#I’d imagine it being like Meg and Hades from disneys Hercules

[fabuloustrash05]

If you think about it, 5 out of 6 of the TMNT 2012 girls have their own villain that they have a connection with in one way or another regarding their stories, along with them being obstacles for the ladies to overcome at some point.

April - Kraang Prime/The Kraang

Karai - Shredder/The Foot Clan

Mona Lisa - Lord Dregg

Renet - Savanti Romero

Alopex - Tiger Claw

The only one not having a personal villain is Shinigami. We can argue her beef is also with Shredder cause she’s helping Karai rebel against him but in the end, it’s still Karai’s personal problem to overcome. Shini deserved her own personal villain and I think Kavaxas would’ve been the perfect candidate. With a little rewriting, the cult of Kavaxas could’ve been something Shini’s family is apart of since she is a witch and comes from a long line of dark magic users (according to her concept art), tying her more into this season 5 arc and exploring more of her character beyond her just being Karai’s right hand woman.

[persephoneflowerpetals]

I kind of wish that the animated series and movie of Hercules showed Hades' invisibility helmet and his bident. Seriously, that invisibility helmet could help him in his schemes. But luckily we have fanfiction to help us. And in the war against the Titans he used his helmet to sneak into the Titan camp and destroy the weapons thus giving the Olympians an advantage. Just imagine if it was true in the Disney Hercules verse where he did that as well.

Dude! That would’ve been so cool! But, I suppose when you’re a god you got all kinds of powers, so Hades probably had lots of ways of being sneaky and all that lol. I saw in a little “deleted scene” or maybe a test scene or unused scene (I’ll link it right here) where Hades I guess was sorta spying on Hercules and Meg after their little date and he notices that Meg is actually catching feelings for Hercules and he thinks it’s totally weird lol, but he disguised himself as a little cherub statue, so I supposed he can camouflage and shapeshift into different things if he needs to.

(long ramblings ahead lol)

Also, sorta off topic, but I heard this line from James Woods during that behind the scenes reel where he goes “Ah, you have the voice of a siren! Now all ya need is a four alarm fire! Heh!” so I’m assuming originally Hades was supposed to spy on Meg while she went on her date with Hercules and he was most likely responding to her whole “I Won’t Say I’m In Love” number instead of just appearing from a melting statue and being like “Ayy, whaddup? What’s Herc’s weakness?” Lmao

Also, I found it interesting that in the movie the titans are actually allies with Hades and not enemies with him. The Fates call them “his monstrous band” and he calls them “brothers”, so I’m assuming they have no ill will towards him since they were more than happy to help him destroy Zeus and take over the cosmos (Also another kinda off topic side note, but I really found it interesting that Hades had the power to free them. Like, you’d think with Zeus locking them up with his thunderbolts or whatever that only HE could free them, but Hades, being his youngest brother, was able to just absorb that power and free them which is actually pretty cool and shows just how powerful Hades really is because even the titans themselves couldn’t break through that lightning, but Hades just took it away and pretty much absorbed it with minimal pain).

I originally wrote in ‘Til Death that Hades received the underworld as a gift from Zeus because he helped defeat the titans (as told by the original Greek lore), but then I realized, the titans were way too cool with Hades and Hades was way too cool with them to have fought them, y’know? So, I ended up changing that part of the story because you’d think if he did defeat the titans that they’d be pretty salty about it and want to destroy Hades and Poseidon as well, but nah, they just wanted Zeus.

So yeah, I figured maybe Disney Hades didn’t actually help defeat the titans and Zeus did all the work and got all the credit for basically bringing order to the world and since Zeus was declared king of the gods after that, he wanted to be nice and give his little brothers their own domains to rule over too (of course, Hades ended up getting the short end of the stick and got stuck with the Underworld). But hey, I may be wrong, like maybe Hades just defeated another set of titans and the titans he freed were specifically defeated by Zeus (and possibly Poseidon because I mean, they were locked up beneath the sea, so it seems like Zeus and Poseidon worked together to defeat them, so I’d assume Hades helped as well, y’know?), but that’s just my little theory/headcanon for my story or universe or whatever lol 😁

[anime-grimmy-art]

Hahhaa, well, that escalated quickly XDD  After drawing the “I won’t say I’m in love” sketch, I couldn’t get this idea out of my head XD This AU kinda has some changes compared to the actual Disney Hercules story, so here a list of things I thought of while drawing: -Ofc, Kim would be Hercules, but I couldn't see Ron taking over the Meg role and just making him Pegasus is boring (I also don't like KiGo, so yeah). So instead I made "Hercules" both Ron and Kim. My idea is that Kim is the actual child of Zeus and Hera (James and Ann) and Ron either is another god's kid or sth like a godly spirit. Instead of Herc making his legend, there already are prophecies of a hero defeating the titans. Being ancient times, ofc you'd think they boy is the actual threat. So, in the kidnapping scene, Pain and Panic (2 of Drakken's Henchmen) just take both babies, cos they don't know which one is the supposed hero, but still make Kim drink the most of the juice stuff. The parent's who adopt the two are Ron's parents from the show. With the prophecy being a know thing, the parents try to "train" Ron aka just implanting the idea that he is a chosen hero even though Kim is the one with powers. So, the movie would be a mix of Herc's actual journey and constant misunderstandings cos Kim does all the work while Ron thinks it's all his doing. - I also like to imagine in all the years they talk to Zeus' statue, Ron actually doesn't understand that James doesn't even talk to him but to Kim. It fit his character too, cos he's the type to babble on and on and not catch that he's not the focus at all. - As for abilities, Kim is basically the same as in the series, just with super strength. Think the ep where she gets Higo's powers. Ron himself ain't a pushover tho, cos he still is a divine deity. I'd say it's pretty much like in the show too. Super speed, endurance and resiliance with a good dose of dumb luck. - I toned down Phil's role cos both Kim and Ron already encourage each other. Still, Phil would be played by Mr. Barkin. Just imagining him giving in to training them and it cuts to him in full war gear and saying "Ok, listen up people". It just makes me chuckle. - The one to push Kim out of the falling pillars way would be Ron. (I couldn't see Shego do it) So Kim does go to hell and takes back Ron's soul and the end is basically the same, where she says she's going to stay on earth with Ron. And when the depart from Olympus, it would pan to James and Ann and he'd go "well, Roland could have stayed here too, he did show an act of a true hero" - Now for a bit more complicated stuff, Shego and Drakken. Since I'd love "misunderstanding" to be a running joke in this AU, Drakken, for one, doesn't understand til after "I won't say I'm in love" that the threat actually isn't Ron but Kim. The other thing he doesn't get is that Shego is his "assistant" by choice. Drakken thinks that, like in the movie, he saved Shego's old lover and took her soul for it. In actuality, Shego saved her previous partner's ass but he dumped her anyways, so she cursed him with Drakken's help. I'd like to think Dr. D presented her the contract and was busy monologuing while Shego edited the contract to her liking. First of, her old partner wouldn't be saved, but cursed, and that she had "hell priviledge", so, even though she's a living being, she could go in and out of hell as she pleases. - Cerberus would be a three headed Commodore Puddles. - I like to think that Shego still has her green glow attack thingy, just with limitations. My idea's that she got hit with hellfire at some point, before she even met Drakken, and she can now use it but only for a limited amout of time before it burns her. Her powers were also the reason Drakken tried to recruit her. - Back to the part about misunderstandings. The idea for this AU actually started because of me doodling fanart of Shego with her singing "I won't say I'm in love". The way it would play out is that Drakken sends her on a date with Ron to find his weakness (even though she knows he's not the problem). Ofc she cringes through the day and it's super awkward and in the end Ron kinda turns her down, which, ofc, makes her mad. Thankfully, before anything happens, Mr. Barkin shows up, just like Phil does, and they leave. Shego is super frustrated as she sits on a bench and she mindlessly picks flowers off a bush. She asks herself why tf she even does stupid stuff like that when she picks a blue flower. Cue "I won't say I'm in love". Now, I'd find it hilarious when the muses join in, thinking Shego is singing about Ron, when rly she is thinking about something (or someone?) else. (kinda ambiguous if she just does it for villanous life or for Drakken). But the whole sequence would be her bumping into Ron statues, the muses all swooning, when Shego acutally flinches away cos she got embarrased as she got a  glimps of a hades wall painting or sth - After that stuff, they have an argument and Shego finally makes see that Ron doesn't need to have a weakness, cos he IS the weakness. Mr. Barkin doesn't see them cos it's not relevant for the plot. The rest kinda plays out like in the movie. Ron is the one Drakken has hostage and he makes a deal with Kim. Ron and Kim would be sore at each other cos Ron was enjoying all the glory for the work KIM did and Kim felt underappreciated. So, even though Ron tries to stop her, Kim goes and gets beaten up. Mr. Barkin still gives the pep talk like Phil did, but Kim and Ron manage to defeat the titan with team work (they did BOTH have Mr.Barkin's training after all). Yeah, then Ron gets crushed, Kim gets her powers back and yadda, yadda - Oh, and last thing, gods actually have names and titles. So, Zeus' name is James but he has the title of Zeus. Drakken's name is Drew and his title is Hades, but being the petty dude he is, he went with sth original. The Dr. is him just flexing tho. Phew, that was a lot, but I had a lot of time to think while designing these AU versions. If I think of more, I'll add on to it.

[ibrithir-was-here]

So with the planetary alignment coming up I thought I’d pull out some early Hercules Canon Descendants sketches I made ages ago. I might go back and redo these if I can get a more concrete story down. Some of the movies/characters lend better for stories, this one I just couldn’t quite figure one out for but I love Hercules so I’m gonna post these anyway.

According to the Descendants wiki Hercules has a son named...Herkie. But that sounds like a hickey that somehow horribly turns into getting punched in the stomach, so we’re going with one of his actual sons names and calling him Hyllus.

Hades had a son on the wiki as well named Hadie XP’s But of course luckily he actually does have a son with a waaaay better name so here’s my pseudo Disney take on Zagreus, a good kid who’s grown up in a very volitial split custody situation and could really use a good hearted friend or two.

The ‘two’ would be Atalanta. I was always disappointed she didn’t show up in the Hercules cartoon because she’s awesome. So in this sequel idea she’d be an orphan kid who’s grown up idolizing Hercules, traveled to his home hoping to be trained as a hero by him, ends up befriending Hyllus and then Zagreus after they meet him on their inevitable adventure to the underworld.

If the movie had a main character it would probably be her with Hercules’s family and Zagreus as supporting characters. Actually his would probably work a lot better as a series as well, we’d get to see how Hercules and Meg have developed, Atalanta would be trying to prove herself as a hero/find out why she was abandoned as a baby, Zagreus would be trying to overcome his father’s legacy/figure out how to run the Underworld, and Hyllus would struggle with feeling like the odd man out, as the only one really normal mortal amoung the group, while trying to also be the voice of reason.

Oh and Atalanta would have super speed as her godly power thing, like Hercules’s strength :D

And the ability to talk to bears due to being raised by them x)

The main Villain I think would be Hecate. She showed up in the Hercules cartoon a couple of times trying to usurp the Underworld from Hades, and now that he’s been flushed out she’s ready to make her move. Zagreus and his mother Persephone try to stop her but she’s doggedly persistent. (The in universe reason for Hades never mentioning Persephone I’m giving is that most of Hercules takes place in the Summer so she’d be gone anyway, and they’d obviously have a less then ideal relationship in the Disneyverse because Hades is just, he’s just aweful)

Finally, since Mal is now supposed to be Hades daughter and the point of this project is to adapt each Descendants kid (except Frollo’s cuz uuuugghhhhhh 🤢) I’ll throw in a tiny baby sister Melinoe for Zagreus

She’s basically all the horror movie children rolled into one and made PG. Even Hecate is a little spooked by her. Basically imagine a five year old Wednesday Addams mixed with the Home Alone Kid (for when Hecate sends her minions to break into the underworld) and you’d be pretty close.

[vampiremeerkat]

This is not a request just a question: Have you ever thought of doing art on the Disney version of hades & persephone? I know in the hercules show they never had her show up (and from what I read they were going to change her to being hades & demeter's daughter, and they were in a custody battle). I guess they had a hard time trying to work her in. Though I'm sure you could've made the story of the two work, evil guys & sweet gals is something you're good at writing.

I have not, I don't think I've ever drawn Hercules fanart. Maybe a few sketches attempting Meg back in early high school. Why make Persephone his daughter. There are multiple Greek characters argued to be his offspring, they could've gone with any of them. Though Hades wished to marry one of the incest children of his incestuously conceived brother, because triple incest is even cooler, I wouldn't deviate too much from Persephone's initial role as his love interest. I think their monogamous relationship, especially in contrast with how that whore Zeus lived his life, is the one element that drives people to put the two names together in the first place. But well, daughter or wife, scrapping Persephone was for the best. Hercules is about Hercules, not Hades and his family life. Anyway, you're probably not even asking me how I'd make it work in the original movie, rather as a stand-alone story. Not that you explicitly asked anything at all. I'd cut Persephone off from Zeus and his sister wife, and make her a mortal woman, one described to be flawless and pure of heart and mind. The kind of person any god would love to have as a sacrifice. Having that said, her soul is unknowingly sold to Hades by her father to save his deathly ill wife. While minding her own business, she's suddenly dragged into the underworld and told the news. Having learned from Meg, Hades no longer sees the benefit of keeping feeble, grieving humans around as servants and contemplates kicking her down the soul pit right away, but the differences between Persephone and Meg are quickly picked up on. Unlike Meg, Persephone hasn't given him one resentful look, and her silent defeatist mentality has him take pity on the foo'. And she's hypotizingly beautiful, that helps, why not. Anyway, Hades "cheers her up" by letting her be his replacement Meg, opposed to an immobilized spirit in a gooey lake, but he finds himself increasingly unwilling to give her chores -mainly those that are bound to humiliate her or risk her safety. She's too honest and not bold enough, you can't send her to swoon a giant centaur. The fact Hades even cares is the dilemma; he never had to contemplate whether something was inappropriate with the headstrong Meg, though he excuses his reluctance as not wanting the jobs to be half-assed. He feels charmed by Persephone's patience and tolerance for him, which is more than what anyone's ever graced him with. She shows understanding for his discontentedness and feels for the way he's being treated by humans and gods, since no one likes death, after all. One of her biggest compliments to him would be the fact how comedic and animated he is for a god of death, which would make the underworld a surprisingly fun place if he'd allow the dead to fade away whilst experiencing the same joy he brings her. Hades is perplexed to learn he brought her joy this entire time, since he was set on being her intimidating boss. Throughout the story, Hades still has his eyes on Hercules, who's claimed -and has continued to be- the one thing that prevents a successful future for him. The oracles give him a new, vague prediction that introduces the existence of a star, which has to keep on shining if he wants the guarantee he'll receive a gratifying life. Hades keeps his sights on the night time sky in order to protect this supposedly fragile star when it shows up. Meanwhile, Persephone's mother is looking for a way to find and save her daughter, which ironically worsens her health. She dies during her strenuous journey, and when her soul enters the underworld, Hades recognizes her and has to make the decision whether to spare this woman a second time, or to admit her time ran out months ago. While he's thinking it over, Persephone shows up, but doesn't make her presence known. Hades sends the soul back to the land of the living, and the spying Persephone becomes instantly smitten by him over it. She never tells him she watched him do this, though, and there isn't much else she says or does to express her changed feelings, since she was already being nice to him and doesn't know how to take the next step. As for the main conflict.. I guess it would be the other gods learning Hades has a human girl for a slave, since he proudly "shows her off" by having her wait for him outside the borders of whatever divine area he's visiting. Perhaps he mentions her as well, but then it was believed he was talking about a goddess. Hercules feels most offended and plans to save Persephone, and since Hades already has beef with him, sees no problem in trying to kill him for barging into his domain again. He sends everything he has Hercules' way, but he perseveres. When Hercules makes it clear to have come for Persephone, Hades calls him a womanizer, because yo, and contemplates using her as a bargaining chip/trap. This would involve killing Persephone in order to kill him. Hercules expresses willingness to take dangerous risks if it entails saving a life, making it appealing for Hades to go through with it, but he can't, because Persephone is his girl. Hercules sees his chance and beats him to a pulp, but Persephone intervenes and exclaims not to be in danger. He's a bit skeptical over her acceptance of the villain, but chooses to believe her and withdraws. Hades learns she's the prophesied star he needed to spare, or some sappy shait. As for the ending, it's made clear it's not healthy for mortal beings to live in the underworld, so she and Hades agree to do (mostly) scheduled visitations. He fires her from being his servant and she reunites with her mother and remorseful father. I'll give the original mythology a little twist; where Spring and Summer-like days are the moments she's staying with Hades, while colder days signal her return home, caused by Hades' stage 3 depression. Not that it matters much, I suppose, Hades should be able to visit her as well, but I imagine the man is busy.

[occasionalfics]

worth my while // prologue

main masterlist | thor masterlist | ko-fi | p. 1 

Summary: After being banished from his home, Thor Odinson has stopped at nothing to prove himself worthy of his throne, title, and power. 

After losing the love of your life, you turned to a power you didn’t understand.

You know you shouldn’t get involved. But how could you not?

Pairing: Thor x Reader (Hercules au...kind of...)

A/N: Alright! First fic in...like 5 months! Awesome! I’ve been working really hard on this for a while, and there are some things you’ll need to know before you dive in!

1. This is SUPER vaguely based on Disney’s Hercules. That means that the villain is super cartoonish and kind of typical. Honestly I just really love the relationship between Hercules and Meg and wanted to work with that dynamic, so this is what came out of that need.

2. I’ve played A LOT with MCU timelines. Basically, instead of going home after defeating the Destroyer (in Thor 2011), Thor is left on Earth, but he’s given his power and proved his worthiness to wield Mjölnir. He gets into what happens to him personally after that, but what you need to know is that he’s present for every Avengers event after that. This ends before Ragnarok would take place, but the idea is that, very soon after all of this, Ragnarok would take place. If anything is confusing, you can definitely send me a message and I’ll try to clear things up!

3. I am not going to include a taglist from here on out. It’s a lot of work to keep up. Maybe I can be convinced to do a story taglist, but I won’t be keeping up with a global/permanent list.

I’m excited about this one! It’s a little nerdy and a little fun, maybe not quite as personal as Sugar was for me, but definitely one I’m happy with. Let me know what you think!

Warnings: Violence, lots of angst, borderline abuse and definite manipulation, eventual smut, way too many feels, major character death (eventually).

Words: 2,027

Long ago in the far-away land of Ancient Scandinavia, there was a golden age of powerful gods and extraordinary heroes. The greatest and strongest of all of these was the Mighty Thor…

The famed God of Thunder lived a luxurious life as Prince of Asgard. He was headstrong, indestructible, powerful beyond compare, and set to inherit the nine realms to rule. But he was stubborn, selfish, and fierce in battle, unwilling to spare the lives of innocents in the name of asserting dominance.

That is, until he made one nearly fatal mistake: almost sparking a war with the Frost Giants of Jötunheimr. His father, King Odin, managed to broker a shaky truce with Laufey, King of the Jötuns, on one condition only: that Thor be stripped of his power, his immortality, and his title until he proved himself worthy of such responsibilities.

Odin was forced to cast out his son - his golden child and heir - to another of the nine realms.

Midgard.

After sending Thor through the Bifrost to the mortal-ridden planet, Odin gripped Thor’s hammer, Mjölnir, tightly and chanted to it, “Whoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor.”

Then he sent the hammer, too.

--

“No!” you yelled.

But it was too late. Rick had stepped out into the street at exactly the wrong time.

Later, you would think that the worst part of the accident wasn’t that the driver was drunk. It wasn’t that they ran a red light and killed Rick on impact.

It was that nothing went in slow motion. You didn’t get a chance to call his name, to make him turn around and look at you one last time. You weren’t given the time to keep Rick alive. That was worse than sitting through court hearing after court hearing, testifying time and time again.

The fact that Rick had died because you were angry over something so...trivial. The fact that you hadn’t gotten the chance to make things better, to apologize for blowing up, to save him. That would come to eat at you more than anything else.

But in the moment, it happened so quickly, there was no stopping it. Time did not slow down, and neither did that driver.

Well, they did, eventually. After Rick was already dead.

--

A year later, you were sitting in a pew, staring at the empty pulpit as if it might bring some answer to you this time. But it never did.

Rick’s church had become a source of peace for you - not necessarily for religion, but community. Everyone here, when there were people here, loved Rick. He was handsome, charming, warm. He was infuriating, too, but really only you knew that.

Even in your worst moments, you loved him.

That was why it was so hard to move on, even a year later.

You fell forward, forehead slumping against your knuckles that rested on the pew in front of you. Tears fell, like they always did, while you sat around in the church Rick had sometimes mentioned marrying you in.

There was a ring in his sock drawer. Two months ago, you’d returned it. The jeweler didn’t want to take it back, stating that it was out of the return period, but the moment you told him that Rick had died, he took it without question.

You’d found a pamphlet for the local botanical gardens with some of the wedding booking information underlined and circled.

Because, like always, Rick had a plan.

And now you had nothing except an empty cage where your heart used to beat whenever he smiled at you. Whenever he woke you up on Sunday mornings, offered to take you to church with him, and either kissed your forehead and went off alone or smiled even wider when you agreed. He’d never forced his religion on you, but occasionally, you went to support his choices.

Now he had no choices. He was dead.

“Why did you take him?” you whisper, eyes straining to stay open between the building headache and the tears. You force yourself to look up at the pulpit again, see the symbols and the prophet and the artistry all around.

But it feels hollow now.

“Why?!” you yelled, voice catching as your throat threatened to close. “I needed him! Why?!”

You felt a presence behind you, but ignored it.

A hiccup resounded around the room as your shoulders shook.

“I love him! I need him!”

Rick’s sunshine-y smile filled your thoughts, brought on even more tears and snot and pain, as if you hadn’t already felt enough over the past year. Footsteps clicked along the aisle behind you, but still, you ignored them.

“I’d do...give...anything...to have him back.”

Two black-clad legs stopped beside you. The person never bent down, never even looked at you. Kept his hands in his pockets as he stared ahead.

“Anything?”

--

You thought him a Necromancer at first, but that wasn’t right. He’d corrected you almost as quickly as your own brain had.

“Name’s Hades,” he said when you’d met him outside of the church. “Lord of the Dead. How ya doin’?”

Eyes like glaciers stared at you, but a smirk as dangerous as venom offset the chill. Only a bit, but enough for you step forward and ignore his outstretched hand.

“Lord...of the…” You scowled. “You’re crazy.”

You sidestepped him, attempting to get around and walk back to your car, but he was quick. Too quick. Like fog, he disappeared, then reappeared directly in your path.

“Says the girl crying, alone, in a church she doesn’t belong in.”

You paused. Rick’s denomination wasn’t the one you were raised with. But how could this stranger know that?

He cocked an eyebrow at you, smirk still gleaming in the dim, foggy morning. “The girl who’d do and-or give anything to see her would-be fiance.”

The ice around your heart spread to your fingers. To your toes.

“He misses you, you know,” the man said. Hades. He tilted his head, and even in the overcast day, his hair seemed to shine dark blue. “Drives the other souls nuts with how much he talks about you.”

“Stop it,” you muttered, trying again to get to your car. You didn’t want to hear that. It was impossible for him to know, impossible to have happened at all. Rick was dead. That was that.

“I can take you to him,” Hades offered. When that didn’t make you stop, his heels clicked along the pavement after you. “I can bring him back.”

The ice filled your entire body. Hot and cold at the same time, somehow.

--

The Underworld didn’t look anything like you thought it would.

You imagined a vast, empty space. Blackness all around, maybe a few blue lights to match the eyes of its ruler. Pits of souls here and there, guarded by the three-headed Cerberus, all confined within the Styx like a moat.

But Hades had upgraded over the last few thousand years. The entrance to the Underworld was a mansion, larger than any home you’d ever seen before. Three separated but identical Dobermans greeted Hades upon entry. One by one, they turned their attention to you to sniff and suss you out, but Hades kept them calm with endearing words of your plight.

He made it easy to trust that he was on your side. That he was doing you a favor, extending a hand first simply because it was the nice thing to do.

Later on, you would break a glass tabletop over how stupid you were to believe such a show.

He told you and Cerberus to stay in the living room, then disappeared into a room off the main entryway. His place was furnished well - every inch of space exuded luxury and wealth. Marble counters and floors lined the room, with a huge fireplace along one wall and a gigantic flat screen TV along another.

He had no pictures, though. No human artifacts. Geodes and gemstones, sure, but nothing that signified life.

One of the Dobermans rested beside you on the plush, velvet couch. It put its heavy head in your lap and expected pets, and you obliged.

This one must’ve sensed how nervous you were. The second you gave it your attention, you felt much, much better.

But only a few minutes later, Hades returned.

With Rick.

--

You kept him a secret. How could you tell his family, his friends, everyone that had come to the funeral, that he was alive again?

He agreed.

For two months, you and Rick resumed life as if nothing had happened. He was alive again, and you were so apologetic about what had happened that he simply ate up all of the attention. You cried every time you made love, because he was back. He was yours, and you’d given your very soul up for him.

But the thing about keeping him a secret meant that you couldn’t marry him. He was legally dead, after all. And you’d returned his ring.

That no longer mattered to you. It mattered to Rick, though.

Crawling into the third month, he became resentful. You’d returned his ring! You’d given up on him, and it was your fault he’d died in the first place!

He stopped making love with you. He’d go to sleep early, stay as far away from your side of the bed as he could, and wake up to shower before you did, locking the door to the bathroom so you couldn’t join him even if you wanted to.

One night, as he pushed his dinner around his plate, you called his name. He didn’t look up at you.

“Would you rather be dead?” you asked softly, afraid of his answer. The question had been rumbling around in your head for weeks, ever since he’d started taking your decision to return his ring personally. “Would you rather I have left you in the Underworld, Rick? Would you rather I’d not given you a second chance at life-”

“What does being alive matter if we can’t have what we wanted before I died?” he asked back, teeth gritted at you for the first time. Ever.

You sighed and put your fork down. “We’re together, Rick,” you said. “That’s what matters. That’s why I did it.”

“You sold your soul,” he seethed. “And we can’t even get married!”

“Who cares-”

His fist came down on the table, hard enough to break one of the legs. “I do! That’s who, (Y/N)! I care!”

Silence settled over dinner. It stayed, even as you cleared the dishes, cleaned the mess, ran the garbage disposal. Even as you went off to shower before bed. All night, all the next morning, and all the rest of that week.

Silence.

You’d sold your soul for silence.

--

You came home on the exact day of four months of Rick being back and found your home to be empty. Devoid of feeling, of warmth, of life.

Rick was gone. No note, no message left on the answering machine. No text from his new phone number - which you were paying for.

Nothing.

Because he wasn’t gone.

You crept along the house, wondering why it was so silent still. You made it to the master bedroom, turned the knob, and felt what was left of the icicle in your chest fall through your body, through the floor, and into the Underworld.

Rick was already asleep, his shaggy hair falling over his face in what should’ve been adorable curls. But the naked woman on top of him, also sound asleep, made everything about him look dark, dead, disgusting.

--

“I can bring him back,” Hades said again. Only this time, he meant he could bring Rick back to the Underworld.

You shook your head.

You’d brought Rick back to make you happy. It wasn’t fair to him in the first place.

But now he was happy. And you couldn’t bear the guilt of being responsible for his death twice. So, unless he asked to be taken back to the Land of the Dead, he would remain, according to you.

“In that case, we’ve got work to do.”

Thank you for reading! No tags for the moment, but please reply and reblog to let me know what you think! 

[juodojimirtis]

Disney Princess (or Heroine)/Villain ships and my opinions on them

Snow White/Evil Queen: Could never see that happening. Not even in Once Upon the Time. Family bond only.

Cinderella/Lady Tremaine: HELL NO. FUCK NO. If you tell me you ship this I will honestly never talk to you again.

Aurora/Maleficent: I personally imagine Aurora looking up to Maleficent while she is fond and protective of the princess almost in a motherly manner, but huh, I'm not opposed to these two being a romance either. If you give me a good setting i might as well dig it.

Ariel/Ursula: HELL NO HELL NO HELL NO EW EW EW FUCK THIS

Belle/Gaston: FUUUCK NO, Belle is obviously FAAR too smart and sophisticated for that arrogant brainless barge

Jasmine/Jafar: What can I say.... OTP. MY FLAWLESS OTP.

Pocahontas/Ratcliffe: If you mention this again I will break your head. I'm not kidding. If that was not clear enough, HELL FUCKING NO.

Mulan/Shan Yui: Nah. Hell no. All Mulan could possibly want from him is his head and I'm pretty sure she's not into necrophilia (I'd reconsider ONLY if someone offered me a REALLY good story that did not involve Mulan being a spoil of war)

Tiana/Doctor Facilier: Certainly not something on my favorites list, but Hell, I could see it. He's cool (so much better than that loser Naveen) and she's extraordinary, so why not. Unless the theory that he's actually her father is involved obviously.

Rapunzel/Mother Gothel: No thank you. If you bring this up no one will ever find your body. Yes this is a threat.

Merida/Mordu(?): Excuse me, what?... Merida may be a beast but I doubt she's into bestiality. If you consider Merida herself the villain of her own story however.... sure?

Anna/Hans: Nope. No getting back with your ex, Anna.

Elsa/Hans: This seems to be a really popular one, but I just... don't like it. Hans is a dick. Could see it as a political thing though.

Meg/Hades: I can get behind this one, they'd make a charming power couple. But ONLY because there's no Persephone in Hercules.

Esmeralda/Frollo: I ship it. OTP. And... I shall burn with it!

Jane/Clayton: Nope. Just nope.

Eilonwy/Horned King: Okay now, I kind of do ship it...

Wendy/Hook: Ugh WHAT?! Get this out of my face.

Anita/Cruella: Cruella's only true love are furs. She made it clear and I respect the word of my icon. Also Anita and Roger are far too adorable.

P.S. - I did not include Kida because I have not seen Atlantis for a long time (ashamed) or Moana because I have not seen Moana yet at all. Whom did I forget? Heh... What are your thoughts on these ships? If you share mine come the Hell into my IMs, my friend! 💕🖤💕

[mearnsblog]

“Hercules” (1997)

In 1996, my grandma went on a trip to Greece. If my memory's correct (and god, has 2020 surely muddled it), I was already getting into Greek mythology by then, but hearing about her travels took it to the next level. It feels like I was reading the stories of Jason, Theseus, Perseus, and all the other -eus's almost every night.

So, yeah, my expectations for Disney's "Hercules" were probably far higher than any 7-year-old had the right to carry. To be clear, I didn't hope for anything graphic; after all, this was still Disney. I would've been happy to see at least a vague reliance on the myth. But after seeing it and then all the inevitable repeat viewings in childhood? Meh. I liked it fine, but it never really stuck with me. I was always going to be the kid grumbling about how Hera actually hated Hercules because she wasn't his mother, that Hades had basically nothing to do with his story, and so on and so forth.

It had been a long time since I'd seen "Hercules," though, so I was curious about what I'd think of it in 2020. Well, it's still not great. I'm sorry. I tried. I even told my brain that the story was just what it was, and that I should accept that in order to see how the rest of the movie works. It's a struggle.

Hercules himself is a boring lead. He's a friendly semi-klutz with god-like strength. I did like when he got pissed off at Zeus for providing no real guidance about how to continually progress into becoming a hero after initial fame. It's not like he was selfish about saving Thebes over and over again! He had the right to an outburst, and signs of real emotion were welcome! Whatever. As for his sidekick/mentor, I normally like Danny DeVito, but he's just kind of grating as Philoctetes. Shout-out to him for actually being able to yell "I'M WALKIN' HERE!!" as part of a movie script.

One difference from growing up is that I like Meg's character a lot more. It's plain to see that Disney was trying to go for a different, sassier kind of female lead, but it works! Hades gives us her backstory in about 15 seconds and it's nearly perfect. You immediately understand why her guard is up so often and why she's afraid Hercules could be too good to be true. She has a good arc, too, as she's the one who has to save Hercules from himself when he's weakened, even making amends with Phil and sacrificing herself to bail Herc's ass out. Yes, "I Won't Say (I'm in Love)" is the best song of the movie. Sorry not sorry, Michael Bolton ballad.

Relatedly, the Muses are also still great. They make for a clever narrative device and serve as the chorus for this performance. The intro song is fun, and the various themes they jump into are fine as well. You swoon, you sigh, why deny it?

The Hades villain take is smart. No, it's not based on myth, but that's okay. The idea of a Greek god as some kind of greasy used car salesman is funny, and James Woods eats up every line of dialogue. (It's too bad he sucks now.) Disney hadn't dabbled in that kind of comedic villain much before. Hades is perfectly deployed to take the grandiose air out of the characters around him who might be taking themselves too seriously.

Back to the weaknesses though, the story really is a drag. I'm not even talking about staying faithful to the myth -- in this case, I'm talking about how the middle of the movie is a bore. It's relying too much on us caring about Hercules when, again, he's just not that interesting a dude. It only gets interesting when Hades pops up, and otherwise it's him trolling around with Phil and Pegasus. The labors of Hercules are great! Why yada-yada them? I have to imagine there was great material left on the cutting room floor. The special effects also feel super dated in 2020 in a way that other Disney computer animation from the time doesn't.

Additionally, it's a little too convenient how easily Hercules takes out the Titans considering they wiped out almost every god on Mt. Olympus (!!) by simply having the typhoon Titan suck them all up. Enthralling. Why couldn't he just do this to Hercules? God-like strength is not an excuse when the other gods have strength! My guess is that Disney wanted to hustle along to the final showdown with Hades, which is better by itself, but not worth sacrificing the stakes of -- and I have to repeat myself here -- needing to rescue all the gods on Mt. Olympus! Kind of a big deal!

All told, "Hercules" is harmless. I wouldn't mind watching it again, but it doesn't hold a feather to most of its predecessors (or successors). That's the gospel truth.

Best song: "I Won't Say (I'm in Love)"

Updated ranking

1. “Beauty and the Beast” (review) 2. “The Lion King” (review) 3. “The Little Mermaid” (review) 4. “Cinderella” (review) 5. “Sleeping Beauty” (review) 6. “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” (review) 7. “Aladdin” (review) 8. “One Hundred and One Dalmatians” (review) 9. “The Jungle Book” (review) 10. “The Great Mouse Detective” (review) 11. “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” (review) 12. “Fantasia” (review) 13. “The Rescuers Down Under” (review) 14. “The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh” (review) 15. “Alice in Wonderland” (review) 16. “Lady and the Tramp” (review) 17. “Pinocchio” (review) 18. “Robin Hood” (review) 19. “Oliver & Company” (review) 20. “Hercules” 21. “Pocahontas” (review) 22. “The Rescuers” (review) 23. “The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad” (review) 24. “Bambi” (review) 25. “The Aristocats” (review) 26. “Dumbo” (review) 27. “Peter Pan” (review) 28. “Fun and Fancy Free” (review) 29. “The Fox and the Hound” (review) 30. “The Sword in the Stone” (review) 31. “The Three Caballeros” (review) 32. “Make Mine Music” (review) 33. “The Black Cauldron” (review) 34. “Saludos Amigos” (review) 35. “Melody Time” (review)