#echoes of aphelion

[rhube]

OH MY GOD. The Weather in Night Vale is gonna be by my awesome friend on 1 April!

This is so cool??

And fitting. Echoes of Aphelion is awesome.

I suggested she submit a while back and didn't even realise that she had!

You can hear her work on Soundcloud:

Bandcamp:

Or Spotify:

[notashrew]

Everyone's kind, nobody minds Helping you die 'cos you didn't leave before the sun went down

[asarilampshade]

I love the voices, especially with the chorus. It also feels very Halloween-y?

[turbofanatic]

Got some questions on what the rest of Fierce Deity Link looks like in this AU (Yes I have another AU after Lunk, I'm indulging myself as I try to finish Aphelion sorry not sorry) so here you go! One cranky deity.

This is just my own thoughts feel free to disagree. I've forgotten a lot from the games!

I think the fierce deity is something akin to the Windfish in Link's Awakening. Both Termina and Koholint are sort of weird echoes of other worlds with questionable reality (unlike say, Lorule where multiple people can travel back and forth). In Link's Awakening, this is because it's all a dream of the Windfish and you have to wake it up/let it hatch. Despite being attacked by nightmares, Koholint is a beautiful place, leading to the horrible truth that you're going to maybe kill all those nice people you met as you awaken the Windfish.

Termina on the other hand, is entirely nightmarish. Everyone watches their death arrive over and over again. Something terrible happened in Ikana. Whatever the hell is dreaming or hatching here, it is screaming in pain.

The only way to get the fierce deity mask is to become part of this dying world. You have to help everyone and get each mask, becoming part of Termina. It's all futile in three days but some parts of it carry over, even if only in the masks you carry. How do you get the other transformation masks? You sooth the dead and dying and they give you their power. Link has soothed the broken down world of Termina and become part of it. Then he gets its mask.

Add in that fierce deities/wrathful deities in Buddhism are terrifying but compassionate protectors that destroy obstacles to enlightenment, and that there seems to be a theme of growing up (your enemy is an evil child and the fierce deity is literally a reskin of "adult" link) and I think this is Termina growing up and dispelling the illusions it was making for itself, much like the Windfish was waking up. But unlike Link in Link's awakening, Link in Majora's Mask became part of that world, and maybe it was so broken it needed him, so when he eventually leaves he carries it with him.

So in keeping with that theme, and the themes of the Hero of Time starting off as a green plant child that becomes sort of this ancient deathly monster, growth and death, living and dying, here's my AU version.

I tried to maintain the spirit of this interpretation while adding some of my own flair. Not sure if it worked, but I do love characters with absurd swords so it was fun.

It starts off as the gawky teen version because that’s how link saw himself as an adult, but it would mature with him, as he actually reaches adulthood. Its relationship with the hero’s shade being the subject of another post.

[toboldlywrite]

I feel like I did this before a while ago but here goes again...

[snowe-zolynn-rogers]

Relationships: None

Word Count: 1,345

Summary: Lord Lunar gets kidnapped and Servant Eclipse realizes he does, actually, care about his brother.

Warnings: Kidnapping, Chronic Pain, Broken Bones, Mental Breakdown, Panic Attack, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, let me know if I should add anything else.

Notes: @madcatdaderpydrawer-blog made me do it. They invoked the writing Gollum.

That’s MINE!

Now that Lunar was meditating, Eclipse sighed, letting up on the facade. Pretending was difficult, especially calling that little runt his ‘Master’, but it ensured his survival and that Lunar wouldn’t simply kill him.

He sat down, standing at Lunar’s aid constantly made his back ache and throb with overuse. His knees creaked by now like some old man when he did so and his hip joints popped to release pressure now that they were relaxing.

God, he was turning into an old man. Has this millennia truly changed him this much into a fragile old animatronic? Or had it been the star having effects on him? He had been close when the star summoned the Wither Storm. Maybe the Wither Storm had effect on him.

Amidst his own struggles, Eclipse let his careful guard fall. He didn’t know someone was there until he heard Lunar scream. He was up as quickly as he could get himself moving, nearly tripping over himself to get there and collapsing at the door as he opened it.

His Lord was held by his throat at the hands of another Eclipse, a far darker one. One who was in a more robotic body. The one little Gregory had described vaguely. And now he had his Lunar by the neck.

“Tell him goodbye, Lunar.” The double taunted.

“Never.” Lunar growled. The other Eclipse pulled Lunar by his neck and shoved his faceplate to look at Eclipse.

“Say it!” He demanded.

“Guard the dimension, Apollo.” He knew that. He knew that fake name. Apollo was a fake name, the entire sentence was fake. It was a code Lunar had drilled into his fake non-sentience as a code for danger and to go with the situation. It brought him as much rage as having it drilled into him had been.

But the Eclipse dragged off his Lunar before he could stop them. He looked to the star his Lord left behind. It was his only chance. He needed his Lord back. He grabbed the star and felt it burn. Their star was unstable after the Wither Storm, painful to use for anyone but Lunar. It was a miracle it hadn’t wiped him last time.

With a painful flash and much more screaming at the pain of it, Eclipse stood glowing, gasping at the sudden lack of pain and his body was piloting itself without him. He moved his hand to open a portal and saw a ball pit as he stepped through, an unfamiliar environment where the double was holding tight to his little brother’s neck and two other animatronics were surrounding them.

Eclipse pushed past the other two animatronics and grabbed the other Eclipse’s wrist, squeezing tightly and hearing it snap and break. The scream he gave was gratifying and annoying at the same time.

“Don’t touch my brother!” Eclipse heard his voice as a thousand echoes, the power of the star, he as the star.

“Aph!” Lunar held his arm, his given name, Aphelion, a tell to get him calm.

“And what will you do!?” The other Eclipse screamed. Aphelion grabbed the Eclipse by the neck.

“I will rip every circuit you have and wipe you from existence. Every backup. Every code. Every line. And I will make it hurt every single step of the way.”

“You don’t have the guts. If I wouldn’t, you wouldn’t.”

“You miscalculated. I love my brother and you hurt him, you scared him. Feel that burn? That’s all your backups deleting themselves.” Aphelion growled in his face. The other was cringing with pain now, which slowly descended into him nearly crying and choking his pain back with the burn.

“Apologize and I stop.” He directed the other Eclipse’s face to Lunar and, eventually the burning of the deletion got to hurt too much, outrightly crying and nearly screaming from the pain in his processors.

“I’m sorry!” The other broke with practically a scream. Aphelion halted the deletion and smiled.

“Do you accept, Peri?” Aphelion asked. That cutesy little nickname his Lunar gave himself so long ago of that long ago renaming to Perihelion. It calmed his brother greatly to hear such an endearment, he could see the tension melt from his stressed form.

“I do, thank you, Aphy.” Perihelion thanked him.

“You may live. But you will never hurt my brother again.” Aphelion growled as he dropped the other and Eclipse simply crumpled to the ground, shaking.

“Thank you. Thank you.” In all honesty, it felt empty to see this Eclipse practically praying his thanks at his feet. He thought it would give him such wonderful joy but it just felt…empty.

“Get up, wipe your face.” He directed him and he did so, his hands wiping the oily tears off his face from the pain of the backup deletion and the fear he’d induced. He was shaking and still hiccuping, like he wasn’t able to use his artificial lungs.

“Deep breath.” He instructed.

“I can’t. I can’t breathe.” So he was having a panic attack. He himself had had them before, still had them even. It seemed he’d finally broken past the facade this Eclipse put up and finally cracked him enough to make him show an emotion like his brother had long ago.

“Come here.” He pulled him into his own shoulder and felt him grasp on tightly with those claws of his digging into his casing, making scratches he could fix later. The sob he let out was a bit startling but he rubbed his back regardless.

“You’re safe, you did exactly as I asked. You’re safe now, you’re loved.” The same assurances he’d given himself after his own last panic attack. And they worked wonders upon this Eclipse, settling him and the touch let him relax in his arms.

“Okay, what happened here?” A solar model asked.

“You look pretty neat!” The lunar model exclaimed at Lunar.

“Thank you. Your Eclipse attempted to kidnap me. From what it seems like, my brother touched my Star again to try to save me and now he is my Star. Also your Eclipse had a panic attack like my brother has sometimes.” Perihelion told them.

“Are you okay, brother?” Aphelion asked.

“I’m okay, just a little startled.” Perihelion assured him.

“What’s your names, probably Lunar and Eclipse?” The solar model asked.

“When we travel, which isn’t often, my name is Perihelion, or Peri, and his is Aphelion, or Aph.” Lunar explained.

“Well, we’re Sun and Moon. We’re sorry for what happened with our Eclipse. He has been going completely rogue lately now that he has our universe’s star.” Sun explained.

“I wouldn’t worry about him anymore. If there’s one thing Aph can deal with well, it’s Eclipses. He broke the shell, I doubt he’ll be an issue anymore. If you want, we can take him with us when we leave. Give you a break for a bit to fix everything.” Peri offered.

“Thank you. When will you leave?” Sun asked.

“Given my brother looks tired, probably after he rests. He’s our way back after all.” Peri gestured to Aph, who did indeed feel a bit tired and he assumed his dimming glow was a tell now.

“Stay as long as you want.” Sun offered.

“Thank you. You’re kind. If you ever want to visit us, the door will always be open.“ Peri assured Sun.

“Family cuddles?” Moon asked.

“Only if they want to. Go ahead and ask, Moon.” Sun told his brother.

“Can we cuddle!?” Moon excitedly asked.

“Of course. Cuddles must be better with more than two people.” Peri smiled, coming to hold Aph’s hand to lead him after Sun and Moon, leading them to a bed they could rest in with their Eclipse in his arm still, nearly asleep against him from his sudden emotional outburst.

The bed felt almost heavenly under him as did the bodies against him, Eclipse buried in his arms and Perihelion against Eclipse’s back Aph’s arm around the both of them. Sun and Moon were on either side of them, everyone going into rest mode or recharging.

[wt-nv-quotes]

You ran out of gas on the edge of town/ Everyone's kind, nobody minds helping you die

[rebelpeas]

be the sun as my witness

a dungeons & dragons au told through loosely connected oneshots! updates slowly but surely.

better prophets - crimeboys, before. 1.2k

an echoing hymn - quackity, a heart with teeth, and the desire to be chosen. 3.6k

lonely cassiopeia learns to cry - tubbo (aphelion, chosen) studies the stars. 1.5k

[weepylucifer]

got tagged by @yellow-yarrow for the url music game!! okay here we go

W - What Difference Does It Make? by the Smiths

E - End of All Hope by Nightwish

E - Everybody Walkin' This Land by Paul Cauthen

P - Peculiar Little Town by Echoes of Aphelion

Y - Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of Your Fist by Ramshackle Glory

L - Loaded Gun by Gloryhound

U - Undercover Martyn by Two Door Cinema Club

C - Common People by Pulp

I - I Melt With You by Modern English

F - First Things First by Neon Trees

E - Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Should'nt've?) by Buzzcocks

R - Robert Frost by Mal Blum

i never claimed to have GOOD music taste! anyway i tag whoever's feelin like it

[carlatsukinamistolemyhamsandwich]

Sakamaki Brothers Eyeshadow Palettes

I had a go at designing some eyeshadow palettes themed around the Sakamaki brothers using the Lethal Cosmetics palette designer.

Tsukinami + Kino version

Ayato

Shades: Idol, Euphoria, Frantic, Cryptic, Moonbeam, Willow, Void, Nebula, Event Horizon

Link

Kanato

Shades: Wisteria, Altitude, Descent, Midway, Frequency, Deceit, Ephemeral, Equinox, Eclipse

Link

Laito

Shades: Moonbeam, Imago, Corrosion, Astral, Coven, Inertia, Replica, Nebula, Aether

Link

Shuu

Shades: Symbiosis, Cycle, Daybreak, Serene, Helios, Nocturnal, Outrun, Surge, Ditzy Thunder

Link

Reiji

Shades: Surge, Cascade, Onset, Nightlong, Arsenic, Deceit, Rocket Fuel, Circadian, Stargaze

Link

Subaru

Shades: Aphelion, Frequency, Mercredi, Numb, Echo, Trespass, Transmutation, Cascade, Moonbeam

Link 

[podcastdyke]

Rules: pick a song for each letter of your url and tag that many people. I was tagged by by @minncoe!! thank you!!!!

P eculiar little town - Echoes of Aphelion

O len kommunisti - Agit Prop

D ancing in the Dark - Bruce Springsteen

C loser - The Tiny

A lice - The Mechanisms

S trawberry Blonde - Mitski

T ennesee Waltz - Patti Page

D ance Music - The Mountain Goats

Y dintyttö - Teini-pää

K now Your Enemy - Green Day

E leanor Rigby - The Beatles

That's 11 letters!! So here are 11 people!!

@chekhovs-harpoon @ruskalehto @podcastlesbian @kuuttituutti @peachfolk @colonelkepler @poedivameron @pebabmey @codenamemaximus @frmulcahy @nowendil

[themetropolisborough]

i’m thinking headcanons about how The Metropolis chugs along because it’s basically this corporate conglomerate where everything’s super congested and there are too many things to go see/do than work allows so the memes have GOT to be hits:

• surveillance state agent jokes (“...” “Stop staring at me, Risingsmoke.” “How do you know I’m not an agent sent from The Administration sent to observe you?” “Because, if you were, I think they should give you the pink slip because you totally fell asleep on our last three shifts.” “Or I wanted you to think I was asleep. Didn’t think about that, huh?” “I wish Cheesecake still worked here.”)

• catfolk doing the hand gesture for I’m Keeping My Eye On You as a greeting for the start of a shared shift/goodbye at the end of a shared shift instead of a handshake because it’s faster OR for when you see your coworker outside of work and it’s too late now to pretend you didn’t because you’ve made eye contact

• work is the answer to any question you don’t know (“Hi, Echo! Sorry to bother ya, I know you’re wrapping up that quarterly report. But do you know where Python is?” Lavendar looks nonchalantly towarda the horizon of skyscrapers outside their office window, pausing to seemingly take in the view before shrugging. “Work, probably.”)

• messenger birds who also deliver emails. so, an entire flock at someone’s office? That’s Not Good

• jokingly debating what their currency will be called once they’re on the same level as Sol and Luna (“Starstone?” “Polisstone, investing on the groundfloor.” “For the last time, Garnish, no cat would vote for the second-half of the word Metropolis.” “Solstone, Sunstone. Lunastone, Moonstone. Metrostone, Citystone?” “Listen to you Chatty Catties, bickering over what should be an obvious answer!” “Oh yeah? And what are you vouching for, Rabbitfoot?” “Skystone. After our, you know, skyscrapers. A prominent architectural marvel we’re known for in all of Mewmoia.” “Huh.” “Sunstone, Moonstone, Skystone. Yeah, it works.” “I don’t know. Doesn’t hold a fruit basket to Polisstone.” “Garnish!”)

• catfolk sending pictures of near-workplace hazards in their group chats trying to one-up each other followed by all the cats searching for whatever The Metro equivalent of OSHA is for which violation code it is

• ridiculous, no-one-would-say-this/please-tell-me-no-one-would-say-this responses from workplace ettiquette and Borough-sensitivity training videos being quoted without missing a beat between coworkers (“hey. hey, Aphelion.” “hm?” “‘I am from Zenith and I am requesting time-off for the annual Festival of th—’” “‘A. I shout: No, I will not take your shift. Should’ve foretold that before you came to me, Cliff Climber!’” “Oh, Eye in the Sky, that one still cracks me up. Do you actually think they think we Zenith-born cats would talk like this?” “The real question is do you think they think we’d find an activity only a handful of us participate in used as an adjective as offensive.” “Beats me.” “They really got to update this thing.” “Yeah, I’ll bet Sunstones that it’s been around since the inception of Sunstones.”)

• something something “Overheard” accounts where the anonymity of a conversation is rendered moot because some cat just aired out how you’d tell off customers who are still perusing the Luna silk garment section past the last closing call

• the latest PSAs from The Administration are immediately edited as the bass drop at parties

• the saying “an eye for an eye” exists but it’s used to remark on a new business deal or exhcnage being struck successfully (“So, what do you say, Felidae? Do we have ourselves a deal?” “An eye for an eye, Opal Gleam.” “Wonderful! This merge will make us both very, very satisfied.” “You won’t regret this.” “I know I won’t.”)

• and this:

[xmystophalesx]

This was a lot more difficult than I thought it would be, but that just speaks to how insanely strong the Heavy Metal genre as a whole is. Everything can be found on the playlist below if you want to check it out yourself.

The Metal Bulldog Top 30 Albums of the Year for 2022

1. Kvaen-The Great Below

2. Stormruler-Sacred Rites & Black Magick

3. The Halo Effect-Days of the Lost

4. In Aphelion-Moribund

5. Saidan-Onryo II:Her Spirit Awakens

6. Brymir-Voices in the Sky

7. Blind Guardian-The God Machine

8. The Mist From The Mountains-Monumental:The Temple of Twilight

9. Amorphis-Halo

10. Tomarum-Ash in Realms of Stone Icons

11. Disillusion-Adam

12. Morbikon-Ov Mournful Twilight

13. Stratovarius-Survive

14. Blackbraid-Blackbraid I

15. Fellowship-The Saberlight Chronicles

16. Municipal Waste-Electrified Brain

17. Korrosive-Toxic Apokalypse

18. Gaerea-Mirage

19. Heart Attack-Negative Sun

20. Crisix-Full HD

21. Destruction-Diabolical

22. Bastard-Rotten Blood

23. Allegaeon-Damnum

24. Venator-Echoes From the Gutter

25. Manegarm-Ynglingaattens Ode

26. White Ward-False Light

27. Sigh-Shiki

28. Battlegrave-Cavernous Depths

29. Saor-Origins

30. Hypermass-Empyrean

Honorable Mentions

Thormesis-If Mania Never Ends

Livewire-Under Attack!

Midnight-Let There Be Witcher

Power Paladin-With the Magic of Winfdfyre Steel

Maule-Maule

Celeste-Assassine(s)

Hath-All that was Promised

Agathodaimon-The Seven

Perpetual Night-Aconitum

Wolfheart-King of the North

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5P5T4b1k3ca0oQdQVR7Bvs?si=2uH0B9fgQwONBw-_28seBQ

[seaswalllow]

“Did you just bite me?!”

Clypeus twists, slitted eyes wide with outrage, and Solus beams from inches away where he’s draped himself over the Wolf witcher’s shoulders.

It’s a good day, really. Their contract was as straightforward as it goes- drowners were relatively simple jobs, and the town had paid them fairly. They’d even been offered room and board, and wasn’t that a pretty change from being run out with barely a copper of compensation. When the Aphelions claimed the law of hospitality for their domains, they did not fuck around. So maybe, he was giddy, slinging himself over all of his companions and nearly bursting with glee. And maybe, he was feeling rambunctious, today.

He did forget that Cly wasn’t used to his rather nippy habits. (He’ll get used to it, he reasoned, and promptly ignored any common sense that had pointed out how prickly he got. He sang for coin, for Melitele’s sake- biting was hardly the strangest thing about him.)

Wriggling a little with joy from where he’s making himself a cheerful nuisance to Cly, he is rewarded promptly with a snarl that tastes more of confusion than irritation.

“And what if I did?”

Cly falls silent and he represses another hum of glee, instead settling down. He’s not moving anytime soon, and he can’t even see where he’d nipped at Cly- witcher healing was as much a curse as it was a blessing, he’s heard. He’s not as wild about the aspect of marking someone, but it’s the bane of Mori’s existence.

“Why the fuck would you bite me?”

Sol shrugs eloquently, and sags a little harder against Cly. He grumbles in protest but doesn’t actually move, so: he’s learning! He’s adapting!

“Does it bother you?”

“I’m not your chewtoy,” Cly says, which isn’t actually a no. Kinder witchers have maintained more distance; trusting Cats around your throat was about as good an idea as trusting a Viper with your back, and here Clypeus was, doing both with a lot of complaining and without meaning any of it and smelling rather content indeed. Which is good, because Solus rather likes this Wolf indeed, and it all works out so very neatly as it never does.

“You’re a very cute chewtoy,” he offers, and hums smugly as Cly heaves a long-suffering sigh that shakes the both of them.

“And you’re a hazard,” Cly says dryly. “Come here.”

Clypeus twists, and Sol squeaks a little as he’s pulled into Cly’s lap. Menace, his fucking Wolf is, at the most surprising times. He wouldn’t have it any other way, he reasons, and squirms until he’s repositioned himself most comfortably, slotting himself under Cly’s chin. The fire’s still burning strong yet, as he watches it through slitted eyes, and they won’t have to hunt for another hour. So he lets his eyes slide shut and a gentle rumble echo through the both of them, Cly curled around him.

[egotisticle]

@fearlesscxptain​​: ☽ = wandering alone at night .( or : ✮ = stargazing . ) [ hello! ]

♚ --------------------  [ SYMBOL PROMPT.TXT DOES NOT EXIST ] 

     AFTER  a rich profusion of cosmic horror and astronomical anomalies, a lungful of fresh air must have felt like a blessing. gone was the  urgency  of automated emergency responses and the need to remain resilient in the face of adversity; only a  blue velvet  sky laden with stars and the  tranquility  of nature awaited the human on the endless trail ahead. the captain had been freed from the  shackles  of the space vessel, liberated from  culpability  and the  burden  of choice. a respite from the crew members hadn’t been spoken from the other’s lips but such was the nature of a gift. they were at  aphelion  --- the  furthest  point away from all else, the  furthest  point away from reality’s reach.

                          YOU DON’T RECOGNIZE THIS PLACE, NOT YET.

     a wrinkled piece of paper on the ground had attracted the captain’s notice but as the flashlight steadied on the image and a closer look was taken, the picture  abruptly  obfuscated with a  cacophonous  crackle. surroundings stuttered with the unreliability of an aged television and both items were inexplicably  confiscated  without a trace, leaving the captain with only empty air and a  muddled  feeling that neither were meant to exist at all. an adjustment had been made to the ongoing narrative and the location underwent its apposite alteration.

     from between the pine trees did  viscous  shadows crawl closer, kowtowing to an unseen force yet acquiescent to the dirt path’s boundaries. the darkness  pooled  around the human’s position with healthy curiosity but didn’t dare venture closer, not when the rolling breeze carried the echoes of their overseer’s footsteps and  revelatory  ringing became more discernible within the forest’s soundscape. although unseen down the lengthy trail, the source of the noise seemed to draw closer with every passing minute.  nearer  and  nearer  did it sound until the wind felt more like a phantom breath on the captain’s cheek. rustling leaves quieted down and the idle stirring of  nocturnal  animals followed suit. all became impossibly still and after an extended moment passed, the white noise released a humanlike sigh ---- one soon to be joined by a  deeper  voice, one that paved the way for a revelation.

                                                            the captain was no longer alone.

     ❝ ‘ non est ad astra mollis e terris via ’ ❞  words were spoken to the stars above with the  worldly  erudition of a scholar, unblinking stare admiring the evening sky and its constellations before lowering to meet the human’s.  black hole  eyes seized dark blue and a faint smile pulled at the entity’s lips. the quote had been chosen specifically for the captain and after its translation was provided, the being’s rationale became  clear.  ❝  ‘ there is no easy way from the earth to the stars. ’ ❞

     an upturned hand silently invited the captain to walk alongside him as oxfords eased into a  measured  gait, strolling side by side while the human remained on the trail and the entity resided at its edge. from their sublunary vantage point could they safely admire the celestial bodies and constellations, untouched from temporal  abrasions  and induced madness. to some, the view might have been considered  mundane  but to others, ordinariness was a rare commodity. normality had its  value,  particularly to those who had become too closely acquainted with abnormality.      

     ❝  after being pulled in so many different directions, i don’t expect that you’ve had much time to admire the stars. did you  revel in their beauty when you first boarded the ship ?  do you even  remember  what that felt like ? ❞  a hymn of static distantly stirred with the entity’s sigh, expelled in a single harmonized note as the question was held suspended in the air,  ❝ that blissful state of ignorance ---- it didn’t last very long, did it ? if only you knew what awaited you back then.  ❞

     a  layered  laugh cascaded throughout the forest even though the suited being made no such sound, mirthless and hollow as it too assimilated into the white noise and was drowned out. the feigned amusement didn’t sound overly  cruel, merely shrewd ---- the sign of a private joke not yet shared; nonetheless, eye contact and the persistent halved smile ensured that the captain felt involved throughout the conversation.

                        YOU  STILL  DON’T  RECOGNIZE  THIS  PLACE.

    ❝ you won’t experience  exactly  the same feeling here but comparatively, it’s the  closest  you’ll come to reliving that moment. you’re off the edge of the map. you’re  safe  here. enjoy it, take a breath. you may never get another opportunity like this again. ❞