#The Immortal Had a Guardian Spirit

[cogmin213]

Deon : What happen while I was drunk???

[staticnonsense]

Fanfic: While Waiting for Salvation

There are several things I wanted to draw differently, but I don't have the skill right now (also took a loooong break from drawing so while it wouldn't have been much improvement, I did forget several things I only remembered after I was finished).

Maybe I'll draw Deon when I have some more time and practice, because this took a day and way too much staring at a reference, like, way more than usual TT. And still only a forward shot, gotta practise others.

(Please note that this is not Balance's official appearance. To the best of my knowledge, the offical appearance has not been revealed yet.)

[obsessivevoidkitten]

Your Guardian Angel

Male Angel Yandere x Gender Neutral Reader (CW: Extremely dubious consent, stalking, possessive yandere, jealous yandere, general yandere behavior, manipulative yandere, emotionally manipulated reader, reader dies nonviolently but the story continues with them in the afterlife, reader's boyfriend momentarily has cancer, religious themes and concepts, heaven, angel disguised as a demon, mild biting, soul claiming, heartbroken reader) Word Count: 2.5k (This was written within one late night/early morning writing session and was not beta read, I hope you all like it and I apologize for any errors.)

Not everyone receives a guardian angel, there are simply too many humans in the mortal plane to meet that type of demand. Instead guardian angels are allocated based on greatest need to those who might be most vulnerable to dark forces and to those with stronger souls who would be too dangerous if corrupted by the likes of a curse, demon, or vampire.

But you were one such soul. Perhaps the trials you had struggled through in life had left your spirit bruised and battered and dark entities were primed to take advantage.

Or perhaps the things you had experienced had strengthened your will and that was reflected on your soul, making it a tempting mark for corruption.

Either way it really didn’t matter, the result was the same. You had a guardian angel, Eriphel.

Eriphel was, relatively speaking, still somewhat new to the work of guarding humans. He had been at it for a few human generations. Which was very short, considering the immortal life span of an angel. He was one of the younger angels that had been created for this task.

He protected each charge he had with complete determination, always near his assignment, remaining unseen to the mortal realm despite being on a plane that overlapped with it.

When he started watching you when it became apparent in your early adulthood that you required a guardian the job was no different from any of the others that he had.

But… there was something about you that fascinated him. He hadn’t allowed himself to pay much attention to the personal details of his previous charges.

Eriphel didn’t know what was different about you but he couldn’t keep his eyes off you. No matter what you were doing he just had to drink it all in. Watching you do your job, watching you cook, watching you read, watching you do all your little human hobbies, watching you do anything filled his entire being with such foreign alien sensations.

His heart fluttered and his chest filled with warmth and longing. He even felt his pants tighten with arousal for the first time in his life. It was so euphoric… and torturous at the same time. The longer that he was around you the stronger all these sensations became.

After around a year it was no longer enough for Eriphel to merely watch you. To be only a passive observer as your life played before him like a movie he had no control over.

He started sleeping beside you in your bed, wrapping his wing around you protectively. Of course you didn’t know he was there, but your sleep did noticeably improve. No nightmares or insomnia, not on his watch.

Eriphel also developed a habit of hugging you at work, wrapping his arms around whenever you became upset or stressed. It helped your mood a lot.

The angel’s divine light was washing over your soul in these moments and even if you could not see him he knew he was the best thing for you. But he also knew that eventually you would pass away as all mortals did and your soul would slip through his fingers as it transcended to heaven.

He couldn’t allow that, he had to take ownership of your soul in the same way that demons did.

If he made a soul pact with you then he got ownership of your soul when you eventually moved on and then you would be his and his alone until the end of eternity.

But he didn’t have to rush it, you were not in any great danger and he could protect you and keep you alive from any external threat that could threaten you… even if it violated a few rules to intercept mundane physical threats.

He had plenty of time.

Or so he thought.

A bit of time passed and you met someone. A man by the name of Jason. A mutual friend had set the two of you up. You tried not to think too much of it at first, how could this tiny insignificant human have any possible influence on you when your souls had felt the holy embrace of an angel’s wings?

But as the days turned into weeks turned into many long months it became obvious you were in love with him.

Eriphel wouldn’t stand for it.

He had been with you for nearly two years by this point.

He knew your favorite color, he knew your favorite foods, he knew every single password that you had for every website, he knew what expression you had when you were deep in thought, when you were annoyed, when you were in the middle of an orgasm.

There was nothing he didn’t know about you.

As he stood before you in the dead silence of night watching your lover spoon you protectively tears rolled down his cheeks. He had never cried before, but he recognized the behavior from the humans he had watched over.

Something had to be done.

If he could just claim your soul then he wouldn’t need to worry about the relative tiny amount of time you spent in this world because you would spend eternity with him when you passed on.

Eriphel decided he would interact with you directly as you slept. He’d disguise himself as a demon and make a deal with you. Then you’d be his and everything would be alright. He was shaking with the sheer anxiety of what he was about to do, he had barely said anything to a human before and even then that was only with some who were deceased.

That night you had a vivid dream, it was so real. A demon came to you and made you a fabulous offer of wealth beyond imagining. You couldn’t remember what he wanted, but you felt the price was too high. You were scared. You turned him down and ran.

Eriphel should have known an offer of wealth wasn’t enough to gain what he wanted from you, still he thought it was worth a try. He knew you’d at least be tempted by all the good you could do with money.

When you next saw the monstrous demon in your dreams you remembered it even more clearly than you had before. You were in a pristine palace of obsidian and red, richly decadent but with an undeniably sinister undertone.

The demon spoke in a voice that sounded like several people talking in unison.

This time it offered to let your parents live longer, to give them pristine health for their age so that they could spend more time with you.

This time you were tempted, you hesitated. But after some consideration you still declined before fleeing. Your parents weren’t in bad health as far as you knew and them having a few extra years wasn’t worth the price of your soul until the end of time.

Eriphel was homing in on the solution, getting closer to the offer that would have you as his. But he wasn’t there yet…

A couple months passed and you and your beloved Jason moved in together. But tragedy struck as not long after that your boyfriend went to the doctor to get some worrying symptoms looked at.

Cancer. Inoperable brain tumor.

The news broke you, but you had to put on a strong face for Jason’s sake. He had always supported you and been the strong one when you needed him and now he needed you.

Jason fell asleep with his head on your chest as you held him in your arms. You made sure he was sound asleep before you let yourself cry silently.

It took a long time but finally the emotional toll of the day caught up with you and dragged you into sleep as well.

Once again you were in that clean, rich, sinister building of polished red and black. The horned demon standing before you again, terrible and proud.

“I can save him. I can cure him with a snap of my fingers. All you have to do is agree to hand over your soul after your death.”

You were shaky, you couldn’t think clearly after the events of the day, you wanted nothing more than for Jason to live the full life he deserved. If it meant you had to be a demon’s victim and tortured for eternity after your death then so be it, the years you had growing old with Jason were worth any price.

“Yes! Please! S-save him!!!”

He smiled and approached you, grabbing you by your clothing.

“Wh-what are you-”

“This is how a soul pact is sealed. You do want this deal don’t you?” You nodded and hung your head silently as he peeled off each article of clothing one by one. Suddenly you were in a different room, laying naked on your back with your legs propped up on the demon’s shoulders.

You knew he was a wicked and power hungry entity but the way he looked at you was almost like a human looking upon a holy relic. He took his time, shaking hands rubbing up and down every part of you.

This was not how a soul pact had to be sealed, but he couldn’t wait any longer to feel you.

The red skinned monstrosity kissed up your thighs, careful not to harm you with his horns. He was as gentle as a lamb.

When he finally got to the point where he was lining up his large cock with your hole he kept that same gentleness. You thought he’d have just ravaged you but he didn’t do that at all.

The demon slid his cock in you slowly, this wasn’t your physical body and no lube was needed, he glided deep inside you painlessly and moaned loudly as he did so.

Heaven was nothing compared to being inside his beloved darling who before today could have only dreamed of what it felt like inside of you.

As he slid his entire length in and out of you he bit at your chest, hungrily, but not very hard. Not enough to really hurt. Just enough to stimulate you and to taste your skin. He trailed up to your neck and licked, sucked, and kissed there over and over again like it was some drug he was hopelessly addicted to with no chance of quitting.

Your hands gripped the bed sheets feebly as he began to pick up speed. You felt a bit sick. You didn’t think that this would be pleasurable. You thought this would be as painful as he could make it, but it was so good. It made it feel like you were really cheating on Jason.

Even if this was probably just a stress induced dream your brain made to help you cope with devastating circumstances.

Eriphel couldn’t last long, being his first time and doing it with someone so supremely important.

His pace remained steady as his strong hands gripped your hips and pulled you close, slamming you down to his full nuts as he emptied them into you and the two of you shared a mind shattering orgasm. You could feel your very soul being claimed by his magical seed.

The demon kissed you passionately and then you and Jason both woke up to the sound of his phone ringing.

It was the doctor.

He was calling to explain that the machine was busted and was showing false tumors. He wanted Jason to come back in tomorrow for a scan on a different machine. He was probably okay.

The demon had kept up his end of the deal.

The two of you hadn’t slept long but now with the new test looming over the both of you neither of you could manage to go back to sleep.

When the time came the both of you got in the car with him driving and you in the passenger seat. Everything was fine and you both tried to calm yourselves and not get your hopes too high. Jason was likely okay, but there was always that small chance that he wasn’t.

You idly looked at the houses and trees as they passed when you saw movement from the rearview mirror. The demon hissing and lunging towards you. You screamed before everything went dark.

Doctors later examined your body and determined that you suffered a massive stroke. Not really what happened. Eriphel just couldn’t wait to have you, and he never said that he’d let you grow old with that… thing… you called Jason.

No, he said he’d cure him. And he had. It had been easy enough to reverse the magic he had used to give him cancer in the first place.

When you woke up you were in a large white room that looked like it was made out of marble, gold, and silver. The lights around the room looked to be carved out of pure milky white crystal.

You were confused. If you had died by the hands of that monster wouldn’t you be in the place you had seen in your dreams?

“Hello.”

You turned to see a tall lean man adorned in white robes, his hair was sparkling silver, he had a pair of great wings outstretched from his back, the feathers looked as if they had been dipped in the most thin and fragile layer of silver possible. His whole body glowed with a faint white light and his eyes were an otherworldly shade of shining gold.

“I understand you are confused. I am Eriphel, I am an angel that scours the mystic planes for demonic presence and eliminates it where I can. You were attached to a foul demon, a parasite of human misery. I noticed this just in time and snatched your soul at the moment of your death…”

You took in his words while staring transfixed at his beauty. You were really dead then. You introduced yourself and thanked him several times before calming yourself a bit and asking what you desperately needed to know.

“Is this heaven? Will I eventually be reunited with my boyfriend?”

Eriphel had to suppress a bit of rage that began mounting at that last inquiry.

“Sadly, your soul was marked by a demon, you can never enter the proper realm of heaven without being cast to hell, where that demonic entity would surely get you. But you are safe here, in my home. You will have to stay here… forever…”

His voice was mournful, and his eyes were wet with sympathy at your plight… or so you thought. Eriphel was really just crying because his fondest dream had come true. With no one else to interact with and his intimate knowledge of your every like and dislike you’d certainly fall in love with him.

The angel pulled you into a comforting hug as you sobbed into his chest at never being able to see Jason again, and he smiled wickedly as he rubbed your back. No one else would ever come between you again.

[yinyuedijun]

kitsune!suo x fem reader | feudal japan au

→ notes for an au set in feudal japan, featuring supernatural creatures and spirits (e.g., youkai). suo is a kitsune, sakura is a nekomata, and nirei is an onmyouji. → see this post for backstory on the bofurin trio (recommended background reading)

note: most information on kitsune-mochi were sourced from folkorist lafcadio hearn's accounts of traveling in japan (c.1901). I did, of course, also take creative license with some of the lore.

reader | kitsune-mochi (fox-employing witch)

→ as a kitsune-mochi, you are a human who has entered a contract with a fox spirit to care for it in exchange for having it lend you its power and carry out your requests. → in your case, your familiar is suo, a nine-tailed kitsune that lost his hoshi no tama. → most witches employ kitsune for the purpose of carrying out malicious acts, like having the fox spirit possess their enemies, steal the wealth of other people, etc. you, however, rely on suo and his power in order to perform exorcisms and exterminate demons—something that you cannot do on your own because you have no innate spiritual talents yourself.

→ although a convenient source of power, these deals are typically risky for the contract holder. you are expected to care for suo for the rest of your life, and any descendants you might have would be cursed to serve him as well. kitsune-mochi are heavily ostracized by human society as well, so if this relationship of yours were to be discovered, then your entire bloodline would suffer. → additionally, these contracts typically favour the kitsune, as they are the ones who define what it means to be "cared for", and may request dangerous or unreasonable tasks. → fortunately for you, suo is not a very demanding familiar! the most basic act of caring for a fox spirit is feeding it, and he's more or less happy with anything you make, though he especially likes tea, wagashi, or dishes with aburaage. this is more or less all he asks of you! → suo's disposition is generally so patient and gentle that you nearly disbelieved that he was a youkai. you were convinced for a while that he was actually a messenger of god who was lying to you about his identity for some reason. (at the very least, you'd noticed that he had a habit of lying to people generally, though this was an unsurprising trait for a fox and it was usually harmless fun.) → this perception of him was shattered when you saw him fight a youkai that seriously injured you. he spent an uncomfortable amount of time toying with it in a distinctly humiliating fashion before finally putting it out of its misery. it was only in that moment that you realised that you'd signed yourself and all of your descendants up for serving a literal demon 👍

→ warning: immortal/human relationship, immortal deity meets reader as a child but doesn't get to know or grow close to them until they're an adult

your backstory with suo

→ at a very young age, you were adopted and raised by a priestess of an inari shrine belonging to a small mountain village. consequently, you developed a deep respect for the kami and affection for foxes. → as a child, you once found a one-eyed, wild fox in a near-death state. this was suo after he lost his hoshi no tama in a battle with a demon—but to you, he just looked like a regular animal. most people would have let this creature die peacefully, but you were adamant on nursing it back to health. while caring for him, you named him mr. adzuki because of the colour of his fur, which suo finds incredibly funny to this day. → suo disappeared after recovering, never making his true identity known. however, out of gratitude toward you and the priestesses for allowing him refuge, he decided to act as the guardian spirit of the village, protecting it until the end of your life. → conveniently, this meant that suo got to eat all the offerings given to inari's messengers at your shrine, as well as allowing him to gain power from the prayers directed toward him. (inari himself seemed not to mind, as no actual fox messengers showed up to throw hands with suo.)

image: gashadokuro, a youkai made from the skulls of humans who died in battle.

→ although your village was peaceful throughout your childhood due to suo's protection, in your adult years, a violent conflict between humans and demons broke out in your mountain range. this resulted in the destruction of nearly all its towns and the brutal deaths of your fellow villagers. suo, not at full power, was unable to stop this, but made it his goal to save you from the carnage. → after allowing you time to grieve your loved ones, suo—still considering himself indebted to you—asked what you would like to do next. he offered you wealth, status, and other material things, but none of these appealed to you. → recognising that the mountains you grew up in would be plagued by malevolent spirits and demons for centuries after all the bloodshed that just occurred, you asked suo to teach you jujutsu. your goal was to exorcise all the vengeful spirits, exterminate the demons, and purify the mountain range so that its villages could peacefully rebuild. → given your lack of innate spiritual abilities, suo suggested that you make a pact with him and become a kitsune-mochi to acquire powers. not wanting to deceive you, however, he fully explained how dangerous it might be to enter such a relationship, and warned you not to trust fox youkai like himself.

→ nevertheless, you accepted his offer and became a witch.

image: sakura irl

meeting sakura & nirei

→ you and suo thus embark on this crazy mission to purify the entire mountain range. while you are more than capable of exorcisms and exterminations, your spiritual abilities (one of a youkai) do not allow you to purify the land. → but that's okay, because nirei and sakura have been traversing these same mountains to exorcise and hunt demons! being an onmyouji, nirei can perform all kinds of purification rituals. when you inevitably run into the two of them, and suo suggests that you all work together. → nirei is more than happy to help you purify the mountain range (because he is a good-hearted person, and also because he usually gets assignments there anyway). he improves his jujutsu under suo's tutelage, and he gets insights on kitsune that he'd otherwise never learn (it's rare for an onmyouji to meet a kitsune-mochi unless it's to prosecute them for some kind of crime, and it's just plain hard to meet and talk with a nine-tailed fox spirit). → sakura is a harder sell. he doesn't trust suo at all at the start, and he trusts him even less when he finds out that he's a kitsune and has been lying egregiously to him. (sakura and nirei spent an entire month thinking that suo was a traveling tea merchant from china and being fed severe misinformation about the entire country.) → however, sakura is very curious about you, because you're the first human he's ever met who has a mutual and trusting relationship with a demon, which he didn't think was possible beyond weirdos like nirei. → you also aren't afraid of him at all even after seeing his nekomata form, which gives him complicated feelings. he reasons that this is because you've fought too many demons to be afraid of any of them, but the actual truth is just that you find suo incredibly scary, and sakura feels harmless and adorable in comparison </3 → sakura deeply enjoys the act of helping the mountain towns and being accepted by their communities, though he's very shy about admitting it! eventually, he does "resign" to joining you in a long-term arrangement, and the four of you take on the endless mission of exorcising and cleansing the mountain range together. it's a very "monster of the week" type of set-up hehe

→ although the work of purifying the mountain range will likely take the rest of your life (and probably will require generations after you), suo often asks you what you would like to do after the work is complete—so that he can think of ways to grant your request. → you decide not to tell him this, but your wish would be to return to your old village grounds and rebuild the shrine that you grew up in. rather than just inari, you would also dedicate it to the worship of the one-eyed fox spirit that once protected your village.

[apoloadonisandnarcissus]

“Sauron = Power” in Galadriel’s character arc in “Rings of Power”

“Rings of Power” canon building on Tolkien lore.

Sauron and Galadriel represent Dark vs. Light (and the push and pull between the two sides), yes. But it’s more deep and complex than just this basic dynamic. Allow a Tolkien nerd to be of service:

Tolkien’s Galadriel is power-hungry and spent ages trying to repent for this, at the eyes of the Valar, and attempting to gain their pardon, to be allowed to return to Valinor.

A penitent: in her youth [Galadriel] a leader in the rebellion against the Valar (the angelic guardians). At the end of the First Age she proudly refused forgiveness or permission to return [to Valinor]. She was pardoned because of her resistance to the final and overwhelming temptation to take the [One] Ring for herself. - Tolkien, Letter 320

Rebellion against the Valar

In Tolkien lore, she refused their gift of returning to Valinor at the end of the First age, because she wanted a kingdom of her own, she wanted to rule, she wanted power.

In “Rings of Power” this was connected with her hunting down Sauron to avenge her brother, Finrod (who was killed by Sauron’s werewolves in Tol-in-Gaurhoth, protecting Beren). This, alone, established the parallel of “Sauron = power” in Galadriel’s arc in “Rings of Power” canon.

That’s why she falls in love with Halbrand. But Halbrand = Sauron, as Season 2, also, established, and this was Galadriel’s main conflict in Season 2, too (realizing it’s Sauron/power she fell in love with), but this is far from over.

This is obvious in this scene in 1x08: Sauron’s offer is that he would make Galadriel “a” queen. She’s the one who says “and you. My king. The Dark Lord.” She wants to be the Queen of Middle-earth (thirst for power) with Sauron as her king consort, because “Sauron = Power” in her “Rings of Power” canon. And she refers to him as the “Dark Lord”. She’s talking about Sauron himself, not “human Halbrand”, here.

That’s who she truly wants, because his physical form doesn’t matter. Halbrand or Annatar, those are only physical forms. He’s always the same immortal spirit from the Unseen world (Mairon), no matter what physical form he takes in the Seen world.

This is further confirmed in 2x07, in her scene with Celebrimbor. He says “I blinded myself to what he was” and “a part of me knew”, but he wanted what he offered. And Galadriel agrees with everything: so did I.

Deep down, Galadriel knows that Halbrand = Sauron, and it’s Sauron whom she wanted all along. This also implies that Galadriel somehow suspected (or had an intuition) that Halbrand was actually Sauron, back in Season 1. Again, because Sauron symbolizes Power in her character arc in “Rings of Power”.

Banish from Valinor

The show has yet to mention the “little detail” of Galadriel being banished from returning to Valinor (not sure if they will), but this sentence from the Valar, in “Rings of Power” is connected with her feelings for Sauron: Galadriel loves power/Sauron, and for that reason she has been banished from ever returning to the Blessed realm.

Repentant sinner

Hence, Galadriel will try to earn the Valar forgiveness, for two entire ages (Second and Third ages), working against Sauron.

She will be tormented by her love for Sauron/power until the Third Age; when she finally resists Frodo offering her the One Ring (power = Sauron). This symbolizes her giving up her power thirst, at last, and humbling herself before the Valar to earn their forgiveness (her repentant arc is complete).

With the canon “Rings of Power” is building, this will, also, symbolize the end of her love/lust for Sauron, or the diminishing of her feelings for him, to a point they won’t longer torment her as they did before. I think the second option is more likely, because Season 2 established that “Elven memories do not dim”.

In this way, Lothlórien becomes Galadriel’s golden cage (literally), where she’s safe from Sauron’s reach, and where she hides from the rest of Middle-earth. In Tolkien lore, she doesn’t leave much (only for White council meetings) because Nenya’s power is needed at Lothlórien; to protect it from Sauron and his servants, essentially. In Tolkien canon, it’s also established that Sauron could only enter or conquer Lothlórien if he went there himself (which he never did, even though Galadriel was his main adversary among the Elves).

“I Know Your Mind”

“I see you.”, “The door is still open”. Sauron tells Galadriel these things because he knows she wanted to take his offer (to be Queen of Middle-earth).

But only after Sauron forces them to bind together using Morgoth’s crown, does he realizes something else: Galadriel is in love with him. Which explains his reaction right here:

I don’t think Sauron actually knew until this point; he knew they shared a connection, but he probably didn’t know it was romantic, from her part, too. In Season 1 finale, he calls himself “her friend”, but in Season 2, there’s no mention of it, and he gets teary and emotional after the binding (especially when he thinks she’s actually going to join him.)

And he declares himself: “I would have placed a crown upon your head. I would never have rested until all Middle-earth had been brought to its knees, to worship the light of its Queen.” He goes back to his offer from Season 1 finale because, again, Sauron = power in Galadriel’s arc in “Rings of Power”. This is Sauron way of saying that he’s in love with her, too.

She still resists him, and denies him, and he pierces the crown deeper because he wants the blood binding to actually work. And that’s why he asks her for Nenya through mental communication, to test the bound. And it worked. They are bound together.

Let me In

“Rings of Power” canon explains why Sauron never stops grouping Galadriel’s mind for thousands of years into the future, in Tolkien lore. He knows she’s in love with him.

Even after she “closes the door” of her mind to him, and he’s rendered formless after the Fall of Númenor, he still feels it (via blood bound), and never stops trying to get Galadriel to low her walls, and allow him in. Because they can be together in the Unseen world, still.

But Galadriel resists:

Her conscience doesn’t allow her to be a part of his evil plans of world domination;

She wants to be pardoned by the Valar and to be able to return to Valinor (where her entire family and friends are waiting for her, because elves are immortal spirits);

In 1x01, Elrond tells her that only in Valinor she can heal from everything she endured on Middle-earth. She’ll probably believe this will be true for her feelings for Sauron, too.

I didn’t want to go there, but “Rings of Power” canon also explains why Galadriel and Celeborn have such a lukewarm marriage (to say the least) in Tolkien lore. They spent more time apart than together in the lore, and her being in love with Sauron and them being bound together can explain that. Because who could ever compete with that? So to that I say, poor Celeborn, but this is the canon “Rings of Power” is building upon Tolkien lore.

I joked about “Half-Maia Celebrían” but I don’t think the show would ever go that far (I think). Celebrían will, most likely, be conceived when Galadriel and Celeborn are trying to make their marriage work or something like that.

Doomship

Galadriel and Sauron are “doomship” because of their choices. Another major theme in both “Rings of Power” and Tolkien lore: “choose good” every day, until it becomes part of your nature.

Galadriel chooses to be good and to follow the light, while Sauron chooses evil and the darkness. And for that reason they can’t ever be together, in spite of their love for each other.

How does it end?

We don’t know. Because great tales never end, according to Tolkien himself.

We know Galadriel travels to Valinor, at the end of the Third age, while Celeborn stays behind in Middle-earth. After the One Ring is destroyed, Sauron is left diminished and weak, unable to regain his power ever again. He can’t truly die, because not only he’s immortal but one of the forces that first shaped the world (Maiar). We don’t know where he goes.

Does he go to Valinor, too, to finally face the judgment of the Valar and get a sentence for his crimes? He won’t be sent to the Void (like Morgoth) because (1) he’s only a Maia; (2) his crimes were as nearly as comparable to Morgoth’s (who pretty much corrupted the entire world). Him being bound to Galadriel raises interesting questions, in this.

[mehiwilldoitlater]

Hi I don’t know the difference between imagine or hcs ; I was wondering can I hear your thoughts on yandere monkey king x reader who’s the white bone lady please ; love to hear your thoughts (sorry if my English isn’t good 💗)

My thoughts, uh?

My thoughts... well, my thoughts are...

Before being the Lady Bone Demon, Reader was a mere, small, iey kind of spirit, like a fairy. She wasn't anything big, just a small creature that lived in the cold, turned to water during the hotter seasons, and waited until the cold came back and snow gave her her true form.

My thought is that she once met a small monkey, an intelligent one, and they became friends. 

Every winter, he liked to pass it with her, playing and learning about the fun and the joy that even winter can bring. And he learned the pain that spring brings and the longing for her return in summer.

Years pass, and he changes. He became a dangerous demon, his name now Sun Wukong, and he had learned a new trick: how to make an ice spirit never wither.

My thoughts are that, at first, you found it quite nice to enjoy the hotter season, the flowers of spring, the fruits of the summer, and the fire-colored leaves of autumn, but as time passed, you wondered how long this thing would last... You miss the waters, your sisters, and your brothers... You would like to go back.

"Back?" He snarls, "Don't you like my gift?! Is this how you treat me?! YOUR KING?!"

But he wasn't your king, and you didn't like his way of acting.

And he didn't like your defiance, so he hurt you badly.

He cured you, using water and ice, but you remembered... and you started to wonder what was happening with him. Since when did he want to control you and keep you close to him? Since when have his eyes become dark? Since when did the small and friendly monkey become the demon that declared to love you like life itself?

You didn't want to give in; you were proud enough to not fall for threats and aggression. No matter any time he hurt you and rebuilt you, you didn't lose a single grain of hope to being free.

So, when the diamond ring came to capture him, you secretly asked for your father, the cold wind of the north, to guide it against him. Your father responded, and not only him.

When the celestials founded you, the ice fairy that the great Sage cherished as his own Queen, they found someone that was overjoyed by his fall and asked nothing but for your freedom!

But the damage was too deep now. He had fed you those damn pills and peaches; now not even the sacred fire could melt you... You felt helpless, near to giving up on your hope...

But the Mother of the West gave you another chance.

"There's a mountain, not far from the gate of the west," she spoke. "Go there and act in my name. Protect people, help them, and act as a guardian. Once your work is done, you'll find your immortality revoked."

History is written by the winners. Your name wasn't about death and bones; it was one about keeping company men in their last moment, helping them pass the threshold, and being there when the Black and White Impermanence came. You were there, guiding children in their home when they were lost, fending them from the dangers of the night. You were there to take away the tears from the face of the young lady.

You saved women that wanted to take away their lives; you were a saint.

Your name was Lady of White Reverance.

But he had to come back, did he? He had to meet your gaze when you kindly offered to help his master by bringing him food and water, remembering then all the years of torture, of imprisonment, and of seclusion by him. And he was fast to attack you, claiming you were a demon that wanted to eat his master. a lie, a dirty lie; he even tried to take you away again, bring you back to Mount Huaguo, promising to finish his journey and come back for you, to his wife. But you refused, and that angered him again.

Only this time, you were strong enough to fend him off.

In the story, he had killed you, but the truth was that you got away, and he is still alive, now searching for you.

[penguin--nipples]

truly nothing has affected me the way that reading the wicked years this past week is affecting me I have a million disorganized thoughts and I'm only partway through son of a witch:

Glinda and Elphaba's relationship is so much more fleshed out in the books than it is in the musical - the yearning and the pining and Elphaba showing up at the cloister of St glinda over and over again

Elphaba has two soulmates and that affects me deeply what do you mean someone who feels like they could never be loved has two soulmates

Why the fuck did Gregory include a line about Fiyero shitting his guts out right before dying?? Did the guy at the bar poison him?? Did the guy at the bar purposefully show him the bears being killed/hurt and then poison him?

Elphaba and her son both being bisexual disasters is actually my favorite thing

Elphaba and Fiyeros deaths both occur somewhat 'offscreen' and there is no evidence of their bodies

BOQ in the book is such a loveable character I despised him in the musical

Glinda is absolutely bat shit but also some kind of intuitive genius, the way she sees Fiyero after a decade and immediately deduces he's fucking somebody and minutes later says something along the lines of "send my love to elphie". And the way she interacts with Liir for the first time is also absolutely insane, but she also instinctively knows by the end of her conversation with him that he is Elphaba's son

Why is Nanny immortal? And how did Chistery learn to talk so well with her as the only human around?

As much as I hated watching Liir get bullied I loved the chapters at kiamo ko with sarima/her sisters and Nanny randomly showing up to terrorize the group, nothing like a found family of mostly women

I understand the queer reading of Elphaba's character obviously, but I don't understand why people think she is intersex. The book literally states "Only after a second and third rub was it clear that the child was indeed feminine. Perhaps in labor some bit of organic effluvia had become caught and quickly dried in the cloven place." - I always read this more as an acknowledgement of what Sarima explains later on as hot and cold anger and Elphaba having both. I feel like this is more of a trans allegory or that Elphaba has elements of being male and female (2 Spirit?)/a dissolution of gender, than her being intersex. and yet this rumour persists among discussion posts and boards, making it feel like a real life propaganda trail for the book since I've seen it said in the context of "woahhh the book is so much freakier than the movie omg". Although I guess it could be androgen insensitivity syndrome as well

What the FUCK is Yackle? She is described as the opposite of a guardian angel but idk what that means

Did gelphie fuck or not I'm so confused, they "spent a night together" and I see people saying they canonically had sex and maybe it's the nature of the book enjoying switching perspectives every time something interesting happened but I feel like they didn't? Or it's something I haven't read yet?

I feel like Liir becomes an audience surrogate when he goes into Southstairs guided by Shell - this is genuinely how it felt reading the books sometimes, he saw Shell be sketchy multiple times before putting it together like 'wait are you having sex with them???' which is basically me every time Gregory implied a sex scene subtly, making me not super sure if it happened or not

[lilmissbacon]

Rotg world building — Thoughts and theories

This was originally just going to be a reblog to THIS post but then I ended up going down a rabbit hole of my thoughts and opinions, so it became too annoyingly long for peoples/my preference.

Most of the post really expresses how I've always viewed the world of spirits in Rotg. The only thoughts I'm not really a fan of is the idea of some spirits not having physical forms and just being like big storms. Because what's the point of humanoid spirits being invisible to humans if they have no physical forms to other spirits as well?

I never saw Jack talking to the wind as the wind being an active spirit, I saw it as him just being so lonely he'd pretend the wind was alive to not feel so alone. After all, he only addressed the wind 1 time, if it were an actual being I feel like it'd be addressed more than once. Especially when Jack needed to get out of Antarctica: why would he need to fix his staff to fly out if the wind could've just picked him up unless he was the one making the wind? And like the post linked above said, the comics are unofficial. They're cool and I love them but they're not canon.

I do love the idea of their being 2 generations of spirits. Pre-MiM and post-MiM where the legends of Gods and myths are tales of the original spirits mistaken for higher deities and distorted over time. After all MiM wasn't always there (at least in the books) so how were their seasons/seasonal spirits on earth before him unless they were just natural to earth?

Plus it's made apparent through Sandy's death in Rotg that spirits are not 100% immortal, just non-aging. I think there is an open window for spirits to come back like Sandy did, if an influx of enough people believe, Tinkerbell style. But after maybe a year or so, that window is closed, that spirit is full on dead and that spirit needs to be replaced to keep the world in balance. So there could've been hundreds of spirits that have been lost but then replaced by MiM. I also think only magic can kill spirits, since Jack managed to fall from like 300+ feet in the final battle and walk it off without so much as a limp. Like, it still hurt, he clearly felt the pain, but he could still run, jump, throw hands and everything. He only groaned like he tripped down a small set of stairs.

Guardians are the only ones who could die without belief due to the vow they take. I feel like that vow tying their lives to belief could've actively been like an insurance policy to insure that the Guardians stay true and keep doing their jobs to fulfill childhood. It may be controlling and borderline manipulative for MiM to make them do that but I'm sure we're all in agreement that he is pretty gray as a character in the movie when you really think about it. And I could even see where he's coming from with this idea. After all, who knows how many spirits he may have made thinking they were good people, only for them to go dark and become evil. I'm sure MiM would hold a lot of guilt whenever those bad spirits hurt others or even feel at fault for making these decent people, eventual villains. Besides the Guardians know they could die if they lose belief when they make the vow, so it's not like MiM tricked them, that's consented. The Guardians just forgot to tell Jack that.

Now, I always saw "Spirit Society" as all spirits know of each other and word always gets around when new ones are made. I don't think there's a hidden city or village (other than maybe Santoff Clausen if it's even still around. And only for some of them, it wouldn't be big enough for all spirits in my mind) but rather they make homes for themselves and just cross paths with each other all the time. Kinda like the countryside; everyone's homes are far apart, but you still see each other in stores or at work.

I'm not quite sure how the news and knowledge would spread between spirits so often unless they were either all huge gossips or had yearly meets or something. But you know what, I'd be willing to bet that there are a few "messenger" spirits similar to Hermes in Greek myth, that just fly everywhere, spreading word for other spirits to make sure everyone is in the loop.

In my mind, Bunny's aggression early in the movie was meant to kinda show how most spirits saw Jack. After all, he's the only one who didn't feel like he'd be super recluse due to his job as he's the only one who doesn't work all year-round.

Unless he's a complete hermit, what is he doing for the rest of the year other than going out and hanging with other spirits?

I think most spirits hate Jack for being a troublemaking spirit that honed the deadliest season. That could just be my angst fanfic brain making things up but why else would Jack be so desperate to look towards humans to connect with unless he has tried with other spirits who could see him and was only met with backlash?

'Cause I have seen a few people complain that the ending of the movie contradicted Jack's arc of wanting to be seen only to leave the few believers he'd finally made. But that was never the point. He has what I like to call a fake-out arc; where it's said he wants one thing but his actual goal is different. He asks why he can't be seen, he tries his best to get people to believe in him, but he's doing it in an effort to find a family.

He mentions how no one can see him but he's more devastated over why he was left alone. That's his main question in this scene. He doesn't outwardly ask why he's alone specifically, but asking MiM "why" just after he was looking so longingly at Jamie's family is clearly meant to insinuate that that is what he really wants. He may even be telling himself it's just to be seen because he's been alone for so long that he just wants the bare fucking minimum. That's why the end of Rotg is still satisfying despite leaving his new believers, because being seen was never truly the end goal, it was finding a family and he finally found that in the other Guardians.

He clearly believed that he couldn't be accepted by other spirits, so he looked to humans to find that connection and getting to be seen by them was just a first step towards that goal.

It's the same thing in Tangled (because I have encountered someone who thought Rapunzel was one-dimensional for just wanting to see lights 😮‍💨) Rapunzel sang and always told Gothel + Eugene that she just wanted to see the floating lights, but the moment she steps out of her tower she starts singing in exhilaration about how she can finally go running, dancing, jumping and splashing. She never even mentions the lights. It had nothing to really do with the lights, she just wanted to leave her tower and explore the world. Seeing the lanterns was just her externalized and internalized excuse because she wanted to feel less awful for going against her 'mother'. Her wanting to explore the world was then more blatantly explored in Tangled the Series.

Edit: Pitch even straight up mentions about longing for a family when trying to sympathize with Jack and it's that very line that makes Jack lower is guard. Not the line about not being believed in, longing for a family. Jack even looks super sympathetic for him.

After Pitch killed Sandy, after witnessing first hand the belief fading from all the kids around the world and being framed for Easter's failure, possibly ruining Jack's relationship with the Guardians, Jack still feels bad for Pitch in this moment. That's why Jack lets Pitch say his piece in this scene despite knowing that he was never going to join him (you can tell he was never buying into Pitch's words and Jack didn't hesitate to refuse). He was even willing to try and just walk away after refusing his offer rather than keep fighting. Because he understands that desperation of wanting to be loved by just being seen and/or heard.

That's part of what makes him such a good layered character: the fact that he always used mischief in an effort to try and be seen, similar to when kids act out to get their parents attention. It leads the other spirits to think that he's nothing more than a troublemaker (and even audience as well, the amount of mis-characterization I've seen people make of Jack, istg) when in reality he's actually a very respectful, emotional, sweet and even responsible person that does know when to stop being silly. Jack never played around when actual danger came around, the only time he did was a one quip to Sandy because he was nervous and in the final battle when he realized being funny takes away Pitch's control.

And even then it was brief, after the kids started turning the sand gold again, Jack went right back into serious battle mode.

Kinda shows how not really mischievous Jack truly is when it takes him so long to realize that being fun can weaken Pitch. Because he's not really a trickster, he doesn't even really pull many pranks, he's just playful. But he had been cranking that up to 11 for the past 300 years in an effort to be seen, he inadvertently kept deterring other spirits away, who may had already not liked him just for being an ice based spirit. After all, whenever Bunny wanted to take a stab at Jack it was either at his invisibility or for his ice. Granted that could just be because Bunny himself just doesn't like the cold or even strictly because Jack made that blizzard on Easter but then again, we never got to see that for ourselves. We don't know if Jack even did that on purpose or not.

Last note; I don't think any other spirits died to become spirits like Jack did. It's my personal headcanon that the reason Jack couldn't remember his past is because he's the only one who had actively died before MiM got the chance to turn him. Though for all we know there could be a few others who also forgot their pasts. If there are, Jack clearly never got the chance to ask.

The way this kinda diverged into a mini Jack Frost character analysis though 😅

[turntechgaykid]

Miraculous Ladybug Redesign/Rewrite!!!

In this Rewrite all the characters are aged up to 17 and are in highschool

Story:

It starts with Chaos who is everything, Chaos saw the many worlds it had and was bored and decided to make the Spirits (First Immortality and Death then Evolution and Power then Desire and Resilience then Transformation and Stability and finally Intelligence and Haste) and set them free on the worlds but when Chaos realized they were to powerful it locked them away in the Miraculous’ for the use of their other creation the Humans

For centuries people fought over the Miraculous’ in secret but one day the current Guardian of the Miraculous (Master Fu) gives away the Miraculous of Transformation to his lover but she betrays him and gives it to a man she had fallen in love with running away with him, Master Fu never finds out who has the Miraculous.

Episode 1—------––––––———————————-

Years later there is a string of attacks with each perpetrator labeling it a psychotic episode or crimes of passion but Master Fu recognizes the magical powers and quickly comes to the conclusion that someone is wielding the Miraculous he lost and so he sets out to try and find it.

Master fu decides the best way to handle the akumatized people while he searches for the lost Miraculous is to recruit other Miraculous holders so he speaks to the spirits of the Miraculous’ and let's them lead him to who they choose to be their wielders and is very upset when he sees the Miraculous Spirits have chosen two teens. He argues with them for days but eventually the Spirits tell him they won't choose anyone else, Master fu caves and sends the Miraculous’ to the kids.

When Marinette receives her Miraculous it's something she trips over on her way to school she picks up the small black and red box with some other things she's dropped not noticing it, the whole day she thinks she hears whispering but later after school when she's getting her homework out she sees the box. She opens it to find a pair of earrings but suddenly they glow and out comes the Spirit Evh.

Marinette is stunned into silence and thinks she's gone crazy but Evh explains to her everything that's happening (which gives us the exposition in the first episode as to what the Spirits are and their roles in the world).

Meanwhile Adrian is at his home during a Mandarin lesson when Natalie brings him his mail with the little black and red box, when he begins to hear some whispers, brushing it off Adrian is excused from his lesson and opens the mail in his room thinking it's fan mail. He tries on the ring but sees no corresponding mail then it glows and the Spirit Sire appears, at first Adrian thinks it's some sort of hologram but Sire quickly explains what it is. Adrian thinks it's the coolest thing ever and begins taking notes on everything Sire has to tell him.

Then suddenly there's an emergency broadcast telling how someone is attacking pedestrians at a news/weather station Adrian excitedly asks Sire if he can transform now Sire says yes and Adrian turns into Cat Noir for the first time while this is happening Marinette is panicking as Evh urges her to transform and help. Eventually both teens end up at the scene.

Cat Noir shows up first and quickly begins to banter with the woman seeming to have caused the chaos, noticing she is wearing a strange outfit then Ladybug shows and at first Cat Noir thinks she's helping the woman but Ladybug says she's her to stop her, Cat Noir flirts a bit with Ladybug saying that means they're on the same team Ladybug blushes at this but the woman grows tired of it an summons a gust of wind to send them flying.

Cat Noir and Ladybug rush to get back to the station leaping from building to building as they go Ladybug asks if Cat Noir knows anything about the woman he says no and they finally get back to where she is, she groans and tries to send them flying again but Ladybug manages to hook her Morningstar Flail around a light pull and catches Cat Noir as he flies by.

Once the wind stops Ladybug goes to run after the woman but Cat Noir stops her and points out a tv in a shop that shows a girl that looks exactly like the woman they're chasing. Ladybug notes her as being the weather channel host Aurore Beauréal knowing who she is now they give chase and call out to her.

But she says she's not Aurore anymore, that she's Stormy Weather. And they see that she's heading inside the news station, they follow but can't find her at first and start desperately searching the building then suddenly the lights begin to shut off one after the other the two run from the darkness until they're on the roof of the building where Stormy Weather is waiting for them with the director of the news station in hand, floating above them with her back to the large metal billboards that line the edge of the building.

Cat Noir goes to attack but Stormy Weather threatens to drop the director Cat Noir backs off and Ladybug tries reasoning with Stormy Weather asking why she's doing this. Stormy Weather explains that the director was planning on firing her and had been constantly belittling her on air, undermining her work and making her feel insignificant.

She tells them that all she wanted was recognition, respect, and a chance to show her true worth, but no one took her seriously. Ladybug listens carefully, trying to understand her pain while also keeping an eye on the floating man. Ladybug speaks softly, trying to connect with her, “You don’t have to go down this path, hurting others won’t make things better. We can help you find another way.”

The winds howl fiercely as Stormy Weather stands atop the roof, her storm powers surging violently around her. Her eyes are wild, filled with fury, and the director hovers precariously in the air. The clouds above grow darker, swirling with an unnatural intensity. Cat Noir and Ladybug stand across from her, their faces filled with concern and urgency.

Stormy Weather’s voice cracks with fury as she glares at them. “You think you can just talk me down!? I'm not some child in need of a scolding!” She raises her hands, the storm intensifying with every word. “You have no idea what it’s like to be invisible, to be dismissed, to be belittled my entire career! I’ve worked so hard to be seen, and what do I get in return? Nothing! People only care when they see power. Real power. And now I have it.”

Her eyes burn with rage. “Help me? HA! You think you can just help me like anyone else? You think you understand what I’ve been through?” The winds around her whip violently, threatening to tear the building apart. “No, no, no, no! I'm not giving up! I'm not!”

Stormy Weather’s laugh is cold, bitter, and filled with venom. “You think I don’t know that this is wrong? I tried to do things the right way. I worked so hard to prove myself, but all I ever got was ridicule. I was just a joke to them. But now they have to take me seriously ” She raises her hand, and the wind howls even louder, sending debris flying across the rooftop.

Cat Noir’s voice fills with desperation. “Aurore, please! You’re not thinking clearly. You’re letting your anger control you, and it’s only going to make things worse! This is going too far!”

But Stormy Weather’s eyes burn with rage, her storm powers intensifying with every word. She gestures toward the head of the news station. “He tried to ruin me. He made me feel small, worthless. And now I’ll make him feel the same way!” The storm crackles and rages around them, the air thick with electricity.

Ladybug looks at Cat Noir, her face filled with panic. “She’s too far gone. We need to stop her now.” Cat Noir nods grimly.

Stormy Weather’s gaze shifts between them, her anger seething. “You think you can stop me?” She raises her arms once more, and the storm around her erupts into a whirlwind of destruction. Lightning crackles and strikes the ground, and the winds grow so powerful that Ladybug and Cat Noir are knocked back. The floating director spins out of control, tumbling toward the edge of the roof.

Cat Noir scrambles to his feet, shouting, “She’s going to drop him! We have to stop her NOW!” Ladybug barely manages to regain her footing.

The storm is so powerful now that they can barely hear each other over the deafening roar of the wind. Cat Noir grits his teeth and leaps toward Stormy Weather, trying to get close enough to disarm her, but the winds push him back with terrifying force. “We can’t get through like this!”

Ladybug’s eyes widen as she sees the director hovering dangerously over the edge. The storm rages violently around them, threatening to tear the entire building apart. Ladybug and Cat Noir exchange a desperate glance.

The director begins to plead with Stormy Weather begging her to let him go. “Cat Noir!” Ladybug yells pulling him close and whispering to him, he nods and makes a run for the billboards behind Aurore as Ladybug begins attacking using her Morningstar almost as a whip against Stormy Weather keeping her attention on her forcing her to constantly deflect.

Cat Noir uses his power though on the large billboards destroying the upright beams securing them to the building. And as the shadow of the falling billboards begin to creep over Stormy Weather she looks behind her and panics releasing the director and flying away from the large sign but before she can get far Ladybug wraps her Flail around Stormy Weathers ankle dragging her down as Cat Noir catches the director.

Ladybug secures the chain of her weapon around Stormy Weather but hears whispering as Evh speaks to her telling her to find the Akuma but before she can do anything a small butterfly wiggles its way free of the chains and flys away. At that moment Stormy Weather turns back into Aurore.

Cat Noir and Ladybug are startled as police suddenly run through the roof access door guns aimed at them. The director quickly speaks up though and explains what happened, the police reprimand Ladybug and Cat Noir for doing the police's job but send them on their way and take Aurore into custody.

Ladybug and Cat Noir leave the news station to a crowd of people and reporters begging for information but they leave it to the police to explain and swing off.

End —---------------------------------------------------------

[justaz]

Not to post about jelsa in 2024 but I got an edit on tiktok about them (LMFAO) and I’ve been thinking about them and fuck maybe I’m misunderstanding bc I’ve never watched the guardian movies and it’s been a while since I watched frozen 2 but jelsa has so many parallels now??? Like obviously the whole snow thing but they both died and became spirits of sorts. They both left behind their little sisters after doing everything for them to be this spirit - not by choice sure but still.

And HEY maybe since Elsa is one of the spirits now,, she’s kinda of immortal too like Jack who is also a spirit of sorts…..anyways I’m just saying that there is good fanfic material there where they meet as spirits of winter/snow whatever tf they’re spirits of and you know what happens after that

ALSO the edit was like this little voiceover thing of Jack going “can you hear me?” And Elsa goes “I hear you” and now I’m just thinking about how Elsa was able to hear the call of the spirits and the enchanted forest and Jack is a spirit who is used to not being seen or heard and then there’s Elsa who can see and hear him before becoming a spirit as well. Idk idk the only contact I had with jelsa were those rise of the brave tangled frozen dragon fanfics idk anything

[cogmin213]

[ryin-silverfish]

Could you tell us more about fox spirits? or what you know about them? Since the Kitsune is the fox spirit that people popularize the most, information on the Huli Jing is difficult to search for.

*Deep Breath*

Man, oh man. On one hand, I am fascinated by fox spirits, on the other hand, entire books have been written on them (in Chinese), and there are a staggering amount of Qing dynasty fox tales in Yuewei Caotang Biji (阅微草堂笔记) and Liaozhai Zhiyi,(聊斋志异) it's hard to know where to start.

[Previous ask about nine-tailed foxes, the duality of auspicious and demonic, and Su Daji]

Fox spirits, like any other yaoguais, is an animal that has lived long enough and absorbed enough Qi to gain sentience. Through cultivation, they can eventually gain a human form.

According to Tang folklore, they need to wear a human skull on their head while bowing to the Dipper stars/moon, without the skull falling off, in order to transform into a human.

However, foxes are also talented shapeshifters and tricksters who have this reputation for seducing humans, male and female alike.

In earlier legends, that's just their nature, but Ming and Qing tales expanded on that, stating foxes have sex with human to drain their Qi or life force, because they need those to form an Inner Core——an orb of solidified Qi that contains all of their cultivation and life force.

(Usually, it's female foxes seducing human men, because they need some of that sweet, sweet Yang force to compliment their Yin.)

(But some Ming folklore collection said that male foxes also go after guys in the guise of women, while in others, male foxes are just seducers of women.)

(Oh, and there are actual lesbian foxes in Qing legends. Like Feng Sanniang from Liaozhai Zhiyi.)

But one must keep in mind that foxes, like all yaoguais, are not inherently good or evil. For every sexual predator and Daji-like temptress, there exists a graceful scholar, a chill friend, or a lovestruck girl (Liaozhai is full of human-fox romances).

Like, there is a tale in Yuewei Caotang Biji that's just a guy chatting with his 50-60 looking fox associate about how foxes cultivate. When asked why he's so candid about this stuff, he really sums up it best:

"There are good and bad ones among our kind, just like humans. If you humans don't shy away from speaking of human evil, why should I?"

He then proceeds to talk about how legit fox cultivators collect the essence of sun and moon like any regular Daoists, while the ones that seduce human and suck away their life forces are taking a shortcut and inviting heavenly retribution in the form of thunderbolts.

Other Qing legends introduce the hilarious concept that all aspiring foxes must pass an exam organized by the Lady of Mt. Tai, to, well, earn their cultivation permit. Not even foxes are free from the clutches of imperial examinations, it seems!

Still, their old auspicious association does give rise to the archetype of "cultivator/sorcerer foxes", as well as a higher chance of recruitment into the Celestial Bureaucracy.

Which might explain why foxes were so frequently venerated in popular religion. Like, northern China has this thing called the "Five Great Immortals" (五大仙), five species of cultivated animals that people worship:

Hu (胡), Foxes

Huang (黄), Weasels

Bai (白), Hedgehogs

Liu (柳), Snakes

Hui (灰), Rats

When I travelled to the city of Pingyao, Shanxi last summer, one of the sites I visited had a Yuan dynasty building, and its second level is a shrine dedicated to the "Fox Immortal", guardian of the imperial official's seal.

Fun fact: fox spirits have a habit of impersonating Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in Tang dynasty legends. Manjusri and Maitreya seems to be the most popular choice, and in 三遂平妖传, a Ming dynasty novel, "Sagely Old Lady"(圣姑姑) the heavenly fox also impersonates Bodhisattva Samantabhadra.

So imagine my surprise when I actually encountered some foxes next to a highway during the same trip, while visiting Mt. Wutai, Manjusri's sacred mountain!

[autistichalsin]

My "Halsin is Silvanus's Chosen and Thaniel is Silvanus's son" theory

So first off, there's definitely precedent for children of gods here, what with Dame Aylin.

Thematically it would make sense. Aylin is tied in with the Shadow Curse plot, the daughter of Selune held hostage in a Sharran temple, while Thaniel, if my theory held true, would be the son of Silvanus, kidnapped by Sharrans and forced into the Shadowfell. Aylin had to be saved by Shadowheart, and Thaniel had to be saved by Halsin. Thaniel and Oliver are even explicitly said to be immortal as nature spirits, much like how Aylin is immortal to anything but Shar's spear. The comparisons would just be too perfect, thematically.

Thaniel was Halsin's first friend, as he mentioned. Of course it's fitting that nature was Halsin's first friend, and that wanting to protect him drove him to become a furious guardian of nature itself. But wouldn't it be even MORE fitting if Thaniel was also the son of nature? If either Silvanus guided them towards each other, or Thaniel told his father about Halsin and his potential, drawing Silvanus's attention to the man he'll one day make his Chosen?

Thaniel even looks like he could be Silvanus's- Silvanus has a deep affinity for deer, to the point that one of his three main humanoid forms he takes has deer antlers. Just like how Thaniel has tiny little deer horns! And where does Thaniel live? The Western Heartlands, which were once called the Hartlands because of the abundance of deer.

As for Halsin being Silvanus's Chosen? I feel like that one is a lot more easy to see than the Thaniel one. Halsin is an extremely powerful Druid with even deeper ties to nature than even most other Druids. He was the only one with the power (and, if we still count the explanation in Early Access as canon, the wisdom, understanding, and empathy with the sufferers of the curse, both the land and its inhabitants) to break the Shadow Curse. Halsin explicitly has Silvanus's favor; "it took my years of study, of seeking the Oak Father's favor, to find a way to part the veil." Halsin has favor with Silvanus over other Druids, and this was what allowed him to save Thaniel.

It would be thematically fitting yet again- Shar cursed nature, and Thaniel itself, and set Shadowheart to kill Aylin (and if Shadowheart does so, she becomes Shar's Chosen); it would make sense if freeing nature was done by Silvanus's Chosen too, and that's before you add in the fights against the Chosen of the Dead Three and the "Tav is Jergal's Chosen" theory. Then you add that: Shadowheart can turn from Shar back to Selune; Silvanus and Selune are allies; and Halsin's Circle within the Druids is Circle of the Moon. It just fits in so many little thematic ways, tying in the moon/darkness with the land and how Shadowheart has the possibility to either work against the nature god's Chosen as the Chosen of the Goddess of darkness and loss, or as a devotee of the goddess of the moon.

Then there's other little things, like how Halsin is so in tune with his wildshape that he's more bear than elf, and also fiercely protective of children; how he's an incredible healer AND fighter when most under him seem to be one or the other, etc.

And lastly: there's hints in the game that Halsin seems himself as something of a father to Thaniel and Oliver. It would make it extra adorable, then, if Halsin, Chosen of Silvanus, was taking care of Silvanus's sons like a father himself!

[dawneternal]

A Duckling and a Beast

⚘ Just thinking about Tamlin being a dad and calling his baby 'Duckling'

⚘ Warnings: super fluffy, little bit of angst. Minimal editing.

⚘ Word Count: 655

⚘ Read on AO3

Worry and doubt and guilt had pulled Tamlin from his sleep, ravaging his nightmares and forcing him awake. He turned over in the bed, comforted by the outline of his sleeping mate, painted silver by the full moon. But there was still a restless piece of his spirit, adrift in a churning sea of memory and pain. So he slipped from the bed as quietly as he could to do the only thing that would truly quiet his mind.

He found his baby already awake, staring up at him adoringly with those grey-green eyes. Tamlin could not help his smile as he scooped her up, so tiny in his hands, and held her to his chest. She snuggled in immediately, chubby, pink cheeks against his bare chest. He ran a hand over her soft, golden curls that reminded him so much of a downy duckling. Everything in his mind quieted.

As they swayed in the moonlight, he could feel the infinite potential radiating from her, soothing every fear. The absolute assurance that she would become someone extraordinary dissolved all of his feelings of inadequacy. He would do anything to see it happen. If his mind stumbled, his body would know the path, tethered to this little soul in a way that he could not explain.

After all, if the mating bond was a bridge between his soul and Briar's, how might he be connected to this tiny being that was half him and half her?

His salvation. Those little hands that he was so sure would grow and accomplish such amazing things. She would do everything he never could, have everything he had always wanted, and he knew it because he was determined to make her happiness his purpose. He was no longer a failure. Because she was his gift to the world, and she had righted all his wrongs just by taking her first breath. With only her beautiful existence, she had fixed it all.

Amazing, how it all settled. How the world quieted and the beast in the den of his mind ceased roaring. It had been such a long time since there was such peace. Love had chased away the chaos. Briar had forged the path, had crafted the gates to this beautiful land of calm and bliss. He would make sure they wanted for nothing, his little family. He would fight anything, death itself, to ensure their contentment. He would conquer hell and claw his way out of the earth if he needed to.

The little duckling drifted back to sleep in his arms and his gaze turned toward the window. He thought of showing her every marvel of the court she'd inherit. Golden sunshine on her face, a warm breeze chasing them through the forest. He'd hold her hands under a bubbling brook and let her walk barefoot through velvety soft moss. When she grew older, he'd walk her to every corner of the court, along each border until she had them memorized. The future had not held such promise in so long.

The duckling began to fidget and fuss, to Tamlin set his sleeping darling down into her bassinet. Softly, he picked up his fiddle and began to play. He made the notes gentle and smooth and easy for her ears. Humming the words to the ancient song, he watched the wrinkles between her tiny brows melt away. Her small whimpers and cries turned into steady breaths as she slept, lured into a place of lovely dreams. Such trust she had in him already. He tucked it away into his heart, a thing to be cherished, a thing to fortify him should he ever falter. Her guardian. Her protector. The oath was written on his bones, older than the lullaby he coaxed from his instrument. Like all of the love in his chest was a thread in the tapestry of time, something truly immortal. His gift to the world.

[quitealotofsodapop]

In my idea for Rotg and associated lore of the Shrekverse, I have come to the conclusion that Puss in Boots would most likely be an immortal Legend/Fable-like entity.

Not a full Guardian, but rather much like Jack Frost, a beloved Legend. A story children are told from before they can even remember.

Jack: (*notices a cat watching him. not uncommon since cats can often see Spirits*) Jack, floats over: "Hey, little guy! Why are you wearing shoes?" Puss, dressed warmly: "I should ask why you are not, amigo." Jack: (*first time meeting a talking cat*) :O!!

Puss and Kitty are a duo as ever. An orange male cat can only be so smart after all (Puss might just be the origin of that stereotype). Kitty Softpaws is the original "cat burglar". She has stolen many many many artefacts from the other Legends including; North's Naughty List, The Thousand Leagues Boots (anniversary gift for her mate),

Perrito is there too. He's not a Legend. Death just likes having him around. Also he might be a protective spirit in his own right - ghostly therapy dog. North wants him to be a Guardian asap. The little dog has been trying to convince Jack to receive therapeutic help for last century or two.

Jack adores the animal legends as close friends. Jack and Puss have caused enough havoc for both Bunnymund and Death combined that the Life and Death entities have agreed to a truce on the pair.

Death himself may have begun life as a mortal creature. He does not care to recall. He is a reaper now. That is all he chooses to be seen as.

(The loyal war hound of General Kozmotis Pitchiner waited eons for his master to return from his mission, only to come to wish that the man had died all those centuries ago. The forgotten pet becoming the first ever creature brave enough to strike Fear into the heart of the Nightmare King himself.)

[xshimaeraxx]

okay but what if jack was originally a spring spirit. what if he was a spring spirit but got turned into a winter one by manny, or mother nature, or fuck, even pitch - but for this one let's go with mother nature.

no one'd believe him. he'd've been around for, what, 50 years before she changed him, at most, bc i imagine that's how long it takes for immortal spirits to catch notice of any newbies, esp given how jack seems to be the only (major/[ ] who stays there] spirit in burgess. so. 51 or 53 years in, MN comes in, goes, "hey yeah you're a winter sprite now" and jack just goes "what the fu-??"

he assumes, for the next decade or so, that it's a joke. (whenever faced with evidence it's true, he stays in denial for another six.)

it can't be true, ignoring how his mud-brown hair has turned white (there's only one stripe of brown left, by the time the movie comes about. he dyes it the same shade of ice-white the rest of his hair has turned into over the last 300 years; the reminder is more painful then anything, at that point, and so it's better left forgotten, in his book) and his well-tanned skin into the pale complexion of the likes of which he's only ever seen on winter seasonals. ignoring how one of his eyes is now bright lakewater-blue instead of both of them being sun-shone gold-brown, how his freckles are white like little snowdrops embedded into his skin instead of like miniature sunflowers sprouting themselves again and again with every new spring.

and now imagine how hard it'd be for jack, to transition from Type A to Type fuckin' Z, even if slowly - but isn't that even more painful, in the end? he loses the ability to make his flowers, his vines, his grasses, his trees - he gets sluggish in early spring and is conked out every time by the 30th of the first month of the too-warm (much, much too warm, and when has anything ever been too warm for him?) season, no matter how much he tries to stay awake, to see just someone's flowers even if not his own. he fails. he always, always fails.

then '68 comes around. things go wrong, jack gets upset, he can't remember why, and he makes a storm - even after all this time he's still shite at controlling his winter magic: he gets a scar from bunny aswell as a flower - a snowdrop, ironically enough; his old namesake, 'fore he became jack frost instead of jack snowdrop - and bunny a scar and a few snowflakes from him when winter finally comes 'round again.

then 2012 comes around, and, well. there's no point TELLING the guardians that he used to be a spring sprite, not when they'd never believe him, bunny especially. he'd take it as an insult, probably. some kind of mockery, some slight against him and all his fellow spring seasonals (once jack's fellow spring seasonals, but not anymore, NEVER anymore) - after all, if no one else ever believed him when he tried to explain what'd happened, what MN had done to him, had changed him, they'd all just laughed.

(well, laughed and then hurt him, but that's besides the point).

but THEN bunny catches him trying - and failing - to make animated flowers using his frost; they melt as soon as their shape solidifies. mother nature'd changed him so much, jack thinks, a tad bitterly, that he can't even make anything vaguely spring-y with his own (new, strange, wrong) element.

"why can't'cha make those? ya made that frost-bunny for jamie jus' fine," asks bunny.

"yeah, well, why don't'cha ask miss mother nature that question and then get back to me in three-to-give business days," jack grumbles, not even making a paltry attempt to hide the bitterness, the borderline resentment in his voice for mother nature, for the one who changed him, the one who ruined him. resentment's a dangerous thing, jack knows, but he thinks he's allowed it, in this one case.

(he'd never resented the moon as much as he'd resented mother nature.)

bunnymund blinks, taken aback, ears flipping back to press against his furred neck. taps his foot against the ground, gently. he's still looking at jack, looking at his failing, melting, broken frostflowers, his one visible blue eye - jack'd always kept his other one hidden, 'least round him and all the other guardians. the one time bunny'd tried to ask, the frostbite'd gotten all defensive, and so bunnymund'd let it drop - dead and tired.

(jack didn't look back, even as he felt eyes on him, heard the sound of bunny's signature tunnel opening and then close, once again.)

and then bunny does just that.