#but basically she's a death and life personification in one

[unhelpfulfemme]

This may be a Bad Take but I think a lot less people would have issues with Padmé Amidala's RotS characterization if they realized that her role in that movie is largely symbolic and that Anakin's attitude towards her is meant to represent the inherent tension between liberty and security (which is clearly one of the main themes in a movie that has Anakin quote George W Bush as he falls to the Dark Side).

Padmé represents the best of democratic values: the capability to perceive everyone's inherent worth, the trust in state institutions, the morality, the benefits and drawbacks of resolving issues in a democratic manner and within the system (she often finds herself helpless in the face of corruption, for example). Padmé's ideals are the core of her character, to the point that she basically is her ideals. Basically, Padmé is to the Galactic Republic what Marianne is to the French Republic.

Now, you may have issues with a female character being used as a personification of a state or a political system, but not only is this a millennia-old narrative tradition, I also feel like you're probably barking up the wrong tree, because George Lucas LOVES using characters as symbols for abstract concepts: Luke as the Hero with a Thousand Faces, the Good vs. Bad Father dynamic with Obi-Wan and Vader, etc. This is completely on brand for the way George Lucas in particular constructs characters.

Even Padmé's most famous line, "So this is how Liberty dies," is indicative of this (and I love the concept of a former slave boy falling in love with Liberty herself).

Padmé dies because Liberty dies, not because she's a weak useless woman.

And Anakin's relationship to her potential death is very much... an indictment of reactionary politics and the War on Terror?

Anakin loves Padmé because she is fair-minded and understanding even when he doesn't deserve it, because she is tolerant, because she is kind, because she fights for justice, because she uplifts people. This is what he is in love with and what he is trying to preserve.

But in the face of nebulous threats, some real and some manufactured, he tries to save her by trampling all over what she stands for. And what she stands for is her. Therefore the very act of trying to save her is what ends up killing her, just like trying to keep your democracy safe by increasingly cruel and authoritarian measures inevitably kills it. Anakin claims that he loves her, that he's protecting her, but he is unwilling to listen to anything she has to say about it, just like plenty of people whose mouths are full of freedom but don't want to think about or apply the values that they are supposedly defending. What she believes no longer matters as long as she loves and comforts and uplifts him (and when she doesn't he goes into a rage).

Everything Padmé stands for, her very way of life and her very way of doing things, no longer exist at the end of RotS. She was becoming increasingly static and helpless during the movie because her way of doing things no longer works as the Republic becomes mired in cruelty and corruption, she cannot do anything but set foundations for an eventual rebellion and hope that a spark of hope survives. She can no longer survive in this new system, and it is in her nature to rather die than compromise herself in order to work within it. In a symbolic way, she quite literally cannot survive if she has to exist within it. She IS Liberty, and it would be a paradox if she survived. She dies and their children - another thing Anakin is fighting to protect, like many people who are "defending freedom" "for the children!!1!" - are made orphans, left to their own devices, forced to fight and rebuild things from scratch because she can no longer nurture them or protect them. This is a political metaphor y'all.

And in this reading, even Shmi's death ends up working better if you squint? Because even though Anakin's anger over her death stems from clear injustice and is fundamentally righteous, the fear and rage that this creates in him, and his inability to cope with it, is what directly causes him to both fear for Padmé's safety and to eventually smother her due to that fear. And to eventually become what he fears, killing Liberty, depriving himself of liberty in the process by becoming Sidious's blind slave, and literally destroying the future of an entire generation of (Jedi) children.

Now, I'm not saying that this makes a more psychological analysis of Padmé's character invalid or that this is the only role that she plays (for example, while Obi-Wan is the "good father figure" in ANH, he's clearly many different things across all the movies and clearly has an established characterization beyond that, and so does Padmé), but I think looking at it through this particular lens does make the choices made for her character less baffling and more indicative of the larger themes of the prequels.

[baiwu-jinji]

i apologize in advance if this ask sounds kinda weird, but i'm kinda curious to hear your thoughts on how the narrative treats qi rong, mostly because i think interacting only with the eng version/fandom might take some context from his character. i've seen people complaining that some fans woobify him too much, others complaining that some people treat him as a pure hate-sink when he's more than that. while i do think he's a multi-layered character, i do sometimes get the feeling that mxtx did not go easy on him, with the revised version being even crazier than before (some even say he was given a bit of onesided incestuous subtext with xl, but i wonder if that interpretation isn't just the result of weirdly translated lines in eng). i think this might be because he strikes me as a meta personification of sorts for toxic fans who place their identity and self-worth on just one person they completely idolize, and when that person is shown to be imperfect they immediately turn against them, and we know mxtx has had experience with those kinds of people.

i do think he's largely meant to be seen as unsympathetic overall, though i think there's strong nuances with his character as well. since his childhood he always lacked something and never really had a well formed identity, his prince name being symbolic of his life. he projected himself onto xl in life, and he kept on absorving the worst traits of the people around his life without really understanding them in order to feel powerful and important, from the xianle nobles to the signature traits of the other calamities. he also strikes me as very... "little brother"-coded, in the sense that he keeps looking for any sort of recognition and seems unable to mature. even when he hates xl i think he still somewhat craves his attention, and qr only developed a bit when he was forced to let go of this role by accidentally becoming a father instead. i think it's also interesting that he started out a lot like his father, but ended up sharing the fate of his mother.

i do wonder how the cn fandom views him and if he's nearly as divisive as he is here. i'd also be pretty interested in seeing some meta about him from cn fans. again, it feels like some context is missing by not speaking the language the book was originally written in...

Hi! I think the narrative basically takes the same stance as Xie Lian in its attitude towards Qi Rong, which is the sort of "I can't love you but I don't want to hate you, the best I could give you is indifference". I agree that Qi Rong isn't meant to be lovable, but MXTX isn't dismissive of him as a character either - she devoted almost an entire chapter to Qi Rong's death, let him speak his mind, and gave him some form of closure.

Qi Rong having onesided incestuous subtext with XL (!!) in the revised version is...very interesting haha, I haven't read the revised version so I can't know (someone please tell me where to get the revised version ><). Although I want to speculate that even if there is some incestuous vibes, it's not truly sexual - it's probably libido directed the wrong way when you're lusting over someone else's identity, but not over that person per se. Qi Rong lusts over XL's identity in the sense that he wants to be XL - or rather he wants to be perfect, worshipped, all-powerful etc. (bit of digression, there's an underrated psychological thriller called Cracks starring Eva Green, if you watch it you'll know what I mean)

I don't have the impression that he's truly divisive in the Chinese fandom, but then I don't engage with the Chinese fandom that much so I could totally be wrong. And I don't think any context is missing for English readers either (except maybe the humour of QR's obscene language might be lost in translation?) because human nature is the same everywhere, and Qi Rong's distorted psyche is more a matter of human nature than cultural context.

As for Chinese fandom's view of QR, there's this great meta I translated and posted a few days ago, and I found some other opinion pieces about Qi Rong on Zhihu (Chinese equivalent of Reddit), as you'll see they're quite diverse.

A lot of Chinese readers say that what stands out most about Qi Rong is his comedic role in the story because his cursing and name-calling are really funny; a lot of people also mention being really touched by his self-sacrifice to save Guzi. I found this one post that has a similar view to yours, which is QR represents MXTX's toxic fans:

"I always felt it's the author admonishing her fans in an implicit way not to be as crazy as Qi Rong [...] My guess is that the author can't ask her fans outright not to act in this way because that would hurt people who support her but are immature, however she can't turn a blind eye to these people going around provoking more resentment, so she creates QR to remind her fans not to be like QR, or they'd appear as unlikable as QR to the public. But the author still feels symathy for thse fans, so she didn't depict their representation in the novel as totally incorrigible - QR retains some humanity and is a little adorable when he starts to care about people."

I also saw opinions about the narrative (or rather Xie Lian) not going easy on Qi Rong, like this one:

"Xie Lian is clearly a very good person but why is he so heartless to QR? He eventually treated QR as a joke and a burden, but QR was once a true follower of his. At first I thought XL was perfect and cares about everyone, but he never really cared for his cousin. When I read that XL felt neither joy nor sorrow when QR died saving Guzi, my heart chilled. If XL could forgive the masses who betrayed and reviled him, why can't he forgive his cousin who once followed him whole-heartedly?"

There're also people saying that Qi Rong's potential divisiveness is what makes him a great villain, like this post:

"What MXTX's well-received villains have in common is a tragic childhood and not being loved growing up, and they only have a soft spot for one person. Although these villains did horrible deeds and are unrepentant, they all reserve some kindness in their heart for the only person who's good to them. This contrast is striking and touching, yet most likely to cause controversy. Therefore, MXTX knows very clearly how to create a memorable villain, and I admire that."

Someone else says when they read about Qi Rong they "don't know whether to laugh or cry" (XL's signature emotion hehe). They add that "this is where MXTX is successful in writing a villain - you both hate and pity him; he's infuriating, but you don't really want to see him die either."

Another view is that since Qi Rong has no filter, he sometimes serves as the truth-telling voice. For example, when XL wanted to keep Lang Qianqiu in the dark about the truth of the Gilded Banquet Massacre, Qi Rong blurted out the truth.

There's also a question posted on Zhihu that asks why people like Qi Rong, and there're some interesting answers. There's one post that says "I find him attractive because he's depicted as alluringly ghostly in a lot of fan art like vampires in Twilight" haha

Another post says they like Qi Rong "because he's guilelessly wicked, while XL and Hua Cheng are hypocrites" emmmmm

Another one says they like Qi Rong because "being Xie Lian is exhausting, he's so wronged but he just endures it all, while Qi Rong just launches verbal assults whenever someone rubs him the wrong way, it's so cathartic. The most difficult thing in the world is to be a good person, because as soon as you do one thing wrong, everyone criticises you; but if you're a bad person, even if you did just one good thing, everyone praises you for it and shows you pity".

[gabessquishytum]

Consider, monsterfucker!Dream (from the Endless viewpoint)

The Endless do not truly have form at all. The first shapes they took were small and simple, like the earliest lifeforms. Over the eons, they've all experimented with many shapes, and physical pleasure and pain, but they are not beings of flesh. And they are simple. At their core, they are one aspect of existence. Dream even says they are mortals' toys and meant to be manipulated by them.

They've all fallen in love at least once. Dream, though, Dream keeps doing it. His siblings are baffled. He has a weird fondness for bipeds (there are so many beautiful creatures with radial symmetry!). One day he shows up moaning he was prepared to make a mortal his queen for all eternity; another day he shows up with a baby! He's cooing over the squirming thing while the Endless are gaping. "You gave yourself DNA?" Most of the time, they don't bother with all the internal organs or fluids, and Dream's giving himself a fully functioning reproductive system. He loves mortals, he wants a life with a mortal, he wants to engage in all aspects of physical intimacy with a mortal, he's sad when mortals--which are meant to form relationships with other mortals, creatures that can understand them, not anthropomorphic personifications, Dream!--leave him.

Dream shows up with Hob, and the other Endless just glare at Death, who insists she had no idea this would happen, when has Dream ever needed more than 5 minutes to fall in love? Besides, he usually chooses females. Desire sniffs and Despair points out they are all far more familiar than they like with Dream's kinks, and Destiny mutters something about humans barely having any sexual dimorphism.

Hob, of course, has no idea that Dream's family consider him far too vast for them to understand and also a being they were created to serve.

Oh I do love this way of looking at things. Dream’s weird biped fetish <333

Of course humans are fascinating but they really are quite... limited. Only 4 limbs, and such basic sexual organs. Of course they are sentient, which gives them a certain kudos in the universe, but they're not particularly advanced. Desire could list of a dozen creatures which are far more interesting in less than a minute. They've given up trying to understand Dream’s romantic inclinations. Even when he went for a more interesting biped form (Calliope would resent being addressed as that but its basically true), Dream chose a goddess associated with poetry. He could have fucked the SUN GOD! Or the goddess of agriculture, something interesting and all-encompassing like that! But no, he went for a muse of poetry. What a bloody weirdo.

And then there's Hob Gadling. Hoooooly shit. He's an actual human, less than 1000 years old, he's completely mundane, he has absolutely no extraordinary skills and he's so... just. Eww. The sweat and the dirt under the fingernails and breathing. He's a perfectly nice guy, Death is very fond of him, but she can't imagine taking him to bed. What would she do with him?! He can't even transcend the planes of reality!!

Well, Dream does at least seem happy. Perhaps he's exploring his submissive side in more detail by learning to serve a human on an individual basis? None of his siblings want to know, actually. Maybe it's time to give Dream up as a lost cause :')

[dootznbootz]

Hello. I honestly don't know how to prep this but uh, why do I feel like MM's Circe had so much potential? Like, MM did the lazy thing that is "making Circe's life a living shit show because that's the only way her actions would be justified" which... Is the annoying thing most modern interpretations do.

One good example would actually be EPIC: The musical. But in EPIC it only works because Circe isn't exactly a vocal point. And Circe having a motive plays into a pretty big theme of the show (Specifically in the song "Monster" where Odysseus is basically just... Contemplating everything)

But when you have 400 paged book, focusing around Circe, you have so much potential to focus more on the godly elements of these people. Someone else has said this before but ama say it too. The Greek gods had REASONS for acting the way they did. Zeus misused his power, that's what a king does. Artemis's wrath was unmatched when you wronged her, that's how nature is. Hades took a young girl from her mother, that's what death does.

And I'd like to add some of my own.

Aphrodite is a completely morally gray character, that's how love can be, it can go againts you sometimes. Dionysus was all over the place, sometimes good sometimes terrible, that's what madness is. Hermes is swift and a trickster because that's what people we deem 'messengers' can be like, via rumours.

When you notice these complexities to the characters, you start to realize. Circe misused her magic on innocent people for entertainment, that's what black/evil magic does. But at the same time, she helped Odysseus. Because even evil magic, or the 'worst possibilities' can be useful sometimes.

I think it is SUCH a missed opportunity MM didn't focus more on this aspect. Because that would've made for such an interesting story an unique story. Most of these modern retellings try to push modern ideologies on ancient works, which doesn't work. No retelling tries to tell these stories in a ancient Greek perspective (which is actually fairly easy you just have to do your research)

And with an author as skilled as MM is, I'm sure she could do it. But honestly, I don't think her writing is good in the perspective of Greek mythology. She could probably do a great modern story but let's face it, that wouldn't get as much money.

A story focusing around a goddess, and what it means to be a divine personification of nature and a concept, not to you but to the humans you exist for.You can really focus a lot on that and it could be such an interesting story.

All of these writers to me just seem like they're exploiting Greek mythology, which bugs me. If miller wanted to tell these stories, she would've told THE stories with her own twist. Not completely change them to the point they lose their charm.

If miller couldn't do that, if she wanted to write a complex feminist character she wouldn't have chosen Circe.

Something I really admire in your work is how you characterize these guys. It's obvious you're extremely passionate. I also love how you give Penelope clear flaws. You don't have to mortify everyone else to make her 'stand out' or to be 'more likable'. I really love your fic and I'm wishing you nothing but success in the future! :D

Anyways, enough about MM's book.

What do you think is one of Penelope's favorite little quirks od Odysseus', like something he does she finds really cute? :)

I hope you find pretty flowers today and get a sweet for free, dear anon. This ask made me so happy as it's like, perfect. As you gave a Circe rant that will be fun to dissect but also gave me a silly lil question for me to feast on and for the balance and the silly and I love it. You also sent it at the perfect time as I was getting a wee bit sad about how women from Greek Mythology get treated by retellings and fandoms. This really cheered me up 🩵

And thank you so much for the sweet compliment! It means so much to me that you love my silly lil guys as I love sharing them! And don't worry I am working on stuff! ;~; I know I'm taking a while but I am!

I'll do the cute stuff Penelope loves about Odysseus :P

(I do have them "mirror" each other a lot with "like-minded" so they often have SOME similar traits in some ways that both find endearing about the other. (both love watching the other brainstorm/think/swindle/winning/etc., both love (and are sometimes annoyed by) their stubbornness.) Stuff like that :D Also in general. Thank you, Anon. You've made me realize I've been going a wee bit too crazy with Penelope and kind of forgot about Odysseus.

1.) This is a past post that goes into it more but she just adores his freckles. She has counted them and memorized them. She's going to kiss every single one. He mostly has them on his face and shoulders but they are peppered a lil everywhere (he gets it from his mama). She uses the freckle pattern he has across his nose as "stars" for her tapestries.

Rando: Hey, that's not how the stars are mapped. Penelope: They're my stars, asshole >:(

She has to do a "recount" when he returns as some of his "stars" are covered by scars now :')

2.) She loves his hair and how well-groomed he usually is. He also is a bit like a cat in how he loves being pampered. (lil post about that) She loves scratching at his scalp and at the tiny hairs that are at the back of the neck. She loves the pretty grays he has when he returns as well :') She really loved how he looked without and with a beard. (It doesn't end up growing too long anyway)

3.) He's very warm. She's not really affected by temperature too much (she's used to freezing rivers and she herself is naturally cold. Her average temperature is colder than the average person. She only really has to worry about "drying up".) she loves his warmth. She wraps herself up in blankets while he's gone despite not really needing them sometimes as...she misses her furnace. (also his snoring) He also wraps himself in her blankets while away but sadly wakes up to them tossed about because he gets too hot. He needs his lil iceblock wife.

4.) She just adores his big laugh. The laughing so hard you cry one. Hearing it was kind of a "...Okay, I wanna hear that again." for her.

5.) He tends to bite his lip. Sometimes it's endearing and hot but he also will often rip at them. She tries to help him with this habit by distracting with kisses...Though with her teeth, it doesn't always help. Fun fact: For their first kiss on the lips, they were so stupid excited that he knicked himself on her teeth. She felt awful but he just kissed her again. It was bloody and bad but they were so happy. His bad habit returns when he's away because he's not getting his kisses 😔

6.) He whistles while he whittles often.

7.) So ancient Greece had yo-yos (probably in Odyssey but I'm getting silly with it)...and Odysseus is a nerd who WILL do tricks with them. (they can be made with wood and string so... odypen lol) He has fun trying to show other people how to do it too. It's a nice fidget. (modern day he would have definitely been that guy with that rubix cube lol)

8.) So Penelope is better at getting more for less, (lowering prices) and Odysseus is better at giving less for more. (selling shit for good things) They both can do it but they have their strengths.

9.) He got big eyebrows and with his weird "face shifting" thing he inherited from Autolycus, he can make a lot of silly faces.

10.) He tends to make sandcastles whenever he waits for her at the banks of rivers.

11.) He's a "heavy stepper" when he's not sneaking. It's not because of his scar. He just likes walking like that. :) Not so much "stompy" but she finds it cute that she knows it's him coming based on the footsteps she hears.

Some things that annoy her >:3

She's incredibly ticklish and he's not so much and he keeps doing it. STOP IT >:(

So she's smaller than him in mine and in general, he loves draping himself across her (he's like a cat remember?). Most of the time she loves that weight as she loves him and he's a warm weighted blanket. Though while she's strong, he'll sometimes be a brat and put so much of his weight on her just to mes with her. (mostly when they're young and dumb. not so much after he returns)

(Not this big of a size difference ofc but you know >:) )

Those are some and I have more rattling around in my head but I wanna finish this ask and I gotta do some shit :')

Thank you again, Anon. This made me happy <3

[valkyriegwynb]

Why the tale of Koschie (Koschie the Deathless) doea not support the three brothers and three sisters trope of what a lot of people are hoping for.

Koschie the Deathless comes from Slavic mythology, often known as Koschie the the Immortal. There are many tales of how Koschie is immortal and where his power comes from but what SJM pulls from his story that was inspired by Andrew Lang's ‘ The Red Fairy Book’ and Alexander Afanasyev's ‘ Russian Fairy Tales’ that both tell the story of Koschei the Deathless that circles around the life and love of Prince Ivan Tsarevitch. Following the death of his parents, Ivan saw his three sisters wed to three powerful kings or wizards that take on the form of birds of prey. Raven (darkness), Eagle (fire), and a Hawk (wind). Within a year, Ivan became lonely and even envious of his sisters for finding love while he remained alone. Soon, Ivan ventured off to find his sisters coming across Marya Morvena, a woman warrior, as they wed along their journey.

Soon after, Marya says that she is going off to war and warns Ivan not to open the door to the castle dungeon (or closet) in the castle they reside in while she is away. Overcome by the desire to know, he opens the door soon after her departure to find Koschie emaciated and chained. Koschie soon asks Ivan for some water, which Ivan does. After drinking twelve buckets of water, his magic returned to him, breaking free of his chains and disappearing. After Koschie disappeared, he soon found out that he had captured Marya and pursued him. When Ivan finally reached Koschie, he warns the man to let him go, but Ivan refuses, thus causing Koschie to kill him. Tossing parts of his body into barrels into the sea where his sister's husbands revived him. They tell Ivan that Ksochie has a magical horse and that he should go to Baba Yaga for one as well.

After surpassing and surviving her tests, Ivan gets a magical horse as well and kills Koschie. Burning his body and saving Marya.

But how does SJM tie this into Acotar? We know that throughout her books, the number 3 has been incredibly symbolic and representative in her series. Though for acotar, we have three sisters and three kings or in some stories, wizards: Highlord of Night, Heir of Day, and Prince of Bastards. Though in other variations of the myth, they turn into night, day, and wind. We have Rhysand, who is basically the personification of Night, Lucien, who is heir of the Day court, and Cassian as Illyrians are said to be created by the wind. And each of these males is mated to the three sisters. But who represents Ivan? Azriel. In the tale of Ivan, it tells of him not only being lonesome but also envious of something his sisters have: love.

Azriel is already on his journey of envy and loneliness that we've seen in his bonus chapter, but instead of going forth, he runs away finding Gwyn. In many variations of the tale, they tell of Marya as a warrior or a warrior princess at times, which leads to Gwyn. Not only is Gwyn a warrior - a valkyrie on top of that, but she could also be related to Beron as well. It was said that her grandmother was a water nymph who would seduce high fae males in the Autumn Court. It could've very well have been the start of his deep hatred for lesser fae as he was seduced by one and why her mother could not be contained in the Forest House. This theory supports Gwynriel and what is to come, but it also supports Elucien too. On different days, Ivan and his sisters were approached by birds of prey.

To support Elucien: Days follow days, hours chase hours; a whole year goes by. One day, Prince Ivan and his two sisters went out to stroll in the garden green. Again, there arose a storm cloud, with whirlwind and lightning. 'Let us go home, sisters!' cries the Prince. Scarcely had they entered the palace when the thunder crashed, the roof burst into a blaze, the ceiling split in twain, and in flew an eagle. The Eagle smote upon the ground and became a brave youth. 'Hail, Prince Ivan! Before I came as a guest, but now I have come as a wooer!' ​And he asked for the hand of the Princess Olga. Prince Ivan replied: 'If you find favor in the eyes of the Princess Olga, then let her marry you. I will not interfere with her liberty of choice.' Princess Olga gave her consent and married the Eagle. The Eagle took her and carried her off to his own kingdom.

As stated before in other variations of the story, the wizards represent the following: darkness, fire, and wind. In the section that was provided before, an eagle came to the three siblings in the garden as the roof burst into a blaze, and as the bird smote onto the ground, it became a brave youth We've known that Lucien is clever and witty, but he is also brave. He broke through the spell that Hybern had casted upon everyone to reach Elain, he was the first to acknowledge what she did when it came to defeating Hybern, did not doubt her vision when it came to Vassa and went searching for her where he also returned with the one person she adored the most: her father and an army of ships. If Lucien does take the title as Highlord of Day, his beast form would be part eagle.

To support Nessian: Hardly had they got into the palace, when the thunder pealed, the ceiling split open, and into the room where they were came flying a falcon bright. The Falcon smote upon the ground became a brave youth and said: 'Hail, Prince Ivan! Before I came as a guest, but now I have come as a wooer! I wish to propose for your sister, Princess Marya.' 'If you find favor in the eyes of my sister, I will not interfere with her wishes. Let her marry you in God's name!' The Princess Marya gave her consent; the Falcon married her and bore her away into his own realm.

To support Feysand: They returned home, but they hadn't had time to sit down when the thunder crashed, the ceiling split open, and in flew a raven. The Raven smote upon the floor and became a brave youth. The former youths had been handsome, but this one was handsomer still. 'Well, Prince Ivan! Before I came as a guest, but now I have come as a wooer! Give me the Princess Anna to wife.'

'I won't interfere with my sister's freedom. If you gain her affections, let her marry you.' So the Princess Anna married the Raven, and he bore her away into his own realm.

Princess Marya represents Nesta as she is the oldest of the three sisters, Princess Olga representing Elain as the middle sister, and Princess Anna representing Feyre as the youngest of the sisters to be wed.

[scalproie]

whatever. tekken hadesgame AU

or as I like to call it: "what if Kaz raised Jin: God Edition lmao"

so. to lay the groundwork:

They're all gods/powerful immortal beings of an unspecified pantheon (but still loosely inspired by a pretty famous one I'm sure you'll recognize)

Big Bad Thundergod King Heihachi (whom I am now realizing shares quite a lot of similarities with good ol' Zeus), after getting bored and worried he's raising a weakling unfit to be his heir, still threw his little son down a cliff, except this one was from the highest heavens to the deepest hells, to make sure that if the little godling died, well, the death would actually stick. Which it did.

UNTIL another deity who's the personification of the devil gene (and who kinda look like Kazumi-but-it's-unsure-wether-or-not-it's-actually-Kazumi) took pity on him and revived him by giving him part of itself/hell aka the devil gene. So now Kazuya is "alive" and immortal again, but he's now bound to hell, aka he can't live away from it for very long. And yknow what they say, if you're stuck somewhere, might as well become it's ruler. Especially if you've gained the favors of the entity that embodies the place and that you've found a new life goal in making daddy dearest's life unbearable.

Anyway eons passed and Kaz's brothers (his adopted one Lee whom ascended to godhood on one of Heihachi's whims as a way to counter his annoying firstborn's meddling, and his heroic half-brother Lars) reached out to him one day to propose an alliance to take their tyrannical father down. Kaz only agreed on the condition that he get to expand his domain once Heihachi is out: if he cant leave hell, no worries, he'll just make hell bigger. Anyway Heihachi's children rebelled against him and with their might combined they managed to take him down, with Kaz even having the honor and pleasure to deliver the killing blow.

For the aftermath tho, when it was time for Kaz to begin his conquest, his brothers came back on their word to let him, bc Lars Actually Gives A Damn About Mortals and he knew full well that Kazuya wouldve had exactly the same rule as Heihachi if they let him, so they didnt (and Lee is more neutral on his views toward mortals but he gets along with Lars FAR better than he ever got along with Kaz so the choice on who to back up was easy). And even though Kaz 100% wouldve been as bad as Heihachi is he was allowed to rule over mortals as Lars thought he would be, and Kaz KNOWS it, that doesnt mean hes not gonna be mad that his brothers didnt keep their words to let him be evil in peace.

Well if he cant have what he wants the fair way, might as well try to take it by force. And thus Kaz resumes his battles against his brothers with his attempts at invasion of the mortal realm.

This goes on for awhile with things going great for Kaz as he is the stronger sibling out of all of them, until his aggression puts him on the path of one Jun, who counters him in a most efficient, masterful and complete manner. Basically he was doing too well at bringing evil onto the world and she had come to balance him out.

In a most unforeseen turn of events, as they get acquainted over the course of their different confrontations, they discover that they respect and admire each other's strength and actually get along pretty well, even enjoy each other's company.

Anyway being around Jun makes Kaz chill out MASSIVELY and soon enough you'll notice the amount of invasions from hell have greatly diminished.

Eventually they get in an actual relationship, with Kazuya even wanting her to become the queen of his domain. And Jun is not opposed to this proposal, quite the opposite in fact. But complications start to arise when Jun began moving in hell: she is everything it's not and vice-versa, and the environment itself even seems harmful for her the longer she stays. Even the devil-Kazumi-entity, for all that it's/she's fond of Jun as a person, cannot meet her physically for she would eradicate it/her should they come into contact.

Jun bears it as long as she can bc Kazuya Literally Cannot Leave Hell and she wants to be with him as much as he wants to be with her, and Kaz promises her that he's working on finding a solution (and by "working on it" I mean Kaz is threatening the dead soul of a demi-god known as Gepetto Bosconovitch, reknown for giving life to things that didnt have any, into fixing this).

Eventually Jun reaches her breaking point when their son dies a stillborn because he bears her blood and he is much weaker than she is, bc he's a baby. This is the last rejection of this place that Jun can take before it potentially kills her, esp since that last event took such a toll on her, and even tho she loves Kaz as much as he loves her, she has to leave and WANTS to leave. Kaz, in a rare moment of compassion, let her go and spares telling her the news that, ironically, Bosconovitch JUST finished his work and managed to make a garden, indentical to the ones she would have on the surface, grow in the deepest level of hell where she could thrive.

So Jun is gone and Kaz is miserable, so much so that he doesnt even have the mind nor heart for conquest anymore. The only thing left of her being the corpse of his child that he decides to bury in the unused garden.

But just as the tiny body touches the soil, he begin to scream as he takes his first breath and the initial shock then WAVE OF RELIEF Kazuya feels as his son is alive surprises even himself bc he didnt even want the damn baby in the first place. This is probably the most outwardly loving Kaz will be with his son as he's holding his tiny body while being hit with a fucking storm of emotions but hey we take those.

"This is great! Their son is alive and the garden works! Now Kazuya only need to reach Jun and they can-" Except Kaz Will Not bc he does NOT want to reach Jun. Not bc he doesnt love her anymore but 1) bc he now knows the pain of losing her and bringing her back into his life means getting the risk of getting hurt again and he neither wants to feel that pain ever again nor even knowing he has that "weakness" in the first place so he'd rather cut her off from his life, he'd rather deal with loneliness than heartache, and 2) even he realized that what his domain is, what he is, brought Jun pain, and some part of him does NOT like to see Jun in pain.

"Well if he doesnt want Jun back into his life, why doesnt he send her their son?" This is objectively the best course of action. But Kaz is Not A Good Person. He's selfish. And again. Their son is the last thing he has left of her, and goddammit if he doesnt have her eyes, her nose, her face.

So Kaz is now stuck with this lame baby and only partially vibe with it. Problem is, that baby cannot live in this tiny garden for the entirety of his immortal life. Thankfully the devil-Kazumi-entity offers Kaz a solution: the baby not only carries Jun's blood but also Kazuya's, and that makes him able to be a receptacle for the devil gene, binding him to hell as well, yes, but keeping him alive in there.

So now Kazuya is raising his son whom he named Jin based on one (1) short conversation he once had with Jun but didnt forget. He is also personally training him in the art of combat, bc sadly Kaz does take a bit after his father, and he would not have the prince of hell be a weakling.

OKAY BACKSTORY ESTABLISHED FINALLY now onto the main course:

So Jin grew up and similarly as in the game, he eventually learn that his family is not just him and his dad but he also have a mom somewhere, and he wants to find her. Bc one day he steps into the famous garden that Kaz had closed off after That Day and Jin figured that his asshole dad would NOT have such a pretty garden made without reasons so after a few researchs behind Kaz's back he eventually found out the truth.

Long story short, Jin wants to leave hell, Kaz doesnt want him to, and they antagonize each other constantly.

Jin eventually comes into contact with both his extanded family and multiple allies who wants to help him leave (without anyone knowing yet that just like Kaz, Jin cannot live outside of hell for long. tho Jin can survive longer than Kaz thanks for his mom's blood)

The people from outside helping him are:

Lars: his heroic half-uncle, OF COURSE Lars was going to help him.

Lee: his adopted uncle, he does like Jin but mostly he helps him out so Jin can run a few crash tests for him on Kaz's minions, AND he gets to piss off Kaz in the same move? Excellent.

Alisa: an ascended goddess who relate to Jin due to their origin, she as well was "dead at birth" until her father found a way to bring her back (in a way) tho he was cast to hell for it.

Leroy: the grandfather-figure Jin wishes he always had.

Asuka: she insists to him they're related and that once he makes it outta hell, she'll teach him about their side of the family.

there'll be more down the line but I need to workshop this...

Anyway Jin has two goal: 1) escape dad's hell, and 2) find mom. whom he will discover has straight up disappeared from everyone ever since she left hell herself.

So Jin starts from the bottom of hell and has to climb to the top where the entrance lies, in the mouth of a volcano. Wink wink fucking nudge nudge

When he falls he ends up back in his father's home where he can meet a bunch of friendly dead souls:

Lucky Chloe: usually the first person he sees after falling down, she's kind of the court jester, she was spared damnation bc Kaz thinks her annoying people is really funny as long as its not him, thats where the "Lucky" come from.

Azucena: she provides delicacies from the surface to hell (for a price), Jin can find her as he's running up to the surface and she'll happily sell him things to help.

Jane: she provides Jin with some sort of "bestiary" and she actually does not mind that he keeps beating Kaz's minions (the JACKs among others, tho they are her favorites) bc she get to improve them thanks to the data gathered afterward.

Bruce: Kaz's chief of security. When Jin didnt trained with Kaz, he often sparred with Bruce. Bruce will let Jin try his different styles against him before climbing back up hell again. He's fond of the kid :)

"Kazumi": Jin can never get quite a good read on her/it, but she's/it's always kind to him.

and others that I will also figure out...

But that's not all the people Jin meets, as he's ascending, he also encounters a bunch of people, tho not all are friendly.

Nina and Anna: contracted by Kazuya to stop Jin. Tho they spend more time fighting each other...

A reptilian monstrocity by the name of Alex.

Some strange crystals take him to a bizarre location where he can meet Azazel, who present himself as the progenitor of the devil-Kazumi-entity, making him technically Jin's great-grandpa. Via him, Jin can fight Devil Jin and gain more access to his style (more on that later)

Xiaoyu: a phoenix Jin befriended, the only reason she's in hell is only bc she can cheat death. She is not bound to hell, so she technically can come back to life if she manages to escape, until she dies again on the surface. They often run into each other and have a friendly competition to see who can defeat the most of Kaz's minions, if she loses, Xiaoyu will leave Jin with one of her feathers, that increases his health. Jin can also meet her sometimes back at the house. It's rumored that she spend more time in hell recently to hang out with the hellish prince🧡

Hwoarang: another dead soul of a great warrior contracted to stop Jin, but he couldnt care less about what Kaz wants. He wants to defeat Jin, so he will hunt him down everytime he hears that Jin is trying to escape again. Over time he and Jin have come to enjoy their rivalry. Jin can also meet him sometimes at the house🧡

And more yknow the drill...

And of course, once Jin finally manages to come to hell's entrance, who waits for him there but Kazuya. The two have a nice little father and son fight to the death between immortals where they can work out their problems in an healthy manner: with extreme violence, and the winner get to throw the other down the volcano cliff aaall the way to the bottom (bc sometimes the best way to work out trauma is thru exposure therapy. wink)

Jin starts by only knowing his father's style, but after finally finding his mother, and after the initial story-related reunion (and the tragic realization that just like his dad, Jin cannot stay out of hell for long), they bond with Jun teaching him her style. And Jin can work his way to the top again using her style to learn more about it. When dueling Kaz with it, he's preeetty conflicted like: My traitorous son is using another style than ours👿 -> omg that's Jun's moves... 🥺 -> HE'S NOT EVEN USING THEM RIGHT👿👿👿

And basically, Jin has multiple styles: his dad's, his own, eventually his mom's, and devil style. He gets to pick the one he's going to stick with at the start of every ascend.

Anyway this is the story of a child of divorce trying to reunite his parents who are both extremely stubborn and extremely still in love with each other, bc if Jin has to live another day with just his father he's going to LOSE IT.

[izunias-meme-hole]

Since I already posted my favorite Sailor Moon Villains but I didn't exactly rank them, so here we go.

My Top 10 Sailor Moon Villains (From Both The 90's Anime & The OG Manga/Crystal & Eternal)

Number 10. Wicked Lady - No, I will not be calling her "Black Lady," but aside from that, this is Chibi-Usa at her undeniable worst, no matter the version. Though execution-wise, the anime wins out purely because of her resolution, and the showcase of some level of good still being in her.

Number 9. Mistress 9 - Ah, pure evil done well. She didn't exactly have a lot of screentime in the 90's anime (and she was sadly kinda basic), but in the manga she's an entirely different story. Mistress 9 is the child and herald of Pharaoh 90, and is hellbent on eradicating all life on earth because she sees them as inferior lifeforms. Oh, and let's not even bring up her possession of Hotaru Tomoe, the fact that Chibi-Usa's pure heart was used to give her power, and overall she's just heinous as hell. In short, Mistress 9 was definitely something in both the 90's Anime and Manga/Crystal, though her appearance in the latter elevates her into the 10th spot on this list.

Number 8. Queen Nehelenia & Zirconia - Life is funny sometimes. In the manga/Eternal, Zirconia has nothing going for her aside from design and the fact that she's Queen Nehelenia's other self, while Nehelenia herself is almost like Snow White's Evil Queen mixed with Maleficent and its genuinely great to see. Yet in the 90's anime, Zirconia is expanded upon so much more to the point where she's legit entertaining, while Nehelenia gets expanded upon too before being brought back from the dead with a tarnished character. Still though, in both of the mediums where they're at their best, this evil queen and the personification of her inner ugliness are great.

Number 7. The Shitennou - Ah yes, Beryl's servants. The loyal supervillain Jadeite, the passionate Nephrite, the ever so underhanded and insecure Zoisite, and last but not least the "cool" Kunzite. Surprisingly, Crystal botched these guys really bad, while the anime basically expanded upon the other 3 and gave Kunzite, the best one in the manga, the literal shit end of the stick after a good run. Still, all four of these guys are absolutely phenomenal minibosses.

Number 6. The Amazoness Quartet - God, they look absolutely ridiculous, but that doesn't stop them from being great minibosses like the Shittenou. Between their unique personalities, relations with Chibi-Usa, and overall just how solid they are as a group just sold me on them.

Number 5. Crimson Rubeus - Ah yes... the second most consistently heinous member of the Black Moon Clan. Rubeus is selfish, cowardly, sadistic, arrogant, manipulative, loyal to the literal worst people ever, and overall he's just a very hateable villain on so many angles. Though this hateability, his effectiveness as a villain, and just how much of a good addition he is to the Dark Moon Clan cements this guy's placement on here.

Number 4. Queen Beryl & Queen Metalia - Nothing wrong with a classic wicked witch. Especially if said wicked witch is an envious and hateful woman that's in service to pure unadulterated evil as a means to get what she wants most. Granted Beryl alone could've made the list, especially since Metalia doesn't have a lot going for herself, but the anime had the perfect resolution for these two by just fusing them together.

Number 3. Prince Demande - What a delightfully twisted, vile, yet tragic villain. Granted the 90's anime take on him falls short because the guy had a half-assed "redemption," but it doesn't neuter all of his best qualities, nor does it ruin the OG Manga/Crystal's take on him, where he fully commits to that bit.

Number 2. Death Phantom/Wiseman - No matter the iteration, no matter the medium, Nazgul Charles Manson here is pure, unadulterated, unrestrained evil done right. Death Phantom is a manipulative monster who sees no value in life, who's made it his personal mission to become a dark god of death and nothingness. He's not a complex character, but he has substance, his evil deeds remain significant across the entirety of the Black Moon Clan's arc, and he leaves an impact as the most evil villain in the franchise and its best final boss. TL:DR: Death Phantom is objectively the best villain.

Number 1. Professor Souichi Tomoe - I shouldn't even need to explain this, but I will. Tomoe in the anime is hammy as hell, an amazing boss, shining with personality, nuanced as hell, carried the Infinity Arc on his back, and surprisingly enough gets a shot at redemption after his evil Daimon side, Germatoid, is split from him. Meanwhile, Tomoe in the manga/Crystal is initially shown as a somewhat shady figure who possibly cares about his daughter, before slowly being revealed as just a nicer looking Professor Hojo, complete with him making his own daughter the vessel for Mistress 9 all for the sake of becoming the god of an entirely new race of super-beings that will inherit the remains of the earth. It doesn't matter if this man is a corrupted magnificent bastard or a complete megalomaniac, this man is a stellar Mad Scientist who's undeniably human.

[florsial]

Any more Rosier twin thoughts🤲🤲this is for the people (also I have a few Ethel Cain song recs based on them if you'd like)

Drop the song recs!!!

Anyways, I briefly mentioned this in the prev ask but, Evan and Pandora are viewed as anomalies to everyone, from the old family purebloods to the average muggle-born that just found out they had magic.

Alright here's some more background info: The Rosier Family is known for being the only family (within the old families) that are not close. I've mentioned that most, if not all, of these old families are very family-oriented, but the Rosiers are not included in that. They are famously known for hating each other, despising each other, trying to kill each other, etc etc and but it never applies to the witches (because wizards don't marry into another family, they typically marry witches who enter his family) who marry into the family. But despite this, their family has a record of consistently having twins, triplets, etc yk what I mean? In every generation. Despite the rates of twins being low in this old society, the Rosiers are having them over and over again. And over and over again, are the twins going at each other viciously.

(You can argue that having a marriage with a Rosier doesn't seem all that pleasant and it's probably not, but also like when the gene kinda starts getting a little smaller and smaller, you kinda HAVE to branch a bit more ykwm plus they have a shit of ton of power through Greece lol so any Rosier marriage is basically like, "Suck it up, buttercup")

Anyways, Evan and Pandora are strange for that reason, they are believably the first set of twins/family that come out, are alike in so certain ways, and genuinely like each other (because anyone could say that the similarity is what makes them hate each other). There is the popular idea of twins being one soul and thus, they are often raised together but everyone has kinda of already made the Rosiers an exception to this idea until Evan and Pandora come along. They are close, extremely so, a little uncomfortable to be around due to their close proximity and is THE representation of how twins are viewed in high pureblood society. Thus, they are a little weird to this old society.

I use life and death as way to kinda of symbolise them. Evan is a personification of death/taking life away (Alastor's nose before he dies, being a Death Eater) and Pandora is the personification of life/creating something (Luna, spells, the Lovegood family she created with Xeno in his final year of Hogwarts in the far back of the green house high off their asses). But both of their personalities are relatively similar. They are both quite charming (a common Rosier trait that is directed to the outside of their family), charismatic, and short-tempered, stubborn, and a bit egotistic.

It's their preferences that sort of diverge, Evan likes the rot, and Pandora likes the moss, Evan likes the abandoned, dead animal on the forest ground and Pandora likes the mushrooms and maggots growing and living from it. But with this, they both work really well together. Evan takes care of things Pandora won't and Pandora takes care of things Evan won't. They fit into each other. They've spent their entire lives together, in the same room, same bed, interlocked in the same seat at the family dinner table, curled together around Regulus in the same corner at the family parties, they breathe the same and die at the same exact time, just on different days with the same last words: "This isn't over."

[serialadoptersbracket]

Round 4, Match 5: Shōta Aizawa vs. The Fix

Submitted kids:

Shōta Aizawa: Class 1-A, minus Mineta, plus Shinsou Hitoshi (total of 20 kids). Mainly Eri, Shinsou, and Midoriya

The Fix: Conrad Schintz, and then he adopted like, an whole orphanage, named Madam Loathings home for wayward interests

Propaganda under the cut! (Spoilers ahead!)

Shōta Aizawa:

1. “This grumpy teacher pretends not to care about his students, sleeps during his own classes and why talk when you can also make annoying children silent by (harmless) force? Yet he loves them and they love him while he doesn't show it all that often.”

2. “He didn't mean to adopt them yet he did and he is grumpy about it. If he goes "those are my kids, damn it" it's not to someone else, it's to himself, with the damn it being a "fuck, why". Yet he is so 100% willing to risk his life for them. Because they *are* his kids now.”

3. “Idk the man is so tired what can I say. Harsh as australias wildlife but bc he doesn’t want them to actually die in the field so he’s trying to make them give up on signing up to risk your lives every day. I just submitted kiryu and I think that kiryu, bruce, and aizawa are soul sisters. They are all very special to me”

4. “Oh he tries so hard to stay scary and detached, keeps threatening to expel students, keeps saying he hates kids, and look at him now. Missing several pieces and risked death multiple times to protect them, at least 3 classes of ~20 students each lowkey adoring him, and literally canonically (not said out loud but it's basically official come on, they live together) adopted a little girl that was found by the protagonist and saved from the mafia. Also personally took the matter in his own hands when another department's student (so not one of his) showed a desire to change course, so much that even if this kid has living and loving parents he's often Aizawa's adopted family in fanfiction.”

The Fix:

1. “Ok ok so. Spoilers for mentopolis: First some context that mentopolis is a show that takes place inside one guys brain, all the characters represent something in the brain, and the guy whos brain they are in, named Elias Hodge, is so so very sad.

Ok so, The Fix, the personification of hyper fixation, is like is someone who has spent most of his life working for people, where his job was to 'eliminate distractions' (He kills people, basically). Then one day he is told to eliminate a child. His name is Conrad Schintz (Or the Conscience, due to an accident that happened to the guys who's brain they are in when he was a child- Conrad stopped thing he was useful, aka Elias stopped using his conscience, so his conscience has not grown since the incident, leaving him a small child)

The Fix has never had to hurt a kid before, and he doesn't want to do that, so he instead goes into protecting Conrad. Conrad kind of hates himself though and also kind of thinks he deserves to die so that's not good.

The Fix gave this like, beautiful speech to Conrad once about how hes important, I wont give the whole thing but something along the lines of ""There is a butterfly who has a tail that is there for if a bird was to grab on to the tail, it would break off and the butterfly would escape. I don't think you are the tail of the butterfly, I think you are the butterfly."" (its better in the actual show). I cry. There is another speech about eagles he gives Conrad when Conrad offers himself, to basically die, but i don't remember it that well.

Other then Conrad though! So There is this orphanage, called Madama Loathings home for wayward interests. Basically its a bunch of kids that represent past interests of Elias. Its run by this women called Madam Loathing (represents Elias' self Loathing)(she is very mean to the kids). The Fix donates a lot of money to this place, and visits a lot, the kids there love him and think he is so so cool. There is this one kid named Ronnie Reptile. He loves reptiles, and The fix gives him reptile facts, its cute. In the first episode, The Fix tells Madam Loathing how any of those kids/interests could be rediscovered by Elias at any time, and madam loathing sort of taunts The Fix, sort of saying how ""Oh I'm sure I can tell the kids they will call be adopted by The Fix soon, but that would be kind of cruel, wouldn't it?"" Implying that that won't happen. (cause, The Fix is hyper fixation, and hyper fixation adopting an interest would be good, you know.).

Note that Conrad used to live at madam loathing's, because he was mis identified as just a simple interest and not Elias' whole sense of conscience, but Corad ran away with his best friend, a dog named Justin. He lived on the streets after that.

So a bit later on in the series The Fix and Conrad have to go to to madam loathing's together (and another character is with them but he isnt relevant for this). When they get there Madam Loathing asks The fix if he is here to drop of Conrad here, and The immediately is like "Absolutely not, shut the fuck up." (I think that's the direct quote). I just really like that scene.

At the end, end of the series. Some plot stuff happens. The Fix met a women named Pasha N (She represents Passon), and they are in love, The fix proposes to her, its sweet, but then madam Loathing, who got some like, character growth I won't really go into here, and she says to The Fix how, she needs to go on a trip to find herself, and then she offers the entire orphanage to The Fix and Pasha, which is accepted. So in the end of the show, The Fix has basically adopted, that entire orphanage, so thats a lot of kids, along with Pasha, but she isn't in the show as much so I wont submit them as a pair. I didnt mention it before but The Fix is known for knowing a lot of facts and saying "Did you know." before saying a fact, which a lot of the time, it is a fact that is truly terrifying but thats a lot, and The narration at the end of the shows, says how The Fix and Pasha spend their lives with kids around them, constantly saying "Did you know? Did you know?" and it is very sweet. Conrad sort of had his own ending away from The Fix, but I still head cannon that The Fix adopted him too and Conrad comes to the orphanage sometimes.”

2. “listen. i don't know if this really counts as propaganda but just saying, mr. the fix thinks you're not the tail of a swallowtail butterfly. you are the butterfly.”

[nevraeldarya]

Rhea likes people who basically have death as their domain, right??? so could she give my cutie patootie oc the personification of death a chance (I can’t draw for the life of me and this character, Princess Aeolian is the only one that matches her description although her green eyes are brighter like “the one that blinds yo ahh by simply looking at them” ahh

It's not that she likes gods that has the domain of death, it's just that those types of gods are really beautiful in the "Don't worry I will take care of you" type of beautiful so the souls can pass on without being scared.

She admires beauties like Hades, Thanatos, Poseidon (ROR), Aphrodite (ROR) and Hermes (ROR) and many more.

She does in fact swing both ways, but with the way her emotions are not there she is aro-ace (not for long tho)

[doomed-prophetess]

I was musing with some friends the other day, and I thought our thoughts would be interesting to talk about. In WMMAP, Jennette basically takes on the role of LP!Athanasia. She has a more downcast, gentle disposition, contrasting WMMAP!Athanasia's lively and sunny 'personality'. And I say that in quotes because she basically took Jennette's personality, eventually making her own spin on it and turning into the sunshine personification we know and love as Athy. She even said as a kid that Claude liked Jennette, so she should act like Jennette (therefore starting her lovey-dovey act with Claude). There's tons of scenes showing how lonely Jennette is. She's deserate for a family, like LP!Athy was desperate for her father's love (her family). She clings onto our Athy, and even though she's kind to Jennette, she still leaves her completely in the dark and alone, until the end of the series. And on a similar note, Athy.. Knew about Jennette's identity and situation the entire time. Jennette had been told her entire life that she is Claude's daughter and Athy's sister, and Athy knows this, but she still leaves her to stand. Repeatedly, she acts loving and happy with Claude right in front of Jennette's face, and treats her like an outsider. (Example; when she fell in the lake and Claude almost let her drown, or episode 82 when Jennette asks if Claude is alright, and Athy tells her to go home). This also applies to the Debutante Ball- While Athanasia shines that day, Jennette is left behind by both Claude and Athy. Athy knows all about her, but lets Jennette watch her act close with Claude, and then scurries off with him leaving her behind. Of course, this isn't to bash Athy or anything, she was in survival mode at the Debutante. And a lot of times around Jennette, she was paranoid that the 'plot' would fall back into place somehow. I'm just pointing out some things. I know that some people will go "Well in LP Jennette got her happy ending, and Athy didn't!!!" But that isn't true. Athy doesn't know what the ending is of LP, and we're shown through visions/dreams that LP certainly didn't have a happy ending. (The Empire burning down, Claude getting sick, etc). I can only really assume that has to do with Aeternatas. They both die a miserable death. We can assume that when Anastacius shows up in LP, like shown in the visions, Jennette realizes at some point she's been lied to her entire life by the people she loves. And then dies, though I'm not sure in what way, we just see the empire in fiery shambles after. Additionally - Claude never even loved Jennette, he just used her to cure his headaches. So Jennette never "stole" his love from Athy. In WMMAP, though, our girls both finally get their happy endings. Athy wins Claude's love, and becomes Crown Princess. Jennette finds happiness with her real father and gets to start over in Mieta, while also taking on her mother's green eyes - which I see as her making peace with the past she thought she knew, and no longer needing to hold onto the Imperial family. I really don't get it when people compare Athy and Jennette, in "who suffered more", or "who is better than who". Aside from WMMAP being a father-daughter story, I argue that it can also be seen as a story about 2 girls finding their happy endings.

(side note: controversial, but I always find myself feeling more bad for Jennette than I do Athy TvT I think it's because we only ever see LP!Athy's suffering from very far away, we rarely even see her face, and we usually just see our happy-go-lucky WMMAP!Athy. Meanwhile we see Jennette's hardships more closely, making me feel more bad for her. That's just how I feel tho!!)

I don't like putting two girls against each other in trauma olympics but if you want to insist one of them had it worse than the other, the answer should be Jennette and not Athy. Jennette was never loved for who she was, she had to witness the death of her family one by one until she was the only one left behind amidst the destruction of her home country to either die a violent death or become Aeternitas meat puppet, an accessory to his crimes and forced to witness him committing atrocities through her but powerless to stop him.

At least lp Athy had Lily, Jennette had no one. I feel like LP Athy was a lot freer too. LP Athy's lack of magic saved her from court intrigue and being used as a tool by greedy nobles wheras Jennette was manipulated from the start. Athy could pursue her own interests and these happened to align with the duties of an Empress, contrary to Jennette who never wanted to rule but was forced into intense studies to learn everything a princess should know.

I never fully understood why Athy didn't just tell Jennette the truth about her parentage. Leaving the part out that Jennette is a construct made of black magic, she could have at least told her Anastasius is her real father and warned her that if she revealed her identity, Claude might harm her. Lucas, as the magician of the tower, could confirm her words. Jennette would stop seeking him out and if Athy continued their friendship, Jennette's need for familial love would still be satisfied. They could have been both happy together. There were no advantages to keeping it a secret, only disadvantages and the risk she would lose Jennette's trust if she ever learned that Athy had deceived her.

[alteon77]

The Bizarre Breeding Habits of Anthropomorphic Personifications: Chapter 6

It's a tale as old as time.

Two idiots fall in love. Two idiots fall out of love.

Neither one of them is expecting a baby to come along and derail their unhappily ever after.

Chapter One here, AO3 here, Masterlist here

Chapter Summary: A sentient television that's also a life coach appears in May's dreams. Morpheus learns about Twilight, and compromises are finally made.

In her room, May sits on her bed and tries her damnedest to relax. Viego had jokingly told her that she had all of the blankets in the house, and while she had laughed at the time, the eleven inch tall, incredibly heavy heap of them on top of her kinda feels like it might actually be every one they own. Not that she would ever admit this to her brother, mostly because he tends to get extra sassy for a week or two if she lets him think he's right about anything, and she's not going to deal with that. At least not with everything going on in her life at the moment.

Behind May, there's a mountain of pillows crammed between her back and the headboard and she's got a ball of yarn in her lap. Her two short, thin knitting needles click and clack rhythmically in her hands as she focuses half of her attention on the tiny sweater she's making and half of her attention on the Dateline episode playing in the background. She's not quite sure why she's been so fixated on true crime shows lately, but everytime Viego catches her watching one, he makes a face, the kind of face that says he's considering locking up all the knives in the house and barricading his door at night. 

Which is hilarious. Really. 

Mostly because May's not actually the violent type, but if she were the kind of entity to take part in the odd homicide here or there, then there are at least a dozen instances where she'd been justifiably pissed enough at Viego to warrant trying to kill him. What she's saying basically is that his mother-henning over her (and that's totally what he's doing whether or not he wants to own up to it) isn't going to be the thing that causes his death by her hand. 

Of course, it's all really a moot point since May isn't a murderer, and she imagines that if she were to start a career of taking lives, she wouldn't begin with her own family, for fuck's sake. 

Her mind blanks, and she shakes her head in confusion at the curious sensation. What the hell had she been thinking about? Something with Viego and the way he grimaces whenever he catches her watching true crime stuff. May frowns at the strange white spot in her memory. She's pretty sure that she's already getting pregnancy brain, and given that she's barely sleeping and definitely keeping absolutely no food down, she guesses she shouldn't be surprised by that. Then again, her issues with remembering things could also have more to do with the massive amount of stress she's been dealing with lately..

And there has definitely been stress. The truth is that things have been… tense in her new house. For the past week Morpheus has been coming by once or twice a day, and Viego… hates it. Or, she supposes it would be more accurate to say that Viego hates him. It's not enough that the father of her child is near silent and angrily awkward during these little visits, but to have Viego spend the entirety of them glaring at Morpheus like he wants to wring his neck is freaking her out six ways to Sunday. And of course Morpheus, who has always been an ass where Viego is concerned, doesn't even try to play nice. There have been no less than four occasions where she was pretty sure she was going to have to break them up from a proper scuffle, like two boys in a schoolyard fighting over damned Pokemon cards.  

Not that she's the Pokemon card in this metaphor. Oh no. That honor belongs solely to the kid growing inside of her, which is more than a bit… dehumanizing. Can she even say dehumanizing given that she's not actually a human? May doesn't know, but she's going to go with it regardless. It makes her feel like nothing but an incubator, like she's just here to carry and birth the baby and that's it. Every time Morpheus comes to see her, she catches him stealing glances at her stomach, staring at the very, very slight swell there like he's entranced or something. Months ago, she would have taken pleasure in teasing him, would have playfully welcomed him to come and sit at her side and try to talk to it or something. But now… now when he realizes that she can see what he's doing, he usually clenches his jaw and looks away, unwilling to bear her gaze on him.  

And it… hurts.  

It hurts a lot. 

Before she can dwell too much on that, though, her television starts acting up. It makes a weird grinding noise, the picture on the screen flickering as the whole things begins shaking violently. May stares in horrified, wide-eyed fascination as two long, seemingly flexible tubes sprout from the side of it, the black plastic of these new appendages gleaming in the light of her bedside lamp.  

Wait. What?

"Young lady, why are you watching this?" A voice demands in a high pitched British accent, and it takes May an embarrassingly long time to figure out that it's the TV that's speaking.  

Which… is fair, she feels like. She hasn't really came across a ton of televisions that talk and… have arms? Are those arms? May really doesn't understand exactly what is going on here, but she thinks she ought to respond. "Um… excuse me?"

The sentient electronic harrumphs at her. Properly harrumphs. Like a stern English nanny. "You are far too immature to view this sort of programming," it admonishes. "Let's see if we can find something more age appropriate for you." 

The image on the screen changes, and May gapes open-mouthed at Dora the Explorer telling Swiper to stop swiping. It's… a kid's cartoon. Did she just… get insulted by an electronic device? Had her TV really just called her immature? What the hell has her life came to that she's got to deal with snippy televisions now? What's next? Is her car going to start yelling at her for speeding? Is her toaster going to call her a slob for never cleaning it?  

All May knows for certain is that this particular television is obviously a super salty, super petty bitch, one that seems pretty judgey of her. She knows that she should probably just ignore it, just refuse to engage in an argument. 

But, nah. The gauntlet has been thrown. 

"I am not a child!" May sputters indignantly. "I'm literally thousands of years old which is kind of the exact opposite of a child." 

Those new spindly arms wiggle like they're figuring out how exactly to work before they're crossed just under the screen, and it reminds May of nothing so much as the pose an angry mom might take while getting on to her kids. "You're handling your relationship like a child, and you refuse to seek help despite the severity of your condition. Like a child." 

"I…" May struggles to address either of those accusations. The damn thing isn't completely wrong. She knows that there's something not quite right with her body and this pregnancy, that she's waaaay sicker than she should be, but getting medical attention is a little more complicated than the TV is making it out to be. For starters, who would she even go to? She's not human, and any maker healer who could help her has either been forcibly conscripted into the war raging on her home world, has been killed for refusing to be conscripted, or is so adept at hiding that it would take a miracle to find them. 

And as for her and Morpheus' relationship, Tina the fucking television can go blow a fuse for all May cares. Every day that she politely tolerates her ex's obviously reluctant, very grumpy presence is a day she is acting like an adult. Full stop.  

"Look, my health and my lovelife are none of your business, Tina. So back off." 

The TV shudders violently, thick plumes of smoke rising from its top, and May gets the strangest impression that it's trying to… trying to move from where it's mounted on the wall. "My name," it yells angrily, "is Tammy!" 

Legs start growing from the bottom of it, and May grabs the remote beside her to press the power button as hard as she can, like that'll actually turn it off or something.  

Which, surprise surprise, it doesn't.   

In fact, it kind of seems to piss Tammy off even more.  

May is at a loss for how exactly to deal with the soon-to-be walking, possibly homicidal television that apparently really really has it in for her. She clutches the remote tightly in her hand, ready to use it as a weapon if she has to, but it doesn't end up getting flung at the TV. Oh no. There will be no such dignity for her. When a darkly-clad figure just appears out of nowhere in the corner of her room, she chucks it at him like she's throwing a spear. It's only several seconds after she's done this that she realizes it's Morpheus standing there, looking as gorgeous as usual while he catches her hastily flung projectile with ease mere seconds before it can hit his nose. He glares at her and then flicks his eyes to the TV, which at once stills and returns back to its normal, inanimate state.  

"You are dreaming," he informs her, his voice low and smooth.  

No shit, she wants to say even as she bites her tongue to stop herself from doing that. They've been civil to one another this past week, polite even, and she'll be damned if she's going to be the one responsible for breaking their temporary peace. "Yeah. I uh… I think I got that," she responds instead, though she's unable to keep a healthy dose of sarcasm from her tone as she does so. Her heart still thunders in her chest, and she presses an open palm on it like that might calm it down. "Where's the door?"

Morpheus studies her for a moment before he stalks forward, closing the distance between them to return her makeshift weapon to her. He extends it to her like an olive branch, a rectangular one made of shiny black plastic and adorned with rubbery buttons on its front. "I believe I have managed to address the issue of the portal that was connected to my realm. If I have succeeded, then it should not bother you again." 

Right. His realm. It's only his now despite that it had once been theirs. Rationally, she knows she has no claim on the Dreaming, that it will never again be her home considering everything that's gone on between her and Morpheus, but irrationally it still hurts to hear him take back complete ownership of it. She had loved that realm, had loved it more than she'd ever loved any other world, and the reminder that she no longer has the right to even visit there is like a knife in the heart. May won't say that aloud either, though. She's starting to figure out that navigating this potentially explosive relationship with Morpheus is going to involve the both of them learning how to keep their mouths shut for the sake of not setting the other off. "Then… what are you doing here?" 

Morpheus stiffens, going tense as if he's upset at her for daring to ask him why he's doing something. "I… remain unsure as to whether any injury you receive in your dreams will transfer over to your physical form." 

May frowns. "Sooo, you're just going to… What? Monitor me while I sleep from now on?" 

"Yes." 

She snorts out a laugh, all too aware that that's a baaad idea for a couple of reasons, chief of which being how often a version of him appears in them. Usually naked. Almost always fucking her into whatever solid surface her mind has conjured up. Sometimes cuddling with her afterwards and professing his undying love to her. 

God, she's pathetic.  

"No, you're not going to do that," May tells him, still laughing despite the horror she feels at the idea of Morpheus ever walking into one of those dreams.  

He glowers as if she's just some lowly, insignificant thing, and she thinks she could smack him for that particular look. "What did you just say to me?" he growls, and she's suddenly very aware that he's still standing near to her, close enough that he's on the fringes of her personal space bubble. It's more than a little intimidating. 

She forges on anyway. As determined as she is to try and stay civil with him, she refuses to let him continue stepping right over her boundaries. "I said no. As in, my dreams are my own personal business, and you shouldn't be in them."

He scoffs derisively. "I am free to involve myself with anything that has to do with my function, May Westin. That assuredly includes your dreamscape." 

May huffs out a sigh and crosses her arms. "Were you watching me sleep again?" 

"You are asking how I, Dream of the Endless, knew you slumbered? Shall I explain my duties to you anew?" His pointer finger on his right hand twitches ever so slightly, one of the few tells he has when he's lying, and May narrows her eyes at him in suspicion. 

"No, I know what your duties entail. I'm asking you if you were out there in the Waking standing over me like a stalker while I slept." 

His face doesn't change because he can rock that mask of impassivity like nobody else she's ever met, but his eyes flicker for a fraction of a second in what May can only describe as guilty embarrassment. "Again, my function includes-"

"You totally were, weren't you?" she cuts in, unwilling to listen to his blatant bullshit on the matter. 

"I…" He glances away, and May thinks that if he were human, he would probably blush as he did so. "Perhaps." 

Well, at least he admitted it. Begrudgingly. But still she guesses that's something. "Okay. Then we've got to talk about the creepy Edward Cullen thing, Morpheus." 

His expression finally shifts, morphing into one of puzzlement as if he's trying to suss out what it is she's just said to him. He sits gracefully on the edge of her bed, settling on the plush, floral comforter like it's just another throne for him. It's completely unfair how he always manages that, how he can look so damn regal even when he shouldn't, and her stomach swoops at the sight in what could be either lust or a fresh bout of morning sickness. She's honestly not sure which anymore, but she's leaning towards it being lust when she starts vividly imagining him naked there as she climbs atop him, starts imagining herself rolling her hips as he groans beneath her, his hands clutching at her waist to steady her as she rides him with needful abandon.  

May bites her lip. These freakin' pregnancy hormones are really going to kill her when it's all said and done, and she forcibly tries to think of kittens or the Grand Canyon or standing in line at the DMV. Anything, really, to stop her from accidentally showing him what she's almost desperate to do, which in this moment is to fervently fuck him with all the desire that a solid two months of pent up lust can bring a girl. 

"I've no idea the meaning of those words," he confesses slowly, studying her oddly like she's broadcasting every filthy thought in her head in surround sound, and May hopes against hope that he's not actually picking up on what the smutty part of her brain is putting down. 

"Um…" she stammers, her cheeks uncomfortably warm in what she knows is a spectacular blush. "What?"

"Your continued references to Edward Cullen," he supplies helpfully.  

Right. Right. Twilight. She can… She can totally focus on that.  

"It's a…" May blows out a breath. It feels familiar, painfully familiar, to have to explain pop culture references to him. Despite that Dream has the entire collective unconsciousness kicking about in his awareness, he's still woefully clueless when it comes to much of anything about real life mortals. For her and Viego, blending in had been a useful skill, an important one. It had served to keep them hidden and alive in a world full of humans for many millennia, so she had made it a point to try and teach Morpheus how to better interact with the mortals they met when they took their sporadic trips together into the Waking. Though honestly, he had always seemed as if he thought these lessons were a waste of his time, and he had been the absolute worst student while she attempted to educate him on not acting quite so…. other around humans. "There's this book series that got turned into a bunch of films, and in them the main male character, Edward Cullen, is a vampire who sneaks into the main female character's room to watch her while she sleeps." 

"I… understand," he says in a way that lets her know he probably doesn't understand at all. "She is his prey then?" 

A smile tugs at her lips, and May looks down to hide it. "Nooooot exactly. They, um… get married, have a baby, and are fighting off a whole group of enemy vampires by the fifth movie." 

He regards her shrewdly as if he's positive that she's having a laugh at his expense. "Surely you jest." 

"Nope. Afraid not. It was a really popular franchise. Viego took me to see the fourth movie." 

"Viego? Why would he do such a thing?"

May bites her lower lip and stoically resists the need to laugh uproariously at the memory. "Not by choice. He, um, lost a bet with me and part of the terms of that bet were that he would have to wear a team Jacob shirt to the theater when we went." 

"Team… Jacob?" 

"Oh, yeah . I forgot to tell you about that in my super brief summary. He's the werewolf who makes the third point in the story's love triangle." 

His brows draw together, his forehead creasing. "I… have no words." 

"That's probably for the best. Viego had a ton of them- words, I mean- on the subject, more than I ever wanted to hear in a lifetime really. He ended up getting us kicked out of the movie when he loudly booed the wedding scene and threw popcorn at the screen while it was going on." May finally loses that fight with her laughter, giving in without intending to. Something in Morpheus' face seems to soften at the sight of her cracking up over Viego's antics, and it encourages her to continue on talking. "You want to know what the really weird part of that whole fiasco was?" 

"Because all the rest of what you've told me concerning this has been so very normal?" he questions dryly, a faint smirk playing on his lips.  

May ignores that because she doesn't think he'll understand that it was normal to a lot of people. "Viego… I think he really was team Jacob. At the end of the third movie when Bella, the main female character, decides she's going to marry that Edward guy, Viego went off on a two hour long rant about how Jacob was clearly the better choice and that she was an idiot for sticking it out with a vampire that was clearly way too old for her and flew a billion red flags." 

"Red… flags?" 

She nods. "Yeah. I mean I was team Edward, but he definitely did some sus things."

His nose scrunches up in the closest approximation she's ever seen him get to a WTF face. "You were team Edward? Whatever for?" 

May sighs heavily. "Because broody, pale assholes are unfortunately my type," she relays to him before she can really think about it, and when she realizes what stupidity she's just word-vomited out loud, she glances up wide-eyed at him. He looks extremely, extremely unimpressed by her answer. "Shit. Sorry… I didn't mean…"  

"What were the questionable things that you mentioned of this Edward's behavior?" he asks roughly, like he's forcing himself to be calm while he changes the subject, and May is strangely grateful to him for that. He's not the type to stick his foot in his mouth, but he knows that May is. And having him give her an out from this thorny and mortifying occurrence of it is… well, almost sweet. 

"He… tried to control where she went and who she saw, and he would sneak into her room and just stare at her while she slept." 

"I see. Despite that it is an odd way to woo a potential partner, this was clearly some sort of courting ritual on his part."

"They were all stalkerish things to do, period," May corrects. "And while we're on the subject of stalkerish behaviors, we've got to have a chat about Matthew." 

He goes blank, his mask of apathy slipping back over his features in a split second. "What of him?" 

"He seems to be under some ridiculous notion that he has to stay outside in the damn trees and spy on me."

There isn't an ounce of shame or contrition on his face as he nods once in confirmation of this. "Of course. I ordered him to do so." 

"Well, unorder him to do so," May says and when he predictably opens his mouth to argue, she cuts him off quickly. "He's more than welcome to just come in and hang out with me. I've always liked Matthew. His company… isn't a bother. At all." 

Morpheus regards her in confusion. "Very well. You are aware, however, that he is reporting to me." 

"Whaaaat? I'm completely shocked. Oh. Wait. Never mind actually." She scoffs at him. "Of course I knew he was reporting back to you. Why else would you have him stationed around my house like he was the world's cutest security camera?" She won't admit that it makes her feel safe, that knowing there is a constant link to an Endless who can get to her in a fraction of a second is hella comforting. Mostly she won't say this to him because she doesn't want to encourage his annoying tendency to spy but also… also because she doesn't want to own up to the fact that she might ever need him for anything.  

Morpheus makes a face, probably because she'd called his raven the world's cutest, like he's a puppy with a giant fluffy mullet and not at all like he's the esteemed companion to an Endless. But it's the truth. Matthew is adorable, and May would absolutely die on that hill.  

Nonetheless, she's got to finish hammering this thing out with Morpheus. It's not okay with her that she's being watched so much, that he's putting her friend in the difficult position of having to tell him things that are frankly none of his concern.  

She doesn't even get the chance to speak, though, because Morpheus beats her to it. "Then in the spirit of honesty between us, he informed me that you have been quite… ill of late." 

She's stunned, and she feels herself go tense with indecision. In the spirit of honesty is what he'd said. Should she tell him? Should she admit to him that she's been sick enough that it's starting to really worry her? "I… Morning sickness sucks." Unable to bear the way he's looking at her, she lets her eyes drift downwards to stare at the geometric design on her top blanket like it's particularly fascinating. "Viego found this tea that was supposed to help, but… I don't think it is." 

"Can I… Is there anything you need?" he asks her, his voice quiet, an uncharacteristic falter in his words. For some reason, she gets the overwhelming impression that he wants to reach out to her in comfort.  

It reminds her too much of his affection, of his care, and May's eyes burn as they well with tears. Once, she'd had that from him, and this kindness towards her wouldn't have been out of place in the slightest then, but… no longer. Thinking about the loss of him, the loss of their relationship, is a little like jabbing a serrated blade straight into her already bruised heart. "No… no. I'm… fine." 

"You do not… seem well." 

I'm not, she wants to say. She's so fucking far from well that it's pathetic, but… she can't explain that to him. She doesn't have a ton of pride left, but she's definitely got enough that she can't bring herself to let him know him how weak she really is due to the pregnancy.  

His brow furrows and his lips purse like he's disappointed at her or something. "And the fainting? Have you suffered from another such occurrence of it since your collapse on the pier? 

Fuck. She resists the childish urge to cover her ears with her hands and sing la, la, la, la, la at the top of her lungs in an effort to avoid this conversation. It makes her think that Tammy the television might have maybe, possibly had a teeny tiny point. But May doesn't want to do this with him, doesn't want to hear that concern in his voice that reminds her of when he used to love her enough to to be concerned. Now, she knows it's just the baby and the responsibility he feels towards it that's driving him to act like this. "It's fine. I'm… fine. The baby's fine." 

He purses his lips again, and May decides that she's going to name that expression his lip-purse-of-doom. There's a dirty joke in there somewhere, but she swears she can't scourge it up in her fuzzy mind to save her life. "You are attempting to deceive me," he accuses.

"No. I just… really don't want to talk about this. And… it's not really any of your business. I'm not any of your business, which is why… we're gonna need to set some ground rules on what Matthew is allowed to share with you."  

"Allowed?" 

May's lips thin out into an irritated line. Sometimes, she really thinks that him being so obtuse is just an act, one meant to frustrate her into giving in to his demands out of a sheer desire not to have to tediously clarify things to him. "Yes. Allowed. You know what I'm saying to you, and I won't have your raven telling you every little thing about my life." 

He lips pucker as if he's been sucking on lemons, and it's a ridiculously sexy look on him. Seriously, what in the hell is wrong with her? "It is imperative that I-" 

"I don't care," May interrupts sternly, aware that she needs to leave him no wiggle room where he can try and wear her down. "Again, I will repeat that you don't have a right to that anymore. I'm open to Matthew sticking by my side to let you know if I'm ever in danger, but… what goes on with me personally is just…. It has nothing to do with you now."

"Nothing to do with me? We are to have a child together," he hisses, "and you would dare to inform me that I am not permitted to know the minutiae of your life?" 

"Because you're not. And I'm really trying to compromise with you on some of this stuff. I could have Viego ban Matthew from crossing the boundary of the wards tomorrow if I wasn't." 

He scoffs, the sound contemptuous. "Compromise. I am coming to utterly loathe that concept." 

"Well, you should probably get used to it. Like you've said, we're going to have a kid together. With the awkward co-parenting thing, there are going to be loads of compromises to be made between us."

He stills and then appears thoughtful for a moment, considering. "You believe we should learn how to… manage these inconsistencies in what we both want before the child is born. I… cannot fault such logic." 

May is taken aback in shock. "Did we just… agree on something?" 

His mouth curves up in an enexpected,  barely there smile. "Perhaps, but I… Will you answer me this honestly? The morning sickness worries you, does it not?" His voice is so… gentle as he asks this, his hand twitching like he might stretch it out to rest on her back in sympathy, and May is suddenly, irrationally furious at him. Everything between them is so broken, so stilted, and it's at least partially his fault. He'd been done with her, irrefutably done, and to have him now looking so earnestly tender at her just kind of pisses her off.  

Which is probably why she snaps. "What do you think? I can't keep any food down, and I hurt constantly, and I'm so tired that I don't even want to get out of bed, and my magic-" May catches herself before she can finish that sentence, closing her mouth shut so quickly that her poor teeth clack together. Shit, shit, shit. Cursing herself for her stupidity, she knows that she's messed up in mentioning anything about her disappearing powers to him, but it's not like she can take the words back now. 

He straightens up like a pointer hound on the scent of a wounded fox. "What of your magic?" 

"Nothing. It's fine." 

Tight-lipped, he asks her, "Why do you persist in lying to me?" 

"I'm not lying."

He scowls, and her stomach flip flops in something that definitely isn't lust. Bile rises up in her throat, and she knows she's going to be sick. Morpheus, unaware of this, keeps right on with their argument. "A lie of omission is still very much a lie. What is it you refuse to tell me?" 

"Listen, I need to wake up," she informs him as calmly as she can, swallowing thickly as she fights the urge to start heaving up what little bit of food she'd managed to eat that day. 

"No. Not until you've given me the truth." 

"I think I'm going to be sick, so unless you want me to choke to death on my own vomit, stop holding me here and let me go." 

His eyes bore into her, scrutinizing her as if she's just a bug on display waiting for him to pin her wings down. "If you must waken, then use your magic to pull yourself from the dream." 

"What? Don't be a jerk, okay. Just-" 

Unblinking, he observes her. "Unless you are incapable of it." 

"You're being ridiculous." She can feel the blood draining from her face, though.

He looks her over with an assessing stare, and she knows that he knows, that he's figured out exactly what she didn't want him to. "You have no powers, do you?" 

May gets to her feet in the dreamscape. Christ, but she wants to punch him. "Damn it, Morpheus. Get out of my head." 

"Then pay me the courtesy of being honest with me. You speak of compromise as one of the skills we must learn before our child is born, and I shall add another to that list. Truth, May. I am willing to compromise with you only so long as you are willing to cease this dishonesty with me." 

Her chest heaves in newfound panic as she stares at him, wondering over what she should do. She doesn't want to tell him a damn thing, but… he's not exactly wrong. They are going to be parents eventually, and it's not crazy for him to want the truth from her while they figure out how to navigate some of these issues.  

"All right… I…I  don't," she admits cautiously, her body trembling at the possibility of how he'll react. His temper has always been a problem, but when he’d loved her he had been more than content to gentle it around her, to keep calm in her presence no matter how bad their disagreements ever got. But… he doesn't love her anymore, and she's discovered in the wake of this fact that his anger is frightening as hell. May draws in a ragged breath. "My kind… lose our magic when we're pregnant." 

"I see. Were you to tell me this? Was I to know-" 

She crosses her arms over her chest as if she's trying to protect herself. "Look… being weak in front of anyone is… fucking terrifying. You… especially." 

He rears back like she's hit him, confusion and sorrow told in his features. "You believe I would… hurt you?" 

May doesn't answer for several moments, trying to think of how to diplomatically respond with a giant yes in a way that doesn't start another argument. "I'm just… on edge at the moment," she hedges. "I think with everything that's gone on in the past few months, I'm entitled to feel that way."  

His eyes blaze at this, a fire of his fury that's just been lit amidst the void black of them, and his hands clench into fists as his jaw tightens. "Perhaps you would feel less on edge in the safety of the Dreaming."

The fucking anthropomorphic personification. May almost throws her remote at him again. Is he really back on this? "Please tell me you're kidding. I thought we had agreed." 

"That was before I knew you were completely defenseless," he lashes out, his tone so deep that her dreamscape rumbles alarmingly.  

May can't help the way she stiffens in panic.  

His mood, mercurial as ever, flickers back and forth like a dying light bulb in a poorly lit room, making everything switch from bright to dark before she can even blink. It… scares her. She doesn't think it makes her a coward to admit to fear where his anger is concerned, and she reminds herself that Viego had designed their current wards so that nobody, not even an Endless, could shift another out of the house without spoken consent. "I'm okay. Can we… not do this?" She hates how small her voice sounds, how afraid she feels.  

"You are asking me to ignore the fact that you are utterly defenseless in this realm-" 

"I'm safe," she interrupts. "Viego's wards are-" 

"Wholly insufficient seeing that I traipsed right through them just weeks ago when I brought you home after your collapse in my realm." 

"They were set up so that you could always get in if you wanted. Not all of us banish people from our existence just because we're upset with them." 

It also probably had a lot to do with the fact that she still loved him, that she'll likely never stop loving him. When faced with the possibility of removing him completely from her life, she had been unable to take that final step, unable to visit the same shitty behavior on him that he'd easily shown to her. 

Of course, she doesn't say any of this. She won't ever say any of this. Not to him, at least. Her one-sided love makes her seriously hate herself. For fuck's sake, he'd yelled at her and kicked her out of her home, scaring her half to death then with the rage she could feel thrumming just under his skin, like he'd been so angry he could kill her if she dared to fight back. And May knows that he had been more than capable of it, that she had been lucky to escape his wrath without worse punishment. She's never lied to herself about what kind of entity she'd willingly crawled into bed with, never been idiotic enough to try and convince herself that he hadn't done terrible, morally reprehensible things to past lovers.  

She'd just never thought that he would do them to her.   

Despite that she had felt those stirrings of attraction to him during that very first meeting of theirs, it had only been after their ordeal in Roderick Burgess' basement that she'd even considered starting a relationship with him because she had believed he'd changed. She had thought (stupidly, she now knows) that captivity had altered him in some fundamental way, that he was kinder for it, more aware of the effects his actions might have on others. 

He had seemed regretful when he'd finally confessed his past deeds to her, and May had bought that regret- hook, line, and sinker- from him for a long long time, right up until the moment he'd turned his fierce, savage temper on her.   

Her admission about the warding brings him up short, however, and his whole body goes taut. "Upset? You believe I was merely upset? " He questions witheringly, his expression acidic in its fury. "Surely you were not foolish enough to think of my vitriol towards you then as something so mild?" 

That stings, and her stomach twists again as a fresh wave of nausea comes over her. " Don't call me foolish. I just… would really appreciate it if you could refrain from saying anything else cruel. I know that's pretty much your default setting, but I don't need you to make me feel any more pathetic than I already do. Okay? Thanks. " 

He's static before her, unmoving, the way that a snake gets before it strikes out and sinks its venomous fangs into a defenseless prey animal. May has no delusions that she'd be anything other than the prey animal in this little equation of him and her, and not for the first time, she wonders what in the hell she's actually gotten herself into. 

He clenches his fists more tightly at his side. "My… apologies," he grits out, the words rough. "I did not intend to… upset you" 

"It's… fine." 

"Do not use that word again," he seethes. "You are not fine. This situation is not fine. There is nothing that could conceivably be considered fine in any of this." 

She inhales sharply. "Okay. Sure. Nothing is fine right now. Is that what you want to hear? That I'm fucking scared? That I'm barely holding it together? That I'm terrified to bring a baby into the mess of my life where I'm currently being hunted like an animal? That I am horrified at the idea of having a child with an entity that hates my guts?" 

His face darkens. "If you would only come back to the Dreaming with me-" 

"And what, Morpheus? Should I come back to the Dreaming with you and subject myself to your attitude? Have a kid while I'm trapped in your realm? Worry that one day you'll get pissed enough to banish me again and keep our child for yourself?" 

Everything goes silent, her accusation hanging heavy in the air between them. 

He visibly recoils, stunned by what she's just said. "You… cannot believe me capable of such a thing." 

"I don't know what you're capable of. Not anymore. I honestly don't think I ever did." 

He glares at her, and she's sure he has some asshole response to that, something callous and biting to throw back at her, but he doesn't get the opportunity to destroy her with it this time. Her stomach gives one last somersault, and May snaps awake, rolling from her bed to sprint towards the washroom. She falls hard to her knees, barely managing to get the lid up before she's getting disgustingly sick yet again.

It's her fourteenth time that day, so she supposes she's not really surprised by it. Not anymore. But what does surprise her is when she feels the cold cloth on the back of her neck, the gentle hands catching stray strands of her hair and brushing them back from her face. She thinks that Viego must have came back, that it has to be her brother tending to her, but when she looks up with teary eyes, she's utterly shocked to see Morpheus there, crouched down on the balls of his feet as he regards her worriedly. 

Her face flushes bright red in embarrassment. She doesn't want anyone to see her like this, least of all him. "Go away," she mutters as she closes the lid to the toilet and pulls the handle down to flush it. All of her aches, from her head down to her legs, and she can't… do this with him right now.  

"I will not leave you alone in this state," he tells her, his voice as firm as his stubborn resolve. "Do you require assistance to stand?" 

Her body trembling, her muscles worn out with fatigue, and she shakes her head anyway. "No. I've got it." 

He ignores her like he knows she's just being obstinate, bracing her with a hand on her elbow as she gets to her feet and carefully makes her way to the sink so she can brush her teeth and drink a glass of water. He stays right by her side while she does this, like he's frightened she might faint, and months ago she would have thought him sweet for it, but in their current situation it just… hurts.   

Everything with him hurts these days.  

"Is there anything… that might settle your stomach?" he asks lightly, probably mindful of their most recent fight. "Is there anything you need… or want?"

"No, thank you." She's aware that she sounds brittle, hollowed out. "I'm just going to… rest some more." She can't look at him, can't bear to see the pity in his face.  

"Very well," he finally allows, his voice so tender that it makes her eyes burn with fresh tears. "If you require me for anything, you will summon me immediately through Matthew. Might… we agree on that at least?" 

"Sure," she mumbles. "I can… I can do that." She still can't lift her eyes to his, still isn't brave enough to glance up at him. 

"Will you permit me to help you back to your bed?" 

May shakes her head again, and it makes her feel dizzy. "No… I've got it, but thanks." 

"Then… I shall wait to take my leave until you are comfortably settled into it." 

"You don't have to do that." 

"Please let me… help you." May flicks her gaze to him at last, stunned to hear the please that's tumbled from his lips. He's never been the type to plead for anything, and for him to do so is shocking as hell to her. What she sees makes her heart squeeze tightly. He's troubled, clearly concerned for her. His eyes have faded back into their usual blue, but there are no stars or universes within them as if he's so anxious that they cannot manifest.

"Morpheus…."  

"You could consider it a compromise between us. I… only wish to know that you are… cared for, and it is not something that should be difficult for you to allow me."

Self-deprecation twists her guts, but eventually she nods anyway, giving in to him and hating herself for it. "I… okay. If it's that big of a deal to you." 

"It is," he tells her, and he seems so sincere as he does that she could almost believe his concern has something to do with her and not just the child she's currently growing. 

Nonetheless, he dutifully follows her to her bed, watching as she climbs into it and reaching out to assist her as she tugs her covers up over herself. He looks almost… fidgety, like he wants to… do more, like he's yearning to console her, to hold her, to… something.  

He's an enigma wrapped up in a mystery wrapped up in the origins of the universe, and May is far too fucking tired to try and figure him out in the moment. Before he goes, he walks over to her window and pulls it open. As her eyes get increasingly heavy, May doesn't quite know what he's doing until Matthew flies in and lands on the sill of it where they speak in low whispers, probably so Morpheus can relay his orders to the poor guard raven.  

The last thing she's aware of is Matthew landing near her as she drifts off into unconsciousness, fading quickly into an unnaturally restful sleep. And for the first time in ages, she has beautiful dreams, ones so full of peace and love that she thinks she doesn't want to ever wake up from the contentment of them. Though she knows she will.

Dreams have, after all, always been such fleeting things. 

NEXT CHAPTER

[sushiburritonoms]

New ETN/GT Fic

I wrote this for Matpat's retirement in March and look at me, right on time as always.

Matthew Patrick's Home for Imaginary Friends and Biblical Abominations

Rating: Gen, no ships, comedy, could be considered crack I guess

Summary: Stephanie Patrick has made a lot of adjustments and sacrifices ever since her husband came back from Everlock and has come out of the other side a stronger person. But six years later, Matthew and Nikita finally achieve the impossible and bring Joey Graceffa back from Pandora’s Box...along with something else. What do you do when your husband accidentally releases the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse?

You hire them for Youtube of course.

Basically a fusion of Game Theory lore and ETN, featuring Stephanie, Jason, Tom, Lee, Santi, Amy, Mirror Matt, Ash, and a ton of other Theorist cameos and easter eggs. Its the new channel hosts as the Four Horsemen; this will NOT make sense if you don't follow the Theorist channels.

Fic Snippet is below the cut.

Hey Death, whatcha doing?”

“Go away, Fam, I’m busy!”

“You’re busy in MY space! Aren’t you supposed to be off reaping innocent babies or kittens or something?!”

“For the last time, we are GUESTS; you don’t own the space, you glutinous half-wit! Leave me alone!”

“Matt! Matt, Death is messing with your kitchen!!”

“GUYS! I’M ON THE PHONE!”

Stepping into her own kitchen wasn’t supposed to feel like a SAE mission. But Steph kept a flask of holy water and a crucifix in her Lululemon hip bag as she made her way over from the stairwell. The moment she made her presence known, she saw sickly green flames brighten to life in the blank sockets of Death’s skull face.

“Ah! Stephanie! So good of you to join us.” Death nodded his head politely and lifted a skeletal hand to tug at his black hood as though it were some sort of dapper hat. His upper-class London accent made the act feel less ridiculous and more like proper gentleman behavior.

“…Hi.” Steph was never going to get used to how terrifying it was to see green fire instead of eyeballs, especially since Death towered several feet over her and Matthew. Speaking of which… “I thought I heard Matthew’s voice.”

“He went downstairs,” a smooth voice chimed in from behind Death’s black robe. “With the other dude and the chick.”

Death snorted. “Eloquent and informative as ever.”

“She knows who I’m talking about! Now move your nonexistent ass; some of us are trying to work here!”

Steph saw a thick human arm swat at Death’s cloak, and the living personification of Famine stepped into Steph’s view.

Famine grinned at her with a very normal and healthy-looking human male face. Thank God. She would take his human form any day over the emaciated, decayed corpse that was his true form. Today, he was favoring a physique that had very broad shoulders and thick muscular biceps that strained against a baby blue shirt with some anime character imprinted on it. Matthew would surely know the show, but she did not. He had a round tan face with a salt and pepper beard and very mischievous eyes that were partially hidden behind thick black glasses. He eagerly held out one of her mixing bowls, which was filled near to the brim with something that smelled utterly delicious.

“I’m making snacks!”

“Thank you, Famine. That’s very sweet of you.” Steph couldn’t help but break into a smile. “Is this the same body you wore yesterday?”

Famine nodded vigorously. “Matt said we need to pick a body and stick with it. I like this one. Check out my GUNS!” He set the bowl down on the countertop beside him and flexed one of his thick arms at Steph.

Death scoffed. “Flesh is weak. Entropy is inevitable.”

“You’re just jealous because you can’t create anything other than the same lameo body you’ve had for centuries.”

“There’s nothing wrong with the way my human form looks. Not all of us are vain like you and Pestilence.”

“Excuse you?”

Steph jumped. A small, slender woman with incredibly pale skin and long black hair suddenly sat cross-legged at one of Steph’s kitchen bar chairs. She wore a shoulderless black halter dress that went down to the floor, to where Steph could see the tips of shiny Doc Martens peeking out. On her face, she wore black eyeliner to outline her light blue eyes, which were intensely focused on Famine. She looked completely human except for one small detail. She had long, razor-sharp silver claws instead of nails resting elegantly in her lap, like ten slim stiletto daggers just waiting to be thrown.

Death shook his bony head. “How many times have I told you not to scare our hosts like that? Don’t make me put a bell around your tiny neck!”

“Hmm, I’d like to see you try,” Pestilence yawned into the palm of her hand, her claws flexing across her face. They were filed into sharp points and caught the light in a terrifying way. “Sorry to bother you, Steph, but Matt was looking for you and said you needed to be on his call. He’s with the Vessel and Nikita.”

“The dude and the chick!” Famine shrugged. “I said that already.”

“You are useless,” Death groaned.

Oh. Right. Matthew had said he was going to call Jason today. She’d completely forgotten that was happening.

You can continue the fic here

[a-court-of-moonlight-and-ire]

The second to last song in the takarazuka production of Elisabeth (and in the original but we're not talking about that rn) is this song where Franz Joseph, Elisabeth's ex-husband, has a dream where the personification of death shows up to idk, taunt him about how Elisabeth is gonna get assassinated and then she'll be with death forever, something like that, its actually a bit more convoluted but I dont have the time to get into it rn. Anyway, so Death and Franz Joseph argue about which one lf them Elisabeth loves more, her ex-husband with whom she is no longer on speaking terms because he cheated on her and who inadvertantly made her life a thousand times worse wayyyy before that, or her toxic yuri on-off (but mostly off) situationship who didnt do that and is also insanely hot and also is responsible for her sons death but im ignoring that for the sake of my argument. And for some reason, Death is super insecure?? Franz Joseph is like "if youre really Death, why dont you just kill her huh???" and he responds "I-Im just waiting for the right moment" and FJ goes "you LIAR youre just afraid that she'll reject you!!" and hes so affected by that for some reason??? Like bro, hes just some guy, he and Elisabeth are not even really on speaking terms anymore, when he approached her to tell her that shes his only goal in life she literally went "we have different goals" Whyyyyy are you insecure

Anyway, thats basically Tamlin and Rhysands dynamic when it comes Feyre

[sillygoofyqueer]

Ohhhh, you know how to make infinitely more motivated to write more. I mean, look at THIS, it feels like you're quite literally in my brain ���🥺

Dream. I don't think that anyone'll be surprised that I'm linking him to Apollo...the sun god. BUT HE IS MORE THAN THAT. I mean, god of plague and healing, music and arts, oracles and so much more!! For some reason, Apollo radiates Dream for me (I mean, Apollo is literally referred to as Alexicacus -> the "averter of evil" and depending on your perspective, that's what Dream does with negativity. He was Zeus' favourite (like the villagers favouring Dream before....teehee), and he was born from a mother who was in hiding from Hera (like how Dream's mother created Dream and Nightmare before she died after being hunted). And he was like, very prosperous for the island he was born on (the myths differ on what its name is), turning everything there to gold (like how Dream brought a shit ton of positivity to the villagers). Lets talk about Apollo's tragic love life and why I think that links to Dream. Basically, the most tragic tale (in my opinion) is Hyacinthus and Apollo. See, everyone looooved Hyacinthus and was pissy when he chose Apollo. One day, they were having a game of discus, and whether out of jealousy or pure bad luck, when Hyacinthus tried to catch the discus Apollo threw it smashed into his head and he died in Apollo's arms because he couldn't do anything to heal him. And this genuinely is so heartbreaking, because Apollo, despite being god of healing, couldn't manage to save what mattered most in the end. LIKE DREAM AND THE APPLE INCIDENT. IT WAS JUST A NORMAL DAY FOR THAT POOR BASTARD AND THEN BOOM, HE COULDN'T MANAGE TO SAVE NIGHTMARE IN THE END. WRAGGGHH - I think I went overboard with this one, but I love Apollo and I love linking him to Dream.

Nightmare. Well, for ever sun god, we need a mooon god!! Artemis, obviously, but why do I think this? Well, obviously I can link Artemis' birth to Nightmare's, as I did with Apollo's and Dream's - but I can take it one step further, folks! Artemis, according to some tellings of the legend, was born first and then became a midwife of sorts to Leto as she gave birth to Apollo. This can be linked to depictions of Nightmare as an older twin, keeping Dream innocent from the bullying he received and growing up much faster than he should have (considering he was like, five, at the time of the apple incident). There is also a lot of Artemis seeking retribution for man's hubris and acts, similar to how Nightmare killed all of the villagers as retribution for their years of bullying a child just because he was...well, the personification of negativity, in a sense. Also, Artemis is portrayed as a virgin goddess (iconic), and she keeps company with the Hunters of Artemis (mainly women who swore a pledge to her), much like Nightmare with his silly little children henchmen, who value him above all. ALSO, we can link it to the fact that in Istrus' version of Orion and Artemis, he was the only person she ever truly loved and he was a hunter of her, so, y'know, the idea that Artemis and Nightmare both could only get into relationships with people they've known extremely well for a long long time. But keep in mind that Artemis feels nooo love for anyone, this is just an idea.

Reaper. I don't know how big this bullet point'll be, because there's only so much I can explain before it becomes obvious. But, obviously a Hades like figure. Ruler of the underworld, god of death, y'know, it matches. Also, also, also, I'd like to point out that Hades got the short end of the stick and got stuck with the underworld, like how Reaper got forced into being a god of death because...well, he was born. Poor bastard. Hades, despite being the eldest son, was regurgitated last, which led to him being absolutely dunked on in receiving the Underworld when they drew lots. Reaper and Hades (in my opinion) share this lack of care about mortals and the world above. ALSO, Reaper has the death touch, which means he probably craves what he cannot have, like how Hades only ever fell in love (true love) with Persephone, goddess of spring. Literally the opposite of him. They both kind of long for things they cannot have. Well, without killing people or kidnapping them. Also, then portraying Geno as Persephone is a delicious idea for shipping material. MORE TO COME SOON IF WANTED\ (you can find what is basically a masterpost of this headcanon series here)

[picqued]

( RILEY KEOUGH .  CIS WOMAN .  SHE/HER)  - the  chicago  resident , (  ROBYN "BOBBIE" SUMMERS ) ,  was  heard  blaring  (  RED DRESS / SUGABABES  )  this  morning  .  the  ( THIRTY-TWO )  year  old  is  a  (  rock journalist  )  in  the  city  &  has  lived  the ( west ) tower  for  (  six months  ) .  since  being  here  ,  they  have  been  told  to  be  ( -  irreverent )  ,  but  also  ( + irrepressible ) ,  i  guess  we'll  find  out  soon  !   [  n  ,  25+  ,  gmt+8  ,  she/her]

HISTORY (badly written abridged edition)

born in san francisco. neglectful parents. great uncle was wonderful though, she idolised him. but he got old and died. sad.

bobbie started living the nomad life, living out of a van or a tourbus. a concert groupie if you will. she loved going to gigs. lived for it. she was going to amount to absolutely nothing and she didn't care. she watched friends hit 28 and suddenly switch their priorities, get real jobs, start thinking of responsibilities, insurance, health, bills, marriage, blah.

so what did she do? she started putting her feelings on social media. she documented her lifestyle, the groupie life. viewers started piling on because it was a little bit of a joke. until a few of her video commentaries started going viral on tiktok. oops.

long story short, the attention accumulated and she was offered a guest spot on a weekly column in a small magazine.

then on-video press junkets for musicians. now she's that one critic people try to watch their mouth with. she's annoyed. but it's nothing partying with the artistes won't fix!

PERSONALITY, TRAITS, HABITS, HEADCANONS

very athletic and a thrill-seeker, is the type to go cliff-jumping, drag-racing, and skydiving on a regular weekend, every weekend, if she's not at a gig

vintage girly

has too many vices

volatile, but also somehow careless and irreverent

the personification of bugs' bunny's 'nyeeeahh.... what's up doc?' only instead of a carrot she's chewing gum

can be immature

messy

will slash your tires if she decides you deserve it

fucking talks way too much

will annoy you to death, has no concept of boundaries

free the nipple baby

terrible enabler

has a sister who she hates so naturally she avoids family gatherings like it's the plague. family who?

amateur dj, she has no skill

will shove your enemies down a flight of stairs for you and then smile prettily

is the epitome of jessica simpson asking 'is this fish or chicken? what i'm eating' iykyk

CONNECTIONS

she needs mom-friends clearly

people she met on her travels years ago made an impression and disappeared into the night like a figment of their imagination and then suddenly she's in their building kicking the vending machine

weed-buddies

exes

i'm bad at this i'll come up with more, eventually.

basic information:

full name: robyn evangelista "bobbie" summers

nickname(s): bobbie, bobberino, bob-cat, bambi

age: 32

date of birth: november 28th

place of birth: san francisco

nationality: american

gender: cis woman

pronouns: she/her

orientation:  bisexual

language(s) spoken: english, bad spanish, bad mandarin

accent: basic californian accent

family ties:

mother: courtney summers ( estranged )

father: gill summers

siblings: none

spouse / partner: none

children: none

pets: groot, her pet rock