#it's about seeking knowledge and the thrill of discovery it's about looking for meaning in an inherently uncaring universe

[layalu]

Don't mind me i'm. Just gonna lay on the floor for a few hours and process this. (<- has just finished outer wilds)

[lizzaneia-elizalde]

Male Yandere Deep Sea-Creature x Female Mermaid Reader x Male Yandere Human

I don’t think you’ve ever done 2 yanderes pursuing the same darling, so think you could try it? (Unless I’m just stupid and aren’t remembering your other stories right)

We all know of the classic mercreature x human forbidden romance story, but what if there was another from the same marine world added into the mix? Yandere deep sea-creature is also in love with mermaid reader darling, so imagine what he’d do to keep her with him. Same goes for yandere human

This story you can hopefully have fun with as there’s so many ways it can turn out. And another note on why deep sea-creature…it was because I think a merman can be a bit boring, and it’d be interesting to explore a deep sea-creature instead (or straight up eldritch monster of your own creation). Just remember…deep sea-creatures usually get bigger the deeper you go. Much bigger thanks to deep sea gigantism…;)

(Re-sending this to you, because you said you only got 3 requests when I think I sent you 4. But if you had this request, just ignore this ask with this additional message at the end)

Thanks!!! 💝

Yandere! Male! Deep sea creature x mermaid! Fem! Reader x Human! Male! Hunter

OH THIS IS A DOOZY TO WRITE

By the way, guess whose birthday it is today (Hint: it's me LOL)

Got a little bit sidelined on this fic, but i tried. Two men pursuing darling ain't for me but for you, 💝anon, I'll do it ( ꈍᴗꈍ)

This one starts with (and focuses on) you, the reader, since I can't exactly make a yandere man focused fic with two men without making it really long. So unfortunately I cannot put that much of their lore.

Wait, so what does this mean? Do they belong to the same number, or separate? (I mean, I am targeting 16 yanderes in one set. So do they count as one or nah? Eh...)

Yandere! Deep Sea creature name: Viper (from the viperfish) Yandere! Hunter: Orion

It was truly an unfortunate day for you.

You, a mermaid living in the ocean, swimming freely without any people's judgements and even other mermaids.

You aren't exactly a woman of fear.

You love exploring. It's one of your favorite hobbies and actively seek out new thrills and discoveries.

In a world where mer/werpeople were still a newly discovered concept by humans, your folks were adamant on telling you to keep safe from them. Since humans are cruel and what not.

But you didn't care. You wish to see humans and their inventions.

Because of this, you became an outcast from your people, and live on your own in one of the trenches. Just a tad far away from oceanic civilization.

You felt bad for yourself, honestly. Why can't they just accept you're just thirsty for knowledge?

You want to swim up top, where the sun shines and the huge boats reside, with legged people running around in water vehicles. You want to know how they operated it, how they made it, and stuff like that.

Contrary to popular belief, Humans are the uneducated ones. They went on for years upon years not knowing about wer/merpeople other than their mythologies. Yet these other species had always blended with them seamlessly.

Foolish, but that's what made them fascinating for you.

But you only knew what's up above, but not...

The current suddenly felt cold as you lounged at one of the trench dugouts, and you looked down from your side.

It was deep. Too deep for you to explore.

You love the light, but hate the dark.

And it was dark down there. An eerie, dark blue of emptiness.

You're the only one in this abandoned trench, teeming with other sea life other than merpeople, with corals so beautiful and sea anemones that sway with the waters.

But as the trench go down... And down... And down...

They decreased in numbers till they got swallowed by the darkness.

You heard of deep sea merpeople sometimes, but a lot agreed to not look for them. For they are hideous and ugly. Some use them as a scare tactic for young merchildren, that these hideous and large merpeople will eat them alive.

Unfortunately, you believed those stories due to your parents drilling it in your head to not head down.

You shook your head and grabbed your bag, before swimming upwards as you saw a weird mechanism suddenly being dropped in the water via a boat.

You swam around it, curious to this weird ball. It's clearly cut in half then somehow glued together. It's tied to a rope, with little baits decorating the sides.

"Weird, how do humans catch fishes with this?" You asked to yourself, tilting your head as you swatted away the fishes from trying to eat the baits.

Curiosity got a hold of you though. And as you accidentally pulled a bait out from trying to carefully remove it, the ball bursts open and spews out a net, catching you off guard as you got enveloped by the fishnet.

"WHA--?!" As you got enveloped, your body got hauled back to the surface.

Your heart is beating wildly as you broke through the water tension. You can feel the heat of the sun now enveloping your body, which was once only can be felt by your face. You can feel the water dripping from your body down to the waters below, and the net digging onto your skin as your weight made the machine creek.

"Oh? A mermaid?"

A sultry voice said, snapping you from your fear. You looked up, and saw not two, but only one human in such a big boat.

He stood tall, with long legs in a fitted pair of pants and boots. He's wearing a dress shirt that hung loosely on his torso in an inserted fashion. He had a hooded look in his face, examining you over.

"This is the first time I saw a mermaid. Hey there, love." He said again in that voice that made you shiver.

He leans to the edge of the boat, his elbows on the railings. Looking at you with an inquisitve look.

"My name's Orion, love. What's yours?" He asked in a deep tone that made you gulp.

"Y/N..." You whispered, gripping your bag.

"Pretty name for a pretty mermaid." He smiled and you flushed red.

Due to being a recluse, you never got the chance to find a lover, let alone a mate.

As you started to dry out a bit, you scratched your skin, uncomfortable from the direct heat.

Orion saw this and went to the machine.

You curiously looked at what he's doing, trembling from the sudden realization that you're so close to a human invention!

You clutched your bag once more and intently watched as Orion hummed and pulled the lever, making you jerk back as the machine whirred to life and lowered your net.

"Forgive me, love. Thought I caught a big octopus or a huge school of fish." Orion said, making you nod as your body got immersed with the water.

The net unclasped from the bottom, which was held together by a strong magnet as it retreated back to the ball.

"Thank you, Orion." You whispered.

"No problem, love. I'm sorry for catching you like that again." Orion chuckled at your voice.

You didn't make a move from your place, still so curious about the boat. Orion noticed it and chuckled once more.

"Want to know stuff about boats?" He asked and you nodded eagerly. "Alright."

And, as Orion and you talked the afternoon off, you didn't notice a pair of eyes from down, down below look at you with such intensity, hostile.

Orion. A rich man who got a vessel by himself to know more about sealife, hunt them, and display them as catches.

He's always been interested marine life. Living by the seaside most of his life due to his yacht investing father and a beach resort owner mother, he's drawn to the sea in more ways than one.

Due to being mostly by the sea, he developed such tan skin that glistens under the sun whenever he walks by the port. Plus the way his face is built, he looks like a Carribean prince waiting for his mermaid to appear on the beach while not being able to speak.

But due to his parents' financial status, most of the time he only spends time by himself. Other children his age in that port town were intimidated. Despite him trying to be friendly, he can't catch himself a friend at all.

That goes for lovers too. Yeah, there are people who are brave. But in the end, they get overwhelmed from his clinginess.

This made him more clingy and possessive.

He just doesn't want them to run away. He's too lonely for such an extroverted man like him. And with so much love (baggage) to give, how can he make somebody stay in such a demanding and overwhelming way?

It's honestly a draining cycle for both him and the lovers he had.

Now, he only hunts fishes and and examine them. If they're edible, he eats them. If it's interesting, he taxidermies them somehow.

Then, while testing a new net system he developed, he catches a mermaid, you.

He's surprised, but got his heart speared when he saw your clear, fearful, yet curious eyes.

You're so pretty that he swore he's in heaven rather than the sea.

For the first time, an aggressive want to make you his filled him inside that it scared even him.

But he doesn't want to scare you. So, rather than being overwhelming immediately, he took his time.

Why not start with fulfilling your thirst for knowledge?

Everyday, he goes back to that specific spot only for you. You always asked him about his boat, about the machinery, about technology that he brought... He filled your head with information that made you so giddy it was adorable in his eyes.

But he can't shake off the feeling of somebody staring at them. It's honestly unsettling. Sure, it may be other merfolks, but you swore that nobody other than you goes here.

It's strange, but he shrugs it off. He's happy to solo you anyways.

What you didn't know is that he's already ordered a large aquarium type habitat on his home. The size of city wide aquariums of sharks, whales, etc. He made sure to put everything that he thinks you will like.

He wants you in his arms.

He wants to jump down to the sea, hug you in such a tight embrace, and devour your salty lips that will probably taste so sweet on his tongue.

You're so sweet, inquisitive, kind, and understanding. Too lovable. And just thinking that other merfolk have interacted with you before and some probably saw you as a potential mate darkens his mood to no end.

He hasn't tried hunting mermaids yet, should he?

Somehow, he's grateful that you're a social outcast. That means he could just solo you like this.

Not until you didn't show up in a meeting, and his heart dropped to the floor.

Hours before the daily meeting.

You plucked some kelp from a nearby kelp farm that you personally oversee. Hungry, you rolled some and continued to find more proper kelp to join in a fish salad.

Hey, some sealife here are the equivalent of meat consumables for humans.

Getting some oysters, you continued to get food for dinner when a light flashed from your peripheral vision.

"Hmm?" Your body swayed as you looked to the side where the light came from.

Putting what you got in your basket, you swam to the trenches again and tried to find where the light came from.

Some fishes got out of your way as you tried to find it once more, before it flashed again.

"Aha! Now, where... Huh?"

The flash came from the deepest part of the trenches.

The cold current got to you again, and you shivered.

It flashed again, enticing you to swim closer.

But you knew not to do it.

The stories of the deep sea merpeople flashed your mind again, and you almost shrieked in fear from the memories.

But the light is so enticing...

"Just a bit..."

You swam down, passing by the corals and the anemones. Your heartrate picked up, feeling the cold current once more.

Then, you noticed how the corals and anemones are thinning out, but you pushed through, telling yourself that it's not that far.

It's really not that far... Right?

The light flashed once more, now a bit bigger.

So, with a burst of energy and the adrenaline, you swam harder, wanting to see what's the flashing light is.

Then, the light went out.

You gasped in fear and astonishment as suddenly, it got so dark.

With nothing around you at all. Not even the trenches' walls kept you company as the vast, dark nothingness filled your vision.

Cold currents on warm waters, water rippling around you as if some kind of entity kept swimming past you, and you swore you saw beady eyes look at you from afar.

Should you go up?

But wait, where is up?

You felt your stomach drop.

Then, the flashing light blinded you, making you yelp and cover your eyes.

Feeling a sense of deja vu, you felt a presence in front of you.

No, around you.

You trembled, not wanting to open your eyes, but you knew you have to face whatever was in front of you.

So you opened your eyes, and almost shrieked once more from the person in front of you.

He's huge. With beady, ghost like eyes and sharp teeth as he unhinges his jaw in such a grotesque way that made you squirm in how uncomfortable it is to look at. His antenna, the one flashing, shone in now a dimly light as he swerves his body around you. Almost coiling his tail on your body.

He's triple your length, maybe quadruple even. And he laughs deeply at your scared face. He had a sick joy flashing his eyes before he tilted his head.

"Upper Dweller, didn't know you would follow my light." His voice, a ghost like quality with such roughness that it's gravelly. "I'm surprised you're still alive with such curiosity inside of you. Tell me, little one, what's your name?"

"Y/N..." You gulped, cowering from his stature as he swam around you once more.

He looked so creepy, yet had this look that's attracting you to him. Is it the antenna? Who knows.

"A name that matches you." He chuckles and you squirm. Was it a good thing or bad?

"My name's Viper. Nice to meet you, Upper Dweller Y/N." He smiles, his jaw now back in its place yet the sharp teeth still shone. "Hmm... Tiny mermaid, so easy to crush..."

He fully coiled his tail around you, and it felt so cold. The scales felt so cold and uncomfortable against your own tail and skin.

"You dwell on the trenches that nobody dares to live due to being the entrance to my lair." He whispers, closing his face against yours. "Did the people not tell you that?"

You felt your blood run colder than usual. Nobody did. Did they send you there knowing a deep sea dweller lives at the bottom?

Suddenly, you felt helpless against his hold as you realized that you got sent to your what's essentially your death.

Viper smiles from your reaction as he kept himself from pulling you down to the abyss completely.

The first time you got to the trenches, Viper was thoroughly surprised. The abandoned trenches suddenly got a resident once more? Who's the stupid mermaid who dares to live on his what's essentially a frontyard?

And he got a good look on you. Despite being of a viperfish specie, his ghost like eyes were useful for him, making him look at your face fully even though the distance is so far.

You. You look so precious, so pure as you swam around above. So small and puny that just one bite from his powerful jaw can crack you open.

But he didn't lure you yet, just observed his prey as you swam around, trying to watch the boats on the surface.

Viper's a lonely man.

Deep sea merfolk are rare, and in this place, it was only him.

So, he never really got the proper education on what to do in social contexts. Not like he had a chance to do so.

The only time he got is when people still reside the trenches up above when he's still a fry. They looked so happy and chatty, friendly and kind.

And he wants to experience it too.

So, he swam up, trying to form relationships, but this only scared the merfolk away from the ghost like appearance of Viper and his sheer size despite being only a fry back then.

And all of them left the trenches.

It broke small Viper's heart, and he steeled them in the years to come.

But now, you moved in.

Fortunately, Viper's in that age that he's finding a mate to be with for life.

And, with how much he observed you, taking in your smiles, curious glances up above, and fearful looks you gave down below, he slowly fell in love with you.

Well, in one way or another.

So, when he saw you talking to this puny human, he knew he had to make his move.

So, he lured you here.

"Little one..." He whispered, nudging your hand open with his sharp claws.

You opened it nervously, and gasped in terror as he gave you a black pearl.

A symbol of wanting to be mates.

"NO!" You screamed in fear as you got the strength to break free and swim with all your might up to the surface.

Viper growled and tried to catch up with you.

"COME HERE!"

You shrieked in terror as his hand is only a smidge away from your tail.

The darkness slowly got lighter, and you were tired from exhaustion but you knew you cannot stop.

Viper was angry. How dare you reject him! A little upper-dweller that he can just crush with one hand yet he graciously let live reject his offer to be his mate?

But the light got too much for him, and he had to hiss and retreat.

"You will be back." He whispered, watching your retreating figure. "I just know it."

Viper remembers the other man, the human, who somehow saw through him one day when he observed the both of you. Viper felt the hostility and bloodlust from him as he looked directly at where Viper is.

Viper swore up and down it's just coincidence, but the way Orion's eyes never left his spot was unsettling. How can Orion even see Viper?

But Viper knew that this man is not an easy opponent.

So he retreats...

And Orion also retreats as he realized you aren't going to be in the meeting place today.

Two men. One up above, and one below.

Both wants you in their arms.

One will offer you the light but in such a restrictive way,

And the other will offer you the darkness filled with uncertainty but within the waters you know and love.

So, who will it be, love?

Time is ticking, little one.

It will not be long until these two go face to face.

And one will not live to see the tale.

[evenhisfacewasanalias]

Because the Night (Part 1)

Lady Jane Grey/Guildford Dudley

Rating: Adult

Guildford recognizes at once that his bride-to-be isn’t suffering from any kind of Affliction, other than that of an arranged marriage. If the sickeningly sweet smell of the fake blood doesn’t give it away, the quick peek at her audience after she’s supposedly fainted is obvious enough. He shakes his head where she can see it. Neither one of them is getting out of this. He supposes it’s easier for him to stomach, however - what’s one more curse on his existence? 

A My Lady Jane vampire AU inspired by Edward Bluemel being an absolute darling in A Discovery of Witches.

Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6

Chapter 1: Take me now, baby, here as I am

Jane looks across her wedding feast, willing her glass of wine to wash away the taste of crushed red beetles and her failed attempt to escape this night. There’s not enough wine in the kingdom to make her forget the loss of her freedom, however, or the beast she’s now chained to. He doesn’t look too thrilled to be here either, brooding silently in the seat beside her and pointedly not even eating anything on the plate in front of him. She tries to swallow a few bites down, just for something to do, and for any excuse not to speak to her new husband.

Jane tries to ignore the fact that just yesterday she had very much wanted to speak to this same man, before she had known who he was. When she had first spotted him in the tavern, reciting Latin and expertly tossing the other patrons’ knives, she had thought he might be…

Not that her ability to spot them was particularly well-honed. She certainly hadn’t realized her maid and friend Susannah had been one, even after their years together. But she hadn’t been anything like Jane had expected, while the man she found before her seemed, at the time, to fit every stereotype to a tee. Beautiful, of course, dark featured but pale, strong - or at least skilled - and probably much older with his knowledge of Latin and poetry. Not bloodthirsty or dangerous by any means, those were just rumors spread by those who feared anything different from themselves. Jane, in her less rational moments, had expected her first real encounter (not counting Susannah) to occur somewhere like an abandoned castle or a graveyard at midnight, though she supposes an ill-rumored tavern late at night fits was as likely a place as any. There were so many endless stories about them, and one always had to separate fact from fiction. But certain traits kept coming up again and again. The great age and intelligence were such traits that appealed to Jane’s highest sensibilities. Their beauty, strength, experience - and of course, their bite - have also had their own certain dark appeal to a very small part of Jane that grew larger as she started to come of age. Though it had never made her seek out one of their kind until this very moment. 

But then, unfortunately, the dark stranger from the tavern turned out to be the rudest man she had ever met from the moment he set eyes on her (and he had the nerve to call her the insufferable one!). And in matter of fact, his Latin was barely even passable. She realized quickly exactly what he really was - just some pampered noble son with a half-hearted education and too much free time to spend in taverns perfecting his dagger throwing skills. It’s clear he’s nothing more than that, no matter how charming he seems to believe her he is. And she was very much not charmed by his supposedly witty repartee, nor by the intensity of his dark eyes which seemed to glimmer in the candlelight the more she argued back.

It’s especially obvious he’s little more than a man used to getting his way when the two newcomers entered the bar who clearly were what he had only seemed to be. The barkeep’s scornful reaction to their presence had immediately proved that her powers of perception weren’t entirely off-base. The two men who had stood beside her practically exuded feral power. The darker man in particular, he certainly fit the bill for a beautiful and mysterious creature of the night. When he insisted he was just here for a drink, Jane’s heart had raced. Did he mean…?

To her knowledge, vampires - and many in her acquaintance refused to even say the name aloud for fear of conjuring them -  truly did need blood to survive, though not in the catastrophic quantities the small-minded around her seem to insist on. Human food doesn’t do anything for them, and can make them sick if given enough of it. But they are known to drink wine and ale sometimes. It doesn’t have much of an impact on them, not the way that human blood laced with alcohol is said to, but they can drink it. She’s certain of that much - she had witnessed Susannah drinking both on multiple occasions to her memory (it suddenly occurs to her to wonder what she drank the rest of the time - certainly not human blood, or someone would have noticed her condition earlier). So when the man beside her had said he wished for a drink…

Jane unfortunately wouldn’t find her answer that night as the Kingsland guards had abruptly crashed the party, armed with their silvered weapons and ready to fulfill the King’s edict to kill any creature that passed into the kingdom on sight. Though even outnumbered, she would have placed her wager on the two men beside her coming out of this still standing. She remembers being torn between watching the ensuing fight unfold and making her own escape from any possible recognition. Her good sense won out in the end, however, just as the rude stranger had taken her by the wrist and demanded she come with him to safety - as if! She could get herself out, thank you very much.

Not that it had worked out too well for either of them, considering they now found themselves here and miserably bound together. She had never expected to see the man ever again, and she certainly hadn’t expected for him to be waiting for her at the end of the aisle the next evening.

Though with the shock of today’s events now passed, Jane attempts to take a more unbiased assessment of her situation. If marriage was unavoidable, and running away a nonviable option, then she should try and at least consider her husband dispassionately. For instance, she could be bound to his horrible, orphan-kicking brother - or worse, the aging, gout-stricken Duke of Leicaster. She shudders at the very thought of it. But these stark comparisons don’t really aid her here, so she focuses instead on solely inventorying the man at her side. She supposes he could be considered handsome, by some, in the way one might call a fine horse or dog handsome. And he’s not completely unintelligent, his mediocre Latin aside. His manners are certainly in need of improving, as her cousin Edward, the King of England, had suggested she might be able to provide tutelage in. But there’s something else about him…

The moment she glances over at her now-husband to continue her appraisal, he briefly catches her eyes and brusquely rises from his seat, heading towards the other side of the party with a swiftness that leaves her gaping. How rude!

*****

Jane is forced to watch him from across the revelry as she continues her now slightly less dispassionate assessment. Tonight is their wedding night, and a bedding ceremony is to be expected with their match. There will be no hope of getting out of this either. And she has to admit a slight…curiosity to what it might entail. She knows the mechanics of it, of course, but not what it might feel like. She tries to imagine some of what she has read about with her new husband. If he could keep from speaking, of course, the idea of him kissing her, touching her beneath her silks…it’s not without its appeal. If only it wasn’t going to take place in front of every single person in this room.

As if sensing the direction of her thoughts, Guildford abruptly appears back by her side.

“Not dancing?”

She nearly snorts at this. Dancing is for people who are enjoying themselves. And whatever is happening here barely deserves to be called that. 

“They’re just stumbling and shit-faced.”

“Well let me tell you a secret,” this close, his voice rumbles over her, and his warm gaze brings heat to her face, intriguing her in the way he had that first meeting, “sometimes getting shit-faced is incredibly good fun.”

And there he goes ruining it again. Jane wishes more than anything for a way to shut that stupid mouth of his.

“Kiss! Kiss!”

Et tu, Margaret? Her youngest sister begins chanting the word and of course the whole party joins in. This will be just one more indignity she’s forced into tonight. Though perhaps it will have the small benefit of shutting Guildford up for a brief moment, and satiating some fraction of her curiosity.

Guildford extends a hand to her expectantly, and she tentatively places her own, smaller hand within that broad palm. Clasping her hand to his, he spins her into his waiting arms, tilting her back and leaving her suddenly breathless - and very much wishing to be kissed, even with the crowd looking on. Guildford’s handsome face is bare centimeters from her own, his dark gaze linked hotly with hers. His breath teases against her lips and it would take only the smallest of movements to bring their mouths together. She tries to prepare herself, letting her eyelids fall heavy, pouting her lips as she has seen others do, and trying to relax into Guildford’s strong hold on her. Time seems to slow and stretch interminably as she waits.

But Guildford merely smirks. “As if.” 

Jane hears her own words echoed back at her as she’s spun back into place, away from Guildford and nearly crashing into the table beside her. Of all the cruel tricks! 

The crowd’s disappointment mirrors her own but they can’t even begin to match her anger and humiliation at that display. Her new father-in-law’s loud announcement of the upcoming bedding ceremony only agitates her further. There no longer seems to be enough air in the room, and she feels herself desperate to leave it. To get as far away from Guildford as she can.

As she rushes out of the room her thoughts are torn between finding some way to run away again tonight - somehow slipping past the watchful eyes of every single person she’s ever known - and of revenging herself on him. If only she had some experience in matters of marital obligation she might know how first to seduce her husband and then leave him the one wanting, alone, and humiliated. But she has no such knowledge or skills. She supposes she could just lie there like a cold fish, completely disinterested, but that was already what was more or less expected of her. Perhaps she could bite him? Somewhere that might really hurt, she muses. Though there’s no guarantee the vile man wouldn’t just enjoy it.

She’s interrupted from thoughts of her revenge when by what she is certain is an actual vampire  rifling through the gifting room. Strangely, she feels no fear being alone in a room with a strange vampire, even one who is clearly here to rob them. She can feel herself yelling “thief!” as if he were some common pickpocket, and not a potentially centuries old creature with unmatched strength and speed. 

This one, however, apparently isn’t particularly powerful and goes down easily with nothing more than a rough shove from Jane. The brief hint of fangs he quickly tries to hide are the only indication that she’s correct in her estimate of him. All at once, she doesn’t care about whatever he’s trying to steal. She realizes this is her chance to finally get some answers, and steps back to allow him up.

“Do you know a woman named Susannah, she’s like you. A vampire,” She clarifies.

Jane had spotted Susannah briefly at the tavern, but doesn’t know if she made it out safely when the Kingsguard had shown up. Jane had barely made it out herself. If it hadn’t been for her mother’s interference she surely would have been subjected to the trial by fire - the surest way to reveal a vampire and also, unfortunately, completely lethal to vampires and humans alike. No one ever accused the world of being fair.

“We don’t all know each other, actually,” the vampire in front of her condescends, bringing her back to the present. She drops her commanding tone.

“Please, if you know anything - she’s about my height, red hair, Irish accent, anything at all? She’s my closest friend.”

Jane is quick to find the rumors of a vampire’s speed are not exaggerated when the man suddenly darts off at the sound of someone else’s approach, leaving her with no real answers. Unfortunately, it also leaves her with her husband entering the room behind her. And yet he does the strangest thing when he sees her.

He apologizes.

Or at least he says he intended to. He doesn’t actually. And then of course they’re arguing again over which of them had gotten the rawest deal in this marriage bargain. She calls him a rake and a drunkard to his face. He drives her to admit she’s only marrying him for his money (and to save her sister from a marriage to an ancient and smelly Duke), though he never exactly offers up his own reason for agreeing to this. In the end they’re no closer to getting along than they had been before. Except that he keeps drawing nearer to her, looking down at her with those compellingly dark eyes and this absolutely infuriating little smile as if all her attacks on him are adorable rather than damning. And certainly she is nothing if not damning - of his character, of his motives, of his…hygiene?

“And do I smell?” Guildford smirks, voice low and far too near to her.

“I have not smelled you. And I don’t intend to.” She answers back hastily. 

As comebacks go, it’s definitely not her best. It doesn’t have even the slightest impact on her husband’s smug expression - if anything it only intensifies it. She’s forced to realize she is able to catch his scent at this distance, here, where they are away from the crowd of others, and it’s not entirely unpleasant. On someone she could actually stand she might even consider it appealing. Far worse, however, is the sight of his tongue suddenly peeking out to run over his bottom lip, likely preparing for some scathing retort at her expense. But all Jane can seem to focus on is her renewed awareness of the plushness of those lips, the straight white teeth behind them, and all the lingering possibilities of tonight. 

Thankfully, this alarming train of thought is quickly interrupted by the addition of two more unwelcome intruders - her sister Katherine and her new father-in-law, making yet another pithy remark about tonight’s bedding ceremony. Guildford’s immediate disgust and denial that he would dare ‘give into temptation’ before the ceremony is like a plunge into icy water for all her imaginings about the night ahead.

Jane certainly isn’t looking forward to this any more than her husband is.

*****

When it happens, there’s a great deal more people in their bedchamber than she had anticipated - more than she’s certain even really need to be here. Even with her back to the groom's side, she can still feel the presence of too many eyes on her as she’s swiftly stripped of her wedding gown by the maids, leaving her in only a thin slip of a chemise. The numerous jeweled pins are pulled from her long hair, allowing it to tumble down freely around her face, but nothing can hide the heating of her face at her mother’s ridiculous advice and her sister’s careless reminder that this will probably hurt. Somehow with everything else she had forgotten that part, the pain that reportedly comes with the losing of one’s maidenhead. Jane feels the tightness in her chest growing again, making it difficult to breathe.

Before she can even attempt to settle herself, she’s being spun around to face her new husband, their eyes locking immediately without her quite intending it. He’s clearly been stripped of his wedding garments as she has, leaving him slightly disheveled in only his smalls and his undone shirt, his dark curls in clear disarray from the disrobing. The two delicate necklaces she had vaguely noticed on the previous night now stand in soft contrast to the strong chest below, a small bit of which she can now glimpse through the untied v of his shirt. But in his face she only reads an unexpected nervousness, strangely mirroring her own. Though what would a man have to be nervous about on his wedding night? And especially one with his reputation? Jane frowns as her mind races.

Clearly deciding that they are taking too long for the gathered crowd’s liking, Jane and Guildford are thrust onto the oversized bed by their so-called loved ones. The pair moves far more reluctantly onto their respective sides, and a sheet is quickly tossed over them, enveloping them in a cocoon of white linen. It helps but a little, to block out the eyes and muffle the voices of all those that surround them, impatiently waiting for something to happen. But it leaves her face to face with her husband’s clear apprehension. He doesn’t make any attempt to move himself nearer to her, nor she to him. She curls her arms protectively in front of her, mirroring his own less-than-relaxed position.

“Why aren’t they leaving?” She worries softly into the silence between them.

Jane has been to other bedding ceremonies before, once or twice at least. She remembers clearly leaving once the couple is ‘tucked in’ as it were. 

“They need to see our legs to prove consummation.” He answers, looking sorry to say it.

They work in something resembling unison to ruck up the bottom edge of the sheet, revealing their legs only up their knees. Guildford assures her their audience only needs to see their legs ‘frotting’ together to prove things. Jane’s not exactly sure what that means so she just does whatever comes first to mind. She reaches out a bare foot until she meets Guildford’s right ankle, running the edge of her foot tentatively along the length of his calf. It feels very different than her own - the flex of strong muscle beneath the skin, the coarser hair that tickles her as she moves, the skin that feels slightly cooler against her own overheated flesh. She doesn’t entirely hate it. And the crowd doesn’t either, judging by the applause and cheering that come muffled through the sheet.

Jane holds her husband’s gaze and she continues her exploration of his lower legs with her own, feeling Guildford move with her as he aids in their shared ruse. His eyes are almost black in this lighting, and yet there’s a strange luminance to them - they feel almost as though they can see right into her. She hopes he can’t read much into her own expression, as she tries not to enjoy the press of their legs or the sight of that mocking tongue sneaking out to wet his lips again as he glances down. It makes him look almost…hungry? But his earlier dismissal of the very idea that she might prove a temptation assures her he’s just anxious to be done with this. She feels much the same. However, there’s still the problem at hand.

“They’re still not leaving,” she whispers.

“I had hoped to avoid this.”

“Avoid what ?! ” He doesn’t mean…

“I’ll need to come a little closer to you.” Oh gods he can’t really mean to…

Jane isn’t entirely certain what Guildford is planning but he’s reaching into the space between them, tugging at her wrist and guiding her to the center of the bed where they almost meet, leaving only a few small inches between them. She realizes she hasn’t been this close to him since their non-kiss earlier, and she can feel her heartbeat suddenly in her throat at the nearness. This close, he smells even better. She tries to ignore it. One of her arms still clings as a shield in front of her while the other Guildford pulls further to lie across his side. She doesn’t really know what he expects her to do with it so she just lets it dangle over his ribs, hoping an explanation is forthcoming.

It isn’t. 

Instead he merely whispers “is this alright?”, barely waiting for the slight tilt of her chin before continuing to rearrange her frame to his liking. He reaches towards her hip to slide along her upper thigh - over her skirt, not that it matters much to her traitorous heartbeat - down to clasp the back of her knee where he pulls her leg up to sit at his hip. This ends up bringing her own hips angled towards his, though Guildford is gentlemanly enough to leave sufficient space between them. Still, to anyone looking at their shapes beneath the covers it will look like her legs are wrapped around him. The boisterous crowd around them seems to be falling for it, at least.

“Seal the deal!” Someone shouts from the crowd. 

“ Fuck. ” Guildford whispers beside her, and she tenses at the sound. “I need to get on top of you, I won’t…”

Considering how pointedly he’s avoided doing anything that might even resemble that to her thus far, Jane decides to put aside her own anxieties and go along with whatever farce her husband has planned next - at least it hasn’t been too painful so far. Anything to get their families and the clergy out of their bedchamber sometime before sunrise.

She had thought that their position seemed very intimate enough already, but she finds herself still wholly unprepared for the feeling of Guildford easily rolling their bodies so that she now lies beneath him. When his eyes look down into hers from this angle they feel almost predatory, even as he hovers above her, barely touching. His gaze travels down over her face, pausing briefly on her parted lips, down to where she knows he can see how heavily she’s breathing, and she wonders if he can sense her heart is beating faster and faster the longer he stares. But she refuses to back down. She unfurls the arm that had curled protectively in front of her chest, and reaches up to wrap both arms around his neck, tangling her fingers loosely into the curls at his nape. Jane watches as her husband’s eyes close for a moment, brows creasing as he takes in a deep breath. She wonders if he’s this miserable just from having her arms around him or if he’s mentally preparing himself for something worse.

Worse, Jane decides, she can show him. Figuring that he has already started this whole legs-wrapping-around-him business, she can continue it. She draws both of her knees upwards, placing them nearly at his hips which are suspended above her own. Jane feels him shudder a little at the unexpected move, eyes now wide open, likely in horror of her brazenness. But Jane has no intentions of becoming a quiet, demure wife, so he can just get used to it.

Whatever distress Guildford might feel at her actions, however, it doesn’t stop him from taking things one step further. His hand drifts back from where it’s supporting him to repeat his earlier move of tugging her knee up over her hip. Only in this position her chemise has already slipped down her legs, so Guildford’s broad, lightly calloused palm drags maddeningly over the bare skin of her thigh before he reaches his target. This time he tucks her calf around the backs of his own thighs, bare beneath his smalls and surprisingly sturdy. She feels spread wide open beneath his gaze.

“Ready?” He whispers.

“ For what ? ” She hisses back.

“I’m going to need to get closer.” 

She realizes she can hear the crowd’s chattering growing around them, apparently waiting for something more. But Guildford still has his smalls on, and hasn’t tried to ruck up her chemise any more than it's done on its own, so there’s plenty of layers still between them. Whatever he plans, it can’t be anything that bad. 

Jane nods.

And then nearly arches off the bed at the sudden feel of Guildford settling himself between her thighs, their entire bodies pressed solidly together. She hadn’t expected it to feel so..so everything. So intense, so intimate. The weight of him pressing her down into the bed below. His nose nearly brushes her own and his eyes haven’t left hers once. His necklaces dangle between them, brushing against her collarbone with each breath she takes in. At this point only their hips are still misaligned, as his firm abdomen slots between her thighs, where she hopes he can’t feel how warm she’s become through their layers.

The crowd around them quiets, but there’s none of the anticipated sounds of footsteps, or any indication they might be leaving. 

Guildford's head dips down to whisper into her ear, and she shivers at the feel of it. It takes her a moment to comprehend what he’s saying to her. “I need you to make a sound like you’re in pain.”

“What? Right now ?” She murmurs back.

“In just a moment, let me…”

“ Whe … AH!” 

Guildford needn’t have bothered commanding her to make a noise, for the surprised sound practically flies from her lips the second he shifts up and neatly aligns their hips. It almost felt like he had…

But they’re still fully clothed, more or less. All the same, she can feel him pressed firmly against where none but her own hands have ever explored. And this feels a great deal differently than when only his taut belly had lodged there moments ago. Jane’s face heats when it occurs to her just what this might feel like. She shifts a little, trying to discern whether he has his thigh slotted between hers, the way it’s pressing so rigidly against her center, and is met with a sharp groan into her neck before she realizes. 

Oh.  

Whatever disgust he might feel towards her or their arrangement there’s certainly one part of him that appears interested in the proceedings. Jane almost laughs at the absurdity of their situation. She can tell he’s probably annoyed with his body’s betrayal the way he freezes at her slight motion. He then tries to pull back, severing the contact between their hips. But without quite meaning to, Jane’s body tries to follow him. His arms clamp around her sides like iron bands, preventing her from squirming as he puts more space between them. She can feel her face heating further in embarrassment. He still lays heavily on top of her however, and she’s only now just realized that she can finally hear the sounds of footsteps leaving. 

Jane attempts to sit up immediately at the sound but Guildford still pins her beneath him. 

“Just wait. ”

And so she does wait, listening for the sound of the final person leaving the room and the door closing behind them. She tries to calculate the number of people who were there by how long this procession seems to take, at the pace they all seem to be moving. Mental math is a far better use of her mind than paying attention to the way Guildford’s weight feels holding her down, his breath damp against the sensitive skin of her neck. Jane is certain she only imagines the brief brush of…what? His nose? His lips? His tongue ? His something against her pulse. Because his body remains completely rigid aside from the odd tremor. Almost as if he’s angry at something.

Well good, she thinks, because she’s not exactly happy about this situation herself.

The second she hears the door latch closed, Guildford is off of her and practically across the room, not even looking at her. Jane just lies there feeling stupefied, her arms having fallen to the side and her knees still spread. She realizes her chemise is still pooled at the top of her thighs and hurries to push it back into place. She sits up more slowly.

Guildford finally turns to her, but he doesn’t look angry at least. More…apprehensive.

“Jane, now that we are finally alone, I think there is something I need to tell you.” 

And then he’s pacing in front of their marital bed, no longer looking at her but clearly trying to choose his next words carefully - a first, she thinks.

“I need to explain my reasons for marrying you.”

She snorts. “You needn’t bother, I am already well aware.”

The pacing stops, and he turns to look at her with surprise.

“You…know what I am then?”

“Of course”, Jane sits up straighter, attempting to look every bit the lady she supposedly is now. “You’re the second son of the second son of an accountant, and I’m cousin to the King of England.”

Guildford frowns. 

“You think I married you because your cousin is the King of England?” He asks slowly, as if the very idea of it is absurd and not the entire basis of their marriage.

“Your father is counselor to the King, what better way to secure your family’s standing?” She can’t believe she’s parroting her mother right now but there’s really no other logical explanation for marrying a complete stranger with practically no dowry.

“Because I so desperately want to join your cousin’s court,” he laughs bitterly.

“I’m certain your father wishes you to…”

“My father’s wishes have nothing to do with…” 

“So you just agreed to marry a complete stranger all on your own? For no reason?” Her voice starts to rise as they continue speaking over one another.

“And marrying a stranger for his money is the very height of nobility and reason, I suppose?” He scoffs, throwing her earlier words back into her face. She can’t understand why it makes her so angry when she told him the exact same thing just a few short hours ago.

“And to save my sister!” She reminds him. She goes a step further, “I tried to stop it, you know - I ran away twice. I quite nearly faced a trial by fire! And in fact I did face a trial by court doctor when I tried to fake the Affliction. Only the threat of being bled out and forced to consume my own blood could force me down that aisle!”

Jane is nearly shaking by the end of her speech, fists curled and face red. She can’t believe how furious he makes her!

Guildford’s lips form a tight smile. “Thank you. Thank you for letting me know it was either me or torture. I’m glad we’ve cleared that up.”

Jane realizes too late how deeply hurtful her words are, but she can’t just take them back. She wouldn’t even know how to, considering they are essentially the truth. She thinks to perhaps explain it’s not about him - well, not entirely about him - but about the whole concept of marriage, of someone possessing her, that she’s reacting against.

But she can’t think how to begin. And he’s clenching one hand in his hair and looking more tired than she’s ever seen him in their short acquaintance. A bit like the life has been drained out of him.

“The party should be winding down shortly. In a little while I should be able to return you to your own room.”

“My own room,” she repeats, somehow turning the phrase into a question.

“You certainly don’t think you’d be staying in here do you? I have other matters to attend to.” 

“I thought…” Though she’s not entirely sure what she thought - that something would happen between them after their families had left? That they would still share a room even if they didn’t..?

“You thought I’d, what? Ravish you the moment we were alone? Is that what you expected from a ‘notorious rake’, as you so charmingly put it? Or are you expecting me to run off to someone else’s bed on my wedding night .”

“Of course not! I didn’t think you would… ” Jane isn’t sure whether she’s defending herself or him. He certainly can’t think she’d - and as vile as he was she never thought he might try and do anything against her wishes, or that he’d abandon her so quickly after he went through all this trouble to marry her.

Guildford un-tenses a little at her responses, finally looking back over at her, assessing her. Jane straightens her skirts, for lack of anything better to do.

“Did you want me to…?”

Ravish you, have my way with you without our families looking on. 

“No! No! ” She realizes she answers a little too forcefully.

But instead of upsetting him, as most of her other words seem to, her answer only makes him grin. He leans over and plants his hands on the bed in front of her, putting them at eye level.

“Are you sure about that? I seem to remember you wrapping yourself around me quite forcefully.”

The predatory look she had thought she witnessed earlier comes back full force as Guildford leans forward a little, eyes now openly roaming her figure - looking almost hungrily at her. Jane gapes at the insinuation of his words.

“ You said we needed to be closer.”

His grin grows wider, “I believe I said I needed to be closer. You didn’t need to do anything. You chose to throw your legs around me like a…”

“I was just trying to hurry things along so they’d leave us alone. I wasn’t the one thrusting my, my…”

“Manhood?” He supplies, unhelpfully, grin growing even wider.

“Your erection,” Jane is certainly well-read enough to know the proper term for it, though she’s never before said it out loud. “I wasn’t the one who was getting too into our deception.”

Guildford shifts to bring one knee up onto the bed, moving forward only slightly but it feels like he’s practically on top of her. 

“You think that I can’t tell how much you wanted it? That I couldn’t feel your heart racing, your entire body growing hot at the very thought of it? That I couldn’t smell how much you wanted me?” 

His low voice travels straight through her, making her pulse rise and her face heat. 

“You’re a pig. You’re nothing but a disgusting…” she searches her mind for something lower than a pig, “a disgusting beast!”

He practically growls at that. 

“I am your Lord Husband,” he reminds her.

“You’re not my Lord anything. We are nothing to one another.” She hisses, making up her mind that she is done with this conversation. “I shall go to my own room. Or anywhere that’s not here!”

She throws herself off the bed and flees to the first door she can find, needing to be anywhere but in this room.

“Jane, that’s the…” Guildford calls out behind her, but she ignores him, slamming the door behind her.

She realizes too late that she should have at least stayed long enough to hear that last part. ‘Dressing room’. She’s somehow in a closet right now. She tries to open the door again only to find it locked behind her. As if this evening couldn’t get any more embarrassing.

But she refuses to demean herself by banging on the door and asking to be let out. If Guildford is a gentleman, he will just come and unlock it for her. It’s his stupid estate with too many stupid doors.

Unfortunately, Guildford appears to be no such gentleman. Instead his footsteps seem to take him in the other direction, and she can hear the door to their room shut behind him. Jane finally throws aside her dignity and pounds at the door, begging for someone, anyone to let her out - but gets no answer in response. Everyone has apparently already left the party. Once again, no one is coming to save her.

[astrologerandpsychicinorlando]

Spiritual Insights Orlando: Uncovering the Mystical World with Astrologer and Psychic in Orlando

Spiritual Insights Orlando

Orlando, known for its vibrant culture, breathtaking landscapes, and thrilling attractions, is also home to a rich spiritual community. Many people are turning to psychics and astrologers for guidance, insight, and healing in today’s fast-paced world. This article delves into the spiritual insights offered by practitioners in Orlando, highlighting how they can empower individuals to navigate their lives more effectively.

The Rise of Spiritual Practices in Orlando

In recent years, there has been a noticeable shift toward holistic practices, mindfulness, and spiritual exploration. As people search for deeper meaning and understanding, psychics and astrologers have gained prominence in Orlando. This rising interest reflects a broader societal trend where individuals are looking for alternative ways to seek clarity and purpose.

Understanding Psychic Abilities

Psychics possess the ability to tap into intuitive knowledge and spiritual energies. They can provide insights into a person's past, present, and potential future. These insights can come through various methods, such as clairvoyance (seeing beyond the physical realm), clairaudience (hearing messages from the spiritual world), and clairsentience (feeling the energies and emotions of others).

Psychics often use tools like tarot cards, crystals, and palm readings to enhance their abilities. In Orlando, many practitioners combine these methods with spiritual healing techniques, such as energy work and meditation, to provide a comprehensive approach to personal growth and self-discovery.

The Role of Astrology

Astrology is the study of celestial bodies' positions and their influence on human affairs. By analyzing a person's birth chart—an astrological map of the sky at the moment of their birth—astrologers can uncover insights about their personality, strengths, weaknesses, and life path.

In Orlando, astrologers offer services ranging from natal chart readings to compatibility analyses and predictive astrology. These insights can help individuals make informed decisions about relationships, career paths, and life transitions.

The Spiritual Landscape of Orlando

Orlando's spiritual community is diverse, featuring various practitioners, each with unique backgrounds and approaches. From intuitive coaches to energy healers, the city offers a wide range of services tailored to meet individual needs.

Holistic Centers and Spiritual Retreats

Orlando is home to several holistic centers and spiritual retreats that provide a sanctuary for those seeking spiritual growth. These establishments often host workshops, classes, and meditation sessions, allowing individuals to connect with like-minded people and deepen their understanding of spirituality.

One such center is the Enlightenment Center, where practitioners offer various services, including psychic readings, energy healing, and astrological consultations. The center aims to create a nurturing environment where individuals can explore their spiritual paths and discover their true selves.

Community Events and Gatherings

The spiritual community in Orlando thrives on connection and support. Various events, such as psychic fairs, spiritual expos, and meditation circles, provide opportunities for individuals to engage with practitioners and explore different modalities.

These events often feature local psychics and astrologers who offer mini-readings, workshops, and lectures. They create a space for participants to ask questions, gain insights, and experience various spiritual practices firsthand.

Personal Transformation Through Spiritual Insights

The insights gained from psychics and astrologers can lead to profound personal transformation. By shedding light on hidden aspects of oneself and the world, individuals can gain clarity, make empowered choices, and cultivate a deeper connection to their spiritual essence.

Navigating Life's Challenges

Life can present numerous challenges, from relationship issues to career uncertainties. Many individuals seek guidance from psychics and astrologers to navigate these hurdles. Through their unique perspectives, these practitioners can help clients reframe their situations, encouraging them to see obstacles as opportunities for growth.

For example, a psychic reading may reveal underlying emotional patterns that hinder personal relationships. By understanding these patterns, individuals can work towards healing and making healthier choices in their interactions.

Embracing Self-Discovery

Astrology encourages self-reflection and self-acceptance. By understanding their astrological makeup, individuals can embrace their strengths and acknowledge their weaknesses. This knowledge fosters a sense of empowerment and encourages individuals to take charge of their lives.

For instance, someone with a strong placement in their birth chart might be encouraged to pursue creative endeavors, while another may find that their astrological insights guide them toward leadership roles. By aligning with their true nature, individuals can experience greater fulfillment and purpose.

Healing Through Spiritual Practices

In addition to providing insights, many psychics and astrologers in Orlando incorporate healing practices into their work. These methods can help individuals release emotional blockages, restore balance, and promote overall well-being.

Energy Healing

Energy healing modalities, such as Reiki, chakra balancing, and sound therapy, are increasingly popular in Orlando. Practitioners use these techniques to channel healing energy, clear stagnant energy, and promote physical and emotional healing.

Individuals seeking energy healing often find relief from stress, anxiety, and emotional pain, allowing them to connect more deeply with their spiritual selves. These sessions can complement psychic readings and astrological consultations, creating a holistic approach to healing.

Meditation and Mindfulness

Meditation is a powerful tool for self-discovery and spiritual growth. Many practitioners in Orlando offer meditation classes and workshops, guiding participants through various techniques to quiet the mind and connect with their inner selves.

Mindfulness practices help individuals develop greater awareness of their thoughts and emotions, allowing them to respond to life’s challenges with clarity and compassion. This heightened awareness can enhance the insights gained from psychic readings and astrological consultations.

Finding the Right Psychic or Astrologer

With numerous options available, finding the right psychic or astrologer in Orlando can feel overwhelming. Here are some tips to help you choose the right practitioner for your spiritual journey:

Trust Your Intuition

Your intuition is a powerful guide when selecting a psychic or astrologer. Pay attention to your instincts when browsing profiles or reading reviews. If a particular practitioner resonates with you, it may be worth exploring their services.

Research Credentials and Experience

While personal connection is essential, it’s also crucial to consider a practitioner’s credentials and experience. Look for psychics and astrologers with a solid reputation and positive feedback from clients. Many practitioners also offer introductory sessions or workshops, allowing you to experience their approach before committing to a full reading.

Consider Your Goals

Before seeking a reading, take some time to reflect on your goals and what you hope to achieve. Are you seeking guidance on a specific issue, or are you looking for a more general overview of your life? Understanding your intentions will help you find a practitioner who aligns with your needs.

Embracing Spiritual Growth in Orlando

As individuals seek deeper connections and understanding, the spiritual community in Orlando continues to flourish. Psychics and astrologers play a vital role in this journey, providing insights, guidance, and healing.

By embracing these spiritual practices, individuals can uncover their true selves, navigate life's challenges, and experience profound transformation. The insights gained from psychics and astrologers empower individuals to embrace their spiritual paths and foster a sense of community and support.

Conclusion: Your Spiritual Journey Awaits

Orlando is not just a destination for entertainment; it is also a sanctuary for those seeking spiritual insights and personal growth. The city is home to many gifted psychics and astrologers dedicated to guiding individuals on their journeys.

Whether you’re a seasoned seeker or just beginning to explore the spiritual realm, the opportunities for growth and enlightenment in Orlando are abundant. Embrace the spiritual insights available to you, and let the wisdom of psychics and astrologers illuminate your path. Your journey toward self-discovery and empowerment begins today.

[sunwater1111]

Rick Sanchez x Reagan Ridley

So, I don't really do this very often, but I wanted to share a little potential Rick Sanchez & Reagan Ridley fictional love story???

Anyways, sincerely Hope you will not judge, and enjoy???♡♡♡

Here's another adventure featuring Rick and Reagan:

Quantum Love♡♡♡✨️🩵🩵🩵✨️💚💚💚✨️🕊🕊🕊✨️

After their first kiss, Rick Sanchez and Reagan Ridley became an inseparable duo, their combined genius leading to some of the most groundbreaking (and often, chaotic) discoveries.

One particular adventure took them deep into the heart of a parallel universe, where reality was far stranger than they could have ever imagined.Rick had been tinkering with a new portal gun modification, one that promised to open gateways to entirely new dimensions. "Alright, Reagan, this might be our wildest ride yet. Ready to see what's out there?" Reagan, ever the adventurer, grinned. "Always, Rick. Let's do this."

With a flick of a switch, a swirling vortex opened before them, shimmering with colors that seemed to defy the spectrum. They stepped through, finding themselves in a world where time flowed backward and gravity was a suggestion rather than a rule.

"Whoa, this place is… different," Reagan remarked, marveling at the floating islands and backward-moving creatures. Rick nodded, scanning the area with a device that hummed and beeped. "Yeah, and according to this, we're in a quantum bubble where every possibility exists simultaneously."

As they explored, they stumbled upon a massive, crystalline structure at the center of the dimension. It pulsed with a strange energy, and Rick's eyes lit up with curiosity. "This could be the key to understanding multidimensional energy fields. We need to get a closer look.

"Navigating the floating landscape, they reached the structure, only to find it guarded by a group of sentient energy beings. Reagan stepped forward, using her charm and intellect to communicate. "We mean no harm. We're explorers, seeking knowledge."

The beings, intrigued by their sincerity and intelligence, allowed them to approach the structure. Rick began taking readings, his excitement palpable. "Reagan, this energy… it's pure, undiluted potential. If we can harness it, we could revolutionize everything we know about the multiverse."

Suddenly, the ground beneath them shifted, and they were thrown into a temporal loop. Each loop brought them closer, forcing them to rely on each other more and more. Reagan's quick thinking and Rick's ingenuity became their lifelines, and with each iteration, their bond grew stronger.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, they broke free from the loop, emerging with a deeper understanding of the crystalline structure and each other.Rick turned to Reagan, a rare, genuine smile on his face.

"We did it, Reagan. Together."Reagan smiled back, her heart swelling with affection. "Yeah, Rick. We make a pretty great team."

As they returned to their dimension, Rick and Reagan knew their adventures were just beginning. With every new discovery and challenge, their love grew, forged in the fires of the unknown and strengthened by the shared thrill of exploration.

And so, Rick Sanchez and Reagan Ridley continued their journey across the multiverse, two brilliant minds united by love and the endless possibilities that lay ahead.

♡♡♡

I hope you enjoyed this adventure! If you want more, just let me know!

Anna Hunter (SunWater)♡♡♡🌹🌹🌹

[orcadiveclub1]

Dive into Adventure: Exploring Scuba Diving in Mumbai, India

Have you ever dreamed of exploring the vibrant underwater world, where colorful coral reefs teem with exotic marine life and the serenity of the ocean envelopes you? Scuba diving offers an unparalleled sense of adventure and tranquility, and there's no better place to embark on this journey than Mumbai, India. Whether you're a seasoned diver or a curious beginner, the dive trips in Mumbai, India, promise to be an unforgettable experience.

Discover the Thrill of Dive Trips in Mumbai, India

Mumbai, the bustling metropolis, is not just about its urban charm and rich cultural heritage. It also serves as a gateway to some of the most exhilarating scuba diving experiences in India. The Arabian Sea, with its diverse marine ecosystem, offers an incredible backdrop for your underwater adventures. Here’s why dive trips in Mumbai, India, should be on your bucket list:

Proximity and Convenience: Mumbai's strategic location makes it an ideal starting point for dive trips to various exotic locations in the Arabian Sea and beyond.

Rich Marine Life: The waters around Mumbai are home to an array of marine species, from vibrant coral reefs to playful dolphins and majestic rays.

Adventure and Relaxation: Whether you're looking for a thrilling dive or a peaceful escape into the underwater world, Mumbai offers both in abundance.

Finding the Perfect Dive Shop for Scuba Diving

To ensure a safe and enjoyable scuba diving experience, finding the right dive shop is crucial. Mumbai boasts several reputable dive shops that cater to both beginners and experienced divers. Here's what to look for in a dive shop for scuba diving:

Certified Instructors: Ensure the dive shop has certified and experienced instructors who can guide you through the process and ensure your safety.

Quality Equipment: Check that the dive shop provides high-quality, well-maintained equipment for a safe and comfortable dive.

Variety of Courses: Whether you're a novice or an advanced diver, the shop should offer a range of courses to suit your skill level.

Customer Reviews: Look for shops with positive reviews and testimonials from previous divers.

One such notable dive shop in Mumbai is XYZ Dive Center, known for its excellent service, knowledgeable staff, and commitment to safety and customer satisfaction.

The Ultimate Experience: Liveaboard Scuba Diving

For those seeking the ultimate scuba diving adventure, liveaboard scuba diving offers an unparalleled experience. A liveaboard trip allows you to stay on a boat for several days, diving multiple times a day at different sites. Here's why liveaboard scuba diving is a must-try:

Extended Dive Time: With multiple dives each day, you get to explore a variety of dive sites and see more marine life.

Convenience: Staying on a boat means you can dive right from your doorstep without the hassle of traveling back and forth to shore.

Community: Liveaboard trips provide an opportunity to bond with fellow diving enthusiasts, share stories, and make new friends.

Comprehensive Experience: From dawn dives to night dives, liveaboard trips offer a comprehensive and immersive diving experience.

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands are a popular destination for liveaboard scuba diving trips from Mumbai. The pristine waters and rich biodiversity of these islands make for an unforgettable diving adventure.

Dive into the Deep Blue

Scuba diving in Mumbai, India, opens up a world of adventure, discovery, and tranquility. Whether you're taking a day trip to explore the nearby waters or embarking on a liveaboard adventure to remote dive sites, the experiences you gain will be etched in your memory forever. So, pack your bags, don your diving gear, and dive into the deep blue to uncover the mesmerizing underwater wonders that await you.

Ready to take the plunge? Visit our orcadiveclub dive shop, for all your scuba diving needs and start planning your next dive trip in Mumbai, India. Explore liveaboard scuba diving options to make the most of your underwater adventure. Dive in and experience the magic of the ocean like never before!

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Discover Dream Destinations: Unforgettable Tours with XYZ Travel Agency

In the fast-paced world we live in, vacations are not just a luxury; they are a necessity. Taking a break from the routine allows us to recharge, gain new perspectives, and create lasting memories. This is where XYZ Travel Agency steps in, offering a gateway to dream destinations and unforgettable tours. With their expertise, personalized service, and extensive network, XYZ Travel Agency ensures every traveler’s journey is seamless, enjoyable, and extraordinary best travel agency in alappuzha

The Essence of Travel Travel is more than just visiting new places; it’s about experiencing different cultures, cuisines, landscapes, and histories. It's about the joy of discovery and the thrill of adventure. At XYZ Travel Agency, we understand the transformative power of travel. We believe that every trip should be a story worth telling, filled with unique experiences that linger long after the journey ends.

Why Choose XYZ Travel Agency? Personalized Itineraries At XYZ Travel Agency, we recognize that no two travelers are the same. Each person has their own set of interests, preferences, and expectations. That's why we offer personalized itineraries tailored to meet the specific needs of our clients. Whether you’re a solo traveler seeking adventure, a couple looking for a romantic getaway, or a family planning a fun-filled holiday, we curate experiences that cater to your desires.

Expert Guidance Our team comprises seasoned travel experts with extensive knowledge of destinations worldwide. They are passionate about exploring new places and sharing their insights with our clients. From recommending hidden gems to providing practical travel tips, our experts ensure you have all the information you need for a perfect trip.

Comprehensive Services Travel planning can be overwhelming, with so many details to consider. XYZ Travel Agency offers comprehensive services that cover every aspect of your journey. From booking flights and accommodations to arranging local tours and transportation, we handle it all. Our goal is to provide a hassle-free experience, allowing you to focus on enjoying your vacation.

Exclusive Deals Thanks to our established relationships with airlines, hotels, and local tour operators, we offer exclusive deals and discounts that you won’t find elsewhere. This means you can enjoy premium services and experiences without breaking the bank. We believe that everyone deserves to experience their dream destination, regardless of budget.

Dream Destinations and Unforgettable Tours XYZ Travel Agency takes pride in offering tours to some of the world’s most coveted destinations. Here’s a glimpse of what we have in store:

Tropical Paradise: The Maldives Imagine waking up to the sound of waves gently lapping against your overwater villa. The Maldives, with its pristine beaches, crystal-clear waters, and vibrant marine life, is the epitome of tropical paradise. Our tours to the Maldives include luxury resorts, private island excursions, and underwater adventures like snorkeling and diving. Whether you’re celebrating a honeymoon or simply seeking relaxation, the Maldives offers an idyllic escape.

Cultural Riches: Japan From the bustling streets of Tokyo to the serene temples of Kyoto, Japan is a land of contrasts and cultural riches. Our Japan tours immerse you in the country’s unique blend of tradition and modernity. Experience the cherry blossom season, savor authentic sushi, participate in a tea ceremony, and explore ancient castles. With XYZ Travel Agency, you’ll uncover the essence of Japan’s history, art, and cuisine.

Adventure Awaits: New Zealand For the thrill-seekers and nature lovers, New Zealand is a dream come true. Known for its breathtaking landscapes, from rugged mountains to lush forests and pristine lakes, New Zealand offers endless opportunities for adventure. Our tours include activities like bungee jumping, hiking, kayaking, and exploring the famous Lord of the Rings filming locations. Get ready for an adrenaline-packed journey through one of the world’s most picturesque countries.

European Elegance: Italy Italy is a treasure trove of art, history, and culinary delights. Our Italian tours take you through the romantic canals of Venice, the historic ruins of Rome, the artistic masterpieces of Florence, and the charming countryside of Tuscany. Enjoy wine tasting in picturesque vineyards, savoring authentic Italian cuisine, and marveling at the grandeur of ancient architecture. With XYZ Travel Agency, Italy’s elegance and charm are yours to discover.

African Safari: Kenya For a once-in-a-lifetime experience, embark on an African safari in Kenya. Witness the awe-inspiring Great Migration in the Masai Mara, encounter majestic wildlife in their natural habitat, and learn about the rich cultural heritage of the Maasai people. Our Kenya tours offer luxurious lodges, guided safaris, and opportunities to connect with nature like never before. This is an adventure that will leave you in awe of the natural world.

Testimonials from Happy Travelers Our clients' satisfaction speaks volumes about our commitment to excellence. Here are a few testimonials from travelers who have experienced unforgettable tours with XYZ Travel Agency:

"Our honeymoon in the Maldives was a dream come true, thanks to XYZ Travel Agency. Every detail was perfect, and we felt like royalty throughout our stay." – Sarah and James

"Exploring Japan with XYZ Travel Agency was an incredible experience. The itinerary was perfectly balanced, and the local guides were knowledgeable and friendly." – David and Lisa

"New Zealand has always been on my bucket list, and XYZ Travel Agency made it an adventure of a lifetime. From the activities to the accommodations, everything exceeded my expectations." – Michael

Discovering dream destinations and embarking on unforgettable tours is what XYZ Travel Agency is all about. We are dedicated to creating experiences that inspire, rejuvenate, and leave lasting memories. Whether you’re seeking relaxation, cultural immersion, adventure, or a mix of all three, we have the perfect itinerary for you. Let XYZ Travel Agency be your guide to the world’s most amazing places. Your dream vacation awaits best travel agency in kochi

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Dough Store: Unveiling the Hype Behind Melbourne's Sneaker Geheimnisse (Secrets)

Melbourne's sneaker scene throbs with life, a haven for collectors and enthusiasts alike. But away from the mainstream stores and established brands lies a hidden world – the realm of "Dough Stores." These independent boutiques, often known affectionately as "Geheimnisse" (secrets) by locals, cater to those seeking unique kicks and a more personalized shopping experience.

This blog post dives into the enigmatic world of Melbourne's Dough Stores, exploring:

The Rise of the Dough Stores: We'll delve into the reasons why these independent stores are gaining popularity.

Beyond the Big Brands: We'll explore what sets Dough Stores apart from mainstream sneaker retailers.

Unearthing the Dough Store Geheimnisse: We'll offer tips on finding and exploring these hidden sneaker havens.

A Community of Passion: We'll highlight the sense of community fostered by Melbourne's Dough Stores.

Why Dough Stores? The Allure of Independence

Dough Stores are carving a niche in Melbourne's sneaker scene for several reasons:

Curated Collections: Dough Stores handpick unique sneakers, focusing on limited-edition releases, collaborations, and independent brands, unlike mainstream retailers with mass-produced selections.

Passionate Staff: Dough Stores are often run by sneaker enthusiasts themselves. Their passion and knowledge translate into personalized recommendations and a genuine love for the sneaker culture.

Supporting Local Businesses: Choosing a Dough Store means supporting independent businesses that contribute to the city's vibrant sneaker scene.

A More Personal Touch: Dough Store offer a more intimate shopping experience compared to larger retailers. Expect friendly conversation, expert advice, and a chance to connect with fellow sneakerheads.

Beyond the Big Brands: While mainstream stores offer the latest trends, Dough Stores prioritize individuality and cater to those who appreciate the stories and craftsmanship behind each sneaker.

Navigating the Dough Store Labyrinth: Finding Your Perfect Pair

Melbourne's Dough Stores reside in hidden corners and trendy neighborhoods. Here are some tips to guide your exploration:

Hit the Streets: Explore Melbourne's laneways and trendy areas like Fitzroy, Collingwood, and Brunswick. Keep an eye out for independent stores with a focus on sneakers.

Do Your Research: Many Dough Stores have a limited online presence. Look for them on social media or local forums to get a feel for their vibe and sneaker selection.

Word-of-Mouth: Talk to fellow sneaker enthusiasts! They might have insider knowledge about hidden gems and upcoming releases at local Dough Stores.

Part of the thrill lies in the discovery itself. Embrace the exploration, and you might stumble upon your new favorite sneaker haven.

More Than Just Kicks: A Community of Passion

Melbourne's Dough Stores foster a strong sense of community amongst sneaker enthusiasts:

Events and Collaborations: Many Dough Stores host sneaker release events, workshops, and collaborations with local artists, fostering a sense of camaraderie and shared passion.

Social Media Connection: Dough Stores often utilize social media to connect with their customer base, sharing news about upcoming releases and creating a virtual space for discussion.

A Shared Love for Sneakers: Dough Stores provide a platform for sneakerheads to connect, discuss their collections, and share their love for the culture.

The Bottom Line:

Melbourne's Dough Stores offer a unique alternative to mainstream sneaker retailers. They provide a curated selection, passionate staff, and a strong sense of community, making them ideal for those seeking something beyond the hype. So, lace up your walking shoes, hit the streets, and embark on your own Dough Store odyssey. You might just discover your new favorite sneaker haven, and become part of a vibrant and passionate community.

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Discovering Jewellery Stores Near Me: A Guide to Finding Exquisite Pieces

Jewellery shopping is an experience that combines the thrill of discovery with the appreciation of fine craftsmanship. Whether you are seeking a timeless piece for a special occasion or a unique addition to your collection, finding the right jewellery store near you is crucial. This guide will help you explore the best ways to find top-notch jewellery stores, with a special focus on Kundan Mala jewellers in Dehradun and the broader landscape of jewellers in India.

The Importance of Finding the Right Jewellery Store

Choosing the right jewellery store is essential for several reasons:

Quality Assurance: A reputable jeweller guarantees the quality and authenticity of the pieces they sell. This is especially important when purchasing high-value items like gold, diamonds, or Kundan Mala jewellery.

Variety and Selection: Established stores often offer a wider range of designs and styles, catering to diverse tastes and preferences.

Expert Guidance: Knowledgeable staff can provide valuable insights into the craftsmanship, history, and care of different types of jewellery.

After-Sales Service: Reliable jewellers offer services like cleaning, repairs, and resizing, ensuring that your jewellery remains in pristine condition.

Exploring Jewellery Stores Near You

Local Jewellers

Start by exploring local jewellery stores in your vicinity. Here are some steps to help you find the best ones:

Online Search: Use search engines to look up jewellery stores near you. Keywords like "jewellery stores near me," "Kundan Mala jeweller in Dehradun," or "jewellers in India" can yield useful results.

Maps and Directories: Online maps and business directories like Google Maps, Yelp, and Yellow Pages can provide detailed information about nearby jewellery stores, including customer reviews and ratings.

Social Media: Platforms like Instagram and Facebook are great for discovering local jewellers. Many stores showcase their collections online, giving you a glimpse of their offerings before you visit.

Word of Mouth: Ask friends, family, and colleagues for recommendations. Personal experiences and trusted opinions can guide you to reputable stores.

Visiting Jewellery Hubs

Certain cities and regions in India are renowned for their jewellery craftsmanship and variety. Visiting these hubs can offer a unique shopping experience:

Dehradun: Known for its exquisite Kundan Mala jewellery, Dehradun boasts several reputable jewellers. The city's blend of traditional and contemporary designs makes it a must-visit for jewellery enthusiasts.

Jaipur: Famous for its Kundan and Meenakari work, Jaipur is a treasure trove of traditional Indian jewellery. The vibrant markets offer a wide range of options, from affordable pieces to high-end designs.

Mumbai: As a major commercial hub, Mumbai hosts numerous luxury jewellery stores and designers. The city's diverse population means you'll find both traditional Indian and modern international styles.

Delhi: Delhi's bustling markets, such as Chandni Chowk, are famous for their extensive jewellery collections. The city is home to both renowned heritage jewellers and contemporary designers.

Evaluating Jewellery Stores

Once you've identified potential jewellery stores, consider the following factors to ensure a satisfying shopping experience:

Reputation and Reviews: Check online reviews and testimonials to gauge the store's reputation. Consistently positive feedback indicates reliability and quality.

Certification and Authenticity: Ensure that the store provides certification for precious metals and gemstones. Authenticity guarantees, like hallmarking for gold, are crucial.

Customer Service: A good jeweller values customer satisfaction. Friendly and knowledgeable staff can enhance your shopping experience.

Customization Options: Some stores offer bespoke services, allowing you to design custom pieces. This is a great option if you're looking for something unique.

Return and Exchange Policies: Understand the store's return and exchange policies before making a purchase. Flexible policies indicate confidence in their products.

The Charm of Kundan Mala Jewellery

Heritage and Craftsmanship

Kundan jewellery has a rich history that dates back to the Mughal era. Known for its elaborate designs and intricate stone settings, Kundan Mala jewellery is a symbol of luxury and elegance. Artisans in Dehradun have perfected this craft, creating pieces that are both traditional and timeless.

Unique Designs

Kundan Mala jewellery stands out for its unique designs. The combination of uncut gemstones set in a refined gold framework creates a regal and opulent look. Whether it's a necklace, earrings, or bangles, Kundan Mala pieces are perfect for special occasions and celebrations.

Versatility

Despite its traditional roots, Kundan Mala jewellery is versatile. It can be paired with various outfits, from sarees and lehengas to contemporary dresses. This adaptability makes it a valuable addition to any jewellery collection.

Jewellers in Dehradun: A Closer Look

Renowned Jewellers

Dehradun is home to several renowned jewellers specializing in Kundan Mala jewellery. These stores are known for their exceptional craftsmanship and high-quality pieces.

Quality Craftsmanship: Jewellers in Dehradun are celebrated for their meticulous attention to detail. Each piece of Kundan Mala jewellery is handcrafted, ensuring precision and uniqueness.

Wide Range of Designs: From traditional to contemporary, the variety of designs available in Dehradun caters to diverse tastes. Whether you prefer elaborate necklaces or simple earrings, you'll find something that suits your style.

Personalized Service: Many jewellers in Dehradun offer personalized services, helping you select or design pieces that match your preferences. This bespoke approach ensures that you leave with jewellery that feels truly special.

Jewellers in India: A Broader Perspective

Traditional Techniques: Indian jewellers are known for their mastery of traditional techniques such as Kundan, Meenakari, Polki, and Jadau. These methods have been passed down through generations, preserving the cultural heritage and artistic excellence of Indian jewellery.

Modern Innovations: While rooted in tradition, Indian jewellers also embrace modern innovations. Contemporary designs and advanced technology in jewellery making have broadened the appeal, attracting a younger demographic.

Diverse Offerings: India's jewellery industry offers a vast array of options, from affordable pieces to high-end luxury items. Whether you're looking for gold, silver, diamonds, or gemstones, Indian jewellers provide a diverse selection to suit every budget and occasion.

Conclusion

Finding the right jewellery store near you is a blend of research, exploration, and personal preference. Whether you're searching for a Kundan Mala jeweller in Dehradun or exploring the offerings of jewellers across India, the key is to look for quality, variety, and exceptional service. By visiting local jewellers and renowned jewellery hubs, you can discover exquisite pieces that reflect both your style and cultural heritage. Embrace the journey of jewellery shopping, and let each piece you acquire tell a story of craftsmanship, tradition, and personal elegance.

[calgaryliquidationstore]

Discover Calgary's Treasure Trove: The Best Liquidation Store Exposed!

Are you on the hunt for unbeatable deals and hidden gems in Calgary? Look no further! Calgary’s treasure trove awaits you at the Best Liquidation Store in Calgary. Prepare to embark on a shopping adventure like no other as we unveil the secrets of this hidden gem where quality meets affordability.

Exploring Calgary's Best Liquidation Store

Nestled amidst the vibrant streets of great liquidation deals lies a haven for bargain hunters and savvy shoppers alike. The Best Liquidation Store in Calgary is more than just a retail outlet; it's an experience waiting to be discovered. Whether you're searching for electronics, home essentials, fashion finds, or unique gifts, this store has something for everyone.

Unbeatable Deals Await

Step inside, and you'll be greeted by aisles brimming with an extensive selection of merchandise at jaw-dropping prices. From brand-name items to one-of-a-kind treasures, the Best Liquidation Store in Calgary is a paradise for those seeking value without compromising quality. With new arrivals constantly replenishing the shelves, every visit promises exciting discoveries and incredible savings.

Quality Meets Affordability

Contrary to common misconceptions, shopping at a liquidation store doesn't mean sacrificing quality. At Calgary's Best Liquidation Store, meticulous attention is paid to curating a diverse range of products that meet stringent standards. Whether it's electronics, household goods, or apparel, each item undergoes thorough inspection to ensure it meets or exceeds expectations.

A Shopper's Paradise

What sets the Best Liquidation Store in Calgary apart is its commitment to providing an unparalleled shopping experience. Friendly and knowledgeable staff members are always on hand to assist you, offering personalized recommendations and insider tips. Whether you're a seasoned bargain hunter or a first-time visitor, you'll feel right at home amidst the welcoming atmosphere and treasure-filled aisles.

Discover Hidden Gems

One of the thrills of shopping at Calgary's Best Liquidation Store is the excitement of uncovering hidden gems. With a constantly evolving inventory, each visit presents an opportunity to stumble upon that perfect find you never knew you needed. From designer apparel at fraction-of-the-cost prices to rare collectibles waiting to be unearthed, the possibilities are endless.

Community and Sustainability

Beyond offering unbeatable deals, the Best Liquidation Store in Calgary is also dedicated to fostering a sense of community and promoting sustainability. By giving new life to surplus goods and minimizing waste, this store plays a vital role in reducing environmental impact while providing affordable options for consumers. Shopping here isn't just about scoring great deals; it's about making a positive difference.

Why Choose Calgary's Best Liquidation Store?

Unbeatable deals on a wide range of merchandise

Quality products at affordable prices

Friendly and knowledgeable staff committed to customer satisfaction

Constantly evolving inventory with new arrivals daily

Community-focused and environmentally conscious practices

Plan Your Visit Today

Ready to embark on a shopping adventure like no other? Make your way to Calgary's Best Liquidation Store and discover the treasure trove that awaits. Whether you're shopping for yourself, your family, or searching for that perfect gift, you're sure to find exactly what you're looking for—and more! Join the throngs of satisfied shoppers who have unlocked the secrets of Calgary's best-kept shopping destination. Don't miss out on the opportunity to experience the thrill of finding incredible deals and hidden treasures. Your shopping journey begins here!

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POF THORUGH THE HOUSES🔮

1st House POF

You came into this life to be independent without harming or living in disdain of others’ beliefs. Highly competitive, you like the game of challenge and the thrill of the win. But you must win honestly, without cheating or harming others.

Your opposing position is the 7th and you must not become entangled in dependent relationships. You can be loving, supportive, and caring, and loyal without becoming dependent on the love from another for your happiness.

2nd House POF

You must discover what’s really important in life and stick by it. What makes you feel safe, secure, and on solid ground. 2nd house about security and about “things.” You must only have things that reflect the true-you. Think that painting your second cousin created is ugly? Don’t keep it out where you can see it. Be brave. Don’t’ fall into fads and other people’s expectations of what is of value.

You’ve earned luck with money (unless there are difficult aspects to your part of fortune or other planets in the 2nd). Your projects and goals, have to be in keeping with your true values in order for them to be financially successful.

Your opposing position is the 8th house of other people’s money and possessions. The trick to balance here is to discern what is yours from what belongs to others. This also applies to sexual values. Be your own person and, unless it harms others, indulge in your own sexual values.

3rd House POF

Language and words are important and joy comes from understanding how others think and experience the world around them. You strive to understand how relationships work. This helps you with self-clarity. Your earned karma is a talent for understanding the nature of relationships and communication and in sharing your wisdom with others.

Your opposing position is in the 9th house. Here, the pull is to dismiss the consciousness of humans and immerse yourself in spiritual connections. You might get lost in idealism and miss out of the reality that idealism is expressed through the minds of humans. Being a hermit in a cave or an ashram or pulls you away from the people you are meant to teach. Balance of body, mind, and spirit is your soul’s goal.

4h House POF

Your earned karma is about setting down roots, either figuratively or literally. Nourishing the beginnings of life, plants, pets, ideas, projects, and more are where you shine. Building emotional foundations that can stand the test of opposition is important. Know your heart and stay with it.

Your opposing position is the 10th. Learning that building a foundation that can nourish growth takes time. Impatience and wanting results in an instant will undermine your work. Giving up too soon will derail your destined path. Resist these temptations and your life will work smoothly.

5th House POF

Creativity, expanding the world of possibilities, and expression of your inner self is your earned karma. Dreams become realities, living in joy and happiness through your creations are your path to happiness. Whether you express through art, philosophy, music, empowering others, adventure, discovery, or whatever else, you must be creative to fulfill your chosen path.

Your opposing position is the 11th house. This is the house of friends, organizations, and the dreams and wishes of others. Do not be lured into changing your visions for those of others. Stay true to your creativity and be inspired by others without compromising your expression of what brings you joy.

6th House POF

Work and responsibility are your paths to joy. Using your time and energy will and in practical ways brings you fulfillment and satisfaction. You are good at teaching others how to do this, too. You are good at not becoming mired in the messiness of indecision and emotional quandaries. You can systematize and organize in a way that allows you to breathe freely and enjoy life without confusion and unnecessary burdens.

Your opposing position is the 12th house that draws you into the depth of emotions and inner worlds. To successfully work with the depth of human psyche and not become lost in its maze, compassion is needed. Without compassion, you become ineffective in leading a life of systematic organization. To balance the energies of the 6th and 12th, a study of astrology, Qabala, numerology, and such are systematic enough to address both organization and compassion.

7th House POF

With the POF in the 7th, you are happier and more successful in life when you are in a loving, stable relationship. Being in a loving relationship—of any kind—brings you in closer contact with your greater, spiritual consciousness. The more joy you bring to the others in your partnership(s) the more joy you find in yourself.

Your opposing position is in the 1st house of self-identity. Living out of the opposing position alone means you will always be seeking, but not necessarily recognizing the perfect partner. You have trouble finding your true identity because you never truly connect at a deep level to others. You will have a sense of disharmony and no clear purpose. Life feels meaningless and lonely, even when you are with someone.

The balance is to learn how to connect at a deep level with others. Feel what it is like for them. Experience their love for you and your love for them. Know that their needs are as important as yours. Be willing to sacrifice for the happiness of those important to you, knowing that they will do the same for you.

8th House POF

Others will always be there for you. Solutions will always appear when needed. Discovery of self comes through the gifts and blessings from others. Through others, you learn to be flexible, and welcome change and growth. Your curiosity about what makes things work, how others achieve greatness or amazing skills is what drives you to better yourself.

Your opposing position is the 2nd house of belongings, values, and security. If you live out of this position, you will seek happiness through having things and money. You won’t learn from the failures of others and will make the same mistakes over and over. The tug of war between house 8 and house 2 confuses you about what is worth holding on to and what needs to be discarded or released. The 8th house is there to show you everything that needs to be released because it is damaging or has outlived its usefulness. It will bring people into your life to show you the way. This applies to actions, behavior, people, and material possessions. If you don’t heed the call of the 8th house your life will be one of constantly collecting, acquiring, and being fearful of loss.

9th House POF

Truth, knowledge, wisdom, and expansion is your gift here. You seek to understand life beyond the material and mundane. You seek to know Truth. The far corners of the earth call you so you can experience life in its kaleidoscope of color and texture. You commune with nature and the cosmos itself.

The opposing position is the 3rd house of communication. But it is communication without deep understanding. It is often about defending your position and speaking AT someone or preaching, lecturing, commanding. Living from this point, you would tend to exaggerate, create “alternate” truths, express in ways that glorify you.

Balancing the 9th and 3rd, you have a gift of communicating in a powerful and persuasive way because it comes from a place of truth. You visit other lands to know the people and understand their way of living and communicating. You seek communion with the highest spiritual realms. You can become a great leader in the spiritual world and/or in the realm of helping others become empowered.

10th House POF

The gifts from having your POF in the 10th house are often problematic to achieve. It is about fame, being an authority, that is trusted by others, and living life by your own rules. This comes after sustained effort and developing the emotional maturity to handle it. Holding on to childish emotions or a need for adulation is likely to trigger a tumble from high places.

With opposing position in the 4th house, there is a pull to hide from public life because the compassion for the plight of the world can become a crushing responsibility. The balance is to understand what must be done with clear vision and understanding, having compassion without becoming trapped by it.

11th House POF

In this house, you have the gift of being a true visionary, able to look far into the future and see the path that must be taken for the greatest good. Independence from the traps of ordinary life are a strong urge and you carry a magnetic attraction for those who need to find their way.

The opposing position is the 5th house. This causes a restlessness and a feeling that you MUST do something for the world or for a cause. Sharing the burdens of the cause, project, or good works is grudgingly accepted for, if you don’t balance the 11th/5th axis, you always feel that you are the ONLY one who can do the job—that you are the chosen one and need no assistance. The balance is to realize that in involving others in the process, you are helping them in the highest way for their good.

12th House POF

This is the position of the meditator and seeker of inner peace. Discovering the truth of your inner self and the mysteries of the universe brings your greatest joy. The opposing position is the 6th house of duty. Here you might find yourself trapped in having to “do your duty” in the ordinary world and not be able to indulge in your inner work. The balance is to do your duty without identifying with it but realizing that everything can be a tool for inner reflection. The Zen saying, “What do you do before enlightenment? You chop wood and carry water. What do you do after enlightenment? You chop wood and carry water.” fits POF in the 12th house after a balance between the subtle and material world has been achieved.

POF in the Signs

The sign the POF is in and its opposite sign must be combined with the nature of the house where it resides. The signs show how you can balance the karma associated with the house placement of the POF and its opposing sign.

This is also true if you look at your North and South Nodes. The North node represents untapped possibilities (untapped in past lives). It represents emotional treasures you must work to uncover and develop. The North node is your potential in life. The South node shows stasis, stagnation, and resistance to the changes necessary in order to develop the potential of the North node—but that’s another blog.

Aries

You bring with you from past lives, bravery and a pioneering spirit. Aries is a me-first sign and sure of his decisions and beliefs. Libra is a you-first sign and will suppress her own feelings in order to “keep the peace.” Use the Libra’s ability to weigh pros and cons and to see more than one side of a situation, but don’t get caught up in indecision and living by others’ standards.

Taurus

Embrace what is solid and enduring. You bring with you the ability to build a firm foundation for your life. Don’t get trapped in the judgmental, critical, and observer mindset of the opposing sign. Root your mind in honesty, generosity, emotional involvement with love and the beauties of life.

Gemini

Knowledge, communication, and learning are the gifts you bring with you from past lives. The karma is from the opposing sign of Sagittarius that wants to expand, grow, shine, and experience the adventure of life without really understanding it. Sagittarius judges others without understanding them. Wisdom is the balancer of this axis. Learn, understand, and apply it wisely.

Cancer

This is the karma gift of love, nurturing, and deep emotional connections. A life filled with warmth and closeness is important for you. Your opposing sign of Capricorn, tries to pull you into distancing yourself from feelings and being more pragmatic. This is a good balancer if yo don’t deny your karmic nature of tender harmony with life.

Leo

Leo is about leadership, being a source of inspiration to others, and great achievements but needs to be recognized and repaid for their generosity. The opposing sign is Aquarius, the impersonal doer of good works that seeks to help the masses more than individual and shun personal involvement, the limelight and fame. The balancer is to consider both the individual and the masses. Give without requiring praise and return, yet graciously accept it when given.

Virgo

Virgo brings the gift of organization and analysis to find joy in order. The opposing sign, Pisces flows toward disorder and a let-it-be attitude. Pisces can pull you into a world of intuition, disorder, and deep feeling The balancer and path to joy is to embrace both worlds and to seek order in the nebulous flow of events and time. In Science, the discovery that there is order in Chaos opened up vast discoveries about the universe.

Libra

Libra needs balance, and defines herself by the reflection from friendships and relationships. Libra often has difficulty discerning priorities because she sees all sides of situations. The opposing sign, Aries defines himself by his own standards. Indecision is never an issue. Sometimes rash and in a hurry, Aries often leaves projects unfinished. The balancer is to develop a sense of self apart from others but still consider that they are a reflection of yourself. Take the gift of Aries’ bravery and willingness to take risks.

Scorpio

A Scorpio POF seeks to understand the mysteries of the universe. Scorpio tears down the old and worn out. He seeks to uncover deception and expose bare truth. There is no peace nor patience in pure Scorpio. The opposing sign of Taurus seeks to build a stable, secure existence. There is patience and a peace of mind in the security of a well-built foundation. The balancer is in building from a foundation of truth and in showing others new pathways to their truth.

Sagittarius

Truth, knowledge, and freedom are your keywords. Your fiery energy pushes for more and more, sometimes without a plan or an end in sight, reveling in the sheer joy of expansion. Often there is a directionless drive to have it all. The opposing sign of Gemini brings direction, discernment, and insight into the world of duality. Gemini makes decisions based on the dual nature of things. The balancer is taking the skill of Gemini to see two sides of situations, analyze, and make decisions into the drive toward freedom and expanding your horizons.

Capricorn

Capricorn POF is about form, structure, bridges, focus. The drive is to create in a purposeful, concrete way. You need to take life in your own hands and be in control. The opposing sign, Cancer is nebulous, emotional, watery, freely relying on intuition and “gut feelings.” Allowing the energy of Cancer into your life brings you the ability to experience deep joy in your accomplishments and to freely accept help from others without giving up your authority.

Aquarius

Aquarius POF brings out to the rim of society. You don’t play by the rules and forge your own way, logical or not. Possibilities excite you and you won’t be contained in societies’ box. Freedom and fairness are important. The opposing sign, Leo brings a desire for power and adulation for the gifts you give to the world. The balancer is to turn this need for power inward and transform it to self-empowerment and pride in the work you do the empowers others, too.

Pisces

Pisces POF is about oneness, universality, and the flow of energy that unites us all. Pisces seeks to escape the traps and ruts of mundane living and experience the music of the spheres. The opposing sign, Virgo is grounded, organized, practical. By embracing this part of you and bringing it into the nebulous world of Pisces, you can inspire and transcend the rules of the mundane world to help others discover the cosmos within.

*(I found all of this online looking on this topic)

[belit0]

Commission for @GlitterBomba!

Part 2 of this!! I don't feel it's as angsty as it should be, but for some reason, my creativity wanted it that way? It's been a long time since I've last written, and this was definitely a challenge... First part was produced way too long ago, so it was also challenging to connect with what I felt when I wrote it! But here it is, and I hope you like it, GlitterBomba. Thanks for trusting me!

My Ko-fi page~ Buy me a coffee if anyone wants part 3 ❤（っ＾▿＾）

It took you days to awaken from your deep sleep, days which became weeks, and weeks transformed into months. There was no hope for your life among the healers, but the tenacity and insistence of those elders who saved you forced them to continue providing methods and energy, herbs, talismans to keep you breathing.

Impossible to explain how that mortal blow did not steal your last breath, not when the perpetrator was the greatest tyrant in the current world, the monster everyone learned to fear and flee from. In the small place where you are kept hidden, rumor has it the treacherous one repented as soon as his hand affected your body, causing you not to succumb immediately.

It wasn’t until after he vanished, shrouded in lightning and hatred, when one of Ashura’s subordinates came upon the scene of your sad fate. A pool of blood acting as a bed over a pale body, devoid of any warmth and life. Everyone was quick to write you off for dead after such an event, and only when one of the village elders took your pulse did he find your incredible attempt to resist despite all odds.

Keeping you along with the new leader and his people would not be a good idea. Not when you barely escaped with your life from the beast. In case he came back and besieged his younger brother, it would be better if he didn’t find you there. That man proved to have an unquenchable thirst for revenge.

Tempting fate once is more than enough.

That led a group of elderly men, those who defended your slight pulse when everyone thought you were dead, to ask Ashura’s permission before disappearing and taking you to a safe place, making use of some of the village healers to ensure your health. 8 men of different ages vanish with you, swearing on their lives to do everything possible for you to open your eyes again.

Winters turned into warm seasons, and autumn leaves were waning. Two whole years quickly go by before your consciousness returns. The world is different. You understand through your guardians that life passed with you as a ghostly presence, a bedridden legend they fought all this time to preserve.

No one mentions what happened to you, though. No one names him.

To everyone’s surprise, you don’t really ask about the village; you don’t ask about your birthplace and your home. You don’t ask... about him.

Your healers discover you memory was damaged after exhaustive examinations beyond your comprehension. Theories why this happened are various in your little home; some argue the loss of blood hurt your brain, others believe the trauma of that betrayal forced you to block it all out, and there are those who think maybe you ignored the past on purpose.

Still, there is an unspoken rule forbidding the mention of what happened, of the village, of those two brothers. After experiencing hell, what would be the benefit of forcibly bringing you back to that horrible past? In this remote place, you have the chance to start from scratch, and your rescuers believe it is the least you deserve.

Little by little, you gradually learn everything all over again. Your own name, your age, information about those around you. You ask with animosity about everything you don’t understand, and the only thing there is reluctance to answer is when you want to know about who you were before... this.

Healers get the problem off their shoulders, rushing you to ask such questions to the older people. They shoo you out of their humble hut with nervousness and red faces, panic in their eyes.

Seniors sigh as they stare into nothingness, sadness and nostalgia, painting their countenances with something you cannot grasp. Some even drop a couple of tears to the rhythm of a depressing whisper, “oh poor child...”

The scene makes you feel so guilty you end up consoling them, assuring it’ s not a big deal and you don’t need to be told. That your life in this small place with them is all you need to be happy, past or no past.

Regardless, it is the scar monstrously painting your stomach which makes you uneasy. While tracing the edges of that sensitive skin with your fingertips, you feel its reason for existence is on the tip of your tongue. As if reminders of what happened to you are lingering there, buried in your head, but creeping closer to your memory every time you look at your navel.

What happened? What terrible thing could have left such an enormous mark on your skin, but not in your head?

It’s frustrating.

Eventually, curiosity to explore beyond your own narrow world peaks. It’s quite natural, considering four older men and four medicine buffs rarely make for an interesting group of company. Older men drink tea most of the day, when they’re not napping in the sun, of course. The rest read rigorously and debate among themselves about their newly gained knowledge.

Getting permission is a complicated task. They are terribly afraid of your departure, scared of your fate, frightened of what dangers you might encounter.

But how to keep you there forever, when you have seen the vivid movement the closest town has?

Perhaps it was your rescuers’ mistake for allowing you to go exploring within the boundaries they considered safe, yet you inevitably discovered such a place, so close and yet so far away, so full of people and... life. Persons of all ages walking from one side to the other, food you never saw before displayed in various stalls, children playing with each other, unaware of the surrounding universe. Everything looks completely natural, as if folks are used to this kind of lifestyle since long ago, and you wonder if you ever lived in a similar environment.

Just what hides in your past?

After insistence and great pleas against the overprotection imparted on you, they understand it is simply hopeless to make you give up your idea unless they expose all those shocking events, unless they explain from what kind of danger it is necessary for you to hide, from whom it is imperative you escape.

No one knew anymore about that demon after his disappearance the same day, and it is uncertain where he is. Whether he is hiding or far from your current home, it is unknown to anyone, and it would invoke bad luck if your guardians expected you to meet him face to face once you get away from them.

Preparation of weeks and many directions, you finally depart from your unnoticed hideout in the world, leaving behind anxious seniors and worried healers.

It was agreed you could explore for a couple of months, but your eventual return is a binding closure on the deal you reluctantly struck. Each new destination brings with it new discoveries, tastes, experiences. You always find charitable souls willing to help when you are short of food, water or shelter, people who offer to give directions when you get disoriented, people who share stories with you on lonely, nostalgic nights.

With each step you take in the outside world, less you understand what your guardians are afraid of. Everyone is well meaning, and no one seeks to take advantage of your innocence. It is incomprehensible why this was denied to you for so long, and every time you think of your precious little home, an emptiness grows in your heart.

Weeks slowly pass, and having experienced so much in such a short time, you find the need to recount it to those you consider your family. As initially agreed, it may be time to return, to prove the world is not as terrible as they feared.

A few miles from homeland, just as you feel you are walking the grounds of your family again, you stop at a stream to get a drink of water, determined not to slow down until you reach your destination. It is too much of a thrill to witness those 8 insane people bickering and arguing. You absentmindedly smile as you rinse your face.

In your distraction, you cannot hear footsteps approaching at your back. It’s not like you would have detected them if you were paying attention either, for the person stalking you is deliberately careful, calculating.

Turning, your face affects directly into a solid mass of muscle, sending you tumbling down the riverbank again. Any woman would have assumed the worst when connecting glances with a man who invades her personal space unannounced, but from your mouth comes a concerned “Are you okay?”

The man, who is watching you as if a ghost were sitting next to you in the water and you were unaware of it, bleeds. Profusely, indeed. Both of his hands are deeply cut, distinct wounds on his palms dripping thickly to the ground.

There is no answer to your question, and the man’s countenance is difficult to decipher. His eyes glow a red which fades too quickly to analyze, his complexion is completely pale and unhealthy, his hair points in all directions, forming a long brown tangle which you deduce has not been combed for some time. For moments, it is as if there are words trying to pierce his lips, but the stupor of the individual continues.

“Your hands... we really should take care of them, shouldn’t we? Aiya, let this humble one help you heal.”

There is no reaction as you stand up and take him by the arm, guiding him to a large rock away from the water and helping him to sit up. His gaze is still completely fixed on your face, searching for something you’ re oblivious to. His mouth opens and closes rapidly, agitated breaths accompanied by sounds resembling syllables.

“Look at this mess alone... sir, you should be cautious walking along the bed of these waters. They are treacherous, hm?”

Ripping off one of your sleeves, previously dampened when you fell into the water, you use the cloth to clean his wounds. There’s not much you can do here, out in the open and in these conditions, but judging by the man’s appearance, he was probably recently attacked. When you mention your little home a few miles away, the man doesn’t refuse or accept.  

Still, when you head back to the road, you find the fellow following you from behind, head down and staring at the ground. In his hands he tightly clenches the cloth of your sleeve, and blood stains the fabric completely at this point. You talk about the healers in your place, and how they can help him get better, but no matter how much you try, the man never responds. You ponder whether, perhaps, the situation he experienced before he ran into you may have been intense, and you attribute his perturbation to that.

After walking without pause all afternoon, your silent companion always keeping your own pace, your destination appears in front of you. From afar, you can see the elders sitting on the engawa of their cottage, sharing tea and quietly waiting for dusk. All is silent, and your announcement of arrival is the only thing disturbing the atmosphere.

Your arms wave vigorously to catch the attention of those you regard as family, a splendorous smile planted on your face, walking at an increased speed to catch up with them. An extended curtsey bow is given before them, and only after raising your head you dare to give them all a group hug, false formality forgotten as much as your guest.

The man slowly approaches this scene and analyzes the faces of those present as the embrace takes place. Had you not been turning your back on him, you may have noticed the change in his countenance, coldness creeping over his features from one moment to the next. None of the elders noticed his noiseless presence, not even having sensed it to begin with, and it is not until one of them finishes smiling and opens his eyes to come face to face with their worst fear.

Suddenly the hug is interrupted when this old man lets out a shriek, trying to back away and losing his balance. You follow his line of sight while turning, and find that innocent-looking stranger again, disoriented. There are screams all around you. Seniors are horrified and collapse on the floor next to each other, completely surrendered to the gaze of the demon fixed on them.

“Don’t behave like that! It would appear it wasn’t you guys who taught me manners... I’m so sorry, sir, they’re not used to dealing with travelers, let alone wounded ones... if you’d be so kind as to follow me?”

Throwing a withering glance at the group of elders, you direct your guest to the house the healers occupy. True, your little family is not used to encountering men in the state this very one is in, but you never expected such an exaggeration. A bit of unkempt hair and blood, pale skin, and they’re all screaming on the floor?

The reaction of the healers is not much different, and after reprimanding them for behaving so shamefully, you get them to treat the man’s hands. Leaving them alone so as not to disturb the setting, you make your way to the third and final cottage, your own. Since the other houses occupy four people each, it would be problematic to ask them to accommodate your own guest, and you take your time assembling an extra bed, improvising with blankets.

Nighttime is delightfully quiet, and as the door opens without warning, you greet the individual with a smile. Elders have taken the trouble to bring food for both you and him, announcing neither they nor the healers were in the mood to share dinner together.

The man’s hands are bandaged, his palms completely covered, and his thumbs trapped in the wrappings. He looks uncomfortable, and it shows in his inability to do anything on his own. His chopsticks are impossible to hold as he kneels on the floor and tries to eat, and after many urgings from you, he nods silently and almost imperceptibly, allowing you to help him.

“You see... you’re here, eating my food, under my roof, safe and comfortable... and I still don’t know your name...”

Teasing is imminent in your voice, hoping to relax him, if only a little. As he takes another bite and chews, his eyes are fixed on the table, like trying to hide from your presence.

After analyzing the end of your day alongside this presence, you assessed this man must be terribly shy, perhaps someone properly introverted. Still, observing his features, you get a strange familiarity, a feeling making you let your guard down and relax in front of him. A secret knocking at the door of your mind, demanding to burst in front of you but being invisible at the same time.

“... Uchiha...”

Without expecting an answer anymore, after several minutes, his voice surprises you. It sounds like that of someone who rarely uses it, raspy and rusty, as if it had been forgotten long ago, and not even the man himself remembers its ringing.

“Um?”

“Lord Uchiha...”

His name, you realize. Formal, a title.

Lord Uchiha continues in the same position, just like his words had been an illusion. It is impossible to keep giving him food, his attitude surly and refusing, and you wonder if he plans to spend the entire night in the same position if you allow him to.

Demandingly, you get him up and offer him your bed for the night.

He tries to take the spot you set up on the floor, and displays physical strength far beyond what you thought he had. There are firm muscles hiding under his stained white tunic, and they flex slightly every time he tries to change the course you both walk. He is probably holding back, you realize, for the way his forearm tenses. The stubbornness of this individual… as if he were someone unaccustomed to taking orders, leading rather than listening. Either way, he ends up tucked inside your room, buried under sheets and quilts so he doesn’t get cold.

You find your own resting place after closing the door and leaving your guest. There is not much room inside your small home, and yet, the greatest comforts are offered to those who really need them.

That night, a fearsome nightmare assaults your dreams. A pitch-black claw pierces your stomach from both sides, long nails tearing through skin and tissue like cloth. Blood pools at your feet, solidifying and making escape impossible. You feel your lips move in a choked scream, and a single word escapes your throat along with another red waterfall.

“... Indra...”

[gnosticinitiation]

Nature The Law Giver, Chapter 56

Man, in his greed, will heedlessly sacrifice anything in order to attain his end. Each day a forest disappears to provide logs for the mills, with the result that destructive nature is becoming more active and summers and winters are becoming more severe. Cyclones and tornadoes do not recur where virgin forests still exist, for the tall trees temper the effect of the destructive agencies. Nature, however, steps in and penalizes man for his destruction and wastage of her bounty.

In England, during the Great War, much oak and other timber was cut down to provide necessary pit props. It will take at least ninety-nine years of a reforestation before this damage can be remedied. When the trees covering the sides of our mountains are destroyed, torrents of water carry away the fertile earth, and eroded stony deserts are formed. Today even the small trees are ruthlessly cut or broken down in the process of logging, and reforestation by artificial means is necessary. The more man destroys the handiwork of nature, the greater the calamity to future generations. But there is another angle to this law, for we are told that in proportion to man’s destruction, nature shuts down on the activities of his memory.

If the citizen who destroys one tree will with love and reverence plant three others in its place he will form an alliance with the consciousness of nature which will afford him a shelter of protection. Devotion to God through kindness to nature will redeem man from such ignorance. As man destroys the trees and vegetation, nature's supply of oxygen is reduced, and oxygen is man’s elixir of life. There are many places on the earth today which afford man an earthly paradise, because the climatic conditions are tempered by the bounty of nature’s vegetation and man receives his full supply of oxygen. When a man who has lived close to nature enters the great industrial sections of a city, he will experience difficulty in breathing and a sense of oppression. Smoke from the factories, especially where soft coal is burned, causes havoc and destruction among humanity because the soot with which it is laden clogs the lungs, and the gases rob the blood stream of its oxygen. Nature's purifying oxygen is diluted with carbon oxides, and men and women are “born tired,” live in exhaustion, and die in despair. The impurities man liberates in the air are brought into his own system, and he should realize that he is suffering the penalty of his own acts.

Nature looks too man to help repair the calamities which he creates, and whoever works to alleviate the misfortune of nature unconsciously redeems himself. There are many real lovers of nature who beautify their houses and gardens, and on them nature bestows her love and affection. I have heard many sensitive people say, “Love comes to me from my garden for the care I bestow upon it.” However, people seldom exert themselves outside their own environment or seek to remedy the destruction which others have caused. While nature seeks to bring happiness to her children, she often weeps over the desecration of her bounty which Christmas brings, when the small fir, pine and hemlock trees are uprooted and sold over the counter for a few cents each.

A dear friend of mine, whose nature is of the “sylphid” type, once purchased a small Christmas tree for her drawing room, which she painted a silver bronze. It is most beautiful when decorated, but she said last Christmas and has said for several years, “I shall save it and use it again next year, for I never wish to kill another fir tree.” She had been to one of the big shops, and had seen hundreds of the small trees piled up to provide a passing thrill for the children and grown-ups at Christmas.

The devas have prophetic knowledge and they often inform the student what catastrophes are to take place when the Titans within the earth will be released to work destruction and havoc among mankind. Our modern Sodoms and Gomorrahs will in the fullness of time all suffer their due penalty which their destructiveness has brought to nature. When a place becomes so saturated with evil that it becomes destructive to the pure in heart, it remains only a matter of time when it will be razed to the ground.

I have witnessed the manipulation of natural forces by an Initiate during one of the great commercial crises in America, in order to prevent nature's penalties being too severe. And if it were not for the great immortals now living, the aftermath of the last great war would have been terrible beyond the conception of man.

Man comes naked into this world, and naked goes he hence. The perfection, the experience, which he gains to bring him into the consciousness of Truth can be summed up in one question, “What did he learn about himself?”

I have been privileged to read messages which certain Yogis wrote before they passed out, and the knowledge they had gained was of true spiritual worth, even though the whole life experience could be summed up in a single phrase. They also wrote minutely about knowledge they had gained in far distant countries, in order to enable the reader at some later date to open the book of the daily life and customs of a people who are today known only through archaeological research. Some of the writings of these seers gives an insight into the daily life and religious observances of past civilizations, and when the will of nature allows, humanity will be given information about Lemuria, Atlantis, Cush, Egypt, and Asiatic and African cities which today we know little.

This information will become available to those who are seeking to abide by the laws and edicts of nature's consciousness (natural law). But until a man passes the border which separates him from nature's consciousness, and lives according to her law, he cannot enjoy her bounty and protection. The devas often say, “How few we find in humanity who can become our spokesmen to redeem man into an understanding of our purpose in humanity’s endeavor.”

The great light-bringers to our earth have said, “Thou shalt not kill,” yet today mankind is recklessly killing other human beings by pestilence, wars, gas, greed, and the adulteration of nature's products. Could the total be known, the entire loss of life through the Great War would be negligible in comparison to the killing going quietly behind the scenes through man’s violation of natural law.

Disease is becoming so subtle that science is baffled to ascertain its cause or cure, and there is a new disease developing which will attack the membranes of a man’s astral and mental bodies, for man in his ignorance releases powers and forces into the atmosphere, the effect of which on the human brain and man’s causal body sheath he little knows.

After many years the manipulators of the X-ray are beginning to learn how to protect themselves from injury. This discovery, which has been of the greatest service to mankind, produced martyrs before the operator learned to safeguard himself against its subtle affects.

The average person seldom realizes that there are many pathways to God, and that there is one through science, wherein nature instructs humanity, and although many martyrs are sacrificed, yet when man lives the natural life according to nature's law, he will live to a greater age and gain a greater knowledge, and enjoy a greater freedom from disease and annoyance. From the requirement of knowledge comes wisdom, and wisdom points the path that leads to the “place of understanding.”

There are many today, generally unheeded by the populace, over whom nature has cast her Shekinah, and these are our “wise men.” We have many politicians, but a few statesmen. The devas often speak of the wise men in nature, meaning those men who have attained to her wisdom. These men are given great powers to ennoble the mind of humanity, and protect the innocent, and in proportion as they increase, the level of human accomplishment is advanced.

[misiwrites]

Beyblade Week Day 4

i'm sorry i'm out here still posting things so late but here's my fourth and final 4kingdoms-verse oneshot for @beybladeweek2021, mostly this is late because i was out of town last week but these prompts were also the hardest to make a oneshot about, somehow i managed to make a quirky little story about max anyway.

this takes place probably somewhere right before the beginning of the main fic, or close to it anyways. and i feel like this needs the small explanation that 4kingdoms max looks a bit different because the north has no sunlight (don’t ask me how that works. it’s fantasy)

~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~

Fears / Animals / Winter

“Aaugh!”

As patient as Max is, the strange sound of Giancarlo’s sudden scream followed by a soft, barely audible thump of something hitting the floor in the walk-in closet is enough to snap his attention from the game console in his hands. He casts a curious look across his bedroom to witness the striped leg of a plush toy sticking out through the narrow crack of the closet door.

Now he can already tell what has happened. Regardless, he drops the game on the couch and jumps to his feet to see what his knight has gotten himself into in the closet.

“You opened the forbidden door!” Max gloats at Giancarlo, now standing ankle-deep in a sea of plush toys. “I told you the games are in the second from left, not from right.”

“Is this why you call that door ‘forbidden’?” Giancarlo asks, one hand still on the handle of the closet door that the avalanche of toys descended on him from. “I expected something more... I don’t know... scandalous... or personal.”

“This is personal. They’re all mine.” Max crouches over to pick one of the plush toys up, the yellow mascot character of a popular Eastern children’s game franchise. “Oh man, these take me back. I haven’t really seen them since Mama ordered them to be put away. She said I was too old to keep them in my bed. But I refused to have them taken out, so I got this closet for them instead.”

“Aha. I don’t mean to judge your decisions, but I think there’s a few too many for a closet of this size.”

“Well, they fit in just fine before you opened the door like an idiot.”

Max lets his eyes scan the colourful blast on the floor, admiring the chaos of all the scattered shapes of different stuffed creatures, some more nostalgic than others but each and every one so familiar to him; some expensive and store-bought, some hand-made by his father or someone else, he hardly even remembers at this point; it’s been so long since he was gifted these toys, and at least a couple of years since Judy wanted them sealed away.

And then one of them catches his eye over the rest, one that makes his heart skip a beat of bittersweet joy and longing. He tramples and kicks his way past other toys to get to the middle.

It’s a plush dog, one whose tattered, worn-out shape isn’t particularly distinguishable as a dog. It has an elongated body and small stubs for legs, folded ears – well, one ear, as the other has come off and been lost to time – and a small, thin tail that’s also on its way to come off its stitches but is barely hanging on, miserably drooping down from the back of the caramel brown animal that’s so thoroughly covered in dirt and dust that it looks grey. The dog’s black button eyes are intact, at least, and it still has a red little tongue sticking out of its mouth.

Max is momentarily frozen in place staring at the dog. This toy brings back so many memories, some of which threaten to turn his stomach as the long-forgotten anxiety rushes back in one tidal wave, it climbs up the ladder of his spine like an unwelcome visitor from the past; but at the same time, he loves this little dog so very dearly, his childhood favourite.

“Look at these, Your Highness!” Giancarlo suddenly yells, snapping Max out of his thoughts. “Really fitting, aren’t they? Doesn’t it make you think of something?”

Max turns to see his knight holding three plush animals on his arms: a snake, a fox, and a miniature horse. Max does remember all of them, but none were his favourites. They must have been gifts from his earlier childhood, he has no memory of actually getting them or ever feeling particularly attached to them.

“Umm,” he says, “no, not really.”

“Don’t you remember? The fairytale? A guy talks to a fox, a serpent, and a horse...”

“No, can’t say that rings any bells.”

“Really?” An idiotic grin spreads on Giancarlo’s face, the same one he flashes every time he gets to feel smarter than his young king. “It’s a traditional Northern folktale! Each animal represents one fear that the dude has, and he has to face them one by one. Well, I don’t really remember the details, but it was something like that.” He lifts the tiny horse closer to his face, as if to study it more closely – or to face it, to stay true to his own words, Max assumes. “Was the third one really a horse? I think it was. I guess horses can be scary to some people. They’re big animals and all.”

Max rolls his eyes, truly wishing that Giancarlo would shut up for once and clean up the mess he’s caused in the walk-in closet – or just do anything else and leave Max be, to sort out the sudden, fairly uncomfortable onslaught of memories caused by the discovery of his old stuffed dog toy.

Instead, Giancarlo keeps talking, as he always does.

“If there was a story about my fears, it would probably be... hmm... never eating cannoli ever again... and never going on another date...”

“Some incredible fears you have,” Max comments. “Tells a lot about your psyche.”

“And what are you scared of, Your Highness? What would you face if you met this guy? Nei-i-i-igh.” Giancarlo waves the tiny horse at Max, truthfully not the embodiment of terror by any stretch.

“Me? Well, nothing, really.”

“Come on, now, no need to be shy. You can tell the good old Gianni.”

“I mean it – I have my magic, so there’s no reason for me to be scared of anything.” There’s nothing that Max can think of that he wouldn’t be able to shield himself from with his magic powers, especially his ability to turn invisible. If nothing can catch him or do as much as touch him, what reason would he have to be afraid? If anything, he loves the thrill of almost being caught but disappearing out of sight on the last second. Max prides himself in being bold and resourceful, the master of stealth, and the youngest Genbu-ou with the ability to summon the holy beast of Genbu in the known history of his kingdom.

As long as he has his magic and the golden locket of Genbu around his neck, he cannot think of anything that could cause him fear; and as the king, he can have all the materia he could ever want, so he never needs to worry about running out of cannoli pastries or whatever else.

“Okay then, tough guy,” Giancarlo snorts. “And what’s that you got there?”

Max’s gaze returns to the dog on his arms. It stares back at him with its pitiful button eyes, black and lifeless.

“This used to be my favourite,” he replies, finding the words coming out of his mouth with slight hesitation. “Papa made it for me...”

“Oh? Prince Tarou knows how to sew stuffed animals? Well, I guess that makes sense, since he’s such a talented craftsman – but still... It’s hard to imagine a burly man like him making something like... that thing.” Giancarlo forces down an obvious cackle, raising a hand to his mouth to hide his amusement. “I mean...”

Max knows what he means, the puppy with a hot dog-like physique is a pathetic sight, but he cannot help feeling just a little insulted by Giancarlo laughing at it. This puppy brought him so much comfort during a time of turmoil, and it was specifically made by his father for that very purpose. Tarou most likely stitched it together over a single night all those years ago.

“You mean what?” he challenges the royal knight, his tone arrogant.

“Uh... Well, you know... Oh, never mind.”

* * * * * *

When he was younger, Max had no objections over his sheltered life in the Snow Glory Palace, as it never even occurred to his child’s mind that it could be anything but; and the thought only came to him as he entered the rebellious years of puberty and by the questionable ideas that his whimsical knight planted in his head, the thought that it would be exciting to sneak out of the palace every once in a while and wander around the royal capital out of sight.

Max has always been adored by commoners, as the only son of their beloved (by now former) king, the strong yet beautiful and hauntingly intelligent Mizuhara Judy, the only female Genbu-ou of their lifetime; and as much as Max loves the attention and savours the constant awareness of his status of importance that doesn’t escape anybody in his kingdom, he’s equally entertained by the idea of walking among all these people on a lower social ladder without their knowledge, freely entering spaces where his appearance would normally cause a considerable brouhaha. The complete control over whether he’s perceived or not gives him a great amount of satisfaction.

And, most importantly, his ever-so-predominant mother has no idea about it happening right under her nose. As much as Max loves his parents, like any teenager, he has an innate need to break free and seek independence from them, do as he pleases without their scrutiny, without any adult paying attention to him...

at least sometimes.

How many times has he traversed the narrow streets of the ancient royal capital, heard the snow crunch under his shoes without anyone seeing it’s the young king leaving a trail of footprints on the ground covered in white? And when the snow is quietly falling from the sky, the shield of magic around him reflects his surroundings, camouflaging him from other people’s line of sight, he blends perfectly into the arbitrary dance of the snowflakes in the dark.

Then, sometimes, when he finds a suitable corner or shade or hideout for himself, he plans a delicious little display of seemingly appearing out of nowhere into the spotlight. And all the attention is once again drawn to him.

It’s borderline addicting, that calculated spectacle, the thrill of a surprise and act of rebellion that Max is perfectly aware he’s not allowed to do. That his ice queen of a mother would be absolutely furious if she knew.

Now he’s again walking down a cobblestone street, the stone fence of a cemetery on his right-hand side. There’s a layer of powdery snow on the stone, like the icing of a sugar cake.

A cake, oh, a cake sounds excellent to him; and he’s now across a bridge, and the familiar sight of a cosy little coffee shop greets him some feet away. It has a sign outside, a metallic one, shaped like a kettle that’s hanging above the entrance, the shop’s name written on it in cursive.

Max walks over to one of the shop windows and takes a peek inside, bathes in the golden light coming from the other side of the glass. As expected, nobody pays him any attention, none of the people sitting around the lovely little tables inside see him.

He’s ready to be seen, however, and decides to step inside, greeted by the ring of a bell attached to the coffee shop’s door.

“Good evening!” he says cheerfully upon his entrance, flashing a wide grin to everyone in the shop.

People turn to stare at him. Nobody is smiling back at him.

“Er, good evening,” replies the person working behind the counter. Their voice is polite but wary, they stare at Max like everyone else in the shop, with an expression of wide-eyed confusion.

This is not what Max expected. Where are all the delightful gasps, all the “Oh, Your Highness!” and “It’s the young king!” and “This is such an honour!” – all the surprised smiles and the rush to be the first to shake hands with him? He darts some quizzical glances around the shop, eyebrows raised, but his grin remains.

Maybe he’s come here a few too many times. He should have gone somewhere new instead, not the closest place he could think of.

A bristly feeling that he’s very much not used to suddenly spreads all the way to the tips of his fingers and toes: embarrassment. He’s embarrassed that his magic trick failed, the trick he was so confident in, so proud of.

He needs to get out of here.

And the next moment, he’s walking down a different street, this time in the heart of the city of Resting Palace. The lights here are so bright that they illuminate the black sky and give it a hue of light purple instead, almost a dirty tone, it looks dusty and devours the stars and even the Moon.

He’s walking past numerous people, but nobody turns to look at him. Nobody does as much as grant him a smile of acknowledgment, no faces light up with recognition when he passes by.

He stops to stand in the middle of the street. Someone immediately bumps into him from behind.

“Oh, sorry,” the stranger says and hurries away without looking at him. He doesn’t even have the time to say it was his fault for stopping so abruptly.

Max turns on his heels, lets his eyes wander aimlessly in the scenery. There’s a hotel to his left. There are people everywhere, but none of them are looking his way.

Now another person bumps into him. This is an older man, staggering on his feet and visibly losing his balance for a moment, and he turns to stare at Max with a sullen face.

“Hey, kiddo,” the man groans, “stop blocking the walkway, will ya?”

Max only stares back, not knowing what to say or think. Kiddo? What is this? Why is this person talking to him like this? He’s so dumbfounded by this behaviour that he simply hangs his mouth open without making a sound. Nobody in his entire life has acted this way towards him, and it’s making his blood run cold under his heavy cloak.

On a bewildered whim, he suddenly turns to whoever is passing by his left-hand side on that very moment. “Did you hear how that person talked to me just now?” he asks the passer-by. “How dare he?”

The person he’s talking to casts him a look of utter confusion. He can immediately tell this person doesn’t recognise him, either.

“No, I’m sorry,” the person mumbles hastily and hurries away. Max stares after their disappearing back.

What is happening? What is happening? How could this possibly be happening to him? Now panic is seeping into his heart, he arbitrarily grabs the sleeve of whoever happens to pass by him next.

“Excuse me,” he says breathlessly, “you know who I am, right? Right?”

Another astonished stare, but at least this passer-by is polite. “No, I’m afraid I don’t. Are you perhaps lost?”

“No!” Max’s words now escape as a desperate eruption of discomfort, “I’m the king! The Genbu-ou! Don’t you recognise your king?!”

The stranger’s expression changes slightly – to that of pity, to Max’s horror.

“I’m sorry, boy, I don’t have time to play around with you,” the person says, and the next moment he’s gone.

Max spins around, glancing wildly in every direction, looking for anybody who recognises him. This is the royal capital, isn’t it? It definitely is, he knows the exact street he’s on, but for some reason nobody knows him, he’s only a mile away from the Snow Glory Palace and nobody knows that he’s the king, how could such a bizarre thing ever happen?

“I look like the Genbu-ou, don’t I?” he asks yet another stranger, this time a younger person, a teenager just like him.

The person stops to stare at him, evaluates him with her eyes for a moment, as if she has to think about it first.

“I guess you do,” she finally says, “a little. But Genbu-ousama has spots of black in his hair and skin as clear as snow.”

What? What?

Max drops down to his knees into the snow and now he’s on the riverbank; he hauls his shaking self closer to the aquamarine glow of the water, and he crouches over to look down at his own reflection on the surface.

His hair is yellow like the Sun, bare, the splashes of black brush strokes gone. But his face – his face is covered in something – small dots everywhere, his skin is infested with them, they spread from the centre, the bridge of his nose, in every direction on his skin, he lifts his hands to his face and—

* * *

He opens his eyes. The ceiling of his bedroom is covered in cotton candy clouds of pink and purple, they rotate ever so slowly around the axel of the chandelier in the middle, with stars blinking in and out through the veil.

He rolls over in the four-poster bed that feels like an entire ocean to him. The pillow under his head is wet, it feels gross and he grabs it with two tiny hands, tosses it away as hard as he can and it lands on the edge of the bed. It knocks a couple of his plush toys to the floor.

He can hear voices from behind the bedroom door. It’s Mama and Papa, they are yelling at each other again.

Max rubs his tear-stained eyes and crawls out of bed, wrapping his enormous blanket around him like a cape, he drags it along across the carpet as he makes his way to the door. He stands on tiptoes and opens the door as softly as he can.

He makes his way to the hallway’s railing just in time to see his parents walk into his view downstairs. They’re not yelling anymore but still arguing, in quiet voices now, Max can tell they are spewing arrows of poison at each other even if he can’t make out the words.

He’s staring through the narrow hole in the railing as Papa spots him, it’s probably a subtle sniffle that gives him away up there.

Seconds later, Papa has climbed the stairs and has knelt down to talk to Max in a voice that’s meant to be soothing but is seeping with recently suffocated agitation, and it makes him uneasy.

“Are you having trouble sleeping again, buddy?”

“I don’t want Papa to go away,” Max says, wiping his nose on the sleeve of his orange sleeping gown.

Papa gives him a lopsided smile, pats the top of his head. “I’ll come visit you often, I promise. And – this is only temporary, okay? I will keep talking to Mama, and maybe I’ll be back home in a couple of moons. Papa will bring you lots of presents then, but for starters...”

Now something appears from behind Papa’s back, he’s holding a plush toy dog that has a silly face with a tongue drooping out, its body so long that it nearly matches Max’s height. Papa hands it over to him.

“I made this for you, to help you sleep better. I call it Sleepy, but you can call it whatever you want.”

Max stares down at the dog’s face. It has plain black buttons for eyes, and a third one for a nose.

He presses his own little nose against the button, immediately smearing the dog in the snot and tears of a six-year-old.

“Take me with you, Papa,” he says, the words muffled against the dog’s snout. “Don’t leave me alone.”

“You won’t be alone, Max, Mama will be here.”

“She’s always working, she never pays attention to me.”

“That’s not true...”

“I don’t want to be alone, Papa.”

* * *

He opens his eyes. The ceiling of his bedroom is velvet blue, with the silver sickle of a crescent Moon glowing faintly in the night’s silence.

His heart is beating in an anxious rhythm inside his chest. He quickly sits up in the bed, driven by the panic of the lingering terror of his nightmare that makes his fingertips tingle and his stomach turn, and he gasps for air.

It was just a dream. Just a dream.

The momentary urge to rush to his feet, to check that he actually is who he’s supposed to be in the mirror, recedes quickly upon the realisation that he’s in his own bed, in the royal palace, exactly where he should be. He’s covered in sweat, the blankets feel uncomfortably sticky against his skin, he tosses them aside.

Then he notices three shapes in the darkness, sitting at the end of his bed. A row of three plush animals is staring at him from a distance.

A fox, a serpent, and a horse.

[land-of-classpects-and-analysis]

Mage of Time

Fight or flight. A feeling so deeply ingrained within us, so burrowed into our DNA that we had to give it a name, a title, something to identify that feeling. When faced with a formidable force to be reckoned with, and one that seeks to harm yourself or something you hold close, there are always those two instinctive options: fight or flight. Stand your ground, even if your enemy is far stronger than you, and risk dying a noble fighter and perhaps even become a hero? Or realize that your life is not worth playing around with, and instead running away, whether it be to become stronger or simply to live another day - even if it means sacrificing another life in the process? For some people, there will always be those who run away or even try to outright avoid as many fights as they can. However, there are just as many people ready, willing, and sometimes even eager to rush towards these battles, even if they have no chance of winning whatsoever. It’s the thrill of it all that they love. To the truest of heroes and fighters, the love and appreciation they get is only a side effect of their love for fights and battles. All they need is the personal reassurance that they have proven their might once again, and refused to let more injustice plague their home. Unfortunately, though, the Mage of Time is not one of these people, but rather they are part of the former group.

As long as there is a promise of escape and running away from their problems, the Mage of Time will always choose that option. They are someone who would rather let their fear and anger bubble inside of them rather than address the issues leaving them feeling so negative. Conflict is something that scares the Mage of Time, and as such, they try to avoid it as best they can. Even when such a thing is standing right in front of them, or right at their doorstep, if there is a window for them to crawl out through or a gap to slide in and out of, they are most certainly going to try their best to worm and wiggle their way out of such a tight situation. Because of this pattern of behavior, though, this often doesn’t help to de-escalate any problems for the Mage, but rather only adds on more problems for them to avoid. They won’t ever show it, though. The growing piles of ignored calls and texts messages, perhaps even a dozen letters and emails here and there, along with the false promises of everything being fine, really, that problem will be dealt with eventually. Eventually, it becomes unknown if the Mage of Time truly despises getting themself into situations of conflict, or if they just don’t want to even acknowledge that such a dangerous thing exists.

While Time-bound are known to suffer because they would rather do so than allow for their friends and allies to suffer, the Mage of Time is almost the opposite in the sense that they internally suffer because they refuse to fight for not only their friends and allies, but also for themself. Now, this opposite lifestyle is most definitely not in the same fashion as a Bard or Prince, but rather in that the Mage of Time does not know how to properly approach these issues of conflict. They’ve never had to learn how to be a fighter because they have always been given a route to escape, and so they have chosen that in every single situation. Not only are they afraid of conflict, but they most importantly don’t know how to even go about partaking in fights or if it is even worth it. Chances are that the Mage of Time has been witness to some rather tough fights, whether it be in their own friend group or just in some random location with complete strangers. Seeing such brutal acts be carried out, and knowing that someone would have to lose in such battles, the Mage of Time does not want to learn how they even could fight against someone else. Instead, they’d rather hide away from any and all possible threats, all while ignoring any problems that their friends or family may have with them. The Mage of Time lacks the instinct of fight or flight, but they will eventually have to learn that not every situation can be avoided forever.

Everything would eventually become far too stacked against the Mage of Time, and one day a breeze would come by that would be strong enough to topple over their mountain of ignored issues. Even when the pile comes crashing down upon the Mage of Time, they will never be able to run fast enough to escape its shadow. Buried beneath the rubble of all these problems, it would become quite obvious that this is a situation the Mage of Time can no longer ignore or run away from. From where they are trapped in that pile, they may call for help and beg for someone to come and fix things for them, promising that they are sorry for all they have done and not done. Even if someone were to hear them, it is quite likely that they will leave the Mage of Time to remain buried where they are. After all, the Mage of Time never helped them, never came to them when they needed rescuing, so why should they rescue the Mage? Left alone with only their neglected problems to smother them, the Mage of Time would find themself with one last final option - one last chance to make the right choice. Fight, find a way out from this avalanche of repressed issues, or flight, allow for these problems to slowly suffocate them until they can no longer find the strength to keep themself alive under all of this?

While it may seem like a simple choice for most people, it can be a difficult one for the Mage of Time. It may not be that they are picking the flight option, but more that they are simply choosing to be stubborn in admitting that they were wrong and a coward for never taking the time to declutter and fix all that has been broken - never learning what it truly means to be bound to Time. To those who watch the pile in which the Mage of Time is entombed within, it would be understandable for them to grow irritated if they are left to witness the Mage at their worst - stubborn, and certain that they can handle this on their own and in their own fashion. Even if someone were to eventually come around and offer some help to the Mage of Time, there may be a period where they snappily refuse, stating that they are fully capable of handling this because, after all, they’re the one who got themself there. Not every Mage of Time will ever be able to escape that pile, unfortunately, and instead will remain stuck within there - left to have their soul and mind rot away until there is only the pitiful and guilt-filled shell of them, still encased in that rubble of conflict. However, there will also be the Mages of Time who finally open their eyes to see that there is more than one option of defeat, hide and decay. How they go about making this discovery, though, and, most importantly, finding a way to dig themself out of the mess they have gotten themself in, has just as many options as there are timelines.

There are the Mages of Time who will actively seek out this discovery - the knowledge - through the Time Aspect itself. Unfortunately, this doesn’t mean they will peer into all available timelines and find the best outcome, but rather they will look at what the Time Aspect is all about and try to gain knowledge through that. In a way, this is the path in which the Mage of Time takes a far more active approach in trying to fix their life and free themself of this mess. Those bound to the Aspect of Time are fighters, after all, especially to those who have fallen victim to some sense of wrongdoing. Depending on the Mage of Time, they may view themself as someone who has experienced just that. As such, they will try their best to fight and right their own, personal wrongs, all the while gaining wisdom and knowledge during their journey. How this would look is the Mage of Time not only finally confronting all of the problems that weigh them down and have left them buried, but doing their best to analyze and meditate on what truly caused this conflict in the first place. Ranging from a bitter ex, romantic or otherwise, to simply the cranky boss at their old job, the Mage of Time has many things to look over and learn from. 

The main issue that these Mages of Time face is having to admit that they were wrong in many of these situations, which also means they may have to find a way to communicate with some of these people and apologize. Mages are known to be stubborn and prideful people, after all, and so having to swallow such a thing may feel as though they are drinking lava. What these Mages of Time must be careful not to fall for is the allure of playing the victim whenever they can, especially if it means getting out of a situation without having to apologize for their actions. It is an undeniable fact that the Mage of Time has an extensive track record of leaving those behind when they need help the most, but that does not mean for certain that the Mage of Time will be willing to right the wrongs they have created over the years. Those who know the Mage of Time are only left to hope that after having escaped the rubble of all their past mistakes, they would become empathetic enough to now know how terrifying and lonely it is to be left to suffer alone. While it does truly depend on the Mage of Time - with some being far more stubborn and quick to throw in the towel in order to maintain their pride and facade of victimhood - what truly matters are the ones who do decide to sit down and be patient, taking their time to self reflect on everything that has brought them to this moment, and everyone they have unknowingly stepped or thrown under many buses in order to escape conflict.

Once they have finished their self reflection, though, the Mage of Time will have become more than ready and willing to set things right. It’s highly likely that they are someone to have created a list of things that must be done, if only to keep some sense of organization. Many people may expect this to be a rather simple and easy journey of forgiveness and growth, but due to the nature of the Time-bound, this journey would be anything but. After all, the chances of all the names upon the Mage’s list belonging to people they have wronged is rather slim. The Mage of Time may have hurt a few people within their life by refusing to help them, but there are most definitely those in the Mage’s life who have cast harm upon them. As mentioned before, the Mage of Time is most definitely someone to hide when they are hurting and suffering, which only lends safety to those who have brought this grief and harm upon them, as well as allowed these injustices to lie. The journey for these Mages of Time is that of not only self reflection and seeking forgiveness, but also fully embracing their Aspect and the ferocity that comes with being a fighter, a warrior, and a protector. No longer will they allow harm and injustice befall themself or their loved ones, for the longer they seek out these means of revenge and payback, they will gain more knowledge of how to approach these battles and win in more efficient means.

Now that those Mages of Time have been addressed and are on their journey to growth and revenge, it is time to address the Mages of Time who seek out knowledge of Time and the answers it holds. From within their own piles of guilt and neglected issues, they are the ones who pose the biggest threat to themselves and their progress in life. It may seem to them that it is too late to fight, or even learn how to, as well as being too late to fix everything or anything at all. They may feel more inclined to simply give up and never reach towards their true potential, but this is simply not how it is meant to be. Eventually, whether by fate or pure luck, someone would come and offer some help and service to the Mage of Time. This person is more than likely a far more wise and experienced person, perhaps even someone who can relate to the Mage’s situation. It would take some patience and time for the Mage to gain the strength to accept the offer, as they would most likely become rather pessimistic, insisting that it is already too late to save them and that the person would only be wasting their strength. They would probably be surprised to find this person to have not left their side, though, even after the Mage may have tried their best to push this kind soul away. Little do either of them know, though, that this is all these Mages of Time need to begin their journey: a little patience, kindness, and a hand to hold as they learn to walk again.

The best way to explain this path of Classpect Awakening is much like that of teaching a child how to ride their bike. The Mage of Time would have to start out with training wheels at first. What these training wheels are at first may vary from Mage to Mage, with some having it be a person, friend, family, or otherwise, while for others, it could be that continued fear and guilt that they will never truly be able to fix all the wrongs they have done - or maybe it’s the fear of facing all of the wrongdoings people have brought onto the Mage. Very few people like to admit when they have become a victim, and some of the Mages of Time are no different, especially those who find themselves lured towards this path of recovery. Some phrases these Mages of Time may use quite often could be “it’s fine”, “it wasn’t that bad” or “I’m okay”, when, really, anyone who truly knows the Mage also knows this to be extremely false. However, as stated before, all the Mage of Time needs to go on this journey are a few things. Patience that will teach them that not everyone will be so eager to shut them down or mock them, kindness so that they know there are still good people in this world, and a hand to hold, specifically for if or when they are feeling especially lost in what they are meant to do or where they are to go. After being exposed to these things long enough, the Mage of Time is someone who may become more welcoming to hear and acknowledge not only the ways that they have ignored the warnings of others, but also how they have continued to allow themself to suffer in silence for far too long.

Do not take this as a passive invitation of such knowledge, though, for this is only the beginning. Once the Mage of Time has become more aware of such things and accepted them as the truth, this may cause a series of sparks to form inside of the Mage’s heart and soul. This spark is that of many things - grief, guilt, sadness, and so much more. The most important feeling of all, though, is the feeling of anger. Anger is something not many people enjoy, especially with the destruction it can bring and the threat that it carries. For the Mage of Time, though, this feeling is one that they will crave more and more once they have a taste for it. It is not the anger that one may expect a Rage-bound to have, though. No, this is an anger of betrayal and angst, but it is also the anger of an epiphany. What this epiphany may be exactly could very well depend on the Mage of Time, but in many cases, it is the epiphany that they can no longer run away from their problems and the injustices that have left them hurt, scarred, and tortured for many years. They will actively seek out this rush of anger they can, learning how to use it for good and master the heat of battle that it carries. No longer will they allow themself to run and hide from their problems and people trying to help bring their attention to them. When someone has a problem with them, and is willing to make it into a confrontation, the Mage of Time will finally be able to see that they are capable of standing up for themself and proving that they truly are the victim in many situations, not the other way around.

Everyone is born with the instinctual response of fight or flight - it is simply up to the person how they handle such a natural thing. For the Mage of Time, they never bothered to even give the former option a chance. Whether this was out of fear of what may come of fighting against these injustices, or they simply lacked the care and empathy to do so, this only brought on more problems for the Mage of Time. After many nights of internal suffering and struggles, though, as well as being temporarily buried beneath the large, heavy pile of all their neglected feelings and issues, the Mage of Time eventually stepped up to the plate and took a swing at not only starting their adventure to learning and recovery, but also at those who brought upon their suffering. While they still might not be the most active fighter out of all of the Time-bound, this is only because they have learned when is the best moment to strike. Do not believe that just because the Mage of Time does not immediately act against an injustice brought to their attention means they will never act upon, nor is it an invitation for more injustices to spring up. A fully awakened and attuned Mage of Time is someone not to be trifled with, if only for the great knowledge they may wield as whatever weapon they choose. Not only have they become more aware of the fight or flight instinct, but they are capable of seeing all other possibilities in between those two simple feelings. When the Mage of Time does not immediately strike out against those who have brought upon injustice and harm to themself or those they value in the group, that is when their foe should be the most worried for their safety.

They are someone who is capable of seeing into all possible timelines, and are therefore capable of seeing every possible fatal error of not only their own actions, but everyone else around them. However, this skill mostly applies to that of the Mages of Time who seek out knowledge of Time. While they are only aware of these timelines, it plays a rather large threat to their mental health and overall mental state. If they are not careful, then peering at all of these timelines may become like that a million orchestras all playing at once - purely deafening and maddening. As for the Mages of Time who sought out knowledge through Time, they are not only able to see all timelines, but can pinpoint which timeline offers the best knowledge as to how them and their team can gain a certain victory against their foes. No matter what, though, it would be the Mage’s job to make sure that everyone who is meant to survive does so, as well as keeping track as to which timeline they are currently on. If there is a threat for their timeline to become Doomed, then it would be up to the Mage to find out how this could be prevented - even if it means they have to play a little dirty. The Mage of Time is also someone who would be more than willing to give their life if it was for the betterment of not only the team, but also for the sake of the timeline. After all, Mages are often those who understand the whims of their Aspect the most. The Mage of Time is one who understands that not only are sacrifices sometimes necessary, but that the heroes most often remembered and sung about are those who charged into a battle with all the courage and might they could muster. All that bravery, even knowing that they would most likely never return. The Mage of Time is one who wishes to be the hero everyone else is scared to be, and they’ll be damned if they never get that chance.

[kantkid]

that touch it. i think like i need something like this in my life right now, something that is beyond all this. and you are the first person that comes to my mind that shows that intruging way of expressing it! i always had such a fascination for philosophy but it was just a scratch, and i want to go deeper, feel more & maybe find some peace in what i find and learn? anyway i’m sending lots of love your way, i really hope that these days have been nothing but good to you darling

First part: “hi sweetheart♡ i hope you are spending wonderful holiday & your days are filled with all happiness and peace that you deserve!! i wanted to ask you about something, i really adore your way of looking at the world, there’s something almost poetic about it? i want to take philosophy studies this year & i was wondering if you could give me your favorites, and by that i mean anything, your favorite philosophies, philosophers ( well, i think i may know one of them wink wink) or favorite books [..]”

Your words have been absolutely kind, my darling!

As an introduction to philosophy I would suggest reading “The world of Sophie” by Jostein Gaarder; it’s a story about a young woman but also a very effective introduction to the history of western thinking. I would also generally suggest to read the early dialogues by Plato.

Some light readings that provide a deep insight are, in my opinion, the following:

- The boredom by Alberto Moravia (existentialist novel)

- In praise of idleness by Bertrand Russell

- An exquisite indifference by Kirk Varnedoe (art critique and aesthetics)

- The teacher by St. Augustine

As for more properly philosophical readings I would suggest, 

On mind:

- Knowledge and the mind-body problem by Karl Popper

- The mind by John Searle

- Mind Time by Benjamin Libet (he’s actually a scientist, but here he also  exposes his brave and original metaphysical views)

On the things that are (or are not):

- Brains in a vat by Hilary Putnam

- On what there is by Willard van Orman Quine (I disagree with almost everything he says here, but this is truly a masterpiece)

- Metaphysical meditations by Descartes (again, this is false, but it’s genius)

- Frege by Anthony Kenny

On moral:

- Aut aut by Soren Kirkegaard

- The banality of evil by Hannah Arendt

- Democracy in America by Alexis de Toqueville

- Human nature by John Dupré (he is one of the few “official philosophers” who declares himself a feminist)

- Letter on tolerance by John Locke

- Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes

Don’t worry if you don’t understand some parts, because these texts get very specific at times and it’s difficult even for a philosopher; I just hope you can get a general view and the tools to start forming your own view on what there is and how we must interact to it. I am truly flattered by the fact you asked my advice, I am nothing but student but I hope I will be of some use in this journey of yours. I wish you a summer full of gentle and interesting days, and I hope some of my old friends listed above will guide you in your discovery of the world. I hope this message finds you well, my dear 💗best of luck