#what have you done to gilgamesh????

[jathun]

I just read some parts of the newest novel of fate/strange fake (vol.9) and....

What the actual fuck Narita?!?!?!

I know my japanese is a bit rusty (actually a lot rusty) but jesus i understood enough to get the gist of it and??????

[fuckyeahgoodomens]

Terry Pratchett about fantasy ❤

Terry Pratchett interview in The Onion, 1995 (x)

O: You’re quite a writer. You’ve a gift for language, you’re a deft hand at plotting, and your books seem to have an enormous amount of attention to detail put into them. You’re so good you could write anything. Why write fantasy?

Terry: I had a decent lunch, and I’m feeling quite amiable. That’s why you’re still alive. I think you’d have to explain to me why you’ve asked that question.

O: It’s a rather ghettoized genre.

Terry: This is true. I cannot speak for the US, where I merely sort of sell okay. But in the UK I think every book— I think I’ve done twenty in the series— since the fourth book, every one has been one the top ten national bestsellers, either as hardcover or paperback, and quite often as both. Twelve or thirteen have been number one. I’ve done six juveniles, all of those have nevertheless crossed over to the adult bestseller list. On one occasion I had the adult best seller, the paperback best-seller in a different title, and a third book on the juvenile bestseller list. Now tell me again that this is a ghettoized genre.

O: It’s certainly regarded as less than serious fiction.

Terry: (Sighs) Without a shadow of a doubt, the first fiction ever recounted was fantasy. Guys sitting around the campfire�� Was it you who wrote the review? I thought I recognized it— Guys sitting around the campfire telling each other stories about the gods who made lightning, and stuff like that. They did not tell one another literary stories. They did not complain about difficulties of male menopause while being a junior lecturer on some midwestern college campus.

Fantasy is without a shadow of a doubt the ur-literature, the spring from which all other literature has flown. Up to a few hundred years ago no one would have disagreed with this, because most stories were, in some sense, fantasy. Back in the middle ages, people wouldn’t have thought twice about bringing in Death as a character who would have a role to play in the story. Echoes of this can be seen in Pilgrim’s Progress, for example, which hark back to a much earlier type of storytelling. The epic of Gilgamesh is one of the earliest works of literature, and by the standard we would apply now— a big muscular guys with swords and certain godlike connections— That’s fantasy. The national literature of Finland, the Kalevala. Beowulf in England. I cannot pronounce Bahaghvad-Gita but the Indian one, you know what I mean. The national literature, the one that underpins everything else, is by the standards that we apply now, a work of fantasy.

Now I don’t know what you’d consider the national literature of America, but if the words Moby Dick are inching their way towards this conversation, whatever else it was, it was also a work of fantasy. Fantasy is kind of a plasma in which other things can be carried. I don’t think this is a ghetto. This is, fantasy is, almost a sea in which other genres swim. Now it may be that there has developed in the last couple of hundred years a subset of fantasy which merely uses a different icongraphy, and that is, if you like, the serious literature, the Booker Prize contender. Fantasy can be serious literature. Fantasy has often been serious literature. You have to fairly dense to think that Gulliver’s Travels is only a story about a guy having a real fun time among big people and little people and horses and stuff like that. What the book was about was something else. Fantasy can carry quite a serious burden, and so can humor. So what you’re saying is, strip away the trolls and the dwarves and things and put everyone into modern dress, get them to agonize a bit, mention Virginia Woolf a few times, and there! Hey! I’ve got a serious novel. But you don’t actually have to do that.

(Pauses) That was a bloody good answer, though I say it myself.

[wolfythewitch]

Sorry if you've already answered a similar question before, but I was wondering how you go about making your ancient Greek (and now Mesopotamian) designs? I want to draw Iliad/Odyssey fanart but I know next to nothing about ancient Greece (clothes, hair, features, even what year/era the epics are meant to take place in). Do you have any advice about researching that/what type of sources you use? I've found the process very overwhelming lol

For the Gilgamesh one it's super based on these kinds of carvings!

For the Iliad and odyssey ones it's a bit trickier since they don't have physical descriptors (but that makes it so you can get a little more creative there haha). Clothing and armor wise I base it on antiquity paintings and some recreations people have done of the clothes and armor (though. Tbh I barely draw them in armor because I just. I don't like drawing armor)

Iirc they're around the bronze age! And maybe look up Minoan/Mycenaean clothing? A friend also recommended looking up hittite and drenda armor

[samuraseiichi]

My friend told me you spoke about the Fate series over on Twitter. I don’t have twitter so I thought I’d ask for your thoughts on here 🫶

So…. Thoughts?

ok sorry this is really long but i started getting into it recently actually, i finished watching ubw a couple of days ago and im at the beginning of f/z right now, maybe like 2 episodes in. im really excited to see the whole thing with kiritsugu and kirei i heard whatever they have going on is some crazy shit.

ive only done two drawings as of Now while watching (regrettably i draw gilgamesh the same way i draw toji but hopefully ill figure out how i want to draw him down the line). i was watching his entire sequence vs berserker and illya and finally understood everyones jokes abt saber/archer in the hsr collab seeing mydei and being confused bc why did gil have to do all of that shgakgkwlg he didnt have to blilnd her first hes just doing shit for the love of the game

and lancer really really grew on me towards the end of ubw, i think my top 3 would be archer lancer and rin

and i also downloaded fgo too although im not very far im like maybe halfway through the second area with jeanne d'arc. i picked ozymandias as my free 5* bc he shares a va with toji (lame) but from what my friends have told me about him i am a big fan.

im also keeping an eye out for.. .arjuna.. and karna i think their names are and that one guy with the butterfly wings but i think thats Very far down the line. anyways

[drunkapple]

Gilgamesh x Female Reader | Devour you

Cw - Noncon/Rape, cunnilings, fingering, squirting, stalking, breeding, two cocks, gil is his own warning, drugging & drugged sex, kidnapping, vaginal penetration, biting, monsterfucking, gil is his own warning he's an ass, 3.1k words.

Smut below the cut, and there's my ao3 ❤️(formatted better there. Tumblr is confusing me)

This is my 1st publicly uploaded fic lol, give me valid criticism

Made with the appearance & personality of caster gil in mind. But interpret any gil u want!

Perhaps it would be a bad idea to go venturing alone into the disgusting, hot swamp located near your home. Sadly, your situation calls for it. The village you reside in is in desperate need of food, no matter the quality. Women, men, and children alike are constantly sent out to gather whatever scraps they can find. You step carefully on the soft wet ground, cringing at the squish under your boots. You don't want to risk falling into the murky water. The sun beats down your body, making you feel miserable with the gear you have on. Stopping, you survey the area and force yourself to remember your task.

To find cattails, fish, or some type of meat that will keep your family full for some days. "This place fucking stinks..." You grumble, trudging along. You look up as you approach some kind of forest, rich with thick, tall trees. Of course, you decide that it's the best direction to head in. Thirst and exhaustion have already begun to take root in your body. Alas, you need to preserve water and can't afford to waste time resting. There's also a weird smell in the air. Yiu can't place it, but it makes you uneasy. Even worse, you've been wandering around for what felt like hours, with little luck. How is there no food in this place? You lean against the nearest tree trunk, gathering yourself.

When you first came here, you at least found some cattails. Keyword, some. It's strange because cattails are known for their tendency to grow in large groups. You stare at the plants in your hand, humming softly. Overthinking and panicking over something so small must be the environment and intense smell getting to your head. The smell.Right, when did it get so strong? You stand straight, nausea making you dizzy. The back of your neck tingles, as if someone is behind you. Next time you leave the house, it will be with someone. You take out your canteen of water, drinking deeply. Time to leave this area."Is that what you're doing, you fool? Scavenging for food in someone else's home?"

Your blood runs cold. A male laugh comes from above. His voice is arrogant and cold. At this moment, you realize that the smell is coming from him. It's overwhelmingly strong.He smells of an assortment of spices and strangely, a metallic smell that's faintly sweet."How interesting. Is this what humans have come to?"You nervously look up, greeted by a sight that makes you hold your breath. Smooth golden blonde hair, framing a face that would make you weak under different circumstances. His eyes are a deep crimson red, and his gaze makes you feel like he can see right through you. His most notable feature, though, is his thick, long, scaly tail. A pretty gold, with swirling lines of red decorating it. You step back. "W-what are you?"

"Who gave you permission to gaze upon me? Let alone, speak?" Your eyes are off him in an instant, slowly backing away. This can't be real, right? Monsters don't exist, so you must be hallucinating from the heat. He's obviously not real. Just walk away and continue your search. That's all that needs to be done. "And who told you to move?" You freeze. He sits up, watching you closely. He slithers down the tree gracefully, distracting you from running. Leaving. The smell of him snaps you out of your trance, stumbling back haphazardly."Stay away from me! Why are you here?" This definitely isn't a hallucination. Now that he's closer, you realize just how big he is. He's radiating warmth.Fuck.His eyes narrow. "You say this as if I am the intruder here. This is the territory of me, Gilgamesh." you step on a soft patch of grass, nearly slipping.

He only draws closer, your heart starting to pound faster. "Who exactly are you, little human?"Your feet act before "Gilgamesh" can get any closer.You're sprinting, thoughts of falling or slipping escaping your mind. Your feet pound against the wet grass in your desperate attempt to escape. Your gear is heavy on you, but you can't afford to stop.What would that thing do to you if that thing caught you? No, don't think about it. Just *stop* thinking altogether. You need to focus on breathing and moving.In, out. Right foot, left foot. Keep going forward, and don't stop.Just keep running, and your way out will-Suddenly, that comforting pattern was violently put to a stop.Your torso is tightly squeezed by the thick, pretty tail you were admiring mere minutes before. You wheeze, the sudden pressure forcing air out of your lungs."Why do mongrels like you think they can get away from a being of my caliber?"

The man scoffs, drawing closer until you feel his chest press against your back. His breath is strangely hot, and his musk overwhelms you."P-please, I don't want any trouble. I just need to feed my family. I'll be gone before you know it, so -"

"Food shouldn't speak. Stay quiet." A cold shiver runs through your body. Food? After all your hard (debatable) work, you're being reduced to some freak of nature's meal? A nightmare, that's what this has to be. Before you can pity yourself or try to reason with him to let you go, Gilgamesh's sharp fangs sink deep into the skin of your shoulder. Pain. To Dizziness. Followed by a strange sensitivity that sends tingles up your spine. Your mind goes blank, eyes suddenly heavy. You groan, pushing weakly at the arms that wrap around your waist.The last thing you feel is his tongue licking a long stripe up your cheek.

♡♡

When you come to your senses, you're pinned beneath a familiar body, your gear discarded, leaving you in your plain clothes. Your eyes widen as the strange man's tongue is shoved into your mouth, greedily sucking on your tongue, while forcing thick liquid down your throat.Your immediate protests are swallowed by him, who is seemingly enjoying your struggle. You can't even turn your head an inch with his iron grip on the back of your head.After several seconds, he pulls back with what you assume is pale gold saliva dripping from his mouth. You gasp for air, scrambling away as soon as he's off of you."Ah, my venom wore off rather quick."Gilgamesh hums softly, his sharp nails digging into soft grass.

You tremble against the wall of leaves behind you. Your vision is slightly blurred, and your body feels sluggish. Slowly taking in your surroundings, you realize you're in a den of sorts. It's big, spacious, and smells only of him. There are many different types of golden ornaments and other precious treasures littered throughout his "home." Despite where he lives, he owns many modern things. But his home or lifestyle isn't your main issue.You're starting to feel strange. Suddenly your clothes are too tight, too hot. Your vision blurs further. And worst of all, there's an agonizing ache starting to build in your lower tummy.

You feel feverish, almost."Hm, it took a bit to kick in," Gilgamesh muses, red eyes following you carefully. You let out an embarrassing sound. When did his voice become so attractive? "I can't *wait* to break you."You suck in heavy breaths, trying to focus on anything but him. "It's been ages since I've had a visitor. Let alone a human one," he draws closer, long tail wrapping around your ankle and yanking you back underneath him. "And you *do* know what time of the year it is, don't you?"Not really, and you don't care. You're barely paying attention to his words, groaning softly as he speaks. The heat in your core is only growing worse."It's spring, foolish girl." He taps your cheek with his middle and ring fingers.

Pathetically, a strange thought of having them sunk deep into your cunt makes you clench desperately around nothing. He chuckles, sliding his fingers into your mouth. "Suck. Focus on my words, yes? I'll reward you." He licks his lips, wanting to sink his teeth into you, but he can't rush. He has to slowly drive you insane."You see, girl, I'm feeling rather desperate. Spring is my mating season, and there's no one else here, but you. Now, since you're an intruder, it's only fair that I take what I want from you as a punishment, right?" You half-heartedly follow along, obediently sucking on his fingers as he thrusts them into your mouth. Gilgamesh gently scrapes his nails against your tongue, his eyes glinting with approval.

"Good girl. And what I want is to breed you. Get you nice and pregnant. It's only fair, right?" Your tongue stops lazily swirling around his fingers, and your eyes dart up to his. Gilgamesh smiles as his free hand slowly unbuttons your shorts, tugging them off your body. He groans at the sight of your soaked panties, breathing in the enticing smell of your arousal. His mouth waters. "In mongrel terms, I want to fuck you."Your brain very slowly processes his previous words. *Pregnancy? Breeding? Birth?* You mumble against his fingers, shaking your head. "N-no... I need... home..." You slur, pushing weakly at his chest.He slides his wet fingers out of your mouth, drifting them down your body. They come to a stop just beneath your belly button. "You say no? Drugged and at my mercy, you still don't want to give in?" He coos softly, almost innocently, before tearing your thin panties away.

"I can't!" you plead, but the arousal leaking from your pussy says otherwise. His fingers find your clit, rubbing teasingly light circles on it. You bite your lip to stop yourself from moaning. You have to try and fight through this haze, this spell. He leans down to kiss you again, his fingers starting to stroke your clit more insistently. You keep your mouth shut tight, afraid that he'll drug you further.Gilgamesh scoffs before slapping your sensitive clit, drawing a yelp from your lips. "Never deny me."

He's already growing impatient, but he knows he needs to prepare you. Gilgamesh places himself in between your legs, his hot breath against your pussy making you tremble. He keeps a tight grip one of your thighs, biting into it. You whimper, your limbs almost immediately melting into nothing.He drags his tongue from your thigh to your clit, massaging it with the muscle. You moan pathetically, the feeling overwhelming your fried senses.He licks a long stripe up your folds, before going back to kissing and gently sucking your abused clit, making you squirm with what little power you have left.

You cry out as his hot mouth latches around your cunt, greedily suckling and swallowing any juices you gush.He hungrily laps at you, relishing your taste, the way you squeal and moan for him, the way you try to struggle. His hands squeeze your thighs.He pulls back with a wet pop, his eyes darkened. "Mmm, I don't think I'll let you go. You *need* to be my cumdump. My breeding bitch." He pants softly, one of his hands sneakily making its way toward your pussy. "I *need* you to squirt. You understand, right?" He rubs his ring and middle fingers against your clenching entrance.He bites your thigh, breaking skin.

Gilgamesh brings tears to your eyes as more of his venom and aphrodisiac pour into your body.He feeds his fingers into your cunt, groaning softly as he feels how tight you are. He kisses the bite on your thigh, licking his lips. You're shaking, hands squeezing the grass weakly as he pumps his fingers into you, curling them occasionally to hit a spot that makes you choke on your drool.You almost scream as he starts flicking your swollen bud with his tongue, your hips trying to buck away from his mouth.He laughs against your pussy, before continuing to finger you while mercilessly kissing and sucking on your clit. You sob, the pleasure short circuiting your brain. You try desperately to push his head away, but his free arm presses down firmly on your stomach.

The pressure makes your core feel weird. You writhe and start babbling for him to stop, tugging at his hair.But he doesn't. Instead, he chases your cunt each time you try to struggle away. Every time you do this, he nips your clit with his sharp teeth, mixing pain with pleasure.You scream as your orgasm suddenly rips through you, white spots dancing across your vision as you squirt on his face. He quickly moves to greedily lap at your juices, shivering as he does so.He pulls back with a wide grin that makes you queasy."I've exercised great patience. I haven't even touched myself."Gilgamesh sits up, leaning down to cup your face."You know what's next, right?" He mumbles, squeezing your cheeks. "Do not make this hard for me. Do not fight me, do not scream at me, or I will hurt you."You whimper, feeling hot tears starting to roll down your cheeks. He moves one of his hands away from you."Keep crying, though. You're cute."

Before you know it, his cocks are slipping out of his genital slits. He hisses softly, watching them ooze precum against your tummy. You can feel the way they throb and twitch, and it makes you sick."You should know that I'm going to make you take both." He caresses your waist, and you let out shaky breaths.Gilgamesh chuckles at the way you jump when he rubs the tips of his appendages against your weeping entrance.Surely this can't be real? He doesn't seriously think you'll be able to take both, right? Just one of those things could break you, and -Gilgamesh rips you away from your thoughts as he squeezes your waist, pulling you down and starting to force his cocks into your cunt.You're about to protest, to try and push him away, but Gilgamesh anticipates this. He forcefully holds you down, biting into your shoulder.How much venom has he pumped into you at this point? You slump, and he quickly smothers you.

He wraps his arms around you, pressing his forehead to yours. Your eyes glaze over, mouth hanging open as he grunts above you, watching his lengths disappear into your warm, tight pussy. You're wet (and drugged up enough) for it not to hurt, but the sheer stretch makes you tremble."I can't take this slow anymore." That's all the warning you get before he thrusts forward, completely hilting his cocks into your heat.Gilgamesh groans, nuzzling his face against your neck as he wastes no time, pumping his girthy lengths into you. His tips press against your cervix with each thrust, making you dizzy.He hisses at the way you unconsciously squeeze him, drools at the way his heavy balls slap against your ass."Your little pussy's swallowing me in," he huffs, hips rutting into you faster. "You don't want to let go. I knew you wanted this." His thumbs press down just under your navel, obsessed with the way his members bulge in your tummy.

You mewl and whimper, hands weakly pushing against his chest. You feel like you're about to explode, the pressure in your heat like no other. No other experience could come close to this. You feel that familiar knot in your tummy already starting to build up.Gilgamesh slows for a moment, keeping himself buried to the hilt as he grinds his lengths inside you. He groans at how your heat flutters around him before pressing hungry kisses to your mouth.You gasp against him as he suddenly lifts your legs over his shoulders, staying still for a moment. He slowly draws his thick members halfway out and chuckles softly at the breath of relief you let out.He slams back in, relishing the way you scream, the way your nails dig into his skin.

He knows that you're too weak to do anything but take it. Your mind blanks when he resumes his relentless pumping, the new angle letting him hump deeper into your abused pussy."Mmh, you're not leaving," almost immediately, you're cumming, squirting on his throbbing cocks. "I just have to keep you. Wouldn't you like that, little mongrel? Becoming my most prized treasure?" His rambling is useless, since now you're barely listening. Your gaze is focused on the way he slides in and out, the way his hips stutter when you squeeze him, the way his pretty scales gleam."Gonna cum. You're gonna make me cum." He murmurs, arms wrapping around your waist as he thrusts desperately, chasing release. Your mind barely registers his words, but the change in pace makes you squirt again.Gilgamesh hilts himself, shuddering as his orgasm washes over him.

He holds you close to him as (what you can only assume to be his eggs) force themselves into your womb through one of his cocks. The other fertilizes them, shooting sticky loads of cum into your cunt.They twitch and throb, and you can feel the way he's still slowly grinding into you. The way his warm seed fills you up. He huffs as he watches some of it leak out and pool under your ass.Gilgamesh slowly pulls out, as if hesitant to leave the warmth of your pussy. He lies back, bringing you to rest against his chest. He breathes softly, hands resting on your hips as he lazily rubs his leaking cocks against your tummy. You barely pay attention to the fact that he's still hard.Your body is a mess. You can't feel your legs, your pussy feels raw, your eyes are puffy from crying, your throat sore from screaming and moaning. And his bites definitely wouldn't heal up any soon.You pant softly, trying to catch your breath as he rubs his thumbs against your flesh. You almost strangely feel relaxed, but that's probably the venom speaking for you. "That should be enough."The bastard kisses your forehead as he slams his cocks back into your puffy cunt. He grins, hugging you close to him as he thrusts up, ignoring the way you squeal and plead for him to stop."You thought we were done? Just keep drooling against my chest, mongrel. This is your fault for coming into my home, anyway."

[fishuus]

i guess this is a rec list of stuff i liked in 2024?? no particular order, i just wanted to yak about some things i had a good time with.

bang brave bang bravern: maybe this isn't a legit comparison but i keep thinking of it as "what if samurai flamenco had a significantly tighter story (tomokazu sugita is also there)". if you like giant robots, you might like this. if you like a completely straight-faced commitment to the extremely funny bit of contrasting hard military scifi with the absurdity of classic giant robots, you might like this. if you're interested in sugita playing a robot who's a bottom, and also there's a lot of gay shit and the earnest power of true love, you might like this!

digimon story cyber sleuth & hacker's memory: a really fun set of turn-based jrpgs. cyber sleuth took me a while to warm up to (the localization could be better, to put it generously), but i came to enjoy its slightly offbeat sense of humor. hacker's memory, otoh, i loved from the start. it does a great job showing how cyber sleuth's story beats happened in parallel while still keeping the focus on a fantastic new cast and their own plotlines. the first game is a more standard digimon story about saving the world, while hacker's memory widens the perspective and shows a bit of the systems at play in the background. just a super satisfying game on every level for me.

shin godzilla: personally i love logging off work and my many meetings and watching a movie about a guy who has to go to even more meetings. i'm kidding, this was really fun (on account of all the meetings). i'll get to his kamen rider and ultraman movies too at some point.

gilgamesh (gardner & maier, also the david ferry version): paying my respects to the original yaoi 🫡

judgment: i wanted to try a rgg game without committing to playing 8 of them in order. turns out this is a perfect standalone game. it's such a tightly written story and character study, and it's really fun to play. kimutaku is so good at playing yagami so low-key, so tamped down, that when he explodes you really feel how angry he's been all along. the english cast is also great -- i enjoyed greg chun's take on yagami as well. (i played lost judgment too but wasn't quite so high on it. alas)

siren: watched sgf's excellent lp and loved this horror stealth game. the motion-capture work for the faces is a pretty cool workaround for the rendering limitations at the time while adding to the off-kilter vibe. i'm also a huge sucker for when studios lean into mixed media and use photos of real props (magazines, IDs in wallets, letters, etc) in their games. the story is kinda obtuse – and literally requires you to read extra official content to get some of the answers – but for something with such vague, stilted cutscenes with equally vague and stilted dialogue, especially with the added layer of a classic ps2-era english dub, i became attached to the entire cast stuck in this extremely bleak and scary scenario. i guess the best way i can sum it up is that it's a game that knows exactly how to play you.

digital devil saga 2: finished right before the world is actually set to end in 2025 in the game lol. it's so good!! i'm grateful that even after all this time, i managed to go into this mostly blind, because the way the plot reveal recontexualizes so much about the first game and the absolute rank relationship dynamics between some of the characters just blew me away. probably has some of my favorite character designs of all time, and i also think it's sooo fun to play thanks to my having turn-based long jrpg brain sickness. such an all-timer of a duology.

nine sols: i'm still not done with it on account of it being a parry-focused metroidvania and me sucking shit at both platforming and parrying, but it's great! it feels so confidently produced, kinda wild considering how different it is from their previous two games, devotion and detention (both of which i also highly recommend). the art and design work are beautiful, and i'm really enjoying how bleak the plot is. you can tell they made two horror games before this lol. i also love story mode. thank you, story mode.

風林火山韻雷 -bring it back-: lmao. anyway, it's a super fun song and mv that packs in everything i like about akyr (mixing traditional with modern both in the song and the imagery, high energy, everyone's great ofc but takayuki kondo especially killing it with that bridge, akyr making aggro songs about murdering their enemies).

[primamchorus]

Day Four :: Dangerous

Done for the @daily-writing-challenge.

--

The Taelpar Crag is a vast canyon that divides Cleigne and Duscae; a deep scar left upon the lands of Lucis. Within this scar are the ends of stories that were sometimes short, sometimes a result of one's hubris...but every time lost. At least until one in particular. All that in mind, Mollis cannot help but worry for a story that has found itself making its way there.

Word count: 617

A bullet rested between Mollis' fingers, an idle piece of ammunition that she kept just…there. For now.

Finally, she looked down at it and rolled it gently within her palm. It felt…weightier than she was used to. There was no way that was possible. She pulled it out of an unopened box. No, it was the weight of what laid ahead that made it feel even heavier in her hand.

"You seem on edge," came a voice.

Mollis only turned her head slightly, peering over her shoulder. The voice belonged to Cor — one of her martial trainers as well as one of the other nobles who served the Crown. He had that ever serious expression on his face as he neared the wooden bench Mollis was sat upon, overlooking the Taelpar Crag.

"I guess I am a little…" Mollis replied, closing her fingers around the bullet.

Cor eased himself into sitting next to her. He did not meet her gaze, instead staring out toward the canyon that stretched on and on.

"… You'll be fine on your own," Cor finally said, looking at Mollis.

"It's not me I'm worried about."

"Mm…" Cor hummed in thought and then sighed, his attention going back to the crag. He let the silence stew between them. He had told her that Gladio called the day prior in order to meet with him to take a risky challenge against a figure of old.

A moment passed before Cor replied, "It's his choice in the end."

"Doesn't make it any less worrying." Mollis' grip tightened around the bullet in her hand, and her gaze remained unfocused as she cast her eyes downward.

Her shoulders heaved with a sigh, and she finally looked up at Cor. "I've been looking into the crag with my scope since you told me."

"Can't imagine you saw anything that boosts your confidence, huh?"

"That's the thing, I guess…" Mollis said, a frown tugging at her lips as her brow furrowed with concern. "I can't see anything down there. I mean…" she shook her head, "I remember the stories Clarus told us. But…it's like there's this impenetrable haze down there. Like people up here just aren't allowed to see what's within."

Silence settled between them again. Cor leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees while lacing his fingers together. There was this distant look on his face, and his brow knit together ever so slightly as he thought back. "Having been down there myself…it's probably a good thing the people up here can't see anything that the haze hides."

"That bad?"

"It's a graveyard that's been accumulating for nearly two millennia…" Cor revealed. "I was lucky that I hadn't become a part of it when I first approached Gilgamesh. I can only hope that Gladio doesn't become another body added to the pile."

"… Yeah… You and I both…" Mollis felt tense. She hated it. She hated how acutely aware she had become of how hard she was gripping the bullet in her hand. So, with a sigh, she pocketed the bullet and took in a silent breath. Exhaling slowly, she did her best to bring herself back — bring herself to a sense of normalcy. And so she managed a smile and leaned forward.

"Well, who knows? If he manages to be stubborn enough — which he's very good at — maybe he'll become 'Gladio the Immortal' and take that title from you." Mollis was doing her best to lift the mood a bit. Gladio was going to have to be left to Cor's capable hands while she kept tabs on imperial movements, after all.

A small laugh fell from Cor.

"If he lives, he can have it."

[redd956]

Hey, hope you’re doing well! Came up with another worldbuilding question that I think is pretty cool (and also is what I’m hyper fixated worldbuilding at the moment).

Myths, legends, folktales (are fairytales the same thing? Think it’s more so cautionary tales??), creation/origin myths, those kinda things. Any ideas on how to create them? Or if pulling from a premade (?) one, how to make it uniquely (or not, you do you) your own?

Slight ramble of my thought process incoming (you can absolutely skip this, these are just my personal thoughts and questions I asked myself while trying to figure out worldbuilding this specific thing):

—-

Also, just to say beforehand, obviously the detail level could be as big or small as someone wants (though more often shorter and simple stories are more common. Also because I don’t think the average world builder wants to make what is essentially “The Epic of Gilgamesh” or “The Odyssey” in their world. Unless they do, in which case good for them) so let’s just assume whatever because if I keep overthinking the specifications of the question I’m asking this is going to get stupidly long. Would be a nice convo tho

ANYWAYS, actually getting into it, I know that there are a LOT of things to consider when creating those type of things for the lore/world one builds, as well as inspiration. There’s the thousands of already documented mythology and stories told over time, the way the details change depending on who tells it (if it’s not recorded. Oral storytelling and interpretation of the cultures and people in the world and all that), and just a lot of resources to pull inspiration from. There’s also the point of building/creating the stories and considering separate accounts done and details recorded by others interpretations of the “original” story (might be a bit more complex but imo I feel like it could make it feel more nuanced).

Of course it makes sense for these type of things to be exaggerated, the details, to give it the story vibe that most have, but what would count as too much? Too little? Or would it not count since, again, it’s a silly little story made (presumably) by the mortals of whatever world you’re building to try and help them understand how the world works and come up with engaging ways to teach what they think is true or a unique anomaly at the time.

Does it matter if the story has purpose such as a lesson to teach children (cautionary tales to get kids to behave or just understand the danger of certain actions or, in the case of gods and mythology, why you really shouldn’t try and say you’re better and be rude to them lest you get chained to a rock and have your liver eaten for eternity or something)?

Or if it’s just a silly tale for how mortals think some things come to be (like certain plants or animals or day and night and all that jazz; concepts be it actual things or make-believe)?

Or perhaps as a way to justify their way of life or connect to their roots?

Off-my-head example from my own wip worldbuilding concept being a tribe of people who follow in a lightning/storm gods foot steps see lightning scarring (the fractal kind. Also as a result from using their magic. Yes they are essentially lightning benders. At this stage of development anyways, I gotta lot more but that’s unnecessary rambling so…) as a sign of honor or that they’re chosen by the god since that god has similar markings and origin story (myth) of how they came to be or something like that, if I’m making any sense at all.

If you want to go into a broader thing, how would other cultures view or interpret each other’s stories? Disdain? Intriguiue? Would they get into a “erm, actually, MY version is the better/true/whatever one because ____”?

If you really wanted to go into the deep end, would older stories you make for a specific (most likely) ancient culture be the base for other culture’s own stories? What would the interpretations be then? Revered? Debunked? Disney-fied (okay maybe not that one but who knows)?

—-

Ramble over, hope that wasn’t too annoying having to read through, and also again, those are personal brain thoughts on how I would consider taking the task on and structure things and I probably answered them all myself (aka literally anything goes, you’re the god of the world, make outlandish bullshit. Honestly might be good for lore).

I simply like to be as thorough and thoughtful as I can. (My Worldbuilding process is essentially a lot of tiny scattered puddles that are deeper than the Mariana Trench. I come up with a concept, deepen it way too much and move onto the next.). Also I like rambling and having thought discussions even if they’re one sided, it’s great brainstorming (so on that note, thank you for hearing me out lol)

BUT BACK TO THE POINT/QUESTION I AM ASKING (because otherwise this would get even longer)

How would you personally go about drawing inspiration and creating interesting (or not interesting. Again, really anything goes) Myths, Legends, Folktales, Fairytales and stories as such?

Feel free to answer in as much or as little detail as you like, hope this isn’t too much of an annoyance or issue (overthinking).

Hope this wall of text isn’t a mess or hard to get through, do let me know if you’d rather I not include the brain ramblings of my thought process/analyzing everything. I understand if it’s a lot of annoying (apologies if I forget in the future if the answer is to not include it)

Hope you’re having a wonderful rest of your day/night and are taking care of yourself, staying hydrated and all that jazz :]

-idk (@idkanonymystuff .just in case I forgo I sent it again. I have the object permanence of a newborn baby lol)

Stories are very important to cultures, traded around from person to person.

Myths, Legends, Folktales, Fairytales in Worldbuilding

Inspiration

There's actually a lot of places I like to draw inspiration from. Some of my favorite examples of this kind of storytelling IRL include...

Native American Folktales (and really folktales from around the world)

Japan's Yokai

Ancient Myths

Ballads (The Devil Went Down to Georgia, Noel's Lament, Hallelujah)

Fairytales

Epics

Campfire Stories

Biblical Stories

Urban Legends

And some of my favorite inspirations and examples to see in worldbuilding and fiction...

Watership Down's stories of El-Ahrairah

Bard songs in D&D

Vault legends in Fallout

Origins of legendary Pokémon

Legend of Zelda, like all of it

The metro gossip in Metro 2033

Curse of Poseidon in Siren's Lament

Creepypasta

Ghost stories in Hanako-Kun Toilet Bound

Creation Myth of the Sun & Moon in My Little Pony

Luke Humphris' post-apocalypse animations

There's also tons of good videos I can suggests, and places to start. In Creative Writing class working on fairytales and creation myths is something we dabble in to get us starting in this kind of worldbuilding mindset.

I wish I had access to some of the creation myths people cooked up because they were beautiful!

Here's some videos I like

Music & Storytelling

Music can play a huge role in cultural storytelling. It helps people actually remember the stories, and recite them to others.

In fact music alone is about human nature. You can find it in every culture around the world, and hear the beautiful voices of recently contacted tribes of Papua New Guinea setting out on their morning voyages. It is only natural that we tell must tell stories in these forms.

To Tell Lessons

Similarly to how music helps us remember things, so do stories. Stories serve many many many different uses, including entertainment, but one common use is also to teach lessons.

Whether these lessons be religious, for survival purposes, or just genuine lessons of goodness; there is a story for it.

What kind of lessons we can see in a culture's stories depends on the environment they're in. A society that only knows the forest is going to have tales that include poisonous berries, apex predators, and forest creatures. A strictly religious society is going to have primarily or almost always religious themed tales.

To Tell History

Passing on history is incredibly important, and even ancient cultures knew that well. In a time without the printing press or the internet it was difficult to maintain historical stories, and storytelling helped with just that.

However there is few things as fluid and ever changing as stories when passed from person to person. All it takes is for one group to put a religious spin on a historical account, or remove a specific character from old fairytale. Sometimes we see this because a culture loves a story but feels that their people would connect better if it was closer to home, that's when we have things like Romanized stories of Ancient Egyptian and Ancient Greek tales.

We even see this in the early origins of Christianity with Mithraism, or colonizers arriving in the Americas and hearing Native stories.

That's why we have two very different, but same overall lesson told story of the Wendigo and the Skinwalkers.

To Explain

Of course stories also play a role in offering an explanation for something we don't yet understand.

Whether it be the mysterious disappearances of people, natural disasters haunting ancient peoples, or wherever the hell the other sock vanishes to stories serve a tool fill that curious void.

This is especially seen in ancient societies or fairly religious cultures.

Passage of Stories

Stories become easily lost. As mentioned earlier it is near impossible for a story to pass from one person to another and not experience a little bit of change. All it takes is one damaged disc, one dead elder, or one great fire and thousands of stories are forever gone. We see this discussion a lot with lost media and the subtle importance of pirating.

I think it's fun to think about what changes the stories in your worldbuilding have gone through.

From translations, to colonization, to merchant gossip, to religious overseeing, to rewriting.

How did these stories reach your worldbuilt society?

Story Within A Story

When it comes to writing and video games we see the infamous story within a story, which is what worldbuilding these kinds of things is trying to effectively achieve.

There's many different ways to perfect the story within a story when writing. I suggest if you're struggling with this in any way to look into advice from other writers, because I myself am not very good at it in writing. My expertise mostly comes from it in worldbuilding.

[sillygoblinantics]

Watched ant’s werewolf video.

(And the transcript)

I applaud the history and mythology section but there’s never mention of the other werewolves!

And to that

I have to grab the sources, More specifically this!

Welcome to my silly hyperfixation sperg!

I love me some mythology and history of these fantastical creatures. I do enjoy the movie approach and filmography of the werewolf history. (Even though you skipped shapeshifters from ❤️💀🤖) but I wanted to add to the cryptozoological side of it even if I’m a bit amateurish of the study.

Let’s dive in

Though early origins to the term of lycanthropy dating back to Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece via Latin language, humans that transform into dog like hybrids is a universal concept that can be found all over the world from Europe to South Asia!

As was our human way to explain what wasn’t yet known scientifically of modern times, for the civilizations who came before us, strangeness in people from neurological to physical abnormalities were thought to be otherworldly!

A rare mutation but oldest documented instance is when the hair on the body grow longer than what is “normal” leading to top to bottom fully covered in hair people: Hypertrichosis. Which is where the image of transformation came from or at least hypothesized to have been the origins of. Then there’s the actual clinically diagnosis of “clinical lycanthropy” which is when someone who has this believes they are in fact a werewolf.

So with the fun science out of the way! Allow me to list off every lycanthrope from around the world!

In alphabetical order of each name:

Airitech

Folklore of the Goidelic Celts.

Alp

Originating in Germany

Anjing Ajak

Indonesia

Azeman

Suriname folklore

Bal-bal

Philippines

Beast of Gevaudin

(Werehyena) France

Budas

Ancient Abyssinia

Buxenwolf

German folklore

Enkidu

Gilgamesh’s “best friend”

Headless mule

Iberian folklore - Portugal and Spain

Karkanxhol

Kolivilor

Albanian mythology

Kornwolf

Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Poland and Russia

Lobis-Homem

Ancient Portuguese folklore

Lobishomen

(Female vampire witch werewolf) Brazil

Lobison

Argentina

Loup Garou

French origin and Caribbean island folklore

Luison

Paraguayan folklore

Lupo Mannaro

Italian and ancient Roman folklore

Marrock (Marrok the good knight)

Arthurian folklore

Zmag Ognjeni Vuk

Bosnian folklore (fire breathing werewolf)

I need a minute to catch my breath!

Ok!

As you can tell there’s quite a lot but I feel the need to also mention a morally good lycanthrope

Hailing from the Shetland isles of Scotland: the Wulver

They’d watch over flocks and tend to chores and leave behind fish on the windowsills of homes once they’re done helping. It’s said they’d only act in violence if provoked but other than that they were mostly seen as good!

So that’s my lil sperging about werewolf mythology! Good video Anthony!

I’m shook that no one mentioned the werewolves from the Halloween anthology film “Trick or Treat” or “the wolf among us” which was about the big bad wolf being a detective in a modern setting with fairytales and murder! Or the other red riding hood movie! “Red Riding Hood” (2011); with really good color story of mostly black and white scenery and striking red from our leading lady!

Ohmygod I nearly forgot that Pokémon even has a werewolf pokemon!

But ye I don’t have any better way to end this… other than a silly animation >:3c

[bigasswritingmagnet]

Blood Will Out Ch 24 - Spark Wrangling

<prev chapter | AO3 | Next >

“I vuz tinking dot if his poppa vanted him dead enough to send a Smoke Knight into der kestle, he vould really vant to make sure de job gets done, so maybe dere vould be more in here. Der kestle vent lookink und found dem, und sent de nearest vun in my direction.” 

“Good one,” Higgs said approvingly. 

Higgs and Vole were standing on either side of the door to the laboratory. Agatha had politely asked them to give her and the boys time to talk. Higgs had obeyed a request from a Heterodyne, and Vole professed no interest in teenage dramatics. 

“You what?” they heard Agatha shout. The heavy laboratory door muffled Tarvek’s response.

“Vut hyu tink?” Vole asked quietly, tipping his head. “She gon trow dot vun out der vindow?” 

“Nah,” Higgs said. “She’ll be mad, but she strikes me as the forgivin’ type.”

“Hmph.”

“Not the answer you wanted?”

Vole sighed heavily.

“I iz not gon do anyting to her, hokay? So hyu and efferyvun else can qvit standink around vaitink for me to tear her head off.”

“But would you serve her?”

“I iz not a Jäger.”

“Not what I asked.”

“No. I vant blood und var. She vill not giff me dot. She is not de kind of Heterodyne I vant.”

“’s just...I’m gettin’ the feelin she’s the kind of Heterodyne that’ll want you.”

Something very strange happened in Vole’s chest, and he glared at Higgs.

“How vould hyu know? Hyu din’t even know she existed until yesterday.”

“The Baron’s what?” Tarvek shouted. They heard Gil's urgent tone, but again, no words. Higgs briefly raised an eyebrow before returning his attention to lighting his pipe. Sounded like Gilgamesh had decided he trusted Tarvek after all. 

“Just the feelin’ I’m gettin’. She keeps askin’ about you, about what happened.”

“So a madgirl is curious about a mystery, vut else is new?”

Higgs opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off when the door swung open and Agatha strode out, a wide, fixed smile on her face. Tarvek and Gil followed with such a lack of tension and suspicion it was almost palpable. 

“I’m very glad we have had that conversation and this information has been shared, but if anyone else has any world-shattering revelations, they are to keep it to themselves until after we are done.” She looked to Higgs and Vole. “We had an idea: now that the castle is one entity again, the prisoners will have a much easier time getting things done in the live areas.”

“I am herding them to the kitchens as we speak,” the castle said cheerfully.

“There’s about twenty of them at the moment,” Agatha said. “If I put them all to work on one section at a time, between us and them, I can get all of the dead areas reconnected and improvements to the live areas to get the castle more power.”

“Und vy vould dey help hyu?” Vole asked. “Hyu can’t tell dem hyu iz de Heterodyne. Vut can hyu offer dem?" 

“A fully functioning castle is a castle that won’t kill them for going to the areas it sends them to fix,” Tarvek pointed out.

Higgs raised his eyebrows and looked at the ceiling.

“You agreed to that?” 

“I will not actively set off security measures,” the castle said primly. “If they set off traps themselves, they are quite on their own.”

Higgs and Vole glanced at each other, both wondering if these three knew just how impressive a compromise that was.

“Okay!” Agatha said, rubbing her hands together. “Let’s go conscript some Sparks—” Her stomach gurgled, loudly. “—and get some lunch.”

Herded was the right word for it – the prisoners were milling around the kitchen like cattle waiting for the slaughterhouse, regularly glancing up at the ceiling or eyeing the knives. The castle had not told them why they were there, only that they would ‘be there or be squared’.

“Excuse me, everyone!” The voice was young, female, and carried a level of politeness that simply did not exist in the social sphere of the Castle Heterodyne prisoners. Instantly on high alert, the prisoners glared suspiciously at the teenage girl standing in the doorway of the kitchen.

“Hello,” she said politely. “My name is Agatha Sannikova. I am here on the authority of Lord Saturnus Heterodyne, tasked to complete the major repairs necessary to bring the castle to full functionality. You may or may not have noticed, but the town is currently under attack. This puts us on a rather urgent timeline. I have brought you here to ask for your help, as I believe by working together, we will—”

“Can it, kid,” Skinner snapped, baring oversized canines. “Do you think we’re just goofing around in here? We’ve been trying to fix the castle. People have been trying for over a decade. If we could do it fast, we’d’a done that by now.”

The girl’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“It is going to be different now, because we are going to be working with the castle. Now that the intelligence is centralized—”

“What?” It was one of the newer prisoners, a balding, portly man clutching a leather-bound notebook so tightly it was twisting in his hands.

Agatha sighed.

“When the castle was attacked, the intelligence within was fractured. That’s why it’s been so inconsistent. One part will send you to fix something, but the intelligence in that part doesn’t recognize you and thinks you’re an intruder. I reset the castle, so now the only real worry is the security features that are not under its direct control.”

“But—but—but then what happens?”

Agatha looked surprised at the question.

“Then...we fix the castle and the town doesn’t get blown up?”

“To us! The Heterodyne sent you? Is he coming back?”

“He doesn’t plan to, as far as I know. As for what happens to you...I don’t know. The Baron might send you somewhere else, or he might leave you here to work on smaller repairs until the castle is one hundred percent fixed.”

This did not seem to calm the man in the slightest.

“But—! But—!”

A tall, broad-shouldered construct with a bull’s head bared his flat teeth in a grin and slapped him painfully hard on the back.

“Sorry, Tiktoffen. Looks like all your little notes are going to waste. Tough break.”

“Oh!” Agatha exclaimed. “Not at all! Any information you have would be extremely useful.”

But Tiktoffen was backing away, clutching his notebook to his chest.

“Who are you to be giving us orders?” he snapped. “How do we even know Lord Heterodyne sent you? And, and what authority does he even have in this town anymore? Why should—?”

“Enough.” Agatha’s eyes blazed so fiercely, a few prisoners edged away from Tiktoffen in case he caught fire. “I do not need you to believe me; I do not care if you believe me.  My authority is that the castle listens to me. You are going to do what I say, when I say, because I say so. Understand?”

“Yes, Mistress,” the prisoners chorused. Agatha did not take her eyes off of Tiktoffen. Slowly, the man untensed and bowed his head.

“Yes, Miss Sannikova.”

Agatha beamed.

“Excellent. Now, the castle will guide you to the areas to work on. It will make sure the security measures don’t actively attack you, but you should still watch your step. I want everyone to cooperate fully with each other – the more we get done, the safer you will be. Mr...Tiktoffen, was it? I’d like to see your notes.”

“Professor Tiktoffen, actually,” the man said stiffly, but he handed over his notebook as the other prisoners shuffled out. “Are you really in here all by yourself?”

“No,” Agatha said, flipping through the notebook. “My friends are hiding nearby, in case there was any trouble the castle couldn’t handle. I figured it was best to keep things simple, to cut down on any potential arguments. These really are amazing notes.”

“The professor took quite an interest in my mechanisms,” the castle preened. Agatha’s lips twitched in a smile and she rolled her eyes briefly, though fondly.

“Gil, Tarvek, come in and take a look at this.”

Two more teenagers stepped in, boys this time. The professor merely frowned when the first one entered, but at the sight of the second one, grew very, very tense indeed. That hair…

But when the Sturmvoraus boy looked at him, there was no recognition in his eyes, not even when Agatha gave Tiktoffen’s name. But he had to know. He had to know. The Fifty Families were very good at pretending not to know things; there was no possible way he didn’t know!

And even if he didn’t, he was still a Valois descendant standing in the middle of Castle Heterodyne with a girl who had to have been born right around the time the Heterodyne’s wife disappeared. And the castle listened to her…

“If I can make a recommendation,” he said abruptly. “It’s not one of the larger areas, but I suspect it might have some very important mechanisms within it. This area right here.”

“What’s the S stand for?” Agatha asked.

“It’s not an S,” the professor said. “I just like to keep my symbols as varied as possible, to cut down on the risk of confusing them. That means I think it’s important, but I can’t prove it yet.”

“What about this one over here?” Tarvek asked. “Where you have the S really big and circled several times?”

“It’s a living document,” the professor said smoothly. “I was less sure about this area than I am now – and more sure about that area.”

“But not anymore?”

“To be honest, I’ve been trying to find a good eraser,” he said, shrugging sheepishly.

“Well, we can always take a look at that other one later,” she said. “Castle, can you take us to the area next to the dining room on the...third floor?”

“At once, Mis…Sannikova.”

“We’re going to get something to eat, and then we’ll head out. Would you like to join us?” she asked Tiktoffen. 

“Ah...better if I don’t. The others will need someone to keep them focused. You know how Sparks can get.”

She nodded and smiled all the same. 

“Er, if I could just...hold on to my notes? I’ve...put rather a lot of work into them.”

“Oh, of course! I’m sure the castle can tell us what we need to know.”

“Yes,” Tiktoffen said, his hands once more tightening on the notebook. “I’m sure it would be...very easy for you.”

Tiktoffen left them raiding the supplies for sandwich materials. He moved slowly as he passed through the hallways, brow furrowed, deep in thought and deeply unhappy.

“Professor?”

“I’m glad you’re whole again,” Tiktoffen said. “I suppose I was just...well. I thought what we had was...different.”

“It is!” the castle insisted. “You made the effort to understand me when no one else would! You were the only one who considered my intelligence as something to be repaired, as well as the system itself. I will always be grateful for that.”

“But you don’t need me anymore, do you? You’ve got her.”

“I will always need good Sparks,” the castle reassured him, its tone almost beseeching. “Things will be different, but different does not mean worse! I am sure Master Heterodyne would be happy to have your assistance even once you are no longer prisoner here.”

“Right,” Tiktoffen said. “I’m sure he would.”

[hikarimiyanaga]

Healing A Broken Heart (Part 1)

Summary :

You and Wanda are in love. At least you thought so. During a particularly bad fight, she tells you that if she had a choice, she wouldn't be with you.

And that, in your thousands years of life, is the most painful thing you've ever heard that was said to you.

PS. This was inspired by that one reddit post and it snowballed from there.

-

You drink another shot. For the past few weeks and so, this is the only thing you've done during the nights. Drink.

As if it could make you forget. Forget the pain. Forget the memories. Forget Wanda.

But it couldn't, it was only for the night for you still remember everything the day after.

You really hated being a semi-eternal.

You were created to be with the other eternals but there was something wrong with you. You didn't have any powers.

Still, Arishem sent you along with Ajak and the others as a reporter.

You had the immortality and physique but nothing else.

Still, Sersei, Makkari, Sprite, Kingo, Phastos, Thena, Ajak, Druig and Gilgamesh were family.

So you did exactly what you were sent to do. Report. Until you and the others' rebellion years ago. Now THAT, that was a fun time.

But that? Being a hero? Something you're not? It was all in the past.

You just wanted peace. When the whole Westview happened. Ajak sent you, said something about knowledge in magic.

And so you helped. Both Wanda and Agatha.

Wanda stayed with you along with the darkhold and Agatha went with her coven.

You made sure that she made the first move. And if she never truly liked you then it was also fine. But she did. She kissed you that one night and you kissed her back.

You'd cook for her. Teach her more about her own magic. And she'd love you. She'd make you laugh. She'd make you feel peace.

It stayed like that. For Five years. You were both in love or so you thought.

She was getting impatient. You can tell. You knew that your method was slow. But it was also the safest. So that she can travel freely. Did you know that she would leave you for her boys? Of course, she will. And you'd understand. Those twins were her kids. Hers. And you-

Well, you didn't even know what you are to her.

And during the fight with her, you confirmed it. She was just with you because you knew the safest way. Because you had a way.

And so you left her. And left her notes, you weren't cruel as to leave her without knowledge on getting back with her kids.

And so here you were. In a random bar somewhere in the US. Where you stopped counting your drinks and stopped caring about yourself.

If anyone needed help then you would be there in a heartbeat, helping once again. But for now? You need to forget.

"Ah. Here you are. I knew it." You hear Sersei say as she sits besides you. She and Makkari have been trying to find you when they went to visit Wanda a week ago and you weren't there. Sersei quickly texted Makkari as you drink again.

"Why are you trying to find me, dear changer?" All of the eternals had nicknames from you.

"We were worried. What happened?" You chuckle at that.

"Just that-" You don't finish when someone hugs you from behind. You laugh as you turn and hug Makkari. "Hi, fast one. Sorry that you couldn't reach me."

"It's okay. Why are you here though?" Makkari asks and you sigh.

"Not here. Shall we go on a walk?" You pay for your tab and leave the bar with them.

You all get seated at a park and you look ahead.

"We got into a fight." Makkari raises an eyebrow at Sersei. A fight? That was it? "And she told me that if she had a choice then she wouldn't be with me." That made them both flinch. They knew your insecurities better than anyone else. The two of them were your closest confidants after all. "So I left. Don't worry about it, though, I made sure to leave her notes. And if she did become the Scarlet Witch and destroyed everything again then-" You inhale at that. "Then I'll help stop her."

"But Wanda was-" you shake your head at Sersei. Just hearing her name is enough to make you cry. You wipe away your tears.

"I need some time alone. Call me in the emergency phone if any of you need help." You stand then smile sadly at them. They both just watched as you leave.

-

6 months. It's been half a year since you saw Wanda. But by God did she get even more beautiful. You were helping Peter Parker's mess and making sure that Strange didn't do that fucking spell again. You really hated that spell, for fuck's sake.

You sigh in relief as everything ends and no one needed to forget him.

"This is why I don't mess with memories." Sersi, Druig and Makkari turns to you. "It's too messy."

"Really? I thought you of all people would want to do it." Druig says and you hum.

"It would make it easier, that's for sure." Wanda flinches at your statement. She was near enough to hear but far enough to not get spotted. Did you want to forget her? "But what the brain cannot remember, the heart and soul will surely do." Wanda was sure now. She approaches the eternals and you realize her presence, you quickly go to Makkari and tell her to take you home.

"But-" Makkari tries to argue but you shake her.

"Just this once! I swear, okay? Please, Makkari. I can't. My heart can't." You get teary eyed and Makkari turns to Sersei. They turn to Wanda who was going to call you.

"Just this once." You nod at her and Makkari quickly leaves the battlefield with you intact. She stops at your current house in New Zealand. You sigh in relief and hug her tight.

"Thank you." You kiss her forehead. "I owe you one." Makkari nods and leaves you alone. You get inside and start to pack. You just know that either Makkari or Sersei will snitch on you. You don't blame them, though, you know that Wanda has been persistent on seeing you and wanting to know where you are.

You didn't know why she wanted to see you.

You don't know want to know.

But if you had to take a guess then maybe she'll break it off for real. You wipe away your tears again. The partying and drinking for the past 6 months has done nothing good for you.

It just made you forget temporarily.

You look at your things. It was only one suitcase, the benefits of having too much money. You hum.

Time to go there then.

-

Another 6 months has passed by. This time, you knew it. You have peace.

Well, you did still have nightmares. Your insecurities are still there. But at least here, you were truly alone. No expectations. No betrayals. Just you.

Not even Sersei or Makkari knew where you were. You didn't want the risk. You just can't run into the source of your heartache.

Or so you thought. Because your phone rings. The emergency one.

"Hello?" You ask and it was Sersei who answers.

"We need help! Or rather your friend, Strange needs help!" You hum as you ready yourself.

-

"What do you mean?? She can travel the multiverse????? FREELY?????" You ask and Stephen nods. "Whoa. Holy shit. You do know this makes you like the singular only person in the multiverse that can do that. Like damn." Sersei raises an eyebrow at you.

"You're an eternal."

"Semi! But yeah, I might be the only one. Nice! The name's Y/N! We have no last names." America looks at Stephen who nods at her.

"I'm America. America Chavez."

"Nice to meet you! So why am I here?"

"She needs help."

"Some monsters have been chasing me all throughout the multiverse and-" You hum. You get your phone out and call Agatha. You stop America and they all look at you.

"Agatha. The darkhold is not being overused is it??"

"Nope. Wanda is learning it slowly. Just like you taught her. Why?"

"Just checking." You hang up and hum. "Has there been any portal sightings like the one from multiverses?" Stephen shakes his head at you.

"Through every universe, right?" America nods. "You don't need me. You need Wanda."

"You sure?"

"Yes. She can travel the multiverse too. Just not as freely as America. We should go to her."

"We? Are you ready to see her?" Sersei's question makes you flinch.

"Not really but-" you look at America. "A kid needs help so-"

"Got it. Let's go then." Stephen says and you nod.

-

'Oh. She hasn't moved. At all.' You thought to yourself as you look at the house you lived in a year ago. Stephen knocks on the door and you step back as Wanda opens the door.

"Oh. Strange. How unusual-"

"We need your help. Y/N says that you-"

"Y/N!? Have you been in contact with her?? Not even Makkari or Sers-"

"That's because they're snitches." You walk up the familiar steps and smile sadly at her. "Hi, Wanda."

"Y/N. Y-you're here." She says and becomes teary-eyed.

"Yeah. We need your help."

-

"I'll get us some teas." You nod absentmindedly as you look around, everything was the way you left it. It felt like you've never left at all. The books were in the arrangement you did. The pictures and decorations were never removed. You smile a little at the pictures.

There were five on display.

One with you and the eternals.

One with Wanda and her brother Pietro.

One with you, Wanda, and everyone, as many as the frame could fit.

One with you and Wanda just hugging and smiling at each other.

One with Wanda and Vision.

"Whoa! This is you, right, Y/N??" America asks as she looks closely at the pictures, you didn't even notice her standing from the couch.

"Yeah. It's her. She lived here before." Wanda answers for you as she serves the tea. You hum, agreeing with her as you get your cup.

"So you know magic??" America tilts her head at you as she sits besides you again.

"Know, yes. Use? No." America tilts her head again so you chuckle. "I only know spells, uses, and stuff like that. I couldn't do it even if my life depended on it. Ask Sersei sometime, she knows how many times I tried to see if I ever had some sort of power." America hums.

"And you never discovered any?" You shake your head.

"Nope." You smile at her as you sip your tea. Oh shit. Did she-? You look at Wanda and she smiles at you.

"It's your favorite." She confirms and you sigh. "So, what did you three come here for? What can I do to help?"

"First, of all are you halfway through the darkhold?" You ask and Stephen glares at you.

"Uh. Yes. I am. I think I am." You hum.

"Can you call it and I can check?" Wanda nods and calls the darkhold to her hand, Stephen scoffs at you and you glare at him.

"Look away, for fuck's sake. A child's safety is on the line!" He grumbles as he leaves the house and America was about to follow him when you stop her. "Stay here for a minute. I need to confirm-" You open the darkhold and hum. "Yep. Halfway through. You can travel with America now."

"What?" Wanda asks and you hum.

"So, the predicament is this. America is being chased around by monsters. Darkhold monsters and so I have reason to believe that one of your variations is chasing her. Possibly, to either get her power or use her. I am not sure. So I need you to travel with America. With Stephen too and solve this."

"What? How?"

"By defeating the other you."

"WHAT!? HOW!?" You hum at her question.

"Simply put, you'll need to introduce a variation of me."

"You?" You nod and grin at her.

"You know the phrase, 'every me loves every you'?" Wanda nods at you. "I have reason to believe that is happening between us. Not everyone gets their shit together or end up together or even meet but still. Every variation of me will love every variation of you."

"How are you so sure-"

"Phastos made a device. I used it like a thousand times. Trust me in this. I-" your phone rings, effectively cutting you off. You look at it and see Phastos's name. "Speak of the eternal." You answer it. "Wait. You caught one??????" You hum. "Okay. Okay. I got it." You nod. "Yeah. I still have it." You nod again. "Got it. We'll be there." You hang up and look at Wanda. "Change of plans. We're going somewhere." You hold out your hand to her and she accepts it. That makes you smile, at least she isn't allergic to your touch. "Come on, America. Time to meet my family." You grin then go outside where Stephen was waiting. "Stephen, open the portal to Wakanda!" Stephen nods and does as you say.

"It's a good thing that you have Thena, huh?" You grin at him, agreeing with him.

-

You look at the monster then at Phastos then at Thena and Gilgamesh.

"You guys are seriously amazing. Thank you." You took out a pair of glasses from your pocket and toss it to Phastos. "As I said."

"Have you used it at all for the past year?" Phastos asked and you blush.

"Only a thousand more times." You scratch your neck. "One of the reasons why I never get bored."

"I'm just relieved you haven't decided to get Phastos to make you a multiverse traveling machine." Ajak says and you smile sadly at her.

"I had what they had. Mine was just the saddest attempt." You look at the ground knowing that most of the people there are looking at you.

"Done!" Phastos exclaims and you smile, relieved that the attention is off you. "So, this will hopefully will let us know which universe this creature is from and the glasses will guide us there."

"You mean them?" You point to Stephen, America and Wanda.

"What? You're not coming??" America asks as she gets your hand.

"Sorry, kid. I'll only slow you guys down." You ruffle her hair. You look at Wanda then smile at her. "Try to keep this kid safe. She's pretty unique. And she'll be able to help you too."

"Got it! Universe 567. That's where the monsters are from."

"Good. Here's how the glasses work." You begin instructing the three of them and making sure they knew what to do.

Wanda is to make sure that the traveling of the group is safe and sound, she can fight off the multidimensional monsters.

Stephen is to make sure to locate your variant.

America is to make the group travel freely.

You wave them goodbye and smile as they leave. You collapse to the ground and Makkari is by your side immediately.

"I'm okay. Just really-" you let the tears out and sob.

The dam finally breaking through. You don't know if you'll ever get over Wanda.

-

It took them a week to find you.

Turns out you were a pretty badass Black Widow in Universe 567. You were trained alongside Natasha so the two of you were like siblings.

567 you tried to refuse first but when she saw the monster firsthand, she finally relented and agreed.

Meeting 567 Wanda was chaos. She tried and tried to resist both her variant, Stephen and 567 you but when the avengers arrived, it was a done deal. 567 Wanda was captured and stopped. 567 you fought for her rehabilitation though, stating that you won't ever forgive yourself if you let another one fall to that deep abyss. 567 You promised to help her, to take care of her and teach her how to be compassionate again. As they were leaving Universe 567, Wanda couldn't help but smile as 567 you helps 567 Wanda to her feet.

It looks like your and hers 567 variants will be okay.

-

You were back in your old tattered hut in the Philippines. The peaceful home you've been at for the past half a year.

You hear your phone rings and hum.

"Yeah?" You answer it.

"They're back! Should I tell Makkari to get you?" Phastos asks and you sigh.

"No need. I had my time here already. Do you think Sersei has room in her apartment? I'd rather just room with her and Sprite."

"I'll ask her. So you're done avoiding her?" You laugh at that.

"Never. I'll be there." You hang up and look around. "Goodbye, peace." You leave and never look back.

PS.

Posting this since it's sitting in my draft. Not finished yet but wanted to get it out.

[drconstellation]

Goats, Crows and The Flood

Or why Crowley turns the goats into crows in the Job minisode

If you're reading that and thinking "eh, what's the Flood got to do with it?" then read on. It wasn't done just so Crowley got to change his name. It's never as simple as that. C'mon now, this is the GOmens AU, I'm not going to write a meta about something like this and not give you at least three if not four layers as to why, now, am I? Certainly not, and this one won't be any different.

Recently I picked up a book that has been sitting for far too long on a pile near my kitchen that needs sorting through called Parallel Myths* and in it is a section on Flood myths. (It's got lots of other good bits as well, but the Flood myths are what I want to talk about here.) The Flood is a wide-spread myth, with stories all around the world from India, to the Greek myths, to the Incas and Aztecs and in North America as well.

There are four stories that include crows as messengers who are sent to look out for land. The first is our familiar bible story. Oh, did you miss that bit? Yeah, I know, you keep getting told about the dove that represents the holy spirit that came back with the olive branch. Why would they want to tell you about a dirty old crow? And why is that crow dirty anyway? Ah, hold that thought...we'll come back to that shortly.

Another very famous story that include a crow being sent out to look for land after a great Flood is in the epic story of Gilgamesh. While on a journey Gilgamesh meets an old man named Utnaptishtim who tells the hero how he survived a great flood by building a boat after being warned by the gods to do so, and then floating for several days before coming to rest on a mountain top. At first he sent out a dove, but the dove returned. Then he sent out a swallow, but the swallow returned also, so he knew there was no land yet. But the third bird he sent out was a crow, and it didn't come back, so Utnaptishtim knew it was finally safe to leave.

There are also crows mentioned in two North American Flood myths, with the Cree and the Algonquin, and in both stories they are also sent to look out for land.

So why am I telling you this? Because of this:

Which is, as we know, is a bit of a play on words, but it establishes the association between the ungulate offspring and the human offspring when we run into the next occurrence of the innocent being killed on the Almighty's fickle whim in the Job minisode in S2. And we know our favourite demon is just not going to take that lying down that without some kind of protest.

So after delivering his open monologue to the goats, which gives an insight into himself, then being confronted by Aziraphale, and revealing he has a permit, from the Almighty Herself, no less, he turns Job's goats into crows.

(And if you've missed the bit about why the goats, and not the sheep, which the archangels kept going on about, its because sheep were seen as more "Christian" as the rams were considered faithful to their ewes, as good followers should be, but goats were observed to just do it with any-nanny, with no sense of commitment, if you get what I mean, so they were considered more "demonic" in nature.)

The bible seems to have a bit of a love-hate relationship with birds. On hand they can be used for food or sacrifices, on the other hand they are metaphorical demons! There is an association made between "birds of the air" and demons, waiting to pick off the weak (of thought) and young before they can be enfolded into the "safety" of the church.

Even the noble eagle is frowned upon in a way, as it eats carrion, or rotting meat. And that is something ravens and crows are known to do as well. This eating of dead animals, and humans on the field on the ancient battlefield, led crows to be associated with death and the afterlife, and by extension, transformation from one form to another.

(I can't help thinking at this point about the Sandman's assistant crow helper that travels between worlds, but also I've written a couple of metas about both Crowley and the Bentley being facilitators for the crossing of thresholds between different worlds.)

If you've ever had a close association with a crow or two- and I have, over several years, they can be wily opponents! - you come to respect their intelligence and adaptability, no matter how they might be frustrating you! **

The raven is also mentioned in the Book of Job 38:41

Who provideth for the raven his food? when his young ones cry unto God, they wander for lack of meat.

We didn't hear this line delivered to Job during the minisode, though we certainly heard some of the other lines from verses 38 and 39 that come before and after it. God is in the middle of telling Job about the universe, the earth and the creatures upon it, and how She looks after them. The line Jimbriel speaks about the morning stars all singing together is Job 38:7, for example. Just before mentioning this loathsome bird, She mentions that most noble of animals, the lion. But look, She also cares about ugly croaking raven fledglings that seem to get kicked out of the nest as soon as they can fly. How do they fend for themselves? It is seen as the mercy of God that she provides for each of the creatures of the Earth, both the lion and the raven. (Well, there's some interesting metaphorical links riiiight there...I hope I don't need to spell them out....)

So where are we? We've gone from a crow being a messenger for Noah, to kids/goats from the Flood scene in S1E3, to demon-associated goats being transformed into demon-associated crows in the Job minisode in S2E2, just before Job's human kids are saved from destruction by being transformed into geckos - which is also a significant symbolic creature for resurrection (which I explain in another meta.)

You know, I wouldn't be at all surprised if we loop back for a longer look at the Flood in S3. Kids, crows, a transformative experience...

Va-va-voom, here we come!

*Parallel Myths by J. F. Beirlein (1994) A Fascinating look at the common threads woven through the world's greatest myths - and the central role they have played through time. ISBN 0-345-38146-7

**I know there are corvids all around the world, and they can be shy, important birds in the ecosystem but here in Australia they can also be big bullies who know they are bigger than the other birds and throw their weight around accordingly and then do gross stuff like dirty up the backyard bird bath by finding discarded sandwiches and dog bones or even Lego blocks and drop them in to "soften" them for later consumption and just leave a filthy mess there for everybird else. yyyiikkk.

[anime-in-new-albion]

Old Books ~ Dan Heng

Summary: You're looking for a new book to read, so you decide to see if Dan Heng has any. This leads to the two of you engaging in a debate about books and languages to learn...

Pairing: Dan Heng X G/N!Reader

Genre: Fluffy Drabble

Word Count: 582

Warning: Dan Heng is a bit OOC. This is an AU to the highest degree.

Masterlist

“All I’m saying is Don Quixote was not that great of a book.” You shrugged, perusing one of Dan Heng's many bookshelves.

“And I’m saying you’re absolutely wrong.” He shook his head. “Don Quixote is a charming novel I found on Terra. It was funny and thought provoking at the same time.”

"I never thought I'd live to see the day you call a novel funny, especially one from Terra." You shake your head with a teasing smile.

He shot you a glare. "Forgive me for not being textbooks and calculations all the time."

You held your hands up in mock surrender. "I never said that! But I’m sorry. I just found Don Quixote boring.”

Dan Heng scoffed. “Let me guess. You liked those Jane Austen and Brontë novels instead, didn’t you?”

You looked over at him, horrified. “Oh hell no! Wuthering Heights was worse than Don Quixote by a long shot! Heathcliff was the absolute worst!”

He smirked and shook his head. “You’re correct in that observation. I never understood how writers from that age thought those stories were romantic. Are there any classical novels from Terra you do like?”

You paused to think. “Good question. Well, I think the Count of Monte Cristo was really good, one of my favorites actually. A Tale of Two Cities is also pretty good. And I did enjoy reading Anna Karenina and War and Peace.”

One of his eyebrows perked up. “You read War and Peace?”

“More like I skimmed through it.” You mumbled, letting out an awkward giggle. 

Dan Heng shook his head again. “You should read it some time. I think you might enjoy it after you get past all the fluffy 19th century language.”

“I’ll be sure to look into it if I can find it. You never clean up around here. It makes it hard to find anything in this place.”

“Everything has a place and everything is in its place.” He reminded you, his voice sharp.

You rolled your eyes, before muttering under your breath. “Yeah well it seems the place for everything is all over the floor.”

“I heard that!”

All you could do was laugh and hope he didn’t kill you. However, after digging through the shelves some more, you were surprised when he handed you a large book with the words War and Peace printed on the front. You took it, surprised that it felt lightweight despite how big it was.

“Found it.”

“So you did.”

As Dan Heng went back to looking for a new book to read, which was easier said than done, he asked, “So, what’s the oldest book you’ve read?”

“Hmm, probably the Epic of Gilgamesh.”

He nodded. “Not a bad little epic. But I’ve read books older than that.”

You rolled your eyes again. “Of course you have. It's your thing. You love reading books from way back when and from all over the universe. You can probably read every language in the universe and understand it. Even dead languages!”

“Well, I could teach you some if you’d like.” He shrugged.

You perked up. “Please? There are so many cool languages I’d love to learn and use to both impress and scare people with.”

He laughed. “Alright. Pick a language and we’ll start learning when we both have time.”

Nodding, you added smoothly. “You better be prepared for all the love notes in multiple languages I’m going to send you when we're traveling through planets.”

He sighed. "I don't doubt it."

[tgrailwar-zero]

Can we cast polarity_haze (light effect, no healing) into the dragon bot's "eyes" to (hopefully) mess up it's sensors so it can't aim at anything? :D

BLOODY_DRAGOON: "-♬-♬♬---!"

You threw out a brief flash of light, the massive automaton becoming briefly disoriented.

RICHARD: "Now- let's end this!"

You pulled out the rusty sword, remembering what ZABIKO told you. Push your magical energy through. You focused, hard, as the blade shimmered, and RICHARD shone with a similar glow.

Success.

And with that boost set--

He hit the ground running, armored boots thudding against the ground as he swiftly increased in speed.

While LANCELOT's attacks were heavy, yet visible, all you could make from RICHARD's continuous assault was a blur of glistening armor. Faster and faster, the more he pressed the assault. Like a shooting star, he attacked again and again, his sword carving more and more openings as he searched for the right one.

RICHARD: "Again, again, again! Can you keep up, giantess?!"

The massive automaton's arms flailed wildly, weapons firing off in desperation, the thrusters on the wings sputtering and flaring, attempting to take off. A death roll of sorts, as the chains around it strained under the pressure.

The young king clenched his fists, sweat beading down his face. He grit his teeth, his brow tightening as he focused.

Certainly- he wasn't about to let these chains- the manifestation of his greatest bond, be outdone by a machine! Even with this weakened body, he was still the hero Gilgamesh!

GIL: "Just… a little… longer! Saber- look out!"

The automaton threw out a massive fist, hands plummeting towards the knights like an incoming meteor.

A hit from that would be devastating, certainly, and even with RICHARD's speed, dodging with enough care to completely avoid damage would be difficult. It was aiming at the central point of his motion, the most common area he had bounced off from- it had done the calculations, and was prepared for the Lionheart's speed.

So, forget dodging, then!

The black-clad knight roared, leaping towards it with reckless abandon, before the sharpened claws of his gauntlets dug into the metal of two of the fingers. The knight bellowed, yanking his weight downwards, the moment his feet touched the ground, he rolled back.

LANCELOT: "HUUU---AAAAHHH!!"

In a feat of strength that could only be defined as 'heroic', the automaton- several times the size of LANCELOT and currently in the midst of setting off several weapons, was thrown into the opposite wall, slamming into it. The chains, tightening, pinned it to the ground thoroughly, leaving it exposed.

GIL: "There, Saber! Right there!"

The boy yelled, pointing to an exposed section in the hull that pulsed with a faint white glow.

RICHARD: "Aha! You have my thanks, Sir Lancelot! King Gilgamesh!"

The king jumped back, spinning, his sabotons leaving a trail of sparks from the sheer speed and weight of his movement. The crimson of his eyes flared as he readied his sword, shining and brilliant. His face glinted with a handsome, maniacal excitement as he grinned, locking onto his target like a lion would focus in on their prey.

The machine attempted to push itself back up to a standing position, struggling and straining against both the chains and the heavy damage that had been inflicted upon it.

RICHARD darted forward, a blur again as he leapt up into the air, and you saw him holding his sword with triumphant might- both hands clasped the hilt, prepared to slam them downwards.

His voice, deep and proud like the roar of a lion, echoed within your ears as he shouted.

RICHARD: "Behold! Today I become a dragon-slayer!"

He slammed his sword into the hull of the massive automaton, as it let out an ear-splitting cry- deafening noise radiating out of it. RICHARD shoved his blade deeper still, the brief bit of sword that you could see visible glowing with a golden light as he yelled-

RICHARD: "Now, BEGONE--!!"

And there was a massive eruption of light as magical energy surged from you, to him, to his sword- the light spearing through the massive automaton as it slammed back down onto the ground from the force of the strike, the eyes flickering and dulling.

RICHARD backflipped off the mechanical monster and landing gracefully, LANCELOT leaping off and hitting the ground with a heavy, sturdy thud, effortlessly rolling back up to his feet.

The monster was felled... unfortunately, there wasn't time to celebrate.

Yet.

Something heavy creaked, as you heard more rumbling around the lab. Warning sirens began to blare as well.

GIL: "So-- Should we get going?"

RICHARD: "Yes! Let us make haste! Hold on tight, Masters!"

Before you could either protest or consent, you were swept up into the arms of the king in a princess-carry as he began sprinting to the exit.

He pushed ahead of the others, reaching the ladder that led you up- and instead of climbing, squatted down before making a massive vertical leap and, when mid-air and faced with a door, swung one armored leg to kick it cleanly open.

You made it outside, the cold night air cooling the pounding in your head.

GIL: "…And this is why you explore every part of a dungeon before fighting the boss."

You heard the sound of collapse, distant and echoing, from the underground laboratory.

Now you could celebrate. And check your spoils.

[ You gained 1000 PPT! You gained 'Silver Sárkány Scale'! You gained 'Memoria Fragment I'! You gained 'Authorization Token - E'! ]

GIL: "I guess you'll have to find another lab to use that on. But I'd call that a successful mission! Good work!"

He laughed- the sound bright and childlike- before wobbled on his feet a bit, leaning against a tree to remain standing.

...And, with the adrenaline fading, the injuries from the brawl set in.

[ GIL had taken 2 damage! LANCELOT had taken 2 damage! RICHARD had taken 3 damage! ]

RICHARD: "Is everything alright, King of Heroes?"

GIL: "I'm fine... sorry, this body of mine isn't super suited for combat. Let's get back to the camp, okay? We've all earned some rest... and you're heading out soon, right?"

RICHARD: "Very well. Lead the way."

[amassimgwires]

Hey, Snow here. Apologies for the delay. I could not decide for the life of me what to actually write down for you all; I have a couple of drafts saved. But, I eventually ended up on this; this is for all the up and coming pilots and those who are yet to be:

So, You're looking to buy a frame?

Independent Contractor, Mercenary work, or simply because you always wanted to; The Mechical Frames offered by many manufacturers are symbols of power and control, and the dream of earning the title Lancer fresh in many of minds. But, getting into the field requires a lot of work and knowledge one wouldn't think you would need. Due to this and a lot of technical jargon, many people find it hard to make the first dive into their very first purchase.

One of the first things you want to do is take your H.A.S.E test, get to know yourself before you start getting second skins. HASE Scores are symbols of your ability and knowledge, and often help with getting licenses. Than, once you done that; consider your options. Below, I list some basic recommendations as well as what to avoid.

Starting off, The GMS Everest. Old Reliable, the most common frame in the galaxy, Union's brain child of plates and wires. The Everest is often advertised as THE starting frame, and for good reason. It can be built to do nearly anything, and it comes with access to the basic GMS Catalog of frame weaponry. It also is hy far the safest option to get used to linking your nervous system to your frame, for it has high performance output but is still grounded by many safety systems to make sure a new pilot can handle it.

The Everest also has, by far, the most deadly Alpha Strike capabilities of any frame. Slam that hyperspace fuel rod into your reactor, and feel the power flow through your frame. It is among the fastest frames in the galaxy, only beaten by a select few. The Everest strikes hard, strikes quickly, and due to GMS systems being very modular and made to be easily replaced- extremely simple to maintain and field. This is your best option if you plan on not taking prolonged engagements.

But, what if you want more durability in the actual engagement, while sacrificing the easy repairs? Enter the Harrison Armory Standard Issue frame, The Gilgamesh. This is what I pilot, and what my father piloted when he was still an Legionnare- and alive. Harrison has built this frame to directly compete with the Everest, and it shows. The most basic lisceneing comes with an Heavy Battle Rifle, the super thermal blade, and utility drones. And, arguably the crowning jewels, the Emergency Repair Module and the Harrison Patented 'Exoframe Staged Designed'. These systems increase the effective durability of a Gilgamesh by repairing systems on the spot, either by whitewashing damage along the armor of the frame or replacing a damaged weapon or limb on the spot.

The Everest may have the most deadly Alpha Strike, but the Gilgamesh has the ability to outlast nearly any other frame. It can also field more supplies than any other frame can hope to without excessive weight gain or stress on the structure. Grenades, Turrets, Mines, Whitewash or Greywash canisters; it has room for more. The only thing the Gilgamesh loses out on is E-Warfare, which the Everest barely beats it out with the high output of its systems applying to ALL functions. Though, the Everest isn't even the best option in that regard, so the loss is negligible.

These two are likely your best starting options, though they are some alternatives I will briefly mention later down. But here I should make a very quick PSA: Never start off with an SSC frame. Yes, they are high performance and can easily compete with the frames of Harrsion Armory. However, these frames are almost always high mantience, are tailor made for you, EXPENSIVE, and are highly specialized. Even the famed Metalmark, the most versatile frame, in the SSCs roster, is designed for Stealth in mind. Reactive Weaves are finicky at best, and shock knives puts a lot of demand on your reactor for inexperienced pilots. And if you plan to pilot via neuro-link? Forget it. Those frames will drown you in data if it's your first time through.

And while we are on the topic of systems- HORUS flagged systems and tech. I wanted to save this for another post, but I think it's best to mention this here. HORUS frames are very much entry level to those who have no idea where to look for the more advanced frames- and that's by design. The Kobold is easy to find a simple program to convert your local mining rig into, because it was made for irregulars rebelling in Karrakin Space. The Manticore reveals itself to those who have the insane devotion to pilot one. HORUS knows you are looking. And even if you aren't looking, you will end up with it eventually. HORUS tech should be handled with care, and be trusted as much as an IPS-N Naval officer with a Caliban behind it.

Speaking of, the entire IPS-N line-up easily falls into a realm of recommendations. They don't NEED to be fancy. They don't need all that high output of SSC and Harrsion Armory. They take beatings and are by far some of the most violent frames out there. The Caliban is a weapon of naval warfare, the Lancaster and Kidd logistical frames prepped for battle. Never think a IPS-N is harmless, for IPS-N frames and pilots will beat you with a hammer it round on the floor if it had too, and resorts to that very quickly.

Now, these recommendations are made from the knowledge of me, my sister, our Father, and Wires experiences. Wires would be better equipped to make recommendations for e-warfare frames, for that has never been my strong suit. But, these should get most pilots through the initial hurdle of figuring out where to start.

[yurisorcerer]

Well this is a fucking mess.

Anyone who follows me on bluesky has seen my extensive livetweet thread about this season of Uma Musume.

The short version? I really wanted to like this. I know it's widely considered the show's weakest season and I admit part of me enjoys being contrarian in the positive direction, so I was looking forward to coming out of it going "errrmmmm actually? You guys just don't get it 🤓", but no it actually is pretty fucking rough. Sometimes the popular opinion is the correct one.

I don't wanna repeat myself from my thread too much but I do really think the biggest issue is the protagonist. Kitasan Black gets *so* close to being interesting several times but she never actually manages it, which leaves her this weird sucking void of charisma throughout much of the show, and it is impossible to get invested in a protagonist like that.

In lieu of showing us what she's like---which the series *does* do to be fair but only in relatively small spurts---the season leans very heavily on having other characters stump for her like they're her campaign managers or something. We get character boosting from the entirety of the Season 1 cast, a good chunk of Season 2's cast, a random group of local farmers' market produce sellers that she's friends with, her own roommate Satono Diamond, etc.

This is all to cover up the fact that she's a self-contradictory mess of a character; she's supposed to be an underdog who wins through pure grit and effort---"cool but not slick." A workhorse, not a performer---but she's the "festival girl" who loves winning because the crowds of people remind her of festival lights. And she -does- win, constantly, despite the show's attempts to paint her as, again, an underdog. Her nominal rivals---Satono Diamond, Duramente, Cheval Grande, Satono Crown---all have much less screen time than she does (of course they do, there's fucking four of them!) and none of them ever even come close to being a credible match for her with the possible exception of Diamond who fucks off to France near the end of the show and sits out its final arc.

Even all this would be excusable if we were meant to think that Kitasan was a flawed character, but we're clearly not! Any time the show leans in to one of her rare actual character flaws; the way she takes victory for granted until it stops being guaranteed, her absolutely bonkers treatment of Nice Nature, the sour, deep vein of selfishness that is occasionally just barely visible in her desire to turn her crowds into "festivals." All of it vanishes before it's ever given too much focus or attention, as though the series is utterly afraid that you might stop liking Kitasan if it shows her to be too flawed. It does not stop to consider what might happen if you just never start liking her in the first place, as it clearly expects that simply by showing you that she's a Tokai Teio fangirl---and *god* do they drive that point home---you'll relate to her instantly. No further work to be done. Just about the only character flaw she *does* retain is her constant, petulant whining, which is definitely not the kind of trait that endears anyone to anyone. A lot of the series develops a plodding, ponderous quality because so much time is spent on Kitasan trying to figure out "why she races" when the answer turns out to just fucking basically boil down to "because she likes winning." Which, no shit girl!!

They would never do this, just by virtue of what Uma Musume is, but the series would honestly be much more compelling if she was just a complete, arrogant dickhead. Like, Fate/ Gilgamesh levels of conceited. That must seem like an utterly insane comparison to anyone who hasn't seen this show, but I promise the base ingredients *are* there if the series knew how to cook with them, chiefly her immense entitlement; to victory, to the attention of other people. Which, again, is a character flaw, but not something the show actually seems to want to acknowledge as one, so it turns away from it any time it's in view for too long.

All told, I just compare her to literally any other protagonist from this series---Special Week, her idol Tokai Teio, Narita Top Road, Jungle Pocket, Oguri Cap....---and she doesn't measure up to ANY of them. I really wanted to like her, and I kind of still do like the *idea* of her raised by some of the show's unspoken implications, but we never get to actually meet that character, so she remains a shadow in her own show.

The series does have its saving graces. The supporting cast is fairly strong, although, unfortunately, none of them really get compelling or interesting character arcs other than maybe Cheval Grand, who pulls off an upset victory in one of the show's last episodes and really feels like the only character who actually gets out of this season more rounded than she entered it. Satono Diamond almost does, but the series drops her thread of wanting to go to France and compete in the Arc de Triomphe race shortly after she leaves for Europe because, again, part of the appeal of Uma Musume is that they're writing around actual race records and the *actual* Satono Diamond came in *fifteenth* when she ran that race (a fact translated to this series via a single blink-and-you'll-miss-it shot of a newspaper headline).

It probably acquits itself best visually; there's a clear transitional style here between the plasticky smoothness of season 2 and the more refined, fiery, expressive art that was to come for the Uma Musume films and has since been refined further and made grittier for Cinderella Gray. The races thus tend to be the standout moments, and while I have a LOT of problems with the finale, visually it's fucking excellent. No notes there.

In general, I suppose I'd say that this feels like the season that is most defined by the limitations of what "Uma Musume" actually is; ultimately, this shit is all just meant to get you invested in the gacha game and, hey, if you get into actual horse racing too, nice bonus for the bigwigs. Usually I can look past that, because the series is good enough---before and after this---at writing around the real-life events it's loosely based on to still craft compelling stories out of them. That is NOT true here, and the series suffers immensely from feeling like it's constantly hitting the seams of its format in terms of story, structure, and characterization.

The nice way to put it, I guess, is that this is a transitional work, a rough patch between the formula of the previous two Team Spica series, and the more inventive and expressive stuff that was just around the corner. In that, I can respect what it was trying to do even if I don't actually like it, but it's always sad when you can so clearly imagine a much better show in your own mind than the one that exists, especially when the one that exists is this much of a slog.