#I will manifest these fictional twins into existence

[ejzah]

It’s Baby Time, Part 2

***

“Deeks!” he heard Kensi shout from across the house. He paused with an Allen wrench in one hand

“Yeah, what’s up?”

“I’m pretty sure my water just broke,” she called back. He didn’t say anything for a moment as his brain froze.

“Um, sorry but it sounded like you just said your water broke,” he said, jogging through the house, until he found Kensi. She sat in the middle of the master bath with her legs slightly bent, a slightly shocked expression on her face. “Baby?”

She held up her wet fingertips in answer, nodding to the small puddle of liquid on the tile.

“Ok, that a few weeks earlier than what we expected. But Sheila said that wasn’t unusual with twins, right?”

“Yeah. I just thought there’d be more warning signs.”

“I guess the whole semen thing isn’t such a myth after all,” he said, and Kensi look up at him incredulously.

“Are you really joking about sex right now?” she asked. He shrugged.

“You know how I am. It’s either that or panic a little bit.”

“Mm, I have complete faith in you,” Kensi assured him.

“Ok, I’m going to call Sheila.” He belatedly realized he was still holding the wrench and tucked it into his pocket as he grabbed his phone. “But first I’ll grab you some shorts and a towel,” he decided, seeing how Kensi was awkwardly crouched on the floor.

When he returned a couple minutes later, Kensi had moved back again the sink cupboard; she inhaled slowly through her nose, eyes shut.

“Baby, are you ok?”

She opened her eyes slowly, taking a few extra seconds to focus on him. “Yeah, it’s just a lot more intense than I expected. Most of the mommy blogs, and books, and Instagram posts all talk about a dull ache and pressure, but this feels like super strong cramps.”

“Well, let me help you put these on, you can get back in bed,” Deeks suggested. “and then I’ll call Sheila.”

Kensi reached up, grabbing ahold of his forearm when he offered it, and laboriously pulled herself up. She used his shoulder as a brace while she clumsily pulled the shorts on. “Laying down sounds horrible right now. I think I’m just going to walk around for a while.” She winced suddenly, hand clamping down on his arm while she squeezed her eyes shut for about five seconds.

“Was that a contraction?” he asked, automatically resting a supporting hand on Kensi’s lower back. He found it a little disconcerting that she was already in this much pain.

“I think so. It wasn’t too bad,” she insisted, and he wasn’t sure which of them she was trying to convince.

While he made the call, he started pulling out various supplies from the garage. With his cell tucked between his ear and shoulder, he dragged out the pool, as Sheila asked him about Kensi’s condition, and gave precise instructions. He’d always found her to have a calming, reassuring presence, and today was no different. By the time they ended the call, he felt more at ease.

He found Kensi walking the length of their bedroom, her hair pulled up in a loose bun now. He could swear her bump looked lower than just a few minutes ago.

“What did Sheila say?”

“She was with another client, but she’s coming her as soon as she finishes. She estimates about an hour,” Deeks related. “I told her that you were already having some contractions, which she said is fine. We only need to worry if they dramatically increase in duration and frequency. At which point, we should head to the hospital and she’ll meet us there.”

“How long for the contractions?” Kensi asked shortly, panting slightly as she paced quickly, one hand braced underneath her belly.

“Around a minute long every 3-4 minutes.” He watched for a few more seconds, knowing the answer before he even asked, “You’re there already aren’t you?”

“Yep. I don’t think we’re gonna make it to the hospital.”

“Ok, we’re doing this, this is happening,” Deeks babbled breathlessly. He’d delivered a few babies over the years, but never twins. Although he’d prepared just in case, he’d never seriously considered having to deliver his own children.

He closed his eyes, pausing to inhale as deeply as he could, then blew it out slowly, centering himself. When he opened his eyes again, he felt calmer, focused on the task at hand. “Alright, let’s get you in the bathroom.”

Kensi nodded, walking slowly with Deeks besides her. She paused in the doorway, lips clamping tight as she rode out another contraction. “Oh, that was a good one,” she muttered from between her teeth.

Once they were in the bathroom, Deeks helped her settle on the closed toilet, immediately turning to rush back out. Kensi grabbed his arm before he could leave.

“Where are you going?”

I gotta grab the birth kit. Unfortunately, I don’t think we have time to fill the pool up.”

“Yeah, probably not,” Kensi agreed with a faint smile. “Maybe grab a bottle of vodka while you’re down there.” He kissed her temple, lingering for a second, then he was off again.

He gathered everything with a single-minded focus, the immediacy of the situation not leaving time for him to worry. It only took a few minutes, but when he made it back to Kensi, she’d moved to the edge of the toilet, her left hand gripping the side of the counter so tightly, her fingers were bright white.

“You better make this quick, because it feels like these babies are ready to come right now,” she warned him.

Deeks threw one of the tarps across the floor, laying out gauze and other supplies before he turned back to Kensi.

“You ready?”

“Not even a little bit,” she said with a soft laugh, that morphed into a moan of pain halfway through.

“It’s ok, you’re going to be amazing,” Deeks told her, reaching out with both hands. Kensi took them, squeezing tightly as she stood, grabbing the counter again while Deeks helped her out of the shorts.

He was still kneeling, when Kensi let out a strangled noise, her free hand instantly finding his shoulder. “I need to push,” she gasped out in between short, panting breaths.

“Ok, it’s alright, just breathe with me, baby. I’ve got you,” Deeks said, modeling a steady pattern, Kensi following along after a few cycles. He gently reached between her legs, shocked when he felt the soft crown of a baby’s head beneath his fingers.

“Oh my god,” he muttered without thinking.

“I told you they were ready.”

“Yeah, yeah, you did.” He didn’t have time to say anything else as Kensi exhaled, long and shaking, and the baby’s entire head popped out. “Ok, good, that’s really good, baby. Keep on pushing as steady as you can,” he encouraged, gently freeing one shoulder. Kensi gave another hard push, and he held a baby in his hands.

He swiped the fluid away from its mouth and nose, marveling at the tiny human in his arms. His strength wavered ever so slightly as he rested his hand over the baby’s chest, fingers trembling. Then he made a sound of relief when he felt the tiny beat of a heart thumping back against his palm. A moment later, her little mouth opened and she cried, head turning, seeking out the warmth of his skin.

“Deeks?” Kensi said, and he realized he’d been silent for too long.

“It’s a girl.” He grabbed one of the blankets, quickly swaddling the baby, and held her up. Kensi made a soft sobbing sound, reaching out to brush her fingers over the baby’s head.

“She’s perfect,” she whispered, then winced again. “I think it’s time for round two.”

Deeks set the first baby to the side, securing her in a second towel, and set her in the sink of all places, then returned to Kensi’s side.

The second baby, a boy who was equally as tiny, came even faster, taking just a few short pushes, which was good since Kensi’s legs were trembling with the effort of standing. As soon as he’d ensured the baby boy’s mouth and nose were clear and he was breathing, Deeks helped her to the floor.

She brushed a handful of damp hair out of her eyes, reaching for the baby boy. Deeks cradled the other baby, gently wiping away the fluid and vernix. He gave a soft whimpering cry, burrowing his little face into Deeks’ hand.

“Oh, he’s beautiful.” He’d never heard such awe in Kensi’s voice before.

Deeks carefully placed the other baby in her arm, tears forming in his eyes, as he looked down at them all.

“They both are,” he said, slightly dazed now that it was over. Kensi nodded slightly in agreement, kissing each baby’s head.

“I can’t believe I just did that,” she whispered, sounding just as stunned as Deeks felt. “We just delivered our twins all by ourselves.”

“It’s insane,” Deeks agreed with a slightly hysterical laugh.

“Thank you for being her with me.”

“Like I’d be anywhere else. Besides, you did all the work.” And he was in complete awe of her.

“I’d never have been able to do it without you,” Kensi insisted. She leaned forward, waiting for Deeks to meet her halfway, catching the corner of his mouth with her lips. When she pulled back, she look back down at the babies. “Look at what we made.”

“Pretty freaking amazing,” Deeks said, cupping the back of a tiny head.

***

A/N: I don’t think Kensi and Deeks actually have a spare bedroom, but we’re not going to make them go through the ordeal of moving to a larger place just now.

And yes, I realize certain aspects of this scenario are slightly unrealistic. But, I know that it is quite possible to have a baby that quickly. A relative of mine had to unexpectedly help his wife deliver their baby at home in a similar situation.

Also, it’s quite tricky figuring out what to do with a baby still attached to an umbilical cord, when there’s another baby on the way and there’s no one to hold said first baby.

Small part three to follow.

[twentyfivemiceinatrenchcoat]

kenjaku is genuinely so creepy and i think that’s one of the reason why i love him SOOO much !! ive always had a liking towards characters who are insanely messed up and grotesque and kenny is like the perfect example of that. hes gross like — actually. i think hes a good example of how genuinely fucked up jjk is, and as much as people hate him i think he’s such an amazing character. gege’s dark writing when it comes to him and sukuna is so IWHSHSBSHEWJW !! sukuna being a cannibal and his entire thing revolving around cooking is so cool to me. like his entire character circles around things like that. he can use fire which.. cooking! when you cook you can eat! sukuna eats ppl.. his malevolent shrine is just a bunch of slashes which cut you to death and when you cook you’re usually cutting and chopping things.. with kenjaku and the whole pregnancy thing as well.. the womb.. it’s like disturbing and honestly it makes ppl a little sick but i find it so interesting because that kind of writing i LOVELOVEEE SMM!! kenjaku was willing to do the most nasty things just to get his plan to work. he’s such a scum of the earth guy sigh.. that’s why im so SOO happy i found this blog because you also like kenjaku and i can safely talk about my love for him without getting jumped 💔 im really sorry this is so long!! im just really happy it’s a safe spot to talk about these things! i love horror :3

i love kenny 🐑

THIS THIS THIS THIS . GOD. THIS.

i literally love you so much lambnon you worded this perfectly….. i loveeeee horror elements in fiction and i agree that jjk does it so so SO well!!!! sukuna & kenjaku are such great examples because not only are they morally reprehensible in really disgusting ways, they also … feel literally no shame over it. they never try to justify it . morality doesn’t even exist to them, and i think villains like that are sooo fun <33

sukuna’s cannibalism and general thematic ties to food & eating is SO tasty especially since it all goes back to him eating his twin in the womb … it’s like eating is a curse that follows him around but he’s made it into a point of pride. you know? he’s so unabashedly awful and i loveeee that about him…..

AND KENJAKU. i agree on all points!!!! everything!!!!!! he’s soooooo creepy and so eerie and so gross. i find it really funny and fitting that even sukuna thinks of kenjaku as a freak LMAO. which is . extra interesting when you remember that the womb is a special place even to sukuna… and kenny sort of… perverts it. he makes it into his own science lab. it’s so twisted and sickening and tasty because kenjaku doesn’t just impregnate that woman from the kamo clan, he impregnates himself!!!! and i can only imagine that he did it partially just out of worldly curiosity which is….. sooo . him? he’s so insane? 😭

literally nothing is off limits to kenjaku, and that makes him such a fun villain….

^ i think he says it best himself :3c

the womb motif in general is also so . Good… the motherism of it all….. i’m forever bitter that we never got to see his domain in action because the fact that it’s basically a manifestation of a womb realm is soooooo fucking sick oh my god. body horror is so scary to me but also so insanely tasty and the fact that kenjaku’s whole character revolves around it just!!! scratches my brain. no pun intended.

anyway …. this ask made me a little insane. i’m so happy to have you here lambnon!!!! :’3 this blog will always be a safe space for lovers of the grotesque / of kenjaku in general <333 our beloved scum!!!

[elbiotipo]

could you have an equator going on a weird shape like a spiral or the infinity symbol?

In a literal way, no, since by definition the equator is the line that divides a sphere or spheroid in half. But you could get some strange shapes, even in real life.

I'll have to get back to you later on the spiral one, since it's a real interesting one to ponder, as I'm trying to picture how would a "spiral" world would look like. If you read my Flat Worlds or Disc Worlds post, in a (completely fantastical or ultratech setting of course) situation where the source of light are actually orbiting luminaries as in "spotlights", you could make the "sun" travel in a spiral or meandering path, where the most illuminated zones would be tropical and the less illuminated ones be cold, you could have a strange spiral pattern to your climate, though I have NO idea how would that work in a wider plane. Given that a flat world would be made of magic (or ultratech) material to begin with, there is also no real reason why it couldn't be shaped like say, a spiral, an asterisk or a flower instead of a disk, but I don't know how the gravity would work. In a world with so many strange edges, in real life, if it somehow manifested, gravity would try to push it into a disk and later a sphere. If it maintained itself stable, you would find many, many "edges of the world", for more info, see my flat worlds post.

HOWEVER, you might be surprised that toroidal, that is, donught shaped planets are enterily possible under the natural laws of physics:

Both scientists and science fiction authors have studied the possibility, and they have proven that with natural materials like iron and silicon, such a shape could be stable and it could have an stable orbit on itself. You would have an inner and outer "equator" (not sure of the right terminology) and there have been some speculations on how climate and such would work. I'm too busy to look for them right now, but I will try to make a mini-post on them.

The thing, of course, is that it's highly unlikely if not impossible that such worlds would form naturally (though an artificial one would behave exactly like a natural spherical planet). There are some possible toroid systems of planet formations but it's all speculative. However, the universe is so absurdly large that I'm very willing to bet that at least one exists naturally somewhere.

Now, I know what you're thinking, could you fuse two of these toroid worlds to make an infinite (or 8) shaped world? How would that work? I'm not a physicist but I'm willing to bet it "wouldn't", at least in a realistic way, and I'm having a hard time to picture how would day and night work there. I have this stupid idea of a sun going up and down in both holes, but that would mean the outer part would be in perpetual darkness, wouldn't it? Still, it's interesting for the noveltly if nothing else.

There is an example of such fused "worlds", Arrokoth, but this one is more of a pack of comets mushed together than an actual planet, it's about 35 km long. I doubt it could happen with larger worlds. Still, interesting.

There could also be some fusiform worlds or egg-shaped worlds, and indeed we HAVE found some like Haumea, as well as twin worlds (Pluto and Charon practically are one, as well as the Earth-Moon system) that could result in odd shapes. I might make a post about these and more strange world shapes in the future; for now, enjoy the flat worlds one!

[kindreddraickin]

VOCABULARY & REFERENCES

so this is an obscure AF hyperfixation of mine & i feel the need to expand on some in-game terms and ideas so that people aren't totally LOST here. without further ado:

THE TWIN WORLDS (STORY):

This is the concept that the entirety of TLJ is founded upon. Long ago, there existed only one world; this world combined logic and magic, but because people are People, chaos was inevitable. Those who were knowledgeable in both realms were practically unstoppable; those under them were made to suffer.

This world was forcibly torn asunder by the Draic-Kin, an all-powerful alien race (consider them Gods). The Draic-Kin split the Earth in two, creating one world of magic and one of logic.

DRAIC-KIN:

The Draic-Kin God-like species of aliens; they are, without a doubt, the most powerful beings on Earth. The Draic-Kin can manifest as dragons, people, anything and anyone they want. Despite their undeniable and immeasurable power, they exist as a peaceful race. Their actions are performed in the best interest of Stark and Arcadia.

April is heavily implied to be a daughter, or perhaps half-daughter, of the White Draic-Kin. Unbeknownst to her, she has plenty of untapped power and potential.

STARK:

A version of Earth that grounds itself in logic. The world around us, right now, is what would be considered "Stark." This is a world in which fantasy is fictionalized; nobody in Stark (Draic-Kin & Vanguard aside) knows that Arcadia even exists.

ARCADIA:

A version of Earth that grounds itself in magic. This version of the world is the physical embodiment of fantasy, containing all sorts of magic. The only limitation is technology, which has been vastly stunted in a world where scientific advancement is impossible. Worth noting; those in Arcadia know of Stark. Magic is what separated the Earth, so those who remained in the realm of magic are able to recognize the divide between worlds.

THE DIVIDE:

A term used to describe the splitting of the Earth (and the "dream world" that exists between realities). Unless you are a shifter, it is impossible to cross the Divide without great effort.

SHIFTER:

A person with the ability to freely cross the Divide, making travel between Stark and Arcadia possible. As of TLJ, April is the strongest living shifter.

THE BALANCE:

An equilibrium between chaos and magic; the Balance refers to the balancing act performed by the Guardian, keeping both realms safe and separate. Those in Arcadia cherish this Balance and celebrate it, whereas those in Stark are completely unaware of it.

THE GUARDIAN:

A person who protects the Balance between Stark and Arcadia. Without a Guardian, the worlds will chaotically intertwine; if neither world is ready to reunite, then they will both fall. This predicament prompts April's journey.

THE GUARDIAN'S REALM:

A "realm" out of reach from both Stark and Arcadia; this is where Guardians reside during their reign over the Balance.

THE SENTINEL:

A sacred group founded by the Draic-Kin to watch over the Balance. This group consisted of six members from each world; after the split, these twelve existed to be secret supervisors. They are the ones who ensure that the next Guardian takes their rightful place in the realm and ensure that the Balance is in check.

THE VANGUARD (CHURCH OF VOLTEC):

The Vanguard (operating as the Church of Voltec in Stark) is a breakaway faction of the Sentinel with radical beliefs. The Vanguard believes that the worlds should again be intertwined, not taking into account that neither worlds are ready.

THE COLONIES:

This refers to the Moon colonies of the future; these are advertised as paradise with free housing, when in reality, those who become part of the colonies are essentially slaves.

THE COLLAPSE:

A mysterious event that occurred in August of 2209, witnessed by everyone in Stark. This event is cryptically referred to in every entry, but it's implied that it had something to do with magic seeping into Stark or a widespread, irreparable technological failure. Many of humanity's biggest technological advances suddenly shut down, leaving those in its wake forever changed.

RAPTURES / AMATHIN:

A drug of the 2200's; Amathin is a mass-produced and commercialized drug that "makes dreams feel real." They are peddled off shamelessly, resulting in a number of addicts around the world.

CROW / CROWBOY:

Crowboy is April's favorite cartoon; the main character, Crowboy, was a cowboy AND a crow. He sported the classic cowboy get-up and rode on an albatross named "Ol' Whitey." Crowboy was April's hero when she was a kid, and later in life, she named a friend of hers after him. Crow, her comic relief sidekick, isn't named after his avian counterpart in Stark; he's instead named after Crowboy. In Dreamfall Chapters, we actually get a look at this beloved boy:

He's popular enough to be a map guide. We love you, Crowboy.

[freedfromthegalactichivemind]

The Obsolete Clone

She-Ra fanfiction Entrapdak Entrapdak Mini-Month Rated G Prompt / Theme - Day 7 - Obsolete  Summary:  

“Do you know why you have been called before me, HR 354?” “Yes, I do,” “Do you deny your designation?! What is your designation, HR 354?” “My designation is that of a general, Lord Prime.” "Are you not aware that the designation of ‘general’ is obsolete?” _________________________________

The Obsolete Clone

“Do you know why you have been called before me, HR 354?” Horde Prime’s voice was deep.  It was the kind of voice that could beckon one into an eternal sleep.  It was calm, measured.  It was also a voice that promised nightmares. Clones stood at either side of a long table and guarding the enormous double-doors in the Reckoning Room. Horde Prime was nothing if not dramatic. He seldom used this room on the flagship.  It existed only for the gravest of pronouncements.   The Emperor of the Known Universe stood tall at an ornate podium bedecked in the silver bat-wings that were his personal sigil.   “Yes, I do,” the clone that had been addressed as HR 354 answered, trying to hide a tremor in his voice.   This clone differed from the others. Horde Prime’s men all had radioactive-green eyes and carefully trimmed slicks of pure white hair.  HR 354 had brilliant red eyes – a warning of his inborn defect having manifested, and dark blue hair.  The hair was an act of willfulness, from a colorant he’d picked up on a world he’d been stationed on.   He was small against the high walls of the cavernous room.   “Do you deny your designation?!”  Horde Prime demanded.  “What is your designation, HR 354?” “My designation is that of a general, Lord Prime.”   Horde Prime slammed his hands down on his podium and carefully surveyed his other clones that were present.  “A GENERAL!  Are you not aware that the designation of ‘general’ is obsolete?”   “My designation is that of a general.  I cannot recant it.  It is the way you have made me.” “It appears you have grown willful, HR354,” Prime intoned.  “You insist upon non-uniform hair.”   “Dark coloration is intimidating to certain species.  It aids in my occupation as your general.” Horde Prime squinted all four of his eyes and grit his teeth.  “You have been declared obsolete!” HR 354 winced and pinned back his ears. He hissed through clenched teeth that were as red as his eyes.   “You are aware of what this entails, aren’t you?” Prime asked cloyingly.   “Yes,” HR 354 answered.   “You will report to the front lines for a final mission.  You will die in my name.  I cannot keep any near me that are obsolete.”   _______ *Snort!* Hordak awakened with a start.  He was tangled up in a blanket and entrapped in long strands of purple hair upon a couch.  A television played in the room – black and white images on a square screen housed in something resembling a large block.  Twisted twin antennae protruded from its top.  It was a long-obsolete thing that, nonetheless had proven to have the best sensors for picking up certain broadcasts from space and for playing them in their originally-intended format. A small body shifted against his. Entrapta mumbled.  “We fell asleep.  Must have missed the last episode of the marathon.” “Don’t worry about it,” Hordak said softly. He curled a lazy, bone-gapped arm around her.  Of late, Entrapta had been obsessed with broadcasts from other planets – radio and tele-visual waves that traversed space.  She’d even discovered broadcasts from other dimensions.  She’d been recovering old technologies – lost technologies – and rebuilding things that were long obsolete in order to harvest the ancient broadcasts to play them “authentically.”   Entrapta had coaxed Hordak to relax on the couch without his armor and to join her in watching a “marathon” broadcast of a show that was in the “science-fiction” and “horror” genres from a distant world.  The stories were fictional, but told them a lot about a culture’s hopes and fears.   Entrapta yawned and so did Hordak.   “Ah…the episode where the neighbors are fighting over a bomb-shelter,” he observed upon giving the ancient brick of a television a look.  It was one of several episodes of this show that he’d seen before.   “I think you nodded off during one of my favorites,” she said.   “That one…” Hordak shook his ears, trying to get rid of the memory of a dream – one that had been more of a memory than a dream, in truth.   “I believe that one hit rather close to my hearts,” he sighed.   “Don’t worry about it,” Entrapta said, snuggling into his chest.  “Just remember that you are a person and that no person is obsolete.” “Hmmm.  And if I was?” “I love old tech. And quirky old things. You know that.”   Hordak smiled.   “When does the episode about the all-powerful, pitiless child come on?” “Doesn’t that one hit close to your hearts, too?” “It terrifies me, but I feel like with the fiction, I can deal with certain fears.” “I don’t know. Anyway, let’s keep watching. You’re comfortable.”  

[properlyprimal]

A missive for the future Signora

Buonagiornata Signora Once Locatelli now cosmically christened Cabrera This missive the First of Epistle Signaling a pensive end to His Cell

Boy Antichrist, made encumbered and forged By tales of abandonment, rejection, and Sorrow, a childhood defiled…deserted Youthful innocence adrift in the sand

Remote existence seemingly unknown Across oceans parallels intersect Mirrored existence made to manifest Between 9's and 7's as March's bride

Trauma, Intent…Wickedness, Lustful Sin Experience echoed; Spiritual Chief Knowledge of us impossible life spin Made to conform in belief of disbelief

Marveled architecture build in defense Lives constructed and chosen in settled sense Happiness silver, compromise golden Never looking and craving - Frozen

Two souls seeking commodity in loss Discreet and bizarre ventures neverendt Abysmal vice and hollow motives Gateway convergence of Two; fateful chance

That which was once lost and forgotten Everything that was conclusively fiction Logic unraveled by obvious truth Unconditional love left to produce

Reality sundered like flesh from the rifle And so would our lives become known herein Ageless bond throughout infinite cycle To gaze upon your soul, and see mine's twin

All To you, Flesh, Mind, and Soul do I pledge To forego anything in pursual Of you, Of Completion, Of Love that's true May My Missive, past intent, come find you

[akajulester]

further thoughts on Higurashi Gou/Sotsu (spoilers for Higurashi and Umineko ep3)

warning: long rant incoming haha

I think my two biggest problems with these seasons is how they focused way more on the supernatural/magic elements of the When They Cry franchise and less on the original Higurashi’s emphasis on natural explanations, and how the characters were completely devoid of the life they had in the original.

I’ve only just started getting into Umineko and I understand it also leaves a lot of room for a non-magical explanation, but you can’t deny it focuses way more on magic than Higurashi ever did.

The thing I found most interesting when I first watched Higurashi was how the mystery had a very human and realistic explanation. While a mystical divine curse is cool, the whole plot being the result of a human character taking advantage of a fictional parasite and medicine to essentially create the mystical divine curse is far more compelling - the audience is allowed to piece together the mystery along with the characters and isn’t shut down by “a wizard did it.”

And that isn’t to say Higurashi is completely devoid of magic or the divine. Hanyuu is some kind of mystical deity who gave Rika a supernatural power (looping) and is able to manifest in the real world and directly affect the course of events (such as making Takano miss her shot). Higurashi is just a perfect blend of supernatural and more realistic storytelling.

Gou and Sotsu, on the other hand, went much harder on the supernatural/magic aspect seen in Umineko. Not only is it a worse magic vs human mystery than Umineko, it’s just completely different from what Higurashi is at its core. The complex, interweaving mystery that at first seems unsolvable but later makes sense was replaced with a much simpler “whodunnit” where the answers were obvious, especially after Satoko was revealed to be the second looper. The introduction of straight-up magic and powerful witch entities dumbs down the story, in a sense.

To be fair, Gou and Sotsu do have a human explanation as well, specifically in the vein of the human explanations seen in Umineko. Just as Eva-Beatrice in Episode 3 can be interpreted as a personification of Eva going crazy and murdering her family, Rika and Satoko’s big magical-girl fight could be interpreted as a metaphor for their fight. However, this rings a little hollow when the last episode essentially says “nah, they definitely turned into Bernkastel and Lambdadelta.” It feels like there’s almost no room for a true human explanation.

The other thing I found most compelling about Higurashi is the characters, more specifically how they interacted with each other and felt like very real people. I want to read the sound novels at some point mainly because I’ve heard the anime didn’t fully do the characters justice by cutting out small but important moments. Mion and Shion especially were amazing, their dynamic as twins was probably one of the best I’ve ever seen in storytelling. Also, the main message of Higurashi is literally about the power of friendship, and it portrays it in such an amazing way you forget the sentiment is a bit cheesy.

And yet, Gou/Sotsu ignored every single character who wasn’t Rika or Satoko (except maybe Hanyuu and Eua). While I can understand the decision to focus on them since the only point of the show was apparently to set up Bernkastel and Lambdadelta, it actually makes them feel more hollow and lifeless, to me at least.

Keiichi’s lack of presence was especially baffling in this regard. He was arguably the main reason Rika was able to break out of the loops at all, as he helped inspire her with the idea a miracle could happen if their entire group of friends worked together. And with Satoko, he became her big brother figure! The fact that Gou/Sotsu not only push their relationship off to the wayside but also have Satoko get Keiichi murdered in horrifically brutal ways AND purposely inject him with Hinamizawa Syndrome without any shred of remorse or guilt is disgusting. Are you seriously telling me Satoko had a massive internal struggle over taking advantage of Teppei (y’know, the guy who abused her and her brother and severely traumatized them), but felt absolutely nothing over torturing Keiichi, the boy who she knows has fought to save her from said abusive uncle in multiple worlds and would literally kill for her??? Wtf???

The same thing goes for the almost non-existence of Shion in Gou/Sotsu. Shion also has a very strong relationship with Satoko (except for the worlds where she goes crazy and brutally murders her lmao) and has ALSO threatened to kill that abusive uncle for hurting Satoko, something Satoko would know full well after watching all of Rika’s loops. It’s reasonable Satoko would have more ambiguous feelings about Shion (since, again, Shion has killed her in Watanagashi arcs), but I find it bizarre she would be this willing to brutally murder, torture, and directly cause events leading others to murder/torture her surrogate big sister and surrogate big brother.

The whole story in general is baffling when you consider Satoko’s character. Are we seriously supposed to believe her drifting apart from a close friend is somehow more traumatic to her than the isolation and exclusion she experienced from her entire town and the literal abuse she went through from her aunt and uncle? You can’t even really use the “oh the town didn’t actually want to persecute her family tho” argument because that doesn’t negate Satoko’s experience of living through it. It’s especially dumb when you consider Gou/Sotsu somehow make Satoko’s argument “I don’t wanna study waaahhhhh” as if it makes any sense when you know these characters.

Don’t even get me started on how nobody even reacts to Satoko’s bullshit. The original Higurashi had characters sometimes remember past arcs/worlds, and Gou explicitly stated Satoko’s loops meant characters would remember even more. And yet, all that happens is Takano and Teppei reforming. What??? I expected the ending to involve Keiichi, Rena, Mion, and Shion realizing what Satoko had done to them and getting rightfully angry with Rika over what Satoko did to all of them. The show should’ve ended with the group cutting her off for being so fucking awful to them. Jfc...

In the end, I think Gou was fine and Tatariakashi-hen in Sotsu was cool, but this show just felt so empty compared to the original Higurashi and Umineko. Both stories are focused on the CHARACTERS, and while there are main characters in both who get more focus than the rest of the cast, every single character’s interactions with each other are vital to what makes their stories compelling. Dropping all of that to hone in on 2 specific characters actually robs even those characters of their depth and vividness.

[marvelyningreen]

Aftershocks - Night 2

Night 1 | Night 2 | Night 3 | (deleted scene)

[Summary: Peter Maximoff is an unflappable sorta guy. He’d never let anything get to him before, and this recent misadventure will be no different. ...Right?

Warnings: mild language, alcohol use, references to injury & false imprisonment, general trauma-related angst

Notes: Peter Maximoff x reader, of the established relationship variety. A ‘what if Fietro really was Peter?’ scenario. Same continuity/reader character from Linger and Late-bloomer. ]

On the second night, Kurt and Jubilee organize a party. It’s sort of a ‘welcome back’ for Peter, and a ‘welcome in general’ for Wanda and the twins.

It’s awfully sweet of them. And you’re impressed that they’ve managed to order in enough food for everyone on such short notice.

Peter had been busy for most of the day. He’d volunteered to help the professor and continue playing tour guide for Wanda and the kids. You’d offered to help, too, but Peter insisted that you should take it easy. He’s probably right, much as you’d hated to admit it. There’s no way you could’ve kept up with him and two energetic kids.

And that’s how you ended up spending the most of the morning in the lab with Hank.

In true Hank fashion, he had tons of questions, and you did your best to answer them. There are still quite a few things you don’t fully understand yourself.

The revelation that other realities exist is wild to begin with. A world where mutants don’t exist but magic does sounds like a work of fiction. And then there’s the fact that Wanda’s from someplace called ‘Sokovia?’ As far as you and Hank could figure, that country has never existed in your world.

Hank’s scientific curiosity was focused on trying to wrap his head around how Wanda’s powers worked, and how they could’ve caused Captain Rambeau to spontaneously develop powers of her own. You weren’t able to be much help there, but once Hank gets himself hypothesizing, he could talk for hours with no input from anyone else.

Eventually, you brought up your concerns about Peter and his odd lapses in memory. Hank’s brows furrowed pensively as he listened.

“Well, I can tell you there’s nothing physically wrong with Peter,” he said. “I could ask him to let me examine him again, but if the issue isn’t a physical one, that might just make things worse. If you’re really worried about him, my advice is to talk to Charles.”

You sighed. “And he’s busy showing Wanda around.”

Which was exactly where Peter would be, so no chance to talk to the professor without him noticing. Hank stood up, patting your shoulder.

“Listen, I know I’m not great company when I’m focused on work,” he said, “But you’re welcome to stay here while you wait.”

“Thanks,” you said. “I think I’ll take you up on that.”

You’d actually spent a lot of time down in the lab since your reality warping abilities had fully manifested. Hank was fascinated by getting to witness them in person, and the fact that you’d used them to save his life probably had something to do with it.

You leaned back in your chair, stretching out your injured leg a little. It didn’t take Hank long to get so immersed in his work that he started thinking aloud to himself, trying to work out some complicated chemical reaction.

Your thoughts drifted back to Peter. He’d seemed distracted that morning, almost distant. You tried to think what caused it – if something had happened, or even if there was something you’d said…? But you couldn’t think of anything.

Maybe it’d had something to do with his dream. But no, he said he didn’t remember it. Maybe – and you were grasping at straws by this point – he was embarrassed that you’d seen it? That could be. Peter was a pretty open guy, and you hadn’t thought that machismo was one of his faults, but it’s a possibility.

Oh. Oh, damn it all – you’d done it again. You weren’t sure when your eyes had closed, or when you’d leaned your head back against the chair. Hank was still talking to himself-

Only no, he wasn’t. There was a second voice answering him now. Upon lifting your head, you noticed that Hank’s jacket was folded under it as a makeshift pillow. You blinked in the brightness of the lab, looking around to see where the conversation was coming from.

Hank and the professor broke off as they noticed you stirring. Hank smiled apologetically.

“I didn’t want to wake you,” he explained. “You looked so tired. I figured you could use the rest.”

“Apparently I did. Sorry about that,” you said, sitting up straight in the chair again. “What time is it?”

“Just after noon,” said the professor. “We decided to break for lunch, so Peter’s showing them the kitchens. Now, Hank tells me that something’s troubling you.”

“It’s Peter, sir,” you said. You went over everything once more – the diminishing memories of Westview, the nightmare. “Maybe I’m making a big deal out of nothing, but… I don’t know. What if something that witch did is still affecting him?”

The professor had listened carefully while you spoke. You thought that he looked a little concerned, but you might’ve imagined it, because when you finished, he smiled.

“Thank you for coming to me with this,” he said, “But I have a feeling you’re not going to like my answer.”

You grimaced. “You’re going to tell me to wait and see, aren’t you.”

You’re well aware that this was the sort of thing the professor said when he was being evasive. He laughed.

“You’re a quick learner,” he said. “I will tell you that I truly believe Peter will be fine. If anything changes or worsens, don’t hesitate to bring it to my attention. But until that time, I’m leaving him in your care. I know I can rely on you.”

You gaze drifted to the floor, and you frowned slightly. Of course the professor could count on you to look after Peter. But how on earth were you supposed to help if you don’t know what’s going on?

If Peter had been physically hurt, that’s something you could fix. You were out of your depth here. Useless. Just like old times.

“None of that, if you please,” said the professor, in response to your thoughts. “Do you think I’d be leaving this in your hands if I didn’t think you were up to the task? Now, I’ve already told Peter that, as of today, he’s taking some mandatory time off, and the same goes for you. No missions for a while. You’re to get some rest and look after yourself. Understood?”

That surprised you. But before you could attempt to get anything more out of the professor, the door opened to admit Peter and the other Maximoffs. Peter’s face brightened as he caught sight of you.

“I figured you’d be down here,” he said. “And I also figured you probably didn’t eat lunch yet. Was I right? Yeah, I thought so. Which is why I brought lunch to you.”

“You know the rules,” Hank interrupted. “No food in the lab, Peter.”

Peter grinned, rolling his eyes, as he helped you to your feet.

“Alright, alright – we’re going,” he said.

Saying that you looked like you could use some daylight, Peter led you out of the lab to find somewhere to eat your lunch. He seemed cheerful and normal enough, and not, y’know, like he was avoiding you or something. You started to wonder if maybe you really were imagining things.

It was easy enough not to bring up the inconclusive conversation you’d had with the professor. The twins were bursting to tell somebody that there was going to be a party, and that it was gonna be their first party ever.

So far, it seems to be going well. The twins are already making friends among the younger students. Wanda still seems a little reserved – understandably – but the professor sticks close to her to make introductions and keep her company.

You’d like a chance to talk to her yourself, but maybe now isn’t the time. A party can be something of an overwhelming environment, especially now that you’ve been informed that you’re actually one of the guests of honor.

You probably should’ve seen this coming. You’re the one who took on a solo rescue mission, after all. Kurt sheepishly admits that they purposefully hadn’t told you that part because they figured you wouldn’t come if you knew. He is correct.

But Peter’s in his element as the life of the party – and he’s tipsy almost instantly. It’s one of the quirks of his mutant metabolism; alcohol hits him fast. Fortunately, drunk Peter is just an amped-up version of his usual cheerful and chaotic personality. You’re not much of a partier, yourself, so you’re content to enjoy his antics from the sidelines.

Which is what you’re doing when Jubilee sidles up to you.

“Okay, you have to tell me everything,” she says. “I mean, getting to go to another reality? What was it like?”

You laugh. “You’ve gotta be the fifth person to ask me that. Peter was there longer than I was.”

“But Peter doesn’t remember any of it,” she says, “And it’d be rude to ask Wanda a bunch of questions when we’ve only just met, so that leaves you. Now, spill.”

You satisfy Jubilee’s curiosity as best you can, but something she said strikes you as strange. Peter doesn’t remember anything about Westview? That doesn’t seem right.

When Captain Rambeau broke that mind control necklace, Peter didn’t seem confused or anything, just… Well, if you had to describe it, you’d say he looked horrified. And after he made sure that you were okay, the first thing he’d said was that the twins might still be in danger and that you all had to help them.

Then again, he’d let Wanda do all the explaining to the professor and Mr. Lehnsherr. And you’d gotten the rundown from that astrophysicist, Dr. Lewis, after she finished grumbling about being the exposition fairy, whatever that meant.

And Peter lives for being the center of attention. Overlooked and underappreciated for much of his life, a party like this is exactly the sort of validation he craves. If there was a chance for him to tell his story to a rapt audience, he’d jump at it.

So… maybe Peter really doesn’t remember anything. Maybe the whole thing is like a dream for him. The further away from it that he gets, the less clear the memory is.

When the party starts to wind down, the same can’t be said for Peter. Just as you’re trying to work out how on earth you’re going to corral him, Logan catches your eye.

“Don’t worry. I’ll get him,” he says.

You grin. “I thought you said that he’s my problem now.”

“He is. But that knee’s not gonna help you carry his ass upstairs.” Logan drains the last of his drink and calls across the room. “Alright, kid! Time to pack it in!”

Peter waves, takes an unsteady step towards you, and manages to run smack into Logan a split second later. Logan shoots you an exasperated look.

“What’d I tell you?” he says.

Logan manages to keep Peter upright as you head upstairs, but keeping him quiet is another thing entirely. Peter spends the entire walk explaining to Logan – in fumbling but earnest detail – all the ways in which you are the most amazing person he has ever met.

When Logan gets a word in edgewise, it’s to inform you that Peter’s been doing this all evening to anybody who would listen, and even to the people who wouldn’t. You’re honestly not sure if you feel more flattered or mortified.

At long last, you reach Peter’s door, and Logan props him up against the doorframe.

“Alright, he’s officially your problem again,” he says. “Goodnight.”

“G’night, old-timer!” Peter calls, waving off your attempts to shush him. “It’s fine. Don’t worry about it. I’ll be as quiet as a mouse.”

He opens the door and nearly tumbles back into the room. He catches himself, clearing his throat as he straightens up.

“I meant to do that,” he says.

You shake your head, trying to bit back a grin. Once the door is closed behind you, you steer Peter towards the bed and sit him down. He takes hold of your hands.

“Listen. Listen. I have to tell you something.” He struggles to turn his bleary expression serious. “I love you, so much. You just… I love you, okay?”

Is it wrong that you find this slurred profession of love incredibly heartwarming? You smile at Peter, leaning down to kiss him.

“I know,” you say softly. “I love you, too. But you gotta get some sleep now, okay?”

Peter nods, frowning slightly for some reason.

“I know, I know,” he says.

He flops back onto the bed, mumbling something that might be lyrics to a song. And by the time you get his shoes off, he’s conked out completely.

After setting Peter’s shoes aside, you sit down on the sofa again. You know he’s fine. Sure, he’s drunk, but he’s not that drunk. But what if he needs something? Or what if he has another nightmare?

You know you shouldn’t dwell on everything, but once you start thinking about it, you find you can’t stop. You wonder what it was like for Peter, being dragged from this reality into another, having his personality forcibly rewritten.

If your experience had been unpleasant, how much worse must it have been for him?

The second you’d stepped into Westview, you were nearly overwhelmed. Some unknown power seemed to be forcing a name – not your own – onto you like a shackle around your neck. A thousand memories of a life you hadn’t lived flooded your mind. More alarming still, Peter was present in many of them. You had no idea if what you were seeing was the past, or the future, or something else entirely.

And underneath it all was a crushing, all-encompassing feeling of utter despair. It threatened to swallow you whole, and it seemed pointless to fight it.

And then – a calm, familiar presence in your mind. You remembered turning back, seeing the professor’s face as he watched you enter the portal. Suddenly, the onslaught lifted, and you were simply yourself again.

Also, you’d apparently collapsed at some point, because you were laying on the pavement with a tall blond stranger leaning over you.

He was the only person who seemed at all concerned that you’d just fainted in the middle of the street. He said his name was Vision. You introduced yourself as Ace. It was close enough to your codename that you’d remember it, and the professor had cautioned you against saying too much about where you’d come from.

But Vision seemed to recognize that there was something different about you, that you’d come from outside Westview. He was worried about his children, and his wife, and the rest of the citizens. You explained that you didn’t know what had happened to the town, and that you’d come looking for a missing friend.

You’d just agreed to try to help each other when reality seemed to bend around you, and suddenly you were sitting in a diner finishing a cup of coffee, and Vision was nowhere in sight.

The next time you saw him, the spell was ending, and he disappeared. You wish you could’ve gotten the chance to get to know him better. He seemed like a good man.

You try to put that from your mind. It’s just gonna make you sad again if you think about it for too long.

Instead, you glance over at Peter. He seems to be sleeping soundly, which is good.

But memories of Westview aren’t done with you yet.

You’ve had nightmares before about people you know acting in ways that were frighteningly unlike them. And even knowing it was all just a dream, you always felt a little uneasy the next time you’d see them. It’s the same way you feel watching Peter now.

That’s not fair; you know it isn’t. And maybe out of context, it’d sound strange to get worked up about it. But to have the person you love – the person who loves you – treat you with indifference, and get cruel enjoyment out of your pain?

That’s the stuff of nightmares.

Enough of that. You give your head a shake, like that’ll clear your thoughts somehow. It wasn’t Peter. It was the witch that was controlling him, forcing him to do all those things. You know this. It’s just lucky he hadn’t been forced to really hurt anyone.

It’s over, and Peter doesn’t remember what it was like, and that’s probably for the best.

Still, as you watch him sleep, you find yourself so badly wanting to hold him that it almost makes your chest ache. Peter hasn’t just been distant emotionally since Westview.

Since you’d started dating, Peter was a source of constant casual physical affection. Whenever you were together, he’d always have his arm around you, or be holding your hand, or sit close enough that his leg was pressed against yours. You hadn’t realized how much you’d gotten used to it – grown to expect it, even – until it’s suddenly absent.

Having be so withdrawn from you now, well… It hurts, if you’re being honest, especially since you don’t know why, and you don’t know how to help.

But there’s nothing you can do about it at this moment. And, since Peter doesn’t look to be having any more nightmares, it’s probably time for you to go. You ease yourself onto your feet, just now noticing how stiff your knee has gotten after standing around all evening at the party.

You limp as quietly as you can towards the door – and proceed to trip over Peter’s shoes.

You yelp in pain as your knee twists and you go crashing to the floor. You grit your teeth, trying not to swear.

And suddenly the lights are on in the room, and Peter’s kneeling beside you.

“What happened?” he asks. “Are you okay?”

That’s right. As fast as Peter gets drunk, he sobers up just as quickly. He looks present and alert at the moment, if a little worried.

“I tripped over the damn shoes,” you answer. “I’m fine, I think. I just-”

You break off, wincing, as you try to straighten out your leg. Damn it. Is it possible to double-sprain something? Because that’s what it feels like.

“Hang on,” says Peter. “Let me help.”

He doesn’t take your hands and help you stand up, like you’re expecting. Instead, he loops your arm around his shoulders and scoops you up bridal-style. The fact that he doesn’t use his superspeed almost disorients you more than if he had.

At a normal pace, he walks back and sets you down not on the sofa, but on his bed. He blurs for just a second, but that’s only to stack up his pillows to give you something to lean against.

As you gingerly straighten out your leg, Peter reaches out – to try to help, you suppose – then lets his hands fall in his lap.

“Thanks,” you say.

Peter frowns worriedly. “Can’t you do the…?”

He makes a gesture like he’s laying on hands or something, which confuses you for a second before you catch his meaning.

“Oh, I can’t do the healing stuff on myself,” you say. “Or at least I don’t know how yet. I gotta heal the old-fashioned way.”

You give him a wry smile. It could be worse, after all. You could’ve actually broken something. Peter doesn’t seem very reassured.

“I should get Hank,” he says.

“No, don’t!” you say as quickly as you can. “It’s not that bad. I’ll go to him in the morning, if I need to.”

No sense in dragging the poor man out of bed if it’s not an emergency. Unconvinced, Peter bites his lip.

“If you’re sure,” he says reluctantly, “But… Don’t move, okay? I’m gonna get you some ice.”

He’s gone. And then he’s back, holding a couple icepacks and a towel. You reach down to take the knee-brace off, but Peter swats your hands away. Why on earth-?

“Would you stop that?” he says, perching on the edge of the bed. “I’m trying to nurse you back to health here.”

You laugh in spite of yourself. “Always the romantic.”

“Yeah, well, that’s why you like me.”

He’s not wrong. Peter flashes you a grin, and it’s so cheerful and unguarded and normal that it’s startling. This boy is gonna give you whiplash yet; you’re sure of it.

But then he looks down again to focus on the task at hand. He’s extraordinarily gentle as he undoes the brace and settles the icepacks on and around your knee. You want to turn his face towards you and kiss him, but you don’t. He must have some reason for keeping his distance.

As he’s finishing up, he finally speaks.

“I’m… I’m kinda afraid to ask, honestly, but how did you get hurt? It wasn’t- I mean,” Peter exhales forcefully, and hesitates before asking: “Was it me?”

His big, dark eyes meet yours, and the distress in his face nearly breaks your heart.

“What? No! Of course it wasn’t you,” you say.

Peter seems to relax a little, but still has that troubled look in his eyes. He really doesn’t remember, does he? You did get into a scuffle with him while he was still under mind control, and he had ended up knocking you down, but it hadn’t hurt you any more than tripping on the sidewalk would’ve. Also… this doesn’t seem like the right time to mention that part of the story. You hurry to explain.

“It was that witch – Agnes, or Agatha, or whatever her name is,” you say. “She couldn’t send me back, and she couldn’t get in my head, so she dumped me in the Westview Hospital psych ward.”

Peter’s jaw drops. “She what?”

“I mean, it wasn’t like a horror story hospital or anything,” you clarify. “It was actually a pretty nice place, aside from the fact that they wouldn’t let me leave because they thought I was dissociating and suffering from delusions. Which is exactly what what’s-her-name was counting on.”

Peter nods slowly, evidently more confused and no less concerned. “Okay… that explains where you were, but it doesn’t explain how you got hurt.”

“Oh, right. When I wasn’t able to talk my way out, I had to use my powers to get a window open. Only…” you wince at the memory. “My powers didn’t fully work in Westview, and the window was on the second floor. So when I jumped out of it, gravity did exactly what it’s supposed to do.”

Peter presses a hand to his mouth. Okay, this explanation is clearly making things worse.

“And then – okay, this isn’t funny, but it’s kinda funny. It was suddenly Halloween, so the streets were all covered in people and I had to hide, so I crawled into somebody’s hedges. Problem is, they spotted me and came over to see what was going on. So I told them,” you snort involuntarily just remembering it, “I told them that I was dressed up as a zombie, but it’s okay, I’m hiding in their hedge because I’m a method actor. And somehow, they bought it.”

You end your rambling with an awkward laugh, but it dies almost immediately. The anecdote didn’t mollify Peter even a little bit. Maybe you should’ve mentioned the part where you had to steal clothes off a scarecrow? … No, that probably wouldn’t have helped either.

Brows furrowed, eyes still troubled, he stares down at his hands. “You could’ve gone back. Why didn’t you go back?”

“Peter, I went to Westview to bring you home,” you say. “I wasn’t going to leave you behind.”

Although, now that he mentions it, going back for reinforcements probably would’ve been the smart thing to do. It honestly never occurred to you at the time. You were so focused on rescuing Peter that you couldn’t think of anything else.

For someone who allegedly doesn’t remember anything, Peter looks awfully distressed.

“Peter…?” you say, softly, “Are you alright?”

Before he can answer, you shiver violently, startling yourself as much as Peter, and completely breaking the moment.

“Sorry,” you say. “It’s the icepacks. I should probably get going soon, since I’m already cold.”

Peter blinks, and suddenly the shadow seems to lift from his mood. He’s bright and brisk again, taking the icepacks off of your knee.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” he says. “You’re not gonna go limping around in the cold in the middle of the night. You’ll end up getting sick on top of everything. You can stay here. No, don’t get up. I’ll crash on the couch this time.”

He’s really taking this ‘nurse you back to health’ thing seriously, isn’t he? Even if he’s just playing at it, it’s still kinda sweet. You can’t help but smile a little.

“How very Jane Austen of you,” you say.

Peter snorts. “That’s gotta be the nerdiest compliment anyone’s ever given me. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

As he finishes setting aside the icepacks, he turns back to face you.

“Now,” he says, “Is there anything else you need?”

Half-smiling, he looks at you with those big dark eyes, and you can’t help yourself. You lean forward, wrapping your arms around him and pulling him into a crushing embrace. You know it might make you look clingy, but you don’t care.

You’re fully prepared to pull away just as fast, but Peter’s arms fold around you almost instantly. He nestles his cheek against your head, gently stroking your hair.

“It’s okay,” he murmurs. “It’s okay.”

When you finally do pull back, Peter smiles down at you, tilting his head slightly.

“I’m not going anywhere, alright?” he says. “I promise.”

He kisses your forehead, and helps you arrange the pillows and settle in for the night. After extracting a promise that you’ll wake him up if you need something, he retreats to the couch.

The familiar scent of Peter’s cologne lingers reassuringly on his pillows. He’s not going anywhere, you tell yourself. The person who took him is in no position to cause him any more harm.

So why does it feel like part of him is still gone?

[kunstmull]

The Ruins

So I finally finished Matosman’s book, and I have... thoughts.

First off, I overwhelmingly enjoyed it. It was gripping, and intense and so moreish I inhaled the whole thing in 2 or 3 days. It was a Fun Ride, and very much ~Relevant To My Interests~ swinging from music industry machinations to architecture to KOLLAPS to hints of psychogeography and hip namechecking of all the right occult tidbits, and yes, it’s very obvious that this is a man who has watched Performance over 100 times = A++ would read again

But.

My god, it reminds me why I don’t read fiction written by cis men.

There were two female characters, they had important plot points and yes, they (eventually) had a conversation with each other (the conversation was reported rather than detailed so I couldn’t tell you if it was about something other than A Man). But these female characters had no internal lives. One had literally had her voice removed and replaced with a piece of software that stripped her words of emotional content. And the main woman, the Love Interest character - the author made it a feature of her, that she had no internal life - SPOILERS - that she described the way she felt she literally only existed when other people (all men - boyfriend, son) were looking at her. And the way she repeatedly asked the narrator, “What’s it like, for you men, to ::have an internal life::?”

A charitable interpretation was that this was lampshading, but it felt too much like the trope itself, rather than lampshading the trope. You cannot tell if it’s just the character, or the author himself that believes that women do not have interior lives / creative urges / escapist worlds, and that annoyed me. (Even more annoying, because Suede’s main lyricist is so good at capturing women’s internal lives!)

Other than that...

The worldbuilding was fun. The insights into the music industry were wonderful, and it really showed that it was a book about musicians written by a musician, who actually understood everything from ‘how backstage passes work’ to ‘the recording process’ to the internal wranglings of bands and their weird jealousies and rivalries that can both fuel and tear apart the creative process. That was amazing.

Because of their names, it was so, sooo hard not to read the rival musicians as Br*** And***on and D***on and I can only presume the mirroring of their names as intentional? (And an absolutely hilarious dig at the thieving mockney who has made a career out of sucking the marrow out of more creative artists. Come on!)

But is Brandon really Brett Anderson? Nah, mate. I think he’s someone else - I think he’s much more Brat, the made-up creation where Mat used to pose as Brett in interviews and do exaggeratedly over the top satire of the media image of the kinds of outrageous things that ‘Brett Anderson’ was supposed to say or do.

The identical twin thing is done to death, as a trope, but I thought that the duality of Brandon/Adam was - not just a clever homage to the identity-switching in Performance - but it felt very much like an acknowledgement of the duality of the Rock Star. Something Brett talked about a lot in his own autobiographies - the distance between person and persona. After such a period of almost stratospheric hype, that the members of Suede experienced an almost catastrophic disparity between the cartoons of the ambitious, outrageous, narcissistic, controlling personas, and who they were (or weren’t) at home - shy, fatalistic, failure-stained weirdos living in a dream world? Brett talked about finding himself being two different people at the same time. I think that the Brandon/Adam split was something that made that manifest. All of Suede were turned, by their media baptism by fire, into two people. That idea - that one twin murders the other, and the survivor has to knit both of them back together - that comes from Performance, but it also seems like something that Suede had to do, as human beings once the storm had passed.

Anyway, I found it a fascinating and gripping book, and of course I read too much into it, but isn’t that what shy, dreamy Suede weirdos are supposed to do with this stuff? That Kimi, at the end, literally said, don’t connect the dots, don’t give answers, leave the stuff open to interpretation because that’s what hooks us crazy, obsessive fans... or something...

[averyscarlet-blog]

Project Clypse

Hello there stranger! If you don’t know who I am, or you’re too lazy to read my name, I’m AveryScarlet! You can simply call me Avery or Av. And if you know me on fanfiction.net, mostly through my works Mercury Alchemist or Final Fantasy Versus XV, welcome! Now, for a while now, I’ve been wanting to write up my own original story. Issue with me, thanks to college in the past, I haven’t properly developed the mindset to write a full-blown novel. I’ve gotten so used to typing up a chapter or two in a month before publishing them that I can’t properly focus as an actual writer should.

As much as I want to focus on writing some of my fanfiction, I can’t because I’m focusing on studying for NCLEX. So if you’re waiting for the next chapter for FF Versus XV... It’s almost done! It’s just gonna take a while. But as you can see below, I’ve been working on something else. I’m sure you’re confused as to who these characters are in the chat and why I’m pushing so many out. Well. I’ll tell you. This is my way of practicing for a story I’ve been... REALLY wanting to write for a long time. It doesn’t have a definite name, so I’m calling it Project Clypse. Which partially comes from the group my main characters are in. 

Now, I thought of writing up their character bio’s but..... I’m not really that good at it as I used to be. I used to for when I was active in RP’s but I’m so rusty that I doubt I can keep up with whomever I’m chatting with. So, I’m just summarizing certain details you need to know about them! Not all of it because that'd be spoiling the story of every character. Now, with all that’s said and done, let me start explaining key points of Project Clypse.

Premise/Background

The story is centered on a world called Avarus, which you can say is sort of like Earth, except it was made with someone else's version of life. Or, it used to be. Avarus is one of the few remaining worlds that has an active patron God, who has chosen to go under the alias��Belial. The world was originally created and governed by another, Belial’s younger sister, Soleil. After Avarus’ creation, and the birth of man, she was killed by an unknown assailant. But before she died, she was cursed to experience an endless cycle of death and rebirth into various random worlds. She will live a short mortal life, then die from either natural or unnatural causes.

According to Belial, this curse is bestowed only to Celetials who have performed a dire sin. While there is no definite way to lift the curse, Belial hopes that by locating and retrieving her while she's still alive, or at the very least obtain her soul, then he could find the proper means to spare his sister of her cursed fate and return Avarus's true patron Goddess. Because of her demise, life on the planet started to decay. To prevent its destruction, Belial forced the planet to stop rotating, hoping to delay it long enough for him to find Soleil.

However, there were dire consequences to this act. His actions indirectly causing the world to cease rotating; time became non-existent as a result. This, inevitably, killed off most of the remaining life in the world due to the imbalance of the ecosystem as one half of the planet became stuck in perpetual darkness, and the other being dried up caused prolonged exposure to the sun's light.

The only life that Belial was able to salvage was her sisters creation; humanity. Those that survived after the planet ceased its rotation found themselves unable to age. They can still die, but their bodies will no longer decay. During the first Century since Soleil’s death, the God went through various countermeasures to keep the world and the life still inhabits it safe until he can find his sister.

However, a strange plague began to manifest. Soon, it began to devour most of the remaining populace, creating a dark entity in the process; the Astrals (will explain in a different section). 

While Belial was successful in wiping out the infected, the God realized that he cannot keep the last remnants of humanity safe. Not while there are still Astrals lurking about. So he put them to sleep, sealed them in a place that only he knows. However, because of the sudden absence of time and life, the world began to deconstruct itself each time he departed in search for her in other worlds. Realizing he cannot manage Avarus and search for his sister at the same time, he found an alternative. Since his conception, he had noticed a peculiar type of living being popping up now and then in a variety of sentient species. So he sought them out. 

Eventually, gathered enough to temporarily replace humanity and trick the world itself into thinking life still exists. At first, he gathered adults since he knew nothing can grow in Avarus once they’ve lived in the world for a certain period of time, but because of their attachments to the worlds they originated from, it was difficult to convince them to remain. Then he thought up of another solution, one which he knew his sister would frown upon. Children. With their young minds, they’ll easily forget their place of origin and can be easily trained in the necessary skill in traversing through different worlds. And, after learning that the Astrals have branched out to those said worlds, learn how to handle their sudden enemy. 

Their goal is simple; to locate and, if possible, retrieve Soleil and eradicate the Astrals.

Main Characters

Note: Just in case you did not know... I. Cannot. Draw. As much as it pains me to do this, but I need you guys to have some sort of idea on how they look like. I cannot find the original artists of the artworks; mostly because google imaging is shit and Pinterest tends to... Send you elsewhere. So of you know the artist, please PM me so I can give them credit. If you know they don't want their works republished, I'll remove it and try to figure something out. I take no credit whatsoever on the art! I merely scoured the internet for any references I could use. If you're wondering why I'm not.using actual people... You know how awkward that is?

Anyway, much of these are concepts so expect changes in the future. I tried to discuss as little as possible about each character. And let me tell ya.... That was a lot I had to cut off, so if the explanation is a bit messy, that was from me trying to select what to remove to avoid revealing too much.

. . .

Sound

‘I have to be better. I have to be a better leader. I have to be a better lover. I have to be a better sibling. If I don’t... then I’ll lose everything again. If I must, I’ll sacrifice my identity for a third time if it means protecting them.’

Credits to: T0Q00(?) - Okay, on Pinterest it has the person’s name AND link to their twitter account. The thing is... it’s empty. Their entire page is empty. At least I found the artist’s name?

Also known as the Glutton King, Sound is one of the leaders of his faction, Tunera Clypse and a member of Mythral. He is a first generation Nors. While not as lazy as Noise, he’s not really a fan of getting involved in fights with people. When it comes to killing Astrals; that’s an entirely different story.  

Outwardly, he displays laid back, playful, and very concerning outlandish behavior. And by outlandish, I mean his... eating habits. Sound likes to experiment with his stomach. He’ll do absolutely ANYTHING to eat whatever he deems as edible. He also - absolutely - lacks any sense of shame (ex. walking out of the shower and to his room without a towel, slapping Noise’s butt). Although limited to communicate via writing, he makes sure that every single thing he writes is worth reading. Many are even surprised at just how fast he writes his messages. Then again, after years of practice, it’s expected he’d adapt.

Sound is self-aware of the fact that he’s a fictional character and will randomly break the fourth wall, causing much confusion to his friends several times. While not as dark as his previous self, Fell, he maintains some of his views towards life and tends to be as vocal - via writing - of his previous self's beliefs.

As a Cursed Blood, his curse forces him to conceal his face behind a customized Fox Mask. Depending on the amount of facial skin that was exposed, a person can live up to several minutes to several hours before inflicted with sudden death. If a person were to see the entirety of his face, they will die on the spot from unknown causes. He has a Physical Curse as well, which causes him to inflict a certain degree bad-luck to whoever hears his voice. While it’s rarely anything life-threatening, Sound is forced to become selectively mute. Although he tries his best to remain silent, he tends to accidentally let it a few words or sounds slip. Which usually occurs when he sneezes, and when he does, it is immediately advised by his friends to duck and cover.

After undergoing the Ascension Ceremony, he joined the faction Tunera Clypse and then gave up his original name, becoming the next Sound. Unbeknownst to him, his actions later in life has caused him to unknowingly become the Vessel of Gluttony. It is unknown if his eating habits is the reason he became the vessel or it’s the other way around. Either way, he has shown to be fully capable of controlling the abilities that comes with being a Vessel. Sound merely chooses not to use them.

. . .

Ayane Koronashi

“If my brother had left the orphanage that day without me, I would simply smile. If Ulric presented me his latest girlfriend, I’d smile. Smiling is all I can ever do without being a nuisance. I could never show them my pain. I want to cry but my curse renders me incapable of doing so. But now it’s better. I’m better.”

Also known as the Black Fox. Ayane is the younger twin sister of Sound. Like her twin, she is also a member of Tunera Clypse and Mythral; as well as a first generation Nors. Despite being an active member, unless accompanied by her brother, Ayane is rarely allowed to participate in any scouting or combat-related missions. The main reason for this is her curse. While also a Cursed Blood like her brother and some of their friends, the unnatural causes that led to sudden conversion to a cursed blood caused her condition to be unstable. At the beginning, she was unable to retain her original form and would take the shape of a fox.

After some time and practice, she has learned to maintain most of her former human appearance, leaving only a pair of fox ears to replace her human ears and a tail (not by choice) as an extra ligament. Not only that, some of her internal organs remain similar to that of a fox. Because of this, she is unable to eat certain foods that are potentially poisonous to her (or generally unhealthy). She was told that eventually, if nothing is done, she will permanently take the complete form of a fox. She cannot surgically remove the fox parts as they will simply grow back.

Side-note: No, they did not try or plan to remove her fox ears. The curse replaced her human ears so they cannot remove them without indirectly making her deaf.

Her personality is the somewhat similar to Sound’s, but is far more excitable and outgoing than her brother. Just like a fox, she is clever and witty, which she demonstrates many times during combat. She has a tendencyto steal things without her knowledge. While this isn’t necessarily kleptomania, as objects appear in her hands at random, she still tries get over her childhood habit. She does have a tendency to be reckless, though this is stems from her need to be useful as her curse leaves her unable to perform all of the necessary abilities that is required of a Nors.

Another thing to know is her intense hatred towards cats. Which will be explored at a later time.

As a Cursed Blood, she can take the form of a fox. While the size varies, depending on her emotional state, she is commonly seen to change into the size similar to an elephant. If she performs multiple transformations, she will regress to a regular sized fox and sleep for an extensive period of time. She has been recommended to avoid constantly rely on her full fox form as it will hasten the progression of her curse.

After undergoing the Ascension Ceremony, she followed her brother and joined the same faction as him, but unlike him, did not join as a core member so she did not have to give up her original name. Because of the current state of her body caused by her Cursed Blood, her emotions has unknowingly lead her to become thenext Vessel of Envy.

. . .

Reihana Toelle Ur Kamaria

“Why was I born like this... what did I deserve to be cursed like this!? All I want is to hold someone without fearing I’ll crush them. I can’t be the receiver forever!”

Or Rei for short. Is a member of Mythral and is a second generation Nors. As a floater, Rei rotates between the three factions, but she usually works with Tunera Clypse. Known for her terrifying brute strength, Rei is feared by many and is challenged on a near daily basis. Because of her strength and seemingly indestructible nature, she is (much to her annoyance) sometimes used as a human shield. While she is able to take on an army by herself, Rei tries not to go all out in fear of accidentally killing her allies in the crossfire. In terms of mental maturity, aside from Xavier, she is slightly more competent and is level-headed enough to not participate in childish activities. Most of the time.

Rei prefers to ‘punch first, talk later’ when confronted, though the talking never happens as her opponents is either obliterated or immediately knocked out after one hit. While she can be aggressive at times, she merely acts out on this person's due to the rumors that were spread when word of her curse began to circulate. Those closest to her have witnessed her carefree and adventurous nature. She is also cautious and careful of her surroundings, becoming more thoughtful in the usage of her strength as a result.

As much as she loves the thrill and adrenaline that comes from combat, she prefers not to fight too often. Mostly because it usually leads to unnecessary mass destruction. She craves for proper physical contact, but due to her curse, she forces herself to avoid it as much as possible.

Being the physically oldest, next to Percy, she tends to act like the big sister of the group, which Rei has admitted she finds embarrassing. Still, she works hard in trying to act as moral support for her friends. That doesn’t stop her from losing her temper when a certain line is crossed.

As a Cursed Blood, she is cursed with immeasurable strength. Her strength doubles based on who or whatever is the strongest in a world that she sets foot in. That, of course, excludes Celestial’s as the strength of the divinity is almost non-existent. By default, back in Avarus, her usual strength is enough to crumble an entire building. In other worlds, it depends. To help control and regulate her strength during combat, she uses a large amount of Astral Dust to create form-fitting gauntlets around her lower arm. She was meant to become the Vessel of Wrath but was instead changed to be the candidate for the Vessel of Pride.

. . .

Perseus Vlahos

"I used to believe that being a hero will allow you to cement your place in history. But over time, I learned that the farther in time your name is shared in time, you become nothing more than a mere legend. Or worse, a myth. Stories can be altered, changed. If that’s the case, I’d rather not be remembered at all. I didn’t work this hard just to be written off as a bedtime story.” 

Christened under the name ‘Percy the Naive’ by his best friend, later life-long rival, Wilhelm, he is the current wielder of the legendary sword; Excalibur, and member of Infernum Poncitator. Grandson of Rayner, Percy is one of the few third generation Nors in Avarus. He is a kind young man and is respected amongst his peers (well, most of them) and superiors, so much so that he has been offered the position of leader of the faction. Percy refuses as not only deems himself unworthy, but out of respect for those that have lived in Avarus longer.

He displays many the ideal traits of a knight, eventually becoming viewed as an ideal knight by others. However, deep down, Percy perceives himself as the opposite. He feels he is a dishonorable fraud and is not proud of his status as Excalibur's chosen wielder. If he was given a chance to do it over again, Percy would immediately abandon his decision never search and locate the sword.

After joining Avarus, in a short span of time, Percy was able to easily establish himself as a sort of leader figure within his faction. While serious most of the time, especially during missions, due to his time with other Nors, has displayed a degree of patience and tolerance towards whoever he is assigned. Still, he never forgets their main objective and takes charge if he deems the assigned leader incompetent. Which happens more times than he refuses to count. He tries to maintain a cool head, but will severely reprimand others if the situation calls for it.

Proficient in the ways of the sword, he garnered the attention of (the then Mongrel) Mitchell. He was very reluctant in taking in a squire. But eventually, Percy relented after the younger boy attempted to fight against an Astral and nearly lost his life. He plans to one day pass down Excalibur to Mitchell once he gains the strength to surpass Percy.

At the moment, Percy is the current Vessel of Wrath.

. . .

Noise (***** Rallus)

“I tried all of my life to give my dad a reason why he shouldn't be treating his body the way he did. I tried all of my life to keep my friend in line so I'd never have to be the one to discipline him. And yet... If only I didn't try so hard, they'd still be alive.”

Author’s Note: Yeah I... legit do not know who this belongs to. There’s the artist’s signature so that’s the good thing. Problem is....

After escaping from the confines of his original world, Eingesperrt City, and, with the help Sound, joined Avarus and assumed the title of Noise. Unlike others that were gathered in the past, Noise is a regular human being. Something only Sound knows. Regardless of the danger, he became one of the leaders for Tunera Clypse, later joining Mythral after adapting to his new lifestyle.

He wears one of the Artifacts in order to copy and use only one ability of his choosing. As long as a piece of original user is within the Artifact, Noise can use it for as long as he wants. However, if its been removed and replaced with something else, the previous copied ability cannot be used ever again.

Since his recruitment, Noise adopted an extremely lazy personality. He’s so lazy that somehow even snoring consumes too much energy. To make sure he’s awake most of the time, Sound forced Noise to set up a sleep schedule, so that when he’s ready, he has enough energy to do SOMETHING. However, no matter where he is, he’ll take every opportunity to take a nap. He doesn’t care. As long as he gets to close his eyes, Noise is fine to sleep wherever, even if it involves napping righ at the edge of a volcano.

He’ll get annoyed if anyone that dares try to wake him up and he’ll be in a fowl mood for the rest of the day. The only exception is the fox girl and his lover. Despite this, he displays a certain degree of kindness. It’s just really hard to tell if what he’s doing is truly an act of kindness or he’s just too lazy to do things such as delivering a ‘motivational speech’. He can be blunt when he has to be, and he tends to come off as a jackass rude because of his personality. However, this is his way of showing he cares. Noise will flat out tell you if he dislikes you.

Another thing to know about him is his crude sense of humor. Combined with his blunt and rude nature towards people, mostly acquaintances and strangers, it always leads to various... Misunderstandings. Worst case scenario? A fight. He'd improve if he could, but he won't.

Look, if you haven't figure out that he's lazy after reading all this, gooood luck.

For reasons unknown, despite becoming the next Vessel of Sloth, it remains dormant within him. They thought of extracting it to learn the causes that led up to its current dormant state, but Sound intervened in time as he knew that extracting it by force will kill the the vessel.

. . .

Michael/Raphael/Gabriel/Uriel/Saraqael/Raguel/Remiel/etc

‘Dragons are raised under the false pretense that they are the supreme species above all others. But that merely obscures the truth; the truth that we’re just as vulnerable as anyone else. There are various ways to kill aside from piercing our hearts with a spear.”

Author’s Note: Just so you know, HE’S BLONDE and has green eyes! This was the only option I have that closely resembles how I envisioned him! There was another because he gives off the same atmosphere when you look at him but... he’s from an otome game. And I only learned that recently so, if the same goes for this one? WELP. Oh and he has patches of dark brown scales on part of his skin.

Neither a Quietus Nors nor a resident of Avarus, Michael is a dragon. His version of his race if capable of transformation, but can only change into the form of the last creature they devoured. Whole. Rather than his true form, in order to remain working in Avarus, chose to work in the form of the former Prince of Edrakon, a world where dragons were enslaved and cruelly treated as mere objects. Despite his appearance not being his own, he maintains an intimidating and powerful aura, which is easily distinguishable even within a large crowd.

Due to the high esteem he holds towards his race and his pride as a Dragon, he can come off as domineering, even becoming critical towards other versions of his race if he finds something illogical or nonsensical in their appearance and their abilities. While he does act this way, he finds it absolutely disgusting to find dragons place themselves in a position of power and abuses their power in controlling another species. Another aspect of him is that he looks down on dragons with physical defects, which is mostly directly aimed as himself due to his extremely poor eyesight. Thus, forcing him to rely on his human form to watch glasses. He also has a very confusing naming system; where he changes his name based on the date, time and temperature.

Micheal held the potential required to become a Nors, but because of his age, he was unable to undergo the necessary steps to fully integrate into Avarus. While others are reluctant to have him join their ranks, several others, for different reasons, allowed him to remain. This eventually allowed others to accept his addition to the organization. 

As the one in charge of organizing and handling most of Avarus’ internal affairs, a job the Nors, even the Ex-Anima/Animus, are reluctant in taking up such an important position; he takes his job very seriously. Although he does express some contempt towards humans, this does not extend to the people he works with. He cares about them to a certain degree, which is shown by he constantly reprimands whoever acts risky during a mission.

He is the current Vessel of Pride, something he only learns of later on. Despite the fact Micheal is a vessel, Belial believes this is only temporary. He isn’t particularly close with Belial, but he respects the God enough to follow his orders.

. . .

Ulric Soknawo

'In my tribe, I was considered an outcast. You can thank the unnatural union that birthed me. Now? It hasn’t changed much, but at least I’m no longer considered the runt of the pack.’

Whose other name is Kuckunniwi, is a former member of the Aniwaya Tribe. In their world, his people are Natives who worshipped a guardian Wolf Spirit. According to them, in return for their unyielding loyalty and devoted nature, it granted the people with the power to take the form of the spirit they have worshipped for many generations. So long as they use that power to protect the forest, it shall provide them protection. Ulric is the third, second youngest, illegitamate son of the Tribal chief Tamaska and grandson of Wolfram.

As per tradition, all tribesmen are given two names, one for their human form while the other is for their inner wolf. Despite being allowed to use either name like others of his tribe, he refuses to be use his wolf name due to the meaning behind it. After being discovered by Ayane, she brought and recruited him to Avarus. Ulric is considered to be a Third Generation Nors due the fact his father was (oddly) not born a Nors, or had to potential to be converted into one.

Ulric tends to act like the stereotypical lone-wolf, choosing to remain in solitude and observe from a distance. He likes to spend his quiet time alone, though he does allow others to sit next to him when asked. Many have pointed out that he never smiles, but, as much as he hates to quote Noise, states that if there is no reason to smile, there is no reason to put so much effort in abusing his facial muscles.

As much as he loves being a wolf, he finds certain aspects of his second nature to be... aggravating. Depending on the season and the weather, it deals a the effects his wolf instincts on his human nature. Because of the two separate natures continually clashing, he tends to act irritable and his temper worsens, especially during the night. Ulric holds a strong belief that one’s nature, regardless of your race, should never control a one's personal feelings.

He holds an unyielding loyalty to his loved ones, almost to the point of willing to kill for them if the situation calls for it, but his actions are subtle and tends to be the exact opposite of how he truly feels. Only two people in his life have been able to decipher his behavior, and he cherishes them for it. Ulric has a bit of a temper as well but is able to keep it in check. His temper, however, is what led him to becoming a Cursed Blood. His curse forces him to foresee the deaths of whomever he romantically falls in love (or at least feel an interest) with.

Any attempts at interfering will only hasten their death.

. . .

Xavier Wozwald Hawthorne

'Murderers are dumbasses, always killing because of their unchecked emotions and pented up desires. Hence why most of them clumsily try to hide their crime. Serial killers are more... sofisticated with their craft, but their ego always gets in the way. If they weren’t complete dumbasses, they would have lived a long comfortable life. I should know.’

Note: Yes, this is obviously Vflower. Did I know that before? No. Do I plan to change the art reference? Yes, but only when I find one that’s not a god dang real-life person’s online avatar. XD Seriously, each time I thought I found one... it’s an utaite or vtuber.

Is a member of Mythral and a First Generation Nors. Like Rei, he is a Floater, which allows him to particiate in mission for all three factions. However, he prefers to work with those in Tunera Clypse as, since they mostly handle scouting and recruiting missions. As long as he doesn’t remain in Avarus for too long, he's fine with accepting any mission related to Tunera. Xavier will still accept missions from other factions, but that's merely to fill up his quota.

Despite appearing around the age 12-14; which was not by choice, Xavier is in fact mentally older than most of his fellow Nors. Known for his sharp tongue, Xavier is one of the few known Nors to have been granted permission to travel outworld immediately after undergoing the Ascenscion Ceremony.

Due to the experiences his past life went through, Xavier has a very grim outlook of the world and displays little to no respect towards authority figures. And that includes his current patron God; Belial, which only worsens after being told by the God that he is unable to help Xavier grow into the appropriate intended size. Unlike most Nors, he displays a high degree of critical thinking and intelligent. He is, if not more, level-headed than one of his friends; Percy. Though that doesn’t stop the teasing. While confident in his abilities in terms of combat, Xavier knows the limits of his current smaller body.

In order to compensate, he creates an excessively large scythe as compensation, but he's too proud to admit this.

Because of his level of maturity, he has been labeled as a 'Midget Grandpa'. Which he fails at trying to prove otherwise by collecting certain tthings that are considered out of date by their standards. Eventually, it became a soft of hobby for him to collect such things.

Xavier tends to display a sadistic nature while in combat, choosing to taunt his opponent by constantly pointing our their obvious flaws deficits and toy with them until the last minute. Most times, he will use his child-like appearance to his advantage to further torment his opponent/victim. Comically enough, if his opponent is a cold-blooded criminal, Xavier will compliment and , depending on their actions, congratulate them; much to the annoyance of those involved.

Like Sound, he has both a Physical and Blood-based Curse, but unlike  the latter, Xavier was born with both. His Physical Curse has caused severe permanent scarring on his right arm, making it appear similar to third degree burns. If freed from any type of coverage, such as bandages, his arm will painfully be set a blazed, forcing him to conceal his arm at all times. As a Cursed Blood, Xavier has a similar effect of a Siren, except his hypnotic singing forces someone to commit suicide. Every time he uses this curse, he temporarily falls into a coma.

. . .

Succu(bus) Kilmer

Like her name suggests, Succu is a succubus, but belongs to a different version of her species. Due to being a demon, she is forbidden to reveal her true name. Succu is neither a Nors nor a Cursed Blood. She’s more of an illegal immigrant after sneaking her way into a group of Nors when they were scouting for potential recruits. There have been many attempts in trying to relocate her back to her original world, but she is able to seduce her attackers and slip away. Eventually, Belial declared that she will be allowed to remain as a resident, so long as she contributes in their mission to locate Soleil.

While they do seduce those of the opposite sex, her source of food is not as grotesque as several others. She does seduce her victim, but moves her body in a way that her victims find alluring. Succu will then massage certain parts of their body as a means to relax them. To assure that they will not attempt to escape, she will release pheremones that nulls the victims senses. What she devours isn’t the flesh of her victim nor does she devour their soul, she merely devours the emotions she was able to invoke until her hunger is quenched.

Succu is flirtaceous and very... very.... VERY- Well, you get the point. While she doesn’t flaunt her beauty, she does know how to use it to her advantage. However, despite many approaching her, Succu has only eyes for one, and is willing to wait as long as possible for that person to reciprocate her feelings. Succu, although assertive and open with her feelings, is not the type to force them onto someone.

She does like to express herself by getting physical - very physical. Not the way that you’re thinking, you perverts. She finds it more convenient to allow her actions to talk rather than saying things verbally. Since she’s an outsider, she notices several things that not even Pery or Ulric have noticed, and both are outsiders as well considering the fact they grew up outworld before being recruited. Regardless, she remains silent for the sake of remaining by her beloved’s side.

Succu is often mistaken as the Vessel of Lust due to her nature, and, on her part, finds it’s tiresome to prove that she is not.

Side Characters

Tank Mortem

A former member of Tunera Clypse and Mythral, Tank has been assigned to act as one of the engineers in maintaining the Infernian Generator due to his body’s condition and the issues of his mental state. He seldom participates in missions but, despite being given strict orders not to, joins in anyway. Due to the limits of his mental capacity, Tank has difficulty interacting with others. Quite literally.

Beatrix Staccato

Is a researcher and inventor in charge of the tools and weaponry utilized by most Nors and Ex-Animus. Having taken over most of the unfinished projects since the passing of his master, Beatrix has dedicated all of his time in improving the welfare of the world and its inhabitants. However, most of his experiments tend to be a bit... over the top. If he’s not thinking of new potential products that may benefits the Nors, he’ll make whatever comes at the top of his head, and most of the time it’ll lead him to make the most outrageous and unnecessary items. Beatrix prefers to remain in his lab/home at all times, rendering his social interactions with the three factions to be limited via holographic meetings.

‘Nyx’ Pierrot

Leader of Vanidicus Persona, she is one of the oldest Nors - next to Constantine - making her the default leader of her faction. Much about her is a mystery. Even her behavior can be viewed as... questionable. Not outlandish, that’s Sound’s department. Her behavior is so odd that it’s enough to baffle even Belial. She takes her leadership over her faction very seriously, however, as part of her nature, the requirements in joining and maintaining your membership vastly deviates from the original. However, looks can be deceiving. Aside from her seniority, there is a reason why she was given the position of leader.

Mitchell Pierrot

He prefers to be called as ‘Mitch’ after being told, and proven, by his sister how much of a tongue twister his name is if repeated constantly in a single conversation. While he is the younger brother of Nyx, Mitch opted to become a submember of Tunera Clypse upon undergoing the Ascension Ceremony to be in the same faction as his mentor, Perseus Vlahos. Compared to the Nors in his batch, he is viewed as weak by many as he is unable to perform the abilities that is expected of him to develop after becoming a Nors.

Constantine L. Refrain

Nothing is truly known about him except that he’s a chronic smoker. Nobody truly knows who he is, no one even knows which faction he belongs to. It’s nearly impossible to question these things as he is constantly surrounded by a shroud of - barely tolerable - smoke. All that is known is that he’s been around longer than most of the Ex-Animus. Constantine usually frequints the Silent Siren Bar, staying there for hours until he’s either drunk or needs to receive another pack of cigarretes from Beatrix. He says they’re for medicinal purposes buuuuut...

I’m pretty sure black smoke isn’t normal.

Stefan Mal Sorcier

Is Percy’s second pupil. Although, it was more like Percy was forced into taking in another after his continual refusal to become leader of Infernum Poncitator. Outwardly, he is aloof and always appears smiling, which unsettles Mitchell even when they’re alone. His politeness is found unusual by many and causes others to feel wary around him. Even the dragon finds himself is unable to remain in the same vicinity as the young man. Despite being full of many secrets, Percy accepts him as is and tries his best to teach him all he can, which Stefan appreciates.

Kyline Necro

Considered as the mascot ambassador of Avarus, like the soul that was fused with her upon birth, she mostly lounges around and has little participation in any missions in and out of Avarus. This has caused her to be disliked by many, most especially Ayane. The only person Kyline has gotten close to is Noise; mostly because they share the same favored sleeping spot. On a side, she acts a physician, or surgeon if you like to get technical. She has a strange fondness of picking apart and replacing specific limbs with doll parts.

Yu-Yan Chi Ryou

Was once one of the strongest Nors from Xavier’s batch until he was inflicted by an unknown disease during one of his missions. While there is no name for the disease, it has caused much of his bones to undergo crystallization; rendering him immobile due to the pain that comes from even the smallest of movements. Since he is incapable in participating in any activities, Yu-Yan has since been forced to be confined to a wheel chair for the rest of his life.

Anita Eine Kleine

Is the fighting instructor of the Mongrels and a member of Infernum Poncitator. Anita is a highly-skilled caster, able to conjure and manipulate various elements. She absolutely hates the term ‘witch’, even going as far as to cast a minor curse in making a person temporarily mute if they refer to her as one. Which Sound found rather offensive when he found out about the curse, something she deeply apologized for. She participates in some Scouting Missions but only if personally requested by someone from Tunera Clypse.

Victor Stein

Is Beatrix’s (only living) research assistant. He is the sole survivor of the Night of the Black Moon. Although having physically recovered, the damage to his mental state has left a deep scar on his psyche. He fears yet obsesses over the sensation of pain. There is not one instance where he isn’t found sowing over his own intact skin. While Victor knows his addiction found uncomfortable by others, he finds it extremely difficult to control his urges.

Wolfram

Grandfather of Ulric and most of his siblings, he is an Ex-Anima (or retired Nors) and a former member of the original Mythral. As the more experienced and one of the longest surviving resident of Avarus, he acts as a mentor to those who seek his guidance. However, in terms of combat, his skills are very limited as he has become permanently stuck in his wolf form. The only grandchildren he's ever personally met are Ulric and Seeing, who have both ironically became his favorite. While acting as a mentor, he is rather strict, constantly parting lessons in order to make sure none make the same mistakes he committed when he was younger, many of which he refuses to share.

Diantha Anemone

Despite being still a Liberi, Dia still participates in many activities meant to be done only by Nors. She originally wanted to become a part of Tunera Clypse due to the many adventures imparted by Sound. But after having a first hand experience in one, it traumatized her to the point where she wants to merely work as a Librarian, a position many people avoid.

Echo & Yell

Fellow teammates of Sound and Noise. As part of the four heads leaders that overwatch many of Tunera Clypse's activities, both in and out of Avarus. They mostly take charge of delegating the members while the other two take an active role in leading many scouting missions off-world. Contradicting her name, like Sound and Noise, her personality is the completely opposite. Due to her sociophobia, she is extremely shy and is unable to speak when talked to, only whispering her sentences as she talks. Yell, however, is the only one whose personality fits the mantle she inherited. Due to her curse, she has to raise her voice after every two hours. If not, she will fall into a coma, and she can only be awaken by *************.

Important Figures

Belial

Credits to: @airtrees0507 (Again, another artist who... disappeared from the internet. How do I keep finding refrences where the artist is just gone?)

Is a Celestial and the younger brother of Soleil. However, despite his godly status, he does not have any of the expected gifts. Neither a god of creation, life, or death, he has been given the title God of Void by his peers. Because of this, he is incapable of maintaining Avarus by himself, forcing him to use alternative (and questionable) means in preserving the world his sister created. Like his title, Belial is unable to express emotions, giving blank demeanor. He does, however, hold some semblence of emotions within him. Yet despite this, he has little to no understanding of life, death and emotions. Even after centuries since he over his sister’s role as Patron God, he still has no understanding to all living things, almost to the point of coming off as insensitive and heartless.

Belial has a deep devotion to his sister, having gone through great lengths to make sure to maintain her world and willingly sacrifice the lives of many. Despite knowing her distaste towards such acts, he holds onto the hope of one day finding her.

Soleil

Credits: Um... Lucare Eu??? Sorry, I’m just basing it off the signature. Once again, can’t find the artist themself so...

The true patron goddess of Avarus and the older sister of Belial. Aside from her status as the original creator and caretaker of her world and the life that once flourished within it, not much is known about her. While her exact cause of death is unknown, she was cursed to live an endless cycle of death and rebirth in various worlds. In order to restore the world she created and loved dearly, Belial dedicated his life in searching for her soul and freeing her of her curse. As a Celestial, she was said to have chosen to take the form of her first ever creation and first mortal friend. 

It is said that, despite having blessed with the gift of creation, she was known to be a lonely goddess. Those that new her describe as someone that’s physically there but is spiritually detached.

The Oracle

Is a title given to those with the ability to commune and guide the spirits to the Empyrean Plain, more specifically Avarus’ residences due to the absence of Soleil. The Oracle acts as the divine anchor on the world to aid Belial in prolonging the world’s existence. They are also the main source of Belial’s divine power; both of which are maintained through her prayers. The gender and species of the Oracle is non-specific, but it if preferred by Belial if they are humanoid and have the ability of speech for the sake of communication.

The current Oracle is Aniela Fischl, who, unlike her predecessors, is able to foresee various futures. She does so by carefully peeking through the leylines and selects various possibilities that solely benefit Avarus. No one is allowed to meet her except Belial and her assigned Seekers.

The Seekers

The guardians, caretaker, and acting medians between the Oracle and the residents of Avarus. Their duty is to ensure that the chosen Oracle remains within the Spiral Tower and that he/she fulfills their duty, even going as far as to grant their wish regardless of the consequenses. Each Seeker has only one desire, and that’s to protect the Oracle at all times.

Races

Liberi

Age Range: Birth or 5 to 10 years

Although that is the official term, ‘Mongrel’ is what they are commonly referred as. It is the used for the for the children taken to or born in Avarus. Mongrels spend most of their young lives training within the safe walls of the Aldebaran Academy. They are forbidden from leaving as, according to Belial, they are the extremely fragile during this point of their lives. Regardless of their age, depending on how well they’ve performed in training, they will be given the right of undergoing the Ascension Ceremony. Those who fail are xxxxxxxx xx.

Due to their young age, their behavior is more sporadic than that of a normal child. Their reflexes are enhanced, almost to the point where it becomes difficult to contain them. Mongrels lack common sense so they tend to act out without fully understanding the impact their actions have. While childish and friendly by nature, Travellers are advised to approach with caution. Those who act beyond the expected norm are called Prodigies.

Quietus Nors

Age Range: (Physically) 14-19, (Mentally) 10 or above

Or simply called, Nors. After their graduation, every Nors is immediately sent to work. Depending on the final results of their training prior to undergoing the ceremony/procedure, each is individually assigned into one of the three factions ; Infernum Poncitator, Vanidicus Persona, and lastly, Tunera Clypse (formerly called Tunera). Those that are assigned to neither of the factions are assigned to more menial jobs alongside the Ex-Animus,

Despite their young minds, they have quickly adapted into their new forms. Due to time becoming almost non-existant in Avarus, Nors age at a rapidly slow rate. Though known to be childish by nature due to the gap of their young minds to their bodies, they dangerously lack empathy and display little to no compassion and remorse towards others. In worst cases, some act selfishly on their own accord. On a positive note, they lack any emotions that may hinder their mission in locating Soleil; such as fear.

Only two of the three current generations of Nors differ greatly from the first:

First Generation Nors - Are those converted or directly born within Avarus with the blood of two Nors. Those born in the first generation share two specific physical characteristics; raven black hair and golden eyes. They all share the same abilities upon conversion/birth, but it depends on the individual which ones they should master. Unless they happen to be a Cursed Blood, they are unable to obtain different abilities to call their own. They are required to undergo the Ascension Ceremony.

Second Generation Nors - In terms of personality, they are considered half as bad as those in the first gen. Unlike the previous, second generation Nors are considered slightly weaker, however, they have a better chance of obtaining other abilities outside of Avarus. Their hair is slightly lighter shade of black but their eyes remain the same. They too are required to undergo the Ascension Ceremony.

Third Generation Nors - While rare, they do tend to appear once in a while. It’s not exact how one falls into this category. The closest is being the grandchild or who has an anscestor that was a Nors. Because of their circumstances, these Nors are far weaker as they cannot use any of the standard abilities. Third Generation Nors are far difficult to locate as their potential doesn’t surface until they are of a much later age, rendering them incapable of taking necessary training to hone their abilities and undergoing the Ascension Ceremony. They do not share the common personality or physical traits of a Nors. One thing every Nors in this generation share are sky blue eyes, which emit a faint glow when in the dark.

Ex-Animus (or Anima for singular)

Age Range: (Physically) 30 to 40, rarely appears in their early 20′s

Are individuals who are retired from their duties as a Nors. Although Nors generally age at an excessively slow rate (due to the effects of Avarus), after a number of cycles (which refers to the number of batches that underwent the Ascension Ceremony), they will be given the order to retire. Regardless whether they are willing to or not, there is nothing they can do once the order has been issued. Once one becomes an Ex-Anima, they are completely cut off from their original faction and are unable to leave Avarus for the rest of their life.

Not only that, they are unable to defend themselves like they used to as they can no longer control Astral Dust and use the abilities from their time as a Nors,Basically.  Basically, Ex-Animus’ are left to fend for themselves.

Factions

Every Nors is allowed to join any of the three factions; Infernum Poncitator, Vanidicus Persona , and Tunera Clypse. There is an option to not join any of the factions; they are called ‘Floaters’.

[vantablade]

【 🌌 MYTHOPOEIA I. 】

TL;DR: Nocturne’s species is the same as her family name, which is one of royalty amongst her home planet. This species possesses two bodies, feeds on creative/life energy (mostly through sex and bodily consumption), manipulates sonokinesis and aquakinesis with ease. They are alluring and terrifying, always unsettling, and their native country depends on their existence. 

The following lore post is a re-write of Nocturne’s lore regarding her species and some of her heritage. It references sex albeit not explicitly nor descriptively, as well as the conception and deaths of the species. There are non-descriptive references to cannibalism (of a supernatural kind). Information-wise, it includes the etymology of the family name, the chronology of their origins with vague references to the circumstances of said origins, some references to significant events and brief descriptors of Nocturne’s kinsmen. As I mentioned, it also includes a description of how the Ametsuchi are formed through conception and their life spans, as well as the usual circumstances of their death, and other biological tid-bits such as abilities, particularly their Glamours, and the cultural ideology that surrounds the species in their native land of Izana, Neo. Word count is girthy, so if you read the whole thing an acknowledging like would be very encouraging! 

Ametsuchi, Nocturne’s family name, is both the moniker attributed to a royal family and a species; within their general cultural environs, the two are synonymous, for only members of the former can be the latter, due to a magical contract made with the Living Sea of Neo during the Sixth Epoch, after the Genesis Migration. The etymology of “Ametsuchi” is comprised of the characters suggesting, literally, “rain” and “earth”, however its meaning can be more symbolically interpreted as “Heaven and Earth” or, in some cases, “the Universe”, illustrating the duality of the Ametsuchi’s existence.

The Ametsuchi are not mortal by our understanding—the canonical term referring to any non-mortal being “Undane”—for their life spans and way of creation are jarringly different from that of a mortal life. An Ametsuchi can live, theoretically, forever, however rarely do they achieve such longevity due to the fact their appetite grows with age, forcing them to consume more and more to sustain their gigantic forms, not unlike the Earthly lobsters or the Terrawatas of the planet Cthylle, which has a similar aging approach. As well as the biological difficulties of maintaining the massive form that comes with old age, the Ametsuchis—particularly those who reign as or are immediately in line to reign as the High King—often are killed pre-maturely by assassinations or other politicalized deaths. Notable examples are Kamo, the High King two generations prior in the Fifth Epoch, to the current regent, and Nocturne’s great-grandmother, whose surprising gentleness became an instrument of irony as her tender heart led to her death by a rebel group within Izana. Another notable example is the Ametsuchi Massacre just prior to the turn of the Sixth Epoch, whereupon the survivor of the previous assassination—High King Kana the Unloved—was murdered by her third heir, the current monarch High King Kazumi the Good, alongside almost all of the living Ametsuchi.

Due to the severity of the upheaval, there is a remarkable shortage of Ametsuchi, as once they were a plentiful people who could reign as Lords among the various cities and villages of Izana as well as forming the sole security of the capital. Now, where once there were many, there remains only the High King; her Oracle Hitomi; her exiled heir High Prince Kimiko, currently absent and whereabouts unknown; Nocturne, whose existence is currently unknown to the Neoni populace; a lost heir sacrificed to Spider’s Eye shortly after her birth; the twins, Lords Hato and Karasu, children of the previous High Prince and nieces to the current High King, and Lord Komadori, who perished a few years prior to this blog’s currently timeline. Unusually, there is one other Ametsuchi, though she is the singular occurrence of a royal member—and the currently coronated High Prince, heir to the Ever-Drowning Throne—who is not also, biologically, an Ametsuchi, due to the unusual (and secretive) circumstances of her birth.

The conceptions and births of Ametsuchi are crucial to the biological formation of an Ametsuchi, as one does not inherit these traits innately from their parentage. Conception relies on the existence of three parents: the donor, the Ametsuchi, and the Living Sea. It is avian in nature, as it involves an external egg which is incubated by one of the parents, in this case the aforementioned Living Sea. The moment of conception is achieved when a donor, usually a Mundane but can be some form of magical entity, is “sacrificed” to the Living Sea and implanted with a part of the parental Ametsuchi’s mana. This mana is parasitic, rendering the donor comatose and paralysed but not dead, as it slowly consumes the life energy of the donor in order to transform it into something else. This transformation then becomes an egg, around six foot in height and three feet in width, comprised of a fleshy physical magic toxic to the touch. It is not dissimilar from the sort of alien eggs found in science fiction horror movies, as it is not clean nor smooth but rather a dark blue-brown flesh-like consistency that is ribbed and wet with slime. Encountering one is both highly unlikely—as they are incubated within the incredibly hostile and carnivorous Living Sea—but also deeply unwanted, as its appearance, while gross in description, cannot be over-stated for its deeply unsettling magnetism and its horrid stench of salt and decaying flesh, with the raw smell not incomparable to the exposed innards of a recent carcass. Approaching one, if it is somehow isolated from its environment, is also a fool’s errand: its “shell” emits potent magnetism; an allure that cannot be resisted by any but those with an impenetrable resistance to such a siren’s call. This allure, apropos to the previous metaphor, proves fatal to the innocent who falls under its enchantment, for the flesh is carnivorous and deeply starved, and will absorb the unlucky soul who touches it—and they will touch it, for despite its repulsiveness, its magic will convince the onlooker that it is a most desirable, peaceful and treasured object that speaks to their very soul.

This egg, its terribleness aside, incubates within the abyssal stomach of the Living Sea, an entity whose body is—as one can imagine—a great, black sea, possessing a wicked sentience and an odd morality that is difficult to comprehend. The Living Sea then “fertilizes” its innards, transforming the remains in a gruelling process into that of a living being, independent of the instruments that contributed to its making, which, stripped of the Ametsuchi glamour, appears to be a monstrous bird-like mortal-like creature that has only the simplest, animalistic of urges, the primary of which is the urge—the primal need—to survive, and as such has a fitting and horrifying hunger.

Until the new-born Ametsuchi is conscious enough to understand Glamours, it will remain in this bird-like form, which is protected from the eyes of mortals and Undanes alike who are not privy to the sacred and grotesque rituals of the royal family, until it can adopt a form which suits it. The form usually mimics the primary care-giver, likely the Ametsuchi which served to create it, at least in part, as well as harbouring some sort of semblance to the donor which served as its first meal and its energy donation. This is still of its own accord, of course, but as this is an instinctual first guise, it is often rooted in the subconscious will rather than the conscious ego, and once it has been adopted is unlikely to be utterly changed if only due to the Ametsuchi in question’s comfort in its regular form. As well as that, changing one’s body exerts a tremendous amount of will and energy and can be quite an exhausting process that bodes little to no reward. However, as the Ametsuchi grows into adolescence and adulthood, the latter of which is usually kept for far longer than the average mortal, due to the societal boons afforded to those with an unearthly youthful maturity, they will grow and adapt, often adapting to the societal standard of beauty to better attract unwavering loyalty and inspire a sacrificial martyrdom in its subjects. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and this is a law that is engraved into the nature of the Ametsuchi: it is in their survival’s best interest to be seen as attractive, whether it be sexually or as a matter of character, and as such their appearance often fits the ideal of their surroundings consciously or otherwise. Of course, attractiveness is not always the key to survival; they possess an underlying aura of terror that unsettles as it lures, inspiring awe in its observer. In hostile environs, the Ametsuchi will adapt appropriately: becoming larger, more intimidating, more monstrous in appearance to better be suited for intimidation tactics.

As mentioned before, there is the matter of Glamours: these are half-conscious manifestations of a mortal body that conceals the magnificence of their original form, which is grotesque and avian in nature, and only grows with age until it is utterly titanic, thus the growth of its demanding hunger which becomes difficult to sate with the marching of time. As a half-conscious act, they can withstand most forms of unconsciousness depending on the strength of the Ametsuchi in question; one who has mastered, in some part, their own mind and harbours a deep understanding of their capabilities will find it easier to uphold the illusion, while those weaker in spirit will find it harder to maintain in various debilitating circumstances. For example, Nocturne withstood grievous wounds that penetrated the Glamour and mutilated the original would beyond reparation, which still only sufficed to put her in a near-comatose state where her consciousness was altered and foggy. Yet still, she maintained her Glamour. She had been raised in total isolation, with only the study of her strength and identity as an Ametsuchi as an anchor for her learning, and so had a better grasp on her anatomical manipulation than her peers. There was still a dire element—she was on the verge of total unconsciousness, and since she had no moral nor emotional obligation to those surrounding her at the time (rather, she was untrusting and borderline hostile towards her hosts), she had no subconscious desire to protect them from the immensity of her true body, despite the fact that had her illusion broke, her original form would have decimated her physical environment and thus damaged, if not killed, the people who surrounded her, including potentially breaking the magical ward that kept the locus—the Sepulchre—protected from evil eyes.

However, Nocturne in particularly struggles to maintain her Glamour if she is in a state of deep sleep. For this reason, she keeps to herself and refuses to allow others near her in such a state of tremulous vulnerability, if not entirely subduing herself to the vacuous space she titles her personal “Void”, a unique ability to her due to her emotional reliance on it since her severely traumatic youth.

The Glamour is not the Ametsuchi’s sole power, however it is exceedingly impressive: to speak in technical terms, of a sort, it “compresses” the pre-existing body so that it is appropriately condensed into the glamoured guise, including its impact on the environment and its navigating of the physical space. There is still a subtle feeling of “wrongness” when one looks directly at an Ametsuchi, but it is difficult to source the reason behind these feelings; the cultural mythos surrounding the original body is more that it is a secondary body, and the glamour is the original body, instead choosing to believe that the original body is a sort of “power-up” that can be utilized for the goals of decimation of one’s enemies. These myths are not negated in any real way, if only because it furthers their reputation for being dangerous enemies. It is believed by Ametsuchis’ personal lore that their Glamour comes in part from their lycanthropic ancestors.

Of their other abilities, several come to mind. Sonokinesis, the ability to manipulate sound, is innate to the Ametsuchi due to their siren heritage, and is capable of manipulating not only the physical world but the emotional world, either, as they tie in certain sonic movements with emotional results. Often, their powers are difficult to channel completely without some sort of vessel to articulate it to a level of fatality—or extreme potency—so they often have vessels that embody an instrument of their liking, usually a subconscious choice that is rarely changed not unlike their bodies in youth, which channels the sonokinetic ability through it. For example, Nocturne’s is a violin; Hitomi’s is a harp; Kimiko’s is a flute, and so on. Exceptional Ametsuchi do master the power of their own voice, such as Kazumi the Good, who orchestrates grand musical annihilations with only the slightest modulations to her voice. This is an ancient power, first attributed to the Divine of Music, Sona, the child of the Ancients Sirein and Iathan. Their sonokinesis is Generative, which means they can generate this ability from internal power-sources rather than having to manipulate the external environment’s pre-existing sound.

Aquakinesis, the ability to manipulate water, is an even more ancient power, being one of the Primordial Essences which form the foundation, alongside Fire, Earth, Air, Light and Shadow, of the (Essential) Universe. These are another gift attributed to them, however this gift comes directly from their relationship to the Living Sea, which serves as a patron to the species. Due to this generosity, their aquakinesis is not as powerful as their sonokinesis—it is instead Interactive, relying on external resources rather than internal resources. A notable exception would be the Oracle, Hitomi, whose Generative Aquakinesis only derives from the Chaotic implants placed in her body by her mother, the High King. (Of these experiments, each of the currently living Ametsuchi are victims, and have differing reactions; Kimiko has Chaotic Generative Aerokinesis, Hato has Chaotic Generative Phosphorokinesis, and so on and so forth. Nocturne’s ability to manipulate entropic forces and Chaos also stem from these, in part.)

They possess a higher level of strength, which does not rely on their Glamoured body but rather the size and capability of their true body, which can give them the appearance of possessing super-human strength for their stature. They are graceful, beautiful, and disarmingly so, which is a mental tactic that serves them well in combative and political situations equally well.

The Ametsuchi, due to their wavering numbers, are restricted to the capital of Izana, Yomi; known by some as the Cannibal City, others as the Half-Drowned City, and these are only the beginning of its ghoulish monikers. Their home is the Drowning Palace, a white shard that protrudes from the black abyss of the Living Sea like a jagged tooth, which hosts only their own kind, donors (temporarily), and the rare, honoured guest. Their existence is attached to the welfare of the surrounding country, whose lands are made fertile by the Living Sea, as once it had been barren. Only the historical sacrifice of a mortal woman, who would become the first Ametsuchi, cinched a union between the untouchable Living Sea and the Undanes who lived there. If the Ametsuchi were ever to perish, so would the landscape that hosts them.

As part of their symbiotic relationship with the Living Sea, Ametsuchi are removed from the life-death cycle naturally afforded to all living and unliving entities within the Essential Universe; their souls, rather than being re-shaped and re-distributed across the wide Cosmos, are instead given directly to the Living Sea for all eternity, preserving them in a state of half-life that, with the passing of time, becomes increasingly abstract. The dead are capable of being communicated with, but only the Oracle can do so; likewise, the Oracle, second only to the High King in the tiers of Ametsuchi noblesse, is the sole figure capable of communicating directly with the Living Sea. There is only one Oracle at any point, and as soon as one dies, the next is chosen from the ranks; usually the closest to being born, but the Living Sea can often be whimsical, and if their whims direct them so they may choose another. It is not unheard of for Ametsuchi rulers to deliberately manipulate circumstances to encourage an Oracle to be created in devotion to them; for example, Hitomi’s existence depended on the murder of the prior Oracle, Yumi, and was a deliberate move by the High King in order to assure total allegiance as the Oracle would be her eldest daughter, entirely subordinate and alienated from a world that would encourage her otherwise.

Culturally, they are revered and feared alike. This reverence assures their survival, as willing donors are plentiful; it is considered the greatest honour for those of Izana to devote their bodies to the conceptions of an Ametsuchi, despite the fact it guarantees their death. If not their bodies to conceive, then to satisfy: the Ametsuchis feed on creative energy, which includes the creation of life through fresh (often living) meat and sexual energy. There is an element of life or creative energy in everything, but in the aforementioned examples they are most prominent and thus most fulfilling. This is not to say there has never been a desire for revolt, but the Ametsuchi’s symbiotic relationship with the landscape often demotivates those with rage against their rulers. Instead, the rage is channelled into the cities, into the architecture, into the culture.

The history of the Ametsuchi are deep, rich and blood-soaked, as they like it. They are founded on a principal of sacrifice. They are objects of reverence and repulsion, inspiring legions of the devout. Nocturne is but a tiny part of a grander legacy, but not all legacies are born to last.

[dentesguardados]

The marriage of reason and nightmare that has dominated the 20th century has given birth to an ever more ambiguous world. Across the communications landscape move the spectres of sinister technologies and the dreams that money can buy. Thermo-nuclear weapons systems and soft-drink commercials coexist in an overlit realm ruled by advertising and pseudo-events, science and pornography. Over our lives preside the great twin leitmotifs of the 20th century – sex and paranoia. Increasingly, our concepts of past, present and future are being forced to revise themselves. Just as the past, in social and psychological terms, became a casualty of Hiroshima and the nuclear age, so in its turn the future is ceasing to exist, devoured by the all-voracious present. We have annexed the future into the present, as merely one of those manifold alternatives open to us. Options multiply around us, and we live in an almost infantile world where any demand, any possibility, whether for life-styles, travel, sexual roles and identities, can be satisfied instantly. In addition, I feel that the balance between fiction and reality has changed significantly in the past decades. Increasingly their roles are reversed. We live in a world ruled by fictions of every kind – mass-merchandizing, advertising, politics conducted as a branch of advertising, the pre-empting of any original response to experience by the television screen. We live inside an enormous novel. It is now less and less necessary for the writer to invent the fictional content of his novel. The fiction is already there. The writer’s task is to invent the reality. In the past we have always assumed that the external world around us has represented reality, however confusing or uncertain, and that the inner world of our minds, its dreams, hopes, ambitions, represented the realm of fantasy and the imagination. These roles, it seems to me, have been reversed. The most prudent and effective method of dealing with the world around us is to assume that it is a complete fiction – conversely, the one small node of reality left to us is inside our own heads. Freud’s classic distinction between the latent and manifest content of the dream, between the apparent and the real, now needs to be applied to the external world of so-called reality. Given these transformations, what is the main task facing the writer? Can he, any longer, make use of the techniques and perspectives of the traditional 19th century novel, with its linear narrative, its measured chronology, its consular characters grandly inhabiting their domains within an ample time and space? Is his subject matter the sources of character and per-sonality sunk deep in the past, the unhurried inspection of roots, the examination of the most subtle nuances of social behaviour and personal relationships? Has the writer still the moral authority to invent a self-sufficient and self-enclosed world, to preside over his characters like an examiner, knowing all the questions in advance? Can he leave out anything he prefers not to understand, including his own motives, prejudices and psychopathology? I feel myself that the writer’s role, his authority and licence to act, have changed radically. I feel that, in a sense, the writer knows nothing any longer. He has no moral stance. He offers the reader the contents of his own head, a set of options and imaginative alternatives. His role is that of the scientist, whether on safari or in his laboratory, faced with an unknown terrain or subject. All he can do is to devise various hypotheses and test them against the facts.

J.G. Ballard, Crash, Introduction (1973)

[eirikrjs]

I mean, just because a Persona comes from someone it doesn't mean they can't have agency. Heck, back in P1 we had Hypnos and Nyx. Innocent Sin Portable had Kushiel who believed himself to be the real deal instead of just a Persona. Something something multiple selves (the many Makis and the Kazuya subplot from the P1 manga are good analogies, they aren't Personas, but they're still someone's independent different selves). I'm really not well-versed enough in psychology to explain this properly.

Anonymous said:                                                                

They do imply when Kasumi gets her person for realsies Cendrillion is also her twin sister, and Maruki seems to be his person is just that special and unique, since he could alter reality on an individual level before he even awakened to his persona. Basically his is so unique it even defies rules that are common for the average persona user. Like a Persona user can't have a palalce, or that Azathoth manifests with a physical eldritch body and not just a temporary spirit like form

Combine time!

For a refresher, these are in reply to my statement that a persona with agency is not a persona. A persona is something that comes from within, not without; to Jung, the masks we all wear to suit different situations: the mother persona, the worker persona, the friend, etc. Like, my personality shifts when I’m with my grandparents, again with my mother, my friends, etc, but they are still all me. I would not wear the friends mask around my grandparents because they wouldn’t appreciate me cussing or carrying on like we do--it would be “incompatible.”

So that’s what a persona should ideally be. But Megami Tensei personas have always been something more, something clearly supernatural layered on top. Obviously, that’s fine--I just think that they should be consistent, too, since they are a core aspect of the brand. Consistency, “rules,” in any piece of fantastical fiction helps define and set limits for these elements and make them comprehensible for the audience. I think Atlus’ flirtations with expanded definitions for personas puts the integrity of the concept at risk; I crafted a similar concern for demons in Identity Crisis long ago and I think the likes of Dagda and Demeter validated that concern.

But yeah, over the past couple of days @b-reis and I mused about how Hypnos and Nyx are seemingly independent in P1 (see above screenshot), how it’s weird that Yamaoka becomes Nanjo’s persona, and the newer examples. But then I thought, is it really weird that a butler or twin sister can be a persona? Not really, because they are at their core just different personalities to use and those of other, personally significant characters shouldn’t be excluded. 

But if boss Cendrillon, Night Queen Nyx, or Adam Kadmon all exist without/external to the user and exceed the defined limits of a persona, then I think they should be defined as something else entirely to keep consistent. What that could be, I don’t know. It doesn’t have to be Jungian. A demon? Sure, why not? I just think a persona shouldn’t encompass these expanded roles else the entire idea runs the risk of devolving into something murky, ambiguous, and ultimately uninteresting--or to jettison the original characteristics and merely become an imitation of, say, a Stand, as is commonly discussed.

And there have been, what, around 7 main games in both the SMT and Persona series? Both demons and personas are strong, interesting concepts as traditionally defined and have enough depth to survive many more installments as-is. Conceptual limits are only as restrictive as your creativity. Maybe personas were inspired by Stands but if that’s all they turn out to be, what’s the point of the semantic distinction?

[ayankun]

things that make me ABSOLUTELY INSANE about episode 5

REMEMBER WHAT I SAID ABOUT THE LAUGH TRACK PROBABLY BEING OF NARRATIVE IMPORT, and then it COMPLETELY WAS A PLOT POINT this week, in the first scene with Agnes flubbing her part, AND THEN the CCs actually did notate the audience reactions --

-- but only at the end of the fucking episode when “Pietro” shows up???????

whyyyyyy

The fact that Elizabeth Olsen plays a character who not only is a twin but also has twins on a show that sends up the show on which her IRL twin sisters played one single character. 

The part where Wanda tried to use her powers on her babies physically turned my stomach and I was SO GLAD it didn’t work.

UGHH that dancing-with-the-babies-date like FUCK domesticity is my KINK.

There was an OVERLOAD of primary colors on the set this week, and I desire to know what it means.  Is it because babies/kids are associated with primary colors?  Was the Full House house littered with red-yellow-blue?  TELL ME WHAT IS THE REASON.

WHAAAAAAAAAAAT is the connection between Agnes and Dennis.  They had that whole interlude in ep 2, and now they both demonstrate an actionable fear of displeasing Wanda, when everyone else is/has been more or less outwardly oblivious to the situation.  (Dennis has a copy of his IRL person’s driver’s license on the mystery board, but Agnes DOES NOT)

I legit called the aging-up of the kids.  I said it out loud two weeks ago.  You know who you are, you can back me up on this.  They can play within the cut-corners of the sitcom-fiction format.  In fact, Jimmy said what we were ALL thinking, “they’ll be empty-nesters by the end of the episode” and I’m IMPRESSED AND DISGUSTED that they know what we’re thinking because they wanted us to think it.

when the Wanda-magic red brush went in and lovingly, unnervingly brought Vision to life in the new 80s opening credits, I screamed “FUCK YOOOOU” at my computer screen I do not lie

Birds.  Birds and flowers.  Birds and flowers are very everywhere.  On the walls, on the clothes.  This whole times.  oh what can it mean.  I need to know what it means.

I LEGIT thought the joke was going to be that Vision doesn’t have any baby photos and just existed as a full grown adult, but then the joke was that he does have baby photos

THIS

He has a chip in his hand and then he throws it over his shoulder because he doesn’t eat food.

I’m honestly conflicted as to whether I’m reading Jimmy as gay or in a very cute and nerdy OT3 with Darcy and Monica.

STOP

HAMMER TIME

Is Wanda being mind-controlled to resurrect Vision so that SWORD can co-opt him as their new weapon and the investigation/rescue/assassination scenario is itself a staged production cast with unwitting players??????

I PROMISE this is not what it looks like:

IT’S THE LOBSTER JELLO MOLD OR WHATEVER FROM THE TOASTER AD IN EP 1

ok I won’t joke around, I rewatched this on my folks’ monster tv and when I paused to see what ad was on the paper this time, my brain CRUMPLED:

THAT IS A PICTURE OF AN ASTRONAUT INSIDE A TV.  MOONMEN CONFIRMED

Also, the frontpage headline is “Local Homemakers Innovating Recipes,” emphasis on home-making.  Making a home.  From scratch.  With your mind.  Wanda.

Also-also, the tiny scroll over the top is like “MORE DRAMATIC DETAILS ABOUT THE LIGHTS IN THE SKY ABOVE WESTVIEW”

Are these SWORD-infiltrating-the-magic-barrier lights, or are these UFOSSSSSS

The realization that when Agnes appeared like a fairy godmother to help Wanda out of the dinner jam in ep 1, it was Wanda manifesting a solution to her problem using her God-will :|||||||||

HWAT is the emblem on Agnes’ brooch:

“Wanda, we are usually so much of the same mind.”  OOF

Jimmy just GLEEFULLY marching in with coffee for his girlfriends and ONLY for his girlfriends

fukkin  HEXAGON >> HEX >> MAGIC >> SCARLET WITCH INCOMING YOOOOOOOOOOOO

NORM SNAPPING BACK INTO CHARACTER MID-EXISTENTIAL-CRISIS GOOD LOOORRRRDDDDD GIVE THIS MAN AN EMMY RIGHT MEOW

NOT WANDA INSTRUCTING HER CHILDREN ON THE IMPORTANCE OF RESPONSIBLE OWNERSHIP OF LIVING THINGS, AND THEN WATCHING HER SON MAKE THE DOG DO TRICKS AT HIS BIDDING -- LIKE MOTHER LIKE SON AMIRITE

So I don’t have a Unified Theory of Color for the WandaVision canon yet, but even a chump like me can pick out RBG:

somebodypleasejustellmewhatthegoddamnbirdsmean

I KNOW I’m insane, I’m totally not debating that, but “no joy” sounds a lot like it could have something to do with NJ, WestView, NJ.  W V, N J i mean I’m crazy, but it’s not not there

like okay, so IRL Wanda is still fully Sokovian, accent and all ... she had a tough life from a young age and I firmly cannot believe she spent any of that time watching mid-century American sitcoms so I STILL BELIEVE, AT THIS POINT, that we are being told that there is some other entity at least partially responsible for what’s going on here. 

like Monica said, I don’t think any of this was by Wanda’s design.  I think there’s a Wanda what done the grave robbery, and a Wanda what got whammied same as Monica did when she got stuck inside, the difference between Wanda-Wanda allowed to be in control somewhat and Monica getting overwritten as Geraldine being that Wanda has Mind Stone powers and that’s the root cause of all this reality-bending stuff (and the CMBR)

CASE IN POINT OF WANDA STARTING OUT AN INNOCENT AND INADVERTENTLY, OVER TIME, SLOWLY, WILLFULLY TAKING CONTROL ---

1) Vision suspects as much, and he’s perfect, so he’s probably right.

2) The nature of the female-empowerment agenda depicted in the mid-roll ads, where early on the Woman Character was subservient to the Man Character, and as of this week’s ad, the Man is comically infantilized while the Woman more or less has her shit together

3) FOR WHEN YOU MAKE A MESS YOU DIDN’T MEAN TO

Jezus you guys, the whole concept of the show using the gradual sophistication of the American television audience, as represented by the amalgam of the content it consumed in particular eras, to underscore Wanda’s own gradual journey from the vapid fiction of the post-war Dream Life to the slightly more heavy, but no less contrived fiction of the Perfect Family,,,,,,,,

AND THEN you have the ads, which also mirror the real-world marketing attitudes of the time

which also mirror Wanda and Vision’s personal histories to date

which also mirror the evolution of Wanda’s personal rise to power as depicted in this specific show

“Bring who back?” GOD there is an ELEPHANT in the ROOM and his name is VISION

Vision just BLUNTLY BRINGING UP THE FACT THAT WANDA IS RUINING EVERYONE’S LIVES LIEK WHAT ARE YOU DOING BRO

and then she ROLLS CREDITS ON HIM LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL GIRLBOSSSSSS

holy crap, 4th wall much???

WHY DID THEY AHVE TO BE IN THE AIR FOR THAT ARUGMENET I MEAN I’M NOT COMPLAINING BUT IT IS HILARIOUS AS ALL HELL

JEEEEEEZ so the reveal that all this is real people real stuff real place, and that this is Vision’s stone-cold corpse with a fresh new mind shoved inside of it -- he legit has no memory of the Before, because that wasn’t even him.  He’s just as trapped as anybody else, and Wanda is his domestic abuser !!!!!!

I HATE IT HERE

[dzthorne]

Intro to “From Dust, Return”

Working Title: From Dust, Return

Genre: TBD - working genre = Dark Fantasy with occasional hints of horror and the occult.

Themes: Conflicting loyalties, finding a purpose in the ashes of betrayal, and secrets that should never have been hidden.

Content Warnings: Possibility of occasional Graphic Violence, Blood, and Death.

Setting: Present day, fictional setting.

POV: Third person, multiple

Status: First draft

Synopsis: Betrayed by an unknown source, the seraphim Raziel finds himself stranded upon an Earth that stopped believing in him centuries ago, banished from his home. Upon arriving he learns of an artifact that he once personally created to save humanity that now threatens to destroy them. He must chose between learning who betrayed him and getting revenge or setting aside his personal pain in the pursuit of saving the very people he once swore to protect eons before. Unlikely allies and friendly enemies will turn his world upside down as he strives to learn his purpose amidst secrets that come to light; secrets that could very well push him down a much darker path than his betrayer could have foreseen.

5 Main Characters:

Raziel Seraphim (angel) - One of the seven original seraphim generals of heaven, he strongly believes there is a difference between a warrior and a soldier. Abandoned by all that he knows, he stands before three choices. At the end of each are secrets and dire consequences for those around him. He must learn the truth of what is most important to him and choose before a fury born of betrayal consumes who he once was and reveals a secret he has hidden from Azreith since the war of angels. Where do all the secrets end?

Raziel has an obsession with rain, that permeates into how he views himself and the world around him.

Azreith Seraphim (angel) - Another of the seven original seraphim generals of heaven, she has been tasked with stopping Raziel by any means necessary before he destroys the balance between the realms. However she questions what is real between her orders and her loyalties. She sets out to learn the truth of Raziel’s actions as well as the source of her orders. Because one does not simply kill their twin brother without reason...

Azreith has two personalities that can manifest based upon her mood almost at will; this allows her to fulfill her two roles as Angel of Death and Mercy, with tell-tale signs giving away who she is at any given time.

Jericho Winters (human age 23) - An unassuming priest with a major crisis of faith who inherited his family’s small church upon their passing at the age of 15. With his prayers unanswered, he has lost faith in heaven existing. A chance encounter with Raziel will shatter his world view and draw him deeper into the workings of the divine. Can Jericho help an angel keep his humanity intact when it threatens to unravel, while keeping himself alive without any defense to speak of?

A voice only he can hear belittles Jericho for his lack of faith, yet he is unsure if the source is possession or his own subconscious berating him for being weak.

Charles Jaquin (human age 44) - A homicide detective investigating a string of homicides that appear to be connected which the bureau believes to be the work of a possible serial killer. All of the deaths have two things in common: absolutely no clues and the appearance of Jericho Winters at several of the crime scenes amidst the crowd of onlookers. Alongside his partner, Charles will stop at nothing to solve this case before it gets out of hand, even as fear for his own life begins to take hold.

Raised in a devout household, Charles is very strong in his faith that God and his miracles will protect him and those he protects; however his newest case causes him to second guess that protection as he decides if this should be his last case or not.

Michael Seraphim (angel) - Leader of the seven original seraphim generals and ruler of heaven, Michael took the throne upon it being abandoned by their father without challenge as no other qualified angel wanted the pressure or stress of running the realms. Heaven is beginning to decay and the energy that feeds and sustains the angels weakens. Michael initiates plans to purify it before it is too late. Can he save their home and prove to the other angels that they were not wrong for allowing him to assume the throne unchallenged?

Michael is responsible for weighing souls as they enter heaven with the heavenly scales; he blames himself for being too lax and allowing souls with trace amounts of taint into heaven to which he attributes the decay. His biggest fear should heaven fall is that he will cease to exist.

- - -

If you wish to be removed from my tag list, please let me know via message. And if you know anyone who may be interested in joining our merry crew, also please let me know. I love interacting with our fellow writers and artists.

@shinrinyoku-stormie , @inediblebrownie , @writersloth , @pilipalea , @all-bridges-will-burn , @elaynab-writing  , @midnightrose77 , @kindofwriter , @bookishdiplodocus , @christophercant, @leave-her-a-tome

I will be posting this post in two places, if you get a second tag please forgive me. ^_^ Finished this with you in mind @kindofwriter, and thanks to @shinrinyoku-stormie for allowing me to brainstorm a few things beforehand.

[obsidianarchives]

The Importance of Creating Worlds for Young Black Readers

**This piece contains SPOILERS for Children of Virtue and Vengeance and Daughters of Nri.

The field of fantasy in the fiction world has predominantly been comprised of white writers. While many authors, like Kai Ashante Wilson and N.K. Jemisin, worked hard to break down that barrier, we're just starting to see an increase in the number of diverse authors coming into the field and bringing their African roots with them. This transition is essential in our modern society to provide more representation not just for Black people but also for our traditions and rich history. From Lagos to Wakanda, a fusion of the past and newly created stories has merged into an explosion of love, launching a journey of rediscovery for Black people. 

Authors like Tomi Adeyemi (Legacy of Orisha trilogy) and Reni K. Amayo (Daughters of Nri), have successfully introduced Nigerian heritage in their writing; Adeyemi honours the Yorùbá tribe, while Amayo pays homage to the Igbo tribe, thus allowing our culture to exist and thrive within the fantasy realm. While we can't ignore our history and the excruciating ordeals of our ancestors, slavery has become the depiction of the African Diaspora, and unfortunately, portrays the absence of excellence which is reductive to our accomplishments. Books like Brown Girl Dreaming celebrate the eloquent poetry of Jacqueline Woodson and her interpretation of the Civil Rights movement era. A great example of how fiction allows us to retain our past and provides a platform for writers to create new worlds young Black readers want to exist in. 

Adeyemi's debut novel Children of Blood and Bone features a character named Amari, a princess in the mythical kingdom of Orïsha, where her father’s tyrannical rule plagues their land. In the first book of the trilogy, Zélie, the protagonist, was my favourite, however after reading the second in the series, Children of Virtue and Vengeance, I found myself rooting for Amari, her best friend, more. I was very invested in her character development throughout the story, as she transitioned from a timid girl into a warrior with newly discovered magical powers. 

As the story develops, Amari struggles with her father's legacy as she tries to do what's best for Orïsha. She strives to put the kingdom’s needs before her own, struggling to forge a new path as she fights to become queen. Readers begin to notice how her father's teachings and brutal training affect her decision making, inadvertently putting the people she's closest to at risk. Born a noble, Amari found it hard to empathise with Iyika — the maji resistance group — due to her tunnel-visioned approach to defeating their rivals in battle. In an attempt to gain loyalty and respect from them, she challenges an elder in the camp, and although she wins, they still refused to acknowledge her.

Over time Amari reflects on the tough decisions her father had to make as King, leading her to deviate from her original plan. Eventually, she chooses to sacrifice the lives of residents at a nearby village in a ploy to defeat her family, thus putting a further strain on her friendship with Zélie. The cause of the divide stems from Amari's desire to rule Orïsha as a better queen, after the manifestation of her magical powers in the ritual that concluded the previous book.

As she emerges as a tîtán — nobles with magic ancestry — Amari is keen to use her magic for good, but her new abilities come without a manual, and so she lacks the knowledge of the Yorùbá tradition required to harness and control it. We later discover that majis and tîtáns differ in the way they use their magic; while majis rely on spells to activate their powers, tîtáns are not bound by them since they possess blood magic in their veins. Moreover, having this unlimited access to these powers causes Amari to unintentionally hurt others when driven by rage, something she and other tîtáns had to work on when training with chants recited by the maji. She relied heavily on her instincts and advice from maji clan leaders in her quest to become queen.

Likewise, in the Return of the Earth Mother series, Amayo focuses on the self-discovery and journey of twin sisters separated at birth for their protection. Both born with magical powers unknown to them, Naala and Sinai encounter several obstacles that prompt them to question their existence and the rules plaguing their communities. I liked that although the main protagonists are twins, Amayo wrote each character with distinctive personalities in a complementing way that allows both individuals to learn from each other.

The ruler of their kingdom, Eze, has hunted down sets of twins over time to prevent a prophecy foreshadowing that his reign would be ended by one. In the Igbo spiritual realm, Chukwu is the supreme spirit that created the universe and creator of the Mother, birthing life on earth. The Eze is now in possession of the Mother’s crystal that gives him unlimited access to unimaginable power, but only a type of being can access it. So, an onus falls on the girls to use their magic as demi-gods to defeat him.

In the early chapters of the story we meet Naala, due to get married in an hour. Still wearing her bridal gown, she hesitates and ponders what life would look like outside the village. Naala, raised on the outskirts of Nri is the more courageous and feisty twin, constantly questions the decisions and customs of the villagers, consequently resulting in punishment for her defiance. Her lack of discipline in decision-making is also mirrored in her magical abilities as she struggles to control her powers. Initially, her magic is sparked accidentally and is often triggered when her mind is in a chaotic state, so, though it frightened her initially, it almost acts as an anchor to keep her internally grounded.

As the story unfolds, we learn that though Naala has lived in the village all her life, she never belonged there. She sensed that a part of her was missing and following an attack against her people, she makes the brave decision to run away, and embarks on a journey with her companions, as she attempts survival outside her comfort zone. Likewise, her sister Sinai learns more about the complexity of nobles and their way of life before fleeing the royal city on a quest for survival, not knowing how her life is about change. 

Unlike Naala, Sinai lives in the city of Nri, several miles from the village. She displays a certain naivety to the actions of nobles within the palace and shies away from attention. Over time she learns that to prevail in her trials she has to completely surrender to her purpose, and being her authentic self informs her decisions.

This story of survival incorporates the values and experiences many young women face today because as we get older, we make more difficult choices in life. Inspiring stories like these can help us get through them. We need more magical books that present real models to inspire, inform and empower the younger generation in a world where they may have to try twice as hard to excel. For younger kids, in particular, our history needs to be presented in a digestible form and not so full of struggle and pain to the extent of trauma, so a fictional version is required. When certain characters in the story encounter problems, readers get to experience this journey with them and, as such, learn how they approach it rather than reading about them as facts and figures. Powerful young women like Naala and Sinai and Amari and Zélie encourage other young Black people through their stories and teach them to reach for the stars and realise their potential. 

It's here, and it's working. But we need more of it!