#empyrean reflections

[cjrae]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: 薬屋のひとりごと - 日向夏 | Kusuriya no Hitorigoto | The Apothecary Diaries - Hyuuga Natsu Rating: Not Rated Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Emperor & Jinshi (Kusuriya no Hitorigoto), Emperor & Gaoshun Characters: Emperor (Kusuriya no Hitorigoto), Gaoshun (Kusuriya no Hitorigoto), Jinshi (Kusuriya no Hitorigoto) Additional Tags: Canon Compliant, Missing Scene, Character Study, Pining, Past Relationship(s), Jinshi's Real Name (Kusuriya no Hitorigoto), Jinshi's True Identity (Kusuriya no Hitorigoto) Series: Part 2 of Empyrean Reflections Summary:

The manager of the Rear Palace is famous inside the Imperial Court for his unflappable nature, clearing the rot of Fengming's treachery out of the Imperial flower garden with ruthless efficiency. The Emperor is stunned to learn at what personal cost.

[lindewyrm]

Spiritual Rebirth v2

[haileyywrites]

hi!! how are you? i adore your writing and i was wondering if you could please write a bit of fluff! in which the reader gets overwhelmed and starts crying because their boyfriend is too sweet, nice, caring and cute. with anyone from genshin of your choice!

Summary: You become overwhelmed and cry from your boyfriend being too sweet, nice, caring and cute!

Pairings: Kaveh x Gn!reader

Notes/Warnings: Reader is completely gender neutral and not described in any way! Poc friendly! Just pure fluff! Reader cries but it's sweet and fluffy! Possible grammar errors!

You had always known Kaveh to be an incredibly kind human being; from the very first moment you met. Someone had rudely bumped into you which caused your items to fall from your hands, the person didn't even bother apologizing before continuing on their way. Kaveh happened to see the interaction and rushed over to help you - he even tried shouting after the person to apologize to you, but they didn't listen.

You appreciated the effort and his kindness nonetheless; he even offered to buy you some food to cheer you up! Though you protested against it, he managed to win you over in the end and he took you to a nice nearby cafe. You could see him eyeing at the prices with worried eyes and a strained smile, you could obviously tell he had some financial problems making his kind offer even more touching. You decided to order the cheapest item you liked and spent the afternoon with him just talking, god you could talk for hours with him!

Falling for Kaveh was the easiest thing you did in your life, but sometimes you wondered how it is you managed to get with him? With his looks and heart of gold you would think him to be more popular with suitors all over him; but no. The people in the Academia you understood as they were usually solely focused in their research, but he was so kind to everyone! Excluding his roommate whom he talked to you about, but didn't let you meet. Somehow Kaveh was a simple rock with gems hidden within, but others didn't seem to look deep enough to get to know him.

He may have not been that good with money, but he always finds other ways to treat you. One of his favorite things to do together is to go for a walk outside of Sumeru city and go sightseeing with you; he always finds the best spots too! Whether you're a morning person who he would go watch the sunrise with or a night owl who preferred the sunset, he will do whatever to make you happy. Seeing you be happy makes him beyond happy and it absolutely melts your heart!

There were many times in the past that almost caused you to burst into tears from him being too kind and sweet or too cute for you to handle! His tendency to draw in animals was strange, but so incredibly adorable. Stray cats would show up whenever you were sitting around and dogs would run up to greet you two - even birds would come closer to him than anyone else! Seeing him give in and pet or play with them was beyond cute!

He was also always so sweet and caring, he would never forget things you liked or cared about! If you needed space when upset he would give it to you; but if you wanted comfort he would be there in an instant with food or snacks he knew you loved. His kindness was also a bit of a flaw as he didn't want to think people would be terrible enough to use charity as a cash grab - which is why he often fell for them. This especially made you upset, but it didn't make you cry like today did.

Seeing the sky becoming darker and darker as your shift was beginning to end worried you, you had neglected to bring an umbrella as it had been clear all day before now. You would have to make your way to the other side of the city while getting completely soaked from the rain; not an ideal scenario. You though about staying until the rain stopped, but you had made plans with Kaveh today right after work and hated the thought of leaving him to wait for you without warning.

You sighed heavily as you changed back into your everyday clothes and prepared yourself for the downpour waiting for you outside, you said a quick goodbye to your colleague before heading for the door with a sad expression. The rain was as heavy as a shower or a bucket of water that was being emptied over you, you shivered as the cold outside air made contact with your skin. This was just your luck...

Out in the rain you could see a figure running full speed towards you, you wondered what kind of maniac was outside in this weather - until you recognized him. It was Kaveh! He held a red umbrella to shield him from the rain and wore a jacket that he usually didn't; it was one of your favorite clothing that he owned, but it was usually only on him during colder days like today. Seeing you he ran faster and almost bumped into you as he came to a halt!

“Thank the Archon's! I'm so glad I cought you before you left!” He said with a relieved smile.

“You came to get me?” You asked in a surprised tone.

He nodded his head as he handed you the umbrella he was holding and stripped off the jacket he was wearing; which he quickly handed to you. He had specifically brought it for you...

“Of course! I thought you probably didn't think to bring an umbrella with you today, so I couldn't possibly let you walk home and get yourself sick from this weather!” He said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Kaveh helpped you put on his jacket before smiling proudly when seeing you in his clothing; it was warm and smelled like him, the fabric was also incredibly comfortable. Everything about it made you feel so incredibly touched... The fact that he came to get you to make sure you didn't get soaked from the rain to bringing you his jacket and looking so proud when you wore it. You couldn't help, but to burst into tears from the sheer kindness and sweetness - the love and thoughtfulness.

Seeing you cry made Kaveh panic and instantly ask if you were okay, he asked if he did something that made you upset and if there was anything he could do to help you while still keeping the umbrella over you to cover you from the rain. It probably made you cry harder seeing him be so frantic and stumble over himself trying to calm you down - he was too cute for his own good! He was just too kind and caring of a human being that it was bound to make you burst into tears one day.

“I'm sorry, you're just too sweet!” You sobbed.

“Wha... What?” Kaveh asked in confusion.

“You're so sweet and kind! It's making me feel so loved!” You cried louder.

“Honey, I don't know what to say...” Kaveh laughed lightly while looking a bit bashful.

“You're also too cute!” You covered your eyes with your hands and continued to cry.

Kaveh stepped closer and pulled you in for tight hug, his hand was wrapped around your back, while the other was steadily holding his umbrella over you both. He let you cry your fill against his shoulder; with his hand running up and down along your back in a comforting manner. By the time you were finished crying rain had calmed down a bit to a pleasant soft shower.

Kaveh let go of you gently and wiped away the remaining tear stains from your cheeks, you both lightly laughed about the situation. Being this close you noticed how his eyes sparkled with so much love that you couldn't help, but lean in for a short yet sweet kiss. After you separated Kaveh held up the umbrella between you and encouraged you to place your hand over his; not only to adjust the umbrella so that it was comfortable for you, but also to hold your hand as he walked you home.

A/N: Hii, I'm doing well and thank you for asking Anon <3 Hope you're doing well too; remember to stay hydrated! Thank you so much for the request btw, your words are so kind! I really hoped you liked this, but if you didn't feel free to request again ^-^ I spent a lot of timing thinking which character to pick, but in the end Kaveh felt like the obvious choice lol I will soon be posting request rules - incase you or anyone else would like to request something in the future!

[Feel free to like, comment and or reblog! Any interaction with this post is greatly appreciated <3]

[ccbatman]

actually so evil how much of hal's internal world gets obliterated with the rewriting of his relationships with jessica and martin.

[columbidays]

One might think that having a kintype (Multiple, actually) from a game I no longer play would be confusing but it's quite the opposite...!

I am more sure of my memories because I Don't Know What Happens in Genshin Impact. I don't have to worry about just recalling the game's plot instead of actually Remembering something happening. I don't feel like I necessarily should remember anything/anyone in particular, or remember them in a particular way.

All of this ease and pure, unfiltered kinity for the low, low price of inexplicably and miraculously softlocking myself out of progressing the story in 2022. A blessing in disguise...

[idolatri]

Millennia prior, a painter and sculptor by the name of Jyestha lived in Ay-Khanoum. Known for his distinguished works, Jyestha enjoyed a carefree life in pursuit of the arts. While in the prime of his creative life, Jyestha caught the eye of Nabu Malikata. The Lord of Flowers became his eternal muse.

Jyestha dedicated an endless amount of artwork and sculptures in her divine image. His affections for his lord soon took a turn much too sweet for this eraーthe nectar of the Padisarah lingers on his tongue. In an extravagant affair, the Lord of Flowers took her own life, causing the rift between the God-Kings.

Momo Rambles:

I love my God-King ot3 but then I was like 'what if gof was smitten with a human artist' led to 'what if kaveh'. That's why she offed herself before she fell in love with a human which is nono, otherwise she'd turn into a seelie husk. Her doing this devastates Rukk and Desh but you know...

She loves Rukk and Desh but she's lived a hard life and suffering together adds an element of grief, but this human artist is... liberating....A breath of fresh air. There's something alluring and charming in the way he lives his life to the fullest despite the fact that human lives are so fleeting. The way his works sparks different shades to light up her world like she has never seen before, a mix of curiosity and fascination catches the seemingly omnipotent eyes of a god. I'm also a slut for muse/artist ships so sue me

I decided to name him Jyestha which by name meanings are people who are free-spirited, flashy, brutally honest, and a bit selfish. Jyestha is also the name of the goddess of misfortune in Vedic tales, the opposite of Lakshimi. Which also fits because he did indeed bring misfortune and caused the downfall of civilizations

This feeds my reincarnation ship brainrot of: 'I couldn't be with you in this life, but perhaps in a kinder world...we could choose each other.'

This will kinda explain why he and Alh are kinda at odds with one another ( if we go with Alh = Desh ).

Something inside Alh just resents him:

'You took her away from me...from us...'

[swallowtail-ageha]

Melina as the geq save me melina as the geq

[genshin-impact-updates]

Version 4.8 Event Wishes Notice - Phase I

Traveler, stock up on weapons and characters in the event wish to make your party stronger in combat!

Event Wish "In the Name of the Rosula" - Boosted Drop Rate for "Helm of the Radiant Rose" Navia (Geo)!

〓Event Wish Duration〓

After the Version 4.8 update—2024/08/06 17:59:00

〓Event Wish Details〓

● During this event wish, the event-exclusive 5-star character "Helm of the Radiant Rose" Navia (Geo) will receive a huge drop-rate boost!

● During this event wish, the 4-star characters "Cat Upon the Eaves" Kirara (Dendro), "Empyrean Reflection" Kaveh (Dendro), and "Eclipsing Star" Ningguang (Geo) will receive a huge drop-rate boost!

※ Of the above characters, the event-exclusive character will not be available in the standard wish "Wanderlust Invocation."

※ This is for "Character Event Wish." The wish guarantee count for "Character Event Wish" and "Character Event Wish-2" is shared, and is accumulated between both "Character Event Wish" and "Character Event Wish-2." This wish guarantee count is independent of the guarantee counts of other types of wishes.

※ The "Test Run" trial event will be open during this event wish. Travelers may use fixed lineups containing the selected trial characters to enter specific stages and test them out. Travelers that complete the challenges will receive the corresponding rewards!

※ For more information, go to the Wish screen and select Details in the bottom-left corner.

Event Wish "Twirling Lotus" - Boosted Drop Rate for "Dance of Lotuslight" Nilou (Hydro)!

〓Event Wish Duration〓

After the Version 4.8 update—2024/08/06 17:59:00

〓Event Wish Details〓

● During this event wish, the event-exclusive 5-star character "Dance of Lotuslight" Nilou (Hydro) will receive a huge drop-rate boost!

● During this event wish, the 4-star characters "Cat Upon the Eaves" Kirara (Dendro), "Empyrean Reflection" Kaveh (Dendro), and "Eclipsing Star" Ningguang (Geo) will receive a huge drop-rate boost!

※ Of the above characters, the event-exclusive character will not be available in the standard wish "Wanderlust Invocation."

※ This is for "Character Event Wish-2." The wish guarantee count for "Character Event Wish" and "Character Event Wish-2" is shared, and is accumulated between both "Character Event Wish" and "Character Event Wish-2." This wish guarantee count is independent of the guarantee counts of other types of wishes.

※ The "Test Run" trial event will be open during this event wish. Travelers may use fixed lineups containing the selected trial characters to enter specific stages and test them out. Travelers that complete the challenges will receive the corresponding rewards!

※ For more information, go to the Wish screen and select Details in the bottom-left corner.

Event Wish "Epitome Invocation" - Boosted Drop Rate for Verdict (Claymore) and Key of Khaj-Nisut (Sword)!

〓Event Wish Duration〓

After the Version 4.8 update—2024/08/06 17:59:00

〓Event Wish Details〓

● During this event wish, the event-exclusive 5-star weapons Verdict (Claymore) and Key of Khaj-Nisut (Sword) will receive a huge drop-rate boost!

● During this event wish, the event-exclusive 4-star weapon Xiphos' Moonlight (Sword) as well as the 4-star weapons The Bell (Claymore), Dragon's Bane (Polearm), Eye of Perception (Catalyst), and Rust (Bow) will receive a huge drop-rate boost!

● During this event wish, use Epitomized Path to chart a course towards a promotional 5-star weapon, such as Verdict (Claymore) or Key of Khaj-Nisut (Sword). For more information on Epitomized Path, go to the Wish screen and select Details in the bottom-left corner.

※ Of the above weapons, the event-exclusive weapons will not be available in the standard wish "Wanderlust Invocation."

※ For more information, go to the Wish screen and select Details in the bottom-left corner.

[atlaswav]

EMPYREAN ☾

INFO: 4385 words, dr ratio x gn!reader, college au SYNOPSIS: Art is the practice of capturing life in still motion, and yet Dr Ratio can never seem to capture your beauty in its entirety in his sketches. His waking thoughts are clouded by images of you, the bane of his existence. He hates it, but can't resist. The Gods - if there are any - are cruel. WARNINGS: none! for once! except attempted kiss. AUTHOR'S NOTE: my head hurts so bad rn and i need sleep but there were thoughts in my mind. also i think its really boring lowkey but hey! i said i'd publish something by sunday! also i think his characterisation is really off today but oh well.

Divinity wasn’t real. There were no real Gods, they didn’t exist – couldn’t. Science proved such. Miracles were situations of insurmountable luck, and no one’s fate was “ordained” like astrology maniacs liked to think. 

But when Icarus fell from the great skies of myth, reaching for the sun and Gods and the heavens beyond, Veritas Ratio was sure that the gnawing terror and morbid awe that seized that man at the sight below was familiar to him. That sprawling city touched by the sublime sun, smiled upon with the benevolent God peering through the clouds whose gaze melted fragile wax. 

He was sure that that fear and unprecedented awe was the same as when he first glimpsed you. 

His fall, however, wasn’t graceful or worthy of any legend. 

“Oh– you alright?” 

“My apologies, I–” he glanced up, leaning down to immediately pick up his sketchbook which had fallen to the ground, then he froze. 

“...Are you okay?”

This, he wasn’t certain. You helped him gather his supplies again, and he thought he’d never see you again – there were so many buildings and so many classes, why would he? But as if fate was stringing him along, he wound up sitting next to you for his art studies class. The class he convinced himself he needed to take for a proper education.

Icarus’ fall was met with swift demise, and he was so sure that he would too. But who was he to compare himself to legends? Even still, why else would he be stricken by the malady of your existence, if you weren’t some overwhelming beauty that his greed desired to capture? 

Art, however, could not capture life as any man would like. It could never catch the way light reflected in the eyes, illuminating the soul. Neither the delicate intricacies of a smile, a twitch of muscle, a beating of a butterfly’s wings, the delicacy of life.

Try as one might, however, Dr Ratio aimed to do this, anyway. Charcoal was his chosen medium, pervading clean paper, marking intent, focus and desperation. 

He remembered you casting him a smile before seating yourself beside him, and all his doubts in taking the art course dissipated from his mind – despite your literal run in moments before. 

You became immersed in the artwork at your fingertips as the professor chirped about something he should’ve probably been attentive to, but to him, it was now entirely meaningless. Your cheeks lifted when you smiled, creasing the corners of your eyes. Your hair fell over your face in graceful lines that framed your features, and your hands moved with such gentle dexterity that he yearned to capture them in his drawings. Your eyes narrowed in the slightest as your brush met the canvas, mouth agape with your fixation on your art. 

The charcoal snapped, and Veritas Ratio likewise snapped from his immersion, frowning at the dark lines that marred the page. 

In his sketch, your eyes were obscured by a wall of smudged black ash instead of the curtain of hair that covered your features. Ratio sighed, leaning back from the desk. Your eyes were now downcast on your palette as you mixed paints. 

There was a divinity in you that he yearned to capture, like sunlight in a jar. Futile, but with noble intention, he swore to himself. 

Then, there were more classes. More days that passed, more instances where he observed your habits, your artwork that had you enrapt, just as he imagined his own perverse captivation with you. There were more charcoal sketches in sketchbooks that never saw the light of day, ones where your smile was too wide, didn’t meet your eyes, or didn’t carry the exact expression that yours projected. 

Art could never imitate life – Veritas was simply mortal. But mortals could always dream of something divine.

There were times where he left the classroom for a moment, and he feared you might glance over at his sketchbook to see the hundreds of sketches of yourself. Smiling and frowning and focused, the end of your paintbrush sitting absently between your lips, your gaze cast to the side, small splatters of paint smudged under your eyes and on your fingers. It was unsettling. He knew it himself. There had to be an extent to his observation when it became invasive, yet he feared losing your presence without ever capturing it in still motion. 

This is when a man grows desperate. 

“May I draw you?”

“...draw me?” you glanced towards him, reluctantly tearing your gaze from your own work. “Why?”

“A study.”

You smiled a half smile. An expression that he was familiar with, given that you were already halfway through the semester. Still, there was nothing to your encounters but smiles of courtesy and niceties (he’d never admit that he so desired more).

“Sure. Show it to me later.”

Now, Dr Ratio discovers, there are few things that may disturb a man’s endeavours when he is enrapt in his studies. None of which affected Veritas in the slightest as his charcoal became dust on his fingers and he clicked his tongue at the material’s reluctance to bend at his will. 

None of which can successfully capture the being that is you, and he isn’t sure he wants to, anymore. Art isn’t made for the eyes of greed, it’s made for the soul that yearns for the cure of the senses. Or so the greats all say, but he thinks he cannot be one of them. He couldn’t imitate life, he was versed in the calculations of life instead. 

Caught in his thoughts, he taps his – new – stick of charcoal on the edge of the drawing pad, frowning at the new sketch he was pondering. 

“You’re really good.” your voice echoes from behind him. 

He turns abruptly to find you standing behind him, head tilted as you examine his sketches. Your nose scrunches the tiniest bit, and your eyes crinkle with a hint of mirth.

“Does my nose really look like that?”

“Of course.”

You laugh at his blunt reply. “Can I see your other drawings?”

There are over seven thousand languages that still exist in the world, and Veritas Ratio cannot think of a better, more dire way to say no than to agree completely. 

“Of course.” He flips through his sketchbook quietly, letting you glimpse his insanity. You were making him lose his mind, really. He watches your expression – how your eyes widen, your lips part, your brows furrow. 

“Did you do all of this since the last lesson?”

No, but he wouldn’t say that – 

“No, I've been studying you for a while.”

– Or maybe he would. 

Your laugh is another divine thing that he wishes he can capture. “Oh God, I’m embarrassed.”

“Don’t be. You make a good muse.” 

“Do I?”

He nods, biting his tongue. He doesn’t want to incriminate himself any further than he already has, and he’s already become a stalker to you. 

“Is that a compliment?”

“Yes. Undoubtedly.” 

“Consider me flattered, then…” 

“Dr Ratio. Veritas. Veritas Ratio.”

“...Veritas.” 

He loves the way your lips mouth his name. He’d never say it to your face, though. This, at least, would die with him. 

“Well, thank you. You may return to your painting.”

You huff a laugh. “So formal. I’m nearly done, so I don’t really have anything urgent to worry about. Meanwhile you…”

He’s inclined to agree. The professor was checking everyone’s progress the next lesson, and he still hadn’t grasped what he thought to have been perfect. 

“Ah. Right.”

“Do you want me to like… pose for you or something?”

He hesitates. Why? He doesn’t know. Maybe something about morality and art and the truth, but he doesn’t care anymore. “That… would be ideal.”

“Alright, but you’ll owe me as well. Deal?”

This is how Veritas Ratio finds himself pacing his apartment, fixing his hair in the mirror, dusting the tops of the bookshelves that line the walls and polishing the kitchen counter so that each surface is devoid of any evidence of his own guilty conscience. 

His anxieties were immediately multiplied hundredfold when you knocked. He waited a couple of seconds – to not seem too desperate, with his heart racing out of his chest – then finally opened the door. 

You stood there, smiling with such casual ease that he found himself wanting to know everything about you. 

It was absurd. 

A tiny, suppressed part of him welcomed it. 

“Hey, Veritas,” 

There it was again, the unfamiliar way you said his name, smile widening. He decided against a verbal reply, instead nodding and guiding you into his living room. 

“You’re so… clean.” you glanced about the apartment, marvelling at how almost every surface had a shine to it. But it made sense, once you saw him sitting at the couch, already observing you with the unshakeable gaze you’d felt since that first class. 

You weren’t entirely oblivious to his stare, just as you weren’t unobservant with the way his cheeks dusted with pink the day before – and today, it seemed – as he made eye contact. 

You smiled, and watched him blink a couple of times before turning away with a cleared throat. 

“Yes. I can’t stand a mess of any sort.”

“Figured.” you shrugged, standing next to him. “So, where do you want to start? What should I do?”

He hesitated for a second before directing you to the armchair across from him. “Just sit there for now. We’ll start here.”

You complied, allowing him to hurriedly arrange the folds of your clothes and angle of your limbs with fleeting touches. 

He appeared nervous, but it was endearing. 

Minutes pass by in silence, faint scratching of charcoal on paper filling the space between you. The sunset’s light poured in through the balcony behind you, casting a dramatic shadow over the armchair. Purple, orange, yellow – you wondered if that scrutinising look he gave you was disapproval or awe. There was no way of telling, with his complex set of facial-expressions. 

But interpreting him through guesses wasn’t how you envisioned this would play out. 

You cleared your throat, but he didn't glance up. He held the sketchbook up next to you, but quickly returned to the page, making harsh lines across the page. 

“So… Veritas?”

His head snapped up, stray strands of violet hair splayed across his forehead. “Yes?”

“Why did you take art?”

His eyes narrowed on you. Examining, maybe. “I felt as if I needed to. For a well rounded study, of course.”

You laughed. “Of course you did.”

At this, he paused. “What do you mean by this?”

“Your reputation on campus. You have… what, four degrees? You’re famous.”

He bit the inside of his cheek, never putting down the charcoal, but tapping it against his fingers instead. “Oh? What else have you heard?”

“Well, they say you’re insanely smart, but you’re also pretentious.”

He frowned. The way his brows scrunched was endearing. “I’m not pretentious. Everyone else is simply far underqualified.”

“They also say that you’re an elitist.” you laughed. 

Concern only grew on his expression. “Do you think this of me?”

You shrugged. “I’m yet to form an opinion.”

He nodded. “Good. Wise.” he said, almost as if reassuring himself. 

“...How long will this be, though? I can only sit still for so long.”

He blinked, turning to the sketchpad again. “Not too long. I promise.”

“Can we go out to dinner, afterwards?” 

At this, he choked. You stifled a laugh at the renewed blush on his cheeks. 

“Dinner? Why?”

“You owe me, don’t you?”

This is when he realises that he was a fool in allowing you in, to allow the muse of his most divine visions to become human. 

He’s greedy, though. No one and nothing can change this. He wanted more of you. He wanted to hear each thought that crossed your mind and know each little item that occupied your attention. He wanted to dissect your mind and examine your memories and behaviours like an insect splayed under a glass, and he wanted to understand you so well that he became sick with the thought of you. But in his mind, you could do no wrong. You were so divine; with your secret smiles that held secret thoughts, and knowing glances that examined his frame with an artist’s scrutinising eye. 

“Fine. Just let me finish up.”

So you stay put, and you return to the thick silence that envelops the room. The clock ticking above the armchair only taunts you as your limbs begin to ache from lack of movement. 

Scratching on paper, huffs of exasperation, the occasional tearing of a page, and he finally sighs, rising from the couch. The sun had long since set, only remnants of daylight still lingering on the sky’s deep blue. The light was gone. You wondered if he’d captured the sun in his drawing, as well. 

“It’s done. Not good as the professor would like, but it will do for now.” he said, running a hand – dusted with black – through his hair. His forehead was coated in splotches of black thumb prints. 

You similarly rose from the armchair, stretching, and walked over to the drawing on the coffee table. 

You didn’t realise this was how you looked to him. Your features were only emphasised in the dramatics of the sunset, the slight turn of your lips and curve of your cheekbones accentuated with the shadows. He’d taken artistic liberty, you realised, in painting you within the sun’s dying light. 

You almost looked divine. 

“Holy shit.”

“Does that hold a negative connotation?”

“Veritas, you’re crazy.”

“...negative?”

“It’s so…” you met his gaze which was already searching yours for a reaction. “It’s brilliant. It’s so, so good.”

His shoulders relaxed as he sighed. “Good. Let’s go to dinner, then.” he turns to leave, but you stop him, grabbing his arm. You found that it was hard as chiselled marble, and almost want to find out exactly what’s underneath, but you dismiss the thought. 

“You have something on your forehead.” you point. 

He frowned, rubbing his forehead with the same hand that had been gripping the charcoal for the past hour. Smudged it even further. His forehead was thinly coated in black ash.

You sighed. “Here, let me.” 

He leaned down for you to wipe the stains, hair hanging over his eyes. He smelled faintly of the library with its old books, and partly of ink with something deeper. His eyes darted around to meet anything but your gaze, long lashes fluttering, crimson red eyes matching the shade of his complexion. 

You make him nervous, you confirm with delight. 

“There. That’s the most of it.” you withdrew, and he stood back up quicker than you thought possible. 

“Alright, dinner, then.” 

“Dinner.”

“I’ll go and… wash up.”

“Don’t keep me waiting.”

He realised how much he was doomed as the sky started to pour with rain, just as the two of you stepped outdoors, beyond his apartment complex. 

“How far is the place you wanted to go?” he asked you.

“Not too far. Let’s just keep walking.”

He shrugged, falling into step beside you. His steps were terrifyingly large, as would make sense with his tall frame. 

“So what are your interests?” he blurts out, staring at the ground as he walks. 

“Well, art, obviously,”

“Yes, of course, do you think I’m dense?”

“Maybe a little.” 

“I will interpret that as sarcasm.”

You laugh, and as if the heavens had heard you, the rain began to fall heavier, darkening the landscape, tingeing the air with smells of petrichor and a cold that wasn’t there before. 

Ratio thought it was ironic. A pathetic fallacy of his doomed fate. 

“You have to be kidding me.”

He sighed, massaging his temples with his fingers. “We are unfortuitous.”

“...You could’ve said unlucky.”

“I choose not to associate myself with idiots.”

You chuckle as you attempt to cover your head with your arms, running to the nearest block for shelter. The rain, however, doesn’t desist. It continues to pour until you’re both soaked through – his hair soaking wet, sticking to his forehead, white shirt clinging to his carved abdomen that you desperately try to avoid looking at. 

“Should we just go back?” you move your hair out of your eyes, squinting in the relentless downpour. Through the slight shelter of the building behind you two, the rain pours heavy as ever, unlikely to cease soon. 

“I was waiting for you to come to that conclusion.”

“...Why didn’t you offer it first?”

Because he thought you looked good in the rain with wet hair. He wanted to remember the image – burn it into his eyelids – before he returned to sketch it. Number of things he’d never say aloud: two.

“I was waiting for you to come to that conclusion yourself.”

“Pretentious.”

“Thank you. Now can we hurry? It’s only getting heavier.”

His situation, ironically, then becomes even more perilous. A series of unfortunate events, unfolding like a train of misfortunes. First, your meeting – strikingly uncomfortable for both of you, he imagined (it certainly was for him) – then your failed attempt at dinner, interrupted by an unforgiving rain storm. He didn’t think it could get much worse. But there was always room for improvement, as he knows better than anyone, the academic that he is. 

There are, now, puddles of water throughout Dr Ratio’s apartment that he hadn’t bothered to clean since you got into his shower.

You, in his shower. 

He wonders if there is a God, somewhere out there, delighting in his torment. It was never supposed to devolve into such interactions, only observing you long enough to capture your beauty on the page. 

He wonders if you know he is thinking about you often as he does. Thinks you’d be completely repulsed by him. This is what frightens him. 

“Veritas?” your voice echoes from within the house. 

He gets up from where he’s sitting in a puddle near the kitchen, racing to the bathroom at your call. Did he manage to miss something incriminating in his bathroom? He’d made sure that every surface was bare before you entered, had he not?

“Yes?”

“...This is embarrassing. Can you please get me a towel?” 

This felt like one of those cliches in romantic comedies that Ratio’s colleagues liked to watch. Mindless scenes of dry humour and burlesque attempts at “comedy” he found appalling. It was happening to him, now. Spiting his academic rigidity. 

“Of course. One moment.”

He tries not to think about you, standing completely bare behind the door, as he sticks a hand into the bathroom, head turned away. If you looked closer, you’d have seen the bright red shade of his ears – but to his merit, you take the towel, shutting the door, a muffled “thank you” audible through the door. 

He sighs, sitting on the floor beside the bathroom. 

Whatever Gods there were, were bestowing great suffering on him today. 

It takes a couple minutes for you to finish up in the bathroom. Another few more for him to wash up, and another handful of minutes for you both to be seated on the couch together in awkward silence. 

You wear one of Ratio’s old shirts and shorts, scrolling on your phone, and he is sitting, arms crossed, on the opposite end of the couch, staring at you again. Outside, the rain still pours in unceasing rivulets, dissipating any ideas for going out for dinner. 

He thinks his clothes look far better on you than on him. Thinks that you were made for this world and its inhabitants, crafted so perfectly. Wonders what wouldn’t suit your wear, because he can’t imagine anything that you couldn’t look good in. 

“Okay,” you say, turning off your phone to stare back at him, “I ordered. Should be here in about ten minutes.” 

He nods, and averts his gaze. 

You smile. His behaviour is amusing.  

“Veritas?”

“Yes?”

“What are your greatest fears?”

“Excuse me?”

You shuffle closer, and he notes a glint in your eye that suggests mischief. Teasing, as he’d seen before. “What are you afraid of? Like, the dark?”

“Nothing.”

“Boring. Come on, there’s gotta be something.” 

He frowns, brows bunching together as he stares at the wall. An easy, natural habit. “Nothing. Fear is irrational.”

“Right.” you laugh at his blatant refusal to cooperate with you. 

“Am I being funny?”

“No,”

“Why are you laughing?”

“Because you’re being so… unexpectedly childish.”

“What?” he seems to prickle up with indignation. “What do you mean?”

“Your stubbornness to just answer my question, and the way you’re…” you gesture to his posture, the way his arms are folded and he glares at the wall. “Behaving. It’s childish.”

“Well, what are you afraid of? Nothing, right? It’s a stupid question.”

“I’m afraid of insects, the dark, I could go on, really,”

Veritas glares at you, meeting your eyes for a second. “Fear is stupid.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Then why are you scared of holding eye contact?”

At this, he blinks. He turns to face you, still frowning, but his gaze flickers between your eyes and the rest of your face. Your laugh only makes him roll his eyes. 

“You really can’t hold eye contact, can you?” you say through a fit of giggles. “Have you ever dated?”

“Yes, I can hold eye contact,” – but not with you, it seemed. You intimidated him – “And no, I haven’t, it’s a distraction.”

“From what I’m seeing, you can barely even be near me without blushing.”

He blushes, breathing a sigh of exasperation. 

“Dr Veritas Ratio’s one fear is making eye–”

Then he grabs your shoulders, forcing you closer, and holds your gaze with such intensity that the words disappear from your lips. You blink as his stare bores into yours, crimson eyes deep, shining with something unfamiliar to you that you realise you want to decipher. 

People like to say that eyes are the windows to the soul, and Veritas Ratio’s was ridden with something that burned like the sun's dying light. 

It’s then that you realise how close you are to him, how his firm grip on your shoulders softens and his touch drifts to hover above your jaw, how he smelled so inviting, familiar and distant all at once, and how his lips were slightly parted, how they looked so soft –

Knocking, at the front door. 

You both tear away, and he stumbles to the front door to collect your delivery. 

You never regret anything more than this moment. 

“Delivery.”

You nod, obscuring your face with your hair as he sets down your meal on the coffee table. 

You’re both back to silence, pleasantries and common niceties as the meal passes. 

Neither of you meet the other’s eye. 

Time ticks away as you finish your food and clean up, wiled away by carefully weighed words and half-met glances. 

He hates it. 

He hates how you were looking at him with such curiosity, and he hates how he let you tease him. He also hates the delivery man for not being delayed by the rain, but he also hates himself for not ignoring the knocks on his front door. 

“I think I should go now.”

Yes, that would be best. “Why? It’s still raining, you could stay.”

“Well…”

He knows your dorm is far from his apartment complex. He knows that you’ll have to trek through the rain, and yet he also knows that if you stay, he won't be able to sleep. He still has images of you – fresh in his mind – to sketch onto the page. 

“It’s no trouble.”

“Okay. I’ll stay the night.”

“You can sleep in my room.”

“But–”

“Don’t argue.”

Somehow, you’re inclined to do as he says. 

Time, like all things, passes too quickly and too slowly all at once. Without time, nothing exists, but with it, it’s all too agonising to live through. 

This is exactly how Dr Ratio feels as he sits at the coffee table, the small space dimly illuminated by a lamp, as the entire apartment is still. You’re probably sleeping, as he reminds himself, tearing another page out of his sketchbook, unsatisfied with his own hand. 

The rain was now tame, a steady rhythm to his never-ending endeavours to capture your beauty on the page. 

Maybe it’s when the charcoal snaps in his hands, or maybe it’s when his lamplight flickers that he decides that capturing life in still motion is helpless – a pointless and impossible venture that can never succeed. 

You’re too deific to fit into a world of his creation. 

What are supposed to be your eyes – painted with fervour, but lacking depth – stare up into the ceiling as he dozes off, charcoal falling from his hand, eyes drooping closed. Slivers of moonlight cut across your painted face as he slumps onto the table, snoring softly.

—

You wake to sunlight in your eyes, blinding and harsh, and realise where you are. 

It all smells like him – that scent that you can’t place that smells good, and a lingering smell of the library with all its papers. It all smells like him, and when you walk into the living room, you find that his own apartment is completely devoid of any sense of himself. 

But when you find him slumped at the coffee table, lamplight still illuminating the space with its curtains drawn and rays of sunlight peering through, he’s obsessed with you. 

You’re unsure what, exactly, to feel. There are abandoned pages scattered all throughout the space, and unfurling one, you recognise your own face staring back at you. 

Each and every drawing is of you – your hair wet, clinging to your skin, you drowning in his clothes far too large for you, or your face painted with curiosity and entrapment. 

It’s you through Veritas’ gaze, and you think that beyond all else, he made you look divine. 

When Veritas Ratio wakes to his papers – all wrinkled and partly torn – sitting in front of him, neatly arranged with a note on top, realisation hits him, but he can only laugh. 

“Veritas Ratio’s greatest fear: eye contact with the person he’s obsessed with. Completely irrational – even though he can draw me perfectly from memory. A shame, really. Looks like you’ll have to invite me over to pose for you again.

So you can get my eyes right, of course.”

written by @atlaswav , published 26th of August 2024

[talonabraxas]

“all things created have an order in themselves, and this begets the form that lets the universe resemble God.” ― Dante Alighieri, Paradiso

The Empyrean, Rosa Celeste Talon Abraxas This image depicts a medieval cosmological diagram illustrating the universe according to the Ptolemaic system, as it was commonly understood in the Middle Ages. This specific diagram is likely inspired by Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy, particularly the Paradiso and Purgatorio sections.

Here’s a brief breakdown of the components:

1. (Inferno): At the very bottom, located beneath the Earth. 2. Earth: Center of the universe, with a hemisphere of water and a hemisphere of land. 3. Purgatory: A mountain rising from the Earth's surface, which souls must ascend to purify themselves before entering Heaven. 4. Heavens (Spheres): Surrounding the Earth and Purgatory, the diagram shows the geocentric spheres that include the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, the fixed stars (Zodiac), the crystalline sphere (Primum Mobile), and the Empyrean Heaven (Paradise) at the very top.

This model reflects the medieval Christian view of the universe, influenced by both ancient Greek astronomy and theological concepts.

[starfreak]

Random Elden Ring Rant (Contains Spoilers, VERY LONG)

So, the Numen. We can choose it as a character preset, which tells us they come from another world, or another land. I say "or another land" because historically, America is referred to as the "New World," but it's not a separate planet. However, translations from the Japanese version of the game suggest that the world they come from is one of spirits, the dead, etc., so it could definitely be a Literal other world.

Marika is (rumored to be) a Numen, as are the Black Knife Assassins that participated in the Night of Black Knives.

If Marika is Numen, then it stands to reason so is Radagon, since they are the same person in the same body. This means their children together, Malenia and Miquella (and now presumably Messmer since he has red hair like Radagon, but Miyazaki said that he's the child of Marika, so unless there's another red-haired hottie running around the Lands Between, Radagon is the father), are also Numen. This also means that other children of Marika/Radagon are half-Numen.

It seems Numen are not a single ethnicity, but a whole race of people, with various different contradicting skin tones and hair colors. The template in the character creator has medium-dark skin and brown hair. Marika has pale skin and golden hair (possibly changed to be gold from the Greater Will's influence) and Radagon has the same skin with fiery red hair. We know from the Giant's Red Braid item description (below) that Radagon was either cursed by the Fire Giants or simply born with red hair. I mean...no item descriptions suggest he was born with it...but if I was born with hair I hated, I would blame it on a curse too. Though, to be fair, it IS the same color as the Fire Giants' hair.

Also the Black Knife Assassins have no physical form, so we can't discern their hair or skin colors.

So skin tone seems like a non-factor, but Hair is much harder to parse, due to half the Numen in the game having fiery hair and pronouns. The game says nothing about Marika's hair changing to gold, so it may have always been that color, leading me to believe that indeed, Numen are just...magic humans from a land far away...she's just blonde.

WELP.

That's all cool, but what is the culture of the Numen like? Well we can see that they have a very strong affinity for women and femininity. Not only is Marika, the most powerful Numen we know, a woman...all of the Black Knives are women. Additionally, if we choose to believe that Malenia and Miquella are Numen, this fact is further evidenced by Malenia's being a strong warrior woman (she is literally a Valkyrie) and Miquella's own complex gender identity. Miquella was (supposedly) born male, but presented as rather feminine/androgynous all his life. While Malenia is a masculine woman and reflects Radagon, Miquella is a feminine boy reflecting Marika. Not to mention that Miquella is ALMOST DEFINITELY Saint Trina, who is exclusively referred to as feminine.

In addition to the stong feminine aspects of Numen society apparent in the overabundance of strong fem-presenting characters, the description of Marika's Hammer suggests that women in Numen society (like Marika) have a role as destroyers and warriors, while men (Radagon) have a role of construction and repair.

"Queen Marika shattered the Elden Ring and Radagon attempted to repair it."

Again, this is just speculation, and the mythological actions of Radagon/Marika are likely motivated by a mutlitude of things (namely, the Greater Will constantly looming over them, the presence of the Elden Beast constantly lurking just under the surface), but I'm making do with what I have.

Also, back to genetics of the Numen again for a second, of all Radagon and Marika's children outside of the ones they had together (Messmer and the Twin Empyreans), most of them seem to inherit Radagon/Marika's hair.

Radagon and Rennala's kids, Radahn, Rykard, and Ranni, (presumably) have red hair. We never actually see Ranni's hair pre-doll form, so I'm assuming it's red lkke her brothers'.

Marika and Godfrey's kids, Godwyn, Mohg, and Morgott, all have either pale hair or no hair (Mohg has no hair visible on account of all the omen horns).

So it seems like the genes of Numen are incredibly dominant, even dominating the gene pool multiple generations after the first. Godwyn's kids, Godrick and Godefroy, have the same hair color as he does. Malenia's "daughters," although not genetically related to her, all seem to have gained her red hair through exposure to her Scarlet Aeonia. This may also be true of the Cleanrot Knights, but they could also have plucked the red hairs from Fire Giants or Leonine Misbegotten and used them as decor for their armor.

Even merely interacting with a Numen as powerful as Marika, or her direct children, can change one's appearance irreversably. Sure, this could all likely be from her status as a God, but who knows how powerful the average Numen could become if granted the strength? We become Elden Lord after all.

[thetygre]

Working on a theory about the origins of the Chaos Gods specifically in Warhammer 40k.

Slaanesh was born from the old aeldari empire; that’s a given. So you can think of Slaanesh as being uniquely aeldari, even if Slaanesh is everyone’s problem now.

Now old, old lore states that the other three Chaos Gods are born from humanity, but this has widely been disregarded and abandoned because it’s clearly a cop-out. The only specific piece of data from this bit of lore is that Nurgle was born from humans during the Black Plague.

I’m actually not 100% opposed to this. I like the idea that Nurgle is uniquely related to humans the same way Slaanesh is related to eldar. Humans, being a naturally short lived race, would produce a Chaos God of death and decay reflecting their existential fears about entropy and the nature of time.

This establishes a pattern in 40k; every species with a major warp signature produces a Chaos God, who will carry on inherent traits of their creator species long after that species has been driven to extinction. Ergo, Tzeentch and Khorne were produced by two other, far more ancient alien cultures.

The only hints we can get about these extinct species come from their Chaos Gods’ Greater Daemons. As the Chaos Gods have no real physical form, their Greater Daemons are the most direct manifestations of their power we can experience, and therefore the only way to see any of their creator species traits. In the same way we can extrapolate an eldar from a Keeper of Secrets and a human from a Great Unclean One, we should be able to extrapolate… something from a Changer of Ways and a Bloodthirster.

This actually leads me to the tzaangor.

(These things. The bird people the Thousand Sons use when they don’t feel like getting their Rubric Marines dirty.)

The tzaangor’s presence in 40k is a leftover; they’re here because they’re in Warhammer Fantasy, and we need to flesh out Tzeentch’s armies, so in they go. Their explanation makes sense in Fantasy - they’re just another type of beastman. But beastmen aren’t really a thing in 40k, or at least they haven’t been for a few editions.

So that gets me thinking about the tzaangor, their similarities to Changers of Ways, and Tzeentch. I don’t think tzaangor in 40k are just some random mutants; I think they’re primitive leftovers of whatever species made Tzeentch. The similarities between the tzaangor and Changer of Ways are too obvious. (Like yes, duh; the tzaangor are derived from the Changers, but bear with me here.)

My theory is that whatever this species was, they were pioneers of the Warp itself. They harnessed it in a way not even the Old Ones had during the War in Heaven. They may even have been the creators of Warp travel, or something like it. They achieved a transcendental, almost godlike amount of power from harnessing the energy of the empyrean.

And then you know how the story goes; more power than mortal beings are meant to know blah blah blah, absolute knowledge is absolute power and absolute power corrupts absolutely yadda yadda yadda, and then the next thing you know Tzeentch has been born. And Tzeentch keeps the leftovers of his creator race around for one of a hundred different reasons; anything can be justified with Tzeentch by it being part of one of his master plans or split personalities.

What’s left now of the tzaangor are Chaos-ridden mutants hustled around by the new power in the universe; humans. They’re still surprisingly intelligent, but comparatively primitive next to their species in its prime. I like to imagine that since the species was so psychically gifted, Tzeentch’s birth wiped their intellects in an instant, like Slaanesh and the Fall of the Eldar. Just a lethal psychic shockwave that decimated billions, Watchmen squid style. It’s taken millennia for the tzaangor to redevelop their current level of intellect, and they live in fear with the constant knowledge that Tzeentch can take it away again at any time.

Now as for Khorne! …I got nothing. I think, by his nature as the god of bloodshed and murder, Khorne completely wiped out his progenitor species. He did not quit halfway through like the other Chaos Gods. The only thing I can assume about them is that, as Khorne is the oldest Chaos God, they were ancient. Maybe even older than the Old Ones and Necrons. If the War in Heaven wasn’t enough to create Khorne, then I’d like to know what was. Like, this was the Cain species; the first species to really get into warfare and unrestrained violence. They might not even have known the Warp existed until Khorne came screaming out of it. And that species is remembered now as the ground floor of the Skull Throne.

Anyway, that’s that screed scooped out of my brain.

[roachymochi]

Radagon get a lot of characterisation from Shadow of the Erdtree, especially for someone who is never talk about even once.

But we learn about Marika. About her origin, her motivation, and the nature of her flesh.

And we learn about Miquella, how i cast aside his love that was litterally an entire other person, that was also him.

This is actually the second time we see an empyrean discard a good part of themselves on the path to godhood. The other time is Millicent, who is implied to be Melania's honor, or courage, she left behind in Caelid.

So we can extrapolate about what part of Marika was Radagon before they were separated. And he was a good part too.

While Marika is characterized as a distant but good (long ago at least) ruler, she is also described as having committed many atrocity in the name of power, and casting aside her childrens.

Radagon may have started as a champion, but it stopped the war by falling in love with the Carian Queen. His interaction with his children seems much more loving than Marika's. He was a craftsman, and a tailor, which require a lot more finesse and patience than we ever see in Marika's reputation. He firmly believed in the golden order, but also expended his faith beyond it, merging the study of incantation and sorcery to reach a true understanding of the greater will.

Even after Marika broke the Elden Ring, hopeless that any good thing could come out of the current state of the world, Radagon reforged it because i could still see in it things worth preserving.

The most interesting part of his characterization I think his is builder aspect. He may bear traits reminiscent of the fire giants, but he add all the good aspects of their forge : the light, the warmth, the power and will to change and reshape things, to refine them and bring them to perfection.

Meanwhile, Marika's empire is eternal, unchanging, stagnating. Even her iconic poses reflect her struggle through time : in the shadow land, she is depicted has kind, arms spread in a tender embrace. In the lands between, she is depicted with her arm above her, like she is trapped in shackles, bearing an incredible weight on her shoulder's. In the Erdtree, when we actually meet her, she is straight up crucified.

I think Radagon used to be Marika's hope.

And by casting him aside, she lost any ability to move, to grow, to react and change with the world. She wanted to build an eternal unchanging kingdom, and she doomed it from the start.

[haileyywrites]

Summary: Kaveh's strange ability to draw in animals of all kind had always been more of an annoyance than a blessing. At least until a particular cat lead him to meet someone interesting...

Pairings: Kaveh x Reader!

Warnings/Notes: Completely gender neutral reader! Poc friendly! Pure fluff! Possibly ooc Kaveh maybe? Not properly proofread!

For some reason Kaveh had always had the ability to attract animals of all kind to him. At first he didn't mind as he very much liked animals, but it became a real problem and a nuisance for him later on... He'd simply step outside for a break or something of the sort and soon enough birds, dogs and cats would begin swarming him for his food or affection - of course he would feel bad for them and give in to their demands...

After a thorough talking to by Alhaitham he begrudgingly listened and would avoid places where pets or wildlife gathered. It felt stupid having to avoid animals that meant no harm to him, but he understood Alhaitham's point and knew he would just give in again. Any pets that would approach him in the city would give up easily when he stood firm and shooed them away. Except for one...

This particular cat that had never begged him for scraps and only wanted affection wouldn't leave him alone no matter how much he tried. It was ridiculous really! No matter what route he took the persistent feline would always find him and meow at him until he agreed to either pet it or play with it for a while. No matter what he did he couldn't get rid of it, he was out of options since splashing it with water just seemed cruel.

The cat was definitely well taken care of and even had a collar that was clearly custom or homemade by its owner. It was a healthy rounfd and it's fur was well kept - then why was the cat so keen on him? It didn't seem interested in the scraps he would sometimes give to distract it, but instead it just wanted some belly rubs and a playmate. It was truly bizarre...

“Meow!”

“Oh no, it's you again! Listen I don't have time to just play with you all the time!” He tried to hopelessly explain to the clueless animal.

“Meow?”

“I'm serious! You need to find someone else to beg for pets. Why don't you go find your owner?” He exclaimed in frustration.

“Meow.”

“I know you probably don't understand what I'm saying, but I don't know what you want from me!” He sighed loudly.

Before he could properly react the cat jumped into his arms and stole the feather placed in his hair. The cat was quick to jump away before Kaveh could hold onto him and caused him to fall down in the commotion. Baffled he turned to look at the cat that was just watching him with the colorful feather secured in it's mouth. It slowly began to run away with Kaveh scrambling to chase after it.

It was truly a sight for others to see the blonde shouting and running with full speed chasing a cat... Some didn't react at all while others watched in either confusion or amusement, but no one did anything to aid the poor man despite his shouts for help.

The feline rounded one last corner before finally stopping much to Kaveh's relief. He followed after to see the cat facing away from him and meowing at someone standing in front of it. His eyes wandered upwards until they reached the face of the person and he couldn't tear his eyes away...

The midday sun made your features glow beautifully as if you were an angel with a halo, you were standing amidst a flower field making you look ethereal. Was he in a dream? He almost completely forgot about the cat that lead him here in the first place until it let out a loud meow which caused you to pick it up. You noticed the decorative feather in its mouth and carefully remove it without the cat caring in the slightest.

“Would this be yours?” You asked.

He was so preoccupied with your voice to register what you said at first, after an awkward pause he coughed and nodded with an embarrassed look. You didn't seem to mind as you smiled kindly and handed the feather back to him. His cheeks only continued to heat up as his fingers breafly touched yours, they were so warm and soft...

“I'm so sorry for the trouble my cat has caused you.” You apologized with a sincere tone.

“It... It's fine.” He mumbled, he couldn't bring himself to complain to you despite the trouble.

“Is there anything I can do to apologize properly to you?”

“Honestly it's fine! There's no need!” He tried.

“I insist! Please.” You smiled again.

Kaveh couldn't help but give up when you made a face like that, “Okay... Then how about lunch?”

“That sounds good! I'll just quickly take my cat inside and retrieve my mora!” You sprinted off before he could reply.

Kaveh was simply left standing with a flustered expression as he waited for you. He looked down at his hand which held the feather your cat had stolen, thinking about it now he wasn't even mad about it... He noticed you returning and quickly placed it in his long blonde hair without too much thought - which was unlike him.

You were about to say something before stopping and smiling humorously at him, he was confused before you reached out and gently adjusted the feather slightly. Kaveh couldn't tear his eyes away from your face as you were standing so close to him, close enough that he could feel your breath on his skin and smell your scent... He felt almost like a creep for some reason.

“There! It's very beautiful - especially against your blond hair!” You smiled brightly.

“Thank you.” He couldn't help, but smile despite his cheeks burning brighter - if that was even possible at this point.

“Your smile is even more beautiful!” Honestly were you trying to make his heart stop with how wonderful and lovely you were?! But he thanked you regardless.

“So, what should I call you?” That's right he never introduced himself to you or vise versa!

“Kaveh.” He held out his hand for you to shake out of habit.

Before he could pull his hand away you took hold and shook his hand gently while introducing yourself. Once again he was touching your soft and warm skin, though it was embarrassing he didn't want to let go... Your hand felt so nice in his, so lovely against his skin. He held onto your hand longer than appropriate which embarrassed him greatly but didn't seem to phase you thankfully.

Honestly he was thankful for that troublemaker cat you owned and for his strange ability to draw in animals, otherwise he would never have met you. He made a mental note to remember to bring your cat a treat tomorrow. If in the future it happened that the feather fell from his hair and your cat happened to run off with it in your direction... Well he wouldn't be that mad at it for being so mischievous.

A/N: Sorry for the long wait and shortness of this fic!! Posting this in honour of our pretty boy becoming playable! Congratulations to all the Kaveh havers! Anyway likes, reblogs and or feedback are appreciated! <3

[cannedwyrms]

Spoilers for Shadow of the Erdtree but...

I'm gonna talk a bit about Miquella.

So, I've seen a lot of (what I believe to be) misconceptions about what we learn about his character in SOTE. I'd like to clear them up as best I can, although I'm no expert at the lore. Still, I think a lot of people are quick to discard him as an irredeemable villain too quickly, or believe that his character in the dlc is different from how he was presented in the base game.

Now, in the base game, I too thought Miquella was pretty cool. He had the rare honor of being one of like 3 characters to not be racist, he seemed to actually care for his sister and have a good relationship with his brother, and he just seemed like the only demigod with some kind of basic empathy.

However, while I believe all of those things are true, there were signs that there was something deeper going on.

Take the bewitching branch, for example.

It's description goes like this:

"The Empyrean Miquella is loved by many people. Indeed, he has learned very well how to compel such affection."

So, basically, we already knew he could charm people.

Here, I think, is the first misconception. Miquella does not brainwash or mind control people, he just has the ability to make people like him. "He wields love to shrive clean the hearts of men," as the honorable sir Ansbach says.

Shrive, by the way, means to confess, or in this case I think absolve.

So, while Mogh is absolutely the victim, it should be noted that he didn't abandon his original goal. He just factored Miquella into it. His plan went from "rule my dynasty" to "rule my dynasty with Miquella." Still bad, I want to stress, but I think people believe that Miquella can just turn people into mindless slaves or something. All he can do is make you love him and see his point of view.

Next, let's talk about him and Malenia. In the base game, he seemed to really care for her, going as far as leaving the Golden Order when he learned it wouldn't help her.

Now, though, people believe he actually never cared about her at all and even that she was brainwashed into following him.

For this, I'll actually quote Miquella's dialogue in the Consort Radahn fight. (We'll get to him, don't worry)

"My loyal blade, and champion of the festival. Both your deeds will ever be praised in song."

So, when he says "my loyal blade," he's talking about Malenia, right? You know, Malenia, the blade of Miquella.

It's obvious to me that Miquella did care about his sister. His actions in the base game reflect this, and he's the same guy in the dlc, so of course he'd still care about her.

I suppose he could also be talking about Leda here, but what I got from her arc is that she was always doomed by her own bloodlust to be a failure to her cause. In the end, she never truly understood Miquella, and he probably never even knew she existed.

But I'll save all that for another post.

Point is, Miquella definitely cared a lot about his sister, so much so in fact that, in the moment he was so close to achieving his goals, he praised her accomplishments.

But, there's more to his dialogue, which I will use to clear up yet another misconception.

Miquella also praised the tarnished here. "Champion of the Festival," and all that.

This is because Miquella doesn't hate anyone. He doesn't want to fight us. Consider his instant lose move, where he charms you. To me, this reads as Miquella looking for a peaceful outcome to your conflict. What does he say to you?

"I promise you a thousand year voyage guided by compassion."

And

"Lord of the Old Order, let us go together."

It's clear to me that he's trying for a peaceful solution.

See, I think a lot of people have begun to believe that Miquella is some kind of compassionless robot, but, as always with elden ring characters, it's more complex than that.

Miquella obviously has a lot of empathy for the world. Maybe even too much. Instead of him wanting to rule over everything as some kind of God, he simply wants to make the world a kinder place.

Like Marika, he sought godhood not for personal power, but for a cause. But, as we all know by now, to become a god in Elden Ring is to abandon your humanity.

Miquella literally does this, while I think for Marika it's a bit more metaphorical.

Elden Ring is about how people lose themselves in pursuit of their goals, and this is especially true in SOTE.

So, with that framework, Miquella is actually the obvious choice for the main antagonist of the dlc.

Think about it.

What better antagonist could there be for a game about purpose and cause being twisted than a highly compassionate person who became a monster? It's almost painfully on the nose. (In a good way)

Miquella might even be aware that he's done awful things, but as long as it's in service of a better future, he probably sees it as a necessary evil. Still evil, mind you, but necessary.

Normally, I'd just say that if he worked on making everyone be less being racist and mean, then no one would need necessary evil, but Elden Ring avoids this because, at the time out tarnished arrives back at the lands between, racism is literally a law of reality.

It seems like the only way to change that would be for a new god to write new rules.

I don't know, that's all mostly speculation on my part, but whatever. My point is, Miquella absolutely makes sense as the main antagonist of the dlc, but he is notably not the main antagonist of the base game, nor the story at large.

Personally, I'd argue those titles fall to Morgott and Marika respectively, but I digress.

Miquella is just one link in a long chain of people fighting for a cause they believe in. Really, his actions are no worse than Ranni's, but strangely no one is really as upset about the fact that she literally had Godwin murdered to attain her goals as they are with Miquella doing the same thing to Mogh.

Something interesting that I noticed is that Miquella is actually very similar to Messmer. Whether that was intentional or not is not for me to say, but I do think it's interesting that the oldest demigod and the youngest have a lot in common.

I'll be the first to admit that I'm no Messmer lore expert , but, for example, Messmer is often described as being very compassionate and nice, only taking on the burden of being the face of the hornsent genocide to spare his mother that shame. It's an interesting contradiction, to be sure, and one that is quite similar to how Miquella sheds his humanity to make a brighter future.

Perhaps Messmer is meant, in part, to mirror Miquella to make his seemingly "villainous" turn make more sense.

Again, maybe that's just speculation on my part, but what's important is that Elden Ring stresses again and again that there is no such thing as pure evil. Everyone's a victim in some way.

All that to say, I don't think Miquella is out of character in the dlc. I think everything we learn about him is perfectly in line with his portrayal in the base game.

Alright, it's finally time to talk about the big guy with a little horse.

So, I've seen a lot of people say that Radahn was charmed and used by Miquella, or that Miquella only saw him as a tool, but I really don't think that's true.

Let's take a look at some more of Miquella's dialogue.

"Aspiring Lord of the Old Order. If you have known sin, if you grieve for this world, then yeild the path forward to us. To I, Miquella, and my Promised Consort, Radahn."

Now, I don't know about you, but of Miquella only saw Radahn as a tool, then what's with all the "Yeild the path forward to us," and "To I, Miquella, and my Promised Consort, Radahn."

If he really viewed Radahn as just a means to an end, then why specify the both of them, unless Radahn was always in on Miq's plot?

Also, if Miquella really only wanted a big guy to ride around on and fight for him, why go through all the trouble of making Radahn a promise? Why not just bewitch him from the start and just force him to follow you?

I don't know why Radahn and Malenia fought. Maybe that was part of the vow, if Miquella could grant Radahn a warrior's death, then he'd follow him, or something like that. So maybe my theory isn't totally sound, but I do still think it's just as plausible as the bewitched theory, if not more.

Another thing I've heard people say as evidence of the bewitched theory is that Radahn wouldn't have gone along with it because Leonard wouldn't be with him.

But, like, you guys, that horse is dead. You killed it in your fight with Radahn in the base game. And Radahn is obsessed with warrior's deaths and all that. He probably saw that Leonard was dead, mourned him silently, and even resolved to take take revenge on the one who killed him, which, again, is you.

And, as a side note, Starscourge Radahn did not treat Leonard with any amount of respect. Did we even see the same attack animations. He was pushing him into the ground, standing on him, and definitely not feeding him. Leonard was described as scrawny, but when we see him, he's downright skeletal. And of course Radahn wasn't taking care of him. He was a literal zombie.

So, I don't think Radahn was bewitched. I think he willingly went with Miquella, once his soul was put into Mogh's body.

Miquella, at his core, is compassion without understanding. He feels for the plight of the world and its inhabitants without having the context necessary to understand why they are suffering. It's a very childish outlook, reflected in his design and curse, his outward childlike form representing his nieve understanding of the world.

That's why he can only see godhood as the solution to the suffering. Because it's all he knows. He was an empearyan, after all.

Of course, if he was a little more emotionally intelligent, he'd realize that abandoning everything that made him who he was is a bad thing, but he's not. He can't see past his own status, not in an arrogant way, it's more like he just doesn't know or understand there's an alternative.

He's that theme I mentioned earlier, the pursuit of goals turning you into a monster, personified. I mean he literally leaves his humanity behind. Can't get much more obvious than that.

Well, that's everything I have on Miquella, at least for now. I've just seen so many "Miquella is actually super evil" type posts and videos, and just a general increase in Miquella hate, which maybe is to be expected, but I still think a lot of people missed the point.

If course, everything I've said is subjective, and if Miquella being evil is what makes you like the character, then more power to you.

But if you, like, actively hate Miquella or misunderstand what we're presented in game, then I don't know. I can't stop you, I guess, but maybe I've managed to change your mind. I think the fun of lore hunting in this game is that everyone kinda has their own version of events, it's almost like we're historians debating ancient history. Idk, I just find that cool, so if your interpretation differs from mine, I think that's fine. Just don't be an ass about it, basically.

Tl;dr: if you took a shot every time I started a thought with "now" or "so," you'd be dead.

Okay, that's all, bye.

A brief adendum to this post:

So I've done a bit more thinking, and somehow completely forgot about the fact that Miquella appeared in Caelid after Malenia bloomed, to help the wounded.

This does, at first blush, come off as quite the dick move on Miquella's part, as he didn't think to help his sister, but I do have some thoughts and speculations.

What if he couldn't? Like, he's a small guy, it's not like he could've carried her all the way back himself. Maybe he trusted Finlay (Malenia's gf, it's canon) enough to let her do it. I mean, I guess it depends on how he got to Caelid in the first place, but like how does anyone in this game get anywhere?

No one uses ships as far as I'm aware, and the only transportation we see is like horse or giant drawn carriages, which are already pretty slow. Maybe Finlay asked to carry her back. Maybe Miquella could have used Torrent, but idk. This is all just speculation on my end.

Anyway, I also think this points to my earlier speculation about Miquella's character thematically. He saw only the wounded he needed to help, but ignored the one closest to him in the process. This interpretation lends itself very well to the idea of his childlike, naive ideas of compassion.

Okay, that's really it this time. I'll probably talk about Leda and the others next.

Bye

[ladyofthebookcase]

some thoughts i have about the boss themes in nine sols, not including eigong since i haven't beaten her yet. i dont know jack shit about instruments so im sorry if i got any of them wrong but im not a musician i just listen to a lot of music.

lots of little chiming sounds in the melody of goumang's theme (like bells, although maybe i'm reaching), and ominous and discordant sounds making up the background; obviously symbolizing her control over the shi brothers and her use of necromancy as a highly unnatural force. the key sounds minor, which ties into that as well. it's a very fast, intense, and ominous song. also it has no vocals! just various electronic-esque beats and melodies! and it's over quite quickly it's one of the shortest boss themes. despite goumang's presentation of survival of the fittest ideals, when it comes down to it, she's not the fittest and ends up coming across as kind of defanged if that makes sense.

the start of yanlao's theme sounds like a machine booting up. then there's the deep chanting/throat singing? which i think could represent the repository and the artefacts and all the stuff he's been pressured by others to store there if that makes sense. then there's a more traditionally vocalized interlude, which could represent yanlao himself amid the chanting voices of the repository. the theme is highly electronic in nature and, and this is just because i have some form of synesthesia, but it sounds the way the visuals of the boss fight look, all hot pinks and bright greens and blues.

the start of jiequan's theme sounds very very much like the start of another song on the soundtrack but i can't remember which one it is-- maybe one that plays in the apeman facility??? idk. but then that's interrupted by the very intense and in-your-face music, with the actual taipei men's choir doing the chanting (which is very funny to me idk why). i think that's the jie clan and its legacy that jiequan is carrying on and attempting to revive. elements of rock/electric guitar in here, forming a melody thread that kind of overlaps with the choir-- that could be jiequan himself. it kind of gives the vibe of like modernizing something ancient (the rock music mixed with the chanting? am i reaching here?? idk)

lady e's theme has a gentle piano as the "core" melody. the main singer sounds almost like she's screaming in places, but not quite-- lady e trying to hide her anguish and torment from everyone for the longest time. god shes so me. im not sure if my spotify player is just bad but it almost sounds like it glitches out at certain points too? and then there's the screaming in the background before the chorus, representing her coworkers of course. also, the sort of techno beat layered over the piano is really cool; it's like the piano is the peaceful serene part of the soulscape, and the techno part is the technological nature of it, an artificial perfect world. i love this theme so fucking much.

fuxi and nuwa's theme has only two voices the whole time, presumably "their" voices based on the other opera that we see nuwa singing (the female voice in their theme is the same as that one afaik); and how nuwa tuned out all the problems facing the empyrean district and new kunlun at large in order to indulge in her hobbies and hang out with fuxi, and how the two of them had the luxury of being able to do that, is clearly reflected in this, with their theme incorporating no other voices unlike many of the others. initially, fuxi's voice carries most of the song, with nuwa's doing backup vocals, like the first phase of the fight; but the song has almost a second phase as well, where nuwa's voice becomes the main one for a while before fuxi rejoins her. i'm sure the symbolism there is obvious. it's a very rich and layered song, there's a lot going on, lots of instruments and different cool sounds. GOD this fucking soundtrack is so well designed they put so much thought into how to make all the boss themes fit the different sols AUGH. AND AND!! when the song ends the last voice you hear is nuwa's, fuxi's ends dramatically but nuwa's carries on for a little longer. holy fuck.

ji's theme starts slow, and then a choruslike sound bursts in, sounding like a bunch of different voices overlapping each other to the point where they become the same-- the people in ji's past, probably, all the history they've lived to see, it probably blurs together after living for as long as he has. then there's a "chorus" section (though fully instrumental), with a gentle like hopeful rise and a lot of uhhhh metal percussion in the bg? idk instruments. but there's like a jangling beat and this dramatic choir-like rise and im not sure what it means honestly but it's very ji. actually the choir could be like, the core of themself and their personality, and the other beats the background noise/other people he's been? open to input on this one (and all tbh).

all i can say about eigong's theme is that it's the same as the opening and possibly somewhere in the apeman facility which is really its own symbolism