#ishtar says hi lol

[raijinhasverybigpecs]

you know i was going to let [games company] off the hook for being Horny with ishtar but... shes fun! love that she’s tall lol

(and yeah im a hater whatever etc etc but she could’ve been more cunt. i still really like her BUT so many fan concepts have big flowing hair and that could’ve been a good way to set her apart from the others)

[kidmoddo]

this nice guy

[sesshy380]

Remember that package I was super excited about???

IT'S HERE!!!

Now I gotta rant a little first. I have tried to buy this figure THREE TIMES. It was released only in Japan, and on eBay it usually runs no less than $500. This came from a shipper here in the US, and I only paid $200 by the time you include shipping and taxes. The reason for the low cost was a bit of moisture damage to the bottom of the box. I could care less about the damned box, I just wanted the figure!

Say hello to the Kotobukiya figure that first drew my interest in collecting Kotobukiya's, Marik Ishtar!

I love the detail they put in! Like this:

You can see his brand under the edge of his top!

Now you know I gotta display him shirtless, because that's his punishment for evading me for so long lol

[yamayuandadu]

I have seen claims that at the Hinglaj Mata temple a spirit/deity worshiped under the name of "Bibi Nani", is supposedly a continuation of Sogdian/Bactrian Nana. I can't find any actual academic articles confirming this, just random blogspots that all plagiarize eachother, and keep repeating "Ishtar is Durga is Nana" even though we know Nana comes from Nanaya, not Ishtar directly, and afaik, there is no proven relation between Ishtar and Durga. Am I right for assuming this is just bullshit?

On De Gruyter, there are only two publications which mention Bibi Nani at all (other than 19th century reprints), both by the same author - a certain mr. David Gordon White who...... was an assistant of Mircea Eliade at some point according to his wiki page and incorporates Freudian themes into his scholarship. Off to a great start. Let's see what does he have to say under the cut.

The first book we need to look at is The Alchemical Body from 1993 (p. 205):

Well, that sure was illuminating. The use of "Chaldean" in a deeply puzzling context (nobody has ever proposed Nanaya originated as a Chaldean deity, and she predates first references to the Chaldean tribes appearing in Mesopotamia by centuries) coupled with the unawareness the Maccabees passage deals with the same deity would indicate complete unfamiliarity with Nanaya. Note that obviously Nanaya's and Anahita's names are not cognates of this title (let alone each other) judging from the etymology provided... Well, that and they're not "ancient mother goddesses" (I suppose calling the central Asian form of Nana[ya] an "early medieval civic goddess" lacks the mystique).

The only source White lists for this claim is not very promising, to put it very lightly - straight from the 1920s:

The only information here that does seem to check out is that "Bibi Nani" is a title used by Muslims. I can't find any estimates for how old the title is - it must've already been in use in the 19th century, and the Zikri community mentioned elsewhere in relation to the site dates back to the 1600s, but that doesn't help much. So far, no real case for identification with Nanaya to be made. Let's see the other passage, from Daemons Are Forever (p. 201). We are now in 2021, so perhaps mr. White had the opportunity to familiarize himself with at least some Nana(ya) publications.

Ah, nevermind. "Nana or Innana", lol, he didn't even romanize the latter name right. I haven't seen this supposed "generally accepted" idea in ANY publications about Nanaya - regardless of the discipline and language. The general consensus is that attestations of Nanaya go up to the tenth century, and that in the final centuries they are tied to Sogdians. Let's check the footnote.

He seems more sure of this than Falk himself (his article is here). Associating Nanaya with Venus is definitely a minority position though, regardless of the time period (Shenkar voiced a degree of support for Falk's proposal but that's about it, and I don't think this is taken by anyone but White as the source of the lion mount, also...). I wasn't familiar with the other paper listed here, but it's on academia edu. Unlike White, the author notes the identification of Bibi Nani as Nanaya is mostly the domain of publications from the 19th century. He also correctly highlights Nana(ya) is not Inanna (p. 42), and keeps stressing any association between her and the Hinglaj temple's history is purely speculative (pp. 43-44). While Brighhenti's methodology is MUCH more rigorous than White's, and the argument about a crescent-shaped natural rock formation is interesting, I'm personally not entirely convinced since Hinglaj is much further south than most central Asian attestations of Nana(ya); and she was popular chiefly in Sogdia, not in Bactria, especially after the Kushan period. Furthermore, Brighhenti relies on the incorrect assumption Nanaya was associated with earth and water (which is an extension of justifying her being more popular than Anahita or Armaiti by asserting they were interchangeable). He adds a claim from the 1960s that "her cult emphasized natural phenomena" - something I haven't seen anywhere else. Doesn't really seem to check out. The major cult centers of Nana(ya) through her entire history were significant because they were major cities or commercial hubs, not because of any natural phenomena, and neither in Mesopotamian nor Central Asian context I see much of a reason to suspect some deeper connection to nature. Whether in Mesopotamia, in Iran or in Central Asia, Nana(ya) was essentially a civic deity, from Uruk all the way to Panjakent. I don't know enough about the history of Hinglaj to tell if it fits that pattern. I will also note that Oxus and Mithra do appear in Bactrian sources postdating the arrival of Islam in the region but Nana does not, also; virtually all the attestations postdating the Kushans I'm aware of are from Sogdia, Khotan, Chorasmia and places where a significant number of Sogdians at least temporarily resided. Final verdict: not really seeing it but 90% of the Brighhenti paper is fine. I see no reason to challenge the consensus position that Nanaya's history ends roughly in the tenth century, considerably further north, though. I feel like if the evidence really was that strong Bibi Nani would pop up in more recent studies about the transfer of Nanaya's cult. As a side note, not even Brighenti suggests that the modern goddess of Hinglaj is Nana(ya). He proposes she was introduced from northern India in the 9th or 10th century, which lines up with historical sources he provides pretty well.

I did a quick survey of other sites and the only other Nanaya = Bibi Nani truther is Asko Parpola (who is, naturally, convinced she is ACTUALLY Inanna). I refuse to engage with the Parpolas, and Asko is supposedly even less rigorous than Simo. This is par the course for hyperdiffusionists. The final matter to address is the weird claim about Durga being Ishtar or. Whatever. I won't engage with this directly, the source is almost definitely wikipedia's questionable Inanna article which was pretty heavy on this sort of takes and probably still is - courtesy of the Parpolas. Now, the Hinglaj goddess is indeed identified with Durga apparently, but Durga as you correctly pointed outhas nothing to do with Ishtar, and even the connection to Nanaya is at best vague. Basically, it has been suggested that the iconographic type represented by Nanaya with lion on coins might have influenced early depictions of Durga from Mathura (or an unidentified deity iconographically similar to Durga; there's some discussion in Westenholz's article here, pp. 190-191; Potts brings it up in his 2001 Nanaya article too but this one has mixed reception and he assumes Nanaya's spouse in Central Asia was Oesho, not Tishtrya, which doesn't seem to be a widespread view). This doesn't seem too unlikely. However, even if we accept this, it would only constitute transfer of an iconographic type (so the connection between Nanaya and Durga would be about as close as between Nanaya and Dionysus). In a region where these moved in a basically kaleidoscopic manner at that, judging from the fabled case of Tishtrya as Artemis. Iconography can move separately from the actual deity (least we forget Taweret becoming a generic critter on Crete); and as far as I am aware, there is no evidence Nanaya herself was worshiped in Mathura.

[sevi007]

Cruising through Fate Grand Order mainstory and have reached and played a big part of the Sixth Singularity Babylonia now.

Really enjoying this one, it's right up there with Camelot for my favorite. Sure, it drags a bit with the smaller missions, but it's actually really hilarious at some point, while surprisingly dark at others.

I'm kind of celebrating this version of Gilgamesh who is still jerky, still a brat, but he is really pulling through as a king and working himself sick to help his people (while still haughtily insulting them). It would be funny to have him meet his "other" self.

Also the entire Enkidu drama makes me want to pick up the manga just so I know what their relationship was like

And Ishtar is apparently just here to be made fun of since everybody and their mother is dragging her at every turn.

(And I know now why she looks like Rin. It's a bit of a wonky explanation and I suspect fanservice to be the main reason, but hey, who am I to complain, I do like Rin!)

In general, I'm kind of fascinated by the way Type-Moon takes well-known figures from all over the world and time and while still keeping mostly to their legends, puts a twist on them. I do not always agree, no, but some of them are really interesting! Like Arthur being a woman. Or Merlin not being a beardy old wise man, but young looking and kind of mean and lazy. (On this point: I have met at least four characters in this section of the story alone who openly say they want to murder Merlin lol)

Other twists are just excuses for fanservices but heeeey-

I think there's an anime for Babylonia especially? Might have to look that up and watch.

[randomnameless]

why don't you want jurgdral remakes? are you afraid they will be localised like fodlan games or modified like shadows of valentia?

Mmh...

Lolcalisation aside, I'd say the biggest thing I'm dreading with those remakes is IS' (if FEH is any indication) willingness to retcon those older games to, I suppose, make them more "trendy" or approchable for a "modern audience".

Sure, FEH might goof here and there, but take the "Miccy founded the DB" take - it's present at least in more than one unit so imo, it's no goof at all, what is it supposed to mean? That a Miccy who is only a person who joins an existing group because she embraces their ideals and thus puts them above her own "need" to hide her existence, as a Branded, is not as... bankable as a Miccy who forms her own ragtag group of randoms to fight against Daein, giving hints at her later role as the leader of the Daein army?

I've ranted enough about IS retconning Lyon and Magvel in general (tfw Eph was caught by Grado lel) but it follows the same pattern, OG!Lyon (and FE8 in general) falls because of his very human and earthly desires - he might have ideals and all, but at the end of the day, he falls because of his love and adoration/obsession for the twins and that is something he cannot fight against - FEH!Lyon sassing Fomortiis is just, no. Fomortiis always has the last laugh in FE8 (at least with Lyon and even, I'd say with the playable cast because, again, his soul isn't erased, he is stuck again in a shiny rock, just like what happened in the lore, and led to Lyon's possession. Who can be sure that in 800 years after Ephraim's adventures, L'Arachel's descendant won't be seduced by Fomortiis' power and free him from his shiny rock, like Lyon did?).

FE15 is its own thing lol - but there is a possibility for Jugdral to be pissed on like Magvel and Tellius were in FEH, and I guess, for any Jugdral fan that's terrible.

Sure, FEH seems to treat Jugdral verse with, uh, careful consideration but hey - if the Ayra wanking is any indication, even Jugdral isn't immune to retcons to make a popular character even more #badass, plot be damned.

Add some eggtivation here'n'there, and I wouldn't be surprised if we had some NPCs or even characters in support dialogues explaining how major holy blooded people aren't always better in the domain corresponding to their holy blood than non HB people because non HB people can bypass their lack of dragon blood with hard work - completely pissing on this core Jugdralian mechanic that was translated in FE4's gameplay by weapon rank.

Is it gatekeeping? idk.

For me, it's just that I fell in Jugdral Hell some years ago (nearly a decade!) and despite its defaults, I still like this verse very much so I'd like a remake that is as faithful as possible to that thing I came to know all those years ago, maybe to exchange with new (and non new lol) fans about that verse!

But if we get, idk, a very #badass Deedee who doesn't, idk, mind killing a kid or two to show how #girlboss she is, well, for me, that wouldn't be Jugdral at all, but some sort of adaptation using those characters but writing them OOC.

Of course I can't say I have a better reading and take on those characters as IS themselves, but after seeing A!Mareeta's FB where she is supposed to be at her best/peak performance, and IS still wrote her to be "below" Ayra in terms of ability when Mareeta's Major Holy Blood means her skills with the blade are naturally superior to her "great aunt" 's skills I still think there's something that's missing.

It's as if we had Reinhardt throw better spells/be stronger at Thunder Magic than Peak!Ishtar, or worse, Azelle on a pony teaching FE5!Saias how to throw fire spells.

It's just, not possible in the Jugdral verse, because Jugdral verse is pretty inequitable and major HB people are cheat codes compared to minor HB people or non HB people. Now with that being said, the story is about what those people with magic blood that are cheat codes do and if they use their powers for good or stupid things. It's not about Midayle finally showing Aidean that his skills with a bow are superior to her sister's so now, he is finally strong enough to protect her from Verdane ruffians.

But after Fodlan's false "yeah but crests aren't the alpha and omega and yet i'm never going to tell you what they do because otherwise my excuse for worldbuildling falls apart", I wouldn't be surprised if Jamke, in a support, would teach Bridget how to use a bow.

:/

So yeah, it's better not to have any remakes.

[littlesparklight]

I am curious in your writing do other gods like the Norse and Egyptian exist in your stories or only the Greek pantheon does exist and all other pantheons are just a different version of the Greek gods

TL;DR: They do exist, yes!

Basically, for my ficverse what is going on is that various spheres of gods/divine influence are loosely connected to certain geographic locales (which can expand, but never really contract to nothing except in Very Extreme Circumstances). Gods appear in the area before the people who will later worship them, but they are also loosely connected to said peoples as "theirs".

Worship, or lack of it, does not usually imply anything about gods' ability to exist independently of their worshippers or their level of power/influence. In some cases it might affect them - because the myths themselves imply it does (Sumerian etc, where before humanity existed lower gods did work/essentially worship that was then foisted onto humanity, for example).

For, say, the Norse gods, they appeared somewhere in the late centuries before 0 CE, when most of their myths happen, especially the early ones.

Not, obviously, the "creation of the cosmos/humanity" ones, since that's not how I have my ficverse work. The universe and humanity is as old as we generally take them to be, and if there were gods there for early humanity they still didn't create the Earth/the Universe/reality, for example. What's going on on the basis of "primordial" gods like Gaia is that these are generally singularities; they have existed for a Very, Very long time but get lower-level personifications/expressions as divine spheres pop up, and can be radically different between them.

Obviously, in some cases I've gone with overlap/certain gods are really somebody else, just named in the local language, like Athena = Maliya and Apollo = Apaliunas, but this is meant mostly for like "border areas". Tarhunz really does exist, but the Trojans use one of his epithets/names for Zeus, who they are more focused towards. (I'm not quite sure how far I'd go in deciding that there is, say, only Inanna, not Astarte, because it's fortunately not been necessary to do so lol but I think I'd lean towards Inanna being the goddess that Exists and Ishtar/Astarte/etc being names she's been given through the years by humans. But yeah, nothing solid here.)

What that means for the Roman gods, given how closely entwined in some ways that they are with the Greek on the mythic level, is that I'm leaning towards that in some cases there are really only the Greek "versions". There would still be purely Roman gods, too, however, like Janus for example, and Quirinus is a deified Romulus.

The absolute limit of any divine influence of any divine sphere is the end of the Solar system! The gods (that is, any gods) can move about it full easily if they wish, but they can't affect anything beyond the heliopause.

Unless and until humanity might manage to move beyond the solar system, that is. (Gods may be able to exist independently of humans/their local/original worshippers, but it's still a symbiotic relationship.)

[spacehostilityy]

NNT Rewatch s2ep1-6

(This was written weeks ago but was in my queue. I am moving back to my college town Saturday so busy days are to come but now I have things to procrastinate 😈)

So YAYAYAY time for season 2 (my fave season overall) !! I’ve rewatched this one before, so i actually remember some of this lol

Ban: I quit

Meliodas: your face is the only joke we can handle

HE GOT HIS ASS DAMN

i love both of diane’s orange fits, but s1 leotard hits different

i have thots abt the introduction of power levels that will be told beneath the cut

i mean it’s all very dragon ball (which i love, but in a very different way). I feel like they are just better executed in manga format, because saying the numbers out loud just kinda breaks up the flow of dialogue and action. Plus the numbers never stay accurate since the characters are always powering up and nakaba lowkey just stops using them at one point. so like assault mode!Meliodas has a power of 142,000. BUT he defeats enemies with powers higher than that and is shown to gain even more power. But this is the highest number we have for him. Overall, theyre clunky, not updated enough to be accurate, and just kinda cheesy :/ I feel like plot could have been added to justify and explain the eye of Balor (AKA Drole if i remember correctly) but it’s just used as an excuse to quantify the characters’ strength since this season is mainly focused on physical and emotional growth, as seen by the Ishtar Arc (one of my fave arcs hehe)

merlin’s friendship with hawk is actually so cute tho

so Meliodas’s beginner stats (still missing his powers) are magic 400, strength 960, spirit 2010. The way I see it, his insane spirit strength could mean one of two things: bitch is just hella determined in his quest to end their curses and protect his friends (likely) or merlin taking away his power only affects his strength and magic since spirit has to do with your mind (also likely) anyway what do y’all think?

how the fuck is gowther’s strength 500??? The average person who can lift 50-100 lbs has a strength of 30. HOW IN THE FUCK?? IS GOWTHER SECRETLY SWOLE????

Meliodas being like “no idk who the ten shadows could be haha” when he and merlin literally formed the sins to fight them and HE WAS THE LEADER OF THE 10 COMMANDMENTS is so funny like so tru king lie to their faces

the first thing Zeldris says is “3000 years... please tell me that he’s still alive” which tells me two things: 1) he doesn’t know about Meliodas’s curse, which could explain why estarossa kills him when he’s just going to come back a rival to the throne of the demon king and 2) the listed life expectancy of 1000 years for demons is probably not accurate lol

maybe it’s driven down due to number of battle deaths like the mortality rate of the middle ages lol

we are introduced to a demon who hopes mel is alive, shares a voice actor, AND HAS THE SAME FACE yeah the brother coding is very thick

AJSDBJKBHJEBFNWKFH YESSS THIS IS MY ALL TIME FAVE INTRO SONG AND ANIMATION

ban’s refusal to get jericho’s name right makes me laugh every time

Jericho: is scared and runs to Ban

Ban: 🤨 yeah. i don’t remember asking you to grab my arm🙄

im sorry but king rlly was a bad fairy king like mans didnt even know the forest was there 😭 its ok tho i love that for him

King hating Ban at first bc he “killed elaine and destroyed the fairy kings forest” only for Ban to pull THE BIGGEST uno reverse on him will never not be funny

wait does that mean ban is technically the 4th fairy king and king is both the 3rd and the 5th bc that would be rlly funny and does happen quite a bit historically

I love how as much as a smug asshole Ban is, he’s not rubbing it in King’s face and is showing him he’s still his friend

so if Gil is Margaret’s guard and Griamore is Veronica’s, does that mean Howzer was Elizabeth’s ?? bc that would be so fucking funny

Helbram got King’s ass with “and you’re short”

KASBDFNJBSDKF HE LOOKS SO GOOFY😭

MY BABYGIRLS ARE HEREEEE

Best girls Melascula and Derieri fr

i love that they said slader is gay, how can we let the audience know and then gave him the smoothest, gayest voice imaginable

merlin calling og gowther a great magician when we know he was the one to train her is actually so sad, i want to give baby merlin a hug

slader is hot, thanks for coming to the ted talk

how the fuck does he walk like this tho??

is there a reason i just don’t remember why they never really bring up albions again or do they just ~disappear~ conveniently from the story lol

So the whole concept of sacred treasures is really cool to me because they are clearly something unique to the Sins, despite all of the sacred treasures being very different and made of different materials. I mean Gowther’s is straight up made of light Still, them having weapons that serve as a constant and grow with them as they become more powerful is just a neat concept to me. I just wish we could have seen Ban use Courechouse more than just a few episodes. There really isn’t a plot reason he couldn’t have had it beforehand.

Gerheade being a bitch to Ban bc he’s a human makes literally no sense when we learn her backstory with Rou. Like NO sense at all lol

I honestly love that Meliodas destroyed the albion on his own. Like yes, he is my OP blorbo BUT he’s also supposed to be incredibly powerful in canon, which we haven’t seen him go all out with an enemy yet. Not only does he know all about albions (bc he’s a demon), but as leader of the 10 Commandments, he probably was on the controlling side of the golems. Then, as a member of Stigma, he fought against them. Not to mention, this is when he finally gets Lostvayne (the DEMON sword) back. This moment for me is when he gets to show off the perks of him being a powerful and high ranking demon. Might fuck around and do a full post later on Meliodas’s relationship to his own race and what/who he is lol

Ban screaming “you bitch!!” is... a wonderful experience

Yass king (hehehehe get it? bc his name is king? hehehe)

Galand petting Gloxinia is actually so cute lol

Merlin covering Arthur’s eyes 😭😭 she’s his mom fr

“its been a while meliodas” oop galand just let the Meliodas is 3000 years old cat out of the bag ehehe

(stay with me bc im about to get delusional) WAIT so galand says “to think that after all this time has passed youd still be in that form” in this essay i will prove that Meliodas looks like a young teenager because he essentially is biologically young for the demon race. Galand doesn’t know Mel was cursed, so he would think that he had aged in the past 3000 years. Plus, I think the demon king’s possession of Meliodas AND Zeldris can be (somewhat) compared to Sariel’s aging up of Solaseed. Anyway, i feel like this can support my hypothesis of Zeldris and Meliodas are just babies who will eventually look like adults. Also, I think them being super young just enhances the angst quite well.

everyone is fucking terrified of galand but hes just a silly foolish little fellow to me lol

ban and king being brothers-in-law makes my heart happy like theyre so cute

Ban threatening Gerheade and actually being pissed and serious has suddenly reminded me that if i saw a grown ass man who couldn’t die and was a 7 foot tall violent alcoholic i would be fucking terrified

like a demon 14 year old? creepy ig but not a 7 foot tall masochist with an 8 pack

I love how hard Diane always goes for the ones she loves, she’s just so devoted and passionate Best Girl tm behavior

*Merlin being incredibly confidant and nonchalant starting a proposition*

Meanwhile Merlin’s thoughts: SHIT SHIT I HAVE 10 SECONDS TO THINK BEFORE EVERYONE I LIKE DIES

Meliodas doing the same thing Hendy did by reattaching his fucking arms using Darkness and the sins still being like wait?? is Meliodas?? a... demon ??? 🤨

okay so we DO see him in this mode again. But what is it called? and why does he become no thots head empty? its not like he died. and even in assault mode, he has thoughts and emotions (when they’re not stuck in purgatory) 

Im ngl, i forgot everything about this episode entirely lol

obvi i hate that derieri died, but at least the souls she fucking ate got returned lol

do we think arthur has a tiny teenage gay crush on meliodas? Discuss.

(the answer is yes ehehe)

gowther walking around with his dang a lang swangin hehe

Gil crying in annoyance and defeat as griamore and howzer bicker is literally so hashtag real

HENDYYY MY BABYGIRL IS BACK BAYBAYYYY

very suddenly realized that Hendy’s probably only like in his 30s. Mans is just not that old

exactly 3 seconds after I had that though Howzer calls him old man LOLLL

i forgot about hendy’s childhood trauma. damn. thats actually rlly sad :/

look how cute he is tho 😭😭

hendy and dreyfus are in love. thanks for coming to another one of my ted talks

so do we think dreyfus is half druid (and zaratras is full) or zaratras is half druid? i mean they’re half brothers but only one is a called a druid sooo

IM SORRY BUT THIS IS THE FUNNIEST FUCKING SCREENSHOT ASDFFHSLDH elizabeth scandalized, meliodas accepting his fate, slader leaning in closer and blushing ITS JUST SO GOOD

The ass shot of Diane 🤨😑

Damn Idk how i never realized that all of them pretty much only call Meliodas captain. Merlin, Ban, and Elizabeth are the only ones who will call him Meliodas, but even merlin and ban typically go with captain.

“im a giant, why arent you afraid of me?” hes a fucking demon. lol

[justapalspal]

So here is my self-made fic reading and commenting challenge bingo card. Categories will also be listed under the cut lol

I tried to make this as specific to my fic reading track record as possible given that, well, it’s a challenge for me, but if anyone’s interested in me making a spruced up version for others to use just let me know!! Also feel free to make your own version custom-tailored to your own reading habits and read along with me (when I get to reading) because, as they say, it’s free real estate :)))

You’ll notice that many of these categories could overlap with each other, which I did on purpose as a way to encourage me to read more instead of less (I might get discouraged to read something if, say, it doesn’t get me a bingo) which I think with this selection reading more is possible to achieve!!

As for the technical aspects of this, I originally came up with 26 categories and then used a random number generator to determine placements (the two categories that didn’t get used, surprisingly, were Tendies and Malik Ishtar Centric) and put a free space in the middle because oh golly we love us a free space don’t we <33

I’m thinking of either doing this as a two week, four week, or 31 day challenge… will just have to see what I end up projecting I have time for!! But for now, at least I have a card mocked up

TLDR Bingo time here we come (soon!!)

ROW 1

RYOU WRITES TO AMANE

FIVE COMPLETED MULTICHAP FICS

CONSPIRESHIPPING SHENANIGANS

TRAPSHIPPING SHENANIGANS

YAMI BAKURA HAS HIS OWN BODY

ROW 2

FIVE POST-CANON FICS

TORNSHIPPING SHENANIGANS

THIEF KING BAKURA CENTRIC

YAMI MALIK HAS HIS OWN BODY

FIVE UNDER 10K FICS

ROW 3

FIVE GEN FICS

FIVE REREAD FICS

FREE SPACE

HEARTSHIPPING SHENANIGANS

FIVE ALTERNATE UNIVERSE FICS

ROW 4

FIVE UNDER 1K FICS

DEATHSHIPPING SHENANIGANS

FIVE MID-CANON FICS

YAMI BAKURA CENTRIC FIC

FIVE UNDER 50K FICS

ROW 5

GEMSHIPPING SHENANIGANS

BAKURA RYOU CENTRIC FIC

THIEF KING BAKURA HAS HIS OWN BODY

FIVE WIP FICS

YAMI MALIK CENTRIC

[bakawitch]

i love ghosts i love crime (stories), telll us more! :D

Well, lucky for you, this wip actually contains two separate crime stories! And just in time for Halloween too! XD

Sometimes, when I'm writing random scene ideas, I get a sudden idea surge for a completely separate fic, so I quickly jot those down in the same document before I could forget them. Not the most ideal organising, but it sort of works 🙃

So! Story number 1:

tw: death, cause y'know. ghosts.

Here For The Boos

This one is more ghost than crime, but the other part of this wip is more crime than ghosts. This fic is primarily puzzleshipping (that's a first for me lol) and there's also some tendershipping and eclipse on the side.

Yugi inherits an old rural house in Kyoto from his grandfather after he tragically passed away inside it. Due to having some financial difficulties and running out of options, he has to move into the house, leaving his old life behind. It doesn't take him long to realise that there is something wrong with the house; the light bulbs keep flickering no matter how many times he changes them, doors slide open by themselves, the house always smells like it's burning, he can always see something lingering behind him just out of the corner of his eye, but disappearing as soon as he turns around to get a better look. And there's also banging and screaming coming out of the basement at night, which probably should have been a dead giveaway.

Not having the option of moving out, Yugi decides to investigate. He sets up cameras, capturing a few odd things, scatters around a few religious symbols, discovering that they all rust away or get destroyed under a single night and he also locates a mysterious black spot behind a closet where the smell of smoke is the strongest.

Leaving the basement for last, Yugi ventures in at night when he knows the noises would be loudest. After waiting in silence for awhile he gets jumped by a black shadow which seems really keen on clawing him to bits, but just before Yugi's arms would give out he gets pulled out from under the shadow and of the basement by a mysterious force.

After this experience, Yugi does some research about the house and comes across Mura (Yami Malik), a self-proclaimed medium, by chance who offers to help Yugi hold a séance. Yugi invites two of the friends he's made in Kyoto, Malik and Ryou, and the four of them hold a seance in the room with the burn mark.

Throughout the event they discover that the house is inhabited by two spirits, an investigator and a thief. Due to some strange interference in the house Mura can't invite either of the spirits to possess him, but they do manage to communicate with the investigator through knocks. They manage to find out that it was the investigator that saved Yugi from the basement and that both him and the thief died in the house fire that was started by the thief as far as he knows, but he doesn’t remember his death very clearly.

Yugi does more historical research and he finds two names that seem to have stopped making appearances in records at the same time. Rurikawa Yami the son of the local lord who was a high ranking officer and a local bandit that went by the name of Touzokou. Yugi takes the risk and tries to contact Yami by himself with more information about his past in hopes of figuring out what truly happened in the house all those decades ago.

This is where the story is now (albeit in bits and missing chapters).

Onto story number 2:

Cat And Mouse

tw again: murder, death

So this one is a messed up little clashshipping crime au fic where the killer and the detective are both equally aware of who the other is and they meet up and stuff, they just don't say that they know what the others intentions are.

Malak Ishtar (Yami Malik) is a morally dubious homicide detective who works in Domino, but it's been awhile since he's taken an interest in a case. That was until a serial killer made his entrance into the crime scene. One so brutal and sadistic that it immediately made Malak want to catch them himself. The press dubbed them the Puzzle Killer, after the puzzling states his crime scenes has been discovered, almost appearing like the aftermath of a twisted game session.

While tailing one of the suspects, Malak bumps into an intriguing man who surprisingly holds many of the same ideologies as he does. After introducing themselves Malak finds out that the stranger is Dr Yami Muto, a rather esteemed psychiatrist in the business. They have a long chat, but after they part ways so Malak can keep following his mark, he finds the suspect brutally slain in a public bathroom. More puzzled than ever, Malak starts to put together all the odd things Yami said and grows suspicious of him.

Without any proof, he decides to pursue Yami as a suspect in his own time under the guise of friendly get-togethers, which slowly evolve into something more.

And this one, I actually have a quick excerpt for:

He looks back at Yami only briefly, noticing the strikingly calm demeanour that was radiating of him. "What's your doctor profession? Surgery? Pediatrics?", inquiries continued on for the other, deciding to take a seat on the subway seat. "You either must have a lot of patience or you must be enjoying yourself."

It's a half witted joke on Malak's part, something to ease the conversation rather than the intensifying atmisohere.

"Psychiatry, actually. But I can't say you're wrong about the last part." He smiles back at Malak, laughing a little, never actually clarifying which statement the other man was right about.

"If you think about it, this is a bit like an impromptu social experiment." The doctor explains, motioning around the wagon with an open hand with a certain eagerness in his movements. "All these people from different demographics trapped in a small enclosed space for an undetermined amount of time with possibly limited resources isn't something you'd get to observe every day."

[hereforthefunnyguys]

NVM remembered you liked irateshipping

2, 6, and 14 for the ask game

2. Who sleeps in the other ones lap?

Joey I think. He’s collapsed and he’s snoozing and he’s on top of some guy who tried to kill him once or twice or maybe four times. Malik has tried but he’s just too antsy and slightly paranoid for lap sleeping I fear

6. Something something “Which one is showing the other otp memes saying ‘this is us’ and which one argues with them?”

I think it switches between them but I can definitely picture Malik trying to relate their relationship to what people consider ‘normal’ and ‘lovable’ online and jonouchi complaining when they make him look bad, eg “hey look this one dynamic is ‘guy who knows he can’t cook x guy who just thinks he can cook’ ‘I CAN COOK FOR THE LAST TIME’. Hes pestering Joey with ship memes 24/7 at bad time zones for the Egypt/japan matchup.

14. Who keeps on accidentally using the other ones last name?

It feels like jonouchi has used the ishtar name accidentally once or twice and then denied ever using it. No matter the number of witnesses. Malik however has purposefully stolen both jonouchi (it always fucks me up how we all refer to jonouchi by his last name????)/wheeler multiple times. For the purposes of Totally Legal Actions of course. Why would you even ask. (Jk he actually doesn’t use it for anything major cause he doesn’t want anything getting traced back to joey).

…the one time Malik did use it accidentally he locked himself in his bedroom for 24 hours while having a quarter life crisis about his future. At least Joey copes better with his mistakes lol

[winkle-pickers]

🦈🎁🚀 for the ask game! (If you're still doing it ofc)

Omg YES, I am doing all ask games in perpetuity 😂💞 Thank you for checking, and I'm delighted to answer!

🦈 Which character is the toughest to write?

I think last time I answered Jounouchi, and that is still true to an extent, but oh my god BAKURA. I just tried writing my first Bakura fic recently. Like yes I know being mysterious and strange and (deliberately?) confusing is like his whole thing, but if you haven't been steeped in the Bakurae/Ishtar side of the fandom for the last 20 years...it's a lot of meta to catch up on. A LOT. So many good takes, many in direct opposition to each other, many of them equally compelling despite that. WHEW. I tried my best, I hope I didn't write an offensively wrong Bakura, everyone's gotta start somewhere right?!?! ᕙ(⇀‸↼‶)ᕗ

🎁 Have a piece of a WIP you want to share?

Ooooh, yes!! A little Kaibros character study from years ago that has been languishing in my drafts, that I'm re-working and may actually publish someday. I'll stick it under a readmore, tell me what you think!

🚀 Do you like to outline your fic first or create as you go?

Unfortunately, I don't have the kind of brain where I can sit in front of a blank document and think a story out in bullet point form. I desperately wish I did lol. But alas I must charge in headfirst and get a few thousand words in before I have any idea of where I want things to go. Sometimes (often) I blast through the entire thing without outlining. Sometimes I hit a snag somewhere and realize I done fucked up and need to put myself back on the tracks.

And then there was the time I got 100k words into a YGO/Zelda crossover and realized oh no i think this will be MUCH more than 100k and wrote a very rough outline, then another Zelda game came out halfway through the fic and I had to spend a solid month rewriting my outline to accommodate lore from the new game, and also I somehow accidentally turned the whole thing into a huge ensemble cast with multiple concurrent plot threads balancing both YGO and Zelda character arcs, Hyrulean politics, and an imminent multiverse collapse. My Scriv file now has a 120k word planning & research section. (Oops.)

tl;dr I have exactly one fic that is well outlined and the rest are me doing the writing equivalent of a Leeroy Jenkins. congrats if you get that reference and are ancient like me

ANYWAYYYYSS thank you for the ask!!! Kaibros snippet under the cut 🐉

“Come on, nii-sama,” Mokuba pleads. It comes out weirdly desperate, more pathetic than he’d intended. “This is so unfair. It’s unfair enough that I don’t have parents, and it’s even more unfair that you won’t tell me-”

“You do have a parent.” Seto's reply is so sharp that it makes Mokuba flinch.

“I know, I know,” Mokuba replies, irritated at the pedantry. “You’re my parent legally. But you’re not, you know...I just want...”

Mokuba realizes as he’s talking that he’s said something terribly wrong. The change in his brother’s face is minuscule and significant and makes his stomach flip in shame. He trails off, the words curling up and dying as they fall off his tongue.

“Please go to bed,” Seto says. His tone of voice is so perfectly even that Mokuba gets up and leaves without another word.

Mokuba doesn’t go to school the next day, opting instead to stay in bed and stare at the wall. Seto either doesn’t notice or doesn’t care.

For the first time in years, he cries. And then he thinks about the fact that it’s been years since he last cried. Mokuba spends so much time wondering what the fuck is going on in his brother’s head that he’s maybe neglected to turn the same scrutiny on himself. And he’s maybe leaned a little too far into his role as the ‘normal’ Kaiba - the charming one, the easygoing one, the one who exists to balance out the bombastic, powerful force of nature looming tall at his back.

But who had cried - just once - after Gozaburo hurled himself from the top of the Kaiba Corporation building, and who had watched the coroners wheel away the black-draped gurney with impassive, bone-dry eyes?

[cat-denied]

1, 9, & 11 for the salty asks?

thanks for asking! gonna go ahead and answer these for fire emblem since thats the fandom im most active in as a fandom

1. What OTPs in your fandom(s) do you just not get?

oh man, a lot. a lot of heterosexual ones, i feel like? alm/celica. merric/elice feels so abrupt and meaningless in the way that basically any of the non-main-protagonist NES game relationships do, even when they try to retcon it in in the remakes, because it just...forget chemistry, they don't have any interactions! like what!!

felix/sylvain. like, i dunno, i just don't really feel any emotions looking at these two. they are fine? they're fine. i don't...that's it. lmao

also, honestly to an extent i don't really get tharja/robin in awakening. like, i love both characters on their own, but they don't really gel for me in the same way they seem to for a whole lotta other people lol.

ALSO! not fire emblem and i am not in a "fandom" as such for full metal alchemist but shipping roy mustang and riza hawkeye Does Not Gel For Me. i get why people do it but like...i do not understand it.

9. Most disliked character(s)? Why?

i bear grudges especially towards Arvis FE4 (because the narrative treats him as noble and well-intentioned, and basically just tells us that he means good without doing literally anything to back it up) and Gray Echoes: Shadows of Valentia (because i am so fucking sick to death of "guy bothers uninterested woman until she relents into having a relationship with him" AND they always end up in a fucking relationship in their end cards even if you didn't unlock any of their supports).

also shoutouts to olwen FE5, who rules hard and who i love don't get me wrong, but whose supporting cast (fred and reinhardt) are like...way less cool than her. i especially do not vibe with reinhardt, considering he chooses not to defect despite presumably knowing about the child hunts (!), meaning the intended arc of "tragically you cant recruit this cool dude" falls flat because...is he really that cool if he can't be arsed to stop perpetuating tangible horrific evils in fiction? then again, he is working with ishtar, who is described as saving as many kids as possible--but also that only gets mentioned in her other game, which means it's not brought up directly with reinhardt--look the point is i'm not interested in him he's a boring man and i don't know why he has sixteen different alts in Heroes when olwen has one. olwen is the cooler fucking sibling get a grip lmao

i also hate virion (any man who is introduced chasing after a vocally uninterested woman is not worth my while, doubly so if he does not have any sort of tangible character arc), berkut (GOD. AWFUL man. somehow manages to fridge his own wife??? you should be able to recruit rinea in echoes i am forever peeved about this. he's an excellent villain all the way up until you can't recruit rinea about it), and perne (because the narrative apparently believes that kidnapping and torturing a young girl into doing your bidding via frightening her with insects is, like, not a big deal you guys don't sweat it).

11. Is there an unpopular character you like that the fandom doesn’t? Why?

i love Kris from new mystery of the emblem, i think she rules, she's a goofus. big fan. also all the new mystery gang tbh. i would say i don't understand why people hate her so much, except i do, and it's the same old same old "everything was better in the old days, when we didn't have support conversations or characters with more than 1 line of dialogue" that you get in every fandom, but i've certainly noticed in fire emblem.

i love edelgard, but i wouldn't say the fandom doesn't: i would say some of the fandom doesn't, but it's a split it would seem. i fucking adore monica but so does everybody else with taste. i really like wendy (inasmuch as anyone in the binding blade has a character), admittedly half due to her class as armored knight and half out of spite at how her wiki page says she's non-viable, but there's a solid half in there to appreciate her on her own merits also. this is again a mixed opinion and not a totally unpopular one, but i love ingrid, i think her story arc is fascinating. i LOVE jill i think her story arc is super compelling, she's one of my favorites. look, i don't know, who's unpopular? if you get me a list of "unpopular" fire emblem characters i will probably pick out every woman on there and be like "aw cmon she's cool/underutilized/worthy of appreciation". except camilla.

thanks so much for asking! this was very fun.

[emblemxeno]

Thoughts on Emblem Paralogues #1

Doing this again with the base game paralogues cuz as a longtime FE fan it’s cool to see how a celebration game shows its love. I’m not really doing them in the order they unlocked, so this is mostly a random assortment. 

For starters I like how for the most part, the throwback maps have pretty much the exact same enemy composition. Very wonderful and nostalgic.

Lucina, The Exalt: This one’s good. It makes for a good start to the overall reference paralogues, cuz of it’s simplicity. Wish I had more to say, but it really is that cut and dry lol. I guess I wish there was more reference to the fact that Lucina traveled back in time to prevent the bad future, but I guess that’s what bond conversations are for.

Lyn, The Lady of the Plains: I had lots of fun with this one haha, though I guess it’s cuz I was a tad overleveled when I did it. I heard the OG map in FE6 was very hated, or at least the Sacae route was disliked a lot in comparison to the Ilia one. I read that the original version had fake-out thrones that spawned reinforcements, so I would think that’d piss first time players off. The one thing that I’m kind of iffy on though is just the decision of using this map for Lyn. I know FE7 doesn’t have notable Sacae maps to choose from (I think the first 3 chapters of Lyn’s mode are the only ones, which would suck as throwbacks lol), and that her association with Mulagir thanks to FEH means it’s appropriate to choose this map in particular, but I think chapter 10 or 15 from FE7 could’ve served as good rep maps for her. It’d let her discuss her mixed heritage and connection to Eliwood and Hector, I feel. Oh well, not too fussed about it, since I do love when Lyn talks about Sacae.

Ike, The Radiant Hero: This one’s great. Ike destroying the entire castle was fucking hilarious, and I think it’s a perfect choice for his paralogue given it’s when he first took leadership of the Greil Mercs and had to establish himself as a fighter and protector who can hold out against terrible odds. Though a complaint on that front is that I wish there was some kind of defense-like objective, even though like I said, Ike one shotting a whole castle is funny. Shout-out to the mage in the same place as Ilyana and drops Elthunder, neat reference.

Byleth, The Instructor: Very much liked this one, aside from one aspect: healers with warp aspects (lol plot teleporting in 3H). Byleth’s dancing I can handle, but damn my OCD ridden brain hated beating the map without protecting all the crystals. Though I think I got the best reward anyway, it’s very lenient. Liked the House Leader stand-ins, but surprise surprise, there’s nobody representing Rhea, Seteth, or Flayn despite this being the tomb of their brethren :/ It’s also again indicative of how averse the devs are of associating Byleth with anything beyond being a teacher, cuz one could argue that chapter 10 could’ve been a better choice and still had the “power depends on the heart of its wielder” aesop cuz it dealt with Jeralt’s death and Byleth being granted Sothis’ power in the first place. But whatever, details, details.

Sigurd, The Holy Knight: My favorite of the ones I’ve done so far. I think it’s a great way to represent Sigurd through a Gen 2 map and it gave a fair challenge. The Arvis stand-in with Meteor is hilarious. I really, really regret not getting the goddess icon from the tile that references Seliph’s talk with ghost Sigurd and Deirdre, that little easter egg is so fucking cute 😭 Sigurd’s talk about revenge and there being more than one truth shows just how great of a character he is (and his significance in Engage kind of points to more evidence that FE4 is probs getting remade soon). But the coolest part of the map are the Julius and Ishtar stand-ins. It took all of my brain power to take them out without anyone dying, but I did it! Using the Tiki bracelet came in clutch, cuz even if an attack like Ice Breath misses, it still damages adjacent enemies for the calculated damage. Widdling away at Julius was very satisfying.

I’ll do the rest of the paralogues some time, trust lol.

[derelictheretic]

May I get one for Dove and perhaps Evie for the Daemon AU ask? :3

ABSOLUTELY YES !! 💕💕

Getting the obvious first answer for Dove outta the way; a Dove! (I swear this is only partly bc of her name lol)

Dove's actually have some religious and mythos symbolism;

"...doves were prominent animal symbols of Inanna-Ishtar, the goddess of love, sexuality, and war."

(They also tie in with Aphrodite and other goddesses which is neat) I think this ties in well with Dovie because she's this strong willed person full of love having to wage a warpath through a place she called home.

"And the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove."

"The use of a dove and olive branch as a symbol of peace originated with the early Christians, who portrayed the act of baptism accompanied by a dove holding an olive branch in its beak."

THE SYMBOLISM SPEAKS FOR ITSELF. This especially works well for her dynamic with John and her role in Joseph's prohecy I think! Dove while definitely getting her hands dirty can be seen as a kind of pure figure and especially when she's with John she can be a form of gentleness to contrast his violence and Joseph could see her as John's true salvation.......

It alsoooooo makes sense with her character seeing as when she was younger she may have felt trapped like a bird in a bird cage and her Daemon being a Dove helps symbolise that and !! When she's finally in Hope County she and her Daemon are able to fly and be free in a sense! Plus Dove's are terrific navigators and with Dove's love of the outdoors and hiking having a Dove Daemon who can fly and point her in a good direction would be handy!

So yeah I'd definitely say Dove works well for her, I also considered possibly a Stoat purely based on vibes but a Dove just makes sense. Also can you imagine her Dove Daemon curling up with John's Ball Python Daemon it would be precious. (Also has that prey and predator dynamic which could be so fun to work with....)

For Evie I'm leaning towards Wolf or a Hawk!

Daemons settle largely based on what their human needs, their lifestyle and the type of person they are and considering what Evie went through I could see her Daemon settling on a wolf as a form of self protection. It's a fierce predator, it can keep up with her on her long travels and is great for comfort cuddles.

Wolves are pack animals and they take care of their family which fits Evie very well I think. They're mostly seen by outsiders as intimidating and I get the sense seeing Evie and her gang roll in would strike some fear in some hearts. But wolves are incredibly playful and loving as well, especially towards each other which I have no doubt Evie can be loving and playful with her gang.

With the Hawk Daemon it's pretty similar reasoning, instead of a land predator it's a predator of the sky. Maybe matching Evie's wish to be able to soar up, get her sights on her prey and swoop in and take him out. A Hawk would also fit her wandering lifestyle and be very helpful in terms of hunting for food. Hawks also usually travel in flocks so this works well for Evie's group dynamic again.

"Although the hawk is known for being a violent predator, some are gentle and quiet."

A final note from Wikipedia which I think also works with Evie's vibes! Either visual is pretty badass, though imagining a Hawk flying down and landing on her shoulder is pretty rad ngl!

[randomnameless]

I think the crust inheritance issue can only be solved by might make right (lol). Like if a minor Blaiddyd crusted individual marries major Riegan individual, the major wins out and is the only one that gets passed down? Idk how to explain this but if a family/lineage gets two crests the more prominent/powerful one sort of stops the other from being passed down. How this is determined I have no clue but I can't think of anything way to make sense of this. (Might have created even more plotholes with this theory)

Doesn't solve the 120 kids problem tho

That's assuming there are rules for Crest inheritence, and even in Judgral you don't have them so...

(In Jugdral, Major Tordo Bloom and Minor Fala Hilda have two kids, Major Tordo Ishtar (without Fala blood) and useless!Ishtore (no holy blood, and no lines in the game) but if you pair Lex and Ayra, both of their kids have Minor Odo and Minor Neir...)

Imagine a pair of sibling in this situation, the Blaiddyd one is shipped to Faerghus while the Riegan one stays in Leicester?

We could possibly have had this issue with a possible Ingrid-Glenn kid, let's say Felix drinks Adrestian kool-aid and ditches his father and duchy, and Glenn was alive and happily married to Ingrid, if their kid has a Fraldarius Crust, would the kid be sent to Fraldarius and would have to assume the role of Duke when Rodrigue dies, or could that kid live as a Galatean kid, taking over grandpa's role and becoming a knight ?

In your AU though, anon, it'd mean certain marriages would be forbidden or at least not that well accepted, because say, if Major Charon Catherine ends up with Dimitri, all of their children are going to have Catherine's Crest of Charon, so we would have a king/queen without a Blaiddyd Crest? It creates more drama though (Felix marrying Ingrid means the Galatean line of Daphnel Crust is extinguished? Unless Ingrid's potential nephew/nieces are born with random crests of Daphnel?).

Anyways, the game dgaf about those possibilities, if Sylvain and Ingrid's ending is any indication (they have many kids, and none of them bear a crest...).

Don't worry about the plotholes anon, theorising and coming up with AUs is fun!

And the 120 Kids AU is just to bring more drama to the Imperial House (but I'd suspect to deal with this problem, a Vestra could suggest to "cull the spares down") and the irrational fear that if they don't produce a heir with a crest of seiros, the creature in Garreg Mach will steal their throne.

(on to that topic of inheritence, I can bet the "Emperor of that time" wasn't super duper happy when he learnt a random nobody suddenly got a "major crest of seiros", then what, the next Emperor of Adrestia will be Jeralt Eisner?)