#To be fair (not really) Journey is immortal and death for them is just a rebirth - they know what death is but they don't 100% understand

[book-of-legends]

Im sorry but Journey did you just say break mortals? What do you mean by that? Do you...uh...kill them?

"I think Lunala called it death, I'm not sure. Mortals are really weird! Gosh, She always gets really mad at me when it happens too and then she yells at me that I can't be so rough with mortals!!" Journey gave a shrug, it was becoming a bit obvious they didn't truly understand the implications of what breaking mortals was. "I really don't know why! Even if they do the 'die' thing and then do the 'death' thingy, they'll come back when they get reborn! Just like I do and like everyone does." "Plus, even if they're broken, you can just fix them, right? They're just toys, you can heal them if they get too broken. But, sometimes Lunala says they are permanently broken, and I hate it when that happens! Then It means I can't play with them anymore!! It's the worst!!" The Hoopa gave an annoyed huff before looking away, death only seemed like an inconvenience to their playtime.

"So, yeah. I have to behave now, I guess." They sighed. "It's less boring being out here then it was being stuck in the God realm. It was just blank space, light and Arceus... Arceus was way different than her, Lunala has a lot of weird requests."

"It was super dumb when it happened too. They made me make the Universe gates and the next thing I knew, I couldn't remember anything and I wasn't even in the god realm anymore! I woke up and I was in the space realm!" They looked a bit upset as they recounted the events. "Do you have any idea how many Realms that is away!? That's a whole thirteen realms away! Who even does that to their creation!! That's pretty messed up if you ask me!" "Ughhhh... I used to be wayyy older you know!!" Journey gave another huff before dramatically waving their hands around. "Now I'm just a dumb kid again. That sucks! I can't even do adult stuff anymore! I mean, at least I can remember some stuff about my old life though." They happily nodded as they gave a smug grin. "I was much cooler and like really tall. So, maybe when I finally grow up again, I can look like that. Then neither Lunala nor Arceus can boss me around. When that happens I can have whatever I want and no one would be able to tell me no!"

[ljjsims]

The Greek Goddess Legacy Challenge: All Generations

Hi everyone! Since all my generations are posted separately, I thought it would be nice to have a post with links to every goddess. So.. Here it is :)

Gaia, Mother Earth. Primal Goddess of the earth. She who gave birth to all the elements in the world.

Aphrodite, Lady of Cythera. Olympian Goddess of Love, Beauty, Passion, Lust and Desire.

Hera, Queen of Heavens. Olympian Goddess of Marriage and Birth and Queen of the Gods.

Demeter, The Good Goddess. Goddess of Harvest, Agriculture, the Cycle of Life and Law

Persephone, Queen of the Underworld. She who destroys the light, Goddess of Spring, Death, Life and Destruction. Queen of the Underworld

Hecate, Guardian of the Crossroads. Goddess of Witchcraft, the Night, Crossroads, Ghosts and Necromancy.

Athena, The Bird Goddess. Goddess of Wisdom, Courage, Mathematics, Skill, Civilization and Strategic War.

Amphitrite, Queen of the Seas. Goddess and Queen of the Sea

Nemesis, The Inescapable. Goddess of Retribution for Evil deeds, Hubris and Undeserved good Fortune

Nike, Winged Victory. Goddess of Speed, Strength and Victory

Artemis, Protectress of Girls. Goddess of the Hunt, Forests, Hills, Moon, Childbirth and Archery.

Iris, Wondrous One. Goddess of the Rainbow and Messenger of the Olympian Gods

The Greek Goddesses Challenge by LJJ-Sims is a challenge based on the ancient mythical creatures and stories from Greece. I fell in love with Greek mythology in high school and have not let that love go since. In this challenge you will follow 10 deities in their journey through life. Every goddess has a different take on and goal in life. Special about this challenge?  All your kids have little challenges of their own, not only your heir. These challenges are optional, so if you feel like these are too much or just too restricting for you: by all means let them go. I also have sheets for characters that you can make before you start each generation. This gives your challenge a lot more personality and makes it frankly easier and more fun!

A little disclaimer: because I made these gods and goddesses into a legacy challenge, the relationships in the myths don’t exactly match the relationship in this challenge. There is a lot of keep it in the family in mythology, to put it lightly. And apart from the fact that you can’t do that in the Sims, I don’t really like that part. So I didn’t include it, thus the inconsistency. An example: Ares is now Hera’s stepfather instead of her son, which she conceived with her brother  and husband Zeus. This inconsistency can also be found in the stories. It’s just based on and not copied exactly, as Sims live lives that are a lot shorter than those of immortal gods. And it takes a way from the creativity if we just copy the myths. Even if we wanted to do that, it’s quite hard, as every myths has its fair share of variations and some are just completely different stories.

I use the MCCC-mod to alter the length of life states. You can find the days-years ratio here: the boring stuff.

[honey-doc]

I guess you could say all of Laios’ desires were fulfilled throughout the manga. He got to eat monsters and share that interest with others, he interacts with monsters, he became a monster, he saves Falin, the above picture, and he even gets to see what desires taste like!

It’s like the curse the demon places on him that forbids him from playing with monsters by making them avoid him is the same as having those desires eaten like the other dungeon lords because Laios really got to do everything he wanted the ENTIRE time even when others were like ‘nooooo’ lol. Especially when him starting the journey lead to the situation with the demon reaching this dire stage (even if he’s the one who made the demon leave and rendered him a threat no longer)

I don’t think Laios deserved the punishment he got because he’s really nice and cares about his loved ones, but it’s just like some kind of poetic justice? Like many people suspected Falin wouldn’t be able to get revived because of the narrative themes revolving around accepting death and danger of the infinite (immortality, having your desires fulfilled forever, and resurrection itself). So the sacrifice the demon has him undergo kind of balances everything out. It’s still a happy ending, but also a “fair” one…

(Speaking of which, I absolutely adore how under Laios’s rule, “demi-humans” like orcs and kobolds are finally treated fairly like this man brought about world peace how can you hate him. That’s another thing, about how Laios has no prejudice inside of him because of the way he thinks but that’s another post lol)

[pompomqt]

Journey to the West Chapter 47

In this chapter of Journey to the West with @journeythroughjourneytothewest we finish the Daoist debacle and start a new adventure. So let's get into it shall we?

So the King is crying about his dead immortals, until Sun Wukong goes up to him and calls him an idiot. Since those 'immortals' were probably planning on just killing him and stealing his kingdom anyways. Thanks to this, the King is able to gain a single wisdom point, finally putting him in the positive integers. To celebrate his newfound brain cell the King hosts a huge banquet for them. And while he's at it he also makes a decree that welcomes the bhuddist monks back to the city. Though personally I can't see why they would ever want to live in this city again. Regardless they at least have to stop by to thank Sun Wukong for his help and return his hair to him. After Monkey collects his hairs from the monks, he makes sure to inform the King that he actually did do all that shit the Daoist's accused of him earlier. He also makes sure to tell the King to treat all the religions equally from now on. With that we close out the arc, and the journey continues.

So the group travels for a few seasons without incident, until they reach a eight hundred foot wide river. And it's deep to, they checked, they threw a pebble in it. Tripitaka is so frustrated by their inability to cross it that he bursts into tears. While Tripitaka is crying about how hard this journey is, Pigsy hears the sound of drums in the distance. Pigsy, who only has good idea's when food is involved, suggests that they go and request some vegetarian food from whoever is doing this bhuddist religious service, and they can just ask for a boat ride from them in the morning.

So Monkey leads the group into town, and Tripitaka tells them to wait here while he tries to go secure a place for them to stay. After all they are so ugly and ill-mannered, Tripitaka doesn't want them to ruin their chances. Monkey thinks that's a fair enough assessment and lets Tripitaka go on ahead. So Tripitaka greets the elderly man of the house, but the man simply tells him that he arrived to late for the feast. Tripitaka explains that he wasn't here for the feast, and that instead he's just traveled a very long way from the Tang Kingdom on a fetch quest for some scriptures. The man doesn't believe that Tripitaka could have gotten here on his own, which considering the book so far... fair. However Tripitaka explains that he had some help from his disciples.

The man asks to see the disciples, after all he should have enough room to house all of them for the night. However as soon as Tripitaka calls them over, the three rush into the house, and nearly scare the old man to death as well as all the other bhuddist's in the house. He calms down a bit however after he watches Tripitaka yell at them for their poor manners. I guess Tripitaka going nuclear mom mode on them was enough to convince the old man that they really are Tripitaka's disciples.

Anyways the monks had just finished the service they were doing, but the old man is still happy to host them for the night. The old man calls for some lights, but as soon as the torch bearers see the three disciples, they all freak out and run away screaming about monsters. This alerts the man's older brother, who asks what kind of brazen demons they are to break into their house in the middle of the night. The man however explains that these ugly monsters are actually monks on a journey to acquire scriptures.

With all the necessary screaming and crying out of the way, the older brother joins them for a late dinner. So the pilgrims enjoy a nice meal with their hosts, and once Pigsy is done trying to eat them out of house and home, we can finally start getting into the plot of this arc. Tripitaka finally gets around to asking for the name of their hosts, and learn that their last name is 'Chen' just like Tripitaka's father. Tripitaka also asks them what kind of religious service they were holding earlier, and they tell him it was a 'preparatory mass for the dead' which Tripitaka can't say he's ever heard of before.

Pigsy meanwhile calls them out saying there is no such thing as a preparatory mass for the dead, which Monkey agrees with. Monkey impressed by Pigsy evidently also gaining a brain cell in this chapter asks for more information. The old men then proceed to tell them that the river has a demon in it, because of course it does, what self respecting river doesn't in this book? Turns out this demon has been blessing the town with good weather in exchange for some good old human sacrifices in the form of one young boy and girl a year. And this year it's the old men's turn. And despite their ages of they each only have one child, an eight year old girl named One Load of Gold, and one seven year old boy named Chen Guanbao.

Anyways these two unlucky children are the chosen sacrifices for this year, so the preparatory mass for the dead was for them. Of course they don't want to sacrifice their children, they are all they have, but the demon called for their children specifically, so they can't even buy a replacement child to sacrifice to the demon in stead. Tripitaka is moved to tears by their unfortunate situation. Monkey however has a potential solution to this problem and asks to see the son. So Monkey takes a good look at the boy before transforming himself into his exact copy.

The old man is very impressed by Monkey's ability, and is thrilled when Monkey offers to be the sacrifice in his son's place. The old man even agrees to give Tripitaka a thousand ounces of silver for his travel expenses. When Monkey asks where his thank you is, the old man points out that there is no use thanking a dead man walking. Monkey is just like 'we'll see about that' and agrees to be the sacrifice.

And now it's time for the girl, who's father is currently weeping, because although he's grateful that Monkey is saving his nephew, he still doesn't want to lose his only daughter. Luckily Monkey has a plan to save the girl to, so he tells the old man that if he wants to save his daughter, he'd better do his best to bribe the pig. However surprisingly enough Pigsy isn't that easy to bribe and won't risk his life even for a decent meal. Monkey however informs him that since he's already eaten their food this is the least he can do for them.

Pigsy however protests that he's not as good at transformation as Monkey is anyways. Tripitaka meanwhile tries to persuade Pigsy to do the right thing, simply because it's the right thing to do, but unsurprisingly Pigsy isn't swayed. He argues that he may be able to transform into large creatures and objects, but that transforming into such a small girl will be impossible. Monkey however tells the old man to fetch his daughter in order to force Pigsy to give it a try anyways.

So the old man brings out his daughter, and Monkey orders Pigsy to transform into her, under threat of a beating. So Pigsy gives it a try but... well... while he got the head right the body is still a little bit... er... big. Monkey tells him to get good, but Pigsy argues that even if Monkey tries to beat him, it's not going to get any better then this. So instead Monkey helps him complete the change with a little magic of his own.

Now that they have their duplicates, Monkey orders the two old men to hide their children away until it's all over. After that, the two fake children are ready to be sacrificed to the demon. So Monkey and Pigsy sit on some fancy trays and are carried out by the temple boys to meet their fate. Pigsy is rather worried about this whole 'being eaten by a demon thing' but Monkey assures him that if the demon eats him first, Pigsy is free to run away. Pigsy is fine with that plan, but what happens if the demon wants to eat the girl first? Luckily the old man informs him that the demon always eats the boy first, so that's that I guess. Anyways, with a partial plan in place, the procession begins.

Current Sun Wukong Stats: Names/Titles: Monkey, The Stone Monkey, The Handsome Monkey King, Sun Wukong (Monkey awakened to the void), Bimawen (Banhorseplague), The Great Sage Equal To Heaven and Pilgrim Sun. Immortality: 5 + 94,000 years Weapon: The Compliant Golden Hooped Rod Abilities: 72 Transformations, Cloud-Somersault, Ability to transform his individual hairs, super strength, Ability to Summon Wind, Water restriction charm, and the ability to change into a huge war form, ability to duplicate his staff, ability to immobilize others, the ability to put others to sleep, and the Fiery eyes and Diamond Pupils, intimidating horses, churning large bodies of water, sleeplessness, seizing the wind, enhanced smell, discerning good and evil within a thousand miles, Spirit Summoning, lock picking, object transformation, distance reduction, vanishing in a flash of light, super healing and transforming others. Demon Kill Count: 9+ Unknown Number of Minions Human Kill Count: 1009 God's Defeated: 22 + Unknown number Defeats: 5 Crime List: Robbery, Murder, Mass Murder, Arson, Theft, Coercion, Threatening a Government Official, Resisting Arrest, Assault, Forgery, Employee Theft, False Imprisonment, Impersonating a Government Official, Treason, attempted murder, failure to control or report a dangerous fire, desecrating a corpse, breaking and entering, trespassing, violating Tree Law, looting corpses, trading counterfeit goods, criminal threat, animal abuse, Assisting or Instigating Escape, Damage to Religious Property and contaminating a substance for human consumption. Cry Count: 7 + 3 fake cries Mountains Trapped Under: 4

Current Tang Sanzang stats: Names/Titles: River Float, Xuanzang, Tang Sanzang, Tripitaka and the Tang Monk Abilities: Curing Blindness, making branches point a certain direction (allegedly), reciting sutras, pretty privilege, memorization, Heart Sutra and Meditation. Cry Count: 23 Tight Fillet Spell Uses: 31 Paralyzed by fear: 5 Bandit Problems: 2 Kidnapped by demons: 6 Falling Off Horses: 8

Current Bai Long Ma Stats: Names/Titles: Bai Long Ma (White Dragon Horse), Prince of the Western Ocean, and third prince jade dragon of the dragon king Aorun Abilities: Transforming into a human, a water snake, and a horse, eating a horse in one bite, flight, Magic of Water Restriction, Singing, and Sword Dancing. Cry Count: 1 Crime List: Arson, and Grave Disobedience. Contributions to the plot: 2

Current Zhu Wuneng Stats: Names/Titles: The Marshal of the Heavenly Reeds, Zhu Wuneng (Pig who is aware of ability), Zhu Ganglie, Pigsy, Idiot and Eight Rules. Weapon: Rake Abilities: 36 Transformations, parting water, fighting underwater, cloud soaring, size enhancement and CPR Demon Kill Count/Kill steals: 2 Kidnapped by Demons: 3 Human Kill Count: 1 Failed Flirtation/romances Attempts: 3 Cry Count: 1 Crime List: Sexual Harassment, Murder, Kidnapping, arson, defamation, Damage to Religious Property and contaminating a substance for human consumption

Current Sha Wujing Stats: Names/Titles: The Curtain-Raising General, Sha Wujing (Sand Aware of Purity), Sandy and Sha Monk Weapon: Monster Taming Staff Abilities: Fighting underwater and Cloud soaring. Demon Kill Count: Unknown number of minions. Kidnapped by Demons: 2 Human Kill Count: 1 Crime List: Breaking a Crystal Cup, murder, desecration of a human corpse, Damage to Religious Property and contaminating a substance for human consumption

Previous - Masterpost - Next

[chimerafeathers]

thinking about Frieren and Dungeon Meshi today and just remembered seeing a post/comment or two saying that people have no reason to compare the two stories since they have nothing in common except being non-isekai fantasy. different tones, different pacing, different themes, etc.

i don't know if whoever said that were dunmesh manga readers or not, but i kinda assume they were making judgments based purely on however much of the anime was released at the time, because i think about how similar these stories are a LOT, actually.

[spoilers for the dungeon meshi manga below, and a little bit of frieren manga]

i think that's a pretty fair assessment to make based JUST on the "prologue"/setup arc leading up to the red dragon. while some of the main themes are very in-your-face, others are still being woven into the characters and established much more subtly, and we don't get the full weight and payoff for that early work until later into the story.

Frieren establishes its identity within the first episodes and never drastically deviates from that first impression. on the other hand, dunmesh takes its time to build its foundation...but instead of using it as groundwork to build a house above, it then leads you into the depths of the dungeon below.

the stuff about conflicts between long-lived and short-lived races seem like just jokes/banter and a touch of political worldbuilding, in the beginning, but that tension is absolutely central to both Marcille and Kabru's arcs. both Frieren and dunmesh are about elves facing their (near) immortality in contrast with the brief mortality of their companions.

I think about the ways Frieren, with a thousand years of life behind her, carries the memories of those she's outlived along with her and all the ways she emulates them to preserve their lives and values. I think about the way Marcille, with a thousand years of life ahead of her, clings so tightly to the people she holds dear and fears the future she sees beyond their deaths.

I think about the way Serie talks about training Flamme on a whim, casually dismissive of short human lifespans. I think of the way Kabru resents the way elves treat short-lived species like children and fights so desperately for their agency and right to speak on the same level as the rest, fully informed of the dangers that threaten them all instead of being left in the dark.

beyond that, too--you can really feel that these series come from a place of love for the genres that inspired them. dunmeshi's speculative biology for the monsters and the ecosystem they're a part of, the exploration of how and why different races get different "stat" bonuses (dwarven constitution, half-foot perception, tall-man versatility, elven/gnomish magical affinity), the side comic about "Grease" as a starter spell--all obviously come from deep knowledge and affection for D&D and/or similar rpgs.

meanwhile, Himmel gives thoughtful weight to doing "side quests" for paltry rewards--they help because they're heroes, but they accept scraps and useless items for rewards because no one wants to feel pitied or indebted to anyone. he says they "went the wrong way" if they find the stairs to the next floor in a dungeon, because the "right" way is to explore every nook and cranny first before you progress. it would be very easy to mock how annoying fetch quests are, or make the dungeon bit a pure joke--but this is a story that relishes the process and the journey of it all, down to the smallest detail and silliest quest.

flashbacks to Falin being achingly kind and gentle, and also strange and awkward. flashbacks to Himmel being blindingly heroic and noble, and also vain and goofy.

these are both stories about the weight of death and loss and the things we'll do to see our loved ones one last time, when we are destined and doomed to outlive them. they're about the joy of the journey even when it's painful, thriving on silliness even when things are "serious," and loving the people in your life knowing you will lose them, and how you carry them with you when they're gone. dunmeshi is heavier on the comedy side of things, but both have their fair share of emotional gutpunches, and their themes and values mirror each other.

all this to say, these stories are holding hands.

[quitealotofsodapop]

Answering all three Asks I have about The True Immortal Compliant in "The Monkey King and the Infant" au:

Answering asks from @justweirddino and @kyliecatqueen + an anonymous;

Pretty much yeah; the whole Monkie Gang only start out barely tolerating True Immortal Compliant/TIC/Ruyi. Wukong (+ most characters who know about the incident) thinks he's a scumbag for extorting the Kingdom of Women all those years ago. But DBK really wants to see his little brother again (the bull has been locked up for hundreds of years) and begs for them to be at least polite when he visits.

TIC is like that creepy mega-right-wing uncle that you have to put up with at thanksgiving and/or christmas. Has really harsh, outdated opinions on womens health. Makes dirty jokes at others expense. But since he's a guest, you don't want to be rude and call him out. In general a dinner with him is more painful than the furnace in SWK's opinion.

After its over Shadowpeach are like; "Lets never speak to him again." "Agreed".

Then a couple of years pass and Spicynoodles are expecting their first baby(s). Uncle TIC makes himself known. At first DBK and Red Son believe he's emerged to establish contact with his future grand-niblings. PIF is suspicious; she knows her brother-in-law still has access to that Spring Water, and that TIC has been enjoying his new life of luxury in the Underworld...

Red Son is like the little kid who used to think his uncle was cool, then as he got older realized that a lot of stuff was red-flags. He makes sure not to give MK/Xiaotian any drink provided by TIC.

It comes to a head when TIC invites the whole Spicynoodle fam + grandparents to his palace in the Underworld in the lead up to the Spicynoodle wedding. The volcanic, super-hot Demon Bull Palace in the Underworld.

At dinner there's nothing but wine/baijiu to drink. Luckily most of the fam packed their own supply of water/iced tea for the journey and give that to MK to drink so he isn't dying of thirst. The micro-aggression does not go unnoticed however.

Later on in the night, MK gets out of bed to stretch his legs (babies making a ruckus), only to be summoned by TIC sitting in the drawing room. A platter holding a pitcher of water, two full glasses, and wedges of lemon just sitting there on the table.

TIC: "Why don't you sit with me and drink? I'm so sorry I'd forgotten your... limitation during dinner." MK: "Um... it's no problem really. I'll sit for a bit. Kids were just keeping me awake is all."

A few moment of awkward convo pass. @justweirddino describes the perfect proceeding scenario. MK is just swirling his glass of water, glaring into it as TIC sits with his own empty glass.

TIC: "You're not drinking." MK: "You poured the glasses before I came in. I didn't see you pour yours." TIC: *Pupils dilate a little but tries not to show any emotion* MK: *pours half the contents of his into TIC's own glass* "It wouldn't be fair to drink mine with yours empty. Drink up!" TIC: *hand shaking as he takes his glass. hesistates taking a sip.* MK, still as brightly as before: "The Demon Bull Family has such a rich history! I really can't help looking into it, seeing how I'm gonna be part of the family really soon!" TIC: *Sweats* MK: "And of course I love hearing how our families interacted during my dad's pilgrimage. Including a really funny chapter involving the Kingdom of Women." TIC: *oh shit reaction* MK, smile turning devious: "You really thought I was that stupid did you?" *lets out the loudest Help!/Danger! chirp he can* Outside the drawing room: *frantic boss music starts playing and getting closer*

TIC barely makes it out of the room alive.

Fun fact about the Spring Water. Half a bowl/goblet is sufficient to cure a pregnancy. But more than that? According to the old woman in Journey to the West that helped Zhu Bajie and Tripitaka; "Any more will dissolve your insides."

Wukong helpfully provides the above knowledge and proceeds to nearly strangle TIC to death.

It wasn't just a simple "remove future heirs"-plan.

It was also a "remove nephew's spouse"-plan.

Once the group learns that last bit, Red Son has to be held back by multiple family members/bull clones to stop him from delivering his Uncle straight to The 10 Kings themselves.

As you can imagine, this was the final straw for DBK. He can deal with a jerk of a little brother - but for his own flesh and blood to try and murder his future son-in-law and unborn grandbabies? Zero contact immediately. Thank you for dinner, never speak to us again or we will destroy you.

Bonus horror/crime idea of TIC;

Princess Iron Fan is comforting MK as TIC is being dragged away to answer for his crimes. She smells the glass and winces.

PIF: "Urgh. No wonder you noticed it. It smells so bitter. Almost like..." PIF: *Drops the glass, shattering it on the ground. Hands clutching her mouth as she remembers the times in the far past when she and DBK had tried for children. A servant always bringing her a familiarly-foul smelling tea when the queen became "nauseous/unwell".* MK, immediately worried: "Yuemu! [mother-in-law] Are you ok?" PIF: "...I'm going to kill him." *wind teleports out of there* MK: *is left confused, but understands her anger*

So yeah, when TIC shows up he doesn't escape post-S4 alive.

[onwardorange]

to live in beautiful terror

Mortal pains, mortal pleasures—Zagreus experiences them all, with Thanatos by his side. (Or, what is the terror of death for, if not to emphasize the beauty of life?)

read on ao3!

excerpt:

For all that Zagreus is charming, witty, and clever, Thanatos swiftly comes to learn that he can also be—how should Thanatos put it?—rather oblivious, perhaps.

They’ve been traveling southwards for about a week now, trying to make it to Athens before the winter weather fully sets in. It’s slow going, especially since Thanatos decides to take them through winding backroads and wooded areas instead of the main road; he’s still rattled from being run out of that last tavern. With Zagreus at his side, however, he finds he doesn’t mind the longer journey.

The days pass in easy, pleasant conversation. Thanatos learns many things about Zagreus’ life in the Underworld—how he was trained by the great warrior Achilles as a child (“I even managed to best him once,” Zagreus had said, his chest puffing up slightly, “though I’m pretty sure it was just a fluke, because he’s wiped the courtyard with me every other time, before or since.”), which of his many weapons he prefers (“I trained with Stygius, so that has always felt the most comfortable, but I like using my shield Aegis too,” Zagreus had said, before turning to Thanatos with a sly grin on his face. “Though, the Adamant Rail—phew!—I mean, sometimes I don’t even think I should be allowed to use a weapon like that. It’s really not a fair fight.”), and how he misses Cerberus, the three-headed hellhound that haunts people’s nightmares, but who Zagreus seems to think of as a sort of pet (“Why are you staring at me like that, Than?” Zagreus had asked indignantly. “Cerberus is a very good boy!”).

In turn, Thanatos tells Zagreus more about himself than he’s ever divulged to anyone else—how he was raised and trained by Chiron (“Wow,” Zagreus had breathed, clear awe coloring his tone, “just like Achilles and Patroclus!”), his more memorable encounters with the monsters of Greece (“I mean, I am glad we let that one satyr go,” Zagreus had said after Thanatos regaled him with a particularly nasty fight with a group of satyrs, before adding darkly, “but I also hate their poison darts.”), and about his fondness for his horse (“You know, I think my uncle was onto something when he created horses,” Zagreus had said, as Thanatos showed him how to properly brush Mort. “They’re very cute! Sort of like a long dog, don’t you think, Than?”).

Thanatos finds that he can’t quite bring himself to share some things with Zagreus, at least not yet. Namely, his parentage and the whole situation with Sisyphus. Both feel just this side of too sore—like bruises that have never fully healed—for him to voice comfortably.

Somewhat to Thanatos’ surprise, Zagreus doesn’t push for more information than he is willing to give, though Thanatos can tell that he’s curious. Still, Zagreus politely lets him skirt around those topics, much to his relief.

That’s the thing, Thanatos thinks—Zagreus is not stupid. In fact, Thanatos thinks him rather emotionally intuitive in most situations, and he is sure Zagreus could not have managed to escape the Underworld in the first place if he was not intelligent. 

This, of course, does not mean that Zagreus isn’t prone to being as oblivious as all Hades, and then some. 

Zagreus’ philosophy in life seems to be to simply charge into every situation full speed ahead, with a one-track mind and no consideration of the consequences. Thanatos supposes this is reasonable, considering he is an immortal god, but he sometimes finds himself wishing that Zagreus would just think for a moment, before he acts.

It would certainly save Thanatos from a lot of heartache. 

continue reading on ao3

part 1 || part 2

[moonlightreal]

The giant Fairy YA books post

There are so many fairy YA books. So. Many. I’m just going to drop a list with short comments on the ones that might be more obscure, or that I can think of something to say about, in no particular order.

The Last Changeling by Chelsea Pitcher

Fairy princess Elora must find a noble and good hearted human boy to sacrifice to conquer her tyrannical mother. She goes to a human high school to find him, and promptly falls in love.

I’ve tried to read this one a few times- the plot is solid and the reviews are great- but I just cannot get into it. The moment that boy meets girl they fall in love instantly and then the writing becomes about their growing feelings for each other not about fairy politics and adventure. From the reviews I know there’s good plot… but I just can’t. Maybe you can!

A Court of Thorns and Roses

I quite liked these, in spite of some annoying aspects. I always get grumpy when books have onscreen sex, because book one will be 100% plot and then they start having sex and book two will be 90% plot and 10% sex and then by book four it’ll be 60% plot and 40% sex and well, I don’t mind sex in books but I do mind how the plot gets progressively diluted by more and more steamy scenes.

These books are SJM’s love letter to the Black Jewels Trilogy, and while SJM is not my cup of tea I do love the Black Jewels books and recommend jumping to them for any Court Of fans. With the caveat that they are also weird about sex. In a totally different way than Court Of is weird about sex; Court Of just has large quantities of sex but Black Jewels is weird and makes you wonder what Ann Bishop really thinks about people.

An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson

This book shines in its worldbuilding. The fair folk are immortal but unable to do anything remotely creative. Our heroine is a painter who loves her craft and uses it to paint the beautiful fae folk. She meets a fae prince who is of course the only fae who has any empathy and humanity and feels strangely drawn to her, because of course he does. The story is predictable but the world and the way the writer does her fae folk make this a book well worth reading.

Rogerson’s other books are also good. Sorcery of Thorns didn’t grab me but Vespertine is just brilliant and with the upward trend in amazingness I can’t wait to see what her next book will be.

Poison by Chris Wooding

Wooding’s strength as a writer is thinking up wonderfully spooky set pieces and imagery, which he does masterfully. In this book he follows the plot of a girl who sets out to rescue a sister kidnapped by the fae. The girl named herself Poison because she’s kinda grumpy and misanthropic and she travels through several creepy places to find… well, the ending is odd. But the journey is worth reading. I like the author’s Haunting of Alaizabel Cray better but Poison is worth getting from the library.

Spell Hunter aka Knife by RJ Anderson

A dwindling civilization of tiny fairies lives in an oak tree, trying to find food and escape the crows and foxes that prey on them. One young fairy who names herself Knife starts spying on the giant humans in a nearby house, especially their son who has recently lost the use of his legs in an accident. Things go from there about as you’d expect. This isn’t a terribly unique plot but it’s a unique setting and setup. It does play with the idea that fairy civilization isn’t able to thrive without human contact, which is cool. There are two sequel books.

The Call by Peadar O’Guilin

The Sidhe have come back to take their revenge on the humans who stole Ireland from them. Every teenager will at some point vanish into the fae realm and must survive as the fae try to torture them to death. This ‘calling’ has shaped all of society with every resource bent towards helping the next generation survive. They mostly don’t. Nessa has weak legs after a bout with polio but is determined to survive when the call comes for her.

This book is verrrry dark, and it’s amazing. There is a sequel.

Cold Tom by Sally Prue

A book from the point of view of a truly inhuman fae encountering the human world. Tom’s people are cold and cold-hearted. They have no family ties, and see the family ties between humans as slavery.

Holly Black’s fairy books

Are reliably good, also reliably dark. She kills off the characters’ pets oftener than I like (oftener than never) and has marvelously creepy monsters. Her fae tend to live alongside the modern world as inhuman beings that prey on humanity. Tithe and its companion books are good, The Darkest Part of the Forest is standalone and it’s good. I haven’t read her other series yet but I’m going to assume they are similar and also good.

Bones of Faerie

A YA post-apocalyptic fairy story. The fae won the war and now nature is angry. A wonderfully vivid setting. Liza is just trying to survive in this destroyed world, and when she discovers she has supernatural powers herself she’s exiled from her village and off on a quest. I quite liked this one because it gives more to the worldbuilding and very little to boys boys boys.

The Various

An oddity. The trilogy is found in the children's section but the books are a good two inches thick each. They’re about girls who encounter the ‘various’ kinds of fae creatures, a bit like Spiderwick with a much higher wordcount. I was very excited to read these, but to my disappointment they didn’t grab me and I remember nothing much about them.

Treachery of Beautiful Things

A girl must save her brother who’s been kidnapped by the fairy queen for his musical ability, and along the way she meets a boy. A standard basic plot, but this book does it really well. The writing feels epic, there are lots of spooky fae creatures, the otherworld feels like an alien realm. The author is Irish so she knows the lore. Recommended!

All That Glows

Years ago the fae swore a pack with Britain’s royal family, and part of that pact means that each royal is invisibly guarded by a faery. Emrys is assigned to keep an eye on the teenage prince, who she feels a strange connection to. But there’s no time to wonder why she’s reacting like a Night World character who just met their soulmate; dire evils are threatening the realm! This book is heavier on the swoony romance than some, but it is a good read for all of that. The fae are appropriately inhuman, the prince is less boring than some love interests, and the setup with the heroine as a guardian rather than wandering into fairyland like most of the heroines on this list makes it unique.

These Hollow Vows

Our heroine goes to rescue her sister, becomes a spy in a fae court, and soon finds herself torn between feelings for a handsome fae prince and a handsome fae rebel who is also a prince. I rate this one too much love triangle not enough worldbuilding. Much to my disappointment because it looked really promising at first glance.

Kandide and the Secret of the Mists

Haughty and selfish fairy princess Kandide suffers an injury that leaves her with a deformed wing and is exiled like all other “imperfect” fae. Meeting her fellow imperfects helps her grow as a person.

This reads very self-published, like it’s written by someone who doesn’t really know how to write a book. The villain hates Kandide just because she’s always been a bully. Fae exile their disabled people just because they do. There’s instalove when Kandide meets her fella and lots of “as you well know” writing. Not a surprise since the author is a stage magician who wrote a book inspired by the art that appears on the cover. In fact she wrote three books! Which is ridiculously impressive but makes it unsurprising that the writing isn’t really up to standard.

Faerie Path

Anita’s handsome friend opens a portal into the fairy world, where she learns that she is really Talia, lost daughter of Oberon and Titania. Talia meets her six older sisters, discovers the fairy realm, has lots of romance with the love interest, and must help deal with a villain. The seven daughters as characters are the only point that make this series stand out.

Wondrous Strange

Kelley is acting in Midsummer Night’s Dream in a park that happens to hold the portals to the fairy realm. Soon she’s crossed paths with one of the changelings who guards the gates and starts falling for him. Oh, and she’s got a kelpie in her bathtub and may be the lost fairy princess. A perfectly standard fairy YA, first of a trilogy.

Iron King

On Meghan’s sixteenth birthday she starts seeing strange creatures. Then her brother is replaced by a changeling and she and her best friend Robbie Goodfell head into fairyland to the rescue. On the way she meets the handsome prince of the winter court.

I quite like these. There's a trilogy about Meghan and a sequel trilogy about her brother, who grows up able to see fairies after being kidnapped as a child. There’s certainly some boys boys boys stuff but Prince Ash is barely on screen for most of the first book, leaving hundreds of pages free for nothing but adventure and spooky fae encounters. I feel like this series is the platonic ideal of the YA fairy novel.

Dust Girl

A trilogy unique in that it takes place in America in the 1920s and stars a girl who is mixed race in both the ethnicity and species senses. Callie leaves home after the dust bowl has destroyed the town and her mother has disappeared, in company with a handsome hobo she searches for her parents and encounters the fae courts.

Wicked Lovely

Aislinn has always been able to see the fae, and tried to stay under the radar. But suddenly the leaders of the summer and winter courts are both taking an interest in her. Only one is a handsome boy, but Aislinn also has a human boyfriend she’s not interested in exchanging for the lord of summer. Marissa Marr has a whole slew of fairy YA books, 5 set in this world and a few others in an alternate fae world with different courts.

The Faerie Ring

Tiki and her found family of orphans survive as pickpockets in Victorian London, until Tiki steals a ring (like, a jewelry ring not a ring of mushrooms) that is the symbol of the peace between humans and fairies. Hopefully the handsome thief Riecker can help her protect her family from sudden fae attention!

Magic Under Glass

Performer Nimira discovers that her employers hunt fairies as trophies, and then meets an unusually human automaton which turns out to hold the spirit of a fae prince.

Wings by Aprilynne Pike

Laurel discovers she’s a fairy, and that fairies are plants. Actual plant people, their wings are their petals. Which is a unique take! But when the handsome fae boy turns up her tells Laurel about the courts and a battle against trolls, some normal stuff along with being a plant. Unfortunately, I did not love this book or read the sequels. The plant people idea is neat though, and could have gone some interesting places in a different story.

Wings by ED Baker

Tamisin suddenly sprouts wings. Her adoptive parents can’t help her figure it out, but maybe the strangely handsome one out of the ugly goblins coming after her can.

Glimmerglass

Dana runs away from home, a sensible thing to do when your mother drinks too much, but her father lives on the border of Faerie and that's a problem. Because Dana turns out to be one of the few people who can cross between the worlds, bringing magic or technology back and forth. This makes her a valuable pawn for politicians on both worlds, one of whom is Dana’s father. And another of whom is the father of the hot fae guy Dana can’t stop thinking about. First of a trilogy. Not amazing.

Tree Shepherd’s Daughter

Keelie goes to live with her father, who works Renaissance Faires. Some of the faire actors are very committed to their roles. Almost as if they might be acting their ordinary lives. Soon our heroine is having conversations with trees and learning new things about herself. First of a trilogy.

Lament

Deirdre is a talented musician, and she can see fairies. Particularly two very handsome fairies, who are both looking to kill Deirdre before the power of her music makes trouble for the queen’s court. I read this book but remember almost nothing about it, making me think that as Maggie Stiefvater’s first YA book it may suffer from early-work clumsiness. It afflicts us all.

Falconer

Aileana should be concentrating on her debut and finding a husband, but she keeps sneaking away to slay faeries nobody else can see trying to get to the one who killed her mother. Aileana is a strong female lead and the book is good steampunk fun. Except it ends in the middle of the climactic battle. Not after the climactic battle, literally in the middle of it. So make sure you have the whole trilogy on hand before you start.

Fairies of Dreamdark

Laini Taylor is a really good writer, in a way that not all YA authors are. This is a book about a tiny-fairy with wings, friends with crows, who hunts evil demons and traps them in bottles. The characters are good, the worldbuilding is great, well worth reading.

[skyeet-the-writer]

Lady of Enmond

Chapter Three: Meetings with Strangers

guys wait i'm really enjoying this, i forgot how much i loved lotr!! hope yall are enjoying it too. feel free to check out my other things as well! also feel free to leave some comments, i want to hear what yall like about this so far x.

legolas greenleaf x female!reader (dw he finally shows up)

summary: after finally arriving in rivendell, y/n is allowed one day of peace and relaxation before quickly having to jump into action the next during a council lord elrond has constructed between all races of middle earth

word count: ~5.8k

warnings: cursing, mentions of violence/weapons, mentions of death and fear-inducing things (lmk if there's anything i missed)

<previous next>

The days seem to blur together as the now five of you make your way to Rivendell. It's much further than you thought, though you're not familiar with these parts. Finally, you reach the Elven city on day five, exhausted and smelly.

The entire time, all of you worried of Frodo. You hope he's alright, you hope he's here, in Rivendell, healed and resting. Something says that he is alright, but still, you don't know and that's what worries you.

You've never been in an Elven city. In fact, the first Elf you've ever seen was Arwen a few days ago. Even now, walking through their beautiful city, you're still in awe of them. Immortal, ever-fair beings are all around you, and they're the ones looking at you oddly.

Aragorn has you meet with Elrond. He's just the same as you've heard in descriptions. He looks old, for an elf, but you suppose he is, as he has seen much. Aragorn tells you he plans to talk with him in private, but at least wanted you all to meet him.

You're not sure to kneel before the Elf Lord or bow or what, but Aragorn does none of these. You exchange a look with the Hobbits and shrug.

"Welcome, all, to Rivendell," says the Lord, spreading his arms wide and smiling, one that is oddly comforting. "You all must have had a long and tiresome journey, so I will not keep you long. Just--"

"Where is Frodo?" Sam demands, immediately growing red in the face from his outburst. Hastily, he stammers, "I-- Apologies, your Lordship, b--but where is our friend, Frodo?"

Elrond does not seem mad, merely amused. "Fear not, Samwise. I can assure you, your friend is safe and healthy."

Pippin perks up. "Can we see him?"

Elrond smiles again and holds a hand up. "Soon. He is resting now, we want him to wake on his own. And I assume you're hungry?"

The Hobbits exchange looks and nods. Elrond nods and waves an arm, and another Elf with blonde hair appears. "Gaelin, show these young men to their rooms. Have food prepared and baths drawn."

Quickly, the Hobbits are ushered off, now seeming in much better spirits. They talk together excitedly and seem to be buzzing with joy.

You yourself feel similar. Frodo is alright, he's here and he's resting and he's fine. And now you are here. You've completed your quest.

"I assume you would like the same, Lady Khaya?" Elrond's voice pulls your attention. He's speaking to you.

But before you can think, your say, "It's Y/N, my Lord. Khaya is an allias. I'm from the small village of Enmond in the Tergue Woods in Rohan." Then your eyes widen and you look at Aragorn. He's smiling just a little, seeming far more at ease here. "I... I don't know why I said that. I'm sorry, I just blurted that out--"

Elrond laughs lightly and holds a hand up. "Worry not, Y/N. Your secret will be safe with me. Now, I expect you request food and a bath?"

A bath sounds amazing. And fresh clothes. And strawberries. Those are your favorites. What wouldn't give to sink your teeth into one in a hot bath. "Yes, my Lord, if you would be so kind."

"Anything for Aragorn's friend. Come, Leilia will lead you." He gestures to a sweet-looking elf with braided red hair and green eyes. She smiles at you and curtsies.

You bow to Elrond just slightly at the waist. "Thank you. However, I do have a quick question?"

"Yes?"

"Do you perhaps have a raven I could use? I wish to send a message to my father, letting him know I am here. He hasn't heard from me in several days, and I do not wish for him to worry."

Elrond nods. "Yes, of course."

Aragorn says, "I'll take it."

You only trust him with it. Elrond seems kind and respectable enough, but you know Aragorn more. Reaching into your bag, you hand him a piece of paper rolled and tied with a black string. "Thank you."

He nods and you are led off by Leilia. She says nothing as she leads you around the city, to an ornate stone building. She takes you up the stairs and leads you into a large room.

Slowly, your weapons clanking, you step into the room. It's large and airy and smells of fresh grass and rainfall. The floors are made of light wood and the walls are slightly darker. There's a bed in the middle and off to one side is an entire open wall with a balcony, and silky curtains flowing in the breeze. There's another room off to the side with a chamberpot and a bath already drawn, the warm water steaming.

"What would you like to eat, my lady?"

You turn to Leilia and ask, "Do you have any strawberries?"

~*~

Not long later, you're in the bath chewing on a strawberry with your eyes shut in delight. You can't remember the last time you've felt this relaxed. A few Elf ladies asked if you needed help washing, but you politely declined. You're a grown woman, you don't want to bother them with something you could do yourself. Besides, you needed the alone time. Being around Aragorn and four Hobbits was draining.

Now, your hair is washed and so is your body. You're determined to sit in the bath until it's cold and you're all pruney. There's a plate full of fruit beside you on the rim of the bath and you've never been more grateful to eat it in your life. Strawberries, both blackberries and raspberries, grapes, melon cubes, oranges, and a few olives. By now, you've devoured most of the plate, not realizing how much you craved the fruit.

The wind blows lightly outside and you toss another blackberry into your mouth, catching it with ease.

Finally, what feels like hours later, the water is finally cold enough to encourage you to get out. Drying yourself off with a soft white cloth, you wrap it around your body and walk back into the rest of the room where Leilia told you clothes would be waiting.

And there are. On the bed, laid out is a fresh set of clothes. A light green flowy dress is before you, with long, loose sleeves and a pair of simple flat shoes.

You put them on a do a little twirl, remembering how much you like dresses. They're so breezy and they made you look so pretty.

There's a knock on your closed door, and you turn. Who could that be? You open the door to see Aragorn standing there, looking clean and rested up as well.

"Oh," is all that he says, looking you up and down.

You grin. "'Oh'? Is that all?"

"I've never seen you in a dress before."

It occurs to you that he's right. In all the times you've been with him, you always wore pants, a shirt, and boots. You were always somewhat grimy and your hair was always a mess of tangles.

"You look good, though," he adds quickly.

Smiling just a little, you say, "Thank you," and curtsy. "You clean up nicely, too." Playfully, you pull at his tunic.

He just smiles and shakes his head. The two of you have always been like this. Playful with each other. Sometimes, people thought you were flirting, but both of you quickly denied it. He was already betrothed to a beautiful Elven lady and Aragorn wasn't your type. You like blonds.

"Anyway, why'd you come to bother me?" you ask him.

"I was wondering if you'd like me to show you around? If you're not too tired, that is."

He's always been such a gentleman, too. And while you are tired, you're not too exhausted that you would pass up on the opportunity to look around this beautiful place with your friend. You quickly nod and soon the two of you are on your way out.

The sun is beginning to sink to the horizon as you walk around, but that seems to make the journey better. The sun's beams bounce off of the glass and bronze of the kingdom, making everything glitter and shine.

Aragorn leads you through gardens and around fountains, pointing out what buildings are what. There's a smithery, several gazebos for sitting or eating, and a giant library filled with history and texts of old.

"Can we go there?" you ask him excitedly. You've always loved history. In your home, you didn't get to read much, only having oral tales.

Aragorn smiles. "Later tonight."

He keeps true to his word. After checking in on Frodo and thanking the gods for his healing, you both head over there.

"I'm happy Frodo is well," you say as you walk down the steps. "I've grown fond of the Hobbit."

"As have I," Aragorn agrees.

As you walk through a courtyard, you see two small men. For a moment, you think they're Hobbits, but these men have long, rough beards and they're dressed in armor.

They are dwarves.

What are dwarves doing in Rivendell?

Before you can ask Aragorn, he leads you down to the library you were obsessing about. The moment you walk down the steps, you forget what you were going to ask. The room is beautiful, the most fantastic place you've seen. It's large and decorated with ornate and silver pieces of furniture. The room is filled with books. To one side of the room is a balcony with a telescope pointed towards the side. There are other astronomy and mathematical devices that you can't name.

Walking up another set of stairs, your eyes land on a fresco painting on the wall. With a small gasp, you slowly cross the way, your shoes tapping against the stone flooring.

A mural of Isildur versus Sauron is before you, looking well-preserved and well-crafted. There's so much intricate detail, you wonder how one could have possibly had the patience to create it. Isildur, a once great king, is laying on the ground before Sauron the Dark Lord, his sword raised in defiance. Something about that image makes a feeling of great pride rise in you, knowing that you share similar blood to that man, to that hero. Perhaps you could be like him one day?

Aragorn stands beside you and you say, "It's beautiful."

"Yes," he agrees, seeming fixed on Isildur. A look crosses his face, of shame? You cannot tell and you wonder.

But something else catches your eye. You turn and spot something glinting on a cloth-covered plinth. You step up and see the shards of a sword. Narsil, the broken blade of Elendil. It was rumored that though Sauron shattered the blade, Isildur picked up the hilt and cut the Ring from Sauron's hand, both banishing the Dark Lord and taking the Ring for himself.

And now, it is around the neck of a small, kind, adventurous Hobbit.

Slowly, you grasp the hilt of the broken blade in both hands and hold it up in front of you. It's heavy, even in your hands. What little sunlight there is left in the sky seems to bend towards the sword and refract against it, sending little glimmers across the room. You expect the broken edges to be dull after all this time, but even looking at them tells you they're still just as sharp.

"I can't believe this is still in such good condition," you whisper, gently setting it back down where it was.

"The Elves have taken good care of it," Aragorn says. "Come. Let's find a book."

He doesn't have to tell you twice, and within minutes, you have one chosen. Unsurprisingly, most of them are in Sindarin, but you find one book you're interested in that is in Westron or Common Tongue.

And so you sit at a bench and open the book and begin to read. It's a telling of legends of old and of history. You flip to the page where the talk about when Melkor was captured by the Valar and how Sauron stayed behind. Ever since running into the Nazguls and discovering the Ring, you've realized how little you knew of the history behind it. So, you figured you should read up on it.

Aragorn comes and sits beside you after choosing his own book and, together, the two of you read in silence. Normally you're both in silence when you're not drunk or bored and want to talk. Aragorn is the quieter of you two, so you assume this is lovely for him.

But you enjoy yourself. You enjoy learning the history behind that one tiny piece of Jewelry, and you also find yourself enjoying the silence. Occasionally, an Elf will come in, but they leave soon and don't talk to you or Aragorn. The sun finally sets and the birds outside quiet down and prepare for rest. You turn the thick page and it seems to echo in the hall.

Finally, as your eyes grow heavy, you close the book, and it thuds. Aragorn looks up and sees how exhausted you are. He gently tucks a strand of hair behind your ear and says, "Go get some rest, Y/N."

The memory of the dwarf pops into your head out of the blue and you blurt out, "Aragorn, I saw a Dwarf in one of the courtyards earlier."

You meet his eyes and he nods. "Yes, I saw him as well."

"Why are there Dwarves in Rivendell? You and I both know very well how much they hate Elves."

Once, while in a pub in a village, you both had a rather lengthy conversation with an extremely intoxicated Dwarf. Conversation, however, was an exaggeration, as he was the only one doing the talking, and how the only talking he was doing was complaining about the Elves.

Aragorn laughs and nods. "Yes, that is true. Elrond informed me that he sent out word to all races of Middle Earth when Frodo arrived with the Ring. He said something about it being up to all of Middle Earth to decide its fate. He's holding a meeting tomorrow at noon. You should come."

With a small frown, you say, "Aragorn, I need to head home. I've already been gone for too long, my father is sure to be worried. He needs me."

"I understand, Y/N, but this is important. That ring is the most dangerous thing on this earth now, and it's important to discuss what to do with it." He takes your hands in his, something he does from time to time when getting into a deep conversation. "You know just as well as I do what is hunting, searching for the Ring. It is dangerous and I know even now that someone must carry it back to Mordor to destroy it."

"Mordor? The Land of Shadows? That's Sauron's dominion, why would it go there? That sounds like the last place someone would want to take it."

"Elrond believes that the only way to truly destroy it is to throw it back into the fire from whence it was created."

You nod. "Oh, makes sense."

"Yes." Aragorn grips your hands. "Please, at least come to the Council. You could provide insight with me."

You bite your lip in consideration. It is only tomorrow, and you don't necessarily plan on leaving immediately, though your mind does tell you that you should go home soon. Even though you informed your father of your leaving and got his clearing on it, you still felt bad, still felt guilty. You are the heir to your village. And while your father is still in his prime, you still need to be there, both for him and your younger sister. She always needs you.

"For me?"

With a sigh, you cave in. "Alright, fine, I'll come. It is only tomorrow. But." Quickly, you pull your hands away and point your finger at him. "I reserve the right to not join any quest or adventure that may be suggested. If there is a quest to take back the Ring, I cannot and will not go. I have other responsibilities."

With a smile, Aragorn nods. "Understood."

You smile at your friend and stand up. "I'm going to retire," you say and pick the book from the bench. "Can I take this with me?"

Aragorn shrugs. "So long as you return it."

"Of course I will." Tucking it under your arm, you bend down to give your friend a hug. "Goodnight, Aragorn."

"Goodnight, Y/N."

And with that, you make your way out of the library, down the steps, and out the door. The night air is cool outside and fresh, smelling of grass and something sweet. Your path is lit up nicely with torches and you recall your way back to your room, surprisingly.

Your room is a bit dark. The moonlight streaming through the large window really seems to be helping you actually see where things are. On the bed, there is another dress, though this one looks more like a nightgown. It's lighter and is a cream color. Your bones start to ache again and so you quickly change from your dress to the nightgown before quickly getting into bed.

The moment your head touches the pillow, you body melts into the mattress. The last time you slept on a real bed was almost three weeks ago, the night before you left to meet with Aragorn. Since then, you've been sleeping in chairs or on the ground. Neither of those was too terribly comfortable.

But this bed feels like a cloud, it cradles all of your pressure points and it provides great relief for your aching back.

The covers are warm and you curl up into a ball to preserve your heat. You suppose you've been a bit conditioned to do that after sleeping outside for so long.

Between the quiet breeze of the wind, the feathery, downy mattress, and the warm blankets, you quickly fall asleep.

~*~

The next morning, you wake up to the sounds of birds and the sweet voices of Elves. For a moment, you think you're still dreaming but when you sit up, you realize that it is real.

Slowly, you get up, your legs sore and achy. Limping towards the balcony, you lean on the railing, looking down at the Elves going about their day. The sun is slowly rising, and you judge that it's just a few hours until midday.

So you get back into bed and continue reading. You may as well get the most out of the comfy bed while you're here.

When you finally need to pee a couple of hours later, you decide to get up and head down to the meeting Aragorn had told you about. You change back into the dress you wore the day before and slip the shoes back on. You pin your hair up somewhat messily and let some strands fall in front of your face before heading out. Before you leave the door, you stop. After thinking, you go ahead and grab your bow. You leave the arrows, but you feel you need just your bow.

Aragorn mentioned it was being held in a courtyard by the library and you find it much easier than you expected. It appears you're one of the first to arrive and quickly claim a seat beside Aragorn.

"You made it," he says to you, smiling.

You nod and shrug. "I didn't have much better to do."

He laughs.

This council chamber is very lovely, with a tree behind it, and leaves fall down onto the ground. There's a semi-circle of stone chairs with a plinth in the middle and a few chairs at the front where Elrond and two other Elves sit.

Gradually, people begin to trickle in groups and sit down. Gandalf arrives with Frodo, who appears a bit nervous, but still in good health. The color has returned greatly to his face and he has that sparkle in his eyes once more. Gandalf the Grey, the acclaimed wizard, looks the part of a sorcerer very well, with his tall grey hat and matching beard.

Elves trickle in and the same group of dwarves you saw yesterday, looking very displeased and uncomfortable take their seats.

Groups of Men sit down, men of Gondor you immediately know. You recognize Boromir, son of Denethor, the steward and acting leader of Gondor. Though your people, people of Rohan, tend to dislike men of Gondor, you've always liked Boromir. He was fair and kind and very brave, earning many titles over the year.

Your eyes scan the crowd as they tend to do, and your eyes stop of a particular Elf. He is exceptionally fair, with blond hair and piercing blue eyes. His jawline is sharp and his skin pale. He wears a sage green cloak and his hair appears to be pinned back.

Quickly, you look away when he meets your gaze, leaning your cheek in your hand to hide the blush.

Once everyone appears to have arrived, Lord Elrond stands from his chair. "Strangers from distant lands, friends of old. You've been summoned here to answer the threat of Mordor." Even the mention of the land sends a chill down your spine. "Middle Earth stands upon the brink of destruction. None can escape it. You will unite, or you will fall."

At this, you begin to glance at the others seated near you. Unite? Men, Elves, and Dwarves haven't united together in ages. Though there is a greater evil, part of you doesn't expect this meeting to go too well.

"Each race is bound to this fate, this one doom," Elrond continues, looking tall and mighty with his crown on his head. He looks at Frodo and says, "Bring forth the Ring, Frodo," and extends his arm to the plinth in the center.

You watch as the Hobbit stands and approaches the plinth, aware that all eyes are on him. Gently, he sets the Ring in the center and you swear you hear it thud. Frodo walks back to his seat, seeming lighter and more at ease, and Gandalf gives him a reassuring nod.

The Ring looks simple enough. Just a simple golden band. But there's something that makes you want it. It's so shiny, so pretty. It's powerful, too, your mind tells you.

"So it is true," Boromir whispers, literally on the edge of his seat, his eyes fixed on the Ring.

The group is mumbling, whispering among themselves. You look and see that everyone's eyes are fixed on the Ring and for a moment, you swear you hear whispering in your ear. But you lean back in your chair, clasping your hands and squeezing, pulling your eyes away from the Ring and instead staring at the ground, trying your best to resist the urge. You know its true nature, you know this Ring's true master. And it is no one here.

Boromir suddenly stands up and you thank the Valar that you now have something else to focus on. "In a dream, I saw the eastern sky grow dark." He glances at the Ring and swallows. "But in the West, a pale light lingered." He gradually approaches the Ring, staring down at it. "A voice was crying, 'Your doom is near at hand. Isildur's Bane is found.'" He reaches for the Ring and your breath hitches. He wouldn't dare. "Isildur's Bane."

Before he can even touch the Ring, Gandalf stands and begins chanting in a low and echoing voice. The sky darkens and thunder cracks, shaking you in your very seat. Boromir staggers back to his seat as the language you don't recognize resonate in your ears, sending a feeling of dread down your spine. The speech subsides and the sky clears and lightens up again.

Elrond turns to Gandalf, looking angry. "Never before has any voice uttered the words of that tongue here in Imladris."

Tongue? Then you assume that it's likely Black Speech to which he refers, the dialect of Sauron and his followers. See, you did learn something useful from that book.

Gandalf bows his head but does not seem sorry. "I do not ask for your pardon, Master Elrond, for the Black Speech of Mordor may yet be heard in every corner of the West!" He stares a Boromir and declares, "The Ring is altogether evil!" and heads back for his chair.

Boromir shakes his head. "It is a gift." He stands up once more. "A gift to the foes of Mordor. Why not use this Ring?" He turns and addresses all races present. "Long has my father, the steward of Gondor, kept the forces of Mordor at bay. By the blood of your people are your lands kept safe."

You sigh and press your tongue into your cheek. Spoken like a true Gondorian, assuming that just because they do their job they are entitled to something.

"Give Gondor the weapon of the enemy. Let us use it against him!"

"You cannot wield it," Aragorn cuts in. "None of us can. The One Ring answers to Sauron alone. It has no other master."

You nod and say, "That is its entire point, really."

Boromir smirks a bit and asks cooly, "And what would two Rangers know of this matter?"

The Elf, who you had been eying earlier, stands and says, "He is no mere Ranger. He is Aragorn, son of Arathorn. You owe him your allegiance."

Son of...? Son of Arathorn? Isildur's heir? No wonder Aragorn kept his past secret. You resist the urge to look at him in shock, but part of you isn't surprised. Somehow, it fits him.

Boromir turns to your friend in shock and amusement. "Aragorn? This is Isildur's Heir?"

"And heir to the throne of Gondor."

Now you're beginning to wish you had some strawberries to eat because this sounded like it was shaping up to be a duel to you.

Aragorn says something to the Elf. Most of it you don't understand but you catch the last part, his name. Legolas. Prince of the Woodland realm. Yeah, you've heard of him before. You still find him pretty.

Boromir looks at Legolas and says, "Gondor has no king." He looks at Aragorn and says, "Gondor needs no king." And he sits back down, glaring at Aragorn.

Maybe, you think, but your ruler right now is kind of a douche.

You gently touch your friend's arm and raise a brow, silently asking if he's alright. He answers by putting his hand over your wrist and leaving it there as Gandalf begins to speak.

"Aragorn is right," says the wizard. "We cannot use it."

"Then you have only one choice," Elrond stands and the words seem difficult for him to get it out. "The Ring must be destroyed."

A heaviness settles across the air, but you know he's right. You've seen what's after it, how undying they are, how fearsome. It's a fact that no one can use it. Sauron's power is linked to the Ring. Destroy the Ring, destroy the wielder.

"What are we waiting for?" asks a wild redhead Dwarf. He stands, grabbing his axe and making his way for the Ring. Before anyone can stop him, he swings his axe down at the Ring. The weapon shatters as if made of wood and the Dwarf falls down, his kin rushing to pick him back up.

Glancing at Frodo, you see that he's clutching his head and slouching in his chair. Your heart aches for him, poor boy. Looking back at the plinth, you see the Ring is, unsurprisingly, unharmed.

"The Ring cannot be destroyed, Gimli, son of Gloin, by any craft we here possess," Elrond says. "The Ring was made in the fires of Mount Doom. Only there can it be unmade. It must be taken deep into Mordor and cast back into the fiery chasm from whence it came! One of you must do this."

For a moment, the room is silent. Of course it is. Walk into Mordor? That's not possible.

Of course, Boromir speaks up. Again. "One does not simply walk into Mordor. It's black gates are guarded by more than just Orcs. There is evil there that does not sleep. The Great Eye is ever-watchful."

Yes, you've heard rumors of an eye. A great, fiery orange eye atop a black tower, always watching. That does freak you out, mostly because eyes freak you out.

"It is a barren wasteland, riddled with fire and ash and dust. The very air you breathe is a poisonous fume. Not with ten thousand Men could you do this. It is folly."

Angrily, you sit up in your chair. What do these Men not understand, this is the only way. "Did you hear nothing Lord Elrond just said? It is the only way, and it must be soon. For something far scarier than any of you is after that Ring." With a jab, you angrily point at the plinth.

Boromir's eyes latch on your, coldly. "And if we fail, woman, what then? What happens when Sauron takes back what is his?"

Now you stand. "You seemed mighty confident just a minute ago, taking it for your own. Now you're scared of it?"

The room breaks into arguments, Men against Dwarves, Dwarves against Elf, Men against Men. It's loud, but you're angry, so you have no problem approaching high-and-mighty Boromir to chew him out when he steps towards you.

"What would a woman know about these matters?" asks the High Warden of the White Tower. "A Rohirrim one at that?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, are you upset because I'm a woman or because horses like me more than you?" You glare up at the man. You've never taken insults or shit from anyone and though he may be attractive, Boromir is no different. "Though, perhaps it's difficult to tell the difference between a woman and a horse, as you've likely lain with both!"

"I have faced far greater battles than you could ever dream, woman. I see no weapons. Are you truly a Ranger?"

"See, I don't need weapons with men like you, all I need is my knee and good aim, though it is a small target."

As arguments grow louder and more Men begin to doubt your own abilities, you need to step back. You're too hotheaded and you're afraid you'll start a fight. Aragorn takes your hand and pulls you towards him, placing a comforting hand on your face.

"How dare they insult me," you continue to rant to him, anger still bubbling, your skin hot to the touch. "Just because I'm a woman? Like, what the fuck? They're running kingdoms and then insult me just because I'm a girl, like seriously? How old are you?"

"Yes, yes, they're wrong, but you must calm down, Y/N," Aragorn keeps telling you but you can barley hear him over your own voice and Frodo's, which has suddenly picked up.

Wait, Frodo?

You turn to see the little Hobbit standing, his face slightly sweaty, shouting, "I will take it!"

The room quiets down, all eyes turning to the Hobbit in shock. You wonder how many of them knew he existed. "I will take the Ring to Mordor." Then he hesitates, now noticing all eyes are on him. "Though... I do not know the way."

The old wizard, Gandalf, nods, walking towards him. "I will help you bear this burden, Frodo Baggins," he tells him warmly with a pat on his shoulder, "as long as it is yours to bear."

Then you do something you do not expect. Just last night, you swore to not go on this quest. But something deep down in your heart tells you that you must go, it's your destiny. And so you walk forward and take a knee before the Hobbit, now being eye-level with him. "I pledge to you, Master Baggins. I will help you in your journey. I will shield your back and keep your counsel and give my life for yours if need be. I will help you destroy the Ring, Master Baggins, for all of Middle Earth."

Frodo smiles at you and you stand to move beside him.

Aragorn is quick to stand next, saying, "If by my life or death I can protect you, I will." Then he kneels before Frodo and says, "You have my sword."

Legolas walks forward. "And you have my bow."

Gimli the Dwarf is next, holding up another one of his axes. "And my axe."

The six of you stand together and you feel pride. This really is shaping up to be a good team to go destroy this Ring.

But the Boromir walks forward. You anger has quickly subsided, as it normally does, but you still feel resentment towards him. Of course, perhaps both of your outbursts was caused by the Ring. That didn't sound so outlandish. But still, you refuse to look at him.

"You carry the fate of us all, little one," he says to Frodo. "If this is indeed the will of the Council, then Gondor will see it done."

A voice suddenly shouts, "Here!" from nowhere, nearly causing your heart to jump out of your chest. You turn to see Samwise Gamgee running from the bushes to be at his friend's side. "Mister Frodo's not going anywhere without me," and he crosses his arms defiantly.

You smile as Elrond lightly says, "No, indeed. It is hardly possible to separate you two, even when he is summoned to a secret Council and you are not." He seems to play the part of upset, but his voice lightens near the end and he smiles just slightly.

"Oi! We're coming too!"

Two more Hobbits come running up the steps and you resist the urge to laugh aloud. Frodo's friends sure are loyal to him as they stand bedside his side in front of an Elf lord and over a dozen Men, Elves, and Dwarves.

"You'd have to send us home tied in a sack to stop us," says Merry defiantly.

Pippin nods beside him. "Anyway, you need intelligence on this sort of mission...quest...thing."

Merry stares at him and says in a snarky tone, "Well that rules you out, Pip."

Elrond surveys your group and you can't help but smile with pride. Here you are, on a mission to save the realm. A group of three Men, an Elf, a Dwarf, a wizard, and four Hobbits. Sure, not the likeliest of pairs. Even you could never have dreamed it. But something told you that there was no better group than the one you were with right now.

"Ten companions," muses Elrond. "So be it. You shall be the Fellowship of the Ring!"

Your chest swells and you exchange a look with Aragorn.

"Great!" Pip exclaims. "Where are we going?"

[alien-bluez]

SATBK NINJAGO AU NO ONE ASKED FOR

ahaha... satbk stands for sonic and the black knight btw it's a wii game and it has a whole grip on my brain so now i'm combining my two fixations bc i can..!

this will be a long post btw, designs n ideas are all mine and just an FYI.. It is heavily inspired by satbk but i will probably develop it as an au outside of the satbk story.. for my own entertainment idk. also idk much about the knights of the round table / king arthur story so don't expect anything related to them besides the names..? idk

anyways let's start!

Lloyd and Harumi (aka Sonic and Merlina)

Lloyd is a lost prince that gets summoned to this part of the world by Harumi who is a wizard and gets asked to help stop King Arthur (aka Garmadon) from being evil n wrecking shit ig.

Lloyd is chosen to help but he's not a knight! Harumi helps him find an ancient lost sword (aka Excalibur aka Morro in this au. hear me out. i'll explain it in more detail later.) and gets trained to become a knight with his now very annoying talking magic sword haha.

Also spoiler alert ig- Harumi is the real villain all along...! she manipulates lloyd into taking down Garmadon in order to get Excalibur's scabbard (which is in evil king arthur's possession which makes him evil + immortal) and wants to rule Camelot for herself to preserve the dying kingdom and thinks she'll be a better ruler to where Garmadon failed ig. still working out the motivations here.

Morro (aka Caliburn/Excalibur)

Morro in this au is Lloyd's talking sword. You don't see his ghost form.. at all..? i just mostly wanted to draw him in ghostly prince form lol. Basically he was the crown prince before Lloyd but then died a tragic death and became cursed to haunt a sword..? Yeah sure. So Lloyd picks him up and Morro talks and yeah they're travel buddies now.

Morro basically helps Lloyd become a better knight, but they still bicker and argue like siblings and it is funny.

Okay I'm gonna put a read more here now bc this is gettin long. The rest of the ninjas designs + stories are under the cut!

Knights of the Round Table

Kai (aka Lancelot)

Kai is Lancelot/Shadow in this au! He's the most loyal to KA / Garmadon in this au which is really funny lmao. As a knight Kai will follow any order given to him, he's one of the strongest knights in the realm and he's quite hotheaded to boot.

He encounters Lloyd first and they fight bc Lloyd is trying to stop Garmadon. Inexperienced as a fighter and a knight he doesn't exactly beat Kai but gets away after a technicality. Umm I like to think they meet a few more times over the course of Lloyd's journey, and maybe there's a part where Kai gets stuck with Lloyd and they have to work together.

Despite having differences of opinion on what it means to be a knight, Kai sort of sees Lloyd as a worthy rival... and lowkey younger brother!

Cole (aka Gawain)

Cole is the second knight Lloyd encounters and fights on his journey. After having more experience Lloyd does in fact beat him fair and square! But Cole as a knight takes chivalry and honor very seriously. After losing he feels so much shame but Lloyd snaps him out of it because there's more to being a knight than serving a king!

Zane (aka Percival)

The third knight of the round table that Lloyd encounters and also one of the toughest opponents Lloyd faces. Zane's fighting style is full of poise and grace and even though he doesn't appear to be as heavy hitting or brute forced as Kai or Cole he is most definitely strong! If not stronger for being able to conceal his power!

Lloyd is an experienced knight at this point, when he has Zane on the ropes part of the cliff they stand on falls off, nearly taking Zane with it. But Lloyd swoops in to save him like a true hero. After questioning Lloyd about why he saved him when he shouldn't have, Lloyd says it's because it's what he does! He saves people!

I wanna develop the knights more outside of the satbk encounters, so hehe. Keep ur eyes peeled for that!

Last but not least the other supportive characters in the story!

Jay (aka the Blacksmith)

yeah it would've been funny to make Kai the blacksmith but i think Jay works better here!

Jay is the town's local inventor / blacksmith and tthe best kind around! Lloyd goes to his shop to sharpen up Morro Sword and probably visits after every fight he has too lol. Jay doesn't mind at all and likes Lloyd's company! Especially because he will get any chance to show off his newest crazy invention for Lloyd!

Nya (aka Nimue Lady of the Lake)

Nya takes the place of Nimue who gives Lloyd three tests to become a true knight. I had to put her here because of water.. water symbolism n all that.

She's also very chill and hosts tea parties and invites Lloyd to celebrate after becoming a true knight! She's like an older sister to him too!

And.. yeah that's it i guess lol! I don't have more designs yet to show but I do have ideas and other stuff in mind! if u ever wanna ask about it my ask box is open! i wanna develop more of this funny little au haha

[dailytatsu]

Heya! Can I request an Aether/Lumine & reader?

So reader is basically an immortal half-elf who've lived for centuries and a well refined fighter. Well at the beginning even tho they volunteered to tag along on traveler's journey to find their sibling, reader is rather obnoxious and a lazy-dork who only help when actually needed. But as the journey continues, they began to act like traveler's bodyguard after witnessing (archon quest spoiler!) traveler almost getting killed by the Shogun? And maybe random shenanigans happen between them (ft.Paimon). I don't mind if you do either Aether or Lumine if you feel pressured 🙏

Hi! This kind are my favorites! Tysm for requesting! (๑>◡<๑)

I did this with Aether since he is my favorite is who I chose, and I feel more comfortable writing with guys than with girls.

I know they have some different personalities but I can help but see Lumine as the all mighty abyss princess.

Hope you enjoy!

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Aether & Half-elf! Reader

GN! Reader

Inazuma Archon Quest Spoilers!

Request are open; sorry for any mistakes!

Genshin Impact Masterlist

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Aether always thought that immortality brought with it wisdom, beings who live for much longer than an ordinary human tend to gain an understanding of life and changes in the world after years of appreciating the passing of the ages.

But when he met you he couldn't help but feel that all his beliefs were based on fiction and old rumors from other worlds. You were anything but wise, not even his first choice to be the voice of reason.

Even Paimon takes her role as his guide seriously.

But what was so wrong about you that get him on his nerves all the time? And most important, why does is he still dealing with you?

To be fair, maybe he was waiting a little too much from you. After all, he always forget that you still have half of a human’s nature.

“Mmh? What are you doing?” You asked Aether the first time he removed your hair from your ears to see if they were pointy. They were, and Paimon yelled kind of a objection when she realize she had to pay for losing their bet.

Not a human, not a elf, but a hybrid between them.

The first encounter was really something he would never forget. Rumors about treasures and requests from the guild made them follow some clues to find a cave that was marked as lost, impossible to enter and explore.

But “impossible” is a word that doesn’t exist their vocabulary. Yet is common that regretting comes along when you’re that bold and risky.

At the very end of that strange cave there wasn’t a treasure waiting, not even a new clue to keep going with the mystery. Instead, was a humanoid silhouette, they seemed to be meditating, not showing a single interest in their voices neither getting nervous because of Aether and Paimon taking some steps forward to have a better look.

But they were breathing, and both could see the pupils moving slightly under their eyelids. Eyebrows twitching now and then, like they were having a nightmare, one of which they couldn’t wake up.

Paimon encouraged him to get even closer to shake that person's shoulder, while she was hiding behind some rocks, obviously.

Aether summoned his sword and then he approached slowly until touching them with his fingertips, waiting for some kind of jumpscare.

The stranger raised their arm, carefully but also in a robotic way. Their fingers were tense, as much that it was painful just looking at them. Like a quiet call, like a order that couldn’t be heard, from the pile of rocks where Paimon was hiding something emerge, breaking through the stone and letting a rusty polearm to be seen.

Their fingers closed around the weapon, bringing them back to reality.

“Master and weapon, reunited again, rise so the world can meet their end!”

Or at least that's what he would have preferred to find. A servant guarding a lost relic, a soulless body moving by a curse, perhaps even a fate that death could not prevent.

But instead it was something really underwhelming, something that broke the mystical and strange atmosphere. That person opened their eyes, annoyed by the light of the torches and disoriented by the situation.

With their body in pain and numb at the same time, how long have they slept in that position?

The first thing they did after waking up was sneezing.

‘So much dust…’

Never accepting missions for exploring legendary caves ever again. Nope. Negative. He refuse to.

What if they find another (Y/N)? Thanks, but no. One is more than enough.

“So what you mean is that your parents' families exiled you and locked you up in the cave for being an ‘abomination’ to both species?” Paimon confirmed once the three of you were back in the surface again. Her hands moving side to side to explain -in a very expressive way- everything you told them.

“It seems that we found the remains of an ancient race that used to exist in Teyvat.” Aether said, still surprised by the way you roamed to feel the wood of the trees and the grass under your bare feet. Kind of heartbreaking.

“Like the boar we found with Xiangling!”

He wasn’t sure if it was okay to compare both encounters but he could see her point.

“… ‘Wait for us’, they told me, ‘think about your existence and find the answer to why your conception is not the atrocity that everyone says you are. May their words not reach you, because we have long ears to hear the words of the gods and not the ones of those who defile earth’… ” You pronounced after decades of not needing to use the language you were taught, with one hand on your chin and eyes closed to concentrate. All you had left was the few memories you preserved inside your mind and heart.

“With ‘they’ you mean your parents?”

You nodded.

“And what happened next?… ” Asked back the tiny companion of the blond guy that rescued you.

“I got bored and I fell asleep.” You admitted, carefree about it, shrugging your shoulders and sighing.

A total waste of your youth.

“Eh!? Then you didn’t thought about those things? That sounded important!” Paimon seemed disappointed for your answer, while Aether held his forehead, without having a clue of how he was supposed to react.

That was the day you joined their party! New team member, (Y/N) strikes in!

Or something like that,,

“H-Hey! We could use a hand over here!… woah!” The little white girl scold you but from your high sit on the top of a big rock only a exaggerated yawning can be heard. Paimon crossed her arms to almost immediately duck down to dodge a fire bullet from the Fatui. Aether didn’t say anything, he was concentrated fighting.

“Oh, yeah… You’re doing great. Go, Aether, go…”

“Was that supposed to be a cheering?!”

“Hey, calm down” You said “He doesn’t need my help. Just take a look, he’s an adventurer. If I meddle it will be really boring for him.”

“Hmp! Now Paimon believes that you were lying when you said that you were a well refined fighter!” She was floating around you, ignoring the battle of his blond friend. Like a pesky bee, the only thing you did was avoiding her furious gaze. “Don’t ignore Paimon! How can you not hear with those ears!? That’s it! Paimon will give you a ugly nickname!”

“What about ‘extinct deaf elf-der’?”

“Yeah, that’s a good one!” She agreed immediately, then she shook her head, pointing at you like a guilty criminal. “Wait, Paimon doesn’t need your suggestions!”

When the last Fatui was defeated Aether turned back to face both of you, sighing because of the new arguing between you two. His sword disappeared and some steps were took to get closer.

Your eyes met each other, a slight smile in your face after looking him safe and sound. So confident but so unaware of the remain danger hiding. Your expression became a surprised one, then your gaze sharped like a killer sight.

You left Paimon on top of the rock when you jumped down, summoning your own weapon you ran straight to where Aether was. The traveler panicked just a fraction of second before loosing sight of you.

Next thing they know was that a you were behind him, facing at the nothing with a defensive pose, just a second of silence before a impact could be heard. Some dirt and dust was lift as the pair of Fatui Pyro Agents became visible again. They stayed there, defeated in one hit.

“Like I said. It would be pretty boring if I meddle...” Aether and Paimon were shocked, none of them felt their presence, not even the heat of the pyro delusion. Your weapon disappeared in the air, and your hands rested on your waist. “Dear Seven, that was intense.” Looking at your friends you sighed, with the laziness on your body language. “It was my turn to cook dinner, right? What a pain having to eat again… ”

Acting that relaxed after that really made them went Ô_Ô and Ö

A silent speech, where devotion and gratitude are the best topics of conversation. The message that is heard even if there’s no words in between. Just a exchange of gazes. Little signs of affection that are shown when it’s necessary.

Your family was gone. No clues about their whereabouts could’ve found in that cave of where you came. Not even the skeletons of a couple holding their hands and petrified in a sobbing position. Not even ashes.

When you have been thinking about the most unimportant things in the universe for so long you can deal with the lost faster than anyone else. Getting the idea of no remain evidence of your parents and feeling that it wasn’t that heartbreaking.

Maybe because you gained a new family almost immediately.

Still you could empathize with Aether, he still had his precious memories with his sister, still remember her face and her voice. And most important was that he knew that she was still roaming Teyvat, waiting for him.

Even if they leave behind Paimon and you at the end of the trip.

Or even if they just leave you behind.

‘I’m okay with that.’

You thought, stroking Paimon’s hair when her head found a comfortable place to rest in your lap. You thought, moving your shoulder so Aether wouldn’t have neck pain. Both sleeping peacefully and you staying awake night by night.

You’ve slept enough, for so long besides.

Somehow the flames of the campfire are warmer now that you have someone to look how the fire dance in the night.

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“I see, so you were serious when you told me that your companion was a mystical extinct creature, weren’t you?” Albedo’s hand went up to hold his chin, analyzing you from distance.

“They are half of it, actually.” Aether answered back, notice how Sucrose was asking you permission to check your features. The sparkle in her eyes made you accept her petition after feeling with the back against the wall.

“Your ears are like mine! Look, look!” Klee pulled your shirt, then she pointed at the side of her head.

“… Still the shape of both are quite different, the length too.”

Years of isolation really are hitting hard right now. You felt overwhelmed and somehow shy when Sucrose hold your face to have a better look.

You follow the traveler to everywhere, no matter the place, you were there. Like a shadow, sometimes just a spectator, other times like an actual active team member.

“Who would’ve tell that our Honorary Knight also has his own knight watching his back.” Kaeya’s voice has that joke but charming tone, as always.

Day after day, it’s the same, everyone talking you through Aether. Like some kind of translator.

“More like a human shield.” Your hand landed on top of Aether’s head, not agreeing with his explanation.

Bonk.

“I guess everything’s better than being Emergency Food.”

“Hey!”

“Haha! You three are quite a team, aren’t you?”

Of course you were. Mondstadt, Liyue, you name it. You could assure that every place in this two nations have at least one story about the team.

You knew that the most brave and magnificent outlander in Teyvat didn’t need a guardian, he can defend himself (somehow even if he’s still using that dull blade).

Bodyguarding also sounds like such a hassle…

You only provide a last resource help when was needed, sometimes also helping with some puzzles and mysteries.

The long eared people was known to be wise and smart people that searched for the full comprehension of the world. Also such a nerds and fans of knowledge. So, even if you considered yourself dumb, in your blood was the instinct of looking for the truth, and sometimes that impulse could be really annoying.

You were always near enough to reach him. Pulling his scarf from behind to move him away from danger. Countering after he gets hit.

Always in a place where you could reach him.

You just needed to extend your arm and you would catch Aether. It was always like this. Always with you jumping in the middle of the crossfire to shield them if it was necessary.

It’s always like this.

Until the day you three set a foot in Inazuma’s land. And a bad feeling of a imminent catastrophe made your shiver.

A new nation, a new problem to solve. But a war? Boldness and stupidity sometimes looks like the same thing, but no matter how many times you repeat this to Aether, he would still ran into problems.

And you would follow him, until your debt is paid, until his travel is done.

It used to be like this.

But then you failed him after being unable to move because of the fear that paralyzed your body. The day Aether faced Shogun Raiden in the ceremony. The day you heard the broken voice of a god inside the Shogun you also fell apart. It was painful, cruel, a void of anger and sadness.

Jumping into danger, without you behind.

You tried to ran between the goddess and your savior, you tried to get closer to at least be useful one last time as the shield you promised to be.

You tried.

But, for the first time, your hand didn’t reach him.

The void of despair and darkness that could be heard inside the Shogun devoured him.

The tears of panic and fear in Paimon’s eyes. The way the Shogun lifted her sword to end his life. The way you were paralyzed because of her presence, forced to be part of the crowd and presence his execution.

That day your facade of laziness faded away, the real feeling of being a knight burnt along your proud. It was so annoying, it was so unnecessary, but still you couldn’t ignore it.

“Are you… are you sure that you’re okay? We don’t have to find the Sangonomiya resistance today. If you need to rest then-” Your hands were shaking when you placed them in Aether’s shoulders, holding yourself for tearing up.

“We have to keep going. I’ll be fine.”

“Besides, if we stay near Inazuma this night they could find us! Paimon won’t be able to sleep like that!” Your mouth opened to counter their arguments, but not a single word dared to go against Aether’s plans.

They could see it in your face. The worry, the remains of shock and fear, the guilty.

“Don’t try to look strong then. If you get tired, tell us. I can carry you in my back.” Even if you were offering help your voice was serious, so cold but so hurt at the same time that nor Aether or Paimon knew what to said to bring the old you back.

➷➹➷➹➷➹➷➹➷➹➷➹ ➷➹➷➹ ➷➹➷➹ ➷➹ ➷

“… Aren’t you coming?” You could hear how the door was slid to let him saw you. The lighted spots on Aether’s clothes were purple, just as the lighting that almost end him. Your lips made a concerned and stressed grimace.

The young traveler took a seat next to you, outside the structure, sitting on the wooden steps and looking at the starry sky. The wind was cold but still the soldiers of the resistance were talking normally and the slight feeling of discommodity because of the excessive presence of other people was climbing up your back.

“(Y/N), there’s no need of guard us every night. You also need to sleep.”

“I'm not tired, I think I've gotten enough sleep, at least not to need it until the next century.”

Aether’s expressions went into a sarcastic one, asking if you were serious with just his gaze.

“That’s not how it works.” He said, trying to change the mood. “And if it does, then why are you always snoozing during the day in every chance you get?”

You had the answer to that, but you weren’t sure about telling him.

“Because everything supposed to be boring. Nothing really changed a lot and… looking at the familiar places was depressing.” So easy, so simple, but still enjoying the company, still enjoying the sound of theirs laughs and their own shenanigans. “… Lately, I’ve been thinking that I should not had left the cave. Don’t get me wrong, I do appreciate that you two helped me to be back at the surface, and I really want to help you on your journey, but if you still run into the chaos by own decision I think I could not follow you any longer before being a burden in your adventures.”

Overprotection, an unbreakable shield, frequently avoiding fights, always being pulled back to not be part of the battle. Enemies of the braveness of the traveler.

Worry, panic, an overreaction due to fear of loosing everything again.

‘let me do it’, ‘I got it’, ‘wait here’, ‘don’t get close’.

These day could be described like that.

“So, before I do something worse as an excuse of defend you, please let me find a cave to await. You do what’s is needed and… call me back, or leave me there, anything you think it’s better… ”

You could be pronouncing the words from the very bottom of your heart, but still your face was the same seriousness as the accident almost happened.

And even with that you felt his gloved hand removing the hair that was covering your right ear, revealing how it slightly leaned down, showing sadness unwittingly.

“Hey, cut it out… I’m serious about this… ”

“It doesn’t matter if you think that it’s the best option, you’re still sad about leaving.”

“… That’s cheating.” Removing his hand away from your hair you tried to act indifferent.

“You know the reason why we invited you to came along?”

‘You felt sorry for me.’

“I can’t totally tell the exact reason, but it wasn’t for you to pay us some kind of debt because of saving you.” He crossed his arms, looking at the stars, wondering if his sisters was doing the same. “We don’t need a guardian, we need our friend back. And I know you care about Paimon and me, but still you must enjoy the journey. It’s not fair that you are always aware of every potential danger while we mess around lately.”

An eternal silence, your response is late to appear but somehow Aether can tell that you already have something on your mind.

“Then apologize.”

“… Why?”

“For believing that playing as the hero and jumping to face the Shogun was something you had to do.”

“… but-”

Neither Aether nor you slept that night, the blonde had to listen for hours to all the things that you ever wanted to complain about since you arrived in Inazuma.

You made your position on joining the army of the rebellion very clear, you had no intention of fighting to seek "justice" or "peace". Because after all, that fight did not correspond to you, but if he asked you to, you would protect some soldiers or help to guard the barracks, if he asked you to, you wouldn’t complain about it (at least not that much).

Both had enough of each other’s attitude, but it was okay. Because that was what all of you chose in first place.

[just-eyris-things]

have 3, 8, 10, and 14 from the gw2 asks for airell, if you'd like! :D @kerra-and-company

okay, im gonna just admit it

i did not forget-forget about this, i just kept remembering about it when i was falling asleepp and then days went by and then it was a month and a half later so-

im so sorry ;w; thank you so much for sending in the ask, means a lot! let's hit it off :3c

3. Do they have any crafting professions?

Airell is an excellent cook, both in-game and lore-wise. I joke all the time how his team misses his cooking more than him when he's away, hahahaha.

8. Are there any juicy rumors about them floating around Tyria?

SO! MANY!!!! The most popular is the rumor about him having an affair with Faren - to be fair, they did hook up ONCE and Airell cringes whenever he sees the guy ever since.

Airell is quite flirty, so rumors about him having multiple partners were quite common and they were quite often the topics of the commander fun club meetings.

Other rumors are that Airell is immortal (even before we learn that they are a dragon scion) - mostly because of their necromancy and they cannot fall in battle. Simply, the commander is made into this undefeated champion who will never fall. Some rumors claim that Airell made pacts with demons and divine beings from the Mists. After all nobody can be that powerful, right?

And of course... a rumor that Airell is a whispers agent who was so long under cover that they forgot who they really were or that they still are undercover and the whole pact commander thing is a facade so the order of whispers can have more power and influence, especially that Airell is not hiding how close he is to Trahearne.

10. What was the most difficult part of their journey so far?

Airell has been through a lot. I think there were three most difficult parts that I cannot simply single out as the top one. So, in non-defined order:

learning of their identity as a dragon scion - that was really harsh for Airell, they always thought they were just a normal mordem like any sylvari, they thought they were no different, but suddenly they learn the truth about themselves and... they are the very thing they were seeking to destroy. How are they supposed to deal with that?

dealing with Trahearne's death - ever since Airell and Trahearne get together, Airell becomes very dependent on their partner. In a fic I'm currently working on, some characters refer to Trahearne as an anchor for Airell - someone who kept them in check without actually knowing about it. So when suddenly Airell woke up and that anchor was gone... they were devastated. they didn't know how to handle it and broke many rules and regulations of necromancy guidelines in the process of... handling it badly. it only lead to even bigger mess. if you want to read more about it, i have a series of fics (2 whole fics, the 2nd one has two chapters)

lastly, and this one will be more physical than mental, leaving the Jungle. Before Airell comes to central Tyria, they live with their hylek tribe in Maguuma. They know the jungle inside and out, they know all the secret places. And after around 2 decades (that's twenty (20) years!) they finally decide to leave and see the world. The world outside of jungle is really different and even though the jungle is deadly, and somehow carts pulled by bulls are more scary than a furious stonehead charging straight at you. Airell also didn't really know the language, so it was really hard for them to communicate with locals.

14. If they were an elder dragon, what would their domains be?

hehe :)

death and plant :D which they kind of become later on, with a bonus of mind, but the mind part is more of a formality of coming Mordy Junior.

[kachuuyaa]

— TRAGEDY, TRAGEDY.

g.i oneshot , gn!reader , bsd!reader

genre ; fluff? angst? i dunno reader is alone though

includes ; mentions of death, gods, you are from the BSD WORLD?? SO TRUE!! reader is from port mafia, mentioned to be close w the double black, hints of chuuya being the love interest

synopsis ; The show is starting. There is no comedy in this world of tragedy, then, and now.

author’s notes ; WAHHH IT IS TIME!!!!! IT’S TIME IT’S HERE IT’S AN INTRODUCTION THOUGH, i’ll make the first meetings fic soon :)

Have the gods cursed you? You were given another chance in life, yet that isn’t what you wanted. Death came to you at such a young age (your life felt like a long, treacherous one even so), but you felt blessed, for the first time. Life in the Port mafia came with tragedies and betrayals, and all you wanted was an escape. All those memories, fresh in your mind, kept repeating themselves in the most vulnerable moments. You were alone, alone-- that word felt fresh on your tongue, foreign, even. How could you be alone when you were prominent to those against your organization? You were popular among them, being their target and a source of power. Surely, they would have laughed at your death, it would only be fair to consider it a victory, after all. Did the gods loathe you that much to give you a curse of immortality, one with all your past memories and abilities intact? Did the gods loathe you so? They have. In the beginning, all they wanted was human approval, yet you spoke words interlaced with spite and resentment.

You were alone. A wandering outlander; one who is reminiscent of the past. Many people have looked at you but not in the eyes, terrified at what you had to hide. You were silent, intimidating by nature. They were afraid of you, however, they couldn’t keep their mouths shut. Whispers and mentions of your name were heard throughout the most prominent nations, some even reached the ears of the divine, yet they paid no attention to such trivial matters, especially coming from mortals. Who would want to listen to such musings when they have earned the power to control this world, if you were a threat, you would be eradicated in an instant, no? You were but a mere mortal. Oh, how they wished they knew better. A wandering outlander-- dead in their own world and an outcast in the current one, should be deemed as a threat. Your power and your ability surpassed that of gods, and even though it was a curse, it was a blessing to those who utilized it well.

And while you haven’t used your ability in a while (and directly in front of individuals), you knew you were stronger than those who present themselves as gods. The archons, however, you couldn't care less about, for you only care about reuniting with-- with who? You were alone, for all the years you have walked this world that is still foreign to you, you have not felt a single familiar presence. You were completely alone; isolated, with no one to turn to. This was something entirely different from Yokohama, posters and warnings about you being spread among the townspeople were quite common in your world, really.

You were only noticed due to your somehow sinister and unnerving aura, being quickly feared by many. The cycle begins again, however, minus the tragic backstories. You were-- free. You haven’t felt free in a very, very long time. Death was an escape, a ticket to freedom, but at what cost? Freedom was obtained using sacrifices. Why would you have to live another life with freedom only to be stripped away from it once again? The gods have made decisions for mortals whose desires are not theirs to have, and if some were cursed, why should some be praised? Those sculpted by the gods gained approval and prowess of any kind, yet you-- you were cursed. You were designed intricately, beautifully by the king of gods himself, only to send you to a realm where none of them existed? Was this a cruel joke to you? Or was it retribution due to your unjust acts?

You didn’t care, though. You just want to go home. Do you even have a home? Somewhere to stay, to pour all your memories in? You don’t, do you? You’re dead. You don’t belong there anymore. You belong here, that is the punishment given to you. How ironic, a wandering immortal whose title does not fit themself has no one to turn to. No immortals do, anyway. As the gods have longed for human approval yet were prevented from speaking to such beings, immortals long for peace, tranquility while knowing even a second of that wouldn’t be enough for a long, long life filled with dread.

The phrase “I want to go home,” lands on your tongue quite often, yet you know, even though you hate to admit it, you do not have any. This world-- whatever this was, is not your home, nor will it ever be. Yet, why did you feel a sense of familiarity during your first meeting with the supposed “Outlander turned Honorary Knight of Mondstadt”? During the decades you have walked this earth, you have not seen an impact from a fellow outlander such as them. In different circumstances, where you actually cared for their crises, would you be in their place? It should be quite obvious. You were from the Port Mafia. Their executives were arrogant, powerful, and terrifying. Narcissistic, would be used to describe them as a whole. They weren’t entirely wrong, per se, however, deep in that never-ending, dark, hollow abyss of one, a blooming garden of emotions would be revealed. Under the seemingly unattractive shell you present yourself as, in the rarest of moments, you would be vulnerable.

You resort to repeating the actions you have done in the past. Gaining a negative reputation was what made you climb to the ranks of the Port Mafia, and even if there was no Port Mafia, no comrades insight, you would try to better yourself for the sake of the freedom you were generously given with your punishment. An immortal who is alone will never be remembered. Perhaps this journey would help you reminisce about the past in a positive manner rather than what you long for, no? You won’t replace them, no, never, you know it’s time to move on. And if the gods commend you for that, then, you will receive judgment. You were intelligent, a huge contribution to the Port Mafia as one of their most excellent members-- both in strategy and in combat. Decades of isolation have led you to be a one-person army, if you were as strong as a god then, you were as strong as the gods aspire to be.

A bird, specifically a Bohemian Waxwing, has landed on your shoulder. It was quiet, and it seemed like they did it willingly. Its most prominent feature was a highlighted orange streak across its head, reminding you of a very, very close, old friend. Its eyes held a familiar glimmer, as well. Thinking that your assumptions were far from reality, you decide to let it go, yet it remains persistent. Then, you decide to keep it, bringing him on your escapades. (you named him Nakahara, because of how much it reminded you of him. You were utterly speechless when you sensed content from its small figure.) needless to say, maybe your new biography wouldn’t be so boring.

© kachuuyaa | do not claim my work as your own.

[grailfinders]

Fate and Phantasms #193

Today on Fate and Phantasms we’re building the new guy everyone knows and loves, Prince Nezha! They’re an Ascendant Dragon Monk for their fire wheels and spear skills, as well as a Strength Cleric to pick up all those sacred treasures they get while still being the stabby stabby bot we all adore.

(I’ll be perfectly upfront right now; we did not have the time to read through Investiture of the Gods and Journey to the West to make one character, so they’ll be getting all the sacred treasures that we found while binging OSP’s videos on the latter. Also, lots of anti-demon stuff. You don’t need first-hand knowledge of a series to know that the “Demon-Hacking Blade” probably has some anti-demon features in it.)

Anyways, check out their build breakdown below the cut, or their character sheet over here!

Next up: The Mysterious Miss Moolah!

Race and background

Nezha’s more clay than metal, but they’re still hanging out in an artificial body, that’s a Warforged. They get +2 Constitution and +1 to any stat, so +1 Wisdom, as well as Constructed Resilience, so you don’t have to eat, drink, breathe, or sleep, don’t get sick, and have advantage and resistance to poison effects. Instead of sleeping, you take a Sentry’s Rest, spending 6 hours awake but not moving. You also get Integrated Protection for +1 AC. There’s more to it, but you’re a monk, you don’t use armor anyway. Finally, your Specialized Design gives you proficiency in one skill, I picked Animal Handling for the same reason I grabbed it for Nero. If you can “handle” the king of the monkeys, the rest should fall in line.

I meant beating him up, don’t be gross.

You respect your coworkers, which means to mortals you’d probably be an Acolyte, which gives you proficiency with Insight and Religion.

Ability Scores

Wisdom comes from making mistakes, and dear god have you made some doozies, so make that number one. Second highest should be Dexterity, you can fly, but only by balancing on wheels. That’s a high-stakes highwire act. Your Strength is next- going toe-to-toe with the monkey king requires a lot of it. Your Constitution is also above average, the zhenren sages don’t skimp on their designs. This means your Intelligence will be a bit low since we don’t need it for the build, but we’re dumping Charisma. There’s a bit of a disconnect between you and others, and also you have a lot of self-loathing issues to work through, which just makes hanging out a bit awkward.

Class Levels

Monk 1: Starting off as a monk gives you plenty of goodies, like proficiency in Strength and Dexterity saves, Acrobatics for balance, and History. I cannot emphasize enough about how all these servant builds should probably just get free history proficiency. You also get Unarmored Defense, which adds to your Integrated Protection for a total AC of 11+ your dex mod + your wisdom modifier. That brings your current AC up to 16 for a start, not bad. You also get Martial Arts so your monk attacks deal at least 1d4 (which grows as you level up), can use your dexterity instead of strength, and if you make one of those attacks as your action you can make another attack as a bonus action. Spears are simple weapons and versatile, not two-handed, so you’re in the clear.

Cleric 1: We’re gonna bounce over to cleric right away to become a worshiper of Strength. When you become an Acolyte of Strength, you learn one Druid cantrip, and gain proficiency with another skill- in this case, Athletics. For your free cantrip, grab Shillelagh. I know it says club or quarterstaff, but just hold the spear backwards. If gives you a d8 for damage, turns the weapon magical, and you can use Wisdom to attack with it instead of dexterity or strength. While we’re on the topic, you also get Spells now that use your Wisdom to cast and prepare. That means you don’t have a hard and fast spell list, but you can switch things up each long rest. For cantrips, Spare the Dying gives you beans of immortality that you can pop into a creature’s mouth as an action to stabilize them. You also get Sacred Flame for sacred flames, and Thaumaturgy to show off your celestial origins. As a strength cleric you’ll always have Divine Favor and Shield of Faith on tap, but you can also use Detect Evil and Good and Protection from Evil and Good for demon fighting.

Monk 2: We’re not going to focus on cleric too much though, we have martial arts to learn. At second level, you get Ki points equal to your monk level each short rest, letting you attack twice, dodge, disengage, or dash as a bonus action. You also get Unarmored Movement, adding to your speed as you level up.

Monk 3: At third level you can finally set down the Way of the Ascendant Dragon, making your fists a lot more fiery. You’re now a Draconic Disciple as well as a cleric, so when you hit a creature with your fists or feet you can deal bludgeoning damage as normal, or acid, cold, fire, lightning, or poison. Obviously fire is the most in character, but there’s probably a baobei that works for the other elements if you really want them. You can also spend your reaction to re-roll a failed intimidation or persuasion check, succeeding once per long rest. I guess Nezha can be kind of scary when they want to be. You can also use the Breath of the Dragon, replacing one of your normal attacks with a cone or line of acid, cold, fire, lighting, or poison damage, forcing a dexterity save against your ki save (DC 8 + proficiency + wisdom modifier), taking 2 rolls of your martial arts die on a failure, or half as much on a success. If that monkey king’s modern iteration can get beam weapons so can you. You get Proficiency free uses per long rest, but you can use it more by spending 1 ki point per use. Finally, you can react to someone shooting you with an arrow to Deflect Missiles, reducing the damage, If it’s reduced to 0, you can spend a ki point to launch it back at them.

Cleric 2: Back into cleric for a hot second. Second level clerics can Channel Divinity in one of two ways per short rest. Turn Undead makes nearby undead run if they fail a wisdom save, but you can also use a Feat of Strength to add +10 to an attack roll or strength check/save. The Zhenren really don’t mess around.

Monk 4: Fourth level monks get their first Ability Score Improvement, so improve that Wisdom for a higher AC, better shillelagh attacks, and stronger fire powers. You also learn how to Slow Fall as a reaction so falling off your wheels isn’t quite as big an issue.

Monk 5: Fifth level monks get an Extra Attack per attack action, bringing your total in a turn up to two with just an action, three with your martial arts bonus action, or four with flurry of blows. You can also turn those attacks into Stunning Strikes by spending ki. This forces a constitution save on the creature you just hit, stunning them if they fail until the end of your next turn.

Monk 6: Sixth level monks get Ki-Empowered Strikes for magical unarmed attacks. If you’re fighting a triply immortal monkey it’s best to prep as much as possible. You also get the reason we’re here in the first place, Wings Unfurled. Now when you use your ki points to dash as a bonus action you get dragon wings for a turn, giving you a flying speed equal to your walking speed until the end of your turn. If you’re in the air, you will fall, but to be fair Nezha mostly uses this to go like, 20 feet up and divebomb someone, so it’s not a huge restriction. You can fly Proficiency times per long rest, or by spending a ki point each extra time you use it.

Monk 7: Our final level of monk gets you Evasion for better dexterity saves. You probably know the drill by now- failures are now as good as most people’s successes, and successes negate all damage. You also get a Stillness of Mind, letting you end a charming or frightening effect as a bonus action. Just hit ctrl alt delete on BeScared.exe, not hard.

Cleric 3: Now that your training is complete, it’s time to quest for all those sacred treasures. Starting off strong at third level, you get second level cleric spells, including the freebies Enhance Ability and Protection from Poison. You can also make a Spiritual Weapon to summon whatever demon-slaying tool you might need, creating a floating weapon as a bonus action that’ll move around and deal force damage if you use it each bonus action for up to 1 minute. Alternatively, you can use Hold Person to summon the Diamond Snare/Wukong’s headband/The five Golden Rings (there’s a lot of sacred treasures that focus on immobilization) to force a wisdom save on one humanoid. If they fail, they’re paralyzed for a while, or until they succeed on a save. Paralysis is nasty too, it gives attacks advantage to hit plus guaranteed crits when they do.

Cleric 4: Use this ASI to bump up your Dexterity for better unarmed strikes and a better AC. You also get the Light cantrip to use your fire constructively.

Cleric 5: Fifth level clerics get a boost to Turn Undead, “turn”ing it into Destroy Undead instead. If a creature of CR 1/2 or lower gets caught in it, it’s just gone. You also get third level spells like Haste and Protection From Energy. Either get out of the way of the beam weapons, or shield yourself from them. Alternatively, grab spells like Spirit Shroud for a more heavenly aura, or Speak with Dead. You can literally just go to the afterlife to talk to them, what like it’s hard?

Cleric 6: You can now Channel Divinity twice per short rest, and you can also use that divinity to give out Rhonas’ Blessing! It’s like feat of strength, but it has a range of 30′ instead of self. You’re not the kind of person to hang out with weaklings.

Cleric 7: Seventh level clerics get fourth level spells. Dominate Beast is Wukong’s headband but for all sorts of creatures, and Stoneskin... yeah. You can also use Death Ward for an actual immortality bean that prevents one case of koing, Guardian of Faith to call in a favor from another celestial, or Banishment to make Lao Tzu take his goddamn pets back. If the target isn’t from another plane, they’re just gone for about a minute.

Cleric 8: Eighth level clerics get another ASI to max out your Wisdom for the best attacks, good defense, and stronger spells. Destroy Undead bumps up to CR 1, and you get a Divine Strike once per turn, adding 1d8 of an existing damage type to your weapon attack. They don’t call you “lancer” for nothing. Actually they do, you should be called “spear-er”, I guess.

Cleric 9: You get fifth level spells! Your freebies are Destructive Wave and Insect Plague, which aren’t super in character, but they do sound like something a sacred treasure could do. You can also call down a Flame Strike for some real fire power, turn your spear into a Holy Weapon for even more damage, Dispel Evil and Good to roll protection from E&G and a faster banishment into a single spell, or you can Summon Celestial to call down a coworker to help out. You get either an Avenger or a Defender, the former dealing more damage and the latter giving allies temporary HP.

Cleric 10: At tenth level you finally get a direct line back home, letting you call them up for some Divine Intervention. It’s a percent chance based on your cleric level, but if you succeed it’s basically up to the DM how much help you get. You can do this once per day, or after a week when it works. You also get the Resistance cantrip. You’re tough, it tracks.

Cleric 11: Destroy Undead hits CR 2, and you get sixth level spells. Planar Ally summons a celestial coworker for as long as you can pay them, but be prepared, it can be steep. You can also use Sunbeam for more fire.

Cleric 12: Use your last ASI to bump up Dexterity again. You know the drill, more AC, better unarmed attacks, the works.

Cleric 13: Your final level gets you seventh level spells, letting you Conjure Celestial for a much cheaper celestial companion that’ll stick with you for up to 1 hour. You can also Plane Shift to visit the heavens for yourself.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

Flight is always good to have, event if it’s a limited trial version like yours. Hop over to where you should be, and keep out of range of anyone you don’t feel like fighting.

Strength Clerics are basically war clerics but better, and Feat of Strength will make it really easy for you to grapple, lift, push, or just be the powerhouse of the team.

Clerics are really versatile casters, getting healing, buffs, utility, and damaging spells, so your spell list will always be handy. On top of that, your dragon fists let you pick your element when you hit people, so you won’t be completely hosed by fire resistant enemies.

Cons:

You have limited resources for your best abilities, with only 7 ki points and 2 channel divinities per short rest. Wings Unfurled might let you instant transmission, but you won’t be able to spam it like they do on Dragon Ball Z, sorry.

For a strength-focused subclass, your strength score is pretty underwhelming. Sure, you can use Feat of Strength to power yourself up, but odds are there’s someone else who could put Rhonas’ Blessing to better use. Learn to share, it’ll help.

You also have a really low charisma, so don’t be surprised if you get into fights more often than you’d think. Also, it’s a good thing you got plane shift at level 20, because you might get banished a lot.

[tossawary]

Chapter 24: “Seeing is Believing” of “pride is not the word I’m looking for” random favorite lines and commentary. Not a full list or full commentary, but longer commentary than usual to talk about quest construction. 

-

AN: This was... a weird chapter to write. When I started outlining, I had... the conversation with Shen Qingqiu planned... the conversation with Shen Yuan planned... the fact that SQH, SY, LQG, and LFL was the quest party... and the fact that they get the Eye at the end of it. That was everything. 

The entire rest of this chapter came together FRIDAY LAST WEEK. 

Huan Hua Palace wasn’t going to be there. The Weeper didn’t exist. The Eye or its previous owner wasn’t at all connected to the Garden Master. The Shadow Cave Wolf Spiders didn’t exist. The murder plant didn’t exist. The mysterious monster showing up at the end wasn’t originally planned either. 

I mean, I had a lot of pre-existing plot threads to tie in and weave with, but ohhh boy! Picture someone lying facedown on a floor like, “I forgot to plan the contents of the super important quest...” 

I was originally going to have the Eye quest a lot simpler, but given the weight “Death of the Author” had when I finally reached this part of the story, that wasn’t really going to do! It had to be bigger than that! It needed oomph! This also felt like a good opportunity to really establish the new SQH-SY dynamic. To explore SY fumbling to find a place in this world without strict character role, especially in relation to settled and well-supported SQH. 

- 

“One attempts to remain dignified,” Shen Qingqiu agrees. “As there is little point in kicking and screaming about how such ignobility isn’t fair.”

“Ha! Is there ever?”

“Not in my experience.”

“Yeah, it’s definitely not cute when I do it,” Shang Qinghua jokes.

Shen Qingqiu’s lips actually twitch at that.

Success?!

- 

AN: I wasn’t going into this fic with the intention of writing any Shang Qinghua and Original Shen Qingqiu almost friendship! But it started developing and it seemed a shame not to explore Shang Qinghua developing a real relationship with Shen Qingqiu (though not a particularly close one) when the man is suppose to be the scum villain (and the readers know that the man might get replaced by Shen Yuan). 

I can see myself writing more Shang Qinghua and Original Shen Qingqiu content in the future. Someone dropped a particularly nice prompt for them in my inbox that I’m looking forward to exploring at some point. 

(I mean, not to say that Shang Qinghua has a type, but Shang Qinghua has a type and it’s handsome, deadly, intimidating, frosty men with a villainous character design and trust/abandonment and communication issues. I could make it work.)

- 

“Ah, well, two ‘ideal’ situations come to mind: severing the personal relationship for good… or, ah, talking about how to do better and trying that. You don’t have to forget or even forgive if you don’t want to! But, ah… there’s got to be a difference between totally swallowing your anger and cutting ties forever, right?” Shang Qinghua says awkwardly. “If there’s… ever going to be anything good afterwards…”

Shen Qingqiu stares at him for a sweat-inducing length of time.

 “Ah, fuck,” Shang Qinghua thinks.

“Sorry,” he says. “Ahhh, I’m just… thinking about something someone told me… in… in regards to some of my own problems. Never mind! Never mind!”

- 

AN: Luo Jiahui really is out here making Moshang and Qijiu get their fucking act together just by setting a better example. 

- 

“Shizun, my apologies for the interruption, but I came to ask Shizun if he would be willing to join our music lesson today? The disciples have missed his playing and are eager to present their improvements.”

“...Very well, unless anyone here would disagree…?” Shen Qingqiu looks directly at the Qian Cao Peak cultivator, as though daring her to object and die.

“It’s an excellent suggestion!” the Qian Cao Peak cultivator says quickly.

The young woman smiles. “And perhaps Shizun could sit in on the calligraphy lesson afterwards? In order to offer his opinion on my progress as a teacher?”

“Fishing for compliments is unbecoming,” Shen Qingqiu says dryly.

“Wait, what?” Shang Qinghua thinks.

- 

AN: So, this has all been happening in the background, but Shen Qingqiu accepted this House of Rejuvenation woman onto his Peak about... 6-ish years ago now? This is kind of meant to parallel Shang Qinghua’s once-secret relationship with Luo Jiahui. 

Shang Qinghua was out here trying to be a better person and Shen Qingqiu noticed; now Shen Qingqiu has his own positive (platonic) relationship with a nameless background character who was meant to die for plot reasons. What a thing, huh? If the story was saved because Shang Qinghua started a domino effect of saving random people who went on to change things? 

- 

After all, as Shang Qinghua said to the kid, besides Peerless Cucumber’s apparent talent for cultivation, he knows that his fellow transmigrator has three very important skills that will serve him well on An Ding Peak! 1) An encyclopedia knowledge for even seemingly pointless bullshit (which is kind of flattering, honestly). 2) The willingness to fight total strangers over seemingly pointless bullshit. And 3) a sharp enough tongue to win.

Peerless Cucumber didn’t find these points as funny as Shang Qinghua did.

- 

AN: Shen Yuan was always going to end up on An Ding Peak. I thought about sending him to Qing Jing or Qian Cao or Qiong Ding... or any other Peak... but that would take him too far away from Shang Qinghua to really explore their relationship and to move him around conveniently in the story. And SY sticking to An Ding seemed to best illustrate the fact that SY is lost and doesn’t know what to do except cling to SQH. 

- 

“It’s not much, sure, but it’s yours,” Shang Qinghua says finally. “You’ll be joining the talisman classes soon, so don’t try anything from a book and then need to request some home repairs.”

Peerless Cucumber nods and puts his stack of manuals down on the table.

“How’s your tutorial mission going?”

“Fine,” the kid says shortly. “Have you found anything for the other one yet?”

“Ah, not yet.”

- 

AN: “Are you winning, son?” meme energy here. 

- 

Ah, now Shang Qinghua recognizes his fellow transmigrator’s expression! That’s the same stunned expression one of his Huan Hua not-disciples, Yu Chaonan, made upon meeting the Bai Zhan Peak War God for the first time. Shang Qinghua assumes that Peerless Cucumber was expecting a man who looked more like a musclebound giant and less like a pop idol (if one with amazingly muscular arms), which is a super common and never-not-funny misconception people have about Liu Qingge.  

“Brother of one of the most beautiful women in this world, bro,” Shang Qinghua reminds his fellow transmigrator, amused. Aha! Now Peerless Cucumber’s vehement disinterest in the harem stuff is making even more sense than before!

Shang Qinghua’s assumption gets 100% confirmed when it comes time for Peerless Cucumber to fly with Liu Qingge for the next leg of the journey. The other transmigrator is so embarrassed and awkward about it that Shang Qinghua’s super direct brother-in-law asks if the young man is alright.

- 

AN: This was so fun to write. Shang Qinghua really can use the Liu siblings to gauge people’s sexual/romantic orientation. 

- 

The map (or rather, the copy Shang Qinghua made of the delicate original map) takes them to a green and grey landscape of leafy trees crawling over a wide network of tall cliffs and deep gorges. Gurgling rivers cut through twisting rock formations. Shang Qinghua can’t see any of these rivers on the map. Or these deathly drop ravines. From the outside, the whole thing looks like a natural maze (holy shit, there could be so many monsters and death-traps in there!), and Shang Qinghua would know those golden robes flying low over the hanging trees anywhere.

“Huan Hua,” Liu Qingge mutters.

“Do you think they’re looking for what we’re looking for?” Luo Fanli asks.

“That’s usually how it goes,” Peerless Cucumber says, before Shang Qinghua can.

- 

AN: I came up with the skeleton idea first. Then I was like... “I should give it three eyes.” And then I was like... “But who IS this dead author? A god? A spirit? What grander implications am I spinning here?” 

And THEN I remembered that I had some ambiguous powerful being force the Garden Master into exile due to a flood. This was because, in the Epic of Gilgamesh, the immortal man Gilgamesh meets in the abyss is the survivor of a great flood. So I was like, “Reduce! Re-use! Recycle! There’s my skeleton!” 

So I wanted to relate the skeleton to water because of the flood angle. Water as a symbol of cleansing/reincarnation is a big thing throughout many cultures. I can’t remember exactly how the crying aspect came up, but I knew there was going to be water in the temple now, so at some point my brain like was, “Bro, this skeleton should totally be crying because mythology vibes.” 

So I built the surrounding land off the idea that there was water flowing from or around this temple. At this point, I had decided that Huan Hua Palace should also be looking for this artifact, so I had to come up with a way to hide the temple, yet have a way for SQH’s party to track it down. 

- 

The damage to the doors is worse: someone once upon a time collapsed a part of the cliff face around the entrance, essentially leaving only the top fourth of the utterly smashed stone doors visible. It’s a wall now and has been for ages. It looks like it would take days to dig through the rubble. Someone has even super helpfully carved, “These doors will never open again,” just above the wreck.

“Guess we’ll have to go in as intruders rather than guests!” Luo Fanli says.

“What would be welcoming us inside a lost temple exactly?” Shang Qinghua asks vaguely, inwardly cursing the fact that explosive mining techniques will definitely attract the Huan Hua Palace Sect cultivators’ attention and also probably collapse the whole cliff on them.

“We only have to clear a passage for us, not the whole door,” Peerless Cucumber says optimistically. “Is there a special technique for this kind of thing?”

“Aha, not really.”

“Oh.”

“Why don’t we just keep following the water?” Luo Fanli says.

“...How so?” Shang Qinghua asks.

“Some of those waterfalls could be passages inside,” Liu Qingge explains, because he and the little sister-in-law apparently share the same brain. He’s already eyeing the waterfall wearing down the giant statue on the left.

- 

AN: Temples in quests need to have traps and obstacles and monsters! Well, not ALL of the did, but this one did. I based the obstacles they faced as much as I could around the whole “Death of the Author” theme, while using this whole quest to explore Shen Yuan, Shen Yuan and Shang Qinghua, Shang Qinghua and Liu Qingge and Luo Fanli, and so on. 

The idea here with the door is that the “author” is not going to let them inside the temple to take the interpretation of the narrative (the Eye) for themselves. The story is over (the temple is closed for business)! The author is dead! If they want to get inside, they have to break inside or slip inside as intruders. 

This also creates a convenient obstacle to hold up the Huan Hua Palace Sect cultivators so that our party can be nearly caught later! And shows off Shang Qinghua, Liu Qingge, and Luo Fanli’s twisty lines of thinking. 

- 

Luo Fanli is holding the light and Shang Qinghua passes the other transmigrator to her, while accepting Liu Qingge’s hand for help getting out of the water.

“Ahhh, that was fun,” Shang Qinghua mutters.

Then he notices that Liu Qingge has the Cheng Luan sword out and ready. Shang Qinghua looks through the surrounding darkness, but all he can see are columns and water. For a moment, he thinks he sees something, a prowling shadow at the other end of the cavernous room, but he wipes the water out of his eyes and it’s gone.

- 

AN: The water in Shang Qinghua’s eyes briefly lets him see a flash of the invisible monsters who show up later! It helps up the tension. 

- 

Another low growl rips through the darkness and Peerless Cucumber shuffles a little closer to Shang Qinghua. Because that sounded really fucking close and yet Shang Qinghua still can’t see the thing that’s making that sound.

He doesn’t see Liu Qingge lunge at him either. He only feels his brother-in-law shove him into Peerless Cucumber, knocking them into the water, out of the way of something that howls when Liu Qingge slashes at it with his sword. Shang Qinghua rolls off Peerless Cucumber and looks up just in time to see dark blood splatter across the watery floor. Liu Qingge pursues the attacker with a second slash, but only seems to meet thin air this time.

“It’s invisible!” Luo Fanli cries. “Fuck!”

“Behind you!” Liu Qingge snaps, and spins to slash at the thin air beside him. Dark droplets of blood hit the water again and something hisses at him.

Luo Fanli whirls and slashes, searching for an opponent.

“They’re reflected in the water!” Liu Qingge yells at her, standing guard over Shang Qinghua as he gets to his feet again. “Listen for their footsteps and vocalizations! Feel the demonic energy and air displacement!”

- 

AN: I got this from a list of Dungeons and Dragons puzzles. The idea is that there’s some puzzle that must be solved, but the truth of the room can only be seen in the reflection of the nearby water (or mirror or whatever). 

Which felt fitting for a “Death of the Author” quest! Whatever an author’s intentions, the story is what they actually wrote, so the audience interprets a text without the context of the author’s insight. The truth (of the story) is in the reflection (audience interpretation)! It felt like a fun idea. 

It also allows Shen Yuan to actually contribute to the quest via monster lore and bring up his impaired vision problem. And to confront Shen Yuan with the reality of this world. And to show off Luo Fanli’s fighting skills. And to show off LIU QINGGE’S legendary fighting skills, instincts as a warrior who fights many dangerous beasts, and the fact that he’s clever and observant! 

Liu Qingge is good at what he does! And this is what he does! 

- 

Someone has… angrily… or desperately… carved a lopsided message into the wall.

 “‘If I go blind, so does the world,’” Peerless Cucumber reads.

“...That’s probably not good,” Shang Qinghua says.

“Nooo…” Fanli agrees.

The messages continue as they climb, carved into the walls, the ceilings, the floors. Most of it is illegible. Some of it is just nonsense. Some of it looks like the same kind of historical records carved into the broken tablets. Some of it looks like someone attacked the walls after reading what was written there. There are deep gouges in the walls and cracked marks that would match a giant’s hands.

 “‘The water cleans the lies,’” Peerless Cucumber reads. “‘I am the only one who can see.’ ‘Lies everywhere, lies everywhere, lies everywhere.’ ‘The water cleans the evil.’ ‘I do not have enough tears.’ ‘Everything is nothing now. Everything in vain.’”

“You really don’t need to read them!” Shang Qinghua tells the kid. “It’s fine. It's totally fine.”

- 

AN: This is mostly here to up the tension, but it’s also here to try and give insight into this being and relate them more to the “Death of the Author” and the “Seeing is Believing” themes. 

I also saw the phrase “If I go blind, so does the world” while I was browsing a list of riddles for D&D campaigns and I was like, “THAT’S SICK, I’M USING THAT.” Really brings the “an eye for an eye” and vengeance vibes. (The riddle was longer than that one phrase, but the answer was “the sun”.) 

- 

The top of the temple reveals one massive room that looks like someone was alternatively scratching their insanity into the walls and tearing chunks out of the interior design with their bare hands. Overtop of the rubble is that eerie overgrowth. There’s a fine layer of water over the floor. At the center of it all is an incredibly enormous desk, cracked in half, with a robed skeleton sitting behind it, slumped over the top. It’s a little too large to be an ordinary human.

Plus, its skull is a little too long, probably to accommodate the third eye socket in the forehead. There’s something gleaming softly yellow in the third eye socket.

“Is… there water dripping from its eyes?” Luo Fanli whispers.

“It looks like it…” Peerless Cucumber whispers back. “Like it's crying…?”

“Still…? Is it dead or not?”

 “Holy shit,” Shang Qinghua thinks, slightly nauseated. “System, bro, the worst bro I’ve ever known, tell me that we have not been swimming in a three-eyed skeleton’s magical undead tears or something this whole time.”

The shitty, no-good System stays unsurprisingly silent. 

- 

AN: Okay, so the idea here is that this being was someone who recorded history and shared their knowledge freely. This being had the ability to discern the truth of a person - they were extremely perceptive. (The Weeper is either female or doesn’t have a gender, by the way.) 

The Weeper met the Garden Master at some point. The Garden Master was an asshole, a liar, arrogant, etc.. The Weeper and the Garden Master clashed badly, until the Weeper sent the cleansing flood that nearly destroyed the sect and the Garden Master essentially had to flee to a personal abyss. 

The Garden Master sent the plant as a final “fuck you” to the Weeper. The plant caused the Weeper to slowly go mad. The smashed tablets and destroyed temple are the Weeper’s work. The Weeper (not in a great state of mind) had the temple closed themselves once they realized they and their work had been corrupted. This was a “you destroy my (embellished) reputation, I destroy yours (and your entire life)” plot by the Garden Master. 

The idea behind the tears is the whole “water is cleansing” thing. The Weeper tried to clean away the madness using their magical water-related abilities... and it actually worked for a long time. But eventually the madness began to overpower the effects of the magical water. The Weeper’s tears are from frustration and helplessness at losing control. 

The water inside the temple combats the plant’s physical effects. Also stabbing the root killed the plant and essentially broke its mental/spiritual powers. 

- 

Unfortunately, to get the fuck out of here, they have to go back through the temple. But hey! That’s still a lot better than an extended hike through an underground, haunted desert in darkness! The battle with the now-dead plant caused its growth to writhe around the temple. The vines need to be hacked through sometimes as they travel down through the rooms of broken shelves and shattered tablets.

“So much history lost…” Peerless Cucumber murmurs.

 “He still thinks of himself as a reader - an observer, a visitor, separate from the flow of fate.”

- 

AN: This is... absolutely based on the Heart from the Dishonored franchise. But this sort of item didn’t originate with Dishonored and I need it! It’s a surprise/mystery tool that will help us later! 

The Eye isn’t exactly a mind-reading object. I mean, it kind of is, but it works in a very specific way that I’m looking forward to getting into. 

- 

From there, their path back out of the natural maze is even more careful and stressful than before, now that the Huan Hua Palace Sect cultivators are actively looking for them rather than the temple. It’s slow-going and stressful and silent, except for when the Weeper’s Eye presses too close against his chest.

 “He is afraid that if he starts screaming, he will never stop,” it tells him, when he’s looking at a pale-faced Peerless Cucumber, as they fly over a particularly deathly-looking drop.

 “Oh, me too, bro!” Shang Qinghua thinks. “Seriously! Tell me something I don’t know!”

- 

AN: Having Shang Qinghua be totally unimpressed by an object like this was very funny to me. He’s the author! He’s a transmigrator! He knows these people well! He already has insight into their situations. 

- 

Shang Qinghua groans, but supposes that Peerless Cucumber would have at least been disguising Liu Qingge from the back. “You tell them that you were tracking thieves who stole something from Cang Qiong Mountain Sect,” he says quickly. “Rule of embarrassment! Admitting something that makes us look bad to a rival makes it sound true. Don’t tell them what was stolen and act really offended if they try to poke into Cang Qiong business. I’ll come back as soon as I get these two out!”

Liu Qingge nods and launches forward into the fight.

“We’re just leaving him?” Peerless Cucumber says, as they do exactly that.

“I’ll get changed and come back ‘looking for him for urgent sect business’ as soon as I’ve dropped you two off in the last town,” Shang Qinghua says. “I’m really good at acting stressed and confused, and at desperately needing an unstoppable wandering Liu Qingge back at Cang Qiong Mountain Sect immediately. Now let’s go! Let’s go! Mission isn’t over yet!”

- 

AN: Shang Qinghua is, at heart, a liar. I love him. 

[flightfoot]

Abuse and how it plays into Identity in Tower of Nero

While abuse has played a role in previous Trials of Apollo books, and in the Greco-Roman main series as a whole, Tower of Nero digs into it most deeply.

Identity and recovery from abuse are deeply linked here, with much of the abuse recovery coming from forging an identity separate from the abuser.

Previously it mostly came up in The Hidden Oracle and The Burning Maze, with Meg’s relationship with Nero prompting Apollo to examine his own relationship with Zeus. 

Apollo knew in the back of his head that Zeus was abusing him, that his rage against the Cyclopes for creating the lightning bolt Zeus used to murder Asclepius, for instance, was him redirecting his anger onto a safer target because raging against Zeus directly was so unsafe, but he tried not to let himself think about it too much, and he tried to fool himself into thinking that Zeus DID care about him, that he loved him, at least enough that he’d help him if he saw him in trouble. 

Seeing Meg with Nero, how he manipulated her, how he subtly blamed her for anything bad that happened around her, for anything HE did, while trying to seem gentle and kind; seeing the abuse he went through reflected in this young girl led him to cope with his own abuse better. 

His experiences with abuse, with Zeus treating him as a scapegoat and ‘forcing’ him to punish Apollo if he stepped out of line, with his own feelings about the abuse and his own coping mechanisms and behavior as a result, are a useful reference for understanding and helping Meg through her experiences with Nero.

And helping her cope, separate, and try to grow after being manipulated by Nero for so long? Helps him come to terms with his own experiences.

He’s pretty explicit about the comparisons too. Like when Meg talks about how Lu used to help her pretend to kill people for Nero, helped her how she could, but Apollo’s mostly just horrified that Lu stuck around and didn’t take Meg and run... and yet part of him understood.

And are you any better? taunted a small voice in my brain. How many times have you stood up to Zeus?

Okay, small voice. Fair point. Tyrants are not easy to oppose or walk away from, especially when you depend on them for everything. (TON 57)

Lu may not have been quite as dependent on Nero as say, Meg - at least psychologically. Lu’s not a child by any means. 

But Lu’s only immortal because Nero is, and he can, presumably, revoke that. Nero provides her employment, a home, probably her entire social circle, AND he has the power and the will to go after her and anyone she cares about if she strays, if she tries to defy him. 

In those ways, her situation mirrors Apollo’s even better than Meg’s does - and while he’s angry at her for not defying Nero, he also understands. 

I suspect part of his anger and suspicion at her is also anger and suspicion of himself, for falling into a similar trap.

Still, though Lu has her own baggage with Nero, Meg’s is focused on a lot more, with how she’s grown and changed, and her desire to hang onto who she’s become while separated from Nero, to hang onto her own identity and personality and not what Nero attempted to shape her into. 

It’s to the point that she can barely comprehend who she was under him, how she used to think, what she did.

“I betrayed you once,” she said. “Right here in these woods.”

She didn’t sound sad or ashamed about it, the way she once might have. She spoke with a sort of dreamy disbelief, as if trying to recall the person she’d been six months ago. That was a problem I could relate to. (TON 114)

Meg hasn’t really changed at her core as much as Apollo has - as much as she’s gone through, she at least wasn’t much of a jerk in the first place. Well, relatively speaking, when compared to Apollo. She’s abrasive, but not much beyond that.

But she HAS changed, in large part BECAUSE she’s more able and willing to stand up for herself in ways that she couldn’t do remotely safely while with Nero. She’s broken free of his psychological hold. 

During The Hidden Oracle she was ALREADY rebelling against him, she refused to burn the woods, but... well, she DID go with him, DID believe she could change him for awhile. 

But she broke free after realizing he wouldn’t, escaped and returned to Apollo, freeing herself from Nero’s grasp once more. 

For her, I think the difference between who she was six months ago and who she is now has less to do with her actual personality and worldview - those haven’t actually changed all that much throughout the books - but just in being free, somewhat safe (well, safer emotionally at least), and genuinely cared for. To not be under Nero’s influence to the same extent.

With Apollo... well, it’s a bit different with him. Zeus wasn’t as controlling as Nero, Apollo COULD have kept his space from him before; his sister has been doing that for millennia. But he has still changed a lot, moreso than Meg did, to the point that he’s almost unrecognizeable from who he was when he first fell to earth in THO.

Newly experiencing kindness, regular affection, and just having other people care about him though? He shares that with Meg.

Not that people have never been nice to him before, that’s not the case. But to have people be nice to him who he wouldn’t think would need to be, when he’s vulnerable... there’s a reason he’s been extremely touched when that’s happened even back from THO, and in this book he breaks down pretty much every time.

Meg struggles with needing to retain her independence, the new sense of herself she’s acquired during her journey with Apollo.

“I have to go back,” Meg insisted. “I have to see if I’m strong enough.”

Peaches cuddled up next to her as if he had no such concerns.

Meg patted his leafy wings. “Maybe I’ve gotten stronger. But when I go back to the palace, will it be enough? Can I remember to be who I am now and not… who I was then?”

I didn’t think she expected an answer. But it occurred to me that perhaps I should be asking myself that same question.

Since Jason Grace’s death, I’d spent sleepless nights wondering if I could keep my promise to him. Assuming I made it back to Mount Olympus, could I remember what it was like to be human, or would I slip back into being the self-centered god I used to be?

Change is a fragile thing. It requires time and distance. Survivors of abuse, like Meg, have to get away from their abusers. Going back to that toxic environment was the worst thing she could do. And former arrogant gods like me couldn’t hang around other arrogant gods and expect to stay unsullied.

But I supposed Meg was right. Going back was the only way to see how strong we’d gotten, even if it meant risking everything. (TON 114-115)

Meg needs to keep her identity she’s created for herself away from Nero. But her question about remembering to be who she is now versus who she was back then fits Apollo’s conundrum better, something that is clearly not lost on Apollo.

I knew my anxiety about my own weakness was getting mixed up with my anxiety about Meg. Even if I somehow made my way back to Mount Olympus, I didn’t trust myself to hold onto the important things I’d learned as a mortal. That made me doubt Meg’s ability to stay strong in her old toxic home.

The similarities between Nero’s household and my family on Mount Olympus made me increasingly uneasy. The idea that we gods were just as manipulative, just as abusive as the worst Roman emperor… Surely that couldn’t be true.

Oh, wait. Yes, it could. Ugh. I hated clarity. (TON 225-226)

Meg’s captured, being fully under Nero’s influence once more, with him trying to twist everything to be Apollo’s or Meg’s faults, trying to twist it so that every bit of distress that he puts Meg through is somehow the fault of her or her allies.

She picked up the chair and threw it across the room - but not at Nero. It whanged off the window, leaving a smudge but no cracks. I caught the flicker of a smile on Nero’s face - a smile of satisfaction - before his expression fixed back into a mask of sympathy. “Yes, dear. This anger comes from guilt. You led Apollo here. You understood what that meant, what would happen. But you did it anyway. That must be so painful... knowing you brought him to his end (TON 235)

This kind of manipulation is Nero’s trademark, he uses it for most of the book. Telling Meg what she’s feeling, telling her that she’s feeling this way because of something wrong SHE did, not because of the horrible things NERO did. Trying to rewrite her reality to fall in line with what HE wants her to believe, to think.

Nero makes her change clothes, has her scrub up, even has her get a pedicure. 

Normally this would sound like a good thing. But it’s just one of the ways he tries to rewrite who she is, to break her sense of identity and replace it with one more to his liking. By taking away things that showed her own personal style, he took away reminders of who she is, as well as showing his ability to exert control over her, make her believe she has no choices.

My heart broke. Meg looked elegant, older, and quite beautiful. She also looked utterly, completely no longer herself. Nero had tried to strip away everything she had been, every choice she’d made, and replace her with someone else - a proper young lady of the Imperial Household. (TON 285-286) 

Nero continues to try to twist the circumstances, to brainwash Meg into believing that he’s her savior and Apollo and the others may harm her. But Apollo keeps protesting, leading to this scene:

I tried to contain my horror. “Meg,” I said. “There’s only one person you need to listen to here: yourself. Trust yourself.”

I meant it, despite all my doubts and fears, despite all my complaints over the months about Meg being my master. She had chosen me, but I had also chosen her. I did trust her - not in spite of her past with Nero, but because of it. I had seen her struggle. I’d admired her hard-won progress. I had to believe in her for my own sake. She was - gods help me - my role model. (TON 293)

Ultimately, MEG’S the one who decides. Who fights back. Because she was able to listen to herself, to not be twisted by Nero’s lies and deceptions.

“I didn’t kill my father,” she said, her voice small and hard. “I didn’t cut off Lu’s hands or enslave those dryads or twist us all up inside.” She swept a hand towards the other demigods of the household. “You did that, Nero. I hate you.” (TON 295)

This was the tipping point. When she announced, to herself and everyone else, the truth. The reality. Rejecting Nero’s attempts to rewrite it.

Nero hissed. “Ungrateful child. The Beast-”

“The Beast is dead.” Meg tapped the side of her head. “I killed it.” (TON 311)

I notice here she tapped the side of her head. Of course, she didn’t literally kill The Beast; Nero’s still alive after all.

But The Beast was a psychological trick Nero used on Meg, to make her separate him into two people; the ‘nice’ stepfather, and The Beast that takes over and punishes if she misbehaves. 

She ‘killed’ it, because she killed the concept.

There was never a Beast.

There was only ever Nero.

And now that she’s gotten out from under his thumb? She reasserts her own identity.

Meg had thrown away her sandals, braving bare feet despite the arrows, rubble, bones, and discarded blades that littered the floor. Someone had given her an orange Camp Half-Blood shirt, which she’d put on over her dress, making her allegiance clear. She still looked older and more sophisticated, but she also looked like my Meg. (TON 323)

I like the emphasis on how she looks older, but also like herself. She looks like what Nero made her into still, in a way - she’s still wearing that dress after all - but she’s made it her own, integrated herself into it.

It nicely parallels Apollo’s own situation, with needing to integrate who he’s become as Lester, who he’s grown to be, with his godly identity. Because things WILL be different once he’s a god again; he’ll have power he doesn’t have now, will have exposure to other gods that he doesn’t currently have. So he needs to figure out how to handle that, how to be a god, how to be Apollo while not losing what he’s gained as Lester.

Even if I survived, I would not be the same. The best I could hope for was to emerge from Delphi with my godhood restored, which was what I had wanted and dreamed about for the past half a year. So why did I feel so reluctant about leaving behind the broken, battered form of Lester Papadopolous? (TON 327)

Like Meg was, Apollo’s struggling to get ahold of his own identity before he has to face his abuser again, has to re-enter that old toxic environment. He fears that if the trappings of “Lester” are destroyed, then like with Nero changing Meg’s clothes, that he’ll lose part of his connection to who he’s become.

As Apollo fights Python, his mortal body becomes less and less mortal, bringing him into an in-between, in-flux state that mirrors his internal identity crisis.

“YOU CAN’T HIDE!” Python bellowed. “YOU ARE NO GOD!”

This pronouncement hit me like a bucket of ice water. It didn’t carry the weight of prophecy, but it was true nonetheless. At the moment, I wasn’t sure what I was. I certainly wasn’t my old godly self. I wasn’t exactly Lester Papadopolous either. My flesh steamed. Pulses of light flickered under my skin, like the sun trying to break through storm clouds. When had that started?

I was between states, morphing as rapidly as Python himself. I was no god. I would never be the same old Apollo again. But in this moment, I had the chance to decide what I would become, even if that new existence only lasted a few seconds.

The realization burned away my delirium.

“I won’t hide,” I muttered. “I won’t cower. That’s not who I will be.” (TON 339-340)

Like with Meg before, he’s deciding, affirming for himself what kind of person he is now, who he wants to be, different from who he was before.

Even during the fight with Python, some small part of him hopes Zeus will intervene, will see he’s done enough and help him, save him. But here, that instinct is quashed for the final time.

I had done my best. Surely, Zeus would see that and be proud. Maybe he would send down a lightning bolt, blast Python into tiny pieces, and save me!

As soon as I thought this, I realized how foolish it was. Zeus didn’t work that way. He would not save me anymore than Nero had saved Meg. I had to let go of that fantasy. I had to save myself. (TON 341)

Much like with how Meg hoped back near the beginning of the series that Nero really would change, really was a good person deep down, Apollo kept up the hope in early entries that Zeus DID care about him and would come to save him at any moment. And even in later books, heck, even in THIS book, with Meg still calling Nero her stepfather a few times and the part of Apollo hoping that Zeus will intervene now, it’s hard to break the desire, the belief that that person who SHOULD care about you, surely will now.

But both of them break past that. Meg calls Nero out, rejects his attempts to rewrite reality, and Apollo kills the idea that Zeus might intervene on his behalf.

By the time Apollo’s a god again, he has a firm bead on the kind of person Zeus is, as well as the type of environment Mt. Olympus is, with most of his family just watching his trials and tribulations, everything he and his friends went through, and betting on the outcome. Only Artemis and Hera seemed to take things seriously, seemed to deeply care whether he lived or died.

Not that the others could have interfered against Zeus’s wishes.

As much as we pretended to be a council of twelve, in truth we were a tyranny. Zeus was less a benevolent father and more an iron-fisted leader with the biggest weapons and the ability to strip us of our immortality if we offended him. (TON 366)

Apollo just kind of hangs back for the council session, having little to say to anyone except Artemis, not caring much about what the other Olympians thought, and not really feeling like one of them as a whole. Though that was true even before he actually walked into the room.

I remembered my dream of the throne room - the other Olympians gambling on my success or failure. I wondered how much money they’d lost.

What could I possibly say to them? I no longer felt like one of them. I wasn’t one of them. (TON 358)

And finally, the long-awaited confrontation scene with Zeus. It wasn’t long. It wasn’t flashy. Unlike Meg, he couldn’t attack and get rid of his abuser, couldn’t get out from under his influence entirely. Zeus is King of the Gods; realizing that he’s an abusive asshole doesn’t change that.

But he COULD change his own response to the situation.

My father coughed into his fist. “ I know you think your punishment was harsh, Apollo.”

I did not answer. I tried my best to keep my expression polite and neutral.

“But you must understand,” Zeus continued, “only you could have overthrown Python. Only you could have freed the Oracles. And you did it, as I expected. The suffering, the pain along the way… regrettable, but necessary. You have done me proud.”

Interesting how he put that: I had done him proud. I had been useful in making him look good. My heart did not melt. I did not feel that this was a warm-and-fuzzy reconciliation with my father. Let’s be honest: some fathers don’t deserve that. Some fathers aren’t capable of it.

I suppose I could have raged at him and called him bad names. We were alone. He probably expected it. Given his awkward self-consciousness at the moment, he might even have let me get away with it unpunished.

But it would not have changed him. It would not have made anything different between us.

You cannot change a tyrant by trying to out-ugly him. Meg could never have changed Nero, any more than I could change Zeus. I could only try to be different than him. Better. More… human. And to limit the time I spent around him to as little as possible. (TON 367-368)

Apollo just... let go of any attachment to Zeus. It reminded me of the Cumaen SIbyl, with how she forgave Apollo for her own sake, how Apollo felt that he himself was being erased by that. 

This isn’t a reconciliation; this is simply Apollo putting Zeus as far behind him as possible and trying to let him take up as little space in his life as he can. He may not be able to cut all ties to him, but he can at least minimize his connection to him, his influence over him.

In the end, Apollo doesn’t even really consider what he went through to be a punishment; not really.

To be honest, though, I could no longer consider my time on Earth a punishment. Terrible, tragic, nearly impossible… yes. But calling it a punishment gave Zeus too much credit. It had been a journey - an important one I made for myself, with the help of my friends. I hoped… I believed that the grief and pain had shaped me into a better person. I had forged a more perfect Lester from the dregs of Apollo. I would not trade those experiences for anything. And if I had been told I had to be Lester for another hundred years… Well, I could think of worse things. At least I wouldn’t be expected to show up at the Olympian solstice meetings. (TON 373)

Like with his conversation with Zeus, he’s minimizing Zeus’s control, his influence over himself and his life. 

And in the end, Apollo leaves Mt. Olympus as soon as he can to spend time with all the new friends he’s made, away from the toxic influences of Olympus and of Zeus especially. Reaffirming his new identity, his new self by appearing in his Lester form, the form he’d grown in, that he’d forged for himself.

I just really love how in-depth Tower of Nero went, especially with the way it emphasized the identity manipulation and erasure involved with some kinds of abuse.