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helplesslypurple77 · 15 days ago

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Day 16-Step-Sibling Incest-Chrollo/Reader/Hisoka/Illumi

Notes:

ok soooo, we’re finishing up Kinktober with a bang! ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) anyway, this one is gonna be kind of hard to write but im starting it a bit early cause i have a lot of free time today! Btw this shits ooc as hell but idgaf. It's also looooooong, like over 8k words loooooong. Anyway, enjoy

Title is from ‘The Boys’ by Girls Generation

btw art is from pinterest, if its ur dm me and ill credit u<3

....

You find out your mother remarried when her postcard arrives in the mail. It's a short note, and starts out by telling you that she's on vacation in Bali. She goes on in detail about all the cool things she's doing, and you just shake your head, very used to your mothers forgetful attitude. And then, at the end in a little throwaway sentence, she mentions that she got remarried.

‘He's a lovely man. And he's got three boys, Name dear. Try to get along with them, and don't cause trouble!’

You shake your head, annoyed at the entire note. She tells you not to cause trouble? As if you would, you don't care enough about your mother to bother being upset about the news. But she could have at least invited you to the wedding. She probably forgot about you, her only daughter. It sounds insane, and impossible, but you're very used to your mother forgetting about you entirely. You didn't mind anymore. She pays for anything you need, and your life is comfortable, if not happy. But you could live with that.

You stare at the postcard for a minute, taking in the colorful flowers and ocean on the front. The bright colors hurt your eyes a bit. But brothers! You couldn't believe it. You had lived your entire life an only child, and now that was about to change. You felt a bit of tentative excitement fill your heart, lifting your moon and painting a smile across your face. You smiled, pinning the stupid postcard to the fridge. It stood out, the only thing on the entire front of the fridge.

Things are about to change. For better or worse, you don't know.

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

It's lunch break the next day. You're sitting at your usual lunch table, telling your friend about the postcard, the sun shining down on the uniformed students sitting around in the courtyard of your expensive private school. A brisk breeze whistles through the air, rustling your knee length skirt. You shiver, grabbing your uniform jacket from where you had discarded it, and pulling it back on. Your friend Evelyne, sitting across from you and picking at her sandwich, rolls her eyes.

“Your mom sucks, Name.” She says, popping a green grape into her mouth. You smile.

“Oh, she's not that bad, Evie.” You say, feeling the need to defend your mom, even though she doesn't deserve it. Evie rolls her eyes, pulling at the sleeve of her gray sweater. The school forbids any clothing items aside from uniforms of course, and a jacket or sweater over your white button up. Evie had decorated her sweater with pins and patches, adding a slight bit of uniqueness to the sea of girls wearing similar uniforms. You were too lazy, just wearing the normal dark navy uniforms. Evie was so cool in your opinion. She even dared to dye her hair a brilliant orange red color, which was against the rules. But apparently the school was too busy checking that all the girls' skirts were the correct length, that they missed Evie’s bright hair. Or maybe they didn't care. Evie’s father donated to the school a lot, after all. Evie pulls at her hair, fluffing her bob around her face.

“Seriously though Name, that was so uncool of your mom. First she doesn't invite you to the wedding, and now just dropping three step siblings on you?” Evie says, her voice echoing in the courtyard a little too loudly. You look around anxiously, but no one cares. The brisk breeze blows some leaves off the large tree over your heads, and you watch them tumble down to the ground.

“I mean it's not too bad, right?” You ask, stealing one of her grapes. “I really don't know anything about them, they could be nice!”

“Sure,” Evie says, taking a large bite of her sandwich. “That was still a dick move, though.”

“Maybe,” You giggle, popping another grape in your mouth. “They might—”

Someone clears their throat right behind you. Startling, drop your third grape, and turn around. There's a boy standing behind you. Looming over you and Evie and the table, with long straight hair tumbling down his back. He's wearing the male version of the uniform, without the jacket. You raise an eyebrow.

“Um, can I help you?” You ask. You hadn't heard anyone come up behind you. The boy doesn't say anything, simply looking you up and down with no expression on his face. He has big eyes, like a porcelain doll in the window of a shop. His skin is pale, his lashes long, his mouth a pale pink. He's quite handsome. And then he opens his mouth.

“I am disappointed,” He says, voice even and cold. There is barely any inflection there at all, but his eyebrows furrow slightly as he looks at you. You frown.

“Uh, what?” You ask, confused. It seems like he’s insulting you, but you can't quite tell because you don't even know who this guy is, what the hell he's talking about, or why he's talking to you in the first place. Evie frowns, opening her mouth. You shake your head at her.

“You know, when people usually meet each other for the first time, it's polite to introduce yourself.” You say, trying to smile through the confusion and slight annoyance. The boy tilts his head, hair waterfalling down his back. You're kind of jealous of it, it looks so smooth and straight.

“I am Illumi.” The boy says after a moment. And then, before you can spack, he continues. “Father informed us that we are to live with you from now on. I am disappointed.”

The pieces start falling together, the puzzle solving itself in an instant in your mind. Your mouth drops open, a chill running through your body.

“You're one of my new step siblings?” You ask, jumping to your feet in shock. Illumi nods, frowning slightly at your sudden movement. He's very tall, looming over you even when you're standing right in front of him. You offer a hand, trying to smile. He's been quite rude, but you still give him a few chances to make it up. After all, he has a right to be upset about this situation, after all. His father had just gotten married, just like your mother. You wonder if he was invited to the wedding.

Illumi stares down at your hand, frowning like it's personally offended him somehow. Finally, after your smile starts to waver, he takes it, giving you a quick handshake.

“It's nice to meet you.” You say, really trying to mean it. Illumi nods. He doesn't talk much, just stands there before you, staring deep into your eyes with his big, black soulless ones.

“You are very normal.” Illumi says, looking you up and down again. You raise an eyebrow, trying to figure out if that's a compliment or an insult.

“Is that good or bad?” You ask. You can hear Evie grinding her teeth behind you, like an angry guard dog. Illumi tilts his head to the side, tapping his chin. He moves a bit like a robot, slow, calculated, and cold.

“Simply an observation,” He says, straightening his head. His hair flows distractingly around him. You don't know how to feel.

“Oh,” You say, forcing a customer service smile. “You look like a porcelain doll.”

Evie chokes on a laugh. You know she's rolling her eyes behind you. Illumi’s brow furrows, his black eyes slipping from your own for a moment, to look behind you.

“Your friend is quite loud.” He says, looking back at you like you should deal with it. You raise an eyebrow. This guy is really weird.

“I guess?” You say, running a hand through your hair. “She sounds normal to me.”

Illumi frowns, standing still and straight like a robot.

“The two of you are similar in your normality,” He says. “I shall inform father that I am disappointed in his choice of family.”

He turns, walking away briskly, his hair swinging behind him. You strain your ears, listening for the footsteps that are supposed to be there. You hear none.

“Well, he's just lovely, huh.” Evie says, popping a grape into her mouth. You sit down again, taking a bite of your own food.

“He's quite odd,” You say, taking a sip of your soda. “Reminds me of a robot. Or a haunted doll.”

Evie chuckles, tossing her half eaten sandwich in the trash can with a thump. She grabs one of your apple slices, taking a bite. You steal a grape in retaliation, even though you’ve already eaten half of them. You make a mental note to grab some grapes at the grocery store later.

“Well name,” Evie says, tossing the rest of her trash as the bell signaling the end of lunch echoes through the air. “I hope you're excited to meet the rest of your step-siblings.”

“I don't know, I guess I am a little bit.” You say, tossing your trash as you and Evie start towards your English class. “They can't be weirder than Illumi, right?”

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

You might have to eat your words, you think to yourself as you stand in the front entrance of your large house, staring at the three boys across from you. It's been about two weeks since your first meeting with Illumi, and your mother and her new husband had just arrived back from their vacation. It seems the boys had not been invited. You feel a bit vindictively happy about that. Your mother and her new husband barely spared you a few drive by greetings before they vanished into the house with their bags. Leaving you and your three new step brothers in the front entrance. You break the silence, offering your hand with a smile.

“Im Name,” You say, voice echoing in the front entrance. The room stills for a moment, and then the tallest one darts into action. He moves forward, gripping your hand in his cold, pale hands, and shaking it firmly.

“How lovely it is to meet you, Name.” He says, smiling. His yellow eyes dart up and down your body, zeroing in on your uniform, and then your eyes. He runs a hand through his bright red hair, pushing it back off his forehead. It falls back immediately, obscuring his eyes slightly as he speaks.

“Having such a pretty sister is so exciting.” He says, pointed canines flashing in the light. You flush.

“Hisoka,” One of the other boys says, voice a warning. “Stop it.”

The red haired boy, Hisoka, simply smirks wider, slowly bringing your hand up to press a kiss to the top. You flush, yanking your hand away from his plush lips. He tilts his head, pouting like a wounded puppy. The black shirt he's wearing stretches over the muscles of his chest and arms. He's really hot. So are all of them actually. You wince internally. These boys are going to be your step brothers, you aren't allowed to lust after them, no matter how attractive they are.

“It's nice to meet you,” You say, forcing down your blush. Hisoka's smile returns to his face. It looks practiced, rehearsed, fake. This one is dangerous.

“I'm the oldest, you see. Chrollo, the frowny one with the bangs,” he gestures backwards at the boy in question, who simply sighs as Hisoka continues, “Is the middle child. And the one on the end is the youngest.”

“Illumi and i met already actually.” You interject, frowning slightly. Hisoka raises a single eyebrow.

“Oh dear, I hope he wasn't too rude.” He says, smiling apologetically. You resist the urge to tattle, and brush your hair over your shoulders. You're wearing simple clothes, some jeans and a nice blouse. Your mother had texted you before they had arrived, asking you not to ‘embarrass her’.

“Oh, he was fine.” You say quietly, ignoring the way Illumi stares into your soul. “We go to the same school. Do you guys go there too?”

Hisoka chuckles, looming over you a bit. His stare edges towards predatory sometimes.

“Oh no dear, I graduated a couple years ago.” He laughs, arm flexing as he pats you gently on the shoulder.

“Oh,” You say, ignoring the lingering hand on your shoulder. He's very physical. “Would you guys like a tour of the house?”

“That would be lovely!” Hisoka exclaims, spinning you around bodily and gripping your waist. “You're very sweet, darling.”

You smile, ducking away from the hand clutching your waist. It's better for your own sanity. The other boys trail behind you as you exit the main entrance way.

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Adjusting to the new living situation isn't as bad as you thought it would be. Your mother and her new husband don't hang around the house often, and even if they do, they usually stay secluded to their wing of the house. Hisoka often isn't at the house for long stretches of time, or comes back quite late at night. It's too bad, he's the most friendly of his brothers. Illumi is home almost twenty-four seven, leaving only for school and the occasional odd errand. Chrollo vanishes, you don't know where he goes. But he's probably still at the house. You think.

It's been a few weeks since you were first introduced to them, but your life hasn't really changed all that much. The two younger boys aren't very friendly or inviting, and you haven't had the chance to talk to them as much as you’d like. It would be nice if you could get to know them a bit better. So that's what you're doing now.

Illumi is probably in his room. He usually goes straight to his room after school, and shuts the door behind him with a slam. All of the bedrooms are in the same hallway, two on each side. Your parents bedroom is in their wing of the house, of course.

You walk up the stairs, steeling yourself for a hard fight. Illumi is a weirdo who can't really carry a conversation well and doesnt want to talk to you, but you're determined to try to be friends with him. Or at least, civil. You even have a plan. Ask for help with homework, and then the two of you could be study buddies. You were in the same grade, which meant you had the same classes. It was a perfect plan! Well, maybe not perfect, but pretty good.

The hallway is dark. You switch on the light with a click, illuminating the metal plates on each door. Your room is next to Illumi’s. Hisoka and Chrollo’s rooms are on the other side. No light shows from under their doors. They're probably out. Illumi’s room has cold bright light leaking into the hallway, however. You dip into your room to change out of your school uniform. Slinging on a tank top and a pair of sweatpants, you grab your study materials and walk a few feet down the hall. Raising your hand, you knock tentatively on Illumi’s door.

“Hey Illumi? It's me, can I come in?” You ask through the door. It's quiet, and for a moment you wonder if he's actually not in. and then he speaks.

“Yes.” He says, quietly, just barely audible through the thick wood of the door. You take a deep breath, steel yourself and open the door.

You step through, cold feet meeting a blue carpet, and close the door behind you. Illumi looks up, staring at you with wide, confused eyes. He’s sitting on the floor with his study materials spread neatly on a low table. You smile.

“Can I study with you?” You ask, hiding your shaking hands behind your back. Illumi blinks for a moment, as if mentally calculating whether or not it's a good idea. Finally, he nods.

“I don't see why not.” He says, looking back to his own study materials. You smile.

“Thanks,” You say, moving into the room and bending down to place your study materials out. Illumi makes an odd noise, like a choke and a cough at the same time. You look up, worried. His face is a little flushed.

“You ok?” You ask, sitting down across from him at the low table. Illumi nods.

“I am fine.” He says, eyes wandering from you to your work to the wall behind you. You shrug, turning to your study materials. The room sinks into silence, broken by the occasional turning of pages and the scratching of pencil on paper. Finally, when you think he's adjusted to your presence enough, you speak.

“Hey Illumi, what did you mean when you said I was normal?”

Illumi looks up from his work, eyes darting past your chest a little slowly and focusing on your eyes. He tilts his head in confusion.

“Exactly what it sounds like.” He says, as if it's obvious. You frown.

“But what does it mean?” You try again, “Like that im ugly?”

“You are not ugly.” Illumi says, voice sounding a bit weird. You flush.

“Oh, thanks.” You say, scratching your chain awkwardly. “Is it that I'm boring?”

Illumi stares at you long and hard, barely blinking. It seems like he's trying to figure out why you're upset. It reminds you of a robot, updating its programming as it tries to figure out what the weird human is upset about. Finally, he shakes his head.

“The words I used were inappropriate. I apologize.” Illumi offers, face still blank. “I simply met you were not the tyrant your mother portrayed you as.”

You frown. You've heard those words before, the insults aren't uncommon from your mother. But it still hurts. Your chest aches as you force a smile.

“Oh, really?” You say, forcing a fake laugh. “What did she say?”

Illumi frowns slightly, watching your face closely. He seems to be scanning for any change, any hint that you're upset. But your poker face is flawless, you've had a lot of practice. Finally, he opens his mouth.

“You were a spoiled brat who would throw a tantrum at a moment's notice.” He says, placing his pencil down on the table. “I was informed you went to my school, so I decided to meet you. You were not like I had been told, and I simply expressed it poorly.”

Your heart sinks into your stomach. You know your mother doesn't like you that much, or at least never wanted children, but is this what she thought of you? You feel like you're going to cry. You don't want to, you can't cry in front of Illumi. But against your will you feel tear after tear roll down your face. Illumi looks almost helpless as you cry, whipping it away with the back of your hand.

“Are you sad?” Illumi asks, frowning. He looks like he doesn't know what to do.

“Yes, Illumi.” You sob, tears rolling faster and faster down your face. “I'm crying. Have you never seen a girl cry?”

Illumi shakes his head, hand hanging awkwardly in the air between you. He clenches his fingers a few times, then lets it drop down.

“I don't really talk to girls.” Illumi says, staring in confusion as the tears roll down your cheeks. He looks almost adorable in his helplessness. Your shoulders shake as you cry, big fat tears rolling down your face and hitting the fabric of your tank top, soaking the blue fabric a darker blue. Illumi stares, awkwardly shuffling his pencil around in front of him. Finally, you give up.

“You're supposed to comfort crying girls.” You whimper, wiping the tears away as fast as they come.

“Comfort?” Illumi asks, tilting his head. You nod.

“Just give me a hug, Illumi.” You cry, crawling around the table towards him. Illumi sits there awkwardly as you throw yourself against his black covered chest. You cry into the turtleneck he's wearing, muffling your sobs into his chest. Illumi sits straight up, hands hovering awkwardly above your body until finally, when you crawl fully onto his lap, he settles them on your back. His hands are big, and warm. Finally, the tears start to subside.

You snuggle into his neck and shoulder, warm and snug against his surprisingly hot body. In both temperature and stature, actually. He has broad shoulders, and strong arms through the thick black fabric of the turtleneck. You giggle, drawing circles on his shoulders as you wipe the last tears away.

“Thanks for giving me a hug.” You sigh, still burrowing into his warm body. Illumi coughs, the sound loud in the relative silence of the house.

“I apologize if it was a poor hug. I was never taught to give one.” He says, voice rumbling out from his chest. You giggle, shifting on his lap.

“What are you talking about, silly. No one gets taught how to hug.” You say, running your hand through strands of his long, silky hair. Illumi coughs, clearing his throat as you shift on his lap again. The room sinks into comfortable silence for a moment.

“What, have you never hugged a girl before?” You laugh, moving again. Illumi makes a choked little sound in his throat, and shakes his head.

“I told you, I don't really talk to girls.” He says, his voice sounding a bit strained. You frown, pulling away from his chest to look him directly in the face. A faint flush has painted itself across his cheeks.

“Hey, are you alright? You sound weird.” You say, bringing a hand up and pressing it against his forehead. You shift on his lap a bit as you bring your other hand up, touching your own forehead. He doesn't have a fever, at least.

“I am fine.” Illumi nods. His cheeks are still just the palest petal pink, but his ears have started burning pure red among the strands of black hair. You're kind of alarmed. You dont think you’ve ever seen a hint of pink on his face, and now you see so much. You shift slightly as Illumi’s hands fall, grabbing your waist tightly.

“You should get off.” He says, voice warbling slightly. You frown, trying to ignore how butterflies rise in your stomach as his hands clench around your waist.

“Wait, why?” You ask, grabbing his shoulders as you slip slightly, pulling yourself close against him. “I was enjo—”

You stop suddenly as you feel something under your thigh. Illumi looks away, body tensing as you move experimentally, pressing against the thing. It jumps against you. Illumi chokes.

“Are you hard?” You ask, voice loud in the silence. Illumi winces slightly.

“No.” He says, pulling his head back until his hair partially obscures his face. You shift experimentally and are rewarded with his hands clenching down on your waist.

“Illumi you literally are.” You say, biting back a smile. Illumi doesn't say anything. Now you know you should be disgusted. He's your step-brother, after all. But, you can't quite bring yourself to pull away and run to your room. So instead you slide down his thighs, slowly crawling backwards on the floor until you're sitting a few feet in front of Illumi. His face looks dreadfully blank, like he expects you to slap him. Your eyes trace down his figure, taking in his broad shoulders and trim waist, and the bulge in his pants. You really wanna fuck him. But somehow, that seems like too much. Like it's a line you can't cross as step siblings, so you'll settle for this. Reaching your hand out slowly, carefully, you bring it down, stroking him over his pants.

The effect is instantaneous. Illumi’s back straightens, his body tensing as a small groan leaks out from between his clenched lips.

“Wait, what are you doing?” Illumi asks, obviously trying to keep his tone even as you stroke him.

“Thanking you.” You smile, pulling the belt of his sweatpants down. There's a small wet patch on his gray underwear, near the tip. You grin, licking your lips, and pressing your hand against him. Illumi whimpers, and quickly bites the rest of the sound back. You wish he would let all of his sounds out, but you doubt he will. And so you pull him out of his boxers, stroking him gently in your hand. Illumi bites his lips, eyes falling closed as you stroke him. He looks so pretty like this. Back straight and stiff, hair pooling around his shoulders and hitting the ground, cheeks flushed cherry blossom pink. You grin, mouth watering, and bend down.

“Wait, Name.” Illumi protests, his voice slightly hoarse. You pause, looking up at him from your position on the floor. His black eyes are filled with swirling lust and something else you can't quite place.

“Yeah?” You ask, letting a big glob of spit fall from your lips and plop onto Illumis dick. It twitches and Illumis shoulders twitch with it.

“What are you doing?” He asks, eyes locked on your own. You smile.

“I'm gonna give you a blowjob.” You say, and then start taking him into your mouth. He was clearly going to say more things, probably useless things that you don't want to hear, but they dissolve in his throat as you take him as far as you can, using your hand on the parts you can't reach. You make sure to use your hand on the parts you can't quite reach. Illumi groans again, as one hand clenches in the fabric of the carpet, and the other grabs your hair. You humm around him, pulling up and down, doing your best to drive him mad. It must be working, too, because tiny huffs and groans have started to leak out, even though he must be doing his best to hold them back. You can feel him twitching in your throat, probably close to cumming.

You smile around him, pressing a kidd to the tip before eating him down your throat again. Illumi groans, hand yanking your hair a bit as he does.

“Wait name im—”

He doesn't get to finish his sentence before something warm and sticky is flowing down your throat. You do your best to swallow it all before you pull off him, licking your lips. And then you realize what you just did. Illumi looks out of it, his black eyes hazy and confused, his cheeks still flushed. His dick is lying on the hem of his pants, tracking spit and cum on them. He looks very pretty. And then it just hits you what you’ve done. You gave your step brother a blowjob. You jump to your feet, trying to fix your hair. Illumi startles, shoving himself back into his underwear and pulling up his pants. Finally, when the room sinks into silence, you speak.

“Don't tell anyone.” You say, whipping a spot of cum off your boobs. Illumis eyes jump there, and then back to your own. You wait for him to agree, then flee to your room in embarrassment. What the hell have you done.

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

So maybe your plan to get to know your step brother didn't exactly go as you had thought. But you were still determined to get to know them. Without the blowjob part, obviously. You sigh, turning a page in your book as you stare into space. The library was your favorite part of your house. The smell of books and lavender filled your nostrils and helped you calm down. The light was golden, pouring over the little seating area you’ve found yourself in. It was a perfect place to read.

Too bad you're not actually reading, just trying to forget the Blowjob Incident™ from two days ago. You sigh, remembering it again and shifting your legs. You hate to admit how much it kinda turns you on. How you just wanna go back and demand that Illumi eat you out. You sigh, crossing your legs again, and closing your book with a slam. Well, the book was boring anyway.

Your socked feet make barely a noise on the hardwood floors as you move back into the tall bookshelves that rise to the sky. Well, the ceiling. The bookshelves aren't that tall but they still feel tall. You slip the book away, and then move down the narrow hallways of books running your hand along their spines. Maybe a smut book will make you a little less pent up. Or more, but you could at least blame it on the book then, and not the Blowjob Incident™.

The smut section of the library was there when you and your mom moved in. Actually, most of the books were. It makes sense because the house has been in your family for generations. You chose not to think too hard about which of your dead relatives had picked out the smut books. You had already read all of them, but you scanned the shelf for one of the better ones.

Finally you spot one, the familiar gold and red cover sitting teasingly out of reach on the top shelf. You stand on your tippy toes, and reach up as high as you can, your fingertips just brushing the bottom. You brace your hand against one of the lower shelves and strain as high as you can. Someone chuckles behind you. And then a warm body comes up behind you, reaching just the last few inches to grab the book from the shelf and recede. You spin, and take in Chrollo, standing in front of you with the book outstretched.

“Here you go,” He says, offering you the book. You take it quickly, holding it against your chest as you flush.

“Thanks,” You say, hiding the title of the book as best you can. Better to be safe than sorry. Chrollo smiles slightly, folding his arms across his chest. He's wearing a fluffy looking sweater. You clear your throat, still standing with your back against the smut books.

“Are you enjoying the library?” You ask, in a hurry to change the subject, so he doesnt start asking questions about your book.

“Yes it's quite extensive.” Chrollo says, brushing a hand through his hair. “I myself have been enjoying the philosophy and nonfiction sections.”

“Oh,” You say, smiling slightly. “Those sections are pretty good, the nonfiction section especially has some pretty interesting and rare books. ”

“You seem to know this library pretty well.” Chrollo says, sliding his hands into the pockets of his black pants. “I assume you’ve read most of the collection?”

“Yep, almost all of it.” You say, smiling excitedly. “I haven't quite got through the cookbook section.”

You love the library. It's such a lovely place to escape too. And besides, your mother never comes in here. She says it's too dusty, even though the maids do a wonderful job of cleaning the entire house. You sigh, leaning back against the bookcase. Chrollo frowns.

“You seem upset about something.” He says, moving a few steps closer. You sigh. Your mothers words still sit a bit heavy in your heart, but you're more used to her cruelty than you should be. It's embarrassing that you're actually more upset about the Blowjob Incident™. But you definitely can't tell Chrollo that. So your mother is getting thrown under the bus. Besides, you're kind of curious to hear what they were told about you.

“What where…” You say, clearing your throat, and trying again. “Well I mean, how much did you guys know about me before you moved in.”

Silence falls for a moment as Chrollo considers you, taking in your body, clothes up a turtleneck, pleated skirt and socks, your face as you avoid his eyes. Then he speaks.

“Oh, not much. At least I wasn't told anything.” Chrollo says almost soothingly, moving forward to pat you gently on the arm as he continues. “I know father told Illumi a bit more.”

You frown, tilting your head.

“Why not you?” You ask, looking up at him. Chrollo stifles a smile.

“Oh, Father and I don't get along.” He rubs your shoulder reassuringly, and you shiver as his warm hand leaves you. “Illumi listens to him. Hisoka and I do not.”

“Oh,” You say, shoving down your confusion and the urge to pry. “Well, did you know anything?”

“Your age and gender.” Chrollo says, patting you on the head with a chuckle. “Is that what you were upset about? Don't you worry, We all had a favorable impression of you the moment we saw you.”

You frown, brow furrowing in confusion as Chrollo steers both of you out of the seas of bookshelves and back into the rest area. You spot a book resting open on the couch, a mug of something warm on the table. Steam spirals into the air, and you sit down on the other end of the couch, watching Chrollo as he picks up the book, sitting neatly in the middle. You sigh, brushing your hair out from behind you and leaning back, closing your eyes. The sounds of page turning fills the air, broken only by Chrollo’s slow, even, breathing.

You open your own book, too embarrassed to change books now. What would you say if he asked why you were exchanging your book? ‘Oops, I grabbed a smut book because I was feeling horny after I gave your brother a blowjob, and I'm too embarrassed to read it in front of you.’ Hello no. Besides, Chrollo isn't paying attention to you, and you’ve already read this book a thousand times. The smut won't turn you on as it once had, you're sure.

You were wrong. Maybe it's something about the fact that chrollo is sitting a few inches away, turning the pages of his own book calmly, or maybe you were just that horny, but you're barely into the smut scene when your pussy starts throbbing. You shuffle on the couch, crossing your legs and clenching your thighs together. You shiver at the little burst of pleasure that gave you and continue reading, body tight and tense. You're barely digesting the words on the page, far too busy being distracted by the warm body a few inches away from you. Chrollo is much more interesting than the stupid smut book anyway.

You look at him out of the corner of your eyes. His hair falls gently, angled down towards the book in his lap. It's some philosophy book, you don't care enough to try to make out the tiny text at the top of the page. Chrollo's skin is pale, sharp against the black of his hair. It's a close shade to the cream white of his sweater. You want to reach out and brush his hair out of his eyes, then beg him to kiss you senseless.

You curse the universe for giving you such hot men who were so close in age to you and lived with you, and then making them your step siblings. So out of reach. You ignore the looming memories of the Blowjob Incident™, and turn a page, trying to focus on the smut scene. But words on a page cannot distract you from the subtle scent of Chrollo's cologne, floating in the air between you. You shift uncomfortably on the couch as your pussy floods with heat, your body begging to be touched.

You're crossing your legs again when Chrollo speaks.

“You seem a bit restless.” He says, pausing before the last word. You slam your book shut, not even bothering to put a bookmark in it. Your face must be flushed, you know.

“I guess.” You say, clearing your throat. You swear you can hear your arousal in your voice, smell it in the air. The room sinks into silence as Chrollo puts a bookmark in his book, setting it down on the table with a soft thump. You clutch yours in your lap, kind of thankful for a hard thing to clutch. Not like that. Chrollo smiles at you softly, his gray eyes glowing slightly in the lowlight.

“Bad book?” He asks, gesturing towards the book in your lap with a nod. You squeak, shrugging.

“Uh, it's fine!” You say, putting it on your other side. You feel like a rubber band pulled tight, about to snap. Chrollo seems to be moving closer.

“I'm impressed,” Chrollo chuckles, scooting closer to you along the couch.

“What?” You say, heart pounding double time as his gray eyes move closer and closer. You scoot backwards until you're sitting with your back pressed against the arm. The book slides off the couch, hitting the ground with a muffled thud. Chrollo chuckles, stopping a few feet away from your knees.

“It's quite bold to read a smut book an inch away from your step brother.” Chrollo says simply, a small smile marking his pale lips. Your mouth drops open.

“How did you know?” You ask, voice a little to breathless for you liking. A flush is working its way up your chest and neck, and overtaking your face. Your traitorous pussy drools arousal on your panties. Chrollo chuckles.

“I memorized the Library layout.” He says, smoothing a hand over your sock covered calf. “I'm sure you did as well.”

You’ve had it memorized since you were a child. But you're very distracted right now by his warm hand as it moves slightly higher on your raised legs, now brushing past your knee. You bite back a whimper, not daring to make a noise as his hand travels higher and higher. Chrollo chuckles.

“We certainly aren't the best step siblings, aren't we?” He says, hand stroking up and down your thigh, tips of his fingers barely brushing the edges of your pleated skirt. His fingers feel hot against your bare skin. You slap your hand over your mouth, and Chrollo smirks.

“What are they going to say?” You whimper through your hand as Chrollo gently grips both your thighs, urging them apart. Chrollo chuckles, tugging down your panties, the last sticky barrier between him and your telling wetness.

“Who, our parents?” he asks, voice still so soft in the large silence of the caverness library. “They're never here. How could they know?”

You guess he's right, you think to yourself as he presses a delicate little kiss to your clit. How could they know, when neither of them pay attention to you. To any of their children, it seems. Your back arches against the couch, hands reaching down to tangle in Chrollo's black hair.

Chrollo eats pussy like a man starved. He eats you out like you're an oasis in a dry desert and he hasn't had a sip of water in years. He buries his head between your thighs, gripping your hips tightly as he licks and sucks you closer and closer to orgasm. You feel like you're losing your mind, tipping so close to insanity. Here you are, engaged in sexual activities with another one of your step brothers. Two out of three. And although you had initiated the one from a couple days ago, this one had been all Chrollo.

You whimper as you feel your orgasm threatening on the horizon, as you tug gently on Chrollo's soft hair and moan his name tellingly into the empty library.

“I'm gonna cum.” You whimper, warning him with a few extra tugs to the hair in case he isn't listening. He only doubles his efforts, concentrating his sucking and licking on your clit and tossing you off the cliff of orgasm like a rag doll. You moan loudly as you cun, body tensing and convulsing as you come undone, tugging at his hair.

It takes you a moment to come back, blinking up at the overhead lights. And when you speak, your voice is hoarse.

“You can't tell.” You say, voice trembling in the room. You wait for Chrollo to nod, and when he does, then you flee again, pulling your panties up and dashing out of the room leaving Chrollo behind you.

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

You straighten your back as you stand a few feet outside of the doors to the exercise room. You know Hisoka is in there. You know he's there because you made sure to triple check with him, and both his brothers. You need to talk to him. Urgently, one might say, because you're kind of having a crisis, and it's surprisingly hard to get him alone to talk. But the crisis. Maybe it has something to do with the incidents that had happened in the last week. You shiver slightly as you remember them, body trembling as it recalls all of it. You shake your head, straighten your shoulders, and march into the gym with your head held high.

You don't go in here often. You don't like working out, preferring sports to things like gyms and working out. But you know the general layout.

Hisoka is over by the rack of weights. You can see his brilliant hair from all the way across the room, as he does some sort of weight exercise. You move through the room, catching your own reflection out of the corner of your eye in the mirror lining one wall. The room is silent, besides for the sound of your feet on the cold concrete floor, and the muffled music blasting from Hisoka’s headphones.

He hasn't spotted you yet. As you move closer, you watch his arm muscles bulge, completely put on display by the black tank top he's wearing. You clear your throat, begging your already fried nerves and the arousal beating at your gut to calm down.

“Hisoka? Can I talk to you?” You say, trying to be audible over the music pounding in his headphones. Hisoka looks up, meeting your eyes in the mirror in his sharp yellow gaze, and then smiles.

“Ah, Name. I didn't see you there.” He says, placing the weight back in the rack, and pulling his headphones out of his ears. “Come to watch me workout?”

He winks, and you chuckle. He's not wrong, that's what you were doing just then. You shake any traces of arousal out of your face and force a smile.

“Um, I wanted to talk to you about something.” You say, bringing a hand to your mouth. You chew anxiously on your nails, heart pounding a bit too fast. Hisoka’s brow furrows, eyes scanning you up and down.

“Is something wrong, darling?” He asks, moving closer to you, gently grabbing your hand and lowering it away from your mouth. You almost flinch as his hot fingers touch you, as he gets close enough and all you can see is the beads of sweat lingering on his skin. You want to lick them off, oddly enough. His hand is still holding your wrist. He can probably feel your pulse beating double time.

“I,” You start, then clear your throat. “Well, this is kind of embarrassing.”

Hisoka raises an eyebrow, hidden behind his bright red hair. His eyes flicker the length of your body again, taking in your pajama shorts and t-shirt you cut into a crop top. You look like a slob, but he'd already seen you when he got home and you figured it would be weird if you showed up wearing something nicer to have this conversation. You didn't even know if he would believe you, or what he would say. You shake your head, begging your face not to flush.

“Well, recently, i've been trying to get to know Illumi and Chrollo,” You start. Hisoka chuckles.

“Oh how adorable~” He says, patting you gently on your head. He smells of salt and musk and faintly of cologne. “Aren't you just the sweetest.”

You flush, body heating up at the nickname. Maybe this was a bad idea.

“Is your hair natural?” You ask, too embarrassed to keep talking. Hisoka chuckles.

“Yes, doll. The three of us have different mothers.” He says, patting your head gently again. “Now what did you want to say?”

“Oh, um,” you stutter again, voice suddenly caught in your throat. “I'm not sure how to say this.”

Hisoka considers you, trying to peer into your soul through your eyes and figure out what's got you so worried. You almost wish he would. Then the words wouldn't have to pass your lips. He's starting to look almost worried. Or as worried as you've ever seen him look.

“Why don't you sit down,” he says. You plop down onto the mat below your feet, sitting with your legs crossed on the cushy material. Hisoka sits down opposite you, smiling patiently at you.

“Have my brothers been bothering you?” He asks, moving forward to smooth the wrinkle between your brows. “You don't deserve to worry your pretty head about those idiots.”

“Oh no, it's my fault too.” You say, shaking your head. Hisoka's hand withdraws, falling back into his lap. You don't know if you want him to touch you more or stand ten feet away. You can't decide which one you want more.

“Well, I think I've been a bad step sister.” You confide, leaning forward a bit. Hisoka raises an eyebrow,

“Oh why would you think that?” He purrs, reaching forward again to smooth a hand over your shoulder. “If anything, you're too good for undeserving men like us, doll.”

You smile, brushing your hair over your shoulder. The gym is empty besides the two of you. You don't know if anyone else is home. Your mother and her new husband are on some favation. Illumi is

“I guess. The other boys haven't complained or anything,” You flush, body temperature rising as you remember the things that had happened. “But, I keep doing things that step sisters aren't supposed to do.”

Hisoka’s face goes blank for a moment. He blinks a couple times, and then a smile appears on his face.

“Whatever are you talking about?” He asks, a fake smile still glued to his face. You flinch, face still flushed. It feels like he already knows what you mean, or has an idea. But he seems like he wants to hear it from your lips. Hear you say all the dirty forbidden things you've gotten up to with his half siblings. You lick your lips and clear your throat. Your hands are trembling in your lap, and you clench them against your pajama shorts, suddenly feeling too naked to be doing this. You don't know why.

Maybe it's how Hisoka is looking at you. His yellow eyes scan your body, taking in each square inch of bare skin on display for his viewing, or the careful way he holds himself. He looks predatory. You hate how it sends a bolt of heat to your gut. You take a deep breath, steady yourself, and speak.

“We have engaged in some sexual acts.” You whisper into the silence of the gym. Hisoka raises an eyebrow, looking mostly unsurprised.

His yellow eyes dart down again, scanning your body as if looking for evidence of what you have spoken into existence.

“I'm afraid you're going to need to be more specific, doll.” Hisoka says, voice light and teasing as if the two of you are discussing something as trivial as the weather. You gulp down your spit, taking a deep breath and closing your eyes.

“I have Illumi a blow job. Chrollo ate me out.” You say, keeping your eyes closed. “What am I supposed to do?”

Silence echoes in the gym for a moment. And then Hisoka chuckles.

“Oh my, what a dilemma you seem to have, doll.” He laughs, the sound echoing in the empty room. You open your eyes, kind of confused.

“You seem surprised.” You say, eyes gliding over Hisoka’s body again before you can yank them up to his eyes. You're already a bit turned on from just talking to him, touching him, being near him. Not to mention thinking too much about the events of the last week.

“Oh, i figured it out as soon as you mentioned sexual acts.” Hisoka says, doing air quotations around the words ‘sexual acts’. He shoots you a wink as he continues. “I just wanted to hear you say it.”

“Oh,” You say. He seems very casual about this, very unbothered. You pull your lower lip into your mouth, biting it as you watch him smile unnervingly. “Why aren't you angry?”

“Hmm~” Hisoka hums, eyes darting down to your mouth as you let your bottom lip out of your mouth, probably a bit red from the biting. “I wonder.”

It happens so fast. One moment you're sitting upright, watching Hisoka in front of you with apprehension. And then the next moment you're tumbling backwards, the world spinning on its axis. Your back hits the mat with a thump and you grunt. Hisoka looms over you, a feral light hiding in his eyes as he greedily scans you up and down.

“What?” You say breathlessly, biting back the moan that wants to leak out as you take in Hisoka above you. His hair droops around him in a brilliant red halo. He cages you against the matte softened floor, and you whimper as his thigh finds its way between your legs, pressing up into your pussy.

“My brothers and I are very different, you know.” Hisoka says, leaning down to press a soft kiss to your neck. “But I suppose we are similar in some ways after all.”

He nips at your neck and you whimper, body reflexively straightening against his thigh. Your hands reach up to scrabble at his shoulders.

“Wait, Hisoka.” You whimper as he breaths hot and heavy on your ear, pressing hickeys on the skin under your ear. “No marks, they’ll see.”

Hisoka laughs huskily.

“Who doll?” He laughs, pressing his thug against your pussy harder. You whimper, pleasure running a hard line down your spine. You're losing your mind and he hasn't even taken your clothes off.

“Chrollo” You breathe, the name coming out as more of a moan. “And Illumi.”

“Ah, not those pesky absent parents of ours?” Hisoka says, a chuckle in his voice. “Oh they won't mind. If anything, they’ll take it as a challenge. How would you like that doll?”

You whimper, gripping his muscled shoulders tightly and digging your nails into his back. Hisoka grunts, body pressing you deep into the floor. You're trapped, between the matt covered floor and a body of solid muscle. Hisoka reaches down, using one hand to pull the loose pajama shorts off your body, tossing them somewhere behind him. You whimper as he yanks off your panties too, exposing your poor pussy to the bare air and the mean strokes of his corded thigh.

“You're so sexy,” You whimper as he drives his muscled thigh into your clit. You feel like you're going to break, just shatter to pieces right there on the gym floor. Hisoka laughs, heavy in your ear.

“What a slutty step-sister I have.” he breathes, voice deliciously husky. “I wonder. Could you handle all of us at once?”

Your pussy twitches against him, drooling more arousal, leaving sticky trains all over the fabric of his sweatpants.

“Oh god yes,” You whimper, images of it filling your mind. You're too turned on to be mortified as HIsoka laughs, kissing hickeys and bite marks all over your neck. You're losing your mind. It seems your three for three, and all you want to do is to be fucked stupid by your step brothers.

Hisoka chuckles, pulling away to stare down at you with lust driven yellow eyes, almost glowing behind curtains of red hair. And then he shoves two fingers into your mouth.

“Be a good girl and suck.” He coos, driving his thigh against your pussy in regular thrusts, driving you closer and closer to orgasms. You're gonna cum. Soon, you're so close to losing your mind.

You're sure you look like a mess. Your hair is a messy halo around your head two fingers shoved in your mouth, your body twisting and turning on the mat. Shorts and underwear long discarded, grinding your bare pussy on your step brother's clothed thigh. But you don't even care. Hisoka smiles above you, canines sharp in the lowlight.

“You gonna cum, doll?” he smiles. You nod, sucking his fingers obediently, whining around them as best you can. Hisoka smiles, merciful as an avenging angel above you.

“You've been so good, so I'll let you cum.” You coos, leaning the weight of his body on you as he withdraws his fingers from your mouth. You're about to protest, but you don't get words as he replaces his fingers with his lips, sealing your mouth in a kiss as you fall off the edge.

Your body convulses as you cum, grinding down on his thigh until you can't anymore, until you're screaming from oversensitivity and you yank yourself away from his thigh, trembling. Hisoka eats every moan and scream, muffling it with his tongue and his lips. Until finally, he pulls away with a little chuckle.

“Done already?” He coos, wiping the tears and spit from your face with a laugh. “I was just going to call the others.”

...

Endnotes: i hope you guys enjoyed this kinktober ride as much as i did lol. This ones a bit long but i figured we’d better go out with a bang~

#mariannacrxss #helplesslypurple77kinktober #hunter x hunter #hxh smut #hisoka morow #hxh x reader #illumi x reader #chrollo lucilfer #chrollo x reader #hisoka x reader x chrollo #Hisoka/Reader/Illlumi/Chrollo #hisoka smut #illumi smut #chrollo smut

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jedineedlove · 4 months ago

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The Nine-Headed Demon

Titles:

Prince Consort of Jisa, Xiangliu, and The Emissary

I wanted to know more about our villain for season 5 so I looked more into his titles.

Xiangliu:

it came up as, a venomous nine-headed snake monster that brings floods and destruction. Xiangliu may be depicted with his body coiled on itself. The nine heads are arranged differently in different representations. Modern depictions resemble the hydra with each head on a separate neck. Older wood-cuts show the heads clustered on a single neck, either side-by-side or in a stack three high, facing three directions.

But that can't be him sure they bring floods and destruction. But in the show we already see one of these and they have no giant bird form. In Season 4 Episode 4 Pig- Napped

I don't know why he said he was one of these...maybe he's related to one of that just what some people call him on the nine-head thing and he went along with it.

The Emissary title stumped me but it means that he was given or named himself a representative of something or someone. He mentioned being the consort of Jisa and the Wiki thinks it is a kingdom so maybe the Emissary of there but I think more likely with his obsession over it he's the Emissary of Chaos like the Harbinger of Chaos.

But it still got me no closer to him so I started looking at appearances.

I found this...

Jiu Feng:

Nine-headed Bird, also called “Jiu Feng” in Chinese, is a monster in Chinese Mythology. It is a legendary bird with a bird’s body and nine heads with human faces and is regarded as one of the earliest forms of the Chinese phoenix. It was worshiped by ancient natives in Hubei Province.

Pretty much WHAT he is but I went deeper on the WHO he is......

JTTW:

There was a demon with a similar name in the JTTW, I thought there was no way it was him no way it was that simple.....

"The Nine-Headed Beast (九頭蟲), also known as the Nine-Headed Prince Consort (九頭駙馬), is married to Wansheng Dragon King's daughter. He is armed with a Crescent Moon Spade (月牙鏟). He collaborates with his father-in-law to steal the Śarīra from Golden Ray Monastery. Sun Wukong enlists the help of celestial forces to deal with the demons. The Nine-Headed Beast has one of his heads bitten off by Erlang Shen's celestial hound but manages to escape."

It's him who got the description and the sharing consort title. I didn't think it could be because this character had no other link to Wukong than this one-off meeting but then again like I said before LMK is a JTTW fanfic.

In this scene where he mentioned being BOTH Friend and Foe, the Foe part made sense but the FREIND did not. Nor the why Wukong would not remember him in either capacity.

Also, this whole link to Chaos and these powers are out of nowhere for this character so they clearly added a few other things onto him as well.

But then again Wukong only sees him in this form. The Monkey does not get to see

Maybe if he saw him like this it might make him remember but that's just a theory.

Another name I found he is called is the Nine-Headed Bug or Worm listen to this...

(PS to Overly Saractist Production Fans this guy shows up in the Chapter after Bull King so the next episode of JTTW from their youtube channel if they ever get back to it)

"In his humanoid form, the Nine-Headed Bug is a man who has nine faces, and wears armor, holds a Crescent Moon Spade. However, in the 1986 series, he simply has one visible face like a regular person, wears regular purple -

aristocratic clothes, and a crown that consists of nine snake-like heads (hinting at his true form).

The Bug's -

true form is that of a gigantic bird that looks like an eagle, with nine heads, and blood on his back.

His true form is never fully revealed in the 1986 TV series, but a few heads of him hints at how it looks like."

The reason I mention this is because I've noticed this in my Iron Fan Legend, JTTW, and LMK. That the design for some of the characters comes from older media of JTTW like TV shows and movies live action or animated.

Wukong fillet in season 5 has a mix of all of his past media fillets designed with the middle cresting up for the two loops but we get a crest moon shape like in Journey to the West- Legends of the Monkey King (Middle image)

The bullhorn hair from Dream Journey 2: Princess Iron Fan in 2017.

and more.....

So using this description made sense.

I would also like to point out that I saw someone's comment but not sure who the NINE-Headed Demon in his beast form is missing one of his heads, his nine-headed title comes from the extra nine around the main one the main face does not count and they are right there are only eight of the small ones but go back up to the first quote where I mentioned Erlang's dog bit off one of those heads so it makes sense. If anything it might tell us THAT fight did go down just not the way in the book.

Good Puppy. :)

Hope you all enjoyed..

#lmk nine headed demon #sun wukong #lmk #jttw #lego monkie kid #journey to the west #fan thoughts #monkey king

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niteshade925 · 3 months ago

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April 13, Xi'an, China, Shaanxi Archaeology Museum/陕西考古博物馆 (Part 3 - Qin dynasty to Sui dynasty):

First up is one of many bronze edict tablets of the 2nd emperor of Qin dynasty, made in 209 BC. Inscribed upon it in Seal script is one of two edicts, specifically the one from the 2nd emperor of Qin dynasty (秦二世), which basically is a continuation of Qin Shi Huang's edict on standardizing all weights and measurements. Here Qin Shi Huang/秦始皇 is referred to as Shi Huangdi/始皇帝, where shi/始 means "origin", and huangdi/皇帝 means "emperor".

^The edict inscribed is as follows (this is my VERY rough translation, please take this with a grain of salt, I'm not great at reading Old Chinese; original text is on bottom right of picture):

“First year (209 BC; first year of 2nd Emperor of Qin's reign), [We] issued an edict to chancellors Li Si and Feng Quji: Shi Huangdi pioneered this effort to standardize all weights and measurements, since then all such edicts have been inscribed on bronze. Now that [We have] inherited this Huangdi title, [We] shall not refer to Ourselves as Shi Huangdi here. Likewise, should Our descendants continue to produce tablets of Shi Huangdi's edict, they shall not take credit for Shi Huangdi's achievements. [We] hereby inscribe this edict on the left, so that all may be clear."

Ever since Qin Shi Huang tried to standardize systems of measurements for the entire country, every dynasty since Qin dynasty has also done the same. These are the standardized weights and volume measurements (all made with bronze) from Western Han dynasty (202 - 8 BC). Those volume measurement tools are very much like oversized measurement spoons, since they are mostly used to measure liquids and grains (in ancient China grains can be measured by volume).

Looks like I forgot about this one in part 2, this is a bronze sword from Warring States period (475 - 221 BC), I believe. It's decorated with carved pieces of jade (some are on the scabbard, but the scabbard has presumably decomposed over time):

The painted and carved stone doorway to a Eastern Han dynasty (25 - 220 AD) tomb. The actual (double) doors are in the middle, and the pieces around them are the side jambs and the lintel. Note the animals, mythical creatures, and humans depicted. On the double doors, in order from top to bottom, there's a pair of Zhuque/朱雀/Vermilion Bird, a pair of symbolic door knockers shaped like a beast carrying a ring in its mouth, and a pair of oxen. On the top right and top left of the lintel piece, you can also clearly see the sun crow and the moon toad, respectively.

The layout of some Western Han dynasty (202 - 8 BC) mausoleums. Note that the "pyramids" on the model aren't stone pyramids like the Great Pyramid of Giza, they are actually fengtu/封土, or artificial mounds of earth on top of the actual tomb to symbolically seal the tomb (feng/封 means "seal" or "to seal"), and can serve as tomb markers. Fengtu can differ vastly in size according to the social status of the deceased, so the fengtu of imperial tombs are usually huge, some so big that they are like small hills. However, while Western Han dynasty imperial tombs have these square-ish fengtu mounds, in Eastern Han dynasty (25 - 220 AD) the fengtu mounds became circular, and imperial tomb fengtu have been circular pretty much ever since. But fengtu wasn't just reserved for the elites, common folk also built small circular fengtu mounds on top of graves (these graves are called fen/坟; graves without fengtu are called mu/墓), and this is still practiced today, albeit much more common in rural areas since there are less people and more land. When people tend to the graves of their family members and ancestors on Qingming Festival, if the grave is a fen grave, people would pile more earth on the fengtu to make it rounder as part of the upkeep process.

A set of pottery figurines of entertainers from a Western Han era tomb. I love how they set the display up here, you can practically imagine the music and the dancing

More pottery figurines from Western Han era tombs

Western Han era hollow clay bricks depicting the Four Symbols/四象 of the cardinal directions: Qinglong/青龙/Azure Dragon of the East, Zhuque/朱雀/Vermilion Bird of the South, Xuanwu/玄武/Black Tortoise of the North, and Baihu/白虎/White Tiger of the West.

Left: a piece of intricately painted lacquered wood, I forgot where it's from but it was probably a piece of decoration on a larger artifact. Right: a piece of gold decoration inlaid with turquoise from Western Han era

The biggest decorated yubi/玉璧 (jade disc with hole in the middle) found so far, from an early Western Han dynasty tomb. Its diameter is 43.2 cm (~17 inches). If you zoom in, the inner band is decorated with these almost tadpole-like little swirls, and these are called gu pattern/谷纹, since they might represent sprouting rice kernels. The outer band is decorated with 4 sets of kuilong patterns/夔龙纹 and 4 sets of dragon-phoenix patterns/龙凤纹. It's speculated that the patterns here together depict the universe, and the hole in the middle is where the spirit of the deceased will travel through. This particular yubi also has 六百六十一 ("six hundred and sixty-one") carved discreetly on the side, presumably a "serial number" left by the artisan who crafted this piece.

Decorated backs of bronze mirrors. I didn't take a picture of the plaque so I'm unclear on what time period these are from (may or may not be from the time period indicated at the beginning of the post):

Left: a hand-held incense burner. Right: a particular type of incense burner called a boshanlu/博山炉, so named because the lid was made to look like a mini mountain

Various Northern Zhou dynasty (557 - 581 AD) painted pottery figurines. Below middle arranged in a circle is the metal pieces on a belt.

Sixteen Kingoms era pottery entertainer figurines:

#2024 china #xi'an #china #shaanxi archaeology museum #chinese history #chinese culture #qin dynasty #han dynasty #northern zhou dynasty #sixteen kingdoms period #archaeology #history #culture

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restlessmaknae · 9 months ago

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sun, star, moon // sung hanbin

When you start university, everything is new and scary, until you find your safe haven in a cosy corner café and a cute barista working there.

➳ Characters: barista/uni student!Hanbin x uni student female!reader/you

➳ Genre: the fluffiest of fluff, uni au, barista au, slice of life

➳ Words: 2.9k

➳ Warning: mention of food, stress

➳ A/N: This story was very much inspired by Hanbin's tattoos (the title might have hinted at that...), and even though there's some info out there about what they mean to him, this story is purely fictional, so the explanation in the story is also just part of the storyline.

Also, thank you @dat-town for bearing with me while I was gradually falling for this boy 💕

➳ Taglist: @dat-town, @s00buwu

It was spring when you first met Hanbin.

You had your first semester at university, all nerves and excitement, looking around the unfamiliar city and being in awe at how different it was compared to your hometown. Apart from visiting your grandparents in different cities, you had never travelled much, let alone spent time away from your parents. It was exciting and terrifying all at the time, and you didn’t really know how to be an independent and responsible adult (the one that you should have been), but you tried your best to find your footing.

After orientation week, your very first class was at 8am which meant having to grab coffee to keep you awake after tossing and turning in bed for hours the previous night, not knowing what to expect on your very first day. You stayed at a student accommodation a bit further from the city centre, and there was a cosy little café on the corner, so you hopped in to get your daily dose of caffeine before getting on the bus.

As you stepped inside, the little bell above the door signalled your arrival cheerily, and the sweet fragrance of freshly baked goodies wafted through the café. You stepped up to the corner, and while the boy in front of you was making his order, you examined the hand-written menu on the chalkboard behind the counter, pondering over what to get.

You were next in line in no time, and as the boy stepped aside, you found yourself face-to-face with the barista who smiled at you gently. There were no dark circles around his eyes despite the early hour, and his cheeks lifted slightly when he was smiling. He ruffled his jet-black hair when a few stray locks fell into his eyes and blinked at you patiently.

“Good morning! What can I get for you?” He inquired politely as he stepped aside, so that you could see the chalkboard behind him better. You smiled at him, grateful, already making up your mind about your order.

“Good morning! I’d like a medium almond latte and a…” Your voice trailed off as you looked at the pastry display counter, wondering if you should get something to munch on between your morning classes. There were a few baked goods that you had never tried before and they looked heavenly, but you wanted to stick to something familiar for the sake of your stomach on the first day of the semester. “An almond croissant to go, please,” you added, and looked back up at him, only to find his smile widening upon your order.

“So a medium almond latte with an almond croissant,” he noted, but there was a playful edge to his words which made you realise that it must have sounded pretty funny. You weren’t crazy about almonds, but you liked almond latte the most, and that croissant seemed really good.

“Yeah, that’s it,” you bobbed your head, your heart warming at the sight of his smile, before telling him that you would pay by card. While he was preparing your order, you tried not to stare too much, but it was difficult when he had such kind and gentle features. Anyone who looked at him could tell that he was a good-willed person, plus, add his broad shoulders, toothy smile and delicate features to the mixture, and boom… it was impossible not to look at him while he was busy concentrating on doing your latte, his dedication written on his face.

When he caught your gaze, his lips curled upwards timidly, and you couldn’t tell whether he was more shy or you were. You were sure that your face flushed, but you hoped that he deemed that it was because of the slightly warmer temperature in the café, not because of him.

“Here you go,” he said as he put the cup of coffee and a paper bag with the croissant on the counter in front of you. “Have a lovely day!” He wished with a tender smile when you reached for the goodies, and you reciprocated it, wishing him the same.

Little did you know, that was just the first of your many morning encounters with him.

It was summer when you realised that you had fallen for Hanbin.

Throughout the semester, the little café had become your favourite spot around your student accommodation. It was where you got your morning latte, and it was where you worked on your assignments when you needed to get out of your small room to not get crazy there. Hanbin didn’t work every single time you were there, but the other baristas were just as kind and friendly. You also got to know that the woman who sometimes worked behind the counter was Hanbin’s mother, and she was also the one who owned the café. When you talked with her, you realised where the boy had gotten his kindness and consideration from.

On the other hand, when Hanbin was there, you always felt a bit more safe, a bit more comfortable. You couldn’t really pinpoint what it was about him - maybe his gentle smile or the way he gently patted your back to wake you up when you fell asleep on your laptop or the way his voice was like a lullaby, something that could envelope you in its warmth -, but you couldn’t go against what you were feeling. You just didn’t know whether he felt the same way about you because he seemed to be equally kind to all the customers.

Hanbin was a university student too, yet he helped out at the café whenever his schedule allowed him to do so, so it wasn’t rare to see him going to class or to come from class when you were already there. Since you usually saw him in a neutral coloured shirt with an apron in front, you never really paid much attention to how he dressed, but when he was off-work, he wore cotton shirts, light cardigans, casual jeans and such. He looked good in everything though.

However, on the very last day before you would go home for the summer break, Hanbin offered to walk you back to your accommodation. You hadn’t planned on staying past opening hours, but you had managed to doze off while scrolling on your phone, and the boy had to wake you up, explaining that it was time to close the shop altogether. Since it was late, he suggested walking you back, and despite your initial protests (that it was a well-lit street, that it wasn’t that far…), you gave in.

As you walked side by side, you stole a few glances here and there, and that’s when you noticed it… he wore a V-neck shirt this time, something that exposed the front of his chest a bit, and you couldn’t help yourself from noticing the tattoos on his skin. When he caught you staring, he also looked down and let out an audible ‘oh’ sound.

You immediately jumped in to apologise.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to stare. I just thought you had something stuck on you, I have never noticed that you have a tattoo…” You justified hastily, your voice trailing off at the end when you saw the boy’s laid-back expression. He didn’t look frustrated or amused, he looked how he usually looked, and that put your mind at ease. His following words even more so.

“It’s okay. I had it made there on purpose, it doesn’t bother me.”

Truth to be told, you had never been curious about others’ tattoos, but the sun, star and moon symbols on him made you wonder why he got those specific symbols. You didn’t know whether you had the right to ask about them, but since Hanbin was still looking at you, as if he was expecting you to say something more, you decided to go for it.

“What do they represent to you? If you don’t mind me asking, of course,” you clarified immediately in case it was a personal topic to him, but he didn’t seem offended. If anything, he seemed glad, and as you were walking under the dim lights of the nearby street lamps, the silence occasionally overthrown by the noises of traffic around, he let you know about the answer. How he believed that there’s light, darkness and beauty in everything, and how the universe was always there, watching, and he believed in it, that certain things happened for a reason as part of the universe’s calling.

You were in awe, not knowing how to profoundly phrase what you wanted to say to him, and he must have misinterpreted your silence because he added a few seconds later:

“I know it may sound silly…”

“No, no, that’s like… so beautiful that you think that way,” you voiced out, and you weren’t sure that you got your message across, hence you continued. “I also believe that what’s meant to be will happen, and that the universe has its own ways to make things happen.”

Hanbin smiled gently, somewhat relieved, and you reciprocated it, thinking that maybe this too… maybe him too… they were all part of the universe’s plan.

It was autumn when you started getting closer with Hanbin.

The leaves might have turned, but your feelings for Hanbin had not changed, if only they had grown more. The truth is, the only thing you had forgotten about when you had bid your goodbye prior to summer break had been to exchange contacts. Since you had seen each other multiple times a week at the café, there had been no reason for you to stay in touch to keep the other updated about your days. On top of that, even though you had tried to look up his name on SNS, there had been quite a few Sung Hanbins, and some accounts were private while others didn’t have a profile photo.

So you had left it at that, clutching onto your memories with the boy, catching yourself daydreaming more and more often during the summer. Those months had never seemed so long before, and you had wondered whether you had crossed his mind as much as he had crossed yours. Your heart had fluttered whenever his wide smile, gentle voice or considerate actions had come to your mind, and it had been funny how he hadn’t even been there, yet, you had felt as shy as if he had been there in front of you.

With the autumn semester finally starting, your feelings came back in full force, heightening when you met at the café again. It was heartwarming how - despite the months without seeing each other - the place still felt like your little safe haven and how his smile still triggered the same reaction from you.

Afterwards, you cherished each and every meeting, each and every smile, each and every giggle and each and every slight touch. The boy also picked up the habit - or rather continued - of walking you back to your accommodation if he had the chance to do so, and you wished that walk could have been longer for it always felt like such a short span of time that you could spend together. Until he suggested going to a dance festival with him, and there was no turning back from there: you started hanging out outside of the café too, visiting the riverside on weekends, visiting exhibitions, attending concerts, going to the cinema and checking out other cafés and restaurants. Anything and everything that came to your mind, and that you thought the other would enjoy.

All because by that point, you knew each other well enough to suggest such things.

It was winter when you became official with Hanbin.

Even though the weather had become colder, your heart had never been warmer. Being with Hanbin was like constantly being bundled up in a warm blanket, being taken care of and feeling all fuzzy. He was the epitome of a comfort person: whenever you felt down, he was there to listen to your concerns, he was there to cheer you up when you were questioning your choice of major, he was there to wake you up when you fell asleep on your notes at the café, and he was there to keep you safe from careless cyclists passing by on the walk to your accommodation.

Since both of you were university students - albeit went to different universities -, you could bond over group project members that annoyingly slacked off, professors that seemed to get stuck in the past century with their presentation style, exam questions that seemed to ask the most unnecessary details from the hundredth slide and so on. It felt like sharing the same experience, and even if you studied different subjects and went to different institutions, that was just one more reason you enjoyed talking to him. He could talk so enthusiastically about topics that interested him (when it seemed like there were stars dancing in his big, bright eyes), and you loved his optimistic mind-set and hard-working personality.

However, both of you needed to let off some steam from time to time, so this particular week, you decided to walk to the top of the Namsan Tower, to take in the view of the vibrant city and its shining lights (including the Christmas decorations the city was dressed in since the beginning of December).

“Ah, I feel so out of shape,” you breathed out with a semi-nervous giggle as you were making your way up to the top. You did have weekly aerobics classes at uni, and you did walk a lot, but it seemed tiring to reach the top on foot, maybe because of your big coats and the slippery ground.

“We’re almost there. Hang in there!” Hanbin cheered you on with his hands balled into fists and a bright smile that reached his eyes. You smiled back at him, and maybe it was because of the dazzled state you were in or the uneven ground beneath you, but you felt your feet slip, and if it hadn’t been for Hanbin reaching for you, you might have fallen onto your back.

“Are you okay?” The boy asked, worry painting his features solemn, and you hated to see that tight line of his lips, so you bobbed your head right away and reassured him that you were fine. He seemed to believe you, but still didn’t let go of your arms. Instead, he slipped his fingers into yours, and pulled you with him as he took the next step towards the top.

You were thankful that you were dressed up warmly, your fluffy scarf covering half of your face, because you were sure that you were flushed like crazy. Even though you had been progressively more intimate with each other - you squeezing his hand when he was talking about something vulnerable because you noticed that it helped him to feel better, him wiping your tears when you broke down in front of him when you were questioning your choice of major, him placing his hand on your back to keep you from falling when a stranger pushed past beside you on the escalator, you helping him with his necklaces when they stuck on his shirt and slightly grazing his skin -, you had never hold hands like this before.

You made your way to the top while holding hands and staying close to each other, and it was definitely worth it. The view was stunning, and as you were taking photos of the scenery, tiny little white flakes fell from the sky.

“Hanbin, look! It’s snowing,” you shrieked excitedly like an overzealous kid, and grabbed one of the snowflakes that melted in your hand in no time. You really didn’t expect this, especially with such perfect timing.

“It’s the first snow,” he noted with a childlike smile that mirrored yours. For a few minutes, you just stood there, watching in awe how the objects and the scenery around you got a thin layer of white - like frosting on a cake.

Then, when your eyes met his, you couldn’t stop smiling. It was truly beautiful, and that warm, fuzzy feeling was there yet again, sending tiny little fireworks through your body. These feelings exploded even more when the boy stepped up to you, and helped to tuck your hair into your beanie and under your scarf, so that your locks wouldn’t get attacked by the sudden snow.

Your heart was hammering away rapidly, and you felt like you could burst any moment as he still just stood there, not stepping back. When he just kept looking at you like that, eyes warm, smile warm, hands warm, you didn’t have it in you to back away either. Instead, your lips pulled into a smile when his fingers slipped down to your hands, and he intertwined your fingers.

“I like you, y/n,” he confessed in that kind, caring voice of his, and there was no use doubting his words. His eyes spoke for themselves.

“I like you, too, Hanbin,” you answered within a heartbeat, and in that moment, you knew.

The universe was really watching.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed this story of mine! Let me know what you think!

If you want to read more stories of mine, let it be for ZB1 or for other artists, consider signing up for my taglist here.

Hope you have a lovely day/night! Take care! ❤️

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snapghoul · 2 months ago

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Moon, tell me if I could send my heart up to you?

Bradley and Jake parted ways with Tyler and Bradley meets Mama and Pa Seresin.

Note: I love using titles that represent characters’ feelings towards each other as subtext.

Warnings: none

Song: My Love Mine All Mine - Mitski

Texas seemed much like Oklahoma to Bradley—just as scorching and flat. He unloaded the duffel bags from their rental car while Jake dashed up the steps of the ranch house and was quickly enveloped in a warm embrace by his parents.

Watching the scene unfold tugged at Bradley’s heart, starkly reminding him of his own lack of family. He longed for moments like these and resented the void left by their absence.

As Bradley approached the porch, Jake’s mother greeted him with a warm smile. “You must be Bradley, come here, darlin’!” she said, pulling him into a gentle hug and cupping his face. Her affectionate term of endearment made him feel unexpectedly cherished.

“You’re quite the looker,” she continued. “I’m Rose, but you can call me Mama Seresin. Jake, what a fine boy you’ve brought home!” Rose beamed at Jake, who turned bright red as his mother showered Bradley with praise. Bradley, equally flushed, found himself overwhelmed by the genuine warmth.

“Ma.” Jake sighed and his father chuckled, reaching out to shake Bradley’s hand.

“Cole, welcome to the ranch, son,” Mr. Seresin greeted warmly. Bradley barely had time to process the introduction before he was swept into the house, his duffle bags being handed off to Jake.

“Lucky for you, I just finished some barbecue,” Rose said as she guided Bradley inside. “Soph and the kids won’t be here for a while, so I suggest you dig in now.”

“Ma, slow down—” Jake began, but his mother waved him off.

“Hush! You’ve never brought anyone home before; let me have my moment,” she retorted. Bradley chuckled softly as the mother and son playfully swatted at each other.

“You’re the first he’s ever brought home, so she’s just excited,” Mr. Seresin explained, gently prying his wife’s hands away from Bradley while she continued to bicker with Jake. “If she gets overwhelming, just let me know. Would you like a Coke or a beer?”

“Coke, please,” Bradley said with a smile.

Mr. Seresin’s calm demeanor was a stark contrast to the lively energy of his family. It was clear that Jake and Tyler inherited their boisterous attitude from their mother. The shorter blonde woman was animatedly chastising her son with a towel, loudly lamenting that Jake hadn’t shared much about Bradley. It was evident that his presence was a significant moment.

Bradley followed Mr. Seresin into the kitchen, where he was handed a freshly opened can of soda.

“Now, darling, let me get a better look at you,” Rose said, her excitement palpable as she made another advance toward Bradley.

Jake quickly stepped in, placing himself between Bradley and his mother, wrapping his arms around the taller man. He glanced back at Rose and said, “Ma, give him some space, or you’ll scare him off.”

“Jake,” Bradley said, taking a sip of his soda around Jake’s head, his hand resting comfortably on Jake’s lower back. “It’s fine. If I can handle you every day, I’m sure I can manage your mom. Sorry, Mrs. Seresin.”

Rose laughed heartily, joined by her husband. “Oh, darlin’ don’t be sorry, you’re probably right. And I told you just call me Mama Seresin.”

“I’d say so,” Mr. Seresin added with a grin. “And if he’s survived a week with Tyler, he’s ready for anything.”

Rose looked to her husband for confirmation, and he nodded in agreement. It was clear that Bradley had already been warmly accepted into the family.

They also noticed how utterly captivated Jake was, his green eyes twinkling as he looked up at Bradley with an unprecedented softness, as if Bradley were the full moon on a clear night. In turn, Bradley gazed at Jake with the same warmth one might reserve for the sun, his arm wrapped protectively around Jake’s waist, drawing him close.

Yeah, Bradley was staying, Mama would make sure of that.

#sereshaw #hangster #hangman x rooster #bradley bradshaw #bradley rooster bradshaw #jake hangman seresin #rooster #top gun hangman #top gun rooster #top gun maverick #top gun #glen powell #seresin twins

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cookiepie111 · 11 months ago

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༊࿐ 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧'𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐦𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐰 ༊࿐

Part 2 of drink from the leche of sirens

Part 1 here

A/N: I'm back after what felt like f forever! Crying screaming throwing up it's finally finished! Part two of könig x nymph! Black Reader. I'm over the moon so many people liked part one i loved writing it. Love to hear your thoughts on this chapter or any ideas. Feedback,likes and reblogs are appreciated🙏🏾 also if you wanted to be added to the tag list please let me know. I've read this like a thousand times but if theres mistakes im sorry oop(Yes this title is from the new hunger games. I watched it and I'm obsessed! Please talk to me about it! )

Sisters in order of appearance Aganippe, Bolbe

Tag list: @montenegroisr @kneelingshadowsalome @havikshoochiemama @wordstome

𓇼 - - - - - - - - 𓇼 - - - - - - - - 𓇼

Red. you wouldn't say it was your colour. It's a harsh and rough colour that didn't suit you. A colour you've never taken any notice of before. But you're seeing it everywhere. It's in the berries, the birds, and the flowers. You're seeing /him/ everywhere.

"Sister! Sister! What about this one? " You watch, fiddling with the braslet on your wrist as your sisters pull up a man from the water, he's tall but too skinny and smooth. not your man. A shake of your head, and he's shoved back down the water. Why was it so hard to find this man? You should have paid better attention to his armour, although that wouldn't help much. You're not well versed in the human wars and their armies.

"When did you see him?"

"Around the willows and lake i think it was xxxx "

one of your sisters hums, coiling her hair around her finger, oak skin still wet from the water. "That was Around the date from the Eastern fight, so he's probably with the reds or the greens " that was something the most you've gotten about him "but they're both pretty big armies." She stills looking up at you

"are you sure you were supposed to heal him" huh what did she mean, were you supposed to do anything with him? he just found his way there to you, you could do whatever you wanted with him right?. You weren't sure what your sister was asking, the look on your face must have made her nervous "I mean, maybe you shouldn't have let him go"

𓇼 - - - - - - - - 𓇼 - - - - - - - - 𓇼

Magic is believing its a lot faith. There aren't any other options könig has so faith and believing are the only things he can hold on to. Belief, that the charm held tightly in his hands, will bring out a nymph, and faith he'll see you again.

The water ripples in the centre, slowly then rapidly, as bubbles ascending into the air.

This is what könig hates about magic it's too unpredictable, it's recklessness, and lacks control. Makes it hard to challenge and counter it. He needs to be in control, know all the moves his enemy could make, and magic doesn't allow that.

The lady standing in the water isn't the one könig's looking for. Her presence is off in every wat, from her appearance to the way the air moves around her. Her hair falls straight down her body it only moves at the tilt of her head. He expected this. Of course, finding his little nymph wouldn't be in easy task, but he more than ready.

"You're not the one I'm looking for," his efforts to keep composure are wasted on her, try as he might to stay neutral, its hard to miss this annoyance that slips in his voice.

"I'm sure I can be just as good," she responds, wearing a warm and gentle smile that never reaches her eyes. It's wasted time trying talking to her, he needs answers not idle conversation.

The waters are calm and still, yet his legs weigh heavy in the water. He's fighting against the waters just to make it to her, he shadows the sun just standing infront of her. He knows his presence is off putting, most women would have turned and run they wouldn't let him get his close. She only smiles the closer he gets.

König feels his feet sinking, or at least it seems that way. When he turned to gaze at her, she's still adorned with that same smile. Only König's looking up at her, not down, His knees are immersed in muddy water. She's now beaming with joy from her new catch.

Her hand catch könig's chin as he struggles to break free, forcing his face to her "hey don't worry. I'll tell her how good you tasted!"

So she does know where she is. That's all könig needs to know, ripping himself from the mud. She stares blankly at him, unimpressed by his display of strength.

"Where is she?" König's hand wrapping round her throat

"Haha, what's this? Are you trying to hurt me?" she dismisses him. König watched as her body phased between liquid and solid trying to worm her way out. Her face drops as she panicked, clawing at his hand while he tightened his grip. " You'll talk"

They struggled for a bit before she let out a screech, causing König to loosen his grip just enough for her swim away. Regaining his wits, könig stands straight in the water, looking around. He'd lost her, but He'll remember this for next time. The spirits are tricky things

𓇼 - - - - - - - - 𓇼 - - - - - - - - 𓇼

A high-pitched shriek ripples through the air, your sister rushing by, tears streaming down her face, complaining to everyone she passes, "YOUR STUPID SOLDIER ASSAULTED ME!"

"Your soldier?" Your attention sharpens at her call – she found him. She found him! Oh, she found him.

"That stupid man asked for you. He nearly killed me! He's such an ugly and scary thing, why else would he cover his face?". I thought you said he was cute!

Another sister chimes in, "You're just mad you have terrible luck with masked men." Your sister's face burns, her eyes sharpening as she turns to you, "If I see him again. That man is as good as dead." Ah, she's serious. It's best you find him soon.

𓇼 - - - - - - - - 𓇼 - - - - - - - - 𓇼

There isn't a better colour for könig than red. It suits him quite well. It's the colour of the flag he waves high, the flames that light the night, that clear the way for a sege.The blood that paints his body in all its many shades after battle. more than that. It's His source of comfort, his efforts, and proof of his labours turned physically in the form of a carnelin bracelet that sits on his wrist.

The only proof of his nymph he ( had). He'd never be so careless as to lose it. in all his years, he never lost it, if its gone, it's only because it's been taken. He can't lie he is a bit annoyed You took it, but in exchange for his life, he couldn't complain.

He should go clean up he's a mess from that encounter with that other nymph. It's not enough to warrant a full bath, just his face he can wipe his body down with a towel. He wipes the towel across his face, reaching down to wet the towel. In that moment, he freezes, there atop the bubbling water, a carnelin bracelet.

#könig x black reader #könig x nymph!reader #könig x reader #cod x black reader #x black reader #könig x y/n #my wtiting #könig imagine #könig x you #call of duty x black reader #call of duty x reader #cod x reader

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that-house · 22 days ago

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I would love to hear more about how you run The Feywild and your stageplay rules

(the primary inspiration for my version of the faewild is the webnovel A Practical Guide to Evil, though I took things in a slightly different direction).

the rules of the faewild in my setting are as follows:

think of the faewild as an enormous stageplay, running the same old hackneyed fantasy stories over and over again. the farmer finds a magic ring, the king is betrayed by his closest advisor, so on and so forth ad infinitum

every fae has two sides, the actor and the role. the actor is the constant essence and intelligence behind the fae, while the role is the function they're currently fulfilling in the faewild's narrative

many fae tend to resent their role, because, you know, they're fully sapient entities that nonetheless have extremely limited free will. it doesn't matter if the actor is a kindhearted person, if their role is to be a murderous monster they have to do it

when acting in the capacity of their role, fae are nearly unstoppable.

any organism native to the faewild that isn't being played by a fae is essentially a philosophical zombie: they don't have sapience or instincts, just a programmed set of actions they follow. a faewild wolf isn't actually a wolf, it's a collection of atoms that are good at acting wolflike. (the difference this makes from a practical standpoint is ultimately pretty meaningless)

one seasonal court of the fae exists at a time, reflecting the state of the material plane (spring: prosperity, summer: war, autumn: upheaval, winter: stagnation)

it's the same fae every time, but each court uses different roles and different stories

when the courts shift, the faewild locks in its new status quo: any fae who gained power over the course of their story keep it. fae who died are demoted to background extras, and mortals who were stuck there are also "promoted" to being fae background extras forever.

mortals in the faewild have additional privilege, because they can take on roles but aren't necessarily bound to them. they're simultaneously audience and actor, and the risk of audience participation is always that they'll fucking ruin it for shits and giggles. like a bad GM, fae are generally pretty bad at working around mortal disruptions to "the plot."

the faewild itself is an ever-changing dreamscape of platonic ideal reflections of the material plane. time and space don't mean much: there's always exactly enough time to dramatically resolve the problem at hand, and distances are short enough that you make it juuuust in time.

honestly the best way to describe the visuals of the faewild is, like, those early dreamlike stages of AI art back when it was really bad at cleanly delineating between different objects. the capital city is simultaneously a city, a grand hall, and an enormous fucking throne.

whether hags are separate from the actor/role system or just have total synthesis between the actor and role is unclear, but they're doing pretty well for themselves and specialize in fucking with stories in ways that go against "the plot"

every fae in at least a marginally important role has a noble title of some sort. in my autumn court, for example, the three highest roles are the Autumn King, the Prince of Waning Sun, and the Princess of Rising Moon

i think that's about all there is to say. it makes for a really fun setting to run an arc in

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antiquitiesandlabyrinths · 21 days ago

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Nut

Nut, my beloved Goddess of the Sky. Now I am a little biased about Nut––She is the main Goddess that I worship––but I will do my best to retain some semblance of professionalism when it comes to discussion about Her. And remember these are unedited essays. Fact-checked, yes, but I'm not going for journal/publication quality.

For the most part, discussions and essays surrounding Nut focus solely on Her role as the night sky and rarely delve into the deep lore and meaning behind Her role and appearance within Egyptian mythology. However, for the purposes of this essay, I will begin with the basics.

Nut, also spelled as Nuit, is an ancient Egyptian Goddess most easily recognizable by either the pot atop Her head or the stars decorating Her body as She arches over the earth. In this latter form, it appears as though Her arms and legs are kept tightly together; in reality, Her hands and feet touch each of the four cardinal points of the horizon, representing the four pillars of heaven.

Her name comes from the hieroglyph W24, the pot, which stands for the sound nw. The t is added as a feminine suffix pronoun, thus creating the name Nwt. Why Nut bears a pot atop Her head has been debated, but the general consensus is that it represents the womb; a carrying object, filled with water and sustenance.

Contrary to a great deal of ancient civilizations who depicted the earth as female and the sky as male (think Mother Earth and Father Sky), the ancient Egyptians conceived of the sky as feminine, and Her counterpart, the earth, as male, in the male God Geb, often depicted below Nut in a reclined position. The two Gods were siblings; the children of Shu and Tefnut, representing air and moisture, and who Themselves were the direct children of the sun God Ra.

Some epithets (titles that reveal nature) of Nut:

One-who-gives-birth-to-the-Gods

Mother of All

She the Great One

She Who Protects

She Who Holds A Thousand Souls

Great Encloser

Perhaps the most well-known of myths that Nut is associated with is that of the birth of the Ennead. I discussed this myth in my Osiris post, but I will recite it in short terms here.

Nut and Geb were conceived from the sibling-union of Shu and Tefnut and, in similar fashion, Nut and Geb were joined together in a loving embrace. However, since the sky was joined to the earth, there was no space for humans or any living thing to walk or exist. Because of this (though the reason in the variations of the myth can differ), Ra decided to have Geb and Nut separated, and had Their father, Shu, hold up Nut; thus Shu fulfilled His role as the atmosphere, the air. But this was not the only reason Ra took this course of action; Ra had fear of a prophecy which stated that the children of Nut would one day overthrow him. Due to His fear, Ra forbade Nut from giving birth on any day of the year. Nut asked Thoth, the God of wisdom and writing, for help, and Thoth went to the moon God Iah (a more archaic version of the moon God Khonsu) and gambled with the moon God for some of His light. Thoth and Iah played the game senet, and each time Thoth won, He earned a sliver of moonlight. Eventually, Thoth had earned enough to have five extra days in the year––the Epagomenal days––and on those days, Nut gave birth to Osiris, Isis, Set, and Nephthys, and in some versions, Horus the Elder.

This story is a rather late telling and comes mainly from the Moralia of Plutarch. Plutarch is not the best and most reliable source for Egyptian history and mythology, and it does not help that his own sources were skewed by the time in which he lived; that being a much later era of Egyptian history in which the original myths of the Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms had been changed and altered over time. Still, it gives us some idea of Nut and tells us that She is the mother of some of the greatest and most revered Gods of Egypt.

Another myth that is found in the Book of the Heavenly Cow details another version of how Nut came to be the sky, tying into the myth of the rampaging Goddess Sekhmet who was eventually pacified with beer.

The importance of Nut tends to be underplayed by both modern scholars and modern practitioners of Kemeticism, the revival of the ancient Egyptian religion. Usually, She is relegated to being the mother of the 'main Gods', and simply the sky of the earth. People lack knowledge, or perhaps the desire to find the knowledge, of Her role as a funerary deity. Fortunately, there are still a number of historians and scholars who have devoted some section of their research into Nut and Her roles.

Arching over the earth, Nut was considered as 'the vault of the sky,' and the body through which Ra travelled in both the day and the night. During the day, Ra in His day barque would sail across Nut's body, and in the evening, with Nut's head oriented in the west and Her legs in the east, Ra was swallowed by Nut to be regenerated through rebirth in Her womb, come the next morning. This, of course, gives a somewhat contrasting idea to the fact that Ra is said to pass through the Duat, the ancient Egyptian 'underworld', every night.

Thus we come to a very interesting discussion that I have found a lot of joy in reading about: the argument of whether or not the Duat is a chthonic or celestial afterlife. After all, the word 'underworld' was applied by Western scholars and the Duat itself, as a word, does not denote anything 'underground'. For an in-depth study of this, I highly recommend Silvia Zago's Conceptualizing Life after Death: The Evolution of the Concept of Duat and Related Notions in Egyptian Funerary Literature, a fascinating look into funerary literature throughout the eras of ancient Egypt. She comes to the conclusion that, in the Old Kingdom at least, the Duat is a place in the sky, a definitive region within Nut's body. The body of Nut is described geographically in some sections of the Pyramid Texts, and among those regions, the Duat is named. The deceased is described as ascending to the Duat region in PT U271 390;

"Unas ascends on that ladder* which his father Re has made for him. Horus and Seth seize the arm of Unas and take him to the Duat Region."

*The ladder was often used as a symbol of Nut, representing steps to ascend to Heaven, to Her body.

But this is not a solitary region as Heaven in Abrahamic religions is; the afterlife, as conceived by the ancient Egyptians, was the ability to join the cycle of regeneration that the sun took each night and day.

"... it (is) more appropriate to regard these early funerary texts as expressing a multi-faceted yet somewhat coherent vision of the afterlife, one granting the deceased access to both parts of the cosmic cycle – day and night – in order to be reborn at dawn with the sun and achieve immortality." (Silvia Zago, 2019)

"May you cross the sky, united with darkness (i.e. in the Nun or Duat), so that you may you rise from the horizon, the place in which you have become akhs." (PT 217 §152c-d)

In this way, the deceased joined the eternal cycle in the presence of the Gods, and this regeneration took place within the body of Nut––conceivably inside Her womb, where Ra would rest before dawn when He was born as the rising sun.

"...the caption by Nut’s vulva in the monumental versions of the Book of Nut (Osireion and tomb of Ramses IV) labels her vulva as being the Axt iAbtt, “eastern horizon” (text P, EAT I: 81; von Lieven 2007: 51 §7), namely the point of the sky where the sun reappears (i.e. is “born”) into the world at dawn." (Silvia Zago, 2019)

Additional evidence for Nut and the Duat being related is seen in Pyramid Text 442:

“See, he has come as Orion. See, Osiris has come as Orion... ‘Good One’, said his mother, ‘Heir’, said his father, whom the sky has conceived, to whom the Duat has given birth. Oh king (NN), may the sky conceive you/King (NN) together with Orion, may the Duat give birth to you and Orion.”

Whether the impersonal 'sky' (pt) and the personal Nut (the Goddess) are one and the same as literary subjects, or if they are separate as a physical thing and a divinity is somewhat up for debate. The hieroglyphs used to spell pt and nwt are very similar. But considering how consistently the ancient Egyptians attributed personality to natural phenomena and used little distinction between the two, this stands as evidence that it is Nut, as the sky, as the Duat, conceiving Osiris/Orion.

Altogether, what we can take from this is that Nut plays a large role in the afterlife as a place of regeneration and of rebirth, acting as both the day and night sky. She protects, holds, and revitalizes the thousands of souls under Her care, including those of the Gods. There is a lot more discussed in Silvia Zago's publication and I highly recommend reading through it. Personally, this is something I find very auspicious; the idea that, in death, you will return to the stars. And this is a very clear idea in the Pyramid Texts, that the Pharaoh will ascend to become an 'imperishable star'.

PT 139, Utterance 214: The (glorified) humanity bewail you after the Imperishable Stars have carried you. Enter then into the place where your father is, where Geb is! PT 141, Utterance 215: "Look at me! you have seen the forms of the children of their fathers, who know their spell, who are now Imperishable Stars". (Referring to past Pharaohs) PT 380, Utterance 269: The father of Unas, Atum, seizes the arm of Unas and He assigns Unas to those Gods who are quick and clever, the Never-setting Stars (Circumpolars).

Due to Her nature as a funerary deity, it is not uncommon to see Her represented on the inner lids of coffins, especially in the New Kingdom and later periods of Egypt, symbolically covering and protecting the deceased with Her star-covered body. Here, the sarcophagus is symbolic of a maternal uterus, thus why the coffin and Nut were connected; Her epithet Great Encloser refers to this connection.

(From the coffin of Peftjauneith, 26th Dynasty)

An important book from the New Kingdom, which I previously mentioned, is the Book of the Heavenly Cow, found on the outermost part of the four gilded shrines of Pharaoh Tutankhamun, the tomb of Ramses VI (KV9), the tomb of Seti I (KV17), the tomb of Ramses II (KV7), and the tomb of Ramses III (KV11). The Heavenly Cow is a form of Nut, just as the falcon may be a representation of Horus just the same as His human form.

Here, Her belly is covered in stars, and She is held and supported by Shu and the Infinite Ones, a group of Gods mentioned in the Book of the Heavenly Cow.

To put it briefly, Ra is betrayed in some way by mankind––interpretation differs, as always––and decides that His presence in the earthly realm is no longer needed nor safe for Him. He has Nut, as the Heavenly Cow, lift Him up into the sky to separate Him from humanity.

This God (Ra) then said to Nut, "It is in order that I may be uplifted that I have placed myself on Your back." "What's this?" asked Nut. And so She is the person that came to be there in both the heavens. (of night and day) The Majesty of this God said, "Stay far away from them (humanity)! Lift me up (so I am visible)! Look at me!" And so She became the sky. (Chapter 3, Divisions 61-65)

Then Nut started trembling because of the height. So the Majesty of Re said, "If only I had millions supporting her!" And so the Infinite Ones were brought into being. (Chapter 3, Divisions 70-71)

For further reading on the Book of the Heavenly Cow, I recommend this study: https://escholarship.org/content/qt2vh551hn/qt2vh551hn.pdf?t=rzuech

And the whole text of the Book can be read and downloaded here:

https://www.academia.edu/36107603/the_ancient_Aegyptian_book_of_the_Heavenly_Cow

Something else of note in Silvia Zago's book is Nut's relationship to Nunet, the feminine counterpart of the primeval God Nun. This connection is somewhat obscure and came as somewhat of a surprise to me but I found it immensely interesting. It begins with the fact that the sky was conceived of as a watery expanse; hence the use of boats to cross it, and the verbs used describing the journey: 'to row', 'to ferry', or 'to cross'.

"Besides these indirect clues, the most direct piece of evidence of the watery nature of the sky is the very same fact that its regions are imagined as marshlands, separated from one another by a “winding canal” (the ecliptic), and both possessing shores and lakes: to the south was the sxt iArw “Field of Rushes,” and to the north the sxt Htp(w) “Field of Offerings"." (Silvia Zago, 2019)

The reason why the sky was thought of as a watery expanse is, however, rather easily explainable: the sky was thought of as an interface or barrier between the expanse of Nun (the primordial ocean) outside and the earthly world inside. Nut, held up by the atmosphere of Shu, protected the world from these waters rushing in. As an interesting piece of side evidence, Beaux (1998) found that the determinative sign for star (N14) derived from the starfish, likening these 'lower stars' of the earth's oceans to the upper stars of the cosmos. This is mostly conjecture but has some basis in reality, and if true, would explain later funerary text's allusion to stars swimming across the sky.

Nun stands as the third piece of the puzzle in the Pyramid Text's conception of the universe: earth, sky, and the Abyss. This abyss, in the form of Nun, represents everything opposite to what is imagined on Earth: "... where the world is finite, the Nun is infinite, limitless; while the sun brightens existence on earth, the universe outside is immersed in perpetual, uniform darkness. Where the world is characterized by daily life activity ad continual change, the Nun is inert." (Silvia Zago, 2019) This space has negative and positive energy. In essence, it is pure potential. So while Nun can be possibly dangerous, it also contains the full creative potential, and thus the ability to regenerate. As stated in later funerary texts, it is impossible to undergo regeneration in the ordered world––regeneration must take place when submerged in the potential energy of Nun. (Evidenced by Hornung 1982 and J.P. Allen 1988)

This expanse of potential energy is detailed geographically in the Pyramid Texts, and placed above, or on the outer side, of Nut, but also existing underground beneath the earth. Evidence of this is shown by the hieroglyphic determinative for 'sky' (N1) being used upside down. However, when speaking of these underground waters, it is far more common for the name Nunet (also spelled Naunet) to be used––the feminine counterpart of Nun. This phrase translates to 'lower sky' or 'nether sky', and is clearly contrasted with not only Nun but Nut as well.

"The seemingly ambiguous contradiction lying in the fact the Nunet could be thought to represent both the underground waters, as a feminine counterpart of Nun, and a nether-sky, as a counterpart of Nut herself in an underworld, is due to the fact that, once again, according to the Egyptian mindset, more than one explanation was possible." (Silvia Zago, 2019)

A section of the Pyramid Texts that refers to these two heavens––the upper sky and lower heaven––is shown here and again represents the duality and the cycle through which the deceased passes in their afterlife:

"... your arms are (those of) Hapy and Duamutef, which you need to ascend to heaven, and you ascend, your legs are (those of) Imsti and Qebehsenuf, which you need to descend to the lower heaven, and you descend. All your members are (those of) the twins of Atum, o Imperishable One! You did not pass away, your ka does not pass away. You are a ka!" (PT 215 §149)

The idea for a 'lower sky' likely originated in the need to explain what happened to the stars during the day, and what became of the day sky during the night. Thus the 'inverted' sky served as a nether-region counterpart, nearly identical to the heavenly sky down to its' watery nature. When personalized, this means that Nunet and Nut can be seen as counterparts of one another.

"Denn offenbar gehörte Nut ursprünglich als weibliches Gegenstück zu Nun, griechisch Νουν, dem Urgewässer, wobei die Namen altägyptisch als Njw und Njwt zu umschreiben wären und mit dem Wort für Wasser nwjt zusammenhängen könnten, das uns schon in den Pyramidentexten begegnet. Daβ beide Götter eng verbunden gewesen sein müssen, zeigen mehrere Texte, darunter der bekannte Götterhymnus des Alten Reiches, die Nun und Nut als Eltern eines solaren Gottes bezeichnen. [...] Das Urgewässer, das sich sowohl in der Unterwelt wie über den Himmel erstreckte, fungierte dabei als Muttergottheit. Seine Aufspaltung in das Götterpaar Nun/Nut und die damit verbundene Spezialisierung der Nut zum Himmelsozean wären dann ebenso sekundäre Erscheinungen, wie die Existenz der Göttin Naunet, die erst als Nachfolgerin der Nut das weibliche Komplement zum Nun gebildet hätte, und deshalb auch synonym zu Nut verwendet werden konnte." (Barta, 1973)

For your ease of reading, I've run this through Google Translate for you: "Apparently Nut originally belonged as the female counterpart to Nun, Greek Νουν, the primordial water, although the names could be described in ancient Egyptian as Njw and Njwt and could be related to the word for water nwjt, which we already encounter in the Pyramid Texts. Several texts show that both gods must have been closely connected, including the well-known hymn to the gods of the Old Kingdom, which describe Nun and Nut as the parents of a solar god. […] The primordial waters, which stretched both in the underworld and across the sky, functioned as a mother deity. Its splitting into the pair of gods Nun/Nut and the associated specialization of Nut into the celestial ocean would then be just as secondary phenomena as the existence of the goddess Naunet, who only as Nut's successor would have formed the female complement to Nun, and therefore also synonymous with Nut could be used."

Nut and Nun, both functioning as a place of regeneration and rebirth and imagined as a watery expanse, carry a lot of similarities. With this in mind it is much easier to see how the two could be related and, in this logic, how Nut and Naunet can be seen as both opposites and reflections of one another.

Another object of both celestial and funerary importance that is associated with Nut is the Akhet. For those who don't know, the Axt is the horizon, evident in the name Horakhty, which means Horus (Hor) of the Horizon (akht), and it is the final place where regeneration and rebirth are possible, as it is the area where the sun is born each day.

"Throughout the Pyramid Texts, (the Akhet) seems indeed to be meant as the liminal zone through which the night sun passes coming from the Duat, and from which it rises in the morning, thus an interface between two spheres of existence... So the Akhet was both a point of juncture of cosmic realms (Duat, earth, and sky) and a region in itself, endowed with regenerative significance and symbolism." (Silvia Zago, 2019)

Some sections of the Pyramid Texts even mention Nut guiding the deceased towards the Akhet, describing a 'path of the horizon' where the Goddess leads the dead. This path conceivably led from the western horizon, where the sun sets, to the eastern horizon, where the sun is born again. Where exactly the roads are is unclear; they could be underground or within Nut's body. Which one it is is mostly up to personal speculation.

This has been, of course, mostly an analysis of the Pyramid Texts. Later on, the Duat does take on more of a chthonic nature separate from the earlier celestial conception. The afterlife became associated more with Osiris, an earthly figure of fertility and soil, rather than Ra, the solar celestial figure. However, how it is presented in the Pyramid Texts gives a rather good idea of the Duat being something varying and dependable.

"... the use of the sign (N31) (path) could suggest the idea the Duat was regarded as a path of sorts, while the sign (O49) (township) may indicate that it was imagined to be a defined locale in the cosmos... The signs (N1) (sky) and (N37) (pool) also appear in conjunction with the word Duat, pointing to the idea of the (diurnal) sky or more generically a celestial domain and to its watery nature, respectively." (Silvia Zago, 2019)

The use of the hieroglyphic O49 is interesting, denoting that the Duat could be thought of as a city; this city existing within Nut. Nut, being a holder and protector of thousands of souls, can be easily seen as a city in and of Herself, and is referred to as such by Nils Billing:

"The goddess Nut is characterized as "city" as early as the Pyramid texts. 'Make nni, make nni, O Nut; Geb has commanded that you make nni, in this your name of City.' (Pyr. 1596a-b [587]) The passage is found in the longer spell 587 which describes the creation and establishment of Egypt in terms of a city... The earth, i.e. the kingdom of Egypt, is treated in the symbolic form of the Eye of Horus. After being damaged by Seth, the Eye/Egypt/Kingship is reconstituted by Horus. 'It is he who sets you in order in this your name of Settlement; it is he who comes and he makes nni behind you in this your name of City.' (Pyr. 1595a-b, cf. 1597b-c) This description is directly followed by the Nut passage cited above. The path to a correct understanding of these passages is somewhat hampered by the uncertainty of the meaning of the verb nni... Kuhlmann (1991:219) sees movement as the common denominator of (these interpretations), an interpretation supported by the occurrence of the legs as determinative. The type of movement intended is, however, more difficult to grasp." (Nils Billing, 2002)

The final text of gross importance to Nut is the Book of Heaven, also known as the Book of Nut and the Book of the Celestial Cow, but in ancient times referred to as The Fundamentals of the Course of the Stars. This is an astrological text that contains some references to myth but, in general, concerns itself with the course of the stars. It is not a flat text as the term 'book' might insinuate; instead, it is the image of the Goddess stretched out in Her form as the sky, surrounded by extensive hieroglyphs detailing the nocturnal voyage of Ra and the 36 decans through Nut's body. This paper goes into some detail about the contents of the Book of Nut and where it has been found, although it does not contain the text of the book itself.

For further reading on Nut here are some papers and websites I recommend:

A Cosmography of the Unknown. The qbḥw (nṯrw) Region of the Outer Sky in the Book of Nut by Silvia Zago

Cosmic Space and Archetypal Time: Depictions of the Sky-Goddess Nut in Three Royal Tombs of the New Kingdom and Her Relation to the Milky Way by Amanda-Alice Maravelia

Nut, the Goddess of Life in Text and Iconography by Nils Billing (this is not available for free but I highly recommend it)

A Timeline of the Decans by Theresa Ainsworth

Again I recommend Silvia Zago's book The Evolution of the Concept of Duat and Related Notions in Egyptian Funerary Literature, and to read the entirety of the Pyramid Texts you can visit this website or this one to read the Pyramid Texts of Pharaoh Unas, where the first edition of the Pyramid Texts was found.

I have gone over a handful of the more simple subjects regarding Nut but if you truly have any interest in Her I suggest reading some of the above links. She is a fascinating Goddess and, in my religious opinion, one of the most powerful and beautiful of Them all. She is highly underappreciated and I love discussing Her. If anyone has any other links or comments to make on this Netjeret, please add them in the comments.

#Nut #Goddess Nut #anon #ask #ancient egypt #Nwt #egyptian mythology #egyptian gods #egyptian afterlife #Kemetic #kemeticism

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teawitch · 2 years ago

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Classical Correspondences

"Correspondences are just things people made up." various tumblr blogs

Working with a local witch community, one thing I've noticed is that a lot of witches coming from very (sometimes very very) Christian background haven't really been exposed to "Classical" education in the sense of Greek, Roman and Medieval history and thought, except for a sort of biblical overview.

This is the Bible belt and often the question isn't - "Well, you've read Greek mythology, right?" but "were you permitted to read Greek mythology?" Which has left a big gap in the foundational understanding of where some of our witchcraft and broader magical work comes from, including those correspondence lists you see everywhere.

In broad terms, the Egyptians influenced the Greeks who influenced the Romans who influenced the early Christian church and most of medieval Europe. This gives a sort of historical and geographical foundation for our Classical Correspondences. And a lot of other things but right now, let's just look at correspondences.

The periods above give us a long history of men (and sometimes women, but honestly, this was mostly an old boys club) looking at the universe and saying "how does all this fit together?"

In an attempt to answer that question, they started looking at connections between things to try to understand them. Why does valerian smell that way? Why does camomile also make you feel relaxed? Are these two related somehow? Can we find a way to organize them?

Isn't that what botany does? At least for plants?

Yes. And we can see that because both these plants fall under the influence of Jupiter they are kingly, helpful, and aromatic, imparting a feeling of relaxation and expansion.

Umm, Tea, it doesn't say that in my botany textbook.

You have the wrong textbook. You need Culpepers Complete Herbal which is the culmination of all the plant knowledge you'll every need. Says so in the title - Complete. And it was published during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, so you know it's up to date. Queen Elizabeth the First. A time of great scientific progress. (its free on Project Gutenberg) Though of course Culpeper worked from reliable sources like Aristotle. And Pliny the Elder, who wanted to categorize everything. (Pliny is probably best known on Tumblr for that elephant religion post that makes it's way around now and then. Pliny is not a reliable source for elephant religion or, well, other topics. But I digress.)

Let's break things down a bit. By Jupiter we mean the planet Jupiter, not the god. (Though Jupiter does fall under Jupiter). The Romans categorized according to the seven ruling planets - Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn - with additional influence from the four Greek elements - earth, air , fire, water as well as the astrological signs. They assigned properties to each of these that fit with their view of that planet/element/sign. Jupiter is kingly, along with other properties.

You take everything - plants, metals, gem stones, colors, parts of the body, emotions - and you figure out which ruling planet they fall under and you have a system of correspondences based on the planetary properties. (Venus for love, Mars for courage and strength, Mercury for speed and communication, etc.)

Tea - you're missing a couple of planets and the sun and moon aren't planets.

These are the 7 classical planets or the 7 wandering stars. These were the seven things that could be seen with the naked eye and didn't follow the fixed pattern of the stars. From the Greek word meaning "to wander". We are standing on earth so obviously it's not wandering around the sky. (We have correspondences for Uranus, Neptune and Pluto that were added later)

Got it. So they developed a system of correspondences using the classical planets and used it for witchcraft?

Of course not. From the Romans onward, witchcraft was generally illegal. (Greece disapproved but the laws were a bit different.) So no one would have developed an expansive system of correspondences for witchcraft and made it public.

These were scientific. And for medicine. And, well, for occult practices that were definitely not witchcraft! (Look up high magic vs low magic but basically, it was an economic difference and being poor was bad.)

The important part was - this was science. It had rules. It had structure. They didn't just randomly assign meanings to plants. They developed an entire system of classification and examined each plant to decide where it fit under that system. Sometimes plants could fall under multiple planets. Sometimes different parts of a plant fell under a different influence. And when used in medicine, what ruling influences the patient fell under could affect the treatment.

I don't want to use them.

It's hard to avoid them. They come into witchcraft through Western Ceremonial Magic but also through pure practicality. See, some of them work remarkably well, possibly because of the medical aspect of things. In medicine there had to a be a probability of success because if everyone died, no one would use them.

And from a witchcraft perspective - a lot of them make sense to the way we work. Plants with hallucinatory properties are often classified as Lunar and fall under the Moon. Spicy and hot plants fall under Mars. Pretty, sweet smelling flowers fall under Venus. These are already connections most of us have. It's also culturally an open system. Remember, it was considered science and medicine in its day. Anyone can reference and use planetary correspondences in their work.

I think personal correspondences would be stronger.

Possibly, over time and for the person involved. Personal and cultural correspondences build up a resonance in the cultural or with the person, but that resonance may not transfer well to others. Planetary correspondences have had a long time to develop that resonance and are broadly used, so that resonance is considered to transfer well to the working of others. They are simply a good base for publicly shared work.

#witchcraft #witchblr #beginner witch #baby witch #teawitch #foundational witchcraft #babywitch

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thewonderingbard · 14 days ago

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Hello!

This is a request from @moon-and-fries :)

They requested : How would the skeletons would react to having a Therian S/O?

(Specifically a Snow Leopard)

_______________________________

UT Sans - Vanilla

Expect a lot ,and I mean a lot of animal puns.Its not just exclusive to Snow Leopards.Just puns in general.To be fair that isn’t any different from normal and that is exactly what happens.He doesn’t change.He loves his S/O either way.No matter what they are or what they identify as.

UT Papyrus - Paps

He has a bunch of questions! He wants to know all about it! What can he do to make you comfortable? Do need extra stuff? Can he join?!He just LOVES learning new stuff and about new things.A very kind,curious and respectful skeleton is what he aspires to be along with being the great and popular papyrus.He also gets bans animal print in the house Incase it makes you sad.If you tell him he doesn’t need to do that or that it doesn’t bother you he still doesn’t allow it saying ‘ITS A CRIME AGAINST NATURE AND FASHION!!’.

(Kind,curious and respectful are not added on to the the title of ‘The great papyrus’ as it may become to long and he believes having to long of a name makes him less popular and more boring.He uses and I quote ‘Those Big Science Words, Sans Sometimes Says In The Middle Of A Sentence’.)

US Sans - Blue

Putting it very bluntly.He didn’t understand at first.It isn’t until S/O sits down and explains it to him he sorta understands.After a while he does get it! Expect loads of gifts.He wants you comfy all the time always.And if you’re not he will fix it.

US Papyrus - Honey

Being as online he is.He knows what being a Therian is.He even researched it by himself.He finds what some of the Therians do with the masks really cool and wants to make one himself! Fun fact! Honey really likes the sun,for a skeleton who is always in a hoodie you can catch him just basking in the sun.Does he have a basking partner now?

UF Sans - Red

One thing him and Edge can agree with is that cats are epic.Aside from Doomfanger who Red is convicted is a demon straight from hell.He to asks a bunch of questions rather on if there is anything he can get that will make you feel like your self.If anyone,human or monster judges S/O…trust they will be sorted out…..very…swiftly.

UF Papyrus - Edge

Edge is a major cat person.Big cats.Small cats.Jellicle cats.He loves them all.You have no idea how happy he is for you.You would never think a guy like Edge would get giddy over something like this but he does.Be prepared for the Crazy cat skeleton fawning even more over you then normal.

HT Sans - Seaweed

It makes him actually think of himself.Due to his time in the underground, he acts more wolf like.Doing what it takes to survive and once on the surface,he went from Feral Skeleton with a hole in his skull to domesticated puppy skeleton who just loves being held.Please hold him.Cuddle and nuzzle together.Go to each other for warmth.Share from the same plate???.Its his dream.

HT Papyrus - Papaya

His curious nature never left him.But his question are more along the lines of’Do you need anything?’ ‘Anything I can do to make you more comfortable?’ ‘Do you want to curl up on my lap? You can if you want!’.Takes extra care in making sure you are as comfortable as you can be!.Although at first he did think S/O was going to be a bit like Seaweed…with stealing food…He to has seen ‘Therian masks’ and asks if he can make one for you if you want? Or anything else you need!

_______________________

I hope this is good!

I snuck in a reference from my favourite musical in here….

Hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween!

-Morganna

#underfell #undertale #horrortale #underswap #undertale headcanons #undertale imagines #papyrus x reader #sans x reader

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adaptacy · 1 year ago

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A Found Flame {Pt.2}

Pairing: Mentor!Gale Dekarios x Apprentice!GN!Reader

(Previous Chapter) – (Next Chapter) ➔ (AO3)

A/N: Gonna cross-post this to AO3 eventually once I have more of an idea of how the plots gonna go cause you all have convinced me to full-send it and make it a longform thing. just adding it to the list of wip.... a sincere apology to my tcm fics.... anyways! i love my little depressed magic-cancer nerd and im glad im not the only one. here's more of him :) [it wont all be angst, but i gotta set the scene and the stakes, yanno...?] ALSO 'a found flame' is just the working title, idk what the official one is gonna be but i'll let yall know when i figure that out

Word Count: 3.1k

Stepping outside grants you an opportunity to taste the last flavors of the fading winter, only feeling the quick spikes of a chill every few minutes, and even then, it’s only thanks to the setting sun. You still wear a purple velvet shawl, as per the request – well, demand – of Gale. He insisted many moons ago that you shouldn’t ever risk getting sick when you can take measures to avoid such a fate, and you’d decided it was much simpler to go along with it than to argue your safety. That plan was cemented when he purchased you a finely tailored purple shawl, the edges of the hood and cloak lined with lynx fur, dyed a dark pink to complement the thick purple velvet that made up the majority of the shawl. A gift that nothing short of surprised you, even had you fooled into believing you’d been dreaming when he presented it to you. Why he was so particularly fearful of the cold, you weren’t sure, but you deeply appreciated the gift, and even if you did enjoy winter’s nip, the shawl was both gorgeous and comfortable, and you’d be insane to leave it behind.

Gale was also particularly sensitive to cold weather, from what you could tell, which likely had a role in his passionate bias against the chilliness of post-snow air. Frankly, you were fine with the occasional runny nose in exchange for a chance to wander down a snow-dusted forest trail, and you didn’t mind a shiver here and there while you caught free-falling flakes that Waterdeep was ever so rarely granted.

The garden, however, was much like Gale – hardly a fan of the cold. Gale did not have a green thumb, but he still shared similarities with the plants you tended. Those plants that, currently, were dead and buried. While you’d managed to convince him to try his hand at herbalism and gardening, he had more of Bhaal’s touch with the sprouts than the ‘magic’ touch he so often joked about. It was amusing, and a little pitiful; the exasperated sigh and the troubled frown that followed your breaking of the news, that his poorly packed and overwatered plants had passed. He was dramatic, and managed to find the humor in the situation, though vowed to let you handle anything to do with seedlings and crops from that point onwards.

It was unfortunate, as you appreciated his entertaining company (even if it came mostly in the form of griping, displeased that he had to get so up close and personal with dirt and worms) around the garden beds, but it allowed for moments like these. Truth be told, you had no intention of gardening. You would have to wait another twelve dawns until any useful plants would be back in season, so planting anything this late in winter would be a waste of both time and resources.

Instead, you aimed to explore a small forest trail that you’d just recently discovered, not far from the tower you stayed at. To say you lived there felt like too strong, too certain, of a term. It was the only place you slept, and nearly all of your time was spent there, but you knew it wasn’t home. It was Gale’s home, and you were a mere guest. A sixteen-month-and-counting guest, but a guest nonetheless. You worked, your apprenticeship laboursome and sometimes really quite demanding, and Gale repaid your loyalty and assistance by giving you a place to stay. You’d just never planned to stay so long.

In all honesty, you expected it to be a very temporary arrangement. You suspected Gale felt the same way. But circumstances changed, and so did minds, and you didn’t see yourself leaving anytime soon. It helped that you got along quite well with your boss-slash-roommate, despite the differences in personality and age. You were comfortable with the way things were, and Gale had just recently begun to sprout ideas of passing his own spell-casting knowledge on to you, with today’s lesson being a prime example. When you weren’t helping out around his home, or running errands for him, or tending to the garden, you were most usually subjected to reading long passages from books that were once very far above your understanding.

If Gale was a master of anything, it was surely knowledge. You’d found it odd, at first. Spending all of his days wasting away in his tower, just reading, rotting into a hermit, you’d assumed. But you’d soon gained an appreciation for his boundless mind, and felt almost honored that he’d decided you worthy of learning from him. Being a wizard’s apprentice had never been in the plans, not even as a fleeting hypothetical, and yet you found yourself in that exact scenario – and enjoying it nonetheless!

Glancing down at the small woven basket hanging from your arm, you frowned, lost in thought. Gale taught you a lot, and he still had plenty left to teach, but by no means did that translate over to you really knowing the man you shared a house with. He taught from books and scrolls, and on a few spare good days from his own vast experience. Even with all of the lectures he gave, you found that any details about him that weren’t related to magic, or your lessons, were all quite lacking. What you did know about his personal life was almost purely from observation.

Well, a few times when Tara had made a passing comment about some personal detail and surely was later scolded for it, but those were few and far between. If anyone were to blame for your curiosity, it was most certainly the man himself. He loved preaching the importance of curiosity, exploration (despite rarely leaving the confines of his study), and seeking knowledge, and you’d be a rather poor apprentice to disregard such lessons. Or, arguably worse, cherry pick when you applied those lessons to real world scenarios.

Most recently, your nose for curiosity had picked up on the notably pungent scent of Gale’s behavior. It was unusual, slightly withdrawn, perhaps a little panicked if you truly squinted between the lines. Gale was predictable, for the most part – it was one of his traits that had earned him your trust in the first place. Though as of recent, he’d been rather strange. And not the typical Gale kind of strange – an unsettling, uncharacteristic strange. One that you knew better than to ask questions about, but one that certainly sprouted confusion.

You neared the edge of the forest, giving the pale trees a smile as if to promise your peace. Pausing just before the tree line, you peered into the woods, interested as to what you might discover. You proceeded, following a very faint trail into the woods. You had a pretty solid confidence in your navigational skills – otherwise you most definitely would’ve gotten completely trapped in the maze of a city that was Waterdeep every time you ran any sort of errand – so you weren’t particularly concerned with getting lost.

Allowing your thoughts to return to Gale, you reminded yourself that you weren’t really lying to him. You definitely weren’t going to the garden, but you still planned on harvesting plants. You’d known him for almost a year and a half, and you knew the gist of what he’d been through, what with his mentorship from Mystra herself – which was so cool, and he was way too casual about it – and his strange appetite thanks to the Netherese orb that had become one with him. All that aside, however, you didn’t know many details about his past. For as chatty and sarcastic as he was, you couldn’t shake the feeling he had a good number of secrets he withheld from you, and big ones at that.

Of course, Gale was entitled to his privacy, and you didn’t want to intrude or push his boundaries, but it was impossible to ignore the signs of unease. His constantly drifted mind, his long breaks between lessons, his increasingly frequent requests. Or the way that he’d direct you to read a passage from some folktale or other, only to remain silent for several moments after you finish, gazing longingly past his balcony. He’d been consuming more artifacts than usual recently, and gained a sudden eagerness to push real world practice into your schedules. Not that you minded the inflow of new information, but it didn’t seem to come from a place of excitement. Instead, you figured anxiety; judging based off of the common rapid bouncing of his leg, the messy-and-messier spread of his books and trinkets – especially when compared to how well-kept the place always was whenever you’d started working under him – or his new tendency to forget what he had and hadn’t asked of you, or which lessons he’d already covered, or hell, where he had last placed his staff.

Well, what better way to get someone to open up and relax than with a hand-picked bouquet and some herbal tea?

Even if he didn’t spill his guts to you, he certainly needed a pick-me-up. Sure, you already did a lot for him, but he did a lot for you, too. Maybe even more than he realized. He deserved a treat.

– – –

“Though it may be bold of me to say, I estimate they’ll be a fine caster someday.”

“Bold indeed, Mr. Dekarios. Awfully bold. They quite nearly began trembling at the idea of a mere fire bolt!” The small beast chirped back, seated firmly atop his desk, pawing at a small fuzzy ball that swung from a thin string, easily entertained by the simple contraption.

“Even I stumbled; all beginners do. Time is all they need. ‘Time heals all wounds’, is that not how the scriptures read?” He asked, sticking his tongue out and running the tip of a long harpy feather over it.

As he dipped that same tip in a vial half-filled with a thick, clear liquid, Tara quickly outstretched a wing, the end of it not-so-accidentally hitting her companion in the face. The startle nearly caused him to knock over the bottle of magic ink, his torso leaning forward as he just barely managed to steady it with both hands, and he glared at his familiar out of the corner of his eye. She merely stretched out her other wing, feigning obliviousness before eventually looking back at him. “You are still the same fool who summoned me all those years ago. You are a prodigy, Mr. Dekarios! You were half their age then; to compare your ‘stumbles’ to the incompetence of a commoner such as them is exhaustively inconceivable.”

“Tara, I implore you to exercise patience. They are a fine apprentice, and they certainly have the potential for brilliance. Am I not a competent mentor?” He asked, raising an eyebrow, intending the question to be at least somewhat thought-provoking, but the only reaction he received was Tara turning her head away and murmuring something too quiet for Gale to hear. Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, he knew her well enough to predict it was something snarky, and he didn’t bother investigating. He dipped the large quill again, unable to recall if he’d already wet the tool, and the liquid dripped off of the tip, shimmering in the glint of the fading sun as it rejoined the rest contained in the bottle. “Why is it that you repudiate all of their attempts to bond with you? Surely you don’t think them ill-mannered?”

“‘Ill-mannered’, he says,” she mocks, her tail flicking in irritation. “It is not their civilities that I have quarrels with. It is the expectations I deplore.”

“Expectations?” Gale repeats, his palm flattening against his desk, pressing out the sides of a contorted scroll, the tip of the feather hovering over the yellowed paper.

After solving her own deliberation, the tressym turns around, her wings folding against her sides, her tail curling around her paws. “Have you no fear that your confidence is misplaced? Mr. Dekarios, do you not worry that they may fall short in your plans for them? That they are not up to the task you have decided to burden them with?”

Gale’s irritated gaze softens, his hand relaxing, coming to join his other hand in resting on the desk. The clear liquid on the quill drips onto the parchment, becoming a black dot in an instant, the weave-infused iridescent ink soaking seamlessly into the paper. “I fear nobody could ever truly be capable. But my options are limited, and my few select choices are each disheartening in their own cruel ways.”

“Evidently, you have already made up your mind. Why is it that you allow them to remain oblivious? You know better than anyone how dire the circumstances are.” Tara’s paws slide forward, her belly laying flat on the desk, and she plants her head atop of her mitts.

Gale moves his hand, letting the paper curl up without the weight, to gently scratch Tara’s head, her pitying purr drawing a sigh from his own chest. “I am but a ticking time bomb. Hardly much of a man these days,” he chuckles dryly, looking around the dust-riddled mess that he still called a study. It would be nothing short of anarchy if it weren’t for his apprentice, and he’s seen it in far worse shape, but it doesn’t quite shake the quiet guilt that rocks in his stomach at just how far he’s fallen. Gale is usually quick to excuse his carelessness as an incurable consequence of his age, but he’s well-aware that his energy is not merely being lost alongside his youth.

The artifacts he consumes have only ever satiated a part of the orb’s appetite. Never quite satisfied – a commonly reoccurring trait of those Gale finds himself engaging with – the sortilege feeds off of him as well. The incantations he recites and the thaumaturgy he practices only grows stronger – more powerful than Gale could have ever predicted or wished for – while his body withers away as though his very anatomy is actively being shredded, and relentlessly so, to make room for spells that he now dreads casting.

It doesn’t help that his learned reliance was only ripped away from him when he truly needed assistance. When the man who once considered himself the smartest in all of Faerun was clueless about his own condition, the only person who could possibly have the answers disappeared.

Now, Gale was left to clean up the pieces. He understands this is his own doing – that he was, and still is, a fool. Once blinded by greed, a greed that led him to being blinded by love, a love that led him to being blinded by desperation, a desperation that led to him being trapped by fear. A fear that now has settled, more or less. Present as ever, but no longer unfamiliar, no longer a new addition to Gale’s emotions.

His hand returns to the paper, and Tara steadies her sights on the bottom of the quill, watching as it twirls, imprinting promises and bittersweet apologies onto the scroll. Words he couldn’t possibly utter aloud, but words that couldn’t be more genuine. The recipient deserves more than a written explanation and cursive laments, and he’s aware of the injustice he’s manufacturing, but he is a terribly faded man who is cursed by a deficiency in time and yet finds himself with so much left to do. He decides it is better a raven on her doorstep than his ghost, lacking any explanation.

Each day, he wakes to find his chest a little warmer, his hands a little shakier, his hair a little thinner. And each day feels like his last. He is entirely helpless to the foe that resides inside of him, of all places. Incapable of defending against something that has already breached his castle walls, and even more useless as it has latched under his skin, reducing him to nothing more than a habitat. He hosts an aberration that has grown far, far too large for its enclosure, and who threatens to rupture its cage with every breath that he dares to draw.

He’s held out for long enough. He’s lived longer than he ever imagined possible, but he knows his limits. The truth stings in places untouched by the Netherese’s reaches; his forced composure starts an ache in his face, but he knows better. With a sharp inhale, Gale rolls up the paper, setting down the large brown feather as he retrieves a thin, fraying string, tightly wrapping the letter up. He even finishes it off with a neat bow, a force of habit, and he sets it aside, leaning back in his chair.

The moon is just barely visible now, approaching the stars and creeping over the mild coverage of the stone railings on his balcony, and the wizard watches the white giant rise. Some unburied, deep sense of longing reflects in his eyes, where the moon also resides, though she is much smaller and much dimmer. There’s movement on the desk, but Gale’s eyes aren’t yet drawn away from the beauty of the night. Then there’s a weight in his lap, and a purring against his stomach, and he lowers his hand to rest on Tara’s back, gently stroking, enjoying the silent tranquility.

‘Mystra’s moon’ he used to call it. He’d tell her he could see her in the shadowed curves, but he isn’t sure if he ever really did. Maybe in a dream, long lost to him now. The moon that watched over him tonight was certainly not Mystra’s. It was bright, encasing the room in a beautiful blue, and the gaze it returned was a soft one. Free of judgment, free of stress, free of difficulty.

“I reckon I’ll be up there soon,” he exhales, feeling his familiar curl up in his lap. “Ruling my own section of sky. Perhaps I’ll even have purpose. I can’t help but wonder what it’s like.”

“Peaceful, I suspect. An eternity of peace, at that. What a prospect.”

“You’ll join me some day?”

The feline purrs out a quiet chuckle, her tail curling around her body so the tip rests on her nose, bundled perfectly atop his thighs. “Of course. I can only go so long without a self-warming bed.”

Gale smiles, his hand falling still on her back, though his thumb continues to run up and down her fur. “Give them a chance, will you? They can’t do it without guidance.”

“I’ll take care of them,” Tara reassures, her tone much softer now than when she spoke of his apprentice earlier. “Do wait for me up there. I’ll be by your side before long, Mr. Dekarios.”

“I set out tomorrow night. I’ll inform them of what they need to know.”

#baldurs gate 3 #baldurs gate #bg3 #gale dekarios #gale of waterdeep #gale bg3 #gale dekarios x reader #gale bg3 x reader #gale dekarios angst #gale bg3 angst #gale dekarios x reader angst #tara the tressym

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blackestnight · 7 months ago

Text

HANAMI HAGANE

Nicknames: 'Hana-chan,' but attempt to use at your own risk.

Nameday: 31st sun of the 2nd astral moon (March 30th). ...I forgot her nameday again. Sorry miss Hagane.

Race: Au Ra Raen

Gender: Meh. She doesn't have strong enough feelings about her own gender identity to bother putting a label to it; most people default to 'she/her' pronouns when addressing her and she's fine with that, although she does object to being addressed as 'Lady ___' or other such courtesy titles—if someone must address her by a title, she prefers 'Ser.' Demigirl, if I were to ascribe modern language.

Orientation: Meh, with an added sprinkle of Not Your Damn Business if She's Not Trying to Fuck You. Her 'dating' history, sparse as it is, mostly consists of women, as does her metaphorical (and much more prodigious) little black book. She thinks of herself as not prone to romance, and a lot of her prior entanglements have been one-night stands or FWB arrangements. Romantic interest is much rarer for her than sexual attraction, and only tends to come after a long period of mutual trust and friendship. Again, using modern terminology, demi-romantic bisexual (with a slight lean towards women—her husband makes fun of her when she sees a giant, hot lady and her brain stops working).

Profession: Adventurer, goldsmith, part-time consultant with Garlond Ironworks (occasionally as an engineer, mostly as a sentient crash test dummy), nominally still the schoolmaster of Crown Gemworks.

PHYSICAL ASPECTS

Hair: Dark reddish-brown, very fine and straight. Usually featuring some amount of pink dye, a holdover from when she was a teenager and her mother dyed her hair for her; it's an unofficial Hagane family tradition/bonding ritual. These days she usually keeps it trimmed to about the length of her chin, but for most of her adulthood she wore it down to her lower back.

Eyes: Green (although historically people have been confused on this point). (Is the confusion mostly the result of my being color blind? Yes.) Her limbal rings are a very bright, pale blue, which throws people off and gives her a delightfully creepy glow-in-the-dark look.

Skin: Warm brown. She probably has an impressive farmer's tan.

Tattoos/Scars: Her most notable scars are on her right forearm (a strangely sigil-like pattern of lines and circles stretching from wrist to elbow that appear to be raised and warped veins, the result of voidsent intervention in her final fight against Zenos in Ultima Thule); her lower torso (a diagonal line from her hip to the bottom of her ribcage, also from Zenos during the assault on Rhaglr's Reach); the back of her right thigh (from a drunken misadventure on a roof in her early twenties); and of course her left horn, which was severed (again by Zenos, or rather Elidibus in Zenos's body in the Ghimlyt Dark) and replaced by a hardsilver prosthesis. While some people assume her iconic face paint is a tattoo, she actually doesn't have any because she's scared of needles. She will not admit to being scared of needles.

FAMILY

Parents: Shomi Hagane is the matriarch of the Hagane clan, a family of samurai who have been serving the lords of Doma almost since its founding. She was raised in Monzen in her family home, and remained there until shortly before the Garlean invasion of Doma, when she begged then-king Kaien for leave to take her wife and young children to the countryside, safely out of reach of the imperial forces. Kaien thanked her for her service and allowed her to flee, thus ending over three centuries of Hagane service to the Rijin line. Maki Sunwalker (née Urabito) is the oldest child of a merchant family from northern Yanxia, though she was disowned as a teenager when she left her family to study the ways of the shinobi in Shinobi-no-Sato. She worked actively as an assassin and spy in service to Doma until the invasion; after Doma's fall she officially retired to become a farmer, though her 'errands' would occasionally take her to Garlean strongholds for days at a time and leave her knives suspiciously bloody.

Siblings: Hanami is the second of five children and the oldest surviving Hagane child; her older brother Akinaga died in the failed uprising at Monzen. Her younger brother Haruki has long been considered her partner in crime and currently splits his time between adventuring and working with the guard of the Doman Enclave. Her two youngest siblings are twins, Itomi and Naonaka; both were conscripted into the Garlean army after the uprising and sent to Ala Mhigo, where Itomi was promoted to Decurion and Naonaka worked as a healer. After their return to Doma, Naonaka moved to the fishing hamlet of Isari and Itomi left for Kugane; neither are currently on speaking terms with Hanami, though Naonaka has made overtures toward his brother and mothers.

Grandparents: None worth mentioning. Shomi's parents were killed during the first failed Garlean invasion, when she was three years old; she was raised by the collective efforts of several other noble families in Monzen, including the Daito family (as a result Gosetsu sometimes jokes that he's Hanami's honorary grandfather). Maki's family disowned her as a teenager and she hasn't had contact with them in almost fifty years.

Others: Hanami has a nephew, Munehise, who is the light of her life. Mune's biological mother isn't in the picture, and Hanami helped Haruki raise him until she left for Eorzea; since her return to Yanxia during Stormblood she's less involved in his day-to-day life, since she's adventuring, but she's still solidly in the 'favorite auntie' slot. (Mune won't say it out loud—the one time he tried is the only time he's ever seen Hanami genuinely upset—but he thinks of her as more of a mother figure than his actual mom.)

She has a bevy of cousins, including Kotone and Honoka (c/o @windupnamazu) and, semi-reluctantly, a brother-in-law (A'dewah on loan from @fistsoflightning). (She loves A'dewah because Haruki loves him. This does not necessarily mean she likes him.) Hanami's moms are also serial adopters, so as soon as Ninira (@nuclearanomaly) and Estinien got within fifty feet of the Hagane household they were trapped.

Hanami inherited the adopting addiction, and legally she's Rielle's guardian (after a trial following the murder of Ystride de Caulignont). She also considers herself responsible for Ryne and Gaia, but in more of a hard-ass aunt way. She takes frequent trips to the First to continue their training as baby tanks.

She married Aymeric shortly before the start of Endwalker and has reached a tentative accord with his elderly cat, Mandragora, who recognizes a fellow grouchy predator when she sees one. Mandragora would take much more kindly to any half-elezen half-au ra kiddies, though...

SKILLS

Abilities: Master martialist, specializing in greatswords but having recently taken up polearms (specifically scythes). Practitioner of the dark arts as taught in the tradition of Ishgard's Dark Knights, and an (somewhat fumbling) initiate in voidsent summoning. Metalworking, with her most extensive training being in goldsmithing, though she takes on several other projects including quite a bit of engineering with the Ironworks. She was also raised on a farm and trained as a botanist, so her green thumb is nothing to sneeze at, though she mostly gardens for sustenance rather than for pleasure or aesthetics.

Hobbies: Hiking, sketching (mostly landscapes and technical drawing), riding her bikes, scaring the shit out of Ishgardian priests.

TRAITS

Most positive trait: Constancy. Hanami is loyal and unwavering—once she's named you an ally or chosen a course of action, that's set in stone. She says exactly what she means and does exactly what she says.

Worst negative trait: Stubbornness, perhaps as the natural flip-side of her positive trait. Her mind is near-impossible to change once it's been made up; she's reluctant to listen to arguments or accept help when she thinks she's better working on her own.

LIKES

Colours: Black, red, green, blue. Mostly jewel tones.

Smells: Campfire smoke, river water, morning mist, blooming honeysuckle, hot metal, clean cotton.

Textures: Fresh sheets, cool grass, calloused hands, polished leather.

Drinks: Tea (hot), fruit juice (cold), the occasional tiny sip of whiskey.

OTHER DETAILS

Smokes: Occasionally, although she prefers fogweed to tobacco. She's been known to pass a joint around with some of the other Scions in their downtime.

Drinks: Not anymore. She drank recreationally through her young adulthood, and developed alcoholic tendencies shortly after Operation Archon, in response to the stress of the Doman refugees arriving in Mor Dhona. She very abruptly swore herself to sobriety midway through the Crystal Tower expedition; speculation says there was some kind of incident that prompted the change, although the only people who seem to have any idea of what happened are Cid Garlond and G'raha Tia, and neither of them are talking. Thancred has been her recovery buddy ever since.

Drugs: See above if you count fantasy weed as a drug? She does not tolerate soporifics well at all and actively avoids them, although rumors in Ul'dah say she has some sort of...history with the Alacran, who are infamous for peddling somnus. She used to dabble with various hallucinogens when she was younger but had given them up by the time she left Doma.

Mount Issuance: She has an ancient issuance for a Maelstrom chocobo rotting in a drawer somewhere, but she can't stand the smell of horsebirds so she never used it. She has a burgeoning collection of motorcycles courtesy of Garlond Ironworks, including a custom one-of-a-kind combat bike, and she probably also has a horse back in Yanxia but this game won't give us normal ass horse models. If she's not able to use her bikes or ride a horse or a falcon she prefers walking.

Been Arrested: Twice. They say you can still find pieces of her sword embedded in the wall of the Tribunal. Attempt at your own risk.

tagged by @gatheredfates!

tagging @aethernoise @kukurubean @nuclearanomaly @nophicas-ward and YOU!

#oc: hanami hagane #final fantasy xiv #character meme #ty sea!!!!#long post

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