#starsasunder. he is half my soul as the poets say

[ofaetherium]

@starsasunder sent in : dip, sender skinny dips in front of receiver and invites them to join; from Astraea, for Hades.

It is all but midnight with nothing but the stars to light the darkness before him, and Hades is once again asking himself why he is awake. The answer comes rather quickly, in the form of laughter on the gentle breeze, quiet and melodic.

She smiles at him, an invitation on her lips that he finds himself loathe to reject. He makes a show of refusing at first, but gives in far too easily to her jesting pressure and soon his robes are discarded on the ground beside hers, albeit in a much neater pile.

The water is surprisingly warm, the chill of autumn's night having yet to set in to the world around them. It flows around his body as he walks towards her, starlight glittering across the surface and he is awestruck by the sight before him. She stands in front of him, arms outstretched and head tilted to the sky. There is a small smile on her face and as he reaches for her, he cannot help but think that if there was such a thing as a higher being, he held one in his arms.

#ic. hades #starsasunder. he is half my soul as the poets say

[cinisemperium]

@starsasunder sent in : His beloved wife slips into his study silently, approaching his desk without disturbing his work. She hops up onto the edge of the desk and perches in her favorite spot. The soft clinking of dishes punctuates the comfortable silence as she sets a steaming cup of his favorite tea and a little tray of miniature sandwiches in front of him, but she remains silent, waiting for him to acknowledge her when he is ready.

He hears them as soon as they enter, of course. Their footsteps are light, quiet as always, but he would know them anywhere. A familiar sound he had grown up with, one that now haunted the halls of his home at night to sneak snacks from his fridge when they thought he was asleep.

He looks up into the lavender eyes of his lover and smiles softly. "Thank you, Hyth." He says nothing else, but no other words are needed to be spoken between them. The cup is warm in his hands as he picks it up, the hot liquid soothing on his throat. He had not realised how long he'd been there, but of course Hythlodeaus had. They always did. A quiet laugh escapes him as he returns to his work, but not before gesturing to the couch in front of the fireplace, a silent offering to stay.

#( hades || grief is an amputation but hope is incurable haemophilia: you bleed and bleed and bleed ) #( starsasunder || he is half my soul as the poets say ) #starsasunder

[ofaetherium]

@starsasunder "The rage you must feel as you choke on your sorrow." - inanna to emet-selch

For once, he cannot read her. He cannot tell if her words are meant to be a salve upon his wounds, or if she dipped her fingers in salt before reaching into his hurt. Whatever her intentions, her speech stings. It stabs at whatever is left of his heart, calling forth the old hurt to sing anew again within him.

A sneer crosses his face, and he rises to his full height, looking down on her in anger. "What do you know about my sorrow?" he snaps, the hurt within him turning, twisting in to something dark and heavy, and it sits like bile on his tongue. "What do you know of my rage?"

"What I showed you was but a taste of what we felt. A mockery of the anguish set upon us by your so called mother. You know nothing of us, nothing of the world that was. You have no idea what it is I have lost!"

As his anger rises, so too does his resolve. His mind has been made up. He cannot afford to let anything sway him from his path now, not even her. Especially not her. He had come so close to giving it all up, to throwing away eons of sorrow and loneliness just to spend a single moment more with her.

"Your performance was underwhelming, and I remain unconvinced of your worthiness." The mask falls back into place, the facade of Emet-Selch one he slips back into with ease. "However, I am not so foolish as to fight you as I have been. You may bask in the strength you have been so undeservedly blessed with, but should I bring my full strength to bear, well...You be as leaves in the wind. The gulf between us is a reflection of the disparity between the world as it was...and the tragedy it has become."

He knows already how it will end, but that changes nothing. It can't. So he takes a deep breath, an attempt to calm the storm rolling within him. He gathers the aether in the air, pulls it into himself. The foolish mortals she insists on parading around with her attempt to stop him, but they are foolish, blinded by the illusion of power that being in Inanna's presence grants them. They are but flies, batted away with ease.

She will not be so easy to remove.

#ic. hades #starsasunder. he is half my soul as the poets say

[ofaetherium]

@starsasunder sent in: a   ‘  please  ’   kiss - from inanna, for yue

Softly, so softly, as if she was afraid that pushing too hard would break this tender thing between them, shatter the gentle moment of peace they have finally managed to cultivate, Yue presses her lips to those of her lover and melts. Inanna was sweet, the taste of her like a bite of fresh fruit on her tongue, one she could never get enough of.

When she pulls back it is with a smile, tender and serene as she looks at the woman laid across the grass before her, wildflowers sprouting up through the dirt to tangle in her fur as she moved. A quiet laugh escapes her at the sight, a soft sound that is all but eaten by the breeze that blows around them.

"Always," she replies, leaning in to steal yet another.

#ic. yue #starsasunder. he is half my soul as the poets say

[ofaetherium]

@starsasunder sent in: ‘kill me. it will not bring her back.’

He rips himself away from her, a snarl on his lips as anger ignites within him. Inanna falls to the ground as he moves, the hand that had been supporting her now grabbing at the ancient's own hair in frustration.

Blind rage courses through him, a rare moment where his carefully held control slips away, the mask that had protected him for millennia cracking, fracturing under her words. He didn't understand it, how this small creature was able to so easily slip beneath his armor, her words like arrows that pierce his flesh. It was so easy to give in to her taunts, to allow himself to fall into the trap she had lay before him. It seemed that she always knew just what to say, exactly what words would easily crawl beneath his guard and draw out the emotions he held so carefully.

He tilts his head up and screams, his rage and frustration finally spilling out from him. Cracks of purple thunder strike the ground around him, and he throws the knife in his hand to the ground before stalking away. He can find no words, unable to properly express the tide of emotion that rolled within him. He turns and stalks away, sparks of residual lighting crackling behind him with every step.

#ic. hades #starsasunder. he is half my soul as the poets say

[ofaetherium]

@starsasunder sent in : ‘it is right to seek peace for the dead. you and I both know there is no peace for those who live after.’

He laughs, but it is a hollow, broken thing. There is no humor to be found in the sound that croaks itself out from between his lips. There is a moment where he is afraid the walls will break and the laughter will turn to sobs, if he hadn't long since forgotten how to cry.

"Would you count me among them, starlight?' he asks, eyes tired and weary as he looks at her. His shoulders are drooped, arching towards the floor even farther than his usual haggard stance. There is a sense of deep weariness about him, a feeling of long suffering that spans eons, and he can feel within her the same.

"I am beginning to believe peace is something that does not exist. And if it does, it was not made for people like us."

#ic. hades #starsasunder. he is half my soul as the poets say #hades. answered

[cinisemperium]

anonymous sent in: [ MUN ]:     for the mun to talk about another mun whom they admire or have become close friends with through the rpc. “ 𝙍𝙀𝘼𝘾𝙃𝙄𝙉𝙂   𝙊𝙐𝙏 "  ;   𝙊𝙊𝘾   𝙋𝙍𝙊𝙈𝙋𝙏𝙎. || accepting

This will come as no surprise to anyone that follows my blog, but the very obvious answer to this question is @starsasunder . I met them...oh man six, seven years ago? They had a Yuugi blog, and I was just a little bitty personal who was too shy to even promote my own AO3. Through reading their writing, I grew inspired to try my hand at Tumblr RP, and made an Atem / Yami blog. ( Yes, I picked this muse because I wanted the highest chance of being able to write with them ).

And then, to my surprise, they followed me back! I was still too shy to reach out though, and vague posted about admiring people but being too nervous to reach out ( I know, I know. I don't vague post anymore ). Well, apparently my vague post wasn't vague enough, because they sent me a message asking if it was about them and my heart just about exploded out of my chest. It was awkward at first, but now here we are, over half a decade later, talking every day and learning what it means to have a platonic soul mate.

They've taught me so much, and to this day I still continue to learn from them. When they adopt a muse, they put so much love and care into it that you will never find another muse like theirs, even if they are the same canon character. The amount of time and effort behind every character is felt in every aspect of them, from the headcanons to the way that they're written.

Morri is an amazing writer, and I don't think I'll ever stop looking up to them.

#( answered || mun ) #( starsasunder || he is half my soul as the poets say ) #\\ this got really sappy i'm sorry #\\ but i'm also not. morri is an amazing human and they deserve all the love

[cinisemperium]

@starsasunder sent in: After spending a few days off on a job, one very tired and very spoiled cat wife has returned to an empty house and made herself right at home. When he returns, he finds that she has taken up residence in his favorite chair, and is currently sleeping soundly with her face buried in one of his coats. She has missed him, it seems.

When Hades finally returns home, it is with weary legs. His overcoat is swiftly removed, tossed over the back of a nearby table. Tired feet carry him to the main room, where he finds Inanna, fast asleep in front of the fireplace. She is curled up in his chair, wrapped around one of his coats. He smiles softly at the scene, and as much as he does not wish to disturb her, he knows she will regret sleeping there come morning.

So he bends over her, gently scooping her up in his arms. She doesn't stir, even as he carries her through the house to the bedroom in the back. He lays her down in the bed, and brushes the hair out of her face before placing a tender kiss to her forehead.

#( hades || grief is an amputation but hope is incurable haemophilia: you bleed and bleed and bleed ) #( hades || inanna. if the moon smiled she would resemble you. you leave the same impression. of something beautiful but annihilating ) #( starsasunder || he is half my soul as the poets say ) #starsasunder

[cinisemperium]

@starsasunder sent in : an ‘ i’ll be back ’ kiss. - from hythlodaeus, to hades A  FUCKED  UP  KISSING  MEME || accepting

The world was on fire all around them. Every day, more and more of his people were lost to the calamity. Their city was in ruins, ashes and smoke and the smell of the rotting corpses of their friends mixing with the acrid scent of smoke and burnt flesh in the air.

"Hythlodaeus, please. Let us talk about this once more." He is all but begging, even though he already knows the outcome. There are no words that Hades could speak that would sway the mind of his lover. Hythlodaeus has made his decision, has a found a way to serve the star he loves so much. But Hythlodeaus was the glue that held their triad together, the most important piece of their puzzle. And he was trying to reshape himself, to slot into a jigsaw that had no place for Hades or Astraea. Hades knows Hythlodaeus' promise of return to be a lie. There would be no return from this joining, this sacrifice. Not really, not as Hyth.

Astraea. What was he going to tell her? That they lost the best part of them because Hades couldn't bring himself to put his own personal feelings above his duty? It was one of the few things they genuinely fought about, and here, in the most important of moments, Hades still cannot lessen the importance of his role in the Convocation, of his job on Amaurot.

He knows he cannot talk Hythlodaeus out of this decision. So he does the only thing he can do. He reaches out, wrapping his fingers in the cloth of Hyth's cloak and pulls the other man to him. The kiss is sloppy, laced with desperation, and though he would never admit to it, there is a sting in the corners of Hades' eyes.

#( hades || grief is an amputation but hope is incurable haemophilia: you bleed and bleed and bleed ) #death mention tw #( starsasunder || he is half my soul as the poets say ) #starsasunder

[cinisemperium]

anonymous sent in: [ OC ]:     for the mun to talk about a mun’s original character (OC) muse who they really like, for any reason at all, from the way that they’re written, themes that are referenced in the portrayal, how the mun explores their character, the characteristics and personality and relationships found in their portrayal, etc. “ 𝙍𝙀𝘼𝘾𝙃𝙄𝙉𝙂   𝙊𝙐𝙏 "  ;   𝙊𝙊𝘾   𝙋𝙍𝙊𝙈𝙋𝙏𝙎. || accepting

And once again it is time to brag on @starsasunder and their OC, Inanna. Inanna actually started out as their playthrough character from FFXIV, but very quickly turned into something much more. Inanna was always well built lore wise, Morri working on her since day one to give her a good and believable story that worked within the lore of the game.

Both of her verses, her Warrior of Light one as well as her non-WoL story, slot into the universe perfectly. Inanna's backstory is believable, well developed, and carefully thought out. You can tell that there is a lot of time and care put into her story, and I love being able to bounce my characters off of her.

I'm currently trying my hand at writing Emet-Selch, and Inanna just flows so well with him, from the actions she takes to the way she speaks, the way Morri writes her is just so believable, as if Inanna was plucked straight from canon. Even when they write her as being shipped with a canon character, they way they present the ship is so believable, so in line with canon and how it would work in canon, that it flows effortlessly, as if it was supposed to be there from the beginning.

#( answered || mun ) #( starsasunder || he is half my soul as the poets say )

[cinisemperium]

@starsasunder sent in: From Inanna, for Hades: [ THUMB ]:          while cupping the receiver’s cheek in their hand, the sender slowly glides their thumb across their cheekbone in a tender, sweeping caress. 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐓𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐌𝐀𝐊𝐄 𝐌𝐄 𝐆𝐎 👀. || accepting

His death comes as no surprise. It was if he knew, as if he had always known, that it would end up this way. With her standing in front of him, his aether slowly slipping away from him. Thousands upon thousands of years, everything he had done, everything he had worked for, and this was how it ended.

By her hand, no less. As if there had ever been any other way for it to end.

Had it really come to this? Was this really all that was left of him, of his legacy? How had he managed to fail so spectacularly? With his death came permanence, the end of all things. And yet, deep in his heart, he knew that wasn't true. Fragments they may be, but perhaps that was how his friends could live on. In pieces, scattered throughout the stars.

He stumbles forward, reaching out with a shaking hand. He expects her to shirk away from his touch. But she doesn't, and he presses his fingers to her face, cupping her cheek in his hand. Her eyes are as bright as the moon, and he recognizes that oh so familiar feeling of being lost at sea, of sinking in an ocean of starlight. He chuckles at the thought, still amazed at how different and yet similar they were. He could see her, reflected in the eyes of the woman in front of him, and his heart swells. His failure is a bittersweet one, like sugar and ash in his throat.

He brushes his thumb across her cheek, and leans forward to press bloody lips against the sunkissed skin of her forehead. One last whisper slips from him before his aether is depleted, and he is gone.

"Goodbye, Stardust."

#( hades || grief is an amputation but hope is incurable haemophilia: you bleed and bleed and bleed ) #( starsasunder || he is half my soul as the poets say ) #( hades || verse main. tbd ) #( hades || inanna. if the moon smiled she would resemble you. you leave the same impression. of something beautiful but annihilating ) #\\ i've rewritten this thing so many times i'm sick of looking at it #\\ i'm so picky with this reply i can't get it right ahhhh

[cinisemperium]

@starsasunder From Inanna, for Emet-Selch - [ FIVE ]  for sender to have overexerted their abilities,  causing them to pass out in front of receiver.  || accepting

She was a marvel to watch, her spellcasting second only to those of Elpis. Tendrils of magic wove through the air, her manipulation of the aether around them astounding him. Up until this point he hadn't believed that this level of power was even possible anymore, that any of these beings could even be capable of half this level of control.

He expected no less from his Azem.

What he doesn't expect is for her to collapse suddenly, the spell she had been weaving dissipating as she crumples to the ground, tiny sparks flitting away with the breeze. He frowns, and kneels down to study her. This was nothing new, her collapsing. He had seen it a thousand times, had helped her through them more than she would ever know, and yet it still caught him off guard each time

He places his palm flat against the carving on her back, sending his aether in through the leylines to assess the damage. Light ran wild within her, volatile and angry as it slammed against the cage he had built around her soul. New cracks had formed, old ones widened. A frown creases his mouth, and he sits down fully on the grass, tossing his robe off and rolling up his sleeves with a sigh.

"Even now, as just a fragment of your being, you still manage to be the main cause of my headaches, Astraea."

Both hands are now pressed against her back, her shirt shoved up to her armpits and rolled over her shoulders to hold it in place. He had not a care for her modesty, far more concerned with saving her life.

Which in and of itself was a concern. How easy things would be for him if he just let the Light have her, let it explode from within her and eat this whole world raw. How easy it would be, to relieve himself of the burden of always watching out for her, both in care of and in fear of the Warrior of Light.

And yet he found himself here, barefoot in a recreation of the gardens of Elpis, hands of the bare back of his greatest enemy as he drew as much of the excess Light from within her as he could in a fight to save her life.

Is there nothing so undoing as love?

#( hades || remember that we once lived ) #( starsasunder || he is half my soul as the poets say )

[cinisemperium]

@starsasunder sent in : ♪ - I'll put them all in one ask for the sake of convenience! I am greedy 👉👈🥺 send a ship and ♪ and I’ll post a mini playlist (2-3 songs) I think fits them

You hush. There's no such thing as too greedy when it comes to me and ships.

Hades/Astraea

Roses - The Chainsmokers, ROZES

Honey Make Me Healthy - Flannel Graph

Achilles Come Down - Gang of Youths

Hades/Inanna

The Night - HONNE

Ultralife - Oh Wonder

Till Death - PI3RCE

ShB!Hades/Inanna

Like Real People Do - Hozier

Another Love - Tom Odell

Tell It To My Heart - MEDUZA, Hozier

Love Me - Magnolia Park

Hades/Hythlodaeus

Can We Kiss Forever? - Kina, Adriana Proenza

What a Heavenly Way To Die - Troye Sivan

Till Death - PI3RCE

#( hades || grief is an amputation but hope is incurable haemophilia: you bleed and bleed and bleed ) #( starsasunder || he is half my soul as the poets say ) #starsasunder

[cinisemperium]

@starsasunder sent in : a  kiss  that  draws  blood. - inanna, for hades A  FUCKED  UP  KISSING  MEME || accepting

Hades hisses in pain as her fangs cut into his bottom lip, tearing open the flesh. She pulls away from him, and the sight of his own blood smeared across her mouth does something to him, and he reaches back up to her. His hand fists in her hair, and he is not gentle as he yanks her back down to him, his fingers tangled in her thick blue curls.

He is just as rough as she had been, if not more so, using his own teeth to suck her bottom lip into his mouth. The sharp copper taste of her blood fills his mouth and pools on his tongue, mixing with his saliva as he forces her lips to his. She finally breaks free of his grasp, and she is a mess of hair and spit and blood. Her breathing is heavy, chest rising and falling in rapid succession as she glares at him.

He smirks down at her, reaching up to wipe the blood from his mouth. His tongue runs across his teeth as he does so, taunting her. " You aren't the only one with fangs, kitten."

#( hades || grief is an amputation but hope is incurable haemophilia: you bleed and bleed and bleed ) #( hades || inanna. if the moon smiled she would resemble you. you leave the same impression. of something beautiful but annihilating ) #( starsasunder || he is half my soul as the poets say ) #starsasunder