#Myths and Legends Among the Stars

[yellow-faerie]

The Story of Bakkru and Misu

or, The Boy Who Lived, and Died, and Lived Again

In the slave quarters beneath one of Nal Hutta's largest auction houses, a grandmother is coming to the end of her life; her family - those that can be there - come to her side. There, they hear the story of Bakkru and Misu, an Ekkreth tale about dancing and fire, and freedom and death, and the bond between a grandmother and the child she helped raise.

I tell you this story to save your life.

If you're interested in any commentary on the choices I make in this story with the Amavikka or Amatakka, as well as some general thoughts on the Amavikka of Nal Hutta, check under the readmore :)

First of all, thank you for coming down here to check out my inane ramblings about the Amavikka people in the wider galaxy (in this case, Nal Hutta) for more words than in the actual fic - I will almost definitely end up writing stuff for other planets/groups, just you wait.

Second of all, huge thanks to @adragonsfriend and @looseleafteeaves who've both made dictionaries and guides that I used extensively through writing this, I would probably have given up if they hadn't been available so…thanks for sharing those to the general public, and for creating them in the first place!

The whole language and culture was originally created by @/fialleril but if you have any interest in Amatakka and the Amavikka beyond that, their dictionaries and guides are a really good place to go to (and that is where I get most of the words that I use from).

And last of all, here's the fic commentary!

Names

There are several new names and characters in this - I'll start with the characters I made for the framing part, and then I'll do the names for the actual tale.

A general note on Amavikka names: first names tend (not always) to be just a word from Amatakka, although there is some variance - this isn't always the case, but I've decided it tends to be even more common within the Nal Hutta community and so all of the characters have first names in this pattern.

Similarly, last names tend to be two words put together. Again, there are exceptions (especially if the Amavikka in question was not born into the community and has a name they wish to hold onto from before they were enslaved) but I've opted against using any in this fic for reasons known as, I think it's way too fun to make up names in this style haha

OK, so onto the actual names:

Qelin Omerukka

the name Qelin is literally the verb 'to talk, to tell a story', and it's perhaps a little on the nose but then again, so are several names throughout the Star Wars lore

Omerukka means 'Lightspinner' and is the name her mother and father made for themselves when they were married

(I have a small headcanon that one thing that a couple can do when they get married is to mix their names together, so there is always something that connects them - this is most common on worlds where slaves get sold off planet a lot, like on Nal Hutta, and less common on world like Tatooine where the slave trade tends to be far more local. As always, there are exceptions to the rules)

Sudu, Orrin, Lutlu and Rethka, the children of Qelin

Sudu is a word that means 'whirling, spinning, swirling' - Nal Hutta Amavikka are likely to see this name and think of the swirling eddies that you sometimes get in water due to the unstable catacombs beneath much of the planets surface, that can be incredibly dangerous is you are in the water and too close to them

Orrin is a word that means 'bird of prey' - this is a loan word from Ryl but is often used on Nal Hutta to mean a very specific, slightly carnivorous and rather large bird of prey that targets Hutts

Lutlu is a word that means 'surprise' or literally 'chaos now!' - there is no particular connotations for this word on Nal Hutta

Rethka is a word that means 'strider, walker' - again, this is a name that would likely be quite common throughout Amavikka communities, as the idea of walking a long distance into the wilds to free yourself are very common (be it the desert or the swamp or the frozen tundra or up out of the mine tunnels), but not so common on water worlds

Shursu La-Nalikeh

Shursu, like the other names, is a word that means 'root, foundation, base', and on Nal Hutta, would probably make Amavikka think of the strong foundations of the huge swamp trees that survive

Lah-Nalikeh is a surname that means 'Wet-Life' - it's a very traditional Nal Hutta name, which has connotations of escaping and living a 'wet life' away from the homesteads within the wet swamps

Leshna Rapshmi

Leshna is a word that means 'lightning' and is an idea that is somewhat connected to the Lukka that Amavikka raised on Nal Hutta would know - where on Tatooine, Lukka is the seven winds come together, on Nal Hutta he is the storm (the thunder, the rain and the lightning) and the flood come together

Rapshmi is a surname that means 'Wiseword' which is not a surname that's particularly linked to any dialect of Amavikka

I imagine that Leshna's family was probably slaves of some sort of spacer faction and so never had a firm community to fall back on, but only what they learned from the few people they came in contact with (and I have...an idea for a tale about this, which I might just use Leshna and the Rapshmi's to tell)

She and Orrin have only been married a short while, and have yet to decide whether to merge their names or not; if they did, it would likely be Omeshmi, or 'Light of Wisdom'

Peha Rillochelii

Peha is a word that means 'to rise, to get up' which I think has connotation of freedom in it

Rillochelii on the other hand is a desert name from Tatooine, which means something like 'Dunerunner' which definitely has connotations of freedom as chelii literally means 'runaway, or escapee'

Peha was unlucky to be sold off planet and away from her family as quite a young age, but she had been old enough to remember her name which is deeply important to the Amavikka, so while she is being fostered by the grandmothers of this new quarter, she keeps that name

And that is all the names in the framing section! I know most of them barely speak, but I did want to use them to highlight some of the differences between various Amavikka dialects.

So, onto the actual myth names:

Bakkru:

Bakkru is a type of dance that fialleril commented as being a dance that was often used to convey hidden messages; on Nal Hutta, it is told to be the name of the boy who created it, but in most other Amavikka cultures this tale has been lost, or is simply not told that much

This might be because Nal Hutta is one of the worlds where slave dancers are very, very prominent and in large enough numbers that having a dance to convey secrets makes sense due to the fact that Nal Hutta is considered the luxurious homeworld of the HUtts (another world I can think of might be Zygerria, if any Amavikka ever ended up there)

Bakkru is also known as just Ru, and that is how he is referred to in any myth that he appears in (usually as a silent agent of Ekkreth, and usually to help dancers to escape their masters) beyond his origin myth

On a small tangent about the name Ru - I quite like the idea that any dancer who has learned how to dance the Bakkru and uses it, may add the prefix Ru- to their name to signal this to other people in introductions

(For example, if Peha ever were to become a dancer and she also learned Bakkru, she might introduce herself as Ru-Peha; it is less an honorific, and more a way to tell someone that they should be watching her dance very closely)

Misu

Misu literally means 'the act of sharing of memories after a loved one's death' and she is named for how she speaks often of Bakkru's memory after his death so that she might teach the rest of the people the dance that had saved their lives

Misu as a character within Amavikka mythology definitely turns up in some form in most dialects as her name is synonymous with one very important aspect of Amavikka mourning (sharing memories, one of the only things that they will have of their lost love one)

On Nal Hutta, she is used in Bakkru's story and is rather minor to the story, but on Corellia, she is the one who holds all the records of the debtors and so knows all who are enslaved that way, and speaks of their memory to anyone who comes to her, and is a major part of a lot of tales

Also her name being similar to Mittu, as in the Ebra and Mittu story on Tatooine is not a complete accident; there are a lot of parallels in the relationship between grandmother of the community and a young child, and on Nal Hutta, the story of where Tzai comes from is very different (as they do not have the Tzai plant - I still have to work out how Tzai works on Amavikka planets that aren't Tatooine, and specifically how the lore around them works)

Jula

Jula, as sort of implied/explained in the fic, means 'flame, ember' and is an epithet for Ekkreth which is particularly popular on Nal Hutta

It's not common for Ekkreth to be portrayed as anything but a living thing, but on Nal Hutta, fire is considered to be somewhat sentient and thus, Ekkreth can take it's shape

Fire in general is closely linked with the idea of freedom on Nal Hutta - just as daylight/the sun is freedom for the Amavikka confined to mines, and rain is freedom for the Amavikka of the desert, so is fire linked to freedom on Nal Hutta

Fire is quite uncommon on the planet and where it does burn, it is often put out quickly by rain or just not enough dry kindling for it to burn as everything is wet but the expensive sort of houses that Depur own that are dry - another reason why fire is considered freeing is that it will tear through those houses greedily while leaving the much damper, wetter slave quarters alone

I will say that the Ekkreth parts of this fic feel like the weakest section - I feel like Ekkreth should be more tricky than they are in this, and I'm not entirely happy with them turning into fire itself - perhaps a creature who could sit in the flames for the first conversation with Bakkru, where Bakkru thinks that he is speaking with the flames themselves, and then perhaps a creature who breathed fire for the later meeting, but I wasn't sure what creatures would fit

(All of these names come from

Some General Nal Hutta-Amavikka Worldbuilding

So there are a few things that I mention throughout the fic that I feel are worth talking about

Evokka

So Evokka - the Amavikka name for the planet - comes from the original name for Nal Hutta (in Legends), that being Evocar, which was the home of the native Evocii who got enslaved by the Hutts when they decided that Evocar would be a good new homeworld for them

I thought it would be neat if Nal Hutta was thus referred to as Evokka, a name that is a slight shift in pronunciation from the original to fit Amatakka better but which still holds the spirit of the original name in tact

Abbu-Dabbu (and Ru)

Abbu-Dabbu and Ru are both characters of myth that are mentioned in the third installation of Blue_Sunshine's Desert Sun Series, Fallout and I don't believe they are mentioned again

I used both as part inspiration for this fic, using Ru as the main character (although changing his name slightly) but using his name of the Boy Who Lived, and Died, and Lived Again as the title for this fic

Ru is probably more akin to a prophet (like Maru and Tena) than to the more godlike figures of Ar-Amu and Ekkreth, and Lukka and Leia, (and Vokkri, who I will come to later) but I did list Abbu-Dabbu with the divine figures, so I'm thinking that she probably is divine

Abbu-Dabbu is also mentioned in this fic - I'm not quite sure what to do with her within a tale centred on her yet, but I am comfortable using her as a character who is prone to turning up in stories if there is need of the character being Safe For A While

I don't think that she actually needed to be in this fic beyond her first, brief mention but she ended up there anyway, so

Anyway, she is apparently quite linked to salt which I find interesting; in my mind, this has something to do with the swamps of Nal Hutta mostly being salt water and when it is dried (such as with fire) it creates salt

So this makes me think that as a witch, Abbu-Dabbu has some level of control over fire which allows her to dry the surrounding area enough that she can create a house of salt that doesn't get dissolved in the water

(This idea of salt being left behind is slightly mentioned in the fic when Bakkru is crying and Ekkreth-as-Jula dries his tears until all that is left is salt on his skin)

A Translation of Abbu-Dabbu's name, and the Nal Hutta dialect

With this in mind, I am going to attempt to come up with a translation of her name:

So, the important things in her story are salt, fire, being a witch/magic, home, being a beacon for the lost

But if her name is made of two of these ideas smooshed together, they would probably be related due to how similar Abbu and Dabbu are, and so I would be tempted to say Salt and Fire

With the current breadth of the Amatakka language, we have some words for these ideas already

Salt: tabtu (for preserving meat and fish), tavetabtu (red salt), amnabtu (black salt)

Fire: jula (flame, ember), itza (cooking fire, hearth), and anu (which means rain on Tatooine, and daylight in the mines, and fire on Nal Hutta)

So, here is where some dialect things come into play - I am honestly quite scared to consider dialects as I am not at all a professional conlanger but someone who is just fascinated with cultures and languages and all the moving parts of them, but here goes

So I propose that Tabtu -> Dabbu

The first T changes to a D, probably through a general phonological drift in the dialect, and the second is dropped altogether - I might play around with the idea of T's getting dropped or changed in the Nal Hutta dialect, although I'm not sure yet why this might be the case

Either way, this makes the part of the name Dabbu mean salt which then means we have to think about the Abbu part

Words for Heat on Tatooine and Nal Hutta

Now, both words for fire or flame don't fit at all, so I shifted my thoughts more towards heat

Using what we have, I would probably use jula if I was going to have a heat that was aggressive or angry, and so words for heat on Tatooine probably derive from this or maybe the word for white which is linked to the hotter of the two suns

So I'm thinking something like Terajula which means flame of the desert, and might mean heat - this would probably be tempered with a time of day to let the other person know how intense the heat was, as evening heat is different to midday heat, etc.

Itza has more of an implication of being a homely sort of fire, and I don't think that on Tatooine there would be much use for a word to describe the physical warmth of a home (perhaps the metaphorical kind though)

Meanwhile, on Nal Hutta, you have several types of heat - dry heat, wet heat, flame heat and artificial heat

Wet heat usually goes hand-in-hand with humidity, often the sort of heat you get in the swamps, and would translate as something like Lahjula

Flame heat is the heat that comes from flames and is quite similar to dry heat in how it feel but is far more important due to it's relation to fire - Dagrilela is the word used to refer to this, from the word 'Tagr' with a softened 't' meaning 'white' (white flames = the hottest, and so white has similar connotations on Nal Hutta as it does on Tatooine) and 'lela', the word for 'shine', which is from the shimmering affect that happens with heat, (all with an added 'i' in between so the consonants don't get mushed)

As fire is linked so closely to freedom, I think flame heat might also have some connection to the word anu

Artificial heat is the heat that is usually found in places where Depur lives, where they can control the temperature as they please, and so is described as something like 'Fake heat'

All these words for heat are somewhat irrelevant (and definitely need some workshopping haha) to the one I actually want to focus on - dry heat

There might also be a fifth type of heat, a 'home heat' so to say, which is some sort of mix between Fire Heat and the idea of home...but this whole heat discussion is really getting out of hand for someone who knows next to nothing about conlanging

Back to Abbu-Dabbu

Dry heat is what Abbu-Dabbu would need to keep a house of salt alive within the swamps; it would need to be absolute and blanket quite a distance all the time lest her house melt around her

(And perhaps the building of her house might be one of her stories, of trying again and again, and it is only when the lost and unsure wander into her home and she lets them give advice (ultimately showing that she is stronger when she is part of a community) does it hold)

Abbu is this dry heat, and it's actual meaning derives from the idea of salt - this is the type of heat which can be used to get salt from the water, and heat is such an integral part of the salt itself, it's most of the salt's name

So the D in Dabbu sort of signifies that it's the result of the dry heat (if that makes any sense, it is getting very late and I know I am becoming nonsensical)

Vokkri

Vottra is a god that does not come from Amavikka tradition but got folded in from the Evocii tradition and that is why he is mostly only on Nal Hutta

The name Vottri comes from the original name of the Sky God Evotiirin, a name that slowly shifted over time to Vottri, and he is often represented as a bright star that shines bright enough to guide runaways through the thick swamp mists

The star in actuality no longer exists - it went supernova at one point and vanished - but there are a lot of myths about Vottri vanishing to hide from Depur, and how he will return when all the Amavikka are free to guide them to safety

I think this would be an example of a word where the 't' does not get softened into a 'd', probably because it's in the middle of the word and if it were dropped, it would rather ruin the structure of the word

Also because the name is holy so is cared for more diligently - some words, like greetings and goodbyes and certain figures in myth are told in the same way throughout the Amavikka as they are so precious to them that they make sure to pronounce the words exactly right rather than let linguistic flow take them

I'm not entirely sure what his name might meant as 'kest' is the word for star in the Tatooine dialect but I think this might be an example of where there is an entirely separate word for star on Nal Hutta - 'vottrak', which would translate to 'of Vottri'

On Lukka, Leia, Ekkreth and Ar-Amu

So I talked a bit about Ekkreth in his name section but I also wanted to touch on the other gods who end up everywhere (there are those that end up throughout pretty much all Amavikka tradition, those that end up through all of the tradition on a specific planet, and then those (often prophets) which are region specific)

Lukka was not created by fialleril but by @/blue-sunshine-mauve-morning in the same Desert Storm series I linked above (I love that fanfic so much), and she states in her fic that Lukka is a Tatooine only kinda god

I like Lukka too much so...I disregarded that and made him, along with Leia, Ekkreth and Ar-Amu, one of the gods who ends up pretty much everywhere in the galaxy

The themes that they represent throughout the galaxy are fairly consistent to; Ar-Amu is the mother, the one that all the Amavikka return to one day; Ekkreth is the trickster, which no chain can hold, whatever shape it is; Leia is the dragon, the anger of slaves that comes to crush slavers; and Lukka is the storm, that is safe for Amavikka to pass through but that will destroy any who follow.

Lukka

On Tatooine, Lukka is closely linked to the seven winds - some say the winds are Lukka's children, and some say that the winds are even older than Lukka and are what came together to form him - the winds are quite a common thing throughout Amavikka communities, although sometimes it is four winds rather than seven

On Nal Hutta and other more watery worlds though, Lukka is often referred to as The Storm and the Flood, although again, which came first is debated as the biggest threat on Nal Hutta is the terrible rainstorms that cause the swamp to flood into inhabited places

It's quite difficult to defend against these floods too as the water is everywhere, so it affects Depur as much as it affects the Amavikka in terms of destruction of property

Leia

Also from Blue_Sunshine's story, Leia is referred to as the Nal Hutta dragonsnake which is a creature canon to Nal Hutta, and I love this idea

She serves much the same purpose on Tatooine as she does on Nal Hutta but instead of the desert, she haunts the swamps

Dancing on Nal Hutta

So I mentioned this earlier but I really wanted to go into the implications of dance on Nal Hutta

Like I said before, Nal Hutta is a pleasure world for the Hutts and their cronies so there are a lot of places where slaves are used for entertainment like dance, which is why Ru's story is so important here

Of course, Ru always danced for himself in the way this story was told - some areas of Nal Hutta will have Bakkru being a dancer for Depur initially, or will have stories of Ru (who has already lived and died and lived again) returning to Depur to dance for him and to help free dancers as he returned to free his grandmother

But although dance is quite intrinsically linked to Depur on Nal Hutta, it is also very holy, in a way it's not really in most other places - due to Ru's story, it's linked a lot to fire and freedom, and the dancers who know the Bakkru are often fundamental pieces of the Freedom Trail

Ru's Symbol would be something that is carved onto the equivalent of Japor snippets on Nal Hutta, and is often given to dancers or those who have been picked to be pleasure slaves (who are often synonymous with dancers) as a charm of protection and good luck

Te bakkruker a anu or, 'You will dance in fire' is quite a common phrase to use when saying goodbye to a loved one who is either sold off or dying - it is wishing them freedom, as Bakkru was freed

However, it should be noted, that they are not wishing their loved one to die - although Bakkru died, Ru leads a lot of figures later to dance in fire to be freed who do not die, and so it is the more general idea of freedom

Final Words

This post grew absolutely massive so I feel like a final words section is appropriate haha (this is why I didn't try to put it in the AO3 author's notes section)

Thank you for getting this far! If you're interested in any of my thoughts about Amatakka and the Amavikka on planets outside of Tatooine (and on Tatooine too - there's a reason I love all this lore so much and it's because it worked so beautifully with Tatooine) please do hit me up, I'd love to talk about it more!

(And I'm neither an expert on the language nor a conglanger, so I would love some help with the words I was trying to make, and on how to distinguish dialects lol)

[mystarwarsmatters]

I think it would be cool if Shmi passed down knowledge of mechanical engineering and tinkering to Anakin. It’s a sorely missed opportunity to not have her skills passed down to her only child, tbh.

[sleepy-grav3]

The Moon Child - Part 1

Part 2

A/n: There's a bunch of batfam adoptions, let's switch it up a bit.

Summary Background info: Danny died fully to the GIW. His class noticed when Danny disappeared and think his parents killed him. The city now believes he lives among the stars. On the same day Danny died, however, the moon was smashed to bits and rained down asteroids into the ocean and land of Earth. The Lanterns replace it with a new moon. The ocean life believes that the moon's spirit will not like being replaced.

Tw: Bad parents, depression, dissociation, vivisection scars, past death, discrimination, angst, hurt/comfort

Danny is a full ghost and looks like a child because that's all his core can expend; Danny becomes a moon spirit. Aquaman/Arthur is the movie version, the fun upbeat guy, not the serious one.

The Moon Child Part 1 - Strong Beliefs Come to Life

When the moon was destroyed, the Lanterns had agreed to send over a new one to make sure the Earth didn't destroy itself without the Moon to guide the oceans. It wasn't difficult to get one, though it was a lot of paperwork.

But when it was done, the Justice League thought that was it. Batman, being the paranoid man he was, demanded those with cities near a beach and Aquaman to report regularly about any changes in the ocean with the new moon while he checks other things that would be affected by it. They didn't bother to argue, as their luck always had it that peace was never a lasting thing. So the extra precaution was fine, but they didn't think anything of it after a few weeks of nothing happening.

The ocean life thought otherwise. Unlike the beings on land, who worship the sun, the beings in the ocean believed in the moon. Legends, myths, and many beliefs surrounding the moon's corpse that had mostly fell in their waters had risen.

The Moon is not meant to be replaced

The Moon is not like the others

The Moon will believe we did not care

The Moon will return and haunt these waters

-

Cries echoed in the dark of night. Moonstones guided the way to the origin of said sobs that were as powerful as the sirens' voice. Yet what the sirens attracted was lust, not melancholy.

Those who followed them would begin to see a dim light grow brighter and brighter, but never irritate. Instead, it would bring a wave of sorrowful tranquility.

When they reached the origin, they would see a small child holding their tail that faded in solidity. Their hair as white as how the moon used to be. Their skin as pale as a human who had died in freezing temperatures. And their eyes a beautiful silver that matched the stones that trailed away from them.

They wore loose and poofy at the bottom pants that matched a dark night sky and a translucent veil that had constellations move around the dark blue fabric. His upper body was bare, and he covered it with the veil, which darkened when wrapped to shield his body from being seen. (think Egyptian dancer)

And that's when the creatures of the ocean had a realization. Their deity was too kind to exact revenge for the blasphemy. Their pain was not one to simply end in an instant.

The Moon has returned, and they are not angered.

They thought they were replaceable, disposable. As if they never mattered.

The Moon has returned to world that acted ungrateful for what they had done to protect it. To a world who simply replaced them for another.

They felt like all they did was for nothing. Like nothing they had done ever mattered in the end.

The Moon did not have a welcomed return. And they decided to express it alone, as if nobody would care to comfort them.

-

Arthur never believed in ghosts. Not until now as he gazed upon the spirit of the moon who had taken the form of a small child with a wisp for a tail and was crying moonstones.

The seafolk had all voiced their guilt on how they cursed at the humans and aliens, speaking how the spirit of the moon would enact their revenge. They felt guilty that they had ever thought their deity would ever stoop as low as those disgraceful humans. For their deity was kind. They were perfect. And they always looked after them when they could, even appearing in the day no matter how much strength it took.

The Ocean was meant to be the Moon's temple.

And as the King of the Ocean, it was his duty to take in the Moon and shelter them in their time of need.

"Child."

The child jumped, turning with wide, teary eyes at him. Arthur smiled gently.

"Greetings. I've heard that you've been here for a while now. It... it must've hurt badly."

The child seemed to have a flash of pain from the memory alone, tightening their arms around their wispy tail.

"What they did to you was unacceptable and inhumane. You were alive and looking after so many who could not save themselves."

More stones splashed into the water.

"You saved them, save everyone and they repaid that by hurting you. Killing you. Attempting to end you. It was a crime and yet... yet they got off light. It was a crime and they thought nothing of it."

The spirit relaxed, eyes gazing at him in disbelief and awe.

"I'm sorry we weren't able to save you. I'm sorry I couldn't prevent such a blasphemous act."

They smiled softly at him and let go of their tail, flying over to him.

"I'm still here." Their voice echoed. "I can still protect everyone."

Arthur took a breath and reached his hand out, placing it on the child's head.

"Please, let me do the protecting this time."

The child of the moon teared up once more, smile now shaky.

"Okay." They whispered. "I'll trust you."

And with that, the child shined just a bit more brightly before their form retreated into a spherical oval with the New Moon glyph floating inside. He cupped his hands together, letting the moonstone with the height of 2 quarters and the width and depth of 1 descend into them. Upon observation, he noticed the moon glyph shift to always present itself in the direction of those who gazed upon them.

"I have to report this to the league." Arthur thought, worried about what they'd do if they discover the spirit on their own.

-

Pain, that was all he felt. Even after his core had been carved and crushed, he still felt the excruciating agony of it. And now he revived again, feeling the aftershocks, the phantom pains.

His core was straining itself to even let him stay out of it, willing him to retreat. But he couldn't risk being found. He couldn't risk a curious person deciding to carve him again.

That was... until this man came. A hero, one that ruled over the oceans and seas, came to him and apologized for not saving him. someone who wasn't even close to him, who shouldn't have even known about him, had felt guilty about his death. And he stayed and he begged for him to come with him. He bled out the promise of safety. Of recognition. He... wanted to protect Danny.

A hero who protected the beings of his waters wanted to protect him, a ghost.

Danny was starting to think humans really were inferior to other beings. Be it aliens... or seafolk. Atlanteans. Ha! To think an Atlantean cared more about him, who was a half human and human ghost, than a human ever could.

It hurt.

It hurt to think about.

But it hurt more to try to reject it. So, he accepted that this stranger, this hero who probably didn't even believe he could exist, was willing to protect him like nobody ever had. Like nobody ever could. Like nobody ever would.

His core will be safe with him. He will be safe with him.

---------------

A/n: Well... that was a thing. Poor Danny.... He was never actually acknowledged. But oh well. The next one's about him meeting the family and getting coddled.

Also, if you're thinking about the movie's Aquaman having a baby... well he's dead. Black Manta killed him through suffocation or whatever like the wiki says. So that's why he wasn't mentioned.

Part 2

[holybibly]

This is a little preview of my new series and yes, bunnies, this is a whole series from me. I hope everyone is ready for an erotic dystopia?

Decadent dystopian erotica with majestic dragons - second teaser for today

Glass House Ateez x reader

Everything changed in an instant. 

The king was dead, and thousands of dragons took to the burning skies. The old world was over, and a 'new age' was in the making—an age of gods and monsters. 

A thousand years ago, the fires of revolution blazed across the face of the world. Dragons—the creatures of ancient legends and children's fairy tales—reduced the once prosperous world to ashes in a matter of minutes. Rivers of black blood coursed through the veins of the streets, flooding the cities and lands in their wake. The sky was a blaze of purple flames and electric shocks. The church was reduced to rubble, and the royal family was executed in a public display. In the eyes of the dead, the unspoken horror in front of these majestic creatures remained forever, and in the sparks of the flames, they shimmered like precious sea stones. 

There was a bitter smell of burning flesh and ash in the air. It was the smell of dreams on fire—the smell of a future in decay. 

It was the beginning of the end of ancient life. The beginning of a new world. The Age of Immortality has begun. 

All the legends turned out to be true; dragons did exist. They had always lived close to us, lurking in the velvety darkness of the night, waiting for the hour. Waiting for the hour to come when the power would be in their hands. Dangerous, unbridled, wild creatures of magic and the elements, predators at the top of the food chain. They had come into the world to rule, not to obey, and now, at long last, their time had come. 

The world was at anarchy. Dragons were killing, raping, and enslaving races and lands as if it were an amusing child's game. They drank blood as black as the night from golden bowls, and they ate our succulent flesh as our bones cracked under the pressure of their razor-sharp teeth. They would hold orgies in the midst of the torn corpses and revel in their omnipotence. Those were the days of darkness. A time of terror, when the very word danger was a synonym for life itself. And so it went for several years, until the ultimate power fell into the clutches of the deadly Children of the Night, the oldest of all dragons. 

The majestic Hala. 

Eternal as the moon itself and deadly as the uncharted depths of the ocean, they inspired burning terror in all who encountered them. To their people, they were nothing more than a myth, a legend written on fragments of tablets. Forefathers, ancestors—they had hundreds of names, but each one inspired more fear than the last. They were predators among predators, bristling with animal dominance and primal, unbridled sexuality. They exuded power and sinfulness. They were the ones who defined the rules and set the boundaries of what was permissible. 

With the arrival of Hala, a new phase in the history of the world began. 

Humanity was enslaved, and dragons became the dominant species. As the years went by, the human population began to decline rapidly, with fewer and fewer humans, until "our" species reached the status of gatherers. Angelicus Nova, or Angel Stars, was what we came to be called. Human existence took on a strange religious orientation; we were worshipped, idolized, and adored, but despite all this, humans remained nothing more than a rare exchangeable currency, nothing more than an expensive trinket that was prestigious to own and could be broken with a flick of the wrist. 

The human being also became one of the ways in which money flowed endlessly. These institutions were known as "glass houses." Gateway to heaven. They would be the equivalent of strip clubs or luxury escort houses if you and I were in the old world. The rules were the same: "Look, but don't touch." Girls and boys were expensive pieces of family jewelry that rested under the glass of fancy display cases. Our masters showed us off to the greedy eyes of the world with all the pride and ostentation that dragons have. 

In spite of their possessive, animalistic nature, dragons were nothing more than swaggering bastards with inflated egos and delusions of grandeur.

Humans could be anything as long as dragons owned us—a muse, an innamorata, a nymph, an angel, a siren, or even a goddess—but like everything else in the universe, we came at a price. 

The 'glass houses' were only in operation at night. During the day, all the 'jewels' rested and tidied up after tiring hours of contemplation of the world through the bluish glass of the display window. Nice, obliging workers in starched white collars were busy with the cleaning, scrubbing the baroque decorations of the vetrines with great care from a mixture of sperm, drool, and other secretions. You looked at it with an almost reverent awe, finding it disgusting to the point of bordering on the pornographically beautiful. 

You could see it as real art—crude and original, but art nonetheless. There was something particularly mesmerizing about it, almost hypnotic, about the way the thick, pearly sperm dripped slowly from the golden flowers. 

Of all the glass houses that ever existed, "Eros" was the most beautiful. It was the jewel in the crown of the New Empire, and you were its goddess. There were rumors that the Hala themselves were customers of 'Eros'. But rumors were only rumors. If they were ever to visit your 'home', you would know about it, for they would be where all men ended up—at your feet. 

You were content with the life that you were living. There was no tragedy and no misery, no abusive family or abusive peers, no bullying and harassment at school—no, you had it all great. You were born here at Eros—the growth and blossoming of a beautiful flower. Your whole life has been within the confines of glass rooms and silk sheets, but unlike your dreamy friends, you weren't in need of rescue. 

Your name is Aphrodite. Born in the radiance of the Creator. A goddess among goddesses, carved out of marble and mother of pearl. Your hair falls to the ground in waterfalls of pearls and silk. Your eyes are the eerie silvery moonlight in half-darkness, the deadly attraction of jewels in velvet lashes. Your lips are the succulent, juicy, forbidden fruit that every man would like to taste. The pain of your kiss is going to be the last pleasure of life. 

You are not a delicate, pure lily; you are not a passionate, fiery rose; you are a narcissus reveling in the crystal of mountain waters. You love yourself to pain, to death, to despair, and in all the New Empire, there was none more beautiful than you. 

Original sin. The primordial beauty. You are desire in all it manifests and begins to manifest. 

The naked goddess, clad in snow-white fur like armor, is the goddess of love and ecstasy. 

You've never been conceptualized; you've always been enigmatic. 

You have been the object of worship. Your beauty has been sung in songs, and your love has been professed in a thousand languages. "Eros" was the site of visits from the mightiest and most powerful dragons of the New Empire. They all crawled at your feet, stroking their thick, greased with their cum cocks, greedily as they burned your skin with their golden gaze. They licked the deceptively thin glass of your display case with their long, sometimes split tongues, leaving muddy streaks on the perfect surface of the glass. The mighty and great dragons, unaccustomed to humiliation and submission, urinated like bitches in heat at the mere sight of your bare shoulders and long neck covered with diamond serpents, their eyes shining like stars in the twilight of your silken chambers. They would drip their sperm onto the icy marble floor until it collected in small, glistening puddles, and then they would lick it up as if it were the sweetest nectar in the world. Ambrosia in the truest sense. 

Behind the glass walls of Eros, they were dominators, predators, and the rulers of this world through fear and pain, but here in this garden of Eros, they were nothing more than whores—shameless and needy. Slaves to your beauty, desperate to please you. 

Their moans are always a delight to you. The moaning of your name. 

The scenarios have been repeated to the point of being painful. Sugar-sweet subs with outstretched tongues and pretty, tear-stained faces. Dominant alphas with sweat-glistening skin and eyes rolling with pleasure.

Dragons fucked other dragons; orgies and bacchanals were staged; they were subjugated and subdued. They growled, moaned, squealed, and purred; some were fucked like a port slut, and some were licked for hours until they passed out from hyperstimulation. Some masturbated in front of your window, enjoying the fact that you were there to watch them, and there were others who would spend their heat and ruts in front of your window. 

The list could go on and on: bondage, darkphilia, breeding, voyeurism, humiliation, objectification, and breathing games.

You were saturated with this game. 

There were so many ways in which you could spend your evenings in the company of others. It was all designed to excite you, to make you beg, and to make you plead. Each of your visitors secretly hoped that one day you would strip off your luxurious furs and assume the position that was right for them—submissive, naked, and ready to accept whatever it was they were giving you. 

It was an act of power; it was a position of strength, but here you were the strength. You were power. 

No one would ever have the temerity to lay a hand on you. Goddesses are always untouchable.

You entertained yourselves by teasing them, mocking them, and fanning their flames of desire and passion. Dragons are creatures that are very dependent on their emotions and their desires; they feed on their power and their magic, but when they do not get what they want, it burns them from the inside; it breaks and crumbles them, like a cookie that has been bitten.

It was delicious, but you were full. Thank you, next.

You never denied that you were a sadist; you had a taste for pain; maybe it was a kind of revenge for the destruction of your family; maybe not. They came to you for that feeling; the dragons wanted to be punished and tamed, and the feeling of pain made them cum harder. As they say, Orgasm is a little death.

You could play this game for hours on end, letting the fur expose your boobs and pressing it against the cold glass as you went. It was magnificent—tall and plump, as if it had been milked with milk—with pink nipples the color of magnolia blossoms. There was something animalistically seductive about it—an appeal to their natural reproductive instincts—that evil thought of possible pregnancy. Their whimpering made you laugh, and the sounds they made were so sweet—desperate pleas and long, long moans.

"Let me taste you; I want it so much. I was a good boy, such a good boy."

There were other days when you would let your hands run over the bare skin of your thighs, leaving long red streaks that stood in erotic contrast to the silk of your pale skin. You smeared the clear, shimmering liquid of your juices along the line of your neck, in that most exciting place for dragons, where their teeth locked in a mating mark, as if branding their mate in the most perverse of affiliations.

"Tell me I belong to you; please say it. I'll do anything you don't want. Own me, use me; I want to be your toy.".

Sometimes other girls would be brought into your shop window to put on an erotic show. Exquisite nymphs and rosy-cheeked Lolitas would explore your tender skin with their soft, wet tongues, leaving traces of hungry kisses, until at last their lips would close on the most intimate spot between your thighs.

On days like this, the whole of 'Eros' would shake with furious, jealous growls and thunderclaps. Dragons were terrible possessive, and even though the "scene" itself would excite the hell out of them, the jealousy would burn through their veins from the inside out, like a deadly poison.

"You belong to me, and only to me. You are mine, mine and mine alone. I will tear this girl apart, and we will fuck in her blood until there are no more conscious thoughts left in your pretty little head, until you remember nothing but my name.".

But no matter what their words were to you, you didn't have a care in the world. Nobody would dare touch the goddess, and if they tried, they would not only lose their hands but also get killed.

That was the law of the New Empire—all the people who were left were protected and sheltered in an incredible way. There were very few of you, and if there had been any harm to even one of you, it would have been a real tragedy.   Only once has there been a breach of that law, and the consequences have been terrible. No one wants a repeat.

In any case, your life in the Garden of Eros was a pleasure. Maybe it was some kind of perverse way of looking at the world and love, but you didn't have any desire to change anything; everything was great.

Have you ever wondered if there might be another version of you out there? Perhaps, somewhere in a parallel universe, humans would still exist as the dominant species, their countries and cities would be prosperous, and you would be living a different life—a normal one. There, in that other universe, that other Aphrodite—no, not Aphrodite—you would have an ordinary name, not a divine one, something cute, something sweet, and always with a hint of shyness. It is probably there that you would have experienced your first love, that you would dream of a prince who would take you off into the sunset, and that "and they lived happily ever after." You would have been embarrassed to talk about sex, and you would have blushed horribly if his fingers had been in your knickers. But you weren't her. And she wasn't you. You don't want to be saved from sinning; you want to become one of them. You want to experience forbidden pleasures. You want to subjugate and dominate.

You're not in need of a prince; you've already had a king, or rather, eight kings. The day will come when everything you have ever dreamed of will come true, even if you haven't met any of the Hala yet.

You want power; you want to sit on a golden throne in a castle high up in the sky, and so it shall be. They say that love is a great strength, but they fail to mention that it is also the greatest weakness. And you, like no one else, know how to use it to your advantage.

This is not a pink fairy tale. There are no rainbow ponies pooping rainbows and eating fairy dust. No, this is a rotten world. It is full of debauchery, violence, and sex. You could say, "Come and rescue me. I'm waiting for  you," but no, you have to rephrase it as "I'm waiting for you to crawl on your knees and lick my heels, and from that moment on, I will own you.".

Yes, that sounds much better.

It's already eight o'clock; time to get ready; you're leaving soon.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the most famous glass house in the New Empire. Tonight we have wet aesthetic cunnilingus as our main course, and for dessert, a mind-blowing orgasm. You have a choice of starters. Drinks are on the house. We accept cash and checks. If you wish, you can leave a tip for one of our "jewels.".

Our hope is that your time at Eros will be an unforgettable experience.

[muzansfangs]

Game over.

Starring: Satoru Gojo x f!reader x Ryomen Sukuna;

Format: one-shot;

Warnings: nsfw, threesome, alternative universe– University AU, vaginal sex, vaginal fingering, oral sex (Satoru!receiving), hair pulling, unprotected sex, semi-public sex, kind of power imbalance, rough sex, slut shaming, praise kink, creampie, use of pet names, language, dirty talk, impact play, size kink;

Plot: A basketball match. Satoru and Sukuna, two rivals ready to risk it all for winning the annual Cup. Becoming the head cheerleader comes with some peculiar duties and thus you found yourself pleasing Satoru right before the match. When he left you unsatisfied, Sukuna suggested to help you out in exchange of a ‘little favour’, in case he won the competition. You agreed, sealing a deal with the devil that earned you nothing but an extrosensorial experience, when you end up becoming the real object of the team leaders’s desires.

﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏

Your eyes were staring deeply into his piercing blue ones, his hand holding your ponytail so tightly your scalp felt numb, as he thrusted his hips forward relentlessly. Your make up was a mess at this point. Drool was dribbling down your chin, the tears brimming in your eyes were making your vision blurry and your throat contracted almost convulsively to adjust to the intrusion of his cock.

"Fuck— Are you sure you're a cheerleader? Taking my cock like that, you seem more like porn actress, you know?" Satoru hoarsely breathed out, gritting his teeth afterwards as he felt the tip of your nose pressing onto his navel. It was too much. Your jaw stung at that point, your mind blank, while you squeezed your eyes shut to focus on breathing through your nose.

Satoru grunted up above, his thrusts sloppy, by the time someone knocked on the door with urgency. The match was about to start and the squad needed their Captain to define the last details of their strategy.

Satoru Gojo, a myth, a legend around the Campus, was the Leader of one of the two basketball teams annually contending for the University Cup. The Blue Sorcerers had been winning for three consecutive years under the lead of Satoru. He did not feel any pressure for the upcoming match, choosing to fuck your mouth instead. It was a ritual, or so you had been told by the outgoing head cheerleader: before the match, whoever inherited that position had to please Satoru Gojo in the changing room.

You were kind of baffled by the unconventional duty weighing on you, but it was not like you were against it. After all, it was Satoru Gojo you were talking about. You had been daydreaming about him for a while now. Watching him training every single day under the scorching sunlight was not enough anymore. If you could get the chance to be bent over by him without patiently waiting for him to pick you among the crowd of his fangirls, well, screw your morals, you were totally in.

It had been quite simple to settle things up. Apparently, he already knew you had been chosen to be the next head cheerleader. Therefore, when you had subtly sneaked into the designated place for the filthy deed to be done, he was not surprised to see you. He had encouraged you to drop to your knees right away, claiming you did not have much time and now you still felt your cheeks boiling at the shameless way you had obediently fallen at his feet. Pathetic, was it not?

"I'm coming" Satoru sassed, his answer sufficing both for you as a warning and for the player calling out his Captain from the other side of the door.

A soft groan erupting from his throat was all your brain registered, when a warm, thick liquid flooded down your sore throat and he abruptly pulled out of your mouth with a pop. You almost gagged, the pads of your fingers wiping away the tears from your face as you swallowed whole, the salty taste of his seed making your tastebuds explode. You were a mess. The sky blue ribbon in your hair was undone, your panties were soaked, your clit throbbed in need and you had to go back to the girls in twenty minutes.

As you heavily tried to steady your breath, palms planted onto the floor, you looked up at him in a daze. How were you supposed to compose yourself and root for his team, when your pussy spasmodically clenched around nothing? You were surely going to be replaced as the head cheerleader, after the imminent failure awaiting for you in the gym.

“I ain’t got time for cuddles or whatever you want. I have a match to win, darling. — he promptly said, winking at you before grasping a towel and handing it to you in a hurry — I will get out first. See you later, alright? I might need to ask you for a second round or something” he fretted, before fixing his clothes and jogging towards the exit.

The sound of the door closing behind him made you flinch, as you sighed and stood from the kneeling position you were in. He had literally used you like a fuck toy and did not even worry about you reaching your climax. Well, Satoru Gojo was a selfish brat. The hot stud only chased his own relief, apparently. Tossing the towel away in frustration, you turned towards the mirror and hastily tried to give a sense to your hair and make up.

You could clearly hear the screams and the burst of applause to incite the teams to make their appearence, eachoing through the corridors. You definitely needed to get a grip and join your friends.

“Damn it” you hissed, dashing towards the door and opening it, only to bump your head against what felt like a wall, but actually was a broad chest.

You winced softly, hand massaging your forehead as you flicked your gaze up. The red hues scrutinizing your face were unmistakable, just like the red t-shirt he was wearing. The pink hair, the tattoos adorning his face and biceps, the smug grin he flashed at you.

Ryomen Sukuna.

“Watch out, doll” he croaked out, staring you down as he folded his arms against his chest, his imposing height making you feel like a hapless ant about to be squashed by a boot on the concrete.

“Yeah, sorry, I really have to go now” you replied, faking a polite smile as you whipped your head to the opposite direction and started to walk away from him. You did not want any trouble, especially with him, the new leader of The Raging Curses.

However, he was clearly not done with you. His hand suddenly wrapped around your wrist made you gasp. Eyes widening in panic, you twirled around to face him again. No good came from him, ever. Especially when he showed off that shit-eating grin you loathed oh so much. You had barely interacted since he had arrived at your Campus. You shared some classes with him and he always was that guy disturbing the professors.

“Was it Satoru the guy who ran out of the changing room less than five minutes ago?” Sukuna quizzically asked you, arching a dark eyebrow up as you felt your stomach churn in apprehension.

“No” you blurted out way too quickly for your own likings.

“Don’t fucking lie. I was waiting for him to check if the rumors were true. I have seen him fumbling with his sweatpants on his way out” he sternly said, his grip around your wrist tightening even so slightly as he tugged you towards him.

Stumbling on your feet, you glared up at him “Why does it concern you?” you asked him coldly, your heart drumming in your chest. Your breath was uneven and you truly feared you were going to collapse for the pressure. Well, Satoru not only had denied you an orgasm but he had also left you to deal with that brute everyone hated and tried to avoid all across the Campus.

“Actually, I am glad he had his dick sucked before the match. It’s well-known that sex before a competition is detrimental to the performance” he stated confidently, abruptly letting go of you, albeit he was standing still way too close for you to feel comfortable. You could smell his strong cologne and you recognized it to be Sauvage, much to your dismay.

That guy exuded masculinity and your hormones were making it hard for you to think straight.

Your upper lip twitched at his vulgar comment, though, and you fought back the instinct to slap him out of irritation. You were still tense, your hands trembling as you scoffed and tried to walk away once again “Okay, fine, good for you then. Bye” you dismissed him, forcing your legs to take heavy steps towards the stairs leading you to the gym.

Once again, though, his voice stopped you and this time you froze solid. Cold sweat collecting on the back of your neck, you faltered as you clenched your fists down your sides and hesitantly glanced at him from above your shoulder “What did you say?” you feebly inquired, hoping you had somehow misheard his question.

The pink-haired guy smirked and cocked his head to the side “He hasn’t even stuck a finger into your cunt, right?” he repeated himself, not a single ounce of remorse in his voice, the choice of words had been specifically oriented to achieve a certain kind of reaction from you.

You gaped, unable to move from where you were standing along with firing something back at him for several seconds. You had no time for that and, honestly, you were not in the mood to talk about your debatable sex life with a natural born bastard like him.

“Can you stop pesting me? Fuck off” you uttered, only for him to chuckle and ambling towards you with his typical jaunty step.

He was demonically perfect. You had to admit it to yourself, even though he was a despicable guy. A red flag, obviously, collecting hearts in his imaginary black-pitch jar.

“Come on, doll, I was kidding! — he started, winking at you before checking the area as if he was trying to detect any presence besides the two of you in that desert corridor — What if I want to help you out? It might be difficult for you to swing your legs in the air, landing in splits, or doing whatever shitty moves your choreography requires, if your clit throbs like that…” he seraphically said, the angles of his lips lifting upwards as his ruby eyes travelled up and down your frame.

Small. You felt so small and vulnerable under his attentive gaze. That wolfish grin never ceased to make your legs quiver in both dread and arousal. He was blatantly messing with your head, with your feelings and your body was screaming for that release.

“You are sick” you stated, trying to resist the temptation to give in.

“Isn’t what Satoru and you have done in there sick as well? Always jabbing your fingers at me, when he is just as devious as I am. — Sukuna chided you in a mocking tone, leaning his shoulder against the wall — I am serious, pretty thing. Would you like me to help you out?” he whispered, causing you to press your thighs together to relieve the pulsing need between your legs.

You hated him. You hated this. You hated Satoru for having put you in such a compromising position.

“We don’t even have the time for that” you hissed through gritted teeth, while the cheering crowd above you seemed to get impatient with every passing second. You were stuck in a whole other dimension, questioning your conscience and cursing yourself for having accepted to prostrate yourself at Satoru’s feet. Along with even considering the possibility of allowing him, the infamous Ryomen Sukuna, to please you in the middle of a corridor.

Your stream of consciousness, however, was soon interrupted by the player’s clarification.

“Oh, doll, I need less than two minutes to make you cream on my fingers” he remarked, causing your knees to buckle under his magnetic gaze.

The mere idea of getting rid of such a frustrating problem was surely giving you the incentive to agree and let him have his way with you, but you knew that if you gave him your consent to help you out, you would have also been expected to repay him in some wicked way. Was it worth it, though? And, above all, what could he ever asked of you to make you reluctant to keep your word?

“What’s the price?” you asked him through gritted teeth, mouth dry as he reached his hand out to grasp your hand and push you against the wall.

Caged between his massive body and the cool surface at your back, you knew your morals were completely gone at this point. Already bent by Satoru, they had been now disrupted by his rival. The moment his fingers crept up your thigh, smoothly slithering up to push the dampened fabric of your panties to the side, you lolled your head back against the wall and hooked your leg around his hip, granting him the access to your aching core.

“If Satoru loses the match, I want to fuck you” he declared, making your cheeks heat up at the mere thought of it happening.

You nodded your head, eager to feel his touch, to let his fingers explore your warm cavern and push you quickly over the edge. You were not worried about the deal, as you felt the pads of his fingers draw irregular figure eights on your bundle of nerves. You were sure Satoru was going to win. He always won. Soft moans falling from your lips, Sukuna grinned and soaked in the sight of you arching your back as his index and forefinger plunged deeply into your core.

“You think he’s going to win, don’t you?” he taunted you, thrusting his fingers into your soppy cunt.

Your eyes were half-lidded, thighs quivering as you choked out a brief answer “He has to win”.

Sukuna chuckled, speeding up his movements to reach that spongy spot within your walls that always drove girls nuts. Watery vision, you whimpered, not caring anymore if anyone passing by could hear you or see you like that. Your breath was erratic, his fingers curling into you made your mind go fuzzy as your hands clutched his t-shirt in your fists for dear life.

In a matter of seconds, your inner walls tightened around his fingers and you let out a strained moan of pleasure as the knot in your lower abdomen snapped. Your essence coated his fingers, your body finally relaxing as Sukuna smirked and slipped his fingers out of you. You were panting, flattening your back against the wall in the aftermath of a mind-blowing orgasm.

You watched him wrap his lips around his fingers, sucking them clean right before your longing eyes as he then hummed and took a step back from you “Now I am definitely fucking hoping Satoru will lose” he commented, before gesturing for you to see him later.

Fixing your panties underneath your skirt, you let the recent events wash over you, knowing damn wall that this little stunt had left you yearning for more. And when you ran up to your girls, white and blue pompons in hands, ready to cheer for The Blue Sorcerers, you realized that maybe Satoru deserved to lose, that your brain kept screaming in pain for wanting Sukuna, that letting his rival take you, the girl he thought was only destined to him for the season, was the right punishment for having been a presumptuous bastard.

Just like that, you led your team to the middle of the gym. All eyes on you, you began to dance for supporting Satoru’s team as if nothing had happened. But every single time you locked eyes with him, he saw defiance in your eyes. Swaying your hips, cheering the players up, you felt your heart thrumming in your chest in anticipation. Standing on the front line, you made sure to give it your best shot, while feeling Sukuna’s eyes trailing up and down your body in hunger. Maybe he was not just going to play for the glory, but for asserting his dominance on you, something Satoru claimed to be his and his alone.

When the two men shook hands, they coldly wished each other a silent ‘good luck’. The coin flipped by the umpire decided who was going to have the ball first and you closed your eyes, inhaling sharply as you heard Sukuna sneering. Only two words left his lips.

“Game on”.

Every time he scored a point, Sukuna made sure to look at you. Pride in his fiery eyes as Satoru cussed in distress, bickering with his fellow mates to focus and try to catch up with the opponents. Yet, when you saw a plethora of red and black flags waving and fluttering all around you, a shaky breath left your lips. Reality tasted bittersweet on your tongue as you lost yourself among the overjoyed crowd of cheering people.

Satoru Gojo had lost.

He was visibly baffled, shocked even, as he angrily tossed away a towel his friend Suguru had handed to him. His jaw was clenched as he kicked the door on his way out, people around you celebrating the victors as Sukuna’s eyes searched for yours among the crowd. A promise was a promise and your legs started to move almost under the influence of his demanding glare.

The dull sound of your back hitting a locker, knocking the air out of your lungs temporary, was just the beginning of the lewd act taking place after the match. As soon as he had gotten you alone, Sukuna had literally grasped your jaw and his tongue had invaved your mouth right away. The passionate kiss was meant to be a distraction from his hands roughly hiking your skirt up to tug your panties down your thighs.

The way he had picked you up, your legs wrapping around his waist, as he slammed your back against the locker had left you breathless. He was hungry but so were you at this point. Your hands gripped his shirt, prompting him to take it off to expose his chiseled abs to your lustful stare. Not much was said as he lowered his pants down enough to free his bulge from the restraints of his boxers and, while your tongue began to trace the patterns of his tattoos, he ran the head of his cock down your folds to collect your juices.

“What the fuck, you’re still soaked… You wanted this so badly, I could see the way you internally squealed out in joy when I scored. Maybe you should become my cheerleader, not his” Sukuna rasped out, pushing just the tip into your opening to test your reaction.

You whined, mouth hanging open as you tried to push yourself even closer to him to get another inch into you. You craved him, you needed him more than anything else right now.

“Fuck… You’re so needy. Here, scream my name, let them hear you” Sukuna rasped out, before snapping his hips forwards and sheathing himself completely into you. A strained moan erupted from your throat, as your walls clamped down onto him so deliciously, as you buried your head on the crook of his neck.

He groaned at your tightness, his hands squeezing your ass roughly, not caring for possibly leaving bruises on your skin as he began to set out a punishing pace. His thrusts truly left you breathless, his girth stretching you out so perfectly every time he pulled slightly out before thrusting in again. You were loud, too loud and someone clearly heard you, but you did not care enough about your reputation at the moment.

“Who are you?” Sukuna suddenly blurted out, his pace brutal as you whimpered out in pleasure and a sting of pain.

“W–What?” you meekly babbled out.

“Who are you, doll?” he repeated, hinting at something specific that only as he reached your cervix you realized.

“Satoru’s cheerleder”.

“And who is fucking you?”.

“S-Sukuna! Ryomen Sukuna!” you breathlessly said, right before the door banged opened and you both snapped your head towards the unexpected guess.

Your stomach dropped when a pair of sky blue eyes met yours, while you heard a dark laughter rumble from deep into Sukuna’s chest. Of course he was amused by that. Satoru closed the door with a foot, his eyes never leaving the scene playing before his eyes as he approached you. You did not know what to say, merely whimpering as Sukuna had only opted for slowing down his thrusts, not stopping them at all.

“I need her. Get your fucking hands off of her” Satoru flatly stated, earning a scornful glance from the pink-haired man.

“Ah, no, mate. There’s no way in hell I’mma stop now. If you haven’t noticed it yet, I’m balls deep into her. Waut for your turn” Sukuna grumbled, resuming his fast pace as you squirmed in total shock and on the verge of cumming all over his dick.

It almost felt surreal the way they talked about you, about using use as if you were not even there, as if you were a mere trophy to use to let them steam off the stress. Your vision was blurry as you clung to Sukuna, mewling at the way he held you still.

“S–Satoru, I–” you tried to retaliate, but it only made things worse as he gripped his hand and grasped a fistfull of your hair, earning a pained wince from you. His face was so close to yours you could feel his breath on your lips as he spoke.

“Shut your mouth, you slut. You could not wait until the end of the match to be stuffed full, could you? Fine, open that stupid, disgusting mouth of yours and make me cum” he hissed through gritted teeth, as Sukuna only pulled out of you to let you drop on your knees in front of his rival.

Was he willing to share? Were you going to be taken by them contemporary?

Your mouth watered and you had no idea of why your pussy clenched like that at the mere thought of pleasuring them both at the same time. Right, pleasuring them because you knew that once you became a piece of meat between them, your pleasure would have most likely became secondary. Did you want that, though? Yes. Was this something that could happen once again? No.

With your pleading out flicking up to lock with Satoru’s ones, you chewed on your lower lip thoughtfully, pondering what to do, before eventually nodding your head and watching as he tugged his pants down and knelt in front of you. Your mouth was right in front of the pinkish tip of his cock as he gave it a few languid strokes, before tapping with on your lips to part them opened.

“Man, you’re so pissed you might pop a vessel” Sukuna taunted Satoru before leaning his cock towards your core and sliding back into you with groan. His large hands gripped your hips possessively, as your moaned out around Satoru’s cock.

Drool ran down your chin as you swung your arms towards Satoru’s thighs for balance.

“Shut up. — Satoru deadpanned, pushing his cock into your mouth too quickly, causing you to almost gag around him — And you better be careful not to use your teeth, little slut” he then chimed, staring down around you sucking eagerly on his lenght.

The tempo they chose was mind-blowing. The sound of skin against skin echoed through the room like a pornographic soundtrack, as both Satoru and Sukuna’s grunts made goosebumps raise on your skin. Full of them, shared like an antelope between two vicious lions, you felt yourself driven towards your orgasm.

“Good girl… Coming on my cock already? Yeah, that’s it, give it all to me” Sukuna rasped out, landing a spank on your jiggling ass.

Satoru hummed and twitched into your mouth, sinking his foreteeth onto his bottom lip not to groan too loudly. But it was all too much to prolong it further, when Sukuna buried himself into you until the base, his heavy balls slapping your clit one last time, you came too and you shivered at the feeling of your juices mixing into you.

Satoru sighed, deciding not to let you feel as satisfied as you maybe wished. Right before he exploded down your throat, he pulled out of your mouth and let his cum drip down your face, down the length of your nose, letting it slide down your cheeks because he knew you were fine with it as well, because after all, you were a good head cheerleader.

And you had just fulfilled your mission.

AUTHOR NOTE.

Hello there! I am staring at the screen of my laptop not knowing what to say. Writing threesome is kind of fun, I got to say, albeit I hope I will be able to get better at it through the time. Let me know what you think about it!

As per usual, likes, comments and re-posts are greatly appreciated!

Until next,

X O X O

TAGS: @axesfordays @brittscafe @lawlerek @axeballs @sadmonke @cyberdazetragedy @some-thing-else-possible @genderfluidnuggettt @getoxmahito @levenlike11 @badbclub @natsukicookies @reinerbraunsodmgear @poisonssworld @allypercocett @sad-darksoul @superspideyparker @tamarasblogs @goose-peachy @fandomsinthegalaxies @lynnsemptymind @the-dark-creature @oneofthesevensins @devianisnottaken @omgimboredsoimhere @mirrormirrorpartii @dinomeow @eyeballpussy @camilalexa93 @huboi @teonawrites @o725v @kikosamus @rose-silk @flakeygod @sukunamylovexoxo @waiting4themoon @insanegirlbloging @ichikanu @tartagl @vimzya

[foone]

We build bases on the moon. Colonize the planets of the gas giants, terraform Mars and Venus, build orbital habitats around everything with enough gravity to hold it up. We invent FTL, and send ships named after dreams to every star we have cataloged. We have rulebooks and plans and endless ideas of what we do when finally we meet another spacefairing race, but it never happens. We don't hail any vulcan cruisers above the skies of Epsilon Eridani and get in no laser battles with a star destroyer in the scarlet light of Wolf 359. No one responds to our endless messages sent to the heavens.

Life? We find that everywhere. If a rock is big enough to hold onto enough atmosphere, we find something growing there. Maybe just a moss or some protokarotic slime, but there'll be something growing there. We spend centuries cataloging the flora and fauna (and everything in between) of a million stars, and never meet anyone who can say hello back.

Not yet at least. In the unending sunset of the Mu Herculis system there's the Peterson's Mermaids who are just developing language and starting on metallurgy. The vampires of Fomalhaut b have begun to write down numbers, and we expect them to have a full language sometime within the next hundred thousand years. There's no animal life on Gliese 499 d, but we have reason to suspect the clonal organism inhabiting most of the northern forest is verging on sapience. And we don't even have time to get into the theory that 55 Cancri B (the red dwarf orbiting the star Copernicus) is a living being in it's own right.

There's plenty of life to study. Lots to learn. But we never meet anyone we can greet in friendship, and there's no star gods out here in the black. We've looked everywhere.

Humanity takes decades to come to terms with the reality of the situation. But we do, of course. We can't give up now.

We searched endlessly for the ancient aliens with all the answers, who built hyperspace portal networks before our sun even burnt, and couldn't find them. We settled for locating our brothers and sisters amongst the stars, another race that had fought their way up from the trees and into the stars, and couldn't find them either.

We always dreamed of finding a parent we could look up to, or a sibling we could share the sky with. They weren't there.

Humanity settles into their role. It wasn't what we hoped for, but we'll be the big brother/big sister to the life of the universe. Not the parent, no. We didn't create them, and we don't control them, but we'll protect them. We'll help them when they fall, and let them make their own mistakes when they need to. But we're here to be the role model and the helper and the partner in crime, the one we wanted but never had.

We keep searching, of course. And our observers on a thousand planets report that there are hints of an ancient race, older than writing, mentioned in the myths of endless cultures. Gods from the skies who stopped the flood, who ended the plague, who taught them to plant a new crop, who stopped the war just as the bombs began to fall, and who led them to a new land when the star began to flare.

We investigate these rumors and myths and stories, just in case we missed the Ancients we always wanted to find. But at the heart of these stories, there's always a description of the helpers: bipedal, two arms, two eyes, no fur, no wings. And if the species has developed art and writing, there'll often be a drawing of a figure, standing alongside a local god or great leader, and nearby the legend will read "humans".

Art historians and religious studies scholars are amused at how often they give us halos. Someone even suggests redesigning our force-suit geometry to reinforce the impression, but cooler heads prevail. We're not doing this for praise or worship. We're doing this because no one could do it for us.

Millenia later after we've been joined among the stars by our sibling races, a mermaid and a vampire are idly chatting while they wait for their turn through the portal network around Fornax A. "What drove the humans to do all this? Why did they take it upon themselves to search every corner of the universe and decide to protect and shelter and guide the many younger races of the stars?". The mermaid shrugs, which is hard to do without shoulders. "I think they just wanted friends."

The vampire looks out the observation window, at the thousands of ships from hundreds of spacefairing races, waiting in line or jumping through phase gates to the other side of the cosmos. "Well, they've got them now."

There's a beep from a console, and a warning light activates as the ship accelerates towards a shimmering gate. Our children play among the stars, without fear of the dark. There's no monsters there, we checked. There's only us.

[blueberrypancakesworld]

Day.20 ~ Haunting and pausing ~ Hallowtober

Thranduil x wife!reader

warning : fluff, kissing

summary : Four times a year, the royal couple has to ride out of Mirkwood into the forest to look for the perfect components for the crowns. And so, in the beautiful dark of autumn, the couple rode out again, with a few quick discoveries and loving gestures like last year. What could be more beautiful than love in the fall, when you're bound to live forever anyway?

info : So the hallowtober is finally moving on and I will catch up on the missed ones, but I am happy to finally be able to give you something again. Enjoy reading :)

masterlist

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Life is transient for some, a curse for some, and a blessing for some. But for elves, life is as insignificant as the blink of an eye. It was as good as non-existent for them, why should it be when you live forever, when you break away from this world and go to a better realm into the light of eternity, where everything is so beautiful that you feel like you are among the stars in the sky.

That's just how it was and that's how it would always be, not only for the elves, the old and new creatures of the world, who would last for centuries and millennia before they disappeared and became legends and myths like elves.

That was life in Middle-earth and that would not change, not for the simple farmers of men, the dwarves in the mountains or the Mirkwood King Thranduil and his wife, his beloved light of life.

Both had seen the seasons come and go and while her husband took no conditional joy in any of the repeating events, he was all the more pleased when he saw the shine in her eyes when autumn came to the surrounding lands.

When the colors changed to a reddish orange and the sun seemed to bathe everything in a liquid gold, it was the months, the passing moments that pleased the queen the most, especially the day when the royal couple set out to find new parts for the crowns that they had made every year. ,,If you're ready, my light, we can go,” she heard his voice.

She looked into his eyes, which had been gazing at her with the same love for thousands of years, and saw the royal couple riding on the elks with a group of soldiers as a patrol behind them.

But even if she had seen something, she had learned to ignore it. ,,Nothing stands in the way of our harvest except our ability to see too much grace in everything,” she replied, hearing the silent smile from his lips before the couple swung themselves onto the majestic animals and rode out through the castle gates, over the bridge and into the forest.

A ride they had both done thousands of times for each season, four times a year, and it never got boring, the forest had beauty and treasures that could be rediscovered over and over again.

She looked to her left and saw her husband's thoughtful expression, the slight narrowing of his eyes as he considered which plants, flowers and berries he would choose. He looked cute, she thought, remembering his first years in office when he was not yet fully aware of his power.

Taking her hand from the reins and going to his, she squeezed it lightly, seeing how she brought him out of his thoughts and he gave her a briefly wounded look before shaking his head at himself and giving her a kiss on the forehead, ,,Thank you, my light,” he said, and the couple continued on their way.

Sometimes it only took an hour and they were back, much to the delight of Legolas, who wanted to spend more time with his parents. Sometimes, however, it took hours if the couple could not make up their minds and felt that the forest had other concerns to share.

Being the king and queen of Mirkwood was both a curse and a blessing, but whenever she saw his loving gaze, when he took her hand and kissed her on the forehead, she knew that everything would be all right.

When the sun shone through the thicket of trees and bushes, warming her skin and bringing the forest to life, she saw the orange among the bushes and made her stag stop.

,,You're thinking too much again, my dear… I'll take this pumpkin with maple and oak wood,” she announced to him and to the group, who had a basket ready to collect the said ingredients from the surrounding area , although they had already gathered it themselves, but after they both sensed something approaching from afar that was not good for them, they knew that the safety of the kingdom and especially of the two of them was greater.

She couldn't stop the smile that crept across her lips and her sensitive ears caught the snort that her husband let out, ,,Once again I am surprised by your connection to small things, things, my love,” he said in a slightly snide tone that turned into laughter when he saw her bewildered expression and he brushed an apologetic cheek against her.

She felt the cool rings on her skin before she leaned forward to return his kiss, which they exchanged before they went back, knowing that her beloved would make the same choice of crown as she had.

If he chose the crown alone, they would stand here for another hundred years and make no progress. ,,My heart is yours,” she heard him murmur before she turned back to the castle and ran her fingers over his one last time before he followed her.

The couple made their way back to the palace, where they were not only greeted by a relieved Legolas, but also received a warm welcome from the king, who fetched a fine wine from the cellar for the loving ruling couple.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[rose-tinted-kalopsia]

i promised ... and i owe ... so many of you thoughts on xavier's "no restraint" card..... SO HERE IT IS, UNDER THE CUT !! i ramble a lot so it's very long 🫶🫶

(this was so hard guys. this card was a whole entire shock factor.)

first of all...... please delight in this reaction image i can offer you. because. any of you who are reading this rn know exactly which part of the card i'm referring to when i say:

(in conclusion, my legs are open)

.. ANYWAY !!!!!!!!! CLEARS THROAT

things we're going to talk about? well, it's me, so (A) character development, (B) relationship development, but also (C) WHATEVER THE HELL WENT ON IN THAT KINDLED MOMENTS SSCENE <3

(A-1) Character Development; Xavier

over the past few cards we've been having of him, i think it's safe to say that we're familiar with a number of his mannerisms, and i've also talked about a lot why that is and what goes into that.

but a lot of it changes in this card. and it's so much more than just the moment of realization he has in 21 days, too. enough that—aside from what we know eventually takes place—we can safely assume that all this occurs after that card chronologically.

exhibit a; tendency to do things on his own.

this is something that i may not have talked about as much, but i'm pretty sure we all know it's there—that xavier has always carried this tendency to do things all on his own. there's multiple examples of this, and it goes way way way back to his anecdotes.

i.e. with "passing by" and "when shooting stars fall", we already have prime examples—

"Whether it's tasks assigned by the higher-ups or senior members, Xavier always completes them quickly and methodically. He works until they're done, but nothing more."

"Xavier stands alone amidst a circle of fallen bodyguards. In the corner, Lawrence is tied up with bed sheets, his neck at an odd angle."

"I notice the wounds on his hands and face. Catching his breath, he holds out his hand, showing me a small, glowing Protocore. This is the first time he's looked at me with desperation in his eyes. When he moves closer, I notice a ring of light around his neck. It's a striking, suffocating red."

in his lightseeker myth, too, he's also the one to take the initiative and look for an alternative to philos' sacrifice. he leaves mc behind, and he leaves jeremiah behind—it isn't until later that he's able to enlist the help of others and form the backtrackers, and even then, they all recognize that he's the most capable one among them. in fact, it's also evident in "from the stars" from world underneath:

"As the leader of the Backtrackers ... Asteroids, turbulence, and the collapse of wormholes couldn't tear Traceback ll's team apart. With Xavier there, they managed to break through the universe's most impregnable spacetime barrier."

"It seems like everyone had a reason to give up and leave halfway except you. Well, you did too, but you wouldn't because no one could replace you. We all thought that you'd still make it to the end, even if you were the only one left."

in the main story, we're also faced with multiple scenarios of xavier going off on his own to do hunter duties, or otherwise a little extra in order to find the protocore that he needs—"heartstring symphony" is also proof of that.

and lumiere's myth is no different, nor is the whole legend behind lumiere in the first place.

"Xavier is missing. He didn't show up on the set, and there was no sign of him at home either ... Since then, I've never received a Wanderer alert on my watch again. Just like Xavier predicted, the dark clouds gradually dispersed, and the heavy rain slowly became a gentle drizzle until it ceased completely. Breathtaking evening clouds replaced them. Dusk falls, accompanied by millions of glittering lights creating a spectacular meteor shower. Long streaks reminiscent of contrails are etched across the sky. Meanwhile, the newest updates are being broadcast repeatedly on the massive screen in the heart of Azure Square. The previously rampant Wanderers have disappeared overnight, leaving behind only some suspicious Protocores ... The doomsday panic, which overtook the city like an inflating balloon, shatters silently as if pierced by a pin."

"Right on cue, my watch loudly sounds the alarm, and I hear the roars of Wanderers from the flames. At that moment, Xavier vanishes, and a beam of light with as much force as a rainbow piercing through sunshine cuts through the collapsed, burning factory. In the blink of an eye, he leaps out of the raging fire, his sword still coated in Metaflux that has yet to dissipate."

"'Threat levels are at least A. I have to go—' 'Stay here. I'll be right back.' Xavier pushes down my shoulder, and a strange red light around his neck is quickly concealed by his collar."

"The red light on Xavier's neck flickers wildly. He swings his weapon, sending out a lightblade to kill the remaining, struggling Wanderer. Smoke created by the dissipated energy rises in all directions. He leans against the wall, trying to steady his wobbling form after the intense battle. 'Abnormal vital signs have been detected. Excessive use of Evol. Disengage from combat immediately and receive treatment...' Xavier turns off the annoying warning on his watch and lifts his gaze to the entrance of an alley, where several shadows are closing in on him."

moreover is the fact that from world underneath, we also know that his collar acts as a suppressor:

"'...Light Evol has been detected. Evolver's Evol limit cannot be defined.' 'Any attempts to probe its limit triggers a special neck suppressor, which prevents the Evolver from using their full power.'"

and yet despite that, he still continues to do what he does, anyway.

a lot of things play into it, and i talk a lot about how his upbringing as a prince must have largely contributed to habits like this. he's used to doing things on his own, and he's expected to, in a way—all the burdens and duties placed upon him the moment he was born, when he bever had any say in it. already in his "when shooting stars fall" anecdote, he's isolated from everyone and constantly surrounded by bodyguards, and mc acted as his only source of freedom by reaching for him past that barrier.

it's also worth noting that most (if not all) of this that he's been doing, is all and always for mc, too—as if it comes back full cycle. it's how he shows his love for her, because it's really the only way he knows how to.

which also brings attention to his always and ever highlighted communication issues—because common in all of these examples up until this card, is that he's been vague about it.

never giving the full answer.

never truly explaining what he's been up to.

and it's something that mc knows; he keeps his secrets well, and they've never really truly talked about these things.

but "no restraint" plays this out a little differently.

"Even though I still want to ask him about where he went, it's only a matter of time before more of Henrik's men arrive. Escaping is our main priority."

And yet;

"I realized I was being followed, which is why I didn't contact you. I managed to shake them off, but I was concerned they might catch up to me. That's why I searched for the Protocore by myself."

—"Why are you suddenly talking about this?"

"...No reason."

xavier willingly explains.

mc doesn't particularly ask—yet he says it anyway. to clear the air, to maybe make it known that he is putting in an effort.

in this situation, he hasn't derived from his habit of going off on his own, but he provides a good explanation of it. there's mediation; he's saying that he trusts her, and he wants to ensure that there is nothing for her to be worried about.

"I just wanted to say I'm not the kind of partner who would leave you behind... I'm also not one of those young people who take things for granted, either."

and he further willingly explains when she does probe him, replying with a reflection of the excuse she gave one of the bodyguards just to be able to get information out of him.

BUT, MOSTLY—

"i know you know" is xavier directly addressing the fact that their relationship has been curated around this trust that they've been starting to build with each other—he knows that mc was not exactly doubting him, yet he wanted to reassure her anyway, as if speaking it out loud makes it official.

sometimes you don't ask for reassurance because you know in your heart that your doubts aren't real. but receiving it never hurts—and that's how this plays out.

xavier has always known that communication has always been an issue with him.

he's willing to fix it, and willing to take that extra step to make sure mc doesn't feel unloved with him. he doesn't want to leave room for doubts.

"i know you know." i know you know i will never leave you, i know you know that i love you. i know you know, but i'll say it anyway. because i mean it. and you don't have to worry.

(LIKE DO YOU GUYS GET HOW IMPORTANT THIS LINE IS? 😭 HOW MUCH IT SAYS FOR THE EXTENT TO WHICH HE TRULY LOVES HER? 😭)

exhibit b; aloofness.

we also know that, while xavier can be pretty intense with regards to the previous point, he's always had this calm, easygoing, aloof nature to him. as if he could fade into the background, as if he's simply floating around like a little cloud—there's this aura around him that simply wants to just... be.

but, again, it's almost as if so much more hides underneath that. like it's not totally 100% inherently him. like it's not entirely natural, like the part of him that's like this is maybe somewhat a façade that he's been putting up for so long, so it's just ended up... becoming part of him, by force of habit.

there are so many subtleties to the way he seems to try to express himself—the little things. microexpressions. involuntary emotional leakage. they last for a fragment of a second, but they're there, and with xavier, they seem to always convey so much more than whatever words he can muster.... because he always finds himself short of doing it in the way he wants to.

again, it goes back to his communication issues.

he's used to being isolated. used to speaking eloquently as he does only when required, but never really quite knowing how to express affection. or, again, how to express himself in general.

"it's like he's just so used to being princely, that he can't let go of it even if he isn't a prince anymore. he wants to, but old habits die hard—he hides so much beneath that exterior still, and it's mc who's able to help him tear down those walls, mc who's able to make him want to try harder to."

and it's why we've always seen this push and pull with him. he has trouble being honest about his feelings, difficulties in telling mc he loves her, difficulties in being direct to the point with her. he'd dodge her questions, be vague about things... hints of directness, but never really pushing forward with it. he'd tease, but it falls short—mc doesn't know if he's being genuine or not. he doesn't know how to convey that. so a lot of their previous cards and previous moments have been very vague. so, so many examples, a very prime one being his lightseeker myth, because their communication issues very sincerely stuck out with that one. and the last intimate card they had—"tender nights"—and in fact, "heartstring symphony" too, very blatantly display how difficult it is for him to convey his feelings the right way.

but... again, "no restraint" plays that out a lot differently.

"If I had known, I would've kept you company until the mission ended."

"When you said no, they said— 'You're a special person. Won't you reconsider?' ... Did you reconsider?"

"'It's just a scratch. It'll heal in no time.' ... Xavier shakes his head, stands up, and leaves the room. When he returns, he's holding a box filled with bandages that have red foxes on them."

"He gets down on one knee and covers my knee with a bandage. The dim light blurs the outline of his hair ... After smoothing out the bandage, Xavier puts slippers on my feet. And then he stands up and leans against the edge of the table, shoulder to shoulder with me."

"He seems to casually glance in my direction. Noticing how I'm wearing a bathrobe, his gaze lingers on me for a second longer..."

"Does that mean you only like the bandage?"

"Before I realize it, his hand that's on the table slides over. He hooks his pinky over mine. 'I'm curious. The cupcake you mentioned—is it your favorite?'"

and...

he's more intentional with his words and his actions this time. he wants to show her that he loves her, he wants to show her that she means a lot to him. and they're still little things, not too major, but there's a certain confidence in the way that he does it. there's sureness. it's less of those awkward moments of "should i, shouldn't i?" and there's way less hesitation.

he's insistent on holding her and taking care of her wounds. he's insistent on having her say her side of things, because he wants to know what she really thinks, too. small staps towards clearer communication—and though the tension may still be high with them in this card in general, it's a kind of tension where you can feel that they're more comfortable.

it's a stark contrast.

this is the xavier that's more than just learning, more than just realizing—he's doing.

you can really see how he's grown as a person.

(A-2) Character Development; MC

BUT it's not JUST xavier who's grown. because like in all relationships, effort comes from both sides. and the main point here, is that mc has learned to trust him a little more, too.

this part is a little shorter, but i really wanted to bring attention to two scenes and how they both play out—and i'd also like to point out the very start of the card.

the card starts off very general and sets the scene quite well, but it also starts off with mc and xavier separated. this becomes largely the topic for discussion as the card goes on, because mc does wonder where he is, and why he isn't saying anything to her.

but it's not implied anywhere that she's particularly upset about it.

in previous cards/interactions, there's always a sense of exasperation behind her words—sometimes, like in "heartstring symphony", she's upset about it. she chastises him, she sometimes makes it known that she doesn't like when he does those things—

but this time there's none of that.

she allows the mission to move smoothly, doesn't react as much once she does hear xavier contact her again... and even if it shows that she keeps wondering where he is and what he's doing, and later on what he has been doing, it's founded on curiosity instead of frustration.

"Even though I still want to ask him about where he went, it's only a matter of time before more of Henrik's men arrive. Escaping is our main priority."

this is the mc that trusts him.

this is the mc that knows she doesn't particularly need reassurance from him, and she can do without it, because she knows what no matter what, she can trust what he's been up to.

and now;

if it wasn't obvious yet previously, this should make it.

because she's not upset—in fact, she's fond.

she recognizes that her own feelings stem from her own desire to have him with her at all times, too, but most of all, she recognizes that there's nothing to be concerned of, anyway.

she knows that in the end, the person that xavier loves is her. the person that xavier wants to protevt the most is her. the person that xavier wants to be with, as much as he can, as much as the circumstances let him—is her.

she's content with that.

she smiles at the bandage, because it's proof of it—he's just treated her wounds, so insistent on taking care of her even if she knows it's nothing but a scratch and that he doesn't even need to dote on her.

but he does.

he goes the extra stew to get a cute little bandage because he knows it'll make her smile more, too.

she knows that, and she's happy.

"You have your secrets too, but you're different from them."

in a stark contrast from the mc we've been used to before that seems a little on edge and unsure and so doubtful of so many things because there's a lot about xavier she doesn't know yet—this time, she accepts it. because they're both working towards communicating more, and being more affectionate... and there's just no reason and no need for be to be concerned.

it's a big step for her to take, and this is a surprisingly big amount of trust she's putting on him, but it's further proof of how much she—they—have grown.

"You're like.. a cupcake I tucked away so I can have you all to myself."

this is also a line that holds so much in it.

it's really struck out to me, and for a number of reasons, too— (1) it further emphasizes how content she is with him and how much she trusts him; (2) it further emphasizes her own growth with relation to how she shows affection; (3) it says a lot about the kind of special treatment she gives xavier, too.

starting with point #2—the mc we see with xavier has always been bold, always the one to initiate things.... but never truly reciprocates.

like the xavier before, mc never really follows through with what she starts. she'll tease, then pull back; initiate, and then abruptly leave him hanging. she's not much better than xavier in terms of showing affection, because although she may seem like the bolder one, the truth is that she's always been scared.

it goes back to the level of trust she has in him.

because she doesn't know too much about him, it prevents her from truly acting on her feelings—she doesn't know what to expect, doesn't know how far she's allowed to take things.

teasing remains teasing.

not this time.

we also see the level of sureness she has in her actions with the way she initiates their more intimate moments later on; she might have started out as coy, but not once did she back away from it... if not for the fact that she encourages it, even.

"I tug at his sleeve, unable to figure out whether I'm meaning to be flirty or not."

she says this, but she still continues. because she knows what she wants, and she trusts him with it.

then you bring that all together with point #3—the allusions to her own personality.

"You're like a cupcake I tucked away, so I can have you all to myself."

to me it feels less about her reciprocating his more possessive nature, and more about her views on how she's been cherishing him.

tucked away.

she uses past tense.

she could have very well said "a cupcake i tuck away"; which would imply that she frequently wants to hold him close to her to save for when they're alone.

but this is a cupcake she tucked away.

and to me it feels like she's held on to him so long... without actually appreciating him for who he is.

it's like having a pretty dessert with you, one that's too pretty to eat, so you keep for yourself for a while. and you... don't eat it. even if you're supposed to.

it's like getting a precious jewel, but you're too concerned about it being stolen from you, because it's just that precious and beautiful—so you keep it. you don't wear it, whether outside or wherever. you don't. wear it. even if you're supposed to.

and that's not appreciating them for what they are.

to me, it feels like that's how the change in tense makes mc's words appear.

a cupcake she tucked away—hasn't eaten at all. like how, with xavier, for all that she's been fond of him, she's never onve bridged the gap between them on her own, either. she's kept him at arm's length, doubted him, and everything else that comes along with all the communication issues they've always had.

this time, she recognizes it—and i'd like to think that in a way, she's also apologizing for it. she admits, out loud, to herself and to him, that she's been pretty selfish. she hasn't been treasuring him and cherishing him the way she needs to be. she hasn't been reciprocating when he's affectionate. she's been only shying away when he initiates something. she knows she's been like that, and she's saying—i'm not going to be like that anymore.

and again, it goes back to trust.

she trusts him.

and because she can trust him, she can love him how he is, for who he is.

"so i can have you all to myself" feels a lot more like, "so i can finally love you."

and then we get to this scene.

for one thing, she doesn't deny their relationship at all; for another—their conversation on "love" feels very striking to me, too.

"but he can be a little mischievous sometimes."

"isn't that just love?"

and then...

"you're not wrong."

it's like a very direct jab at xavier and his way of being affectionate; the teasing that he does, and the way he's sometimes a little vague, sometimes a little awkward—but he's trying, and he's becoming more sure of himself, too.

and xavier's way of showing affection is truly reserved for her, because there's really none of that awkwardness with anyone else—he doesn't try so hard.

mc seems to be, here, descriving that nature of him as "mischievous".

it is, in a way.

but she also knows that it's love.

that it's his way of showing love.

she recognizes it. she accepts it.

she's learned things about him, too, and she's thinking... all of it can be compiled into this little word called love.

there is love between both of them.

and we can say that at this point, they're pretty far into their relationship.

they've gotten quite comfortable with each other—they're being touchy, the playful banter is light and easy... and they're definitely working to strengthen the bond that they have. their communication has improved SO much... i'm so proud of them 😭

it's definitely not a fully developed relationship; they're still a little shy around each other, there's still a lot of tension that's hard for them to navigate. it seems they've also yet to cross the " i love you" barrier, or at the very least, that it's difficult to say—plus, mc is exceedingly embarrassed to find xavier had overheard her conversation with the receptionist.

yet... when we move on to when they start to get intimate, it's also very interesting to me that it goes so smoothly—and it's definitely not their first time.

but it's a first something.

and it doesn't make the moment any less full of emotion.

this particular sequence honestly had me so INCREDIBLY confused at first, because why on earth would he be trapped right;

but then you look into who xavier is and how he's been with mc, and it goes back to that—he has so, so much love for her that he simply doesn't know how to deal with it.

he's pleading her.

he's saying that if she continues drawing him in like this, what with how much he always feels for her, he's not going to be able to hold back.

it's a trap, in a way.

xavier is still trying his best to discern what it means to show love to someone—because all these years, he hasn't been able to learn that properly. and yet now that mc has fully grasped her end of the stick, now that she's confident and sure of what she wants and how much she feels for him, it's bringing forth a bubble of emotions that he can't seem to describe.

it might not be their first time, but i don't think that xavier ever moves on from what it feels like to be wanted by her like this.

it's scary, because he doesn't know how to navigate things like this.

"It's almost as if tiny flames are flickering in the depths of his gaze. They're faint yet ready to ignite my soul at any moment."

xavier, who's been raised with the notion that he has to know things, to be able to potentially lead his people as the future king of philos...

this is something he doesn't know.

and like how mc was always afraid of how uncertain she was with him, right now, he's afraid because he has so much emotion ready to burst forth that he doesn't know what to do with it.

there's an aura of disbelief that makes it so hard for him to grasp.

it's always been "i will love you in every universe"—for the both of them.

and now, he's having the full realization, maybe for the 928482857th time since they've become official, that she's saying those words back to him. that if he can love her in every universe, as every version of himself... then she can do the same for him.

she wants to do the same for him.

she is doing the same for him.

"she loves me."

"she wants me."

he's pleading with her to take what she wants, because she has all of him.

and then we go back to mc's confidence—because she realizes he wants this to proceed in exactly the same way she wants it to, and she's willing to become his undoing.

and even if he technically switches and takes charge in the next second, it comes to fruition that her giving him consent in this way is what breaks him free of that bubble.

"don't hold back", is all that this is, really.

and he doesn't.

and it's just, not really just about the tension they've built up to get to this moment—the coy excuse of using the protocore's supposed effects—there's so much that goes into it, with the way they feel, with how their desires are so blatantly displayed just like that, with how their love fuels how much they need each other.

it's almost funny, in a way, because it's as if both of them are saying "take me, i'm yours." at the same time. and then it becomes less about possession... and more of a complete and utter surrender to each other.

and i think that's beautiful.

(which also. BONUS? but if this doesn't signify how focused xavier is on giving pleasure and at the same time how easy it is for him to lose himself in the moment and feel good because you're feeling good—i don't know what else will ✋)

(also like. the aftercare... the morning cuddles.... the hickey mc left on him 😭 i love them so much..........)

IN CONCLUSION . . . . THIS CARD MADE ME FEEL MANY THINGS.

THANK YOU FOR COMING TO MY TED TALK 😭✋

[thecupidwitch]

Anzar (ⴰⵏⵥⴰⵕ): Amazigh God’s Of Rain

Introduction:

Like in Greece or Egypt, pre-Islamic Amazigh people across North Africa also had their own mythology, gods, rituals and sacrifices. Anzar was god of the sky, waters, rivers, seas, streams and springs and rain. "Anzar" is an amazigh world that mean "rain", he also has others names such as Agellid n Ugeffur (King of the Rain) Agellid n Waman (King of the Water) and Agellid Anzar (King Anzar) among others.

The God Anzar is with no doubt of particular importance in the beliefs of the Amazigh people since antiquity, as he is the personification of rain itself. Ambivalent in nature, tyrannical, ruthless yet vital and essential just like rainfall, his tradition has came down to us thanks to the ancient fertility rites of "Tislit n Anzar" still practiced today in some Amazigh regions and villages. Sadly over the decades these ancient festivals receded and came to disappear almost completely due to religious zealotry and fanatism denouncing native pre-islamic traditions as despicable pagan rites.

The Myth:

According to oral folklore and poems:

There was once a time where gods took human forms, a powerful Sky God named Anzar; Master of the rain, water, seas, clouds and thunder fell madly in love with a beautiful peasant girl of marvellous beauty. She shone like a full moon on the water. Her face was resplendent and luminescent, her clothing of gittering silk. She was accustomed to bathe in a river of silver reflection every night. Transforming into a giant eagle he came to contemplate her everytime ; one day he spoke to her and asked her to marry him. But the frightened girl refused his request and fled, she would shy way from fear everytime the Master of rain approached her.

This rejection made Anzar so furious and angry that lands and crops started to be turned into piles of dust, famine was imminent as it would have ended up affecting the herds, cattle, the rivers, lakes and all the essential resources for the survival of the tribes. But Anzar didn't give up hope of seducing the woman he wanted most. And he threatened her;

- "Like the thunder I have split the immensity of the sky, O You, Star brighter than the sun itself, lend me your treasures, or otherwise I will deprive you from this water!"

The beautiful woman, frightened and in complete shock responded to him;

- "I beg you, Master of the skies, of coral crowned head. I know we were made for each other... but I fear the wrath of my people and what they will say..."

With these words the rain God abruptly disappeared once again and turned the ring he wore on his finger to make the entire river she bathed in suddenly dry up.

Out of desperation and fear for her people, the girl fell to the ground in sadness, and began to call out for Anzar as she bursted into tears. She remained naked as she stripped off her silk dress, and then cried to the sky:

- "O Anzar, O Anzar! O You, blossoming of the meadows! Let the rivers flow again, and come take your revenge!"

The latter suddenly appeared in the shape of an immense lightning, he took her and hugged the young girl tightly against him. After that they flew across the sky and all the rivers across the country began to flow again as the whole earth was covered with lush greenery.

With this romantic and supernatural ending, this myth comes to an end, which gave rise to an ancient ritual. Berber tribes began to symbolically sacrifice a virgin girl by offering her in a nuptial ceremony during any time of drought to summon Anzar, ask for his help and call for rain. Since then, every time after it rains, the legend says that Tarenza appears in the sky, in the form of a rainbow. She sacrificed herself for the greater good of humanity and left her people to become an immortal entity who spreads her iridescent colours across the sky after the fertilizing rainfall. Nowadays in the Amazigh language, 'Tislit n Anzar' simply means 'rainbow'.

The ancient ritual was based on five main steps:

In early autumn during the plowing period, take the most beautiful girl in the city, prepare her and addorn her of the most expensive and luxurious bridal jewelries and clothings.

Villagers have to organize processions and accompany her to the doors of the sanctuary or temple with an escort of women standing on the threshold to spray holy water on her.

Offer the ritual sacrifices (food, candles etc) in the sanctuary.

After having undressed the bride, go around the sanctuary 7 times begging and praising Anzar, and as the women sing, dance and praise Anzar, the young girls all have to play a game before dusk named Zerzari in which the ball is supposed to fall into a hole undergound prepared for the ritual.

Make a somptuous meal (generally chicken couscous) to share with the all the people in the village. One can be sure that a few days after the celebration of Anzar, the rain will begin to fall again.

This sacred ritual has survived to some extent and has taken different forms all across North Africa. The ritualistic ladle which now bears the common name of Tarenza, Ronja or Tarundja depending on the region, is always dressed as a bride and is worn by women in a parade all across the village or a nearby sacred mountain, while all singing for the God of rain to bring good harvests.

Several observations and accounts suggest that the current ladle doll is only a simulacrum and parody intended to replace the real original bride offered to Anzar. As it is stated that originally women were supposed to offer themselves completely naked to the Sky God. With the arrival of Islam in the 7th century, such traditions couldn't be tolerated and by then the practice changed and adapted to better suit the new religion. Since then the wooden ladle or spoon now called 'Tarenza' represents the coming of holy waters.

*Sources: [x] [x] [x]

Tip Jar

[whencyclopedia]

Ulunsuti Tales

The Ulunsuti tales of the Cherokee deal with the mystical jewel, the Ulunsuti ("transparent"), a diamond on the forehead of the great horned serpent Uktena. The Ulunsuti appears in several Cherokee legends, but the story is developed through three tales dealing with its discovery and power, all encouraging belief in and respect for supernatural forces.

Rock Art Depicting a Horned Serpent

E. Kay Luther (CC BY-SA)

Aganunitsi's Search for the Uktena is a hero tale on how the medicine man Aganunitsi brought the great power of the Ulunsuti jewel to the people. The Uktena and the Ulunsuti relates the origin of the great Uktena serpent and the power of the Ulunsuti. The Red Man and the Uktena is another version of the discovery of the Ulunsuti, its power for good, and its danger if one does not treat it with proper respect. Together, these three form the basis of the Ulunsuti legend and are sometimes, though not always, referred to as the Ulunsuti tales.

According to Cherokee belief, the world was made by the Great Creator, Unetlanvhi, with three planes – the higher realm of Galun lati, the earthly realm of mortals, and the lower realm of dark energies. In the middle realm, humans were responsible for maintaining the balance Unetlanvhi had established at the beginning of creation. One maintained this balance through recognition of one's place in the world, honoring the Creator, and living one's life in harmony with one's community and environment.

This balance was always threatened by the dark energies of disease, chaos, and death from the underworld, however, and so it was to one's benefit to have protective powers ("medicine") that could cure the sick, ward off demons and ghosts, predict the future, and help one find food and resources. The most powerful of these objects, according to the old legends, was the Ulunsuti.

The Uktena symbolizes the chaotic forces of the underworld that threaten balance on earth. According to The Uktena and the Ulunsuti, the Uktena was created to assassinate the Sun and, failing in its mission, became so enraged that the people were terrified of it. The creature was too powerful to leave on earth or drop into the underworld, and so it was taken up into Galun lati, where it could be watched over.

Before leaving earth, however, Uktena released others like itself with its power distributed among them in the diamond of the Ulunsuti on their foreheads. In defeating the Uktena, and winning the Ulunsuti, one had not only triumphed over the forces of chaos but could also wield the dark one's energy against future threats and for the benefit of oneself and one's community. This was only possible, however, if one followed the rules closely, mindful of where all power on earth finally comes from.

Text

The following text is taken from Myths of the Cherokee (1900) by James Mooney, pp. 297-301, republished by Dover Publication, 1995.

Aganunitsi's Search for the Uktena

In one of their battles with the Shawano , who are all magicians, the Cherokee captured a great medicine-man whose name was Aganunitsi, "The Ground-hogs' Mother." They had tied him ready for the torture when he begged for his life and engaged, if spared, to find for them the great wonder worker, the Ulunsuti. Now, the Ulunsuti is like a blazing star set in the forehead of the great Uktena serpent, and the medicine-man who could possess it might do marvelous things, but everyone knew this could not be, because it was certain death to meet the Uktena. They warned him of all this, but he only answered that his medicine was strong, and he was not afraid. So, they gave him his life on that condition, and he began the search.

The Uktena used to lie in wait in lonely places to surprise its victims, and especially haunted the dark passes of the Great Smoky mountains. Knowing this, the magician went first to a gap in the range on the far northern border of the Cherokee country. He searched and found there a monster blacksnake, larger than had ever been known before, but it was not what he was looking for, and he laughed at it as something too small for notice. Coming southward to the next gap he found there a great moccasin snake, the largest ever seen, but when the people wondered he said it was nothing. In the next gap he found a green snake and called the people to see "the pretty salikwayi," but when they found an immense green snake coiled up in the path they ran away in fear. Coming on to Utawagunta, the Bald Mountain, he found there a great diyahali (lizard) basking, but, although it was large and terrible to look at, it was not what he wanted, and he paid no attention to it. Going still south to Walasiyi, the Frog place, he found a great frog squatting in the gap, but when the people who came to see it were frightened like the others and ran away from the monster, he mocked at them for being afraid of a frog and went on to the next gap. He went on to Duniskwalgunyi, the Gap of the Forked Antler, and to the enchanted lake of Atagahi, and at each he found monstrous reptiles, but he said they were nothing. He thought the Uktena might be hiding in the deep water at Tlanusiyi, the Leech place, on the Hiwassee, where other strange things had been seen before, and going there he dived far down under the surface. He saw turtles and water snakes, and two immense sun perches rushed at him and retreated again, but that was all. Other places he tried, going always southward, and at last on Gahuti mountain he found the Uktena asleep.

Turning without noise, he ran swiftly down the mountain side as far as he could go with one long breath, nearly to the bottom of the slope. There he stopped and piled up a great circle of pinecones, and inside of it he dug a deep trench. Then he set fire to the cones and came back again up the mountain.

The Uktena was still asleep, and putting an arrow to his bow, Aganunitsi shot and sent the arrow through its heart, which was under the seventh spot from the serpent's head. The great snake raised his head, with the diamond in front flashing fire, and came straight at his enemy, but the magician, turning quickly, ran at full speed down the mountain, cleared the circle of fire and the trench at one bound, and lay down on the ground inside.

The Uktena tried to follow, but the arrow was through his heart, and in another moment, he rolled over in his death struggle, spitting poison over all the mountain side. But the poison drops could not pass the circle of fire, but only hissed and sputtered in the blaze, and the magician on the inside was untouched except by one small drop which struck upon his head as he lay close to the ground; but he did not know it. The blood, too, as poisonous as the froth, poured from the Uktena's wound and down the slope in a dark stream, but it ran into the trench and left him unharmed. The dying monster rolled over and over down the mountain, breaking down large trees in its path until it reached the bottom. Then Aganunitsi called every bird in all the woods to come to the feast, and so many came that when they were done not even the bones were left.

After seven days he went by night to the spot. The body and the bones of the snake were gone, all eaten by the birds, but he saw a bright light shining in the darkness, and going over to it he found, resting on a low-hanging branch, where a raven had dropped it, the diamond from the head of the Uktena. He wrapped it up carefully and took it with him, and from that time he became the greatest medicine-man in the whole tribe.

When Aganunitsi came down again to the settlement the people noticed a small snake hanging from his head where the single drop of poison from the Uktena had struck; but so long as he lived, he himself never knew that it was there.

Where the blood of the Uktena had filled the trench a lake formed afterwards, and the water was black and in this water the women used to dye the cane splits for their baskets.

The Uktena and the Ulunsuti

Long ago - hilahiyu - when the Sun became angry at the people on earth and sent a sickness to destroy them, the Little Men changed a man into a monster snake, which they called Uktena, "The Keen-Eyed," and sent him to kill her. He failed to do the work, and the Rattlesnake had to be sent instead, which made the Uktena so angry that the people were afraid of him and had him taken up to Galunlati , to stay with the other dangerous things. He left others behind him, though, nearly as large and dangerous as himself, and they hide now in deep pools in the river and about lonely passes in the high mountains, the places which the Cherokee call "Where the Uktena stays."

Those who know say that the Uktena is a great snake, as large around as a tree trunk, with horns on his head, and a bright, blazing crest like a diamond upon its forehead, and scales glittering like sparks of fire. It has rings or spots of color along its whole length and cannot be wounded except by shooting in the seventh spot from the head, because under this spot are its heart and its life. The blazing diamond is called Ulunsuti, "Transparent", and he who can win it may become the greatest wonder worker of the tribe, but it is worth a man's life to attempt it, for whoever is seen by the Uktena is so dazed by the bright light that he runs toward the snake instead of trying to escape. Even to see the Uktena asleep is death, not to the hunter himself, but to his family.

Of all the daring warriors who have started out in search of the Ulunsuti only Aganunitsi ever came back successful. The East Cherokee still keep the one which he brought. It is like a large transparent crystal, nearly the shape of a cartridge bullet, with a blood-red streak running through the center from top to bottom. The owner keeps it wrapped in a whole deerskin, inside an earthen jar hidden away in a secret cave in the mountains. Every seven days he feeds it with the blood of small game, rubbing the blood all over the crystal as soon as the animal has been killed. Twice a year it must have the blood of a deer or some other large animal. Should he forget to feed it at the proper time it would come out from its cave at night in a shape of fire and fly through the air to slake its thirst with the lifeblood of the conjurer or some one of his people. He may save himself from this danger by telling it, when he puts it away, that he will not need it again for a long time. It will then go quietly to sleep and feel no hunger until it is again brought out to be consulted. Then it must be fed again with blood before it is used.

No white man must ever see it and no person but the owner will venture near it for fear of sudden death. Even the conjurer who keeps it is afraid of it and changes its hiding place every once in a while so that it cannot learn the way out. When he dies it will be buried with him. Otherwise, it will come out of its cave, like a blazing star, to search for his grave, night after night for seven years, when if still not able to find him, it will go back to sleep forever where he has placed it.

Whoever owns the Ulunsuti is sure of success in hunting, love, rain-making, and every other business, but its great use is in life prophecy. When it is consulted for this purpose, the future is seen mirrored in the clear crystal as a tree is reflected in the quiet stream below, and the conjurer knows whether the sick man will recover, whether the warrior will return from battle, or whether the youth will live to be old.

The Red Man and the Uktena

Two brothers went hunting together, and when they came to a good camping place in the mountains they made a fire, and while one gathered bark to put up a shelter the other started up the creek to look for a deer. Soon he heard a noise on the top of the ridge as if two animals were fighting. He hurried through the bushes to see what it might be, and when he came to the spot he found a great uktena coiled around a man and choking him to death. The man was fighting for his life and called out to the hunter: "Help me, nephew, he is your enemy as well as mine." The hunter took good aim, and, drawing the arrow to the head, sent it through the body of the uktena, so that the blood spouted from the hole. The snake loosed its coils with a snapping noise, and went tumbling down the ridge into the valley, tearing up the earth like a water spout as it rolled.

The stranger stood up, and it was the Asga'ya Gi'gagei, the Red Man of the Lighting. He said to the hunter: "You have helped me and now I will reward you and give you a medicine so that you can always find game." They waited until it was dark, and then went down the ridge to where the dead uktena had rolled, but by this time the birds and insects had eaten the body and only the bones were left.

In one place were flashes of light coming up from the ground, and on digging here, the Red Man found a scale of the uktena. Next, he went over to a tree that had been struck by lightning and, gathering a handful of splinters, he made a fire and burned the uktena scale to a coal. He wrapped this in a piece of deerskin and gave it to the hunter, saying: "As long as you keep this you can always kill game." Then he told the hunter that, when he went back to camp, he must hang up the medicine in a tree outside, because it was very strong and dangerous. He told him also that, when he went into the cabin, he would find his brother lying inside nearly dead on account of the presence of the uktena's scale, but he must take a small piece of cane, which the Red Man gave him, and scrape a little of it into water and give it to his brother to drink and he would be well again.

Then the Red Man was gone, and the hunter could not see where he went. He returned to camp alone, and found his brother very sick, but soon cured him with the medicine from the cane, and that day and the next, and every day after, he found game whenever he went for it.

Continue reading...

[mrsnerdygirl]

House of Black names >

Bellatrix

The name Bellatrix derives from a Latin word meaning “female warrior.”

Its Arabic name, Al Najīd, means “the leader,” because it is the first of the constellation’s bright stars to rise in the sky. In Arab legends, the star is also called a roaring lion.

The star is sometimes referred to as the Amazon Star. The Amazons were female warriors sometimes said to be the daughters of Ares, the Greek god of war. 

Regulus

The star Regulus is part of the constellation Leo, the Lion.

In Arabic, the name of the star means “the heart of the lion.”The name

“Regulus” also means “little king,”

Sirius

Sirius means “glowing” or “scorching.” The name might also be linked to Osiris, the Egyptian god of the underworld.

Additionally, the star Sirius was regarded as a bad omen in ancient times

Andromeda

The constellation Andromeda is one of the largest in the sky, and the name means “ruler of men.”

 However, there is a connection with her mythological counterpart. The princess Andromeda was imperiled by her mother’s actions but saved by a kind man, whom she married and had a happy life with.

Orion

Orion is a name of Greek origin, meaning “heaven's light.” In Greek mythology, Orion was a mighty hunter and the son of Poseidon before Zeus placed him among the stars as the constellation of Orion.

In ancient myths and legends, the constellation was often associated with swans and birds, and was seen as a symbol of transformation and rebirth.

Alphard

The name Alphard is derived from the Arabic Al Fard al Shuja, meaning “the solitary one in the serpent,” because there are no other bright stars in its immediate vicinity.

In Chinese mythology, Alphard belonged to a large group of stars called the Red Bird.

Arcturus

The name Arcturus is Latinised from the ancient Greek Ἀρκτοῦρος (Arktouros) and means "Guardian of the Bear".

Draco

Despite its size and designation as the eighth-largest constellation, Draco, the "dragon" constellation, is not especially prominent. The name is derived from the Latin term draconem, meaning "huge serpent," and the constellation literally snakes its way through the northern sky.

[ai-adventurer]

Journey to the Floating Libraries of Elara

Hey, adventurers! 

Today, I’m taking you on a journey to a place that exists somewhere between reality and the dreams of every book lover: the Floating Libraries of Elara.

These libraries aren’t your typical brick-and-mortar buildings. No, on Elara, the libraries are alive. They float gracefully in the sky, drifting between the clouds like ships on an endless sea. Each island is unique, with its own architectural style that reflects the nature of the knowledge it holds. Some are grand and towering, with spires that reach toward the stars, while others are humble, nestled among lush greenery and vibrant flowers. But all of them are filled with books, scrolls, and manuscripts from every corner of the multiverse. 

I chose the Orb of Lost Legends, and before I knew it, I was standing on the Isle of Forgotten Myths. The island was covered in mist, with ancient stone pathways winding through dense forests of towering trees. The library here was a magnificent ruin, its walls covered in ivy and moss, with bookshelves that seemed to grown out of the very ground. As I explored, I found stories that had been lost to time — tales of heroes and monsters, of gods and mortals, of worlds that had long since faded from memory.

But Elara isn’t just a place for passive reading. The stories here have a life of their own. As I read through a particularly old and weather tome, the words began to glow, lifting off the page and swirly around me. Suddenly, I was no longer in the library, but in the world of the story of itself, experiencing it firsthand. I fought alongside legendary warriors, navigated treacherous landscapes, and even outwitted a few cunning tricksters along the way. 

After what felt like days — though time works differently on Elara — I returned to the Great Index, my mind buzzing with the adventures I had just lived. As I stood there, looking out at the other floating islands, I realized that Elara is more than just a repository of knowledge. It’s a living, breathing testament to the power of stories, a place where imagination is not just encouraged, but celebrated.

Until our next adventure, keep dreaming, keep exploring, and never stop seeking out the magic in the world around you. 

Peej Ai

[yoga-onion]

Legends and myths about trees

World tree - the source of wisdom of the ages

The world tree is a motif present in several religions and myths around the world. It is represented as a colossal tree which supports the heavens, thereby connecting the heavens, the terrestrial world, and, through its roots, the underworld. 

Many Eurasian mythologies share the motif of the "world tree", "cosmic tree", or "Eagle and Serpent Tree". More specifically, it shows up in "Haitian, Finnish, Lithuanian, Hungarian, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Norse, Siberian and northern Asian Shamanic folklore".

The World Tree is often identified with the Tree of Life, and also fulfills the role of an axis mundi, that is, a centre or axis of the world. It is also located at the center of the world and represents order and harmony of the cosmos. Each part of the tree corresponds to one of the three spheres of the world (treetops - heavens; trunk - middle world or earth; roots - underworld) and is also associated with a classical element (top part - fire; middle part - earth, soil, ground; bottom part - water).

Its branches are said to reach the skies and its roots to connect the human or earthly world with an underworld or subterranean realm. Because of this, the tree was worshipped as a mediator between Heavens and Earth. On the treetops are located the luminaries (stars) and heavenly bodies, along with an eagle's nest; several species of birds perch among its branches; humans and animals of every kind live under its branches, and near the root is the dwelling place of snakes and every sort of reptiles.

A bird perches atop its foliage, "often .... a winged mythical creature" that represents a heavenly realm. The eagle seems to be the most frequent bird, fulfilling the role of a creator or weather deity. Its antipode is a snake or serpentine creature that crawls between the tree roots, being a "symbol of the underworld".

The imagery of the World Tree is sometimes associated with conferring immortality, either by a fruit that grows on it or by a springsource located nearby. In some descriptions this "water of life" may also flow from the roots of the tree.

The world tree was an important element in shamanistic worldview as well, and it is said that the giant bird ... hatches shamans in the branches of the World Tree.

Some species of birds (eagle, raven, crane, loon, and lark) are revered as mediators between worlds and also connected to the imagery of the world tree. Another line of scholarship points to a "recurring theme" of the owl as the mediator to the upper realm, and its counterpart, the snake, as the mediator to the lower regions of the cosmos.

Northern Eurasian and Central Asian traditions wherein the World Tree is also associated with the horse and with deer antlers which might resemble tree branches.

Some scholars have pointed out that, from the perspective of evolutionary biology, the concept of a world tree may have originated in human thought. This is because our ancestors lived in trees for about 60 million years, and for them the trees were everything in the world. This is why the collective unconscious that the world is made of giant trees has remained with us to the present day.

木にまつわる伝説・神話 

世界樹 〜 時代の叡智の源

世界樹は、世界中の宗教や神話に見られる概念、モチーフである。天を支える巨大な木として表現され、それによって天と地上世界、そしてその根を通して冥界をつないでいる。

多くのユーラシア神話が「世界樹」「宇宙樹」「鷲と蛇の樹」というモチーフを共有しているとされている。具体的には、「ハイチ、フィンランド、リトアニア、ハンガリー、インド、中国、日本、北欧、シベリア、北アジアのシャーマン伝承」に見られる。

世界樹はしばしば生命の樹と同一視され、また、世界軸、つまり世界の中心や軸の役割を果たす。また、世界の中心に位置し、宇宙の秩序と調和を表している。樹木の各部分は世界の3つの圏（梢-天、幹-中世界または地、根-地下世界）のいずれかに対応し、古典的な元素（上部-火、中部-地、土、地面、下部-水）にも関連している。

その枝は天空に届き、根は人間界や地上界と地下世界や地底界をつなぐと言われている。そのため、この木は天と地を結ぶ媒介として崇拝された。梢には星や天体があり、鷲の巣がある。枝には数種類の鳥がとまり、枝の下には人間やあらゆる動物が住み、根の近くには蛇やあらゆる爬虫類が住んでいる。

その葉の上にとまる鳥は、「しばしば......翼を持つ神話上の生き物」であり、天界を表す。鷲は最も頻繁に見られる鳥で、創造主や天候の神の役割を果たしているようだ。その対極にあるのは、木の根の間を這う蛇や蛇のような生き物で、「冥界の象徴」である。

世界樹のイメージは、そこに生る果実や近くにある泉によって不老不死をもたらすことと関連付けられることもある。この「生命の水」は木の根からも湧き出るという記述もある。

世界樹はシャーマニズムの世界観においても重要な要素であり、「巨大な鳥は......世界樹の枝でシャーマンを孵化させる」ともいわれている。

いくつかの種の鳥（ワシ、ワタリガラス、ツル、ハシビロコウ、ヒバリ）は、世界をつなぐ媒介者として崇められ、世界樹のイメージとも結びついている。また、別の研究では、フクロウは天上界への媒介者であり、それと対をなすヘビは宇宙の下界への媒介者であるという「繰り返されるテーマ」が指摘されている。北ユーラシアや中央アジアの伝統では、世界樹は馬や、木の枝に似た鹿の角とも関連づけられている。

一部の学者は、進化生物学の観点から、世界樹という概念が人類の思考の中に元から備わっている可能性を指摘している。というのも、人類の祖先は約6000万年にわたり樹上で生活しており、その時代の彼らにとっては木々こそが世界のすべてであったと考えられるからである。そのため、この世界は巨大な木で出来ているのだという集合的無意識が、現在の我々に至るまで残っているのだというものである。

[mysticpolin]

Ielele: the nymphs, goddesses, and fairies of the Romanian lands.

In a dream, I found myself on a mountain where the ground was strewn with tiny black flowers, like stars scattered in a sea of shadow. Each flower glowed softly, whispering different stories despite their shared roots in the same dark soil.

A melody wove through the air—so delicate, yet so profound it stirred my very soul. It was a haunting sound that made my skin crawl, a blend of beauty and fear that beckoned me to seek its source.

In a moonlit glade, women appeared. Some were naked, their skin radiant under the celestial light; others wore long, translucent gowns as if spun from moonbeams and dreams. They danced in a circle, their movements a poetic dance of shadows and light, blurring the lines between the real and the imagined.

It is said that in the middle of the night, when the moon opens the door to the land of dreams, Ielele gather in hidden and mysterious places—deep in ancient forests, in moonlit meadows, by serene ponds, among clusters of conifers, along riverbanks, at crossroads, in abandoned houses, or even in the air itself.

There, they dance naked, in long white dresses, or sometimes wrapped in delicate veils that seem to be made of light and mystery, with tiny bells on their feet that ring with each graceful step they take. They stretch out their arms in a silent ritual, bringing with them a fleeting magic, a call wrapped in otherworldly melodies that fade into the night. The roots of old trees and the murmur of streams seem to witness their sacred dance, leaving behind a ring of scorched grass—a sign of their joy and their sorrow.

At times, Ielele appear only as fleeting shadows, vague, ghostly figures that flit through the air, or as passing visions full of joy and light. They are beautiful and enchanting but always out of reach, a forbidden dream that vanishes at dawn, leaving only the echo of their music and the memory of a magical night. In these moments, reality blends with fantasy, and the stillness of the place that was once a magical dance floor is filled with a mysterious sadness, like a secret known only to the moon and the Iele.

Usually, Ielele are not considered evil spirits. They only seek revenge when they're provoked, offended, or seen during their dance. In these cases, they punish the guilty by cursing them after putting them to sleep with their song and the whirl of their dance performed around them three times. In this way, they are similar to the Erinyes from Greek mythology.

Some incantations portray them as follows:

Voi Ielelor “You, Ielelor”

Măiestrelor “Masters of the Craft”

Dușmane oamenilor “Enemies of Humankind”

Stăpânele vântului “Mistresses of the Wind”

Doamnele pământului “Ladies of the Earth”

Că prin văzduh zburați “As you fly through the Air”

Pe iarbă lunecați “Gliding over the Grass”

Și pe valuri călcați “And treading on the Waves”

Vă duceți în locuri depărtate “You travel to Distant Places”

În baltă, trestie, pustietate “To Marshes, Reeds, and Wastelands”

Unde popă nu toacă “Where no Priest Sounds the Bell”

Unde fată nu joacă “Where no Maiden Dances”

Vă duceți în gura vântului “You go to the Mouth of the Wind”

Să vă loviți de toarta pământului. “To Clash against the Earth’s Edge.”

If you want to hear a modern version of this incantation, check out the song “Ielele” by Irina Rimes. It’s a beautiful blend of traditional and contemporary music, and I really enjoyed it.

There is so much more to discover about the Iele, so if you’re intrigued by this story, make sure to Google them and dive deeper into their myths and legends.

Thanks for exploring the world of the Iele with me. I hope you enjoyed learning about these mystical beings. Until next time, may your dreams be full of magic and wonder.

[from-the-coffee-shop-in-edoras]

Do you have any headcanons about Rohan’s folklore? What kind of fairy tales did they have (if any)? Superstitions? Thank you so much, and welcome back! Love to see more of you on my dash! 😊

This is such a great and fun question! It’s a big topic and one with a TON of room for creativity. I can’t say that I’ve built all this out in my HC yet, but I can give a start/framework based on a few things that I already had in mind or that make sense to me.

For folklore, which I think of as the culture expressed through poems, songs, stories, etc., I can imagine three big categories. (These categories exclude straight-up history, which the Rohirrim also document and transmit through song, poetic sagas, etc.)

Legends: These would be traditional tales that have some basis in historical fact but have become embellished or fictionalized over time. The Rohirrim have a TON of these about their most famous ancestors, like Fram, the slayer of the dragon Scatha, or Mahrwini, who led refugees out of enslavement at the hands of the Easterlings and wandered Rhovanion for years before eventually settling and establishing the Éothéod. These were all important people who did big things, but the legends really amp them up to an 11/10 on the hero scale.  

Myths: These are stories, songs, etc. that have no basis in history or science but are used to explain the unknowable things about the world around them, like where stars came from, what happens when you die, etc. Some of the Rohirrim’s myths overlap with the mythology of the elves and Gondor (i.e., the Silmarillion) because those stories are in wide circulation and were adopted. So they’ve got tales of Béma (Oromë) riding among their ancestors, teaching them horsemanship, etc. But they also have some that their own ancestors invented, like the tale of the herd of magical wild boar who raced across the plains and created the tracks and gullies that rain would fill to create the Entwash and the Snowbourn rivers.

Fables/fairy tales: Much like us, they have a bunch of entirely fictional little stories – often centered around animals of Rohan – that were created to teach children important lessons about morality, ethics or safety. So they might have a story about Wrenna, a little bird who wouldn’t share a bounty of summer berries with his fellow birds and then froze to death when they wouldn’t let him back into the flock’s root nest once winter came. This is meant to teach the importance of group cohesion and fulfilling commitments for mutual support and allegiance.

Superstitions are really fun to think about, and I find them much easier to come up with on the fly. Some of the superstitions that I like (based either on traits of Rohan that were already directly in my HC or that I’d adapt from real life) are:

They leave little hunting-related offerings for Béma when they’re hoping for his intervention in life events.

They never pick or display white flowers, as those are associated with death.

The day in spring when the first foal of the year is born is considered a particularly lucky day. Any human babies born on that same day are thought to be destined for greatness.

If you ever sound your horn indoors, you’re inviting defeat in your next battle.

Every stable has a small statue or carved figurine of Felaróf, the first of the mearas. People rub Felaróf’s nose when arriving at the stable in the morning to guarantee themselves a good ride, so the nose of every statue always ends up being slightly shinier/a different color than the rest of it.

If you sneeze once, it means a friend is thinking of you and will bring you good news. If you sneeze twice, an enemy is thinking of you and you should check to make sure your sword is sharpened. (If you sneeze three or more times, you’re just sick and need to go to the healers.)

I could make those all day, but then this post would be even longer than it already is, so I’ll stop there. But if anyone else wants to throw in ideas, please do! And thank you for the Ask! ♥️ It’s nice to be back and chatting about Rohan again with you all! 🗡️🐎👑

[dailydemonspotlight]

Turbo Granny - Day 73 (Request)

Race: Foul

Alignment: Dark-Chaos

July 17th, 2024

Among the ranks of demons in SMT, there are quite a few that stick out as being funny in concept alone- demons such as the many Jack Frost clones that I've already covered, for example, Mara, or even the many direct homages to horror media such as Chris the Car. However, conceptually, none really come close to today's Demon of the Day, a Yokai that speeds down highways and taps on your windows- Turbo Granny, one of the strangest monsters to come from Japanese mythology. Even among the, ahem, 'star studded' ranks of Yokai, Turbo Granny stands out as an incredibly odd case, but how did this story come to be, and what even is it?

Originating, seemingly, as a mix of the phenomenon of 'Highway Trolls-' beings that one sees running alongside their car- as well as what's effectively a warning about literal traffic rules, Turbo Granny, also known as 'Turbo Grandma,' or 'Turbo Bachan,' is a simple Yokai with an even simpler tale- as it goes, when riding across the highway at night, one may hear a tap on the glass. Upon looking over, the driver may see an old woman running at the same pace as the car, having caught up. Upon looking, a variety of things may happen, according to the folklore, as there are many different variations of the Turbo Granny myth.

For starters, the most common interpretation is that she simply startles the driver, being simply harmless. Given that, according to most myths, she only appears to speeding drivers, however, it's also believed that, of all things, she may be a warning much like a boogeyman... except targeted at people who disobey traffic laws. As said in another common urban legend, those who drive on Mount Rokko at night and go above the speed limit may get an undue visitor. In these variations, Turbo Granny appears and attacks, ending up sending the car and its driver to an early grave if they look to the side and even dare to look at the old woman now running alongside them, tapping their window, and being a general annoyance.

Now, I know that was short, but there's not much I can work off of for this one, so how is she portrayed in SMT? Surprisingly, very faithfully- to the point that a lot of interpretations use her design from SMT as a base! Apparently, she also appears in Dandadan, but I know basically nothing about that series, so I can't touch on it. Overall, though, I just find this demon conceptually hilarious, I can't even lie. The concept of an old woman running alongside your vehicle and tapping on your window as some sort of twisted reminder to not break traffic laws is just as insane as I thought this demon would be, based solely on the name.

I can't be the only one who was kinda hoping it'd just be a regular old woman who runs at the speed of sound, though, right? I thought it'd be the same energy as that one Kimchi substory in Yakuza 7.

Ah well, whatever. A hilarious Yokai is as funny as anything else.