#terrifying isn’t it Koby?

[glucosegaurdian]

I’m absolutely sane about him, it’s fine. No I’m not I’m actually feral right now

I just love having a blorbo and being able to sit back and watch others put him through the Situations™ for me instead of daydreaming them myself :)

A shoutout to my wonderful mutual @cemeteryguy!

[dafukdidiwatch]

One Piece - Episode 2

It’s actually a lot easier to review one piece now that I’m at episode 2 to be honest. I mean I still have that ping of “oh this came from the anime/manga” or “oh this is pretty different”. But I feel like it’s less prevalent now. I’ve gotten over the shock of OMG LIVE ACTION ONE PIECE GAH and now can actually see it for what it is. Another story. Which is good because Hoo Boy, they do not drop the ball in the second episode

Overview: Luffy, Zoro, and Nami discuss the Grand Line Map. But before they get anywhere with it, Buggy the Pirate Clown has captured them and forced them into his Circus Tent of Terrors to get the map back. While this is happening, Commander Garp is investigating the theft of the map back at Morgan’s Marine Base, and meets a nervous wreck of a cadet Koby just trying to get through his first day. 

So let’s start off with the obvious

Buggy is a nightmare

Holy Shit I mean I know people don’t like Clowns, but they went hard on his craziness. How everyone, even his own crew, is tip toeing on eggshells around this guy. He’s maniacal. Huge inflated sense of self worth and grandiose. Also a psychopath that let people keep their Hands so they can Applaud on cue To Him. Anime was all “ha ha giggles he’s clown wait uh oh he’s actually dangerous”. Naw they ain’t pulling that shit here. Buggy is a threat. Always a threat. 100% destroys everything and tortures everyone to get what he wants. He has some goofy moments like being a dumbass and punching glass like a moron, but he’s 100% Capital B Bad Guy for the entire thing. 

(Which got to say, I was lowkey waiting for Luffy to flip him off. No reason why, I just thought it would be funny at that moment.)

I have mixed feelings on the Buggy-Luffy “join me” type of deal. On the one hand, didn’t really like Buggy calling Luffy an outcast. He isn’t tho. Not like Buggy gave a shit since his whole goal is to mettle for the map. But Luffy wasn’t outcasted or a freak. He’s too happy-go-lucky to let insults like that impact him. And look there, Luffy never really gave into Buggy because yeah he knows who he is and is confident about that. So that felt a bit Meh to me. 

On the other hand, I liked how they handled the parallels between Child!Luffy and Shanks and Current!Luffy and Buggy. Shanks fought the bandits, defended his friends, literally lost an arm to help his kid. And Luffy took those lessons to heart, defends Shanks and his honor, says the same line about hurting his friends against Buggy with Known History to Shanks. The Antithesis if you will. For the live action episode, that felt well written and excellently handled, especially for an audience that might not have seen One Piece before. 

Also the Shanks Fight to get Luffy was super cool. Love seeing the crew in action and beating/killing all the bandits. A little lowkey sad that they didn’t keep the “guns aren’t for threats they’re for action” and the “Fair? What do you mean fair, we’re pirates” line. Those were great lines that really highlight that they are still hardened fighters/pirates that do still kill. But they kept the “Hurt me but not my friends” line so that’s acceptable. 

Sea King animation was terrifying and really cool. Love to see that in action, and we got to see basically Shanks using power of will against the monster to fuck off. Best, love it. Also laughed a bit when I saw Shanks arm just flying into the ocean after the Sea King’s first strike. It’s in the middle of the screen if you pay attention to it. I just thought it was a funny bit that the Sea King didn’t actually eat it, just tore it off. 

Keep rolling with the badguys here, Cabuji coming in with vengeance exposition backstory about how Zoro hunted down him and his brother and killed the brother for a bounty. Tells how badass Zoro is, shows how stoic, serious, and snarky Zoro is in the face of torture and death. Like they are locked in the circus prop section, this entire set up is really good. But I’m just sitting here thinking that Zoro didn’t track them for shit, he got his ass lost for 20 miles and kept running into those guys accidentally. I don’t know if or when the live action would ever touch on Zoro’s shitty sense of direction, but I hope they do. I’m just waiting for that reveal moment. 

I’m glad they are still keeping the mistrust and traitor vibes with Nami here. She never said she’s part of the crew, she tried to dip as soon as she could with outing Luffy’s powers. She hated the devastation that pirates made in the town, while also sneaky enough to have 4 different lockpicking sets. Love a girl bastard and thief. Especially the end hints of her having *le gasp* a secret corresponder snail working for someone! Oh That’s gonna be so good when we get to it. 

Another small thing about Luffy while I’m talking about the crew: Is it weird I find Luffy too smart? I mean, yeah his first instinct was to eat the map. But he’s rubber, his stomach can literally stretch. And the best place to hide something is on your person. Also he figured out the boxes and getting rid of body parts in reality that smart grab was Nami’s ploy. Though I guess the writers thought it would be best to make Luffy a bit more competent than just the original dumbass he was. Maybe the audience wouldn’t latch onto him as much or something. 

But I did love how Luffy states he’s “a different kind of pirate”. Still a pirate. 100% still a pirate. But not the pillaging or destroying kind. The “I can help my friends out just via violence” type. Not afraid to fight, won’t stand rules, just wants to do his own thing without hurting everyone. Given Nami’s stated mistrust on pirates, as well as the rest of the town, it’s nice that we have Luffy to be that distinction of a better pirate. 

Clown outfits and costumes were really on point. Like the design production went all out to make sure everyone is as wacky and crazy as One Piece is known to be. It’s a bit too bad that we don’t actually see all the clowns fight in one go. Like having Zoro kill/defeat them all offscreen felt like a waste. But the core of this episode was definitely focused on Buggy and Buggy v. Luffy. So it makes sense that they don’t want to…share the spotlight. (see I can make bad circus jokes too)

They’re also giving Garp and Koby a bigger spot in the series too. Anime/Manga we sort of forget about Koby until well after a lot of arcs. But now they are tying his story to Garp about Koby trying to be a Marine like how he wanted. He’s a lot more timid with being a marine though. And Garp, really threatening. In the “I’m a powerhouse and we all know this but I’m still polite” type of way. Still like him, and the live action has this as the parallel of “Luffy Pirates” v “Koby Marines” so two sides of the same coin. 

Too bad we didn’t see Morgan going down either. Or how Helmeppo spontaneously became a Cadet while Morgan was still in charge. But that goes under the “clowns killed offscreen” bit. 

Overall, really good horror circus vibes here. All the fight scenes were on point and clever. They are still blending in a lot of the original source material while making smart and fun changes to the story. And my sister wants to blast through the episodes because she just wants to get to the Sanji bits lol. So stay tuned!

[hedgehogcryptid]

I desperately want a "strawhats go homicidally unhinged when someone takes Luffy away" fic

there are simply not enough of them. Not enough "enemy smugly takes out the perceived bigger threat and proceeds to regret all their life choices" fics.

So I went and tried to write my own, but I can’t really write for shit. Especially not plot. And I ended up with about 800 words of a dude still called [agent marine] wanting to cry because Luffy got arrested

If someone has any fic recs for this particular craving I’d be thrilled.

If not, I’m just posting my half assed fic into the world hoping to manifest the willpower to actually write the thing

[agent marine] was there in Dressrosa, working under admiral Fujitora. After that, he made a point to read every report he could find about the Strawhat crew and listen to as many firsthand accounts as he could. Koby has trained with Garp so he is a good place to start. Turns out he doesn’t only know about Strawhat Luffy but also knows him personally and keeps him in very high regard (which is the kind way of saying he turns into a complete fanboy the moment you give him half a chance to talk about the man). That chat was highly informative.

Which is why [agent marine] starts sweating when he hears the news that Monkey D. Luffy has somehow been captured and is currently en route to Impel Down, of all places. As if the last time he was there didn’t happen. As if last time he was there didn’t end up being the biggest fuck-up the Marines ever commited. Everyone seems to think that because the man is wrapped in sea stone to hell and back everything will be alright.

He even heard someone say that having the captain will keep the crew in line.

[agent marine] wants to cry.

Because. Because. People forget some very important facts, besides the glaringly obvious “Strawhat Luffy already escaped Impel Down”. And yes, maybe those facts aren’t obvious at first glance, but they’re very easy to guess once you start looking.

The first mate wants to be the best swordsman in the world, and has no problem telling that to anyone who thinks to ask. Roronoa Zoro has decided his goal in life is to take the place of Dracule fuking Mihawk. And seems to be making decent work of it too. As if that isn’t terrifying.

They have a world class cook who also is, for some reason, a frontline fighter. They have a cook who is a frontline fighter while willingly handicapping himself. Who learned to fly. No big deal.

A navigator who can electrocute an entire platoon in one go.

The most versatile sneeper known to date.

A first rate doctor who most people still think is nothing but a pet but can turn into a monster at the drop of a hat.

They have Nico Robin. Who has betrayed countless organizations during her career. They demolished Enies Lobby for this woman who’s said to destroy anything she touches. And they’re still there, alive and kicking and stronger than ever.

A shipwright who dabbles in robotics. Who made them a ship that can fly.

A man who captained his own crew, came back from the dead, joined, had a profitable career as an independent musician, and joined again.

And Jinbe, the knight of the sea, first a subordinate, then a captain, then a fucking Shichibukai, always an incredible fighter. And he claims pride on joining as nothing but their helmsman. And one hell of a helmsman, too.

And what does all this mean? Well, [agent marine] is pretty sure it means this is not a “take off the head and the rest will follow” situation. All members of the strawhat crew are experts in their chosen fields and fighters to boot. You don’t get that good at something by blindly following someone else’s lead. And all firsthand accounts say Strawhat Luffy is pretty much an idiot, no matter how much fondness it’s said with. There’s no way he’s the brains of the operation.

And the last thing that people tend to forget, something that should’ve been made obvious by the former list, is this: the rest of the crew comprises less than ten people.

From what [agent marine] saw on Dressrosa, and what he later found out on his own, Strawhat Luffy tends to zero in on the biggest threat around, go straight for it and start punching it, and keep punching it, until it’s not a threat anymore. But threats of that level are rarely alone, so for him to charge ahead, it falls back on his crew to deal with “the rabble”.

What people forget is that “the rabble” tends to be hundreds or thousands strong, and include the enemy commanders. Hundreds and thousands against less than ten people. Who consistently come out on top. Against hundreds and thousands.

Somewhere out in the world, right now, there are a handful of experts who are used to winning in ridiculous odds and who already know Impel Down can be conquered. And [agent marine] is pretty sure that taking away one battering ram doesn’t mean they are suddenly unarmed.

—-------------- turns out [agent marine] is painfully correct. They are not unarmed by any means. And they seem to be angry, if the unmitigated bloodbath Impel Down has become is any indication.

Nico Robin managed to open the door for them, somehow, and they entered uncontested. The warden did try to stop them but he is, was, very big, and apparently that made him an easy target. The swordsman didn’t need to get that close to the toxic waste in order to cut him in half. The results made for a rather gruesome sight.

[sanjithesimp]

One piece characters reaction to you getting n*pple piercings

N/SFW

A/n: Ok so I have been thinking about getting my n*pples pierced for such a long time, but never actually dare to do it, I wish I wasn’t this indecisive :((( But anywayssss I thought about how would some OP characters would react to it.

Ace

He would probably ask you first if it hurts

And then look at you closely to see if you are telling the truth, because it is not possible that getting pierced in a place like that wouldn’t hurt all the time?

He would ask you a few more times if it hurts

Of course you explain that it will hurt for a bit

“Babe, you look hot” And he would stop looking

He would love how they look when you are only wearing his shirts

He would ask you if they are more sensitive after getting them pierced

“Do you wanna find out?” You say as you sit on his lap, and start taking off your shirt.

He would definitely use his tongue, if you know what i mean...

The contact of his tongue against them would feel like heaven

Koby

At first he would look at you terrified

“What? How? When?” He would be in shock for at least an hour

After recovering from the shock, he would tell you that you look amazing

He can be shy and all but when he is horny he definitely isn’t shy. He would ask ask for soapy titty pics

And know for a fact that he would save them for later...😏😏😏

He would ask you if he could look and or touch them at them respectfully, as the nice boi he is.

Luffy

“Does it hurt when they pierce you?”

“Not really, just a bit at first” You say

“Do you like them?” You ask him, as you lift your shirt for him to see

“YES!!!” And he immediately says he wants to pierce his

The man doesn’t get a hint of how you want him to react, but you laugh and promise him you will take him to get his pierced

He would try to match with you

Zoro

He’s the one who encouraged you to get them pierced

He then thanks himself of convincing you of getting them

“See babe, you really look hot” He wouldn’t take his eyes off them

He would buy you all kinds of piercings so that you could use them in special occasions 😏

He would later get them pierced too and honestly he would look even better with them

Sanji

sNon-stop nosebleeds

He would peek every time he got a chance to get a glimpse of them (he would do it respectfully)

SORRY..MOMMY...SORRY

“Babe, they look so good on you” He would say every time he saw you naked

When asking for nudes, he would definitely ask you for titty pics.

[mayuuunaise]

honest first impressions of the litg s4 cast so far

male islanders:

james - he seems like a real sweetheart and earnest about finding something real in the show but then again so was ibrahim and look how that turned out LOL he also seems to have a default crush on mc? i don’t blame him tho tbh. but it’s definitely easy to rile him up and i can see him being flustered w most of the other bombshells too.

kobi - thankfully does not seem to be noah 2.0 given that he’s stuck with a wannabe hope. seems to still be open to coupling up w someone else but has settled for lexi bc she’s safe (aka waaay more into him, from his perspective). idk it’s fun to casually flirt w him bc he isn’t as averse to it like noah and seems to think it’s all in good fun.

will - i’m biased bc his aesthetic is sooo pleasing and i’m thinking of doing his route LOL. i was pleasantly surprised that he liked it if you went off on lexi since he seems too chill for that. not that he likes drama but he doesn’t care for anyone two faced - likes it more when you’re honest about things which is v refreshing coming from a bobby route in s2. will be voted as most afraid of commitment though i’m calling it and i can’t wait for that drama to start

hazeem - seems like a nice dude but dear god his mustache is terrifying and i have no idea how that’s attractive honestly. feels like the “always the mate” of the season. i really don’t have much of an opinion about this dude except that he has great taste in women apparently!

female islanders

lexi - a definite hope 2.0 and i won’t be surprised if she kept watching season 2 religiously and tweeted “it should have been nope 😕” god i love riling her up so much i kind of wish she wasn’t paired w kobi so i could steal her man lol is she an li bc i will die if she’ll be a frenemies to lovers route come on my dudes

najuma - SHE’S FUN, SHE’S FLIRTY, AND SHE’S HERE TO HAVE A PARTY. i’m pretty sure that the reason najuma and will decoupled was bc they really couldn’t see a future w each other and respected that. she seems ready to shake things up but it definitely is not w hazeem. lowkey wish that her 2nd LI is a female islander honestly!

angie - seems super cool but likely the guy she has an eye on will be a bombshell too. she just doesn’t seem to be vibing w the guys romantically. chill and not about drama but doesn’t really look away from it. i don’t really have much of an opinion about her but i love her aesthetic and think she’ll be a good friend.

thabi - she’s so sweet and everything hannah could have been! i almost feel bad about choosing will but he’s the only one so far that’s caught my eye LOL but she doesn’t seem to have any hard feelings and i appreciate that she doesn’t think too badly of the mc when you do tell her that you’re just playing the game. honestly i think will might be awkward around her and likely knows about her little crush. u can cut the tension w a butter knife and it’s not really the good kind of tension u feel me

mc - give this girl a tv did she not watch the show?? we usually have like inside gossip of our own from bombshells (e.g. chelsea). but also i’m just assuming that the footages haven’t been post processed yet so the public is likely still on episode 1 when the mc drops in. anyway i appreciate that we can get options for a kind of “do no harm, but take no shit” attitude.

special guest:

narrator - idk the sense of humour feels off somehow and i miss all the cringey jokes.

[robinchan-hananomi]

One Piece 1062

So I’m super excited for this whole arc because O have so many questions about the technology of the One Piece World. Dials, Den Den Mushi, and many of the technological items we have seen through the series so far have been through they eyes of people who are outside of the norm. The average citizen in the world of One Piece likely doesn’t have dean den mushi or much of anything super technical. Submarines are rare as are many other things so I can’t wait to touch some base on this.

So for the actual chapter… first we got the cover story where Chocolate village is completely frozen. I’m guessing this is Aokiji’s doing so the Blackbeard pirates are probably taking advantage of Big Mom being gone to invade her territory. What this means for Koby is unsure. Then again maybe it’s whoever didn’t go on the Amazon Lilly raid?

Then the chapter itself. The crew minus Luffy, Chopper, and Jinbei are all reacting to Vegapunk. Franky is all in fanboy mode while Usopp is excited to see a new robot. Brook and Sanji are excited to see a pretty woman and Robin is being the only one to call out the fact that she’s too young to be Vegapunk.

Vegapunk corrects the assumption saying she isn’t the main body but number two, Lilith. She demands their treasure to compensate the research funds they need, having a massive group of sea beasts surround the Sunny. Lilith however gets a call from someone named Shaka, who calls her out on her recklessness. Shaka specifically points out how calm Zoro is right now, showing wherever Shaka is, he can see what is going on. He cautions Lilith that Zoro could easily kill her right now, as can Robin and that they will not hesitate to do so. Lilith remarks that she was so thrown off by the others that she forgot to see them as a threat. Zoro announced that he has a demand of Vegapunk and Shaka tells Lilith to bring them in as he has an interest in the crew.

So first I wanted to point out that I loved that Vegapunk recognized the immediate threat that Zoro and Robin in particular presented. Brook, Nami, and Usopp are terrified right now, Sanji wouldn’t hurt a woman, and Franky is too overwhelmed with excitement. However Zoro and Robin are fully ready to kill Lilith right now. Most of the Strawhats would never back down from a fight, but hardly any of them have much killing intent. They beat up enemies, they don’t exactly kill them. Zoro and Robin have confirmed to have killed people and neither hesitate to use killing force if it means protecting their crew.

In addition it’s interesting Zoro says he has a demand of Vegapunk. I would have expected that from Franky. If not him than Usopp or Nami. Not Zoro. However I suppose it could be over a few matters. The first is of all the Strawhats, Zoro is most related to Kuma. Kuma and Zoro made their pact in Thriller Bark and Kuma even told Zoro about Vegapunk. Maybe Zoro, who feels indebted to Kuma, has demands of Vegapunk on Kuma’s behalf. Less likely is addressing the whole grim reaper issue a few chapters ago. Even more unlikely it could have to do with feeding Devil fruits to inanimate objects, like swords, although I doubt that one very much. It could also be something completely different.

As for Vegapunk having an interest in Luffy’s crew, I easily believe that. First is Kuma had Vegapunk instal a special mission in him to protect the Strawhat pirate’s ship for two years. Seeing as how this was Kuma’s last request, that was bound to get Vegapunk’s attention. The other thing maybe ‘Cyborg’ Franky himself. Vegapunk probably has a lot of interest in Franky, seeing as how Franky himself is a cyborg. Can’t wait for this to be addressed.

Next we got to Luffy’s group. Bonny explains that she’s been to Vegapunk’s lab as a child due to her father Kuma. So Bonny is the Princess of Sorbet Kingdom. First, I guess we got another pink haired princess club member. Next is I wonder how this plays into other things. How old is Bonny? Why is her name different than her dad’s? Is that why Akinu was worried she escaped? Because she knew some of Vegapunk’s secrets or is there more to it?

We see part of the lab and mess around with some Holograms. Then a massive being informs them that they created a climate regulator…I’m sure Nami would love to get her hands on that. As Luffy, Bonny, and Chopper hoarse themselves on food, the new woman vents about no one being able to copy her blueprints, like the food producing machine or climate regular. In anger she punches a dragon hologram and explains she even made gloves that allows her to interact with light. Luffy asks if the holograms are real or not and she tells him that he needs to have his own debate about that before introducing themselves as Vegapunk. Bonny however knows it’s not the real Vegapunk.

Bonny is keeping some things from the others but I think part of it is this isn’t the time. They are sneaking around a lab do it’s not really the place to go ‘oh hey, I met your brother Sabo’. This at least may lead to the crew being reunited.

Meanwhile Kaku, Syussy, and Luci are headed to Egghead. Kaku explains that because Vegapunk is so busy he made six additional bodies with their own minds and personalities. Number 1 is Shaka with logic. 2 is Lilith the ‘evil’ one. 3 is Edison with flair. 4 is Pythagoras for Wilson. 5 is Atlas for wrath. 6 is Yoke for desire. Luci explains they are taking the ‘problem child’ serepham of Kuma back to Egghead and killing all 7 Vegapunk’s. Luci wonders if it has to do with the recent island being destroyed but the other two remind him that knowing too much is a bad thing.

Kaku it’s good to see you again! Luci not so much. So apparently Vegapunk has seven total bodies and we have met two now. In addition we also learn that the government had determined Vegapunk has moved into being a liability and want him assassinated. Rude. And lastly we got Kuma’s defected Seraphim which oddly has black hair, not white. I’ m really excited on what happens next and when these questions will be answered.

[animebw]

Reading One Piece: Chapters 579-580

-JESUS CHRIST BLACKBEARD IS TERRIFYING

-”The voices in my head... they’re disappearing, one by one!” Um, Koby? You, uh, you okay there?

-”This isn’t justice! This victory has only whetted their appetites!” Ooh, is Smoker gonna have a change of heart?

-”THAT’S ENOUGH!” HOLY SHIT KOBY GREW A PAIR

-Holy. Mother. Of. God. Koby as the conscience of the navy is everything I wanted.

-...no way. Is that. Is that Shanks. Is that actually Shanks. IS THAT ACTUALLY MOTHERFUCKING SHANKS.

-”I’ve come to put an end to this war!” IT ACTUALLY IS OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

-”To see it now would violate our agreement. Right, Luffy?” God. He’s not wrong, though; this arc’s proven how weak Luffy is compared to all these giants. He’s not ready to find the One Piece yet... or see his idol again.

-”NO TREASURE MAP?? YOU LYING JERK!” “I was in a hurry.” ahahahaha I forget Buggy and Shanks knew each other this is amazing

-”Withdraw now and allow me to save face.” Fuck, that’s a loaded line. Shanks was fully prepared to keep the fight going and kick Blackbeard’s face in, but he knows the cost would be too great. This battle’s caused enough carnage already.

-And all these silent panels of everyone still alive breathing in the quiet... god. What a war this has been. So long, Paramount War. So long, Age of Whitebeard. Hello... whatever comes next.

[gemgeminox]

Sims 4 Legacy Challenge – Pickering Family 3.36

Generation 3, Chapter 36 (3.36) – Art Form

Previously on the Pickering Legacy Challenge…

Gen 3 spare Indigo – to his surprise – gave birth to a part-alien baby. His own son, Kobi.

It was a shock to everyone. Especially Indigo, who can’t seem to reach Kobi’s alien mother, Danica, all the way in Sixam.

Luckily, Kobi isn’t without family – he’s got his dad, and a bunch of cousins, and an already supernatural sort-of aunt in his dad’s vampire cousin, Honeydew – and his aunt, Isabelline. Who, though she was terrified for everyone’s safety at the hospital (how do you explain alien pregnancies and male births to the medical interns?), wouldn’t for the world have Indigo do this alone – or have little Kobi feel anything less than eternally loved.

And it’s a good job he’s got Isabelline to help him out, because this childbearing business seems to have gotten to Indigo, just a little bit – completely unqueued, he pays a night time visit to his mother’s grave, and mourns her.

Welp. Right in the feels.

But he has got Isabelline’s help – and she’s a good person to have in your parenting corner, if her own kids are anything to go by.

Her first born, Jasmine, is a proud Llama Scout:

And her twims, Jellybean and Jet, are just as swell.

Art Lover Jellybean is turning into quite the artist herself:

And Jet is discovering an art form of her own.

Yes, Isabelline has done an excellent job raising three great kids – and she’s about to get a day entirely dedicated to appreciating her.

It’s finally Isabelline’s Adult birthday!

[ecotone99]

[FN] Meeting the great god of death

Meeting The Great God of death

What was in front of them was something like they had never seen before. He could see a black flame. It was the only thing he could t encapsulated the entirety of his vision. The flame burned so black that it seemed unreal, almost dream like. Giving off purple at the tips, and the wisps of smoke as white cotton, the flame began to shrink a bit. Flames began to branch off from the main flame, creating two horizontal columns of fire. Red circles appear at the near top of the flame, opening like eyes. A bright red, they stared at the group as the flame continued to shrink to about eight feet high. Its arms bent to its sides, hanging with sharp fingers attached.

He stared at the monster in silence. Hearing no voices, he could only assume that the rest of the group was as shocked as he was. Koby did not know what to do or what this thing was. Was it a guardian of the great god of death? Would they have to overcome it to meet the great god? How could they fight fire with swords, especially a fire so hot it burned black? And those red eyes, they unnerved him to no end. They just stared unblinkingly at him, like they knew what his intentions were and what was in his soul. If he had to guess, the creature was thinking about all the ways it could kill him.

Should Koby take out his sword, or would that only anger this creature? His hand moved to the hilt of sword and paused in the space above it. If he took out my sword, he would be committing to fighting it. It could just be a guide to the great god of death. He did not wish to kill him and his friends because he was too hasty. What a pest that would make him if he did. He’d never hear the end of it in Hell, all of them blaming him for pissing off the great god of death and him being the reason they ended up in such a shitty place. Koby grimaced at his “title”, the pesky knight, and thought he’d rather stop fulfilling the honorific like had had done too many times. He tensed up, and moved his hand away from his sword, thinking he’d take the chance of a late reaction to a fight rather than make an ass out of himself to his companions. Besides, he didn’t know if they could fight the creature, what good was swinging a sword at fire.

The black flame moved forward, leaving a tail of blackish purple fire extinguishing as it went. Coming closer and closer, Koby could sense the rest of the group growing more frightened as he had been. It stopped some several yards away. The shadow of a flame burned in silence, continuing to stare at the group. The situation stayed like that for a while, a menacing flame looking at the group, the group staring back. Finally, a voice broke the silence.

“He-hello. I am the sword princess, we have come to meet the great god of death. Ar-are you his guardian?”. The beautiful blonde sword princess spoke, fear lingering in her voice. Rare for her, Koby thought. She was usually headstrong and not afraid of anything, but even that must have had its limits.

The creature took a moment to respond. A voice could finally be heard, and Koby could only describe it with one word. Transcendent. It spoke in a low tone of voice, soft yet every word as audible as if someone screaming. But as usual per the great gods, multiple other voices spoke at the same time. It was as if a range of voices spoke in unison, and he could hear all of the different ones at the same time. They ranged from shrill and squeaky voices, to deep and booming growls. But one thing was clear, they were all background voices. A chorus to compliment the main singer. But what did the voice say? What could be the terrifying words that came from the mouth of the unknown presence before them. The phrase it uttered was simple.

“I am him.” The dark flame spoke. Everyone understood what he meant. The entire group became still. Each one was still and lifeless, and seemed to be as if a gentle wind could blow them down easily.

Koby was in shock. This was the great god of death? He was surprised by his appearance. He had expected to see a gigantic version of the Shinigami, an ugly grey humanoid creature, with boney bat-like wings that spread many times its arm span. But a flaming shadow? How was this connected to death. Even though the great god was not ugly like those in his dominion, there was something deeply unsettling about his appearance. Most of the great gods they had encountered had been in the form of animals, earthly beings they could understand. But this great god was truly otherworldly.

“I am Tilleadh. The great god of death, dreams, and sleep. Welcome.” The great god proceeded to move closer towards the sword princess, who stood a head of the pack. The sword princess tensed her stance, on edge to see what the great god was about to do. She was like a mother wolf, protecting her cubs from harm. Is he one of those cubs, would she protect him? He feared the answer. Koby consistently doubted himself in the group, as if he was not truly one of them.

His fears were not unfounded. The pesky knight had gotten the group into a number of bad situations, and much of the group thought less of him. However, his fears were not the truth. He just did not know it.

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The mother wolf had a bead of sweat drip down her pale skin. The sword princess’s eyes met the great god’s as he came closer to her. She wondered why he was approaching. As he came, a sense of urgency and dread started to overtake the sword princess. She was afraid. Afraid of death, afraid of losing everything she had.

This was a rare occurrence for the sword princess. Usually a hot head ready to rush into battle, instead here she stood, afraid of the menacing god in front of her. To a viewer, she was no different than scared girl in a dark alleyway, waiting for the knife.

The god stopped a yard in front of her. At near eight feet high, it was giant to her shortish stature, multiple heads taller than her. Its red eyes stared into her being, unblinking.. She gulped. Her head raced with multiple scenes of dismemberment, burning to death, and of unparalleled anguish. She put her head down in fear not desiring to look up at what the evil god would do to her. If he was the god of death, than he must be an evil god. A god who only took those she loved from her. He was responsible for so much sorrow in the world. There was only one thing it could want from her.

She was wrong of course. Her impulsiveness often led her into anxious thinking where’d she spiral into worst case scenario thoughts. She was a neurotic mother wolf. But aren’t all mothers like that?

The great god outstretched his shadowy hand. It seemed to the sword princess that the arm was growing longer and longer, almost as if to reach her. As the hand came up, the sword princess grimaced and closed her eyes. She bent her head down, chin trembling as she expected the hand to grip her.

The hand never came to her face.

She opened her eyes, staring down at the floor. Where is the hand, she thought. She lifted her head, and a cupped hand lay in her sight. Sharp black fingers beckoned towards her.

The sword princess had a blank expression on her face as she stared into the eyes of the great god of death. What does he want me to do? Does he want me to give him something? She thought over and over. Every circumstance ran threw her mind of what would happen. If she gave him the wrong thing would he kill her? Send her to hell? After all she had risked, after how far she had come, it all lay in a single hand gesture.

The group stood there with baited breaths. The fate of their dead comrade, and their quest to find the spell to end human suffering, could lay in this one moment. How would the sword princess react, everyone wondered. Koby had goosebumps on skin. Bell, who rarely had a bad expression, grimaced. Everyone else in the group was anxious for the conclusion.

The great god’s arm moved. It bent inward towards the sword princess. She just stood there, starting to shake. For the sword princess was scared, and she knew not what to do. Is he going to kill her. Is this it? Thoughts of impending death raced through our sword princess’s mind. What happened next surprised everyone.

Tilleadh, the Great God of death, dreams and sleep, grasped the hand of the sword princess. He brought her palm level with his. There they stood, clutching hands, arms outreached. It was as if a mother grasping the hand of her child.

The sword princess stood there in shock and awe. She was surprised by the gesture made from the great god, to say the least. The anxiety in her body began to melt away like ice in a summers day. She felt warmth. The sword princess looked at the black flame hand clutching hers, and thoughts began to race through her head. Why isn’t it burning her hand? Why did it feel warm and comforting? Fire is supposed to be hot and painful, and this hand was anything but.

Clutching her hand, the great god turned his body around. He began to lead the sword princess away, with his hand still grasped around her. What is he doing? Where is he leading her? She would have to keep on her feet. This god of death was an evil thing, to her at least. As the sword princess was led down the hallway, the rest of the group relaxed. Bell was back to his smiling self, content with the display he just saw. Koby was still anxious and on a heightened awareness. Our pesky knight was skeptical of the god of death. An image of Tilleadh leading her to hell popped into his brain. In his circumstance and knowing what he knew, it was not unreasonable for our dear Koby to think such thoughts. Who knew about this god of death and what his intentions were? Death was an evil thing that took the light of life away from humanity.

The group quickened there pace down the grand hallway, following the lead of the sword princess and the great god of death. Tilleadh moved slowly, as if nothing in the world worried him. Which made sense, considering he was a great god. The sword princess took short strides, nervous about catching her foot on the tail of the black flames. The sword princess thought, what is this monster doing? Why is he leading me? Where is he leading me? These questions and more filled her mind.

Questions raced until she felt in a state of confused anger. Anger at this beast for taking so much from her. Anger at this monster for all the horrible things he had supposedly done. Anger that the cause of human suffering was him. Her hand tightened around the hand of the great god. She squeezed it as hard as she could, putting all her strength into it. Tilleadh stopped and looked at her. The sword princess stared at the great god with harsh eyes. Her thoughts were of one thing, death. The death of her comrade the most of all. Why was he taken from them? Why did he have to die? She felt a sadness overcome her soul, and drop her down like a weight.

Tears began to swell in her eyes. Her knees started to tremble and gave way. There was the mighty sword princess, on her knees, crying her eyes out.

She could only cry. Death had taken away her family. It had taken away her lover, their precious comrade. She could feel nothing but hate towards this the great god.

“I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, I hate you. You’ve taken everything from me.” She proceeded to do the unthinkable. A hand raised in a fist, she weakly beat on the great god. Light taps of her wavering wrist kept making contact with Tilleadh.

The group stared in horror. Each knew this was a great affront to the great god.

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Koby’s hand gravitated toward his sword but never touching it. He knew it could only make things worse if he took out his sword to face the great god. He’d for sure be smited if he tried to initiate conflict. Knowing the power of a great god, a human could not win. He was unsure if anything could win against a great god. Minor gods could be slain, but great gods were all mighty. Koby thought to what the priest in his group said. “The prevailing theory is that great gods are understood to be representations of their domains. Natural forces come alive. They cannot die.” If he drew his sword, he’d be killed. And he was afraid to die. He’d miss his fiance. The woman with the most beautiful eyes in the world. Purple and seductive, they mesmerized him. He was scared to leave a woman he loved so much. He was scared to never see his family again. The loss of never hearing the term, pesky knight, rang through his ears. It’s a title he’d miss if he was dead. So all he could do was watch, and hope that only the sword princess was the one smited. It was cowardly of him. He knew it. He did not wish to be judged for letting his companion die. But it impossible to save her. Even if he’d try, nothing would be accomplished. And they’d also have a harder time bringing back their dead comrade. The only option was to wait. Koby wasn’t entirely a pest, but didn’t make him the most loyal of men either.

The Great god of death raised his right hand. The sword princess thought of nothing in the moment. She could just feel anger and sadness. The great god paused for a moment, as if to think. Or maybe it was to build up strength? Who could tell?

The group watched the scene intensely, waiting for the death of their second friend.

The great god brought down his hand. The sword princess flinched.

Smack! The hand made contact with her face for about a second or two, and then left it. She lay in shock, a light red circular imprint across her left cheek. The great god stared down at the sword princess. Then in his transcendent voice. “I am sorry, but you violated custom. I am a great god, and you must never do that. I understand your pain. Your loss is my loss. Your pain is mine. But you must remember I am Him, and you are you. Now rise.” He spoke like an apologetic parent scolding their child.

Koby was shocked. She did not die? But she violated a great god. One worshipped by all. How did she not even have a scratch on her?

The sword princess rose, in shock from the slap. Her teary eyes had become dry, and she was staring down at the floor. She couldn’t comprehend what had happened. Her emotions had gotten the better of her, like they usually do, but this situation had been dire. Or so she had thought. But for beating on a great god, all she was punished was with a light slap.

Tilleadh outstretched his hand again. The princess taking him by the hand seemed outlandish, even foolish.

She gripped his hand again, not thinking about why she shouldn’t nor holding a grudge. She was just too confused, so she let the great god lead her body.

Tilleadh lead the sword princess again, and the group followed, all shocked at the light punishment received from such a holy being. They walked for a while, and then the great god spoke.

“I know you must think of death as an evil thing, but you know not death in its purest form. When it comes upon you when your old, your bones grow tired, your muscles give out on you, and your gums cant gnaw on food any longer; it is a release. In its purest form, it comes in your sleep in old age. Death is warmth.” The sword princess was speechless.

She stopped in her tracks, and so too did the great god. Her mind raced to the words he said after the slap some time ago. How could this thing understand her pain. It was a god of death, eternal and its domain was the harbinger of pain. The sword princess had misunderstood the great gods words.

“How can you understand my pain? How can you ever understand a humans emotions!?” She screamed it at the top of her lungs.

The great god sighed. His transcendent voice then spoke. “Because I am a god of life too.”

She could not comprehend what he just said. She just stared at Tilleadh, blankly.

“Each of the great god’s dominions is an essential part of human life. From water to fire, from knowledge to death. Humanity is not as is without each of them. So because of that essentiality, each great god’s domain includes life. That is why there is no great god of life itself, for each of us is alive and is part and parcel to the domain.”

The realization hit Koby like a brick. Each great god was alive, each of their domains was essential to life, so their forms must suggest something of life. The great god of death was a shadowy flame, because fire represented the spark of life. And the shadow is death hanging over that life.

The sword princess stood there in silence. Unmoving, unblinking. She looked up at the great god, who spoke one more time.

“Shall we continue on?”

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