#ancient lovers break the cycle

[teathattast]

i'll never shoot, i'll never fight it

until the end, i'll be about it

i got no vest on, your loving is the best one

they say that i'm obsessing, it's not even a question

#love notes #namasenda #clouds #ignore weird lyrics etc #this song is so good dude this Swedish pop artist goes crazy #it's you #it's never even been a question #and me #together we're the fav obsession #eternity #ancient lovers break the cycle #free #making waves without even trying to

[foolishlovers]

hi bestie💖🫂

can you rec me some longer enemies to lovers AU? bonus if they are complete idiots.

thank you love!💕

of course, always 💜

here are some of my favourite longer good omens enemies to lovers AUs (ranging from 46k-201k):

[you can request more fic recs here.]

Fire, Bridges, and other Sensible Idioms by KiaraMGrey (E, 46k) To: The person who stopped the washer in the middle of my wash cycle and took my clothes out just to wash your own… You are an arsehole! Unfortunately for you, so am I. You can find your wet clothes frozen outside in the snow. If you have any problems with this, come see me in 301. or Aziraphale has a new neighbor, and they certainly don't start off on the right foot.

Intermezzo by FeralTuxedo (E, 47k) Music critic Aziraphale Fell is trying to break into the world of television, when he is signed to make a documentary about former-rockstar-turned-composer Anthony Crowley. It’s been eleven years since Aziraphale’s disastrous review of Crowley’s debut opera nipped his classical music career in the bud. He can only hope that Crowley will get over his admittedly justified grudge to make the TV show a success. A classical music sex comedy. Yes, really.

through the silent wood by summerofspock (M, 57k) When Aziraphale Eastgate first moves to Tadfield, he struggles to understand the strange culture of the village. They're not friendly or kind or anything he expected from a village in the north. So when he rescues a snake from a snow storm, he's glad for a little company even if it comes in the form of an animal. Unfortunately, in Tadfield, animals are often not what they seem.

Fifty-Two Blue by bendycello (M, 84k) It would be a gross understatement to say that Crowley simply didn't like Aziraphale. He was posh and stuffy and arrogant, and Crowley couldn't figure out why everyone else in the program liked him so much. It hardly mattered; they were competitors, and Crowley didn't need to make friends to become a surgeon. It takes several unleasant encounters, the excessive use of house plants as a coping mechanism, and getting stuck in an elevator for Crowley to start reconsidering his priorities. Or… Crowley and Aziraphale are surgical interns with competitive streaks a mile wide each, and they really do not like each other at all. Until they do.

Married at First Sight by Aracloptia (T, 146k) “Well, that was a thing,” Crowley said once they were out of earshot. Without talking about it, they were both heading down the field, towards the lake where the photographer (and likely a few more people from the TV crew) was waiting. “That was a wedding,” Aziraphale replied, surprised at his own annoyance that somebody called a wedding a ‘thing’. “Yeah, obviously, didn’t miss that part,” Crowley said with a shrug, and waved abruptly in Aziraphale’s general direction. “Neither did you, from the looks of it, since you’re dressed like a wedding bride and everything.” “Excuse me, I am a—“ Aziraphale stopped himself, and started over. In which Aziraphale ends up marrying a rude stranger who wears sunglasses.

Or Be Nice by charlottemadison (E, 151k) Crowley and Aziraphale are neighbours. And…it does not go at all well, until it does. A human AU in which Aziraphale is a bookseller, Crowley is a drummer, and they are both petty disasters in the worst/best way. +++ “So what’s your deal?” “My-my-my deal?” Aziraphale stammered. “I’m a bookseller, is my deal.” “Oh,” Crowley replied, sounding as uninterested as it was possible to sound. “It’s just, I couldn’t help overhearing, and --” Aziraphale swallowed hard. “You really are an accomplished musician. But I thought -- for after 11PM -- perhaps we could reach some arrangement?” “Arrangement?” Aziraphale felt his his smile turning forced. “Such as, perhaps, playing the drums before eleven? Instead of after?” Crowley stared blankly at him. In fact he stared for so long that Aziraphale briefly wondered if he'd lapsed into ancient Greek again, which he was known to do in bad dreams or during panic attacks.

The Curve of Old Bones by Jenanigans1207 (E, 201k) Aziraphale watches as Crowley’s smile grows, sharpens and turns distinctively dastardly. And even though Aziraphale knows what he’s in store for, he’s entirely unprepared for the words that slip out of Crowley’s mouth next. “Name’s Anthony Crowley, Aziraphale’s husband.” Aziraphale is eternally grateful that he wasn’t taking a sip of his tea at that exact moment for he would’ve surely choked on it. When Crowley claims to be Aziraphale's husband to ruin what he assumes is a date, he doesn't think anything of it. But a day later it comes back to bite him in the ass when Crowley finds out that the date in question is, in fact, his new boss, who is looking to hire Aziraphale and hoping that Crowley, his husband, will put in a good word for them. Now Crowley is caught in a tight spot: either admit to his new boss that he was lying, or convince Aziraphale, his sort-of enemy, to pretend to be his husband to save face.

stil on my tbr:

Miracles on Ice by HenriettaRHippo (E, 52k, WIP) Two rival figure skaters - Aziraphale and Crowley - must team up as the world's first male-male figure skating pair. There's just one problem…they can't stand each other. Can these two put aside their hatred to bring back the gold? Or was that hatred just a cover for deeper feelings bubbling under the surface? It's enemies to lovers, on ice! Crowley And The Chocolate Factory by entanglednow (E, 54k) Crowley has to step up for his nephew Adam when he wins a ticket to tour the famous chocolate factories, run by the reclusive and deeply strange Zira Zonka. It doesn't take Crowley long to decide that he wants nothing to do with the man, who's clearly hiding dark and mysterious secrets.

To Conquer A Grand Estate by MrsCaulfield, angelsnuffbox (M, 84k) 'He fought against another thing as well. He fought against hope, the warmth and pleasing sensation of it, wanting to bloom in his chest. He took it and kept it within confinement, aware that it would no longer do him any service. A foolish thing it was, to realise how greatly and ardently he could have loved Crowley now, when all love was vain.' Good Omens x Pride and Prejudice fusion that no one asked for

[you can find more fic rec masterposts here]

#thanks for asking me mari 💜 #i kinda thought there would be more?? #mayhaps i need no write another enemies to lovers fic mhmmm #good omens #good omens human au #good omens fic rec #good omens fanfic #aziracrow #crowley x aziraphale #aziracrow fic #ineffable husbands #foolish recs #go fic masterpost

[xoxomoonlightxoxo]

Masterlist

✧✦ Hey, my name is Moonlight and I enjoy writing love stories, drawing inspiration from poetry, lyrics, and paintings. Would like to preface that I rarely write one-shots, so most of my work is structured as a series. Although I love to follow a concrete plan, I'm always open to suggestions and ideas, especially when my creative juices are taking their lunch break.

✧✦ If you landed on my blog, there's a high chance that Jungkook is your bias. No need to panic, there's no shame in admitting your weakness, especially when he is a 5'10", international playboy who was sculpted by Ancient Gods themselves and possesses a voice that could heal global warming. I don't make the rules! Please direct all questions and concerns to customer service at your earliest convenience.

✧ LONG SERIES ✦ a - angst / f - fluff / s - smut

Peaches & Cream (a, f, slight s)

Pairing: jungkook x female reader Synopsis: You're his Peaches and he is your Pretty boy. It's all very simple until the fear of commitment kicks in. How does one maintain a safe distance when it's Jungkook? The gestures might be sweet and naive but the heat between us is almost suffocating. W/c: 31.5k Status: Complete

Somewhere Between Hello and Goodbye (a, f)

Pairing: jungkook x female reader Synopsis: Losing his memory following a motorcycle accident, Jungkook learns to live life again, but this time, with no past recollection of everything you meant to him. Connecting the broken pieces, you meet again for the first time, as if strangers. Will his heart still beat the same way it did for you before the incident, or were your souls destined to merely meet but not to be? Current w/c: 12.3k Status: Ongoing

Dear Koo (f)

Pairing: penpal jungkook x female reader  Synopsis: Dear Koo is an advice column for all of y/n's confessions, questions, and delusions. A safe haven for her inevitable cries for help as she navigates through adulthood. Who is the lucky know-it-all on the other side of the line, you might ask? Well, it's none other than Mr. Jeon Jungkook, the president of the Lovers Club and the boy who had cared for her since their diaper days. After moving abroad for his studies, Jungkook vowed to keep in touch by creating this submission box. "I'm just one Dear Koo away, y/n," Status: Upcoming

✧ SHORT SERIES ✦ a - angst / f - fluff / s - smut

Don't Get Attached (s)

Pairing: ex-boyfriend jungkook x y/n Synopsis: Entangled in Jungkook’s lies the so-called love you share is nothing but toxic. Every push is followed by a needy pull, but it’s not all his fault, is it? Naive to the signs, your desires fuel this cycle of destruction. What if the person you want the most is the one you’ll be better without? Baby, there’s no breaking up, he whispers in your ear, as his grip on your waist tightens. W/c: 6.8k (+ drabbles) Status: Complete

Heart Strings (a)

Pairing: villain jungkook x female reader  Synopsis: They say that wounded hearts beat the loudest, but in a void of chaos and destruction Ian’s deafening cries for help seem to echo louder. Labelled as a villain, all the light in the world becomes his darkness, as he learns to despise the idea of a warm embrace. Running from her future, y/n meets Ian, whose entire life was spent running from his past and as their paths cross, peace is found in the present. In his eyes, she changes everything, uncovering the side of him the world once failed to see. Tethered together by the threads of her heartstrings, he falls in love. But, as they say, nothing lasts forever. Not even the beats of a reformed broken heart. What happens when the villain’s first love becomes everything the hero desires?  Status: Upcoming

✧ ONE SHOTS ✦ a - angst / f - fluff / s - smut

Tell Me Pretty Lies (a, f, s)

Pairing: boyfriend Jungkook x female reader  Synopsis: One feared committing, and the other feared not being loved. And, although it was clear that they had no future together, the universe always seemed to bring them together. Predisposed to a rocky relationship, they fall victim to a life of pure bliss, blind to the pretty lies of their mad love. Status: Upcoming

Latest: Somewhere Between Hello and Goodbye Ch. 4 l Don't Get Attached Drabble Series

Upcoming: Tell Me Pretty Lies

#bts #bangtan #bts masterlist #jungkook masterlist #jeon jungkook #jungkook #jungkook x reader #jungkook x you #jungkook x female reader #jungkook x yn #bts x yn #jungkook fanfic #jungkook imagine #jungkook fic #jungkook smut #jungkook angst #jungkook fluff

[pansear-doodles]

Saint is here in Art fight. Very troubling description

You can read below

Name: Saint Pronouns: Any/All Likes: Freedom, Silence, Resting, Music, Flowers ??? Dislikes: People complaining, Being wronged, Being trapped, Authoritarian figures, ???

History: The iterators were created by ancient civilizations, made to solve problems, seek solutions, manage political discourse, and so on. As time passed, these civilizations left their iterators to continue iterating on The Great Problem: How does one permanently break the cycle without dipping into the void sea? Iterators across the lands have tried and tried, but they could not find the solution, and self-destruction is programmed into them as taboo. This went on for quite the millennia, until one iterator sought the solution in the form of a proposed modified organism, The Triple Affirmative: a confirmation that a solution has been found, affirmative that the solution is portable, and affirmative that a technical implementation is possible and generally applicable. Most of Sliver's equipment has eroded, so her work is based on what is salvageable- she created The Saint, a young naiive slugpup who was trained the basic principles of tearing away from worldly attachments. These teachings were harsh and deeply affected Saint, as many iterators generally do not have sympathy for living creatures and see them as tools. After learning the principles, Sliver sent Saint off to visit the void sea and receive the powers of bringing forth ascension to others. After coming back to great success, Sliver tries telling the other iterators her findings. The young enraged Saint turns their back on her, forcefully ascending their creator before she could say anything more than that she simply found the solution. Saint grew up not knowing what to truly do with their life, and their past echoes to them about their purpose. They go on a lengthy mission to reclaim their godly powers that was lost through time in order to ascend and free others of their burdens- their own loose version of such a purpose. They meet a troubled slugcat named Artificer and befriends them after calming them. They eventually grew attached and became lovers. Artificer helped Saint throughout their journey, not knowing what the real reason was but staying loyal to them because they cared about them. Saint, throughout, kept the truth to themselves, as they fear that by them knowing- it would make things difficult. Once Saint reached maximum karma, their initial purpose set up by Sliver kicks up and Saint forcefully ascends Artificer in the hopes that it would free them from the pain. Saint then journeys to the void sea where they can ascend, but something goes wrong and Saint finds themself on the place where they are. To their horror, they have become stuck in their own cycle and quite literally. They have been through many iterations, and many timelines. Saint has attempted to ascend themselves many times to no avail, until they finally give up and find themselves on the timeline this AU currently sits on. Although many of Saint's past friends do not remember who they were, one of these friends remembered some events that transpired, and this one was Monk. Saint was very close to Monk and taught them a lot of the things they were curious about, but Saint accidentally caused Monk to gain ascension powers and bite in that forbidden fruit of knowledge that Saint waivers with. Saint ascending Monk at this state has caused them to remember their previous iteration, and has only further caused Monk to become similar to Saint's circumstance. Nowadays, Saint is careless about whatever happens to them, but is wary about Monk's wellbeing enough to make them care about them still.

Personality: Saint is calm, serious, soft-spoken and knowledgable, but can be sassy, careless, sarcastic, and tense. They perpetuate in the idea of freedom, doing whatever they please because whatever they do matters not to them (it will all just be reset), though they feel as trapped as anyone else despite their god complex. They are denying of being in a pity party, as they do not like seeing themselves as inferior, especially to the cycle that traps them. They are not trusting of anyone, in fact, and is extremely closed-off about themselves towards others. They do care about others however, as they continue to stay close to what they describe "the husks of friends they once knew and "killed" but forgotten". They don't like seeing them suffer, but they don't know what to do to stop that completely. They are quite the conflicted and confused individual.

Biology: Unlike many common slugcats, Saint has extreme levels of fur, which keeps them warm. They have an extremely strong tongue that can extend and grab onto things, allowing them to swing their body around with it when attaching themselves to a wall or ceiling. They were engineered to not eat meat to decrease violent instincts, causing them to have allergic reactions when consuming them. They have extreme levels of sight, smell, taste, and hearing, but isn't too sensitive about these senses. Saint has the abilities of ascending others, in the form of fast beams controlled by the wave of their finger. At maximum capacity, it basically frees anyone from their own cycles, meaning that it can permanently kill them for good. Any capacity lower than that, in which Saint can manually configure, will just knock the target unconscious or kill them but not permanently depending on how high that capacity is. This strange power allows Saint to levitate, with their eyes open and glowing brightly. Being in this state does have a cooldown due to Saint's (im)mortal body holding them back. While Saint is able to dip in the void sea and attempt ascension themselves, they are unable to be fully realized and they always find themselves at a certain beginning, creating a new timeline to sit in.

Appearance: Saint is a green fluffy slugcat with a medium sized snout, heterochromic eyes (their left is blue and their right is yellow), and a lean hourglass stature. Their head is x-shaped (the legs of the x are tufts of cheek fur and ears), and they have 5 eyes (the three eyes on their forehead are always closed unless they activate their ascension abilities) They prefer wearing cloaks, gowns and other free-flowing clothing, though they're fine with wearing anything. They are an adult.

Relationships: Monk - Close Friends - Saint is unsure why the persistent and kind slugcat sounds forgiving to them even after knowing what has transpired in their previous timeline. Regardless, Saint is kind to Monk and openly cares about them, unlike the rest of the slugcats. Artificer - Complicated - Someone they once loved- they were the same person but they're different. They're not theirs. They're struggling to let go of it and all that frustration is built to become despising. Yet… They pity them, and buried in that pity, anger, and grief is care. Hunter - Complicated - A suffering soul who insists on living on. Saint once ascended them in a previous timeline, but has figured that it isn't their problem to deal with anymore. Gourmand - Complicated - They are envious of them and a little sickened how they can easily "brush things off". Rivulet - Complicated - They think they are annoying. Spearmaster - Complicated - They are angry that they are not angry at their own creator who Saint believes has wronged them. Survivor - Complicated - They are worried about how would they feel on what they have done to their sibling, if they ever find out. Nightcat - Complicated - They are a bit wary of their mysterious presence, but nonetheless doesn't care much of them. Enot - Complicated - They do not enjoy their air and feels uneasy around them, but at the same time finds them pathetic.

#rain world #rainworld #fanart #slugcat #rainworld downpour #rain world downpour #dp spoilers #downpour spoilers #saint #my anthro au #art fight #my art

[transgenderer]

Utagaki (歌垣), also read kagai (嬥歌), was an ancient Japanese Shinto ritual gathering. Villagers would meet on a mountaintop, where singing, dancing, eating, having free sexual intercourse and the reciting of poetry would occur, in celebration of the beginning of spring or autumn. These events were closely associated with harvest rites, and therefore fertility.

On the Mountains of Tsukuba

where the eagles dwell

Near the Wells of Mohakitsu,

Seeking each other, in song of Kagai

I will seek the wives of other men

And let other men woo my own.

The gods dwelling in these mountains

Have allowed this

Since olden times;

Do not make an exception today

And do not reproach the lovers

And blame then not.

Mushimaro Takahashi, Man'yōshū (oldest collection of Japanese poetry)

The festival celebrated fertility and the cycle of crop and harvest, and it was hosted biannually on the seasonal transitions. Localized variations abounded, though most of them featured the offering of ritual sexual activity to the local gods, allowed on this occasion by the temporal abolishment of social norm about marriage and decorum. Utagaki was meant to increase both female fertility and male virility with the blessing of the deities, bringing prosperity to villages and their inhabitants. Though celebrated by peasants, utagaki was a prestigious ritual, to the point there are records of both Emperor Shomu and his daughter Empress Shotoku visiting gatherings to offer gifts.

Utakagi took the shape of feasts on mountaintops, where poetry and songs were exchanged between participants in a contest meant to seduce suitors. Mount Tsukuba in Ibaraki prefecture was an especially popular place of meeting, attracting people from all the Kanto region. Some Shinto shrines served as places for sexual encounters, which became a Oita prefecture. In other regions, like Ibaraki and Aichi, the feasts included a parade or ritual dance (kagura) after which it was given license to maintain sexual relationships.

Despite its breaking of social etiquette, utagaki contained its own rules. Women were allowed to reject or accept any suitor, though there was sometimes the only condition of accepting at least three of them. The festival granted unmarried people a chance to find partners outside their villages, and couples in love an excuse to have encounters. Conceiving illegitimate offspring during utagaki was not considered dishonorable, though it carried the same obligations.

I was abolished by the meiji restoration :(

[arisenreborn]

Okay so it's another pawn lovers guild qotd, but this one... got out of hand. 😅 Took a couple different things and slapped them together for "Meeting the Former Arisen/Arisen Boss Fight".

Since Rann and Reverie are based on old very powerful OCs, I got a little gratuitous with them sorry. Hey, it's entirely optional! (Just like clicking read more because it's long.)

Quest: “A Dream Apart”

After staying at the Nameless Village inn for a night, there’s a chance for it to be attacked by a Drake. It must be allowed to flee - in the process of doing so it will crash into the mountain and reveal a hidden path. (If defeated, this can be attempted every time a drake happens to attack, but low probability, and can’t be repeated after completing the questline.)

This path will lead through a cavern behind the waterfalls not far from the Nameless Village. Following it further, the path twines up through the mountain to some ancient ruins (similar vibe to going up to Sphinx).

There the Arisen will meet with the Pawn, Avierann, who stands over the remains of the Drake - its loot can be obtained scattered around the area, and he encourages the Arisen to take it. In this area you’ll start to notice a strangeness in the air, a ‘distortion’ quality you can pick up on visually from time-to-time. Multiple options here:

>Try to pass Avierann

He will stop you. This will lead to conversation options, or if you persist, he will engage in battle. 

>Talk to Avierann

He’ll inquire what you’ve come here for. Depending on your answer, he’ll say the answers you seek may be ahead, but if you seek a fight you’ll be shown no mercy. (This can lead to fighting him.) 

>Fight 0 - Avierann

Throughout the fight he’ll often shield himself and levitates around the battlefield often, pummeling the battlefield with both fiery and icy meteors. His abilities are above that of your average Pawn, and his voicelines will mostly seek to deter you from continuing down this route. “Please, don’t be foolish.” “There is a better way.” (If you stop attacking him long enough, it will cancel the fight and you can talk.) Once you get him to his final healthbar he’ll start spamming meteorons and maelstroms so have fun. This is definitely a ‘mini boss’ in terms of difficulty tho. 

Reward: EXP, Wakestone, Moonbloom

If you seek wisdom, he will lead you to the summit. The ‘distortion’ in the air grows thicker, (but so help me it’s not giving you a headache). Before going, he warns you there will be no turning back, and you won’t be able to use ferrystones. Finally you’ll come to where Reverie resides.

*Just made a post about this recently,* but she’s an Arisen of a previous cycle who fused with her Dragon rather than either of them killing one another. She basically looks like a red dragon with a griffins feathers along the upper portion of her body up to the humanoid torso of Reverie where the head would be.

She shouldn’t exist here, and you definitely shouldn’t be able to meet her. Especially not on the Pathfinder’s watch.

She’ll start talking to you like the Sphinx does, and will say *you* shouldn’t be here, suggesting a certain someone (the Pathfinder) would not be happy with his latest toy if she ruined it. (You can take that as her killing you or sullying you with information you shouldn’t have.) Her demeanor is notably a little… well, yeah, Sphinx-like. Not quite the same, but she’s got a monstrous viciousness to her though that’s playfully and carefully restrained.

I don’t wanna get too in-depth about what sort of things she could say that could be spoilery, but it’d probably be a step above Rivage Elder in terms of clarity and direction in what you should do going forward - but still just frustratingly vague enough in perfect DD fashion. 

Then she’ll tell you she’s curious if you might truly be capable of breaking free, and asks if you would amuse her with a fight, suggesting that you, too, must enjoy the thrill of combat Zenos ass behavior. If you disagree she’ll call you boring, but that will be that. She warns that once you leave, you will not be able to return - and you won’t until a NG+. You can talk to her again and accept her offer of a fight though, otherwise you return to the Nameless Village and can no longer reach the path that led there.

REWARD: Minimal EXP, Wakestone Shard

>Fight 1: Friendly Fight

Fast and fierce, she fights much like the Dragon but much more mobile. She’ll grab and throw individuals in the air and then smack them across the field with her tail. She conjures magick arrows that hover around her and will act as a sort of ‘shield’, exploding if you come into contact with them (which also means you could destroy them), and after several seconds will hone in on all targets. Ultimately it does feel rather ‘fun’ and ‘light-hearted’, she is not holding any punches but she laughs and cheers you on, praising you when you do well and encouraging you when you muck it up. 

It’s the effects around the battlefield that are scarier; the world itself will look like it’s beginning to fray at the edges and come undone, like you’re doing something dangerous on the fringes of reality. The summit transforms and the world twists around you, giving you a kaleidoscope of glimpses of familiar and foreign landscapes, of worlds unmoored and worlds rejected from the cycle…

Eventually she will stop the fight and praise you, admitting she isn’t sure if you’ll be able to break the cycle, but she’ll choose to believe you can. 

At this point, you can choose to continue talking for the above rewards, or press the fight with intent to kill. If you continue talking:

She’ll warn you that pushing too hard against the cycle may result in leading to a path like hers - existing on the fringes of the worlds and unable to truly change anything within them. But figuring out just what that breaking point is -how far is too far?- is something only you can decide. She’ll wish you safe travels on your road ahead, and an ending that you can take pride in, before casting you in a light that returns you to the edge of the Nameless Village. You cannot return to this place again until NG+.

Reward: EXP, Wakestone, Dreamer’s Enigma (Magick Bow) A deep red bow formed seemingly from the crystalized blood and flame of a dragon. “This bow seems to be from another world, and exists precariously within this one.” (Noteworthy feature: zero weight cost.)

If you choose to continue the fight:

>Fight 2: Gloves Are Off

Rann: Reverie… Are you certain? Reverie: Yes… So long as we’re together. Rann: …Very well. Together then.

Avierann fully heals her as the battle begins, hovering on the edge of the battlefield. She sounds sadly resigned: if this is the path you’ve chosen, she won’t deny you - nor will she make it easy for you. Indeed, it’s her job to make it as hard as she can so you can face the trials to come. Rann will constantly cover the field in either Maelstrom or Meteorons, will heal and shield her - taking him down should be the first order of business, though she will viciously defend him in turn. 

You may need to stun her (achieved primarily by attacking her human part), and sacrifice her down time to whittle him down - he will prioritize healing her while she’s downed even over himself. 

“I won’t allow it to end like this.” - If you kill her first Rann will shatter the remaining stability of the battlefield; you’ll be clinging to small bits of viable land in a sea of jagged, pieced-together realities and have to navigate to get back to him in time and break his shield before he resurrects Reverie (half health). If she resurrects the field will return to ‘normal’, albeit with increasingly less safe/convenient areas to stand and maneuver. 

Killing her first is not advised. sorry breaking/reordering reality and resurrection is Rann’s specialty But if you can cancel him before he resurrects her, the battle will eventually end - he will try to keep doing this though. Once you finally get him down he will fall to one knee and fade away, “Very well then, this was what she wanted…”

If you go for him first, on Avierann’s final health bar Reverie will go into a rampage, mostly just increasing the speed and strength of her attacks. She’ll grab and stand on a target with one hand for a frustrating amount of time, or fling them other targets. Once Rann is defeated she’ll let out an anguished scream that creates a stunning shockwave. Regardless of any attacks she’ll go over to pick up Rann’s body and embrace it to her for the remainder of the battle. 

“I knew… I knew it would hurt, but…” She straightens up. “Very well. Together then.”

Her movements will be far less brutal - her attacks mostly continue same as before but she’s slowed drastically. On the final half of her final health bar she has more or less given up and will only give cursory slaps of her tail and retaliatory swipes of her claws. She speaks as if to him, but her words might also guide a careful listener. 

“After countless turns around this world… Time and time again we’ve found ourselves here… But at the very least, we were together… Was there another way? … Perhaps there are as many paths as there are wills seeking to find them… But mine leads only to you… So, surely…”

Finally she will collapse, still clutching Rann’s body and talking only to him. “Perhaps… next time, then.”

If you can divide your forces to whittle them both down at the same time they’ll talk to one another as their health dwindles. Their voices are tinged with both deep sorrow and a sense of burgeoning joy. The embracing of an ending towards a new beginning.

“Reverie… Do you remember when we met?” “What a funny question, which time?” “The first time.” “Well, that’d have to be… Soon, wouldn’t it?” “Hah, yes. Soon.”

Once both of them are destroyed their bodies will disappear in a burst of light that swallows the entire area, and you’ll be left outside the Nameless Village. 

Reward: EXP, Wakestone, Path of the Heart (Archistaff) A dark red stave seemingly made of the twined hardened fibers of a dragons heartstrings, the crown of the staff is half-broken, as if it once held a gem, but a glowing red power energy lingers here now, seemingly in bitter defiance of it’s own fate. (Noteworthy feature: zero weight cost.)

>Fight 0-1: Vengeance

If you fought and killed Avierann when you first met him, Reverie will not talk to you, and will immediately launch into battle. There is no mercy here, no fun. Guttural snarling roars of: “What have you done?!” and “You fool!” Rabid, berserk repetitions of “Why!? Why!? Why!?” 

Along with her above tactics, she’ll occasionally leap to five points around the battlefield, creating huge aoe telegraphs for each element (fire, ice, lightning, dark, holy)  that will erupt in the order she went to them. Staying close to her and avoiding all of the damage can be perilous. She’ll occasionally grab a target and throw them *into* one of the aoe ranges, giving them a small window to run out of it. If attacking her from behind her tail may also smack you into one. 

Similar to above fights, the battlefield is an increasing hazard being broken down and restructured. You’ll see places from DD1, BBI, and others yet unrecognizable. Sometimes she'll raise the ground up to prevent you from running.

She’ll occasionally let out terrible screams that stun anyone too close, it seems she'll keep trying to restore some order and calm down occasionally, but will keep falling back into a despairing rage. At about half health she will start ripping at her human body in a blind frenzy.

“I don’t want to do this anymore! I don’t! I don’t! I don’t! Not without him! I must go, I must go to him!” 

The human/griffin parts of her will be replaced by pure dragon, as the familiar visage of The Dragon comes forth. The music will end and go mostly silent before slowly the harps from DD Main Theme come in and lead into a rendition of Eternal Return. You’re fighting the Dragon now, you know how that goes. His dialogue is limited but:

“A cruel hand to hunt down they who pose no threat. Yet such cruelty may yet be needed to forge the path thou desire. Above exists the watchers gaze, with hands that would strangle the will from thine soul and make a puppet of thee.” And upon death: “Go forth, and bleed the watcher dry, O blessed butcher.”

Reward: EXP, Wakestone, Ragnarok (A duospear with a staff made from dragonbone, and the blades from dragons fangs, the description reads: “Once a man sought to defy the Dragon and became Arisen. Once the Arisen sought to defy fate and became the Dragon. Once, the Dragon sought to defy all, and turned its fangs on the chains that bind this world.” (Noteworthy feature: zero weight cost.)

So in order to get all of the rewards.... :'D There is ONE more route option I'm imagining where if you somehow manage to leave Rann alive (unconscious) when you first meet him and then kill Reverie, he will then proceed to stalk you through the world, occasionally assassinating your pawns, showing up mid-Drake fight, and just generally wreaking havoc.

There's a similar route for Reverie doing this if you kill him and then turn back without going to the summit - you lose the ability to go back, but she will break into your world for revenge. :'D

#crow's lorebook. #this was too much i'm so sorry #i def ran out of steam at a few points #but i DID have fun #pawn lovers qotd.

[fernthewhimsical]

Prayer a Day, part 1

For October I decided to give myself a little challenge, and started writing one prayer per day. I made a list of all the deities and entities that I honour in my practice, and am steadily working through that list. Here are the first eight prayers (or poems), to Cernunnos, Baduhenna, Nehalennia, Wolf, Elen of the Ways, Nemetona, Freyr, and Loki.

Cernunnos Lord of the liminal, the in-between The place between life and death, man and woman, hunter and hunted Lord of the cycles of life, of both ancient moss covered forests, and hallowed burial mounds King to all who live in your realms, plant and animal, witch and Fae, and all that lies in between. I honour you

Baduhenna I call on you, Ravenwitch You, who fights with magic and madness Who defends with sword and shield Valkyrie Goddess of Frisia I call on you, Mistqueen You, who holds the secrets of magic who’s the sovereign of the land Daughter of the Morrigan I call on you, Rootwoman You, who connects us to our past, Who reminds us of our power Defender of the marsh forest I call on you, Baduhenna Be with me

Nehalennia Stuurvrouw, Oogstmoeder, Vrouwe van de Zee. Ik drijf if uw golven, Draag mij met u mee

Steerswoman, Harvestmom, Lady of the Sea, I float in your waves, Lady, carry me

(to the tune of Horned One, Lover, Son)

Wolf Run with me ‘neath shining moon, and howl to the Silver Lady Roam with me ‘neath warming sun, and show me the hidden way Rest with me ‘neath shading tree, as I watch the young cubs play Revel with me ‘neath starlit sky, as humanity slips away Roar with me ‘neath watchful eyes, and join the hunt for prey

Elen of the Ways Lady of journeys, within and without Guide me to myself, to my inner light Lead the way, to a better me Show me where to go Show me the next step Elen of the Labyrinth be with me

Nemetona Leaf-crowned guardian of the grove She who protects boundaries of land, home, and person She who is one with the earth with the trees, flowers, and plants Bark-skinned warden of sacred places I honour you

Freyr Golden sunlight upon golden grain Warmth of the heartlight Communities chosen and born We take what is needed, and share what we have We fight for those who cannot, and raise their voices high We love with all our hearts, and celebrate humanity Golden Freyr who guards us, and provides for us all I honour you

Loki Change-bringer, Flamehaired deity of mischief, You who break chains, and social conventions Who burns what is old, to grow what is new Who brings a smile, and bright ringing laughter Who gives strength to the weird, the outcasts and the queer I love and honour you

#pagan #paganism #personal #mine #paganblr #heathenry #asatu #continental heathenry #deity #prayer #poetry #cernunnos #nehalennia #baduhenna #wolf #elen of the ways #nemetona #freyr #loki #lokean #prayer a day challenge #prayer a day

[dootznbootz]

Water Wife™ questions >:D 4, 5, 14 and 25!

HELL YEAH!! Thank you, Niko!!! The Water Wife™!!!

4. If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in? She's already a book and already technically a musical but I SO badly want just the whole Epic Cycle like an anime or simply animated, possibly like Castlevania or Blood of Zeus or something. Not as a children's cartoon. Those are fun but...I want real shit! >:D With the fight scenes! That's more with the Iliad but still!!!!

5. What's the first song that comes to mind when you think about them? Quite a few, and some I've mentioned before but yeah! The Chain by Ingrid Michaelson as it talks about waiting for your love to come back, (it's a song that can mean anything but it works). And I like imagining it's her unweaving the shroud and getting more frustrated that she has to do this in the first place and with the big round of the chorus at the end, I like imagining it's her, stopping for a bit as tears well up. The Round quiets down, and she wipes her face before continuing to unravel the shroud.

It's a cover song of Davy Jones lullaby thing, and it talks about waiting 10 years for your lover to return and talking about how "You're kind of insane...That's hot." basically 😂 (It does get loud though!)

For MY OWN STUFF??? This is more in her youth but "Just Around the Riverbend" from Pocahontas (Yeah, I know it's a messed up and inaccurate movie but the songs, especially this one, are great), as the vibes and "I'm going to go fuck around in the rapids." is definitely what I'm going for with her. She's sneakier about stuff though.

And "When He Sees Me" from Waitress, when she first meets Odysseus. As she does not trust him and doesn't think he "really means it" and she's kind of making excuses until she can't and it's a confrontation between.

There are not many songs about sneaky women other than ones about having an affair which is so NOT Penelope :'D There's most that are about sneaky couples but never about one person that's still saying "that makes you cool af" you know??

14.) Fashion aesthetic!!! The nice thing about being a naiad is that if her clothes get dirty, a quick flick of her wrist means she can clean herself up really quick. And because of this, she does like looking nice and prefers clothing and jewelry that she can move freely in and won't "drag her down" while swimming. With Jewelry, that's probably smaller but intricate earrings, broaches, necklaces, rings, headpieces, etc. (she has a habit of breaking bracelets, idk why she just does.) And ofc, will often have items to honor Athena :D

I'd like to think it'd be partially why she is so into weaving (as from what I've researched Noble Spartan women didn't do that, the slaves did. Granted that was in later periods but I'm going with what we've got and even though I'm going with the idea of everybody just doing what they're good at, no gender roles are really considered.) While sewing wasn't something done in Ancient Greece, I do love the thought of Penelope basically folding the fabric in ways that cause a lil pocket for her to sneak shit. >:D Lapis Lazuli is her favorite stone to wear.

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

Okay, so! Since I first into the Epic Cycle stuff with Epic, I had basically gone with what everyone else kind of thought of her as. Quiet, sad, sneaky...sad, 🙃 as... most depictions of her are basically her being a wife and mother, her crying while unweaving the shroud, Odysseus thinking of her which yes!!! All true!!! But then I read the Odyssey and holy shit, she's so fucking cool and I wish more people talked in depth about her own silliness and personality outside of those things!!!

The "Sneeze of Death", her staring down that one suitor who was all like "What??!?! Kill your son?!!? NOOOOOO" and just refusing to take his bullshit, How she grabs Odysseus by the scruff because "Uh, I love you and we'll get to smooching but what did you say about a prophecy???", not only because she WILL get the answers she needs from you no matter what but also because she KNOWS her husband will tell her. How she absolutely KNEW the beggar was her husband, (Ima write an analysis on that soon...along with Odysseus' "rules"....and how "You can have Penelope be a fighter in your fics... but don't you DARE make her fight the suitors without Odysseus there." essay thing...I have a lot :'D ) There's so many other little moments that shine through as remember, girly is STRESSED TF OUT!!! She's just been found out with her unraveling, she's trying to keep her son, herself, and her palace/authority safe. She is going through so much!!! She's so incredibly cautious!!! She's so silly!!! ioh;isdjk I really love exploring her and her character so much!!!

I love her so much 🥺 She could rob everything I own and I'd be fine with that

#shot by odysseus #Mad rambles #Water Wife #nikoisme #ask #I have ideas about the fashion stuff but idk how I'd incorporate it. as with Spartan women wearing shorter stuff and even being called #“Thigh showers” by foreigners. is such a funny concept and with Odysseus' 'fine thighs'??? THE SILLINESS THAT COULD COMMENCE?! #but idk :P

[fleurdelily]

— DIABOLIK LOVERS AS SONGS : marina edition

characters. shu, reiji, ayato, kanato, laito, subaru, yui

warnings. suggestive content, dark content

୭ৎ ࣪ ׅ ⊹ SHU SAKAMAKI

family jewels - marina

i can't break the cycle, am i just a fool ?

falling down like dominoes, hit by family jewels

pass it down from kid to kid, the chain will never end

less i decide to go to it, will i see the end ?

oh, don't you find it strange ?

only thing we share is one last name

Did i beat you at your own game ?

typical of me to put us all to shame

୭ৎ ࣪ ׅ ⊹ REIJI SAKAMAKI

are you satisfied ? - marina

it’s not my problem if you don't see what i see

and i do not give a damn if you don't believe

my problem, it's my problem

that i never am happy

it’s my problem, it's my problem

on how fast i will succeed

are you satisfied with an average life ?

do i need to lie to make my way in life ?

high achiever, don't you see ?

baby, nothing comes for free

they say i’m a control freak

driven by a greed to succeed

nobody can stop me

୭ৎ ࣪ ׅ ⊹ AYATO SAKAMAKI

oh no - marina

don’t do love, don't do friends

i’m only after success

don’t need a relationship

i’ll never soften my grip

one track mind, one track heart

if i fail, i'll fall apart

maybe it is all a test

cause, i feel like i’m the worst

so i always act like i’m the best

if you are not very careful

your possessions will possess you

tv taught me how to feel

now real life has no appeal

୭ৎ ࣪ ׅ ⊹ KANATO SAKAMAKI

obsessions - marina

sunday, wake up, give me a cigarette

last night's love affair is looking vulnerable in my bed

silk sheet, blue dawn

colgate, tongue warm

won't you quit your crying?

i can't sleep

one minute, i’m a little sweetheart

and next minute, you are an absolute creep

we’ve got obsessions

i want to wipe out all the sad ideas that come to me, when i am holding you

we've got obsessions

all you ever think about are sick ideas involving me, involving you

୭ৎ ࣪ ׅ ⊹ LAITO SAKAMAKI

teen idle - marina

i wanna be a bottle blonde

i don't know why but i feel conned

i wanna be an idle teen

i wish i hadn't been so clean

i wanna stay inside all day

i want the world to go away

i want blood, guts, and chocolate cake

i wanna be a real fake

feeling super, super, super suicidal

the wasted years, the wasted youth

the pretty lies, the ugly truth

and the day has come where i have died

only to find, i’ve come alive

i wanna be a virgin pure

a twenty-first century whore

i want back my virginity

so i can feel infinity

i wanna drink until i ache

i wanna make a big mistake

i want blood, guts, and angel cake

i’m gonna puke it anyway

i wish i wasn't such a narcissist

i wish i didn't really kiss

the mirror when i’m on my own

oh god, i’m gonna die alone

୭ৎ ࣪ ׅ ⊹ SUBARU SAKAMAKI

numb - marina

i can't breathe, and i can't smile,

this better be worth my while.

i feel numb most of the time,

the more I get the higher,

i’ll climb, and i will wonder why,

i got dark only,

to shine.

far gone families, far gone friends,

that's how it started, and how it ends,

i can't open up and cry, cause i've been saddened all my life.

୭ৎ ࣪ ׅ ⊹ YUI KOMORI

ancient dream in a modern land - marina

our ancestors had to fight to survive

just so we could have a chance of a life

ancient dreams in a modern land

i’m trying to get back as fast i can

back to a time before i had form

back to a time before i was born

you don't have to be like everybody else

you don't have to fit into the norm

you are not here to conform

i am here to take a look inside myself

recognize that i could be the eye, the eye of the storm

i am not my body, not my mind or my brain

not my thoughts or feelings, i am not my DNA

i am the observer, i’m a witness of life

i live in the space between the stars and the sky

#belle’s works ౨ৎ #diabolik lovers ౨ৎ #diabolik boys #diabolik lovers #diahell #laito sakamaki #ayato sakamaki #dl #subaru sakamaki #shu sakamaki #reiji sakamaki #kanato sakamaki #yui komori #diabolik lovers headcanons

[taem-min-archived2]

immortals || k.kb

PAIRING || Key x Female Reader

GENRES || Soulmate AU, Mystical AU, Angst

SUMMARY || Soul (noun):  the spiritual or immaterial part of a human being or animal, regarded as immortal.

COLLAB || Part of the Eternally Yours: The Soulmate Exhibit collab by @sungbeam​​. Thank you for letting me take part in this collab! Check out the collab here!

WORD COUNT || 5.7k

A/N || Slight inspiration from ancient dreams and see you in my 19th life. Also thanks to @jaynaur​ for helping me get some inspo in these dry times.

TAGLIST || @shrutiajit​ @exoxobsession​ @woo-minhee02​ @buttvi​ @vllxchor @stayinzencity​ @ahtisa02​ @spacebyuns​ @midnightmoi​ @xavi-in-kpopland​ @fifty-shades-of-mischeif​ @whatudoing​ @justchuji @myluv-yeonjun​ @cara-18​ @ongshimi​ @xuxibelle​ @yerimezzy @trashlord-007​ (If you want to be added to my taglists, fill in this form)

A misty breath escaped her mouth as she sighed, the cold air clinging against her skin, no matter how much she pulled her drape closer to her body. Winter had begun earlier than usual this time, causing the days to feel much colder. The trees in her garden had already shed their leaves and neither were there any squirrels or birds lurking on them, enveloping her house in an empty silence.

But it was something she had gotten used to over the years. It was something she had to get used to. Somewhere down the street, she heard a group of children laugh, and a small smile tugged on her lips. It was nice to hear other people laugh and smile. It somehow bought a sense of calmness over her, which was something she rarely felt. 

Living was painful for her, but so was death. Y/N honestly didn’t know which she dreaded more. She really wished this endless cycle of pain would stop but that would have been a very selfish move. Especially when she knew that they would be hurting.

A crash came from behind, jolting her from her reverie and she walked back into the house. Y/N found a broken cup on the floor and she glared at the teapot on the table.

“Sorry.” A wisp of smoke arose from it, partially taking the form of an old man. “You were out there too long. We were worried you would catch a cold.”

Y/N sighed, picking up the broomstick to sweep away the broken porcelain. “You could have called. And also, just because we figured out that this cup doesn’t have a soul doesn’t mean that we can break it.

“Sorry Y/N.” This time a young girl’s spirit from the vase spoke. “We did want to call but what if the neighbours heard us?” 

“Still…” But their argument was right. After all, she was the only one who had discovered that objects had souls too. And for this truth, she had to pay a heavy price. A price that pained her both mentally and physically. A price of her soul.

In a world where lovers were connected by the string of fate, you were given a chance to find your soulmate throughout all your lives. Most people tried to find theirs within their given lifespans because not finding one had a heavy punishment: you remembered your previous life. And you kept on remembering all your lives, pain and happy memories until you found your soulmate.

Only a soulmate would be able to end the cycle of remembering. For Y/N, the hard part wasn’t finding a soulmate. Since everyone was always on the lookout of finding theirs, you were bound to find your soulmate in the given life itself. But the hard part for her was the fact that she didn’t have a soul. 

“Should we get going for today?” Y/N asked, stuffing a piece of bread into her mouth as she hurriedly wore her apron and packed her tools into her bag. She tried sounding cheerful because she didn’t want the antiques in her house to be burdened by her sadness. She didn’t want them to blame themselves for her current state. 

“Y/N, be careful out there!” 

“Don’t forget to eat your lunch!”

“Don’t be back home too late, it gets darker earlier nowadays!”

“Don’t worry about me, I promise to take care of myself!” She yelled back as she dashed out of the house. Even if she never had a soulmate and had forgotten what it was to be loved by someone who wasn’t family, she was glad of these companions she had made.

Some of them had been with her since her very first life. Since she remembered every single life, she had always tried to collect the antiques she had lost in her previous life just so that they could be together for another lifetime. 

By the time she had stepped out, it had begun snowing. The snow grew thicker by the time it was evening, slowing down business more than usual.  Y/N had been mending a damaged clock when she heard the bells of the temple ring nine times, indicating the time. Suddenly, realising how late she was and how worried the spirits at her home would be, she hurriedly packed up her things and closed the shop. 

The snow had begun falling more thickly and the road was completely covered in a white blanket. It was hard telling where the sidewalk ended or where the road started but Y/N kept towards the sides just in case. There weren’t many people at this hour nor were there many cars on the street. She hurried on, feeling apprehensive all of a sudden and pulled her cloak closer to her body, dismissing the feelings as cold.

Y/N turned towards an alley, pausing for a second at how dark it was. She wondered if she should just stick to the main road but deciding that she was already too late today, she continued walking. It was lonelier here, with almost no street lights or even houses in the vicinity. The feeling of foreboding grew in her heart and all of a sudden she froze. 

Just as she had predicted, the sound of footsteps that had been following her for quite some time too stopped. Her eyes scanned her surroundings as she felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up. 

Y/N began walking away, this time with a much more quickened pace as she ignored how much colder she was feeling. It’s going to be okay. She thought to herself. The street is coming to an end. I can just-

She turned back just to make sure she wasn’t wrong and at the same time, the man ran towards her. A scream tore her throat as she stumbled back, slipping on the ice and falling down. Y/N saw a flash of silver in his hands and squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the stabbing pain but nothing came.

Instead, she heard the sound of knuckles hitting something hard, followed by a crash as though a body was thrown across the street. Slowly opening her eyes, Y/N saw another man standing in front of her with his back facing her and the person following her lying on the street. She looked up at him and at the same time, he turned towards her, their eyes meeting. She felt a shiver run up her spine as the man’s cold eyes flicked through her. 

She had met people whose eyes didn’t hold any emotions, almost soulless like hers. But never had she seen someone whose eyes were so lively, almost looking like their coldness could burn through her skin. Y/N could nearly see flames dancing in his eyes. Somehow, that made her more scared and she inched away from him a little. 

“Don’t worry. I’m not here to harm you.” He said. Extending his hands towards her, he looked at her expectantly. Y/N tried to think of what he might have wanted from her but seeing that he had saved her this once she had no other option but to accept his hand.

She had expected his hand to be cold just like his eyes but to her surprise, they were warm in a comforting way. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she felt a sense of familiarity but nothing came to her mind presently so she dismissed the feelings.

“Er, thank you.” She muttered, unable to meet his eyes. Something about his intense eyes seemed to scare her. “I’ll, uh, get going now.”

But as she was about to remove her hands from his, he tightened his grip on hers. She looked up at him in surprise and felt another shiver run down her spine. He was looking at her so lividly that she felt like it was her mistake he had gotten pulled into her mess.

“Oh no, you are not going anywhere. You have a lot of explaining to do Y/N.”

Y/N wasn’t sure what had gotten into her but here she was, standing beside the stranger as he cooked dinner in her house. At first, she was terrified of how he had come to know her name but then he explained a little and that’s how he ended up being invited to her house. He had asked for dinner as payment for saving her life but upon finding her house was practically empty, he had taken up the task to cook them dinner.

“So, um,” She began the conversation awkwardly, not sure what to ask. Judging from the way he was cooking, she figured that he must be a professional cook too. “Your name is Kibum and you are a soul collector?”

“That’s right.” He said, tossing the vegetables in the pan. His temper had cooled down by the time they had reached her house but he seemed to snap again when he found out she barely had food in her house. The only reason she began a conversation now again was because he seemed to have calmed down once more.

“And you…collect the souls of the dead?” 

“That’s right.”

She already knew what a soul collector did but of course she had to pretend like she didn’t know. Most people eventually found their soulmates so even if they did remember what happened to them after their death, they would forget it after this life. But she remembered each and every single of her death, which was why dying was as painful as living for her. At least when she was alive she always had the antiques with her but in death, it was a cold, lonely and dark place. 

“So…you’ve come to take my soul because I was supposed to be killed by that man today? Then why did you save me?” She now realised what that feeling of foreboding she was feeling. Even after all her deaths, she could never guess it on time. 

The soul collector looked at her suspiciously. “You know an awful lot about this, don’t you?”

“Hahaha,” Y/N laughed nervously. “It’s just that-”

“Let’s cut to the chase shall we?” He interrupted her, placing the two plates on her dining table. He sat down and she followed suit, all of a sudden feeling scared. What if he had found out her secret? What was going to happen to her? What was going to happen to the antiques? She could feel the tension in the room but she didn't dare speak before Kibum did. 

“Where’s your soulmate?”

“Oh, uh, he’s- he’s I haven’t met him yet actually” She lied. “I’ve tried searching-”

“Is that so?” He tilted his head and studied her, as though he already knew the truth but was just teasing her. For some reason, this made her angry and she looked up at him, forgetting all her anger. “Yes. I haven’t bothered to look for them. To be honest, I don’t want to look for them. There isn’t any problem with that, right?” 

Kibum seemed taken aback by this response but he gained his composure almost immediately. “No, there isn’t a problem with that. But it does make soul collecting a bit difficult.”

“That isn’t my problem.” She said coldly. “Now if you excuse me, it would be better if you were on your way-”

“You don’t get it, do you?” He snapped all of a sudden, making her jolt back. Once again, she felt a sense of deja vu, like a distant memory she had forcibly forgotten. “There’s a huge problem if you don’t get a soulmate! It would have been fine if it was just one or two lives but I know that you haven’t had one for many lives! I’ve been noticing these abnormalities for quite some time and I'm sure it's just you being reborn. But here’s the main problem. You seem to remember even the period between each life. In other words, no soul collector comes to you when you die. Why do you think it's like that?”

Kibum was standing by now and peering at her angrily, causing Y/N to gulp in fear. How did he figure out so much? Did that mean all the soul collectors were after her now? 

“I-I don’t know-” she stammered when he cut her again coldly.

“It’s because you don’t have a soul.”

She could only stare at him, hands clutching under the table as she held her breath in fear. What was going to happen to her now? What was going to happen to her antiques? Would she be punished now according to the laws of the soul?

“I’m sorry.” was all she could say.

“Sorry is not going to solve-”

“I know that okay?” She snapped, her voice rising. “You think I like the fact that I don’t have a soul? Do you know how hard it has been for me all these years? As though the loneliness wasn’t enough but the pain of remembering everything is just too much! There are so many things I want to forget and yet I- I-” Y/N felt her voice choke as tears brimmed her eyes. 

Kibum looked at her as though he understood her pain. He stood up and cleared away their plates, turning his back to her. “You don’t need to explain to me now. Get some rest. We have a lot to do tomorrow.”

“What about you?”

He looked at her questioningly. “What about me?”

“Where are you going to sleep?”

He looked at her hurt and offended but Y/N could see the look of mischief underneath that facade.  “Why, are you not going to let me sleep here?”

“Excuse me!” 

“Sheesh, I’m just going to be in the living room. Don’t worry, I won’t creep into the bedroom. I have some manners. Unless…you want me to freeze to death in the backyard?”

“...Make yourself comfortable.”

“What does he even want?” Y/N muttered to herself angrily as she shovelled the snow from her front yard. “Why is he even here if he doesn’t even want to talk business yet?”

“He was so aggressive yesterday and yet today, he hasn’t spoken a word about it?” The porcelain vase beside her asked. She shook her head angrily before muttering once more. “I couldn’t even get a good night’s rest because of him.”

All night she had tossed and turned in her bed for two reasons. One being that Kibum apparently didn’t need any sleep. So he took this opportunity to ‘tidy’ her house. The whole night all she heard was the clattering and shuffling of things. Another reason she didn’t get a wink of sleep was because her mind was elsewhere. His words had reminded her once more of how lonely she was and she racked her brains hard trying to remember her first life. The faint feeling of being loved was lingering in the back of her head but no matter how hard she tried to remember, she couldn’t remember who it was, or if it was all just a part of her imagination. 

“You are the owner of the house!” The vase whispered to her. His spirit was almost a thousand years old and she always listened to his advice. “You should be the one commanding him, not the other way around! How dare he go around threatening you!”

“That prick! I should-”

“Darling, why do you keep talking to yourself?”

“D-Darling?” She stuttered angrily, turning to glare at Kibum who was leaning against the door frame, smirking at her. “Who do you think-”

All of a sudden she felt the ground under her dissolve, the world growing dim around her. The air around her felt different, somehow warmer as though it was a different season. Y/N tried blinking to clear her sight but the world was still blurry and dizzy around her. She could faintly make out Kibum standing against the door, but now he was wearing different clothes, much ancient ones. His hair too was styled in a different way and he was smiling at her. 

“Darling, why do you keep talking to yourself?” He repeated his question once more, even though it felt like he was talking to her underwater. But yet, she felt that this time the question was asked in a more teasing way, and she could hear the faint touch of affection in his voice.

Her mouth opened on her own and she heard herself repeat the same this time, but this time sounding more flustered than angry.

“D-Darling? Who do you think you are calling darling?”

“Darling?” His voice sounded clearer and this somehow jolted her back to reality. Everything around her cleared but Y/N could still feel her head spinning slightly. She looked at Kibum and expected him to have the same expression but instead, he was looking at her in shock. Judging by his expression, he too had just experienced what she had.

“What was that?” She asked angrily. If he was a soul collector he should be able to tell what had happened right now, right? 

But Kibum only stared at her, his shocked expression slowly turning to that one of pain. 

“Kibum?” Her anger died down a little and she took a step closer to him, only for him to stumble back. “W-Wait- Stop-” He looked like he had seen a ghost, and for some reason, that hurt her a bit, like it was her fault that he was like this. “I-I’m not sure but d-don’t come closer!” Saying that he dashed back into the room. She stood staring at his retreating figure for some time, before going back to her work.

No matter how much Y/N tried to wrap her head around this, she just couldn’t make sense of it more than the fact that it might have been one of her past lives. People barely remembered all the details of their current lives, so it wasn’t possible for her to remember each and everything unless it had affected her emotionally. She definitely didn’t remember anything from her first few lives except how she ended up in this repeated cycle.

Now that she thought of it, how was she sure that that was her first life? It could be that that was the first life she remembered. Maybe she had a soulmate in all her previous lives. She wondered who was her soulmate in her first life and what had happened to him. All of a sudden, a sickening thought came to her mind, one she had never thought of all the years she was alive. What had actually happened to her soulmate? Surely he was able to find another one, right? It couldn’t be possible that he too was roaming around without one, sharing her pain and burden of remembering his past lives, could he?

This very thought made her knees go weak and she sat down on her verandah. How could she have never thought of him even once? If anything had happened to him it was her fault. 

All of a sudden, an idea popped into her head.

“Hey,” she said, speaking to the vase beside her. “Do you think soul collectors have a list of names from whom they collect souls or something?” 

“I suppose so. Or else, how would they keep track of you not having a soulmate?” 

“Do you think this is the right time to talk about something sensitive?”

“I would not suggest it. Given his prickly personality, he will probably lash out on you.”

She sighed, realising that the vase was right. But for some reason, she felt uncomfortable about leaving him just like that, when it was clear that he was shaken up by what he had seen. Was it because he was her guest and she couldn’t bear to leave him like that? Or was it the fact that for some reason he looked familiar to her?

Y/N trudged back into the house, wondering what she was going to say to him. She always thought soul collectors were gods, celestial beings that had never experienced any human emotions. But from seeing KIbum, she wondered how one ended up as a soul collector in the first place. Were they chosen? Or were some people just born to do it?

She found him sitting on the steps of her house, staring at her front door listlessly. Standing behind him, Y/N racked her head, trying to think of how she should approach him. She didn’t want to anger him more now that he knew her secret. But more importantly, she didn’t want to hurt him more.

“Is my back that beautiful?”

His cocky voice jolted her back to the present, throwing out the little pity she had felt for him. Rolling her eyes, she sat down beside him, looking at him expectantly. He sighed and looked at her questioningly, as though asking what.

He looked like his usual self, not even a trace of sadness even in his eyes. It was as though the hurt person she had seen a few minutes before was just a figment of her imagination.

“Are you okay?” She asked.

Kibum looked at her like she was asking an obvious question. She resisted the urge to get up and storm away from him. “Of course I am. Why shouldn’t I be?”

“I don’t know, you didn’t look alright a few minutes before. You looked…hurt.”

At this he scoffed, turning his face away from her. “Soul collectors don’t feel emotions. I can’t feel hurt.” 

Even though he stressed on the can’t, to her it sounded like he was just shutting out his feelings no matter what. Sunlight was directly falling on his eyes now and you were squinting against it. She sighed in exasperation and gently turned his shoulders towards her.

“Don’t face the sun-” All of a sudden Y/N realised how close they were. She was still holding his shoulders and his face was just inches away from her. From this up close, she could see his pale skin and the slight flush his pale cheeks had. His eyes flicked over her face in surprise and she felt heat rush up her cheeks. She let him go and turned away a little, feeling as flustered as him. 

“So- um-” She stuttered, trying to change the subject with whatever came into her mind. “Do you like flowers?”

“F-flowers? Yeah, I like- I like flowersuns. I-I mean sunflowers. Yeah I like them a lot.” He looked at her surprised, his expression more scared than relieved for the change of topic. His usually cool demeanour seemed to be completely gone now that he stumbled upon his own words. For some reason she found it funny and a giggle escaped her mouth.

“W-what? Why are you laughing?” He whined, and that made her crack into laughter even more. 

“I don’t know.” She said, “It's just…very funny seeing you so flustered.”

He glared at her and muttered a ‘I hate you’. She smiled at him, feeling all the tension that had built previously disappear. The corners of his lip too curled up to a smile and she realised how beautiful he was. With the sunlight falling on his face lightly, Kibum looked almost godlike and it made her wonder whether good looks came with the soul collectors package. Again, the strong sense of familiarity enveloped her but this time she ignored it, choosing to enjoy the comfortable silence between them.

“I've made dinner for us.” Kibum announced, like it was a daily routine he followed. He moved towards the kitchen just as Y/N came in through the living room.

“You are still here?” Y/N asked jokingly as she took off her coat and hung it on the coat stand. It had been snowing heavily today too but she didn’t make the mistake of staying out late at night like she had yesterday. Kibum had indirectly threatened her that if she ended up dying before he got to question her, he would personally haunt her. Though, she pointed out, it would have been the other way around since she was the one who was dead.

“Of course. I still didn’t question you.” He said, placing the dishes on the table. She looked at all the dishes he made impressively. She didn’t cook much usually since she never had a proper appetite, but somehow the smell of his food made her feel hungry, as though she hadn’t eaten in a long time.

“Do you like it?” She looked up at him and he was smirking at her, but she nodded happily. “It's been a long time since I had good food. Somewhere down the line, I just lost interest you know…” her voice trailed off but Kibum nodded.

“I understand. Being immortal…isn’t all that glamorous as people paint it to be. Soon even the smallest things that give you pleasure too feel like a burden.”

She stared at him. For the first time in all her lives, she felt understood. Y/N clutched the chair hard, feeling as though she had just lifted a huge rock off her chest. Of course Kibum could relate to her. Being a soul collector must have been painful for him too.

“Shall we?” He asked, motioning to her chair. She nodded and sat down, picking up a spoon to decide on what to try first.

“So do you eat such good food on a regular basis?” She asked.

“Of course not. But I do enjoy cooking sometimes for my guests.”

“Guests?”

“Yes of course. You didn’t think that soul collectors can’t have friends, did you?”

“No I didn’t. But given your personality I just wondered-”

“Hey!”

She laughed before smiling at him apologetically. It had been a really long time since she had an interaction like this and somehow this was making her giddy and light. When was the last time she had talked to someone so freely, laughed like this or even smiled at? Over the years she had slowly shut out people. Maybe this was why Kibum had said he couldn’t feel emotions? Because of the burden of remembering rather than because he was a soul collector?

Shaking off these heavy thoughts from her mind, Y/N turned her attention back to her food, still unable to choose which food to start with. Kibum chuckled at her indecisiveness and picked up her bowl, placing a little of everything in it. 

“Sheesh how have you been living on your own if you can’t even take care of yourself?” 

“Don’t put any cucumb-”

“I know.”

“Huh?” The two of them looked at each other in confusion. How had he known that she didn’t like cucumbers? 

For the second time that day, she felt the world swim around her. Once again, it felt like she had travelled back in time, but in the exact same setting.

“You are such a baby, you know.” She heard Kibum say, his annoyed voice sounding afar. And yet, he picked out all the cucumbers from her dish and placed it in his, smiling at her softly.

This time she jolted back to present almost immediately, feeling nauseous from the memory. Now she was sure they had met in some life, but judging how lovingly he had looked at her and how her past self responded back, she was suspicious that it was her first life.

Then did she actually have a soulmate? Kibum looked ghastly, cold sweat dripped all over his face and Y/N felt her heart twist in pain. 

“Kibum?” She whispered. “Are you okay?” 

He shut his eyes tight, as though trying to forget what he had just seen. Slowly, she got up and walked to the other side of the table, sitting down beside him. Then gently putting a hand on his shoulder, she softly asked him once again. “Kibum? Is something wrong?”

She heard him take a shaky breath and she froze. Was he crying? 

“Why did you do that?” He asked, causing her to be taken aback. What was he talking about?

“Are you talking about the memories? I don’t know-”

“I meant,” he asked, turning towards her. Tears were running down his cheeks and she felt a familiar stabbing pain, one she had forgotten long ago. “I meant why did you leave me?”

“Leave-”

And it was as though he had asked a magical question because all of a sudden memories of her first life came flooding back into her head. 

“Wait for me!” 

Y/N turned towards the voice chasing her, laughing at his annoyed face as he stumbled to catch up with her. She had been running across the field for quite some time, and he had been chasing her, despite complaining of how he didn’t care much of where she wandered off to.

“What is it? You are pretty slow, you know?” 

“You are too fast. I’m not slow.” Kibum huffed as he caught up with her. He grabbed her hand and pulled her down, sitting to catch his breath. She let out a laugh and edged closer to him, giving their entwined hands a squeeze. His annoyed face broke into a smile, before he quickly leaned in to give her a peck on the lips.

“H-Hey!” Y/N stuttered, heat rushing up to her cheeks. “You can’t do that! You should at least give me a warning.” She muttered, fingers lightly grazing her lips, still able to feel the tingle as his lips had grazed against hers.

Kibum laughed once more. “Fine, I’ll warn you next time, okay darling?” The pet name caused her to flush more furiously and Kibum took it as a yes. Slowly, he leaned in, his eyes never leaving hers. She stared back at him, unable to look away. He looked so beautiful that she felt that her heart was going to pop out of her chest any moment now. She was sure even he could hear her heart hammering. Unable to control the excitement she was feeling right now, Y/N shut her eyes. She felt his soft lips graze against hers, and before she could stop herself, she kissed him back.

It definitely wasn’t their first kiss, but each time they kissed, it felt like a whole new feeling for her, as though she was falling in love with him again. She gripped on his shoulder, as his hands cradled her face, bringing her even more close than they already were.

Finally, they ran out of breath and broke apart, foreheads still touching as they gasped to catch their breaths. 

“Hey.” She whispered, and Kibum smiled at her softly, asking her to go on. “Do you think I’ll be able to find you in our next life too?” 

“Why?” He asked, raising an eyebrow jokingly. “Already tired of me?”

She wrapped her arms around his neck, snuggling into his body. He too wrapped his arms around her, pulling her closer to him. His scent had always been comforting to her and right now this was the place she felt the most loved. 

“I want to be yours forever.”

“Me too. I love you so much. Promise me you’ll never leave me.”

“I promise you. I love you, Kibum.”

“You promised me.” Kibum sobbed, clutching her hands as though begging her to look at him. But no matter what, she just couldn’t look up to meet his eyes. The guilt she was feeling right now was just too much. Just because she had sold her soul, he had ended up as a soul collector. He had to suffer just because of her.

“Y/N, darling, please just look at me.” His now familiar warm hands gently cradled her face, lifting it up so that their eyes met. Seeing his teary ones made her heart give a crushing squeeze, as tears flowed from hers too now.

“I-I’m sorry. I’m so sorry Kibum. I never knew-”

He cut her off by pulling her into a tight hug. She clutched his arms, as though afraid that he would leave her if she let him go. “I’m sorry Kibum. I never knew it would be like this.” Y/N sobbed. “You have every right to be mad at me-”

“Stop, okay? Just stop. I searched for you all these years but I never knew-”

“It hurt, didn’t it?” She broke away from his embrace and asked, looking at his shining eyes. “It hurt living all these years, didn’t it? This is all my fault. I'm so sorry.”

Kibum brushed his thumb across her cheek, wiping her tears. “But it hurt for you too didn’t it? Giving up your soul like that. What were you even thinking?” He whispered harshly. “W-Why don’t you think of yourself before others-”

“No. I didn’t think of you. I never thought of your pain or what you might have to face. I only thought of the antiques I used to mend-”

“You are wrong.” He interrupted her. “You knew the consequences you might have to face and yet you gave up your soul. If that isn’t selfless, then I don’t know what is. I’m sorry it took me so many years to find you. It must have hurt living like that.”

“Why are you apologising?” She could feel her voice cracking again. “You did nothing wrong. It's all my fault. I should have talked to you before making such rash decisions.”

“Then make up for it. Make up for all the years we lost.”

She blinked at him in surprise. Y/N just couldn’t understand how he had forgiven her so easily, despite what she had made him go through. But after all, that was love, wasn’t it? Even after all these years she could feel her heart beating for his, as though their souls were one. 

Then slowly, she leaned in and pressed a gentle kiss against his lips. His hand ran through her hair, tugging her closer. She felt a spark in her heart and it felt like the world that had once looked bleak to her had its colour returning back. He tasted salty and yet comforting. 

“I’ll make it up to you.” She whispered against his lips, feeling him smile. “After all, we are immortal.” 

A/N: Please do tell me what you think about this story!! I worked really hard on it and I would love to know everyone’s thoughts on it~ Comments and reblogs are appreciated!  

#eternally yours collab #╼ 𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐘𝐈𝐍𝐆 ↺ ❝ 𝐁𝐎𝐃𝐘 𝐑𝐇𝐘𝐓𝐇𝐌 ❞ ღ 𝐅𝐈𝐂𝐒 ⇝ 𝐈𝐌𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐀𝐋𝐒 #kwritersworldnet #wkcnet #prism.nw #key x reader #kibum x reader #shinee key x reader #shinee x reader #kim kibum x reader #key angst #shinee key

[crystallizedkingdoms]

his orpheus & her eurydice

Orpheus trusts that Eurydice is behind him. The devotee loves so hard she trips her muse.

wc: 5,179 / tw: (canonical) major character death, (canonical) suicide

you can also read this on ao3 <3

— Nulla. Myths

Myths are everlasting. They exist on the tongues of the ancients who told them, they travel through the fingers of those who wrote them down, and they spread through the minds of every single person who has ever heard them. They twist and they turn, and though they may change beyond our comprehension, they are still their myths. Those myths exist in the heart of every person. 

Some more than others.

These myths still walk among us. Their tongues, fingers, and minds intertwine in our lives in the form of flesh and bone. Reenacted myths cycle in our world, always living, never dying. Though they may look different, adapting to the changing times of the world around them, these stories still rush like the waters of the River Styx.

Look behind. See for yourself. Orpheus and Eurydice are no longer the Ancient Greek lovers that you remember. Gone are the days where the human man Orpheus brought gods to tears with his music. Gone are the days where the Auloniad woman, Eurydice, danced in fields of tall grasses and red carnations.

Orpheus lives in the heart of a woman that has music coursing through her veins as she searches for a life better than the one that came before. Orpheus’ new name is Vella Wilde, and she has begun her descent into the Underworld, crawling into a humid manhole. 

Eurydice lives in the heart of a man with snake bites on his lips, not his ankle. There is a weight on his precious soul that drags him down, down, down, far beneath the tall grasses and dirt. Eurydice’s new name is Rory Mancer, and he has been trapped in the Underworld for far too long.

Unlike their forms, the rules of their myth— of all myths— have remained the same. A myth has an ending, even when it is told countless times. We know the story like the back of our hand, don’t we? Eurydice follows right behind; out of sight, but never out of mind. Orpheus can not look back at Eurydice. He looks back anyway.

Look behind. This is the story weaved into Fate. The Moirai keep watch as they always have.

There is no other ending to this story.

—

I. Clotho

Vella holds Rory’s hand behind her as she leads them out of the sewer. His head hangs low, his blond hair obscuring his eyes, but Vella can hear his breathing has improved and that’s all she can ask for right now.

They’re almost out. Although the sewers twist and turn, distorted by the presence of a Soul Survivor, Vella keeps pushing on. The air gets less heavy as they inch closer to their exit, but it clings to her clothes like a desperate lover. Trying to drag her down. She keeps on pushing, watching the two boys in front of her stumble their way out and feeling the boy behind her follow her tail.

She should have known better, Vella tells herself. She should have recognized exactly what Rory meant when he said he felt his sister’s presence in some place as filthy as this sewer. How couldn’t she figure it out? It’s sloppy on her part. Irresponsible.

Vella wonders if it’s her fault. What good was she doing, pretending like there’s some cosmic plan in all of this? Alex always tried to connect some idea of Fate to Sammy, but never before has Vella been more glad that she grew up in a reality where Fate was seen as the sham she is. What good is Fate doing her here?

Vella forces her way through a hazy hole of darkness, the twisted nature of these breaks in reality tiring her to the bone. She couldn’t let that show in her body, though. No, not at all. Not when she can hear Rory’s breathing get increasingly faint as they near the true exit. Winding stairs and broken ladder rungs are all Vella can see as this underworld tries to claim the man behind her. She tightens her grip on the hand inside hers. The weight feels lighter than normal, but Vella tries to believe it’s still his hand. That he hasn’t slipped away.

Some part of Vella wants to look back. It’s a stupid and reckless idea and she knows it. She can’t afford to lose her path when she’s so close to the exit. Especially when she could be endangering someone else’s life instead of just her own. 

But she can’t help but feel this urge, deep in the hole of her heart, to turn back and check on Rory. His breathing is faint and his hand feels like it is slipping away with each passing moment and Vella thinks she might lose him. She has no reason to believe this. So, she does not.

Vella trusts that Rory is behind her.

They climb through the world underneath the surface, trudging back into reality. The crisp breeze of the night air sends a chill down Vella’s spine, and she knows for certain they have finally made it out of the sewers. She allows herself to revel in getting out of that hellscape. She gives herself permission to bask in the cold air and enjoy the presence of solid ground under her feet. Vella doesn’t even notice Rory slipping out of her hand.

The air feels like freedom.

Then Vella gathers herself up. No more time for relief. She can not allow herself more time to avoid thinking about their situation. Okay Vella, think, think, she reminds herself. 

Rory seethes behind Vella. His breath is irregular again. She can sense it without even having to see it. She hears it, a disconcerting rhythm that fluctuates so erratically. She hears it even when the fighting starts and Rory starts yelling so loud and starts hiding his face. 

Vella turns around…

…and sees Rory hunched over on himself. He is still standing. Vella coaxes him to breathe with her. In. Out. Yeah, just like that. Just like that. Her hands roam to Rory’s arms to keep him steady. As if a stiff breeze might knock him over, send him tumbling back down into the sewer’s depths. But Rory is still standing, still breathing, still living. Still with Vella.

All the while Alex keeps fucking talking and saying all the wrong things and Vella thinks she might just tell him off when Rory rips himself out of her grasp. Vella watches as he runs back to his home, taking with him the comfortable weight of his hand and a shortness of breath Vella can’t calm down.

Vella doesn’t realize she’s been so focused on those details until after they’ve all split up. She doesn’t realize how he occupies her thoughts more than anybody else, nor does she realize just how desperate she is to see him again and make sure he’s okay.

Vella doesn’t realize that they haven’t left the Underworld yet.

—

II. Lyre

Gentle arms embrace Vella’s waist from behind and bring a warmth she’s feeling more often at this point in her life. Vella melts into the touch, but not completely. Her arms stay upright to keep her keytar in its proper position, so she can play a familiar tune. Only Rory, who sits behind her wordlessly, is the audience to this melody.

It hadn’t been very long since they met, but Vella feels more comfortable than ever to perform for Rory. Sure, it isn’t much— Vella is far from confident enough to do anything more complex than these simple tunes, much less sing in front of him— but it seems to be enough for him. 

Rory hovers his head above Vella’s shoulder, not quite letting it rest fully, but close enough for her to know he’s there at all. All she can feel of him is his arms around her body and his breath hitting the skin of her neck.

Rory’s breath. Vella closes her eyes as she plays, and without telling them to do so, her fingers play to the tempo of Rory’s breathing. Slow, like all human breathing. In. Out. Vella allows it to flood her senses, and it fills her music to the brim. Like it was meant to be there all along. Gentle and unique. Divine.

But it is strange. At certain points, Rory’s breathing quickens, and his grip on Vella’s body tightens without warning. Vella’s music reflects this change, picking up its pace and becoming messier in the process. It is not intentional, but Vella picks up on it. She wonders if she should ask. She wonders if she should turn her head, look her friend in the eyes, and ask him what he is thinking about.

Vella takes control of her music. She tries not to recreate his breathing. Instead, she plays a song she knows Rory likes. From one of his favourite bands, Vella has tried learning it over the past couple of weeks. She can hardly remember the title, she tried to only remember the simple instrumentals. Something about hope in snow? Not important.

What is important is that Vella plays it easily. It’s recognizable, she realizes, when Rory physically relaxes and stops holding her so tightly. His breathing ebbs back into a normal rhythm and it makes Vella’s heart flutter in a very specific way that she wishes it would stop doing. Vella thinks that this will be enough to make her stop worrying about him. 

But she feels that urge to look back at Rory when she does not hear him hum along to her music. It is such a small thing to focus on, but just like his breathing, she’s become so acutely aware of when he hums along and when he does not. Air tickles her neck and reminds her of his presence, but she is not quite comforted as she usually is. Sing for me, please, she wants to beg.

Vella wonders why she cares so much. There’s a need in her that sprouts like a carnation flower waiting to be nurtured. She pokes and prods at Rory in these subtle ways, hoping that her friend can take it into his hands and fulfill that need. In a friendly way, of course. Just as friendly as his arms around her waist.

Her need hangs in the air like a songbird in flight, but Vella’s mouth does not comply with her heart. She keeps it shut tight and lets her hands sing her worries for her. Besides, if something was wrong, Rory would certainly tell her at this point, right? She can feel his arms around him, evidence of his existence. They are so close. Always getting closer. There is no reason Rory would not tell her if something was wrong, right?

Right. Of course. How could Vella doubt him?

Vella trusts that Rory is behind her.

—

III. Lachesis

Vella wraps her arms around herself to fill the void around her body. Her bed is no longer the soft nest of eiderdown that she crawled into the minute her boss let her live in the apartment above her workplace. Her sheets are warm as they’ve always been, but they stick to her skin like sweat on a brow.

In the dark of the night, in the stench of the lonely, Vella’s bed is a cold, hard cave floor. Her right side aches as she rests on the icy surface. Her skin prickled with goosebumps, her cheek scratched from jagged stone. She should not be here. She should not be cold. She should not be alone.

Right behind her, where she can’t see, Rory sleeps with her. His hands do not touch Vella’s skin as they have for many moons and his arms do not wrap around her body and pull her close as she desires. Vella does not know what he does with his hands now, for she stays agonizingly still and refuses to look at him.

This withholding of touch keeps Vella awake. Her thoughts are plagued with Rory and it infects her weakly beating heart. His distance grows with each passing day. He struggles to talk more than ever before, and rarely talks about the things going on in his life anymore. Vella’s attempts to pry fall short every time, and oh, how many attempts she has had to make recently.

Their search for the robot in the van has come up short time and time again. Rory says he is constantly looking for signs of the van and for Sammy in the meantime, and Vella wonders if that is part of what is making him so reclusive. She thinks about pulling Rory and herself away from the search, telling Alex, Please just give us some space. Let him rest. You can’t keep expecting us to throw everything away for some fake idea of Fate you think connects us to this robot. 

Maybe if she says this, Rory will come back to her. Maybe if she finally breaks free of this web of false cosmic plans, Vella will feel the sunlight shine down through the open mouth of the cave, turn her bed back to plush pillows and soft sheets. Then Rory can wrap his arms around her and pull her close, and she can hear the calm rhythm of his breathing.

Vella closes her eyes, letting the world lapse into darkness. A sudden heave, a quick shudder, breaks the calm. Vella hears Rory’s breathing crashing behind her like a tsunami to shore. It runs like a rushing river, in out in out in out in out. Vella wonders how long he’s been breathing like this. Did it start just now? Has it been happening since they first laid down on this dark cave floor? It is unnaturally fast. A discordant rhythm on the verge of unravelling.

Vella hears the song of her lover’s failing heart and wonders if Rory is really there.

Sing your song so I can hear you, Vella’s heart cries out.

Rory does not follow.

Wrap your arms around me so I can feel you, she begs.

He does not follow.

I can’t see your shadow on these cave walls. Won’t you prove that you will be here for me? We have gotten so far. Every day we’re searching for this, searching for that, and I think I am getting fucking tired of it. Every time we uncover something new, you drift even further from me. Why? Why are we doing this? Why can’t we just stop here? Please. We should just give up. Live normal lives. Working shitty minimum wage jobs and living in shitty homes. I don’t know what I’m doing anymore.  

I am scared, Rory.  

Vella swallows thickly. She hears Rory’s breathing slow down. Rolling into a normal rhythm. In. Out. Almost like those breathing exercises Vella gives him when he is having one of his episodes. Like the breathing exercise she gave him the first night they met. It does not comfort her. Comfort is a hard thing to come by nowadays.

But he is there. Rory is there for her, no matter how distant. That’s all that really matters. Just so long as she knows Rory will sleep beside her, in the same bed, on the same rocky ground. That will make this search worth it. That will bring some light into her dark life.

Vella trusts that Rory is behind her.

—

IV. Fall

Vella’s Soul drops beside her feet in doubt.

A sickness corrupts everything in Rory’s room as she stands in it. Vella tastes it in the air and hears it humming in her keytar and feels it deep in her myth-riddled heart. 

She saw it in Rory all day. It was in the way his hands fidget, how quiet he was the entire time she was there. He avoided every gentle inquiry on his wellbeing, deflected every comment on his health, grew stiff when Vella snaked her arms around his waist. All he did was sit and listen to Vella, rarely mumbling under his breath that he had something that needed to be done.

Alex disappeared with the android in the van. No one in their group has found any clue where he has gone. Every plan that Alex had came to a standstill. The boys feverishly work through ONISM to fill in the gap that neither Vella nor Chondra can care for. Vella wonders if this is causing the sudden stress, but no, she knows that can only be a tiny fraction of it all.

Vella hates it. She wants to tear her boyfriend back into the light and let the sun bathe their skin like she’s been wishing for. She hates that Rory won’t talk to her about anything, that he does not rush himself out of the cavernous darkness he has found himself in. She knows better than to think this, but when she sees him so hurried and so fearful, she wonders if he even trusts her to take care of him.

Does he even want to be with you? 

The thought slithers into Vella’s mind and a deep shame tries to stamp the idea to oblivion. How could she think of such a thing at a time like this? How could such a thought, a flicker it may be, occur to her when Rory has done nothing but be with her? Vella stuffs and stamps it out of the front of her mind, wishing with all her might that it can disappear in its entirety.

“Rory,” Vella finally says. She is sitting on his bed right next to him, but she does not face him. She only stares straight at his desk and the crumpled wads of notepapers that lie on it. “Come out with me. Let’s go on a walk?”

Rory shuffles beside her. “It’s late,” he whispers. He is not wrong. The sun has set not too long ago, the lingering light of wine-faced twilight being the only thing that graces Wind Town’s sky. It would not take much longer for true night to raid the world above and cloak the Wind Town residents in the dark. 

“When has that ever stopped us from doing anything?” Vella says, her voice gentle. A twinge of buried bitterness builds in the back of her throat, which she quickly clears. “Come on. Just a little walk around the neighbourhood, then you can walk me halfway to the bus stop. I won’t make you go the whole way this time. How does that sound?” she asks. 

Please, be with me. 

Rory fidgets with his hands. Vella sees it out of the corner of her eye and she has to bite her tongue. “I…��� Rory’s breath is steady and slow as he hesitates. She hears it loud and clear. It makes her uncomfortable. Vella is just about to tell him it’s fine if he doesn’t want to, when he continues with a sharp inhale, “Okay. Okay, yeah. Let’s go.”

Vella’s heart skips a beat. Songs and poems weave themselves back into the Soul that crawls up her leg and back into her body. Could this be it? she wonders. Rory finally agreeing to leave his home is more than anything Vella can dream of and she can almost taste a sliver of sunlight on her life.

Rory’s hand finds Vella’s on the bed. His long fingers wrap around hers and she holds it tighter than she has ever held him in their entire relationship. “Okay,” she laughs the word out, almost too joyous for an activity as simple as this one. But she does not care what Rory must think of that delivery because all she can think about is leaving with him.

No time is to be wasted. Vella stands from the bed, letting go of Rory’s hand to pat down her skirt. She hurriedly steps over piles of clothing and empty takeout cups. Without turning around, she can not see Rory staring at the hand she held so tightly for a lonesome moment, before shaking his head and getting up to follow her. Rory is right behind Vella as her hand rests on the yellow door’s rusty doorknob. 

Vella turns the knob and opens the door. Immediately, her searching eyes ascend the staircase before she does. They climb up, up, up, travelling the steep incline that ends at a plain white door flecked with dirt stains. She has climbed up and down these stairs so many times, but looking up at it now, a daunting sensation of dread sinks into her skin like snake fangs. 

Vella’s foot finds the first step.

And then the second.

Vella’s eyes fixate on the white door tainted with dirt. The mouth of the cave. The exit of the Underworld. The portal to the surface. It is there, when both Vella and Rory pass that barrier and drink up the last rays of sunrise, that she will make them bloom open. It is in the world of the living that Vella can sing for her lover. Out there is where she will coax him into spilling his true feelings. It is above the dirt where they can truly live.

Her footsteps sound like aged drums, thrumming with every step, but squeaking as they press against, then lift off old wood. The thin walls of this stairwell seem to sing her footsteps back to her. An orchestra that leads her further into her dream.

But Vella only hears her footsteps. Rory follows her. She should hear the squeaking of stair boards right behind her. There should be more drumming. Vella can’t hear them, no matter how hard she tries to strain her ears. Shouldn’t she hear them if he really is right behind her?

Breath catches in her throat. Vella’s lungs drag air inside of them and constantly demand more. Her breath quickens at the realization of the lack of footsteps and she hears it change speed. It echoes faintly, but it is noticeable, and she should be able to hear Rory’s with her.

But Vella only hears her breathing. Rory is supposed to follow her. She should hear his breathing, whether it be unnaturally slow or inhumanly fast, damn it, she should hear it! Vella can’t hear Rory breathing, even when she holds her own breath to catch a singular sound. She should hear them if he really is right behind her.

A thought flickers like a flame in Vella’s mind.

Does he even want to be with you? 

Vella tries to put it out, but the flame only grows with each passing step.

What if all this stress is getting to him? 

Vella cries out in her mind. The fire grows and she can’t ignore it as she could in the past. 

What if he wants to leave you? 

Vella is almost at the door, but the loneliness of these stairs, the uncertainty of it all, makes her feel sick.

What if he doesn’t love you? 

Vella is at the white door flecked with dirt. Right outside is the surface. An end to this long trek through the Underworld that she and her lover have been walking ever since they met. She only has to open it and walk out with him. That is all. That’s the only thing.

What if Rory isn’t behind you? 

Vella trusts that…

Her Orphic heart cries out for its Eurydice. Eurydice, Eurydice, please be there, please don’t leave me, please be with me, please don’t tell me I’m alone, I love you I love you I love you—

Vella turns around.

Her head whips around suddenly and quickly. It is only now that Vella sees him. He is so close to her, right behind her. He always has been. He’s been there the whole time. Right behind her. Never left. And her sudden whipping around catches Rory off guard that he tries to back up. Vella screams. His foot misses the step below.

Rory falls.

He tries to catch himself. His hands claw at the dirty walls, desperate for his second life, but his back soon hits the stairs, and he lets out a yell. He slips down a few more steps, limbs knocking and bruising on every step. He catches himself in the middle of the staircase. Rory has already shifted his body to kneel and hunch over himself rather than be on his back by the time Vella has gathered her senses and descended back down to check on her boyfriend. A privilege her myth has never had.

“Rory!! Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” Vella cries out, crouching on the stairs in front of him. Her hands roam across Rory’s shoulders, down his arms, up to his face. Searching his skin and examining his reactions to her touch. “Holy shit, Rory, I’m sorry. Are you hurt? That looked awful, fuck, I’m sorry.”

Rory’s head hangs low, his hair obscuring his face. He does not reply.

“Just, god, Rory, talk to me, please,” she chokes on a sob. When he does not do so, Vella reaches her hands up to his cheeks and she makes him look up at her without asking. “Please, say something…”

Rory looks up at her through his long hair and she sees the tears that spill out of his eyes. They flow, fresh and never ending, staining his cheeks and turning his eyes an irritated red. He sucks in a shaky breath, then his body curls in on itself. He sobs loudly, with no attempt to withhold it any longer. “Vella…” he croaks out in between sobs, but he does not get any further than that.

“Oh, Rory.” Vella pulls him close to her body. Rory throws his arms around her and Vella hates how her first thought is oh, finally. She hugs him tighter to make up for it. “Are you okay?” she repeats.

Rory stays in Vella’s embrace without saying a word. He sits there, crying into her clothing and making a mess on these stairs. When he finally pulls away, his breath is ragged, and it is too quick for comfort, but not hyperventilation, so that’s all Vella can be grateful for tonight. “Why did you turn like that?” he asks. “I was right there, I…”

Vella stares into Rory’s teary eyes when she feels a wetness on her cheek. “I thought you weren’t with me,” she admits without even thinking.

“Why?” Eurydice whimpers. Forgiveness clouds his eyes and voice, but he still questions. “Why?” Orpheus does not reply. 

Vella answers by her lips on his, and Rory follows. Their kiss stings with tears and aches with bruises, but they drink it up. Heart to heart and soul to soul. The devotee clings to her dead muse. When they pull away for a gasp of air, they breathe in, breathe out. Then they tug each other back down for one last kiss.

“I’m going to stay.”

“What? Rory, no, please, come with—”

“Vella. I’m hurt.” Rory says that word like it pains him to say it. When Vella looks into Rory’s eyes, she does not catch how it is not just the physical pain he is talking about.

Vella wants to stay. She knows she should. She knows she should still carry out her plan. Someone has to have a direct conversation with Rory and his health, and it has to be her. It’s there, right there, that Vella thinks she can ask him the right questions she should have asked long ago, and can save them both from pain.

“Go,” Rory pushes. “I need some time alone. Without you. Or anyone. Just go.”

Her heart breaks.

But eventually, Vella leaves the Underworld alone, with Rory falling back down into its depths.

There is no other ending to this story.

—

V. Atropos

Songs trickle out of a rotting heart, but Vella finds she cannot sing them.

Vella lays at the River Hebrus, her head resting along its acrylic banks and her body splayed across ceramic pebbles. Her hands loosely play her damaged keytar, creating a haunting tune that echoes among her chosen resting place. She hates it, but her fingers ache to move, urging her to create. She complies with agony.

The Underworld staked its claims on the one she loved. Is that what this reality wanted? His life slipped through her fingers so effortlessly she wonders if she ever really had a grip on it at all. 

What could Vella have done differently? Every scenario pierces her mind and desecrates her Soul until she slumps even further. Were there magic words she could have said to have stopped him? Could just one extra kiss, one extra hug, have pulled him out of his darkness? 

No, no, she knows. Vella knows she should have reached out sooner. She should have pulled them up out of the Underworld far, far earlier than the time he fell down those steps. If she really cared, if she really loved Rory, she should have reached out and demanded he talk to her about what was going on with him. That’s what good girlfriends do. It’s what Vella didn’t do.

Vella lets out a wail, leaning against the acrylic container. Her breath, irregular and unstable, fogs up the stained, off-white basin. She can’t force herself to go through her exercises. She’s gotten so used to doing them with Rory. Now, his breath is still forevermore. How could she possibly do them without him again?

Vella weeps. Her fingers press on each key even weaker than before. She is hardly playing the keys, but the disjointed music flows regardless. It seems these moments, where she’s a shamble of awful music and broken hearts on the bathroom floor, are the only moments she is capable of grief. Outside of this river haven, Vella finds it’s almost impossible to grieve for her lover… or even think of him. When she goes to Alex’s house, and they talk about the dumbest things or prepare for the end of the world, she finds she can’t even probe her mind for the memory of Rory.

Some part of Vella recognizes how disgusting this absence is. How unnatural. It certainly can’t be her doing, as Rory’s death haunts her mind when she is away from the others. Yet every time she tries to confront this aberration, she is pulled back down into the dark tunnel of agony, and she finds herself in her bathroom once again. “Oh, Rory…” Vella cries out his name with as much love as she always said his name. “Rory, Rory, Rory…”

The last Fate has her way, as she always does. She sits atop her twisted throne, cutting the spinning wires as she has always done, with no sense of grief. New Year’s Eve is fast approaching and her final wire is soon to meet its end. Their end is sealed.

Orpheus and Eurydice both follow their Fates.

The maenad wreathed in flame shall set upon Vella Wilde and tear her limb from limb until only her voice remains to sing of Rory Mancer. As it has always been told.

There is no other ending to this story.

#yiik #yiik: a postmodern rpg #vella wilde #rory mancer #vellory #my writing

[autumnslance]

A thought occurs, given the recent WoLverse post(s)... Has Aeryn bumped into a Shard on the First or Thirteenth that could be her brother's? And if so... how well/badly did that go? :3

On the First, I headcanoned a sister for Ardbert, who would have been Zaine's shard. They also initially planned to go adventuring together, but she had a lover on their little island, ended up pregnant, and so Ardbert went off into the world on his own.

(This was also part of my initial "silly meta" given I was just using the base Meteor and Lady Midlander CGI models, with color tweaks, for Aeryn and Zaine, and we had Ardbert in the HW patches and knew vaguely, when I wrote "Bonded", only that we were going to see the Champions of the First again in the newly-announced Shadowbringers, and little else of the expac at the time. It was supposed to just be a ha-ha-funny coincidence. I should have known better.)

After defeating Mitron and Lohgrif and realizing "oh no!" Ardbert returned home...to find his sister and her child both dead to an accident, and his brother-in-law lost in a bottle over it. Ardbert, having already sacrificed his best friends, said one last goodbye at his sister's grave as Elidibus walked up, waiting on Ardbert to finish himself to ferry the fallen champions to the Source.

That was part of a story about the cycles of rebirth between Zaine, Ardbert's unnamed sister OC, and my Ancient OC Icarus. Ao3 link, as that version was heavily revised from the original prompt.

So Aeryn never got to meet Zaine's First shard, though she and Ardbert talked a lot about their late siblings during those long evenings in the Pendants.

As for the Thirteenth...either Durante or Rubicante would fit the bill, and I lean on Durante.

With the sibling soulmates the way things normally happen is Icarus's soul falls first, leaving Pandora's to carry onward. Icarus was with Venat in Elpis and met Aeryn. The tiniest sliver of Icarus's soul/aether/whatever is extant in her--and if our favorite pair of soulseers would have seen Zaine, they'd see the teeniest sliver of Pandora in him. Icarus did not join the party in Ktisis Hyperboreia, so retained his memories. As ever, he was desperate to help his sibling--even a reincarnation of her, who was herself Icarus's friend. Bolstered by the idea of that tiny sliver, he performed a risky magic to tie his and Azem's souls together (I really need to get last year's FF14 Write up on Ao3). But his own prophetic ability also showed him his reincarnations would always die before hers. That when Aeryn spoke of her brother in the past tense, it was because that was Icarus's modern reincarnation--who didn't make it out of Louisoix's spell (because he offered his strength to Hydaelyn).

Part of the problem with the Thirteenth is that the cycle is disrupted and then broken. Golbez (who I personally think was the WoL/Azem shard) was corrupted and Durante forced to Memoria him. Which then led to Durante breaking down and taking up Golbez's identity so the world would know their "true hero." It's all choices made of despair that I can see Zaine making, especially given the lengths his precursor was willing to go to, to stay with his heroic sibling and help her across millennia.

However, neither modern Golbez nor Aeryn have realized that connection, and no one they travel with currently has the necessary gifts to see it. So it doesn't come up during the story, nor matter at all before, during, or after. He's his own person, and has made his own choices--including, now, to hope again.

--

(I tend to think Zero is actually Zenos's shard, given the resonance of their aether to make her his avatar, and it makes for some interesting parallels about their potentials and how their natures and lives led them. And canon-Durante is another extraordinary hero the same way our Scion pals are. But overall I also don't worry about that all too much; those characters are themselves in the end. And all is subject to revision based on future canon revelations/changes.)

#final fantasy xiv #endwalker #shadowbringers #aeryn prompts #zaine prompts #Ardbert Hylfyst #Durante #Golbez #Azem #Icarus #Pandora #Zaine Striker #Aeryn Striker #Lyn Writing #Lyn Edits

[elfyourmother]

Does Gisele have any regrets in life?

So, so many.

Most of them involve her life as a Grey Warden on the Seventh reflection, and the secrets she was forced to keep from the people she loved most—never telling Leliana and Zevran that she would have to die to kill the Archdemon is the biggest one. The weight of the guilt she carries from that is a large reason why she was so infuriated by the Exarch’s lies and why she couldn’t forgive him for it (and especially not for dragging Urianger into it).

But even in her present life she has quite a few regrets, despite trying very hard not to look back. Breaking Ran’jit’s heart is probably the biggest one. In her canon, she gained entrance to Eulmore not as “Artist Alphinaud’s assistant” but rather by her own merit, as a dancer. She worked in the Beehive, moonlighting as a courtesan as the dancers do, in order to do reconnaissance on the situation in the city. In the course of that work she met Ran’jit, and he hired her to be his companion for about a week. He fell madly in love with her in the process, and Gisèle fell a little in return and of course it all went to hell when she and Alphinaud blew their cover with Vauthry.

A not insignificant portion of Ran’jit’s ire during 5.0 was rooted in the extremely understandable and valid feelings of personal betrayal, that she lied to him and used him. The situation was even messier because this all went down during her long period of estrangement from Thancred. He was livid, not because she had been sleeping with someone else (even if they had still been together then—and they weren’t—they were never monogamous anyway and she was married to Haurchefant et al by then). But with whom. It absolutely intensified the rivalry between him and Ran’jit; in a sense they weren’t just fighting over a daughter figure in Ryne, but a lover in Gisèle also. It sort of poured gasoline on the fire.

And Gisèle feels intense guilt over it. To this day she blames herself for Ran’jit’s death, and making things harder for Ryne; she wishes very much that she had done things differently, even though no one else faults her for what happened and the info she obtained was vital to the eventual liberation of Kholusia and Norvrandt as a whole.

Incidentally, Ran’jit is a shard of the same Ancient as Gaius Baelsar and Loghain Mac Tir: Achilles. Achilles’ love for Aphrodite (Gisèle!Azem) went unnoticed and his incarnations all have a tendency to be star-crossed with hers. Either they end up at odds with each other somehow, or one of them dies prematurely, etc. It never, ever ends well for them. Gisèle and Gaius may well be the first to break that cycle but even they were obviously bitter foes at first.

#I need to finish writing that fic sigh #gisele surana #ran’jit tag #draconian empress #ask bisho

[agentplutonium]

i’m thinking about immortality again. In reference to Sam, sure, but also just in reference to my vampire OC.

Cause here’s the thing. Immortality is so cool to mortals. You get to live forever. You get to do what you want when you want because you finally have the time to do so. You can start a new hobby. Travel. You can write that book you wanted, paint what you wanted, get classically trained in whatever your heart desires. You can get a degree in everything you can possibly get a degree in because you can. Time is finally living in tandem with you instead of working against you. You get to see how humanity continues to develop and grow, seeing all of the wonderful things that they can come up with. You might meet the next big figure in the history books and get to watch as the world starts to recognize them for their talent or wisdom. You get to watch as new discoveries are made from the ancient world and all, hell, you might even be part of the “ancient world” at one point and get to laugh at how wrong these new scientists are getting it. No matter what, humanity lives on, and you get to watch that.

But when does that novelty wear off? When your parents die? Your siblings? Your friends, a lover even? When do you stop and realize that everyone you got to know in your mortal life is now gone? When do you realize that today would have been your 93rd birthday, and by all means it is should probably be a miracle you’re still alive? But it’s not a miracle. You haven’t aged a day in decades. You haven’t grown, or aged. And you’re alone. Sure, you could make new friends, find new lovers, but you have to leave them eventually as well. People start to get suspicious when their friend still doesn’t look a day over 25. You’re forced to travel because if you stay in one place an old time-y witch hunt will start up coming for you. Unless, of course, you enter some sort of immortal cult where the leader has insane fucking power and control over that one city. Unless you start living inconspicuously, only interacting with said other immortals, not being seen or heard by anyone else. I mean, what else can you do? If you make mortal friends, you’re gonna have to abandon them eventually. If you have a mortal lover, you’re either going to have to be selfish enough to turn them immortal—if you can even do that—OR also leave them either through them dying or on your own terms. And if you do turn your mortal lover immortal to be with you, who’s to say you guys will stand the rest of time of literal eternity. What are you going to do when the relationship no longer works out 50, 100 years down the line? Theoretically you’d break up, but now what? Your lover has to deal with the same problems you do, problems that they were willing to overlook because the loved you, and has to spend eternity alive struggling the same way you did if not worse.

I wasn’t gonna get into the vampire part of this because it was immortals in general kinda post, but i’m gonna anyway. The line between monster and human that vampires balance on is so interesting to me also. Because, when does a vampire stop feeling like a human and start feeling like some sort of animal just trying to satiate their hunger of blood. When do they stop looking forward to the human experience of being alive forever and start living day in and out, barley recognizing the time go by, feeding and sleeping and starting that cycle over and over again? When does time start to feel like an enclosure, keeping them trapped to the mortal plane of existence to be gawked at by people and gods alike? When do they start to loose their sense of self, start to lose the person they were before being turned? When does their humanity start to slip, and they do more and more heinous things just because they are bored or because they came to the conclusion that nothing applies to them anymore? That they are an untouchable being that cannot be harmed for what they do because they are stronger than anything that faces them. When someone is first turned, they may think this is absurd. Of course they’re not going to be like other vampires. They may even be able to keep up this way of thinking for decades. But what about oh i don’t know 3,4 centuries in? Will that be when it hits? Or will they hold out, going on 6 or 7 centuries? It’s a matter of when for something like this, because if you manage to live that long you’re going to start thinking you’re a god.

Anyway. I have gone insane actually. This is my insanity in one post. I like my ocs way too much.

#plutonium_rambles #redacted audio #redactedverse

[luckydreams218]

Hello writeblur!

I have had Tumblr for a little while now but never bothered posting a lot or looking around at other people's stuff a ton. I want that to change! I'm writing an introduction for myself because I stumbled upon some other writer's introductions and wanted to do the same!

About me:

I love fantasy. I adore it. I won't shut up about it ahaha

Sci-fi is my second favorite genre though

I really only have one WIP at the moment, my series based in the Isles of Aloré, called Ancient Powers

I love music! I listen to all kinds of genres: country, grunge, pop, j/k-pop, classical, video game, you name it!

I'm an avid lover of anime (trying to learn Japanese, so only subs no dubs)

My biggest inspirations are Christopher Paolini's The Inheritance Cycle (The Eragon series as I call it), Brandon Mull's Fablehaven series, as well as shows like She-Ra and the Princess of Power, The Dragon Prince, The Owl House, and Fairy Tail. There's probably (definitely) more but I can't list it all. If you're curious, just ask!

I'm currently watching Hunter x Hunter but I love Haikyuu, Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid, I have a soft spot for Ouran Highschool Host Club (I love Tamaki so much), and many more!

About my work:

Okay so as I said I've only got one thing I'm working on right now, though that might change. The Ancient Powers series located in my made up land called the Isles of Aloré. Brief summary: Evil magic taints a region known as the Foreboding Forest and it's up to the young rulers of the land to work together to stop this evil from breaking free and shrouding the world in darkness. Genre is mostly fantasy, but also a good portion is just fluffy rom com.

Please please if you're interested in my writing (or if not, that's ok too) feel free to reach out and say hi! I'd love to meet more writers! If you reply or like, I'll happily check out your blog too! (Maybe reblog? Idk I'm new to this)

#writeblr #writers on tumblr #writerscommunity #creative writing #homebrew #world building

[kohaive]

Please tell us about evil Ilana!

this got way longer than I intended oops

vital og ilana lore for context:

in the long ancient past there once existed a divine city known as the city of temples, wherein seven powerful spirits worshiped as gods lived. (they were referred to as divinities.) the oldest, jayang, was known as divinity luck and possessed power over fortune and the karmic cycle.

jayang however was Very Fucking Lazy and had an assistant that did about 90% of the work around the temple as well as making sure they were on time for important rites and festivals. as jayang's right hand, she was generally known as lady luck and possessed luck powers through jayang's blessing. this assistant was ilana.

although ilana devoted herself wholly to jayang, she respected the followers of other divinities and especially those in the city that did not follow any divinities at all. to ilana, every person in the city was worthy of divine protection, whether or not they followed any of the seven gods. she and jayang have several arguments about this, especially when one of jayang's other disciples is forced to change divinities for reasons too complicated to get into here.

after working with jayang for many years, the seventh god finally arrived: the rabbit of fate, kayin. according to kayin's tapestry of fate, they and jayang were destined to be lovers, and sure enough kayin soon had all of jayang's attention despite not giving them much in return. the fact that jayang was spending so much energy on kayin when kayin rarely gave them the time of day in return bothered ilana, especially when she did so much work for jayang and didn't get the same treatment

basically she was jealous lol

at some point, the city collapses in civil war, and the divinities start falling one by one while their disciples kill each other. kayin kills themselves in jayang's arms. ilana and jayang flee, but not before jayang sustains a mortal injury protecting ilana from an attacker. they escape to the unfinished corner, a place full of wild, untouched magic. with their final breath, jayang asks ilana to use their bones to seal the area so it can't be accessed in order to prevent another tragedy like the city of temples. they die, saying that they're going ahead to see kayin.

ilana realizes that using jayang's bones means their soul will be trapped and they will be unable to meet kayin in the afterlife per their wish. she decides to use herself as the seal instead, putting her divinity before herself. however, the seal doesn't kill her as she expects; instead, it keeps her alive and in stasis, sustaining itself using her divine-touched soul as the power source. the sheer magic from the unfinished corner is constantly pressing on the back of her mind, and over tens of thousands of years she slowly loses herself to her grief and resentment, becoming a spirit fueled by hatred: hatred towards kayin, hatred towards the city's destruction, and hatred towards herself.

jayang chooses to be reborn into the mortal realm to walk the earth and spend time with humans, who kayin was so fond of, in an effort to feel closer to them. they stumble across ilana's seal by chance, but they don't do anything because a) they don't realize she's alive and b) they want to maintain the seal on the unfinished corner, which they judge to be too powerful for humanity to know about.

now in the ORIGINAL lore, what happens next is: in modern day, a group of what amounts to professional problem-solvers investigate the memories of the past, and end up stumbling across ilana and her predicament thanks to a memory fragment of another ancient spirit that's been trying to help her but doesn't have the power to do so. they literally cut her away from the manifestation of resentment that she's been trapped in for tens of millennia and restore her sanity, though they can't free her from the seal just yet. she asks them to find a way to break the seal and free her so she can die, because she's so tired. and she wants to rest.

however, in the BAD ending, ilana's resentment and hatred overcomes her completely and she dissolves the seal herself, claims the whole of the unfinished corner's power for herself, hunts down the reborn jayang, kills them, and eats their heart to assume their powers. the result is s'vivana: jaded, finds humanity abhorrent, and resolves to use her ill-gained power to bring about their destruction. she saved the world, and nobody cared. she saved her god, and they didn't return the favor. she gave everything she had for the sake of everyone but herself, and her reward was a torturous, unending solitude she had no choice but to endure.

nobody saved her. so nobody deserves to be saved.

#asked & answered #grapplemace #c: ilana #basically she got tired of being nice and decided to be apeshit #so she ate her god's heart and subsumed their powers #and since jayang was a kitsune she also gets a foxy appearance #also og ilana lore is she's based on the golden dreydl #she originally has brown hair/eyes but her eyes turn orange when she receives jayang's blessing #and then when she sacrificed herself for the seal it bleached her hair and eyes gold