#the quality of having a high opinion of ones importance. like. they both do in an untrue way.

[ghostlypawn]

the way i literally still havent decided if lupe/carson represents pride or prejudice bc they really BOTH do and ik thats the way in the book but ppl still agree liz is prej and darcy is pride......

[soaringwide]

PAC: What's great about you and how can you boost your self-confidence?

PILE 1 > PILE 2 > PILE 3

Today I wanted to do a lighter Pick a Card tarot reading and focus on the topic of self-confidence and how you can boost or improve it.

I hope this reading provides you comfort and help you understand what's awesome about you and what you can feel proud of :)

As always, this is a general reading meant for multiple people, take what resonates and leave out the rest.

IMPORTANT: I'm going on vacation until the end of September (2024) so there won't be new pick a card in the meantime, and I won't be able to do paid readings either. Shop is still open but keep that in mind because I'll either have to refund you or have you wait till I'm back. I'll be around a little on tumblr though in case someone wants to chat!

book a reading ★ all PACs ★ pinned post ★ instagram

PILE 1

Cards: the Magician, 10 of Swords, Queen of Swords, Page of Pentacles, Ace of Pentacles, Justice, Page of Wands, the Lovers, the Sun, King of Cups

What's great about you

You are able to draw a lot of strength from your inner struggles, using your pains and failures to fuel you and turn them into something that can propel you forward. Having high expectations for yourself and a deeply seated sense of your own values and opinions, you are not just someone who let themselves go for too long, but someone who always pick themselves back up and find a way to bounce back. Nothing is truly a failure if you can learn from it and come back of it stronger, smarter and more determined.

You know what you want for yourself and out of your life and you are determined to make things happen at some point. It's like some type of very determined energy, that while not super fast moving per say, does not back§ off before anything and keep moving no matter what, slow and steady like a deeply rooted tree inexorably growing year after year. You are someone with a vision, a dream that you hold firmly and I see you also having faith that things will turn out in your favor if you just keep pushing long enough.

It's not wonder that the magician takes the center stage of this part of the reading, as this Major Arcana represent the power of someone who brings concepts and ideas into reality. Someone who is always learning, always evolving, someone who seeks mastering everything they put their mind to, turning the most unfavorable situation into something that can serve them and their goal.

How to boost your self confidence

With the appearance here of Cups and Wands, which you were lacking in the previous section, you're basically being urged to balance yourself and complete your set of tools, so to speak.

The page of Wands adds the spark, the passion, the enthusiasm. It encourages you to be more optimistic and recognize your own power, and embrace your vision even further, allowing yourself to lean into it and really go along with it openly and with an adventurous spirit. This message is highlighted even further by the Sun, encouraging your to clear up your doubts and be more carefree. I think that you would gain a lot from letting go of the struggle mindset, knowing that yes, your resilience is admirable, but you don't need to struggle to do everything. Things can be easy and exciting too, not everything needs to be a struggle, and you have that power within you too.

The King of Cups is here to remind you that your emotions are not your enemy, but important carrier of messages and signals from the inner realms to take care of yourself in a gentle manner. I think this ability to pick yourself back up we mentioned earlier may sometimes make you a bit harsh with yourself, and you're being encouraged to be softer.

On top of that, in both sections, there is a strong Mercury influence, with on one side the Magician, and on the other Justice and the Lovers (both gemini cards, which is ruled by Mercury). What it means is that you can lean even more into your intellectual and communicative qualities, which you already have albeit in a rawer form.

With these cards, there is also a strong message about choice. Basically, if you want to feel more self-confident, you have to chose to embrace it first and foremost. To decide that this is a goal of yours, to believe in it and go for it, because with this here I don't think it's necessarily on your radar right now, but mostly some type of noise in the background. With your go-getter energy, really making it a priority will propel you forward with force.

You are a born storyteller, and the main protagonist of your own story. So what story do you want to tell? Embrace your vision and the world will open to you.

PILE 2

Cards: 2 of Cups, Queen of Swords, 8 of Cups, 5 of Pentacles, the World, the Tower, Ace of Pentacle, the Chariot, 3 of Pentacles, the Lovers

What's great about you

It seems that you have currently closed, or are closing, some type of painful cycle that made you feel a great sense of loss. Perhaps it is related to a relationship or an union of some kind. It made you feel like you were lacking something and broke your world and the vision you had for the future. You were left disappointed and perhaps even made you feel some type of hopelessness.

However, I don't think you gave up, but instead, you decided to move on and refocus on yourself. Which makes me think that right now, you are in this transitional phase. Why this message is showing up here is to tell you that you might not see it, but this ability of yours to bounce back and prioritize your own needs is admirable and a great strength.

What's great about you is that you know when enough is enough, you know what is worth fighting for and when to let go, and you know you can rely on yourself to advocate for your own happiness.

You are being encourage to see it, celebrate it and embrace the fact that while a new chapter is closing, a new one is opening too, even if you can't see it quite yet.

How to boost your self confidence

You are being encouraged to focus on a goal of yours, perhaps some type of dream or opportunity you'd like to go for. Do not linger on what you have lost, or what didn't came into being, but rather, on what could be in the future.

Let yourself dream and use that yearning to power you up and go after what you want. The Chariot as a character is someone who went through something difficult and learnt from it, leaving the doubts and uncertainty behind to embrace their desire to go for what they want. It's a card of movement and determination, of effort leading to success.

What I'm getting here might be different for different folks, but with the 3 of Pentacles and the Lovers, the main message I'm seeing is that you need to focus on building something for yourself first and foremost, working on that goal or dream of yours and seize the opportunity that are available to you without fear that you are not ready or good enough, because you are, and work towards it with patience and focus. For those who resonate with the relationship part of the previous section, it is possible that a better union is on the horizon once you allowed yourself to be in a better and more fulfilled place mentally and emotionally, and for others, it's talking about a more harmonious relationship with yourself where you would be able to accept who you are and love yourself more.*

(*Note: that is not to say there will be no relationship at the same time, simply that the cards comment on the harmony with yourself being primordial here. It's not mutually exclusive.)

So yeah, don't let past hurt dictate how you should feel and what you should go for. Let that go, leave that to the side, and look forward to the horizon. And remember to love yourself like you would like to be loved, for the amazing person that you are.

PILE 3

Cards: Temperance, Judgement, the Sun, the High Priestess, 5 of Cups, the Tower, King of Pentacles, 10 of Pentacles, 9 of Wands, the Hierophant

What's great about you

This pile is for those who have been intensively learning from their past and healed from it. There are three main messages here.

First, I see that you have learned to balance things between your rich inner world and your outer, more mundane life. I think you are highly intuitive and connected to your inner self, however, in the past, that may have made you overly detached from the world, and I see that you have made a lot of efforts to close that gap. I keep getting the word dissociation so perhaps that's relevant to some of you. Perhaps also you were described as overly mysterious or closed-off, and you worked a lot on yourself to be more open and actually connect with others authentically.

Secondly, I see that you went through a time of intense grief, which doesn't have to be about someone you lost (but could be) but can also be a general sense of loss or deep disappointment regarding something. For a long time, you stayed there licking your wounds and lamenting on the past, but then, you reached a point where you could not go on like that, some type of wake up call that made you move forward again.

Lastly, and tying the past two message together, you learned to let go of your catastrophizing or pessimistic mindset and are now more joyful, more optimistic, carefree even. There is a cheerful and youthful energy about you that some people who went through very heavy things and managed to come out on top hold, and is very inspiring to others who can sense it even if they don't know the details.

How to boost your self confidence

Here, I'm getting that after all the work you've done on yourself, it's okay and even highly encouraged to focus on your comfort and physical abundance too.

I think you may have put that to the side a lot, perhaps because it wasn't a priority or perhaps because you didn't think you deserved it, but here you're being urged to see that it's actually an important part of your life too. There is some type of legacy that you are able to leave, because you have the skills and/or wisdom to pass it down, and that could lead to a lot of success on different levels for you.

You need to let go of this mindset that you are not good enough, that you are unfitting to the things you want to get or to do, and also let go of this mental box you put yourself in where you were focused on surviving instead of thriving.

There is also the message that you hold a precious wisdom that could make you a point of reference in something, and that you need to recognize it and learn to actively share it. People will come to you for advice once you see that, but you have to see it yourself first and start to actively act on it.

[mxomo]

helping him train ♡︎ sakusa kiyoomi

Sakusa has found a way for you to spend some quality time together whilst he trains. c/w: lots of fingering, overstim, lil spank, "darling" a/n: brainrot 2k23!! enjoy~ (´ ∀ ` *)

Many volleyball enthusiasts around the country had, after many hours of studying and analysis, concluded that Sakusa Kiyoomi’s incredible success at spiking was in large part due to his weirdly strong and flexible wrists

Like many athletes, our Omi-kun understood the importance of training, conditioning, of practice. Despite his icy demeanour and aversion to other human beings, he was very dedicated to his craft and spent many hours making sure he was in top condition for his matches

Our ISTJ King of course has developed over the years a very precise routine to keep on top of his game, having tried various stretches and exercises throughout his career

“Is there a ritual that you like to follow before an important match, sir?” “What is your preferred warm-up routine?”

He can’t help but respond with a smirk cus ha ha ha-

“Mmmf- ngh- Omi! Omi, it’s too much, i-it’s too much, it’s-!”

“We have another ten minutes,” Kiyoomi drawled, running his thumb over your lip before shoving it into your gaping mouth. “And maybe another set after. There’s a big match in a couple of days, darling.”

You couldn’t stop the whine that tumbled from your mouth, clamping your lips around the invading digit as Kiyoomi’s other hand rammed unrelentingly and rhythmically into you, as he had been doing for the last 30 minutes.

“You said you were missing my company,” he pointed out flatly, nuzzling into your neck as you wrapped yourself around him, tugging gently at the roots of his curls. “Isn’t this a great compromise?”

You were quiet as you stared into the distance for a moment, a rumble of a chuckle in your chest as you considered his offer. “You horny little shit.”

Kiyoomi perches himself up on his elbows, catching your eye with his usual deadpan expression. A minute ticks by as you stare each other down. He tilts his head, prompting you to answer his original proposal, as he neglects to respond to your accusation. his eyes seem to say ‘and?’; eventually, you break and a full laugh escapes you.

“I don’t see really how this could be considered exercise for you,” you said dryly. As he opened his mouth to explain once more why exactly fingerblasting you every other day and before a match was conducive to his career and both of your overall health, you continued. “I will consent to a trial period of said training routine. You have one week.”

Being an incredibly serious matter, Kiyoomi would start a timer for each ‘set’. 20 minutes of various crafty finger and wrist movements, high speed and power directly and expertly into your g-spot

His left hand went first for 2 reasons: being marginally his weaker and less dominant hand, starting left in his opinion ‘eases you into it better’

(You thought this was bull because you’re sent to high heaven at the same speed no matter which hand he starts with)

His second reason being if he wants to go for a third set then his left is ‘trained’ more with a built in break time

“Get over my knee, we’re doing one more,” Kiyoomi urged, shifting you over slightly as you failed to move along to his command in your exhaustion. Your mouth was dry, you were breathless, your pussy felt wet and swollen and was leaving a small puddle wherever you sat as Kiyoomi ripped orgasm after orgasm out of you.

“Mmmf,” you mumbled, unable to focus as your legs trembled and your core clenched weakly at each aftershock that rolled through you. “O-oh!”

Kiyoomi slipped two fingers back into your overworked cunny again. Starting slow, he began thrusting into you purposefully with each targeted movement of the wrist, assaulting your g-spot much too intensely after what you’d been through that evening. Your vision burst white and your senses faded as another orgasm washed through you, a gasp catching in your throat, your mind scattering as Kiyoomi pinned your thrashing hips down to keep you in place.

“Great job, darling, but hold still,” he demanded, delivering a sharp smack on your backside. “I’ll be sure to give you credit when we win,” Kiyoomi smirked, glancing momentarily at the timer. “But you have another six minutes."

masterlist

[genericpuff]

With LO being done, a mass layoff apparently happening recently, and high profile creators like that of Bugtopia bailing from them, do you think Webtoons is gonna last much longer?

So I had heard about the layoff through the grapevine (as in, pals that I know who are aware of the situation) but honestly, I don't think this is the end of Webtoons as an app... I think this is definitely an end of a version of Webtoons that we were all familiar with as both creators and readers. I've been noticing this shift over the past couple years and now it seems to be coming to a head, a status quo shift from Webtoons being an earnest "anyone can find success with us" community of readers and indie creators to just another enshittified corporate platform that's only interested in churning out content to keep up its bottom line.

Before I continue, obligatory reminder that I am not an Originals creator, just a former Canvas creator and avid webcomic reader. None of this post is to accuse Webtoons of foul play or spread misinformation, these are simply my opinions based on my own experiences with the app and its staff, research that I've done into Webtoons' practices and history as a company, and firsthand + secondhand accounts of experiences on the backend from various Originals creators who have willingly spoken up on the matter. Take the following dissection and rant about Webtoons with mountains of salt.

The biggest sign of this shift I've seen has definitely gotta be the reduction of greenlit Canvas series in favor of imported Korean series. Now I will say there was a time that there genuinely were too many greenlit series, back when they used to do their launch weeks, and I think scaling that back isn't necessarily a bad thing to prevent oversaturation, but oversaturation is still very much happening, it's just through imported series now.

Though I will say a counter argument to this is that Webtoons' own audience has a habit of believing that EVERY piece of work needs to be read and kept up with. This is surely a side effect of Webtoons going from being a smaller platform with only a few select Originals series to suddenly launching hundreds more over the course of the last couple years, there WAS a time you could genuinely keep up with most of the series on the platform if you wanted, but now that's no longer possible, and while some would argue that's a flaw, I'd argue that greenlighting so many series isn't necessarily an invitation for you to read them all, it's just to buff up their library with more choices for those who are more particular about what they read. Do you enjoy isekai but don't like the one about the girl being reborn into her favorite medieval romance book? Well there are 50 other isekais set in medieval times for you to choose from.

That said, the ratio of greenlit Canvas series : Korean imports definitely feels like it's skewed more towards the latter over the past couple years, as we're now seeing them simply opt to import and translate series from their Naver platform. Some people don't really care or notice the difference, and there's certainly lots to be said about the popularity of many Korean works, but many other readers are now feeling iced out by the platform's sudden shift in art styles and storytelling tropes because Korean webtoons and manwhas do generally aim for a different audience than what a lot of veteran Webtoon users are used to. Plus from the creator side of things, it's undoubtedly making the playing grounds feel uneven where greenlit Canvas series now have to compete with the webtoons from overseas that are made in studios with teams of people and seem to also be paid far better than what NA creators are being paid. Webtoons already severely limits what series they choose to advertise and that's only gotten worse over the years with the ongoing oversaturation of the app's library.

That's only regarding quantity though, as there's surely lots to be said about how a lot of the higher quality stories are ones here made in North America, and a lot of that I feel has to do with the benefit of them being comics written in English by people who natively speak English. Unlike Korean manwha/webtoons, they don't have to go through the process of translation and localization which can unfortunately cause an otherwise well written manwha to lose its subtleties and specific writing choices due to rushed or poor translating (people who read scanlations of manga and manwha or who even just watch dubbed vs. subbed anime can certainly attest to this.)

With all that in mind, my own personal theory (*again, this is my opinion and tinfoil hat suspicions, not fact) is that Webtoons/Naver has essentially been outsourcing to North America to build up their app through titles like Lore Olympus, and now that that audience has been built, they seem to be bringing in their Korean series to benefit off that audience while reducing the amount of NA Canvas series they greenlight, particularly their most popular genres like Romance, Fantasy, and Action. How much they'll benefit, I can't say for certain, considering this is a company that has been operating in the red for years and IIRC they even practically admit to this in their IPO proposal (it's actually really funny to read if you're familiar with legal jargon and Webtoons as a company)

Fact of the matter though is that despite Webtoons building up that audience through legacy NA titles, they seem to have forgotten one fundamental thing - most of the people in that audience just don't seem to be interested in the content they're now trying to sell. Credit where credit is due, the aggressive marketing campaign surrounding Lore Olympus for the last 5 years did a great job at pulling in new people to the app, many of whom never read webtoons before. In all its flaws, Lore Olympus is very beginner friendly for people who are new to Webtoons, with guilty pleasure romance writing that a lot of NA readers enjoy nowadays and an art style that was very unique at the time.

But out of all those people who were attracted to the app through series like LO, how many do you think are reading Korean manwha? I don't have the numbers to back up this argument 🧂🧂🧂 but I personally doubt it's very many if all the complaints about Webtoons becoming 'samey' over the years is anything to go off of (right alongside the complaints of LO being marketed way too much lmao)

So no, I don't think Webtoons as a company is going anywhere. They've made it this long operating at a loss, mostly in part to their parent company Naver injecting them with funds (and for anyone unaware, Naver is essentially the Google of Korea, they're a massive tech company that owns Webtoons as a separate venture, not too different from Google owning Youtube in a sense) and now they're turning to public funding.

I do think Webtoons as we know it is dying and changing, for better and for worse however you may define it, and regardless of which way it goes, it's going to come with the consequential shift in both audience and creators that such a transformation brings. I was there when it happened to Tapas, I was there when it happened to DeviantArt, and now we're seeing it in real time with Webtoons all over again. Whether or not they rise from the ashes reborn anew or simply fester like a dying animal, that remains to be seen, but considering this is the same company that's currently exploiting and underpaying creators to keep their bottom line afloat, developing AI tools, and running an app that's held together with staples and glue and doesn't even have tagging implemented, I'm not holding my breath for the best case scenario. The company and its app may live on but the Webtoons that we knew for years is long gone and may never return again.

And that's my many cents on that.

[lgbtlunaverse]

My stance on literary criticism in fanfiction communities is and will stay "only if it's explicitly asked for" and my usual go-to reply to the followup of "But you need criticism to improve!!" is: this is a hobby space, people are putting stuff out for free on the internet, it's not ABOUT quality, it's about fun.

And that's true. But the thing is that I do care about quality, actually. Controversial opinion but I like it when things are good. I want to make good things as a creator and enjoy them as an audience member. I think high quality art is just... a good goal to strive for inherently. And fanfiction is art (We're not having a debate about this. 'Art' is not a word that means high quality or high value. Because then bad art could not exist. Art means that it's art. Artistic expression. Nothing else)

And I think where me and the people talking about how criticism is necessary lose each other is that when we talk about quality, we both want good art to be made. But does that mean "I want a higher number of good works of art to exist" or do we mean "I want a higher fraction of all art that is created to be good"

Because those are 2 very different things.

See: if we mean the first, bad art existing is irrelevant, we only care about making sure good art comes into existance. But for the second, guarding against bad art is an integral part of reaching our goal. We not only have to encourage people to make good art, we have to discourage them from making bad art.

And those dual goals are important. Because criticism can make someone who is less good at art into a better artist. But it can also just make them... not make art.

And THIS. I think. Is where the distinction between paid professional art and hobby spaces, like fandoms, becomes important. It's not that I think you only get to criticise something if you paid money for it. It's that professional art spaces have a finite amount of resources. People need to eat, and they need to be paid, and art costs money to make. And if it's spent on the creation of bad art, that means less good art has the resources to be made.

(Even in something like indie e-book publishing with a lot less gatekeeping or upfront costs, this is still true. Resource allocation is perhaps more direct, directly from audience to author, but even before factoring in things like marketing and amazon's algorithm the truth is that writers have bills to pay and if they're not selling they'll need to find a different job)

What all of his means is that criticism is essential to professional art spaces. Because in order for quality to exist, you need to encourage the allocation of resources to good art and discourage the allocation of resources to bad art.

(It's more nuanced than that. Everytime a bad tropey romance book blows up people start whining about all the superior art this money could've been spent on. But there isn't ONE singular art money pool for the entire world. There are several thousand smaller resource pools that will be distributed among different regions and niches. The money spent on that tropey romance book was never going to be spent on an experimental sculpture. The work that lost out here is another better tropey romance book. Which is why you actually need to know and respect a genre to critique works in it effectively– ok I'll stop now)

And if there are more good artists than you can give resource to (which, by the way, is always true. Every moment of every day there truly great art not being made because the resources weren't there. From rejected ideas to talented people who never got to be artists in the first place because they needed a more stable job) then it doesn't matter whether an overall increase in quality comes from someone improving their craft or from them leaving the industry, leaving more resources to someone with higher quality work. They both have the same effect on the overall quality within the space.

But... in hobby spaces, those limits do not exist. People make stuff and put it on the internet for free. it's not just that they're not making money– even in professional spaces many people don't make money off their art– it's that making money isn't even an option. So that pool of limited resources doesn't exist.

Which means that the ONLY limiting factor for fanfiction is interest. The amount of fanfiction you get is dictated by the amount of people who are interested in creating it. That's it. Someone writing bad fanfiction does NOT mean that a different better fic writer will not get to write theirs.

"But criticism can make the bad fanfic writer better!" This is true, and it's usually what people who advocate for constructive ciritcism want. They do not want bad writers to be replaced by good writers, they want the bad writers to become good.

This makes sense, because as we just established, individual improvement is the ONLY way of improving the level of quality, because the only limiting factor is the amount of interested people

So, do you know what criticism can also do?

Make someone stop creating.

Well phrased or not, constructive or not. ANY critique that wasn't asked for has a chance to make someone want to stop creating. There really isn't a way to make sure you're not hitting someone in their deepest insecurities. And in unregulated spaces like fanfic you also don't have a way to screen for critique quality. There's no professional reviewers here. You can say "criticism is fine as long as it's constructive" all you want, but complete assholes giving absolutely useless critique can and do regularly think their criticism is the best writing advice in the world.

And if someone does stop, you have less interested people. You have decreased your one limiting factor.

And the thing is: people improve by just writing on their own. They might (keyword: MIGHT) improve faster if they had regular audience critique, but they'll improve by the mere act of repeatedly writing. It's the most important factor in improving.

And removing someone from the pool of interested people inherently means they stop writing, and thus stop improving. You have unavoidably DECREASED the amount of quality work that could be created.

The bottom line is: in spaces with limited resources, people either improving or quitting is the point. It's how you gatekeep, and get more good art to be made by freeing up those limited resources. In places where the only limiting factor is the people themselves, anyone being discouraged from making art because it's "not good enough" is a NET LOSS for quality.

Regardless of the fact that human enjoyment should be the first priority in hobbies, if you primarily look at it through the lens of caring about quality, unsolicited criticism hinders quality instead of serving it. The people who want to improve and who will not be discouraged by criticism will seek it out via beta-readers or editors or writing groups, or will explicitly invite their audience to give constructive criticism. At that point, go wild! But if you weren't asked: stay quiet.

[lurafita]

Malec meet pre-canon divergent

(considering tv-show canon only, as I don't know much about the books) I personally found it a little weird that Alec and his siblings had to be briefed about the High Warlock of their territory, by Hodge. Shouldn't Alec, as the acting head, have been aware of the most prominent downworld leaders in the city his institute is in? Wouldn't Magnus have been in the institute before, for ward maintenance or things like that? Wouldn't they have had to call him to close rifts that demons were popping out of? (Not like those kinds of things were ever shown or discussed in the show, but then again, the show was very stingy where details and backgrounds were concerned.) Anyway, I would like to propose a series re-write, where Alec and Magnus get to know each other pre-canon, and Magnus has the chance to bolster Alec's self-worth and confidence a little. And then exploring what effect this might have, as Alec wouldn't be such a pushover where his siblings are concerned. (I actually just really like re-writes of given plots that explore changes to said given plot, so that personal guilty pleasure might heavily play into this prompt…. 😉 )

possible scene:

They could meet on site for rift closure, and Alec is laying down a plan of attack, because some demons have already gathered. And then Jace is trying to propose another plan (that's less tactical than Alec's was and more of a 'run in head first' kinda deal). And Alec is not confident about his own plan versus Jace's, and he is about to give in, but then Magnus is like: "I agree with the pretty boy." And Jace smirks and goes: "See, the high warlock thinks it will work." And then Magnus goes: "Oh no, I was talking about his plan. Yours sucks."

-

I think, if a relationship between them (platonic heading for romantic) exists for some time, Magnus would probably let slip about Maryse and Robert having been in the circle. Not in a malicious way. I think Magnus assumed that Alec knew. So maybe one day Magnus offers to check over the wards, and Alec accepts and wonders loudly about why his parents didn’t commission check ups for two years,

and Magnus just "Well, they have tried to limit their business with downworlders as much as possible. Which isn't surprising, seeing as many of us feel that they haven't been sufficiently punished for their crimes while they were in the circle. But it's not as if I would have refused the job. I might have overcharged them, … Alexander? You look pale, is something wrong?"

-

I just see them having lots of little conversations that help build Alec up, while not just being simple compliments. Like, when Alec doubts his leadership qualities and asks Magnus about his opinion, as Magnus has fought in a few wars and known a few figureheads. "I believe being a good leader comes down to knowing and trusting in yourself." "Shouldn’t that be 'knowing and trusting my people'?" "That, too. But it's important to know your own strengths and weaknesses. For example, I'm one of the most powerful warlocks out there with a deep and varied understanding of my craft, and I look dashing in silk. I'm also impatient, occasionally vain, and I can be quite petty. Now what about you? Let me start you off. You are afraid." "Wow, didn’t think you would start with a weakness." "I didn’t. Well, maybe a little bit. Fear can be both. But in this case, I meant it as a strength." "How?" "Think back to our first meeting. The fear of not knowing what the situation was we were walking into, made you come up with a strategy that allowed us to assess what was going on, while also ensuring minimal collateral damage. What do you think would have happened had you been as cocky as your parabatai, and stormed right in?" "… We wouldn’t have known about the circle members, or the back entrance. The perimeter wouldn’t have been secured. The teen warlock might have become a victim to a shadowhunter blade, had you not had the chance to see the enslavement collar on her." "See? You have good instincts, Alexander, and a great mind for tactical manouvers. That is something you should trust in more."

[lavishlyleo]

Hi! Hope you're doing good! I was wondering if you could explain what the venus persona chart means?

Venus Persona Chart : What Does it Represent?

As with all Persona Charts, Venus persona chart gives us a deep insight on our Venus sign, which typically the reason why two people with the same Venus sign can be very different because their placements in that persona chart could be different from eachothers.

Usually the way I like to think about it is all the planets represent their original themes from natal, but just applied for this specific area of life. Which Venus is how we love others, indulge, spend money, form relations with others, how we relate to others, and our aesthetical tastes. It has many meanings, after all, it is ruled by two signs.

So basically this is what I think each planet represents in the Venus Persona Chart-

The Ascendant in this chart represents how people think we perceive love and, how we initially act towards people trying to make moves on us, and peoples first impression of us as a suitor. Looking at the ruling planet's sign can give much insight about how we view relationships and what it takes to woo us.

The Sun and Venus Combination in this chart shows the true Venusian themes of how we operate in this part of our lives, here, Venus is just as important as the Sun. The Sun is how we project and attract people to us, what we do to appeal to others, meanwhile Venus in this chart is what we need in someone to feel attracted to them, what qualities do people need to have in order for us to like them.

The Moon in this chart represents how we feel about others emotionally, it's a lot like Venus in the sense that the Moon shows us what we need in a partner for us to get close to them. How we build emotional connects with people, how we are emotionally when it comes to other people, especially the spouse. Personally me, I think this placement is very important in synastry and I would check how you and your partners Venus PC Moon aspects one another, because this will show what yalls emotional dynamic will be like.

Mercury here shows how we communicate our tastes and appeal, how we utilize our Venus sign in speech. How we process our thoughts when it comes to relationships. Our thoughts and opinions on relationships and how we communicate to our spouse.

Mars here shows us our relationship libido, what energy we like to give to the relationship and expect back from others, how we act in arguments with people close to us, mostly the spouse, how we act generally in high stress situations that involve others, how we act when we're mad at others and how we forgive them.

The Mars and Venus combination here shows what the energy needs to be between you and some body else in order for them to appeal to you, How you act and expect to be treated, what energy and tendencies should people expect from being in a relationship with you, your side of the dynamic when it comes to you and someone else.

While where ever Venus is in on the natal chart is where you can make a lot of friends and acquaintances easily, and where you're generally well liked, whatever house Venus is in on the PC can be where you meet your spouse. For example, if you have Venus 10th house in this PC then you will likely meet your spouse on the road to success in your career when you're focusing on yourself and goals. They may just come to you naturally when they see you both have the same life goals for career and legacy. Here, when you focus on the bagging the bread, you'll bag the bitches along the journey🔥🔥.

[noahideahwrites]

May i request a todoroki × reader headcon on their first date (>^<). I love your works very muchh!! <333 and keep yearning for more of your great writings!! Fightingg!

Headcanon — Todoroki's First Date

Notes: It's official, I only appear once every blue moon, but that's okay (not really, but we'll pretend). It's kind of short, I really struggled to write this one for some reason.

Warnings: Grammar mistakes

»» The slow-burn with Todoroki is very real, so before you even went on your first date, you would already be friends and have known each other for a long while.

»» It's important to be very clear that you two are going on a date, Todoroki can be quite dense when it comes to romance and thinks you're just going out as friends.

»» Different than other omegas, Todoroki would like to go on a date with you before officially courting. Seeing as you two are friends, he wouldn't mind "skipping" a few steps.

»» But also, he is extremely picky about courting gifts. Coming from a rich family he is used to very high-quality items, so if you are not richer than him can be quite difficult to top what he already has, that's why the dates are so important.

»» The very first date can go two ways, you're both out shopping for his courting gifts, or you're at your house simply having dinner and watching a movie.

»» The first option would happen if Todoroki is running out of certain items, that can also be considered courting items. Like blankets, plushies, pillows and etc. Shoto is a guy who only buys these things out of necessity, for his nest.

»» Do expect him to ask your opinion on everything, also pick out a few things because you want them, for when he invites you into his nest. You won't see his nest until later on in the relationship, but he is considering your comfort even before that.

»» The second option can happen after the first or can be independent, but let's consider it happened after. So it's the end of the day and you two are tired of shopping.

»» Shoto doesn't want to end this date yet, but he also doesn't want to be out and about, so you invite him to your house. You two bought dinner on the way, so you only heat it up and eat together. »» After eating you two talk a bit and decide to watch a movie. You both take showers and go watch the movie, is something to just pass the time and it's also an excuse to cuddle.

»» Todoroki would fall asleep before the middle of the movie, so it's up to you if you finish it or turn it off and also go to sleep. The next morning he would have to go back to his house unfortunately, but dates like this will happen a lot through the rest of your relationship.

[notesfromthepalace]

How Do I Become a Princess

I realize that most of my content talks about how when I evolved as a person, my relationships with people and certain activities changed/shifted. But I had never actually went in full detail about everything I believe I have done and have been through. I was asked a question by one of our fellow readers about the following:

"How do I get past the need of wanting to be seen?"

"How to take care of yourself on a budget?''

"What do I do when I get attention deprived, especially when I start feeling lonely?"

"How do I fix the mistakes of my past while learning from them?"

We'll start with point #1: "How do I get past the need of wanting to be seen" - so looking for validation from others.

As I responded previously, all of this starts with becoming one with your creator. We are born with certain inalienable rights bestowed on us from God. I believe when I reconnected with God through fasting, morning prayer (which I really need to get back to doing daily), reading the Bible and finding a church. Literally every morning, for almost six months, that was a daily ritual, Sunday to Sunday. I believe when I started to hear God, my care for what people would say, what they thought the knew of me, did not matter. To this day, if I feel like something goes against my beliefs in God or disrespects God in anyway, I want NO parts in it because the only opinion that matters is God's opinion of me. So the validation, the need to be seen or wanting to be heard by certain people became non existent and still is. And with seeking God and not caring how people may have felt about me, I also became a mystery. No one knew where I was at or what I was doing on my free time. And absolutely no one knew about my dating endeavors. When I became one with God again, certain people who were in my friendship circles faded away, I didn't watch or listen to certain things anymore, and the people I feel God was bringing into my life better aligned with my beliefs, values and my future endeavors. Getting closer to God not only revealed what I wanted for my life personally, but financially, career wise, and even philanthropically. This is why getting closer to God is the first step, it is a domino effect of positivity and elevation in your life.

#2: Taking care of yourself on a budget

"Show me the money"

It's possible friends. Let's start with appearance.

Although I am not the biggest fan of ripped jeans - this was for a walk in the park. Now, would you believe me if I told you that the jeans and the top together were less than $30?

This dress was on sale at Express for $25.

I also bought this dress on sale from Express for $35 and the shoes were on sale at Forever 21 for $14 - I still have both of the items by the way, five years later.

I'm not going to lie, are all of my pieces these prices? No. But I learned how to be a high low shopper. Meaning that if something feels like nice enough quality but doesn't break the bank - I'm buying it. What I usually splurge on, what I'd like to call my investments are shoes, bags, jewelry, hair extensions (I prefer raw hair) and some make-up and skin care, not all. For some things, you will have to spend a pretty penny, but that's where budgeting and making sacrifices come in. For example, I chose to pay out of pocket about $2000 to straighten my teeth and close a few gaps. I was able to do a payment plan and pay $88.95 a month for two years and during that time, I chose to do my hair myself versus paying $350 for someone else to do it.

Like look at those pearly whites. Yes, fixing my teeth was an aesthetic thing, but it was also a tremendous confidence booster.

Taking care of yourself is doable. It just looks different for everyone. It is very important to asses where you are at financially, budget, and think about the things you want to do first.

And when it comes to designer items, this is my advice from a woman I met at the Louis Vuitton store:

"Don't go broke trying to buy everything at once. Start with one item. And next year buy another. There's no rush" - European woman with the most beautiful blow out.

#3: What to do when you are feeling alone/attention deprived.

Get ready for it. It's going to happen. Evolving will be lonely in the beginning and throughout the middle. You'll have people you thought were your friends label you as "fake". You won't be invited back into certain arenas and you have to be ready for that. And if your focus is on finding a boyfriend/husband - you'll definitely feel lonely for a while because as you start to demand a certain standard, the men you may have given chance after chance to will leave you because you are no longer able to be manipulated.

There's going to be lonely nights and that's where you re going to fill the void with things that are going to make you better.

When I dumped my ex, and also stopped hanging around certain people I went back to the basics and asked myself "What does Sarah like?"

Reading

Facials

Shopping

Museums

Coffee shops

5x Star restaurants

Traveling

Learning

Working out - simply to look good, I don't actually enjoy it. But I like how I feel after and cute workout sets.

So I did just that. Literally all of it. To a point where I had even picked back up on my French. And all of these things brought me into different circles of people I would have never met if I had just stuck around the normal rift raft.

These things I did for me, but they also brightened my horizons and prospects for men as well who had similar interests as I *wink wink.

#4: Fixing the mistakes from the past and learning from them.

For me, this is where the constant prayer came in. There are things about ourselves we do not believe are problems because they are learned behaviors from child hood. I had to ask God to reveal them to me, along with revealing the mistakes that I didn't know were mistakes. In the revelation came education.

Start with one mistake, fix it or learn from it or both.

Then go to the next one.

Give yourself time and grace to learn and evolve. These things do not happen over night. Not only will you feel different, but the people around you will see a difference, and you'll attract another type of crowd. A better one.

I hope I answered this well enough @lanessoul

Thank you for the question again.

Until next time Sissy Poohs.

P.S. It's always best to be celibate during this time of reflection. Sex clouds the mind and ones judgement.

With Love,

Sarah Chanel

[currantlee]

A few comments on a recent post about RWBY I made got me thinking about something. Basically, I think that Rooster Teeth – and possibly by extension its parent companies – have artificially inflated RWBY as a media project and franchise rather than letting it grow organically. Therefore, it became a bubble that was bound to burst at some point. RWBY might never have been a profitable IP, which might be very relevant for its future.

This is not a problem that arose after Monty Oum‘s passing, I feel like this was already coming before that. Shane Newville‘s open letter (which absolutely comes from an emotional, mentally unwell state of mind, but has had many of its contents confirmed over the years, even beyond being one of the first descriptions of the toxic work environment at Rooster Teeth) makes a few points that support this impression. Whether you agree with the letter or not, you cannot deny that the first two volumes of RWBY, while they also had merch accompanying them and stuff, were not produced following industry standards – starting with the 3D software used, Poser Pro (Monty Oum‘s preferred tool for animation). This led to some really creative animation work that, while not always high-quality by industry-standards, was certainly pushing boundaries. It was creative and it worked for what RWBY was: a passion project created by someone who saw animation as his strongest suit – as his preferred medium to tell a story. I‘ve seen a lot of people claim that Monty Oum wasn‘t a writer, and while that‘s true, I feel like the implication of that statement is always that he couldn‘t tell stories on his own. I don‘t think that‘s true. I think Monty Oum was a great storyteller when it came to expressing certain things through animated action scenes. It‘s just that he wanted to tell a story that included more than just that and a few lines of dialogue – which is where Miles Luna and Kerry Shawcross come in, two at the time very inexperienced writers (who possibly had a fallout with Monty Oum over creative differences later), as well as some talented folks – people like Shane Newville. They were chosen to work on this because Monty Oum acknowledged their potential and liked to work with them, and I feel like that created an environment where they were really allowed to flourish. Volumes 1 and 2 are certainly not flawless, but I feel like I can tell the people making it had fun.

To Rooster Teeth however? I think RWBY (and by extension, Monty Oum as a creator) might have been little more than assets to them. RWBY was first created around a time when RT first tried to be more like, well, an actual company. At least from 2014 onward, but possibly even earlier than that, this included an effort to conform to industry standards more, mostly in order to be able to hire more people – very visibly so in RWBY in the form of the switch to Maya (my opinion about that is, the way they did it didn’t do RWBY any favors at all). I think they saw RWBY and Monty Oum as an opportunity to appear… More important, bigger, than they ever really were.

So what did they do? Again, I kind of have the feeling that they “upscaled” RWBY to a size where it appears like this big thing, but it became far too much to handle. Essentially, they created a mock giant, or a metaphorical quasi-star: something that can appear big from afar, but is actually very small / unstable (and if we go with the quasi-star metaphor, disturbs all of its surroundings). This is what I mean when I say that RWBY was a bubble bound to burst, because no star lives forever – and quasi-stars can only exist under very specific, very unstable conditions (I linked a Kurzgesagt-video in case you’re interested what exactly a quasi-star / black hole star is / was, cosmology is so fascinating IMO). Once these conditions exist no longer, they both fall apart and collapse into the black hole that is their core at the same time.

My main argument for this is that RWBY was essentially a huge money sink for RT (Source: Barbara Dunkelman’s unprofessionalism). They pumped so much money into this… Perhaps even more than they ever made from it. While this isn’t 100% confirmed, it is very much possible (and IMO not exactly unlikely) that RWBY was never profitable — which it might have been if RT hadn’t been so hellbent on creating the illusion of a multi-million-dollar franchise.

This is purely speculative, but this might also be why Volume 10 was never greenlit. We know that Volume 9 was to a significant part funded by Crunchyroll and in fact would not have been possible without them (probably because RT was already out of money at this point). They might have bought into this mock giant, then realized they had pretty much been scammed once Volume 9 aired. This might have led to Crunchyroll’s unwillingness to fund another season for something they knew now was effectively a money sink. Since RT at this point lacked the funds to produce Volume 10 alone and therefore was dependent on investors like Crunchyroll and Warner Brothers… Volume 10 was never greenlit, no matter how hard they attempted to get their fans’ hopes up and start a hashtag campaign on social media (as far as I remember, that was started by Rooster Teeth, not the fans. I don’t have my Twitter account anymore though, so I can’t check). Again though, this is speculation.

The worst part? This refusal of RT to just… Downscale RWBY again, this determination that it had to be this huge franchise… Was all put on the backs of the creatives working on it. We know at this point, from multiple sources, that RWBY and other RT productions have had an incredible amount of crunchtime, working overtime, employee abuse, … going on behind the scenes, which seems to only have gotten worse after Monty Oum’s passing. At the end of the day, all RT does and has ever done is blame others for their incompetence. Like, no shit, I’ve seen fans claim that it’s the FNDM’s job to “keep the show alive” (particularly in the light of #GreenlightVolume10), which… No, that’s not the fans’ job. It’s the job of the company who has been entrusted with this beloved IP, and said company has proven to be utterly incompetent on multiple occasions, which is unfortunate, but a sad reality for all those who love RWBY. And while Rooster Teeth has never directly said such a thing, they have certainly implied it and taken advantage of the existing sentiment within their fanbase, as well as their parasocial relationship with it (again, see #GreenlightVolume10 for reference).

To clarify, I’m not saying none of this would have happened if RT didn’t insist on making RWBY this big franchise (and biting off far more than they could chew in the process) – again, RT was far too notoriously incompetent at everything a company should manage – but I do think it might have played a role. It also isn’t an excuse for all the employee abuse. Again, what they should have done is downsizing the project, not inflating it further and further.

If I’m not somehow completely in the wrong (because IMO this just makes way too much sense to not be at least partially true – but let’s face it, a lot of this is just me connecting dots, and there is always a chance I’m connecting them wrong, even though I don‘t think so), then it kinda blows my mind that there are still people who believe in this scam. Though I will say, emotional attachment can do that to anyone. If anything, I’m honestly sorry that those folks lose something that means so much to them, and that false promises were made to them.

At the end of the day, the story of RWBY (the “franchise”) is twofold. It’s a story about an incredibly talented creator who passed away far too early, who was given the incredible opportunity to make his dream come true. It’s a story of people he trusted taking up his torch, and maybe getting lost in the dark along the way. It’s an inspiring story regardless, and I hope to see it continued at a downsized scale so it can grow organically, preferably in the hands of an indie animation studio like Dillon Goo (🤞)

But it is also a cautionary tale to both creatives and companies who employ them, a tale about false promises, abuse of both employees and fans, as well as how to not run a project. Don’t blow your thing out of proportion too early, don’t create a mock giant / metaphorical quasi-star. Let your ideas and projects grow and flourish organically and sincerely.

[mahi-does-some-art]

Any headcanons for how different Servamp characters prefer their smores

These may be the most important headcanons I'll ever write ever, anon.

Mahiru: Simple is best! Usually won't get too fancy with it-- Likes his marshmallow with that perfect golden-brown crust. Before he would be confused why some people would burn the marshmallow so much it caught on fire but Sakuya convinced him to try it once and was surprised that it wasn't horrible.

Kuro: Would either toast his marshmallow golden-brown or where there's be some black char spots but not where the whole thing is burnt. He had the idea to put ice cream on top of his smore once and started doing that without fail.

Sakuya: He burns the fucking thing like no tomorrow and swears its one of the best ways to do it. Other than that, also normally makes a standard smore with the gram crackers and candy bar chocolate. He'll also always have sticky hands no matter how careful he is. This boy cannot make a smore that doesnt ooze onto his fingers.

Tetsu: Is very skilled at getting the marshmallow perfectly cooked. Likes his marshmallow golden brown.

Hugh: He condems under roasted marshmallows like he won't eat a whole family pack of uncooked marshmallows straight out the bag. Something about the integrity of a s'more. He has a habit of roasting the thing, sliding the crust off and eating it and repeat till there's nothing left.

Mikuni: This pretentious asshole likes to use the expensive bar chocolate on his s'mores and will swear its better. He'd probably try to make his own marshmallows to roast and after that he's even more snobbish about it. He'll still eat the normal s'more he's offered. Likes his marshmallow with a couple small charred bits.

Jeje: Will fully burn the marsh. Mikuni thinks he's a psychopath for it and God Forbid he burns one of his Eve's homemade ones.

Licht: Will eat the marshmallow no matter as long is its not fully burnt. He has tried it burnt and he rambled on angrily about how it was a slight to such a deliciously holy treat. Using the normal candy bar chocolate and store-bought gram crackers are very special to him and he prefers it that way.

Hyde: Unintentionally scorched his marshy ONCE and got kicked out of his chair for it. Perfers his the perfect golden-brown. He'll get a little bowl of hot fudge to dip his in and it's perfection.

Freya: Doesn't like anything burnt when it comes to it. Will shake up a can of whipped cream and put some on the top of her s'more. It always gets on the tip of her nose and she can't eat a smore cleanly at all wwwww

Iduna: Golden-brown to somewhat charred. Her mess is even worse than Freya's and she always gets goopy hands. She says it's part of the experience.

Niccolo: Likes his with a few char spots and a side of ice cream. Doesn't mix them but likes to eat them both as a pair.

Ildio: It literally doesn't matter, he'll eat it. Even after he starts slowing down and is able to actually taste it, he likes all forms of marshymallow so he's not picky on this front.

Misono: Ate a burnt s'more once and swore never again. Likes his marshy golden brown or a little undercooked. The high quality ingredients the Alicein get makes for an extra yummy s'more. Guess that's where Mikuni gets it from.

Lily: Actually likes his marshy golden to burnt. He likes the flavor of it. Actually perfers it being in the form of a s'more's flavored macaron with toasty marshmallow fluff filling. He likes the texture of the macaron cookies paired with a bit of the crunch of the gram crackers.

I'm not gonna do the rest of Team M bc its 2am and I'm drawing lol. Plz add onto this if you have any opinions!

[tainbocuailnge]

Hello, I hope it's ok I'm sending this ask but you've written some amazing posts and explanations about Cú Alter and Medb and I was wondering if you also did their valentine's scenes? Have a great day and Happy Valentine's Day 💕

i don't think i've ever talked about their valentines gift scenes specifically. they're pretty straightforward displays of their particular styles of responsibility and diligence.

medb takes love very seriously both as a tool of control and as her genuine true heart's desire so her gifts as both rider and saber are extremely high quality to the point where it seems storebought (handmade chocolate is seen as more genuine than storebought) and she calls every chocolate she hands out her true love chocolate (as opposed to obligation chocolate, the gift you only hand out because there's a societal expectation for women to give valentines gifts to all their classmates and colleagues), because she has complexes and both intentionally and unintentionally smudges the lines on how genuine her displays of affection are so that she can maintain plausible deniability on whether she showed vulnerability or not. but while most people would aim for this plausible deniability by making medium effort obligation choco that could mean nothing she instead makes everything a display of true love because love is deeply important to her.

she wants the excitement of confessing her true love, and she wants the control you have over someone who is in love with you, and she wants the safety of people not knowing her true feelings and thus not having that control over her in turn. she's assertive and a bit fussy and when she decides to do something she always makes sure to do it well, and the result is beautiful professional quality handmade chocolate, but in her saber scene when she decides she wants to be the one who is pursued for a change she kinda fumbles it because even though she's assertive and prides herself on "taking whatever she wants" she has a hard time asking for what she really wants (close relationship as equals with someone she loves), because of the complexes.

cu alter meanwhile is clearly uncomfortable with displays of affection both because of medb's specific style of affection-as-control and because he just thinks of himself as a weapon rather than a person and gets really annoyed when guda doesn't share that view. he brusquely dismisses any attempt to treat him like a person but also has a way too strong sense of duty, so even though he doesn't want guda's gift and says he's just gonna throw it out later he still has to arrange a return gift, it's the obvious thing to do. there's a disconnect between what he says and what he does for basically everything he does because he's torturing himself by thinking he doesn't get the luxury of being the same he's always been even though he's still just the same he's always been. he's obviously not actually gonna throw out that chocolate.

mini cu-chan debuted in the prillya event that ran before male valentines scenes got added and i think they made that the gift just because they couldn't really think of something he would give lol. there's various possible explanations for why the description says medb doesn't recognise it, maybe it's the usual event amnesia handwave, maybe she's lying because she thinks she posted cringe in the prillya singularity. i don't think cu alter is lying about it just showing up in his room one day because he tends to lie about his opinions (to himself most of all) but not about facts. i do like that even though he says you can throw it out for all he cares he obviously did not do that himself, because his sense of duty is way too strong and he takes care of his own as the obvious thing to do even if it pisses him off.

its a fun little contrast between the two of them, medb is very verbally affectionate but struggles to actually unambiguously display affection for a myriad complicated reasons while cu alter grumbles and complains but through his actions is always clearly on your side. but they're both very reliable and diligent, if you need medb for something she will absolutely pull through for you and this very sincere diligence of hers is exactly what she's trying to obfuscate with her elaborate ambiguous affection so that it can't be taken advantage of while cu doesn't really care if he's being taken advantage of because he's gonna do it anyway and that's what frustrates her so fucking much about him that she had to make a version of him that will at least loudly complain about it.

[theopolis]

hello!! im sure youve gotten this question before but im having a Harry Moment and want to get Even Weirder about it SO !! i was wondering if you have a recommendation for approaching the original comics, where to start, which runs you think are the best reads for capturing his story, stuff like that!! your blogs a joy to browse, thanks so much!!!

Hello fellow Harold enthusiast!! I have in fact gotten this question before but I'm actually quite happy to receive it again as I've long been meaning to create a Harry reading list that would (hopefully) allow people to follow his entire story up to his death

In this chronological guide I've attempted to capture Harry's journey as a character, narrowed down from my own 616 reading experience.

I tried to stay focused on Harry-centric storylines and issues, but I couldn't resist adding some casual appearances particularly during the Silver Age because 1) I think of it as foundational to just about everything that matters in Spider-Man comics and 2) Harry-centric storylines tend to show him at his most distressed. They're important and often brilliant, but reading only those issues feels like a disservice to his kind and loving qualities. It's important to experience the smaller, calmer moments with him as well to truly understand his character.

Personal favorites are bolded, if you care for my bias.

Due to the numerous Spider-Man mags that were at times running simultaneously and ping-ponging storylines between one another, titles will be abbreviated as follows;

The Amazing Spider-Man (1963) = TASM63

The Spectacular Spider-Man (1976) = TSSM76

Web of Spider-Man (1985) = WOSM85

Now let's get into it!

Harry Osborn Reading List

Flashbacks

These were published more recently, but take place before Harry's first appearance in the comics

Short about Harry's childhood and Norman's failings as a father. One of the best depictions of their relationship, in my opinion

Nice Things from Amazing Spider-Man Extra! #3

Gwen-centric miniseries set during her time in high school and giving some insight on her and Harry's longlasting friendship

Giant Size Gwen Stacy

From introduction to deathbed

Watch Harry evolve from goofy background character to Peter's most important narrative foil!

First establishing of Harry's character and his dynamics with other key personages such as Peter and Norman

TASM63 #31, #34, #39, #40

Further development of all aforementioned things. The highs and lows of Peter and Harry's life as roommates. Daddy issues. Romantic drama. Drug addiction subplot. Anything you could ask

TASM63 #46, #47, #53, #54, #57, #59, #60, #61, #62, #63, #66, #74, #82, #95, #96, #98, #105, #110, #118

The storyline that changed everything

TASM63 #119, #120, #121, #122

Harry grows increasingly suspicious and paranoid around Peter following his father's death

TASM63 #123, #124, #126, #127, #129, #134, #135

Now... here's a disclaimer for the following issues: Despite the aforementioned buildup being very well executed, the result is not exactly so and has more to do with giving the Goblin as a concept another hurrah, rather than delving into Harry's character. In fact I'd even argue they're out of character for Harry, as his behavior in them is just cartoonishly diabolical and in stark contrast to both his previously established personality and subsequent depictions of his Goblin. So yeah, these issues are technically important to the grander picture of what is happening with Harry and why, but don't expect insight lol

TASM63 #136, #137

Harry's back and his friends are more than happy to welcome him. He even moves in with Flash

TASM63 #151, #152, #153

Harry and Liz Allan enter a romance and quickly move on to engagement. He is also seen seeking psychiatric treatment

TASM63 #156, #157, #163, #166, #167

The happiness was not to last: Liz' stepbrother, Mark Raxton aka the Molten Man stirs up trouble, and she leaves the city in the aftermath. Harry seeks fault within himself and appears to be on his way to going green again – but is all as it seems?

TASM63 #172, #173, #174, #175, #179, #180

Harry and Liz have settled into the suburbs. In come more Molten Man and more insecurities!

TSSM76 #63

A mysterious foe known as the Hobgoblin has been attacking the company Harry inherited from his father and even blackmailing him with Norman's secret identity. During this troubled time, Liz and Harry are also having a baby

TASM63 #239, #244, TSSM76 #85, TASM63 #249, #250, #251, #260, #261, #263, TSSM76 #146, WOSM85 #47, TASM63 #312, TSSM76 #147

Molten Man, take three – this time with a wholesome twist

WOSM85 #61, #62

Harry briefly attempts to turn the Green Goblin into a superhero

WOSM85 #66, #67

The final Green Goblin Jr Saga – an absolute Must Read. If I could recommend just one Harry storyline, it would definitely be this one

TSSM76 #178, #179, #180, #181, #182, #183, #184, #189, #200

Post OMD Revival/"Clone Harry"

Full disclosure, I don't read much Post OMD Spider-Man. One day I might venture into it despite my gripes and add more to this section. Until then: I'd sort of be amiss not to include these two at the very least in a Harry Osborn reading list, even if recent nonsensical twists have revealed Post OMD Harry to have been a clone all along

Harry and Peter's reunion

Amazing Spider-Man Family #4

Harry cutting ties with his father. While I think this story could have been improved in numerous ways, watching Harry leave Norman behind is still pretty satisfying and I enjoy the way his relationship with Peter is portrayed in this

TASM63 #595, #596, #597, #598, #599

[over-particular]

minimalist self-care habits

One of the biggest misconceptions about taking care of yourself is the systematic and erroneous association of self-care with extreme consumerism. This idea conveys the image of self-care as something reserved to those who can afford it. The truth is, and many already know this, there are countless ways to be good to yourself without spending more than necessary.

☐ Get enough sleep. A child would need 10 to 12 hours of sleep per night. The average is between 7 and 9 hours for an adult. I can never say it enough, but sleep is an important part of our lives. Value it highly. It's an elementary need: not getting enough sleep puts us at risk of developing numerous chronic diseases: such as high blood pressure, diabetes, heart failure, coronary heart disease and some types of cancer. You are also more likely to suffer a stroke.

☐ Turn the volume down. Since I'm riding the wave of how we 21st century people are neglecting our health, I also want to stress the importance of auditory health. If, like me, you love to spend hours with headphones on, consider turning down the volume. I know it's much more enjoyable to experience it fully, but having gone through the terrible experience of tinnitus, I bitterly regret it. There is a simple way to track your auditory health: please check your smartphone's headphone safety features.

☐ Don't neglect your medical appointments. I have always been very anxious about it. Not to the point of pulling my hair out, but I used to postpone my appointment so much that I sometimes forgot why I even wanted to go. There are countless of reasons why we may not like to go to the doctor, but the truth is that health issues simply cannot wait. It is equally important to go see your doctor even if you think you are in perfect condition.

☐ Be physically active. Always keep in mind that your body, like your mind, needs to be stimulated. Besides allowing you to manage your weight more effectively, sport improve your brain health, reduces health risks and strengthens both your muscles and your bones.

☐ Watch your language. It's more personal, but it introduces a sense of discipline into your mind. The turns of phrase, the informal language, the way we speak, the choice of words, the syntax… Speaking is the perfect expression of the mind. This does not mean abolishing the use of crude words, but rather regaining control, becoming master of your language again. Your words should never exceed your thoughts. In my opinion, a rich language reflects the attention the speaker pays to it. When was the last time you learned a new word?

☐ Clean your space. The cleanliness of your living space has a big impact on your productivity. A messy space can lead to a messy mind. Home is, for many of us, the place we feel most comfortable: keeping your living space clean and organized naturally improves the quality of your life, your sleep and your health. Clean regularly, let the sun shine in and air out daily.

☐ Avoid ads. Easier said than done. But try not to have your mind parasitized by the multitude of advertisements we are flooded with. I don't watch television. I do have access to a music platform so I don't have to deal with the constant stream of ads on YouTube.

☐ Go for a walk. Pretending to discover your city or town anew can do wonders for a mind in need of a little distraction. Check out some of the free events that may be happening near you. Visit a park you've never been to before.

☐ Give yourself a reason to wait. Try to establish a ritual of patience. In other words… You stop binge watching every new show you start and you take your time to appreciate it.

☐ Stimulate your mind. The internet has given us more ways than ever to keep our minds busy. For those who know me a little, I am a big fan of reading. And if physical books can indeed be expensive, you can find some really good ones for free in .pdf format. In fact, some kind souls have even gone so far as to share entire drives of them on Tumblr... Going further in my reflection, I think that the scourge of our century is the intellectual lethargy: everything is at our fingertips, why bother reading a whole book when I have access to a detailed summary of only a few pages? Beyond the spiritual enrichment, it is also a proof of patience to seize a book and give it three hours of your time. I sincerely believe that as human beings, we owe it to ourselves to keep our senses and our minds alert. Reading is a great way to exercise our brain as it helps stimulate our cognitive abilities. It allows us to develop our capacity for memorization, reflection, analysis and imagination. Try coloring for adults (yes, it's a thing: ■ ■). There are also many games for adults online with the aim of stimulating memory and improving concentration (■, ■.). Try solving online puzzles, fake criminal investigations, math problems? Learn how to code (with Codecademy for example, which offers many courses for free). Take language courses. Many general knowledge quizzes are also available to anyone who is interested (■) . The web is a real goldmine in terms of resources and many are available for free.

☐ Finally, this list would be meaningless without me asking you to learn to relax. Give yourself a day off if you need to. It is essential to take it easy, to get your nose out of your planning, to look up from your screen and breathe in some fresh air through the window. I advise all those who try to relax to start a digital detox: we must learn to relax independently, without a screen and regain control over the objects of our stimulation.

My lists are intended to be personal. If you find them useful, that's great. Feel free to rewrite them! Don't hesitate to ask questions or send me your comments and ideas for next articles.

[peachjagiya]

https://x.com/kkookphoriiaa/status/1829638151029297417?s=46&t=NoNSkUCz0AjpyK3SPEWIXA

First of all it's crazy that jikookers are eating up what some random man says about the members when we've now heard from jikook themselves that they didn't even see each other during hiatus (but guess who did!). Besides that, ignoring how it's also wild to judge these things from one episode of a reality tv show, I think it's important to remember taekook are both introverts (as per their mbti video). Meanwhile, Jimin's an extrovert. I think Jimin can appear as super close to any of the members because of this quality. Taekook's introvertedness manifests in different ways at times but I think they both clearly have moments where they're more low energy, while I think Jimin's someone who's generally more high energy. I think Jimin's playfulness and touchiness with all the members also plays into this. Of course he's going to seem closer to the others if you have no other context and look at everything on the surface. It's just so annoying to see taekook labeled as awkward and distant time and time again, especially now when there's such clear proof that's not the case? I'm pretty sure taekook hung out the most out of any other pairing in BTS. Most people aren't making the effort to hang out with someone they're distant with and choosing to never meet up with someone they're much closer to. This narrative is just so tired and it sucks that it constantly gets regurgitated if taekook aren't all over each other 24/7, which I don't expect them to be. Some taekookers do this too to an extent. I just wish they could coexist peacefully without people thinking they hate each other lol. It's always the smallest things that are the most telling between them too. Tae playing songs and JK knowing them already, them both singing To Find You which we know JK sings to Tae, more often than not walking with each other throughout the show, constantly sitting beside each other, JK climbing to encourage Tae before he jumped because he knew he was scared, JK constantly mentioning Tae when he wasn't in the pool with him and Jimin, JK immediately going to give Tae and massage, also taking photos of him right when he wakes up, etc. Idk if this is controversial but I actually think jikook lack a lot of the softness taekook have.

No shade to that guy's opinion but...

It's literally just his opinion. 😂😂😂 I can't believe they're using it like "see?? Seeeee?"

(I also hope nobody is reporting him. Let him live. Who cares?)

Also I tend to tune out when someone says V. It's like a sign that the person is either a jikooker being obtuse or someone who has eaten only what they've been handed rather than going to see if there's anything better in the fridge.

(I know what I mean 😂 I might just be hungry.)

[heliosrisingheroesimagines]

AAA URE BACK i'm so happy omg…you're one of my fav writers in this platform and i love rereading your fics and headcanons!!! ♪

i'd like to request coriander, daisy, fennel, peony and sweet pea from the plant asks for marion!! there's not enough marion content that i can find here I swear...I think he really deserves some more love 💔…but either way, thank you so much in advance and have a great day!! :] ★

(Marion is my beloved I'm always happy to write for him~)

Marion Blythe:

🌻coriander: what do they love the most about their s/o, both physical and personality-wise?

You’re some whose very easy for him to talk to. He doesn’t feel like you’re judging him, or underestimating his strength, or making any assumptions based on factors outside of his control. He feels like he could tell you anything, and having this emotional security is incredibly important to Marion; it’s always been difficult to let his real feelings shine through, but it wasn’t healthy for him to keep them inside constantly, so he needed a person who he felt could understand him. Even if you didn’t have the same opinions as he did, there was just something that made him comfortable speaking freely with you.

Marion likes your eyes. They’re like windows to the soul, or so Nova used to joke, but he never really understood the phrase ‘getting lost in their eyes’ until you. He could stare into your eyes forever if you let him but normally, you’d get too flustered, having to look away while Marion couldn’t possibly mirror you.

🌻daisy: what is their love language, both giving and receiving?

Giving: Acts of Service. This is more a goal set by himself but Marion likes to prove that he’s ‘useful’ to you; it’s nothing you’ve ever commented on, and you don’t quite know where it came from as its not like he has anything to prove. He just liked the feeling of knowing he was making your day easier, even when he was busy himself he still tried to fit in tasks that would make your day easier by the end of it. It’s not something he willingly admits to, of course, denying that it’s coming from the love he has for you as it would be too embarrassing to admit.

Receiving: Quality Time. Marion isn’t a high-maintenance lover, as much as his standards might have you perceive him that way. He doesn’t want you going out of your way to do things for him, nor does he have a need for endless gifts (although he won’t ever deny home-cooked breakfast). He always preferred doing things together when your free-time allowed it, like cooking together or watching movies with the entire family; at first he was nervous about spending time alone with you but now it’s exactly what he needs to keep his head on straight.

🌻fennel: what are their kisses like? where do they like to be kissed the most?

Marion’s kisses are thoughtful, always coming in a moment that you suspect yet still knocking you off your feet anyway. You can’t help but lean in to him and it’s exactly what he wants, that closeness that comes with being unabashedly in love. He preferred to take the moments slow, as much as his nerves were set alight when you kissed he couldn’t help but want to savor the moment.

He would say the lips if asked but he doesn’t have a preference, a kiss is a kiss but he does like ones he can reciprocate. When you’re quick with kissing him on the cheek or forehead he always tried to grab you before you could get away, which you now made into a game knowing he wanted to reciprocate any affection you gave him. It left you both giggling in a way you didn’t think Marion was capable of before dating him, kissing each other’s faces until your other responsibilities were remembered.

🌻peony: how do they get their s/o to blush? how does their s/o make them blush?

Marion is always proud when he managed to set up a perfectly romantic moment for the two of you to enjoy together, and the confidence he has about knowing you is something you can’t help but blush over. There are some partners who might take a more bashful approach to it but knowing you inside and out is a source of pride for Marion, who put endless effort into your relationship while training his hardest to be a great hero.

Marion is surprisingly easy to make blush, almost like its natural reaction to your presence. It happened when you leaned in close or suddenly start giving him physical affection before he can mentally prepare, or when you sincerely compliment an outfit you think he looks good in. Having any sort of praise coming from you pleased him, but romantic attention made him more nervous than other kids of attention from you.

🌻sweet pea: are they big on cuddling? what is their favorite position to cuddle their s/o in?

Marion enjoyed cuddling as long as he was in a good mood, as he preferred being left alone or not being confined if he was angry/worked up. There are times where he needs comfort that he’ll let you know it’s okay to be close to him, a comforting arm wrapped around his shoulder as he leaned into you and tried to get ahold of himself as he didn’t want your mood to tank alongside his. There’s something inherently comforting about having a person you can simply lean against and absorb their warmth without being questioned on it, although teasing is imminent especially when the cuddling happens on movie nights.

His favorite way to cuddle was when you were on the couch together, a nice blanket spread across your legs, either you curled up into him or him resting his head on your shoulder. He thought it was nice if somewhat distracting, the first few times finding it impossible to fully focus on the movie but eventually falling into a comfortable rhythm where Jacqueline wouldn’t constantly squeal about how cute the two of you were.