#ares division

[gwendolyn-of-loxley]

Some more before I run out of steam.

Cooper tries his best to set aside his vendetta for Blisk and that lasts approximately five minutes. As the Frontier Militia starts waging a proper war of attrition against the IMC, the Titan doctrine of combat begins to fade from the overall scheme. While excellent mining tools that can serve well in desperate combat rolls, Titans themselves are expensive to maintain and arm, and Pilots given clearance to use them take time to train. As a result, the number of Titans on the field are the ones that simply refuse to die; all but the best of Pilots have either fallen or retired.

This is where a shift in perspective comes. Kuben Blisk is set up at an IMC-held colony closer to the front of the Frontier War. He is intently working on his Legion-class Titan, named "Hilda-Mari" as revealed when he absentmindedly chastizes her for "not taking care of herself." He is interrupted when a team of IMC Spectre troops carry in an unweildy holographic projector, wordlessly turning it on to reveal a life-sized hologram of General Marder. The two bicker, and their relationship is evident and clear: General Marder is vocally condescending to Blisk regarding his status as a freelancing mercenary (as opposed to continuing his previous career as an IMC officer) and clearly still frustrated about Blisk's refusal to kill BT and Cooper at the end of Titanfall 2.

Blisk, on the other hand, finds Marder to be irritating. Taking care to keep civil so as to keep his job, Blisk reminds Marder that he's still the best Pilot for hire, and that they both know it. Marder is displeased with Blisk's snark and remarks how much money he's spent hiring Blisk for so long, only for the Frontier to gain ground. Marder then proceeds to give Blisk a new assignment to hold a nearby alien archeological site from Frontier forces as long as possible. Blisk, having grown tired of unchallenging combatants and missing the now-dead Apex Predators, accepts. He additionally mutters about how unentertaining it is to battle Remnant Titans, but does not elaborate.

Marder ends their call, and a few seconds later, Blisk's nearby computer terminal gives him a beep. Lazily checking, Blisk chuckles with excitement as the computer reveals that the 6-4 are closing in. Jack Cooper's head rotates on the screen. Blisk calls out to Hilda-Mari that their "hero still isn't done."

Transitioning back to Frontier command, Sarah Briggs is briefing the 6-4 on the data they retrieved from their last mission. It is revealed that the IMC, having no shortage of wealth, has experienced an indecisiveness among its board of directors. Whole some on the board wish to outright abandon Frontier space in order to cut losses, others have pushed for the engagement of nuclear armaments on Militia planets with fewer organic natural resources. The proposition comes with the theory that if all life on these worlds is destroyed, then equipping workers with radiation protection is a much cheaper, and therefore preferable, alternative to open warfare. General Marder has drawn the ire of many board members as a result of his failure at Typhon, and is leading this nuclear movement in bid to secure profit and regain loyalty in the company.

As a result of this situation, Marder is physically present in Frontier space, though far behind enemy lines. Sarah believes that if the Frontier Militia manages to catch Marder, the IMC board will instead favor the sentiment to withdraw, as ARES Division is also effectively stranded in Frontier space without direct control of most resources.

Out of steam. Let me know what y'all think so far.

Alright, here's what I have so far for "Titanfall 3: No Time to Fall" (deeply unserious title). I barely have an act together for a story so I'm gonna reblog this a bunch of times with new additions. Don't be surprised at any lore contradictions with Apex Legends; I don't play the game or follow the story.

So we start off just, like, a few months after Titanfall 2. Jack Cooper is flying high from the Fold Weapon fiasco and has joined the 6-4 alongside Bear, Gates, Droz, and Davis. The chemistry is delightful; Cooper has developed the confidence to fit right in with the team, and you get a great re-introduction to the setting with a high energy mission against an IMC station (could be in space maybe? Movement system may not be great to start in zero G). The 6-4 is, as always, wonderful. You get re-acquainted with the wall-run movement style of the series.

The 6-4 shreds through the base and finds some important IMC files, but Cooper searches for stuff irrelevant to the mission, and manages to get ahold of a lead on how to track down Kuben Blisk, leader of the Apex Predators. This is still only a couple months after Typhon's donation, and that means Cooper is set on taking down the man he sees as responsible for the death of both Lastimosa and BT. He manages to get the information, but Gates catches him at the last moment, and he plays it off. Before she can press, they get an alert from Bear that enemy Titanfalls have been detected.

The team calls in their various Titans, with kits both carried over from the previous games and entirely new to the sequel. When Cooper calls down his Titan, it is revealed that he has been paired with FS-1041, the Vanguard Titan originally intended to be his once Cooper had finished training under Lastimosa. Immediately, something is not right; FS's vocalisations are sterile in a way far beyond BT's had ever been. He does not make conversation, he does not make informative callouts, and Cooper is audibly frustrated with the situation.

Davis remarks on it with empathy; he too had a strong rapport with a former Titan. Lore is dropped that Titans with incredibly Smart AI like BT had already been rare and expensive this far into the war. Many Pilots, like Anderson, Bear, and (very importantly) Gates, had only ever piloted standard OS AI in their Titans. Lastimosa had been an acceptional dual-tactic Pilot and was deemed valuable enough to merit BT. Most other Smart AI are either present on ships, in charge of infrastructure. MOB-1316, Sarah Briggs' Titan, is one if these, and Cooper makes a snide comment wishing she'd let him switch.

Once the fight is over, the 6-4 returns to the current Militia flagship, the MCS Typhon's Memory. Gates attempts to corner Cooper about his vendetta against Kuben Blisk, but Bear interrupts and has a heart to heart with Cooper. Bear goes on to explain that the war has been hard on all of them. It is revealed that the Militia victory at Typhon was important but not without cost. The current goal of the Militia has become the capture, trial, and sentencing of General Marder, a campaign that has encountered multiple frustrating setbacks. Bear expressed sympathy toward Cooper's grieving, but emphasized the important of having everyone in the same page. He finishes his words with "we'll get him one day, I promise."

Cooper looks at his helmet before setting it on a table and falling into his cot. The helmet's visor blinks in accordance with the post-credits ending of Titanfall 2.

More to follow.

[sonofcoulson]

1948 Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. series 1

Howard finally opens the S.H.I.E.L.D. agency and makes Peggy director. The SSR keep the Playground base and are absorbed into S.H.I.E.L.D. as their research division.

Howard's greater authority and larger amount of resources from the government (as well as his own) allow them to pull in more heroes.

S.H.I.E.L.D. will fight terrorist cells and non-state actors, investigate supernatural phenomena, also deal with and cover up powered people cos the general public "can't handle the truth". This is part of their mandate from the government and S.H.I.E.L.D. is threatened with closure or refusal of funding many times for trying to circumvent this aspect of their role within said government.

Director Carter is trying to maintain a long distance relationship with Sousa and has to investigate the "hit" on Agent Thomson.

Zodiac is the main story for this series.

Zodiac is behind the assassination attempt, with the council of 9 previously being under them. Vernon Masters returns to do their bidding (never saw a body right?). Peggy's brother has been alive all this time and it was his redacted file that Thomson was to smear Peggy with and not actually Peggy's (Michael's name and d.o.b. were redacted just leaving the surname Carter and informants that heavily implied that it was Peggy). With the smear failed, the Zodiac group want it back, for safe keeping. Thomson is the only one outside of the Zodiac or the council of 9 that has read it, so he was supposed to be killed, but they hired Dottie to do it and she was able to make it look like she was trying to kill him without killing him ("if I'd wanted to kill him he'd be dead"). She arranges a meet with Peggy in a subterfugey way, info dumps, insists she really was trying to be helpful by taking the hit job, and manages to wriggle away again.

Zodiac is led by Marcus Lassiter (A buff Milo Ventimiglia with a cool beard). Marcus has the codename Aries and wears ram horns at the meetings which seems silly at first till we realise they are functional and they all have silly costumes. Marcus has super-human strength, which we don't see initially.

All of the Zodiac members have themed powers/tech:

Taurus (Cornelius Van Lunt) has bought his seat on the board and isn't afraid to use that fact. He has a bull's head costume. He also has dangerous horns.

Gemini (Joshua and Damian Link) are identical twins have identical costumes and carry identical dual wielding pistols. They have an amazing synergy when they fight as a duo. They only get one vote between them. 

Cancer (Jack Kleveno) has a crab costume. That is all I have to say about that.

Leo (Daniel Radford) is a dude in a lion suit. It has a lion mask and an exoskeleton that gives the wearer enhanced strength, agility and durability. 

Virgo (Elaine McLaughlin) has an extraterrestrial material coating her suit which gives her great durability and shock absorption. It also allows her to heal/regenerate herself or others. In my head, crab man gets injured by S.H.I.E.L.D. and Elaine comes back and gets captured just to heal her secret crustacean lover.

Libra (Gustav Brandt) has a hi tec blindfold that allows him limited psychic abilities and a teleportation ring. Martial artist too.

Scorpio (Jake Fury) has a costume with venom blasts and neurotoxic sprays. Yes. That Fury. In the comics he is Nick's brother. Here he would have to be his dad. In the series he is only referred to as Jake initially to keep his identity a slight surprise.

Sagittarius (Harlan Vargas) has an eye mask that grants enhanced vision and tracking abilities. He is highly skilled with a bow and arrow.

Capricorn (Willard Weir) is green. I'm thinking they're an alien. This superpower ideas site says Capricorn might have shape shifting abilities so they could be a Skrull masquerading as a Willard Weir.

Aquarius (Michael Carter) has a water based costume and weapons. Michael was not happy with the smear on Peggy but went along with it for fear of repercussions.  But now her life is under threat, so he leaves warnings for her to help her avoid getting killed. Eventually Aries discovers the betrayal and beats Michael to death in his secret apartment. Peggy comes across the apartment as part of the S.H.I.E.L.D. investigation and discovers the body. She realises he was the one giving warnings (to help them avoid traps, ambushes etc) and finds a note he wrote for her when he knew Aries was coming for him. It's written in their shared childhood code. It explains his motivations (he was trying to change the world for the better) and gives some info about what Zodiac are going to do next. Zachary Drebb is the second Aquarius.

Piesces (Noah Perricone) is blue and looks like he'd be good in the water so I'm thinking Talokanil

S.H.I.E.L.D. discover there is an off-books SSR mole on the inside. They are furious with Flynn for not telling them straight away. Flynn thought it would compromise the mole's safety.

As the Zodiac members are arrested or killed during the S.H.I.E.L.D. investigation, Jake Fury is revealed as the SSR mole. He tries to escape with the actual Zodiac key but it corrupts him and he tries to incite rebellion within the remaining Zodiac council members to effect social change. This just causes everyone to squabble and fight. Aries finds this amusing, but comes for Jake nevertheless. Jake ends up losing the key back to Aries, but escapes with his life.

Aries reveals himself as an actual god at the end of the series. He was cast out by Zeus for causing too much trouble in Omnipotence City and bound to be peaceful. He has taken that to mean he can't fight personally and has been manipulating world events with extracts from the aforementioned Zodiac Key to cause as much conflict as possible. The S.H.I.E.L.D. team have been annoying him by thwarting his plans. He says he is tired of being subtle.

They need the whole team, including Dottie, Sousa, Thomson and the Howling commandos using Stark tech and the Human Torch (Jim), Union Jack II (Brian) and Spitfire (Jacqueline). Peggy also calls in a favour from California based Adam Brashear (aka Blue Marvel) to help take him down. As Adam was the love interest from the previous series, this risks embarrassment for Peggy and could possibly end her relationship with Sousa, but the stakes are too high not to.

Ultimately Jim is the only one not affected by the Zodiac key and has to go Supernova to knock him out. He knew he was becoming unstable and had been advised he might go supernova, he just decides to do it on purpose. Heroic sacrifice! The team is devastated at the loss.

A relationship between Jim and Jacqueline would be built up through the series so she would take this the hardest.

Zeus could come and actually bind Ares with power dampening bangles. This physically prevents him from conflict instead of just getting his word. He is captured and will not be seen again till Dark Avengers.

S.H.I.E.L.D. recommends Adam for a commendation and Jim for a posthumous one. The CIA intervene and say that not only will no one will be getting one but no one must hear of it. The existence of gods and aliens is very much covered up at the behest of the American government so as not to cause mass hysteria. No one outside of the President and the people who were at the final battle know anything about it.

Adam is told he cannot be publicly rewarded and is no longer allowed to fight crime (he has been fighting crime in a costume and mask to hide his identity) as the CIA believe the world is not ready for a black superhero. The President reluctantly confirms this. S.H.I.E.L.D. must assign him a handler (he is so going to fight crime).

As Jim was essentially a sentient weapon the CIA won't publicly acknowledge his existence and stipulate he must be buried in the desert in an indestructible airtight box. The President reluctantly confirms this too.

Dottie disappears after making a significant contribution and manages to stay off radar until the first Black Widow movie…

Peggy and Sousa decide to carry on with their long distance relationship.

Namor shows up when he finds out about Noah. He is not happy that his citizen was defeated and arrested and he vows never to return. He is also not happy with said citizen for acting without his consent and forces S.H.I.E.L.D. to release him into Talokanil custody. He is sorry about Jim Hammond's passing though and stays for the burial in a secret S.H.I.E.L.D. location in the desert.

Post credits:- Peggy calls Marlene Frazier and asks, as she has been with Adam this whole time anyway, if she'll be his handler. He comes home and gives her a kiss, they have developed a relationship while working together. She says she is happy to keep an eye on him.

[entriprises]

tag dump # 4 !

[hellonoblesky]

Every now and then I remember Mads Mikkelson plays Galen Erso and I get giddy

[bloodyshadow1]

I feel like people are underestimating Zeus' reaction to Athena at the beginning of his part of God Games. Like yes, of course he's pissed, no one is supposed to be able to win his rigged game, it makes him look like a fool for losing his game, but there's something else.

Athena after winning his game is literally Zeus' nightmare come to life. Zeus was prophecized to be deposed by his and Metis' child, some say they would have a daughter and then a son who would usurp him, but I've seen a couple interpretations. That's why Zeus ate his first wife so he could murder his children by her before it came to pass. Athena was born from his skull anyway, but it was clear and scared him enough to become just like his father.

Now hundreds or so years later, his 'favorite' daughter comes with a request so he makes her do the impossible task, getting members of their family to agree with her. He stacked the deck, Apollo and Hephaestus don't care, but Ares and Aphrodite hate Athena and the feeling is mutual, and Hera would never back one of his kids that weren't hers, at least not for a mortal. Athena could get one or two of them to release Odysseus, but the man is such a divisive figure that there's no way she'd be able to get 5 gods on her side.

Yet Athena did, not only did she beat him, beat his game, she showed off how capable she is. She showed her wits, her strength, the skills a true ruler would need, and she's standing in front of him making 'demands.'

No wonder Zeus freaked out, he literally took a page out of his father's playbook and tried to devour one of his children to avert a prophecy and there she is standing in front of her, 5 gods behind her, nearly half of the Olympians, the same amount of siblings he freed and overthrew his father with, the biggest threat to his power since hera's coup.

Now Athena doesn't want his throne, she wants her friend free, but that doesn't matter to Zeus. The guy was paranoid enough to try and murder Athena in the womb and here she is like the prodigal daughter like he was when he free his own siblings, no wonder the guy freaked out on her. He only relents when Athena, with her 'dying' breath, reiterates that she only wants Odysseus free, not his throne and starts to let his guard down

I could be overthinking this, I love to overthink Greek Mythology, but it does make sense if you look at Zeus' history. Child overthrowing their fathers is the founding of their dynasty, If I was the king of the gods I would be freaking out

[felikatze]

ISAT and Ludonarrative Harmony: Combat is a Storytelling Tool

Or: How Siffrin is stuck in the endgame grind, forever

Please Note: This is primarily aimed at an audience that already played In Stars and Time, because I am bad at explaining things, and it's good to already know what the fuck I'm talking about. I tend to only bring up game elements as I want to talk about them.

Spoilers for.... all of ISAT! Especially Act 5!

(image to show how i feel posting this and as an attention grabber over my wall of text)

To pull a definition of ludonarrative harmony out of a hat, game writer Lauryn Ash defines it as follows:

Ludonarrative harmony is when gameplay and story work together to create a meaningful and immersive experience. From a design implementation perspective, it is the synchronized interactions between in-game actions (mechanics) and in-world context (story).

It is, generally speaking, how well game mechanics work hand in hand with the story. I, personally, think ISAT is an absolute masterclass of it, so I want to take a look at how ISAT specifically uses its battle system to emphasize Siffrin's character arc and create organic story moments. I want you to keep this in mind when I talk here.

So, skills, right? If you've played any turn-based RPG, you know your Fire spells, your "BACKSLASH! AIRSLASH! BACKSLASH!" and the many ways to style those.

Well, what does casting "Fire" say about your character? Not all that much, does it? Perhaps you'll have typical divisions. The smart one is the mage, the big brawny one is your tank, the petite one's the healer. And that's the barebones of ISAT's main party, but it's much more than that.

Every character's style of combat tells you something about them. Odile, the Researcher, is the most well-travelled and knowledgable of the bunch. She's the one with the expertise to keep a cool head and analyze the enemy, yet also able to use all three of the Rock-Paper-Scissors craft types.

To reflect her analytical view of things, all her skill names are just descriptive, the closest to your most bog-standard RPG. "Slow IV" or "Paper III" serve well to describe their purpose. The high number of the skills gives the impression there were three other Slow skills beforehand - fitting, considering the party starts at level 45, about to head into the final dungeon. She's also the oldest, so she's the slowest of the bunch.

Isabea, the Fighter, has all his skills in exclamation points. "YOUR TURN!!!" "SO WEAK!!!" "SMASH!!!" they're straightforward, but excited. He's a purposefully cheerfull guy, so his skills revolve around cheering on his allies. He's absolutely pumped to be here, and you see that from his skill names alone.

Mirabelle, the Housemaiden, is an interesting case. She's by all means the true protagonist of this tale - She's the one "Chosen by the Change God," the only one who survived the King's first attack, the only one immune to his ability to freeze time, the only dual-craft type of the game - just a lot of things. And her skill names reflect that facade she puts on herself - she can do this, she can win! She has to believe it, or else she starts doubting. This is how you get "Jolly Round Rondo" and "Mega Sparkle Heal" or "Adorable Moving Cure." She's styled every bit a sailor scout shojo heroine, and her moveset replicates the naming conventions of "In the name of the moon, I'll punish you!"

Even Bonnie, the Kid, who can't be controlled in combat, has named craft skills. And they very much reflect that Bonnie is, well, a kid. "Wolf Speed Technique" or "Thousand Blows Technique" are very much the phrasings of a child who learned one complicated word and now wants to use it in everything to seem cooler than they are, which is none, because they're twelve.

Siffrin's skills are all puns.

You have an IMMEDIATE feel for personality here. Between "Knife to Meet You!" and "Too Cleaver by Half," you know Siffrin's the type to always crack a joke no matter the situation, slinging witticisms around to put Sonic the Hedgehog to shame. It's just such a clever way to establish character using a game mechanic as old as the entire history of RPGs.

This is only the baseline of the way the combat system feeds into the story, though.

The timeloop, of course, feeds into it. Siffrin is the only character who retains experience upon looping, whereas all other characters are reset to their base level and skills. And it sucks (affectionate).

You're extremely likely to battle more often the earlier in the game you are - after all, you need the experience (for now.) Every party member contributes, and Siffrin isn't all that strong on their own, since they focus on raw scissor type damage with the addition of one speed buff. (Of course it's a speed buff. They're a speedy fucker. Just look at him).

At first, the difference in level between Siffrin and the rest of the group is rather negligible. Just a level or two. Just a bit more speed and attack. And then Siffrin grows further and further apart. Siffrin keeps learning new skills. He gets a healing skill that doubles as an attack boost, taking away from both Mirabelle's and Isabeau's usefullness. He gets Craft skills of every type that even give you two jackpot points instead of one - thus obliterating Odile's niche. Siffrin turns into a one-person army capable of clearing most encounters all on their own.

Siffrin's combat progression is an exact mirror of story progression - as their experience inside the loops grows, they also grow further and further away from their party. The party seems... weaker, slower, clumsier. Always back at their starting point, just as all of their character arcs are reset each loop. Never advancing, always stagnant. And you have Siffrin as the comparison post right next to them.

I also want to point out here a change from Act 2 to Act 3 - Siffrin's battle portrait. He stops smiling.

Battles keep getting easier. This is true both for the reason that Siffrin keeps growing stronger even when all enemies stay the same, but also for the reason that you, the player, learn more about the battle system and the various encounters, until you've learned perfect boss clear strategies just from repetition. Have you ever watched a speedrunner play Pokemon? They've played this game so many times, they could do it blindfolded and sleeping. Your own knowledge and Siffrin's new strength work in tandem to trivialize the game's entire combat system as the game progresses.

(Is it still fun? Playing it over, and over, and over again? Is it?)

You and Siffrin are in sync, your experience making everything trivial.

As time goes on, Siffrin grows to care less and less about performing right for their party and more and more about going fast. A huge moment in his character is marked by the end of Act 3; because of story events I won't delve too deeply into, Siffrin has grown afraid of trying something new. And his options of escape are closing in. They need an answer, and they need it fast. He doesn't have the time or patience to dumb himself down, so you unlock one new skill.

It doesn't occur with level up, or with a quest, or anything at all. At the start of Act 4, it simply appears in Siffrin's Craft skills.

(Just attack.)

No pun. No joke. Just attack. Once you notice, the effect is immediate - here you have it, a clear sign of how jaded Siffrin has become, right at every encounter. And it's a damn good attack, too! The only available attack in the game that deals "massive" damage against all enemies. Because it doesn't add any jackpot points (at least, it's not supposed to), you set up a combo with everybody else, but Siffrin simply tears away at the enemy with wild abandon. Seperated from the rest of the party by the virtue of no longer needing to contribute to team attacks (most of the time. It's still useful if they do, though).

Once again, an aspect of the battle system enhances the degree of separation between Siffrin and the static characters of his play. You're incentivized to separate him, even.

Additionally, there are two more skills to learn. They're the only skills that replace previous skills. You only get them at extremely high levels, the latter of which I didn't even reach on both of my playthroughs.

The first, somewhere in the level 70 range, Rose Printed Glasses, a paper type craft skill, is replaced by Tear You Apart. It's still a pun about paper, but remarkedly more vicious.

The second is even more on the nose. At level 80, In A While, Rockodile!, a rock type craft skill, is replaced by the more powerful Rock Bottom.

I didn't get to level 80. If you do, you pretty much have to do it on purpose. You have to keep going much longer than necessary, as Siffrin is just done. And the last skill he learns is literally called Rock Bottom.

What do I even need to say, really.

Your party doesn't stay static forever, though.

By doing their hangout quests, side quests throughout the loops that result in Siffrin and the character having a heart to heart, all of them unlock what I'd call an "ultimate" skill. You know the type - the character achieved self-fulfillment, hit rank 10 on their confidant, maxed out their skill tree, and received a reward for their trouble.

These skills are massively useful. My favorite is Odile's - it makes one enemy weak to all Craft types for several turns, which basically allows you to invalidate the first and third boss, as well as just clown on the King, especially once Siffrin starts racking up damage.

But the thing is. In Act 3, when you first get them, yeah, they're useful. But... do you need them? After all, they're such a hassle to get. You need to do the whole character quest again, you can't loop forward in the House or you'll lose them. If you want to take these skills to the King, you need to commit. Go the full nine-yards and be nice to your friends and not die and not skip forward or skip back. Which is annoying, right?

Well, I sure did think so during Act 4. After all, a base level party can still defeat the King, just with a few more tricky pieces involved. Siffrin can oneshot almost all basic enemies by the time of Act 4. It's this exact evalutation that you, the player, go through everytime you return to Dormont. Do I want this skill, still? Would it not be faster to go on without it? I'm repeating myself, but that's the thing! That's what Siffrin is thinking, too!

I also want to take a quick moment to note, here - all skills gained from hangouts have art associated with them, which no other skills do. This feature, the nifty art, hammers home these as "special" skills, besides just how they're unlocked.

Siffrin also has one skill with associated art.

Yeah, you guessed it, it's (Just attack.)

At first, helping the characters is tied to a hefty in-game reward, but that reward loses its value, and in return devalues helping Siffrin's friends every loop. It's too tedious for a skill that'll make a boss go by one turn faster. You, the player, grow jaded with the battle system. Grinding experience isn't worth it, everybody's highest levels are already recorded. Fighting bosses isn't worth it, it's much faster to loop forward.

Isn't this what all endgame in video games looks like? You already beat the final boss, and now... what challenge is left? Is there a point to keep playing? Most games will have some post-game content. A superboss to test your skills against, but ISAT doesn't have any of that. You're forever left chasing to the post-game. That's the whole point - to escape the game.

As most games get more difficult as time passes, ISAT only gets easier. The game becomes disinterested in expanding its own mechanics just as I ran out of new things to fight after 100%-ing Kingdom Hearts 3. Every encounter becomes a simple game of "press button to win."

The final boss just takes that one up a notch.

Spoilers for Act 5 ahead boys!

In Act 5, Siffrin utterly loses it. His last possible hope for escape failed him, told him there's nothing she can do, and Siffrin is trapped for eternity. So of course, they go insane and run up the entire House without their party.

This just proves what you already knew - you dont need the party to proceed. Siffrin alone is strong enough. And here, Siffrin has entirely shed the facade of the jokester they used to be. Every single skill now follows the (Just attack.) naming conventions. Your skills are: (Paper.) (Rock.) (Scissors.) (Breathe.)

To the point. Not a moment wasted, because Siffrin can't take a moment longer of any of this. Additionally, his level is set to 99 and his equipment becomes fixed. You can't even pick up items anymore! Not that you needed them at this point anyway, right? Honestly, I never used any items besides the Salty Broth since Act 2, so I stopped picking items up a long time ago. Now you just literally can't.

Something I've not talked about until now - one of the main equipment types in this game are Memories, gained for completing subquests or specific interactions and events. They all by and large have little effects - make Odile's tonics heal more, or have Mirabelle cast a shield at the start of combat. For the hangout events, you also gain an associated memory that boosts the characters' stats by 30. It lets them keep up with Siffrin again! A fresh wind! Finally, your party members feel on par with you again!

...For a time. And just like that, they're irrelevant again, just as helping them gave Siffrin a brief moment of hope that the power of friendship could fix everything.

In Act 5, your memory is set to "Memory of Emptiness." It allows you to loop back in the middle of combat. You literally can't die anymore. Not that Siffrin could've died by this point in the first place, unless you forgot about the King's instant-kill attack. This one memory takes away the false pretense that combat ever had any stakes. Siffrin's level being set to 99 means even the scant exp you get is completely wasted on them. All stakes and benefits from combat have been removed. It has become utterly pointless.

Frustrating, right? It's an artistic frustration, though. It traps you right here in Siffrin's shoes, because he hates that all these blinding Sadnesses are still walking around just as much. It all inspires just a tiny fraction of that deep rolling anger Siffrin experiences here in the player.

And listen, it was cathartic, that one time Siffrin snapped and stabbed the tutorial Sadness, wasn't it? Because who enjoys sitting through the tutorial that often? Siffrin doesn't. I don't, either.

So, since combat is an useless obstacle now meant to inspire frustration, what do you do for a boss? You can't well make it a gameplay challenge now, no. The bosses of Act 5 are an emotional challenge: a painful wait.

First, Siffrin fights the King, alone. This is already nervewracking because of one factor - in every other run, you need Mirabelle's shield skill, or else you're scripted to die. You're actually forced to fight the King multiple times in Act 3, and have to do it at least once in Act 4, though you'll likely do it more. Point is: you know how this fight works.

You know Siffrin's fight is doomed from the outset, but all you can do is keep slinging attacks. Siffrin is enough of a powerhouse to take the King's HP down, what with the healing and buff skills they have now, not to even mention you can just go all in on damage and then loop back.

(And no matter which way you play it, whether you just loop or use strategically, it reflects on Siffrin, too. Has he grown callous enough not even death will stop their mission? Or does he still avoid pain, as much as he can?)

This fight still allows you the artifice of even that much choice, not that it matters. The other shoe drops eventually - Siffrin becomes slower, and slower. Unsettling, considering this game works on an Action Gauge system. You barely get turns anymore. The screen gets darker, and darker. Until Siffrin is frozen in time, just as you knew he had to be, because you know how this encounter works, know it can't be cleared without Mirabelle.

And, then, a void.

Siffrin awakens to nothingness. The only way to tell you've hit a wall is if Siffrin has no walking animation to match your button inputs. You walk, and walk, until you're approached by.... you. The next enemy encounter of the game, and Siffrin's absolute lowest point: Mal Du Pays.

Or, "Homesickness," in english. If you know the game, you know why it's named this, but that's not the point at the moment.

Thing is, where you could damage the King and are damaged in turn, giving you at least a proper combat experience, even if its doomed to fail, Mal Du Pays has no such thing.

You can attack. You can defend. But it is immune to all attacks. And in return, it does nothing. It's common, at least, for undefeatable enemies to be a "survive" challenge, but nope. The entire fight is "press button and wait." Except, remember the previous fight against the King? The entire time, you were waiting for the big instant death attack to drop. That feeling, at least for me, carried forward. I was incredibly on edge just waiting for the other shoe to drop. And, as is a pattern, Siffrin is, too. As Siffrin's attacks fail to connect, they start talking to Mal Du Pays.

But he gets no response, as you get no attacks to strategize around. The wait for anything to happen is utterly agonizing. You and Siffrin are both waiting for something to happen. This isn't a fight. It just pretends to be. It's an utter rugpull, because Siffrin was so undefeatable for most of Act 4 and all of Act 5 so far. It's kind of terrifying!

and it does. It finally does something. Ma Du Pays speaks, in the voice of Siffrin's friends, listing out their deepest fears. I think it's honestly fantastic. You're forced to just sit here and listen to Siffrin's deepest doubts, things you know the characters could not say because it references the timeloops they're all utterly unaware of. This is all Siffrin, talking to himself. And all you, all Siffrin, can do, is keep wailing away on the enemy to no effect whatsoever.

So of course this ends with Siffrin giving up. What else can you do?

And then Siffrin's friends show up and unfreeze them and it's all very cool yay. The pure narrative scenes aren't really the main focus but I want to point out here:

A) Mirabelle is in the first party slot here, referencing how she's the de facto protagonist, and Bonnie fills in the fourth slot left empty, which shows all characters uniting to save Siffrin

B) this is the only instance of the other party members having act specific battle icons: they're all smiling brightly, further pushed by the upbeat music

C) the reflecting shield Mirabelle uses to freeze the King uses a variation of her hangout skill cut in, marking it as her true "final" skill and giving the whole fight a more climatic feeling.

It's also a short gameplay sequence with Siffrin utterly uninvolved in the battle. You can't even see them onscreen. But... it feels warm, doesn't it? Everybody coming together. Siffrin doesn't have to fight anymore.

At last, the King is defeated. Siffrin and co. make for the Head Housemaiden, to have her look at Siffrin's sudden illness. Siffrin is utterly exhausted, famished, running a fever. And this isn't unexpected - after all, their skills in Act 5 had no cooldown. For context, instead of featuring any sort of MP system, all skills work on a cooldown basis, where a character can't use it for a certain number of turns. The lowest cooldown is actually Siffrin's Knife to Meet You, which has a cooldown of 1. In universe, this is reasoned as the characters needing a break from spamming craft in order to not exhaust themselves.

Siffrin's skills in Act 5 having no cooldown/being infinitely spammable isn't a sign of their strength - it's a sign that he refuses to let himself rest in order to rush through as fast as possible.

Moving on, Siffrin panics when seeing the Head Housemaiden, because seeing her means one thing: the end. Prior to this in the game, every single time you beat the King, the loop ends when you talk to the Head Housemaiden.

Reality breaks down, the whole shebang. It's here that Siffrin realizes - they don't want the loops to end, because the end of their journey means their family will leave, and he'll be alone again. The happiest time of his life will be over.

Siffrin goes totally ballistic, to say the least.

As it turns out (and was heavily foreshadowed narratively), Siffrin has been using Wish Craft to subconciously cause the timeloop because of their abandonment issues. It's rather predictable if you paid attention to literally anything, but it's extremely notable how heavily Siffrin is paralleled to the King, the antagonist they swore to kill by themself at the start of Act 5. The King wants to freeze Vaugarde in time because it is, in his mind, "perfect," for accepting him after he lost his home - a backstory he shares with Siffrin.

Siffrin has become the exact antagonist he swore to kill, and it's shown by how the next fight utterly flips everything on its head.

Siffrin is the final boss.

In a towering form made of stars, Siffrin looks down at their friends. His face is terrified, because of his internal conflict; he can't hurt his friends, but he can't let them go, either. The combat prompt is simply changed to "END IT!"

This fight is similar to the previous, in that you just need to wait a certain number of turns until its over. However, this time, it's not dreadful suspense. It's... confusion, and hesitance.

You have two options for combat: Attack your friends, or attack yourself.

And... you don't really want to do either, I think. I certainly don't. But what else can you do? It's Siffrin's desires clashing in full force. Attack your friends, and force them to stay? Or attack yourself, and let them go safely without you?

Worth noting, here - when you attack Siffrin's friends, you can't harm them. Isabeau will shield all attacks. And when you attack yourself, Mirabelle will heal you back to full. And the friends don't... do anything, either. How could they? Occasionally, Mirabelle heals you and Isabeau shouts words of motivation, but the main thing is...

(Your friends don't know what to do.)

None of them want to harm Siffrin. Both sides simply stare at each other, resolute in their conviction but unwilling to end it with violence. It's of note that this loop, the last one, is the only loop where the King isn't killed. Just frozen. And now here is Siffrin, clamoring for the same eternity the King was. Of course everything ends in a tearfilled conversation as Siffrin sees their friends won't leave him, even after the journey ends, but I still have to appreciate this moment.

Siffrin is directly put in the position with their friends as his enemies, forced to physically reckon that keeping them in this loop is an act of violence, against both their friends, and against himself.

It's a happy ending. But... what does it mean?

Of course, ISAT is obviously about the fear of change. Siffrin is afraid of the journey ending, and of being alone. However, ISAT is also a game about games. Siffrin is playing the same game, over and over, because it's comforting. It's familiar. It's nice, to know exactly what happens next. These characters might just be predictable lines of dialogue, but... they feel like friends. Have you ever played a game, loved it, put countless hours into it, but you never finished it? Because you just couldn't bear to see it end? For the characters to leave your life, for there to be a void in your heart where the game used to be?

After all, maybe it became part of your routine! You play the game every day, slowly chipping away at it for weeks at a time. For me, I beat ISAT in four days. It utterly consumed me during this time. I had 36 hours of playtime by the end. Yeah, in that week, I did not do much more than play ISAT.

And once i beat it, i beat it, again. I restarted the game to see the few scenes I missed, most specifically the secret boss I won't talk about here. I... couldn't let go of the game yet. I wanted to see every scrap I could. I still do. I'm writing this, in part because I still do. It's scary to let go.

Ever heard the joke term of "Postgame Depression?" It's when you just beat a game, and you're suddenly sad. Maybe because the ending affected you emotionally and you need to process the feelings it invoked, or you search for something that can now fill your time with it gone.

The game ends, for real this time, the last time you talk to the Head Housemaiden. But Siffrin gets... scared. What if everything loops back again? And so, his family offers to hold his hand. They face the end, together.

For all loops, including the ending, you never see what happens after. After they leave the loop for good. Because the loop is the game itself. It's asking you to trust that life goes on for these characters, and it holds your hand as it asks you to let go. There's a reason for Siffrin's theater metaphors. He is the actor, and the director, asking everyone to do it over one more time. He's a character within the game, and its player.

There's a reason I talked about endgame content. This, the way it all repeats, there's nothing new, difficulty and stakes bleed away as you snap the game over your knee - it's my copy of White 2 with two hundred hours in it. It's me playing Fire Emblem Awakening in under 3 hours while skipping every cutscene. Are you playing for the sake of play, for the sake of indulging in your memories, because you're afraid of the hole it'll leave when you stop?

Of note: the narrative never condemns Siffrin for unwittingly causing their own suffering. He's a victim of circumstance. It's seen as endearing, even, that Siffrin loves their friends to the point of rather seeing the world destroyed than them gone. But Siffrin is also told: we'll stay with you for now, but we'll part ways eventually. And one day, you'll have to be okay with it.

Stop draining the things you love of every ounce of enjoyment just because you're afraid of what happens next. I'm not saying to never play your favorite games again. Playing ISAT a second time, I still had a lot of fun! I saw so many new things I didn't before, and I enjoyed myself immensely, reading the same dialogue over and over. But... it makes me look at other games I love and still play, and makes me ask... is this still fun? Do I still need to play this game to enjoy it? Even writing this is an afterimage of my enjoyment, but it's a new way to interact with the game, to analyze it through this lens. Fuck, man, I write fanfiction. Look at me.

All of this, fanart, fanfic, analysis, is a way to prolong that enjoyment without making yourself suffer for it. Without just going through the motions of enjoyment without actually experiencing any. But one day, the thing you love won't be fun to talk and write and draw about. And it's okay. You'll have new things to love. I promise.

In the end.... I'm certain I'll replay ISAT one day. Between great writing, art, puzzles and unresolved mysteries, it's my shoe-in for game of the year.

But I won't replay it for quite some time. I've had enough, for now, so I let my love take other forms.

Siffrin is never condemned, because love is no evil. Be it love for another person, or for a game. And please, if you're overempathetic - it's still a game, at the end of the day. The great thing about games is that you can always boot them up again, no matter how long its been.

A circle within a circle indeed.

To summarize:

The repetitiveness of ISAT's combat, lack of new enemies, and Siffrin's ever increasing strength eventually allows you to snap the combat over your knee, rendering it irrelevant and boring. Though this may seem counterproductive at first, it perfectly mirrors how Siffrin has also grown bored with these repeated encounters and views them only as an obstacle to get past. The reflection of Siffrin's own tiredness with the player's annoyance increases the compassion the player has for Siffrin as a character.

Additionally, the endgame state of the combat system serves as commentary on the state of a favorite game played too often, much like how Siffrin has unwittingly trapped themself in the loop. Despite the game having no more challenge or content left to over, a player might return to their favorite game anyway, solely to try and recreate the early experience of actually having fun with it. This ties into ISAT's metanarrative about the fear of change and refusal to let go of comfort even when the object (here, your favorite video game) offering that comfort has become utterly bereft of any substance to actually engage with. Playing for the sake of playing, with no actual investment to keep going besides your own memories.

Later on, stripping away even the pretense of strategy for a "press button and wait" format of final bosses highlights the lack of options at Siffrin's disposal and truly forces the player into their shoes. Truly, the only way to win is to stop playing.

[themodernwitchsguide]

greek god epithets (pt.2)

this post includes hades, persephone, aphrodite, hermes, apollo, artemis, dionysus, and hekate. for part one including zeus, hera, demeter, ares, athena, poseidon and hephaestus click here

HADES:

-PLOUTON= of wealth

-THEON CHTHONIUS= god of the underworld

-POLYSEMANTOR= ruler of many

-POLYDEGMON/POLYXENUS= host of many

-NECRODEGMON= receiver of the dead

-NECRON SOTER= savior of the dead

-ADESIUS= of grace

-STYGIUS= from the Styx

-URAGUS= of fire

-NIGER DEUS= the black god

PERSEPHONE:

-CHTHONIA= of the earth

-CARPOPHORUS= bringer of fruit

-SOTEIRA= the savior

-MEGALA THEA= the great Goddess

-HAGNE= the pure/holy one

-DAEIRA= the knowing one

-PRAXIDICE= the exacter of justice

-PROTOGONE= the first born

-BRIMO= the dreaded/vengeful

APHRODITE:

-URANIA= of heavenly/divine love

-PANDEMOS= common to all people

-MACHANITIS= the diviser/contriver

-EPISTROPHIA= she who turns to love

-CALASCOPIA= the spying/all seeing

-PSITHYRISTES= the whispering

-PRAXIS= of sexual action

-MELAENIS= the black

-SYMMACHIA= the ally in love

-APATURUS= the deceptive one

-NYMPHIA= the bridal

-MIGONTIS= of unions

-DORITIS= the bountiful

-MORPHO= of shapely form

-AMBOLOGERA= the postponer of old age

-NICEPHORUS= the bringer of victory

-HOPLISMENA= the armed

-AREIA= the warlike

-EUPLOEA= of fair voyages

-PONTIA= of the sea

-LIMENIA= of the harbor

-XENIA= of hospitality to foreigners

-PHILOMIDES= the laughter loving

-APHROGENEIA/APHROGENES= the foam born

-PHILOMMEDES= the genital loving

-CHRYSEA= the golden

-DIA= the golden/shining

-POTHON MATER= the mother of desire

-EUSTEPHANUS= the richly crowned/the well girdled

-EN KIPIS= of vegetation/agricultural fertility

HERMES:

-EPIMELIUS= keeper of the flocks

-OEOPOLUS= the shepherd

-AGORAEUS= of the market place

-DOIUS= of crafts/wiles

-ENAGONIUS= of the games

-PROMACHUS= the champion

-HERMENEUTES= the interpreter/translator (of the gods)

-TRICEPHALUS= the three headed

-DIACTORUS= the guide/messenger

-ATHANATUS DIACTORUS= the immortal guide

-ANGELUS MACARON/ANGELUS ATHANATON= messenger of the divine

-CHRYSORRHAPIS= of the golden wand

-CLEPSIPHRON= the deceiver

-MECHANIOTES= the trickster/contriver

-PHELETES= the thief/robber/rustler

-ARCHUS PHELETEON= leader of robbers/thieves

-POECILOMETES/POLYTROPUS= the wily

-DAIS HETAERUS= comrade of the feast

-CHARIDOTES= giver of joy

-CHARMOPHRON= the glad-hearted

-DOTOR EAON= giver of good things

-ACACETA= the guileless/gracious

-EUSCOPUS= the keen sighted/watchful

-CYDIMUS/ERICYDES/AGLAUS= the glorious/famous/splendid

-CRATUS/CRATERUS= the strong/mighty

-POMPAEUS= the guide

APOLLO:

-THEARIUS= of the oracle

-PROUPSIUS= the foreseeing

-CLERIUS= of distribution by lot

-CLEDONES= of omens

-HECATUS= the shooter from afar/the archer

-AGRAEUS= of the hunt/the hunter

-MUSAGETES= the leader of the Muses

-ULIUS= of good health

-PAEON= the healer

-ACESIUS= of healing

-ALEXICACUS= averter of evil/harm

-EPICURIUS= the succoring/helping

-BOEDROMIUS= the rescuer

-LYCIUS= of the wolves

-SMINTHEUS= of the mice

-DELPHINIUS= of the dolphin

-ACTIUS= of the foreshore

-THEOXENIUS= the god of foreigners

-ARGYEUS= of streets/public places/entrances to homes

-VIROTUTIS= the benefactor of humanity

ARTEMIS:

-AGROTERA= of the hunt

-PHERAEA= of the beasts

-ELAPHAEA= of the deer

-DAPHNAEA= of the laurel tree

-CEDREATIS= of the cedar tree

-CARYAE/CARYATIS= of the walnut tree

-LIMNAEA/LIMNATUS= of the lake

-HELEIA= of the marshes

-EURYNOME= of broad pastures

-LYCAEA= of the wolves

-LEUCOPHRYNE= of the white (bird)

-PAEDOTROPHUS= the nurse of children

-PHILOEIRAX= the friend of young girls

-ORSILOCHIA= the helper of childbirth

-SELASPHORUS/PHOSPHORUS= the light bringer

-SOLEIRA= the saviour

-HEMERASIA= she who soothes

-HYMNIA= of the hymns

-HEGEMORE= the leader of dances/choir

-ARISTE= the best/the excellent

-EUCLEIA= of good repute

-CALLISTE= the very beautiful

-BASILEIS= the princess

-HIEREIA= the priestess

-HEURIPPA= the horse finder

-PEITHO= the persuasive

-PYRONIA= of the fire

DIONYSUS:

-BROMIUS= the noisy/boisterous

-MAENOLES= the mad/raging

-NYCTELIUS= of the night

-LAMPTERUS= of the torches

-HESTIUS= of the feast

-PHALLEN= the phallic

-ANDROGYNUS= the androgynous (of sexuality, he bed all genders)

-PHLEON= the luxuriant

-STAPHYLITES= of the grape

-OMPHACITES= of the unripe grape

-LENAEUS= of the wine press

-THEOENUS= the god of wine

-AGATHUS DAEMON= the good spirit (as in a ghost, not a drink)

-OENOPS= the wine-dark

-ACRATOPHORUS= the bringer of mixed wine

-CISSEUS= of the ivy

-CITIOPHORUS= the ivy bearer

-ANTHION= of the flowers

-CISTOPHORUS= the basket bearer

-DIMETOR= twice born

-IRAPHIOTES= the goat child

-AEGOBOLUS= the goat slayer

-MELANAEGIS= of the black goat-skin

-ANTHROPORRAESTUS= the man slayer

-LYSIUS= of release

-ELEUTHEREUS= of liberation/freedom

-PSILAX= uplifted on wings

-SAOTES/SOTERIUS= the savior

-AESYMNETES= the dictator

-POLITES= the citizen

-MYSTES= of mysteries

-CHTHONIUS= of the earth

-MELPOMENUS= the singer/of the tragic plays

HEKATE:

-BRIMO= the dreaded/the vengeful

-CHTHONIA= of the earth

-DESPOINA= the goddess/our lady

-ENODIA= of the crossroads

-AENAOS= the eternal/the ever loving

-AGLAOS= the beautiful/the bright

-APOTROPAIA= the one that protects

-EROTOTOKOS= the bringer of love

-INDALIMOS= the beautiful

-KLEIDOUCHOS= the keeper of the keys of Hades

-KOUROTRPHOS= the nurse of children

-PHOSPHOROUS/LAMPADEPHOROUS= the bringer/bearer of light

-SOTERIA= the savior

-TRIMORPHE- the three formed

-TRIODIA/TRIODITIS= she who frequents crossroads

[genericpuff]

also love how you described aphrodite as a war goddess in your family tree chart!!!

ahh thank you! I know it's very divisive as to whether or not Aphrodite is a war goddess, much of the sources on Aphrodite Areia seem to be predominantly linked to the Spartans, whereas Hellenism worshipped her primarily for love, sex, and fertility, which is what she's widely attributed to today while her connections to war have fallen to the wayside.

But I personally love the duality of her being a goddess of both love and war, as both come from places of deep desire that are often intersectional - many men have gone to war and died in the name of love, and many more still have experienced the pain that love can bring. In that way, though you could argue that she may not have been specifically worshipped as a war goddess such as Athena or Ares, you can't really separate war from what Aphrodite truly represents - desire.

I know by default many people will say that Aphrodite is the "greatest goddess" simply because of the superstition that comes from worshipping anyone else more than her, but what makes her so powerful and respected is love itself, an emotion and state of being so pure, so twisted, so painfully human, so universal regardless of the context in which it's being experienced that it can be used as any amount of justification for both the greatest heroics and the cruelest betrayals. Love is a paradox, simultaneously worth living for and worth dying for, an overwhelming joy for another being that can be felt instantly but just as quickly turn foul. Paris was gifted the love of Helen, which initiated a ten year long war on Troy; Odysseus persevered for 20 years in the name of love, sacrificed six of his own men for love; Orpheus defied death for love, and brought about his own downfall in love; Hades abducted his bride out of love, inevitably dooming the Earth to death and decay for half the year at the hands of a loving mother grieving for her lost daughter.

Even when Aphrodite isn't physically present in a story, she is there in the actions of a story's characters made out of love and desire, and she is as inevitable as the Fates and the passage of time. Aphrodite is a goddess of love and war because love is war, and so to try and separate her from war feels like a severe underestimation of the power she possesses over mankind more so than any other god or goddess. Though you could argue her domain over human emotion and their consequential actions limits her in her influences unlike that of the primordials or Titans, without man to worship them or perceive them or tell stories of them, then what is left of gods? Unrequited love and desire.

[ryescapades]

genre/warning: hoshina soshiro x gn platoon leader dazai!reader (can be both platonic or romantic), fluff

a/n: had a sudden burst of idea so here ya go :) can also be in the same universe as narumi’s version if you want it to be. up to yall!

narumi | extra

"oh, you're in charge this time too?"

tucking a pistol into the holster on your hips, you turn around at the sound of hoshina's voice, a teasing smile on your face. "you don't sound happy about that at all, vice-captain." you snicker.

your superior rolls his eyes lightheartedly. "last time you were assigned to this, one of the newbies almost blew up her drone," he points out, making you shrug. "not my fault they believed what i said about the kaiju hacking and taking control of our drones,"

"you shouldn't be giving out false information in the first place, platoon leader," he chides, and you give him a mock salute. “aye aye, sir. i promise i will only give away accurate information from now on,”

˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚ˏˋ°•*⁀➷

the grating sound of the massive gates sliding open fills the atmosphere, the new group of recruits waiting on standby as the kaiju beyond the gates prowl around.

"alright, the monthly evaluation will proceed as usual. neutralize kaiju, assist in whatever way ya can and we'll see how much your combat power has risen up since last time." hoshina says, looking over the recruits as you and another platoon leader from your division stand beside him.

with the ten minutes given as preparation, your eyes glint in a way that has hoshina suspiciously eyeing you as you approach one of the officers.

"how's the prodigy doing?" you greet, causing ichikawa to startle before he turns to you with a quick salute, a faint blush blooming on his cheeks at the nickname. "platoon leader y/n! i'm doing fine. i'm hoping my power release will improve today, since i've been working well with these freezing rounds," he beams.

"that's right! and i'll be right there with ya, reno! my combat power will definitely increase as much as yours, if not more!" furuhashi suddenly appears, slinging an arm around ichikawa’s shoulders with a wide grin. you smile as you watch them interact, before an idea comes to your mind.

"you guys remember the small armory hidden somewhere in the field, right? you see, extra points will be given if you manage to find it and use any of the big guns during the evaluation," you muse, a hand cupping the side of your mouth to not let the others around you listening in.

seemingly engrossed with the ‘hints', the two boys nodded eagerly. "so more points if we use the super secret weapons, huh?" furuhashi cheers excitedly as ichikawa puts a hand under his chin, thinking hard. "but the field is so big though, can we really find it while fighting kaiju at the same time?"

"sure can! you'll know when you see it. just run around near the garage area and it might be there right in front of you guys," you add, sounding all the more convincing. funnily enough, they start discussing several plans on how to quickly find the armory. "yeah, that's right. write it down, write it down." you insist, pleased that they don't notice your mischievous tone as you start to walk away, leaving them to their own devices.

"you'll immediately get zero mark if ya even so much as touch any of the weapons. those are only for your superiors to use,"

furuhashi and ichikawa yelp in surprise before they finally realize what their vice-captain had said. "wait, what?!" the former exclaims. the two of them swivel their heads towards you, looking betrayed at the expression you threw at them from afar; a tongue sticking out, a wink and two peace signs with a faint giggle of "teehee," coming out of your mouth.

"currently, the weapons in the armory are not fully loaded and it's our job— not the recruits'— to make sure they're always ready to be used in case of an emergency. your platoon leader over there," hoshina retorts, nodding his head towards your direction. "they knew fully well yall newbies won't ever find the armory given how hidden it is. although if ya actually do manage to find it and use the guns, it's not like they're going to fail ya. they're in charge of the marking systems this time," he explains.

"then why did they even mention about the armory in the first place?" reno questions, confusion taking over his face. "well, y/n is also in charge of loadin’ up the armory, unfortunately. you guys probably seemed like the perfect victims for them to use in bringin’ those weapons back to base for said maintenance," hoshina further clarifies, shaking his head exasperatedly at the thought of you slacking off at work.

well, technically you did convey the correct info… but still.

˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚ˏˋ°•*⁀➷

you’re taken out of your reverie when there’s a light bonk on your head.

“stop loafin’ around on the job, y/n,”

rubbing on the spot hoshina had hit, you frown a little. “i’m not loafing around. it’s called taking a rest, vice-captain. something you’d hardly understand,” you mutter, tossing over on the couch in captain ashiro’s office.

the swordsman sighs almost fondly before placing a stack of papers in front of ashiro who has been working hard as ever. “reports for this month’s evaluation.”

“thanks, hoshina.”

“anytime, captain,”

ashiro glances at you from her seat behind the desk. “speaking of reports, i remember you saying you’re working on a new kaiju case, y/n?” she inquires with a perfectly raised brow, spinning the pen in her fingers mindlessly.

at that, your eyes dart over to the coffee table in front of you where a few papers were laid out, paragraphs of dark ink fully covering the surfaces. you’re about to grumble something again when a new voice catches your attention.

“this is all we’ve managed to find about the recent cases, captain ashiro.”

your head perks up, already sitting up as you turn towards the person just behind the couch you’re laying on. “ichikawa-kun! you’re a godsent, you know that? do you wanna write these reports for me?” you implore, eyes shining so brightly that there could’ve been sparkles floating around you with how extremely hopeful you look.

the mentioned officer blinks in surprise, not expecting you to suddenly make such a request. “e-excuse me?” he stammers awkwardly.

“stop makin’ the recruits do your work. it’s unethical. now scoot over,” you pout at hoshina’s scolding tone before doing what he instructed, making space for him to sit on the couch as well.

he pats his (sturdy and thick) thighs, and you happily plants your head on his lap as he reaches over to take your case papers, marvelling at how detailed and thorough your notes are. not a second after, the two of you immediately dive in to discuss about the facts and theories your brilliant mind had thought of.

ichikawa stares at your and hoshina’s interaction with a bewildered expression, sending a questioning look to his captain, which she only shrugs at.

“let them be. they’re in their own world right now,” she says with a small smile.

kind of gave up thinking how to end this so i just let it be at that lol

©🅁🅈🄴🅂🄲🄰🄿🄰🄳🄴🅂. do not steal, translate or repost my work anywhere else !

[wenigstenshabeichesversucht]

All is fair in love and war

Pairing: Luke Castellan x Ares kid!Reader

Summary: Where Luke is your biggest rival, and what better way is there to settle your rivalry once and for all than with a bet on who wins a game of Capture the Flag? The stakes are higher than ever before.

Warnings: none besides kissing, english is not my native language

Word Count: 1.8k

It was Friday morning; the Ares cabin was already filled with excitement when you rubbed the sleep out of your eyes. Most of your siblings were sharpening their weapons or polishing their armor. Fridays were Capture-the-Flag-days, the only day of the week, where you siblings forget about arguments with each other all in favor to fight the other campers. It was the only day of the week, at which your cabin went as one unit to breakfast without bickering.

At breakfast, you would find out the team division for the game and after that the counselor and who they seemed worthy would round up for a strategy meeting.

Although you couldn't see the future, you were pretty sure that Clarisse would choose you, she always did. Not because you were her favorite sibling, you were far from it. But you were the strategist of the cabin.

More time than once, some other campers had suggested that you were behaving more like a child of Athena than Ares. But they didn’t know the fury and hunger for blood you felt when you came face to face with Luke Castellan. In these moments you didn’t doubt, that you were your father’s daughter. Every time you saw him you had the urge to slap this stupid smile of his off his face. The others called him the greatest swordsmen the camp had seen in 300 years, and you hated him for that. This title should belong to you or one of your siblings. He had no right to claim the one thing the Ares cabin was expected to be good at.

Therefore, you were all the happier when you learned at breakfast that you would be competing against the Hermes cabin in this game of capture the flag. A cruel smile danced around the corners of your mouth just when you thought about how you would defeat Castellan.

“Do you already have a plan for us to win?”, Clarisse, who was sitting next to you, asked between two bites of bacon. Eagerly you nodded.

“With the Apollo and the Hephaestus cabin we almost have the victory safe.”

The Apollo kids were in general great archers, combined with your siblings you had good long-rang and close-rang fighters in your team. The Hephaestus kids were a great bonus, certainly they had one or two traps up their sleeves that you could use. The Dionysus cabin was also in your team, not exactly known to be good fighters, they could be useful as cannon fodder.

“I hope so, we can’t lose a third time in a row against the Athena cabin.”

“The last time we lost was totally Castellan’s fault”, you reminded her.

“So should I be glad, that this time he isn’t in our team?”

“At least this time he and Y/N can’t cost us the victory with their fighting”, a half-brother of yours chimed in, and your other siblings snickered spiteful. If looks could kill, he would be six feet under.

“Just finally kill him or snog him, we don’t care”, he added, without being intimidated by your gaze.

“I would rather die than kiss him” you protest, to which he shrugged his shoulders.

“Then that’s settled.”

On your way to the strategy meeting, you and Clarisse ran into Castellan and one of his half-brothers, Chris Rodriguiz.

The words of your brother still echoed in your head. Maybe killing him was worth giving up dessert for a week?

“Ready to lose, Castellan?”, you teased and like a bull being held up with a red rag, he couldn't ignore you.

“The only person here who is used to losing is you, Violence.”

You hated the nickname he had found for you, hearing it now, made our blood boil. Looking up to him, you snarled. Yes, today was the day, you would kill Luke Castellan.

“We will stamp you into the ground that you will cry for your daddy.”

“That will not happen, sorry to disappoint, Violence.”

“Should we bet, Castellan?”, with a dangerous gleam in your eyes, you took a step in his direction, till you were standing face to face. “If I win you will announce to the whole camp, that I’m a better sword fighter than you are. And if you win, what not gonna happen, you can get anything you want.”

“Anything?” Luke’s lips curled to a sly smile.

“Anything”, you confirmed.

“If I win, what I will, you will openly admit, that you need tutoring in sword fighting by the best swordsman, and we will do five lessons for everyone to watch.”

Oh, that was good, you had to give him that. That would be so humiliating.

“Do we have a deal?”, like he already had won, he smirked down at you. But you wouldn’t back down, not now, not ever.

“Deal!”

“You know that there are easier ways to resolve the tension between Castellan and you?”, Clarisse provoked you after the strategy meeting as you put on your armor.

“Easier than a bloodbath?”, you questioned doubtful.

“I mean Carter wasn’t wrong. You could make out.”

As response, you just made gagging noises. Like you said earlier, you would rather die than kiss him.

“Think about it, it would distract him. Without their best fighter, we will totally win.”

“Are you suggesting that I hook up with Castellan so we can win Capture the Flag?”, flabbergast, you looked at your half-sister. That wasn't typical of her at all. Since when did she think about a winning strategy other than just charging in?

“We aren’t children of Aphrodite, we don’t do stuff like that”, you objected, while tightening your breastplate. “Besides, it wouldn’t work”, you added after a thoughtful moment.

“And why not? He literally undressed you with his eyes earlier.”

Aghast your mouth felt open. He totally didn’t and if Clarisse though so, she needed to get her eyes checked out. You still had half an hour till Capture the Flag started, enough time to find an Apollo kid for an eye test.

“He did not, we hate each other!”

“Hate and love are closer to each other than you may think.”

You couldn’t help but roll your eyes. That was bullshit. But you were tired of debating whether Luke was interested in you. To be honest, you couldn’t imagine it. He was the kind of guy who would fall for a pretty Aphrodite kid, not for someone like who, forged out of anger and bloodlust. The only thing Luke was interested in, was to humiliate you, that you were sure of.

“Even if you were right, what I strongly doubt, it wouldn’t be fair to use his feelings against him just to win the game.”

Surprised Clarisse stopped fixing her armor, that didn’t sound like you. You siblings knew you as somebody, who would do everything to win. But even you had a moral line, you wouldn’t cross. And it seems you had found it.

“All is fair in love and war”, Clarisse protested, and you grimaced.

 “And which of the two are we dealing with? Love or war?”

“That’s for you to decide.”

You should be concentrating right now, and you were trying, really. But you couldn’t help but think about Clarisse words. So, if you lost because of your inattention, it would be her fault.

Leaning against a tree, you took a deep breath. You had to get your head in the game. You were part of the defense. While two of the Apollo kids were guarding the flag, it was your job to stop anyone who was trying to get to them. You would rather be on the attack, but you were one of the few Ares children who were patient. But not patient enough.

Bored you twirled your sword in your hands, hoping that something exciting would happen soon. Some god must have heard your prayers, because you heard rustling in the bush and shortly after none other than Luke Castellan step into the small clearing. Seeing him you couldn’t suppress a wicked smile.

„You took your time.”

“If I had known that you were eagerly awaiting me, I would have rushed here.” Lazy stepping in the middle of the clearing, Luke drew his sword.

“So eager to get another scar, Castellan?”, you mocked as you pushed yourself off the tree. You met in the middle. Your swords clashed together, and you could feel the impact right up into your shoulder. It had been two weeks since you last had the pleasure of fighting him, and you missed it. A genuine smile appeared on your lips, while you both moved around the clearing like you were dancing to music only you could hear.

But sooner than you wanted, your little dance had to come to an end. Even if you would never admit it, Luke was simply the better swordsman of the two of you. In one moment, you wanted to block his swing, the next your sword was flying out of your hands, and you were cornered against a tree. Gasping for air, you gazed at Luke, who bridged the last few meters panting and pressed you against the tree. Through your shirt you could feel the hotness radiating from him. Confused you could just stare.

“This is a position I've wanted you in for a long time”, he muttered, and his eyes were looking teasingly down at you.

Was he flirting with you? You weren’t sure. But there was one thing you were sure about; you wouldn't lose to him again.

“Same for you”, giving him a cocky smile you pressed your dagger against his throat. You couldn't describe the feeling of satisfaction that filled you when he opened his eyes in surprise. But faster than you would have liked, he slipped back into his far to arrogant self.

“Violence you live up to your name, good thing I like it.”

Before you could react, he pressed his lips on yours. Losing no time, you kissed him back. Wasn’t this how every girl imagines their first kiss? After a sword battle with their biggest rival? His big hands roamed your body, and yours clawed themselves in his hair. It seemed that you had exchanged your swords for other, no less sharp, weapons.

Only when cheers filled the forest did you separate from each other, gasping for air. Luke’s lips were swollen as he looked at you like he saw you for the first time. You were only able to tear your eyes away from him when a group of Athena kids broke through the trees with the red flag. It looked like your team lost, but for the first time you weren’t angry about it.

“Looks like I won our little bet”, Luke whispered way too close, and you could have cursed. You totally forgot about the bet. To safe a little bit of face, you pressed against the tree behind you to create some space between you.

“I totally won our fight!”

If you had wanted to, you could have slit his throat with your dagger.

“Maybe you won the fight, but I won the war.”

Sending you one last cheeky grin, he joined his team to celebrate their victory. And surprisingly, it didn't feel like a total loss.

[youbutstupid]

What d’you think is the “best” trait the main bau team members have?

OH I love this question thank you so much. There’s a lot so bear with me

Hotch: his compassion for his team. He’s an extremely compassionate and empathetic leader, constantly allowing for his team to leave work if they need to and following them on their hunches, even if they seem unlikely, purely because he loves and respects each of them. Quite often Hotch is portrayed as stone faced but I’ve honestly never seen a male leading character be so openly loving to their team.

Gideon: how much he cares for the victims in his cases. Gideon is often characterised as being a bit clueless to the feelings of his team, yet he never is to the people he is trying to save because he puts his everything into it. He has always been so open and accepting in cases which was rare for a 51 year old man in 2005; he was very willing to let go of his old ways and what he used to know so that he could evolve with the changes in society in order to best help the people he was saving. We also got to see his book of the people he saved. It was amazing.

Rossi: his ability to read and help the people on the team when no one else does. I wholeheartedly believe that if Rossi was present during the Hankel case, Reid would not have gone through his addiction alone. Rossi is always the one to call out people who try to hide their problems and he puts in so much effort to help them, even using his hours outside of work to do so. We see him waking up early to help Hotch coach Jack’s football matches, him inviting Penelope over for scotch so that she can finally disconnect from technology and him hosting the cooking class, the wedding and Strauss’ funeral dinner ar his house. His character development from being weary about the team to adoring them all individually was amazing.

Reid: I love how despite him admitting that he has trouble with emotions, he is always the one doing everything he can to be an emotional support when people around him are struggling. We see him try and comfort Elle when everyone else disconnected from her, he stayed with Garcia the entire time when she was shot, he is the one to call Emily to ask if she wants to hang out when she started disconnecting due to the Doyle situation, he is the one to try and help JJ with her PTSD in season 10 and so on. He doesn’t like the idea of the people around him going through things alone despite the fact that he often tries to go through things alone and he is extremely selfless in this sense.

JJ: I am constantly inspired by how throughout the show, she is repeatedly putting in effort to try and improve herself as a person and as an agent. We never see her get cocky, even when she deserves to be like she was in the FBI from a very young age, she had one of the most challenging jobs as the press liaison and then she was able to work herself up to profiler where she was one of the most formidable people on the field. Despite how impressive she really is, the audience are never given a chance to consider it because she never boasts about it and instead spends everyday striving to be better.

Morgan: he is always willing to take on a leadership role when he has to, yet he is always willing to give it back to Hotch when he doesn’t need to take it on anymore. I’m not just referring to season 5 either, I’m talking about any time when Hotch is unable to take on his role. Morgan respects Hotch a lot and is always willing to support him by taking on the role of team leader when Hotch can’t anymore, yet he never tries to take the role permanently for himself, despite being told he could by Strauss. Despite his years of experience and his leadership skills, he is willing to give up the role because he sees it as what is best for the team and he respects Hotch too much to keep it.

Elle: her protection of women. Elle was, in my opinion, ahead of her time. She previously worked in the sex crimes division and in season 1, she was the only female profiler and she did not step away from her previous role as an advocate for women in sex crimes just so she could better ‘fit in with the men’ of the BAU; she instead brought her perspective with her and implemented it in her cases. She was the only one in episode 3 to look at the woman who was assaulted and realise how uncomfortable she must have been surrounded by men. She ended her career in the BAU fighting for women and it hurts me that the BAU lost her.

Garcia: she never, ever stops being herself, even when people question her or bring her down for it. Sadly, because Garcia is the brightest person in the room, she is quite often the one who the profilers take their frustrations out on; we have seen JJ, Morgan, Hotch, Rossi and Emily all do this. Despite this, she doesn’t waver, she doesn’t stop being the brightest person in the room just because someone is simply not in the mood for her to be because she knows that she does not need to apologise for simply existing as her authentic self. In the episode The Black Queen, 9x12, her ex tells her that they both used to make fun of girls like her, and she corrects him saying that he made fun of girls like her, this was who she always wanted to be. This is so empowering to me.

Prentiss: my love, she was so unbelievably loyal to those around her and this was clear from the beginning. She was the only one to question Reid’s suffering in season 2, she literally uprooted her life and faked her death so that her team’s lives could be protected in season 6. When she found out JJ was in danger in season 9, she was so quick to jump on a plane back to help her. When the team calls for favours whilst she is in London, she always answers to help them. When Reid got arrested and imprisoned in season 12, she didn’t once believe that he committed the crime of which he was accused and even risked her entire career tampering with possible evidence so that it couldn’t be used against him. She is loyal to a fault and so many don’t acknowledge that.

Todd: we only got Todd for 9 episodes but I loved how human she was. She was the first character to make the audience realise that none of what we were looking at was normal. By season 4, the audience became very desensitised to the crimes that we were looking at and Todd broke us out of that and she also was not afraid to call out the fact that it wasn’t normal that the profilers were desensitised either. I respect how in the end she would rather admit that she couldn’t do the job anymore than lose that human side of her. I also loved how she made sure Hotch never took JJ for granted.

Seaver: we never got to see much of Seaver’s development because of the writers, but I loved her willingness to learn. Seaver hadn’t even graduated from the academy when she joined the team, she was not a profiler, she wasn’t even a qualified FBI agent. Watching her learn and grow in such a traumatising field and take it all in her stride was so incredibly interesting to watch. I also loved watching her friendship grow with the team; going to the cinema with Reid, Morgan and Garcia, gaming night with Rossi and going out for curry with Reid. 

Blake: Blake was so incredibly talented and so unbelievably smart but instead of using it as a way to get ahead of her team, she used it as a way to relate to them and bond with them. She almost became a protective figure over them and she took that role very seriously too. It was honestly amazing watching her mind work and how easily she was able to take on her role as a profiler because of it. I know I just named multiple good qualities but it is incredible to me how much her character was able to grow and be adored in just two seasons, she had no idea what dynamic she was getting into when she joined the team yet she fit in perfectly and adapted to it so quickly in order to help them and gain their trust.

Callahan: her confidence. She went into that bullpen being unapologetically herself from the beginning and she fit herself into that team without an ounce of apprehension. She made so much effort to establish herself and she was not shy about it which I adored; she had banter with Rossi, she opened up to Reid, she carpooled with JJ, she became a close friend for Garcia and she gained Morgan’s trust all within a few episodes; the last two being hard to do as a new member of the team. I love how she didn’t question where she belonged, she knew she belonged.

Simmons: to me, Simmons was just so incredibly sweet. When he first joined and I saw that he was buff and conventionally attractive, I was weary that he was just going to be another jock detective that we see in other shows, but he wasn’t. He, again, was an incredibly strong and skilled agent yet when he arrived on the team he took everyone for who they were and never once acted like he was in any way better than them because he had skills that they did not have. He was just a nice person and that may sound like a basic description but to me, it’s the best description to give a person. I felt genuinely safe with Matt’s character on the screen because it was just lovely to see a man on the screen who was just good.

Lewis: OH I love this woman. Tara brought a new element of self assurance to the screen and also humour. She, again, was very unapologetically herself and she knew her worth, as we saw when she went through her breakup, which was so refreshing to see because it is rare you see a woman know her value and not be portrayed as cocky for doing so. She is also a character that marked her place on the team and I also love how unafraid she was to come out and say that she was dating a woman, which was a risk in itself because the BAU had never had an openly LGBTQ+ profiler before. I also loved how she brought ‘your mum’ jokes to the show because watching a 50 year old woman with a doctorate make multiple ‘your mum’ jokes is all I needed from the show if I’m honest.

Alvez: I don’t want to repeat things too much but I also love Luke’s loyalty, which is something we also saw from very early on in his time in the show. Bear in mind when Reid was in prison, Luke was only on the team for a very short period of time, yet he believed wholeheartedly that Reid was innocent and even made threats for his safety. I also love how he took Garcia’s original dislike of him in his stride and honestly embraced everything about her, whether it was her distrust in him or her ‘quirkiness’ as the team would dub it, he took it all in and loved her because of it all, not in spite of it.

[rotzaprachim]

a significant portion of the problem with online leftist discourse is that people didn’t take the whole “decolonization of the mind” thing very seriously because they had to jump onto the “not a metaphor” thing and have welded technically decolonial sounding stuff in words to much older more conservative thought processes like they’ve taken the CONCEPT of indigeneity as they understand it and welded it to 20th century great power state theory to assume that the necessary changes for global liberation are to get rid of the States that are Fake in favour of the states that are Real and have of course single defined ethnic groups throughout all history with defined borders and defined single languages and cultures, when even that one state for one people with one language idea is often heavily colonialist in nature. They’ve also taken this concept into assuming there are defined settler/colonised boundaries in every situation - true people versus external colonizers - a framework which is not applicable in many many situations due to the base structures of how colonization actually functioned in practice (not so much room to discuss slavery or debt bondage and indentured servitude in such a paradigm, not mestizaje or complex tiered structures such as that utilized by the Spanish, nor the fact that not all colonists were settlers - in fact, definitionally, many of the most powerful colonists were never settlers ar all because they were powerful enough to access the resources of colonization without ever leaving the metropoles.) what the linear division of the oppressed/oppressors does allow people to do is engage in the mental fiction that all a better world really takes is killing or getting rid of the right people and that’s actually caused a lot of the problems in the first place

[raph-fangirl]

Demon x Reader - chapter four, unedited

Here is chapter four!! Go read the first three chapters on this post.

Chapter Four

You gulped as you closed in on the diner. 

“Nervous, Princess?” Ares jeered from ahead of you.

“Never,” you lied, looking away.

Off in the distance, a strange creature caught your eye. It was hopping, kicking up dust as it bounded across the desert. It almost seemed like a wild hare, but it had antlers on top of its head. As you took in its odd form, a shriek sounded from above. You jerked your head up. An enormous eagle, the size of a plane, flapped its wings in the sky. You sped up your pace, closer to Ares, knowing that thing could peck you out of the sky if it wanted to. 

Other small beasts you hadn’t seen before sifted in the dust beneath your feet. They appeared to be salamanders but glowed red hot. You tried not to step on them as you walked, but they continuously circled around your feet and legs.

Ares’ dark voice boomed all of a sudden, commanding your attention.

“Now listen here, Princess. As far as anyone at the diner is concerned, you and me, we’re boyfriend and girlfriend, alright?”

WHAT.

You stopped dead in your tracks, gripping onto your wedding ring. “I don’t think so, mister.”

He whipped around. “Just play along, okay? And don't mention a word about last night. Just say we made a deal. You summoned me asking for a demon boyfriend and I agreed.”

“No way.” You furrowed your brows at him.

His nose wrinkled up, huffing in frustration. “You either go along with it or you’ll wish I’d taken your precious husband instead.”

That shut you up. He grunted like a gorilla and stalked off in the other direction. You just stood there, twisting your ring on your finger, peering behind you at the endless expanse of desert. It just went on and on, no division between earth and sky. 

Suddenly, your eyes widened. Words the demon had spoken the night before flooded your mind like a desert storm.

“You either go along with it or you’ll wish I’d taken your precious husband instead.”

“Once I’m done with you, you’ll wish I’d have killed you, you monster. I’m going to take everything you love away from you, just like you took everything away from me.”

“I didn’t even know you existed before last night. You weren’t exactly part of my plan, princess.”

The demon had threatened to take away everything Ruben loved. And well, he’d done just that. 

You shivered.

But was it on purpose? You thought you had performed a selfless act in saving your husband, but what if it was all a set up? And how could the demon have possibly known you’d take your husband’s place? You found the whole thing suspicious and weren’t sure if this was some ploy to get to you all along. But how could it have been?

You didn’t have time to think any longer before Ares cleared his throat at you.

“Coming,” you spat out, quickly catching up behind him.

The diner came closer into view, and so did its occupants. You were so close now you could see their snarling expressions. 

“Hold my hand,” Ares ordered.

“Excuse me?”

“Just do it.”

You faltered, looking between him and the beasts of the diner. Eventually you slipped your hand into his. They were warm, and rough. He tightened his grip on you as you passed by the first green monster that looked like it had come straight from the swamp.

“Ogre,” he whispered in your ear. 

You peeked back at the ogre to find it glaring at you with the nastiest expression. You jerked your neck forward immediately, then kept your eyes down, focusing on your sunflower shoes.

“Don’t look down, it looks suspicious,” Ares mumbled through gritted teeth.

“Then what in the world do I look at?” 

“Just look at me and laugh.”

You lifted your head up to find his eyes already on you. He had an almost pleasant expression on his face, at least as much as he could considering his permanent sneer and upturned nose. 

“I said laugh.”

You mustered up a chuckle.

“That was miserable. You sound like an elderly woman choking on her laxatives.”

“You’re ridiculous.”

“Well, at least I got you to smile.” 

He elbowed you and you nearly fell down.

“Hey!”

“Sorry, Princess.” 

“Ugh!” You yanked your hand out of his tight grip and crossed your arms. Was this the hell you were going to have to endure to get back to your husband?  

“Giant ahead. Don’t look up. Pretend not to notice.”

Almost immediately you looked up, barely catching a glance of the giant’s hideous, wrinkled face before Ares put his arms around you, forcing your head down. “I told you not to do that, darlin’,” he muttered, gritting his fangs.

You tried pushing away from him but he had you locked in tight. 

“If you can’t do what I say like a good girl—”

“‘Good girl’!” you exasperated, fighting to be free from him.

He pinned you down effortlessly. “Then this is how it’s gotta be.”

You huffed, feeling so pitiful, so completely helpless.

As you passed through the shadow of the giant, Ares pointed out an orc to you. It was smaller than the giant but larger than the ogre—which was nearly human size—and had tusks protruding from its bottom lip. Its long hair was pulled back into an elaborate braid, with feathers for decoration. 

“You can look at him, but not in the eye,” Ares said.

Your eyes immediately trickled down to the orc’s loincloth… the only piece of clothing he wore. You felt like you were going to puke.

Ares tipped his head to the orc as you passed by; the orc waved back.

More monsters came into view as you passed through the parking lot ridden with motorcycles, but it was all just orcs and ogres.

“Where are all the demons?” you asked.

“I’m probably the only one here, sweetheart.”

“Why? Aren’t we going to hell?”

Ares laughed. “No, no, you’re not ready for home sweet home just yet. I’m taking you to the land of the orcs. I’ve got a cozy little place there for us to camp out.”

“Will there be any humans there, in the land of the orcs I mean?”

He grimaced. “Not any full-blooded ones. But there may be one here.” He opened the door of the diner for you. “M’lady.”

There wasn’t really anything notable about the diner. It looked just like any you’d have back home, except the patrons were all very, very green. And loud. 

Rowdy did not even begin to scrape the surface of the diner’s atmosphere. Ogres flung darts off to the side, shouting as they hit or missed their target. Almost every table was full of helmet-wearing orcs raising their mug of beer, yelling for another pint. As soon as you made your first few steps in the door though, the diner quieted, all eyes on you. A few monsters at the bar swiveled around in their chair, staring you down, twisting their toothpicks between their yellowed teeth. 

A man behind the bar caught your eye. He was about as tall as a human should be, and his skin wasn’t green. You sighed with relief as he turned around, a genuine human man was drying mugs.

“Orlo!” Ares hollered, shutting the door.

“Ares!” The man opened his mouth, and to your disgust, he had two tiny tusks protruding from his bottom lip that you hadn’t noticed before. “And who’s this fine specimen you brought with ya today?”

You felt all eyes in the restaurant turn to you and Ares, waiting with baited breath.

“This here’s my girl.” Ares put his arm around you. “Summoned me up last night back on Earth, saying she just couldn’t stand her human husband any longer.”

You mustered up a fake smile, clenching your teeth together. Whenever you and Ares got a private moment together you were going to sock him right in the mouth. 

“I don’t blame ya there, cupcake,” Orlo said, slinging his towel over his shoulder. “I was raised back on Earth. And the men there just don’t do it like they do here. Plus I didn’t like havin’ to shave my tusks down every day. Hurts like a bitch.”

“You were raised back on Earth?” you said.

“Yep. Mom was human, dad was orc. But I guess I didn’t look ‘orc’ enough for old pops when I was born so, I just stayed with mom.”

“Wait… humans and orcs can—” You gasped, wincing at the thought of having to give birth to a monster.

Ares and Orlo chuckled. 

“Haven’t you taught this girl anything yet, Ares?”

“She’s got a lot to learn. This is only her first day, Orlo, give her some slack.”

“Well, you’ve come to the right place, miss. We welcome all kinds here. Have a seat, anywhere ya like!” 

Ares took your hand, leading you to the bar. He swiveled around a seat for you, but it was practically up to your chest. 

“Guess that’s a little high for you, huh? Here.” 

“Woah, what are you—”

“Just trust me, Princess.” 

Ares slinked his hulk hands around your waist, picking you up and plopping you down in the seat like you were a babydoll. Your face burned bright red, almost as red as his skin. No man had ever picked you up before. Ruben had tried a couple times, but to both of your embarrassment, was never able to. Ares did it like you were a size two… And his hands had fit all the way around your waist. You had never felt so tiny before in your life.

Orlo slid some menus your way.

“The regular, Ares?”

“Yeah, man.”

“And what for the lady?”

You glanced over the menu, which to your surprise, had food you recognized. 

“Just, a burger?” you stammered.

“And what to drink?”

“Water, please.”

“Aww, come on now. We got soda, beer—”

“She’s been through a lot in the past 24 hours, Orlo. Just water,” Ares insisted.

“Whatever you say, boss.” He took down a few notes on a pad before shouting to his workers in the back, which you could see through the window in the kitchen door were all giants. One giant was blue even. 

The chatter in the restaurant seemed to go back to how it was before they caught sight of you. Your heart rate steadied.

“I– I thought they’d only have monster food here,” you said hesitantly.

The ogre a couple chairs down from you snorted.

“Best not to use that word around these parts,” Ares instructed. “It’s got the same connotation here as it does back in the suburbs, little lady.”

“But… isn’t that what you all are?”

“Isn’t that what all humans are?”

You knitted your brows together.

“Just stick to orcs, ogres, giants, demons. I’ll teach you the rest later.”

“Just how many more ‘kinds’ are there going to be?”

He rolled his head over to you, his eyes wide. “More than you can handle, sweetheart.”

You lifted a brow. “You underestimate me, demon.”

Before Ares could come up with a clever retort, Orlo returned with your drinks. The glasses were the biggest you’d ever seen, and there was no way that straw was fitting in your mouth. You fit your mouth over it, sucking up what little water you could.

“As much as I’d love to see you give head to a straw, you need your fluids.”

Ares raised his hand up and a puff of black smoke flew up into the air. He pinched a human-sized straw in-between his forefinger and thumb before tossing it into your drink.

You sipped. “I really can’t decide whether you’re a pervert masking as a gentleman, or a gentleman masking as a pervert.”

“Maybe I’m both.” He winked.

You slapped his arm.

“Ouch.”

“Oh, shut up.”

Ares grinned at you. His fangs were so close to your face now, they gleamed, sparkling pearly white. “Hey, Orlo, how ‘bout a chocolate shake?” he shouted, not taking his eyes off you.

“Comin’ right up, boss!” Orlo sounded from the other side of the bar. 

You cleared your throat. “I guess you and Orlo are pretty good buddies, huh?”

“Eh.” Ares shrugged. “I keep to myself mostly. Only come here when I’m in the area for work.”

“What do you do for work?”

Something caught Ares’ eye. “Tell ya later. Here it comes.”

Orlo brought out a platter of a world-record-sized burger. You choked on your drink as he laid it down in front of you.

“There ya go, cupcake. Told our giants in the back to make it as small as they could, just for you.”

Ares conjured up a regular-sized fork and knife. “Here. Better start digging now if we’re gonna make it to the embassy on time.” 

You picked up the fork and stuck it into the burger, your mouth still gaping wide open, in complete and total shock. 

“How the heck am I supposed to eat this monstrosity?!”

The restaurant quieted a little, the only sound the creaking ceiling fan above you.

“Didn’t I tell you not to use that language!” He tried to sound mad but could barely hold it together. “That’s a swear word in these parts.”

“But I heard you say it last night?” you parried.

“It’s different when we say it. When a human says it, that’s essentially hate speech.” He twisted a scewer-sized fork into his spaghetti and meatballs and then chomped down on the enormous bite. He slurped up, getting sauce all over his mouth. 

You grimaced, hesitantly taking a tiny bite of the burger. 

It tasted like rainbows.

“Oh, my god. This is the best burger ever!” You put down the fork and knife and picked it up with both hands, immediately chowing down.

“Hey, hey, not too fast now.” Ares dabbed your mouth with a napkin. 

You pulled away. “Buzz off! I’m enjoying my lunch.” You took another bite. “Mmmm… Wow.”

“And here’s y’all’s shake.” Orlo slid a pitcher-sized shake down the counter.

You dropped the burger and grabbed the shake, slurping it up through the monster straw. 

Ares just looked at you dumbfounded before sticking his straw into the shake. 

You pulled it back, hugging the scrumptious shake to your chest. “Don’t even think about it, demon.”

“Hey, I’m payin’! Don’t I get a sip?”

“After I’m finished you can.”

“We’ll see about that.” He reached out for the shake, his fingers barely scraping your chest, before he tugged it back towards him. You had no chance in sparring with a demon over a milkshake, you decided. So, you both leaned in, taking a sip together. You caught his eyes for only a moment. They weren’t just black and cold anymore. They had tiny golden sparks, fireworks shooting up into the sky on the Fourth of July. 

How pretty.

[cxndiedvi0lets]

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𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐌𝐞. ❀

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤHi, im Violet, and I'm a Ghost. Boo.

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Hi, Im Violet, and I'm 18+, Please ask for my age in DM. Thank you ! I'm a She/Her, but I'm comfortable with any pronouns. I'm also a founder of the band called 'The Nomads' and lead singer. I am an INFP-T, My house is Slytherin, My Cabin is Cabin 5 Ares, and my Zodiac Sign is a Gemini. I am also a Semi-Literate Roleplayer, and I'm dead. lol.

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[edensremains]

consequences

↳ summary: vox’s ars goetia girlfriend doesn’t like the limelight but you know who does? him!

↳want to see Vox in pain? there’s a part two!

↳ not my fav piece but it’s There, there’s a second part to this but it’s Vox going through it. I wrote this for myself before and edited it up….. this feels TOO indulgent like Dulce Vida😭 it’s almost midnight let me get my ass to bed… i haven’t watched helluva boss yet so ars goetia being nobility is all i know my fault yall LMFOAOOOOOO

Vox loved to be in the limelight. His girlfriend did not.

You were a person that didn’t enjoy being paraded around like a commodity, and you weren’t one! But Vox was a very public person by nature, and it was practically expected that when Vox entered a relationship, he’d make an announcement to all of Hell on a broadcast showing off his beloved. It’s not like you two were exactly subtle about their relationship, not very much anyways, you were the only one who really tried to uphold that rule of yours around the cameras. Vox loved to stress you out by practically hanging off you whenever one of his millions of cameras fixated on you two during a live broadcast.

To the public, you were an Ars Goetia that was taking an interest in the Vee’s which did wonders for their reputation, and you’d had a hand in a couple of their marketing decisions as well as their internal division. To the Vee’s, you were just Vox’s girlfriend who was practically royalty that lorded over them when they’d act up, which caused a lot of friction at first. Quick to snip them back into line whenever risky decisions that could impact their reputation were about to happen, they didn’t end up liking that much. Although you didn’t enjoy getting involved you knew that the Vee’s reputation was important to Vox, which meant you had to give a fuck if Velvette was getting into trouble or Valentino was seconds away from storming away with one of his guns in hand headed straight for the public.

As time passed, the two eased up around you and hesitantly began to accept these new circumstances. After more time, they’d come to see you as Vox’s girlfriend who lived with them and stuck around every day, just like them. Which meant Velvette could get a free model on short notice and Valentino could try and get her in the studio when he was down one whore.

…Over Vox’s dead fucking body was he letting his girlfriend star in a porno with some other fucking bastard touching you in any way, sometimes he could barely handle Valentino touching you on his more stressful days. Velvette was fine, you looked stunning in anything she made you wear.

The silence in-between those times was getting to him though.

Everything is about reputation and with you being an Ars Goetia, which is the closest thing to the royal family there is without actually being royally tied, it could elevate the Vee’s status in the eyes of hell just by association. It could have been a great story for the news, if you weren’t so vehemently against revealing your relationship to the entirety of Hell. Vox didn’t actually care for keeping things under wraps, but he likes to pretend just to keep you quiet on the matter and avoid yet another argument about the subject. Doesn’t mean he won’t still grab you by your waist and pull you in every second he can. So what if the camera’s are on? He’s allowed to want to hold his girlfriend. If his hands roam a bit, you can just slap them away like always.

Even so, he pissed you off this time.

During a broadcast, you’d agreed to make a guest appearance for their reality show in the Vee tower, it was supposed to be a focus on Velvette today with her day in the life section. Vox never took the need to hide your relationship secret too seriously, so the other Vee’s didn’t either. After her part playing model for Velvette, she’d gone ahead and retired to Vox’s floor of the tower. Sandwiched between Valentino and Vox, you were laid across their laps and idly scrolling through her phone. Valentino was pressing kisses against your neck as he watched you, trying to get you to set down the phone for your second unofficial boyfriend. Vox? He was watching the broadcast as it was playing out, it wasn’t often they did it live after all. It was risky, but it provided good content when Velvette could interact with the viewers comments immediately.

It was going great until he shifted his attention away for one moment to press a kiss to your wrist before Velvette bounded in through the doors, the camera pointed right at the three on the couch.

“Here they are—? Couldn’t fuckin’ find Val for a second but here he is! See his coat? You’d think I did that shit, but the fluff and all isn’t me, that’s actually his wings. He can alter them or whatever. Yoo-hoo, lovebirds! The two boyfriends and their girlfriend, give us a hoot!” Velvette grinned as she kept her eyes on the stream, unaware of just how deep your reluctance to be in the public eye went as she gave the camera a shake in your direction.

Immediately, Vox felt you stiffen, practically shoving the two off yourself before giving Vox a look. “Velvette!” You hissed, your eyes wide and panicked. Vox, sensing the immediate shift in mood, swiped his hand over a glass panel and the broadcast cut off, ending the show’s episode with a bang. He barely got a word in before you were storming out, heading to your own room on the floor (not that you ever used it, really, Vox’s had plenty of room for the two of you and more), slamming the door behind you and clicking all the digital locks.

Now two hours later, Vox had finally deactivated the electronic locks and let himself in after your refusal to come out. He wasn’t going to wipe the broadcast, the views were already skyrocketing beyond their usual at the announcement. Everyone seemed happy for them! What’s the big fucking deal? It’s not like anyone was really surprised. Maybe that fuck ass mentor of hers was, the one who kept her away from them every now and then for training away from the Pride ring; but who cares about that bastard really? Maybe the nobility or whatever.

Valentino was pacing around, practically twitching with the urge to go in himself and drag you back out himself. Probably to shake her around back and forth, trying to assure himself that you weren’t mad at him for some godforsaken reason that he couldn’t immediately fix with sex. Velvette on the other hand, almost tore him a new one when he’d explained the very strict rule you had about publicity. She’d guessed they were just waiting to announce it and decided to crash and do it for them, not that you were vehemently against it.

“Baby, please. You can’t stay in here forever, what’s the big deal? Velvette didn’t mean it, you know that.” Vox began with a playful lilt to his voice, stepping into the room and closing the door behind him. He’d deactivated all the locks after getting sick of trying to convince you to let him in. Why should he have to beg to see you face to face in his own home?

“What the fuck do you mean what’s the big deal?” You hissed, your wings flaring out behind you as you paced around the room, your hands in tight fists beside you. “The entirety of Hell knows about us! I was fucking— I hated even making myself known to help out the Vee’s but I did it for you! Vox, this is too far, you know that.”

“Babe. If this is about the attention, it’s all positive and shit! They all love you. Everyone suspected we were too close anyways, they’re all eating out of our hands right now. Royal gossip and all that junk! Why are you being like this?” His digital screen displayed a frown and furrowed brows, his sharp claws coming up to try and touch your wing gently before you turned away, your wings pinning to your side flatly as if burned by his attempt.

Distance, silence, anger, rejection. This was all wrong. You looked like a goddamn cornered bird, wings flared in defense with a low sound emitting from your throat. It made something odd stir inside him, a desire to reclaim, to soothe her, to possess or reassert himself.

“Come on, baby, you know I hate it when we’re not on the same wavelength. Talk to me, please?” He tried to coax you into calming down enough to talk to him without it brewing into a full blown argument, his voice sickeningly sweet as he let his hand fall back to his side, although it irritated him to have to be complacent yet again about this issue. Why couldn’t you just accept the fame? You’re already at the top of the ladder, what’s some more? “They all love you and I. No one is rioting like you think they are.”

“It’s not about that.” You snap, then your expression flickers for a moment, a trace of guilt. There it is.

He doubled down, coming up closer beside you with a soft, artificial as can be, smile on his face. “Then tell me what’s going through that lovely head of yours. Why are you worried, baby? We should be celebrating right now, hand in hand with some dr—“

“I’m not in the mood, Vox. Really.” You cut in, your fists tightening at your sides as you move around him to continue pacing around the room. “I don’t want to hear about how this is a good thing, when it’s something I never wanted, not now, at least. I wasn’t ready.”

He pauses, eyes scanning your form for a moment before his grin is back smoothly displayed on his screen. “Alright alright, we don’t have to talk about it. Come back into the lobby with me and we can forget all about this tonight. Val is beside himself with anxiety, we can settle down for the night with him.”

“No—“ you begin, expression crumpling before Vox narrows his eyes as soon as the words leave your mouth.

“No?” He repeats, leveling her with a look.

“I don’t… want to just act like everything is okay. Vox, I don’t— this isn’t right. I told you I didn’t want to get pulled into the spotlight, the public.” You stop pacing, instead standing there with a conflicted look in your eyes.

“I didn’t do this, so why am I being punished?” He raises a brow, moving his screen to catch your gaze again. He didn’t care if you were being stubborn, if she wanted to talk, they’d talk. He offered you a way out and you didn’t take the damn olive branch. Typical of you when things got like this.

“Because—! Velvette didn’t know, why didn’t you ever tell the Vee’s that we were hiding it for a reason?” You’d hissed out, your hands reaching up to tangle in your hair, seconds away from pulling.

“NONE OF THAT.” Vox’s voice blared out at a higher volume, a momentary glitch flickering across his screen abruptly as his arms immediately extended out to grasp at your hands, stopping your from trying to yank on your hair out of frustration.

He watched you with an intensity as you briefly paused, then grit your teeth and lower your hands, clasping them tightly around your necklace instead.

He eased up, letting his arms extend back into him after letting go of you. Straightening himself back up, he considered your words.

“It slipped my mind.” It didn’t. “I thought they’d understand because we never made it public.” He never told them for a reason, deep down hoping something like this might happen. It worked, didn’t it? The Vee’s were the talk of the town now, like they always were, the frenzied public eating it up. Not pictured on his screen was him monitoring the comments on the broadcast that he refused to take down.

“Still, I…” Your voice wavers, and he knows he’s almost got you. He’s so close to winning this, to having you back in his arms and the publicity he wanted so desperately, having both would be so, so fucking satisfying.

And then.

“You’re not listening to me, are you? It slipped your mind? It should have been the very first thing you told them after I made it clear to you, considering we spend a lot of our time around the other Vee’s.” You seem to harden with your resolve, gaze flickering to the floor before it settled back to him.

The hell?

He was so close. What happened now?

“Baby, I—“

“Don’t call me that right now.” You interrupt, strict.

“…Alright, then. I’m sorry, but what’s done is done. I can’t take back my mistake, or Velvette’s.” He tries, his voice a faux soothing tone. “Let’s not argue, okay? I just want to hold you right now, you look so…” He trailed off. Honestly, you looked fine right now, a far cry from your earlier trembling and muttering when he’d first checked the cameras of your room hours ago.

“Take down the broadcast.”

“What?” No, absolutely not. That fucking video was earning them so much money right now, and engagement. Why the fuck would he do that?

“Take down the broadcast and put out a statement that Velvette was just exaggerating, that there’s nothing going on.” You calmly stated, then gave him a look, something he hadn’t seen before, not when you usually gave into him and his words.

“We— We can’t do that,” He glitches slightly, before forcing his circuits back into a stable flow. “That’ll just make things worse, and it’s likely been uploaded a million times over on other people’s channels for commentary.”

“Take it down and we can go back to how things were.” You repeat, posture stiffening the more and more he refused. “It’s not the first time Velvette has stirred something up for publicity, they’ll understand.”

“Baby, no. What’s done is done. Wiping it out won’t change things, it’ll just douse more gas onto the fire.” Vox frowned, his hands reaching out for you. “We can make this better. We can keep public appearances to a minimum, we can do whatever you want, but taking it down isn’t going to magically make it all better.”

He watches as your brows knit together, and as you try again. “Take it down, and we can work from there. Please.” You let out a small sigh, your wings trembling a bit as you maintain your composure for the most part.

“I can’t, you know that. People are going to think we have something to hide.” Vox takes a deep breath, unnecessarily but a habit from when he was alive, in order to keep his cool. “Baby, be reasonable.”

“I am being reasonable. I just— Why can’t you do it? Take it down, Vox. Delete the broadcast and we—“

“I SAID I’m not taking SHIT down—“ Vox glitches in a sudden surge of frustration, his screen flashing a multitude of colors before settling on an angry red that blares brightly for a few moments, a string of incomprehensible text rapidly filling the screen. “You s—sound like a fucking broken record, th—this video is making us money and you want to stop it? Who the fuck do you think pays for y—your shit? Ssssshut the fuc—“ The words tumble out of his mouth before he can stop them, the sudden error preventing him from filtering his true thoughts out. FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK. He can see the beginning of realization of what he just said dawn on his girlfriend’s face as he immediately clamps his mouth closed, forcing himself to play damage control before things get more out of hand.

“Baby, I didn’t mean that, I—“ He begins, that soft, coaxing tone returning, a sharp contrast to the vulgar and harsh biting sound he’d just spilled out. The petname is laced with something sweet and belittling, as if this was just another tantrum about his lack of awareness about the cameras. You, however, cut in again.

“I told you to stop calling me that.” You speak up, eerily calm now. With a deep breath, you give him that same stare you had before. “You’re not listening to me. Is that what you’ve been thinking all along? You’re a fucking asshole is what you are.” You grip at your necklace, before yanking on it hard enough that the strong snaps and beads fly everywhere in every direction.

“You’re not listening and all you care about is fucking profit. Why am I sitting here wasting my breath talking to a wall when it’s clear you’ve already decided what to do? Fuck you, fuck the Vee’s, and fuck all of Hell. I’m out of here.” You seethe, hands dropping the broken string and some of the beads, and Vox watches as they hit the floor.

He’d given her that pair.

It gave him a headache to make it, but he’d done it for her because she couldn’t find anything she liked in stores. Only a fucking simp would do what he did. A bastard in love would spend their time making it even with his stupid fucking claws, who just watched them tear that shit over a stupid fucking argument on something that was clearly unavoidable. He opens his mouth to fire back another response but you take a step towards the door and all of his composure goes out the window right in that moment.

“STAY.” His voice blares out, speakers blasting with the force of his command and his screen contorts into a swirling pattern, a hypnotic expression overtaking your face the moment your eyes settle on the screen the moment you turn your head, and he sees the effects of his, immediately activated at your movements, hypnosis begin to repay benefits as you remains rooted into your place.

There’s a brief moment of clarity for him. Ah. So it does work on you after all. Then, a deep seated panic hits him. M -;You’r)e going to fffffucking kill h—hi,m.

He freezes, then forces himself into action.

With a trembling hand, he points towards the bed. “…Sit down.”

He watches as your limbs begin to move, expression blank as you seat yourself on the edge of the bed. Your wings are limp, gaze glassy as you wait aimlessly for further directions.

He swallows thickly, before re-engaging the locks on the door, then disables the swirling pattern as soon as the locks click back into place. He’s never used his hypnosis on her for the entirety of their relationship, no matter how infuriating or tedious their arguments got. He’s never been tempted enough to try, but the passing thought if it would work occasionally flickered through his mind. He almost brought it up once to ask her opinion about using it in the bedroom before he decided that was much too insane to ask during their peaceful dinner at one of the hellfire Michelin restaurants he’d taken her to. He didn’t want her to choke on her steak because he couldn’t keep his curiosity in check.

He can only watch as her expression morphs from a listless blank one to slow realization. Then, big tears start to slowly fall from her eyes, silently slipping down her cheeks.

He’s fucked up again.

“Baby, no no, no…” He moves to kneel beside you, taking your hand in his securely. “I’m sorry, I just didn’t want you to leave. Please, let’s talk about this.”

But all you do is continue to sob silently, pulling your hand away immediately.

Vox's digital heart sinks at the sight of her pulling her hand away, the tears streaming down her face like a silent accusation towards him. He knows he fucked up, did something he shouldn’t have, crossed a line he can’t uncross at one of the worst moments he could have chosen to.

“Love, please.” He pleads, remaining kneeled beside you on one knee. “I know I fucked up, I should have never— I was scared you were going to leave a-and I panicked.”

He almost wants to reach out and just bring you in, take you into his arms and comfort you, hold you until things start to make sense again, or until he’s sure he isn’t losing the thing he wanted to stay most despite it all.

“Just— Tell me what to do. I’ll do anything to make this right. Please, what do you need right now?” He hates the way he sounds right now, everything is tinged in desperation and a plea for her to stay.

“I just,” Another choked sob. You reach your hands up to harshly wipe at your eyes, more tears silently streaming down your face. “—want to go home, I don’t want to be here anymore.”

He feels a sharp jolt of pure desperation, rejection, everything he didn’t want, stab through him. He nearly glitches out again, his screen flickering before he bypasses it and forces his composure.

“But this is your home—“

“Vox, please. I want to go home now.”

"Okay, okay," Vox responds quickly, his voice a low sound, trying to soothe you despite the tension that fills the air between them. "You can go… home. I won't stop you. I just—can we talk first? Please?"

He knows he’s about to lose you, right on the edge. He knows he can’t logically force you to stay forever, you’re falling apart just at a few moments under his hypnosis, it isn’t feasible and he knows that.

"I'll have one of the cars take you wherever you want to go," Vox offers, his words laced with regret. He isn’t sure where you’ll go, but he wants to know you’re there safe. "Just let me make sure you get there safely. That's all I ask. Let me make sure you're safe."

You sniffle, your eyes reddened with more tears as you slowly shake your head. “N…No please, I’ll be okay…”

His screen flickers, limbs twitching with need. He has to force down another error from surfacing, bad enough to almost make him crash. The only thing he can do right now is agree. With a swipe of his hand, the digital locks unlock and the door swings open.

“Alright, if that’s… if that’s what you want, I won’t stop you anymore.” He speaks up after a moment, an overwhelming sense of loss washing over him as he concedes. “Just… be careful, okay? Hell isn’t as kind as you think it is.”

The least he can do is watch over you, right?

He has cameras all over the city, she’ll be fine. He’ll be watching over his beloved to make sure she gets home just fine. He doesn’t know where that is, but he’s sure to find out now. And when she’s ready to talk, they’ll talk and iron this out. It’s not like this is the end of everything, what would he tell the other Vee’s? The media? What would he do?

He swallows, then takes a step back. “Just… text me when you feel better, okay?”

“Yeah… Okay…” You nod slowly, then stand up from the bed. Your wings are curled around yourself protectively, and you begin to walk towards the now unlocked door. With each step you take, Vox twitches a bit, hands trembling with the need to reach out and stop you himself. He contemplates something, and with a grimace, his screen activates it’s hypnotic swirl. He hopes you’ll look back at him for just a moment, just for a second. All he needs is just one moment and he can get them to talk this out.

“G—Goodbye, take care of yourself. Talk soon, okay? Message me when you’re home safe.” He forces out, his screen going pixelated with various colors in a moment for a moment before resuming its swirl. You pause your steps, as if contemplating something before you swallow, and continue on your way out. Without sparing him a glance as you go.

You don’t look back at him. Instead, you mumble something he can’t catch out, probably a half-hearted goodbye, and walk out on him.

The text never comes and neither do you.

[aliciavance4228]

Finally Made a List With Modern Interpretations of the Greek Gods Which I Personally Dislike

Zeus is an incompetent asshole uncapable of rulling who took Hades' rightful position as the King of the Gods by cheating during the Division of the Cosmos;

Poseidon is just a cool funny chill uncle who likes swimming and probably smokes weed;

Hades is an emo feminist woobie who only wants to love his pastel goth wife and his beloved dog Spot;

Hera is only a victim of Zeus and every bad thing that she does is 100% because of him;

The polar opposite where Hera is a complete monster and a psychotic bitch who only cares about cursing and killing the women her poor innocent husband has slept with and his bastards;

Demeter is a Helicopter Parent/Overbearing Mother who still used to treat her daughter like a child before Hades kidnapped her and is completely horrible for standing against their pure and innocent love.

Hestia is a hypocrite lesbian (you know what I'm talking about);

Hestia who?

Athena is a shy, socially awkard nerd;

Athena is a feminist who only wanted to protect Medusa and hates love (and men);

Athena is a pick-me girl who never helped nor supported any woman during her entire eternity;

Hephaestus is an Incel who deserved to be cheated on;

Ares is the protector of women who is unfairly hated by the other gods, never raped nor abused any woman during his entire life and wants to overthrow his father for being a patriarchal figure;

Aphrodite is a brainless slut who only cares about herself, and the only way to redempt herself is being together with Hephaestus again;

Apollo is a piece of shit who thinks that he's better than anyone else and ruined Patrochilles FOREVAAAH!!!

Apollo is a bicon and femboy who never raped, murdered or cursed anyone.

Artemis is a lesbian misandrisst feminist icon;

Hermes is just the comic relief;

Dionysus is a dirty drunk old man;

Dionysus is an LGBTQ+ feminist icon ready to kill the bigots; (Yeah right, the LGBTQ+ Community of Ancient Greece...)

Persephone is an innocent flower girl who still looks and acts like a child and had no idea what sex is until she had her sexual awakening in the Underworld;

Persephone is a bad bitch, she's more dreadful and merciless than Hades, hates flowers or being a goddess of nature and 100% wanted to be kidnapped/willingly went with Hades;

Feel free to add anything else.