#ANYWAYS i get to the part where they talk about achilles right

[nulfaga]

24 for orph? <3

24: "Hold onto this."

“Right. You hold onto this,” says Orpheus, and pushes some manner of paper into Martin’s hands—Martin fumbles with the page, a brown and battered folio, and peers at the writing. The letters are Cyrodilic, though rendered in someone’s loopy, gallivanting cursive hand. . .but the text is illegible.

“Yes?” Orpheus stares expectantly, bracing his big hands on the kitchen counter. Between those hands is his festive hoard of ingredients: pistachios, orange blossoms, flour, olive oil. “Direct me, Dragonborn.”

“I can’t seem. . .” Martin sets the page down, admitting defeat. “It’s not in any language I know.”

“It’s plain Cyrodilic. A sailor from Stros M’Kai copied it down for me decades ago. Might smack of Anvil a little bit. Let me have a look.”

Martin hands over the page: Orpheus takes it, looks utterly blank for an instant, narrows his eyes, and finally goes very pink.

“Can’t read in this light,” he mumbles.

Achille, the one competent baker in Cloud Ruler Temple and Orpheus’ sous-chef for the afternoon, clears his throat and suggests: “Let me go and ask the Grandmaster for his spare glasses.”

Short of announcing a family tragedy, this is the worst thing one could possibly say to Orpheus Velvassius, and this kind tactless boy stumbled upon it while offering help. “That’s all right,” says Martin quickly, before Orpheus, beet-red, can open his mouth and draw blood. “That’s all right. We’ll put our heads together.”

“Okay,” says Achille, bemusedly. “Where did you get all these things, anyway?”

“Bought some sundries the last time that balding monster sent me out.”

“Velvassius,” snaps Martin.

“He wishes I was pushing up daisies right now,” Orpheus replies, with the same heat. “And I’m not allowed a little invective? Even a little?”

“Be civil,” says Martin, meaning be civil with the Blades around, because I don’t know what I’ll do if they force you out. They’ve had this conversation so many times it’s rote. The first part is shorthand for the rest.

“Civility itself,” says Orpheus, and winks. “To answer your question, Bladesman, most of it came from Leyawiin, but I’ve been squirreling things away as I went. The olive oil is from the Gold Coast, of course. Nowhere better.” He observes the spread with pride. “If you’ll read out what you see, Dragonborn, I’ll see what I can make of it.”

Martin takes a breath and sounds out: “Shof l-blostm, est flam, l-thricemal wutra, lesh ye maor blostm sur hlabos dense.”

Orpheus grins. “’Dense-eh’, not ‘dense’. That bit’s Old Cyrodilic, you ought to know that.”

“’Chauffe’ is Bretic,” says Achille eagerly. “To boil. . .what did you say, sir?”

“’Blostm’,” says Martin. “Blossoms. The orange blossoms.”

“See,” says Orpheus fondly. “Easy.”

Achille stands on his toes to look over Martin’s shoulder. “Boil the blossoms on something flam. . .”

“Est flam. A high flame,” says Martin, recalling an Aldmeris dirge for which the Chantry of Akatosh loved to trot him out. Burn high the fires of Auri-El. “For the length of three wutra?”

“Yeah,” says Orpheus. “A wutra is a prayer, but I never knew what prayer he meant, so I always just rattled off the Song of Mara thrice over. She of the bleeding heart, she of the fruiting love, you know. Seemed to work.”

“Then pour the blossom-something. . .”

“’Maor’; the blossom water.” More Aldmeris. “The extract, I suppose.”

“. . .Onto a something something,” concludes Achille.

“’Hlabos dense’? Dense-eh,” Martin corrects himself.

“A big leaf,” says Orpheus.

“Dense is leaf?”

“Hlabos is leaf. He’s talking about a big, thin layer of dough. We cut it up later.”

“You named the prior’s horse ‘Leaf’?” says Martin incredulously.

“Oh.” Orpheus thinks for a moment and then laughs his huge laugh. “No. I’d love to take the credit, but it was that odd little shepherd at the priory. It’s a Dunmeris word. I quite liked it, so I didn’t rename her.”

“That gorgeous creature? ‘Leaf’?”

“Don’t worry, Hlabos doesn’t speak Dunmeris.” Orpheus takes a handful of orange blossoms and starts to mince them, motioning for Achille to take a cutting board and join him. Achille’s hands are faster and surer. “Why? What’d you name your horses at home?”

“My father named them,” says Martin, suddenly sheepish. “Always things like King or Golden or Knight. He had that sort of taste. He let me name one of the colts.”

“What’d you choose?”

“. . .Shalidor.”

“Shal—pfft. Fuck.” Orpheus shakes so hard with laughter he has to set his knife aside. “Mara’s mercy, Dragonborn, you can’t go after poor Leaf with a record like that.”

“S’pose not,” says Martin under his breath.

When the blossoms are boiled, the pistachios are ground, and the resulting puree has been flavored with radical amounts of honey, the three of them begin to roll out the large, paper-thin rolls of dough. The ‘leaves’. Achille takes one to himself and rolls beautiful, uniform leaves; Martin and Orpheus take one between them and struggle.

“Shitting hell,” says Orpheus when the leaf tears for the so-manyeth time. “I think it needs more olive oil.”

“No, it doesn’t,” says Achille with surprising sharpness. “Don’t add any more olive oil.”

“Ave, commander,” Orpheus grumbles, preparing to do more violence against the little ball of dough.

Martin, exasperated, takes his wrist. “A little gentler, love, or we won’t make one leaf when he’s done ten.”

Orpheus looks up, stung. His good eye is wide open. “Gentle as a spring breeze. Your Imperial Majesty.”

He’s difficult about these things: kisses; terms of endearment; a gentle touch. Suits him better to pretend he’s still in the Legion, punch Martin’s shoulder, banter with him, until something like this comes up—‘love’—and he looks as wounded as a little boy.

“You can’t want to be called 'Champion' forever,” says Martin. “You won’t exactly live up to it when you’re old and grey.”

“Ha,” says Orpheus. “You haven’t met my father.”

“I certainly don’t want to be ‘Dragonborn’ forever.”

He grins and turns his attention back to the dough. “Take it up with Akatosh.”

An hour or two later the pastries are layered, cut into squares, and baking in the oven. Achille, rightfully exhausted, has cleared out to play a hand of cards with the other Blades; Martin and Orpheus have brought dining chairs into the kitchen.

“What’s the occasion, anyway?” asks Martin, enjoying the sweet smell of the baking pastries. Somehow familiar, although he hasn’t had them before.

“No occasion,” says Orpheus. “Just thought you could use something sweet.” He hesitates for a moment and adds: “Actually there’s a little place on the Coast that makes these better than anyone. I’d have liked to take you there, listening to the sea and all. But since you’re in the hole, I improvised.”

This aggravating man has scoured half of Cyrodiil for ingredients for no other reason than it might make Martin happy. But in the face of a word of affection? Gods protect and deliver! Bar the doors, bolt the windows!

“’In the hole’?” says Martin faintly.

“Aren’t you? You can’t leave.”

“Hm.”

What Martin fervently wants to say is I don’t need all these antics: I just want you around. Instead, without much hope, he holds out his hand.

Orpheus looks at it. That injured look passes over his face again. He takes Martin’s hand.

They watch the pastries bake.

#they're making baklava <3 #my writing #thank you for the ask jiub!! i had a very different fill for this one in mind (might still do that one) but i wanted something lighthearted

[teecupangel]

OG anon of the Reborned Desmond in Unity. I'm mighty proud that my ideas spur you fun writing. I'll confess you a secret, I'm also og anons of the ideas I've sent you prior but I don't wanna have you see me aggressive or pushy because I enjoy your content immensely (I had bad experiences of people's harsh words in irl and online on my personality). Anyway, it's similar in Unity idea. What if Desmond is reborned in AC Rogue, like became Shay's childhood friend or Liam's older or younger brother. Or possibly in a time earlier so can Desmond be established in Brotherhood maybe master assassin for Connor's happiness. Haytham's confusion and frustration in some point in the plot that Desmond won't kill him but has a look of a disappointed or pained look of a family member and Lisbon is saved. Desmond and Shay could become platonic soulmates or slow burn childhood friends to lovers (up to you) or better yet Desmond unintentionally became mentor (he was supposed just be an assassin in the background damn it lmao) and Shay is like a bodyguard or right hand which had these intense sexual tension between the two. Sorry for messy and long ask

Ah, well, I don’t see a problem with your personality and I like the ideas you throw at me. To be fair, I do try to limit my time with everyone’s asks to a certain time so I can still write. So if you don’t see an answer, that only means it’s been pushed to next day or something.

Alright, let’s think about how to make this work.

As usual, we’ll keep the same limitation as the Unity AU one

Desmond remembers his life as Desmond Miles

Desmond will have his ancestors’ memories and skills but those memories will be vague

So he either gets reborn as Shay’s childhood friend or Liam’s older/younger brother. Since Liam is Shay’s childhood friend, we can combine the two and make Desmond’s Shay’s childhood friend who is also Liam’s sibling.

Now, according to AC wiki, Liam was Achilles’ first acolyte and it was Liam who also recruited the rest of the Colonial Assassins. He’s pretty much Achilles’ second in command and maybe even being groomed as the next mentor.

In this scenario, Desmond and Liam would both be inducted into the Brotherhood together (whether we keep the whole “Liam’s father got executed to save his son” part of his backstory is up to you, nonny) with Desmond being more of Liam’s shadow. Many will see him as the little bird who whispers in Liam’s ear. Everyone in the Brotherhood knows that if you want Liam on your side, you get Desmond on your side.

We’ll get to Shay later as we need to talk about how Desmond’s inclusion would affect the Colonial Brotherhood as a whole.

Achilles Davenport

Desmond would still remember how Ratonhnhaké:ton thought of him as a father-figure. He also remembers how Achilles sometimes treated Ratonhnhaké:ton like a stubborn child so he has mixed feelings for Achilles. What he does remember is that Achilles’ family would die. Here’s where we get a bit creative with this. Desmond doesn’t have actual medical know-how. What he did had was a Shaun who was more than happy to explain what killed Achilles’ family and how that could have been prevented, which literally boils down to “cleanliness”.

So, in this scenario, Desmond is kind of a clean freak. People assume it’s because he used to live in a dirty place and Liam never tried to correct them that Desmond had always been a clean freak since they were children. The homestead is always clean, especially the kitchen. Achilles learned to live with it because his son loves the ‘wash your hands’ song that Desmond taught him. In this case, Abigail and Connor live and that means that Achilles would be ‘milder’ than his canon characterization. (Maybe Abigail even treats all of Achilles' students like her children as well?)

Hope Jensen

The main difference for Hope in this scenario is how she controls her gangs. Desmond knows it would be impossible to stop crimes from happening but his words and his adherence to the Creed would resonate with Hope. Instead of having something akin to a Proto-Rooks, Hope would be in charge of something similar to how the media portrayed the golden age of the mafia. They’re criminals, yes, and they sell illegal shit but they’re organized and they have a code. They protect the people in their district and take care of crimes not their own. In exchange, the people (and maybe even the police) look the other way when they do illegal stuff. (Hope becomes a mix of Vito Corleone and Red Hood in this scenario… does this mean Desmond accidentally created the mafia in New York during the 18th century?)

Kesegowaase

Not much would change for Kesegowaase although he would consider Desmond as a close friend. They’re also hunting buddies and Kesegowaase would notice how many of Desmond’s movements are very similar to him or to other tribes that he knows of. Desmond would just wave it off as a coincidence or maybe even say “I had a great teacher”. Kesegowaase would seesaw between thinking Desmond had been trained by one of his people (or one of the other tribes) and thinking Desmond may have been blessed by one of their spirits.

Louis-Joseph Gaultier

Oooohhhh bbooyy. This one… okay. So… Gaultier will be the one that keeps butting heads with Desmond. A lot. Desmond would even argue against his inclusion as he sees Gaultier as violent and arrogant but Achilles will argue that his connection with the French army made him invaluable. Even his suggestion of just keeping Gaultier as an ‘ally’ would be denied because Achilles sees how loyal he is. “He is loyal to a master, not to the Creed!” will be Desmond’s main argument. So there are a lot of times that he and Gaultier would argue on what it means to be an Assassin and what the Creed means. Gaultier would emphasize on Desmond’s Irish immigrant heritage to belittle his knowledge about the Creed and Desmond will argue that blood doesn’t matter. On the flip side, Desmond’s constant arguments with Gaultier and critiquing of Gaultier’s actions make all the other Assassins have a better understanding of the Creed and what it means to be an Assassin.

Liam O'Brien

Honestly, I think Desmond should be his younger brother, mainly because that would make Desmond be of a similar age as Shay and because Liam just has big bro-vibes. Just imagine him being a protective older brother who likes to tease Desmond. In this scenario, Liam would feel responsible for Desmond’s safety (especially if we do decide that their father still dies for Liam’s mistakes) and he’s a bit overprotective at times which Desmond finds both tiring and also makes him feel warm inside. Liam would also be torn whenever Desmond and Achilles would butt heads. On one hand, Achilles is like a father to him, on the other hand, Liam also knows his brother long enough to understand that everything Desmond does is for what he believed is right. Achilles may have been the one to choose Liam to be an Assassin but Liam knows that it’s Desmond who embodies what being an Assassin is supposed to be.

And now, we get to Shay Cormac.

Shay met Liam first and Liam was the one to introduce Desmond to him. Desmond has no memories of Shay at all since, even before the memories of his Bleed took a hit, his memories of Haytham stopped before Haytham met Shay. Not only that but Achilles never told Ratonhnhaké:ton anything. All Desmond knew is that the Colonial Brotherhood will be destroyed by the Templars while Ratonhnhaké:ton was young. So he grew up treating Shay as a friend. They separated due to their family situations but Liam later reunites with Shay and invites him to the Brotherhood.

And this is where Shay gets hit.

Growing up, he saw Desmond more as Liam’s little brother. A small kid that Shay needs to keep an eye on because he can be a little strange and has a mischievous streak that no one would believe. Shay has lost count of how many times Desmond had made some asshole’s life hell without anyone realizing it was him.

So when he heard Desmond was one of the high-ranking members of the Brotherhood, he wasn’t surprised. Desmond had always been a sneaky little shit.

Then…

He saw Desmond as a young adult for the first time, maybe while he’s looking over reports Hope was showing him concerning the current situation in New York, and Shay just…

Stared.

Desmond as a child was cute. Maybe a little too thin but that was unfortunately normal for them. He always wore Liam’s old clothes which were too big for him.

But Desmond in his Assassin robes? Wearing clothes that actually fit him? Having grown up into a fit young man?

Shay gets hit hard. And Desmond is simply too happy to see him again to see it.

But Hope notices it.

And Liam freaking notices it too.

And now Shay doesn’t have to just deal with his growing affection for an oblivious Desmond. He has to deal with Hope’s teasing and Liam’s seesawing erratically between teasing him and threatening to eviscerate him. Shay’s crush is going to be the worst kept secret in the homestead that even little Connor Davenport knows about it.

But Desmond doesn’t.

Why?

Because Desmond is too focused dealing with the whole Kenway drama at the moment.

Because no matter who Desmond gets reborn to… He will always prioritize the three men he cared for the most.

And, at this point, Haytham Kenway was already in America (but Desmond has no idea where) and there were even slow ongoing talks of an alliance with Ratonhnhaké:ton’s tribe that Desmond has taken charge of.

And this is where I go back to my try-and-tested idea of Desmond spending lots of time with baby!Ratonhnhaké:ton and being bff with Kaniehtí:io. (*whispers*Ratonhnhaké:ton and Connor Davenport being brothers *whispers*)

But let’s focus on the first part of Rogue for this one.

One way for Desmond to learn that Achilles is messing with Isu bs is thanks to Hope. Hope and Shay were the ones to be ordered to find and analyze the precursor box and either of them could tell Desmond about it but, at this point, Shay is still ‘new’ and may be trying to get some brownie points from Achilles. On the other hand, Hope has long been converted to Desmond’s side and would definitely tell Desmond about all of these because she’s heard of how dangerous these items are from Desmond himself.

Desmond would strongarm his way to being part of the mission and might even sneak into Morrigan as a stowaway and only show himself when they were nearing Lisbon. Thanks to Desmond’s ‘affinity’ with POEs, Lisbon will definitely not happen (hell, we can even use some of the plot points from A Pirate's Son for this part XD) and the second part of Rogue would be changed to Desmond and Shay trying to secure all the other POEs in the manuscript they have.

And… maybe they start getting close during their travels and something develops between them during that time… (nudgenudgenudge)

Sidenote: This is also a bit similar to the idea I was thinking of based on @twitcherpated’s suggestion in AO3 of Desmond being reborn as the actual Connor Davenport. The only difference is that Desmond would be a bit young in that one and won’t be able to stop Lisbon but, even if he’s young, he can still comfort Shay and stop him from doing anything drastic while still in shock.

#i focused too much on the colonial assassins #but yeah full on look of disappointment for haytham #plus a dash of 'i expected nothing less from you yet i am still disappointed' #assassin's creed #desmond miles #shay cormac #liam o'brien #achilles davenport #hope jensen #kesegowaase #louis-joseph gaultier

[megashadowdragon]

Medusa: Dress-Up Gone Wrong, Gone Greek, Gone Gorgonomachy

Medusa: Dress-Up Gone Wrong, Gone Greek, Gone Gorgonomachy

reddit and spacebattles comments

"You didn't knock last time either!!!"

Commentary:

Medusa's going back to her pre-Animation Update version of the NP for this one.

Yes, that costume is really called that in Extella Link. You can have it with veiled and unveiled modes. It looks pretty okay in combat.

This is the last Andromeda/Medusa joke I'm going to make, because so far it's the only other one there is besides the name of Medusa's Blood Fort NP.

Still kind of weird. Don't know what Type Moon is telling us, but I thought it worth pointing out one more time.

Incidentally, if Andromeda looked just as good in that outfit as Medusa does, then I can understand Perseus jumping off his flying horse to beat down a kaiju to save her despite just having fought the Gorgon. Respect.

Perseus: I don't whether to find this creepy ... or oddly arousing. Medusa: Well, you will have time to think about it, ... once I bury you six feet into the ground! Perseus: That still won't erase the image from my hea-arghhh!!!

Perseus has got to be my favorite mythological hero. Most interpretations of him I see portray him similarly:

-Hotshot young kid full of dreams and ambitions

-Kills Medusa

-Becomes irreversibly traumatized

-Immediately retires, marries an African princess, and has a shitton of kids

-Names one of his daughters Gorgophone

In many ways he's the polar opposite of Achilles. Achilles was told that if he kept his head low, he was destined to live long and healthy, yet unknown. So he chose to fight in the Trojan war and die gloriously. On the other hand, Perseus got a small taste of heroism and immediately dipped out to become a family man.

I remember much earlier in this thread under another Perseus comic, Orojuice noted about how Medusa, at least in the most well-known Ovidian interpretation, is like a dark mirror of Perseus' mother, who was the reason why he went on the quest to begin with- both women, single mothers who were used up by the gods and discarded like tissue onto some remote island where they could only do their best to take care of their family. Perseus, upon confronting Medusa, is confronting another version of his mother and in doing so is given what is essentially all the power in the world- his world, which consists of just his mother and the island he grew up on. He controls who lives and dies in this world, so who does he choose? Does his mother have any more right to live than this woman who is identical to her? And if they are equal, is it "just" to choose his mother over Medusa because of a personal preference?

I think that comic was posted a couple of years ago, and I've been thinking about it ever since.

Anyway, a while back I used to have a draft of a Percy Jackson fan fiction where the OG Perseus came back from the dead and started dating Medusa while the two of them annoyed Percy (Who he called "Junior" much to Percy's chagrin) like the aunt-and-uncle-young-enough-to-conceivably-be-your-older-siblings that he never had. That part is completely unrelated but I had to get it off of my chest because I don't write fan fiction anymore and will likely never get to talk about the Perseus x Medusa ship ever again. (Some of that may have rubbed off on the servant sheet I made for the teenaged Assassin-class Perseus I wrote about a year ago)

#fgo perseus #orojuice #fgo medusa #fate series #rider medusa #rider perseus #fgo fancomic #fgo comic

[sunspray-peak]

Ch. 45: Into the Mines Pt. 5

FLOOR 119. 

Two more floors. That’s what they had agreed upon. 

After as lengthy a rest as they dared, the three made their way painstakingly down the swinging rope ladder. All was quiet. 

Abigail landed first, followed by Voltaire. 

“It’s… clear,” she whispered as Achilles clambered down. “I don’t feel anything. Maybe we’ve reached the end…?” 

His boots struck the soft earth.

Then he was gone. 

*****

When he opened his eyes, he was no longer in the mines. 

Blinding light. A pale, sickly yellow beaming down from a slate grey sky. Insubstantial wisps of white swirled from underneath his feet, battling the fierce wind. 

It was cold. Very cold. 

Achilles tugged his jacket tighter, stuffed his hands into his pockets. 

Strange. Where was his sword? 

He knelt to the ground, searching desperately among the cloud-like substance for any sign of a purple hilt. 

“You won’t find it. Not here.” 

Achilles turned. 

A single shadow brute now stood before him, jut a few feet away. A shadow brute like any of the hundreds of others Achilles had spent the last 24 hours or so slaughtering—seven feet or so in height. An amorphous, smoky mass that flittered through various shades of grey and black. Two gleaming eyes gazing down from above a leering, jagged mouth. 

And yet, this one was different from the others. Its energy—darker and more palpable than all the ones before. 

“Who are you?” 

The shadow brute took a step forward. “You know who I am.” 

The voice… that silky, seductive voice.

Yes. Yes, he knew very well now. 

“You thought it would look different.” 

Achilles spared a quick glance around his new setting. “Yes. I suppose so.” 

“You thought it would be darker here.” 

“Can you blame me?” 

“Remember, it’s not just shadow folk who can visit the Astral Plane. Not everyone enjoys the dark.” The shadow brute took a step forward, and in that single movement, its shape smoothly shifted, becoming more defined. More human-like. It extended a hand. “Come. Walk with me, Achilles.” 

“No.” 

“Pardon? Hm, I got that word from you, you know. Never quite used it before.” 

“No.” 

“Now, now, don’t be like that. Come.”

“No.” 

“Why not?” 

“I don’t want to.” But the shadow only smiled at Achilles’ scowl. “You clearly don’t need me to walk with you to talk to me, anyway.”

The shadow brute nodded, taking a step forward. “I suppose that’s true. ‘I suppose.’ I got that phrase from you, too.”

“Right…” Achilles took a tentative step back as the shadow brute continued to approach. No sword meant many problems. Could he die in the Astral Plane? He’d have to keep the spirit occupied. 

Might as well get some answers, while you’re at it.  

“So how long have you been in my head? Feeding me doubts about myself? Since I was born? Would explain a lot…”  

“Oh heaven’s no.” The shadow brute took another step forward. Achilles took another step back. “No, Achilles, we shadow spirits don’t create from nothing. We just… magnify it a bit. No, all that… doom and gloom had to already exist within your head. You’ve only yourself to blame. 

“No, I only took up residence this past Summer… oh, such poor timing on your part—visiting old Rasmodius’ tower when you did and falling ill so soon afterwards…” 

“You know Rasmodius?” 

“Oh yes. We are… very well acquainted, you could say. Much like yourself and I. I’ve enjoyed our relationship, Achilles, I’ve learned so much about you…” 

“Why am I here?” 

“So I can kill you easier. Now I really didn’t want it to be you—as I said, I’ve grown to like you this past season, Achilles, it’s why I so desperately wanted you to leave the Valley. I gave you a chance. Believe it or not, we don’t always jump to kill… 

“But oh, to my disappointment, you decided to stay. And, well, I suppose, sealed your fate with that decision. We have no choice now. The other one is putting up more of a fight than I had anticipated. And at the end of the day, I really only need one of you gone.” 

*****

He couldn’t breathe. 

Achilles was back in the mines, sliding across the floor as Abigail fell on top of him, her elbow having rammed straight into his solar plexus as she shielded him from the explosion that was still echoing throughout the cavern. 

“Achilles, what the fuck, why aren’t you moving—”

But he heard nothing. Dizzy—he was so, so dizzy—and utterly transfixed by the site before him. 

A giant shadow brute—nearly fifteen feet in height—was lumbering towards them through the smoke and rocky debris left behind by their final cherry bomb. Thick tendrils snaked from the black, smoky mass, hurling lime green fireballs and sharp bolts of iron alike. 

He froze. 

 “WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?” Abigail managed to scream just before diving towards a tentacle, cleaving it in two. “GET UP! GET UP!” 

With a groan, he began to stand— but rather than earth, his foot once again found clouds.  

*****

Back in the Astral Plane, it seemed—there was that same shadow brute, grinning at him from across the wide, white plains under that unnatural grey sky.  

“You were such a lovely host this past season.”

It began to quicken its pace towards him, and in his disoriented panic, Achilles instinctively turned to run. But the silky voice followed him, continuing to boom from between his ears. 

“All your fears and anxieties… your jealousy and your pride… So much despair, so much darkness and rage to feast upon. How strong I am! Because of you! We would never have made so much progress without you…” 

On and on, his feet pounded the pavement—but a shadow was beginning to loom over him, darkening the white beneath him, and when he spared a split second look back, he saw that the shadow brute had grown even larger. 

But then a razor sharp pain radiated like lightning from his ankle. He tripped forward, skinning his palms on rough, rocky soil.

*****

Voltaire must’ve sprung to action. Blood was trickling down into his socks from deep claw marks, but the cat had done its job. The sudden pain had pulled Achilles’ mind back to its body. And just in time. Abigail was pointing her sword towards him from thirty feet away and yelling. 

“MOVE! YOU KEEP STANDING THERE, YOU’RE GOING TO GET YOURSELF KILLED—”

Still dazed, it was only due to Voltaire’s quick head butt that he managed to roll out of the path of a heavy crossbow bolt. It landed with a thud, six inches deep in the earth where his back had just been. 

Yoba, the shadow brute had grown larger here as well, its form in the physical plane ballooning to nearly twenty feet. 

He crawled forward, ready to jump into the fray with Abigail, who was gathering her breath behind a large boulder

Close your mind close your mind. Fuck, fuck, fuck—

Gather the greenhouse, gather the facts—but he was too slow, there was too much going on— and once again, he found himself tumbling through the planes, landing in wisps of white. 

*****

Fucking hell—

With a groan that came out more like a sob, he smashed his hands against his skull and closed his eyes—not that either his fists or his eyes were actually here, in this plane, but if the visualization helped steady him—

Shut up shut up shut up! What does it matter.

Go back. You have to go back, get out of here you dumb fuck, or you’re going to die, you fucking idiot, just a sitting duck, why didn’t you keep your mind fucking closed, thought you knew better, always thinking you fucking know better when you know nothing—

“Oh, distracting you is too easy. Like attracts like. And you have always been so determined to wallow in your own self-pity, your own self hatred, instead of just learning how to… shall we say, settle. I can feel your anger even now…” 

With a low laugh, the shadow brute grew in size once again. 

Get out get out get out. 

“I tried to give you a chance to get out, Achilles. Once I had no more need for you, once I had fed enough from your anger and your despair. I gave you a gift. A wonderful gift, you were doing so much better with my guidance, and yet…”

With an anguished cry, he wrenched his mind back—wrenched it out from the magnetizing well that was so determined to draw him back, deep deep down into the Astral Plane. 

*****

He had fallen on all fours, but even as his mind spun, he focused, squeezing soil from fists clenched in rage. But he was quicker this time—one by one, the glass panels in his mind slammed shut—just in time as smoky tendrils had begun to snake their way in. 

“My name is Achilles Oleander Robinson. I’m 27 years old. I live in Stardew Valley. I don’t want to fucking be here—”

“ACHILLES MOVE.” 

He scrambled haphazardly to his right, dodging a massive chunk of iron ore, and landing on his back to see… 

Yoba. The shadow brute… 

Abigail was deep in what was clearly a losing battle. So tall was the shadow brute, its head was now brushing the cavern ceiling, nearly 30 feet high. Nearly two dozen massive, thick tentacles grasped wildly at Abigail and Achilles, tearing apart Abigail’s makeshift shields and shelters and hurling the resulting chunks of stone at their defenseless forms. From the tips of these tendrils also came full volleys of crossbow bolts and green fireballs alike, streaming down upon them like pouring rain. 

Abigail moved swiftly among the smoky spirals, slicing here and there, hurling screams from her open mouth. Achilles, though half his attention was now back to clamping down on his mind, raced to join her. 

“Get to the heart,” she roared, leaping over a fireball as she herself continued to battle her way deeper and deeper through the tangle of wriggling tentacles. 

But it was easier said than done. 

He couldn’t seem to land a solid hit—tentacles, thicker than his own body, would reach for him, only to disappear before his sword could make contact.

Unlike Abigail, he could neither sense nor track their movements without having direct eyes on them. Like the spirits from previous floors, the tentacles would reappear as soon as his back was turned, striking him hard, sending him crashing to the ground. Too many to keep track of… 

Frustrating. Infuriating. Absolutely maddening, he hated it, hated it, hated it, what was the point —but what else was there to do but keep moving, keep trying— 

Useless. Whole wide world of fucking gifts, and you get stuck with one that’s more likely to get you killed—sends you on a fun little trip to the Astral Plane, fucking distraction—

Buffeted this way and that by the writhing web of tendrils, he had made only a foot or so of progress whereas Abigail had completely disappeared behind the ever shifting wall of smoke. 

Suddenly, he felt his feet leave the ground. A tentacle had curled itself around his sword, lifting him one, two, three feet in the air —

“Oh fuck—let go, LET GO.” But his hand refused to release its grip. 

With a bone crunching snap, the sword shattered clean in two. 

He fell to the ground in an awkward heap. In his hands, a jagged blade now only three inches long. Rage tore out from his chest is ragged snarls of breath. 

No use. No fucking use, might as well just let yourself get killed, at least Abigail won’t have to spend half her energy defending your worthless ass. 

 And all the while, the shadow had grown larger and larger, as if in response to— 

Wait a second. 

He ran for cover. And opened his mind. 

*****

Quick, quick, quick. Gotta be quick, or your body’s going to get pulverized by a fucking shadow octopus… 

Don’t think like that you fuck!

Stop calling yourself that! Fuck! You’re here to stay calm… 

Off to a great start, aren’t you… 

His shaking hands had decided to pin themselves behind his back as he stood to face the shadow behemoth before him. 

“Tell me. Who are you?” 

“Back again, are we? I suppose you always did like having all the answers…” The shadow brute approached him from across the field of white, but this time, Achilles stood his ground. If his body was in the physical plane, he couldn’t be harmed here. Right? 

“Who are you?” Achilles repeated. “Some king of shadow king?” 

The shadow brute bent its 30 foot self down, far forward until its face was level with Achilles’ and brushed a long, black claw down his cheek, unaware Achilles was ruthlessly gnashing the inside of it in his anxiety. “I suppose you could… call me that. Though ‘king’ is an awfully… human word.” 

“Well, I’m honored. That you of all… spirits… chose to burrow into my head and feed me thoughts to make me feel bad about myself for a whole season.” 

Like nails across a chalkboard, the Shadow King barked a laugh that sent the hairs of Achilles’ arms standing straight. 

Stay calm… stay calm…  

“Achilles, Achilles, Achilles… oh yes, perhaps, I admit—at the beginning, I did do such things… it is in our nature to feast on the darkness and despair in the world, and I needed strength for our little assault here… But as I said before, I was only building upon what was already there.

“You weren’t happy. You haven’t been happy in years, now, have you? Things took a real turn six years ago, didn’t they… but even before then, were you ever truly satisfied? Riding on your father’s coattails, on your family’s name and money…” 

Anger flashed across Achilles’ face and his hands turned to fists, but with a silent curse, he  dampened his irritation and amplified his focus. Best make sure his mind was his and his alone. 

Breathe… just breathe… 

“I suppose that’s true,” Achilles responded in an even tone. Keep it breezy, keep it casual… “Still. I was doing a great job torturing myself, couldn’t have possibly found somebody else to… feast on, hmm? 

“Oh, Achilles, we were always meant to be together. I could only ever have feasted on one such as yourself—it was your gifts that made it so, so easy to find you… now please, you should be thanking me… let’s take another look shall we… a good look at what we did together…” 

The Shadow King shrunk slightly in size, resting an arm across Achilles’ shoulders as a tentacle traced a rectangle in the air. 

“Completely forgot about the past Fall, did you? Tsk. Always so focused on the negative, I had really hoped maybe we had broken through…” 

Within the rectangle they watched as a mini Achilles rose from his bed. It was as if he were looking at a TV playing a program of  his life from the past season. 

There he was, teaching the third graders at Meteor Elementary. Celebrating Abigail’s birthday. Applying for new jobs. 

“Didn’t it feel nice? Didn’t you feel… at ease? Of course, we had some hiccups here and there, especially with the writing—that Eddie Bloomsbury really did a number on you, boy—but as a whole, compared to Spring and Summer, you didn’t notice you felt more… content?” 

The Shadow King’s shadowy grip tightened around Achilles’ shoulders as it shook its head with a melodramatic sigh. 

“That was me. That was all becauseof me. I showed your mind new wants—new appreciations and new loves for the smaller, more modest things in your life so that you could be, for the first time in a long time, happy.” 

All him? 

No. 

So had everything good he had felt been a lie? Is that what the Shadow King was suggesting—his writing, his work with Shane on the farm. His friendship with Alex… 

“That…” Achilles, somewhat stunned, took a step back, pushing the rectangular screen away. “That—if that was all you, all shit you were telling me to do, telling me how to think, then none of that was real or sustainable, how can I trust—“

“What makes something ‘real,’ Achilles? If I had never revealed myself, you would never have known. Would’ve just… continued living this better life of yours. Besides, you shouldn’t always have to do everything on your own, you know… nothing wrong with asking for a little bit of help. Doesn’t make it any less real.” 

It paused, as if granting Achilles the opportunity to rebut, but he was still at a loss of words. Confusion and indignation still rippled through his body as he stared at the Shadow King still standing next to him. 

Always a puppet in someone’s game—first fucking Rasmodius, then this fucking thing, don’t know your own fucking mind anymore—

Stop. There’s time to think about this later… just breathe… 

He was determined to cool his head—that’s why you’re here, isn’t it?—though a deep frown still lay frozen on his face. 

“Oh, but it still just wasn’t enough, was it?” The Shadow King had continued through Achilles’ silence, and at these words, a deep shadow crossed the sky and the King flitted from Achilles’ shoulder, reappearing in front of him with a hiss. “What should have been my parting gift to you… it just wasn’t enough.

“I thought you’d leave the Valley for good—return to your old life in Hyacinthia with a new and improved mindset we had built together, go where you could finally be free from the sky high, god-given aspirations of which you have always believed was your birth right. Two opportunities, sitting in your lap—I thought you’d snatch it right up. I thought you had learned. 

“But no—a tiny chance at glory peaked its little head out and you just had to jump on it. Had to come down here and prove yourself to… well, prove yourself to you, really, am I right? That you were here for a reason. That you were indeed born for something better, something bigger. If you couldn’t do this, after everything all those others said to you about destiny and fate and whatever nonsense, well… what could you do? 

“A shame. To be born with such ambition but such a startling, disappointing lack of ability. 

“For that is the fact of the matter, Achilles. You are ordinary. You are average. And rather than simply surrender yourself to the facts, you are determined to waste your whole life stuck and attempting to prove them otherwise.

“But facts will be facts. You cannot change reality. But you can change your standards. What you choose to appreciate. To value. To love.” 

After spitting these last few words, the Shadow King grimaced, and a peculiar ripple overtook its body for just the fraction of a second. 

“You pin your happiness on your success, but you have always measured success by your abilities and accolades. You are incapable of seeing that success can be redefined. Incapable of understanding that a successful life can be… less than that. Simpler. And because of this, you will never be satisfied. And you will never be content. You will never be able to start a new life because you will never relinquish your past and your pride and move on. This is simply who you are. It cannot be helped, I realize that now. 

“I tried to show you, tried to lead you down a road where you could accept yourself for who you are rather than who you so desperately, so impossibly want to be… but no. That masochistic dedication is too deep inside you for even me to fully uncover.  

“I pity you, Achilles. I wanted you to be happy. As I said. I did not want to kill you.” 

The shadow king gazed at him expectantly, its head tilted to the side as it hungrily studied the vein tensing in Achilles’ forehead. 

Achilles swallowed. Swallowed his spit as he tried to swallow his pride. 

Just breathe… let it all slip away… breathe…

He wants you to be angry… he wants to feed off your frustration and your pain… 

Breathe… Your name is Achilles Oleander Robinson…

And then he took a deep breath, shook out his hands, and began in a small voice. 

“You’re right. It doesn’t matter if it came from you first or it came from me, it’s all the same in the end. And like you said. I should thank you. For showing me that there is a world out there where I can… feel like I’m… enough. For myself. 

“And yeah. I’m not happy.” He added with a dry, semi-forced chuckle, “I mean, let’s be real, it’s, what, pretty much every other day that I feel kind of shitty? Mediocre. Insignificant. Just wallowing in… what did you call it earlier—self-pity?

“And you’re right. I’m not content either. Far from it.” 

So what can you be, Achilles Oleander Robinson? What can you learn to appreciate? What can you learn to love? 

He thought of his parents. He thought of his cousins, his cat, his friends. His farmhouse, Penny’s third graders, the vegetables he and Shane had grown together. He thought of Alex.

Deep breaths. 

He could feel the slightest shift in the Shadow King’s energy. 

Best be quick about it. Who knew how long it’d last. 

“But you know, in a way with… all of this, you’ve kind of given me hope that I can be, if not happy, at the very least content. On my own, without you. 

“Yeah.” He nodded to himself, even as his hands began to tremble in anxious anticipation of what he knew would likely have to come next. “I really think, one day, I will be. I’ll start my new life. And I will be.’” 

And he ripped his mind from the Astral Plane one final time. 

*****

Like all the times before, the jarring transition sent him sprawling to the ground, but between a mouthful of soil he bellowed, “Abigail, go!” 

She didn’t need to be told twice—or even once, really, for her seasoned, battle trained eyes instantly took the momentary advantage Achilles had seized for her. 

It hadn’t been much. But it had been something. Faced with, if not the sunny disposition that perhaps could’ve brought the Shadow King more to its knees, at least a significant, sudden dearth in rage and anger, the shadow brute had weakened and shrunk back down to its original size. 

Without hesitation, Abigail sprinted straight into the eye of the storm, disappearing behind flailing tendrils and balls of fire, her sword aimed right at the Shadow King’s black heart. 

For a second, there was nothing.

And then, an explosion of blinding light.

Fireballs roared overhead—Achilles, still tucked in his hiding place at the far end of the cavern between two large boulders, further ducked down to escape the lime green flames and jagged chunks of rocks exploding among plumes of plum smoke from the center of the cavern. 

But something else—(someone?)—something small, something purple—sailed across the cavern, slamming into the ground below, instantly still. 

All was silent. 

The Shadow King was gone. 

#llnks #stardew valley fanfiction #sdv fanfic #stardew valley fanfic #stardew valley abigail #sdv abigail #sdv oc #sdv farmer #sdv alex

[zaph1337]

Monster Hunter Rating 58: Daimyo Hermitaur, the Shelled Sovereign

I keep hearing that everything is evolving into crabs, but I honestly have no idea what that’s all about. If it’s true, though, then here’s something we may see in the future: the Daimyo Hermitaur!

(How it appears in the Second Generation)

(How it appears in Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak)

Appearance: While Daimyo may be little more than giant Hermitaur, that design works well with the increased size to make something truly imposing, especially the mouth. You might have noticed one other, tiny, honestly insignificant detail: that’s not a shell, that’s a Monoblos’ skull. I’ll discuss that more in the next section, but appearance-wise, a crab using another creature’s skull as a shell is a powerful image, and it makes the Daimyo Hermitaur several times cooler than it would be if it just had a normal shell. This monster certainly leaves an impression.

Behavior/Lore: When a Hermitaur reaches adulthood, it becomes a Daimyo Hermitaur. They keep their habits of burrowing underground, wandering for food, and occasionally eating people, but they’re actually not very aggressive; sure, they’ll lash out when they feel threatened, but animals choose between that or running away anyways. You can stand right in front of a Daimyo and--provided it’s not hungry--it’ll leave you be so long as you do the same for it. This relaxed behavior is probably due to the carapaceons’ armor, which protects everything but their backsides--which are where most of their major organs are located. I can’t tell whether this is a failure on evolution’s part or its idea of a sick joke. But like the hermit crabs they’re modeled after, Daimyo have a solution for this...one you’ve already seen, but let me pretend there’s suspense.

To cover their Achilles’ rump, Daimyo Hermitaur will take the skulls of large wyverns (mostly Monoblos) and wear them like a shell. This comes with the addition advantage of being totally metal, but it’s not a perfect system; when you rely on something else’s body parts for protection, you’re gonna run into the fact that those parts weren’t made with you in mind. As a result, it’s not uncommon to see Daimyo running around with skulls too big or small for them. Kinda makes you wonder why they don’t go for something else’s skull in that situation, but my guess is that Monoblos heads are particularly durable, making them the preferred choice.

While I get that Daimyo are just the mature form of Hermitaur and therefore won’t be very different, I do wish there was more to talk about than their temperament and skull shells. That last one’s a pretty big point in their favor, though, so I can’t say I’m terribly disappointed.

Abilities: You wouldn’t expect a crab to have particularly strong legs, yet Daimyo Hermitaur are capable of jumping high into the air in attempts to squash their enemies, and use their legs and forelimbs to dig underground to launch attacks from below. You would expect a crab to make use of its claws, and Daimyo do that, too, though not in a traditional way; while yes, the pincers can grab things, they’re also so thick and armored that they serve as effective shields against most weapons. Finally, reaching adulthood grants Daimyo Hermitaur a brand-new power: pressurizing water into jets that allow the colossal crustacean to attack from a distance. Hermitaur didn’t do a lot before, so it’s nice that growing up bestows them with new tactics and abilities.

Equipment: Have you ever thought that using scythes as weapons was too practical an idea? Do you want to fight using only the most inefficient and unwieldy objects possible? Then look no further than this “Long Sword”: the Crab Cutter!

With ordinary scythes, you only had to deal with the measly difficulty of actually cutting someone with the blade. Now, with this revolutionary new weapon, you can push the challenge further by forcing yourself to line up your attacks with the serrated gap! It’s the ultimate in combat inefficiency!

What do you mean you can just use it as a blunt beating object

Okay, jokes aside, this is a pretty interesting take on a scythe...and a morbid one, too, considering the description claims “[t]he giant claw's gap devours meat.” I don’t think I want to know if that’s a metaphor or not. Maybe the next weapon will be less disturbing? Let’s find out--this Insect Glaive is called the Shell Intoner:

This is “[a] rod used by a river people to channel their god and receive oracles.” Why is it a weapon, then? Who knows? But it looks cool, it’s got a cool description, and as an Insect Glaive, it gets bias points from me. I would definitely use this--provided the stats are decent.

Onto the armor, the Blademaster set is...interesting:

It was the first thing I thought of, okay?

Seriously, I get the idea: crabs are armored creatures and football players have to wear heavy padding and helmets to make up for playing one of the most violent sports in the world, but it’s still weird to see, especially in a fantasy setting like Monster Hunter. Granted, that’s only the men’s set; the women’s set is way less bulky to the point where it’s almost comical. It still looks defensive, but it serves as a surprisingly modest example of the priorities game devs give to female armor. Overall, I don’t hate these designs, but they’re hard to take seriously.

Next up is the Gunner set, which is similar to the Blademaster’s, but a bit more...intense:

I’ll admit, “Mad Max the Quarterback” is an...original look. Don’t know what the mask has to do with crabs, but then again, football doesn’t have anything to do with crabs, either. Can’t say much about the women’s set, though; it’s very similar to the Blademaster armor, save for the helmet, spiked greaves, and the pattern on the breastplate. I wish I could say more about these, but other than their oddities, I’m struggling to find anything to talk about. Both armor sets have aspects that interest me, but overall, I feel very lukewarm about them.

While I like the crustacean aesthetic and how it’s applied to the Daimyo Hermitaur equipment, I can’t really say too much about it. I can’t tell if that’s due to the equipment itself, or if I’m just running out of steam writing these reviews again; maybe it’s both. All I can really say is that the equipment is okay, with a few interesting touches added that keep them from being bare-bones.

Final Thoughts: Daimyo Hermitaur vastly improve upon their adolescent forms; they’re cooler thanks to their skull shells, they’re more imposing thanks to their size, and they’re more interesting to fight since they can do more than snip at you. Their equipment is decent, too, so overall, I think they’re neat.

#Monster Hunter #Monster Hunter rating #zaph1337

[doublearmbars]

fic: listen to the slow parts

Ship: bryan danielson/jon moxley

tags: riding, gentle sex, sensory deprivation

word count: 1550

summary: “You gonna fight me? You already lost once tonight. And I don’t like your chances in round two.” “No,” Bryan murmurs, eyes still retaining a little edge despite how tired he looks. “not tonight.” (set after the title match on the 9/21/2022 ep of dynamite)

I’ll upload to ao3 if people want but for now. tumblr exclusive.

It wasn’t planned or anything. Just part of the ritual of it. It was just Mox, knocking on Bryan’s hotel room, even though he had a keycard. Even though Bryan had given him the extra keycard. 

Bry gets…weird after matches. Not that he isn’t finding the freak knob and turning it ‘til it breaks on a regular day. After matches it’s either him immediately post-adrenaline drop, needy and domineering in equal measure, or he’s settled a bit, had something to eat probably, but he’s usually sore and prickly in a way that the kid can’t handle just yet. Mox handles him just fine.

His knock isn’t answered. He opens the door anyway, shuts and latches it behind him. Down the short hallway and around the corner is the king bed. And there’s Bryan; headphones in, hair still wet from the shower, he’s cross legged in his underwear, back against the headboard. 

Mox sits down on the edge of the bed. The disturbance must be enough because Bryan turns his head, pulls his headphones out and sets them on the side table before meeting Mox’s gaze. They talk without words plenty often, had a whole conversation in the ring earlier just from glances and touches, but for once, he can’t get a read on Bryan.

“You gonna fight me? You already lost once tonight. And I don’t like your chances in round two.” 

“No,” Bryan murmurs, eyes still retaining a little edge despite how tired he looks. “not tonight.”

“Good. Now where’re you hurting? Head alright?”

    Bryan nods, but doesn’t say anything, just extends his left leg and rubs at his hamstrings, where he’s usually sore anyways, and then taps his ankle, and shoots Mox a withering look. Dick. 

    “Oh don’t act like you wouldn’t have done the same damn thing.” 

    Bryan rolls his eyes, and huffs like he’s about to start an indignant rant about sportsmanship and how long a broken ankle takes to heal, but he doesn’t. He does roll over, laying on his stomach with his face pressed deep into the too-plush pillows. 

    “There you go. That’s what I thought.” 

    Mox kneels behind him, draws Bryan’s left calf back to rest in his lap and starts working on his hamstring. He’s no professional, but this is a familiar hurt to him, as he presses knuckles to the muscle and drags them up, then back towards the knee. Repeating the process, then using his thumbs, pressing and fanning out in arcs, which elicits a shaky inhale from Bryan. The muscle gives under his touch like clay. It’s strong, there's no doubt about that, but it yields, relaxes for him.

    Adjusting his grip, he pinches and rolls the tender flesh at the back of Bryan’s heel right where the Achilles tendon is. His gasp is muffled in the pillows, but Mox still quirks his head to one side.

“Good hurt, bad hurt?” 

    Bryan groans in what Mox knows from experience is the affirmative, so he keeps at it, drawing hands down his calf to the ankle again and again until Bryan taps twice on the headboard. 

    Mox slides the leg from his lap and moves his hands up to Bryan’s sides, turning him over onto his back. His face is flushed, and while he doesn’t look any less tired, he does look that pleasant kind of hazy that Mox knows from the inside. He cracks a smile. 

    “There you are, you feelin’ better? Forgive me yet?” 

Bryan is lucid enough to roll his eyes as he pulls himself up on his elbows and props his back against the headboard again.

“Maybe.” He admits, and he sounds hoarse, like he just woke up.

Mox kisses him, can’t help it, stuffs his tongue in Bryan’s mouth when he tries to inhale and cradles the back of his neck. They stay locked up with each other for a while, hot breath, faces close. It’s messy, swapping spit and biting, too much teeth and too little breaking to breathe. 

He pulls back, and it's hard to interpret the little noise Bryan makes as anything other than bereft. Mox tries to keep his smile from being smug, knows this is hard for Bry, giving up even the smallest bit of control, but it lights a fire in his belly to know he’s the one who gets this. 

“You watch. ‘Cause once I’m ready to take you, you’re gonna put on your little sleep mask,” he gestures to the bedside table, “and your headphones and you're gonna lemme take care of you.”

Mox strips out of his hoodie, shorts and underwear, sure to snatch the sachet of lube before he pushes his clothes unceremoniously off the bed. Tears it open with his teeth and starts in on himself with two fingers , kneeling, legs spread. 

He likes it, putting on a show for Bryan, watching him palm himself half-hard through the front of his briefs, looking at Mox with eyes that are soft, softer than he lets himself be most of the time. Gives him a crooked grin, leans his head back and groans quietly. He can feel Bryan looking at him like he hung the damn moon, and it plus the stretch of now three fingers makes his knees wobble. Mox is trying not to get too out of his brain with arousal, he really is, but there's that all-over-warm feeling he likes so much creeping in. He looks down for a minute, catches Bryan with one hand down the front of his underwear and the other at his mouth where he’s biting the knuckle, trying to muffle himself.

“Don't go quiet on me, sweet pea, now’s not the time to get self-conscious.” Bry usually gets to be the smug one, cooing almost condescendingly, projecting an unshakeable certainty, an entirely different beast from the deep growl Mox is giving him, which rumbles through the hollow of his chest like thundering wheels on asphalt. 

He taps on Bryan’s leg and motions for him to move further down the bed. 

“C’mon now, head on the pillows, headphones in, I’ll send you right to sleep.” 

Bryan moves a little slowly, his limbs a little shaky as he pulls his briefs off, then goes for his headphones. He’s quiet like this, a different quiet from normal, uncalculating, almost small. When he finally lays himself down and pulls his sleep mask on the room is almost unbearably silent.

Mox rises to his knees and straddles him, manhandles Bryan’s dick into position, thumbs over the head and fuck if Bry doesn’t look good enough to eat. He presses the tip against his ass and savors the gasp he gets. Loves that he can drag that out of carefully controlled, picture perfect Bryan Danielson. Get his chest all warm and pink not just from palm strikes. 

Mox sinks down onto him, slow, the way he wants it. When he’s finally seated, he pulls Bryan’s hands to his thighs, feeling the squeeze in response. It’s quiet. Then he rocks a little, and the fucking noise Bryan makes, punched out and sonorous, rising at the end with a lilt of desperation. It’s fucking delicious. The hips under Mox buck like they’re unsure, which is bullshit, because they both know Mox likes it more than a bit rough on occasion, but this, this is a time to be slow. Because Mox got to pick. 

He adjusts his angle a little bit and lowers himself again, and it twinges something in him that makes him growl and clench around Bryan which leads to a feedback loop. Mox clenches, Bry thrusts up into him, and Mox grinds back down, rinse and repeat until he’s steadily bouncing, riding Bryan, breathing a mess and cock red and curved hard against his belly. 

When he rests a hand over Bryan’s on his right thigh, he doesn’t think anything of it until Bry is lacing their fingers together all sweet. Mox rubs his thumb across the outside edge of his hand, and the grip tightens as Bryan shudders underneath him and he feels him cum inside and it's the perfect kind of gross for Mox, leaking out of him and onto the skin where they’re joined. That plus a few lazy winded strokes is all he needs before he’s shooting off over both their stomachs. 

    It takes a minute for him to come back to his body, chest heaving, awful empty feeling where Bryan’s slipped out of him. His brain’s not all the way back but he’s lucid enough to lean over and grab a wet wipe from the pack he knows Bryan keeps on the nightstand whenever they fuck, because he’s fussy and if even a tiny bit of cum dries in his pubes he will semi-jokingly hold it against Mox for weeks. He wipes what he can off both of them, knowing more’s just gonna leak out of him and kind of liking it. When he’s done, he tosses the wipe and pulls out Bryan’s headphones gently. 

    Then he lays down on top of Bryan, slotting his head at the corner of his neck and shoulder. He kisses gently at his throat, savors the mix of shower clean and sweat on his lips. There's a gentle hand brushing over his sore ribs, before it settles in for the night.

#aew fic #teddy writes #i wrote this while listening to the album dark in here by the mountain goats. #moxbry #yes ive been working on this for two week yes its only like 1.5k. #dont pay attention to how the tense wanders. thats a feature not a bug. #there were two versions before i knew who was gonna win. in the bryan one mox barks like a dog.

[wonstop]

my rq is uhhhhhh.. tell me gladiator facts :) i'm so intrigued

WELL!!!! i've made a post on my main about secutores and retiarii, two of my favorite gladiator types, here and a shorter post about murmillones here, buuut

did you know that gladiator fights were originally part of a funerary ritual? while gladiators were never held in particularly high regard (the public view of them was, in fact, pretty complicated - it was seen by some as glamorous, but at the same time, most were [sometimes ex-]slaves and prisoners), the ones who fought these funerary battles were even less so. they were called bustuarii.

these fights were usually set up by the heirs of whoever had died. over time, though, as the games became more intricate and popular, they ended up with many other uses - to show off wealth, to celebrate victories and important dates, to serve as a distraction from political strife, and of course as a form of public execution.

Mosaic showing a fight between a retiarius and a secutor.

life for a gladiator was pretty complicated as, as previously mentioned, they usually were not people of high status. while there would sometimes be people who voluntarily became gladiators (called auctorati, and usually being social outcasts), they were mostly prisoners of war, slaves, and criminals. emperors and other upper class Romans sometimes partook, but this was mostly unheard of and wasn't something that was looked highly upon by the others. whoever they were, they'd usually go to a specially made gladiator school (a ludus, plural ludi) where they'd be trained to fight.

despite this, and despite the fact that they basically lived in shackles and prison cells, gladiators were considered expensive investments, and of course it wasn't ideal for your fighter to die, so they ate well (for prisoners, anyways), living off of a mostly vegetarian diet which mostly included puls, which was a special kind of barley-based gruel) and were given the absolute best medical care of the time. there was also a feast the night before any given games held for the gladiators, called cena libera.

On top of being held in festivals and theaters, a munera (gladitorial combat) was sometimes also held at banquets.

there were many different types of gladiators, and they were often matched up by theme, which i talk about a little more in the posts up there (retiarii vs secutores representing a fisherman and a monster, murmillones vs thraex representing the roman army against a foreign army, etc) and they would sometimes reenact stories either from roman mythos or from the sponsor's life (or in the case of the funerary rights, the dead party's life), for example, this relief found in Turkey which shows two female gladiators, Achillia and Amazon, who likely reenacted the story of Achilles and Penthesilea. it's not totally unlike modern wrestling - another, if vaguer, interest of mine - in that regard!

if you lived long enough - you weren't slain in battle, and the munerarius (sponsor) and bloodthirsty crowd favored you - you might be given the rudis (a wooden sword) you trained with and set free. these people often returned to train new gladiators in ludi or to keep fighting, themselves, though. eventually, in 404 AD, the last gladiatorial game was held and munera were abolished entirely after a monk named Telemachus entered the arena hoping to stop the fight and was subsequently stoned to death by onlookers.

this post is kind of all over the place and might not even all be totally correct because i get excited and... have kind of a shitty memory, but gladiators are super weird and super cool and i recommend checking out these videos (max miller's is one of my favorite channels ever in general):

what it was like to be a roman gladiator - weird history feeding a roman gladiator - tasting history with max miller what being a spectator at the rome colosseum was like - weird history

The helmet of a Thraex

#cowboy has answers #and so many words

[insomniacships]

3 10 11 15 insert asks GOO!!!!!

HI ACHILLES THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU i already answered 11 and 15 so i'll be answering just 3 and 10 here BUUUUUUT this is gonna be a long post so get ready cause i'm also gonna talk about individual dynamics here and dropping a bunch of lore because it's one like...... massive polyship (between poly c.om.bat and bite and sylv) but i'm also lore dumping about bite and its family too because there is So So much. it's confusing but i promise it'll make sense

also i'm not kidding when i say this is a long post. i think under the cut alone it's like 4 pages long or something lmao

3. how do the other characters generally feel about your self insert?

i am obligated to start this off with sylv. xhe cares about bite dearly due to the two of them being partners. they were partnered up during their time in the agency together, which led to bite falling head over heels for xher first, then turning to xher reciprocating his feelings. bite is basically xher feral fluffy haired golden retriever boyfriend and it is so so happy to live like that.

i hope it's okay for me to talk about zat here as well because i feel like their friendship could be so complex and i have so so many thoughts. i think zat's okay with him when he's calm, since he has his moments when all he's doing is relaxing. i do think they also find it rather startling when he's like. "huh i'm covered in blood again" and he just. doesn't do anything about it. when bite's terrorizing them, though, that's a different story. bite's a fucking menace and will constantly tease them if he's in the mood. so i'd definitely say their friendship is complicated.

his eldest brother, grim, has a lot of respect for him, despite finding bite absolutely obnoxious. grim was originally positioned alongside jeb to protect the sheriff, but as things got more chaotic over time, he decided to step down when jeb did. when jeb returned with his saviour complex, grim stayed behind, wanting to live as peacefully as he could. when his path crosses with bite's, he greets it with kindness and protectiveness, though he also worries, considering bite is literally the dating the person he and his siblings were working to kill/protect others from.

his sibling, gambit, is an engineer. an important thing to note here is that gambit and acid are twins. gambit is also definitely the more... reserved of the two. they prefer to work quietly where they can, though acid will drag them out of their shell for fights. they feel pretty neutral about bite, more of their anger and aggression is fixated on hank than bite.

his brother closer to him in age, acid, has a lot of mixed feelings about him. acid is very sure of himself in the sense he's doing what's right in being part of the agency, and finds it frustrating that bite just up and left like that. he was the first to point fingers and call bite a traitor, and does not hesitate to point a gun at his younger brother when their paths cross. acid also happens to be a soldat.

hank originally didn't care for bite much at first. it took a lot of time for them to warm up to his chaos because, in their eyes, it was like having a second de.im.os around, and that was already pushing it for them. once they did warm up to him, though, they quickly became very protective of him and they make sure they don't accidentally crush him, since he's the smallest of the group (unless we're counting zat here. haha zat's tiny. i say as bite is literally one inch taller than them. anyways)

doc tolerates him, for the most part. he originally saw bite's skill and thought he could be helpful, though he quickly learned about bite's need for chaos, which has earned him many grey hairs. every time bite opens his mouth, doc ages another year.

de.im.os absolutely fucking ADORES bite. their relationship started as a game of gay chicken (yes i'm making this canon fuck you) because the two of them thrive on chaos together. it drives doc absolutely fucking insane because of the amount of times he's had to patch them up after they do something stupid. they're partners in crime. it's terrifying.

sa.nfo.rd also cares about him a lot and he kind of serves as more of a... voice of reason to de.im.os and bite. but barely. i guarantee you, these three are fucking insane when they're in the same room. the three of them also make for a VERY powerful group in a fight, since the three of them are willing to cause bloodshed without hesitation.

tricky and bite are.... something. they don't particularly like each other, but they don't hate each other, either. bite takes advantage of the fact that tricky's kind of fucked up in terms of the improbability drives, and in a more normal sense outside of canon, they'd probably be like... two guys that hang out that don't really like each other that much. the best way i can think to name their dynamic would be like frat boys but to the left. just. fucked up chaos. i literally cannot explain it more than that.

jeb.us can barely stand him. he finds bite so fucking annoying. like. he sees bite and just goes "can he shut up for FIVE MINUTES" cause in my mind jeb is just a tired old man. let him rest. but noooooo bite is a fucking menace to this man and goes "I'M GONNA MAKE YOU PUT UP WITH ME ASKING YOU STUPID QUESTIONS." if i had to explain their dynamic to you all, it would be this. bite goes "GOD HAS LET ME LIVE ANOTHER DAY AND I'M ABOUT TO MAKE IT EVERYBODY'S PROBLEM" and jeb goes "if you're not careful i'll smite you where you stand."

he's barely had any interaction with the sheriff. at one point bite told him to "suck it" but that's pretty much it. rip sheriff.

au.dit.or wanted him dead rather quick. bite was quick to turn on the agency, and due to his skill, the au.dit.or was quickly feeling threatened and started grouping him in with hank and the others in the list of those he wanted to get rid of. he also finds bite incredibly frustrating as bite will taunt the fuck out of him AND has flipped him off on multiple occasions.

10. how do the other characters feel about your self insert and f/o’s relationship?

grim worries about his younger brother's relationship quite a bit, seeing as bite is dating hank. he's constantly worried that bite has gotten himself put into danger or that he'll get hurt, but he also supposes that the job he and his siblings had as agents were far worse in terms of danger.

gambit could honestly care less. they don't care much about their younger brother's choices, they just wanna be left alone to do their job in peace.

acid, on the other hand, fucking hates that bite ended up in the relationship that he did. acid is under the impression that, due to bite's decisions, it has become a traitor to its family and to the agency.

tricky thinks bite needs better taste than hank but doesn't really care. just means more targets to him, more to taunt, more fun to have and more chaos to cause.

jeb thinks bite's more trouble than it's worth to worry about. for that reason, he chooses not to get involved in knowing about his relationships.

sheriff can't say shit cause he's dead lmao

au.dit.or wants all of them dead. that's it. that's the post.

i love how this post went from lore dumping to just memes by the end. anyways i hope this satisfies your need for lore. i Will be making another big lore post but for now this is it

#insomnia has answered.txt #achilles tag.txt #i just realized i need to add some. odd tags for this even though it's not like actually odd? it just feels odd to need to put them in a #post like this but it's like. ma.dc.om is so fucked up i have to account for those tags #religion mention #blood mention #ask to tag #violence mention

[veilder]

For the ask thing you reblogged: 11, 20, 31, 39. No stress if you can't answer all of them! Even picking one out of the four is fine!

For the Fanfic Writer Ask Game! Thanks for the questions! I absolutely will answer all of them! :D 11. How do you come up with your fic titles? Ah, great question! Okay, broadly, all my fic titles go into one of three categories: quote/song lyric, a word of phrase directly tied to the narrative, or something themed. In the case of the quote/song titles, I usually will carry through that naming throughout the entire piece if it's chaptered/part of a series? Those ones, there's always a certain vibe I'm going for. The ones tied to the narrative I try to make evocative. Whether they're a one word theme or a play on words or the main idea I built the fic on, I try to make them interesting enough to take a second glance and go in for the summary. And the themed ones, those usually have a repeating word/phrase/motif attached to them? For example, I have a whole series of fics where every title starts with "In." Don't ask me why, lol. But it establishes a sort of continuity I suppose. 20. What’s your favorite part about the fanfiction writing process? Damn, this is tough... I mean, actually conceptualizing and brainstorming an idea is always great? I love coming up with ideas and giving them a hard think and imagining the possibilities. Only a small fraction of those ever actually make it to paper, but it's still a very important step y'know? But if we're talking actually writing, then... Well, there are moments... Moments when I get swept away, especially when writing big, emotional scenes. And I'll write something that just kinda knocks me sideways for a moment. Tuning in to my own writing to see I just cracked out some banger line is just the best fuckin feeling, I swear. Especially if it's enough to make me actually squeal or gasp or vocalize at the screen, lol! That's definitely up there along with coming up with the perfect chapter ending, lol. 31. Of the characters you write for, which is your favorite? Has that choice been swayed at all by your followers/readers’ reactions to certain ones? Omg, this is such a hard question!!!! Because everyone I write for has such a distinct flair! Omggggg... Like, how am I supposed to choose between Hank's sarcasm and Gavin's feistiness? Between Connor's levelheadedness and Sixty's ridiculousness? Or Nines or North or Amanda or Kamski or... anyone? (And that's just DBH, too. I've written a few other things for other fandoms that are just as engaging, omg.) Guh... Okay, just on basis of ease, I guess I'll go with Hank. Hank is so fuckin great to write, he is very easy for me to slip into. We have such a similar sense of humor, it's always a great time writing him. (Although I think Sixty is a very close second, just because he's so fuckin insane, omg!!! He's a fuckin blast to write! XD) And also, no, I don't think this has been swayed by readers at all? I mean, Hank certainly provokes some fandom engagement, he's a fave character for the fandom. But that's not why I like writing him? (And if we look at Sixty, too, it's like the opposite reaction, lol. He's not very popular in the fandom, especially in the rarepair I love him in, but I still have a blast doing it anyway. XD) Yeah, I don't think my readers have swayed me whatsoever here. 39. What’s something about your writing that you pride yourself on? Oh gosh... Got me right in my Achilles' heel, didn't ya? Man, I don't know... My pacing maybe? I feel like I always have a pretty tight narrative with no superfluity. Mostly cuz writing exhausts me, lol, but my plots tend to be short and sweet and to the point. Simple but brisk, lol. But yeah, thank you for these questions! This was fun! Been a long time since I've did an ask game like this, lol. Cheers! :D

#ask games #fanfic

[takeeachdayonebookatatime]

Why did you elbow me? 167

Achilles Castle part 69

Lemonade and lies PART 12

Martha: pov I ate lunch before I arrived at the hospital Katherine is no longer on oxygen her lungs are doing great. She tells me Olivia has a possible suspect in the case. Which is awesome. Richard is getting some writing done on his computer. Me and Jim talk for a bit.

Joe: pov it seems like me and Muncy are doing everything today which is not fair but we did lie to Captain Benson about being drunk so I guess we deserved it. I'm stuck with Fin hovering over me and Muncy has Liv. I ask if I can get coffee from the break room. He says sure make me a tea while you're at it and make olivia a coffee.

Alexis: pov me and Dave are in the cafeteria getting lunch when I hear a boy say something nasty about cops. Dave says don't get involved but I do anyway, i tell the boy my stepmom is a homicide cop and she solves murders so  not all cops are bad. 

Farkas: pov does she solve the ones she committed or ones other cops did. Alexis says no it's not like that other people committed them and don't talk bad about my step mother.

Dave: pov we grab our pizza and sit down. A girl we don't know asks if she can sit with us. Cammalleri asks if her stepmother is the cop who took down bracken Alexis says yes. Cam asks if her dad Castle and stepmom are coming to the school's family dinner night. Alexis says it depends if she has to work and if she gets a case. After we finished eating we headed to the hospital since we got out early today. 

Jet: pov this is strange how no one knows the killer so it must have been random. Ryan found where the guy lives. I also found something strange. There is video from a grocery store of our suspect arguing with the victim over a parking space wow. Our victim was murdered over a parking space that can't be right. Liv says we need to find the murder weapon and more solid proof that he is the murderer.

Muncy : pov Ryan and Elliot went to get some tacos while we continued with the case. I'm so tired and hungover, Esposito is telling us about one of his weirdest cases. The woman was a psychic and predicted her own death, how strange. 

Ryan: pov I thank Elliot for coming with me to get the tacos he asks  me more about my family. Jenny is my wife's name and Sarah Grace is our daughter and Jenny is pregnant with our second child, a boy. Turns out Elliot is a grandpa already. I know Fin is also a grandpa.  At the station I put the food down on the table while Esposito grabs some plates and cups for everyone. The tacos look amazing. I can't wait to eat them.

Elliot: pov the food was amazing a few of us are heading to check out the house, we are leaving jet, Muncy,  Joe and Ryan at the 12th precinct while the rest of us search the house for info. We know the suspect isn't at home. He is at work. Liv called and told his boss to call him in so we could search his house. We have a warrant. 

Ayanna: pov the house is big we split up into 2 groups Me, Esposito and Fin in one group head upstairs and Elliot and Liv head downstairs together. Fin is shouting about how he may have just found something interesting about our suspect. Hidden in a closet he has a photo album labeled memory lane. 

Fin: pov i found a photo album labeled memory lane. It's full of newspaper clippings about missing/dead people. The one page has a stick that says another one. Oh sh*t, is this guy, a serial killer. I tell Liv over the walkie talkie we have a huge problem. 

Esposito: pov Liv says take pictures of the photo album and put it exactly where we found it and un, ass this place. Once back at the station we each look up one of the people from the photo album. Liv is trying to get the judge to sign off on a bunch of warrants. We don't have much to go with the pictures. I call Lanie since she might have info as a medical examiner she probably knows who did the autopsy on some of these if the bodies were ever found.

Lanie: pov  no I have never seen some of these missing people I  would remember doing the autopsy. wow the one body was found in the woods never solved, NJ police tried to solve it but nothing added up and they finally sent it to cold case. I can get in touch with the ME who did the original autopsy to see if we can confirm if it is this woman. It would give her family closure. I pick up the phone and call the original Medical examiner on the phone. I talk to Hank, the original medical examiner on the case. I'm working a homicide case and our murder suspect had a photo album and one of the women looked like one of yours. a cold case a while ago. He offers to come over to the morgue and go over the evidence with me. 

Kate: pov I just got off the phone with Liv turns out her suspect might be a serial killer, just great. This case is so stressful and has so many twists and turns along the way. She sent me some stuff I could look up so that way I can still help with the case. My dad is watching a baseball game muted that way he doesn't disturb me which is sweet. A nurse comes in to check my vitals. She says everything looks good right now. It's time for my next nebulizer treatment and meds. I still have a bit of a bad cough.

Jim: pov  while Katie is getting her nebulizer treatment I decided to walk around a little. Alexis and Dave showed up earlier and hung out a bit before heading off to get some shopping done. Martha is chatting with a cute Dr who looks too young for her. Captain Benson should be calling Katie back soon with more info. To be continued.  ……..

#castle #caskett #katebeckett #stanakatic #lawandordersvu #oliviabenson #mariskahargitay #javieresposito #jonhuertas #kevinryan #seamusdever #lanieparish #tamalajones #elliotstabler #christophermeloni #icet #odafintutuola #susansullivan #Martharodgers #mollyquinn #alexiscastle #ayannabell #law and order organized crime #fanfiction #tvshow

[638287492818472]

Orchid and sage for the ask meme :)

Hiii! Thanks for the ask!!!!! I just looked at the ask thing a second ago but my memory is ridiculous so if I get it wrong oh well 😐.

Orchid = what song do you consider perfect? Or something along those lines idk idk

Hmmmmmm that’s very difficult I tend to have phases where I get fixated on a certain song and play it over and over again and then kind of forget about it. Idk there’s lots of songs I like but I don’t think I’d say any of them are perfect 🤔 I really like Achilles Come down by whoever did that song I can’t remember and I really really like Fake Your Death by My Chemical Romance. If we’re talking classical music my favourite composer is Shostakovich and I really love his fifth symphony (I think lmao I can’t remember which ones which). Anyway I didn’t really answer the question but who cares we’re just here to have a good time

Sage! I’m pretty sure that one’s ‘what medium touches you the most‘ as in like art, poetry etc things like that

I think I’d definitely say writing for that, I think some things just work best when put into words. I think with writing it’s easier to just have a kind of ‘stream of consciousness‘ if that makes sense, like you can use whatever weird little metaphors and flowery language you like and you can wrangle meaning out of any little thing. I suppose it’s a bit difficult because I also do really love art and even with writing imagery is a bit part of it for me, lots of my favourite books stick with me because of the visceral imagery and lots of times I want to read a book just because I’ve seen a quote and the imagery and writing style stuck with me for example this one quote from Demian by Hermann Hesse something along the lines of ‘all the world is an egg. He who would be born must first destroy a world‘ don’t thing that’s right but something like that and I saw drawings and stuff based on that quote and I was like oh that’s sick and then I read the book (which is very good! The ending’s weird though). So I guess art is a close second because a lot of the time when I’m reading stuff I’m imagining paintings and drawings and stuff in my head to go with it. Also SCULPTURES are amazing we should bring back sculptures I don’t know what it is about them I love them I love them I love them ‘imitation is the sincerest form of flattery‘ or something like aah idk just taking to time to carve something out of stone idk something about it gets to me

anyway yeah! Probably should have added a bit more punctuation so that this is coherent but yolo whatever

Thanks for the ask! And have a good day :)

[the-blaze-empress]

no joke I switched to desktop JUST so i could type this out on an actual keyboard instead of my phone

starting off with chap 4 OH MY GOD okay we get a little bit of backstory with chat!!! they are Not Human which makes sense but we get confirmation!!! Chat is Phil's BIGGEST SUPPORTER it might be because he's just a Kid but i feel like it's more than that, Chat seem like sneaky little bastards plus they Know Something I have a feeling they have ulterior motives o.O and I touched on this briefly but I ADORE the reptition of "you feel guilty" it's reminiscent of a thought that just won't stop pestering you but with that little tinge of unsettling energy that makes you know it's something MORE. and damn right Chat is never wrong YOU HAVE BEEN CHOSEN FATHER TECHNO, NO TURNING BACK NOW I am so normal about them <3 

PHIL'S WINGS ARE THOSE OF A CARRION BIRD?? FEMALE VOICE IN HIS HEAD?? AM I GETTING GODDESS OF DEATH MUMZA VIBES, BECAUSE IT FEELS LIKE I'M GETTING GODDESS OF DEATH MUMZA VIBES. angel of death phil is TOP TIER- and that DREAM UGH dreams are some of my favorite things to read/write because you can kinda just go wild and show your character's innermost fears/struggles/injuries without the limits of realism or needing actual structure- you can literally just slap your readers in the face with metaphor and they HAVE TO LIKE IT because it's a dream sequence and nothing NOTHING is cooler than a good dream sequence. the mirrors, the mirrors surrounding him and showing him what he thinks is the worst and most shameful part of himself- GENIUS. And then THAT cage disappears and he's RIGHT BACK WHERE HE STARTED in another cage. A prettier cage, sure, but a cage nontheless. 

THE WINGS IMAGERY OOF i adore it i adore it all I'm frothing at the mouth screaming crying throwing up a bird in a cage!! Phil is a bird in a cage in more ways than one (MIRRORED CAGE- LITERALLY A CAGE MADE OF HIS OWN BODY THE SYMBOLISM IS PERFECTLY PAINFUL), his wings are clipped and he keeps fleeing anyway because he can't bear it anymore GOD. he is sisyphus. he is the bravest little boy and he just wants to stop hurting and stop being hurt. I want to hug him (BUT DON'T TOUCH HIS BACK!! BECAUSE HIS WINGS ARE THERE AND IT HURTS). Do the sleeves have something to do with the wings??? It would make sense- runes in the cloth to help hide them. I'm getting the vibes of either prophecy/curse, seeing as how these "stories" tell that his wings won't stay just tattoos for long. Which, that makes me thinks it's involuntary and POOR BOYYYYY 

characters sobbing after being shown just basic kindness is SO GOOD it's so painful but it shows so much about them without having to say it. They're used to cruelty and hurt. They've learned not to expect anything for free. They've been taught that they aren't worth anything if they're not giving every part of themselves to someone else. They've been taught that they aren't worth extra effort. They fundamentally don't understand the concept of being cared for just because they are human beings who need care and attention and OH the pain!!! the agony!!11!!! the shock and amazement and disbelief when someone is there just to be there, the fear that somehow they'll mess it up and things will go back to how they were, the holding their breath and waiting for their caretaker to realize they're not truly worth all this trouble. they're so precious and they have so much trauma <33333

and thus begins dadnoblade!!! I'm so excited to watch their relationship grow, this fic has me wholly and truly obsessed. The daily updates have been amazing, but please take the time to rest/take a break if you need one!!!! I will be eagerly theorizing in the meanwhile

oh if that isnt a fucking mood, i do that all the time which is partly why its taken me a Bit to reply lmaoooo. also HOLY SHIT UR ASK IS SO LONG??? SLASH SO POS

OKAY HI I GOT DISTRACTED TALKING ABOUT CLASSICAL CONTEXTS AND ALSO WHY ACHILLES AND PATROCLUS WERE GAY TO MY FLATMATE IM BACK NOW

yesss chat backstory!! there is more to come!! and yeah chats attached to the scrawny kid they met for like 0.5 seconds whos surprised not me. and yeah they ARE a sneaky little bastard and proud of it. so what if they may or may not have ulterior motives its fiiiine you dont need to know just trust them okay? chat is never wrong about SOME things. sometimes they are Very Wrong but They Will Never Admit That. though that is actually a rarer occurrence tbh

YEAAAA CARRION CROW BAYBEE WE LOVE SPOOKY BIRDS IN THIS HOUSE!! i am Looking at your theories and Saying Nothing <3 you will get ur answers <3 eventually <3 yes the dream!! i got to write two dreams in quick succession it was Great i also love dreams bc as u said, u can go BATSHIT with the symbolism and IT DOESNT HAVE TO MAKE SENSE also DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD IT IS TRYING TO WRITE ABOUT THESE DREAMS AND NOT BE ABLE TO USE THE WORD NIGHTMARE????? IM DYING OVER HERE 'BAD DREAM' DOESNT HAVE NEARLY THE SAME CONNOTATIONS. anyways.

he is just a bird in a cage poor bby </3 im LIVING for ur analyses and i am going to pretend they are all intentionally like that!! (aksdjf i mean some shit is deliberate but also some shit has just Worked and im like huh neat) and idk DO the sleeves have anything to do with the wings? eyes emoji <3 poor boy yes correct hes Trying His Best

yeahhhh the fucking breaking down after being shown one (1) ounce of actual human decency is chefs kiss istg. hes so broken and this only breaks him MORE it should be HELPING and it IS but it HURTS and its NOTHING LIKE WHAT HES USED TO and yeah. trauma. we got a LOT of that in this fic wooooo

yesss dadnoblade (unwilling) (semi willing) (shut up chat okay its willing dont tell anyone else) im so glad ur as obsessed about this fic as i am bc boy oh BOY am i obsessed!!!!!!!!!! i will take rests and breaks dw especially since my uni has fixed the mc problem where i couldnt actually play mc properly so i will now be doing that A Lot More askdjfhdskj

do send me more theories if u have them at literally any point in time idc if its 2am i Will Listen

#wisdom be uponeth ye #1wn8ure #i want to print this ask out and put it on my wall oml #UR WORDS ARE ALWAYS SO NICE AAAAAAAAAAA #thank u thank u thank #u #<- forgot the last u lmao #tmatimry #WHY DO I KEEP TRYING TO TAG TAKE MY ARMS CONTENT AS HOW GREAT A JOY SHIT THEY ARE NOT THE SAME FIC AT ALL

[meanwhileinstasiville]

Dear,

Motorola: Someone named “Thomas” has the county looking for them, probably for wellness check purposes despite being part of Chicago L and decked out in army gear. Thing is, the county guy stopped in the same lot as I walked by that had previously been occupied by “weighmaster” rigs and other “all fonts of authority” someone can think of, as far as a service vehicle label can go. For religious promotion purposes in the greek style that fear doesn’t cost any money and gets things done. Which, as expressed this way, amounts to an immediate “what if Larry Flynt when the other way?” airline bound death threat. The postscript to this, is that you got your arm broken at a service by being anonymously dogpiled, maybe due to congregation recrimination (because they call it that where your social class meets). Resentment is important too, because my ankle has a gunshot wound scar that, at first glance, looks like someone thought I was “Achilles”. And a vacuum cast traditional field dressing for a gunshot wound, administered at the crash site, before a proper X-ray could be conducted. One man’s resentment is another man’s recrimination. 

“Roku” (coob, beast, et al): I told a story about your start on the road of mmo addiction, and I kept it to the poopsocking as much as I could. I hope you’re not mad because I know you met your wife that way, and that it ended up having a bless the broken road happy ending.

Spiral: I know you were with Rickochet, and that doesn’t make a lot of sense given the trajectory of your life. Given the people he knows, and the kind of interest some of them had in him, I’m also sort of surprised you got ahead of everyone else in “making a man out of him”. As you are a doctor of forestry, I had also hoped to get some idea of what your Big Idea was (since all PhDs are required to have one, and someone I grew up with settled on “saving the world by feeding it”), but have since been paywalled off from those works. And somehow you are a Forestry Doctor of Teaching English in Germany, now. So you can understand why I would be confused. 

Rickochet: See? Sometimes living next to your parents isn’t all bad. A grandfather was a sort of surrogate mother and father when I was little, which sounds weird, but seems to have also worked out all right. Saying I’m headed toward (or was?) making a same mistake twice, suggests that you know more of what women think of you though you pretend not to (and I posted your Pet Boys song song here). Don’t worry about it. I told you everything you needed to know as a journalist specializing in allegations; Cats Don’t Dance. “Remember, only YOU can prevent forest fires?” (because people assume a broadcast addresses them specifically, and them alone, and that’s a dumb way to treat people) and also “I don’t worry when my girlfriend is on her period...” and the kind of person who talks like that who can occasionally be a role model.

 Azurus: Sex work is sort of at odds with undercover work, and I wonder if there’s an answer to setting up something like a fake drug buy (with real drugs) in order to get at the bad guys for the government, and then pocketing the money anyway, if it happens to be the wrong bad guys. Seeing Garfunkel and Oates referenced here from ~13 years ago, reminded me of you and that, *at least someone* noticed that kanye west was like the band rush. Even though he went on quoting hitler for years and years after. “Today’s Tom Sawyer” being an ubermensch song. Or even limelight. But that didn’t get remade by MSI with so much whining that it managed to take the sting out of the hook in the song.

Tennessee: https://disney.fandom.com/wiki/Tune_Pig If you try to set this up with me, then I know something about who your dad is, and it’s not who you think. 

Necro: The cartel locally has tried to dress me like you from younger days in period clothing, to force a circumstantial case that I’m “samurai murderer man” on the FBI (don’t ask), and failing that, that I’m somehow your brother, in keeping with the “we’re looking for a 400lb man, and it’s you” circumstantiality that the government is being subjected to. (because I once faced down a SWAT team on the way to lunch, with weapons out, on a bad case of mistaken identity “100lbs heavier, and ten years older” they said, behind assault rifles).

(Thanks for introducing me to the Bonkers cartoon, motorola)

D9885: Am hoping that the BLM and some of the other movements don’t cause you too much trouble; I hope you got promoted to a point where that doesn’t quite reach. Serpico might be a good movie to watch, if you haven’t seen it yet, since it sort of covers that story you told me about the reported “back room goings on” that turned out to be the chief and mayor and some city council people, and cost a good guy his job. Serpico is a good primer because there’s supposed to be a smart limit on your line of work, and I know your nickname in math class was “gauss”, and seems like the fbi would take someone like that, but who knows. 

Bijou: You had me at trying to lecture me about what Boheme was about.

Mcfuego: Did your love of the letter “s” ever give way to the dragon greed of “$$$”?

[sunsmemories]

so many times i have lain awake in silence,

hands pawing at the emptiness seated within my ribs

as though they knew that i am never myself without you.

so many times i have whispered your name,

the only part of you that i possess,

in hopes that it will satiate the desire i have for you

growing in me.

so many times i have wished for this day to come;

when my love is fully returned,

and my heart now whole as you offer me the half of yours.

so many times i have prepared myself for you,

but nothing ever prepared me for the loss that love would bring with it too.

— this is what i will lose

#so i bought circe like a month ago?? #but it was only recently when i was able to get past chapter 07 because my schedule was packed #ANYWAYS i get to the part where they talk about achilles right #and im cryinf again #nothing new really but #the way they talk about patroclus and achilles in past tense just rlly hurts #the song of achilles #patrochilles #patroclus #achilles #tsoa #the song of achilles poem #the iliad #ancient greek mythology and lore #ancient greek mythology #ancient greek poetry #tsoa poem #love poem #love poetry #poem #poetry #the song of achilles aesthetic #circe aesthetic #poetry aesthetic

[yellowspiralbound]

Okay so for a while after The Lightning Thief musical release I really wanted them to keep making musicals (now I'm glad they didn't) but to this day I want songs based in HoO. Here are my favorite ideas, some with more thought than others:

A Nico reprise of Good Kid sung to Percy where the premise is basically "Hey remember how no one ever wanted you and how if anyone should have understood me it should have been you but instead you pushed me away and dismissed me as a bad kid?" It could be during when he told Percy he had a crush on him too - one of the lines could be something about someone you loved from afar seeing you as just another enemy when you're just a "good kid with a bad run."

A duet between the crew of the Argo II and Nico in the jar would be phenomenal - Nico starts, begging someone to save him and he slowly gets drowned out by the crew wanting to abandon him. Hazel has a cadence part that calls for saving him and she could do like an operatic high note to get them to shut up and listen to her. Just,,, the possibilities for an absolutely heartwrenching song in that scene are basically endless

Hazel could have a song while she dies. It ends in not-quite-silence. Like, horror movie silence where they use a high pitch or a tune specifically designed to inspire fear. There'd be a reprise when she comes back to life but it still ends the same way because she just went from one war to another.

A song that Sammy sings to Hazel about "undying [insert word here: love, devotion, etc.]" that Leo has a reprise of later.

Frank has a song about the Stick called St(ick)yx or something where he compares the Stick to Achilles' heel because it both keeps him alive and is his greatest weakness.

Idk what it would be about but there would definitely be a song called Panda Pillow Pet. Possibly with some sort of chorus like "I don't know who I am but I'll be okay as long as I've got my panda pillow pet"/"It's just me and you, my panda pillow pet"

Leo has a song as he flies Gaia into the explosion. It starts with him talking about how he's burned everything he's loved to the ground. Gaia reveals his mother's death was her doing (I know its not book accurate timing wise but ✨️drama✨️) The song ends with a verse along the lines of "Do I even want this cure to work?" followed by a bang a la Dead Girl Walking Reprise from Heathers. Perhaps even a line about how he's "had two lives already; do I even deserve a third?"

Thalia and Jason have a duet - think The Mother We Share by CVURCHES

A HERA & ANNABETH DUET

A percabeth duet that starts in Arachne's web and ends in hell

Hypothetically, there would have already been a song about Zoe's death in a previous musical and Bob would have a reprise of it ending in "tell the stars I say hello" this is immediately followed by a poorly recorded version of Escape by Rupert Holmes. Not the full thing, but just that and nothing else as the elevator rises.

A Last Day of Summer reprise following the final battle - Dionysus gets Percy's name right this time. He sounds exhausted - borderline sorrowful, not angry.

A duet between Reyna and her father's ghost

I want a solangelo song because I love them. I'm thinking Will has a few lines in a song during the Battle of New York and there's some kind of call back. "I've lost more lives than I've saved - don't make yourself the first blood shed today" Nico has no idea how to react to being cared about and his verses reflect this. [spoken not sung, interrupting Will's verse about keeping Nico alive] "why do you care?" "...why wouldn't I?" "You need a soldier ready for action. Right. Stupid question." "No!"

You can probably tell I'm bad at comedy lol. Anyway feel free to share your song ideas because I LOVE THEM.

#pjo musical #nico di angelo #percy jackson #the lightning theif musical #good kid #angst #kind of #i could probably think of lyrics if i tried hard enough but im lazy lol #everyone forgets that the crew was mostly on board with leaving a child to die and i feel like we dont talk about that enough #leo vladez #sammy valdez #frank zhang #percabeth #annabeth chase #thalia grace #jason grace #piper mclean #reyna avila ramirez arellano #solangelo #song idea #spiral's thoughts

[championofelysium]

Last night I found my doc detailing various parallels between Achilles/Patroclus and Theseus/Asterius! I thought I would post the information from it here cuz it’s fun to talk about. Even though it’s been awhile since it came out, I guess there’s a general warning for spoilers if you’ve not finished the game yet!

The Obvious Similarities:

The distinct combination of emotional self-loathing blonde and their far more calm and rational brunette partner... Achilles and Theseus both fall into the category of “impulsive risk taker” as well, though Achilles has become somewhat calmer in his death (at least when around Zagreus).

Matching outfits. Pat and Achilles have a tragic reason for their clothing and armor to be mostly the same. Theseus and Asterius are just gay, on the other hand.

The rational calm dark haired ones both died in fairly tragic ways, though Pat’s death was at least honorable. Asterius down in the labyrinth absolutely miserable.

(A fun fact: Theseus tends to refer to him and Asterius' past fight as if the two of them had always been on equal terms and had always been friends. The only time he doesn't do this as far as I know is when presented with the yarn of Ariadne.)

The Less Obvious Similarities:

Both of the blondes signed some sort of contract with Hades in order to get their partner into Elysium. This leads to Achilles training Zagreus. And while the terms of Theseus' arrangement aren't as Explicitly laid out, it seems to be implied that it requires he battle Zagreus at Elysium's exit gates as its protector, alongside Asterius.

[Achilles: I signed a pact, lad. Felt the terms were good enough. He could live there, while I’d live here, at least for now. Such deals are most uncommon, and their confidentiality must be upheld. But, let’s speak no more of this for now, all right? Some other time.]

[Zagreus: How long have you been waiting to use that line, Father? Wouldn’t put it past you to have sent the Bull of Minos to Elysium entirely so we could have this conversation now.]

[Hades: You give me too much credit, boy. The Minotaur resides where he resides because of an entirely different arrangement.]

Part of why these contracts exist is because both Asterius and Patroclus were initially somewhere other than Elysium. Asterius had been within Erebus, and Achilles openly states that Patroclus was not initially sent to Elysium. Note: I had a screenshot of this line but I can’t seem to find it...? I’ll add it later if I do. [Achilles: You must safeguard the details of it, lad. Although it’s not as bad as you make out. I ensured Patroclus is provided for. We wouldn’t have been together anyway. Initially he wasn’t sent into Elysium, you see.]

[Asterius: King Theseus slew me in life, and saved me in death. I was cast into Erebus. A monster. He found me when he died. And used his influence to bring me here, with him.] Achilles also states that Pat is the only person he felt Whole with, and this is in part because Patroclus was one of the only people who didn't see him as a threat:

"[Patroclus] was... one of the only men I knew who did not look upon me as a threat. He saw something in me I never knew was there."

This could be seen as a parallel with how Theseus saw worth in Asterius despite his “monstrous” form, to the point he now decides to fight by his side for eternity.

Relationship Drama I think the Theseus/Asterius drama is a very silly and simplified version of the Patrochilles drama in the game. It's like Shakespeare and his two gay clowns that always mimic the main plot.

Achilles: Convinced Patroclus would not forgive him for his actions in life! He had genuine reasons to believe this, but the reluctance stays even after he's assured otherwise. He believes his own thoughts over Patroclus' words at that moment.

Theseus: Becomes convinced Asterius is going to leave him! He never says this Out Loud, but he seems to believe himself undeserving of Asterius, and it makes him insecure in their relationship. He's terrified of being left alone. Theseus only thinks this cuz his own thoughts tend to reverberb inside his head until they're all he hears, despite Asterius' reassurances otherwise. The concept of risk taking applies to both as well. Achilles mentions in his codex that Theseus likely risked his station in Elysium for Asterius, Achilles himself Risks It All for Patroclus 😭 fellas is it gay to take risks for the one you love 

Less relevant (but still interesting!) things: Note: T*mblr won’t let me add any more images so there’s only transcripts of the text from here on out </3 Patroclus comments on Achilles having a strong sense of justice, and how this is something that drew him to him. Theseus, too, has a really strong sense of justice, too, and has clearly impressed it upon Asterius. [Patroclus: Hah. How to describe what somebody was like? Everyone who saw him on the battlefield agreed he was magnificent, stranger. His allies and enemies alike. But, there was more to him, I think. A certain outlook. A sense of justice. I knew him before he was a warrior. Only reason I suppose I liked him.] [Asterius, to Zagreus: You come from the bowels of hell. This is not your place.] Re: Patroclus not seeing Achilles as a threat, Theseus was also one of the first people to view Aserius as something other than a monster. [Asterius: … No; we’re not. And I will fight for [Theseus], and alongside him, for eternity. As recompense for helping me to understand exactly who I am.] Pat himself straight up Acknowledges these similarities. But he also hates Theseus/doesn't wanna think about it for longer than he has to so he's also like "maybe Asterius just has bad taste in men idk". I love him he's so funny. [Zagreus: You know, for such a loudmouth obnoxious braggart, Theseus does seem to have formed a strong kinship with the Bull of Minos, hasn’t he. Are they truly as inseparable as they seem? I feel bad for the Bull.] [Patroclus: Sometimes it’s our differences that make us drawn to one another, no? And, at other times, there’s no accounting for taste. I often don’t know which is which, and they can have each other, far as I’m concerned.] I don’t have screenshots of it on me at the moment, but lest we forget Achilles also gaydar diagnoses Theseus and Asterius in his codex. Zag says that Asterius is friend to Theseus in the way Enkidu is friend to Gilgamesh in. Gilgamesh and Enkidu's relationship within the Epic of Gilgamesh is often viewed as romantic in scholarly material, and they too are sometimes compared to Achilles and Patroclus. 

[Zagreus: The Bull of Minos led me to another hidden aspect, Achilles! A beastly form of the Twin Fists, belonging to an ancient god-king known as Gilgamesh. You ever hear that name? He had a half-beast friend, apparently. Like how Asterius is friend to Theseus.] [Zagreus: …Oh, he is. He’s loyal through and through to Theseus, and never holds back when we fight. But he seems to be the respect-for-his-opponent type. Unlike his companion.] And as my final piece of evidence… partners. [The narration is as follows: “Buried deep within the archives, holding many binding pacts between Lord Hades and the dead, resides an old agreement; an exchange for services from an extraordinary warrior, for eternity within Elysium for his dear partner.] [A random ass shade within the House of Hades: That champion and his partner had it coming…]

#hope talks #thesterius #patrochilles #hades game #i swear to god if tumblr has an error while uploading...........