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drxwsyni · 4 years

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Headcanons for yandere Chisaki Kai/Overhaul, Bakugou Katsuki and Mirio Togata with a manipulative s/o

Anonymous asked: “headcanons: yandere overhaul, katsuki and mirio with a manipulative darling??🧐 A lil nsfw is always welcome 😏 i would simpp for my bois anyday if i got the chance😔 THX💞❣️💕💕💖”

a/n: we’re all simps here anon, there’s no denying that. i don’t usually do nsfw, it’s in my rules that i don’t take these reqs but i am trying to get better at writing it. right now if people ask for it i might comply but it depends on the scenario. for this i chose to do just the first two characters cause i can’t see mirio doing anything like that, he’s too pure. thanks for the request!!!

warnings: injury, nsfw (noncon?)

_____

Chisaki Kai/Overhaul:

sfw:

You’d be kidding yourself if you thought this man would fall for any form of manipulation from his darling.

He’s not an idiot, in fact he’s extremely intelligent. If anyone is going to be the manipulative one, it’s Chisaki. He’s far too analytical to be played like that.

That doesn’t mean he won’t go along with it though. Oh no, in fact he’d be more than willing to let his darling believe that they had the upper hand. It would almost be a game to him―watching as they pretended to please him to get what they wanted, or formulate their words to guilt him into giving them freedoms.

He’s not particularly sadistic, but the sight of his darling going against their nature to act like they’re obedient would be amusing. On top of that, he wouldn’t exactly be complaining to see his darling following his orders, even if they were doing it in an attempt to fool him.

So he’d let them have their fun, knowing full well that eventually they’d believe they had him right where they wanted. Of course they didn’t―they never would. Chisaki would always be multiple steps ahead, lying in wait for the moment his darling finally had that false sense of security.

He doesn’t take kindly to disobedience. Yelling at him or trying to leave on the spur of the moment is one thing. But being so committed to deceitfulness, taking pride in the thought that they were outsmarting him? That would not sit well. Chisaki would anticipate the moment they made their move, them thinking whatever plan they’d formulated had worked.

And nothing would satisfy him more to see the look of shock mixed with denial as he confided that he knew all along. Of course he’d have all the necessary precautions in place for when they decide to act upon their drawn out intentions. His darling would never really stand a chance, and he’d make that painfully clear.

nsfw:

This man would not go easy with the punishments. He needs to make sure his darling learns their place, and more importantly that they could not outsmart him. The goal is to make them understand that life would be so much easier if they just submit. Chisaki would treat them so well if they did, as long as they were genuine.

Unfortunately, a manipulative darling would need a lot of incentive to get them to that point. Being so cunning usually means that they're patient and stubborn, so it’s a good thing he can be patient too. And what better way to break their stubborn attitude than a prolonged punishment, something to really get the message across and then some?

Chisaki is definitely one kinky motherfucker. He’d leave them for hours on end, strapped to a vibe and unable to move in the almost painfully tight restraints. He wouldn’t touch them―no, that would be too kind. It would be better to let them fall apart over and over again without any break. It is a punishment after all, they’re not really supposed to enjoy it.

But realistically they will to a certain extent, which makes it so much worse. Sooner or later their resolve would break―which is exactly what he wants.

And he still loves his darling even after what they did, so of course he would supervise the whole ordeal just in case they passed out. Chisaki wouldn’t say much, maybe a gentle reminder here and there that this is what they deserved after being so ungrateful. Once he felt they were past their limit just a little he’d untie them, not before making them swear that they’d drop their behaviour.

He wouldn’t be big on affection after―obviously he’d clean them up but they still need to learn to an extent that he wasn’t pleased with them. Chisaki would save his genuine care for when they finally accepted their place.

_____

Bakugou Katsuki:

sfw:

Rather than immediately fall for his darling’s manipulation, he’d just be highly suspicious. He’s slightly self aware with his behaviour―knowing it wasn’t healthy―so it’d confuse him if his darling acted in a way to get on his good side.

If anything, it’d make him more strict with them. Bakugou wouldn’t necessarily get mad at them, because there wasn’t any need to at the moment, but he’d still be cold around them. Mostly, he’d be waiting for them to drop the act.

Part of him desperately wishes that they weren’t pretending―that they really were warming up to him, albeit rather quickly. He might just let himself pretend as well. It wouldn’t be for long, just enough to take his mind off the awful things he was doing.

Mostly, it would annoy him. He wants a genuinely obedient darling, not someone who acts like they are to use him. Bakugou would likely be suspicious of any kind of darling who’s being kind to him, but especially in this case.

He’s not the kind of person to shy away from inflicting severe punishment either. If/when his darling finally slips up thinking they had him in the palm of their hand, he’d immediately correct them. Of course he wouldn’t fall for it, who do they think he is? He’d humiliate them for even thinking they had the upper hand. It wasn’t their place to try and take advantage of him. It would almost offend him―clearly they thought they were better than him. He’d show them that absolutely wasn’t the case.

nsfw:

It would turn into mostly him taking his anger out on them. How dare they think they were better than him?

He’d be relentlessly rough with their body―face down, ass up, literally fucking them into the mattress. Spewing obscenities at every turn, clearly they wanted this, were they really that dense to think he wouldn’t catch them?

Bakugou would go at it for hours into the night. Wouldn’t give two shits about their protests either―he’d just gag them and move on. Once he felt they were thoroughly fucked, both physically and figuratively, he’d force them to admit that they were wrong. He wouldn’t settle for anything less than them begging for forgiveness, making them repeat who they belonged to as they came for the last time that night.

To pour salt on the wound, he’d be sickeningly sweet with aftercare. Not so much with the verbal sentiments, but he’d practically worship their body. He’d still be mad with them to an extent, but part of the lesson is showing them that he’s the only person who could care for them like he did.

He’d gently massage their muscles while sitting behind then in a hot bath, lathering their body in luscious soaps and moisturizers. They might be all but passed out during the process, but he’d do it nonetheless. Bakugou wouldn’t typically be an affectionate person, but he’d like doting on his darling as they tiredly slumped against his body while he tended to their worn out figure.

With all the bite marks and bruises he leaves, his darling wouldn’t be able to forget the encounter anytime soon. It would become increasingly difficult to keep up their tendencies after not being able to walk straight for a few days since their last outburst.

_____

Mirio Togata:

Oh the poor boy, he’d absolutely fall for his darling’s manipulation.

All Mirio wants is his darling to accept that he knows what’s best for them, to let him take care of all their needs. But most importantly, he wants them to love him as much as he loves them.

And so if his darling was secretly manipulative, it’d likely fly right over his head. He’d just be so gosh darn happy that they were finally comfortable with him that he wouldn’t think twice of any ill intentions.

That being said, it still would be difficult for his darling to get anything from him. He’s still fairly stubborn, and even when he’s not there are still inherent precautions in place that may thwart his darling’s plans.

Are they trying to escape? He might let them out of their cuffs but the bulletproof glass and heavy metal padlocked doors aren’t going anywhere. There’s nothing wrong with a safely built house! It’s for the both of them after all.

Realistically, his darling probably isn’t going anywhere, but they for sure can manipulate him into certain freedoms inside the house.

Just don’t let him find out it’s all an act, nothing could hurt him more. He’s delusional, but he still has feelings. It’d break his heart―normally he’d take unideal behaviour and chalk it up to his darling not knowing any better, but this...this isn’t something he’d overlook.

He’s not the type to physically punish his darling, hurting them that way isn’t his intentions. But if they ever managed to escape, or even hurt him, that might just change things.

It would be quick, he still wouldn’t like the prospect of putting his darling in pain. A broken bone or two is most likely, something long term that’d teach them a lesson. It’d take him a while to recover from the betrayal, but he’d learn from his mistakes. From that point on he wouldn’t fall for their antics. Mirio would let them act like they loved him, but he’d always be prepared for them to lash out again.

#yandere bnha #yandere overhaul #yandere bakugou katsuki #yandere mirio togata #yandere chisaki kai #yandere mha #yandere my hero academia #yandere lemillion #yandere #tw noncon #tw injury

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recentanimenews · 3 years

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ESSAY: Berserk's Journey of Acceptance Over 30 Years of Fandom

My descent into anime fandom began in the '90s, and just as watching Neon Genesis Evangelion caused my first revelation that cartoons could be art, reading Berserk gave me the same realization about comics. The news of Kentaro Miura’s death, who passed on May 6, has been emotionally complicated for me, as it's the first time a celebrity's death has hit truly close to home. In addition to being the lynchpin for several important personal revelations, Berserk is one of the longest-lasting works I’ve followed and that I must suddenly bid farewell to after existing alongside it for two-thirds of my life.

Berserk is a monolith not only for anime and manga, but also fantasy literature, video games, you name it. It might be one of the single most influential works of the ‘80s — on a level similar to Blade Runner — to a degree where it’s difficult to imagine what the world might look like without it, and the generations of creators the series inspired.

Although not the first, Guts is the prototypical large sword anime boy: Final Fantasy VII's Cloud Strife, Siegfried/Nightmare from Soulcalibur, and Black Clover's Asta are all links in the same chain, with other series like Dark Souls and Claymore taking clear inspiration from Berserk. But even deeper than that, the three-character dynamic between Guts, Griffith, and Casca, the monster designs, the grotesque violence, Miura’s image of hell — all of them can be spotted in countless pieces of media across the globe.

Despite this, it just doesn’t seem like people talk about it very much. For over 20 years, Berserk has stood among the critical pantheon for both anime and manga, but it doesn’t spur conversations in the same way as Neon Genesis Evangelion, Akira, or Dragon Ball Z still do today. Its graphic depictions certainly represent a barrier to entry much higher than even the aforementioned company.

Seeing the internet exude sympathy and fond reminiscing about Berserk was immensely validating and has been my single most therapeutic experience online. Moreso, it reminded me that the fans have always been there. And even looking into it, Berserk is the single best-selling property in the 35-year history of Dark Horse. My feeling is that Berserk just has something about it that reaches deep into you and gets stuck there.

I recall introducing one of my housemates to Berserk a few years ago — a person with all the intelligence and personal drive to both work on cancer research at Stanford while pursuing his own MD and maintaining a level of physical fitness that was frankly unreasonable for the hours that he kept. He was NOT in any way analytical about the media he consumed, but watching him sitting on the floor turning all his considerable willpower and intellect toward delivering an off-the-cuff treatise on how Berserk had so deeply touched him was a sight in itself to behold. His thoughts on the series' portrayal of sex as fundamentally violent leading up to Guts and Casca’s first moment of intimacy in the Golden Age movies was one of the most beautiful sentiments I’d ever heard in reaction to a piece of fiction.

I don’t think I’d ever heard him provide anything but a surface-level take on a piece of media before or since. He was a pretty forthright guy, but the way he just cut into himself and let his feelings pour out onto the floor left me awestruck. The process of reading Berserk can strike emotional chords within you that are tough to untangle. I’ve been writing analysis and experiential pieces related to anime and manga for almost ten years — and interacting with Berserk’s world for almost 30 years — and writing may just be yet another attempt for me to pull my own twisted-up feelings about it apart.

Berserk is one of the most deeply personal works I’ve ever read, both for myself and in my perception of Miura's works. The series' transformation in the past 30 years artistically and thematically is so singular it's difficult to find another work that comes close. The author of Hajime no Ippo, who was among the first to see Berserk as Miura presented him with some early drafts working as his assistant, claimed that the design for Guts and Puck had come from a mess of ideas Miura had been working on since his early school days.

写真は三浦建太郎君が寄稿してくれた鷹村です。今かなり感傷的になっています。思い出話をさせて下さい。僕が初めての週刊連載でスタッフが一人もいなくて困っていたら手伝いにきてくれました。彼が18で僕が19です。某大学の芸術学部の学生で講義明けにスケッチブックを片手に来てくれました。 pic.twitter.com/hT1JCWBTKu

— 森川ジョージ (@WANPOWANWAN) May 20, 2021

Miura claimed two of his big influences were Go Nagai’s Violence Jack and Tetsuo Hara and Buronson’s Fist of the North Star. Miura wears these influences on his sleeve, discovering the early concepts that had percolated in his mind just felt right. The beginning of Berserk, despite its amazing visual power, feels like it sprang from a very juvenile concept: Guts is a hypermasculine lone traveler breaking his body against nightmarish creatures in his single-minded pursuit of revenge, rigidly independent and distrustful of others due to his dark past.

Uncompromising, rugged, independent, a really big sword ... Guts is a romantic ideal of masculinity on a quest to personally serve justice against the one who wronged him. Almost nefarious in the manner in which his character checked these boxes, especially when it came to his grim stoicism, unblinkingly facing his struggle against literal cosmic forces. Never doubting himself, never trusting others, never weeping for what he had lost.

Miura said he sketched out most of the backstory when the manga began publication, so I have to assume the larger strokes of the Golden Arc were pretty well figured out from the outset, but I’m less sure if he had fully realized where he wanted to take the story to where we are now. After the introductory mini-arcs of demon-slaying, Berserk encounters Griffith and the story draws us back to a massive flashback arc. We see the same Guts living as a lone mercenary who Griffith persuades to join the Band of the Hawk to help realize his ambitions of rising above the circumstances of his birth to join the nobility.

We discover the horrific abuses of Guts’ adoptive father and eventually learn that Guts, Griffith, and Casca are all victims of sexual violence. The story develops into a sprawling semi-historical epic featuring politics and war, but the real narrative is in the growing companionship between Guts and the members of the band. Directionless and traumatized by his childhood, Guts slowly finds a purpose helping Griffith realize his dream and the courage to allow others to grow close to him.

Miura mentioned that many Band of the Hawk members were based on his early friend groups. Although he was always sparse with details about his personal life, he has spoken about how many of them referred to themselves as aspiring manga authors and how he felt an intense sense of competition, admitting that among them he may have been the only one seriously working toward that goal, desperately keeping ahead in his perceived race against them. It’s intriguing thinking about how much of this angst may have made it to the pages, as it's almost impossible not to imagine Miura put quite a bit of himself in Guts.

Perhaps this is why it feels so real and makes The Eclipse — the quintessential anime betrayal at the hands of Griffith — all the more heartbreaking. The raw violence and macabre imagery certainly helped. While Miura owed Hellraiser’s Cenobites much in the designs of the God Hand, his macabre portrayal of the Band of the Hawk’s eradication within the literal bowels of hell, the massive hand, the black sun, the Skull Knight, and even Miura’s page compositions have been endlessly referenced, copied, and outright plagiarized since.

The events were tragic in any context and I have heard many deeply personal experiences others drew from The Eclipse sympathizing with Guts, Casca, or even Griffith’s spiral driven by his perceived rejection by Guts. Mine were most closely aligned with the tragedy of Guts having overcome such painful circumstances to not only reject his own self enforced solitude, but to fearlessly express his affection for his loved ones.

The Golden Age was a methodical destruction of Guts’ self-destructive methods of preservation ruined in a single selfish act by his most trusted friend, leaving him once again alone and afraid of growing close to those around him. It ripped the romance of Guts’ mission and eventually took the story down a course I never expected. Berserk wasn’t a story of revenge but one of recovery.

Guess that’s enough beating around the bush, as I should talk about how this shift affected me personally. When I was young, when I began reading Berserk I found Guts’ unflagging stoicism to be really cool, not just aesthetically but in how I understood guys were supposed to be. I was slow to make friends during school and my rapidly gentrifying neighborhood had my friends' parents moving away faster than I could find new ones. At some point I think I became too afraid of putting myself out there anymore, risking rejection when even acceptance was so fleeting. It began to feel easier just to resign myself to solitude and pretend my circumstances were beyond my own power to correct.

Unfortunately, I became the stereotypical kid who ate alone during lunch break. Under the invisible expectations demanding I not display weakness, my loneliness was compounded by shame for feeling loneliness. My only recourse was to reveal none of those feelings and pretend the whole thing didn't bother me at all. Needless to say my attempts to cope probably fooled no one and only made things even worse, but I really didn’t know of any better way to handle my situation. I felt bad, I felt even worse about feeling bad and had been provided with zero tools to cope, much less even admit that I had a problem at all.

The arcs following the Golden Age completely changed my perspective. Guts had tragically, yet understandably, cut himself off from others to save himself from experiencing that trauma again and, in effect, denied himself any opportunity to allow himself to be happy again. As he began to meet other characters that attached themselves to him, between Rickert and Erica spending months waiting worried for his return, and even the slimmest hope to rescuing Casca began to seed itself into the story, I could only see Guts as a fool pursuing a grim and hopeless task rather than appreciating everything that he had managed to hold onto.

The same attributes that made Guts so compelling in the opening chapters were revealed as his true enemy. Griffith had committed an unforgivable act but Guts’ journey for revenge was one of self-inflicted pain and fear. The romanticism was gone.

Farnese’s inclusion in the Conviction arc was a revelation. Among the many brilliant aspects of her character, I identified with her simply for how she acted as a stand-in for myself as the reader: Plagued by self-doubt and fear, desperate to maintain her own stoic and uncompromising image, and resentful of her place in the world. She sees Guts’ fearlessness in the face of cosmic horror and believes she might be able to learn his confidence.

But in following Guts, Farnese instead finds a teacher in Casca. In taking care of her, Farnese develops a connection and is able to experience genuine sympathy that develops into a sense of responsibility. Caring for Casca allows Farnese to develop the courage she was lacking not out of reckless self-abandon but compassion.

I can’t exactly credit Berserk with turning my life around, but I feel that it genuinely helped crystallize within me a sense of growing doubts about my maladjusted high school days. My growing awareness of Guts' undeniable role in his own suffering forced me to admit my own role in mine and created a determination to take action to fix it rather than pretending enough stoicism might actually result in some sort of solution.

I visited the Berserk subreddit from time to time and always enjoyed the group's penchant for referring to all the members of the board as “fellow strugglers,” owing both to Skull Knight’s label for Guts and their own tongue-in-cheek humor at waiting through extended hiatuses. Only in retrospect did it feel truly fitting to me. Trying to avoid the pitfalls of Guts’ path is a constant struggle. Today I’m blessed with many good friends but still feel primal pangs of fear holding me back nearly every time I meet someone, the idea of telling others how much they mean to me or even sharing my thoughts and feelings about something I care about deeply as if each action will expose me to attack.

It’s taken time to pull myself away from the behaviors that were so deeply ingrained and it’s a journey where I’m not sure the work will ever be truly done, but witnessing Guts’ own slow progress has been a constant source of reassurance. My sense of admiration for Miura’s epic tale of a man allowing himself to let go after suffering such devastating circumstances brought my own humble problems and their way out into focus.

Over the years I, and many others, have been forced to come to terms with the fact that Berserk would likely never finish. The pattern of long, unexplained hiatuses and the solemn recognition that any of them could be the last is a familiar one. The double-edged sword of manga largely being works created by a single individual is that there is rarely anyone in a position to pick up the torch when the creator calls it quits. Takehiko Inoue’s Vagabond, Ai Yazawa’s Nana, and likely Yoshihiro Togashi’s Hunter X Hunter all frozen in indefinite hiatus, the publishers respectfully holding the door open should the creators ever decide to return, leaving it in a liminal space with no sense of conclusion for the fans except what we can make for ourselves.

The reason for Miura’s hiatuses was unclear. Fans liked to joke that he would take long breaks to play The Idolmaster, but Miura was also infamous for taking “breaks” spent minutely illustrating panels to his exacting artistic standard, creating a tumultuous release schedule during the wars featuring thousands of tiny soldiers all dressed in period-appropriate armor. If his health was becoming an issue, it’s uncommon that news would be shared with fans for most authors, much less one as private as Miura.

Even without delays, the story Miura was building just seemed to be getting too big. The scale continued to grow, his narrative ambition swelling even faster after 20 years of publication, the depth and breadth of his universe constantly expanding. The fan-dubbed “Millennium Falcon Arc” was massive, changing the landscape of Berserk from a low fantasy plagued by roaming demons to a high fantasy where godlike beings of sanity-defying size battled for control of the world. How could Guts even meet Griffith again? What might Casca want to do when her sanity returned? What are the origins of the Skull Knight? And would he do battle with the God Hand? There was too much left to happen and Miura’s art only grew more and more elaborate. It would take decades to resolve all this.

But it didn’t need to. I imagine we’ll never get a precise picture of the final years of Miura’s life leading up to his tragic passing. In the final chapters he released, it felt as if he had directed the story to some conclusion. The unfinished Fantasia arc finds Guts and his newfound band finding a way to finally restore Casca’s sanity and — although there is still unmistakably a boundary separating them — both seem resolute in finding a way to mend their shared wounds together.

One of the final chapters features Guts drinking around the campfire with the two other men of his group, Serpico and Roderick, as he entrusts the recovery of Casca to Schierke and Farnese. It's a scene that, in the original Band of the Hawk, would have found Guts brooding as his fellows engage in bluster. The tone of this conversation, however, is completely different. The three commiserate over how much has changed and the strength each has found in the companionship of the others. After everything that has happened, Guts declares that he is grateful.

The suicidal dedication to his quest for vengeance and dispassionate pragmatism that defined Guts in the earliest chapters is gone. Although they first appeared to be a source of strength as the Black Swordsman, he has learned that they rose from the fear of losing his friends again, from letting others close enough to harm him, and from having no other purpose without others. Whether or not Guts and Griffith were to ever meet again, Guts has rediscovered the strength to no longer carry his burdens alone.

All that has happened is all there will ever be. We too must be grateful.

Peter Fobian is an Associate Manager of Social Video at Crunchyroll, writer for Anime Academy and Anime in America, and an editor at Anime Feminist. You can follow him on Twitter @PeterFobian.

By: Peter Fobian

#Anime #News #Latest in Anime News by Crunchyroll!

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personalityarchive · 4 years

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Mike Morton 7w6

[[28 August 2020

Originally written as a comment thread on PDB]]

I will admit that I did a double take seeing the consensus vote on Mike’s enneatype. I had thought it rather plain to see that he is a base type 7, but apparently that is not the case. Perhaps his career as a performer is what caused the mistype, but it’s still strange to imagine a type 3 Mike. (I also got a bit of a chuckle out of seeing Mike voted as chaotic good when he’s clearly a chaotic neutral character. More on that in its own thread.)

As a character with a full set of deduction targets, several costumes, and accessories, there is an abundance of information on Mike’s character that I feel is vital in discerning his true enneatype. From his deductions alone, it’s quite obvious that he cares less about personal image or professional success than he does about trying new things and having a good time. Especially the parts of the deduction tree written from Mike’s first person perspective, it’s obvious that image and career is a secondary consideration, tied more to the 7’s desire to be entertaining than from the 3’s desire to maintain a “good image”.

Mike’s second deduction target, entitled “The Secret of Juggling”, has this description line: “Throwing isn't just an interesting skill. It's what makes a juggler successful.” Now, if this was all it had to say about him, I would agree, a 3 interpretation wouldn’t be far-fetched at all. However, the deduction conclusion is what is truly significant here, as it is in fact a diary entry from Mike himself. The deduction tagline could be interpreted as a general statement on Mike’s career, or even as an opinion from Bernard himself. Meanwhile, the conclusion has this to say:

“Diary 1: Bernard said that the size and shape of the bag, as well as the type of filling, are critical. He refused my request to fill the bag with stones, stating that it was ‘hazardous’.”

We can see here that Mike is less interested in appealing to the expectations of others, and indeed, in maintaining a polished image, than Bernard is. What Mike is interested in is in fact trying out new things, even dangerous ones — his phrasing of Bernard’s response to his proposal shows that what he finds frustrating is feeling limited in his options. Mike doesn’t seem too convinced that his idea should have been rejected, and was less concerned with the practicality of it than he was in simply exploring the possibility. This is clearly far more indicative of a 7 than of a 3.

Now, based on what Bernard told Mike — namely, that he identified certain factors as “critical” to the bags used in juggling — we can infer that it is Bernard who is concerned about keeping up appearances, or doing things the “right way” (suggesting perhaps a base 1 or 3 for him). From this, we can further conclude that the tagline of this deduction target is indeed a reflection of Bernard’s thoughts rather than Mike’s.

This flows into the next deduction, “Artistic Acts”, with the description: “Creativity is what ensures that the stage performances continue to improve.” Again, this sounds like a statement from Bernard’s perspective, and perhaps offers us some insight into why Bernard treated Mike with the kind of leniency that permitted Mike’s later experimentation with acid and nitre. Since Bernard is the one in charge of the circus, he is the one concerned with constantly improving the show; because Mike’s creativity allows him to come up with new ideas (and gives him the natural charisma that propelled him into the position of audience favorite), Bernard is willing to let Mike get away with quite a bit.

Meanwhile, the conclusion for Artistic Acts gives us a summary for one of Mike’s own writings: “Notebook: The properties of Nitre and some ‘Test Records’ were recorded in detail.” The implication here is that Mike was not very concerned with how his experiments would directly benefit his performances; in fact, the notebook’s contents give a sense of unease, communicating a message in direct opposition to the deduction target summary. Not only is nitre entirely unnecessary in improving his performance as an acrobat, but Mike’s behavior seems rather secretive in nature. So, the purpose of this deduction target is to show a disconnect between the way Bernard perceived Mike and the activities that Mike was actually engaging in. Bernard saw Mike as an invaluable member of the Hullabaloo Circus, and assumed that the experiments and ideas Mike explored all went into augmenting said performances. Of course, by advancing along the deduction tree, it becomes increasingly clear that Mike’s area of interest had little to do with his professional success.

Taking a step back and analyzing the deduction targets for Mike from a more holistic standpoint, a certain pattern emerges. We can see that the first 5 deduction targets are separated from the last 5 in tone and perspective.

1) “Family: He's like a father; an ideal one.”

2) “The Secret of Juggling: Throwing isn't just an interesting skill. It's what makes a juggler successful.”

3) “Artistic Acts: Creativity is what ensures that the stage performances continue to improve.”

4) “A New Face: The circus is where people come and go. We always welcome new faces, and obviously, the beautiful ones.”

5) “ ‘Darling’: How people call each other often reflects the degree to which the relationship has developed.”

6) “Downcast: Watching a sad face can sometimes bring us some dark pleasure.”

7) “Carnival: Carnivals usually mean chaos, and chaos means opportunity.”

8) “The End: It's all over.”

9) “Encore: Audiences often say this hoping that the performer will continue performing on the stage.”

10) “Reappearance: Call their names and make them return to the stage once again.”

Laying them out side-by-side, it’s clear that the first five have summary lines that focus more on outward appearances, professional achievement, and success — all values of the 3. Key words can be picked out from each to support this conclusion: “ideal” from Family; “successful” from The Secret of Juggling; “improve” from Artistic Acts; “beautiful” from A New Face; “reflects” from “Darling”.

Meanwhile, the second half contain sentiments that are far more self-driven, or self-referential, yet less self-aware. Rather than seeking to appear a particular way in the eyes of others, there is an endogenously-generated drive based on the assessment of the appearances of those around the speaker. This way of approaching the self and others maps to the 7’s desire to forget the self through constant absorption in the external world. For the 7, there is a lack of consideration regarding professional success — real or perceived — and a greater emphasis on living in the moment. Plans for the future all funnel into goals that may not be practical or even fully fleshed-out, since stopping to examine their own thoughts and feelings can frighten the 7.

On top of this, the deduction targets undergo an overall shift in speaking style; while the first half of the deduction targets can be a bit longer, even bordering on long-winded, the second half are far more succinct but, again, less self-reflective. This displays the 7’s style of interacting with the world more than the 3, where focus can be more scattered in the search for instant gratification, although the analytical aspects of the mind center are still present.

What we see in the second set of deduction targets is the perspective of a more active, impatient person than the previous deduction summaries. There’s only one that contains a sentence with more than a single clause, and even then it’s to quickly connect two different concepts without having to go through the trouble of further explication. While indicative of a nimble mind, this cleverness manifests as an underlying impatience. Overall, the tendency in these deduction summaries is towards a more singularly outward-focused attention, with a desire to engage with the world without having to pause for self-reflection.

This pattern in turn suggests a split in the speaker for the first set of deduction target taglines versus the second set. While deductions one through four reflect Bernard’s perspective, six through ten are Mike’s. As for the fifth deduction, that’s the bridge; it’s where the speaker switches from one to the other, segueing into Mike being the deduction’s “voice” for both the summary and conclusion of each. Even more interesting, in fact, is the particular way the fifth deduction target implies an asymmetry in the perspective of the two speakers; the summary is a reflection of both Bernard and Mike’s understanding of the other, though the angle is skewed significantly when moving between the two.

While Bernard and Mike are simultaneously experiencing a shift in their relationship to one another, the directions of perceived development are not only incongruent, they’re fundamentally incompatible. The title and speaking style of this deduction further underline this imbalance; while the tone and pacing of the summary reads as Bernard’s voice, the conclusion and the name “darling” are clearly from Mike’s perspective.

The deduction conclusion is as follows: “Diary 2: I love Nitre! As long as it's mixed with water, even a hot summer's day can become refreshing! Bernard's reaction was hilarious, and he even called me ‘Dear Mr. Mike Morton’! Oh, Bernard, I want to hear it again. Next time, I'll make sure to put my cold hands down your collar.”

This casual and playful writing style is juxtaposed against the matter-of-fact — almost distant — statement on the nature of relationships in the summary, creating further dissonance within the deduction. It is implied, then, that Bernard’s opinion of his relationship to Mike has developed from one of paternal care (see the information given by the first deduction) to one of a more professional nature; Bernard is Mike’s boss, not his caretaker. Meanwhile, Mike has developed what appears to be homoerotic feelings towards Bernard, seeing the nickname “Dear Mr. Mike Morton” as a term of endearment rather than one of separation.

Referring back to the second deduction target, the subtle shift in Mike’s understanding of his and Bernard’s roles in their relationship can be further explored. While the contents of Diary 1 suggest that Mike does still see Bernard as a superior (one that he will listen to, if a bit begrudgingly), Diary 2 shows a significantly more excited response to what can be inferred to be reprimand from Bernard. Mike, it seems, has come to view Bernard and himself as interacting on equal terms, and thus, as eligible for developing a relationship outside the bounds of their previous connection. Similarly, Bernard no longer sees the power dynamic of their relationship as being defined by “guardian” and “child”; however, contrary to Mike’s interpretation, Bernard still very much sees himself as being the superior. In a sense, elevation from “child” to “employee” does put Mike on more equal footing with Bernard, but what Mike has failed to pick up on is the paradoxical increase in distance in their relationship, even as he is elevated to the status of “fellow adult”.

In these differing sets of expectations, we can see a clear conflict between a 7’s approach to relationships and that of a 1 (or a 3 with a strong connection to 1). While Bernard is concerned with the way the relationship is “supposed” to develop (e.g. the way a boss is supposed to treat an employee), the 7 is concerned with exploring possibilities and having fun. Further, the 7 is interested in relationships that are constantly changing, as a way of staving off boredom and maintaining investment in the other person. For many 7’s, the only way to preserve dedication to a single “other” is to NOT preserve some aspect of it. In other words, if he is to be limited in the individuals available for him to form attachments to, he must seek variety in the way the attachment functions.

Bernard seems to be interested in treating Mike as a proper adult now, one who has responsibilities and ought to know the proper way of behaving. His reaction to Mike’s experimentation with explosives is one of frustration, calling him “Dear Mr. Mike Morton” as a combination middle-naming of a misbehaving child, and a more professional way of addressing another adult. So, it can be said that Bernard appears to be straddling the line between criticism for a subordinate’s “improper” behavior, and a lingering fondness for his charge.

Mike, on the other hand, seems to have simply derived great amusement from the situation, whether or not he picked up on the remaining fondness Bernard held. His excited proclamation of love for nitre and his plans to put his cold hands down Bernard’s collar read solidly as a 7’s epicurean desire for pleasure and sensual enjoyment, rather than from any influence from type 3. In fact, it’s questionable if Mike was even consciously aware that Bernard was not as amused as he by the entire affair; indeed, his spin on being scolded is exactly the sort of reaction expected of the positive outlook of the 7.

Additionally, as opposed to the 3’s efforts to maintain a good image in the eyes of others, the 7 tries to hold onto a self-image of being okay through rationalization and positive reframing. As long as they don’t have to acknowledge negativity, they can feel comfortable and happy. At the same time, the 7’s rationalization goes towards thinking of what lies ahead, escaping from the limited present to a future with boundless possibility. What we can see Mike doing in his diary entry is just that: he chooses to see Bernard’s scolding as an expression of endearment, and has already skipped forward to thinking about fun or interesting plans for “next time”. Nowhere in this diary deduction is there even a whiff of the 3’s desire to appeal to the expectations of others, or appear competent and professional.

Following this split perspective, the deduction summaries fall squarely into the realm of Mike’s internal dialogue. Deduction six, Downcast, leads with the following: “Watching a sad face can sometimes bring us some dark pleasure.” When compared to some of the earlier deductions, the contrast is jarring. While the present or implied “others” were previously referenced in terms of interaction or as a source of expectations, here they exist solely as a source of entertainment. There is an absence of people-pleasing or even the sentiment that others are tools to be used; this falls far more in line with the 7’s desire to be entertained or to be entertaining, rather than the 3’s understanding of the give and take of unspoken social contracts.

More than that, the conclusion of deduction six gives us another glimpse into the shifting dynamic between Mike and Bernard:

“Diary 3: Bernard sent his regards to my beloved little ones. He thought the wounds on Joker's face looked more like ‘corrosions’. His suspicions really hurt me! Of course, I did lose a bottle of strong acid. Maybe I'll have to get another bottle before Bernard finds out about this ‘mismanagement’.”

While I admit to being unsure who Mike is referring to as his “beloved little ones”, the rest of this diary entry is fairly straightforward. Again, we see Mike’s bubbly and enthusiastic character, brushing off what are clearly well-founded misgivings from Bernard. Like with the scolding he received in the second deduction target, Mike — in a very characteristically 7ish way — responds with a playful attitude: “His suspicions really hurt me!” is expressed in a manner completely foreign to the 3, especially one who is experiencing a threat to their image in the eyes of someone they feel close to.

While it may be true that Mike is wounded by Bernard’s ability to suspect him of such a crime, he covers it up with humor, rather than going to the 3’s tactic of trying to prove his integrity or good character. Rather than indicating a wounded ego, Mike shows an avoidance of the negative; he distracts from a situation that could be emotionally difficult by covering it up with a joke, then quickly moving onto something else.

Now, Mike does engage in willful deceit (planning to cover up anything that may further implicate him), the ego fixation of the 3. However, the tone he takes is still one of measured amusement; his cheeky admission of incriminating evidence paired with his word choice “mismanagement” indicates an almost facetious attitude towards Bernard’s accusation, and more broadly, his concern with professionalism and image. After all, “mismanagement” is a term likely employed by Bernard in the past, as previous deduction targets indicate that he is a man who takes his work seriously. By placing this word in quotation marks, Mike expresses two things: first, that he is using someone else’s word; and second, that he himself does not hold the same values.

The following deduction, Carnival, starts with: “Carnivals usually mean chaos, and chaos means opportunity.” Again, there is a clear expression of the 7’s unstructured energy, always looking for the next exciting thing, chasing that high. While a 3 takes a more structured approach to reaching their goals and seizing opportunities, it is the 7 who sees chaos itself as being opportunity. In chaos, anything is possible, and the 7 finds this stimulating, even considering it to be an ideal situation.

Of course, when figuring out one’s enneagram, it is also important to consider the lines of connection. If the core type is uncertain, figuring out just one line can be enough to create a compelling case for one enneatype over another. The final deduction targets and the rumor about Mike, therefore, offer some vital pieces of the puzzle.

Deduction 8, “The End: It's all over.” Short, sweet, to the point, but overall somewhat disappointing. There’s not enough substance to really determine much more about Mike than we already know. But, when including the slightly lengthier conclusion, necessary context is provided. The conclusion follows thusly:

“Newspaper Clipping: The carnival killer remains a mystery. The public feels that the local police did not do a good job and has called for further investigations.”

Despite not being directly from Mike’s own diary or journal, this is still following his perspective; the framing of this information is key in our understanding of its significance. Clearly, this conclusion functions to tell the audience what sort of tragedy occurred at the circus, but also to include Mike as being a member of the public who holds this belief. This hints at the start of a 7’s disintegration into 1, where the focus goes from what is “fun” to what is “right” and “wrong”, edging into the unhealthy territory of becoming critical and punitive.

When faced with the death of his circus family, Mike, in an attempt to distract himself from the painful reality, jumps into action, hoping to escape the fears nipping at his heels. After suffering such a devastating loss, he wastes no time with mourning; he immediately goes to enacting a plan to deal with the perpetrator of the crime. We see in his next deduction, Encore, the following: “Diary 4: I scoured the city's mortuary and found everyone except the strange new couple. They were scheduled for the grand finale and couldn't sneak out.”

We see immediately another massive tone shift in the speaker, though we know that rather than crossing over from one character to another, it is Mike who is undergoing the switch in tone. In stark contrast to the chipper, playful mood of his earlier entries, this one is very matter-of-fact, very controlled. The 1’s desire to be objective and principled has overshadowed the 7’s energetic distractibility. From the rumor on his page, we know that: “Mike Morton is the most popular guy in the traveling circus ‘Hullabaloo’. After surviving the disaster, Mike Morton's only goal is to find the real killer who destroyed his home."

This solidifies the interpretation of Mike disintegrating into a 1. As a 7, his natural instinct when faced with the threat of loss is to reach for more, trying to gather close that which he feels is important to his survival and comfort. Unfortunately, this option has been denied him completely; he cannot have “more” of “nothing”, which is precisely what he has now that his entire way of life, his home, his family, has been destroyed. Faced with this harsh reality, Mike has dedicated himself to the single-minded goal of hunting down the one who dared to steal everything from him. The 7’s impatience is magnified by the 1’s resentment and anger, leading to his overpowering pursuit of a quite 1ish crusade against the wrongdoings of others.

This understanding of the text is only further supported by alternate translations of the original text, which provide additional information and insight into both the tragedy itself, and Mike’s perspective:

1) “Blonde curls, a lively spirit and clear blue eyes forever full of joy, Mike Morton was the most popular guy in Hullabaloo, the travelling circus. Hullabaloo was Mike's entire world, a world where slaughter should never have existed. Having survived from the tragedy, Mike would stop at nothing until he finds the one responsible for shattering his world.”

2) “Now desperate and having lost the only things that mattered in his life, Mike's only goal in life is to find the true murderer of those he cherished.”

In all three translations, we see the overwhelming sense of loss, devastation and panic driving him over the edge. Having found the bodies of his comrades, and having discovered what in his mind is the suspicious departure of the circus’ newest members, the last hopes of employing his instinctive response (read: avoidance) are dashed. All at once, Mike is forced to contend with problems and pain he is unaccustomed to coping with. He dips immediately into the unhealthy emotions of the 1, the 1’s feeling of being the only one who is Right and Good; he alone can know the Truth.

This reading is supplemented by the correspondence we have from Mike to a man by the name of Arthur Russell. Thanks to being included as content for both Mike and Murro’s character days, we have not one but two samples of his writing post-Hullabaloo disaster. Following on the heels of the Encore deduction target, Mike’s drastic tonal shift while writing stands in stark contrast to his earlier, livelier musings. Mike’s birthday letter is as follows:

“Dear Mr. Arthur Russell,

The investigation report you've sent last time was of great assistance to me. In regard to the animal tamer Natalie, also known as Margaretha Zelle, I wish to acquire further information on her upbringing as well as her life before the circus. Starting next week, I will be out of town for a while, and your salary will be paid in the same payment method per usual. There is no need to send in your report this time. I will pick them up at your residence.

I look forward to your reply.

Yours Truly,

Mike Morton”

We can see that he has adopted a very formal voice, adhering to proper etiquette and expressing his thoughts in an impersonal, emotionally distant way. Without knowing whose signature adorns this letter, one could easily be convinced that this was penned by Bernard. In fact, my first time reading this letter caused me a moment of confusion; surely it was a mistake, a particularly egregious error similar to the mistranslation of Priestess’ name. After all, how could Mike have been the one to write in such a clipped, formal style? Yet, here is Murro’s birthday letter:

“Dear Mr. Russell,

Due to unforeseen circumstances, your mission objective has been "eliminated" prior to the engagement of your employee.

Therefore, I regret to inform you that the remaining payment is beyond my obligation, as stated in our agreement. After all, no one could possibly uncover a fully-intact cranial remains within that pile of ashes.

I wish you well.

Your loyal customer,

Mike Morton”

There is no denying it, Mike did in fact send these letters. His playful, somewhat childish persona is just that: an act. Underneath it, he is incredibly capable and self-sufficient, and the letters seem to place a great deal of emphasis on the matter of “should” or “shouldn’t”, whether something “ought to be” or not. He must do the right thing, in the right way; he expects others to do the same. To the reader, there is a feeling that beneath the carefully controlled surface lies a mass of ugly emotions. There is anger. There is resentment. There is a gradual movement towards a breaking point. It is precisely this which led people to initially believe that Mike himself could have been the circus killer. The details are obscure, the content sinister, the controlled tone reading as hiding something — some dark secret. Murro’s birthday letter seems to imply that Mike has hired a hitman to “eliminate” somebody — likely Murro — but an incident (perhaps even one of his own making) has prematurely killed that person off.

What these letters show us is the 1’s methodical approach; they bear a striking similarity to Mike’s early deduction summaries, as though Mike were subconsciously attempting to borrow from Bernard’s more structured, 1ish mannerisms. With a professionalism and formality that is unassailable in its dignity, but with the base 7’s falsely cheerful tone and the 6 wing’s suspicious nature, Mike sends letters to this “Arthur Russell” character.

Why wing 6 rather than wing 8? Especially when given his apparent embrace of violent means? Well, despite his vengeful rage, he does display the 6 wing’s avoidance of conflict, when possible; as far back as the second deduction target, this is made clear. Mike’s reaction to Bernard denying his request was not to lash out, or argue; he simply moped about it later, when he was alone. Then, when Bernard suspected Mike of disfiguring Joker’s face, Mike’s response was again one of disappointment, not aggression.

The mere fact that Mike would say that Bernard’s accusations “really hurt” falls in direct opposition to the 8’s unwillingness to display weakness of any kind. Even in jest, exposing one’s own emotional vulnerability is not something a 7 with a strong 8 wing would be comfortable doing. On the other hand, the 6 wing is far likelier to allow this; one defense mechanism of the 6, after all, is to appear vulnerable in an attempt to elicit protective feelings from an authority figure. Further evidence is supplied by Mike’s Deduction Star 2020 quotes.

Quote: "Don't think I'll trust you so easily, you cute little thing."

Here, Mike is speaking with the playfulness of his base, 7, while communicating a 6ish difficulty in trusting others. Especially when directed at someone (or something?) “little” and “cute”, this suspicion really does play to the 6’s anxiety and doubt. Where an 8 may feel powerful and confident in the presence of something that appears defenseless, a 6 will be wary; it can’t possibly be so simple, right? Surely it’s a trap?

A 7 with an 8 wing would be more likely to find this mixture of traits endearing, perhaps even themself feeling some twinge of protectiveness. The 8, in general, tends to champion the underdog, desiring to defend that which is innocent or tender. Besides which, the 7w8 is far more blunt and forceful; if there is doubt of a person’s trustworthiness, the problem will be dealt with head-on. It is the 7w6 who will communicate a lack of trust in the lighthearted manner used in the quote; after all, the 6 wing doesn’t want to escalate the situation unless it becomes absolutely necessary.

What of this Deduction Star quote: "I won't let go of the person that destroyed Hullabaloo’.”? Does this not embody the 8’s ego fixation, vengeance? Well yes, but actually no. It’s easy to mistake his actions as being driven by this, as both the 7 and the 8 share an assertive Hornevian type. However, the 8 experiences threats as a challenge, a call to battle; the 8 will make their presence known, and the subject of their wrath will be aware that they have a target painted on their back. By contrast, the 7’s aggression is more of an entitlement, and need not manifest itself overtly all of the time. The 6 wing is what allows the 7 to readily employ the dishonest, underhanded scheming that Mike happily does.

8’s “holy idea” is truth, meaning a life-long search for truth and justice. Mike does not show any interest in such a thing until after the slaughter. His 7’s harmonic pattern of optimistic outlook is twisted into the 1’s focus of attention on what’s imperfect and must be made better. His active nature is turned toward a need to do the “right thing” in the “right way”, with the 1’s ego fixation of resentment driving his actions. But what is it that separates the 8’s vengeance from the 1’s resentment, and how does Mike display one over the other?

The 8’s need for justice calls for the righting of all wrongs, notably towards those they feel protective of, while the 1’s resentment stems from needing to do the “good work” that others won’t notice, won’t care about, or won’t make a “strong enough effort” to do. Not only did Mike not feel protective of his fellow Hullabaloo performers, but we see from the newspaper clipping that “insufficient effort” on the part of law enforcement played a significant role in Mike’s outlook. His search for the “truth” behind the killings, then, is the 1ish excuse for his own actions. His goal is “noble”, therefore, his actions are “right” or “necessary”. The final deduction, “Reappearance”, further solidifies this view.

Summary: “Call their names and make them return to the stage once again.”

Conclusion: “Invitation: Enclosed is a photo of a dark-haired woman with a name on the back - Natalie.”

We find out what he was sent that brought him to Oletus: the knowledge that Natalie is at the manor. Remember, now, that he has been investigating Natalie under the suspicion that she was involved; he had no real evidence. Still, he insists that he is after the “truth”. This falls in line with the 1’s strong sense of purpose, coupled with the need to justify their actions to themselves (and sometimes others as well). He has convinced himself that he is following logic and perhaps objective truth, when in reality, he is allowing his own judgements and unsubstantiated convictions to guide his actions.

Driving this point home is one of his dislikes being listed as “violent and rude people”. Yet, somehow, Mike seemingly hired a hitman, and may have had some involvement in Murro’s death. This is the hypocrisy of the unhealthy 1: it is evil and bad when others do it, but the 1 is exempt, since they are acting for a good cause. (On the other hand, a stronger influence from the 8 would allow for the admittance of double standards, but with justification along the lines of “law of the jungle” or “the strong devour the weak”.)

Considering all of this, Mike’s childish persona seems to be a product of a 7 base with a 6 wing; his desire to enact retribution upon the circus killer comes from the 7’s disintegration to 1, not from an 8 wing. Following the tragedy at Hullabaloo, Mike undergoes a transformation: his spirited, ludic nature turns condemnatory, moralistic, and ultimately, vindictive.

#long post #character analysis #identity v #mike morton #idv acrobat #enneagram #enneatype #ennea 7 #7w6 #idv bernard #idv murro #wildling #idv wildling #the full writeup was 15 pages long #so this is just the section about the enneagram #but without the appended skins information #which will be added in a reblog #plus the chaotic neutral essay #and the tldr

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pizzahorse · 5 years

Text

Better To Have Loved

Title: Better To Have Loved

Fandom: Tangled: The Series

Description: Rapunzel and Cassandra have a much needed heart to heart after the events caused by the Wand of Forgetting.

[Read on AO3]

"Do you think if you had found me in the tower instead of Eugene, I would have fallen in love with you?"

Cassandra had been keeping first watch again. She heard everyone go off to bed, and assumed Rapunzel had joined them, until she appeared next to her. Her legs were curled up to her chest, and the princess was uncharacteristically silent. Cassandra theorized Rapunzel probably had a nightmare shortly after falling asleep, and just wanted some company until she grew tired again. They'd frequently gone through a similar routine at the castle, before they set off to follow the Black Rocks. The quietness normally suited Cassandra, but with Rapunzel around, it felt a little weird. Her question several minutes later did not make things any less weird.

"Anything is possible, Raps," she replied, trying to appear nonchalant despite the fact that she had wished more times than she could count that she had been the one to rescue Rapunzel.

"So you do think we could have-"

"Yeah, maybe. I don't know," This really wasn't a discussion she wanted to have, especially not after she had gotten a glimpse of an alternate reality where her secret dream came true.

"Do you think it's too late for us to?"

"What?"

"Fall in love."

Cassandra whipped around, heart fluttering in her chest as she tried to process what she had just heard. She must have fallen asleep while on watch. This was all a dream. Just another fantasy her subconscious had conjured. Wake up, wake up, wake up! her brain yelled, as her gaze settled on the princess. Her chin was nestled into her knees as she stared out at the forest. She looked gorgeous in the moonlight. She looked gorgeous in the sunlight, too. Cassandra shook her head, trying to clear it of delusional thoughts. Rapunzel was always curious about the world around her, and this was probably just another passing fancy that she simply wanted to explore.

"What about Eugene?" The reminder of Rapunzel's current romantic and nearly betrothed partner helped steady Cassandra's nerves and bring her back down to Earth.

Rapunzel stretched out her legs, letting them dangle towards the ground. Her hands fidgeted in her lap for a moment, before her fingers moved to trace patterns in the smooth rock where they were both perched. "Ever since you used the Wand of Forgetting on me, everything's been really confusing. Eugene was the first person I can ever remember meeting, besides Moth- Gothel. But now I have memories of you being the first person I ever met. Experiencing the world for the first time, not with Eugene, but with you.

"Everything was so frightening. Seeing a world outside my tower for the first time. But you were there, and your smile was so warm and comforting, I didn't feel like I had to be afraid. Even though I had no idea where I was or what danger lay ahead, I knew you would take care of and protect me. You made it not so scary," Rapunzel offered up one of her not-so-rare smiles, thinking of the alternate memories of her first taste of freedom.

"I know you aren't normally very affectionate, but I distinctly remember you letting me lean up against you by the campfire, without protest. And I felt the same feelings I first felt with Eugene coming to the surface every time I looked at you. I thought about how nice it was to talk to and bond with another person. You looked so beautiful under the starlight, right before I figured out you were taking me the wrong way."

"Raps, I am far from beautiful," Cassandra smiled wanly, "But I appreciate the sentiment. I'm sure anyone looks good when you've been cooped up with Gothel all your life," the small hint of positive emotion left as her face fell. "I'm still so sorry I cast that spell on you. You didn't deserve to relive all that fear and uncertainty again. I try so hard to protect you, and I was the one who put you in danger. I put this entire mission in jeopardy, because I let my emotions get the best of me," she growled as she balled her good hand into a fist, still beating herself up over her mistake.

"Would it be bad if I said I think I'm glad it happened?"

"What? Why?"

"Because it helped me realize I've always thought you were beautiful, Cass," the princess ignored her friend's previous denial, "but I just thought it was in the way one girl can appreciate another girl who is attractive. Since the memory incident, I've been wondering... If you had found me first, why couldn't it have been you I fell in love with? Random chance brought Eugene to the tower, and it could have just as easily led you there. How would my life- our lives- be different?

"At first, I thought the feeling would go away. I know I'm not going to forget what happened, but it isn't reality. It's how things could have happened, not the way they did happen. But they... did happen, in some way. I was there and you were there. You're always there for me, Cass.

"Even though you didn't find me in the tower, you did find me in the castle. You found me in your own way. You were my first best friend. Every time I look into my future, I see you right by my side. I can't imagine going a day without seeing you, without spending time with you. I don't just want you by my side, I want you by my side. Close to me, like-" Rapunzel blew a puff of air at some stray hair, knocking it out of her eyes. It seemed to be an excuse not to finish her previous train of thought.

Cassandra felt dizzy. Rapunzel was typically very upfront about her feelings, and though Cass was getting most of the gist, the princess was being unusually dodgy about what she was trying to say. Normally honest, never-wanting-to-keep-a-secret Rapunzel would spout exactly what she was thinking, often without prompting. This whole being cryptic and analytical thing was new.

And it was confusing for Cassandra too, because it wasn't like she had never thought about the princess in… more intimate ways. No one could guess that behind her cool and collected exterior, her interior was soft and mushy for one golden-haired lady. Not that Cassandra ever thought she'd have a chance to express those feelings. Rapunzel was very happy with Eugene, and someday they'd be married and have children and Cassandra would fade out of the picture. Probably go and make her own life. Hopefully get over her feelings and find some other woman to settle down with. Heartache was a normal and necessary part of life, and Cassandra had accepted long ago that her heart would always ache for Rapunzel, but never find respite.

"That's when I realized maybe the feeling isn't going away because it's always been here," Rapunzel's voice cut through Cassandra's inner turmoil. "Maybe it just took me awhile to understand it. Maybe getting Eugene out of my head and my life for a minute opened me up to new possibilities. Possibilities I had never considered."

"So you've been thinking a lot?" was all Cassandra could muster. As if it wasn't obvious by the volume of words Rapunzel had just spilled out. She really couldn't think of anything better to say. This, whatever this was, was really happening. Rapunzel was, more or less, confessing her feelings for Cassandra, romantic feelings, in the most roundabout way possible. If her confession was genuine, where did that leave Eugene? Cassandra certainly wasn't his biggest fan, which was obvious to everyone, but she would never hope for any permanent damage- physical or emotional- to befall him.

Rapunzel nodded, glancing up to see her friend staring down at her. Even when Cass tried to remain stoic, she could always catch a glimpse of concern behind those hazel eyes whenever she looked at her. If Rapunzel thought about it, Cassandra didn't look at anyone else in the same way. She had previously chalked it up to Cass being her best friend, but now...

"You were the first real friend I made in Corona, and you've been by my side almost as long as Eugene has. You've helped me on this journey just as much, if not more. You helped me adjust to royal life, you were there to answer all my questions and show me around and teach me all there was to know about the world. You helped me over the last several months to stop believing in the lies Gothel told me all my life.

"You didn't have to do any of that. You weren't even required to join me in following the Black Rocks, but you did. I am so grateful to have you here, and I don't think I've properly told you how much it means to have you with me. How much it means to me that you're in my life. You always have my back and I always want to have yours.

"I'm really glad to hear you say that, Raps," Cassandra turned, offering the princess a smile. "I was starting to think-"

No. No. This was all wrong. Cassandra was not a feelings person. Actually, she did have a lot of feelings, but those feelings stayed locked up inside and never saw the light of day. Especially not her feelings for the long lost princess of Corona, Rapunzel. She had a job to do, a duty to her kingdom and her country. She came on this journey to protect the princess, because protecting her meant protecting Corona's future. She was a soldier on a mission, nothing more. She just had to keep telling herself that until she believed it.

"Starting to think what?" Rapunzel prodded.

Cassandra recalled the mess she'd made the last time she'd told Rapunzel to forget about something. The super recent last time that was currently the topic of their conversation. She knew all too well Raps wasn't one to let things go. If she didn't talk now, it'd be non-stop nagging until she did. And Cassandra certainly didn't want another accident happening on account of her hiding things from the princess. Also, she couldn't say no to Raps' inquisitive puppy-dog eyes.

"I was starting to think you only see me as a servant."

"What? Cass, that's not true! Is this- Did Eugene say something? I know you two argue but if he told you that, that's crossing a line!"

Cassandra hesitated. Rapunzel had made her stance clear about a certain guide who had helped them through the Forest of No Return and the Great Tree. Their friendship, if there was anything left of it, was already on rocky ground after this latest incident. Speaking ill of someone Raps trusted could cause more irreparable damage. But what did she have to lose?

"Adira said something. At the Great Tree. And after you started listening to her and you started ignoring me, I thought maybe I'd made our friendship out to be more than it actually was. I am your lady-in-waiting. I am here to serve you and obey your commands. She just put me in my place. I tried to prove her wrong, to prove I meant something to you and that you trusted me over some stranger. But you proved me wrong instead. You trusted Adira, you put yourself at risk, you didn't let me protect you. I just wanted-" Cassandra bit her lip to keep it from quivering, pushing down the small spark of emotion that was threatening to show itself, "It doesn't matter what I want. This journey is about you and your destiny and I need to be better at listening to orders," she briefly considered getting up right then and there and going for a walk, but a hand grasping at the crook of her elbow made her pause.

"I know you don't like Adira, and she's not very fond of you either. But out here, we need all the help we can get, and as few enemies as possible," Rapunzel trailed her hand down to grab Cassandra's tightly, "Cass, all the decisions I've made out here have been hard. All of your lives are in MY hands. You are all out here, because of ME. Away from your homes and your families, and there's a chance none of us make it back. If anything happens to you, any of you, but especially you, I am responsible. I decided to take this crazy journey and I didn't ask anyone else to come with me, but you did. I don't know how I would have made it this far without you, but it's still terrifying to think that at any moment, something bad could happen. That's why I used the decay spell. Everyone was in danger and I was panicking and I did what I thought was the right thing to do. We are so close to reaching the Dark Kingdom, and I can't let anything happen to anyone. Even if something happens to me, as long as you all make it home safe, that's all that matters."

She was crying now, ever unabashed at wearing her heart on her sleeve. One hand scrubbed furiously at her eyes while the other squeezed Cass' hand ever tighter. Cassandra glanced back at the camp to make sure no one else had woken up, then pulled Rapunzel in close to her chest. Her friend- her princess- needed her now. The same way she'd needed her at the castle when she was overwhelmed with her duties as royalty or when she had nightmares.

"Raps, I know this is stressful for all of us. But we're going to get through it. We're ALL going home. I'll make sure of it," she held Rapunzel a little closer for emphasis.

"Cass," Rapunzel sniffled, once she had calmed herself enough to talk again, "I need you to know how much you mean to me. I need you to know if you found me before Eugene did, I would have fallen in love with you first. I need you to know I'm in love with you now. It just took a little push for me to realize it. You mean so much more to me than I could possibly say with words, and you know I can say a lot of words. You always have. I'm just stupid."

"You're not stupid!" It baffled Cassandra how such a glamourous ray of sunshine could get such a dark cloud over her head. "I'm stupid! I'm the one who cast the forgetting spell and started all this in the first place. I'm the one who fell in love with you. I go above and beyond my duties to you, not because I'm your servant, but because I want to share as many moments as I can with you. Someday, you'll marry Eugene, because you love him, and there won't be room for me in your life anymore."

"Cass, that's not-"

"I want you to be happy. I really do. But watching the two of you have the life I wish could have with you, would be torture. Love is torture, Raps. It's this parasitic thing that worms its way into your brain and then it consumes your heart and makes all your thoughts and hopes and dreams revolve around one person. Even if they're a person you can never have. Stupid, right?"

"No! Not stupid!" Rapunzel pushed away, hands splayed against Cassandra's armor. "Cass, your feelings matter-"

"You just think they matter because of the spell," Cassandra pulled Rapunzel's hands away from her chest and nested them in her friend's lap before letting them go. "You're. In love. With Eugene. Coming between you two wouldn't be right of me."

Rapunzel scooted across the rock, putting distance between them. "What if you're not the one that comes between Eugene and me? What if I'm the one?"

"Raps, what are you saying?"

"Everybody says he loves me, and I think he does care about me. Sometimes I just wonder if he mostly loves the idea of me. If he loves the idea of becoming a prince and someday the king and never having to worry about food or shelter again. He had a hard life. Then he rescued me, and now he has the undying gratitude of all of Corona. And he deserves all of that! But he can have most of it without being married to me.

"Eugene has his own life, his own friends. He had a life before he met me and he still lives it. Which is, not to say you didn't or don't have a life, you're just… always there, with me. You're always the one that offers to come with me when I want to explore or look for supplies or if we get trapped somewhere. You're always willing to risk your life for me. Eugene has been so indispensable on our journey, and I know he'd do the same if I asked, but with you, I don't ever have to ask.

"And that's… he loves me in his own way and that's okay. It doesn't mean he loves me any less because he lets me have my independence and take care of myself. But sometimes, he gives me a little too much freedom. Sometimes it feels like we're so distant, we're drifting apart."

"So you've fallen out of love a little," Cassandra had managed to beat back any affection she had been feeling, and was now focused on helping Rapunzel with an apparent relationship problem. "You just need to reignite the spark. I'm sure this journey has been difficult for you two without having any privacy. But when you get home, everything can go back to normal."

"That's just it. What if I don't want the spark to reignite? What if I want to start a new spark?"

"Rapsl, that's crazy. You and Eugene-"

"Cass, I am not crazy. I've been reflecting a lot on what has happened in my life. Where I've been. Where I'm going. Who I'm taking with me. Not just to the Dark Kingdom, but to my future. My future where I'm queen and I'm responsible for all of Corona and I have someone by my side ruling with me. Who that could be.

"I thought you always wanted to be close by because we're friends and we care about each other. Of course we care about each other. But I started to wonder if things had turned out differently, with the tower and everything, if maybe I would care about you… more. In the way I cared- care- about Eugene.

"Part of me feels like maybe I just got caught up in everything. Having my freedom, meeting another person, discovering the world. Maybe I rushed into things. I keep telling Eugene I'm not ready to marry him, and I tell myself I will be someday. But in all honesty, I can never see myself being ready. I like what I have with Eugene, but maybe I'd like it more if the things I share with him were shared with someone else instead.

"Another part of me feels like I owe him. He rescued me, he saved me, and he reunited me with my family. I should be- I am- grateful for that. I make him happy, and he makes me happy, but I'm worried the ways we make each other happy are no longer the same. I don't want to hurt him after everything he's done for me, for my family, for Corona. I don't know what to do, Cass. I don't think it's as simple as falling out of love temporarily. What if I'm falling out of love with him forever?"

"This is really bothering you, huh?"

Rapunzel nodded, fresh liquid gathering at the corners of her eyes.

Cassandra sighed heavily. She really hadn't expected to be playing comforter or therapist or whatever this was. But here she was, and here Rapunzel was, and here they both were. Spilling their guts out into the night air. Moreso Raps than herself. So maybe it was time to divulge a long-kept secret.

"I have to be honest, I can't say I haven't thought about it. How things could have been if I'd gotten to you first. I've thought about it for a long time, actually. Way before I accidentally cast a spell on you, and way before we even started this journey. I've thought about what it would have been like if I had found you instead of Eugene. I got a glimpse of that, and it was so nice to be so close to you. You were so vulnerable and I wanted nothing more than to protect you. Sometimes it feels like you don't need me at all. But if I'd been there, in the beginning, maybe you'd always feel like you needed me. The way you feel like you need Eugene. And I could always be by your side, protecting you."

"That does sound nice."

The moonlight made it hard to tell, but Cassandra could swear she saw Rapunzel blushing. Time to backpedal. "Yeah, well, we all think about things that will never be reality, Raps. It's not a big deal," she shrugged.

"Cass, your hopes and dreams are a big deal to me! Especially if they involve me. I think about you all the time, but I guess I've been so wrapped up in getting to know my mom and dad and the coronation and figuring out this whole princess thing that I've never considered you might see me as more than a friend. Or that I might feel the same way. Everything is so complicated and overwhelming and on the days when I feel like I'm going to lose my mind, just having you there helps me take a step back and breath. It's like everything feels like it's going to be okay, as long as you're there.

"Eugene is adventurous and I like adventure, but I can't always predict what he's going to do. He proposed to me in front of my parents, and you, and all of the royals in town for the coronation. Maybe he thought I would be ready, and I'm sure a lot of other girls would have enjoyed such a public proposal, but that's not me. And even though it's only been a few months, he almost proposed again during our travels. Maybe he thought I'd say yes if it wasn't in front of as many people. Maybe he's ready to get married and I'm not. He is older and he's had time to get his fill of the world, while my life is just beginning. He's ready to settle down. He is content to lounge in the castle most of the time while I'd rather be out beyond the walls of Corona. I want him to be able to have that relaxed, worry free life. I want him to be happy."

"You deserve to be happy too, Raps. I know you love Eugene and I want you to be happy. I wouldn't wish to take that happiness away from you. No matter what I want, this is your life. And I can't change- I mean, there are a lot of mythical artifacts in the world and I'm sure if I really wanted to I could change who found you first but- that wouldn't be right. Everything played out like it did for a reason. You're happy with Eugene, and taking that away because of my own selfish feelings… Even if you would never know, I would. I'd know what I stole from you. You love him, and he loves you, and I am learning to be okay with that. I don't like him, but I lov- like you. At the end of the day, I just want what's best for you. Even if I'm not what's best for you."

"But you are what's best for me, Cass. I care for you, just as much as I do for Eugene. Maybe more. And that's what I'm worried about. I'm- I'm not worried about caring for you, I'm worried about not caring for Eugene… anymore."

"Oh," Rapunzel's resistance was finally starting to settle in, "You're really serious about this. You're like, sure, sure?"

Rapunzel grasped the fabric of her dress in her hands, playing with it nervously. "I know this all feels like it's happening because of the spell, but it's not. I'm not sure, but I'm almost sure, but I-"

"Don't want to compromise the mission."

"Right," Rapunzel exhaled slowly, like a weight had been lifted off of her chest and she was finally able to breath again.

"I know he can be immature at times. But, he's old enough that he should be able to respect the decisions you make about your life. You said it yourself, he has his own life to live. At least talk with him. You leaving him is like a fantasy come true for me, but that doesn't mean I want there to be any bad blood between him or any of your friends. And I don't want you to make the wrong decision because you're feeling pressured. This is about your life, and your happiness. No one else's."

"But deciding to maybe, possibly, break- not be together anymore, affects him too."

"Staying together is clearly affecting you."

"I know, I know. But I had to be honest with you about what I'm feeling. I've always been able to confide in you and trust you. I want to keep doing that forever. Ha, I'm probably starting to sound like a broken record I just… I want you to know that what I feel for you is real. And I'm glad you opened up about your feelings, too. I know that's difficult for you, and I know it means you trust me more than I could ever comprehend. Please don't say anything to Eugene. I'm still trying to work things out and process them. But more importantly, I don't want to mess anything up before we reach the Dark Kingdom."

"You know this mission is my top priority. I'm not about to do anything to compromise it."

"Thank you. I knew I could trust you."

Rapunzel looked towards the camp and yawned, sleep calling her back to her bed. Traveling was draining enough, and now on top of it she was dealing with emotional exhaustion. The fate of Corona rested on her shoulders, but the burden was easier to bear knowing she wasn't alone. She moved to stand, but just before she did, she leaned over to plant a tender kiss against Cassandra's cheek.

"Thank you for listening."

Cassandra's hand brushed her face where her friend's lips had just been. She smiled sheepishly, ducking her head to try to hide her blush. There were few things in life that could get her flustered, and affection from Rapunzel topped the list.

"Any time, Raps. I could listen to you all day."

The golden-haired princess smiled and nodded, tucking back a stray hair behind her ear. She rocked on the balls of her feet, heart still heavy with words left unsaid, but body too tired to allow her to express them tonight. "Well, goodnight," she lingered a moment longer, taking in the vision of the other woman under the light of the night sky.

"Night, Raps."

It wasn't long before Cassandra found herself alone again. She let out a heavy sigh, almost like she'd been holding her breath the whole time. She was still trying to convince herself that the entire conversation she'd just had wasn't some kind of dream. Rapunzel- Rapunzel- was in love with her! Rapunzel wanted her. Rapunzel chose her! Sure, there were probably more ideal times for her to reveal such information, but at least she wasn't like Cassandra and was able to openly discuss her feelings.

She touched the space on her cheek again where Rapunzel had made contact. Yep, this felt real. No dreams, no weird spells, no wild imaginings. Raps had really beat her to the punch with her confession. Not that Cassandra had ever had any intention of revealing her feelings about the princess. But with her friend so unsure and confused, it felt unfair for her to be the only one sharing.

Well, I certainly won't have trouble keeping watch tonight, Cass thought. Her mind and her heart were both racing, head filled with visions of a potential future with Rapunzel. Those thoughts came often, especially on these lonely watches, but tonight, they were more vivid than ever. There was still no guarantee things would work out, and Cassandra knew better than to get her hopes up. Still, she couldn't stop herself from thinking,

Wow. Dreams do come true.

Support this and other stories! https://ko-fi.com/gemology

#Tangled #Tangled the Series #Cassunzel #Cassandra #Rapunzel #Cassandra X Rapunzel #Punzie #Fanfiction #Better To Have Loved

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mindthump · 4 years

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6 Technologies That Will Reshape Marketing In The Next Decade https://ift.tt/2SS8OeD

Augmented reality and the Internet of Things are among the defining forces going forward.

December 31, 2019 9 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

When the internet was beginning to be commercially adopted in the early 1990s, few predicted how it would completely overhaul the marketing industry over the next two decades. Ingenious search engines that navigate a plethora of budding websites, along with the first online display and search ads, marked a drastic turn of marketing dynamics as individuals's active search behavior allowed for much more relevant and efficient ad delivery.

The emergence of social media represented an equally revolutionary milestone, whereby comprehensive data on user demographics, preferences and interests offered marketers unprecedented targeting options. The innovation of advertising is the foundation on which world-changing tech giants such as Google or Facebook are built upon. It has allowed them to claim a huge chunk of all ad spending and generate revenues surpassing the total GDPs of entire countries.

In a similar fashion, companies that manage to formulate the most scalable marketing ecosystems around the next wave of society-altering technology, coupling commercial with consumption intent more effectively, will experience astronomic growth and most likely become corporate superpowers -- or further cement their dominance.

Early adopters who leverage those novel tools and unsaturated channels will gain significant competitive advantages, and new companies and agencies will emerge that build out their own tools or business models to complement the most impactful future marketing technologies.

Related: How to Market Technology in the Digital Era

Big Data, AI and Quantum Computing

Why are these three buzzwords seemingly just lumped together? Because their development is strongly interdependent, and combined they’ll underpin most major technology advancements. The synergy of AI and big data is already deeply rooted in the core marketing activities of both large and small digital enterprises: Recommendation engines account for a staggering 35 percent of Amazon’s total sales, multi-channel sentiment analysis informs the brand strategies of companies like Samsung, and every minor e-commerce retailer can already harness the effectiveness of chatbots.

AI thrives on mountains of information to fuel its continuous learning mechanisms, and once leveraged by the mind-bending processing speeds of quantum computers to tap ever-increasing sources of big data, its capacity to deliver unique insights, automate a multitude of tasks and even take over various decision-making aspects from humans will surge exponentially.

The likes of IBM, D-Wave and Microsoft are all investing heavily into quantum computing, and Google has already modelled quantum neural networks in a race to build the first stable and commercially viable quantum computer, a force of (artificial) nature that would enable the conception of a sheer endless number of potential AI-powered applications, some which we haven’t even imagined yet.

It’s safe to assume that the first commercial applications to emerge from the current research will serve the core functions of the companies at the forefront of their development. As a result, all pillars of online marketing -- SEO, digital advertising, price matching etc. -- will be subject to massive disruptions as they become more efficient and autonomous.

It also means many jobs will become obsolete. Various custom services provided by agencies, especially in the realm of data analytics, will inevitably become commoditized through respective AI tools. The cannibalization will even spill over to the more creative marketing segments, given algorithms that autonomously generate personalized assets, copies and content exist already.

The technological leap driven by the development of the holy technological trinity of big data, AI and quantum computing will open a treasure chest of unprecedented opportunities for online marketers in the form of novel applications to reach and monetize customers as well as an enhancement of the current digital marketing ecosystems. Equally, those who fail to adapt will find themselves overhauled by the progress.

Internet of Things

As of now, our smartphones, laptops and some commercial machines and sensors comprise the majority of the current gateways to the internet. However, this is rapidly changing as the physical and digital realms increasingly (and somewhat frighteningly) converge. An estimated 41.6 billion Internet of Things (IoT) devices will generating 79.4 zettabytes of data by 2025; a truly astronomical figure brimming with potential.

Beacon technology, 5G, sophisticated sensors, self-driving cars, smart wearables and smart homes all just mark the beginning of a world where almost anything powered by electricity may be connected to each other and with the all-encompassing web, opening up deep-reaching tracking and engagement opportunities for marketers.

CTRs of almost 100 percent will no longer be an impossibility, whereby companies and agencies shall strive for hyper relevance and aim to eliminate the interruptive commercial based on demographic and behavioral data from a limited few devices. Fridges, vending machines, shop displays, even plates; every ”thing” may serve as a touchpoint to accompany the consumer along a much richer, attributable and predictable journey in the quest to serve the right sales message at the right time.

To fully realize the potential, marketers will face the monumental technical challenge of implementing holistic, multi-device platforms that can assimilate and manage all these incredibly varied and intertwined gadgets and their associated data. Undoubtedly, this will give birth to many new entrants that take it upon themselves to deliver solutions for a new, hyperconnected cosmos.

Voice and Virtual Assistants

A promising child of AI harnesses one of the most ancient forms of human interaction: voice. The likes of Alexa, Siri or Google Assistant are slowly morphing into a ubiquitous and most seamless UI that will change the way we find information, consume media and buy things.

With 61 million people owning a digital assistant in the US alone and already 20 percent of all mobile searches being conducted orally, the value of including voice search in future marketing strategies is clear. Add to that moves like Google’s plans to integrate voice query data into the Search Console and roll out Google Actions, software that allows Google Assistant to interact with a site’s content, and the consideration of virtual assistants will no longer be advisable but instead become a must.

Businesses are already reaping the rewards of proper voice search optimization and attain significant boosts to their click-through and conversion rates, attributable to greater relevance and less competition on voice search result pages. Measures such as ensuring localized businesses are listed in the assistant-favored data-aggregators, or optimizing for semantics- -- with a greater focus on conversational interrogative phrases -- are already in the standard repertoire of forward-thinking SEO tools and agencies.

However, the new frontier revealed by virtual assistants lies beyond search. Cross-app integration and deeper access to big data are the first steps to transform them from mere search enhancers into predictors of users’s needs capable of autonomously serving highly targeted ads and carry out transactions on their behalf. In that light, it becomes self-evident that the proliferating number of IoT devices comprise the perfect ecosystem for virtual assistants to link up with. Alexa’s integration into newer BMW cars and into various Bosch home appliances pose examples that hint towards a future where VAs serve as a point of convergence for multi-device data on user’s behaviors and preferences and as the agent to deliver hyper-relevant ads at the right moment.

Right now, marketers should recognize the importance of voice search in SEO. In the future, once IoT becomes omnipresent, a whole new world opens up in which marketers can devise entirely new ways to reach consumers, leveraging stronger emotional connections enabled through voice and tapping into gargantuan reserves of big data.

Related: 4 Major Marketing Trends for 2020 and Beyond

Augmented Reality

A scene from the Netflix series Altered Carbon presents what an augmented/mixed-reality urban landscape could look like: The main character walks along the alleys of a futuristic city, and through high-tech contact lenses sees a myriad of flashy holograms promoting mostly dubious amenities. In 2019, overlaying augmented reality through such lenses still belongs to the realm of sci-fi movies (for now). Instead, smartphones are still the marketer’s AR gateway to the consumer, and an increasingly effective one at that.

Various e-commerce niches in particular may see significant boosts in sales as the online shoppers’s hesitation is alleviated by being able to more vividly visualize the products with their smartphone from the comforts of their homes. For example, IKEA’s Place app, developed with Apple’s ARKit, allows thousands of pieces of furniture to be virtually previewed anywhere in a roomm, causing the likelihood of buying to increase 11-fold. It’s quite possible that, for some industries, offering visualizations to "try out" products pre-sale will transition from being a mere value-adding gimmick to a standard consumer expectation.

Similarly, AR is set to play a huge role in enhancing the physical shopping experience of retail stores. More engaging shop displays, like Zara’s virtual catwalk that replaced mannequins in one of its stores, allow brands to make stronger emotional connections through interaction. Walmart enhanced its mobile app with an AR scanner, allowing the product-conscious customer to easily retrieve an item’s reviews or additional information.

Most interesting for online marketing agencies, however, is the dawn of AR ads on social-media platforms. Earlier this year, Snap Inc. opened up programmatic auctions for AR Lenses to the masses, and by rolling out the complementary Lens Studio, agencies possess an additional format to offer to clients that’s more compelling than video. Facebook, too, tested AR ads in its Newsfeeds and Messenger, resulting in companies like WakeMeUp, who let customers try on new shades of makeup, to boast a sales uplift of 27.6 percent.

Furthermore, as tech behemoths open up the technology for audiences to engage with the real world through AR on a daily basis, it won’t be long for shops and amenities in proximity to promote themselves on those overlaid screens, effectively positioned between physical billboards or signs and Google Maps entries.

Considering AR interaction is especially

appealing to younger demographics

and that the number of mobile AR devices

could exceed 2.5 billion by 2023

, it’s no wonder that the next decade and beyond will see AR ads shift from the domain of early adopters to the mainstream.

#IFTTT #Feedly #business #good to know

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tangledcassandra · 5 years

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Better To Have Loved

Title: Better To Have Loved

Description: Rapunzel and Cassandra have a much needed heart to heart after the events caused by the Wand of Forgetting.

[Read on AO3]

"Do you think if you had found me in the tower instead of Eugene, I would have fallen in love with you?"

"Anything is possible, Raps," she replied, trying to appear nonchalant despite the fact that she had wished more times than she could count that she had been the one to rescue Rapunzel.

"So you do think we could have-"

"Yeah, maybe. I don't know," This really wasn't a discussion she wanted to have, especially not after she had gotten a glimpse of an alternate reality where her secret dream came true.

"Do you think it's too late for us to?"

"What?"

"Fall in love."

"What about Eugene?" The reminder of Rapunzel's current romantic and nearly betrothed partner helped steady Cassandra's nerves and bring her back down to Earth.

"Would it be bad if I said I think I'm glad it happened?"

"What? Why?"

"I'm really glad to hear you say that, Raps," Cassandra turned, offering the princess a smile. "I was starting to think-"

"Starting to think what?" Rapunzel prodded.

"I was starting to think you only see me as a servant."

"What? Cass, that's not true! Is this- Did Eugene say something? I know you two argue but if he told you that, that's crossing a line!"

"Raps, I know this is stressful for all of us. But we're going to get through it. We're ALL going home. I'll make sure of it," she held Rapunzel a little closer for emphasis.

"Cass, that's not-"

"No! Not stupid!" Rapunzel pushed away, hands splayed against Cassandra's armor. "Cass, your feelings matter-"

Rapunzel scooted across the rock, putting distance between them. "What if you're not the one that comes between Eugene and me? What if I'm the one?"

"Raps, what are you saying?"

"That's just it. What if I don't want the spark to reignite? What if I want to start a new spark?"

"Rapsl, that's crazy. You and Eugene-"

"This is really bothering you, huh?"

Rapunzel nodded, fresh liquid gathering at the corners of her eyes.

"That does sound nice."

"Oh," Rapunzel's resistance was finally starting to settle in, "You're really serious about this. You're like, sure, sure?"

"Don't want to compromise the mission."

"Right," Rapunzel exhaled slowly, like a weight had been lifted off of her chest and she was finally able to breath again.

"But deciding to maybe, possibly, break- not be together anymore, affects him too."

"Staying together is clearly affecting you."

"You know this mission is my top priority. I'm not about to do anything to compromise it."

"Thank you. I knew I could trust you."

"Thank you for listening."

"Any time, Raps. I could listen to you all day."

"Night, Raps."

Wow. Dreams do come true.

Support this and other stories! https://ko-fi.com/gemology

#Tangled the Series #Cassunzel #Rapunzel #Cassandra #Tangled #Fanfiction #home brew

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art-now-argentina · 5 years

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Par#1, Daniel Romano

For PAIR Project. Microphisics of affection Rodrigo Alonso, Art curator. Two adults walk along in an unknown place. The sun projects their shadows in front of them telling us that it is around midday. The casual walkers, a man and a woman, are wearing shorts and shirts over short-sleeved T-shirts, sandals and identical white caps. With their backs straight and arms hanging by their sides, they walk on very white legs making exactly the same movement: one straight, moving forward, supporting the weight of the body, while the other leaves the ground slowly to take a new step. The eyes looking straight ahead, lost, compensate for the empty space in front, highlighting the singularity of their synchronized walk. This photograph is part of a set that Daniel Romano has taken over the last few years, and that today make up a collection in the book Par (Pair). As in the famous piece by Diane Arbus, Identical Twins, Roselle, New Jersey, 1967, the name of the book draws attention to similarities, leaving differences aside. It invites us to notice similar details, simultaneous actions, and momentary concurrent positions of a group of people who go through life without being conscious of their mutual synchronicity. It highlights some kind of alignment of the universe, no less meaningful because of its instant nature. He takes from the complex, chaotic and vast world we inhabit a collection of isolated situations that lead us to see reality from a singular point of view. The series of photos is in fact the product of an observation exercise. Beyond the spontaneity of the acts and postures he captures, it is clear that they are repetitive from certain positions, angles and framings. Here, the view of the photographer builds a scene guided by the personal interest of finding regularity in the scheme of things; a task that reminds us of the tireless attempt by Jorge Luis Borges’ characters to discover the code of existence. The purpose of Romano is, perhaps, more modest, but no less persistent. It is not just about finding coincidences or showing people at inconsequential moments when they make the same movement, but above all, about pointing out a bond, real or possible. In his vision, people share gestures, postures, attitudes and habits. From the complicated world that we live in, the artist picks out people in communion, who, consciously or unconsciously, interact closely in the simplicity of daily activities in social and communal rituals; when they walk, rest, play sport or work. Otherwise, calling them pairs wouldn´t be justified. In every case, it is about a real search. Although the images look spontaneous, actually, they are often the result of long waits and surreptitious pursuits. Sometimes, the artist follows possible subjects for a period of time until he finds the pose that unites them or that demonstrates a whole process which reveals the effectiveness of the bond. Other times, fleeting moments are captured in the shots. No matter what the situation, his presence is crucial. In some photos, a look or a glance gives him away, but most of the time the use of a telephoto lens prevents exposure, hiding the presence of the photographer and his technical device. The shots are selected where the focus is on visual similarities. That is why, even though all the images were obtained with a direct shot and without any subsequent manipulation, the author’s vision lying behind each one of the captured images cannot be mistaken. The photographs that are part of Pair were taken in different places around the world; clothing, landscapes, streets, buildings and other features evidence these multiple scenarios. There, the artist is necessarily a stranger, a tourist. We could say that the series has, at some point, a foreigner’s view that observes with inquisitive eyes. Before a strange reality, gestures, poses and habits are subject to analysis and investigation and everyday life becomes a field of rarities and discoveries. However, today the foreigner’s, or tourist’s, view is co-opted by the leisure and entertainment industries. There is nothing spontaneous about the endlessly repetitive photographs of the Statue of Liberty or the Eiffel Tower that visitors to New York or Paris take and treasure as if they were theirs. World capitals have ceased to be strange places that spark off curiosity. On the contrary, they are very well-known places which only require superficial photographic verification to register a visit, almost always fleeting, to spaces that are so common they can be said to have lost their very meaning. From this perspective, we cannot say that Daniel Romano’s images share something with the view of the contemporary tourist. We could think that his work is similar to the activities of those travelling artists who portrayed unknown lands, going with sailors and explorers on their journeys. However, this is not the case either, because, unlike the foreigner that arrives at a certain place without knowing what he will find, Romano arrives at each of his destinations with a precise goal: finding regularities that evidence subtle ways of body language that could be traced beyond the peculiarities of those specific places. His work transcends geographic idiosyncrasies to go deep into some kind of study of global communities, or more precisely, an examination of the components which we could depict as anthropologic. Not so long ago, anthropology dealt almost exclusively with remote, strange and non- western societies. The specification to assure the objectivity of an investigation, and with it the scientific validity of an anthropologist’s work, lay in the fact that this person did not belong to the community under study and did not share their customs, life experiences or values. Being a distant observer was an essential requirement for the exploration of this other culture, which could only be an object of study if it was isolated from its examiner. However, in recent years, some authors have presented a basis for the anthropology of what is close to us. In his book Los no lugares. Espacios del anonimato. Una antropología de la sobremodernidad 1 (Non-Places: Introduction to an Anthropology of Supermodernity), Marc Augé reflects on the subject and supports the possibility of having a distant and analytical vision over the society in which the investigator is immersed. To achieve this, he says, it is not necessary to change the foundations of the discipline, but to rethink how the category of the other culture is built, as “the question of the other is not a subject that anthropology finds once in a while; it is its main intellectual object, the foundations on which the different areas of investigation must be defined.” 2 One of the main problems with this perspective is the impossibility of observing society as a whole. Necessarily, the investigation must begin with small groups, or even individuals, but for Augé this does not constitute a real difficulty, as the features that characterize the group can be found in each member of the community. In any case, it is about having a better understanding of the relationships between individuals and society: “Anthropology is interested in the representation of the individual, not only because it is a social construction, but because any representation of the individual is, at the same time, a representation of the social bonds that are inherent to it [...] society begins with the individual, and that is why the individual can be an object of anthropological study.” 3 Daniel Romano’s work could be placed on this line. His interest in portraying postures, habits and movements that connected people repeat is not a pointless exercise, but a patient investigation which draws attention to shared signs acquired by individuals to the point of becoming so natural, they appear socially established. This is the thesis which underlies this group of photographs and to test it, the artist performs bona fide fieldwork. In his essay “El artista como etnógrafo”4 (The Artist as Ethnographer), Hal Foster highlights the tendency of some contemporary artists to investigate the social and cultural structure; a job that, traditionally, was performed by an anthropologist. For the American theorist in these works, “the artist does something similar to formal reflexivity; he is a self-conscious reader of culture understood as text.”5 Nevertheless, Daniel Romano´s purpose is perhaps not so ambitious and it does not need to be projected onto society as a whole. A portrayal of subjects who have some kind of bond that links them emerges from the images. Even though we do not know with any certainty what that is, we can surmise that it is that very bond which causes the similarities in their behavior. They are possibly relatives, friends, co-workers, couples; people with some sort of relationship that justifies identifying them as pairs. These groups are the target of the artist, and this is where his thesis becomes unique. It is not about detecting the traces of a model of social imposition, or the signs of deeply rooted rituals, but to propose some sort of speculation about emotional relationships; where they stop being sentimental, conscious and close, to go deep into the body, the habits, the movements - everyday life - as insignificant, unconscious and trivial acts, but no less meaningful. These acts, which are also public, translate into a powerful empathy, an essential understanding beyond words, an implied commitment that manifests itself in tiny details, usually unnoticed, but visible to others nevertheless. An important part of Daniel Romano’s work is to invite the observer to deduce those possible bonds. Like him, the audience does not have any information about the people captured in the moment or the process in which their actions become synchronized. We do know, however, that the artist has captured those situations and what we are seeing has been filtered through his view. We also know that there is no manipulation of those images. This moment of truth encourages the observers to make their own inferences and conclusions, to put themselves in the place of the photographer and to be involved in the decoding of connecting signs, using their analytical abilities. However, this moment of truth challenges the notion of photographic representation. The original snapshot freezes a moment in time, it crystallizes a circumstantial configuration of reality in a lasting image, and in doing so extends in time a situation that only lasted an ephemeral moment in front of the camera. This is the moment of the artful device of every technical reproduction in the world: the moment in which the intervention of the device that produces the image represents a manipulation of empirical information and so the creation of a new reality. One may wonder, or perhaps should wonder, what the real duration of the synchronicity the photograph shows as an irrefutable fact was. Did it continue after the moment the photo was taken? Is it the result of genuine unconscious simultaneous actions or the product of a happy coincidence? Up to what point is the artist involved in the construction of that image that doesn’t raise any doubt? Daniel Romano assumes the responsibility of his intervention when he decides to bring together all these pictures. The collection of hundreds of images of people that always seem to be performing similar actions is the height of the artful device. In this act, he shows his true intention, absolutely different from documenting reality in a photographic montage, but rather creating an authentic authorial essay. Actually, Pair gives expression to a vision of interpersonal relationships that goes beyond the choice of a subject, the determination of the framing and the taking of the shots. Its guiding thread is the personal drive of the artist to get closer to an event with which he totally identifies himself after long years of living as part of a couple. In each repeated pose, in each similar expression, there is something of the world, but, above all, there is a big part of him. Photography is the means that allows him to share his ideas with others, a vehicle for reflection and eagerness that exceeds the procedures and techniques of making the image. In his book Hacia una filosofía de la fotografía 6 (Towards a Philosophy of Photography), Vilém Flusser affirms that the photographer is a slave to the device he uses, as he can hardly make decisions over a group of elements standardized by the technology of the machine. Devices impose certain ways of seeing and reproducing reality; they are programmed to create their images according to parameters established by the industry and the prevailing values that dictate the qualities of a “good photograph.” According to his view, the artist who uses a camera and follows the rules of how it works, is doomed to adopt those parameters and cannot have truly authentic freedom of expression. Daniel Romano escapes from that Flusserian affirmation putting his own agenda before the agenda of the device. Even though his photographs use some of the essential technical resources –the framings, the snapshots, the telephoto lens- they project beyond them in respect of their goals and ambitions, and when doing so, they transcend the formal limits of the device. The discursive posture behind the images gives a conceptual coherence and depth to the series, establishing a unity that subsumes, and at the same time strengthens, individual images. This unity, which connects the set of images as a whole, is evident from the first to the last photograph. Sometimes, it appears in visual rhythms, in echoes that invite them to be seen with freshness and intelligence. But, essentially, it appears as a proposition, a search and a desire; a proposition that praises the microphysics of interpersonal bonds, a search for their deep signs and a desire that embodies the endless multiplicity of pairs. NOTES 1. Augé, Marc. Los no lugares. Espacios del anonimato. Una antropología de la sobremodernidad. Barcelona: Gedisa, 1993. 2. Ibidem. 3. Ibidem. 4. Foster, Hal. “El artista como etnógrafo,” in El retorno de lo real. Madrid: Akal, 2001. 5. Ibidem. Highlighted in the original. 6. Flusser, Vilém. Hacia una filosofía de la fotografía. Mexico: Trillas, 1990. Rodrigo Alonso He is a Bachelor of Arts specialized in contemporary art and new technologies. Theorist and researcher in the technological art field, he is a point of reference of the history and present of that production in Latin America. He has published several essays and books on the subject and regularly contributes to newspapers, art magazines and catalogues. As an independent curator, he has set up exhibitions at important Argentine and international institutions. Among his most recent exhibitions we can mention: Sistemas, acciones y procesos, 1965-1975 (Fundación Proa, Buenos Aires, 2011), Situating No Land (Slought Foundation, Philadelphia, 2011),Tales of Resistance and Change (Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt, 2010) and ¡Afuera! Arte en espacios públicos (Córdoba, Argentina, 2010, with Gerardo Mosquera), among many others. In 2011, he was the curator of the Argentine group that participated in the 54° Venice Biennale. He teaches at different universities in Argentina, Latin America and Europe, both for university students and graduates. He also acts as judge and consultant in contests, prizes and international foundations. He lives and works in Buenos Aires.

https://www.saatchiart.com/art/Painting-Par-1/168670/2317892/view

#minimalism #popart #modern #figurative #conceptual #DanielRomano

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capriquariustrology · 5 years

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General Sign Info

I started off my interest in astrology without even really ever knowing the basics of the signs. So, here, I have put together something about all of the signs.

Aries

March 21 - April 19

Element: Fire

Quality: Cardinal

Ruler: Mars

Symbol: Ram

Strengths: Courageous, determined, confident, enthusiastic, optimistic, honest, passionate

Weaknesses: Impatient, moody, short-tempered, impulsive, aggressive

Short description

Aries is one of the most active signs and are highly energetic. Aries lives in the fast lane and is highly competitive, always wanting to be first in everything. They are highly organized and will often be capable at quickly finishing tasks. This need for speed and race to the top can cause them to be impatient and act without thinking and be prone to stress, causing them to project their frustrations onto others. They also have a strong passion to achieve their goals and will utilize teamwork to make it happen.

Taurus

April 20 - May 20

Element: Earth

Quality: Fixed

Ruler: Venus

Symbol: Bull

Strengths: Reliable, patient, practical, devoted, responsible, stable

Weaknesses: Stubborn, possessive, uncompromising

Short description

Taurus is the most reliable sign of the zodiac, as they are very stable and conservative and will stick by their choices. This does, however, cause them to not like sudden changes and make them less likely to compromise. As an Earth sign, however, what is seen as stubbornness is viewed as commitment to a Taurus. Tauruses are also a romantic sign, desiring to be surrounded in love and beauty at all times. Despite being (at times) materialistic, overbearing or conservative, they make great friends, partners and employees/coworkers, as they are grounded, realistic, and will do whatever it takes to finish a project to their standards. They can also be the voice of reason in chaotic/unhealthy situations.

Gemini

May 21 - June 20

Element: Air

Quality: Mutable

Ruler: Mercury

Symbol: Twins

Strengths: Gentle, affectionate, curious, adaptable, quick learners

Weaknesses: Nervous, inconsistent, indecisive

Short description

Geminis are like two people in one. On one hand, they can be very sociable, fun-loving, and communicative, but they can suddenly turn serious, restless and thoughtful without warning. They are very inquisitive, curious and fascinated by the world around them to a point where 24 hours isn’t enough time in the day to really experience everything they want to. This desire to explore makes this sign prone to avoiding routines, as they feel confined by them. Geminis are incredibly creative and excel in writing and art, but their skill and flexibility also make them great athletes. A sun in Gemini tends to feel they are missing their other half and are always seeking new people to talk to.

Cancer

June 21 - July 22

Element: Water

Quality: Cardinal

Ruler: Moon

Symbol: Crab

Strengths: Tenacious, imaginative, loyal, emotional, sympathetic, persuasive

Weaknesses: Moody, pessimistic, suspicious, manipulative, insecure

Short description

Cancers are the most difficult type of person to get to know. They are incredibly sentimental, intuitive, caring, emotional and sensitive. What happens in their home matters greatly to them, which makes Cancers very nurturing parents. They enjoy being surrounded by a loving family in a harmonious home, and it is where they tend to feel most content. Their hearts are guided by emotion and often times they have no control over their emotions, resulting in mood swings. Cancers usually must be handled with care and understanding as they often don’t gain enough coping skills from the outside world as children, but they will give care and understanding in return. Lack of love and patience contributes to these mood swings, but can also cause the person to later in life become manipulative, self-pitying and selfish. Being born in Cancer grants the person loyalty and the ability to empathize with pain and suffering.

Leo

July 23 - August 22

Element: Fire

Quality: Fixed

Ruler: Sun

Symbol: Lion

Strengths: Creative, passionate, generous, warm-hearted, cheerful, humorous

Weaknesses: Arrogant, stubborn, self-centered, lazy, inflexible

Short description

Leos are natural born leaders and like to maintain a “king of the jungle” status. Leos are extremely difficult to resist, and tend to get what they want from life. They tend to be dramatic, self-confident, dominant, attractive, generous and loyal, causing them to have many friends and uniting many groups of people. Their sense of humor helps, as well. They are headstrong in the face of problems, love life and can always find time to laugh and enjoy themselves, all while in search of self-awareness and ego growth. They know what they want and are willing to do what it takes to get there, but sometimes, they will either neglect the needs of others or become heavily vulnerable themselves when their passions for achievement or status grow too strong.

Virgo

August 23 - September 22

Element: Earth

Quality: Mutable

Ruler: Mercury

Symbol: Woman/Goddess

Strengths: Loyal, analytical, kind, hardworking, practical

Weaknesses: Shy, anxious, overly-critical, workaholic

Short description

Virgos are the most careful of the zodiac signs. They are constantly paying attention to the little details and leave nothing to chance, and they often carry a deep sense of humanity. They often close off their hearts from the outer world, causing them to be easily and often mistaken for cold-hearted. In reality, Virgos are very tender and caring. They are able to express emotions, they just tend to reject their feelings as true, valid or relevant, especially when opposed to reason. Give a Virgo a little time and they may begin to open up. Virgos also enjoy organization and can keep defined borders on their goals even in the face of chaos. When the need for organization gets mixed with their attention to small details, Virgos tend to get caught up in small details and become overly-critical in areas others would not care about to ensure every detail is present.

Libra

September 23 - October 22

Element: Air

Quality: Cardinal

Ruler: Venus

Symbol: Scales

Strengths: Cooperative, diplomatic, gracious, fair-minded, social

Weaknesses: Indecisive, unconfrontational, carries grudges, self-pitying

Short description

Libras are peaceful, fair, and constantly on the chase for justice and equality, as those are most important to them are in the cores of their personalities. They are careful with what they say and avoid choosing sides at all costs because they prefer to avoid conflict and are natural born peacekeepers. When presented with ultimatums, they realize they are in the wrong place at the wrong time and may even walk away entirely. Being interested in balance and symmetry, Libras value partnership in which their partner mirrors them. Libras are also great lovers, but are also very fond of expensive materialistic objects.

Scorpio

October 23 - November 21

Element: Water

Quality: Fixed

Ruler: Pluto, Mars

Symbol: Scorpion

Strengths: Resourceful, brave, passionate, stubborn, true friend

Weaknesses: Distrusting, jealous, secretive, violent

Short description

Scorpios are great leaders, thorough in research, determined, decisive, assertive and passionate. They are also great leaders because they are dedicated to what they do. Scorpios don’t express their emotions like water signs and keep a cool-headed and mysterious appearance. Scorpios are very fierce as they know the rules of the universe quite well, and they tend to look older than they are. They also need more time to adapt to human behaviors due to their strong distaste for dishonesty and can usually be suspicious of others. This doesn’t change the bravery of a Scorpio, though, and they usually have a lot of friends.

Sagittarius

November 22 - December 21

Element: Fire

Quality: Mutable

Ruler: Jupiter

Symbol: Archer

Strengths: Generous, idealistic, great sense of humor

Weaknesses: Impatient, promises more than they can deliver, lacks a speech filter

Short description

Sagittariuses are the most adventurous of the signs as they are the biggest travelers, and this is fueled by their curious and energetic personalities. They value freedom and enjoy traveling different philosophies and cultures, and this is made possible by their open-mindedness. Sagittariuses are typically extroverted, optimistic, enthusiastic and love change. They are highly capable of transforming their thoughts and ideas into concrete actions, but this can sometimes get them in trouble as they usually become impatient and tactless when it comes to saying or doing something. They have to be careful when it comes to expressing ideas and do so in a socially acceptable way. However, they are very enthusiastic and have a great sense of curiosity and humor.

Capricorn

December 22 - January 19

Element: Earth

Quality: Cardinal

Ruler: Saturn

Symbol: Sea-goat

Strengths: Responsible, disciplined, self-controlled, has good manners

Weaknesses: Know-it-all, unforgiving, condescending, expects the worst

Short description

Capricorns are masters of self-control and are often very serious and traditional in nature. They make great progress in both their personal and professional lives due to their strong sense of independence and responsibility. They are able to focus on the material world and make the most of it by utilizing their experience and expertise to get to the top. They are highly ambitious to make it to the top almost to a point of being a workaholic by nature. Capricorns can be too stubborn to change perspectives or move from a point in a relationship to another. Sometimes, Capricorns may get so caught up in their beliefs and traditional values that they may try to impose them on others. While being practical and responsible, Capricorns can be cold, distant, unforgiving, stuck in the past and in a fairly constant state of guilt. They often need to learn to forgive and live in the moment to make their lives lighter and more positive.

Aquarius

January 20 - February 2018

Element: Air

Quality: Fixed

Ruler: Uranus, Saturn

Symbol: Water-bearer

Strengths: Progressive, original, independent, humanitarian

Weaknesses: Runs from emotional expression, temperamental, uncompromising, aloof

Short description

Aquarius are highly intellectual deep thinkers and humanitarians, whether they appear shy and quiet or eccentric and energetic. To the Aquarius, the world is full of possibilities and can stand on truly neutral ground without any prejudice toward either side, making them great problem solvers. This view of the world also gives them great insight on what they want to do in the future even as far as 10 years into it. Aquariuses tend to feel good in groups or communities and will strive to be surrounded by others and are able to adapt quickly to their surrounding energy, but also hold a deep need to have some alone time to restore power. Aquariuses are afraid of premature intimacy, so they may come off as cold, insensitive, timid or possibly even aggressive at first as a coping mechanism. Also, their minds need constant mental stimulation to avoid boredom and a lack of motivation, and they will often strive for freedom as much as possible to avoid any feelings of limitation or constraint, as these feelings are a big problem for Aquariuses.

Pisces

February 19 - March 20

Element: Water

Quality: Mutable

Ruler: Neptune, Jupiter

Symbol: Fish

Strengths: Compassionate, artistic, intuitive, gentle, wise, musical

Weaknesses: Fearful, overly-trusting, sad, desires to escape reality, victim/martyr

Short description

Pisces are total humanitarians and are willing to help others with no expectations or hopes to get anything back. As a water sign, Pisces is characterized by its empathy and emotional capacity. Pisces will also find themselves around a wide variety of different people due to their friendliness. They are very forgiving and aren’t judgmental, and are even considered the most tolerant of the signs. They have the best emotional understanding of others, have an intuitive understanding of the life cycle, are very wise, has artistic talent and are able to express musical preferences at a young age. However, at times, Pisces will play the victim or become the martyr for attention.

(source)

#zodiac #zodiac signs #astrology #astrology posts #taurus #gemini #cancer #leo #virgo #libra #scorpio #sagittarius #capricorn #aquarius #pisces #zodiac facts #aries

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cometsweepandleonidsfly · 5 years

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“Game of Thrones used to invite readers into its philosophical conundrums, but it grew stingy over the years and maybe a tad tyrannical: The finale is telling you what the right answers are, whether you believe them or not. According to the show, King Bran is a decent, even proto-democratic outcome—and a way for the Seven Kingdoms to rise up out of the ashes. If we’re in a generous mood, and feeling warmly toward that heartbreaking Drogon scene or Jon’s reunion with Ghost, we can politely agree that it is.

I started to note the developing gap between what Game of Thrones said it was showing us and what viewers themselves saw on screen around Season 4. It started with Jaime and Cersei’s scene by Joffrey’s body, which fans saw as a rape and which the episode’s director insisted was “consensual by the end.” This mismatch between what viewers saw and what showrunners and directors said they were showing us only got worse as the show went on. By the end, as Phil Maciak argues at the Los Angeles Review of Books, those “inside the episode” featurettes became odd little power displays wherein Benioff and Weiss contradicted what they’ve told us in their own show (like Daenerys “forgetting” about the Iron Fleet despite being reminded of it in a previous scene). And because they get the last word, set in what Maciak calls a “documentary frame,” we are supposed to believe their words over our own responses.

There’s a lot of power in deciding what the story is. It’s fitting, then, that the only lasting lesson Game of Thrones offered, in the end, was about storytelling itself—and that the moral viewers derive is at odds with the lesson the show intended. When you use spectacle and sentiment as Band-Aids for story and character development, complicated histories get distorted. The art of persuasion gives way to autocratic assertion, and indeed, we see a number of would-be historians in the finale. Tyrion offers an unconvincing speech in praise of stories that’s clearly an in-universe defense of the show. Sam offers a book called A Song of Ice and Fire so incomplete that it hilariously leaves Tyrion out altogether. Bran is apparently still operating as humanity’s “memory”—whatever that really entails—while reigning as king. The finale’s most useful lesson about how history is built, and what it excludes, might be Brienne’s struggle to complete Jaime’s entry in the Book of Brothers. I enjoyed that long moment when Brienne paused to think about how to narrate Jaime’s final regression in part because her struggle was ours, too. She nails it in five words: “He died protecting his Queen.” Yes, this leaves out a great deal (Brienne is a historian willing to write herself out of it). But she has an excuse: She’s writing something more like a medieval chronicle than a history, and chronological lists of events don’t have to connect one to the other. Causality doesn’t have to be explained. No theory of politics need be attempted. Character hardly needs plumbing. Annals and chronicles have typically been seen as less analytical than “histories,” which more explicitly (and narratively) attempted to connect causes to effects. That’s an oversimplification, but it might be a helpful one. I think most of us mistook Game of Thrones for a “history,” especially in its early days. It seemed to have serious analytical drive and inspired a vast interpretive framework aimed at parsing its experiments with genre, fiction, and political thinking. It might be better, now that all is said and done, to understand the show as a chronicle. As a story, Game of Thrones was a mess. But as a catalog of things that happened in a certain order—first one incident, and then another, and then another—it was, if not satisfying, spectacular. “

#game of thrones #spoilers #eviscerates the storytellers who claim storytelling matters most but both fail at it themselves & become autocratic explainers

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gg-astrology · 6 years

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Black Pink: Park Chaeyoung (Rosé) - Inner Planet Natal Reading

💕Hello! I’m here to talk about our baby Rose today!!! She’s such a sweetheart, I hope you like her as much as I do because she’s so precious and deserves all the love in the world.

For those of you who are interested in reading about the member’s dynamics, I’ll be doing one (1) overview of them all together and four (4) separate member relationship dynamic of each individual members. The first one (1) will be looking at BlackPink as a team. While the four (4) separate ones will be more in-depth and detailed focus on how the each member fit together individually. So to summarize: we’ll get to explore the professional side of the team, and then how individual members benefit from each other (self-develop) as well.

If you have any other suggestions for ‘themes’ or ‘topics’ to touch on, please feel free to send in an ask! 💕

If you’re here for Black Pink astrology, here is the Sun-Moon post! As well as Lisa, Jennie and Jisoo’s Inner Planet Natal Reading! I also have a Masterlist if you’re interested in other groups as well! 💕

💕disclaimer: I’m not claiming to be an expert astrologer nor do I know these people personally. These are my interpretations and how they’re working based on my experiences/studies on them. Everyone has different opinions/studies in astrology, please be mindful of others and all interpretation/experiences is valid to an extent. However, feel free to make your own post or skip if you strongly disagree. There might be inaccuracy and difference in opinions. But the point of this post is to entertain and relate. I’m hoping to help people with similar experiences and get people excited about astrology. Also, since we don’t know most of their birth times, I’m using the standard 12.00pm💕

Roseanne Park/Park Chaeyoung (Rosé)

February 11, 1997 (Auckland, New Zealand)

Aquarius Sun - 3rd Decan (ruled by Venus/Libra)

A goddess amongst us mortals 💕

Aquarius influenced by the planet of love and social relationships often have a dreamier quality to them, it doesn’t make them much less intimidating, but there’s a softness to their eyes that makes you want to get to know them better.

Sentimentalism comes through more easily, the intellectual barrier Aquarius Sun native tends to stick up in order to ‘bounce’ negativity can just as easily be a double edged sword for them.

There’s an innate need for individualism (in fact, Aquarius of this decan tend to exaggerate this even more to ‘stand out somehow’) since they’re more people-oriented (as in, they think about people more).

But with that, they do tend to exhibit more of their emotions, such as moodiness and more complicated feelings as well.

They’re emotionally sensitive to other people’s feelings and well-beings, and are highly ‘aware’ when others are feeling down. They can easily sympathize with others, and often be there for them when they need them to be.

However, when they themselves are feeling down, they can tend to repress it to just their personal barrier. What this means is, they need time to think about their own feelings.

They’re often much more comfortable analyzing their own emotions, debating what they’re feelings and need to step back and just -- think about the validity of feeling a certain way sometimes.

It makes them cautious in letting people in, even though they’re keen to learn more about others/be there for close friends.

There’s an emphasis here for keeping a close group of friends, and perhaps a large pool of acquaintances and people who support/admire them for who they are.

Social relationships really do guide an Aquarius of any decan to a certain extent, but with Aquarius-Libra there’s an actual connection even to those they might not necessarily like as much.

Aquarius-Libra are often highly romantic people. Not in a sense that they’re in love with someone or something very often, but in a sense that they tend to have an idealized view of things sometimes.

Much more in-tune with the concept of those around them and perhaps, seeking perfection in the form of an idealized humanity. It makes it all the more harder to love humans/people around them without finding faults, flaws and critically evaluating them all the time (which is why they’re sometimes moody/more reserved about relationships sometimes).

Rose-tinted (get it?) glasses especially when they find a thing that they love (often inanimate, like an activity) -- there’s a serenity to them that comes with loving something. It can be as simple as -- a self-care routine, a favorite series of books, or even certain types of music.

There’s a sense of inner contentment, but also prideful emotional satisfaction with just things that they enjoy. It becomes their sense of-- finding comfort and grounding in the world around them, their individualism is externalized through those activities (for Rose, it might just be music)

Aquarius Libra natives exudes a charm to others, often physically beautiful and clearly intellectually stimulating (their eyes light up when they engage in conversations they’re interested in) -- you want to impress these people with your mind rather than your wealth, your goals or your emotions.

They often put in effort to they way they come across-- aesthetically, they have an eye for picking out certain objects that would enhance their physical features/attractiveness whether they realize this or not. Self-expression helps with keeping them ‘guarded’, but also drawing people in. Those who aren’t intimidated by them past the first round, and they like it better that way sometimes.

They let their aura speaks for themselves, often times they tend to be the most--quiet out of the bunch. Considering how Aquarius-Gemini or Aquarius-Aquarius engage others in conversations to make up their mind about them, Aquarius-Libra can often just ‘read’/analyze people just from the way they dress/form relationships with others-- and are much more content being observational before they engage with another person (if they’re not too shy to engage with them).

With Libra in their decan, they seek out others who has a liveliness to them. Unlike Aquarius-Gemini who exudes their own personal brightness, Aquarius-Libra likes to find traits in others that in contrast, amplifies their own sense of serenity. (It becomes tied to their sense of self and pride in themselves).

Since they’re much more intune with their emotions and can often feel shy/weighed down by their own thoughts/feelings, people who are naturally exuberant or brings more motions/activities to their daily life draws them out of their shells because they can stop thinking about it. If only for a moment.

It’s necessary to feel accepted in society for the Aquarius-Libra, even if they’re rebellious about certain concepts or ideas within that society.

It’s crucial for them to be themselves, but at the same time feel that they are still loved/accepted. This might lead to a fear of opening themselves up completely in relationships (platonically or otherwise) since they don’t know how it works.

There’s a degree of balance to everything, and the Aquarius-Libra likes to keep this all the time. So sometimes when they feel like they’re genuinely upsetting a balance, it leads them to finding difficulties in being their true selves, or trusting others to accept them as they are.

Besides the emotion-aspect of Aquarius-Libra, it’s also important to note how just they are. Often takes a high road, this is where the idealization comes from. They’re often analytical and deep-thinkers. Usually in forms of concepts ( ‘that wasn’t fair, it was wrong of them to treat you like that’)

They tend to see the best in people, but this comes from a deep-rooted value system. It’s a stance where it’s not necessarily any person’s fault exactly, but socially we’re all groomed/conditioned to behave in a certain way that can be detrimental to us/others around us.

There’s always a better way to do certain stuff. And being morally/socially conscious of it will help us all better in the long run. Engaging in a fight to re-do our behavior should be a main priority for everyone, in order to achieve self care/healthier relationships with each other and therefore-- a better society.

This placement can also make her strive to aim for perfection which fuels into her insecurities, because her sense of self, her self worth and her ego is all tied to becoming this ‘perfect idealized person’ she often analyze/criticize herself compared to other people for it.

Aspects:

Sun (Aquarius) - Opposition- Lilith (Leo)

She doesn’t think she can make it, some self doubt particularly when it comes to her own worth (sense of self) and a little to do with her ability to perform (the public loves her/her artistry)

It might also have a little to do with her unique voice, she finds herself too ‘untraditional’ and feels wary/cautious of the traditional public.

Her shyness/reservation can also be part of this. Since Lilith feels like an inner subconscious fear she may have even though she wants to achieve something from it. It can manifest in forms of insecurities, whether the person realizes this or not.

Although she knows she wants to pursue something in the industry, she wasn’t sure if the society was for her.

She also doubts her own attractiveness/charm, often compares herself to others. Particularly those who seems to be more vibrant, exude more energy or just--- confident in themselves (Leo) or has more artistic promise.

It’s interesting cause Aquarius and Leo are sister signs, so she sees people who craft themselves and still able to ‘be’ themselves as-- something very courageous and great, she aspire to be just as authentic.

Often feels like people can see right through her sometimes. Or through facade/defensive barriers she might’ve put up.

Wants to be ‘enough’ and even though she’s admired for being enough, she still wants to be more. Dissatisfied and often very cautious/wary of people around her even when she doesn’t have to be.

Aries Moon (1st Decan)

Aries Moon in combination to her Aquarius Sun can sometimes makes her overthinking sense of self (Sun) go ‘ah fuck it’ and does things unexpectedly (Moon).

If you think about it in terms of weight, her Aquarius Sun may have more substance and controls all her worries (weighs down her sense of self) that it limits her ego/self-worth. While her emotions are the lightest part of her, and give her motion she needs to instinctively pursue her goals.

It can be sort of -- relieving for Rose to have this Aries Moon. One moment she’s overthinking and weighing herself down (’what if I’m not enough, what if they don’t like me?’) and then the next minute, all her fears are proven wrong when she actually does something about it. (’that was easier than I expected!’)

Constantly amazed and equally baffled by herself. At the same time her heavy Aquarius placement can feel like ‘woah maybe I need to slow down, think about it more’ and her emotions are going ‘no! you’re always overstressing yourself! you won’t know until you do it’ -- causing her even more unnecessary worry (over-analyzes herself- Sun) when she has time to process the things she’s done/stuff she wants to do (Mercury).

It’s not quite-- a push and pull dynamic, since her Aquarius does tend to see results from this Aries Moon. Usually it’s very positive results, but she always worry about the downfall.

Balance, remember? And then this Aries here just goes barging in one direction without playing her cards in a way that might save her later.

She’s worried she might have to do damage control, Aquarius wants control, but Aries is ultimately good for her.

This is a really good example of how Aries moon can benefit someone, since people tend to give a lot of shit about having one.

It really brings more positivity to her life, it brings her prosperity and joy and often fortune, but still the Aquarius is reluctant on accepting it.

It’s mostly to do with credits. Like the Aquarius didn’t feel like it did anything, so it’s reluctant on accepting any credit or enjoying the benefit even though it’s clearly given to them for free (Libra-Decan, remember? has to be Fair.)

Because they feel like they’re not contributing to the success. it wasn’t ‘theirs’, it was the Aries. Even though the Aries goes ‘here, see? this is all for you. We’re a team now.’ If it’s not the Aquarius way (if they don’t have a degree of control over it) then they’re reluctant to accept even the percentage of the success-- it doesn’t feel right. (Prideful/Sense of self is compromised.)

The Aquarius definitely has a right to be worried though, since Aries can tend to do things so fast and decisively that it leaves no room for fore-thought or after-thoughts.

The relatively balanced and steady-footed Aquarius would feel abit ‘oh god, oh god’ around the quick-to-act Aries-- particularly when it comes to their decisions or temper.

Aries moon needs instantaneous gratification, they’re often responsive and reactive-- if they find something funny, they’ll let it be known that it’s funny. If they find something offensive, their face will say it all.

Not one for being dishonest or putting up a front-- if they find you unsavory, the least you will see from them is a distrustful face or completely dismissing you.

Perhaps they may have a harder time withholding their tongue, but they can have tact (to an extent) and they will use the high moral justice Aquarius-Libra has to judge you.

Often feels frustrated being boxed in with routine or every day life, there needs to be some sort of stimulation for them to feel emotionally gratified.

Perhaps a new adventure today, or they’re trying to break into a new habit. Their personal goals can often seek to be motivations, but also hinderance because success doesn’t come fast enough for the Aries Moon.

They want to be something immediately, and sometimes a couple of practice should be enough to achieve that, right?

What would help them is setting up realistic goals that caters to their tolerance/temper. Like, they can have an abundance of will-power, energy and ambition, but what they really should be looking at is breaking it all into mini-goals according to what will give them enough emotional gratification, y know?

A step-by-step approach to reaching mini emotional gratification should help them, and before they lose all patience/tolerance for something (’gosh this is taking so long’)-- they should take breaks in between and let themselves drift to a different goal as well (multi-tasking between goals).

It can be like, being on a treasure hunt. There’s a big goal at the end, but what matters the most to Aries moon is perhaps breaking it off to mini goals or ‘stages’ in order to get to the biggest goal. There should also be ‘side paths’ to keep them entertained, because they will get bored of continuously pursuing the long-trek to the end goal.

Distracting themselves by moderating a reward-system for themselves, instead of trying to push/force all their energy towards biggest goal would help alot.

It just helps with being more thorough, and perhaps with strategizing their energy/temper as well. It’s self-regulating in a way. But the key is tricking themselves into doing it. They’re like-- cats. Lose interest fast but in the moment can get very zoom-y.

Anyways this Aries Moon is definitely helping Rose to a certain extent. It seeks independence, like true independence. It puts her out there in the world and make her be something. It pushes her to work harder and harder, brings passion and instigation into her life.

She’s emotionally tied and in-sync with her inner self, she feels things passionately and can relate to others in the same manner just as well.

She’s often very private, has a personal side to her that she lets people in and is emotionally enriching to be around (like, a cave by the sea shore). She often brings activity to those who might have more stagnant moons (Lisa and Jennie) and she’s often highly defensive of her friends because she is close to them.

Loyalty is very important, especially since she has a hard time letting people in (Aquarius Sun). When she does let them in and let them experience this private side of her, she cares deeply for them.

Aries won’t ever let them feel like she’s not protecting them, in fact she’s often very defensive of her friends. She can get confrontational, but it’s often more emotionally enraged.

Her feelings are richly responsive and passionate/bursting, when she’s hit with sudden news (like her pets dying) she can tend to react without thinking in the sincerest way (absolutely no fronting, and in this case-- ends up crying). It makes her an honest and caring person, someone you really want to take care of and look after.

People think that having an Aries Moon doesn’t make you temperamental, but it does. It goes through emotional fluctuation, and emphasize this even more because of the Libra-Decan in her sun. With an Aries Moon, she can find herself frustrated one moment and then motivational the next.

She tends to externalize this outward- unlike Cancer/Pisces Moon who withdraws into themselves. There’s a sense of being connected to the outside world at all times, and most of the time it’s regulate-able just by doing certain activities/distracting herself.

Aspects:

Moon (Aries) - Sextile - Venus (Aquarius)

Her emotions are often in line with achieving her goals and visions (what she want), because her Aries Moon can often translate whatever she ‘wants’ into what she ‘needs’ -- making her passionately driven towards the things she feels like she ‘needs’ most in her life.

Therefore her Venus often feels satisfied without ever needing to do much externalization itself.

In a way it’s sort of like-- if her Venus plants the seed, she makes it a mantra. And then when her emotions acts up, she goes for it.

It’s subconscious for her since it’s been planted for so long, that the growth process is so quick and fast.

She sees results and her Venus feels satisfied, albeit also baffled by how things came about so fruitfully for her.

With a positive aspect to her Venus, it’s most likely she faces good public opinion of her.

Her instigating, direct and often action-ready attitude makes people really feel like they could rely and depend on her, like everything is going to be alright.

In a way, she doesn’t need to exude optimism, she invites other people to feel optimistic just by her actions alone.

Moon-Venus aspect also makes her appear more soft, and a great listener to others.

People feel like they’re being taken care of, or truly listened to by Rose.

It’s just-- there’s a connection from the outside (Venus) to her inner self (Moon) that’s so wholehearted and true? She often finds herself in company of sympathetic people, or people who might need a little sympathy themselves.

It also gives her that feminine look to her fashion, since she tries to show herself through her fashion.

It makes her have a ‘bad bitch’ kinda vibe but also a ‘big softie’ one as well. Both Aries and Aquarius are kind of like that, they’re big softies even though they seem like a bad bitch.

Moon (Aries) - Opposition - Mars (Libra) (R)

Her emotions are passionate, yet her actions are much more passive. There’s a natural collision here between the signs and the force of the aspect.

Most of the time her, immediate defensive posture is to attack-- before she can rectify or meditate the situation completely.

This causes some inner tension where she often thinks after she reacts ‘ah I really shouldn’t have done that/why did I do that’ and tries to act in an even more peaceful, serene, complacent manner.

To make up for her true self/thoughts (Aries Moon).

Even if she feels dissatisfied/she’s being unfairly judged, she sucks it up just because she feels bad about reacting in the first place.

Most likely, it has to do with upper management or elders. Things that can’t really be logically justified that makes her upset about apologizing at all.

If it was fair, or just-- like her actually wronging someone (with legitimate reasons) she wouldn’t feel bad about apologizing and in fact be whole-hearted about it.

This also leads to feeling like she has a boundary to her, like she needs her space and can get volatile because it’s a conflicting aspect.

People naturally know when to stay away and when to approach her, since it can be clear in the way she snaps or get moody in the situation.

It’s inner restlessness, a frustration that’s externalized. Although there’s nothing bad about it, aligning herself in a more grounded manner might help her feel less ‘judgmental’ about herself and scaring others around her.

Moon (Aries) - Sextile - Jupiter (Aquarius)

Gives her a good impression to people around her, even those who doesn’t know her personally.

She feels serene, and is naturally remembered for her kind-natured and more composed self.

Her Aries is taken in a good light most of the time, although it can tend to alarm others.

She’s remembered for her intellect, and her ability to think on the fly-- and take action as needed.

Her confrontational attitude is assertiveness, not really a vice to her from other people’s perspective.

She’s also remembered to be intelligent, often merciful and giving to the world around her due to Jupiter and Aquarius nature.

Becomes some sort of older figure in the way she gives back to people around her (Jupiter) offers solid advice, and her Aquarius has a soft-light to it making her easy to just-- rely on.

At the same time she can feel like she fits in with people who are younger, or share the same mental age as those who are abit more childish.

She’s a dichotomy of older and younger at the same time. An innocent and pure kind of charm, mixed in with wisdom.

Moon (Aries) - Conjunct - Saturn (Aries)

This part of Rose comes out alot.

She wants to take more of a stable approach, keep her feet on the ground with everything that’s going on.

Despite feeling doubtful, she’d rather live daringly for the things she wants than never tried at all.

She tries to control her actions through her feelings, but it just makes her Aries all the more successful.

She wants to discipline her instinct/control this drive inside of her but finds that she can’t, atleast not to the extent she wants to.

Learning to love her Aries and not fearing it would really benefit her.

But that also means confronting why her Aquarius wants to control her life and relationships so much as well.

She’s afraid she’s going to fall hard and fast into an unbalanced or deceptive relationship (platonically or otherwise) that she can’t get out of until it’s too late.

Control in this case is a defensive mechanism, while Aries itself is her natural defense she should use.

Moon (Aries) - Sextile - Uranus (Aquarius)

She feels align to her higher sense of self, usually her Aquarius takes precedent and her imaginations/idealizations are out of the roof.

Despite all her fears and wanting to be ‘in control’ -- her Moon here understands the subconscious better than she does.

In fact her mercury might be detrimental to her in the first place (since it’s also in Aquarius).

She draws in like-minded people, people who can teach her and she can learn from.

People who genuinely like her and feel inspired by her, she really has-- too much self-doubt sometimes that she doesn’t trust herself to know this.

Has moments of clarity and thankfulness when she lives in the now, and takes off the self-delusion she sets on herself.

Moon (Aries) - Trine - Pluto (Sagittarius)

She does well when there’s change, particularly through travels.

Often times, meeting new people benefits her greatly in adapting and accepting herself more.

Since Sagittarius and Aries are both fire-signs that when they focus on the doing aspect, they’re both less stuck in their self-suffering that way.

Aquarius Mercury (1st Decan)

Naturally intelligent and inquisitive, they’re often engaging conversationalist who seems to simply surprise others all the time.

Often has interesting questions to ask, or opinions on something.

They’re not the type to be people pleasers, and generally tends to contribute more to the conversation by posing more questions and expanding on things rather than giving a straight answer.

Everything is debatable, but also not restricted to change.

Unless they clearly made their mind up about something (usually when they feel attacked for their opinion or has to take a defensive position) they can be very stubborn and fixated individuals who will cling on to their opinion and fight till the death for it -- it’s just a matter of pride (does it out of spite/personally offended).

With Aquarius Mercury she likes to persuade others by suggesting a different perspective. Since she can often times detach herself from the line of thought, she can offer fresh and new ideas to consider and add to the pot (conversation).

You can think of it as -- witches potion brewing together. The conversation and accumulation of ideas is in the cauldron, and they take turns stirring to make the potion. Rose’s the one who guides the formula, she seems to know what ingredients to add to balance and stabilize the potion, so it doesn’t explode in the end.

It’s productive, and conductive. She acts as a mediator but also the devils advocate.

Can sometimes argue for the sake of arguing, or take on the ‘bad cop’ just to theorize scenarios.

She’s mischievous this way, but not necessarily mean-hearted or ill-intended.

Often times she knows when to joke and when to take things seriously.

Might ask more questions or be more wary than others, due to her brain thinking and processing the ideas at a faster pace.

(this gif is such an Aquarius-mood, not like mean-spiritedly but just-- how truthful the song is.)

Aspects:

Mercury (Aquarius) - Conjunction - Venus (Aquarius)

She’s playful, and often likes engaging with others for ideas. Sometimes she just needs to soundboard herself off of someone.

Relies on her social relationship to help her edit and fine-tune her ideas (since it can get Loud inside of her head)

She likes to communicate artistically, reading and writing or composing is more of her style.

She enjoys putting her creativity outwards into self-expression, particularly when it comes to fashion choices or artistry.

Venus often blesses her with a positive charm to things she produces or says, she can often encourage others/make people feel touch by her sentimental words and softer-side.

Mercury (Aquarius) - Trine - Mars (Libra) (R)

Her actions aligns with her thoughts, but often times not really with her emotions.

If she plans and does something, she tends to do it well. Is gifted in this aspect to appear more harmonious, complacent and serene.

Although she can be firm in her opinion, it’s often not grating for others to give in to her.

Mercury (Aquarius) - Conjunction - Jupiter (Aquarius)

A big aimer and the biggest thinker, she possesses a need to help others socially through her visions and mind.

She wants to create a percentage of reality that would benefit from this vision, gives back to the world her way.

Willing to participate in larger/collaborative projects if it means a wider audience, she’s agreeable and tolerant of others if it means the greater good will be met.

Highly intelligent and often very very fair, she won’t stand for injustice and will feel personally offended by it.

Mercury (Aquarius) - Sextile - Saturn (Aries)

She wants to put her mind to work, most of the time it comes with controlling and organizing herself.

Her inner-world is often trying to figure out how to concentrate without losing patience, and she often has great focus when it comes to apply what she’s learnt into reality as well.

She has a need to take things one by one in order to build ‘long-lasting support’ (Saturn) yet at the same time, she likes being a bit unorthodox in the way she approaches things.

Mercury (Aquarius) - Conjunction - Uranus (Aquarius)

She can often feel align between her sense of self and social issues around her, she’s part of the generation and part of the world.

She fights for the same causes and is directly affected by injustice within it.

Not really much to expand on since I’ve already kind of explained her Aquarius nature in other segments now. This aspect just amplifies it for her.

Mercury (Aquarius) - Conjunction - Neptune (Capricorn)

Dreamier quality to her voice and her singing ability, it really brings to focus why Rose’s just the slightest bit more ‘floral’/’sentimental’ look than the rest of the members. (arguably)

She feels connected to her subconscious, and has an easy time drawing from it into reality.

Mercury (Aquarius) - Sextile - Pluto (Sagittarius)

She’s sharp when it comes to people

Quick to draw them into conversations

But also clearly astute to what their intentions are.

Nice and to the point with this one!

Aquarius Venus (1st Decan)

Aquarius Venus really puts an emphasis on being as open-minded, socially aware as possible.

In a way that; yes, they know what’s happening (is aware of the conventional) but at the same time they are different from it somehow.

Overall scope of things: there’s a need for freedom here-- a need to just break away from what they know and engage in something new. Perhaps a change of pace is necessary for Aquarius Venus to truly feel like they’re in control of themselves. ( ‘birds gotta fly’ kind of deal)

Oh yeah btw, I’m going to address Aquarius Venus in sections.

Overall philosophy, ideas/expression, fashion choices and then people-related matter.

To help you understand the complexity of it and how it all ties in together under Venus ok?

Because it’s not just all about love, its about other things too. This will help you understand Venus better as well!

So, their take on expressions, ideas and freedom as a whole usually make them a bit of a trend setters, they has their own way of doing things.

They may be a bit rebellious but other’s often view it in favorable light.

Not really people who places great emphasis on like -- ‘look at me!’ type of deal when it comes to freedom of expression.

They don’t want to appear like they tried very hard, they want everything to look effortless. Even when they did try very hard to appear that way.

In terms of fashion, she might want to make a statement, but she doesn’t want to walk out and make people think she's failed at it.

Like ‘oh yeah that could work but it’s not exactly working’.

There’s a deep fear there, despite wanting to fit in there’s a need to be different.

It’s about acceptance and tolerance. That’s why they preach so much about being open-minded.

So most of the time, Aquarius Venus tends to go for comfortable yet stylish. It’s all about feeling comfortable on them, so they can always have a back up reason for wearing what they’re wearing ( like ‘feel it, its the texture’) That's the best summary for Aquarius Venus fashion choices.

Now onto Aquarius Venus in terms of people.

To them, there’s a hierarchy to everything they appear to be (what other people see them as).

They try very hard to keep a certain standard and not be outrageously ‘bad’ at anything.

As in, they physically take care of themselves, emotionally balance themselves out, being social-media savvy, engaged in the world somehow on a lot of different topics.

There’s a very clear line of thought to how they crafted themselves out. And that’s deliberate on their part (developing Aquarius).

Now, there’s a criteria of how other people should react to them if they want to get to know them.

Besides being hard on themselves, they are also hard on others.

Keep in mind this criteria can be abit unorthodox so when I say ‘hard on others’ I don’t really mean hard on others. Just difficult to get to know. Like a maze.

First of all, at the very top of that hierarchy, Aquarius Venus evaluates on morality/moral codes.

They’re the type to be like ‘ok, but what’s their take on this issue?’ because they’re critically aware of others and wants that inner depth or engagement. Show them some personal oomph, be as socially aware as them if not more, don’t be dick about it. They need stimulation at the intellectual level. That’s their main thing.

Following that, it comes autonomy and sense of independence.

What’s the other’s view on respecting other’s boundaries? What’s their view on their own independence? Are they reliable people? Are they rebellious? (With a cause?)

This is Aquarius Venus seeking whether or not the other person might ‘fit’ or ‘accept’ them. It’s them vibing the other person out.

Everything below, is just about accepting them as they are. This can seem kind of abrupt, but it makes perfect sense.

It’s about personal freedom and self-expression. If the person isn’t too much of a bore/nag/critical of them, then Aquarius Venus are usually fine with it (unless Moon placement says otherwise).

Usually, this means Aquarius Venus tends to gather a large pool of admirers and acquaintances, but not necessarily for the sake of romance.

Aquarius Venus prioritize accepting humanity first, which makes them have this large lee-way of personal acceptance in others as well. After that, It all just comes down to personal engagement, y know?

Repeating back to the top main priority in their list again and again, will possibly give the anyone a good chance of becoming part of the Aquarius Venus’s inner circle. It’s about proving yourself, without trying too hard about it. Whether or not they’ll become something closer/more, depends on the nature/balance of the relationship.

The other person absolutely cannot control the Aquarius Venus from having these large pool of people (friends/acquaintances) or restrict them, because that’s essentially part of the Aquarius Venus.

It’s like asking someone to cut off their arms so they can depend on the other person for life? It makes no sense to do that/ask that of another person.

They don’t like being criticized, so the other person can’t be nagging them about their personal rights/freedom of expression.

It’s not a matter of what the Aquarius Venus native values in the others, it’s just a matter of what they can tolerate in others that keeps them from connecting fully to another (platonically or otherwise).

Aquarius Venus can tolerate a lot of things about the other person, as long as they feel respected/admired to be themselves as well.

I hope this helps with understanding Venus abit. I know its brief for each section, but I’ll hopefully expand more on this later with another Aquarius Venus in my future posts (for now, these are just my thoughts).

Aspects:

Venus (Aquarius) - Trine - Mars (Libra) (R)

She likes relationship, or rather she likes the idea of relationships.

Whether it’s romantic or otherwise, there’s always a sense of care about her when she engages in any type of relationships (platonically, friends, family, otherwise).

She doesn’t like being restricted, and can sometimes be indecisive when it comes to -- committing to others.

Like she wants to, and sometimes she likes the idea of intimacy. But actual intimacy can scare her because what are the boundaries? What are the limitations? She’s most often fearful of the restriction than the actual giving part.

She gives and puts so much effort into making sure all her relationships are engaging and personally stimulating to her.

It feels almost unfair that she might have to restrict herself to just one and imbalance all the others she’s carefully crafted and cared for already.

Venus (Aquarius) - Conjunction - Jupiter (Aquarius)

She’s generous, and often willing to go a distance for others. Although she’s no fool, she often has good advice to give that benefits others around her.

Has a good head on her shoulders and can sympathize to people who might be more intellectually inclined (Jisoo’s Aquarius Moon)

Venus-Jupiter aspects makes her easily popular and approachable to others, she’s charming and full charisma.

Venus (Aquarius) - Sextile - Saturn (Aries)

She understands, essentially, that to an extent her activities/activeness helps her through the in life. It helps her become more successful

She doesn’t tend to show off and isn’t frivolous with her spending, she often takes care of people around her-- particularly giving back to her family members.

Venus (Aquarius) - Conjunction - Uranus (Aquarius)

She thrives on being connected to others, on the bigger meaning of life.

Often times she is scared of losing these connections to people, and it becomes stagnant in a way that she feels stuck between what her heart wants (to be open) but also what she fears to do (opening up).

She likes people, and she likes helping people. But at the same time, it can feel like people want more from her-- particularly emotionally. That she’s not willing to give (yet).

Venus (Aquarius) - Sextile - Pluto (Sagittarius)

Does well with change, in fact she often embraces it. Most of it means activities, getting out from the norm and getting to learn different things, meet new people.

Challenging herself to adapt and change helps her.

Libra Mars (R) (1st Decan)

She’s deliberate, often doesn’t like acting without thinking.

She tends to worry alot about what other people feel/think of her before she does something.

In a way she’s very people-conscious, or self conscious.

Her Mars being in retrograde creates a lee way for her emotions (Aries Moon) to get out of hand, it takes the role of the Mars sometimes and she does things without thinking.

Often, her Libra feels unsupported or flounders at trying to keep it’s domain. It seeks help from her Aquarius, who tries to control her Moon (emotional response) and restrict her more.

To Rose, balance really is what she aims to have within herself, but her initiative/action oriented response is what’s helping her forward.

There’s a power struggle here because on one hand, she can see and appreciate her Moon for what it does to help her (aspects to the Moon) but on the other hand, she wants everything to align and work together.

Her emotions are kind of just ditching everything else about her in the dust, makes her feel unbalanced or unsure. It’s like 20% of her is always on the go and the rest (80%) of her didn’t even realize.

Imagine it sort of like a group of friends discussing what to do on a road trip together, they’re at their destination and they’re talking about whether they should break into groups for lunch, shopping and adventuring or resting. There’s that one friend that got impatient and already went off on their own, so the rest got worried and tries to follow. It’s kind of like that.

Since it’s in retrograde, she often feels very unstable of her own action sometimes. She feels like she lacks initiative or action in the way she wants things to go (smoothly, peacefully, like a Libra) and her Aries Moon way isn’t fulfilling all the emotional criteria she needs.

She’s indecisive, but knows her indecision is going to just make her frustrated with herself and go ‘ah shit might as well do it!’ (Moon).

Patience is not really something she has for herself, and the way her Moon is treating her Libra Mars can often make it feel helpless/powerless.

Redistributing power and being firm like ‘no, let’s keep it fair’ would help her.

Although her Moon might be huffy about it, if her Libra learns how to be more forceful within itself she can take control over her life (instead of relying on her Aquarius which is Just Doing It’s Best even though it’s Possibly The More Self-Destructive Solution And She Knows It)

Watch for not being so passive-aggressive because of built up frustration. Particularly from her Sun as well.

She can tend to play the victim/innocent even though she’s actually in the wrong, or stirring up emotional drama if she projected this outward without a reason.

Interesting mix where her Libra is her weakest but is actually developed the most, her Moon is her strongest but needs to develop more. Her Aquarius is trying to fit it all in between.

If the problem lies just within her Mars - Moon, she could fix this issue of power redistribution and then she’ll have an easier time dealing with her Aquarius. Since the problem here seems to be more of a power struggle between Libra-Aries. Her actual Sun is influenced by Libra as well, which made it confusing to distinguish what is having a problem with what.

The Aquarius/Libra Sun comes into play because she has the weakest link coming from her Sun itself. She’s not fully developing her Aquarius but rather the Libra side of her Sun. And she needs more time/energy to focus more on that instead of being distracted by controlling her moon.

Aspects:

Mars (Libra) (R) - Trine - Jupiter (Aquarius)

She has good luck with being seen as generous, her actions often aligns with the way people perceive her.

She likes to do things for charity, often for other people and has a way of diplomatically subduing situations before it arises into actual conflict.

Mars (Libra) (R) - Opposition - Saturn (Aries)

Doesn’t think she can do certain things, can have conflict thinking she behaves brashly sometimes.

Can tend to pick up a hobby and then drop it, causes even more inner frustration at her ‘indecisive’ nature.

Mars (Libra) (R) - Trine - Uranus (Aquarius)

She has a great ability to help others, particularly her open-mindedness and tolerance for a lot of things.

She is patient and often kind, willing to listen and offer advice. She won’t cut her words but she has a way of speaking that’s persuasive enough people think she’s helping them (which she is).

Asteroids

Scorpio Chiron Taurus Juno

Conclusion:

She has so many aspects from her Moon and Mercury that in contrast the 1 aspects to her Sun stands out.

Her lack of confidence in her sense of self makes her seek it out in others.

Particularly when it comes to her Taurus Juno. She wants to feel stable and warm externally since it’ll help with her internal self.

Also fits in with her ‘ideal type’ (’a handsome guy who can play the guitar’ - Aquarius/Libra decan are attracted to poets/lyricist somehow.)

She’s much more confident in her ability to take action, think critical and do things because it silences her self-doubt, her view of herself and her self-image.

Has a growing self-esteem that she needs to address and see what’s really true and what she’s just projecting as herself, can tend to play victim in a lot of situation if this self-delusion continues.

Sensitive and sentimental she mostly projects this outwards.

Known for being particularly generous, she links her own beauty to being ‘nice’ to other people. Not actually ‘kind’ to herself.

Despite having a Libra Mars, all the aspects connecting to it acts more aggravated than how it naturally is. In a way she can tend to overthink things and let her Aries Moon take action (emotions over planned execution). Making sure she realizes this and doesn’t let it happen as much would help.

Fun-loving, yet soft-spoken. Exudes a sense of comfort within herself and can project into self-confidence (Aries Moon) for an extent of time.

She’s really more of a softie who needs a lot of love. Whether or not she’s a Pisces rising doesn’t really matter, since her placements are already pointing to her being abit shier/more sentimental than a typical Aquarius tends to feel comfortable showing at all.

💕The internet has been really wonky so I had to do this in parts. I hope you’ve enjoyed the last of the Black Pink girls Inner Natal Planet Reading analysis! Next up is going to either be their overview or Lisa’s Member Dynamic. I’ll probably post the overview first due to it being requested before I do the 4 part series. I’ll also be continuing the SVT series now since I got Jaebum’s chart out of the way. Although I have to admit I have this intense need to finish Namjoon’s Inner Natal Reading but I know I’ll burn myself out completely doing it. So who knows what will come next for the boys! Hope you enjoy this anyways! 💕

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iamfitzwilliamdarcy · 7 years

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Title: The (Step) Mothering Business

Summary: Damian is less than thrilled about Selina and Bruce’s upcoming marriage. Selina has a little something up her sleeve, though (literally). (Selina, Damian, a kitten) (ao3)

Note: It’s Catie’s birthday!!!! If you’re not following @catie-does-things you’re seriously missing out (but i mean i do reblog like everything of hers so if you’re following me by extension you follow her lmao). ANYWAY CATIE I hope you have the HAPPIEST OF BIRTHDAYS i love you so so so much you’re always so thoughtful, kind, and insightful and make me want to be both a better consumer/reader and y’know person <3

The thing about marriage was that you married into a family. And for Selina Kyle that meant marrying a man who’d adopted five kids. Marrying into an emotionally constipated vigilante family of bats and birds. Some of them who have died. More than once.

Tell that one to the guy in My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Ha.

She dresses up like a cat, though, so she probably deserves it.

It’s actually not that bad. Really. The kids are mostly grown. She’s had a soft spot for little Dickie Grayson since the day he tumbled into Bruce Wayne’s public life. She’d been at that party, his first “debut,” months and months after his parents had died. Seen how he’d smiled and charmed the adults. But she’d also seen how he’d tugged nervously at his tie, had stayed glued to Bruce’s side.

How he’d picked up the earrings she’d dropped when a server had bumped into her. Rookie mistake, she’d thought at the time, when he plopped them back into her hand, “Miss, you dropped these.”

He frowned down at them and added, “Those look like the one’s the Senator’s wife was wearing.”

She closed her fist around them hurriedly, but he continued, giving her sudden, small, shy smile. “Are you not wearing them ‘cause they match hers? ‘Cause you would look just as good in them.”

And he’d bounced away back to Bruce’s side, never knowing that they were the Senator’s wife’s earrings. She wonders, sometimes, if he remembers her from that night. She’s never asked.

He was suspicious of her enough as Robin, especially those nights she stole Batman away from him. He’s grown up a lot since then. It startles her, sometimes, to see him now, a man (even if a young one) in his own right.

Jason’s one she wishes she had found before Bruce. It’s the Gotham street kid in her. She’d nagged Bruce about the kid constantly. Had cried for hours when she found out, too late, long after his funeral, that he’d died.

She still drops in on the Red Hood’s patrol routes. He pretends he minds. She knows he doesn’t. Sometimes he mentions a kid who could maybe use a cat, if she had a spare one lying around. She whispers tips to him, when she gets them. When they’re useful. Sometimes she leaves food at his safe house. He never mentions it.

Tim she did find before Bruce, trailing along rooftops at night, all of 11 years old with a camera slung around his neck. She’d taken him back to her place and given him some food. He had protested, saying he had plenty to eat, but she knew hunger could come in the form of loneliness, so she’d listened to him talk about Batman and Robin and veiled comments about his parents’ being gone on vacation or travel for work and him sneaking away from the nanny.

He came back a few times. Feed strays, and they always do. Selina knew better, but soft spots and all. He found Bruce not too long after, anyway.

He was smart as a whip, sneaky, analytical. She’d told Bruce, late in his Robin career, that Tim would make a good thief. He wouldn’t speak to her for a month after that.

Then there was Cassandra. She didn’t know her very well, but they’d sparred a few times, and she always smiled her hockey smile at Selina. The last time, just a few weeks ago, she’d said, “Graceful,” when they were done.

Selina had paused in sipping from her water bottle, and Cassandra, sensing (reading?) her uncertainty, repeated, “Graceful. You fight graceful. Like cat.” And she’d held up her hands to her face like paws and hissed. Smiled her gap-toothed grin again. Selina thought that was friendship.

It was Damian who was the problem. Damian was still little, not even eleven yet, and he’d declared, in his lofty way, more than once, how disapproving he was of his father’s impending marriage.

“I don’t know what to do with him,” Bruce says, once morning.

It isn’t quite dawn yet, and she’s snuggled up under his arm, (in her apartment because Alfred has gone suddenly traditional on them, leading up to the wedding, leaving Bruce confused, picking his battles), head resting on his chest. She can hear his heart beat. She thinks she’ll never be over how massive he was. How much space he takes up and how she fits right in.

“I’ve tried talking to him,” Bruce continues. “He won’t listen. I try telling him but you know how…independent he is.”

“I was going to say stubborn,” she says.

“That too,” he agrees. He huffs out a sight, lets his head flop against the backboard. “I’m just out of ideas.”

Selina laughs, a little. Half the time, Bruce is bewildered by his kids, has no idea what to do with them.

“You take a break,” she says. “I’ll see what I can do about this one.”

Bruce looks at her skeptically, and she smiles back. She may not know exactly how to handle Damian, but she knows who to ask.

And so it’s with Dick Grayson’s advice and her own spunk that she finds the kid on the Manor grounds. It’s chilly, afternoon, October with a gray sky and colorful trees. He’s wearing a navy hoodie, huddled on top of a slope, hunched over a sketchbook.

He doesn’t say anything as she approaches, but she knows he knows she’s there. He’s been raised by assassins and his father makes it his business to be aware of his surroundings.

“Can I join you?” she asks, and takes his irritated TT as a yes.

She settles down next to him, glad she wore pants (instead of the wooly black skirt Bruce bought her last week, the one she’s been dying to wear) and leans back on her hands. He scrunches around his sketchbook to keep her from seeing what he’s drawing; she doesn’t try to look. She sits in silence for a while, lets him get used to her presence, and then says, “I have a present for you.”

Damian tuts again. “Any attempts at bribery won’t change how I feel about your impending marriage to my father.”

“It’s a kitten,” Selina continues, as if he hasn’t spoken. “A stray I picked up a few days ago. I’m having trouble thinking of a name for her. I thought you might be able to help.”

Damian focuses in on his sketchbook, but she can see he’s listening. Interested. She turns to her bag and snaps it open, lets the little calico cat clamber into her arms. She catches Damian sneaking a glance, but he tuts once more, turns back to his sketch.

“Her mother rejected her,” Selina says. She puts the kitten on the ground, and she bats at her hand. “She was starving. I’ve been bottle feeding her.”

And she had put on a bit of weight since then, was doing well. Curious, playful, sweet. Thriving. She adventures over to Damian, who reaches out a hand gently, lets her sniff it.

They both watch her for a bit. Finally, Selina says, “Damian, I’m not here to replace your mother.”

He stiffens all over. He looks like his father, when she’s caught him off guard, and it catches her off guard, how much they look a like.

He says, “You could never replace Mother.”

Selina nods. “Talia is certainly a force to be reckoned with.”

“The thing is,” she continues after a moment, “I don’t want to try to replace her. I’m not your mother. I won’t ever be. But I am a part of your father’s life, and I’d like to at least be a part of yours, if you’d let me.”

The kitten decides she likes Damian, stands up on her hind legs to paw at his knees. He dangles his pencil in front of her.

“Father has made it clear I have little say in the matter,” Damian says, not looking at her, focused on the kitten. “And I know you only brought this stray because Grayson suggested it might be a bonding experience.”

Selina takes a moment to be impressed in how much disdain such a small person could put into his sneer. Then, she concedes, “Dick did suggest you like animals.”

“Grayson is a sentimental fool,” Damian says, but without much heat. The kitten had climbed into his lap, and he was stroking her head. And anyway, Selina has seen the two of them together as Batman and Robin, knows Damian loves Dick Grayson as best he knows how.

“Maybe so,” she says.

They’re silent for a while longer. To Selina’s surprise, it’s Damian who breaks it, “Her mother, you said--.” Trails off.

“Abandoned her, yes” Selina finishes. “Sometimes mothers do that.”

“Darwinism,” Damian says. “Survival of the fittest.”

“Mm,” Selina agrees.

“It’s not cruel,” Damain adds.

“No,” Selina says. “But sometimes it’s nice to have someone to intervene. The kittens usually grow just fine, with a little TLC. I sometimes wish,” she confesses, not looking at him though she can feel him looking at her. She breaks off, starts differently, “Mothers are at tricky thing. I sometimes wish,” she repeats. “Sometimes wish someone had for me, too. Intervened, I mean.” She shakes her head, and glances over, meets his gaze.

Damian looks away, down at the kitten, and then back over at her. “You are not my mother,” he repeats.

“No,” she agrees. “I’m not.”

Damian hums. “As long as that’s clear,” he says. His voice is clipped, in the way she’s learned, already, means he’s feeling uncomfortable, hiding emotion he feels is a weakness.

“Absolutely,” she confirms.

They’re silent a while longer. The wind picks up, an the gray clouds darken with the setting sun. She gets up to leave, bends over to pluck the kitten out of Damian’s lap. Maybe it had been a bad idea after all.

But Damian shifts so she can’t touch the kitten, clutches it to him. It’s very small, even in the arms of such a small boy.

“Delilah will need to get used to her new home,” Damian tells her. “And be introduced to Alfred, Bat-Cow, Titus, and Goliath. I think it best she stays rather than move again after your…marriage.”

He doesn’t quite manage to say marriage without a hint of disapproval, but it’s only a small one. Selina hides her smile, nods. “I’m sure I’ll be seeing you and Delilah soon,” she says.

“Unfortunately, I expect so,” Damian agrees.

She reaches out and scratches the kitten’s ears, resists the urge to push her luck and ruffle Damian’s hair, and heads back to the Manor where she can’t wait to, very smugly, tell Bruce about her breakthrough. And the new addition to his menagerie.

Well, it’s not like Bruce doesn’t have a stray habit, too.

#Selina Kyle #Damian Wayne #Bruce Wayne #Batfam #catie-does-things #my fic #fanfic tag #katie's adventures in writing

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diamantemediain · 4 years

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Crypto Exchanges creaked under pressure from an unprecedented high volume trading in coin markets, which has seen volatility in the past few weeks, with the decline in global share markets. The bloodbath in equity, commodities and crypto markets worldwide was caused by the worldwide COVID19 pandemic and the oil price war between OPEC partners and Russia. Market sentiments remained low.

As investors remain worried over the economic turmoil resulting from the corona virus outbreak, markets worldwide spiralled to new lows and panic gripped stock markets, oil prices and bond markets, leading to record lows in many different sectors across the economy. The Global turmoil did not even spare the crypto currency markets as well, Bitcoin plummeted to its worst performance in 7 years, plummeting to record lows of sub $5000. This had investors worried.

High volumes of cryptos moving through the exchanges have caused some of them to temporarily suspend trading operations.

The market crash of Bitcoin prices, led to record sell-offs in the sector. High volume trading happened as volatility grouped the Crypto market and this caused the underlying infrastructure to creak under the strain of high volumes trading. Futures exchanges saw large movement of crypto holdings, caused due to electronically triggered auto liquidations. This has put further pressure on Crypto prices forcing them in a downward spiral. Inter-exchange operations spiked and this caused some exchanges to temporarily shutdown, leaving investors locked out of the market for over an hour.

As the price of Bitcoin collapsed by 40%, its volatility was its highest in 7 years with large volumes of major crypto currencies moving across worldwide exchanges which soared to great volumes and billions of dollars of Crypto assets sold on major exchanges worldwide, according to data from various Crypto Analytics websites.

Intraday trading in Crypto markets, amidst falling prices, triggered mass panic in investors which led to mass selling of and high volume trading. These high volumes of cryptos moving through exchanges within short periods of time have led to massive outages in global Crypto exchanges, many of whom went offline. Some exchanges where out for less than 90 minutes and some went down many times in the course of the trading session. Though nothing out of the ordinary happened, and was expected, with the large volumes of the trades conducted through the exchanges, some technical glitches were bound to take place, according to experts in the domain.

However crypto exchanges were well prepared and soon took measures to control the situation.

However, Crypto exchanges were well prepared to face this crisis. Many exchanges immediately took care of any technical issues or glitches, impacting a subset of customers. They immediately issued a stop option to protect the integrity of their marketplace. Some exchanges caused the market to resolve issues altogether and immediately backed up their services. They were quick to extended help to investors and traders and ensured that market services were back online, within a very short span of time. Major crypto currency exchanges worldwide, however, returned to their prior healthy working state immediately and operations resumed on their platforms.

Exchanges took the initiative of preventing cyber attacks.

Some exchange service providers said that they were working to solve the problem of Cyber attacks that stop traders from reaching trade engine. They were working to identify attackers at the moment they would proceed with their cyber attack to overwhelm the platform during peak volatility. The exchanges were however well prepared to deal with such cyber attacks due to the inherent nature of the decentralized ledger based backed by blockchain technology which has been the mainstay of crypto currency exchanges worldwide.

Exchanges have ensured that user data is well-protected from any outside attack by hackers at all times.

Their entire client data is encrypted and protected in a de-centralised blockchain based network, which has encrypted digital signatures which are only accessible to individual investors and traders, with each having a private access to the digital ledger. These measures ensure that Cyber attacks are thwarted and stopped immediately, by enabling the solid blockchain network, which underlines the enhanced security features and cyber protection capacity of these Crypto exchanges.

Crypto exchanges have an inbuilt security feature, which enables any change in data to happen only with the express permission of more than 50% of users on the blockchain platform, these security initiatives have ensured that user data remains protected at all times and any cyber attacks on exchanges are thwarted.

Crypto exchanges have taken ample precautions to prevent a wider crash.

The market volatility caused by the global market crash and subsequent COVID19 pandemic, has caused fear and Paranoia which spread to join markets as well. However, Crypto exchanges remained largely functional and were not impacted severely. The solid blockchain infrastructure underpinning these exchanges meant that most of the world’s top exchanges functioned normally during the turbulant period.

Read More: Novel Blockchain Technologies Transform Cross Border Payments For Companies

Top crypto and fintech experts worldwide are steadfast in their belief in Bitcoin’s core blockchain infrastructure is still solid enough for it to work as an alternative to traditional currencies.

Exchanges say that they are well prepared to handle large volumes of traffic and trading on their platforms, and new technologies are in the horizon which would bolster the capacity of exchanges to handle any market volatility caused by high volume traffic on their platforms. This was evident, since a majority of exchanges have continued to operate normally in the last week when market volatility and sale of crypto’s were at their peak levels.

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#crypto #Cryptocurrency #digital assets #digital currency #Crypto Exchange #diamante blockchain #diamante media

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imagine-loki · 7 years

Text

The Powers That Be

TITLE: The Powers That Be CHAPTER NO./ONE SHOT: Chapter Thirty Two

AUTHOR: wolfpawn ORIGINAL IMAGINE: Imagine Loki discovering a hidden mutant when he realises they are at risk of being found by S.H.I.E.L.D. who experiments on mutants, he is the one to help them.

RATING: Teen and Up

Thor returned to Midgard to assist the Avengers with another issue, leaving Alexia and Loki to deal with the less than pleased court that still felt as though she should be concerned with childbearing, however Odin seemed to have silenced any public voicing of opinions, and somehow managed to bite his own tongue on the subject also.

In the month since Thor's departure, Alexia ensured she never went a day without spending some time in Loki's company, the pair often speaking about nothing in particular if talking at all, but the silences were very much comfortable, both usually either reading or Loki giving Alexia some advice of how to merge elements. He even was present for many of her training sessions, watching silently as she excelled passed anything Diarmaid requested of her, earning a smug grin from the Aesir prince when she did so.

"I have to admit, of late, you are thriving wielder." The Light Elf praised.

"You are never going to call me by my name, are you?" She sighed in annoyance.

"Do not take it to heart Lexi; he calls no one by their name," Loki stated as he stood nearby.

"You were right," she smiled at him, causing his brow to rise. "About allowing the water to wet the earth, it is heavier, but they merge together better now," she explained.

"Yes, well, it made sense." He shrugged.

"You are relishing at being told you were right, don't deny it Lokes." she rolled her eyes.

"I told you not to call me that." He growled, but there was no malice or threat in his voice; in truth, he would not admit it, but to have someone wish to be around him and speak to him as she did felt good to the prince, long used to people tolerating him solely to be near Thor. To have someone wish to be around him for him was refreshing. Alexia simply smiled mischievously in response. "How is Roan?" He turned and asked Diarmaid, causing Alexia’s smile to falter.

"He has a bruised ego, but egos are not something well suited to Light Elves, so he required some humbling." The elf answered. "He was always popular on Alfheim, to say one as rare as you does not find interest in him is somewhat baffling to him." Diarmaid looked at Alexia as he spoke.

"Perhaps if he had not been so self-obsessed, I may have entertained even listening to him." She shrugged. "But I am not interested in such things at present, I have to get this all under control, I want to."

"I think it safe to suggest you do," Loki smiled, "It is the strengthening of them you seem to be doing now."

"Well, that to me is control." She shrugged. "I need to get cleaned up, so please excuse me." she turned and walked away without awaiting an answer from either being.

"You are very close." Diarmaid eyed Loki.

"More than most people would have thought possible." Loki agreed.

"Yourself included I would think, you are unused to such a feeling, one wishing to be your true ally."

"She is stuck for company." Loki dismissed.

"You and I both know that to be untrue."

"Are you not irked that your nephew was dismissed by her?"

"No," Loki looked the elf in the eye. "I would not wish such a thing on a female being, to be forced to carry a child solely to try and replicate her power, and of all beings, I know my nephew to not be a fit for her, she requires one that cares for her, who wants what is best for her, from what I have witnessed, it is something she has been lacking so far in her life." He explained.

"She will not find that here." Loki shook his head, knowing no one would want Alexia for herself and not her power.

"I think she may already have." The elf chuckled, causing Loki to look at him curiously. "I bid you good afternoon my prince." And with that, he turned and left, leaving Loki to his thoughts.

"So I was thinking..." Alexia commented as she toyed with a fountain from over fifty feet away on a balcony.

"Norns, this sounds terrifying." Loki joked as he watched her, Alexia stuck out her tongue at him, "That is mature."

"I am not even pretending to be." she laughed. "I was thinking about this banquet your father is holding next week, you know, the....what was the word for it."

"He is not my father, and it is the Mjötuðr feast," Loki replied in a bored tone. "A feast where the old fart gets to celebrate himself, what of it?"

"Really?"

"Yes, Mjötuðr means king, so it is a king’s festival."

"Wow, self-loving much?" She scoffed, "Well anyway I am not going to go."

Loki looked at her with interest. "You do not wish to go?"

"No, I know what is going to happen, I am going to be paraded around and stared at, so I am not going to go, I don't care if he throws a tantrum, I am not a prize exhibit."

"I beseech you; may I please be present when you tell him this? He will be so mad; he may actually go into Odinsleep." Loki asked wide-eyed, knowing there was no way his adoptive father would not demand her presence at his own trumpet blowing event.

"Do what you want." She shrugged. "I take it Thor will be for it?"

"Most definitely."

"And you will be avoiding it?"

"I think the phrase you Midgardian's use is 'like the plague'."

"Well, that makes two of us then." She stated, ceasing her toying with the fountain. "Will he blame you?"

"Most definitely."

"I'm sorry."

"You should not be, if you do not wish to do something you are not obliged to do it, so do not apologise if others wish something of you that you do not want to do."

"I've been spotted." Loki frowned at her. "Odin is glaring up at me, no wait, both of us."

Loki looked over the ledge of the balcony they were on and sure enough, a puce-faced Odin was indeed glaring at them. "He really is less than pleased at your demanding being allowed in my company, you are making no allies with such actions," Loki commented, turning away from the balcony and back to where he had been previously standing.

"You seldom sit, do you?"

"I think it an act of laziness."

"Fair enough. As for Odin not liking this, you were the only one to care enough to help me long enough, so he can take a running jump, I don't forget those who are good to me, and all the people that I speak to now are only after something, you have nothing to gain from my friendship and yet you are still here, so you are most worth being around."

"Sentiment," Loki scoffed, but there was no conviction in his words, not sure how to actually react to such words.

"You have got to stop reacting to compliments in such a way; you may actually trick someone into thinking you mean it." She clapped his shoulder. "I better go and deal with your Daddy Dearest."

"He is not my father." He growled, this time, his irritation blatant.

"Yeah, yeah, so you keep saying." She dismissed. "Later Lokes."

"Stop calling me that." He barked.

"Does it annoy you that much?" She smirked, walking backwards to look at him as she made to leave.

"You know it does, hence your doing it."

"It's fun, I confess. Later Lokes." She repeated, causing him to growl.

"You do not choose allies wisely," Odin commented as Alexia stood in front of him.

"I choose for myself, not to suit others."

"I thought you would have chosen better, you seem intelligent for your species."

"Yes, well, you putting your expectations on me is your own fault, not mine; it is not my duty to live up to them." She shrugged.

"I have been told Loki actually tried to kill your father."

"He put the staff that held the Mind Stone through his chest." She confirmed, causing Odin to stare at her with a wide eye. "I know what he did, I am not under any false pretences, but like you, I know he was under duress, and my father was in his way. Can I ask, when you went to that Frost realm, was there anyone in your way getting to or from that temple you found him in?" The Allfather shook his head. "If there was a guard there, would you have dealt with them accordingly?" Odin took a moment to think, he knew the answer, as did Alexia. "So, you cannot talk."

"You think differently to others, analytically, trying to see other angles."

"I would assume most think such a way."

"Not exactly."

"You mean, I actually take a moment to think what Loki could be thinking. Why do you always only see the bad in him?"

"There is nothing but bad left."

"You do not know that.'"

"He is the reason Frigga is dead." The king growled.

"And there we have it." She smiled smugly. "You want to blame him."

"It was his doing; he told the Kursed how to get to her." He countered.

"From what I have been told by Thor, he told that thing how to get out of the cells, not how to find his mother."

"She was not his mother."

"I think if she was here, she would slap you for that." Odin's lip twitched. "You know I am right, and that kills you because I bet you usually dismiss or roar at people when they call you up on your BS, and you know that if you do that with me, I could go and not be here to make you look good."

"You could be forced to be used against us if you went to another realm. Could you face Thor in a battlefield? Could you drown him? Bury him?"

"I would rather die than hurt my friends."

"The threat of death is one that makes people reconsider their options."

"I do not fear death, I have realised that there are things in this life that are far more terrifying."

"I have silenced their demands on that other matter," Odin responded.

"Yes, I have noticed, and for that, I thank you, genuinely; thank you." Odin was somewhat startled with her words, but gave a small nod, accepting the gesture. "I just want to be left live, but that seems somewhat difficult considering."

"You should not have been a wielder then."

Alexia gave a sharp laugh. "I would never have chosen this if I could have, I can assure you. It is what it is, I can only get on with it now."

"There is another request being made by many here with regards you." Odin seemed somewhat apprehensive at broaching the subject. Alexia gave him a look from the corner of her eye, not sure of what he was going to say.

#loki #other #submission #submitted fic #Wolfpawn #chapter 32 #the powers that be #s.h.i.e.l.d.#mutant #discovering #hidden #risk #experiment #help

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