in his stead. This would allow him to create an oligarchy with other senators. His words always support Optimus' delusions, abusing the Prime's naivety for his scheming. Prowl thinks of Optimus as an idiot lucky enough to be born in a high position in the social pyramid. He has attempted various times to "warn" Megatron, one of the few people who is extremely suspicious of Prowl. And by warn, I mean having him pushed down the stairs, giving him a nice broken leg. He also acts suspiciously around Rodimus.

Zeta Prime

Zeta Prime was a balanced, careful ruler. He held concerns about his son's future, as he thought Optimus wasn't fit for a leading role. He was a stern man and often frustrated by Optimus' antics. However, their relationship was on good terms. He was "found" dead by Prowl during a political meeting abroad, as he was standing in for Alpha Trion (Zeta's advisor), prompting Optimus' coronation. Zeta wasn't sick, but all primes in this AU suffer from haemophilia (a hereditary illness that makes it harder for the body to stop bleeding).

Rodimus

Rodimus was born three years into Optimus' primacy. He was brought up in a restrictive environment, as Megatron grew more suspicious of Prowl, fearing for Rodimus' safety. That translated into Rodimus feeling anxious when Megatron's not around (for too long, at least) and becoming a little jealous of him, even if it's Optimus taking Megatron's attention. Rodimus uses "dad" for Megatron and "Father" for Optimus. He doesn't like Optimus too much, usually bearing his presence and ignoring him whenever he can, but deep down he worries about his father, too. He is a very knowledgeable child with a vast vocabulary, as he enjoys books of every kind and, just like his dad, he is a good listener, learning a lot from the "adult conversations" around him. Rodimus is often seen together with Starscream (his nanny, in a way lol), who he is fond of but has difficulties showing it. He becomes Prime-to-be at the age of 16, like all Primes.

Starscream

Starscream was the royal alchemist, an inspired researcher and a man of science. He is loyal and has strong opinions on many subjects, especially on morals and ethics. That is also why, during Zeta's late reign, he was demoted to servant with the accusation of insubordination. He is still a high-grade servant, usually dealing with bureaucracy... Until a new Protector shows up, that is. As soon as Megatron becomes a Protector-to-be, he is assigned the role of first maid in assisting him, a task he takes very seriously. Although Megatron's distance and lack of interactions with him drive him quite mad at first, he slowly realises they're quite compatible. Their relationship evolves into confidants and then friends, as Megatron often takes Starscream's side. Also, Starscream has been suspicious of Prowl since day one. He enjoys Rodimus until he starts being a little opinionated pest-- but he's fond of the child, even as he grows older and more anxious. His hobby is sneaking into the court laboratories and fixing whatever annotations made by other alchemists he deems wrong.

Skywarp & Thundercracker

They are part of the Protector's entourage (and Starscream's brothers). Skywarp is a little airheaded, a bit clumsy, and usually focuses on entertainment, mostly writing poems and songs. He is the only one who knows all the intricate inner passages of the court's buildings by heart, meaning he never gets lost. Thundercracker, on the other hand, is a bit more cocky. He is built like a brick, so he helps with manual tasks and is a decent leader, usually picking up the ranks when Starscream is busy. Both of them were not demoted like their brother, they just started working at the court as high-grade servants. They are very loyal to Megatron, although they treat him more like a royal than a friend.

The Plot (generally speaking)

Optimus is interested in this one engineer working at the court he has seen a couple of times in the last few months. He is gorgeous, and it sounds like a fun time to fill in his afternoons, maybe even getting some sex out of it. That's a thing he hasn't lacked in his life, like most royals he was used to having sex workers available at whim. However, Megatron doesn't seem too affected by the Prime-to-be's attention. He is very deadpan and interested in him as a person; he finds Optimus interesting and funny, so, in a matter of weeks, they kind of hit it off, Optimus falling madly in love with this man, spending most of the time daydreaming and absolutely useless at his duties, much to Zeta's dismay.

As this love story progresses over the next couple of years, Prowl's machination starts rolling out: being a young overachiever, he patiently waits for the chance to get rid of Zeta in a way that doesn't point directly to him. After all, Prowl is trusted and seen as loyal and caring for the Primes he serves; he is an incredibly talented actor, having the support of a few Autobot senators, too. On an out-of-country political trip, he lets Zeta bleed to death, coming back home in a hurry to announce the Prime's death and rushing Optimus' coronation. At this point, Optimus is not mentally ready to hold that position; he is quickly pushed to marry Megatron, making him his Protector. In a matter of a year and a half, Optimus' mental state quickly deteriorates, allowing Prowl to take hold of the neo-Prime's decisions.

Optimus' mental illness worsens, which stresses Megatron into stirring his husband away from Prowl. Rodimus is born in that worried, paranoid environment. Although mostly wanted by Optimus as one of his fixations (and also discouraged by Prowl himself), Rodimus brings more stability to the court. Megatron finally takes hold of Optimus' volatile behaviour as Rodimus grows older, making the Prime doubt his advisor's suggestions more than once. Prowl, thus, "warns" Megatron to lay low, having him pushed down the stairs. The goal wasn't to kill Megatron but to show him Prowl could. As Rodimus turns seven, Megatron becomes more anxious and paranoid, rubbing that over to his son. Optimus doesn't allow them to go around the court or outside without being accompanied.

Prowl's hold on Optimus slowly slips away. At the time of Rodimus' coronation as a Prime-to-be, during a medical examination for his haemophilia, the court physician (Ratchet) tells him he needs to be careful, as that illness was Zeta's cause of death. That was a known thing, of course, but it made Optimus think over the mechanics of his father's death in a way only an obsession-driven man can. He confides with Megatron over his suspicion of Prowl killing his father, and finally, they seem to be on the same page on this...

This is somehow the story up to now. I don't know if I'll update it further. I just enjoy the idea of whatever can happen in this setting. I hope you enjoyed reading this wall of text.

[botanicalsword]

Solar Returns Chart • relationship observations over past years

Sun in 6H - I had a highly disciplined lifestyle, strictly following a challenging diet and workout schedule. I was completely committed to their health and fitness goals and followed a meticulously crafted plan with dedication. I have set a fitness goal for myself, aiming to improve my physique and strength through training. I am determined to reach this goal, and I am willing to explore and employ various methods to achieve it. It was executed with unwavering discipline and intensity.

>> Other Solar Returns placement ⇦⇦

Venus in 7H - I feel incredibly grateful to have found myself in a new community where I have had the opportunity to meet new friends. The connections I have formed with these individuals are important to me, we primarily gather within a larger group setting and the level of compatibility and harmony we share greatly depends on the synastry between us.

8th House ruler in 2H -I had a strong desire to earn money and have been actively involved in running my own business.

Moon conjunct MC - Towards the end of the year, I had a sudden realization that I could put my talents to good use by embarking on some charity-focused projects. It struck me that instead of solely focusing on making money, I could leverage my skills and resources to make a positive impact on the community.

Venus conjunct Juno in 7H - I think I have encountered a person who has the potential to be both a romantic partner and a close friend. In our synastry, it indicates a harmonious connection between us. But there are challenges related to being vulnerability and publicity of our relationship, likely because of the influence of the 8th house and Lilith synastry.

>> explicit: Solar Returns • placement about love ♡̆̈♥♡̆̈♥

Moon square Juno - Marriage can make me question what it means to me and how it might affect my life's purpose. I was worrying that getting married may limit my freedom and hinder personal goals.

6H and 7H ruler in 9H - I enrolled in a course that not only provided me with valuable knowledge but also allowed me to form connections with like-minded individuals who shared similar interests and a desire for personal growth. Through this course, I had the opportunity to expand my community and make friends who were also passionate about acquiring greater knowledge. I also had the chance to travel to a new place that provided an enhanced learning experience, taking my pursuit of knowledge to the next level.

11H ruler in 6H - I have noticed that my friend's presence has had a big impact on our community - we shared 6H synastry. Thanks to our strong 6H synastry, he introduced me to this group of people, and though without him, we actually are not close-knit. He played a key role in bringing us together and creating a sense of camaraderie among us.

Chart ruler is Venus - This year, my main focus is on developing my personal value and refining my aesthetic taste. I am open to making changes in my style and appearance that may differ from what I've done in the past. I believe it's important to align my style choices with the image I want to present to the world. It’s also the possibility of starting a new relationship with a new romantic partner.

Chart ruler in 7H - this places a strong emphasis on building meaningful 1-on-1 relationships and fostering genuine friendships. Despite experiencing betrayal in the past, which has left me carrying a certain level of distrust towards others, I deeply cherish the connections I have made with each of them. This past betrayal has taught me the value of appreciating the genuine relationships in my life. I’m also recognizing the importance of opening myself up to new connections and allowing myself to appreciate the authenticity and sincerity of those who have proven themselves trustworthy.

Vertex in 9H - I feel a strong connection to nature and spirituality, and I have a desire to learn more about philosophical truths. It helps me think and understand myself better.

Uranus in 7H - I'm having trouble building the kind of relationship I want with the person I'm interested in. It's more than just a sexual or friendly relationship, but it doesn’t seem to head in the right direction.

8H & 12H ruler in 7H - I developed feelings for my friend, but I couldn't confide in anyone about it because I lacked trust in anyone with whom I could share this deep affection.

Moon conjunct Neptune / 8H ruler Neptune in 8H - I ended up in this totally forbidden relationship, and I had no clue about all the messed-up stuff going on. It was a crazy mix of getting physical, constant lying, tangled finances, other people meddling, a secret love affair.

Neptune in 5H - I'm trying to determine whether my feelings are genuine love or if they stem from an obsession, and I'm contemplating whether these emotions might be a delusion. (I’m Neptune dominance in Natal Chart) It seems that I am more captivated by the concept of love itself rather than the specific person I have feelings for. Even when we are apart, I don't experience a strong sense of longing or missing them. My focus seems to be more on the idea and idealization of love rather than the individual involved.

Venus conjunct Uranus - As the year comes to a close, I am bursting with new and artistic ideas. I am ready to take daring risks to explore and bring these ideas to fruition. I'm excited to step outside my comfort zone and see where these ventures lead me. >> Astrology Transits of New changes ☆★☆

❥❥❥ More: >> Solar Returns • Sun placement • Part I >> Solar Returns • Sun placement • Part II

❥❥❥

>> Back to Masterlist ✧ Explicit Content

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/ instagram : @le.sinex / @botanicalsword

[10yrratiolover]

Some of my, oh so many, Ratio Headcannons

he knows a bunch of languages, all of which he can speak fluently

^ this includes Latin

cleans his rubber ducks VERY thoroughly to make sure they don't mold

he HATES getting sweaty, it's the only thing he doesn't like about hot baths and working out

has very strict morning and nightly routines, gets genuinely upset if they're disrupted

I think he and Argenti would have great philosophical debates about beauty (please hoyoverse please see my vision)

just straight up hates bright lights

^ prefers warm lighting over cold

I think his skin is naturally clear but he's definitely got some kind of skincare routine anyway

missed out on a lot of social opportunities during his teenage years due to his studies and such, don't think he would have had many friends (at least not his age)

big fan of parallel play, mostly because he gets caught up in his head so often, he's completely content doing different things in the same vicinity

he also uses Aventurine (or others) as a canvas of sorts to throw ideas and thoughts on, he'll start explaining something, and mid explanation he'll run into the answer, thank whoever he's talking to even though they didn't do anything, and hurry off to write it down

frequent bruises around his collar/bottom of his neck from his alabaster

migraine sufferer, me too stay strong king (actually I think this is canon?)

he VERY rarely cancels his classes, it could be flooded up to his doorknob and he'd send out an email to his students like "Today's lecture is still on."

^ this includes when he's sick or otherwise unwell, he could be barely standing upright and he'd still give his lecture

he can't listen to music with lyrics when doing anything because it distracts him (he'll start zoning in on the words and stop doing whatever else he was doing (did I word this right? idk it happens to me all the time))

he sometimes wears the alabaster at home if sensory issues are really bad that day

^ he verbally shuts down sometimes, which sucks bc he's got a lot to say but he typically just writes things down instead

does actually throw chalk at his students, not as hard as his in-battle attack obviously but his aim is always on point

^ his perfect aim also applies to literally anything he throws, his keys, his phone, if he wants to throw something somewhere it's getting there

sometimes completely submerges himself in the bath and just holds his breath for a bit to fully clear his head

^ he can hold his breath pretty long so he sits under there for a bit (freaked Aventurine out the first time he walked in on him doing it tho)

call me crazy but I think he'd be good with kids

[ilikethisacompletelynormalamount]

Andrew Scott, Vogue: April 2024.

by Zing Tsjeng, Photos by Annie Leibovitz

Ripley, in other words, is the hero of the tale. “That’s why he fascinates so many,” says Scott. “There’s been so many iterations of him. I think it’s because people root for him.” Actors like Alain Delon and Dennis Hopper have tried the role; Matt Damon played him as an obsequious, lower-class naïf; John Malkovich, as a slimy, camp killer. Scott’s Ripley is different; a watchful loner escaping rodent-infested poverty, more at home among art than he is around people. Musician and actor Johnny Flynn plays his first victim—the monied Dickie Greenleaf—and Dakota Fanning is Dickie’s suspicious ex-girlfriend. “I find Tom quite vulnerable,” Scott tells me. “I don’t think he’s necessarily lonely, but I certainly think he’s solitary…. He seems to me by his nature that he just can’t fit in. He’s trying to survive.”

In Ripley, Zaillian extracts maximum Hitchcockian dread from every creaky footstep. But most sinister of all is Scott’s face, which exhibits a sharklike steeliness throughout. It’s a performance that exudes queasy force. Is Ripley a scammer, a psychopath, or both? “There’s so many things lurking beneath him that I’ve been very reluctant to diagnose him with anything. I never thought of him as a sociopath or murderous,” Scott declares. “It’s up to everybody else to characterize him or call him whatever they want.”

As we weave through tourists near the Tower of London, barely anybody notices Scott, save for a faint glimmer of recognition among mainly young women. He seems to draw reassurance from it. “I don’t like to think about it too much, if I’m honest,” he muses of fame. “I find it a little bit, er, frightening.” He is known but not blockbuster-recognizable, although he is in the upcoming Back in Action with Cameron Diaz and Jamie Foxx. What stunts did he do? “I can’t give that away, I’m afraid, or somebody from Netflix will come and shoot me in the head.”

What’s been on Scott’s mind the most hasn’t been acting at all, in fact, but art. As a 17-year-old, he was offered his first movie role on the same day he was given a scholarship to study painting. He chose acting, but has recently been thinking about Oliver Burkeman’s philosophical self-help tract from 2021, Four Thousand Weeks, which makes the case for focusing on the five things you truly want to accomplish. “For me at the moment, it’s like, What do you want to do? What do you want to say?”

He scrolls through his phone to show me his work. There’s a watercolor of a couple arguing in a restaurant in rich reds and greens, line drawings of friends and people on the beach, and two self-portraits. “It’s a bit weird,” he acknowledges of his depiction of himself, all bulbous forehead and Pan-like tufts of hair. His brisk, nervy lines are reminiscent of Egon Schiele or Francis Bacon, who turns out to be one of his favorite painters. “Well, God, I’ll take that,” he mutters at the comparison. He would like someday to go to art school. “I don’t ever regret it,” he says of acting. “But I suppose you just get to a stage where you think, What else? That’s one of the big painful things in life for me, where you can’t quite live all the lives.” As he gets older, he feels the tug toward revisiting old working relationships, including with Waller-Bridge: “We’ve definitely got things cooking,” he smiles. “I’d love to work with her again. She’s just a singular, wonderful person.” For her part, Waller-Bridge says: “I’d love to see him do a fully unhinged slapstick comedy character. Someone who is outraged at everything, all of the time.”

As we round the pavement and the Tate Modern looms back into sight, he recalls a poster he received in 2017—a monstrously large graphic that detailed every week in a human life span. “It’s your entire life if you live to 80—you have to fill in all the bits that you’ve already lived,” he remembers in awe, “a visually terrifying gift.” What did he do with it? “I didn’t hold on to it for too long.” Easy come, easy go: We finally finish our loop around the Thames and, as Scott disappears back into the throng, anonymous just the way he likes it, it occurs to me that the actor has many lives to live yet. ■

[annymation]

Reimagining the characters in Wish

(Part 1- Asha)

Hey guys! I don’t really know how to start this, but let’s just say that I… Didn’t like how Disney’s 100th anniversary movie turned out, like at all.

But I can tell there was a lot of unexplored potential beneath this story, that in my opinion felt overly simple and bare bones.

But if you love it, that’s awesome, more power to you, I wish I could’ve loved it too. And I don’t want to rewrite it to show I’m “better than the writers at Disney” because I’m definitely not lol, I have no experience in writing, and I’m sure they put a lot of passion into the project and I respect them for that. But this movie inspired me with ideas for a different story that I think is worth telling.

But I won’t start telling it today, instead, I'll start a series of blogs sharing my ideas for changes in the characters and their stories, after I get some feedback I will start posting more of the story itself.

If you’re interested, then come along!

Asha✨

Personality

- Asha is a 18 year old girl, with a passion for drawing and helping those around her, sometimes even worrying more about helping others than helping herself

- She’s like a big sister to her 7 friends, always being the voice of reason and acting responsible, but not in a bossy way, she’s actually very playful with them

- To the people of Rosas tho, she's seen as kind of a weirdo, for you see, she spends almost every time of the day drawing in her sketchbook

- She practices everyday to become a better artist, and the people of Rosas find this to be very peculiar, after all, why would you take so much effort to perfect a talent when you can simply wait to turn 18 and wish for the king to make you an amazing artist?

- Asha doesn’t mind these comments, although they have made her less willing to share her drawings with others that aren’t her 7 friends

- As the story progresses we see Asha flourish from a shy and introverted girl to a brave woman who after discovering a terrifying secret about the kingdom’s rulers, steps in and inspires others to join her and fight an evil sorcerer king and his alchemist wife (yes, I made Amaya an alchemist, more on that on part 2 when I talk about how I’d change Magnifico and Amaya)

- Some Disney characters that share similarities with her personality wise are: Belle, Tiana, Pocahontas and Esmeralda

Main Traits:

Calm and mature

Determined

Passionate about her interests (drawing, dancing, philosophy and stars)

Helpful and generous

Perceptive and always questioning things around her that no one pays attention to (like why do all the artists only paint the King and Queen?)

Playful

Compassionate

Backstory

Oooh boy I gave this poor girl so much angst, okay let’s go

Asha grew up with her grandfather, her parents both died in a fire when she was just a baby

(this isn’t just to fit the “haha Disney princess has no parents” cliche, there’s plot relevance in this “mysterious fire” that I’ll talk about later)

Growing up with her grandpa, he’d always support her dream to be an artist, like her mother, who was an art teacher

Her mother not only drew really well, but she also was able to create the illusion that her drawings could move, by flipping through the pages of her sketch books

In other words, her mom was an animator

Asha saw this technic her mom used as a form of magic, so she would often tell her grandpa she wanted to “Do magic just like my mom”

Her father was a philosopher (this was established in the actual movie but never explored haha whyyyy), who taught people that working hard to achieve your dreams is not only rewarding, but also essential, because it’s part of the human nature to persevere and fight for what we believe, even if we fail, even if it’s hard, just keep moving forward.

This philosophy may sound very “umm duh” for me and you since we all know and hear everywhere nothing in life comes for free… But that’s not the case in Rosas

In this rewrite the kingdom wasn’t created by Magnifico, but rather the kingdom has existed for many generations, being ruled by different kings before Magnifico who also granted wishes… but I’m getting ahead of myself.

The point is that the culture of just asking the king to give you or make you whatever you want to be has been in this kingdom’s culture since forever, so when Asha’s dad comes out saying “hey! Maybe we should stop just relying on the king to make our dreams come true, right?” He’s actually being quite a revolutionary… and sharing a very dangerous belief to other people…

At this point you might suspect what caused that “mysterious fire”

So, back to Asha, growing up with her grandpa, they shared a lot of happy memories together. Reading her father's books and her mother's art books helped Asha connect with them even tho she never had them in her life.

But as her grandfather grew older, he became senile.

Asha went from being taken care of by her grandpa to being the one who took care of him when she was still around 13 years old, and when she turned 15 her grandfather passed away of old age

Asha went on to live with her best friend Dahlia, the two became like sisters.

Though she managed to move on from the loss of her grandfather, she could never shake the feeling that he died without getting his wish granted... But she had no way to prove that, it was just a feeling

The wish granting system works different in my rewrite, instead of there being a public wish granting ceremony once a month, there would only be a public wish TAKING ceremony, that would work just like in the movie, you turn 18, you go give your wish to the king yada yada yada.

But the wish granting part would work like this: Almost every night the king would release the wishes up in the sky, they would float down like balloons to their respective owners while they sleep, and once they woke up in the morning they'd feel that their wishes were granted, for they would wake up changed.

With this method, there's no way of confirming if someone really got their wish granted or not, unless you went to ask the king.

Asha never did ask the king if he granted her grandfather's wish, but her grandfather would sometimes express how he wasn't feeling completely fulfilled in his life, he felt like there was something... missing.

This feeling of hollowness persisted in him until the very end, no matter how hard Asha tried to help her grandfather, she never knew him as his real self, because he gave part of his soul to the king, the most beautiful part of his soul, his wish.

Asha had no proof that her grandfather didn't get his wish granted, only a gut feeling.

But because of this, Asha wasn't that thrilled to give her own wish to king magnifico, knowing there was the possibility of it never being granted.

Not to mention she didn’t even know what to wish for, “I’m just 18 and you guys expect me to already know what’s my heart’s deepest desire? I’m still figuring that out, all I know is that I wanna draw”

Plus she wanted to follow her father's philosophy and achieve her wish on her own, eventually, when she figured out what her wish even was.

Asha never rebelled against the system tho, she wasn't a confrontational person. She just accepted the people of Rosas preferred to rely on the king's magic, but that just wasn't for her.

However, on her 18 birthday, when it was expected of her to give her wish to the king, she simply said she didn't have a wish, and even if she did she wouldn’t want to hand it over, she wanted to make it come true on her own. This lead to an argument with the king, and after a series of events (that I don't have time to summarize here, but you can find out about it on my rewrite) leads to her finding out a terrible truth about her kingdom. And that's how her story begins.

Design

- I’d keep these braid ornaments that Asha had in the concept art

- Since in my rewrite she’s not that invested in the kingdom of Rosas, I’d remove all the Kingdom of Rosas symbols that are present in her design (there are a LOT of them)

- I’d replace these Rosas insignia with more star and constellations themed symbols, to reflect how Asha believes that the stars are connected to people and they can guide us, just like how her father believed.

Final Thoughts

My intentions with these changes were to give Asha a strong emotional hook, and something that makes her feel relatable.

The emotional hook here is how she spent so much of her life taking care of her grandfather that she kinda never had time to worry about her own desires, that alone can be relatable to caregivers of elderly people that watch their grandparents or even their own parents lose themselves as time passes, and end up worrying more about the person they’re taking care of than themselves.

Asha has this internal emotional conflict where she feels she needs to constantly help others the same way she helped her grandfather, and one of the things she’ll learn as the story progresses is that it’s not selfish of her to want more for HERSELF.

Another thing that would be relatable about Asha is her passion for drawing, and how most people in Rosas would say she’s wasting her time practicing so much when she can just wait until she turns 18 and wish to be amazing at drawing.

She’d never stop believing that taking her time to improve on her talent and trying again and again was worth every second of her time, because let me tell ya folks, drawing is HARD, and animating like Asha’s mom did is even HARDER, it takes a whole lot of practice, and Asha was determined to keep trying.

She’d be much like Belle, remaining true to herself even tho those around her considered her odd, and very passionate about drawing just as much Belle was passionate about reading.

I also find it funny how Asha’s motivations are fairly down to earth, like in Disney movies you usually have:

I want to be free from these palace walls!

I want to explore the ocean!

I want to open a restaurant!

I want to find true love!

And then there’s Asha here like

“My life is fine, I just wanna chill and draw stuff”

And that’s it, but, in her environment where everyone is expected to have this great wish that they have to give to the king so he’ll make it a reality, she’s kinda the odd one out, and I love that. Would be a great subversion of the Disney formula.

Of course after she learns Magnifico and Amaya’s true intentions she gets a lot more agency and the desire to save her people, her “call for adventure” if you will.

But what are Magnifico and Amaya’s true intentions? Click here for part 2 and find out!

Thank You For Reading!

[mysticstronomy]

WHAT IS AN ISLAND UNIVERSE??

Blog#422

Saturday, July 27th, 2024.

Welcome back,

No other science engages human curiosity like astronomy. From antiquity onward, attempts to comprehend the architecture of the cosmos have commanded a substantial fraction of humankind’s mental budget for intellectual endeavor. Only in the last century, though, have astronomers grasped the structure of the cosmos accurately. Just a hundred years ago, a great debate raged about the fuzzy patches on the nighttime sky known as “cloudy stars,” or nebulae.

Some astronomers believed that those cosmic fuzzballs resided within the Milky Way, the galaxy containing the sun and billions of other stars. In those days the Milky Way essentially comprised the known universe. But some experts suspected the nebulae to be very distant stellar systems much like the Milky Way itself — “island universes” populating the vastness of space. Skeptics argued otherwise, contending that the nebulae would be impossibly far away if they contained stars similar in brightness to the sun.

In October 1917, the prominent astronomer Harlow Shapley reported that the brightness of novae in various nebulae would place some of them millions of light-years away, in conflict with other measurements of rapid internal motion within the nebulae. (At such large distances, internal motion would not be perceptible.) “Measurable internal proper motions,” Shapley wrote, “can not well be harmonized with ‘island universes’ of whatever size, if they are composed of normal stars.”

The centennial of Shapley’s paper is not being widely celebrated, of course, because he was wrong — distant nebulae are, in fact, island universes (the measurements of internal motion supposedly ruling that out turned out to be bogus). But there is another anniversary worth celebrating this year — the dodransbicentennial (or dodrabicentennial) of the founding of the Cincinnati Astronomical Society in 1842. That event is noteworthy for its connection to one of astronomy’s greatest mysteries: who first coined the phrase “island universe.”

Often that honor is attributed to the philosopher Immanuel Kant. But Kant wrote in German, and he didn’t use any phrase that could be translated as “island universe.” He was among the first to figure out the nature of the Milky Way, though. From ancient times, skywatchers had wondered at the eerie dim glowing band of light visible across the nighttime sky (until modern light pollution drowned it out). Galileo’s telescope revealed within the milky glow a vast population of stars too distant and dim to discern with the naked eye.

More than a century afterward, in 1755, Kant reasoned that the Milky Way was actually a large lens-shaped disk, a system of stars (including the sun) analogous to the sun’s system of planets.In essence, the Milky Way was the universe, a grand collection of countless worlds — stars surrounded by planets, possibly inhabited. Kant further speculated that the Milky Way was not alone. Nebulae, it seemed to him, were too big to be merely dim fuzzy stars. He deduced them to be at a great distance (too far for their individual stars to be detectable), each of them another entire “universe” like the Milky Way.

But he didn’t call them islands. When he used the German word for island (Insel), he was referring to things like Jamaica, or an uninhabited planet. When Kant said “these elliptical figures are just universes,” the actual term he used in German was Weltordnungen, which is literally translated as “world orders” (or in some places Weltgebäuden or Weltsystemen, world systems).

Originally published on https://www.sciencenews.org

COMING UP!!

(Wednesday, July 31st, 2024)

"DOES DARK ENERGY EXIST??"

[ravenqueensspecialboi]

I feel like people have heard about the time Bram Stoker sent his tinder bio to Walt Whitman but haven’t actually read the tinder bio so in honor of Dracula Daily’s return (and me finding my copy of Dracula that actually had the correspondence between Bram Stoker and Walt Whitman), here’s Bram Stoker’s pass at Walt Whitman:

I am not Shelley and you are not Godwin and so I will only hope that sometime I may meet you face to face and perhaps shake hands with you If I ever do it will be one of the greatest pleasures of my life. If you care to know who it is that writes this, my name is Abraham Stoker (Junior). My friends call me Bram. I live at 43 Harcourt St, Dublin. I am a clerk in the service of the Crown on a small salary. [’How did I get the impression that he was still in college?’] I am twenty-four years old. Have been champion at our athletic sports (Trinity College, Dublin) and have won about a dozen cups. I have also been President of the College Philosophical Society and an art and theatrical critic of a daily paper. I am six feet two inches high and twelve stone weight naked and used to be forty-one or forty-two inches round the chest. I am ugly but strong and determined and have a large bump over my eyebrows. I have a heavy jaw and a big mouth and thick lips - sensitive nostrils - a snubnose and straight hair. I am equal in temper and cool in disposition and have a large amount of self control and am naturally secretive to the world. I take a delight in letting people I don’t like - people of mean or cruel or sneaking or cowardly disposition - see the worst side of me. I have a large number of acquaintances and some five or six friends - all of which latter body care much for me. Now I have told you all I know about myself. [’And a mighty graphic picture it is too: I seem to see you not as in a glass darkly but as in the broad day lightly: I do, I do!’]

Bram Stoker originally penned this in 1872, but only sent it to Walt Whitman along with a second letter in 1876 after attending a meeting at Dublin’s Fortnightly Club, where he had, in his words, participated in a “hot debate” over Whitman’s poetic “genius”

[stellar-constellations]

"In you, my heart resides"

Andrew Graves x Fem! Reader

Wordcount: 2,600+ words

Warnings: Kisses (?). A little angsty, but a happy ending.

Synopsis: Andrew's had feelings for you for years now. Now that you're moving away, he wants to confess his feelings before you're gone forever.

        Andrew Graves was always top of the class, you’ve known that ever since elementary. Honestly, you probably wouldn’t of even known who he was if it wasn’t for who his sister was. 

        You’ve always managed to look right past Andrew. He was quiet and focused on his studies instead of talking with others during class. You wouldn’t know who he was if it wasn’t for his teachers' constant praise of his grades throughout the years (and the rumors of Ashley and him). 

        But that’s all Andrew was: a background character in your modern day life. Whether you had friends or not, you kept to yourself too. Maybe that’s why you never bothered approaching him. Approaching him would’ve broke that repetitive routine you had, and you didn’t want that. You were content on walking where others run, going with the flow until you reach the river bank. 

        As life has it for you, Andrew just kept showing up in the background. Every year he’d be in your classes. You’d see him walking to school a few blocks down from you. You’d see him in class, a blank expression that made you wonder if he studied hard at home or if he was just naturally gifted. You’d see him walking home from school. He just seemed to pop into your everyday life.

        As luck would have you, you’re even seated in front of him this school year. You’re not sure if the seating chart is permanent, but you don’t find yourself complaining about it. 

        To nobody’s surprise—especially yours—Andrew is praised yet again on his latest test scores. You can’t help but turn your head to see your classmate’s reaction, but he doesn’t seem too celebratory or surprised; sporting a neutral expression as he reviewed the teachers written praises. 

        It almost frustrated you how nonchalant he was. Maybe it was because you were an overachiever, or maybe you just despised the competition, but you just had to know.

        “Hey. Andrew, right?” you questioned, turning yourself to look at him.

        His bright electric green eyes met yours, a look teetering the line of confusion. 

        You had broke the routine. 

        “Yeah?” he acknowledged. 

        His eyes were big, portraying innocence of a child, because that’s what you both were. Children. Children who worried about grades and sleepovers and Halloween discounted candy on November 1st. 

        “Can I see your paper?” you questioned, your hand resting on his desk, already expecting him to say yes. “I just want to see your work for one of the problems—to see how it’s supposed to be done.” 

        “Oh… Sure…” he spoke, handing you the paper without hesitation. 

        You held the paper in your hands, looking over his work. It was some philosophical question for Language Arts, but he aced all the questions, even getting some extra points for creativity as he challenged the author’s logic and provided explanations why to his stance. It was impressive that a child could come up with this.

        You noted how he barely had any erased marks on his paper, just showing how smart he was. His pencil writing was smooth, and it wasn’t bad, extremely legible for a child of your age—you wondered if he practiced that too or not.

        “Hey, how do you do it?” you finally asked. 

        “Do what?” he questioned, not quite catching on.

        “How do you do all of this?” you questioned, not that it cleared the fog much.

        It was almost as if you were asking how his life was, and was it different from yours? Did his life break the routine yours had?

        “How do you excel in your academics?” you finally asked, getting to the point.        

        He had to pause and think, resting his elbows on his desk as he leaned his weight on them, moving closer to you as he mulled over the question.

        “I don’t know… I guess I just read a lot of Zeno of Citium.” He smiled.

        Is it bad you know what he was talking about?

        “Founder of Stoicism.” You spoke, returning his smile. “Everything around us is a web of cause and effect… ‘Sometimes even to live is an act of courage.’ It’s pretty neat stuff.” 

        “You know him?” he questioned, surprised.

        “Yeah. His teachings… they really know how to get to you.” You chuckled. “But, that doesn’t explain how you excel in math, and history, and science, and everything really.” 

        “I just listen a lot, I guess…” he shrugged. 

        “Well, you must be pretty observant then.” You hummed, handing him back his paper. 

        “Thanks… (Y/N), right?” he questioned, placing his paper absentmindedly to the side, refusing to break eye contact or conversation with you. 

        “Scratch that. You are observant.” You chuckled.

        “Must be born with it or something.” He smiled. 

        “It’s a good skill to have.” You hummed. “Don’t lose that.” 

        The conversation ended before he could reply, the teacher walked to the middle of the classroom and spoke about their next topic. 

        The damage was already done; the conversation had broken the routine. Suddenly, Andrew didn’t seem much like a background character anymore—and neither did you in his life.

        You found yourself talking with him more over the years, but only as classmates. Your conversations remained strictly for schooling and academies, creating a new rountine for the two of you. 

        Why routines? Well, everything had rhythm. The trees danced with the wind, and you danced with Andrew; an endless tango of curiosity, silently asking if you perhaps knew each other, whether in this life or another. A routine is practically a dance. You memorize the rhythm until you mindlessly follow it on muscle reflex—like a graceful ballerina would. 

        But the more you danced, the more moves and steps were added in, complicating your performance as you went on. You weren’t friends, but you weren’t classmates either. You were unknown, no official label between you two as you danced around each other, hesitant of what the other thought of the other. 

        You danced around each other, for there was no better partner but him. He seemed to know all the same moves as you, and he perfectly mingled his own into your dance routine; improving and ultimately perfecting the dance only you two can complete with each other. 

        “Nursing, huh?” Andrew spoke, leaning back in the booth.

        The tea shop was crowded today, people walking in and out during the peak of lunch hour. Andrew was never a fan of coffee, there was never a perfect blend, it was always either too sweet or too bitter. 

        But you matched all his tastes. You weren’t too sweet or too bitter. You were relaxing, simple, and even, in a sense, nostalgic. There wasn’t a tea blend that could match your perfection, but he dealt with it.

        “So you’re going away?” he questioned, though you both knew the answer.

        “Yeah.” You nodded. “I mean, it’s not like there’s any good colleges here in this city.” You chuckled, although it wasn’t funny in the slightest. 

        You were leaving him, after all this time. Who would do your special dance with him now? Who would stick to the routine you both share? 

        “Well, that sucks…” Andrew admitted with a sigh. “So, when are you leaving?” 

        “I got a flight for this weekend.” You answered. “This is probably the last time we’ll see each other…” You spoke, although the information was anything but celebratory. 

        You didn’t really expect to be leaving so quick, but the process happened so fast, and you got accepted faster than you expected, so it was practically a fact dropped on the both of you around the same tome. 

        The moment was bittersweet. Andrew should be celebrating, you’re going to further your education and climb the tree of life, each branch a new opportunity and path all for you to experience—but Andrew will be left behind on the ground. 

        “So, this is it?” he questioned, a tone of sadness in his voice, his eyes ignored yours as he decided the sticky tabletop was better to look at.

        “Hey, we’ll still see each other.” You smiled, albeit a sad one. “It’ll just be less often. But I’ll still visit.” 

        “Right…” He sighed, leaning back into the booth’s cushioning as he thought. “Can… I just see you one last time? Before you leave?”  he spoke, his tone almost pleading.

        “Sure…” You gave in. “When would you like to meet?” 

        “Tonight?” he suggested.

        “Tonight?” you repeated back, a bit perplexed. “Why tonight?” 

        “Just… please?” he sighed. 

        “Well… sure. But just as long as it’s not too late at night.” (Y/N) sighed.

        “Yeah, that works for me.” Andrew nodded. “So, I’ll see you tonight at seven? I’ll stop by.”

        “Alright.” You agreed, finishing your drink and throwing the cup in the trashcan. “I’ll see you later then. Bye, Andrew.” You waved, watching as he waved back, before you disappeared out the doors and around the corner. 

        Andrew stared at his tea sullenly, before taking a sip. The blend tasted even worse now.         .         .        

        Andrew had spent the rest of the day writing in his notebook, before tearing a paper out and restarting. Why was it so hard to write about his feelings whenever he genuinely wanted to? Maybe it was because he knew he was just going to say them anyways, so it doesn’t feel as private and secretive to where you can write to your heart’s content. It had to be perfect. 

        He looked at his phone for the third time as he stood in front of her door. He was fifteen minutes early, if you don’t count the extra minutes he’s spent overthinking in front of her home.

        Finally, he gathers the courage and just knocks on your door. The sound made him mentally cringe and consider ducking in the nearby bushes like a child playing Ding Dong Ditch. 

        It didn’t take long for you to answer the door as you were expecting his visit. You wore some casual loungewear, greeting him with a smile.

        “Hey. Come in.” You spoke, opening the door wider for him to walk through.

        “Thanks.” He smiled nervously, walking into your home as your closed the door.

        He’s seen her home many times before, so he knows the layout, yet he can’t help looking everywhere except your face. He sat down on her couch, his foot tapping against the floor nervously.

        “So, is there anything you want to do?” you questioned.

        Andrew was the one who asked to see you, so you’ll let him decide what he wants to do. Besides, he looks a bit nervous, so you’ll let him guide the conversation—maybe you’ll find out if something is wrong if you lets him talk.

        “Look, I’ll make this quick in case you want me gone…” Andrew sighed, placing his hands together nervously, before deeming the position as potentially unserious or disrespectful.

        He stood up from the couch, walking over and grabbing your hands, before bringing his gaze to your eyes.

        “(Y/N), I’ve watched you from afar throughout the years.” He started. 

        “I’ve tried for so long to distance myself from you,”

        “But without you, my heart splits into two.”

        “I wish to stand by your side without fear.”

        “Please, at least for a minute, lend me your ear.”

        He took a deep breath, gulping down an air of confidence, before letting out his nerves. 

        “I want to be the one for you, even if for a day.”

        “Because you make my heart race and my problems decay.”

        “I don’t want to hide these feelings anymore.”

        “I want to explore these feelings with you more.”        

        “You entered my life like a serendipity,”

        “And now, I just want to love you for all eternity.”

        “I’ve never seen crystals as pretty as your eyes.”

        “In you, my heart resides.”

        His hands shook as they held your own, but he kept his grip strong, confident in his actions. His eyes stayed on yours, noticing how pretty you looked even if you were in loungewear. He couldn’t help but think you were always pretty, no flaws attached; unlike him.

        “When I look at you, I see nothing but opportunity.”

        “I see a future with you,”

        “From one life to the next.”

        “I can try all I want,”

        “But my love for you can’t be expressed in words.”

        “These years of feelings I’ve had pent up, can’t simply be explained in a minute poem.”

        “Please, let me cherish you as my lover,”

        “Because without you, I can’t ever see myself with another.”

        He took another breath, his nerves feeling even worse now that he had to wait for an answer. 

        There was a moment of silence between the two—he practically felt his heart snap in half.

        “Sorry… I know it’s bad. You’d think I’d be able to write a poem since I read so much of them…” he chuckled nervously, trying to break the tension as his hands let go over yours. “I-I’ll go now, I’m so—“

        “Andrew, wait!” you exclaimed, your hands reaching out for his, holding them tighter than he had earlier, before you engulfed him in a hug. “Sorry, I was just processing the fact that you like me back.” 

        “Like me back?” he repeated, surprised, before his arms wrapped around your body, pulling you close. “You’ve liked me? Like, genuinely?” 

        “Yeah, dummy!” you smiled. “And I liked your poem. It was perfect! Really, nobody has ever written a poem for me before…” 

        “No… It was pretty crappy…” he chuckled, bashful. 

        “Hey, I’m serious…” you spoke. “It was sweet, I really felt it from the heart. Even if it was bad, I still wouldn’t of minded. I mean, you even memorized it into your head to tell me!” 

        “Ah… yeah… I was pretty damn nervous…” he laughed, pulling away from your arms to pull out a piece of paper. “I practiced in the mirror all day after writing it, but I was so damn nervous I’d forget the lines that I wrote it down on a piece of paper.”

        “Really?” you smiled, accepting the paper as he handed it to you.

        It barely had any eraser marks on it, as if he had thought about what to say to you for weeks to months—perhaps years. Funny, his handwriting hadn’t changed much since elementary.

        “Can I keep this?” you questioned, looking up at him.

        “You really wanna keep that piece of scrap?” Andrew questioned, surprised.

        “Well this ‘piece of scrap’ happened to be the reason we’re together.” You chuckled. 

        “Hey, I did the talking, the paper—“ he paused, his mouth hanging open. “T-together?”

        “Yeah, we’re together now, dummy. You confessed your feelings; I confessed mine.” You smiled. “Unless, you don’t want to be together?” 

        “No, no! I do!” Andrew spoke quickly. “It’s just, literally five seconds ago I was thinking of running down the street, and now I’m here with you… dating you now…” he smiled widely, almost as if he couldn’t believe it. “I can say that, right? We’re dating?” 

        “Yes, we’re dating. You’re my boyfriend.” You laughed.

        “Thank God. Honestly, if you didn’t accept my feelings, I think I would’ve walked into oncoming traffic.” He let out a sigh of relief. 

        “Well, I’m glad I accepted it too…” you smiled, before said smile turned into a smirk. “So… ‘years’ you said, eh?” you smiled cheekily.

        “Shut up.” He scoffed, rolling his eyes playfully.

        “Well, I think I owe you something since you’ve been waiting around that long.” You hummed, placing your hands on his cheeks, before leaning in and kissing his lips.

        It was a simple, short and sweet kiss, but Andrew thought he just won the lottery or at least saw heaven for those three seconds. You pulled away, before laughing at the loopy smile on his lips, his eyes saying everything for you—this man was hopelessly enamored with you.

        “Hey, you came all this way over. Do you wanna stay the night?” you offered.

        “Definitely.” Andrew agreed quickly, before pulling you back for another kiss.

        Spending more time with you? He’d be a fool to reject that. 

Ah, I really wish I had the poetic skills of Edgar Allan Poe. I'm not a good poet, though I really wish I was because I would love to do an old romance trope of royalty and a peasant and... oh, that's a interesting idea... I'll definitely be saving that for later.

Anyways, this is one short fluffy fic I've been working on. I figured Andrew needed some wholesome love in his life, (not that it was much sappiness on reader's part... but hey, the next fic definitely will!) Hopefully you guys stay around for the second fluffy fic, after that I'll go right back to writing Star Patient!

[monsters-conquer-the-world]

OOZEPUNK

WHAT IS OOZEPUNK?

Oozepunk is the term I'm coining for the microgenre of urban heroic sci-fi horror-fantasy that first exploded in the mid-80s with movies, shows, and comics like Ghostbusters, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Toxic Avenger, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Hellboy, Street Sharks, and others. Lots of natural crossover with Biopunk and Cyberpunk, aesthetically and philosophically.

Your childhood trauma didn't let you forget Roger Rabbit heavily featured colorful nightmare slime, did it?

A ragtag gang of weirdos (often horribly mutated--more on that soon) band together to save a city that doesn't understand them. Grimy sewers, abandoned buildings and graffiti'd brick walls are lit up by neon lights, streams of mysterious, glowing goo and/or the unearthly lights of futuristic particle weapons--ideally all of the above!

Beyond the "cracked concrete and gutters full of liquid plutonium" aesthetic, Oozepunk prankishly asks "What if catastrophic aberrations of science, particularly DUMPING TOXIC FUCKING WASTE STRAIGHT INTO THE ENVIRONMENT created fucked-up monsters... but they're HEROIC fucked-up monsters!" These catastrophic aberrations of science grant the heroes incredible powers, but COST them their place in human society. (Ghostbusters and Roger Rabbit eschew character mutation in favor of discovering that the undead and olde tymey cartoons are real [and exploitable!], respectively. 'Busters and 'Toon sympathizers alike are treated like insane idiots and/or frauds in their respective universes.)

Oozepunk heroes are challenged not only by strange supernatural beings, but by human society itself. The Ghostbusters battle with local politicians as much as they do the undead. In the recent (and delightful) TMNT: Mutant Mayhem, Splinter warns the Turtles of humans and their obsession with "milking" mutants for their blood--on top of the villainous mutants they're trying to thwart!

Crank up the creep factor in Oozepunk and you get awesome anti-establishment goo-horror like 1988's The Blob, The Stuff, Street Trash, and probably a bunch more. Toxic Avenger is a batshit crazy splatter-comedy (i.e. classic Troma)... and still garnered sequels, a kid's cartoon and toyline!

And there's a Shredder's Revenge-style Crusaders beat-em-up coming out next year??

This looks dope as shit

Ghostbusters and TMNT are the only current, "evergreen" (or radioactive green!) Oozepunk franchises I can think of off the top of my head, but Oozepunk elements are buried in almost all of the stories and settings I love the most. Heroic kaiju like King Kong, Godzilla and Gamera paved the way for our freaky friends, but so did comics characters like Fantastic Four's Ben "The Thing" Grimm, The Hulk and Swamp Thing. Hell, I think I blame SESAME STREET of all things for starting me down the Oozepunk path.

Surprise! I've loved screaming trash monsters with secret hearts of gold since I was a fucking baby, and they've ALWAYS been there for me!

But it's not just Oscar, Sesame Street as a whole is a proto-Oozepunk utopia, years before the big Ooze-splosion of the 80s. Muppets, monsters, talking animals and chill humans all live and work together to scrape by with a little dignity in a gritty-but-wholesome urban world!

Sesame Street, a decades-long reminder that educational childrens' programming can and SHOULD be cool as hell looking and loaded with all kinds of friendly mutant freakuloids.

OOZEPUNK! Whaddya think?

[esoteriamaya]

JUPITER IN THE HOUSES!

Jupiter 1st house can attract luck when they embrace the unknown with optimism. There energy is a natural magnet for all possibilities as this is important for them to achieve whatever type of success they desire in this lifetime. With effort, their dreams can come to fruition by being more open and expressing their true nature.

This gives people a chance to see that larger than life energy, attracting them to get a whiff of whatever it is you been sniffing.. only to find out it is all from within.

Jupiter 2nd house peeps need more individuality in their life so through the material realm is where most of their style and sense of self will come from. Success comes to them easier when they focus on the mundane and material assets. Focusing on what they want most can help their desires come in way more through the help of others. Their magnetism draws others in through the way they handle business , and this helps others have more optimism in wanting to work with them. These people need to have big dreams for themselves especially for their finances because it’ll play a big part in their journey.

Jupiter in the 3rd needs philosophical thinking. The expression of words through writing is an outlet that can bring greater possibilities. They could be quite popular with the research & studies they’ve accumulated over the years (and even in short periods thanks to this house being ruled by mercury). Their ideas can shift perspectives of others and can make them out to be a teacher and a student of life. Having faith in your thoughts and ideas and sharing them with others can give them fame. Road trips can help shift the paradigms of their reality, showing them the complexities of the human mind. 3rd house rules short travels so for them to get the full on human experience they must let go of being in the same city and travel more often and study the world this way.

Jupiter in the 4th needs culture and tradition. With a little twist they can shift things to their own version of it. Their family could be quite large, or they could be the big personality out of the family tree. Their inner self is a joy to recieve and experience and most never truly show the public this side (it’s opposite the tenth/mc). To get to know them is a treat because their special personalities isn’t meant for people to grab but for you to experience. Their homes are filled with magic and wonderment and they keep what they know to themselves. This is one of the houses of a born witch. Could be the “golden child” with this placement.

Jupiter in the 5th are the actors and designers of the world stage. The originals of experience and entertainment. They create worlds that puts a sparkle in our eyes. Class acts in what they love, they show a whimsical passion from the inside of their hearts. The lions of artistic endeavors, they teach us how to be the best at what we want to be with ease. Can become very popular in just being themselves, because their optimism is contagious we can’t get enough of them.

Jupiter in the 6th house peeps are the organizers, the student, the teacher and the master all in one. They go through great lengths just to do what they do, and know what they know. Their energy can be used for bigger projects and to make room for blueprints far beyond the spectrum of our imagination. These people can be good at experimentation being the 6th house is ruled by Virgo/mercury (the alchemist of the zodiac). These weirdos can use their imagination at will to expand on certain details and ideas and make room for more complex thinking. The mental stability can take on larger tasks and can complete cycles that seem umbearable to others. This is what attracts people to them because their willingness to work and the confidence behind it makes people want to work with them and help their dreams come to life.

Jupiter in the 7th need’s satisfaction in their partnerships be it love, platonic, or business. When full of light and optimism, their love life can take them to newer heights.

If you have this placement, you can NOT think small of yourself and your standards.

YOU MUST KEEP YOUR STANDARDS HIGH! AT. ALL. TIMES.

Doesn’t matter who the people are, your higher ideals is what attracts the right people. This placement is a royalty placement in my eyes. Be it that these people can literally get partners worth keeping. Almost like Cinderella and Prince Charming, but again, they MUST have strong standards for themselves and others. This is where more good energy can come from because they already have it within. They just need to express it in the outer self more, because the partners they attract are only showing them what they already feel within themselves internally. The partners just bring that out through the external. Cod have great luck in partners if they expand from their home country.

Jupiter in the 8th peeps hold a lot of knowledge from the other worlds. This cosmic dna they possess carries with them a hundred of their ancestors passed down gifts and abilities and it expands through the unconscious and conscious mind of the individual. you can literally get paid for what you know! But make it discreet my loves. Their strength in carrying the depths of the universe mastered in many other lifetimes, and they bring back what they know and express it through the heart and the soul. Jupiter 8th house peeps are too deep for this world but it doesn’t stop them from expressing what they know through many other outlets. At some point they will have to give us more of themselves in their studies or just their speech because they will go crazy holding in so much. The esoteric mind is a captivator, and should be used to turn the paradigms in their lives into new favorable positions.

Jupiter in the 9th house is right in its home. So it’s a very special occasion when we have Jupiter in its rightful house. Your safe space is through knowledge, philosophy and knowing more about life itself. Your human brain can take in more information then the next person, taking in all that you know and showing the world your ideals and beliefs is a way you win notoriety through others.

Your magic is through the presence of experience and being in the moment helps you collect data from whatever it you are enjoying and experience. You are the inspo and the inspired. The artist and the muse. Perfect combination of someone who lives their life dreaming of the world in a way that expands the consciousness of themself and others around them. This is a special gift. Beautiful placement.

Jupiter in the 10th House, you peeps deserve greatness. You know it and sometimes you don’t. This placement makes you dreamy in the eyes of the world and we can’t get enough of you. When you are optimistic, the world is magnetized by your grace. When you are pessimistic, you will lose interest in the world the same way you lost it in yourself. Tough pill to swallow, you guys have to accept responsibility of your actions and where your life is. Challenge yourself as much as possible to get the results you wish for. This is a placement of BIG dreams I ain’t talking anything simple like let’s say you want to win an award for something and you don’t win.. what if that is suppose to bring you to a space where you win times 10? You win ten awards in one night and the one place you felt like you should have won just one award you didn’t. Message to yourself : always ask for more. To get the best of this placement, ask yourself for what you want but add tax. Expansive consciousness takes the cake here. With each Jupiter placement you really have to ask for more and expect it because you are deserving.

Another thing I will say about this placement is that fame is something natural to you guys even if you don’t see it. You could be known for your hair, personality , talent doesn’t matter. Everyone around you knows you for something. And since this house is a popularity house, I’d say dream big on this too ;) your ideals and ways of expression is well liked by people so share with the world the things you know! Because you never know who’s looking. Could be an inspiration to others as well as a teacher.

Jupiter in the 11th house is the original popularity house. People with this placement could be advocates for a cause and they also could just know a lot of people OR a lot of people know them. No in between. Interesting sweethearts they could take the world by storm, especially through social media (11th house ruled by Aquarius, which rules over technology). Just the way you express yourself alone makes people want to know you more. You have an excellent way of speaking and being a leader so often times you may get put into the spot light. You can lead a protest if it’s your calling. I said before this is a “president placement” because you have the power to move people with your mind (aquarius and Jupiter/sag rule over the mind/consciousness). You can give others hope where they may feel there isn’t any. I love this placement because these people usually look after friends and loved ones and could be like a mother teresa to some people. It’s just your energy is boundless and connects to so many without trying. Love this for y’all.

And last but not least..

Jupiter in the 12th house is a VERRRY interesting placement so I might get a little deeper with this. Jupiter in the 12th is the scientific, artistic, illuminating, soul inducing, romanticizing lover of the universe and all of its oddities. All of the unknown is embrace by this wonderful wizard with this placement. The Albert Einsteins of the group. They carry the world on their backs, literally and figuratively. These people are literally gifted in occult knowledge and they might not know it. As they grasp for straws in this life, they can transform them and use them to create gadgets to see into the veil. They hate when others don’t see what they see, their mind is in another universe. They can read people the way they read the world around them: through numbers, through the trees and animals they can just hear things other people find ridiculous… so this can make them out to be lunatics. While the world calls them delusional, they are too busy finding out the next clue to their puzzle. Literal magicians working in their craft they will stay up all night long to get the answers that they seek. If they could find out how to turn water into wine they’d do that too. So many divine messages are sent to them on a regular basis and it could drive them crazy not knowing what to do with it. I love when this placement expresses itself through people because they are excellent students and can show us what they know in good detail too.if you have this placement, please give yourself time to think. You’re not stupid, crazy or whatever it is they try to say about you. You know more than what you let on, just show us for a change !

I hope this helps !! Enjoy everyone !!!