#also kinda really like how ghostly the flowers look

[project-sekai-facts]

the way i only JUST realized that in An's "The Overflowing Feelings" card behind her isn't An's reflection no that is NAGI.....

and im pretty sure there is a bunch more symbolism in it because like. i think nagi is wearing a hospital gown in that card instead of her regular clothes but it is kinda hard to tell

sometimes i see an ask and think "i could make this so much worse" and this is one of those times.

that's not a reflection, that is straight up ghost Nagi. if you notice the grunge texture is actually overlaid over the entire illustration, not just behind the fence. it's not a mirror, it's a fence that separates the living (an) and the dead (nagi). i also like how everything except Nagi on the dead side is blurry even the plants that are right next to her. i can't give an actual explanation because annoyingly this set didn't get a blog post, but my personal interpretation of this is that it's meant to show how Nagi is still close to An even after she's gone (personally I like to connect it to An carrying her memory of Nagi in her heart becase she's clutching her shirt over her heart, but i think you could interpret it as Nagi watching over An from the spirit world too if you want).

i think it could be a hospital gown based on general appearance and the way it ties at the back, but as you said it's hard to tell. it would make some sense though since she died in hospital. but it could just be a generic black dress, since it doesn't look like the hospital clothes she wore in the story. also if you look closely you'll notice her lineart is in a white-grey color which makes her look more ghostly than An.

Also notice how all the other pillars have the red flowers on them (the ones from the gekokujo jacket). I believe these are gerberas, which are sometimes used as funeral flowers. i.e the flowers placed on the other pillars are to say goodbye, but she's actually right there with An.

i think i can still make this worse.

contrast with An's card from Vivid Old Tale. y'know, the one all about her relationship with Nagi and the first time they actually implied that Nagi's dead (they subtly hint at it in BFBY but it was far more obvious in VOT).

This set actually did get a blog post so I can go on about the symbolism. The cards in this set were based on the theme of "warmth and nostalgia", which heavily connects to the event being about An looking back at her childhood and time spent with Nagi, and how much she loves her home.

Sunflowers obviously tie in to that warmth, but they also symbolise positivity, happiness, and hope (the color yellow does as well). These connect with both her dreams in the present and memories of the past.

Also this part of the interview:

The people she loves have seen her grow up and smile compared to when she was a kid and crying after running away. Now while people she loves who have watched her grow up could be her mom or dad, or even Taiga, considering the untrained card...

The person she's smiling at is Nagi.

And that's what makes the LUTF set so fucked up because just LOOK there's so much contrast between them. Sunflowers representing VBS' hope compared to the despair in the LUTF set caused by their defeat to Taiga. The bright colors next to greyscale (and red, which has several different connotations multiple of which are applicable here), how cold the LUTF set is next to the VOT set. An holding flowers in both but in one they're flowers symbolising joy and in one they're flowers symbolising grief. The VOT set is youthful and lively but in the LUTF set everyone is angry, despairing and grieving a life lost.

The fact that the POV in An's VOT card is probably Nagi watching her all grown up (which she never got to do in reality) vs Nagi being dead and separated from An in her LUTF card, not to mention that Nagi is not watching her anymore but instead facing away because she's left An behind (but was she ever really with An in the VOT card in the first place?). An crying in both untraineds but in one she's being comforted by Nagi and in one she's crying because Nagi is gone.

In some ways it's like the VOT set is An's idealistic look at what life will be like when Nagi gets home and the LUTF set is An coming to terms with the reality.

this card fucks me up.

[ryin-silverfish]

Lotus Lantern: The Summaries, Part 1

I grew up watching the Lotus Lantern TV shows, both of which have a special place in my heart. However, this particular tale is kinda one that thrives in operas and modern media adaptations, while the written texts of the story remain mostly out of reach for average audiences, being compiled in an 1957 book named 董永沉香合集.

As such, I've decided to make an informal summary of all versions of Chenxiang's stories from this particular book and maybe some more, for anyone wanting to learn about Lotus Lantern beyond the TV show.

This series is a WIP; each post features the summary of a single version of the legend. For Part 1, it will be——

Chenxiang Baojuan("The Precious Scroll of Chenxiang",1847/1907)

-This story took place in the Han dynasty. Son of a rich landlord, the scholar Liu Xiang(刘向) was on his way to the imperial examination (which didn't exist in the Han dynasty, but okay), and decided to stop at the temple of the Lady of Mt. Hua(华岳娘娘) for prayers.

-However, she was attending a party in the Celestial Realm, and her attendants——ghostly judges and pawns——didn't know how to answer when Liu asked if he'd succeed in the imperial examination, so they just threw him a blank wooden slip (used in divinations).

-Feeling cheated, the scholar angrily swept open the curtain covering the goddess's idol, and was instantly charmed by her beauty, so much so that he wrote a poem on the walls asking for her hands in marriage.

-As King Zhou's story in FSYY has told us, this was a very bad idea. The Lady of Mt. Hua was not amused upon her return, and went after the scholar with a sword in hand, but was also instantly charmed by his good looks.

-After a quick confirmation from the Old Man Under the Moon(月下老人) that their relationship was, in fact, Fated to Be, she used her magic to create a beautiful mansion, then, a huge storm, to force Liu to seek shelter there.

-She proposed to him inside the mansion, and Liu Xiang was like “I'd love to, but I gotta go to my exams and take care of my parents back home, so…later?”

-The Lady took it with characteristic grace, by which I mean she kicked him out of the mansion, then sicc demonic tigers and snakes on him and forced him to come back.

-Anyways, they married each other, and the Lady gave him three treasures as tribute to the ruling emperor: a luminous pearl, a pearl belt, and a crystal bowl, before sending him on his way to the imperial examination.

-Unfortunately for Liu, a corrupt minister saw those treasures and wanted to take them for himself, so he falsely accused Liu of stealing and threw him into prison.

-Just when Liu was about to be executed, his divine wife saved him again by whipping up a storm; Liu cleared his name in front of the emperor, and all was well…but not for long. 

-The brother of the Lady of Mt. Hua is a guy called True Sage Xuanmiao(玄妙真君), but later, the text also referred to him as Erlang Shen.

-While at the Peach Festival, he teased He Xian'gu(何仙姑), one of the Eight Immortals, about her (nonexistent) husband, and she mocked back: "Well I don't have a husband, but your sister sure does! That's why she isn't at the party."  

-Xuanmiao got really mad, rushed home to fight his pregnant sister, and sealed her under Mt. Hua. She gave birth while imprisoned, and sent Chenxiang to his father via a ghostly official/Yaksha. 

-After learning about his mother's imprisonment, 12 years old Chenxiang left to pursue studies of the Taoist arts. He met the Gold Star of Venus, who led him to some divine pills and peaches that granted him superpowers. That wasn't quite enough, however, and when he went to fight Erlang, he was soon losing and being chased around.

-Luckily for Chenxiang, the White Crane Boy(白鹤童子), a divine messenger, was passing by and helped him get reinforcements; the "Eight Cave of Immortals, the Great Immortal of Penglai, the Mystic Lady of the Nine Heavens, Fourth Sister of the Hundred-Flowers"（八洞仙人、蓬莱大仙、九天玄女、百花四姐）. In return, the True Sage summoned legions of celestial soldiers, Sir Thunder and Lady Lightning(雷公电母), and the Four Heavenly Generals (Ma, Wen, Zhao, Guan, not to be confused with the 4 devarajas).

-The battle became so heated that it alerted Guanyin, who went and informed the Jade Emperor, causing him to send the Gold Star of Venus down there and order both sides to quit fighting. With that taken care of, Chenxiang cleaved open the mountain and saved his mom, but the imprisonment had done a number on her: her form was skeletal, her hair was a mess, her gaze was unfocused, and she was more or less catatonic.

-It would be really depressing if the story ended here, so the Mystic Lady of the Nine Heavens gave her a magical pill that returned her to full health, and the family went on to enjoy their happy ending.

[annymation]

Taking advantage of the fact that you enjoy writing about AU (I love reading them)

I would ask you what you think a conversation between Star Asha and Star Aster would be like.

But I think they would rather spend it singing and dancing in the air

Dang ya'll really be here giving me scenarios I didn't even think of, Star!Asha and Aster two cutie sunshine children, their adorableness would be unmatched!

So let's see how that'd go!

Asha and Aster are both two stars in the sky, with one thing in common, they're both fascinated by earth.

Space may be infinitely huge, but news spread fast among the stars, and when they hear about one another, they both begin their search to find each other, find someone that thinks like them, someone that will listen to their endless ramblings about how amazing earth is.

Eventually, they do meet, Asha sees a small and young star just like her, floating around as he gazes down on the distant blue and green planet she's so fascinated by

(Imagine that their physical human forms are kinda ghostly drawn around their shiny star center, since they're in the sky and star's only take a human form when they come to earth)

"Umm excuse me..." Asha mumbles shyly "Are you... That star who has only been wished upon once?"

Aster didn't turn his gaze away from earth yet, but upon hearing that question they couldn't help but roll their eyes, thinking this is just another brighter star with nothing better to do than to make fun of him "... Yup, the one and only. It's not like all of us get to be bright and visible" he blurts out frustratingly while still looking down

Asha kinda understands where his tone is coming from, as she feels the same frustration "Yeah I know that feeling, my light is also very weak... And I too only got wished upon once"

That caught Aster's attention. He turns around to see her.

The two now face to face stop for a moment of surprise and awe, seeing how beautiful their "auras" are.

Asha continues, while approaching the other star slowly "I've been waiting for another one, any wish that could take me down there" Asha points to the planet bellow them "So I could see up close, all the things they build, the music they play, the flowers they plant..."

Aster shines brighter upon listening to her, she spoke like she could read his thoughts "Y-yeah! I always wanted to see the flowers too! And the rivers, the sea, all the animals-"

"THE ANIMALS! Yes! Oh what would I give to pet a sheep, they look so fluffy like the clouds!" Asha gushes over her dream, the star is blinking like she can't contain her own exccitment

"OH MY GALAXY, I KNOW RIGHT???" Aster is overjoyed, finally someone in this vast space that sees the beauty of the little things in that planet.

The two stars go on for hours on end, sharing all their passions and dreams of what they'd do one day when they got wished upon... But now that they've found each other, suddenly living in space isn't so boring anymore.

[danganronpafan777]

danganmon reading update also how thy day going!

Not too bad!! I’ve been busy with a Wattpad story, and a TON of irl stuff, but I just finished Chapter 2!

Here’s some notes/reactions while I was reading it/watching Blaze’s playthrough

SPOILERS

Danganmon Chapter 2 from someone who knows nothing about Pokémon:

I’m curious to see what Faust looks like without the mask as much as everyone, but ngl it kinda rubbed me the wrong way that they were pushing him so hard when it’s clearly a sore subject

HE LOOKS SO FREAKING CUTE THO

Sam: “…I think it looks nice too, maybe in this case “cute” would be the right word”

Ayooo

Last chapter, I wasn’t sure whether I should ship them or see it as a sibling relationship, but I’m leaning towards shipping

Faust keeping the mask on because he wants to be taken seriously is honestly a pretty valid reason (it’s a nice twist instead of a scar or trauma)

Maya is growing on me ngl

She reminds me of a more socially awkward Rei

Flidgey being amazing as always 

Cyrillo and Wimessir give that “We will be adored” energy 

Kami deadass asking Cyrillo why he’s tall- 

This premotive game sounds like a fun concept! I feel like Sam is gonna let Faust win

Fry seems like such a cutie that it makes me scared

So Kami and Fry don’t actually have to face off against each other? I’m assuming all the funhouses are different, so theirs is just not competitive?

BRO LAVA??

They’re literally exchanging their fav flowers while trying to escape from lava 😭 I honestly like this duo and I’m scared Fry might die

Sam really disappeared faster than my will to live 

Okay Zoro definitely giving blackened energy

Zoro and Roxanne got some sibling energy tho

I want to hug Faust so bad 

Maya and Flidgey friendship is unexpected but not unwelcome in the slightest (I actually love this dynamic)

Flidgey: A ghostly guy and a ghostly girl… lemme guess, some guy tried to suck you up with his vacuum? 

I love her sm

Stella and Cyrus being bullied by a robotic Gordon Ramsay for burning bread is def my favorite fun room 

Voodoo doll motive :0

Apollo probably got Maya, I’m calling it now

I’m getting some death flags from Lillie and Juno…

At least one of the melons is probably poisoned

Glad Sam apologized and everything worked out. Genuine apologies and communication is rarer than it should be in dangan/fangans

I’m officially on board with Sam x Faust and Maya x Flidgey 

If any of them die I’m rioting man

(Flidgey raised some death flags and if she goes then I’m quitting this fangame I swear /hj)

…FUCK

*end credits*

(I swear that wasn’t planned)

A trade between dolls?  Apollo is probably involved, but it’d be a cool twist if Flidgey was the one who swapped

I’m never forgiving whoever the hell killed Flidgey tho 

Okay now Apollo starting to piss me off (Still like his character tho)

CALLING HER FRIDGEY BRO THE DISRESPECT

(I hate how it made me laugh)

Wimessir is my top suspect tho, she’s just acting a bit sus

I KNEW IT

WTF APOLLO YOU BITCH

Okay I forgive Wim but Apollo you’re dead to me

Oh god, using Cyrillo against her is a whole new level of screwed up

KICK HIS ASS CYRILLO

Sapphire tucking in Juno’s doll makes me feel a lil better tho

CYRUS MY MAN

Out of all the antags in dangan, Apollo is the first to just be badshit insane, and like a genuine pychopath

(Well, his backstory does sound screwed up from what little we’ve seen of it)

The bags under Cyrillo’s eyes makes me sad :(

I actually loved this chapter tho, the funhouse games and the bonding between the characters is such a good buildup

9/10

The investigations are a bit short and Wimmessir’s guilt came a bit out of nowhere (In terms of evidence. I had suspicions from her behavior, but Apollo’s accusation and the purple hair was a bit abrupt) It felt like everyone turned against her rather quickly, and not much could really prove her involvement, but her execution was well done

This was great, but I kept thinking of the ways a reader would fit into the story which really shows the type of person I am (I write too many x readers lmao)

[weirdversethestrange]

(Well, saw the vote for the stories, both ones shots are tied. So I’ll be making stories for both. First up, Nova and Polterglitch. The story continues below)

Starry Memories

The swampy grounds of SwapFell’s Waterfall was always a little uncomfortable. It was always either too cold or too unstable to really stand on properly. Some areas were so dark that the only thing that one could really see was the echo flowers rooted in the ground or the crystals in the ceiling acting as faux stars for the monsters who were trapped under the mountain. For any other universe, this would have been normal, what was different though was the fact that two glitched skeletons were currently staying in the purple marshlands.

Nova leans against the wall of what was once a portal. It had been several days since the events of the multiverse attacking him and getting separated from 404. It was hard for him, losing a friend like that. He had already lost Error due to the strings of Fate and now 404 to the grasps of the multiverse. What scared him the most was the fact that while fighting, he could hear the whispers of Fate. That damn higher being was encouraging him…encouraging him to hurt the au’s. His mind was going into a spiral the more he thought about this…just how easily he lost control of his actions due to his anger.

“Nova.” Called out a familiar ghostly voice. This broke Nova from his thoughts, he looks over to the ghostly Error Sans he had brought along on his quest to avenge said ghost. Nova blinks a few times and shakes his skull as he leans back against the wall again, a small sigh escaping from his mouth through closed teeth.

“Sorry Error, I was just thinking”

“I would assume so. You always get a certain expression when you’re deep in thought. Like…an angry bunny.” Nova would cross his arms a little at hearing that comment from Polterglitch. His star shaped eyelights flicker in slight annoyance as the ghostly skeleton looks down at him. He could tell Polterglitch was trying to make him feel a little at ease despite the situation.

“I do not. How dare you compare me to a bunny.” Polterglitch would chuckle slightly. He knew that something was on Nova’s mind that was bothering him. He didn’t want Nova feeling that way. That would only lead Nightmare to their location just by negative feelings alone. But…he also had to be careful with how positivity was handled as well with Dream now being an enemy as well. Damn squid was using his friends to go after them. He gives a soft smile and puts a hand on Nova’s right shoulder. He had gotten use to Outer or well Nova enough before hand that felt comfortable enough to touch and hold the other skeleton or let the other hold him.

“What? Would you prefer if I called you a marshmallow instead? Little star candy?” Polterglitch said playfully. He knew that his teasing was working to get Nova’s mind off of the situation as the smaller skeleton seems to get a tad flustered by this. This would earn Polterglitch a glare from the starry skeleton, small star shaped glitches appearing around the smaller one, usually only occurs if an emotion was coming in strongly.

“You’re about to get a face full of your own scarf, Strings.” Nova commented as he gives the scarf around his neck a playful tug, causing the ghostly glitch to grunt a little bit at feeling the tug on the object keeping him earthbound. Polterglitch would look at Nova with a small smile seeing the other huff and chuckle a little. Good, he was helping his partner feel better a little. The skeleton ghost sits down next to Nova and leans on him a bit.

“Been a while since ya called me Strings. Kinda missed it, ya know? Should I start calling you Star again or should I save that for…something else?” Polterglitch asked as he glances over to Nova as the other fiddles with the scarf. Nova would think for a moment. Has it really been that long since he last called Polterglitch by that nickname?

“I guess we can save them for like…code names or something? Ya know, like how we use to anytime you were visiting Outertale and another AU was visiting. Heh, remember all the excuses I used to get a signal to you that someone was there and you needed to hide? Stars what was one…?”

“Hmmm…’I need to tie my shoe strings.’ was one. Another was ohhhh ‘My jacket’s drawstrings are uneven.’ Yeah, I memorized a lot of them, Star.” The skeleton ghost would say with a huff. He did not miss those days…always feeling on edge at being caught and Outer being in constant danger of being called a “multiverse traitor” all because he actually would listen to what the destroyer had to say and giving him a place to stay. He could tell Nova didn’t miss that aspect of the past…but…he could tell he missed being well…Outer.

Polterglitch would soon lay down in the grass and look up at the crystal filled ceiling. Nova would look down at the ghost next to him before laying down besides him. The feeling of wet grass wasn’t ideal, but it’s better than something like rocks or a ground full of attacks. Nova would look up at the ceiling, the sparkling gems catching his eye sockets. It would remind the space dwelling skeleton of home, but…he knew they were just rocks in a stone cage.

“I…do miss home a lot. I kinda forget that my home has the luxury of actual stars in the sky.”

“You home is very lucky to have that. Most universes don’t. It’s one of the reasons why I visited your home in the first place. And then the stars lead me to you.” Nova would smile a little at this as he looks at Polterglitch and then back up to the ceiling. Polterglitch would smile as he looks at the ceiling alongside his partner. He would then speak up.

“Don’t worry…we’ll make it home. You’ll be able to see the stars again and Fate won’t be able to bother us.”

“I know…Thank you, Error…” Polterglitch would nod as he looks up and then scoots a little closer to Nova, he slowly moves his hand closer to Nova’s hand with a little bit of hesitance before finally grabbing the other’s hand and intertwining his phalanges with Nova’s. He squeezes the smaller skeleton’s hand to reassure that everything will be alright.

(Author’s Note: Goodness, okay so this idea was originally for part 27 of Star Bound after Nova and 404 got separated but decided that maybe it didn’t quite fit with the tone I was going for originally. Polterglitch didn’t seem to be in character for what I wanted him as since I still wanted him to be a little more protective and sarcastic and still have qualities that the original Error Sans has. The story itself does dive headfirst into mentioning that Error and Outer were together before the events of Fate and the two becoming Polterglitch and Nova. I wanted to save that for later or have small mentions of the two being close and have the audience piece together or spin together what that may have been like for Error and Outer in the past. Hope y’all enjoyed.)

(Characters used: Error Sans by CrayonQueen/LoverofPiggies, Outer Sans by 2mi127, Nova Sans and Polterglitch by Weirdverse/Weirdversethestrange Fate by Harrish6)

[anueutsuhos-touhou-profiles]

Hata no Kokoro:

Bottom left art by Zounose, bottom right art by Rihito

Hata no Kokoro is a unique kind of tsukumogami known as a menreiki: 66 different masks all coming to life with a single, shared identity.

These masks each represent a single emotion, and are all essential for her identity to function. If even one is damaged or missing, she'll go insane. To make matters worse, you can hypothetically change her mentally by adding different "masks" as substitutes.

Her face never changes from that stoic expression, but it's not that she's emotionless. Her masks and her body language communicate this well enough. Her personality also comes through with these masks: while she looks cold and stoic on the outside, she's very innocent and childish, and actually very perky. Though she does tend to announce how she feels, which kinda gives away how inhuman she is.

She's initially the main antagonist of Touhou 13.5: Hopeless Masquerade. It seems all the Human Villagers have lost all hope due to all the incidents happening beyond their control. However, it turns out it was really because Kokoro had lost her Mask of Hope, and subconsciously compensated by absorbing the hope from the surrounding area. All three major religions in Gensokyo: Shinto, as represented by Reimu (and only her, the Moriya Shrine sits this one out), Buddhism, as represented by the Myouren Temple, and Taoism, as represented by the Divine Spirit Mausoleum, all tried to take advantage of this hopelessness to expand their followers. Even Nitori invented her own Kappaism religion in order to pander to this!

At least Miko tried to solve the incident, however, by making a new Mask of Hope for Kokoro... that looks like Miko's own face. Truly a humble woman. Kokoro actually rejected this mask, though, worried that it would kill her, returning her to a set of inanimate masks.

Eventually, Kokoro learned to control her emotions outside of her masks, with a big help from Mamizou, and confronted the religious leaders on exploiting her issues. At once. She fought Reimu, Byakuren, and Miko all at the same time and won! She celebrated her victory by creating a play with Mamizou about the events of the game, called Shinkirou. Afterwards, it turned out nobody was really sincerely converted to any religion because of the incident: people were just interested in watching these women beating the crap out of each other and placing bets on who would win.

Kokoro later appeared in the manga Forbidden Scrollery, where the hopelessness incident was revealed to have affected Kosuzu back then. She also appeared in Hopeless Masquerade's sequels, 14.5: Urban Legend in Limbo and 15.5: Antinomy of Common Flowers.

In Urban Legend in Limbo, one of her masks is cracked, causing her to believe she's the Kuchisake-onna, a girl from urban legend wearing a facemask who goes around asking people if she's pretty, only to kill them regardless of their answer after taking off the mask and revealing a horrifying mass of eel-like teeth underneath. She tries to get it fixed, but everyone who could is too busy, and she eventually falls into the role completely, besides realizing the question is redundant and so just assaults people on sight. This is, of course, fixed offscreen between games, however.

She's usually seen around Gensokyo, performing Noh theater. Noh, if you're wondering, is a Japanese theater art from the 14th century. She sometimes even does it at the Hakurei Shrine, giving Reimu some much needed donations for once.

She has something of an arch-rivalry with Koishi Komeiji, which makes sense, since it turns out Koishi stole her Mask of Hope in the first place! They act as foils to each other: Kokoro may look emotionless, but she's actually full of emotion, she just communicates it differently than most. Koishi may look perpetually cheerful, but she's really dead on the inside.

In battle, Kokoro uses a surprisingly wide range of attacks, almost all of which involve her masks or the ghostly blue fire surrounding them. Usually she has three masks orbiting around her at a time, each representing happy, sad, and angry. She can propel her masks at her opponents, or cause them to grow in size at the screen like a jumpscare. Each of her masks have laser eyes with different colored beams depending on the emotion: green for happy, blue for sad, and red for angry. She's able to breath (regular-colored) fire out of a big chinese lion mask, she can spit webbing out of a spider mask, and she can bite people with a wolf mask. She also uses a blue laser naginata. She even has fans she uses for weaponized fan dances! And of course she can shoot large waves of that blue fire around her.

Since she had to slowly learn to control her emotions, she's become incredibly good at reading the emotions of others, to borderline psychic levels. It even extends to being able to control other people's emotions through her masks!

Her name means "Kokoro of the Hata clan". The name "Kokoro" means "heart and mind". Hata is the family name of Hata no Kawakatsu, a legendary theatre performer from the Asuka period who had 66 masks made for him by Shoutoku Taishi. He actually predated Noh theater by a long time, the theater he practiced was Kagura.

That's right! Miko made the masks that would become Kokoro!

Hopeless Masquerade is the last game in this "chain of events", and the end of Windows Generation 2. After this, the new antagonists are no longer created or enabled by the previous one. Except a few, but it's no longer a single unbroken chain.

[moonjxsung]

I ACCIDENTALLY PRESSED ASK TOO SOON ON THE OTHER POST!! D:

i hope you're doing okay! I'm wishing you a much better April too (though I'm about a week late on that 😅)

i stumbled across this trend of people reacting to "it will pass" as a response to "i love you" followed by a post that was kinda sad but also just kinda hit deep (if I find it, I'll link) but it just made me imagine minho's reaction.

~like imagine, you're just hanging out with your friend. not really doing much. simply invested in your own worlds. and minho, out of the blue, affirms, "I love you". for a brief second, you pause. basking in those words. imagining what it would feel like if they were real. and then it stops. you don't let the moment linger. you respond with ease, "it'll pass" and whilst the overtones of your voice exude playfulness, a ghostly sadness lingers in the tones beneath. to the untrained ear, playful is all they hear. but minho prides himself on his relationship with you. and being your close close friend, he is very much attuned to this. attuned to you. he hears the certainty. the unspoken belief that you can't be loved. at least, not in the way that you love so readily. not in a forever kind of way. not in the way that everyone else is. and it very much saddens him to hear because that couldn't be further from the truth. "no, it won't." he's stern and yet gentle in a way that only minho can pull off. he's sitting up straight and looking directly at you and you don't know whether to laugh or cry. "minho, i-" you begin but you're not quite sure what you want to say. so instead you sigh, averting your gaze. you inhale a breath of courage before beginning your apology, "i shouldn't have-" "don't apologise." "huh" "why would you apologise to me?" "because I made you mad" it's his turn to inhale a deep breath. "no. you didn't." he pauses to look at you and ponders taking your hand in his. "I'm not mad. I'm just sad that you see yourself like that." "like what?" he gives you a look that immediately wards off any dumb retort you might have made. and then his expression softens. and he does graze your hand. soothing flowers tracing the back of your palm. "You know, I love you, right?" When you don't respond, he uses his free hand to guide your eyes back to his. "my love for you isn't going to stop. there's no strings attached. it's simply for you. It exists because you do" he'll place a gentle kiss to your forehead. tears well in your eyes at the contact and you force yourself to blink them back. "what if it does? stop, i mean." Your voice is small and shaky. "then it won't be through any fault of your own but that is a very rare impossibility that you don't have to worry about." you nod once, and he knows that you don't quite fully believe him but when you lean into his arms and let him hold you, trying to hide your falling tears and failing miserably, he knows something he said has got through. and even though he doesn't often put it into words, he silently promises to make sure to remind you of the fact until you believe it yourself.

I think halfway through it became more of a "what would chan do" kinda thing since i realised it would take forever to try to write out my thoughts coherently. but idk, minho, he'd be so firm about it at first. but the moment he realises that it goes deeper then he'll try to remind you of how deserving you are of love.

link to post: https://www.tumblr.com/astraystayyh/746866584345329665/hi-i-come-back-quickly-with-this-mini-debate?source=share

anyways, have a good week!!

-🦁

Holding back genuine tears this is so beautiful this is so him wtf wtf. oh my god. Nothing to add I’m just gonna be thinking about this for a few hours HELLO!!!!!

[totally-average-kid]

UHHHH HERES ME SPEEDRUNNING MY SONA LORE AND FIGURED I MIGHT AS WELL INFO DUMP ABOUT IT ON HERE AS WELL!!

(Lore under cut because its kinda long.)

DANNY LORE:

Danny was adopted by Kae Stella with his “twin brother” (they call each other twins cause they got adopted on the same day and they’ve always stuck together) Pasta one day. So the family is Viper (older brother), Kae (mom), And Danny and pasta (Twins).

During their high school years, they decided to move out of the house. While Danny was doing homework one day: Pasta brought back a black cat. Pasta already holding the cat and getting attached, They decided to keep them. A couple of months later, the cat disappeared. But on the same day they met a new friend named “Scout.” After a while of hanging out with Scout, they found out that they don’t have a home. So they offered for Scout to stay at their place. So they all live together as roommates. Eventually they do find out that Scout is a eldritch being so… swag.

One day: Both Pasta and Danny got into a really heated argument. So Danny storms off and goes on a trip to the mountains with Viper and his friend: Motley to get away from the house. Not bothering to say goodbye as he slams the door. As they were at a Waffle House in the mountains. Motley decided to do something funny. They murder Danny. Motley convinced Viper to help them hide the body and run. Days later: Pasta goes to the mountains to try and cut their quarrel. Star goes to the cabins that they were staying at but Motley said that Danny went missing and they didn’t know where he went. A couple of hours of searching later and Pasta comes across the Waffle House. They search in a couple of areas before finding Danny’s corpse on the floor, looking like he was dropped out of an open cabinet. (BTW, THERE ARE MISSING POSTERS FOR DANNY AROUND THE TOWN)

They hosted a improv funeral for Danny and later down the line, Pasta’s soul unstable and triggered the first Super Nova. Pasta also spent a lot of time repressing the memories that Danny’s dead and they convinced starself that he just went missing.

A couple of months afterwords: Danny’s spirit awakens as a ghost. While Danny’s memories of the murder are foggy, he remembers everything else about his life. He spends the first couple of days until one day he finally found out how to be visible again. As soon as he was visible again: he ran towards the house on a pouring day. Announcing that he’s back. Scout instantly knows what’s up but Pasta hugs him home, luckily for Danny’s tangibility kicking at the right moment.

Danny talks with scout if they should break the news to everyone that.. Well: he’s dead! Scout advices him not to, saying that Pasta might not be able to handle it. So: Danny is desperately trying to make sure that no one catches on that he’s a ghost.

For the first couple of days: Danny cant really control his ghostly powers. Phasing through the bunk bed and looking more unsettling at moments. But he does get the hang of it eventually. But some things that will happen with Danny is that:

A: Taking photos with them is EXTREMELY hard. The photos come out glitched and stuff and it always blurs out Danny’s face.

B: They bled flowers before their death: But it was more of just tiny petals before they became droplets of blood. Now it’s in full swing. His blood are blooming red dahlias with a green inside.

C: The more damaged Danny gets: The more ghostly he looks. So I’ll break it down in stages.

1: Danny starts to get a ghostly aura around him 2: His hair starts to float 3: tangibility drops 4: Just full on corpse look

D: Danny is cold at all times

[uayv]

nakamototoday

[nymphsupremacy]

Here are my designs for the 6 traitors💜💜💜 I just decided to do it this way rather than individually, all of them would look different when they're older but the only designs that I have for their older selves is Zeus, Hera and Poseidon. Idk about the rest. I'll give a brief explanation for each, obviously I won't discuss Zeus. Here’s the description about him if you haven’t seen it yet. Poseidon- I already kinda like how he looks like with how I color and draw him in general so it's not a massive change but I just gave him more aquatic traits I guess and I gave him a bigger scar. It goes down his chest, he can't see very well in his other eye due to the injury. Also sharp teeth because why not? Hades- I wanted him to look ghostly so he's the color white, his hair is like canon Hades' mortal attire because I like that look. The smokey eyes was inspired by Rachel's old concepts when he had smokey eyes too. His scar is also bigger and part of his face was messed up in the process of getting him out of Kronos. Demeter- this is a common color palette for her redesigns and it suits her quite well with the earthy greens and wheat colored hair. One of Demeter's scared flowers are Poppies so why not add them plus it contrast with her green. Hera- I wanted a peacock motif on her and her hairstyle is suppose to resemble the stuff on the back of a peacock's head. The white marks on her are also in reference to the markings on the face of a peacock too. I put her mole on the lip instead because she already has alot going on in the eye area. Hestia- I really just made her look more fiery and and I wanted her to have a veil for modesty.

[traumxrei-archive]

Seeing Fairy Gala Ortho made me so happy like !aaaaaaaaaaaa

. ok since you mentioned fairy gala ortho first, anonnie, i'm taking this as a green light for me to go absolutely ballistic and rant about how beautiful fairy gala ortho is.

here he is. the 100 beauté himself (as rook would say) ! i'd like to preface this with the fact that the person who draws the shroud SSR cards is Absolutely Insane, they want me to d word from how pretty all the art is, even pre-groovied. (will ascending to ghostly realms stop me from rolling for these cards ? no. it will not. fg ortho and gm idia will be mine !!)

the second thing i'd like to say is. that idia is a damn good designer. all of ortho's models are designed by idia in canon. so i'd like to say thank you to him and shake his hand (although i think that'd freak him out jsdfksjkf) for making this design.

[ analysis of ortho's outfit + the symbolism behind it down below ! ]

before we start, i'll be using pictures of the card art from the wiki + pictures of his full-body sprite, courtesy of alchemivich :D tap on the images for better quality (and also bc some are cropped weird rip)

let's go from top to bottom n just talk abt how crazy idia was to design this. he has gold and iridescent butterflies along his crown + covering his eyes. and there's gold all around his face. this makes him look like a porcelain doll, which i think is kinda the theme of this ortho model. it's as if someone powdered or painted his face white to give him a more human feel.

all around his crown he also has peonies in white. apparently white peonies are meant to symbolize remorse and sorrow. so giving someone a bouquet of white peonies can be a way to ask for forgiveness and show that you understand your wrongdoings. now i have not read book 6 but maybe there are some ties to what happened there and this design choice on idia's part to give ortho a crown of flowers that symbolize remorse.

and also, his eyes are covered with the wings of butterflies. a caterpillar only gets its wings after it undergoes metamorphosis, so butterflies are often seen as a symbol of spiritual rebirth, hope, or change. and covering his eyes,,,,eyes are often seen as a window to the soul so does that imply that ortho has...no soul ? since he's a humanoid ? but there's not one set meaning ofc, so maybe it could be in a more see-no-evil sense, where idia is protecting ortho and keeping him blind from things that are inherently "evil". there's probably a lot of interesting parallels you can draw between this design and book 6, which makes me excited to see what idia's intentions really were when designing this model.

(and also we can't forget abt his teeth....he's so cute. precious baby who i will protect with all my heart and soul <33)

ok moving on ! let's look at his arms. there isn't too much symbolism that i can think of, but again, his arms do look like the arms of a doll of sorts. idia gives him joints that are akin to ball-and-socket ones that dolls often have. i do have to say, his hands remind me of violet evergarden and also of this one designer i know who makes dainty hand jewelry and corsets out of porcelain. her brand name is candy makeup artist and here's her website if you'd like to see what i'm talking about. here's one of the hand jewelry that reminds me of ortho's hands.

ah, i do have to say, the white sleeve-like thing near his shoulder reminds me of lace doilies, since they often have intricate designs woven into the edges of it. (here's a picture of a lace doily if anyone's kinda confused bc i did not know the names for these were lace doilies) one last thing, his shoulder sports a screw, and you can see the inner joint under his armpit, which, again, amps up that doll-like feeling that idia's probably trying to achieve.

for his torso, there are lines that draw the eyes towards his waist, which is sporting what looks like corset made out of porcelain. again it reminds me of candy makeup artist's works, so here's an example of a porcelain corset she made. also having all the detailing in gold is really smart bc ortho has hovering lights around him (in the form of flower buds, as expected of idia's thorough design) so the gold really stands out from the cream-white color he chose for the base of the model.

another thing i noticed is that the corset elements and the golden designs near his knees and feet combines designs probably inspired by the baroque style. baroque is a style that is known to be very intricate; serving to convey a feeling of grandeur and awe amongst those who see it. in specific i'm talking more abt the architecture-side, specifically stuccowork, since it uses similar patterns to those seen on the golden detailing on ortho's model. examples of baroque stuccowork can be seen here.

then we have the wings ! which are interestingly not reminiscent of butterfly wings, but instead they adopt the shape of dragonfly wings instead ! idia's an absolute mad man making them iridescent bc some dragonflies actually have iridescent or colored wings. i think idia chose dragonfly wings for efficiency bc these wings allow dragonflies to have greater control over their flight. so. yeah. this is idia optimizing ortho's flight patterns hehe

then we have his legs ! the joints for his legs have a rose pattern on them which is hella cool but also just. why. bc this costume really has so many details, i wonder what idia was thinking when he designed it all and made it. it must've been a labor of love indeed.

and speaking of roses, that is the other flower that idia incorporates into the design of this model. the back of ortho's hands + the detailing near his knees + the pattern of his leg joints all feature roses in some way. roses are kinda a unique case in terms of meaning bc they come in many different colors (or can be dyed too), and over time each color has a different meaning. in general, roses are symbolic of love of some sort. but more than that i think it's important to note that all the depictions of the roses on ortho's model have no thorns on them. there could be two ways to take this: it could symbolize that ortho is hiding his thorns from people, only showing a beautiful flower. or it could symbolize the fact that ortho has no thorns, that he's just a beautiful flower.

to finish it off, we have his calves + feet. his calves are made out of glass, so they're see-through (again, idia being an absolute genius) and there are criss-crossing metal strips all along each calf. as for his feet, they're pointed downward. this makes me think of a ballerina. the way his feet are designed could be alluding to a ballerina's pointe shoe bc the feet do kinda resemble someone wearing pointe shoes. the square-ness of it reminds me of a toe box + the criss-cross design reminds me of the ribbon that pointe shows have.

in conclusion: it seems the whole look is reminiscent of a porcelain doll, maybe even one of those ballerinas found in trinket boxes ? his feet are definitely modeled after a ballerina. that means that the wings could be a tutu of sorts bc of how they drape around him in the full-body sprite and how they can spread when he's floating in his card art.

and before i go, a disclaimer, bc i'm by no means a design or art student so i might've missed out on glaringly obvious things. what i'm writing is just my own interpretation of the design and just. me gushing abt how pretty it is, so if you have your own thoughts or if you saw something i missed, feel free to rb or comment them !

[favoriteginger]

Empires Worldbuilding

The Empires brainrot is real lately, so here, have some worldbuilding that came to me when I was trying to make angst:

The Empires world is filled with a bunch of different types of nature spirits. These spirits tend to stay in certain areas and tend to do their own thing for the most part, but they are willing to help the people living in the world with certain things if it benefits them in some way. I don't really have any specific ideas for Joel, Pearl, Joey, and Gem, but I have ideas for the rest that I'll go through in some detail. Idk much for the jungle yet, and I'll have to see how Joey's series progresses, but the jungle is full of life, full of growth and death and rebirth, which is why spawn is there, why it still has the bones of an old civilization that is once again starting to be populated by people.

(this one is kinda iffy imo but) the ocean spirits are generally happy with the ocean as it is, but they also kinda desire the ability to change and grow and adapt. When Lizzie comes along and starts setting up the beginnings of her kingdom, the ocean spirits see the opportunity available. They can use the infrastructure that Lizzie has put together to grow and change, in return offering Lizzie citizens to fill her realm and warriors to protect it (the villagers, the axolotl golem, her axolotl knights).

I'm thinking that the spirits can also change people over time too, so as the ocean spirits get closer to Lizzie and help her expand her kingdom, she begins to take on some of the same appearance as her citizens, the ocean spirits sometimes deliberately helping it happen so she can more effectively rule her realm (axolotl Lizzie go brrr). The main spirit in the flower forest is the Overgrown (or maybe it's more a collection of spirits that exists and acts as one being). Katherine settles in the area and is called by the spring, a slightly lesser spirit, to protect the Overgrown and help it prosper. in return, she is able to use some of the bountiful life that springs from the Overgrown, using it to make her kingdom look more beautiful and to forge and maintain peace with the lands around her.

As time goes on and Katherine becomes more familiar with the overgrown, the animals and plants become almost attuned to her. She tends to have flowers and vines woven through her clothes and hair, and it isn't unusual to see her surrounded by various animals while tending to her lands. (I also want to incorporate some sort of faerie type lore into Katherine's area but I'm still working on that)

(warning for mentions of death in the next paragraph or two, for any who want to avoid it. nothing specific, and it's not any of the empires members)

(adapting some ideas a friend had here) The swamp doesn't really have any major spirits inhabiting it, and I'm still figuring out what the ones that do live there are like, but it is full of the spirits of the dead. All of these spirits died at different times and for different reasons, but they were all drawn to the swamp and reside there long after any trace of their previous homes is gone. These spirits don't want much, mainly just company and peace for as much of their eternal lives as possible. When Jimmy first settles in the swamp, it seems to be empty of any sentient life, but as time goes on he begins to see the ghostly forms of people long dead and he begins to be able to hear their voices. The first spirits he's able to fully see are a group of children playing in the water with the cod. As more and more spirits appear to him and he gets to know them, he starts working to help them. He does his best to stay on peaceful or friendly terms with the other kingdoms so his land and the people in it can live in peace.

As time goes on, Jimmy starts to look like part of the swamp in a way. It isn't unusual to see him covered in slime and seaweed after playing with the children in the water, and sometimes he has vines woven into his hair, or a crown made of sticks and mud atop his head.

The spirits of the desert are quiet and unmoving, happy to stay where they are and watch the world change around them. Pix is one of these spirits, though he took a more human form long ago because he was curious about the people living in his land and watching from afar wasn't enough. Now, the people he used to be a part of are long gone, and he's left alone in the remains of their once great empire, watching over the world as it changes and keeping vigil over the other empires, still occasionally venturing out to get a closer look at the surrounding lands, and bringing goods to help them when he does.

Now, Pix is also a dragon (because dragons are fun), and though he exists in his human form more often than not now, he still occasionally stretches his wings to fly over the desert, stirring up sandstorms in his wake. He still burrows under the sand sometimes, looking to nap in the warm dunes, and he still hoards copper and emerald ore, using them to ornament his buildings when he isn't able to ornament himself with the treasures as he once did.

(I gave Scott a bit of a corruption arc because they're fun I guess idk) The mountains tend to be populated by wind spirits, forever moving and forever free. Their main desire is for more land to fly over and explore, and they see a way to achieve that though Scott. They offer him the freedom of the wild mountaintops, away from people and connections that could tie him down and cause him pain. As time goes on and Scott starts to hear them more clearly, they begin to tell him that having too many connections would be bad. According to the spirits, alliances are good, since they would mean that other empires wouldn't encroach on the mountains, but actual close friendships would just trap Scott in obligations and promises and do nothing but hurt him down the road. They tell him to expand the borders of his empire and give himself more space to roam free and do as he wished, as well as provide a buffer between him and the people who could hurt him. (I'm thinking that 3rd life ties into this, and after loosing Jimmy in that series, he's afraid of being hurt in that way again, which is why he listens to the spirits)

As time goes on, Scott becomes more cold, both in personality and physically. He extends nothing more than basic pleasantries to the people around him, maintaining alliances but that's it. His skin grows paler and cold to the touch, and his hair grows lighter, starting to look more like frosted ice than the rich cyan it had been before. His fingers and ears also grow kinda blue at the tips and he finds he's sometimes able to manipulate the flurries of snow falling around him or ride the winds across his growing empire.

Fwhip settles in a plains biome and not long after, he comes across the spirits of the stone and darkness, who tempt him with glowing redstone and promise him all the riches held underground and the power that could come with them. Fwhip, having spent most of his recent time alone in a hardcore world, is maybe a tad bit paranoid, and takes these spirits up on their offer, thinking he can use the riches underground to build himself and his people a beautiful city, and to make armor and weapons and trade offers and alliances to protect himself. However, in agreeing to the deal, he gave the spirits a connection to work with and they began corrupting him, making him treasure the dark deepslate and shining redstone even more, convincing him that the heads he mounted around his base were his citizens and friends, that he had to expand his empire and gain more power, or it would all be taken from him. Over time, the corruption starts to take a physical form, and not just in the land that grows darker as redstone-laced spires emerge from the ground, deepslate making it's way through the grass. Fwhip's eyes begin to take on a red tinge, glowing slightly like the redstone he cherishes so much, and his skin starts to appear grey in patches, matching the darkstone consuming his land.

So yeah, worldbuilding

Feel free to add on or whatever if you want I guess

[gangrenados]

this is extremely important: stark reader x jason todd featuring reader’s best friend! wade just being wierd around them

This is more about Jason and Wade meeting than anything, so yup

•It was less to say that your dad didn't really approve Wade as your friend.

•Although Tony knew this weird guy had the best intentions with you, he couldn't help but not ignore all the massive criminal records he hold

•...well, Wade always defended himself saying that it's not a crime if it means that the world can become a better place without all the scum and yeah, he also needed the money.

•Not that Stark needed to know about that, right?

"You know I will support you no matter what because we're family and all that stuff, but why?" Tony says, pinching the bridge of his nose when he hears Wade talking so excitedly about some old pictures of the avengers, he was talking about his own team.

"Wade is a great guy, dad. You both could get along if you didn't treat him in such mean way!" You pointed out calmly and Tony gasped shortly after that.

"I don't know where you got an especial interest on dangerous guys, but you should check that out." Tony said sternly.

"C'mon dad! You're being really unfair right now." You took a bite from your chocolate bar as you pointed a finger to Tony." Besides, I wasn't the one looking for a new bike for Jason's birthday, huh?"

Tony left out a a sight, pinching the bridge of his nose once again, an habit that unfortunately has stuck with him thanks to all of those times having to hear Peter nerdy ramblings." You know what? Go before Wade ends up blowing up something. Just go, goodbye."

•But what about Wade's relationship with Jason? Well.

•If we're talking about the superhero field then Deadpool finds quite interesting this Red Hood guy.

"Fuck man, we're like twins!!" Wade shouted excitedly as he chocked a criminal with his granade belt.

•How they got in this situation? Well, teaming up was always something exciting, even for those who tend to work alone.

• Although Jason wasn't so happy to have to work with this dude who can't keep his mouth shut, Wade was having a blast.

"We can have a team name!" Jason rolled his eyes at comment, he didn't answer, but Wade didn't needed it. So he kept going." What about DeadHood or Red Pool?"

"Ah fuck..." Jason shoot a guy on the head before turning to face Wade." Dude, can you stop? Those are some interesting names, but the thing is that I'm not interested. Shut the fuck up."

" I see, you're not that friendly." Wade shook his head" Well, that's a shame cuz I really like how DeadHood sounds! It's kinda mysterious ya know?"

"Anyway, we'll probably see again and we could talk about the name when that happens! It's usually that way with these kind of stories...see ya!"

•That Was the last thing this guy said before jumping into his motorcycle and leaving a really confused and annoyed Red Hood behind.

•Jason didn't paid much attention to his words, after all if didn't made sense and he had to attend more important business, like going to your place to meet this friend of yours.

•He wasn't too excited about it, but it was important to you so fuck it.

"Someone told me you meet Deadpool" you made your way to the living room where a patched up Jason was waiting patiently in the couch.

•You sat beside him, making sure to not move too much to not cause him any pain." So what do you think about him?"

Jason let out an annoyed sigh, he ran his fingers through his hair before speaking." He's insufferable. I would have shot him, but it would have been a waste since apparently he can regenerate himself...ugh."

•You chuckled nervously at Jason's confession, you knew he always have a hard time working with others, but you stupidly hoped their first encounter would have turned a little bit better.

"Oh..." was the only thing you could say as you did your best to not ruin the big surprise." Uh, Jay? About the friend I wanted you to meet, he's-"

•The sound of the microwave going off caught both of your attention, alongside the happily squealing that was coming from the kitchen.

"Oh my God, why pizza is so fucking tasty!" Jason frowned is eyebrows at the sight of a man dressed in an all red suit, with bullet holes and dried blood coming from the kitchen. "It's like a mini orgasm every time I took a bite! Is it too exaggerated if I said I would sell my soul for a slice of pizza? Probably yes..."

•Deadpool was in your house? This better be a dream cuz Jason wasn't happy with this. He took a sharp breath between his teeth and clenched his jaw. You knew Jason wasn't having it.

"I told you to take off that damn suit!" You glared at Wade with wide eyes, he didn't understood your sing at first but he clearly got after you 'subtlety' pointed out Jason.

"Oh shit" Wade said under his breath.

•The tension in the room could be easily cut with a knife, it was so dense and suffocating or maybe it was Jason's glare at Wade.

"So, this is my best friend...Deadpool?" You turned to him, unsure of how to address this situation." Can I say your name or we go by Deadpool?"

•Maybe you couldn't see it, but Wade's eyebrows were knitted into a frown. He couldn't take his eyes of off his pizza as his thoughts rushed into a million of ideas of how to get out of this situation.

"I don't know, this is weird." He said as he clicked his tongue. "Maybe we can do this another time, I just remember I hot a job to do and I need money, so we can meet later (y/n)'s boyfriend!"

•Wade handed you his plate before he rushed to the front door, leaving you without a clue about what to do next.

"Damn," he cursed before stepping out, poking his head back again into your apartment." Look man, I like to be a pacifist, but if you dare to hurt (y/n) I won't hesitate to fill your pretty lil head with lead. Capisci?"

•And that's how your best friend and boyfriend met. You can bet your ass that it was headache explaining to Jason why were you friend with this guy.

Tag list below the cut (ignore)

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[grailfinders]

Fate and Phantasms #196

Today on Fate and Phantasms we're building the last of the Three Goddesses Alliance, Ereshkigal! (It took her long enough to show up.)

Eresh is a Grave Cleric for relatively obvious reasons, as it lets her do pretty much everything she does- raise the dead, care for the dead, raise the dead properly, cause earthquakes, and start pandemics. Maybe don't do that last one right now, we're kinda busy with one already. It's a shame Soul Cage is a wizard spell, but pobody's nerfect.

Check out her build breakdown below the cut, or her character sheet over here!

Next up: Now all of China knows you're on the naughty list.

Race and Background

Ereshkigal is part chthonic god, part human thanks to being a pseudoservant, that means Fallen Aasimar is a pretty good choice for her. You get Darkvision, Celestial Resistance to radiant and necrotic damage, Healing Hands to heal with your hands, and the Light cantrip to help the mortals with their dumb mortal eyes, using Charisma to cast it.

She's also the Three Goddess' Representative on behalf of humanity, trying to squirrel some away to prevent them from being entirely wiped out. This gives her proficiency with Intimidation and Religion, as well as an extended spell list we'll go over as it comes up. If you're wondering about the Intimidation: Yes the fandom thinks she's cute now, but you have to remember she's still a god of death. Most people aren't going to be as chill with her.

Ability Scores

Wisdom is first, Ereshkigal spent millennia honing her art alone in the underworld, so either she has a super high wisdom or an incredibly low one. But high wisdom works better for the build, so we'll go with that. Second is Charisma- some people love you, some people are terrified of you, those are both charisma. Your Dexterity is also solid, because your armor is not. Your Constitution is above average because while we don't need it for the build have you SEEN her HP stat? Your Intelligence is okay. You're not dumb, we just need other stuff more. Finally, dump Strength. You're a bit awkward with that spear, but we'll get some stuff to make it work later.

Class Levels

You're 100% Grave Cleric, so we'll just get into it. Starting off in this subclass gets you proficiency with Wisdom and Charisma saves, as well as Persuasion to show off your awkward charms and History because you're literally older than the written word. At first level you also enter the Circle of Mortality, so your healing spells automatically heal for max HP on creatures with 0 HP, and you get a suped-up version of the Spare the Dying cantrip that uses a bonus action and has a thirty foot range. You also get Eyes of the Grave, meaning you can sense undead creatures within 60' of you if they're not behind cover. It won't tell you about their identity though, so make sure you don't pick a fight with Strahd, you're still only level one. You can do this Wisdom modifier times per long rest. Starting in a spellcasting class also gets you Spells, surprise surprise, and having a Ravnica background gets you even more. Being a grave cleric gets you Bane and False Life for free, giving you easy access to curses and HP boosts early in the game. Something I want to bring up about the ravnica background before we move forward: I misread how these backgrounds work before. They add spells to your class' spell list, not your spells known. That means builds where you pick spells every level only get the opportunity to learn those spells, they don't just get all of them for free. Clerics can prepare spells from their spell list every long rest anyway so it's not a big difference here, but it is something I'll have to go back and fix for the other members of the alliance and Ishtar. Anyways, you get Illusory Script added to your spell list, not exactly something you'll probably use. For spells you can actually choose, grab Resistance for a goddess core that adds 1d4 to your next save, Thaumaturgy for when you need to get dramatic with extra magical effects, and Toll the Dead to do just that for some necrotic damage. You can also choose to prepare spells like Command to flex your authority and Protection from Evil and Good to flex on your sister.

Second level clerics can Channel Divinity once per short rest in two flavors. Turn Undead takes care of undead that fail their wisdom save, and Path to the Grave will clear out anything else. Spend your action to curse a creature, giving vulnerability to the next attack that hits it. Rules as written you can't target a mountain with this, and you definitely can't get the bonus for an Earthquake spell, but I'd allow it for the cool factor. Alternatively, you can Harness Divine Power to spend one use of Channel Divinity for an extra spell slot which is a level equal to or less than half your proficiency bonus. You can do this once per long rest, but that will grow as your Channel Divinity uses do.

Usually your third level doesn't get you much of anything as a cleric, but since you're a fallen aasimar you get a Necrotic Shroud, spending an action to get really spooky for a minute. Mechanically, this is your big ghostly form, and it'll frighten nearby creatures that fail a charisma save, and for the minute you're transformed you'll deal an extra bit of necrotic damage once per turn. You can go ghost once per long rest. You also get second level spells now, including your freebies Gentle Repose to prevent people from rising back as zombies and Ray of Enfeeblement, which weakens a creature's weapon attacks for up to a minute. They can make a constitution save to shrug it off, but not until the after the spell's already hit, so at least you'll get your money's worth. Thanks to your background you can also learn the spell Enthrall, making it harder for people to notice anyone but you. As someone who's existed in this fandom for any period of time, I can confirm Ereshkigal definitely has this ability. You can also prepare spells like Spiritual Weapon to have a spear that actually hits good and Protection from Poison for more goddess core shenanigans. Finally, make sure you pick up Silence. I'm still not entirely sure how we'll build Tiamat, but that should help shut off her immortality.

At fourth level you get your first Ability Score Improvement, which won't actually be improving your ability scores. grab the Eldritch Adept feat for the Armor of Shadows invocation so you can cast mage armor on yourself for free. You also learn how to cast Friends to make it easier to make friends and terrify your enemies.

Fifth level clerics get third level spells, including your freebies Revivify and Vampiric Touch. You're the god of the dead, so people should only really die when you want them to. Alternatively, you can Animate Dead to summon some skeletons for your own uses. You can also use Spirit Guardians to get more ghostly defenses. They'll slow down creatures of your choice in your area, and if they fail wisdom save they'll take radiant and/or necrotic damage, with it getting halved if they succeed.

At sixth level you get a second use of Channel Divinity per short rest, and a second use of Harness Divine Power per long rest. You also become a Sentinel at Death's Door, shutting down a critical hit near you as a reaction, turning it into a regular attack Wisdom Modifier times per long rest. Sure, you can bring people back later, but this is way less expensive.

Seventh level clerics get fourth level spells, like Blight and Death Ward. It is really hard for flowers to grow in the underworld. You can also use Leomund's Secret Chest thanks to your background, or you can prepare Banishment to throw Tiamat back where she came from, use Guardian of Faith for more ghosts, and leave an Aura of Purity around you to give your allies the blessings of Kur.

Eighth level clerics get another ASI, and this one will improve your ability scores. Kinda. We're grabbing another feat, but being Shadow Touched will improve your Wisdom by one point. It lets you cast Invisibility or Disguise Self once per long rest for free, or you can cast either spell as if it were a normal spell on your spell list. Now you can really make yourself look ghostly, if a bit undersized for your boss fight. Your destroy undead also bumps up to hit CR 1 creatures, but that'll blow up your skeletons as well, so be careful with it. Finally, Potent Spellcasting adds your wisdom modifier to your cleric cantrip damage. Nobody can toll the dead harder than the god of the dead.

Ninth level cleric, fifth level spells. Antilife Shell prevents anyone from getting too close to you, though it also means you can't get close to them without breaking the spell. It's almost poetic. Anyway, you also get Raise Dead, which is like revivify but with a more lenient time frame. You can also instigate your very own christmas event now with Contagion! This spell poisons a target, and at the end of each of its turns it has to make a Constitution save. After succeeding three throws, the spell ends. If it fails three throws, it gets a disease for the rest of the week. The closest thing to Sumerian Flu is probably Filth Fever, which gives disadvantage on saves, checks, and attacks that use strength, but there's all sorts of diseases you can give people. Technically this isn't a contagious disease, but talk to your DM, I'm sure you can work something out. You can also use Hallow to turn your room into a little slice of the underworld, shutting down your sister even further.

Tenth level clerics can invoke Divine Intervention with a 1 in 10 chance of getting a free favor from your god. Your god is you, technically, but it'll make more sense later. You can use this once per day, but it takes a week to recharge after it actually works. You can also cast the Light cantrip now. You could do it before, but now it's stronger.

Destroy Undead grows to hit CR 2 undead, and you can cast sixth level spells. Create Undead makes stronger undead for your army. Sadly dinosaur skeletons aren't available, so you'll just have to settle for ghouls. At higher levels you still won't get dinosaurs, but you can get ghasts, wights, and even mummies! Just be careful you don't stop recasting the spell, mummy rot can be rough. You can also summon a Heroes' Feast for more blessings from Kur, and you can take on an Otherworldly Form for another ghost transformation. This spell makes you immune to fire and poison damage as well as the poisoned condition. You can fly 40' per round, get +2 to AC, and you can attack with weapons using your wisdom twice per attack action. You're stuck with the UA version of this spell, so it takes an action, but on the plus side this just gives you an excuse to use Spiritual Weapon more.

Use this ASI to bump up your Constitution for more health. Health gets added retroactively, so you get +12 HP now instead of just +1. It's pretty nice.

Seventh level spells! Resurrection further cements your control over death with a time limit of a century, and you can also Plane Shift yourself (or an enemy) into the underworld.

Destroy Undead hits CR 3 creatures now. Not even mummies can stand up to your power!

Fifteenth level clerics get eight level spells. If silence won't keep Tiamat down, Antimagic Field should do the trick. The one problem there is it's only a 10' sphere around you, and you rely on magic way more than Tiamat does. You can also cause Earthquakes, turning a very large area into difficult terrain, disrupting concentration, knocking creatures prone, and destroying structures in the area. The one problem here is that you can't fly, so be careful where you're pointing that thing.

Yet another ASI. Use this one to finally max out your Wisdom for super strong spells and better protection from crits.

If you make it to level 17, you get the super powerful ninth level spells. Also, Destroy Undead hits CR 4 creatures, and you become a Keeper of Souls, stealing away some of a dying enemy's soul to heal an ally based on the creature's hit dice once per turn. Right though, ninth level spells. True Resurrection brings someone back even if they've been disintegrated 199 years ago. It's expensive, but you can always grab some gems from your sister if you're pressed for cash. The benefits of sharing a body.

At eighteenth level you get a third Channel Divinity and another use of Harness Divine Power. Really get those paths to the grave filled, it's kind of your thing.

Use your last ASI to grab the Tough feat for 38 HP now and another 2 next level. You have one of the highest HP stats in the game, this only makes sense.

Your capstone level is an improvement to your Divine Intervention. You know how I keep bringing up multiclassing as a con when we include cleric levels? This is why. Your divine intervention now always succeeds. Period. I mean, it makes sense. You are the god giving you power. But yeah, you get guaranteed god-level power freely given as an action. You truly have the power of god and anime on your side.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

Clerics have a good variety of spells, and you take it even further with your background. You can heal but you're not completely hosed on your own like Medea Lily, you can deal damage and still do stuff outside of combat unlike your sister, and you have utility without your build being dominated by it like Hundred Personas.

You might not be good in a one on one fight, but you don't get into those that often thanks to your skeleton army. If you just dedicate harnessing divine power to keeping them in line, you can have nine extra bodies on the field to turn the action economy in your favor.

Even when we're not talking about spells, you're still really supportive of your team. Shutting down critical hits and stabilizing your allies quickly will seriously improve the longevity of your party.

Cons:

Dabbling in so many areas of magic means you're unfocused, so you won't excel in any one. You won't heal as much as Medea, deal as much damage as Ishtar, or be a skill monkey like Hundred Personas.

You also rely on magic completely for combat, which means stepping into an anti-magic zone can be deadly. This is especially bad for you, since an anti-magic zone will probably be the best way to deal with Tiamat.

You might have an undead army, but your best spells are area of effect and you're a cleric. Destroy Undead is kind of a big deal for you.

[paranormal-romantic]

Hello hello once again! Another throwaway post I think as this will only pertain to UDDUP and it’s 5 am here and brain don’t think completely lol

So for UDDUP- I want to write a sort of B plot with the theme of flowers and the language of said flowers because one of the first images I saw of Elias there was a lily in his breast pocket which to most was probably nothing but to *me* sparked the little knowledge I knew of flower languages and how lilies symbolize death (& sometimes rebirth, as most flowers kinda do because they grow- duh).

So for the character I have in mind for this story I want to write- there are at least 5-6 characters, though two of the six will be main characters (seeing as one will be the main character/reader) but what I’ve developed for 5 of these characters and their flower/flower language are as follows:

MC - Peony

Elias Gallagher - Lotus to White Lily(?) (wilting?)

[X] Gallagher? - Orchids

Edmund [X] - Yellow Tulips

So this may seem like rubbish but let me try to explain it.

MC is the main character (or reader insert) and I wanted to pair them with Peony because I’ve been obsessed with naming a character Peo as I feel it’s fairly gender neutral and junk.

Elias Gallagher is our ghostly boi in question. As I mentioned before he was (assuming) buried with a lily- though if I were to portray him as a lotus- I read somewhere (which when I start to write this with the b-plot, I’ll use only one source and so these flowers will probably change as I want their meanings to mirror the characters) they were a sign of emptiness- or more so without a passion (with Elias’ life before I feel would best reflect this). Again- these are subject to change as I used different sources for these meanings.

For the next few characters I won’t reveal who they are yet nor their names as they are subject to change and I like a little mystery hehe.

X Gallagher I wanted to pair with orchids as they symbolize misunderstood sexual symbols - I was debating between this and Dahlias because those tend to symbolize death but at the moment I think I would rather use that for a name as I would like to throw a bit of a twist to this flower language b-plot.

Edmund X I am pretty stuck on the flower of language being the yellow tulip as I found it can mean romantic feelings for one that is often disguised as friendly. Another plot twist in both the a and b plots that I would probably reveal in the ladder of the two before the formerly name plot as I like to throw in clues to reveal what will come up as subtly as possible for when those interested look back think ‘this has been a long time coming’ kinda idea tehehe.

As for the last character(s) I hadn’t assigned a singular one for a certain flower but for one of the Mr. and Mrs. I would love to include the lily of the valley as I adore the said flower and from what I’ve found they symbolize ‘to be together and happy once again’ which I think would really suit one of the two unnamed characters I mentioned before.

And that’s what I have thus far for this particular idea for this story.

I would also like to mention that while this may be a slow start- I’m not trying to rush myself as I do have a life outside of this story and I think it might be best suited to be released at a later date (like idk Halloween muahaha!!)

I meant to type more but I fell asleep on the computer so if I think of more I’ll make another post or edit this one.

[majorsoapfan]

TUA Season 3 AU Fic

This is an fic idea for an AU from the end of season 2 onwards where Ben survived and travelled back with the rest of the umbrellas to the new Sparrow-infested 2019. Because there was so much potential there for an amazing fic:

Ben going ballistic at the mere appearance of his Sparrow self. Seriously he'd hate the guy. Of course Umbrella!Ben's antics and threats towards his alternate self means that Klaus is struggling to keep a straight face during their first meeting.

Oh, who am I kidding, Klaus is rolling on the ground laughing thanks to Umbrella!Ben trying (and failing) to strangle his alternate self.

And despite his brothers pleas Klaus refuses to give away that their Ben is present, going as far as to stop the rest of their siblings from mentioning his ghostly presence to Reginald.

Because, despite Klaus' appearance and most people's general in-universe assumptions of him being an idiot, the guy lived for more than ten years on the streets and for nearly a year in a war zone. You don't achieve that without being somewhat sneaky and he does have a manipulative streak to him as well. He also knows when to keep an ace up his sleeve. It's not a strategy he uses often, his personality isn’t the kind for it, but he knows now that he has too.

Reginald not knowing Ben is there as a ghost gives the Umbrellas a massive advantage against the Sparrows as Klaus is forced to explain to a very upset Ben and his confused siblings later. Because Reginald is aware of the living Umbrellas and their talents, but he was never aware of the seventh member hanging around as a ghost. Ergo, they have the perfect spy.

So Umbrella Ben goes back to the Academy and studies the Sparrows religiously. Gets to know the Sparrows as people, what makes them tick, how they fight, any weaknesses.

What nearly everyone forgets about Ben is that he's not some soft, innocent flower who never did anything wrong. Ben liked doing reckless stunts (he enjoyed the ice cream van stunt), and he could be insensitive, and kinda callous when trying to achieve a goal as well. But he is also very loyal to his family. And the Sparrows are a genuine threat to them. Probably the biggest.

For the first time possibly ever, Ben can do more to protect them than simply unleash the Horror which he hated doing and offering advice that often got ignored. He is the biggest factor that is keeping his family safe, he is their main shield by gathering information.

Of course the Sparrows have no clue just how the Umbrella's are dodging them and figuring out their plans. They've been trained their whole lives to take them down, but the opposite is happening here.

This of course would lead to infighting and suspicions as they all start to turn on each other.

But the Umbrella's are also being the Umbrella's, just because they have an advantage here doesn't mean that they aren't fucking things up for themselves, they are at times after all, their own worst enemies.

Five of course would be trying to figure out a way back to their 2019, possibly involving the Commission. Diego tags along because he's trying to find Lila. (I’m not a fan of the relationship, although I do enjoy Lila’s character, but personally I do think Diego needs some closure from the relationship)

I do see Luther and Sloane forming a cute relationship as unlike the rest of his siblings Luther would understand the Sparrows in a way his own siblings don’t as he gets the loyalty that makes you stay with Reginald even if that's not all you want out of life. (You can't tell me that all Luther wanted with his life was to stay at the Academy. The guy must have had a dream for himself once.) Whereas for Sloane, Luther's proof that it is possible for her to strike out on her own, even with nothing and build a life free of the Academy.

I do see Allison taking the lead here as unlike the others who either don't really have anyone in their timeline (Klaus, Vanya, Five) or if they had, they may already be dead, but Allison has Claire's existence at stake here and you bet that she's going to fight tooth and nail for her baby.

And maybe the Umbrella’s learning to work as a team for the first time in years. Because if they want to get home, then they’re going to have to learn to work as a team properly and trust each other.

Of course it’s not easy. Now the initial joy they had in season two that everyone is alive and safe, they still have to address the issues they have with one another. Unfortunately they don’t just disappear.

Things that should get mentioned: Vanya’s book (still kinda pissed that that was just brushed under the rug), Luther’s past treatment of his siblings (locking Vanya up, choking Klaus, threatening to drop Delores from a height), Klaus and Ben’s issues (they’ll need multiple chapters just for that), not noticing Klaus was kidnapped/tortured/killed, to name but a few.

Of course not everything is solved and hunky-dorey, there’s still massive trauma and decades of bitterness and repressed feelings but they’re exposed and have started to treat the wound properly instead of ignoring it and letting it fester.

I’m picturing a Luther/Sloane dancing scene now like Luther and Allison’s in the Day That Wasn’t (until I looked up Sloane’s actress and found out that she’s the same height as Emmy, I was picturing her to be slightly smaller. Slightly disappointed by that.)

Maybe then the Sparrows find out about her connection with the Umbrella’s and turn on her, thinking her to be the traitor?

I’m drawing a blank as to what happens after that, but for the big showdown, I’m picturing Klaus finally making Ben corpeal and the Sparrows seeing their brother/themselves as a ghost before Umbrella Ben . . . just completely knocks Sparrow Ben out with one good sucker-punch. (Maybe yelling ‘I’m the Alpha here!’ or something similar?) 

Ben absolutely kicks his Sparrow counter-part while he’s down too. Hard. Whether it’s his ribs or his balls it’s up to your imagination.

Well that’s all I have. Can’t believe that something that was originally intended to be a small post spawned into this, but I don’t care. If anyone wants to use this idea or even bits of it go right ahead, God knows if it was up to me to complete this won’t be written until season 10.