#of his being. becoming a god was literally just a another form of suicide for him

[dreampearls]

collei and scara as different stages of the same experiment is going to kill me

[baldursgate3tempobsessed]

Past Astarion Meets His Future

This is a weird ass idea, but I'm doing it anyway. Some time travel fuckery. But the gist is: What if Astarion, decades before the Mind-flayers captured him, was on his last leg? Just on the verge of doing, what was at the time, his only way out. But what if something a little unworldly stopped him?

TW: Suicidal thoughts. M/F, me phoning it in with the dnd lore, Cazador is evil. Like, torture, physically and mentally, manipulation, literal horror shit. He's here so bad things happen to randos and our poor guy. I'm also using this as the backstory again for why Astarion can be in the sun in the future because it's so god damned convenient for drabbles.

~

Astarion watched the crowded bar with focused eyes, a feigned, relaxed smirk on his lips. But even with the acting, he could feel the smile on his face start to tremble, a tell-tale sign that he was truly on his last leg. It had been a long, horrible night, one that had no end in sight. Cazador was in rare form, demanding multiple warm bodies in the span of less than five hours. Astarion wasn't sure what had angered him this time, but he was taking it on the victims in a particularly savage way.

Twice already he had forced Astarion to stay in the room with the poor souls he'd brought back. And then Cazador... made him watch what he did to them. The monster truly had a knack for keeping them alive until the last possible moment. Beating them, assaulting them, laughing at their cries for help. He drank from them last, feasting on their blood until they were just on the edge of death before tossing to them ground. Then Astarion was dismissed with the order to find another.

He hated it. It was the worst part of his nights by far, not including when he was the one being tortured in their place. It didn't help that he always looked at their faces, full of terror and betrayal.

Why did he always have to look? It was a question he knew the answer to. It was because he did that to them. Perhaps not literally, but what was the difference? Astarion had led them straight into his hands.

That was all he did. His entire existence had been reduced to this. A slave, a rat, scuttling through the streets, only capable of inflicting the same torment on strangers. It was a hell that no one should experience, and one that Astarion had been in for nearly 130 years.

How could he continue like this? What was the point? He'd spent so long living on pure survival instinct, waiting for the impossible day where luck would be on his side. Where Cazador would kill the wrong stranger, where the possibility of his murder could become a reality. It was delusional, a poor excuse to continue clinging to this farce of a life.

But there was another option. There always had been. All he needs to do is wander off and wait for the sun to rise, and everything could finally be over. It's far from the first time he's thought about it. But Astarion is nothing but a coward. He'd seen the pure pain and misery of a death of that nature, your insides boiling from within as your skin turned to dust. It was horrifying, one of the worst ways someone could go. And yet... it was starting to seem like the only reasonable option he had left.

Maybe... maybe today would be the day, the first time he'd seen the sun in decades. And the last time he'd ever take a breath.

"Are you alone?" A voice asked, followed by a gentle touch to his arm.

Astarion turned, that same shallow smile instantly reappearing on his face. It was a man, one that was handsome enough for Astarion to probably not feel completely sick during the deed. Then again... he could always ignore them and go back to his final plan.

Or he could wait it out one more day, and pray for a miracle. Astarion nodded towards him, still slightly torn but willing to at least try. It's not like he could go home empty handed if things turned out that way.

"Come to my room?"

Well this was certainly easy. Astarion didn't even have to take the energy to bite out a subpar pick up line. He just followed the man to his room, a plan forming in his head on how he could convince him back to the manor. Not to mention his own escape if he turned out to have less than savory intentions.

The stranger shut the door behind him, sitting on the side of his bed with his hands folded in his lap, his eyes staring straight ahead. Astarion barely stopped himself from rolling his own. Great. A weirdo. What a lovely way to end the night, spending it seducing a complete freak. But Astarion had dealt with worse. He perched next to him, crossing his legs as he waited to see where this would go.

"I can see it," He finally said, his voice gravelly as he turned to stare at Astarion.

Astarion raised his brow, wondering for the first time if this particular prey had been partaking in some mind altering substances, "And what exactly are you seeing?"

"You."

Suddenly, the man was wrapping a tight hand around Astarion's wrist, his eyes shining with an unnatural green light, "You're close to the edge. Too close. My lord needs you breathing."

Astarion froze, equally parts horrified and confused at what he was alluding to. How on earth did he know his thoughts? What lord? Or the more likely reality; How wasted could one person be?

Astarion tried to pull back, frowning when he realized the grip on his wrist was iron-clad. He could feel a bit of panic start to swell inside him as he struggled, his voice rising, "I have no idea what you're talking about. Let go of me-"

"You must live," He said, the color of his eyes only getting brighter and brighter, near twin flames in the darkness of the room, "There is no other way. Kelemvor has work for you yet."

His confusion was quickly evaporating into rage. He didn't know what this thing wanted from him, nor why the god of death would have any interest in his life. But how dare he insist on Astarion's pathetic existence having meaning. He knew nothing.

His mask was slipping, his righteous anger spilling forth, "Let go. Before I rip your fucking arm off."

But he made no moves to back down. Instead he started to chant, an incantation that had Astarion officially panicking. Whatever magic he was using, it was powerful. Reality was shifting right beneath Astarion's feet, morphing into something different. The next thing he knew they were somewhere else entirely, his reality melting into something new right before his eyes.

The entire thing was so shocking that Astarion didn't even realize he was seeing sunlight. Without a single pain. He frantically looked around, the insane stranger's grip finally loosening as he twisted away. They were on a couch, in the middle of what looked like a brightly lit townhouse, voices spilling out of the other room.

Astarion stood quickly, a hiss escaping him, "Where in the hells are we?"

"Nowhere," The man said cryptically, his eyes still aflame, "Neither the present of the future. We are in nothing but a glimpse, taken and made for you."

That did nothing to answer his question. But it did make his mind go into more reasonable directions. This had to be an illusion, there was no other explanation for why he wasn't being burned alive. But an illusion of what? And for what purpose?

Astarion pinched the bridge of his nose, at a complete loss at what to do. He could try and kill him and pray that that would break the spell. But there was also the chance that he wouldn't live through an altercation with someone who could warp his senses so easily. Or perhaps this whole thing was a nightmare, a horrifying dream he'd cooked up after a night in the torture chamber.

Still at a loss, he settled on asking another question, "Then what is this a glimpse of?"

"Home," The man said simply before slipping off the couch. The cryptic bastard.

He started walking towards the next room towards the unknown voices; Astarion feeling helpless but to follow.

He lingered at the entryway, his eyes widening at the sight of a woman standing there, cooing at a teary-eyed child she had on her hip. They were right in her line of sight, but she had no reaction to their presence, instead calling out into the other room, "Did you find it yet?"

Another voice called back, oddly familiar as it groaned, "If I had, would I still be on my hands and knees here?"

Astarion stepped forward, more than ready to see if he could enlist the help of strangers for his predicament.

"They can not perceive us," The stranger said, interrupting the call for help that was on the tip of Astarion's tongue, "They are not real. Merely copies of what is, what will be."

"Lovely," Astarion growled out, his fingers itching to fight back against this demon of a man, "Now what in the gods' names does this have to do with me?"

"Watch and you will see," He said, his eyes blazing straight ahead, "The Lord of Death works in mysterious ways."

Astarion's theory of this being a torture-induced dream was becoming more and more believable. He didn't even bother questioning it, not when one more inane answer would send him into a tailspin. Instead he stared ahead, waiting for the moment he would wake up.

The baby was still squirming. Annoying whining sounds spilling from its lips, nearly on the edge of crying. But the woman still had a bright smile on her face, calling back "I told you we should have looked for it last night!"

"Well when she threw it across the room I assumed that meant it had fallen out of favor!" That same familiar voice yelled back, followed by an excited ah-ha! sound.

"Isabella's gonna have a fit, isn't she?" The woman sing-songed, bouncing the child on her hip, "I guess Mommy's going to have to let you start sucking on Daddy's hair again, huh?"

"I heard that!" The muffled voice called back, getting clearer and clearer by the moment. And then another man was walking into the room, grinning ear to ear as he held up a pacifier, "And I will not be forgetting it darling. Don't come crying to me the next time she's gnawing on your nose."

He leaned over to kiss the woman on the cheek before popping the pacifier in the girl's mouth, laughing when it instantly made her calm down. He was tall and pale, an elf with piercing red eyes and pure white hair.

No. It couldn't be-

"There. All better," The man sighed, his voice crystal clear in the calmness of the room, "She has quite the arm for a toddler."

It was a voice that Astarion knew, better than anyone else. It was his own.

Astarion watched, wide-eyed as his other self lifted the baby up in his arms, laughing as the child squealed around the pacifier, "She sure is cute for someone who can be such a brat. She takes after her mother doesn't she?"

The woman rolled her eyes, but she was still smiling. Almost like she couldn't help but do anything else as she watched the duo, "Brave words for someone of your nature. Not to mention how she's your twin."

"Nonsense. She looks just like you, we should have named her Tav Jr," Other Astarion playfully argued, taking his other arm to wrap around the woman's shoulders, "I'm only responsible for the corpse-like complexion."

Astarion stared at them, in complete shock. He didn't-why would anyone or anything want to show him this? It didn't make sense. How would it be possible for him to be in the sunlight? Let alone to have a family. Astarion knew that this had to be a lie, there was no other explanation.

But that didn't stop his heart from aching from being forced to witness it. He was too shell-shocked to speak as he followed the duo to the other room, listening as his other self set the child in a crib, still cooing at her, "Auntie Karlach is coming over and you'll need your rest. How else will you be annoying together?"

"Astarion!"

He watched himself laugh as he pulled back, kissing her little forehead before murmuring, "Mommy only says my name like that when she has no comeback, isn't that right princess?"

"You're going to regret telling her everything when she can start talking," The woman, Tav, piped up from next to him, "I hope you realize she'll tell me all of your secrets."

Astarion rolled his eyes before pulling her against him, pressing a sweet and lingering kiss to her lips, "What secrets do I have that you don't know? Please, enlighten me."

What kind of cruel joke was this? Astarion, the real Astarion, had seen enough. He turned to the bastard that had sent him here, growling through gritted teeth, "Why are you doing this to me? Have I not suffered through enough?"

The man offered nothing of value, "We offer you what could be, if you can survive. No more, no less."

No. No, no, no. He wouldn't believe him. He refused to. There was no future for him. There couldn't be. I-It wasn't possible. Not with Cazador looming, not when he couldn't walk in the sun without being burned alive. And especially not when he couldn't even fathom letting himself care form someone enough to have a family with.

But that's what was in front of him. He turned back, his morbid curiosity getting the better of him. Just in time to see the couple standing there, holding each other while they made out like teenagers.

"I love you," His other self sighed happily, the words free and unbidden from his own lips between kisses, "More than anything my sweet."

"With one exception?" Tav asked, her arms wrapped around his neck.

Astarion laughed, nodding towards the crib with a knowing grin, "With one exception."

Astarion stared at them, a horrifying feeling starting to grow in his chest.

Hope.

It's the greatest betrayal he could give himself, an eternity's sentence to his own personal hell on the delusional belief that something better would come. He couldn't give in to it. He wouldn't.

But the question still escapes his lips, "How long?"

"Seventy years until you meet," The stranger said, "You must live to see it. Five more until you're here."

Astarion watched, wide-eyed as the alternate reality started to fade, the stranger's eyes becoming more dull and human-like by the moment. He stared until the last possible moment, trying to commit it all to memory.

But it was difficult. Like thoughts he couldn't quite grasp, slipping through his fingers. Something wasn't right.

"Will I remember this?" He asked, even though he was already on the edge of forgetting.

"No," The man said simply. They were back in the room, sitting on the bed as though nothing had happened, "But you'll remember the hope."

It was the equivalent of a curse, one that Astarion could barely fathom as magic twisted his memories. But he could feel it there, festering in his heart. The yearning for a new life, stronger than ever.

Astarion left Shar's Caress that night feeling dazed and confused. He barely managed to drag a wasted loner back to the manor with him, preying on him in the back aisles. It was startling to think that he'd almost forgotten his original mission considering the consequences. But whatever happened had... done something to him. Something that he couldn't quite name.

But he didn't see the sun that day. Or the next. Or the day after that. Instead he continued to struggle, to suffer at the hands of his sadistic sire with no end in sight. Not until years and years later, when the worst and best thing to ever happen to him occurred. He was kidnapped by mind flayers, but gifted with a disgusting parasite that allowed him to live in the sun.

It wasn't ideal but it was better than being under Cazador's thumb. Not to mention how he found companions relatively quickly. It had been pure luck that you stumbled upon him, even luckier still that you were the type to forgive a man for having a knife to your throat.

He was happy to accompany you. He was happy to do whatever it took to increase his chances of survival, frankly. It helped that he felt... strangely drawn to you. You looked oddly familiar. He didn't know how else to describe it, but it was almost as though he'd met someone from a past life.

[galsinspace]

Replaying Inquisiton really made me notice (again) how the companions are written with such an incredibly noticeable difference in care. Man I hope they did a better job in Veilguard. And it's such a stark contrast from Origins!

I'll just post my comparative ramblings bc I'm on a train and have nothing better to do

In my opinion, one of the best things about Origins is the closeness you develop with your companions. You're with them through massive, formative changes in their lives, you find out about their childhood traumas and the people they've grown up to be, and as a player you make huge decisions that shape their future. By the end I felt so close to these characters. Looking at the main companions:

Alistair? We find out all about his longing for family, for love, his desire not to be defined by his blood and be able to live a normal life. You're both saddled with the responsibility to save the world together, and you do. Depending on the choices you make, he may have the love he longs for, and he may have to be king, you shape his life in a huge way.

Leliana? She literally seeks you out because she's received visions and is on a god-given mission. You literally shape the kind of person she becomes, whether she hardens or softens her heart.

Zevran? This is the most important period in his life. His flight from the Crows, his suicidal intent and then sudden wish to stay alive after all, finding new things to live for, remembering his mother, you save his life in more ways than one.

Morrigan? Literally the first time she's left her abusive mother's side and it's travelling with you. She finds her own ways to live, you give her the jewellery her mother wouldn't allow her, you help her confront her mother and free herself from her. You might literally be the father of her child.

Sten? Also suicidal, and you help him regain his self worth and sense of meaning in life. And you change him. He comes from a society with rigid rules and you help him see other ways of life. If you play as a woman, he's literally confused in the beginning that you're a fighter, and then as you gain his affection he acknowledges and respects you as who you are. He's not romanceable and probably changes the least out if the companions, but still goes through this monumental change of perspective about there being other valid ways of life. Sten should have been romanceable lbr

Oghren? It's super unfortunate how comic relief he is BECAUSE his story is so intense. The woman he loves disappeared! He's an alcoholic! He's so tied into the MAIN QUEST! He's tragic! You're with him through this massive thing he goes through and it really sucks that he can't really... change. You can't really help him. But even so, the events of the game are monumental to his life.

The Secret Companion is self-explanatory. You completely re-shape his life.

And in comparison, the companions in Inquisition are just WILDLY hit or miss. Some of them you become incredibly close to, others are just kinda there. Oh we're saving the world together? Just another day at the office babey. You don't really get to know them that deeply, you don't get to change their views, they're just there and you work together and then they go on their way. I'm of course talking mainly about Vivienne and Sera.

It's insane to me that Vivienne is this incredibly complex character who is the way she is because she grew up traumatized in an oppressive environment and you never get to talk to her about this. It's hidden in a few comments Cole may or may not drop if you travel with both of them. Her polished demeanor and ever-present smile? Learned in the Circle to demonstrate to templars that she was good, obedient, and non-possessed. Her materialism? When she met the duke, the thought in her head was I will never go hungry again.

Vivienne is TRAGIC. She's a deeply traumatized woman who has lived all her life in a system that did not grant her basic security, and she was strong and smart enough to gather power in the only ways she was allowed to. And you can't even talk to her about this. Her personal quest is some weird red herring bullshit meant to make you question whether she's a villain, comparing her to the evil queen from Snow White, and then it's just... her boyfriend dying. You can't change anything. You can barely talk to her about this relationship - it must have been a mix of love and practicality, a connection that gave her both tenderness and influence, the only power she was allowed to have. And it IS an injustice that she could never have married him! But you can't talk to her about this. Can't influence her viewpoint at all. All this complexity is hidden in subtext, and Vivienne does not change as a person at all.

Vivienne is outwardly cold towards Cole, dismissive, pragmatic, cruel. If Cole becomes more human, he points out to her that she secretly worried about him and is glad he's safe. She denies it. This is the only complexity she's allowed to show, hidden in random banter most players will never hear.

Why are we not allowed to be close to Vivienne? Why can't we talk to her? Explore who she is? Why does it feel like it literally does not matter whether we touch her life at all?

I've seen people claim that the fandom neglects Vivienne unfairly, but this was the WRITERS. They neglected Vivienne. They made it impossible to be close to her, they hid her complexity while just having her be straight-up rude for most of the game. This was a huge failure on the part of the writers. I've heard that her main writer said on twitter (DA writers should not be allowed to tweet) that he just didn't like her and that makes me so mad. Fucking video game writers...

And Sera. Oh, Sera.

She's annoying. Her jokes are painfully unfunny. It's super hard to get her to like you. Whenever you talk to her, the first option is to kick her out of the Inquisition. Why on EARTH did they write her this way?

Her personal quest is nothing. You go meet some guy, kill him, over. What does this MEAN??? What does this mean for Sera's character?? It's so fully useless, you learn nothing new, you don't get closer to Sera, who the fuck wrote this and why was this published.

And just like with Vivienne, you barely get to talk to Sera. She runs around with a huge case of internalized elf racism and you never get to talk about it. She literally won't put on armour marked as "elves only", what's up with that girl? She openly looks down on elves to the point of being annoyed to even talk to an elf Inquisitor, why can we never talk to her about this?

She's supposed to be from Denerim. Is she from the Alienage? The close-knit community Tabris is from? Does she know Tabris? She might literally know the Hero of Ferelden and it's never a topic of conversation. She would have been like, a young teenager at the time when the Alienage was suffering a plague and elves were being kidnapped and sold into slavery. Was this not a formative experience for her? Was she not there? Did she not live in the Alienage? Well all of Denerim became a war zone during the Blight, was that not a notable event in her life????

Why do we not get to explore anything that makes her the dismissive, flighty person she is?

Playing in German, there is fascinating ambiguity in the graveyard of your companion's fears that you find in the Fade - Sera's greatest fear is "nothing". In German, the word for the Fade is "the Nothing". I thought it made so much sense that that would be her greatest fear! She's afraid of anything involving magic and spirits, and it adds a nice metaphorical level to her rejection of anything elven: elves are supposed to be inherently connected to the Fade, but she's afraid of the Fade! Comments she makes seem to imply that she has a suppressed sensitivity to spirits, but either Solas or Cole suggesting that that might be the case clearly terrifies her.

Well, imagine my disappointment when I found out that in the original English, her fear is just "nothing". Which is bullshit too, Sera is clearly afraid of of anything Fade-related. I guess it might be some idea of how she's afraid of quiet and non-existence, but like... what a missed opportunity. What a dumb thing to be her greatest fear. What a missed opportunity.

And just like Vivienne, it doesn't feel like you really impact her life at all. Sera just comes and goes, she does her own thing, and she never unpacks any of her issues. Why was she written this way? Why did they think this would be a compelling companion experience? And for fuck's sake, who thought she was funny?

This rant is already way too long and I'm almost off the train so I won't write a full comparison to the Inquisition companions who were done well, but like, it's obvious. For some of them you touch their lives intimately, you shape their worlds, you actually feel close to them by the end of the game. How the fuck did this game get shipped with Vivi and Sera like that.

It's been 10 years and I hope the developers learned from their mistakes, if they noticed them in between sucking their own dicks on twitter.

[11queensupreme11]

I saw the comment about Percy's teething and I loved it

humanity is being destroyed in biblical tsuname style, the world is in chaos

humans are desperately performing rituals and giving offerings to the sea gods, regardless of their religion, in hopes of calming these floods

perhaps the valkyries and some gods (after having their egos softened by the offerings) will ask (no one is crazy or suicidal to demand something from Poseidon) the reason for his fury and if they can do something to calm him down and convince him to stop the tsunamis that are devastating humans

maybe there is an agreement in which the gods cannot kill humanity without there being a consensus, so Poseidon alone could not kill humans with tsunamis without there being a council in a meeting that takes place every 1000 years (remembering that the percy baby au happens a few years before ragnarok)

All the gods, especially the seafarers, are tense at the meeting not knowing how to approach the subject until they realize a crucial fact:

Poseidon is not holding the trident correctly,Poseidon would never hold his trident in such an undignified way, why would he act so imperfectly? initially they thought it was because he also had Baby Percy on his lap but they soon realized that this didn't make sense, that's when they realized that the position of the trident allowed Percy to nibble on it comfortably in the middle of the handle

still not taking their eyes off baby percy (because she is absolutely adorable) they watch her bite the staff at the same time they feel a tsunami forming

Just imagine the face the gods would make when they realized that all the destruction and death humans are going through is the result of a baby's teething pains

some gods would be scared of Percy becoming a poseidon 2.0, some would find the situation ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS but some gods like Buddha, the valkyries and the human fighters would probably be hysterical knowing that all these tsunamis are being caused by a baby that I haven't even had yet crawl

Trying to take Percy's trident away is impossible, trying to discipline him would only attract the fury of the Norse and Greek pantheon (and possibly all the other gods conquered by her cuteness) so there is only one alternative:

find something Percy likes to chew on more than his father's trident

just imagine Poseidon sitting with Percy on his lap and in front of them is a crowd of thousands of humans and perhaps gods offering different objects as an alternative choice of teether for Percy

They place the teether on an altar and pray for the offering to calm the teeth tyrants in Baby Percy's birth, the items are first tested to see if they are dangerous and then are evaluated to see if they are fit for a princess

If they pass the test, they are placed in front of Percy, who will be distracted by them and put them in his mouth, but like the other offers, the item is spat out and rejected and Percy bites the trident again, which generates another tidal wave in somewhere in the world

i don't think any baby has ever been as worshipped and prayed to like baby!percy has and that alone, should be enough to tell everyone how powerful she is 😌

i also love how literally no one has the guts to try and discipline percy not just because of poseidon, but because of THE OTHER GODS TOO 😭

(also, poseidon probably has those baby-proof soft covers that parents put on sharp table corners and shit, except poseidon has them on the tips of his trident so his baby doesn't accidentally cut herself 🥺)

[oc-tournaments]

ROUND THREE - MATCH 3

DALO vs SALVANAN

DALO: @genericswordsmaiden

SALVANAN: @the-demoness-next-door

VOTE BASED ON THE INFORMATION BELOW CUT!!

Propaganda Content Warnings: Suicide, assault, internalised homophobia, animal death, dismemberment, alcoholism for DALO, abuse, manipulation, suicidal thoughts for SALVANAN.

DALO:

PROPAGANDA: Dalo is a ghost, she died by suicide at the age of 27, and in the world of the dead where she now resides, which is actually a purgatory of sorts, she has to endure loneliness because suicides can get corrupted - change form and become aggressive spirits - and are therefore ostracized by other ghosts. Born in an abusive family, starved during her childhood and bullied at school, Dalo develops trust issues growing up, her only friend being a pen pal, Luka, and her mentor, a man whom she only remembers as Professor. Dalo is not her real name, but a nickname that eventually erased her original name. At age 16, she gets physically assaulted by a group of guys and survives, but gets big ugly scars on her back that she tries to hide in every way she can. When she gets the chance, she travels to the city of Providence, renting an apartment with Luka. They form a band with two other characters, Mary and Sam, but soon tensions arise, mainly because they all love Sam in some way, and this puts Dalo in an uncomfortable situation because she doesn't really know how to deal with feelings. She ultimately decides to put them aside and think about how to help Luka deal with his homosexuality instead. In this period of time, which lasts about three months, another tragedy occurs: Dalo and Luka's cat, whom they treated as a son, is found killed one evening. This brings the two even closer, grief shutting them out of the world for a while. As if that wasn't enough, Sam, thinking that Luka and Dalo became a couple, marries Mary instead, breaking two hearts at once. Just when it seems like everything is slowly flowing normally again, Luka has a breakdown and asks Dalo if God can accept him as he is. The choice of words in her answer to such a cryptic question is crucial and will forever change her life, as well as ultimately end his, since he goes missing from that evening, until his body is found in a bag a week later, chopped up into pieces. The weight of the event is too much for her to bear, the guilt and pain make her turn to alcoholism. Her last choice was cold and calculated, she saw no value in a life like hers, so after months of suffering she took her own life. As a ghost, this choice hunts her, also because it made her directly linked to the main antagonist of the book, but this is a lore-heavy detail and I don't really want to delve into it. Her other big character trait is the fact that, with a life like that, she has tons of repressed anger, which all comes crashing out of her (literally) at some point in the story. Her power as a ghost is summoning chains, which symbolise both her guilt and the desperate need to be "chained to someone", to have some kind of bond with another person.

THEME SONG:

SALVANAN:

PROPAGANDA: this poor man. buckle in, you have a LONG one coming. he's very old, he's the god of plants + the earth and he's great i love him but man i have not been nice to him. so. way early in his life, he had a very sweet boyfriend named azyll along w lots of mutual friends. except oops, sal developed chronic anxiety and depression and decided that he did not think he would be good for azyll and broke it off w him. it was amicable but it still sucks. fast forward a bit, one of the friends in their circle, jekath, is being manipulated and hurt for no reason and sal knows but for magic reasons he's incapable of telling anyone, just has to watch. and then he eventually has to watch jekath finally snap under the pressure and betray them all and go evil. no bueno. so he spends a long time feeling terrible and eventually he plans to just. yknow. off himself. but oh surprise this little boy named safari shows up in his garden! and he's like well shit guess im a dad now. and he loves this little boy very much. it's good times! except when he's a teenager two of the little boy's biological brothers drop him off a cliff and nearly kill him, which is, yknow, terrifying. that's his son! his son was almost murdered! no! bueno! anyway, azyll's mortal so eventually he dies of old age, now sal's even sadder. least he's still got his other friends and safari but Man. anyway fast forward again, whole world is at war. and his two best friends, arona and morana, both die in it. but if that was not bad enough, arona was killed by jekath. you know, the old friend that was abused and eventually betrayed them all. so the friend he felt like he failed has now murdered one of his best friends. and his other best friend is ALSO dead. things are just going Great. flash forward another little while and his goddaughter's husband, sibrum, goes evil against his will too. he's known sibrum since he was a kid so now he's got ANOTHER person he felt responsible for gone evil against their will. then sibrum's daughter dies. are you seeing a pattern yet. anyway, sibrum soon kills jekath so now sal feels like he's double failed both of them and also even MORE of his original friends are dead now. so he is trying So Hard to relax! but then safari is turned into a terrible person against his will too! and because they were so so close for so so long they end up in a toxic dynamic instead of cutting each other off. sal finally figures out how to break the spell on safari and it's all Okay Now (they're both traumatized and it's definitely not okay). he gets to relax for only a brief time before his other child's son, volta, has a villain arc too. and what happens? you guessed it! sal tries to stop him and help him and he's not able to. and feels like he failed someone AGAIN. yeah this just happens over and over through the course of his life. he's so tired and sad man

THEME SONG:

[ink-flavored]

Purgatory

BTS Series: ⬅ Table of Contents Also available on Neocities! P&J Taglist (Check out my Google form to get added): @elegant-paper-collection @auroblaze@zeenimf @vacantgodling @foxys-fantasy-tales Banner art by @auroblaze

Traditionally in Christianity, Purgatory isn’t a place, like pop culture depicts. It’s actually a “cleansing ritual” that some people have to go through to be worthy of Heaven. Sometimes it involves literally being cleansed in fire! However, I’m going with the more pop-culture-y depiction of Purgatory because it better fits the tone of the story, and allows me to do a little more sociopolitical commentary. Which I love, and will always do. Anyway, here it is!

The Structure of Purgatory

In the quilt of the universe, Purgatory is a fascinating square. It holds a mirror to Earth, reflecting it as a plain, unchanging, eerie dreamworld. There are things that look familiar to the souls that wander there, but with a distinct alien veneer that reminds them they are not in the same place they left.

Souls who aren’t worthy of Heaven, but aren’t sinful enough to be sent to Hell, are prescribed time to think and to repent in Purgatory. God gives them a second chance after death to reconcile their sin, and once they’ve atoned to His satisfaction, they’re permitted to take their place in paradise. Those that aren’t forgiven wander until their souls eventually fade to Hell.

Those wandering Purgatory cannot enter or exit of their own volition. The process of forgiveness or fading can take centuries. Hundreds of years of circling in the same empty plane with other souls, just as aimless. Simply put, Purgatory is a holding cell, for those souls who have nowhere else to go.

Wandering Souls

Though they certainly can, the immortal beings of other realms rarely appear in Purgatory. Angels and demons can travel in and out whenever they wish, but angels appear only to bring souls there or relieve others of their roaming, and demons have little use for souls that can’t be further corrupted. The souls of Purgatory have very little company outside each other.

The souls that wander are given little direction as to how they’re meant to appropriately repent. They have not broken their relationship with God, they’re assured, only injured it, and that injury can be repaired with time and atonement. However, many souls in Purgatory are confused as to why they’re even supposed to be repenting. Lying, gossiping, drinking to excess, failure to pray, and suicide are all on the list of venial sins that these lonely souls are meant to be making amends for.

For those confused, they have plenty of time to work through the feeling. Souls in Purgatory are meant to consider their mistakes in life, atone for them, and God would recognize the way they’ve held themselves accountable and offer forgiveness. Eventually.

Some souls, though, become frustrated. Some felt their sin was unavoidable, some felt they didn’t have a choice. Some had no idea they were sinning in the first place, they thought they were doing the right thing. It’s difficult for many souls to capitulate to a God they had never believed in, or to apologize for something they couldn’t have averted.

But even among those that atone as best they can, the resounding silence from above becomes disheartening indeed. After centuries and centuries of wandering, plenty expect that they’ll never be forgiven, no matter how long or how many times they repent. When the angels appear to usher the scant few forgiven souls to Heaven, leaving countless others behind, the demoralization drives them deeper and deeper into despair.

Forgiveness and Fading

The process of being forgiven is, in writing, very simple. Once God has decided a soul wandering Purgatory has repented to His satisfaction, He orders an angel to bring them to Heaven.

In practice, the qualifiers for “satisfactory repentance” are vague. The criteria for one soul might be wildly different from another, regardless of their sin. Some are waiting for a short amount of time compared to the souls that wander the longest, and there doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to which souls are accepted and which aren’t. God seems more determined than ever to smoke out the unworthy, and the length of time it takes for any one soul to reach forgiveness stretches far longer than many of Heaven’s agents think is justified—though these angels are wise enough not to voice their criticisms.

Part of the unspoken concern lies in the fact that souls in Purgatory don’t stay there for eternity. The longer they sit, the more they despair, the closer they are to giving up on the chance of being forgiven altogether. Many don’t see a point, after waiting for so long. God had abandoned them, left them to rot and tread the same ground over and over, waiting for a forgiveness that would never come. When these souls turn their backs on Heaven, there is only one place for them to go.

Hell doesn’t “claim” souls from Purgatory. Demons aren’t sent up to collect them, and it’s not as though the souls from Purgatory are itching for damnation. Instead, God watches these souls slip farther from forgiveness, and eventually He lets them go. Like a fishing line, He stops reeling them in, and releases them to the depths.

And though Hell doesn’t necessarily gather up these lost souls on purpose, Lucifer will accept them happily. After all, what better way to motivate his army than with more fodder to be made an example of? What better way to show them how pointless God’s plans are, than with the very souls He claimed to love so much, abandoned at their doorstep? The constant churning of Purgatory’s lost souls are the perfect talking point—remember how much God loved His creations? This is what He thinks of them now. The only option becomes overthrowing Heaven, and proving themselves righteous.

The angels in Heaven who are brave or foolish enough to speak of this problem openly, do so in whispers. They wonder why God is so concerned with keeping out every soul with even a sliver of impurity. They wonder why so few souls get brought up from Purgatory these days, and even if they do, why they stay there for so long. They worry about innocent souls going to Hell under their watch, suffering needlessly for the sake of holy paranoia.

And then they’re decisively hushed, for fear of joining the unholy ranks.

There it is! Those of you who read Justice’s backstory on Tumblr might have found some of this familiar.

I’m not sure how much of all this lore, from Heaven on downwards, will make it into the full story, but I’m glad I got to share it with all of you to make sure someone other than me gets to hear my thoughts!

Thanks as always for your support!

— Annika

[most-screwed-by-writers-tourney]

Beefleaf: SQX is targeted by a demon who prays on fear and suffering as a child, which is intending to drive him to suicide and suffering. Having no other choice, SQX's brother SWD uses a ancient technique to switch SQX's fate with another person with the same name and birthdate. <-That's He Xuan. Using HX's fate, SQX(unknowing)'s life gets better and better, and eventually ascends to godhood with SWD. On the other hand, HX, with SQX's fate, is now the target of the demon and his life gets worse and worse. His family dies one by one gruesomely, and HX finally snaps, killing everybody who wronged him before dying from exhaustion. As he lays dying, he sees SWD standing over his body. Filled with resentment, he returns to life as a ghost, intent on finding out the reason for his suffering. He devours the demon who tormented him, and rises to become one of the four most powerful ghosts, earning the moniker "Black Water Sinking Ships".After realising what SWD did, he swears vengeance. He kidnaps and takes the place of another newly ascended god, Ming Yi. HX, now MY, befriends SQX in the heavens to get close to him and his brother, awaiting the day he could take his revenge. During this centuries-long time, SQX and MY become best friends, nigh on inseparable. Finally, the day of reckoning arrived. HX takes on the form of the demon to reveal the truth to SQX, before kidnapping SQX. When SWD arrives to rescue him, HX gives him and ultimatum: either SQX must kill SWD, or SWD must swap SQX's fate with that of a madman's, leaving him to suffer. SWD creates a third path, angering HX until HX rips SWD's head off in front of SQX. SWD dies with the knowledge that he won, that no matter what happened now, he and his brother had gotten all those years together, while HX could never get his family back again. His last words are " My fate is up to me and not the heavens!" In the aftermath, HX strips SQX of his godly power, leaving him to live as a crippled beggar for the rest of his days.

Bingqui: theyre soooooo <3 - shen qingqiu gets so mad over a shitty book that he dies and transmigrates into it as the antagonist. he decides to be nice to the protagonist (luo binghe) so that he doesnt get his arms and legs chopped off and his body stuffed into a jar. as a result luo binghe falls in love with him. - shen qingqiu literally Does Not See any of the characters as people, he sees them as characters in the book. Including binghe. Hes always like "aghhhhh my favourite little white lotus <3 the protagonist <3 my blorbo <3" like binghe is straight up Not a person to him - an evil computer controlling shen qingqiu's actions forces him to push luo binghe off a cliff into the abyss to experience Horrible Trauma. at no point does binghe learn that shen qingqiu was forced to do this, he simply chooses to Get Over It. - shen qingqiu is luo binghe's teacher, so you would think that that's the core of the unequal power dynamic, right ? WRONG. - luo binghe is a super OP demon lord with unimaginble power. He has the protagonist halo and literally cannot lose. also he gives shen qingqiu a blood parasite std so he can literally control him and shit. you would think that THAT's the core of the unequal power dynamic then, right ? ALSO WRONG - luo binghe is so so obsessed with shen qingqui if sqq told him to leave and never come back or smth he would straight up kill himself - literally no one is winning. its an unequal power dynamic no matter how you look at it but NO ONE IS WINNING - shen qingqui dies and luo binghe literally sleeps with his dead body for like five years. - theyre sooooo codependent like their whole relationship is binghe being horribly soppy over shen qingqiu and just generally stalker level obsessed while shen qingqiu pretends to hate it but secretly loves it and absolutely is obsessed with binghe being obsessed with him. - they deserve each other sososo much they make each other worse and they love that <3

[proudfreakmetarusonikku]

Whumptober Day 10: Branding/Scarring/Collars

Demon in disguise AU. Frustrated and amused both at Tommy's unwillingness to give up on his faith, Dream sees himself in the zealotry and stubbornness- and decides he’s a far better owner than any God could be. Warnings for heavy religious themes, a whole lotta blasphemy (Dream is literally a demon here, he doesn’t have the kindest view on Christianity or God), imprisonment, restraints, abuse, torture, possessive behaviour, mutilation, body dysmorphia, dehumanisation, some mild body horror, Tommy telling people to kill themselves because he’s Tommy, suicidal ideation, infantilisation, and a whole lotta God complex.

ao3 link

—— “Our- our father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy-“

Tommy screamed as the white-hot touch of hellfire made contact with his skin, cutting off his pathetic prayers to a God that had forsaken both him and Dream.

Tracing the flesh of his shoulder with a mocking gentleness, Dream pressed down hard until he could smell the burning. He moved his finger to the side, pressing another circle into his skin like a brand.

Moving his finger down a little, letting the touch of the fire burn as he did, he dug burning claws into his skin, and dragged a semi-circle across his skin slowly, making sure each inch burnt until it dug deep into the flesh, enough to leave a mark. Screaming devolved into a howling, feral noise, pure agony making a human become a frightened beast, desperate to free themselves. Tommy struggled, pulling at his chains, but he was so weak all he did was delay the inevitable, causing the pain to prolong itself.

Dream let the flames dim down after he was certain he’d left a mark, shifting his hands back to match his human disguise. He didn’t need the form of the priest now, he supposed- he wasn’t leading his oblivious flock astray from the almighty idiot they naïvely worshipped, and he’d already ensnared the one true devotee in chains of gold and thorns- but honestly, he liked it. His true form felt alien to him, a mockery of what he’d once been as an angel before he dared question that he was anything more than a tool. Being human, at least superficially, felt better than the burdens of horns and hooves marking him as forsaken by a cruel God.

Besides, he looked almost like Tommy in this form. Demons didn’t have such quaint concepts as family, but he liked to think of the boy as perhaps as close to that as he could get. It was comforting to imagine himself human enough for that sort of love.

He took a moment to look at the brand forming on Tommy’s skin- messy and wobbly due to his struggles, but recognisably a smiley face, that of the mask Dream wore in his true form and perhaps the only thing he liked about it. It might not have meant anything to Tommy, but it was for when he finally broke that stubborn faith of his, not for now. It marked Tommy as his, staking a claim on such a devout soul brought low, a prized trophy. More than that, it meant he could keep Tommy safe. He might be “evil” by the closed-minded view of God and humanity, but for a demon, he was downright saintly.

“See, look, there we go, all done.” Dream said gently to try and soothe Tommy’s panicked breaths. Attempting to corrupt him subtly hadn’t worked, guiding him and slowly trying to turn him against the Lord, so he’d turned to extremes to make him recant his faith. But extremes didn’t necessarily just mean pain- it meant whatever he needed to tempt him into falling willingly, or at least something approaching that. Such a thing would be easier if he could get Tommy to not hate him, and besides, he liked the human. His faith was misplaced and naïve, and his stubbornness was annoying, but he was as kind as any human, while being far less boringly predictable. He had a spine, at least, enough to outwill a good number of demons.

Until he’d met Tommy, Dream had always had to choose between the cutthroat politics of Hell, where loyalty was a joke and if anyone got the opportunity to screw him over for selfish pleasure and power, they would, or his job of tempting humans, all so easily swayed with sweet words and a calm presence into throwing their souls away, lacking any individuality. Tommy was unique, all of the positives of both with none of the negatives. He was the closest Dream had ever come to having a friend.

Perhaps the two of them were caught somewhere between angel, demon and man. Perhaps the two of them were the only ones who could ever understand each other.

Tommy, pale and feverish-looking, still managed to give him an intense glare, fire still burning bright in his eyes even as he struggled to keep them open. “The Lord will forgive you for this. But I sure as fuck won’t.”

Dream sighed, conjuring a roll of bandages. “You’ve never met that bastard. Stop talking about things you have no knowledge of.”

“I’ve read the Bible, dumbass. It’s more fuckin’ trustworthy than a devil. You’re just pissed Daddy kicked you out, aren’t you? You big ba-“

“Shut up.” Dream growled, infernal fire mixing into his practised human tone. His fangs broke through his gums, claws digging out of his nail bed, as all he could think of was blind wrath. The humiliation and pain of being cast from Heaven, tarred and slurred as a great evil simply for taking on a name, an identity, a will, bubbled up in him, and even as he glared, approaching what now to him was just prey like a cat did a mouse, burning sulphur tears pricked at his eyes, anger and agony mixing into one.

The insolent boy yelped, opening his mouth to speak, but as Dream’s spine extended, tearing open the skin on his back, he smacked his face with his bony, half-formed tail, slashing a line across from one side of his face to the other, a diagonal, deep gouge from his jaw to his brow. Even in his anger, he took care to not dig too deep, break through something unfixable. Something approaching tough love still remained in his bestial mind, as twisted and unrecognisable as it was to any human.

As quickly as the pure rage took him over, it abated, and he was staring, horrified, at Tommy weakly sobbing. His eyes were no longer filled with hate, but pure fear and terror. Dream couldn’t feel guilt; it was an emotion that was worthless for temptation and sin, but he imagined the sinking feeling in his gut was as close as possible as he could get to it.

“Shit, shit, shit. Okay, uh, stay still.” It was a pointless thing to say- the chains keeping Tommy trapped weren’t something a human could break through, forged in the fires of Hell themselves. There was enough slack to allow him free roam of the space between worlds he was kept in, and the iron collar around his neck wasn’t too heavy, Dream wasn’t cruel, but they were tight and strong. “I- I, I shouldn’t have- just, let me fix it, m’kay?”

He shifted back into the form of the priest, his features dissipating easier than they appeared, before he ran a gentle hand across Tommy’s wound, sewing it shut with dark energy, leaving a crackling, pitch-black scar. Tommy hissed in agony, weakly lifting his hand to the crack and flinching away on touch, his fingertips darkened from the contact.

“W-wha’ did you do to me?” His voice was weak, wavering. It sounded both wrong, painfully unTommylike, and also satisfying. He was so close. So close to saving Tommy from the same fate he befell, wasting his life on a God who neglected him.

And yet, Lucifer was the evil one.

“I made things better!” Dream grinned, despite the fact he didn’t feel exactly happy. “See, look, what did your God do? Nothing! And I helped you. Am I so bad, huh? Or do you think maybe that stupid book of yours might be wrong?”

“You fucking branded me.”

Dream blinked. “Yes? I mean, I know it hurts, but it’s far better that people know you’re mine. There’s a lot of demons far worse than I am, y’know.”

“Oh, so you fucking own me? Yeah, you’re such good guys. Kill yourself; it’s the only way the Lord will ever forgive you.” Even with his eyes half-closed from exhaustion and blood loss, his glare was sharper than any blade. He really did seem more demon than human sometimes.

“Of course I do. You’re part of my flock, right?” Tommy never seemed to mind that before he knew he was a demon. Dream didn’t really get how it was a big deal. “Everyone else belongs to me. Once they die, their soul will be mine to do with as I please. It’s better than letting them suffer and die for some cruel tyrant of a God, right?”

Tommy laughed, with no humour in his voice. “Well, go fuck yourself, because I’m not going to be- be your fucking property in the next life. I’ve already had enough of it in this. I’d rather fucking kill myself.”

“That’s a sin, y’know? So go ahead.”

“I-“ Tommy pouted, clearly frustrated he couldn’t find an answer. “Fucking die.”

Dream burst into wheezing laughter at the sight. Tommy looked ridiculous, small and curled up in the corner with such a childish expression, a scar across one of his eyes and a crude smiley-faced brand on his shoulder, in oversized green pyjamas that fit awkwardly on him, his hair wild, and the shackles and collar holding him sticking out like a sore thumb against his pallid skin.

He didn’t get why they offended Tommy so much. Humans existed to be property, either of Heaven or Hell, and out of them, at least Hell was fun. Sometimes. The collar was just saying the quiet part out loud, and Dream had thought humans liked honesty. Maybe that was another thing demon-like with him, but he doubted it. Most of the time, he was painfully honest.

Honestly, though, Dream didn’t care that much. He liked Tommy like this. Like how he was, innocent and stupid, when he was created to serve. Tommy was close enough to an angel in his loyalty and ridiculous zealotry; he almost was like Dream back then, a tool, an object, miserable. But unlike Dream, he could be saved from being cast aside cruelly. No, he could willingly fall, and he could be treated kindly, not having to be stuck within two worlds. He’d always have someone close to family, something no demon or angel was able to have. It might have been a gilded cage, but so was Heaven, and at least Dream actually gave a shit about him as anything more than a mindless follower and an ego boost.

Perhaps, to a naïve human, that might still seem cruel. But one day, Tommy would thank him. One day, Tommy would see that they were the same, with their own chains, collars, and brands, and Dream was just showing him that in the kindest way possible.

One day, Tommy would realise he was the closest thing to a loving God he foolishly believed in.

[artwithoutblood]

Sorry that typo should have said ‘he “read” the prepared book’. I mean Dorian obviously made the exactly locket sized hole in that book ahead of time and had someone put the corresponding locket on MC before they even reached him. Yes, I bet the others remained silent about its purpose.

Perhaps I was wrong about it being formal ranks. Perhaps going further down the circles the punished sins become more grievous and so the keepers themselves become more wicked, more devious, more powerful.

I still don’t trust the fruity tea. Teas can be very aromatic and possibly unfamiliar enough to cover a lot of tastes. He did step away to prepare it.

And doesn’t he have a close friend who is omniscient within a certain range, experiences art as a personal interpretation of reality, and messes with people’s perception? The same friend that works with someone who deals in delusion? Also lives with someone whose words are powerful enough to shape reality, put you to sleep instantly, and is a doctor of sorts?

I wonder about those little bottles the other mortal saw in the cupboard. The special one found in the music room. There are a number of things both magical and chemical to soothe, to excite emotions, to dull thought and make one more pliable to suggestion.

Not that Dorian would need it. He’s ancient, manipulative and has a mismatched (potentially demon) eye himself. Maybe he gets insights he shouldn’t have or is simply as experienced in winning gullible people over as he was in life. He definitely gets a lot of quiet time to scheme.

I’m still confused how he managed the ‘error’ that got MC sent down to hell in the first place though. Perhaps the dogma regarding literal interpretation of scripture is that strict or for some reason each soul must make that journey. They weren’t a suicide and also that would have made them part of the woods (plus only able to speak under certain conditions?).

I still have not read Dante’s Inferno directly… but Virgil wasn’t allowed in heaven because he was born before Christ and a pagan while alive. The first obviously doesn’t apply to MC so perhaps it’s down to a schism in their church. There have been many ideological conflicts. So they chose the wrong Christian sect and were disqualified on a technicality? Were they somehow unbaptised despite being devout?

It doesn’t seem likely that Dorian didn’t plan on their coming. The way he killed MC was what he could do in his bird form but it also meant they died suddenly - so quickly and unexpectedly that they died unshriven. That has to be it.

Or maybe despite being a yandere he routinely murders a number of romantic prospects just to see which ones will enter hell and potentially succumb :/

He was pretty quick to discard MC when he didn’t immediately get what he wanted.

i had dorian make fruity tea because he's a fruit that's the only explanation i can give you 😭 he likes flavor! and i hate bitter tea.

the most dorian probably would've asked if aeron would've been to keep an eye on m/c when he couldn't. but that's delusion's passive anyways, like it's a pokémon. so it's not like aeron wasn't already doing that.

concerning the little purple vial found in awb, that was made by another oc of mine. he's dead. he used to run a drug bar before he was overcome with. something. that's not for y'all to know yet. that oc and dorian have never met. dorian knows of items like that, but he's never tried those specific drinks. those did not come into play.

iirc that's kinda what limbo is: sorry you were born before christ. xx. you get the caves bitch

although not based entirely on real christianity and mostly stealing aesthetics and terminology, i might say one reason why dorian killed the mc, as opposed to waiting or getting someone else to, is because the mc was killed and touched by a demon. it's a claim. god doesn't want that. i fuck around and find out.

and about the ending part: i think he tries romantic prospects until one sticks. and despite having you in his hands, he's a bit of a brat.

[starmeadowsystem]

Nif-Point Moral Evaluation: Hyness from Kirby: Star Allies

Three posts in and I'm already going over a rather complicated fellow. Now, I want to go over the characters in chronological order, but Hyness? Hyness is an exception, and I have a good reason for this: From my pov, he has committed the most vile atrocities in the series, and this is fucking Kirby we're talking about. The series needs a good heinousness standard to judge the other villains in the series.

What is Kirby?

Kirby is a lighthearted game series about a lil round pink thing going on adventures to save Popstar from the weekly threat. In Star Allies, the Jamba Cult is performing a dark ritual to bring about Void Termina, which could bring about the end times, and Kirby doesn't want that and neither does the rest of the universe.

Who is Hyness? What does he do?

Hyness is the leader of the Jamba Cult.

Before the events of the game, Hyness was a talented mage who used his powers to save the lives of three women- Fransisca, Flamberge, and Zan Partizanne. To do so, he gave each of them powers to combat the situations they were in- Fransisca was freezing to death, so she was given domain over ice. Flamberge was suffocating in a fire, so she was given domain over fire. Zan Partizanne attempted suicide by lightning strike, so she was given domain over lightning. Each of these three women looked up to him, and he was happy to adopt them as their father and lead them, now dubbed the three mage-sisters, to a better land as the priest of a God, which he believed Void to be.

Eventually, however, Hyness himself would be consumed with anger over the Ancients having banished him and his clan to the edge of the galaxy. Once he actively forsakes his own heart, he would be further consumed by a spiral of madness. Early on in his manic episodes, he would ask Zan Partizanne to do something about it if he became worse, which he did. Over time, he became a far crueler version of himself, becoming the abusive father and cult leader we see him in the game proper.

At the start of the game, Hyness attempts to properly summon Void Termina so he can take revenge on those who wronged him, but due to not properly understanding it, the Jamba Heart broke. His daughters chased after the pieces, while Kirby was granted a heart on one of the spears that kept void Sealed. The heart pieces possessed countless denizens across the galaxy, King Dedede and Meta Knight included.

He takes a backseat for most of the game until near the end of the main story, when Zan Partizanne was defeated for a second time. Hyness was summoning heart pieces for himself at the time, but turned around to face Kirby and his allies. In approaching them, he actively and carelessly batted away Zan Partizanne before carelessly ranting about his motives and attempting to kill Kirby. Once he's down, he summons his daughters and draws their life force to himself to heal him, quite literally using their hardened bodies in the second fight as weapons and shields. It's clear at this point that he sees his daughters as tools to use and abuse, rather than as people. If that wasn't enough, once he's defeated again, he staggers to the jamba heart and, as a last ditch effort, callously sacrifices his daughters and himself to the heart, successfully summoning Void Termina and actively putting the universe at stake.

After he and his daughters are freed by Kirby, Hyness eventually opens a portal to Another Dimension (yes it's literally just called that) and falls in it. In Another Dimension, the darkness in his heart took physical form and completely enveloped him. Once freed, he's become a husk of his former self as he tries to ward off Kirby one last time, ultimately being defeated one last time.

Once the mage-sisters fight Kirby one last time, Kirby decides to heal them from the darkness, causing them to decide to let Kirby and his allies go home. Once he leaves, one last heart falls on Hyness, reverting to his original benevolent self in the process. The three mage-sisters immediately rush to his side and try to make sure he's alright.

Afterwards, it's unclear what happens to him, but it's clear they're on good terms.

Okay, I want to start out by saying that despite all the horrific actions that Hyness committed, I can't call him a bad guy at the end of his run. Even if he brought his insanity upon himself, he still committed his worst actions while insane. There was a time when he was a genuinely good father and a good person in general, and I think it's clear that he wants to return to his former kindhearted nature, especially judging by the art where he's seen as a shadow on a beach scene depicting the three mage-sisters.

Of course this isn't to downplay, let alone excuse his atrocities. Using his own daughters as tools, then killing them to threaten the entire universe isn't exactly a good look. Even if he was insane, he still actively turned to his desire for revenge and ruined his daughters and even himself in the process.

I think the takeaway for Hyness, specifically, however, is that even the most vile and godawful people can still just be better in the future if they wish to be. His redemption is also vital to the three mage-sisters' happy ending. And given his past record (before he turned evil at least lmao), I'm pretty confident that Hyness will at least eventually be deserving of one as well, even if we never get to see it. I think, having taken all this into consideration, the lowest possible Good score is appropriate for him to me.

Author's Verdict: 40 (Good)

[itstimetodrew]

alright I'm taking the bait @crystaloregarden, rolling up my sleeves...

Short Answer: 2, if you want to keep it simple from a narrative or marketing perspective (thank god for their differences in design netting us 2 kotobukiya figures...blessed are the Marik fans getting to spend double money 🙏)

Long Answer: I'm read more-ing this shit

(tw for mentions of abuse and death and suicide)

Summarizing sections from a 17-page google doc I have on him involving topics like this teehee

Anyway! I feel like there really isn't a definitive answer. Just what exactly Yami Marik 'is' isn't 100% clear. Is he a stereotypical and negative portrayal of something like DID? Is it a case of possession, and if so, how much personality does this spirit have of its own? If you see Yami Marik as a separate character, does he begin his own existence when created by Marik, or is it not until he gains a more physical and tangible form? If you don't consider him his own character, what would it take for him to become an entity in his own right, or is it impossible because of his beginning? So many cool questions, no concrete answers!

I think in that sense, people arrive at different answers depending on their view. I think canon shows them more as separate people, or at least for Yami Marik to be a separate Entity, to keep the story cleaner. He is the personification of moral and emotional faults and failings, generational trauma, of being abused, and wanting to abuse others, just to name a few. In a story where he is a villain for an arc for a franchise pushing card game sales, we have to put a nice bow on it all! Marik is bad, but this Other Marik is worse, so we just kill him to redeem the 'good' one and dust our hands off before the next villain comes in.

I can see how that notion can be either inspirational or uncomfortable for people. If you could separate all the qualities of yourself that you dislike and banish them, would you? On one hand, Marik overcoming his 'darker half' shows that what's important is to always work to become better, and no one is too far gone. It's hope and change that drive us forward. Conversely, ironically... that message rings hollow if you see Yami Marik in another light. Why is it fine to portray him as a monster (literally, as he fuses with Ra) and use his death as a benefit for others? We don't get much more character growth for Marik after this, he mostly joins Ishizu in dumping some lore about ancient ceremonies, so we just know he's 'better off' now. (Again, I'm not complaining Marik should have gotten more focus, because his time in the story was up and Millennium World was rushed enough as is without expanded Keeping Up with the Ishtars tidbits. I just love him as a character so much, it's an interesting conclusion for him canonically!)

For my personal take on The Lore, I think what we know as Yami Marik began as the culmination of millennia worth of trauma going back to Kul Elna. A slurry of souls, now voiceless and faceless, only wanting to exact retribution. They gain power and influence being passed from one generation to the next via the Tombkeeper's initiation until we hit Marik, where finally there's enough built up for a more solid Form to emerge. Not something totally new, though. He still uses Marik's name, identifies Marik's siblings as his own (interestingly enough not Marik's father though, IMO showing continued dissociation from the abuse he faced), but has clear quirks and preferences of his own. And none of this is going into the relationship they have with each other, both trying to kill the other/themself but having a purpose rooted in self-preservation. They reflect one another and share a common base, so where does the 'self' end and the 'other' begin?

Idk, all I know is it's Yugioh and my head hurts.

[abigail-nicole]

tgcf liveread 10

part ten of my livereading of TGCF, Heaven Official's Blessing, which you should buy officially in english to support gays and great novels. and danmei and chinese gay fantasy. listen when I grew up we didn't even DREAM about having official licensed translations of gay niche content. anyway let's start book Four on today's recap:

"I can’t think of anything this story doesn’t have, except for a functional straight couple" -me, reading Heaven Official's Blessing, April 2020

originally tweeted 4/2/2020

Book 4 starting with a literal Xie Lian Suicide Nightmare!!!! This book is gonna Go Like That Huh!!!!

reading xie lian poor & starving is giving me Anxieties & Flashbacks

& now desperation drinking oh no

I know there are Bai Wuxiang/Xie Lian shippers out there

this is some fucking psychological horror

Absolutely people ship these two, beauty & the beast style, 50 shades style but where she left him after the first book and they didn’t get back together i stopped reading after that

I mean right now bai wuxiang is the most interesting thing happening in xie lian’s beginning of book 4 tragedy life so

Hella TW CW violence on these but OH MY GOD THIS IS SOME HORROR

ahhhhh i cant tweet anything about this chapter it’s really too much. Except for The Birth of a Ghost at the end

I KNOW SOME PEOPLE SHIP THIS

I understand why, & it’s because attraction is a form of power and power is often a root of attraction and clearly there’s some fucked up power dynamics here

IS THIS RUOYE

I feel like mxtx just came to my house and stabbed ME, PERSONALLY,

dianxia about to qi deviate

WHAT THE FJCK EXCUSE ME MOM & DAD

I WASNT PREPARED FOR THIS

WHERES MY EMOTIONAL SUPPORT SCARF WEAPON PET

oh there it is. Hi ruoye <3<3<3<3<3 i needed a good thing in this narrative rn <3<3<3<3

A) this is Badass I Love someone turning really evil OBVIOUSLY

B) Wei Wuxian?!!!?!!? Is this The Burial Mounds??? What did you do with Xie Lian?!? This isn’t your book

There’s a Lot happening here and I’m kinda.....really into Black Lady Evil Magical Girl Dianxia

Chapter 192 is SO GOOD oh my god

This is an extremely Hua Cheng moment. “You’re already dead”????!!!!!!!!

mxtx, probably: ....too much soft boyfriends....this could use some more body horror

okay I didn’t realize when Xie Lian entered the Kiln that he was ALREADY A GHOST KING

he can’t kill himself & become a ghost and then kill bai wuxiang and emerge from the Kiln as a Ghost King....because he already tried that once

Is it like him from the future or something bc this is getting fucked up???? I mean i trust mxtx’s plotting

nope nope nope

even when this is like Evil Version Xie Lian it’s still incredible & I’m cheering for him to be Really Evil

(i dont want wuming to be hua cheng tho let him have other friends)

Oh that’s the second ascension huh

ascension 1: fighting bridge demon thing. ascension 2: stopping the human face plague. ascension 3: being daddy's favorite

Jun Wu’s like “But please don’t do that though”

okay i got through book 4 and that was a lot more & also shorter than i expected

Now it’s a Crown Prince-off in the Kiln tonight, fine scholars

......um? this got very Mecha huh

CALLED OUT BY MU QING

i’m glad shi qingxuan is back i missed them!!!

There’s a lot more plot-wrap-up than I thought there was gonna be, honestly

This actually makes the most sense as a plot explanation

WAIT DAD NO!!!! JUN WU!!!!!!!!!

just like a real dad, I feel very betrayed

I Still Love Ruoye The Most

This is a very classical Action Movie wrapup so far

Ah yes, Solve The Problem By Injuring Myself: a Classic mxtx protagonist move

another little side dish of horror for our Evil Crown Prince and the human face disease

some hua cheng backstory!!!!!! Crumbs of it!!!! I cling to it!!!!!!!!!!

This novel is so interestingly not like mdzs? Much more comprehensive, longer, bigger scope, more of an adventure story. Also probably a better-written novel, though translation being what it is, i can only speak to plot & planning & pacing

Im trying to think of other books this long and immersive i wanted to eat recently & really only came up with the wheel of time (less like this) & the baroque cycle (more like this, less romance)

XIE LIAN OUT OF THE CLOSET AT LAST!!!!!

I can’t think of anything this story doesn’t have, except for a functional straight couple

I also purposefully didn’t emotionally engage much with book four brcause torture & suicide cw tw real hard & i can read it but....i’m not gonna sit here & live out those scenes in my head like I do for the rest

This ‘bringing your boyfriend home to uncle’ scene with uncle bing like “JUST DON’T DATE THAT HORRIBLY UNFORTUNATE BOY DOWN THE STREET” & Hua Cheng staring him down

IT’S NOT AN AFFAIR THEYRE ENGAGED xie lian just doesn’t realize it yet

Omg the DIANXIA GUNDAM is BACK

wait the heavenly city moves???!!!!! This is suddenly very big budget action movie (or some truly atrocious c-drama SFX)

This is a HELL OF A BOSS FIGHT....or should I say a HEAVEN of a boss fight......

“He owes me money” i died. i love hua cheng

TGCF Goes Gundam continued on tgcf liveread part 11!

[xgenesisrei]

Crime Scene or Canvass?

“In place of a hermeneutics we need an erotics of art." -Susan Sontag

It might be that disillusionment has finally caught up with me that I am feeling the weight of wisdom behind these words from her book 'Against Interpretation.' As more and more of this young generation, becomes less and less literate of the Bible, and them diving deeper and deeper into 'reels' that knows no end, the challenge of getting the future community of the church 'hooked' to the Word of Life becomes even more daunting.

I personally feel that it would be a terrible mistake to get them to approach the Bible with a disposition of a surgeon, a forensic investigator, or much worse an undertaker. To intimate an imaginary of Christianity's holy book as something that is on the verge of dying, or one that mysteriously has been murdered, or one worth burying for good, is for the most part of it an act of suicide. It does not help that the image of a solitary dead Christ on the cross, minus the risen Christ with his friends, can only get one so far in terms of encountering a religion that is supposed to be animated by a spirit that is very much alive.

Yes, the Bible is definitely not an easy book. But not for the exegetical problems and hermeneutical complexity that were the subject of most books 'about' the Bible. It is a hard book because it is a work of art, a complex piece of creative work so intricate that it demands to be 'experienced' in an ever deepening degree. A choice really of being on a crime scene or seeing a canvass come to life.

Pretty much like how Juan Luna's 'Spoliarium' could incite several layers of responses, the Bible if 'entered' as one would the door to Narnia, can transport a person beyond the limits of time and space. And this is the 'magic' of artworks that defies the processes of approaches akin to the 'academic' and the 'scientific.' It is one thing to read a literary analysis of Tolkien's magnum opus or attend a forum on the biological elements of Isayama's 'titans', it is quite another to get lost in the trails of Middle-earth or to capture the moment of Eren's first transformation. Not to necessarily pitch one against the other but just to emphasize how the former is lost without the prior mesmerizement caused by the latter. Stories are powerful in as much as they are free to be enchanting, haunting, and terrifying.

Or to use another metaphor, it is one thing to read about the details of how Sumatran coffee differs in notes and texture from the beans of Ethiopia or Colombia, and quiet another to actually 'experience' a cup of each. CS Lewis used an older metaphor of a map and an island whereas the former can be substituted for the actual setting of foot on the latter. One has to feel the grains of sand and hear the waves crashing like being sucked in a dream played on a loop, not just be familiar with the exactness of the latitudes and longitudes.

So, what I am saying here is that it would do well for God's Word to be reintroduced more as an art form than a textbook. And for this undertaking, it would be worthwhile to get creatives of different sorts to have some space to do what they do best -give people an 'experience' of what the Bible could be about.

And hopefully it will awaken an irresistible desire...

-Rants by Rei Lemuel Crizaldo (December 4, 2023)

[shammah8]

🕊️🌺Wendy🌺🕊️:

SIN THE TASKMASTER Jesus stated, “Verily, verily, I say to you, Whosoever commits sin is the servant of sin” (John 8:34). The word “servant” here comes from the Greek word doulos, which literally means “slave,” “bond servant,” or “bondman.” A bondman is an indentured servant who labors for a certain period of time to pay off their master for contracted expenses, such as travel to work in another region or country, and room and board.5 When we operate in sin, we violate spiritual laws and open our lives to spiritual debt, and this debt, in turn, attracts demonic debt collectors and can even result in spiritual slavery or servanthood.

The reality of our spiritual debt is central to the purpose of Jesus’s sacrifice. His death on the cross in our place released the human race from its debt to sin, a concept we will explore more fully later in this chapter.

Jesus taught us that whoever commits sin is the servant or slave of sin. This is a very powerful statement, but it is much more complex than we often realize. Jesus was not just talking about someone making a mistake and doing something wrong. He was talking about someone engaging in deliberate, willful, continual sin.

The Greek word translated “commits” in John 8:34 is poieō, among whose various meanings are “to make,” “to acquire,” “to constitute,” “to carry out,” “to execute,” and “to perform.”

Willful, unrepentant sin is the most potent means of demonic powers entering the lives of believers. In fact, it is a magnetic force for familiar spirits. Willful sin is risky and dangerous for us because it keeps us from having sustained victory in Christ. Therefore, when we persist in unrepentant sin, we are opening the door to evil spirits.

Not only does unrepentant sin open the door, but, as I previously mentioned, it also causes spiritual agreements to form, granting demonic powers legal rights to withhold, delay, suppress, oppress, hinder, or stop the free flow of our spiritual destinies.Jesus is saying that if we enter into an agreement with sin, then sin will become our slave master. For example, if you engage in an illicit relationship with someone, whatever demonic oppression is upon that person’s life has legal access to you. (See 1 Corinthians 6:16.) Someone who enters into a sexual relationship outside of marriage may suddenly start to feel depressed and suicidal, even though these are not their own feelings. It is because a spirit of suicide is attached to their sexual partner. Such a spiritual legal attachment can be perpetuated for years. Until this legal claim is released, it can follow people throughout their lives and even influence their children and subsequent generations. The only way it can be lifted is through revelation (understanding what is occurring in the spiritual realm), repentance, and receiving the atoning sacrifice of Jesus on their behalf.

Whosoever commits sin transgresses also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. (1 John 3:4) Then when lust hath conceived, it brings forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, brings forth death. (James 1:15) The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23) Because of Adam and Eve’s sin, Satan had the legal grounds to collect the debt and ultimately administer death to mankind as a spiritual consequence of their sin. This penalty of death began with the first human beings but was applicable to the entire human race.

This is why there is sickness, poverty, oppression, and death in the world today. But it was never God’s original design for mankind to be afflicted with those consequences or any other kind of suffering.

Romans 5:8 says, But God commends his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Jesus died on the cross in our place to atone for our sins as the only acceptable, substitutionary sacrifice and to remove the sentence of condemnation that was against us. He released the debt we owed through the efficacy of His blood.

When we place our faith and trust in Him and repent of our sins, we receive forgiveness and are released from the debt.☕️Kynan Bridges

[oc-tournaments]

ROUND TWO - MATCH 5

ICHIKO TAKEDA vs DALO

ICHIKO TAKEDA: @missmako-chan

DALO: @genericswordsmaiden

VOTE BASED ON THE INFORMATION BELOW CUT!!

Propaganda Content Warnings: Suicide, assault, internalised homophobia, animal death, dismemberment, alcoholism for DALO.

ICHIKO TAKEDA:

PROPAGANDA: Ichiko is an in-universe Kamen Rider fan, raised by the Imagin from Kamen Rider Den-O! She loves her brothers and all Kamen Riders! Sure would be a shame if she's ripped away from her world and put into another (Ride Kamens) where Riders work differently yet resemble the ones from her world close enough that she can't help compare them constantly despite the old Riders not existing here and internally hate the Ride Kamens 'Riders' for "copying a legacy they don't even know about" and not be able to go home!! Sure would be an even bigger shame if they turned into a monster about it because they've been stewing in their own conflicting emotions for the entirety of their stay in the Ride Kamens universe until they finally snapped and let go of the cheery persona they kept for so long!!! Especially if the one guy she's stuck with the most is based off of one of her brothers and yet so different from him that they end up catching feelings for him and is in denial!!!!

THEME SONG:

DALO:

PROPAGANDA: Dalo is a ghost, she died by suicide at the age of 27, and in the world of the dead where she now resides, which is actually a purgatory of sorts, she has to endure loneliness because suicides can get corrupted - change form and become aggressive spirits - and are therefore ostracized by other ghosts. Born in an abusive family, starved during her childhood and bullied at school, Dalo develops trust issues growing up, her only friend being a pen pal, Luka, and her mentor, a man whom she only remembers as Professor. Dalo is not her real name, but a nickname that eventually erased her original name. At age 16, she gets physically assaulted by a group of guys and survives, but gets big ugly scars on her back that she tries to hide in every way she can. When she gets the chance, she travels to the city of Providence, renting an apartment with Luka. They form a band with two other characters, Mary and Sam, but soon tensions arise, mainly because they all love Sam in some way, and this puts Dalo in an uncomfortable situation because she doesn't really know how to deal with feelings. She ultimately decides to put them aside and think about how to help Luka deal with his homosexuality instead. In this period of time, which lasts about three months, another tragedy occurs: Dalo and Luka's cat, whom they treated as a son, is found killed one evening. This brings the two even closer, grief shutting them out of the world for a while. As if that wasn't enough, Sam, thinking that Luka and Dalo became a couple, marries Mary instead, breaking two hearts at once. Just when it seems like everything is slowly flowing normally again, Luka has a breakdown and asks Dalo if God can accept him as he is. The choice of words in her answer to such a cryptic question is crucial and will forever change her life, as well as ultimately end his, since he goes missing from that evening, until his body is found in a bag a week later, chopped up into pieces. The weight of the event is too much for her to bear, the guilt and pain make her turn to alcoholism. Her last choice was cold and calculated, she saw no value in a life like hers, so after months of suffering she took her own life. As a ghost, this choice hunts her, also because it made her directly linked to the main antagonist of the book, but this is a lore-heavy detail and I don't really want to delve into it. Her other big character trait is the fact that, with a life like that, she has tons of repressed anger, which all comes crashing out of her (literally) at some point in the story. Her power as a ghost is summoning chains, which symbolise both her guilt and the desperate need to be "chained to someone", to have some kind of bond with another person.

THEME SONG:

[every1sno1fangirl]

something i neglected to mention about zakharov and miriam is that nothing about their beliefs really fundamentally changes even!!! they're very much still Themselves at the end of it all, who believe (mostly) the same things they started with. Engaging with The Planet (and how that happens is beautiful. The world itself being its own character and the way that is expressed both figuratively and literally is fantastic) has just changed them irrevocably. Earth has been left behind. Everything they have ever known is well and truly gone and buried in the dust of time. Society and the world around them has fundamentally become alien and increasingly less grounded in prior human experience and when they stand at the precipice of what (just) humans can still even perceive and understand is when they hit the heights of their arcs.

Zakharov prostrates himself before an Alien God and expends his and his followers' remaining humanity to burn himself into being but one part of the consciousnesses of it's True Apotheosis. If you don't know anything about SMAC, without getting into too much detail, The Planet would die without his (and others. Canonically, it's implied Lal and Deidre joined) decision to do it. The God would blossom but would be unable to sustain itself and fade into no consciousness once more for another millions of years. All humans would die in this event—but by taking this action, he and all humans have chosen to kill themselves as well.

“Imagine the entire contents of the planetary datalinks, the sum total of human knowledge, blasted into the Planetmind’s fragile neural network with the full power of every reactor on the planet. Thousands of years of civilization compressed into a single searing burst of revelation. That is our last-ditch attempt to win humanity a reprieve from extinction at the hands of an awakening alien god.”

Miriam, seeing what is about to become before even he does, chooses instead to walk into a Psi-Gate (think like a Stargate or Transporter from Star Trek). This is what she thought about something similar, the Bulk Matter Transmitter:

“And what of the immortal soul in such transactions? Can this machine transmit and reattach it as well? Or is it lost forever, leaving a soulless body to wander the world in despair?”

She wasn't sure whether or not you were still yourself at the end of it.

“Go through, my children! The time of miracles is upon us. Let us cast off sin and walk together to the Garden of the Lord. With God’s mercy we shall meet again on the other side.”

In the face of what is to come—before even the realization of the Gaian's beliefs proving correct (I won't get sidetracked here but SMAC's take on religion in the future and how genuinely it is portrayed is also fascinating)—Miriam knows that her ideas are well and truly dead. There is no more Dissent from the Horrors. Only an embrace to grow beyond them.

“Go through, my children! The time of miracles is upon us. Let us cast off sin and walk together to the Garden of the Lord. With God’s mercy we shall meet again on the other side.”

These are her last words. Her and her followers step into a Psi-Gate with no destination. She doesn't even know for sure if the soul is preserved by this action and her physical form is being utterly annihilated at the atomic level. Her actions are that of defeat—a mass suicide in the face of what she knows is the end of her one way or another. She just has her faith (and a nuanced one at that).

And she's completely and totally right. From a ludonarrative standpoint, the player knows that the game is about to end. We're at the end of the tech tree—we're at the end of things humans can identify with and even conceptualize. She is the last, pure human. She could have chosen to eat from the fruit of life and join the others in immortality as a new alien god. It would have cost her her very soul. It would have meant she was no longer human.

Both Zakharov and Miriam choose suicide in the end.

Zakharov (and others, and I'll talk about them eventually probably Zakharov and Miriam are just the easiest and most important parallels IMO) commit suicide via total subsumption into the world. He discards the last of his humanity and kills himself in the hopes that enough of his being will leave enough an impression on the Alien God he is hoping to truly manifest into the world and become something greater than he is.

Miriam commits suicide by embracing the last thing that could truly be said to be of humanity; a form of transportation used so one person can go from one place to another. She doesn't even know for sure what will happen to her soul if she destroys the rest of her being. But she knew it would be complete; she has opted for what is well and truly a final death, trusting in the promise of Heaven to the very last to hold onto the humanity she had left.

And I think both choices are beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. I condemn neither one—I love and sympathize with Zakharov and Miriam.

Before even it being the best 4X game, Brian Reynolds made the best Sci-Fi game of all time.

resisting the urge to Post about SMAC because I will become utterly and completely insufferable with my infodumping about how it is by far the best 4X game of all time and it isn't even close