#why do I feel like its some oracle like character

[hadesnumber1daughter]

Pretty like the sun

Pairing: Percy Jackson x Apollo daughter OC (she classes as an oc cause I gave her a name but you can just read it like your name or Y/N if you want, I just feel better when I'm writing and the characters have names :)

Summary: Percy has always felt something for you, something that you had felt aswell. These quests of life and death finally knocked some sense into you two.

Warnings: Blood, Pain, Agony, Violence, Weapons, Wounds, Wound treating, Curse words, Oblivious idiots, Fluff, Angsty??, Sexual tension, Mutual pining, Almost death, Non-Canon, Hugs, Kisses, Holding hands, Ooc Percy??? Cerberus as a violent dog (ik she isnt really but this is my imagine so idc), Not proof-read, GUT-WRENCHING LOVE, IDK how i wrote this considering I've never been in a relationship OR have ever had an actual crush in my 16 sad years of life

Words: 6.3k

Notes: This is my first imagine so I'm sorry if its bad😭😭. Also if anyone would be willing to give me a few pointers when it comes to working this app as a creator please do cause, yeah I've been using this app for years but I have no idea how to use it when it comes to posting things. I would be very grateful. ❤️❤️❤️. Also, if anyone wants to request something else for me to write I would love to write something for either Percy or Luke, I'll probably make a list of people who I'm willing to write for later today cause it is 10am rn and I haven't slept so I'll just go bed after this 😭😭😭

As soon as percy got handed this quest, with Grover being part of the cloven council and Annabeth being gone to spend time with her family, Percy knew his immediate first choice would be Aurora, there was no doubt about it. The Apollo girl had a spark about her that has drawn him in the second he laid eyes on her.

He had deemed it because she was a daughter of Apollo so there would always be some sort of light that would draw him in, but he hasnt been very sure of that for a very long time. Every time he laid eyes on her, it felt as though time stood still and she was the only source of light and happiness in this dark, gloomy world. 

They had became extremely close when he first came to camp, she taught him the ropes in archery as to put it plainly, he was absolutely shit at it. He had no aim and his stance was awful, in her own words.

When she first said that to him, he wanted to throw her in a dumpster, but then he saw her, he properly saw her. He didnt know what Aphrodite looked like, but he was sure she would be a spitting image of the girl. He was even more sure that she was a daughter of Aphrodite but instead she was not, which made sense as to why she was hanging around the archery booth. From that day forward, she helped him freshen his archery skills, and he helped her with her sword skills.

He has never understood why she wouldnt ask Luke as he was the best swords-man and would probably be a better trainer. However, when he brough it up to her one time her cheeks flushed the tiniest bit and she stated how she was helping him, so he should do that same.

That's how they have ended up here. In the middle of nowhere, trying to find and 'kill' a beast that has been accidently lost and let out from the underworld and send it back. Although quests always have 3 people on them, the oracle specifically stated that this was only a 2 person job. Percy had never been so sure in picking Aurora at that moment in time. 

🌊

"Are you sure we are going the right way Perce, I swear I've seen this tree 3 times already" Aurora stated this time taking a dagger and marking said tree with an X so if they do cross it again, she would be right.

"You never trust my navigation skills sunshine, why is that, is it cause you always get lost in my eyes" he says turning to look at her with a smug smile on his face. The girl abruptly stopped at his turn and could feel the blood rush to her cheeks in that moment, her honey-brown eyes immediately locked with his water coloured eyes and she broke the gaze, not letting him have the satisfaction of being right.

"You wish seaweed brain" she muttered and walked past him knocking into his shoulder in the process which led to him letting out a dramatic gasp.

"That hurts sunshine. Where are you going, it's getting dark, we should stop, set up camp and get some rest so we can re-think and re-strategize." The girl slowly stops her steps and turns her back to the boy who is standing there leaning against a tree with his arms crossed giving her a cocky glance that makes her want to die and kill him at the same time. 

The two had a stand-off for a bit before one decided to speak up.

"As long as I don't have to scavenge this creepy forest for wood then its fine by me" the girl said walking back to him while his eyes following her every movement till she was a few steps away from him. The girl went to grab something from her pocket with her left hand and with her right, she grabbed the boys arms and dragged her hand down it, to his hand which automatically opened up. She placed something cold into it with her left hand.

He looked at her and she had a glint in her eyes he hadn't seen for the past 12 hours, looking to his palm, he was a coin. Not just any ordinary coin or ordinary drachma. It was a coin from sea life, the one coin they give to one another which can be used for many thing, they talked it over before the quest. The coin can only be used for 2 things during this quest, to make sure the other doesnt die, or the person who has been handed the coin has to do what the person giving the coin wants no matter what.

He looked up at her with a confused look but seeing the mischief in her eyes gave enough away. Sighing he pocketed the coin and stepped away from the tree which only left 3 steps in-between the two. 

"What do you want me to do" not even bothering arguing.

"I want to see you fail at making a fire" she said just giving him the brightest smile, basically oozing sunlight from her. The boy felt like a deer stuck in headlights in that moment, he almost forgot the reason for her heavenly smile. He wanted to tell her he loved her right there and then, that he could never get enough of her, that he searched for her in every room he ever walked into, that she was the one and only constant source of light in his life, that she was the sun and he would orbit her in every universe no matter how close he got, no matter how much it destroyed him. He was utterly inconsolable without her. He loved her.

"Aurora" the boy started to say, in a serious tone which immediately made the girl's smile falter as she looked into his eyes, he didnt need to say anything. His eyes spoke more words than he would have liked, enough for the girl to get the message and understand him. All of the glances, the subtle touches, the comfort of each other like no other. She felt and understood it all. 

He was about of continue when a roar sounded, echoing in all directions and rustling the trees. The two could hear the howl of Cerberus all around them. Percy immediately uncapped riptide while Aurora unclasped her bracelet which turned into a bow and an unlimited supply of arrows. 

The both circled back to back, covering each others blind spot like muscle memory. They could feel the ground shake with each step the otherworldly creature took. 

"How are we going to do this?" the girl asked while keeping an eye on all of her surroundings. 

"You distract with your arrows as they are long-range and while she's focused on you, I'll go for the kill shot"

"She can't die" she could feel him rolling her eyes as the words left her mouth.

"You know what I mean" 

They could hear the low growl from the side of them. The three-headed beast emerged in all its glory with its 6 menacing eyes ready to rip these two teens to shreds and send the wrong beings in this equation to the underworld. Percy turned to stand next to Aurora and the girl grabbed his hand and squeezed to which he immediately responded. There were many unspoken words that had been said in the past 10 minutes and this was another addition 'dont die, be safe, come back to me'.

Slipping through her fingers, his hand left hers and quietly stalked away before the beast could get any idea there were 2 of them. Wishing the best for the boy, she instantly got the dogs attention by shooting an arrow at the middle head's nose. 

It did not like that.

They all barked at once and got ready to run at the girl. She didn't like to admit it but she was fucking terrified. Cerberus ran at her and she leapt to the side and ran as fast as she could not looking back until she could feel he's a little away from her. She got another arrow ready in her bow and blindly shot it behind her. 

She heard a small whimper which brought a smirk to her face but that was immediately wiped away as she heard the barking intensify. Hiding behind a tree the girl caught her breaths and looked for the hound and she couldnt spot it or Percy. She got another arrow ready and looked behind the tree once again but was faced with the thing she was hunting. 

Fear spread to every part of her body and she had no time to brace the impact as the dog clawed the tree which in return clawed her. She let out a bloodcurdling scream as she was flung into another tree. The bark from the destroyed tree splintered her, her head hit against a tree on impact and the large gash on her side felt like a fire that was melting her skin off. The girl felt her breath stick in her throat, she felt as though she was dying as immense pain filled her and black spots invaded her vision. Only one other thing was on her mind.

Percy.

The ocean eyed boy lost sight of Cerberus immediately as it began to chase Aurora, his Aurora. He followed as fast as he could not wanting anything bad to happen to the girl he loved before he got any chance to be with her, to confess and to just live a life content with his feelings. 

As he heard, the whoosh of Aurora's arrows increase, he could feel himself being uncapable of keeping up with the beast from the underworld and he cursed himself for it. He lost sight of Cerberus and it scared him, it was too quiet. He couldn't hear the creature or the girl he loved. 

His heartbeat quickened as he looked all around him trying to see a glimpse of either of them. 

Then all blood drain out of his face when he heard the one sound he wished he did not have to hear, ever. Aurora's scream made his heart almost leap out of his chest. He didnt know what to do, he didnt know where she was, he couldnt see the hound, its his fault, she going to die because of him. 

She most certainly is going to die if you dont get a fucking move on, that one voice in his head said. And he pushed all the doubts to the back of his head and focused on 2 things. Defeating Cerberus and finding Aurora. 

He could hear the three-headed dogs footsteps and instantly ran to it. It didnt see him coming and it's tail was on the ground so he didnt the best thing he could think of. He ran up the tail onto the body of the beast.

This elicited loud barking from the beast and Percy could only do one thing. Repeatedly stab the dog until it dissolved. 

Now... admittedly, this was not a good strategy. It was fucking awful. There was no thought to his stabs, they all just angered the beast and considering she was quite resistance to stabs, it wasnt helping. He was just tiring himself out. 

He then has the genius idea of stabbing the beast in the eye, or eyes. He started with the left head. The beast let out a large whimper, and stumbled which cause the boy to almost loose his grip on it. He wasnt going to stop now, he needed to send Cerberus back and get to Aurora.

Aurora. Her scream was echoing in his mind. Bouncing around his skull like he has no brain inside, only her gut-wrenching scream.

He subtly shook his head. As much as he was dreading where she was and if she was okay. He needed to secure Cerberus and he needed all attention to so it as fast a possible to get back to his sunshine.

He then stabbed riptide into both the right heads eyes. Percy knew what to expect this time so he braced himself and held on as tight as he could. He could not fail now. He was too close.

The dog slumped onto the floor which made percy's last task much more easier. With agility and caution the boy leapt onto the middle head and punctured the eyes out which evoked a whimper which made the boy feel bad for the animal and it slowly turned to dust. 

In an instant the boy caught his breath and his mind raced with only one thing. 

Aurora.

"Aurora! Sunshine! Where are you?" The boy felt as though he could not breathe. His head was spinning trying to find her in the mountains of trees and in the darkness of this forest, he has never needed to see her more now than any other time. 

"Aurora! Please if you can hear me make a sound! Anything so I know you're alive" He would never leave her. He would die before he left her to rot in these woods. He would never be able to face the guilt and loss.

"Please! Say SOMETHING" he could feel himself getting frustrated. "HELP! SOMEONE, ANYONE" tears welded in his eyes trying to find her. 

There was a rustle of leaves from the left side behind him. He was running to the sound before it even registered in the back of his mind. He kept hearing the rustling and a small whimper. 

He saw a faint glow of light behind a tree and he held his breath for the sight that was to come. He skidded to a stop and fell on his knees infront of her.

His heart dropped to his stomach when he saw her. Her face was significantly paler than when he left her and she had a wood splinter sticking out of her thigh and worst of all, the 4 claw marks across her abdomen with blood everywhere, it seemed to have stopped pouring, but it was a nauseating sight to see. He didnt know what to do. 

"Aurora, darling, open your eyes" his hands reached her cheeks and his thumb rubbed circled on her cheek and his two fingers made their way to her neck to check her pulse. He let out a sigh of relief when he felt a pulse. It was faint but not too faint to the point it would slip too far out of his grasp. 

He reached for his bag on his back to get some first aid supplies, ambrosia and nectar for the girl, when she let out a pained gasp.

The girl had barely an recollection of anything, the only thing on her mind at the moment was the immense pain shooting through her whole body, It felt like she was on fire and couldnt breathe. She wanted to die.

Then her vision cleared and she saw the golden haired boy looked at her like she was the only thing in the whole world, he held so much worry in his eyes that she thought for a second if she was already dead and it was her spirit seeing his reaction to her death.

"Gods, Aurora, you're okay. You had be so worried, I was terrified, I cannot lose you. If I lost you I would lose myself" The boy held one hand to her cheek while speaking so intently to her.

In that one moment she could feel his stare, like clockwork, bubble something inside of her. It almost made her forget why she was on the ground, why she could taste something metallic in the back of her mouth, why she couldnt move her right leg. It almost took it away. Almost.

That fire spread throughout her body again and she couldnt stop the wail that left her mouth. The pain was nauseating. A flood of curses left Percy's mouth as he grabbed the bottle of nectar and opened it.

"Okay, sunshine, I know you're in a lot of pain but I'm going to give you some nectar, you need to drink it but you need to sit up a little straighter." The girl immediately shook her head as a no in response to the boy. 

"I know. The amount of times we've both had to do it but you know deep down that its the only thing that will fix it." The girl tried to harden her stare at the boy but she was too weak to even look at him properly.

"O-okay, but... I can't" she inhaled sharply as she tried to move the slightest bit. She didn't have to finish her sentence for the boy to understand what she was trying to say. He took one his flannel button ups from his bag, scrunched it up and gave it to her. She could only give him a confused look.

"Put it in your mouth, bite down hard cause I'm gonna move you into the right position and its gonna be a pain. I'm sorry sunshine but I have to." She took it with her shaking hands and was about to put it in her mouth when she smelt it, sea salt and musk, then the girl really looked at what the item of clothing was. 

"this is yours" she said in a hoarse voice, looking up at him, confusion plastered all over her features.

"Well I dont exactly know where your bag is so next best thing." he gave her a weak smile and moved closer to her but she weakly grabbed his hand.

"I'm scared" she whispered so pathetically but the boy understood, he knew her. He knew that he needed to keep talking to her, to make sure he is doing something close enough to her for her to know that she's still alive. 

He only interlaced their fingers and pressed a kiss to the back of her hand. 

"I won't let go, I promise. You aren't leaving me, not after everything we have been through together" the girl's eyes welled with tears but she nodded and stuffed her mouth with Percy's flannel. 

He wrapped his arms around her from the side, where he was sitting and placed a kiss in the hair before counting down.

"3...2..." the boy didnt get to 1 before he pulled her up so she was sitting not laying down and with the movement came muffled screams and tears that flowed down the girls face. He was whispering sweet nothings in her ear as she lent into him and he repeatedly kissed her hair or forehead. 

"I'm sorry sunshine, I really am. When you're all better I promise you can hit me" he tried to uplift her but she could barely hear him. Her body shook and agony filled her every sense. He couldn't even express the guilt and regret he felt for the girl, immediately grabbing the nectar, and slowly taking his flannel out of her mouth. 

"You're doing great sweetheart" he says while slowly pouring the nectar into her mouth. Her head is resting against his shoulder as she swallows the drink down in small sips. After she drank it, Percy put it away and the girl began to close her eyes.

"Hey, hey, sunshine you can't be doing that right now. Come on I need to patch you up and then we need to get back to camp, I'll call blackjack. I know how much you like riding on him" he lifts her head off his shoulder and places her on the tree, but this time sitting up so he has easy access to her abdomen. 

She opened one eye and slightly smiled at the boy.

"You're gonna call blackjack?" the girl asked a bit delirious but seemingly in less pain. This brought a instant smile to him as he let out a chuckle, nodding his head while grabbing gauze and 2 bandage rolls.

"I promise I will, but you have to make sure to keep fighting okay. Once this is over, I have something special to tell you" He came loser to the girl and her breath slowed for a moment. 

He looked at her abdomen and a thought crossed his head that made blood rush to his cheeks, he was thankful the girl was delirious and it was dark or else he would simply wallow away. He cleared his throat and looked back up to the girl.

"I'm going to have to cut your shirt off so I can access the cuts and clean them properly" he looked into her eyes once but couldnt face her after that.

"okay" she whispered in return, locking her eyes onto his every move. 

The boy went back into his bag and grabbed a pair of scissors then faced the girl again. He could feel her watchful eyes on him the entire time and he hated to say it but that small voice in the back of his head was wishing she was a bit more delirious right now so he wasnt under her scrutiny while undressing her. Clearing his throat again, he begins to speak.

"Just tell me when to slow down or when to stop, if it gets too painful for you and I'll stop and slow down, okay" he looked to her for reassurance and an okay, to which she nodded.

He didn't know how to position himself so he just opted for kneeling next to her, facing her. He then grabbed the scissors and started to cut her top. Starting from the bottom to the top. As he reached the first claw mark the girl hissed as the shirt was stuck to the wound due to all the dried blood. Percy automatically stopped what he was doing. 

"No, no, keep going, don't stop now otherwise we will never get this done and I can't go back to camp cause I'll be dead" her honey-brown eyes were glossed with tears and the boy just wanted to hold her in his arms until the end of time in a place where they aren't fighting monsters all the damn time and in a place where they can settle down, have fun and just enjoy their life like regular teenagers.

"Don't say that so casually, you are not going to die. Not when you have me. Not when I'll always be here for you, patching you up, nursing you back to health forever. I will never in a million years let you die. I swear on the river Styx." 

She couldn't say anything to him, he will always render her speechless. She just nodded her head as tears cascaded down her cheeks to which he wiped away and placed a kiss on her forehead. Feeling the warmth off eachother brought a sense of peace to them that no one else could ever fill. 

He finished wiping her tears away and then continued cutting her shirt away from the wound. Every time she hissed, winced or flinched, the boy had the overwhelming urge to stop everything he was doing as long as it stopped bring her more pain. Whenever this would happen, the girl would softly squeeze his knee, as her hand was resting there to make sure he was still close to her and was still okay and breathing. 

This reassured him immensely but it did not stop him from the guilt that was drowning him. This would not have happened if it wasn't for him. She would not be in this position right now if he just chose someone else to go on the quest with. She had almost died due to his decision making. He chose her, he told her the plan, the plan that put her straight into danger, he didnt even second guess his choice, he put her into the battlefield without even asking her properly. Whatever he said went. 

The boy had not realised that during his intense self-loathing session, he zoned out and stopped the task at hand.

"Perce?" the girl asked while bringing her hand from his knee to his bicep. "Are you okay? whats going on in your kelp filled brain?" she said with a half smile as the boy looked up at her.

"Nothing, its okay. Just zoned out for a sec" he replied in an instant, looked away from her and continued to cut her shirt away. He was almost at her breasts and he could feel himself getting a bit hot. Obviously, there was no reason to in this situation but just being so close and intimate to her in a non sexual way made him flustered, he couldn't even imagine of it was in a sex- STOP. He shouted at his brain.

She let out a whimper of pain and a few laboured breaths as Percy carefully peeled her shirt of off the biggest wound she had. Her hand squeezed his knee harder than he would have liked her to but it didnt matter, not anymore, not when he caused this, not when he was the reason for her pain. 

He finally got it off the biggest cut and last cut and now he just had to cut the rest of the shirt off. No big deal right?

WRONG. 

The boy was telling himself to suck it up and just cut the rest of her shirt off but he was flustered. It was times like this that made him remember he was just a boy. He was just a boy with a silly crush. Except it isnt a 'silly crush' he was utterly in love with the girl. He tried to clear his head and at the same time, cleared his throat while he cut higher. 

He could feel her eyes watching him, he could feel how fast her heart was racing and he could feel how fast his own was racing. It was as though their hearts were in sync. Every beat was the same. 

Yes the girl felt flustered in this situation, she also couldn't help but want to tease the boy she loved. The girl had always grown up with a life where she never 'loved' anyone, not truly. To her love was always a very strong word in her dictionary but whatever she felt for Percy Jackson it was so powerful she felt as though she needed a word more meaningful than love. 

A word that expressed how everytime she thought of him, that specific memory of him will be branded in her brain forever to the point where even Hera could never make her forget him or forget the way he makes her feel.

He makes her feel alive, the most alive shes every felt in her 16 years of life.

"Are you blushing water boy?" the girl asked him with a half smile on her face and eyes half opened as she felt a sharp pain run through her, while also trying to control her own breathing at the same time. Percy didn't respond, he only kept cutting her shirt off, fingers lightly brushing over the material of her bra. 

She held her breath when he did that, whether it was on purpose of not, the feeling it sent through her body made her want to repeatedly bash her head against a solid wall while ripping her eyes out... in a good way of course. 

Percy finally cut her shirt fully off and it just slid down her arms and bunched at the bottom, near the tree. She felt exposed and could feel the goosebumps on her exposed skin. Percy didn't waste any time and grabbed a clean towel and his water bottle.

Before he could drenched it in water, she stopped him by kicking him with her uncompromised leg to indicate he needed to stop. This instantly stopped him and caused him to look at her. 

"Give me the water bottle before you soak the towel, if the water is warm it will work better and not hurt as much so i'll just heat it up" Percy thought about it for a second before he retaliated.

"You already aren't well enough to get off the ground, how on earth are you going to make it back to camp if you drain yourself of more energy. I know its going to hurt but it will either way, but getting you back to camp is the priority at the moment" Percy didnt want to say those words to the girl, he felt so bad for her and he couldn't help but blame himself. And when he looked into her eyes, like really looked into her eyes after he said that, he wished he could take it back.

Just looking at her made him want to give into her. 

"I can take it, I promise, I'll be okay enough to get back to camp, but I'm telling you now Percy, if I feel anymore extreme pain, I will just end up passing out. Please just let me do this." she tried to move closer to the boy but forgot about the fact that she literally could not move a single inch without his help. 

This just lead the boy to wrap his arm around her back and lent her against the tree again. He looked at her with a stern look.

"Okay, you win. But you have to promise on the river Styx that you will preserve every other bit of your energy for the ride back home." 

"I swear on the River Styx that I will preserve every other bit of my energy for the ride back to camp" He gave her one last look before giving her the water bottle. She focused some most of her energy to her hands and they started to glow. She took the bottle from percy's hand and he could feel the warmth radiate off of her. 

He looked at her in awe but if anyone else was there they would have told you that the boy was love struck. She opened her eyes and made sure to not boil the water. As it was simmering, she gave the bottle back to the boy and he instantly uncapped it and poured the, now warm, water onto the towel. 

"This is going to hurt... a lot, and by a lot i mean a lot, you might want to brace yourself" the boy said as he gave his flannel back to her and some ambrosia for her to eat before they start the painful part of fixing her up.

Aurora took both and muttered a small thanks under her breath before eating the ambrosia which was very pleasant to chew and then stuffed percy's flannel in her mouth again. She felt so weird but if she didnt and someone heard her scream bloody murder, they would get caught and the police would want them... again.

His ocean blue eyes met her honey eyes and he shared a look of regret and guilt before he wiped the dried blood away, starting from the bottom of her abdomen. She instantly clenched her jaw and recoiled as agony ran through her and her hand immediately shot out to grab Percy's wrist in a painfully tight hold to stop him from further cleaning the wounds that caused her pain.

"Sunshine, I know its painful, but I have to do this, I'm going to do this as fast and gently as I can but I will have to be rough at times" he gently takes his freehand to clasp over hers and took it of him and intertwined them while speaking to her. 

In his favour, it seemed that the energy it took the girl to warm the water up finally caught up with her as her hand lost most of its grip and her eyes closed slightly. He chuckled slightly and placed her hand back down next to her before continuing what he was doing.

He carefully but efficiently cleaned the areas surrounding her wounds while she was rejuvenating. He would hear muffled noises from time to time but other than that she was essentially knocked out. As he finished she seemed to feel less tired and her eyes opened wider than they did before.

"I'm almost finished sunshine, did you like your nap?" the boy questioned with a smirk but deep down he was glad that she kept her promise and she would have enough energy to go back to camp.

The girl nodded and looked at her abdomen. It was really clean and the wounds were barely bleeding anymore but she was fucking freezing. She shivered a little bit and percy could tell instantly.

"I've just got to bandage you up then you can put a jumper on. Okay?" he reassured her while taking the sterile dressing, he placed it over the 4 slashes and began to unwrap the dressing to bandage her up.

They both soon found the position to be quite awkward. 

Percy needed to bandage her whole abdomen which needed him to wrap the dressing over her back but she was lent up against the tree without a shirt on and unable to move to do it herself. He stopped to think of a good way to do this.

"Okay, I've got it. I'll lean you up against me and bandage your abdomen from behind." The girl thought for a bit before she agreed and the boy got up so he was only seen in her peripheral vision. He hooked his arms under hers and moved her along the ground to sit inbetween his legs. The position felt very compromising for both of them but it needed to be done.

She could feel his warm breath on her cold neck and she felt the urge to pass away because if thats how she passed, she would not mind. She held her breath as Percy begun wrapping her abdomen, she could barely feel the pain cause all she could think about and feel was him.

His breath on her neck, his fingers brushing her skin, how carefully he was handling her, like she would break at the wrong touch. He was everything she wanted, everything she needed. Everything they both deserved.

He quickly finished wrapping her up and he mentally called Blackjack from where ever he was right now. Before he could move or start to get things sorted he just looked at Aurora. She was peaceful. She looked ethereal under the moonlight, though she did look better under direct sunlight.

He decided to just stay still for a bit and wrapped an arms around the girl loosely as to not injure or hurt her more. They just needed some rest, no matter how long or short it was.

Both Aurora and Percy could hear the flap of Blackjacks wings so he quickly moved the girl back to lean against the tree while he packed everything away. Not before making sure to torniquet the girls leg where the wood piece was still protruding out of it. He made the decision before to not take it out as they both did not know how severe the injury underneath it was.

Percy grabbed a warm, woolly jumper from his bag and a blanket and gave both items to the girl before zipping it up.

"I'm going to find your bag and your bracelet before we leave, and before you say anything. I'm going to call Blackjack here to be with you before I look for them" he stated as he got up.

"Thanks a lot Perce, but before you look, how am I meant to put this jumper on without raising my arms and disrupting my bandages" Percy felt like an idiot. He dropped his bag back on the ground and knelt next to her carefully putting the jumper through one arms hole, then the next, then her head through.

Percy would never admit it there and then but he always loved when the girl would wear his clothes. It sent a warm fuzzy feeling through him knowing she was wearing his clothes, especially when she was willingly wearing his clothes. 

Similarly, Aurora would never admit it there but having Percy help her get changed into his clothes and help clean her up made her fall even more in love with him if that was even possible. She felt as though she was just falling into deep pit everytime he did anything for her or even just looked her way. 

He finished by wrapping her up in the blanket and chuckled when he saw how she looked... Exactly like a burrito. 

Blackjack came down and the girls eyes instantly widened at the sight of the creature. To which the boy just smiled at. Before he left to retrieve her bag and bracelet which were very easy to find. He quickly arrived back to the girl and Pegasus and was met with an adorable sight.

The Pegasus was on the floor next to the girl and was almost hugging her with its wing. Percy didnt think he could fall in love with the girl again but she has gone and proved him wrong, like always. 

"I've got your things sunshine, and I know its going to hurt but I'm going to have to pick you up to put you on Blackjack. Is that okay?" He knelt next to her and she nodded.

He wrapped an arm around her back and one under her knees, making sure not to hit the piece of wood and picked the girl up, quite easily, bridal style. It make them both feel fuzzy and warm inside. Even blackjack could feel the warmth.

He placed her sitting on the Pegasus so she would be infront of him when he got on. He then grabbed both of their bags and got onto blackjack himself. 

"You'd normally need to hold on tight to blackjack but I'll hold you okay? Just rest" The boy whispered in her ear as he gave her a peck on her cheek while she slowly drifted off and leaned her head back onto the boy's shoulder.

"Blackjack, No crazy flying today. We aren't at war today, its a rest day. Just take us back to camp, quick but not to the point we normally fly." Blackjacks reply left Percy with pink staining his cheeks and they made their way back to camp.

______________________________________________________________

OH MY FUCKING DAYS, I AM NEVER WRITING ANYTHING THIS LONG AGAIN

(such a fucking lie)

But I have to honest, apart from the small mental breakdowns. This was really fun to write. I love these two soo much.

When I went into this, I wanted to actually get them back to camp and I wanted them to confess but it was getting tooooooo long for that so if anyone wants a part 2, I'll gladly make it. Please dont critique me too much, this is still my first imagine 😭😭😭

I LOVE YOU ALL ❤️❤️❤️

unless you piss me off

[phantomwitch16]

Recently I've been thinking about Hypnos and his position in Hades Hades 2. I've been seeing a lot of posts about him lately so I really want to talk about him cause to be honest, other than Zagreus, Hypnos is my favourite character in both games.

From what I've seen from Nyx's family, Hypnos seems to be the odd one out and too be fair, he quite literally is. Most if not all of his siblings are reclusive, quiet and don't keep in contact, similar to how it was with Nyx and Chaos. But Hypnos is the opposite, being quite sociable, talkative and wants to be around his mother and brothers as much as possible. In fact, that's possibly why he works at the house, likely to be closer to Nyx and his brothers. Which really makes sense, since out of all of his family, he never sees any of his other siblings save for their Nyx, Than and Charon and that was largely due to their obligations to the house. But despite his easy going demeanor, Hypnos is probably one of the most powerful gods in the house, save for Nyx given that he was able to put everyone in the house to fall asleep.

Which I imagine it was quite isolating to be doing his duties, especially since most of his siblings, notably Than, were off doing something else. At least with Than, he had the opportunity to see Nyx and Charon whenever he had the time. Which makes sense since other than sleep and death being two sides of the same coin, there isn't much else that keeps Hypnos connected with his family and its likely what made him want to take a job as a receptionist, despite how bored he generally is at it.

It's sad looking back on first game when he's being talked down to by Than and Nyx for having a difficult time to get the hang of doing essentially two full time jobs. Thankfully by the end of the game, he's managed to become much more capable in managing both jobs and having a better relationship with his family.

But this has made me wonder if working as the receptionist had a drastic affect on him in the second game. He's practically in a comatose state and has been like that since before Chronos attacked, since Mel was a baby and it's one of the biggest questions of the community.

I have a few ideas what could've happened to him and the possibly larger role he many have within Hades.

I haven't watch the technical test and frankly i don't want to know too much until the game comes out on the switch, but i think Hecate was down at the house was partly due to Hypnos' condition and maybe to see Mel as well. Because frankly it would be a large part of concern for everyone to come across Hypnos and being unable to wake him up. So she comes to examine him and while there, Chronos escaped, leading her to escape with Hypnos, Melinoe and the portrait.

As for what could've put Hypnos into that sleep, it could've been possible that he was doing so well before the events of the Hades 2. There could've been a large influx of souls and some additional preparation for Melinoe's birth that caused a lot of tension in the house. Or else, he received a terrible vision. In Greek Mythology, Hypnos had a great connection with handling the visions and prophecies. Mainly delivering them from Apollo or other Gods to prophets such as the Oracle of Delphi, alongside his sons. It could be possible that Hypnos received a vision from someone that influenced him to go into a deep sleep.

With him being asleep since then, it's likely that he's only been sleeping. However, it could be possible that Hypnos could be aiding those who were left behind or helping Mel and the others in the Crossroads? Such preventing other enemies to spawn alongside Chronos or putting those left behind in a deep sleep so that they won't feel pain or be controlled by the Titan.

What i find most interesting is his connection with Melinoe. From the get-go, we're already well aware that Mel looks up to Hypnos and finds him fascinating which makes sense. In mythology, Melinoe was not only had a connection to Hecate and ghosts, but one with sleep, specifically bringing about nightmares and madness.

With this connection to him, Mel could possibly interact with Hypnos in her dreams or wake him from his slumber. Or if those who were in the house were under his control, Hypnos could lull them into a sleep and Mel could wake them up by inducing a terrible nightmare that could shake off whatever control Chronos has over them.

I don't know if Hypnos might still have his old job by the end of the second game but considering with Mel could intercept dreams, I think that he would get a promotion by overseeing her duties or training her in those aspects of her abilities, probably punishing those worthy of those nightmares or aiding him in handing out prophecies.

I highly doubt that all of this would be used in the game but its a nice idea.

[radiation]

My Thoughts On MORPHEUS

Rewatched The Matrix yesterday. Everyone knows that Morpheus is fucking dope, but few realize he is one of the most moe characters of all time. Here is why:

Ok so at the beginning of the movie, Morpheus really appears to be this mythical figure, and that's how a lot of ppl view him. But something often overlooked is that, as the movie progresses, the more you see Morpheus acting mundanely, dressing normally, making mistakes, and getting the absolute shit beaten out of him & needing to be saved. Seriously, the gap between how he comes off when he first contacts Neo (larger-than-life, near-omnipotent) and when he gets kidnapped (totally fallible & vulnerable) is huge. You also see other characters doubt his absolute faith in Neo and it’s like wow yeah. This is really just some dude who is incredibly driven and passionate, and dedicated to his own ideals to a fault. He acts the way he does because he has a very clear image of the role he needs to play and has structured his life around it, choosing to embody this whole badass character in order to fulfill it. And from the way his appearance of perfection is shattered later in the movie in moments of monotony or when things spiral out of his control, I really believe how he acts when he meets Neo is suuuuper scripted. Like he has spent so much fucking time planning the perfect way to present himself and rehearsing exactly what he will say and do and how he will dress. And its funny to watch The Matrix knowing how totally badass & collected he is seen as in pop culture because he truly is incredibly incredibly dorky

This goes without saying but I also believe he is gay as fuck for Neo, but I need you to understand that the way he goes about it is sooo cute. I mean ok everything surrounding "You are The One and I've been searching for you for years" kind of speaks for itself. But also think about when Neo talks to the Oracle, she says this thing about like "knowing you're The One is like knowing you're in love". We can naturally really easily extend this metaphor to Trinity's explicit prophecy of her falling in love with The One, and knowing that's the case that also extends the metaphor to Morpheus knowing Neo is the one = Morpheus being in love with Neo. And I think how excited he acts around Neo, how physically affectionate he to him, arguably flirting with him during the dojo scene and shit bla bla bla sounds lame as fuck to write but I do think yeah whether literally or metaphorically that's kind of what's up. I think we can be confident that Morpheus loves Neo, and I think romantic love is a close approximation, or at the very least there are certainly real & valuable parallels to be drawn to it

But back to the previous paragraph, the specific kind of devotion towards Neo that Morpheus experiences where he is putting on all kinds of airs trying to mystify Neo, viewing himself as a supporting figure to prop up Neo as the savior -- Morpheus's underlying adoration is expressed through the language of respect, restraint, and selflessness, and a kind of self-sacrifice he is like...excited about. Feels very similar to the whole "best friend who is in love with the main character, but nobly tries to get him another love interest / somehow make his life better without any respect to his own desires". It's very sweet and well-intentioned, but totally excessive. Nobody else is asking you to go this far man this is just you. And it also comes off as a really big obfuscation of at least quasi-romantic feelings, both externally and internally, lacking a lot of self-awareness, so it makes it feel like Morpheus has this like elementary school crush he doesn't quite understand yet and it's really funny and delightful

There is definitely a certain writing style in The Matrix that is dramatic, over the top, and mythological, but compared to Morpheus, Neo and other ppl in his crew speak and act in ways much more grounded. Something I noticed a lot is just how much doubt and disillusionment all of the characters express in living life outside the Matrix, in the effectiveness of the revolution, and of Neo being The One, but Morpheus is totally an exception to this. The only person who puts on nearly as much airs, acting as dramatically and poetically as according to plan as Morpheus is Agent Smith, and like the dude isn't even a person he's a program. But even then Agent Smith expresses disappointment in his own life, and Morpheus doesn't. Seriouusly Morpheus is like the only guy in the movie who does this shit. By seeing himself as a mechanism in a prophecy to save the world and minimizing his own wants and discomforts for the greater good, he has kind of dehumanized himself in a way that's kind of sad. I think it's very easy to buy into it and take his self-perception at face value, and I think most people have, but there are a lot of moments in the movie where you can see through that. That underneath the appearance of a pure legend is a real person who means the absolute best, who is endlessly dedicated and adoring, but suffers from a one-track mind makes Morpheus a really fucking cool and unique character, and has one of the greatest impacts in making the movie's scenario feel believable. And also makes him sooooooooo cute. Anyways I forgoet what happens in the other mvoies this is only about the first one. Rewatch The Matrix 1 and open your eyes and you weill see the truth.

Also another thing I wanna mention that but its only tangentially related -- I think its very interesting how Neo is treated as a protagonist. I can't place exactly why but way the movie is written and shots are framed, he really isn't treated as an audience insert, and many moments in the movie are from other characters' perspectives (including their perspectives towards him, bereft of Neo's own expression). The movie honestly, more than identifying with Neo, expresses empathy and adoration towards him. So it kind of feels like literally everyone in the movie has a crush on him and so should you LOL. Morpheus is definitely a part of this, but I also appreciate the romance between Trinity and Neo feeling equally or more from Trinity's perspective, neither of them really being the object of desire, but if you had to choose one it'd definitely be Neo

Well let me know what you think & Dont try to troll this post because this is real shit

[tnsophiaonly]

"Thy should learn its place."

"It is beneath me."

The Creator scoffed at an annoyance, the fact that someone dared to use her gene blessed to mortals for their own advantage?! Out rageous! But her connection to the realm has been disconnected from Celestia thyself. They dare challenge their Creator?

Challenge accepted.

Part 1, Part 3, Part 4

Liar Reader. SAGAU. Cult AU. Impostor-ish AU. OOC. Manipulator Reader.

—e—r—a—w—a—n—U—

The same looking figure as you was talking to Kujou Sara. Really unfortunate.

So the plan to avoid characters at all causes, yeeted to Celestia.

What do you do?! What do you do?!?!

Wait, just go back to where you are and leave with your boat!

You were about to walk away when...

"Halt! Show yourself, intruder!"

Kujou Sara commanded and took out her bow and put the '(S/M)' behind her as a sort of protection.

Well. Shit.

You walk out of your hiding place and despite the fact that Kujou Sara dropped her weapon a little bit, you could feel her guard is still on.

"State your name and purpose!" Kujou Chic- Sara demanded. Geez was she always this loud? Man her vocal cords must hurt, her own issues meh.

"Akeldama Kagema, I am an adventurer. I came here for a commission." You lied smoothly, keeping up a facade of a serious and hardworking.

Kujou Sara eyes you up and down. 'Strange, why do I feel a divine like aura on this stranger...?' Kujou Sara thought quietly, unbeknownst to her guard dropping.

(S/M) chuckled awkwardly, gaining your and the yokai's attention

"So, Kagema-chan, what exactly is your commission?" Wow. No formalities? Straight up -chan and comfy? You keep up your facade.

"I had to take care of a hilichurl camp." You lied explained. (S/M) seemed skeptical of your answer, "Just a hilichurl camp? That's your only commission..?" Clearly she knows nothing about the Adventurer's Guild does she..?

"Only in Kannazuka. I still have other commissions on other islands of Inazuma." You cleared things up.

"Ohh! I get it!" (S/M) sickly sweetly said in false fascination.

"By the way. Kagema-chan, I noticed that you're bruised and your clothing doesn't really seem adventure-like!" Perceptive people suck but are also hot. "I am very aware of my clothing choice but it's the only clothing choice I have. But it didn't cause a hindrance or whatsoever." You lied replied professionally.

Before (S/M) could speak, Kujou Sara unconsciously cut her off. "I'll patch this stranger. I can't trust this stranger to be anywhere safe with you (S/M). You are after all an oracle and the only person that's personally connected to the creator. You should visit the Kamisato Estate for some early discussions regarding the festival and ritual for the creator."

"Ohh yeah!" (S/M) says in realization, and her face turns red, 'Ayato...' She thought quietly. She then faces the both of us and bows down. "May the Creator guide you!" She says in a hurry and runs away.

Oracle? She- she already took the role of an oracle? Fuck! Now what're you going to do... Maybe just act like an adventurer? Yeah...

You were thinking deeply, unknown to your surroundings of someone watching you. "Akeldama, is there something wrong?" Finally formalities! Kujou Sara asks in either suspicion or worry.

"I'm fine. I was just shocked about the news of an oracle..." You clear things up. Kujou Sara nods, "I totally understand you, I, first, did not acknowledge her, until, I felt myself being awakened." That was just a coincidence, or was it?

Awakened? What does she mean by that..? "Ah.. you don't seem to have a vision.." Does she mean pulls?

"It's when shooting stars in the sky get a color of gold or purple which will give you a connection to the creator. It's like wishing for fate." Kujou Sara explained. So it is pulls.

"Ah. Now I'm kind of envious of you vision holders. Getting your own personal connection with the creator sounds like a dream come true isn't it..? It almost feels like, she'll give you everything to just get you all acolytes a connection to the creator hmm? It's a really really special deal.." You became out of character from your facade.

Kujou Sara's eyes widen at your statement, she's never thought of it as that special as you do. It's as if she's not pledging her utmost devotion to The Creator! You're right.. the probably only reason The Creator hasn't awakened every vision acolytes is because they might have been growing weaker in the other world and that's why she sent an oracle now because she wanted to see what we personally feel. Oh she apologizes very much, does she need to sacrifice and do something about it?!

You hid your smirk. Kujou Sara seems bothered... Guess your statement got her mind to chicken in.

Now you just wonder what challenges you'll face at the acolytes you haven't awakened yet.. you'll find out soon.

This chapter is short for a reason 😔. 1. I couldn't do anything until next week to see what lies beyond the poll.. and also because I didn't want to write for others in this specific chapter.

I'm so sorry for being lazy ig 💔

Anywho. VOTE IN THE FIRST PART NOW CAUSE THE DEADLINE IS NEXT FRIDAY!!! Just know that the most popular given mask has its own ability that'll help you out in future conflicts!!!

Taglist: (?)

@khalhaimdad @yourlocalstranger123 @undecidingfate

[too-antigonish]

The Great S7 Rewrite

An attempt at summarizing the rocky ground on which we some of us stand following this rather epic post yesterday: Prophetic words from Morse in Oracle?

People had so many interesting things to say that I though it would be nice to keep this discussion public for now.

On the most basic level, Season 7 has two overarching storylines: 

Opera Storyline: The one with Morse, Violetta, Ludo,  and the mysterious accidental deaths

Towpath Murders: The one with Morse and Thursday fighting mainly over whether or not Carl Sturgis did it.

Then you have the episodic murders for each episode: 

Oracle: The math TV program, Dept. of Latent Potential, women’s lib conference, and  misogynist professors in Oracle

Raga: The Indian restaurant, restaurant critic, gay wrestlers, racist poker game organizing politicians in Raga

Zenana: The coming together of the opera storyline and the towpath murder storyline in Zenana.

If, theoretically, you wanted a do-over for S7, what would you need to consider? Below are some of the issues raised in discussion yesterday:

Bone of Contention #1: Opera Rules

S7 may or may not have been asking us to view its world according to “opera rules.” If it wasn’t, then the storylines were just outrageous. If it was, then they didn’t do an adequate job of either:

Signaling that we needed to see this world through that filter

Making the story robust enough that you didn’t *need* to see the opera references to “get” the storylines. (As Durian pointed out: Ride works even if you don’t realize that it’s Gatsby, but S7 doesn’t work if you don’t realize it’s opera. It doesn’t stand on its own.)

I think actual S7 tried to signal that we were in Opera World (#1) by: 

Using theatrical techniques (voiceovers, mise en scene/ tableaux, etc.) to signal that we were in opera world (i.e. heightened reality)

Using opera tropes

Using role reversal with the characters. I think that’s a big reason why the season feels so unsettling overall. Normally Morse is the one doggedly pursuing a hunch based on an obscure clue. This time it’s Thursday. Normally it is Thursday finding out that Morse didn’t check someone’s alibi. This time it’s Morse. Normally Morse and Thursday are calling the shots at the crime scene. This time DeBryn and Strange are having to put them in their place like squabbling children. Etc., etc.

Things in the show are “out of place” as well. (e.g. Thursday is at the early morning crime scene in Oracle instead of Morse. Morse is in Venice instead of Oxford.)

So the questions about Opera Rules are:

Do you keep the idea of Opera Rules for S7?

If you keep Opera Rules, how do you do a better job of signaling them?

If you keep Opera Rules, how do you make the story strong enough that people who don’t understand opera rules will know what’s happening? 

Do you just out-and-out tell people about Opera Rules?

Bone of Contention #2: Ludo and Violetta?

I have yet to hear from anyone who really likes Ludo and Violetta. If someone reading this does, I’d be fascinated to hear why. To say that I find them off-putting is being kind. Why is Morse attracted to two such unpleasant people? And not only attracted, but taken in by both of them? Normally Morse is attracted to girl-next-door types (Monica, Joan). Normally Morse has no time for snobs who name-drop and talk about themselves non-stop (Oxford Don stereotype). 

For me the disconnect lies not in the fact that he could be taken in. I think Astrid and Fanfic are very right about both Morse’s lack of wisdom when it comes to friendship and love, and well as his “secret” desire to have friends who perhaps share more of his interests. The leap I can’t make is that it would happen with these two specific people. Even taking into account that Morse is behaving “the opposite” of his usual way, I can’t see him being attracted to either of these two personalities. 

In the end, like Astrid, I like the *idea* of the Ludo and Violetta storyline but found the way it was played out too incongruous. So what to do? It seems like you can either retool Ludo and Violetta or replace them entirely. Which you choose I think depends on how you want to remake the story and how loyal you are to canon.

My first instinct is to replace them. I find both of them so repugnant, but I do find myself returning repeatedly to an idea that I had when I first watched Oracle, which was that Violetta might actually be more directly based on the Violetta from La Traviata.

She would be a woman from the “other side of the tracks” so-to-speak, but genuinely in love with Morse. You could also use Traviata’s bit where Violetta’s “betrayal” of Alfredo is actually self-sacrifice, etc. I’m not sure about Ludo, but it would definitely need to be someone that Morse would *actually* want to befriend and not someone as obvious as Ludo.

So the questions about Ludo and Violetta are:

Do you keep Ludo and Violetta?

If you keep them, how do you retool them? 

If you throw them out, what do you replace them with? 

Either way (new or retooled), how do you make Morse’s attraction to them believable?

Either way (new or retooled), do you use existing opera tropes/storylines as a basis for their story?

Bone of Contention #3: Towpath Storyline

It seems that there is pretty much universal agreement on keeping the Towpath Murders as a storyline. Also, there is pretty much unanimous approval for the idea of an earlier and more prominent role for Dorothea in the case. Durian points out that this could also have the side effect of reducing some of the tension between Morse and Thursday. 

Disagreement arises over two main elements:

Too many things going on in the storyline

How the conflict between Thursday and Morse is handled.

I’m in agreement on both of these things. In terms of the number of things going on in the storyline you have the whole is it or isn’t it a serial killer, the ESP angle, the flasher thing, the copycat killer, all of the animal imagery and later wolf imagery, the blood drinking, and much, much more. It could work if it all tied together coherently, but it doesn’t—at least for me. It feels like I can sort of see what they were going for, but that they definitely didn’t get there. There needs to be a unifying theme.

With the conflict between Thursday and Morse, my problem is not so much that they have the conflict, but that it comes seemingly out of nowhere. We jump from the reconciliation of Degüello to the petty arguments of Oracle with nothing in-between to explain the change. It’s not that I didn’t find the conflict between these two characters interesting or believable. It’s simply that there was nothing to explain it. Yes, you can say that Morse was becoming more of his own man, but that doesn’t seem adequate to me.

So the questions about the Towpath Storyline are: 

What elements would you throw out and what would you keep?

What would make a good unifying theme for the Towpath case?

What is the source of the conflict between Morse and Thursday? What sets it off?

How do we have Ms. Frazil on the case sooner rather than later?

How does Dorothea diminish tension between Thursday and Morse. 

Of the arguments between Morse and Thursday, what would you keep and what would you throw out?

Bone of Contention #3: The Episodic Storylines

I find it pretty telling that except for one brief mention, no one has strong feelings about the episodic mystery in Oracle. It definitely had less substance that the one in Raga, in part because it had to leave room for the establishment of the two big overarching stories. Personally, I found the sexism angle (the Women’s Lib Conference and Prof. Blish beating out the others for the spot on the tv show) more compelling than the ESP studies angle.

Durian mentioned that Raga, like the Towpath Murders, has way too much going on (Indian restaurant, Oberon Prince and his ex-wife, the gay wrestlers, the racist poker game, the return of the evil beautician, two stabbed teenagers, etc.) Fanfic raised the interesting idea of making the conflict in Raga more of a family conflict, using the political situation with East and West Pakistan (Bangladesh) as a focus.

So the questions about the Episodic Storylines are: 

What elements would you throw out of Oracle and what would you keep?

What elements of Oracle would you change entirely?

What elements would you throw out of Raga and what would you keep?

What elements of Raga would you change entirely? (e.g. changing to internal family conflict)

OK. I'd love to hear thoughts on all of this!

[sixthsensewulf]

I see Fantasy High as this is their seasons. If that makes sense. They all work together, become close friends and best friends etc. have the entire group arc but the major character arcs vary. Let me explain. They all grow but each season I feel like some grow more than others if that makes any sense..

FRESHMEN YEAR

Kristen's journey of discovering who she is and what she worships. Was literally her entire arc during S1. Her new friends helped her out. They were there when she got kicked out of the house.

It's also Fig's story as well. Like her growth from accepting Gilear as her father. Her growth with her mother. Her finding her father.

SOPHOMORE YEAR

Yes this has character development all over the place right.

But the major ones

Fabian, Riz and Adaine pretty much.

Fabian - he did kill his father before the Prom, and then had to become his father on Leviathan. His confidence got rocked hard during this season, he ran from his friends, he took off the eye patch and his owlbears hoodie. You could tell Fabian very much cared for his friends. His panic when Riz didn't answer the phone, his hug to Gorgug when they reunited during the nightmare forest. His panic to save Riz from falling from the fight.

Riz - this was his season. Not saying Junior Year isn't his season which is amped by Murph's insane rolls right now. But learning the truth of his dad. Kalina. Baron. He ran after Kristen. He was cursed by Kalina, and Kristen saved him.

Adaine - oracle. Her break away from her parents, her kidnapping, her wanting to get her sister back. The way that she found more family in Sandra Lynn and Jawbone. Her development of I'm not a weak wizard to I'm the Elven Oracle and I'm going to kill my dad.

Junior Year.

You might be wondering why I haven't mentioned our tall green boy.

Junior Year is Gorgug's year. It's also Fig's. But its majority is Gorgug.

The fact that from Sophomore year, this quiet one of the group. the heart of the bad kids, put a working Satellite into space to being a multiclass Barbarian and Artificer.

The work that Gorgug put in, has been insane for him. Zac definitely did do something with his dice since in the last two fights. .. it's been insane Crit city. But honestly looking at it from a story point of view.. Gorgug has struggled with his relationship to rage all through Fantasy High. But honestly his rage is the best support to his friends. He can protect and now support his friends. The flash of genius has massively helped his friends so much.

He puts himself on the line to save his friends. He holds his friends close. Hence why his relationship with Rage is so different and why Porter thinks Gorgug is "weak" or can't use the "nature of destructive rage". Gorgug's rage doesn't need to be destructive, it needs to be effective.

Like he tanked the purple worm in the last standard. He held his own and the ship against, what 5 dragons??? While his friends were helping the killing and keeping the party still going.

[vitaminseetarot]

PAC: Your January Forecast 🎇❄🦢

Sup y'all, I'm back for the very last PAC I'm gonna write for 2023. By the end of the weekend, we will have shifted to a whole new year, with a new moon close in tow. I'm gonna be honest, this has been a rough year for me, but not without its bright spots. Like the birth of this blog, for one! I'm already planning the 1 Year Special.

The plan is only to expand from here to see what more there is to do! There was a lot I wanted to do this year but didn't get around to doing because of life, so I have a lot lined up for January.

Thank you for your support this past year in helping my blog grow! The circle is small, but each like and reblog makes a difference, especially to newcomers like me.

Please choose your swan ornament below to find out about how your January will look for the new year. Instead of Tarot today, I'll be using my Black Salt Lenormand deck and Astro Dice to get details along with oracles for advice.

Pile 1 - Black Swan Pile 2 - White Swan Pile 3 - Gold Swan

Pile 1 - Black Swan

Death, Sun; 49. Sun A♦, Cross 6♣, Crossroads Q♦; Uranus, 11th House, Aquarius

Hi, pile 1! Hope you're feeling alive and well for 2024. I kinda called this the "zombie pile" while drawing cause I'm getting this sluggish energy dragging along. Mumbling, creeping, hair disheveled. Goodness, this past year had you wiped out, didn't it? If you're feeling pressured for a resolution, I wouldn't, because for you I think simply sloughing off the old year like snake skin is your main priority for January. I'm hearing Usher's lyrics: "I feel like a zombie come back to life." Maybe you could treat this month like an extended New Year's Eve party. You can't force yourself to be excited for it, but you can slowly build up to it.

There is an emphasis on positive thinking with this pile. You have two Suns from different decks. Doing what brings you simple joy will be healing for you this month. Focusing on little joys can help you shift perspective. Being in the present is very important right now, and you're being asked not to think too much about last year as it will only drain you of further energy. You can't draw healing to yourself if you're spending all your Magic Points on looking backwards for answers. It it feels difficult to be positive, think outside the box at how you can move away from past thinking, like making a vision board for what you most desire to experience this year.

One of the real impressive things about your reading are the dice. You have Uranus, its natural house 11, and its sign Aquarius. Emphasis on CHANGE, much? You know how in movies, where the main character is falling into darkness and has relinquished all hope of being saved, and just as it fades to black someone swoops in to help them while casually laughing off "hah, yeah, I just happened to be in the neighborhood when I saw you falling into an infinite chasm, y'know?"

The word "Deus Ex Machina" is also popping up, or "god out of machine". It's a Latin term referring to an ancient Greek theater technique where a crane would lower an actor dressed as a deity onto the stage during the final act of a comedy, delivering sudden divine intervention and saving the day for the heroes. In other words, there is massive and very unexpected change for you, one that's gonna pull you out of the sluggish stupor of 2023. This is why resolutions aren't important for you now; whatever 2024 will be for you, it's coming in lightning hot and will do that for you.

And I think this change, however large and surprising, will be ultimately wonderful for you. There is so much sunlight emerging from this fog, new life will be breathed in for you by divine planning. It's going to help you work through some of the damage that last year left behind. It will also help you pivot to your next chapter in life. It may feel weird going into a new year with very little expectations, not knowing where you're going to end up next, but it'll be worth it. When the door swings open for you, it will BURST open, so stay on the bright side and focus on regenerating your health for now.

May your new year be shockingly bright, pile 1!

Pile 2 - White Swan

Strength, 25. Sapphire; Garden 8♠, Anchor 9♠, Person A♥; Gemini, 12th House, Pluto

Hello, pile 2! This month will be a quiet one for you, in a good way. This will be a time of retreat for you. If you found yourself being rather social at the end of 2023, expect the new year to start off with a whimper. I see you going into a hermit mode and disengaging from regular activities, especially involving other people. I get the sense that this pile is the type to want to overextend and please everyone around them. If you need a resolution suggestion from me, it's to put the brakes on now before you careen over the edge. January is putting a halt to this behavior.

Yes, you are strong. No, you do not always need to be strong for everybody else. It will wear you thin to even try, and you may end up resentful over it. It's not worth the struggle. I'm not asking you to snap at anyone who comes too close, but consider not adding more of other peoples' errands to your schedule. Consider saying, "actually, I can't go today," without feeling the need to explain why. You have a right to your own personal space away from distractions now.

This pile could belong to a group of people or community that's close to you, which could be going through a lot of hell or has been in the past year. They may have asked a lot from you with few other options. It's made you have to stand up and advocate, at the cost of your own issues being put on the back burner. It is not selfish to walk away for a while and take care of yourself, doubly so if the group in question deals with a lot of arguing and gossip. If it feels bad, trust your gut and keep your distance for now. Don't try to solve big arguments while Mercury is retrograding.

I know how Pluto in the 12th house is, as it's prominent in my chart. Imagine walking downstairs to get to your basement, only for the stairs to never end until you find yourself floating in a weird little wonderland. Somewhere, in that surreal underground mindscape, is a deeply entrenched karmic pattern that may elude you at first. Some shadow work may be required here to dig through the trenches for unpolished gems. If a pesky pattern is repeating in your life, it's time to withdraw and connect to your dreams and subconscious for clues. This pattern may have something to do with this group.

You're actually going to get more progress done by meditating and seeking out nature rather than getting too involved with these issues. The time will come when things can be handled with a clearer mindset. But your higher self is pulling you inward to help ground you through this, to remind you that you are your own amazing being even when you're separate from these people. You have the strength to stand on your own, otherwise there wouldn't be so many folks seeking you out in need. Sapphire wants you to marry your heart with your mind. It's a stone of wisdom guided by compassionate understanding and care. You spin your wheels overthinking an issue, when instead coming back to your heartspace will provide the key.

Take it easy this winter, pile 2, may your dreams give clarity and hope for 2024!

Pile 3 - Gold Swan

Protection, 15. Opal; Bouquet Q♠, Person A♥, Crossroads Q♦; 4th House, Capricorn, Mercury

What's going on, pile 3? Looks like somebody wants to enter hibernation mode, lol. I don't blame you one bit. As the full moon in Cancer has passed and the season changes, there's a strong desire to nestle into the home. Your house will be like your castle for you to improve during this month. You may feel up to redecorating or rearranging furniture to make it feel more cozy or season appropriate as you settle in. Or you may simply desire to clear out old things to decide what to keep.

You may want to do a spiritual cleansing of the house to ring in the New Year, too. Try infusing magic herbs like lemon verbena into your cleaning products, or toss cinnamon outside the front door while ringing a bell to invite prosperity in. A simple incense stick with a very fresh, mild scent like lavender can also do the trick. Does your family have a special trick or recipe they use? Whatever herb and scent combination brings out that "New Year New Me" feeling is best!

I heard loud and clearly, "YOU'RE PROTECTED!" for whomever needs to hear it most. Things might feel shaky and ungrounded at the moment. I wanna wrap a big blanket around y'all. You're being totally protected right now by your guides, so please don't let the uncertainties of 2024 leave your head dizzied. Yes, there's a lot of plans to be drawn out and a lot more work to be done, and you may not know where you're heading next, but perhaps there's a reason we like to begin the year at such a slow quiet time, after all the festivities have passed. It's not sound to start off in a rush.

You're being heavily affected by Sun in Capricorn doubled with the current Mercury retrograde, regardless of your chart placements. This is absolutely not a time for rash decision making, even if it feels you're not being your most productive. Our modern society doesn't like it when workers take a break or listen to their body's needs in any way. It will always have its excuses for its ruthless standards. After a while, though, you have to learn to shrug those expectations off and do what's right for you, or you'll risk burning out before the new year has even started.

Some of you might be thinking of even doing the Dry January trend as part of your resolution. If it's a serious issue, I'd talk to your doctor about how to do it sustainably. If you're already stressed and at risk of burnout, more pressure is not going to help. But a sober month could prove beneficial for you overall. This is not a command for you to have a Dry January if you're not interested; this message is for those who already plan on doing so. Try to take it one day at a time, keep your head free of self criticism, and don't guilt yourself over "cheat days". I will be doing one as well, so please reach out if you need a supporting voice.

Wishing you all the best to come this year pile 3, may you succeed in your resolutions!

This reading has not been evaluated by the FDA to diagnose, prevent, treat, or cure any disease or infection. Please ask your physician before going online.

Cards Used: Black Salt Lenormand, Prism Oracle, Crystal Healing Cards, Astro Dice.

2023, @VitaminseeTarot ™

[ryin-silverfish]

LMK S5 Fix-it: the Four Divine Beasts

My feeling on LMK S5 has stayed pretty consistent after first watching the Chinese dub: "nice character moments, but what even is this worldbuilding?"

And personally, the Four Divine Beasts/Guardians/Symbols are the biggest symptom of S5's worldbuilding problem.

Namely, they feel more like plot devices that are just there to die and cough up the Color Stones, and as a result, 4/5 of the "Find the Color Stone" plotline felt like a worse version of S3 and the Samadhi Rings, but with even less flavor.

Now, I'm aware of the 11-minute episode constraint, as well as the pressure the studio change might have created that contributed to the overall feeling of rushed-ness.

However, my criticism here is about the writing and worldbuilding, not the animation quality——things that, in my humble and uneducated opinion, could have been done a lot better even if we were sticking to the "Find the McGuffins" plotline.

Thus, this post. As always: very lengthy, very Chinese-mythos inspired.

Four Guardians & Five Phases

A brief Google Search on the Four Symbols, aka Sixiang, will tell you this: the Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermillion Bird and Black Tortoise are divine beasts in Chinese mythology that watch over the four directions, each associated with a color and one of the Five Phases.

(An old post of mine briefly talked about their origins as personifications of four big constellations that occupy a quadrant of the sky each, and their relations to the 28 Lunar Mansions)

And S5 certainly paid homage to their elemental associations, however brief and surface-level it is.

The Vermillion Bird's ability to use fire and its flaming temple is the most notable example, but this screenshot of the seal that appeared at the temple entrances also shows five symbols:

From middle left, going in the clockwise direction, these appear to be the characters for Wood, Water, Fire, Earth and Metal in Oracle Bone/Bronze Script.

Which begs the question...why would you spend so much effort on the tiny visual details, yet not show most of their elemental association through the narrative itself?

Like, suppose you are a foreign audience that knows nothing about Chinese culture and legends, who have just finished watching S5, and I ask you "What elemental powers do each of the Four Symbols have?"

Apart from Vermillion Bird = Fire (the obvious one) and the Black Tortoise = maybe Earth (which is not mythos-accurate, btw), can you honestly answer it, based only on what the show has given you?

Which leads me to my biggest gripe: their random-as-hell placement.

Even the Samadhi Rings have a map, however vague it is, but with the Color Stones, the gang basically just wandered all over the place in the hope of eventually running into one of the divine beasts——and they did, somehow!

Like, I'm not asking the writers for an entire mini-arc that's just them piecing the clues together. But will it be too much to let SWK or Tang make an off-hand comment like this?

"Well, legends said that the Four Symbols watch over the four directions and their respective elements. So if we wanna find them, we just gotta go real far in these directions, toward places with the most of that... elemental stuff! Right?"

And that brings me to the actual fix-it part. The Vermillion Bird can stay where she is, but the placement of the other three should also logically follow their elemental associations.

Oh, and though there's limited space for their characterization, they should at least get some individual characterization apart from "wise ancient guardians".

Xuanwu, Black Tortoise of the North

The fact that Xuanwu, or rather, it's snake half, can transform into stone at will might lead you to believe that its element is Earth.

Well...no, not traditionally; the Black Tortoise and the North correspond to Water in the Five Phases system, and I'm gonna both stick to that and build my fix-it off this foundation.

Instead of cosplaying a stone statue in the middle of nowhere, Xuanwu is gonna be residing on one of the islands in the North Sea, where dark tides and huge snow storms rage endlessly under the sunless sky.

So Sandy, being the water travel specialist, is gonna head out there on his boat. Mei would go to her great x N granduncle, Ao Guang's place, to see if he has any clues on, well, this big blue dragon that's also of the East.

Pigsy and Tang would head west, classic JTTW style, towards the mythical Mt. Kunlun where Queen Mother of the West resides (based on one of Tang's books that said the White Tiger was her emissary), while SWK performs an all-round search everywhere on his somersault cloud.

Which leaves MK: his dilemma is not about some random divergence in the road, but which of his friends to follow. Like, what if he goes with one person, and something bad happen to the others in the meantime?

In the end, even though he reluctantly goes with Sandy, he is still constantly distracted by his worries about everyone else, which segments nicely into the meditation training of S5E3.

But since they are doing it on a boat, there can be an external storm to go with the internal storm, causing further distractions for MK and also forcing them to seek shelter on the nearest island.

An island that, strangely, seems to be coated in a thin layer of ice. It isn't just the earth that's frosted over: all the plants, a few unfortunate multi-headed (???) seabirds, and a snake have also turned into ice statues...

Wait, snake? How does a reptile survive this far out in the north?

They have a bigger concern, however. The ice is slowly but steadily spreading, over the beaches and the surrounding seawater, and if they don't finish the search soon, the ice might get too thick for the boat to break.

So MK dashed off to do a grid-by grid search, then circled back to the place with all the frozen statues...and found the snake missing.

Cue, peak paranoia moment, and going on a wild-goose chase for the missing snake that might or might not be an ice-wielding demon waiting to ambush them.

In fact, the snake almost seems to be taunting them, seeing how they run into several "frozen snake statues" that turned out to be made of actual, solid ice. Sandy keeps reminding him to stop and think, while MK finds it harder and harder to put the lessons to practice.

By following the trail of ice statues, however, they eventually arrived on a little island in the middle of a frozen lake, where the real snake——the one half of Xuanwu lay coiling around the Blue Color Stone.

Just when MK is about to dash out and grab it, the snake comes to life with a hiss, and they barely dodged the ice spikes rising up from underneath their feet.

"Begone, foul spawn of Hundun! Return to thy conniving master, ilk of the Floodbringer, before I freeze every single drop of thy tainted blood!" "Um, I-I think you've mistaken me for someone else? I'm the Monkie Kid, and I'm here to collect your Color Stone so I can save the world——" "Doth thee mistake me for a fool, too?" The snake bore its fangs, rising its head high up into the air. "I can feel the flames of dear Lingguang on you, murderer, ripped straight out of its rightful owner's chest! She would not have perished without a fight, nor shalt I!" "Enough, Zhiming."

The tiny island itself begins to shake, revealing the other half of Xuanwu, the Black Tortoise itself. The snake still manages to half-encast Sandy in ice, before the Black Tortoise traps it inside a ball of flowing water.

She briefly apologized for her twin's hostility——whereas the strain of keeping the world together affects her body in the form of visible cracks, her other half has not been in his right mind ever since the Vermillion Bird's fall, living in the distant past and rarely able to perceive the present.

(The whole conversation is punctuated by the snake's psychic screeches in the background, which alternates between accusing her of betrayal and stating she must have fallen victim to the "poisonous blood of the enemy".)

Which makes the upcoming trial even more necessary. No, it's not "mercy-kill her twin". Yet. MK needs to prove his ability to control his body and mind, that his psyche will not break like her other half here under the tremendous pressure.

Thus, the trial of meditation. And he needs to act fast, for she cannot hold the snake back for long, as made evident by the slowly creeping ice inside and outside his watery prison.

"If you are truly worthy, then vanquish your fears, and stand before us in your true form. Brandish Lingguang's stone, so that we may be released from our watch in the long night."

MK succeeded, like he did in canon, with a small difference: his mastery of the monkey form is required for, and enables the limited usage of the stone's power.

So, holding the Red Color Stone, he unleashes a wave of fiery light that melts away the ice on Sandy and finally brings the snake back to his senses...somewhat.

He only managed to say the Vermillion Bird's name in a wistful voice, exclaiming "How I missed thy warm flames!" before melting into a puddle of water.

The other half of Xuanwu soon followed after giving him the stone, disintegrating into a mass of snowflakes that is swept away by the wind, but not before dropping one last bit of foreshadowing:

"Trust not the Floodbringer's Emissary."

(Sidenote: I think it'll be neat if the Four Symbols refer to each other using their IRL Daoist titles. Vermillion Bird - Lingguang, Black Tortoise & Snake - Zhiming, Azure Dragon - Mengzhang, White Tiger - Jianbing)

Azure Dragon & White Tiger

...And I thought Xuanwu's placement was random.

No, seriously, why is there a random music festival that just happens to be Azure Dragon and White Tiger themed that just happens to be near the actual place the two divine beasts are at?

To stay within the show's time constraint, I will not be giving White Tiger his individually themed placement, and instead try to come up with something that is appropriate for the pair as a whole.

Since Azure Dragon's associated element is Wood, it makes sense for him to have plant powers. Namely, whereever the divine beast resides, floras and faunas will flourish, no matter how out of place with the local geography and climate.

Once Mei learned that from Ao Guang, theoretically, it becomes quite the easy find: the mythical oasis city in western China, one that shows up multiple times in historical travel records yet has never been found by archeologists.

And the reason will soon become clear, as Tang and Pigsy make the drive from one desert city to another on their way to Mt. Kunlun (joined by Mei after she returned from the Samadhi Fire side-arc).

Namely, it's like a magical version of the famous Peach Blossom Spring of Chinese literature: an entire city that has been glamored over by the power of the divine beasts, occupied by people whose way of life hasn't changed since the Tang dynasty.

But as the guardians' powers fade, so does the illusion that veils it from the outside world, and the elemental magic that sustains this paradise.

Instead of a music festival, the gang finally discover the city that, according to the locals, has appeared out of thin air a few days ago, while it is in the middle of an archaic ritual procession.

The atmosphere is a lot more solemn, and it isn't hard to see why. Not only has the illusion vanished, exposing them to a profoundly alien world, the foliage of the oasis are growing and dying in rapid succession, clogging the streets with fallen leaves and yellowed petals.

An opera play is going on atop a nearby stage. It sings of a teal-robed immortal who rescued the refugees of a long-forgotten war, who turned desert into fertile soil with the help of a mighty divine general, concealing their existence from the greed and malice of the outside world.

The people in the procession knelt down and pleaded to the immortal for aid, to not abandon them in their hour of need. And their prayers are, indeed, answered, just not by the divine beasts in person.

The 14 Lunar Mansions that belong to the Azure Dragon and White Tiger descended from the sky, summoned by their masters, though they seemed to have been given different orders.

Namely, the Azure Dragon 7 spread out to guard all the major city gates, letting no one enter or leave, while the White Tiger 7 are ordered to round up all the residents and start setting up a teleportation formation.

Soon afterwards, Nezha arrived in the midst of the chaos. He is just as clueless as to what was going on as the Monkie Kid gang, but the moment he caught sight of SWK and friends, he's after them in hot pursuit.

Meanwhile, Li Jing is not happy about the Lunar Mansions suddenly acting without his orders, and commanded them to stand down or be arrested for insubordination.

"With all due respect, Devaraja Li——" Before the Moon Fox Star could finish her sentence, another stellar beast stepped forth, his tiger tail swishing behind him. "Who the hell do you think you are?"

Results: most of the Azure Dragon 7 get sucked into his pagoda, but while they were fighting, the White Tiger 7's formation activated, teleporting the majority of the city residents to god knows where.

While shit was hitting the fan, Tang hurriedly teleported the gang away, right into the sanctuary of the divine beasts——an underground temple.

"It's over, Mengzhang. Now that the Harbinger is on our doorsteps, and your pet mortals are safe at the cost of our loyal warriors, will you finally rest easy?" "Not...yet. There are still...stragglers, left behind." "Stragglers you have doomed yourself! Their fate is sealed the moment you cast your mirage over their ancestors and create this little utopia, frozen in time." The cracks on the tiger's body widened. A thick layer of condensation began forming on the metal reliefs, as if the very walls of the temple were weeping. "I should have never agreed to stay and help." "Yet you...still did. And I'm so glad you are here."

Yep, in this fix-it, I decide to use the Azure Dragon & White Tiger for some thematic parallels, with them basically repeating Nvwa and the Pillar of Heaven on a smaller scale.

The former created a garden city in the middle of the desert, while the latter uses his power to provide the water source that sustains the city (because Metal births Water).

As the end approaches, however, they are faced with the problem of ensuring the city residents' safety, since, upon their death, the entire oasis will revert to a desert overnight.

The White Tiger feels like there's no point in trying anything, since their death means the Harbinger will fulfill his destiny soon and give the world a reboot.

But the Azure Dragon insists on channeling his power into the land until the very last possible moment, so that the people's last memories will be a mundane, peaceful one.

Besides, they know very well that Fate and Destiny are no longer ironclad, when the very laws of reality are breaking down. How, then, can he be sure that the cycle will end and the world will be reforged as Nvwa intended, seeing that its premature beginning is already an outlier?

After a long argument, they had reached an uneasy compromise. Thus, the chaotic arrival of the Lunar Mansions and the hurried evacuation of the residents.

"You will understand, won't you, Harbinger?" The dragon looked into his eyes. "Even if you know it's selfish and futile, that you can't keep them safe forever, you are still going to give your all, just so their happy days will last a little longer..." "It is easy for Brother Jianbing to say, let go, face your end with honor. For Metal is the clashes of blades, the unforgiving axe of executioners." "I? This old fool just saw lives. Of men and women, children and elderly folks. And I cannot stand by and watch them wither."

MK nodded quietly, feeling Mei's worried, "are you not telling me something" glance on the back of his head. He reached out a hand, and the two divine beasts press their foreheads together.

The dragon faded away in a rain of falling leaves and petals, and when the Purple Color Stone hit the ground, nothing remains of the tiger but a thin layer of silvery, metallic sand on the floor.

Appendix: Inside the Pagoda

The fix-it is mostly over at this point, so the following is just me adding some additional worldbuilding and foreshadowing to MK's solution in E10, to make the whole "giving powers to everyone" thing a little less out of left field.

In the previous section, it was mentioned that a bunch of Lunar Mansions end up inside Li Jing's pagoda too. And when MK and friends run across them, they are in a pretty bad state.

Namely, the same cracks they see on the divine beasts are now appearing on the Lunar Mansions' bodies too.

"Isn't it obvious? Our masters are no more, so we now bear the brunt of the weight that was once on their shoulders..." "And are on our way of being crushed to a pancake." "Very tactful, aren't you?" The one-horned man sighed. "But yes. Lord Mengzhang is a stellar beast too——the greatest of all. He is a constellation, while we are merely the stars that make up the dragon's body, embued with a tiny fraction of his power." "And when the very sky of the East has fallen..." "How can the stars remain unscathed?"

After that, they basically exit the scene to fade away offscreen. But the information they revealed plants the seed of an idea in MK: specifically, that the Color Stones' power (and burden) can be shared between multiple individuals, like what happened at the end of E10.

Also, tiny fix: instead of MK learning the circlet spell outta nowhere, he's gonna tap into the power of the Color Stones during his fight with SWK, just like he did during Xuanwu's trial, to buy enough time to make his sacrifice.

[fernacular]

Could you tell us more about your version of batman? Maybe the batfam too? Boop!

I can try! To be honest I don't have a ton to say, im not the most knowledgeable when it comes to the Lore(tm) and I'm mostly making stuff up with each drawing I do, whatever makes the initial concept or joke work.

So what I have is this:

He's not physically powerful but he has a lot of speed, flexibility and endurance and mostly focuses on avoiding fights and being a good detective, and when a fight is unavoidable he leans a lot on technology and being a pragmatic fighter so he can take people down quick with minimal risk. I don't know much about martial arts but his fighting style is probably similar to Akido?

The Joker is less of a huge villain, I have nothing against the character I just feel like he gets leaned on too much in batman stories, like an overexposure thing. He was a gangster with a gimmick who become a problem every once in a while but he was never Batman's arch nemesis. (That would be two-face, they got the most personal history). After the Jason Todd of it all Bruce stuck him down a stinky hole and no one liked him enough to help him get out.

There's not actually a huge age gap between Bruce and Dick, only about ten years, and the father/son relationship is getting slightly more awkward as time goes on. Like it's one thing for a 22 year old telling a twelve year old what to do, pretty different when it's a 35 year old trying to lecture a 25 year old. Dick respects Bruce immensely but he's getting frustrated with Bruce not seeing them as peers yet, and it's part of why Dick has physically distanced himself. (Some familial relationships improve so much when you live in different cities)

He's in an on-and-off again relationship with Selina, who has her own apartment but splits her time between it and the Wayne manor when they're on, and sometimes even off (Alfred usually let's her in regardless, when she feels like using the front door). They're just two very independent people who do love each other but every so often need their space and don't know how to communicate that constructively.

What else what else... Babs is Oracle but her spine was injured in a different way, probably while kicking ass and saving lives.

Bruce is better friends with Diana than he is Clark because Clark has a little bit of a country chip on his shoulder when it comes to wealthy property owners and Bruce isn't jazzed about the press. Its getting better with time though!

Bruce is very good at masking (I mean, clearly, he has to fool everyone with Brucie after all) but his relaxed affect is very blunt and not outwardly emotional. This does not mean he's always brooding or overly serious, he just has resting bitch face and his sense of humor is very dry. His family can read him pretty well but most other people just assume he's perpetually pissed.

Uuuuh thats all I can think of off the top of my head, hope you like it!

Also boop

[ckret2]

If Bill said he was raised like royalty i would be half, that explains quite a bit, and half he is lying through his teeth

While I expect Bill to lie to us in The Book Of Bill, I kinda expect Alex won't. Which is to say: if Bill tells us a lie, something somewhere else in the book will hint at the truth, or he'll tell the lie in such a way as to make it impossible for us to buy, so we'll know it's a lie. If the truth is supposed to be unknown or if it's supposed to be ambiguous whether he's lying, it'll be presented in a way that makes the ambiguity obvious to us even if Bill didn't intend it that way.

Like how, in the penthouse, he tells Ford he "liberated" his dimension, but we're given a way to know he's lying because we can see the fire and hear the screams.

If he claims he was raised as royalty, I'm gonna assume he was raised as royalty unless he sounds super sus when he describes it or he accidentally includes a baby picture showing himself living in a barn or something like that.

Like yeah, as a person Bill would lie about anything. But Bill isn't a person, he's a character from a cartoon that plays fair with its audience and that gives us mysteries hoping we'll solve them. What's the point of him telling us a lie in the book if the lie serves no narrative purpose? Why have him tell us a lie if the readers aren't given reason to think it's a lie, and therefore get the benefit of understanding that Bill's lying and what that says about him?

Considering the penthouse scene again: an audience member could theorize "Bill was lying about doing anything at all to the second dimension, it's actually perfectly fine and he visits on weekends, and the info Ford got from the Oracle in Journal 3 was inaccurate because she'd been told the same story by Bill," and there's nothing in canon to prove that theory wrong... but like, what would be the point. Would you buy into that as a plausible theory that holds water? Probably not. Well, why don't you believe that theory? Bill's a liar, isn't he? And if he's a liar, why wouldn't you doubt that his story about "liberating"/destroying his dimension is a lie?

Because if it wasn't true on some level, then why would they waste our time by putting it in the show?

Same applies to The Book of Bill. Tossing out any info Bill puts in the book as "this is a lie" without a salient reason just because, idk, he's Bill so it could be a lie, doesn't feel like engaging honestly with the text. Bill is a known liar, Bill's likely to tell a lot of lies—but unless there's a compelling reason in the book or from the show to consider any particular statement a lie, I'm gonna consider it more likely true than not. Not because I trust Bill to be honest, but because I trust that Alex Hirsch doesn't plan to waste our time with two hundred pages of content that add nothing real to our understanding of his show.

[ganondoodle]

I was at first in love with totk, and I still think mechanical wise, its quite impressive

And when I collected all the tears and saw the "story" I genuinely got upset in a good way (at first), because man! Did they really got the balls to go that far? Is there nothing I can do for her? Now I MUST do all the temples, see how it plays out and --oh, I've got this cutscene already. Why are all the people so dumb about Zelda, I KNOW where she is, Link say something-- Link??

After finishing all the temples and almost falling asleep, I stopped playing the game, looked up the last boss and remaining cutscenes and went "Thats it?"

Watching other people (including you) being critically about so many things, both character and mechanical wise, I've almost startled myself with a realization what the gnawing feeling I constantly had, actually was.

Totk feels like a fanfic.

And don't get me wrong, I love fanfiction, I think its great and important, I adore fanfic writers, I love finding gems, I love reading self indulgent stories, see new spins and interpretation of characters. I love the casual, the passion, the creativity!

But totk gives me the same feeling everytime I am reminded that Fifty Shades is a Twillight fanfic.

The world is there. The faces I know and grew to love are there. But everything is ever so slightly different, uncannily so. Just how some characters talk, how they act, how they were placed in the story. The Zonai appearing out of nowhere, but no, they always had been there you see, they were these super magical advanced people but they all died, the king is so tragic. And you see, the king is super cool and powerful and-- oh I dont get to interact with him outside of the tutorial. Did they try to do another King Rhoam-- but wait, that only worked because we didn't knew he was a ghost-- totk wait stop why do you take him out of the story, why couldn't he be a companion, he IS ABLE TO TALK THROUGH THE ARM LET THE OLD GOAT COMMENT ON STUFF?? If you bring up all this ancient stuff and you still got a ghost lingering, let him talk?? (I never ended up getting Mineru but I smell wasted potential as well)

Im not even mad, I am disappointed. It feels like the devs saw what all the lore hunters got attached to and talked about and then just... took the "cool". All the Zonai stuff could've easily been Sheikah tech, but got just reskinned to look more exciting instead of being its own thing.

Like... at this point I prefer what fans are doing over what Totk gave us. The characterization of Rauru (and everything Zonai), projects like you do of what totk couldve been, the little nuggets of actual highlights and details of love fans find in the game. I found much more enjoyment in these concepts than I got from a 70bucks game. And thats depressing.

I love fanfiction. I dont love it when my corporate 70 dollar, six year development, console exclusive game feels like a story that passionate fan couldve written miles better in a week (and I've already seen much cooler and interesting rewrites and ideas).

Zelda has been a huge part of my childhood and its depressing seeing it treated like that. It always was about the story, the epic, its The Legend of Zelda for crying out loud. To be courageous to enter a dungeon, to be wise and solve all the riddles. To become powerful over the journey you embarked on. Zelda to me is the campfire story you tell to others and go into the woods or the beach and imagine what monsters you would slay. Zelda is not the sandcastle you build in the sandbox and then add dinosaurs and star wars ships because you didn't had any other toys, and just stumble into and over some story to entertain yourself until lunch is ready.

I'd have an oracle of seasons over another totk any day at this point. They should've just make the mechanics of totk its own thing, but I guess they were scared it wouldn't sell if it doesn't have a Mario or Zelda skin straped over it.

Anyways, sorry for the mini rant - love your art, love your thoughts and insights, and I am looking forward to see more of it - Zelda related or not (your original characters look amazing, I adore your style sm)

Hope you have a great rest of the day!

*nods along through this entire rant*

idk how many of my rants you have read but yeah ... yeah ... and the further you think about it the further it all falls apart, the wasted potential of it all and the goddamn audacity of them to do those interviews in which they make it EVEN WORSE is just

i know the expectation for a direct sequel to botw was huge and understandbly so but i really REALLY think it would not have been that hard to make it a good follow up even taking into account that totk was originally a DLC, pretty much all of botws aspects could have been developed further, i dont know what could have happened to make totk have turned out like this .. literally it feels like something had to have gone wrong, its like someone who doesnt know zelda nor botw at all was given a few prompts and then just made some generic fantasy story while the rest worked on ultrahand for 5 years

the technical impressive things ARE technical impressive, but i dont think it was necessary nor served the game well in any way (and i LOVE building games- however totk is neither a building game nor a story game nor a zelda game nor an exploration game nor a sequel imo) but zelda, this zelda, is not made for that and i cant help but think it was mainly to encourage people to make some ridiculous mechs so it can go viral on tiktok (not trying to discredit them, it IS cool what they are doing but i .... have my doubts if zelda is the right place for that)

ill stop there bc i have ranted so much about everything i dont wanna repeat it here again; it just doesnt feel like a real game (derogatory), it feels extra bad bc i was not really into zelda when botw came out and while i did get it as soon as i could (months after release since i just started a minijob and didnt have the money) i only over time grew to love zelda this much again, devouring any theories and anything about it bc i loved it so much- i was never into it like this when a new title was announced and dont own any special editions so i bought the totk collectors bc i was just so damn excited for it after the 2019 trailer dropped (god i want that time back ... it looked so much more like it was going to be an actual sequel) even if i was already worried it wouldnt be good at that point given how much i started to sense stuff i dont like about the newer trailers

i recently sold it at our local gameshop bc it was like a thorn in my side given how expensive it was and how dissapointed i was in the game, i genuinely think that, technical impressiveness aside, totk is the onyl zelda i truly cannot stand (for alot of reasons) and im genuinely worried for the future of the franchise

i bought an Oki (Okami) figurine for what i got back and i feel much happier with that :3

(also on a note, i did finish the game two weeks after release but stopped playing it right then and hadnt touched it since, i also streamed all of what i played and its still up if you want to see my slow descend into madness fjkdhkdhjk though its been a long while since then and i by far did not talk about everything back then, just what my most immediate frustrations were while still playing)

(also the gameplay isnt as good as people make it out to be, so much is so frustrating and punishing to use i am kinda baffled it got through like that and most people call that its best aspect ..... though i guess if the rest is so much worse even mid gameplay can seem good ooooooooh how dare i)

also thank you for liking what i do!!! <3 it means alot to know it is appreciated by someone :D

[blackfilmmakers]

I am convinced Wish straight up stole the story from the Stardust episode in Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire. How so?

-A gathering ceremony of a man called the Oracle granting “destinies” to people that become of age

-Setting is set in a North African region (Egypt most likely) and the MC(Nawara) is most likely Amazigh. This is based on her design, and what I’ve seen Amazigh people tend to wear-take my words with a grain of salt. But even if that is not the case, Nawara’s design shares similarities with Asha’s concept art

-Similar tower observatory structure because the Oracle, like Magnifico, look into astrology for their source of power

-An MC that approaches the Oracle for the intention for her own ambitions being granted

-The MC feels wronged when denied their wishes/destinies, and plans to steal them

-There is great emphasis on a fallen Star. Stars in general, but mainly this particular “wishing Star”

-She becomes the apprentice of the Oracle(he’s not actually a villain, but alluded to be). Hey Remember when Asha applied to be an assistant, and that was never explored on what they do?

-The story is essentially telling you that you can make your own wishes/destinies come true

-Literally has Nawara end the short saying “nothing but this!” (Look at lyrics of This Wish)

Taking into account that Kizazi Moto is region locked with Disney+ (I don’t think most African countries can even watch it), and that Disney barely advertised the show, I would not be surprised they scrapped everything they originally had, just to poorly mimic this story. There are just way too many similarities between these two for it all to be a coincidence

Kizazi Moto has been in development for years btw, so yes it is possible for Disney to steal aspects of the premise for Wish

It would explain why Wish’s characters and plot barely get any development and just feel empty. This one short was able to immerse us in a finished world building perspective. The city in Stardust actually feels magical, and the MC changes by the end of the story. Feel like the reason Wish failed in these aspects is partly because they tried to mimic Stardust, but divorced it from its own lore and context. And so you just have a movie of nothing

Disney has always had a habit of stealing works from others to make profit. Remember when they tried to copyright Hakuna Matata?

I’m already mad they hardly advertised Kizazi Moto to begin with, but now I am more mad at the fact that an 8 min short did Wish better in every aspect, and it’s probably because Wish stole these concepts from African animators like Ahmed Teliab(directed and written Stardust)

And there are other cool episodes in Generation Fire, I would appreciate y’all checking out. African animators and writers hardly get any recognition for their talents.

Even if Wish really didn’t steal this episode’s concepts, again, Stardust does everything better than Wish in every way

Conclusion: Go watch Kizazi Moto, but yknow pirate it. They don’t even show the series in African countries anyways. You might as well look into their works, and support them. The company supporting a genocide with some of those African countries, ain’t going to care about them

[cleromancy]

oracle year one born of hope from batman chronicles #5 (published 1996) is hands down the best defridging story ive ever read for a lot of reasons--the first being just that its such a damn good comic in the first place. but every time i read it im so struck by the way it reframes the casual *incidental* violence done to barbara in TKJ, where she's just an obstacle in the joker's way to get to jim (to get to batman) and it's not *about* her. on the very second page of OYO we have this:

the entire page (...minus bruce in the bg up there) is drawn from barbaras point of view while she recounts the incident from her hospital bed. literally recentering her and her perspective, her experience and her feelings. where TKJ sensationalizes and sexualizes the violence done to her we see an illustration of her choice--love for her father, "don't get up"--then the shock and pain of the injury, then the operating room.

and she opened the story with "i cant believe i was such an idiot," berating herself for not looking through the peephole or using the chain on the door before she opened it, emphasizing that she knew better, and its a very human response to being the victim of something like this--almost fixating on a small mistake you made. inside the story its about the grief and the sense of control bargaining gives you--"if only i had--!" and then on the meta level its actually addressing the "well why DIDNT barbara look through the peephole???" (<- the answer being that TKJ never considered whether or not she would have, bc that was less important to the story than hurting her.)

and the next page. god. its masterful:

the balance of OYO being a response to TKJ on a meta level and the genuine story-level exploration of barbaras feelings just in the first 3 pages alone... chefs kiss. the way it addresses the previous bullshit storytelling choices--but builds something new off of them, because that shouldn't be the end of barbaras story.

and its so fantastic bc it doesn't shy away from barbaras ugly feelings...

she's so angry and she's allowed to be. and thats also what makes it such a good defridging--that its a resonant portrayal of becoming disabled. anger, grief, humiliation, shame, fear, the absolute *slog* that is recovery, the realization that your independence has been compromised... it really reckons with what this means for her in that moment and moving forward.

just posting this one bc i love her...

and the crux of the story is barbara taking control back over her life, barbara not feeling helpless anymore. its a superhero origin story to its core and its fantastic at what it does.

and i mean... i do always feel iffy about this part:

the juxtaposition of her wanting to do this without batmans help with her, well, unknowingly accepting bruces help. makes seesaw motion with hand. i always feel like its a bit of a weak spot... i like elements of it, particularly *because* this work is addressing so much of TKJs bullshit; this is making bruce actually care about barbaras injury because fuck you he *should* care, he *should* do something. and barbaras need for independence and her struggles to accept help are pretty central to her character and in a story about disability... i mean interdependence is a core tenant of disability rights activism, no man is an island and all that. but btwn it being bruce who finds richard dragon for her to train with, and richard dragon both being yknow a man and not a wheelchair user himself, it falls flat. which is really something you notice bc the rest of the story is so damn good... its hard for me to put my finger on exactly what i think they should've done instead, bc they only had 18 pages for this story and like. it's incredibly tight, not a panel wasted, so it *was* important that barbaras teacher be someone we the reader already know, and there was no *time* to establish some other way for barbara to find someone of richard fucking dragons caliber on her own without bruces connections.

but that i guess does bring me to. the other thing i find frustrating re: OYO which is just that it's. 18 pages collected with two other stories, neither of which is memorable... i mean how many other year ones of a heavy hitter like barbara freakin gordon can you think of with less than a single full issue? and batgirl year one had 9 issues (9 mediocre, mediocre issues). i dont think OYO needed that much time (but hey neither did fucking bgyo)... but come on. come on!!!!!!

anyway whatever. oracle sweep

[fire-but-ashes-too]

☆º.⭐︎200 event!!⭐︎.º☆

HIIIIII

OMG OMG OMG OMG THIS IS GONNA BE SO FUN AAAAAAAAAHHH

ok so! wow! 200! youre giving me too much power istg im feeling ✨important✨

oh btw here is my intro post

soooo how is this gonna work??? basically u have all these lil red (cause in this blog we stan red) emojis and each one has a meaning! by sending them in an ask (to me ofc lol) you'll get smt! which is basically how every other event usually works lmao

also pls dont just put the emoji, specify what u want lmao

OK HERE WE GOOOO

★•.☆ index ☆.•★

❤️ - therapist moment -> spill the tea bestie tell me your dilemmas and ill try to help u out

🥀 - smol art commissions (keep in mind im not the greatest artist bbut im inda in an art block so ill try everything!) these may take 1-2 weeks max, no nsfw or lot of gore, and mostly not very complex pieces lol (u can choose the medium btw)

☎️ - smol writing commissons! same as before, not more than 3k (idk whats the point rlly but im on block and ive seen ppl do it so ill give it a try)

🍉 - collage board! can be either for you, a character, a song, whatever u want youll just need to specify it :)

🍓 - playlist!! give me a genre and a theme and voila ill make u a playlist

💥 - mAmMA MiAaaAA -> i teach u italian✨ idk this was rlly random but y not?

💃🏻 - free compliments~ ill get u cheered up

🌹 - ill have my old grandma moment, take a seat, get some hot chocolate or some tea or whatever, some cookies and ill tell u about my life :D (maybe specify which kind of story u want? like TELL ME OF WHEN YOU WERE A COMPLETE IDIOT IN FORNT OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE👹 that works well)

🎁 - ash the chef™️ aka i share with u my precious recipes (another very random one but i got back into baking lately soooo why not lol)

🧧 - 3.40 minutes -> u get ONE song for a veeeery specific feeling/moment/situation/ etc etc just specify and the sporacle (spotify-oracle ahahah im so funny ik) shall answer you

👠 - the poetrist aka a variation of writing commissions but on poetry (its more fun if u give me lots of specifcs lol)

🍄 - fandoms 101 -> do you want to get into a fandom? have you seen a fandom which seems really cool but you have no idea on hwere to start or how? call the 13-fire-but-ashes-too-13 (or: my ask box) and get yourself a new fandom to cry over! (this only applies to things im in lmao)

🧣 - idk guys im out of ideas but i wanted the 13 thingies so this is extra, just do watever you want, run free my dears

AHHHHHH OK OK IM GONNA GO NOW SPAM ALL U WANT AND DRINK WATERRRRRRRR

bye :p

[zahri-melitor]

Okay, general roundup of New 52 titles I have read so far, now I am well into 2013 in my read through:-

Batwoman, J.H. Williams run – genuinely great. This is a highlight of the New 52, honestly. If DC had stopped occasionally remembering that Kate Kane is now Bruce’s cousin and had let Kate and Maggie get married, it would be perfect.

Blue Beetle – it’s not the best Jaime run I’ve ever read, but in terms of restructuring Jaime’s origin to simplify it and remove the heavy connection with Infinite Crisis shenanigans, it worked far better than the Rebirth reboot. Let down by getting cancelled just as it started becoming more interesting (aka had finally finished the retread of Jaime’s origin story and started him having new adventures).

Threshold – this was certainly a comic I read entirely to see Jaime in it. If you are lucky enough to know nothing about it, it’s basically a planet of foxhunting tagged ‘criminals’, where Jaime ends up one of the tagged. It’s meandering, pointless and bad. I think if you’re a Lantern fan you’d also think it was bad. Deservedly knocked off after 8 issues.

Justice League Dark – I made it through 6 issues. My biggest takeaways were that everyone here was just so miserable and Boston Brand was dating Dawn Granger for reasons that surpassed understanding. I want to like it more than I do, for the cast it has.

Batgirl, Gail Simone run – appealing and infuriating in turn. There’s some genuinely beautiful writing here (the WWII paper balloons!) and Babs is recognisable as Babs, but it’s horribly let down by the fact that ‘healing’ Barbara means that she’s now both not allowed to operate as Oracle (by editorial dictat) AND she’s having trouble as a street vigilante as she’s still recovering from her injuries. It makes sense but it also makes Barbara doubly incompetent which is maddening as they’ve taken away everything that was hers specifically. Also James Gordon Jnr is always intensely irritating to have around and I am never going to get over giving Babs a villain called ‘Knightfall’ in the run immediately after healing her back. Yes. I got the reference. It’s not that funny.

Birds of Prey – it’s hmmm still finding its feet. Lacks the soul of the original run, but there are flashes of the old magic occasionally. It is hilarious to me that they decided to merge Dinah Drake and Dinah Lance back into a single character for this run, creating a bizarre new ex-husband for Dinah in Kurt Lance (seriously, Kurt Lance, why do you exist you’re so weird) and then within 6 issues or so abruptly realised WHY Dinah Drake and Dinah Lance have been separate characters since 1983 and reinvented a new Dinah Drake mother for the character. Spectacular. Sheer evidence that nobody involved in new 52 was actually spending much time thinking about how an all new origin reboot would affect characterisation.

Batman – I have my differences with Scott Snyder over his run, but he at least manages to make things interesting and spend time interrogating Bruce’s identity. It feels in conversation with the Loeb and Dini storylines around Thomas Elliot and that whole crowd of elite Gothamites. Lots of interesting set ups let down by execution or obsession with conspiracy theories. Love his work with Harper Row as a character.

Batman & Robin – okay folk, I do agree, this is a far far better Batman & Robin run than 2009. I feel like I’ve spent more time with Damian showing me his character rather than being informed by Morrison via Alfred mouthpiece about Damian’s character. There’s some lovely character work in here. It’s still suffering from getting New 52ed but it’s honestly the first run anywhere that’s actually really good for Damian characterisation (plus or minus the Damian and Colin Wilkes fight Zsasz plot in Streets of Gotham or Gates of Gotham).

Batman Incorporated – fuck you Grant Morrison. Nobody reading this title is having a good time. If you’re here for actual Batman Inc characters well I’m sorry, they’re mostly standing around the sidelines of a plot about Bruce, Talia and Damian. If you’re here for Talia I’m so sorry for you. If you’re here to read Bruce and/or Damian you get like 3-4 sweet scenes that I am sure you have already seen in screencapped panels floating around with no context. DC would be a better place if this book hadn’t been approved (also Cyril might still be alive)

Nightwing – this comic so far is obsessed with Haly’s Circus. Now I don’t like the whole Talon retcon (I think it cheapens a lot of things about Dick’s backstory as a character) but I will admit it’s nice to see Dick spending time with his Haly’s Circus friends and Dick’s optimistic side coming out in the ‘let’s just rebuild Amusement Mile as a place that isn’t Joker-haunted!’ Tragically of course because we’re never allowed to have nice plotlines involving Haly’s Circus it gets blown up again and lots of people die. But at least Dick’s back to owning the circus, amirite? (For bizarre ‘Pop Haly left it to him in his will’ reasons rather than Dick buying it out with his inheritance money that is totally not one of the many occasions Bruce has lied to Dick and told him that this trust fund is 100% based on investments of his parents assets, rather than Bruce attempting to give Dick Wayne money again so he stops living out of cardboard boxes in a tiny apartment)

Red Hood and the Outlaws – I have now suffered through three whole issues of this comic (actually 4 but I paged through that one to read like one scene at the end) and it is determined to make me hate everyone involved with it in terms of its disrespect for Roy and Kory. Also all the issues kept trying to convince me that Jason and Tim have always been each others’ favourite brothers, which lol. (If that’s actually ever true for Jason it’s the most hilarisad thing ever).

Teen Titans – I made it through two issues for crossover purposes. I am tempted to come back as I think I will get some stuff out of it once I’ve finished my Teen Titans 2003 read (and look there does actually appear to be some things in here I may enjoy). Can’t believe Kurt Lance shows up in this comic. I swear he’s my new nemesis.

Suicide Squad – I am 100% not reading this comic, I only opened it for crossover issues. What have they done to Amanda Waller. (Also why is Harley Quinn trying to date Floyd Lawton, did editorial suddenly realise how many people are into his deep uh comradery with Thomas Blake and overreact trying to remove the gay cooties or something?)

Catwoman and Detective Comics – honestly I haven’t got a good enough read on either yet from the few issues I’ve read, but ‘Tec is running a Penguin plot and I’m not in the mood for a Penguin plot at the moment.

So far, my recommendations: Batwoman I recommend without hesitation. Batman & Robin has been embroidered in fans’ memories but is worthwhile in any case. Batman is interesting stories sometimes let down in execution and may actually read better if you avoid touching any tie-in issues for a readthrough.

Nightwing, Batgirl, Birds of Prey and Blue Beetle are “these are some of my favourite characters, I want to know even if I don’t always like it” reads. They’re still the same characters, just trapped in a maddening world.

[themattress]

Ranking Link+Zelda and Ganon Incarnations

1. Hyrule Warriors - The more time has passed, the more I realize just how fucking good Hyrule Warriors was as a celebration of the Zelda series, which includes how superbly designed and characterized its Link and Zelda are. There are aspects of many past incarnations mixed in them, but they still manage to stand out as their own individuals. I especially love how Link is given actual character flaws, growing arrogant and believing himself to be the great lone hero of the story only to recognize that he, like all Links, never save the day purely on their own, and how Zelda is an absolute badass in combat as both herself and as Sheik, something that’s rarely seen outside of the Super Smash Bros. series.

2. Skyward Sword - Chronologically the first Link and Zelda, these two are some of the most human feeling. You really connect with them in all of their expressiveness and vulnerabilities. The relationships they forge with the likes of Impa and Groose only add to the sensation. It feels like they were written to be relatable people first and mythical figures of legend second.

3. Breath of the Wild / Tears of the Kingdom / Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity - There’s been much talk of this version of Zelda and how interesting, endearing and relatable she is in all of her scientific nerdiness and feelings of inadequacy when placed with heavy burdens, and how admirable she is in her courage and self-sacrificial nature, and all of that is true. But I think that across all three games Link also shapes up into a surprisingly complex character that was unexpected given his initial stoic front in Breath of the Wild. And give both of them credit: they’re the first Link and Zelda to have a radical design overhaul in three decades.

4. Ocarina of Time / Majora’s Mask - The first 3D Link and Zelda were also the first to truly showcase some semblance of characterization and character development, as we watch them go from children to adults and gain great strength at the cost of losing their innocence.

5. The Wind Waker / Phantom Hourglass - I greatly enjoy these two in The Wind Waker, where they are very expressive and funny and sympathetic. But they lose some points due to Phantom Hourglass, which did them kind of dirty in favor of becoming the Linebeck Show.

6. Spirit Tracks - They look the same as their ancestors from The Wind Waker, but they’ve got a different, unique feel to them, with Link being a working class guy instead of some island bumpkin in over his head, and Zelda being a sheltered princess who has to learn to come into her own rather than an Action Girl from the beginning. They also have one of the tightest (and cutest) bonds of friendship out of any Link and Zelda given their circumstances.

7. Twilight Princess - Both of them are in service of the real protagonist Midna, whom they share an excellent bond with, but they still have distinguishing factors that make them stand out, with Zelda being more of a Queen than a Princess this time around and Link having his own arc of going from simple farmboy to Hero of Hyrule carrying forth his ancestor’s legacy.

8. A Link Between Worlds - Virtually clones of the next Link and Zelda pair on this list, but with somewhat more personality and agency, helped along by their Lorulian counterparts.

9. A Link to the Past / Link’s Awakening / Oracle of Ages & Seasons - The “classic” Link and Zelda who provided the template for the others. No real personality to speak of, sadly.

10. The Minish Cap - These two, who are childhood friends, have slightly more personality than the above...but I’m sorry, the “toon” designs do not fit beyond The Wind Waker and its direct follow-ups. It’s a freaking Game Boy Advance game, why give them these expressive designs if we aren’t going to actually see any expressions? Also, Link’s birb hat is distracting. 

11. The Legend of Zelda / Zelda II: The Adventure of Link - Basic blank slates that existed before the franchise truly got solidified on the SNES. Zelda especially just looks wrong now.

12/13. Four Swords & Four Swords Adventures - These are technically two separate incarnations of Link and Zelda, but they’re essentially carbon copies of each other. I can’t find myself giving the remotest shit about Link when there are four of him, and what the fuck is up with this different “toon” Zelda design? That giant red bow she’s wearing looks hideous!

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

1. Hyrule Warriors - Again, this game nabs the top spot and gives us the definitive version of the character. Ganondorf in this game has it all: the active villainy and terrifying chimera beast form like in Ocarina of Time, the capacity for self-reflection and self-awareness like in The Wind Waker, the manipulative usage of other villains as pawns like in A Link to the Past, Twilight Princess and Four Swords Adventures, and even the mastery over his Demise rooted elements before Tears of the Kingdom. We even get three whole chapters of him as the playable protagonist, where he gets to show off his non-inherently evil qualities such as his tactical brilliance, good leadership skills, and sheer determination to achieve his goals.

2. Tears of the Kingdom - The latest Ganondorf, who is also the first in the series’ timeline, has been met with great acclaim, and rightfully so. Not only does he (mercifully) usurp Demise’s position as Demon King whose hatred fuels almost every great evil in the series, but he feels like Ocarina of Time’s Ganondorf on steroids: an active, omnipresent villain despite not being on screen that much but this time not even needing to be mobile to do so thanks to the horrific Gloom ecosystem under his control. And like the corresponding versions of Link and Zelda, he bucks tradition hard design-wise by having a dragon as his beast form rather than a giant pig. Add to this Matt Mercer’s epic voice and you’ve got a fantastic villain.

3. Ocarina of Time - The first ever Ganondorf created, this is the character that took Ganon from an average villain to one of the greatest villains in video game history. He actively drives every major crisis over the course of the game, lending him an aura of omnipresence despite his actual limited screentime, and is shown to be as cunning as he is powerful by tricking Link and Zelda into helping him conquer Hyrule, turning it into a dystopian nightmare. He’s also deliciously theatrical - the man plays his own theme music on a pipe organ, for crying out loud! The cherry on top is his horrifying Ganon form taken in an unforgettable final boss fight.

4. The Wind Waker - Ganondorf is kept at a distance throughout this game, locked away in his tower and pulling strings, more of a McGuffin than a nemesis. After Ocarina of Time, this is a disappointment, but it could be made up for with good pay-off. And man, does the game ever deliver. When Ganondorf takes action, he is terrifying, both animalistically psychotic enough to do anything yet humanely wizened enough to control this madness at the same time, giving Link the worst of both worlds to contend with. And not only do we get yet another epic final boss fight against him, but he even ends up as a tragic figure: a wretched old soul full of regrets but too full of greed and pride to act upon them, desperately clinging to his dreams rooted in the past while raging against the future that threatens to leave him behind.

5. Twilight Princess - Being just the power behind Zant until the very end, Ganondorf is just here to be the final boss. Again, this would disappoint if the game didn’t make him a worthy final boss, and it more than delivers in this regard. You fight this bastard in just about every way you possibly could fight him, all while he displays a chilling malevolence in every word and action. He really does feel like what he is: an aged-up version of Ocarina of Time’s Ganondorf whose goal is still well in sight and thus he’s able to play the long game to get it.

6. A Link Between Worlds - As many others have observed, Yuga-Ganon of Lorule ended up being a greater menace than his Hylian counterpart who comes directly below him on this list. Not only does he have a unique design and personality of his own, but he is an even more formidable opponent in battle, full of tactical creativity that is difficult for Link to counter.

7. A Link to the Past / Oracle of Ages & Seasons - The “classic” Ganon. He’s big, he’s got magic powers, and he’s got a wicked trident. Unfortunately, you barely ever see him, much less get a feel for any personality beyond baseline evil. Oh well, he still gets the job done.

8. Breath of the Wild / Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity - He’s more of an evil force of nature than a proper character, especially in Breath of the Wild where he has been rendered mindless. What he lacks in substance he makes up for in style, as he is visually stunning.

9. Four Swords Adventures - The problem with this incarnation of the character is that he entered development as one thing and ended it as another. He was supposed to be the same version of Ganon as two spots above and this game would show his origin. But when Shigeru Miyamoto nixed that, we end up with a Ganondorf who is completely offscreen, and a Ganon who still just feels exactly like that version but with a different color scheme. The best that can be said about him is that he finally allowed there to be a truly gigantic 2D sprite of Ganon.

10. The Legend of Zelda - Ganon is one of video gaming’s greatest villains, but man would you not be able to tell that from his debut. All the build-up and mystery surrounding him, presented so well in the instruction manual (”no one knows how he looks like, for none have lived to tell”), and what do we get? A teleporting blue pig in a red jersey. That is SO LAME.