#-day as that reveal

[bookwormgirl123]

The Road to Recovery

my contribution to the EPIC Secret Santa. some moments of Athena’s recovery after God Games, for the lovely @willoillo. Athena’s my favourite character, too, so I hope I did her justice. Happy holidays!

The first thing she registered was a throbbing headache. “You’re okay,” a relieved voice said from in front of her. Behind her?

She attempted to sit up, only to be met with more throbbing pain, this time in her back. She gasped and collapsed back onto the bed.

The bed? She frowned, finally observing her surroundings. This wasn’t her room. Where-

“Athena!” This time, she recognized the voice as her brother, Apollo’s. “Are you alright?”

“I’m always alright,” she huffed, attempting to turn away from him but only being met, once more, with debilitating pain. Against her will, she found herself letting out a whimper.

Apollo didn’t respond, but she could practically hear him rolling his eyes. 

“Okay, Athena, what hurts?” He asked gently.

“My head,” she murmured after a moment. “I have a throbbing headache.”

“I suppose you could say, a thundering headache!” Apollo said cheerfully. 

Despite her injuries, she managed to fix him with her trademark glare.

~~~

Athena found that the least humiliating way to deal with this was to pretend to be asleep. Constantly. Especially since Apollo had said he wasn’t sure how long she would be there.

However, being as intelligent as she was, Athena knew that this “disguise” (if you could call it that) wouldn’t be the most effective (especially surrounded by her fellow gods, who could probably spot a needle in a haystack).

Nonetheless, it seemed to work. While she got a few visitors, most left her alone (perhaps more out of sympathy than conviction, which once upon a time she would have hated, but now, oddly, she appreciated it).

That was, until her father came to visit. For the longest time, he didn’t say anything - just stood there (but she could tell he was there - you could always tell when he was there. It was his power, his aura).

For the longest time, he just stood there. Though she had shifted her position so that her back was facing him, she couldn’t help practically see Apollo avoiding his eyes.

Finally, Zeus spoke. “Is she awake?) Athena knew with near certainty that he, indeed, knew that she was awake. Apollo uttered a response incomprehensible to her, a slight quiver in his voice. 

Zeus stepped towards her, and Athena could feel her heart rate accelerating (dammit, she didn’t even know that could happen to Gods).

She took a deep breath, and her heartbeat went back to normal. Just in time, too, for Zeus had made his way to her bedside. She forced her heart to continue at a normal rate, which was something she knew for a fact Gods could do.

Zeus kneeled down next to her, and Athena knew, right then and there, that he knew she was awake. She held her breath, but he said nothing. He let out a sigh, brushing his hands gently across the scarring on her arm. Athena wondered if this was his version of an apology.

Athena briefly considered hiding the chills that went down her spine as he brushed her arm, continue the illusion of sleep, but she decided it was no use. He knew she was awake. Still, she refused to meet his eyes. Perhaps she was too prideful, or maybe too afraid. Even to Athena, it was hard to tell.

Zeus sighed, seeming to recognize his defeat, but he continued tracing the thunder-shaped scars along her arm.

To her own shock, Athena found herself drifting to sleep. Maybe Zeus (or Apollo) had put a spell on her. Perhaps it was natural. Or maybe, a small part of her mind told her, this is comforting. Zeus is your father, and, well…

Athena was thankful that she fell asleep before she finished that thought.

~~~

“Athena, darling!” while she had been sticking to her fake-being-asleep routine (which so far only Zeus had seen through) this particular voice was hard to ignore.

“Hermes,” she greeted, a mix of annoyance and affection in her voice. That was, until she remembered he had likely come bearing news. She realized her face had lit up. “Is-“

“Yes, darling, your little mortal’s free,” Hermes said, plopping down onto her bed with his usual dramatic flare. 

Athena couldn’t help but laugh, a relatively unusual sound for her to make. Whether it was from joy, relief, or something else entirely was beyond her, but she was laughing, and she liked it. 

The joyous moment was soon interrupted by the door being burst open, everyone’s eyes darting right over.

“Poseidon?!” Apollo cried. Athena jerked right up into a sitting position, which she immediately regretted, but stayed in to avoid looking weak in front of her least favourite relative. 

To everyone’s shock and amazement, it was Athena who first uttered the words, "are you okay?”

He did, indeed, not look okay. He was covered in stab wounds. The interesting part was that they came in threes. It didn’t take a genius (which Athena decidedly was) to figure out that Poseidon

Poseidon’s attention swerved towards her, and he strode right over, a fire (maybe not the best way to describe the God of the sea) in his eyes.

“Athena,” he hissed. “You should keep your little mortal on a leash.”

Athena hadn’t noticed Hermes snickering beside her, and it seemed, now he was holding back full-blown laughter.

Athena paused, thought for a moment, then, for the second time in the past five minutes, found herself laughing.

After managing to control her giggles, she looked Poseidon dead in the eye, an asked: “are you telling me Odysseus did this?”

A bright red spattered across Poseidon’s face, and he looked as if he might attack her then and there, before Apollo’s voice cut through the silence: “Uncle, could you come over, and describe what happened, please?”

Once he was a safe distance away, Hermes and Athena continued their laughter, until Hermes said, in a faux-serious voice: “careful, big sis. He looked like he might’ve attacked you, then and there.”

“Please, I could take him.” Athena said with a grin.

This caused them to burst into hysterical giggles once more, and Athena briefly wondered exactly what sort of medicine Apollo had given her…

~~~

Fortunately for her reputation, that was Athena’s only delirious episode (though she assumed her reputation probably wasn’t doing so well for other reasons).

It wasn’t until later that Athena realized the implication of her rather… unsavory encounter with Poseidon: Odysseus was alive, and (probably) well, and most importantly, free! Why, he was probably on his way home right now! Or maybe he had already arrived? The thought made her ecstatic.

It wasn’t until later yet that she realized the second implication, which not so long ago would have been far more important to her: her efforts weren’t in vain, and her reputation may recover after all.

It seems as though the Goddess of Wisdom may have learned something or another about her world view…

[THE END]

[cozylittleartblog]

not that we didn't already Know belos was full of shit, but it's even funnier knowing the titan was still alive the whole time and probably judging him

[bixels]

Learning that fans hated Applejack and called her "boring" is crazyyy to me because I genuinely, unironically believe AJ's the most complex character in the main six.

Backstory-wise, she was born into a family of famers/blue collar workers who helped found the town she lives in. She grew up a habitual liar until she had the bad habit traumatized outta her. She lost both her parents and was orphaned at a young age, having to step up as her baby sister's mother figure. She's the only person in the main gang who's experienced this level of loss and grief (A Royal Problem reveals that AJ dreams about memories of being held by her parents as a baby). She moved to Manhattan to live with her wealthy family members, only to realize she'll never fit in or be accepted, even amongst her own family. The earlier seasons imply she and her family had money problems too (In The Ticket Master, AJ wants to go to the gala to earn money to buy new farm equipment and afford hip surgery for her grandma).

Personality-wise, she's a total people-pleaser/steamroller (with an occasional savior complex) who places her self worth on her independence and usefulness for other people, causing her to become a complete workaholic. In Applebuck Season, AJ stops taking care of herself because of her obsessive responsibilities for others and becomes completely dysfunctional. In Apple Family Reunion, AJ has a tearful breakdown because in she thinks she dishonored her family and tarnished her reputation as a potential leader –– an expectation and anxiety that's directly tied to her deceased parents, as shown in the episode's ending scene. In The Last Roundup, AJ abandons her family and friends out of shame because believes she failed them by not earning 1st place in a rodeo competition. She completely spirals emotionally when she isn't able to fulfill her duties toward others. Her need to be the best manifests in intense pride and competitiveness when others challenge her. And when her pride's broken, she cowers and physically hides herself.

Moreover, it's strongly implied that AJ has a deep-seated anger. The comics explore her ranting outbursts more. EQG also obviously has AJ yelling at and insulting Rarity in a jealous fit just to hurt her feelings (with a line that I could write a whole dissection on). And I'm certain I read in a post somewhere that in a Gameloft event, AJ's negative traits are listed as anger.

Subtextually, a lot of these flaws and anxieties can be (retroactively) linked to her parents' death, forcing her to grow up too quickly to become the adult/caregiver of the family (especially after her big brother becomes semiverbal). Notice how throughout the series, she's constantly acting as the "mom friend" of the group (despite everything, she manages to be the most emotionally mature of the bunch). Notice how AJ'll switch to a quieter, calmer tone when her friends are panicking and use soothing prompts and questions to talk them through their emotions/problems; something she'd definitely pick up while raising a child. Same with her stoicism and reluctance at crying or releasing emotions (something Pinkie explicitly points out). She also had a childhood relationship with Rara (which, if you were to give a queer reading, could easy be interpreted as her first 'aha' crush), who eventually left her life. (Interestingly enough, AJ also has an angry outburst with Rara for the same exact reasons as with EQG Rarity; jealous, upset that someone else is using and changing her). It's not hard to imagine an AJ with separation anxiety stemming from her mother and childhood friend/crush leaving. I'm also not above reading into AJ's relationship with her little sister (Y'all ever think about how AB never got to know her parents, even though she shares her father's colors and her mother's curly hair?).

AJ's stubbornness is a symptom of growing up too quickly as well. Who else to play with your baby sister when your brother goes nonverbal (not to discount Big Mac's role in raising AB)? Who else to wake up in the middle of the night to care for your crying baby sister when your grandma needs her rest? When you need to be 100% all the time for your family, you tend to become hard-stuck with a sense of moral superiority. You know what's best because you have to be your best because if you're aren't your best, then everything'll inevitably fall apart and it'll be your fault. And if you don't know what's best –– if you've been wrong the whole time –– that means you haven't been your best, which means you've failed the people who rely on you, which means you can't fulfill your role in the family/society, which makes you worthless . We've seen time and time again how this compulsive need to be right for the sake of others becomes self-destructive (Apple Family Reunion, Sound of Silence, all competitions against RD). We've seen in The Last Roundup how, when no longer at her best, AJ would rather remove herself from her community than confront them because she no longer feels of use to them.

But I guess it is kinda weird that AJ has "masculine" traits and isn't interested in men at all. It's totally justified that an aggressively straight, misogynistic male fandom would characterize her as a "boring background character." /s

At the time of writing this, it's 4:46AM.

[daisybell-on-a-carousel]

Being someone who read Under The Red Hood and came out with the firm belief that, for Jason, it's not about killing Joker, it's about Jason wanting proof Batman would choose him over the Joker (bc shelia chose the joker). Makes seeing any other media where it's all about just wanting the Joker dead is a teeny bit frustrating. to be honest

Jason could've killed the Joker himself, really, really easily. Jason kidnaps the Joker before the confrontation. I can't open my comic for a reference right now, but it felt like he had the Joker for quite a bit before the confrontation. He had him. He beat him up with a crowbar. He had every single opportunity to kill the Joker himself, but he didn't because that wasn't his goal. Make no mistake, he did plan for the Joker to be dead by the end of it, but do you see what im trying to say here

Edit: If I knew this post was gonna get 1000+ notes I would've tried to word it better or something, this was a rant I made on the way to the grocery store 😭

It's not about making Batman kill either. When Batman says he won't kill, Jason adjusts and goes, 'Let ME kill the Joker or kill me to stop me' instead. The test is all about Batman choosing him. The whole final confrontation is Jason's first death again. The parent, The Joker, and the explosives. It even ends with Jason unable to move as a bomb goes off right next to him again because the parent didn't choose Jason. And instead tried finding an option that'd benefit them and (consequencely) letting the Joker walk, again, lol, lmao <-in agony

[fuckinart]

can you imagine

[sunderwight]

Bingqiu AU where Luo Binghe's the chosen village sacrifice to the evil deity who lives up the mountain.

Normally the village sends maidens, but they've more or less run out of expendable girls of the right age and, ahem, "virtues". So of course Luo Binghe's early life bad luck kicks in. In the wake of his mother's death there's no one to really care about what happens to him, he's fairly pretty, and the village leaders decide that if they dress him up like a girl the teenaged homeless kid should pass well enough. And hey, y'know, he's probably got a hard life ahead for him anyway -- dying in a brothel of some venereal disease or on the streets of exposure or starvation. At least as a sacrifice, everyone else gets to benefit from his loss! And the kid will get added to a shrine and be remembered as a hero! If anything, he should be happy about this!

Binghe is not happy about this.

But he's also a skinny underfed nobody who is easily overpowered, dressed up like a bride, and tied to a post. So. Not much he can do but wait for the evil deity to come and do whatever horrible thing he's gonna do to him.

Meanwhile, Shen Yuan is pretty sure he's been isekai'd into the over-powered hero of some kind of supernatural adventure story? He's not totally sure because he doesn't recognize the setting, but the signs are there. He's got a shrine-like base of operations (though it seems to have become corrupted/ruined, probably he has to restore it somehow), he has a very resilient and handsome new body with spiritual energy of some kind flowing through him, and a very clearly magical sword. Plus lots of neat starter powers! Though it feels like he has other abilities that have been blocked somehow? Probably he has to level up in order to access them.

When he treks out of his "base" and finds what seems to be a distressed maiden, he takes it for his beginner hero mission. The girl claims that she's been doomed to be sacrificed to an evil god. That sounds a little above Shen Yuan's pay grade for dealing with, so he unties her and decides that they had better just get out of the whole region altogether. He already packed up anything useful from his base, anticipating he might get caught up in an adventure once he left, so they follow the river away from the settlement until they reach another one.

While they travel, Luo Binghe tells Shen Yuan about the cursed deity, Shen Qingqiu, who was cast out of the heavens for slaughtering one of his brethren and has apparently being do-who-knows what to maidens from the local village in exchange for his "protection" ever since. Sounds like a real asshole! And also mid-level boss type bad guy at least. Shen Yuan hopes he doesn't have to fight him, but he probably will.

Thank goodness he found Binghe, though! Clearly the helpful little sister type! He's definitely going to require her assistance if he's going to figure out how to navigate this world and level up his skills enough to take on a god.

[egophiliac]

(almost) four years in, and I finally had time to draw something for the anniversary! woo! 🎉🎉🎉

[afterthelambs]

In another (happier) world, I think Muhen would've been Akechi's Sojiro. Akechi would've lived above Jazz Jin just like how Joker lived above Leblanc. Muhen would've taught him how to make the drinks and close up at night. They would've bonded over music. And Akechi would finally have an adult looking after him. Because Muhen does care about him in-canon. He's the only character in the epilogue that mentions Akechi, he notices who Akechi spends time with, and he wishes to see him again.

It's so sad that Akechi assumes nobody cares about him or wants him around and yet this random jazz club owner does. Do you ever think about Muhen seeing Akechi at the Jazz Jin sometime in December, not knowing it would be the last time he ever would

[thatsitso]

WHA ANIME NEWS REAL HOW ARE WE FEELING

[meltesh28]

just need to get it out of my system.. ruan mei in cheongsam...

[puppetmaster13u]

Prompt 314

Danny has discovered something absolutely amazing. While he can’t cook for shit, he can? Actually bake? Really well? Must be those bonding sessions in Long Now with Clockwork making all those cookies and cakes and everything else. 

But? This means he can A, actually make himself food, and B, has somehow befriended several more ghosts, including his rogues. Apparently he gave off bedraggled cat vibes when covered in flour. Or they just enjoyed the cupcakes he’d made to look like them in a sleep deprived ferver. 

But hey, he even has a decent job while he’s in (online due to medical issues, officially) college at one of the local bakery-cafes. Which means he also gets free coffee, so that’s nice too. Just erm, he might’ve gotten in the habit of handing cookies or other baked goods to anyone trying to attack him.

Look, it’s how he befriended his rogues (Apparently Fright Knight, being the ghost of Autumn, enjoys pumpkin spice cookies, who knew?) and they even continue to visit too. 

So really, it’s not his fault that there’s several goonion (honestly Sam will be pleased to learn they’ve got a union) members who are now constantly coming to the bakery. And- okay is that another undead person? Have a cupcake. 

[aquacomet]

The 2024 DCA Reveal-versary magma collab has been wrapped up and here are the final results! ☀️🎉🎂🌙

A super big thank you to all the amazing artists that attended the collab to celebrate! We've broken way over 2023's record of attendees with a overall number of 59+ artists! It really is a lively celestial party in there, they're probably going to need more cake!

An additional thank you to all who stopped by, shared the event, expressed their interest and to the Daycare Friend Pick Up mods for also allowing this in their discord server!

(Due to being over the tumblr tag limit for the full credit list, a reblog will be added onto this with the second section of credits!)

⭐Here's the list of all the artists that participated!⭐

@aquacomet - @crystalmagpie447 - @pure-plum

@thatmooncake - @flinxypie - @eggcromancer

@nexerist - @crabsnpersimmons - @zamjd

@darlingdeer21 - @agent-darkfest - @piowasthere

@nighternex - @gyxtar0luvs - @sulfadimethoxine

@pluck-heartstrings - @starshinenoa - @enduu115

@tvboxi - @tinkpumpkin - @marshmallowcat666

@luckyyyduckyyy - @m-mints - @sunshinehare

@ping-ski - @lil-artist-blog-fandoms-ocs - @sipnoot

@synthrobeat - @galaxysugarr - @alynwrench

(I took care to note down everyone who participated and added their credits, but if I missed someone let me know what you made and I'll add you to the list!)

[blacktabbygames]

slay the princess deep lore protagonist reveal.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Good morning, Sleepyhead.

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[mbohjeezart]

Hermit a Day May: Day 23, Tango, Reincarnation of Bonds!

And here's his full portrait without the text and background:

[ofsunshineandfoxes]

Kevin saying “they’re mediocre at best but they’re easier to get along with” about the foxes vs the ravens is wild

When you think of the fact that the foxes are known for being a lineup of basically delinquents this must be mad to hear like I don’t think there’s enough credit given to how crazy of a statement that’s got to be to everyone else