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bellamyroselia · 5 months

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I've recently been thinking of how some of the missing Olympian gods could be adapted for future Kid Icarus games and in Poseidon's case he could be expanded upon, so I decided to dump some of my abridged thoughts about them here. Turned out I still had lot of things to say, but in general these thoughts are about what I think these gods could do and why it's possible, along with what kind of relationships they could have with the already existing KI-cast. Considering the subject matter, expect to see mythology-typical mind-fuckery and the words "motive failure" a lot - not only are these people extremely unhinged, in many myths the gods take the "fuck around and find out" approach way too literally.

To see this on its entirety, go here.

Starting with Hestia, she has a bad case of motive failure. Like what are you supposed to do with her? You can count her major mythological appearances on one hand, and even in those she doesn’t do much. It does also make imagining what kind of relationships she could have with the existing cast hard; none of Hestia's relationships are all that developed to begin with, but the ones she has with her siblings are those that get most focus… So that only really leaves Hades, Poseidon and maybe Viridi? Not much to work with, and I can’t really imagine those relationships being anything else but positive. Sure, they may disagree of some things, but overall they get along with each other. The most interesting thing about Hestia’s possible relationships is that I could actually see Dark Pit liking her due to her nice and unproblematic nature. It does leave plot potential pretty minimal though, but I could see writers using some legends about Vestal virgins as bases for plotlines where Hestia shows up as a supporting side character. The problem with those is that they tend to be pretty specific, so who knows how well they might actually work. “Arx tarpeia Capitoli proxima” makes a good moral but not much of a plotline if you divorce it from... Well, Tarpeia herself. Another possibility is that Pit’s sent to defend a place that had its sacred flame extinguished and he has to defeat the culprit behind that.

Artemis also suffers from motive failure. She may be a bringer of sudden death and disease along with being a serious contender for the title of the most wrathful Olympian, but… She’s so petty with it? Much of it is very small-scaled all things considered. Most things she does don’t have long-term consequences, and the few that do are quickly hijacked by other deities whose actions have bigger impacts to the myths in question. Like yeah, Artemis may have told Agamemnon to kill his daughter if he wants to set sails to Troy, but who cares when Apollo is inflicting the Greeks with a plague and Athena is ignoring the pleads of Trojan women. This being said, I could see her being used as an unfought antagonist for a chapter or two depending on what she does (something akin to her sending the Calydonian boar to terrorize Calydon could work), though that story ends the moment the threat is dealt with. I however wouldn’t cross out the possibility of her appearing as an ally out, though I’m not sure what she could offer to Pit and co. if that was the case as she’s not really a god of anything that could help Pit on his journey. And I honestly don’t see her having particularly positive relationships with anyone in the already existing cast - she may not dislike any of them, but she doesn’t really like them either. She’s a true neutral in that sense, which could possibly earn her Dark Pit’s respect. How long that’s going to last is a completely different matter though, it may be small-scaled put she’s still very wrath-happy person.

Have some more motive failure with Hermes, though this time it has everything to do with him being a rather hard character to utilize in a world without Zeus - because of the rating he’s not allowed to be horndog making more of himself and since Zeus isn’t there asking him to do things, it leaves him with next to nothing to do. He’s extremely loyal to Zeus and this loyalty is exclusive to him; while Hermes clearly loves the rest of his family, he wouldn’t do half of the things he does for his father for them… And boy, has he done lot of things for his father. He’s a big daddy’s boy and daddy simply can't be replaced because Hermes just doesn’t love many people in the same unconditional way he loves his father - this means he’d have to be an independent figure, since the only person he’d be a lackey for is out of the picture. Now Hermes does have some interesting figures connected to him, like his son Autolycus (shapeshifting thief and the maternal grandfather of both Jason and Odysseus, whose name literally means “the wolf itself”) and the goddess of persuasion Peitho who’s described as his wife on occasion, but I’m not sure how any of that could be utilized. Autolycus possibly could've had some potential as a recurring character if he wasn’t dead by old age, but who knows, maybe he did get deified and therefore became an immortal in the world of Kid Icarus. I mean, Medusa is just a sea daemon and a dead one of that in the myths so why not let Autolycus to become a god. But back to Hermes, what I think of his possible relationships with already existing characters? They’re likely positive overall and I can see him appreciating both Pits for their spunk, but I think that the most potential comes from different minor antagonists, like Thanatos, Phosphora and Pandora. In case of the last one, Hermes was the one who gave Pandora her personality so there's that. Into the two former ones, Hermes is a psychopomp which means that he guided spirits to afterlife and he was everyone’s preferred psychopomp. Only person who wasn’t happy to see him in this duty was Sisyphus (Ares freed Thanatos after he had been captured by Sisyphus and brought them both back to Underworld → Sisyphus sweet talks Persephone into letting him go for a short period of time → Sisyphus refuses to return and Thanatos refuses to try bringing him back, so Hermes drags him to Underworld), so one could argue that Hermes is better at doing Thanatos’ job than he is - the fact that the Sisyphus-myth is one of Thanatos’ only major mythological appearances doesn’t exactly help him in this situation. One could get some funny dialogue out of that. With Phosphora, her Japanese name is derived from Electra, who’s the younger sister of Hermes’ mother Maia. For some additional hilarity, Maia and Electra are both elder sisters of Merope, Sisyphus’ wife. Everything about the possibility of having Hermes, Phosphora and Thanatos interact smells like a comedy goldmine to me. But let’s be real, isn’t it weird that Hermes has never been a merchant in any KI-game? It’s so goddamn absurd considering how he’s the god of commerce! You’d think he would’ve been the first choice for that, but apparently not! That’s a one big missed opportunity!

Hera too has a case of motive failure, but the reasons behind it are pretty simple. First is the same as with Hermes, which is that Hera doesn’t get to do much in a world without Zeus; can't be angry about your husband being unfaithful to you when your husband isn’t around. The second reason is equally simple, it being that Hera likes Athena. In fact she probably loves Athena more than she loves Ares, Hephaestus and Eileithyia (aka Lucina) combined (her love for Athena and Hebe is probably around the equal level and if it’s in someone’s favor, it’s Hebe’s), so toss away all the possibilities of her being a villainous force. It wouldn’t really make sense considering how Palutena is mostly Athena-inspired character. The two goddesses are pretty much partners in crime and by crime I literally mean “Let’s try to overthrow Zeus with Poseidon and Apollo” and “Let’s be the only deities to celebrate Troy’s destruction” levels of things, having each others backs whenever something happens so I think it would be better to just let Palutena have a good relationship with her. With Pit things probably would get a tad more confusing depending on some other factors, but on a vacuum it’s hard to say anything about them. Regardless of those I think she and Dark Pit would have a pretty rocky relationship, as Hera along with her favorite stepdaughter and Aphrodite were some of the biggest menaces to society when Zeus was still in the picture… All roads may not lead to Rome, but many do lead to a scorned goddess, a nosey goddess or to an easily angered goddess.

#kid icarus #kid icarus uprising #ki #kiu #personal thoughts #dumping all of these here so they could stop haunting me in my head #“fuck around & find out” taken way too literally means that they wait for demigods to do something #demigods truly are the ones who drive the plot around in these tales #feel free to share your thoughts with me! i'm interested to hear what you think #thought dumping ground

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fbj723 · 20 days

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my whb progress 2

as of apr 7, 2024

since whb's half anni has passed, i thought i'd do a progress check to reflect on how much has happened btwn now and this post

general info

lvl: 47

status: 🤨 mostly f2p

i say mostly cause i just recently broke the f2p status and bought bp for ppyong

i refuse to buy packs and in the future i'll prob be very selective over who i pick for bp (aka i wont buy every bp), so for the most part i'll just be having the f2p experience

when i started: launch (10/03 my timezone)

ver: erolabs

team setup

i finally have levi now lmao

sometimes i'll switch out one of the levis for attacker satan but this is what i use generally

everyone's lvls and artifacts

skill lvls (normal atk-ult-passive)

attacker mammon: 1-3-1

selfie mammon: 4-5-4

selfie satan: 4-4-1

selfie beel: 4-4-4

bloodshed levi: 3-3-1

selfie levi: 3-3-1

secret club

i only work on completing mammon's unholy board

stuck on needing attacker mammon's sig atm :'))

materials

too lazy to screenshot it all but im basically broke on pies, tears, pretzels (tbf i dont play the minigame whatsoever), red keys, yellow keys, and seals

everything else im either ok in supply or overflowing w it

overall thoughts / reflection

this section is for me to look back on in the future when i do progress posts. i'll break down this section into multiple parts similar to my prev post for consistency

STORY

honestly, its interesting in concept. since sadly only 1 chapter has released btwn now and my last post so thoughts havent really drastically changed

ch5 imo wasnt really a full on hades chapter. yes, it takes place in hades and yes we get some intro abt hades, but i think this was supposed to act more like a bridge to tartaros, which is prob why we didnt have any h scenes w any hades chars aside from levi. ofc we'll get back to it being hades-focused eventually, but the story for a while is most likely gonna pivot to tartaros bc of that big lore drop abt mammon at the end

i assume we'll prob be introduced to the cherubs in tartaros bc of selaphiel txting us near the end + it being mentioned at the end that theres a hub of angels in the lab, and hopefully part 2 of mammon's h scene. it was strange at first for mammon to only have 1 h scene, compared to satan or levi that had 2, but w him implying theres probably gonna be a part 2 in his h scene + we'll most likely see him again in ch6 (or however many chapters tartaros will be played out), we'll prob experience part 2 in his home country. tbh that prob just me inhaling MASSIVE hopium since mammon isnt rlly that popular but i can dream ok-

i hope us being in tartaros doesnt last for just 1 chapter. you cant condense the experiments tartaros went through to create a clone of mammon only for them to fail + bring up the fact that the seed is prob also in tartaros in just 1 chapter. well— technically you can, but not at the pace chapters are at atm. chapters have roughly 15 parts of story on the main branch, and imo that much info abt tartaros cant be condensed into 1 chapter unless if they make the story bits like WAY longer than what they normally do

GAMEPLAY

tl;dr as an endgame player, its too easy 💀

working on the spreadsheet ever since the games 1st month of release and now just recently testing multiple team comps, the "meta" is so monkos HSHFJDJ

this game is INSANELY dependent on you having more than 1 dps/tank light card. light is also just an unstoppable element and i wish the game was balanced a bit more to let other elements shine

enemies are now way too easy to defeat. ik i prob shouldnt be complaining abt this but pls im a pgr and neural cloud player at heart I NEED SOME CHALLENGE

ch3 and ch4 were prob the most tedious and awful chapters, but at least they actually made me think when it comes to battles. now i just place down chars and let it play in the bg while i go do smth else. ofc this may just be bc i have a team that im comfortable w using everywhere, but id like to see at least a bit more "challenge" outside of holy coin portal

also, for weekly achievements, lvling artifacts is not a great requirement

i only pull when theres a new s rank or when mammon is moved to standard, so its very, VERY rare compared to avg users. having the artifact req is essentially forcing me to pull during those gaps just so i could fulfill a weekly req which sucks. i also dont need to lvl anymore artifacts in general for my team comp. lvl 15 is the bare minimum i need to get through all content w ease, anything after that is just a small boost tbh

on the note of daily/weekly requirements, there needs to be more of them

i mean in a sense of theres still gonna be 9 daily achievements, but you get more options on HOW you get to the 9 daily achievement req. most gachas that ive played always have more options than necessary to fulfill the overall requirement to get all rewards, so having this strict number w strict reqs is rlly not that great tbh

RESOURCES

thoughts from last time still havent rlly changed. pies and candies especially are still rng dependent which sucks, and now there gonna revamp pancakes while also keeping the old pancakes ???? theres way too many currencies (w some even having very little to no use) atp which can and will get overwhelming for new players

GACHA

i hate solomon seals. you can tell that red keys were supposed to be the main gacha currency if you ever look at old packs, but smth happened along the way and now we have seals

pity is also way too high for what we're earning atm. based off of f2p earnings, every week we get roughly 1 pull of red keys, maybe 2 pulls of yellow keys (red and yellow keys are more dependent on the key boxes which again, dependent on rng), and 1 pull of solomon seals. this doesnt include the stuff earned outside of dailies/weeklies, and i think there should be more ways to earn said currency through dailies/weeklies and not be so dependent on either paying or pulling chars

speaking of pity, i wish we had pity for both of the standard banners

i also wish theyd separate char and artifacts into their own banners. that way, if someone has a char but needs their sig, they can just pull in the artifact-only banner and try to get said sig

tl;dr in general i wish everything wasnt so strict and rng dependent, also wish numbers made sense like why do we get at least 5 red keys a week when 1 pull is 3, JUST GIVE ME 6 KEYS ATP

so yeah thats all for now lmao. im pretty sure i have a lot more to say abt this game but my minds at a blank atm, so ig thatll be saved for the next progress post which will be around 1st anni

#fbj rambles #whb

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art-sprees-in-spare-time · 3 months

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Trigger Warning: Mild Eye Strain!

So, um...this might seem random XD

See, I've recently entered the Kid Icarus: Uprising fandom, and I know it's kinda late but...blame Youtube XD I figured fanart would eventually appear here, though I didn't expect a whole OC to come from it. I'm a little inexperienced with clothing at the moment, so bare with my slightly botched clothing folds 😅

Anyway, this is Burnout, a Pit OC based on a Kid Icarus creepypasta of the same name. Seriously, go check it out, it's written amazingly. Plus, you kinda need to in order to understand Burnout's motives. The author chose to remain anonymous, but I would still like to point out that this character technically belongs to them. I only added onto the concept and design, but the story behind him is entirely theirs.

Also some facts about Burnout:

He's never been seen without some form of a smile on his face. (Whether or not he can make other expressions is up for debate)

Due to his program file technically not existing, he can only been seen by a few characters. Namely Pit and Hades.

He constantly has glitches surrounding him, and they increase based on his mental stability.

He appears as a mysterious entity to Pit, constantly following him throughout the game.

Though Burnout has explicitly told Pit what his future has in store for him, he never actually allows Pit to reach the ending of the game and defeat Hades. He'll always try to "go off script" and do something that ultimately results in the entire save file being reset.

He considers himself the most self-aware of the entire cast, as he's the only one who remembers all the events from the previous save files he's reset.

He is capable of teleportation, turning invisible, and warping the game's reality to his whim.

Here's the link to Burnout's Theme too.

#kid icarus #pit #kid icarus uprising #pit kid icarus #ref #burnout #tw eyestrain #pit kiu #kid icarus fanart

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mythvoiced · 1 year

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-. Hades brainrot, have a few disconnected thoughts:

fighting Lernie is so MUCH FUCKING FUN oh god i can’t get enough of that fight IT’S MY FAVOURITE

he only recently dubbed her Lernie for me but what the fKIG ‘Lernie Vanquished’ THIS GAME

i underestimated the lambert plume at first but by god the way it makes me lOSE MY MINd you get to a certain point Zagreus becomes so fast (if you get a few Hermes boons while you’re at it, EVEN FASTER) that i sorta start cackling maniacally at my screen

next god i’m forging a bond with is Ares because that guy’s doom curse saved my ass so often and also i love how this rendition of him makes him so ELEGANT~

Asterius gib me that AUTOGRAPH, Zagreus WHY WON’T YOU ASK HIM

one of these days i’m gonna figure out how to fuck up Theseus before Asterius bc i wanna hear the dialogue that would produce

when Hermes asked me if i wanted him to shut up for a moment i was APPALLED he better never

least favourite gods are Zeus for obvious reasons and Poseidon bc he was the first trial of the gods disadvantage i had to get through and that wave PISSED ME OFF

least favourite boons are Dionysus’ but that’s only because i don’t know how to use ‘em lmao I MEAN THAT? GAIN SOME HEALTH WITH EACH HIT ONE? oh god that actually got me through that first hades win EDIT: that’s not a boon, that’s a daedalus hammer for Stygius lmao

that thing people say that when they hear Eurydice for the first time? or Orpheus singing his lament? yeah, it’s true, i lost all brain capacity because i truly tried to get into this game BLIND as hell, they fucked me up

there was this one point where i was doing pretty well with the pierced butterfly and Zagreus drops a line after clearing a chamber that sounded SO EERILY like Thanatos (like? the delivery?) and there’s no way Darren Korb didn’t do that on purpose HE’S INSANE he obviously did

Than’s butterfly pisses me off the moment i hit asphodel and start stepping in magma I MEAN i got the layout down SURE but YOU KNOW

i will literally sometimes choose a chamber JUST because i want to talk to that particular god and by that particular god i mean Hermes no strategical thinking there, just straight up brainrot

a few runs ago i somehow managed to guess that not only was Thanatos gonna spawn in this run but also the exact chamber he’d spawn in, i just chose a door and was overcome by this certainty that Than would be on the next field and BOOM, thanks for the centaur heart bby

my least favourite fury to fight against is Alecto because i’m far worse at defeating her than i am at the other two lmao (altho surprisingly Tisiphone almost beat my ass the other day, i haven’t lost against a fury in AGES that would have been embarrassing~)

i can’t bring myself to give Sisyphus a nectar because the version of his myth i’m familiar with makes me hate him and i can’t get past that lmao but i also WANT to get him a nectar FOR THAT COMPLETITION RATE

when i got into the temple of styx for the first time i almost threw an aggressive tantrum and start crying at the notion of having to fight Cerberus and I KNOW he’d never would have but the small part of me that doubts everything DOUBTED and then Zagreus stopped his bullshit and gave the CUTEST LIL LAUGH I’VE EVER HEARD and that laughter right there defined so much about how i see him lmao he’s a cute lil shit he’s the worst he’s my baby he’s an immortal god he’s sassy as fuck he’s absolutely useless at administrative work he’s strong and dangerous he’s just some guy he’s my son and my enemy he’s in love with everyone he isn’t related to he’s fucking terrifying

demeter is so COLD and MEAN she doesn’t know she’s my grandmama AND IT SHOWS

#;ooc #lena's hades brainrot #blacklist that i might pop in a post like this every now and then #my family's getting tired of me talking about this game so now i have to subject YOU to it #here's a random lil fun fact about Alex Theimpalpable Jeoseungsaja #every time i vaguely mention liking something she cares so much that she actually looks up what it is and REMEMBERS it #and i KNOW other people do this too ofc but i need you to understand how wonderful Alex is as a person

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volumehypeplay · 1 year

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Last night we had, 'The Game Awards' for this year. Unfortunately, my interest in the winners, as always was nil, especially knowing that Diablo 4 had something planned for the event. More suprisngly though were the amount of announcements that were made. So without further ado, these are the games I am actually HYPE for.

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Banishers: Ghost of Eden came out of nowhere and I have a cheeky feeling much like A Plagues Tale, it might be the start of a new franchise. Set in the late 1600's- you get to play a pair of ghost hunters, Red and Antea. The interesting / cool thing is, Antea herself is a ghost (at least from what I could tell). The game is a 3rd person, story game and from the TINY glimpse of gameplay right at the end, this could turn out fantastic.

youtube

Hades, is awesome! I spent a good 2 weeks on/off trying to kill that not so humble father and failed 😢. Once it had dropped of gamepass I sort of let it be, that I would never get to defeat him. Now with the suprise announcement of Hades II it's time for me to jump back in and get ready. The sequel puts you in the shoes of Melinoë, the Princess of the Underworld, an immortal. The short trailer highlights a ton of new abilities, bosses, gorgeous artwork and more importantly more of that amazing music. I can't wait.

youtube

No Bioshock games in years and just like buses we are getting 2, in 2023. Well ok, not Bioshock per-say, but Judas, a brand new game by series creator Ken Levine, looks great. It doesn't tell us much, but is full of weird powers, 50s inspired robots, space and crazy combat. Exactly what the doctor ordered. I'll be keeping an eye out for this one.

youtube

Diablo 4. Diablo 4. DIABLO 4. Before we get into the trailer, we finally have a release date; June 6, 2023. And you know that pre-order button is being SMASHED. The trailer movie though.... Blizzard, do not miss when it comes to their cinematics, especially any relating to Diablo. Having recently heard from the previews, how important and intrinsic the story seems to be to Diablo 4, this trailer, somehow managed to elevate my excitement even more. It's a simple, short scene but it tells us so much. We're back in hell. What looks like Inarius, Archangel of The High Heavens leading a set of humans, to find and get to Lilith. We've never seen angels portrayed this way in Diablo. Inarius has this unnerving power about him. The demons are frightened of him, while the humans seemingly would follow him to their deaths. This is a man angel on a mission, and Lilith is in his sights. June 6 better hurry up.

#diablo 4 #hades #the game awards #hype #judas #banishers ghost of eden

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extemely-thoughtful-person · 3 years

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Epel Felmier Appreciation post, Unique Magic Theory, and... His Possible Role in Chapter 6

Here's that Epel post I thought about making way back in February. Sorry for being late on this one.

For those of you who somehow don't know who I'm talking about, Epel Felmier is a first year student in the Pomefiore dorm. He's one of the shortest characters in the game, and at first glance, he seems like one of those quiet people. This has lead to some not taking an interest in him before the game's release due to the fact that he seemed like a bland character.

Then chapter 5 happened, and...yeah. He was not what we were expecting.

Sure, he has a quiet attitude most of the time, but as it turns out that's just an act. He's actually really brash, harsh and he does his best to try and be strong. Vil has been trying to teach Epel that strength isn't just physical, but you can also have strong points in other ways as well.

As far as we've seen, Epel has come to terms with his adorable (but also deceptive) appearance. In chapter 6, we are going to be getting his help along with the rest of Pomefiore. Even though Epel learned about his greatest strength, he has yet to put that strength to use in a way that will confirm that, yes, he has excepted himself. Of course, he already does except his appearance, but he has yet to use it for something useful.

And this is where the catastrophe of chapter six comes into play.

Harnessing Potential

Now, I don't agree with Vil all the time, but during the recent chapter, I have to admit, he was right about a lot of things. One of the things that seemed to make the most sense was indicated by Vil and even Epel's parents: Epel has a lot of potential. And in my opinion, if there is one thing that he can do, and become a master of the art, it would be one of the lessons Vil was trying to teach Epel: Acting.

I think that out of all the career choices out there, Epel's best suited career would be as an actor. And maybe that was intentional in game, because there is a part of acting to be played.

Now, allow me to direct your attention to the Hercules movie, to a character that was charming enough to play both sides in the Hercules vs Hades showdown. It's Megera.

Meg was able to make Hercules flustered enough for him to mess up during his "hero moments" Even though eventually the feelings of true love were returned in the movie, before that, Meg was an enemy in disguise. She was able to easily wrap Hercules around her finger, and though it wasn't intentional for her because she didn't hate Hercules, Hades still saw Meg as Hercules's weakness. And this was the very weakness Hades exploited against Hercules.

And guess what? That strategy almost worked. Hades would've won because he used Meg against Hercules. If Meg just went through to the end, Hades would've taken over Olympus.

It's funny how one key player can decide the fate of the game.

Act One

As we all know, Pomefiore is going to lend us a hand in the upcoming chapter. For Epel, I think he's going to play in two acts. The first act is going to take place for the tournament, and the second will be during the Overblot battle against the Shrouds.

Act one is actually very simple: getting into contact with the enemy team.

How this works is, well, it starts with an accidental encounter. It's probably going to take place at the remaining culture festival time, and the interactions will be between Twist!Hercules, and Epel. Now, Twist!Hercules is most likely an athlete, and he looks strong. Epel still admires physical strength and will be fascinated.

Now throw this piece of the puzzle in: the gangsters on the beach in chapter 5 thought Epel was a girl.

So Twist!Hercules is going to believe that at first as well, and he's going to get flustered. Before Epel can correct him, maybe they have a conversation, or maybe they establish some kind of long term contact like exchanging phone numbers or something. But one things for sure, it takes a while for someone from RSA to point out the Twist!Hercules just befriended the enemy.

As for Epel, at first his fellow Magift club members are gonna be mad, but someone (Most likely Idia or Leona) actually thinks that this is a good thing. If Epel is able to wrap a strong enemy Magift player around his finger, then maybe they can get ahold of whatever winning strategy that RSA uses.

Of course, maybe Idia also plays a part in taking Twist! Hercules out of the match, but Epel's going to make things a lot harder for RSA. He has stated that he's working on surprise attacks, and with his appearance to serve as a distraction, Epel's going to be a tough character to beat.

Along with Idia's unique magic being involved, this game is going to be a close match. Of course, the outcome is already decided. Through unfair means of course.

Act Two

When Idia Overblots, he's going to reunite with his separated brother, Ortho. And one of the people responsible for separating them is Vil Schoenheit. He agreed to separate them to help Idia, but didn't know about the Magic stone situation. When the Shrouds have Overblotted and are reunited, Ortho might ask for revenge on Vil for allowing the Olympus Tech Company to take him into custody.

What I'm getting at is that they're going to imprison Epel as a form of revenge.

It's a callback to Megera dying. Epel is going to be imprisoned and is probably going to have some kind of death countdown to being killed. Or he's just going to be contained. Twist!Hercules and Vil are going work together to free Epel. And Epel is going to unlock his unique magic in this battle.

Silencing the Overblot

Now, I would say that we don't know what Epel's unique magic is, but that would be a lie. I believe they've already given us the answer:

"I feel a strong power rising in me, like an ice-cold poison. Now it feels like I could put anyone to sleep… maybe?"

This is one of Epel's level up voice lines for the tutorial. I think that this is hinting what unique magic Epel will get: the power to put someone to sleep. This might not seem effective, but it's actually very powerful, and it makes perfect sense too.

Epel has a desire to become stronger than others. And even though he works hard, there are going to be people which he will never surpass in strength alone. So how do you defeat someone stronger than you?

You make them weaker than you.

And what is the most vulnerable state a person can be in besides sickness?

Sleep.

So, Epel will be able to beat his enemies in a fight by putting them to sleep, literally making them fall before him.

Of course, the spell is much more complicated than just putting someone to sleep. Maybe he can control what they dream about, learn their worst fears, or manipulate them even. None of this is solid of course. Maybe Epel doesn't have control of his magic when it first manifests.

But when this power does reveal itself, I think Epel's going to accidentally test on one unsuspecting student who was trying to rescue him: Neige. This is referring to the time Snow White ate the poisoned apple, yet Neige still never got put to sleep until now. At least he'll be out of harm's way.

The people who are actually successful in the rescue of Epel are the Twisted!Hercules person and Vil Schoenheit. Perhaps it's a race to get to him first, perhaps they decide to work together. Who knows? Anyway, then Vil provides a distraction while Epel uses his new power on Idia, effectively knocking him out.

That leaves an Overblot Ortho on the lose. I think Twisted!Hercules is going to be the one to take him down. He'll most likely smash Ortho to pieces, which might seem cruel, but under the circumstances, they have no choice.

Of course, Ortho might get taken down first, and then Idia. It can go either way.

Or I could be wrong. Thanks for reading!!😊

P.S. I managed to make a pretty stupid, but interesting connection with the Pomefiore trio and the Fates from Hercules. This was mainly made because of the similarities in all of the characters heights. And this suggests that Rook was actually originally the first dorm leader of Pomefiore, until Vil took the position. And Epel has hinted at overthrowing Vil and becoming the new dorm leader.

So drawing parallels to the Fates, Rook would be similar to the Fate of the past (Laecesis[ I probably spelled that wrong]), Vil would represent the Fate of the present (Clotho), and Epel resembling the Fate of the future (Atropes).

And get this: it's the Fate of the future that warns Hades about Hercules, just like Epel gathering information from the enemy team, and warning Idia about the key players to watch out for.

Have a nice time of day!

#twisted wonderland #i did a thing #ignihyde #twisted wonderland idia #twisted wonderland epel #twst #rook i swear if you know what's going on but don't tell us i give you a taste of my shoe #twst ortho #night raven college #royal sword academy #royal sword assholes #Twisted Wonderland #twisted wonderland theory #eat your heart out dire crowley #chapter 6 #disney twisted wonderland

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antiloreolympus · 3 years

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7 Anti LO Asks

1. I generally like LO, since it's one of the rare medias that don't turn Hades(canonically one of the very few gods who actually does his job and isn't shitting on humans for petty reasons) into an evil overlord like Hollywood keeps portraying him but something I didn't get was why they had to choose a r@pe route for Perse. If people actually did research, the definition of rape during the early Greek was synonymous with kidnap. And in other versions, she literally just walked in accidentally in the underworld, liked it, and said "this place is mine now too". Honestly second sounded more badass. I didn't get why there had to be r@pe involved.

2. I know it's a very different thing but... even characters from a children's TV show are better written than the ones in LO. I really feel like even Fluttercord (Fluttershy X Discord) or AppleDash (Applejack x Rainbow Dash) are better written than LO Persades. At least, they had a much more believable build up.

Discord (who is a literal God of Chaos) got called out for actions and actually became a better person while Hades didn't even try.

I'm just saying Fluttercord had a much believable slow burn romance than LO Persades. They were even enemies the first time they met. Discord got called out and defeated (because of the ✨Power of Friendship✨) but Fluttershy was the first person to genuinely give him a chance when they figured out that there is a chance he might become a better person.

Fluttershy and Discord are two very different people but it even became one of the many reasons they're such good friends while Persephone and Hades don't even have that much good reasons for liking each other, other than “hurr durr sexyyyyy” or “mommy issues” or “her butt looks like an upside down heart”. Persephone at least had the therapy but Hades just stopped going to therapy because... reasons...

3. Adding my two cents as someone with clinically diagnosed and treated BPD. If all the gods are flexing getting their therapy on, why would Minthe not be entitled to the same healing? Underworld DBT, people. But Rachel had an agenda for her from day one, Animal Farm style... underprivileged nymph bad, hyperprivileged civil war criminal goddess GOOD. You can’t just scapegoat a mentally ill woman and the personality disorder that likely numerous of your readers share especially1/2

2/2 when the fuckboy in blue has already proven himself capable of carting his partner of the week to and from their chosen route of therapy. Minthe deserved better and certainly wanted to get there.

4. "the designs and stories of marvel have become ubiquitous" they really havent? god of war is a massive video game series and covered norse myth just fine w/o marvel fans saying it ripped it off. percy jackson also covered norse myth in the magnus series and no one said it was "stealing" from marvel. i think smythe is just lowkey (hehe) admitting shes not creative enough to not just leech off marvel for stories/designs like she already did to disney for greek myth, which egyptian myth doesnt have

5. love how rachel told us gaia was used and overpowered by ouranos. you know, gaia, who made a sickle out of nothing and told her sons to kill him and who later birthed some of the scariest monsters in mythology and who even zeus was scared to mess with. that gaia, who very much did not have her powers ripped away from her, who defeated ouranos by her will, and who was feared and respected. jfc rachel, you even depowered the mother to creation and the earth itself? but persephone is the OP one? 😑

6. i recently looked over a bunch of panels from lo (i havent in a while- i mainly see the ones that get passed around) and oh god the women in this comic... their poor spines.... the back pain half the female characters should be in all the goddamn time...

7. am i the only one who read the variants of the minthe myth and saw her as the victim instead? hubris was obvs seen as bad in myth, but the gods' wrath punishing them also wasnt seen as good either. case in point, hades felt so bad about minthe's death (?) in myth that he made mint his sacred plant. he clearly regretted his actions leading to her demise. how does rachael view a nymph being harmed by a powerful godess queen and see the weaker party as the real villain? thats just insane to me.

#anti lo #anti lore olympus #lo critical #lore olympus critical #anti lo art

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thnxforknowingme · 3 years

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I've seen this post going around and I want to talk about myself, so here we go!

how many works do you have on AO3? Across both my accounts, 12.

what’s your total AO3 word count? 187,150

how many fandoms have you written for and what are they? On AO3, just Glee, and one short Hades fic. Back on FFN I dabbled in Twilight, Harry Potter, and Percy Jackson, but we don't need to talk about those.

what are your top 5 fics by kudos? 1. A New Way to Fall Apart - Kurtbastian, multichapter, 79k words When Kurt Hummel is dumped at the end of his senior year, he has a long and lonely summer ahead of him before he’s off to NYADA. At least, that’s the way it seems until he befriends a carefree barista and ends up spending a lot of time with none other than Sebastian Smythe. And somehow through the ups and downs and the late-night adventures and the shared looks, Kurt starts to learn that change isn’t always a bad thing, and that every ending is followed by a new beginning.

2. The Fallacy of Trust - Klaine, multichapter, 43k words Kurt Hummel is a junior at NYADA, visiting his hometown of Lima for a few weeks. Blaine Anderson is a sophomore at the Lima campus of OSU. He has overbearing parents, a mostly-comforting girlfriend, and a lot to live up to. When they meet on the highway late one night, everything changes.

3. Don't Need to Be Saved - Kurtbastian, multichapter, 8k words Spiderman AU: Sebastian Smythe has faced a variety of issues in his time as the masked vigilante protecting New York: maintaining a secret identity, having to explain strange bruises and injuries caused by fights or miscalculating an angle and swinging into a building wall, defeating particularly hardy villains. But falling for someone, especially someone like Kurt Hummel? That's an entirely new experience.

4. Our Stuff - Kurtbastian, one-shot Sebastian proves a point to Kurt, infuriating Kurt in the process.

5. A Slight Misunderstanding - Kurtbastian, one-shot

Sebastian thinks he maybe, possibly, might have slept with Kurt Hummel last night and he’s not sure what to do about it.

do you respond to comments, why or why not? sometimes! If a comment asks a question, then definitely. Otherwise I'll reply if a comment particularly moves or stands out to me, or if there's some content in it I want to respond to. Or sometimes just to say thank you!

what’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending? I wrote a Kurtbastian Hunger Games fic where...you know...it's the Hunger Games and they both die at the end.

do you write crossovers? if so what is the craziest one you’ve written? The Hunger Games one is the only true crossover I've written. My most recent completed multichap was inspired by the premise and some plot beats of Queer as Folk, but is much more an homage/inspired by than a true crossover.

have you ever received hate on a fic? nope!

do you write smut? if so what kind? Nope! Do not have the confidence in my abilities to write that kind of content. I'm not saying never, but...as of now I do not think I could pull it off well.

have you ever had a fic stolen? No, I am not famous enough for that lol

have you ever had a fic translated? Nope!

have you ever co-written a fic before? I have not!

what’s your all time favourite ship? Klaine is my all-time favorite ship, but I've written more fic for Kurtbastian.

what’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will? I don't think I have anything that applies to this! I have some multichap ideas in my head that I'm actually hoping to see to fruition, and a current WIP that I'm confident I will finish.

what are your writing strengths? I think I'm good at building character dynamics. It's important to me that character choices and relationships are justified, that the reader can understand the steps taken as a character or a relationship develops. I hope I'm good at it, anyway.

what are your writing weaknesses? the thing I probably struggle with most is endings - endings of chapters, endings of stories. Not necessarily the actual plot, but the prose-level writing. How to make things feel satisfying and concluded and not just cut-off abruptly.

what are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic? gah, it stresses me out to write in languages I don't know because I'm sure I'm getting stuff wrong. I've only done this once or twice, both definitely in French because of Kurt, and relied on google translate because I don't know any French (well, I know je ne parle pas francais and the sort of basic polite words you get in a guidebook while visiting Paris)

what was the first fandom you wrote for? uh, way back in the day...I think PJO? Oh, no. No, unfortunately I have just realized that it was definitely the Jonas Brothers.

what’s your favourite fic you’ve written?

I mean...it's gotta be A New Way to Fall Apart. That fic was just...my baby, for so long, it was the first story of that length that I had ever completed, it got the biggest reaction from readers (someone made fanart for it! twice!!). Even though there are things I'd tweak about it now (as in, I literally did rewrite it as an original story last summer, and adjusted a number of things), I'm still really proud of it.

#about #my fic

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fuzz-onyx · 3 years

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I have recently completed all 3 routes for KH: Birth by Sleep and I wanna talk about it:

This one made me feel more things than the accumulation of the past couple of games. I love it. (SPOILER WARNING for GAME)

But I'm also sad now, and kinda dislike Terra a bit. Speaking of Terra:

The Terra route:

- Him having darkness in his heart makes no sense! It made more sense for Riku to have darkness since it was obvious that he wanted power, as well as exploring more shit than an island. There is motivation, and there's conflict with Riku and his old life.

But with Terra, there is a one sided conflict, he's learning all the good things about light and dreams and beliving and stuff, but he got no desire for power as the people around him claim to be. He isn't drawn to darkness AT ALL. Yes, there is hades trying to get Terra to conquer/master the darkness in him, but it was all deciet anyway.

Yes, he did some bad shit, most of it was unintentional or being controlled. Not the greatest keyblade warrior ever.

- Xehanort is a conniving bitch who is obviously evil. That is all.

- I do find it interesting that instead of using the power of friendship when saving Ventus, he drew on darkness. Very neat.

- At the end of his route I was pressing f to pay respect to the dearly departed. Especially after Aqua's route, but I'll get to that later.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

but first ✨

The Ventus route:

- baby, baby boy, child who protec and attacc. Little harbringer of death that one.

- The X-blade is pretty interesting. It kinda made me wonder why an X-blade wasn't formed near the ending of the first KH game since Riku at the time was a consumed by darnkess and Sora is good-boy-friendship-light-kachow. Like the clash of the two. I dunno.

Also finally getting some sort of idea as to why Xehanort wants kingdom hearts, so sorta a villain origin story but not really?

- Ven and mickey together... that is all.

- Also because of Ven's route I think I finally understand the whole Roxas debacle. Its gonna take a bit to explain my theory, but here we go:

In beginning of whole game, Xehanort thought Ven was gonna die and took him to Destiny islands where our first protags were. My theory is that Sora gave Ven a piece of his heart in so he could live. Its also this connection which is why Vanitas looks like Sora, since Van and Ven have a bit of a connection, and Sora's heart piece was in the place of Van's heart-piece.

Also Ventus route ending is the reason why Roxas looks like Sora. So yeah. Not going to indepth but the summary is that they got a connection. It explains alot.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Now for the final character and best girl✨

The Aqua route:

- I didn't really notice it with the others Until I was playing with Aqua, but I found the association with side characters very interesting. Like: Terra was with the Villains for most of his playthrough, Ven was with the princesses and their friends, and Aqua was with the people helping said princessess and getting their happy endings. Neat little character parallels, very nice 👍

- Aqua is the only Keyblade master out of the three, and that really isn't saying much. She's super weak in the beginning, and that's saying something - since i was playing proud mode for all their routes. It was hard, but I eventually figured it out. Also I died alot in Aqua's route the most. so that's a thing.

- Something that I'm pretty happy about while playing the three routes, is that while each character moves in the same areas and overlaps at times, each have their own section of the world to explore. Very nice 👍

- Now for the ending... Oh boy:

So we got terra fighting Xehanort - he lost and got possessed :(

Ven fighting Vanitas - externally and internally - forging the X-blade ... sorta - he won, but broke his heart in the process, not great :(

As for Aqua.... we get some context to everything. After fighting Braig (Xigbar but in the past) we fight a possessed Ven weilding a completed X-blade. I thought that this would be the hardest fight out of the entire main story... So after using the power of friendship we help Ven break the X-blade and free him.

So, at the end of Aqua's route, we got a sleeping Ven, a possessed Terra, and a sad Aqua. AT LEAST WE GOT A FINAL EPISODE AYY?

Now for the final episode of the entire game:

- All the levels are higher and easier to level up in..... wanna know why? haha-hahaha-HAHAHAHA--

- Possessed Terra is the hardest fight in the entire main game and he was scary. So I died SEVERAL times. So I leveled up a bunch and changed spells and attack stuff, and I eventually defeated Xehanort... but I didn't get terra back D':

So now I'm stuck in the realm of darkness and feeling hopeful but SAD WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Now for some final notes:

- Its cool seeing all the characters from the past games, including the organisation 13 characters before they became nobodies.

- This game had some slightly different mechanics, but after I got used to them, it was so much better than the previous ones.

- Leveling up in this game is actually FUN. Merging spells together, also cool.

- Seeing new disney worlds was great, love it, 10/10.

- Seeing the development of not only the characters, but the development of how the story is told and the quality of it all... its great, I can see why people like it apart from the gameplay.

so that's my thoughts on the game, can't wait to play more :D

#kh birth by sleep #kingdom hearts #my thoughts #a dumb post #SPOILERS #SPOILER WARNING #a long post #don't have to read #I just like the game #slowly becoming a fan #yes

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uhhhyaenbyjade · 3 years

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This is the art I made of me as a Pokemon trainer! My first game was X, then ORAS, then SM/USUM, and then Sword, so that's kinda the basis for the following:

Jacob was born in the Kalos region, and lived there for a few years. He got a Mega Ring and a Jaw Fossil as a going away present when he moved to Alola at the age of eight.

On Melemele Island (his new home), Hacob quickly became friends with Hau, another kid his age. When they reached fourteen years of age, they started their Island Trials while Kukui began building the League. He met many strange characters, and met wonderful people as well.

He stopped Necrozma from stealing Alola's light, and helped rebuild Ultra Megalopolis, the Aether Foundation, and Team Skull (Jacob became an honorary admin because of this)

Pokemon caught in Alola:

Decidueye - Ronin

Talonflame - Apollo

Mega Venusaur - Dionysus

Mega Gyrados - Jormungandr

Tyrantrum (shiny) - Hades

Mimikyu - Doodle

Raichu- Maui

Vikavolt - Artemis

Golisopod - Guzma

Noivern - Murcielago

Solgaleo - Nebby

Necrozma

Naganadel

On a vacation trip to Hoenn, Jacob played a role in the stopping of Team Magma's schemes to bring out Groudon. He helped May take down the group, and then he helped Zinnia summon Rayquaza to take out the meteor holding Deoxys.

Pokemon caught in Hoenn:

Mega Rayquaza

Deoxys

Back in Alola, at 18 years of age, Jacob decided to give up his Champion title to Hau in order to try out the Galar League. Gladion, now the CEO of the newly refurbished Aether Foundation, gave him the last Type: Null. As organized before he left, Jacob stayed with a distant cousin of Hau's, Hop. Hop helped him learn and explore the cultures of Galar in preparation for the tournament, which is for adults to participate in. He starts his journey, catches new Pokemon, makes new friends in Sonia, Gloria, Hop, and Leon, and even starts dating Marnie after a fierce battle outside Spikemuth. After defeating Mr. Rose and catching Eternatus, Jacob becomes Champion of the Galar League. He is invited to The Isle of Armor and The Crown Tundra, where he goes to further his Pokemon journey, preparing for the next adventure.

Pokemon caught in Galar:

Gigantamax Cinderace - Darren

Gigantamax Sandaconda - Apophis

Silvally - Gladion

Barraskewda - Nepthys

Orbeetle - Khepri

Snom (x50)

Arctozolt - Ghidorah

Eternatus

Zacian

Urshifu

Galarian Articuno

Galarian Zapdos

Galarian Moltres

Regieleci

Regidrago

Calyrex

Jacob has been hailed as the strongest Champion in Galar, a region who has consistently put out strong champions throughout the years of pokemon battling. Being strong enough to beat Leon, then being trained by former Champion Mustard, and then frequently battling former Champion Steel Peony, a good friend according to the man, certainly has improved on his rating. In fact, in one of his more recent exhibition battles in Kalos, Champion Jacob effortlessly wiped out Champion Diantha's team, her Mega Gardevoir being taken out with a single hit from a 'Let's Snuggle Forever' from his Mimikyu, Doodle.

Being one of the few trainers to utilize all three main styles of alternative battling, those being Mega Evolution, Z-Power, and Dynamaxing, Champion Jacob is a fierce rival. While he is good at strategizing his battles (and he frequently switches out Pokemon when necessary), Champion Jacob prefers using raw force in his moves, blasting through opponents with powerful moves like Earthquake and Sunsteel Strike. The only real threats to him in a restriction-free battle, are Champion Cynthia of Sinnoh and Champion Red from Kanto. Champion Cynthia's Garchomp is the only Pokemon to have taken out Champion Jacob's Tyrantrum: Hades, in a single move. And Champion Red was the only person to last more than thirty minutes in a battle with Champion Jacob, at a time of thirty one minutes; Champion Cynthia from Sinnoh lasted twenty eight minutes. In both battles, the competitors where left with a single pokemon each. They are the only trainers that Champion Jacob calls rivals, though he is adamant that anyone who puts in the amount of work he has could become just as strong.

In a restricted fight, Champion Jacob is still a strong contender. In these fights, Champion Jacob is stuck to one alternative battle form, which he usually chooses based off of where the match is taking place. In these battles, he shines in his ability to strategize, taking the time to set up traps, Leech Seed being a favorite. Poisoning his targets is also a common tactic. One of his most famous restricted fights took place in Kanto, where he faced Former Champion Blue and Champion Red, alongside his longtime friend Champion Hau. This battle was the first time were Champion Jacob showed off his Mega Rayquaza in an official match, the pokemon devastating the opposing team. Only the combined forces of Champion Red's Charizard and Former Champion Blue's Blastoise defeated the Legendary, and the rest of the match ended quickly as Champion Jacob sent out Calyrex to finish them off. After that match, the restricted battles Champion Jacob were festure din only allowed one Legendary Pokemon.

Another strong trainer that Champion Jacob likes to praise is his girlfriend Marnie gave him the most trouble through all his journeys. According to exclusive interviews with Champion Jacob, Marnie could easily become Champion of almost any region she went to, but prefers to stay as a Spikemuth's gym leader and try to knock him off his throne.

Jacob's team often changes in exhibition matches and tournaments, but the following twelve pokemon are those who show up the most, his most common party as the top 6, with an appearance rating of 37%.

Shiny Tyrantrum - Hades

Mega Venusaur - Dionysus

Calyrex

Gigantamax Cinderace - Darren

Silvally - Gladion

Urshifu

Mega Rayquaza

Solgaleo - Nebby

Eternatus

Mimikyu- Doodle

Zacian

Gigantamax Sandaconda- Apophis

Outside of battling, Champion Jacob is still a popular guy. He is often seen in public with his friends, and frequently takes trips to Kalos and Alola with Marnie. Team Skull Leader Guzma is often around the two in Alola, trying to beat the two 'into a pulp' with his Golisopod. He is also featured on several if Gym Leader Klara's songs, apparently he is a good singer.

Here is a list of all of Champion Jacob's known associates:

His mother - Alola

Professor Kukui - Alola

Lillie- Alola/Kanto

Champion Hau - Alola

Aether President Gladion - Alola

Team Skull Leader Guzma - Alola

Professor in Training Hop - Galar

Professor Sonia - Galar

Pokemon Trainer Gloria - Galar

Gym Leader Marnie - Galar

Gym Leader Bede - Galar

League Chairman Leon - Galar

Dojo Master Mustard - Isle of Armor

Gym Leader Klara - Isle of Armor

Former Champion Peony - Crown Tundra

Champion Jacob is also very friendly, taking a lot of time out of his day to talk to fans and give advice. He frequently let's kids play around with his less dangerous pokemon, and will sometimes give people rides on his Rayquaza. Described as shy but loving attention, he and his Tyrantrum Hades are showcased often in selfies from fans. In fact, the most liked social media image in the world is a photo of him, Champion Cynthia, Gym Leader Marnie, and Team Skull Leader Guzma standing in the mid background of fan's selfie photo. With 4,375,036 likes.

In one interview, Champion Jacob was shown a list that a group of fans had put together. Taken from multiple sources over the years, it showcased the few things that Champion Jacob fears in a battle:

• Team Skull Leader Guzma's Golisopod getting a 'First Impression' hit

• Champion Cynthia's Garchomp

• Champion Red's Charizard

• Gym Leader Marnie's Morpeko changing to its angry form

• Any competitors Legendary Pokemon

• Moves with less than 90% accuracy

• Lillie's angry face when he takes out a Pokemon with an overkill move

• Former Aether President Lusamine's Clefable

-~-~-~-~-~

Okay so that artwork was done a while before I got my whole backstory written down, which is why there isn't the main pokemon I use in there. But I think it's still good for a year ish old!

I hope you guys like all the backstory I did! A lot of the future stuff in the last section was fun to write! Especially my little headcanons! I love headcanons.

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gamedev-sect662 · 3 years

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Is crunch a necessary evil?

Crunch, a different way of saying working overtime, is a very difficult problem to solve in the games industry. Despite recent efforts to counter it, more than 50% of people still have to work more than 40 hours a week. Everyone knows that it should not be this way, but then why is crunch still so prevalent. Today I will discuss why the video game industry naturally lends itself to a crunch culture, the effects crunch culture can have on a product and how, if at all possible, we can defeat this big “evil”.

Video games, similar to software, have a very iterative development process. Each component of a game is designed, implemented and tested over and over again until the end results feel just right or when, more often than not, time runs out. Unlike building a bridge or a building, there are not many industry standards on how to develop games. A great deal of designing a game comes down to intuition and intuition is unreliable. Sometimes an idea can seem good in your head but only after it has been implemented do you realize that it sucks. There are also the issues of scale and scope. Developers often become too ambitious with their games or things that seem simple actually took forever to create. These are age-old problems in the industry and they are not going anywhere soon. In order to deal with these problems that waste a lot of development time, crunch is born out of necessity. Similar to movies, video games are for entertainment. Therefore, to maximize profits, video games are usually released in holiday time frames: Christmas, summer... Crunching ensures that these deadlines are met.

But surely crunching and bad production schedule will affect employees’ work performance, thus reducing the quality of the game. Yes, although in some cases, this is the truth, for example Overkill’s The Walking Dead or Sonic the Hedgehog. But in some other cases, crunching can create critically-acclaimed and commercially successful games such as Red Dead Redemption 2, The Last of Us 2... However, many studios have shown that it is completely possible to create great games without crunching: Hades, The Outer Worlds... So how is it so difficult to eliminate crunching if it has been shown many times that it is not inevitable?

The video games industry is mostly a passion industry. There are developers who are so in love with their jobs that they have no problems working overtime. If you are working in a company that everyone is working their butts off, you are more pressured to do so as well. There is also a mentality in the industry that goes along the line of: “If you cannot work this hard then this job is simply not for you”. Burnout exists regardless of how much you love your job, not to mention working overtime can have a serious effect on your health and relationships, and as mentioned above, on other people in the industry as well. So how do we end this?

Cliché as it may sounds, the first step in solving the problem is acknowledging it. We should know that crunching is just a lazy, short-term solution. However, we cannot just make crunching disappear in just a snap. It is too deeply rooted in the work ethics of the industry. Advocating for better work conditions for developers and unionizing seems to be good steps in combating crunch for the moment.

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qm-vox · 4 years

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So You Want To Play Hades

I spent six hours coming up with that title because I have problems in my mind which I refuse to either examine or resolve.

So, Hades! The latest work from Supergiant Games, who brought you the interactive soundtracks to Bastion, Transistor, and Pyre, all superb games in their own rights known for their intuitive gameplay, build-your-own-hard-mode difficulty style, incredible atmosphere and characterization, thought-provoking stories, and that sexy, sexy fuckin’ music.

Like, listen to this sometime it’s amazing (all of their soundtracks are available from them on Youtube, by the by, though if you like ‘em you can support the creators by buying the music from them directly too):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uH3Aoj1nw58

You’re likely asking, quite reasonably, why in the infinite and undying fuck I’m writing this post right now, and the long and short of it is I want more people to talk Hades with so now y’all are gonna get hit with the sales pitch and what I hope will be a helpful beginner’s guide if you decide to get into the game. Let’s get into that first part, shall we?

Thou Shalt Subject Your Gods To Market Forces

(Image sourced from Supergiant’s website)

Hades is an action-roguelike/lite that places you in the role of Prince Zagreus, secret son of Hades. Zag is trying to move out of his father’s house and live somewhere else for awhile and, well, Dad’s just being an entire dick about the whole thing. Hades challenges you to face down the endless ranks of the dead one chamber at a time, gathering the resources you need to breach upward through the Greek underworld and open the mighty gates into the living world. You can acquire it on Steam or on the Epic Store.

How do you know if Hades is or isn’t for you? If you like action games with tight controls and widely varied playstyles, we’ve got you covered here (if you’re thinking in terms of previous Supergiant offerings, Bastion has the most bones in). Hades also offers a great character-focused narrative, centering around the relationships Zagreus has and develops with the people around him - from legendary shades like Achilles and Sisyphus, to the gods of Olympus, to the cthonic gods of the underworld like Charon, Nyx, and the Furies - which fully incorporates the conceits of the genre. Unlike many roguelikes which sorta quietly elide failed runs or deaths, Zag’s defeats are part of his journey. After all, he’s already in the underworld. Where the fuck else is he going to go when he dies? Connecticut?

Though I can gush about the characters and narrative all day (and I’ll do it a bit more later), don’t get me wrong: Hades expects you to perform some pretty tight mechanics. Since dying is just the end of this run and not the game, the game feels pretty free to take brutal measures; the environments you move in are full of deadly traps, the seething ranks of the dead outnumber you to vast degrees, and you’ll fight a dizzying mix of opponents who do not hesitate to catch you in cross-fires, push you into lava, or drop bombs when you kill them because fuck you for succeeding you weird godling bastard. If you get easily frustrated or flustered, Hades may be quite stressful for you; before it’s anything else, it’s an action game with a heavy focus on combat, and if you decide to ride this train that’s the price of the ticket. If you relish the challenge and especially if you like the satisfaction of watching your play improve, though, it’s one hell of a ride.

In terms of accessibility features, Hades is a mixed bag. It has subtitles and aim assistance available, as well as a variety of supported languages and control adjustments which can alter how you do things like dash or attack, but it’s missing, for instance, a colorblind mode (and that’s gonna be important here in a minute), and many enemy behaviors & traps have audio cues which are not part of the current subtitle support. A rumble feature for controllers that have it is supported; Hades strongly suggests the use of a controller, but I know several players who choose to use a mouse & keyboard and seem to prefer it. Semi-recently, a God Mode option was added which empowers you when it’s turned on and does so further every time you die; it’s the closest Hades comes to an ‘easy’ mode, and while reception of it from my fellow players has been highly positive I’ve not tried it for myself.

If you’ve liked action games in the past, I’d highly endorse giving Hades a try as long as it’s accessible for you. The current build of the game (just before formal release) is selling at $24.99 USD on Steam right now, and like...I am not a highly skilled Gaming Individual(tm). I lose at games a lot. I play most of my games on Easy or maybe Normal if I’m really feeling like my dick is big - and with that in mind, I loved this one enough to buy it twice. I love the tight feeling of the combat, the way the mechanics feel, its gorgeous environments and its captivating characters. Hell, that’s why I’m out here writing a whole-ass article.

Stealth, Guile, Subtlety, And Other Things You Will Not Need - Getting Started In Hades

(Artwork sourced from the Hades wiki)

So you’ve decided to acquire Hades, you already own it, or the first part of this article was intriguing enough for you to look at the advice portion and see what sort of game you could be dealing with. Hades can be intimidating at first; it throws a lot of stuff at you, very quickly, and while it gives you some strong guidance on what to do with many of the resources you’ll acquire not all of those uses are immediately intuitive. The following is a guide to help your first few runs go a bit more smoothly and work on the fundamentals that will help you through your entire experience.

Let’s start with some General Tips that will help you out with every run and every weapon:

- Relax. No, seriously: relax. You haven’t ‘failed’ a run if you don’t beat the final boss. Hell, you probably haven’t even ‘failed’ a run if you die in Tartarus. If you learned something or got any permanent resource - gemstones, darkness, nectar, keys, blood, diamonds, ambrosia - then that run was a success. Even if the game wasn’t currently early access and thus without a proper ‘end’ at the moment, it’s supposed to be fun. Don’t castigate yourself for dying, just dive screaming back in and rip your vengeance from the spectral chest of your slayer.

- Always Be Moving. You only have so many hit points (you start a save file with a max of 50 and the most you can start a given run with is 200) and healing is limited over the course of a run. If you’re standing still, you’re getting hit. Zag’s quick on his feet - keep him moving and use your dash liberally. Once you’ve dealt some damage, leave and let your enemies swing at empty air, then dash back in and bully them back into their graves. When you start a dash you’re invulnerable until the dash finishes, which can make for some real cheeky dodges once you’ve had time to learn enemy timing.

- Watch And Learn. Early on in the game you’ll be learning about new enemies every chamber, especially when you start transferring to new zones and all of the enemies you’ve been facing just stop being a thing. Take the chance to know your foe! You’re not on a clock: don’t leap into the fight immediately. Dash around and watch how your enemies move and attack. What’s the limitations of their tactics? The reach on their attacks? How fast do they swing and move? If you’d like to watch some of that stuff ahead of time, I’d like to suggest amber_cxc’s Twitch channel: she’s been doing a lot of runs and speedruns of Hades of late, among the other games she plays.

- Manipulate Your Rewards. Certain things in Hades can only be offered a limited number of times per run, and once you’ve hit your quota they stop appearing. You can take advantage of this to get more Boons, Centaur Hearts, and Poms of Power. Specifically, you can only have up to two Daedelus Hammers and up to three Hermes Boons. If you can knock these out early I highly endorse doing so; they’re never bad to have, and even if somehow you want none of what they have to offer getting them off the RNG will help you later. Additionally, you can use Keepsakes (more on these in a minute) to manipulate who you get Boons from, when, by changing in and out of them at each biome. In this way you can control the shape of your build for the run.

- Accept That Your Dick Energy Is Fucking Huge. A lot of games try to keep you humble. Dark Souls is infamous for it, of course, and others in this genre such as Crypt of the Necrodancer and Enter the Gungeon do not reward haste at all. That is not this game. Walk into Hades like you’re the lord god of the Big Dick Dimension even if you know you’re not; take risks and learn from experience how you can mitigate, manipulate, or cancel out those risks. That unearned confidence won’t just help you with tip one (Relax), it’ll help you practice in those high-pressure situations which will occur more and more as your Heat rises.

- A Brief Note On Projectiles. This game has a few kinds of projectiles that you’ll need to learn to identify. Balls and Arrows can be broken - hit them with an Attack and they pop and won’t hurt you. Waves cannot be broken; they travel fast along the ground and have to be dodged or deflected. Lasers can neither be broken nor deflected. Traps can’t be broken, and deflecting them doesn’t always make them safe for you; these include the lava balls in Asphodel, Inferno Bombs, and the shit spit out by Bothers and Pests. Know your foe and always be moving.

In terms of the resources you’re offered, there are broadly two kinds: in-run resources, and out-of-run resources. Let’s talk briefly about in-run ones.

- Boons: Boons are the powerful gifts of your Olympian relatives. They change how you play during your run by augmenting your abilities (like your Attack, Special, or Dash) or by offering passive benefits. In general, look at Aphrodite, Athena, or Dionysus if you want powerful defenses, Ares, Artemis, or Zeus for powerful attacks, and Poseidon and Demeter for a combination of damage and utility. Different gods will be good with different weapons, and we’ll get into that later. Boons have a Rarity and a Level; Rarity determines their starting power and how well they scale if they do scale, and Level is that scaling.

- Centaur Hearts: +25 max and current HP for this run. Do you like not dying?

- Poms of Power: Poms increase the Level of a Boon by 1, which generally makes it better at doing whatever it does. Not all Boons will level up, but the ones that you can attach to your Attack, Special, Cast, Dash, or Call always do. You do eventually hit diminishing returns with these, so you’ll generally want to spread the love around if you keep picking up Poms.

- Obols: DOLLAH DOLLAH BILLS Y’ALL. Obols are the coins preferred by Charon, the Ferryman, who will take them from you for goods and services. Obols can be turned into all other resources - even out-of-run resources. They’re almost always a great choice of investment.

These in-run resources are presented as potential rewards when you’re selecting chambers. I tend to run heavy on Boons and Obols myself, but your own play style is likely to differ! Experiment with the feel of acquiring various rewards and see what you like to invest in. After all, they’re only for the run you’re on; you literally can’t take it with you.

Out-of-run resources are used to permanently advance Zagreus’s power, his relationships, or both. They are as follows:

- Cthonic Keys: Used to unlock new weapons and new parts of the Mirror of Night. Once your weapons and Mirror are wholly unlocked these keys stop being useful more or less instantly, and can be safely traded at the Wretched Broker between runs to acquire Nectar (but see Gemstones, below).

- Gemstones: Early in the game, Gemstones can be traded in at the House Contractor between runs in order to enhance the underworld; in particular, they can be used to install fountain rooms, to open up access to Chaos and Erebus, to give you access to Infernal Troves (and upgrade said troves), and to add in-run resources to Keys, Nectar, and Gemstones. These services are in the first tab of the House Contractor and you should buy them out as soon as possible so that your runs can springboard off of these powerful additions. Once that’s taken care of, Gemstones can be used to renovate the House of Hades, including Zag’s bedroom and the lounge, again at the House Contractor.

- Nectar: The nectar of the gods is in short supply in the underworld, and is a treasured gift that Zagreus can offer to his friends. In most cases, the first time you give a character Nectar they will trade you a powerful Keepsake in return; these are run-altering tools you select at the start of each run and change how you play. Early on, spread the love, but once you’re full up on Keepsakes you can feel free to develop relationships through gift-giving however you see fit.

- Darkness: The power of Night is used to give permanent, powerful passive benefits to Zagreus via the Mirror of Night in his bedroom. I would suggest using Darkness to get your extra Dash and extra hit points before anything else, but once you’ve got those tools kinda fuck around and find out. Eventually a dialogue option with Nyx will unlock the flip side of the Mirror’s talents, which must be developed separately and cost even more Darkness; you’ll want lots of this and you’ll want it for a very long time. Oh, and try to save aside 8,888 Darkness for a rainy day. You’ll need it.

- Titan Blood: Offered by the first and last bosses at each level of Heat (more on Heat later). Titan Blood is used to upgrade your weapons, making them better at doing all of the things they do, as well as to unlock Aspects of those weapons. We’re still shy one Aspect as of the latest patch, so ah, don’t stop collecting this. You’ll always have a use for it.

- Diamonds: Offered by the second boss at each level of Heat. Diamonds are used to buy plot-relevant renovations to the House of Hades, to advance certain relationships, and to acquire the fishing minigame and in-game access to the soundtrack within the House. Like Blood, you’ll have a use for these for a long, long time.

- Ambrosia: Offered by the third boss at each level of Heat. When you reach the point at which you can no longer offer people Nectar, genuine Ambrosia from Olympus becomes the princely gesture by which you can show your gratitude. You may be tempted to trade this for Blood early on. Don’t.

When you’re starting out, Darkness and Gemstones will be the gods of your new world, followed closely by Cthonic Keys You’ll run out of immediate need for Gemstones faster than you will for Darkness, but by that time you’ll either be comfortable with Hades or you’ll have determined it’s not for you. Focus on unlocking access to your new weapons, upgrading the underworld itself, and paying off your talents; at this stage, escaping the underworld isn’t really a priority so much as setting up for your eventual triumph is.

And When You Can No Longer Lay Waste - Infernal Arms And Heat

(Artwork sourced from the Hades Wiki)

The assault rifle with under-slung mortar launcher is definitely my favorite ancient Greek weapon.

So I’ve mentioned unlocking weapons, and I’ve mentioned that Hades offers varied play styles, so I suppose I ought to talk about them. Zagreus’s weapons - his Infernal Arms - form the first layer of your play style choices, which will be augmented by your in-run choices, and the second layer comes in the form of the Pact of Punishment and its Heat. Each weapon has differing values for its attacks and behaves very differently. I’m not gonna give you the specific numbers here - we have a wiki for that - and will instead make some general statements on how they play and what might pair well with them.

- Stygius, the Blade of the Underworld: You start each save file with this bad boy. Stygius is a generalist weapon that leans somewhat towards speed; its Attack is a three-hit combo that ends in a Thrust with knockback, while its Dash Attack (note: these are not the same with ANY weapon) is solely the Thrust, still with knockback. Its Special, slower than the Attack, is a high-damage shockwave that breaks enemy projectiles and knocks them back. You might be asking yourself, Vox, why would I Special when it makes people leave sword range, at which point I will direct you back to Always Be Moving; your Special makes your enemies Go Away, which saves you hit points. Stygius can build into almost anything, though its Attack benefits the least from Zeus and Poseidon, and is notable for having the most wild fucking Hammer options. Some of them do little things like make your Special bigger, but then you get stuff like Hoarding Slash (deal extra damage equal to 5% of your Obols), World Splitter (you do one big swing with a base damage of 80) and motherfucking CURSED SLASH, which is where Stygius rips a line of cocaine off of a mirror, cuts your health by 60%, and then heals you for 2 every time you hit something. My advice for this is whatever you start down, commit. Stygius might build into anything, but it can’t build into everything: once you choose a boon path, pick things to compliment that and go fucking ham.

- Varatha, the Eternal Spear: The forgotten child of Hades’ weapons, Varatha is a versatile weapon that, like Stygius, does a bit of everything - and unlike Stygius, does it all at the same time. Varatha’s base attack is a series of three long-range thrusts with low damage, and its Special throws the spear in a straight line, at which point it hovers in the air until you Special again; it follows a straight line from its position to your current one, damaging anything in that line. Last, but not least, you can perform a powerful Spin Attack by holding down the Attack button and charging up. Spin is one of the strongest single hits in the game, but you do have to stop moving to charge it up. However, you can dash out of the charge - even better, dashing releases the Spin at the end of your dash. This means that once you learn the timings of your charges, you can use Spin to attack and dodge at the same time, in a wide circle around yourself. Unlike Stygius, Varatha benefits to an extent from splitting your build up; its Attack wants big hitters like Aphrodite, Artemis, or Poseidon, whose high multipliers pair amazingly with the spin, while its Special can mount debuffs or stranger forms of damage like those offered by Dionysus and Ares. If you start building into one thing, but then Hammer into an alternate focus, the end result is still going to be pretty cohesive. Like Generic Goodstuff, or want a weapon to use while building up many divine relationships? Varatha does it all.

- Aegis, the Shield of Chaos: Just because this thing has the only block function in the game doesn’t mean it’s a defensive weapon. Aegis is a fast-moving melee weapon whose hits cause native knockback, slamming foes into walls, up against cliffs, and through traps & magma. Since Aegis throws people around it’s great for a highly aggressive style; dash in, hit them, and watch them slide away before they can do damage back to you. Its Special throws the shield Captain America style, where it ricochets off of opponents and obstacles before eventually returning. Use this with care; you can’t attack or block while your Special is out. Holding down the Attack button begins to charge a Bull Rush; while you’re charging, you’re immune to damage in the direction the shield is facing, and then when you release you dash to the end of the indicated line, damaging anything you hit. Despite how sexy that sounds, Bull Rush is honestly kinda slow and can be hard to build for specifically; instead, Bull Rush is best used to get out of bad situations, or to outlast big long boss combos, especially those used by the first and second bosses who are known to spit out absolute STREAMS of projectiles. Aegis hits fast and gets lots of bonus damage against normal enemies by bullying them against walls for that sweet, sweet Wall Slam damage, but it craves big damage multipliers less than some other weapons; consider using Zeus, Dionysus, or Demeter for your Attack, saving big damage choices for if you can get a Dash Attack build going. Special is great for mounting utility like Aphrodite or Poseidon that let you control the engagement further, just remember to think before you hit the yeet button.

- Coronacht, the Heart-Seeking Bow: Meet your first ranged weapon! Coronacht deals damage in a straight line by charging up a shot; when your line flashes, release the shot for a Power Shot that deals extra damage. Its Special is...bad, I’m gonna be real; it’s a wide-sweeping volley of arrows that deal individually low damage and will rarely, if ever, hit the same target. Still, it has its uses. Coronacht benefits from either high damage or battlefield control on its Attack; look into Artemis, Aphrodite, Demeter, and Poseidon. Its Special is harder to build for, but Ares and Zeus both do well on it since they can cause damage out of proportion with the range and/or area of your volley. Play keep-away and use distance to get off those charge shots, and remember that you can break projectiles and hit multiple enemies with each attack. Avoid mounting odd damage (Ares or Dionysus) or utility (Athena) on your Attack; it’s not going to come out fast enough to take meaningful advantage of those tools.

- Malphon, the Twin Fists: Easily the angriest weapon in all of Hades, Malphon is a pair of massive fuck-off gauntlets that are used for fast-moving combos at extremely short range. It is unique in that its Attack has a Dash Attack, and its Special - a massive uppercut - has a dash upper, letting you sweep in and deal big damage in a tight area immediately. Though each of Malphon’s hits are individually small, it throws out so fucking many of them that you can put almost anything on your Attack and it’ll work out. Athena Attack? Why not, you’ll be swinging when the enemy is. Dionysus Attack? Poison stacking has never been easier! Artemis Attack? Sure, you don’t do a lot of base damage, but you swing so often that you’ll crit constantly and take advantage of passives like Support Fire. Your Special has much higher base damage and can easily become the focus of your build, and because it moves slower it wants bigger damage multipliers like Artemis or Aphrodite if it’s your focus. If it’s not your focus, consider Poseidon in its slot (to get enemies to Go Away) or a god that will combo with your Attack (for instance, if you’re doing Demeter Attack, consider Zeus Special so you can potentially pick up the Cold Fusion boon and get 10 seconds of free damage every time you tap the Special button). You pay a price for this ease of use: Malphon’s range is directly inside the enemy’s ass, which means you need to have razor-thin timing to dash out of the way of attacks and keep your combos going, especially if you get swarmed. Since Malphon can mount and build literally fucking anything, it’s the ideal weapon to use if you want to power-level Keepsakes; slap something on at the start of a run and then just never take it off. Sure, you’re letting the Three Fates decide your build, but fuck it, it all just works!

- The Adamant Rail: What if you invaded the underworld with a fucking machine gun. The Adamant Rail has an ammo counter; each Attack takes 1 bullet (and Dash Attack takes and fires 2), and you reload by pressing the right-hand stick in. Its Special is a slow-moving mortar that hits in a wide area. The Rail is a powerful and versatile weapon capable of engaging at great range, which tends to build either Attack or Special. If you’re building Special, look for big hits like Aphrodite, Artemis, or even Poseidon, and any Special upgrade at all from the Hammers. Attack usually wants utility or stacks - stuff like Poseidon, Demeter, Dionysus, or Zeus - but certain Hammer upgrades like Spread Shot might make it more worthwhile to invest in big hits for it if you get them early. However! Just because you’ve decided on a focus doesn’t mean you should neglect the other half of your weapon. For instance, an Attack-focused build might still entertain the Targeting System upgrade so that you can more easily land your hits and avoid the enemy, while a Special-focused one benefits from mounting debuffs like Weak or Chill on its Attack.

For any weapon, once you settle into a play style you enjoy, find ways to be rewarded for what you’re already going to do. If you enjoy, say, the Chiron Aspect for the bow which makes it into a Special-focused weapon, mount benefits like Doom or Weak on its Attack since you still have to use that to make your shit go-go. This applies more broadly too; if you’re saving up Gemstones for something, for instance, use the extra money you get during your run to visit the shops earlier and more often. Let Hades reward you for doing the things you already want to do.

To close this guide out I’m going to briefly touch on Heat, which is how Supergiant Games has manifested their signature build-your-own-hard-mode approach. After you clear the game with any weapon for the first time, you acquire access to the Pact of Punishment. This Pact lets you turn on hostile modifiers to your run, which each have a Heat value; once you clear the game with a weapon at any given level of Heat (0, 1, 2, etc) you can only get Titan’s Blood, Diamonds, and Ambrosia with that weapon by advancing to the next level of Heat. In this way the game gradually gets harder on a weapon-by-weapon basis.

So, what modifiers to turn on? Depends on what you’re good at and bad at, but I would highly, highly suggest that you get used to Extreme Measures, Middle Management, and Benefits Package as soon as possible. Not only are they sources of big Heat by themselves that don’t change too much of the run by themselves, but their primary difficulty is knowledge-based; once you know them, they’re practically free real estate. Since Heat is tracked per-weapon and not in total, you can also always go back to weapons you’re not as good with and use practice with them as an excuse to get more permanent resources that you can pour into the ones you prefer.

Obviously this guide is not comprehensive! I’ve left out a lot of things you might want to know, like boss patterns, enemy types, and a whole lot of stuff about characters. Some of these things I’ve not talked about because I don’t want to give spoilers; others I haven’t talked about because I’m, again, actually pretty bad at games and the Hades community has talented folks whose guides on Steam, on the Reddit, and on the wiki can provide you with thorough breakdowns of the math that makes the game work. Still, it’s my hope that this can ease your entry into the world of Hades and help guide you in those early runs when it can feel like you’re spinning your wheels. I look forward to hearing from you; reblogs and commentary are welcome!

See you all in Hell.

#hades #hades supergiant #supergiant games #roguelike #action #guide #Greek Mythology #video games

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everykindofnerd13 · 4 years

Text

“Okay so next, there’s,” Bianca was cut off by the newcomer.

“Wait!” He exclaimed grabbing her arm before they could leave the Hades cabin.

“What?” She asked.

“There are two floors right?” Bianca nodded.

“Uh, so can you show me the upstairs?” He asked her.

“No.” She answered simply and turned around.

“Ah! Why not?” He asked and she glared at him.

“You showed me the upstairs and all the other ones!” He complained. She sighed and shook her head.

“Artemis give me strength...” she muttered, pinching the bridge of her nose, “Nico’s room is upstairs.” She explained, hoping the curious kid would drop it.

“So this kid gets a room all to himself!?” He asked, as if it affected him.

“Yes he does, he lives alone in the cabin practically year round, the only other children of Hades being myself and Hazel. I am a Lady of the Hunt and therefore spend most of my time with them. Hazel is a daughter of Pluto technically and stays either in New Rome or at Camp Jupiter most the time. Plus Nico designed the cabin himself, and if there aren’t going to be people there year-round with him, why should he have to share a space with no one?” The kid’s eyes widened and he nodded quickly. Bianca nodded back and they started off toward the arena.

“Well, she handled that better than expected...” Percy muttered from his place in Nico’s lap where they were looking through the tinted windows down to where Bianca was talking to the kid. In reality, Percy and Nico weren’t yet out to the camp. Well, Nico was out as gay, and it was rather obvious that Percy was at least queer to everyone so there wasn’t anything really bad that could happen, but no one knew the two were dating but Nico’s sisters, their significant others, and the duo’s closest friends. That list consisted of Bianca, Hazel, Tyson, Thalia, Frank, Leo, Ella, Lou Ellen, Will, Cecil, Ethan, Alabaster, Jason, Reyna, Annabeth, Piper, Grover, Rachel, and lastly, and surprisingly Clarisse. But over the more recent years, Percy had grown incredibly close to the daughter of Ares, and both were very protective of eachother nowadays. Though their frankly aggressive and borderline toxic bickering never faltered.

“Yeah, she knows the feeling of having a terrible secret though...” Nico explained and Percy glared playfully.

“A terrible secret? Gods, Di Angelo, if I’d known you hated me I wouldn’t have entered a relationship with you.” He joked and Nico pouted and pushed Percy back onto his bed so that he could lay on top of the older demigod.

“Shut up Gattino, we both know I cherish our relationship immensely.” Percy smiled and began carding his fingers through Nico’s hair to soothe him. He knew it was true. Nico had been crushing on Percy for almost 5 years by the time they figured stuff out and got together. Nico treated Percy practically as if he were a god himself, which to be fair, he was. But so was Nico.

“Of course little vampire. I’m completely aware, it’s a wonder you haven’t instructed Annabeth to construct a temple for my worship.” He joked and Nico hummed on his chest.

“Maybe that would be a good idea, si?” Nico asked and Percy made a confused noise in the back of his throat.

“A temple, on my family’s property in Italia. Just for you. And just for me.” Nico said, causing Percy to laugh.

“Neeks, I love you, but you are a broke child and Annabeth does absolutely nothing for free.” Percy pointed out and Nico raised an eyebrow.

“Principe Marino, you are dating a fellow god, of not only Heroic deaths, but also,” Nico kissed Percy’s jaw, “Fortuna di Famiglia.” Nico pointed out and Percy had to laugh at himself. Right, of course, being a son of Hades, Nico was now the god of Heroic deaths and family fortune. Meaning, because of god magic, the money left to him by his grandmama would never run out.

“Well, Neeks, if you’re so rich and prosperous, maybe we should also construct a temple for my worshipment of you.” Percy suggested as he pulled Nico up to kiss his nose.

“Mmm, no, you’re the only one worthy of worship. You’re all tall and muscular and... hot!” Nico explained then sat up, straddling his boyfriend’s waist and lookin down at him.

“Oh?” Percy asked and Nico nodded pointedly.

“First off, you’re skin. It’s gorgeous, golden, sun kissed, beautiful. It’s clear and you’re pretty. Then your hair, which I love, is all fluffy and black and soft and messy, and you always look like you’ve just rolled out of bed.” Nico explained and Percy was blushing now. Nico ignored him and continued, “And you’re eyes, god! Percy your eyes!” Nico let out a downright dirty groan, “Perseus Jackson, you have the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen. They’re literally the color of sea foam, and they just remind me of the beach near my home in Venice.” Nico explained. Percy’s eyes softened and his heart swelled at the happy but mournful smile that spread across Nico’s features.

“Plus, not to mention, you’re built like a Greek god.” Nico joked and reached under Percy’s shirt to grope his boyfriend’s abs. Percy flushed and shoved Nico away to fall back on the bed.

“Well, Ghost King, you’re not much different, you’ve filled out since I first met you,” Nico laughed.

“I hit puberty Blu Bello,” he pointed out, which caused Percy to laugh.

“Well, you’re a hottie now Nico. You completely skipped the awkward phase and went from cute little kid to hot teenager in 6 months. You’ve got beautiful cheekbones that are quite honestly my weakness and you’re skin is so soft, and pretty and pale, and your hair is long enough for me to play with the ends when we kiss and you’re lips are super soft because they’ve never been used by anyone but me which is a great feeling. And you’re short. Which makes me feel good about myself considering we’re surrounded by Giants at this stupid camp.” Nico laughed and shoved Percy again.

“ Rude!” He shouted then pulled Percy down to his level and kissed him, the kiss slowly becoming more heated as time passed. After a while the boys were heavily making out, only to be rudely interrupted by Will Solace.

“Ew!” He shouted and shielded his eyes while Nico reluctantly and resentfully pulled away from his boyfriend to glare over at his bestfriend.

“Can I help you Solace? I’m kinda busy,” he complained. Will huffed and glared back at him while Percy flushed dark red.

“I’m here to swipe your water-bound boyfriend because there are some younger Hephaestus kids who want to go swimming but Beckendorf, Leo, and Jake are all busy and we know that none of the others are gonna leave the forges.” Nico groaned annoyed and fell forward onto Percy’s chest, wrapping his arms and legs around his boyfriend possessively. Percy laughed at his boyfriends antics and sat up, only for Nico to whine helplessly then flip Solace off.

“F**k you Solace, watch the fire brats yourself this is my boyfriend time.” Nico whined, still koala attaching himself to Percy who was sitting up with Nico in his lap, not even attempting to push the gremlin off.

“Whatever Di Angelo, I don’t like getting wet and you know it,” Will countered, earning himself a glare from Nico.

“Fine, if you manage, watch what I do next time I know you and Jake are enjoying your rare time alone together. I’ll march right up and start talking about how incredible Percy is, and you will only be able to focus on Percy while trying to make out with your boyfriend? How’s that gonna feel asshole?” Will sighed in defeat and sent Nico his patented mom look, expecting it to work like normal, but Nico stood his ground defiantly, which Will supposed was fair. Percy really enjoyed watching the kids so he had classes basically all day, this was his two hours without classes, aka when he spent time with Nico. Will shook his head defeated and left Nico’s cabin.

“Neeks,” Percy started to argue only for Nico to turn his glare on him.

“No, absolutely not, this is the only time of day that I get to have you all to myself because all of your friends are also busy and I’m not and you aren’t, I don’t wanna go down to beach and sit a respectable amount of room apart so that you can make sure no over eager kids who can’t wait until one of your life guard hours drown.” Percy sighed in defeat and pulled Nico back down on top of him to continue to kiss him heatedly, instantly brightening the ghost king’s mood. Nico hummed into the kiss and held onto his boyfriend like he was Nico’s lifeline.

After a few minutes, the boys were forced to break, again, when there was a knock at the door. Nico groaned in annoyance but Percy nudged him away to go answer the door. Nico huffed as he pulled away and looked in the mirror to fix his hair and clothes back. The knock came again but louder and Nico groaned again, but quietly and went to answer the door. Outside there was standing a decidedly uninvited demigod that Nico didn’t recognize.

“Can I help you?” He asked annoyed and the kid looked slightly intimidated. Typically Nico was reasonably nice to the kids at camp, but when they came knocking at his cabin door while he was obviously trying to be alone it was rather annoying.

“Uh, I was looking for Percy...” the kid muttered and Nico looked at him suspiciously.

“What do you want from him?” He asked quite rudely.

“Um, we wanted to go swimming and we kinda need him in order to do so.” Nico only glared at the probably 12 year old kid and huffed.

“Percy’s on his break right now, we’re in the middle of a board game, wait for another hour and we’ll be done and he’ll be back on his life guard duty.” Nico stated and the kid only swallowed and nodded. Nico returned to a grinning Percy who was waiting for Nico to return. The smaller demigod crawled into his boyfriends lap and began kissing his neck.

“Y’know, you should really be nicer to the younger campers,” Percy reasoned and Nico grunted in annoyance.

“They should really respect that you have to take breaks.” He countered and held onto Percy’s waist possessively as he kissed down to Percy’s collar bone.

“Hate to break it to you Ghost King, but I’m kinda a big deal around here.” Nico huffed in annoyance and leaned back to glare at his boyfriend.

“I am three seconds away from shadow traveling us to my room in the underworld,” Nico declared, causing Percy to snort and lean in to steal a chaste kiss. Which Nico quickly returned, and once again, the making out began.

And, once again, it was interrupted. It had gone on a little longer and to be fair it was more lazy, sleepy kisses, not full on handsy making out, but still, Nico was comfortable and enjoying Percy time.

“Nico Di Angelo I swear I’m gonna set you on fire if you treat my campers like that ever again!” Leo marched up Nico’s stairs loudly and angrily. He was met by a sight he probably could have lived without. Nico Di Angelo curled up on Percy’s chest, peppering kisses over his face.

“Leo Valdez if you enter my cabin and interrupt my Percy time like that ever again I will raise the cesarean army on you, what do you want?” Nico was becoming genuinely angry and at this point, raising the cesarean army didn’t sound like too bad an idea.

“I heard you grilled one of my campers,” Leo said, crossing his arms.

“You’re all fire-proof, it doesn’t matter if I grill any of you, but you’re right, he came here, only minutes after Will requesting to steal my Percy during my Percy time, and during Percy’s well deserved break so give your campers something to do other than swim for another 30 minutes while I enjoy cuddling with my boyfriend,” Nico was glaring daggers into Leo’s eyes who huffed in annoyance but left the cabin hastily.

“You’re so cute when you’re angry,” Percy purred as he pet Nico’s hair.

“You’re so cute when you’re not overworked,” Nico countered turning back to Percy.

“Mm, that’s fair,” he agreed and placed a soft kiss on Nico’s lips.

“I know it is Gattino,” Nico stated fondly and leaned into Percy’s chest to get comfortable. He continue pressing kisses all over Percy’s neck, only for a knock to sound at the door, which Percy nearly laughed at. Nico growled and tightened his hold on Percy, then proceeded to shadow travel them to his room in the underworld. Percy laughed as they hit the silky sheets.

“Nico, we can’t just stay here,” Percy reasoned and Nico shook his head.

“We can, and we will until further notice, you’re resting, I’m kissing, and we’re both trying to enjoy ourselves but people keep interrupting, so this is me, preventing that.” He then summoned Ms. O’ Leary and stationed her at his door to chase any of his family members who may try to invade his room away.

“I love you...” Percy muttered softly and kissed Nico, which Nico smiled at.

“I love you too.” With that he collapsed onto Percy’s chest and continued pressing kisses to Percy’s neck, while letting himself and Percy slowly fall into a slumber.

This time they were awoken by Melinoe, one of Nico’s half sisters.

“Nicolai!” She shouted, causing him to jump out of his sleep.

“It is 11 pm you stupid boys, you two have missed dinner and the bonfire and the Harpies are out.” Nico sighed in defeat and looked down at his sleepy boyfriend, he realised he didn’t really feel guilty, Percy needed sleep, and if taking him to the underworld had brought it, so be it.

“Fine fine, we’ll go, sorry Meli!” Nico exclaimed and grabbed Percy. He quickly shadow travelled them to Nico’s cabin and they both burst out laughing before Percy gasped.

“Did she say 11!?” He asked terrified.

“Oh shit, I’m sorry Perce...” Nico mumbled, feeling awful for accidentally pulling Percy from all his responsibilities.

“Well, Neeks, it’s not your fault we fell asleep or that we kept getting interrupted, I don’t blame you, I just wish we would have remembered.” Percy muttered as he pulled Nico up to cuddle him.

“Mm, still sorry, I’ll leave you alone tomorrow,” Nico explained and curled up to Percy.

“You most certainly will not, we’re eating lunch together and you’ll be waiting in your cabin as always tomorrow when I have my break, and we’re gonna cuddle and kiss and enjoy our time, and I’m not gonna drop you to go watch kids swim at the lake. Then I’m gonna go back to my job and then we’re gonna sit down and eat dinner together then watch Disney movies together and then you’ll shadow travel me back to my cabin we’ll go to sleep and repeat the cycle,” Percy was very demanding with his list of the routine the two boys had been retaining for the past few months.

“Okay, sounds good to me,” Nico agreed, snuggling into his boyfriend’s chest.

“Everyone’s gonna be stressed out tomorrow since we weren’t here before lights out,” Percy pointed out and Nico hummed in agreement.

“You wanna go tell Chiron or Annabeth?” Nico asked and Percy hummed.

“We should probably tell Annie, Chiron’s probably with the herd.” He suggested and wrapped his arms around Nico’s shoulders so they could shadow travel. After a few seconds the demigods were in the Athena cabin next to Annabeth’s bunk.

“Annie?” Percy asked as he knelt down next to her. She stirred slightly, and her brows furrowed before her eyes slowly fluttered open. She immediately sat up and wrapped her arms around Percy’s neck in a desperate hug.

“You’re not allowed to just disappear!” She whisper-shouted as she shoved him away and pointed at Nico.

“And you aren’t either! Will was so stressed!” She was still whisper-shouting and Nico’s ears heated up in embarrassment.

“I- we didn’t mean to, I got angry because we kept on getting interrupted so the fourth time someone came knocking on my cabin door, I just got fed up and brought us to the Underworld, then we fell asleep and Melinoe woke us up at 11 and I’m sorry!” Nico was apologizing a lot. He cared about Annabeth and Grover’s opinions the most, those were Percy’s oldest and best friends, and he didn’t want them to hate him.

“It’s fine Nico, really, I understand wanting alone time, you just had all of us a bit spooked, and when Hazel found out from Leo that you were missing too she got really stressed out so Leo’s at Camp Jupiter with her and Frank and you should go let her know.

“Yeah, okay, Perce you coming with me? I feel like we’ll need to calm Leo’s nerves too.”Percy nodded hastily and took Nico’s hand, quickly leaving a peck on Annabeth’s forehead before Nico shadow travelled them to Camp Jupiter.

They landed in the living room of Jason And Reyna, and Hazel and Frank’s shared home. Percy placed a chaste kiss on Nico’s lips then started pulling him back towards Hazel and Frank’s room.

They let themselves in to find Hazel and Frank snuggling with Leo nestled between them. Nico approached the bed and lightly awoke Hazel.

“Haze?” He asked softly as she began to stir. She slowly rolled over, her eyes half lidded, before they brightened at the sight of Nico.

“Nico!” She jumped up to embrace him, also stirring Leo and Frank. Leo immediately also jumped up to hug Percy tightly. Frank just rose slowly to look at his lovers adoringly. Nico enjoyed pretending to be protective of Hazel, but her boyfriends were both so good there was really no reason to try and be protective. He trusted them.

“Don’t go disappearing like that!” Hazel exclaimed and swatted Nico’s chest.

“I’m sorry! We fell asleep at the palace!” Hazel narrowed her eyes.

“What were you doing in the underworld in the first place?” She asked annoyed. Nico huffed and rolled his eyes.

“Well, if we hadn’t been rudely interrupted by Will, then some random Hephaestus kid, then Leo, then someone else, I wouldn’t have been annoyed enough to even leave camp, but if I’m trying to enjoy my time with Percy, I want to do it without interruption so whatever!” Percy laughed because Nico was already very defensive of the subject.

“So that’s why Beckendorf couldn’t get to you guys!” Leo exclaimed and Nico rolled his eyes.

“Yes Leo, THATS why Beckendorf couldn’t get to me, because I was trying to enjoy my cherished time with Percy the same way you guys try to enjoy your time with eachother,” Leo looked down guiltily. Hazel was able to summon a Hell Hound whenever she wanted, so she could come see Leo whenever she wanted, on top of that, they were all out to the camp as Poly and in a relationship. But Percy and Nico were only out to their closest friends so it wasn’t like Nico could just go up to Percy and kiss him between their shifts or duties, they had to plan time to be together.

“Sorry...” Leo muttered and Nico huffed.

“Don’t apologize, guilt doesn’t look good on you, and I don’t really particularly mind because that was the least stressful I’ve woken up before, so hush,” Nico was being very persistent about no one feeling bad and then he was reminded that Will was one of his bestfriends, a total mother hen, and was probably worried sick. Nico groaned and fell back onto the couch in the trio’s room.

“Neeks?” Percy asked as he watched his boyfriend collapse.

“Will’s probably at Camp Halfblood having a fucking panic attack because I disappeared!” He sighed, then looked lovingly at Percy, then glanced at the others and slowly stood.

“What’s up Nico?” Hazel asked as he came and sat down again.

“You guys are all so good! Gods! Why can’t you just hate me for being annoying! For avoiding you! For grilling you! Why can’t you just resent me! If everyone hated me, peopling would be some much less stressful!” Percy laughed and scooped Nico up off the bed and placed a chaste kiss on his lips.

“Neeks, that’s what friends are all about, being worried when you aren’t where you’re supposed to be, because we love you,” Percy nuzzled Nico’s hair and the shorter demigod only huffed.

“You two are disgustingly cute,” Leo pointed out from where he was laying against Frank with the larger man’s arms around his waist. Nico rolled his eyes and glared at the son of Hephaestus.

“Oh yeah, any chance I get,” Percy confirmed easily, which made Hazel laugh then look at her brother.

“You can go,” she said, then grabbed Nico’s hand, “check in with Will, make sure the poor boy isn’t having a panic attack, then I cannot let you do anything further, you must go to sleep, no matter how good you’ve gotten at shadow traveling, doing so at great distances is not good for your health, and you will immediately shadow travel back to your own cabin, with Percy, and sleep.” Hazel was very serious about Nico’s health, maybe not as much as Will, but still serious.

“Okay, I’ve got it, love you Haze,” He hugged his sister, let Percy hug Leo, then waved them all goodbye and they were off. After a bit, they landed in Will’s cabin and once they were both stable, Nico gave up and just leaned into Percy, Hazel was right, shadow traveling between realms and across countries was really draining. Percy rubbed his back comfortingly and turned to Will’s bed, only to find it empty. He sighed and looked at Nico, who staring seriously at the bed. He sighed as well, and hugged Percy around the middle to travel the couple of meters to the Hephaestus Cabin, where no doubt Will would be.

Which of course, they were right, Will was sleeping with Jake in the Hephaestus kid’s bed, curled up to his boyfriend happily. Nico laughed at his friend but still leaned into Percy, feeling absolutely drained to the max.

“Will?” Nico whispered softly, slowly stirring Will from his sleep.

“Nico!” Will whisper shouted as he pulled the son of Hades away from his boyfriend and into a hug.

“Why do you look so tired? Have you two been fighting monsters?” Will sat up fully and pushed Nico down next to him.

“No Will!” Nico shoved Will’s worrying hands away and leaned toward Percy.

“Nico’s been shadow traveling a lot...” Percy explained and Will’s eyes narrowed.

“Really Coco?” He asked and Nico glared angrily at the stupid nickname.

“Will, really, I’m fine, I’m just tired,” he sighed loudly and made grabby hands at Percy. As much as being small sucked, having a tall boyfriend meant that he could be easily lifted up.

“Nico got a bit annoyed after four interruptions and shadow travelled us to his room in the underworld,” Percy was rubbing Nico’s back lovingly, “then we came back and I panicked and he brought us to Annie, only for her to recommend we went to see Hazel, and we did and Nico realised you’d be worried sick so we came back then you weren’t in your cabin and now we’re here.” Percy kissed the top of Nico’s head and the son of Hades sighed dreamily, leaning into his boyfriends touch like it was a life line. Will let his gaze soften at his bestfriends happiness. Nico deserves what he wanted, and Percy had been what he wanted for years.

“Well, I, as the head doctor, prescribe a good nights rest, and a full day of Percy cuddles. I’ll make up an excuse for you two, and I’ll let the others know, just stay in tomorrow, cuddle up, watch some movies, love you Neeks,” Will kisses Nico’s forehead and pushed him all the way into Percy who laughed.

“How about we get Mrs. O’Leary?” He asked and Nico nodded wildly quickly summoning the Hell Hound then giving Will a kiss on the cheek good bye and rushing out of there as fast as he could. Mrs. O’Leary brought them to Nico’s cabin Percy easily carried Nico to the half-Hades’ bed. They collapsed into it and Percy curled around Nico while Mrs. O’Leary climbed up and curled around the both of them.

——————————————————————————

Nico awoke feeling completely recharged at around noon the next day, Percy was gone, but Mrs. O’Leary was still curled around Nico, and he sighed in bliss.

“Percy?” He called, and was answered by his cabin door opening. He sat up against Mrs. O’Leary subconciously leaning into her and also covering her.

“Coco?” He heard Will call and Nico let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. In walked Will with a tray of what looked like blue cookies and a glass of pomegranate juice. Of course, his favorite juice and something personally made by Percy.

“Hey Will-I-Am,” Nico greeted, then yawned, “where’s my Sea Prince?” He asked after a few seconds and Will laughed while he set down the tray on Nico’s bedside table.

“He’s at his mom’s house, says he’s got a surprise for you there, but he should be back soon, don’t worry,” Will explained as he handed Nico the plate of cookies and the glass. Then he picked up the rag and dunked it in what looked like cold water then set it to the side. Nico looked at him wearily as he ate his cookies. Will tended to be a little overbearing luv caring at times, like acting as if exhaustion was a fever.

“Will!” Nico whined as Will pulled a thermometer out of his pocket.

“Nicolai!” Will swatted at Nico’s hands and stuffed the thermometer in his mouth.

“You will sit here and accept my mother henning because you hopped twice between realms and twice across the country and you will now accept my making sure you’re okay because exhaustion can result in fevers and sickness.” Nico sighed and laid back, letting Will dab his forehead with the wet cloth then when the thermometer beeped he pulled it out of Nico’s mouth and set it to the side.

“You’re temperature is normal,” he stated then under his breath, “for a child of Hades,” then back to normal volume, “and you may continue as I planned with a day of cuddles and relaxation. I said that you two got into a mess with Melinoe and Makaria, so you had to go to the underworld and now you’re both allowed to rest for the day,” Nico smiled at his friend as Will leaned in to press a kiss to Nico’s forehead.

“Thanks Will,” Nico said regrettably.

“Aw, any time Neeks, I love you, you’re my best friend, it’s what you deserve,” then Will stood and left while Nico fell back into his Hell Hound and turned to bury his face in her fur. He let her warmth consume him and brighten his mood even further as he slowly finished his cookies and pomegranate juice.

“Nico?” Percy called and Mrs. O’Leary lifted her head in excitement, jostling Nico.

“I’m here Percy!” Nico called back and as Percy emerged from the stairs Nico saw a broad smile on his lips.

“Okay, sorry I wasn’t here when you woke up, I have you something,” Percy held up a bag that Nico recognized from that time Annabeth and Katie had forced them to take one of the Arts and Crafts classes and they made bags with eachother. They actually enjoyed seeing and had made a few more bags together since, but this one was the first they’d made together. It was a view of the ocean against an extremely starry sky.

Nico was pulled from his thought by the smell of distinctive Italian food. His mother’s. Tears sprang to his eyes as he looked lovingly at Percy.

“Nico!?” Percy called concerned as he rushed to the bed faster, dropping the bag on the night stand and landed on the bed pulling Nico into a tight hug.

“You are the most amazing incredible awful human being I’ve ever met,” He muttered while laugh-crying into Percy’s chest. That caused Percy to let out a relieved huff of a laugh.

“Why?” He asked.

“Because you perfect boyfriend went all the way to your mom’s apartment so you could make my mom’s lasagna recipe with her.” Percy’s eyes widened and he nodded quickly.

“Of course Neeks, you were so tired last night I thought you deserved a treat, and you talk about your mom and grandma’s cooking so often I thought...” Nico knocked the air out of Percy as he tackled him into the bed and hugged him tightly while pressing a kiss to his lips. He felt Percy smile into the kiss as he wrapped his arms around Nico’s waist

“You, Perseus Jackson, are the best thing that has ever walked into my life.” He muttered against Percy’s lips causing a bright blush to rush to Percy’s cheeks.

“You, Nico Di Angelo, deserve the best,” he answered. And Nico smiled as he sat up, straddling Percy’s waist. He grabbed the bag of food and pulled it into his lap as Percy sat up as well, keeping Nico on his lap. Nico pulled out four tupperwares and a bottle of sparkling white grape juice. He smiled at the bottle then looked at Percy with an amusing smirk.

“We better be careful, if Mr. D find outs we have a bottle of “non-alcoholic wine” he’ll throw a hissy fit.” He joked and Percy smiled, pulling out two wine glasses.

“Well, it’s a good thing people have decided to leave us alone then.” He agreed and settled to pour them both a glass of juice.

#nico di angelo #percy jackson #percico #PJO #nicercy

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