#the ending and Medusa battle were my favorite parts

[creative-hanyou-girl]

PJO SPOILERS!!!!!

I think the way Rick and the PJO writers handled the Medusa decapitation was really clever considering Disney would've flagged them on the spot if they actually did try to show Percy cutting off a person's head. And it still stayed true to the book where Medusa was the 1st monster Percy and Annabeth took down TOGETHER.

[jackie-gremlin-ghost]

Today marks 7 years since the reawakening of my Captain Underpants hyperfixation, which had been asleep for a very, very long time.

I had first discovered the books much like any kid in the late 90s/early 2000s; at the Scholastic Book Fair. If I remember correctly, the first one I had found was the second book, Attack of the Talking Toilets. I remember thinking how silly the cover looked, and it drew my little elementary school self in like a moth to flame.

I had quickly read it and absolutely loved it, and like discovering a new favorite treat for the first time, I immediately wanted more.

I was able to find the first book in my school’s library so I was able to get the full story on the two best friends who pulled the ultimate prank by hypnotizing their grouch of a school principal, and how it immediately became the worst decision they ever made.

And I loved every second of it.

As the years went on, I eagerly anticipated the Book Fair’s arrival at my school and would beg my mom for a few dollars extra, just so I get my hands on the newest adventure.

I devoured every single story I could find and bought as soon as I could, and each one was more entertaining than the last. From alien lunch ladies and zombie nerds, to a megalomaniac professor with an incredibly silly name in a giant robot with charts that you could use to give yourself a silly name (mine is “Poopsie Bananachunks” BTW), to an insane hypnotized woman with Medusa hair that gave atomic wedgies.

The more I read and reread these stories, the more I couldn’t help but think that it would make a pretty fun movie, or at least a tv show.

These stories had been with me through a lot of ups and downs in my life, the biggest being my parents’ divorce. They were there to remind me that even when times could be tough, you can make it through and still be able to laugh at even the silliest of things, no matter how old you got.

By the time I was 10, I got my hands on the latest book in the series, The Big Bad Battle of the Bionic Booger Boy Part 1. I loved it as always, but was shocked to see it ended on a cliffhanger. This had never happened before. I was anxious to see what would happen and how George and Harold would get out of this mess.

But… it would be some time before I got those answers.

Time went on, and my attention went to other things. I found new hyperfixations over the years, and while I didn’t have the 7th book at the time, I was eventually able to get answers thanks to the internet.

Eventually I entered middle school, and I found myself drawn to new book series that I grew to love, but Captain Underpants remained a big part of my childhood and some of its happiest memories. And for a while, I thought that was all it would be; memories to just fondly look back on.

But that all changed the winter of 2016.

It was the halfway point between Christmas and New Year’s, and I was gonna be 24 in less than a month. I was spending my downtime between holidays like any other bored 20-something year old; scrolling through Tumblr, of course. It was during that time that I stumbled across this post by @mondentertainment. It was photos of posters from a Licensing Expo, showcasing upcoming animated projects, be it films or series.

Among them were a few that sounded promising, others not so much.

But what caught my eye was this.

A poster from DreamWorks with a very familiar face on it.

I could barely believe what I was seeing, and from the comments and reblogs on the post, neither could a lot of other people.

It was like a door that had been long locked in the back of my brain finally burst open, and all those memories came flooding back, particularly of a reoccurring thought that ran through my young mind whenever I would look at those illustrations every time I turned the page.

Could it really be true? Was one of my favorite childhood books finally getting a chance to truly come to life on the big screen?

It had already happened once before after I read Coraline in middle school, so there might be a chance.

As you could probably imagine, I poured my thoughts of hope and excitement into the tags as I reblogged the post.

And when the trailer finally dropped three months later, it was like meeting that one childhood friend you never truly forgot all over again.

So much happened after seeing the movie on opening night, including meeting Dav Pilkey himself!

And all the great memories and friends I’ve made since rediscovering the fandom all lead back to that one moment on December 28th, 2016.

And I couldn’t be more grateful for that.

[dwollsadventures]

The second part of a request from TheLOAD from... a while back. The initial one was the Nix/Nokk/Knucker piece. This one took me a little longer for a few reasons. Mostly school reasons. And writer's block reasons,  which is why this is taking the place of the monthly preview. And because, for research, I had to re-read the entirety of Drakon by Daniel Ogden for information. For those not used to my pedantry, this is not an "in-canon" family tree of the Greek dragons, such as you might see in those huge Greek mythology family tree pictures that are on the internet (I've got a few in my favorites from waaaaayyyy back as well). Rather, this is a way of showing how the concept of the dragon came about throughout time and how other beings are related through those branching lines. Of course this is presented as a lot more neat than it probably should be. If it were truly accurate it would have interconnected lines all over the place and obscure the little lizards. Before we talk about what's on the tree let's talk about what's not on it. Though Odgen talks about every (and I mean every) slightly Draconic being in Greek and Roman mythology, I've opted to include a trimmed down version. Because some, like Medusa and Lamia, I personally do not consider dragons proper, and others like the goddess Keto are relatively obscure and probably only exist to explain the existence of a related being (like the ketea). Creatures like Chimera and Typhoeus are included because, while not usually serpentine or draconic, they are in effect dragons; horrible, vaguely reptilian monsters slain by a hero. Not every individual dragon is depicted, only the ones I thought pertinent to include. (warning: LONG)

To start with, a drakon is a snake. The Greeks used the word to refer to both huge monsters and mundane snakes. Drakon itself is derived from the word dérkomai and is believed to literally mean, "the one who sees". The hypnotizing power attributed to snakes is present in drakons, traditionally given the job of the sleepless guardian of treasure. Going back even further, we see that the drakon comes from two disparate cultural perceptions of snake, each of which is still present in its classical form.

Snake Goddess - One of the native precursors of the Greeks were the Minoans. They had more in common with their Egyptian and Near Eastern neighbors than the Italians and Balkans. From what little we can gather of their culture, it appears the snake was a symbol of the goddess. Whether or not it was any goddess in particular is unknown. This theme survives into ancient Greece, however. Athena often uses snakes as agents when acting with mortals, Hera uses them as well (the twin serpents who attempted to strangle Heracles and the Hydra), and Medea had a chariot pulled by snakes. Earth goddesses in particular are heavily associated with them. Python was a direct product of Gaia, and the snake was a divine symbol of Demeter, who also had a rad snake chariot. Even in mortal women, their dynamic with snakes and dragons is nurturing. Several heroines sing to snakes as their masculine counterparts steal the treasure they guard, fulfilling a nurturing role in comparison to the destructive masculine one. Here the snake is a guardian, a creature of the earth and everything beneath it, including gold and the dead. These dragons are usually not slain, but pacified by the presence of a woman. In addition, the beard is an originally Greek symbol associated with snakes, particularly those connected to the gods. This was quite possibly a signifier of their supernatural status above mundane serpents. The goddess depicted above isn't any one in particular, though her dress does pull from a statue of Athena holding a curled python.

Drakaina - One way in which the snake goddess has survived is in the drakaina. This word is simply the feminine form of drakon, but also encompasses the numerous beings characterized by having the upper body of a woman and the lower body of a drakon. Numerous beings in Greek mythology fit this theme, but the one I've focused on is the Scythian drakaina, a woman who intercepts Heracles during one of his labors and kidnaps some cows. She offers to return the cattle in exchange for a night of intercourse. And then Herc is off and we're told the three sons of that union go on to become kings of great renown in Scythia. Some authors interpret this as a Greek adaptation of a Scythian myth, with one of the key pieces of evidence being that the drakaina's name is Hora, meaning "Seasons". Regardless of whether or not this is a goddess, it is a story where the snake-woman is neither killed nor stolen from, instead given the prestige of being the founder of a line of kings.

PIE Chaos Serpent - From the Proto-Indo-Europeans up North, we get the dragon we're all more familiar with. Serpents of this breed, such as Apep, Tiamat, and Jormungand, are all enormous, destructive creatures allied with darkness and the unforgiving seas. They represent the primordial chaos from what order sprang out of, and often have a hand in trying to return the world to that way. One of the primary themes associated with them is the dragon slayer: a god or hero who fights a dragon to save something, be it a land or treasure or an Ethiopian princess.

Typhoeus - This guy, though significantly more humanoid and giant-like than any others, is the clearest example of a PIE chaos serpent in Greece. It does not get more typical than a giant snake (like) monster fighting a storm god. Typhoeus probably sprung from traditions where he was more serpentine, but gradually added other aspects. Such as his own storm god qualities. In Greece, gods associated with the winds are always given wings, save for Zeus. The two's battle is reflective of a battle between the terrible whirlwinds and lightning strikes and the calmer, helpful rain showers that enable humanity to survive. 

And then we get to the drakon proper. Taking elements from both sides of the tree, the archetypal Greek drakon is an enormous, often monstrous serpent associated with both the underground and the waters in some way. They are agents of gods, most often goddesses, sent to battle heroes or guard priceless treasures. Sometimes they're killed, sometimes they're merely lulled to sleep by a helpful maiden. Rather than breathing fire (which everything from mechanical bulls to horses to giants do), they possess venoms and rows of sharp teeth. Mention of their terrible gazes is often made. This drakon has both a beard and a casque-like crown, common elements in drakon descriptions from Greece. Its face is much less serpentine, being modeled after a clay illustration of the Colchian dragon. This gives is a suitably monstrous look, as if it were being pealed from layers of mud.

Chimera - Despite its odd appearance, the chimera fits the pattern of a dragon terrorizing a countryside and being slain by a plucky hero. The chimera may in fact be the originator of the classical Saint George imagery, where the saint is depicted as towering over a crawling, pitiful dragon. A 3rd century mosaic from Imperial Rome may have started this trend. What makes her (because despite her mane the Chimera is a female) stand apart from all the rest is the sheer strangeness of her form compared to others. Especially the little goat that comes out of her back, like a rider. Which I had to cut for spacing reasons :(

Hydra - Another classical Greek dragon is the multi-headed hydra, who has given its name to a whole genre of creatures with more heads than they ought to have. In addition to having the attributes of a typical Greek drakon, the Hydra has two traits seen in Mesopotamian monsters as well. The first is the amount of heads. Having many heads is not as common in Greece as it is in the Near East, where the idea of an eleven-headed sea serpent pops up numerous times across several different cultures. The second is that the hydra, in its earliest mentioning by Hesiod, is said to have been raised by Hera specifically to combat Heracles. This same tactic is done by a few Mesopotamian gods. In their realm of influence, monsters are pawns of the gods, who send them out to do their bidding on Earth while they lounge in Heaven. Our Hydra may have been a later influence from Greece's neighbors to the East. Also, had to add in the crab that Hera also sends in to help the hydra. If this were a spec bio piece, I would make it a species of crab that evolved to clean the hydra of parasites.

Cetus - Sea monsters such as these are perhaps the furthest from the traditional Greek drakon, while still remaining core parts of the mythology. In form cetoi range from exaggerations of real whales and sharks to dog-headed serpents with frilly fins and ears. Or even animal-headed fish. Because they live underwater, they almost always function as tools of divine vengeance. Kinda hard to steal treasure underwater. Heavy metal tends to sink. While cetus was originally a word for any sea monster, it would eventually become the root of the scientific term cetacean: whales and dolphins.

But the tree doesn't end there. See, even after the culture we recognize as the Ancient Greeks and Romans faded, their dragons still lived on. Medieval Europe, with its glorification of Greco-Roman texts, derived many of their folk beliefs from their predecessors. Or, the people who they liked to imagine were there predecessors.

Draco - The Romans adopted the Greek drakon whole-clothe, like a lot of stuff. The only noteworthy original dragon to come out of the pre-Fall Roman era was the Dacian Draco. The Dacians used the image of a dragon as a standard during war-time, represented as a serpent with the head of a dog. When conquered, the Romans adopted this, possibly beginning the Western tradition of associating dragons with military power and identity. The dog-headed serpent would also survive to the modern period, showing up in descriptions of Balkan lamya. 

Indian Drakon - Here begins a tradition in Greek and Roman literature that claimed that foreign parts were full of large, dangerous, and more interesting fauna than the mundane peninsula they were all stuck on. This is a common theme of humanity in general, where everyone you're not familiar with is teeming with exciting and ancient life. Just look at cryptozoology. India in particular was a favorite of Greek tall tales, being far away for journeys to be rare, but also rich and full of exotic animals. Philostratus populated India with three types of drakons: the lowly marsh, the silver hill, and the dazzling golden mountain drakons. They were typical in every respect, having enormous sizes, red crowns, beards, and guarding treasure beneath the earth. An interesting addition was that they were the mortal enemies of elephants. Being the largest land-animal (in real life), they made perfect prey for these humongous serpents. Feeding on them was fraught with peril, however, as the struggle between reptile and mammal could result in the death of either party, or both. To symbolize the foreignness of the drakon, I drew it as a sort of hybrid between the drakon and the Hindu naga. 

Pliny's Drakon - This drakon is otherwise the same as the Indian, but is the start of another theme. As time went on, philosophers began taking more grounded looks at fantastical animals. While also perpetuating even more outrageous falsehoods. None was more popular than Pliny the Elder, hence the name. He believed that, while foreign drakons might be real, they were much more similar to the snakes of Greece than the monsters of legend. He scoffed at the crowns and hair they were adorned with. His Natural History was the first of many instances where the fantastical elements of the dragon were toned down to seem more palatable to a scientifically minded audience. It also introduced an interest into the life history of the dragons, treating them as real animals with lives beyond the myths. Our dragon up top evolved to resemble pythons, rather than the other way around to what probably happened in real life, where pythons were exaggerated to become dragons.

Then, we get two foreign influences, which would come to shape the modern definition of the European dragon. Christianity's influence cannot be understated here. As Jonathan Evans states in Medieval Folklore, the dragon came to be confused with several other desert animals. In Jewish and early Christian belief, desert animals were themselves demonic, living in inhospitable regions devoid of human life. Later, texts like Revelations would specifically denote dragons as heralds of evil, and even harbingers of Armageddon itself. This is in contrast to the morally neutral Leviathan. In the medieval era, dragons were beings of evil, without a doubt. Bestiaries were full of on the nose fables about how the natural lives of dragons. Like how they could not stand the breath of a panther (a symbol of Jesus Christ). Or how they could not catch birds that nested in the Peridexion tree (the tree being the church and the birds being Christians, who are safe from the devil so long as they do not stray from the arms of God). This is represented by a typical medieval devil, being brightly colorful and made in mockery of God's creations, aka a weird hybrid with a snake coming out of his butt. Then, the Germanic dragon. This is seen especially in Northern and Western Europe. The Germanic dragon is otherwise similar to the Greek, except that it began as a character of evil. Lindworms and other serpents are almost always antagonists, and there is no heroine who saves them from their fate of death. They also had a stronger connection to treasure. Greek dragons guarded treasure as a job, but the very existence of Germanic dragons is tied with their golden hoards. In addition, in Greek myths, getting transformed into an animal is usually the end of one's story. With the Germanic dragon, it's merely the beginning. Transformed dragons act as antagonists and moral lessons wrapped in one; a lesson to all to not be greedy. Germanic dragons, represented by the lindworm, reinforced their role as antagonists and agents of selfish evil.

Which finally brings us to the medieval dragon. In a way, this creature is a mix of everything above. The dragon is an animal and demon in one, simultaneously a figure of evil who spoils the land around them and a living being with its own life and needs. The medieval era also introduces the origin of dragons, showing them as having nests and young, not simply coming into existence out of the earth or sea like before. They also developed some less reptilian traits, like wings and hair. This was probably because of artistic traditions among the monks who wrote bestiaries rather than popular legend, which continued to conflate them with snakes and lizards and even crocodiles. This particular line of the tree would develop a life of its own, spreading far and wide across Europe and eventually reaching beyond the seas. Our modern conceptions of dragons are a whole 'nother story.

[brave-symphonia]

The Seventh Singularity Babylonia:

So far this is my favorite singularity, which seems to be a trend.

I like the introduction, how we see Ereshkigal kind of in shadow, it kind of hooks you in as you wonder what might be going on.

And the Ishtar introduction is great. Just her running us over like that. It’s a fitting summary of her. I really like how our relationship with her develops over the singularity. Starting with this and her threatening us, to us capturing and letting her go, her saving us, and finally us recruiting her to our side.

I also liked the section where we bribe her.

I also think introducing Enkidu as a good guy, only to turn around and have Medusa and Merlin out him as the villain is good.

I really liked Merlin over the course of this singularity. I found him to be an interesting character. I was a little worried he wouldn't live up to what I expected, but he did. And the revelation that he's been helping us by secretly provided us mana was cool, like he hasn't just been watching without helping at all.

Also, I did not actually expect Fou to have some relation with Merlin, and his interactions with Merlin were always great.

And I really liked the various Medusas. Like Ana was sweet and I really liked her over the course of this arc, and Gorgon as a villain was a good fake out villain.

Like, it's not the first fakeout villain, I mean back in Okeanos Blackbeard was a fakeout villain, but I hated him and just wanted him to go away the whole time. With Gorgon I enjoyed her as a villain. And to have her come back as some kind of middle ground between the two medusas to help us in the end was something I really liked.

And Gilgamesh was definitely a star of this route, he starts off looking so responsible and like such a good king. Handling multiple requests and different aspects of ruling. And you see him throughout the singularity just itching for a fight, making it that much more satisfying when he joins you in that final battle.

I really like how they build up Ana's importance, just dropping a line or two every once in a while about her importance of being on our side. And how they show each goddess being willing to join us, all three helped us and all of them make sense.

Like, Ishtar clearly cares about Uruk, Quetz was actually not that bad and doing her best to avoid destroying humanity, Eresh really did very little damage and was just trying to save humanity in her own way, and Gorgon bonded with us through Ana.

I like how they bring up Tiamat early on and then have Gorgon be an incarnation of Tiamat, only to have her be defeated and reveal the real Tiamat, it makes sure that she doesn't come out of nowhere as a villain. There’s buildup to her reveal.

And honestly, I fully believed Gorgon was the final villain almost up until her defeat. Like she was believable as the threat of the final singularity. You fight her multiple times and then you finally defeat her only to realize it gets so much worse.

Jaguar Warrior was actually a pretty good addition. Funny at times, and at others capable of really being serious when needed.

And the developing relationship between Gilgamesh and Kingu, it really got to me near the end there. Like the way that, even thought Kingu isn't Enkidu, Enkidu's feelings and wishes still persist in his body after all this time.

And the parts where we got to talk to Eresh pretending to be Ishtar were nice. It made me appreciate her all the more for when we finally reached her.

Now, onto Quetzalcoatl, I really liked her. She always seemed upbeat, even though she was scary a few times. And I really enjoyed her interactions with Jaguar. Her "death" really felt emotional to me as she pulled out all the stops there.

And defeating her by having Ishtar launch me at her so I could do a wrestling move on her was just great.

And the odd thing after that, with Gil in the underworld, is that that didn't feel like anything extra to me. It was an extra thing before Gorgon, but it felt very natural. And it helped introduce Eresh properly and the underworld. Someplace that was pivotal to the final battle.

They definitely did a really good job setting up the Gorgon showdown as the final fight. Sacrificing half of Quetz's power and Ana. Having the night before talking with everyone, it gave the perfect feeling for a final fight.

And then the reveal of Tiamat, and then Gilgamesh had planned for this rather than Gorgon, as the forces in Uruk slowly get wittled down bit by bit until nearly no one is left, was really good. Just losing more and more as it goes on and on.

I found the Lahmus annoying to fight, but I think that was the point.

And a mutual told me that the Lahmu that refused to attack you was Siduri, and that makes me really sad.

Having Enkidu be betrayed by Tiamat's creatures though, starting their development, only to come back and save us in the end. Was really good.

Everything we do to fight Tiamat, Quetz's sacrifice, Gorgon coming back, Gilgamesh firing his weapons at the cost of his life, Enkidu restraining her, Eresh opening the underworld, Merlin coming back, Archer Gilgamesh showing up, and finally defeating her. Like, by the end there, it's so satisfying.

I wasn't a huge fan of the random tasks you do, but I understand it's purpose. And, sorry to Ushiwakamaru and Benkei fans, but I wasn't a fan of either of them. So in the moments that I'm sure would've been great for a fan of them, I didn't feel all that much. 

That said, this is definitely my favorite singularity so far.

And now...the singularities are done. All that's left...is Solomon. I'm trying not to rush too much, but I just enjoy the story so much now that it's hard to hold back.

[tigressaofkanjis]

Immortals Fenyx Rising

Day 2 review of Immortals Fenyx Rising: I love this. 

Unpopular opinion: I love this more than Breath of the Wild.

Want to know why?

I knew some of the reviews for this game ahead of time and someone commented the voice acting was terrible. They were wrong. I personally enjoy how it's laid out for several reasons. 

Everyone speaks in an accent except one character and no, the main character Fenyx also speaks in an unknown accent too that could be older Greek or Roman due to the indistinguishability of it. Hell, even Typhon has an accent though his is kind of harder to hear because his dark voice (love it btw) doesn’t make a lot of room for syllable pronunciation but he does roll some letters. 

Zeus and Prometheus tell your tale and you play during that tale meaning you hear them narrating you. Now there are a few moments where this may be annoying but overall it’s hilarious because they bicker like crazy and Prometheus actually gives good brief comments on certain items, places, and creatures you encounter which is, for the most part, accurate to the real myths. To top it all off in the meta sense, Prometheus is telling Zeus about EVERYTHING you do even if you can’t hear him narrating which becomes ten times funnier when you realize if you play like BOTW and do stupid shit instead of actual story or quests, injure yourself stupidly, or try to do things people will probably criticize you for as the dumbass you are or can be, technically Prometheus is recounting all of it to Zeus. Yes, your life story/gameplay is part of the tale and your tale is about you being an idiot for hours on end.

The story and overall gameplay is pretty good and it certainly makes things easier to obtain for health and stamina than BOTW. It also has cool collectibles and I mentioned in another post the scenery is GORGEOUS. Like everything in the foreground and background is detailed; you can really tell they made a very good effort with this game and it’s breathtakingly worth the money I bought it for. 

Typhon is my favorite villain now aside from Metal Kor from Jak and Daxter series. He’s a ham, and I would fuck him. For real though, he’s a lot more active than I thought he was going to be. 

Unlike most villains in games who you either hear of, see briefly, or encounter once than fight to the end of the game to even see them again, Typhon actually has a role in the gameplay frequently. He himself doesn’t appear a lot but randomly he will comment on your journey which will be indicated by the sky growing darker and his mountain of Tartaros glowing. 

If you draw attention to yourself, he will create wraith zones which spawn enemies nearly everywhere and he will hurl lava rocks at you. Wraith zones move towards you if you leave the area meaning he seeks you out. If you get far enough away, he’ll stop his assault. But if you just move out of the zone and stay close for an item, he will move the zone towards you and his assault will try to kill you.

Typhon has a great design. I actually like this version of Typhon more than even his original mythology design. He also makes pretty good points in some of his commentary, thinks he’s perfect and apparently has accepted his ghastly appearance as a thing of beauty (Aphrodite eat your heart out), and he even lampshades he understands his own problems but unlike the other Gods, he was willing to work with his flaws to improve himself into perfection which I don’t think I’ve ever heard a villain do before to be honest.

The vaults of Tartaros are puzzle vaults but you would expect them to be fire and brimstone but they are actually floating structures in a spatial nebula and certain vaults have Typhon designed in the form of a nebula watching over you, his eyes glowing purple. It’s really cool. Turns out at the start of the vault, he will be prominent but as you make your way through them if you look at the nebula of him, his eyes will begin to fade in and out as if he’s losing power over the vault. Also a cool little detail.

The boss battles range from mythical, wraiths, and lieutenants. They are awesome.

Mythicals are four monsters of famous lore (i.e. Medusa) who are found one in each section of the four main lands surrounding the Gates of Tartaros. Make sure you have a lot of health and power because I took on Ozomene  the Hurricane at low and it took almost an hour. Basically, if you do decide to fight at such a low level, find a place you can’t get hit by the boss and pick their moments of weakness (Ozomene turns crystal to rest) to hit them. This strategy will take longer to defeat them but it’s better than getting one hit K.O.’d which they can do really easily.

Wraiths are fallen heros (i.e. Achilles, who also was hard as shit/prancing motherfucker) who are located in each section. Wraith zones as mentioned are when Typhon sends more enemies. Well, wraith zones can be spawn points for clones of the Wraiths to come and fight you which are like secondary boss battles but they can spawn multiple times. In order to make wraith zones less frustrating, you need to go to a wraith vault and face off against the real version of the fallen hero. Once they are defeated, wraith zones should only spawn natural enemies making your journey so much easier.

Lieutenants are monsters and beasts of lore (i.e. the Nemean Lion Herakles/Hercules fought as one of the 12 Labors) that can be found throughout the island. Prometheus will give a brief insight of their lore in case you didn’t know why each beast is significant when you get close enough to them. They aren’t as powerful but they are a very great addition to the game.

You can really tell that the creators and game developers did all their research when making this game. So if you love Greek mythos, this is a game you really should check out. I should mention there are a few comments slash mythos that aren’t entirely accurate per say but considering what they entail and the fact the developers are trying to sell to a good portion of the 10+ audience as well, these little snafus of information are very forgivable and were probably changed because of the context. Others may just have been changed because in order to explain them, it would take so much dialogue from Prometheus and they didn’t want to annoy you with unnecessary back seat narration that didn’t move the story along which is also reasonable.

So yeah, check this game out. It’s really enjoyable and I’ve had no real complaints on my end about it which is saying something because I am really picky with video games. An absolute stickler for detail.

[sparkingstoryinspiration]

Outlining and plot development

Wherever you fall on the spectrum of pantser to plotter to throwing pens at your computer and hoping your story will write itself (that’s a self callout) here is a guide (that no one asked for!) to plotting your story! 

Is this going to be an exhaustive list of everything you have to do to write the next NYT bestseller? no. This is, like everything else on this blog, a summary of ideas. They won’t all apply, they won’t all work for everyone, they won’t cover everything, but it’s a start. That’s the best part of the writing prompt business, you supply the inspiration and other people do the hard work! 

Okay, let’s get into it 

1. What story are you telling? 

Now, I’m going to be really honest with you here. If you don’t know this, you have a lot of work to do. And that’s okay! 

Take some time to flesh out your idea. Wherever you start, I promise you there’s more in your head waiting to be discovered. Take out a piece of paper, open up a new document, write it on your walls! (we will NOT be covering lost security deposits!) and do some brainstorming. 

The basic elements of a story are 

- characters 

- conflict 

- resolution 

- plot twist(s) 

- setting/background (think physical setting where the story takes place and informational setting, worldbuilding, context, etc) 

We have a post on developing characters here and posts on the other elements are in the works! I wish I could say they’ll be posted in a timely manner but . . . they won’t, they just won’t lmao I’m sorry 

You don’t have to have all of these points completely figured out before you move onto plotting! In fact, you shouldn’t! Or, if you think you do, be open to change because it’s important to remember that all these points, especially characters, are heavily affected by the plot! 

2. How are you telling this story? 

This is for the technical stuff. 

What does the formatting look like? Are you breaking it up into chapters? Parts? Not everyone writes drafts like this so that’s okay, maybe you’re going to write out of order, maybe you’ll break it up after, whatever works for you though I highly encourage you to switch it up every now and then and see if anything works better for you than what you’ve been doing. 

3. Consider the usual structure of a story 

There are a lot of these, try not to get overwhelmed or too snagged on any of them but here are two interesting ones! 

The first is the three act structure, we’re all pretty familiar with this. 

Think of an action movie, it starts with a small introduction, it introduces a main character, side characters, stakes, a setting. Then the conflict happens! 

BAM! the beloved spy is thought to be a traitor, their family is being held hostage and they have to betray everyone they work with to save them, they have a horrible secret that’s coming back to bite them in the ass. Whatever it is, this moves us into the second act, the journey, the trials, whatever you want to call them. 

This is the largest part of the story and the tension continues to build until we reach the climax of the story. They save they world, or their family, or themselves, or they don’t. Whatever it is, this results in the final act where the action falls, everything is resolved, and the story is over (unless a sequel is set up but that’s a whole other issue), you get the idea. 

(image found here) 

Another popular structure is the hero cycle which echoes the three act structure but focuses particularly on, you guessed it! Heroes! 

(image found here) 

Let’s take a popular storybook hero as an example here, Percy Jackson. (Needless to say, there will be spoilers if you, for some terrible reason, have not read Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief) 

All of these milestones are a little debatable but I’ll pick a few to use as examples. 

Percy begins his story, he is introduced as a character, I could write a whole essay on Percy’s development and the incredible writing of Rick Riordan (lmao, I have) but I’ll try to keep this brief. 

When his mother is kidnapped, he has a call to action, a goal: to save his mother. 

He crosses a very literal threshold into Camp Half Blood and his story begins. 

He goes through many trials and tests, Medusa, St. Louis, Waterland, the Lotus Hotel, and so on. 

It’s called abyss here but I learned it as the final battle, in PJO Percy faces Ares. This is very similar to the climax and falling action of the three act structure. Following this, loose ends are tied up, characters complete their journeys and their arcs, and the hero returns. 

It’s very fascinating, I highly recommend reading up on it. Again, you’ll find many many stories you read follow this structure. 

There are literally so many of these and if you’re interested, here’s a link to some more. Keep in mind, your story doesn’t have to fit these perfectly but even if you’ve planned out a story without these in mind, you’ll probably find most, if not all of it, fits pretty well within these lines. They can also help with pacing, if your first act is most of your story, you may need to move your conflict and stakes up earlier in the story to maintain interest. 

4. Now you outline 

Obviously not everyone outlines. Personally, I cannot understand this at all. Now, since this entire post is about plotting and outlining, we’re not really going to talk about pantsing because . . . that kind of defeats the point of this post. But! If you have anything to say about pantsing, tips, tricks, personal experiences, by all means, reblog this and add them! I don’t have any experience with pantsing so I really don’t have much to say on the topic. 

There are lots of different ways to outline a story. Personally, I recommend starting big. Think acts and parts, find your conflict and your stakes, you know you have to introduce your character and the world, how are you going to do that? That goes first, then stakes, so we care and then conflict, so the thing we care about is, well, at stake. 

Chronologically, you have the journey now, but let’s take a minute to talk about the end. 

4.5. How does it end? 

Even if you’re a pantser, I really, really recommend that you know how your story ends. Having a point you want to get to can make a world of difference in the process of planning and writing a story. Sure, you can run a marathon without setting an end point, but it’ll slow you down if you’re always checking to see what mile you’re on. 

So how does it end? Happy? Sad? Who is there? Logically speaking, your antagonist and protagonist should usually be present, supporting characters? How does it end, does the protagonist prevail and save the day? Is it a cliff hanger? If it’s a race to an end, who gets there first and what does it mean? 

Find your ending, and then work on your middle. 

5. The smaller picture 

If you have the main points (a beginning and an ending, the conflict and the stakes, your characters), now you can start thinking about the smaller details. 

You have an ending so what needs to happen to get your character(s) there? Consider your minor characters, where do they come in? Make sure they have a purpose! 

Keep in mind, in the first draft and even the second and for as long as you need it to be, your outline is fluid. You may very well be writing your project and realize the pacing isn’t right, or that something needs to happen later in the story, or that you need to add a scene. Then, when it comes to editing and redrafting, it’s likely that you’ll change it even more. 

Try not to get caught up in it being perfect, that’s not what first drafts are for. Make it workable and approach it with an open mind, things are going to change, that’s a given. 

6. Write your story! 

A few notes on this. As one of my favorite authors, Neil Gaiman says, “the process of doing your second draft is the process of making it look like you knew what you were doing all along.” 

So once you’re done with your first draft and the time comes to redraft it and you’re working on your outline, now is the perfect time to add your foreshadowing and rework your plot twists. This isn’t to say they don’t have a place in your first draft, they do, give it your best shot! But your story is fluid and your outline and plans are bound to have changed and your editing stages are the best stages to really make sure foreshadowing, plot twists, and all or acts or hero cycle, or whatever you want to call it, works together. 

And this concludes another guide that no one asked for. I hope you enjoyed it and if you have any suggestions for ones you’d like to see we currently have plot twists, endings, motivation, and more in the works! 

Happy writing! 

- Mod S 

p.s. these can be found on our blog under the tag story development series! 

[13xwishes]

♨ What's a muse that you wished had lasted, but didn't?

Questions for the Mun || {Selectively Accepting}

For @soaringcrowns

I would have to say my AU version of Tea/Anzu, in which she renamed herself 'Reina'. Though this one isn't as kind or gives those good encouraging speeches. In the AU verse, she was abandoned when she was 5 on the streets and grew up taking care of herself. She befriended Yugi when she was 8 and the Mutous took her in. She's very protective of Yugi and her friends, even though she's very hard to get along with. She's very stubborn, sassy and is a pretty damn good fighter when needed. Though she has a hard time letting people in due to alot of pain in the past. She doesn't want to be hurt again and her trust is spread thin.

She does duel and duels with a greek inspired deck with her favorite card being 'Medusa'. Her gorgon sisters rival with Mai's harpy ladies. She has a rivalry with Mai which had ups and downs and a major fallout during the Oricalchos battle. They reconciled was too little too late when Mai died during their duel in a canyon saving Reina's life from a cliff collapse.

She also has history with Valon who she's had street fights with when they were kids. They grew close until the fire incident and Valon abandoned her (when he was arrested, she though he left her). When they met again, part of the fallout with Mai was due to Valon appearing again and leading Mai astray. After Mai died, Valon and Reina gave one more fight to let their frustrations out. It ended with a draw with Valon and Reina staying close together.

Overall, think of her somewhat as a Female Cloud Strife (no NOT Lighting!) that can duel.

Theres alot I wanted to explore more in her background but never had the time to. I may pick her up again with the right motivation but who knows.

[gamearamamegathons]

Megami Tensei: Donut of Doom

Circe here! At the rate I'm going, I may end up sticking to one dungeon per post now, since I'm making progress at a decent rate. I'm starting to settle into a routine with these dungeons; as before, the big obstacles here ultimately aren't the strength of enemies, but rather being peppered with status effects and the constant bleeding of resources. The structure of the gameplay is kind of odd -- since encounters are mostly the same throughout a single dungeon, and your demons don't level up, you can basically prepare yourself with a team that is strong enough to take the dungeon and the boss from the moment you begin exploring the first area, it's just a matter of mapping out the dungeon and fighting your way to the boss. Meanwhile, magnetite is starting to become a bit of a problem, since my stronger demons drain it faster, and the amount of magnetite I get back as I explore the dungeon is very inconsistent. Eventually it may be easiest simply to allow magnetite to drain to zero, which will instead cause the demons to lose HP every step instead. But hey, they have a lot of it now, so it might save me some pain.

I continue to largely ignore my characters' spells, although I did get a demon called Bastet that has an all-party heal spell, which was quite useful. Weirdly, demons can't cast spells out of battle, only Yumiko can, but it's still better than healing everyone one at a time. For the most part it's just a matter of bashing my face against monsters and crossing my fingers that they don't inflict nasty status effects on my party. Yumiko did finally learn a spell to heal any status effect, called "Clink" for some reason. The spell names in this game are quite strange.

The dungeon of the day is Valhalla Corridor, a two-tiered ring shape that encircles the entrance to the Sky City. It's quite large, almost double the size of the Tower of Daedalus, and it seems as though dungeons are only going to get larger as we go along, which promises to be, uh, fun. Along the way I also managed to run into a different sort of difficulty entirely: a game-crashing bug. Now, to be fair to Megami Tensei, I tracked down this issue to the English translation patch I was using, not the game itself. There's a couple ways the game can crash, but in one case it's guaranteed to crash if you encounter a specific demon. Fortunately, it's confined to a single, optional forced encounter that appears in one room of this dungeon, which I can just avoid. I looked ahead and it doesn't seem like there should be any more surprise crashes.

Another thing of note is that the dungeon design is starting to become more deliberately antagonistic. One spot will warp you to another location in the dungeon, which might be kind of bad if you hadn't mapped it out yet. Another forces you through an area where you can't see, and then hides one-way walls to disorient you and get you stuck. Or, perhaps my least favorite, a big square chamber that just has a bunch of tiny little rooms. The encounter rate seems to be much higher when passing through a doorway, so this entails a lot of tedious walking in and out of little rooms and slogging through many fights in what could barely be called exploration.

The boss of this dungeon is glorious hair metal Loki, pictured above. If you were thinking this might be a more vigorous boss fight than Medusa, well, uh, no, sorry. You can get a charm that cancels out *all* of Loki's spells, meaning he wastes half his turns doing nothing, and like Medusa he only has a couple hundred more HP than the last boss. Sure, he hits harder than regular enemies, but without the threat of status effects throwing a wrench in things, he's effectively just another meat wall. A shame, he does look cool.

Gotta be honest, I might even struggle to have a full post's worth of ideas in a single dungeon if the game is going to fall into such a predictable routine. I guess I'll have to dig into the next dungeon, Mazurka Corridor, and see how things look after that.

[michams]

VIXX “Scentist” analysis based on “Perfume”, by P. Suskind PART III – The tracklist

“Scentist” is definitely one of my favorite songs/ music videos/ concepts in kpop so last year, when I got to know it was based on a book, I went after and read it. Since then I’ve been wanting to share an analysis focused on more direct references to Suskind’s story.

In PART III, I’ll be giving my interpretation on how the tracks in the album fit the same concept.

*You can check “Part I” for my description of the story (or the book itself) to understand them a little better and also see my thoughts on the lyrics of “Scentist” on “Part II”!

*Sorry again for the long post (I talk too much lol)! :)

Some considerations i. I didn’t originally read the book in English, so I’m using my own translations – wich can differ from other editions.

ii. This is somewhat a personal interpretation; one could read the same book and have different opinions. Feel free to tell me your thoughts about it :^)

iii. Considering that I’m basing this off of a translation and that neither Korean or English are my first languages, it influences in my interpretation.

iv. As referred before, English is not my first language. Feel free to let me know about any mistakes.

v. Mind that this analysis contains SPOILERS of the book.

vi. This post makes reference to sensitive subjects (such as violence), like the book itself.

Intoduction As I’ve explained in Part II, it’s possible to find several references through the lyrics of “Scentist” that contextualize the story of the main character Grenouille, focusing mainly is some of the episodes. But, paying attention to all of the tracks in EAU DE VIXX, we realize all of them add on to work as a complement to the plot.

In my opinion, most of them were made based in themes that can be found as parts of the construction of the book.

I’ll try to explain what’s each of these central points (with exception to “Good Day”, “Navy and Shining Gold” and “Resemble”(닮아)).

◄◄  ▋▋ ►►….NOW PLAYING –VIXX 3rd ALBUM “EAU DE VIXX”….

TRACK 2: ODD SENSE – The title track wannabe

From a starting point, a thought I had about this song is that, if this album was not inspired by a dark story, and “Perfume” was about a sexy relationship based in scents, “Odd Sense” would have been “Scentist”. And this is one of best forms I can describe it! In a way it’s a kind of twin opposite to the title track.

While “Scentist” is focused on the dark side of his fixation, “Odd Sense” is about intense attraction, approaching more a way of satisfying that compulsion – as, in my opinion, the title track is more observative, more of a threatening idealization of his object of fascination.

It could be very well a representation of a closer look into Grenouille’s logic behind his actions or feelings. The way his extremely sensible ability of smelling (that “Odd sense”) causes him to be completely driven by a hopeless desire or passion.

Again, if we compare: “Scentist” is almost about how he suffers from that longing (and it’s methodical), while “Odd Sense” is about how he is delighted by that provocation (it’s impulse).

It is as if his addiction feeds on itself – which we can see through the lyrics, such as: “Shake hard, I just get more addicted”;

“I crave it, it’s fine if I lose my breath I desire it more, I’ll destroy it with you” or

“Fall into the light that only I can see Like an intense addiction keep breathing in”

Both lyrics go deep in the matter of desire.

But that’s also a self consuming way of living for him (just like the story in the book develops itself), the more he approaches his objectives: “Filled with your scent, I just go crazy You come to me, come closer to me Fill me with your scent, it’s fine even if I disappear”

The two tracks share some things: I believe both surround similar episodes of the book – his seclusion at the cave, where he “drinks up” his scent’s memories; his discovery and chase after the special fragrances (and its owner).

Also common to “Scentist”, there are several repetitions to the idea of permeation. There are also associations with color and light.

What’s interesting for me, is how we completely shift the emotion and impression of the songs by changing the melody and tone.

TRACK 3: SILENCE – The hopeless love

In my opinion, all of the songs can be connected to a fantasy inside Grenouille’s imagination motivated by his (longing for) love – even he says it’s only for the sake of getting the scents.

“Silence” seems to address a hopeless love, once the idealized person he desires “cannot” respond. After all, he’s the one obsessed with something they are not even aware of – in a disturbingly intense way. The love and attention he seeks gives of a sort of reflective feeling. Since he does not have a smell for himself, but keeps on being bewitched by these special fragrances, he figures that’s the way to be loved – to be just like them. And we must remember that, for him, what characterized something in the world as despicable or worthy of affection, was the smell. That’s his unique way of understanding the world. So he is lead to believe that’s a solution (which shows to be slightly true and impossible – due to his specific ability – throughout the book).

The lyrics seem to express the frustration in not being able to be part of this connection, as it looks like he’s wishing to worship that feeling but always ends up destroying it, driven by the pressure caused by his impulsiveness. “The silence suffocates me” and “I’m a Medusa there’s only silence left for my ears” (the idea he kills what he “lays his eyes on”, also interesting due to the repetion of “keep an eye on it babe”, during the song).

He also indicates a belief that he needs that girl to be set free from that prison – and that he’ll for sure accomplish that. “I wait for you While turning round and round in this quietness”

“It seems like you have something too It seems like I’ll have it”

And, at the same time, he’s scared of showing the “imcomplete” and imperfect Grenouille he is without it: “Don’t look at me locked in darkness Imprisoned in silence”

TRACK 4 and 5: MY VALENTINE and CIRCLE – The idealistic love

As we must have realized by now, our main character has some serious problems discerning limits between wanting and getting.

I believe these two tracks stress the idea of how he thinks of these scents (and consequently, in a way, their owners) as complements to his existence. When brought in line with everything worked, that turns into a delusion for an idealistic love. It also revolves to his conception of making them/the girls eternal through a perfume, and his own temporal pace – which seems to operate a little differently, like “true love”.

Like shown in “My Valentine��: “Alone I’m incomplete, emptiness becomes routine”

“Say it one more time That I am everything, that you’ve never stayed In forever like this”

It’s also indifferent for him if they are real or kept in his inner kingdom, as memories (even more connected to idealization): “Whether my eyes are closed or open As long as you are somewhere in my world, it’s fine”

And, once again, that self consumption, that goes along with a similar line in “Odd Sense”, ans points, after all, to and absence of self love; which completes that cycle of needing something to reflect on – the girls: “It’s fine if I disappear while chasing after you”

“Circle” adds up to that conviction that they are a perfect match: “There’s no error when you add us together” and “I want to believe it It’s u and me”

It’s nice to note that the circle symbolism makes reference to perfection, totality, eternity, cycles and even God – which it’s a sort of image the boy had of himself.

TRACK 7: ESCAPE – Grenouille, the runaway by excellence

If we pay attention, Grenouille was, somehow, always on the run. He was getting away from the people who didn’t want him around (and the people he didn’t want around). And most of the book is based of on the story of his journey.

Some of the most remarking ways we see that are: when he goes on a trip in search for learning but, amidst his desperation to get rid of the suffocating human smell, self-isolates in a far mountain. After a long time in there, a need for running away from himself is evoked and he begins a new search in order to, ultimately, transform who he was. When he is targeted as the culprit and, at the end, again drowned is his own thoughts, from his existence.

The lyrics also brings us to think that the internal weight he was constantly under caused a desire to escape. A side of him that wants to get away from that domination he couldn’t control – which was still his inner persona as well. Grenouille’s biggest battle was against himself and the conflicts between his desires, his actions and sudden clashes with reality. The practical importance of his goal versus the limit he can endure.

“The memories we’ve gone through Have no special meaning to me But I’m not saying the time that I loved you Was a lie”

It also reveals his fear of showing himself and of failure – so it’s better to give up and flee: “But if you saw me like this, you would probably have left me”

TRACK 8: TRIGGER – The lack of self control

Lastly, “Trigger” also touches on the topic of the struggle with self. In this track, he assumes he is not the one in charge of taking choices. He’s guided to act by a foreign sort of force (or so he believes).

It also resonates with the concept of playing with desire, but also expecting for it to hit you. He wants to be “shot”, he challenges that force to provide him the feeling the keeps him focused on his objective, like a dangerous game, that requires a proper timing (because, once more, this is a self sufficient obsession). “Like when you have only one shot to hit a target I’m just waiting for you”

In another way, it’s about finding a motive that comes from outside to justify something that’s actually internal. “You stole me in one short moment I even helplessly surrendered”

and “Your focus on me, your choice of me”

Again, if we reflect on the notion of time in this work, “Trigger” strangely looks like, deep inside, in a fraction of second (maybe when he first started detecting the first fragrance in the streets of Paris), there was a part of Grenouille that foresaw what was coming in his way. This song sounds like a prevision of the future and an expectation of “destiny”.

This could have been caused by his unconsciousness, since that was one of the things he expressed aspire – a deeper meaning to being alive. “Our beginning is up to you” and “Shoot accurately at me, leave a trace of yourself So that it can’t be undone, so that I can’t deny it”

Concluding... In my opinion, EAU DE VIXX is a really impressing album when we stop to look at how everything was constructed and put together to form unity around the concept “Perfume” presents.

The lyrics and the vibe the songs express are always in sync with Grenouille’s dark mind, his inner conflict; but also the elegance, detail, nuances or intensity involving the world of perfumes and scents.

Thank you so much for reading! I plan on continuing with this and analyze the other aspects related to “EAU de VIXX”, so please wait for it!

References used: - Book: Perfume, the story of a murderer; by P. Suskind (2007 ed., Editora Record). - 빅스(VIXX) - ‘향 (Scentist)’ Official M/V (YouTube). - Film: Perfume, the story of a murderer (2006). - Translations by TRANSLATED VIXX team (translatedvixx.tumblr.com/lyrics).

[cometcrystal]

descendants 3 thots

time to go sicko mode. spoilers obv

this is literally the first descendants movie ive ever seen where mal has a HALFWAY DECENT character arc. with her absentee dad plot and her actually getting called out for once, this is the most bearable mal has literally ever been. and they gave dove cameron a few really nice outfits too but that last one was uggo

speaking of mal getting called out, SHE FINALLY! FINALLY!!!!!!!!! GOT CALLED OUT FOR HER SHIT!!!!!!!!!! both the narrative and the characters told her that what she was doing was bullshit, and she worked to fix it. it was such a breath of fresh air after the past 2 movies acting like she was incapable of making mistakes. BUT i didn’t like how she was forgiven so so easily. everyone was just immediately like “its ok you were trying to do the right thing uwuwuwuwu”

also the absentee father plot was fairly well-handled but also i think just about Every Other VK has an absentee parent.......that should be explored too this isn’t just mal’s problem

MAL AND BEN APOLOGIZED TO AUDREY ITS BEEN 84 YEARS

audrey in this movie was fucking incredible and i love her and she did absolutely nothing wrong. it was wonderful to finally see her mistreatment be addressed and i do NOT blame her for snapping and i would have continued to support her if she just kept being evil. the parallels to maleficent and medusa.........a woman scorned! poetic cinema! women snapping after being ignored and mistreated and spat on will always be my favorite

the fact that they brought back “did i mention” or whatever that song is called.....in FRONT OF AUDREY AGAIN..........the disrespect.

uma and harry were INCREDIBLE i love them to death. i love that they got such a big part in this movie!!!!!!!! uma’s outfits were all AMAZING like GOD whoever’s designing her costumes are doing the most

for the record i am literally never going to care about mal/uma i think mal did too much wrong to uma & the narrative was so racist towards uma in favor of mal that im never gonna be comfortable pairing them together lel

gil and chad individually were a bit better in this movie. i still dont really care about either of them but like gil and jay were gay and im happy chad got terrorized by audrey after 2 movies of disrespecting women

ben/carlos real. i might have successfully been converted to benlos in addition to jaylos after this movie

however, jane/carlos is also very sweet and i support them too

DIZZY/CELIA REAL. BABY LESBIANS

mal turning into an old lady was literally the funniest fucking thing ive ever seen in my damn life like damn bitch audrey got you........told

also the armor dance battle was possibly the stupidest thing ive ever seen i felt my insides rotting

ben’s beast makeup was stoopid and he should be able to turn into one normally and not just thru audrey cursing him but oh well

like spacey said, i think jane being the one to confront and talk down audrey would be much better than what actually happened. i think they were mentioned to be friends in the first movie, and it would show that mal can’t fix everything by turning into a dragon, and she’d have to make up for her mistakes in some other way. it would be better for everyone’s characters i think. ugh but who needs character dynamics ...........

i really thought getting hade’s ember would be a bigger deal than it was but whatever

most of the songs were SO good UGH!!!!!!!!

speaking of songs i loved evie’s but i hated that it was about doug. like the tune and the choreo were INCREDIBLE like sofia carson outsold. but it was about. kissing doug. ://////

smee holding his little babby’s hands was the sweetest thing

when mal was like “uma, today i saw that you care about everyone on the isle” really mal?? youre just seeing this NOW????? she spent the entire 2nd move fighting for the liberation of her peers

i missed lonnie :(

cameron’s tribute was lovely and i teared up. may his memory be a blessing

i thought it was a pretty good ending for the franchise as a whole. it could have been better obviously but i didn’t hate it and i think that’s a great finale for a franchise i have such mixed feelings about. i give it 3 out of 5 stolen magic artifacts

[sarshattack]

Azula’s Playlist

Okay, so. I made a playlist for Azula like a lot of other people because we all do appreciate playlists made for our favorite characters. But for some reason (I’m obsessed with here) I decided to make a commentary of why I did chose these songs and this specific order. In other words, I’m writing another essay about Azula.. It’s a playlist on her during the series but also how I imagined her redemption arc. 

So. Here’s the link to the playlist if y’all are interested: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6O0OEgwoKTSVXYiij13uMO

And I’ll put under the cut the abbreviated version of my commentary (I’m not done writing the whole thing yet but if you want, I’ll post it when it’s finished.)

Before hand, I’d like to excuse myself for my poor english. It’s not my first language and even tho I’m comfortable with it, it’s highly possible that I made dumb mistakes or stuff like that. So don’t be too harsh... Also, I’m note sure if I have to specify this but it will be full of spoilers so be aware of it if you’re not up to date.

So now that we’re good... Here we go ! 

1. Queendom - Vinida

Azula as we see her at the start of season two. Confident, savage, ready to take on the world. She's close to her notion of perfection. She's not afraid of losing because she never did. She's Ozai's perfect soldier and she's really proud of this title. She uses everyone around her because that what she does the best. She loves messing with other people's minds.

2. Army of Me – Björk

Azula during all the Ba Sing Se arc. She won’t retreat, she’s not afraid of anything crossing her path. She still thinks that she's the best and it's true. She is.

3. Nightmare – Halsey

Back at the Fire Nation’s palace. She’s got to do some reflection about herself but she loves it. Kinda Ember Island, too. She’s a little more vulnerable, she starts to act more… Human.

4. Everybody Wants To Rule The World – Lorde

Towards the end of season 3, she fully believes in Ozai’s supremacy. They will conquer the world together. They will rule together. She’s not afraid of anything once again. How could she be when she’s with Ozai? She doesn’t have to fear anything but his judgment. 

5. Warriors – 2WEI, Edda Hayes

Now, a little flashback on her early days. When se was still a little girl. Well, a few moments before she started to be Ozai's weapon. When she discovered what she had to do to bee praised by him. It's also about how she felt that it was him and her against the world.

6. Survivor – 2WEI, Edda Hayes

After Ty Lee and Mai's betrayal. She's once again alone. But it'.s okay or so she tells herself. She was always alone. And she's still the best.

7. Castle – Halsey

Azula is alone at the Fire Nation's palace. Ozai named her heir. It's now her palace. She's the rightful Fire Lord. But she starts to being more and more paranoid.

8. Dynasty – Rina Sawayama

Right before the Last Agni Kai, Azula's losing herself. She's alone, she can't keep her act up. This is the song of her downfall. But even in that state, she tries to stay the same, to please Ozai. She's afraid to disappoint him. It's also the song of her last fight.

9. Daddy Lessons – Beyoncé

As she fights her last battle, as she tries to stay up to Ozai's expectations, she thinks about him. About the tales he told her. Even when she knows that everything has been ruined, she stays his girl, his best soldier. She knows he never loved her but she decides to lie to herself. She has to. Or else she'll lose everything she ever had.

10. Medusa (acoustic) – Kailee Morgue

Here, Medusa is Katara. Even if it's Zuko who defeated her, Azula was alone and they were two. She lost. For the first time of her life or so. She doesn’t know what to do anymore. Medusa can also be the memory or the ghost of Ursa. Or Mai. In the end, they all are women who prefered her brother over her.

11. It Happened Quiet – AURORA

This one is more about Zuko's perspective. How he saw his sister fall. He tried to help her but he couldn't do it. Not yet, at least. After the last Agni Kai, he's visiting her at the hospital. He's watching over her as she sleeps. He's taking care of her. He's afraid to lose her, too. He wants to protect his little sister.

12. Never Ending – Rihanna

Azula woke up. She stays alone but highly guarded at all times. Since Aang take away her bending, momentarily, she doesn't feel like herself anymore. And every time she's force to watch a mirror, she sees Ursa or Ozai. She's overmedicated because doctors and nurses don't know how to treat her. She has nightmares every night. But the worst part is that she starts to feel things she never had before. The fear in her heart is gone. The anger not yet. The ghost in the mirror is herself. But she doesn't know that. Not yet, once again. She refuses to see her brother.

13. Praying – Kesha

After a while, her request to see Ozai has been approved. But she started to realize he wasn't the man she thought he was. This song is for him and for Ursa. She's still so mad at her mother for abandoning her and she stars to feel anger toward her father, too. That's a letter for them. She wants to become more than what they made her. And she wants to show them that she's better than them.

14. Guilty – MARINA

The overmedication is starting to make her lost her connection to reality. One day Zuko visits her and she's so drugged she can't refuse. She still has nightmares. But is it really nightmares or only memories? When Zuko tells her that people want her to pay for what she's done, she plead guilty. For everything. But she laughs, too. She says all of this with a mad eye. She's not herself anymore.

15. Icicles – The Scary Jokes

It's been months. Zuko is now officially Fire Lord and peace has been restored. But Azula's still locked up in a mental health facility where all the doctors do is giving her too much medication. And when she's not drugged, she finds everything ecstatic. Her vision of the world is distorted. She's always alone except for the nurses appointed to take care of her. But they're afraid of her. And they hate her for what she did. They're not professional at all. Once a month, Zuko tries to visit her. But he's always here when she's drugged. And all she does is speaking nonsense. Her paranoia is peaking. Her state is pitiful.

16. Headcase – Kailee Morgue, Hayley Kiyoko

Zuko got her out. He put her in a nice home on Ember Island. Not far from the house where they went when they were kids. She's still supervised all the time by nurses and guards, but they've been personally chosen by the Fire Lord to keep his beloved sister. Azula hates it. She keeps everything inside. She refuses to speak to psychiatrists and doctors. But, slowly, she starts to grow fond of one guard. She didn't recognize her at first. But it's Suki. She still acts as if she hates her but she can't hide that she loves her company. And Suki, even if she decided to stay professional, doesn't hate her guard duty that much anymore.

17. A Pearl – Mitski

After a year or so, Azula starts to do some self-reflection. After spending more time with Suki, learning how to manage how the feelings she has and how to cope with her traumas, she realizes she's a victim of abuse. But she's also conscious of some of the bad things she did. The war, her traumas, still lives inside of her. And she doesn't know what to do with it. She's afraid again. But, this time, it's not about other people. It's about herself. She's afraid that she'll never be able to change. That she'll never deserve Suki and her kindness, her understanding and her help. She decides to take a step in Zuko's direction after months of silence.

18. Shine – Birdy

Once again, it's a song from Zuko's perspective. The rain is a metaphor for the love he has for his sister. He wants to help her get better. He does his best to make the right things for her. He doesn't quite understand what she's going through. And he can't fully take care of her because he has his own traumas to deal with. But they can share pieces of what they had together. They talk about good memories. He wants her to have the Ember Island family house. He tells her she can move in anytime. And he'll lighten the guards on the property. He tells her she can become anyone. He will always help her.

19. She Was – Camille

Time has passed. This one is from Suki's perspective. She's living with Azula on Ember Island and gave temporarily the lead of the Kyoshi Warriors to Ty Lee. Azula is getting better. She's making arts because it helps her to communicate all the things she can't say out loud. She still has a long way to go but she's trying her best. This is a love song. Suki will always be there for Azula. She.'ll help her. She'll teach her how to be a better person. And she'll escort her everywhere on the road of recovery.

20. this is me trying – Taylor Swift

This is the last song. Azula's confession. She knows she'll never be the best like before. But she also knows she wasn't the best version of herself. She regrets what she did and learn every day to be a better version of herself. For the people around her, for the ones she hurt and for herself. This song is for Zuko and Ty Lee, the two victims of most of her abuse. This is a song for Suki, who helped her get better. This is a song for Aang, Katara and Sokka. For Toph. But this is also a song for Iroh. She still wants to prove him he did her wrong by never caring about her as much as he cared about Zuko. And this is also a song for Ursa. To show her the woman she became even thought she let her down. But she doesn't hold any grudge anymore. She's a new version of herself. A version she can love, fully. She still have regrets, she still have troubles every day. But mostly, she's learning. She's always been a perfect student.

 If you read all of this, I’d like to thank you. If you want a more in-depth and refined version, I’m working on that. Sorry if some parts are messy and/or poorly written. Hope you liked it :p

[yeollieayheehoo]

Thunderheads

Authors note: Hey guys! This is the first chapter for Baekhyuns’ story in A Tale Of Fire And Ice. The stories do all coincide with each other, so please give them a read as well! Please note!! Each chapter will have their own individual warnings, the warnings posted on the mini masterlist apply to the story as a whole!

Summary: Centuries after Gigantomachy, the Titans of legend grow restless, a prophecy set in motion by the shared breath of a long since forgotten God and mere mortal, by the lonely god who sings to the girl made of clouds, and the dead who refuse to grow. 

Pairing: Baekhyun x Reader (female)

Genre: mythology!au, 

Rating:  PG

Warnings: explicit language, minor mention of character death, 

Word Count: 2.8K

Chapter 1

You find meaning in the thunderstorm.

The way the thunder rolls across the sky in a seamless harmony with the pattering of the raindrops against the tin roof of your home is a lullaby that you could never get tired of. But, it’s the lightning that crashes across the sky that makes your soul come alive, the light almost pink streaks shining light in the black ocean above you.

You’ve been this way since you were younger, in love with the storm. Back then, you would sit in the garage and watch the rain until the storm died, the mist against your skin and smell of the earth mixing with the rain a near religious experience. Now that you’re older though, you find yourself curled up in your reading nook. You’re thankful to have your own place, enjoying the cool breeze that blows in through your open bay windows, something you would have never been able to do in your parents’ house.

You yawn as the tempest lulls you to sleep, curling up under your afghan as the sound of lightning echoes in your mind.

 “Don’t you think you’re going a bit overboard?”

Baekhyun smiles, looking down at his brother as he prepares to lose another lightning bolt. “Hera has always loved when I go overboard.”

“Mhm, and I’m sure the mortal she left you over loves it too.” Baekhyun sighs before dropping his bow to his side. “Do you really have to ruin all of my fun, Jongdae?”

“She doesn’t even know you exist, why would you pine over here instead of fixing the relationship with the Goddess you’ve literally spent eternity with?” Jongdae regards him with a curious look on his face as Baekhyun jumps down from his spot in the clouds.

“Because she adores me.”

“She adores what you do. If she knew you, she’d ask how something so beautiful can come from someone so…you.”

“I’ll pretend like that didn’t hurt.” Jongdae shrugs as he puts his coat back on.

“It wasn’t meant to be rude, just an observation.”

Baekhyun follows Jongdae to the Realms entrances, leaning against the door to Jongdaes’ scrunching his nose. “It always smells salty by your door. What happened to the little smell good trees Hermes gave you?”

“You mean the air fresheners that the mortals use in their cars? I threw them away. It’s the ocean, what do you expect?”

“You don’t smell salty.”

“Will you move?” Baekhyun rolls his eyes before pushing himself off of the door, giving Jongdae the freedom to leave. “Be honest, why are you so obsessed with that girl?”

“Something the Fates said.” Jongdae scoffs as if he’s offended by the very idea and dismisses it with a wave of his hand. “You can’t believe everything those old fools say.”

“They were right about you and Medusa.” Jongdaes’ face flushes, the male coughs to clear his throat and shrugs. “That’s old news. They haven’t said anything relevant in ages.”

“We’re all in it. You, me and-“

“Don’t’ say his name.”

“You know, he’s technically the one who has the right to be mad, not you. Besides, are you really going to hold that grudge when the world ends?” Jongdae laughs, an empty and joyless sound. “This wouldn’t even be in the works if the mortals still knew we existed.”

It’s an argument the two of you have had countless times over the centuries and it always comes back to the same result.

Baekhyun is tired of being feared.

Before, back when the Greeks knew of the Olympians existence, it was a pure, unadulterated worship. There was no fear, apart from the one that is hardwired into every human beings make up, the fear of disappointment. But even that doesn’t count to Baekhyun as anything in the comparison with the fear of inferiority.

When the Romans came, with Gods of their own things changed. With the battle of Corinth, that led to the destruction of the city in what the mortals called 146 BC, the people of Greece feared what their beloved Gods would do to exact revenge on the Romans, and their worship changed from one of adoration to one of necessity of fear and destruction.

That’s when the visits to the mortal realm stopped, and with them, so did the belief in the Olympians at all, apart from the stragglers that were few and far between.

“You know why.”

“A little fear never hurt anyone.”

“You’re starting to sound like Chanyeol.”

“Goodbye Baekhyun.” Jongdae presses his palm against the distressed white door and Baekhyun watches in amazement, as he always has, as the door slowly turns from wood into a wall of water. “Find something more productive to do that pine over a girl who won’t live a fraction of your own life.” Jongdae passes through the water with a wave, not a drop of ocean falling out of place.

Baekhyun stares as the door reforms and long after that. He knows Jongdae means well, has always been the wisest brother, but sometimes, Baekhyun wishes the Sea God would stay in the sea. Though that would mean he’d always be alone.

When Hera finally got tired of his shit, she left their clouded fortress at the top of Mount Olympus and with her, so did their children. So then, their great trophy from Gigantomachy, the battle of young Gods, the Olympians and the Titans, became another empty thing to join Baekhyun in his loneliness.

Part of him missed Hera, though he wasn’t sure if it was out of adoration, or if he missed the familiarity of her.

He has always been bad at being alone.

A glow from the door to the Underworld pull him from the thought path he’s been traveling down a lot lately, since a year ago when he found you; you who he believed to be the answer to everything.

“What does he want?” Baekhyun mumbles to himself more than to the empty house before pressing his palm against the dark green door. The color always brings up something melancholy in him as he remembers Persephone’s excitement when she finally got to repaint the door.

Her rose bushes, that have long since wilted, line the path to Chanyeol’s cottage, fitting in perfectly with the eternal night that covers the Underworld.

“You rang?” Baekhyun regards Chanyeol curiously, staring at his stretched-out figure, lounging in his favorite hammock, overlooking his domain.

“I figured you were lonely now that the storm is over. Jongdae usually darts pretty quickly.”

“How do you know that?” Chanyeol gestures lazily to the floating, black orb at his feet. “Oh yeah... the faeries.”

“Yeah… the faeries.” Chanyeol can’t help but to sigh at the nickname given to his messengers by his late wife.

“How are you holding up?” Baekhyun knows the answer to this, it’s been the same for the last century, but he asks anyway as he settles into the patio chair next to his brother. It’s almost pitying the way Persephone haunts the Underworld, traces of her existence refusing to fade away.

“As well as expected. You’d think her plants would have wasted away by now, without her here to tend for them. She’s not coming back, I don’t know what they’re hoping for.” There’s a trace of anger in Chanyeols’ voice, like he wishes her ghost would disappear, but he can’t bring himself to erase her.

“There’s always-“

“Don’t, Baekhyun. You’ve been holding on to that prophecy since she died. Still watching that mortal?”

 “You know, when they turn out to be right, like they always are, you and Jongdae are going to look really stupid.” Chanyeol scoffs and turns to face Baekhyun.

“Baek. Look me in the eyes and tell me that you honestly believe that you are supposed to be with some mortal and that we are supposed to stop the Titans from rising again, which by the way, there’s almost no possible way for them to escape their prison. Tell me that you believe Hera, who has put up with all of your adultery and lies for the last some odd millennia that we’ve been alive, isn’t who you’re meant to reside on Mount Olympus with for the rest of our days.” Baekhyun meets Chanyeols gaze, almost mesmerized by his brothers brownish orange eyes and sighs. “I thought so.”

“It’s not that I doubt them Chanyeol. It’s that I can’t afford not to. I cant think about how I’ve given everything I’ve known for it not to be true.”

Chanyeol nods like he understands but doesn’t say anything. This is how his relationship has always been with his brother. When the two were younger, they’d stay like this in the valley most days to hide from Cronus, their father. Jongdae was always the more serious of the three, following their mother Rhea around like a lost puppy at her heels.

“Can I be honest with you Baekhyun?” Chanyeols’ voice is soft as he looks over the amber glow from the souls of his realm and Baekhyun almost doesn’t hear him, the whine of the wind carrying it away. Chanyeol doesn’t wait for him to answer before he speaks again.

“I need them to be wrong, the Fates.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t think I can handle another loss like Persephone. It’s hard enough, still seeing the echoes of her everywhere. If what the Moirai say is true, then I have 70 years top before I’m right back here.” It’s the most open Baekhyun has ever heard his brother be. He knew the death of Persephone still tormented him, but he never imagined it would affect him like this. In the thousands of years that he’s been alive, he’s never seen Chanyeol be this; be afraid.

“Maybe you should come spend time with me and get out of this literal graveyard for a while.”

“And see Dae? I think I’ll pass.”

“So we won’t have another storm for a while. The mortals are already destroying their realm, a few weeks without rain won’t change anything. You need fresh air, without the constant reminder of Kore.”

Chanyeol cocks a half smile, brushing his blonde hair from his forehead as he contemplates. “And what exactly, will I do in Olympus?”

“Who said anything about Olympus?”

 You’re waken by the sun coming through your windows, and the warm breeze as your air heater kicks on. You could barely sleep last night, tossing and turning at the too quiet world in the absence of the rain.

It’s always like this for you.

Begrudgingly, you climb out of bed, making quick work of a shower and dressing before eating a breakfast your mother would have scolded you about and walking out the door. The weather is turning, a cool breeze blowing in from the East. It kisses your cheeks, sending a chill down your body that causes you to pull the lapels of your petticoat jacket tighter around you as you walk to work.

The tattoo parlor you work in as a receptionist has been like your second home since you moved out to Portland four years ago and your co-workers never fail you make you feel like family every time you walk through the door. “Hey Cloud Walker, how’s your morning?”

“Morning, Fanny. It’s been going pretty good. How about yours?” It’s warm in the shop and you’re quick to shed your jacket and scarf, hanging them on the coat rack before checking the appointment book at your counter. “You’re on walk-ins today, yeah?”

“Correct. And considering my 12 canceled, I need them.”

“Did Sunflower mention if she was coming in early today, or is she not coming in until her appointment comes in?”

“She didn’t say. Patch is coming in early.” You hum in response as you erase Fanny’s appointment for twelve oclock today, writing walk ins across the top of her name.  “Your newest addition is still looking good. Do you think it needs a touch up anywhere?” Her hands are warm against your wrist as she looks over the stratocumulus clouds you added to your sky sleeve last week. “No, I think it’s okay.”

Fanny grins and pats your wrist before letting it go, turning away from you as she heads back to her station, working on some of her latest tattoo ideas, leaving you up front to go through emails and appointment requests.

  You’re just finishing ringing out Patchs’ 2 o’clock appointment when the bell above your front door rings, pulling your attention to the two men that walk in.

Their height difference amuses you for some reason, yet at the same time you find yourself enthralled by their presence. The taller one has his hands shoved in his pockets, blonde hair pushed back framing his undercut. There’s an amused look on his face, corners of his lips twisted up into a smirk as he looks to the shorter one.

He looks nervous. His white hair is in small waves atop his head, peaking over his eyebrows slightly, which are slightly furrowed as he approaches the desk. “Hi, welcome to The Parthenon.  Did you have an appointment?”

The taller one laughs, running his fingers through his hair. “That’s a great name. No we didn’t have appointments, we were wondering if you took walk-ins?”

“Yeah, we do. Fanny is with a client right now, but I can see if Sunflower wants to take one, what are you looking to get?”

“I was wanting something else added here, another flower maybe.” The taller shrugs out of his hoodie to reveal a sleeve of flowers decorating his left arm. The detail is exquisite, and it all still looks new, lines dark and colors saturated, but something tells you that he’s had them forever. “My brother though, he’s not sure what he wants. Maybe you could give him an idea?”

“Yeah, let me go grab Sunflower and get the two of you set up, and I’ll be back with a few of our books and we can look through them together, how’s that sound?”

The white haired male nods, flashing you a smile as you move to grab an artist.

“What the fuck, Chanyeol?”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this silent. I think this was a great idea.” Baekhyun goes to open his mouth, but stops when he sees you coming back, followed by a black haired girl. “This is Sunflower, if you want to follow her, she can do some free draws in that empty spot on your sleeve and discuss a price with you.” You look at the taller one who has a grin on his face and nods. “Lead the way.”

  Baekhyun wonders if Chanyeol can feel the way he tenses ever so slightly beside him as the older brother plasters a grin to his face and following the girl you brought back. “If you want to come sit on the side of the counter, we can go over a few ideas. Do you have an idea of what you want?”

“Uh, no, I’m not sure. I do like your clouds though. I take it you’re not a fan of the sunshine.”

You laugh and Baekhyun swears that not even the Muses could create a sound as beautiful. He’s almost entranced by the way your chestnut hair sways back and forth as you shake your head. “No, storms are my happy place.”

“Wow, same honestly. I love the lightning.”

“So do I! The heat lightning is my favorite, though we don’t get much of it here.”

“No, I would imagine not. It’s pretty cool here.” You nod, humming to yourself as you flip through the books, trying to find Baekhyun something that he could care less about. You bring a few to his attention, different types of ideas being brought to his attention, before he notices Sunflower say she’s ready to start with Chanyeol’s tattoo and he stands. “I think you’ve inspired me.”

“Oh? Well let me go get Fanny and you can tell her what it is you’d like.”

 The sun has barely moved in the sky by the time Baekhyun is done with his tattoo. You smile sweetly at him as he walks to the counter, curiosity painting your face. “So what’d you get?”

Baekhyun holds out his hand. Between his index finger and thumb, on the back of his hand sits a small, black lightning bolt. The grin that breaks out on your face reminds him that it was worth the trip from his oasis. “Cloud Walker, do 50.”

“Cloud Walker, huh? I take it that’s not your real name?”

“No, it’s Y/N. It’s a nickname I’ve had since I moved here.”

“I think it suits you.”

“And how about you? What’s your name?”

“My name’s Baekhyun.”

[chaniters]

ORIGIN

Wrote a small fic. from Herald’s point of View. I’m trying to get into his mind as a character.

Warning, spoilers.

-----------------------------------------------------

ORIGIN

2032. July 4th.

Everyone celebrates a day like this. 

Meanwhile, you drink alone. They tried to convince you to take part this year as well. It's been 9 years they say. You still can’t. 

There is a magazine that's a few months old over the counter. You peek... and of course, it's you "Herald defeats Medusa and Tanathos." The cover is the picture of you standing over Thanatos's fallen armor. Of course, they had to photoshop Medusa lying down there as well. As if it were that easy.

They believe you can do everything these days. As the years' pass, your strength has increased, as has your resilience and your flight speed. Powers grow stronger as you get older. But you don't care about power. 

You order another round of whiskey. There are memories you need to drown. Specially on a day a like this.

You drink. But you still remember.

You remember your father and your mother. Arguing. Screaming. Crying. Tearing each other apart. While you and your brother watched TV, pretending not to listen. Watching the Rangers, getting their man.

Sidestep and Charge, the formidable duo. Fighting against evil. Your brother Mark liked Charge. You were a die-hard fan of Sidestep. And playing together, pretending to be your heroes, helped you survive. As your family was torn apart.

You remember when your mom took you both to San Benito's, your favorite pizza place. She wore so much makeup, trying to hide the black eye your father gave her. You remember being afraid to ask her about it. 

She took you there to escape from him. To protect you two before he hit you again. 

And then the extraordinary happened... the Candyman appeared... put the building next to you on fire.  Elyise and Sidestep fought him... Your mom and your brother ran. But you got separated in the crowd. And then the Candyman took you. 

He said he would kill you. And Sidestep came alone, with his hands held up. Saying he would surrender. To save you. 

You. 

His life for yours, that was the deal. Just like on TV.

But he had planned it ahead. Steel attacked the Candyman. And Sidestep swept in and took you away. 

You were terrified. But he tapped your shoulder and looked at you.

And you knew. You knew everything would be fine as long as your hero was there. The terror was gone He saved you. And then, after it was over, you run up to him. And the two of you took a picture together. And a video.

  Mark and you watched that video every night.

You remember when your mom started doing drugs after the beatings became more common. You remember when she was arrested for possession.

  You remember when your father came in so drunk that he broke Marks' arm. And beat you so hard you passed out. And then you lived with grandma. Until she passed too.

You remember watching out for each other, just you and your brother, on the streets. You remember when you made the pact. That if one survived and the other didn't, you would become the greatest hero that ever lived. And Mark swore the same. And then you injected the drugs.

And they worked. You started floating. Your brother became incredibly fast. You played around with your powers all night. And then went to sleep knowing you'd be superheroes the next day. But only you woke up. Your brother was dead. His body aged rapidly during the night. His face... the expression of pain.

You couldn't cry. You just couldn't. You promised him you would be the greatest hero. That you would do it for the two of you. You didn't cry.

You did everything you could. Joined the Rangers. Became one of the youngest heroes. Tried to prove yourself, at every opportunity.

For Mark. You owed him.

And then Sidestep came back. You felt your world turning upside down.

And then Retribution. You remember the fight. How he hated you. He broke your bones. Tortured you. Wanted to kill you... You don't know how you made it out alive. But you recovered. You had to. You couldn't let this stop you.

You couldn't let this happen again. You asked Sidestep to help you. You begged him. You literally swept him off his feet and tried to find out why he quit. It made you feel afraid. You couldn't quit. No matter the odds. You needed to become stronger.

He agreed to train you. You began talking. Became friends. There was something else... But you couldn't speak it out loud. 

He asked you why had you become a superhero. You had never told anyone before. But you told him. And he was at a loss for words. He left the dinner that night.

Then next time you met him, he promised he'd help you fulfill your promise to Mark. 

He trained you. He trained you hard. He was a relentless teacher. He trained your mind, your body, your powers. Helped you learn how to resist mental attacks. How to be faster, stronger. How to block any attack. How to read your opponent.

The attack on the tech towers... You fought Retribution to a standstill. "Not good enough!" he told you

The bombs planted at the mall. You managed to throw them at the lake. "Too slow!" he judged it.

Sabotage on the armament factories. Retribution gave you a cut on your check there. You were lucky it wasn't your neck. "You came through the wrong entrance!" he admonished you.

You felt something building up as training went. His concern when you were injured became more visceral. More personal Finally, during a long session, you kissed. And he panicked. He had to leave. You didn't understand it of course. How could you know?

Then the next attack came... buildings torn down, as he deployed a nanite weapon. You defeated him. You took several wounds, but you stopped him. He had to flee. "I... I think you are ready" Sidestep told you at last.   You were done with playing this game with him. You approached him and kissed him. And he kissed you back. And his facade fell. He broke down. Falling on his knees. And he confessed. He told you he wasn't human. He was a re-gene. A government weapon. He told you he had done terrible things. You told him he was still a hero. He slapped you. He told you he was no one's hero. He told you, that you should kill him before he ruined everything again.

But you didn't. You pinned him down on the floor. And kissed him. He struggled... and then he gave in. You helped him take off his nanomesh shirt... The tattoos underneath. He was embarrassed. He told you he hated his body. You told him had never seen anything so beautiful. He told you to stop. But you kept telling him. You told him to read your mind. He could see it was true. He broke in tears. Told you he was a piece of shit, and that he should have died a long time ago. You held him until he stopped shivering. And then he calmed down. And he opened up. You started speaking about life... and the universe. You let passion take over the wheel. And then you spent the night, on that rooftop. It was more than sex.  He entered your mind. You could feel him. You could feel yourself. It was almost a religious experience.

You stayed together, sharing your minds for long hours. Until you saw it. The horrors of the farm. The hatred he had been hiding deep inside. The Mask. Retribution, hiding inside his mind, in plain sight.

You raised your mind’s shields, the way he thought you to, cutting the link. He smiled bitterly. "I knew you couldn't stand it once you saw it... I'm sorry" "You should have killed me," he said.

You fought. half-naked, his tattoos glowing under the night's sky. You didn't want to, but he attacked you. He left you no choice. You were ready. He couldn't beat you. But he had a taser hidden among his things. He knocked you down. As you passed out he asked you "Please... stay away from this. I can't stop. Not for you. Not for anyone. Please, just sit this one out Daniel." And he escaped.

And then his plan unfolded. The attack on the Missile Silo. A mind-controlled army on his side. During independence day.  The rangers and you fought your way through. He sealed the gate in the control room, but your flight was faster, thanks to his training. You were the only ranger to make it inside.  You begged for him to stop. He refused. He started the countdown. You fought. You threw him over the controls. He smashed you into the computers. You broke his arm. He sent nanites to make the ceiling crash on you.  You slammed him into a wall. He attacked your mind with all his strength and fury. Your shields held. He had trained you well. 

 His armor began breaking down. Circuits burning, and sparks coming out after every strike. In the end, he fell down, beaten. He has sustained so many injuries.  But you couldn't stop the countdown. The missile targeted a deserted area in Nevada. A look of triumph in his eyes.

 You opened the gates. Ortega was beside himself when he saw it.  Sidestep whispered a few words in your ear.  "I think... you've... kept your promise... Daniel.” He was smiling. He was dying, but you would never forget the look of happiness “I thought you everything I know... please... take this"  And he gave you the memory rod. "Please give it to... Mia Ochoa. She'll know what to do... And.. tell them.. who I was." 

“Please stop, we need to take you to a hospital,” you asked. 

“That’s... not an option,” he said.

And then you felt him in your mind one last time. You kissed him, sharing his final thoughts. 

 And he died. For real this time. And part of you died with him.  The scandal came later when the government conspiracy was debunked.  You became a national hero. The greatest in the West Coast. In all America.  You have much to be proud of. And you are, most of the time.

 But on the fourth of July, you only want to forget. You don't want memories on a day like this.

 "HEY! ARE YOU HERALD!?" A man approaches you. "I SAW YOU ON TV! YOUR BATTLE AGAINST RETRIBUTION WAS THE BEST! YOU BEAT HIM GOOD! YOu..." He is interrupted by the first connecting with his face.  You stand up to leave. Did you break his jaw? Perhaps.  You can't help it.

 Especially no on a day like this.

____________________________

My fanfics: https://chaniters.tumblr.com/post/181692759294/my-fanfiction-for-fallen-hero

DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fan fiction using characters and the setting of the Fallen Hero: Rebirth and upcoming Fallen Hero: Retribution games written by Malin Riden. I do not claim ownership of any characters from the Fallen Hero wold. These stories are a work of my imagination, and I do not ascribe them to the official story canon. These works are intended for entertainment outside the official storyline owned by the author. I am not profiting financially from the creation of these stories, and thank the author for her wonderful game/s, without which these works would not exist.

[rala-arunsun]

My Character Left in the Middle of an Adventure, and I Couldn’t Be Happier About It

Okay, let me set this up.

So, while our party was out adventuring, a gang war had been raging in our hometown of Riverton. We come back to a city torn in 3: the West Side Spiders controlling the lower district, the Blood Blockade controlling the waterfront, and the High Street Kings controlling the upper district.

A representative from the city council, now with effectively no power to run the city since the town guard is not run by a corrupt captain in the pocket of the High Street Kings, comes to us and offers us a fairly large sum of money to take down these gangs and return control of the city to them. I’m playing as Rala, a half-elf Rogue/Wizard who is a criminal, but is also interested in the well-being of people. Off we go to bring down some gangs.

The first gang we tackle is the West Side Spiders. They are so numerous that the power vacuum left behind by the other gangs would immediately be filled by about a million Spiders, so that’s where we go. In the lower district we find some Spiders peddling their drug of choice, Smash (a rage-inducing herb that you smoke).  While the drug seems common down here, also common is the huge amount of poverty and poor living conditions. The people of the lower district love the West Side Spiders, and no one seems to have anything bad to say of them. In fact, the Spiders live in the very same cramped, dingy living spaces as everyone else in the lower district. But, we have a job to do, so we track down their main distribution center of Smash (where the Boss has kindly employed a few civilians from town) and the other mages in the party burn it down.

Seeing the destruction of his primary source of income, the Boss has the Spiders completely shut down access to the lower district until we come and fight him personally. We are forcibly led to the Fight Pit, and Simon, the Boss of the Spiders, gives us a speech. He talks about how we are no better than him, that him pushing Smash to make a living is no different than us taking money to come kill his people. That he is stronger and smarter than we could possibly imagine, and that he’s gonna make us pay for what we did.

After a tough fight, our paladin, Dord, managed to kill him, and the Spiders disbanded. Simon explicitly instructed them to let us go and dissolve the West Side Spiders if he died in the fight, and he commanded so much respect among them that no one dared defy him even in death.

Next up was the Blood Blockade:  band of pirates lead by a Captain who had an iron grip on the city’s river trade. We discovered their hidden base beneath the city thanks to an informant working undercover. It was guarded by a couple of guys disguised as construction workers: after all, who just walks in to an active construction site? After a brief fight where the guards were completely outmatched, Rala warned them to just flee with their lives. Surprisingly, one of them did. Until the sorcerer, Victor, finished him off with a firebolt on his retreat

Rala was livid. Why would you kill a man while he was fleeing? Our job was to defeat the gangs and return the city to normal rule, not systematically murder every person wearing gang colors. The blade singer Azaki claimed that the man would just go and return with more backup, but when pressed Victor admitted that he just killed the guard because the guard was part of the gang so Victor could kill him without any repercussions. Rala called him a murderer and sulked into the hidden base.

After a long period of wandering through the catacombs, we find what the Captain is using this place to store: product. People, animals, mystical creatures, drugs, you name it. We free all of the captives (including a medusa that had been changed into her current form from being a normal woman) and the party kills almost everyone else in the base. Except for one guy that Rala spared for interrogation purposes. We left him at the bottom of a pit, but when we returned to find him he was gone. And when we exited the base, we realized why.

A ton of pirates were waiting for us outside. They subdues us one by one, cowing us into being captured with their sheer numbers. When Rala walked out with the blindfolded medusa, he knew that she would be captured again, so he turned her invisible and told her to leave the city. Then he tried to use magic to fly away but was instantly caught in a net. Only Azaki escaped capture by turning invisible before walking out of the base and following us secretly to the ship where the pirates had loaded us up.

The Captain told us all about how ruthless and cruel he was, but with the help of Rala (who didn't have to give up his weapons) and the still-invisible Azaki, we managed to free ourselves and defeat him after a long and grueling battle.

We celebrated that night at our favorite bar, the Smoke on the Water, but at the end of the night Rala gave his parting words: The captain got what was coming to him, no doubt about it. But Rala didn't want to be a part of a crew who hunted down the citizens of Riverton on the city's dime. He was a criminal too. He'd done things he wasn't proud of, and any one of those guys the party killed over the past two days could've been him. How long would it be until the council knocked on Dord's door and told him to hunt down Rala? How long until the city decided that Victor was too dangerous and needed to be killed? Rala said his goodbyes and said he would be leaving town, but not before he stopped by Simon's grave. A priest from the lower district allowed Rala to speak with Simon's deceased spirit, and Rala tried to convince him to bring the Spiders back. After all, the Spiders took care of the people of the lower district, gave them jobs and protected them. But Simon wouldn't hear it. Rala took the road north out of the city that night.

I could not be happier with the way this all shook out. I brought in a new character to finish the adventure, but it was so satisfying to play out this whole character arc. Rala went from a character who was just happy to help the people to someone with a deep distrust of the city's government and of some of the other player characters. Now he doesn't even know if he wants to come back and keep helping Riverton at all. He didn't realize he had signed up for some extra-judicial killings when he took this job, but now that it's over he sees that the city council is just another gang. I don't know where Rala goes from here, I suspect that he comes back and does some Robin Hood-type stuff to help the people of the lower-districts, but no matter what happens it was such a tremendous experience to realize that a character was growing and changing their viewpoint in real time as I was playing him. When we came to the end of the second gang, I knew that he had to leave because it was the only honest choice for the character. He no longer believed in the mission he was given, and I'm so grateful that I got to play that out. This is why I play tabletop RPGs.

[the-ink-bottle]

Live Blogging Disney’s Hercules

Okay I’m gonna start with the fact that Hercules was actually named Heracles, and Disney says that his parents are Hera and Zeus but REALLY he was the product of Zeus’ fling with Alcmene. Zeus named the baby after Hera so that Hera wouldn’t kill the little guy out of rage at her cheater husband. But for the sake of the movie we’ll stick with:

00:01: a weird museum full of vases and statues, featuring the muses. I’d like to point out that there are actually nine, versus the featured five. But we all know that these ladies have enough personality to cover those other four. I can JAM to that gospel truth. We next see a view of Mount Olympus. The real Mount Olympus isn’t actually all that big, and really it would have been easy for the Greeks to climb up there and SEE the gods they believed lived there. But they didn’t Do That, which I think says a lot about the Greeks.

00:04 “I haven’t seen this much love in a room since Narcissus discovered himself.” A great joke, but Narcissus was actually a human who was later turned into a flower.

In this scene, Zeus gives his newborn son a gift: a winged horse named Pegasus. Pegasus may have obeyed Zeus, but he was actually the son of Medusa after her rape by Poseidon. He never really had any contact with Hercules that I know of.

00:07 The Fates and their threads of life- creepy right? Well they weren’t actually like that. Disney’s version combines the fates with the Gray Sisters, who were featured in Percy Jackson as being all-knowing and sharing a single eye and tooth between them. The Fates had the power to end life, but they didn’t look the same or have quite the same knowledge.

00:10 So this is just gonna un-do the ENTIRE plot but, suffice it to say that Hades did not give a flying pterippus about Hercules OR Heracles. Hades is pretty well known for staying in the Underworld. He likes it there! Or rather, he hates being near his brothers. That and he isn’t exactly allowed to leave very often...

Anyways, Hercules greatest feats were actually the result of his punishment by King Eurystheus....more on that later.

00:17 A true thing! Hercules was indeed raised on earth, mortal, and strangled two large snakes when he was an infant. In the myth, however, the snakes were sent by Hera. (Fun fact: Hercules was a twin, but his brother, Iphicles, had no powers.)

00:20 Hercules’ song in the movie SLAPS. Go the Distance is a banger and Michael Bolton killed it.

00:23 Zeus tells Hercules that if he becomes a hero, his godhood will be restored. Now - where is the lie? This actually isn’t too far from the truth. His punishment from Eurystheus was to complete a series of labors. At the completion of these tasks, he would be purified of his crimes and be allowed to live on Olympus. What were his crimes? Well....we’ll get there. Patience.

00:31 This movie has a lot of great songs, mythology errors aside. Philoctetes may be a rapist and a creep, but he can sing well enough.

00:35 Now is the time when we finally meet Megara! Megara was indeed the first wife of Hercules. A bit of a downer here: Hera, in one her infinite attempts to ruin the hero’s life, drove Hercules insane one spring night. In his insanity he killed his wife and children. After coming to, he was sent to Eurystheus for punishment. Luckily, Disney skipped that part of the myth. That doesn’t necessarily mean Megara gets a happy story, as we’ll see later.

00:37 Hades is wildly interpreted by several different adaptations of myth. In this movie, he seems like a very sassy, stressed-out gay. To be fair a lot of the ancient greeks were bisexual, including Hercules! But I digress.

00:45 Hercules is faced with battling a Hydra, aka a dragon with multiple heads which regrow after being cut off. This was indeed a feature of the myth, as defeating the Hydra was one of Hercules’ tasks set by Eurystheus. In the myth, he is assisted by his friend and kin, Iolaus. The movie does a good job depicting this, even minus the help. The scene is followed by another SMASH of a song, Zero to Hero. It is during this musical montage that we glimpse his other achievements: the slaying of the Nemean Lion, for example, whose hide is later seen as a cloak around Hercules (peep the Lion King reference).

00:51 Hades: “What are THOOOSE”

00:56 There’s the Lion King ref I mentioned, among several other pieces of comedic relief following that scene with Zeus.

00:59 I CAN HEAR THE BEGINNING NOTES OF “I Won’t Say I’m in Love” AND I AM REAAAADDYYYY also peep the prick of cupid’s arrow in Megara’s back.

00:01 HERE IT IS THE SONG OF THE CENTURY GET IT SUSAN EGAN

01:06 I’m gonna take this time to point out a major change from the myth. Hercules never really had a “trainer” in any story I’ve read, unless you count the musical tutor who Herc killed for being too critical. In actuality, Philoctetes was another hero and friend of Hercules who was badly wounded at Troy. There was never a satyr rapist involved (a sapyst? A ratyr?)

01:15 Hermes is the chaotic good sassy gay and Hades is the chaotic evil sassy gay

01:16 The power of animation is making Megara look gorgeous even after being crushed by a pillar

01:18 If Hades’ hair is fire does that make him flamingly gay?

01:22 A total Orpheus and Eurydice moment, Hercules was never able to get is wife back from the dead in the myth. He did go to Hades in order to dog-nap Cerberus once, though.

01:23 Hades: “MR STARK I DON’T FEEL SO GOOD”

Finalé: Hercules is a great movie for little kids getting started on mythology. I’ve always loved the humor and sound track, even if almost everything is inaccurate.

Aaaand a bonus panel: my favorite meme

[cerastes]

16, 19, 22

16. Favorite story arc?

Babylonia! It’s a very challenging and colorful chapter that follows a very peculiar, specific format: The first part of the arc is handling the weirdness around Babylonia, this mounting unrest without a known cause. Then the cause becomes known, and we go to the second part of the arc: A long, long fight against Tiamat, the cause of all of this. The cast is impeccable: You got Caster Gil, which is Gil But Not An Asshole, you got Kingu, who has taken over the body of Enkidu, you got Quetzalcoatl, a luchadora goddess, you got Ushiwakamaru and Benkei, the former of which goes through a… Painful experience which sets up some scary fights that will test your ability to survive multiple rounds of combat while being able to DPS race, you got Big Bad Medusa and Tiny Good Medusa, there’s tons of great interactions, there’s Ishtar and Ereshkigal, it’s an all star cast, and a lot of fancy enemies, including the toughest mooks in the game. The plot is amazing, and I loved playing through it.

19. Favorite boss battle?

It shouldn’t come as a surprise, but Tiamat! My love for Tiamat comes, first and foremost, from my appreciation of her as a character in the story and how fun her fights are, both Humanoid and Dragonoid forms.

You are fighting someone who is irredeemable. It’s not an enemy with a higher cause or well intentioned extremism, Tiamat is outright cruel and want to expressly kill all humankind, plain and simple. You are against a foe so powerful and gigantic that the entire second half of the Babylonia arc is “We gotta not get instantly turned to paste by a single of Tiamat’s attacks or even steps while finding a way to weaken her”. It takes a hilariously Rasputinian series of assaults on her to render her vulnerable in the first place, and a LOT of help from legendary magicians and outright gods to even be able to survive the act of being in her presence, let alone fight her. It is excellently represented via gameplay mechanics (How you get buffed to hell in-game and how merely ending your turn hits you with massive damage due to the Primordial Ooze that comes from her body), and both bosses, while not difficult in gameplay, are truly climatic and fun. In particular, I love how her Humanoid form’s boss battle sticks to the lore in terms of gameplay: Tiamat’s Humanoid form is the representation, and biological “bag”, that contains her love for humanity, as she DID have it. You have to kill it because Dragonoid Tiamat is charging an attack that will destroy all of Babylonia, and that’s the only way to stun her out of it. During that fight, Humanoid Tiamat does not attack you at all, since it’s her love for you that you are killing, and instead just buffs her Lahmu, so the boss fight is about killing the Lahmu as soon as you can so you can kill the defenseless Tiamat. Huge contrast with Dragonoid Tiamat, who is absolutely trying to kill you, no ifs and buts. All in all, they represented a lot of lore stuff via gameplay, and that is gold.

22. Do you have a dream Servant? Who is it?

I do, and it is Kriemhild! Also known as Gudrun, she was the tragic daughter of the witch that enchanted Sigurd into marrying her, and who eventually loses all. I can see her as a Saber or an Assassin, since some versions have it that she got a hold of the Balmung after Sigurd and Brynhildr’s deaths, and she enacted revenge against her own brother and mother, who lead to these tragedies in the first place; She did not want any of what happened. She is also said to have married and later killed a lord based on Attila the Hun, by killing his children and making stew with their bodies, having the lord eat them before setting him, and all of his castle, in fire, after they were too drunk to escape the flames. There’s plenty one could do with her, I think!