#/also legend saying hes dead

[song-linked-from-nine-verses]

First Big Gig, pt (unknown)

Wild doesn't realize that his breathing stops being even, as the crowd engulfs any tiny sound that his body is making. Even then, he tries to keep his body together, and twists his face, keeping it neutral. His stomach seems to churn uncontrollably, like one of those kneading machines he uses for making bread. But Wild was so sure he did not eat anything strange today. Maybe he did. He can't remember.

He thinks his heart is pounding way faster than it should, but the pounding of the massive speakers is making him question whether or not his brain made it up.

His brain is partly in protest, but luckily, for some reason Wild keeps walking forward. The room is so crowded and warm that Wild is sweating profusely. His knuckles turn white as he grips the trolley, but the AC makes his hand so cold that he's slowly losing his grip. A part of Wild wants to go back.

"Nervous?" Warriors asks both of them, though it's super hard to parse what he says. 

Wild couldn't even move enough to nod. He can only think, and his thoughts only have "stop, no, go back". His vocal chords, on the other hand, seem to have been stuck, but he didn't have to answer, as Warriors can't even hear what Four said through the massive echoes of the sea of people. 

"Let's show the other idiots what we're made of!" Warriors proudly says, and Wild tries his hardest to crack the widest smile.

Next thing he knows, the blinding lights are shining on him. He can't see anything but blobs, but that's okay, his hands are still playing. He can't ruin their first big gig like this. He just can't. Warriors have been waiting for this day since he met them.

He normally looks over to Four and Warriors, to wink at them to signal an improv, or do a little funny on the side, but if he looks anywhere but his guitar the world seems to just ever so slightly tilt. His hands start to slide off the strings, surely no one heard that he accidentally missed a few notes?

His stomach, on the other hand, is actively betraying him. It hurts so bad, a nagging, throbbing pain. But, that's okay, he just needs to focus on playing. He just needs to focus. He can't see anything but flashing colors. His head feels so light. He needs to focus. Focus. Focus. That is a lie. He can't focus.

— —-

"Missed?" Wind suddenly says.

"Hmm?"

"Their guitarist. He missed a beat." 

"No shit Sherlock, they play math rock. Of course it's going to 'miss a beat'. But yes, I notice the guy is playing worse and worse." Legend says. 

"I know yall guys don't like this type of music so...If you want to leave we can-"

"No! It's not that" Wind cuts Twilight off. "I mean, even for their music, their guitarist misses a beat. Multiple times!"

"There's a sudden… shakiness, that I can't put a finger on." Legend adds.

Now that he mentions it, Twilight notices that their guitarist isn't standing straight. "What do you make of it? Should we be worried?"

"Could be stress or stage fright? Who knows, it's their first time in front of such a large crowd. I was exactly the same."

Wind throws his hand. "So you DID lie that day!" 

Legend pretends he didn't say anything. "All I'm saying is, unless their guitarist collapses, it's nothing to worry about."

And just as he finished that sentence, a loud, distorted sound played and a massive THUD on the ground followed. 

Their guitarist actually collapses.

— — 

It took a while, but the moment Wild starts stirring on the equipment box, Warriors immediately rushes to him.

"Wild?" Warriors asks, and pulls his hair out to check his temperature again. At least he doesn't have a fever.

The guy tries to turn but Warriors holds him back before he falls off. "uummmmm….wh..where…"

"Don't worry, we're backstage. How are you feeling?" 

One of the staff backstage walks over and hands Warriors a bottle of water.  "Is he doing well?"

Warriors shrugged. "But, thank you for your concern… erm.."

"Impa."

"Oh, I also know an Impa. Thank you, Miss Impa. I will look for you if anything comes up."

As Impa walks away, Wild jolts upright. "The Concert!," he says, but quickly flinches then curls into a ball. "owwwww… no, no, no it's all my fault… Did they make us leave? Where is Four?"

"Hey, I told you not to worry!" Warriors pats Wild's back. The kid is soaked in sweat, and he is shaking. There's a slight hiccup, as if he's holding back a sob. He pulls down his scarf, making sure that Wild is seeing him smile. "No one is at fault, you hear me?"

"...you said you'd be so mad if anything goes wrong…"

Warriors' eyes widen. "Oh no, if I accidentally made you feel bad, I am so sorry."

A long sniff and tears start streaming from Wild's face. Warriors is not good with crying faces, so he just awkwardly opens the water bottle and hands it to Wild. He accepts, and starts inhaling it like a thirsty elephant.

"Eyes, Wars. So many. And I tried to ignore them, but then everything turned into blinding, staring lights, and-"

"Hey, if anything, I'd be more mad if something wrong happens to my friends. Besides, they haven't kicked us out, and Four is still out there.". 

The room echoes and next thing you know it, Four starts jamming the worst infamous grooves known to man. 

Man he is brave.

Wild lets out a chuckle. As the crowd boos, and Four keeps playing, the chuckle turns into a loud cackle.

The cackle quickly turns into a grimace as Wild suddenly pulls himself into a ball, gripping his abdomen. "I don't know what's worse, the pain or whatever Four is doing outside."

Warriors pats Wild's back. "I'll ask the staff if they have anything." Warriors says, but before he can stand, someone throws him a faux-fur bag.

"Oh, he's dead! " The Vet says once he has a good look at Wild, muffled by his face covering. 

"There's advil in there. And ibuprofen." Rancher gestures at the bag.

"And, I never asked you guys to be here." Warriors pulls up his scarf to cover his face, and throws the bag back at the Veteran. "Why are you guys here? If you want to mock us, I hope we can go outside so I can punch you properly."

"Wouldn't want to make a scene, too crowded out there." Their drummer says, as he stuffs the bag back into Warriors' hands. "If I wanted to mock, I would wait until you guys start playing."

"Alright, partner, not too far." Rancher says, as he pats the Vet's back. 

Warriors rolls his eyes, but makes no effort to return the bag. He sits back down next to Wild. 

"If it's a stomachache, and he really has no idea why, then it could just be stress. In which case he'll be fine in a few minutes." The Vet says, shooting a look at Wild. "Or hours. Depends on whether your guitarist wants to get back out on stage."

Sailor also jumps on the equipment box, putting himself right next to Wild. "It's okay to feel frightened, you know. And if you're not ready, it's okay to say so."

Man, these guys are way too wholesome than what I give them credit for, Warriors mumbles.

Wild stares at the Vet, then he turns his gaze back at Warriors. It's a "I don't want to do this, but what about you" kind of look.

"I still want to go back out there…" Warriors says, so Wild straightens himself, and starts to stand up. Warriors holds him back down. "But-"

"I can fill the empty spot if you want? Do you have the sheets?" The Vet asks.

"Why not the little guy over there? Also, I thought you hated our music? Can you even play guitar?" Warriors raises a brow, but the Vet just shrugs in response.

"I can play Never Meant." Legend shrugs. "Or that song by Tricot that you guys play. Just need the sheets. And don't do anything too weird."

"Well, then, Wi- I mean, Champ, can he borrow the sheets? Or, do you still want to play? Either option is fine."

— — 

"I should have used our guitar instead, this one is so greasy." The Vet says, then he seems to be throwing a friendly insult towards Wars and Four, but it was too far that Wild can't really make out what he said.

"Ready?"

"Woo!"

The moment he starts playing, Wild's eyes widen. 

"But for someone who has never listened to these songs…" Wild accidentally said his thoughts out loud.

"Impressive, right?" Rancher says as he walks up to Wild. He never stood so close to any of the band members, and Wild notices that his mask has hand sewn words in the Twili language. "We call him the Vet for a reason."

"To be fair, he actually hate-listens to you guys." Sailor chimes in. "Wait, don't tell anyone about that."

Wild spits a laugh. "Why does he hate-listen to our band?"

"He likes how your cymbals sound."

"Oh, thank you. Our drummer made them himself." Wild proudly says.

"Woah, cool!" Sailor exclaims, then he starts cackling. "OHHH! Smith! Cymbalsmith!"

"Mhm! Well then, if he ever needs any-" Wild was about to pull out his phone, but then remembers that he gave it to the Vet for music sheets. "Okay, I'll read out a number, and tell him if he needs cymbals just give us a call. If he wants, he can have some for free as well."

"I doubt he'd use cymbals made from the enemy band, however." Rancher says. 

"His grandpa runs it, so if we're talking technicality, it's not from 'the enemy band'."

"Thank you." 

"No, thank you. The meds help a lot."

[malewifesband]

kabru would like cheap erotica novels. he'd like to pretend (to himself at least) that its about his psych hobby since there's a lot you can glean about a cultural zeitgeist and of course what kind of things people are finding sexy lately from the porn being made and getting popular, and im sure talking in excited whispers with older women about the bodice rippers they like is a plus, but ultimately i think he'd just genuinely find them hot. hes absolutely the type to do erotic roleplays and get way too in-character

[jellydragons]

tetra is having a Day

[ethanharmonia]

The Hisui Trio in my AU!! :D

(they dont know how to dress up 😔)

I wanted to make reference sheets for the three, even though i took a ton of inspo from many things but its for investment i promise i promise

Those three are friends in this AU, they are all in the present world and they are like a family to each other tbh, they might get into a few arguments but they talk it out later on.

To be fair i think those three would give each other kisses, not in a romantic way though, its just more of a platonic thing i guess??

The three of them own dragon type pokemon, from gen 4, 6 and 8 (me like even numbers dont mind me), i kinda felt like these pokemon fit them best by personality (im not exactly sure for 100%)

Dropping the lore here :

The only way Adaman and Irida could go back and out of Hisui was by Volo taking them with him by going through portals with Giratina, of course the two of them got frightened at the sight of Giratina showing up right in front of their eyes for the first time but they got used to it later on.

As a gift of gratitude from Volo for still being accepted by Adaman and Irida even after everything he's done in the past, he made and gave a clone of Origin Dialga and Origin Palkia to them so that they could also travel through the portals or around the world without his help (he's getting tired from babysitting them pls let him live).

Adaman and Irida just live with Lucas, Dawn and Barry in Twinleaf Town, sometimes Volo comes by to visit them and hang out with them. Lucas and Dawn dont have memories of Rei and Akari, so they have no idea of what Volo used to be back then, if they would then oh boy they would try to kill him.

{With Dialga} Adaman possesses Steel type powers (or Metal Bending as they say), he uses it a lot for combat but also for reaching high places if he cant go up there or reach it by climbing, he bends the metal into a form of a long rope in order to get up there.

{With Palkia} Irida has Water type powers (or Water Bending), she is not really the type of a person to fight but she rather heals others, it also works on pokemon too, though sometimes she can kick ass once in a while if anyone drives her mad.

{With Giratina and Arceus} Volo has all the elements, including Dark type powers but he never uses those as he only sees the bad in them and never wishes to use them, reminding him a lot of Cyrus {bro hates him more than anything}, with Volo being an Archon, he can summon pretty much every pokemon, including the legendaries and mythical ones, and the ultra beasts, even though the legendaries are gods too and are feared by many, Volo however just sees them as misunderstood creatures/beings, as he has a better bond with them than with his own people.

Volo despises humans, he only sees the bad in them as he has only seen the bad things that humans did, and with Volo being isolated in Arceus's realm and being there for about 280 years (met Arceus at 20), he cant really change his opinion about it, even if he has friends that are different than the rest of the humans, Volo still has doubts that humans are good, unless proven to him. Sure, Volo is the archon and savior of this world and he is trying his best to make the world a better with no wars or catastrophies, he hates humans, but he just wants peace, but he is aware that even if this happens one day then the peace wont last forever, the world cant remain peaceful for eternity, theres always going to be something happening all the time and he will have to deal with it on his own.

This would be Volo and his Dragapult (canon)

Imagine praying to god, and this is who you're praying to

[apotelesmaa]

My initial off the top of my head wxs Pokémon partners match up would be

Nene - primarina/rotom/hatterene. Primarina is self explanatory, the rotom was originally rui’s but it possesses robonene so it’s hers now, and hatterene…

Emu - bewear/mr. mime/togekiss. Bewear is funny (& similar to the mascot bodyguard), Mr. Mime is self explanatory, togekiss is self explanatory wrt Pokédex entries.

Rui - porygon z/mimikyu/silvaly. I feel like all of these are pretty self explanatory.

Tsukasa - dragonite/sylveon/rapidash. Dragonite is a wxs world link reference, sylveon just fits, rapidash because there is no Pegasus pokemon.

[followmykpopsideblog]

So I finally defeated the monster horde at Fort Hateno (how many times did I die? Hahaha not relevant...) clearing up the road so I could FINALLY go visit Hateno

First thing I did was check to make sure my house was still there ofc! And.....

Zelda's journal??? 👀👀👀👀👀

Oh my God..... they were roommates...

[toytulini]

i made an oc thats at least nicknamed "Stupid" and im constantly thinking about what a power move that is tbh

[thornshadowwolf]

I don't remember why but I dreamed about looking up the common religions in different regions of Thailand last night

[hauntingblue]

Hiyori is the most effective person to complete their kill so far

[hanzajesthanza]

i loveeee being in a fandom where the work of media in question is complete. it's finished. it's done.

we don't have to wait around for the next book or watch as the series gets dragged out and beaten like a dead horse for a neverending amount of cash flow.

the creator had a vision, he stuck to it, he executed it, and now we have "the work"—an established body of canon which we can talk about and discuss, without having to say "unless this gets changed or modified in future installments." there is a set number of short stories, a set number of books. asides from the comments of the author himself said in interviews and opinions remarked upon in essays and other works, there is nothing more we have to be prepared to risk everything on. the story is complete. it has been told. everything we know has already been written down.

i know some, or more likely, most people cannot stand it when there are no new or upcoming additions to the work of a fandom, nothing to "look forward to." but i love it. please don't give me any more, this was more than enough to deal with, i'm still working on this, honestly. rather, what i'm "looking forward to" are interpretations, analysis, and other work from fans from which we can generate—ourselves—ongoing discussions and arguments which will last us forever.

i don't want hype. i want love.

[waywardsalt]

When Tetra was petrified, she remained somewhat concious and could vaguely hear her surroundings, but, obviously, couldn't communicate back. Now, being a descendant of the royal bloodline and/or having a Triforce-induced superpowers, she'd usually be able to contact Link telepathically, but, after being turned to stone, Tetra's call is too quiet, and Link can't hear it, because he has his own innate and pretty potent wind magic, drowning any weak external signals, not to mention Ciela and her siblings adding their magic into the mix.

There is someone else who can hear her in that state, though, and that's Linebeck. He doesn't wield any magic (or nothing significant, at least), so he doesn't drown her out. Whenever Link and Ciela/other spirits leave his ship to go dungeon-crawling or stuff, if the engine's turned off, only then can Linebeck hear Tetra calling out. At first, he's naturally freaked out and thinks Link brougt a ghost from the Ghost Ship, but later they figure everything out and manage to communicate with Tetra and relay what she had to say to Link.

(Also, for a first couple of days Linebeck referred to Tetra as a "figuredeck", until realizing that the subject is too sensitive for Link).

That's a cool idea! Giving Tetra a sort of role, a new role for Linebeck, and some new group dynamic stuff, that's a neat concept.

[phoenixiancrystallist]

Day 16, waist, leg, and upper arm done. Next is the arm wrap, Elazul's hand, and all of Princess Pearl, then we're done!

[interdimensionalhellscapeportal]

Outing myself as the gigantic legends loving dork that I am but look how cuuuuuuuuuuuuuuute

This. Is. Gorgeous.

[corkinavoid]

DPxDC Glass Coffin

Weirder shit has happened in DC universe, but hear me out, Young Justice finds a glass coffin with Danny sleeping inside it. Maybe it's in some ancient tomb and hidden away for centuries, maybe it's in some villain's private collection of artifacts, maybe it's in some museum in plain sight.

And then Kon hears a heartbeat from it.

(I'm going with the version of YJ that is Kon, Tim, Cassie, and Bart here, fyi)

Assuming they didn't come to wherever they found the coffin just for the sake of it, they, as the responsible teenagers they are, finish their business first and take it to Mount Justice later to figure out what the fuck. Meanwhile, Danny is sleeping peacefully like a princess, all up in his King garb, with the Crown of stars, cape of night sky, and whatever else pretty stuff you want him to have. Point is, he looks majestic.

Tim looks up the records for the coffin. The files say it's hundreds of years old, and no one has been able to open it yet. The boy inside is stated to be either a statue or some kind of really well-preserved corpse - no amount of scanning registered any signs of life, so it was treated like a piece of art for the most part.

Yet, Con is absolutely positive he heard a heartbeat inside. What's more, he can still hear it now. It's impossibly slow but still recognizable.

Cassie finds a whole lot of legends about it, most of them speaking of 'only those from the other side can open the casket', and there are no clarifications to what kind of other side they are all talking about.

Of course, they all try. Because this is some kind of Snow White or Sleeping Beauty shit, and besides, none of them even think they would be able to open it anyway. And, sure, as soon as they are done having fun with it, they will report to the JL about their finding. Maybe the magic users will know something about the weird Sleeping Prince. They even go as far as to reason with the casket, loudly proclaiming where they are from, because they all come from very different 'sides'.

Bart goes first, explaining how he is from the future. The casket doesn't budge. Cassie goes next, stating herself as Themyskirian, but to no avail. Kon is next, with his half-Kryptonian heritage, but the glass coffin doesn't accept him as worthy either.

And then it's Tim's turn. And somehow, he flips the glass lid open with no effort at all.

A moment of silence follows, all the YJ members frozen in place, waiting for anything to happen, but the boy inside keeps just laying there, unmoving and with his eyes closed. Then Cassie makes a joke about kissing the princess to wake her up, and all of them start arguing on ethics and stuff because why is Robin the one that has to do the kissing, do you have any idea where that boy has been? Fuck off, you kiss him if you want it, and also, do you really want him to wake up, what if he is some kind of villain or an evil spirit, or-

"Which one of you assholes is dead enough to wake me up from my nap?"

And that's as far as I got with this idea. Maybe Danny was put into some magic sleep, maybe it was Clockwork's time shenanigans, maybe someone locked him inside and he decided to sleep it off, maybe he is there on his own volition, taking a vacation from Kingly duties.

I'm just having this vision of eternally beautiful Danny in a glass (oh, maybe it's not glass, maybe it's ice) coffin, and the YJ arguing over it. There's also Dead Tired potential here, because I love them, yes.

[ryin-silverfish]

A Guide to the Chinese Underworld (and what it isn't)

As many FSYY and fox posts as there were on my blog, I am actually a huge fan of the Chinese Underworld mythos. Mostly because I was once a morbid little kid that loved reading about the excavations of ancient tombs, and found the statues depicting hellish torture in the Haw Par Villa "super cool".

Apart from the aesthetics, the history of its evolution is also fascinating. Most of us, Chinese or not, only know the most popular version of the Underworld——the "Ten Kings" system, yet that isn't always the case. So today, I'll start off with a short summary of that.

In pre-Qin era, there was already this generic idea of a "Realm of the Dead" called the Yellow Spring, Youdu, or Youming, but we know very little about it.

Then, in the Han dynasty, two ideas start to emerge: 1) the Underworld is a bureaucracy, 2) the God of Mt. Tai ruled over the dead.

This early bureaucracy might not function as an agent of punishment; the main focus was on keeping the dead segregated from the living so they wouldn't bring diseases and misfortune to the latter, as well as using those ghosts to enforce collective punishments upon people for their lineage's wrongdoings while they were still alive.

Post-Han, after Buddhism entered China and took root, its idea of karmic punishments and reincarnation and the figure of King Yama was merged with folk and Daoist ideas of the Underworld bureaucracy, and, came Tang dynasty, resulted in the "Ten Kings" system that first appeared in Dunhuang manuscripts.

It was very rudimentary and far from well-established, as seen in Tang legends, with some adopting the Ten Kings system, some sticking to the Lord of Mt. Tai and some favoring King Yama, and overall little agreements on who's in charge of the Underworld.

But the "Ten Kings" system would become the mainstream version from then onwards, used in Ming vernacular novels and made even more popular by folk religion scrolls like the Jade Records (Yuli Baochao).

As such, most points in the following sections will be based on the fully matured "Ten Kings" system of the Underworld, as seen in the Jade Records and JTTW.

What happens when you die?

(This is a fictionalized walkthrough of the posthumous fate of souls under the "Ten Kings" system. I try to stick to the very broad progression outlined in the Jade Records, but many creative liberties are taken on the details.)

Let's say there's a guy named Xiao Ming, and he had just died of a heart attack. Bummers. What now?

Well, the first thing he saw would be the ghost cops.

There isn't really an unanimous agreement on who these ghost cops are: they may be a pair of ghosts in white and black robes, wearing tall hats (Heibai Wuchang), they may have the heads of farm animals (Ox-Head and Horse-Face), or they can just be generic ghost bureaucrats. For convenience's sake, let's say it was the first scenario.

"Who are you guys and where are you taking me?"

"Glad you asked!" The taller ghost cop, being the cheerful one of the pair, replied. It wasn't very reassuring, considering that his tongue was dangling out of his mouth way further than it should. "I'm the White Impermanence, my sour-looking colleague here is the Black Impermanence, and we are taking you to the City God's office."

This City God, a.k.a. Chenghuang, is just like how it sounds: the divine guardian of a city, who also pulls double duty as the head of the local Dead People Customs Office. They are usually virtuous officials deified posthumously, and in JTTW, they fall under the category of "Ghostly immortals", together with the Earth Gods a.k.a. Tudi.

So Xiao Ming went with the two ghost cops——not like he had much of a choice, made his way through the long queue at the City God's office, and was now standing in front of a gruff old magistrate in traditional robes.

"Name?"

"Wang Xiao Ming."

"Age and birth dates?"

"21, April 16 2003…"

After he was done asking questions, the City God flipped through his ledger, then picked up a brush, ticked off Xiao Ming's name, and told him to go get his pass in the next room. More waiting in a queue. Wonderful.

"I never heard anything about needing a pass to get to the Underworld," the girl in front of Xiao Ming asked the ghost cops, who were standing guard nearby. "Is this a new policy or something?"

"Yeah. In the old days, we'd just drag y'all straight to the Ghost Gate." The ghost cop in black said, then muttered to himself, "Fuckin' paperworks and overpopulation, man…"

(This "Dead People Passport" thing was popularized in the middle-to-late Ming dynasty, as shown by the discovery of such documents inside tombs in southern China. )

(It might have evolved from similar passes to the Western Pure Land in lay Buddhism that recorded their acts of merits. Which, in turn, might be traced back to the "Dead People Belongings List" of Han dynasty, to be shown to Underworld bureaucrats so that no one would take away the dead's private property down there or something.)

Anyways, after he received his pass, Xiao Ming departed together with the rest of the bunch, to be led to the Ghost Gate. It was like the world's most depressing tourist group, where instead of tour guides, you got two ghost cops in funny hats, and the only scenery in sight was the desolation of the Yellow Spring Road.

They weren't the only travellers on the road, though. Xiao Ming noticed other groups moving in the far distance, behind the fog and the flickering ghostfire, led by similar figures in black and white.

It made a lot of sense; realistically, there was no way two ghost cops could fetch hundreds of thousands of dead people all by themselves.

(SEA Tang-ki mediums believed there were multiple Tua Di Ya Peks——Hokkien name for the Black and White Impermanences, working for different Underworld Courts.)

At last, the Ghost Gate stood in front of Xiao Ming, guarded by two towering figures. Normally, they'd be Ox-Head and Horse-Face, like what you see at Haw Par Villa's Underworld entrance.

However, older Han dynasty works like Wang Chong's 论衡·订鬼 also mentioned two gods, Shenshu and Yulei, as guardians of the Ghost Gate, who would use reed ropes to capture malicious ghosts and feed them to tigers, making them possibly the earliest incarnation of "Gate Gods".

So here, they were what Xiao Ming sees, standing side by side like proper doormen, silently watching herds of ghosts being funneled through the entrance.

The place was more crowded than a train station during the CNY Spring Rush; the ghost cops had already said their quick goodbye and left to fetch the next group of dead people, leaving the resident officials of the Underworld proper to maintain order and quell any would-be riots.

Now you started seeing the Ox-Head and Horse-Face guys, poking at unruly ghosts with their pitchforks and dragging away the violent ones in chains. Among their ranks were other monstrous beings, blue-faced yakshas and imps, but also regular dead humans who look 100% done with their jobs, like the lady who stamped Xiao Ming's pass when it was finally his turn.

After this point, Xiao Ming had entered the Underworld proper, and his next destination would be the First Court, led by King Qin'guang. Here, his fate should be decided by what is revealed in the King's magical mirror.

If Xiao Ming was a good guy, or someone who had done an equal amount of good and bad things in life, he'd be sent straight to the Tenth Court for reincarnation. However, if the mirror, while replaying his life events, had displayed more evil deeds than good ones, he'd be sent to one of the 2nd-9th Courts for judgment and then punished inside the Eighteen Hells.

Each of the Ten Kings was also assisted by ghostly judges. Many of them were righteous and just officials in life who had been recruited into the Ten Courts posthumously——Cui Jue from JTTW is one such example, while others were living people working part-time for the Underworld, like how Wei Zheng, Taizong's minister, works part-time for the Celestial Bureaucracy in JTTW.

We decide to be nice to Xiao Ming, so, after reliving some embarrassing childhood incidents and cringy teenage phases in front of a bunch of dead bureaucrats, he was found innocent and sent to the Tenth Court.

The queue here was almost as long as the First Court's, stretching on and on alongside of the banks of the Nai River. King of the Turning Wheel made his judgment without even lifting his head when it was Xiao Ming's turn:

"Path of Humans, male, healthy in body and mind, ordinary family. Next!"

Exiting the Tenth Court building, Xiao Ming saw the Terrace of Forgetfulness, standing tall before six bridges, made of gold, silver, jade, stone, wood, and…some unidentified material. Before he could get a good look at them and the little dots moving across those bridges, he was hurried into the Terrace by the ghostly officials.

Now, both JTTW and the Jade Records mention multiple bridges across the Nai River. In the former, there is 3, and the latter, 6. The bridges made of precious materials are for people who will reincarnate into better lives, as the wealthy, the fortunate, and the divine, while the Naihe Bridge is either the common option or the terribad shitty option.

However, the Naihe Bridge proved to be so iconic, it became THE bridge you walk across to reincarnate in popular legends.

Anyways, back to Xiao Ming. He found himself standing in a giant soup kitchen of sorts, with an old lady at the counter, scooping soup out of her steaming pot and into one cup after another.

This is Mengpo, the amnesia soup granny; according to the Jade Records, she was born in the Western Han era, and a pious cultivator who thought of neither the past nor the future, only knowing that her surname was Meng.

Made into an Underworld god by the Jade Emperor, she cooks a soup of five flavors that will wipe the memory of the dead, making sure they do not remember any of their past lives once they reincarnate.

It tastes awful. Like what you get after pouring corn syrup, coffee, chilli sauce, lemon juice and seawater into the same cup.

Such was Xiao Ming's last thought, as he gulped down the soup, and then he knew no more.

Things you should know about the Chinese Underworld:

1. It's not the Christian Hell.

Rather, the Chinese Underworld functions somewhat like the Purgatory, in that there are a lot of torment, but the torment's not eternal, however long the duration may be. Once you finish your sentence, you get reincarnated as something else, though that "something else" is not a guaranteed good birth.

Other people can also speed up the process via transferring of merits: hiring a priest/monk to chant sutras and perform rituals, for example, or performing good deeds in life in dedication to the dead, or they can pray to a Daoist/Buddhist deity to save their loved ones from a dreadful fate.

Interestingly enough, a thesis paper I read mentions that, whereas Buddhist salvation from the Hells was based on transference of merits——you give monks offerings and pay them to chant sutras, so they can cancel out the sinners' bad karma with good ones, Daoist ideas of salvation tend to involve the priest going down there, sorting it out with the Underworld officials, and taking the dead out of the Hells themselves.

(The paper also stops at the Northern-Southern and Tang dynasties, so the above is likely period-specific.)

2. Nor is it run by evil demons.

Underworld officials are not nice guys and look pretty monstrous and torture the sinful dead, but they are not the embodiment of evil. Rather, the faction as a whole is what I'd call Lawful Neutral, who function on this "An Eye for An Eye" logic, where every harm the sinner caused in life must be returned to them, in order for their karmic debts to be cleansed and move on to their next life.

They can absolutely be corrupt and incompetent and take bribes——Tang dynasty Zhiguai tales and Qing folklore compendiums featured plenty of such cases, but that's a very mundane and human kind of evil, not a cosmic/innate one.

This is just my personal opinion, but if you want to do an "evil" Chinese Underworld? It should be a very bureaucratic evil, whose leaders are bootlickers to the higher-ups, slavedrivers to their rank-and-file workers, and bullies who abuse their power over regular dead people.

Not, y'know, Satan and his infernal legions or conspiring Cthulu cultists.

3. The Ten Kings are not Hades.

Make no mistake, they still have a lot of power over your average dead mortal. But in the grand scheme of things? They are the backwater department of the pantheon, who only show up in JTTW to get pushed around and revive the occasional dead people.

When Taizong made his trip to the Underworld, the Ten Kings greeted him as equals——kings of ghosts to the king of the living. If they see themselves as equal in status to a mortal emperor, then, like any mortal emperors, they are subordinate to the Celestial Host, and the balance of power is not even remotely equal or in their favor.

Also, it isn't said outright, but under the Zhong-Lv classification of immortals JTTW is using, Underworld officials will likely be considered Ghostly immortals, the lowest and weakest of the five types, much like Tudis and Chenghuangs.

Essentially: they are ghosts that are powerful enough to not reincarnate and linger on and on, spirits of pure Yin as opposed to true immortals, who are beings of pure Yang.

It's pretty much the shittiest form of immortality, the result you get when you try to speedrun cultivation (the Zhong-Lv text also made a dig at Buddhist meditation here), and if they don't reincarnate or regain a physical body, there is no chance of progressing any further.

Oh, and fun fact? In the Song dynasty, commoners and literati elites alike believed that virtuous officials in life would get appointed as ghostly officials in death.

However, the latter viewed it as a punishment. Which was strange, considering how they still held the same position and the same amount of authority, just over dead people instead of living ones, so there should be no big losses, right?

Well...it was precisely the "dead people" part that made it a punishment. See, a lot of the power and prestige they had as officials came from the benefits they could bring to their families and kins and native places, as well as the potential wealth and reputation bonuses for themselves.

A job in the Dead People Supreme Court would give them the same workload, but with none of those benefits. Since all the dead people had to reincarnate eventually, they couldn't have a fixed group as their power base, or keep their old familial ties and connections. At most, they could help out an occasional dead relative or two.

Like, working for the Underworld Courts was the kind of deadend (no pun intended) job not even living officials wanted for themselves in the afterlife. That's how hilariously sad and pathetic they are.

4. In JTTW at least, they aren't even the highest authorities of the Underworld.

That would be Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha, who is technically their boss, though he seems to be more of a spiritual leader than someone who is actually involved in running the bureaucracy.

Which makes sense, since he has sworn an oath to not attain Buddhahood until all Hells are empty, and his role is to offer relief and salvation to the suffering souls, not judging and punishing them.

Now, historically...even though Ksitigarbha in early Tang legends was still the savior of the dead, he seemed to be unable to interfere with the judicial process of the Underworld, merely showing up to take people away before they were judged by King Yama.

However, in the mid-Tang apocryphal "Sutra of Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha" (地藏菩萨经), he had evolved into the equal of King Yama, with the power of supervision over his judgements. By the time the Scripture on the Ten Kings came out, in artistic depictions, the Ten Kings had become fully subservient to him.

5. Diyu usually refers to the prison-torture chamber part, not the courthouse, nor is it the entirety of the Underworld.

And for the majority of souls that haven't committed crimes, they'll only see the courthouse part before they are sent to reincarnation. That's why I personally don't like, or use the name Diyu for the Chinese Underworld: I prefer the term Difu ("Earth Mansions"), which encompasses the whole realm better.

Also: even though historical sources like the Scripture on the Ten Kings and Jade Records seem to suggest that the dead were just funneled through this Courthouse-Prison-Reincarnation pipeline with no breaks in between, in practice, that isn't the case.

According to popular folk beliefs, after the dead were done with their trials/sentences, they stayed in the Underworld for a period of time and led regular lives, while functioning as ancestor spirits and receiving offerings.

Which would imply that the Underworld had a civilian district of sorts, populated by regular ghosts, making the whole realm even less of a direct Hell/Purgatory equivalent.

6. It is located in a different realm, but still part of the Six Paths and doesn't exist outside of reality.

In Buddhist cosmology, like the Celestial Realm, the Underworld is part of the Realm of Desires and thus subject to all the woes of samsara.

The pain and misery of the Path of Hell may be the worst and most obvious, but becoming a celestial being isn't the goal of serious Buddhists either: despite all the pleasures and near-infinite lifespan they enjoy, they are not free from samsara and will eventually have to reincarnate.

So if, say, the world is being destroyed at the end of a kalpa, all beings of the Six Paths will perish alongside it, leaving behind a clean slate for the cycle to start anew. The dead won't all end up in the Underworld and face eternal damnation.

7. The Black and White Impermanences would not appear in the Underworld pantheon formally until the Qing dynasty.

The concept that when you die, you get fetched to the Underworld by petty ghost bureaucrats is already well-established in Tang legends, but these were just generic ghost bureaucrats in all sorts of colorful official robes, with yellow being the most common color.

The idea of there being two specific psychopomps in black and white would only become popular in the Qing dynasty. Mengpo is kinda similar: although she existed before the Ming-Qing era as a goddess of wind, venerated by boatmen, her "amnesia soup granny" incarnation came from the Jade Records.

[sturniluvr]

All of me, loves all of you

Matt Sturniolo x fem!reader

word count: 1.3k

warnings: possible spelling mistakes, some language, hate comments, nothing else lmk if I missed anything

summary: you’ve always been told in your life by multiple people that you’re always either too loud or too quiet and it’s one of your biggest insecurities but happens to be your boyfriend’s favourite thing about you.

A/N: sorta inspired by @obsidianbaby fic with a little twist and hers is a Chris version. Here it is if you want to check it out. Listen to John Legend ‘all of me’ while reading if you want <3

❗️semi proof read❗️

You were on sat on the couch as the triplets rushed around the house getting the equipment they needed to film the car video, all they had left to find was a battery because Nick once again forgot to charge the battery so they had to find a charged one to replace the dead battery before filming whilst also waiting for their food to arrive.  

“Y/N are you joining us for the video? Or can I be Matt’s passenger princess?” Chris joked as he made his way past her towards the kitchen to check their junk drawer for the spare battery.  

“Fuck where is it?” He muttered to himself as he rummaged through the drawer, unsuccessful in finding what he was looking for. The younger woman didn’t acknowledge her best friend at first, her head being buried in her phone, more specifically, looking at the comments on last Friday’s car video where she was having one of her more quiet days and the comments surely picked up on the sudden mood change compared to her yapping in the Wednesday video prior to the Friday car video. 

‘She needs to make up her mind, either be loud or be quiet Jesus Christ’ 

‘How do they put up with her? She’s so annoying’ 

‘Y/N needs to be more entertaining omg😭’ 

‘One day she’s quiet the next she won’t stfu, must be so annoying to the triplets, how do they like her??? Especially Matt??? Poor guy’ 

‘She’s such a weirdo, either being way too loud or way too quiet💀’ 

‘Y/N?? You with me kid?” Chris waved his hand in front of her face to grab her attention. 

“Hmm? Sorry Chris what did you say?” She replied to the older boy. As he was about to reply, the doorbell rang signaling the food had arrived, Matt came from his bedroom and made his way down the stairs to open the door and get the food, thanking the delivery driver as he closed the door. He came back up the stairs and placed the bag of McDonald’s on the kitchen table, sorting out who’s is who’s. 

“I was asking if you were coming to film with us?” she shook her head in response. 

“No, I’ll sit this one out, I think. Maybe just watch a film or have a shower and an early night.” 

Matt’s head turned in the direction of his girlfriend and brother as soon as he heard the words leave Y/N’s mouth, immediately sensing something was wrong. 

“You okay baby? You feeling good?” He asked, concern written all over his features, Matt made his way over to the Y/H/C girl with her usual McDonalds order of 9 chicken nuggets, medium fries and a peach iced tea. He placed her food on the table in front of her and quickly raised the back of his hand to her forehead, her temperature seemed fine to him. 

“Yeah, I’m okay Matt, I promise, I’m just tired you know I’ve had a busy day.” She explained, looking up at her boyfriend with a not very convincing smile on her face, not convincing to Matt anyway, he could read her like a book. 

Nick had found the battery, and the camera was now ready to set up in the car. 

“You coming you two?” He calls out to the couple while grabbing his food off the kitchen table. Chris doing the same and stood with the oldest triplet waiting for an answer. 

“Give us a minute Nick, you and Chris head to the car.” Matt replied, throwing his car keys in the direction of Chris which he smoothly caught. The brothers made their way downstairs to the garage to unlock the car. In the living room, Matt was now sat next to Y/N on the couch. He noticed a stray tear make it’s way down her cheek.

“Baby please just tell me what’s bothering you. It can’t be silly if it’s making you cry.” he stated as he wiped the stray tears off her cheeks with his thumbs. He looked over to her unlocked phone that had since been discarded on the table, he removed his hands from her face and picked her phone up, raising his eyebrows as if asking permission to look through the phone. She nodded in silent understanding. He looked at the illuminated screen and a frown immediately made its way onto his face, followed by a glare at some of the comments that his so called fans had left about the love of his life. 

“They hate me.” Y/N said dejectedly, biting her nails anxiously as Matt continued to read the comments. Matt sighed before he replied. 

“Oh baby. A few comments mean nothing okay my love, what matters is what you think and what I think, and I think you’re amazing just the way you are.” 

“But Matt it’s not just a few comments! It’s every other comment, either saying you must be annoyed by me, or I don’t deserve you or that I’m a weirdo all because I’m always either too loud or too quiet! I’ve always been made fun of because of it!” She replied frustrated, tears beginning to well up in her eyes yet again.  

Suddenly Matt placed her phone face down on the couch and grabbed her hand before leading her to his bathroom. He switched the light on and placed her in front of the mirror and rested his chin on her shoulder and wrapped his arms around her waist. 

“See this woman in the mirror? She is the most perfect woman I have ever met, every little detail of her, from her freckles to her personality makes her even more perfect to me and I fall more in love with her every day.” He placed a trail of kisses leading from her shoulder up to her cheek before he loosened his hold on her waist to turn her so she was facing him before continuing.  

“Darling, you can’t let the things people who hide behind their screens tell you define you okay? It would break my heart to see their nasty words dim my princess’ light, okay? You are perfect to me, and that’s all that matters, okay? Not some bullshit random people on the internet say, they’re just jealous 12 year olds.” He joked, lightening the mood, causing a small smile to creep up on her face, he smiled at the sight.  

“There’s my favorite smile!” He exclaimed.  

He cupped her cheeks before speaking again.  

“Love, you have to remember if you ever feel like this again, is all of me loves all of you, okay? Always has and always will, you’re my favorite person and you being both loud and quiet balances me out perfectly, if I need a quiet and safe place you give that to me, or if I need to let off energy and be crazy, you go on all kinds of crazy adventures with me. I couldn’t be more thankful for you. I love you so much my angel.” 

“I love you too my love” she replied, happy tears now in her eyes as opposed to the sad and frustrated tears in her eyes not even 20 minutes ago. 

“What do you say, we go film the video with Nick and Chris, I want the better passenger princess next to me and not the one who burps 24/7 and looks like me” he joked, she let out a laugh at her boyfriend. 

“Sure, let’s go film. I wanna grab my food first though.” He nodded and the couple made their way into the living room to grab Y/N’s food before making their way down to the garage where they heard Nick and Chris arguing over something ridiculous, they both laughed at the pair. The two in the car noticed the couple stood in the doorway making their way to the car. Y/N got in the car while Matt remained outside, focusing the camera. Y/N threw a thumbs up to Matt as the camera was set up right. Chris gave Y/N a quick hug from the back seat before he spoke. 

“You good now kid?” He asked, she nodded and smiled back at him as Matt got in the car and pressed record. The four filming the video full of laughs and debates. Matt added in a little rant to the viewers on being nicer to Y/N and from that point forward, the hate comments had died down to the odd few from jealous fan girls.