#I’m a lethe siren

[sleepnowmychild]

Hypnos, standing at the banks of Lethe with a fishing net: if you don’t stop stealing my shiny offerings you’re being put in air jail.

The Lethe sirens: *underwater giggling noises*

[helios-writings]

I Drank Dry the River Lethe

Osamu Dazai x gn! Reader

wc: 1.2k

Warnings: none

Dazai is in love with you, he has no idea. He just knows that you make him feel…weird.

Dazai doesn’t know what’s happening to him, as far as he’s aware, you don’t have a special ability. But, that has to be the only explanation for how his heartbeat quickens whenever you walk into the room, how his breath is stolen every time you smile. How every accidental touch makes him yearn for more, like a siren song he can’t get out of his head, even if he were to jump overboard.

You were always so kind to him, a far cry from Kunikida who you claim to be best friends with. But it’s Dazai who you always hand a cup of coffee to, Dazai who you always save a pastry for. He can’t bear it, your kindness. Like he doesn’t deserve it. He’s sure you know, and yet….you still smile at him. Your smile is so bright it could rival the sun, and Dazai wouldn’t mind burning in its ultraviolet rays.

He’s staring at you now, as you sit on the corner of where Atsushi is sitting, talking animatedly at him, gesturing so wildly with your hands you nearly hit yourself in the face. You laugh, embarrassed. It’s like music to his ears, he wants to record the sound and play it on repeat over his headphones so he never forgets it, so it's ingrained into his brain.

“Dazai,” you say, “want anything from the shop?”

He blinks, taken out of his thoughts by the lilt of your voice. “What?”

You're next to him now, the scent of your body spray nearly intoxicating to him. He wants to press his nose to your throat and drink it in.

“The shop, I’m going to pick up lunch from there. Do you want anything?”

He stands, stretches and yawns. “I’ll just come with you.”

You roll your eyes, but smile still. “Well, don’t make it sound like such a chore, I could’ve offered to get you nothing.”

Dramatically he leans against your shoulder, hand over his forehead, feigning a sorrowful swoon. “And starve me to death? How cruel, even for you.”

You laugh, Dazai loves making you laugh. He craves it, almost, wants to keep doing it.

“You’re so dramatic, but alright, come along.”

He’d follow you to the ends of the earth if you asked, but for now, the shop down the street would do.

You say hello to a bunch of people as you pass by, almost all of them complete strangers. You even hum as you walk. He’s so content watching you, that he almost runs into a lamppost.

You pull him away just in time and frown. “It’s not good to have your head stuck in the clouds all the time. What if you got hit by a car?! Dr. Yosano wouldn’t have been able to heal you!”

“Awe, you’re worried about little old me?”

You let him go. “You know what, actually? Next time you daydream I’m letting you hit the pole, and I hope you get the ugliest bump on the middle of your forehead. And when you beg and plead with me for an ice pack, I am going to say I told you so.”

You let the silence linger for one moment. “And then I’ll get you the ice pack.”

He laughs, absolutely enamored with you. “I knew you enjoyed my company.”

“Of course, that’s why I get gray hairs trying to keep you around. Now, come on. I’m starving and I want to grab a good onigiri before they’re all gone!”

You grab his hand and pull you along and oh. He thinks this is the first time you’ve touched him on purpose, the feeling of your hand so impossibly warm in his he doesn’t know what to think or feel. He wants to pull you into him, wrap you up in his arms and never let go. He could die in your arms and nothing else would ever be more perfect.

Dazai knows what he feels when he looks at you now, the shortness of breath, the skipping heart. It is no spell, no special ability.

He is in love with you, drawn to you like a moth to a flame, a nail to a magnet.

Suddenly, all he wants to do is tell you, the need clawing his way to the top of his throat, being stopped only by sheer will. He will not tell you this in a shitty convenience store, where anyone could overhear. No, he won’t do that. Dazai has some semblance of romance after all, even if Kunikida thinks the opposite.

“What do you want?” You ask, observing the onigiri with a seriousness that otherwise would’ve made him chuckle, had his very being not been shaken to the core.

His eyes land on the first bento he sees and he grabs it. “This is perfect.”

You raise a brow. “Are you okay? Did you actually hit your head and I didn’t see?”

Dazai rolls his eyes. “I’m just really in the mood for….salmon.”

He absolutely was not in the mood for salmon, but you shrugged and continued perusing for the items the rest of the ADA had asked for. He even managed to regain some state of being long enough to help you carry the bag back to the agency.

You grin brightly as you enter the office. “Lunch! And I can say with one hundred percent certainty that nothing got crushed. Except for Dazai, almost.”

“I’m telling you, I could’ve avoided any oncoming traffic.”

You roll your eyes, but smile at him in exasperation. “Okay, okay. You’re tough as nails.”

Dazai shoves the whole piece of salmon in his mouth to prevent the feelings from spilling out. He nearly chokes.

You hand him a glass of water, eyes crinkled in the corner from amusement.

***

It’s just you two in the office at the end of the day. The atmosphere is almost stifling now that he has the perfect chance to confess.

It’s funny, how easily he was able to proposition other people that he thought were perfect candidates for his dream. But now that it was you, someone he knows, that he cares for….he almost can’t get the words out. Everyone he’s ever propositioned pales in comparison to you, you have wholly ruined him; there’s no one on earth like you.

You’re nervous as you turn to him. “I know why you're acting weird.”

“You do?” Shit.

“You found out about my feelings for you. I knew I was too obvious.”

Dazai blinks. “Huh?”

Realization that he didn’t know dawns on you and you rush to leave, but he grabs your arm and pulls you into a desperate kiss, like if he didn’t kiss you in that moment he would explode.

Your lips against his are a religious feeling, something to worship. He wonders if he could get amnesia so he couldn’t experience them for the first time over and over again. Wonders if, perhaps, he’s already dead and this is his eternal heaven.

Knows he’s alive once you pull away and laugh, eyes shining in disbelief and joy. He kisses you again. You smile into it.

Dazai spends a lot of time doing that until he’s certain he’ll never get tired of it.

[alohamoon]

Fuckit, another mer/myth blog

Main is @mertubenostalgia and writing blog is @izroulia. This is where I gather mercreature and other water related mythology things that match my mersonas vibe.

I’m a long time siren of over a decade, swimming in tails since 2012. Long history in the mertube community and mega autism about Greek myth and merfolk since childhood.

Meet Sayo (the mersona):

Named after a ghost ship, Sayo (they/them) is originally from the river Lethe and has been accidentally sent to the surface, leaving them yearning and searching for the underworld again. They lurk the rivers and coasts of the west of Australia. Tails colours range from blues to slight greens and purples with hints of silver. Often found sleeping in the shallows or spying on humans just below the surface. Not dangerous, but not very talkative either.

[wingedflight]

Spotify Wrapped meme: 16, 74, and 22 (nobody said i couldn't choose multiple numbers!)

16. Same Team

I broke all our promises / And I evened out the score

… And I hurt you and your feelings / And I broke all the things we loved

… And now I’ve gone to stranger places

Look, the whole reason this one is up so high is because I listened to it over and over again imagining the pain and betrayal in my witchy Jill verse.

So. Specific fic? This would probably fit well with Jill and Eustace first attempting to… not reconcile, but work together somehow? Like, I’ve imagined that after Jill’s fall from the tower, the two of them blackmail each other into leaving Paravel, and they both end up warily keeping an eye on each other on the same ship down to Calormen. And then something would happen - pirates? sirens? - and they’d have to work together for survival.

So. This would be that fic.

74. Paper Mache - Iris Lune

Save me from myself / I’ve been in the dark too long

(To be perfectly honestly, this one is also from my witchy Jill playlist but to diversify things a bit…)

Let’s say it’s a post-LB Susan fic. Maybe she’s haunted. Maybe, everywhere she turns, she keeps seeing her younger self reminding her of all the things she’s lost. Maybe, when things seem darkest, someone comes to comfort her…and, just for you, Lethe, it’s Jon Snow.

22. Burned Me Instead - Barlow and Bear

He lied to my face as he poisoned the well / And he burned me instead

… Wonder if he’s got regrets

(Hilariously, I have never actually watched Bridgerton so that takes the easy answer out of this one.)

I’m kind of leaning towards a spy Edmund fic for this one? Oh! Let’s say it’s an Edmund/Aravis fake!courting AU in which they’re using each other and of course the feelings get intense and then Edmund has to make a pragmatic decision for the good of Narnia but Aravis feels burned and hardens her heart and it’s a big mess.

And there we are! Anyone else want to suggest a number between 1-101 from my Spotify Wrapped for a fic idea?

[ylkcheeeks]

Sailor Stars Classic Thoughts I been having

Firstly I read someone else’s theory that Galaxia never intended for the Animamates to succeed, just to draw out the sol senshi by making problems, which explains why they were even trying to find true star seeds in random people rather than, you know, the sailor senshi that keep showing up. When in the anime they are supposed to be the original senshi of Chuu/Mau/etc, corrupted/brainwashed by the bracelets. Like, aside from it being incredibly poor management to train your staff so poorly that their knowledge base of “what is a true starseed and where are they found?” is

Sparkly crystal which stays sparkly

No, Reiko, you can’t eat it

They are inside people, maybe the talented ones? Unclear.

But also like. If they are all senshi. Who willingly took the bracelets and had their starseeds ripped out. Then they very much know what they are and where to find them??? Their own starseeds are ABSOLUTELY part of the Calder knockoff Galaxia keeps above her throne come on the intimidation! The drama! Totally her style.

Yet the animamates, even Suzu, only connect that SM has The Good One when they have help or foreknowledge. So either Galaxia mind wiped them or they never knew, both of which don’t work well for their own reasons I am choosing to ignore, because the text makes it evident: they don’t know.

And then there the foolishness of killing off your lieutenants. Unless these aren’t her elite team. These are who is left after she’s razed the galaxy. If her statement to HaruMichi is true- nobody has tried to use her own power against her*- then she can’t have kept anyone strong around for long. I can’t imagine that truly zero people tried to fight back, so I assume that she maintained a real revolving door office culture, keeping new hires for exactly long enough to take out their comrades and train their replacements. And these four poor schmos are the last ones standing.

*I also find this statement dubious on account of A) unreliable narrator who B) enjoys lying, arson, and jaywalking

So 🐭🧜‍♀️🐦🐈‍⬛ (in the anime at least) are who’s left, but as in they’ve been there a while and survived, or as in their own planets were some of the most recent? I could work with either, frankly, but slightly prefer the former because then I can handwave some of the ignorance despite being canonically actual senshi not fakes who stole a real sailor crystal from their local godqueen as being due to spending X amount of time in the back rooms of this soul sucking corporation, day in and day out the same until memories of anything else melt away.

Naturally in the manga it’s fine because some of them don’t have that first hand exposure and the other just could have had a big gulp prepared by Sailor Lethe yum yum. Also less of the “big bad kills middle management for the hero”

Also my spouse kept calling Aluminum Siren “aluminum siding” and I love this. She’s noshing all the time not just because she’s a stress eater but because she was hungry when she died so now she’s always hungry. Because that’s what the bracelets do. They keep you from atomizing away without your soul gem, but as soon as they are removed, poof (or slow fade while you sadly share some jokes you’d jotted down in notepad for just such and occasion) so you’re already dead. You’re just on pause.

Anyhow she and Lead Crow are in love obviously and have the same ultimate sideboob style to their uniforms- I think they are from the same system; one fell and the other followed. Maybe even begged Galaxia “I have one condition” and she starts to ohohoho you’re in no position to be making demands but they make eye contact “my rival, I am only this strong from needing to be better than her. Save her too.” Or maybe it was “you can’t have her, I’m coming with” whatever it was it hurt thank you

Nezu having the super cute uniform and dressing like a 1930s gangster for work is everything and I love her.

Kakyuu’s incense pokeball! What’s it like on the inside? How’s she able to communicate with CC while she’s in it? I want a Polly Pocket of Princess Kakyuu’s fragrant vacation home.

Am I not good enough? Ouch oof bye goodnight

Suzu X Diana purely for the sake of making a black & white thinking vs shades of grey joke.

Usagi please go to therapy.

If CC is ***’s starseed, and yet has her own body and form, then the silhouette wouldn’t be cosmos, but a grown incarnation of the good parts of the artist formerly known as the light of hope. I would love a design that’s evocative of a sunrise, taking her hot pink into reds, golds, even lilac.

Also *** totally flew off, then CC, once again corporeal, follows a few minutes later. Does that mean *** is flying around with her star seed outside her body without stabilizing bracelets? Did she regen a new one when SM hugged her? IS CC’S STARSEED NOW ITS OWN THING LIKE THE PINK CRYSTAL FOR CHIBS? So now she’s her own person who *** needs to babysit as she travels the universe?? Many questions.

If leaving earth means leaving their boyband pseuds behind does that mean they have other, truer, civilian names? Or did they just take their real names, add a matching surname and suits and that’s that?

Seiya is gender-fluid, Taiki is agender, Yaten is too tired for gender. If they had dic names: Stevie, Taylor, and Francis, who the fans call Frankie and ze doesn’t care for it. Princess Olivia.

Suzu Nyanko = Kitty Clarion

Akane & Reiko = (something that means red- Ruby maybe?) Carrion (for rhymes) & (something long, like Elizabeth) Fisk

Nezu I want to do a really funny one for but I’m tired so maybe later.

Usagi and Kakyuu keep in touch via incensegram or whatever and there is like, immediately, a need for her to visit Kinmouku or for a diplomat to be sent to the sol system oh noooo now you’ll have to kiss…

I wonder if Cosmos will give us a slightly longer glance at Kakyuu’s dead girlfriend?

I want so badly to do rediculous critter versions of the senshi. Like, we know it’s just their usual deal with bracelets on top (give or take some bonus black for evil) but there’s a reason so many people have come up with Selenium Rabbit independently.

I want a workplace slice of life/comedy comic of shadow galactica.

[scribe-of-elysium]

Quietus Suggested Tracklist

I’m pinning this to my Tumblr page and removing it from my FF.net profile because it has gotten way too long.

This is a list of tracks I listened to while writing different chapters and scenes in the story for anyone who may be interested in hearing them.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these songs, am not gaining from sharing, neither am I writing the lyrics in my story. Songs belong to their respective creators. I have merely shared these links for atmosphere building purposes and because they inspired the mood of chapters/scenes.

Chapter 3

Alice in Dreamland - Vocaloid [OFF VOCAL/Instrumental version] - The creepy carousel theme, when Sakura meets you-know-who:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akGdHniy1P0

Fate/Rebirth - Vocaloids Len/KAITO/Gakupo - The song that plays when she's cooking her meal:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZiMKpP3c48

Chapter 4

Archangel - TSFH - The field/abduction. From 1:25 is where it gets really epic - Sasuke storming through the field, about to swoop down on Sakura:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCEjoHQl5BA

Chapter 7

Always With Me - Spirited Away [Music Box version] - The tune that is the inspiration behind the music box in Sakura's room:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1n63ohUzTY

Chapter 8

Silken Twine - Amethystium - When Sakura encounters the dancing nymphs in the gardens:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnZRyehFSnQ

Strangely Beautiful - Amethystium - When Sakura encounters the sirens in the spring:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EANJUqRlcw

Chapter 15

Fable - Amethystium - Sakura's walk through the garden/following Sasuke:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WzbKeWylYk

Chapter 16

Beyond - Matthew Mayer - The piano scene (both flashback and Sakura watching Sasuke play):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7lgR6FfTng

Chapter 18

Lebanese Moon - DJ Zeki [Many thanks to Sara U for telling me the correct name/artist] - Sakura's dream (Festival Music):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvgYBKOOMMM

I Go Crazy Because of You - T-ara - The forge/shirtless Sasuke! xD

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMmTQBIP8bE

Chapter 19

Heart of Fire - Valentin Wiest - Retreating harpies and angry Sasuke!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKdG5VMk5vo

Chapter 21

Breathless - Brand X Music - Sakura enters the forbidden door and sees the portrait of Sasuke's family:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9e1WK44p9W8

Chapter 24

Elysium - Bond - When Sasuke's chariot takes off full speed/journey through the Underworld (up to 2:30... beyond that it slows down/they arrive at the locations):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2sz2pgBqeM

Election Daze - TSFH - The moment the enchanted forest starts coming to life:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NFwaM1bfz4

Moonlight Water - Immediate Music - The hushed, twinkling beauty of the jewel cavern:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcvJMBwvv3w

Chapter 26

Dark Intentions - KPM Music - Hinata and Neji following Sai in park (including Sasuke's appearance):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VP_I1wQRdP0

Steren - Gwendal - Apollo, Kore and Hades running through the forest:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMRcuUfT2qY

Chapter 27

Arcana - Immediate Music - When Sasuke draws Kusanagi against Naruto, and the battle that follows:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQX6SjX-TZc

Chapter 29

Myth - Delerium - The long awaited ballroom dance scene. Sasuke enters at 1 minute 40 seconds:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=HM_ThCMImBU

Chapter 30

The Ancients [No Choir Version] - TSFH - When the chariot approaches the ghostly fields of Asphodel:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RV5-ePui_fw

Mirage - Valentin Wiest -When Sakura turns to face the front of the carriage and asks to leave the Asphodel Meadows. At 1:27 the chariot moves on from Lethe and the faster part of the track plays on for the drive toward the mountains.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4PheSa7cjw

Aphelion - Jesper Kyd - When Sasuke and Sakura approach the bridge before the waterfall and the interaction that follows it. This one is so BEAUTIFUL!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nl8Bc0Q2ag

Fortress of Seduction - TSFH - When Sakura starts to hear the siren voices in her head:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JHzdVEdFec

World of Fireflies - Jasper Blunk - When Sasuke holds out his hand to Sakura and they step out of the underpass. At 1:03 is when the people/children start passing Sakura:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkVGPZBc_Gc

Chapter 31

Vorrina Pi - E.S. Posthumus - Sakura takes Sasuke's hand and steps into Elysium:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qODLH8aM_s8

No Fear - Epic Score - Sasuke and Sakura fight the fearsome dragon Ladon:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_P317_lxjBY

Prelude of Dreams - AudioMachine - Sakura enters the Hesperide Garden and sees the Golden Apple Tree for the first time:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7j44brOxb4Q Chapter 33

Archangel [Harp version of TSFH's 'Archangel'] - Nimrodia - Sasuke's harp piece. Note that this is a beautiful harp rendition of Sakura's kidnapping in Chapter 4 - major credit to the very talented harp player:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvtisroWpm4

Temptation - Delerium - The following music plays from the point at which (roughly, depending on your reading pace) when Sakura begins answering Sasuke's question, "What do you live for?":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4JE6ZIXWlY

Chapter 34

Sakura enters and walks through the haunting beauty of the maze:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8erXPXrPbM

The Madness of Duke Venomania [Off vocal/Instrumental Version] - Gakupo Vocaloid - The satyrs chase Sakura and the nymph in the maze:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiaXZC5sIiY

Chapter 35

Illusions - Thomas Bergersen - When Alastor leaves the boarding banks and arrives at the Plains of Judgement:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1qzm3UUTrg

Electric Angel - Vocaloids Rin and Len - Sakura's dream sequence of Apollo, Kore and Hades (repeat if you need to):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMtcsY4G3wE

Chapter 37

Winterspell - TSFH - Chiyo and Sakura's sleigh ride through the icy tunnels from this point: ‘As they drew closer, the tunnel walls began to change in hue and structure’, through to where the journey comes to an end.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjPtvKCrmoY

Blizzard - TSFH - The point at which the Oracle orbs begin to play: ‘But it was too late. The orb seemed to grow in size – and it suddenly felt unnervingly like her mind was being drawn – no – hurtled - into it’ up to the part just before she sees the army in the sphere.

2:26 - The point at which Sakura sees the silhouettes together in the woods.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsJz0OSviXU

Starvation - Thomas Bergersen - When Sakura looks into the blue sphere and sees the army up to the point where she is pulled from the visions:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xT_lO7CYWnA

Chapter 38

Cry - Thomas Bergersen - Listen to this track from the point at which Hades sees the lifeless bodies on the floor, onwards until the point at which he is pulled into the ground.

Please pace yourselves to read the part where the shadow hands come out of the earth at 3:02 on the track.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8GG_Mp27gk

Chapter 39

Exhumed - TSFH - Pace yourselves to read from the point where Sasuke sees the female figure walk through the mist, to the end of the scene.

1:00 - The point at where Sasuke first recognises the owner of the possessed body's voice and flashes back to the figure's face.

2:09 - When Sasuke watches the deceased young mortal man sit up again for the first time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4nf5WQrtIo

Chapter 40

The Last One - Audiomachine - Listen from the point at which Hades removes Kore's cloak just before the music changes, and they begin a slow, sensuous dance, up until the end of the dance scene:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnhAYhnHqZk

Chapter 41

Big Sky - TSFH - When Sasuke looks into the orbs. At 1:03 is where he sees his mother running in one of the spheres. It builds up to the final climax of the image he sees at the very end.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoZnQNtrO2k

Chapter 42

The Kraken battle from the start of the chapter. These are actually two separate tracks to listen to, as it's very long. Please listen to them in the order listed.

Massive Outbreak - TSFH - At the immediate start of the chapter.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBHorZqi-30

Durga - E.S. Posthumus - Play this one on repeat after the first one finishes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_4BfAIDEPY

Gift of Life - Thomas Bergersen - Play the following in Tsunade's flashback scene:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgOoB4BeNso

Chapter 43

Darkness - Michael Maas - The piano scene:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcTtutq6gAg

01:45: The point at which the piano piece reaches its final crescendo and Sakura's eyes move to inspect Sasuke.

Blackheart - TSFH - The start of the scene in Elysium up to the point just before the watching of constellations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QLUDBeprZw

White Angel - Florian Blur - When Sakura starts to talk about the sky and star-gazes, up to the end of this scene where she falls asleep: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11uQiX6RRg4

Clockmen [No Choir Version] - TSFH - The point at which Sasuke steps through the opening in the wall up until the end of this scene where he sees the jars.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBLEEbsdiWs

Avenger - Toshiro Masuda [Naruto OST] - When Sasuke tells Sakura to leave him and his visitor onwards:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8w6H2rp9zI

Chapter 44

Swan's Death - Impact Music - The final scene where Sasuke returns to a sleeping Sakura, until the end of the chapter:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DdX1T31vBE

Chapter 45

Am I Not Human? - TSFH - When Sakura hears the truth, from the point at which she says "You aren't joking." Repeat until the end of the scene.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGyAqbezgZU

Breathe - TSFH - At the waterfall; begin from the point at which Sakura speaks to Sasuke when he first arrives, onwards. Repeat as necessary.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=573f8Abs_hE

Pace your reading with the music so that at 2:09 is the part where Sasuke closes the gap between their faces.

Chapter 46

Animals - Maroon 5 - The training session, from the point where Sakura first attacks Sasuke, to the end where she pushes him off her when they are on the ground and starts to confront him. You may need to repeat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZvDOTiypuM

Fortress of Mirrors - Valentin Wiest - When Sasuke's Sharingan activates upon witnessing Sakura's attack, up to the end of the chapter. Please pace yourself for effect so that:

01:53: Is when he sees Sakura's hands grasping the soil - and the reaction that follows.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNpebgMs36c

Chapter 47

You Are My Spring - Sung Si Kyung (Secret Garden OST) - When Sasuke holds an unconscious Sakura in the forest and is tortured by his feelings for her. Lasts up to the end of this scene. Many thanks to Otome-musings from tumblr for recommending this gorgeous song; the lyrics are perfect to capture his agony!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTn61LE5Z18

Fearless - Thomas Bergersen - The light-orb race. Please pace yourself for effect so that:

02:14: Is when Hades alights at the end of the branch and closes in on Kore.

02:30-2:40: When he slams her back against the treetrunk and what immediately follows.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EAlt9MgqgA

Sublimation - Cavendish Trailers - When Hades whisks Kore to another forest, to watch the fireflies, up until the end of the scene.

01:53: Is when he kisses her.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7L3RxSxJbZI

Chapter 48

Forbidden Love - Ivan Torrent - When Hades says goodbye to Kore (This is really emotional... made me well up).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCVL3WTKagE

Chapter 49

Fierce Deity - Valentin Wiest - When Sakura reaches the staircase and overhears certain voices in the entrance hall, up to the point before the next track following this one.

01:17: When Sasuke looks up and meets her gaze at the top of the staircase.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bV11D5qcjIk

Playing with Fire - Chroma Music - The scene where Sakura turns her back to the doors and faces the fireplace, and Sasuke enters her room. Repeat until the start of the next track indicated below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7RhzdTCwiM

Up From The Ashes - Groove Addicts - The scene following the kiss where Sakura apologises to Sasuke, up until she leaves the bedroom. Repeat as necessary.

00:26: Is where he feels the first stab of pain inside his chest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgZm3lV2d1Y

Hyperdrive - Immediate Music - The point from which Sakura exits her bedroom and runs, until the end of the chapter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tR42CmwCcJA

Chapter 50

Dancer in the Dark - Megurine Luka - From the start of the chapter until Sui and Sakura cross the river.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xu1Dssui2o

All The King's Horses - Two Steps From Hell - After Sui and Sakura cross up to just before they meet the Furies:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZ53O9n38nw

Wasp Queen - Really Slow Motion - The Furies appear and the following chase.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAw1eJvB6aA

Black Angels - Epic Score - Furies chase continued.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-SZuahQ2q8

Omnis Lacrima - Final Fantasy XV OST - Yoko Shimumora - When Sasuke gets to the surface. 0:44 is when he steps out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSkpr4LPT8w

Fahrenheit - Immediate Music - Battle music - Suigetsu VS Sasuke - Play after the above.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUKBaOYtknc

Dragonland - Thomas Bergersen - Sakura confronts Sasuke. 1:32 is when he teleports her out the palace to Tartarus until end of chapter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzU26jUnE7k

Chapter 55

Run Like Hell - Iconic Audio - Plays when Black Zetsu approaches Sasuke, up until the genjutsu is cast.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8EMdr6nsQU

Zenith - Audiomachine - Play when the illusion of the Olympus throne room is cast. 1:04 onwards is where Sasuke sees the faces within the crystals.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfL7rmXnw6Y

Chapter 56

Leon's Theme (Extended) - Castlevania Lament of Innocence: When Sakura first steps into the ballroom:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyjmWC6Ebdk

The Gypsy Waltz - Ezra Raymond - The start of Kore's dark waltz with Hades, until it ends.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wfxXF9m1Os

Wildfire - Audiomachine - As Kore walks away from the waltz, until the end of the scene where she flees the ballroom. At 01:09 is where she notices and meets the masked man's gaze:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qN1wKBOOE4g

Hook'd - Kira - The song Sakura hears on the radio in Ken's car (original lyrics altered in respect of copyright):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6evzTaBGm4

Bed of Nails - TSFH - Sasuke's exchange with Madara:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNIM1I_iQk8

Rapid Eye Movement - TSFH - When Suigetsu appears in the glass, up to the end of the chapter:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4i6UxCDLe0M

Chapter 58

Wilderness Howl - Audiomachine - The start of the fight on Olympus, repeat as required, until the point it ends.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMGTE9SAoIE

The Untold - Bandcamp - When Sasuke is warped back to the Underworld, until the end of the chapter. - 02:12 - Where Sasuke checks his arm.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-iHnbPb60Y

Chapter 59

Insomnia (Official Faithless Epic Cover) - 2WEI - Killer B fight scene (repeat as needed). 01:07 - when they start to circle B at the beginning of the fight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7jvGu3iRDs

No matter what, I will fight - Brian Delgado - Music that plays when Sasuke returns to his kingdom, to end of chapter:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-C2EdkqTa_E

Chapter 60

The Endless Light - Trevor DeMaere - When Sakura visits her temple's pool and floats in it, up to the end of that scene.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCecN1POBdw

Chapter 61

Waltz for the Moon Remake FF8 - Enrico Deiana (Originally Composed by Nobuo Uematsu) - Ballroom music

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJXIpt089v8

Rise of the Planets - Audiomachine - Naruto and Shikamaru see the Chimera fight scene:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vksdrgSSLGs

Run for Your Limbs - TSFH - Evacuating the ballroom

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQg7e5NZJ7M

Chapter 62

O Destina - Immediate Music - When the Hydra emerges and the fight that follows

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aTkzOYP1Zs

The Glorious Ones - Really Slow Motion - When Sasuke and Taka alight at the roof of the base. From 0:54 when he turns his face to look in the direction of the explosion (overruns into next fight continuation scene):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHqjcI56vyk

Wars of Faith - Audiomachine - When Sasuke and Taka alight outside the building and then walk through the ruins. At 01:54 - They see the Hydra.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GjNX7jcLK0

Forgiven - City of the Fallen - When Sasuke walks out the building, looks at the traumatised people and casts Genjutsu. At 01:15 - Where he casts the illusion and bodies fall. Play until end of chapter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lqpMUkt8DM

Chapter 64

Itachi Uchiha's theme - Yasuharu Takanashi [Naruto OST] - Flashback scenes involving Sasuke's happy memories with his family, beginning with the game of hide and seek in Nyx's garden, until the final flashback with Shisui, Itachi and Sasuke:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYKzdx-B1w0

Tears in Paradise - Epikus - When Hades enters the cavern - 02:00 - when he sees the lifeless bodies on the ground.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FG_mSydQ2t8

Scene of Disaster - Naruto OST - When Hades wakes up in the Underworld after the war.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94D8tH3qkGg

Tragic (Hisou) - Naruto OST - From where Hades first collapses unconscious in the throne room and is in and out of consciousness, up until Chiyo finds him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ie_MgzVb3yo

Man of the World - Naruto OST - From when Hades wills himself to die, onwards, ends at the scene just before where Hades rounds up the servants.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsBxRkIcK-k

Moving Shadows II - TSFH - When Hades rounds up the servants and slaughters the traitors.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPQanvez6kI

Dawn -Arn Andersson - When Hades visits Elysium then stands at his mother's bridge, thinking.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fw15Vp5zeDc

Moving Shadows- TSFH - Final scene when Hades sits on the throne of the Underworld.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvKGxcEg2lA

Chapter 65

Wake the F-Up Samurai' - Brian Delgado - The Thanatos vs Deimos fight, from the point it starts to the end of the fight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCgyRK63w3s

Chapter 66

The Path of Silence - Emotional Viola Music - When Kore is fleeing from the ballroom, up until she is trapped by her pursuers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErKcCMork4E

I Have Overcome the World - Efisio Cross - When Kore clasps her hands together and builds her final barrier, up until she is sent to sleep.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05dCl1wWELY

I Have Seen Much - Naruto Shippuuden OST - When the cloaked figures visit Hecate/Chiyo and one kneels before her, to the end of the scene.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpBtgcehS7w

Vicarious - Audiomachine - For both of the Hypnos flashbacks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuzWj9arn4w

Chapter 67

Shake It Off - Taylor Swift - Festival Music starting from the point Sakura and friends are having fun at the different attractions, up until she sees the Carousel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIOVMHMNfJ4

Memories - Michael Ortega - When Sakura sees the Carousel ride and remembers the previous year's festival.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Z3h0T-LJAM

Where is Your God Now? - Rok Nardin - The full fight scene with the cyclops and the masked man, up until Kakashi transports them out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsvzP8EO65w

From Womb to Tomb - Nick Kaelar & Mitchell Broom (feat. Elizaveta) - Final scene when they teleport back to Tsunade's house and where Sakura is being healed. 00:38 where they see her wound mending and realise what this means.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6M2w5ndI20A

Chapter 68

Divided by One - Secession Studios - When Ino regains consciousness and the scene that follows.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=furO_085RzQ

Republic - Ninja Tracks - Infiltration of base scenes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5M1G1gHmcJo

Sunder - Really Slow Motion - When Naruto and Sakura free Hinata and the scene that directly follows:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6lViC50N8o

Veiled in Black -Extended [Arrangement] - Final Fantasy XV OST - When Shikamaru, Sai and Sakura first hear the sound of explosions in the tunnel, onward until she lands on the surface.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBjrzTNmjds

Soul Battles - Ryan Taubert - When Sakura lands back on the surface, until the end of the chapter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFWp7yKcmbg

Chapter 69

Iron Poetry - Really Slow Motion Music - The part where Chiyo talks to Sasuke about trying to help him as best as she could, up until the end of that scene.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_xMXyD82s

Breathe Without - Nurko feat. Luma - Toward end of Sakura's dream where she reaches out to touch Sasuke, up until the end of the chapter where Sasuke collapses on his bed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkWmJNnhW8U

Chapter 71

For Your Entertainment - Adam Lambert - When Team 7 steps into the nightclub.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsPFDzAGb4A

Chapter 72

Fearless - DTD Music - Team 7 vs Griffins battle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JZ4T_mF4oM

Gods Bound by Rules - NieR OST - Navigating through the caverns/puzzles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vun29HO1nbk

Escape - Ebunny - Team 7 vs Medusa and Gorgon Harpies battle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsZAnfR4ON4

Assembly of Messengers - Immediate Music - When the torches light up and the lights in the final circular area take form (0:30 when Team 7 see what it is).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uytpBKodx0A

Chapter 73

Never Ending Memories (ft. Carl Hausman) - CRZYSND - Team Seven's Meeting with Minato https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4lcR1bcZFA

Super Psycho Love - Simon Curtis (Nightcore version) - Bar Scene https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTr8BM2Q-qY

Shameless - Camila Cabello - Sakura's dream sequence

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPoDJoTSpUk

Chapter 74

The Great Fortress - World Music Official - When Team 7 enter The Hidden Sand Village and travel through the desert.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEhvMCR8K7Y

Chapter 75

Run - Ross Bugden - The Minotaur's Maze scene

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GWU-pcNR0Q

Armifer - GRV Music - The Skolex worm fight

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2azNJu5GN4

Varuna - E.S. Posthumus - The memory spheres scene

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBDlAHE68Dk

Chapter 76

Death Hymn - Lucas King - When Kore's touch begins poisoning nature

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1y_b6hUXUrQ

Crown of Thorns - Efisio Cross - When Kore sees the red eyes and hears the words spoken to her

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSCyhAPMQqw

Dethrone the King Extended - X-Ray Dog - Scene where Cronus finds Kore's empty cell until end of his flasback

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoxQBuPfEZQ

Red Like Roses Part II - Jeff Williams - Motorbike chase fight scene

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ftd5d8_8Bgg

Battle Theme - Owari No Seraph - Naruto VS Sasuke

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AINcGl9l57o

Chapter 77

Heartbreaker - G-Dragon - Sasuke and Sakura sparring scene (From 0:15 seconds)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnY4gEmDOxM

Lies - Marina and the Diamonds - Sasuke reflecting on the trees after Sakura leaves

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgZ9Llabn-8

Gothicus - Audiomachine - Spider tunnel scene up until Sakura and Sasuke are about to jump off the web. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G29u55EXbh4

League of Legends ‒ Phoenix - Cailin Russo, Chrissy Costanza - When Sakura and Sasuke alight on the overhang of rock up until the end of the chapter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VA6eSOO88M

Chapter 78

Impure King - Hiroyuki Sawano - Team 7 vs Arachne and Karkinos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDII5oKg4A0

Last Strike for Glory - Dream Cave - The Battlefield - Start of the memory sphere with the climb up to Olympus.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_6ErrT3HMM

Fire Mountain - TSFH - The Summit - From the point the Kyuubi storms through Olympus and the fight that follows.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgIfsOGWdi0

Hell Shall Perish - Efisio Cross - From when Cronus sacrifices his kin to the end of the memory sphere. 01:00 is when Zeus and Hera are stabbed by a blade.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GctVS0fIoJ4

Majesty of Justice - Supreme Reach - The motorbike chase scene until end of chapter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YScHdPVoCBU

Chapter 79

Guardians - Dream Cave - Travelling underwater/Suigetsu's palace.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kp0YpVKrapI

Echoes from the Deep - Valentin Wiest - Entering the underwater temple.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mN7rtZVF0I

A Fight to the Death - Kingdom Hearts II - The Charbydis battle up until Susano'o is formed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0GMsXe08Gk

Kalki - E.S.Posthumus - Charbydis battle after Susano'o is formed and while falling into the whirlpool.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tjt2EZA_Yg

Battlefields - 2WEI - Final scene when Sakura wakes up until the end of the chapter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gP6TEe4fbI

Chapter 80

Take the Crown - Succession Studios - Scene with Sasuke, Sakura and Madara, up to the moment Sasuke is shown the genjutsu.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLNlAj2x4sw

The Fall - Succession Studios - When Cronus orders Hypnos and Thanatos to show their loyalty up until the end of that flashback.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLo1vouRCnw

Entombed - Immediate Music - Flashback of Thanatos in the cavern with his parents. 01:22 when he lifts an unconscious Sasuke.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F24mWn13O9M

Otar the Foul - Epikus - After Sasuke is released from the genjutsu up until Madara

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zP_lAuTRRCI

Dimension One - Really Slow Motion and Giantapes Music - When Sakura falls. 00:20 when Sasuke follows

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5KdqwkiR6g

Chapter 81

Dimension One - Really Slow Motion & Giantapes Music - Sasuke in the pool (continues from last chapter)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5KdqwkiR6g

Sonera - Thomas Bergersen - When Sasuke lands in the Underworld up until the end of the scene when Chiyo appears

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3B72N9MYk9k

The Vision - X-Ray Dog - When Sasuke awakens on the shore.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlk6NT7HAP8

L’Appel Du Vide - Thomas Bergersen - When Sasuke awakes and the talk that follows. 4:10 - Sasuke's response after Sakura apologises.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Du2WF0e0QhM

Sun and Steel - Audiomachine - When Homura collapses until the end of the chapter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gy7oD4NowhI

Chapter 82

War Games - Immediate Music - When Sasuke is surrounded by ANBU and begins slaughtering them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNiOchqm6SY

Ten Thousand Slain - Audiomachine - Danzo vs Sasuke

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYUd0qQ38So

Vendetta - Jo Blankenburg - When Danzo approaches Sasuke to take his eye to the end of the scene.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9pNx9rhqTE

Chapter 84 Powerless - Adrian von Ziegler - When Sasuke enters the shrine room and grieves.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xx_Fl6qZOxM

Akatsuki theme - Naruto Shipuuden OST - When Tsunade is interrupted in her healing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vl9_l7Fkr2E

Chapter 87

Nivaos Pi - E.S Posthumus - Visiting the Land of Dreams

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKdGBeeizJc

Nolitus - E.S. Posthumus - When Sakura and Sasuke cross the bridge to the Tree of False Dreams

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6UP6A7Wz4k

Chapter 88

Garden Forgotten by Time - Castlevania Lament of Innocence OST - Hall of Day and Hall of Night/Statue Gallery tour

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEKFIdQbGvY

In The Shadow of Time - Audiomachine - When Sakura enters The Groves

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVluvQrCBfE

Chapter 89

Born In Gold - Jasper Blunk - Scene where Sasuke takes Sakura to the cavern with the tree

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wi6eLnsZrbg

Chapter 90

Innocence - Jo Blankenburg - Start of the chapter until the end of the duet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MdZvYCtmD4

The Fields of Novigrad - Krale - When Sakura enters the Elysian Fields again

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xy0j_bTRNgU

Journey to Aurora - Andreas Kübler - After Sakura places the garland on Sasuke’s head until the end of the scene in Elysian Fields.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmSmRiZp4nk

Chapter 91

Methods of Madness - Succession Studios - Sakura's second encounter in her dream until the end of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPAJLlS4XkM

Chapter 93

Love me Hard - Elley Duhe - Love Scene (censored on FF)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zd4PuDSopg8

Chapter 96

Hero with a Red Mask - Rok Nardin - Beginning of the flashback scene of the end of the war up to the throne-room/Thanatos's ascension:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqE8BlTR-O8

Light of the Fallen - Fabian Schock - The deaths and burials of Hypnos and Thanatos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPR35V-gwXI

Chapter 97

Power Over Me - Dermot Kennedy - Sasuke and Sakura walk through the field

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bH7buXxxkI

Between Heaven and Earth - Audiomachine - The boat boat ride along Lethe to the starlit cavern

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcgRrJ2Q8xg

Lit Fuse - Audiomachine - Infiltrating the Hideout

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8X_FGAdWuc

Destroyer - Audiomachine - Karin and Suigetsu encounter an enemy and the battle that follows

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnVWlZEY5mI

Chapter 100

Barren History - Audiomachine - Karin and Suigetsu's scene

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kLC9CcHSyE

Being Alive - Audiomachine - Wandering the desert and entering the temple of The Fates. 01:41 - The temple unearths from the sand

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vH_gcp0GEbc

Crossing Destiny - Audiomachine - The conversation with The Fates

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMOH-BkkBPU

Chapter 101

Approaching the End - Gothic Storm - When Sasuke steps out of the mirror and the scene he witnesses in the past:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRbqTYTCMyc

The Power of Savfk - Savfk - When Sasuke is returned to the temple of The Fates:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBWkmmDG1dk

Chapter 102

Why Do We Fall? - Hans Zimmer - The conversation with The Fates

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHoAC_zDhuc

Sands of Time - Audiomachine - When Sasuke accepts the blade

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYWEefJZ91g

Battle Weary - Audiomachine - When Sasuke enters The Crossroads of Fate up until he is returned to the battle:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAd_7HCIILE

Chapter 104

Lesser Evils - Audiomachine - When Sasuke returns to the palace to Sakura and the scene that follows.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUo6Cq5sQ74

Tangled Earth - Audiomachine - Sasuke's confrontation with Obito

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2tI68UYJv0 Chapter 105 Death of a Hero - Emanuele Patetta - When Sakura pulls Sasuke into her arms https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIuely_hs9A Succession Studios - With No Mercy - The confrontation/battle in the throne-room https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=665La2ZY7pA Succession Studios - The Demand of Man - Final scene when Chiyo starts to work her seals https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJeBz3HxGsI

Chapter 106

Beyond - Matthew Mayer  - The music that plays when Sasuke tunes into the melody, to the end of the chapter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7lgR6FfTng

Chapter 107

Beyond - Matthew Mayer  - The piano music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7lgR6FfTng

Epoch - Secession Studios - Final scene where Sasuke has flashbacks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wtd3T5NB37Q

Chapter 109

Evalia - Audiomachine - When Obito first sees Rin, up until the end of the chapter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6zSnSMA6wg

Chapter 111 Hope in Your Eyes - Tony Gram - Meeting Hypnos and Thanatos by Lethe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XF2Mmwn64yU

The Lost Lineage - Peter Gundry - Chiyo’s Funeral https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5VXbvtqSR0

Chapter 112 A Beautiful Delusion - Peter Gundry - Obito and Rin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDYp18VVsyo

[illegiblewords]

ILLEGIBLE’S TOTALLY SUBJECTIVE FAVORITE EORZEA COLLECTION DESIGNS | SEASON II: SPILLOVER

I compiled a list of designs in the past to share some favorite Final Fantasy XIV glamours from the Eorzea Collection website. With the Endwalker expansion released, there are quite a few new options available and people have developed even more incredible looks. So I decided it was worth doing a follow-up. I’ll probably do this every expansion or so. As before, this list comes with a disclaimer that it’s personal opinion and purely in the interest of going ‘LOOK HOW COOL  THIS IS’ at people! Anyone could theoretically do the same, I’m not an authority.

This post focuses on spillover, showcasing exemplary designs based on race options.

Season I Spillover

As a special note: Creators who got favorite models in the past are ineligible for favorite models now. Would be kind of silly to keep putting the same character forward in that category, you know?

HYUR MIDLANDER

FEMALE

- Heir of Saladin by Ecclesia Albion

- Empress by Aeditha Beoulve

- A Song of Hope by Wilfreda Vhey

- Climbatize by Paris Wormwood

- Song by Riko La

- The One With The Mask by Kat Leroux

- Warrior of Darkness by Finna Walker

- A Knight from the Sigma by Accoy Liv

- Vintage War Bride by Marilyn Moanhoe

- Queen of rapiers by Mylagan Dhelyssa

FAVORITE MODELS

- Heir of Saladin by Ecclesia Albion

- Noblebright by Limerica Baskerville

- Hyacinth’s Prayer by Selli Noblesse

- Goddes Of The Golden Land by Noel Haze

- On the Hunt by Svetlana Urusova

MALE

- O Mighty Fury by Tebi Uzui

- Northern Nobility by A’ Aracari

- Lethe’s Warrior by Sirdi Diealos

- Wandering Rogue by Kian Carver

- The Sinner by A' Aracari

- Bats by Jesu'ra Nhifso

- Redge Mage by Sehcil Hawrve

- Tiamat’s Vengeance by Tahmeed Okami

- Roguish Ninja by Ry Tempester

- Makai Sage by Haru Vaelar

FAVORITE MODELS

- Storyteller by Valentyne Louvier

- Wandering Rogue by Kian Carver

- Desert Black Mage by Judge Gorhla

- Makai-Vanguard by Xennon Song

- The Archangel by Revan Specter

HYUR HIGHLANDER

FEMALE

- Rapture by Luthien Undomiel

- Crystarium Tutor by Fuego Amber

- Dimachaerus by Rio Natani

- Dark Summoner by Teru Nashira

- The Worm’s Dance by Serafina Vadrel

- My Baroque Valentine by Rio Natani

- Bluebird Bard by Aleesia Lucaryn

- Light Everlasting by Serafina Vadrel

- The Emerald Comet by Eirene Leona

- Gears of WoM by Ravnie Kinjo

FAVORITE MODELS

- Executioner’s Fury by Sarafina Vadrel

- Imperial Shrike by Rio Natani

- Crystarium Tutor by Fuego Amber

- Rapture by Luthien Undomiel

- The Emerald Comet by Eirene Leona

MALE

- Roman Commander by Harry Stormlight

- Hannish Duelist by Sidnan Shaemir

- Olympus divinity by Porho Prince

- Knight Radiant by Hanso Richimoto

- Orion by David Gerussi

- Good Eye Sniper by Samson Oschon

- Nomadic Marauder by Jian Kimura

- Sagolii Sojourner by Krosah Makara

- Byakkomoto, the blue and gold tiger by Hanso Richimoto

- Hydaelyn’s Champion by Jian Kimura

FAVORITE MODELS

- Samurai Mercernary by Esta Mephistopheles

- Modern Theravada by Angyo Owari

- The God King by Sentient Being

- Ishgard’s Holy Crusader by Syhroeya Lionheardt

- Knight Radiant by Hanso Richimoto

ELEZEN

FEMALE

- Warrior of Light by Birbie Baggins

- New Horizons by Luthien Undomiel

- Eorzean Pirate by Jain Asurmen

- The Traders - Nald by Sudenmarja Villilehto

- Sister of The Holy Crimson Flame by Louise Aquitaine

- Steam & Snow by Ariadne Lacroix

- Heaven’s Gate by Ophelia Au'rel

- Skjaldmaer by Minerva Feywood

- Riddle Of Wind by Siren Sokute

- Serpentsworn by Sudenmarja Villilehto

FAVORITE MODELS

- Classic Gelmorran Teacher by Louise Aquitaine

- Season of The Wolf by Iliete Godriquelain

- Skjaldmaer by Minerva Feywood

- Ishgardian Artiste by Idene Valeriant

- Citrus - Lime by Irlina Natulcen

MALE

- The Royal Spear by Lorenzo Trastamara

- Swashbuckling Striker by Zephyr Auroryas

- Tradition & Modernity by Lowen Mkvenner

- Divide by Yannick Ostheimer

- Edenmete Nobleman by Loren Marteau

- Lyrical Prince by Echo Solaris

- Flightdeck Pilot by Myrin Lockhart

- Invader From Beyond by Lorenzo Trastamara

- Foundation's Fury by Sylverin Laurentis

- Renaissance Gentleman by Breandan Ducaille

FAVORITE MODELS

- Tradition & Modernity by Lowen Mkvenner

- Midnight Gold by Corus Maderna

- Lyrical Prince by Echo Solaris

- The Royal Spear by Lorenzo Trastamara

- Makai Blade by Keiteaux Kisarre

LALAFELL

FEMALE

- Bigwest Shortstop by Baby Seagull

- Wright Circus Master by Peij Fei

- Nophica’s Blessing by Peij Fei

- Foils and Feathers by Peij Fei

- darbar reaper by Masya Moonward

- Fakingway by Peji Fei

- 001 by Tu Tu

- It rains in Kugane by Lakira' Kina

- Born from Blood by Peji Fei

- Little Red by Lumei Mo

FAVORITE MODELS

- Bigwest Shortstop by Baby Seagull

- Mechagnome 2.0 by Vederah Kilmister

- It rains in Kugane by Lakira' Kina

- Desert Sage by Lalatua Ul'tua

- Underworld Witch by Alma Sophia

MALE

- LITTLE SOLDIER OF LOVE by Pat Myhead

- The Dark Prince by Takashi Mitsuya

- Sniper Assassin - Lala Style by Dashy Umbra

- New Meets Old by Penny Coldwater 

- Wandering Mage by Ramin Adrina

- The Burger King by Anri Miraios

- Steampunk Sage by Ringo Woodmen

- techwear merc monk by Mushy Mushy

- Surgical Precision by Cuban Pet

- Blue Bozjan Protector by Can’t Disrespect

FAVORITE MODELS

- Bard of the Seas by Garen Velsh

- Captain -o- Lala by Dashy Umbra

- The Burger King by Anri Miraios

- Frozen Winter by Volux Galain

- Philosopher’s Rule of Thumb by Nonokari Ririkari

MIQO’TE

FEMALE

- Asphodelos by Yumemi Hime

- Duchess of Hearts by A’mira Chalcedony

- Little Girl, Big City by Tica Foxworth

- Darling on Deck - Pirate by Passion Darling

- Energetic Engineer by Nerril Kuroba

- Sophisticated by Lohia Aihol

- New Adventure by Ihon Nuzhysa

- Rekindle by Plu Patredis

- Yellow Steps by Ihon Nuzhysa

- Sky Pirate Physician by Gwennie Vierra

FAVORITE MODELS

- Vagabond by Maya Deraya

- Forest watch by Nya Nya

- butterfly princess by Banoffee Coffee

- Aiya by Plu Patredis

- Bejeweled Mystic by Mavari Khatayin

MALE

- Tusked Warrior by Ravi Whistlenicker

- Flourish by Helith'ir Emberah

- Oni of the Swallow’s Compass by Zhenshi Xiao

- Lightreaper by Rivayn Vesaldi

- Heaven’s Bow by Lunaeon Sol

- MSZ-XIV Zeta Weapon E-Type by Callum Crossy

- Knight of the North V2 by Wulfenthrad Callothas

- Orthodox Rune Knight by Callum Crossy

- Embers of the Flame by Callum Crossy

- The Fortune Teller by Rauro Gardz

FAVORITE MODELS

- Dancer Lilac by Ravi Whistlenicker

- Jest a Dance by Jest’a Gutierr

- Of the Fae Courts by Seda'a Luna

- Star Seeker by Mikh'a Maccaleh

- Flourish by Helith'ir Emberah

ROEGADYN

FEMALE

- Anne of Denmark by Honey Bun

- A Dagger from the Sands by Flash Galathynius

- Black & White Valkyrie by Aveline Oakheart

- Ninja in red by Tranquil Rain

- Dusk Unto Dawn by Usow Dark

- Lightning Fury by Lunora Domistress

- Nomad by Norta Marmannwyn

- Oni Sam by Pink Snail

- Reporting for Duty by Iggy Goldberg

- The Gambler’s Fortune by Soledad Tycanos

FAVORITE MODELS

- Anne of Denmark by Honey Bun

- Golden Dance by Enyo Ares

- Gray Derby - Inspired by Shirayuki Maru by Norta Marmannwyn

- Wandering Wisewoman by Ratel Felsenbrecherin

- Oni Sam by Pink Snail

MALE

- Eastern Bard by Red Boar

- Roman Brawler by Red Boar

- Stoyoroi Teller by Old Ram

- Roegadyn Gladiator by Red Boar

- Old West Reaper by Largest Father

- Paranormal Detective by Nox Cross

- Acumen by Big Siege

- Dreaded Warlord by Michael Kaiser

- Alexwicca by Soleil Seraphinite

- Mad Tapper by Red Boar

FAVORITE MODELS

- Eastern Bard by Red Boar

- Bozjan Soldier by Braum Osbern

- Paranormal Detective by Nox Cross

- Old West Reaper by Largest Father

- Abalathian Sell-Sword by Destructive Dragon

AU RA

FEMALE

- [Chesspiece] White Rook by Valkariel Dawnbringer

- Void-touched Blossom by Valkariel Dawnbringer

- Princess of the Kojin by Ko Kiri

- The King’s Thegn by Aillin Kaleis

- Meteion’s Honorguard by Ko Kiri

- Dark caster by Kierane Rose 

- Oathsworn by Valkariel Dawnbringer

- Mad Hatter by Mai Only

- Ratatoskr by Ko Kiri

- Goelia - Nightingale Rose by Glynne Silence

FAVORITE MODELS

- Primal - Frostsworn by Iori Nin

- Flame Kissed by Khaidai Dalamiq

- Dancing Hurricane. by Lakira’ Kina

- Fairy Princess by Miu Fiore

- Seiryu Serpentsworn by Ko Kiri

MALE

- Crucible Paladin by Akile Demon

- Serpent Noire by Rogan Hunter

- Nidhogg’s Bane by Hiei Imada

- Gnashing Fang by Nakrik Valentus

- Chevalier by Kaien Shimazu

- The Firefighter at Amaurot by Doctor Gohan

- Spear of Doma by Fumetsu Ryujin

- Angelic Scythe by Zilcar Fateseeker

- Bard from Omphalos by Deiji Zeimei

- Outrider by Deimos Grey

FAVORITE MODELS

- STEAMPUNK: Clockwork Cultist Dancer by Steampunksam Sc

- Dravanian Prince by Zen Arvel

- Garde Royale by Rogan Hunter

- Tundra Hunter by Epsilon Saber

- Gnashing Fang by Nakrik Valentus

VIERA

FEMALE

- Essence by Ciel Whitewind

- Arhat Caster by Erzulie One

- Kugane Scammer by Nunui Nui

- [Liv] - Omega Mastermind by Liviana De’borel

- [Liv] - New Poseidon by Liviana De’borel

- Passionate Mage by Erzulie One

- Vampire Hunter Nun by Babbel Lin

- Undercover Bun by Merry Aress

- Steamdriven Reaping by Melodei Ariamis

- Persephone by Astraea Verndari

FAVORITE MODELS

- An Angel Descends... by Lilibette Briarwood

- Liquid Arrow by Siddh Brumedecendre

- Once Upon A Dream by Beau Dawnbringer

- Memory of Hades by Ren Snow

- Kugane Scammer by Nunui Nui

MALE

- No title by Glynne Silence

- Snow Prince by Levi Gray

- No title by Glynne Silence

- Glynne - Through Snow by Glynne Silence

- Darkness and Light by Eonir Lumi

- ghastly reaper by Stan Daniel

- Emerald prince by Kailial Lyzeh

- Further Afield by Aureli Eliasina

- Newfound Adventurer by Ilium Lavendeer

- Regio Urbanissima by Baby Seagull

FAVORITE MODELS

- Scurvy Dog by Aringrimr Ymir

- Orenji-Iro by Amaris Palazzo

- Thavnairian Traveler by Val Forsyth

- The Sage Prince by Lind Lecuyer

- Wet Ink by Yuzu Rein’del

HROTHGAR

MALE

- Heartsong by Siegfried Morynn

- Fateful by Shin Okusawa

- Sharlayan Healer by Clarence Mohali

- The Didact by Haereidin Doeszwynsyn

- Paglth’an Mage by Clarence Mohali

- Ornate Gunslinger by Vladimir Shootin’

- Einherjar v2 by Baruk Twinfang

- Showtime Ruler by Shin Okusawa

- Hingan Hroth by Razatko Morasch

- Field Commander (SGE) by Bhrat Burnhardt

FAVORITE MODELS

- Voidsent Cultist by Baruk Twinfang

- The Sea King by Robin Zlobin

- The Red Hrothgar by Alexander Ercan

- Showtime Ruler by Shin Okusawa

- Jungle Prowler by King Kotal

[all-seeing-ifer]

Greek mythology references in Ulysses Dies at Dawn masterpost

I saw a post a while back by @spacetrashpile analysing all the arthurian references in High Noon Over Camelot, and since I know quite a bit about Greek mythology I figured “hey! I should do something like that for Ulysses Dies at Dawn!” I’m just going to go through each of the songs in order and analyse/explain the references in them - hopefully other people will find it interesting!

“The City”

Starting with the title - Ulysses is the Latin name of Odysseus, legendary king of Ithaca and hero of the epic poem The Odyssey. Interestingly, Ulysses is the only character in UDAD who is given a Latin name instead of a Greek one. There’s a couple of potential reasons for this but the most convincing to me is it’s meant to reflect Ulysses’ opposition to the Olympians, who are all based on the Greek gods.

Jonny calls the story a “labyrinthine task of a twisted tale”, referencing the Greek myth of the Minotaur, which was kept in a labyrinth to hide it from the world. This reference becomes even clearer when we later learn the City’s original name.

This one’s less a reference to Greek mythology and more to like, actual history, but the description of the City expanding to cover the whole planet is reminiscent of Greek expansion in ancient times. Ancient Greece was made up of many city-states, or poleis, which established colonies or “daughter-cities”, mostly in western Asia, or “Asia Minor” as the Greeks and Romans called it.

The story opens at a “run-down gin join” called Calypso’s - Calypso is a sea nymph who plays a fairly major role in The Odyssey, keeping Odysseus/Ulysses trapped on her island for seven years.

Fittingly enough, Calypso’s apparently pays money to Dionysus, whose mythological namesake is the Greek god of wine.

Broken Horses

Ilium is the Ancient Greek name for Troy, the city that Greece went to war against, according to myth,. Part of this war is described in the epic poem The Iliad, in which Odysseus is one of the soldiers laying siege to Troy.

Much like the Trojan War of Greek myth, the siege of Ilium is said to have lasted a decade.

Ulysses’ gambit with the horse statue sending out a signal driving the people of Ilium mad is pretty obviously a reference to the Trojan Horse - the wooden horse the Greeks built as a “peace offering” to the Trojans that they used to sneak their soldiers into the City and that brought them victory in the war. Like in the UDAD version, Odysseus/Ulysses was apparently responsible for coming up with this plan.

“Olympians”

Ulysses’ wife is named Penelope, same as Odysseus’ wife in the myths

The Acheron is the name of one of the five rivers of Hades, along with Styx, Cocytus, Lethe, and Phlegethon

As a sidenote, in Greek mythology Hades is the name of the underworld as well as the name of the God of the dead - fittingly enough reimagined in UDAD as the controller of a vast network of half-dead minds (and also Ashes)

The most powerful families in the City are called the Olympians - the name given to the twelve most important deities in the Greek pantheon

Poseidon Industries is named for Poseidon, Greek god of the sea and one of the twelve Olympians. Jonny calls them “one of the architects of the Ilium War”, which seems like an odd reference since iirc Poseidon doesn’t have a whole lot to do with the Trojan War. I guess that’s just there to give Ulysses a reason to want to rob Poseidon Industries.

In the Odyssey, Poseidon hates Odysseus/Ulysses for attacking his son, a cyclops called Polyphemus. In UDAD this is changed to Ulysses stealing the diamond from Poseidon Industries’ laser, which is also called The Cyclops.

My Name is No One

The song’s title and chorus is a reference to Odysseus’ famous trick for escaping the Polyphemus’ cave. He tells the Polyphemus his name is “no one/nobody” (depending on the translation) so that when he attacks Polyphemus and the cyclops tries to call for help, he calls out “No one is attacking me” which obviously none of the other cyclopes take seriously. (There’s also a great pun in the original Greek based on the Greek words for “no one” and “cunning” being very similar, but it loses a lot in translation)

However, just like in UDAD, Odysseus messes up this plan badly by calling out his real name when he’s still too close to the island of the cyclops. (although in the Odyssey it’s motivated by him wanting Polyphemus to know his name so he can get glory, rather than just being drunk)

Odysseus bests the cyclops by taking out his eye (there’s debate around it but cyclopes are generally depicted as having only one eye). Obviously in UDAD the cyclops is a machine not a monster, so this is replaced with the diamond at the heart of the laser being called its “eye”.

Also, I’m not sure if this is an intentional reference, but there is a fun irony to the fact that in the Odyssey, Odysseus tricks Polyphemus by getting him drunk so he can then blind him, while in UDAD Ulysses steals the eye of the Cyclops while drunk themself.

“Trial By Wits”

As well as My Name is No One, the whole concept of no one knowing anything about Ulysses’ appearance, gender etc. could also be seen as a reference to the “My name is nobody” trick, or possibly just a spin on Odysseus being a kind of “archetypal hero” - they could be anyone!

Heracles is better known by his Latin name, Hercules (son of Zeus, demigod, inhumanly strong and all that jazz)!

Ariadne is the name of the Cretan princess who helped Theseus slay the minotaur

Orpheus is another of the most well-known Greek mythological figures - the main myth surrounding him says he went into the underworld to rescue his dead wife Eurydice

Oedipus is most famous as the main character of a famous tragedy. His parents are given a prophecy that he would kill his father and have sex with his mother, and so decided to abandon him. As is so often the case with Greek oracles, he ended up doing both things anyway, seeing as how he, y’know, didn’t know who his parents were. The mechs apparently chose to reference this in the most mature of ways by having Jonny call Oedipus a motherfucker. Kind of a lot.

Aside from committing both patricide and incest, Oedipus’ other achievements in myth included winning a battle of wits against the Sphinx, a monster that was killing anyone who couldn’t solve its riddle. This monster is reimagined in UDAD as a disease that Oedipus finds a cure for.

Riddle of the Sphinx

The chorus of the song is taken almost word-for-word from the riddle asked of Oedipus by the Sphinx: “What goes on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three legs in the evening?” The answer to the riddle is “man” - crawls on all fours as a baby, walks on two legs as an adult, and walks with a cane (third leg) in old age. The Mechs being the Mechs, this is made completely literal in the world of UDAD.

“Ulysses’ Will”

Like the Oedipus of myth, UDAD Oedipus also ends up killing his father and marrying his mother without knowing. Since he’s replaced his eyes with data sockets by the time he helps kidnap Ulysses, it’s pretty strongly implied that he blinded himself like mythological Oedipus as well.

The “twenty years of sirens” could be a reference to the twenty years Odysseus spends away from Ithaca in the Iliad and Odyssey

Sirens

The sirens were half-bird half-human creatures that Odysseus encountered as part of the Odyssey and that tried to lure him to his death with promises of knowledge.

As well as referencing this story, the line “let the lotus set you free” references another episode of the Odyssey, where Odysseus and his crew arrive on the island of the Lotus-Eaters. Anyone who eats the Lotus fruits falls into a state of apathy and will never want to leave the island, so it’s a fitting episode to reference in a song about Ulysses drugging themself to escape their memories of war.

“Trial By Strength”

Heracles’ backstory is essentially the same in UDAD as in the original myths: one of the many children of Zeus’ many affairs, except in UDAD Zeus has affairs with women from “the lower levels”, instead of just mortal women.

Favoured Son

The tasks Heracles performs for Zeus are a reference to the most famous myth about Heracles - the twelve labours he performs to atone for killing his family.

The song references “the ferryman” who takes people into the Underworld. In Greek mythology the dead travel to the Underworld in a boat rowed by the ferryman Charon.

In both the myth and in UDAD there are...what you might you might call “extenuating circumstances” for Heracles killing his family - in the myth he’s driven mad by Zeus’ wife Hera (bc she’s very angy about Zeus having all those bastard children with mortal women) but since Hera doesn’t play a role in UDAD this is changed to him being framed by Zeus himself.

In addition to being king of the gods, Zeus is also the god of thunder - which is where Heracles’ nickname “The Thunderbolt of Zeus” comes from

“Loose Threads”

Heracles and Orpheus “Backing up Jason on the fleece job” is a reference to the myth of Jason’s quest for the Golden Fleece along with his crew (the Argonauts), which included Heracles and Orpheus.

Hylas was Heracles’ servant and another member of the Argonauts. While on the quest he was kidnapped by nymphs, and depending on which version of the myth you’re looking at, either fell in love with them and stayed there forever, or was murdered by them (Hylas is also the only character referenced I had to google to even know who they were lol)

Heracles telling Ariadne that “Your dad helped me out once” is presumably a reference to the seventh labour of Heracles: capturing the Cretan bull. Now the story of the Cretan bull is actually really long and ties into a bunch of other myths but essentially it was sent to Ariadne’s father, King Minos, as proof that he was the rightful ruler of Crete. However, Minos ended up helping Heracles by letting him take the bull with him to prove that he’d successfully caught it (which seeing as the bull was destroying Crete at that point doesn’t seem like a huge favour on Minos’ part, but ok)

Trial By Song

UDAD Orpheus shares the mythical Orpheus’ main defining trait: his skill at singing that he used to help him on his journey to the underworld.

Trial By Song is a lot more metaphorical than all the others so there’s not that many direct references to the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice in the lyrics - probably the most direct one is “But all the landmarks moved as I walked past/Now I can’t look back”, which references Orpheus’ deal with Hades that he can take Eurydice back to the world of the living as long as he doesn’t look back at her.

“The viper town that bled me dry” could also be a reference to Eurydice’s death from a snake bite.

“Hades”

UDAD Orpheus’ motivation is the same as mythical Orpheus - wanting to bring back their dead lover from Hades.

Ulysses, Heracles, and Orpheus all visiting the “underworld” is taken directly from mythology (although unlike in UDAD, Ulysses/Odysseus never actually speaks to Hades).

Underworld Blues

In Heracles’ confrontation with Hades, he says that “I was sent here your dog to seize/Of my tasks, of my tasks/This was to be the last”. There’s a couple of points here - the mythology reference is to the last of the twelve labours of Hercules: capturing Hades’ guard dog Cerberus. However, I do wonder whether this is meant to be literal (in which case guys, why are we not talking about the fact that Ashes obtained a pet dog while in The City?), or if this is a similar case to all the mentions of ‘horses’ in High Noon Over Camelot actually being about motorbikes.

Orpheus singing to Hades and trying to convince them to release Eurydice is also taken directly from Greek myth, except instead of being moved by Orpheus’ song and agreeing to release his love like in the myth, Ashes just tells him he’s poor for a bit and then says he should go commit some crimes.

“Trial By Love”:

The general concept of Ariadne’s backstory - her helping Theseus fight the minotaur only for him to abandon her - is the same basic idea as the myth of Ariadne and Theseus. Although UDAD Ariadne is at least a bit more fortunate in the sense that she wasn’t truly in love with her Theseus, and he also doesn’t straight up leave her on a deserted island.

Ariadne’s family creating the minotaur is also part of her character in the myth. The difference is that in UDAD the minotaur was created intentionally, while the mythological minotaur was the result of Poseidon making Ariadne’s mother fall in love with the Cretan Bull as punishment for King Minos not sacrificing it to him (I said the Cretan Bull story tied into a bunch of other myths!)

The presence of the minotaur in the City is yet another thing that makes even more sense when we learn about the City originally being called Labyrinth!

Ties That Bind

Ariadne’s family name is Minos, same as the name of her mythical father King Minos.

Ariadne describes her family’s actions as casting a “dark horned shadow” over her, which references the typical depiction of the minotaur as a man with a bull’s head and horns.

In the myth of the Minotaur, Ariadne helps Theseus by giving him a ball of string that he then unwinds as he walks through the Labyrinth, letting him find his way out again. In UDAD this is changed to “strings of code”, that shut down the minotaurs programming. (And if you think that pun’s bad, just wait until we get to Torn Suits!)

The song’s title also brings to mind string or thread, so it can be seen as a subtler reference to Ariadne’s gift to Theseus. Same for Ariadne’s line about “heartstrings long since cut”.

“The Daidala”

Daedalus, the leader of the Suits, shares a name with the mythical craftsman and father of Icarus

He is rumoured to “trade as an Olympian under the name Hephaestus” - a fitting alias as Hephaestus was the god of craftsmen and artisans like Daedalus

The rumour that he killed his son for “getting too ambitious” references the myth of Icarus, who famously died after literally flying too close to the sun using wings held together with wax. The heat of the sun caused the wax to melt and Icarus to fall into the sea. The story is often interpreted as a warning about the dangers of ambition.

Interestingly, it could also reference another myth surrounding Daedalus - one in which Daedalus kills his nephew Talos because he was jealous of his achievements.

Daedalus is also apparently the architect of The City, which was originally known as Labyrinth. This once again references the labyrinth which held the minotaur, and which Minos forced Daedalus to design. Considering the labyrinth’s purpose in myth, it seems like an appropriate name for a city that keeps all its inhabitants trapped with no way out.

Presumably the Daidala in the title refers to the City: Daedalus’ finest creation. In Homeric Greek, daidala is a word that refers to finely crafted objects such as armour.

This track also has another reference to the Orpheus and Eurydice myth when Orpehus offers to sacrifice himself to open the vault - “But he can’t see it through can he? Flinches, looks back. And it doesn’t work.”

Torn Suits

This song is notable for having quite possibly the worst pun in Mechanisms history - “Ulysses pulls out their snub-nosed laser and fires the last shot, splitting the beam across twelve axes”. This references one of the climactic scenes of the Odyssey, where Ulysses/Odysseus wins an archery competition against his wife’s suitors by shooting an arrow through twelve axe heads. (get it, axes as in the weapons becomes axes as in the plural of axis do you get it?????)

Another, marginally less bad pun is Heracles getting “the lion’s share” of the beams, referencing the popular image of Heracles wearing the skin of a lion he killed as one of his labours.

“Sunrise”

The code to Ulysses’ vault: Elysium, is another word for the Elysian Fields. In certain Greek religions, this was an afterlife separate from Hades’ world where heroes and those chosen by the gods would go after they died.

Ulysses’ vault is revealed to contain the “sole surviving oak tree”, under which Penelope is buried. While it’s not as direct a reference as some of the others, this is pretty clearly inspired by the way Odysseus proves his true identity to Penelope at the end of the Odyssey - by telling her that he carved their bed from a tree still rooted to the ground, something only the two of them know.

The track ends with an homage to Homer’s use of similes in the Odyssey: “And as the weary hound, once more at its master’s feet after so long, lays down with the sunlight warming its fur, breathing its last – even so did the eyes of Ulysses close forever.” Not only is this stylistically identical to Homer’s similes, it also doubles as a reference to Odysseus’ dog Argos, who waited for him for twenty years and finally died when he saw Odysseus again.

Elysian Fields

This is possibly a bit of a stretch but the image of Ulysses lying beneath the last tree, next to where Penelope is buried, especially with how they say they’re “with my beloved” and “beside my wife” really brings to mind the scene in the Odyssey where Odysseus and Penelope lie in their tree-bed together for the first time since Odysseus’ return. Which, incidentally, is theorised by some to be the “real” final scene of the Odyssey and everything after that was added on later, but that’s another story.

That’s everything I’ve picked up on but it’s possible there’s more I’ve missed so let me know if there’s any more! I’d like to thank the Mechs for giving me an opportunity to put my useless and extremely niche knowledge to good use!

[hermits-that-craft]

“Never again” never rang so false - Powers Au

Tommy, Ranboo and Tubbo sit in the park, leaning against each other as they eat their lunches. It’s the school holidays, even if Tommy is the only one in the group who do in person schooling, so they all have an excuse to be there in the middle of the day. Sure, they’re cut up from last night’s route, but only getting hit around by normal criminals is better than having to fight the Dream team. 

“I told you, there’s no way that Schlatt is going to lose this upcoming election.” Tommy says, rolling his eyes. The trio aren’t talking particularily loud, though they could be - there’s no one in the park, as its not as big as the park a few blocks away, and it’s not exactly safe for children, filled with ponds and streams. A good park for strolling in.

“He hasn’t been able to control the villains that are coming!” Tubbo protests half heartedly. Even with the ability to be louder, none of them dare to have anyone potentially work out their idenities.

“Yeah, but have you considered how he hasn’t called for the arrests of Bench trio?” Ranboo says, a conspiratorial smirk on his face. “He’s basically sealed the deal - he’s going to win because the public loves them.”

“Yeah but w-they haven’t endorsed him!” Tubbo says, rolling his eyes. 

“It wouldn’t be that hard, I mean-”

“Toms?” Fear lurches the trio forward, a startled scream leaving Tommy’s lips, and Ranboo, flings himself in front of the other two teens sitting with him. They turn around, seeing the last three men any of them wanted to see that day.

Tubbo doesn’t recognise them, though its clear who they are. Their identities might have been kept secret, but Tubbo only knows about three people that both Tommy and Ranboo are scared off. Zephyrus, Molpe and Protesilaus. Philza, Wilbur Soot, and Technoblade. New heroes, apparently. Tubbo doesn’t trust it, but he keeps his face blank, a skill carefully crafted after years of pretending not to be Schlatt’s son, to keep these three from killing him.

“Molpe.” Tommy’s voice is hard, but his hand finds Tubbo’s as he shivers. “What are you doing here?”

“Toms, please.” The siren says, squatting down to the trios level. “Call me Wilbur. You’re my little brother.”

“I’m not your anything.” Tommy protests weakly, shaking as he clutches onto Tubbo’s hand. Ranboo isn’t doing much better, shaking with barely contained fear, and carefully concealed rage. “I have new brothers now, and they didn’t kill my real family to earn that title.”

“Mate, you need to come home.” Zephyrus says, and Tubbo can see his wings flare out behind his back, as though he has the audacity to be worried for Tommy. “Phoenix hybrids need people around them and-”

“He’s not alone.” Ranboo interrupts, and the three men’s heads snap to the elder teen. “He’s not alone. We’ve been with him this entire time.”

“He needs elders-”

“He doesn’t need you three.” Ranboo glares, and Tommy smiles in awe. “You three will only fuck him up.”

“This isn’t for you to decide, Lethe.” Protesiliaus says blankly, his ears flicking in annoyance. “It’s for Toms to decide. His real family, or you.”

“I think he’s made it clear that he doesn’t want to go with you guys.” Ranboo growls out.

“Says the child who claimed to want to stay with us forever.”

“Thats was before you tortured me!” Ranboo shouts, his voice breaking. Tubbo puts his hand on the teens back, rubbing it in an attempt to ground him.

“What if we apologise, will you let us back into your lives?” Molpe asks, clearly struggling not to use his powers to make Ranboo and Tommy follow him.

“What if I kill you?” Tubbo snarls. “Will you take no for an answer then?”

“Excuse me?” The ex-syndicate leaders stare at Tubbo, as though he just arrived.

“What if I kill you. Shapeshift into a lion or a bear and tear you three to pieces.” Tubbo says plainly, standing up. “You three dare to threaten my friends, my brothers? Fine, I’ll make you three unable to breath in their direction again.”

“Tubbo, sit down.” Puffy says, walking up behind the three men. “Your father would be worried sick hearing you say that.”

“Auntie-”

“No, nope. You’re not puppy dog eyeing your way out of this.” The heroine laughs, smiling fondly at her nephew “You three go back home, I’ll deal with these three.”

“You’re off duty. Heroes are illegal in Manburg.”

“I’m sure that Schlatt would make an exception for you three.” Puffy winks. “And anyways, I’m off duty. Sam’s waiting for you, go run now.”

“Bye Auntie Puff!” Tubbo says, helping Tommy and Ranboo to their feet.

“Thanks Puffy.” Ranboo sways nervously, clearly ready to teleport away.

“Later Mum!” Tommy says brightly, leaving with Tubbo’s hand in his. A soft vwoop can be heard from where Ranboo was standing, and Puffy turns to glare at the three men.

“We need to talk about boundaries, clearly.” Puffy says, and Wilbur winces.

[cereusblue]

How many Hollow Knight OCs do you have by now? Probably want to know more about them!

Oh sweet jesus. So here we go. That's a question. By the way, my Hollow Knight blog is @hallowcactus

Mayflies:

Hex and Vox (The twins, very soft. Hex is baby and Vox is salty)

Mox and Lin (Parents to the twins. Deceased in every AU.)

Lex (Lovely maroon lady who can kick some serious ass. Actually boxes in Modern AU. Climbed her way into society’s elite in GNM out of SPITE. Mel is her husband.)

Mel (Meek architect man. Scrawny as hell. Loves his wife. Do what is morally best.. always.)

Elder Yuu (Head of the Mayfly tribe. Salty old crone. Hates outsiders. but she’s a decent person somewhere under those wrinkles.)

Dragonflies:

Daze (Asshole extraordinaire and my most active character. Honestly, a spicy boi who just has a habit of making others swoon.)

Maylin (Daze's mother; absolute sweetheart but hell hath no fury like May. Powerful shaman, has direct ties to the goddess Nanu. Is the Queen of the Serpentfire dragonflies.)

Daz (Daze's father; soft spoken man with a hellish temper. Big man. Heavily armor plated, has two sets of antennas. One on his brows and another on his snooter.)

Niles (cousin to Daze. Plays guitar. Is like the awkward little sibling. He’s like a bard with no real charisma. Emulates what Daze was like as a teenager because he thought Daze was cool; Daze cringes at that but loves Niles anyway because he’s baby.)

Daze's aunt and uncle to be named

Tika (random golden colored guard who I love)

Marie (White dragonfly who runs the temple dungeon in GNM)

Damselflies:

Ysmay (the massive scary bitch. Daze is actually terrified of her. For good reason. She doesn’t use weapons because she doesn’t need it.)

Mantises:

Vernon (Devil's flower mantis and the new Lord of the Garden mantis tribe)

Armen (Ghost mantis Angy old fart who somehow got a redemption arc and it's @inkbarista fault)

Neferis (original Traitor Lord)

Zeus (Another large mantis who took over for the Traitor Lord)

Greta (med student/midwife/anxious)

Nana (Elder mantis woman. Everyone’s grandma. Midwife. Medical professional for the tribe, makes herbal remedies, teas, and is an excellent cook. Beware, she will squish your cheeks. She’s Vinny’s favorite lol)

Naloo (one bad ass bitch)

Rolan (Sweet awkward boy)

Lotus (a petra who Vinny;s character impromptu adopted)

Almond (Just another baby with a need for mischief. Adopted with Lotus)

A dragon mantis I have no idea what to do with yet but I will figure it out.

Soul Santum:

Shanen (soul master)

Moths:

Minerva (Big buff atlas moth Bimbo that's like everyone's favorite character lol)

Olivia (Council lady who helps run the moth tribe in GNM)

Ivan (Actual dickwad. One of them infuriating folks but doesn't do anything bad enough to get into real trouble but sometimes you wish he would just to put him behind bars.)

Minerva's parents that I have not named yet. Very conservative, stuck in their ways, hoity toity rich folks with unbelievably high expectations.

Spiders:

Sirenne (Siren Orchid crab spider)

Heart, Spade, Clover, and Diamond (Take a wild guess what these little bastards do? Peacock jumping spiders. Cause trouble for Hornet and run a casino.)

Rex (A jumping spider with anxiety in Modern AU and a failed assassin jackass in GNM)

Centipedes:

Chu'mana (centipede centaur massive lady, is Angy will bite. Pride is a personality. I have trouble drawing her lol. Adopted from Inkbarista)

Vessels:

Vala (b... Big- carries a massive cleaver like the one Death Sword uses in Zelda Twilight Princess. Adopted from Inkbarista.)

Mora (Blueberry baby.)

Chimeras:

Mara (Mix between Hallow, Trill, and Hex. Is their sweet little girl who grows up with Wisp. @inkbarista

Lotan (Silk/Daze's kid in Modern Au and GNM. ANGY. Will bite. Bites everything. Kin has lost 7 pairs of glasses to this little monster. He's deceivingly adorable.)

Misc:

Nanu (Axolotl jesus. Massive goddess to the Serpentfire tribe of dragonflies, gave them and the damselflies their draconic traits. Eight eyes. Cryptic as hell because lets be real, she’s a goddess and that just how it be sometimes. Literally gifts her teeth to the tribe and worthy visitors to use as climbing tools and weapons.)

Void parasite

Fluke but it's a glow worm

Phantom/Phaalgun (pronounced Full-gahn. He's a Megastick. Massive stick bug. Eerily cryptic. Very scary. Works in dealing death.)

Egon (Colossal beetle who's a bitch, runs a crime ring in the City of Tears in GNM)

Mala (Grounds keeper for the Greenpath memorial in GNM)

A random ass butterfly I have no real information about other than knowing she’s anxiety incarnate and exists

Pia (Pleotomus firefly. French?? Done with everyone's shit.)

Val/Valentine. (Velvet Ant boy. Flamboyant to the fucking max, ain't afraid to shank a bitch.)

I THINK I GOT EVERYONE. I THINK. According to @abhainn-leth That’s 49 (updated!) 54 characters and I’m inclined to believe them because I do not feel like counting. If I missed any, I will be sure to add them later. I have artwork for like, a quarter of these characters lol. But if you wanna ask about specific ones, I’ll be happy to oblige with pictures if I have them and some more information lol.

[sleepnowmychild]

From no belief in particular to Helpol

Just because I find it interesting that so many helpol people and pagans in general seem to be ex-biblical religions, here’s a slightly different story for you.

I never grew up religious. My dad is actually very anti-religion because of the sheer amount of people who use religion as a weapon to discriminate, and the way many churches can become almost like a tiny cult. But my mums side of the family is Italian Christians (don’t ask me how my parents were even together at one point because I have no clue). So on one side I had my dad telling me to never trust a pastor and that he’d never let me set foot in a church and my Italian grandparents going all in on Christmas family reunions with the nativity scene set up and crosses on all their cards and church Christmas morning.

It made me very neutral. I didn’t care what existed, I was just a kid who was exited to pick grapes on our vineyard (which looking back, the fact I lived in a vineyard and made wine is very,,, hello Dionysus) and get days off school for Christmas holidays etc. I didn’t believe in the Christian god, but as a kid I did believe in an afterlife. I think because it’s easier to process that as a kid than death being just nothingness.

In primary school, we did a whole term in Greek mythology. My first ever myth was echo and narcissus and I still have the painted tea towel I made with echo on it for the art potion of that class. I got very obsessed, very quick, as undiagnosed autistic kids do. I loved mermaids and sirens, nymphs and the sailing part of all the war myths. I’ve always had this deep link to the water, not just the sea but rivers and lakes, any water you can swim in. You’d think I’d end up a Poseidon or Aphrodite devotee because of that huh? Point is I heard the Greek myths young, and because those myths also have Roman equivalents, when my Italian family heard I was obsessed I’d get the Roman version of the stories from them.

For years I was just mythology obsessed with no particular beliefs. I didn’t like how hardcore my Italian family was in their ‘everything is a sin’ mentality and I also felt it was a bit mean of my dad to say every single religious person is a monster. As I came to realise I was trans and bi at around 15, suddenly I was privy to the sheer amount of queerphobia in religion. Turned me away from most of them hardcore. But by the time I was 17, I’d stumbled on the reason those shops with the crystals and little mythology statues exist. Because the old gods of mythology were still worshipped.

I don’t actually remember when I got claimed by Hypnos, but he definitely claimed me. I’d always liked him as a concept because he’s much more chill than some of the more intense gods, but he slowly started creeping into my life when I’d see something and go ‘Hypnos would like that’ or I’d jokingly be like ‘I’m so tired, knock me out Hypnos’ and I WOULD fall asleep easier that night. I can’t exactly explain why, but I’ve got this deep connection to the river Lethe as well. Although not in the sense Lethe is a god, in the sense of its connections to Hypnos. Like there’s a siren of the Lethe inside me screaming to go back home.

In all honesty, there was never a solid moment I was like “I’m helpol now” it just kind of happened. The gods, especially Hypnos snuck into my life back in primary school and slowly made their presence more and more known over the years. And I was fine with that, because this is what my Roman ancestors would have been doing, and this is a religion that doesn’t hate me for being queer.

This got long, I’ll cut it short here. But that’s a perspective from someone who never grew up religious for you.

[1hp-1mp]

Finally got a full list of the games i’m doing this halloween

October 1st: Silent Hill Homecoming October 2nd: S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Call Of Pripyat* October 3rd: Visage* October 4th: Alice Madness Returns October 5th: Alien Isolation October 6th: Lethe* October 7th: Manhunt October 8th: The ER Patient Typhon October 9th: The Cat Lady October 10th: Dead Space October 11th: System Shock 2 October 12th: Devotion October 13th: Waxworks October 14th: Penumbra Necrologue October 15th: Silent Hill October 16th: Layers Of Fear 2* October 17th: Lone Survivor October 18th: Hollow October 19th: Strangeland October 20th: Penumbra Black Plague October 21st: Little Nightmares 2* October 22nd: Like Clay* October 23rd: Call Of Cthuhlu: Dark Corners Of The Earth October 24th: Inside Depth 6* October 25th: No One Lives Under The Lighthouse* October 26th: Concluse 2: The Drifting Prefecture October 27th: Metro 2033* October 28th: Resident Evil Village October 29th: Siren Blood Curse October 30th: Soma* October 31st: Silent Hill 4

Let’s try and finish them!

[welcometotheorbitinghotel]

I wrote,, a post about how all the "rip to Orpheus but I'm different" posts are valid but have we considered that they're valid because Jon isn't Orpheus he's Eurydice, but Tumblr ate it so I wrote a real weird angry monster boyfriend poem instead

[[MORE]]

They call me Orpheus, say I will not return

say you can't tame the devil with a song.

They call him Eurydice, say he's gone for good,

say love is not enough to turn him home.

And Orpheus is beautiful, and Orpheus is Love,

and Orpheus ran in without a plan

with a tune so sweet he nearly changed the tides-

but Orpheus' mistake was his blinded eyes

And me? Oh, I live to understand.

I am not Orpheus, I am Eurydice,

I will pull the my fool lover

from the Underworld where he

has fallen in line with the stillness

of ten thousand un-beating hearts

remind him of first love's music and

sonnets in the dark of a doorway

unknown to all but us.

Hades thinks he can claim him Persephone,

Hades thinks six months is enough to

blind him with the fog of the Lethe

but I am Eyes and Tongue and Knowing and

Hades is only lonely and

Hades thinks wrong.

I know Orpheus better, I know the way

he moves words through his teeth like

a siren's song, he can tame the seas

and where he stumbles I will hold

the melody.

I am not Orpheus, I am Eurydice,

and Orpheus is beautiful, and Orpheus is Love,

and Orpheus is the songbird that woke Death

with a tune so sweet a monster trailed behind-

but Orpheus' downfall was his doubting eyes

And me? Oh, I walk these tunnels blind.

[captain-emmajones]

I dreamt last night of a sign that read "the end of love"

This came to my mind this morning while listening to Florence + The Machine "The End of Love", and I had to write it. Hope you guys will like this, and I promise I'll get back to my prompts <3

AU Canon Divergence from 3x11: There is an anomaly in Regina’s curse. Somehow, both Emma and Killian find themselves strangers in New York City. She is still a bail bond person, and he teaches Literature in middle school. As things go, they meet one summer evening, at a bar. The warm, summer air is full of promises as their story unfolds. But Killian cannot shake the bad feeling that lingers in his chest.

2,500 words - Angst/Fluff - ao3

“When one is alone and lonely, the body gladly lingers in the wind or the rain, or splashes into the cold river, or pushes through the ice-crusted snow.

Anything that touches.” – Mary Oliver.

He remembered drifting away, on a boat. He remembered how heavy his eyelids had felt, how much sleep was threatening to swallow him once and for all.

And how peaceful, it had felt, to drift away in between Lethe’s gentle waves, watching the moon and the stars shine in this dark, summer night.

The water almost completely drowned him, but he wasn’t afraid. He was surrendering completely to the sea.

He hadn’t been held in such gentle and loving arms in centuries.

.

He woke up in his bed, with a weird pang that lingered with him the entire day. He brushed it aside, in the back of his head, and comfortably stretched.

For the first time in ages, he woke up eager to start his day. He had no idea why, but it was a very nice tingling sensation spreading in his chest. He smiled. It was a good life.

.

He spent his day in one of New York’s middle school. He taught Literature there.

(Liam would have made fun of him, he thought. For the first time in years, thinking of his brother did not steal his breath away. It remained a gentle, quiet pain in his heart, and there was relief in that.)

“Now, who would like to give me their thoughts on Sterne’s Sentimental Journey?”

A general groan answered him, and he had a very soft eye over his exhausted student. The most exhausted ones had buried their young heads between their arms, while others held on to their very last straw of awareness, their chin resting in their hand.

“Come on, mates. I know I am your last hour of the day, but give me a little something…”

One hand finally answered his plea, and he thanked his student with a smile.

“Yes, Henry?”

.

That Friday night, Killian offered himself a glass on rum at the bar down the street to celebrate the end of the week.

“The usual, thank you,” he smiled at the dark-haired waitress. He was a regular.

She stared at him a little longer than she would have on any other customer, but he did not act as if he noticed her attention.

He had no desire to date anyone. Hadn’t had in years, after his wife’s death – Milah, a gentle soul taken away by cancer.

After all these years, he had succeeded in sheltering peace in his heart and was very unwilling to bring someone new into his life.

At least, that’s what he thought. But that night, Fate was quite determined to prove him otherwise.

As he was drinking alone, scanning his surroundings – the Compass wasn’t a very fashionable place to be but it was welcoming – he noticed her.

The blonde haired woman standing next to him at the bar.

For some unknown, irrational reason, he felt drawn to her and did not manage to look away.

She was wearing a pair of black pants and a lovely, red off-the-shoulder top. He could tell she was dressed up to meet someone. But if he could make any assumption based on the way she lowered her face towards a glass of rum, that someone was late.

A sparkle lit in his heart. He had to try and see.

He cleared his throat, touched his ear in an embarrassed gesture. He hadn’t done this in years.

Oh come on, Killian. You’ve got one bloody chance.

He stood up, but she made no movement to show she had noticed his unrest.

Gathering his courage, he stepped closer to her, but not too close as to not invade her personal space, and greeted her: “Hello love, are you expecting someone?”

Her green eyes flashed in the dim light of the bar. She considered him for a few seconds before answering. He noticed how truly beautiful she was. He could tell she was analyzing him, was trying to decide whether he was a threat or not.

And finally, a smile birthed on her red lips. “I was, actually,” she began, and he was scratching his hair again, heart pounding. “His loss,” she finally muttered, and he completely failed to hide the smile that tickled his lips.

“Bad form,” he whispered, and pointed at the empty seat next to her, “would you mind if I sat there?”

She removed her purse from the seat. “Not one bit. Couldn’t let a man drink alone, could I?”

.

Grabbing their drinks, they both decided to fully enjoy this summer night and go sit outside – beneath the lit up trees of the terrace.

“Ah, I do wish New York did not snuff out the stars,” he mumbled, head lifted towards the sky.

For as long as he could remember, there had been a peculiar longing in him, in his chest, a longing for wilder landscapes and the salt of the sea on his lips, and,…Emma apparently.

“Dreamer much, are you?” she grinned at him behind her glass, and he found her especially endearing with this blush over her cheeks.

“Aye. Always fancied more books than real life, I’m afraid.”

And then she was nodding at him as if she understood, and it profoundly moved him. An old devotion, it seemed, was taking him over.

“What about you, Emma?” Saying her name had a special taste in his mouth, but he loved it. “What do you dream about?”

It was a fairly personal conversation for a first date beneath New York’s starless sky, but she didn’t seem to mind it, just yet.

“Not much, to be fair,” she answered, her long fingers wrapping around her glass, as if to protect herself, “I’m pretty content with my life, right now,” she confessed, diving into his eyes again.

She stole his breath away. He instinctively bent towards her. “But surely you have dreams, don't you Emma?”

She did not come closer to him and remained sitting up straight. She whispered: “Why do you care?”

Perhaps it would have hurt, in another life, had he been sober. But already a bit tipsy, he did not take it personally.

He simply smiled. “Everyone dreams.”

I dreamt of you.

She chuckled, brushed a strand of hair from her face. “I’m not a dreamer.”

He could tell, because of the broken sparkle that shone in her gaze, this very same sparkle that lead him to think he knew her from before.

.

There were many drinks. Perhaps one too many.

She gave away subtle details about her life: her profession, her son, the fact that she had just moved to New York, just like him.

In spite of how little she told him, he swore he could read her like an open book.

Summer seemed to fill his heart with a new kind of spontaneity, freedom, and he felt like a very young man, once again. The air was filled with smells of smoke, alcohol, perfumes, and this very special summer breeze.

They had gotten closer in the booth, outside. Their thighs and shoulders were brushing, and she was looking at him behind her heavy eyelashes and he wanted to kiss her.

He was waiting for her to kiss him. He knew she wanted him just as badly in the way she licked her lips and glanced at his own mouth when he was talking.

Only later would he learn that she couldn’t have cared less about literature and the modernist movement he was rambling about that night, but she had let him speak because he was very charming.

“Now, imagine our historical background, Emma. Think World War I, it’s a shock to so many people, and of course people write about it. They write about this sense of loss, and cruelty, and what makes us human if not love, but we are so fragmented…”

And he went on, and on. And she was smiling, one hand beneath her chin.

“Killian?” One word finally cut him, and he inhaled – a little out of breath from all of his talking.

“Emma?” he answered back, heart jumping in his chest.

A very soft hand found his jaw and drew him nearer to her. Her open mouth met his lips in a tiny whisper of contentment, and it was a very soft kiss. Her lips were barely brushing his, both her hands lost in his hair. He exhaled into her mouth, found her blonde curls, and kissed her just a little bit harder, pressing her into the booth.

Once again, a feeling lingered in him. They had done this before. But he couldn’t remember when.

.

They casually saw each other for two months, and they were both pretty happy with that. (She was very happy about it. Him, a lot less.)

Until one evening, as they were watching a movie at his place, he finally asked her. She wasn’t looking at him, completely captivated by Amy Addams analyzing Alien’s language on their screen.

In spite of the quality of the movie Arrival, he couldn’t stop staring at her. (She still felt very precious between his arms, and an explicable fear reigned in his heart. He was scared to lose her, as if he had already lost her before.)

“Emma?”

She had a grunt, still not staring at him. “Yes, Killian?”

“A word?”

She must have heard the concern in his voice because she pressed pause and turned towards him immediately. She gave him a smile.

“Do talk.”

He held his breath. He knew this was the moment of truth. He couldn’t keep up this casualness, but what if it was all she wanted?

“It’s just, I’ve been thinking…” She was already raising her eyebrow, but he could tell she was trying to remain open. “And if you’d be willing, I would like us to become exclusive…”

He hoped he had phrased it correctly. He really hoped he did.

She tilted her head to the side. Took a few seconds to answer. “Actually, I would like that, too.”

It took him some time to fully understand her sentence, sirens ringing in his ears, but then she was smiling at him and it couldn’t be so bad?

Before he knew it, they were kissing, and he never wanted it to end.

Had it always been this simple?

.

Figuring out that when she was mentioning her son, Henry, she really meant his Henry, did make him stop a bit and think about what they were doing.  

“Don’t you think it’ll be awkward for the boy?” he asked her.

They were sitting on her couch – Henry was sleeping over at a friend’s. Her knees were pressed to her chest, and she was barefoot against the soft tissue. She chuckled.

“Don’t worry about that, Henry is a big boy. He’ll be able to understand.”

He couldn’t explain this sudden lump in his throat, this feeling that things were a bit too easy and it didn’t feel real, and – then she was on top of him, and she looked so beautiful, and fragile, with her golden hair, and he wanted to touch her but he was terrified she was going to vanish.

Even her kisses started to feel distant. It froze his heart.

He still let her.

.

Later, much later, when they were both sitting on the patio of her building, feet tangling in the void, and September was swallowing the last summer nights, he knew it to be the end.

He gazed at her, drank her in. She wasn’t looking at him, but there was a smile on her lips as she stared at the busy streets of New York. She was beautiful, but she wasn’t real, was she?

“How long have you known?” Her voice finally broke the silence surrounding them in this hubbub of cars.

He swallowed a pain he felt he had known his entire life, but wasn’t fully aware of.

“I don’t know. From the beginning, maybe.”

She turned to face him, smiling but it wasn’t a smile – it was goodbye. She outstretched her hand then, and it was very reluctantly that he let her touch him. It was too painful.

“You’re going to forget me, aren’t you?”

She nodded. He felt a tear roll down his cheeks. He wanted the comfort of the sea. This ache in his chest wouldn’t be soothed by anything but the sea.

“I didn’t want to, Hook,” and there it was, that terrible, sympathetic smile on her lips.

The street lights around them became overwhelming, burnt his eyes. “But you did it anyway.”

There was a bit of anger, in the corners of his heart, a bit of bitterness inside his mouth.

“I know I did,” she finally whispered. Her fingers were brushing his hand, an open wound. She seemed to hold back herself then, and that’s when he noticed that the contours of her face were becoming blurry.

Panic shook his heart. He let go of her hand to rub his eyes with haste. He felt open palm on his shoulders, but he couldn’t see her properly anymore.

“You’re disappearing,” he exhaled, panicked.

His hand found her shoulder in a desperate attempt to hold her. But his fingers only found void.

He could still feel her fingers on his jaw, and he leaned into her touch. “I am, Hook.” She paused, pressed a kiss on his cheek, and it felt like a summer breeze. “That’s why you should move on.”

A sob seemed to jolt his shoulders. “I tried, Swan. I really tried.” He shook his head. “Couldn’t.”

He was thankful the sea had reached his eyes, but it prevented him to see the final smile she offered him. “But you should, Hook. I won’t come back.”

He already felt like he was dying, suffocating, but then she exhaled a final warning: “Don’t come looking for me.”

And she was gone, gone in sparkles of dust and he was alone in a summer night that tasted like the end of love.

.

He opened his eyes, breathed in deeply. The wood of the Jolly was singing that night, for the sea was quite agitated.

His hand came to meet his forehead. Another nightmare. He had received the note telling him to found Emma a week ago, and since then his dreams had been haunted by the lass he had so desperately tried to forget this past year.

He glanced at the window of his quarters. It was still complete darkness outside. Stars were shinning bright, and the sea was caressing his window with a lot of care.

There was a sob curled up in his throat. He clenched his jaw.

He would find her. Even if it meant losing her again. (Even if, just yet, she didn't want him to find her.)

[goldngguk]

lethe // 01

warnings // yandere behavior, toxic relationship, angst, strong language

word count // 1.2k

“I’m going to do it,” Y/n said as she sat across from her best friend, Brook. They had been engaging in small talk for nearly ten minutes while occasionally sipping their iced coffees before she sighed and spoke up. “I’m leaving Taehyung.”

“You are!?” Brook’s eyes went wide at her friend’s words.

“Isn’t that what you’ve been telling me I should do?”

“Well, yeah, but I didn’t think you’d work your way up to this point.”

Y/n twisted her straw between her fingers. “When we’re done here, I’m going to pack my stuff and leave.”

“Wow.” They sat in a moment of silence. For Brook, it meant her friend would be free and safe from her psychotic husband’s grasp. For Y/n, it meant a broken heart, divorce, and being forced to start over. It was more than she thought she could handle.

Brook took her hand and squeezed. “Do you want me to come with you? To make sure everything goes smoothly?”

“That’s probably not a good idea. If he is home, it will just turn into a big confrontation and I don’t want him to take it out on you.”

Yeah, okay. How about you get your stuff and come stay at my place. Just until you get on your feet again.“

Y/n smiled. "Thanks, Brooky. You’ve been so amazing through all of this. I really don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“Don’t mention it. You deserve someone better than Kim Taehyung. I just want you to be happy.”

With butterflies swarming in her stomach, Y/n got up and tossed her half-finished coffee in the garbage can. She needed to get home and pack fast so she could avoid a run-in with her husband.

“I’ll see you in a few hours. Text me when you’re on the way, okay?” She smiled at Y/n and headed off to her own car.

“Alright. Thanks again.” She drove down the familiar streets she’d taken to get home hundreds of times. Home. Was that even the correct word for it? It sure as hell didn’t feel like a home.

Y/n married Taehyung two years ago and he was everything you wanted and more. He was a gentleman and he loved her. He took care of her, as she did for him. But after the first year of their marriage, Y/n started noticing things that weren’t to her liking. Taehyung got angry fast about almost everything, and he had a major territorial issue. He hated when she would go out without him to see Brook or anyone else, her family included. He would cling to her when he was with her and would get her to promise him she’d love him forever even when she told him every day. But more than anything, his anger scared her. He never laid a hand on her, but he would slam and throw things around. He had a temper and would throw a fit if he didn’t get his way. It wasn’t healthy for Y/n and Brook saw it. She talked to her family and had been meeting with her while Taehyung was at work to convince her she deserved better.

So if this relationship was so wrong and she needed to leave him, why did she feel so guilty. Y/n felt like a liar like she was betraying him and he had no idea. She couldn’t tell if she was more angry with him or with herself. Nevertheless, she felt sick to her stomach the whole drive home.

She pulled up to the long driveway with her hands clutching the steering wheel. Taking a deep breath, she shut the car off and trudged into the house. She had a game plan: first clothes, then anything of minor importance. She wouldn’t stay for too long, just enough time to pack basic necessities. She grabbed a large suitcase from the bedroom closet and began to toss things inside. Her only hope was that Taehyung wouldn’t decide to come home for lunch.

She packed as quickly as possible, keeping an eye on the window while she worked. Soon she had everything she needed, so she texted Brook and made her way downstairs to the car.

Reaching the front door, she froze in place. Tae’s car pulled into the driveway. He was home early. He got out of the car, locking it as he walked closer to their home. Y/n leaped into action, picking up the luggage and running into the next room, nearly shutting the door behind her. Once Taehyung went upstairs, she would make a run for the car. She knew if he saw her now, he would know something was up. Fear was written all over her face.

Tae opened the front door, stepping inside and calling for her.

“Y/n?” No answer. “I’m home,” he shouted. He dropped the keys on a table and removed his shoes to go upstairs. When Y/n was satisfied that he was out of range, she quietly opened the door and snuck out to her car. She threw the suitcase in the back and climbed on the driver’s seat, shutting the door behind her. She started the car and backed out of the driveway before glancing in the rearview mirror. Her husband was glaring at her through their bedroom window, watching her drive away. Oh, fuck.

Still, she kept going. Seconds later, the Bluetooth that connected her phone to the car showed one new message. Clicking on accept the robotic voice read disturbingly, “You have one chance to turn that car around.”

Her stomach burned with anxiety as she continued on.

Another message popped up. Begrudgingly, she hit accept.

“So be it.”

-

Brook sat on her porch with a drink in hand. She couldn’t help it; she was so nervous for Y/n. Brook knew Taehyung would never actually hurt her, but everything they fought over was minor things. Now, she was leaving him. There was no telling what he might do. And that thought had her pacing around her living room until she decided she needed some air.

About two hours after their coffee date, Y/n texted saying she was on the way and she’d call in a minute. After nearly twenty, the phone finally rang.

“Hey. Is everything okay?” She asked, picking up quickly.

“I always knew you were trouble, B, but I never actually thought you’d get her to pull something like this.”

Her blood ran ice cold as her heart stopped. Taehyung.

Her hands trembled as she clutched onto the phone. There was a pause. “Where’s Y/n?” She gulped.

“On the road to recovery.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean!?”

“It means you lost, Brooklyn. I mean, did you really think I’d let you have her; think I would just let her go?” His deep chuckle sent an eerie chill down her spine. There was something he was hinting at that she wasn’t getting, but she knew it was something terrible. “She’s my wife.”

“Listen, you fucking lunatic! If you touch her I swear to god-” Brook started before she heard the siren roaring in the background on his side of the phone. Then he spoke, making Brook launch for her car keys.

“Til death do us part.”

a.n. // my concert was on the 11th and I was so in my feels and summer is two days away so chapters are gonna start rolling out. 😵😵

taglist // @kalisica @darkdragonskies @chinkbihh @slytherinholland @emotionalxteenager

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[rhyaxxyn]

WIP Intro: CROSSWATER

You can argue that your home is the W O R S T, the most P E C U L I A R, the C R U E L E S T in the whole of A N D R A S T E, but I know the truth, and the truth is that C R O S S W A T E R is the worst place I’ve ever had the misfortune of living in... 

But it is H O M E.

⇒TITLE: Crosswater

⇒THEMES: Coming of age |  Power and corruption |  Prejudice | War | Self-Reliance | Oppression | Religion | Self Empowerment

⇒RATING: Teen and Up

⇒GENRE: High Fantasy

⇒SUB-GENRE: Dark Fantasy | Romance | Religion | Politics

⇒POV: Third person limited

⇒STATUS: Plotting/Outlining

In the peculiar city of Crosswater strangeness is nothing unusual. But no one mentions the thieves at the edge of town, the quiet Captain of the Guard with a hoard of secrets, the Lord and his wife with ambitious affairs, and the too smart, too good singer. After all, it has always been ordinary to them. 

Then a woman arrives in the city with a wild power no one could’ve predicted. She brings with her soldiers sworn to her name and a sigil of the distant Hell witch empire, Darah. A proposal she hopes they will not ignore. Her name is Nemesis Lorelai Macaria, and she is the last princess of the remaining witches of Hell.

She will have to befriend the master thief with a silver tongue, the siren-like woman who fears nothing and no one, the Captain who will provoke her until she snaps, the rebellious Lady of Crosswater with a quick wit, and the orphan girl from a distant land if she is to succeed in her plan. But first, she must convince them to accept her as who she is. A witch--and a servant of Hell.

It should be easy enough.

Nemesis Macaria: The hero. Crude, abrupt sense of humor. Broken childhood. Unable to empathize with many people. Usually very independent in her adventures. Seems like shes killed a lot of people but no one really knows. Talented in dark witch-craft and necromancy. Eighteen: too young for this but having fun anyway. Keeps her composure no matter what.

Cassius Verlander: The unlikely friend. Loud. Loves challenging authority. Only steals from the rich people of Crosswater because “fuck the bourgeoisie.” Mean but cannot kill anyone. A secret cinnamon roll. Angry. Greatest thief in the Andraste. Loves the black market. Knows the price of everything in your house and everything in your body.

Corvina Naida: An actual goddess. Really sweet and lets it show. Still doesn’t let herself get taken advantage of. That one friend everyone loves. Knows how to manipulate people when she wants to. Unbelievably talented. So much so that Nemesis is thinking that maybe she might just be an actual goddess. Gets ahead of herself. Too confident at times. Will love you unconditionally.

Soter Adrestia: Dick to prick to a genuinely nice guy. Very closed off. Thousands of secrets and not enough time to tell them all. Kills people but always feels guilty about. Likes insulting criminals and strangers who he doesn’t trust even though he’s probably the most untrustworthy person alive. You know the phrase skeletons in the closet? Yeah. He most likely has like fifty tucked away in his. Real ones too.

Orlaith Clearwater: Victim of whoever the fuck thought the patriarchy was a good idea. Hates her husband because she didn’t have a choice. Her life has always been trade agreements. Sick of this bullshittm. Definitely a huge lesbian. Sometimes has more affairs with women than her husband. Will do anything to destroy him. Is going to kill the next person who calls her exotic.

Eris Lada: Loyal as all hell. Would happily kill anyone for Nemesis and not feel an ounce of regret. Seems a lot older than they let on. Totally shocked by the way equality and respect isn’t common in other places. Like, wot? Secretly trying her best but failing. Will not ask for help. Everything she does is reverse psychology.

Apate Gianna: Quiet. Lowkey a huge bitch. Acts tough but really isn’t. Gives off a weird vibe. Orphaned when she was young. Grew up alone. Social queues? What are those? Has she looked at you lately? If so, she probably hates you.

Fervain Clearwater: NO REDEEMING QUALITIES. Probably the worst person alive. Misogynist, racist, homophobic, #godlover. Not even worthy of the title antagonist. Nemesis would have just killed him if not for this damn agreement. Redeeming quality? Killable.

The story of Crosswater takes place in the kingdom of Andraste. It is split in two by the Lethe mountain range. Crosswater lies along the northern coast of Andraste’s western island where the forests are abundant and the temperatures are commonly frigid. Although it is small, it holds an abundance of power over the neighboring kingdoms of Tarasi, Elpys, and Isoldé. Although the western island is the weaker of the two it still holds much political prominence, especially in Crosswater where Fervain has been lord for more than two centuries.

In Crosswater, there are two rivers--one flowing north to south and the other flowing east to west. These rivers are believed to be a center of religious power which allows a greater connection between the citizens of Andraste and The One True. Many will frequently go on a pilgrimage to this location for enlightenment. 

Humans: Within Andraste’s borders humans are the most common. The majority of them lack power and live to 75 on average. Though through rigorous studying beginning at a young age humans can hone an element. Those of which being ice, lightning, wind, earth, nature, mind, space, blood, water, and fire. It can take anywhere from ten to twenty-five years to master an element.

Witches: Witches are creatures belonging either to the Aether or Hell. Andraste and it’s neighboring kingdoms had outlawed witches of Hell after the events of the Holy War. Most witches of Hell were killed off in the drownings, though some do remain hidden in Andraste and outside its circle of power. Those witches of Hell reside in either Kenna or Dhara, of which Andraste has been at a stalemate with for the past six centuries. Witches of the Aether can live up to 2,000 years, and it is rumored that when they pass they are resurrected as angels. No one knows how long witches of Hell live for, due to the fact that they have always been hunted and prosecuted except in Kenna and Dhara where their secrets are well hidden, but many believe that when they do die they come back as demons.

Witches are born with abilities. Witches of hell are more prone to do unnatural magic, while Aether witches do natural magic in order to keep The One True’s order. Though, in cases of great strife, a witch may utilize an opposite power. Even if they are born with abilities witches can work to hone one single ability.

Angels: Rare. Sovereigns among the other species. Frequently in roles of great power. Although none have died natural deaths yet it is shown that they do age slowly and that they can be killed, making them slightly vulnerable. Angels possess the ability to contact The One True, manipulate light, and take possession of other beings, though some do have immunity to their mind control. 

Demons: Despite the fear many feel towards demons very few have met them, and most who did have lived to tell about it. They, unlike Angels, can maintain a deep connection with the Fallen One. Most demons possess the ability to use magic as well as manipulate darkness. Not only that, but they can take possession of beings as well with seemingly no limit to this power.

Dragons: Beings with the ability to shapeshift and manipulate flames, ice, clouds, or water. After many years of interbreeding, bloodlines became diluted, leading to pure bloodlines to quickly take power throughout the four kingdoms.

Nymphs: Guardians of different areas of nature. They serve the world--not Aether or Hell. Sought out in times of confusion because of their natural desire to search for balance.

Ghosts: Creatures that had once served witches during the Holy War. They have the ability to shapeshift into any animal form as well as into apparitions. When their service became unneeded they turned to work in an array of dangerous fields because of their power to shift through solid matter and remain invisible to. 

⇒

this wip is not something I planned to get so into but now that I’ve brainstormed all of this I may begin writing it while I’m editing TNO!!! I do plan on posting OC intros and more on Crosswater though probably not until I’ve finished outlining. Please ask me questions about this so I can keep brainstorming and developing my characters and the plot. 

Let me know if you would like to be tagged in Crosswater content from now on!