#things I love in gow universe

[visionsofmagic]

things I love in gow (2018) video game:

atreus being so little and cute even though he gave headache sometimes which understandable for his age and well, condition

atreus get up kratos’ back whenever they climb somewhere [cuteee]

kratos always says atreus to stay behind him whenever he feels danger [we love protective dad in this blog]

atreus immediately tries to cut the tree that hold mimir’s body even if he literally said “no fucking thing can cut this shit”

valkyries become everyone’s nightmares since they are harder to kill than main bosses

baldur being a drama queen of all time [he deserves that place yes but he love drama]

freya being so powerful [I was like “yes my queen!” in the whole game]

faye also being one of the most powerful giants who even had her own team to kick odin’s ass

atreus and kratos giving utmost importance to faye’s request and completing it finally

beauty of realms

wonderful scenes [I really loved the main story]

mimir being the most helpful head [it was fun and cute to hear his voice while fighting since he really gave good time and calm down nature both to kratos and me]

mimir’s stories

brok and sindri came together with help of atreus and kratos

sindri being afraid of dragon [that scene was so cute!]

atreus’ diary

“boi”

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

🌈 Queer Books Coming Out in May 2024 🌈

🌈 Good morning, my bookish bats! Struggling to keep up with all the amazing queer books coming out this month? Here are a FEW of the stunning, diverse queer books you can add to your TBR before the year is over. Remember to #readqueerallyear! Happy reading!

[ Release dates may have changed. ]

❤️ Farzana's Spite - Felix Graves 🧡 Archangels of Funk - Andrea Hairston 💛 How It Works Out - Myriam Lacroix 💚 Queer History A to Z - Robin Stevenson, Vivian Rosas 💙 Queerceañera - Alex Crespo 💜 Second Night Stand - Karelia Stetz-Waters, Fay Stetz-Waters ❤️ You Can Call Me Cooper - Cali Kitsu 🧡 Gooseberry - Robin Gow 💛 Grand Slam Romance - Ollie Hicks, Emma Oosterhous 💙The Witches of Silverlake - Simon Curtis, Stephanie Son 💜 Drawn to the Enemy - Barbara Winkes 🌈 The Truth of Our Past - Heather Leighson

❤️ Infaust - T.D. Cloud, Ambi Sun 🧡 Garner for Gold - Catherine Labadie 💛 The Z Word - Lindsay King-Miller 💚 Snake Charming - Genevieve McCluer 💙 The 7-10 Split - Karmen Lee 💜 Loving Jemima - Sienna Waters ❤️ The Potion Gardener - Arden Powell 🧡 A Swift and Sudden Exit - Nico Vincenty 💛 The Worst Ronin - Maggie Tokuda-Hall, Faith Schaffer 💙 Murray Out of Water -Taylor Tracy 💜 The Guncle Abroad - Steven Rowley 🌈 The Weight of What Was - Pip Landers-Letts

❤️ The Amazing Alpha Tau Pledge Project - Lisa Henry, Sarah Honey 🧡 I Met Death & Sex Through My Friend, Tom Meuley - Thom Vernon 💛 Malicia - Steven dos Santos 💚 The Sins on Their Bones - Laura R. Samotin 💙 SLUTS: Anthology - Michelle Tea 💜 You Should Be So Lucky - Cat Sebastian ❤️ Death's Country - R.M. Romero 🧡 Cinema Love - Jiaming Tang 💛 The Brides of High Hill - Nghi Vo 💙 Emma - Jenna Kent 💜 Wish We Were There - Lionel Hart 🌈 A Troublemaker in Her Eyes - Genta Sebastian

❤️ I Make Envy on Your Disco - Eric Schnall 🧡 Lavash at First Sight - Taleen Voskuni 💛 Queer Power Couples - Hannah Murphy Winter, Billie Winter 💚 In Repair - A.L. Graziadei 💙 A Heart Divided - Angie Williams 💜 Long After We Are Gone - Terah Shelton Harris ❤️ The Queen of Steeplechase Park - David Ciminello 🧡 Lunar Boy - Jes Wibowo, Cin Wibowo 💛 Hot Boy Summer - Joe Jiménez 💙 Sunhead - Alex Assan 💜 The Summer Love Strategy - Ray Stoeve 🌈 Into the Mouth of the Wolf - Erin Gough

❤️ The Girl in Question - Tess Sharpe 🧡 The Lost Erwain - Mariah Stillbrook 💛 Starfire - Naomi Hughes 💚 Adrift - Sam Ledel 💙 Shanghai Murder - Jessie Chandler 💜 April May June July - Alison B. Hart ❤️ A Bone in His Teeth - Kellen Graves 🧡 Cabin Fever - Tagan Shepard 💛 Don't Be a Drag - Skye Quinlan 💙 The Ride of Her Life - Jennifer Dugan 💜 The Redemption of Daya Keane - Gia Gordon 🌈 Nearlywed - Nicolas DiDomizio

❤️ The Sunforge - Sascha Stronach 🧡 The End of Time - Trudie Skies 💛 Silent Ones - Melissa Polk 💚 Prime Time Travelers - Neil Laird 💙 My Darling Dreadful Thing - Johanna van Veen 💜 The Honey Witch - Sydney J. Shields ❤️ Spitting Gold - Carmella Lowkis 🧡 Last Chance - Claire Highton-Stevenson 💛 Road Home - Rex Ogle 💙 Only for Convenience - Shannon O'Connor 💜 Linus and Etta Could Use a Win - Caroline Huntoon 🌈 Finding Molly Parsons - Alyson Root

❤️ Breathe: Journeys to Healthy Binding - Maia Kobabe, Dr. Sarah Peitzmeier 🧡 See You Next Month - Jamey Moody 💛 Until You Say My Name - Tatum Schroeder 💚 Disembark - Jen Currin 💙 True Love and Other Impossible Odds - Christina Li 💜 Flyboy - Kasey LeBlanc ❤️ Thirsty - Jas Hammonds 🧡 Hands Off - N. Slater 💛 Flooded Secrets - Claudie Arseneault 💙 The Deer and the Dragon - Piper C.J. 💜 To Be Loved - Frank G. Anderson 🌈 Snowblooded - Emma Sterner-Radley

❤️ Blood Remains - Cathy Pegau 🧡 Blood on the Tide - Katee Robert 💛 We Were the Universe - Kimberly King Parsons 💚 Loyalty - E.J. Noyes 💙 Spirits and Sirens - Kelly Fireside 💜 Clean Kill - Anne Laughlin ❤️ The Worst Perfect Moment - Shivaun Plozza 🧡 Oye - Melissa Mogollon 💛 Here for the Wrong Reasons - Annabel Paulsen, Lydia Wang 💙 Exhibit - R.O. Kwon 💜 Experienced - Kate Young 🌈 Parenting with Pride - Heather Hester

❤️ Road to Ruin - Hana Lee 🧡 Meet Me in Berlin - Samantha L. Valentine 💛 The Advice Columnist - Cade Haddock Strong 💚 where lost & hopeless things go - Bryony Rosehurst 💙 Pit Stop - Ellis Mae 💜 The Switchboard - Christina K. Glover ❤️ In the Shallows - Tanya Byrne 🧡 Have You Seen This Girl - Nita Tyndall 💛 Another First Chance - Robbie Couch 💙 The Only Light Left Burning - Erik J. Brown 💜 Keepers of the Stones and Stars - Michael Barakiva 🌈 A Little Kissing Between Friends - Chencia C. Higgins

[weirdozjunkary]

ADHD brain too,but i am jusy an thing not an guy ...SO OPEN UP YOUR BRAIN AND LET ME SEE WHAT OTHER FANDOS YOU ARE /nf/hj

Aight aight, I’ll humour you guys. Let me see if I can remember every fandom I’m in. Sit tight cause this is gonna be a bit…

(Most of these are just media I like. I don’t know 100% about all of them. Also not including people I am a fan of)

Shows: MLP, LPS, Kill La Kill, Octonauts, Bluey, Pikwik Pack, Lego Monkey Kid, Dead End, Scooby Doo, BNA, RISE:TMNT, Carmen Sandiego(2021), Steven universe, Adventure Time, Regular Show, TOH, Amphibia, Tom and Jerry, Loony Tunes, Super Giant Robot Brothers, Centaur World, Stranger Things, SpongeBob, Love Death and Robots, TAWOG, Toopy and Binoo

Games: Sonic, Mario, Little Nightmares, Resident evil, Undertale, Deltarune, Outlast, Omori, FNAF, MyHouse.WAD, Amanda the adventurer, GOW, Stray, Cuphead, The Stanley Parable, Poppy Playtime, My Friendly Neighborhood, BATIM, BATDR, Pizza Tower, Pokemon, FNF, Faith:The Unholy Trinity, Animal Crossing, AER:Memories of Old, Splatoon, Kirby, In Sound Mind, Portal(1&2), Subnautica, Here Comes Niko, A Hat In Time, Hollow Knight, Subway Midnight, DDLC

Online Media: Welcome Home, Mandela catalogue, Creepypasta, Sonic.EXE(?), The Walten Files, Dreams of an insomniac, The Children Under The House, The Monument Mythos, Liminal Land, Happy Meat Farms, Winter of 83, Vita Carnis, Xploshi/Soucorp, Gemini Home Entertainment, Mystery Flesh Pit National Park, Midwest Angelica

Other Media: Spiderman, Frankenstein, Barbie, Coraline, Monsters VS Aliens, Puss In Boots, Hardcore Henry, Learning With Pibby, Sam and Max, Mech Cadet Yu, Monty Python, Mitches Vs The Machines, The House, Ponyo, NOPE, SpyXFamily, (Analog/Digital Horror in general), (Cosmic Horror in general)

There’s most likely more, but this is as far as I can think of at the moment and boy it’s already a lot haha. I know there is a lot of horror stuff that I haven’t thought about, but it’s still a lot of it. Please use this to get into new things you think are interesting because I could ramble about a lot of these things

[haveievermentioned]

sending you back top 5 fic recs and top 5 fics you’re written for the ask game!! :)

Sorry this took so long! I got busy. Top Recs:

"You must fix your heart" series by @screechthemighty as much as I like Valhalla, it didn't come CLOSE to what I want from a post Ragnarok story like these fics do. They are kind of interlinked and honestly, after (Massive GoW ragnarok spoilers) this really helped me with all of that.

Angry Words by PoH. Actually anything by PoH. They are my best friend and all of their writing is fantastic. They Semi sincerely wrote fics about William Birkin having a love affair with the element fire, they wrote a GORGEOUS fic about Jack and the Little Sister's first Christmas on the surface, and a lot of great Ace Attorney and KH stuff that fill in blanks or are post series. But this is maybe the funniest ones they did (outside of William/Fire which was a sort of parody) where Xigbar gave Roxas and Xion a PS3 and a copy of Bioshock with no context and they learn about Swear words! Like "Communist!" and "Goddess!" It's great.

Dripping Diamonds (between my thighs) by @empresscirque Okay I haven't read it. But Empress is another fantastic friend and this is maybe their most popular piece. I skimmed it a bit and it's written really well. (Just not my ship, and they know that)

The Mallard Family by GreyLiliy as a MASSIVE Darkwing Duck fan I can't emphasize enough how much this completely changed how I thought of his yuppie neighbors, the muddlefoots.

Pearls of Portent by Zophaer Link/Mipha fic where Link wakes up with 7 of Mipha's eggs next to him. Link is mute, everyone is confused, it's really sweet and sad.

Okay, on to mine

As long as you should have lived - a Resident Evil post village story where Chris proposes a legally real but otherwise fake marriage to Mia in order to fulfill his promise to protect Rose. Mia agrees, and things don't go as well as they planned. Chris is a Demiromantic Asexual in here, Mia has loads of trauma to unpack from 7 and 8, and their fake honeymoon keeps running into complications, like Ethan's sister who never bought anything Chris said.

The Jecht/Maleficent series Kingdom Hearts universe, some time shortly after BBS, Maleficent mistimes a teleport and ends up on Destiny Islands, where she runs into Jecht - recently of Radiant Gardens - and falls ill. A combination of exoticism and Florence nightingale leads them to having a one night stand. After THAT it splits into 3 universes. In all of them, Jecht has promised to love her forever. In all of them, How that plays out depends on what happened right after that promise.

Italian Beef Sandwiches and Spaghetti! Introducing Chef Carmy! Look, in 2023, The Bear and Delicious Party Pretty Cure came out. Both stories had people using food to deal with dead family members. I had to smash them together, and I had a LOT of fun doing it. It was written before S2 came out so it's not exactly canon compliant even before the girls show up, but like... I had Yui and Carmy talk about food and dead relatives and Ritchie trying not to swear in front of kids.

You are not alone stand alone story in my Quadratum series, Sora figures out he's Aro Ace after being very confused by the X-files. Aya, Garrett, NieR, and Sora all have great moments, Ash gets introduced and as much as I love Xem, xeir pronouns make me frustrated (but non binary people deserve more non they/them rep) and Garrett also learns something about himself.

Welcome, Curious Friends a zine piece where Sora went to Phantom Manor and woke up looking at a ticket taker skeleton. It's got a mystery, it's got danger, it's got a LOT of catharsis for anyone who has ever wanted to punch (spoiler)

(honorable mention: Xion, the soap opera lover, Lover of the Light, The Secret Diary of Quincey Morris, Mia Goes Shopping, and Tell me it won't hurt.

[nightmaresart]

Marvel sketches pt 1

Wanted to post the little things I have been working on the last 2 weeks, so here we go.

I've been absolutely consumed by Marvel Rivals and its reignited the love i once had for the franchise, so I dug through some very old ocs and brought some back!

This post contains gods of Asgard, in the marvel rivals setting they're from a different universe than Thor, Loki and Hela. But the first oc shown, Neva, is related to them nonetheless. In her universe, Thor, Loki and Hela are either dead or still locked away for eternity. So she becomes the queen of Asgard after Odin passes away. She eventually has two kids as well to continue the bloodline.

The other 3 gods drawn are ocs/characters i made for the GoW franchise, I wanted to use them for this silly project of mine as well. So here they are!

[mythropigman]

Hihihihihii I first just wanna say, I love ur artstyle it’s actually so pretty, and so adorable, and super super yummy and delicious, and SECOND, I did a tiny bit of snooping on ur blog (just ur recent stuff), and I’m super curious:

1. What IS ur little world building thing that’s going on, I’m a bit confused 😭

And

2. Would u mind giving an introduction of ur main oc fellow? I love the design btw :333

ANYWAY, I hope u have a good day :D

Thank you very much for the kind words and gestures mate💐 (wish most people were interested like you but I have hope someday it will get attention) so to answer your questions I will spill them out in detail

(heads up: the world building is still in works so I don't blame you if you still get confused at the end of reading it but just to clarify it still in the works but his is what I got so far)

//Warning: Lots of reading (So bring a night light out)

For question 1:

In the world building, it contains things you might be curious with, the world building is considered to be fantasy, sci-fi, (horror but only for the important parts so not as much) coming of age, superhero, and yeah (that's all I can think of) Now. The world of mine is considered to contain, Marvel (supers from the mcu), God Of War, and the famous game itself Minecraft

Now originally, this was only all based off Minecraft itself because our original characters were from Minecraft named Renny and Tank (who you may have heard of on this blog) and in all cases, after the smithing templates were added to the game, I actually started watching marvel again and oh my I forgot how much I loved marvel, so a crazy idea of mine popped up and I decided to add Minecraft and mcu idea together to fit my world building, therefore leaving me to make new characters which are these ones you see today, the reason is because Minecraft's lore itself fit so well with the mcu in my opinion cause of how similar their fantasy and sci fi sides fit together, and also because the trims that were added looked cool and I wanted to think they give their host powers once it was added to the armour, so there (I'll explain that next time when you or someone else asks)

Then a few months later which was during the coming of the new years of 2024, I watched god of war, and I never actually liked it at first but then when I did I loved it so much like the mcu (I watch the 2018 and 2022(?) Ones not the 2000s I'm not an og) and so I decided to add all both mcu, Minecraft, and gow to fit together in the world building cause it actually fits because of the characters we have.

In the story these characters you see today are in our year the present day, and because you think they are in the mcu you think they are on the main universe earth-616 but they are actually on a world of my own called earth-937, the reason gow is in here is because the characters that I will mention are gods as well 1 god who is good and 2 others who are bad (basically villains) and so I thought it would be a good combination because I also have a god realm in the story before this so I guess it makes sense, and mcu is part of this cause I think I already just explained if not just remind me and I'll explain it if I didn't

And finally to question 2:

The main character throughout all of this is a character named Francis (last name being Besong) who is the main person you will see a lot (and again main character) he is known to be: funny (and when I mean funny I mean not by jokes but by the way how he acts when he wants to make someone laugh) fun, responsible, respectful, trust worthy, loyal, (dumbass that can't solve math), and all the good guys traits yk, he's an ambi or omni vert. Francis in the group is known to be the main leader cause he was the first one in the group to become a super, only after a good 5 days his friends found out and became supers themselves with him cause for the past 5 days he was bad at doing his super deeds

Francis is also depressed like any other good superhero cause really who hasn't made their characters depressed its character development lol but francis overtime eventually becomes the strongest super in the group (only to find out something deep about him he didn't know himself, if your still curious just ask and I'll explain what it is)

So...those are your answers, again the world building is basically a wip and still being worked on but I don't plan changing it anytime soon, if you want to know the deeper lore of Francis then I can explain more about him and if you want you can ask about the other characters themselves feel free to don't be shy in fact I've been waiting and hoping people ask about my ocs and world building and such more and know more deeper about it. So looking forward to the asks please send some (please I'm begging) and thank you feel free to ask more idc if you ask as the same person again or anonymous because I am pleased and happy to answer them all and get you guys interested in them. Again thank you very much💐💫💫🤗

[puffitale]

Weird question: but does anyone feel inadequate due to how ‘unseen’ they feel?

Like, I'm in my mid-30s. I feel like I’m old and fat. I can count on my fingers all the times I’ve ‘caught’ a guy looking me over in *that* way.

I dress for myself - for comfort. I don’t wear make up. I try to look presentable, but I know that I fall short in a lot of ways.

I try to make my self worth be about me, and how I feel about me, and what I love about my personality/values etc, but I feel like a complete bush pig that’s not worthy of love and knowing that I can see men that I find attractive, but also feeling completely invisible except to be a waste of space.

And…it, like…hurts. A lot. It hurts a lot to want to be beautiful and sexy and to be constantly barraged with the message that if you’re not hot and fuckable to men you’re nothing, and knowing that you fall on the latter scale more than the former. It hurts to see girls that look like me or better matched up. It hurts to see girls who seem have easily slotted into universal beauty standards call themselves fat and ugly and not good enough because they’re wearing track pants to target or they ate a big meal. It hurts to see someone announce a pregnancy or an engagement and just feel so…nothing. Like you’ll never be good enough for love or anything…really.

And the thing is…I know I’ve been programmed to feel this way. So I buy thousands of dollars of bullshit like expensive clothes that I feel uncomfortable in or bullshit beauty treatments. That I should get someone to suck all my fat out and mould them into an amazing set of tits and ass, that I should dye my hair and wear high heels and false eyelashes and have a tiny waist and dick sucking lips etc. And that I’ll feel lonely enough to settle for some piece of shit who sits on my couch all day and plays GOW or something and demands chicken wings on a 4 hourly basis only to flop into bed for incredibly unsatisfying sex on my end whilst he snores and I scrub the kitchen with a toothbrush to work through my self disgust at the fact that I was completely fine alone but I’ve chosen Barney Rubble and his garlic mayo farts over working on my self enough to die alone.

I feel like a dipshit. An incredibly alone and depressed dipshit.

I want the fairytale, the nice wedding and babies. I want to feel seen and wanted and love. But I also know it’s a trap and that either if I pursue that I’ll be worse off or it will never make me happy. I want to be able to work on myself enough to be happy as I am, but it’s just not there. Or there’s too much shit to deal with first (childhood trauma, cPTSD that bullshit).

I feel like a puzzle piece that’s been burned that expected to find its match but also be enlightened enough to just be as is but I have a giant whole that’s been burned out of me and I don’t know how to mend it and everything I’ve been taught from a young child has been that I need someone else to fix or fill it and nothing will be able to do that because I’ve been fucking burnt and have a giant burn mark in my centre, so I’m unfixable - only transformable but I don’t know how to do that, only fix, not transform, only fix…

[maximuswolf]

Should I get God of War Ragnarok on sale?

Should I get God of War Ragnarok on sale? Hello, and yes, I understand how silly this question is, the “Should I get this GOTY?”, but please hear me out.I bought a lot of games in this YE sale. With my work, kids and such, I pretty much bulked my backlog all the way to the next Christmas. Thing is, I still have some budget left and GOW Ragnarok is quite cheaper than the usual price. I was thinking about buying it, but there is a nagging thing on the back of my head: I was not a huge fan of the 2018 game.My wife bought me the game last April (yes, I have that little time to play). I was a huge fan of the OG Greek saga, God of War 3 was the most anticipated game of my life and I spent a lot of money going on a game rent house to finish it. I was…whelmed with the 2018 rebootish. Took me a while to get used to Old Krator but the combat took even longer. I was a gigantic fan of the frenetic, roll party, hectic combat of the OG and I’m still not exactly in love with the new, slower combat. Now, do I hate the game? No. The moments I pick it up to play, I like it. I like how witty Arteus is, I like the universe and all the characters other than Old Kratos. I saw some spoilers on Mimir and I cannot wait to meet the lad. But the game never catches me on a fever. I just play, like it in the moment, but then I stop 3 weeks because of work and then Mass Effect, Dragon Age, any RPG or even Resident Evil catches my attention and I forget the game for months. I’m still in the tail end of the Dark Elves realm, like, really early. Again, I don’t find the game bad, I’m just anxious to spend money on something I may find OK at best. Maybe I just need to hold down the ADHD and focus on it? I don’t know. I must confess I flirted with Elden Ring, but I know the game isn’t for me (Dark Souls kicked my butt when I was far less casual than I am now and I know how I like my RPGs, with a lot of dialogue exposition and neaty maps guiding me like a sheep from point A to point B. I’m old enough to know I will hate getting lost like a child and that I love having my hand held like a child, hence why I love(d?) the BioWare games). Submitted December 28, 2024 at 10:35AM by StormTheTrooper https://ift.tt/zUgrb9X via /r/gaming

[shewhowas39]

16, 23, 26! :)

ahhh thank you for asking!

for those curious i'm taking questions from this list!

16. How many fic ideas are you nurturing right now? Share one of them.

oh gosh, several. but i pretty much am onlyletting myself write one shots or very short 2-5 chapter things while Juniper & Starlight, my longfic, is still going. that said, i have an idea for an AU set in the Vampire: the Masquerade universe that i'd *LOVE* to write one day in which Astarion and Shadowheart are part of clan Lasombra and end up tasked with essentially babysitting June, a fledgeling from clan Malkavian. (if you're unfamilair with VtM these words make NO SENSE to you and that's fine lol. just think modern vampires where different clans have different powers.)

23. Best writing advice for other writers?

this is for fanfic specifically - but remember we're doing this to have fun. fanfic isn't a job. we don't get paid. if it's more stressful than fun, take a step back and don't put so much pressure on yourself. burnout is so very real.

26. Which of your fics would you call your wildest ride?

so i don't have that many yet, mostly just my longfic and a few smutty oneshots. so i think my wildest ride has to be my long fic, Juniper & Starlight. it's mostly just a durge-centric retelling of BG3, but durge is a divination wizard, too, so lots of visions thrown in to make it a bit more chaotic. and then i do weird things like have Astarion ask to keep the durge's eye after Volo removes it. so...we'll gow ith J&S i think.

[fragilelunar]

2023 Reading Wrap Up

General Stats:

Total Books Read: 105

Pages: 25, 224

Time: 194.17 Hours

Average Rating: 4.31 Stars

Library Books: 41

Books Owned: 14

5 Stars: 38

hello! for my first post on this new blog I figured I'd do a little wrap up of my reading from last year!! Tiny bit of back history to give y'all before I start doing monthly wrap ups and things. I always make my reading goal 50 books so that I can easily hit it and then just vibe the rest of the year btw!!

anyways!! here are all the books I read last year and my ratings of each:

Finale - Stephanie Garber ✭✭✭✭

The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row - Lara Love Hardin, Anthony Ray Hinton ✭✭✭✭✭

The Inheritance Games - Jennifer Lynn Barners ✭✭✭✭✭

Unmasked: My Life Solving America's Cold Cases - Paul Holes ✭✭✭✭✭

Aquicorn Cove - K. O'neill ✭✭✭✭✭

Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute - Talia Hibbert ✭✭✭✭.5

Doughnuts and Doom - Balazs Lorinczi ✭✭✭✭

The Severed Thread - Leslia Vedder ✭✭✭✭

Anya's Ghost - Vera Brosgol ✭✭✭.5

The Hawthorne Legacy - Jennifer Lynn Barnes ✭✭✭✭

The Final Gambit - Jennifer Lynn Barnes ✭✭✭✭

Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism - Amanda Montell ✭✭✭✭

Babel - R.F. Kuang ✭✭✭✭✭

Save Yourself! - Bones Leopard ✭✭✭✭✭

Blink - Christopher Sebela ✭✭✭

The River Has Teeth - Erica Waters ✭✭✭✭.5

Hold Back the Tide - Melinda Salisbury ✭✭✭✭

Atari and Tika - Efa ✭✭✭✭

Goblin Slayer Vol 1 - Kumo Kagyu ✭✭✭.5

Goblin Slayer Vol 2 - Kumo Kagyu ✭✭✭✭

The Memory Eater - Rebecca Mahoney ✭✭✭✭✭

Legends & Lattes - Travis Baldree ✭✭✭✭

Amari and the Great Game - B.B. Alston ✭✭✭✭.5

Thanks a Lot, Universe - Chad Lucas ✭✭✭✭.5

Coming Back - Jessi Zabarsky ✭✭✭.5

I Wish You All the Best - Mason Deaver ✭✭✭✭✭

Heartstopper Vol 1 - Alice Oseman ✭✭✭✭✭

Heartstopper Vol 2 - Alice Oseman ✭✭✭✭✭

Heartstopper Vol 3 - Alice Oseman ✭✭✭✭✭

Heartstopper Vol 4 - Alice Oseman ✭✭✭✭✭

Chaos & Flame - Tessa Gratton, Justina Ireland ✭✭✭✭

Heart, Haunt, Havoc - Freydis Moon

The Feeling of Falling in Love - Mason Deaver ✭✭✭✭✭

Ana on the Edge - A.J. Sass ✭✭✭✭

Hell Followed With Us - Andrew Joseph White ✭✭✭✭✭

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes - Suzanne Collins ✭✭.5

Solitaire - Alice Oseman ✭✭✭✭✭

Nick and Charlie - Alice Oseman ✭✭✭✭✭

Radio Silence - Alice Oseman ✭✭✭✭✭

Belle of the Ball - Mari Costa ✭✭✭✭✭

Devil on Her Shoulder - Cédric Mayen ✭✭✭✭

City of Vicious Night - Claire Winn ✭✭✭✭

SpyxFamily Vol 1 - Tatsuya Endo ✭✭✭✭✭

Joe Hill's Rain - David M. Booher, Joe Hill ✭✭✭✭

Small Nozomi and Big Yume - Sou Hamayumiba ✭✭✭

Girls Like Girls - Hayley Kiyoko ✭✭✭✭

Cursed - Marissa Meyer ✭✭✭✭

I Was Born for This - Alice Oseman ✭✭✭✭✭

Threads That Bind - Kika Hatzopoulou ✭✭✭✭✭

Mooncakes - Suzanne Walker ✭✭✭✭

Ellen Outside the Lines - A.J. Sass ✭✭✭✭✭

Always Human - Ari North ✭✭✭✭

Out of the Blue - Jason June ✭✭✭✭

The Backstagers Vol 1 - James Tynion IV ✭✭✭✭.5

The Backstagers Vol 2 - James Tynion IV ✭✭✭✭✭

Dear Mothman - Robin Gow ✭✭✭✭✭

The Alchemy of Moonlight - David Ferraro ✭✭✭✭

Fake Dates and Mooncakes - Sher Lee ✭✭✭✭✭

The Backstagers Vol 3 - James Tynion IV ✭✭✭✭

So This Is Ever After - F.T. Lukens ✭✭✭✭

Bruised - Tanya Boteju ✭✭✭✭✭

Spell Bound - F.T. Lukens ✭✭✭✭.5

Sensory: Life on the Spectrum - Schnumm, Bex Ollerton ✭✭✭✭✭

Gender Is Really Strange - Teddy G. Goetz ✭✭✭✭✭

If You'll Have Me - Eunnie ✭✭✭✭✭

Fourth Wing - Rebecca Yarros ✭✭.5

Ode to My First Car - Robin Gow ✭✭✭.5

Save Me! (From Myself): Crushes, Cats, and Existential Crises - So Lazo ✭✭✭✭✭

Soppy: A Love Story - Philippa Rice ✭✭✭✭

You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight - Kalynn Bayron ✭✭✭

Rebent Sinner - Ivan Coyote ✭✭✭✭

The Bone Shard Daughter - Andrea Stewart ✭✭✭✭

Legendborn - Tracy Deonn ✭✭✭✭

The Bone Shard Emperor - Andrea Stewart ✭✭✭✭.5

The Spirit Bares Its Teeth - Andrew Joseph White ✭✭✭✭✭

Open Throat - Henry Hoke ✭✭✭.5

Girl Juice - Benji Nate ✭✭✭✭

Flavor Girls - Loïc Locatelli-Kournwsky, Eros De Santiago ✭✭✭✭

The Love Report - Béka ✭✭✭.5

Last Chance Books - Kelsey Rodkey ✭✭✭.5

Red Rising - Pierce Brown ✭✭✭✭

Where Darkness Blooms - Andrea Hannah ✭✭✭.5

Bittersweet in the Hollow - Kate Pearsall ✭✭✭✭.5

Dead Women Don't Tell Tales - Adrian J. Smith ✭✭✭.5

The Black Cat & the Vampire Vol 1 - Nikke Taino ✭✭✭✭

Mortal Follies - Alexis Hall ✭✭✭✭

The Hundred Years' War on Palestine - Rashid Khalidi ✭✭✭✭✭

The Black Cat & the Vampire Vol 2 - Nikke Taino ✭✭✭✭

These Violent Delights - Chloe Gong ✭✭✭✭✭

The Brothers Hawthorne - Jennifer Lynn Barnes ✭✭✭✭

Squire - Nadia Shammas ✭✭✭✭

The Companion - E.E. Ottoman ✭✭✭✭

Unfamiliar - Haley Newsome ✭✭✭✭

Something More - Jackie Khalilieh ✭✭✭.5

Turtle Bread - Kim-Joy ✭✭✭✭

Our Violent Ends - Chloe Gong ✭✭✭✭✭

Lore Olympus Vol 1 - Rachel Smythe ✭✭✭✭

Lore Olympus Vol 2 - Rachel Smythe ✭✭✭✭

Minor Detail - Adania Shibli ✭✭✭✭✭

Unfamiliar 2 - Haley Newsome ✭✭✭✭

Lore Olympus Vol 3 - Rachel Smythe ✭✭✭✭

Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement - Angela Y. Davis ✭✭✭✭✭

Lore Olympus Vol 4 - Rachel Smythe ✭✭✭✭

Us - Sara Soler ✭✭✭✭.5

(titles in italics were ARCs!)

[sacrifical-lamb-core]

YIPPEEE

Ok, so this is a world with a different pantheon of gods, a pantheon I made up called the planetary pantheon, named after the planets but not in a roman mythology way. Their attributes were part inspired by actual things, but mostly just my brain doing. associations. This is jsut the gods and their lore

I am not well about the gods in this au and you will be able to tell.

Here are the main gods:

Mercury: sea, stars, mischief

Venus: sun, leadership, education

Mars: electricity, fire, mechanics

Jupiter: human brain, joy, mischief

Saturn: healing, kindness, flowers

Uranus: anger, war, protection

Neptune: music, beauty/romance, deception

Pluto: home,love, family, death

Venus is the queen, and they are born in order of the planets, so Mercury, Venus, Earth (we'll get to her), etc. Pluto is a planet bc I said so. They are all siblings.

These gods don't exactly match the pjo gods, but here are the kids who end up in which cabin

Mercury: Poseiden

Venus: Athena and Zeus

Mars: Hephèastus

Jupiter: Diyonous+Hermes

Saturn: Apollo and Demeter

Uranus: ares

Neptune: aphrodite (and sometimes apollo)

Pluto: hades

The stars in this universe (including the sun) are considered not sentient, but books or signs that can give knowledge and know a lot (can u tell I'm an astrology person yet)

So, to understand gow this world came to be and how these gods were formed, you gotta know the lore. So here's a condensed version of the planet au lore. (Future clem, I could not condese it)

Tw: themes of parental abandonment, ridicule toxic family environment, and murder

Two beings emerge from space, Genge first and a little after his wife Dawe. They fall in love and basically spend their time travelling around space and asking the stars for wisdom. Boring, but who am I to judge. So they're doing their thing and then they ask the stars: heyy what should we do. The stars say have a baby. And so they have twins, and they name them Mercury and Venus. They weren't really gods yet. They didn't rule over anything. In essence, they were children who played and enjoyed each others company and, in general, had fun (im unwell about the gods in this au, btw). So they wandered with their parents, until the stars entreated the parents "have another baby!!". So they did, and that child was weird. Mecore. Earth was a child who didn't seem content to roam around and seek knowledge. She was ever shifting, ever changing, she was too strange. She knew both too much and too little, she was too attached and not attached to much at all. She had things that her siblings lacked. And they tried, to put up with her, but eventually the parents simply decided she was too much trouble and let her stay on her own planet to be strange alone forever. Gods are...quite human in this au, as they are in a lot of pantheons. So she is forever tainted by a deep loneliness and bitterness that defines and permeates her. That'll come in handy for later. So, after doing child abandonment (beryl grace core) Genge and Dawe let their two children, who did still miss their sister walk away from her, and eventually forget her. We'll, sometimes they'd visit, when they got older, but they'd get bored of her very quick, and it wasn't like the parents approved. Genge and Dawe had more children after earth, and none were as strange as Earth was. While they all had attributes, strange ones, they weren't as strange as earth was, she pulsed and buzzed and changed. And struggled. And soon everyone forgot about Earth, and they grew, well in the way a god can grow. And everything was fine. Or WAS IT??

It was not fine when (ok, so this bit isn't very well thought out yet, so bear with me) evil spirits from space attack earth. If earth's siblings or parents had been there to help her, she would have made it, no doubt about it. But her siblings didn't come until it threatened them, and by then, she was weak, in pain. Her parents admonished her and said that she might have to live with them if she wouldn't bother them. Earth was devasted that a lot of the life there, that she adored, held dear. The life she found to be hers, that she stood alongside and danced with and smiled with and revealed herself too. A lot of it had gone. All of the humans, who she adored, gone without a trace of anyone to remember they were alive for that. At least her beloved dinosaurs, among other creatures, had left bones... but who would find them. All of the things she held dear had been broken. No one came to help her. Many of them scoffed at her fpr caring about them so much. And that pushed her over the edge.

And so, in her weak, feeble, embarrassed moments she took her final stand, and killed the two in the crowd who were laughing the most, sneering the most. She did some PARENTICIDE BABY LETS GO. After basically murdering both of her parents in front of her entire family, to avoid the wrath of her siblings and to be at home in the palce that she loved, she took one final breath and gently absorbed herself into the earth. So the earth isn't a god, but she is. Her love, pure love for her planet, led her to become her planet, and every time someone in this au loves being on earth, they love her, they give her the love she never received in life. She is in every ecosystem, essentially the building blocks of the planet, and she became what she loved and killed the people who could not love her, and her strangeness is everywhere. And everyone.

Anyways, all of her siblings, after essentially seeing HORRIBLE TRAGEDY unfold before their eyes, really wanted to blow up earth. Destroy it, or at least LEAVE IT ALONE and never see it again. But the stars said no. The stars knew the earth was important and that each God would have to accept an attribute, nurture it, and watch it grow. And so now the gods watch over and interact with the world, in their respective personalities.

God I love telling that story. The urge to turn that story in the style of like a children's folktales is real.

I meant to condense that. I failed

Anyways that's really long and I need to get on my jammies. I have a tag #planet au which explains more stuff. That's jsut the god stuff

Do u wanna hear about my pjo worldbuilding au

YES PLEASE!! YAP TO ME I LOVE READING YOUR POSTS

[deadletterpoets]

There's no way I get all of these games, but after Ragnarok I want so many spinoffs within the GoW universe and it sucks I probably won't get any of them.

I do think God of War should stay as the main game with Kratos as the main protag. Depending on what happens it can either be it's own thing or a way to connect the other spinoffs, but I do think a God of War game is a Kratos led game.

I want an Atreus spinoff as he searches for the Giants. Gotta have Angrboda play a big part as well. Maybe build more on their romance and on the Giants as a race.

I want a Thrud spinoff game where she goes searching for Thor's Hammer and we see the rebuild of Asgard/Asgardians try to figure out what is next for them, especially without Odin. Gotta imagine a lot of enemies he's made are gonna see them as vulnerable.

I also want a prequel spinoff game with Faye. See more of her origins, would love the origin of the Leviathan Axe especially. More with Sindri and Brok as well in their early days would be great.

There's so much opportunity of expansion in this universe and they can't do it all in one game, but I also understand that not every story gets told for us to play or in front of us unfortunately. Sometimes great characters are not playable and great stories are not experienced first hand.

[tomaytow]

we do not mess with the gods

— afab reader, implied one–sided himmel/reader, lots of cursing, probably some inaccuracies about barbatos lore, alternate universe

summary: “you are free to join if you want to,” himmel glances by his shoulder and sends her a gentle smile. “i’d prefer if you were with me.”

“are you kidding? of course I’m coming with you, dude!” [name] pushes her chair backwards, and grabs another cupcake. she pulls her satchel from the coat rack and scowls at him, before putting on her shoes. “you think i’m gonna leave you there all alone? in those ruins that may or may not be cursed? no way in hell, man. not on my watch!”

or: two best friends engage themselves that may put them both in big trouble, but what’s new, anyway?

“Whaf du fu meen yul gow tew de tawsund weends tempol tif lef ot nayt!?” [Name] quickly swallows the cupcake she’s eating when Himmel hushes her to keep her voice down. She glares at him and points him accusingly in the chest. “Shit, dude. Don’t tell me to be quiet ‘cuz this ain’t a private matter!”

It’s currently eleven pm in the evening. A couple of minutes ago, Himmel just simply barged out of his room, wearing some clothes that screamed he’ll be out to go somewhere, with his backpack in tow. He sauntered so casually to the dining room to find [Name] consuming Amos’ homemade cupcakes—and caught her attention by pulling on her sleeve.

Apparently, he was going to announce something.

And this something involved the Thousand Winds Temple.

Himmel sighs and grasps the index finger that belonged to his friend. “[Name], cursing is bad. You better lower your voice or else Mr. Ragnvindr will scold you again. Also, can you please hear me out first? I promise you will be interested!”

[Name] stares at him in disbelief. Himmel. Her crazy nerd friend who’s in love with history (ew, boring), science (convoluted as fuck), and mathematics (barf). Himmel, who excels in every class may it be related to the arts or not, implies that she, [Name], who does not give a fuck about education at all and who prefers just playing around since she’s just still a dumb teenager exploring the world, will be interested in what he’s planning…?

She scoffs, “Don’t say things you’re not sure of! If this is one of those tedious study sessions with you regarding the mechanisms of the Guizhong Ballista or the Sakoku Decree in Inazuma, I swear to the archons, Himmel — I will not hesitate to shove my cupcakes down your throat.”

Himmel giggles amusingly (whispering those don’t belong to you though, they’re for Amos!), and puts both of his hands over [Name]’s shoulders comfortingly. “Please do not attempt that, you know I am already weak—”

“That’s why I can exactly—“

“I’m going underground for the Anemo Archon’s statue.”

[Name] freezes in her position. Interested? Himmel promised that she’ll be interested?

Well, she is now but—

“Okay. I get it. My best friend’s losing his mind.”

Himmel giggles at her once again, before putting on his backpack. [Name] realizes that Himmel is dead serious about this! About visiting (or trespassing?) the underground ruins, where Mondstadt citizens are prohibited to go, but...

For a kid whose wisdom is endless, he’ll find his own ways to break the law just to satisfy his curiosity. [Name] knows that much.

“You are free to join if you want to,” Himmel glances by his shoulder and sends her a gentle smile. “I’d prefer if you were with me.”

“Are you kidding? Of course I’m coming with you, dude!” [Name] pushes her chair backwards, and grabs another cupcake. She pulls her satchel from the coat rack and scowls at him, before putting on her shoes. “You think I’m gonna leave you there all alone? In those ruins that may or may not be cursed? No way in hell, man. Not on my watch!”

Himmel looks happy. When [Name] catches up to him by the door, Himmel smiles even wider. “I knew I can always count on you.”

“Duh. You can always count on me.” [Name] puffs and stretches her arms. “Though, I am reminding you—“

She sways her cupcake with her hand, “We seriously are going to get in biiiig trouble with Jean this time if she finds out. And if Jean finds out, Amos and Mr. Ragnvindr will do, too. That means you’re going to be grounded. And I’m going to be grounded. You know how my mom is literally besties with Amos.”

There’s a twinkle in Himmel’s eye. “Then we will just have to be furtive.”

[Name] is already used to Himmel’s antics.

Well, it is known by the people that [Name] is far more ‘‘troublesome” between them, when it comes to crazy sports activities that involve wind gliding or windtrace. But in actuality, it’s them both.

Himmel can be a little mischief maker too. He will do absolutely everything just for knowledge and [Name] knows that much.

Thankfully though, they have each other – they have each others’ backs when someone is getting lost or maybe a bit too invested with their ordeal. If Himmel is forgetting to take care of himself due to his studies, then [Name] is there to bonk him on the head. If [Name] is pushing herself too far (to her own limits), then Himmel is there to give her the longest lesson about the dangers of over exertion on the human body.

But when they join forces, here’s where no one can predict what happens next.

They will be literally magnets for risks and misfortunes.

Usually, it’s Himmel who follows [Name] around—either to support her or even accompany her—but this time, it’s the opposite. [Name] knows what they’re doing is a bit (or maybe even more) risky but it’s where the fun is. It’s where the thrill is!

Though, she can’t help but be worried over Himmel’s sudden interest regarding the Anemo Archon. She’s figuring it out with her brain, pondering over possible answers. Why, out of all the things in the world, was Himmel intrigued with a god?

So she asks.

“So uh, Himmel,” [Name] calls out, and Himmel hums in response. Right now, they’re inside the Thousand Winds’ Temple underground cave, where, according to the grandfathers and grandmothers, the Anemo Archon’s statue resides. (There’s a story that it sank due to a powerful earthquake, but that’ll be for another time.) “…Yeah. I hate it here. Anyways. What drove you to explore the oh–so holy cavern of the Anemo Archon, huh?”

It was a miracle that she and Himmel had even gotten outside the walls of Mondstadt city without attracting any of the Favonius officers. (She starts to believe that they’re useless, because of a certain red–haired male.) However, she can’t even call it a miracle too when they simply just walked inside the steep entrance of the cave. No one bothers to come here since it’s declared closed to the public, according to Jean.

With their flashlights in hand trying to illuminate the whole area, [Name] inches a little closer to Himmel, who’s just right beside her. Fucking eerie shit. And it’s even quiet! All she can hear is their footsteps echoing through the stone walls.

“Hey. Himmel, answer me.”

There’s a water droplet in the distance. Himmel seems to not be shaken at all. Now the tables have turned – the weakest of the pair is brimming with such courage right now, while the one with the fists and strength is apprehensive. ([Name] should definitely tell him again her fabricated ghost stories so they can be afraid together.)

“Oh, I just want to try something out,” Himmel replies, and they head to the right side. His flashlight reveals an extremely long staircase, where the light can’t reach, so they’ll have no choice but to go down there. [Name] focuses on a graffiti text that said DO NOT ENTER HERE in red. [Name] just cringes and averts her gaze away. Focus on Himmel, focus on Himmel… “And it involves the Anemo Archon Lord Barbatos himself.”

[Name] elbows him on the ribs, hard. Himmel whines from the contact, whimpering how it hurts. If her panic is showing, then so be it. She’s seriously freaking out.

She literally felt a shiver run down her spine when he mentioned their archon—their archon who is still being worshipped, despite being rumored to be gone a long time ago. The famous archon of Mondstadt who’s probably never going to come back anymore.

“Motherf– dude! Come on dude, come on. Don’t make me regret this, dude. Don’t make me regret joining you because I just thought that you wanted a little trip to see the damn Lord Barbatos himself, but nooooo, you’re going to experiment on him!?” She inches closer to his face, “Are you outta your mind!? Remember what the boomers said, we do not mess with the gods. I repeat, we do not mess with the gods. It’s like, the ultimate first commandment of Teyvat! BAH! Who am I kidding? Himmel, I literally don’t give any flying fucks about the archons, but I’m telling you this. Do you know how insane you sound right now?!”

([Name] doesn’t notice how Himmel’s cheeks are flushing faintly.) Himmel puts his hands up in defense sheepishly. “I–I appreciate your concern for me [Name], really, but I got it under control. I– I promise.” His expression turns serious, but there’s still a smile on his lips. “I researched. I would not just go here unprepared! You know that, yes?”

He’s right. Memories come rushing over [Name]’s mind: there are times that their plans almost failed because of external factors but Himmel manages to always find a way. That’s how calculated he is, and it never fails to impress [Name] everytime. Himmel is so damn reliable, even in a life or death situation.

[Name] groans and takes a step back. “Fine, fine. I trust that you have thought this through, but I am still scared of the outcome, okay?” She starts going down the stairs and she wonders where she got her sudden confidence from. Whatever. Everything for Himmel, she guesses. “But if shit goes down, we’re leaving this place, okay? And we will never speak of what happened. Okay?”

It’s illegal to come down here, after all.

“Yes. Also, language please.”

“Okay, so how are we gonna do this?” [Name] questions, a brow raised as she shines over the gigantic statue of the Anemo Archon in front of them. They’ve finally reached the biggest area of this cave — where the statue of Barbatos is located. [Name] can feel the sacredness of the statue so she’s trying to be cautious. Archons only know what could happen if she commits a mistake. “Fuck, it’s dark everywhere…”

“Don’t worry, I brought candles.” Himmel starts bending down and putting on lit candles around the wide space. Even if it’s just a little bit, the candles helped because they can see each other a little better now without the flashlights. [Name] assists him by grabbing more candles from his backpack—this damn nerd brought lots, by the way—and lit up some more.

After a couple of minutes, [Name] finds herself admiring their handiwork. Now the cavern looks like a safe place, but there’s still some creepiness lingering around. [Name] places her hands on her hips and flatly remarks, “Yeah. What we’re doing is literally cult activity. Ugh. This is why I am atheist.”

Himmel motions her to come closer from where he’s standing. “[Name]. Come here.”

She approaches him, and he shows the written symbols beneath Barbatos large feet. They both observe the old writing, and [Name] looks at him questioningly. She’s not that dedicated like him to study the field of linguistics. Himmel lifts on finger, “It's ancient Teyvat language. It translates to: gateway to celestia.”

[Name] is mystified. “Celestia… wait, isn’t that like. Where the highest form of beings live?”

Himmel nods, delighted that his friend is invested. “Indeed! It’s where the supreme beings settle and watch over the whole of Teyvat.”

“Oh, so you want us to go there? Oooookay. And I’m assuming it requires our souls? Damn, dude. You didn’t even tell me that we’re gonna die here—we’re gonna sacrifice our bodies! Well, if we’re going to die here, might as well confess—”

“No, no! Stop, [Name]! Do not say that! We are not going to… also, did you say you are going to confess—?” Himmel stares at her expectantly. Himmel moves closer, who looks more interested than before. “C–confess about—?”

“I’m gonna confess about how I stole your—”

“Alright, alright. Let us talk about that later,” Himmel sighs disappointingly, and [Name] just grins cheekily at him. “Regardless, I am going up there—“

He points at the statue’s cupped hands.

“And I will be performing the ritual.”

“R–ritual— hold on, you didn’t say anything about rituals! Also, no way in hell I’m leaving you out there and you leaving me out here. We’re going together, Himmel.” [Name] flicks him on the forehead. “You’re insane. Now give me your bag.”

Himmel complained a lot, but [Name] just threatened to punch him in the stomach if he wouldn’t shut up. [Name] offered to carry him on her back, because she knew all about his breathing problems. She also didn’t want Himmel to pass out due to exhaustion while climbing the statue. It would even be a bigger problem if he did.

Thankfully, Himmel wrapped his arms around her neck, and his legs around her stomach without any qualms. (For some reason, Himmel immediately accepted the idea and clung to her like a koala. Himmel apologized for being such a burden though, and [Name] reassured him that it was fine. Himmel was light as a feather so it was no biggie.)

It wasn’t an easy feat, because the statue was slim (why is the Anemo Archon petite and slim, anyway?) and [Name] almost fell twice due to her stupidity and due to the statue’s slippery stone clothes. Or robes. Whatever.

It didn’t help that Himmel wasn't a fan of heights either so he just clung himself tighter to her. He whimpered that he didn’t want to fall, not like this, and [Name] did not understand what he meant, so she just did her best to climb over the statue’s body swiftly as possible.

(It would be more of a problem if they both plummeted down the ground. They wouldn’t be able to stand up and go to the Cathedral for some healing if they have fractured bones.)

When [Name] reaches Barbatos’ shoulder, she maneuvers Himmel safely to the other side. Himmel bows her head in gratitude. A tired [Name] just grunts to get over with the ritual already, so after five minutes, they both sit on the statue’s hands.

“Sturdy. We’re not gonna fall, are we?”

“We are not. The statue is built with—”

“No nerdy shit. Explain. Now.”

Himmel shakes his head. “Language…”

[Name] clamors, “Dude, the clock is ticking.”

Himmel snickers. Then, he ducks to unzip his backpack and pulls out two things: one is an apple, and the other… is a bottle of Mondstadt’s speciality.

Dandelion wine. [Name] squints at him suspiciously. “Seriously?”

“We are not going to drink it,” an amused Himmel says. “It is an offering to the Anemo Archon.”

Now it clicks. “Oh. Now I understand why Barbatos is absent… dude’s drunk as hell he can’t even get up.”

“Careful, you may anger the archon, [Name].”

“You know, I am perfectly fine with it. I might even die here anyway so why not seize the moment. You only live once.”

Himmel pouts at her cutely. “Stop that. No one is going to die.” He puts the apple and bottle in front of them—or in the statue’s stoned fingers. Himmel brings his arms over his crossed legs and opens his palms. “Now… my objective here is that we are going to summon the absent archon.”

[Name] doesn’t budge. She glances at the statue’s face for a sec—at least, she tries to—and notices that the head is covered in a hood. “Insane behavior.”

“That is rude, [Name].”

“Am I lying, though? Where and how did you even get this information, huh? About the summoning?” [Name] quips and crosses her arms. “Was it the nuns? Sister Rosaria?”

Himmel closes one eye. “I would love to answer your question, but I am afraid that you will just have to read my paper. It will be in chapter three, and once you are done, you can ask me the questions you desire.”

“Forget it. So, Himmel the Nerd. How are you going to perform this?”

“Hold my hands.”

Easier said than done. Himmel stares at their intertwined fingers for a moment, until [Name] blows a raspberry. Continue, [Name]’s expression says.

Himmel just laughs for the umpteenth time. “Next, we just need to say mea libertas meus canor three times. Though, I presume that it only needs one person for the ritual, but maybe us saying it together will allow the summoning to strengthen.”

“What happens if we say it four times?”

“Mhm, I am not entirely sure. We will find out.”

“Greeaaat, science mixed with divine shit. We seriously are signing ourselves to death.”

Himmel gives her a warning glare—at least, he’s trying to. Himmel’s too much a softie to give someone the stink eye anyway. “[Name]...”

“I’m kidding! Let’s start?”

Himmel nods. He shuts his eyelids. “We’re gonna say it in three.”

[Name] can feel something building up. She guffaws. Himmel looks so damn silly. “Should I, uh, pfft, close my eyes, too?”

“It is up to you. I closed mine for personal reasons, so…”

[Name] doesn’t. It’s better she’s watching in case some stranger things ensue. “Nah. Go start.”

Himmel complies. [Name] knows that what they’re doing is not what teenagers nowadays do unless you’re some part of religious shit. No, what they’re doing is entirely out of pure curiosity and for Himmel’s academics.

Sure, the consequences are unprecedented; they’ve gone through lots of challenges together, but [Name] can surmise that this is definitely the craziest.

Involving themselves with the Archon of their land… man.

[Name] won’t admit it, but she just hopes this summoning won’t work. She’s being a meanie right now, but she doesn’t want anything bad happening to her friend! It’s always bad when gods are included.

“Mea libertas meus canor.” They both say out loud.

They say it again.

And again.

Nothing happens.

It’s silent.

[Name] gulps. Creepy eerie shit fuck. Her eyes check sideways if there’s anything below that seems out of place. Nothing. Just the candles. She returns to Himmel again.

Himmel is not speaking. He still has his eyes closed. Their hands are still latched onto one another.

“It’s not working,” [Name] whispers. Her stomach churns. Now she’s really having a bad feeling. She repeats, “Himmel, it’s not working. Can we go now?”

But Himmel doesn’t reply.

Instead, he grips their fingers. [Name] flinches at this and voices out, “…Himmel?”

“Mea libertas meus canor.”

And just like that, harsh gales of wind gust over the cavern. [Name] quickly scans her surroundings, dumbfounded and utterly confused of what is happening. What the fuck, where did these winds come from?!

She quickly looks back at her friend, who is still somehow inactive (unconscious?) and [Name]’s heart sinks in terror. The bad feeling—! Fuck! She immediately clambers close and removes her hold with his. She starts shaking him, crying out his name, but the winds just get harsher and harsher by the minute.

“Himmel! Hey! You didn’t tell me about this! Himmel, snap out of it! This isn’t funny!”

The candles’ wicks go out, and [Name] watches with wide eyes when Himmel begins to levitate into the air. “Himmel!”

The ends of Himmel’s braided tips begin to glow in a blue light, and other parts of his body begin to brighten as well. In his arms. In his leg. In his neck.

Stunned, [Name] just can’t help but gape at her friend hopelessly in the darkness. She ransacks her mind to figure out what’s truly going on, until—

“Himmel!”

—it abruptly stops.

The candles’ wicks below the statue are mysteriously lit up again. The winds are suddenly gone.

Himmel falls, and [Name] screams his name once more to catch him barely in her arms. Himmel rubs his eyelids as he groans weakly.

[Name] clutches Himmel intimately and tightly to her chest. “You fucker! Don’t do that shit! I was so scared, my heart was about to leap outta my chest! Fuck you!”

“Mhm… that is… some obscene language I’m hearing first thing in the morning,” Himmel croaks out, and [Name] blinks. Wait a second. Huh? Why did it sound… a little different? Is this one of the side–effects of the ritual? Does Himmel have a runny nose or something? Is he sick? Also, morning?

[Name] withdraws herself slightly from him to scrutinize any signs of weirdness, but Himmel remains in her touch.

Himmel yawns, and then opens his eyes slowly—revealing what’s supposed to be cerulean irises, but they’re green. An emerald green. Himmel murmurs weakly, “Is it morning yet, though? If it is, good morning – to whom do I owe the pleasure of cradling me so gently and so lovingly in their arms…?” He smiles sweetly. “And you are…?”

[Name]’s jaw drops.

Signs of weirdness? Forget that. It’s all over him.

Himmel has this under control? He has everything planned?

No.

He doesn’t.

So who the hell is this dude in [Name]’s arms, who’s using Himmel’s body?

“Oh shit.”

[vikingnerd793]

God of War Ragnarok makes me deeply appreciate AC Valhalla’s approach to Norse myth.

Anyone who complains about InAcCuRaCiEs in ACV and then calls GOW R a favorite game, LOLOLOL

GOW R is a completely different game in almost every way, other than somewhat similar depictions of the 9 worlds. The most important difference being that they took Norse myth and completely spun the story, and/or changed entire parts of it, including paths of the Gods. Tyr’s path is not even remotely the same. Baldr is depicted completely different. Freya (and I LOVE her in GOW R) is totally different in the actual stories. It’s a fictional portrayal where the myth is molded around Kratos and his son, instead of the story of Kratos and his son being molded within the myths.

I am ok with that, and I take it as entertainment and someone’s interpretation of the myths for the sake of a story. Whereas ACV, we got REAL effort to insert Eivor into the myths as known. And I deeply value that approach. Perfect? No. Because they had to make changes to fit the lore of the universe of AC. But I do see it as more respectful to stories and Gods and cultures than GOW R. You could actually learn about the myths in ACV. And they put incredible detail into the worlds where you could pick out where they got it from in source material. The flyting match of Thor and Havi. Skadi and Njord. Gullinbursti. Nidhogg. Hel’s hound. Skrymir’s mitten. The builder. Hell, Fenrir’s story is way more accurate!

I see these games as two different takes on the same thing and they have to be analyzed like that, instead of compared. It’s apples and oranges.

[ludwigoat909]

Oooh this one look fun I love when people ask me questions about me!

Do you make your bed?

Nope! Never!

Favorite number?

18! I was born on the 18th of January (a lot of the members of my family are born between an 16th and a 19hh day of a month)

What's your job?

I am unemployed! Currently a colledge student studying 3d modeling at a private school! My dream is to make games one day tho I'm also pretty intrested in animation!

If you could go back to school, would you?

Aw HELL NAH!!!! I like colledge so far but school was the barn of my existence thanks to my audhd and ocd

Can you parallel park?

No. I don't have a liscence. I didn't even pass the first test they gave us in middle school to get a liscence for the future.

Do you think aliens are real?

Honestly yeah! I am very fascinated by space and gow big it is and I believe there's no way we're the only living people in the universe amongst a quadrillion of planets!

Can you drive a manual car?

Again, no. Honestly driving is kind of scary.

Guilty pleasure?

I kind of like Magi and Re:Zero. I also have a sugar addiction despite not liking candies ironically.

Favorite type of music?

Depends on what this is aabout. The genres I am currently very into are Shoegaze and Dreampop. I have hyperfixating on japanesd music since I was 10 and I also really like musicals.

Do you like puzzles?

YESSSSSS!!!! I love puzzles and I'd love to collect more of them! I am sometimes a lil too dumb for them (still don't know how to solve a rubiks cube) but I love games that make me think! I love mysteries and Professor Layton and Phoenix Wright are one of my favs games!

Favorite childhood sport?

I've always hated sports even when I was a kid. That being said I do remember liking badminton and fencing a bit.

Do you talk to yourself

Yes very often, everyday even. When I was a kid I use to do it out loud when I'm alone and sad cause I liked to think maybe some people would listen. Now I mawys talk to myself inside my head. I like to make up a character (wether they already exist or are ocs) to talk to inside my head cause it helps me think more clearly.

Tea or coffee?

TEA TEA TEAAAAA!!!! I really don't like coffee AT ALL ( uunless it's mixed with lots of sugar). As for the teas I like, I really like chaï and it's nice to drink mint tea when you are sick during the winter.

First thing you wanted to be when you grow up?

I wanted to be a mangaka. It's sounds a bit silly since I am not japanese, but france has such a strong love for manga there are actually some french mangakas that got to make some (like Radiant). Tho I think it's possible that vefore that I may have wanted to be a singer, but I am not so sure.

What movies do you adore?

In live-action: As good as it gets (comfort movie), Bucket list, Good Will Hunting Gardians of the Galaxy.... (I should really watch more movies good fucking lord)

In animation: WALL-E, Castle in the Sky, Howl's moving catsle, Spiderverse (both movies), Nemona

There's definetly more but I don't have all of them in mind sorry fjjdksnxndksnns

Tagging @doctorbunny @shiro-hatzuki @gunsli-01 @apatchworkstar @tired-and-unjellied @74n5n

never been part of a tag game, sounds really fun! tagged by dear Lanvender, @khan-crete

Do you make your bed? A freshly decrumbed, stuffed animal arranged and dirty clothes removed bed feels great. How often do I do this? We mustn't ask (like once or twice a month) that's all making the bed entails for me, I just have a fitted then normal sheet and blankets

Favorite Number? 4 4 4 4 4! I've loved four my entire life she is like a goddess to me. 2+2 2*2 2^2, divides into halves twice. can only compete with sixteen, whose status and 2^4 and 4^2 is nice, but not as symmetric. 37 and 73 have a place in my heart as the 12th and 21st primes, but not a large place compared to 4

What's your job? What do I get paid for? undergrad lab TA, what do I do? grad research in low energy nuclear physics

If you could go back to school, would you? In school technically still. Would I rewind time to experience school again? highschool no college yes. would I go back for another college degree? I could be convinced if it would be cheap and unobtrusive to my current schooling. Was always torn between physics and linguistics. I made the right choice but I always wonder what if.

Can you Parallel Park? I have done it, on the driving test, like four or five years ago. I think I could do it again, but not too confident

Do you think Aliens are real? Eh, probably in a 'the observable universe 9.3e+9 ly across, it must have happened more than once' kinda way, but not in a 'they've been feeding us tech for thousands of years or are visiting us' kinda way.

Can you drive a manual car? Never tried, hubris tell me yes, anxiety with even normal cars tells me I'd probably fuck up the transmission while trying to leave the driveway. gonna say yeag

Guilty Pleasure? I think like cheesy childhood disney live action movies?, generally I'm pretty full chested about the things I enjoy

Favorite Type of Music? yeah, hard, a lot of vocaloid, which isn't reallly a genre, a lot of edm genres from like old school monstercat, a lot of jrock by way of anime OP's of show's I've never watched then finding other songs by those artists. some rock music though that genre is also extremely expansive and I'm not sure how I'd categorize a lot of it. Generally my music consumption consists of a group of maybe five songs completely unrelated on repeat for months at a time and genre is not a huge factor in that

Do you like puzzles? twisty puzzles like rubik's cube type puzzles are really fun working, towards doing a 3x3 blindfolded but challenging, I used to do jigsaw's with my mom but over the course of a very long time because we'd get frustrated. crosswords, but I'm no good at them

Favorite Childhood Sport? Soccerrrr. Wish I'd stayed with it, but there were only a couple more years before there wasn't a league for my age group anyway, been trying to get back into it recreationally

Do you talk to yourself? I do, but as if I'm talking to someone else. I prefer not to do it because I'm not content with my voice atm, but I find myself doing it a lot especially when getting stuck on research stuff trying to talk it out or I will say a comment to someone I disagree with outloud rather than typing it and posting it. A lot of this is to my reflection which is probably part of the reason it feels like someone else lol

Tea or Coffee? tea all the way. drank iced sweet black tea my entire childhood and started drinking it hot with milk in college. I was the kind of person that disliking coffee was a sort of pillar of my tastes, but then a few years ago made it with like half milk and a lot of sugar and like it, lotta people wouldn't call that coffee, but eh.

First thing you wanted to be when you grew up? The actual first thing was everything. I would amalgamate like all the stereotypes of things kids want to be into one so a firefighter-astronaut-whatever else. When I got a better sense of my interests, inventor, so I guess like product designer, but what that meant to me was I got to sit around and think of neat gadgets and items then figure out how to make them like freeze ray, time machine, clone gun, that kind of thing lol. the first practical idea of a job I wanted was theoretical physicist in like middle school, which I kinda am now so success I guess

What Movies do you Adore? not much of a movie person, but like to watch movies other people are interested in with them, love castle in the sky, LOTR, howl's moving castle, your name, probably others in those categories I don't know about yet or have forgotten and I have a strong soft spot for childhood halloween movies like twitches and halloweentown

I'm curious what @arc-archernar and @charyou-tree have got to say if they'd like to, and anyone else that wants to participate!

[justagirlsearchingforamuse]

Hot Take: Why do people think that GOW did the whole revenge isn’t good topic and portrayed it better when both TLOU2 and GOW are giving the same message and portraying it nearly the exact same way? What I mean is that ultimately TLOU2 uses the concept and theme that there is a price for everything through most of the game and the characters suffer or pay the price and the cost of their actions. Yes we went onto the journey with Kratos and have played through his revenge and even played through his grief but how is that any different from what Joel did, he was fine revenge even killing Robert for the guns or whatever and overall being a pessimistic guy with a glum outlook on life. You can understand that Kratos is trying to stop his son from reaping the consequences of killing a god and that Fraya, Thor, and Odin are probably gonna try to kill them or will try to do something to ATreus maybe even hurt him. But you can’t understand that Joel wouldn’t have wanted her to go on a revenge trip to avenge him or whatever, that Joel’s death was an ultimate result of his actions whether good or bad to Saint Mary’s and that ultimately he had to pay the price for his actions. It’s not oh Joel is the bad guy, it’s a guy who has hurt people wanting him dead for the lives he took from them, regardless of whether they were good or bad they still loved and cared about these people. I don’t get why people can’t see that and will say that Abby is harsh and cruel, yes she tried to kill a pregnant woman and that’s not good, if i give her leeway you can say that she didn’t know it was an accident and was grieving and angry. Why is that GOW is praised for showing the consequences and the price of revenge and everything but TLOU2 is shat on for doing the exact same thing if not differently? There are even some people who believe that Abby didn’t go through hell after killing Joel, she went through so much and lost her friends and loved ones due to this need for revenge but she ultimately ended the cycle by not killing anyone. By choosing to let go and move on with hope for a better future. But even then she couldn’t move on because she was kidnapped and tortured and even possibly raped by these fucking rattlers and goes through more shit but oh no Ellie had it so much worse then Abby. Both of them had it bad but in my own opinion Ellie left her comfy cozy life to go out and do revenge because she needed to and i understand she isn’t in the best mental space and isn’t really living but it was her choice to go after revenge that made her lose all these connections to Joel and lose herself further more. TLOU and GOW are basically the same damn story except different universes and you will be a fool to expect that Thor, Freya, or Odin will go easy on Kratos when they get him, he killed their kin and they’re not gonna make it quick. You will be a fool to expect that GOW: Ragnarok will be them going on another journey when this is the end of the fucking world, they have Odin, Freya, and Thor aiming to kill them or get them and it’s probably gonna be similar to TLOU2. This isn’t gonna be a happy tale and I am saying this, if you guys shit on GOW2 because it’s too sad or because Kratos died in a way that wasn’t realistic for someone grieving and angry at the loss of their kin and that he wasn’t put out of his misery. I pray that you guys keep in mind that these games are more than just games, they’re stories, art, and much more than just entertainment. These games are made to evoke everything they can get out of you if they can, they are made to make you tear up, make you angry, they’re made to make you feel something for them.