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izzyfandoms · 4 years

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Sleepality - Inky Freckles

SHIPS: Sleepality, background Virmile and Thomgan, and mentioned Dukeceit (though neither of them show up)

WARNINGS: Remus sends one text message with an implied threat (not towards the recipient), very very background sympathetic deceit and remus (they aren't acc in any scenes), mild swearing

GENERAL TAGLIST: @quillfics42 @ajdraws0430 @phantomofthesanderssides @creativity-killed-thekitten @phlying-squirrel @sly-is-my-name-loving-is-my-game @because-were-fam-ily @imtryingthisout @a-creepycookie @emo-disaster @littlestr @spooky-scary-virgil @fuyel @mimsidoodles @soupgremlin @aroaceagenderfluid @birdsbookshiddeninrealbirdsskin @quirkalurk @gingers-trashy-stuff @iinyxtello @justaqueercactus @melodiread

Masterpost

Patton chewed distractedly on the end of his pen, tapping his foot on his bedroom floor as his eyes remained on his clock, watching as the seconds and the minutes ticked by.

Five minutes. Ten seconds.

Five minutes and ten seconds until the moment he turned sixteen.

January 15th, 1:46 am on the dot: the exact date and time of Patton’s birth. Precisely sixteen years after that moment, his soul would open up, and the bond between him and his soulmate would be formed, like an invisible string from one soul to the other. Any ink spilled on Patton’s skin would show up on his soulmate’s, too, and vice versa. Of course, nothing would happen if Patton’s soulmate wasn’t also sixteen yet, but it was still a big moment in his young life.

(If he even had a soulmate, that was. Most people didn’t, but Patton wouldn’t lie and say he wasn’t hopeful.)

Four minutes. Thirty-six seconds.

Patton got up from his desk, pacing around the room a few times before sitting down on his bed, leaning back against the pillows and pulling his knees to his chest. Despite the coolness of his room, and the goose-bumps on his arms, he was dressed in a worn blue t-shirt and pyjama shorts, revealing as much skin as possible, just in case. His father, Roman, had gifted him a new pack of pens – the ones made specially to be safe for skin – and he’d picked out the glittery light blue one, his favourite colour, ready to write.

Three minutes. Twelve seconds.

“Come on, come on, come on,” Patton mumbled.

Three minutes. Seven seconds.

He yawned loudly, stretching and almost dropping his pen. It was late – much later than he usually stayed up. Patton was a well-behaved kid; he went to bed when his father told him to, never stayed out past curfew. He was usually fast asleep by 11pm at latest, so this was rather unusual for him.

Tonight was one of a kind, after all.

Two minutes. Fifty-one seconds.

The tick of the clock was maddeningly slow, every second seeming to take hours. Patton couldn’t wait for when he didn’t have to keep watching.

He reached over to his bedside table, taking his phone and switching it on.

There was one new message, from his uncle Remus, sent a few minutes ago.

UNCLE REMUS

tell your soulmate if he ever hurts you ill rip off his dick and shove it down his throat

Patton sighed, switching off his phone and placing it back down beside him. He wasn’t sure why his uncle was so certain that he had a soulmate – he claimed it was because he was psychic, though his husband, Janus, had chided him and told him not to get Patton’s hopes up.

It was hard not to be hopeful. Impossible.

One minute. Forty-nine seconds.

Patton chewed nervously on his lip, looking over his freckled arms and wondering what exactly he’d write to his soulmate.

Would a simple ‘hello’ suffice?

There was no point in writing a whole paragraph, especially when it was statistically unlikely that Patton even had a soulmate – and even if he did, perhaps they were younger, and their connection wouldn’t start until his soulmate turned sixteen, too.

One minute. Zero seconds.

A minute. A minute. A minute. Just a minute until Patton (maybe) talked to his soulmate for the first time. That was so little time – though it felt like so much.

Patton couldn’t help but burst into delighted laughter, and he was sure that if anybody was watching him, they’d think he was insane. The hope bubbled up inside him, like a cup overflowing with water, unable to be suppressed.

Fifty seconds.

He moved forward, and then lay down on his back, spreading his arms out like a starfish.

Patton tried to keep the hope down, tried to keep it from spilling over even more. Or maybe that was nausea, swirling in his stomach, but it almost felt too good to be that. Too happy. Too excited. Both, maybe.

Forty seconds.

Patton twirled the pen in his hand.

It slipped from his fingers, hitting the carpet with a quiet thump.

He bent down – wobbling slightly and nearly tumbling right off his bed – picking it back up and then sitting up again. He moved so his back was pressed against the wall, and tilted his head up to look at the pattern at the ceiling, counting each swirl.

He glanced back at the clock.

Twenty seconds.

His heart thumped loudly in his chest, and his eyes remained on the clock, watching it tick.

Ten seconds.

Nine.

Eight.

Seven.

Six.

Five.

Four.

Three.

Two.

One.

Zero.

Zero. Zero. Zero.

Patton sat up straight, squeezing the pen tightly, so tightly that his nails dug into his palm.

He pulled off the cap, dropping it on the bed beside him and holding the tip just above his wrist. His hand shook (nervousness or excitement? Both) as he pondered what to write for another moment.

He pressed the pen to his skin.

Hello?

Hopefully that was good enough.

Patton waited a few seconds, almost a whole minute, and then sighed, leaning back so his head hit the wall and closing his eyes. He was disappointed, but he knew that it was his own fault. He shouldn’t have let himself get so hopeful. Maybe he didn’t have a soulmate – that was alright, his uncles weren’t soulmates and yet they were wonderfully happy together.

(But his brother, Emile, did have a soulmate, and there was something amazing about the way he and Virgil could practically read each other’s minds, communicating effortlessly without saying a word. Patton wanted that. He really, desperately wanted that, more than anything else in the world.)

He wouldn’t cry.

He wanted to cry, but he wouldn’t.

His lower lip trembled.

All of a sudden, Patton felt a funny sensation on his wrist, like someone else was writing on it – the non-existent pen so light on his skin he almost couldn’t feel it. Almost.

Patton’s eyes shot open, and he immediately lifted his wrist to stare at it, wide-eyed.

His breath stuttered at the words now written in black ink just below his greeting.

holy shit

Before Patton could truly process what was going on, before he could regain his breath, the sensation resumed, and more words began to appear below those first ones.

guess im ur soulmate lol

Patton couldn’t help but giggle, practically vibrating with excitement.

He picked his pen back up, ignoring the slight stain he’d left on his bedsheets. He’d spilt enough juice and milk on his bed to care about one little stain, especially right now, when he had a much more important thing to focus on.

Oh my gosh!!!!!!

Soulmate!!!

Im Patton!

Patton Picani!!!

thats a lot of exclamation marks babe

Nervousness tinged the edges of Patton’s bubble of excitement, enough that he almost didn’t notice the use of the word ‘babe’, which made his heart skip a beat.

sorry

not a bad thing

its cute

Patton bit his lip, wiggling excitedly as his heartrate increased. He watched as the words continued coming. They were messy, but Patton was sure the handwriting was the prettiest he’d ever seen, though he could admit that he might’ve been a little biased. He would read a million books written in this handwriting.

im Remy

Sanders

my bdays acc the 16th lol

tomorrow

i turn 17

Its my birthday today!!!!

Only after Patton wrote that did he realise how obvious it was – of course it was his birthday – but he didn’t particularly care. The ticking of the clock had faded into background noise, and it was hard to believe it had ever annoyed him so much, though it was impossible for him to think of anything negative right now. He was floating on cloud nine.

happy birthday

were running out of arm space

id have to strip to get leg room

wanna gimme ur number?

Okay!!!

They quickly exchanged phone numbers, and Patton immediately grabbed his phone, creating a new contact labelled ‘Remy’ followed by seven colourful hearts – a rainbow of love. But before he could text Remy, Remy texted him first.

REMY:

what time is it for u

Patton glanced at the clock.

PATTON:

Almost 2am

REMY:

same

Realisation struck Patton, and his eyes widened with guilt and concern. He bit his lip, and quickly resumed typing.

PATTON:

Oh my gosh im so sorry!!!! Did I wake you up?

REMY:

nah babe dw bout it

i was already up

i always sleep late

PATTON:

That sounds unhealthy :(

Get some rest!!!

REMY:

u sound like my dads lol

PATTON:

What are they like?

REMY:

my dads?

its just the three of us

their names are logan and thomas and theyre the sappiest motherfuckers on earth

gotta love em tho

theyre gonna be real thrilled when they find out bout u

bet theyll love you right away

wbu

whats ur fam like

PATTON:

Oh! Well ive got my dad

His name’s Roman

He works in theatre!!! Hes so cool

And I’ve got my older brother Emile hes 22 and hes a therapist

He uses cartoons to help people!!

Hes also got a soulmate his name is Virgil and hes a florist

They got married last year and the wedding was so much fun!!! So many pretty flowers!!!

And I’ve got my uncle Remus hes my dads twin hes a writer and his husband Janus is a lawyer theyre also both so cool!!!

And that’s everyone!!

REMY:

if theyre all as sweet as u sugar then im sure ur all v popular

PATTON:

Well we do have dinner with our neighbours a lot!!!

Mrs Smith gives me lots of candy

Its often stale but I eat it anyway cos shes just so sweet!

Sweeter than her candy lol

Patton’s door suddenly swung open, and he jumped, his phone slipping from his fingers and landing right in his lap. His father, Roman, stepped inside, yawning and rubbing his eyes, wincing at the bright light that hung from the ceiling.

“You still up, Pat?” He asked sleepily.

He squinted, his eyes landing on the still-on phone in Patton’s lap.

“Who are you te- by the glittering horn of a unicorn! Is that writing on your arm?” He sat down, taking Patton’s arm and looking over the words. He then glanced back up at his son, his eyes shining excitedly. “You have a soulmate,” He breathed.

“I do!” Patton exclaimed, bouncing excitedly in place. “His name is Remy and he turns seventeen tomorrow and he’s just so cool!”

Roman beamed. “Wow, I’m so incredibly happy for you, Pat!” He said. Then, he chuckled, his smile turning a little teasing. “But... it’s late, and you really should be sleeping. And I’m betting that Remy should be, too.”

Patton pouted a little. “But it’s a Friday! I don’t have any school tomorrow.”

“But the family’s coming over tomorrow at 10 for your birthday, and I know you. You’re gonna be all grumbly in the morning, instead of our happy-pappy Patton, and that’ll be even worse the less sleep you get.”

Patton drooped, like a little wilting flower, but couldn’t deny that his father was right.

“Okay...” He frowned, picking up his phone, switching off the screen without looking at it, and holding it against his chest. “Can I at least say night to Remy, first?”

Roman smiled. “Sure.”

He leant forward, squeezing Patton’s arm supportively, before pressing a quick kiss to his son’s forehead. Roman gave him one last smile, affectionately ruffling his hair, before pulling back and standing up. He brushed the non-existent dirt from his pyjamas.

“Goodnight, Pat,” He said. “And happy birthday.”

In the excitement that was talking to Remy, Patton had almost forgotten that it was his birthday, and he blinked in surprise as Roman left the room, quietly shutting the door behind him.

Patton then took a deep breath, before switching his phone back on to see whatever messages he’d missed.

REMY:

u rlly r an angel huh

PATTON:

Awwwww!!

Your making me blush

REMY:

thats the goal babe

PATTON:

Such a flirt!!

REMY:

im gonna be ten times more flirty when i get to see ur pretty face in person

PATTON:

How do you know Im pretty?

You havent even seen me yet

REMY:

i can just tell

im awesome like that

i bet ur the cutest person in the whole damn world

the whole damn universe

but while were on the subject of seeing each other

were waiting to meet naturally right?

PATTON:

Yeah!

Its good luck

REMY:

yea

PATTON:

Welp!!!

Dad says I gotta go to sleep now!!

Night <3<3<3

REMY:

night xoxox

Patton switched off his phone, placing it on his bedside table and getting off the bed. He wobbled slightly as he stood up, suddenly realising how tired he really was, and quickly walked up to his fairy lights, switching them on before switching off the main light. He then climbed back into bed, settling in the soft nest of pastel pillows and blankets, and his last thought before he fell asleep was of his soulmate.

He barely knew Remy, but he already couldn’t wait to spend the rest of his life with him.

***

The sound of the alarm from Remy’s phone rang through the room, waking him up suddenly. His immediate reaction was to groan, shutting it off quickly and then returning to the warm comfort of his mattress and pillows and blanket. It was the weekend, he had no plans, so if his dads wanted him up, they could come in and get him up themselves. Remy wanted to sleep.

Then, the memories of the night before flooded back to him, and he shot up in bed, pulling out his arm and staring at it wide-eyed.

The words Patton had written last night had now been washed away – likely to leave room for new words and new conversations – whilst Remy’s words still remained, though now a little smudged and faded. The only sign that Patton’s words had ever been there in the first place was the new word on his wrist, just below his palm, in baby blue, like the ones before.

Morning <3

Remy grinned, jumping out of bed much more enthusiastically than he usually did, grabbing the black pen on his bedside table and rushing to the bathroom, thankfully not bumping into either of his dads on the way there.

He washed his arms as quickly as he could, leaving them a little sore and red, though he didn’t care, and uncapped his pen with his teeth, leaving the lid in his mouth.

mornin

!!!!!

Do you always get up this late?

Remy laughed. The handwriting was a little larger and a little neater than his, and each i was dotted with a heart, which made him even more convinced that his soulmate was probably the cutest person on earth.

what time is it

10:30

later usually

what time did u get up

8:30

oof

i could never

What do you do for school then?

suffer

Remy took the pen lid out of his mouth, pocketing it and twirling the uncapped pen between his fingers, watching as more light blue words appeared on his arm. The sensation was feather-light, barely there, but impossible to ignore.

Aww no!!

I don’t want you to suffer :(

dw babe ive got coffee

life saver

id die without it

100%

Well make sure you don’t drink too much!!!!

Its bad for you!!

dw my dad always tells me that

he keeps an eye on it

Which one?

logan

Okay

There was a brief pause, and Remy almost continued writing, but he got the feeling that Patton wasn’t done, so he just waited patiently, tapping his foot against the tiled bathroom floor.

Do you mind if I doodle on my arms?

I usually do when Im bored but I thought Id ask

I wont if you don’t want me to tho

go ahead

what do u doodle?

I usually just connect my freckles

Like little constellations!!!!

It was impossible to keep the grin on Remy’s face from widening – Patton's enthusiasm was adorable and infectious – and he sat down on the edge of the bathtub, crossing one leg over the other as he pressed his pen to his skin and continued writing.

u got a lot of freckles?

Yup!

Theyre everywhere

everywhere?

Yeah!

one day

im gonna kiss every single one of your freckles

(Perhaps that was a little bold for only their second conversation, but Remy was a natural flirt, and Patton was his soulmate, after all. He’d back down at any sign of discomfort, but so far Patton had seemed receptive.)

every single one

Thats a lot of kisses

not enough

but itll be a good start

A little, swirly scribble appeared just beside the words Remy had written – the universal key-smash equivalent for soulmates writing on their skin. Just the thought that he was already able to fluster Patton so easily made Remy very, very happy. He grinned.

Gtg! Presents time!

Ill talk to you later <3<3<3

later xoxo

Remy fished the pen lid back out of his pocket, capping the pen and pocketing it. He then strolled back out of the bathroom, down the stairs, and towards the kitchen.

His fathers were both sat at the kitchen table, eating breakfast and talking. Their legs were pressed together under the table, and it was clear they’d just been flirting. Both Logan and Thomas looked up when Remy entered the room, surprised.

“What kind of natural disaster got you up before midday?” Thomas joked.

Remy waved his arm, showing off the writing, and Logan choked on his coffee. Thomas patted his back a few times worriedly, and Remy waited impatiently for the conversation to resume, tapping his foot against the floor.

“Is that what I think it is?” Logan asked incredulously, once he was breathing again.

Remy nodded. “Yup. Can I make coffee?”

Thomas nodded slowly, but it was clear he was much more focused on the previous topic at hand.

“You have a soulmate?” He asked. “Oh my gosh! What’s their name? Aren’t you gonna tell us about them?”

“Well, his name’s Patton,” Remy began, heading towards the coffee machine and immediately getting to work to make himself a large mug. “It’s his birthday today – it was actually, like, 2am, or something – and he’s real cute. I think you’ll both like him.”

Thomas exchanged a look with his husband – the former much more openly thrilled, whilst the latter looked more confused, though undeniably pleased. He then stood up, opening his arms immediately.

“I think this calls for a family hug,” Thomas grinned.

Logan sighed, but put his own coffee mug back down, getting up obediently.

Remy groaned. “Really? Before my coffee? Do I have to?”

“Yup! Right now,” Thomas said, wrapping one arm around Logan’s waist and resting his chin on his head, keeping his other arm outstretched, awaiting their son. “This is a big moment! It calls for a family hug. C’mere.”

“There is no point refusing, Remy,” Logan said dryly. “I learnt that a long time ago.”

“Aww, you love me.”

“Of course. That is why we got married, after all.”

Remy groaned again. “Are you two really flirting, right now? Gross.”

“Well, if you want us to stop flirting, you’re gonna have to join the hug.”

Remy sighed exaggeratedly, dragging his feet as he walked up to his dads, reluctantly joining the family hug. Then, he pulled back as quickly as he could get away with, making a face and turning back to the coffee machine. He quickly made himself a large mug – with excessive amounts of milk and sugar, something his father would usually criticise, though he seemed to turn a blind eye for today.

Remy then sat down at the table, beside Thomas, sipping eagerly at his coffee and leaning back in his chair.

His fathers didn’t take their eyes off of his arm, clearly reading the words, and after about a minute, Remy rolled his eyes, placing the coffee on his table and crossing his arms.

“What are you looking at?”

“Attitude, Remy,” Thomas sighed. “Be nice. And we’re looking at your arm because we’re excited! You have a soulmate, that’s a really big deal! We should celebrate.”

Remy perked up. “Celebrate?”

Logan nodded in agreement. “Perhaps tonight we could have dinner at the Italian place that you like.”

“Ooh, the one with that fancy pasta?”

“Weren’t we planning on going there tomorrow?” Thomas asked his husband.

Remy blinked, surprised. “We were?”

Thomas blinked, and then gave his husband a slightly sheepish smile. “I don’t think I was supposed to tell you that.”

Logan sighed. “Well, I think we can put that off for tomorrow, then. Today... you may invite a few friends over.” Remy opened his mouth, but Logan quickly continued, interrupting him before he could speak. “Three friends, maximum. No parties.”

Remy pouted. “Only three? Lame.”

“If you complain, we’ll bring it down to two.”

“Three sounds great!”

***

Patton picked up his phone, holding it to his ear as he paced casually around his room.

“Emile!” He greeted. “How are you?”

“Happy birthday, Pat!” Emile greeted cheerfully, and Patton could practically hear the usual smile on his face. “And I’m doing great. Virgil invited his brother to dinner yesterday, so that was fun, and I had a real breakthrough with one of my clients, too. You?”

“I’m good! Hey, do you think this counts as Remy and my anniversary? I mean, I know we haven’t actually really met, yet, but it’s been a year since we first spoke, and we are soulmates. Does that count? Would it be weird to count it?”

Emile hummed. “I think that if you want it to count, it counts.”

“That’s a bit vague,” Patton sighed.

Emile laughed. “That’s just how it works, I’m afraid. How is Remy anyway? It’s his birthday tomorrow, right?”

Patton perked up at the opportunity to talk about his soulmate. “Remy’s great! He got a new job at the Starbucks near his house; he’s pretty excited about it. And yup, it’s his birthday tomorrow! He turns eighteen. It’s a funny coincidence, isn’t it? That our birthdays are so close?”

“It’s actually a lot more common for soulmates to have these similarities than you’d think,” Emile said. “Close birthdays, close locations, things like that. I mean, Virgil and I were both born in the same hospital.”

“Really? Oh, that’s cool!” Patton smiled.

He sat down on his bed, pulling his legs up to sit cross-legged, and moving so his back was against the wall, half-sitting on one of his pillows.

“Yup! I’ve researched a lot about these things,” Emile said. “And- oh, Virgil, there you are!”

Patton heard rustling on the other end of the line, like Emile was temporarily putting his phone down, probably to greet and kiss his husband. He waited patiently, humming a song from the Steven Universe movie and drumming his fingers against his leg. His eyes scanned the various words written across his arms. Shiny black and glittery light blue. There were doodles, too – lines connecting the dots of his freckles, done by himself, and little stars and moons and hearts by Remy.

Then the rustling resumed, more movement, and Patton stopped humming.

“Morning, Pat,” Virgil greeted.

Patton smiled. “Virgil! How’s work going?”

“Not bad. I helped a guy arrange a hate-bouquet for his ex-boyfriend yesterday, so that was fun.”

“Sounds interesting!”

Virgil hummed in agreement, and it sounded like he was nodding. “I’m gonna hand the phone back to Emile, now. Happy birthday, kid.”

“Thanks!”

There was another moment of rustling, and then Emile returned.

“Okay, Virgil and I have to get to work,” Emile said. “We’re stopping by later for dinner, dad already knows. And, before you ask, no I will not tell you what your gift is, you’re gonna have to wait and see.”

Patton pouted. “Aww, okay. Bye!”

“Bye!”

Patton hung up the phone, before switching over to the texting app, and opening up his conversation with Remy.

PATTON

Hey im running out of space

So im gonna clean my arm

Can you too?

Remy responded almost immediately, as he usually did.

REMY

sure

one sec

Patton smiled, getting up and pocketing his phone. He headed over to the bathroom, quickly scrubbing away the words on his arms (he could leave the ones still remaining on his legs and torso, for now), and watching as Remy’s words disappeared at about the same time.

He then returned to his bedroom, sitting back down on his bed and fetching and uncapping his favourite pen.

The moment the tip of his pen touched his skin, a small black dot appeared just below it, like Remy was doing the exact same on his side – unintentionally trying to write in unison. All of a sudden, a wave of peace and happiness washed over Patton, but the emotions didn’t come from within himself. No, they came from an outside source, from somewhere else. Not from him.

From Remy.

At first, Patton was confused, disoriented, and then his heart skipped a beat, and he lifted his pen from his wrist.

The feeling stopped.

He then returned the pen to his wrist, creating another dot of light blue ink. For a moment, nothing happened, the feeling didn’t return, but then a small black speck appeared just beside his.

This time, the happiness was joined by an almost cautious excitement, tinged with something else.

What was it?

Love?

Love.

It felt like Patton was loving himself, except the love came from elsewhere, it came from Remy. Like a warm, comfortable blanket of love, wrapping around him and keeping him safe.

Patton beamed, wide and toothy and delighted, leaning back against the pillows and practically wiggling with excitement, careful to keep his pen tip on his wrist. A similar, thrilled feeling came back at him, and Patton quickly realised that whatever feelings he was getting from Remy, Remy was probably getting some very similar feelings in return from him.

damn babe

either something v weird is happening to me or thats ur feelings im feeling

I can feel it too!!!

Oh my gosh!

good i was worried i might be drunk

Have you been drinking?

nah thats why i was worried lmao

would be v weird to be drunk with no booze

Well that sure would be unusual!

The feelings from Remy weren’t constant, they only surfaced when both Patton and Remy were writing at once – flashes of emotions that were practically addicting. He wanted to keep feeling those feelings forever.

this is v weird

on and off

think itll get more constant the more we talk?

like we wont need to be both writing at the same time to feel it or smth?

Yeah!

I think so

Thats what happened with Em and Virge at least

cool

cant wait

There was a brief pause, and then Remy’s writing resumed.

can we doodle?

might make the empathy connection thingy better

Sure!

Patton giggled, unable to help himself, before pressing the tip of his pen to one of his freckles and drawing a thin line from it to another. Then another and another and another. Over and around the written words. He wasn’t making any specific shape or pattern in particular, just connecting the numerous dots. As he did this, Patton felt new shapes and doodles appearing on his legs, though he couldn’t see them through his trousers. Hearts and stars and moons and pawprints, most likely. The last one was new – Patton’s favourite.

He could feel Remy’s peace and contentment and love (love, love), like it was flowing through the air and seeping through his skin, filling him with happiness. Sometimes, it even increased for a brief moment, usually just after Patton’s happiness bubbled over into delighted giggles. It was a cycle – happiness creating happiness creating happiness.

Patton loved Remy. Remy loved Patton.

Love. Love. Love.

***

“Hey, Remy!”

Remy glanced up from his phone, straightening up as noticed and watched his best friend, Toby, approaching him. His foot tapped impatiently against the pavement, and his sunglasses were on to shield his eyes from bright midday sun.

“Gurl, what was taking you so long?” Remy complained, stuffing his phone into his pocket and crossing his arms, practically pouting. “I’ve been waiting here for, like, hours.”

Toby gave him a dry look. “I’m ten minutes late.”

“And that’s, like, ten hours in gay-and-in-a-hurry time.”

“In a hurry? What the hell are we even doing? Your text was very vague.”

“Well, it’s my dad’s birthday in a-”

“Which one?”

“Thomas. Bitch, stop interrupting me.”

Toby laughed, and Remy glared at him. He held his hands up defensively in mock surrender, and then gestured for Remy to continue.

“Anyway, it’s my dad’s birthday on Sunday and I’m supposed to get him a gift. I dunno what, though, so you’re gonna help me.”

“I’m pretty sure you know him better than I do.”

Remy shushed him. “Gurl, I am not letting you get out of helping me. So, we’re going to-”

He suddenly froze, going silent. Remy’s brow then creased, too, and after a moment of stillness he began to rapidly pat his arms and legs, like he was looking for something, though he didn’t seem to find it. Toby gave him a bewildered look.

“Dude, what are you doing?”

“I can feel Patton’s emotions,” Remy said.

He could, but only barely – just little hints of Patton, pricking the edges of his soul – much less than he was used to, but still impossible to ignore. He was used to these feelings by now, always recognising them immediately, though this time it was... different.

“Okay... so, he’s writing to you? Isn’t that normal?”

Remy looked back at him, looking just as confused as Toby. “No, he isn’t. He isn’t writing to me. No ink.”

“He... isn’t?”

“I can always feel it,” Remy explained. “Always. But not right now. Why... why-” He froze, his eyes widening behind his dark sunglasses.

“What?”

“He must be close. He must- oh my god, he must be close!” Remy looked around quickly, at all of the surrounding pedestrians. None of them looked right – none of them were Patton – but he could practically sense him. He was so close.

Toby blinked. “Really?” He asked incredulously.

“Yes. Yes, really. I know what I’m talking about!” Remy exclaimed, perhaps a little harsher than intended. “The empath shit only happens when you write or when you’re close. Gurl, that’s, like, common knowledge.”

Toby held his hands up. “Right, uh... sorry.” He cleared his throat. “So, how are we gonna find him?”

Remy’s brow scrunched up in thought. “I don’t know.”

His best friend shrugged, even more lost than he was.

“Maybe... maybe...” Remy continued, trailing off, before he suddenly straightened up. “It’ll get stronger the closer I get to him, so I just have to follow where it’s stronger, right? Like... like getting warmer and colder.”

Toby nodded slowly. “That makes sense. So, uh, walk around, and we’ll go in the direction that makes it stronger.”

Remy immediately began to pace in circles around Toby, pulling a slightly panicked face when at one point the feeling completely disappeared. Then, it got stronger, a wave of anticipation and curiosity, nervousness and excitement.

It suddenly hit Remy that if he could feel Patton, then Patton could feel him, too.

Patton was probably looking for him.

The corners of Remy’s lips twitched up into a smile. He was practically oozing excitement, and it was contagious, as Patton’s also seemed to increase – even Toby began smiling, too.

Toby patted him on the shoulder.

“Go on, follow your gut. I’ll be right behind you.”

Remy immediately turned on his heel, sprinting in the direction the emotions seemed to be coming from, and Toby almost tripped over his own feet following him. The empathy got stronger and stronger and stronger with every step, until it was even stronger than it usually was, and as his excitement further increased, so did Patton’s.

He rounded a corner, and immediately ran right into someone running at a similar speed, and they both tumbled to the ground with two loud thumps.

“Ah, fuck,” Remy groaned, closing his eyes and massaging the bridge of his nose as a jolt of pain shot down his leg.

“Oof,” The other boy winced.

His voice was like a bell, ringing through the air: suddenly the only sound that Remy could hear.

That was when Remy realised that Patton’s emotions were now equal to his own – mixing together in Remy’s soul until they were one and the same. It was almost like they were thinking and feeling as one, which was rather disorienting, to say the least.

Patton... Patton was right in front of him.

Remy opened his eyes, immediately coming face-to-face with the most gorgeous person he had even seen – a wide-eyed and freckled boy, about a year younger than Remy, staring back at him with parted lips and an equally startled expression. He was wearing a blue and grey t-shirt, showing off his arms and the words Remy had written to him today, and all the constellations he’d doodled on his own skin. Now, Remy could see the stars that he’d been missing, and, in his opinion, they were even better than the ones in the night sky.

Patton.

Patton, Patton, Patton.

“Patton,” Remy breathed.

“Remy.”

Remy laughed, uncontrolled and loud and delighted, sitting up straight and taking Patton’s hand in his own, squeezing it. It was warm and soft, Remy never wanted to let go, and when Patton squeezed back, he felt... complete. Perfect. Heaven.

Patton smiled – like a shining sun, one that thankfully didn’t hurt to look at, as Remy couldn’t take his eyes off of it.

“Wow,” Remy laughed. “You’re... wow.”

“Wow,” Patton echoed.

People were probably staring at them – Toby included – but Remy couldn’t take his eyes off of Patton to check. Patton seemed to be doing similarly, his eyes slowly taking in every part of Remy’s body, before returning to his face, staring into his eyes.

Patton’s eyes were brown, like honey in the sunlight. Beautiful.

“It’s... it’s nice to finally meet you,” Patton said softly.

“Likewise.”

There was a beat.

“You are gorgeous,” Remy continued, the words coming out before he could stop himself. He almost regretted blurting it out, but then Patton’s face turned a particularly pretty shade of pink, and Remy immediately grinned.

Patton squeezed his hand. “You, too.”

“Oh, I know I’m hot, babe,” Remy said, making Patton giggle. “But you, you’re... you’re an angel. Like, damn, how the hell did I get so lucky? I must’ve done something really freaking amazing in a past life to have deserved you.”

“You’re even more of a flirt in person,” Patton smiled, a little teasingly.

Remy laughed. “I mean, I’m pretty sure I warned you.”

“You did,” Patton said, smiling fondly.

“Is it too soon to ask if I can kiss you?” Remy asked suddenly. His tone of voice was casual, like he was joking, but they both knew – Patton could probably sense – that he was serious.

Patton didn’t hesitate, answering quickly. “No. I mean, yes. I mean... no, it’s not too soon. Please?”

Remy didn’t waste any time, reaching forward, carefully cradling Patton’s face in his hand and kissing him gently. His lips were soft and warm and Remy never wanted to stop kissing him. Patton covered Remy’s hand with his own free one, kissing back a little clumsily, though it was without a doubt enthusiastic.

Then, he got a little too enthusiastic, and Remy tumbled backwards, pulling Patton along with him.

They broke apart, and after a moment of startled – slightly awkward – silence, they both started laughing loudly, and Patton climbed off of him. He finally stood up, holding out his hand and helping Remy up, too.

The pedestrians that had been watching them had mostly all moved on by now, leaving only Toby hovering awkwardly nearby. He had his phone out, trying to distract himself, give them some privacy, though he was undeniably still keeping an eye out. It wasn’t every day you saw a soulmate pair’s first meeting.

Remy took Patton’s hands in his own, looking him over again and again and again.

An idea came to him – not a new one, one he’d thought about and talked about and dreamed and daydreamed about a million times – and he grinned in a way that he could feel made Patton’s heart skip a beat.

“Remember how I said I wanted to kiss every freckle?"

#me #writing #sleepality #sanders sides #remy sanders #sleep sanders #patton sanders #mosleep #soulmate au #human au #sanders sides au #thomas sanders #roman sanders #logan sanders #emile picani #cartoon therapy #virmile #thomgan

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dipulb3 · 3 years

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With baseball season starting, AT&T TV is the only streaming choice for many fans.

New Post has been published on https://appradab.com/with-baseball-season-starting-att-tv-is-the-only-streaming-choice-for-many-fans-3/

With baseball season starting, AT&T TV is the only streaming choice for many fans.

Sarah Tew/CNET

Change is the norm when it comes to live TV streaming services, but AT&T TV has had a particularly tumultuous history. It started life as DirecTV Now in 2016, and in the time since it has added and dropped channels, changed its name twice and hiked prices numerous times. The latest iteration no longer requires a contract or a set-top box — yay! — making it similar at first blush to competitors like YouTube TV and Hulu Plus Live TV. The downside is the high price: A monthly subscription starts at $70 and to get access to your local regional sports networks (RSNs) you’ll need to pay for the $85 package.

$85 plan has robust regional sports channels for NBA and MLB games.

Fun channel-surfing capabilities.

Don’t Like

Expensive, especially with sports and DVR add-ons.

$70 plan has fewer channels for more money than YouTube TV.

Roku app doesn’t work as well as Apple TV’s or web.

Now playing: Watch this: Live TV streaming services for cord cutters: How to choose…

2:44

Those local channels, which carry the regular season games of NBA basketball and MLB baseball teams, are the best reason to subscribe to AT&T TV. No competitor has nearly as many RSNs, so for fans who want to catch all the action of their team live, paying $85 per month to AT&T TV is often the only streaming option. (As a bonus, that price also includes a year of HBO Max and NBA League Pass Premium.) A cable TV subscription, which typically also offers RSNs, is likely cheaper, however.

Read more: MLB 2021 streaming: How to watch the Dodgers, Mets, Yankees and more baseball without cable

Using the AT&T app feels more cablelike than any of its competitors, with a unique swiping channel-change mechanic. The service is best appreciated on an Apple TV because even though Roku is our favorite streaming device, its app lacks the ability to pause live TV. If you crave a familiar interface and want access to its extensive sports coverage AT&T TV is worth a look, but if you don’t need those RSNs, then YouTube TV, which costs less and has more non-sports channels, is a better choice.

Optional contract, multiple channel packages

One of the benefits of choosing a live TV streaming service over cable is that you’re not tied to a contract. AT&T TV does offer an optional two-year contract, but it’s not a very good deal.

Off-contract, the basic package starts at $70 a month with 65-plus channels and a 20-hour DVR but it does miss channels such as MLB Network, NFL Network and Travel Channel. For cord-cutters who want to follow their local NBA or MLB team, AT&T TV’s $85 Choice package is a better option, with access to those regional sports networks. The Ultimate tier costs $95 with more channels including Starz and Encore, while the “whole enchilada” $140 Premier level adds even more channels with HBO (and HBO Max), Starz, Showtime and Cinemax.

The AT&T TV Stream set-top box is free if you get a contract, but you can also use devices like Roku, Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV.

Sarah Tew/CNET

Opting for the contract gives you an AT&T TV Stream set-top box, an unlimited cloud DVR (normally $10 per month extra) and a discount on the first year — with a steep price increase in year 2.

With a contract, the basic Entertainment package’s first-year price is $60 per month, which then jumps to $93 per month in the second. The Choice package drops from $85 per month to $65 per month for the first year of the two-year contract, but the second year would jack the price back up to $110 per month. Those with Choice on a two-year contract would also be on the hook for paying an additional $8.49 per month as a “regional sports fee” for two years. Month-to-month Choice subscribers don’t have to pay the regional sports fee.

Those second-year price hikes make the overall cost of both packages higher than simply going month-to-month for two years, so we don’t recommend getting a contract.

Premium live TV streaming services compared

Premium services YouTube TV AT&T TV Hulu Plus Live TV FuboTV Base price $65/month $70/month $65/month $65/month Total number of top 100 channels 75 61 62 65 ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC channels Yes Yes Yes Yes Record shows for later (cloud DVR) Yes (keep for 9 months) Yes (20 hours, unlimited hours for $10/mo.) Yes (50 hours, 200 hours plus commercial skip for $10/mo.) Yes (30GB, 500GB for $10/mo.) Step-up packages with more channels No Yes Yes Yes Simultaneous streams per account 3 20 2 ($10 option for unlimited) 2 ($6 option for 3)

AT&T recently upped the number of concurrent in-home streams to 20, which is good news to households with lots of people who want to watch at once. The out-of-home concurrent streaming limit is three, which should still be plenty.

What’s it like to use?

AT&T bought DirecTV in 2015, and that service’s history still informs the functionality of AT&T TV. Our favorite cablelike feature is the ability to swipe left or right to change channels, even if it’s not quite instantaneous. There’s about three to five seconds of loading time when changing channels.

AT&T TV comes with a program guide

Sarah Tew/CNET

When using AT&T TV with a remote, the controls center around the direction buttons and Enter/OK. This makes it relatively quick to pick up and use, and also means you don’t need a complicated remote control to make it work, making the minimalist Apple TV clicker a great companion. If you want the full “surfing” experience on a universal remote, you could even program left and right arrows into your Channel up/down buttons.

The service loads straight into the last channel watched — further enhancing its cable credentials — and pressing down brings up the interface with a choice of the 14-day guide, Watch Now, My Library recordings and a Discover option. Navigation is intuitive and quick, something that the painfully slow YouTube TV is not.

While Roku is very similar to Apple TV, there is one major difference: There’s still no live TV pause on Roku. This is also potentially frustrating to sports fans who need to pause the action momentarily. Instead, pressing pause freezes the screen while the program keeps playing in the background. Meanwhile Apple TV will allow two minutes until it cuts to the live feed and pauses again, and will keep skipping forward and pausing each minute or two until you press Play. In comparison, YouTube TV lets you pause indefinitely, just like a normal DVR.

Sarah Tew/CNET

Depending on the tier you choose, AT&T TV’s DVR offers between 20 and an unlimited number of hours, while YouTube TV offers unlimited storage by default. YouTube TV lets you keep recordings for up to 9 months, while you are limited to 30 days on AT&T TV. If you live in a small to medium-size household, the service offers three simultaneous streams without the need to pay extra.

Some programs do give you the option to restart, and pressing down on the Apple TV remote will bring up show info, a recording option and Restart (if available). Pressing the Select button will pause the program. In contrast, pressing the middle button on Roku brings up a different menu with similar functionality but no pause, but there is the ability to restart.

I briefly used a Fire TV and found the experience closer to Apple TV than Roku. If you don’t have an Apple TV, the Fire TV is my next choice for using the service. Using an iPhone (an iPhone 6 Plus on AT&T, to be specific) also offered a smooth experience with quick channel changes.

Is it worth your $70 (or $85) a month?

The cable experience is what AT&T TV is all about — the swipe left and right functionality is quite inspired. While the company has really bulked up on its content since we last looked in 2019 — when it had fewer than 50 of the most popular channels — the service still lags behind every other rival in terms of breadth. The real reason to get it is if you’re an avid sports fan — the $85 Choice package with its twin draws of HBO and RSNs is unmatched by the competition.

If you want to save money though? Stay clear — almost any other service offers a better value than this, and many cable packages are comparable. Even if you’re an Apple user, other services such as YouTube TV and Hulu Plus Live TV offer a superior and cheaper experience.

Channel comparison

Below you’ll find a chart that’s a smaller version of this massive channel comparison. It contains the top 100 channels from each service. Some notes:

Yes = The channel is available on the cheapest pricing tier.

No = The channel isn’t available at all on that service.

$ = The channel is available for an extra fee, either a la carte or as part of a more expensive package or add-on.

Not every channel a service carries is listed, just the “top 100” as determined by CNET’s editors. Minor channels such as AXS TV, CNBC World, Discovery Life, GSN, POP and Universal Kids didn’t make the cut.

Regional sports networks — channels devoted to showing regular-season games of particular pro baseball, basketball and hockey teams — are not listed.

Top 100 channels compared

Channel Sling Blue ($35) Fubo TV ($60) YouTube TV ($65) Hulu with Live TV ($65) AT&T TV ($70) Total channels: 38 65 75 62 61 ABC No Yes Yes Yes Yes CBS No Yes Yes Yes Yes Fox Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes NBC Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes PBS No No Yes No No CW No Yes Yes Yes Yes MyNetworkTV No No Yes Yes Yes

Channel Sling Blue ($35) Fubo TV ($60) YouTube TV ($65) Hulu with Live TV ($65) AT&T TV ($70) A&E Yes Yes No Yes Yes ACC Network No $ Yes Yes $ AMC Yes Yes Yes No Yes Animal Planet No Yes Yes Yes Yes BBC America Yes Yes Yes No Yes BBC World News $ $ Yes No $ BET Yes Yes Yes No Yes Big Ten Network $ Yes Yes Yes $ Bloomberg TV Yes No No Yes Yes Boomerang $ No No Yes Yes Bravo Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Channel Sling Blue ($35) Fubo TV ($60) YouTube TV ($65) Hulu with Live TV ($65) AT&T TV ($70) Cartoon Network Yes No Yes Yes Yes CBS Sports Network No Yes Yes Yes $ Cheddar Yes Yes Yes Yes $ Cinemax No No $ $ $ CMT $ Yes Yes No Yes CNBC $ Yes Yes Yes Yes Appradab Yes No Yes Yes Yes Comedy Central Yes Yes Yes No Yes Cooking Channel $ $ No $ $ Destination America $ $ No $ $ Discovery Channel Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Disney Channel No Yes Yes Yes Yes Disney Junior No Yes Yes Yes Yes Disney XD No Yes Yes Yes Yes DIY $ $ No $ $ E! Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes EPIX $ No $ No $ ESPN No Yes Yes Yes Yes ESPN 2 No Yes Yes Yes Yes ESPNEWS No $ Yes Yes $ ESPNU No $ Yes Yes $ Channel Sling Blue ($35) Fubo TV ($60) YouTube TV ($65) Hulu with Live TV ($65) AT&T TV ($70) Food Network Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Fox Business $ Yes Yes Yes Yes Fox News Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Fox Sports 1 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Fox Sports 2 $ Yes Yes Yes $ Freeform No Yes Yes Yes Yes FX Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes FX Movies $ $ Yes Yes $ FXX $ Yes Yes Yes Yes FYI $ Yes No Yes $ Golf Channel $ Yes Yes Yes $ Hallmark $ Yes No No Yes HBO/HBO Max No No $ $ $ HGTV Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes History Yes Yes No Yes Yes HLN Yes No Yes Yes Yes IFC Yes Yes Yes No Yes Investigation Discovery Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Lifetime Yes Yes No Yes Yes Lifetime Movie Network $ Yes No Yes $ Channel Sling Blue ($35) Fubo TV ($60) YouTube TV ($65) Hulu with Live TV ($65) AT&T TV ($70) MLB Network $ $ Yes No $ Motor Trend No Yes Yes Yes Yes MSNBC Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes MTV $ Yes Yes No Yes MTV2 $ $ No No Yes National Geographic Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Nat Geo Wild $ $ Yes Yes $ NBA TV $ $ Yes No $ NBC Sports Network Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Newsy Yes $ Yes No No NFL Network Yes Yes Yes No No NFL Red Zone $ $ $ No No NHL Network $ $ No No $ Nickelodeon No Yes Yes No Yes Nick Jr. Yes Yes No No $ Nicktoons $ $ No No $ OWN No Yes Yes No $ Oxygen $ Yes Yes Yes $ Paramount Network $ Yes Yes No Yes Channel Sling Blue ($35) Fubo TV ($60) YouTube TV ($65) Hulu with Live TV ($65) AT&T TV ($70) Science $ $ No $ $ SEC Network No $ Yes Yes $ Showtime $ $ $ $ $ Smithsonian No Yes Yes Yes $ Starz $ No $ $ $ Sundance TV $ Yes Yes No Yes Syfy Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Tastemade $ Yes Yes No $ TBS Yes No Yes Yes Yes TCM $ No Yes Yes Yes Telemundo No Yes Yes Yes Yes Tennis Channel $ $ No No $ TLC Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes TNT Yes No Yes Yes Yes Travel Channel Yes Yes Yes Yes $ TruTV Yes No Yes Yes Yes TV Land $ Yes Yes No Yes USA Network Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes VH1 $ Yes Yes No Yes Vice Yes Yes No Yes Yes Weather Channel No Yes No No $ WE tv $ Yes Yes No Yes

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io-uzuka · 7 years

Text

Astrologian Major Arcana

because i keep having to pull this up for reference and it’s less annoying to keep this in a place i don’t have to dig to find

images are taken from the loremonger section of ffxiv gamerescape, and are transcribed below; after transcription are my own notes, explaining which gods are mentioned and any other notes on the subject matter discussed in the quest

replacing all instances of gender with they/them and all instances of the forename being mentioned with... Forename

The Bole

Mace: Yes, I knew at once my reading was true, and that this adventurer was the astrologian I had been seeking. But now, let us see if they have the potential for greatness within them.

Look to the skies, Forename, and there you will see six stars aglow in pale yellow. This is the Bole.

This constellation is thought to be the gate to the first heavenーthe heaven which holds the World Tree. Planted by the Matron and nurtured by the Keeper, the World tree is the source from which all life is said to have sprung.

The trunk of the World Tree, or the Bole, offers protection to the weak, defending them from harm.

You have now opened that gate, and its power is yours to command.

A solid bole represents a solid foundation. It is not coincidence that this very constellation is risen to midheaven at this very momentーthe moment of a new astrologian’s birth.

Notes

The Keeper is Althyk, god of time and change. The Matron is Nophica, goddess of abundance and the harvest and Althyk’s granddaughter through Azeyma.

The Balance

Leveva: Now, Forename... and Jannequinard. We must be patient and wait for the constellation to reach its highest and brightest pointーa point at which its flow of aether is the strongest in relation to Hydaelyn.

Be patient, Forename. We are at the mercy of the stars and their movements. Only a fool believes they can manipulate the heavens. It is the heavens which manipulate us. We merely take cues from the hints they leave behind.

There, Forename! The Balance! Focus on the constellation and attune to its power.

The Balance represents the heaven of fireーa realm made prosperous by the blessing of the Traders, but at the same time, one whose equilibrium is maintained by the divine judgement of Azeyma, the Warden.

Azeyma’s might will empower those who would take up their blades and mete divine punishment in the name of the sun goddess.

And thus has the Balance burned crimson in your heart, unlocking the gate to the second heaven.

Now, let us speed ourselves to the next locationーLittle Ala Mhigo. Hm? Why so soon, you ask? Would you rather that I had you commit yourself to another several moons of using malefics to put down hedgemoles? I thought not.

Notes

The Traders are... or is, technicallyーthe god Nald’thal, who is themselves a manifestation of the twins Nald and Thal. Nald’thal serves as the god of commerce, and is patron deity to Ul’dah.

Azeyma is... ... ... Azeyma. She is the Warden, goddess of inquiry, and may have connection to the truth as a whole, as she is said to console all who would confess their crimes (as I quote from the link). Also note her link to justice as far as Leveva explains the Balance.

The Spire

Leveva: Raise your eyes to the stars, and witness the violet glow of the Spire!

In the third heaven rises an iron tower of spinning gears and taut springs constructed by the Builder Himself. It is assailed without cease by the jealous Rhalgr, but the Destroyer’s mighty levinbolts only serve to power the spire’s clockwork soul.

It is through the blessings of both creation and destruction that strength is granted to they who see their stars rise under this sign.

You have now opened the gate, and its powers is yours to command.

Using the arcana to draw upon the powers of the stars they represent. This path we walk as astrologians is called the Royal Road. The Royal Road can be treacherous and fraught with peril, but it can lead men (...and women) to greatness.

Notes

The Builder is Byregot, god of the arts and purveyor of architecture and industry. He is the elder brother of Halone and pupil of Thaliak. He is also the patron god of all Disciples of the Hand.

The Destroyer, Rhalgr, is god of, guess what, destruction. He is known as the breaker of worlds, and is the patron deity of Ala Mhigo. He serves as attendant to Nymeia and is, curiously, the father of the very same Byregot whose clockwork tower he’s trying to destroy.

The Royal Road is given as a spell in this quest. Its name evokes the real-world tarot concept, the Fool’s Journey, which is a way for novice tarot readers to memorize the twenty-one major arcana. Correct me if I’m wrong, but there’s no “official” Fool’s Journey, seeing as it’s a memorization tool/concept more than anything. Also, the Royal Road seems to be the task of being an astrologian in and of itself, as opposed to the Fool’s Journey being “just” a starter’s tool.

The Arrow.

Leveva: Now, look to the stars and behold the Arrow! The fourth heavenーor the heaven of windーwas created atop a lofty peak by Oschon, the Wanderer, whose footsteps had been guided by the Navigator. The wind that blows off Llymlaen’s seas guides the arrow fast and true, and so shall it deliver the weary souls of those trapped in the mire of confusion, indecision, overcontemplation.

The fourth heaven has opened its gates, allowing you acces to its sacred penetralia. From this day forth, its power is yours to interpret and wield. That power will further aid you as you continue to hone your skills. Now, let us return to Ishgard. I have a few words for a certain student of mine who felt inclined to forgo this particular lesson.

Notes

Oschon, the Wanderer, is the god of wanderers and vagrants and is known as the ruler of the mountains. He’s associated with continental drift and, despite commanding the element of wind over all, is the patron deity of the Miner’s Guild. He was also once worshipped as the patron deity of Nym, from whence scholars (the fairy-aided healers you know and love) originate.

Llymlaen is the Navigator, patron of Limsa Lominsa and daughter of Thaliak, alongside Nophica. It is said that she guided the remnants of a defeated armada to what is now Limsa Lominsa, and as such, some Lominsans toast to this goddess every single day at local taverns.

Both Oschon and Llymlaen apparently have connections in mythology, considering how they are respectively the deities of mountains and seas.

The Ewer

Leveva: There! The Ewer! Focus, Forename! Focus, and let the constellation’s aether twine with your own. It is said through the fifth heaven flows a mighty river carrying the water spilled forth from the Scholar’s vessel. And in that water is the knowledge of all that have come before and all who will followーthe aether spun from Nymeia’s loomーthe aether from which all magicks are drawn and to which all magicks return.

And now the power of the Ewer is forever yours, and forever shall it point you to the truth. While I cannot forgive our patron for skipping yet another of his lessons, I cannot deny the passion hidden deep beneath all his posturing may have its uses. Word of our field is spreading, and our inherent nature has begun to stir. Curiosity is proving the better motivator than skepticism and faith. Our time may come soon.

Notes

The Scholar is Thaliak, god of knowledge and ruler of rivers and wisdom. He is the teacher of Byregot, and the father of Llymlaen. He is also the patron deity of Sharlayan.

Nymeia, the Spinner, is the goddess of fate and the watcher of celestial bodies. She is often portrayed as a weaver whose preferred string is the strings of fate itself, and is thus also the patron deity of the profession. She was also the patron of Ala Mhigo for a short time during the reign of Mad King Theodoric, from 1552 to the city-state’s fall to the Garleans in 1557 (a span of 5 years). She is the younger sister of Althyk, god of time, and is the master of Rhalgr, god of destruction.

The Spear

Leveva: Well, I was certain Forename would make it, for the stars have already told me they would unlock the sixth gate here at the Steel Vigilーthe very location we ended up at, despite our unexpected ordeal. Your fate, Jannequinard... Well, I never bothered reading it, for I thought that you would skip this lesson like you have every other one!

Forename. Gaze upon the night sky and open your soul to the final constellationーthe Spear! The Spear is the gate to the sixth heaven, where the Fury resides in a palace of ice carved by her own spearーice formed of moonbeams collected by the Lover, Menphina. The Spear fills us not only with the power to overcome our enemies, but also the compassion that is necessary to grant those same enemies mercy. And now that power is yours, to see directed to those whose fates require it.

It is done. You have attuned yourself to the six lower heavens. And now that you know their strength, the true journey begins. Like I’ve said from the beginning. The stars, the heavens, the arcanaーthey know our fates, but they are fickle with their information. It is up to us to prise it from their hearts and use it in a manner that might benefit all mankind.

Notes

The Fury is Halone, patron deity of Ishgard and goddess of war. She is the daughter of Rhalgr (making her the younger sister of Byregot), is a bitter rival of Nophica, and has a close companion in Oschon. She commands the element of ice and her symbol is three spears.

Menphinia is the Lover, also associated with ice. She is the sister of Azeyma and lover of Oschon. She is heavily associated with the moon(s)ーher symbol is the full moon, she is known as the Keeper of the Twin Moons, and before Dalamud’s fall, it was known as Menphinia’s Loyal Hound. She is the goddess of love, as implied by her title.

Nocturnal Sect

Leveva: You have come far since that fateful day our paths first crossed in the Black Shroud. And now, here we are, on the cusp of your attunement with the sixth heaven. Time truly waits for no man, does it? Before we set forth on this task, I wish to teach you of a second set of starsーthe nocturnal sect.

The nocturnal sect contains those celestial bodies ruled by the two moons. I say two, because since the dawn of astrology, disciples of our field have used Dalamud in their readings. Now, even after the false moon’s fall, its position... or should I say, its absence, yet has influence over our fates.

Whereas the sun and diurnal stars represent the self, expression, the activeーand the moon and the nocturnal stars represent the unconscious, the passiveーDalamud represents, and still does represent the uncontrollable. Its power has the ability to quicken the senses, as well as provide added protection from the unknownーthings beneficial when pursuing one’s fate.

Notes

You learn Nocturnal Sect before you open the sixth gate (the Spear), hence the mild anachronism in the second sentence here.

When Leveva says “quicken the senses”, she’s referencing an old buff of Nocturnal Sect that would increase your attack speed.

Last Notes

Every god that makes up the Twelve is referenced at least once in the descriptions of the cards; none go unmentioned.

To those who haven’t unlocked/finished up AST 30-50 yet: yes, you can pull cards you technically haven’t opened the gate to yet, but for roleplay’s sake, just pretend you have no idea what the everloving fuck you just took from your deck if you do end up pulling something earlier than you learn about it in the questline.

#ff14 #ffxiv #astrologian #mine #txt

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vitalmindandbody · 7 years

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Eddie Izzard:’ Everything I do in life is trying to get my mother back’

Transgender hero Eddie Izzard has done standup in French and German, lead dozens of marathons, and is now in a period drama with Judi Dench. But, he discloses, his can-do stance has a doleful source

There was a literal turning point in Eddie Izzard’s lifelong pursuit of personal freedom. It came one afternoon in 1985 when he had gone out for the first time in a dress and ends and full makeup down Islington high street. He was 23 and he had been projecting- and eschewing- that instant for just about as long as he could remember. The turning point came after he was chased down the road by some teenage girls who had caught him changing back into his jeans in the public toilets and wanted to let him know he was weird. That quest pointed when eventually, faced with the screamed question” Hey, why were you garmented as the status of women ?”, he chose plainly to stop running and change and excuse himself.

He spun around to give an answer, but before he got numerous paroles out the girls had run in the opposite tack. The suffer schooled him some things: that there was capability in meeting anxiety rather than scaping it; and that from then on he would never let other people characterize him. After that afternoon, he says, he is not simply felt he could face down the things that frightened him, “hes been gone” chasing after them: street performing, standup comedy, marathon guiding, political activism, improvising his stage show in different languages- all these things felt relatively easy after that original coming out as what he calls” transvestite or transgender “.” You conclude, if I can do something that hard, but positive- maybe I can do anything .”

The ” anything” he has been doing most recently is to take over the challenge of behaving opposite Judi Dench and Michael Gambon. In Stephen Frears’s interpretation of the real legend of Queen Victoria’s late-life affection with an Indian servant, Victoria& Abdul , Izzard plays a full-bearded, tweed-suited Bertie( later Edward VII ), reining in his comic inclinations to colonize the cruelty and scheming of a son examining his mother apparently making a gull of herself. Izzard has done spate of cinemas before- he was in Ocean’s Twelve and Thirteen alongside George Clooney and Brad Pitt and the rest- but nothing that has required quite this level of costume drama self-restraint. He loved it.

Watch a trailer for Victoria& Abdul .

He and Dench are old friends. She has been a regular at his stage shows and has been in the habit, for reasons forgotten, of sending a banana to his dressing room each opening night, with” Good fluke !” written on it. Realise her canal Victoria at close quarters was a daily masterclass. The film was shoot partly at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight( the first time any film crew had been allowed inside by English Heritage) and the shed would make their whisker down in the nights. One era, Izzard withdraws:” I was dancing with Judi to Ray Charles’s’ What’d I Say ‘. She felt like a young lady, a young teenage girlfriend almost. Judi has this amazing activated of vitality that discovers the whole way back to her youth .”

Watching the movie, you’re so ready to see Izzard slip into one of his rebellious rambles of consciousness that for a while it seems odd that he stays on write. Does it feel that method to him very?

” Not now ,” he says.” My early effort as relevant actors wasn’t very good because I only swopped all my comedy muscles off, and I didn’t know what to replace them with. I speculate I have learned more how to only’ be’ on movie now. It is similar to knowing how to both go a bicycle and drive a car. If you are in a vehicle you don’t want to lean sideways to turn a reces. You know the difference .”

Ever since he bunked off institution and conned his course into Pinewood Studios as a 15 -year-old and strolled the film sets for a period, he has imagined himself relevant actors. The first thing he did when his humor lastly took off after years of trying and often failing to represent parties laugh was to get himself a drama agent and see if he could haunt a twin vocation. He has never been satisfied with only doing one thing, and it appears that determination to alter has only just originated. He’s 55, and because of his running- which peaked at 43 marathons in 57 erasin the UK and 27 in 27 daytimes in South africans for Sport Relief– he looks lean and almost alarmingly bright-eyed. We are talking in a hotel chamber in London, and he is garmented crisply in” son with eyeliner” mode. He works on the faith, he says, that human beings were never made to sit still or adjudicate, but to residence themselves in challenging status, and then work out how to cope.

” World battle two is a good example ,” he hints.” People get sagged behind enemy lines with no plan of what they were going into. They had to learn to do a great deal under extreme push and on the move. And they demonstrated we are able to. In a most varied acces, I recall coming out as transgender let me to set myself in other terrifying situations and drive them out once I was in them. I knew I would get through the bad, panicking bit- and there was a lot of that when I was a street performer- and eventually get to a more interesting place .”

Loping one of many marathons for Sport Relief in July 2009. Photograph: Alfie Hitchcock/ Rex

He has, of late, paused to reflect on the motivations behind that inclination, firstly in a documentary film, Believe: the Eddie Izzard Story , made by his ex-lover and long-term collaborator Sarah Townsend, and then in an autobiography, Believe Me: A Memoir of Love, Death, and Jazz Chickens . The first two elements of that latter subtitle predominantly guided Izzard back to his mother, who died of cancer when he was six years old. Inducing the movie, Townsend came to suggest that all Izzard’s stimulated digressive habits clique around this true, and in his work, in opening sections too poignant to read easily, he expands on that thought.

” Toward the end of the cinema, I started talking about my mother …” he recollects.” And I said something revelatory:’ I know why I’m doing all this ,’ I said.’ Everything I do in life is trying to get her back. I think if I do enough events … that maybe she’ll come back .'” When he said those messages, he says, it felt like his instinctive speaking. The thought bided with him that” I do conceive I started performing and doing all sorts of large-hearted, crazy, ambitious occasions because on some grade, on some guileles magical-thinking stage, I concluded doing those happens might accompany her back .”

I wonder, having went those circumstances out into the public, nearly half a century on, if it has changed how he thinks about himself?

” I surely feel I am in a better place ,” he says- but also it has given him a sense of his own strangeness.” There is that thought where people say wow about the marathons or whatever. And I kind of say wow more, because there are some things I did that, looking back, I don’t know how I did them. Running a doubled marathon on the last day in South africans. It was 11 hours of not fun. And about five minutes of euphoria. I’m not sure how I did that .”

One of the things about marathons- even if you are running, as he was some of the time in the UK, followed by an ice-cream van honk the Chariots of Fire topic- is that there is an horrid mas of day for envisaging. Does his thinker ever pause for breather?

” I have a luck situation ,” he says,” which is that I am interested in any question- how did we get here? all the religions. I can think about anything. For illustration when I did the 43[ marathons] I passed past a signaling saying’ the Battle of Naseby: 1 mile’ and I’m immediately off “ve been thinking about” Cromwell and Fairfax, Prince Rupert perhaps, and how this road I was guiding on would have been a trail back then and perhaps the cavalry came down it, how did they get cannon round that crouch, all that, at every moment …”

Campaigning for Labour during the general election in 2015. Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/ PA

Talking to Izzard, and watching him play-act, you feel he has a kind of the requirements of not ever wanting to miss any scrap of event. It’s partly, he indicates, why he has widened his range of doing standup in different languages in recent years.

” German has been the more difficult so far ,” he says. He is doing Arabic next, proposing a show in the Yemen( he was born in Aden, where his father worked for a period for BP) to draw attention to the harsh civil struggle there, and after that, Mandarin Chinese. As he clarifies this, blithely, I’m reminded both sets of pieces in his notebook where he writes about the strategies he developed to overcome severe dyslexia as small children, and his uncomfortable affair with his late stepmother, Kate. The antithesis of performing as a younger soul for the storage of his mother was a refusal to be limited by Kate’s efforts to control him. She wanted him to be an auditor because he was good with quantities, if not with learning. He withdraws her once telling him:” You’ve got to understand that you are a cog in the machine. As soon as you understand that, they are able to fit in and get on with life .” You can only imagine how that went down. Does he ever think he has become still more accepting of restrictions?

” I have a very strong sense that we are only on this planet for a short period of hour ,” he says.” And that is only changing. Religion beings might think it goes on after death. My tendernes is that if that is the case it would be nice if just one person is coming and tell us know it was all fine, all strengthened. Of all the thousands of millions of people who have died, if just one of them could come through the clouds and say, you know,’ It’s me Jeanine, it’s brilliant, there’s a really good spa ‘, that would be great .” He delays.” Although what if heaven was only like three-star, OK-ish. You know,’ Some of the taps don’t work …'”

He employs his success down not to any particular knack, but to his being” brilliantly assuming. Some beings are maybe brilliantly interesting. But I have the opposite endowment .” That, and staman, and that limitless curiosity about the world.

For a BBC series about lineage he went to Africa to draw percentages per of his genetic make-up that was Neanderthal. It reinforced his sense that there was nothing brand-new under the sun, that people had always been the same.” We never think of cavemen being spiteful of the neighbours with the better cave, but no doubt the latter are ,” he says.

In hamlets in Namibia, dames were fascinated by his nail varnish; some of the men, more.” You know if you have a football and some fingernail refinement and a smile you can walk into any village in the world and find acquaintances ,” he says.” “Theres” 7 billion of us on the planet now and we should be associating up more. Ninety-nine per cent of us would be live-and-let-live and’ Hi and how are you ?’. But the 1% aren’t glad with that, they want to actively stimulated it up and tell us that is not the way to go on .”

Satisfying the Bakola Pygmy in Cameroon for a BBC series to marks his genetic make-up. Image: BBC

Talk of politics is a reminder of Izzard’s interventions in last year’s referendum safarus, in which he tried to use his experiences of doing humor in French and German and Spanish as an example of how Europe might be a place where you could share culture, rather than be defensive about it. In those fevered weeks, his arguments were sometimes made to look naive; the Mail and the rest ribbed him after an awkward encounter with Nigel Farage on Question Time .

He admits that he is sometimes still learning in politics, but is unrepentant about his efforts to try to advance a stimulate that he has been engaged in as a performer for a long while.

” Running and secreting from Europe cannot be the way forward for us ,” he says.” The hypothesi that Britain can go back to 1970 and it will still be all the same just can’t be an option .”

Does he think there is still hope for Remainers?

” It seems to me beings are always capable of being either courageous and strange or fearful and suspicious. If you track humanity all the way through, the periods of success for civilisation are those periods where we have been brave and curious .”

There is plenty of panic and mistrust in the world though. How does he think it will go?

” I don’t know. If you look at the 1930 s there are obviously clear examples of how each can spin this type of anxieties and twist them, and then you get what historians generally announce mass-murdering fuckheads in power .”

He have all along talked of looking to run as a Labour MP in the next election. Is that still the speciman?

” Yes, the scheme was always to run in 2020, though Theresa May has changed that with her failed superpower grasp. So now it’s the first general election after 2020.”

He will also set himself forward for Labour’s national executive committee at the party forum this year. He didn’t make it last experience, though he got 70,000 referendums. And if and when he has become a MP, he will give up behaving and play-act?

” I would. It’s like Glenda Jackson; she gave up playing for 25 times to concentrate on it, then she revolves up back as King Lear .”

With Ali Fazal, Judi Dench and head Stephen Frears for a screening of Victoria& Abdul at the Venice film festival. Image: Pascal Le Segretain/ Getty Images

I wonder if another aspiration, to eventually have children, still applies?

” I ever said girls in my 50 s. But I too ever felt that I had to do concepts first. Get this stuff done. But yes, I haven’t given up on that .”

For someone who was coped an early lesson about the fragility of life, his long-term scheduling bangs odd. Does he feel that opposition?

” I think we should all choose a year we would like to live to, and do everything we can to oblige that work. I entail it could all go wrong at any point, obviously. But we also know that if we don’t get malady or get hit by a bus we can help ourselves by drinking enough liquid and retaining as fit as you were when you were a kid. As we get older and we get a bit creaky we take that as a clue to stop doing substance. My sense is we should promoted through creaky. I was experiencing a bit sluggish lately, about a month ago, I fantasized right, I’ll do seven marathons in seven days. And off I depart. The first four were a little bit rubbish, but you push on through that .”

He must have good seams?

” I mutilated my knee up a while ago, trying to startle over a barricade ,” he says.” But it healed up, and now it grumbles only when I don’t use it enough .”

Is there some genetic rationale for his vigor?

” Dad desired football, played until his late 30 s. I don’t know about Mum. She liked singing and slapstick and Flanders and Swann but I’m not sure about sport .”

I discover his expression violate just slightly. Izzard still can’t really talking here his mother easily, at the least not in an interview. In his book he describes how in the immediate consequence of her death he and his papa and his brother hollered together for half an hour and then stopped in case they went on for ever. In home of therapy dad bought his sons a modeling railway adjusted and they built it in the spare chamber and immersed themselves in it. The make recently resurfaced when Izzard had it regenerated and donated it to a museum in their home municipality of Bexhill-on-Sea, another part of his excavation of that time.

” Dad encouraged us with it after Mum died ,” he says, by way of reason.” He made a counter for the americans and we wasted hours and hours constructing it. Then in 1975 my stepmother, Kate, came along and it was put away into containers and never came out again. It led from Dad’s attic to my brother’s attic, and he didn’t know what to do with it. I contemplated, why not give it to the museum in Bexhill? I suspected there might be spate of simulation railway lovers in Bexhill, and they rebuilt this thing, it’s kind of a collector’s item. They are now going to build another one, a Christmas version. We had a grand opening and Dad came down to see it .”

He likes the fact that he is in a position to constitute these kinds of things happen. Is he happier now than ever?

” I ever missed the kind of chart that you can leveraging to do the things you miss ,” he says.” There is no path into it. You have to work out how you get there- over the wall, or tunnel your behavior in. I always guessed doing the same event was actually going backwards. And if you start saying’ Hi, I like chicken’ on some advert, you know you have probably reached that extent .”

You hesitate a little to ask him what he is working on next, but I do anyway.

” I’ve written my first cinema ,” he says.” It is called Six Hour to Midnight , set in the summer of 1939. I’m developing a show in French in Paris. This December I am going to be on a ship, only below Notre Dame, doing two sees nightly. What else? I’m not a good reader but I always wanted to read all of Dickens, so I have found someone who will let me read them as audiobooks- I have done a third of Great Expectations and it took four epoches. So: 12 days. And then there is the premiere of Victoria& Abdul for which Dad is coming up from Bexhill to expend his 89 th birthday with Judi Dench …”

Out of all the things he has done, I ask, of what is he proudest?

” Mostly I hope I have done things that facilitate other people to do them ,” he says.” That was the thing with coming out as transgender, and it was the same event doing the marathons, or reading the languages. I hope people might ponder, well if that imbecile can do it, why can’t I? I represent, I’m just some guy, right. Nothing special ?”

I’m not quite convinced.

Victoria& Abdul is exhausted on Friday 15 September. Believe Me issued by Michael Joseph( PS20 ). To tell a photocopy for PS17 going to see guardianbookshop.com or call 0330 333 6846. Free UK p& p over PS10, online guilds only. Phone orderings min p& p of PS1. 99