#(i have many thoughts on the dioscuri)

[savrr]

For how long will you remain divine? human? readable. remembered?

[a-gnosis]

Hi! I've always wondered how mortals who have explicitly died and then become gods would work in your comics. Would it be like a Minos and Rhadamanthys type deal? Depending on the version, many like Heracles, the Dioscuri, Asclepios or Ino-Leucothea were said to have been buried and have graves (most had chthonic cults), but are still also said to live in Olympos or the sea. Would a Heracles with black sclera live in Olympus in your version, considering the dislike most gods have for the dead?

Hi! My original idea was that any mortal who was resurrected and made immortal after their death would be like Minos and Rhadamanthys, looking almost normal but with black eyes. But I admit I didn't give it that much thought and reasoned that I would tackle that problem when/if I got there. ^^; You're right that my version of the Olympians would be a bit uncomfortable with people who once were dead, even if it is a beloved child or sibling.

[mokadevs]

Recently finished fgo’s olympus so here are some bleary unorganized thoughts on it and my frustrations before i drift off to sleep

i think my biggest problem with olympus is that it over promises.

I think that the set up is amazing. Not referring to atlantis, though atlantis was great as everyone and their mother has said, but the whole sequence of a) entering olympus and b) exploring olympus is incredible. I think its one of the peak examples of fgo constantly being able to make you feel like their are Actual stakes in the narrative despite you as a player knowing that the tree will inevitably be cut and you’ll see the cosmos denied screen flash by again. Running through the city

Hell, Demeter’s entire entrance was bone chilling. I think she has the best mech design of the olympus gods in my biased opinion, and seeing her drop down before the animated screech she lets out that destroys the city was incredible. Truly the first time i saw it i went Holy Shit.

Then… i wont say the lostbelt flops after that but there were a few key areas that it left me wanting.

Personal preference out of the way, ill say the constant deus ex machinas - whether it be for the good guys or the bad guys (if the bad guy has a deus ex machina, is it called that?? Anyway) - started to get a little irritating after a while. The stakes were so, so high at the start, and demeters victory felt so barely clawed for with so many bits and pieces coming together that certain other fights felt like. “Well, okay then.” The twins revealing caligula and then saying “we didnt wanna say we had him for dramatic effect!” was really eye roll worthy, for example, and to be honest i dont really understand how we were able to shmoove our way out of aphrodites mind control hellscape, which was annoying after again i loved demeters fight So much

ill note there that these are things that didnt work for ME, in MY OPINION im sure other people feel other ways about it and i am happy for them for it :]

I think that parts of the lostbelt felt… rushed, and i didnt feel like the power scaling of chaldea matched narratively. With how much trouble we had for a single fighter at the start, i felt like in universe things got too easy with too little justification.

I was really disappointed with dioscuris writing, and also weirded out by the fact that there were twin humans and twin gods but very little was drawn about their connection…?? I was so certain that they would have some sort of relationship, or at least a cool narrative foil, but all we got was the twin humans hating the dioscuri because they killed their friends, and a cheap line about adele criticizing the girl twin for always following what her brother said.

I feel mixed about chaos, because in the moment i was emotionally moved but in retrospect it feels like a bit of a cheap non-foreshadowed reason for musashi to die epicly. Though maybe it was foreshadowed and i missed it; ill have to reread, but for now it just feels Too out of the blue to feel good.

But i think the thing that i think i disliked the most was “actually zeus was going to fuck off in the end and abandon the humans here letting them die so this lostbelt was evil from the start and gudako is objevtively right for this”

And like. Thats so AGGRAVATING for the lostbelt that was drummed up to be the one that would give us the most trouble, the lostbelt that was supposed to be the model one.

What i really wanted out of this lostbelt was a lostbelt that was objectively better than earth. That really? The only reason we could justify destroying it was for our own survival. Not because the lostbelt was in some way flawed, but because we have no other choice. With how sickly killing the first lostbelt felt, i really wanted lostbelt 5 to blow me out of the park with the emotional weight of killing a world and it just. didnt even try. It threw in some half assed line about why this lostbelt was well and truly evil

Which like! Honestly if it had been done well enough i couldve been fine with, couldve been happy with. But the twist that zeus actually was going to fuck off? That chaos was going to destroy all the humans anyway?? That zeus brainwashed the other gods to his side anyway????? I felt zero sympathy in destroying this lostbelt and i wanted to, SO badly

And i am All Here for a more in depth take on how humans have twisted robots into gods. How these ronots thought they could love humans but didnt hold the capacity for it!!! Honestly that concept is super cool!! I liked it!!! But like. The way it was delivered left a bad taste in my mouth. I wanted to care more about the tragedy it had wrought.

I wish that zeus’ defeat was something like… in attempting to defeat zeus, chaldea accidentally/maybe on purpose? Endangers the people of olympus. And through the motions of protecting them, zeus burns and falls to ruin. And as he lays there, he realizes that as much as he wants to care for these people hes protecting, he doesnt. And hes dying for what he feels is nothing.

If i put more thought to it i could come up with more ways the god plotline couldve been bettered on. But like. A third act twist where the reader is reassured that this lostbelt is undeniably evil is really one of the worst options they couldve taken at that point. Basically everything else i can forgive but that felt really sour in my mouth

And finally . I loved kirschtania and caenis i did cry. I could say more on them but itd be fairly incoherent especially when im this tired. Just know that i really really like them

[piscesseer]

Gemini Season 👯‍♀️🪻🍃 May 21 - June 21

Symbol: The Twins Mantra: I Think Element: Air Ruling Planet: Mercury Modality: Mutable House: Third House Crystals: Agate, Tiger’s Eye, Citrine Anatomy: Arms, Hands & Lungs Flower: Lavender Tarot Card: The Lovers

About Gemini

In the Northern Hemisphere, the days are getting longer and there’s a feeling of change in the air as Spring moves into Summer. Gemini is excellent for guiding transformation and change. Born with a playful and curious disposition, Gemini finds it easy to adjust to new things. They feel engaged with the world around them, curious and are sociable.

Gemini is represented by The Twins talking back and forth in constant conversation, reinforcing that this sign is social with an affinity for gossip and a strong need for mental stimulation. The Twins symbol is based on Castor and Pollux from Greek mythology. Also known as The Dioscuri, they are the children of Leda and  Zeus. Castor and Pollux are present in many Greek and Roman stories, known for their mastery of horses and protection of guests and travelers. The Dioscuri bonded eternally and the two were cast in the heavens as the enduring Gemini Twins constellation, immortalizing the magical and mysterious duality of the sign’s archetype.

The Tarot card that relates to Gemini is The Lovers. Two people are in partnership, or connecting in love and attraction. It echoes the Twins’ sense of joined purpose and duality. The Lovers remind us of the interdependent nature of life and the relational facet that lives in all of us.

The ruler of Gemini is Mercury, the planet of communication, language and travel. It’s named for the only Roman God who could freely travel between the heavens and the underworld, explaining Gemini’s desire to move between realms, chat with many different people, and go after what peaks their curiosity.

The inventiveness and thirst for knowledge comes forward in the mantra: ‘I think’. It could be extended into the phrase, ‘I think, therefore I am’ highlighting their sense of purpose bent toward discovery and expanding their mental awareness.

Gemini represents two personalities in one. You may never be sure which one you might face. They are sociable, communicative and ready for fun, with the tendency to suddenly become serious, thoughtful and restless. They are versatile, comfortable with being introverts and extroverts. They are perceptive, analytical, but social, fun-loving and very funny. They can adapt to the energy for a room. 

Gemini are the social butterflies of the zodiac. They connect with people through dialogue, communication, debate and questions. They are the ever-curious child asking Why? They like to pick things apart to understand them. They tend to relate to people through language. Gemini love texting and tweeting almost as much as they love talking IRL. The act of expression tends to be more important to Gemini than what is actually being said. 

Have you ever been so busy you wished that you could clone yourself to get things done? That’s the Gemini experience in a nutshell. They constantly feel as if there isn’t enough time for them to experience everything they want to see. Adventuring and socializing comes naturally, but relaxing proves more difficult. They can be emotionally evasive, using humor to deflect from deeper feelings. Their witty and mischievous button-pushing can be annoying, relentless and cruel if it’s not measured with a healthy sense of social boundaries and respect. Some blind spots for Gemini are rooted in their greatest strengths. They can be overly intellectual, overthinking and over gaining information without actually learning how to utilize it. 

Gemini holds the power to be a change-maker, making them naturally adaptable, able to explore ideas, languages, and information. They can socialize and communicate to form new pathways of awareness.

Do you have a Gemini Sun? Learn More Here.

How Can Gemini Season Affect You?

The lazy, sensual groundedness of Taurus Season transitions into a sharper, less solid energy of Gemini Season. This offers us a chance to turn our energies outward onto the social world. You might be more likely to go out or attend events during Gemini Season. It’s a great time to meet new people. You might find yourself being more talkative. Find time to spend with your friends!

This drive to connect can manifest in a desire for new things! You might seek more intellectual stimulation. While exchanging ideas in a social situation might be great for some, others may need to absorb knowledge. It’s a great time for reading, writing or learning a new skill. Regardless of your sign, it’s a great time to switch things up; take a new route to work, talk to someone new, or watch a movie that might not usually interest you. Gemini is a champion of finding new things in our everyday lives. You might be more adaptable to new situations or be more likely to embrace different experiences. 

Gemini’s energy can manifest in duality. You could feel more aware of your own contradictions. Beware of feeling extra indecisive. You might feel more scattered and restless than usual. Be sure to remember rest is just as important as getting shit done. It’s important to find balance.

In Gemini Season you can let go of the idea that you can only act one way, that you can only be one thing, that you have to choose between all sides of yourself. You can recognize that every part of yourself is authentic. You can follow your curiosity and don’t ever have to be bored!

Journal Prompts and Reflection for Gemini Season:

💚 How can I improve my communication skills? 💚 Are there any relationships that need my attention or nurturing during this season? 💚 Who are the people I want to connect with or deepen my relationships with? 💚 In what areas of my life do I feel the need for change and how can I embrace it? 💚 How can I bring more versatility into my daily life? 💚 What books, articles, or podcasts do I want to explore? Are there any new skills or hobbies I would like to learn or develop? 💚 Are there any unresolved decisions or choices I need to address, and how can I approach them with clarity? 💚 Are there any aspects of myself that I tend to suppress or hide? How can I embrace and integrate them into my life?

[eulcgizeme]

OPEN TO: @gcldenhcurs for delilah barlowe MUSE: cade dyer, forty-one. cult leader / one half of the most chaotic duo that is house of dioscuri. jake gyllenhaal fc. PLOT: the upside down pineapple sequel.

Cade couldn't remember whose terrible idea had been to think up retirement, but the goal had been that a little bit of settling would reignite the fire needed for a new round of innovation in a few years. The clubs meanwhile ran themselves, and their founders still remained in control the second they decided to pick up the reigns. They simply needed to play house as a means of dusting off their image and appealing to a new wave of investors. As far as he was concerned, a rock on Delilah's finger should have been enough but they needed more, and so they added a fence, a quiet neighborhood, and even an SUV parked in the driveway with the promise of expansion. They just didn't need to know it was meant to bring equipment reserved for a back room. The rumors started first, of course. Many believed that Cade and Delilah were no more than an affair that had moved to higher ground, and then Cade's personal favorite that they were a government lead social experiment. There was a flash to them, a glistening that didn't quite fit the neighborhood despite the fact that they hadn't done anything to the property. Inquiries came up to their door as soon as curiosity brought onlookers forth, and soon they planted the seed to draw out the quiet desires of those around them. It was sour in thought, but a little pondering made it sweet. It wasn't fully ripe until the invitation was given to lie between them at night, and it sprouted to life soon after. All it took was one trip to the grocery store to end their mundane plans and it was placed right on its crown to demonstrate to all if they wanted, they simply needed a small gesture to show it. "As much as I like Sheryl, I hate her fucking husband," Cade whispered into Delilah's ear as he joined her on the lounge chair by the pool. The canvas scratched his every move aloud, the hand placed between her legs simply for comfort not an exception. Wednesday always marked their weekly get togethers, and there were more than usual this week with field trips to the local fair. The perks of a small town were that they excused you early from work for wholesome reasons, but their cou-de-sac took advantage of it. Meredith three streets down, Kathy from Lakeview, Justine from five blocks south all seemed eager to take on someone else's responsibility and everyone else took advantage of their freedom. "Do you know much of those two by the grill?" He asked her. "They've come before but I wonder if he really thinks we're just here to get use out of the pool."

[grinoir]

Deific/Major Familiars and the Table of Offers

As stated before, the Deific Familiar is the first Familiar one has to approach. It corresponds to the patron God or Goddess of the contemporary practitioners, although in the past the concept of “Divinity” in a non-christian sense got lost with the end of real paganism. From then on, these entities were addressed as more powerful Spirits.

A BIT OF HISTORY

In the middle ages and in the first modern era, the Deific/Major Familiar appeared as the head of the Procession of the Dominae Nocturnae (Signore della Notte, Ladies of the Night).

All throughout the Europe of this period, we always find the same theme, although called with different names: there’s a figure, the Deific Familiar, that procedes with a following of Spirits (usually women and associated with Fairies) and human Souls (the so called Witches, that evidently were non other than individuals that were having an extracorporeal experience) passing from house to house.

Those who wanted to have the favors of said Procession and of the Deific Familiar that was the head of it, would completely clean the house, putting everything in order, making the beds, etc. Then they proceded to prepare the table for these Spiritual guests, leaving food and drinks on the kitchen table for the night.

During the night, the Procession would enter the house, stopping to eat, drink, dance and sing and the Deific Familiar, with his/her wand, would have blessed the same food: the Procession could only eat the Spiritual aspect of the food, filling the Material aspect with prosperity and many other virtues.

In the morning, the blessed food was supposed to be eaten and the left overs preserved.

According to some scholars, the theme of the Procession of the Dominae Nocturnae has its origin in the theme of the Wild Hunt or the Procession of the Dead.

The Wild Hunt was the Procession of Spirits of those who fell honorably in battle, according to the Viking beliefs, the Einhejar, together with the Valkyries, guided by Wotan (Odin), and it was said that it could be possible to see it in some occasion in the battlefield.

This theme will slightly change in the christian epoque, becoming the Procession of the Dead, a procession of Spirits of those who died a violent death, suicides, non baptized children and people who weren’t evil enough to deserve eternal damnation in hell, but that could not access Paradise either (the concept of Purgatory was developed from here). This belief, even if born in the germanic/norse world, will spread throughout Europe, thanks to the extensive preaching of the christian priests, that, while trying to eradicate said beliefs in the population, obtained the opposite effect.

This theme would then be changed and adapted by every culture: Wotan was substituted with local figures, first among all, Hellequin (from “ Helle König”, the King of Hell, from which Dante developed the figure of Alichino, that later became the famous figure of Arlecchino, Harlequin).

From the initial Wild Hunt, two different Processions would be developed:

Procession of the Dead, with a male like Hellequin as the head

Procession of the Dominae Nocturnae, with a female like Diana or Aradia as the head. This theme also received the influence of the beliefs on Fairies. In numerous cases the figure head of the Dominae Nocturnae is also the head of the Fairies (Doamna Zinelor in Romania, the Fata Maggiore in Sicily, the Queen of Elphame in Great Britain).

This introduction is useful to understand how to choose our Deific Familiar. This Familiar was different in each region, although the european theme was the same. It depended on local latent beliefs, while the myth of the Procession was pan-european, thanks to the christian priests.

CHOOSING OUR FAMILIAR

Said choice must be thoughtful; we’re linking ourselves with a Spirit, a link that will probably last for all our lives. It cannot be taken lightly.

With this premise, the first thing to do is to seek documents of Witch trials in our area. Usually, the most useful ones are the ones before the 1550s, because around this moment in when the Church starts to associate Witchcraft with the Devil, so we risk to find trials that describe Satan as the head of the Procession, instead of other Spirits, like Diana, Aradia, la Signora del Gioco (Lady of the Game), and others. Said trials are completely useless for our ends.

Analizing these trials and the local folklore (like reading books of popular legends about Witches) we need to pay attention to:

the names of the heads of the Witches

the names of the heads of the Fairies

the names of the heads of the Wild Hunt/Procession of the Dead

the names of other figures deriving from pre-christian divinities present in the folklore

The facebook page “Gli Dei della Stregoneria Italiana” already did good part of the job. Of course this work isn’t exhaustive and it’s good practice to try and integrate it with a personal research, but it’s a good way to start.

[Translator note: I will list the names and the regions to help the non italian speakers that benefit from these translations]

Sicily: the Regina delle Fate (Queen of the Fairies), also called Savia Sibilla, Signora Greca, Signora Grazia, Donna Inguanto, Mandotta and Donna Zabella; the Re delle Fate (King of the Fairies) also called Re Cozzo or Re Cucco.

Sardinia: Diana (the sardinian Fate were called Janas); Maimone also called Maimulu and Mamuthone (probably derived from Dioniso Mainoles. Aradia (also called Mama Erodas, Arada, Araja or Rejusta) was also seen as the patron of the Janas.

Calabria: in this folklore, the table were prepared for the Fatae, that the local albanian minority also called Drekezit o Fiatazit. There are also the figures of the Sibilla Cumana, of the local Befana called Papparutu or Pacciarutu and a group of local healers called Cerauli that had St. Paul (substitution to Eracle) as their patron.

Apulia: the Patrona de la Cheise, figure similar to the Donne di Fori/Donne di Fuori/Patruni di Casa/Patruni di Luocu Siciliane. One salutes her saying:”Bon ggiorne a la Patrona de la Cheise, u mmaile ca esce e un bbeine ca triese” (”Good morning to the Patrona de la Cheise, an evil that goes away and a blessing that enters”). To protect yourself from the apulian Streghe, the Masciare, the locals said “Driana meste ca va pela vì” (”Master Diana that travels the roads”). The local paganism of the V sec. a.C. consists in the cult of a divinity of the Sun (Mitra or Apollo?) and a divinity of the Moon (Diana?). Dioniso is the god linked to the Tarantismo, substituted by St. Paul in later times.

Basilicata: the Madonna Nera di Viggiano, probably derived from Persefone, has a black face and wonders between the fields of wheat and the cattle, it was a dark divinity from the shadows of the earth’s womb, the farmers’ Persefone, an infernal goddess. We also find prayers to the Santo Sole (Saint Sun), probably a remainder of Apollo or Helios.

Molise: the cult of St. Cosma and St. Damiano comes from the cult of the Dioscuri and in part from the cult of Priapo. This region shares with Campania the figure of the Ianare, the local Streghe, and as a result of Diana that gives the name to these Streghe.

Campania: Diana gives the name to the local Streghe, the Ianare/Janare and it’s linked to the cult of the Noce di Benevento (the Walnut tree of Benevento), together with Godan (Odin) and Iside (Isis). The folklore mentions other gods: the Zucculara (Hekate), Cupindo (Cupido), Erodiade (Aradia) and the Sepilla la bella (the Sibilla Cumana).

Lazio: Aradia lead the Streghe to Rome and gathered them together the day of St. John, near the homonym basilica. We also read about the Meridiana or Marianna, a demon of noonday, probably deriving from Diana. Cupiddo (Cupid) was also worshipped.

Abruzzo: this region shares with Umbria and Marche the cult of the Sibilla Appenninica (also called the Sibilla Picena or the Sibilla di Norcia); probably derived from the cult of Cibele, Cupra, Nortia or Venere; others think this figure was the Sibilla of the god Pico. The goddess Angizia in the origin of the figure of St. Domenico di Cocullo. Some of the other cults are the goddess Ancharia and Ercole Curino, the goddess Maia, the god Hermes, the Pasqua Pefanij or Bboffe, a feminine figure linked to Epiphany.

Tuscany: the tuscanian Befana, has the same origin of the venetian Redodesa; the Fantasma, a figure linked to Hekate; the Maga Accina on mt. Amiata, linked to the Sibilla Appenninica. The belief in Diana and Aradia is documented by the archbishop Sant’Antonino in the XV sec d.C., long before Leland.

Emilia-Romagna: the goddess head of the Streghe is called the Domina Cursus and Sapiente Sibilla. Other pagan figures of the local folklore are: the Borda, deriving from Borvo/Bormo a celtic god that presides the thermal and spring waters; the Fata was corresponding to the germanic Perchta, seen as a nice old lady, very clean and with a welcoming attitude.

Again, it is vital that you make your own research by looking up the names of these divinities and accessing the documents of the trials.

Once obtained these names, starting from the region(s) that we choose as a point of reference and the call that we feel towards a specific divinity, we can operate the decision of our Deific Familiar.

THE TAVOLO DELLE OFFERTE

Now that we have chosen our Deific/Major Familiar, we can start with the Tavolo delle Offerte (the Table of Offerings), a table spread with food and drinks for our Familiar and their Procession.

Here is how it goes:

Thoroughly clean the house (or at least the room in which you’ll operate this ritual, usually the kitchen).

Set the table (if we’re forced to work in other rooms, an altar will suffice) with a clean tablecloth, table napkins, cutlery, dishes, glasses, a bottle of wine or another drink of choice and the following meals (first course, second course, side dish, dessert or fruit). You’ll also need one or more chairs, so that our guests can seat.

Recite a prayer to manifest that we’re leaving this offering to our Deific Familiar and its following, inviting them inside, allowing them to dance, eat, sing and drink inside our house and asking them to consume our food and to bless it after they consumed its Spiritual aspect, and to cast their blessing upon us, our house and to its inhabitants.

We can light some incense and leave some musical instruments as a further offer. Adding candles and tapers that represent our Deific Familiar, statues or images of them, flowers and so on, it’s also acceptable. These are contemporary additions, but the banquet is the necessary base of the offering.

In the morning, we will approach the table, thank the Deific Familiar and we’ll eat the blessed food. Upon finishing the meal, we’ll thank the Deific Familiar once more, we’ll tell them goodbye and procede to clean up.

WHEN AND HOW OFTEN LEAVE THE OFFER?

The foundation of the relationship with a Familiar Spirit is to nurture them, in order to fuel the link between ourselves and the Spirit. In the past, the Strega fed their Familiar once a day. In this age, some people make offering everyday, others a few times a week or even once a week. In my opinion [TN: the author’s opinion] we should make an offer at least once a week.

[Translated and adapted from https://tradizioneitaliana.wordpress.com/2018/04/04/introduzione-alla-stregoneria-tradizionale-iii-i-famigli-deifici-e-il-tavolo-delle-offerte/]

[elencelebrindal]

Saw the passive abilities question, so now we have to ask: what passives would all the golds have?

I am SO sorry this took me so long to answer, but here I go!

Of course, I went the "creature the zodiac sign is linked to" way.

Aries:

You know how rams headbutt each other to assert dominance? The Aries Saint has the ability to headbutt people without gaining brain damage as a result. Well, jokes aside, rams can charge at incredible speed before attacking and have considerable endurance, so maybe the latter is what I can give the Aries Saint as an innate ability? Fights between rams can last for hours, so I bet the Aries Saint can keep fighting for much longer than a Saint normally can.

Taurus:

Rather than an ability, I would say the Taurus Saint has a tendency of being red-green colorblind, as bulls generally have dichromacy. In addition to that, I'd say the Taurus Saint is always the strongest, at least on a physical level, because bulls have incredible strength.

Gemini:

Well, I don't know? The gemini zodiac sign literally represents twins, so... I have no idea what kind of ability I could give the Gemini Saint, aside from an innate capability of bickering with their twin.

...

Okay, I'm done joking. Gemini represents Castor and Pollux, the Dioscuri, who are known for being excellent hunters and horsemen. With this in mind, I'd say the innate ability of the Gemini Saint is exactly that: riding and hunting. And this Saint can hunt anything.

Cancer:

... I thought I had no idea of what do write here, because, well, the constellation is literally just the crab that bit Hercules while he was fighting the Hydra. There's nothing associated with it, save for this fact, and that it was placed among the stars by Hera. But then I remembered that I'm supposed to take into account the animal itself as well, and crabs? They can themselves so well you can't notice them even if you walk right past their hiding spot. So this is what the Cancer Saint's ability. Hiding. Which, if you ask me, is an extremely useful ability, no matter how proud the Gold Saints are.

Leo:

I wanted to say "the Leo Saint has the ability to run after a laser pointer" so bad, but then I remembered that one video I watched of lions being completely uncaring of laser pointers so... guess the joke died before existing. Anyway, the Leo Saint is probably known for ability to deliver short but powerful attacks, just like real lions. They don't have much in terms of stamina - remember, we're still in the superhuman category here - but they are powerful by default. Also, using the Nemean lion to my advantage, I'll say the Leo Saint can't be wounded easily. Just for a silly comparison: if another Saint lands face-first into the ground, there's going to be blood right away; is a Leo Saint lands face-first into the ground, there's still going to be blood right away, but only because Leo would kick in the teeth whoever slammed him on the floor. Basically, it takes effort to draw blood from a Leo Saint.

Also, a Leo Saint that's also a woman has a more refined hunting instinct, because I watched way too many documentaries in my life and I know that a lioness does 99% of the hunting work and it's better at it.

Virgo:

Does the ability of never getting laid count?

This one is tricky, because Virgo represents Astrea, the celestial virgin and goddess of innocence, purity, and precision. Since these don't really qualify as abilities, I looked into her mythology and remembered that she's closely associated with Earth. Because of this, I believe the Virgo Saint's ability is to communicate on a deep, spiritual level with the essence of Earth and its creatures. Which is not too far from what's actually depicted in canon, after all.

Libra:

The Libra Saint can always find the perfect balance. Doesn't matter if it's physical or metaphorical, Thanos would die of envy for how perfectly balanced everything is for this Saint. Aside from this, which is more of a practical ability, the Libra Saint has also the amazing capability of being always able to find loopholes in laws (Libra represents justice and law, so... yeah), and can always know if someone is innocent or guilty.

Scorpio:

Oh, here I go, let me butcher my sign completely. My first thought was that the Scorpio Saint is actually venomous (god, I hope I used the right word, we only have ONE in Italian for poisonous and venomous). Not like a certain Pisces Saint we know and love, of course. Just like with Taurus, it's a characteristic and not a passive ability, but I do have something else as well.

And that something else is an ability to survive even in the worst, most dire conditions. Scorpions, unless you straight up crush them under your foot, are extremely difficult to kill. They have a tremendous immune system, they literally don't drown, they can slow down their metabolism when there's no food around, you can freeze them completely and they'll just walk away once thawed, and they can live in harsh climates with no issues. In light of this, the Scorpio Saint is extremely difficult to kill, and can resist most life-threatening conditions with ease. I'd say is a good passive ability to have, for sure.

Sagittarius:

It goes by itself that the Sagittarius Saint has the innate ability to be absolutely amazing with bow and arrow, but another passive ability they have is horse riding. Lastly, since the constellation actually represents Chiron, the Sagittarius Saint is an excellent mentor and teacher, better than anyone else.

Capricorn:

Goats can climb near vertical surfaces, and so can the saint of this constellation. It's a really useful ability, especially when it comes to stealthy missions and the like. Alongside this, the Capricorn Saint is probably a really good swimmer, since the constellation is half goat and half fish, although not as good as the Pisces Saint.

Aquarius:

Oh, here we have some troubles. The Aquarius constellation represents Ganymede, Zeus' freaking cup-bearer. He's a hero, yes, but he's known for having enchanted Zeus enough to gain a place in the Olympus as an immortal. What does this leave me with? A Saint that has the air association of the sign, the water association of the constellation, and the fascinating beauty of the myth.

Let's just say that the Aquarius Saint has the perfect mastery over ice (which is canon) because air and water? Come on, it's the only thing I cant think about. That's the passive ability, an insane control over water and air that translate in mastery of all ice things. Plus the ability to enchant even the gods, because the Pisces Saint is not the only enticing person of the Sanctuary.

Pisces:

I'd say the passive ability of the Pisces Saint is swimming like a mermaid, aka quickly, efficiently, and without needing as much rest as a normal human. Some powerful Saints can also find themselves able to breathe underwater, but it's a rather rare ability that doesn't show up often, and not many are willing to try breathing underwater just to make sure.

And that's it, since the other somewhat passive ability I love to give every single Pisces Saint (and not only the canon ones) is venomous blood and plant toxins immunity.

I don't know if I nailed or failed this answer. I'm mostly going off of stuff I know out of the top of my head, because I'm a sucker for nature documentaries and documentaries in general, so there might be some stupid things sprinkled here and there.

Doesn't matter.

Once again, sorry for taking so long, and thank you for the interesting ask!

[frostops]

I have some thoughts about how FGO has handled trans and trans-adjacent characters, and I’m frustrated how many people talk about the mishandlings without discussing the transmisogyny in it, but this is long as fuck, so its under the cut.

Its a good thing that FGO is having more characters with the genderless trait who aren’t given that trait for shitty reasons, but framing this as FGO being better at handling nonbinary characters, while technically true, ignores what caused many of the early issues. That cause is often transmisogyny.

Transmisogyny has been an issue in the game since Da Vinci’s introduction. Da Vinci doesn’t have the genderless trait, but she’s still important to discuss to understand FGO’s mishandling of trans characters. Mash and Romani are both angry at the idea of Leonardo Da Vinci not being a man, and call her a pervert, among other things. This is immediately after both find out King Arthur was actually a woman, but neither seemed to care then. Its understood by the writing that some believed to be a man turning out to actually be a cis woman isn’t deserving of malice, but that person turning out to be a trans woman is. The writing surrounding Da Vinci slowly got better, with characters being less shitty about and eventually respecting her gender. While Da Vinci initially describes herself as beyond gender, she says so in response to Roman and Mash’s reaction to her gender, where as whenever she is referred to as a woman (Lancelot saying he couldn’t hurt a beautiful women in Camelot, Napoleon calling her mademoiselle in LB2), she eats it up. Her early description of being beyond gender feels more like a tongue-in-cheek way of degendering a trans woman. While overall the writing treats Da Vinci better now, there are still times where it gets shitty, even as recent as the event where Van Gogh was introduced, where Hokusai talks about both Da Vinci and Van Gogh having an inherent maleness that bleeds into their art. This event did have a guest writer, but it was still allowed into the game.

The first character to have the genderless trait is D’Eon. Historically, D’Eon was intersex and trans feminine, and very likely a trans woman, but the fate version is introduced saying they were crazy in life, intended to be in reference to how they presented their gender. They are also presented as caring more about loyalty to France than what gender they are seen as, when the real D’Eon blackmailed the king into legally recognizing them as a woman. Transmisogyny, as well as intersexism, is pretty obviously what made Type-Moon take reduce D’Eon to just jokes about gender. D’Eon feels degendered in way similar to how Da Vinci is at time, though D’Eon gets it worse

Astolfo debuted in Apocrypha, where their presentation is used for a joke where Jeanne, believing Astolfo to be a girl, freaks out when she sees that Astolfo has a penis. The joke is that it is such a horrible thing to find a penis on some you think is a girl. I shouldn’t need to explain the transmisogyny behind that, or that Astolfo ostensibly not being a trans woman doesn’t make the joke less transmisogynistic. There are other, better things about Astolfo in Apocrypha, but most of their writing in FGO is in the same vein as the joke with Jeanne. This is crystalized in Agartha, where both Astolfo and D’Eon were used for many transmisogynistic, intersexist, and homophobic jokes. 

The third, and for a long time last, character to have the genderless trait was Enkidu. They are given this trait due to changes to their myth. In Fate, Enkidu is made of clay, and had a nonhuman appearance until meeting Shamhat, and modeling their appearance after her. They don’t have a physical sex, but, due to originally being a male character and appearing feminine in fate, the writers and fans alike treat them similarly to how they treat Astolfo and D’Eon, though less aggressively. Usually when Enkidu appears in a fate work, one character has to talk about how they can’t tell whether Enkidu is a man or a woman, before settling on neither, but only reach that conclusion because they don’t have a physical sex. The transmisogyny isn’t as strong in Enkidu’s writing, but its still there.

Until LB3, no other character would be given the genderless trait, and what all 3 of them have in common is being AMAB or originally male characters who present femininely. Technically Da Vinci fits this description as well, but her body is considered female by Type-Moon’s standards, so she gets the female trait. Also, with the exception of Astolfo, have bodies that wouldn’t considered male of female by most people. In Deon’s case, this is the result of intersexism, and even more frustrating when you remember that D’Eon blackmailed the king to be seen as a woman. I’d wager the reason Astolfo is grouped with the other two is itself a continuation of the joke from Apocrypha. It’s a coy “We all know what Astolfo’s ‘real’ gender is, but we’ll play along with the joke.” 

I think this also explains other characters who, arguably, could be included in the genderless trait, but were not. Nezha, like Da Vinci, only got a “female” body after dying, so they get the female trait too, despite not really being comfortable with any gender labels. Mordred, who consistently gets violently angry at being called a woman, and whose bio states that they don’t like being referred to as a man either (though this wouldn’t be implemented into writing until LB3, where they are clearly far less bothered by being referred to as man) also  has the female trait. King Hassan’s bio has his gender listed as “?????” but he is treated as male by the game and has the male trait.

None of the newer genderless servants fit the same description of amab/originally male and presenting femininely, which does show a more nuanced understanding of gender identity and expression, but it doesn’t show anymore respect towards trans women and transfems. Both Shi Huang Di and Douman have somewhat androgynous presentations, but we still don’t really have trans fem character whose gender and presentation is treated respectfully other than Da Vinci, and that’s frustrating. For the most part, though, these characters are all pretty well handled. 

Two of them, Mao Nobu and Romulus-Quirinus, are new versions of characters who already had the female and male trait respectively, meaning the game has at least someone moved away from equating the genderless trait to a character’s physical sex, but not entirely since part of the reason Shi Huang Di has the trait is their inability to reproduce.

There is some disagreement about how Caenis is handled, and I do have thoughts on that topic, but if I talked about that this would be twice as long. The short version is that the necessity to make characters fit into fanservice, something which negatively affects all of the characters I mention here, limits the ways in which Caenis’s relationship to their gender can be explored. Its also why we have Caenis and not Caenus, and why Caenis is rarely allowed to where a shirt.

There is also Dioscuri, who is two characters, one man and one woman, who are collectively on servant, so even though they have the genderless trait, they're not really relevant.

We do have more originally male characters now in female bodies. Vritra and Van Gogh, who were added recently (Vritra’s bio says she was originally male and now has a female vessel and Van Gogh is Vincent Van Gogh in Clytie’s body), Kama, an originally male deity possessing Sakura’s body, is being added to NA this year, and even back in part 1 we had Quetzalcoatl, another male god in a female vessel. All of them are given the female trait, and Quetz in particular seems to be very comfortable being a woman, but this still feels like what happened with Nezha, where the “physically female” body matters more than the identity of the character, especially with Van Gogh, who had no choice in being put in Clytie’s body. 

Mechanically, the gender traits only affect certain skills and nps, having extra or stronger effects. The genderless servants are exempt from the extra effects, with one exception. Once of Blackbeard’s skills has an effect for female servants, but D’Eon and Astolfo (And maybe also Enkidu, but I don’t remember) were included in this effect as well. The joke here was that Blackbeard is written to be reflective of  the worst qualities of weebs and otakus. many of whom would refer to those two as traps, a transmisogynistic slur, so Blackbeard is into them in the same way. Servants with the genderless trait added afterwards weren’t included in this effect, even though some of them (the ones who transphobic fate fans consider to be women) would still be seen as attractive by Blackbeard. So rather than coding each one individually to be included, they added a new trait, the female looking trait, for Blackbeard’s skill. The genderless servants included in this one all present feminine, but the inclusion of this trait is to make continuing a transphobic joke easier, which almost feels like a step back from some of the previous progress in handling trans characters.

I also think some people are a little too eager to give FGO credit when it may not deserve. For instance, a lot of people liked Douman being included in the genderless trait, and on its own it fine, but the my room line where Sei talks about trying to check under Douman’s robes concerns me. Many people took it as Sei just being horny for Douman, but it could easily be intended as Sei trying to check what’s really in his pants, especially since the canon reason Douman has the genderless trait is that he combined himself with some spirits and deities, one of which is female.

None of this is to say its wrong to view any of these characters as nonbinary (I do view most of them as nonbinary), but I don’t think we should view the genderless trait as equivalent to nonbinary. Not only are there characters included in it who probably shouldn’t be (like D’Eon) and characters who don’t have it who probably should (like Nezha), doing so treat nonbinary as a third and wholly separate gender. And if you’re going to talk about the transphobia of FGO, please be willing to use the word transmisogyny.

[celticcrossanon]

BRF Reading - 1st of July 2021

This is speculation only

Cards drawn 1st of July 2021

Question: What do we (those of us who follow and love the BRF) need to know right now?

With this reading, I took one look at the underlying energy and I was all unsettled and twitchy. My analysis isn't as detailed as usual for that reason - it was hard enough to sit still and focus and type this up as it was. That is Uranus energy and it is coming through this reading (and me!) very, very strongly. Expect the unexpected with this one.

Interpretation: Something shocking and unexpected is coming.

Card One: The Five of Wands. This is a card of conflict. It is usually Meghan and Harry stirring up conflict with the BRF via PR, but this feels more personal. I keep seeing William and Harry fighting (not just verbally, but physically fighting as well). I drew two clarifiers:

Clarifier One: The Hanged Man. Normally I would read this as a card of waiting, but in this reading its alternate meaning is coming through strongly: sacrifice. Someone or someones feel that they have sacrificed enough, and they are saying no more - this ends now - no more sacrifices, now is the time to plan to take action (if I had to put a name on the person saying this, I would say William, and he is angry about something).

Clarifier Two: This was from the bottom of the deck, and is the same card I had for two readings yesterday. The Ten of Swords. It is coming across very strongly as a card of betrayal. Someone feels betrayed, or more than one person feels betrayed, and they feel betrayed by different people in different ways, and this is at the bottom of the conflict.

Card Two: The Fool. This is the card of sun sign Uranus, and Uranus as a planet acts exactly like the Tower card - it brings change through sudden, shocking events. The Fool can also be a card about a child, or children; it can be someone acting in a foolish way, it can be someone having a childlike naivety or innocence. It can also be a card of new beginnings, of taking a leap of faith, and that is partly how it is coming across here - something new is starting, and it will involve trusting in the unknown future and taking a risk to manifest its potential into the world. The main energy is Uranus energy - sudden, unpredictable, electrifying. This is very strong. Whatever it happening, it is something unpredictable.

Card Three: The Knight of Swords. This is coming across as a situation, not a person (which is how I would usually read it). The Knight of Swords is someone who is quick witted, quick to jump into action, who prefers not to plan ahead but to see what happens, and who doesn't always think things through and see the consequences of their actions. They are also driven and ambitious. The card shows the two brothers, the Dioscuri twins, mortal castor and immortal Pollux. I think that whatever is going to happen will happen between Harry and William or it will cause strife (the Five of Wands) between Harry and William, moreso than has happened in the past. Someone is going to do something recklessly/ jump into something without thought and it will set the other one off. I'm not getting anything else, just a separation of two people who were once very close.

Underlying Energy: The Tower. This is an unexpected and shocking event that destroys part of your world and leaves you to rebuild it from the rubble. Something has happened or is going to happen that will rock the BRF. I don't know if this will be made public or if it will be kept quiet, but something shocking and unexpected is going to happen. My stomach is clenching in anticipation as I write this. This may be because I don't like Tower events, or it may be because the event will happen soon or is happening right now.

Conclusion: We start with conflict, a conflict caused by feelings of betrayal and sacrifice - a person/people feel betrayed by one or more persons, and there have been too many sacrifices demanded from someone in the past. Then there is the Fool and the Tower - a burst of Uranus energy, a sudden, shocking event. This will result in new beginnings that will require a step into the unknown, a leap of faith. Finally we have two brothers who once were close but who now are separated. The shocking event may bring them closer together, or it may drive them further apart, and I think it will be the latter.

[anistrange]

A MYTHOLOGICAL ESSAY (TITANS)

Like many here, I love Greek mythology with its unlimited catalogue of gods and fantastic creatures. However, I've always had a problem adapting these stories. Beyond the writing of these figures which is an object of discussion in forums like these, I want to focus on a more A E S T H E T I C aspect.

Specially, about the Titans

NOW WHO ARE THE TITANS?

In Greek Mythology, the titans are the second generation of the gods (theoi) that ruled the cosmos, Cronus is the youngest of the titans when he overthrew his father, the primordial Uranus to later rule the heavens together with Rhea. To this point we know the famous story of Zeus against his father when he freed his brothers from the cage (A.K.A the belly) of Cronus and managed to defeat him and then he was sent to Tartarus.

Now my problem lies beyond its writing and symbolism, the design of this second generation of gods is a problem for me, especially in modern adaptations for the big screen and videogames. How many times have we not seen an adaptation and its design is completely "strange" to say the least?

BEHOLD THE TITANS

- God of War III (2010) -

WOW, I didn't know Thanos signed with Santa Barbara Studios to work as a stuntman for these people.

- Wrath of the Titans (2012) -

- Thank you Hollywood for making us believe that Kronos = Surtr (does not compute)

- Immortals (2011) -

TRIVIA: Did you know that the titans had a strange kink with reinforcing bars :D (seriously, why grey?)

- Disney’s Hercules (1998-1999) - 

Ahhh...

BACK TO THE TOPIC

i mean, we can argue all day long that they as a representation of natural forces is normal to possess supernatural forms in comparison to their descendants the Olympians who represent the human elements of society.

H O W E V E R

I find it too convenient that only these figures have an over the top design compared to their younger generation, (Even the Primordial Gods who are the pure elements of the universe and at the same time the parents of the Titans, they don’t have this monstrous aspect, just look at Nyx and Gaia from Marvel Comics) or we have even seen sometimes how some Titans have human form (Special case, Rhea, Helios and Eos from the God of War saga)

- Gaia and Nyx from Marvel Comics -

My primordial queens look better than their children... How is that possible?

- Helios, Rhea and Eos from the God of War saga - 

See? Designing characters like this is way better and more interesting than turning them into a generic foe as if they were taken from a Lord of the Rings bestiary.

Now, I can understand that this mistaken interpretation of these figures is due to the confusion of the Titans with the Giants (both groups are sons of Gaea who fought a war against the Olympic gods) So it’s kinda understandable that the confusion is palpable.

With all this covered there's someone who's wondering.

Is there any evidence of how the ancient greeks saw the Titans?

Fortunately the answer is YES . There is enough evidence to understand how this second generation of gods were seen by the ancient inhabitants of Greece, especially in two areas, sculpture and painting.

STATUES OF THE TITANS

- Farnese Atlas (150 B.C) -

- Piece of an altar with Selene the moon titaness with either Phosphoros and Hesperus or the Dioscuri - 

- Themis, the titaness of justice ( Chairestratos, c. 300 BCE) - 

First of all, even if the former statues represent either titaness and a second generation titan (Atlas) We found no indication that these figures could be represented in a more exaggerated context.

But the most interesting part is the portraying of the titans in the old greek vase-paintings. WHY? Because the painting compared to the sculpture shows a more human focus on the gods, respecting their authority and power but implementing the qualities and defects that any mortal possesses. And the titans were not the exception when they were portrayed in this spectrum of the art.

AND THIS ARE THE PAINTINGS

- Atlas and Prometheus  ( ca. 530 B.C.) - 

- Oceanus and Tethys (ca. 580 - 570 B.C.) -

But for me, without a doubt, the most representative painting of the titans is this one.

-  Cronus and Rhea (ca. 460 – 450 B.C.) -

If one day I was asked about how the Titans looked like? I will show them this image.

The first time you see this painting, the first thing you can imagine is the portrait of a normal greek family, but once you know who they really are, your perspective about this couple changes, there are no elements so over the top as a giant and monstrous Cronus and a normal stature Rhea that sometimes can generate confusion in people. Perhaps in a way the ancient Greeks wanted their mythological figures not to be too far removed from human nature, so that the people could identify with their deities in the most humane way possible even if the titans were not such adored figures compared to their descendants, the point still stands.

IN CONCLUSION

Lately the stories of Greek mythology have taken a more intimate approach to the relationships with the Greek gods, the fantastic elements are still present, but that is not the main value of these stories. How these figures relate to each other on a daily basis is perhaps an example of how the Greeks saw their gods. Beyond the powers, the titles, they saw people with qualities and defects.

So, if one day there is an adaptation to the screen about mythology and the titans make their appearance, I wish they were less over the top and with more human appearances and relationships, obviously keeping their corresponding power. Just a little thought :)

Thanks for reading my post :D peace  ✌️ ✌️

[chipper9906]

Heal The Cracks Within My Heart - Chapter 2: Rubble and Ruins

<- - - Previous Chapter

WARNING: SPOILERS FOR LOKI SEASON 1 EPISODE 6 ‘FOR ALL TIME. ALWAYS.’

Pairings: Loki/Sylvie

Rating: General Audiences

Chapter Word Count: 12,627

Overall Word Count: 24,700 (In Progress)

Status: Multi Chapter Fic - In Progress (2/?)

Chapter Preview: 

“You know what would be nice? If we at least once got to kiss without either of us crying. Two for two’s a bit odd, isn’t it?”

He had thrown the joke out there in some sort of an attempt to lighten the mood. That’s not to say that he wanted to divert from this conversation, but more because of the way he could see that Sylvie was sinking back into her memory of that day, and he knew that would lead to no good. Nothing but self-blame and a whole lot of regrets - as seemed usual for nearly every decision a Loki has made in their life.

But the attempt at a joke did not get a laugh out of Sylvie. Not even a smile. Instead, he felt his heart leap into his throat at the way her eyes - that were still boring deep into his soul - flickered down to his lips, lingering there for just a moment before returning back to his intense gaze.

“We’re not crying now.”

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Miiphus was one of the smaller planets that existed within the universe. At least, smaller than most other planets from its neighboring systems, to the point where the entire population of this one planet was probably equal to around the population size of one city on any other planet. 

It had its charms, though. For one, those that were born and lived on this planet got to experience the whole ‘small town’ vibe that was lost to time to many civilizations as time went on and the population grew and grew. That kind of scenario where you personally knew everyone in the village, almost as well as you knew your own family. Hell, everyone practically was family. It was vital for this kind of small community for everyone to help each other, for everyone to treat one another like family. It was the only way to survive. 

This… was not the impression the two of them received as they first stepped onto Miiphus, however. At least, certainly not for Loki. The very first moment he stepped out from that Time Door, he had to pause to take a moment and absorb the horror of what they'd walked into. Sylvie was striding on ahead, apparently with a destination in mind and, apparently, not being phased at all by what surrounded them. 

It was… complete and utter destruction. There wasn’t a single step he could take without stepping on rubble, of whatever remained of a family’s home that once stood proud and tall, sheltering its occupants within. Whatever the city once was, was now reduced to nothing but smoldering debris, and — to his horror — the occasional charred body laying about, their clothes now pieces of blackened rags that clung to soot covered bones and whatever bits of burnt flesh that hadn’t completely succumbed to the heat. The white color of their bones stood out amongst the debris, shining in the dark night as the glow of the five moons over their heads shone down.

“What is this place?”

“Miiphus,” Sylvie answered dutifully from ahead of him. “Fourth planet in the Dioscuri System. This is -- was -- pretty much the only city it’s people had built.”

“Are you sure the Apocalypse event hasn’t happened already?” Loki called out to Sylvie, resuming his pace and chasing after her once he realized how far ahead she had gotten already.

“Certain,” Sylvie asserts, glancing over her shoulder to make sure he was keeping up. “If you think this is bad… just wait.”

Loki didn’t know where to look. He didn’t even know if he wanted to look. There’s only so many tiny, child-sized corpses that were holding onto the remains of their parents — families frozen in that one moment of terror — that he can take before his violently turning stomach threatens to empty its contents.

Which, now he thinks about it, would probably be nothing more than bile. He couldn’t even remember the last time he ate…

Billows of ash were kicked up into the air with every step they took, careful not to tread upon a loose skull here and there. His lungs burned with every inhale, not just for the soot that was starting to cover them, but with the knowledge he was breathing in more than just soot. How much of this ash was compromised of the remenants of this planet's people? How much peeling skin, flakes of bone, and burnt organs were filling his lungs?

“Don’t think about it,” Sylvie’s voice, thankfully, snaps him out of his thoughts. He had seemingly come to a stop without realizing it, and Sylvie stood watching him with a knowing look. “It’s not worth dwelling on. There’s nothing we can do.”

Loki swallows thickly, his throat feeling tight and restricted. He tries his best to follow Sylvie’s advice, keeping his gaze from wandering over to his surroundings. He keeps his eyes focused on the back of Sylvie, following her lead as she guides them out of the ruined city. Despite his attempts not to let his eyes wander, he can’t help but take the occasional glance whenever they entered a new street. The consistent level of damage inflicted upon each building was almost impressive when he thought about it from a different viewpoint. Or, at least, the viewpoint he once had. Turns out, all it takes is to be imprisoned by an overwhelmingly powerful organization that dictates all of time and decides that you don’t have the right to exist in their universe for him to change his mind about the allure of control over others. 

It’s of a great relief when he sees the buildings around them becoming sparser and sparser, appreciating the lungfuls of fresh air he was breathing in as the city landscape gradually changed to flattened farmlands. “Do we even need to hide in Apocalypses anymore?” Loki asks, jogging forward to reach Sylvie, walking side-by-side. “I mean, what with everything going on, I doubt us being in the wrong place is going to show up on their radar anymore.”

“Maybe not,” Sylvie agrees — or so Loki thinks. “Or maybe now that there’s an infinite amount of TVA’s out there, it might be best to assume they could know more than we do — especially if He Who Remains is in charge of them — and He himself could be doing all he could to hunt us down, and kill us; just like we’re trying to do to him.”

“Right…” Loki mumbled awkwardly, scratching at the back of his head. “Um... if that is the case, then… what if some of the TVA’s have already figured out that we’re hiding in Apocalypses? I’m sure if I could figure it out, then-,”

Sylvie came to a sudden stop with a tired-sounding sigh, holding out an arm to stop him mid-stride. He did so, looking around to see if she had spotted something he hadn’t noticed. “You could be right. Thing is, we really don’t know. We don’t know anything, it feels like. Everything that could happen, could happen; it’s already happened, or it’s about to happen, or… or…. or I don’t know. But what I do know is that hiding in Apocalypse’s has worked in keeping me alive for the past thousand years or so, so I’m going to keep doing that until it doesn’t.”

Sylvie didn’t even wait to hear his reaction, carrying on forward and leaving him standing there for a few seconds staring at the space she just was. Loki shakes his head, bringing himself back to reality and chasing after her once more. 

“I’m going to apologize in advance for all the questions, because I know they’re annoying-,” Loki begins, and it at least gets a huffed exhale of laughter from Sylvie. “-And I don’t mean to sound like I doubt your navigational skills but… how do you know where we’re going?”

The mostly flat farmland had given way to more of a hilly, uneven terrain, spotted with the occasional stubby tree that probably provided hikers and nearby farmers with much-needed shade in the heat of the day. 

“Because I’ve been here before,” Sylvie’s voice comes out breathy, the two of them slightly winded by the up and down climb of the land. She had come to a stop at the top of the hill, taking the time to catch her breath as she waits for Loki to reach her side. He reaches the top only a few moments after, bending over to place his hands on his thighs and take in deep lungfuls of air that his body was demanding, the cool night air freezing as he inhales sharply through his teeth. 

The movement of her hand out of the corner of his eye catches his attention, glancing up to see her gesturing at the valley below them. Not that he needed for her to point it out; it was kind of hard to miss the multiple rows of tents that were nestled into the valley, stretching as far as the eye could see. Small campfires were dotted between the tents, and he could just about make out the sight of people milling about the place, evidently enjoying each other’s company despite the late hour. 

“What am I looking at?” Loki asks, slowing straightening himself back up to a stand. 

Sylvie turns her head to look at him, a sad smile on her lips at his question. “The last of this planet’s people.”

This was… this was it? All that he could see, to the ends of the horizon… an entire planet’s population reduced to numbers that could fit in a single area he could see from a few miles away. The quiet of the night had never seemed so eerie now, looking down to what he knew was likely the last night of an entire planet’s existence. 

“Come on,” Sylvie says softly, the delicate touch of her fingers against his hands a welcoming comfort. She gives his hand a light pull, a request to keep moving, and he follows after her without much thought. He wasn’t too sure why, but the idea of going towards all these people and intermixing with them felt like… like they would be intruding. The TemPad wrapped around Sylvie’s hand was a guarantee that they’d get out of this, that they’d hop away to yet another world and leave this one far behind. But for these people, it was their very last night. It almost felt like… like they were mocking them. 

They closed the distance far too quickly for Loki’s liking, the glow of the multiple campfires growing stronger and stronger as they approached. “Are you sure this is a good idea?” Loki whispered lowly to Sylvie. “Won’t they notice us?”

“They won’t care,” Sylvie assured him. “They’ve already lost so many people; the idea of strangers doesn’t exist to them anymore. They’re just happy to see someone that's…”

“-Alive,” Loki finishes her sentence grimly, grimacing as he looks around to the last of the survivors. 

Sure enough, as the two of them weave through the small gathered crowds of friends, families, neighbors, everyone, people barely bat an eyelid at them. There are a few occasional curious glances, accompanied by whispers of a language he does not know, but they soon turn back to the fires they were huddled around, absorbing the warmth the flickering flames provided. 

Loki feels some of the tension building in his shoulders drop away as they manage to find a somewhat secluded spot at the other end of this refugee settlement, sitting just at the edge between the mass of makeshift tents and the seemingly infinite stretch of wilderness beyond. It seemed that whatever group that had been situated around this fire had retired for the night, the last of the flames flickering pathetically in the blackened pile of wood and ashes left behind. Loki gives a quick glance around to their surroundings, making sure no one was watching as he guides his magic towards the fire, encouraging its flames to become rekindled. 

“Impressive,” Sylvie remarks at the sight of the newly born flames that roared to life, their color briefly a light shade of green as they’re created under the effects of his magic. It lasts for less than a second, though – not long enough for anyone lingering nearby to notice the strangely green-colored fire before it’s returned to its usual comforting orange glow. 

“It’s a neat little party trick,” Loki comments with a sly smile, taking a seat on one of the logs that had been rolled over to the fire. It felt as uncomfortable as it looked. “I might have set fire to Thor’s cape a few times while I was learning it.”

Sylvie rolls her eyes at him, though the small smile pulling at the corner of her lips gave away her amusement. “And they were entirely accidents, I’m sure.”

Loki grins unashamedly at her as she drops down next to him with a tired-sounding huff, rolling her shoulders back in an attempt to alleviate some of the built-up tension. She grimaces at the soreness of her muscles –particularly in the stiffness of her neck – bending it left and right to try and work out some of those knots. 

She nearly jumps to her feet at the feeling of hands on her shoulders, making the pain even worse as she whips her head around to see who was touching her. She supposed she shouldn’t be too surprised to see it had been Loki, who looked about as startled at her reaction as she had felt at his touch, already having removed his hands from her as if he had touched a boiling hot stove. 

“Sorry,” He says, eyes wide as saucers as he holds his hands out in front of him in a clear message that he wasn’t going to touch her. “I… probably should have asked first.”

“What were you even trying to do?” Sylvie asks, placing a hand on the spot of her shoulders where his hands were moments ago. 

“...Trying to give you a massage?” Loki states like it were obvious – which for most, it probably would be. “It’s just, you kind of looked like you needed it, and I thought maybe you’d…” Loki trails off awkwardly, clearing his throat as his gaze drops away from her inquisitive one. “Never mind. It was a stupid idea-,”

"No, don't apologize, it's..." Sylvie begins to explain. “Sometimes, it’s just… hard to switch off that paranoia. Nearly every close call I had running from the TVA was because I let myself relax too much — let my guard down in times I thought I was safe.”

Loki nods in understanding, but the guilt still had yet to leave his face. He held his hands in his lap like he wasn’t too sure what to do with them now, tapping his fingers against his arm in a nervous repetition. 

Sylvie sighed quietly to herself, wondering how exactly it is that they managed to find a way to make every single quiet moment between them awkward in some kind of way. Then again, in their defense, this wasn’t exactly something they had done before. Flirting with strangers she had no intention of getting to know was something she had learned quickly as she grew older within apocalypse after apocalypse. Truthfully, it was easy. Turns out it doesn’t take much coercing to get someone into your bed when the world is crumbling apart around you. A few looks, a few suggestions here and there, the constant reiteration that this would be their last night on the planet, and BAM — yet another mark to add to the tally of her body count. The non-murder one, she means. 

But… it wasn’t like that with Loki. She had no plans to seduce him, get her fill, and be gone before they even got the chance to know her name. What she had with Loki was... something she had never had before. Something didn’t know she had even wanted before. Whilst there was no denying that the most physical side of her attraction to him resulted in the same kind of, um… cravings that were just as prevalent as all her other romantic endeavors, she had never felt this… this more emotional attraction. He understood her like no one ever could — more than she understands herself, it sometimes felt like. And as much as she feels she too understands him, she’s overtaken by this desire to know more. She wants to know everything about the man sat by her side, down to the pointless stuff like what his favorite color is. She wants to know what it feels like to have his hands on her body, and for her to welcome it, not jump three feet in the air and have to fight back the urge to take a swing. She wants to know what it’s like to open her eyes every morning, and feel her heart race not from fear but from exhilaration and contentedness at the sight of him laying next to her, instead of yet another stranger. 

She wanted… him. Every part of him, from the good to the ugly. Long ago, she had accepted that she would live her life with only herself for company. And now? Now, she found it next to impossible to envision a scenario where he wasn’t by her side. 

Except now, it seemed that she had knocked any and all confidence that Loki might have once had, and the moment was fading from view before it had even gotten the chance to start. She bit down the frustrated groan she wanted to release, feeling like she had just kicked a puppy with how dejected Loki looked. 

“Promise me this won’t stop you.”

Loki glances up in surprise at her words. “Promise you… what?”

“I know I’m not…” Sylvie’s face scrunched up as she tried to think of a way to put this. “I’m not the easiest person to get along with. And I know that it’s even harder when we’re…” She struggled to find the right word, opting instead to gesture between them with a flail of her hand. 

Loki stared back at her with one rather judgemental-looking eyebrow raised. “I’m afraid you’re going to have to be a bit more concise than that-,”

“I’m trying to say that I don’t want you to stop trying,” Sylvie got out in a rush, the flush of heat to her cheeks a sensation she hadn’t felt in quite some time. “All of this is super new to me, and yeah, it might take me some time to get used to it. But I will. So long as you-,”

“-Keep trying,” Loki finished for her with the subtlest twitch at the corner of his lips. “I think I can do that.”

“Good,” Sylvie sniffled, trying not to act as awkward as she felt, playing off the redness that had spread across her face as heat rash from the fire. “Just so we’re on the same page.”

Loki couldn’t help but chuckle softly to himself at her failed attempts to act nonchalant, not withering In the slightest at her light-hearted glare. “So… do I try and give you a massage again, or…”

Her glare only strengthened. “You can be an incredibly infuriating man at times, I hope you know that.”

“Oh, I’m very aware,” Loki replied. “But I also feel it adds a bit to my charm, don’t you?”

“Hmm… I’ll have to get back to you on that one,” Sylvie said, stretching out her limbs in the direction of the fire, savoring the warmth that radiated from it. What she didn’t notice was that, as she stared into the beauty of the flickering flames and spitting golden embers, Loki’s eyes were still fixated on her, enjoying a different type of beauty — though one that was no less mesmerizing: the light from the fire bouncing off her face, casting shades of soft oranges and reds that battled with the shadows of night and the sharp bright light from the moons overhead. 

“Sometimes I can’t believe you’re another version of me,” Loki wonders out loud, resting his chin in his hands as he continues to drink her in. 

Sylvie cocks an eyebrow at him, regarding him out of the corner of her eye. “And why’s that?”

“Because you’re just so…” Loki paused, and the trailing end of his sentence was enough to arouse Sylvie’s suspicions - though she still waited patiently for him to finish his thoughts. As someone who prided himself on his choice of words and rather extensive vocabulary, he suddenly found himself devoid of words. Really, there was only one word echoing around in his head as he looked to her, and… and maybe he was overthinking all of this. Maybe the simpler option was the best.

“Because I’m…?” Sylvie tried to get him to continue his sentence, the playful smile on her face hinting that she was expecting Loki to say something insulting here in an attempt to rile her up. 

“Beautiful,” Loki’s voice was soaked in a softness he didn’t even know he could reach. It was clear Sylvie wasn’t expecting this answer, the teasing smile on her face dropping away to a look of genuine shock. “Although, I’m sure you know that already, and I’m sure I’m not the first person to tell you that, but-,” And there he went, rambling away again. She just seemed to have that effect on him. 

The touch of her hand on his knee was enough to bring his ramblings to a stuttering stop, effectively drying up any words he were to speak - or, at least, any words that actually made some sort of sense. 

“It’s the first time I’ve heard it from someone that matters,” Sylvie tells him. 

Loki smiles, placing his hand atop hers on his knee. “Then I’ll be sure to say it more often,” He says it like a promise — one he fully intends to keep. 

There was that part of her, a part she’s sure will always be buried deep within, that was telling her to stop all of this. It was one of self-preservation, needing to be cruel to prevent the heartache later down the road. It was hard to shake off the years of saying goodbye to every person she’s ever crossed paths with, only getting to know people for the briefest of times before they’re obliterated from the universe. She learned fairly quickly that it was better to stay away and live a lonely life than one of single-day friendships and infinite, painful goodbyes. 

Even now, after all that’s happened, it still remains there. It was all supposed to end with her sword plunged into the chest of whoever ran the TVA, and she had done that. And yet… here she was again, running from the TVA and creating yet another plan to take out their leader again. Oh, and there were multiple versions of him somewhere out there, most likely already out on a quest of conquest. There was even a chance that He already knew of them, from where some form of the TVA out there hot on their tails having reported these two stubborn variants in possession of TVA equipment to their all-powerful leader

Well… at least she didn’t have to go it alone this time. Even with that voice screaming at her to get away from Loki as fast as possible, to separate herself from him before those already messy, judgment-clouding feelings only grow all the more messier, and all the more stronger. No, this time, it was different. This time, she would not listen to that voice. She would allow herself to have these moments, of his touch on her, and she’d…. she’d let herself want this — because God’s help her, she does.

“Wait, hang on a minute,” Sylvie starts, narrowing her eyes at him in amusement. “What you just said… are you insinuating you don’t find yourself beautiful? You? You’re a Loki -- narcissism is what makes us!”

“Well, I’m not sure if beautiful is the word I’d use…” Loki said. “Perhaps ‘dashingly handsome’ or perhaps even ‘dapper’, or something along those lines. But… it’s also ‘beauty in the eye of the beholder' and all that, is it not?”

Sylvie somehow manages to pack a whole lot of sarcasm into her hum of agreement. “Kind of sounds like you’re just trying to fish for compliments now.”

“Is it working?”

“Afraid not.”

Loki ‘tsked’ with a click of his tongue, shaking his head in mock disappointment. “You should know better than to lie to someone who does it professionally, Sylvie.”

“And what exactly is that supposed to mean?”

“I saw the way you looked at me back on Lamentis,” Loki said, getting a confused eyebrow raise from Sylvie. “In that little mining cabin? I couldn’t quite figure out if you were going to threaten me to get the TemPad, or seduce me.”

Sylvie’s snort of laughter chipped a tiny bit of his ego off. “I was trying to enchant you. Needed to find some way to get close enough to you without getting a knife in my throat.”

“And seduction was the best way to go about that?” Loki exclaimed.

Sylvie shrugged her shoulders. “Worked before.”

Loki wasn’t too sure why the thought of Sylvie looking at others in the way he had looked at her made him feel quite so bitter. Actually, that was a lie. He knew exactly why he was feeling like that. He just didn’t like to admit that the claws of jealousy had dug in quite so deep. 

“Well, now I feel like I owe you a compliment, what with you looking so downcast,” Sylvie said, giving his shoulder a playful nudge with her own. 

“Only if you mean it,” Loki grumbled, flicking out a hand to cast a bit more of his magic to revitalize the dying flames of the fire. 

“You know, there’s a reason I kissed you back in the citadel-” Sylvie began, only for Loki to quickly interject. 

“Oh, well I had assumed it was due to me pouring my heart out to you; unless me becoming a crying mess suddenly made me irresistible to you-”

“Would you at least let me finish what I was saying?” Sylvie shoved his shoulder perhaps a little bit harder than she should have, nearly sending Loki sprawling off the log. “Look, I could give you the usual compliments, with the -- what were the ones you used? Dashingly handsome and what not?”

“But… you won’t?”

“No, I won’t. But not because I don’t think them, but because… because whatever this is-” Sylvie gestured with a hand between them. “-It goes deeper than all that.”

“Ah…” Loki said quietly, looking away to the fire with a nod of his head. “You know, the whole ‘beauty is on the inside’ thing is what people say to ugly people.”

Sylvie did all she could to bury down the urge to shove him into the fire. “All right, you want the truth?”

Loki perked up at that, looking back over to Sylvie in anticipation. 

“Have you ever heard the term ‘the eyes are the windows into the soul?’” Sylvie asked, getting a somewhat confused-looking nod in response. “You’re a very skilled man, Loki. Especially in the art of manipulation, and deceit. You somehow find a way to twist everything you say, to turn serious conversations into a game – one where somehow you always end up on top, knowing everything you set out to discover, without the other person even realizing they’ve lost. I’ve seen the sharp wit of your thoughts reflected in your eyes when we first met, and you were trying to play that very same game with me. I’ve seen the… cruel humor shining in them as you fight, the enjoyment you find in inflicting that kind of pain.”

Sylvie’s eyes were boring deep into his as she spoke, and Loki wondered what exactly his eyes were giving away in this very moment. 

“But when we were in that citadel? When you were begging for me to stop, and I had my blade held to your throat? I saw none of that in your eyes. No ulterior motives, no trickery. Just… you. You, bearing the entire truth, and it didn’t even matter how much conviction your words held. I saw it all in your eyes, anyway. And that’s when I knew, I…” Sylvie huffed out a quiet laugh. “I was doomed. I couldn’t kill you. And I didn’t want to hurt you, either. But I knew that I was going to have to if it meant keeping you safe. Even from me.”

“And so you kissed me,” Loki said. 

“And so I kissed you,” Sylvie echoed softly. “Because I knew I needed to say goodbye, and because… because it was the only way I knew how to say that I felt the same.”

Loki looked down to the ground, sliding his tongue across his upper lip unconsciously before he spoke. “You know what would be nice? If we at least once got to kiss without either of us crying. Two for two’s a bit odd, isn’t it?”

He had thrown the joke out there in some sort of an attempt to lighten the mood. That’s not to say that he wanted to divert from this conversation, but more because of the way he could see that Sylvie was sinking back into her memory of that day, and he knew that would lead to no good. Nothing but self-blame and a whole lot of regrets - as seemed usual for nearly every decision a Loki has made in their life. 

But the attempt at a joke did not get a laugh out of Sylvie. Not even a smile. Instead, he felt his heart leap into his throat at the way her eyes — that were still boring deep into his soul — flickered down to his lips, lingering there for just a moment before returning back to his intense gaze. 

“We’re not crying now.”

It was as clear an invitation as any. And yet, the thought of leaning in and closing the distance between them still filled his body with uncertainty and hesitation. Not because he didn’t want to  — in fact, just how much he did want to was all kinds of terrifying with how much it overwhelmed him — but because… truth be told, he was scared of messing this all up. Both times they’ve kissed, he had let her take control. She had been the one to make that first step, to reach out to him and let their lips slide together. She had been the initiator, and he had been the eager and willing participant. 

Now though, that didn’t seem to be the case. The tension was building between them with every passing second, and he knew full well that Sylvie was doing all she could to say ‘Kiss me, you idiot’ without actually saying anything out loud. And yet, that fear remained that he’ll step over the line, push her boundaries too much, and… that’d be it. 

But he’d made a promise to her. He said he’d keep trying, no matter what. 

So he kept his promise. 

Loki leaned forward, pausing a hairs-breadth away, their lips barely brushing against each other. He gave her that opportunity, that moment where she could decide if she wanted to pull away. He gives it a beat, a single breath of anticipation against his mouth. He thinks she may start to say his name - most likely to call him an idiot - but then he swallows up her words with his lips. There was no rush to it. No in the moment, emotions on a knife’s edge, desperation to it like there had been the other times. It was just… them. She wasn’t kissing him because it was a goodbye, or a distraction, and he wasn’t kissing her in the fear that he may never see her again. It was simply because they wanted to, and because they can. 

Loki’s hand drifted up to her face, caressing the side of her jaw and leaning deeper into the kiss. Heat seemed to burn through his veins, almost as if he was actually sitting in the roaring fire nearby instead of being sat next to it. It felt like his entire body wanted to sink into it, into their kiss, into her. And, judging by the way her hand had latched onto a patch of shirt by his chest, scrunching it up so hard that he could feel the scratch of her nails against his skin, she wanted it just as much as he did. 

And… that’s when the cheering started. 

They both startled apart, ripping their hands away from one another and instinctively reaching for their weapons. It appeared that a small group of the locals had wandered over, curious to know who the newcomers were, and had walked into quite the sight. Both Loki and Sylvie wore matching red faces at the sounds of their cheers and hollering, not understanding a word of what was being spoken but understanding the teasing in their tone nonetheless. 

“Seems we’ve attracted quite the audience…” Loki murmurs to Sylvie, leaning his head towards her to keep his voice unheard from the locals. 

“They… they didn’t do this last time,” Sylvie whispers back. “No one took notice, or came over to see who I was.”

“Well, it’s not like last time, is it?” Loki spoke to Sylvie, but his eyes were cautiously trained on one of the locals who had stepped away from the group, approaching the two with a big smile on his face and an object in hand that he couldn’t identify from here. “You weren’t with me.”

They both still kept a hand on their weapons as the man approached. The man didn’t seem to take notice — and if he did, he didn’t seem to care. Like the others of this planet, he was dressed in a long robe that cut off just after the ankles, it's likely once strikingly turquoise color now covered in a layer of dust, with various rips and tears slashed into the silky looking material. The smile had yet to wipe from his face as he arrived at their fire, babbling away in whatever language it was that these people spoke. Neither had any clue as to what the man was saying, but the friendliness of his tone seeped into his words, and whilst the two of them remained somewhat wary, it did help to relax some of the tension that had been building since the man arrived. 

“I’m sorry, we… we don’t speak your language,” Loki tried speaking slowly and carefully, enunciating every syllable clearly. 

The man did look slightly taken aback by the strange language they spoke, and for a moment, the two of them wondered if they were going to have to use their blades after all. There was a good chance they might be mistaken for these people's enemies, and trying to claim your innocence when both parties don’t speak the same language was going to be quite tricky…

Thankfully, however, it didn’t seem to be the case. The man seemed to brush by the issue of them speaking an entirely different language quite quickly, plastering the beaming smile straight back onto his face after he got over his initial shock. 

“Yalti,” The man spoke one word, enunciating just as carefully as Loki had prior. He pointed a finger to himself as he spoke, prodding at his own chest. “Yalti,”

“Yalti?” Loki repeated the word, pointing at the man. It seemed to do the trick, the man’s smile somehow brightening even more. 

“Yalti!” Yalti, apparently, proclaimed, jabbing himself in the chest with even more enthusiasm. Yalti then pointed his finger to Loki, raising his eyebrows expectantly. 

“I think he wants to know your name,” Sylvie craned her head towards Loki to speak quietly, as he had before. 

“Oh, um,” Loki cleared his throat, mirroring the man’s previous actions and pointing a finger to himself. “Loki.”

“Loki?” Yalti spoke his name with great care, as if pronouncing his name wrong was of a great rudeness. “Loki!”

“Yes, Loki,” Loki repeated himself with a small chuckle, the man's enthusiasm rubbing off on him.

The two of them startled once more as Yalti shouted something to the group nearby, followed by the yell of Loki’s name. The sounds of the people’s cheers were something odd to hear, especially as they were then followed by a single word, yelled out to the night sky. 

“ LOKI! LOKI! LOKI! ”

Loki could only turn his bemused gaze over to Sylvie, who looked just as flummoxed with what was going on as he felt. 

“Perhaps they know me?” He offered, looking between all the people, that who were of a species he did not recognize. “I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing…”

As the cheers began to die down, Yalti started to speak to them once more. Of course, they still didn’t know what he was saying, and whilst Yalti looked a tiny bit frustrated at the lack of communication, he still seemed to be having fun with what was going on. He reached out a hand, this time pointing his finger towards Sylvie. 

Sylvie gave the man a polite smile, pointing to herself as she answered his silent question. “Sylvie.”

“Sylvie!” Yalti gave her name the same treatment as Loki’s, passing on her name to the crowd. And, just like with Loki, they returned her name in a chorus of cheers that tugged at something within her heart. She hadn’t had many people to tell her name to. In fact, until meeting Loki, there hadn’t been that many times she had even heard it being spoken to her. And now here she was, listening to a group of survivors chant her name like she was their savior. Like she had done something good, just by being here. 

“ Sylvie! Sylvie! Sylvie!”

“This is… surreal,” Loki said, unsure whether to keep his eyes trained on the — now clearly — inebriated crowd as their cheers slowly drifted off with them as they dispersed into the night, or on Sylvie, as she watched them leave with a look that somehow both made him want to smile, yet comfort her at the same time. 

“That’s one word for it,” Sylvie utters gently. 

Whilst the rest of the group had disappeared back to wherever it was they had come from, there was one lone figure who had chosen to remain. They both watched as Yalti dropped down onto one of the other logs grouped around the fire, taking a long swig from what Loki now recognized as a canteen. Yalti took deep gulps from it, appearing to savor every last drop. Loki almost made the joke to calm down; it wasn’t the end of the world. Except… it was, and the joke didn’t seem quite so funny anymore. 

Yalti catches their stare, pulling the flask from his lips with a friendly smile. His hands go into the interior of his robes, pulling out another flask and offering it to them. Not one to pass on such a kind gesture, Loki reached out to take the flask from him, hoping the smile he gave in return showed his appreciation. 

“Really hope this isn’t poison or something…” Loki half-jokes to Sylvie as he unscrews the lid, taking a precautionary whiff of its contents. Whatever it was, it smelt strong, strong enough that he could almost taste the bitterness of it just from its smell. It was accompanied by a musty, sweet kind of odor though, the two opposites clashing yet, oddly, complimenting one another. 

Loki throws caution to the wind with a shrug of his shoulders, bringing the flask to his mouth and taking a tester sip. The beverage was, indeed, bitter overall in taste, burning as it slipped down his throat. But when he let it settle on his tongue for a moment, he could taste the hint of something sweet that he had smelt before, something almost like… honey? Something rich, with an earthy and kind of smokey taste. Some type of whiskey, perhaps? Or, the closest thing to whiskey that this planet had. Whilst he was more of a wine kind of guy, even he had to admit that the smooth flavor of the drink had its charms. 

“You’re not going to get ‘very full’ again, are you?” Sylvie teases him. 

“Only if you join me,” Loki challenges her, offering out the flask for her to take with a flash of teeth. 

He hadn’t really been expecting for her to rise to his challenge, and so it filled him with a strange sort of delight when she took the flask from his hand, taking a deep drink from the flask herself. She caught his enthralled yet shocked face from the corner of her eye, handing the flask back to him with a shrug. 

“Nothing happens until daybreak,” Sylvie tells him, enjoying the warmth of both the fire and the drink as it settled in her belly. “Can afford to have a bit of a rest until then.”

“Right…” Loki almost forgot that they were in the middle of an apocalypse. It seemed much too calm for it. “So... you’ve been here before?”

“Just the once,” Sylvie says, her mouth twisting into a grimace. “I try not to go back to an apocalypse I’ve already been in. Less chance of the TVA figuring things out that way, and…” Sylvie trails off, her grimace deepening even more. “I suppose it’s easier to watch strangers die, than faces you’ve seen before.”

“And… and what of home?” Loki asks timidly. “I don’t know if you knew, but um…”

“I know,” Sylvie’s voice came out as nothing more than a whisper. She brings the flask back up to her mouth to take another much-needed drink. “Ragnarok, right?”

Loki smiled sadly, giving a small nod of his head. “I… where — or when, I suppose — they took me from, it was before then. I only found out myself not too long ago, when I was searching through the TVA’s files on apocalypses to… well, to find you.”

“Then you probably know more than me,” Sylvie said. 

“You never went there? I would have thought, of all the apocalypses you could go to-,”

“Loki, I already have to live with the knowledge that Asgard — my Asgard — is gone; wiped away from the timeline, and dumped into that dreary hole. All that were on my timeline: my people, my family? They’re… they’re gone. Probably devoured by Alioth,” Sylvie’s eyes shimmered with unshed tears, her obviously distraught voice catching the attention of even Yalti, who had mostly been politely ignoring their conversation that he didn’t even understand. “So yeah, funnily enough, I didn’t really fancy having to actually watch it be destroyed with my own eyes.”

“Okay... okay...” Loki said gently, the sight of her pain reflecting itself onto him. “I get it, okay? I just… I wasn’t really thinking about it that way. I was… I was just thinking of home, and… and how much I miss it.”

“ ‘Least you have more memories of home than I do,” Sylvie huffed miserably, holding out the flask for Loki to take. He does, and she crosses her arms across her stomach, leaning against them atop her legs. “Sometimes I wonder how much I remember of home are actual memories, or… dreams of what I think it was like.”

Loki swallowed down his mouthful of whiskey nervously, shuffling in place on the log. “I hope you don’t mind me asking, but…. do you remember what happened when the TVA took you? Any idea what your Nexus Event was?”

Sylvie gave a slow shake of her head side to side. “Wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, really. I was just… existing. Playing with my toys, I think. I had this…” Sylvie paused for a moment, a genuine smile of nostalgia creeping onto her face as she lost herself in her memories. “-This beautiful hand-carved boat. I think father might have even crafted it himself, I’m… I’m not too sure.”

Loki found her smile infectious, feeling the corner of his lips tick up in response to the glazed, lost in thought look in her eyes. The smile didn’t last long, however. Not with the implication behind her words. Had she really been that young when the TVA took her? Just a child, playing with her toys, and that was enough for the TVA to deem her unsuitable for the timeline?

“That’s when the TVA came,” Sylvie said, the hardness returning to her eyes once again. “It was her: Judge Renslayer. She wasn’t a judge at the time, though. Still had to work her way up the rankings — no more than a hunter back then,” Sylvie let out a humorless laugh. “Think I might have delayed her promotion a bit when I escaped under her watch.”

“Ah… that’d explain why she seemed to have it out for you in particular,” Loki connected the dots, thinking back to the fog-filled chambers of the Time-Keepers, of the vicious look on Renslayer’s face as she prepared to wield her weapon against Sylvie. 

“I hope Mobius got her,” Sylvie spat. “Stabbed her with her own damn pruning stick -- give her a taste of her own medicine.”

“She was his friend once,” Loki pointed out. “He might think twice about sending someone he cared about to the Void,”

“She didn’t think twice about pruning him.”

“I’m just saying,” Loki continued. “Mobius, he’s… he’s got a good heart. He trusted me, even when everything else told him not to. Maybe you’re right, and he went straight back to the TVA, walked into her office, and pruned her. Or… maybe he saw the face of someone who was a friend, and found he couldn’t do it — even when he knew she would turn against him if given the opportunity. Maybe put her in a time-loop-,”

“Alright, I get it,” Sylvie huffed in annoyance. “You’re comparing him and Renslayer to me and Mobius -- other Mobius. Are you trying to say that I should have killed the other Mobius?”

“What? No-! ” Loki spluttered. “I’m saying that there’s a chance that Renslayer might still be out there. Whether that be with her still in charge at the TVA, or one of their prisoners, or… I don’t know. I’m still not entirely sure what her role is in all of this.”

“She didn’t even know about the Time-Keepers,” Sylvie brought up. “She was in the dark as much as we were, and yet… she didn’t care. She still wanted to stop me --stop us -- and protect Him.”

“Are we sure she didn’t know about He Who Remains?” Loki asked. “It seems odd that she’d be so desperate to protect Him, when she doesn’t even know who he is.”

“Maybe she won’t be the only one to react that way to the truth of who their leader really is,” Sylvie said. “Maybe some, like Mobius, will want to tear it all down. But others like her? Maybe they just… can’t deal with the thought that all their work was for nothing. Maybe they cling onto the idea that they did something of importance, and that He Who Remains did what they did for a reason.”

Loki groaned softly, barely resisting the urge to bury his face into his hands. “It’s… it’s all going to be such a mess. I don’t know if Mobius will have taken over, or if the TVA broke out into civil war, or…” Loki shook his head, leaning his head back with a heavy sigh. “We need to find a way back, Sylvie. Mobius is going to need our help, and… as much as I hate to admit it, we’re going to need the TVA’s help with this, too.”

For a moment, Sylvie said nothing. Loki could only sit, waiting awkwardly for her reaction, wincing in preparation for the argument that’s about to come. 

“I think you might be right.”

‘Well, that’s a first,’ Loki thought. 

“Come again?”

“Don’t start,” Sylvie shot him a look of warning. “I was thinking about it earlier when I made the Time-Door to this place…” Sylvie held up her arm, the two of them watching the mesmerizing glow of the golden cracks streaking across the TemPad. “This TemPad, it’s… it’s nothing like the ones I’ve used before – the ones all TVA workers have. I’m still learning how to use it, but it’s… confusing, to say the least. I can just about select a place and-or a time with it, but… clearly I don’t know everything, since I accidentally sent you to the TVA in an entirely different timeline.”

“Is there any way to select a certain timeline?” Loki asked, glancing between Sylvie and the TemPad. 

“I don’t know,” Sylvie said. “With the TVA’s Tempad, there… there wasn’t a need to jump between timelines, because there was only one available to them. They weren’t exactly jumping into different branches, rather… they were jumping to the time and place the branch originated from and pruning it out of existence before it could develop into a separate timeline.”

“But… that’s not a TVA TemPad,” Loki pointed out the obvious. “It’s ‘He Who Remain’s’ TemPad. He said it himself didn’t he, that his first variation in the thirty-first century discovered technology to open up Time-Doors between multiverses? Surely he then used that to jump between the different timelines and… prune them all until only his was left.”

“Maybe,” Sylvie says, dropping her hand back down to her lap. “There’s another problem, though.”

There was always a damn problem. “What is it?”

“I’ve got no idea how much charge is left in this thing,” Sylvie gestures lazily to the TemPad with a twitch of her hand. “Maybe ‘He Who Remains’ found a way to give it infinite charge -- or maybe it’s stuck with the same limitations the TVA’s TemPad’s have.”

“So… there’s every chance the next Time-Door we open could be the last?” Loki guessed. 

“That’s what I’m thinking.”

Loki leaned back on the log, taking in a deep breath through his nose. “Then I suppose we better make every one count.”

Sylvie nodded her head in response, looking down to the TemPad as she dragged her fingers leisurely over its smooth surface. It responded to her touch, leaving a glowing trail along the golden cracks that followed wherever her finger went. It seemed almost… alive in the way it responded to her touch. 

“What exactly happens here?” Loki brings her attention back to him. “What causes the apocalypse?”

“War,” Sylvie answers, her eyes trailing off to the ruined city that was now no more than a shadowy background displayed on the night sky. “Some other civilization in this solar system that had left these people alone, for the most part. Not too sure on the specifics, but… there was some sort of disagreement between the two planets. Whatever it is… let’s just say that the other planet is much more advanced than this one. These people… they stood no chance against the power they hold.”

“And so… what, they just decide to wipe out the entire planet to win the war?” Loki asks.

“Apparently so,” Sylvie answered. “At first light, the other civilization sends down a warning. One last offer for them to surrender, and save what remains of their people.”

Loki glances over to Yalti, who had been watching them converse in complete and utter silence. Despite not knowing what they were talking about, the look on Yalti’s face was that of a haunted man. Strangely still, whilst it was Loki that was looking to him, Yalti had his eyes fixated on Sylvie, who shuffled uncomfortably under his peering stare. 

“I’m guessing they don’t take the offer?” Loki asks Sylvie, tearing his gaze away from Yalti to look to her. 

“No,” Sylvie is unable to look away from Yalti as Loki did, feeling a strange bundle of nerves begin to rise at just how intensely he seemed to be observing her. “No, uh… they don’t.”

“Why not?” Loki asks, even though he knows Sylvie doesn’t have the answer. “Their city is destroyed, it seems like they barely have enough resources to survive, let alone to rebuild. What’s left here that they’re willing to die for?”

“Pride?” Sylvie guessed. “Stubbornness? An unwillingness to leave their home?”

Yalti slowly stood from his place on the log, the movement catching both Loki and Sylvie’s eye. They watch, ready to leap into defense at a single wrong move as Yalti somewhat stumbles towards them, having a difficult time walking in a straight line with all the alcohol that was running through his veins. 

His hands go into his pockets once more, and Sylvie and Loki look to one another, waiting for the inevitable moment a weapon is pulled on them. Yalti’s hands slide back out of his pocket, now clutching a small, square-shaped device that appeared to be made of some sort of sleek and shiny metal, with a smoky glass screen sat on top. Yalti slurred out a few words in his native tongue, gesturing to the device as he does so. When they only blink blankly at him in response, Yalti gives a bit of an annoyed huff before running his fingers across the metal square. A dull light emits from the screen on top, and it’s only a few taps of his fingers across it later that a holographic image bursts to life above the device. 

It was… a picture of a young girl. Maybe around eight, ten at most. It was more than just the glow of the screen that lit up Yalti’s face as he looked to the girl with a fond smile stretching across his face. He glanced over to Loki and Sylvie, and they both were somewhat startled to see the tears that had begun to build in his eyes. Yalti pointed to the little girl, then pointed his fingers back at himself, jabbing himself in the space above his heart multiple times to try and get his point across. 

“It’s… his daughter,” Loki breathed in realization. “And she, um… Sylvie, she kind of looks like-,”

“-Me,” Sylvie finished Loki’s sentence for him. “She looks like me.”

Loki was starting to understand why Yalti had been staring at Sylvie as much as he had now. The image of the girl, whilst somewhat grainy and flickering, still showed a striking similarity to Sylvie — or, at least, how he could envision her to have looked when she was a young girl herself. Sure, there were a few minor differences here and there: such as the girl's eyes being a tiny bit wider, or her nose having a slight downward turn to it that Sylvie’s didn’t, but… for Sylvie, it still strangely felt like looking back in time at herself. 

Yalti pressed atop the screen once again, and the image burst to life. What was once a still picture changed to a moving image, displaying the little girl out somewhere amidst this planet's countryside. The girl giggled with delight as she ran through the long grass of a meadow, being chased by Yalti, whose own booming laughter rang out into the cool night air around them. Yalti reached out a hand towards the holographic video, as if trying to reach for his daughter within. But of course, his hand only passed through the displayed images, and the smile slowly dropped away from his face. 

The hologram flickers, sending the video into a mess of glitches, becoming almost recognizable as it struggled to continue playing. Then it flickers again, and again, and all three can only watch as the hologram disappears altogether, sucking away its bluish light until they’re left in nothing more than the orange and reds of the fire. Loki and Sylvie exchange looks as Yalti keeps his eyes fixated on the powered-down device. He closed his eyes, the movement squeezing out a single tear that sluggishly trailed down his face, leaving a clean line through the dust that had caked his skin. 

When Yalti opened his eyes again, he seemed almost relieved to see them still sitting there. Perhaps, when you’re going through the end of the world, not many people are willing to listen or share in your individual grief, especially when they’re all going through grief of their own. Yalti caught their eye, raising a hand to point in the direction of where the image of his daughter once was, before pointing over his shoulder to the remains of the city. He then raised his hand into the air, whistling a long note that dropped in pitch as he lowered his hand down towards the ground. They hadn’t needed his mime-like explanations of what happened. There was only going to be one reason why the girl on his holographic device wasn’t with him.

“I’m sorry,” Sylvie says, hoping that the meaning of her words comes across in the gentleness of her tone.

Yalti gives her a shaky smile, taking a single step towards her — probably the most steady movement he’s made since he joined them by the fire. He lowers himself down onto his knees in front of her, raising one hand up to her face and tenderly cradling her cheek. Loki sat in silence, not wanting to interrupt such a moment, yet also wanting to step in, knowing that Sylvie would likely feel uncomfortable with a stranger touching her this way. And yet, Sylvie did not shove Yalti’s hands off of her, nor did she look all that disturbed by what was happening. Yalti speaks to her again, and the raw emotion packed into his voice as he got out those few trembling words was enough even for Loki’s chest to clench in sympathy. The two of them could only stare at one another – this poor, unfortunate man haunted by the vision of who his little girl never got the opportunity to grow up to be, whilst Sylvie was haunted with her own visions: the vision of the happy life, and the caring father she never got to experience. 

Yalti’s hand dropped away from Sylvie’s face, bowing his head to her in what Loki could only assume was either some form of respect, or perhaps even their way of saying goodbye. He gets clumsily back up to his feet, clumsy enough that Loki briefly wonders what the chances were of him falling straight back into the fire was. Fortunately, they didn’t have to witness such a thing, as Yalti seems to get his feet under him. 

“Sylvie,” Yalti says her name, one of the only pieces of their language he had learned from them. He then turns to Loki, repeating the same bow he had given to Sylvie. “Loki,”

Loki found himself mirroring the bowed movement without much of a thought, tipping his head towards the ground. “Yalti.”

Yalti shot them one last grateful smile, lifting his hand and giving them a kind wave — a gesture they at least recognized. Then, just like that, he had turned away from them, walking off in the direction of the tents and the welcoming town’s people within. 

“You okay?” Loki made sure to ask Sylvie as soon as possible. 

“-‘M fine,” Sylvie tried to brush his concerns off, but Loki could easily pick up on the little sniffle she made after saying this. “Bit of a shock, I guess. But I’m fine.”

“You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to,” Loki said, trying to catch Sylvie’s gaze as she stared blankly into the fire. “But if you do… I’m here to listen.”

Sylvie glanced over at him, managing to force out a somewhat strained-looking smile. “I will. Someday. Just… not today.”

‘I will’ was better than just a ‘no’, Loki supposed. Not that he could blame her for not wanting to talk about what had just gone down. He picked up the flask from his side, offering it out to Sylvie again. She looked down to it, looking moments away from reaching out for it. She seems to think better about it though, shaking her head in a ‘no’. 

“Probably a good idea,” Loki said with a soft chuckle, tucking the half-drunken flask into his shirt pocket. Sylvie seemed to be lost in her own thoughts, eyes unfocused and glazed over as she played absentmindedly with her fingers in her lap. Loki watched her quietly, content to sit here in the comfortable silence they had found themselves in. 

But the silence didn’t last long. They almost didn’t notice the gentle notes being sung from somewhere within this planet’s little make-shift town, being crowed out by what must have been a fairly decent-sized group. The beginnings of the song at least seemed to snap Sylvie out of whatever thoughts she was trapped in, the two of them perking their heads up simultaneously, listening out for the direction of the sound. 

Then, another chorus of voices joined in. Whatever this song was, it seemed to be known by all of this planet’s inhabitants. And then another group joined in. And another. The voices just kept adding to the song, the soft undertones of the song growing louder and louder as more people add their voices to it. 

It was… it was beautiful. They didn’t know the meaning behind the lyrics of the song, but they didn’t need to. The power behind it seemed to vibrate through their chests, chilling and somewhat haunting in sound, yet… undeniably beautiful to hear. It was not a song of hope, nor was it a song that was sung to inspire defiance in the face of almost certain death. 

It was a goodbye.

“How do you do it?” Loki asks, his voice no more than a murmur amidst the chorus of voices that filled the air. “All those different apocalypses, so many civilizations you’ve watched be extinguished… How did you keep going?”

“Because I had to,” Sylvie answers woefully. “You know, every day, I would ask myself the same kind of thing: What’s the point anymore? What is there left to keep fighting for? Everything I ever knew was… gone. My life was nothing more than endless running, trying to keep one step ahead of an organization that knew everything that was ever going to happen. I would dream of the day I finally came face to face with the Time-Keepers, and I tried to grab hold of the feeling I imagined I’d experience as I sunk my sword into their chest.”

Sylvie frowned, almost as if she was annoyed with herself. “I could never imagine it, though. But I kept chasing for it, because… it’s all I had. I didn’t want to think about what came next, because once I earned my freedom… I didn’t know what to do with it. What would there be to keep me going?”

“A new chance at life?” Loki offered. “The opportunity to do whatever you wanted, and not have to worry about the TVA deciding you weren’t allowed it?”

“That’s what should have kept me going, yeah,” Sylvie said with a shrug. “But it wasn’t. Every time I opened up another Time-Door, and I watched the last moments of the world I had come to know for the shortest of times… I told myself that that was why I was doing this; because my mission wouldn’t just free me. If I ended it, then… I would end all of that misery. Their worlds wouldn’t have to be put through an apocalyptic event, just because some all-knowing dickhead wrote it into his story. People wouldn’t have to lose their daughters, their sons, their family, everyone they love, because one man thought they would need it to ‘be changed by the journey’. That’s how I did it, that’s why I forced myself to watch the ends of a thousand worlds. Because without that anger, that desire for revenge on other’s behalf? Then…”

Loki already knew what she was going to say, but in no way did he want to hear her say it. 

“Then one of those days, I might not have bothered to open up that Time-Door.”

He might not have ever wanted to hear such words from her, but that wasn’t to say he didn’t understand. He glanced down at where the flask of whiskey was peeking out from his pocket, fighting back the temptation to take it out and drink from it once more. 

“I hope you don’t mind me saying this, but, um…” Loki began awkwardly, eyes darting between the ground and Sylvie’s waiting gaze. “I’m glad that you went through all that, if it meant that… you, uh… you chose to keep fighting.”

Sylvie huffed in disbelief at his words, lightly tapping her boot against his leg. “Yeah, I’m sure you're grateful that I stuck around long enough to single-handedly screw up every single timeline by creating an infinite amount of ‘He Who Remains’, whose only desire is to rule over them all.”

“We both fought to be stood in that office at the end of time, Sylvie,” Loki reminded her. “Don’t go and place all the blame on yourself.”

“You’re not the one that held that sword though, are you?” Sylvie countered. “I killed him, and I can’t share that blame with anyone else.”

“You did what you thought was right,” Loki tried his best to counter her self-sabotaging efforts. “And you’re here now, aren’t you? Trying to set it right?”

“Doesn’t mean I should have done what I did.”

“Maybe not. But what’s done is done. Yes, there’s… there’s an unfathomable danger that we’re now going to have to face. But just think about how many lives you changed with your decision. All those people who made one change in their life, perhaps one to try and better themselves, and they get to continue to live that life without one single ruler deciding that it doesn’t fit into the story he’s crafted.”

“I know, I just… I can’t stop thinking about Him. I don’t even know how much time we have left before he - whichever version of Him - makes his first move. Maybe he already has, and we just don’t know it yet. How long before the war he starts stretches out across every timeline I created by killing him?”

Sylvie brings her hands up to her face, rubbing her fingers across tired eyes. “All of this… because one man decided he should be the master of everyone’s destiny…”

“Well… at least he did one good thing,” Loki claimed, much to Sylvie’s confusion. She dropped her hands away from her face, looking to Loki with an almost wary frown as she waited for him to elaborate. 

“And what’s that?”

“He weaved the strings of fate together that led me to you.”

“That was awfully sappy,” Sylvie lied straight to his face, pretending she didn’t feel the bubble of warmth that filled her chest and was trying to force an embarrassingly giddy smile onto her face - which still crept onto her face, despite her best efforts to contain it. 

“Ah, you love it,” Loki said, and a part of Sylvie hated that it was entirely true. The sight of the abashed smile on her face brought out a tender one of his own, enjoying this brief moment of something good that they got to share; something he had a feeling came few and far between when living a life composed of the ends of others. 

The songs of the people had long since died off, leaving them with nothing more than the sounds of nature around them, and the strangely pleasing sounding cracks and pops of the fire as it continued to burn away. The night was quiet, but not in an eerie way. It felt like the world was inviting them to rest: the blanket of warmth from the fire washing over them, combined nicely with the cooling breeze that brushed over their skin; the reassuring feel of the other pressed against them, sat side by side, shoulder to shoulder, knowing that the person next to them would keep them safe. 

The touch to Loki’s shoulder surprised him, glancing down to see that Sylvie was resting her head against his arm and using him as her own personal pillow. Which, he found, he did not mind in the slightest. She had closed her eyes, looking the most at peace he thinks he’s seen her be since… never, now that he thought about it. Even in the brief nap she got aboard the train on Lamentis, her sleep did not look particularly restful; almost like she was sleeping with one eye open, ready to defend herself if the need arises, never one to show a single ounce of vulnerability to anyone. 

‘I can’t sleep around untrustworthy people’

The warmth of her skin bled through the thin cotton material of his TVA shirt — a sensation he’s not particularly used to. In fact… he’s fairly certain no one has ever used him as a pillow before. There certainly weren’t many people he would let rest against him, or even be as close to him as she was. It was insane when he thought of how much had changed in such a short amount of time. How much he had changed. His perspective had shifted entirely, becoming the kind of man he used to laugh at. Love was weakness. Love was giving someone else the opportunity to take advantage of you, distract you from what truly mattered. Love was something that turned you soft, that made you think twice before doing what needed to be done. 

Oh, how he was wrong. Love was… power. Love was giving yourself to another person -- not relying on that other person to make you whole, but to better one another, to strengthen the weaknesses you thought were buried and hidden. 

Love was… everything that she was. 

For a while, Loki just… sat. It felt like his eyelids were being weighed down, and his entire body felt ready to sink into itself and fall into that deep, dark nothingness. But he knew that, even in a place like this where everyone seemed friendly, that it was important for at least one of them to keep on guard. Especially when said place is the location of a fast-approaching apocalypse. But as the minutes ticked by, and the effects of drowsiness seemed to dig its claws in, it didn’t take long before he found his head leaning to the side, resting against the top of Sylvie’s head where she had finally fallen into somewhat of a restful slumber as she laid against him. 

The minutes that passed by seemed to last for hours, time slowed down as it mocked him in his efforts to stay awake. Even now, as he looked up at the impressive expanse of stars sprinkled within the night sky, it almost looked as if some of them were missing. Huge chunks of space where stars should be simply vanished, left with nothing but a blob of pitch black.

Actually… it looked more defined than a blob. There was… a certain shape to the missing spots, kind of thin-looking with large appendages sticking out from either side. And… and now that he looked at them… were they… were they moving?

“Sylvie…” Loki regretfully whispered to get her awake, not wanting to interrupt her much-needed rest. “Sylvie, the stars are gone.”

The strangeness of his statement roused Sylvie from her groggy state, blinking blearily up at him as he stared transfixed at the sky. “The stars are… what?”

“There’s so many of them,” Loki tore his eyes away for just a second to tell her, before they snapped back to the various different spots of emptiness. “It… it looks like someone punched out holes in the sky…”

It took a few moments for her blurry vision to focus onto what Loki was referring to, squinting up at what did in fact look like splotches of the sky that had been reduced to nothingness. It wasn’t until she saw smaller, almost impossible to see black blurs of movement that looked to be falling from the missing spots that the reality of what was happening crashed into her. Loki could feel her entire body go tense next to him, shooting up from the log with the most frantic and downright panic-stricken look he’s ever seen for her, frightened enough that his body seemed to instinctively react – jumping up from the log as adrenaline shoots through his system, looking wildly between the falling objects and Sylvie. 

“What? What is it-,”

“They’re not holes in the sky,” Sylvie stated the obvious, fumbling for the TemPad. “They came early.”

“Who did?”

“The other civilization,” Sylvie answered, her fingers shaking as they swiped across the TemPad. “Those are space-crafts, Loki. And that’s not a warning. This is it; this is the end.”

It was only then that it sunk in for Loki. Other people nearby had also taken notice, a confused murmur rippling across the fields. People had begun to leave their tents, taking a look for themselves to see what was going on. It didn’t take long after that for the screams of terror to break out, erupting into chaos as these unfortunate souls scrambled for cover that did not exist. 

That's when the bombs hit. Or, he assumed they were bombs. Not that he could hear the explosion. At least, not from here. Not yet. But he could certainly see it. He could certainly see the multiple waves of blistering fire as it erupted upon contact with the ground, watched as the wall of destruction was forced towards them. There was nothing he could do, no magic he could use that would shield them from the force of the blast that was about to hit them.

"Sylvie-,"

"I'm working on it!" Sylvie was still frantically tapping at the TemPad, and the reminder of their early conversation about how much charge might be left in the TemPad came rushing back. 

This could very well be it. This could be their last moments, once again stood side by side, watching as the end of a world, the end of their time, approaches. Unstoppable. Inevitable. 

They were met with the horrific sight of the night sky set aflame, watching as this tidal wave of death washed over the little town. It kind of reminded him of Alioth: of the time it barrelled towards them, intent on swallowing them up and reducing them to nothing. Loki could on watch on in horror, taking in the sight of these people’s little make-shift homes disintegrating from the intense heat, those sheltered within barely able to get out a scream of agony as they’re burnt to a crisp with it-

And then the ground under their feet turned into a rectangle of gold with a familiar-sounding blip, only able to meet Sylvie’s relieved eyes for a split second before he once again found himself falling, sinking down into the Time-Door manifested below them. His last view of this singular world — one he knows he will never forget, whilst being yet another average day for Sylvie — rushing by as he dropped. 

He knew now why Sylvie did all she could not to get attached to anyone. For when he thinks of Yalti, he won’t think of the kind stranger that offered them a drink and shared his memories with them. He’ll think about how he knows what the smell of a person's skin boiling off their body is like, and the gurgled scream he gave as his body began to melt.

He could only hope that somewhere out there — whether that be in a separate timeline, or in some semblance of an afterlife — that Yalti will get to see his daughter again. 

On the bright side… he now had more fuel to fan the flames burning deep in his stomach. He knew that finding a way to eradicate ‘He Who Remains’ from the timeline — from every timeline — is a task made from necessity. But after witnessing something like this? Knowing that he may have to watch many, many more?

He might just take pleasure in watching the light leave the last variation of ‘His’ eyes as they bring him to his end. 

Next Chapter - - ->

[dvarapala]

pjo & co

send me a series & i’ll tell you:  @badmusesdoitwell​ 

Favorite character: lou ellen blackstone, definitely. always and forever and always. she has so much potential! so many family members are mentioned throughout the books! lou ellen is a treasure trove that the author never really got into! her brother is one of the strongest children of their mother, if not the strongest and he chose kronos’ side, led his army, and led a lot of his siblings to an early grave. and lou ellen canonically fought for / with the demigod camp! there could be something there! did she hate him? did she renounce him? does she still love him? percy and annabeth canonically met circe! pjo!circe is related to lou ellen! that could’ve been a connection! reyna was one of circe’s attendants! that could’ve been a connection! piper met (and fought) medea! pjo!medea is (distantly) related to lou ellen! that could’ve been a connection too! hazel is literally lou ellen’s mom’s chosen champion! how does lou ellen deal with that?! does hazel know that lou ellen’s mom has children in the greek demigod camp? nico canonically knows her / knows of her (as she, will, cecil and nico himself briefly make up #team onager) but do we know if he ever spoke of her while he visited hazel? nope, we don’t! how did she become a cabin counselor? was she the oldest and did she get the job by default? did the other surviving children of cabin twenty pick her because they thought her to be suited for the job? lou ellen’s gimmick is literally turning people into pigs through pig bombs and she never met circe???!?!!! circe who turned people into animals???!!! circe who would’ve glowed with pride - i assume - because her baby sister favors the same type of magic that she does?!!! i probably shouldn’t have assumed that she’d be in the books more than she was because she’s a minor character but she’s descended from the titans! why does that not mean anything in canon?! her maternal granddad’s ephitet is literally ‘the destroyer’ and you mean to tell me that she doesn’t have some seriously strong powers?! dang if she couldn’t have been the string that ties everything together. dang if she couldn’t have met carter and sadie. and magnus. so much wasted potential. sometimes it makes me sad. scratch ‘sometimes’. it makes me sad. she could’ve been so much more. i’m glad i get to do that for her.   

Second favorite character: (castor and) pollux. they’re both children of dionysus and they’re named after the original dioscuri and the author never did anything with them and they didn’t get to meet their half brother, dakota, and i’m mad forever. i’m sorry but they deserved a spin off too. like, i’m sorry but i call bs on the fact that they didn’t get - excuse my language - shit. look i know that pollux was a couple of years older than percy, and i know that he couldn’t have been part of the seven, but wouldn’t it have been glorious if he was? (wouldn’t it have been extra glorious if lou ellen was, too?) wouldn’t it have been absolutely super duper amazing to see him talk to the roman aspect of his father, to show off his vine powers? i know that one of the pegasi called pollux’s father ‘the wine dude’ but that’s so disrespectful because, like, his father is more than just the wine dude and pollux is more than that too. pollux who has the power to cause or cure madness - i assume, because once again, he didn’t get anything in canon except a dead twin, a dead half brother and a nameless mom who we don’t know anything about! pollux who broke his favored hand in battle and said: ‘fuck that, i’ll fight with my other one instead!’ and he would’ve if percy hadn’t made him sit it out as per pollux’s dad’s request.  and also alabaster c. torrington, for the reasons outlined above. also: josephine (who is also related to alabaster and lou ellen) and emmie. also: katie gardner and miranda gardiner and sherman yang (i do so ship sherranda and i want to know how / when they got together!) and basically every minor character in that series. i’m sorry, i’m mad again. i’m always gonna be mad.

Least favorite character: idk kronos, i think?

The character I’m most like: malcolm pace. i’m quiet and i like books too.

Favorite pairing: seeing as i’m all about the minor characters, i’m gonna say one (1) thing and that is: pollou. i’ve shipped pollux and lou ellen since 2012 / 2013 and i’m still doing it. i don’t care if they haven’t met in canon. they’re soulmates to me. (also in my head, miranda was lou ellen’s first girlfriend and then they broke up.) 

Least favorite pairing: circe / her island going under. medea / death (yes i know she did horrible evil stuff but like. couldn’t she have died after meeting lou ellen? :P)

Favorite moment: every moment lou ellen was in the books.

Rating out of 10: ten out of ten because i grew up on it. however, it’s not perfect and i can readily admit it.

[orihime00sama]

Thoughts on LB5.2 CM (spoiler warning!)

Well, well. I spent the whole night working on varsity assignments and managed to stay up in time for the stream to drop.

Gosh this trailer was so action packed. So many scenes and details that you have to rewatch it over and over to get everything. And not just the LB5 trailer, but the CEs and NP reveals. *inhales* AYAKA FINALLY GOT A CE!! *cough cough*. And Alice too, that poor girl ;-;

As for the NPs, both Caenis and the Dioscuri don’t look as great as I was expecting but they’re not bad either. Caenis in particular kinda makes sense with the tales of how after death she became a giant flaming bird. That said, I wasn’t expecting Castor to have such a deep voice. Hot damn.

A bunch of new characters showed up. Some of which presumably are the remaining Olympians who sided with Zeus, namely Hera, Aphrodite and Demeter.

The lightning robot person that was with Kirschtaria looks a bit more Japanese than Greek, so I think that maybe that’s Kirsch’s third Divine Spirit, either Susanoo or Raijin. The former would be quite interesting, considering how Tamamo-Vitch is around. Family reunion, I guess.

The Servant at the end might be the infamous Romulus=Quirinus that was leaked some days ago. The colour scheme does match, though when it came to a godly ROMA I wasn’t expecting him to become a ikemen with dead eyes.

Speaking of Roma, it’s nice to see Caligula! After they all got so shafted in Septem, seeing the non-Nero Roman Servants getting some love is great. I myself was thinking of a hypothetical event focused on Mother Harlot and the Roman Servants, both to give them more time to shine as well as to introduce Lucius Tiberius into FGO.

I don’t feel so good about Musashi... She just kept piling up death flag after death flag. Holmes also looks particularly suspicious and it might not end well...

Tesla getting a major role isn’t that surprising, what with him being ‘a modern day Prometheus'. Though I’m curious to find out if those silhouettes of Raikou, Kintoki, Fran and Mordred were really there or if it was just to show the other lightning-associated characters.

And Beryl is doing his best Demiurge impression. Joy. I’m ready and not ready for whatever LB6 is bringing.

[hungnitan]

LB5 PART 2 FINALLY DONE !

Contain spoiler so better not read them if you still not finish LB5 part 2 !

Yeah I'm so f*cked up around 6 cs 2 quartz and retry once at almost every boss fight (I never looked at wiki for fun of course~)

3 cs happened at 800k berserker robot yeah I'm so mad to the point really lazy to retry another 3 for Wodime then 1 quartz for Zeus which pretty obvious reason (lol)

My MVP as caster three musketeer aren't need to mention (lol) IT'S ASCELPIUS ! Yeah that snake man if not him I'm sure my cs added 6 more, now I taste how important to clean debuff all party while giving debuff resist to dps... really sweet at defeating Demeter~

For NPC Macarius and Adele... THEY'RE MOST SUPPORTIVE LB NPC ! I love they moreless like Chaldea Dioscuri kind of relationships, hot blooded brother with supportive and loving sister I really gonna miss them

While story I can't say it's the best but still awesome with so many boss fight and hard one really some of them harder than event challenge but somehow story premise are below my expectation like everything is within rebel flow... Tbh I don't feel anything at every chara's dead in this LB except Wodime and the most disappointing part is Dioscuri ! In the end they killed him like some crazy cold blood enemy without any redemption at all, even Demeter and Aphrodite have some. Sorry to say this but it's just too sad on my part... especially after fail getting them

Of course these only applied after Musashi dying ! After that it's really good, Wodime Caenis backstory then rhongominiad blast !

And then I heard something like "it's different writer after Musashi dead" and then I kinda agree on it 🤣

If I must rate for this LB5 part 2 I think the most I can give is 7.5/10 since I have soft side for twins (lol) and CaenisGoredolf CaenisWodime...

LB5 part 2 CE I like the art itself, based on last video Macarios took. This scene looks impossible but I kinda want to see it happen since I thought Wodime should deserve some happiness...

[brilliantpride]

lostbelt drabbles i just want out of my google docs please 

“This reading… It’s a Command Spell! Watch out! You’ve got a Master incoming!”

Time and space folds in on itself and warps before Yako’s eyes. The sky goes from bright and blue to an array of auroras, shifting cyan and violets; it seems almost close enough to touch, awesome in its brilliance. 

“It’s been a long time, Mash Kyrielight. And you must be Ritsu and Yako, the last Masters who remained after the rest of us departed.”

“Oh. He noticed me,” Yako says through grit teeth. Kirschtaria chuckles, a serene smile on his face.

“I have nothing but the highest respect for how hard you have worked to come this far. That is why I decided to come and face you myself.” Dual Servants fan out from behind him. Yako grimaces. Double trouble, huh. This is going to be a nightmare…

“I’m embarrassed just looking at you, Jason,” Pollux says, her chin held high with a sneer on her face. “A hopeless incompetent like you who was gifted with the blessings of the gods and the Argo, yet who still failed spectacularly, doesn’t even deserve to be in the same room as Lord Kirschtaria.”

“Ow, harsh,” Yako says. “Trying and failing is a lot more noble than never trying at all, you know? Hey, Wodime, show us the Golden Fleece. Go on, show it o—” Yako is cut off as Jason wrenches her shoulder back with an iron grip. The twins’ swords have begun to glow with magical energy. She closes her mouth.

“He’s a valiant hero who formed an alliance with Zeus, the king of gods, despite being human! What need has he for something like a sheep’s fleece?” Pollux mocks again, but Kirschtaria holds up a hand to silence her.

“The two of you will retreat with Caeneus,” Kirschtaria says. The twins seem shocked, and plead with him to just let Caeneus be thrown to the ocean, but the man is unmoved. Caeneus growls and protests, but is clearly on his last legs, in no place to argue. The Dioscuri flank Caeneus on either side, seizing his arms, and begin their retreat.

“Wait, don’t let him be taken away! We almost had him!” Jason shouts, but Orion elbows him. Yako shrugs off Jason’s grip and retreats to Ritsu’s side, drawing a runestone at the ready.

“Now, then. This has taken longer than I expected, and time is short,” Kirschtaria says, fixing his gloves. “I’m not here to debate the merits of our positions. I’m only here to settle things once and for—”

“Can I ask you one question?” Ritsu says coolly. Kirschtaria turns his gaze to them and nods.

Mash speaks up first, her eyes desperate and grieving. “...Why are you doing this? You were Masters sworn to preserve all of humanity! So why did you turn on humanity like this?”

It takes Kirschtaria a while to formulate a reply, as though stunned. “...I’m disappointed in you, Mash Kyrielight,” he says after a while. “I never thought you would waste time on the blindingly obvious. I already told you my goal, right when this all began. My reasons remain unchanged. Humanity has committed too many mistakes. In every era, every civilization, every hero, every nation, we humans have never made the correct choice. I can only conclude that humanity as a species wholly lacks the requisite ability to do so. I am here to correct those mistakes.”

She thought her blood would boil, hearing something like that. Never made the correct choice? And you can speak for the entirety of humanity? No, more than that, you consider yourself so above the humanity you were born into that you can speak for everyone, right? It’s absurd. There are billions and billions of people, and you’re going to speak for all of them?

Yako laughs, manic, her tension melting away. She laughs even as she feels Kirschtaria’s gaze on her and Kama gripping her jacket and Ritsu looking at her out of the corner of their eye, still tense. “Ohh, my god. This is good. Fuckin’ wild. Hey, I know mages are allergic to tech or whatever, so you might not know this, but there’s a thing called ‘the Internet’, and you sound like just about every ‘the world is fucked up but I alone can fix it if we just start over but with me in charge’ person who’s ever posted on it.” She wipes the tears from her eyes; her voice shakes with rage. “You’re so fucked up. No matter how much you want to dress it up in doing the right thing, you killed people just to serve your mage power fantasy of being king for a day. God, I hate you so much.”

Kirschtaria smiles slightly, shaking his head. That whole speech, and he won’t even frown at her! Won’t even give her that much! “Hate me if you will,” he says, “but it won’t change my course. The Foreign God will descend upon us in a few days’ time, so before that grand event,” the aurora behind him brightens, “I will defeat our greatest enemy here and now to put an end to this conflict.”

Each Servant leaps into action, aiming for Kirschtaria’s vitals, but none can get close. A yawning void in space opens up above the ship, raining down blasts of energy. Connla is struck shielding Yako from harm as she tries to duck under Mash’s shield. Kama and Robin send a volley of arrows his way, but they’re swallowed by space and spat out at Orion and Mandricardo. It’s all Mash can do to keep Ritsu and Yako from being incinerated by magical energy. Corday and Cú are the closest, their blades just barely getting in his personal space before they’re blasted backwards, their bodies thrown across the deck like puppets with cut strings.

But they get up. Yako sends her Sabers in for a tag-team attack that’s easily repelled, just as Kama sends another arrow streaking towards Kirschtaria; Orion and Robin join her assault, their arrows seeking their target’s heart; Corday seems to disappear in the action, only to reappear at Kirschtaria’s backside again; Mandricardo races in with his sword and steed, and against anything else, this assault would be impenetrable.

Kirschtaria sends them backwards with a blast of magical energy that feels like a miniature supernova. “I’m disappointed,” he says, “that this was all you had.”

He puts a hand to his chest. “O god of the void… I declare the defeat of human intellect, here and now. Their vision is blurred, their limbs weak, and their knowledge stagnant.” He raises his hand to the sky.

“Don’t let him finish!” Yako screams. “Don’t let him finish chanting!” Her Servants, and Ritsu’s, strain to their feet and grasp their weapons again.

The sky goes from day to dark night, instantly. Lines connect the stars in the sky, forming spell circles of unimaginable magnitude. One after the next, arrays of star-circles cover the entire sky. “As the final human, I hereby declare that all choices, setbacks, and prosperity shall be cast down into nothingness.”

Radiant stars glow brighter and brighter. Yako’s eyes widen as she shouts at Mash to deploy Mold Camelot.

“This one shot will bring down the gods… Ring the bell of reformation!”

The shield is only just fast enough to deploy before every star in the sky strikes their ship. “Grand Order… Anima Animusphere.”

An unthinkable heat sears Yako’s skin. Boiling with magical energy that feels like ice and fire and drowning and suffocating in the coldest reaches of space. Her voice is drowned out by the sound of annihilation.

She tries to grasp for someone’s hand, anyone’s, but her hand finds no companion. The ship tilts as it’s struck by meteor after meteor and Yako careens backwards, tumbling head over heels. She hears someone calling her name, just as her body plunges into the ocean, claimed by the waves.

— — — — — — — — — —

Yako opens her eyes and gasps.

She coughs up salt and sediment that settled on her tongue and spits onto the shore beneath her. She sloughs her waterlogged backpack off her shoulders. Her Combat Armament beeps incessantly at her, so she shrugs it off her shoulders to get a better look: it’s cracked, dented, and crusted with saltwater. Her hand is still clutched tightly around Calesvol’s hilt, its blade glowing dimly. Her voice is hoarse as she laughs bitterly, and then, with a sigh, rolls onto her back in the sand and stares up at the cloudless blue sky above her as the sun bakes her skin. She has no idea where she is, or how she got here. The last thing she remembers is Wodime ripping the stars out of the sky, then her falling off the ship and almost drowning, this time for real, and then something charging at her. She lost consciousness as it rushed at her… Hopefully Ritsu is safe. She pulls away her jacket and tunic and glances at her shoulder; her Command Seals still look bright and healthy. Tears of relief well up in her eyes, but she bites down on her tongue, shaking her head. No time for feelings right now. She has to take stock of her situation…

She sits up again and scans the shoreline. Beached near where she’d woken up is something that looks like a mix between a dolphin and a jet plane, with a covered cockpit and everything. She trots over carefully, keeping her distance as she looks it over. It seems inert, so she gets closer.

“Ah!”

Yako yells as it folds in on itself, parts retracting and changing shape, until it’s flattened and raised a tall fin… sail? Wait, this is a sailboat! And a submarine? So this thing must have been her escape! “What are you?” she mutters, kneeling down to investigate it, as if it can answer. Its body is metal, but rough to the touch, textured and warm; the seams between panels glow with vitality.

She can’t spend all her energy on this, though. She’d better find a way to make a shelter, at least until she’s found again. She gathers up her belongings and pats the boat’s sail fondly. “I’ll be back for you,” she says, and starts walking up the shore.

It seems like she’s found herself on a cove, surrounded by cliff walls, white with greenery draping down its face. She gets closer, trying to look for handholds or footholds, but she’s not sure she could grab on without slipping from the moss or plants. She sighs again and starts tracing the perimeter, just in case there’s something she missed.

[ Authorized user detected. ]

A hellish scream of metal snaps Yako out of her thoughts. She whips around behind her, body tense, runestone drawn, as a part of the cliff face descends into the sand, opening up into a cavern of iron plates that gets darker the further down she looks. She cranes her head to look down the shore again, but she can’t see any way to get up the cliff without circumnavigating the island and making herself a prime target for monsters, so…

Yako sighs and, against her better judgment, ducks away into the hallway. The door closes behind her, more quietly than it opened, and finally comes to a seamless close, plunging Yako into darkness. She holds out Calesvol’s broken, but still shining, blade and swings it around, seeing more metal, but the further she gets from the cliff face the less rusted it becomes, smoothing out into black-metal as she descends deeper into the cave.

Eventually she comes to a door, slightly ajar, with what she imagines to be a scanning pad hanging by the wires next to the door. She braces against the wall and pries the door open. As soon as she gets it halfway unstuck, it slides open and sends her stumbling into the room.

[ Welcome home. ]

The lights flicker on around her, bringing the room to life. In the center of the room is an altar, sort of like the one she’d seen at Hephaestus’s place, an interface with the machinery of gods; surrounding it are tables and chairs, the wood still looking like it was carved yesterday, covered with tools whose purpose she can only guess at. She inches closer as the pads beside other doors brighten, and tentatively rests her palm against one. The pad beeps and the door slides open, revealing a bedroom, with wooden furniture that wouldn’t look out of place in her own bedroom, though the bed lacks a proper mattress, instead having a bundle of cloth and fur and leathers from Demonic Beasts all piled on top of each other in the middle. It’s clear that someone was here once, with clothes strewn around the room. It’s all tunics like what the Atlanteans wore, but she finds a modern-styled shirt thrown into a corner of the wall, though when she picks it up, the text on it is too faded to read, and the tag has been removed.

She tosses aside the shirt for now and sets to look at the other rooms. One seems to be another bedroom, this time with multiple ‘beds’ to the room, and little other furniture; another is a workshop of some kind, with tools she’s seen in woodshop class among leather stretched out on racks and other equipment she would be hard-pressed to describe a use for. Her stomach growls. She checks another room, and—yes!

Food! Salted meats and fish, dried fruit and things in urns, and a huge box sitting beside the wall; when Yako opens it up, a blast of cool air hits her. It’s an ice-box! Preservation! Is all this still good? It smells good. Oh, right. She trots over to the big table in the middle of the room–big enough for several people to eat at once; was whoever lived here before hosting?–and dumps out her soaked bag’s contents. Her healing scrolls are still intact, thanks to the treatment to the paper; her compass, her pocket knife, her ward spikes, and her bag of blank runestones are still functional, but her ether shots have shattered, her first-aid kit is completely waterlogged, and it seems like she lost her bag of ball bearings to the ocean.

She picks up a healing scroll.

A half an hour and several dubious food items later, she’s back to exploring. She puts her hand to the scanning pad of the final room. The door takes a while to open, buffering, maybe. She slips inside, into… a storage closet? So that’s it, then? She shoves aside cleaning tools and stitched fur coats until another pad becomes visible. Ah-ha! Secret door! The next door slides open much quicker and she slips inside, into a room even bigger than the entryway, with a huge computer console sitting in front of cables and smaller consoles covered with scrawled notes on torn pieces of paper and scratched onto stones and shells. She picks up a paper, and it crumbles into dust in her hands; all she can make out is the word ‘Tartarus’. The handwriting is in English.

She picks up a stone. On it, there’s a scratched-out map of a ladder, with names written out on it: Okeanos at the top, then Styx, Lethe, Phlegethon, Acheron, and Cocytus. At the bottom, ‘Hades’, and a triangle drawn on top of that name, reading ‘Olympus’. An eerie feeling runs down her back. Something rumbles. She turns her head to glance at the computer screen as it flickers to life.

[ …ears, 1 month, 1 hour, and 36 seconds since… ]

She creeps closer, picking up a monster skin to clean off the screen. Just how old is the machinery here? It reminds her of veins, curling underfoot and leading to one big heart, down somewhere below… The voice from the speakers is tinny and frizzing, like she’s hearing it from an old FM radio.

[ Play your last message? ]

“Sure,” Yako says. The image changes color, but it’s still just as hard to see as before. Rather than static or interference, it looks more like an unfocused camera.

“Hey, you all. Welcome, Ritsu, Mash, and my not-so-little sib.”

Wait, that voice is— “Saber!” Of course she would get summoned here! She’s got a connection to this place: Yako’s presence here! 

“This will be my final message: here lies Pallas, the Titan struck down by Athena, and the door to Tartarus built into the island that is his body. We know it’s a hidden path to Olympus, something like a maintenance tunnel, but every scout we’ve sent down has disappeared. If we’re lucky, they made it to the other side, but if we’re not... Anyway, if you’re here, then breaking in the front entrance didn’t work out, but going in the back way just might. Or, you can take Cetus and head back out onto the open ocean, where you’ll be vulnerable to Odysseus’s sweeps again, no matter how remote this island is. As much tech as we scrounged up, and we still don’t have any real cloaking. That’s why I’ve been hiding here for the last too-many years...”

The blurry figure moves closer to the camera. “But it was all worth it to save you, kids. Just to make sure you kept going. All the planning, the guesswork, building, everything... Now that I’ve played my part, it’s time for me to make an exit with a bang.” She puts (what Yako assumes is) a hand over her mouth; is she getting emotional on camera? Eventually she turns back to the camera, her face, even through the blurriness, resolute.

“I’ve left you some good stuff. Don’t waste it.”

The screen turns blank white again, but appears to be doing some work in the background. Yako sits on a console and catches her breath while it loads.

Yako’s jolted out of her thoughts by a hellish screaming from behind her as panels slide away from the wall and reveal hidden caches: shelves of weapons, tools, all kinds of useful things slide out from the walls on trays. There’s even a giant shield like what Mash uses, but it’s way too big for Yako to even pick up, let alone think about swinging around as effortlessly as Mash does. Just how did Saber manage this kind of stash?... She supposes you figure things out in this much time in the body of a fallen mechanical god. What era are they in, anyway? Wasn’t it prehistory? If it’s not… Oh boy, that’s something she’ll have to table for future Yako to figure out. She starts stashing whatever she can into her bag, until she spots some cloth.

Not just any cloth, mind, but the same make of her tunic, if closer to a swimsuit-like texture. Armor pieces–pauldrons, gauntlets, boots, breastplate, belt, even a spiffy-looking fox-head helmet–sit next to it. There’s a note on top, which she picks up carefully as the aged corners chip off. ‘Kick some ass,�� it reads. Yako frowns.

She takes Calesvol out of her bag and stares into the blade. Door to Hades, huh… She looks around. Sure enough, just beyond the cables is a door she hadn’t noticed before, hidden behind the console, the pad next to it blinking for input.

Safe to assume that it’s a one-way trip. She can’t just take everything with her; if she needs to fight, she has to be smart about it, and can’t burden herself too badly. Who knows what’s down there?

On the other hand… She picks up what looks suspiciously like a claw gun.

She and Saber sure are the same person, aren’t they.

Always selfish like that. Just doing whatever she wants without asking other people how they feel… Yeah, that’s Yako, alright. Chasing a blaze of glory right to the end, even if it might’ve been more useful to stay right here until Yako came. She waited that many years, she could’ve waited some time more… unless Odysseus was closing in? So to keep this place safe, she needed to strike first, before he knew what was happening...

Yako’s throat tenses, but she gathers herself together, throws what she can in her bag, and swaps her tattered Chaldea gear for Saber’s armor. It melds to her form, thick and light, flexible enough for her to move how she needs to but covering up the important bits with sturdy, breathable shielding. She slams her elbow against the console in her hurry, but she barely feels it; is this a feature of the armor? Oh, right, better grab a few things that might be useful for Ritsu, too... 

When she’s ready, she stands in front of the metal door at the back. “Okay,” she says, “I’ve made my choice.”

[ Opening entrance to Styx. ] With a hiss and a death-rattle, the door’s pad glows green and the door creaks open, leading into a long, long hallway with a stairwell at the end, all in disrepair, drowned red with maintenance lights. [ Gather what you need, then descend, and make it to the end. Meet our allies. Tell them you are with the Godbreaker Alliance, and they will know you can be trusted… ]

When eight minutes are up and Yako’s packed what she can carry without falling over herself, she offers one last moment with the console, slapping its monitor affectionately. “I’ll take care of the rest.”

She sprints through the doors and down the hallway. The vault door seals behind her as she leaps down the stairwell, barely feeling her own velocity as she sprints headlong into the unknown. She pulls a charged bomb from her pouch and pulls back on her new slingshot as growls and cries ring out, echoing against the scraping metal walls... 

-

TIMELINE: B.C. 12,000? NAME: YAKO KOIZUMI STATUS: DECEASEDALIVE

THE EXISTENCE OF YAKO KOIZUMI CANNOT BE CONFIRMED. THE STATUS OF YAKO KOIZUMI CANNOT BE CONFIRMED. LAST REPORTED LOCATION: 5441525441525553

[renegadeapostle]

so I'm answering this here because it was just too legit for the curiouscat word limit. it's been too long since some hegemon talk, let's do this!! let's have an embarrassing deep dive into how i do character work

Miss Eva - I knew from the get go eva was going to be the protagonist - or at least, the voice from which the story begins. (Pretty much the first scene I knew for the story was the Beltway, and the very specific feeling of horror/wonder Eva feels at seeing Talulah controlling the grid. the essence of that is where a lot of the entire story grew from). I knew I did NOT want her to be a passive element in the story, a blank slate protagonist for people to read and project themselves on to - I wanted her to have an undeniable personality that people would either like or hate (but you know what? I've not had ANYONE say they don't like her - even when she's clearly in the wrong????? Narrative bias is strongggg). I wanted her to have a ruthlessness about her and a fierce need to protect people she loves, without much compassion for anyone else. I wanted her to be someone who knew when it came down to it she probably wouldn't do the right or moral thing. There's a lot of your prototypical Mean Girl about her and I love that. There's much of amoral characters like Selina Kyle in Eva.

Talulah - this is going to sound ridiculous but you know tie dye girl in the parent trap?

THIS IS TALULAH ENERGY. THIS RIGHT HERE.

When I was a kid I read the Trixie Belden books and there was this girl in them called Diana and Trixie was SO ENVIOUS of her in what was clearly a tween crush because Diana was PERFECT, rich and pretty with violet eyes and long eyelashes and always in a good mood. Wikipedia says of miss Diana 'She can be a bit gullible at times. She is not the most intelligent, but is a good sport, smiling and laughing often, especially at herself when she makes mistakes.' and that is Talulah energy. She's the girl you would expect to be the protagonist and it was very very important to me to view her initially through Eva's love/hate, I want to be near you but I'm terrified of you feelings. Talulah is a girl we will see much of through other people's eyes and she looks slightly different every time, and that too is important to her character. In that way she has inspiration from women-as-figureheads in literature and the way they have been misinterpreted - your Helen of Troys.

West... where to even begin. Dioscuri, obviously, the gemini twins and a sense of greek tragedy and loss and the terror of violence that plays out emotionally and intimately. Mary Shelley - like, I could say 'all singularity stories' but it's not, it is very specifically a Frankenstein type inspiration, of the creator's obligation to the creation, how it mirrors a family bond and how it can warp from there. Also in a way there's inspiration in a reactionary way from the abundance of just boring or uneventful robot stories - not saying I'm like, the fucking be all and end all of artificial intelligence but I have always been weary of Robots Taking Over The World narratives. There's much of Asimov here too, though less.... mid century pompousness (or so I like to think). But also inspiration from stories with emotional vulnerability, of boys born from toxic places and struggling to find their place and trust others and navigate a world that wants to cast them as a villain. that's something i try to be really aware of when i write him as a black male character.

Teo comes from a place of wanting to deconstruct masculinity and examine what things like male expectations and PTSD and weaponising male bodies. probably my biggest inspiration for him is The Steadfast Tin Soldier fairytale, which is one of my very favourites. Also big for teo (and yes lmao i acknowledge it's odd) is St John from Jane Eyre.... for very specific reasons that we will see!! There's much of Victorian/gothic archetypes in his corner of the story. I also wanted to position teo in a place that's usually feminine in the story - that is, the character that is important to the protagonist (Eva) who suffers but we experience it through the lens of the protagonist. That's usually always throwaway women and I wanted to turn that on its head in AFOT.

Sucre is.... a big old mish mash of many things. I wanted him to somehow be a little bit Byron (as he actually was) and Byronic (as ppl thought he was). There's much of Byron's poem 'The Corsair' in him. And also Richard Siken. And also many, many biblical/religious motifs. And also pirates - treasure island-y, amoral, charming pirates. There's also some dick grayson about sucre - as in, he has been through A LOT, grew up in a way that would traumatise most, and while he has of course been affected by it it hasn't sunk his natural effervescence.

Divi.... how even to examine divi lmao. Well since the very start of planning the story I knew I wanted an antagonist who saw themselves as having the moral high ground against the protagonists, and who had a cat and mouse sexual tension with the protagonist (Eva). Originally there were going to be lots of different agents/people chasing after Eva and Talulah (including the character that turned into.... WEST!!! dun dun dunnnnn) and I don't remember how it ended up just being divi but he started to eclipse the others, especially when I positioned him as an Antipodes agent. There are many, many inspirations for him in classical/biblical works but they're almost all spoilers so 🙊. But you know that Medea quote 'a gentleman is a patient wolf'??? AND THERE YOU GO