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hier--soir · 5 months ago

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may + june + july reads

the strange case of dr jekyll and mr hyde by r. l. stevenson [★★★★]

"Though so profound a double-dealer, I was in no sense a hypocrite; both sides of me were in dead earnest; I was no more myself when I laid aside restraint and plunged in shame, than when I laboured, in the eye of day, at the furtherance of knowledge or the relief of sorrow and suffering."

: ̗̀➛ a london lawyer, mr utterson, investigates strange occurrences between his old friend dr henry jekyll, and the evil edward hyde.

: ̗̀➛ a horror classic! coming in at a sweet 96-pages, it was easy to smash out in an evening. and despite the brevity of the text and the fact that it's over a century old, i found it insanely compelling and indeed pretty chilling at multiple points.

: ̗̀➛ there are some ridiculously funny lines in this. i believe he named the evil character hyde just so he could drop this banger: "'If he be Mr. Hyde,' he had thought, 'I shall be Mr. Seek.'"

: ̗̀➛ henry jekyll my sweet summer child, you flew way too close to the sun with this shit.

: ̗̀➛ "You must suffer me to go my own dark way." BARS.

babel: an arcane history by r. f. kuang [★★★★★]

"The poet runs untrammelled across the meadow. The translator dances in shackles."

: ̗̀➛ opening in the year 1828, a young boy from canton is orphaned by cholera and brought to london by a mysterious professor. he is trained in latin, ancient greek, and chinese, in preparation for the day he will attend oxford university's royal institute of translation - babel. the tower is the world's center for translation and silver-working, the magical craft that has so far brought unrivalled power to the british and supports the empire's ongoing colonisation of the world. but what happens when it is discovered that britain is pursuing an unjust war against china, and robin realises that serving babel means betraying his motherland.

: ̗̀➛ this book left me absolutely speechless. upon starting it i was immediately ashamed at how long it had taken me to pick this up considering all the hype. serious thanks to @seventeenpins for recommending this to me recently, you are the best for putting me onto this.

: ̗̀➛ beautifully crafted, incredibly intelligent, great central characters. i don't even know how to put into words what i felt about this one. and as someone who consumes a fair amount of translated literature [see: my love of ancient greek and roman classics] it tickled my interest around the biases and intricacy of translation so perfectly. you need to read it. please.

: ̗̀➛ have to include: "It should have been distressing. In truth, Robin found it was actually quite easy to put up with any degree of social unrest, as long as one got used to looking away."

: ̗̀➛ have to include #2: "So then where does that leave us? How can we conclude, except by acknowledging that an act of translation is then necessarily always an act of betrayal?"

: ̗̀➛ and absolutely cannot not include this iconic PBS diss: "He greatly enjoyed Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, though he could not say the same of the poems by her less talented husband, whom he found overly dramatic."

paradise rot by jenny hval [★★★★]

"But my dreams are full of apples, and in the dark my body slowly transforms into fruit: tonsils shrinking to seeds and lungs to cores. I dream of white flowers blossoming under my nails, as if under ice. Then my nails break, opening up like clams and in the finger flesh there are little sticky fruit pearls."

: ̗̀➛ jo is in a strange new country for university, living in a house with no walls, a roommate with no boundaries, and a home that seems increasingly more and more alive.

: ̗̀➛ so much piss in this one folks.

: ̗̀➛ jenny hval is a norwegian musician and this was her debut novel, and it was bizarre and haunting and disgusting and made me cringe and feel squeamish at many points, and yet i read it in one fell swoop. it grips you for 120-odd pages and when you're done it feels like you've been spit out disoriented.

mrs s by k. patrick [★★★]

"When she is not around, I invent her. When she is around, I invent her. It is not her fault."

: ̗̀➛ an australian butch lesbian travels to england to work in an elite boarding school, where she meets mrs s, the headmaster's wife. over a hot, restless summer, the two engage in an affair.

: ̗̀➛ i enjoyed this one decently enough. the writing style grew a bit tiresome, and the storyline seemed quite laissez-faire, but overall yes i enjoyed it. what can also grow tiresome for me is the woman-on-woman affair when one of them is married to a man - but maybe i've just read too much queer lit with no foreseeable happy ending lately, idk.

: ̗̀➛ the way the dialogue was structured [or perhaps, unstructured to a painful extent] was not my cup of tea at all.

: ̗̀➛ i was really tickled by her living in an annexe so close to the school nurse, who is very religious. the dynamic gave way to great passages like this: "I imagine her, at night, sending prayers my way, so sweet as to be malicious. In each of our interactions there is always the feeling that I would do better under her God. I don't mind her God, so tangible. The sexy Jesus in her bedroom. His body I too would die to have. Not just the chest but the legs, a footballer's legs, complex with muscle. Even those sad, raised palms. Brazen in their injuries. Such glamour." like hello??? incredible.

grey dog by elliott gish [★★★★]

"You called me a dirty little beast, and I have become as dirty and beastly a woman as there ever was."

"What is that quote from Othello, what Emilia says about men? They are all but stomachs, and we all but food; They eat us hungerly, and when they are full, they belch us."

: ̗̀➛ a 'literary horror novel' set in 1901 about the unmarried and almost 30 'spinster' ada byrd who accepts a teaching post in a small isolated town. she wants to be rid of her past, one 'riddled with grief and shame', but upon witnessing strange and grisly sights, ada begins to believe that something ancient and beastly is behind all the peculiarities in this little town. her confusion deepens, and ada's grip on what is reality, delusion, or traumatic memory, begins to blur and fail.

: ̗̀➛ body horror, gore, the horrors of being a woman, witchy business, descent into madness, women longing for women.

: ̗̀➛ because the entire text is written in first person diary entries, i found that it sometimes failed to establish a creepy atmosphere. although this issue was more prominent for me in the first half, while in the second half the diary entries acted as a great insight as to how unhinged she was becoming. slay.

: ̗̀➛ imo this is simply what happens to a woman when she is raised by a heinous father and ends up an adult surrounded by too many sexy older women!

the sleepwalkers by scarlett thomas [★★★]

"How many eyes can one storm have?"

: ̗̀➛ still reeling from the chaos of their wedding, evelyn and richard arrive on a tiny greek island for their honeymoon. it's the end of the season and a storm is brewing on the horizon. they check into the villa rosa, which has a peculiar owner named isabella, and everyone wants to talk about the famous sleepwalkers, a couple who stayed at the hotel recently and drowned.

: ̗̀➛ saw a tagline that coined this as 'patricia highsmith meets white lotus' and i'd agree. good mystery thriller with some action.

: ̗̀➛ this one was a touch slow at first [it's told in letters, dictated audio recordings, from different perspectives, etc] but ultimately gripped me and i thoroughly enjoyed the drama and mystery. newlyweds that hate each other's guts? yeah, bestie, i need to know why.

: ̗̀➛ i really got into some of the takes showing how evelyn and richard viewed each other. this really stuck with me: "I read infrequently, partly because every book change me, right down the level of my DNA. I didn't want to be changed so often. But you were able to hoover up contemporary culture without so much as a little belch afterwards. You just carried on being you."

: ̗̀➛ also let me fucking tell you, there was a line in this book that made me drop my kindle and GUFFAW in shock. page 88, HELLO. evelyn girl you kill me.

the drift by c. j. tudor [★★★]

"These days death had been laid bare for what it really was. An ending. Often brutal, seldom fair, rarely kind."

: ̗̀➛ a thriller-esque, horror-esque book about a deadly infectious virus, and the attempted survival of three seperate groups trapped in isolated circumstances in the icy wilderness. [this one is so hard to describe sorry]

: ̗̀➛ the book is told through three different pov's. i normally despise this but i actually didn't hate it in this case, although i did have favourites.

: ̗̀➛ boyfriend asked me to read this when he finished it and then watched me from across the room the almost whole time, pretending not to be staring whenever i looked up. and he was right, it was fast-paced, had some good twists and turns, and was enjoyable, albeit very different from what i normally read.

what have i done? an honest memoir about surviving post-natal mental illness by laura dockrill [★★★★]

"Put me out of my misery. I feel like a killer on the loose. I need to turn myself in."

"Or the one of New Mum having champagne and cake with the girls. Another doing 'date night' two weeks before her six-week check, like, 'Yes, we still have sex!' Mum is fitting back into her clothes; Mum is making papier-mâché piggy banks; drinking enough water; shaving her armpits; reading a bedtime story; going to a gig; playing peekaboo. Mum is keeping up with her favourite TV shows; reading the Booker longlist; being a good friend; making a healthy yet tasty cost-effective-probably-vegan meal; recycling; giving baby massage; sterilising. Mum is getting rid of her pregnancy knickers when they are the only knickers she truly likes; doing her taxes; walking the dog; donating to charity; freezing bananas; learning Japanese because why not? ... Oh look! Mum is abseiling down the Shard and still finding the time to express and write a blog about the whole experience."

: ̗̀➛ a memoir about a first-time mum's experience with post-partum psychosis, and her survival.

: ̗̀➛ this book was a heart-ache of a read. honest and raw and devastating and uplifting. often very very funny -- "People told Hugo, 'Don't go down the goal end, mate; it's like watching your favourite pub burn down.' Oh ha. Ha. Ha." -- i couldn't put it down.

: ̗̀➛ the end did start to feel a touch self-helpy which isn't necessarily my bag of tricks when it comes to non-fiction, but those inclusions felt warranted and fair after such an in-depth depiction of everything laura had gone through.

: ̗̀➛ serious mental health trigger warnings for this one. there is plenty of humour, but it gets very dark.

the death of jane lawrence by caitlin starling [★★]

"She dreamed of tearing out a rotted pit inside of him where his martyrdom resided."

: ̗̀➛ in an alternate version of victorian-era britain, jane shoringfield is seeking a marriage of convenience that will allow her to continue working, with all the benefits of being a married woman, and she finds this in dr augustine lawrence. however, he has one condition - she can never visit lindridge hall, his family manor outside of town, where he himself will sleep each and every night. but on their wedding night, an accident strands jane at the door in a rainstorm, and in place of her husband she finds a terrified, paranoid man who cannot tell reality from nightmare. by morning he is himself again, but jane knows something is terribly wrong at lindridge hall.

: ̗̀➛ i picked this up looking for a fun, spooky little read, but am sad to say that i absolutely did not like it. the characters were fickle, the plot twists were unsurprising and revealed poorly, and the storyline was all over the place. sadge!

: ̗̀➛ sold itself as a gothic ghost horror, but didn't live up to that at all [for me!] heavily inspired by crimson peak, and it doesn't care if you know it.

: ̗̀➛ also - when your 'independent strong female' mc marries a guy who lies constantly and makes up bullshit and every time she confronts him he boo-hoos so she forgives him immediately cause he really is a nice man?? womp womp.

: ̗̀➛ also also - way more cocaine in this than i expected.

my book rating system is as follows:

★ = i felt pure contempt the entire time

★★ = yeah it's a book

★★★ = i liked it!

★★★★ = good fucking book, damn

★★★★★ = blew my dick clean off and i'll throw a tantrum if everyone i know doesn't also read it and love it

if you want to share a book you love with me, please do! i am always looking out for new recs.

#jessie reads #books #if you've read any of these lets talk

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catofadifferentcolor · 1 year ago

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Terrible Fic Idea #58: Percy Jackson x Criminal Minds

While perusing the PJO tag for the first time in ages, I stumbled across yet another crossover I never would have thought of trying - and which, naturally, hasn't escaped my head. It managed to mash together the worlds of PJO and Criminal Minds... and so, naturally, I thought: if I were going to write this crossover, what would I do?

Just imagine it:

Everything follows canon - until MoA. There Percy plays off the judo throw in New Rome to avoid starting a war with the Greeks, but after they're alone on the Argo Percy tells Annabeth that he doesn't appreciate 1) being blamed for his disappearance, as if Hera had asked him if he wanted to lose his memories and half a year of his life, and 2) being physically attacked by his girlfriend outside of weapons practice.

Naturally, Annabeth doesn't take this well and doubles down on her position, and the two fight like cats and dogs throughout MoA and HoO. By the time they reach Akhlys, Percy is hardly inclined to listen to Annabeth at all, and so doesn't stop poison-bending.

It's not obvious at the time, but not stopping fully unlocks Percy's divine powers. He's now immortal, like Chiron, but not a god. It's also rather the final straw for Annabeth and Percy's relationship.

Because he doesn't immediately realize he's immortal, Percy goes on with normal human things like high school and college - attending both at Camp Jupiter, which is better equipped to handle demigods than the average mortal school. It's only after he starts grad school at nearby Stanford University and gets a lot of comments on how young he looks does anyone start realizing what's happened.

Fast forward to about 15 years after HOO, when Percy has joined the BAU - because even immortals have to pay the bills somehow.

In my head I picture this to be S8/S9 of CM, largely because I enjoyed Alex Blake's character and think she'd be a good outsider POV for the story I want to tell, but dealer's choice.

Percy proves to be the BAU cryptid. His primary and secondary school records say unsub in the making... then he double majors in marine biology and classics in college (because everyone who survives four years in the legion or slays a particular number of monsters gets a classics degree when they graduate by default). Then he goes on to get a doctorate in psychology from Stanford... and swim twice for Team USA in the Olympics. He once went on vacation in the Keys and found the wreck of a lost Spanish galleon free diving. He's polite and mild mannered and goes nowhere without at least three knives on his person and a week's worth of survival gear. When he's tired, his reports sometimes slip into Ancient Greek or Latin. He may be a Hellenist and speaks of Hell as a place that he's been.

Percy is, in short, unfathomable to his profiler colleagues. They like him, but every new thing they learn about him only complicates the profile they're definitely not putting together.

He's been in the BAU for about 18 months before they receive reports of a serial killer's dumping ground in the Oakland Hills, not more than a mile from Camp Jupiter. The victims are all in their late teens and signs indicate all were killed in a ritualistic way. Most of those the investigators can identify are runaways.

Once the BAU is on site, Reid determines that someone is trying to recreate an obscure Ancient Roman sacrifice.

More importantly, Percy realizes that, yes, these are definitely the bodies of Roman demigods - and not one of them was killed by a monster before they could get to camp. In fact, he's pretty sure there's a secret entrance to camp not 100' away from the oldest body.

It's this last point that causes Percy to lead his team to Camp Jupiter. This is a revelation in itself and should answer many of the team's questions about Percy but give them twice as many new ones.

It should also be perfect timing, as they arrive just as praetors Frank and Hazel were thinking of reaching out to Percy, as he's the only real investigator either camp has. They're not aware of most of the murders, as it's not unusual for one or two demigods every year to be killed after leaving the safety of camp, but the last three victims went missing in the last three months under odd circumstances.

(One was a granddaughter of Apollo who'd talked about wanting to join the Hunters of Artemis, and when she disappeared everyone assumed that's what she did, only for the Hunters to visit later claiming she never showed. The most recent was a daughter of Bacchus who hated the regimented life of the legion and wanted to transfer to Camp Half-Blood where things were a little more their speed. Most the others were legacies or the children of minor gods.)

They set up shop in Percy's house - in part because CJ has no police force beyond the legion, which houses their main suspects - in part because Percy's house is built like a Roman temple on the edge of the temple district and no one would dare sneak into it.

(The demigods have been actively treating immortal Percy as a god, because if deification worked for Nero, they can make it work for Percy. And a deified!Percy could only be good for them.)

In the end it comes out a grandchild of Hecate/Trivia was sacrificing other demigods to their ancestor in hopes of obtaining more power - they should be just powerful enough to disguise their actions with the Mist but not much more, and intensely jealous their ancestor handed already-powerful Hazel more power during the Giant War.

Bonuses include: 1) Thalia and the Hunters showing up to help, as do Nico and Will. This should be an intensely confusing family reunion to watch from the outside given that two are immortal. Extra bonus points if the BAU recognize Nico from some wildly successful paranormal investigative channel on YouTube and are shocked to find out all the ghosts are real; 2) Will calling Percy "mom", on account of the fact he's been dating Apollo for the last five years now - Apollo's longest relationship ever - though Percy refuses to consider marriage or children until fifty years have passed; and 3) One of the BAU being tangentially involved with the mythological world already - Hotch had a relationship with a disguised Justice before meeting Hailey and their child is at Camp Jupiter? Reid has just recently met a disguised Athena at a conference and is now worried he'll arrive home to a baby on the doorstep?

And that's all I have. As always, feel free to adopt this bun, just link back to me if you chose to do anything with it.

More Terrible Fic Ideas

#plot bunny #fic ideas #percy jackson and the olympians #heroes of olympus #percy jackson #pjo #hoo #criminal minds #crossover #percy x apollo #trials of apollo #toa

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undiscovered-horizon · 2 years ago

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Imagine being the one who releases Morpheus. - Part 7

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4] [Part 5] [Part 6] [ENDING] [ALT. ENDING] || Sandman-inspired playlist

The mansion hasn't changed one bit. It looked exactly the same as it did the day you were forced to leave. A strange feeling sprouted in your chest - the very same sensation you felt when you saw Morpheus on the pier. How could it be that days had gone by but the fang of time did not bite down into this house? Was it built with the same arcane element with which Morpheus was created? And if so, was he, too, a house of horrors and woe underneath his handsome looks?

"What a strange feeling, to become a visitor in one's own home," you said quietly as you longingly looked at the bricks you had grown to know so well. Unbeknownst to you, Morpheus was watching your melancholic expression, silently wondering if you, too, looked at him this way.

"This is not your home."

"And yet part of me longs for the days when it was. Curious, isn't it? I broke you out of here and now I'm dragging you back to your prison."

"I came with you on my own accord," he corrected you. To be honest, even if you hadn't asked him to help you, Morpheus would have found a reason to come with you anyway. "Your plan requires a significant amount of preparation and cunningness to be successful."

His observation was in no way revolutionary. "Yes, it does but we do not possess the time required. We must do with what we have. Non est ad astra mollis e terris via," you said. "There is no easy path from earth to the stars." Turning your head towards Morpheus, you met his intense gaze. He noticed how your eye lit up the moment they met his but Dream was quick to discard such sentiment. "Seneca's words. Sometimes I think he knew more about life than any of us."

Morpheus never cared much for philosophy - humanity might be a reasoning species but they are hardly reasonable, so they're pondering about the nature of the world were always wrong in one way or another. To a creature of his sort, human philosophy was as though watching a blind person paint a landscape. Despite his prejudice, he thought that you made Seneca sound akin to an oracle. Perhaps, if he were to understand the teachings of that ancient philosopher, he'd know more about you too? Could a wise Greek be a secret passage into your heart and soul?

"Be careful, Morpheus. If Yasmin was right and I have no reason to doubt her honesty, my father is unpredictable in his anger. It is beyond me to speculate what horrors he will bestow upon you should he catch you once more."

"I can not die," he reminded you.

"But you can still be in pain." Although his yearning heart exclaimed at such a notion, Morpheus couldn't quite understand why you would care about his discomfort. He was an eldritch creature, you have said that yourself multiple times, so physical pain wasn't something unbearable to him. Why did you treat him like he was a fragile human? Was that tenderness, too?

Having said that, you directed your steps to the back of the house, planning on trespassing inwards through the staff door. Seeing you disappear behind perfectly kept bushes and flower beds, Morpheus felt a sudden desire to stop you, to share some kind of blessing with you; to ask you to come back to him, perhaps. Nevertheless, not a word left his mouth. For a second, he even considered a prayer.

Gathering his strength and discarding his gnawing worry for you, Morpheus's booming voice called out to Rodrick who undoubtedly resided within the mansion. It was like challenging someone to a duel but Dream's pride whispered songs of greatness into his spirit - hymns that never once suggested that the wicked mortal could have a chance against him. Although this supposed summon to the contest was entirely your idea, Morpheus had his own reasons to see it through. Yes, it was high time he faced that villain, looked him in the eye and gloated in his triumph. You deserved justice and he deserved peace.

Minutes of complete silence and inaction went by as Morpheus waited for Rodrick in front of the house. Such dismissal of a king's challenge couldn't be read as anything but utterly disrespectful. Was that wicked man trying to humiliate him? Dream's anger only intensified with that thought. Who did Rodrick Burgess think he was? His fingers were growing strained as he kept one of his fists clenched but he couldn't let go - not yet.

Then like an omen of awaited death, the front door unlocked and from behind them emerged the awaited, elderly man. He had a scornful expression on his face but that was to be expected. Rodrick held the rifle high, aiming at Morpheus without even a tremble in his hand. He seemed to be determined for that confrontation to be final, to once and for all decide which one of them was the superior entity.

"Where's that wretched child?" Rodrick called out to Morpheus while pulling back the hammer of the rifle. Just a slight tremble of his index finger could end in a bloodbath. How strange it was, the trust that forms between enemies.

"I came alone, Rodrick Burgess," he lied. "I do not know what child you are speaking of."

"Of course you do, Dream King. That bastard that took pity on you or have you already forgotten that a brat proved to be smarter and more powerful than a supposed king, a god?"

"I do not care for your beliefs, human. I came to retrieve what is mine." Perhaps he meant his mask, which whereabouts remained largely unknown to him, or he meant vengeance. Morpheus himself wasn't sure.

There, in the distance, you noticed a metallic glistening and your father's low voice carried by the echo of empty plains that surrounded the house. Because of the distance, you couldn't discern what he was saying but if he did face Morpheus at the moment, it couldn't be anything good. The strange shine made your skin crawl despite not being able to give it a proper name at first.

"Dear God, no," you whispered to yourself. Dread, like a lead weight, pulled your stomach towards the ground. If Yasmin was right...

Without much thought, you broke for the two men. Hearing your rushed footsteps, Alex turned around but you were already long gone. For a moment, he considered running after you but he was old enough to know better: he was your little brother, after all, and that meant he had to listen. Given the strange situation in which he had found himself, he wanted to listen, so he carried on expanding the distance from the home that was also his prison, from the father that never treated him like the son he was. If he makes haste, he could cross the Baltic Sea before midnight.

Panting and feeling your legs burn so intensely they were about to give out, you had finally found yourself standing next to Morpheus, your eyes flicking between the barrel of the rifle and your father's irate face. Acknowledging your sudden appearance, Rodrick aimed the firearm at you; on the other side of that barrel lay relief and eternity and, as far as you could tell, your father's fingers were burning to grant you just that. Unconsciously, Morpheus leaned towards you but you didn't notice it either.

"My own child against me," Rodrick spit out. His words were dripping with contempt and any unfamiliar to the case onlookers would never assume you were family. "I'm ashamed to have fathered such a treacherous mind. If I could exchange your life for your brother's, I would. Do not think I would hesitate even for a second."

"Please, father, you don't have to do this," you begged him. He, however, remained unmoved. "We will walk away never to disturb you again. Haven't we all suffered enough?"

"Do not speak to me of suffering, you bastard!" Rodrick's scream was loud enough to scare birds from the nearby trees. "I could have my son and you made sure that the only good thing in my life was never returned to me."

Perhaps that was the way your life was always going to end: with a whimper, as you bled on the doorstep of your childhood home. Like all things that belonged to nature, your life, too, was going to close in a cycle. "I forgive you, father, for all that you have done and didn't manage to."

A deafening gunshot rang in your ears. It was so loud you didn't hear yourself gasp. Once the shock subsided, you grew confused at the lack of pain. Maybe adrenaline had messed with your sense? But then again, not a speck of crimson stained your clothes.

Morpheus fell to the ground with a barely audible groan. Laying at your feet, he tried to prop his body up on one of his arms. For some reason, even the bullet tearing through his body couldn't force his fist to unclench.

"You could have simply granted my wish," Rodrick spoke as he frantically reloaded the rifle. "Tell me, Dream King, is this really worth dying for?"

"Yes," Morpheus whispered.

His hand was trembling but you weren't sure whether it was anger or pain that caused it. Morpheus opened his palm revealing powdery sand. With an effortless blow, he sent the grains drifting into the air. Immediately after, your father was rendered unconscious. Letting out a throaty groan, Morpheus got up on his feet. There was no blood stain visible on his clothes.

The moment Rodrick's limp body hit the ground, a sharp sound of breaking glass resounded. A black, thick mist appeared above his form. The slimy-looking cloud shimmered in the dim light of a cloudy day. It remained mid-air for a short while before dissolving, never leaving even a trace of its existence.

You felt something warm and wet on your hand. Looking down in confusion, you noticed a streak of blood staining your blouse. Its trail led from the burnt mark on your chest right to your fingertip, from where it slowly dripped on the dark soil underneath your feet. Strangely enough, the injury didn't hurt at all. Actually, you doubted whether you had ever felt such unbearable numbness before as though frostbite suddenly gnawed at every inch of your skin.

"A catalyst," you whispered. Truthfully, you should have expected your father to be brilliant in his wickedness.

Probably due to the overwhelming numbness, you couldn't keep your balance and so you stumbled, only to regain composure once you leaned against Morpheus.

"What sorcery is this?" Just when he thought he had finally righted a wrong, a new misdeed appeared. Could he not have even a moment of relief?

"Imagine a volcano in a jar," you said as you absentmindedly wiped your bloodied fingers on your blouse. "If you open the lid carefully, you might light an infinite number of candles. But once the jar breaks? The whole world catches on fire."

At that moment Morpheus realized that his anxieties became reality: your blood shall forever stain his pale skin, no matter the holiness of the water he washes them in. Instead of peace and justice, he had only caused more suffering. This universe could be nothing more than a cynical theatre play.

Dream's hand wrap around your waist before a whirl of sand encircled the two of you. You couldn't have blinked more than two times before your feet were once again standing on the old carpet in your living room. Feeling exhausted and lightheaded, you fell on the floral sofa. Perhaps it was funny or perhaps it was sad that history liked to repeat itself so much.

"Thank you for sparing him," you said in a weak voice.

"I did not spare him, he just did not deserve to die quickly. Now Rodrick Burgess will relive his worst nightmares until I grow bored of his misery."

Seeing as you weren't in the state to continue the discussion, Morpheus wandered towards the mantlepiece. He could, of course, simply leave but the sudden reminder of your mortality made him unable to. The gifts of the upcoming day were unknown to him in the most heartbreaking of ways.

There, on the shelf above the cold fireplace, stood a photograph he never noticed before - not that he had a chance, given the chaotic nature of the recent times he had spent with you. The picture in the frame showed you and your siblings, happily laughing at something. It must have been taken a long time ago as the smallest boy, Alex, was missing a few of his teeth. This happiness... was that what siblinghood felt like to humans? Some romantic part of him was convinced that if he had something like that, he could never truly be lonely. Thinking about his own family for a moment, that portrayed joy felt like Hell on Earth.

"Did we do the right thing?" you asked him quietly.

Dream didn't answer straight away. For a moment, he continued to stare at the photo, taking in the happiness saved in the past. "He who spares the wicked injures the good," Morpheus quoted. He turned his head to you as if he was making sure his point got across. "Also Seneca." Perhaps he didn't care about philosophy but one had to remember that he did live through the history of humankind. He was bound to learn some things even against his will.

For a moment, you were completely silent as you lay on the sofa with your eyes closed. Despite your appearance, he knew you weren't asleep - he felt it. Dream's eyes returned to the picture but he wasn't studying it anymore. Instead, his thought began wandering into utterly fantastic and completely impractical directions. Spending time with you must have planted a seed of wistfulness in him.

"Will you ever, Morpheus?" you broke the pleasant silence. At that moment, in that one sentence, he realized that until the day eternity calls upon him, his conscience shall always speak in your voice. "Grow bored of my father's suffering?"

"One day I will be forced to." He looked over his shoulder at you. Despite his calm demeanour, Dream was wondering whether there was anything he could do to aid your ailment but the more he thought, the more he became convinced that your fate lay not in his own but his sister's hands. Morpheus, an eldritch god whose nature was incomprehensible to the human mind, was powerless in the face of mortality. "When this universe caves to be replaced with another. Until then, it shall bring me joy."

"You deserve peace, dear Morphius," you spoke in a quiet, mild voice. "You deserve closure I can not give you."

His tongue wanted to spit out words of cynism, phrases that would remind you of his egotistic superiority but Dream kept his mouth closed. Between callousness and silence, he preferred to grace you with quietness. You could give him a lot more than closure and he knew that - he felt it.

Now that immediate danger had passed, you could closely inspect the strange markings that appeared on your skin the moment the catalyst vial broke. The black lines appeared like veins or roots, wrapping around your skin as if their purpose was to keep you in some kind of a cage. They were numb to the touch, rendering your own body completely foreign to you. Perhaps that's exactly what was happening: this strange force was pushing your soul out of the corporeal form you naively regarded as your own.

For a moment, you thought you heard the distant meowing of a cat but it was a silly thought that you quickly dismissed - no felines lived in the vicinity of your house. Strangely enough, Morpheus heard it too.

Are you ready for the 'super fin'?

Tagging people who were interested in a follow-up: @rosaren2498 @jessiboobdbdb @chantzmar @lexi-anastasia @bisexualunicronrunningloose @farintonorth @oo0lady-mad0oo@all-bi-myselfs-blog @piperstofu101 @magic-magnoliaa @kotonei-molyneux @wheresmyboo @supermegapauselouca @sloanexx @rockergirl57 @aizawa-emma @ruyi-years @commanderfreethatdust @sapphireonline @izzicle@mxxny-lupin @shadowluna25

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hippielittlemetalhead · 1 year ago

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I should be working on my Punk!Steve thingy and I will but first I am running on enough caffeine to stop an elephant's heart and 3 hours of sleep and I had a ✨thought✨.

Son of Hades Steve but more Bianca di Angelo than Nico. He's charming and charismatic but even if people like him there's still that sense of Other and people fear what he's capable of (King Steve) and the stereotype that he's bad luck and not like other demigods and almost less human than them (relationship with Nancy and the bullshit scene). His parents know and his stepdad refuses to acknowledge him more than he needs to and his mom resents him for ruining her marriage even though she's the one who revenge cheated in retaliation for her husband sleeping with another secretary. So they send him to Camp Half Blood as soon as possible and he is there the majority of the year.

And

Son of Artemis Eddie. BECAUSE in many ancient civilizations the words/phrases we translate to virgin would be closer to unwed young woman rather than never slept with someone. Because Artemis has a lover, Orion but upon his death vows to never wed and declares herself a maiden/virgin goddess. So either like copying Athena in PJO or via the occasional ONS she has a handful of kids. We'll say for easiness sake she 99.9999% of the time has girls that she keeps as part of her hunters. The occasional .0001% that's a boy she sends to the father or the camp. Eddie was left on his father's doorstep in a soft grey woven bassinet and swaddled in silver cloth that seemed to glow with the light of the full moon. His dad isn't the best but once he was delivered Artemis didn't really check in with him and only finds out he'd been sent to his Uncle Wayne (who can see through the Mist) when one of her hunters who was working with CHB sees and recognizes him as a child of her Lady and reports back to Artemis. She claims him at the campfire the next full moon and he immediately starts calling only the Apollo kids cousins and they sort of adopt him as one of their own right back when he proves to be terrible at anything related to either his mother or uncle except taking care of kids (he is great at helping with little ones who are new to the camp or have to visit the infirmary) and/or animals, being the type to take little lost campers under his wing and a talent for music that would rival the most gifted of Apollo's cabin.

A la PJO style we meet our heroes around the ages 11-12, Steve had been in and out of the camp routinely since he was literally a toddler. He was found at daycare by a kind nymph who went by Claudia and her satyr toddler (Dustin 😏) and told the Harringtons about the camp. She did not expect them to basically send their 3 year old to boarding school most of the summer.

Dustin later found Eddie on his own since he was now technically 9 to Eddie's 12 but still physically pretty toddler looking it took some effort and Claudia had to intervene when she finally found her son and explain to the nice mortal man and his demigod nephew about Eddie being of Greek god descent and that with the rise of monsters trying to get at him already he should go to the camp for a bit to train. Dustin would stay at the camp with Eddie partially as punishment for running off and partially to help him acclimate and make sure Eddie was on time for when Claudia helped Wayne Iris message Eddie. Eddie is maybe 13 and been at camp for about a year when he gets claimed.

That's all I've got really besides Steve and Eddie try being friends cause they're both odd kids out w/who their parents are but it's a little out of nowhere after a year knowing of each other rather than knowing each other but also Steve has powers and charisma and that makes him worth hanging out with to majority of campers where Eddie can get kids to stop crying and is a Disney princess with how much animals like him. There's some animosity cause Steve is jealous Dustin is spending so much time with Eddie, especially when they and some of the other campers and younger satyrs discover DND and Eddie feels rejected cause they didn't click at all and his emotionally traumatized little ass made that Steve's fault. Till they're 16 and 17 and assigned a quest with Dustin as their satyr and third and they have to learn to get along and realize how much they have in common like the fear of what comes next when they age out of being campers and yeah Steddie happens and Dustin is smug.

Also Eddie learns completely by accident he can basically use music as a weapon DND bard style and he is way too happy about it and so pissed he didn't think of that sooner.

#yeah the ramblings of a madperson #a thing #this was longer than I meant it to be but oh well this is my fate #might do more later Idfk #steddie au #steddie brainrot #I'm going to pass out now #rambler writes

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stayecstatic · 1 month ago

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WK 10 - PHANTOM

You’re sitting in your room and you are watching your favorite show. The night outside is dark and your room is filled with cold air. While watching, you spot someone walking down your street. It looks to be human, but it’s too dark to make out a face. It continues to walk down your street and into the darkness. The next day, you find out there was a murder near your area. You start wondering if it was connected to what you saw last night. Was it? In this blog, we will see how the supernatural can take hold of a human body.

Phantoms are mysterious entities associated with the supernatural. They are ghostly apparitions that may appear as shadowy figures, flickering lights, or misty forms. They are often linked to spirits of the dead or unexplained supernatural occurrences. The idea of a phantom comes from old beliefs, stories, and myths that tried to explain strange or supernatural events. The word itself is derived from the Greek term "phantasma," which means "appearance" or "illusion." Historically, it has been used to describe ghostly figures or spirits. In ancient Greek and Roman cultures, phantoms were seen as the spirits of the dead, often showing up as signs or lost souls with unfinished business. Similarly, in Eastern traditions, these spectral beings were thought to be souls that hadn't reached their goals or protectors. During the medieval times, phantoms became part of folk tales, commonly linked to hauntings, curses, or sad events, and were often connected to specific places like cemeteries or battlefields. In religious views, Christianity saw phantoms as souls in purgatory, evil spirits, or even angels, while shamanistic beliefs considered them ancestral spirits or nature beings that could be engaged with through rituals. Over time, the concept of phantoms shifted from spiritual and mythological origins to a key part of literature, theater, and modern ghost stories.

Do they exist? Let’s read this short story about one…

“The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado, has been around for more than 100 years and was built as a posh getaway for the wealthy seeking solitude in the mountains.

As the years passed, however, occupancy declined, and by the 1970s, the grand hotel had fallen into disrepair. It was around that time that famed author Stephen King spent the night there and was inspired to write the book “The Shining.”

The book and blockbuster film helped return the Stanley to its former glory. Now, guests come in droves to see the hotel that inspired one of the scariest horror movies of all time.

Given its history, it should come as no surprise that many visitors report strange happenings. Aware of the ghostly rumors, Texas resident Henry Yau booked a last-minute getaway in April of 2016 to “check it out.”

After arriving, Yau had dinner, then wandered around the Stanley to take photos. Stopping at the staircase, he waited for people to clear the area, then took a picture, thinking nothing of it.

Later that night, however, Yau fell seriously ill. “I felt really sick, I had the shivers, I was like, something’s really wrong,” he tells TODAY.com. His companion suggested he go to the emergency room, but Yau refused.

On the trip home, Yau began swiping through the photos he’d taken when he discovered what he said was a “really, really strange image” of someone standing on the stairs.

Except no one had been there.

The next day, he posted the photo on Instagram, half-joking that he’d captured a ghost — and the world took notice. Almost overnight, Yau found himself in the limelight with his ghost picture warranting attention from global media outlets and paranormal experts who wanted to examine the photo.

“Some experts say that there’s two ghosts, and other people said that the reason I got sick is because the ghost was trying to materialize, taking energy out of me,” he said. “There’s so many theories about this.”

And what does Yau think? “I have no idea,” he says with a laugh.”

I don’t know about you, but if I saw something I’m not supposed to see, I’d run far away.

The Phantom of the Opera was originally a novel by Gaston Leroux in 1910. It is a gothic love story and mystery that takes place in the Paris Opera House. It explores themes of love, obsession, and tragedy. The story centers on Erik, the Phantom, who is a disfigured musical genius living in the maze beneath the opera house. He is feared as a ghostly figure but secretly helps Christine Daaé, a young soprano, achieve success. As Erik becomes obsessed with Christine, she is caught between her gratitude for him and her affection for Raoul, a nobleman and her childhood friend. Driven by jealousy, the Phantom disrupts performances and creates turmoil to keep Christine close. In a tense moment, he kidnaps her, forcing her to choose between staying with him or rescuing Raoul, who he has also taken. Christine’s kindness, kissing the Phantom despite his appearance, moves him and ultimately leads him to let her and Raoul go before he disappears into the darkness. This story challenges our views on beauty, love, and humanity, showing the Phantom as a tragic character whose loneliness and suffering lead to his harmful choices.

Erik, known as the Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera, is a complicated and sorrowful character who adds emotional depth to the story. He was born with a serious facial deformity, which led to a lifetime of rejection and cruelty. Because of this, he chose to live in hidden quarters under the Paris Opera House. This underground home is both his refuge and his prison. Although he is feared as the Opera Ghost, Erik is incredibly talented in music, architecture, and invention, but his genius is overshadowed by his bitterness and loneliness.

His intense love for Christine Daaé, a young soprano he mentors in secret, shows both his vulnerability and his darker side. Erik's love for her is passionate but possessive, which causes him to interfere with performances and threaten anyone who gets close to her. Deep down, his harsh actions come from a strong desire for love and acceptance.

Supernatural is a long-running TV show about two brothers, Sam and Dean Winchester, who travel around the United States hunting monsters, demons, ghosts, and other supernatural beings. The story starts when the brothers come together after their father, a skilled monster hunter, goes missing while trying to find the demon that killed their mother. As they journey, they discover a bigger battle involving angels, demons, and powerful beings like Lucifer and God. The show mixes action, horror, and drama as the brothers confront outside dangers and their own personal struggles, including issues of fate, family loyalty, and morality. Throughout the series, Sam and Dean make friends with characters like the angel Castiel and the demon Crowley while dealing with challenging relationships and sacrifices. Supernatural looks at themes of good versus evil, free will, and family bonds, creating an engaging mix of emotional stories and exciting adventures in a detailed supernatural world.

Phantoms, or ghosts, are a common supernatural element. These spirits usually belong to individuals who have died but haven’t moved on to the afterlife. They often remain because they have unfinished business, past trauma, or unresolved issues related to their deaths. Some ghosts are angry and seek revenge against the living, while others are more sorrowful, looking for closure or simply peace.

The ghosts in Supernatural can show themselves in different ways. They might appear as floating or transparent figures, or act like poltergeists by moving objects or causing chaos. Some haunt specific places, like old houses or hospitals, while others can possess or influence the living to get what they want.

youtube

Here’s an example of the Phantom Traveler.

To close this blog off, I don’t believe in phantoms. However, phantoms are a really cool idea. A part of me wants to experience the supernatural and see it with my own eyes. I’ve heard noises in my house before, sometimes even when I’m home alone, but I don’t really mind all of that. Personally, I love the idea of phantoms. Ghosts in general are so interesting. Like I always ask if the videos I see online are real or fake. Some people have some really good editing skills, so it’s easy to fake something. But I play tons of horror games and I think I’m insane enough to the point where I want to experience a whole ghost in real life. I love ghosts and wish, they were…. real. Maybe one day I’ll experience it and I’ll record it on here.

Watch who is human and who isn’t. You never know who is posing to be a living being with unfinished business.

#Youtube

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girl8890 · 2 years ago

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JK | Hieros Gamos (II)

BTS ML | Mood Board

Summary: After a fight with Jungkook that leaves y/n even more confused than before, one last argument with her family has her running to find her own answers. One of those answers, was already waiting at the door for her.

Paring: God!Thanatos!Jungkook x Goddess!reader

Genre: greek gods!au, soulmate!au, smut, angst, some fluff

Rating: 18+

Warnings: family arguments, confused reader, running away, mentions of past war/murder, secrets reveled, flirting, past masturbation mentioned, inexperienced/virgin!reader, heavy petting, dry humping, thigh riding, clothed sex, horny jk, kinda dom!jk, nipple play, jk is just so much in loveeee~

A/N: This part is much longer than part 1, so sit back and get comfy! I’m really getting into this mini-series now, and this part is a doozy. Secretes are revealed, connections are strengthened as well as broken, and I may have hinted at what y/n’s powers actually are… hehe. Enjoy part 2!

Part I | Part III

。・°°・°°・。。・°°・°°・。。・°°・°°・。

Time has always been different for gods. A year for mortals is a blink of the eye for gods. That’s why when a month past since you last saw your invisible friend, you didn’t expect it to hurt so much.

A month should have been nothing, but in reality it was everything. Knowing him for so long, and being in the dark about the world for so long, the longest you’ve been okay with staying away from him was for a few days because talking to your family was like reading ancient script from a wall. But after the fight you two had, where you couldn’t help your anger from not only your family keeping secrets from you but your best friend too, it really hurt you.

Still does.

Your family has been asking what’s wrong, and you always have an excuse. Not wanting to tell them the truth, or admit it out loud, either. That someone they don’t know about is haunting your mind. Your friend has always haunted your mind, though. It just wasn’t until night fell that you allowed him too. When his voice would tickle your ears and consume your mind, you always found yourself reaching under your dress to feel just how much his voice alone affected you.

But you don’t want to think about that right now. You want too scrub your frustrations away into this piece of clothing that you have been washing for the past twenty minutes. You don’t want to think about how pretty his voice sounds... or how much you long to touch him just once... not even how you imagine his lips-

You scream out your frustration, hating yourself for letting these thoughts consume your every waking thoughts, and then start scrubbing the piece of clothing even harder. Making the water in the basin slosh around so much that it tips over the edge in small waves.

“Wo-wo, there little miss! Worrying about things that haven’t happened yet, shouldn't affect the clothing,” Your aunt, Clotho, pushed her hands out to you like that would somehow sooth your frustration.

You blow out a puff of hot air, and instead of giving your aunt any of your attention, you take the wet piece of clothing, and the rest of the clothing that have gone unwashed, and leave the room. That doesn’t stop your aunt, including your other aunt, and mother, from searching for you later.

It was while you were sitting on a ridge of the cave that looked out to the rest of the world. The only spot in the entire cave that could be considered a window when compared to a normal home. You look out at the dead earth that surrounds the cave, taking note of a soul that's drifted too far away from the entrance of the underworld and how it soon dissipates into thin air. Probably grabbed by the reaper of souls or even the River Styx’s guardian.

You longed for a life like there's. Even if something as messily and gruesome like reaping dead souls, and rowing those souls across a river doesn’t sound at all fun, but it’s better than being stuck in a cave for all of eternity for no reason. This isn’t even your job, and your stuck here! Not because of a godly punishment, or because you even wanted to be stuck here. Your birth in this spot was the only reason.

The fates coined this cave as there's, so this is the spot people travel to when they want to seek out their abilities. You, on the other hand, don’t have a single power that leads people to find you in this cave. Heck, you don’t even know what powers you have worth something like that. You’ve never had the courage to go searching or practicing for it. You can choose to leave—or you should have the choice to leave—to go find out exactly that, but yet, you’re still here.

“Why- “the long-“ “face, darling.”

Unlike most people, you don’t find the fate sister’s talking annoying when they speak like this. Your brain is wired for it now, after spending every day since birth hearing it.

“You know why,” You say without looking at the fates.

The fates glance at each other, and all three of them shrug their shoulders at the same time.

“We can't read your mind, daughter.”

“Trust me-” “We’ve tried.” “Ow!”

You grin when you hear your aunt, Lachesis, yelp in pain from undoubtedly getting smacked in the back of the head by your mother. Not because you find your aunt’s pain enjoyable, but you love the bound the three fate sisters have. You also knew they tried readying your mind before, but I guess that’s just a part of one of your own useless abilities worth mentioning. Although, having the ability to keep even your own fate and mind as off limits to them is special in its own way. Otherwise they would have found out about your invisible friend and that’s a no-go.

“Nothing any of you can fix. How about that.” You say rhetorically like you’re breathing out air. Knowing no matter what your frustrations are, it will be heard by the wrong ears to know about them. The fates never wanting to give you clear answers.

You look over at the three of them when a moment of silence has passed, and they’re all wearing the same expression: unconvinced. Unconvinced that they can’t solve your problem, which they can. They just choose not to help. Granted, an hour ago your focus was more on your invisible friend, but now that your family is in front of you, they just remind you of what’s been bothering you for what feels like forever.

You roll your eyes at them. “Fine! You want to know what’s wrong?” Your harsh wording make their eyes widen, but they all sober at the same time. Always ambiguous with their emotions. “I want to leave.”

That makes the fates break up in a frenzy. All three of their minds racing at what you just admitted.

“You can’t!” Aunt Clotho shouts. “Why would you?” Aunt Lachesis questions. “You won’t,” Your mother, the most inflexible of them all, Atropos, demands.

You huff out in anger, sliding off the ledge of the cave you’ve been looking out on, and stomp your feet like a child. “Why not? I hear story after story of the world outside of this cave. I want to explore it. I want to live out there.”

Your mother steps forward, breaking up the placement she usually stands in next to her sisters. “Y/n, darling, you can’t. Your travels will lead you down rocky paths. One’s that have sharp rocks, and dark fellow travelers.”

You grit your teeth, hating the riddle she just bestowed on you. “How would you know? None of you can see my fate!” They all gasp in unison. “And I’m done being told I’m going to die if I leave this cave! Your all so- so - ugh!”

You smack your sides harshly, unable to put into words what you were never given to announce your hatred of their constant protectiveness. Instead of letting any of them sway your decision, you walk away from them. They don’t follow you, and that’s how you want it this time. They never do follow you.

Never for you.

You run right into your room, and pack a bag. The only reason you didn’t do this eons ago is because you had a friend you didn’t want to leave behind, but your done waiting for answers from him too. Your done waiting for answers that are right outside this cave. Answers to questions you’ve not even let your mind wonder too for awhile.

You know who your father is. He’s the main reason you thought your family wanted to keep you locked up in a cave like this, but you always wondered how having a primordial god as a father was possible, and why he bestowed your mother the gift of pregnancy—a gift he shouldn’t have been able to give.

Another question that floated into your mind a lot: What were the other gods like in person? You’ve seen only few come in and out of the fate’s cave. One being the queen of the underworld herself, but that was many moons ago. Is there a moon god? There must be. You knew of the house of Nyx, and about all her children that your family warned you away from. Aunts and uncles that’s blood was so taped your family didn’t consider them their own blood since the war. But, who was the one that resided as the personification of your favorite rock in the sky? The part of the sky that keeps the tides calm?

You have so many questions, but one question...

One question that should have been answered for you years ago, but only you could answer… who are you? Who are you really? That’s a question you can only answer yourself, and it’s the hardest one to answer. An answer you’ll only find by leaving this cave and exploring the rest of the world.

You finish packing a satchel that you made for yourself one day while you were board. You look down at the many sewed in fabrics, and run your hand across it. Although you had fate’s blood in you, sewing wasn’t really much of your thing. You were pretty good at it, though. This being your first and last piece of fabric you ever sewed, and it still being kept together even though you made it years ago. Something you sewed while talking to your invisible friend…

Your eyes become glossy when you think about leaving him, but you shake your head at the thought. This is no time for second guessing yourself. He made his choice to keep you in the dark, and that was the end of it. No turning back.

You pick up your bag, hoist it over your shoulder, and head for the entrance of the cave.

☙❦❧

It wasn’t your fault everyone around you kept life outside these cave walls a secret. It wasn’t your fault that your only friend kept his life a secret, either. Truthfully, it was all formed in a plan to protect you. Protect you from the god who would want to smite you down for just being who you are.

The daughter of Atropos, the inflexible fate that could cut a lifespan at a flick of her wrist. See anyones future thoughts, and present and past thoughts too because of her connection to her sisters. But even with all these gifts she bestowed upon you, your fathers adventures mind took over. You were nothing like him, not really, and the fates were all too young to remember what he was like unpersonified.

So when he came as a ghostly figure, one that not even Jungkook could touch, your mother did not believe him when he told her his name. When he told her he wanted to make a god with her, she believed him even less. But you we’re born somehow. Not by hieros gamos, or even the shaping of clay. A simple poke to Atropos’s belly and she had you within nine months.

Who knew someone so infertile, could make a goddess like Atropos plump like she was? She never got answers as to why he wanted to make your mother pregnant, and besides casting your fate before your birth, none of the fates had a say in your life. Not to the extent they were used to, at least.

But your father was still your father, as absent as he was. Telling you who your father is was the last time any of the fates bestowed you with knowledge of your life. Not that Zeus would want to kill you for having such a Titian like power. Not how you somehow formed a connection with the god of death before you even hit two hours old. But the name of your father they did tell you. It was something trivial to them because even if you wanted to meet him, you really couldn’t. Not unless he wanted you to.

Your father is the name of a personification, and the name of a place that mortals and gods alike feared to be sent too one day.

His name was Tartarus.

And that’s exactly where you planned to go.

☙❦❧

The second your feet crunch against the open worlds surface, Jungkook’s wings itched. He knew you were out of the cave the second you breathed in the toxic airs. Luckily, he was already in the underworld, talking to Hades about plans with the overflowing amount of souls that have been coming in lately. One second Jungkook was there… then the next second he wasn’t. Feeling the pull to you instantly, and having no thoughts of trying to repent it.

“I’m not sure, Jungkook. Don’t you think-“ Hades turns in the direction of where Jungkook once stood. He glances around the throne room, seeing no one but Persephone there with him. “Where’d he go?”

Jungkook has never flew faster in his life. Even during the war, he never flapped his wings this hard to pick up speed. With that thought, he slowed his pace a bit. Right when he got in front of Charon to think about what exactly he was going to do. You are out of the cave. You are free. The fates and him never discussed what he was allowed to do if you ever did that! He hasn’t thought about the possibility of you leaving in years.

But there you were, in his line of sight now. Outside of the cave and walking towards the entrance to the underworld.

He looks around at the lost souls, seeing you right at the edge of them. To far away to see him, but at the same time, you’ll be deciding to walk through the souls and see him soon. You don’t know enough about the world to go too deep or understand anything about the underworld. The fates cave being at the outer edge of it all.

Charon, the person that allows souls to cross the River Styx, looks over at his winged brother. He’s frantic. Pacing back and forth along the shore, wings sucked into his body, and he’s constantly putting on and taking off his hood. Like he’s not sure how he wants to look right now: dark and mysterious, or like an open book and angelic. Charon would usually ignore the god of deaths antics, but he’s scaring away the souls that have tolls for him. Even if they’re just spirits, there’s more mortals than nymphs around. Seeing the god of death’s skeleton form is making them all cower away from the shore and the deity.

“Jungkook, why must you pace here?”

Jungkook doesn’t stop looking towards you. You’re still trying to figure out how to get through the crowd of souls that you, in all rationality, could just walk through.

“I-I… nothing,” Is all Jungkook can say in response to Charon’s question. Paying him no mind and only focusing on what’s important to him right now.

Charon raises a curious eyebrow. Never seeing Jungkook so flustered before. Jungkook has always been a confident god. One that would use his sickle and deathly face to scare others away from him if needed, and didn’t care how other’s perceived him for it. But now, he doesn’t even have the sickle! Leaving it in the throne room where he was once talking to Hades in.

He follows Jungkook’s line of sight, and sees a women standing at the other side of the mass of souls.

“You could just go and talk to her, you know?”

Jungkook stops his pacing, looks over at Charon and squints his eyes at him like that was the stupidest thing he’s heard all day. “I can't just do that!”

“Why not?”

“She doesn’t know me.”

“Then why are you pacing the shores like you’re trying to reheat the sand?”

Jungkook rolls his eyes, and continues his pacing. “Because I can.”

It’s Charon’s turn to roll his eyes. One soul has become brave enough to pass Jungkook, only glancing at the being she only sees as bone. Giving Charon the coin her living loved ones buried her with. She enters the boat, and Charon hopes other’s will be as brave as this mortal to pass the skeleton of a man... but no one does.

As cool and collected as Charon usually is, there has already been problems with too many souls in the living world dying because of the war between countries, so having problems on the shores would not be good either. Although no one has made a fuss about the line to the boat not moving yet, souls tend to get antsy after awhile, especially if they have no coin to give the boatman to begin with.

“You know a person has to give me a coin to cross the River Styx, don’t you Jungkook?” Without looking at the boatman, Jungkook nods his head. “You should probably make sure she has one. If she wants to cross, that is. She does know that, doesn’t she?”

Jungkook stops his pacing again, digging his boots into the sand as he stops. You probably don’t know that, but that’s not what makes Jungkook stop in his tracks. He sees the souls around him, scared to even look at him, but he doesn’t care about that either. None of them are moving in the like besides the one mortal women that entered the boat. Starting a crowded line even though some of them probably don’t even have a coin to cross.

Jungkook has seen what happens when souls get frustrated. He also sees the bag you’re holding. All it takes is one soul to realize...

“Are you alive?”

Scratch Jungkook’s thoughts from before. Now he's never flown faster in his life.

☙❦❧.

You were waiting in the line of souls to get on the boat, not wanting to be rude and pass right through them, when an older male soul asked you, “Are you alive?”

You look over at the ghost of a man, not knowing what to say. Although your family has told you very little about the world, you know that souls tend to grab onto anything living. You only knew this because it was one of the fates sayings they used to say to you so much. A saying that always made you jitter in the cold even if it was warm where you lived.

Every mortal is afraid to die. So afraid, that even after death they will fight to live.

You glance around, realizing other souls have turned around to look your way. All of them wanting to look at the living girl that took the one souls attention. You try to lie, but even to you is sounds false, “N-no! Just waiting to get on the boat.”

The man squints at you, unbelieving. “Did you die with that on?” He points to your bag over your shoulder, and by the way you look at it he knows you didn’t die with it, or die at all. “I knew it! Your a living soul... Please help me! I shouldn't have died! It wasn't my time.”

“U-ugh...”

“Help me too! I don’t have a coin because I died at sea. Do you have a coin too spear?” A older male soul says to you, joining the conversation.

“What coin-”

“Please tell my daughter I'm sorry.” “I didn’t mean to jump off the roof!” “I don’t deserve this!” “Help us!” “Help me!”

So many souls were gathering around you, that you don’t know what to do. You’re crouching on the floor, now surrounded by many souls. You cover your ears, wanting their pleads to stop, and shut your eyes tight. You’re so overwhelmed by everyone and have never been around this many people before. Only small groups of five or six have ever visited the fates before. This group of souls stretches out to the hundreds!

You’re wishing them to go away. Praying to whatever god that could hear you to make them go away. You would even go back to-

Before you could finish that regretful thought, you’re suddenly no longer surrounded and being hoisted in the air. Gasps and even a feminine scream is heard from below you.

You grab onto the being that’s saved you, but keep your eyes shut. Feeling woozy in the air, but grounding yourself by holding onto the person even tighter. It's a hard body, and one with dipped shoulders. Your face is buried in whoever your savors is neck, and your arms are grasping at their back. Holding on for deer life as you fly through the air. Your legs are wrapped around the person’s middle, and strangely enough when you squeeze the person closer to you they squeeze back. Keeping you as close to them as possible as you fly away from the swarm of souls.

By the time you feel you’re savor and you hit land, you’re too sacred to let go of them. They don’t mind, though, because they actually sit down with you in their lap when they realize your not letting go

“A-are we safe now?”

Your savior chuckles at your question, and your eyes shoot open wide when a familiar voice is heard. “Not sure. Would you stop holding onto me like this if I say we are? If your answer is anything else but no, then definitely not.”

You know that voice... you’ve heard that voice in your dreams before and in person too for years. You let your arms and legs go slack around him, feeling your bag fall off your shoulders while you’re still sitting in his lap. Then you slowly pull your face away from his neck. Looking up at your invisible friend for the first time...

“Ghostie?”

He smiles down at you, although it looks strained. “Hi, nae salang.”

You blink. Process everything. Then say without thinking, “You’re really pretty.”

Your face instantly lights up like the sun. You physically feel the heat that’s radiating off of your face. You’re so embarrassed by what you just said.

Jungkook doesn’t find it embarrassing, though. He bites his lip to fight the real smile trying to bloom on his face. Thanking all the gods, even Zeus, for giving him the looks that he has and creating a reaction like that on you because of it.

“I-I meant...”

“I think you meant I'm drop dead gorgeous! Hotter than the Helios himself, am I right?” You playful smack his shoulder at the teases, but you can’t help the small smile from forming.

So this is what your friend really looks like. Sharp jaw that could cut glass, smooth skin that make your fingers itch to touch him, and raven black hair that looks so soft you want to run your fingers though it. Not to mention the lip piercing and a eyebrow piercing. You knew that body piercing existed. Your own family looking down at the new trend for some reason, but seeing them on your friend now is making your stomach do flips. We don’t even need to get into the tattoos. The beautiful art work printed on his skin has you wanting to know what it feels like to trace every symbol on his arms.

And you feel the hard body underneath yours. There's not a single layer of fat on him. Completely clean all over. Your starstruck, really. You never knew what to expect if you saw him in person like this, but even now that you’ve seen him in person, you have a grueling question that slips past your lips as soon as it pops into your head.

“Why didn’t you let me see you before?”

Jungkook remains neutral in front of you, but inside there's a roaring fire being lit. Not only is he touching you for the first time, feeling your beautiful body still wrapped around him that he’s been itching to even brush across all this time. Finally being able to let you see himself too, is truly a blessing in disguise. But even now that you’re both visible to each other, he’s tongue tied coming up with answers to your question.

He knows he should tell you the truth now. He wants to tell you, but there’s still that never elongating fear still lingering in his mind telling him you’ll hate him - be afraid of him even - if he tells you everything you’ve wanted to know for years... like who he really is.

After a moment of silence, and watching the turmoil cross your friends eyes, you do something you never thought you would be able to do... you reach your hand out, and touch his face. Cupping his cheek and smoothing your thumb out for comfort, but in reality it’s because you can’t help yourself and want to touch him.

“You can tell me. I won’t be mad, I promise... I’ll swear on the fates if I have to.” He chuckles at you bringing up your family in such a joking manner, but that just brings him to the realization of when he swore on the actual fates.

He’s touching you... currently having you in his lap... so he broke his promise to the fates.

They never swore on it with blood, not even on a body of land like the Styx, but it’s a broken promise nonetheless. Having you here, though, in his arms where you’ll forever be safe, is worth any destruction that comes his way from here on out.

He breathes you in, the aroma coming off of you smelling like roses and honey, and he holds it in for as long as possible. Only blowing it out when you start to blink up at him in confusion.

“I... didn’t tell or show you who I was... because... I was afraid you would-... hate me?” Real smooth, Jungkook. Even after he ends his explanation, that ended up somehow sounding like a question, he mentally smacks himself.

Why the fuck is it so hard to talk to you right now?

“Afraid I'd hate you? You haven’t even told me your name yet, so how would I know who you are?”

Jungkook screws his eyes shut, not wanting to face you when he tells you the truth.

“My names Jungkook.” I quite gasp his heard from you, but he doesn’t open his eyes. The sound not helping his current predicament. “I'm the god of-”

“Death,” You finish for him. “I know who you are.”

You wiggle in your spot on top of him, feeling a little shocked, but don’t get off of him. That just serves to wake up other parts of himself, so he wraps his arms around you tighter, around your waist, and stopping you from moving. Your movement making his eyes go wide, and having to face your equally surprised face.

You raise an eyebrow at him, glancing at his arms on your waist. He makes them go slack again, and hoping your innocent mind doesn’t realize something is now probably poking you in the ass.

“Why would you think I hate you?” You ask, not understanding why Jungkook is now acting weird, but ignoring it for the time being.

He clears his throat, and tries to seem relaxed again. “Because of how the fates talked about me to you.”

“And that is...”

Now it’s Jungkook's turn to blink in confusion. “You’ve got to be kidding me. They never told you anything about me?”

“Oh! No, they told me a lot of things about the house of Nyx. But what I'm not understanding is why would you think I care?”

Gut punched. Smack in the face. Floored. These are all the different kinds of emotions that Jungkook is now feeling.

“I’m so confused.”

“How do you think I feel,” You say, unimpressed.

If this entire time Jungkook didn't tell you who he was because of stories from before you were even born, your going to punch him. And you tell him just that... he laughs.

“Well, I guess I’m gutting punched then,” Jungkook says, feeling incredibly lighter about the situation now. Even after you actually punch him in the shoulder, which Jungkook barely felt because of his layer of muscle in his bicep. He didn’t even flinch, but now your fist is kinda sore. Your eyes go wide for a second, unbelieving that god has this much muscle on him.

You then glance around the cave, trying not to think about Jungkook and how amazing his everything is, and you see that he flew you to the other side of the cave. You wondered why so many of the fates stories of this place were so gruesome. Especially the part of getting across the River Styx, when the souls judgement would be given. Looking around the cave now, it’s kinda peaceful. Not that you wanted to stay in that part of underworld. You’ve spent to much of your life in a cave to ever stay in one for to long again! But, looking around at the cave that’s filled so many stories with terrible tails, you think it’s a stunning sight. Sparkling walls with moisture and the souls passing by add to your curious mind. Wanting to know what their living lives were like.

Jungkook watched silently as you took your fill of the rest of the underworld. You only living in a part of it since you were born must have been overwhelming, but the look on your face now didn’t make him think you were overwhelmed. You made the same look when you thought about…

It suddenly dawned on Jungkook that you’ve only ever lived in a cave, so this one must be reminding you of your family. Granted, this cave is much different then the one you lived in. Still full of rocks and no flowering green in sight, but having eerie dripping of unknown water and random passing souls is very different from the fate’s cave. Basically, much worse then the cave you lived in.

“You okay?” Jungkook asks. Wanting to make sure you’re not regretting leaving. You look back at Jungkook, smiling softly when he probably caught your wondering eyes and not wanting to worry him about it.

“I’m okay. Just thinking about my family, and how they lied about so much to me.”

“About what?”

You look around the cave again, letting go of him with one of your hands to gesture to it all. “This place and how it’s so-...“

“Terrifying,” Jungkook interrupts. “I know it can be-“

Beautiful.

Jungkook is stunned silent. Your lips did not move, and yet he heard you. You look at him now, concerned about his silence, but Jungkook is totally shell shocked.

He knew this was possible. Being able to hear the person you did hieros gamos with’s thoughts. But that’s just it. You both never did the act itself. This should be impossible, your connection together should be impossible, but yet it all is happening to him and to you. Maybe leaving the fates cave let this be possible, but it has so many emotions flowing through Jungkook right now. This little instance, hearing you just think the word beautiful, is just another reminder of what you two are to each other. Your not just a regular girl to him. Not that Jungkook has ever forgotten, but it’s way more then just a god loving a goddess. It’s entirely more.

Your souls are connected for eternity, and right now your soul looks absolutely marvelous to him.

“You’re beautiful too,” Jungkook says without thinking, but doesn’t feel embarrassed about it either. He doesn’t care if it makes you ask questions because in this moment you can ask him anything right now, and he would answer. You could ask him to burn the whole world to the ground, and he would do it. This spark through your connection has turned Jungkook into putty, and you’re now looking at him like he’s just given you the moon.

“Oh,” you say in the smallest of voices after a moment. “Um- thank you… J-Jungkook.”

Jungkook grips your waist tighter for a second. Hearing you say his name for the first time is making him want to fly around the universe. He feels like he’s on the god damn moon at this point. Your just so… everything. Your everything to him. You make the god of death blind to the world. Only wanting to ever see you in his line of sight and hear you say his name on repeat into his ear.

While Jungkook continues to look at you with stars in his eyes, it makes you squirm in his lap again. This time Jungkook doesn’t stop you. He relaxes his hands and lets your bodies rub together. Softly groaning and make you raise an eyebrow at him when your butt knocks into his ever growing cock in his pants. All his senses are going haywire. He didn’t think hearing a single word from your thoughts would get him like this, but truthfully, everything about today has been surprising.

He’s not someone that could be easily seduced, but he swears he’s bewitched by you right now. And you’re slowly realizing what it is that keeps bumping into your thigh. You stop moving, and take in your current situation. Nibbling on your bottom lip when it dawns on you that you’re in the lap of the god of death, and how he’s looking at you like he wants to eat you.

What dawns on you even harder, is that you like it. You shouldn’t like it. You should be mad at him! He’s kept so much from you, so you shouldn’t be caving to your secret desires - but at the same time, there hasn’t been a moment since seeing him in person, and finding out who he was, that you’ve been mad at him. Is it okay to just let things go like this? Is that string of a connection you keep seeing between you two that makes you like this?

Your not sure when you started seeing that connection, or feeling it even, but it’s glowing right now. Getting brighter and brighter, and you’re not sure what to do with it. Wanting to reach out to it, but at the same time not sure if you should.

You stutter out his name, wanting to grasp onto something you know. All your other confusing emotions making you feel hotter for some reason. “J-Jungkook... I - um...”

He hums as an answer to his name, pulling you closer to him by your waist. You place your hands on his chest, but you don’t push him away to create distance. In fact, there’s becoming less and less distance between you two as the seconds tick by. The pull of that bright connection pulling you both towards each other like magnets.

You’re so inexperienced with this feeling, but you’re matching it to the feelings you get at night when you only had Jungkook’s voice to go off of. It’s making your face heat up with the rest of your body. Your mind is spinning.

“W-what’s happening?” You ask Jungkook who looks equally in a daze as you feel. Right before your lips touch, something you’ve both been craving to know the touch of for years, you get a response that rocks to your core.

“What is right.”

And then your lips are joined. A first kiss for you, and the first that mattered to Jungkook. A kiss you’ve never felt before, and a kiss that Jungkook has been craving longer than you know about. The bonds between you two pulsed, and you both gasp when you feel it. Staring into each other’s eyes like you can’t believe what just happened.

You don’t know what it is, and he has a good idea. You don’t care about it anymore, and neither does he. Jungkook pulls your body flush against his, reconnecting your lips to each other’s in the process. You whimper at the rough kiss, and it has Jungkook groaning into your mouth. Wanting to pull more noises like that from you. Enjoying the taste of your lips on his, and feeling you vibrate on top of him when he touches your bottom lip with his tongue.

It’s a frenzy of kisses between the both of you. Your very much inexperienced, but Jungkook is just happy to taste you. Happy and used to taking the lead. Forgetting how innocent you are, he grabs ahold of your ass in his two hands. Squeezing the squishy flesh. You gasp into his mouth, letting him take the opportunity to touch your tongue with his. Your tongue is hesitant, but curious - letting Jungkook’s consume your mouth completely.

You feel how your body is shaking. How your mind is only concentrating on the man underneath you like it’s never had before. It’s an experience you don’t want to stop, and Jungkook doesn’t even have the ability to stop it.

Jungkook starts to move your bodies, rubbing against each other. You feel his cock that was once poking at your leg drag over your clothed core. It has you squeaking, and Jungkook chuckling by the cute noise.

“So sweet and innocent,” He says against your lips, in fucked out daze. You hold onto his shoulders, keeping your eyes screwed shut, as he continues to move your bodies against each other with his hands on your ass. The feeling is intensifying as your movements get rougher, but the way Jungkook is looking down at you right now is making you want that feeling so much more. You want to be good for him.

Something inside makes you do it. Makes you feel brave enough to let out your first moan, and just like you hoped, he loved the sound. Jungkook detaches your lips from each other, groaning a deep “Fuck,” that goes straight to your core that he continues to grind against. “You sound so lovely, y/n.”

You bite your lip, turning red when his praise has even your insides tightening. You stutter out his name again, trying not to combust by the way you want to suddenly mold into Jungkook’s skin. Meanwhile, Jungkook is trying ever way possible to become your skin.

He nips at your ear, gliding his tongue across your lobe and enticing more high pitched noises from you. He then drags his tongue downwards, licking the salty surface of your neck. All while watching you in the corner of his eye, seeing your face contort in so many different faces he’s never seen before on you. He loves every one, and wants to see them all on repeat. Maybe even forever if you’ll let him.

Continuing his decent, he raises your head with his hand at the back of your neck. Tipping your head backwards gently so he can get better access to your chest he’s now exploring with his lips. Everything about you tastes and feels so amazing! So amazing, that when you start meeting Jungkook’s movements with your own his eyes roll into the back of his skull. Feeling the warmth of your pussy through his pants and your thin undergarments. He groans against your chest when at just the right angle he can feel some of your wetness leak from you.

The urge to pin you against the ground and fuck your virginity away is strong, but looking back at your face has him resisting - as hard as that is. He doesn’t want to be the guy the fates expect him to be and one your don’t deserve. A type of god that horns on girls and takes them however he pleases. Not caring about when or how. That’s not Jungkook. Not with you or any other girl he’s been with in the past.

He’s never been selfish, and he’s not going to start now just because his mind is in a frenzy. “Put your hands back on my shoulders, nae sarang.”

It takes you a few seconds to process his words, not even realizing your hands slipped from his shoulders while he was attacking your neck before. “O-okay.”

You slowly place your hands back on his shoulders, not sure what to do or what Jungkook was going to do. He then lifts your body up, positioning your core right on his thigh. As much as he loved your wet core grinding on him before, it ended ups being too much. Jungkook has been alive for many years, so simply grinding on each other won’t get him off, but he also didn’t want to push you to what would get him off if you continued the way you were.

When he places you on his thigh, you shuffle a little to get comfortable. He then places his hands on your lower back over your dress this time, rubbing the soft fabric you’re wearing and comforting you while he does it. Jungkook then smirks up at you, making your eyes widen a little for a second at his sudden dirty expression. “I’m going to make you feel so good, y/n. Do you want to feel good, nae sarang?”

You swallow against the lump in your throat - hands shaking as you grasp onto his shoulders tighter. You don’t even know what could make you feel even better than before, and your a little nervous to find out. This is Jungkook, though. The friend you’ve had since the beginning of your life. The friend you’ve wanted to always feel this good with, but couldn’t in the past out of nerves and the problem of never being able to touch each other. Now, you want him to touch you in ever way he can.

So, you give him permission to take your everything. “I want you to make me feel good, Jungkook... please.”

Jungkook suppresses a groan, surprised by how dizzying your words just got him, and pushing the thoughts in his head as far in the back of his brain as possible. Jungkook then positions his thigh higher, making sure it’s directly against you, and begins moving you back and forth on his thick thigh. The feeling is instant. Before, it was brief feelings of pleasure that had a rest in between each movement, but now it’s a constant.

You grabs onto Jungkook’s shoulders even harder, digging your nails into his shirt, trying to place all your feelings there, but your mouth still opens up to let out even higher pitched moans and whimpers. Your toes are curling, it feels so good. When one of his hands greedily grasps at your ass again, instead of just empty moans your voice fills with his name. His name falling breathlessly from your lips and pushing every syllable into his ears. “Jungkook! Oh my- mmm!”

Jungkook can’t take it anymore. He pulls your body closer to him, still shifting his leg so you don’t stop feeling is thigh on your most intimate parts. He then starts attacking your chest again with long licks and kisses. Wanting to touch you even more, and more intimately then before. While your still screaming out your euphoria above him, he slowly pushes one of the straps of your dress off your shoulder. You feel it fall, and get red in the face for what feels like the tenth time today when you realize your left breast is exposed to him.

The only indication that you resist this is with a small gasp, but it’s soon covered up by another moan when his thigh rubs your clit just right through your undergarments. Jungkook takes this as an invitation. Licking his lips before he attaches them to your nipple. Sucking on the bud and feeling you vibrate all over uncontrollably because of it.

His teeth nip at the bud, and his tongue licks at the surface. Your head is spinning. You’re so sensitive, more than you thought you would be, and all this overstimulation is putting your stomach in knots. “J-jungkook I-… I think…”

Jungkook’s eyes widen, but he doesn’t stop. Grinding you harder on his thigh, and using all the tricks he can do with his tongue on your nipple. And he’s got a lot of tricks. Swirling around the bud, and sucking. Nibbling, and licking. Pulling, and flicking.

Your wetness is soaking his pants now, making his thigh raise even higher to touch as much of it as possible. Wanting to feel how much he’s affecting you right now like you’ve affected him for eons. All the while his cock is dripping pre-cum in his pants right now, and he’s trying his best to ignore it by paying attention to making you feel as good as possible.

Jungkook hasn’t had anyone since you were born. Since the hieros gamos somehow formed between you two; and his love for you became inevitable. He wants to hear you scream his name for the first time while you cum. He wants to be your first everything, even though he’s never had the urge before. He wants to teach you all the tricks of making love, and watch your sensitive body quiver as you make it through his first teaching.

One more rough thrust against your clit and flick of his tongue in your nipple, has you seeing white. Somehow also sees the night sky’s stars too as your orgasm ripples through your body in waves. It feels like it’s never ending. You’re screaming out his name, burying your face in his neck, and feeling like you’re wrapped up in heat. In Jungkook’s heat.

He holds you through your tremor of an orgasm. Embracing you tightly to him, and kissing your temples. Praising you on how good you did, and how sexy it was to watch.

Jungkook is done for. He can’t let you go. He wants to keep you in his arms forever, and tell the fate to have their Demeter moment with a different child. Your his. You’ve always been his. And Hades forbid anyone that tries to take you from him...

He wants to tell you how he feels - what you mean to him - but he doesn’t have to. Right before you drift off, your orgasm making you utterly exhausted… you hear him say it without words...

I love you.

Final

。・°°・°°・。。・°°・°°・。。・°°・°°・。

River Styx - Styx is a river that forms the boundary between Earth and the Underworld.

House of Nyx (Goddess Nyx) - the personification of night. Most known to be scene as a shadowy figure, Nyx stood at or near the beginning of creation and mothered other personified deities such as Hypnos (Sleep), Death, and Erebus (Darkness). The house of Nyx consists of all the deities that were born from Nyx and stayed loyal by her side.

Tartarus - the deepest part of the underworld where mortals and gods are put after they defied the higher gods (Zeus, Hades, etc.,) to suffer for eternity. The primordial god, Tartarus, is the pit itself. He was the body of the pit itself rather than an athropomorphic deity.

Helios - God of the sun.

Charon - the son of Erebus and Nyx (Night), whose duty it was to ferry over the Rivers Styx and Acheron those souls of the deceased who had received the rites of burial. In payment he receives a coin that was placed in the mouth of the corpse.

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screeching-0wl · 3 years ago

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Hi I realise that this probably isn’t the kind of ask that you usually get but I’ve been wanting to get into Hellenic polytheism for a little while now but have no idea where to start. Are there certain books or texts I should read? Are there values or rules I should know to follow? do I need to be of a specific nationality or worship specific gods within the religion? How do I pray and make altars? Are there specific clothing garments that should be worn?

again I’m sorry for the bombardment of questions but I have been scouring the internet looking for how best to go about this and have found nothing so I thought it would just be best to ask someone.

thank you in advance if you do end up answering this but if you don’t that’s understandable and thank you anyway :)

Hi there! It's alright. I'm open to all sorts of asks and happy to help!

Before we get into it, I'll be talking about some things that might be quite traditional, things I use as someone who relies on historical accuracy in my practice to a certain degree. You don't need to strictly do everything like the ancients did. If you'd like to reconstruct in your practice that's awesome. I know from my own experience that it can be difficult at first, so don't be too hard on yourself if you can't do something. It takes time, patience and a lot of learning.

Texts

IMO the basics are The Iliad, The Odyssey, Theogony, Homeric Hymns and such.

Theoi.com is a fantastic resource for myths, cults, and historical information on the gods. The website has a library where you can find plenty of classical texts.

Here's my post on how mythology applies to religion. I'd like to edit it soon and add a couple things but maybe you'll find it helpful.

These also might be helpful:

Perseus Digital Library

Sacred Texts - classics

What to avoid:

Hellenic Online Groups/Forums to Avoid

Authors to Watch Out For in Hellenismos

Rules

You don't need to be of a specific nationality, ethnicity or come from a specific background. It's an open religion, meaning everyone's welcome regardless of where they come from!

There is no one specific strict set of rules one needs to follow in order to be a Hellenic Polytheist. There are certain customs, for example when it comes to worship and of course, remember to learn and respect the culture and the tradition.

If we observe the history, there are things that might seem like some form of rules but it didn't just regard the religion. It was also about functioning in the ancient society and religion played an important role in said society. Not all of these rules may be applicable nowadays, though and they could vary in different regions.

Some of them include:

Don't violate Xenia

Stay true to your oaths

Don't allow Agos

Don't abuse supplicants

Stand against murder

Bury the dead

Try to approach the gods while washed

Obey sacred laws (they varied depending on the sanctuary)

Respect Pythia

Do not steal from temples

Now, in the modern-day reconstruction of the Ancient Greek religion, these are the so-called Pillars of Hellenismos:

Ethike Arête - the practice of habitual excellence

Eusebia - reverence, loyalty, and sense of duty toward the Gods

Hagneia - the maintaining of ritual purity by avoiding miasma

Nomos Arkhaios - observance of ancient tradition, (religious) law, and customs

Sophia - the pursuit of wisdom, understanding, and truth

Sophrosune - the control of self through deep contemplation

Xenia - adherence to hospitality and the guest-host relationship

It's more of a modern thing created for the purpose of reconstruction and has its origins in philosophy. They're pretty much the ideals the ancients admired and strived for, which can be mirrored in one's practice. I think they can be quite helpful. Not everyone follows the same pillars, however. They may vary depending on the practitioner.

Prayer & altar space

Your altar can be as extra or as simple as you want. Essentially, it's a space you dedicate to the gods. The altar doesn't need to be super big or too fancy. It's up to you. You can have one altar for multiple gods or a general home altar. It's quite practical. You can also have separate altars to the deities of your choice but that's not a requirement. For example, I have a general altar for Theoi where I normally pray and make offerings and separate altars for my patrons.

Some "basic" elements an altar could include are:

Candles

Something to burn the incense

A place for the offerings, e.g. a plate/bowl

A depiction of the deity, e.g. a statue, drawing, image

Something that reminds you of the, e.g. their symbols

You don't need to spend a fortune. Handmade things are always a good way to honour the gods.

If you need to practice in secret you could make a "hidden" altar. I mentioned it here: LINK

When it comes to prayer, traditionally there are some customs depending on the deity:

When praying to Ouranic [heavenly] Gods, one should stand with hands outstretched in the air and palms facing upward

When praying to Chthonic [underworld] Gods, hands mustn’t be raised, and the prayer should be murmured

When praying to Einalic [sea] Gods, Nymphs and spirits of the earth, arms must be spread wide towards the sea; the hands are also be facing the cult image

You can pray out loud or silently, though. I often do it "in my head" whenever I can't do it out loud.

One more important thing. I won't ramble about it here but here's a great post about purification and miasma: LINK

Getting dressed

It's not required to wear a certain type of clothing however, if you're down for something like that veiling could be an option. Its purpose was to exhibit modesty. It was a common practice among women but it was not exclusive to them, men did veil as well.

It's a good way to honour Hestia, for example as she's known to wear a veil herself.

Here's an amazing post about it listing different styles: LINK

The most well know form of veiling involved using Himation, a rectangular cloak or shawl wrapped around the body and thrown over the left shoulder, like on the picture above but a more simple way to veil could even be wearing a beanie.

Or... you could always do it Achilles' way lmao! ↑ Whatever floats your boat!

Additional links

Here are some posts that might be useful:

Hellenic Polytheism Masterpost

Hellenic Polytheism 101

Cheat sheets for Hellenic deities

Offerings (traditionally)

Misinfo about Hellenismos

Hubris

#asks #hellenic polytheism #hellenic polytheism 101 #helpol #hellenic gods #hellenic deities #hellenic pagan #hellenic paganism #hellenic pantheon #hellenism #hellenic prayer

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neil-gaiman · 3 years ago

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How Did you come up with the first eve in the story about adams wives? I haven’t been able to find anything about her after I read it and I want to know if she’s an actual biblical character or just someone you made

She's from the Midrash. I learned about her as a 12 year old, from my barmitzvah teacher. There was a point in there, long after I'd put her into Sandman, where I was starting to think I'd imagined her, when I ran across her in Robert Graves's Hebrew Myths....

Excerpt from: The Hebrew Myths by Robert Graves and Raphael Patai (New York: Doubleday, 1964), pp 65-69

Chapter 10: Adam's Helpmeets

(a) Having decided to give Adam a helpmeet lest he should be alone of his kind, God put him into a deep sleep, removed one of his ribs, formed it into a woman, and closed up the wound, Adam awoke and said: 'This being shall be named "Woman", because she has been taken out of man. A man and a woman shall be one flesh.' The title he gave her was Eve, 'the Mother of All Living''. [1]

(b) Some say that God created man and woman in His own image on the Sixth Day, giving them charge over the world; [2] but that Eve did not yet exist. Now, God had set Adam to name every beast, bird and other living thing. When they passed before him in pairs, male and female, Adam-being already like a twenty-year-old man-felt jealous of their loves, and though he tried coupling with each female in turn, found no satisfaction in the act. He therefore cried: 'Every creature but I has a proper mate', and prayed God would remedy this injustice. [3]

(c) God then formed Lilith, the first woman, just as He had formed Adam, except that He used filth and sediment instead of pure dust. From Adam's union with this demoness, and with another like her named Naamah, Tubal Cain's sister, sprang Asmodeus and innumerable demons that still plague mankind. Many generations later, Lilith and Naamah came to Solomon's judgement seat, disguised as harlots of Jerusalem'. [4]

(d) Adam and Lilith never found peace together; for when he wished to lie with her, she took offence at the recumbent posture he demanded. 'Why must I lie beneath you?' she asked. 'I also was made from dust, and am therefore your equal.' Because Adam tried to compel her obedience by force, Lilith, in a rage, uttered the magic name of God, rose into the air and left him.

Adam complained to God: 'I have been deserted by my helpmeet' God at once sent the angels Senoy, Sansenoy and Semangelof to fetch Lilith back. They found her beside the Red Sea, a region abounding in lascivious demons, to whom she bore lilim at the rate of more than one hundred a day. 'Return to Adam without delay,' the angels said, `or we will drown you!' Lilith asked: `How can I return to Adam and live like an honest housewife, after my stay beside the Red Sea?? 'It will be death to refuse!' they answered. `How can I die,' Lilith asked again, `when God has ordered me to take charge of all newborn children: boys up to the eighth day of life, that of circumcision; girls up to the twentieth day. None the less, if ever I see your three names or likenesses displayed in an amulet above a newborn child, I promise to spare it.' To this they agreed; but God punished Lilith by making one hundred of her demon children perish daily; [5] and if she could not destroy a human infant, because of the angelic amulet, she would spitefully turn against her own. [6]

(e) Some say that Lilith ruled as queen in Zmargad, and again in Sheba; and was the demoness who destroyed job's sons. [7] Yet she escaped the curse of death which overtook Adam, since they had parted long before the Fall. Lilith and Naamah not only strangle infants but also seduce dreaming men, any one of whom, sleeping alone, may become their victim. [8]

(f) Undismayed by His failure to give Adam a suitable helpmeet, God tried again, and let him watch while he built up a woman's anatomy: using bones, tissues, muscles, blood and glandular secretions, then covering the whole with skin and adding tufts of hair in places. The sight caused Adam such disgust that even when this woman, the First Eve, stood there in her full beauty, he felt an invincible repugnance. God knew that He had failed once more, and took the First Eve away. Where she went, nobody knows for certain. [9]

(g) God tried a third time, and acted more circumspectly. Having taken a rib from Adam's side in his sleep, He formed it into a woman; then plaited her hair and adorned her, like a bride, with twenty-four pieces of jewellery, before waking him. Adam was entranced. [10]

(h) Some say that God created Eve not from Adam's rib, but from a tail ending in a sting which had been part of his body. God cut this off, and the stump-now a useless coccyx-is still carried by Adam's descendants. [11]

(i) Others say that God's original thought had been to create two human beings, male and female; but instead He designed a single one with a male face looking forward, and a female face looking back. Again He changed His mind, removed Adam's backward-looking face, and built a woman's body for it. [12]

(j) Still others hold that Adam was originally created as an androgyne of male and female bodies joined back to back. Since this posture made locomotion difficult, and conversation awkward, God divided the androgyne and gave each half a new rear. These separate beings He placed in Eden, forbidding them to couple. [13]

Notes on sources:

1. Genesis II. 18-25; III. 20.

2. Genesis I. 26-28.

3. Gen. Rab. 17.4; B. Yebamot 632.

4. Yalqut Reubeni ad. Gen. II. 21; IV. 8.

5. Alpha Beta diBen Sira, 47; Gaster, MGWJ, 29 (1880), 553 ff.

6. Num. Rab. 16.25.

7. Targum ad job 1. 15.

8. B. Shabbat 151b; Ginzberg, LJ, V. 147-48.

9. Gen. Rab. 158, 163-64; Mid. Abkir 133, 135; Abot diR. Nathan 24; B. Sanhedrin 39a.

10. Gen. II. 21-22; Gen. Rab. 161.

11. Gen. Rab. 134; B. Erubin 18a.

12. B. Erubin 18a.

13. Gen. Rab. 55; Lev. Rab. 14.1: Abot diR. Nathan 1.8; B. Berakhot 61a; B. Erubin 18a; Tanhuma Tazri'a 1; Yalchut Gen. 20; Tanh. Buber iii.33; Mid. Tehillim 139, 529.

Authors’ Comments on the Myth:

1. The tradition that man's first sexual intercourse was with animals, not women, may be due to the widely spread practice of bestiality among herdsmen of the Middle East, which is still condoned by custom, although figuring three times in the Pentateuch as a capital crime. In the Akkadian Gilgamesh Epic, Enkidu is said to have lived with gazelles and jostled other wild beasts at the watering place, until civilized by Aruru's priestess. Having enjoyed her embraces for six days and seven nights, he wished to rejoin the wild beasts but, to his surprise, they fled from him. Enkidu then knew that he had gained understanding, and the priestess said: 'Thou art wise, Enkidu, like unto a godl'

2. Primeval man was held by the Babylonians to have been androgynous. Thus the Gilgamesh Epic gives Enkidu androgynous features: `the hair of his head like a woman's, with locks that sprout like those of Nisaba, the Grain-goddess.' The Hebrew tradition evidently derives from Greek sources, because both terms used in a Tannaitic midrash to describe the bisexual Adam are Greek: androgynos, 'man-woman', and diprosopon, 'twofaced'. Philo of Alexandria, the Hellenistic philosopher and commentator on the Bible, contemporary with Jesus, held that man was at first bisexual; so did the Gnostics. This belief is clearly borrowed from Plato. Yet the myth of two bodies placed back to back may well have been founded on observation of Siamese twins, which are sometimes joined in this awkward manner. The two-faced Adam appears to be a fancy derived from coins or statues of Janus, the Roman New Year god.

3. Divergences between the Creation myths of Genesis r and n, which allow Lilith to be presumed as Adam's first mate, result from a careless weaving together of an early Judaean and a late priestly tradition. The older version contains the rib incident. Lilith typifies the Anath-worshipping Canaanite women, who were permitted pre-nuptial promiscuity. Time after time the prophets denounced Israelite women for following Canaanite practices; at first, apparently, with the priests' approval-since their habit of dedicating to God the fees thus earned is expressly forbidden in Deuteronomy xxIII. I8. Lilith's flight to the Red Sea recalls the ancient Hebrew view that water attracts demons. 'Tortured and rebellious demons' also found safe harbourage in Egypt. Thus Asmodeus, who had strangled Sarah's first six husbands, fled 'to the uttermost parts of Egypt' (Tobit viii. 3), when Tobias burned the heart and liver of a fish on their wedding night.

4. Lilith's bargain with the angels has its ritual counterpart in an apotropaic rite once performed in many Jewish communities. To protect the newborn child against Lilith-and especially a male, until he could be permanently safeguarded by circumcision-a ring was drawn with natron, or charcoal, on the wall of the birthroom, and inside it were written the words: 'Adam and Eve. Out, Lilith!' Also the names Senoy, Sansenoy and Semangelof (meanings uncertain) were inscribed on the door. If Lilith nevertheless succeeded in approaching the child and fondling him, he would laugh in his sleep. To avert danger, it was held wise to strike the sleeping child's lips with one finger-whereupon Lilith would vanish.

5. 'Lilith' is usually derived from the Babylonian-Assyrian word lilitu, ,a female demon, or wind-spirit'-one of a triad mentioned in Babylonian spells. But she appears earlier as 'Lillake' on a 2000 B.G. Sumerian tablet from Ur containing the tale of Gilgamesh and the Willow Tree. There she is a demoness dwelling in the trunk of a willow-tree tended by the Goddess Inanna (Anath) on the banks of the Euphrates. Popular Hebrew etymology seems to have derived 'Lilith' from layil, 'night'; and she therefore often appears as a hairy night-monster, as she also does in Arabian folklore. Solomon suspected the Queen of Sheba of being Lilith, because she had hairy legs. His judgement on the two harlots is recorded in I Kings III. 16 ff. According to Isaiah xxxiv. I4-I5, Lilith dwells among the desolate ruins in the Edomite Desert where satyrs (se'ir), reems, pelicans, owls, jackals, ostriches, arrow-snakes and kites keep her company.

6. Lilith's children are called lilim. In the Targum Yerushalmi, the priestly blessing of Numbers vi. 26 becomes: 'The Lord bless thee in all thy doings, and preserve thee from the Lilim!' The fourth-century A.D. commentator Hieronymus identified Lilith with the Greek Lamia, a Libyan queen deserted by Zeus, whom his wife Hera robbed of her children. She took revenge by robbing other women of theirs.

7. The Lamiae, who seduced sleeping men, sucked their blood and ate their flesh, as Lilith and her fellow-demonesses did, were also known as Empusae, 'forcers-in'; or Mormolyceia, 'frightening wolves'; and described as 'Children of Hecate'. A Hellenistic relief shows a naked Lamia straddling a traveller asleep on his back. It is characteristic of civilizations where women are treated as chattels that they must adopt the recumbent posture during intercourse, which Lilith refused. That Greek witches who worshipped Hecate favoured the superior posture, we know from Apuleius; and it occurs in early Sumerian representations of the sexual act, though not in the Hittite. Malinowski writes that Melanesian girls ridicule what they call `the missionary position', which demands that they should lie passive and recumbent.

8. Naamah, 'pleasant', is explained as meaning that 'the demoness sang pleasant songs to idols'. Zmargad suggest smaragdos, the semi-precious aquamarine; and may therefore be her submarine dwelling. A demon named Smaragos occurs in the Homeric Epigrams.

9. Eve's creation by God from Adam's rib-a myth establishing male supremacy and disguising Eve's divinity-lacks parallels in Mediterranean or early Middle-Eastern myth. The story perhaps derives iconotropically from an ancient relief, or painting, which showed the naked Goddess Anath poised in the air, watching her lover Mot murder his twin Aliyan; Mot (mistaken by the mythographer for Yahweh) was driving a curved dagger under Aliyan's fifth rib, not removing a sixth one. The familiar story is helped by a hidden pun on tsela, the Hebrew for 'rib': Eve, though designed to be Adam's helpmeet, proved to be a tsela, a 'stumbling', or 'misfortune'. Eve's formation from Adam's tail is an even more damaging myth; perhaps suggested by the birth of a child with a vestigial tail instead of a coccyx-a not infrequent occurrence.

10. The story of Lilith's escape to the East and of Adam's subsequent marriage to Eve may, however, record an early historical incident: nomad herdsmen, admitted into Lilith's Canaanite queendom as guests (see 16. 1), suddenly seize power and, when the royal household thereupon flees, occupy a second queendom which owes allegiance to the Hittite Goddess Heba.

The meaning of 'Eve' is disputed. Hawwah is explained in Genesis III. 20 as 'mother of all living'; but this may well be a Hebraicized form of the divine name Heba, Hebat, Khebat or Khiba. This goddess, wife of the Hittite Storm-god, is shown riding a lion in a rock-sculpture at Hattusaswhich equates her with Anath-and appears as a form of Ishtar in Hurrian texts. She was worshipped at Jerusalem (see 27. 6). Her Greek name was Hebe, Heracles's goddess-wife.

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howtofightwrite · 3 years ago

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Hi! I want to write a fantasy middles ages-European inspired hero's journey that involves a quest, and the M.C is a teen girl that comes from a regular peasant family. Should she be an archer or more of a dagger/knife type person?

The sword.

A couple very important things, first, “The Hero's Journey,” is a specific sequence of events. You can find the outline on Wikipedia if you want. It's not a general pastiche or genre. Joseph Campbell was articulating a unified structure that he claimed all myths follow.

For example, if you don't have a character hearing the call to adventure, and then refusing, only to the be forced to take up the call, you don't have The Hero's Journey. That specific back and forth is a mandatory component of the structure.

Heroic fantasy, is a sub-genre of sword and sorcery, so if that's what you want you're not looking for, “a hero's journey,” you probably want to look at sword and sorcery. The two early examples of this that come to mind are Robert E. Howard's Conan short stories, and Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. (Howard's work is public domain, and can be found for free online. Some of Leiber's work is also public domain, though as far as I know, only his science fiction work is publicly accessible, so you may need to find some paperbacks.

When you're looking for, “a hero's weapon,” that's a sword. This is so culturally coded that you really can't escape from it. If you're honest with yourself, you can see this in a quick thought experiment: You have two characters, one of them uses a greatsword, the other uses a battleaxe; which one is more, “heroic?”

In fact, if you're playing into fantasy stereotypes, giving a character something other than a sword is a pretty good way to suggest to the reader that the character should not be viewed as heroic.

While it's not incredibly intense, both of the options you presented are actually pejorative weapons of choice for a, “heroic,” character.

In fantasy (though, less in reality) the bow is the weapon of a sniper. Someone who sneaks around and murders someone without letting them fight back.

Similarly, the dagger is a weapon of a sneaky killer, or assassin, not the weapon of a hero who engages in fair fights.

This doesn't mean these kinds of characters can't be heroes, but it does mean they're playing against type when you present them as a hero, and to be honest, it doesn't sound like this is what you're looking for. If you want a character who fits that kind of main-line heroic archetype, you want to give her a sword. The most readily accessible cliché is probably family heirloom. (Hey, it works.) The sword belonged to her father or mother, and has been passed down through the family. In some cases it will have been stolen from the character and part of her quest will require recovering the weapon (and her legacy with it.)

And before some mouth breathing idiot wanders in and tries to say, “buh, she's a girl, girls can't use swords,” your average sword weighs less than 4lbs (a lot less, if we're being honest.) Saying you have a character who is too weak to lift a sword is almost literally saying you have a character who is too weak to wear clothes, or stand unaided. Trying to use brute force with a sword is a great way to destroy the blade. You're holding a 36” long razor blade, you need to be precise where where you put it, and how you fillet your foes.

The irony is, of all the weapons you could give your character, the one that is most dependent on her raw strength is the bow. Drawing a bow requires a lot of upper body strength. Depending on the bow she could easily be drawing 60-80lbs. Roleplaying games have lied to you, the bow is a strength weapon, the sword is a dex weapon. If your character is using a bow, they're going to be jacked.

You have other options, but they come with some specific, thematic, drawbacks.

Spears are actually pretty common weapons in myth, and if you're if you're going for more of an Ancient Greek inspired setting, they're a strong contender to replace the sword. You'd still be fighting against perception of what a hero should be using, but it can fit. Your reader may interpret a more primal flavor into the spear, even though these were frequently the primary weapons of infantry throughout most of history. It is a versatile weapon, but not one that's usually viewed as heroic.

Axes and hammers are both going to be viewed as more brutal weapons, and thus, less heroic. With axes, expect your character to be viewed as more barbaric for using it.

Staves are a peasant weapon, which can feel less heroic. They're also more disposable. If your character loses their staff, it's pretty trivial to replace. Unless, this is more of a magic focus than a stray tree branch. (Something that is probably not a consideration in this specific case.)

The club is not a weapon you'd often equate with a hero, however it was actually Hercules's favored weapon, surprisingly. You can take this as a sign that you can, potentially, make any weapon work for your hero, just most readers will interpret your character as more of a brute if they're going out clubbing. (Ironically, this is actually pretty on-brand for the original Hercules myths.)

There's nothing wrong with moving away from normal heroic norms, if that's what you want to do. However, if you're wanting a character to be viewed, at first glance, as a hero, then you'll want to give them a sword.

-Starke

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#Starke answers #writing advice #writing reference #writing tips #the hero's journey #sword

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heliads · 3 years ago

Text

Proving It (Part One)

Based on this request: “Loki x fem reader where she's the firstborn of Hades, and she's the Goddess of Bloodlust? Maybe they all underestimate her, but when they're in a tight spot, she gets all cocky and shows them exactly how she got her title?

masterlist / part two

Loki tries not to lose his temper as he walks through the halls of the Avengers complex. Technically, he shouldn’t have to be here at all; it’s his off day, and he should be free to do whatever he wants, which usually includes finding a place without Tony Stark or any number of the other Avengers, and staying there until he’s bored or is forced to leave.

Instead, Loki is striding briskly through the narrow corridors beside Tony, only half listening as the man gives him an update on the scant few things that have changed since Loki was here last, which was yesterday. Loki is not entirely sure what was deemed so important that he had to come in that instant until Tony gets to his final note, which is the latest addition to the Avengers team.

Loki has held the title of Avengers newcomer for quite some time now, an honor he finds rather amusing. How is it that all of these other mortals can call him inexperienced at their job when he’s been alive for centuries longer than their grandfather’s grandfathers? He’d been taking lives far before S.H.I.E.L.D. was founded, even before New York was more than a settler’s dream. How then could he be less adept at missions than some of the others, who barely started at all this a few years ago? That’s practically a blink in the eye for a god such as himself.

Needless to say, Loki doesn’t entirely mind that someone new has joined the ranks of the Avengers. Perhaps now the others can stop eyeing Loki like he’s an explosion about to go off in their faces, or perhaps that will never go away, no matter how many fighters join the team. There’s no way for sure of guessing until it happens.

Tony pulls a crisply folded report out of his folder and snaps it open with a flourish, mouth souring slightly as he begins to read. “You might like our latest recruit, actually. You and Thor are no longer the only gods.” This, more than rumors that he won’t be the black sheep any more, piques Loki’s interest. “We’re not? Who’d you get, Sif?” That can’t be right, she’d never deign to stay with mortals, not like Loki and his brother have. Sometimes it surprises even himself.

Tony makes a face. “She’s not one of yours, Odinson. You ever heard about the Greeks?” Loki’s only minorly preoccupied with the fact that Tony called him Odinson instead of Laufeyson that he almost doesn’t notice the last part of the sentence. “The Greeks?” Tony nods sagely. “Ancient Greece, those gods. Zeus, Poseidon, Athena, and the rest.”

Loki frowns. “I thought those were just stories.” If there’s a rumble of thunder overhead as he says this, Loki thinks that he’d rather blame it on his brother instead of the possibility of someone else. Tony just chuckles. “We thought you were just stories, too, but look how that turned out. Norse deities, walking beside me and wearing leather.”

Loki shoots the guy a look, but Tony’s too busy laughing at his own joke to notice. “So which one is your recruit? Which god?” Tony’s smile starts to fade away as he considers the report once again. “Hades, the god of the dead, had a firstborn child. She goes by Y/N L/N up here. They call her the Goddess of Bloodlust. Her father was merciless but fair, at least. They say she’s worse than that, far worse.”

Loki raises an eyebrow. “How bad is she, then? And why the hell is she on the team if she’s more bloodthirsty than the god of the dead?” Tony shrugs. “Fury vetted her and he seemed fine with it. Anyways, no one knows how bad she is, because honestly, she doesn’t seem like anything special.” Loki blinks. “She’s the goddess of Bloodlust. How could she possibly not seem that bad?” Tony just shakes his head. “You’ll see when you meet her. Honestly, I’m starting to think that the whole ‘goddess of bloodlust’ thing is just a rumor or a gift from her dad.”

There’s a lot that could be said about that, but Loki decides to hold his tongue for once. It’s a good thing that he does, too, because Tony’s already reaching for the door that leads into the main living/working center of the Avengers complex. There’s a woman inside, one who turns when she sees Loki and Tony enter.

Loki knows that this must be the new recruit before anyone says a word. Who else could it be? When she locks eyes with him, Loki swears that he sees her eyes flash scarlet just once, the same shade of dark red as blood. When she flashes a grin, as quick as a wolf, and starts to walk closer to the two of them, Loki can feel his pulse thundering through his veins. He wants to fight or run or do something, anything. Y/N raises an eyebrow, as if she can tell exactly what he’s thinking. For a moment, it’s as if the entire world has been blocked out so it’s just the two of them, and Loki’s fairly sure that he wants it to just be him.

Then it hits him- this is fake. It’s an illusion, an aura of Y/N’s powers. Some of the Avengers had mentioned feeling something like this around him, like how he can tell when Thor enters a room without looking up just by the crackle of sheer electricity in the air. Loki takes a breath in and out, and just like that, the feeling is gone.

Y/N cocks her head to the side. “You must be Loki.” A flash of her eyes, and Loki feels that same urge again, but he fights it back. He’s used to it now, seeing it like it’s one of his own lies. “That would be me. You would be Y/N, then?” A smile touches at the corners of Y/N’s lips. “Indeed.”

Tony claps his hands together, startling Loki for a second. “Well, I’ve done my job. You two are introduced. If you need me, ask someone else.” Tony waves one more time before disappearing back down the hallway. Loki watches him go, then turns back to Y/N, who’s watching him with an interested smile. He feels that he ought to say something, so he does.

“It’s nice to meet another god. Usually I just speak to the ones from Asgard.” Y/N inclines her head. “I would agree. Usually the other Greek gods don’t come down to my fathers realm. It tends to creep them out, so to speak.” Loki has the vague impression that he is prey being eyed down by a hawk or something with terribly sharp claws. Y/N continues. “Although I have to say you seem fine. Evidently not all spells work on the Avengers.”

Loki manages a chuckle. “I’m a trickster, darling. I tell enough lies to keep them straight, even when they’re not my own.” Y/N laughs at that. “Makes enough sense. You’re the only one who’s been able to do that, though. I let it go after a while just to see what happens, and that’s when the others go from being scared of me to thinking it’s all just an act. I don’t think your Tony Stark believes in me all that much.”

They’ve started walking through the Avengers complex, a tour without needing to explain anything. “Tony Stark doesn’t believe in anything he can’t create himself. I don’t think he accepts that Thor and I are gods, either. Maybe just very tall humans.” A fleeting smile appears on Y/N’s lips. “Well, I suppose I have that to look forward to. You don’t mind showing me around, do you?”

Loki very much does not, although he says this in slightly better wording, something that will make him seem more impressive. He’s not sure why he already cares about what this goddess thinks about him, only that he’d like to learn a little more about her, and this is the best way to do it.

And, as it turns out, this is exactly what happens. He ends up staying for a couple hours at the complex that day, all to talk with Y/N. Over the next few months, she quickly becomes one of Loki’s closest friends on the team, if he’s ever allowed himself to call anyone here a friend at all. He learns what makes her laugh and what doesn’t make sense to someone who’s spent a great deal of time in the Greek Underworld, her favorite style of fighting and what she does in her free time. Loki takes it all in and doesn’t forget a word of it, just in case.

There’s one thing he doesn’t understand, though, and that is her title. She’s supposed to be the Greek goddess of bloodlust, the most wild and fearsome child of Hades. Yet Loki doesn’t get any of that from her, except on the first day. He almost gets the feeling that she’s holding herself back, pulling her punches both in the training room and in missions. Loki has tried to discreetly ask about it, but Y/N changes the subject every time. If there is truly something there, it’s not something she talks about.

Loki isn’t the only one to notice this, either. A few times, when Y/N has been away on a solo mission, the other Avengers get to talking in the way that they always do. A few hours in, a few drinks gone, and Steve is carefully asking how Y/N got on the team on the first place, or Thor is assuring Nat that most gods are able to easily outfight mortals, even if some of the Avengers seem able to hold their own against Y/N whenever they train side by side.

Loki doesn’t say a word, choosing instead to sit and take it all in. After the Avengers are sure that no one is coming for them, they open up a little more. Tony leans back against his chair, mentioning how the stories must not be true because there’s no way that Y/N’s actually all that powerful. Are they sure she’s even a goddess at all?

After a while, Loki excuses himself to leave. For some reason, it all leaves a sick feeling in the back of his throat. Sure, he’s spread his fair share of rumors, but he doesn’t like the way they’re all ganging up on Y/N when she’s not there to defend herself. If he wanted to, Loki could take a stand, talk about the sheer power he felt when he first met her, how he’d known that the strength of her aura alone rivaled even Thor and Loki’s.

But he stays silent. It’s like there’s a voice inside him telling him to wait, to pick his battles. Y/N has never liked it when someone else fights instead of her, and Loki knows enough about her to learn that she has that same streak of pride as every other Greek god, or at least as far as she says. He’s spent many nights listening to her talk about her uncle Zeus or cousin Ares and all of the trouble they cause. Sometimes, they share stories into the early hours of dawn, comparing Asgard to Olympus or Hela to Hades. It’s one of the only times Loki has truly felt at peace.

Besides, he’s got enough to think about as is. Loki’s started to hear rumors of a new mission coming up, one that’s got even Thor shaking his head and frowning into his cup of mead. In all the time Loki has spent on Earth, he’s noticed one thing for sure: if the mortals can’t seem to reach the heavens, they’ll create their own gods themselves. There’s been a rise of inhumans as of late, and a report just came out that a group of about a dozen of them just escaped from a HYDRA facility.

The hope is that they’ll either die off or defect to S.H.I.E.L.D., but Loki has a feeling that this won’t be easy. All the Avengers can do is wait for the order to roll in, the one that’ll ship them out to wherever the inhumans have fled. Then, they’ll do their best to take them down, and hopefully not get too injured trying. From what Loki has heard, these guys aren’t the usual easy targets. It’ll be hard, even for a group like the Avengers.

As it turns out, Loki is right to be wary- barely a week later, Fury sends a message to the Avengers saying one thing and one thing alone: It’s time. The Director doesn’t have to clarify, everyone else already knows. There’s nothing else it could mean, anyways. Loki shows up at the complex, greeting Y/N, who arrives around the same time as he does. The team prepares and ships out without another word. In the end, not even pleasantries among friends can save you from having to go to war.

They find the inhumans soon enough. They look a little rough around the edges, likely due to being on the run from both HYDRA and S.H.I.E.L.D., but that doesn’t stop them from being absolute powerhouses. One of them uproots a nearby tree with a flex of an arm, lifting an oak taller than a two-story building as if it were a dandelion. Another raises her hands, and the ground around her erupts into flames the size of a car. There are many more, too, each with their own little gift. Loki grimaces to himself. This might hurt.

This, as it turns out, is an understatement. Despite the Avengers’ best efforts, they’re only able to take out three or four before getting backed into a corner. Tony Stark’s suit got hit badly and he’s down, Steve is getting an injured Clint to safety, and Thor’s busy trying to do battle with an inhuman who seems to have the power to control storms. Lightning strikes against lightning, and Loki can barely see through a hail of rain.

Nat calls over to them. “Guys, we need backup now! Either we go or we need more people to show up, but we’re not winning this by ourselves.” Tony shakes his head. “We’re not risking any more lives. This was our fight, we have to end it.” His voice is heavy as he says it; everyone knows that the Avengers aren’t winning this. It was too many at once, and there’s no way everyone is getting out alive.

Or, that was what Loki had thought until Y/N walks up. She has a hand pressed to her earpiece, as if she’s talking to someone on the other end. At first, Loki thinks she’s calling for backup, and then he hears what she’s saying. “Permission to stop holding back, Director?” Her voice is almost sarcastic as she speaks, like the whole question is just a bit of etiquette. A moment later, and she grins. “Thank you.”

Loki frowns at her. “What was that about?” Y/N turns to him, and for the first time since he met her, Loki feels afraid. “It’s time to fight.” A bolt of lightning flashes across the sky, and Loki swears that Y/N’s eyes turn a brilliant blood red. When she grins again, her teeth flash like a wolf’s. Somehow, Loki gets the feeling that something very bad is about to happen, but only for the inhumans.

Y/N turns back to the enemies, and raises her hands, palms towards the splitting sky. All of a sudden, Loki is hit by this sensation that he’s about to die. It takes everything in him to not charge into battle, to do something even if it gets him killed. That’ll happen anyway, won’t it? All that matters is going out well.

This same feeling must hit the inhumans, because they turn from pursuing the other Avengers and start to run towards Y/N instead. Loki steps forward to call out to Y/N, for surely she can’t take them all on at once, but she’s grabbing the two swords at her side and starting to fight. Loki falls silent as he watches.

She kills the first one with a single stab through the heart, the second by a clean decapitation. Another inhuman screams out a battle cry, and Y/N whips her head around to stare at it before throwing a sword directly through it, impaling it to the ground where it slumps, unmoving. Her free hand extends towards the nearest inhuman, and amidst the sickening sound of ribs cracking and muscle moving, she rips its heart from its chest.

Y/N holds the still beating organ in her hand for a second, heedless of the blood dripping through her fingers to the ground, and laughs. It is a terrible sound, one that crashes around Loki’s ears like the call of some monster. Y/N drops the heart, where it falls to the earth beneath her feet. She drags her thumb across her mouth in one brief motion, like slicing through someone’s throat, and her lips turn red from the blood.

It takes barely a few more minutes for the remainder of the inhumans to die. They all charge towards her in some sort of frenzy that clouds their judgment and makes their swings wild and useless, a madness that infects all who come near her. When it all ends, Y/N’s swords are dripping red, so much red that Loki doesn’t know if he’s ever seen a color other than it.

At last, Y/N turns, and begins to walk back towards the other Avengers. They shrink away, but for some reason, Loki stays. In fact, he strides to her. Y/N raises an eyebrow when they finally come face to face. “Well?” She says it like a challenge. How many times has she frightened people away like this?

Loki, however, is not willing to let her powers scare him off. In fact, if he didn’t know better, he’d say that it excited him. “I think I need to ask Fury why you’ve been holding back all this time.” Y/N flashes him a grin, and it is just as electrifying as any one of Thor’s lightning bolts. “Oh, it wasn’t my choice. That was just one of the terms and conditions of my acceptance into the team.”

Loki shrugs. “Well, I’m hoping it ends now.” Y/N’s grin settles into a satisfied smile. “Me too.” The other Avengers are staring, Loki is sure of it, but after a while, they begin to pick themselves up and head back towards the Quinjet, stepping around the fallen bodies of the inhumans. At last, it’s just Loki and Y/N. He’s not sure that he’d want it any other way.

Lost in the silence, Y/N looks up at him. “Why aren’t you scared of what I can do?” She says it simply enough, but Loki’s lost for words. “I don’t know. I should be, I think. But if you can trust me enough to ask despite the thousands of lies I’ve told, maybe I can love both you and your battlefield.”

He doesn’t mean for that word to come out, love. To be honest, he wasn’t even sure it was true until he said it. It is true, though, truer than most things Loki says. Whatever it means, Y/N smiles again. “Well, maybe I can love both you and the lies.” Loki feels his heart start to beat a little faster in his chest, but this time it isn’t just because of the battle-fueled adrenaline rush that still hangs around Y/N, heavy as a cloak. Before he can think of something to stop himself, Loki leans forward and kisses her.

Loki can taste the copper tang of blood on her lips, but he doesn’t care. The rain still beats down around them, but for once he doesn’t mind. When he and Y/N finally head back to the jet, Loki thinks he might finally have met his match. The Trickster God and the Goddess of Bloodlust. Who would have guessed it?

Maybe, Loki thinks, it would be him.

marvel tag list: rip to loki but i would defend you if the avengers were calling you out @rogueanschel, @mycosmicparadise, @ellobruv-blog, @caswinchester2000, @with-inked-solace

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therealvinelle · 4 years ago

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Hi, love your metas and your fic. I think you mentioned somwhere that at the end of BD Aro was trying to prevent the fight. What were his motives? According to Edward, the Volturi are cowards, but I didn't get this feeling. Caius was begging for a battle, the guard vocally proclaimed willingness to die for the cause... hell, Jane had to be restrained from running to Bella and punching her in the throat. And I find it unlikely that their leader is less brave than them. Explain Aro's brain pls

Thank you so much! That’s really nice of you to say. And sorry for the late answer.

And explain Aro’s brain, whew. That is a very big question with a very long answer and this post will be a manifesto by the time I’m done. But you wanted Aro’s brain explained so manifesto it is.

So, before we go anywhere I have to make the distinction between Aro of the books and Aro of the movies. Those two are different people.

Starting with appearance, because casting does a lot for me and if a big deviation is made it better be like Ruth Wilson as Marisa Coulter, which is to say it better fit the character. Also, disclaimer, I think most of Twilight was miscast, and especially the Volturi. I’m forever dying at Caius looking like Lucius Malfoy. However, this is an Aro post, so we’re highlighting Aro.

Aro of the books is a twenty-something Greek with skin that has petrified and eyes covered in a milky sort of film, which totals to him looking perfect, as all vampires do, yet frail. When he walks it looks like he’s gliding. This is an otherworldly, ancient, inhuman being. He’s energetic and excitable, yes, but if anything that should add to how very other he is. Casting Michael Sheen is a clear signal that the movies were going in a completely different direction with Aro. Sheen is a great actor who played what he was given perfectly, but what he was given was a very different character.

In New Moon the book, Aro first rejects Edward request because this is Carlisle’s gifted son, and more, this is not what the Volturi do. They are not hitmen. It’s just a big no all around.

Bella enters, and the Aro she meets is a very polite and gracious man who’s delighted to see the human still alive, and pleased Carlisle’s son won’t be suicidal anymore. However, Edward fully intended to step into the sunlight in the middle of Volterra, specifically to provoke the Volturi, and he has broken the law with Bella. Further, Edward makes it clear that he fully intends to walk out of Volterra with his human still human, and that she’ll die of old age if he gets his way. Edward’s contempt of the law could not be more clear. However, Alice shows Aro that Bella’s fate is sealed, she turns or she dies. The law will be upheld. Aro is glad to hear it, and lets the Cullens all go home.

All in all, it’s a very tense occasion where Edward has put Aro in a difficult position, because he’s trying to force him to kill his best friend’s son, and Aro goes “YES THANK GOD” when Alice finally gives him an out.

New Moon of the movies was not this. Starting with the flashback (because I’m being thorough), Aro executes a lowly criminal himself. I object to that, I think that’s a menial task and Aro doing it himself made the Volturi look less regal, not more. Cut to the present day, Aro rejects Edward’s request because he doesn’t want to waste his gift. We get the whole meeting with Bella, and Aro… well I don’t know why he does any of the things he does. This guy never mentions his friendship to Carlisle, tries to kill our plucky heroes three times in the space of one minute (one, gives Felix the order to kill Bella, stopped by Edward. Two, moves to decapitate Edward, stopped by Bella. Three, he’s about to eat Bella, stopped by Alice), and when he lets them go it feels terribly convenient.

This was a guy written to be the villain of the series, and it showed.

Cut to Breaking Dawn part I’s ending scene, and while I love the song choice for the scene, and fully agree that Aro considers misspelling Carlisle’s name to be a capital offense, the scene itself… we are presented with a villainous, power-hungry megalomaniac who’s just waiting to strike against the Cullens.

We then get Breaking Dawn part II, and I haven’t seen that movie in years but I remember the fight scene well enough. Aro kills Carlisle with the biggest grin on his face, and gives the go-ahead to his Volturi to kill the surviving Cullens and their witnesses.

Contrast that with canon, where Aro’s first words to Carlisle are «Nothing would make me happier than preserving your life today». Now, he’s making it very clear that this meeting will most likely end with Carlisle’s death, but he’s not happy about it. He’s certainly not going to kill him with a smile on his face and laughter in his heart.

The movies needed a hammy villain, and that’s what Michael Sheen played. It is not who Aro is, at all. And he’s not the only character this happened to, but again, this is an Aro post so I’m not going to start raging like Don Corleone about what they did to my boys.

So, with the movies firmly expelled from the post, let’s look at the Twilight series from Aro’s point of view.

Or, rather, we’ll have to start earlier because Aro’s decisions throughout the series are pretty clearly motivated by Carlisle. And that means considering, “why is Carlisle so important, anyway?”

Consider these things: one, Aro is gifted with the power of knowing every single thought a person has ever had. He knows your soul. Two, Aro is the leader of the supernatural world, he has been for over a thousand years.

How many friends does a person with that power and in that position have?

Three, who does Aro even come into contact with?

Starting with number three, for Aro it’s going to be 1) criminals, 2) Volturi guard hopefuls, 3) Weirdos like Laurent who are wasting Aro’s time.

(“But what about the guard!” Well, while we observe close interpersonal relationships between Aro and Jane, and Aro and Renata, and one can assume Corin to be close to the wives, the distinction between Volturi coven and Volturi guard remains. The guards are servants, in some cases beloved servants, but servants nonetheless. It would be inappropriate and weird for Aro to start slumming it with Demetri and Felix)

So, Aro doesn’t get out much, which brings us to point two. The people he does meet, and who are willing to entertain a friendship with the Volturi leader, are going to be people who want something. And that might work for some rulers, Louis XIV built Versailles specifically to make his subjects do this for him, but he had something to gain politically from that. Aro does not, his power is supreme without a need to tolerate brown nosers. More, with his own and Marcus’ gifts, he’ll know right away that he’s being used for power. He would get nothing out of it.

Finally point one, Aro’s gift. Say that we have a vampire who’s not a weirdo and who thinks Aro’s a cool dude. Well, the question now is, who would ever want a person in their life who knows all there is to know about them? I wouldn't want anybody to know every thought I've ever had, I certainly would never seek out a person to know me that deeply when I could just go find normal people to be friends with instead. Not to mention how incredibly unequal such a friendship would be.

In short, I don’t think Aro has any friends.

Enter Carlisle a very amiable person who cherishes Aro for his personality, and doesn’t mind having his mind read. Aro just found a unicorn. Carlisle on his end likes Aro so much that he lives with him for decades. Even if you want to read their relationship as platonic, that’s still a very strong friendship.

Point being that Carlisle is unbelievably precious to Aro, and so very unique. Aro has lived for over three millennia, and never met anyone like this before. There won’t be another Carlisle.

This in turn makes him willing to stretch as far as he can to preserve that friendship and, as the plot thickens, keep Carlisle alive.

Fast forwards to 2006, and Aro is sitting in Volterra minding his own business when Carlisle’s son walks into town demanding his own execution. He has not committed any crimes. Not only is assisted suicide not something the Volturi even do, but this would ruin Aro’s friendship with Carlisle. Even if Carlisle was miraculously understanding of Aro killing his son (which I can’t imagine he would be), this would never leave the air between them. Carlisle could never be around him again after something like that.

So, Aro turns down Edward’s request. “Stupid Volturi man ruining my dramatic suicide, I’ll show him who’s boss!” Edward replies, and runs shirtless into the sunlight. I’m sure Aro was just dying, you had “The Sound of Silence” playing as he stared into nothingness because how is this happening to him. A whiplash of an hour later, Bella is alive again, Aro is happy, we can be done with this now, right? Right?!

No, Edward says, we cannot be done with this. He’s still refusing to turn Bella.

And so we get that whole New Moon exchange where Aro very tellingly shoves the part where Edward WALKED INTO THE SUNLIGHT IN VOLTERRA under the carpet and out of the conversation (for comparison: Irina is executed for false testimony and Bree for breaking a law she didn’t know existed), and he even allows Bella to leave human when he could easily have bitten her himself to keep the Cullens honest. This guy went out of his way to be lenient and show the Cullens good faith.

And then a few months later Irina walks into Volterra, bearing memories of what is unmistakably a Cullen immortal child.

Aro may care for Carlisle, but this is the guy who killed his baby sister so he’d still have Marcus’ gift. He will bend far, very far, for those he cares about, but he will not break. It’s duty above love, Volturi above Aro’s personal preferences. An immortal child is not an offense that can be tolerated, and so it’ll be Didyme 2: Aro Kills Someone He Loves Boogaloo.

By now I think it should be quite clear why I think Aro was trying to prevent the fight. Battle would have meant Carlisle’s certain death.

(And that’s even assuming the Volturi won the fight. With Bella there, there was a chance the Volturi wouldn’t prevail. But even before Bella started showing off, Aro was very much hoping this wouldn’t be another Didyme situation.)

#aro #volturi #carlisle cullen #twilight #twilight meta #twilight renaissance #the sad thing is that i have so much more to say about Aro #this is only the first of many posts #Anonymous #ask #i guess i also have to tag #aro/carlisle #sorry guys my terrible ship is leaking into my metas #but damnit IT'S A GOOD SHIP #long post

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honouredsatoru · 4 years ago

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JJK Characters x You on a date

notes : I tried including Gojo's love for Digimon since I also grew up watching Digimon and loving the anime with all of my heart, also because Gojo's seiyuu, both Japanese and English versions, voiced for characters in Digimon, so I wanna pay homage to the both of them. other than that, I also included my love for arts and history, something I tried to incorporate into my writing, just to make it like.. lilith's style, ya know?

extra notes : also I wrote megumi for Elli, just because haha.

warnings : slight cussing. not proofread lol. other than that, none. 100% fluff!

characters : gojo satoru, fushiguro megumi, kugisaki nobara, nanami kento, itadori yuji.

Gojo Satoru - Arcades, vintage shops, especially collectors, especially Digimon, comic book/manga stores.

[Your name]! [Your name!]! Look, look! It's the Digimon Adventure V-Tamer 01 series! All 9 of them! Let's get in!"

"Ahh hold on. Towu! We're supposed to visit the cat cafe, you promised that you would go with me and take pictures with the cat hairband on! And I'm starving!"

You jokingly scowled at him, tapping your Doc Martens feet on the ground, arms folding.

"Fucking adorable. Let me see if I can tease her more, hah." A smirk soon appeared on this blue-eyed darling of yours.

"Let me get the manga and I promise, I'll go to this cat cafe with you, baby. Hm?"

"Oh alright."

"I love you, sweetheart. I know how much you wanted to go there but the manga. I- ahaaaa"

He started pouting as he kept pointing in the direction of the Digimon manga by the window. You quickly opened your camera, taking pictures of him sulking, emitting a soft giggle that actually made his heart squeezed with joy.

He presses his lips against your forehead, thumb circling your cheek, gently squishing them before opening the door, yanking you into the comic book store with him. You vowed to hide the comic books once he goes on a mission. After all, he made you wait a month before the two of you finally get to go to this cafe you always wanted to visit.

"Baby, I can read what you're thinking. Your face shows it too. Hehe. Watch me hide your panties."

Taking in a few gulps of air to deepen your breath, you opened your eyes, to meet the love of your life's own eyes, snickering at you, his large hands on the crown of your head before ruffling your already messy hair. There is no way you can stay mad at this man, as childish as he is, you know he loves you and deep down? He knows you love him too.

Itadori Yuji - Thrift stores, internet cafes to play online games with you, cinemas.

"Candy! [Your name] love! Don't! Make! Me! Ahhh cover up for me! I am gonna lose! I am gonna-"

He turns around to face you with soft eyes, his eyebrows slightly droopy before looking back at the computer, taking in the seconds in his head to register the fact that he lost in his mission with you in Inferno.

"Awww sorry babe. I mean.. you just started playing CSGO, so tell me, why- again- damn it- you wanna- AH. Damn it! Throw the fucking grenade! I mean why you wanna play this game, you need more practice- FUCK YOU."

Gentle chuckles were heard, emitted from his throat, his soft, peach toned lips landed on your cheek repeatedly as he rubbed soothing circles around your back.

"Breathe, bunny baby. You're so feisty whenever you start having online matches. Breathe. I love you, and I don't want you to get your blood pressure rising because of these dumbos, hm?"

Your lips curl into a faint and appreciative smile, nodding while your eyes are glued to the screen, ignoring the fading laughs and snickers from the people acknowledging your mini rage.

"I love you too. If I win, I'm getting us boba and chicken nuggets. So let me fight them, okie?"

"Yes ma'am!"

Megumi - Museums, art galleries, photo exhibitions, aesthetic cafes.

"Oh Gumi bear, look at that! That is the Raft of Medusa, it was done by Thèodore Géricault, he himself interviewed two survivors from the shipwreck."

He looks over your eyes that shine with excitement and pure happiness.

"Art"

Was what he thought every time he laid his sight onto you. God knows that he falls in love with you every single time he is blessed with your presence. Resting his arm around your waist, pulling you closer, inhaling the scent of mixed berries and wild roses, he swore he heard his heartbeat increasing every two seconds in a span of one minute.

"Oh really? What do you think this painting is all about?"

Glancing at him before returning to the painting, you puffed your cheeks, pressing your lips together with your index finger curled on your chin and your thumb under it.

"Lord, she is so cute whenever she does that. Can I kiss her? Should I? No wait, she's trying to tell me her own interpretation of this painting. To me. Oh wow. I'm gonna kiss her... later. I can't interrupt her." That is all he could think of. You. He is deeply, madly, beautifully in love with you.

"In my opinion, it tells me the ways of how men, or human beings, seek out in order to survive. When we are at the brink of desperation, insanity, happiness, greed, lust, desire, wrath, grief, don't we all do things unimaginable to help us go through the day? They even resolved to cannibalism. I think even I would commit to that if I was in an extremely dire situation."

You looked at him, a wide smile on your face, emitting a soft giggle that entered his right ear and stayed within the chambers of his mind. He closed the spaces between the both of you, sealing his lips onto yours, with the intention of making this very moment last a little longer heavy within his heart.

"Art."

Was what you thought of him.

Nanami Kento - Theatres, historical museums, fine dining restaurants.

You squealed, lightly clapping your hands as you ran to a block of marble, your foot tapping against the floor. He chuckles, hands in his pocket, taking fast strides towards you.

"Namnam! Look look! That's the Parthenon Sculptures! It was founded in hm... Athens, yes! If I am not mistaken, around 438 to 432 BC. These sculptures decorated the insides of the Parthenon, it is a temple located at the fortress of the Athenian Acropolis. It is said that this temple was built to appreciate and worship the Goddess Athena, she was the deity worship in Athens. Also, ah ah! Did you know that the word parthénos means "maiden", "girl" or ‘virgin"? And I-"

You look at him, your magnificent lover wearing a dark brown trench coat, with ecru brown trousers and a black turtleneck tucked in, his neck layered with white gold necklaces. Your hand unconsciously scratches your sideburns, giggling at the side of his stoic expression, eyes piercing yours beneath that yellow-green glasses he constantly has on his chiseled face.

"Oh... I am sorry... I didn't mean to bore you. I was just so excited because you know me! I love anything that is related to ancient greek history and mythology. I can't seem to get enough of it and it is absolut-

"I'm not bored, [your name]. I was just paying attention to every single word that pretty lips of yours uttered. It's magnificent that you knew all of this. It shows just how smart, curious, bright your mind and soul is. And darling?"

"Huh?"

"I am lucky to be blessed with someone like you. With Gojo constantly following me, there is no way I can read the books I bought for myself. However, having you around, breaking the ice with your random history tib bits, I feel like I am reading the pages, savouring each word, alphabet, sentence, thus expanding my quest and love for knowledge."

You looked down. Normally, you're not the type to tear up this easily but seeing how this man, this angel of a man, appreciates the little things you loved and adored, you can't help but let the waterworks out. You lifted your head up to meet his gaze, the tip of your nose slightly stuffy. You grabbed his arms, clinging onto him, the difference of height and size makes it sweet to the eyes of strangers surrounding you both.

"Oh Namnam. Thank you so much. This means the world to me. Shall we... go and see the best of Ramesses the Great? I've loads to tell you!"

Nobara - Shopping malls, ferry rides, beach dates, parks with cherry blossoms.

"Baby... tell me, have you ever seen anything as joyous as the ocean?"

You two stood by the seashore, fingers intertwined, your head resting on her shoulders, the sound of the seas splashing against the rocks and the warmth around your foot, it tingled but it feels good at the same time.

"I don't want this moment to end, [your name]."

"Why is that, pretty one?"

A faint sigh leaves her lips, you feeling her body loosen up.

"I just.. school is sort of stressful so my time spent with you liberates me from the pressure, fatigue, and image of curses embedded in my brain. Walking with you... through this airy womb of skies and clouds, don't you know it makes me happy?"

You leaned closer, pressing a soft peck on her cheeks, earning yourself a pair of scarlet cheeks with a gorgeous smile from the one next to you. You turned yourself to face her, hands on her shoulders, bringing her body closer to yours.

"Whenever and wherever you need me, I will be there. I might not be perfect, but I am gonna do my best to be the one you can always count on."

You pressed a kiss on her left cheek.

"I love you."

A kiss on her right cheek.

"I love you."

A kiss to the lips of the woman whom you shared your entire universe with.

"To the moon and back, I love you, Kugisaki Nobara."

The end.

tags : @tojisveryown @sookyshima @megumifushi @sixeyesgojo @sirthisisa-wendys @sasso-oda @fushigurocockslut @nkogneatho @kotarousgf @noritoshiikamo

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