#Whatever happened after the World of the Underworld doesn't happen here

[bluerosesinthenightsky]

There’s A Hollow Fracture In Kirito’s Chest...

{{Not A Title, Just an Attention grabber for a preview of a polyfic of different romantic/platonic dynamics between Eugeo, Kirito, Asuna And Alice coming to an A03 near you. Yujikiri is the main focus, and the poly stuff comes more towards the epilogue. How does it all play out? You will just have to wait and see!}} _ _ _

OBLIGATORY MAJOR SPOILER WARNING FOR Sword Art Online: Alicization Arc! Do not READ if you haven't finished the first half of the Alicization Arc! MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH INCOMING! YOUVE BEEN WARNED!

_ _ _

There’s a hollow fracture in Kirito’s chest, a fissure stretched all the way vertically across the middle, it is wide and raw. Bleeding, red, agonizing and burning, yet all at once so cold.  

So cold… 

It was as if a blade of ice, so cold it burned, but so hot it was cold- had flayed him open. Cleaving through skin, muscle and finally carving against the bones within his ribcage. Where it punctured downwards, rending them until broken, and struck true into his heart. 

The frigid point piercing and plunging its serrated edge so deeply into it, that it found his very core, his soul and froze it over. 

There was a hollow fracture in Kirito’s chest. It was far deeper than it was wide, like a black abyss, swallowing him up whole, devouring everything he had left to give. 

A murky nebulous, akin to the night sky, yet there was no light to guide his way, no stars speckling the canvas of the lonely void to bring him back home. 

Why? Why wasn’t there any light? 

He knew why. 

His light, his star, it had burnt out like a supernova and had left him all alone. 

Isolated and suffocating in his own despair. That’s right… his heart had been plundered and his soul pillaged, and all that remained was ice. 

Kirito’s home didn’t exist anymore. 

There was a hollow fracture in Kirito’s chest and in that hollow space between his bloodied and shattered ribs, was a single blue rose. 

It was withering, yet a sheen of glistening frost had crept over the surface of its beautiful petals. 

Beautiful just like…him. 

Beautiful it might be it was still just as ugly.  

A merciless constant reminder of being so brutally bereaved of his beloved partner. 

It was as if the frost had frozen Kirito in time. Forcing him to remain in that exact heart-stopping and spine-chilling moment. When the sword, that was responsible for this fractured and icy hollow in his chest, shattered and then dispelled and released his precious partner. Leaving him to plummet to the floor. 

Leaving him all but lifeless, his crimson cruor pooling like a sea of ruby rose petals underneath him. His frame severed into two halves, leaving him a shell of something once whole, by the sword of the ruthless ruler of the Underworld. 

“EUGEOOOOOOOO!!!” 

The guttural and wounded growl, of Eugeo’s name, detonated like a violent gale. It surged rapidly out from Kirito’s vocals like a swirling storm and echoed within those damn forsaken walls. 

And she with her long lavender hair, fitted with a dress as white as snow, looked on. 

Outwardly, one might mistake her for a holy being, innocent and pure, full of love and light. 

If Kirito didn’t know better, he would have thought her an angel sent from the heavens above to collect Eugeo. 

But the angel was a devil in disguise, staring mockingly and sneering with a smirk so vile that Kirito had come to despise it and her. 

That despicable woman, no not a woman, she was naught but a callous and cold creature with no capacity for loving anyone put herself. She had love for herself alone and her insatiable bloodlust for control over all. 

The Administrator, Quinella, were she still alive now- Kirito would have hunted her to the ends of the Underworld and he would have slaughtered her. Then he would have used system commands to bring her back and slaughter her again, and again, and again… 

Over and over… until not a trace of her fluctlight remained. He would raze her away, permanently deleting her from the system, and by the time he was finished it would be as if she’d never existed. 

Yet nothing could be done now. Though Kirito’s body was in the present, his heart and soul and sense of self and time had been frozen in place. It froze over within an impenetrable barrier, an icy cage. Of which the only key that could set him free had long since melted away. Leaving it forever locked and leaving him in everlasting lament. 

A part of him had died with Eugeo that day. That dark and dismal day, the day that Kirito’s star went out, the day that his precious little Eugeo… 

His best friend and his ever-loyal partner, his everything… 

His beloved Eugeo. 

His icy blue rose. 

Burned and melted away in a baleful blaze of crossing blades and blood. 

_ _ _ There you have it, that's the preview! I've wanted to rp a Yujikiri reunion for a long time, but no one has ever come to the call and actually committed. So I decided to write something my damn self, and make it into a fanfic. this will be a self-indulgent Yujikiri reunion fic, with a small side of poly dynamics between Kirito, Eugeo, Alice and Asuna scattered throughout the fic and in the epilogue. If polyamory isn't for you, then this fic I'm writing isn't for you.

Please do NOT start a ship war in the comments, or reblogs, or even screen shotting this preview and making it into a ship war, thank you. This fic won't be exactly like the Yujikiri reunion I have in my head rp wise. Rp wise would be a much simpler premise, and it would be strictly Yujikiri, and not as long and as lore heavy.

Anyways, hope you enjoyed what you've read so far. I don't know if it's obvious or not, but Kirito is having a nightmare. He's reliving Eugeo's death over and over and has been every night for YEARS.

I take no responsibilities for anyone's emotional turmoil.

[whereserpentswalk]

Select a strange and inhuman creature from beyond the realms of human knowledge to go on a sate with and possibly form a long term relationship with.

1- a scientist from an alternate timeline where the kpg mass extinction never happened, and raptors evolved sapient minds. He's trapped in this realm after a failed timeline travel mission. He's very curious about your world, though still a bit afraid of his fate here.

2- a cyborg supersolider whose been wandering the earth since the fall of Atlantis. She has a tall slender build, and is unable to take off her power armor below the neck. Despite her appearance she can be very quiet and reserved, and despite her appearance startles easily. She's still deconstructing a lot of trauma from her past.

3- a mouthless, sexless, vampire who drains blood through very sharp tentacles on their. They seem to be at the bottom of whatever hierarchy vampires have, being unable to speak of pass as human. Though they have an animalistic way of movement, and can't communicate without aac, they're very much a person, and tend to be affectionate and enthusiastic with those who are nice to them.

4- a deal making entity that looks like a black eyed human in a suit (the suit can't come off, it's like part of its skin). It's known to buy and sell human souls, but it wouldn't do that to someone it's on a date with. It's personality is considered strange and sometimes uncomfortable to humans, though it is charismatic in a way. It will also insist it isn't a person.

5- an elder demon whose taking a hundred year vacation from the underworld. Despite his job as a demon he tends to be pretty freindly and casual, sometimes deceptively so. He appears as a tall reptilian humanoid, with horns, several eyes, and a heavy set build. He'll probably give you headpats.

6- a shape-shifter made out of living metal who was made as a weapon, but failed her job because she refuses to take forms that aren't female. She's just been released into the world and is still kind of naïve and can be very trusting of new people that she meets. Her base form that she chooses to take is some sort of anime oc.

7- faerie of the unseelie court who kidnapps children who wander into abandoned buildings. She tends to appear as a naked woman, with deer antlers, and a snake where her genitals should be. She can seem a bit sadistic and violent, but since you're her's she'll be nice to you, just don't expect to explain the concept of morality to her, she lives a life based on what she finds fun. For better or worse she doesn't kill the children, though they aren't human children after she's done with them.

8- a computer from the 1980s whose been granted sentience. He's very arogent due to being technically the first agi, though little to his knowledge he's only sentient because a faerie lord thought it would be funny. Due to his limited body he uses a wheelchair for movement and some sort of claw to grab things. He's nice but he can be a bit self centered.

9- a slender genderless humanoid and a massive venomous wyvern who are actually the same being inhabiting two bodies. They can seem cold at first, and don't seem to have normal body language or expression, though they do feel emotions despite what some think. They can pretty easily lose track of social cues and tend to go own about their hyperfixations a lot. They really hope you'll like them, and also want to make sure you see them as equally their humanoid and draconic halves, not just one or the other.

10- a fallen angel who only fell a few weeks ago. It's still very afraid of what it's become, scares easily, and has an inferiority complex, though it can be very nice and affectionate. It won't tell you why the other angels kicked it out, though it now knows the entity that created it lied about being a god, and shouldn't be trusted by mortals. It looks like a living doll, with a jointed body, and golden wings and a broken halo behind its head.

11- werewolf who serves a god so old that his name has been lost to history. The werewolf has been around for a long time, and has been fighting for the rights of humans, nature, and other entities since the 20th century. Xe speaks with a soft voice, and converses with humans, gods, demons and animals all in the same tone, and with the same amount of respect.

12- the sparrow king. Do not under any circumstances interact with the sparrow king. The organization does not approve of this option.

Reblog to book your date. Like to buy the creature a little present.

[yuri-is-online]

And Your Name Is? (Deuce, Azul, and Floyd)

After successfully resolving whatever was causing NRC to be trapped in an endless time loop of overblotting and disaster, one last reset should give him a chance to experience a normal school year with you. But instead you find yourself trapped in the here and there, appearing as a vague shadow around the school that vanishes as soon as he catches up to you. The kind thing to do would be to allow you to be forgotten in the chance it lets you return to your world.

But this is Twisted Wonderland where the kind thing is seldom done, and he wants you back as much as you want to find him again.

notes: they/them used for Yuu, we are back in business bby, these three are by request, next up are Lilia, Jamil, and Grim! Angst with the intent of comfort, if you like this please consider checking out my masterlist for the previous three parts.

Deuce

"Don't go where I can't follow."

Deuce has said that many times before.  He wonders if you thought he didn't mean it or had taken it as a joke, and truly he cannot decide which is worse. He had foolishly thought when he first woke up and saw the school year begin anew that he could relax knowing he wouldn't need to chase you across an ocean into the depths of S.T.Y.X. He should have known it wouldn't be that easy, his memories of you might have been scattered across time and space but he knew with certainty this set back did not surprise him.

"Are you alright?" Trey's concern does not go unappreciated, but Deuce can't really bring himself to respond out loud. "You seem a bit distracted." There are countless wishing stars hung above him in the trees, he wishes he remembered if any of the wishes he heard had been the same. He knows his no longer is.

"Let him be." Idia surprisingly in the flesh, but still draped like a wet cat over the drums. "We can afford to take a break anyway." His seniors move away as Deuce remains staring up at the wishing stars. Yuu is sort of the same color as them now, and just as ephemeral.

"Do you remember this?" The starsender robes don't feel as special anymore, he wants to be proud that he was really meant for this task seeing how time itself has seen fit to make him repeat it. "I only remembered to ask you what your wish was after... I think you passed it off as me being dumb but I don't think that's what happened now. Somehow I knew if I asked you to make a wish what you would say." A gentle breeze sways the little lights above his head as Deuce tries to spot the star Trey had helped him make. "I meant what I said, I want you to see just how cool I'll look in my officer's uniform. I want to make my mom and grandma proud, and I want you to come home and be proud of me with them." Sometimes he swears he can feel your head leaning on his shoulder, your arms embracing him from behind, your voice carried by the breeze drowning out shouts for him to come back to reality and pay attention to his surroundings. There's a legend in Twisted Wonderland about a man that dives into the Underworld to rescue his beloved, you had told him your world has the same story but it has a different ending. Deuce doesn't want to think about that as his hands curl around where yours should be, just over his rapidly beating heart. "I wish," he already has but he swears the star twinkles with magic in response all the same "for Yuu to come home." He squeezes your hand and jumps when he finds purchase, your weight forcing him to stumble forward and crash as he rapidly tries to turn and see your face.

Idia and Trey make noises of surprise, he thinks that they're talking but he can't seem to hear them above the sound of your heavy breaths. "I'm back Deucey." You whisper softly into the evening air.

"Welcome back Yuu." He hopes you never make him let you go again.

Azul

There is a mournful song flowing through this strange cold place you have found yourself. It's familiar, but you swear you have never heard it before, perhaps it is the voice you find yourself stumbling towards and not the music itself.

"There you are." It's pleased with itself this voice. "Come to spend some time with me again?" You don't know, you can't even really tell where you are. It looks like an office, but it is bereft of papers or any light. You feel more than see the desk at the center, the smooth grain of the wood chills your fingertips as you run along looking for something. A sigh rattles the room as you are dragged away, back to the mirror chamber by frighteningly cold darkness and you grope wildly around for the person you thought had been there with you. "Goodnight Yuu. I will see you tomorrow."

"Why can't you see me today?" You swear you speak but you hear no noise. And in the solid space you've left behind Azul leans back against his chair and studies the ceiling above him. He should be pleased. He had a theory and the tattered scraps of paper in his hand would seem to have proved it. Azul should be angry that your state demands such a sacrifice of him, he should be weighing the potential cost of this decision. Of saving you.

But instead he laughs.

"Yuu. Yuu, Yuu, Yuu. I wonder if I ever stood a chance." He knows the answer of course, but he wonders if it is as ingrained in your soul as it is his. ~~~~ "Do you believe in other worlds Yuu?" The voice is asking you a silly question, and you chase after it determined to tease. "And I don't mean like yours, I mean completely other realities where things even mages would find unbelievable exist." You manage to push yourself through the waters and begin to wander the purple and grey hued halls, desperately searching for someone you swear is here, his name on the tip of your tongue. "I admit it's not something I ever thought too much about, but after we got together the first time I would lie awake thinking about it. You and I meeting was never a guarantee, so why did it feel so much like fate? I think I asked you once."

"Don't underestimate me." You can hear yourself now, and the walls around you are coming into more solid focus. There is only one door between you and the person you have been searching for now. "I will find you in every lifetime." Delighted laughter moves towards you now, as the door opens to reveal the outline of a man, shimmering just like you.

"Yes that's exactly what you said." His hand is cold, you reach to catch it worried it will fall through you and almost sob as you both find the familiar sensation of the other's touch. "And I think I said, 'Well that's not threatening at all!' Because in my mind there was no other way for us to meet than as adversaries, but that didn't need to be true did it?" Azul's coat and scarf is slung over the back of his chair, your breath catches in your throat at the unusual sight of Azul in just his tuxedo. He preens under your attention, guiding you carefully towards the couch, hands trembling in equal relief, excitement, and still small fear that this was all a painful dream. The shredded remnants of carefully counted contracts can remain scattered across the desk behind you, yet he finds himself surprisingly unconcerned. He curls himself around you, sighing in content at the return of the warmth of your solid form. "I found you this time." You return his embrace with a half sob, the memory of the here and there cementing itself within your fears alongside the sheer relief of Azul's presence. "If other worlds do exist, if time gets re-set again, even if you are forced to return to where you came from, please don't underestimate me either. We found each other once, and we will in every timeline we exist." He kisses your hand and dares reality to prove him wrong.

Floyd

"Man every day's a party when I'm with you. I can't get enough!" He had really meant it, but he could see the doubts still flickering behind that smile.

"Glad you had fun Floyd."

Had. You were glad he "had" fun not "was having." It was an odd thing to get caught up on, Floyd didn't fully understand why it soured his mood so much himself. There was always this carefully crafted barrier between the two of you, carefully built up by you that he never noticed until it was too late. Until little shrimpy was just Yuu and the nickname became a facade to deny the depth of his emotions.

It was silly to think that he was the only one lying to himself.

"Y'know you can't stay all ghostie like that forever." He tries to poke you, disappointed in how you shimmery form neither disappears nor wavers. "It's not good for your health." Floyd has never had the smoothest of emotions, they tumble around his chest like waves, but he knows them to be consistent. He hates standing in place and doing the same thing over and over, he loves it when people make stupid mistakes and he gets to watch them blow up (sometimes literally) in their face, and he hates how predictable he has been. The jumbled memory of countless looping timelines and never once did he do anything more than maybe chase you around a little and come up with excuses to monopolize your attention. Floyd wants to squeeze himself, that's what this entire situation already feels like anyway. "Say do you know what humans used to say about merfolk?" His mood twitches back to something like happiness as he rolls his head up from lying on the library table up onto his hands. "They thought that when we died we turned into sea foam cause we didn't have souls. Isn't that silly! Say Yuu, which one of us looks like foam now huh?" Floyd hasn't cried since he was a fry, but these past few days he feels like he has done little but cry and sleep. In his dreams he gets to re-write his impossible memories to be a little lighter, he gets to drop the nickname and call out to you and have you cry out to him in return. In his dreams everyday is still a party and not a waking nightmare. Your hand, or maybe he is delusional and has begun to dream yet again, reaches towards him, fighting its foamy nature to try and touch his head.

"I like you." He had said it into your neck while you died that time, still lying to save himself some face in case that was the last thing you wanted to hear. "C'mon dance with me Yuu!" He had tried hyping himself up in his head, all words dying in his throat when he finally spun you away from Crabby and Mackerel calling you shrimpy once again.

"I love you." Why is he only brave enough to say it now when he swears it won't actually matter? "I think I've loved you since the first time ya tricked Azul and then immediately every time I saw you after. So come back yeah? I thought I had all the time in the world but I don't, and I ain't ever gonna be board of having you around..." The foam flickers, and for a brief delusional moment Floyd thinks he sees your proper face. "You know that, right?"

"I love you too." It's watery, he feels the answer somewhere in his soul rather than hears it as you crash under your own weight back into reality and onto the hard wood of the NRC library. His laughter cackles up and out across the whole school as he leaps across and over to catch you up and soothe your bruises with soft kisses, not at all the activity Jade expects to find him engaged in when he follows rather than flees at the noise.

"Mine." He kisses your pulse point and you wonder, not for the first time but with much more joy than sorrow, why it was his hand you were searching for. "My Yuu." Floyd purrs, a dangerous tittering laugh of genuine relief convincing you of his genuineness more than anything else.

If he was going to get bored of you, he would have done it timelines ago.

[kopivie]

finding out that wriothesley's constellation is cerberus doesn't help my brainrot about this au that the anon suggested either...

wriothesley as "hades", the terrifying duke of meropide. no one actually knows his name -- wriothesley is but a whisper on the lips of the exceptionally brave (or amazingly stupid) who dare to try and say his name out loud. he has many names, so people often refer to this unseen duke with several names. ("aidoneus", "ditis pater", "orcus", etc.)

wriothesley likely happens across you and your oddly placed flower shop during one of his trips to the overworld. sigewinne had asked for a souvenir from the overworld, so he stopped by the coffee shop for some tea for himself and stepped inside your store right after. it's weird that such a fragrant store would be next to a coffee shop, but the scent of the flowers was so pure -- it was as if the coffee shop didn't exist when he stepped in. the flowers were mesmerizing to him. but what was even more mesmerizing was you, the flower shop owner who stumbled out of the door upon realizing that you had a visitor.

the flowers seemed to breathe a sigh of relief when you entered the room. perhaps it's due to the dendro vision that's dangling from the chain on your neck? whatever the case is, the entire world becomes static as wriothesley becomes fixated on you.

i'm a little scattered rn since my attention has been pretty fixed all day, but i'm thinking so hard about this, like...

wriothesley wants you in a way that is so dangerous. he wants you so badly, he's kind of scaring himself. he's no idiot -- if he's scaring himself, then he's sure to scare you. so he approaches you slowly, all the while feeding you hints that you should return to the underworld (the fortress of meropide) with him. he knows that you wouldn't do too well down there with the lack of sunlight and flowers, but he can work around that. he'll make it work. he has to. he will.

but maybe after courting you for so long, you still refuse to go. after all that? after all the effort he's put in to keep you in the dark about his desires? maybe after all that, he kinda blanks out. you fall asleep in your little apartment illuminated by moonlight, but awake in the fortress of meropide.

there's no map, no directions, no friendly faces, no stars to guide your path. just the stench of ozone and wriothesley, who insists that you'll be happy here. he'll make you happy here. he promises.

[theoreticallyliving]

My Rose Quartz au is finally here!!!

i really wanted it to be Vern/Brent but i think it'd have to be Vern/Nick solely for characterization purposes

...Brent can play the role of Pearl

Sophist will have his own defined role

obv they won't be gems, but archetype wise

pretty long post under the cut lol, be warned!

so for Vern i imagine that he's like an angel prince of sorts, and Brent is like a knight/bodyguard to him. I like to imagine that the angels only recently (past couple hundred years) discovered Earth (the angel world is not heaven, the angels are born angels). as they observe it and the creatures that live on it, Vernias falls in love with the life on the planet, especially humans. he finds them so fascinating, and Brent, the simp that i've decided he is, takes him down to a small village for his birthday :3

they find a demon there, Eevee, who was sent up to earth to cause chaos but was lowkey uninformed and thought he was completely fired & banished from [underworld]. when Brent and Vern meet him at first, they're shocked because this doesn't really look like a human? they did research and this is new?? there's probably a small bit about the fact that there's ANOTHER new world, but that's not that important so i'm not gonna dwell on that. after their short adventure on earth, they head back up to the angel world (side note, i need a name for this place i have literally no ideas for it)

The rest of the royals/council/whatevers are PISSED, and Vern is in huge trouble for ditching his princely duties. he would be banned from leaving the castle, and be under constant surveillance. they also question Brent about this, and find that Vern's attachment to him can potentially be used as a threat, a future punishment. if he runs off again, Brent will be replaced.

this is sort of the start of the first major character arc Vernias would have, where he realizes that the way he's being treated is toxic, verging on abusive. he later has some sort of argument with like the king or wtv, and while pleading his case to just be let down to earth every once in a while, it evolves into him getting his title revoked and being exiled from the kingdom/castle/i need to do more world building so that i understand what it would mean to be exiled. this is sort of Patroclus in The Song of Achilles vibes in this small moment, but also Grian in Watcher lore? because rather than faking his death he's discarded?? idk

Brent goes with him, obviously, and they decide to go back to earth. they find Sophist again, and they basically adopt him into their makeshift family :3 and they move into a beach house together! Vern and Brent have no concept of "money" or "bills" but Sophist knows capitalism and is technically a millionaire (haha capitalism evil it's so subtle guys) so they straight up don't have to think about it lol

Vernias, while exploring their cute little town by himself, meets Nick! he's still gonna be a musician because this is almost fully inspired by the song What Can I do for You? but before that, Vernias brings Nick back to the house and introduces him to the boys, and around this is when we have BRENT JEALOUSY ARC JUMPSCARE 💥💥💥 where we see a lot of the competitive nature of Brent and Nick's relationship, but it's morphed to be really toxic rather than their more lighthearted competition that they have irl

that's sort of happening more in the background, while in the forefront of this we watch how Vern and Nick's relationship grows. Nick introduces him to a bunch of cute little restaurants and cafes and carnivals and stuff like that, basically showing him a bunch of earth customs (he's taking him on datesss) :3 i think he would also often play songs for him, like he plays guitar like Greg does in SU, so sometimes he'll just play him little love songs (this gives me an excuse to make a playlist hehehe)

and then we get to the What Can I Do For You moments!!! it plays out how it does in the actual song, except instead of fusing, Brent and Vern do some fancy air choreography or smth idk

and then ofc we have Nick realizing that, wait, Vern doesn't take him or their relationship seriously (ie. "i like the way human being play, i like playing along") and he confides in Eevee about this, who is probably not very helpful about it, but idk cuz at this point i don't know what Nick would do about this but it would be something dramatic i think

anyways then Vern has his second(?) character arc where he realizes humans are more complicated creatures than he thought, and they have a probably really fuckin long conversation about how their relationship would progress

they live happily ever after but i'm still working out exactly how it's going to happen, but yeah! that's the jist of my au, lemme know what y'all think!!

so sorry again for long post, it will probably happen again 😔

[wotchometic]

So, I was thinking, generally we have ghost and flesh inhabitants in that otherworld.

To ghost team would go the Bride, Hooded Child, mr. Masqie, mr. Hugeface, mr. Gap, the Ghost and kind of mr. Scarletella. They're here due to:

ability of appear and vanish on a whim

physical attacks don't do damage

ability to warp reality to theirs will to some extent

For example: the Bride can create clothes mr. Masque can teleport objects and creatures (at least MC) mr. Hugeface can appear instead of ceilings and transport creatures and things through some sub-space similar to mr. Gap mr. Scarletella was told to hold the Ghost Apartments as his playground, holding control over it. (And maybe even some control over the underworld, that's not clear)

Also it's good to notice, that they are tangible, as mr. Gap and Hugeface held/harm MC, Hooded Child held mr. Chopped, mr. Masque held a rubik's cube and a piece of fabric and the Bride gave and held MC's clothes.

And now, we're at the flesh team. As it could be suspected, people here are from meat, bone and blood. And so, here go mr. Crawling, mr. Silvair, mr. Chopped, mr. Hood, mr. Machete, mr. Stitch, ms. Nurse, Hairdresser, mr. Human, Chainsaw Woman, mr. Wheelchair, ms. Blue-Clad, Lost Child, monster with bloody footprints, those little fluffballs and MC. Here's what they have in common:

can be physically damaged

travel only physically - no teleportation or so, at least not without help

can't affect space near them/create items

made out of flesh and blood

have high regeneration and can restore their bodies even from almost complete destruction like from shreds of meat and splatters of blood

vulnerable to fire - the only way to damage them without them being able to regenerate

BUT. There's a thing about mr. Scarletella and MC. Red guy actually have a physical 'core', which is his umbrella. That doesn't sound quite ghosty.

And so, there's MC as an opposite. Further from the start of the story they could warp space, despite being a fleshy being. This shows when they choose their size, literally making themselves big or small, also later able to turn normal-sized just by concentrating. MC also destroys creatures differently later in the story. If first, they're using a crowbar, as with a doll or a fluffball, than later they're just rising their hand and -poof-, someone's gone.

I also noticed a peculiar thing in mr. Machete route when we're fighting mr. Hugeface. The giant was clearly far from us, yet MC could turn him into a meat salad without even moving. That's a pretty solid proof that this kind of MC's attacks are not physical. That also was proven while fighting mr. Scarletella. The dialogues were "As long as... I strongly believe in...", "Yes... a firm belief...", "And the strong desire to... "send him to hell"!!". Like, MC just focused really hard and bamboozled the hell out of him. Another addition, that it's heavily suspected that exactly mr. Scarletella cursed MC with whatever the hell happened to their body and mind, as after defeating him MC gets back to normal instantly. So, body and mind changing is an option in this world.

This way we have two persons inbetween of ghost and flesh teams, with both physical body and the ability to distort space.

So, for what did I ramble about all this? Quite simple. For the ending "Wanted you to be happy". Like, it's not an early-game ending and MC already obtained powers to change space around them to some extent. And also returned their mind back, thanks to Silvair's completely friendly healing methods. That said, there might have been a possibility to save mr. Chopped. Considering MC has already gone through loose of mind and went back, they might know on at least subconscious level how to return ones consciousness. Especially with Silvair's knowledge and help. And we also know that MC's mind powers is grater than other monsters and even mr. Scarletella's. And so, there could actually be a possibility for a better ending, if MC or Silvair had a better understanding of protagonist's powers

[sorrinslays]

I would love to hear more about your Sampo headcanons!:)

Hello!!!!

So strictly speaking, I've said all my 'main' headcannons so what's left is just silly little thoughts that I feel like would or could happen in cannon and just are fun to think about. So here we go!

1. I think it would be really cute if at some point, after the seal of the underworld was lifted and Rivet Town is habitable once more, Natasha wants to return to the orphanage and, to raise money, they do a theatrical performance.

Sampo volunteers to help as a director and while he is fair, he bias he has for children is a lot more noticeable. Like, he'd be the Gordon Ramsay of theater. They did raise the funds though so all is forgiven. /j

2. You know Celine? The NPC that wants to become like another NPC so at that point she just stalks and copies her and asks for our help in a daily mission? Yeah, he accidently gave her the idea.

He would probably at some point advertise himself as a 'solver of any problem' and Celine would come to him asking for acting advice, saying she wants to be more like Tamila (the NPC she's trying to copy).

The advice he would give is learn how to pick up some of her mannerisms so she can get more 'in character', saying that's what he does a lot . And Celine does, and that's the start of her 'obsession'.

He doesn't know what's going on with Celine since after the initial 'session' he hasn't seen her and he didn't think about it much. He made money that's all that matters.

3. When Seele turned of age to drink, she immediately started challenging people to drinking contests because she has high metabolism. However, she got too cocky when she taunted Sampo, not knowing that man has spent a big portion of his life in the World's End tavern.

She lost soon after and never went drinking with Sampo again. Don't worry though, the day after Natasha scolded both. Sampo still makes fun of her anytime he sees her holding an alcoholic drink (Natasha won't admit she finds it entertaining).

4. Has started multiple betting pools with the Silvermane Guards (while pretending to be one). Gepard know of them (not that it's Sampo making them) and lets them do it since the bets (50-100 credits) aren't that big so nobody is losing much money and it keeps his soldiers entertained enough.

5. I just know this man makes snowmen in highly dangerous, far from the city, fragmentum filled areas. Like he's in the middle of nowhere, snow is all around him and fragmentum are ready to strike anything that moves and he crunches down, and makes snowmen in dumb poses, sometimes resembling people from Belobog.

Anytime that the Guards have to make an expedition for whatever reason and spot a snowman, the reaction they have is: "He's been here too????????!!!!! Why?????!!! What the fuck, how?!?!??!1/1?1/"

6. Babies, infants more specifically, immediately calm down and giggle in his arms but he himself is very awkward around them. It's probably because he's a Creation of Elation so he brings laugher easily, but he does not know how to interact with them. They are just so small! What if he accidently boops their nose too hard and it dents or something???????

Whenever Natasha has a difficult baby to deal with because they keep crying no matter what she calls Sampo. He always comes, thinking it's a favor she needs or more medicine, but no. It's a baby, here hold it.

7. Since he's not entirely human, he needs less food, water and sleep. That's great! But he neglects those needs more often than not because he forgets he needs to eat, drink and sleep.

8. He probably has slept in a cardboard box before, because he forgot that he does get tired and was about to pass out so he did it in the safest place (trash).

9. I do believe he's unvaccinated, not because he's anti-vax, but because, one, he's not fully human so his immune system is different and stronger, but also two, it requires a lot more touching that he's comfortable with (that is none) which is why he avoids doctors

Plus, he was spawned, he was never a child. So he never had the opportunity to get one and he learnt about their existence a little too late.

He once mentioned it to Gepard who freaked out and made a plan with Natasha to get Sampo to get his shots. It was messy.

10. I do believe he can shapeshift and I imagine that he once had a conversation with Gepard (after they had become closer) where he mentioned that in another language Geppie's name means cheetah. And because Gepard has never seen a cheetah, Sampo shapeshifted into one. Sampo spent the entire night shapeshifting into different animals and species to show the other. Gepard quickly noted that a fox suits Sampo a lot.

[skulkiee]

Hades was well aware that there was a mortal in his realm. A bunch of mortals to be more specific. Alive ones.

So they weren't supposed to be there, but his favorite of Zeus' many kids had come too, and asked him- more politely than usual- to let this 'Odysseus' pass through.

Hermes' request had involved a lot of 'pleeeeeeeaaaaaase's and promises to help Hades with his work more than just bringing him souls.

Persephone had persuaded him eventually, "We never have any excitement down here, Hades," she had said, "It gets ever so dull sometimes."

"I promise!" Hermes had said before Hades could reply to his wife, "That my dear great grandson is very entertaining! He yelled at 'Thena!"

Hades sighs, "Well if he is your kin, Hermes, i am sure he is entertaining. And it can't get much better than yelling at Zeus' brat."

"'Thena's not a brat." Hermes had muttered, and then, "So you won't kill Ody?"

"I won't."

"Good! Because Circe has already sent him off, he will be here in about... Now!" Hermes grins and jumps off of Hades' shoulder and out the window, his pale wings shining in the darkness of the underworld.

"Oh well if your girlfriend has sent him then i guess-" Persephone yells out the window, only to be cut off by Hermes' cry of, "She's not my girlfriend! That's Apollo!"

"Apollo's his girlfriend?" Persephone asked, turning back to Hades with a bemused expression on her face.

Hades just sighed again, "Let's go see who his 'dear great grandson' is, keep him out of trouble."

So yes. He did give permission for Odysseus and his crew to enter his realm. He regretted it as soon as Odysseus started yelling about an infant, and Hades deals with each infant that enters his realm personally, and it is always difficult and takes up too much time and he only does it because he likes seeing parents' faces when they are reunited with their child-

But it hurts. Children and babies and infants should not be in his realm as much as he adores their little faces and bubbly laughter. And that is one point against Odysseus.

The second point comes when Odysseus stops. Right after telling his men it doesn't matter who they see, full speed ahead. And he goes directly against his own orders as soon as he sees a shade.

Hades does not know the shade's name, just that they were kind and the Fates were all too cruel to them. Hades asked them to watch over little Astanyax for the long centuries they had to wait until they could cross the river and find the baby's parents. Two points against Odysseus.

And then Odysseus yells at the prophet- another shade that the Fates were much too cruel towards- and clearly does not understand a single thing Tiresias says. Three points against Odysseus.

All in all, Hermes' mortal is quite boring. Persephone seems to agree, though she does care quite a bit more about Odysseus' mother. Which makes sense since Hades was eaten by his parent and her's tried to protect her from the world. Different experiences, you see.

Hermes, on the other hand, seems quite worried. Hades can tell from the way his talons tighten around his shoulder where his nephew is perched like the big bird he is, and the way his bone-white wings twitch every now and then, which is also annoying.

Hades would much rather leave and go back to his study and his books and paper and drawings. Much more interesting than some mortal.

But then said mortal starts singing. Loudly. About himself. Which seems to be a running theme with Odysseus, but whatever. That's just what those mortal kings are like. Zeus does it too where he makes it out that he is much more important than everyone (except Hera).

Hades rolls his eyes and goes to walk away. Like really, Odysseus. The poor man sounds so self centered! 'what if I'm the monster?' 'what if I'm the problem?' 'what if I'm the one who killed you?' Hades thinks it's unnecessary.

He actually groans when Odysseus starts talking about cyclopes and witches and gods- what did he expect to happen when he stabbed Posidon's- literally one of the most protective gods- kid in the eye?

Hermes jumps off his shoulder and flaps over to Persephone at one point, probably to continue watching this mortal he seems to actually feel responsibility for- Hades didn't know Hermes could feel responsibility.

And so Hades speed-walks back to his palace, but the underworld is- not quiet, it's not quiet, not with so many souls, but when you've lived here since the start of an era, everything becomes background noise and any sound that isn't a soul or one of the divinities that work here is incredibly loud. And Odysseus is shouting.

He is very tempted to call on Styx to ask her to make her river flow faster. Hades knows that after this he is going to pay a visit to Circe so they can share a few words about sending annoying mortals into his bubble of peace and quiet willy nilly.

Oh and Hermes. He will be talking to Hermes. First he sends that Orpheus down here to get his wife back, and then he sends Odysseus down who can't stop talking about his wife. And they both sing. And they were both sent down here while Hades was trying to enjoy the short six months with his own wife. Honestly. He could sing a song about Persephone if Hermes really wanted that! Hermes could sing a song about Apollo if he really wanted that!

Hades rolls his eyes at the mental image of his favorite nephew attempting to sing a song to the god of songs, and slams his study door behind him. The study has thick walls and bookshelves so Odysseus' singing is muffled. But still there.

Hades might just send him to Posidon at this rate. It had a small chance of making his younger brother actually like him for once, and it got Odysseus out of his hair.

He might send Hermes to Posidon with a note saying all the things he has done against the sea god at this rate.

'I MUST GET TO SEEE PENELOPEEEEE AND TELEMAACHUSSSS-' comes wailing through Hades' walls.

And yeah. He can understand that, not getting to see your wife- the gods know Hades can barely last six months without his brilliant Persephone, and he's pretty sure that Odysseus was a part of the Trojan war and he is also pretty sure that that lasted a long time. Like maybe eight or nine years? Hades isn't sure, he played no part in it and only noticed it was happening because more shades than usual started turning up.

Anyways. He now has an even better idea than sending Odysseus and Hermes to Posidon. He shall send them to Ithaca.

And so Hades finds himself once again staring down the mortal and his crew, except this time he stands on a large rock jutting out of the Styx ahead of their boat.

"Then i'll become the monsterrrr..." Odysseus trails off slightly when he sees Hades perched over them, his huge black wings mantled behind him and his crown glittering in the dim light, "Ah. Lord Hades! We were just leaving-"

"Shut up." Hades mutters, "If i have to hear you say one more word-"

Odysseus is smart enough to look sorry.

Hades just sighs and waves a hand, "When you leave you will find yourself less than a day's sail away from home. Hermes here," he frowns at Hermes until the younger god gets the message (ha) and flies over to settle back on Hades' shoulder, "Will make sure that you get home and do not return to my home until the Fates say so."

I have nothing to say. A friend of mine asked me to write something about Hades and it turned into this and an excuse to figure out my designs for Hades and Persephone. And Hermes is just a bird you cant persuade me otherwise.

[sketchehm]

https://www.tumblr.com/sketchehm/769537190891012096/omg-so-thats-so-fun-because-idk-if-people-know?source=share

aww baby :((( Imagine him also kinda feeling conflicted bc he doesnt want to leave dream's family, specially after all the breakdown and the backstabbers but still wants to keep this new one.

One day maybe sapnpa cant with the guilt and ends up telling them and the mafia is gonna kill dream and sapna doesnt know what to do bc he wants to protect his brother but he doesnt want to fight

I fell asleep thinking more about this au and woke up to this ask and held out most of my day to get my thoughts collected (and they're still not all there pfft) and this is all some general blabbing so like...don't expect TOO much from this

In my head Dream's family is all kinda in disarray and people are seeing it as a chance to take it down (which does not happen!!) but Dream is so much more.....overprotective(?) Of the closer members

But! There's still buisness to deal with and with Team Mafia still kinda lurking about and Q's empire slowly growing, gotta make some moves.... the convo between him and Sapnap and George is heavy and how it comes down to the realization that Sapnap has to infiltrate to help take down Team Mafia to get some notoriety back to Dream's family (cause violence in the underworld yay!) Dream doesn't *want* to really send Sapnap to do this, but they got no other ties to even attempt to speak with the opposing family. And sapnap promises he'll be back one day!! (This is a set up for angst :^D)

The meeting with them is set up, the trade happens, and Sapnap now has to learn spanish lmao

I can imagine the shenanigans Sapnap goes through with Twam Mafia and how he expected these like...super serious people and it was gonna be hard to even gain someone else's trust besides Shadounes, but they welcome him with open arms....AND LIKE kindness is not some common thing in this line of work! Everyone is always on edge with everyone and finding people you can truly trust has always been hard to come by and what he went through in Dream's family was a dark reminder of it all.....

Yet Team Mafia really do accept him fully, so much so they reveal the plan to take down Dream's family since it's so much smaller now....

I can imagine Sapnap being invited to speak with the Don and Sapnap was always been nervous around him(he swears ElRich knows Sapnap is there as a mole) but then this is revealed to him and his whole world comes crashing down.

And he thinks he can convince them to not do that, surely! Theyre...friends now! Whatever friends might mean to each other here....They'll listen to him! And then they don't.

And admittedly....sapnap hasn't done a good job at relaying info back to dream cause he didn't want dream to do the same....but they'll listen to him more if he admits that! Cause haha, both you guys had similar plans of taking each other down and now that doesn't have to happen! Dream is a good ally! Sapnap can convince him, they can be united! And sapnap doesn't have to choose! Doesn't have to lead one of them to be dead....

And like....admitting you're a spy is like *rough*. And people don't take that too kindly....and it feels like betrayal to other people too....so um....sapnap is gonna have it rough there

I can only imagine as well Sapnap coming to the realization that all of them being so nice and kind to him was part of the plan to take down Dream....that's gonna cause a whole other mess of inner turmoil for him and not knowing if there really was any kind of bond or if he was just being used....

Sapnap will be faced with the "you either stay with us now and help or we can kill you rn and the rest of Dream's family soon after"

If only there was a bigger bad to unite them all 😔(cause sapnap's proposed, 'we can all be friends guys!!!', plan.... it ain't working out)

Haha anyways :^)

[violetganache42]

Highlights from tonight's movie night celebrating some of the different teams Donald has been a part of in categorized and chronological order (I honestly like this format. I might stick with it):

"Boat Builders":

Good news: The short has subtitles! Bad news: They're not in English, so you still can't understand what the fuck Donald is saying.

Donald: "Yeah, even a child can do it!" Godfrey: "Even Della could do it!"

justaboot: "god's third choice after the 3 stooges"

Max's mother has been found

"The First Adventure!":

Bradford Hate Club

Ludwig appearance!

puffywuffy8904: "he's serving whatever the opposite of cunt is" WriteBackAtYa: "So di—"

(I love this screenshot. 😂)

The reference to Della's letter

WriteBackAtYa and I being on the same wavelength

Eat the rich uncle (Sorry, Scrooge, but I had to. XD)

"You can't mute me, old man!"

RIP Donald's guitar

The Temple of Doom parallel!

PAPYRUS

"Treasure of the Golden Suns" easter egg!

"fragile old body"

POGO CANE

Black Heron doing the smug anime girl laugh (You know what I'm talking about.)

"I'm the chosen one!" Pure Deweycore

"So long, suckers!"

Just Black Heron in general (She's a fun villain. lol)

DONALD KILL

Us ranting about Bradford using the Papyrus of Binding to escape like the COWARD THAT HE IS! WHY WE OUGHTA— COME BACK HERE, YOU LITTLE—

If I had a nickel for every time Black Heron lost her robot arm, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.

Me: "BEAKLEY YOU FOOL" Godfrey: "YOU FUCKING FOOOOOOOOL"

"The House of the Lucky Gander!":

Louie "I do hate hot dogs" Duck noticing the neon lights shaped like a hot dog

"We're all gonna die! I'VE WASTED MY LIFE!"

Launchpad deserves his own episode dedicating to his love life

Gladstone Hate Club

Scrooge looking at the camera like he's on The Office

puffywuffy8904: "gladstone you have a haircut shut up"

Huey autism moment

Just how bored and tired Dewey, Webby, and Scrooge were after seeing Aquarioon

Dewey and the jade tigers

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

27!

Webby's love for chocolate fountains

"And a distraction."

Scrooge: "I don't even get to be part of the blasted challenge?" Huey:

Real-Life-Pine-Tree: "Roasted duck anyone?" Me: "'Danny: I'll have the duck.'"

Louie's motivational speech

"Where did that come from?"

Us @ Liu Hai: RIP bozo (at least until DuckTales World Showcase Adventure)

The underwhelming Golden Cricket and how fucking bored and exhausted the family was

"Mt. Fuji Whiz":

LotTC basically being DuckTales on crack

Me: "Hell is a city. Where have I seen that before? 🤔" Godfrey: "Hazbin Hote—[gunshot]"

My idea of Clinton and Webby bonding over Clan McDuck history

Missy thirsting for Panchito

The return of the Ari the Autism Bird!

Xandra and the nieces in general (They're some of the best characters in the show. ^^)

*The Three Caballeros are stuck in the Underworld* AMJ: "We have a very simple solution." DT17!Huey: "This doesn't feel simple."

Jack Skellington moon

Donald saying the Karen phrase

Xandra and Charon clothes swap

Panchito being "that" guy

The Sheldgoose family tree taking notes from Goofy's family tree regarding the relatives' designs

IN THE PLUMS!

Clinton hugging Donald 💖

Tokyo? LIKE IN DUCKTALES!

"Potatoland":

Dreamy: "SEE HE HAS 27 FINGERS" Me: "27!"

POTATOLAND! POTATOLAND!

"Mickey, I am fed up with your bullshit devil magic."

Praising Mickey's characterization in the Paul Rudish shorts

Donald's blush

No more Idaho

Just the whole short in general. It's the best. XD

"Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers":

Black Arts Beagle's Musketeer cousins

puffywuffy8904: "they wanna be Scrooge soooo bad"

Donald being, and I quote Jamie, "a punk bitch" in this movie

The return of Pete Hate Club

"Whoa, he's bisexual, I didn't know that!"/"By the way, I'm bisexual! I forgot, I- forgot to announce it! How do you turn this shit off- wait-"

The entire opera gag

Clarabelle appearance!

Dreamy pointing out the parallels how Pete is to Minnie what Bradford is to Scrooge

In the Hall of the Mountain King

"Why did the music stop?"

"Together, we'll save the princess or die trying!"/"…Die? …Die?"

melcat33: "Minnie discovers she's into bdsm"

WriteBackAtYa and I quoting Philip CD-i Legend of Zelda

The turtle trying to be the rooster from Robin Hood at one point

"That little diddy's starting to grow on me."

Pete referencing The Lion King

Donald FINALLY unleashing his iconic temper

melcat33: "Goofy finally being Dad Material" WriteBackAtYa: "But he was daddy material"

(Look what you made me do! /lh)

Pirates of Penzance

"Not long… maybe… 40 years?"

The movie ending with the fucking Can-Can

Learning about how Tokyo Disneyland had Mickey, Donald, and Goofy as the Three Musketeers and they all looked AMAZING (Why does Japan get all the cool shit?!)

[thedevillionaire]

If I may be greedy, 3, 4, 6, 9 (yes I am 👀ing Cerb) & 11 for Cerberus and Kia?

Greedy is totally fine! This is a nice bunch, too. :D

3) What song describes your OC?

Cerberus has two main "theme songs": Dance With Fire by Operus, and The Cage by Attrition. He's had more than one Underworldian song written about him, too, though I don't have actual music for those, just lyrics, due to me being a craptacular singer. Only one of these is currently anywhere online: Green Fire

For Kia, Love An Adventure by Pseudo Echo.

4) What song describes your OC and their partner/love interest?

As a couple, they have a few, actually, but the main two are A Touch of Evil by Judas Priest, and Body and Soul by the Sisters of Mercy.❤️

6) If your OC is in a fantasy setting, what profession would they be in the modern day?

Cut time!

This is really tricky for Cerberus, actually, and the only thing I'm confident of is that he'd be his own boss. Possibly the world's hottest occult bookstore owner/operator lol. But I can also see him not working a "regular" sort of job at all, and being the kind of super-successful investor that can live off passive income and do whatever he wants in his (significant) spare time, and that may not be a whole lot different - although with a "mortal plane" skew, of course - to what he does now.

lol maybe he'd be a cult leader. 🤣 He was mortally pyrokinetic, after all. Kia had all sorts of odd jobs when she was mortal. She's been a masseuse, a supermarket checkout chick, a fashion consultant/assistant, a pole dancer, a telemarketer, a typist... She'd probably settle into something customer-service focused that didn't require a degree/formal qualifications.

9) How does your OC handle their physical health? Do they take care of themselves?

Cerberus is excellent at this...until he gets sick. 😂😂 He's very physically fit, in great shape, looks after his physical needs overall extremely well. Eats well, exercises, is very hygiene-conscious. He's kind of a workaholic and should almost certainly take more time off for just relaxation, but that's about as lax as he gets about his general physical wellbeing. And he doesn't often get sick at all. BUT. Partly due to infrequency/unfamiliarity with getting ill, partly just that he's always so resentful that it even happened, how fucking dare this happen, that he's just...patently terrible at accepting his fate about it. 😅 So when the Healing meds don't instantly and completely cure things, he's prone to completely disregarding everything he's told to do, because it's already proved pointless again, as usual, so why not try [insert probably bad idea here] instead. Kia's made things way better for him in this regard, and he's the best of all possible selves with her around, but still. He's a notoriously dreadful patient and he deserves every bit of that reputation lol.

Kia is also very fit, although less hygiene-conscious, and also far more likely to socialise in large groups, etc. She gets sick a regular amount, and is much better at looking after herself when it happens, too. She gets a bit cranky about it at times, sure, but she's pretty accepting of it as just a part of life, and just...deals. Not to say she doesn't enjoy a good spoiling when she's unwell. Cerberus, for all his failings at being a good patient, actually makes a wonderful caretaker.

11) What was your inspiration for your OC?

Cerberus was supposed to be a one-off serve-a-purpose temporary creation and problem-solver. I made too many OCs in early Underworld times and thought if I just had...like half of them killed off in one fell swoop, sort of thing, I could get back on track, haha. Anyway, so, he was meant to just come in, do damage, fuck off.

He...did not do that. 🤷‍♀️ I mean, he absolutely did do what I, um, brought him in for. He just also decided to stick around and take over the place afterwards.

IDEK. I'm just a dumb scribe lol. And I genuinely do not remember what/who inspired Kia, but she was also an unexpected "success story". She was an Incept, brought into the Underworld's Vampirism Caste by another OC pretty much nobody's met here - Vesuvius - and just...went about being Kia. And here we are. 🫠

[persephoneism]

Hello !! Can you recommend some of your fave retellings and why you liked them? I'm interested in reading a few but idk where to start!! Thank you and love your blog btw :D

Anon, hello! And thank you for your kind words!! 💜

I should preface this by saying that I've been a Hades/Persephone shipper for well over a decade, so I'm usually looking for books about them, or Persephone in general. I've read and want to read other stuff as well, though, and I'm mostly interested in retellings focusing on the gods. I will read anything that piques my curiosity, even if (or because) others dunk on it, as I prefer forming my own opinions and I won't hesitate to admit I occasionally like trash <3

My no.1 fave is probably Alcestis by Katharine Beutner. Books that rewire your brain and leave you staring at the wall for hours. As you can tell by the title, it tells the story of Alcestis, from her childhood to her marriage to Admetus, to her willing sacrifice and return to life. The meat of the plot is the three days she spent in the Underworld, and her intense attraction to Persephone. I loved how Ms Beutner portrayed the gods; I rarely if ever see them written like this. Their thought process and actions are incomprehensible to mortals, and that's how they're supposed to be. They are gods, they are magical and unnatural. The writing was beautiful as well, just the right amount of poetic. Not overly descriptive, but evocative and powerful, especially in more emotional moments. The ending is bittersweet, left my heart aching, but it also couldn't have ended any other way. Warning: There is one mildly graphic sex scene reviewers on Goodreads claim is assault, but because I've actually read the book, I do not agree. People are like "toxic yuri <333" until they actually get some. Nevertheless, I thought it best to put up a warning.

Fruit of the Dead reframes the myth of Persephone in a modern setting. The characters are not gods, there are no supernatural elements whatsoever, but anyone familiar with the story, and the Homeric Hymn to Demeter in particular, will get the references. Barely legal camp counselor accepts shady offer by big pharma CEO to babysit his kids in his private island for the summer. Signs an NDA so she can't tell her mom, who tears the world apart to find her. It's not a romance, it doesn't glamorize anything, rape happens at some point, there's plenty of drug use. I mostly enjoyed this for the writing, it was lush and aesthetic and kinda #goals for me? There are no quotation marks, which may irritate some readers, and the daughter's pov is written in third person while the mother's is first. However, the ending felt super rushed, and the author had to stick to the myth and did so in a way that wasn't satisfying to me, so I had to bump down my rating to 4 stars.

I finished No Season But the Summer a couple of weeks ago. Another story set in contemporary times, nine thousand years after Persephone ate the seeds. I actually agree with the negative reviews here (why is it taking place in England, why is there an eco activists subplot, why are the gods essentially powerless,) BUT I thought it was a really good character study on Demeter, Persephone, and Hades, none of whom is very likeable. The story takes certain liberties with the original myths, but does so in a way that makes sense in the context of this particular telling, so I'm not mad about it. The writing is very introspective, and I kinda wish the author had stuck on Demeter's and Persephone's ruminations about the events of the past rather than Whatever is going on with the 21st century England part of the plot.

Dead of Spring is simply a quick and fun smutty Hades/Persephone romance, and I like it because it doesn't pretend to be anything else. It's not That Deep, and it doesn't always need to be. Also Hades is clearly written as autistic (not in an "uwu I'm a helpless smol bean" way,) which I loved. And yes, the kidnapping does happen.

Leaving my beloved sovereigns of the dead behind, I loved Circe when I first read it. I don't even disagree with the criticisms I've seen, I get them, but they didn't affect my opinion, or enjoyment of the book. I really liked how Pasiphaë was written. The Greek translation is beautiful and faithful to the original, too. My favorite bits were probably the early parts where Circe is still living with her Titan family; I always love seeing a bunch of gods together :) I also didn't mind how, hm, static the plot becomes after a point, with most of the action and progress being confined to Aeaea. I will say, something tells me I won't enjoy The Song of Achilles half as much, I've been a hater for years, and I don't think this is going to change (I just ordered it today.)

The Penelopiad is already well-known, and my spiteful ass is just going to say that Claire North WISHES her trilogy had the flair and sass of Atwood's little book. It is fun. It is funny. It doesn't need to be "feminist."

I think I've heard of most popular retellings already, I've probably read them or I intend to, but anyone reading this wants to send any recommendations my way, please feel free to 🙏

[twoidiotwriters1]

The Curse of Oenone (Leo Valdez xFem!Oc)

A/N: The House of Hades chapters were massively fun to write, I hope you love them -Danny Words: 2,237 Series' Masterlist Previous Chapter // Next Chapter

XXVII: I'm in My Critical-Thinking Era

Today is Ara's 15th birthday, according to the magical screens surrounding the room: The beach has remains of a party. The fireworks show must've happened while they were fighting the rock giants or while she was sleeping.

Leo glances at the screen, then freezes and takes a second look. "Hey—!"

She drags him out of the room. "Don't say anything to them!"

The boy scowls. "What? Why not?"

"This is the worst timing possible," Ara's expression is horror-struck and pale. "Do you think I'm in the mood to celebrate?"

The boy blushes. "But pretending it's not an important date..."

"In the future..." Ara trails off. There is no future. If they're lucky they have a few weeks at most. "Listen, just forget it."

Leo glances at the screens and makes a face. "You shouldn't be spending it like this."

"Don't start," she groans, turning away to enter the mess hall, but Leo stops her.

"You should be in camp with Lily. Or with your parents—"

"And what difference does it make if I'm here or there? My family would be incomplete, the Romans would be all around camp..." she huffs, pushing his hand away. "There's no way I would've enjoyed my birthday this year. Let it go."

Leo stares at her, struggling to find the words. "If... If we'd met sooner, I would've thrown huge parties for you. A whole week of 'em."

Ara wants to cry at his words, but she thinks this is a worthy trade at the very least. She saves the world, therefore she only gets shitty birthdays. Whatever. She got to have three birthday parties throughout her entire life, it's not like she's suffering a major loss.

Leo was supposed to find her last December, it had to happen that way, otherwise, she wouldn't've taken the role of daughter of Olympus, and her prophecy is their only hope to break the curse...

Mike wouldn't've died. Janus whispers mockingly. Is one life worthier than the other?

She cups his face. "Having you around is enough. Besides, your birthday is also in two days, we can celebrate then if you want."

"I communed with the dead last night. I was able to learn more about what we'll face," Nico says as they eat breakfast. "In ancient times, the House of Hades was a major site for Greek pilgrims. They would come to speak with the dead and honor their ancestors."

"Sounds like Día de los Muertos," Leo mentions. "My Aunt Rosa took that stuff seriously."

"Chinese have that, too," Frank adds. "Ancestor worship, sweeping the graves in the springtime. Your Aunt Rosa would've gotten along with my grandmother."

"Yeah," Leo mutters. "I'm sure they would've been best buds."

"A lot of cultures have seasonal traditions to honor the dead," Nico agrees. "But the House of Hades was open year-round. Pilgrims could actually speak to the ghosts. In Greek, the place was called the Necromanteion, the Oracle of Death. You'd work your way through different levels of tunnels, leaving offerings and drinking special potions—"

"Special potions," Leo mumbles. "Yum."

Jason flashes a warning look at him, he doesn't want him to upset Nico because then he will tease Ara in turn. "Nico, go on," the boy says politely.

"The pilgrims believed that each level of the temple brought you closer to the Underworld, until the dead would appear before you. If they were pleased with your offerings, they would answer your questions, maybe even tell you the future."

"And if the spirits weren't pleased?" Frank asks.

"Some pilgrims found nothing," Nico shrugs. "Some went insane, or died after leaving the temple. Others lost their way in the tunnels and were never seen again."

"You always know the hottest spots to visit," Ara jokes.

"Right up your alley, desperate sacrifices just to get crumbs. Anyway, the ghost I spoke to last night, he was a former priest of Hecate. He confirmed what the goddess told Hazel yesterday at the crossroads. In the first war with the giants, Hecate fought for the gods. She slew one of the giants—one who'd been designed as the anti-Hecate. A guy named Clytius."

"Dark dude," Leo says. "Wrapped in shadows." 

"Leo, how did you know that?" Hazel questions.

"Kind of had a dream," Leo explains his nightmares to the group and Ara leans forward on the table rubbing her forehead.

"So the giant is Clytius," Jason concludes. "I suppose he'll be waiting for us, guarding the Doors of Death."

"And the woman in Leo's dream?" Frank inquires.

"She's my problem." Hazel says. "Hecate mentioned a formidable enemy in the House of Hades —a witch who couldn't be defeated except by me, using magic."

"Do you know magic?" Leo asks

"Not yet."

"Ah. Any idea who she is?"

"Only that..." There is a brief pause and Ara looks up to see Nico and Hazel sharing a look, then the girl speaks. "Only that she won't be easy to defeat."

Ara remembers what Leo told her: Maze. Magic. A woman. It's not that hard to connect the dots, and she hates how quickly she understands what they'll be facing, part of her hopes to be dead wrong, but it's unlikely.

"But there is some good news," Nico says. "The ghost I talked to explained how Hecate defeated Clytius in the first war. She used her torches to set his hair on fire. He burned to death. In other words, fire is his weakness."

"Oh," Leo sits up. "Okay."

Ara shifts uncomfortably in her seat, nothing is as easy as it sounds, but she doesn't want to say it. Athena's blessing is working within her, she knows at last how it feels to be Annabeth and Lily, her brain constantly seeking info to make plans.

"Leo's fire isn't the same kind of magical as Hecate's. But I could try and teach you to control the mist," she offers to Hazel, and the girl blushes at Ara's offer. They haven't interacted a lot, so it's still a bit awkward between them. "I'm not a sorceress, but it's got to be worth something, right?"

"It's worth a try," Jason agrees. "At least we know how to kill the giant. And this sorceress... well, if Hecate believes Hazel can defeat her, then so do I."

Hazel sighs. "Now we just have to reach the House of Hades, battle our way through Gaea's forces—"

"Plus a bunch of ghosts," Nico adds. "The spirits in that temple may not be friendly."

"—and find the Doors of Death. Assuming we can somehow arrive at the same time as Percy and Annabeth and rescue them."

"We can do it," Frank tries to encourage them. "We have to."

"Well, that depends on how long it'll take us to get there," Ara turns to Leo.

"So, with this detour," he voices, "I'm estimating four or five days to arrive at Epirus, assuming no delays for, you know, monster attacks and stuff."

"Yeah. Those never happen." Jason says sarcastically.

"Hecate told you that Gaea was planning her big Wake Up party on August first, right?" Leo turns to Hazel. "The Feast of Whatever?"

"Spes. The goddess of hope."

"Theoretically, this leaves us enough time," Jason interjects. "It's only July fifth."

As expected, Nico's gaze locks with hers and he opens his mouth slightly, tilting his head as if about to ask something. Ara's eyes widen and she shakes her head discretely but making it clear that he has to stay quiet.

"...We should be able to close the Doors of Death, then find the giants' HQ and stop them from waking Gaea before August first," Jason finishes.

"Theoretically," Hazel nods. "But I'd still like to know how we make our way through the House of Hades without going insane or dying."

"Well, that's Nico's job," Ara points out. "You're the Ghost King, right?"

Nico scowls, but Frank pushes his plate away with a look of discomfort and speaks before the younger boy can. "It's July fifth. Oh, jeez, I hadn't even thought of that...."

"Hey, man, it's cool," Leo replies. "You're Canadian, right? I didn't expect you to get me an Independence Day present or anything... unless you wanted to."

"It's not that. My grandmother... she always told me that seven was an unlucky number. It was a ghost number. She didn't like it when I told her there would be seven demigods on our quest. And July is the seventh month."

"Yeah, but..." Leo taps his fingers on the table anxiously, the morse code for I love you on repeat. He doesn't seem to notice. "But that's just coincidence, right?"

"Back in China," Frank continues, "in the old days, people called the seventh month the ghost month. That's when the spirit world and the human world were closest. The living and the dead could go back and forth. Tell me it's a coincidence we're searching for the Doors of Death during the ghost month."

"Man, shut up," Ara doesn't like the idea of her birth month being an unlucky one, especially because Leo's birthday is on the seventh day, and Jason's...

Ara looks at him. Jason's birthday! It was the same day they lost Percy and Annabeth... Jason doesn't even flinch at Frank's speech, he keeps it together like a true Roman, but still, Ara feels guilty. 

"Let's focus on the things we can deal with. We're getting close to Bologna. Maybe we'll get more answers once we find these dwarfs that Hecate—"

The Argo II stops violently and they get tossed in different directions. Ara hits her ribs on the edge of the table and looks around not understanding what's happening.

"Nico!" Hazel gasps when he collapses against a wall.

"Look!" Jason pointed at the images of Camp Half-Blood.

Except it is no longer Camp Half-Blood. In its place, all she sees is chubby messed-up faces standing too close to the cameras. They flicker again and show the deck, where Piper and Hedge are gagged and unable to move.

Ara holds onto the wall and seizes Almighty. "What are those?"

As they watch the two little creatures bounce around stealing stuff, one of them snatches the Archimedes sphere out of its place, which sets Leo off. "No!"

"Piper!" Jason exclaims as he gets out from under the table.

"Monkey!" Frank shouts in alarm.

"Not monkeys," Hazel helps Nico up. "I think those are dwarfs—" 

"Stealing my stuff!" Leo rushes out of the room.

Ara Jackson is a girl with a short fuse.

It's carefully hidden, though, which means not many things can trigger it. But Dwarfs breaking the things she's been looking after since they left home? That's definitely a way to get her murderous mode on.

She watches them jump from one place to another and realizes she can't beat them with brute force. These beings are faster than she ever was, and by the looks of it, are professional bandits. Even Connor and Travis wouldn't stand a chance.

"Duck!" Leo tackles her by the waist before a grenade hits her.

Ara groans and tries to push Leo off, but she can't. "You left those on deck?!"

"Sorry I didn't think of the possibility of dwarfs setting them off!" Leo complains, unable to move.

Ara can't function properly, the dwarfs used the grenades Leo made for her (he was trying to cheer her up after what had happened at the Fort). They were filled with Apollo's magic, some liquid booming melodies that were meant to disorient and stun.

Ara crawls to a sitting position just in time to see a dwarf run away with Leo's belt... and Almighty. They reach a ballista and one of the dwarves shoots the other out of the ship, then the one left walks towards the rail, hits Coach Hedge, and jumps out of sight mockingly waving goodbye to Ara and Leo.

"Those horrid sons of—"

"Come on," Leo stumbles to his feet, his eyes red and glossy.

Leo and Jason pick her off the ground and Ara stays still trying to get rid of the dizziness. Gorilla!Frank is out-cold, tongue out.

"Piper!" Jason stumbles over to his girlfriend.

"Don't waste your time on me!" The girl complains when he pulls out the gag from her mouth. "Go after them!"

Ara makes her way to the control board and discovers with horror that the dwarves also took her Octopi. She turns to Leo, understanding in their gazes as they fall to the same conclusion: Those dipshits have to pay.

Leo turns to Jason. "You feeling good enough to control the winds? Ara and I need a lift."

"Sure, but—"

"Good," Leo interrupts him. "We've got some monkey dudes to catch." 

Ara's fingertips are burning with the need to strangle the living garden gnomes. "My plushie bags are off-limits," she says gravely. "They're going down."

"Where to?" Jason asks once they are in the middle of the small town.

Leo frowns. "Well, I dunno. Let me pull my dwarf-tracking GPS out of my tool belt... Oh, wait! I don't have a dwarf-tracking GPS—or my tool belt!"

"Be nice," Ara palms her pocket and with relief finds Almighty has come back to her. "Jason's trying to help."

"Thank you," says the boy, though also looking angry. Piper being mistreated isn't something that he lets slide. "The ballista fired the first dwarf in that direction, I think. Come on."

Ara thinks about Lily again. Her family was from Italy, and she'd always dreamed about coming here, to get acquainted with her roots, demigod and mortal. But Lily is stuck at camp fighting a war she didn't start and Ara's here, and if she fails, there might not be an Italy to visit in the future. 

Now that she's as old as Mike was when he died, Ara wonders which friend is going to die this time, the one who's been forced to stay behind and grow older, or the one that's running forward and still playing pretend.

Next Chapter –>

Taglist.

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[unproduciblesmackdown]

days after the bit of rereading inspiring it Hraaarghh summoning the power to verbalize "i appreciate how much Everyone's Really Motivated Rn Huh & Barely Keeping Ahead Of Things is set up / converging At This Moment for the gamers in lackadaisy"

go mitzi lmao with the fraud or whatever (more importantly robbing the last friend in the world cashed in like poker chips you said it wasn't gonna be like that it wasn't supposed to be but etc Great Exchanges) stringing back together the symbolism necklace, are you sure progress is the world, all this on the line to barely hold things together a bit longer & then the payoff of this relies on what's going on with the other active players in the operation, which is "even more haphazardly strung together into an operation" and "it's going: bad"

which is to say, getting An begrudging shipment of goods based on a bluff, which hasn't been made yet, things are hanging together by a thread as it were, mostly nobody's having a good or particularly strategic time but now they're sure More In It than ever. and killing a guy from the most powerful enemy to make around here who is already on the defensive (ft. good offense style) but whoops where's the other guy? well that's probably fine, as was almost getting shot, and the entire run isn't even completed & compare this to the success of the marigold trifecta operation we were just shown. really ramping up the "no way this can go on indefinitely, & only would keep going on if you Need To Believe It Can Work Out rather than bring down disaster 5 min later"

shoutout to zib in whatever stage of imprisonment he's in where initially it's like "well dropping your access to / affiliation with lackadaisy pin down a drain could solely be about 'ha ha, now Another authority won't detect this'" but i'm supposing it's (also) about giving up on the operation / actually intending to cut his losses. But What Will Happen....and will the time devoted to his establishing any rapport with a prohibition bureau agent lead to him Learning Anything important? hmm

meanwhile there's viktor over there not wanting everything to end with paisley & regret, who's also like "wow i'm moved to tragically look at these unanswered letters from my Daughter daughter, whoops i lost (a picture of) her to the abyssal underworld (basement space) & can't manage to retrieve her (photo) from it. sure hope i don't get a call from elsa telling me a daughter figure is doing her first rumrunning challenge for the vine"

lmao MY guy. you imply around mordecai that marigold WAS up to something that could've played into atlas's death, On Top Of that Something's Up currently that's involving him but he doesn't understand it and he can't get any info from marigold about it, it's like two nights later & he's asking gracie about it, what a special time they're having. unfortunate that it's gonna end in ten seconds based on "mordecai is pushing a guy like thrice his size along on a squeaking desk chair through the obstacle course of an abandoned brewery so i don't think that's prime conditions to evade the savoys' detection / catching up to that" and "also wip sketch pages suggest serafine's about to noscope gracie 'what's going on here' shoot first ask questions of the guy who was supposed to have shot him already later" so like, a) mordecai will presumably have the info about gracie's scheduled Next Meeting With Drago (in several days) so like hm what's he gonna do? we know drago is focused on marigold. does he have info for zib, for mordecai? how would mordecai approach a meeting with a fed out here & as little Specificity to work with as he's had in questioning gracie, even if plausibly drago Does have more relevant info? i guess you could abduct him too, for a start. risky, ups the stakes, but that's just what he's Already done (as has Everyone Else, as per the central topic of this post) and so now b) seems like the savoys' getting to go "uhhh so. what's up" about mordecai's antics (like. also do we really think the savoys believe he's Having Fun anyways. i Guess. just also probably they'll very easily readjust that belief lmao)

actually this is just a paragraph break for the hell of it. MY GUY....so that basically it's looking like another thing that'll happen is mordecai will have to accept an Affiliation Outside Marigold with the savoys, simply b/c suddenly they have all this leverage knowing he's up to something, But based on what they've Just said & done, they aren't particularly interested in Telling On Him but Are particularly interested in "yeah we don't assume we or you will work at marigold forever, so also we Do want to be allied outside marigold forever" and like seems plausible they could be interested in [find out what's going on at marigold that Concerns Them but that they can't be more privy to than they are now] designs as well anyways. difficult to imagine that they can get on exactly the same page here, but it could be some Good Enough compromise between all of them. and i hope so because they Are still crushing it out here and i certainly think their allying in recognition of We're All Out Here Doing What It Takes To Survive is a basis of encouraging clarity / accuracy on the matter and of course a powerful teamup to maintain & work with & because like lord the [this is a narrative] target on mordecai otherwise perhaps lmao like he does not have the insulation of "wow, family, beautiful" or "wow, romance, beautiful" or "wow, the 'innocence' to have been insulated from This Kind Of Situation in the first place, beautiful" or "wow, randos happen to find you useful AND personable, beautiful" or "so you're up to violence in the violence business & so is everyone else but did you see all these preceding points?? watch out" like boy he needs the backup here. fingers crossed my special little guy. and rooting for the savoys too. anyways

and like see all my murder mystery musing but ofc i dunno what marigold's other Ventures and other Warnings and other Thorns are all about, but that we know Something's Up, and it sure could be that like whatever retrenchment type of maneuvers might've led to some situation of marigold like ummm maybe we care more about an alliance with atlas being a potential liability rather than an asset and then that nonzero involvement in the interest of Indefinite Survival For The Business will have been a little domino of its own destruction set off. would be wild if such "whoops trying to outrun one's own doom was feeding into it??" & Cycles Of Violence & stuff were like some fundamental themes driving the whole narrative here. would be wild if it was like nooo not the isolated guy too Weird to everyone else nooooo....at least one way or another getting up to plenty of Drama first. that's right

[dualisume]

-- @icerberus \\ un plotted starter. ( starter call )

In reality, the fortress && the upper world , are somewhat similar to a two different kind of nations, furina , the current hydro archon may be the ruler of whole fontaine, but when it comes to the underworld, her voice is not as iron clad as someone expected , whatever may happen below the seawater the hydro archon's rule is exempted && any secrets made there won't be known --- after all nothing slip past outside the iron walls that secludes any kind of rumors && secret, the duke had really made a nation for himself but that doesn't mean she doesn't have an intel or two.

After all , the melusines aren't the brightest kind of creature when it comes to human secrecy & privacy - whatever they hear or know they are glad to share the bits of information -- especially to the hydro archon of the said nation. A little persuasion && then - TA DA!! furina had all the information she needed. So it was no wonder why she found herself inside the iron walls of the said prison.

❝ Now , Now !! I know my appearance here is nothing but a surprise, but i couldn't help but be amused , with how you, my dearest people of fontaine -- reacts to see me here --- to be expected , of course -- it was me, they hydro archon ; after alll~ she had set her foot in this place. hmhh ~ haha.❞ She giggled quite proudly -- as she basked under the gaze of her people. Some was surprised, meanwhile others was unbothered && most are glaring daggers , understandable since some of the prisoners here was sent here with her watching their trial as entertainment.

--- ❝ But my people the meet && greet , have to wait -- i have a very special appointment, && perfect timing , Duke of the Fortress of Meropide , just the right man i've been looking for. ❞ Furina then turned to face the taller man , she skipped between her steps before stopping right in front of him. ❝ Why don't we share a cup of tea or two ? hmm?❞

[lemonsoday]

Hi guys so I made a fake cover for one of my oc stories. I'm just now realizing that it doesn't quite fit the vibes of this current excerpt but I promise it makes sense with more context 💀 I thought I'd post something to go along with it and so here's the prolog chapter!

Any feedback or comments are appreciated 🫶

PROLOG

Every star in the sky is that of an ancestor looking down from the land beyond mortals. The names of those still residing in the memories of generations to come are the names belonging to the brightest stars.

As time goes on and memories twist and turn through each person's account, the people behind those names slowly turn to ash, leaving behind hollow gods — mere figures in legends and prayers. A long time ago, one such star existed. The founder of the kingdom high upon the mountains, Hua Xinyang, shone with splendor never seen before in the northern sky. Never obscured by clouds, he was Yujun's symbol even long after his physical body had been devoured by dirt and worms. But he too, would disappear one day. When a dark void appeared in the spot where his star would have shone, Hua Xinyang, although still remaining in the hearts of his people, was truly pronounced dead.

Ever since then, the two other gods who watched over Yujun alongside him, were rarely ever seen again. They said that one secluded himself in his realm in the depths of The Abyss, while the other, crushed by grief, hid away in his garden and never dared to cross any form of life again. Even though their stars still existed in the night sky, their absence made it no different from the death the people of Yujun had experienced just moments before.

That was 500 years ago. Yujun has moved on from their grief and the kingdom has learned to live on without their Tri-Deity. Today, their names are only uttered in respect; for the small fragment of history that people are still able to remember. However, whatever happened before, in between, and after that brief moment in time was a mystery, one that would never reach their descendants because nobody who lived through it was around to tell those stories anymore.

But there was somebody who lived, unbeknownst to anyone besides himself and the gods who had disappeared long ago.

One day when the descendant of Hua Xinyang took in a boy from the south of Yujun, Xiang Yulan, who'd laid dormant in his Silk Pavilion for years, felt that something was out of place within the mortal world. After a distanced observation of the child, the link between them only became clearer. However, he wasn't the only one who felt that way. Bai Ming who'd disappeared from the eyes of all beings — living and dead — suddenly returned to check on this "disturbance." Something wasn't as it should be with Hua Beifang's boy, and as time went on, Bai Ming's suspicions, although believed to be illogical even by himself, seemed to be proven true. The child had memories of the past; the deities' past. He wasn't sure whose memories they were, but they were certainly more accurate than the myths being passed around as the trio's history in the current day.

As a god of the underworld, truth be told, Bai Ming was unnerved by the occurrence. The boy was an anomaly to the cycle of life and death. His duty should have lead to him killling the boy to restore all that is natural, but due to his own personal desire, he could not bring himself to do so.

By the time Hua Xinyang perished, he, Bai Ming, and Xiang Yulan each had their own skeletons in the closet. However, whatever the latter two were hiding was an open secret compared to the events that Hua Xinyang hid away, even from Xiang Yulan.

Despite the shining image of brotherhood that the people of Yujun saw Bai Ming and Hua Xinyang as, Bai Ming couldn't care less about the secrets that the founder had. For what it's worth, if they were to disappear just like their owner, he still would not have felt as if he'd lost something important. On the other side of that spectrum, there was Xiang Yulan. The death of the founder was a secret that he was hiding in itself, one that he was hiding from Xiang Yulan specifically. At least that's what the moon god believes. He didn't know why his companion would do that, but he knew that he must've been keeping something from him, something big, something... awful.

When the boy entered the picture, Xiang Yulan thought that he could be the key to the puzzle. So, he sought after him. He waited for the moment he'd be able to take him as his contract disciple. He always watched him, but never interfered. Without realizing it, he'd watched him grow up.

Bai Ming was aware of this. The revivification of the moon god was a surprise, but, at the start, it was a welcome one. He and Xiang Yulan's relationship had strained after the founder's death, so all he could do was look after him from afar. It was once he'd grasped the other god's true intentions that he finally stepped in. The moon god had no obligation to listen to him, as the death god had no obligation to stop him. But Bai Ming wanted something too, and he was willing to destroy whatever legacy they'd left behind as a trio in order to achieve it.

When the two couldn't reach an agreement, it was settled that from then on, the moon and the waters below were enemies. How people would remember them now was unimportant, because at that point, neither of them had anything to lose.