#and yet MORE deities!

[musical-chan]

Father of Time Chapter 17: Just Another Thing We Lost In The Fire

The next morning was sunny but with a chill in the air that spoke of the coming winter.  Link took full advantage of the warm breakfast at the inn, eating as many helpings as he could fit in his stomach.  As they left, he spared at glance back towards the temple with a little sigh.  "You didn't want to stay for a bit? So you could, I dunno, hang out with your brother some more?"

"If it wasn't so late in the season, perhaps.  It will only get colder from here and, even after we see Mother Din, we have a long way to reach the last Spring."

"Are you going to be able to see him again?"

Deity tousled his son's hair affectionately as they reached the top of the town and prepared to ride the horses once again. "Of course.  Now that we both know, we will search each other out. It is in our nature to Protect together when the need arises."

Link nodded and swung back up on Epona's back. The horse whinnied and tossed her head, eager to be off on such a nice day and the boy was content to let her gallop off into the grass. He had mailed off his letters to Malon and Zelda that morning, had a good breakfast, was able to wash up a little and felt the most rested he had in weeks.  Honestly, it was a good day.  Link was better able to enjoy the sights as they rode down further into what Deity had called Akkala.  They passed farms in the distance and he could see a town down in a hollow to their west. They did not pass any monsters that day and Link knew that Oceans had spoke true about protecting the coast. This land felt much the same as Hyrule did with the Fierce Deity around.  By evening, more clouds had blown in off the ocean and the pair set up their shelter for the first time.

"Well, the sun was nice while it lasted."  Link crouched by the firewood, draining through his magic in an attempt to dry the wood out enough to light. The steady stream of fire eventually took hold and he cheered at the tenuous flame. 

"You will wish for the rain when we get to Eldin."

"Bet you I won't."  Link grinned and plopped the pot into the fire. "I've had enough wet to last me a lifetime, I swear."  He was getting better at camp cooking and carefully portioned out rice into the pot. It was nice to have any sort of grain again; he had been getting tired of the meat and wild greens they had scrounged up the last week or so.  "How long is it going to take, dad?  To get to the Spring?"

"Perhaps a week, maybe two if the weather grows unruly."

"Man, it's a shame the Song of Storms doesn't stop the rain. That would have been handy."

In the end, it took just over a week to travel across the rolling grasslands and scattered trees.  It was a beautiful land and Link thought he might have actually enjoyed visiting it more if it wasn't for the rain that seemed to fall every other day.  At least they had something to sleep under and he was getting much better at drying out wood that seemed perpetually damp so they could have some sort of fire.  And they had one more night in an inn, a few days out from the village that housed the priestesses for Din's Spring.  The town they stopped in was pleasant, a farming village with an amazing array of produce. They even had carrots that the boy bought to give Epona as a treat. And then bought twice that number for Luna so she wouldn't get jealous. 

Soon they would be at the volcano and Link tried to imagine what meeting the second Goddess would be like.

(Read the Rest on AO3!)

[sunderwight]

Bingqiu AU where Luo Binghe's the chosen village sacrifice to the evil deity who lives up the mountain.

Normally the village sends maidens, but they've more or less run out of expendable girls of the right age and, ahem, "virtues". So of course Luo Binghe's early life bad luck kicks in. In the wake of his mother's death there's no one to really care about what happens to him, he's fairly pretty, and the village leaders decide that if they dress him up like a girl the teenaged homeless kid should pass well enough. And hey, y'know, he's probably got a hard life ahead for him anyway -- dying in a brothel of some venereal disease or on the streets of exposure or starvation. At least as a sacrifice, everyone else gets to benefit from his loss! And the kid will get added to a shrine and be remembered as a hero! If anything, he should be happy about this!

Binghe is not happy about this.

But he's also a skinny underfed nobody who is easily overpowered, dressed up like a bride, and tied to a post. So. Not much he can do but wait for the evil deity to come and do whatever horrible thing he's gonna do to him.

Meanwhile, Shen Yuan is pretty sure he's been isekai'd into the over-powered hero of some kind of supernatural adventure story? He's not totally sure because he doesn't recognize the setting, but the signs are there. He's got a shrine-like base of operations (though it seems to have become corrupted/ruined, probably he has to restore it somehow), he has a very resilient and handsome new body with spiritual energy of some kind flowing through him, and a very clearly magical sword. Plus lots of neat starter powers! Though it feels like he has other abilities that have been blocked somehow? Probably he has to level up in order to access them.

When he treks out of his "base" and finds what seems to be a distressed maiden, he takes it for his beginner hero mission. The girl claims that she's been doomed to be sacrificed to an evil god. That sounds a little above Shen Yuan's pay grade for dealing with, so he unties her and decides that they had better just get out of the whole region altogether. He already packed up anything useful from his base, anticipating he might get caught up in an adventure once he left, so they follow the river away from the settlement until they reach another one.

While they travel, Luo Binghe tells Shen Yuan about the cursed deity, Shen Qingqiu, who was cast out of the heavens for slaughtering one of his brethren and has apparently being do-who-knows what to maidens from the local village in exchange for his "protection" ever since. Sounds like a real asshole! And also mid-level boss type bad guy at least. Shen Yuan hopes he doesn't have to fight him, but he probably will.

Thank goodness he found Binghe, though! Clearly the helpful little sister type! He's definitely going to require her assistance if he's going to figure out how to navigate this world and level up his skills enough to take on a god.

[bacchuschucklefuck]

dreaming abt sophomore year class swap bard!riz

[ganondoodle]

(wip)

some doodles that took me way too much effort; an updated design for Raal (aka demise when he was a mortal, he still uses that name when in disguise and modeled those forms after how he imagined he would look if he ever grew up as one) and a clunky doodle of both his blade spirits just after forging them

[deitiesofduat]

Swings by with another stray tumblr update! Something I finished months ago in May -- this art of Bastet was meant to be something 'quick' (lol--) to practice the style I used for my Artfight 2024 Attacks. But I also drew it because the kitty goddess had been overdue for more up-to-date artwork to use for her profiles.

I’m currently more active on my Bluesky account, and updating the project site gradually. In fact, I’ve just finished archiving the first 100 askbox responses there, with more on the way for those feeling nostalgic. Otherwise, I’ll continue to update the project blog on tumblr when I can, thank you all for sticking around!

DEITIES Website: deitiesofduat.com

Bastet’s Profile: deitiesofduat.com/portfolio/bastet

[sarafangirlart]

See, I hate modern media making Ares the big bad not bc he’s actually a sweet guy compared to the other gods or anything like that but bc bro is just not all that, he is simply not a credible threat in Greek mythology. Every time he steps out of line or does something bad Athena (or another god or mortal hero) would beat the crap out of him and that would be the end of it.

[deity-journal]

I've been getting a little obsessed with Zeus lately... Literally anything that's about him, myth, fictional Zeus (like in Epic for example), animals, anything

Also felt a heavier energy today during that five minutes obsession where I was kinda consuming everything that I could find and heard a chuckle in my mind, a deep one, not Apollon's higher one

And I'm sure it wasn't Poseidon, Poseidon's energy feels like it's weighing me down everytime he's there (which isn't often) and Poseidon is quiet as a mouse too; most of the time he's just there for maybe a minute or two, checking on me and then leaves again without uttering a word or making a single sound

And today's energy that might have been Zeus' felt heavy but also comfy? Similar to Apollon's but heavier/stronger I guess

[elliottjpg]

Woe! Transgender samurai be upon ye!

-pulling my old OC out of the filing cabinet and giving him a shampoo- LOOK I HAVE A NEW CHILD!! :D

I've decided to rework an old story/universe from several years ago, so here we go again, from the top:

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暁の物語 Akatsuki no Monogatari

光 Hikari

Hikari, aka Shitaikou, is a young ronin, a master-less samurai, wandering around Edo-era Japan on a soul-searching journey.

He was raised as a girl named Sayoko (小夜子) by a samurai family, and taught swordsmanship and the arts like his brothers, although he was never destined to become a warrior. When the time came to find him a husband, he stole two swords, ran away and changed his name.

He now walks the roads of Japan on a quest to find [insert as-of-yet undefined quest here], and offers his assistance to villagers on the way. In doing so, he often runs into yokais and other paranormal occurences, to the point where in time he becomes an expert on the occult underworld of Japan and is often nicknamed the Demon Samurai.

Hikari is accompanied in his travels by Chihiro (千尋), a kitsune, and by Mochi (餅), a totally normal cat with the usual amount of tails and absolutely no supernatural powers, no siree. He is also regularly involved with an onnagata (a cross-dressing kabuki actor) and a yokai-hunting Buddhist monk, both of which I have yet to name (Mochi's name is also susceptible of being changed soon), and meets all kinds of strange people on his travels.

Hikari has a kind heart and a strong sense of honour. His driving force is his desire to help others; although he is very naive at first, and misguided altruism often gets him in trouble. As the story progresses, he will grow more mature and cynical, often preferring the company of yokais to that of humans, but trying to retain hope and faith in his fellow men.

(You can see older drawings of Hikari, including different outfits, here)

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Akatsuki no Monogatari (the Tale of Dawn) takes place in the very beginning of the Edo era, in the transition years between the warring period of the Sengoku-Jidai and the two hundred years of peace under the Tokugawa shogunate. It is a story about change and beginnings, both of a person and of a country.

Some name lore under the cut!

The kanji Hikari 光 means "light". Hikari is a "public first name", sort of an official nickname. It was common practice in feudal Japan (at least among the samurai class) to go by a public name and keep your real name private. In Hikari's case, that is also because he often frequents yokais and magicians, who could use his true name against him.

His real name is Shitaikou 志泰光 . The kanjis composing it mean "aspire", "gentle" and "light". He chose it as a reminder to himself to strive for kindness and to make the world a better place.

("Hikari" is the last kanji composing this name. When used with other kanjis, it is pronouced "kou". Such is the messed-up way kanjis work. -frustrated weeb noises-)

Hikari doesn't have a last name; he gave up his family's name when he ran away and saw no use in taking a new one: as a ronin he is not tied to any family.

His birth name, Sayoko 小夜子 , is composed of the kanjis "small", "night" and "daughter". Hence the title, Akatsuki no Monogatari, the tale of dawn, or how the night turns into the light.

[deityofhearts]

dressed as a vampire again a couple weeks ago I’m considering what things I could add to the look for a more vampiric feel (I have the bleeding neck peak choker i made, a few pieces of red jewelry, some red gloves elbow length but you wouldn’t really see them (may get some small black lace gloves if ever possible), a little black ruffle half jacket thing idk how to describe it) i am open to suggestions

[sentientstump]

pillars, boiled fish eyes

and storytime distant memories

[fujii-draws]

(BREAKING THROUGH THE WALL) YOUR RECENT ART WITH DUSK AND BIBBONS ACTIVATED A WHOLE BUNCHA SPOTS IN MY HEAD AND IM GONNA TALK ABOUT IT TO YOU BECAUSE IT DID SOMETHING TO ME.

i think theres something about how the emotional journey that ribbons and dusk had to go on together as a reconciliation to what once was and what had unfortunately happened results in ribbons' ultimate act of trust in dusknoir, with the action of going head to head toe to toe with cresselia's idiot brother. how at first, she didn't even consider the IDEA of even looking at his direction and just throwing snide remarks at him when he tried to be more casual and stick around and now she trusts him with what is essentially the grandest point in their journey, and its both the amount of trust both of them have in each other that just speaks MULTITUDES. ribbons may had a rocky (and justified) path on the whole idea of trusting dusknoir, and yet she considered HIM to go with her on a mission that was equivalent to the world's weight on her shoulders. she chose HIM to be her support, and with just how much dusknoir doubted himself that he isnt worthy of such a pleasantry, it changed something within him. all his efforts, everything he strived for to ensure that the kids will stay safe away from the clutches of harm (and by some extent from himself), and all the guilt, shame and pain that resided in his heart from what he did.. this is the decisive battle that will decide if he is worthy of her respect, and to ensure his past will die a valiant death as he will look into the new future he is granted to.

Sinnoh I know sometimes my responses to ur tags/asks are short and oftentimes lackluster in comparison. But the reason for that is bc you quite literally take the words right out of my mouth.

[edns]

FIRST, THERE WAS THE SUN.

[flannel-pup]

What if I told you I finally started drafting my modern-ish retelling of Apollo and Hyacinth 👀

[woolmasterleel]

These are doodles for the species guide, but I like them enough to post them alone (～￣▽￣)～

The twins!! Finally have a face to their names..

I should formally introduce them on their refs, but I'll put a little info here! These are Atomus (left) and Evelyn (right) Cogitonis. They're the first two Pseudo-Humans created by Eregarde Cogitonis.

They do not like Eregarde (❁´◡`❁)

A version with a closeup of their eyes!

[express-archives]

even though ambrose was the one who usually took care of them, artemis was actually the one who tended to many of the orphaned children's emotional and physical needs in-depth when she could. among these children was a baby mnemosyne, but that isn't the main point of this post HAHAH

the cousins were joined in their efforts to protect these kids who had suffered so much at the hands of war, but both of them were very busy participating in it. ambrose was not as attuned to their needs as artemis and usually just did what she told them to.

...which still heavily carries over to the present time. ambrose likes kids but struggles with taking care of them to an extent (they're kind of awkward at it ngl), meanwhile artemis is proficient at it like it's the easiest thing in the world.

[theoi-of-olympus]

Waiting patiently by the door for my new statues to arrive even though they’re estimated to be delivered on the 19th