#fig trick or treat

[figurecollection]

trick or treat!!!! :]

HEY!!! Have a Flandre Scarlet 1/7 Scale by GSC!

[coolmiaw]

Sharpuary 2024 #1 Candy

AU: Hogawarts Legacy full set up but in present time

Context: post seven year from "A strange school named Hogwarts" (Ao3). Alienor (MC) is in post graduate studies at Hogwarts (read the one shot to understand why she looks so young).

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Since Alienor had disappeared in her room to finish a project on which she had been working for school, calm had returned to Fig's flat.

Well, Fig and Alienor's flat.

And Sharp's.

And it wouldn't be disturbed soon, for Alienor would join a party later that night.

After all, it was Halloween and a day like that deserved its own celebration.

Sharp settled on the couch near Fig, who didn't even acknowledge the ex-Auror, too immersed in his reading. A small smile played on Aesop's lips as he marveled at the older wizard's focus while wondering how he could disturb him to claim the attention he rightfully deserved.

His fingers were mere inches from Fig's face when a screech pierced the stillness of the early evening.

The two wizards leapt to their feet and were about to rush to Alienor's room when the young woman entered the living room. Although, she no longer looked like an eighteen-year-old woman but rather a young child, perhaps eight years old at most.

'I... I think I made a mistake in my potion,' she stammered sheepishly.

'I can see that,' Sharp replied , after a second of stunned silence as Fig was collapsing on the couch with laughter.

'It is not funny, Eleazar!' Alienor cried out in her delicate voice.

'I agree, it is not funny at all,' Sharp went on with a desapprobating glance at his partner who was trying to calm down. 'We can consider ourselves lucky that her mistake resulted in an Deageing Potion and not something more serious.' He paused, scrutinizing the girl for a few seconds before he declared: 'Let me guess. You switched the dried nettles of your Hair Dying potion with green leaves?'

'All I wanted was to have blue hairs for the party tonight,' Alienor pouted while crossing her arms.

And Aesop found it a bit difficult to take her seriously while she looked so adorable in her now oversized clothes. As for Fig, he had completely given up, but had wisely rounded the couch to stand in front of the window, attempting to conceal his amusement.

'I think I have the required ingredients to brew an antitode for your unfortunate Deageing potion,' Sharp said as Alienor raised a gaze full of hope towards him. 'But it won't be ready before tomorrow.'

She pouted again.

'But am I going to do? I can't go to the party like that,' she whined.

'No you can't,' Sharp sighed. 'And as horrible as this may sound, I am afraid you are stuck with us tonight then.'

'I don't mind staying with you,' Alienor corrected, afraid Sharp might have misinterpreted her words. 'I like staying with you. Even you, Eleazar,' she added with an irritated look towards the older wizard who was still resolutely looking at the window. 'But it's just... it's Halloween, you know?'

'I may have a solution,' Eleazar suddently declared. He turned to face Aesop and Alienor, a mischievous glint in his eyes. 'That is, if you can suffer my presence.'

'Eleazar I didn't mean...'

'I know what you meant,' Eleazar reassured her with a kind smile. 'I deserved it,' he added with a wink towards Alienor. 'You may not like my idea though,' he said while looking at Sharp.

'A typical friday in my life,' Aesop sighed with a small smile.

'You see, one of Halloween't tradition is for young children to dress up and go trick-or-treating. In the muggle world it isn't very interesting as you can't actually "trick" anyone. But I believe the shopkeepers of Diagon Alley always arrange something for the children to have fun.'

'But I am not a child,' she protested. She noticed the small quiver on Fig's lips. 'Don't!'

He raised in hands in defence, and Alienor crossed her arms again, pondering the idea. She knew about this tradition, but she never had the opportunity to join the other children. She hadn't even asked her mother then for she knew it was a world she didn't belong in. Her mother had died a few months before she received the visit of this strange wizard with his eccentric blue outfit. At Hogwarts, she had celebrated Halloween, but not like what Eleazar was offering.

"Dress up?' She questionned.

'Monsters, heroes, favorite characters, whatever you want,' Eleazar explained.

'And you'd come with me?' Alienor asked, her excitement tempered by a sudden shyness. 'Both of you?' She added while directing her gaze towards Sharp.

'Well it's safer if an adult comes along,' Aesop sighed. 'Therefore, I suppose I don't really have a choice.'

'There he is,' Eleazar chuckled fondly.

'I'll be right back!' Alienor exclaimed as she rushed towards her room.

As Eleazar and Sharp began to prepare for the outing, they noticed some of their belongings were missing. Fig was about to ask Sharp if he had, yet again, stolen his scarf, even though now really wasn't a good time, when Alienor appeared again.

She was wearing Sharp's coat, which was so large on her small frame that it would have slipped to the floor if it wasn't for the cauldron she was cradling in her arms. As for Fig's scarf, it was hanging on her shoulders, looking more like a cloak than anything else.

'Interesting attire,' Sharp commented, as he settled for his blazer for he definietely knew that he wouldn't get his hand on his coat anytime soon. 'What are you, a coat rack?'

'You're lucky I have to use both of my arms to carry this,' Alienor retorted with an offended look while nodding at her cauldron. 'Otherwise, I might just hex you!'

'Do you want me to help you with that?' Eleazar intervened while trying to reach out for the cauldron.

'Dream on!' Alienor protested. 'Candies will go inside, making me the Candy Master. Behave, and I might give you some.'

'All right I apologize,' Sharp said while grabbing the Floo Powder. He threw a pinch in the crackling fire before he indicated: 'Diagon Alley!'

'But seriously, what are you dressed up as?' He asked then, stepping aside to let Alienor pass first.

'Isn't it obvious?' She replied, rolling her eyes. She delicately stepped through the lukewarm fire, careful to not get any ash on Sharp's coat. She then raised her gaze on him, a fond smile playing on her lips: 'I am going as daddy.' Her eyes shifted towards Eleazar. 'Both of them.

[epitome-of-an-openbook]

heres the thing here's the thing here's the thing. - I do not want any of the main bad guys of this season (Rat Grinders or porter - Jace is a different ball park in that he has seemingly no personal beef) to be beaten by the person that they have the most personal beef with (or in Porter's case has tried to manipulate into being a sacrifice) I want Adaine to get Kipperlilly and Mary Ann, I want Fabian to kill Porter, I want Kristen to beat Ruben, I want Riz to ice Ivy and Buddy, I want Fig to decimate Oisin and Jace.

"But why Gabby? Don't you think that's kind of weird, it's been set up so well for the personal beefs."

You're right, but the thing is - those personal beefs are only one on one personal to the Rat Grinders and Porter. To The Bad Kids though, it's all personal! You can see it in the way that when Oisin tried to manipulate/trick Adaine, Riz made it his personal mission to end and humiliate that man whenever he got the chance. To the Rat Grinders, personal is singular - Kipperlilly has Riz beef and Kristen beef, but she doesn't really give a fuck about the others. For the Bad Kids though! Of course Riz has beef with Buddy (that asshole mocked Kristen after her God died) and with Ivy (she was so mean to a girl Fabian was interested in) obviously Adaine has beef with Kipperlilly (she's been personally attacking her best friends) and Mary Ann (she HURT Gorgug and scared the shit out of Riz and Fabian), duh Kristen has beef with Ruben (he mocked Fig and Gorgug's music), obviously Fabian wants to kill Porter (have you seen how that guy treats Gorgug, not to mention the molding Fig into a sacrifice stuff), of fucking course Fig has beef with Oisin (that motherfucker led Adaine on). For the Bad Kids Personal is plural - personal for the Bad Kids is a team response. None of the Bad Kids care all that much about what you do to them, so long as you don't mess with any of their friends.

[bloodyshadow1]

I get people being sympathetic to the Rat grinders, I really do, but the way people will out right lie about canon to make the Bad Kids the villains. The Rat Grinders are kids, they're being groomed by charismatic and dangerous teachers who they trusted, they're corrupted by rage so they're not thinking straight. At the end of the day, that makes them cultists, pitiable and sympathetic, but still villains who are perfectly willing to create a hell on earth for the plan.

I've seen posts condemning the bad kids for killing the rat grinders, I've seen posts calling the Bad Kids bullies this season, I've seen posts that blame the Bad Kids for the whole thing saying the rat grinders are just kids who are being tricked. It's all bullshit, whatever your headcanons, whatever your feelings on the Rat Grinders, they're not the good guys here and are very much the villains this season.

The bad kids killed the 3 of the rat grinders this fight, Ivy, Oisin, and Ruben. No, they didn't stop to try and reach out to them, to try and make them see the light. The Rat Grinders are trying to condemn a whole town to become the domain of a the new god of rage and murder a goddess to usurp her domain. They are high level with the capacity to cast 9th level spells regardless of their hp, with two epic level pc's with super abilities that normal class features don't cover. If the Bad Kids hesitated they would be dead, they knew that, the Rat grinders tried to murder them little over an hour ago. They've hated the bad kids for years and now decided to make their vendetta known, they fucked around and found out.

Which leads me to my second point, the Bad Kids are not bullying the Rat grinders. They're not pleasant to the rat grinders, but you don't have to be nice to the people who hate you. Other than Fig, who I will admit was messed up with how she treated Ruben this year, but also the Rat Grinders did something similar, they were just bad at it, the Bad Kids mostly ignored the Rat grinders. The worst thing the other bad Kids do to the Rat Grinders is make fun of Kipperlily's name, that's it. They don't even do it in front of other students, unless they legitimately forget her name, other than that it's only in front of each other or not other students like Alewyn or Jawbone. It's not great, but that is literally all they have done.

The Rat grinders however, have done all they could to make themselves enemies of the Bad Kids. Ivy was a mean racist bitch who helped steal the cloudrider engine and place pingpong balls all over seacaster manor for the plan. Ruben tried to get the bad kids to take drugs knowing it would get them in trouble. He intentionally had frosty fair held at Gorgug's home to corrupt it, putting not only Gorgug's family in danger but countless other people. Sure Jace had a hand in that, but at best Ruben was an accomplice. Buddy was a smug creep who vandalized Kristen's locker, threatened her brother, and demeaned her and her goddess, without being corrupted by rage. Mary Ann legitimately didn't do anything wrong this season she was just there and did her best on the field as she was supposed to (not even saying this as a joke, she has literally done nothing bad on screen so it's hard to judge her like the rest). But Oisin tried to honey pot Adaine the first week of school, stole the cloudrider engine and the pingpong ball trap, and sent a whole pack of dragons on them to murder them and hundreds of other kids. Kipperlily has been goading the bad kids since the first day of school, she has tried every dirty trick to try and win. She has murdered people, not even people affiliated with the bad kids, but people like Buddy who was on her side, she's tried to murder the bad kids or at least make sure it's harder for them to come back to life if they die, she's stolen from them, she's tried to kill them, she's done everything bad the fans have accused the bad kids of but worse.

And that's just the Rat Grinder's individually. Why are the Bad Kids monsters for killing dangerous people who have tried to kill them, but the Rat Grinders aren't? The Rat Grinders literally tried to commit mass murder of their school a little more than an hour. 500 students of the Aguefort adventuring academy were in Seacaster manor when it was brought into the sky and beset by dragons. 500 innocent bystanders, almost all children, half of them younger than both parties.

I'll get to the rage stars in another post, but I just want to finish this off with, the Rat Grinders are kids, kids who are being groomed by evil men and corrupted by magic. But the Bad Kids are just kids too. They're kids who have been specifically targeted by the rat grinders. The rat grinders started this feud, the Bad Kids retaliated and were better at it. If you're going to take a shot at the king you better not miss, and the rat grinders have been missing their shots this whole season. I don't get why people are blaming the bad kids for trying to save the world but it pisses me off. I apologize for the rant but the tag is for everyone

[dustymagpie]

The floor level beast needs surgery!

The vet has finally decided - and I agree - that it is time for my stinky old man Fig to have surgery. He needs his bad eye removed, and it has got significantly worse.

The quote for this is £1,886!

We brought him home at the end of October 2022 after he was picked up as a stray by a local rescue. No microchip and not neutered, he was probably the father of many litters, considering his estimated age is 10+. He's a big boy and a former bruiser, considering all of his scars.

The highest he ever seems to jump is the bed (although this is more of a climb) and he has never been a lap cat, but he loves to lay close to you. His best trick is sitting on his back legs, waving a paw when he wants treats. He *really* likes his treats!

These days, he is a spoilt baby, going between his boxes in the living room and the bed. Throwing cat litter across the floor every chance he gets.

He is completely blind in his left eye, and the lens is detached. It has also developed a film that has only got worse this past month. At the last checkup, the vet confirmed that it had swollen further.

The surgeries will happen. When we set out to get a cat, we initially went looking for an older one to give it the best remaining years we could.

Any help with the cost of Fig's surgery is greatly appreciated.

[deathmetalunicorn1]

Time to kill everyone with Cuteness again!

Eve with a little child who dresses like the Einherjars or the gods.

That or Adam with a Gaint daughter who is super shy and somewhat childish.

-Eve couldn’t help but giggle softly, seeing you twirl around in your Halloween costume, as you had wanted to go as your favorite Einherjar warrior!

-When you had told your mama this she couldn’t help but smile, knowing that you were going to be so cute!

-Now here you were, all dressed up, ready to go out but first you wanted to go and see (Favorite) to show him your costume first!

-Lu Bu- Could only blink down at you, seeing a child friendly version of him as you beamed up at him. He was confused as to why you were dressed as him, kneeling down, “Why do you look like me?” your grin widened, excited that he liked it, “I wanted to be you for Halloween because you’re my favorite!” he couldn’t help but chuckle but he took you to Thor to show you off.

-Adam- While you couldn’t dress up exactly like him, Eve did help you make a fig leaf dress, and when you ran to him, “Papa!!” he all but melted, seeing that you were dressed up as him, complete with an apple and a bright grin on your face. It took a while to go trick or treating, as he kept wanting to take photos.

-Kojiro- Completely melted, seeing you dressed up like him, giving you a huge hug, “You look so strong Y/N! You’ve got to be the strongest swords user in the world!” you beamed, holding the hilts of your swords (foam swords), posing for him, “I wanted to dress up as you because you’re my favorite!!” he melted, almost to the point of tears, hugging you close.

-Jack- Hid his face behind his hands as he was blushing so hard, seeing you running up to him, “Lookie Jack, I’m you!” He couldn’t help but smile but at the same time he was worried, “Are you sure you want to be me?” you nodded, a grin on your face, “Why wouldn’t I? You’re always nice to me and you always dress fancy!” he chuckled softly, seeing the childlike innocence in you- you were too precious.

-Raiden- Beamed brightly, seeing you in a child friendly version of a sumo suit, with lines painted on your body, looking just like him when he was fighting Shiva and you beamed, “I’m the strongest!!” he boomed with laughter, picking you up, tossing you into the air, listening to your delighted squeals. Shiva held his heart after he received the photo of you and Raiden posing together.

-Buddha- The moment he saw you he couldn’t help but grin, “Ooh looks like I’ve got some competition for treats tonight!” you beamed, giving him a twirl, “Do you like it? I wanted to be you because you’re my favorite!” Buddha felt his heart squeeze as he collapsed to his knees, holding his chest, you were going to kill him with cuteness.

-Qin Shi Huang- Instantly dropped to his knees, bowing to you, “My emperor!” you giggled, running over as he opened his arms, hugging you close before you twirled, showing off your costume, “Do you like it? I wanted to be my favorite person for Halloween!” QSH was quick to get a swelled head, gushing to everyone that he was your favorite.

-Nikola- Immediately collapsed to his knees then to his side, tears welling on how adorable you looked! He couldn’t believe you dressed up as him as Thomas and Isaac were praising you for the costume, making you beam brightly as you spoke, “Nikola’s my favorite person so I wanted to be him!” Nikola was sure he was going to die from cuteness.

-Leonidas- Immediately was roaring with laughter, seeing you dressed up like him, even with a toy shield, a bright grin on your face, “Now who are you supposed to be?” you put your free hand on your hip, “I’m Leonidas- King of Sparta! And Y/N’s favorite person!” his soldiers couldn’t help but smile, thinking you were adorable while Leonidas grinned down at you- you were so cute!

[dullgecko]

I think the Bad Kids and their parents often have to look after each other. Just like family.

(AKA I never see bad kid parents headcanons so have mine)

Like, the parents help all the kiddos out, with meds and patience and love.

But Jawbone still sometimes gets shaky from withdrawal, and the Mordred kids all know to help him make meals when he can't hold anything. He goes far off and away and Adaine helps him with the same grounding tricks he taught her. (He can't be put on medication because there is such a strong risk he'd get addicted again (this needs to be a fic I'm realising)).

Sklonda may be better off than right after Pok died, but she still is underweight from sacrificing food so Riz could eat. She has passed out before from forgetting to eat out of habit, and has a lot of guilt around food.

Gorthalax was never meant to be trapped in a gem, so he's quite claustrophobic after multiple instances of it happening. Fig has had to coax him down from a few panic attacks when he is summoned into a smaller space.

Gilear does sometimes have night terrors, and they're VERY bad. Mostly about him dying (a lot). He wakes up screaming and the first couple times scared Fig to her core.

Sandra Lynn is forever guilty for Fig and Jawbone, and she sleep talks about it unknowingly.

Halariel is an awful mother, but she does love her darling boy. She also has withdrawal symptoms.

Bill is bipolar, although he is medicated.

Wilma and Digby are... Wilma and Digby, I really don't think they have any specific issues other than feeling disconnected from their big beautiful boy.

But like these parents have gone through so much man. Nobody thinks about it.

Jawbone feels really lucky that he met the kids in the first place, and feels like a bit of a burden when his past comes back to bite him in such a bad way sometimes. At the very least he has medical insurance so he can get his problems dealth with professionally but sometimes there's nothing they can do except ride it out with him. They make sure he has spaces where he's comfortable and safe (and wont accidentally wolf-out on anyone) and make sure he stays fed and hydrated until he feels better. Once he does he makes sure to give his girls the BIGGEST hugs to show he appreciates them (he gives the best hugs).

Sklonda sacrificed a lot for Riz after Pok died, and Riz realised she was doing this when he was still fairly young. She doesn't know that he was doing his best to make sure she was fed too (and he will never tell her that on some of the nights he said he wasnt hungry so she would eat he was dumpster diving in secret). Now that he's earning money of his own with his detective job he makes sure to sneak an extra twenty into her purse every now and then so she'll buy herself something for lunch. The other parents make sure to send Riz home from sleepovers and outings with armfulls of leftovers too so she has some food in the house she has to eat before it goes bad.

Gortholax gets anxious if anyone wears jewelery with stones larger than a centimeter or so across. None of the other parents will wear any when they meet up, and all the bad kids will only wear solid metal bands, pendants or studs as their jewelery. They hold any bad kid and family get togethers in big open spaces so he feels more comfortable.

Poor Gilear needs a hug, but things are getting better for him now that he lives at Seacaster manor (and his daughter and not-stepson-yet arent dragging him around on horrifying nightmare adventures).

Sandra Lynn has some pretty deep-seated issues revolving around faithfulness and commitment, but Jawbone and Lydia are helping her work through them somewhat. She feels lucky that Jawbone is such an understanding partner, and her friends are lovely as well.

Hallarial spent so much of Fabians life being drunk that she's not really sure how to mother him now that she's trying to be sober. He's basically an adult, so she defaults to trying to more or less treat him like one even though he's starving for parental affection after his dads death. She hasn't spent much time around the other parents so they havent managed to scold her for her behaviour yet, but Gilear is trying his best to steer her in the right direction.

Bill, the absoloutly UNHINGED pirate captain being one of the only parents to sortof have his shit together is hilarious. No notes. He acts like that for the aesthetics. He loves his darling boy! He's loving his afterlife! He loved his life!

Wilma and Digby are precious and are doing their best. They tend to be the ones to help the other parents out the most, and scold them when they need to so they'll act right by their kids.

[catadromously]

trick or treat ! 🌟

The door opens with a howl...

✧ [ACQUIRED: 1 Fig (+ Complementary Symbiont Wasp)]

[askthebadkidz]

whats everyone dressing up as for halloween?

don’t tell anyone I’m awake, I was going to get more tea.

Fig and Kristen decided it would be funny to dress “opposite” (Fig as an angel and Kristen as a demon).

Adaine is going to be a werewolf because Jawbone’s her dad now.

Gorgug is going to be some kind of horror movie guy. Jason? Leather face man thing I dunno, I don’t watch horror movies.

Fabian keeps saying he’s too good for dressing up for Halloween but Adaine says she had a vision of him going trick or treating with me in a pirate costume. :}c

and I’m gonna be a bat! I had Fig buy me the costume!

-Riz

[bl0ssomsakura]

HLC characters like cat breeds part 2

Here is part 2 with the missing characters, you can check part 1 at the link below. Thanks a lot @hogwartslegacyreactions! Normally, I would just request the content, but I was so captive with the idea that I took the risk. Thanks for inspiring me!

Lucan Brattleby: Selkirk Rex

Its main feature is its curly, wool-like coat, which is why it is sometimes called a cat in sheep's clothing. The breed is quite intelligent and learns tricks and commands quickly, as long as it receives a treat or affection in return. Many say that the Selkirk maintains its posture from kitten to adult, being playful and active for a long time.

Professor Fig: American shorthair

This is considered a docile and affectionate cat breed, which attaches itself to the family and gets along very well with children. Very intelligent and patient, the American Shorthair learns commands very easily. Known for its iron health and long life expectancy, it often lives into its 20s.

Professor Weasley: Japanese bobtail

This is an active, docile, kind and extremely intelligent cat breed, they are able to learn their own name and answer for it. They are sociable kittens and feel better in the company of people. Although they are not lap cats, they want to be around, they will sit next to you and sleep in your bed. Japanese Bobtail cats are house keepers and are not easily intimidated.

Professor Sharp: Somali cat

This breed has a wild appearance, with large ears, bushy tail, reddish and long hair, often resembling a fox. They are cunning and smart cats. Extremely observant, it is known to manipulate its human parents in order to obtain its desires, mainly a full pot of food. Because it is a fussy cat, it can be difficult to train and requires effort and dedication. They are not lap cats, generally don't like to be held and will wiggle until you let go.

Extra

MC's: Domestic shorthair (moggie)

A moggie is a non-pedigree cat of mixed or unknown ancestry. They can be the result of mixtures of different breeds, so they have some similarities with some types of kittens or they can have unique personality and characteristics. They're friendly, low maintenance and generally pretty healthy. This makes them ideal pets for everyone.

[figurecollection]

trick or treat :3

Here you go! Miku Hatsune Villian ver. Prize Figure by FuRyu!

[ancient-rome-au]

Trick or treat! I don’t have a pic of me in my costume, but I do have a pic of who I’m going to be!

you need to find your twin...

Anyways, Happy Halloween! Have a fig sweet:

[hinotorihime]

The Tropical Zodiac And You: Or, Why Your Sun Sign Is Not Goddamn Ophiuchus

let's start off by laying out a couple of base assumptions:

we are not discussing or litigating the accuracy of astrology as a divinatory system here; we are solely looking at the basic mathematical principles that underpin the system

because we live on earth, looking out at the rest of the universe, we are working primarily from a geocentric perspective, treating, for the purposes of our math, the earth as a fixed point and everything else as moving

i am primarily familiar with and discussing traditional western astrology, which is derived from the ancient arabic and greek systems, and ultimately via them from the babylonian system

so, the thing that people fundamentally misunderstand about the traditional "tropical" zodiac as used in western astrology is that it is not actually a system for dividing space; it is a system for dividing time.

let's define a couple of terms and concepts really quick. the earth moves in two ways:

fig. 1: 24-hour rotational versus 365-day orbital periods of the earth

note the axial tilt of the earth: the roughly 23.5 degree difference between the rotational axis+equator and the orbital path ("ecliptic") and its perpendicular. this axial tilt is why we have different seasons happening between the northern and southern hemispheres.

now, from a geocentric perspective—that is, to someone who is standing on earth, looking up at the sky, what those two rotations look like is this:

fig. 2: the sun moves east to west over the course of the day, while the stars move west to east over the course of a year.

we'll call the east-to-west movement of the sun and other planets (from Greek planetes, "wandering stars") primary motion, and the slower west-to-east motion of the backdrop of "fixed stars" throughout the year secondary motion.

AC, DC, MC, and IC stand for, respectively, the ascendant point, the descendant point, the medio coeli or midheaven/zenith, and the imum coeli or nadir.

please note that, while the earth's actual orbit around the sun is an ellipse, from a geocentric perspective all the arcs of the various celestial bodies just look like circles!

you may recall from your high school geometry days that a circle, by definition, has 360 degrees in it. (or, the other way around, one degree is defined as 1/360th of a circle.)

you may also recall, from kindergarten and also figure 1 above, that the earth's orbit around the sun, aka the year, consists of 365(ish) days.

thus, you can pretty obviously determine that if you were to track the sun's position at a fixed time of day, say, sunrise, against the secondary motion of the backdrop of fixed stars, the sun would move in comparison to those stars at an average rate of just about 1 degree per day. (a little faster or slower at certain times of the year, due to the elliptical orbit—which is why the trick below works—but overall averaging.)

fig. 3: the west-to-east movement of a reference star compared to the sun.

alright cool. so we know that we can divide up the ecliptic path of the sun throughout the year into slices that correspond to lengths of time!

well, there just so happen to be four really obvious points where it makes sense to split the year up.

fig. 4: the four cardinal points of the ecliptic/earth's orbit.

do you see it?

HERE IS THE TRICK:

we peg the moment that we start tracking the sun's path around the ecliptic to the exact moment of the northern hemisphere's spring equinox.

we then divide the ecliptic in half. we peg our 180 degree point to the fall equinox.

the 90 degree point gets pegged to the summer solstice and the 270 degree point to the winter solstice.

now our year AND our ecliptic path are divided into fourths.

split each of those fourths into thirds. we end up with TWELVE (12) EQUAL 30-DEGREE SLICES OF THE ECLIPTIC based on the TIME it takes for the sun-earth relationship to go from equinox to solstice to equinox again.

fig. 5: the ecliptic divided into twelve equal slices, or "signs".

These twelve EQUAL, TIME-BASED slices of the ecliptic ARE THE "SIGNS" OF THE TROPICAL ZODIAC.

"Sign I" is defined, in this system, as exactly the length of time that it takes to get ONE THIRD OF THE WAY from the spring equinox to the summer solstice.

"Sign II" is defined as exactly the length of time that it takes to get through the SECOND THIRD OF THE WAY between the spring equinox and the summer solstice.

and so on.

now "sign I, sign II, etc" is not a very memorable list of names for these slices of time. (especially if you're planning to assign particular meanings and symbolism to them and use them for divination as well as time-keeping.)

remember our concept of reference stars, used to track the sun's yearly motion?

the fixed stars appear to move throughout the year, west to east (secondary motion). thus, at any given point of the year, some stars are near the ascendant, some stars are near the midheaven, and some aren't visible at all.

the ancient babylonians had a habit of naming sections of the sky after the reference stars those sections contained. for example, in ancient babylonia, the stars that were near the ascendant at the moment of the spring equinox were part of the constellation we now call "Taurus, the Bull". similar reference stars gave their names to the other cardinal points (the summer solstice began the sign of the Lion, the fall equinox began the sign of the Scorpion, and the winter solstice began the sign of the Goat).

then, the greek astronomers got their hands on this system. "fucking excellent," they said, because if ancient greek philosophers loved one thing it was nice, neat systems for making sense of the world, and they immediately started making the babylonian system neater.

one of the problems they ran into was a little thing called the precession of the equinoxes: because of what we now know is a slight wobble in the earth's rotational axis, the vernal and autumnal equinoctial points slowly drift in reference to the fixed stars, at a rate of approximately 1 degree every 72 years. by the time the "naming cardinal points by their reference stars" system had gotten to the greeks, the vernal point had slipped into being closest to the stars of the constellation Aries, the Ram.

"okay, here's what we'll do," said the greeks. "we'll do the thing where we divide the year up into equal sections, and name each section after a reference star along the path of the ecliptic. but what we'll do is, in order to not have precession fuck up the naming system after a few centuries, is we'll divorce the names from the reference stars.

"so we'll follow the babylonians' lead and call Sign I, the slice of time that starts at the spring equinox and goes exactly one third of the way to the next summer solstice, 'the sign of the Ram'. that will be much easier to remember than 'the slice of time that starts at the spring equinox and goes exactly one third etc etc'."

"and then—here's the trick—" they continued, "we will define 'the sign of the Ram' as ALWAYS starting exactly at the vernal equinox no matter what. we'll just define 0 degrees Aries as the vernal equinox point no matter how much the original reference stars drift. then we don't have to worry about the geometry getting fucked up over time, since we all know that our culture and civilization is going to last forever and ever."

and so they did.

fig. 6: the twelve signs with their mnemonic names.

now, at some point, the astronomers on the indian subcontinent said "actually that's dumb. we should be correcting for precession," and started using the sidereal zodiac, which sets the beginning of the twelve equal 30-degree slices of the ecliptic to the actual sidereal ("by the stars") position of the current vernal point, which at the moment is somewhere in the constellation of pisces; in other words, vedic astrology treats the zodiac as a division of space, where western astrology treats it as a division of time.

however, please note that

a) vedic and western astrology differ in a lot of other ways, and are not necessarily cross-compatible without a good deal of elbow grease, and

b) even the sidereal zodiac still conceives of the zodiac as fundamentally a series of twelve equal slices of the ecliptic with mnemonic names.

there are plenty of constellations that lie partially along the ecliptic that didn't get a thirty-degree slice named after them. ophiuchus is one of them, and that is okay! it's not a secret thirteenth zodiac sign, because that's not what zodiac signs are. the constellations are a mnemonic, and in the time-based tropical system especially, there's barely a connection anymore between the physical constellation and the sign named after it.

fig. 7: using individual fixed stars (also located by their position along the ecliptic) in astrology is beyond the scope of this post but it is a thing.

[fourseasonsfigs]

Two Naughty Ghosts

We're getting closer and closer to Halloween, and who knows, one evening you too... could come face to face with a ghost!

I don't know who is more scared here, this ghost or our two playful little figs!

I laughed when I opened this box - their faces are just too funny!

The set came in two pieces - Zhehan and Gong Jun together as one fig and the hollow ghost. The two figs aren't removable - they're permanently like this.

We'll do a quick spin around on these two before we tackle the ghost!

We have a cute GJ❤️ZZH patch on Junjun's shirt pocket here, but not too much in the way of other detail on the clothes. No distractions from the hilarious expressions on their faces!

You can see here how the figs are stacked up. I will note the fig engineering here is great - no wobbling or concerns about this fig combo falling over backwards. It feels plenty stable to me.

I'm glad Junjun is holding onto Zhehan's ankles here, and also glad that Zhehan has so much core strength, because this is not an inherently stable position!

I find this fig set very funny - people are endlessly creative!

This fig set has the classic JZP fig proportions where Zhehan is curvy and Junjun is thin and narrow.

These are in general, chunky figs - they're pàng pàng, or 胖胖 style figs. All the English-speaking fans I know (me included) refers to them as chonks, or chonkers, to distinguish themselves from the other fat-body style figs. The chonks are also from are a particular artist that is currently all the rage in the fandom fig making circuit. This style typically sells out very quickly (sometimes within seconds).

No surprise, their expressions are very cute!

Junjun's scared face here is hilarious to me, it has so much personality! Not to be outdone, Zhehan's little shouting face here makes me laugh, and his little fang is super cute!

The bottoms-up views are never too interesting with the figs with stands, but here we go.

Both sides here - you can see Zhehan is mostly draped over Junjun, with his feet barely on his shoulders.

Zhehan's little hands are super cute. This is actually a nice view of his little fang as well!

The cute surprise here is that our two rascally boys ARE the ghost! They can pop the ghost costume on over their heads, and abracadabra....they're the ones scaring other people!

Here they are, ready to trick-or-treat! You can barely see the stand underneath the costume. There's not a ton to see with the ghost costume, so I'll just do a few pics:

I'll note that the costume is actually pretty snug...I turn the fig stack over and carefully maneuver the costume over Zhehan's outstretched hands so it fits nicely over them. It's definitely not something you just drop over their heads or push down on.

The box card that came with the set is so funny! The ghosties are actually super cute, I wish they had been a separate purchase or something, I would have totally bought them.

Come back tomorrow for more Halloween fun!

Material: Resin

Fig Count: 474

Scene Count: 31 (I don't think this counts, I would have needed a lot more ghosties)

Rating: Two rascally boys indeed

[weezeryuri]

Hii scotty. Trick or treat :]

you get an eastern prickly pear (also known as devil’s-tongue or indian fig). they have edible fruits that can be made into jams or jellies!! i like this one because it grows in northern illinois which is wild for a type of cactus

[remidyal]

D20 Bad Fic Ideas of the Day Part 4: Spookyish Month

As usual, my monthly-ish roundup of all my Bad Ideas of the Day from the D20 Fic Discord (join us here if you want, open to readers and writers!) This one, it being October, has some spooky ideas mixed in.

Previous lists of ideas: Part 3

Part 2

Part 1

Bad idea of the day, spooky edition: After an unfortunate death where nobody was able to revivify him in time, Fabian has come back as a ghost who is firmly in denial of being a ghost and none of the bad kids want to correct him for fear that he might move on if they do.

Bad idea of the day, not so spooky edition: Upon learning that of COURSE Adaine and Aelwyn weren't allowed to go trick or treating or to do costume parties as kids, the other residents of Mordred Manor take it upon themselves to make certain both of them get the full little kid halloween experience, up to and including a sugar rush to end all sugar rushes. Actually toss Kristen in there too, all three of them are getting cheesy costumes and bad candy

(Belated costume ideas, in between working: Aelwyn gets talked by Zayn into going as a goth kid. Adaine gets talked by Fig into going as a punk. Kristen decides to go in a cat costume and make your own judgement about what she's thinking re: that and Tracker.)

Bad Idea of the Day, Saint Kristen Applebees' Not At All Haunted House edition: Kristen sets up a haunted house exhibit at Mordred Manor for halloween, attempting to show children that the night and the unknown are not something that must be feared. This effect is spoiled somewhat by the fact that Mordred Manor is, quote, haunted as shit, and the ghosts can't help but show off for the children by doing things like spooky voices and making the walls bleed.

Bad idea of the day, cabin in the woods edition: The bad kids go camping for a vacation, a terrible idea given their history with forests made even worse when Adaine decides to read the only book that was in that cabin, a book bound in some kind of weird leather with a screaming face on the front… (It's the necronomicon, this is just an Evil Dead fusion idea)

Bad Idea of the Day, I Kind of Already Did This One But This Time It'd Be Accidental Edition: The Bad Kids, at some point during Freshman year, get talked by Fabian or someone into doing a blood oath with each other which REALLY bites them in the ass in sophomore year

Bad Idea of the Day, Ghost Ops edition: Needing to investigate a new business that's sprung up in New York claiming to capture ghosts, the Dream Team eventually comes to the conclusion that the only way they're going to be able to look into it is for one of them to (temporarily) die and become a ghost to take a look from the inside.

Bad idea of the day, Lost (in space) edition: The crew of the Wurst have to deal with the fact that in the wake of Plug's wedding, their spaceship has gotten deeply weirder, with the jib-jobbers replaced by things like a polar bear and a monster made entirely out of smoke.

Bad idea of the day, Marriage edition: Tired of Fig trying to plot for some way to get Gorgug into the extended Bad Kids ouroboros of a family tree, Adaine and Gorgug elope and then immediately divorce just so they can annoy everyone else by referring to each other as 'ex-wife' and 'ex-husband'

Bad idea of the day, honestly a nap sounds pretty good edition: The Bad Kids have to go find and rescue Mister Professor Headmaster Aguefort after he gets turned to stone by a Medusa-esque monster, only to find out he did it intentionally to get out of work and rest for a few weeks.

Bad idea of the day, REALLY BAD IDEA edition: The bad kids are sent to put a stop to a group that promises to give people a glimpse of the afterlife they are currently on track to end up in, because the group doesn't disclose in advance that they accomplish this via killing you and then revivifying you 54 seconds later

Bad idea of the day, sibling rivalry edition: Through divine rules dating back thousands of years, Galicaea is requiring that Cassandra select a champion from among her followers for a fight. Galicaea being a little bit of a dick, she selects one Tracker O'Shaughnessey, who is now obliged by her god to fight Cassandra's sole follower and option….

Bad idea of the day, hit them where it hurts edition: In an act of retaliation for Riz snooping into some detail of her life, Fig attempts to get petty revenge by striking out through her corporate contacts in Hell and getting his favorite brand of coffee discontinued.

Bad Idea of the Day, an Apothecary who Cares edition: In a low fantasy version of Elmville, Kristen Applebees arrives on the run from the religious sect her family is a member of to apprentice as a potion-maker. Can she make friends in this new village and maybe not get fired by flirting with her instructor and caretaker's niece?

Bad idea of the day, why is your daughter a fruit edition: In an a Crown of Candy fusion, high drama comes among one of the ruling families of Ceresia when, on her fourteenth nameday, Figueroth Faeth starts showing traits of having raspberry blood.

Bad idea of the day, Once Upon a Crime edition: The Never After crew take an accidental left turn into a frequently referenced series of stories also with a childlike morality, about a gang of car thieves, but really it's about family. They promise. Can they escape fast, or will they die to the furious characters native to these stories?

Bad idea of the day, REALLY confusing gay awakening edition: In one of my favorite general ideas, a character gets bitten by a werewolf at the Black Pit fight and fails her con save. In a reversal from my normal, in this case it's one Kristen Applebees, bitten by the girl who was her first kiss a few moments before. How does she handle this situation, and can she go to her parents or her church leaders for help safely?

Bad idea of the Day, Dead Men Tell Tales edition: A story in hell just of different people who the Bad Kids have killed over the last couple years complaining about how they died. Doreen is there for some reason

Bad idea of the day, Pirates! edition: Bill never retires and Fabian never comes to Elmville. In Junior Year, the Bad Kids (who now include Zelda in their number) are assigned to bring down the scourge of the sea and the heir he's been said to be preparing to take over after his death…

Bad idea of the Day, it's just a prank bro edition: On the first day of school, in every student's locker they get a TOP SECRET report from Arthur Aguefort about the horrific death they suffered during that school year, with him purporting that it was so bad that he had to reset time to undo it. This is entirely made up because he just wants to see, say, Gorgug's reaction to 'finding out' that his liver was devoured by sand sharks or something.

Bad idea of the day, villain crossover edition: After Gilear and Sandra Lynn divorce, rather than Hallariel Seacaster, he rebounds with a woman who doesn't quite seem to have a name and who Fig can never bring herself to look too closely at…

Bad idea of the day, Trick or Treat edition: Aguefort has a tradition, missed in the bad kid's freshman year because he was dead, of setting a box of potions outside of his office on Halloween, warded against Identify and with a dazzling array of effects, from the beneficial to the inconvenient to the fatal

Bad Idea of the day, Play Stupid Games Win Stupid Prizes edition: Needing to find something to fill out a dark and stormy evening where Mordred loses power, the Mordred Manor crew finds a board game that had been there ever since whoever the prior residents were. All of the caster-y sorts are immediately able to tell it's cursed, but aren't sure what the curse will do, so out of boredom they start to play it just to see what will happen.

BONUS BAD IDEA of the day: Palimpsests make people into data. Data can be copied. Instead of a kidnapping plot, Kalvaxus uses it to create disposable soldiers out of some of his minions

Bad idea of the day, In Space No One Can Hear You Scream edition: The crew of the Wurst find a collection of classic Earth horror movies, and Gunnie decides to make a change to the slot machines in the Casino so that one out of a hundred times on a loss a chest burster pops out of the slot machine, bloodspray included