#I have some more ideas that I might touch upon in another post

[cosmicheartz]

Anyways on the subject of the bakers dozen I have a lil au where the wishing star map didn’t get ripped bc when Jack fell into the granny bag he died ( probably forgot to bring the magic snacks lol ) and everyone is deciding what they should do with the wish since no one rlly has any wish to make

Baby suggests bringing back Nutmegan ( though he doesn’t call her that he calls her smth among the lines of bladesaw lady ) bc of how he almost got sucked into that uhh I think it’s a magic barrier waterfall thingy and pretty much had a near death experience so he sorta knows what it was like for her to actually get sucked in there

So everyone is like “ I guess we could do that “ and they do make the wish and Nutmegan is revived ( or maybe she wasn’t actually fully dead and just was able to escape the barrier? Idk the magic barrier waterfall thing is weird )

And girls got some major baggage too bc like imagine the survivors guilt you’re gonna have after watching all your coworkers fucking die and the only reason you are even alive was bc of a wish

[theglassesgirl]

The Ithaca Saga: What IS a Monster, how it’s presented, and when fictional S.A is integral to the plot.

So -

This was originally a response to @ / anniflamma which you can still find on my page unedited. But with the new discourse surrounding the suitors, I figured I could retool it as a standalone essay to express a topic I’ve been trying to pin down for a while now; What exactly does the mean when they call a character a monster? What do they do, do the reasons matter, and how does the subject of rape affect how the fandom consider some monsters more unforgivable than others? When IS rape in fiction “necessary” and why such questions defeat the purpose of exploratory creative works.

In this post we will discuss all the major antagonists of the Epic Musical, Penelope’s agency, the label of Monster and the types of moralizing one might do when faced with uncomfortable subjects in fiction and how to prevent these feelings from blinding is about what a story is trying to say.

For those who read my original response; there’s new content to read here and posts that will be referred to, if you’d like to give it another gander!

Thank you,

Let’s begin;

I think making the threat of rape explicit was very much needed, actually.

It’s come to my attention that there are people here and on tiktok who are so uncomfortable with the subject matter in this CENTURIES old tale that they’re both refusing to accept that it plays an important part in the original poem and musical, AND are bizarrely insisting that Jorge should have magically done away with it to make more palatable.

This is beyond juvenile - it’s a clear sign of media illiteracy.

What, if I may ask, do you think it means when you say that the suitors are going to force Penelope to choose one of them to marry.

You may respond that they want to take over Ithaca. That they want to be king. But take a moment to consider what forcing a woman to marry one of them will entail. I wonder if you think that one can divorce the idea of sexual violence in this plot.

It would be…unfathomably difficult to do so. Because you CANT. There is an implicit threat of Penelope’s will breaking and having to have unwilling and reluctant sex with any one of them in the event she just gave up and picked one.

This isn’t a storyline that depicts Penelope of being willing to marry any of the suitors. She is WAITING for her husband’s return. Even if he doesn’t, she doesn’t WANT to marry someone else. Her consent is being violated by the very merit of them being in her palace, eating her food, and threatening her son.

They’re doing ALL OF THIS in order to bend her will in the HOPES of raping her as a bonus to becoming king of Ithaca.

My contention is the use of “unnecessary” when it comes to this trope in media - though themes of rape can be uncomfortable, to call them unnecessary HAVE to meet certain criteria. Which this specific instance doesn’t.

By observing various responses, it’s clear that the threat of rape went completely over many’s head in this instance of the story. So I very must appreciate Jorge making it SO clear that it’s upsetting.

This part of the odyssey, and the musical, is very much about Penelope suffering under the threat of assault for YEARS. In the same way Odysseus was (a thing I touched upon in my calypso essay, in terms of his ambiguous situation in the musical) - it’s a parallel that works as both Antinous and Calypso were introduced (regardless on your personal interpretation of what Calypso did or did not do, but that’s neither here nor there).

It has taken an emotional and psychological toll of either spouse. And the kicker is that neither of them are freed of this situation on their own - they are both rescued by outside forces. Athena/Hermes helps free Odysseus; Athena/Odysseus will help free Penelope.

The looming threat of rape is SO necessary that it helps the catharsis factor we feel toward PENELOPE’s story - it’s nothing to do w Odysseus who by now is a force of nature as big as Poseidon, his actions happen TO her, and it’s up to her to decide (per “would you love me” ) what she feels about that. She can very well reject him! She’s suffered under male violence for YEARS. Odysseus’s violence and those of the suitors toward her are basis enough for the comparison.

Do all men, including her husband, become violent? Does she want to put up with that? We know from her song snippets that she is NOT a woman that simply succumbs to the Rape Rescue trope as suggested by ignorant consumers of media - and I call it ignorance and consumerism because there’s a clear lack of engaging with the material in an intuitive way. It’s just blind consumption - as if one bites into a burger and find a pickle, which you personally don’t like, and having it removed - you can’t treat ART that way .

Penelope is a very intuitive and emotionally intelligent queen. Stop infantilizing her. Her own husband suggests that like the suitors, his actions make him just as bad as they are and presents his hope as being understanding if she rejects him on those grounds. But those ARENT her grounds. She has full autonomy and can make a distinction FOR HERSELF whether she considers her husband equal to the monsters who have harmed her.

So let’s talk about the “Monster” label as it is presented on the entire musical.

Some have erroneously suggested that Odysseus has been given an out to commit cruel and ruthless deeds with out “good justification” - he does it for his family,, after all!

Which is a misunderstanding of everything every antagonist of each saga has done.

Let’s start with the Troy Saga: Odysseus has killed a BABY. He made the choice to put his family over this child. Everything he has done and lost would be for literally NOTHING if he hadn’t, as even if he had killed the suitors and regained everything - the GODS themselves would make sure that child would come to an aged Odysseus and slaughter him, Penelope, Telemachus and his entire kingdom when he came of age.

Odysseus STARTS as a monster. We have been rooting for the man who laid Troy and its children asunder. As such, the label of a monster is NOT so much a morally subjective label - it simply a thing that IS. Or rather. It is what ALL the antagonists ARE, but it’s hardly a condemnation of any of them.

(Peep that one of the first lines Ody says refers back to in the Vengeance Saga is what he did to Troy - he STILL views his actions over there as unforgivable, so not even HE will ever see himself otherwise, the problem was that he felt so guilty over it that he became a detriment (a different kind of monster) to his friends and family when they were all guilty of the same thing and trying to get home.)

ALL of the antagonists have a “good reason” to kill ALL the soldiers (who again, have looted and slaughtered the Trojans) Odysseus and his close friends included. Whether your AGREE is almost irrelevant…because the story itself proposes that it’s irrelevant.

The next saga introduces the cyclops: his motivation is primarily that his FRIENDS the sheep have been slaughtered. You can argue in the scope of things, you can’t empathize with this but it’s his good reason. He’s the son of a god, and these sheep are all he has. His friends, who matter to him as much as Polites does to Ody, are being taken and slain, he is being drugged, attacked and maimed. VERY much was Ody goes through in the final saga. And even so.

The Cyclops is antagonistic to the party, he’s a monster who feels justified killing to avenge his killed sheep. A monster is a thing he IS.

As Poseidon’s son, he asks his father to kill the 600 men who have ransacked his home and beat on him. He doesn’t view his father as being wrong for this. In the same ways Ody and Telemachus don’t waste any time addressing the slain suitors later on. Poseidon is a monster of a god - it’s just a thing he is. Not even being stabbed 100 times is enough to repay the harm he’s done - to most everyone, not just Ody, but we are not asked to quantify that. Just live with it.

Circe has killed NUMEROUS men over the years. HER “good reason” is that something bad happened to her nymphs when she let a stranger in her islands. She doesn’t even promise that she WONT kill in the future - her song ends w the suggestion that the world may continue to need her to puppeteer! Because she does not exist to be “redeemed” - she is somewhat more reasonable and capable of empathy than even the likes Athena, who being a greater and more powerful god, does not have the one on one affection to her follows as Circe does. She’s a monster! It’s a label, a thing she IS.

So here we begin to ask; is it LOVE that gives people the capacity to do monstrous things? Because the cyclops loved his sheep friends, Poseidon loves his son, Circe loves her nymphs.

And by now you’re saying now wait a minute didn’t the Underworld Saga go over this? Why yes it did! And Odysseus decides to “become the monster” - he already IS one by the standards of the cyclops, Poseidon, Troy - they all see him as a monstrous being. But he accepts that, after being one in Troy, he held back and ruined the lives of his men, making him a monster to THEM. His “good reason” for being so!

He attempts very hard to be the General he was in Troy and prioritize them going home, sparing no sympathy towards his enemies - but in the Thunder Saga we see the gods further push him to be completely self-serving like they are. The sun gods cows are harmed, he sends Zeus in relation - his “good reason” being his friend were personally harmed.

Odysseus’s “good reason” is ultimately decided to be the same good reason he had to slaughter the Trojans - to get back home to his wife and son.

Like with the Cyclops sheep, Circe’s nymphs, The Sun gods cows, and Poseidons son, WE are shocked and made to feel some type of way about Odyseuss’s reasoning. Surely HIS personal suffering shouldn’t cost the lives of “innocent” men…but it does! It surely does.

He is a monster. It’s just a thing he IS.

Now, Odysseus spends the next seven years under the thumb of ANOTHER monster. And through calypso own reasoning, despite her tragic backstory, her “good reason” she IS a monster. She’s incapable of understanding why she wasn’t reciprocated. Incapable of empathizing with a human because as a god who has spent eternity alone, it stands to reason she, like all the other monsters mentioned before, prioritizes HER personal suffering over everyone else’s. In some versions she either kills herself or does spend the rest of eternity alone. She’s a monster. This is a thing she IS.

Now what the HELL does all this have to do with the suitors?

Odysseus started the musical a MONSTER. He’s worn different hats, but it is what he IS. It’s a label, not a moral critique.

ALL of the antagonists of every saga have a “good reason” NONE of them are ruthless for ruthlessness sake! It’s immaterial whether you agree with them or not, but to understand them for what they are.

Odysseus is the antagonist of the ithica saga, md while the suitors are the antagonist to him and his family, we see their fate form THEIR POV

The suitors could not have been depicted as “rude youthful men” like Telemachus. That Odysseus killing them should be shocking - a frightening condemnation of everything he’s done and became. But I ask once again - in what world are the suitors not implicitly set up as monsters?

Because again. They aren’t being rude for rudeness’s sake! They aren’t JUST eating Penelope’s food and sleeping in HER house. Them threatening Telemachus, as you propose, isn’t “enough” of a reason because they didn’t wake up one day beefing w this boy. Everything they do is for the express purpose of sexual violence towards the Queen of Ithaca, who upon assaulting, will make it so any one of them will be King.

You can’t separate the one from the other. You get a nonsense scenario. The whole REASON they’re there in the first place.

Even if you create a fanfic where 108 men wake up one day and raid the palace to slaughter the royal family with no intent of sexually assaulting either (because remember Telemachus is also the subject of Hold Em Down) and then fight amongst themselves to be the next king, but then isn’t that STILL a “good reason” for Odysseus to slaughter them?

Now I hear what you may be asking: but if all the monsters of the sagas, Odysseus included, have a “good reason” even though we might not agree with it, what kind of monsters does that make the suitors? Surely and clearly THEY aren’t doing what they’re doing for noble reasons.

I consider them akin to the 600 men who died under their captains command.

Because, as stated before. Odysseus views his actions in a Troy as his start of monstrosity. He did all that to finish the war and do back home. He ruined the lives of all Trojans.

So did his soldiers.

The only moment in time (even in the deleted songs) that the bulk of them repent about the war is in terms that it left them without food.

But glasses! They were just following orders!

Which is what one of the suitors suggest in song 38. Their serpents head is dead, THEY were just going with Antinous’ flow, they are innocent.

Like the 600 soldiers, the 108 suitors sacked a home that wasn’t theirs and harmed a wife and child - does them being the queen and prince pale in comparison to the hundreds of wives and children slain in Troy? Homer is a genius to ask us to see these parallels for what it is.

The suitors ARE monsters. That is simply what all 108 of them are. In the context of the story itself, their intent is to break Penelope’s will, commit martial rape, and become king of Ithaca. They aren’t there for kicks, they aren’t ignorant boys, they’re socially accepted adults abusing the hospitality rule with an express purpose.

So a GROUP of monsters are slaughtered by ANOTHER monster, and though in this instance we can argue it’s morally justifiable, it doesn’t take away from Odysseus’s fear of being rejected by his family. He has ruined the lives of the Trojans, his men, AND multiple gods! To get to this point. He IS a monster. And the story asks US, through Penelope, if he is still worth loving.

Seeing Penelope as merely his reward is so backwards and bizarre. It’s very clear that bad faith interpretations of her are based on objectifying her erroneously, when the narrative presents her as a fully developed character.

In the story both in the poem and the musical that the suitors ARE NOT her guests. She is being sequestered against her will.

In what world could the suitors be “just” murderers and not….very clearly rapists? It’s BUILT into their motivation. You would have to change the very FOUNDATION of the Ithaca plot line and Penelope herself??? To say nothing of Telemachus’s role!

What’s the proposal here? That Penelope invited these suitors? That’s she’s actively looking for a replacement husband? Okay, again, that changes literally SO MUCH of the story, but wouldn’t that put Telemachus in a position where he too has to change? Does he resent his mother for doing this? Is he helping his dad out of spite or because he wants him back? How are we meant to view Penelope in this radically new and hip Epic the Musical? Is she savvy and in her right to choose a new boo? Okay…okay, so then….you want Odysseus to be the only one unchanged and go axe crazy because….hes jealous? He kills these upstanding men….curtain call. That’s all folks!

Absurdity at its finest. You throw Penelope’s agency out the window. Her weaving and unweaving her loom is meaningless or simply doesn’t happen. Or maybe it’s that she wakes up one day and goes hey yknow what I WILL consider marrying one of these guys with no sense of dread and fear. Oh wait Oddy has killed then all! Never mind me feeling unsafe a week ago, he’s done a Bad.

Crazy.

It’s just…not going to end up making Penelope look like a well written female character if Jorge has done what you wanted! THAT would make her a mindless prop. You seem to think she is one, and that’s not the case. Historically, in fact!

She is a whole person in the poem and musical whether you understand it or not. You would have to argue so thoroughly why she sucks and let me assure you - there are entire DISSERTATIONs on why you’d be incorrect.

So, no.

No, you CANT take away the rape in Penelope’s storyline. It matters ALOT. It’s the ROOT of the matter! Could old school vegetales make something up that’s more to your sensibilities? Maybe at its peak but god, I couldn’t possibly come up with a draft that could reflect that. I won’t even try.

The rape aspect of the Ithica Saga isn’t unnecessary - it’s INTEGRAL to the plot. It can make you uncomfortable, but it’s BUILT into the royal family’s suffering whether it’s explicit or not! And it SHOULD be explicit! Because you seem to think because it usually isn’t, that the rape aspect isn’t there!

I cannot imagine coming to this kind of conclusion.

They are not random men going on a siege of the palace one day - you cannot “sanitize” the SUITORS because by the very merit of them calling each other THE SUITORS there is an implicit threat of sexual violence. Because Penelope doesn’t WANT suitors. She rejects them. They’re already violating her consent.

How the FUCK to do you censor the rape when it’s in every action they take? And I know what you’re saying: but didn’t Jorge censor the rape aspect that both Circe and Calypso commit towards him?

Further reading: suggests that ALLUDING to it is not the same as censoring, that it still FITS the PURPOSE of these characters in regards to Odysseus’s suffering under them. That after ambiguity, it is NECESSARY to make the rape aspect CLEAR in order to create both catharsis and MEANING at the end of the narrative. The THEME is still respected and present, it is not REMOVED. Please consider reading the linked follow up that answers this question.

In short.

It’s truly a matter of using one’s goddamn head when it comes to view fictional depictions of rape as “necessary” - because though some depictions can be presented BADLY, to suggest they should not EXISTS lends itself to rape culture. It silences the voices of victims. Its representation denied. Don’t talk about it, don’t even suggest it, because rape is bad.

It’s an action that happens to people. It’s a crime in civilized society. It’s a physical and psychological trauma that has always been. It happens daily, in fact. Though epic the musical is a source of entertainment for you, it doesnt exist solely for that purpose.

When Homer included it within his original oral story, he did so as a storyteller trying to get his audience to philosophize, not simply have fun.

I think we’ve come to some abysmal conclusion that men can’t write about these topics when we have historical evidence of at least one man knowing what the hell he’s talking about. And Jorge has done a phenomenal job even when he hadn’t depicted blatantly.

If you’re uncomfortable to the point of not wanting to see it at all, that is entirely on you, art and creative works allow us to explore these topics safely. Whether it’s from the POV of the assailant or one of the victims commenting on it, fiction is one of the only places we can talk about it and learn about ourselves in a way it doesn’t harm real people.

I don’t even want to BEGIN discussing all the losers who are still harassing Antinous fans or people who genuinely enjoy his song despite/BECAUSE of the subject matter. Its purpose in the story matters more than you policing how it’s presented and how it’s consumed. No amount of people enjoying themselves will take away the foundational POINT of the character and song. It’s perfect the way it is.

Like with the chaos that calypso discourse wrought, you cannot control how people treat a NOT REAL CHARACTER or the songs they sing - if it bothers you that one type of fictional villian is treated one way or another, it is on you to find likeminded people instead of going into others faces and pretending to be a self-righteous prick. You can throw whatever buzzwords you want, the CONTEXT these characters live in has nothing to do with how others want to play with them. If you don’t understand the difference between the two instances, fandom is certainly not for you and will not be changed to suit your sensibilities.

To end this post, I want to thank those who further asked me questions and bounced ideas off with me, and wow, what a phenomenal ending to a grandiose musical. I hope I can see it live, animated, streamed, developed into a game etc whatever form it takes now that the concept albums are published

Thank you all for engaging w my work💖

[misc-obeyme]

cc. your tags on the boudoir post. MAMMON recieving an album of those photos. i'd love to hear your thoughts on his reaction (and everyone else's, if you're feeling particularly inspired?)

Ah, Daisy, my dear, thank you for asking!

I apologize for this late response, but I knew I was gonna be getting wordy with this one. Because I looove the boudoir photos idea in general and OH MAN just thinking about all their reactions is making me crazy lol. I was going to just do my regular sort of response, but this turned into full on headcanons oops.

So just in case anyone missed it, here is the original post!

My thoughts change a little bit depending on whether MC is present when the characters receive the pictures, so I included both! I only did the bros but I might be willing to do the rest upon request!

the brothers react to MC giving them an album of boudoir photos

NSFW MDNI

Warnings: suggestive but that's about it, nothing explicit

Lucifer

When you're with him, Lucifer is calm and courteous, but with a flare of arrogance. Of course you would give him such a special gift. It's only natural that you would trust such intimacies to him.

He asks you if you're trying to tell him something. Has he perhaps been neglecting you, MC? Did you give him this so that he wouldn't be able to help himself? He's onto you.

No matter your reason, he can't look through too many of the pictures before wanting the real thing that's sitting right next to him. Tell him you still have some of that lingerie in your possession. Especially if you happen to have some in his colors.

If you aren't with him, he's going to be a lot less arrogant in general. He will find you later, make no mistake. But he's honestly so touched by your gift that he spends a lot of time looking through the album, simply admiring you.

Mammon

Mammon is freaking out no matter where you are the time. If you're with him, it's definitely a lot worse. Blushing profusely. Opens the album then slams it shut because he can't handle looking at it for very long.

You can't help but giggle at his reaction and then it's all stop laughin' at him MC!! You'll need to take his hands or maybe kiss his cheek, let him know that you genuinely just wanted to give him a nice gift, you aren't trying to tease him or anything.

Ask him if he likes it. You'll get a serious response. Calms down enough to say 'course he likes it. Likes it so much, he suddenly can't keep his hands off you.

If you aren't with him at the time, he buries it under his pillow or otherwise hides it because this is now one of his treasures and nobody gets to see it but him!

Leviathan

Levi is another one who'd be a blushing mess no matter what, but if you're there at the time, he might retreat to his room and not let you in. He needs that barrier between you because if he sees you right now, his heart will explode.

He'll let you back in eventually, but it might be a minute. He needs to calm down. Are you trying to kill him, MC?! Even when he does let you in, he can't look at you directly. He's probably covering his face with his hands.

Reassure him that you gave these photos to him because you trust him with them. They're personal, intimate, and you want him to be close to you. He's going to calm down the more you talk to him. Pull his hands away from his face and when he sees the sincerity in your eyes, it flips a switch. Might even slip into demon form just to wrap his tail around you possessively.

If you're not with him at the time, he's going to need to take care of that raging boner of his right away. He won't be able to focus on anything else until he does. He's so embarrassed, he has to watch several episodes of Ruri Hana to recalibrate.

Satan

He will try to keep his expression unreadable. He's not having any over the top reactions, but as he flips through the photos, he keeps getting redder and redder. You're sitting right next to him, how can he not react? At some point, he has to close the album because he feels like he's looking at something he shouldn't.

Satan is quiet about how flustered he is, but he's having a hard time looking at you. He tries to say something and incomprehensible lines about how beautiful you are fall from his lips. He sounds like a broken record of spoken word poetry or perhaps a very drunk beat poet.

Recovers himself after a minute. As soon as he's composed, you're in his arms. You knew what this would do to him, didn't you, MC? You'll find yourself pressed up against the nearest wall in moments.

If you're not with him, Satan will tuck your album into a stack of his other books. He thinks it's well hidden there - in plain sight. But he's hyper aware of it. Keeps coming back to look at it. Ends up having to put it on the bottom of a stack behind a different stack to make it more difficult to get to.

Asmodeus

Thrilled. Absolutely thrilled in every way. Oh, wow, MC, you look amazing. He's breathless. He's entranced. He's even blushing because he knows what it means that you've given these to him. He's so in love with you, he can't stand it.

Asks you about everything you may be wearing. Comments on the skill of the photographer. Tells you that next time, you should do one together. He has so many ideas. He wants to do one where all you're wearing is jewelry - bright and sparkling, just like your soul.

Covers you in kisses. He's not shy about how this is making him feel, how much he wants you. He just wants to see your beautiful figure here and now in real life, MC! Won't you let him worship you?

If you're not with him, he will find you immediately so he can say all of the things he needs to say in that moment. You can't leave him alone with all these feelings, both physical and emotional. He brings them all to you without hesitating.

Beelzebub

It might take him a minute to understand exactly what he's looking at, mostly because he's never even heard of this. He doesn't know what a boudoir photo shoot is, so you might have to explain it to him. Once he understands, he starts lightly blushing as he looks through them. His expression is serious because he's beginning to see just how special this is.

Honestly surprised that you would give him something so intimate. He's touched. He's going to hug it to himself and look at you with tears in his eyes because he can't believe how lucky he is.

Give him another couple minutes to look through them and then he's having different feelings. He's not sure if he can hold back, MC. Tell him it's okay, that you don't want him to, and you'll find yourself on your back on his bed in zero seconds flat. You're quickly reminded why he's the Avatar of Gluttony.

If you're not with him at the time, he will figure things out on his own, though he'll have a plethora of questions for you later. He keeps it close to him at all times until you answer them because he knows one thing for sure - he doesn't want anyone else seeing these.

Belphegor

Oh, he sees what you're playing at. Trying to fluster him, are you, MC? Trying to rile him up? Are you sure you can handle him when you do that? He's so wound up by the gift he can't act normal about it. He's actually very touched by it, but he's not sure how to deal with the feelings, so he comes on too strong.

You laugh because to you, this is expected. You understand that this is Belphie's way of dealing with his own shyness. You respond by meeting him with just as much intensity. It's all kisses and touching and fumbling in the dark.

It's only later, when both of you are calm, when you're nestled in his arms, that he admits to you how much it means to him. That he tells you how he'll cherish the album you gave him. That he says he's stunned by how gorgeous you are, even more brilliant that the stars in the sky.

If you aren't with him at the time, you'll be dealing with a petulant but horny demon later on. He's going to be annoyed at you for leaving it for him and then not being there when it inevitably turns him on. Just as possessive as his brothers, he hides it in the attic where no one is likely to find it.

masterlist | Thank you for reading!

[sleepy-writes-stuff]

(short continuation to the prompt I wrote, which is linked below. I thought I was done with this, but then @victoria-has-no-secret and @bluerosefox had some ideas to incorporate into it. Screenshots of said ideas are also below but are sprinkled throughout the post too.)

(*) = Me building off of other ideas

TW: mentions of animal death

← previous

✦

After the whole fiasco with the Justice League, Danny gets an idea. Not very many people actually know about Laika, at least from what he could see of the majority of the Justice League who had never learned about her. Although, to be fair, a lot of them come from different planets. Either way, it gives Danny the idea to create a YouTube channel starring Laika to teach the people of Earth about the pup.

The channel immediately garners attention from all around the world, and even winds up on a couple of news stations too! It grows so much that Danny decides to expand further than just Laika, but to the other things that were sent into space in the quest for knowledge: The space rovers as well as many other animals.

Laika even leads Danny to them as he ventures further into space with a specially made camera that can withstand traversing space and the differing atmosphereic conditions of other planets. He manages to find every single one of them, discovering that maybe Laika hadn't been as alone as he'd first thought as he watches and records her playing with the spirits (imprints?) of the rovers, chimps, mice, and many other animals haunting the endless void of the cosmos.

People back on earth are going wild with the knowledge that their hopes, thoughts, and feelings helped to give life to beings that had long been dead/stopped working. They have no idea what to feel about this new information except an amalgamation of pure awe, curiosity, joy, guilt, and sadness. They still mourned the loss of Laika, the rovers, and everyone before and after them, but knowing that their existence wasn't completely lost soothed an ache many didn't know they carried with them when they were there to witness the beginning of such astronomical leaps in technology.

To also know that out of the many stars shooting across the sky, one of them might be Laika happily racing amongst the stars with her friends brought many to tears. At every opportunity, they wished for the sweet pup's happiness and the continuing health of their own furry companions down on Earth with them. They also wished that upon the eventuality that they have to part with their companions that maybe a few of them would join Laika and her friends in stars to keep them company for many years to come.

Although many of these wishes were heard by Desiree, she refused to touch such hopeful and well-meaning wishes for fear of twisting them in unseemly ways, allowing them to form on their own. The other ghosts among Danny's rouges even made a deal with each other to not interfere or attack the town when Danny was recording his videos out in space.

It was beyond bad manners to interfere with another ghost's obsession, after all.

✦

I'm gonna go cry some more. I've learned more about the progress of space exploration in the past couple hours than I probably should. This is the last thing I'm adding onto this prompt. If any of y'all wanna continue it, be my guest!

Notes:

(*) One more thing to add. Where are the ghost hunters/Guys in White during all of this? If they start making a fuss over Phantom and all the ghost animals, do they get a bunch of civilians raiding their government facilities and causing them bodily harm? What's happening with the Justice League? Are they sitting back and eating popcorn while all this goes down? Who knows. :)

[aayakashii]

touch starved

small fic after I saw @berrygoodjob hc about Alan being touch starved...... couldnt stop thinking about it afterwards. This might have a part 2 if I get more ideas, but we'll see.

Gender neutral MC mostly (mention of a skirt). English isn't my 1st language so I'm sorry for any mistakes!

Also, I usually post on ao3 so this is my first time posting a fic on tumblr, if the formatting is wonky, I'm sorry!!

Edit: changed it to 2nd person pov to match the future chapters.

Part 2 here, part 3 here

"Captain?" you knocked gently on the hardwood door right on front of you. It looked sturdy and way too thick for a normal bedroom door, but then again, this is the room of a ghoul.

You wiped the sweat of your palms on your skirt, afraid you'd somehow smudge Professor Dante's careful handwriting as you clenched the papers against your chest.

You hated doing this. Not necessarily presenting another batch of mission papers, no. Even if a mission puts your neck on the line, there are some ghouls you could trust in a heartbeat, like most of the boys from Frostheim and Jabberwock.

What you hated is being right there. In that exact place.

You hated being in Vagastrom.

"Captain? Alan, are you there?" you knocked again, a bit more forcefully this time, since maybe he just didn't hear you behind the door.

The smell of musk and sweat was everywhere in that place, suffocating you, making your heart race with anxiety and fear for your safety.

There were men everywhere, wherever you looked. Scary, burly, big, probably-loose-with-their-morals men who followed you, hungrily, with their eyes, whenever you strode inside the garage and into the dorm rooms.

They wouldn't come near you, though. They knew messing with you was messing with not only their captain, but the captains of other houses and Darkwick itself. Being cursed an honor student had its perks.

What you dreaded, in fact, was seeing Vagastrom's vice-captain. The cunning, untrustworthy, venomous, undeserving of his position as vice-captain, Kurosagi Leo. You shivered thinking about his lifeless eyes and smile filled with hidden intentions – he was the true reason why you despised being in Vagastrom.

The door opened right before you lifted your hand to knock a third time as your anxiety peaked as you thought about Leo.

"What are you doing here?" the man in front of you gasped in surprise upon seeing you before him.

"I told you to send me a message before coming to Vagastrom if you ever needed to talk... You're not supposed to walk alone around here" the Vagastrom Captain sighed after lightly scolding you "Come, you can enter."

Alan was different, though.

You followed behind him, staring at his broad back, while his right hand massaged his left shoulder. His room smelled like eucalyptus, a welcome respite, and you breathed in deeply the comforting scent while he turned around and looked at you.

Alan was nothing like Leo.

People would talk and talk about his past, about how he was a scary deliquent who might have killed someone; about how he must be terrifyingly powerful if he controlled all of those delinquents on his own for so long; about how his stigma is made for destruction and pain; but every single day, all you could see were the way his eyes were kind and gentle as he looked at you.

"Are you okay?" he said, stuffing his hands inside the pockets of his pants, shoulders stiff as ever "No one messed with you?"

"No, no," you shook your head, smiling to prove you were in one piece. "Everyone always leaves me alone in here. You don't need to worry. They know I work with the ghouls, so I guess that's all the protection I need. The only threat here is Leo, but he only threatens my mental health, to be fair." you said, laughing humorlessly.

Alan winced and looked apologetic at your comment.

"... Sorry. I still gotta learn to control him."

You shook your head once again.

"It's not your fault, Alan. You're a great captain." you smiled. "Speaking of being a captain, Professor Dante asked me to deliver these papers to you. It's a bureaucratic mission though, no outside work. Apparently, there are some student records missing, something in regards to personal information being omitted by some students."

Alan gently grabbed the papers from your hands, surveying the information as he sat down on the couch in the middle of his room.

He sighed deeply after scanning all the papers, rubbing his temples in a manner he probably have picked up from Frostheim's vice-captain, and slumped against the back cushion.

"Um... Is everything okay, Alan?" you asked, sitting beside him.

"... Yes. Just... a bit tired." he murmured.

You hummed in thought, surveying his face as he stared blankly at the ceiling. The dark circles under his eyes were very obvious under the fluorescent lights.

"Have you been sleeping properly? Resting?" you asked, tilting your head, trying to make eye contact with his reddened and tired eyes.

"Can't. Work has been piling up."

"You know you won't be able to work well if you're burnt out, don't you? Even ghouls need to rest, no matter how strong they are."

"..."

The extremely stoic man stayed silent, avoiding your gaze at all costs. For someone everyone called scary, he could act like a kid who had been caught with their hand inside a cookie jar at moments.

You sighed.

Your hand moved on its own before you could even register what you were doing. You felt the unexpected silk of his hair against your fingertips as you patted his head to comfort him, much like he had done to yourself many times previously.

Except, instead of gladly accepting it like you usually do, Alan flinched and scooted away from you and your hand, staring at your face, mouth agape and eyes wide in shock.

"I'm sorry!" you said, not sure of what you had done wrong, while shutting your eyes and putting your hands up like you were a bank robber who just had been caught by the police. "I was just! I didnt... I mean... I'm sorry!"

"Ghhh-!"

You tentatively opened your eyes, hands still up, after hearing Alan emit what could only be described as a choking sound.

The Vagastrom Captain, Alan Mido, one of the scariest men in Darkwick Academy, had one of his hands covering his face as he stared wide-eyed at you.

And he was beet red.

"I- I'm- Uh-" he gasped, struggling to form a coherent sentence, settling on just clearing his throat awkwardly.

Your head raced, a million miles per hour, as you saw him look away from your eyes, trying to put distance between the both of you on the sofa and get into terms with his own sudden embarrassment.

'Huh... I thought his stigma only worked on his hands? Maybe my enhancement ability makes it work wherever I touch? Is that why he's so worried? But he wasn't even moving when I patted his head, maybe he was just caught off guard by me touching... touching his hair... Oh...'

Alan tried to recompose himself, still looking everywhere, but your direction. His cheeks still flushed red, while he scrunched his eyebrows in what appeared to be confusion, as if he wasn't understanding his own reaction as well.

'Oh. He's... incredibly touch starved, isn't he?' The thought dropped into your mind, like a single coin dropping into a fountain. Drip. And you were fully unable to shake it off, to grab it from the depths of your thoughts and chuck it away before your mind could lead you to places you were pretty sure you shouldn't go.

It made sense despite it all, you figured. People barely approached Alan, as he was seen as a God by his house-mates and as a criminal by those outside Vagastrom.

He was incredibly hard to approach, his quiet personality making it hard to talk to him and his stoicism making it hard to figure out what he could be thinking.

Yet, there he was, like an open book. His red cheeks, stuttering words and wandering eyes saying exactly what he was thinking – what he wanted from you.

Before you could talk again or act on any more impulses, Alan forced a few dry coughs and cleaned his throat again, picking up the papers once again as he got up fast from his seat. His face gradually went back to his usual color, and so did his stoic expression.

"Well, I will get to work on this as soon as I finish my job at the garage. Thanks for the delivery." he shook the papers way too eagerly. "Will message you once we can start working. Please close the door once you leave."

Alan strode away fast, still avoiding any and all eye contact, and quickly left you alone in his room. You stared at the diligently closed hardwood door that seemed to create an ocean of distance between him and yourself, barely forming a coherent thought.

Outside, a little Like Dove peered inside the small windows near the ceiling, daring you to start creating scenarios in your head.

You shook your head, trying to get rid of any speculations of your own. Creating scenarios was a job for the you before sleep, the one who had time to feel anxious and overthink your daily situations.

And if your phone beeping was any signal, right now you had other ghouls to assist.

[bucksdaffy]

you know what i really love about post-first-bucktommy-meeting-pre-first-bucktommy-kiss buck? how his subconscious almost completely took over the reins.

we know that at some point off-screen in 7x03, he met tommy for the first time. we don't really know what that interaction looked like, but i think we can safely assume he introduced himself as evan buckley, and for some reason he didn't mention that everyone calls him buck. a number of external factors could have been at play here: perhaps he was interrupted by chim or eddie (honestly, i could see that), or there was simply no time or too much chaos to mention that he goes by buck (this one feels like a stretch because of another factor i'll mention in a moment, but nevertheless, it could have happened). there are also a lot of internal factors that could potentially make sense: he might have simply forgotten to mention it (but i do feel like this is the kind of information you don't really forget to touch upon, especially when it is so ingrained in your day-to-day life), he might have thought that they weren't close enough for tommy to refer to him by his nickname (which, i feel, is a huge stretch because there are plenty of instances where buck tells people he barely knows to call him buck), or he might have just not liked tommy very much (which is immediately debunked – i don't think i have to explain why this just can't be true). but there is one more internal factor that i think tracks pretty well with what we observe in 7x04: from the very first moment buck laid his eyes on tommy, he was immediately attracted to him. he looked at him as his potential love interest from the get-go. he wasn't consciously aware of it, so he probably tried to justify it in a way that made sense to him outside of the "i'm-also-attracted-to-men" aspect of it all. or perhaps he didn't wonder why he was completely fine with tommy calling him evan at all. maybe he didn't question it because, for some reason, it felt right. hell, maybe he didn't even register the "anomaly". but his subconscious mind knew the real reason why he let that happen. his subconscious mind knew the real reason why he didn't correct tommy at any point. and that is because he had always viewed him as more than a friend.

in 7x04, his subconscious mind, which was very much aware of his attraction to tommy, took over the reins on many occasions. the very first instance was him rejecting the advances of the contestants during the bachelor call. he consciously justified it as having a rule of not dating people he meets on calls. but subconsciously? tommy already had him wrapped around his finger. by that point, his eyes were on tommy and tommy only. he wasn't interested in those women flirting with him because his heart was busy trying to pursue tommy.

later on, we see that buck reached out to tommy off-screen for a tour of the harbor station. when tommy tried to get an idea of the real reason why buck wanted the tour, buck consciously justified it as wanting to see the place during the day. subconsciously, though? he was there to get to know tommy. he wanted to find some common link between them, and he wanted to spend more time with him.

his subconscious mind also completely took over when he and tommy were talking about their exes. at no point did buck indicate that the people he used to date were exclusively women. he didn't want and didn't feel the need to specify their gender. why? because his subconscious ass knew that if he had mentioned they were women, he would probably have little to no chance to pursue tommy romantically (unless he somehow managed to realize on his own that he's attracted to him – not entirely impossible but highly unlikely given that buck had to be kissed to finally get it). so he made sure not to disclose that information, keeping things as ambiguous as possible.

buck then proposed that he should buy tommy a beer. i don't know for sure if he consciously justified it in any way – it is pretty normal to go out for a beer or two with your friends, so i guess he didn't really feel the need to. but i'm pretty sure that by that point, he regarded tommy as cool and he very much wanted to be his boyfriend. i don't quite know if he consciously realized that at that stage. i honestly could see it both ways, and i don't want to make assumptions when i'm not that sure, so i'll just leave it at that.

then eddie showed up, and tommy left with him to see the fight in vegas. everyone and their mother could see how uncomfortable buck was at that moment. he was seething with jealousy. there was no conscious justification on buck's part in that moment because no one really expected any explanation from him at that point. but we later learn that he probably justified this jealousy (which continued pretty much throughout the entire episode) as tommy taking his best friend away from him. subconsciously, however? he was mad that eddie was getting more attention from tommy than he was. he didn't like that eddie was the only one taking up tommy's time. buck wanted tommy to spend time with him as well, and he really wanted him to like him. both his conscious and subconscious reasoning here apply also in the subsequent scenes of the episode: when buck was grilling eddie for information about his and tommy's time in vegas, learning that they also did some muay thai sparring at tommy's place, and that tommy worked on eddie's chevelle; when eddie said that he and tommy instantly clicked, something that buck subconsciously thought actually happened with him and tommy; when buck was hopeful that he would get invited to that karaoke bar trivia thing that eddie and tommy had planned, only for eddie to ask buck to watch chris during that time; when he was ranting to maddie about how close tommy got not only with eddie but also with chris; when he was trying to fetch an invite to the basketball game because he knew tommy would be there, trying so hard not to make it obvious that he wanted to go there only to spend time with tommy; or when he maimed eddie because him and tommy were too much of a team for his liking. buck kind of admitted to that in the scene with maddie, where he explained the most likely reason why he had hurt eddie – he felt left out seeing eddie and tommy be such good friends after only two weeks and he wanted to get his attention (again, his subconscious mind conveniently not specifying whose attention he was after).

buck both knew and didn't know what he was doing throughout this episode and why. subconsciously, he was very much aware of his feelings for tommy. and all the little smiles directed at him, the looks he gave him, his body language whenever he was around him, the way he talked about and to him, and the way he was constantly trying to get his attention only prove that.

it wasn't until tommy showed up in his loft that his conscious mind finally started piecing it all together. tommy's reassurance that he couldn't possibly replace buck in eddie's and chris's lives, although very much appreciated, for some reason wasn't quite enough. why? because buck wasn't really worried about that. it was tommy's attention he was after all this time. and he realized that when tommy disclosed his own insecurities to buck. and only when tommy kissed him did he truly understand it all. his consciousness finally tuned in to his subconscious mind, and he could finally make sense of his behavior. he finally realized what his subconscious mind was screaming at him since the very beginning: tommy was always more than a friend to him. and the journey that he took to this realization was just so beautifully crafted. it felt really rewarding to see his conscious mind finally catch up with his subconscious feelings. i can only hope that from now on, they will always go hand in hand.

[arookinthelighthouse]

Man, I really pick my moments. I have half an hour before I have to clock in so I'm expanding upon this post about a Viago and Grey Warden Rook romance.

I think, much like Lucanis, this would be more of a slow burn romance than something hot and steamy. I also think that it would be dependent on if you save Treviso or not bc that, at least in my mind, would be a pivotal moment that would show Viago whether he can actually trust you or not. And especially for a Grey Warden Rook, it would show Viago whether you're all talk or if you actually do want to help Treviso and stop the Blight. Bc if you don't save Treviso, it gets Blighted and even the canal water is affected by it. If you're a Grey Warden and you don't help Treviso in its hour of need you may as well be the executioner placing Treviso under the guillotine and letting the blade come down upon its neck when it's at its most vulnerable.

So, you save Treviso and Viago has some more respect for you and starts to trust you. What next? Well, I think it's also a good idea to consider what gift you would give him. Bc yes, I say that if you get all the companions a gift it stands to reason a non-companion romance candidate would get a gift too. For Viago, I think maybe some antique poison bottles. Rare, authentic, antique ones. Bonus points if your Grey Warden Rook is also a rogue, perhaps you'd get a special dialogue option from him based on that. Alternatively, I think Viago would also appreciate high quality, expensive, vintage wine. But that's just me (for reference, I haven't read all of Tevinter Nights, just the Wigmaker Job and the story featuring Emmrich. So I'm not 100% sure on his personality yet, I'm waiting for my copy of the book to arrive).

In terms of the dynamic, I touched upon it very lightly in my last post about a Viago romance but I do think there would be a teasing side to him. If he comes to the Lighthouse one day and sees your poison bottles he'll make comments on the poisons and how they couldn't even take out a flea let alone a person. I think there would be a lot of back and forth teasing/banter, especially the more at ease he becomes around you and the more he trusts you.

And don't worry, I've not forgotten about Teia. I think his relationship with Teia is one that could be really explored through this romance. It could go in one of two directions in my mind at least: we finally get an actual poly romance OR Viago decides to move on. I personally prefer the first option more bc I just don't see him and Teia calling it quits and I feel like they'd be open enough with one another to discuss Rook and where things might lead, inviting Rook into their relationship, talking about boundaries and whether Rook is just for Viago or if Teia is also interested in them or not. Just give me a damn poly romance, Bioware! You gave me crumbs when you gave me the Dawn Star/Silk Fox/Spirit Monk poly romance in Jade Empire (and I really am talking crumbs here, there's no kiss or any actual romance other than the three of them discussing it at the temple). I want more than crumbs.

Anyway, I got off track. Where was I? Ah yes, Teia and Viago. I do prefer the idea of them being open to Viago pursuing Rook and him and Teia having an open relationship in those regards. Does Rook know this? No they do not. Not at first, anyway.

The first kiss between Rook and Viago I think would happen before Viago sits Rook down to talk about an open relationship with them and Teia. Viago maybe had been dropping hints and trying to be subtle, assuming Rook would get it. Rook does not, in fact, get it. They are oblivious. And then when Viago kisses them, perhaps in the heat of the moment after a battle or a little sparring match or smth, for just a moment Rook allows themselves to melt into it, live in the moment, really feel it. But then the kiss ends and they're looking into Viago's eyes and they think oh shit what have I done. And they run off and leave Viago hanging.

There would definitely need to be a definitive passing of time between that kiss and when Rook next talks to Viago and/or Teia. I'm thinking maybe you have to finish a couple of main story quests before it can progress so that you can really feel that there's been time for the dust to settle. And I think it would be Teia that actually approaches Rook and starts that conversation. Bc Viago thinks he fucked up (which yeah kinda bc cmon Viago you can't just drop hints you need clear communication you wally) and Rook thinks they fucked up (also yeah kinda bc Rook you could've sorted this out by starting the conversation and communicating too. Bad communication all round here). And I think THIS would be the moment where you can lock in the Viago romance. And much like with personal quests for the companions, I think there's also potential here for you to make a choice. Either be with both Viago AND Teia, or just Viago. Either way, Teia is open and understanding bc she and Viago already discussed this a while back, remember?

I also think after this you could have the opportunity to give Teia a gift too. Either one showing friendship or a romantic one depending on the choice you made. I'm not too sure on what a good gift for her would be, so someone let me know what you think a good gift for her would be (if you've gotten this far, of course. Thank you if you have, btw ❤️).

Again, I don't think this romance would be a steamy one. This one is slow, it's tentative. I think when Rook comes back from the Fade prison, Viago would be waiting in their room for them. And he's fucking pissed. He's passed that they disappeared and that he never noticed Rook still thought Varric was alive. But most of all, he's pissed at himself for not saying anything sooner. For not saying that he loves Rook. And it's killed him thinking that Rook could be dead or gone forever and he never got to say what he wanted to.

Rook will not be leaving their room all night.

[hiddenonyx]

[World Building] Pact Headcanons

A/N: these are WORLDBUILDING headcanons, not specific headcanons to characters - meaning that this is a bit more technical(ish) talk than cute and fluffy; I’ll eventually do a character based pact headcanon post. I did my best to organize these in a logical, flowing sense, but ehhh. I may come back to this to add stuff, but here’s my word vomit for now.

Word count: 644

Pacts are magical scars on a human’s soul and skin. These scars contain the magical signature of the demon they belong to. The stronger the demon, the more noticeable the signature is. Because the signature is noticeable to other inherently other magical beings, most other beings will leave the human alone, generally not wanting a confrontation with the demon(s) associated with the pact mark(s). However, this can be the opposite case, where another demon threatens a human to try and draw the demon who made a pact with them into a fight.

Pact marks tie the human’s soul to the demon’s inherent magic self (demons do not have souls per say). This allows the human to draw on the demon’s inherent magic to enhance their conventional magic (magic types post tba), or summon the demon themselves. Demons can use their pact marks to gain vague senses of where their human is and an idea of their general state of being. When/should the human die, the demon gets their soul. If a human has multiple pacts, generally either the strongest demon or the demon with the strongest positive relationship with the human gets their soul (though fights are likely to break out).

Because of how the magical tie between the human’s soul and the demon’s inherent magical self work, if a pact bond is broken or severed, it can never be reformed. It is theorized that the human soul becomes immuned the demon’s inherent magic, but this theory hasn’t been confirmed.

Pacts marks, by default, are only really noticeable soon after receiving one; for about two to three weeks. After that time period the skin should fully heal, leaving only a faint mark on the skin - nearly invisible to all but those with the most attentive eyes and knowledge of the demonic. Some humans may choose to “ink” their pact marks to make them more visible - using magic ink that adheres to the magical signature of the marking which makes the mark appear tattoo-like (Solomon has done this for every pact mark he has). There is a wide selection of ink colors that one may choose from, should they decide to ink a pact mark.

As hinted above, pact marks hurt upon receival; after all they are described as scars. The sensation is best described as a burning sensation, more intense the stronger the demon. During its healing period (2-3 weeks) the skin the mark is placed on feels akin to a sunburn - tender, itchy, and overall uncomfortable. The skin will not bleed or blister however. Where the mark is placed may also influence the pain and discomfort. While that might influence where a demon places their mark, most demons have a preferred spot on a human’s body that they’ll leave their mark on, regardless of how the recovery will feel.

Once healed, pact marks are tingly to the touch; when touched they “hum” softly with magical energy (which may startle or surprise an unknowing human ehe). Generally the tingly sensation is light and gentle, just strong enough to be felt. However if the demon who placed the mark touches it the feeling amplifies and is significantly more noticeable, also invoking a warm and comfortable feeling in the human. Many demons will touch their pact marks to provide a sense of closeness or comfort.

It is considered taboo (and flat out disrespectful) to leave markings, such as hickeys or love bites, on other demons’ pact marks. While not considered so to do so on one’s own mark, many demons prefer to leave their own marks untouched and visible.  

Demons cannot form pacts with each other or other magical beings. They must form contacts (post for that tba) with each other, which have a different set of behaviors. Pacts, contracts, and devotion marks are all different, and operate on different levels of magic. 

[cherryhak]

YOUR TOUCH

Pairing. Lee Heeseung X reader

Genre. Fluff - situationship - best friends to lovers

Warnings. Mention of alcohol but no one’s rlly drinking

WC. 1.6k (1661)

Note : HEAVILY inspired by this fic (go read it i swear you won’t regret it). Also i haven’t posted since december omg 😭😭 this has been rotting in my notes for sooo long and i finally decided to finish it. Enjoy x

With his face buried in the crook of your neck and your hands tangled in his hair, you couldn’t help but let your mind travel back to the previous events that took place a few hours ago.

It wasn’t unusual for Heeseung to hold you close to him in the late hours of the day nor was it odd for him to bury his face in your neck the way he currently was but what was odd was him holding you like this in front of other people.

After your six long years of friendship, Heeseung and you both came to an agreement that would benefit the both of you.

You clearly were touch starved and so was he.

So naturally Heeseung, being the good friend he was, came up with the idea of you holding one another.

It did sound kind of weird at first but after giving it a second thought you found it to be a good idea.

I mean, two friends hugging each other, where’s the hurt in that ?

You decided to keep this side of your friendship behind closed doors in order to not raise any suspicions or judgment from your other friends.

Heeseung would cling onto you while you were cooking or lay on your lap when having a movie night together.

You would run your fingers through his hair as his would run along your arms when you both cuddled. It felt nice to have someone to hold close to you despite not being in a relationship.

Nothing has changed between you two, your dynamic was still the same it has been for the past 6 years of knowing each other. The only change being ; you would cuddle daily.

You would sleep together, tightly holding one another, without overstepping any boundaries.

You made it clear that this agreement was only up until one of you found a partner that would feed your needs but this has been going on for the past 9 months now. Not that you complained at all, but during those nine months you might or might not have developed some stronger feelings for the man...

“Stronger” as in not just friendly, platonic love.

You tried to burry those feelings as you knew well that he could never return them and that it would be foolish of you to think he ever would.

It didn’t seem like he put much thought about this situation-ship you two were in.

But it felt as if the more you tried to push these feelings away, the stronger they got.

You decided to just enjoy it while it lasted because you knew this would one day come to an end as you were sure he didn’t see you as more than a best friend.

Or you were almost sure.

Because when you pushed open the door of the fancy house in which was thrown a party you were not invited to, your eyes instinctively scanned through the sea of people, looking for the one and only Lee Heeseung.

It wasn’t too hard to find him given the fact that he was taller than most people here.

You locked eyes with him and his face lit up upon seeing that you actually came to the party you said you wouldn’t attend (you gave in to his endless whining about how “it would be so boring without you there”).

You made your way through the crowd as best as you could, trying to reach your small group of friends.

Heeseung extended a hand in your direction which you strongly grasped, helping you out of the crowd and smoothly pulling you to his side.

“You came” he smiled as he wrapped an arm around your shoulders swiftly.

You didn’t think much about the action, the way his arm nonchalantly hung around you just made it seem like two close friends standing next to each other. And everybody here knew the two of you have been best friends for a while now.

The evening went on smoothly, as smooth as Heeseung’s unoccupied hand was when it made it’s way to your waist, lightly caressing your exposed skin.

As smooth as his arm, that was originally slung over your shoulders, caged your front and brought your body closer to his.

You shot him a confused glare only to find him already looking down at you with a small smile on his lips. He simply shrugged at your confused face and tugged you in closer to his chest, resting his head on top of yours and leaving you even more baffled at his rather out-of-character behaviour.

A few of your friends sent you questioning looks to which you replied back with obvious confusion written in your eyes, signalling them that you also had no idea of what was currently going on.

And you weren’t lying— you really didn’t know why he was acting this way in front of so many people. This was something he would do when he came over and you were both in the comfort of your small apartment with no one watching.

When did he get this bold ?

Why was he getting so close to you when everyone could see ?

Both of his arms were now wrapped around your shoulders as he correctly rearranged his head over yours, fully back hugging you.

He started to rock your bodies from left to right slowly in a comforting way.

You looked like a literal couple and it obviously didn’t go unnoticed by your friends.

“Hold on are you guys a thing ?” One of your friends, Jake, cautiously asked, eyebrow raised in curiosity.

Your eyes widened for a millisecond and you gulped in slight panic.

Trying your best to seem unfazed by the sudden but not unexpected question, you were about to answer when you felt Heeseung stop his motion and beat you to it.

“No we’re not”

Oh wow, why did this kinda hurt ?

A part of you somehow hoped he would have had a different answer, that he would’ve pretended you guys were a thing.

But what’s worse between denying and pretending ?

Jake was quick to catch on to the disappointment that flashed through your eyes and chuckled to himself before looking back to Heeseung.

“Then you wouldn’t mind of if i asked her out, right ?”

Your eyes almost popped out of their sockets as you looked at Jake in shock but the boy shot you a reassuring glance telling you to not worry. He was actually helping you out.

This man is truly an angel, isn’t he ?

Heeseung’s hold grew tighter around your shoulders, holding you as if you could run away at any moment.

“In your dreams Sim Jaeyun”

And when you thought your heart couldn’t beat any faster…

The obvious possessiveness lacing his voice caused your friends to shout all kind of things, all along the lines of “you two being in a secret relationship and hiding it from them this whole time” and “Heeseung being jealous”

And this only fed your delusions and your growing feelings for the boy currently holding you.

Was he really jealous ? It could be the alcohol though…

Your eyes traveled to the red cup discarded on the counter and you could clearly see that the liquid inside it didn’t down one bit ever since you arrived.

So this couldn’t be it..

Was he putting on a show for the others ?

I mean, why would he do this ?

So many questions ran through your mind and in a blink of an eye Heeseung and you found yourselves on your way (to your) home and on your sofa with his head ,as said before, buried in the crook of your neck and your hands tangled in his hair.

The questions did not stop though. Your mind kept replaying the way his arms tightened around you when Jake asked if he could take you out.

He could easily lie about not liking you but you were smart enough to not miss his body language. But then again you maybe overthought this whole thing and he could just be messing with you.

You decided that the only way to find answers to your questions was to ask him directly.

So without thinking twice you blurted out his name, breaking the comforting silence that surrounded you.

The boy simply hummed in your neck, indicating that he was listening to whatever you had to say.

“Do you like me ?”

Heeseung lifted his head from the comfortable spot between your neck and your shoulder, looking up at you with a somewhat deadpan expression on his face.

“What do you think ?”

Huh.

You furrowed your eyebrows at his answer. That was definitely not what you expected.

Heeseung lightly chuckled at your confused expression before answering. “You’re either really stupid or you’re doing it on purpose”

You stayed silent at that -rather, you’ve been silenced- which earned another laugh from the boy.

“Why do you think i proposed this whole arrangement nine months ago, hm ?”

When you didn’t answer he leaned his face closer and closer to yours until your lips were only a few inches apart, brushing against each other.

“Maybe i should show you then” he whispered before connecting your lips together in a tender kiss that you, obviously, returned.

The kiss didn’t last long but enough to speak both of your feelings without a word.

“Does it answer your question ?” He asked, bumping his nose into yours cutely.

You too decided to answer by connecting your lips once again in a longer and more passionate kiss this time, spilling the unspoken longing and hidden feelings into it.

You both pulled apart after some time due to the lack of oxygen.

Heeseung pecked your lips one last time, then your chin before locking eyes with you, smiling tenderly.

“I was not just touch starved, i was starved of your touch”

[sleepy-spacetronaut]

Info sheet for the Human Bill design + some drawings

*had to censor because I don’t know if it would get me yeeted off Tumblr or not.

The Handyman Bill AU is actually interesting because there are multiple outcome possibilities from there…

For one, I like the idea of Bill exiting the Theraprism to find himself with most of his powers stripped away and be taken in by Soos and Melody to live and work with them in the mystery shack. I can imagine the amount of shenanigans he’d drag the Pines family into.

On the topic of appearance

Ive seen a ton of anthropomorphic Bill Cipher designs over the past weeks, and each has a cool concept with their own specialties (Spoony’s design is particularly notable). My Bill, unfortunately, looks like a middle aged, expired version of the ‘twink Bill’ from around 2015, except with longer hair. This design is different from what I had imagined it to be, so I chose to draw Bill in 3 stages (as a kid, young adult and as a middle aged man. I’ll post his younger form sometimes later) so the character design wouldn’t go to waste.

For the outfit, I just went with what I’ve seen people draw him clothed in and what I thought would look comfortable. I feel like after being trapped in the Theraprism for ‘rehab’, he would be neglectful of his overall appearance, instead of going for fancier stuff like tuxedos or coats and capes, he’d probably enjoy to wear baggy clothes you can easily throw in the washer and won’t require thorough maintenance. (He might look dusty, but he takes baths, I swear—)

They’re a few variations of what he wears while still with the totality of his powers, maybe I will give him another , more elaborate outfit. I have yet to draw a full body version of Bill where I can show his tattoos and scars—currently I must decide on what to do with his face, I have too many single-eyed ocs, and I’d like to add an original touch to him.

When would the AU in which Bill returns take place?

After the Weirdmaggedon occurred, the residents of Gravity Falls were probably still shaken by the amount of strange and atrocious things they experienced. They’re great chances they’d still be triggered when they see cipher script or anything that reminds them of the evil triangle demon.

In the case of my design for him ,and potential fanfiction outline, Bill would have returned into the dimension where the Pines family won two years after the events, so the traumatic events are fresh in their collective memory. So, Bill would be put under intense scrutiny (by everyone but especially Stan and Ford, they’d be mistrustful of him) and be forced to cover up his tattoos when at work…and in general.

Bill would have a certain reluctance to work at the shack, he’d try to scam the customers to get the sales up upon and get caught red handed at it, or try slacking off during his shifts to try to sneak in Ford’s lab in search for anything that could help him restore his power to its former glory.

The highlight of his days would potentially be to annoy the Pines family, bonding with Mabel and Dipper (being let onto their gossip and some activities they do, maybe help out with their studies as well), and ABOVE ALL, to have some alone time at night to stare at the starry sky.

Psychological traits and etc.

As for his personality, he would be a lot less flamboyant, still as sassy as Weber though, perhaps grouchy from being forced to interact with ‘insufferable sentient meat sacks trapped in a cage of bones with a squishy exterior’. From the majority of cases I have observed, Bill keeps a nonchalant attitude, he is fairly collected and only truly lets out his emotions when it comes to fits of anger, jealousy or, in rare cases, sadness (often related to flashbacks of his childhood or his parents in the Euclidean world).

But what if it wasn’t the case? What if instead, Bill, as a human, would be unable to control his emotions? I had a theory that Bill Cipher has a higher pain tolerance while in his triangular, two-dimensional form partially from his powers but also because of his body isn’t entirely physical, and so it may lack several sensory receptors.

His liking for pain may be due to the fact he could barely feel anything (or plainly because he’s a masochist. Who knows.) It would qualify as a new and interesting experience for him, and he is a curious creature who also ‘efs around to find out’.

However, once he gains a physical human body, he will be faced with various problems humans have: muscle pain, bloating, cramps, eye sores, back sores, hair loss, acne, sickness, getting cuts and bruises easily…and never mind gravity, which would be a new inconvenience for a being who used to float almost 24/7.

So Bill wouldn’t be able to control his emotions because of how humans tend to feel a lot,he’d be forced to resort to masking and even then he wouldn’t be able to hold it for long. Plus, when he was a metaphysical shape, he had a bigger pain tolerance by contrast to when he gained a human body with hundreds of touch and pain receptors—Drinking with his eyes won’t be working no more, ouch!

He’d easily get a meltdown because of overstimulation (from the environment, from interaction with people he mostly hates or dislikes, and from being able to feel a lot more sensations than while in his bi-dimensional, triangular form) and have trouble regulating his body.

Additionally, Bill heavily relied on his magic powers to get stuff he needed or to protect himself, but now that a great chunk of his magic abilities would be gone , it would require more effort from him to do anything. And if he ends up activating the remaining power, the constant use of it would always backfire as his human shell isn’t made to contain the pressure of magic, resulting in cramps and stomach issues.

As a final note to this, in the show it had been shown that he is short tempered and easily leans into his emotions (especially anger) but can use his magic in order to ‘blow off some steam’. (Remember Time Baby and his whole squadron of men—except like for Blendin, getting erased?) However now, he cannot blow up a planet just because he’s having a tantrum, so he would most likely just stomp the ground while shrieking like a five year old.

Yes, when put under pressure, the evil Triangle becomes a CRYangle.

P-S. : He’s trying his best, plz be nice to him.

Edit: Woops it’s Blendin , not Baldwin, he’s not bald yet.

[littlewonders7]

Okay here’s my first attempt on a y/n post I have no plan we just winging it!!! Okay so warning this is most definitely gonna have some cringe but I’ll try to make less cringe as possible

So contexts This is a hazbin hotel x pregnant reader where reader arrives around when sir pentious does maybe just before him, they are around 5-6 months in for plot!

Y/n didn’t know whether or not going to the hazbin hotel was a good idea or not as it did stated it was a place for rehabilitation and carrying a 5-6month hell born in your belly might not be in your favor but you were determined to give this hotel a chance for your unborn child!

When arriving to the hotel, you and knock on the door with hesitation your brain still nervous with being rejected, however before you could second guess your decision the door open revealing a tall woman with blonde hair, porcelain skin and two rosey dots on each sides of her cheek

When Charlie heard the knocking coming from the door she couldn’t contain her excitement hoping it’s a new resistant who’s looking to rehabilitate!

However when she open the door excitedly she was slightly taken aback from y/n and her obviously swollen belly-NOT that there’s anything wrong with that however she just didn’t expect it!

Shaking off the stun expression off her face and joyfully greeted y/n regardless

Y/n awkwardly greeted Charlie back, taken aback by the Charlie joyful eagerness, feeling a bit less anxious than before

Charlie was curious upon what brought y/n to come to her hotel as so far she been having a hard time trying to get anybody to join during this past week after announcing the once formally named ‘happy hotel’ so nobody could blame her curiosity

Before she could properly ask y/n reasoning another voice came up that behind them, as they turn around there stood vaggie having just arrived

Charlie quickly introduce vaggie to y/n (though not before remembering she didn’t ask y/n for her name yet)

Y/n then explain their request on wanting to try to rehabilitate and they saw through the tv that’s what the hotel is looking for

Vaggie though happy that Charlie’s ideas had reach a resident, she is wondering on how y/n is planning on rehabilitation if she’s carrying a hellborn as hellborns cannot go to heaven and y/n going through rehab could potentially mean they might leave the child behind

Now hearing vaggie’s concern Charlie is now wondering on y/n thoughts

Y/n understanding their concerns explain that they don’t mind not going to heaven as they feel bad for leaving their little one behind, however they want to go through with the program in order to become a better healthier parent for their child and hopes that they could change their behavior for them

Upon hearing y/ns reasoning Charlie becomes even more determined to help their newest member as she thinks about her own parents and her relationship with them and seeing how y/n wanting to be a better version of themselves for said child really touches her

Vaggie also wishes to help y/n and feels a kind of respect for y/n love for their unborn child and knows how she herself would’ve try to change for the better if it ever came to Charlie

Afterwards both Charlie and vaggie help y/n introduce themselves with the other members

Husk was neutral about it and didnt have much a opinion except saying that he didn’t care as long he doesn’t find y/n drinking or near his bar( grumpy softie meaning y/n to not hurt themselves or their child)

Angel dust did make a comment upon y/ns pregnancy like who a pretty thing like them banged or something like that, however vaggie and Charlie both scold him for his lewd commentary as y/ns situation was not all sunshine and rainbows if there’s no father in the picture, afterwards angel dust did apologize and get kind of bad for the jokes though y/n reassured him that it’s okay and they heard worse and appreciated the apology

Next was nifty, oh boi, nifty is disappointed the new member is not a ‘bad boy’ however still eagerly greets y/n and starts spewing questions after until she had been told to calm down

Alastor was last and to say the least he was not as scary as y/n thought he would be, especially with all the rumors and horrid tales told about him, but could mostly because Alastor is gentleman who also a mamas boy so I doubt he would even try to go against a pregnant individual

I say sir penstious comes after y/n visit but I say when he does join he be gentle and sweet as y/n care for their unborn child reminds him for his care for his egg bois though except the boss/minons dynamic

I say overtime as the story progresses y/n would kind of bond with the crew in a more parent/guardion type of way where y/n would try to comfort Charlie whenever she start questioning her decisions by telling her that y/n has Charlie’s support and thinks what she’s doing is great, probably help organize and plan lessons with her

For vaggie maybe help her to learn to love herself and be less quick on judgement and to hear someone out supporting her and Charlie moments

For husk maybe help him clean and organize the bar and maybe help take care of his well being, probably the guardian in y/n wants worries for husk acohol tendencies even though husk cannot die from it and he still appreciates the gesture

Y/n would probably watch and help nifty clean the hotel and pay attention to her puppet theatrics (though might be concern about that one comment nifty made about killing mother birds in front of children, but nifty reassures y/n that she would bite and stab anyone offending them)

Angel dust would probably appreciate receiving affection and nature love from y/n telling him that they’re there for him when he needs it and take care of any injures whenever angel has a tough night with Val

Sir pentious would love y/n as they pay attention to his ideas and inventions and notice how hard he and the egg bois work. I think he would very happy and emotional somebody took him seriously and paid attention to him. He even make inventions to protect y/n as the months go by

Now we all now Alastor is a mamas boy so no doubt he would start to have protection around y/n whenever they go out, making excuses to make sure y/n stays safe and the more they stay at the hotel the protective Alastor the the rest would become as y/n would be due around the next extermination happens

Okay so after all I would give a mention to Lucifer as i feel they’re interaction would be sweet as Lucifer is struggling to be a better father to Charlie having another individual that can relate to parenting is nice, I feel while y/n stay at the hotel they learn and give advices to Lucifer on how to start trying to build that connection again and Lucifer would really appreciate it

Okay so I really tried to make this better like I have the idea in my head I just really suck at writing and typing in down and my brain and phone is ready to exploded and part of me really second guess even trying to attempt this but I know not everything is gonna be perfect and I like that I tried even when I had no clue what I was doing lol 😂

So sorry for the cringe and have a lovely day y’all

[anghelcode]

Kind of curious if you have any hc about Bumblebee's past. I know the show mentions a little about his time in boot camp before becoming part of the bridge crew but what about his childhood?

I've seen others with the idea of Bee living on the streets as a kid until he eventually went to bootcamp later in life which probably explains him being touch/affection starved in another ask post I sent.(A part of me kind of wants to agree) Not sure about his family, I've seen some interesting fics that have Bee the long lost brother or son of a character(Rodmus or Ratchet) & a post were Elita-1 was his aunt.(He ended up an orphan after the incident with the planet that led to her changing) There's another idea but it's an AU that changes some things slightly.(dad!Optimus AU were at some point Optimus finds & overtime befriends child Bee who is living on the streets & ran away from Cybertron's version of an orphanage due to mistreatment leading to adopting Bee)

If he does have family out there it'd be interesting to hear about how they reconnect.(The fic were he's Ratchet's kid has him I think get a report to help him find his creator leading to learning Ratchet was his dad)

Sorry if this is a little scattered/rambling, thinking about Bee's past comes to mind occasionally. The show gives a little bit of it & I know we see Prowl's(or at least being trained as a cyberninja, part of me thinks he might have been raised at the dojo) but I can't help but wonder about before boot camp.

Honestly? Havent thought much except that ive settled with the idea of either orphanage (where poor guy was still picked on, average nd kid experience) or him coming out fresh off being constructed and not so long after that joining bootcamp, but im still up to think abt his childhood and discuss

i think itd be a lil funny if i gave the space bridge repair crew in general just normal creators but they turned out the way they are bc of other circumstances or just like that

but yeah not much onto bees past, his creators r dead so thats how he ended up in orphanage, no extended family either, also harder time to communicate so he didnt really succeed making friends either, yeah nd kids tend to get more traumatized over smaller circumstances so for bee itd be his roman empire even small mistakes that lead into isolation and being picked upon

[moralesmilesanhour]

Every time i think about atsv and its themes, my mind keeps going back to the scene with Miles and his parents in that college counselor’s office, and what its purpose is.

It establishes the strain that being Spider-Man has put on their relationship, yes - it also establishes that Miles feels trapped and limited, yes - but a lot of fandom discussion overlooks the important parallel that that scene sets in motion between racism in academia and Miles' rejection from Spider Society.

By now, everyone has already figured out that the issue with the 'Canon Event' theory is that it assumes that trauma - specifically experiencing the "right" traumatic events - is what makes a Spider-Man, and it is wrong for Miles to be required to accept this. It isn't enough that he had his uncle die, his father must die also because then he will have sacrificed "enough" to keep the canon intact. No one questions why arbitrary sacrifice is required at all.

The concept of the personal statement being required for college applications, I would like to argue, has the exact same issue.

Miles even says so in the beginning of the movie: "Having 'a story' in the first place sounds gross" (notice how Miles vocally critiques elite academia contantly and has been from the get-go. He is not an apolitical character like some might portray him to be).

It is not enough that Miles is an exceptional student with a variety of interests (art and science), he must have the appropriate traumatic "story" for white academic institutions to find him interesting enough as an applicant, even if the story they want him to tell is not actually his story (no, he is not from a "struggling immigrant family". They own an apartment floor and PR is in the United States). Just like the "Canon events" that Miguel describes are not Miles' story, and Miles does not want them to be because it requires the preventable deaths of innocent people.

In a similar way that has been touched upon more in wider fandom, Rio gives Miles a speech telling him not to let the people in these overwhelmingly-white spaces that he will be entering tell him that he doesn't belong. That speech, as we all know, ends up being a direct parallel to the way Spider Society treats him: he is simultaneously a charity case and a threat just by his mere presence. His very existence is disruptive to the canon: The spider wasn't "supposed" to bite him, he just got lucky. There is a reason why the visual of the ball with Miles' lottery number is constantly paired with the number on the spider that bit him; they are one and the same.

(Side note: this is also what makes Hobie's function as a character so interesting - The idea that you can just simply quit. You do not HAVE to be in these privileged spaces if they don't have your best interests in mind. You don't have to prove yourself to these people to be who you are. But that's a post for another day)

The reason I've been thinking about all this is because I feel like no one really touches upon why Miles' character exists. Like, on a thematic level. Yes, he's there to show that "anyone can wear the mask", but there's a lack of specificity in that statement that I wanted to address with this post.

Miles is a love letter to every black kid that's been told that they're only in the spaces they're in because they "got lucky". He's for every black kid that's ever looked at a college app and been told that they have to take their trauma and put it on display for some white admissions officer to shed a tear over. He's there to argue that you don't have to bend towards any of society's attempts to make a spectacle or a serviceable machine out of you, and that you can just be.

TL;DR: it was never just about the mask MWAH 🫶🏾

[windmaedchen-oceanhorn]

Headcanons on the Heroic Order

Totally a very small post about ideas related to the Heroic Order.

The Heroic Order is the jurisdiction of the Lightbearer Empire. It upholds law and order and deals with the daily tasks of sorting out problems among the citizens. It investigates crimes, arrests criminals, delivers judgment and sentences upon them, and has their imprisonment organised (or their death sentence).

It appears honorable that Valen and Hogan wouldn't arrest and hold suspects without conclusive evidence. But whether there are proper trials is unclear. Hogan does not look like he's doing much office work (in full armour, sure) despite being the magistrate, so I don't get the feeling he's actually sitting in trials, listening to two sides and then passing on judgement. I fear… until I learn otherwise… that the processing of crime is simply as follows: an initial request to kick things of, then the investigation process and if there is honest evidence to be found it is collected and presented, the criminal arrested, and without further due, simply punished accordingly. This approach is fool-proof and leaves no room for forgery and false claims. No one would ever abuse that. ;-)

Since Hogan once was the leader of the Heroic Order and has "walked into the palace with all his medals", I assume the order has its headquarters in the capital.

Of course, much like the Templars, the Heroic Order does technically accept women. But they must undergo the same training as the men and it's often very tough for them due to the natural disadvantage. It is hardly impossible, however, and even though there are none in Holistone, there is a good number employed in the capital and elsewhere. Some are out in the field, but most of them end up in a mix of administrative work and less front-line jobs. Naturally, there are some women in the Solitaries also.

I am certain Hogan learned of things during his time as leader of the Heroic Order that are far from heroic and honorable, within his ranks and the system. But he would do more damage to the common folk and the security of the Empire if he tried such a silly thing as to oppose those truly in charge, than if he did not. His loyalty to the people of the Empire is without comparison and he does consider himself more useful to them alive than dead trying to fight something worse than Maulers.

Hogan wasn't the leader of the Heroic Order for too long. Less than a decade, or a decade at most. Getting on with age and feeling out of touch with the common folk amidst the rich capital, he wanted a more quiet job among the citizens. Now he's stuck babysitting Valen. xD

Even the leader of the Heroic Order answers to higher-ups, at the very least, the king. While Hogan would have had some say in matters, particularly organisation and administration, if the King wanted the Heroic Order to do this or that, Hogan could not have prevented it.

The Heroic Order branch in Holistone is somewhere in the south-west. It's small but features a small entrance hall, an office room for report writing and file storage, a hallway towards holding cells and a courtyard to the back for training. There is also a small side building on the backside of the yard with a break room/small kitchen facility, changing room, lockers/storage for the members and restrooms with even a shower. Valen uses these facilities a lot actually.

There is a small prison as well, but it's outside the Holistone walls.

Hogan lives on the second floor of this yard building. As the magistrate, he'd actually have the right to live in another property just for that position, but it's too big for a single man like him and he prefers to be on call when needed. It's accessible from the side via some stairs leading up to it.

Most soldiers have fixed times and fixed duties (on rotation), but Valen goes beyond that. He's around nearly 24/7 and chooses his own break times. He'd never turn down an assignment, no matter how much he might (playfully) complain about it. Hogan will compensate him for it, as he knows how valuable such a man is to him. Hogan has technically also work hours, but… as the magistrate and this being his life, he's also on duty 24/7. He just tries to have certain times for certain activities, so he CAN go read a book at home eventually. ;-)

The Traveler's Light Inn is nearby. The soldiers of the Heroic Order often group up for dinner together, except for those fortunate enough to have courted a lady and go home for their wife's treat. ;-)

Also, Valen's tiny attic studio is very close to the Heroic Order AND the Traveler's Light. The landlady does some cleaning for him and takes his laundry.

It isn't a rare occurrence that children of the members come round to say hi to their dads. Newborns are always taken to the order to be shown around and receive Hogan's personal blessing. Hogan absolutely loves this. "To the future of Lightbearers!" To the fathers, this is worth more than any blessing by any god. xD

[hyperfixatedcatlover]

The Beauty's Rebirth Prologue

So, this is my first post! This isn't going to be an Aeon x Reader, though I may sprinkle in some scenes of that in the future. I have been cooking this idea since I started playing HSR and I wanted to try writing it out. It will be a yandere type thing so here we go.

TW: Body horror/mod, obsessive behavior, non-con/dub-con touching, implied child abuse, fem!reader, aeons being meanies. Don't like? Don't read. I do not condone or support these behaviors IRL and enjoy!

Prologue (You are here) - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2

"I have a story you might like."

You peek over the schedule you're reading, careful not to move your head as you make eye contact with the woman behind you in the mirror curiously. She seems to notice this as she smiles kindly.

"It was a story all of us were told on my planet growing up. It's about the Aeon Idrila the Beauty. THEY favored my home planet before THEY disappeared"

"Then your planet must be popular with that one group, the Knights of Beauty. Right?"

She makes a face, as if she's tasted or smelled something extremely foul.

"Those Knights hardly visit our planet. When they do, we never tell them anything, and make sure they leave town sooner rather than later."

"Oh. Why? Does it have something to do with the story?"

"It does, would you like to hear it?"

"Well, if you can't tell the Knights, why can you tell me?"

"It's much more interesting than looking at your schedule."

You smile at that faintly. 'Suppose she's right,' you think to yourself.

"I'm all ears."

"Once upon a time, the Aeon of Beauty, Idrila walked the stars. It was said that THEIR beauty outshined all, but I'm sure you know that. What most people don't know about, however, is how THEY disappeared. You see, the other Aeons adored THEIR beauty, just as humans who walked THEIR path did, but the Aeons were capable of things that a human could never do. Yaoshi the Abundance wanted THEIR beauty to live forever in THEIR domain of constant thriving.

It's dark. You're walking and walking, the greenery never stops. It's overflowing

It's growing faster than you can run.

It's trapping you

You can't move.

Four arms cradle your waist while another pair stroke your cheek and comb through your hair as you become a decoration in the greenhouse.

"The Hunt wanted THEM to be THEIR prize for hunting the Abundance."

The plants feel like they've entered your bloodstream.

Your veins have thorns and the flowers have long since covered your eyes.

There's a loud sound of shattering glass and thundering hooves

A cold metal arm grabs you and pulls you up by the waist

You don't realize you're screaming in pain until your mouth is covered

Your veins are shredded

You can feel air forcing itself into your divine lungs

Your eyes are gouged out from the flowers being torn

You are brokenly whimpering on the steed of the being that 'saved' you

"The Elation loved messing with Idrila to see THEM cry."

The voices surround you

Phantom touches come from every angle

You see things that aren't there

You don't know what's real and whats not

Did the extensive healing get to you?

A being of many masks cackles as you cower in a corner

"The Destruction wanted anything that could attempt to challenge THEIR beauty to be destroyed"

You stare into the golden eyes

The fragmented arms held out as if welcoming you to shower in the golden blood

They approach

You grow ill

As the golden threatens to drown you, you run

"When THEY finally ran, THEY realized the true horror of the stars and the greed of those who run them. To be free, THEY called upon THEIR only friend, The Harmony to give THEM a chance at another life…"

Surrounded by darkness you call upon the last of your power and draw out your core

With a steady hand, the steadiest it has been for a long time, you shatter it

Pieces flow into objects around the world

Hairbrushes, mirrors, sewing needles

The one main piece of you looses its golden shine as it floats to the only friend you've ever known, watching with sad eyes

THEY cradle your soul as you fade into nothingness, leaving behind one last wish

'Be free, little beauty.'

"And now, THEY are waiting for THEIR reincarnation, to get THEIR chance at living without fear of… oh my dear are you alright? You look terribly pale!"

You shiver as you blink rapidly.

"I- I'm fine. Just, nerves, and thirst."

The kind hairdresser fetches a bottle of water from the fridge in the dressing room with a straw and watches you drink with steady and slow sips.  She then begins to add the final touchups on your hair. As you cradle the water, you try to explain what those, moments in your head were. 'Were they memories? They felt like dreams more than anything. Maybe I have been working too hard.'  As you think, she continues.

"And that is why we never tell the Knights of Beauty this. They want to bring THEM back, while we want to leave THEM alone. THEY suffered from THEIR beauty being pursued."

"Huh. Sounds familiar." The memories of you childhood house that never felt like a home, the pain, the torture, the self-hatred, memories you wished would stop coming back.

"Done!"

You look up at your reflection, the intricately styled hairdo frames your face perfectly and matches the violet dress that flows behind you like a waterfall perfectly. Before you get a chance to breathe, your manager opens the door.

"You look great but you've gotta get out there! You're gonna be live in T-minus 3 minutes girl!"

You try to say you need a moment but your tongue gets stuck in your mouth as she drags you down the set and drops you off. She gives you a thumbs up as she runs off and the stage hand next to you waits to give you your cue.

"And now everyone, the moment you've all been waiting for!"

A rich charismatic voice says over the speakers in the sound stage. You see a small video of him standing in front of his desk as he addresses the live audience.

"From rags to riches, this girl has climbed the ranks of the intergalactic fame pyramid faster than  anyone. With her looks singlehandedly saving the modeling agency she first signed for, it's no wonder that the press has deemed her the 'Modern-Age Idrila The Beauty!' So put your hands together for the one and only [Y/N]!"

You put on your best smile as you walk out, ignoring the buzzing in your mind that something bad will happen soon. You let the host escort you like one would royalty to the couch as the spotlights blind you. You smile with the pearly whites that everyone adores, knowing that your value to the world is purely from your appearance. That your beauty everyone praises you for is nothing more than a curse.

Live free, Little Beauty.

[thathalguy]

Yall I'm going kinda theory-insane over here.

I was watchin some EPIC: the Musical reaction/analysis content cause I found a couple guys I enjoyed and went on a little binge watch, as you do. (Mortius and CF Reacts if you wanna check em out)

They're watching the livestreamed animatic of Thunder Bringer and during the part where Odysseus hears Penelope singing to him Mortius pauses and says something about the vision of Penelope that catches my interest. He says Jorge has posted some info about this moment in his Patreon-exclusive channel on the Discord about what this Penelope illusion actually is, but because it's something only shared for Jorge's Patreon supporters he won't say it outright. In another video they're reacting to Neal Illustrator's Thunder Bringer animatic and again in this scene he mentions this Patreon-exclusive knowledge "The yellow. Is this Zeus to him? I know that's not canon." which just sends my little theory brain spiralling.

So I've been mulling it over for a few days and I've thrown some ideas at my wife, sharing my thoughts which I'm gonna share with yall now.

Upon first watching the livestream I thought the illusion of Penelope was made by Zeus to make Odysseus more torn between his choices. Y'know, toying with the mortal kind of thing. But if it's not Zeus, then who's making Odysseus see Penelope in the sky? Let's look at how she appears in the animatic.

A gap in the storm, illuminated in yellow light. She looks like the sun breaking through the clouds. And who in the canon animatics is tied to yellow besides Zeus? Apollo. Who wears a sun-shaped earring because he's the SUN god.

"But the sun god is Helios!" you might be saying, and you're right. Depending on the storyteller, Helios OR Apollo is the sun god. And when they're on the sun god's island, they never actually name WHICH sun god it is. Eurylochus says "this statue, the god of the sun, don't know where its from" implying that the statue could be either one. And the story of Helios's cows being killed by Odysseus's crew is also attributed to Apollo's cows.

"Another story is in Homer's Odyssey where Odysseus and his men, despite Zeus' warning, devour Apollo's herd."

Now, why would Apollo be showing Odysseus his wife in this moment? That's where my theorizing comes in, and full disclaimer: I'm notoriously bad at getting my theories right, so who knows if I'm even close. But this is what I've come up with as Apollo's reasoning.

Apollo would have known the crew was on his island talking about killing his cows. He's literally the sun, he sees a lot from up there, and Odysseus is tied to his statue, which could also be used as a way to listen in and keep watch over the herd. He would have heard Odysseus begging the crew not to kill the cows, to not anger the gods, and when Eurylochus kills it anyway, of course there's going to be consequences. But Apollo knows it's not Odysseus's fault, he was wounded, tied up, and at the mercy of a mutiny, he couldn't do anything to stop it beyond his words. Wouldn't you have a little sympathy for the man trying to keep your cows safe and unharmed?

And let's also touch on the fact that Apollo's argument in God Games seems pretty weak and unimportant. He's upset some sirens are dead, and he gives in pretty easily, hardly any reluctance or hesitation. As the sun god surely he'd be much angrier about his cattle being slaughtered, right? But Odysseus was the only one who was trying NOT to kill the cow. He's the first challenge, Level One, and by presenting such a shallow (ha) issue, he's allowing Athena an easy victory toward her goal. Also he calls him Ody, not Odysseus.

By showing Odysseus his wife, Apollo swayed his decision to have Zeus kill the crew, the ones who actually did wrong.