#meanwhile yggdrasil was like

[kideternity]

On the last two episodes of Tamers. I think I've come to the conclusion that I think Yggdrasil from Savers is a much more interesting and compelling final villain then the D-Reaper from Tamers is

[freyjhasdesiredreality]

The Witch and The Winter Soldier (Bucky Barnes x Reader)

(Credits to GIF owner)

A/N 1: Hey guys! This has been in my drafts for so long. Although it's only 2.1k words, there is so much going on in this story, so I basically thinking about making this a serie. But instead of a complete serie, I'm thinking something like a sitcom. Like it's a world that you are the main character but every part will have a different adventure, I hope I'm clear lmao let me know what you think please!!

A/N 2: These events happen between Civil War and Ragnarok. They pretty much happen at the same time but I changed it a little so it could fit what's in my mind! So basically Ragnarok will happen later after this story. Okay? Okay!

A/N 3: Please bare with my grammar mistakes, English is not my first language!

WC: 2.1k+

Warnings: Mention of trigger words, Bucky being depressed, mention of HYDRA, let me know if I missed any!!

Bucky and Steve landed in Wakanda, relieved to be in a safe haven after their harrowing escape from the US government. Steve had told Bucky that he had a friend in Wakanda who could help him get back on his feet, and now it was time to make good on that promise.

Even though, Shuri ensured them they can help him, it was obvious it was going to take a lot of time. Meanwhile he would need to be put in cryo. Steve didn't want that. He didn't want to see Bucky suffer any more longer.

"No other way? Are you sure about that?" Steve asked Shuri.

Shuri knew Steve was worried about his friend. "I'm sorry Captain Rogers, I'm afraid I can't work as fast as I can with a fully functional brain. It needs to be calm so I don't do any mistake."

While Steve considered his options, Bucky was trying to convince himself everything would be okay. It was not HYDRA, he was in Wakanda and after he was put in cryo, he would wake up as a different man.

"I don't trust myself Steve," he said with a broken tone. "If it's the only way, I accept what it requires."

Steve knew that look. He wasn't sure so he didn't just want to accept and then it hit him. "What if I said I know a friend who could actually help us? She is a powerful witch and extremely experienced. I'm sure she would accept to help you," Steve said, hoping he would accept.

"Why would she want to help me?" Bucky asked, sounding even more hopeless.

"You'll understand when you see her."

-

You, Y/N Odinsdottir Heladottir, were one of the strongest witch in nine realms. You didn't have a father. Your mother Hela, created you from the souls that Asgard lost during battles and Yggdrasil gave you life. You became the goddess of reality. Your powers were raw and unlimited, that's why Hela wanted to train you as fast as possible so you could be a strong warrior among her side for the throne. After Odin banished Hela from Asgard, he took you as his own daughter and Frigga announced you to Thor and Loki as their sister.

Loki adored you immediately. He knew you were special and promised himself, he would do anything to protect this little angel that is his new sister. He could feel your magic. He made a mentally note to train you when you grow up.

-

"I think, she is the goddess of reality, which I don't know what it means, but she was trained to read and control minds. I don't exactly know the limit of her powers but she is a strong one Buck," Steve said hoping he would calm down a little.

"You said she can read minds, I don't want a stranger to see horrible things I've done. What if she saw them and refuse to help me?" Bucky said panicking. He had a chance to get rid of his past but the thought of being rejected made him anxious more than he already was.

"I tell you she's not like that, don't you trust me?" Steve seemed a little heartbroken.

"Don't get me wrong, I knew we were best friends, brothers actually but I don't exactly remember those days Steve. I don't feel that kind of trust just yet," Bucky admitted and just wanted to slap himself. "Why the hell I said that, what is wrong with you? Now he won't help you," he thought.

"Just say yes and she'll be here in no time I promise. I always keep my promise, Buck."

"Okay. I-I want to meet her."

-

"Look I'm not an expert on Asgard but we look like bunch of punks, Steve."

For the last 5 minutes, Steve were yelling your name to the sky, hoping you would hear and come. While he was trying, T'Challa approached to them.

"There is a woman in Shuri's lab, asking for you Captain Rogers. She said you called her," the king said, trying to hide his laugh. "She came from the sky, I thought you brought war to us," he joked.

"I would never do that your highness," Steve laughed. "Come on Buck, let's not keep her waiting, she is a little impatient."

"Is that why we have been yelling to the air last couple of minutes?"

-

"Your technology is impressive comparing to the rest of the world!" you cheered when Shuri showed off her gadgets to you. You both immediately got along well. She spilled the beans about why Steve called you. You suggested to do everything together with Shuri, using your magic and her technology.

"Thank you, thank you princess Y/N. Your magic is quite killer as well," she smiled widely. "Oh, here comes the white boys!" she called.

"I feel like we always meet in extreme circumstances," Steve smiled and hugged you tightly. "How are you, Y/N?"

"I've had better days, unfortunately we lost Loki a while ago, during a war," you said trying to hide your pain.

"We didn't have great memories with him but I know you loved him, I'm sorry for your loss," he patted your back.

You looked behind him and saw a brunette overthinking about everything and a chaos in his mind. You didn't want to just invade his brain but his thoughts were extremely loud so you wanted to help him. "Hi, I'm Y/N," you offered your hand to shake which he gladly took.

"I'm Bucky," he said nervously. He was sure you were the most beautiful woman he had ever laid his eyes on. You blushed lightly and when he realised, he was sure you read his mind. That made him blush too.

There was a thick tension between you, you were sure Shuri and Steve were trying to hide their laughs but you didn't care. "Shuri told me why you needed me, so when do we start?" you cheered, looking at Bucky with big eyes.

"You want to help me?" Bucky said, his eyes filled with hope. "Yes, of course Bucky! I'll do anything I can," you offered him a warm smile. He smiled back, already feeling better.

-

"You are in pain Bucky, I can feel that," you stopped with magic. Last few months have been hard on Bucky. He had to remember every single thing HYDRA had done to him and getting rid of those memories' chains. You didn't even made him remember what he had done to people but even this part were really painful to him.

"I can take it, please continue," Bucky nearly begged you. You were sure he couldn't take it anymore without going crazy so you wanted to stop a little until he feels better again.

"How about I tell you another story of my life in Asgard while you rest? I promise we'll continue then," you offered him a smile, put your hand on his shoulder to ensure him that you are here.

You've been doing this for a long time, whenever he felt overwhelmed, you stopped what you're doing and helped him relax while you told him stories about Asgard. You told him about the palace, the Valkyrie, your mom and dad, your brothers, Thor and Loki and Heimdall. He loved those stories. Every time you tell him, he learned something about you. You were so close with Loki and your mom, Frigga. Odin favoured Thor, that's why you always felt left out. From the colour you loved the most to the planet you loved to be in, he learned every little thing about you.

"That sounds good," he smiled back and laid down.

-

"Loki! Look how fast I am!" You shouted at your brother while riding a horse.

"Be careful my love, you might fall." Loki watched you closely. You were his soft spot. You were sure no one would love you more than he does.

"My children, it's almost time for dinner." Frigga called you both from balcony.

"We're coming mot-" he was interrupted by your scream.

"Loki!" His eyes filled with horror when he saw you crying on the ground, holding your knee. He ran to you so fast and leaned over.

"Hey hey, shh. Calm down pumpkin it's okay. I'm here, you're fine. How did you fall?" He smoothed you.

"S-she saw a snake and scared." You hugged him tight.

"I'll pick you up now and we'll see Eir, alright?"

"O-okay"

-

"And then father forbade him to see me again."

"But you didn't listen," Bucky laughed.

"Of course we didn't," you smirked.

-

"I want to see my brother!" You shouted with your lungs out crying.

"Thor is already here, Y/N."

"I want Loki!" you kept crying as loud as you can. You knew if you did your mother couldn't stand it anymore.

"Enough Y/N! I said you can't see Loki, he's dangerous! He couldn't protect you!" Odin shouted. You were shocked. Tears were flowing from your eyes but no words came out of your mouth.

"That's enough! You scared her enough. I'm taking her to her chambers," Frigga said to Odin, took you in her arms and left.

It didn't matter how much she soothed you, you refused to calm down. She could see you were exhausted but resisting to sleep.

"Oh my little peach, you really want Loki, don't you?"

You nodded your head vigorously, still crying. Frigga gently brushed your hair and wiped away your tears.

"I understand how you feel, my love. You and Loki have a special bond, and it's not fair for Odin to keep you apart. But you must trust me when I say that he's doing it to protect you," she explained softly.

"But why does he think Loki is dangerous?" you asked, sniffling.

"Your father has his reasons, but I believe that Loki is not the monster that Odin sees him as. He's your brother, and he loves you very much. I promise you, we will find a way to make things right."

Frigga held you close until you finally fell asleep. The next day, she called for Thor and told him to bring Loki to her chambers. When he arrived, she sat Loki down and spoke to him.

"My son, I know how much you love each other with your sister, and I can no longer stand to see you separated like this. Y/N is heartbroken without you, and I think it's time that you to understand the gravity of the situation," Frigga said, looking at him sternly.

"Odin believes that you are dangerous, and he's afraid that you might harm Y/N. But I know that you would never hurt your sister. However, you must promise me that you'll never put her in harm's way. Do you understand?"

Loki nodded solemnly, "I would never hurt her, mother. Ever," he felt offended a little. Frigga smiled at him.

"Good. Now go and make up for lost time, and be sure to never let anyone come between your bond as siblings."

You ran towards Loki as soon as he stood up, wrapping your arms around his waist tightly. Loki smiled down at you, and you knew that everything was going to be alright.

"No one is strong enough to break our bond, my little princess."

-

"You really liked Loki then," Bucky asked, feeling a little jealous but covering it with a smile. He knew he shouldn't be jealous, Loki was your brother after all. But he kind of wanted that bond with you, maybe even more. He wanted to keep you on his side, protect you at any cost. Even though he knew, you were perfectly capable of protecting yourself, even more than he can but it didn't matter to him.

"You don't have to be jealous Bucky," you laughed. "Sorry, I didn't mean to read your mind, it's just, you were thinking too loud and I thought there was a chaos going on in your mind," you said blushing.

"It's okay and I-uh," he sighed, trying to collect his words. "I just like to spend time with you, I mean you are so good to me and you know I- I would like to spend more time with you, other than just you helping me with this trigger words. You know, ma-maybe we could go to beach and watch sunset like that," he couldn't believe himself and how he couldn't just shut up. He looked away, he didn't want to see rejection in your eyes.

"I think that would be lovely, maybe you'll tell me your stories in 40's? I shouldn't be the only story teller, should I?" you grinned cheek to cheek. Seeing him relaxed after your answer made you even more happier. "But first, let's get through with this session, shall we?"

"We shall, doll."

A/N: Like and reblogs are appreciated! Let me know if you want more of this series!

[jprgirl]

Best TAJ Episode: Poll 9

Use whatever metric you like! Personal preference, technical aspects, whatever! Feel free to make your case in the notes, and reblog to help spread the polls! :)

Possibly spoilery episode descriptions and screenshots below the cut to help you decide!

S2.E10 - Magical Fluffy Bunny World

Axl and Bryn cannot convince Gaia she will become a goddess. She confronts Mike, who has the goddesses explain things more gently. With Eggther still threatening to kill Zeb, Gaia insists on joining Mike, Olaf, Axl, Derrick and Bryn in facing him. Events almost get out of hand, but it turns out Zeb has been using amateur psychology on the giant to pacify him. Meanwhile, Anders and Helen get acquainted. Michele steals the Yggdrasil cutting and taps its power to heal Mike's injured back. Repeated mention is made of the importance of apples. Gaia is kidnapped by hooded men in a van.

--

S2.E2 - Frigg Magnet

Agnetha and Eva trade barbs. Eva delays Ty from a meeting with Agnetha and Axl. Agnetha encourages Axl to give up his quest. Colin takes Axl out drinking, promising to help him in the quest: the next day, Axl faces an accusation of rape, engineered by Colin. Mike settles the problem by winning a wager with Colin, in the process taking ownership of a bar, although Colin seems unperturbed by the loss. Mike realizes he can move out of Axl's house. Agnetha sends Dawn home to try out some wine, then gets Ty to check on her, saying she is depressed because of him. Later, Ty and Eva brand each other with an iron designed by Eva. Jacob tries to break into Axl's house, looking for Gaia, and Axl forcibly ejects him. Axl and Zeb then discover Gaia hiding in a closet: she asks to move back in.

Episode descriptions taken from Wikipedia

[otakween]

Digimon Data Squad (Savers) - Episode 48

Omg. That ending was actually kinda unhinged 😂 It started out extremely predictable but then they pulled that twist at the end and made things interesting. Appreciate that they tried something different!

This series was decent. At the end of the day I'm disappointed in how one note all of the characters became. It feels like Tohma was the only one who got significant development and the digimon-human relationships were hit or miss. I definitely prefer it to Frontier, but I'd rank it lower than the first 3 seasons.

And, Yoshi said it for me this time:

Notes:

Generic Digimon ending: The digimon have to go home, oh no!

Me:

It catches me off guard every time for some reason and then I go "oh yeah, obviously."

It was a cool idea to have the lesser digivolutions in the final battle, if not just to see them again. Of course the child form is the one we're most attached to anyways.

The whole episode was like the opposite of that "facts don't care about your feelings" saying. It was all emotion over probability lol (or as an 80s ballad would say THE POWER OF LOVE!). It was cool to see a buncha side characters (and randos) awaken their digisouls. What does this mean lore-wise? No clue. It didn't happen for everyone I noticed...

So in total, Yggdrasill had like 5 forms. I want more context for that weird blue one that looks like an icicle. Was that piloting the spaceship looking form? Weird.

Yggdrasill's final form kinda looked like Millenniummon from the games. Also kinda looked like a delicious Gusher lmao

Of course Suguru is fine ("Yggdrasill brought me back to life") but wait, what about BanchouLeomon?? Screw him, I guess lol. (Or maybe they showed him and I blinked and missed it...)

I really liked the digimon standing up for themselves and their need to return home. I feel like that gave them more agency. It was interesting that they acknowledged the confusion of losing a God (like damn, that would be messed up). Masaru calling Agumon selfish for wanting to go home was pretty out of pocket, but I understand he didn't really mean it. (And Agumon did good sticking to his guns).

Gaomon wagging his tail and blushing when he served Tohma tea 😭 Too precious.

Yoshi and Lalamon never got enough screentime so I didn't really feel anything when they had their last hangout. Police!Yoshi was kinda cute.

Ikuto and Chika looked so adorable in their school uniforms 😭 Glad to see they became good friends.

Okay, THAT ENDING. It wasn't really the fact that Masaru goes to live in the digiworld, it was the fact that there was ZERO pushback whatsoever and Suguru immediately encouraged it loooool 😂 He could just be gone...forever!? There's a fine line between supportive and neglectful here. Just, amazing.

I like how Falcomon was like "Ikuto, you can't go back to the Digital World, your family was just reunited!" Meanwhile Masaru's family was literally just reunited too but oh well. (Different dynamic, I know).

Anyways, I think it's hilarious that this is the direction they took and I'm very happy for Masaru and Agumon. Let's hope Masaru becomes a legend and not terrorized by an angry God like his dad. (If I overthink things like food, shelter, and human socialization I'm gonna spiral so I won't).

[danwhobrowses]

One Piece Chapter 1127 - Initial Thoughts

And we are back

Chapter came out a little later than usual but finally we're here Elbaf has started and Nami has been whisked away

I guess as the Danes would say Leg Godt!

Spoilers for the Chapter, Support the Official Release too

Yamato's cover has Inuarashi being visited, the Daimyo of Kuri also is alarmed by the missing people

We seem to be in a land of giants

All the houses have a lego aesthetic it seems, including some trees

But they are alarmed by a fire in a forest

Yggdrasil, aka the Norse World Tree that is meant to hold all the realms, is worried about because of the fire, it seems the country is tied to the tree

What's interesting though is that they mention reporting to the Sun God

I wonder if the Sun God is a mantle or maybe someone poses as one

Giant bees have also been found KO'd, they're called Stingermols

The giants remain confused, even reporting tremors due to the 'Ear God's collapse

The Ear God is apparently a giant rabbit, we just throwing out the title of god for anyone in Elbaf?

We go to the also-lego Big Steinn Castle, where Nami is being kept

So she's been beating the Stingermol, thanks in part to Zeus

Nami panics though, calling for the monster trio

'I'll even take Usopp' girl the disrespect just because he's cuter

To be fair Nami should be alarmed about the fact that she changed clothes

I did criticize it last chapter to being too like her Onigashima attire but I gotta give credit that it's an actual skirt this time and not just plain underwear

Nami hears Usopp's voice and follows something that catches her eye, but she trips on the lego floor

AHHHH HEDGEHOG! It's Adorable!

But in Nami's panic she startles it and angers the poor thing

Usopp meanwhile is outside, in the mouth of a giant cat in a crown

Nami uses Zeus to shock the Hedgehog, but the momentum takes them off the ledge and it falls on the cat, which also electrocutes

Usopp's new outfit seems to be more Asterisk and Obelisk inspired, the beard I can live with but the tache is a bit much

The cat survived electrocution, so Nami and Usopp are forced to run

They wonder how they got there, and consider that it's the Absinthe causing hallucinations

Usopp tests the theory though, and gets the catspaw

They fall from the castle, Usopp KO'd, and at the mercy of the giant cat - now transformed into a lion

I wonder if the crown had something to do with that, its first crown broke during the hedgehog fall

Nami of course prioritizes herself, and uses Usopp as a meat shield

But Sanji calls out to Nami

The Monster Trio arrive to defeat the Lion; Ifrit Jambe, Gear Fourth and Santoryu

The Lion KOs and reverts to a cat

Uhhhhh not feeling that eyeguard Zoro

Luffy no, we don't eat cats, we also don't eat dogs, don't take Trump's comments seriously

Oh they ate the Ear God...oh this could be bad XD

Sanji of course comes to flirt with Nami, while Nami expresses relief having been saved after Usopp died (disclaimer Usopp did not die he's just slightly injured)

Sanji's attire is much more medieval knight, kinda suits him but also kinda doesn't, there is a bit of Germa energy in the silhouette

Luffy's outfit though is near perfect, just can't really see the straw hat over the horned helmet

Zoro though doesn't look good, it's just too much I think, removing the goggles would go a long way but the shoulder guards would kinds be restrictive, honestly the outfit probably would've suited Sanji better (minus the goggles) and Sanji's may've suited Zoro better imo

Luffy of course is thinking about food, Zoro wants to check the safety of the crew first, while Sanji is also thinking about food, mainly the stingermols and their nutrients

Nami ends the chapter taken aback about how unfettered the trio are, and we still have no clue where we are

Annnnd there's the break

Well that answered no questions XD

Elbaf is definitely giving off weird energy, lego seems to be a wider theme than just the Big Steinn castle. It's still throwing me how it was kinda proportional size, the Yggdrasil tree is so far the only natural formation.

As I mentioned the outfits are more miss than hit right now, maybe it takes getting use to but Zoro for the love of god take those goggles off, or at least pull them to your forehead. It does seem though that only the East Blue Saga lot were the only ones whispered away, no word on Chopper or the Sunny at the moment, and nothing that presents itself to explain how they got here.

There being an Yggdrasil implies they are in Elbaf, but at the same time we've seen no ocean, we've seen the coast of Elbaf but it was called 'War Land', so maybe this is a different section of Elbaf? A different 'land' if you will like a 'Toy land'. The fact that a giant rabbit is deemed a god gives off Skypeia vibes too, but if Luffy can beat it I don't see how any giant would struggle (maybe they needed the holy hand grenade?).

But yeah, colour me puzzled to say the least

[moe-broey]

Meanwhile, Book ??? and a half, in the far off floating islands of........ uh............ I wasn't paying attention. Sorry. There's a Yggdrasil here, too, though. Unrelated to the one in Zenith. Yeah, apparently these things are fucking everywhere.

Our Heroes, The Order of Heroes, no wait, uh. The Goat Grabbers -- no, still not right. The Dandelion Guild. They're here. On a mission. What mission? Fuck if I know.

Their leader seems to be this very serious young man. But is he the leader, actually...? He may just be the most responsible one. His name is Alfonse. Kind at heart, happy to help others, but tends to keep to himself (...... mostly.)

Joined at the hip, always at his heels, is his younger sister, Sharena! Vibrant and upbeat, she's such a joy to talk to! She's only a little bit odd. But she's so utterly charming, so fun and friendly, you pay it no mind. She truly is the life of the party!

Going from upbeat to offbeat, we have this fucking guy. It seems friendly enough... it's just. Weird. And has an attitude problem. A bit crude, too. That troublesome little creature is named Moe -- and the sheep is Kuro. It's always trailing behind either of the siblings, like a shadow.

Now, who will be our f2p girlie our guide, for this unspecified Book? It's Elanorre! A forest spirit of sorts, a practitioner of arcane earth magic, and an aspiring scholar of The Labyrinth... she has a bit of trouble expressing herself, but don't let that fool you. She's extremely passionate about her work. Just. In a very monotone voice.

(plus a little illust of her!!!)

And for our final team member, to properly fill out a party of five... we're gonna need all the help we can get, after all... what's this? It's Veronica WITH A GUN (WHO GAVE HER THAT?????)

That said, party members of the Dandelion Guild seem to come and go. It's just those three (Alfonse, Sharena, and Moe), who are always together.

Regardless! Onward! Into the Labyrinth!!!

[cookies-and-music]

Ghost. - part 19: Bare your soul

My suggestion for this chapter is The Driver by Maneskin.

Part 1 here - part 20 here

PAIRING: TVA!LokixOC

TAG LIST: @kats72 ; @mischief2sarawr ; @m3ntally-unstable ; @star-maker-rain-dancer

SUMMARY: Loki meets sombody at the TVA he once knew. Unfortunately she doesn't seem to remember him.

Loki was breathing heavily, as if he had been running after her. He was dressed in Asgardian attire and held the helmet he had used in battle in one hand.

But something was off. This Loki should have been shocked to see her. He was the Loki who had believed her dead on Midgard during the Battle of New York a few years prior. Meanwhile, between the two of them, she was the one paling as if she had seen a ghost.

"It's really you, isn't it?" she swallowed.

He approached her slowly.

Perhaps she should have been happy, running to him and embracing him. But that would have been too simple.

"No" one corner of her mouth lifted in a sneer, "a copy."

Loki looked down. "It's the only way I can talk to you."

"And it was you, at the nursing home, wasn't it?"

He nodded.

"Well, it was nice, see you soon," Lydia smiled, reaching out her hand toward the tree, but before she could touch it, she was violently thrown against one of the room's side walls. The impact knocked the air out of her, and she felt like her arms and legs had taken the brunt of the blow more than the rest of her body.

"What the hell?" she spat as she got up. Loki rushed over to her.

"Sorry, I didn't think it would—" she cut him off by punching him in the face, causing him to stagger back several steps.

He scoffed, blowing away the long hair that had fallen over his face.

"Sorry" she raised a sarcastic eyebrow.

They stared at each other. Loki took a step toward her, and Lydia tensed, so he decided to raise his hands and back away until his back touched the room's wall.

She did the same, and in unison, they slid down along the wall until they were sitting on the floor. Face to face. Several meters apart and surrounded by shadows.

"You don't have to do this" he began, "it's risky and it may not even work."

"But you brought me here" Lydia furrowed her brow.

"What do you mean?" Loki tilted his head.

"When Mobius and I went to see Odin, you—you told me I needed to find the right time. Well, isn't this it?" she spread her arms to indicate their surroundings.

Loki shook his head before leaning it back against the wall, laughing bitterly.

"I only talked about the right time. I wanted you to take the right amount of time."

"To do what?"

"To move on."

Lydia's jaw dropped.

"You wanted me to move on?"

"Yes."

"You wanted me to move on" she shook her head, laughing "Should I have let you rot for how long? Centuries? Eons? Move on as if nothing happened while you turned into that in front of my eyes?" she pointed at the tree. "You're crazy."

"Me, crazy?" Loki laughed "You're the one who tried to interfere with Yggdrasil's course without thinking about the possible consequences."

"Possible, not certain" she emphasized "And besides, what other choice did I have?"

"To move on" he insisted.

"That's not an option."

"Lydia," he sighed, getting up and moving toward her "I don't even know what could be the outcome, and if something bad happened to you or the others, then everything I've done would have been in vain" He sat next to her against the wall so their shoulders touched.

"But it's not fair, Loki," Lydia's voice trembled "Why does it have to be you?"

He looked down, taking a deep breath before looking back at her.

"Because it's my burden."

"Then take me with you, let me stand by your side. At least you wouldn't be alone" her voice was desperate.

"I would never condemn you to such an existence."

"And I should let you condemn yourself?" At that point, her eyes were stinging.

He smiled at her with slight emotion, turning his torso towards her to see her better.

"When I met you again, I promised myself that this time I would protect you. I saw you at the TVA, and to my eyes, you were the purest and brightest being I had ever seen. You were perfect, too perfect. Then you sold me and Sylvie out to Renslayer, and I saw another side of you, ambitious, vengeful, and cruel if necessary. I should have hated you, but that's when I think I fell in love with you. When I saw your darkness so similar to mine. Then I understood that only we could accept and redeem each other."

"Loki…"

He stood up and started walking toward the tree.

"I was hurt, but the way you were hurt by your own actions broke my heart. And I realized I would do anything for you," he caressed the form of Yggdrasil with one hand "no matter how dangerous or painful it would be" he turned towards her, "because I care deeply for you, Lydia Princhett."

Lydia sniffled. She gathered her body, which felt like jelly, and stood up, walking towards him.

"I care deeply for you too" she looked at him with teary eyes, her face streaked by a single tear she couldn't hold back.

He gave her one of his sad smiles, one of those that broke her heart. He pulled her towards him, wrapping her in an embrace.

They stood still for a few seconds, Lydia filling her nose with his scent, feeling his chest rise and fall with each breath and listening to his heart beat.

"I love you" Loki caressed her hair.

"I know," she took a deep breath "that's why I know you will forgive me."

Loki didn't have time to process her words before Lydia grabbed his clothes with one hand, pulling and tripping him with a leg, making him fall to the floor.

She reached out a hand inside the tree, and Loki yelled at her not to do it, but it was too late.

Lydia had ripped the heart out of Yggdrasil.

The room went dark, and the ceiling collapsed on them.

HI GUYS, 1 MORE CHAPTER AND THAN THERE'S THE EPILOGUE. I'M A BIT HUNGOVER RIGHT NOW SO I REALLY HOPE THIS CHAPTER WORKS OUT. (I EDIDTED IT WHILE HUNGOVER.) I'LL ZIP IT NOW. HOPEFULLY MY DEAR READERS WILL ENJOY THIS CHAPTER. LEAVE A COMMENT IF U FEEL LIKE IT. AS ALWAYS, CHEERS.

[stupidrant]

imagine a sunny day in jotunheim, in angrboda's treehouse. atreus has been on his travels and brings back souvenirs not only for his father, but for angrboda as well. it's been maybe two or three years since ragnarok. atreus has been quite busy finding clues about the giants outside midgard, sometimes it lead to dead ends, sometimes he succeeded, sometimes he's gravely injured while on his journeys and he has to postpone the travels so he can go heal himself. but it's an ongoing process, and still many questions lingering. he doesn't give up!

here's the thing, though... neither atreus and angrboda have confessed to each other yet. but everyone around them are screaming inside that for the love of skadi, JUST SAY IT ALREADY!

one sunny day in jotunheim, atreus appears with new pigments from far off lands that will help angrboda's paintings pop even more. angrboda is overjoyed, because the pigment she's been using doesn't fit the new piece creating. she was so frustrated and annoyed that no matter how she mixed the colors, it never worked or didn't look as appealing. an artist takes their craft seriously! atreus knows this of course.

that's why he's there, because he knew it's the perfect gift for her and also... an excuse to simply see her. be with her. angrboda catches him looking at her for a while. "all good here, champ?" she jokes. "of course, i'm just enjoying the view. i missed you a lot. more than anything."

that made angrboda's heart jump out her chest. she feels the same way, thinking about him when he was gone, wishing he came back. this one time she heard the yggdrasil portal opening and got so excited over the premise that maybe atreus is back, she damn near ran to greet him - but it turned to be just lunda. ('now, why are you so disappointed in seeing me, missy!' no offence lunda, it's. complicated. well not really but you know; UNSAID WORDS & EMOTIONS GALORE.)

"i, uh... missed you too. it's so amazing to see you again, atreus..."

words are failing them hard, how do you even begin with describing just how they're feeling. but maybe they don't need words. they both try to speak, but the tension is thick, the heart rates are going up, palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy, mom's spaghetti-

so they get closer. and closer. until they close the gap between. he has his arms around her waist, and hers are draped around his shoulders. their first kiss together, and it was purely magical. it was steady, sweet, wonderful.

until it deepened and they tumbled down. oh it's going for another territory. word to nelly, it's getting hot in HERE.

however...

they stopped. both of them. heavy breathing, their faces completely flushed.

"h-hey, atreus, um... this is very great but i don't feel... ready for this yet." "no, yeah, no, totally! i understand...!" they got up immediately and dusted themselves off.

a small moment of awkward silence. "angrboda... was it- was this okay with you? you don't feel weird about this, do you...?" "no! not at all! i liked it, but um... i, uh. i've never been... you know... with a guy-"

"OH WELL LOOK AT THE TIME I HAVE TO MEET MY FATHER BY THE SEA. TALK TO YOU LATER!"

"WOW THAT'S GREAT I ALSO JUST REMEMBERED THAT I HAVE TO FIND MORE PLANTS. FOR GIANT STUFF."

"I LIKE YOU!"

"I LIKE YOU TOO!"

"I MEAN MORE THAN LIKE!"

"SAME HERE!"

"BYE!"

"OKAY, BYE!"

meanwhile, somewhere around yggdrasil, ratatoskr was tending to the tree until he heard a young man scream. it was atreus. yelling while he was running laps around the path. currently at his 56th lap and at this rate he will hit 100.

"young master atreus! what is going on-" "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA ICANTBELIEVEITICANTBELIEVEITIDIDTHAAAAT!!" "young master atreus, get a hold of yourself!"

back in jotunheim, angrboda is also screaming. but it's muffled by a pillow. and she's rolling around the grass, kicking her feet, laughing and giggling. her wolf and fox friends are looking a little bit concerned. but she doesn't look hurt, and she's clearly happy, so they're not alert. they won't rip the guy she was seen with into pieces, thankfully.

but oh. it's finally happening.

😭😭😭😭😭

[hoesamo]

Freyr as an exile is interesting to me because he feels almost insignificant in comparison to the other exiles in his story. If my memory serves me correctly, Surtr realizes the struggle of his world (that ragnarok isn’t working for some reason and his children’s constant strife is causing them perpetual agony) after killing him, and isn’t specifically obsessed with him being in the MC like the other World Reps are. Meanwhile, there are exiles like Nüwa, Kinmamon, and Shaytan who all have a lot more significance within their respective worlds. Hell, even Faust has Mephistopheles in pursuit of his ass bc their history is significant. It makes me look twice at why he was chosen to be the exile in housamo’s story (instead of someone like Baldr).

I mean, here we have a guy who was close with his buddy Thor, who loved fighting, and would have friendly competition with him through things like racing and probably sparring (considering how similar he is to Kengo). While Gullinbursti, his Vehicle/Body Double/Meatshield, doesn’t understand why his master left him, but it feels like Freyr sacrificed himself on purpose. While Freyr could have beaten Surtr if he had his actual sword, he didn’t use it, and died instead for whatever unknown reason. What makes someone do that?

If I am to attempt to make an inference, I would say it might have something to do with Yggdrasil’s relationship with war and fighting. Freyr irl is known for being associated with peace, so while he may be perfectly capable of fighting, he might actually dislike the constant strife that war brings. In a place like Yggdrasil, where fighting and war is almost a way of life (especially Valhalla iirc), I could see Freyr not wanting to do that anymore. He himself may have felt out of sync with his world, but at the same time… is that really it? Am I overthinking things here? Freyr is so strange for me because his whole exile feels like it’s missing something important in his entire story. It’s clear that Yggdrasil is suffering, but is Freyr even relevant to that? And how and why is he relevant to his world in terms of housamo’s storytelling?

[valuka-shuna]

World Tree and Primordial Chaos

We should start with the foundation of the series' multiverse - The Imaginary Tree and the Sea of Quanta. It ties in most of Mihoyo's games under the same rules, but the rules are expressed differently. Some new information from recent chapters have been omitted for the sake of simplicity and spoilers.

AKA why Genshin is in the same universe as Honkai, but you do not need to play Honkai to understand Genshin.

The Imaginary Tree that holds all of the Hoyoverse together is based on the belief of a world tree. The most well-known example is the Yggdrasil of Norse mythology, but it's a motif seen in various cultures around the world. It holds together the heavens, the skies, the worlds, and maybe even the underworld. The Imaginary Tree also embodies the concept of the tree of life in that it binds all forms of creation to its branches.

The Tree is depicted differently depending on the game and context, but it's always a colossal pale-colored tree with twisting roots. It's an entity that normally isn't visible to human eyes. How can our puny monkey brain even begin to comprehend our existence on the cosmic structure holding our world together? It's literally larger than life itself.

From the trunk of this tree spreads numerous branches and from these branches grow an infinite number of leaves, each of them a different world. For our purposes, we must understand that every Mihoyo game that takes place in this universe is a leaf on this tree: Gun Girls Z, Honkai Impact 3rd, Genshin Impact, and Honkai Star Rail. HI3 and HSR are more similar and may be leaves growing on closer branches than Genshin. Each leaf (game) is governed by the same laws of the Tree's universe, but are otherwise entirely separate and does not affect one another.

Then why not also Tears of Themis and Zenless Zone Zero? Because there are no expy characters like Kiana or Mei. But also because lore reasons. For example, Genshin and HSR are explicitly linked by this monster item drop and a loading screen.

(Genshin ley lines are directly connected to Irminsul and thus the Imaginary Tree, but that's a story for another time.)

The Sea of Quanta is the other being opposite the Imaginary Tree. The Sea is akin to the concept of primordial chaos or the soup of life. The Sea is an unstable, endless space that doesn't follow conventional logic. Generally accepted understanding of physics, mathematics, and reality do not work here. Above the Sea is where the Tree grows. Leaves of the Tree can wither, drift off their branch, fall into the Sea, and get dissolved out of existence in the chaos.

The world of the now detached leaf is considered a Bubble Universe. They can exist in various degrees of stability depending on whether it can sustain itself. Bubble universes do not necessarily have to be discarded by the Tree. They can also spontaneously spawn out of the Sea of Quanta. The Sea is unstable enough that a bubble universe can be created entirely from human memories. Bubble universes can also be man-made. Essentially they are miscellaneous parallel worlds floating in space.

The Imaginary Tree and the Sea of Quanta has an antagonistic, but codependent rivalry. "The Sea Of Quanta wants to flood the Tree. Meanwhile, the Imaginary Tree wants to absorb the Sea." as described by the HI3rd wiki. It seems like cosmic material gets recycled as it grows on the Tree, decays, falls into the Sea, and eventually reabsorbed back via Tree roots.

There aren't many depictions of the Sea of Quanta outside HI3. It generally looks like endless blue space with broken block structures swirling as if suspended in liquid. It is possible to physically traverse this space, jumping between bubble universes and fighting monsters born from the quantum chaos.

(Crude depiction of The Tree and Sea outside space-time.)

All this stuff about the Sea being made up of world tree debris begs the question: Why and how do leaves fall off to begin with? If leaves are whole worlds, wouldn't them withering off the Tree would be an apocalyptic event? Losing one leaf is like losing a timeline, a parallel universe, a whole world of possibilities, and the entire civilization that lived in it. The answer is yes, and that's what the story of Honkai Impact 3rd is about.

The word Honkai is the English localization of Houkai (崩壊) meaning "collapse", "decay", or "destruction" in Japanese. The same goes for Chinese where the actual name of the game is 崩坏3. The "3rd" is a reference to Evangelion's Third Impact because the Mihoyo founders are Eva fanboys. Honkai Impact 3rd is about humanity fighting against the collapse, decay, and destruction of their world leaf.

Knowing the etymology of the titular Honkai is important because it gives context to its concept. The Imaginary Tree and the Sea of Quanta aren't inherently good or evil. They are neutral forces of nature. The Tree itself must self-regulate so as to not expend its resources maintaining nonviable worlds . Otto Apocalypse says Honkai "breeds, nurtures, tests, and removes civilizations." Decay is natural. The system in which the Tree decides which of its infinite branches to prune off is called the Honkai.

The Imaginary Tree's self-adjustment system works by testing humanity within the leaf's world. The Honkai will manifest as anything that will bring calamity. It can manifest as beasts, natural disasters, robots, zombies, or the mobs you fight in game. When a Honkai invasion is devastating enough, it can cause an apocalyptic event. The in-universe source of The Black Death that destroyed a third of the world's population is an example of the Honkai manifesting as infectious disease.

Humanity must keep evolving and advancing against the will of the Honkai in order to keep up with the destruction. If it manifests as disease, humanity must find a way to heal. If it manifests as monsters, humanity must fight them. And if it manifests as humans corrupted by Honkai energy with supernatural powers, humanity must find a way to make them fight for our side. (These humans are called Herrschers and are integral to the HI3 plot, but not for the purposes of this post.)

If the civilization within the world of the leaf falls to the Honkai invasion, then it is deemed no longer worthy of keeping. The leaf will be pruned and fall into the Sea of Quanta.

(Spoilers: Or so we thought for most of the story until recent chapters, but that is again a story for another time. Finality will descend and reset the world to give us another chance to fight the Honkai.)

The degree to how much of this cosmic lore is actually relevant to each game depends.

Gun Girls Z - Relevant in that this is where it all started. Kevin Kaslana first brought up the concept of bubble universes in this series.

Honkai Impact 3rd - Extremely relevant in that the player character routinely interacts with bubble universes. In fact, the canon main story timeline is considered a separate world (leaf) from the Captainverse self-insert timeline used for events.

Honkai Star Rail - The relevancy remains questionable at the moment because the game is not yet released at the time of writing. I would assume it will become relevant due to the existence of the Imaginary and Quantum class typing on top of typical ones like Fire and Lightning. It is also implied the Honkai exists under the name Stellaron "Cancer of All Worlds". The train the characters ride between planets comes directly from the HI3 world. A train called the Cosmic Juggernaut was invented in HI3 to manipulate space-time and travel through the Sea of Quanta. This train somehow ended up damaged in the world of HSR, where HSR Himeko found, repaired, and renamed it as the Astral Express.

Genshin Impact - Also relevant, but it becomes easy to miss early on if you are not already familiar with Honkai. Almost everything exists in one way or another, but under a different name. The Irminsul tree is likely Teyvat's biggest connection to the Imaginary Tree. The Cataclysm 500 years ago could have been a Honkai eruption. The Abyss may or may not be within the Sea of Quanta. It's possible the Descenders are visitors from beyond the Teyvat leaf.

The space underneath the Chasm as shown in Perilous Trail might be a bubble universe, complete with things spawning from memories and monsters that look suspiciously like quantum shadows when Traveler and Xiao try to make their way out.

The way Yae describes traveling through space-time into Makoto's realm of consciousness sounds like Traveler were traversing through the Sea of Quanta into a bubble universe. How Ei and Traveler are the only ones who remember when the Sacred Sakura Tree was planted because their memories weren't altered while they were in the bubble universe outside of the Irminsul's reach.

There's more of this kind of allusion to Hoyoverse's cosmic lore in Genshin. Enough to write several other posts. The problem is we don't have confirmation about Teyvat's place in the universe. Is it a leaf still attached to the Imaginary Tree? Or is it a big bubble universe floating in the Sea of Quanta? Has the Honkai invaded yet? And if it did, what did it manifest as? Does it have a different name?

We already got some Imaginary Tree connections following the Sumeru archon quest and Wanderer interlude. But there's still no reason to play Honkai just to understand Genshin. At most, Honkai will give context to some unexplained phenomena. Genshin will likely explain their version of the world tree and primordial chaos eventually, at their own pace and in their own terms. A lot of Genshin players hate the idea that Genshin takes place in the Honkai universe as if it were inferior to Mihoyo's favorite child, but I want to reiterate that this isn't the Honkai universe so much as it is the Hoyoverse. Genshin Impact is as much Honkai as Honkai Impact is Genshin.

[aria0fgold]

oooh d'you have any more random oc facts.. I'm not good with questions but I love hearing about others ocs lol

Ehehehehe I'd love to! I love talking bout my ocs!

Ray is a really really good actor! He's a dramatic boy that loves to use his acting abilities frequently which also includes masking his emotions :D He is not okay in the og universe lmao but he is okay in the Android Omori AU and is just there that loves to cause mischief to Patch.

Also also! Ray was a really really shy kid when he was younger, he tends to hide behind Alec's back and rarely talks! His parents wanted to help with the shyness and saw how he seemed to like movies and signed him up for acting lessons. It was a mess at first but Ray really liked it! Only reason why he's so extroverted now.

Drunk Ray reverts back to his shy self though :o Although, it's hard to get him drunk. Not really a heavy drinker but he can hold his alcohol well! Benefits of going to so many parties.

Meanwhile Alec is an incredible lightweight. Any alcohol, no matter the percentage, just one shot and he's drunk. He rarely drinks to be fair. My guy likes healthy living, he is far from living fully healthily.

Of all my OCs, those two have the biggest problems of Ray thinking he is easily replaceable and Alec putting everyone before him. Honestly if they're put in a fantasy setting, Ray is a self-sacrificial dude and Alec is the same but the difference is that Alec has a strong will to live and aint allowing himself to die so easily.

Seph has problems too, actually I think all of them do whoops...

ouououu wanna talk bout seph past. im gonna talk bout seph past >:o

It isn't that like long and lengthy but like basically! Seph is adopted, first was at an orphanage and one of the caretakers is Water's mom, Angela! Seph got adopted by Sera's parents, billionaire peeps, rich business ppl. Life with them was a-okay for a time, in fact they spoil Seph a lot! But that's exactly the problem, cuz Sera is dead when they adopted Seph, both parents were grieving and the dad just so happens to have the bright idea of adopting a kid to fill that hole.

It went downhill from there when they saw how similar looking Seph was to Sera. (Blonde hair and brown eyes. Though Seph's eyes are lighter.) Except for dresses and skirts, most of the clothes the parents gave Seph are ones they can imagine Sera to also wear. Same with toys and gadgets. None of them also mention having a daughter until Seph found out bout it on his own.

A LOT of stuff happened but basically Seph funded his own company with the help of Water and Angela acting as proxy (company name is Yggdrasil.) So yeah he is also basically not okay. But! That past is different for Kitsunemori AU cuz hey! Sera is alive! Seph is still adopted but that's some trauma skipped :D

Water has problems too... Alec has bigger problems... Honestly Ray is the only one with a normal-ish childhood. Mel (im sorry my guy i keep forgetting you) also has problems.

Patch is saved from problems????? actually not really

[arlequinelunaire]

Verthandi in the Middle Ch. 1.2

<Prev SV

CW: Serial killer and a little blood.

The weird thing about Urth sending me to Athens, now I think of it, is you'd figure the city would fall more under her domain. Sad as it is to say, unless you're Athenian yourself (and maybe not even then), people think more about the city's distant past than its present, let alone whether it has a future. The classical architecture, philosophers, saga- er, I mean epic poets, Urth gets all of those. None of which featured us (and no, the Moirai are totally different), but I'm fine with that, they would've just complained about us if they did.

Meanwhile, the Athens of my present just gets debt, tourists, and even the friggin' Nazis now, you can tell by the Sparta fixation. Okay okay, I know neo-Nazism's hardly an exclusively Greek problem these days. I mean, I've set up shop in Scandinavia, I don't need to be told twice.

But I'm not here right now for any Nazis, no, instead I get a serial killer. Like that's much better, especially when we've already weaved his fate and should be done with him. It then hit me that a Nazi-serial killer overlap would hardly be out of the norm, but I do hope that's not true, I don't need this meeting to be even more miserable.

I knew it was coming. No Parthenon or Agora, Yggdrasill had instead dumped me on the outskirts of Athens. A rickety, abandoned warehouse stood before me, in such disrepair that it looked like even a human could blow it down with a sneeze. The only sound was the whistling of the wind. A rank odour suggested something toxic had been dumped here at one point, and if Skuld could hear my thoughts now I just knew she would've said 'Yeah, you' or something else oh so clever. 

Right on cue, a scrawny, scurrying figure, his eyes darting frantically around, skittered his way through a rusty hole in a wire fence then headed through a dusty crack in a wall. Based on what description the report had him of, I quite quickly discerned this was our 'Scarecrow' Anastasios. Huh, so Ratatosk actually did drop me off at the right place for once, though I got the feeling he wouldn't keep up that track record. The fuzzball had already left too, and true, he personally had no obligation to keep an eye on this guy, but it felt like a dick move all the same.

I hid from the killer's sight behind an old, creaking dumpster, the sheer smell bringing my toxic waste dump theory back to mind. Yeah, he couldn't do a thing to me, even with me being outside of fate, but I still didn't want to interact with him. I'm not Skuld after all, representing the Present at least means I get to outgrow any 'serial killers are cool and edgy' phase. Then there's Odin, who at least tolerates serial killers if their victims fight back, more souls for Valhalla. Anyway, I braced myself and followed the guy, then winced as I cut my hand on those exposed wires. Well, being a Norn meant I didn't have to worry about tetanus, which was… reassuring. Still stung though.

The inside of the warehouse was somehow even more decrepit than outside. Everything was drowned in dust if not broken glass, the paintjob was a mess of rotting grey, whole chunks of the roof had crashed down, and the stench now went beyond toxic, someone had died here. Oh wait, this was a serial killer's hideout, duh, of course they had. Not like that's gonna happen anymore, so hey, that ought to increase the property value. Relatively.

Apart from me and the Scarecrow killer, there were a few others still alive in this place. The first was your average cat chasing down some rats; honestly, I was surprised to see animals here at all. Then of course was the killer's intended victim, he'd been left here while the killer was out for some reason. Last minute check to make sure nobody was following him? Heh, too bad there. Anyway, this victim was a thirtysomething guy in now-torn office wear hoisted at the far end of the factory, so tightly bound on a steel cross that his wrists had begun to bleed without the killer even stabbing them. Clearly doing more damage than the killer's actual stabbing attempts, with him missing any vital points every time he lurched with his knife right at him. The killer was left screaming "Why won't you die?!" as he started throwing shards of broken glass at him, but none made any real impact, unable to even shock his victim out of unconsciousness.

I let out a sigh of relief, looked like the fate-weaving was already working. Not that I was sent here to ensure the weaving had worked, I knew it would, I've been doing this job for millennia after all. No, Urth says this was to remind me that these are actual lives we hold power over, not just bits of magic string. And yeah I know, but why on Midgard did she think a serial killer would be a prime candidate for teaching me that? Who cares if that sort of person is reduced to a doll on a string? Also, funny for Urth to preach about empathy when she has zilch for me. 'Verthandi, you're acting improper for a Norn', 'Verthandi, your sister Skuld did nothing', 'Verthandi, is that a tone of sarcasm I hear?' again and again for millennia, now that I remember. She's my older sister, who died and made her Mum? 

But speaking of empathy, I suppose the least I can do is step in and rescue that tied-up guy. Could get Urth off my back as a bonus too. Then again, haven't I already saved him by extending his fate? No wait, Skuld was in charge of that, my bad. Still, he's gonna live regardless, worse for wear as he'll be, so really can't I just go now that I've seen these people in person? If the victim was calling out to me, then I guess I'd feel the urge to step in. But he's lost consciousness, so I doubt he'd mind me leaving. Granted, I remembered still feeling pain even though I couldn't die, and that'd go double or triple for him the second he woke up.

Well, I did the unheroic thing and turned to leave, only to get hit by a piercing shriek when I found that I'd tread right on that cat's tail. I winced hard when I heard the Scarecrow killer yell "Who are you?! What are you doing here?! Are you tailing me?! You're with them, aren't you?!" right at me. I presumed by 'them' he meant the cops, because if there was any wacked-out conspiracy junk in his head I didn't want to know. 

"All a piece of scum like you needs to know is that I'm the one who took away your ability to kill," I tell him, my eyes narrowed and arms folded. "The reason you keep failing to kill this guy, that's me. Nobody shall ever die by your hand again."

For a second the Scarecrow looked utterly aghast, but then he started quietly chuckling. "Heh, you're bluffing, that or insane. How do you 'magically' stop someone from killing? Just watch." Yet all that followed was his own knife suddenly showing itself to be blunt, plus more failed attempts at throwing broken glass.

"Face it, you're killing days are over," I told him as I moved firmly between him and his victim, "My sisters and I removed every successful kill from what's left of your thread of fate." It was only then I saw that I'd been too late to stop the Scarecrow's victims having his feet cut off, left as bleeding stumps. He'd live, Skuld and I had seen to that, but right now it would still be a life lived in agony. "Now tell me, why did you target this man?" I then spat out.

"Now I'm hoping you're insane," the Scarecrow hissed out, of course not answering my question. He pointed a shard right at my face and went, "You're saying you can just take away a person's free will as you please? You accuse me, when you can just make anyone your slave anytime you want, violate any right they have to choose? Why even bother with me personally when you can have world leaders bowing before you?!" his pitch rising ever higher as he glared at his victim, "Why ever bother saving a mediocrity like him?"

Okay, definitely sensed some projection there, though at least that last sentence of his gave me an idea of why he went after this man. The shit he spewed also gave me the urge to clarify, "We do not use our powers for personal gain, we don't even weave ourselves into any of our threads of fate. And when control a person's fate, we at least let them live." Okay, Urth and I do, but death is kinda Skuld's thing.

"Don't you dare take the high ground with me," the killer snapped back, I had to move slightly to dodge his spit. "I don't just kill anyone; I only get rid of those who contribute nothing to humanity. I was providing a far greater service than you, but now you've taken that service away. My very identity's gone because of you… wait," his rant suddenly slowed to a chilling calm, "You said you don't weave yourself into any fates, which'd include mine. Therefore, I can still kill you!"

Before I could correct him, even at risk of exposing my identity, he'd already plunged a glass shard through my ribcage and into my heart. Or rather, where my ribcage and heart would've been if I really was human. Instead, gritting my teeth through the piercing pain I still felt, I yanked out the shard and tossed it away. I didn't even dignify him with words. Because even a sharp stabbing like that was nothing compared too… one wound I once suffered.

My glare beating down on him, the Scarecrow immediately started hyperventilating. His voice managed to quiver out, "Y-you're not bleeding, t-that was right in your heart- What, what the hell are you?!"

"What, you never thought fate-weaving was a power for mere mortals, did you Anastasios?" I told him blunt. "You can't kill the Present."

The Scarecrow had now collapsed on his knees, as he slowly muttered, "The Present? So, if you're divine… or a demon, then… you're Lachesis, aren't you?"

Wait, Lachesis? Look, I'm no fan of syncretism. I don't like being lumped in with a bunch of goddesses I've never met or even seen, doubly so as I'm not a goddess myself. But I'll take an alias where I can get it, especially with how close I came to giving away that I'm Verthandi. "Yeah, that's me. The Moira Lachesis, Measurer of Lives," I said. I mean it's Greece, kinda shoulda seen the comparison coming. And if the real Lachesis does exist, I don't think she'll mind me borrowing her name. As we're both immortals, she's had plenty of time to get mad about me existing. 

"A goddess, a r-real goddess?" he stuttered. "Would that mean… Zeus, Hades, Poseidon, they're all real too?"

Not according to the word of Odin they aren't, but like the Allfather's never been self-serving. I settled on telling the Scarecrow, "That's for me to know. And I wanna be extra clear, just because a goddess has taken notice of you, Anastasios, that does not mean that you're anything above 'mediocrity' yourself," wanting to cut down the slightest chance of his ego inflating again. "We have to be there for all humanity. For instance, you wanna know why us N- Moirai" whew, good save "intervened in your fate? It's because a bunch of bratty kids thought it'd be cool if we messed with an oh-so-scary serial killer, that's all. Nothing special, just like you."

The Scarecrow was sent seething for what must've been minutes, till he finally rasped out, "Nothing special? No, don't you ever call me a mediocrity! What mediocrity would have the guts, the vision, to ever actually kill someone? Oh, people may think about it, may joke 'Yeah, I'm totally gonna kill my wife or boss or sibling'," I then wince for Skuld's sake, "but they're always too timid. Too afraid, that's what makes them mediocre. Me, even if you say I can't do it anymore, I'm still special because I have done it, without needing an officer to order me to!" 

I just tuned out his rant, as if tons of other megalomaniacs hadn't said the same spiel, confused their callousness for exceptionality. He even got increasingly high-pitched just like them all. But then at the height of his desperate reverie, he came to a complete halt and asked plainly, "Hold on, if you're Lachesis, why do you have a Swedish accent?"

Seriously, that's what he picked up on? "I'm in charge of everyone's present, I travel a lot," I told him on impulse. Also, Swedish? It's a Jotunheim accent, well, Jotunheim with an Asgardian dialect given I work at Urth's Well up there. True, there's no way he can know that, and better if he doesn't, but still.

"Anyway, you said I'll never succeed in killing anyone again… because of teens? Goddesses controlling people's fates, that I can at least understand. But a bunch of adolescents was all it took to make you do this to me, you put my life in their hands?!" The Scarecrow went back to shouting, and I couldn't help but be satisfied when tears started filling his eyes. 

"And a lot more lives out of your hands. But if it helps, I didn't like dealing with them either. Though you might like to know that they originally wanted us to kill you, it was me who talked them down to just making you never kill again," I told him. Then I flashed a wicked smile as a thought came to me, "Though maybe this is the worse fate for you. Sparing you means you'll have to live with what you've done. Maybe even confront the families and friends of all your victims, knowing you'll never be able to silence them. We can easily arrange that."

He was sent stumbling back, not seeming to care about the broken glass in his way. "Just… just stop," the Scarecrow manages to say. "Look, if you had to do this to me, why did you also come right up to me and rub it in? Couldn't you have at least left me blissfully ignorant? Leave me thinking that people can have their own fates, that teenagers can't dictate a whole person's life?"

"First, you're a serial killer, why would I ever have mercy on you? And don't give me that 'mediocrities' shit again," I hissed. "Second, I came here to remind myself that my actions have consequences for real people, something you should've taught yourself long ago."

And that did it, he was finally drained of words and sent scurrying away. I thought to go after him, but I'd more than left my mark on him by now. There's the chance he'll try to kill again to spite me, but he'll fail every time, so he'll learn how useless it is to defy his fate. Assuming he's not hunted down before then, if the police don't care then some vigilante mob will. His real first name is already public; I presume he won't be hard for them to track down.

I then heard a moaning behind me, turned around, and saw this guy's crucified victim was starting to regain consciousness. I mentally beat myself up for forgetting about him, yet another thing I can blame on the Scarecrow, then mentally tore into myself when I saw Scarecrow had cut his feet off, leaving an oozing puddle of blood and bone beneath him. I still knew this guy was fated not to die from this injury, but I swooped into help anyway, I'd already left him there on his own long enough. Unfortunately, any first aid skills I might've picked up in all my existence had faded with the rest of my memories, right when I genuinely could've used them for once. So I was left to feebly wrap my anorak sleeves around the stumps that'd been his legs for lack of any other option.

"Who… who are you?" he struggled to say, his voice reduced to nearly nothing.

"Vera Norin. I'm the one who saved you," I told him, feeling now wasn't the place for elaboration. 

"I'm… Nikos," was all he could say in return. 

"Hang on, I'll get you home. Just, er, point which way to go if talking's too hard," I told him. Good thing for Scarecrow he'd already run away, since I was now tempted to saw his own feet off. All that pain for being a 'mediocrity'.

"Oh thank you, thank you ever so much for saving our Nikos!" Nikos' wife, I heard him call her Dorothea, congratulated me upon me bringing him back to his place after we'd laid him down to recover. As opposed to her husband's office attire, she was dressed in more traditional Greek costume, all colourful embroidery above a flowing white dress, along with a little headscarf. "Well, I truly don't wish to sound ungrateful," she followed up, "but maybe bringing him to a hospital first would've been better. Ah, but then there's the issue of wait times and payment, so perhaps here was your only option."

This was… weird for me. I lived so long, yet being complimented and congratulated still isn't anything I'm used to. Eventually I told her, "Hey, even if you can't get him to a hospital, I've still got a hunch he'll live."

"That's very kind of you to say," Dorothea smiled at me. "Oh Vera, would you like to stay for dinner? We don't have much, but it's the least we can do for Nikos' saviour."

My instinct was to tell her no thanks, I'd be wanted back home. Especially as I don't need to eat, though obviously I don't let that slip. But then I thought hey, maybe just this once I could not just take off into the ether? And my sisters are immortals, they can literally wait forever. So I brought myself to say, "Sure, that'd be great." 

I also strained myself harder to say, "You have a lovely home." That couldn't be any more bullshit, the dingy apartment Nikos' family lived in rivalled the factory for sheer dismalness. The wallpaper was stained yellow if not peeling, the couches and beds looked like they'd collapse if you sat in them a little too hard, and it was all so cramped I kept worrying I'd get stuck. But Nikos had been kidnapped and mutilated by a serial killer, his family didn't need more negativity.

Dorothea smiled at me again, before she turned and called out, "Children, your father's home safe."

"Yay, Daddy's back!" two little tykes exclaimed in unison as they ran into the room, like he'd just gotten back from work and not from being kidnapped by a killer. Granted, both were still pretty young, how would you even explain serial killers to them? Still, I predicted a lot of awkward questions about feet in Nikos' future. "I was worried we'd never see him again," the older of them said.

Meanwhile, the younger of them looked up at me and outright asked, "Are you Daddy's guardian angel?" 

I… was not at all equipped to respond to that, especially since it was the wrong religion entirely, but then again so was Lachesis. Ill-equipped to talking with kids as I was, I eventually came up with, "You could say I'm everyone's guardian angel, or everyone's fairy godmother. Well, for everyone who deserves it," which was kind of the truth. But the Scarecrow knew full well I could just as easily be a punishing demon, as did quite a few others across history who only uttered 'Norn' with disgust. As an extra little treat for the kid, I briefly materialized wings behind my back, a hidden part of my body in the same way those spider pincers were.

Much as Nikos struggled to move, even he rose to smile at his two children. I began to feel queasy. All this… affection his family had for each other, even in such miserable conditions. I was told this was normal for families, but it was hard for me to get through my skull. Millennia of Urth constantly ordering me around and Skuld getting away with being a little monster will do that. And seeing a father who cared about his children, it reminded the only thing I know about my own purported dad is he's apparently named Mogthrasir… and that's it.

Speaking of Urth and Skuld, I took it now would be a good time to advertise Wyrd Sisters Inc, but on second thought it'd be a terrible time. 'Hey, I saved your husband's life, here's an ad for the place I work', you can just feel the skeevy opportunism of it. So when we sat down to eat, with a lamb meal that was much more generous than Dorothea had made it out to be, I compromised with, "Listen, if you ever need me again, here's my contact info," then handed them my card. Naturally, I never got any say in its design, it was all Urth. You could tell from the runes and the Yggdrasill-style branches. 

"Why, thank you, but it's just," Dorothea said then sighed, "it's an international number, and our internet connection is, well, not the best."

"Don't worry. I got down to Greece easily enough before, I can do it again," I told her, trying to smile at her this time.

"Thank you again, that's reassuring to hear- huh, what's this, fate-weaving?" she muttered as she took a closer look at the card.

"Yeah, deciding people's destinies. It's how I knew your husband would survive. My sister and I removed what would've been his death at the hands of that killer, and made it so the killer would never kill again," I told her.

I too hastily expected Dorothea to light up, but instead she bit her lip. "Don't get me wrong, I am ever grateful you used your… powers, I guess that's what you have, to save my husband and others from that- that monster. Ahem, however," she hesitated as a thought sunk in, "this is controlling people's fates we're talking about. Well, I'm just glad such a power seems to be in the right hands."

The right hands? Hoo boy, I've spent millennia wondering if us Norns have been that at all. I struggled to find any response to that, any response that didn't feel completely sugarcoated. The best I can come up with is, "I assure you, there are no better fate-weavers out there." Which is true, by default. 

The long meal over, which I'll tell you certainly beat Swedish cuisine, Dorothea and her children gave me one last hug before I left. From the look on Nikos' face, he would've joined in too had he still been able to stand. So instead he waved and said, "Vera, I-I really do owe you my life. What you did was a miracle, more than I ever could've asked for."

I just smiled back, utterly lost for words. No 'dreaded Norn', no 'cruel mistress of fate', just… people being happy because of me, saying I'd made their lives better. And then after all this warmth, I'd be going right back to Urth and Skuld.

But with another Yggdrasill trip, back to my sisters I went. No surprise, Urth showed up right away the instant I opened our Stockholm office door. "I trust it all went well, Verthandi?" she asked with all the warmth of a glacier. Well, better her at the door than Skuld going 'Hey, wasn't it totally cool you got to meet a serial killer?' that would've sent me volcanically fuming.

"Eh, the serial killer was a little shit just as I expected," I said, "but getting to do something good for once, having people thank me, it's not something I experience often. Yeah, I'm grateful." 

"I'm glad to hear that," Urth said simply. No 'that's wonderful' or 'that great', just 'I'm glad'. The usual for Urth. Still, even if she wouldn't be open about it, at least I was feeling pleased with myself. I didn't really care about proving myself to those teens anymore. Seeing Nikos' family so happy, that felt like more than ever could've asked for.

[jprgirl]

Best TAJ Episode: Poll 6

Use whatever metric you like! Personal preference, technical aspects, whatever! Feel free to make your case in the notes, and reblog to help spread the polls! :)

Possibly spoilery episode descriptions and screenshots below the cut to help you decide!

S3.E5 - Unleash the Kraken!

Learning that Johan is not only the Johnsons' father but the vessel of Njörðr, a sea god, Karen throws a fancy dress / family reunion party. Her godly power as 'social organiser' means none of them can reject the invitation. Olaf warns Mike about speaking to Johan, whose power is that his voice calms emotions - but only temporarily, and they return worse than before after he leaves. With Ty having moved out of Axl's flat and Ingrid unable to pay rent, Zeb suggests Amelia, a former mutual schoolfriend and crush of Zeb's. Axl reluctantly agrees. She flirts with Zeb but reminds Axl of a brief sexual fling - when she was uncaring of Zeb's feelings. At the party, old wounds are reopened: Ty's attempt to rebuke Johan is deflected by his power, Olaf punches Johan for breaking his one rule (never hit a woman), and Mike and Johan argue over Mike being left in charge of the family. The brothers play backyard cricket. The game dissolves in a brawl, until Olaf breaks it up and explains that it is due to Johan, who has gone and isn't coming back. Meanwhile, Johan tells Axl he has been drawn home because of Odin, and encourages him to face up to Amelia. They leave together. At the flat, Axl tells Zeb that Amelia is a psycho and only ever used Zeb as a way to reach him. Zeb refuses to believe it and tells Axl to leave, but Amelia proves Axl right by stabbing him in the back. His Odin powers growing, Axl hardly notices. Johan takes Axl to hospital before admitting he is leaving and suggesting a road trip to Norsewood, the Johnson family homestead. As they drive off, a mysterious man watches and writes "Odin – to Norsewood" in a notebook.

--

S3.E2 - This Thing Inside

Gaia asks Axl to bring the wedding forward, but then has sex with Anders again. Distraught, she confesses to Axl, who goes to find Anders - who is in hiding. Mike refuses to help Axl, but finds Anders on his own. Trying to make peace, Mike brings the family together at the partially renovated bar. In a rage, Axl throws Anders into a pile of rubble, mortally wounding him. Axl flees, while Michele saves Anders' life, revealing to those present that she has the Yggdrasil cutting. Mike finds Axl to tell him that Anders is fine, and convinces him to forgive Gaia. Gaia, knowing she can't avoid betraying him, tells Axl she will be leaving for London on her own - after they have spent one last night together.

Episode descriptions taken from Wikipedia

[trinityalps]

ONE PIECE AND YGGDRASIL PT1

THE CREATION OF THE WORLD

In the beginning there was nothing but Yggdrasil, The World Tree. It grew from the “misty void” which is bordered on either side by ice and fire. This is very similar to the structure of punk hazard. When the fire melted the ice, two entities emerged : Ymir the giant, and Audhumal the cow. The only cow we’ve seen in one piece is the sea cow, present in Arlong park and later fishman island. Ymir the giant was raised by the cow.  The cow creates/uncovered a man who had a son, who married a giant, who then gave birth to Odin, the highest of the gods. Meanwhile, Ymir births the giants.  

Odin and his 2 siblings kill Ymir, whose blood floods the earth and becomes the sea. His body parts are dragged back to the void (punk hazard?) and used to form the universe. His brain becomes the clouds. This connects the fishman, the sky islanders (who we know are moonfolk) and the giants of Elbaf to the creation of the world. It is also important to note the the world of one piece appears to be currently flooding, as evidenced by water 7 and wano.

It is also said that his eyebrows form a wall around the known world. This could refer to the red line. This is meant to protect midgard from the giants that live outside the walls. And it is said that his skull became the sky, held down by 4 dwarves in the north, south, east, and west. I think this represents the 4 blues metaphorically(?) holding down the red line, a protective wall for mariesjoia

When Ymir’s blood floods the world, all the giants are drowned except for “belgemir and his wife” they produce all the giants, who later become enemies of the gods. Now, the enemies of the gods in one piece are the will of the D. We know that at least one D comes from Elbaf (Jaguar D Saul) and that joy boy might be a giant (large hat). We also know that fishman are occasionally giant sized (like shirahoshi and neptune).  

Later, after using the body of ymir to create the world, they create the first man and first women from tried. In norse myth they are called Ask and Embla, but in OP we have the adam and eve tree of fishman island and elbaf. This is said to be the time where the “nine realms” were created in the roots of yggdrasil.

[arthrobug]

Was thinking about Ish's Season 2.5 Civ Event that I was in again (and consequentially having another breakdown for ten minutes because of it), and I realized something:

Living on the absolute shit hole that was Island 2 reminds me of what America is like (constantly afraid for my life, resources, and if someone will randomly start harassing me/cursing me out), and being there was the worst online/gaming/social experience of my life, no joke

Meanwhile, immigrating to Island 1 [Yggdrasil] out of fear for my sanity and blocky life, was the best damn decision I ever made. The place was a goddamn garden of beauty and safety, filled to the brim with genuinely nice people who regularly would say 'hello! :]' to my terrified ass while casually walking past

Motherf-ckers, the VERY FIRST PERSON to be nice to me without any other outside influence, was on Yggdrasil on I'm pretty sure Day 8, and he was a goddamn FIGHTER FOR INFERNUS WHO TOOK FOREVER TO GO DOWN IN THE WAR

Man, 100% genuinely, I despise most of the people on Island 2, and I hope everyone that survived on Yggdrasil and was sweet and a good team player to anyone they came across despite where they came from, I hope you all have a beautiful rest of your year ♥️

And once again fuck you Island 2

[icharchivist]

Wait, when did I unlock Dark Rapture?

...Not today, Satan

oh yeah :) i think you unlocked the regular Dark Rapture around level 130.

Welcome to hell, you can't escape for ever.

But more seriously if you want more power in your grids it's good to at least poke this raid. (my tip is bring your Light Team and do dmg targetting his wings, better if you do a CA Full Burst, it'll give you at least some honors that can count on getting a good chest)

it's the 30 people raid so people will come and save you and you don't have to worry about his 6people raid nonsense.

Meanwhile he'll drop his blood there (don't worry about it) which you'll be able to trade for his Opus weapons.

the Opus are among the core weapons from any grids once you get into HL (along with Seraphic and Astral weapons -- don't worry about Astrals yet though it's a Bubs/Arcarum problem for later. When you don't have an Astral you can get a Xeno weapon to basically replace it -- and with how much you've been hitting up Sagittarius you may have a lot of mats to work on Xeno Sagittarius' weapons too)

(there's also a weapontype called Draconic you can only unlock from playing Lindwurm and 6 dragons, which functions in similar way to the Opus but on different skillsets -- as a result you can only have one Opus OR one Draconic per grid, you can't have both of them. But usually grids are mostly built around Opus because Draconic still are pretty specific)

The Opus comes into two forms by elements: Renunciation when you have an Omega grid, and Repudiation when you have a primal grid

(in case i have to say it: Omega grid is a grid built with weapons that drop in game and are boosted by the summons from Tiamat/Colossus/Leviathan/Yggdrasil/Luminera/Celeste. Primal grids are prenium grids built from gacha weapons and boosted with summons like Zephyrus/Agni/Varuna/Titan/Zeus/Hades)

So to get stronger you will want the Renunciations weapons:

you'll find them in Siero's shop, in Treasure Trade > Weapons > High Difficulty. They cost 500 Elemental Quartz (of the element you're trying to get), 255 Weapon stones (of the weapon type the weapon you're trying to get is), and 5 Shadow Substance.

Shadow Substance either drops from Lucilius' main raid, or gets traded in the shop against 5 Dark Residue each, which also drops from Lucilius' main raid with more frequency than the Shadow Substance.

it's honestly actually not too hard, because even just poking the raid can get you guarantee Dark Residue.

The weapon will come at 3* when you get it, and it's going to be uncap that's challenging. 4* is gotten easily with Lucilius' main raid's mats, but 5* will require his HL raid and other HL materials from Gold Brick, Hollow key, and even Co-op's Astaroth.

It also has a newly implanted Transcendence but the mats are all HL nightmare (just the first Transcendence demands 30 of each of the big mats dropped by Lucilius HL, Beelzebub and Belial. We don't touch those).

BUT FOR YOU: getting your Renunciation weapon to 4* shouldn't be too hard and would actually improve your grids greatly.

Also once you get your Opus, you can custom which skills your Opus will get via the Pendulum menu (Shop > Treasure Trade > Power Ups > Skill Items > Pendulums) (it can also be upgraded with Chains, from the same menu, but those are Belial's mats only and we don't do those.) Pendulum will give you customs skills like "boost to skill dmg" or "boost to CA dmg". The first Custom Skills available costs 5 Shadow Substance (Regular Lucilius Raid) and the Second Custom skills costs 5 Tears of the Apocalypse (Lucilius HL raid, so don't worry about it)

just getting A Renunciation weapon to 4* with The First Pendulum would help you a lot.

see it in the way of this is how you can have Seofon do huge dmg.

if anything i explained isn't clear you can check the wiki page about it.

🫡 congratz on getting there Champion. You'll get even stronger, you'll see.

Take care!