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consistentsquash · 2 years ago

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HOTD Fridays - Detailed Fic Rec - Coda

Link - Coda

Length - 25000 words. Rated M.

TL;DR - Ossuarium's Coda. This fic is straight up a coda. It's a lookback at the beautiful lore, characterizations, relationships and the spectacular plot that we got to read and fall in love with.

We get 13 POVs corresponding to the 13 people Daemon loses. Really a subversion on the hero's journey recipe. Antihero's journey? Also feels like Major Arcana? Maybe? Don't quote me on that though.

Alysanne. The Guide. - She is intense and formidable. We get to see how she connects with Daemon and essentially teaches him everything about their family/dragons. Later on, when Daemon is teaching Rhaenyra or Baela we can see a lot of her influence in him.

None of Alysanne's children had tolerated Dragonstone well. Her grandchildren; Rhaenys and Daemon took to the sorcery-warped hold as if they too were fused of blood and black stone by spells of fire.

2. Baelon. The Father. He is totally lost after Alyssa's death and kind of hopeless at raising his kids. But he wants to be there for them. He tries! The type of father Daemon becomes is essentially following Baelon's example.

Baelon woke in the nights with terrible visions of Balerion taking Viserys to hell as he had taken Aerea, and of Daemon dying with a bolt in his throat while Caraxes munched on goats.

3. Jaehaerys. The King. He is trying his best to fix things in the realm but that has a big cost because he loses his children + wife's love. He has 13 kids. The 13 wounds Daemon ends up with is essentially a callback to the 13 kids Jaehaerys loses. Their relationship is messy peak family drama but with Love in capitals.

They said that Jaehaerys loved his grandchildren more than he had loved his children. His grandchildren were what remained of Alysanne; he loved them in guilt and remorse and regret.

4. Aemma. The Sister. Daemon had a sister. It was Aemma. They both love Viserys. They both love Rhaenyra. They are on the same wavelength. It's what Aemond and Helaena can be if they weren't like in the middle of a war with some crazy parents. This is the saddest POV, IMO. But it's also the most character revealing.

She was Dim Daella's daughter. Daella had been married in the Sept of Dragonstone because she could not bear the sounds of crowds. There had been no bedding ceremony, because Daella could not have borne the shame of it. Grandmother had suggested that for Aemma's wedding, but Grandfather had refused her flatly. The realm must celebrate, he had said.

5. Rhea. The Wife. She is doing her best to save her household/herself from Daemon's mood swings and general awfulness. Because it's not like he's a good husband or anything. But they have a pretty decent working partnership. They actually care for each other in their own weird way. Rhea's rune knife is Daemon's last weapon in Ossuarium and we get to see them bonding over it. It's really bittersweet.

In a long wedlock, one counted what one had. Oh, she would be bitter and resentful soon, and she would meet his cruel words with her own, but right then, for a brief spell, there was peace and quiet.

6. Laena. The Lover. Honestly Ossuarium's Laena is the best. Rhaenyra loves her. Daemon loves her. It is perfect compersion/Book!Laena dynamics with Rhaenyra. I really love her POV because Rhaenyra was capable of making good female friends outside Alicent. Also because Rhaenyra and Daemon are more than just their relationship with each other. Laena POV in the coda finally does justice to Daemon's Viserys trauma about his brother holding a dagger to his neck. Which. Yeah. A classic case of Targ family bonding.

Her husband's head was on her lap and she kissed him in glad lust. Vhagar was exasperated and amused and bubbling with affection.

7. Viserys. The Husband. Ossuarium's Viserys/Daemon is the trainwreck you can't look away from. Because it's that bad and that good. They are intense and Viserys goes 100% Targ when it is about Daemon. Also they love each other. With peak stupidity. Maximum Targ. While Ossuarium doesn't really have an OTP as such Viserys/Daemon is the heartbeat of the series because of how much collateral damage they end up creating. We get the extraordinary, special and intensely beautiful Viserys POV one last time.

His gaze was heavy and grieving as he watched the rot and ruin of you that he had caused. Of his making. It was all of his making. They leeched you. The fattest prey there was. That there had been. You were emaciated and alone. Ten years. He had returned to Dragonstone and wed Rhaenyra. He visited you dutifully and frequently, but between you lay a gulf of old and unforgivable grief.

8. Luke. The Son. Luke being a really good boy. With a really crazy uncle with zero impulse control on top of a dragon with negative impulse control. He has 100% confidence that his Dad will avenge him.

"My father knows where I am."

9. Rhaenys. The Queen. Ossuarium is essentially a story about Alysanne's legacy and her four grandchildren. Rhaenys was Alysanne's chosen Queen. We have Daemon finally accepting that. Because it should have been Rhaenys. The relationship between Rhaenys and Daemon is one of the most fascinating dynamics in Ossuarium because they love the same people, they value the same things, but they have totally opposite ways of showing it. IMO, Rhaenys is the literal heart of Ossuarium. She is brilliant in her POV in the coda.

In the Dragonmont's shadow, the last of Alysanne's grandchildren embraced each other upon the ossuarium of their house. Each bore the other's favour. The remains of them they clung to in fierce hoard-hold.

10. Jace. The Heir. Ossuarium's Jace is fantastic. His resentment about being a bastard and getting mocked about it, his love for Baela, his confusion about how Daemon sees him, his support for Rhaenyra without missing her weaknesses, his need to get validated by Rhaenys, his protectiveness for his sibs, his search for a father figure, his willingness to do anything to protect his family. We get to see everything in his Coda POV. Including a great serving of the tense relationship he has with Daemon. He opposes Daemon knowing that Daemon will forgive him. Because that's what a father does.

Jace should not speak of the matter again, but he wanted to hear that he had been right. Mother had told him that he was in the right. Grandfather had told him. He wished that Father would affirm him too.

11. Viserys II. The Prince. Literally. He comes up on top because he is clever, plucky, endlessly optimistic, manipulative when he needs to be and has 100% faith in his family. He is probably the best King Westeros lost out on. We get to see it here. Whatever his situation he figures out what to do. He is the best GOT player of their family. Also he does everything to get back to his family. Everything from his relationship with Daemon and Rhaenyra to his love for brothers/sisters to his really special attachment to Aegon is 100% a mirror of Daemon himself.

He parted himself in thirds, for brother and wife and the light that came.

12. Rhaenyra. The Twine/The Yoke. Because she is Daemon's everything including the weirdest passionate umbilical connection ever. The twine he chose/the yoke it gradually changed into. There is nobody else who can make him fall so low and rise so high. He screwed her life up big time. Also saved her. Also screwed her life up again. Rhaenyra is the biggest tragedy in this story. It's messy/passionate/horrible/frightening/beautiful/intense. This is a love for the ages. But it is the type of love that nobody really wants because it's scary and a million ego deaths. Like you can't consciously decouple from this. There is no going back.

He did not speak her name. He sang it as if it were a hymn. Perhaps that was why he could not harden himself against her. What man could erect a carapace to protect himself when he spoke a name as hymn?

13. Caraxes. The Heart. Because. This is Ossuarium. This is the greatest sacrifice in Ossuarium and it's also the most willing one. Because Daemon was everything to Caraxes just like Caraxes was everything to Daemon. They are fire made flesh. They belong to each other. Caraxes is the 13th/final wound and the one that ends up saving Daemon. Plot spoilers so I won't go into more detail. But how absolutely spectacular to have the Caraxes POV as the closer because the Caraxes POV opened Ossuarium.

Their once-home was a place of fourteen flames. They are what remains of it in misshapen heart and warped wyrm-wings. Their troth is what remains of it. They burn as the fourteen once burned, unto ossuarium. Peregrine things, the lonely elm and the vine that sought it so that they might be peregrine no more, for the vine's home is the elm, and the elm's home the vine that hoard-holds it.

Like a lot of things about Ossuarium, the devil is in the details and the layers. Caraxes keeps the agendered present tense POV. Viserys keeps his unreliable 2nd person POV. The others remain in the past tense. Because Caraxes is the one who ensures Daemon's future and Viserys is the one we don't know if Daemon ever recovered from.

But. Read the coda. Read it for Caraxes because this is essentially a story about a boy and his dragon. With lots of meditations about masculinity and gender. With a lot of questions about where exiles/others belong in a society. Also Targs being Targs 100%.

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eyelessfaces · 2 years ago

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I’m back! Teehee

🏹playing cupidon: my name’s Rhea (22 y/o she/her). Um I like to read and write and listen to music (I have a superiority complex over my music taste haha). I currently have a short French-esque bob haircut. I live in sweaters during the winter; my favorite time of year. I’m snuggly (I think my love languages are physical contact and acts of service). Im a TERRIBLE cook. I love long drives. Uhh what else? That’s all I can think of!

🏹I have decided your soulmate is...

jonathan levy!!

okay so. I think jonathan would love your literary side. his profession doesn't define him obviously but as a professor he'd appreciate your way with words.

you would easily bond over music, sharing music recommandations (I think he'd enjoy 70s rock music), and he would buy you vinyls so you can both listen to them while having a chill evening on his couch.

would 100% let you steal his clothes I don't make the rules!

(hum also ugh hi can we talk about that gif)

400 followers celebration

#400 followers celebration #eyeless answers #jonathan levy #scenes from a marriage #lovely mutuals #rhea<3

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ladyvesuvia · 4 years ago

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MINI-CELEBRATION FOR 200 FOLLOWERS

[Navigation] [Masterlist]

STATUS: CLOSED

Thank you to everyone who participated! All interactions are under the tag #vesuvia’s 100 followers tea party

oh my god making this at 01:59 may 9 at 181 followers

IDK WHERE TO START OMG I LOVE YOU ALL AAAA THANK YOU TO EVERYONE <3 This is what got me through school. I always look forward to interacting with you guys iloveuallomfg

This event ends on May 17, 2021 11:59PM.

A C T I V I T I E S

here are ten mini-games to do just like we did back with one hundred :))

just send me the emoji + your input

🧺 b(ask)et -> ask me anything about myself!

🍪 chocolate chip ships -> send 2-3 facts about yourself + male/female ship + era and i’ll tell you who i ship you with.

🍰 bake a cake -> request a fic! pick between harry and draco then a word with the format: character + word + angst/fluff (click here for my request guidelines), you may also add one-liners from my prompt lists

🍿fmk -> give me three characters and i’ll tell who i’ll. . .you know.

📼 theme song -> ok i got this idea from @hellounicorn. just send me 2-4 facts about u + ur gender + an hp character and i’ll give u a song from my playlist

🪁 fic-kite -> send me some of my fics and ask questions about it! you may also send one line from the story/section of it and i’ll tell you stuff about it :>

🥄 spoon-feed my ego -> once again inspired by @hellounicorn i love u rhea omg tell me which of my fics is/are your favorite/s and why

🕰 my possessions -> send me the emoji and i’ll show you a cool thing i have in my house <3

🍮 flan clan -> okay, emoji anons are open. send me an ask with the format (emoji) + (pronouns)

🥨 friend-zel -> oh god i love puns tell me anything about your day babe :))

Tagging my most wonderful (moo)ts. I LOVE YOU ALL NDBFHEKA MOOOOOOOO O O O

@samineisntmyname @slutforsalvatore @mendesxruel @fives-cup-of-coffee @eunoniaa @fjorelaant @anchoeritic @amourtentiaa @avrilstaro @potters-heart @hellohellook @hellounicorn @harrysnosebleed @railmeharrypotter @eunoniaa @mrzweasley @sfdlm @gingerale2017 @just2bubbly @lavenderbrxwn @hey-there-angels @damianxmeg @swaggydenise @isolenmlyswear69 @prongs103 + everyone else i forgot to mention huhu ily all

to boost (idk if this is ok, it’s ok if isnt!): @catching-the-train-to-hogwarts

#vesuvia’s 200 followers picnic #milestone #harry potter #harry potter x reader #harry potter masterlist #hogwarts #draco malfoy x reader

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sagehaleyofficial · 4 years ago

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HERE’S WHAT YOU MISSED THIS WEEK (4.7-4.13.21):

NEW MUSIC:

Action/Adventure revealed they have signed to Pure Noise Records, as well as announced a new EP titled Pulling Focus. The EP will drop on April 30 and contains their viral single “Barricades.”

The Maine dropped another track from their upcoming album XOXO: From Love and Anxiety in Real Time titled “April 7th.” The new album will be released on July 9 via Photo Finish Records and 8123.

Free Throw announced a new record titled Piecing It Together, which will be released on June 25 via Triple Crown Records. The band also dropped a new single “Cloud Sick.”

Twenty One Pilots confirmed the details of their new album Scaled and Icy, which will be released on May 21 via Fueled by Ramen. The album features their new single “Shy Away,” which was released the same day as the album announcement.

Tigress announced the details of their long-awaited debut album titled Pura Vida. The record is set for release on September 3 via Humble Angel Records and contains their new single “Disconnect.”

Beartooth released a new music video for their song “Devastation,” which was released a few weeks back. The track is set to appear on the band's new album Below, which is scheduled for release on June 25 via Red Bull Records.

Black Veil Brides confirmed all of the details of their brand new album The Phantom Tomorrow. The record is set for release on June 4 via Sumerian Records and contains the new single “Fields of Bone.”

ONE OK ROCK will be releasing a new single titled “Renegades” this Friday, which they co-wrote with Ed Sheeran. The song serves as the theme song for the upcoming film Rurouni Kenshin: The Final.

AFI shared another two tracks from their upcoming new album Bodies. The first, “Dulcería,” was co-written by Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan and was dropped alongside their other single “Far Too Near.”

Holding Absence released a new track “Nomoreroses” off of their upcoming album The Greatest Mistake of My Life. The song follows the previous singles “In Circles,” “Afterlife” and “Beyond Belief.”

TOUR ANNOUNCEMENTS:

The Offspring revealed they are heading back to the United Kingdom for a set of arena shows, bringing along The Hives. The tour will begin in Dublin on November 21 and end in Leeds, England on November 30.

Asking Alexandria shared footage of them playing their song “Someone, Somewhere” last week. The song is off of their album Reckless and Relentless, which is celebrating its 10th birthday.

PVRIS announced a trio of special album livestreams for their latest release Use Me. The events will be taking place this Saturday, April 17 at 8PM EST, with tickets available on the band’s Pillar page.

Rise Against released footage of them playing their new song “Nowhere Generation” as part of something they are calling the “Nowhere Sessions.” Their upcoming album is scheduled for release on June 4.

Mod Sun released a full tutorial of how he plays the drums for his collab with Avril Lavigne, “Flames.” He released his recent album Internet Killed the Rockstar back in February.

OTHER NEWS:

New Years Day's Ash Costello guided Rhea Ripley down the ring during her match against Asuka at the Raw Women's Championship on Sunday. She performed Rhea's entrance song “Brutality,” which she appears on.

Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl revealed the details of a new book that he has written titled The Storyteller. The book is currently set for release on October 5 and is available for pre-order now.

All Time Low’s recent smash hit “Monsters” is now certified Gold in the United States. The band also recently performed the track, which has over 8 million views on YouTube, on Jimmy Kimmel Live! just last week.

This year’s Record Store Day releases were revealed and will feature re-releases of albums by Linkin Park, PVRIS, IDKHOW, Deftones, Senses Fail, Alkaline Trio and Evanescence. The event will take place on both June 6 and 17.

Twenty One Pilots, All Time Low and Machine Gun Kelly are all up for Alternative Rock Song of the Year at this year’s iHeartRadio Music Awards. Other nominees include The Pretty Reckless, Foo Fighters and Billie Eilish, among others.

Waterparks’ album Fandom surpassed 100 million streams on Spotify, the first of the band's albums to do so. The album also has five tracks in their Top 10 ranking on the platform.

Foo Fighters revealed a new documentary called What Drives Us, which will focus on the process of heading out on the road as a band. The documentary will be available on Amazon Prime on April 30.

___

Check in next Tuesday for more “Posi Talk with Sage Haley,” only at @sagehaleyofficial!

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randomnameless · 4 years ago

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@lochnessies I didn’t want to reblog your post since it was long but if you don’t mind me adding my 2 cts to the Empire and your Empire essay

honestly i’m so glad i’m not the only one who nerded about the empire

I’m totally on board with your assertion about Agarthans and the Empire, the agarthans are the one who are the masterminds behind everything wrong happening in Fodlan (Nemesis 1 to Nemesis 2) and how the Empire who started good ended up being the decadent place we’re told about in-game that disappears in 75% of the endings.

However, I have several nitpicks or additions to make.

From the interview, apparently, humans already got their hand on “relics” before Nemesis pulled his stunt. Nemesis wanted to most powerful weapon available, so he ended up tearing Sothis, the leader of the nabateans, apart.

In the fake Church-approved story, Nemesis was king of the Liberation because he got rid of invaders coming from the North. We actually don’t know why the guy styled himself as “King of Liberation”, he apparently wanted to get rid of “liars” in his info blurb in VW, but then in the same route, when Billy fights against Maurice, Maurice asks if Billy’s come to “liberate” him... From this, I’m assuming Maurice, a former Elite, thinks “Liberation” is some sort of euphemism for death or a merciful death, idk. Bar Edel’s story, there is no real clues in game, or even outside, that Nemesis wanted to get rid of “divine beings”. I personally think he wanted to be the strongest so if lizards had to die for this then so be it, but bar that? I have no ideas about his own, personal motivations (save for “Thales’n’pals asked me to do it and they seemed so nice so I did it”).

Wilhelm Paul Hresvelg being one of Nemesis’s men who was lured away by Seiros and her dragon bros is a take that is very prevalent in the fandom, but has no basis in the game.

The Adrestian Empire officially existed in 0 when Seiros crowned the guy, but Enbarr was chosen as its capital because it was the largest city. The War of Heroes “properly” started 3 decades later as Wilhelm wanted to unify the continent.

Lycaon I’s death heralds the end of the war, meaning Wilhelm died during the WoH. Apparently the Church of Seiros was created before the war, even before the Empire, by followers who were inspired by her miracles or something.

But yes, there used to be a religion before the “Church of Seiros” given how Seteth met his wife in a church in Enbarr, still I cannot say for sure it was here before the first Agarthian war.

Word of God also said Seiros and her friends rewrote history because the Elites and Nemesis were too popular at that time and she wanted to “quell the flames of war and chaos” and keep balance. Kind of unrelated, but given how Marianne is treated in Modern!Fodlan because her ancestor was a (literal) monster, if Seiros revealed the truth about Gloucester, Daphnel and their friends maybe Lorenz and Ingrid would be persecuted and hated like Marianne is...

I don’t have anything to add to the rest, but some tidbits regarding the Empire and what I could hc i mean interpret from them :

Apparently, in the jp version of Hanneman’s C support with Dorothea, Hanneman says in the beginning nobles were supposed to guide and protect people, but in Modern!Fodlan it’s now just a way to discriminate between nobles and non-nobles.

Maybe at its inception the Empire had this idea about what nobility meant, but with time, the notion became used as a tool and emptied of its original meaning, idk.

We also have the “Feast of Decadence” novel, it is fiction (apparently?) but the author, writing this book, thought it was perfectly normal to have northeners being torn apart in the background.

This novel is supposed to happen way after the WoH ended (the Emperor is Lycaon III and we know from Ferdie’s support with Edel (or was it in Feh??) that the Emperor in 100~ was a woman, so she couldn’t have been Lycaon II) but in this context it was normal to have slaughters during a feast celebrating the wedding of the new Emperor.

Given how Rhea has bad history with slaughters for “fun” (as far as she knows Nemesis had no reason to kill everyone in Zanado?) I am pretty sure that if she had been around for Wilhelm I’s wedding, this spectacle would never have happened. Same thing for Lycaon I, the two Emperor she’s sure to have met. Which signifies that either post-Rhea the Emperor thought it was fun to watch northeners suffer, which also adds another kind of discrimination between people from the North and those from the South or the author of this novel had a blood kink and thought it’d be a nice detail, or the author wrote this “decadent feast” to criticise the Empire.

Which ultimately leads to : During Lycaon III’s time, or shortly after, northeners being torn apart during the highest ceremonies were something that happened casually, or it was plausible enough that people from that time could believe it happened.

So combining Hanneman’s “at first nobility was supposed to be this but ended up twisted” and “people ate a lot of bread and fish in honour of Saint Cethleann it was wonderful and northerners were being torn apart and we all laughed” means that even before Ionius IX pulled his centralising policies in place, the Empire was heading down a dark path.

The Southern Church is banned in 1065, way after the Kingdom and the Alliance were recognised as independant nations. In some localised versions (the SP one I think?) it is explained they were banned because they led an insurrection.

So even before Ionius, we have the Empire growing intolerant to its own citizens, stopping being “nobles” in the first sense of the notion, and apparently their ally since creation leads an insurrection. Then, the agarthans happen and they wreck things.

If I had to compare, I’d say Ionius IX and his extreme policies (destroying Hrym and sending Agarthans to Ordelia, a territory in the Alliance, because they helped the people from Hrym) were inevitable since due to the Empire’s decadence, but Edel getting the means and opportunities to start her war was brought by the Agarthans.

It’s as if the Empire is going downhill and you can either choose to let it disappear (SS/AM/VW where the Empire doesn’t exist anymore, it crumbled) or go with it to the bottom of the hill (CF).

#pre imperial era #FE16 #I might start an useless thoughts series about this game #Wow i love to talk about the empire especially about what happened before the game #i know most of it is headcanon land but still #i think the devs said Adrestia was based on Italy or something and i can't help but make the parallel with Rome #and the end of the holy roman empire #i wonder how rhea reacted seeing the empire she helped create fall and fall #until the southern branch was exiled #maybe she didn't care anymore?#iirc the 'glorious' adrestian empire in the history book is an addition from the localisation team

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houseisekai · 4 years ago

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House Isekai: Shadowbringers Act 2, Part 1 - Withering Flower (Continued)

House Isekai Shadowbringers AU Masterlist Here

—

(Continuing from Part 1′s Intermission)

----

[A Promise - Fire Emblem Three Houses OST]

Byleth reached for his head and massaged it with the chaos that was erupting.

(Towa) “I-Instructor Sara, I think it’s a bit too early to start drinking!”

(Sara) “Bah, when you grow older sweetie, anytime is a good time for drinking! Besides, we’re celebrating and having fun tomorrow, so we can afford to loosen up tonight!”

(Sharon) “Shall I fetch more ale?”

(Byleth) “No do NOT do that, Sharon.”

It was the night before the ball was to take place.

House Isekai had voted Akira to be the one to represent them in the contest, and were no doubt training for that.

After the faculty meeting, the staff of House Isekai took to their classroom to discuss what they were going to do, which led to...this situation.

(Megumi) “Well, I guess she’s not wrong about that at least. It has been a while since we were able to relax, right?”

(Cocytus) “INDEED. THESE PAST FEW MONTHS HAVE BEEN QUITE TROUBLING FOR US AND THE STUDENTS.”

(Angelica) “Sorta makes you wonder what it’s going to be like after this one...”

Doomguy said nothing but shared the same sentiment by the way he crossed his arms.

(Sara) “Oh come on, what’s with the doom and gloom? Didn’t we JUST say we needed to be relaxing?”

Sara turned to the door.

(Sara) “And it’s pretty rude for you kids to be eavesdropping on us adults!”

Some scuttling was heard outside but then the rest of House Isekai poured into the room.

(Rean) “S-Sorry! We just um...didn’t really know when to come in.”

(Ainz) “And I am sure that some of us are older than you Sara.”

(Minato) “Hey, let’s not forget what we came in here for before we start throwing shit at her.”

(Kazuma) “Yuki, wanna do the honors?”

(Yuki) “Yup!”

Yuki ran up to Byleth and said her piece.

(Yuki) “Byleth-sensei, I overheard from the other Houses that they were planning to meet up again in five years from now for the Millennium Festival! So...I was wondering if we all could do the same!”

(Byleth) “Five years from now...Are you all still going to be around in five years?”

(Yu) “We’ve put some thought into it ourselves, but honestly? Even if we did find a way home before hand, I’m sure we’ll find a way back here to visit.”

(Ainz) “Gods above know that we aren’t done with this place by a long shot...”

(Yuuri) “I guess the real question is Byleth-sensei going to be still teaching?”

Everyone turned to him.

(Rean) “Hah, little hard to imagine Instructor Byleth teaching anyone other than us honestly.”

(Minako) “I wouldn’t feel special anymore, like...he has normal people to teach instead of us!”

Everyone laughed at that.

(Angelica) “Yeah, I guess we are a little abnormal for his standards, aren’t we?”

(Byleth) “But it wouldn’t be the same without you. Sharon scaring the heck out of everyone, Towa being our council president, hearing the bickering between you all and the other students.

Byleth closed his eyes and smiled.

(Byleth) “It’s going to be quiet without you all...That doesn’t sound too bad actually.”

Sharon giggled before clearing her throat.

(Sharon) “Regardless Master Byleth, I think we are all in agreement that we would not want to miss our class reunion for anything.”

Doomguy gestured towards Akira, and it took a moment for everyone to realize what he meant.

(Yuki) “Oh, Slayer are you asking about the ball tomorrow?”

Doomguy nodded.

(Sara) “Ohh that’s right. Have you kids gotten a dance partner tomorrow? If you can’t find someone I suppose I can take pity and-”

(Everyone) “Pass.”

Sara almost choked on her drink as the staff began to laugh.

(Angelica) “Dang, even Sylvain and I haven’t gotten rejected THAT fast before, Instructor!”

(Kazuma) “You’re gonna be too drunk to dance anyway! This is a fancy ball not some dance club!”

(Megumi) “Hah, well I suppose we’ll all find out tomorrow won’t we? That reminds me, Byleth have you ever danced before?”

(Byleth) “...Megumi, do I look like I have?”

(Yuki) “Oh, Megu-nee! You should dance with Byleth!”

Thanks to Yuki’s statement, House Isekai erupted into a shouting match of who was dancing with who, which was eventually joined by all the classmates instead of the House reps.

Though he was getting a headache, Byleth smiled.

He couldn’t have asked for a better House to teach...

...

Year 1, Ruins in Faerghus territory, nearing the border of the Adrestian Empire…

Byleth blinked rapidly for a few seconds, bringing him back to reality. He had been standing out in the open, staring at Sara’s pistol in his hand.

He sheathed it and shook his head.

If he continued to do that, he would get himself killed. He can’t go thinking of the past out in the open...

Byleth walked alone through the streets of this small town. He didn’t know what it was called.

All he knew was that it was destroyed in the last massive battle that took place here.

Imperial and Kingdom soldiers lay dead as he passed them by, not bothering to check if anyone’s breathing.

He stopped walking after a minute and reached for the Sword of the Creator.

Byleth activated the whip function of his sword before a voice spoke up.

(Man’s Voice) “I’m not here to attack you, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

Byleth slowly turned around and saw a man dressed in black, leaning against a wall.

It was nighttime and the area was almost pitch black, but Byleth could tell immediately what he was.

(Byleth) “Give me one reason I shouldn’t cut off your head right now, Agarthan.”

(???) “I can give you two, actually. One: Because I’m the first to actually talk to you instead of attacking, unlike the rest of the idiots who tried doing that. I doubt anyone who knew the reputation of the Ashen Demon would even come within a 100 mile radius of you.”

(Byleth) “And two?”

(???) “I can give you the power you seek to destroy the Church. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, after all.”

(Byleth) “…Just who are you?”

The man stepped forward and the light revealed that he was wearing a mask that covered his face.

(???) “You may call me…Lahabrea.”

(Byleth) “Lahabrea? Doesn’t sound like any other Agarthan name I’ve heard.”

(Lahabrea) “That’s because it isn’t. I refuse to associate myself with them more than I have to.”

(Byleth) “...So what exactly is this power you can give me to destroy Rhea and Edelgard?”

Lahabrea held up a finger.

(Lahabrea) “Just the Church.”

(Byleth) “Right. I forgot you were allied with the Empire.”

Byleth turned around and kept walking.

(Lahabrea) “They are...Well not for long anyway. We have you for that.”

Byleth didn’t respond as Lahabrea kept talking, slowly walking behind him.

(Lahabrea) “...Is that Sara’s pistol you have there?”

Byleth finally stopped.

(Byleth) “...How do you know it’s hers?”

(Lahabrea) “Hm? I thought it fairly obviou-”

(Byleth) “The Agarthans have been focusing their attention on the bigger threats like Valimar or Slayer. And plenty of my students own these weapons, and none of you ever cared enough to know anyone of our House by name, nor has Edelgard spoken much with Sara to know what her pistol looked like and report that to you.”

Byleth turned to face Lahabrea.

(Byleth) “How do you know it’s hers?”

(Lahabrea) “...Let us say for now that I know your friends a bit more than most.”

(Byleth) “...”

(Lahabrea) “It is getting terribly late, is it not? I recommend getting some sleep soon.”

With that, Lahabrea teleported away. Byleth didn’t sense anyone else, and if he would have attacked he would have done so by now.

Byleth sighed and looked at a nearby building with a roof still over it and went inside...

...

An explosion caused Byleth to wake up violently, eyes going wide instantly accompanied with heavy breathing.

After a few moments of silence, he slumped back and sighed.

A distant explosion brightened the dark skies as he got out of a ruined building, stretching.

He stared with indifference to the battle happening far below him.

Imperial and Faerghus soldiers clashed into each other, trying to gain this territory for the war effort.

Byleth would be long gone by the time this battle would end.

He passed by a man dressed in black who was leaning against the door.

(Lahabrea) “Finally awake, I see. And where are we going?”

Byleth walked silently past Lahabrea, holding tightly onto Sara’s pistol as he did.

Byleth did his best to try and push that memory away, but it would always come back to him. The battle of Garreg Mach had only been a month ago, so it’d make sense that they were still fresh in his head.

That fact didn’t make it any more comforting to him.

As he felt rain start to drop onto him, he thought about his plan on how to kill Edelgard and Rhea.

He was one man with a sword against 2 armies that controlled entire parts of Fodlan.

When the rain intensified, he put his jacket over his head and continued.

He heard footsteps behind him splashing in the rain but he refused to let his thoughts break off.

Even with his divine pulse, he would be severely out manned. Without help, he would die before he reached his goal.

(Lahabrea) “You’re headed the wrong way, you know-”

(Byleth) “Why are you following me?”

(Lahabrea) “I’d be lying to you, and you’d be an idiot for believing me if I said I was helping you for completely altruistic reasons. We both want to take Seiros down, but you need to focus hatred to the right people. We need Edelgard alive.”

That made Byleth stop in his tracks completely.

(Byleth) “…What?”

(Lahabrea) “Stop to think about it. Does Edelgard seem like the type to like what us Agarthans did, ESPECIALLY regarding Kronya, Remire village, and your fath-”

Byleth spun around and pointed Sara’s pistol at Lahabrea’s head.

(Lahabrea) “…Forgive my careless words. But my point stands.”

(Byleth) “…”

(Lahabrea) “Edelgard, like myself, actively voiced against attacking those innocents, and anyone of House Isekai. Why do you think she offered her hand to you so many times in the tomb?”

(Byleth) “So she could use us. We would have been tools for the Empire, just like we were tools for the church. Just like you Agarthans are tools for her.”

He stopped aiming the pistol at Lahabrea and continued to walk on his way.

(Lahabrea) “And so you think the Agarthans are completely loyal to her cause? We are to her, as I am to my own organization. We have the same goals, but different ways of achieving it. The demonic beasts that attacked the Monastery, Remire Village, and all those you encountered throughout that year was ours. Your hatred should be focused on the Agarthans, NOT the Empire.”

(Byleth) “Speak plainly of why you’re telling me this, Agarthan.”

(Lahabrea) “Because both Agarthans and Seiros must be put down before we end up blowing up this world all the way to the seven hells with the Javelin of Liberation.”

(Byleth) “…Explain.”

(Lahabrea) “Meet me at House Arundel’s territory, and I will reveal all I know.”

He began to teleport away, but looked at Byleth once more.

(Lahabrea) “Not only will you avenge your friends and family, but you can put an end to this vicious cycle of war that WE started, forever.”

With that, he disappeared.

Byleth stared at Sara’s pistol for a moment before finally holstering it, making his way to House Arundel.

A Few Days Later...

Byleth finally arrived near House Arundel, and found rubble everywhere. Strangely enough, there were no bodies or any sign of combat. Only weapons and shields on the ground where the debris was.

He slowly reached for Sara’s pistol and looked around for any other sign of what happened here.

(Lahabrea) “Ah, about time you showed up.”

Byleth kept his pistol on him as he turned around, but didn’t point it at Lahabrea.

(Byleth) “This your handiwork?”

(Lahabrea) “...No. It wasn’t.”

Byleth noticed that the levity in his voice had disappeared when he said that. He seemed to be as troubled as Byleth.

(Lahabrea) “It seems that this is the Church’s doing...Hmph. It’s worse than I thought.”

Lahabrea began examining the area as well, picking up the swords and looking around the area.

(Byleth) “The Church? But they’re still battling near the borders with Imperial forces. How could they have reached this far into Adrestian territory this early in the war?”

Lahabrea remained silent for a moment before answering Byleth.

(Lahabrea) “So you truly do not know what they’ve been doing?”

(Byleth) “How would I? I’ve always been kept out of the loop since I started teaching House Isekai.”

(Lahabrea) “Hm...Tell me Byleth, do you know about a tower at Zanado?”

(Byleth) “No, not a tower. I remember finding Class VII and the Phantom Thieves there, but no tower.”

(Lahabrea) “Perhaps that is a blessing in disguise then...”

(Byleth) “Enough with these vague answers. Tell me what are you on about, or I’m walking away right now.”

Lahabrea put the sword down onto the ground and sighed.

(Lahabrea) “Fine. Little pieces at a time then. There are weapons that the Church and Those Who Slither were never meant to have. If we do not stop them, then their conflict will obliterate our world. That’s the most immediate threat we have right now.”

(Byleth) “Then what about the other threat?”

(Lahabrea) “We can talk about that when the rest of your House has returned.”

(Byleth) “You have some means of bringing them back?”

(Lahabrea) “I do. But I need your help. Without it, we will not be able to save them.”

(Byleth) “Fine. Now, before we continue, what was that about a Javelin when we last spoke?”

Lahabrea shook his head, facing another direction.

(Lahabrea) “Are you mad? Showing him this crystal could possibly kill him!”

(Byleth) “I don’t think your...friend there is the one that’s mad.”

Lahabrea turned to Byleth. Although he had a mask on, Byleth knew he was glaring daggers at him. After a few moments of silence, Lahabrea turned to Byleth again.

(Lahabrea) “The Javelin of Liberation is a weapon that was supposed to be capable of wiping out this entire world with a single strike.”

(Byleth) “Was?”

(Lahabrea) “Yes. It failed and instead of killing us all instantly, it killed us overtime. It caused some sort of winter where it caused the temperature to drop, slowly freezing us to death.”

(Byleth) “You’re speaking as if this all happened before.”

(Lahabrea) “It did. We’re going to prevent that. Now the Church-”

(Byleth) “Hang on a moment, what do you mean it did? We’re still alive aren’t we? As far as I know, Faerghus is the only place with freezing temperatures-”

(Lahabrea) “It happens in the future, Byleth!”

Lahabrea motioned Byleth to follow him as he went towards the nearby ruins.

As he was moving the rubble aside, trying to find something in the wreckage he continued.

(Lahabrea) “The Agarthans plan to use the Javelin to wipe out the Church and most of the surface world while they continue to thrive underground. But what they don’t realize is that it will kill them too. They’ll doom us all.”

(Byleth) “...And you know for a fact that this happens in the future?”

(Lahabrea) “I was there when it happened.”

(Byleth) “...So, what was that whole bit about that war that ‘we’ started?”

Lahabrea finally cleared the rubble to reveal a stairway. He went down and Byleth followed.

It was a long hallway that they were walking down, Byleth couldn’t see the end of it.

(Lahabrea) “I will get to that in a moment. Now, the Church has access to almost the same technology the Agarthans do, but they’re using it differently.”

Lighting torches with a snap of his fingers, Lahabrea continued.

(Lahabrea) “They’re using ou...my research to modify and mutant humans into abominations that blindly follow orders, in this case, Seiros. What we saw out there is a small taste to come.”

(Byleth) “What so those monsters di-?”

It had just clicked for Byleth.

The reason why there weren’t any bodies or even sign of battle.

(Lahabrea) “They come in, strike quick, then leave as fast as they came. And this is only the beginning.”

Lahabrea finally stopped by a door at the end of the hallway and opened it.

(Lahabrea) “Good, they didn’t find these notes.”

Byleth went into the room and looked around. All there was in the room was a chair in the middle, and a table near the corner that Lahabrea was at.

(Byleth) “What’s on them, Javelin schematics or something?”

(Lahabrea) “No, crest enhancement. This will help us defeat the Church.”

Lahabrea motioned over to the chair.

(Byleth) “...Hang on a second, I didn’t agree to this. My crest is fine as it is. And I don’t trust my life in the hands of someone I don’t know.”

Lahabrea turned to his left.

(Lahabrea) “He has to know. Now, it’s this, or the hard way.”

Lahabrea brought out a small glowing crystal.

(Lahabrea) “Easy way is, I enhance your crest and tell you everything you want to know afterwards. Hard way, you listen to that crystal and experience the pain of several lifetimes at once.”

Byleth furrowed his brow and grabbed the crystal.

(Byleth) “What could it possibly contain to make me-”

“I don’t know if anyone will be seeing this message, whether that be myself or anyone else who comes into this godforsaken tower but…My name is Byleth Eisner. Son of Jeralt Eisner.”

(Byleth) ?!

[Footsteps in the Snow - Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers OST]

Byleth’s mind grinded to a halt when he heard his voice emitting from the crystal.

When he looked up, Lahabrea reached for his head, softly rubbing it. He appeared to be feeling the same sensation as he did.

The moment that crystal began speaking, a throbbing feeling slowly became more and more present.

“We’re leaving this here in some hopes that this cycle can be broken, and to fix this mistake before it could ever happen…Our memories will be wiped after this, so we want to say everything we can before…before we forget.”

(Byleth) “What...What the hell?!”

As the message continued, Byleth dropped to one knee while Lahabrea did his best to shake off the headache.

(Lahabrea) “You only got yourself to blame!”

When it became clear that Byleth was experiencing the flashes Lahabrea was, Sothis appeared next to him, hands also on her head.

(Sothis) “Ya know, you-agh! Could’ve just told him?”

(Lahabrea) “Oh please, as if he’ll believe that we’re-”

(Byleth) “AAAAAAAAGH!”

Lahabrea and Sothis turned to Byleth, who had a pincer through his stomach.

(Lahabrea) “WHAT THE HELL?!”

He drew out the Sword of the Creator and leapt forward, slicing the attacker in two.

Sothis floated over to Byleth as Lahabrea looked at the thing that had attacked him.

It appeared to be a knight with a mutated pincer, cloaked in white-

(Lahabrea) “THE CHURCH IS STILL HERE?!”

Looking around, it seemed that the Knight was waiting for his moment to strike. He could hear more footsteps on the way.

(Sothis) “Damn it, I knew we should have just left! We can’t Divine Pulse either, he’s immune to it, and who knows what it’ll do to House Isekai! They’re in mid teleportation now!”

Lahabrea rushed to Byleth, putting the crystal in his pocket.

He was struggling to breathe as blood was rushing out, a white aura slowly overtaking his body.

(Lahabrea) “Damn it, we have to teleport him back to the tower!”

(Sothis) “Are you insane?! He’s in the middle of remembering WHILE being transformed into an ‘Angel’! Who knows what that’ll do!”

(Lahabrea) “OUR ONLY HOPE IS DYING IN FRONT OF US, SO IF YOU HAVE A BETTER IDEA I’D BE GLAD TO HEAR IT!”

Sothis shook her head and helped Lahabrea teleport out of House Arundel.

Once they were inside the Zanado tower, Lahabrea began to use a healing spell.

(Sothis) “Not working, it’s starting to spread to other parts of his body!”

Byleth’s hair began to turn white, which made Lahabrea swear under his breath.

The tower began to shake violently as echoes from the past became louder.

As Lahabrea was about to cast another healing spell, the Tower flashed a bright white, blinding all three of them.

When they opened their eyes, they were back at Garreg Mach’s roof, and it felt significantly colder.

Sothis’s eyes went wide as she looked up to the skies.

It was a bright white and grey, in combination with streaks of white light raining down to the ground.

Snow was falling to the floor and it was then she realized where they were.

(Sothis) “We’re in the future where the Javelin fell!”

(Lahabrea) “Damn it, 2 Byleth’s in here in combination of us experiencing the memory is making this even more unstable!”

Byleth’s eye color began to change before Lahabrea was left with no option.

Lahabrea raised his hand up, and a dark energy flowed out of it into Byleth’s body.

The Crest of Flames appeared on Byleth’s hand, slowly transforming into a bright red color.

(Lahabrea) “Sothis, did Yu ever tell you about Marie?!”

Lahabrea grabbed Byleth’s sword and Sara’s pistol as he jumped back.

Sothis floated over to him and looked confused.

(Sothis) “You mean that hat girl in the Velvet Room? Only a little! What does this have to do with anything?!”

(Lahabrea) “He once told me that Marie was originally going to die, but they let whatever beast that was inside her take control, and beat that thing up to where they saved her!”

(Sothis) “Oh, don’t tell me you-”

Byleth’s body rose into the air, streams of light and dark energy mixing together.

(Lahabrea) “If this works, he’ll become our trump card against the Agarthans and Church!”

(Sothis) “But he’ll still have the angel blood in him, right?! Even if we save him, he’ll still transform!”

(Lahabrea) “We’ll find out a cure later, if we lose him, then all hope is lost!”

Lahabrea held Byleth’s sword tightly, and it powered up in response.

(Lahabrea) “Good, it still works!”

Lahabrea quickly put the pistol onto his belt before Sothis got his attention.

(Sothis) “Byleth!”

[Return to Oblivion - Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers OST]

Sothis floated to Lahabrea’s side, bringing up a reflective shield around him.

Byleth stopped screaming as his clothes transformed into a dark blue, and his hair transforming back into green.

Wings sprouted from his back, tearing apart his body as he slowly turned into a bright white form, growing larger.

Lahabrea tried to shake off the voices that echoed in the distance, instead focusing on the fight that was about to happen.

“Why did you choose Edelgard, Professor?! Why did you choose to walk this savage, bloody path? I cannot shake this feeling of regret... Regret that I must kill you now.”

Byleth’s form now took on something similar to the Immaculate One’s form, which made Lahabrea hold his weapon tighter. There wasn’t any trace of Byleth in this new form.

This wasn’t going to be easy.

“Professor... I suppose you think you can defeat me. Is that right? But I will never give up. Even if my arms and legs failed me, I would still find a way to move forward. I will smash that false goddess and her minion into the ground! I will fight to free this world from her vile grasp!”

(Sothis) “Is it me, or are these voices getting louder?!”

(Lahabrea) “Ignore it, Sothis!

Sothis tried her best to ignore it, and finally snapped back to attention seeing Byleth’s new form in front of her.

He was smaller than the Immaculate One, most likely barely half her size, but by no means did that make him any less deadly.

"Teach... You should have chosen me instead of Edelgard. No point in whining about it now, I suppose. Sorry, but I'll be taking the win today."

The angel form of Byleth roared with such force that it made the wind almost push the both of them off. Lahabrea leapt forward with both swords, making the first move.

Wanting, I lie

Too weary to die

His swords were met by a fireball, the heat melting the snow instantly as it forced Byleth back onto the ground.

Too lost to the ice for saving

My sins claim me, untame me

Sothis raised her hand and countered with another fireball that hit Byleth, making him fly backwards.

Eyes wet with tears

Her song in my ears

Byleth roared back and rushed them, claws swinging as he crashed through the railings.

Lahabrea rolled out the way as the entire roof shook, and activated the whip function of the swords.

Broken, faded, how long have I waited

To open my wings

When Byleth came back for another pass, Lahabrea swung the whips at his claws, making Byleth fly back.

Byleth’s mouth opened, shooting out another fireball.

Turn the light on

And let her in. Won't you

Turn the light on

Lahabrea let Sothis’s shield take the blow, pushing him back from the impact.

Sothis got in front and held both her hands out.

(Sothis) “THORON!”

Turn the light on

You'll never win 'less you

Turn the light on

A stream of lightning rushed out of her hands, Byleth diving out the way and landing back onto the roof.

Turn the light on

The pain won't end 'till you

Turn the light on

(Sothis) “This is getting us nowhere!”

(Lahabrea) “We’re still in the Zanado tower, and this place was formed out of our memories, right?”

(Sothis) “Yeah, its a recreation of whatever happened before the others came into our world!”

(Lahabrea) “In that case- Heed my call...”

The soul longs for oblivion,

Oblivion

“VALIMAR, THE ASHEN KNIGHT!”

A phantom of Valimar emerged from a dark portal, and hit Byleth with its greatsword.

Byleth roared before being hit by it again, sending it flying upwards.

Valimar landed and turned to Lahabrea before fading away into the same dark portal.

Falling too far for the fear to embrace me

A voice from the past screaming there is no end (no)

A slave to my fate, ever doomed to repeat this

again and again and again and again (yeah, I'm)

(Sothis) “What in the?!”

Lahabrea sheathed one of the swords to have an open hand, the snow drawing into it as he prepared a spell.

(Lahabrea) “Take out the wings with ice spells!”

Falling too fast, no it won't overtake me

A voice from the past echoes loud like a drum (oh, yes)

no more goodbyes, though my heart is still aching

Now open my eyes, one more time, Here I come

Sothis and Lahabrea fired spear-like icicles into the wings of Byleth, making him screech and fall to the roof.

Once he got up, he started to roar.

(Lahabrea) “If I can summon Valimar like that, then we can summon the others to fight with us!”

(Sothis) “Well, it faded away instantly, right?!”

Byleth swung his tail at them, hitting Lahabrea into the railing, almost breaking it and sending him flying off.

The ice made him slide down the stairs, getting stunned for a moment.

(Sothis) “Damn it! Tch, here goes nothing, HOUSE ISEKAI, ANSWER OUR CALL!”

As Byleth walked to Lahabrea, a massive sword suddenly struck his face and made him recoil back in pain.

When Byleth turned back, a phantom of Ainz donning Momon’s armor stood in front of them.

Byleth’s claws lunged forward, Momon deflecting the hit, then each swipe he managed to dodge.

(Lahabrea) “Agh, goddess that hurt!”

(Phantom of Nabe) “Get up.”

Narberal offered her hand and helped up Lahabrea before jumping to Momon’s side.

Before she could make an attack, Byleth shot a fireball point blank, incinerating the two into a dark energy.

Lahabrea activated the whip function and swung at the arm, making a deep cut and making Byleth roar in pain.

When Byleth tried to stand on the arm, he limped over.

(Sothis) “Just how powerful did your past self make that mutation?!”

(Lahabrea) “It’s not helping that it’s enhanced by church magic, or whatever it is!”

Byleth charged up another fireball, forcing Lahabrea to strain the Tower’s energy.

(Lahabrea) “PERSONA!”

Arsene, Thanatos, and Izanagi appeared in front of Lahabrea, all casting a protective spell around them as the fireball set the entire roof ablaze.

The two couldn’t even see the snow on the roof anymore with all the smoke and fire engulfing them.

Reason resigned

Dark seasons' design

“I'm...dying for someone else? I can't believe this.”

As the Personas faded away, Sothis, Byleth and Lahabrea tried to shake off the voices that had returned.

Spring's promise of sun is honored

When winter's weighed down on us

(Lahabrea) “Come on, not now!”

Darkness erupted from Byleth’s mouth, and it seem he was stunned.

Visions in white

Raw fury in flight

(Lahabrea) “The crest enhancements created an opening!”

He sheathed one sword and grabbed the pistol throwing it up into the air.

A phantom of Sara and Sharon emerged above them, Sara grabbing the pistol.

(Sara & Sharon) “ARCUS, ACTIVATE!”

Clear as diamond, yet fragile as ice

My heart is racing

Lahabrea was about to join them before being dropped to a knee, hearing more voices yell out.

“Your Majesty, I die so that...you may seize your destiny.”

“Your Highness. Somehow you must...”

The phantoms sped around Byleth, cutting at specific locations to make him drop to the floor, unable to fight properly.

Turn the light on

And let her in. Won't you

Turn the light on

(Sothis) “H-Hey! We’re supposed to be just beating him up, right?!”

(Phantom of Sharon) “Not to worry, Miss Sothis!”

Sharon pulled the wires in her hands back, completely enwrapping Byleth in them.

Turn the light on

You'll never win 'less you

Turn the light on

Sharon bowed as Sara winked, their phantoms disappearing.

The pistol dropped onto the floor as Byleth struggled to break free, clearly on the breaking point.

Turn the light on

The pain won't end 'till you

Turn the light on

(Lahabrea) “Right, let’s finish this! DO IT!”

Sothis began to glow a bright yellow as Byleth finally broke free of the wires and was about to charge at them before a phantom of Doomguy emerged from a portal and hit the side of his head, making him fall over.

He launched an ice grenade from his shoulder cannon as a smaller phantom appeared below him.

(Phantom of Kurumi) “I GOT THIS!”

The soul longs for oblivion,

Oblivion

The grenade exploded, freezing his back leg into place, making sure he wasn’t able to move for a few more moments. The phantom of Kurumi struck his eye with her shovel, making him stunned for longer.

They both nodded as they faded away.

Falling too far for the fear to embrace me

A voice from the past screaming there is no end (no)

A slave to my fate, ever doomed to repeat this

again and again and again and again (yeah, I'm)

Sothis cast one last fire spell that enveloped Byleth, preparing for the final hit.

(Sothis) “We just say the move and the tower will fill in the rest right?”

(Lahabrea) “Yeah- Wait, you’re not going to do what I-”

Falling too fast, but the fall will not break me

A voice from the past echoes loud like a drum (oh, yes)

no more goodbyes, I am tired of waiting

Now open my eyes, one last time, Here I come

(Sothis)

“EXPLOOOOOOOOSION!”

A bright white ball formed in front of Byleth, then erupted into an inferno that blasted the entire rooftop apart, with Sothis barely forming a shield around them.

Their vision was completely enveloped into a blinding white as they felt their bodies tumble onto a smooth floor.

When Lahabrea opened his eyes, he struggled to get up as he winced in pain, looking over to Byleth’s location.

Byleth was extremely bruised, but other than that he was fine. Though the white hair was still concerning.

Lahabrea was looking around, and sure enough they were back in the Zanado tower.

[Tears in the Rain - Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers OST]

Sothis collapsed onto the floor, heavily breathing.

(Sothis) “No...No wonder she always passes out after casting that!”

Lahabrea tried to warm himself up after fighting in that cold. He finally had time to realize just how low the temperatures were in that world.

And it also made him realize that those who weren’t killed initially by the blast most likely froze to death.

(Lahabrea) “...We have to ensure that our world won’t end up like that, Sothis.”

(Sothis) “...Yeah.”

She floated over to Byleth and began examining him while Lahabrea took off his mask and began casting a healing spell.

(Sothis) “Knocked out hard. But he’ll live.”

She then turned her attention to the Angel blood inside him.

(Sothis) “...For now. Whatever we did worked.”

Lahabrea finished healing and looked at his own hands.

(Lahabrea) “To be honest, I don’t know how I managed to summon everyone like that.”

He turned around and thought of the very first person that came to mind.

(Lahabrea) “Edelgard.”

An older Edelgard appeared in front of him, standing completely still.

Lahabrea waved his hand in front of her face, but she didn’t respond. After a few moments, she quickly disappeared.

(Sothis) “The longer we’re in this tower, the more questions I seem to have. How did any of this even happen?”

(Lahabrea) “It most likely has to deal with our memories. Since our past self remembered what the world was like when the Javelin hit, we were...transported there because of it I think.”

He pulled out the crystal again and stared at it. When he did, he heard the voices of that timeline softly echo.

(Sothis) “Maybe, Byleth was overwhelmed by the flood of memories that he created an area similar to it with the tower?”

(Lahabrea) “That seems likely. But it seems having two Byleth’s in here is too dangerous. We were lucky we didn’t get the other Sothis back yet.”

Lahabrea picked Byleth up and was ready to teleport him out of there.

(Lahabrea) “In combination with the memories, this angel inside of him may corrupt him into something far deadlier...”

(Sothis) “Then there’s a chance he may die.”

(Lahabrea) “...That’s something we’re going to have to risk.”

Sothis looked uncomfortable with that answer.

(Sothis) “His Sothis won’t be happy to hear that. Neither will House Isekai...”

(Lahabrea) “One thing at a time. We’ll tell them when they’re ready. For now, we must tend to his injuries in a safer spot.”

Lahabrea put the crystal into a nearby pedestal and teleported away with Sothis.

...

(Claude) “I think that’s the end of that...memory or whatever.”

Everyone looked away from the crystal mirror and tried to understand what they just witnessed.

(Yosuke) “So that Lahabrea guy we’ve been seeing...He’s Byleth?!”

(Teddie) “And Sothis is with him too!”

(Ignatz) “The Goddess doesn’t look anything like that!”

(Lorenz) “I suppose the question to be asking is what DO we know? This tower has never been here to our knowledge, Lahabrea is able to materialize your classmates into existence, AND has the power of the goddess and time on his side!”

(Kanji) “In other words, we don’t know shit...”

(Rise) “Eloquently put, Kanji...”

(Naoto) “They’re right. We need to keep investigating before we make any assumptions. The most we have right now is our memories future and past being displayed with echoes.”

(Yu) “Besides, we’ve just begun the investigation right?”

(Hilda) “Hey, I found that crystal that Lahabrea guy was talking about.”

As soon as she got near the pedestal, a door opened up behind it.

(Chie) “Uh...What’s that?”

(Yukiko) “Should we open it?”

(Raphael) “Well we aren’t going anywhere by not opening it.”

(Leonie) “W-Wait a second!”

Raphael opened the door and walked in, everyone rushing in behind.

(Lysithea) “YOU IDIOT, DON’T JUST GO...and...”

(Marianne) “By the goddess...!”

Everyone was awestruck by the room they had walked into.

The staggering heights the ceiling went to, with the crystal in the wall illuminating the entire tower. It was the most beautiful and sinister thing they had ever seen.

(Claude) “Well, it certainly won’t be a dull time that’s for sure.”

(Yu) “Everyone, let’s get moving!”

====

Part 1: END

[This Beautiful Cruel World - Attack On Titan OST]

Your dream is where your heart is

It’s something more fragile than life itself

No matter how many times you throw it away, you still find it

So rest in peace now

Your wish is violated by your pulsing urge

and as much as you forget about it, you recall it again

In this beautiful and cruel world

We only ask “why” we’re still alive…

Ah, what are we going to protect

with our strength and weakness? If reason no longer exists

TO BE CONTINUED IN:

#House Isekai #House Isekai Shadowbringers #crossover #fanfic #fire emblem three houses imagines #fe3h imagines #sothis #byleth eisner #Claude von Riegan #yu narukami #writing

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tomasorban · 5 years ago

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Atargatis, the “Syrian Goddess.”

In his account of the Syrian cult center Hieropolis, Greek writer Lucian called its goddess “Hera.” However, he added that the natives gave her (and her consort) “another name” (Attridge and Oden 1976: 43). That was almost certainly a form of Atargatis, life-giving divinity associated with rivers and springs, motherly protector of humans and animals. Atargatis often served as tutelary or protector deity of urban centers — the providence or luck of the place (Semitic Gad, Greek Tyche, Latin Fortuna). Especially on coins, she often wore the “mural crown” with battlements (crenellations) as representation of the town she cared for (Bilde 1990: 159). For example, she was Gad or Tyche of both Edessa and Palmyra..

Her epithets included “Pure,” “Virgin,” “Savior,” and “Mother of the Gods” (Lightfoot 2003: 82: Bilde 1990: 162), and her iconography connected her particularly to Cybele, the Great Mother. Like her, Atargatis was often depicted riding or accompanied by a lion. Often she sat on a throne flanked by two sphinxes or two lions. Her headdress was usually topped by a crescent moon and draped with a veil. In her hands she carried various objects: a plate or cup, a scepter or staff, and ears of grain, but most often she held a spindle and a mirror. Sometimes doves or fish were near or actually on her. In some places Atargatis was associated with dolphins. At other places, the eight-pointed star emphasized her association with the planet Venus (Drijvers1980: 31).

The earliest evidence of this goddess comes from the site of the ancient city Hieropolis — “Sacred City” — which is the modern Membij and the Greek Bambyce. Her name and image appear on “a bewildering variety” of coins dating to the latter part of the 4th and the early part of the 3rd century BCE (Drijvers in Toorn, Becking, and Horst, 1999: 114). An Aramaic form of the name was ‘tr’th Ataratha, which the Greeks transformed into Atargatis and perhaps, in some places, shortened and altered to Derketo or Derceto (Lightfoot 2003: 37). Other spellings include Ataryatis, Attayathe, Ataryate, and Tar’atha. There is general scholarly consensus that the name derived from a combination of the names of the Canaanite goddesses Anat and Astarte (Drijvers in Toorn, Becking, and Horst 1999: 114), though some still think that the name also hides the third Canaanite goddess Asherah (Maier 1986: 67; Oden 1979: 58ff.). (See my articles on the Canaanite goddesses and goddess matters.)

A work about the goddess and her holy city, now bearing the Latin title De Dea Syria “About the Syrian Goddess,” dates to the 2nd century CE and is attributed to Lucian of Samosata (Attridge and Oden 1976; Meyer 1987: 130-141). Lucian wrote in Greek about, among other things, his visit to the great temple at Hieropolis, a walled sanctuary on a hill in the center of the city. As we saw, Lucian identified Atargatis with the Greek goddess Hera, but he also connected her to several other goddesses, for instance, Rhea (Cybele), Athena, Artemis, and Aphrodite. In addition, he saw her as having aspects of Nemesis and the Fates. Lucian described in considerable detail the shining magnificence of the temple, its numerous cult objects and statues, the multitude of its priests, and the various rituals celebrated there. Twice a day there were sacrifices, the ones to Hadad-Zeus being performed in silence. Those to the goddess were accompanied by flute playing and rattle shaking. In one rite, young men castrated themselves to become cross-dressing priests at the temple (Attridge and Oden 1976: 23, 37, 39, 55). The obligatory lake or pond lay nearby, full of sacred fish which no one was allowed to eat; nor could anyone eat Atargatis’s sacred doves.

In the temple, the goddess was supported by lions, and she held a scepter and a spindle. She wore on her head “rays and a tower” (Attridge and Oden 1976: 43). She was accompanied by a god sitting on bulls. Lucian identified him as Zeus, but remarked that the locals called him by another name. Very likely he was the Canaanite storm god Baal-Haddu (Syrian Hadad), the consort of Atargatis in the area.

To the north and east of Hieropolis was Edessa (modern Urfa), which, according to Christian legend, was the first ever kingdom to become Christian. However, well into the 5th century CE the city had a temple to Atargatis (as Venus star). Over and over again, the Christian bishop of the period had to forbid self-castration in honor of the goddess (Drijvers 1980: 77). A pool with sacred fish still exists at Urfa, though the carp are now dedicated to Ibrahim. At Edessa Atargatis was guardian of the city and especially of the springs near the citadel and the nearby river (Drijvers 1980: ix, 8, 79, 121).

She also had temples at Duro-Europos on the Euphrates and Palmyra (Tadmor), an oasis in the Syrian desert.

Dura-Europos was famous for having one of the oldest synagogues, almost complete and decked with frescoes. The city was a military post on the upper Euphrates, on the border between the Roman Empire and the troublesome Parthians (Drijvers 1980: 3). Atargatis shared her temple there with her consort Hadad. She might also have had a connection with the Adonis temple (Drijvers 1980: 23, 108).

Palmyra was also famous but for another reason: Zenobia. A warrior queen, she ruled and expanded the Palmyrene Empire after her husband’s death in 267 CE. Atargatis was considered Palmyra’s Tyche and identified with Artemis (Glueck 1937:370). She is known from two bilingual inscriptions, and her temple was probably one of four official “tribal sanctuaries” (Kaizer 2002: 153ff.). In addition, there is some evidence that at Palmyra she was equated with the ancient Arabian goddess Allat, whose iconography was very like that of Atargatis (Kaizer 2002: 99ff. 148 note 30; Drijvers 1980: 100).

Further, Atargatis was worshiped in what is now Israel at Ashkalon, originally a Canaanite city, then Philistine, then Phoenician. It was the site of Artagatis’s main temple in the southern Levant. According to the Apocrypha, she also had an “Atargateion” near Qarnaim (II Maccabees 12: 26). At Ashkalon, where she was called Derketo, she seems to have appeared as half fish, a mermaid goddess. In De Dea Syria, Lucian reported that he saw a statue of a Phoenician goddess who was a mermaid; he confirmed that she was called Derketo (Attridge and Oden 1976: 21).

Atargatis was also recognized by the Nabataeans, though she was never one of their pantheon (Healey 2001: 140-141). Evidence suggests that the Nabataeans were originally nomadic herders from Arabia who, in Greco-Roman times, controlled the main trade routes between Arabia and Syria and grew rich on frankincense and myrrh. Their kingdom flourished in the Hellenistic period (323-64 B.C.E.) and became part of the Roman Empire in 106 CE (Taylor 2002: 8). On a hilltop at Khirbet Et-Tannur, north of Petra in southern Transjordan, sits a small, ruined, but “extraordinary” Nabataean temple dating to the first part of the 1st century CE. Its excavator thought it was dedicated to Atargatis and her consort, but not everyone agrees (Healey 2001: 61). Certainly the sculpture and other decorations of the ruins suggest that the goddess worshiped there was very like Atargatis. The sculptured reliefs include the head of a goddess with two fish on her crown, winged Tyche figures, a lion, goddess heads with fruits and leaves, and reliefs of a Hadad-like god (Glueck 1937).

At the renowned Nabataean capital Petra, Atargatis’s cult was not very important, but there is some evidence of the goddess’s presence there (Taylor 2002: 132; Lindner and Zangenberg 1993). She might have been identified with the Arabian goddess Al-`Uzza, the Venus star, who was the tutelary deity of Petra. Like her, Atargatis had a close association with springs and water. At Petra is a sanctuary that archaeologists named the Temple of the Winged Lions (Healey 2001: 42-44). It may have been dedicated to an Atargatis-like goddess (Hammond 1990).

In the West she was usually called Dea Syria, the “Syrian Goddess.” Atargatis reached Rome during the first Punic War (264-241 BCE). By the time of the Roman novelist Apuleius, around 150-160 CE, the goddess’s begging eunuch priests had become notorious. In his story The Golden Ass, he described how a disreputable band of wandering followers of the goddess acquired Lucius in his donkey form and used him to carry the silk-bedecked image of their “foreign” goddess (195-199). The goddess he praised as “omnipotent and omniparent [all-generating]” (195), while he dismissed the priests as “lewd and very naughty fellows” (196). In the novel Lucius was restored to human form by the great goddess Isis (261-272).

The variations in the iconography of Atargatis resulted from her being identified with so many local goddesses, as well as great goddesses such as the Egyptian Isis. A splendid Egyptianized statue of her, complete with encircling snake, stood on the Janiculum in Rome in the 3rd century CE (Godwin 1981: 158 Plate 124). From Hieropolis in northern Syria, then, the cult of Atargatis disseminated all through Syria, northern Mesopotamia, the Mediterranean area, and the western part of the Greco-Roman world, even to Britain (Lightfoot 2003: 59).

#ancient #Religion #history #goddess #atargatis

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rheas-chaos-motivation · 7 months ago

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GIVE ME A QUOTE ENEMY

AND WAT DOES THOU THINK OF ME

EWWWW DISGUSTING EW BIRD PERSON THAT PROBABLY SMELLS LIKE BIRD POOP (my platonic pookiewookiebanannapookiebear, genuinely happy when you interact with my posts, one of my favorite people on tumblr, amazing person, my favorite enemy, sadly doesn't like frozen juice which is :(, but other than that yayay person)

Augustan Burroughs: "You are allowed to be alive. You are allowed to be someone different. You are allowed to not say goodbye to anybody or explain anything to anyone, ever."

you also can get an opinion :0, send me an ask or comment on my pinned post

#rheas 100 follower celebration #quotes #rhea gets an ask?#my opinions #ahhh my enemy

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placetobenation · 6 years ago

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Stacey O’Loughlin and JA D’Amato bring us this recap of WWE Evolution 2018. Stacey is the purveyor of all things women’s wrestling in WWE and JA was live in the arena so each brings a different perspective for us. Enjoy!

Stacey O’Loughlin

First of all, I’m trying to find the words to explain what an all-women WWE PPV means, and finding it impossible. Seeing the overwhelming emotions from all of the women; the women on this card, in wrestling at large, and in the crowd, should give you some idea though. Before a bell was rung it was already a victory, a celebration, and by the final bell it was an indisputable triumph.

Trish Stratus & Lita vs. Mickie James & Alicia Fox

As if this PPV wasn’t exciting enough already, it begins with the Greatest of All Time, my sun and stars, moon of my life, Trish Stratus. This was a fun way to kick off the show, with the crowd super hot and treating them like legit WWE Legends. Trish and Lita hit all their Greatest Hits like the good ol’ days – with Trish even hitting a Frankensteiner off the top rope for the heck of it, and Lita nailing the Moonsault. Trish and Mickie had another awesome face off that the crowd ate up, and then started punching on like only they can. Mickie James in particular deserves a ton of props for working for about a hundred women here. Nice finish, and just a super fun opener.

Battle Royal for a Women��s Title shot

All I really wanted for this match was to see everyone’s entrances, including all of my faves from the DIVAS INVASION, so this was already a winner before nary a punch was thrown. My girls. My heart. An entire shipload of cool moments in this – the IIconics promo and immediate tossing; Carmella’s DANCE BREAK with Ivory; Nia Jax and Tamina having a hoss battle; the big quadruple suplex; Mandy & Sonya vs. The Legends. Big shoutout to the oldest woman in the match, Ivory, who went long and looked absolutely fantastic. The entire finishing stretch with Ember fighting against all odds for a victory was amazing. What a gloriously entertaining battle royal.

Toni Storm vs. Io Shirai – Mae Young Classic Final

If you haven’t been following along with the Mae Young Classic, you have been missing out. This is why. The two brightest stars in the tournament just going all out to put on a great wrestling match. Crazy ass spots up in this like Io’s moonsault from the top to the floor, and Toni’s brutal German Suplex on the apron. These kids ain’t mucking around man. Anyone could have won this thing until Toni MURKED Io getting the knees up for the moonsault, before nailing her finish for the second time to win. Toni was hugely over in my Aussie household and I had picked Io to win, so this was an awesome surprise. And then of course tears, trophies, flowers, Papa and Mama, Sara Amato, and more crying. Mostly by me. I loved everything about the MYC and this was a fitting final.

Riott Squad vs. Natalya, Bayley & Sasha Banks

I’m sorry but literally everything on this card is ruling the world. This was a great trios match. Sasha and Bayley very visibly trying not to cry set me off all over again on a show where literally everything set me off. The Riott Squad are on a hell of a roll and looked unbelievable on offense working over Bayley and then Sasha. Sarah Logan is awesome, and just quietly how good is Liv Morgan going these days. Twists and turns and teases galore in this, plus fun little tag team spots like the Hart Attack and the Doomsday Device. I loved Nattie busting out the Double Sharpshooter From Hell as well. And just when I had started to breathe, Bayley LIES ON TOP OF SASHA TO SAVE HER LIFE and then Sasha wins with the Eddie Guerrero Tribute frog splash and there I go again.

Kairi Sane vs. Shayna Baszler – NXT Championship

And now this! The good stuff just keeps on coming, I can’t cope. They had a great title match at the last Takeover, and since then Pissed Off Shayna has been murdering folks for sport so I was hyped for this. Clearly so was Kairi the Pirate with her elaborate new entrance. And then Shayna Baszler took Kairi’s arm, removed it from her person, put it in her pocket and went home with it. Nasty, brutal and creative arm work here. Kairi managed to fight back tremendously well with only one arm, until the action spilled outside and OH GOD THE HORSEWOMEN! Kairi STILL kept fighting all three of them off valiantly until she got caught and choked out until she died. Shayna makes history by becoming the first ever two-time NXT Women’s Champion AND by pissing off my mother for life in record time.

Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte – SmackDown Women’s Championship Last Woman Standing Match

AND NOW THIS. WAR BECKY FREAKING LYNCH. Argh. I mean, just get a load of Becky here. She is well and truly The Man. Ridiculously so. Charlotte for her part was SUPER up for this too, and man did this BANG. What a bloody war. I’m talking tanks, machine guns, dive bombers, the works. A war. So, so many weapon shots, just hard, hard shots. A nice ECW tribute with tossing the chairs into the ring and then hilariously whiffing on a big table spot. The senton that sent them through the table was baller though. As was Becky’s leg drop through the announce table, the Backdrop Driver From Hell onto the pile of chairs, the Figure-Eight inside the ladder, Charlotte being buried alive, and all the other dope ass highlights. The selling of exhaustion and pain and flat out refusal to lose was tremendous from both women. I thought Charlotte’s big Charlotte Up on a cowering Becky at the end was it, but Becky powerbombed her to HECK through the table and survived. And thus, my poor heart also survived. This was everything promised and more.

Ronda Rousey vs. Nikki Bella – Raw Women’s Championship

Did y’all hear the little girls pop for the Bellas? Yeah, don’t question Nikki headlining this PPV ever again. Besides, this was everything it was meant to be. Ronda got to play with her early and toss her around, looking every bit the killer, until she ATE the post three whole times and set about selling her damn ass off. Nikki was great on top, being a dick and laying her stuff in, while Brie trolled expertly on the outside. Frankly this may be the heel performance of Brie’s career. They kept it up and Ronda kept selling and selling and pulling you along until FINALLY, she found an opening to RONDA UP and kill some folk. The double Ronda slam thing was nuts. This was entertaining as all get out, and it ended perfectly with Ronda grabbing Nikki and tapping her out. Hugs, tears, confetti, sunshine, rainbows, peace on earth. What a PPV. That I’m able to type all this out is a minor medical miracle since I’m pretty sure this show killed me and I am dead. I love absolutely, positively everything.

JA D’Amato

On April 22, 1974, the Nassau Coliseum hosted its first women’s pro wrestling match when “The Fabulous” Moolah and Donna Christanello took on the tag team of Sharon Brooks and Daisy Mae on the undercard of a World Wide Wrestling Federation event headlined by Bruno Sammartino. As was the case then with women’s pro wrestling in the United States, the match was meant as little more than a titillating sideshow on a card otherwise dominated by men. 44 years later brings a completely different vibe to my Long Island home as we are fortunate hosts of Evolution the first all women’s Pay Per View/Special Event. A curious choice for a venue by the WWE powers that be maybe more influenced by convenience as Mr. and Mrs. Levesque are only a one hour limo ride from home. Ticket sales on the secondary market have been tepid as upper level seating was available for under $10 and lower level in the $50 range on broker sites. This indicates low interest from the casual fan base but the loyal fans grabbed up the quality tickets priced at typical B PPV prices.

Entering the building was quite a joy to see the most diversified crowd ever. Obviously tons more women than any event ever attended. A wonderful mix of all age ranges, mothers and daughters and more couples on date nights than usual. I immediately ran into a Bellalution pep rally with an army of Bella faithful led by an energetic young gentleman in tremendous physical condition. NYCB security had to intervene and break them up for causing arena traffic.

Stace would have been right at home in my section as they were handing out “Becky, Becky, Becky” signs with “I Boo the Woo” on back. Ronda shirts dominated the masses with Becky second and the Bellas third. Nary a Charlotte shirt was located.

Here is my live stream of in the moment thoughts:

Pre-Show: Rhea Ripley vs. Dakota Kai

Both ladies got a warm response. Ripley’s delayed duplex got the biggest pop which is ironic because Lashley gets crickets with the same move. Ripley won in quick fashion with her pump handle slam.

Nita Strauss and Lzzy Hale ripped pure fire to intro the show.

Lita & Trish Stratus vs. Alicia Fox & Mickie James

The fans ate up every move from Lita and Trish. Alexa got some nice old lady jokes in to make her presence felt. Foxx and Mickie sold their asses off and despite a ref botch the finish was well received. The arena is ¾ full but it’s 100% positivity.

Battle Royal

The IIconics talked some trash and were the first to go out. Great mini stories involving Mandy Rose eliminating Sonya and Carmella’s dance off brought the house down. Ivory joined her but apparently she went to the Elaine Benes dance school. Even Tamina got a response from this crowd as her and Nia dominated. A huge “NXT” chant erupted when Ember and Asuka squared off. It came down to Nia and Ember and Nia prevailed although the crowd favored Ember. Nia still got a warm response and heat from her post match interview. I wish she would have dedicated her win to Nate Milton but no such luck.

Io Sharai vs. Toni Storm – Mae Young Classic Final

The crowd was split 50/50 for this fine battle. Io’s moonsault on the floor and Toni’s back duplex on the apron generated the first, lazy “This is Awesome!” chant. Toni’s victory was greeted warmly as Triple H and Stephanie but that didn’t overshadow the post match ceremony. The hits keep coming.

Riot Squad vs. Sasha, Bayley & Natalya

Bayley and Sasha still get huge star treatment from the fans despite being de-emphasized on the pecking order. Sasha reverted to her Super Dave Osborne imitation with a scary dive outside while Nattie took a long cat nap before awakening and delivering a double sharp shooter in a memorable spot. Bayley saved Sasha by lying on top of her and the faces showed great continuity in successive tags leading to Sasha’s dive and pin.

Shayna Baszler vs. Kairi Sane

Old school face/heel reactions for this one. The crowd hated the interference from Baszler’s crew and the lack of assistance from the gang of NXT women at ringside.

Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte

The audience got fully amped when the promos hit signaling this match was next. Ridiculously pro Becky house with everyone on their feet for the introductions. “ECW” chants for the chairs thrown in and “You deserve it” for Charlotte getting racked by chair shots. Poor Charlotte managed to elicit a few cheers only when she chased Becky down for trying to bail. The crowd was pissed when Charlotte survived a 9.75 count before erupting for the table crash and Becky victory in a match that delivered in every way like just about everything all night.

Ronda Rousey v. Nikki Bella

How do they follow that? The Bellas enter to a strong response as nobody appears to be exiting. Crowd was about 60/40 for Rhonda and reacted to all the high spots including Brie’s interference, the Double Bella throw and Brie getting tossed. Rhonda got the win as expected and this historical night ended with no drama as all the women converged on the entrance to congratulate Rhonda and each other on a successful night. Evolution produced the best crowd reactions since SummerSlam 2002 and I had absolutely no regrets about attending. In spite of the usual WWE weaknesses regarding booking and over saturation they pulled out a big W and surely Evolution will be a yearly event.

#IFTTT #Place to Be Nation

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megadarkbouquettidalwavethings · 7 years ago

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Happy Birthday Anil Kapoor: Steal-worthy Fitness and Diet Secrets of The Actor Who Refuses To Age

He is an actor par excellence, he is an International icon and he is a superstar who refuses to age. We are talking about Anil Kapoor. Actor Anil Kapoor is ringing in his 61st birthday today (24th December). The actor is currently shooting for Fanne Khan with Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. Fanne Khan is an upcoming Indian Hindi musical comedy film, directed by Atul Manjrekar. One of the most awaited films of 2018, Fanne Khan also stars Raj Kumar Rao in one of the lead roles.

Anil Kapoor started his acting career back in 1979 and went on to be one of the most bankable actors of Bollywood throughout 80’s, 90’s and 00’s. He forayed into production too and gave the Hindi entertainment industry some stellar performances. The national award winner has time and again proven his mettle as an actor and the ultimate fitness and style icon. Father of three: Sonam Kapoor, Rhea Kapoor and Harshwardhan Kapoor, Anil Kapoor with his effervescent looks and youthful energy can easily be mistaken as their sibling. So, what is it that is making Anil look younger day by day (if we may say so)? We dug out some secrets you would love to know.

Anil hits the gym as often as he can. He spends two to three hours working out. He changes his workouts according to his roles and works on all his body parts be it core, muscle or legs. He does cardio for 10 to 20 minutes. Free weights, sit-ups, crunches, chair squats, and push-ups are part of his typical workout. He is an avid cyclist too. He goes for cycling or jogging early morning. The actor also practices hot yoga. In one the interviews his daughter Sonam Kapoor revealed how Anil goes to bed by 11 p.m. Therefore, he is not seen around in late night Bollywood parties. Is that the secret of his youthful looks?

In an interview for NDTV with Aneesa Baig, Anil Kapoor shared that he hails from a typical foodie Punjabi family. Anil Kapoor’s father Surinder Kapoor used to supervise the food catering at RK film studio. Maa ke haath ka khaana has always been Anil’s favourite. In another interview with Farah Khan, Sonam recalled how in one of her Diwali functions she gobbled over 100 samosas, few of which were shared by father Anil Kapoor too. In such a happy foodie household, it is Anil’s wife Suneeta Kapoor who has to make sure that everyone is eating healthy and remains fit and she is quite a hard task master.

All his occasional indulgences aside, Anil follows a disciplined diet. The actor avoids sugar and junk food, and eats a lot of dairy products. The actor believes sugar is the main villain of most health issues, and the less you eat the better it is for your health. The actor also believes that he is genetically blessed, and is free of any age-related diseases that are common to occur at his age. His eats 5-6 small meals a day. Vegetables, daal, oats, fish,broccoli, celery, chicken and protein shakes are a common part of his diet. His breakfast usually consists of eggs and toast with a glass of fresh juice or black coffee. He keeps himself hydrated with water, juices and shakes.

The actor keeps giving a sneek peak into his foodie side on his Instagram handle. Have look:

Not only does the man know his food and he also values the effort that goes behind it. Here’s his tribute post to Chef Gaggan Anand’s master presentation at his restaurant.

Anil wrote “@gaggan_anand was on my culinary dream-list for the longest time & here I am today! Starting off the experience with a li’l bit of mystique!”

That’s him munching on popcorns before the screening of his film Mubarakan.

So many desserts, yet so fit! How unfair!

That’s him having dinner with ‘family’. Such a lavish spread has us drooling.

His last year birthday celebrations were all things festive and amazing. Hoping this year is even more grand.

Here’s wishing Anil Kapoor a very Happy Birthday!

The post Happy Birthday Anil Kapoor: Steal-worthy Fitness and Diet Secrets of The Actor Who Refuses To Age appeared first on Breaking News Top News & Latest News Headlines | Reuters.

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thepoolscene · 8 years ago

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The Pool Scene - Clint Freeman, Jacob Watson - Lone Star Tour

New Post on http://thepoolscene.com/?p=21366

Watson and Freeman Win Poison Lone Star Season Opener

Former Junior World Championship contender, Jacob Watson, came from behind to claim the 64-player amateur 9-ball division, and his first-ever, Poison Lone Star Billiards Tour event. After losing the hot seat match to Sonny Bosshamer, 5-4, Watson came back with a vengeance, reaching another milestone in his short, but successful playing career. Hailing from Hughes Springs, Texas, tour newcomer Clint Freeman lost the open 9-ball division hot seat to Peruvian Champion, Manny Chau, 7-4, but found redemption in the final, besting Chau 7-5, 7-6, to secure his first, Poison Lone Star Billiards Tour open 9-ball division title.

On January 7th-8th, 2017, Bogies Billiards and Sports Bar (Houston, Texas), along with tour title sponsor Poison by Predator Cues PoisonBilliards.com, and sponsors Cyclop Pool Balls facebook@CyclopPoolBalls, Ozone Billiards OzoneBilliards.com, and the APA of North Harris County facebook@APANorthHarrisCounty, facilitated another successful Poison Lone Star Billiards Tour event, procuring a generous $1,000 in added money, with eighty players in attendance, and a near $7,000 prize fund. Due to the overwhelming number of players, races were reduced in each division, on the second day.

In the amateur 9-ball division, Watson took no prisoners on his way to the final four winners’ side, defeating Cecil Rhea, Leon Contreras, Jason Galetka, 5-2, and Angel Cerrillo, 5-4, while tour newcomer Elias Garza bested Josh Gavin, Jay Russell, Jantzen Miller, 5-0, and David Leal, 5-3. Also on a role, Sonny Bosshamer defeated Michael Alvarez, Matt McCurdy, Clint Freeman, 5-4, and J.C. Torres, 5-3, while Bobby Roland ousted Ben Johnson, Ben Hebert, Robley Fontenot, 5-3, and Robbie Salinas, 5-2. On the one loss side, Freeman was on fire, eliminating Bobby Garcia, 5-2, Leon Contreras, 5-4, and Angel Cerrillo, 5-0. Steve Lenz overcame Alan Myers, 5-3, Ben Johnson, 5-2, and David Leal, 5-1, while Jantzen Miller defeated Ben Hebert, Ricky Hughes, 5-4, and Robbie Salinas, 5-3. After losing his first match to Garcia, Steve Williams won four consecutive matches, ousting Thomas Madison, Matt McCurdy, Matt Cash, 5-4, Steve Espinosa, and Mark Callahan, 5-4. Williams fell shy of the final eight, losing to J.C. Torres, 5-3. Back on the east side, Watson reigned over Garza, 5-4, and Bosshamer took down B. Roland, 5-1. Bosshamer slid by Watson, 5-4, securing a well-deserved hot seat win. On the west side, Garza sent Torres packing, 5-1, as Freeman took out B. Roland, his fifth straight victim, 5-3. Garza ended Freeman’s run, 5-3, but fell to Watson by the same score. The young gun wasted little time on Bosshamer, winning both sets, and clenching his first amateur 9-ball division title.

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In the open 9-ball division, Clint Freeman made his way into the final four on the winners’ side, taking down Bob DeTuncq, Jay Russell, 9-2, Michael Pickering, 7-6, and Justin Whitehead, 7-6, while Eduardo Hernandez bested Karol Hughes, Paul Bojan, Ruben Bautista, 7-4, and Scott Proud, 7-5. Manny Chau came on strong with wins over Elias Garza, 9-3, Thomas Madison, 9-6, Sonny Bosshamer, 7-5, and Steve Lenz, 7-3, while Ernesto Bayaua ran through Alan Myers, 9-2, Adam Cooper, 9-4, Steve Espinosa, and Leon Contreras, 7-4. As the final four on the winners’ side took shape, the one loss side witnessed a comeback by Bautista, who won five consecutive matches including wins over Jacob Watson, 7-1, Steve Williams, 7-1, and Steve Lenz, 7-3. Also on the one loss side, Michael Pickering ended Yoko Joe, 7-5, Cesar Arechiga, 7-4, and Leon Contreras, 7-3, to meet Bautista. Louisiana’s own Robley Fontenot made an impressive run on the loser’s side with wins over Chad Hart, Angel Cerrillo, 7-4, Steve Espinosa, and Danny Roland, 7-6, until Whitehead ended his run, 7-1. After losing his first match to Grady Cooper, David Leal won five straight matches, with wins over Myers, 7-6, Dale Lairamore, Russell, 7-3, Ricky Hughes, 7-6, and Doug Gray, 7-3. Leal was halted by Proud, just shy of the final eight. On the east side, Freeman ousted Hernandez, 7-2, and Chau sent Bayaua west, 7-1. Freeman went on to defeat Chau for the hot seat, 7-4. Back on the east side, Bautista forged ahead, eliminating Pickering, 7-1, and Hernandez, 7-0. Whitehead made quick work of Proud, 7-3, but fell to Bayaua, 7-2. Bayaua ended Bautista’s run, 7-6, but lost to a determined Chau, 7-1. It was evident that Chau was on a mission, and Freeman had his work cut out for him. Following an unforced error by Freeman, Chau closed out the first set, 7-5. In overtime, it was a fight to the finish, as both players traded game for game, each waiting on the slightest mistake in order to pull ahead and win the set. After a near flawless second set, when the dust cleared, it was Freeman who inched ahead to win the race, 7-6, and secure his first open 9-ball division title.

There were a number of players who traveled from out of state to participate in this event, and players competing on tour for the first time. The tour would like to thank all those players for making the trip, and those who competed in their first Poison Lone Star Billiards Tour event. We hope to see you back at every opportunity.

The tour would like to recognize its 2017 sponsors and venues: Poison by Predator Cues, Cyclop Pool Balls, Ozone Billiards, and the APA of North Harris County. This year, the tour welcomes back Texas venues Bogies Billiards and Sports Bar (Houston), Bogies West (Houston), Skinny Bob’s Billiards (Round Rock), and our brand new venues, Fat Racks Sports Bar and Billiards (San Antonio), and CK Billiards (Dallas). This year the tour welcomes its new, resident vendor, Bryant Billiards, and will offer cue repair at each of its 11 stops. Without the nearly 300 players who attend Poison Lone Star Tour events, annually, production of this tour would not be possible. The tour would like to thank each and every player for their participation, whether it’s one event, or every event year round. It is because of your patronage, that the Poison Lone Star Billiards Tour celebrates its 9th birthday this year, serving players across Texas and in surrounding states. The tour welcomes everyone back for the next event, to be held on February 11th-12th, 2017, at Bogies West, located at 9638 Jones Road, in Houston, Texas. The full 2017 schedule is published at www.LoneStarBilliardsTour.com. The Poison Lone Star Billiards Tour encourages everyone who loves to play pool and compete in a friendly atmosphere, to attend an event. “Like” us on Facebook @LoneStarTour and “Follow” us on Twitter @LoneStarTour09.

Amateur

1st Jacob Watson $530/630

2nd Sonny Bosshamer $330/$460

3rd Elias Garza $220/$300

4th Clint Freeman $140/$110

5th-6th Bobby Roland, J.C. Torres $100 ea.

7th-8th Steve Lenz, Jantzen Miller $80 ea.

9th-12th Angel Cerrillo, David Leal, Steve Williams, Robbie Salinas $50 ea.

13th-16th Ricky Hughes, Mark Callahan, Leon Contreras, Ben Johnson $25 ea.

17th-24th Ben Hebert, Daniel Forster, Jason Galetka, Steve Espinosa, Bobby Garcia, Michael Pickering, Alan Myers, Robley Fontenot

25th-32nd Jay Russell, Gerardo Alvarez, Yoko Joe, Trey Dyess, Matt Cash, Daniel Wise, Charlie Jenkins, Josh Gavin

33rd-48th Scott McKenzie, Jose Gonzalez, Richard Hernandez, Roy Payton, Chris Gutierrez, Danny Roland, Matt McCurdy, Grady Cooper, David Bahan, Kerry Burkett, Tom Rehm, Pete Charles, Adam Cooper, Shane Pickering, Chad Hart, Bob DeTuncq

49th-64th Dale Lairamore, Cesar Arechiga, Shelby Green, Doug Gray, Cecil Rhea, JaRon Davis, Thomas Madison, Jay Mestas, Eduardo Hernandez, Michael Alvarez, Karol Hughes, Oswaldo Saldana, Jesus Perez, Scott Proud, Fernando Lopez, Brian Middleton

Open

1st Clint Freeman $550/$600

2nd Manny Chau $350/$420

3rd Ernesto Bayaua $230/$185

4th Ruben Bautista $150

5th-6th Eduardo Hernandez, Justin Whitehead $120 ea.

7th-8th Michael Pickering, Scott Proud $100 ea.

9th-12th Steve Lenz, Leon Contreras, Robley Fontenot, David Leal $60 ea.

13th-16th Danny Roland, Steve Williams, Doug Gray, Cesar Arechiga $35 ea.

17th-24th Daniel Forster, Jacob Watson, Yoko Joe, Tony Benestante, Elias Garza, Steve Espinosa, Ricky Hughes, Sonny Bosshamer

25th-32nd Philip Tieu, Charlie Jenkins, Will Felder, Thomas Madison, Hiro Nakahara, Angel Cerrillo, Jay Russell, Gerardo Alvarez

33rd-48th Michael Alvarez, John Geiger, Grady Cooper, Chris Gutierrez, Bobby Garcia, Karol Hughes, Roy Payton, Robbie Salinas, Shane Pickering, Ben Johnson, Paul Bojan, Chad Hart, Jeff Harris, Dale Lairamore, Pete Charles, Ben Hebert

49th-64th Jesus Perez, Shelby Green, Scott McKenzie, Bob DeTuncq, Oswaldo Saldana, Adam Cooper, Fernando Lopez, Jason Galetka, Kerry Burkett, Matt Cash, Tom Rehm, Chuck Adams, Jay Mestas, Alan Myers, Richard Hernandez, Jantzen Miller

#Clint Freeman #Jacob Watson

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