#deification au

[hyperbolicreverie]

Law swallows the lump in his throat. "Luffy," he says, and he can tell the rare use of his given name gives him the other captain's full attention. "Roger called me--he called me a god. A fledgling one." He watches as Luffy's eyes widen in the silence that stretches between them, before laying out the conclusion he'd regretfully come to. "I don't think this is going to stop. For any of us." "You fix people, though," Luffy says, and there should be nothing in this world that makes that man's voice shake like that. Maybe that's the problem; they've definitely stepped outside the bounds of the world they know. "I don't think I can fix this."

What happens when the world believes in you so much, that you start becoming something more?

What if it's something you never wanted to be?

[alchemistc]

i wanna start out by saying ive been patiently waiting for a hockey AU on the bucktommy fandom and your Goon fic is everything i have ever wanted, im honestly obsessed with your characterization of tommy

i have never been that big on rpf in the hockey fandom, but i always love reading people write crosby in their hockey aus, also love how you include Hockey Lore TM in the story

so, i wanted your take on the insane 'tradition' (not really tradition, more of a common occurrence) of players playing through injuries specially in the playoffs (I remember that in the 2016 or 2017 cup run, there was more players currently injured on the penguins than not, pretty sure Letang or Daley had like, broken fingers for most of the last round) and how many times Buck had to run away from Hen so he could play, because if anyone is more likely to play through injuries, i'd say is Evan "i-had-another-surgery-instead-of-waiting-for-my-leg-crush-injury-to-heal-naturally" Buckley, or Evan "I-sued-my-job-because-they-wouldnt-let-me-do-said-job-after-said-leg-crush-injury-and-vomitting-blood" Buckley

Thank you thank you! Goon has been so much fun to craft, and I'm loving seeing the hockey fans and the 'what's a chiclet' 9-1-1 fans alike enjoy it!

Personally? I hate it. I think the whole idea of it is fucking insane and detrimental to not only their physical health but their mental health as well. (From the Avs fan perspective, regardless of what we actually know about the Nichushkin situation, the man broke his foot and played through it, likely got addicted to a painkiller in the recovery process, missed a playoff series because of [redacted], had a career fucking year and then sent himself to the Players Assistance Program, came back, had MORE career highlights, and then...failed a drug test in the run up to the playoffs and got himself suspended.

(Another reason players just play through injury and mental health crisis is the Players Assistance Program, which IS ANOTHER MAJOR FAILING OF HOCKEY CULTURE IN GENERAL)

Hell, Landy played through a not-healed-injury after he took Cale's skate to his knee and now he's had two surgeries and may never make another appearance in a game because of it.

(I can't think of the player at the moment, but I remember a cup run where a player was playing with fractured ribs and it was later revealed that if he'd taken a puck or a nasty hit or gone into the boards wrong there was a chance he'd have had a vital organ punctured and likely wouldn't have known the extent of the damage until he'd collapsed from internal bleeding. It didn't happen, but WHAT THE FUCK)

And fans have a tendency to glorify them as gods for 'fighting through the pain' in their quest for the Cup.

As far as Goon goes:

They're all gonna be playing through injury. SInce this is from Tommy's perspective, he's coming at it from two angles - he's the guy who's played through injury his whole career just to keep a spot in the lineup, he's toughed it out and dealt with the numbing agents and the wraps and the twinge that doesn't go away for weeks at a time (and the aforementioned pain killers that eventually prompted him to go to fucking therapy in the first place). He is also the guy who has spent four years unpacking why exactly he did that - how much of it is the culture, how much of it is his own shit and his dad telling him to rub some dirt in it and stop being a pussy, how much of it has just been to prove himself capable of being one of the guys in the room.

There's also Hen, who pushes harder than the other trainers, and calls out the bullshit when she sees it, so yeah, this team probably has a slightly better track record of keeping the guy out with upper body injury out of the lineup for longer than any other team would, but - Buck's not the only one who's learned how to lie about exactly how much pain he's in and how well his recovery is going. He'll strain shit and refuse to admit it, he'll push through on a 'minor' injury unless he thinks playing on it would threaten his career. (He absolutely has NO real concept of how bad an injury actually is, tbh, because like everyone else he's been lying about it for so long he doesn't have an accurate pain scale.)

The tldr of this is that I don't condone it, but the reality is it's so ingrained in kids coming up that it's a reality of the culture and I'm not necessarily gonna shy away from that. It's not a huge focus of the story, but there will be hints here and there.

[autisticcassandracain]

Currently rotating in my brain: a canon divergence AU where instead of entering Gotham during No Man's Land, Cass comes in during the Robin Collective era.

[kenzieluvsnanami]

kenzieluvssuguru :: ☆*:.｡.o the roommate (18+) o.｡.:*☆

You were sure you hated him. From the crown of his silky, jet black hair to the bottom of his bunny-slipper clad feet. Everything he did pissed you off. Whether it’s finishing your very expensive shampoo or sneaking bites of your carefully hidden sweet treats, one thing was for certain: Geto Suguru knew how to get and STAY on your last nerve. (f!reader x suguru) // PART 2 // (icymi, part 1)

cw *:･ﾟ✧ roommate/no curses/college au, reader is very ashamed, still cheeky suguru, a new bombshell has entered the villa! (gojo feature!), jealousy/possessiveness, arguments, cunnílingus and lots of dirty talk // 3.7k wc

The next day you awoke with a start, the golden light streaming through your parted curtains being what interrupted your otherwise blissful slumber after what had been an… eventful evening. You didn’t know if you felt guilt, shame, embarrassment or all of the above about what you had done.

How were you even supposed to look Suguru in the eye? It was intrusive, disrespectful and… wrong. Just because he happened to live in the same house as you doesn’t give you the right to intrude on what obviously was meant to be a private moment.

You continued your mental self-flagellation as you got ready, mind overflowing with thoughts as you stepped out into the main living area and slammed right into the one person you really wanted to avoid right now.

”whoaa, whats the rush?” Suguru snickered as he pushed against your shoulders, scanning your face. You felt yourself shrinking away, cheeks burning at how intensely he was looking at you; eyes examining you so sharply it felt as if he could see straight through you, see the guilt that was written all over your face.

He frowned.

”Seriously what’s up?”

Seemingly not wanting to take your silence as an answer, you awkwardly coughed and mumbled some excuse about stress from work. Suguru scoffed, not really believing your answer but he had let go of your shoulders which allowed you to slip around him and leave the house.

You needed to reconnect with nature and touch some grass literally because you were spiralling out badly about your non-existent situation with your roommate and since you really had no other choice but to live with him (unless you went back to working 3 jobs) you seriously needed to ground yourself. He truly had no clue that you heard anything so as long as you just tried to pretend that it had never happened everything would go back to normal and your roommate would go back to being highly irritating.

As you walked back home, you tried to remember all of the annoying things Suguru did; how he teased you non-stop, really didn’t know the definition of personal space and had an extraordinarily large ego. These weren’t really things you were attracted to, right? The fact that this bothered you surely proved how purely platonic your relationship was.

A couple of hours had passed since you’d stormed out the house and as you entered you could smell the delicious aroma of what could only be…. your favourite dish. You set down your things and stepped into the kitchen to be greeted with the deific sight of your roommate wearing just grey sweatpants that hugged around his lower back, the thin material giving you an elaborate view of his lower half… dick print stretching all the way out to the middle of his left thigh; thick with a slight curve near the tip.

”hello to you too” , the clink of plates interrupting your stream of consciousness. You bowed your head, feeling heat rush from depths of your stomach all the way up into the roots of your hair. Again, literally five seconds after vowing to stop ogling your roommate, you succumbed to your temptations and this time you were… caught. How humiliating.

You were now both sat at what you could now see to be a very small table. Suguru’s taller build meant that he had to practically fold himself up to fit properly, your legs tucked neatly between his knees as the tips of his feet jutted out under your chair.

Whenever he took a break from eating, his forearms rested against yours - warmth radiating from his body. It was actually quite endearing and made you think back to when the two of you had gone out furniture hunting to buy a new table that could properly fit the two of you.

…

”We don’t really need to get a new table y’know..” Suguru huffed as the two of you strolled down the isle.

“You literally cannot fit comfortably in that table, though?”, his insistence for keeping the table being something that baffled you. Most sane people wouldn’t mind actually being able to have some personal space whilst eating, actually being able to stretch their legs out instead of having to awkwardly contort themselves. You both ended up bickering so much over whether you needed a new table that you left empty-handed, the only thing that you gained was a colossal headache and an increased hatred towards the person who you were lucky enough to call your roommate.

…

You mainly ate in silence, trying to take everything in. Suguru had made you your favourite dish… but why? He never even explained when you came in; just doing his stupid little placid smile when you quietly thanked him. Finishing up the meal, you went to grab the plates to wash up (it was the least you could do) when his slender fingers circled around your wrist, not so hard that you couldn’t pull away but with just enough pressure that it caused you pause.

“what.”

All the air had left your lungs as you tried to regain normal breathing capacities. Your roommate just smirked as he held your wrist; the unnerving level of eye-contact flustering you as you felt yourself being drawn in deeper and deeper.

”I was worried about you today y’know? Normally, you’re all snarky and riled up… but you were so quiet today.”

You stepped back, “Seriously Suguru. I’m fine.”

Swiftly turning, your cheeks burned.

He made your favourite dish because he was concerned about you? You washed the dishes and walked mindlessly into your room, utterly confused by the seeming attitude transplant that had happened to your roommate that meant that he genuinely seemed to care about your welfare? And wasn’t trying to be a dick or annoy you? This was very new. And unexpected.

Since that day, the two of you had slipped back into your regular routine of playful jibbing but Suguru was noticeably… kinder? He stopped doing things that he knew would annoy you, made an active effort to keep communal areas tidy and seemed to take a greater interest in what you were doing?

”Really? No dates at alll?”

“Nope.” He seemed relieved at your uneventful love life but not in his usual mocking way but in a more reassured way?

A month had passed, with a new semester starting and with that came a new professor for your critical analysis class. Usually, you would be left to your own devices during lectures; a copy of the slides being sent to your email which meant you didn’t actually have to attend the lecture (so many didn’t).

This seemed to aggravate your new teacher who insisted on setting group work for all of the main assignments - essentially forcing you to come to class every Tuesday. Oh, and did I mention that the groups were randomised! The only person you actually knew in that class was Suguru and the professor insisted on creating new connections between students which meant you ended up in a group with him, a brown haired girl named Shoko and an… eccentric boy named Satoru.

Satoru stood out not just because of his demeanour but unique appearance - his muscular yet slim build, ivory white undercut and intense blue eyes that were shaded by his Prada sunglasses being something new to you but you liked it.

Being forced to be in a group with him allowed you to better understand his self-confident (arrogant) and laid-back personality. You found him incredibly hilarious with his quick-witted jibes against your new professor becoming your favourite part of the class, the two of you often messing around during the lesson leaving Shoko and Suguru to do most of the work.

Over time you and Satoru had become closer and closer, forming a bond over your shared interest of food (especially dessert). It was easy to talk to him and you actually were able to see the less superficial and caring side of him as your relationship blossomed.

The relationship had actually developed to a point where Satoru had asked you out on a date that Tuesday after your seminar, to the local arcade with the promise to win every single stuffed animal there (since he “was the strongest and all”). You nervously accepted, excited to explore a new romantic connection but slightly apprehensive about how your roommate would take it.

See, Suguru didn’t exactly like Satoru. In more particular terms; he hated him. He hated how self-assured he was, how he didn’t contribute at all to your group work, how he spent all lesson flirting with you instead of doing the work and most of all, how you seemed completely charmed by him.

You didn’t really know the true extent to which Suguru didn’t like Satoru as he never directly expressed his sentiment to you; it was more the way his face would scrunch up when he caught the two of you talking, his brow knitting tightly as his lips curled down in a harsh scowl.

That’s why you neglected to inform your roommate that your date would be picking you up from your shared house, leading him to open the door to what he considered to be the world’s most punchable face.

”What are you doing here?” he said flatly, clenching his fists at his sides to stop them from plowing into the man stood infront of him.

Satoru poked his head into the hallway to get a better look inside the house.

“I didn’t know you lived here?” he lazily drawled, disregarding the question as he waltzed in.

”You can’t just walk in here?”, the sound of Suguru’s disgruntled voice alerting you to your dates arrival. You rushed out to be met with the two of them in some sort of weird stand-off, their faces threateningly close as they glared angrily at each other.

“Just because you live with her doesn’t mean you own her!” Satoru pushed hard on your roommate’s chest as his face screwed up. Suguru’s face hardened as he started to stomp towards Satoru. You cried out, surprised at how far things had escalated. You knew that Suguru didn’t reallly like Satoru but you never thought they would actually fight over….you?

Both men turned to look at you sheepishly as the reality of the situation started to sink in for them.

”This is so childish..” started Suguru as Satoru griped “…but he did start it!”.

You looked incredulously between the two of them, in actual disbelief that they were actually about to physically fight over you.

“Yeah. Childish is how I would describe it.” You affirmed as you turned to go back into your room, no longer in the mood to go out at all.

You skipped the next critical theory lecture, much to Satoru’s (and your professor’s!) dismay. He had tried to send you a few texts but honestly the whole situation was just too overwhelming. You were disappointed by the way in which your roommate was being so… possessive over you and how Satoru had actually risen up to it, instead of just being the bigger person and ignoring him.

Suguru had been giving you your space since the incident, which you appreciated as its not easy avoiding someone who you live in the same house as. His behaviour had also taken you aback, his protectiveness of you seemingly coming out of nowhere. You knew he didn’t like Satoru but not to the extent of nearly fighting him?

You spent the weekend bedrotting as you binged on bad food and bad movies to help yourself feel better. Having two men were fighting over you would normally be something to be delighted by but for some reason it being these two men just made you utterly miserable. The alone time you were able to spend did allow you to better clear your mind and feel a lot less restless as you were finally able to have an actually peaceful night of sleep on Sunday.

You awoke to a rustling under your blankets and heavy panting. You went to move the covers when you felt a hand reach up the underside of your thigh, fingers squeezing into the fat as hot puffs of breath fanned over your….. pussy? Confused, you whipped off the covers to reveal what appeared to be your roommate laying in between your thighs???

”Jus’ let me have a little taste..” he lazily drawled as a finger traced along the edges of your panties, circling over the one place you wanted, no, needed him most.

You felt your body tremble as you tried to fix your mouth to say something - anything! This was wrong, right? You had fought so hard to stop having such salacious thoughts about your roommate, even tried to explore other romantic connections (I mean that didn’t even go well) but still, you decided that your roommate was off-limits.

Even if he was begging to eat you out.

So you should do the right thing and push him away. But instead, your hands buried themselves into Suguru’s silky strands and tried to press his face into the one place you wanted it most - his nose lightly brushing against your clit causing you to softly whimper.

”I know you want this..” he continued as his fingers hooked into the sides of your underwear, pulling them down at an agonisingly slow pace.

”But before I do, I think you have something to confess to me?” a sly smirk spreading across his mouth as his eyes locked onto the flustered expression on your face - blown out pupils and heated cheeks all but admitting the little secret you had been keeping.

“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about Suguru.” you whimpered, blood rushing down to your already sensitive cunt, the slightest movements becoming more and more tense.

Suguru’s fingers hovered right over your entrance, the pointer and middle creating just the right amount of girth - if only he’d just put them in already.

“…I don’t think that’s the truth though.” he fake pouted as he started to shuffle back, the cold air hitting your exposed, soaked pussy making you shudder.

“N-No…No!” your voice cracked with need as you reached out to grab his hand. You really were hoping that he wasn’t going to push you any further because the mere thought of actually admitting what you had done to your roommate made you want to cease existing.

”…just tell me what you did and I’ll help you out” he folded his arms and rested his head on top as if he could spend all day just staring right into your oozing cunt. You knew how stubborn Suguru was. If he said he wasn’t going to touch you until you confessed, he was not going to budge at all.

You swallowed, “Well I….”

He purred.

“That day you- ummm had….someone over”. Suguru started to unfold his arms, pulling himself back to the centre of your thighs.

”you were saying…”

“I was awake.”

”I thought as much.” he said with such nonchalance that you felt brave enough to finish your sentence.

“…and I heard everything that happened.”

You were so wrapped up in admitting to everything you had done that you hadn’t even noticed Suguru’s hands reaching back up until you felt his fingers breach the tight ring of muscle and hit deep into your inner walls.

”…well I have to ask now, did you like what you heard?”

You whined and writhed as he started to move his fingers in and out making it impossible for you to articulate any cohesive sentences, resorting to just holding your roommates wrist, “nghh, deeper..”

Your roommate laughed quietly as he drew his fingers, now glossed in your essence and held them up to your face.

”ahhhh, so you were this wet when you were…spying on me?”. The two of you paused for a moment - Suguru waiting for an actual answer whilst you nervously chewed on your lip.

“yes.” you breathed out, eyes flitting down to his face taking in his… flushed expression? He was the one who was pressuring you to admit what you had done but he himself seemed to be a little taken aback by your direct response.

”ah… well, I always knew my roommate was a little freak”

His hand went back down to toy with your swollen nub, his fingers coated in enough of your slick to allowing him to rub small circles that made your back arch off your mattress. ”Tell me, did you play with yourself like this when you listened?” his voice had dropped down to low rasp, “Did you get yourself off to the sound of my voice?”

He was looking back up at you with flushed cheeks, voice wavering slightly as he continued his ministrations. Seeing him as needy as you helped to rebuild your confidence, leaning forward to gaze back into his darkened, deep purple irises as you whispered

“I did.”

”Tell me how” he retorted instantly, fingers repositioning to allow for him to apply a delicious amount of pressure to your clit as he scissored his fingers inside and out of your gushing cunt - just like how you had so many nights ago.

The room was filled with your combined soft moans and the wet squelches of your leaking pussy. You were so close to finishing - your breath becoming stilted and abrupt, walls spasming around the dense girth of your roommates fingers.

“..’guru..i’m close- gonna” you groaned. ”I know, I know- jus’ try to hold it a little longer, jus’ let me have a taste before” he murmured as he removed his fingers again and brought them up to his mouth. Your eyes tracked every movement as he plunged them deep into his throat, moaning around them.

”…you taste s-so sweet” he breathed out, mouth inching down closer and closer to your swollen lips.

He stopped, warmth breath just fanning over as his eyes were locked onto the sight of your soaked cunt.

”I never knew my roommate had such a pretty pussy” he spoke with such reverence and sincerity that it actually made you clench around nothing, more slick dripping out of your entrance.

“..Just do it already” you grumbled, the tight coil in your lower abdomen getting tighter and tighter the longer Suguru delayed your release.

For once your roommate listened to you as he licked a long stripe up your folds, swirling his tongue around your hardened nub making you cry out loudly.

Your hands searched for some sort of purchase to keep yourself grounded, nesting themselves into Suguru’s dark locs, your fingernails lightly scratching his scalp as you gathered his hair into a ponytail so that you could better drag his face against your cunt to exactly where you wanted it.

Suguru groaned into your pussy as you yanked harder on his hair. ”…such a greedy, greedy girl.” - the vibrations of his voice felt overwhelmingly good, your saccharine mewls being testament of the fact.

He pulled back slightly, opening his mouth to allow for his saliva to drip down right onto your cunt and deep into your folds. Your eyes locked as he let his spit drip down at an agonisingly slow pace, your legs trembling from how close yet far you were.

He nestled his head back in between your thighs, taking hold of both of your hands and placing them back into his hair. He growled as you tugged harshly ”that’s it…keep using m-me”.

And that you did, positioning his head in just the perfect position for him to suckle and slobber over like the messy fucking eater he was. The bed started to rock slightly as Suguru started to shift his hips against the mattress to relieve the rock-hard boner he was now sporting due to how delectable you were.

You were getting closer and closer, voice straining as your cries became higher and higher in pitch. Suguru was hitting all of your most sensitive spots and you could feel yourself about to climax.

“ohmygodohmygoddontstopppp” you cried out as you felt yourself fini-

BEEP BEEP BEEP

Huh?

You sprung out of bed, sunlight streaming onto your tangled, mess of bedsheets as the reality of what had actually happened dawned on you.

You had just had a wet dream about the one person who you had sworn to yourself you were going to stop fantasising about. You looked down at yourself to see the glaringly obvious wet patch on the underside of your panties - your body clearly having a very real reaction to something that was unreal in every and aspects.

Suddenly, your bedroom door creaked as the star of your dream peered into your room.

”hey, i know I’m not really your favourite person right now but I made us something to eat before class if you want some?” Suguru’s face quizzical as he took in your stunned gaze. ”umm… I’ll wait for you out in the living room”

You paced around your room as you tried to erase all memory of the very realistic dream from your consciousness. You needed to maintain this platonic relationship with Suguru, okay? You didn’t know how he felt towards you for sure and you didn’t want to make him uncomfortable by making a move or doing anything too forward. You clearly just needed to be with someone.

The only thing you should take from this dream is that you should focus on building back your relationship with Satoru, the only uncomplicated romantic interest in your very complicated life.

a/n *:･ﾟ✧♡ :: girl i finally figured out how to do the fancy text and i am so happy! let me know where you want the story to go because i'm still undecided - idk if i want to continue w/ love interest gojo or if i cut him out sharpish?

☆ likes and reblogs make me squirt! ☆

[ryin-silverfish]

Ask/Writing Masterlist (irregularly updating)

Ryin(阿璎), 23. She/They. First Gen Chinese student. Ryin_Silverfish on AO3. Currently hyperfixating on old Chinese novels. casual Zhiguai tales and LMK enjoyer.

Investiture of the Gods/FSYY:

Why are the Daoist immortals fighting?

Did Yuanshi Tianzun manipulate Shen Gongbao?

Chan, Jie, and possible prejudice against yaoguai

Azure Lion and the other Bodhisattvas' steeds in FSYY

Daji's fox form in FSYY Pinghua

The historical Su Daji

Is Shen Gongbao a yaoguai?

Are all yaoguai irredeemable monsters in FSYY?

Ao Bing and the dragons Nezha fought

Does deification wipe your memory and personality?

Bi Gan and the Great Fox Massacre

More discussion about prejudice against yaoguai

How old was Su Daji the human when she died?

Differences between FSYY novel and Pinghua

Musing on FSYY's view of fate and its possible effects on Yang Jian

Master Yuding

The messy marriages of FSYY

Is Daji a goddess in the novel?

Names of immortal masters in FSYY

Just for fun: the FSYY drinking game

Nezha's age in FSYY

Nezha's death and resurrection in FSYY

What happened to the original Daji?

Lady Shiji aka the Rock Demoness

Chinese Fox Spirits:

Auspicious/Demonic Foxes

More on fox spirits

The inner core of foxes

Foxes and their association with Fire

Notable fox spirits

The foxes of 狐狸缘全传

Has Daji ever been worshipped as a goddess?

Fox masks

The foxes of Liaozhai

Weaknesses and abilities of fox spirits

Three resource collections on Chinese fox spirits: 1, 2, 3

Human-fox hybrids

Can foxes and their descendents magically know if someone's telling the truth?

The magical properties of fox saliva

Fox exams and Heavenly Foxes

Are male foxes more malicious?

More on fox exams

Offerings to fox spirits

The "Lady Fox Immortal"

Chinese Mythos in General:

The Precious Scroll of Erlang

Into the Erlang-verse: Li, Zhao, Yang

Can immortal masters romance their students?

Why we don't power-rank characters in God-Demon novels

A brief overview of Chang'e

On Chinese Religion and "Respect"

The 28 Lunar Mansions

Can the Heavenly Emperor be replaced + a primer on dynastic successions

A Guide to the Chinese Underworld (and what it isn't)

Is Nüwa JE's daughter?

Weaver Girl

Can yaoguais a/o their descendents enter the Celestial Bureaucracy?

Queen Mother of the West and her husband(s)

Bixia Yuanjun, Lady of Mt. Tai

Erlang's dad

The story that gives us the name "Yang Jian"

On the transformation of Erlang's image (and his relationship with JE in JTTW)

Erlang's mom, Lotus Lantern, and a neat little discovery

Erlang cameos in other stories and Zajus

Erlang's mom-saving story in Chinese operas

Child Manjushri, or: the absurdity of pinning a definitive age on gods

The strange modern ship of Mengpo/Yuelao, and Mengpo's myths

The half-beast form of QMoW

Does Erlang have a wife/love interest?

Nezha's mom

A overview of Gonggong and his mythos

Some introductory sources on the Chinese Underworld

A side-by-side comparison of Nezha's backstory in JTTW and FSYY

Mythos-inspired Worldbuilding:

Dragons of the Four Seas

LMK S5 and a possible "Celestial Council of Regents" AU

LMK S5 Fix-it: the Four Divine Beasts

Character/Story Analysis (JTTW + LMK)

Heart and Mind: Tripitaka

Local Lion Uncle enjoyer goes on a rant

On SWK and his fear of death

Why the Dead People Supreme Court?

No, seriously, why?

Chinese Underworld =/= Christian Hell

LMK S4, Havoc in Heaven, and revolutions

Why I dislike the "class warfare" reading of Havoc in Heaven

In Defence of Li Jing...ha, as fucking if

On Yin-Yang, Chaos/Order, and the Harbringer

JTTW's view on the Three Religions

Disjointed S5 Reactions

"Chaos doesn't work that way in traditional Chinese Cosmology"

Xiangliu, the Nine-headed Bird, and Jiutou Chong

Lotus Lantern: The Summaries

Part 1: Precious Scroll of Chenxiang

Part 2: The Epic of Prince Chenxiang

Part 3: Lotus Lantern 1.0 + 2.0

Part 4: Chenxiang and the Male-Female Swords

My Fanfics:

Climbing the Sky

The Wild Son

Bodhicitta

The Serpent and the Deluge

South Seas Sojourn

Journey of the Gods AU sideblog

[the-greatest-magic-of-all]

With such a God-focused season, one day, once Junior Year is finished and I have both the time and energy to do it, I want to make a Fantasy High God AU zine. It'd be from the pov of a mythologist/theologian in Spyre who's found strange links between minor deities throughout different regions' pantheons.

Half-Elves have a God of Dance and Flames who has been said to have defeated a Tiefling vagabond (and tamed his Hellhound mount) and charmed Fire itself with only a dance and his silk battle sheet. And if you look deep enough into his history there are rare depictions of him wearing an oddly shaped pendant and riding into battle with a sling-wielding Goblin peeking out of his rucksack. Interestingly enough, there's a minor Goblin God of Justice and Mysteries, the son of a Goblin Folk Hero and the Goblin Goddess of Knowledge, Laws, and Justice, who famously wields his father's enchanted sling. Though he and his father are often shown with angelic wings. So, why would he dally with a God so closely associated with Fiends?

Tieflings have a trickster Goddess of Music, Rebellion, and Devotion. The daughter of an Archdevil and a Wood Elven Goddess of Archery & the Wilderness. She's said to be a paramour of a Half-Phoenix Pirate Goddess of Wizardry and Knowledge and once toured the lands, performing with a Half-Orc companion. A lot of artistic recreations of that tour depict the Half-Orc companion with flower motifs that correspond with a Gnomish/Half-Orcish God of Tinkering and Rage. One that once outwitted a Sphynx and regained his spurned Saytr paramour's love by speaking to/reaching the stars with the help of a band of Tinkerer Gnomes.

There are tales of a Twice Risen Goddess who was once the chosen one of the Demigod Helio, but took one look at him and thought she could do better. With the wisdom to raise Gods from the dead and remove unholy rites without any divine power other than her own, this God-Saint of Doubt travels across Spyre not to spread her own religion but to inquire about others. This deep curiosity is probably how she ended up in some Fallinel depictions of the First Elven Oracle, who upon death ascended to becoming the Goddess of Sight, Intelligence and Righteous Fury. There are even short hymns written about the Oracle foreseeing the God-Saint's rise (against the Elven Moon Goddess' wishes) and of the God-Saint banishing some dark entity from possessing the Oracle with only a profane curse of its name.

And even more stuff connecting them all. Like the fact that all of them have tales of them defeating an Ancient Red Dragon. Or the tales of The Festival of the Crab King: a strange, delirious story of mortals witnessing a euphoric revelry of the deific kind that involved all these Gods from different pantheons.

[senqv]

HOUSE OF KINGS.

blue lock ! royal / fantasy au series featuring : michael kaiser x fem! reader

warning(s): 1.1k , asshole ism , more traditional feminine roles , arranged marriage , lmk if there are more !!

a/n: how r we feeling

next.

ONE. CHILD OF PROPHECY

in the reign of the first emperors, or so said the tales, the child of god is born — in silver moonlight and touched with the whisper of divinity.

they said that in his birth, the muses came and told it to his half-nymph mother, a beloved daughter of the water gods. they landed kisses on her sweat-sheened temple and sang each unravelling prophecy with the golden strings of their lyres; chosen by god, they purred, the emperor of kings.

they did not stay for long, but they had no need to. word travels swiftly in the whirling halls of the palace.

michael, gift of god, whom the divine had gingerly formed in their image, golden and jewel-eyed. the one who will fell men like wheat beneath a scythe and have them all crouching at his heel.

a godly son means haste to find a wife to carry on the bloodline, hungry in hopes that the gods will shine their divine light again with each beautiful son to come. and thus, the one they chose is you, daughter of house adalheidis, rumoured to have had divine blood from a sea nymph mixed in aeons ago. a nymph is the least of the lesser gods, but still a god, nonetheless, and divine blood purified the muddy dust of the human race to mould saints and heroes.

the divine blood of your house has long been watered down, with no traces of any deific features that might make an appearance in fables or folklore. but still, it is enough.

nymph, in the olden languages, is the same word for bride.

so perhaps your fate had been preordained long ago.

and so, when you first meet god, you are just short of thirteen years old.

they twine your hair with ribbons and strings of pearls, silent tittering as they dusted a pearly powder over your cheeks, an incandescent glow illuminating against the bronze mirror. your head lolls to the rhythm of their chatter, following the direction your hair was gently tugged at, eyes slow and blinking, not quite shed of the silvery sleep.

when you arrive, the sun shines brightly in the transparent sky, casting a golden glow over the white plaster of the palace architecture. banners hang from the ceiling, a royal blue, fluttering in the wind; your gaze climbs upwards, following the inscriptions of ancient fables, the effigies of the gods carved into the ceiling. the sunlight dancing in the curve of their marble eyes was so fervid you tore your gaze away in fear they might come alive.

a servant you had not caught the name of led you through the halls. he looked your age, maybe slightly older; not quite grown out into his lanky frame, eyes downcast and shy.

the emperor was not present, he had told you with nervous hands, and so you were being brought directly to the son of god himself.

your steps halt at a side door in the northernmost part of the palace. from what you could see, it was not as grand as the throne room you had passed by earlier, but it was obvious how pampered this boy prince was; before you, arched pillars loomed over the doors of imported oakwood, engraved with gentle carvings of even more obscure fables of prophetical sons and warrior kings.

he is lying on his side on a wide, pillowed bench, thick furs strewn all over the velvety couch. his eyes were half closed, lashes fluttering against his cheeks each time he blinked.

at the purposeful scuffing of your sandals against the floor, he glanced up briefly, lolling his head to the side to look at you.

lazily, his hands stroked the majestic forest cat on his lap, golden fur streaked like a lion, mirroring its owner. but no — it would be wrong to compare it as such. his hair was entirely different, lit by the sun with a spring honey lustre, spun from threads of gold. if you looked closer, within it glints the golden circlet of a prince, nearly black against the brightness of his hair.

you felt your breaths slow, gaping at the cold shock of his beauty. he was not much older than you, but incomparable with the boys your age; of jewel blue eyes sharp as a beast, cheeks and mouth tinted a cherubic rose, painted by the careful muses themselves.

if you were not a child of noble birth, you're quite sure your jaw would have been hanging slack by now. instead, you pressed your lips together and tore your gaze to the floor.

you can feel his eyes on you, and hear a slight shuffle of him leaning more forward to regard you. "what is your name?" his voice is silken, tinged with the slight crackle of sleep and boredom. you keep your gaze screwed to the ground out of spite, a muscle in your jaw ticking. your family was one of the great pillars of the empire, flourishing in trade and commerce. you were his arranged bride, to be the empress of his nation. and yet he still did not know you.

now, he sits up completely, cat yowling faintly in his lap. he speaks again, louder, clear as the glacial waters of the north. "what is your name?" the first lapse of silence was excusable, perhaps you had not heard. now, the boy prince demands an answer.

and so, you level your gaze with his, staring with all the conviction and animosity of a noble girl who had never experienced such blatant disregard. you speak your name as if casting a spell, each syllable strong and resonant, muttered with intention — to engrave your name in his mind, to make sure he could not forget it even if he wanted.

"of house adalheidis," you added in finality.

he's focused on you now, silvery blue gaze as cutting as a knife. he tips his chin up, staring downwards. "my name is michael," he purrs, "kaiser." the side of his mouth quirked slightly at the intensity of your stare. from the corner of your eyes, you faintly notice the dimples appearing at the sides of his face.

you both held the other's gaze in silence. the amusement on his face was obvious, and your brows melded together in confusion for a split second.

then he blinked, mouth cracked open like a yawning cat, mirroring the feline on his lap.

kaiser's interest came as quickly as it left, as if everything was a divine comedy preened before him to garner his delight. he no longer was looking at you.

"welcome to the palace."

you were raised in court, and you knew dismissal when you heard it. you lowered your head with clenched fingers, bruising the crushed silk of your dress.

[dragon8er]

Papaveraceae

Hey guys, Dragon8er here!

This is an interesting one.

I had an idea one day.

"What if I combined all the different AU versions of Poppy from Omega Timeline: Poppy's Story?"

And so I did.

This.

Is Papaveraceae, AKA Poppymalgamate. Named after the family of flowers that Poppies belong to.

The Poppies featured here (from top-down, left-right) are:

Poppy, from @ut-poppy-askblog, created by @fmsdraws

Doodle, created by @skulgan

Minini, created by @q--cool

Sketch, from Poppy: Torn Asunder, created by CHAOS_FANTAZY

MTT!Poppy, created by @fmsdraws

Ash, from Undertale: Ashes to Ashes (cancelled), created by JustTheMoon (included for posterity and out of respect)

Buttercup, created by @bigfungus7

Opium!Poppy, created by yr_local_canadian_eh

Layne, created by MrkySpices

Charcoal!Poppy, created by me :)

Fille, from Omega Timeline: Heart of the Omnitrix, created by @tramon81

Fell!Poppy, created by @thetruegodofstatic

This design was actually inspired by The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli.

A painting depicting the Greek Goddess Aphrodite as she rises from the clam in the sea she was created from.

It's also inspired from a sculpture I once saw that was a bunch of humans stacked on top of each other, but for the life of me I can't find it again.

I figured these inspirations were fitting of the sorta deific/tragically beautiful vibe I was going for.

I also really wanted to give each of the Poppies in this a different expression representing different pains. Like they're all being tortured in different ways.

This was also the 3rd design I made.

The first had more of a cryptid vibe. I didn't finish it 'cause I didn't like how it was going.

The 2nd design was a bit more vague and weird.

I like it enough, but ultimately I liked the third and final one the most.

It was very hard to make (you can imagine the struggle of trying to combine 12 different designs) but ultimately I like how it all came together.

I got some other small stuff in the works.

And new Undertale: Monochromasis pages will be coming soon, trust me lol.

Until then, this has been Dragon8er, and I will see you all Drago-l8er!

[bet-on-me-13]

Dp x Dc x Miraculous: Deified Siblings AU Pt. 1

Based on 2 Prompts.

One is the Deified Batman AU , which you can read here

The other is a Prompt where Danny, Damien, and Marinette are raised together in the League of Assassins. I can't find it at all, so I will go over the gist of it here. (Edit: Found it!, thank you to the person in Replies who linked me)

Danny is the oldest, about 3 or 4 years older than. The other 2. He is the favorite child.

Danny is 10, Damien and Marinette are 6

Damien is seen as the spare, Marinette is seen as the unfortunate addition.

As the Prompt goes, Danny wants to escape the League and takes his little siblings with him. Damien, fully brainwashed by the Leagues ideals, stabs Danny in the back and drops him off a cliff into a River below, thinking he killed him. He tries to take Marinette back, but she backs away and runs.

Damien returns, tells the League that Danny tried to run away and got himself and Marinette killed in the process. Damien only survived because he wasn't stupid enough to try and leave the League.

Damien stays in the League for a while, before he is eventually taken to his father, The Batman when he is 10

Danny survived his murder attempt, but he lost all of his memories and washed up on the shore of the river miles away. He was found by the Fentons, who were in Europe on a research trip, and was adopted. Canon goes the same for him.

Marinette ran away, using her skills to get all the way to Paris before managing to get adopted by a loving couple. She becomes Ladybug at 13, the same as in Canon.

This is where the Deification happens.

...

Lets go Oldest to youngest.

Danny became a God the moment he died. As a Demigod, he was already partially Divine. When he lost his Mortality, he became what was essentially a God with no Domain. So, he built one up.

He became known as a Protector Spirit, as a Winter Spirit, and after defeating Pariah, as a Death God.

By the time he was 16, he was a fully fledged God.

This did help his amnesia a little bit, and he did have a vague sense of what his life was like before he lost his memories, as well as some flashes. But he knew that he preferred his new life, so he never really looked into it.

...

Damien is the only one who would eventually ascend to God-Hood through Natural Growth.

Damien takes the Mantle of the Robin. And as such, he links himself directly to his father's source of Power, and creates his own Legend, his own Myths. He becomes his own God at around 14.

He is a Vengeful God, one who is Violent. But at the same time he is an Animal God, one who takes care of the abandoned Animals around him. Probably a carry over from his Dad's Protector God Domain.

...

Marinette became a God last. She had it easiest though.

Marinette was born as a Demigod, and later became Linked with Tikki, who is basically a Small Part of the Goddess of Creation tied to the Miraculous.

Her own fledging Divinity mixed with Tikki'a Divinity and helped her Acsend to God-Hood after about a Year as Hero when she is 14.

She would have done so anyways as a Hero, but without the Gotham Pantheon to attach herself to, it would have taken many more years for her to grow enough to Ascend.

She became a Minor Creation Goddess. She also became a Goddess of Creativity, and Protection as well.

If you are worried about the Balance between Creation and Destruction don't worry, Adrien also becomes a God soon afterwards. His Ascension is mostly because he is a being made of Magic (as a SentiMonster) who was linked with a God through his Miraculous.

(I don't like the stories where Adrien is mistreated for no reason, so here he at least gets to be Ladybugs Equal)

...

This is the basic premise of the Prompt. I am planning on writing out the potential Story in a Part 2, but until then what do you think?

(Honestly looking at this after finishing writing it, it feels absurd. 3 different Fandoms, plus 2 different Dp x Dc Prompts. You need to be DEEP in the Crossover Fandoms to really understand this. Imagine a casual fan finding this! It would look like Pure insanity!)

[the-final-sif]

The godling/little god Dream & Dream XD is literally insane. This is so good. I cannoe put into words just how much I love it. The worldbuilding with the gods?? The tragicness, the unfairness, the sheer greed of those gods who want to live forever? This slaps so damn hard. And I know you might not want to say it yet, but I am SO curious how dream's cough cough actual godling status will work with his overall goal in the dsmp and the prison arc. Just, like, great job sif your hands are blessed

I'm glad you're enjoying it! I like having complex and fucked up gods, and it's a fun AU to build.

I think I've talked about it a little bit, but c!Dream up until the end of the AU both is and isn't a godling. The mask keeps his status almost entirely repressed cutting him off from both his hybrid side and his god side. Only a little bit can leak through.

This fucks him up over time for two reasons, first, exposure to XD. While XD does try to minimize his impact on c!Dream, the amount of time c!Dream spends exposed to a god does add up. It's part of why XD has relatively minimal contact with c!Dream during the SMP, since he's doing everything he can to avoid that poisoning going too far.

More importantly for the events of the SMP, at that point, c!Dream has killed his first god. He's growing up and his power is growing and starting to hit the limits of what the mask can contain. But the mask is still keeping him almost entirely human. And thus not immune to constant exposure to a god.

As such, he's effectively poisoning himself and the people around him to various degrees. He's got it the worst, but other people are affected to. So it's kind of like in medieval times where you just had an entire village of people tripping on ergot accidentally. Not quite as extreme, and certain people have more resistance, but a similar sort of vibe.

A big impact for his growing power is that he's also starting to get worshipers once the SMP gets founded. Full end gods don't really require worship and draw their power directly from the universe itself. But End Gods can still draw power from worship, and end godlings will often draw power from worship to complete their worship.

This extra power does come in handy once he's ready to kill that second god, but prior to that the extra boosts are significantly more dangerous and just make him worse. c!Sam, c!Punz, c!Wilbur, and to some extent c!Tommy are all guilty of a level of deification. It's mostly c!Wilbur's fault though because when he makes c!Dream the Big Bad Guy he starts that process of deification/dehumanization that helps push c!Dream over the edge.

Also while all of this is happening, XD is just kinda there biting his lip trying to figure out where he needs to intervene. It probably should've been awhile ago, but like, it works in the end, so whose the fool now?

[t4tozier]

hello. starbreaker ask moment!! first of all, wanted to say that your playlists are absolutely excellent; have been going through them, and Good Looking and Coming Down being on jace's playlist both hit me like a ton of bricks. (the latter, I've always loved and WHOA is it applicable; the former is new to me, and WHOA is it also applicable.) second of all, your takes on what classes the two of them would be if they couldn't, for whatever reason, be their canon ones? (sorcerer and barbarian/paladin, respectively.) typed all that out and went "wait, am I also asking for class swap AU here? whoa" so that's a subset question if you're interested in that too!

yay i'm so glad you enjoy the playlists i have been listening to the starbreaker and porter ones nonstop. i'm ngl i haven't even listened to jace's all the way through yet because his songs are like slow and sad for the most part and i just haven't been in that mood. i actually moved a lot of songs from shattered over to smoke and iron because i needed to make a jace playlist and i thought it was fun to have shattered reflect more of the hatefuck dynamic and jace's playlist to be the obsessive religious devotion songs. i cannot take the credit for coming down that was all my darling natalie beeprich but i do think good looking is so jace. i can't remember when/where i found that one tbh i remember hearing the song before but it may have come up on the suggested for shattered which is how i come up with a lot of my playlists.

okay now to the actual question lol!! this is sooo fascinating i really have to think about it. this is going under a cut bc it’s already too long

i can't see jace as anything other than a caster but i think he has the stats for bard, specifically eloquence bard.

silver tongue means he can practically never fail a deception or persuasion check

unfailing and infectious inspiration aren't as useful to a solo adventurer, but i can see a young fresh jace excited to join a party and then be left with all of these useful abilities that he rarely gets the opportunity to use. it does end up coming in handy later on when he starts working with porter and the rat grinders (plus, with the way his mirror image works, i could see him being able to grant them bardics as well)

porter was harder for me to figure out because it felt like a cop out to make him a fighter. but i think an interesting flip would be to see him as a full paladin instead. in my personal canon, i think he took the oath of devotion before switching to main-classing barbarian, but here, i'm thinking about oath of conquest paladin porter.

this part from dnd beyond specifically sticks out to me in relation to porter, especially with the "survival of the fittest" nature of his goliath background:

Strength Above All. You shall rule until a stronger one arises. Then you must grow mightier and meet the challenge, or fall to your own ruin.

he gets some great spells to intimidate and dominate, and at higher levels he has the ability to physically punish those who hurt him without even taking an action to do it. he also would get resistance to all damage at 20th level and would crit on a 19 or 20.

now in terms of class swaps:

i also felt it was a cop out to make jace a wild magic barbarian, so instead, we're going with the path of the zealot. this ties in well with the deification of porter, and i also think it's funny that it's a hell of a lot easier to raise him from the dead than anyone else due to a lack of needing material components for revivify or any other spell to raise the dead. porter PWKs him? just call buddy over, he'll be back in under a minute. i also think Rage makes for a very fun dynamic between the two of them; jace rises from the dead and immediately goes for porter's throat. he just throws a shocking grasp back at him. it's fun we're having fun :)

i think it is also fun to have porter be a draconic bloodline sorcerer. he gets additional AC from his draconic resilience, and he can resist lightning damage which is rarer than other types of resistance. he also gets dragon wings which i just think is cool. i don't really see porter as a caster in general but i do think for someone who values his ancestry so much he would take pride in getting his magic from his bloodline.

[hyperbolicreverie]

Hello! If you don’t mind me asking, what is everyone’s aspect in the deification au? Law is death and Robin is knowledge, and I’m assuming Luffy is freedom, but I’m having trouble pinning down the others. It’s such a fun au, and so far I’m absolutely loving it! Thank you so much, have a great day!

It's a fun little AU, especially since it's so collaborative. Other people who have contributed to it have slightly different or more established takes on the characters than I do, which I think is appropriate given how real life mythologies tend to blur interpretations of gods and what they stand for.

Law is death, Robin is knowledge, and Luffy is freedom, that's all correct. Sabo is also freedom, but of a different flavor than Luffy. Zoro is strength, Sanji is a hearth deity, Nami is associated with weather and sea navigation, Kid and Killer are slightly different kinds of vengeance/revenge. Usopp is associated with truth and lies and storytelling, and Chopper is medicine and healing.

[sleepyfan-blog]

Religious Excerpts

Author's note: this is the first part of the Fem!Guilliman in 40k AU fic! I hope that you enjoy it! Next

tagged: @egrets-not-regrets @the-pure-angel @i-am-a-dragon34 @gallifreyianrosearkytiorsusan @bleedingichorhearts

warnings: religious writings, deification,

summary: A small collection of snippets from a collection of writings on the demi-goddess of the Imperium, Roberta Guilliman

She had asked for a brief synopsis of how she was most likely to be seen as, by different parts of the Imperium. She had sent out hundreds of intelligence gathers to move stealthily throughout the Imperium, including within Ultramar itself.

Her sons had been eager to follow her every order, the worshipful way in which they interacted with her bothered her tremendously. But she had been handed a dataslate that was a collection of poems, psalms, prayers, and fables written about The Lady Of Ultramar, the Daughter of the Emperor, Roberta Guilliman. If known, the date of creation and the author’s name has been noted down, though many such details have been lost to time.

Ballad of the Risen Primarch - written by Frater Matthew, Militant Apostolic, M42.076

The Lady with her sword aloft

Charges into  the fray

To hunt down the vile traitors

And bring them true dismay

From deepest slumber, she arose

And she answered our prayers 

While we were lost and desperate 

Showing us that she cares

She scoured Chaos from Imperial Worlds

And chased them from our space

The Avenging Daughter protects us

From Chaos and disgrace

From deepest slumber, she arose

And she answered our prayers 

While we were lost and desperate 

Showing us that she cares

The xenos quail before her gaze

And fall before her might

Orkz, Aeldari, Tau, Tyranids

Failed to survive the fight 

From deepest slumber, she arose

And she answered our prayers 

While we were lost and desperate 

Showing us that she cares

Her divine light shines so brightly

As does her wit and charm

She rules with a just and fair hand 

She protects us from harm

From deepest slumber, she arose

And she answered our prayers 

While we were lost and desperate 

Showing us that she cares

She guards us from internal strife

Corruption, decay, lies

All are placed into cleansing flames

She is Evil's demise 

From deepest slumber, she arose

And she answered our prayers 

While we were lost and desperate 

Showing us that she cares

This was written by Frater Matthew, the current Militant Apostolic working alongside Primarch Guilliman herself. He was inspired to write this poem after spending a number of months in her holy and robust presence.

She could feel a familiar headache starting to build in the back of her mind, and a low, frustrated growl threatened to rumble through her chest. She had picked Frater Matthew as he was an orator of some skill, and able to rally mortals and Astartes alike to his cause. But this... Travesty was annoying to read through.

Mother's Psalm - Author unknown. Suspected to have been written somewhere in the mid-M35s.

The sacred temple lies

The saintly Mother, who's eyes

Watch over her sons’ endless toil

At home and on foreign soil

The stasis field keeps her here

Away from the reaper's spear

Traitor's poison will not take

The fortress’ walls will not break

As Mother does, Maccrage stands

Protected by loving hands

And a sturdy wall of blue

Made of sons, loyal and true

One day, Mother will awake

With her, a new dawn shall break

She'll lead us out of shadows

And send evil to the gallows

This Psalm is found to be commonly sung by serfs of Ultramarines as well as their successor chapters, along with the civilian populations of Ultramar itself. The Psalm is also sung by the Auxilla of Ultramar, though they tend to prefer singing war songs in praise of The Avenging Daughter as she leads them to battle in Righteous fury against foul xenos and traitors alike. 

A soft sigh left her as she finished reading the psalm. At least this was less overtly religious in tone, though the fact that this was marked as a psalm did not improve her mood in the least. She was starting to realize just how wide and deep the Adeptus Ministorum had a stranglehold on the Imperium of Man as a whole... This was going to be a misery and a half to slowly and carefully untangle... If she could.

Prayer for Information This prayer was written sometime in the early M37s, by a Historitor whose name has been expunged from all records by the Ordo Hereticus.

Oh great Lady of Insight and wisdom, Maiden Mother of fair Ultramar, I come to you, humbly, on bended knees and clasped hands.

To you, I confess that I have not been sending my daily morning prayers to Him on Terra as I should be. Instead, I have been researching what I can of the history of our Great Imperium. I know it is a sin to try and learn of the past beyond what is taught in school… But my curiosity pushes me onwards nonetheless. Surely this knowledge will not cause harm?

You have my deepest thanks. For I and many others upon the world of [REDACTED] owe you our lives. Because if your auxilla and Astartes had not come to our rescue against the [REDACTED] we would have all been killed and our souls consumed by the forces of [REDACTED]. 

I humbly ask you to grant me entry into the library within the Temple of Corrections, where I would be able to continue my research and studies. I feel that if properly understood, our past could teach us many things. I patiently await your response.

Your humble servant,

[REDACTED] 

There was quite a bit of fierce debate as to whether or not to include this particular prayer to Lady Guilliman, as it has heretical elements in the prayer. Ultimately, this shows that even otherwise stalwart and obedient citizens can be heretical, and that one must always be vigilant.

... Since when was knowing the history of the Imperium illegal? Father damn them all. Those who did not learn from history were doomed to repeat it. She buried her face in her hands for a moment, unable to read on as she swore viciously in every tongue she knew. Considering what the Inquisition was like... She could guess that this poor Historitor's fate was a gruesome and miserable one indeed. She also hated that this letter had been phrased as an Emperor-damned prayer.

Psalm of praise - written shortly after Lady Guilliman’s interment into the stasis chamber, perhaps three hundred years past that event.

I will extoll the Lady at all times; her praise will always be on my lips. I will glory in HER; let all who hear rejoice. Glorify the Lady of Ultramar with me; let us exalt her name together. I sought the lady, and she answered me. She delivered me from all my woes.

This Psalm is frequently murmured by serfs and similarly ranked civilians who often work under Astartes. Particularly while the Astartes are preparing for a particularly vicious and bloody battle. 

After reading the first psalm, she decided to skip the rest of the section, the blood boiling in her veins as the grip on the dataslate caused the device to creak in protest. She would rather not have to request a new one with this information on it, because she had broken this one in her fury.

A Lesson in Obedience- This fable was written sometime in the early M34s, and presented without the artwork to shrink the file size.

The world that The Soldier was going to be deployed to protect was one of hundreds if not thousands like it. A small yellow gem of a world with over ninety percent of the available aland devoted to growing a singular crop that fed the loyal and true citizens of the Imperium. It was this soldier’s first deployment, and excitement thrummed just below the surface of his skin as he walked over to where his mother was busily working.

His mother with her honey-blond hair and clever ice-blue eyes was carefully working at her desk a dataslate in one hand, a stylus in the other as she swiftly worked. She looked up and smiled warmly as her son walked over to her. She set down the dataslate and hugged him tightly, murmuring “Good morning, my wonderful son. How goes your training?”

“It goes very well! Mother, I have good news to share with you!” The eager, blue-clad young man explained, happily hugging his mother back as he beamed with joy. 

“What news do you bring to me my son?” His mother asked, reaching up and ruffling his dark, curly hair with one hand, still hugging her precious son. 

“Like my older siblings before me, I am benign deployed to fight foul xenos! I am being sent to fight Orkz who threaten one of the worlds that grow crops, mother.” The soldier explained, still beaming up at his mother “I will be the one to kill the most of the vicious brutes of my entire battalion! I will decapitate the Ork Warboss and rip his tusks from his mouth. I will carve them into combs for your hair, mother. As a trophy!”

A soft sigh left the Mother as she hugged her over-eager son, pressing her forehead to his, before looking into his dark eyes, hoping that her words reached his heart and resonated within his mind “I don’t need an ork-tooth comb my son. As with your older siblings, all I want is for you to serve our great Imperium with honor and grace. Fight and win the battles set before you, but do not seek glory for it’s own sake. Rushing to grab glory with your own hands will only get you killed first, my son.”

“That won’t happen, mother~ I am too strong and too swift for the Orkz to be able to kill me.” The young soldier protested, shaking his head a little “My armor is too sturdy for their shoddy and broken weapons to damage.” His armor was indeed well-polished. Shining a brilliant blue and bright gold. 

“Orkz are -” The soldier’s mother tried to warn him, but the young man stepped out of her embrace as his vox began to buzz loudly.

“That’s The Captain, mother! I have been taught how to fight Orkz and other filthy xenos. I will come home victorious and with a chest full of accolades before you can start to miss me!” The young Soldier boasted as he ran out of his mother’s office, ready to take on any threats, big or small. “I must answer the call to war! Goodbye for now, mother!” 

~

Years of training and months of waiting and sparring had led to this moment for the young Soldier as he stared over the incoming horde of Orkz. They were a disorganized tidal wave of hooting and hollering green, and he double checked his bolter before he started to level his weapon at them, taking in a breath and letting it out as he prepared to fire.

“Hold your fire.” The Captain ordered. “I need you four to help complete the evacuation of the civilians from this world.” He pointed to the young soldier and three of his fellow warriors. 

“But… But sir, the Orkz are almost upon us! Shouldn’t we start to fire?” The young soldier asked, a confused expression appearing on his face.

“Are you questioning my orders, soldier?” The captain asked, his words underlined by the roar of artillery fire as they steadily flung shell after shell at the oncoming Orkish horde. “They are too far for you to hit reliably. Get going, soldier!”

The young soldier grumbled to himself as he dutifully got up and followed his squadmates over to the landing pads where several other groups of soldiers were -

She put down the dataslate, unable to force herself to continue to read the fable. She could guess as to where the story was heading, and the likely ways in which it would end. It was not worth the space it would occupy in her brain to continue to read through it. She hid her face in her hands and let out a low scream, trying not to alert the guards outside her office as to her distress.

There was a brief knock on the door before one of her brasher Captains barreled into the room, sword in hand as he did a visual sweep of the room. He didn't see any threats, so he removed his helmet and approached her, a look of mild concern on his face "I heard your yell, Mother. Is something bothering you?"

Roberta couldn't help but smile a little at his concern. Cato was rough around the edges and brash, but his boldness meant that he was the least anxious of her officer-sons to interact with her directly. "I was reading through the collection of legends that have sprung up about me, in my absence."

"Ah." Cato rumbled, briefly glancing at the dataslate on her desk, before looking back up at her "You are widely revered and held in great awe, as are all of the Holy Primarchs."

"Mm, but who we truly are has been lost to time. If Sanguinius found out how the masses - and perhaps his own sons believe him to be now..." Roberta sighed. The majority of the Imperium had come to believe that Sanguinius was a tragic, gentle-spoken martyr, whose death at the hands of the Vile Arch-Traitor was the final proof of the utter depravity that Horus had sank to. They seem to have forgotten, or been made to forget, from whom the Black Rage that afflicted most if not all sons of Sanguinius stemmed from. “His reaction would have been… Spectacular.” Throne on Terra, she missed her siblings. 

Cato nodded, looking uncertain. “Is there anything you wish of me, mother?”

A small smile appeared on her face “Only your company, if your duties permit it. I am… Finding it difficult to adjust to this new time I have woken up in. Please tell me of the battles you’ve participated in.”

Cato’s eyes lit up as he begun to talk about his past exploits, gesturing occasionally for emphasis.

[gallifreyianrosearkytiorsusan]

Calls of the Lost

Author's notes: Smyith's debut in Mermay And Poor Unfortunate Souls AU!

Warnings: None I think? Let me know if I need to add more

Summary: Smyith is with some younger brothers and cousins as they are out on a patrol. He notices that a

Tagged: @barn-anon, @bleedingichorhearts, @c-u-c-koo-4-40k, @kit-williams, @sleepyfan-blog, @whorety-k

Tagged Again: @sleepyfan-blog and @whorety-k

Tagged continued: @i-am-a-dragon34

Smyith thanked the All-father and counted his blessings, he knows that it's a rare thing to have lived when he'd thought he'd be torn apart by that wretched Demon Arvax, may he rot and die eternally in Hel and be denied entrance to Valhalla. He has been swimming in this mixed shoal of Loyalists Legions and Chapters- helping the youngsters hone their skills and sharpen their skills and teeth, while keeping his hone to proper sharpness. He eyed the skies of Ancient Terra and scents the wind, calling out to the younger cousins and brothers a warning.

"A storm's brewing, time to swim deeper beneath the waves," Smyith tells them. "My nose tells me a storm approaches."

With that he puts his helmet back on, some of the youngest grumble and whine a little, but with a light smack to the back of the helm they settle down with some minimal sulking. One of the youngsters in bright blue and gold, an Ultramarine asks him with curiosity in his voice and posture.

"How can you tell a storm is coming Elder Cousin?"

"I have lived on many worlds for several hundred years," He starts his explanation, "And I've learned how to tell that the weather is shifting for the worse by scent and the way the clouds and winds interact with the skies."

The younger ones are now huddling closer to him and peering up at the sky popping their heads up try to see better, and figure out what he meant by that. He hears some more questions and tries to answer them the best he can, mostly confusing the younger space marines more and he just says, "Experience and age."

They follow after their elder brothers, when that same young Ultramarine seems to be lingering above the water, looking in a particular direction. He sighs and pops his head up and says, "Lad, back down in the deep."

"Sir- there's a baseline ship a few hundred meters that way," The youngster says.

Smyith heaves a sigh and looks in the direction the youngster is gesturing and notices the ship and the way that the base line humans seem to be puttering around on the ship, and unfortunately, from the way the ship is moving, the base line humans haven't noticed, yet that there is going to be a nasty storm that's going to churn the ocean waves quite viciously in a few hours. Granted, base line humans aren't as acute in their senses. And there is much that the Ancient Humans of Terra do not know about.

"I'll warn them," Smyith says, "You head back with the rest of the pod back to the temporary base."

"Yes sir," The young Ultramarine says with a nod as he turns and swims with the rest of the mixed shoal of space marines, of chapters and ages alike.

Some of the space marines from the far future are... terribly strange and almost incomprehensible with their differences. But they likely think the same way of those of them from earlier times, especially much earlier. He can't help the way his lips twitch in a teasing grin as he thinks of how the King of Fenris would react to some of the youngest of the space wolves, and from the furthest in time's reaction to "nine primarchs". Which is blatant revisionism. Also, with how they've almost turned Father into a God, and has very much turned the emperor into a deific figure. That has him wincing, by the Throne on Terra, he'd like it not at all. Although some of his ranting would be really entertaining. Also, Leman's reaction to The Imperial Regent being the 13th Primarch would be, at turns, entertaining and annoying to deal with. He's glad for his new lease on life, even though he misses his first pack and brothers like someone's ripped one of his hearts from his chest.

"Humans," He calls out, hoping they speak one of the base line languages he's learned a little of.

There's some excited chatter in one of the near countless languages, they are all speaking rapidly as he patiently waits for one of them to approach them. Humans could be so skittish, yet most on Ancient Terra could be very Bold, or at least Very Bold for the standards of base line humans from the time that he's come from. Thinking about time travel is something for Rune Priests and Nerds. Kark, could he use a drink.

"Storm approaches, head to land," Smyith says carefully, slowly in one of the Ancient Terran languages.

"Our instruments don't say that one's coming," One of the humans says with a mild frown as they look at something and then at the sky.

"I can smell one coming; it will arrive in a few hours." Smyith says trying not to growl. Base line humans could be so... frustrating to deal with at times. "Heed my words and live, don't and die during a storm. Your choice."

With that he sinks below the waves and out of the sight of the base line humans. He's still able to watch and hear them. He's not actually not going to let any of the idiot base line humans die if he can help it. A couple of the little shits that he's traveling with have come swimming over to him peering up to watch the human’s squabble amongst themselves.

"We'll save them from themselves if they don't make the safe decision," Smyith tells the youngster who nods and swims off to inform the rest of the group of his decision.

At least the humans take their boat and start to head back to shore, which is nice, he and a few of the pod of loyalists shadow them, hidden and unseen from under the water as the humans make it back to shore before the storm starts going. He and his pod swim back to where the base is. Storm watching is fun, and interesting to see from underneath the waves. It can be terribly dangerous, but something every Aspirant of the Space Wolves was dared to do to prove their worth.

[yamayuandadu]

I realized I forgot to post my second critical evaluation of Touhou-adjacent Matarajin hot takes meant to be a followup to this ask response a few months ago. Sorry. Time to remedy that.

My current lack of enthusiasm for Okina = Hata no Kawakatsu fan material comes from a somewhat similar place as my disdain for the reddit hot takes about Okina being Okuninushi (though it is obviously less severe). However, I’ll stress that this idea actually goes back to ZUN, instead of being a weird fanon invention - Kawakatsu comes up in the interview. 

More under the cut.

ZUN calls Kawakatsu “part of her [Okina’s] true nature” (as a side note, 0 idea what the interviewer means by claiming Kawakatsu has some special connection to komainu; I guess everything at least vaguely Korean is interchangeable?). The fact he refers to Okina “a god of silkworm breeding” in her bio and the dupion spell card seem like Kawakatsu nods, too - Matarajin has nothing to do with sericulture. ZUN’s statements, and the references to the tokyo no kami episode in the game itself, led to a common fan idea that Okina is Kawakatsu outright - I’ve even seen weird theories about Okina being deified Kawakatsu. 

In reality there is no source presenting Matarajin as a deification of a real or at least legendary person; he might be a yaksha, a dakini, a “regular” Buddhist deity, even a fox (in a single relatively late source, but hey) but evidently not a deified human (the closest you can get is the speculation about Matarajin being perceived as a tengu). There is also no source directly equating Matarajin and Kawakatsu with each other save for one specific oddity. Konparu Zenchiku in Meishuku Shū identifies Kawakatsu as one of the manifestations of an universal deity he refers to as shukujin, a label which is sometimes applied to Matarajin elsewhere. However, he at no point mentions Matarajin. His disciple Zeami then went further, equating Matarajin with Daikōjin, who is in turn identified as Kawakatsu, but, once again, we are dealing with fundamentally supernatural Kawakatsu, not with the deification of a person. The references are essentially implicit, and we’re dealing with “both might be aspects of a single person’s highly personalized idea of an universal deity”, not “it’s widely agreed figure a is figure b”. For what it’s worth, much more recently Sujung Kim did suggest a network encompassing Matarajin, various Silla-related deities (like Shinra Myōjin),  the okina mask, the Hata clan and Kawakatsu specifically in her dissertation (Transcending Locality, Creating Identity: Shinra Myōjin, a Korean Deity in Japan; p. 204-205) but I haven’t really seen other authors bring this up, and she didn’t include a similar section in her subsequent Shinra Myōjin monograph if my memory serves me well. In her case it’s also not as straightforward as “Kawakatsu = Matarajin”, and crucially Shinra Myōjin, Matarajin’s actual Korean connection, is acknowledged; ZUN never brings him up and neither do any fan theories.

My other problem is that most of the Kawakatsu stuff is, frankly, boring. This is a bigger issue I have with the Asuka period Touhou aus though, tbh; nobody is adapting the stuff with immortal monks with laser eyes, immortality elixirs and Mononobe no Moriya being Devadatta, even though THAT’S the core of Shotoku legends. The equation with Kawakatsu essentially takes the complexity of Matarajin away since nobody interprets him the way Zenchiku and Zeami did, he’s consistently just a guy in Touhou hcs as far as I can tell. And that’s a bit boring. Especially when it effectively overshadows entire networks with liver-eating demons, underworld clerks, star deities, and Susanoo on top.

There’s also the question whether there is all that much Kawakatsu material to adapt in the first place. Can’t really do anything with the menreiki origin legend because it’s been done already, without Okina (I do think that was a mistake, but I doubt ZUN has even a slight idea that Okina will exist some day when he wrote Kokoro’s arc). The popular Edo period legend casting him as a reincarnation of Qin Shi Huang, while really fun, is not exactly easy to reconcile with any Matarajin background. There’s more promising material like legends considering him a manifestation of Bishamonten or Kōjin (under the name Ōsake Daimyōjin) but these require acknowledging the Matarajin connection is basically nonexistent.

[itgirlgyu]

REMEMBRANCE OF THE BUTTERFLY.

SYNOPSIS: Asphyxiate yourself with the oceanic strings of devotion if you do dare to love. Tarnish the deific entities, and walk along the ghosts of lover's footsteps into the hyacinthine insanity; through the opulent limitions, breach the borders of life upon life until chronus kneels upon you in pyrrhic abbidance.

Sequentially written five fables of love stories that is stitched with ancient allure of reincarnation, and devotion of those befallen lovers; each story perceived through gazes of various vehement emotions edging closer to the causation of such a enrapturing tragedy—until the verity crackes open the dam, and the tsunami rushes in.

PAIRING: txt ot5! x f! reader.

GENRE: reincarnation! au, soulmate! au, angst, romance.

WARNINGS! self-harm, suicide, rebirth, violence, blood, scars. (more to be added later)

SERIES MASTERLIST.

i. SOOBIN. "hues of butterfly."

ii. TAEHYUN. "love's worth."

iii. BEOMGYU. coming soon.

iv. HUENING KAI. coming soon.

v. YEONJUN. coming soon.

©ITGIRLGYU 2023—all feedbacks and reblogs are appreciated. PERM' TAGLIST @impureperhaps @full-sunnies @minhosdaydreamer @1921choi @wonioml @ox1-lovesick