#from one goddess tied in a tale to another

[forbidden-sunlight]

yandere!poseidon headcanons with fem!kokushibo!reader

warning: obsessive behavior, violence, spoilers from manga/anime. Please take caution when reading the content.

Credit for this piece goes to @recreationalfanfics and their phenomenal works, specifically this one. I would like to specially thank my friend @nixes-noxes for helping me fine-tune this script to its fullest potential.

The intention of this story is for entertainment purposes only. The behavior exhibited here is inappropriate and unhealthy, hence it should not be encouraged. There are also triggers, so please take caution. You are responsible for your Internet consumption!

A demon was born from the malice of mankind. That is the story that humans and gods believe…but that is not the truth in your case.

 Fearing death, you willingly drank Muzan Kibitsuji’s blood and became the first Upper Moon. One of Twelve Kizuki to serve him and provide aid in his quest to obtain a solution to walk in the sunlight. You had died by the hands of your descendant and his fellow Demon Slayers, unsatisfied with the life you had lived as an abomination. In the end, you could not attain the innate talent your little brother possessed.

Because you were a creature classified as ‘evil’, you were confined to the depths of Helheim as punishment to suffer for all eternity. Not wanting to perish for a second time, you sliced down  enemies and cultivated your Moon Breathing Style in the hellish landscape before you were suddenly plucked out of that place, coming face-to-face with your new master: the Valkyrie called Brunhilde. 

Apparently, she had intended to call out another champion to fight against the gods in a tournament known as Ragnarok, but for some unknown reason you were whisked here by her summons. Seeing this ‘accident’ as an opportunity, you laid out your sword and offered your loyalty to her. Yes you were a demon, but you had been loyal to Muzan until your dying breath. Being the servant to a demigod would not be any different, minus facing the antagonization of both human and gods alike for just being by her side. 

It was better than returning to Helheim, anyway. The water did not scorch your skin and the high quality tea leaves were exceptional. 

The smallest pleasures in life made a difference…but does that include being on the roster to fight against the infamous tyrant of the divine waters,  Poseidon? Probably not. 

Yandere!Poseidon

This is a god who is the physical embodiment of perfection. He is a king who has no need to be supported by individuals who are beneath him in the hierarchy of all life. Furthermore, he was not pleased when his little brother had added him as a contender in this childish tournament without his consent. Why stall the inevitable fate of humanity with Ragnarok? It’s honestly a waste of time for him. 

There has never been an opponent who did not quiver at the sight of his trident nor survived to tell the tale. So why should he even bother to give any effort in this fight? His opponent was a demon. It is only natural that a demon would be stomped down by someone like himself, even if it is a female one with a slightly impressive physique and once bore the moniker ‘Moon Hashira’. 

Untamed [Hair Color] tresses held together in a ponytail that reached to her waist. [Favorite Color] nagagi-kimono and black umanori-styled pants tied with a white obi. [Eye Color] irises and red sclera with words written on them. 

The only reason he even recognized the clothing is because Aphrodite whined about the ‘poor fashion’ taste of Brunhilde’s new ‘pet’...but did she honestly expect anything more from a demon? 

No, but she enjoyed hearing the others praise her intellect and how no one could ever hold a candle to the beauty of the lusty goddess. A hypocrite by any other name. She and Ares had another falling out, again. 

Still it would not bother the gods nor himself by allowing his opponent to try and land a hit on him before killing the unfortunate abomination. The effort of an ant trying to avoid being crushed by a boot is always…adorable. 

This act of ‘kindness’ towards the Moon Hashira led Poseidon into a match that has lasted longer than the previous Ragnarok bouts. She did not hesitate to use the water surrounding the arena to create a heavy mist that acted as a smokescreen before attacking from behind with her sword. She slashed his calves and right forearm, then jammed her sword that is made from her own flesh and blood into his stomach. She was going to kill him. She would do whatever it took to win the fight.  

This revelation enraged Poseidon. How dare a demon think that she can kill a god? Blasphemy! HE IS A GOD, HE IS PERFECTION. ANYONE WHO DISAGREES HIM DESERVES TO DIE. 

And yet he still found himself kneeling on the circular platform, leaning heavily against his trident with the bloodied edge of her sword pressed against the side of his neck. If it isn’t the reversal of positions that bothered him the most, it was the look of indifference dancing in the Moon Hashira’s eyes. As if he was the one being a nuisance and not the other way around. 

Suddenly, she withdrew her sword and sheathed it. “I will not kill you.” She said, “A hierarchy exists to keep the balance between those who sit at the top of the food chain and those who are barely scraping by. Those who upset the balance must be punished accordingly. I am a demon, so I should die by the hands of a god…but I will not allow myself to die by someone who does not respect my master. That is…embarrassing. So take this loss as an act of kindness from me. The humiliation of being defeated by someone such as myself is more than adequate punishment.” 

Turning her back to him, she stepped onto the boat that was tied to a stone pillar and drifted back to the human’s side of the arena. Poseidon also retreated, refusing Ares’ offers to escort him to the medical wing and swiftly returning to his palace beneath the ocean floor. He ignored Proteus’ concerns, isolating himself in his quarters as he…unleashed his anger onto the furniture. They could be easily replaced…but his defeat cannot be remedied just like the splintered wood, the tattered drapes, or anything he had thrown around the room. 

He has lost against an imperfect creature. Him, the one who is the most feared and blessed god in the pantheons. How could this have happened?! How?!

Though is the Moon Hashira truly an ant if she had beaten him? No. But there is no use thinking about the wretched embodiment of impurity anymore. He…has lost the match, and in the end it is just one loss for the gods. Humanity will be destroyed, and the divine waters will be restored to their glory once the vermin have been eradicated. 

Shortly after he had regained his composure, Poseidon returned to the Grecian’s private balcony to watch the other matches. As he is a god, his wounds healed within a matter of hours…so why could he have still felt the sword in his belly, twisting his insides? Why?

This might be the starting point in his descent to madness. He would remain a silent statue even in the aftermath of his adopted nephew’s death by Jack The Ripper’s hands, and Shiva’s obvious win against Raiden Taeemon while his brethren watched the events unfold in awe and anger. 

But no matter how hard he tried to dissuade thoughts about the Valkyrie’s servant, his mind always drifted back to the Moon Hashira. He silently reflected on their fight; he remembered the humiliation when she spared his life, her deadly grace as she released one form of the Moon Breathing Style, her perfection. 

[First Name] [Last Name], the Moon Hashira and a demon summoned from the depths of Helheim to save humanity….she was perfection. And Poseidon wanted her.

Knowing that the moon always gravitated towards the ocean would only feed into his delusions that it must be a sign from the Fates that this is his other half. The companion who will be by his side for all enternity. So why does she still dare to stand by Brunhilde and whisper in the demigod’s ear? Why does she converse with the samurai Kojiro, when he had no business being near her, let alone sharing a plate of Japanese snacks and tea? 

How dare she smile at the man who had killed Heracles and the traitorous Buddha? She is perfect, there is no need to waste her time teaching her breathing techniques to a brat that went toe-to-toe with Loki in the greenhouse! 

When the tyrant of the oceans witnessed [First Name] showing more emotions around the other combatants, he knows must act swiftly or else she will be snatched away by someone else who is lesser than a god of perfection such as himself, or worse be cast aside by her malicious master for the sake of humanity’s survival. 

He will make the necessary arrangements with Proteus to prepare his kingdom for the arrival of a new queen.

Bonus Content: 

The Moon Hashira is fully aware of Poseidon’s psychotic tendencies and will not make it easy for him to whisk her away like Zeus’ previous mistresses. Nor is she blindly loyal to being oblivious to Brunhilde’s scheming. 

She did not live for half of a millennia as an Upper Moon by being an idiot.

Taglist:

@rukia-writes

@recreationalfanfics

@dazailover1900

@nixes-noxes

@the-dumber-scaramouche

@onecantsimply

@yellow-snark

@radioactivesweet

[dailydemonspotlight]

Day 16 - Queen Mab

Race: Night

Alignment: Neutral

April 11th, 2024

Irish folklore is a strange rabbit hole to plunge down, filled with legendary heroes and strange villains, but the story of Cu Chulainn, the protagonist of the Ulster Cycle, is one that has always caught my interest. This story was the originator of many a trope, many a book series, and its main antagonist, the menacing Queen Medb, is an incredibly fun example of a femme fatale and a warrior queen.

Medb was the queen of the kingdom Connacht, a woman who had many lovers and was famous for her promiscuity... and trickiness. Cunning and ruthless, and with a propensity for manipulation, she served as the ultimate enemy of Chulainn, at first trying to seduce him with her daughters until eventually realizing that the plan wouldn't work, likely due to Chulainn's fealty towards his wife (or, alternatively, his asexual swag.) According to irish folklore, Medb could also be very, very similar, if not the same as Medb Lethderg, goddess of sovereignty in the irish Kingship of Tara.

Medb came to power in the story 'Cath Bóinde,' wherein she was born under the care of High King Eochaid Feidlech, a man who was purported as having killed the former king to take his place. Medb was married off to the king of Ulster, Conchobar mac Nessa, and in spite of them having a daughter, the marriage soon fell apart. They left, yet Medb held a grudge, and seeing that Eochaid had given Conchobar another one of his daughters, Medb went ballistic. She slaughtered her while still pregnant, leaving the child to be born via a medieval C-section. The king of Connacht was also desposed of around this time, and Eochid put Medb back in her rightful spot, now as Queen of Connacht.

After all of this, several marriages and kids, and a rise to power, Medb felt on top of the world. In her bloodlust with all of the power she gained, she soon grew jealous of her husband being richer than her... albeit only by one bull's price. Since the person who held onto this bull, Dáire mac Fiancha, rejected her offer, she went to take it by force, landing her in her first major conflict with the wandering teenaged warrior Cú Chulainn.

Ever since this very first conflict, their storied rivalry encompasses many a tale, eventually ending in Cú Chulainn's death, in which the warrior ties himself to a stone to keep fighting, even as his life comes to an end. I'll go more into this in the future during my Sentana/Cú Chulainn analysis, but needless to say, Medb's involvement in the Ulster Cycle makes for a fascinating deep-dive into Irish folklore.

As far as her design goes, the epithetical Warrior Queen has a rather strange appearance in the SMT series, almost appearing like a punk rocker such as a member of KISS- albeit with much more color. However, I have a personal theory as to why this may be- and it all has to do with cultural perceptions.

Queen Medb was seen as deviant, a cruel woman who rose to power with her own overwhelming strength, and while she was a bastard, a bit of the hatred felt towards her could be due to a sort of misogyny common in the middle ages. This is all purely conjecture, of course, but a controlling and domineering woman could've been something seen to be feared...

Much like how punk-rockers were seen as satanic in the 90's. During the satanic panic, a lot of people outside of regular circles were ostracized as being demonic in some way, shape, or form. Metal bands were especially targeted by this moral crusade, and it may just be where the influence for her design came from!

Past my own pet-theory, though, the rest of her design is rock-solid. A helmet-esque mask, steel breastplate, and long blade all play well into the 'Warrior Queen' quality she's well known for, and her gloves appear as snakeskin or even latex at first glance, playing into her domineering and controlling role. All in all, while Queen Mab wasn't my favorite demon at first, the research into her folklore has led me to finding an all new appreciation for the Ulster Cycle's main antagonist.

[burningvelvet]

Powerful women from the classical world + excerpt of a letter from Lord Byron to Thomas Moore describing his lover Margarita Cogni (Venice, September 19th, 1818):

“I wish you a good night, with a Venetian benediction, ‘Benedetto te, e la terra che ti fara!’ — ‘May you be blessed, and the earth which you will make!’ — is it not pretty? You would think it still prettier if you had heard it, as I did two hours ago, from the lips of a Venetian girl, with large black eyes, a face like Faustina’s, and the figure of a Juno — tall and energetic as a Pythoness, with eyes flashing, and her dark hair streaming in the moonlight — one of those women who may be made any thing. I am sure if I put a poniard into the hand of this one, she would plunge it where I told her, — and into me, if I offended her. I like this kind of animal, and am sure that I should have preferred Medea to any woman that ever breathed.”

The mythical and historical allusions:

In Roman myth, Juno was Queen of the Gods as well as a military figure often depicted armed. In Greek myth, Medea was a sorceress who gets revenge against her unfaithful husband through murdering their children and his lover. Although “Pythoness” could refer to demonic witches in other uses, Byron is using it here as another name for Pythia or the Oracle of Delphi, a divine priestess and the most powerful female office in the ancient world.

Faustina is either a reference to the Younger or the Elder. Faustina the Younger was the wife of Marcus Aurelius; he revered her so much that he gave her enormous power, although later historians (probably falsely) accused her of being a murderer and adulteress. Faustina the Elder was the adoptive mother of Marcus Aurelius and was one of the most beloved Roman women in history, whose coinage often features Juno.

Byron's life and writing in context:

When he was living abroad in self-exile, Byron often sought to entertain his friends back home by sharing his adventures in lurid detail. His vivid letters became well-read throughout the 1800s, and are considered some of his best writing. Travel writing and adventure stories were extremely popular in the 19th century, and even most of Byron’s fiction champions these themes. Living abroad and traveling became marketable parts of Byron's celebrity. He blended his own experiences into his work, and chief among these were his romantic experiences.

Shelley once compared Byron to the Greek myth of Circe when writing in a letter about Byron's excessive amount of pets. Circe was known for seducing men and turning them into animals who roamed around her palace. Like a witch or an alchemist, Byron frequently transformed his lovers into characters through his writing. Like countless others, Margarita Cogni was mythically immortalized through the writer's description of her. She and Byron's other Venetian lovers have become part of the wider Romantic era mythology tradition, like the constantly retold tales of Mary Shelley's invention of Frankenstein, Percy Shelley's drowning, and John Keats' love for Fanny Brawne.

By using references to classical women in this letter Byron is not only paying tribute to mythology, history, and the Italian landscape in a way that his foreign audience would find tantalizing, but he is also exploring romanticized notions of classical female beauty which are at turns conventional and unconventional. He channels the gothic sublime through the otherworldly power and danger these women all represent, as well as channeling more traditional concepts of feminine strength rooted in modesty, beauty, and passivity. Byron creates poetic contradictions.

Just as he famously describes himself as “changeable, being everything by turns and nothing long,” he utilizes paradox and inconstance in his writing, such as in this satirical formulation of Margarita Cogni as the ideal lover who is both Goddess and woman, mistress and slave, contemporary and classical, masculine and feminine, wife and adulteress, murderess and murdered.

One can clearly see how this is the same chameolonic, binary-blurring poet who would go on to write the gender-bending themes of Don Juan — “If people contradict themselves, can I / Help contradicting them, and every body, / Even my veracious self?” — and who years beforehand had written She Walks in Beauty — where “all that’s best of dark and bright / Meet in her aspect and her eyes.”

[mask131]

The myth of Dionysos (4)

The Dictionary of literary myths does not have just one article about Dionysos… But two! And since I translated the first, let’s journey through the second: it is titled “Dionysos: The evolution of the literary myth”, and it was written by Ann-Déborah Lévy-Bertherat.

According to the imagery of the Ancient Greeks, Dionysos is supposed to be a young god – he is often depicted as a teenager, sometimes even as a child. This perhaps explains why his Greek name was thought to be the counterpart of the Phrygian “Dioskouros”, “the boy of Zeus”. However, it seems more plausible to link Dionysos’ name to Nysa, both nurse and homeland of the god. But no matter which of these explanations is right: both highlight and insist on a foreign origin for the god. A foreign origin that we know to be purely mythical rather than historical – indeed, the Mycenaean texts proved that the cult of Dionysos was implanted in Greece since a very, very old time, and was not a “recent importation” as classical Greeks believed. But then, why make Dionysos a “foreign god”? Maybe because, in a symbolic way, it is important for Dionysos to be a god that “comes and goes”, a “god that arrived” – or maybe, it was a much needed element to explain his strange, bizarre and frightening character.

I/ Births and rebirths of Dionysos

Semele, a mortal woman loved by Zeus, died because of Hera’s jealousy: she asked her divine lover to appear before her in all of his glory, but this resulted in her death struck by his lightning. Removing the child she was bearing in her womb, Zeus placed the unborn into his own thigh, where the baby completed his growth. As such, Dionysos knew a double-birth, and his cult was deeply marked by this. One of the Dionysiac rites is the ritual of the liknites (child in crib) – where a child has to disappear and be searched by women in vain, for he will only reappear one year later.

The Passion of Dionysos: The myths of Dionysos’ childhoods and wanderings depict him as a persecuted god. One time he is dismembered, boiled and devoured by the Titans before being resurrected by Demeter. Another time Hera curses with madness Semele’s sister, Ino, first nurse of the god. In a third tale pirates kidnap the child to sell him as a slave. Homer, in the Iliad, retells of how Lycurgus, armed with an axe and a desire to kill, hunted down Dionysos and his nymph-nurses – the child had to throw himself into the sea, where he was saved by Thetis. The true “passion” of Dionysos (in the Christian meaning of the term) always suffering, always dying, but always resurrecting, seems to be a symbol of the vegetal cycle. As a result, it is no coincidence that the four great holidays of Dionysos are all placed between the end of December and the beginning of April – aka, between the winter solstice and the arrival of spring.

Ivy and vine: Legends insist on the ties between Dionysos and other vegetal deities, such as Cybele or Rhea – two incarnations of the great Earth-mother, two deities that shield Dionysos from Hera’s revenge. There are the agrarian nymphs that constantly surround the god; there is his lover, Ariadne, that was originally a Minoan goddess of vegetation; and there is of course Demeter, to which he is tied through the Mysteries of Eleusis (and Pindar even goes as far as making Dionysos and Demeter a couple). Dionysos is also called Bacchus (a named which, according to Euripides, comes from “bacchos”, the “branch” the “bough”) ; he is said to be a “ploutodotes”, a “wealth-giver” ; he was believed to give strength to plants and to help them grow ; and among his numerous attributes, his most prominent ones are the ivy (of which he is crowned) and the grapevine (which he offered to the world). These two plants have always a savior role in his myths. It was said that the child Semele bore was protected from the lightning by ivy ; the pirates were frightened when ivy and vine started growing around their ship’s mast ; a nymph hunted by Lycurgus turned herself into vine to choke the murderous king… And yet, these two plants are such a contrast they can only make the god ambiguous: ivy is coldness and sterility, where the grapevine is warmth and generosity. Dionysos is almost most famed as the god of wine: it is the wine that symbolizes the presence of the gods during festivals; during the Lenaia festival (January-February) the new wine is offered to the god (symbolized as a bough-decorated mask). Dionysos “polygethes” (joyful, happy) is said, according to Euripides, to have the power to “laugh and put to sleep all our problems”.

Fertility and fecundity: This god, friend of the nymphs, who found a home with Thetis at the bottom of the sea, whose statue is ritually plunged in water at Halai, who was said to have entered Athens on a naval chariot, has too many affinities with water and humidity (an universal symbol of fertility) for his power to limit itself just to plants. Indeed, let us take a look at his cohorts and parades: w find in there donkeys, goats and bulls, usually painted in an ithyphallic position; and he is surrounded by Satyrs and Silenes whose lubricity and lust are meant to parallel the chastity of the Maenads. Dionysos himself, during the Anthesteria festival (February-march) knows a physical and sexual union with the Basilinna, and by doing so ensures one year of fecundity for all of Athens. The exaltation of fertility in Dionysos’ cult is most expressed through phallophoria – but the particularity of Dionysos is that he depicts a complete and “full” fecundity, with both its masculine and feminine attributes. Dionysos, in his myth like in his cult, is surrounded by women: Aeschylus calls him “effeminate”, explaining his youthfulness (he hasn’t grown a beard or body hair yet), and his clothes (he usually wore the women’s peplum). Some even depict him as an androgynous figure, and the ambiguity of his sex reminds the one of the hermaphrodite and their “ideal fecundity”. The French poet Baudelaire will even interpret the thyrsus, a long, leafed staff held by the followers of the god, as the union of the masculine symbol (the straight staff) and the feminine one (the curvy boughs wrapped around it). Dionysos is “polygethes” and “ploutodotes” – but reducing Dionysos to this sole role would be removing from him his “dark side”, the eviler part of his power. For Homer calls him “mainomenos”, the “demented one”. He is a god that disturbs, he is a god that break the order.

More about this next time, in “The Frenzied God”!

[fallershipping]

The Arceus Myth

Throughout the course of human history, various tales of the past were either mutated by worth of mouth or lost to time. Extinct Pokémon such as the ancestral relative lineage to Donphan and Copperajah carried on as an elusive long nose, toothed giant. Most of the Abyssal Ruins beneath Unova's waters lies remains unknown, eroding away at the bottom of the ocean floor.

The earliest human history, the dawn of man in a world dominated by nature, left behind only incomplete and broken relics. And yet, there has been one reoccurring figure on a global archaeological scale that has proven to be most enigmatic.

It has been dubbed the name given to it by the last known record of this being, during the founding of Sinnoh.

Arceus.

Many scholars still debate on what Arceus truly can be defined as. Some think it as a general human wide concept of a creator deity. Others think the being is alive, but a misinterpretation of nature's forces, such as the territorial Kyogre and Groudon species.

Perhaps, it is somewhere in the middle.

Arceus as a name is relatively unknown to the grand population, however, as most regions spur religious symbolism with the patron Apex Pokémon of that area. Draconids are tied to the species of Rayquaza, Alolan Ninetales came to be revered as lords of Ula'Ula's mountains. Even Sinnoh has a grand statue made in honor of some sort of amalgamate draconic being that governs time and space.

But all never fit the descriptions of much, much earlier human civilizations. The white beast of the eclipsing sun. The paradoxical prey forever bound to the golden serpent that constricts its abdomen. The crimson eyes of a thousand hands. The one who bears the rainbow upon its mane.

But the recent findings over this enigmatic being have not remained ignored.

A particular religious sect of the western nations had always revered a golden light; a deity who takes a patriarchal role upon the land and His followers. The god depicted is one of punishment if led astray from the holy path of purity and virtue. Thousand lights raining down from the heavens lead to the colloquial term of Judgement, or Judgement Strike, and those of sin will perish under its onslaught.

Another group of peoples to note is the pilgrimage to the once named region of Hisui, though most of this time has been left relatively unknown through various conflicting records. All where trying to connect with a deity known as 'Sinnoh,' the creator of all and the giver of the energy within Pokémon. During a harsher time, it was thought that Sinnoh's blessing would allow for Pokémon and people to finally come together as one, or that perhaps people will finally gain the power long denied from humans. This pilgrimage was overtaken and forgotten as other people began pouring into the region for industrialization and colonialist purposes. The region came to be known as Sinnoh.

There is a relatively smaller but newer community of peoples who tell the tale of a Mother Goddess, the bearer of nature. She who birthed the Pokémon into the world and asked for humans to be their caretakers. Depictions range from a woman of flowing black hair upon a golden leaf crown sits, a galloping Sawsbuck with golden leaves, an entire school of golden Magikarp, and so on. Though she bears life, death is also of great importance. The sect believes in a balance of the world that requires all things valued and all things thought destructive. This Mother is benevolent, but remains protective of nature's balance.

And finally, there is but an odd reaction to the mythos: the Aether Foundation. The company is not so subtle in the way it presents itself with ivory and golden accents. Operating from Alola, they have branches in several parts of the world where they function to care for the environment around them, and provide housing for many Pokémon and children left abandoned. The connection between Pokémon and humanity is a company standard that it wishes to employ.

The resulting Aether Foundation scandal left a clear picture to how far it took to the legend.

The secret development of the RKS System was blown wide open to the public, alongside the artificial Pokémon Silvally. Though the purpose of this creature's creation and whoever funded it [INTERPOL] remains a mystery, the inspiration is clear from the name alone. Memories of different Pokémon genetics were used to create disc drives that changed Silvally's typing, much as the legends tell for the rainbow maned beast.

A Galar based corporation took advantage of this scandal and obtained leaked information regarding Silvally's creation, founding itself as RKS Laboratories. An investigation towards illegal production of Silvally under these laboratories has lead to rumors of genetic manipulation on a larger scale, but the company heads deny of any sort of malpractice.

Regardless, Pokémon are mysterious beings that still baffle modern day science to this day, and this 'Arceus' is but yet another point of contention. Evidence does exist supporting the theory of a 'Big Bang,' or a singularity that all in the universe expanded from. Whether or not something like a Pokémon is able to create and control the very fabric of the universe is yet to be seen or studied.

A being like that would exist beyond a dimension three dimensional beings can comprehend.

And a being like that ominously forebodes that it is not alone.

[torgawl]

there's so many connections tying the moon, seelies and the jinn, but more concretely between the goddess of flowers and guizhong!!! by connections i mean they always appear associated with the moon and one another. as i was reading through the lore attempting to gather some of the moments these ties could be drawn, i ended up noticing other patterns that seemed to fit a similar narrative with other entitites as well. it quickly transformed into a post about the sun and moon symbolism in genshin. although i'm probably missing a lot of things, this is what i found while reading in-game information.

"records of the gallant"

this book is a compilation of stories and legends of many knight-errants in liyue, the second volume specifically is very obviously about guizhong. the association starts with the title “dust”, as she was the god of dust, and goes on to her description as “a maiden in a long indigo robe”, which matches perfectly her appearance. she is very often connected with the night time and the moon, and in this specific instance with seelies as well. seelies are described specifically as having had “beautiful physical forms and (…) great wisdom” in the past in the book “records of jueyun”. this book also talks about the seelie ancestor who once met a traveller from afar with whom they swore an oath of union in the presence of the three moon sisters before disaster struck and they were punished. both seelies and the moon are, throughout the game, always hand-in-hand with each other when it comes to symbolism and references and moments with guizhong like this one are no exception. i think it’s relevant to mention that at the end of the tale when this maiden disappears, the only thing left is a pile of dust mirroring guizhong’s “death”. dust in genshin can easily be tied to life (specifically as the base of all life) through albedo and rhinedottir who, consequently, are connected to khaenri’ah and the art of khemia – one of the factors behind the fall of the nation.

memory of dust

memory of dust is a stone dumbbell gifted to zhongli by guizhong and its description is about one of their conversations. guizhong standed among a field of glaze lilies, flower associated with her, as she talks about humans and compares them to dust.

this scene also includes an allusion to her death with guizhong dissolving into dust and with her, the glaze lilies disappearing.

glaze lilies are said to transform the memories of the land into its fragrance during florescence and legend has it that the flower will open at the sound of pure, beautiful music. the interesting thing about this flower is that it only blossoms during the night time, being this way indirectly connected with the moon. this excerpt or circumstances are very reminiscent to another character in this game, nabu malikata, also known as the goddess of flowers.

the goddess of flowers

the goddess of flowers is very likely to have been a survivor of the seelie race, if not the seelie ancestor herself. this was revealed through us by an aranara, arama, who said “there was once a survivor of that race seelie deep within the golden desert who was friends with queen aranyani and the ruler of valuka”. queen aranyani and the ruler of valuka are titles given to greater lord rukkedhevatta and king deshret, respectively, and, as we know, they were both really close to nabu malikata. the goddess of flowers was also said to have horns by nilou, whose head piece is inspired in this detail, and when traveler sees her in liloupar’s memories they describe her appearance as being "ineffably beautiful”, comparable to "the totality of her jinn". all these characteristics are also associated with seelies.

the “flower of paradise lost” artifact set tells a lot of the story of the goddess of flower. the flower piece tells the story of how she was cast aside by the heavens and her kinship was punished by being stripped away of their minds just like what happened to the seelies and their ancestor, confirming her identity.  

she was said to wander for a long time, her wounds gushing streams that transformed into gardens of which blue water lilies sprouted. lilies those that originated jinn, a mystical race of elemental spirits considered, just like seelies, creatures of wisdom. the goddess of flowers was also said to make purple flowers bloom wherever she stopped, more specifically padisarahs. much like glaze lilies and guizhong, padisarahs also went extinct after the goddess of flowers’ death.

nilotpala lotus

the one other flower that resembles the glaze lilies is the nilotpala lotus. they also only bloom at night and in its description, we learn of their connection to the three moon sisters.

although the moon sisters perished after the same disaster that struck the seelie ancestor and the solar chariot (that created the chasm with its fall), the flowers turned to serve a new master yet the nilotpala lotus continues to remember those happy days of the past. something interesting regarding the name niloptala is that it refers to "blue lotus" or "blue lily" and represents one of the several "attributes" or "accessories" of a deity commonly seen depicted in hindu iconography, defined according to texts dealing with arts and crafts, known as shilpa shastras. i think it’s pretty logical to parallel these flowers, that grow in the forest wetlands in sumeru, to guizhong, someone very known for her mechanisms and who is deeply tied to blue lilies.

goddess of flowers and king deshret

a long time ago, the goddess of flowers, king deshret and greater lord rukkedhevata were all very close friends who looked over sumeru (any resemblance to the liyue consortium is pure coincidence, or not). “flower of paradise lost” continues to tell the story of the gof and contains the depiction of what happened that led to king deshret obtaining forbidden knowledge. through king deshret's aspirations, she saw the possibility to transcend the absurd shackles that governed this world (heavenly principles) and so she helped him in his goal, leading to her sacrifice and consequent death. she is said to have turned into dust in the “vourukasha's glow” artifact set, once again paralleling guizhong.

she once again refers the punishment casted upon the seelie race by the heavens, warning king deshret of the consequences his actions may have. the most interesting thing to me in this passage is the fact she is depicted as being “wreathed in darkness” when guiding deshret towards discovering “all there was to know about the skies and the abyss”; this and the fact she could foresee future events. it actually makes a lot of sense as nabu (who shares a name with her) is an ancient mesopotamian god of literacy, the rational arts, scribes, and wisdom (can you see the pattern?) whose name means "enlightened" or "prophet". she reminds me a lot of sibylla, who met king remus “below the abyssal depths”. knowledge beyond what the heavens allow seems to be connected multiple times to the abyss. this comparison with sibylla gains even more strength when, in the same artifact set, she tells deshret “you seek but to chain the winds. upon the tombstone of divinity shall humanity become the god of gods”. this was also remus’ goal, something he strived for so much that he was willing to ignore prophecies of disaster as long as he could attempt to break the chains of fate.

oasis garden's mourning

this ascencion material with the image of a flower in the center tells us the goddess of flowers and king deshret built ay-khanoum together, also known as “city of the moon maidens”, for the jinn. it’s this material that tells us padisarahs went extinct after the gof’s death and that these gem discs lost their original “glad purpose”, much like what happened to the padisarahs as depicted in the artifact set mentioned earlier. yet, there’s another version of this story told in “the shepherd and the magic bottle”. in this book (told by a jinn) it’s believed that king deshret learned about the jinn's story as well as the story of the “dismal moon and the driving morning star” (likely connected to the seelie ancestor, the three moon sisters and the solar chariot) after capturing them and, afterwards, built ay-khanoum as a gift to commemorate them; in return, the jinn built the entrance to the mausoleum of king deshret. according to liloupar, deshret had deceived the jinn to gain their servitude, telling them that the goddess of flowers had not perished but was instead locked in a deep slumber in the orchard of pairidaeza (created by deshret as a cemetery for the gof), and that he could awaken her with the jinn's aid. there’s an interesting detail in “the shepherd and the magic bottle” where the jinni says that at the end of the city of the moon maiden’s play “everything was reduced to dust”.

sun and moon dichotomy

guizhong’s color is, as referenced earlier, blue like the moon. whenever there’s a deity associated with the moon or the moon-sisters (gof and guizhong) there’s also one that symbolizes the sun (deshret and zhongli), usually coming to form a duo. this traces back all the way back to the solar and moon chariot, their gods and the disaster that led to their separation. it’s interesting to note the fall of the solar chariot, as i mentioned earlier, was what led to the creation of the chasm. although according to what we have access in game the text implies this entity to be different from zhongli, there’s actually a lot of things tying him or creating that parallel between him and the sun or the sun god (who might have been a shade of phanes). we can also consider traveler and paimon as another example of this constant duality within the story, as the traveler is almost literally the morning star and paimon is symbolically connected to the moon and seelies too.

“before sun and moon”, that tells the story of enkanomiya, includes an interesting parable.

this parable clearly references the sakura tree in inazuma’s story but it also intertwines with the heavens and the entities related to the primordial one. tokoyo ookami is istaroth and she’s referred to as the king’s priest. if the king is the primordial one then it makes sense the king’s gardener would be another of the shades. it’s hard to interpret some text when everything is told in metaphors and sometimes information isn’t actually that reliable but the concept of love here reminded me of the solar and moon chariot as well as the seelie ancestor and traveler from afar from the kingdom of light (descriptions in “records of jueyun” and “the pale princess and the six pygmies”). it’s also a bit impossible to read of a tree spirit heavily linked to time and planted by the heavens and not think about irminsul. this concept of gardener or protector of the tree is also somewhat recurrent and can be linked to sibylla as well, a prophetess.

the triquetra has a lot of different meanings but it’s usually connected with three goddesses, three sun positions or three moon phases. another item that has a triquetra on it is mora, that also can be used for alchemy and transmutations. we also know mora was, at least in the beginning, created from morax’s own body so it’s interesting this symbol appears in the coins. “earth is where the alchemy gets its name” and the art of khemia (alchemy from khaenri’ah) literally meaning “art of black earth” in chinese also seem to point to a connection between the terms.

khaenri’ah connections

guizhong had a particular interest in mechanics: the guizhong ballista was one of her handiworks, built with the aid of the adepti, and she apparently collected khaenri'ah technology such as ruin machines for research. as i mentioned before in regards to her (god of dust) “death”, dust can easily be connected with both the art of khemia and concepts such as birth and life. as albedo says: “soil and chalk, the universe and earth, pure dust and the birth of human life”.

in the hidden palace of guizang formula domain, the challenge called voyage to the sanguine sky has the description: "this is the realm of clouds. guizhong, its former ruler, acquired several ancient and evil artifacts during her research into mechanics. the adepti created this realm to contain them." curiously, the fight in this domain is against two ruin guards and a ruin hunter. guizhong was presumably researching khaenri'ahn technology before she died in the archon war. considering ruin guards didn't start wondering teyvat until after the cataclysm, we can propose a question of how exactly she got them. mentioning remus again, the golems he created with the souls of his people within the golden ichor are hinted to be what referenced khaenri’ah to create ruin machines. the link between having the want to defy the heavens and the fall of nations is something we’re already aware, but the way these nations or people connect with each other is also very consistent.

“perinheri”, a book very obviously about khaenri’ah during the crimson moon dynasty, was the talk of the town for multiple reasons but one of the surprises in it was the mention to deus auri (zhongli) by angelica. her nation was defeated by deus auri but she refused to submit to the new god. the orphanage in khaenri’ah – that ties itself with the house of the hearth – seems to have collected children that could classify as descenders, looking for some sort of potential. khaenri’ah anticipated the arrival of "beings who could transcend the gods" and this seems to relate to the concept presented to us during one of sumeru’s archon quests that the traveler’s twin isn’t a descender despite traveler being considered one. it also fits rene’s description of a descender being those with “wills that can rival an entire world”. i can’t make a connection between these concepts but zhongli’s mention is definitely intriguing.  

deshret was depicted in genshin animations as an 8-pointed star and the speculated door to khaenri’ah, below sumeru, also has the same star on it. there's two stars that could be in association to this symbol, the star of lakshmi and the star of ishtar. in both cases, the 8-pointed star is associated with the goddess venus, who was worshipped as a symbol of fertility and love. the star can be seen as a representation of the eight phases of venus, which includes her appearances as the morning and evening star.

lakshmi ('she who leads to one's goal') is one of the principal goddesses in hinduism. she’s associated with maya (illusion) and along with parvati and saraswati she forms the tridevi of hindu goddesses. the tridevi are considered consorts and auxiliary deities to the more eminent masculine trimurti gods (brahma, shiva and vishnu).  saraswati is the goddess of learning, arts, and music, and the consort of brahma, the creator; lakshmi is the goddess of fortune, fertility, light, and material and spiritual fulfillment, and consort of vishnu, the preserver; and parvati is the goddess of power, war, beauty, and love. she is the consort of shiva, the destroyer of evil.

lakshmi, as his consort and divine energy, accompanied vishnu whenever he descended on earth as an avatar; she's the supreme goddess in the sect and assists vishnu to create, protect, and transform the universe. lakshami is associated with the lotus flowers, in reference to spirit liberation, and her iconography also depicts her with four hands, representing the four aspects of human life important to hindu culture: dharma (moral values), kama (pleasure), artha (prosperity), and moksha (final liberation, humanity’s ultimate goal).

the tridevi are the manifestations of mahadevi, the supreme goddess and the primordial power behind the creation of the universe (creator and destroyer). all hindu gods and goddesses are considered to be manifestations of mahadevi and she’s known by many names, some translating to ‘she who is primordial matter’, ‘the great illusion’, ‘the life force in all beings’, ‘she who is supreme knowledge’, ‘she who transcends the universe’, and ‘she who destroys’. mahadevi's is also called ‘night of death’ and ‘she who is death’, reinforcing her destructive nature.

the star of ishtar or or star of inanna is usually used in association with the heavens and is specifically connected to the planet venus. the eight-pointed star is sometimes shown alongside the crescent moon, which was the symbol of sin (god of the moon) and the rayed solar disk, which was a symbol of shamash (god of the sun). the morning star may have been conceived as a male deity who presided over the arts of war and the evening star may have been conceived as a female deity who presided over the arts of love.

inanna (or ishtar) is an ancient goddess of love, war, and fertility and her primary title was "the queen of heaven". many of her myths involve her taking over the domains of other deities. she was believed to have been given the mes, which represented all positive and negative aspects of civilization, by enki, the god of wisdom. she apparently took over the eanna temple from the god of the sky, an. alongside her twin brother utu, inanna was the enforcer of divine justice. in the standard version of the epic of gilgamesh, ishtar asks gilgamesh to become her consort. when he disdainfully refuses, she unleashes the bull of heaven, resulting in the death of gilgamesh’s friend, who has a subsequent grapple with his own mortality. inanna's most famous myth is the story of her descent into and return from the ancient mesopotamian underworld, ruled by her older sister ereshkigal. after she reaches the throne room, the seven judges of the underworld (whose function was to decree the fates of humanity) deem her guilty and strike her dead. three days later, someone pleads with all the gods to bring inanna back. all of them refuse, except enki, who sends two beings to rescue inanna. they escort inanna out of the underworld but the guardians of the underworld drag her husband down there as replacement. he is eventually permitted to return to heaven for half the year, while his sister remains in the underworld for the other half, resulting in the cycle of the seasons.

as genshin is a bit of a cocktail when it comes to mythology and any historical references, it’s hard to say if the stories of ishtar or lakshami can even be a straightforward parallel to the higher beings in genshin. but i think if there’s one thing to take from everything so far is that there’s a very meaningful recurrence of trios or the number three (e.g. triquetra, three moon sisters, evil trinity), as well as the constant appearance of sun and moon elements together and dependent of one another (either in regards to their roles or their personal connections), the sun always being the masculine and the moon always being the feminine. we know there was a time in which these elements co-existed together in heaven, although they seem to be fated/doomed to separate from one another (the tragedies referenced in this post being an example of that).

enkanomiya

there are three very interesting achievements with interesting names you get in enkanomiya. one is kairos' constancy, and is the one you get from completing time trial challenges. kairos, as we already know, is one of istaroth’s (god of time) names. this name is based on the greek god kairos, the god of moments. the other two achievements, which also have greek names, are hesperus' boons, for opening chests, and phosphoros' guidance, for following seelies. if these are names of deities with close relations to phanes or at least celestia, as it would make sense because it would follow the pattern for istaroth, then would it be that out-of-pocket to think these might be the names of the other shades or of the moon sisters? phosphorus (bearer of light, often translated as lucifer) is the god of the planet venus in its appearance as the morning star. hesperus (son of dawn), on another hand, is the evening star. (planet venus in the evening). venus, as mentioned before, relates to the eight-pointed star and we know this shape is also used as the symbol of istaroth in enkanomiya (light realm sygil).

which, by the way, are used in hilichurl camps. the hilichurl camp in front of the thousand wind temple in mondstadt was already a hint that they worshiped istaroth but i think it’s safe to say that with certainty. it’s just curious that they don’t really recognize the archons, thinking of the elements as that which is deserving of worshiping, yet recognize (at least one of) a shade of phanes. the name istaroth is derived from astaroth, one of the three demons in the "evil trinity" alongside beelzebub and lucifer, connecting istaroth and the morning star once again.

i don't plan to drag this any longer as this is already way too long but to finish it off, and summarising these ideas: i'd say the one of the biggest patterns present in the game is the constant mention of entities in heaven seemingly converging into the duality of sun and moon, the moon sisters and the sun god. i haven't properly dwelled on this to come to a any sort of definite idea but there’s too many details creating a consistent pattern for my brain to disregard these ties as non-intentional. obviously, all these characters i have mentioned throughout the post aren’t going to all be the same handful of beings, and that’s not what i’m trying to say, but i do believe the repetition of the same themes has meaning. maybe the same way mahadevi manifested herself as three other feminine gods who worked together with male deities, the heavenly principles or phanes also created the shades as a manifestation of the sun and the moon. or maybe ishtar, alongside utu as enforcers of divine justice, taking over the god of the sky's (ishtar's father) temple could mirror the twins and their journey. maybe kairos, phosphorus and hesperus are indeed the moon sisters or even shades of the primordial one. maybe guizhong isn't meant to be more than a parallel to other entities, but maybe she was truly more than what was originally presented. i don't think it's impossible that even if she isn't one of the big figures - goddess of flowers or a moon sister - that she could have originated from one or be related to one (nabu malikata having seelies as her people and jinni or khvarena as her daughters). similarly to how venti is hinted to have originated from istaroth (as he was originally "a single thread of the thousand winds", istaroth's title). or perhaps not. regardless, it’s fun to notice that many theories in the fandom sort of intertwine together to make a fuller picture based on scattered information across the game. i'm not sure if i'll go more in-depth regarding some of these "theories" as there's still a lot to expand but i hope all of this made at least a little bit of sense. thank you for reading this far!

[blackjackkent]

I was right - Hope got the whole crew in peasant gear.

I like that she made Hector and Karlach match and Jaheira and Minsc match. Very apropos. The leather vest thing that Hector and Karlach are wearing actually doesn't look half bad.

The room up ahead is the one to which Raphael brought the group when we first met him, and it's, uh, not looking so hot now.

The table is still heaped high with plates, but the food on it is spoiled and rotten, swarming with flies. Several of the chairs are broken or tipped over, and several of them hold skeletons that have clearly been here for some time.

"This place is all entrances and no exits..." mumbles a drifting spirit passing through the room.

An animated skeleton labeled "Infernal Mason" is sweeping up the floor, although I'm not sure it's having much effect.

"Another sorry soul come to wander these halls," it growls as Hector approaches. "What do you seek?"

"I need to find the Archive," Hector says carefully.

"I cannot help you," the skeleton rumbles. "This is not my home, even if I can never leave."

Hector relaxes slightly. This creature seems unthreatening, if not particularly helpful. "What ties you to the House of Hope?" he asks.

"I was an architect in life," the skeleton says with an air of regretful nostalgia. "A builder of tombs and temples, but mostly of towers. My proudest work reached for the stars and sought to dry Selune's tears. It was a monument to life and to virtue, and a happy home to my master for many years."

[SELUNE] "A life with Our Lady of Silver is a good life," Hector agrees gravely.

"It was a good life," the revenant says sadly. "I only wish our Lady had not averted her gaze from us. When tragedy came, my master fell into darkness and despair. He marshalled a great army to ruin the world and bring all into shadow. I could not let it happen."

Hector's head lifts and his eyes widen slightly. A great army...to bring all into shadow... This creature is speaking of Ketheric Thorm. Of the Moonrise Towers, those architectural wonders that became the home to abomination.

"I sought out the devil Raphael and signed an infernal pact with him," says the architect. "He promised to destroy my master's army, and I promised him my soul in return. The devil was true to his word. Fiends slaughtered my master's forces, but he endured somehow, and blighted the land..."

Hector nods slowly. Yes - he knows this tale, or of it at least. Halsin has spoken of the original battle against Ketheric a century ago, and Raphael has made reference more than once to having had a hand in the drama and misery of the shadow-cursed lands.

He glances at Jaheira, who is watching the undead creature with an intense, unblinking gaze. When she doesn't speak, he does instead, asking, "This is a familiar tale. Are you the architect of Moonrise Towers?"

"You know my work?" The architect laughs, a hacking, rasping sound. "Oh, I am glad that it endures... Perhaps you also have the misfortune of knowing my master - General Ketheric Thorm."

Hector smiles humorlessly. Yes, he knows Ketheric. He knows the terrible thing that Thorm became after this creature's actions, too. But it would ease no suffering to tell any of that, so he holds his tongue. All he says is, "Ketheric is no more. I killed him."

"Then all came to pass as I had hoped," the architect says eagerly, and Hector can see its bearing straighten with some new hope, "though a century too late for my family and friends. Your actions may have justified the price of my soul. I thank you." A slight pause, and then, "Tell me - what became of my pride? What became of Moonrise Towers?"

Hector considers his answer for a moment before answering. He dislikes deception, and yet to tell truly of the state of the Towers when he left them would be cruel, for the place was full of mutated flesh and dead bodies and blood, a blasphemy against the goddess to which it was originally raised.

"The tower still stands," he finally says slowly. "But it is a hollow place now."

The skeleton nods slowly in acknowledgement. "Perhaps one day, new life will find it," it rasps softly. "Thank you." It points down the corridor. "Now go. Finish your business here, and leave while you can."

[k00294664]

Movement 13-01-24

After brainstorming the word Movement, I've settled on the Yellow River as the foundation for my project. It is a stream, a tributary of the River Boyne, that flows through our farm back in Offaly. The River Boyne is one of Ireland's most mythologically significant rivers with interesting tales and legends associated with its origin.

Throughout the project, I tried my best to tie each of the electives together. I used my printmaking material in both my stop motion animation and plastic sculptural work. I also projected my animation across the prints and sculptures towards the end of the project.

While I won't be picking a discipline as a B.Ed student, I will integrate the different skills I learned in these electives into my teaching practice going forward. I hope to bring what I learned with this project into the classroom and get students passionate about animation, printmaking and sculpture, all of which are lacking in today's second level art education.

I hope to convey the movement of this stream throughout the project while also delving into the lore and myths about the river that have survived the passage of time.

The River Boyne is linked to the Irish goddess Boann. She is said to have meddled with Connla's Well by walking counter-clockwise around it. This led to the waters of the well rushing up and catching Boann in a flood. She lost an eye, arm and leg in the waters which later became the River Boyne. I find the imagery of this mythology so surreal and captivating and I intend to implement it into my exploration of movement.

Another aspect of the Boyne's history I find interesting is its name. The word Boyne comes from the Irish "bó fhionn" which translates to "white cow". This ties my idea closer to home as we have one Charolais Limousin cross cow that has a pale coat. She will be a part of my primary research going forward. Above is the start of my exploration of ideas in my sketchbook.

[rotten-pest]

2-5 things your muse can be easily identified by

Colors Light pink, more vivid than it has right to be. Deep dark red, like dried blood. Bone white, imperfect decay. The end that should not be.

Scents

Rotting wood, earthy, fresh. Where a corpse should be.

Sickly sweet illness, last breaths.

Soap.

Stench of decaying flesh, with acidic undertones.

Fashion -Commoner’s clothes, a disguise. A simple traveler, devout. -Red robes of the astrologer, unconcerned with stars when earth-bound gods have much more to do with fate. Another disguise. -Torn white linens. The first clothing she ever wore—stained, stolen. -Metal and richly colored fabrics, intermixed for a flashy but practical display—perfect for a mercenary. She didn’t know what attracted her to that man’s armor exactly, but she peeled it off his corpse nonetheless.

Objects

Two gently curved blades, made from dark metal, and tarnished by the influence of the Rot but yet to dull their edge.

Cleanrot knight’s gauntlets, refined and elegant. The traces of its former owner cling to it yet still.

A backpack, waterproofed and well worn—not hers originally.

Bone knife, more like a needle. Meant for one person.

Body language -A vacant, ever present smile, with nothing behind the eyes. -Curiosity, tilting her head back and forth. -The clicking of teeth together, a nervous tick carried over. -Standing very, very still, yet with all the intent and energy in her muscles as if she were about to spring.

Aesthetics

A zealot who seeks to kill her own god. A crisis of faith for one whose does not waiver. A heretic who disdains the faith of the flock. For one who portents the cycle of abundance and decay, she still fears death.

A praying mantis – beautiful, deadly, patient. Yet for all this, temporary.

Bogs, marshes, and swamps – often thought of negatively, their ecological diversity and greater services are greatly at odds with their inconvenience to people where their soft soils create unstable foundations and shallow, still and warm water transmits disease. What is taken must be given back; disruptions to their form and function results in tragedies, both swift and slow.

Butterflies and moths, fungi – tied to the wings of the Rot Goddess. Their larvae feed on the very plants they pollinate, tying them together intimately. Fungi serve many roles—disease causing and parasitic fungi take out the old trees that’d otherwise choke out any newer saplings from growing, shading out the understory. Decay fungi return nutrients to the soil. Mycorrhizae facilitate plants growth and communication.

Songs Ladies of the Woods – The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt OST The Wrath - A Plague Tale OST Mystery Man - The Witcher 3: Hearts of Stone OST An Offering of Grief - Pallbearer If I Had a Heart - Fever Ray

Tagged by @hexenjagd

Tagging: pretty sure everyone I follow already got tagged ha so I'll just leave this as a do-as-you-will

[dent-de-leon]

Just posting these pages here because I think there's just something so lovely about seeing the context for "Long may I reign." The fact that it isn't just tied to Molly's worship of the Moonweaver, but a line that comes from a story she personally shared with him. A song she sang to comfort him in this strange liminal space between dreams and waking, the brink of life and death. And there's just so many interesting little details in this one brief scene--

Lucien/Molly's soul being so tenacious and persevering that it even surprises a goddess herself. "Thrice upon a time. Can you believe it?" The fact that Lucien always dreamed of his happy ending, Once upon a time, and so that is how the Moonweaver frames Mollymauk's story, the hero and King of another romantic fairytale. Romance, tragedy, death, rebirth.

The Moonweaver herself appearing in a myriad of different shifting forms and personas--a comforting woman with a warm laugh, a delighted child with a haunting voice, slipping seamlessly from one role to the next--not unlike Molly himself, with his multiple incarnations in King and Lucien.

"Empty. Free. Obsessed.../Death-obsessed, but free." The gnawing Emptiness when Molly first woke was clawing, aching. Empty, but free--free to start over, to begin again, Twice upon a time, to fill that Emptiness with so much love and joy.

"Death-obsessed, but free." Is that how Lucien felt, in those final moments when he ceased to be and some part him became Molly? Lucien, who always feared this inevitable end, the absolute agony of being carved Empty like his brother--terrified of what might come after?

"Where I'm from, stranger, there is a song that goes--" Where I'm from? I just love that line, just the whole notion of a goddess sharing songs and stories from the place they call home with a mortal on the cusp of life and death. Is that the Celestial Plane? Or since this is the Moonweaver, could this be a tale from the Feywild? That would certainly be fitting for Mollymauk.

The fact that the Moonweaver tells of a King fated to die, but one who was very much beloved by his people, loved and mourned as Molly was. And just like Molly, his spirit returned from the dead to reign again. "For the dead yellow King,/A throng came and sang/On the longest day of rain/He would rise again/Long, long may he reign."

[demidevildiva]

welcome to marina, DELPHINE ST.GERMAIN ( cis female, her/she) ! they are an THIRTY TWO year old who has lived on the island for HER WHOLE LIFE. word on the street is they’re currently living in PROSPECT HILL and works as a HERBALIST. everyone also says they look a lot like JAZ SINCLAIR. what do you think?

TW: breast cancer mentioned, spirituallity explored

Much like the rest of her siblings, Delphine - first of four - was born on board a ship in Marina Island. From a very young age she was taught everything there was to know about their family's livelihood as well as superstitions and lore that accompanied their ancestory. Growing up she never much believed in it, but did enjoy all the stories and too memorized them by heart.

During her early childhood through teenage years she worked alongside her family to provide and divide the shores and responsibilities equally. The siblings have always been close so there were not many - if any - disagreements or begruntled feelings shared between them.

During her last year of high school she met a woman that changed her life. Much like her, this woman shared a passion for people. A passion for seeing the best out of everyone and everything that the world provided. The two became close but it wasn't until they entered college that their story fruition. Their souls bounded in a way that Elph had never felt before and they married.

Together they discovered much about themselves and even more about the ways of the world. Elph had no ties to religions, but she deeply believed in the existence of the Goddess of the Moon. Her triple goddess that although bounded to multiple different names and tales around the world, Elph viewed holy and almighty beyond anything else and views all those deities as one.

During her adult years, she focused and learned everything that she could about herbs, plants, flowers, and healing the body and mind with elements of nature. This wasn't something she'd gone to school for, but a passion of hers that she simply could not evade. A gift from the goddess herself she believed, so she put an end to any other plans she had in life and fixated on this.

Before long, and with the help of her wife, they were able to open up a small shop at the Green Market and that's where Elph has been selling her crafts for the last ten to twelve years. She has received a reputation of being a 'witch' simply because of her different views, but she embraces the complements. It's empowering to her, and helps her grow more as a person.

A year ago her wife was diagnosed with stage two breast cancer. The news itself was devastating as it would be for anyone else, but they saw the world differently. Instead of waiting around for death, they celebrated the small things in life and prepared for the upcoming reincarnation. Her journey through the land of the lost would be cut short as she reunited with their goddess and embodies a new life. It wasn't anything to fear, but rather look forwards to. They truly believed that in every life form they'd find one another. Their souls had danced under the midnight sky, and entangled beneath the light of the moon.

Other

Has a tendencies to house a lot of wounded wild animals and heal them. But she does not like the idea of domesticating animals as pets.

Never liked the idea of eating another living creature, but allows herself to eat fish as a fuck you to the sea witch that cursed her family. Pescatarian KBKFSHKNKJNJKFS

Operates a small booth at Green Farmer's Market over in Prospect Hill - also accepts commissions

Wife's name is Tabitha (npc) and they are known polygamists.

Personality:

She's a full believer that anything you throw at the world will come back to bite you three times over so she's generally very well mannered and kind. Quite affectionate with those closest to her, but has her own opinions and doesn't hold back from saying her beliefs. Has a tendency to be overly honest and straight forward. Embraces and associated herself with the attributes of her Goddess The Mother - sexual, casual, and emotional.

[tvrningout-a]

YOUR FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD JOROGUMO | ATSV AU

alright, let's take it from the top.

my name is chiyoko hisakawa -- doesn't roll off the tongue like the others, i know. but just like everybody else, i was bitten by a radioactive spider, and for the last few years, i've been the one and only spider-woman. or, uh, jorogumo, if you wanna get specific. kinda have to be these days.

background:

in this universe, chiyo's parents died when she was young, so she grows up with her aunt mei, uncle benkichi, and her cousin naoki. she goes through the same experiences as in her main verse -- the aspirations to be like the heroes in her manga, the bullying that kills that dream, and the realization she's quite lonely -- but now with the added canon experiences of spider-man.

during a brief internship at alchemax, chiyo is bitten by a radioactive spider that sends her down a path she doesn't want and initially rejects, going about her life as normal. it isn't until her uncle ben is killed during a home invasion that chiyo begins to accept her new role and puts the work in to wield her powers ( and yeah, she does go on a bit of a vengeful quest for a minute ). she gets herself together, fights a big bad or two, and to her great surprise, she isn't half-bad at this hero thing. there are some close calls, but she always bounces back.

chiyo first encounters other spider-people after someone else's green goblin attacks her, resulting in the death of her almost-girlfriend shiori -- also known as her world's gwen stacy. the spider-people help her neutralize green goblin, and chiyo decides to join their cause after a week or so. throwing herself into something new is a lot easier than grieving.

other info

japanese citizens took to calling chiyo " jorogumo " during the period she acted as a vengeful vigilante; the title refers to a spider yokai from japanese folklore capable of shifting into a woman and who would trap men and eat them. there is another version of the tale in which jorogumo is a goddess who protects people from drowning, and chiyo hopes that's the myth most people associate with her now. for more info on this period of time, head on over here!

chiyo's powers mimic the spitting spider. she can spit webbing that is coated in paralytic venom which can congeal and constrict opponents. think of it as being superglued rather than wrapped up! but she finds the sensation gross and doesn't typically use this.

she can produce webbing from her wrists as well.

prior to gaining powers, chiyo didn't exercise or know how to fight. she went to naoki to learn aikido from him, which ended up suiting her well as it doesn't rely too heavily on strength. i'll elaborate on this in another post most likely!

after learning about canon events and their importance, chiyo suspects that the people who helped her didn't show up in time to save shiori on purpose. though she understands its supposed necessity, this particular protocol that spider-society must follow doesn't sit well with her; she's been tempted more than once to cut ties because of it.

currently, chiyo is a senior in high school, still in charge of her school newspaper's sports column. she has to ask naoki for the rundown on most school sporting events thanks to her other extracurriculars.

it's been several months since shiori's death, but chiyo has yet to forgive herself. when she's visiting spider-society, it's usually to keep herself too busy to think about it.

if it comes up, chiyo is from earth-7878a -- the numbers 7 and 8 are lucky in japan!

she's recently met her mother... the version of her from earth-7878b.

[faegoddessog]

 Seventy Two Hours of Bliss Ch.27/41

Chapter  27: "Don't say I didn't warn you"

Chapter Warnings: Explicitly mature content, 18+ only, Unprotected PiV, hand job,

Series Masterlist 

Series Summary:

You are neighbors with Austin Butler on the Gold Coast of Australia just prior to shooting Elvis. You become just friends because he is taken. However, after he is single again, you both find out just how attracted you are to one another and things get unrelentingly hot.

SERIES WARNING: Explicitly mature content, 18+ only,  here there be lemons.

Authors Notes: I started writing this while remodeling my kitchen, so that informed the slightly quirky narrative. It starts slow, but once it heats up, it is on fire. I have tried to pull facts from RL as much as I could, but obviously there are some assumptions and flat out dreamy wishes  involved here. 

Chapter  27: "Don't say I didn't warn you"

It takes about 10 minutes to recover.  Him from cumming and  you from…well… not cumming. He doesn’t talk, just holds you as he leans on the counter, legs crossed at the ankle. You are snuggled under his chin, ear against his chest, listening to his heart beat and unconsciously matching your breathing to his. 

A timer goes off, and Austin checks the film, the dryer has done its job well. He asks you to turn on the regular light, you both blink in the brightness. He tucks his shirt back in, you smooth your hair and wipe your face again. You both check one another over for tell tale signs of what you have been up to. Satisfied, well he is anyway, you retrieve all your things and open the door. 

“Wow, that was fast, that dryer is a game charger, huh,” says the young attendant,  “let me show you our new scanner?”  He was excited to tell you all about their new very fancy digital scanner when you arrived.  Austin decides to try it. And after being shown the basics, Austin sets to it.

You go in search of snacks, knowing it’ll take a bit. You end up walking around the block down to Austin Street, of all the fucking names in the world,  and getting some pork and chicken skewers with some rice for each of you at a place called Banh Mi Factory.  The walk does you some good, calms you down as you take in people going about their everyday business. 

When you get back about 45 minutes later, Austin is almost done.  He motions you over to see.

You look over his shoulder at the screen as each image comes up. There are several good ones at Natural Bridge; in front of the waterfall, against the tropical trees and rocks. The are like artsy vacation photos. 

Then there are the ones of Goddess You naked in the forest.  In one,  You are laying naked in the water, Your hair is streaming around Your head and Your hands carelessly half covering Your tits. Staring into the camera like You were about to hand out a fucking sword.  It’s amazing. 

“I’m gonna print that one, and a few others here in a minute.” he says, munching a chicken satay skewer.

There are a few of him that you took. One really strikes you. It is of him looking directly at the camera with a shy smile that curls his lip up. So simple, but you need it. 

“Can I have that one?”  he nods and writes it down. 

There are a couple of you in your sexy dress from behind with your arms up. The one with you looking to the side is amazing. The muscles of your back are gorgeously highlighted by the light from the sliding door. You look like an actual model, damn.  

You start giggling at the Charlie’s Angel one, providing the soundtrack for the next one of you laughing. 

“I absolutely love this one, it’s my favorite, ” says Austin, looking up at you, “it’s so very you.” 

You respond with a kiss, then wrap yourself around him from behind. 

The one with you looking down at him, your dress bunched in your hands almost exposing yourself is sexy as fuck. The closeups of your dripping pussy with your own finger inside you, a drop running down your inner thigh look intimately artistic. Then he starts in on the ones of you tied up: you gagged with the rope and your arms tied up above you, one with your ass in the air tied to the ottoman. 

“Wow,” you growl in his ear, “I didn't know looking at myself would be so hot.”

“Um yeah, you are fucking hot Kitten,” he kisses your cheek. 

Once he has them all digitally on a USB stick. He decides to print a handful of these from the negatives, old school. So back into the darkroom he goes. 

You decide to wander the gallery. The exhibit is by a photographer named Alex Buckingham. There is one that just strikes your fancy called “The Dive”. You buy a print, deciding to use it in your Uncle’s remodel.  

The attendant tells you about the tucked away coffee shop across the street. You go sit for a few minutes sipping coffee. You snag one to go for Austin.

When he emerges he looks quite pleased with himself. You hand him his drink. 

“How do you know just what I need, Kitten,” he kisses your cheek. You walk out of there with several 8X10’s in an envelope and a very happy man. 

The uber ride back to the hotel is quiet. Austin looks glued to his phone while you seem to stare out the window shifting uncomfortably in your seat and randomly tapping your hand. To outside eyes it would look like he is inattentive and you are pissed about it. In actuality, Austin is playing with all the settings on the vibe and you are trying viciously not to cum in your already soaked panties. 

Once at the Emporium, Austin stops by the concierge to chat about dinner reservations. You wait a few steps behind, arms crossed and antsy. 

“Good,” he says, placing his hand on your waist and guiding you to the elevators, “we have reservations for 5:45 at a place called Bacchus. So we have about an hour and ½ to get ready.” 

“Good, that should be enough time,” you shoot him a sexy glance. 

As you step onto the elevator, your pussy starts vibrating, hard. You walk to the back corner and turn around. You are antsy; crossing your arms, shaking your leg,  rubbing your  thumb along your lip. You must look like some kind of drug addict. Well, Austin is a fucking stimulant, as hot as he is leaning up against the opposite back corner, just watching you with those sexy blue eyes, a tiny, amused smile on his mouth. 

Fuck. As soon as the door closes, you are going to pounce on him. You may not make it all the way to the suite before your clothes are off.

Unfortunately, a person steps into the elevator with you at the last second. They smile at you and turn around pushing their floor. Austin looks at his phone. Changing the pattern of the vibe and watching you out of the corner of his eye. 

The buzzing is starting to make you feel a little numb, which is honestly a good thing since you are so turned on. What might that 3rd person do if you just started humping Austin in the elevator? You are seriously considering it when you hear a ding and they get off  a couple floors below yours.  

The second the elevator doors close you rush, crashing  together in the middle of the elevator, lips, chests, hands. 

“Fuck, turn it off,” you beg. He quickly does. His mouth is on your neck, sinking his top teeth into the meaty part. It makes your knees buckle under you. 

“I want you to know,” he whispers in your ear, holding you up, “that before this day is over,  I am going to have filled all three of your holes with my cum before I let you have your orgasm.” He shows you his phone, he has set a 45 minute timer, “but that’s all the time we have right now.” 

DING! Challenge accepted. 

The doors open and there is a handsome man in a well cut business suit waiting for the elevator. He takes in the disheveled sight of you both and flashes Austin a knowing smile before stepping aside to let you out. 

“Hello,” you say and wink at him as you walk by, leading Austin by the hand to your door.

He nods his head. Just before the doors close you hear, “Have fun.”  

“Oh we will’ says your demon, loud. You hear a laugh behind the elevator door. 

Once you are inside the suite, you turn around to Austin, he pulls you in for a deep kiss. 

You are so horny, you can control neither the shaking of your hips, nor the moans that his kiss swallows. 

Then his hands are unzipping your dress, stopping to unhook your bra half way and pulling both off your shoulders to fall to the ground around your now bare feet. His clothes soon follow. 

“Spread your legs,” he says, one finger gliding along the inside of your waistband, his other hand  pressing your back to the wall. Slowly, he pulls your sodden panties gently away from your vulva, “Good lord Kitten, I’ve never seen you this sopping wet before you’ve cum.”

He undoes the magnet and fishes the vibe out from between your lips. His fingers brushing against your inner lips and your clit make you whimper and scoop your pelvis towards him in a silent appeal for more. He brings the wet toy up to his mouth trailing a long line of juices from its tip,  and licks it off. Wrapping his tongue around it and teasing you, he knows you would rather he drink straight from the source. 

He places the vibe on the entry table, then strips off your panties, leaving the drenched unicorns on the pile of clothes. 

You can’t stand being this close, naked, and not have him buried inside you. You pull his head down to kiss him while pushing him backwards across the room. His hands are on your backside, kneading your ass. 

He sits down when he hits the bed. You don’t stop pushing him, crawling on top of him as he scoots to the middle and lays down. 

“Turn around, I want you to watch,” he indicates the wall across from the bed that is all mirrors. You turn around, straddling his hips as he holds his hard cock upright.  

“Oh yes, this, this is what I fucking need!” you moan as you slide down on him. After so much buzzing all day, the sensation of being filled feels incredible. 

You rock back and forth on him, grinding him deep into you, moaning. You lift up as far as your bent legs will let you, watching him slide out of you. He grabs your arms, pulling them to your low back. He holds them there, pushing to support your back. 

“Watch as I fuck you,” he commands. 

In the mirror, you see yourself arched back, your tits  pressed forward. He starts with slow strokes, flexing his glutes.  It is blissfully agonizing to watch him slide in and out of you as he thrusts his hips up, knowing you won’t have release from it. 

It is erotic to watch.  You see now why people video themselves fucking. You wish there was a camera set up now. 

 He speeds up. Your breath comes faster. Your head falls back. It feels so good. 

“No, watch,” he tilts your head forward. 

He starts pounding you hard, knees bent, using his feet for leverage. You start to squeal as you feel an orgasm building, building. Your demon considers not telling him and just cumming. But no, that’s not the fun of this game,  you tell her.  

“Oh fuck Austin, I’m gonna cum,” you declare as your demon rattles her chain.

He pulls out as you rise up and pitch forward between his legs, ass in the air.  Breathing to try to regain some control. You really want to play this game, but you are not sure how much more you can take. 

“Oh Kitten, that’s gorgeous,”  he says after a minute or two. You feel fingers petting you from behind, running on either side of your labia, then applying pressure so your lips swell outwards. Then another finger is stroking those puffed lips. You moan and squirm into his touch. You can feel his other hand moving on his cock, rubbing the tip in your wet folds.

 Reaching through your legs, you grasp him, still wet with your juices. You slide your hand up and down. 

He pushes that finger inside your exposed slit, pressing down.

“Oh god yes,” you moan as he slides across your g-spot. Your hand grips his dick tighter. 

“Let’s see how much you can take before you make me stop,” he says, slipping another finger in and starting to move across that toe curling site. As he speeds up, making sloppy, squashy sounds. You feel flecks of moisture spattering his cock. Jesus, it's amazing. 

“Careful,” he taps your hand on his cock. Realizing you were gripping rather tight, you let go of his dick.

You start rocking back and forth on his fingers, moaning into the covers. “Oh, Oh, OH!” each time you impale yourself. 

He rubs his thumb  side to side on your clit, you squeal “FUCK!” and pull away from him shaking. 

“That was fucking close,” you blow out, trying not to clench your pussy. 

“Come up here baby and turn around,” he says, hands coaxing your hips back towards him. You turn around, straddling him, his cock jutting out between your legs. 

“Austin, if you fuck me right now, I am going to cum,” you say seriously. 

“Alright,” he reaches for the lube on the bedside table, “then stroke me.”

 He drizzles a little lube on his tip. With him in your hand, it looks like it’s your own cock you are  about to jerk off. It’s fucking hot. 

“When I’m close, I am going to fuck that pussy, I want it full before we leave again,” he puts his hands behind his head so he can watch you. God you love when he talks dirty like that. 

“Tell me how you like it,” you say, starting with simple up and down caresses in a light fist. Maybe focusing on him for a while will help you calm down.  

‘Unlikely,’ whispers your demon, ‘ just look at him.’ SHHHH!

“A little tighter,” he says. You comply.  “Uh huh, like that.”

After a dozen or so strokes, you slide your hand up and over his tip and down between your first and middle finger. His stomach contracts a little, his abs popping out then relaxing back. 

“Oh lord, that, do that,” he moans. You sprinkle ‘that’  in between the long strokes on his shaft.

“Faster now,” he instructs, licking his lips and curling back up to watch you jerk him off. 

Your pace increases.  You steady him with your other hand at the base and add in a little twist toward the tip. His front teeth are savage against his full bottom lip. Holy fuck he looks hot, your juices threaten to drip onto his balls. 

“I need a little more lube,” he says.

 You stop and let a long drip of saliva fall into your hand. 

“Oh fuck, that was hot, babe,” his voice is a whispered staccato.

The level of his arousal and your current control of it, is intoxicating. 

‘You are on top here,’ your succubus tells you, ‘ you are in control of his orgasm, he is your quarry.’ Your eyes narrow and the corner of your mouth curls up in a demonic smile.

After a couple minutes you can feel him getting close. To the delight of your succubus, you stop. Taking your hands off him, his cock bounces, red and swollen, against his stomach.  

 His face is a mix of confusion, concern, and betrayal. 

Your demon suddenly wishes he was tied up so you could really fuck with him. Visions of  bringing him to the edge over and over again while he is bound and helpless flash in your mind’s eye.  Then watching as the slightest touch spurts his cum onto… 

He reaches for himself, you lean forward and clamp down on his wrists. Hovering over him on all fours, you tease him with your pussy, rolling your hips back and forth, spreading his cock with your juices. Damn it feels good to be on top.

“Beg me,” you say with your wicked grin, “beg me to make you cum.”  You see him weighing his options. He pushes against your grip a little, you are stronger than he realized. Yeah, he can overpower you if he wants, especially with lube on your hands. But what fun is that? 

“Please,” his voice is strained, “please make me cum inside you.” 

You lean down to his ear and whisper, “that’s a good boy,” and lightly lick his earlobe. 

You let go of his wrists and sit back, pulling his throbbing dick up between your legs. Licking between your thumb and forefinger then wrapping them in a ring around his head you slip up and down rubbing his sensitive ridge and frenulum.  The first three fingers  and thumb on your other hand are below, gliding on either side of his shaft, hands working in concert.

His eyes go huge, pupils dark with desire. His mouth hangs open in an exhale.

You speed up as his breath huffs from him and his abs flex tight. His hands are gripping your knees, ready in case you let him go again. His eyelids flicker  over his rolled back eyes, his head droops back. 

You slow down.

His head snaps up.

“I’m so close, please,” he says through gritted teeth, “please don’t stop.”  You rise up and sink him into your pussy.

“Omigod you are so hot inside,” his body shakes under you.

His hands grip your hips like steel, pulling you down onto him as he furiously plunges in and out of you. You want to clamp down on him, but it feels too good and you know it’ll make you cum. You are miraculously still willing to play the game now that you got a little control back. 

“That’s it, cum for me baby, fill me with it,” you urge him on, your voice pitching higher as pleasure winds tight inside you.

He thrusts half a dozen more times into you. Each thrust  pushes you farther to the edge, making you bite your lip and moan. Each thrust punctuated by a syllable “So. Fu-cking. Good. Kit-ten.”  The last is followed by a deep thrust hard into you. Growling out a prolonged ‘nnnnn uggghhh’ as his abs pull him up towards you. He is shaking  and gritting his teeth as he shoots his load into you.

He collapses back on the bed, sweat popping up on his brow, chest heaving. 

“Well, that was fun,” you say after he gets a few big breaths in. You feel him clench and his cock bounces against your g-spot, making you  shiver on top of him.  His lip curls into a smile. 

You pull off of him, cum still inside you and lay down next to him, head on his sweaty chest. Your demon settles down now that she got a little authority back. 

He puts his arms around you, holding you tight against him and sighs. “Thanks babe, I’ve hit the jackpot of girlfrien…zzz.” Then he is snoring.  Boys. 

Wait, did he just call you his girlfriend? I mean… fuck what does that mean? Was it a post-coitus  Freudian Slip? Is that a thing?  Did he mean it?

‘ Okay, well, you kind of are, in like everything but title,’ your demon chimes in. 

Huh? 

‘ Well duh, you feed him, you fuck him, you put him to bed…. You fuck him more, he fucks you more… over and over…. Mmmm, yummy. He takes you on a romantic weekend getaway. He buys you expensive dresses ."

 She is making too much sense, despite the lecherous interludes. 

Ok just ONE dress! And he actually says ‘I love you’… and you love him. His favorite picture of you is of you laughing like a loon.  You start to smile. 

 ‘Yup,’ your demon says, ’ See, girlfriend.’

 Shit. 

But is it though? Is it shit? Are you not the happiest you’ve ever been in your whole life? Does he not make you giddy when he walks into the room? 

‘Does he not check all your sex boxes and then some?’ you can almost see the light glint off her horns. Randy little imp. 

You have to admit that listening to his heart beat in this moment, curled up against his chest feels like the very thing you have been steering blindly towards your whole life. Maybe it’s time to take off the fucking blinders. Scary. 

‘What are you so afraid of?’

The future

‘There is only one way to get out of the future, and we already faced that shit. Next!’

 Of being hurt. Of hurting him. 

‘Ppffft, you know that’s just a risk of love and part of being human. You are stronger than that.’

I’m afraid of being too tied down to accomplish all I want to do.

‘Fear is the mind killer.’ Dammit, no fair bringing DUNE into this! 

‘Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration’ .  

You take a big breath in and blow it out.  FUCK. She is right, little bitch. 

“I will face my fear,” you whisper into his pectoral muscles. He stirs and holds you closer. 

Wow, that is the most help your inner demon has ever been. Who knew she was more than just a sex fiend. 

‘Layers baby, I got layers’

You fucking love her. 

Your mini anxiety attack abated, you decide to jump in the shower and use the enema bottle you brought to get good and clean. After all, you know what’s coming. 

When you get out, you hear his alarm going off in his pants in the pile of clothes. 

“Hey hunny, it’s time to get ready to go,” you pat his chest on your way to turn off the alarm. 

“Hey baby,” he stretches, ”you back?” 

“Huh?” you say, confused.

“Well that demon was here fucking me and she is something to contend with,” he smiles at you.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you. She likes to play, especially with you.” 

[bubbles-the-banshee]

Happy STS! If you had to throw one of your characters into another world, which one would you choose? Would they thrive or hate it?

Thank you @toribookworm22 for the ask. (I hope you don't mind that I copy-pasted, so that I could answer this on my writing Tumblr vs. my personal.)

TW: allusions to murder, emergecy room scenario, mentions of police, blood, rabies, heart faliure, delirium/hallucinations, ghosts, demons, and burns scars/scars in general.

I really had to think about this one. There are so many OCxworld combinations that could be really fun and silly and/or really tragic. (Some of the others I've considered are Eliott in Steven Universe and Acon in The Last of Us.) If I had to throw one of my OCs into another world, I would throw Dr. Dante "Day" Huerta from Goddess Dead into the @morvantmortuary universe.

Why? Because I'm a huge fan, and how fucking funny would it be to have a shy werewolf with a savoir complex working as a doctor in Greymoon, Louisiana's local ER?

Like, just, hear me out, okay? Someone fucks up (we're not naming names), and a mortuary victim gets away. He stumbles, bloodied and broken into the ER. He's ranting and raving about monsters in the woods. Ghosts in the cemetery. Demons. Undertakers, etc. The nurses write him off as having a bad trip or a severe mental-break, but the cops are called just to be safe.

Of course, the new, emergency doctor—Dr. Huerta—sees the truth and the danger behind the patient's frenzied tale.

(I don't have a faceclaim for Day, so imagine a chicano man with long, dried-seaweed-brown hair with streaks of silver, thin lips, and 3 long, raking scars across the right side of his face. When he smiles, only the left corner lilts up.)

There are others here in Greymoon, he realizes. People like him, who have been touched—consumed by the darkest parts of this world and the next. And, if they are discovered, then it's only a matter of time before Dante is discovered, or worse his partner. He promised himself he'd never do this, never hurt anyone, but he has to. He has to protect himself. He has to protect the people he loves. He has to.

A growl, deep and hungry, itches along his throat. He removes his gloves, revealing heavy burn-scars, and ties his hair back with the hair tie around his wrist. He asks the nurse to fetch some more gauze. She leaves. He locks the door, and he gets to work.

The police don't show up until the patient is already dead. He suffered anemia-related heart failure, and he was rabies-positive, so sad. Don't mind that the patient has more flesh wounds then he entered the facility with, it was a simple miscount. It's very difficult to do a complete body-scan when a patient is in the throes of late-stage rabies-induced delirium. Yes, those are claw marks; obviously, a large animal did this. Don't worry. We'll notify animal control. Nothing else to see here.

The next day, a box of the cheapest store-bought, frosted sugar cookies appears outside the mortuary's front-door with a "Get Well Soon" card which reads:

I took care of your problem. Please, be more careful next time. - Day

[a-d-nox]

odysseus, king of ithaca (asteroids odysseus (1143) & ulysses (5254))

yes this is another one of those heroes with two asteroids! odysseus was his greek name but ulysses was his roman! you choose whichever one you want :) or use both lol.

“when talking about such a popular god/goddess/hero i am going to for warn paraphrasing - of course all these stories have more details and all these popular gods/heros have stories within stories. i would love to share them all/in detail but i would need a book and a lot more time to write it. my attempt in writing these posts are to inform you on the high level story of the god’s/goddess’s/hero’s life. that being said if any one of the events regaled in the post pique you interest - please let me know i don’t mind giving a more in-depth tale of any of the events mentioned.”

Odysseus was the son of Laertes and Anticlea. He is known as a great many things: motivational, trickster, suitor of Helen, warrior of the Trojan War, etc. The Odyssey is considered one of the greatest epic poems to have existed in the western world - but before I get into the summary of that (the bulk picks up after the Trojan War - RIP Achilles), let's highlight some of his early life. On a hunting trip with his uncles in his youth, he receives a deep leg wound from a boar he then kills on said hunt. Later he becomes one of the suitors of Helen, though he is the least enthusiastic of her suitors due to his interest in her cousin, Penelope, whom he marries. Odysseus and Penelope had just had their son, Telemachus, when his oath as Helen's suitor was called upon after her abduction by Paris. But he didn't want to go to war so he feigned madness by sowing a field with salt (it takes a long time to cure salted land before anything grows there again). The recruiter tested his sanity by placing Odysseus's young son in front of the plow’s path - Odysseus never forgave the recruiter, Palamedes. Odysseus is the one who lured Achilles out of hiding. Odysseus saw a prophet who said that the Greeks would only win if Achilles was on their side. So he learned of Achilles hiding amongst women and devised the plan to out him with a spear and a fake attack. In the Trojan War, Odysseus was a key strategist - he was the one who suggested the Trojan horse. Post-war is when things get a bit chaotic, it takes him and his men ten years to get home. In these ten years, they face all sorts of monsters. Troy was in shambles which caused their first detour to Ismara to gather supplies - the tribe was on the side of the Trojans though so they were attacked upon arrival. As they pushed onward to Ithaca, a storm occurred which took them to the island of the lotus eaters. The lotus flower nearly took out his whole crew before Odysseus realized that the plant was making everyone fall asleep - so they quickly left. The most well-known incident occurred next, Polyphemus, the cyclops, and his cave. The crew arrived, overjoyed to find a cave filled with food when they are then trapped in the cave by a boulder. Odysseus would go on to get the cyclops drunk and tell him that his name was "nobody." Later when the cyclops passed out drunk, Odysseus would blind the cyclops and this would attract other cyclops with his screams in pain. Polyphemus would scream that “nobody, was killing him” and the other cyclops would leave in confusion. They would eventually escape tied under Polyphemus’s sheeps's bellies - this outraged Polyphemus causing him to chuck boulders in the direction of the ship. Empowered, Odysseus would then tell the cyclops as they sailed away who he actually was - hubris the fatal flaw of most heroes. This was what caused Polyphemus to tell his father, Poseidon, who blinded him. In response, Poseidon ruined Odysseus's ship - losing his entire crew, Odysseus was then alone for the time being. All these struggles would continue through Aeolus, the encounter with the Laestrygonians, the visit with Circe, the trek to the Underworld, sailing past the sirens, etc. After the years passed, he came home to suitors having invaded his palace in attempts to gain Penelope's favor. Odysseus met with his friend to gain his support, when his son, recently back from his search for his father, walked in. The friend gave the two space - Odysseus exposed his true identity and they embraced. Together they went to the suitors' completion day, where Odysseus disguised as a beggar wiped the floor with everyone (literally he ends up killing them all lol) and finally shows his wife who he truly was. She joyfully welcomed him home. And the two live happily ever after - theee enddd. IN MY OPINION Odysseus shows a) where you can expect adventure, b) where you experience delays, c) where you think outside the box, d) how you tend to outsmart someone (better used in a synastry chart), e) where you may be a little unlucky, and/or f) where you are seen as legendary.

i encourage you to look into the aspects of odysseus along with the sign, degree, and house placement. for the more advanced astrologers, take a look at the persona chart of odysseus AND/OR add the other characters involved to see how they support or impede odysseus!

OTHER RELATED ASTEROIDS: circe (34), achilles (588), paris (3317), poseidon (4341 / h47), penelope (201), helena (101), laertes (11252), telemachus (15913), palamedes (2456), and sirene (1009)!

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[grumpy-potat]

Galatea the Nereid (Sea Nymph) and her Love Triangle

Western Art has a love affair with ancient Greece and Rome. Many different myths and historical (*cough*semi-historical*cough*) events.

In ancient Greek Mythology, there were two women named Galatea. One was a woman who was carved out of marble and brought to life, and the other was one of the fifty Nereides. Both women were to be the subjects of paintings, sculptures, and operas of different artistic periods because both women are at the center of love stories. Although their love stories differ, love stories are an enduring tale and are something that fascinate people throughout the ages.

This little blog post will focus on Galatea the Nereid.

Daughter of Nereus, the 'Old Man of the Sea,' and the Oceanid Doris. She is one of 50 sisters who lived with their father in his grotto in the Aegean Sea. Thetis, mother of Achilles, and Amphitrite who was Poseidon's queen and mother of Triton, were two of her more famous sisters. Galatea means Milk-White and she was a goddess of calm seas. Like her sisters, she was a protector of sailors and the sea's bounty, and like her sisters she was beautiful. She frequented the shores of Sicily and caught the eye of Polyphemus. Polyphemus has a legacy of his own right. A cyclops, a man-eater, and was blinded by Odysseus after trapping him in his home. This son of Poseidon and a nymph who was the child of Phorcys named Thoosa. Her name is only given to us by the poet Homer, but that would make her a sibling to Echidna, the Hesperian Dragon, the Gorgons, and the Graeae. Which gives us a better understanding of Polyphemus' portrayal in the early myths.

Polyphemus loved her, and gave her cheeses, milk, and played the pipes for her. But she spurned his love because she had fallen in love with another. Acis was a handsome Sicilian youth whose father was Pan and whose mother was a river nymph. He would mock Polyphemus's love and one day while Galatea and Acis lay in a grassy field beneath Mount Etna he took a bolder from the mountain and crushed the youth's head. From the blood that poured out the grieving nymph turned him into the River Acis, and him into the god of the river with horns and a blue face.

This version of the tale was recounted by Ovid in book three of Metamorphoses. But even later, we get tales of Polyphemus and Galatea's love. Where he is able to woo her with music and lure her to Sicily to be with him. This is thought to try to explain why there was a shrine to her on the shores. So the story of a Cyclops tied to the land and a sea nymph who couldn't leave the water's love was the explanation that Philoxenus of Cythera came up with as an explanation.

They also have a child together named Galatos who was to become the ancestor of the Gauls.

In art, around the Baroque period, the love triangle between Galatea, Polyphemus, and Acis picked up popularity in operas and artistic representations and the popularity would continue through the Romantic and Academic periods along with other Greek Myths. In statues a way to tell the nymph from her counterpart is she is often depicted with sea pearls in her hair, a garland of shells and pearls adorning her, billowing scarves, tridents, or dolphins.

One of my favorites is from Gustave Moreau, Where he doesn't look deeply into the love triangle, but instead focuses more on the beauty and the beast aspect of Ovid's tale and we get some beautiful pieces. The movement Moreau was part of is known as Symbolism, and I personally find the colors, the composition, and the details to be very compelling and expressive of the stories they are trying to tell in their art.

Anyway. I hope you like the story of Galatea, and looking at some of the art. I hope to do the story about the other Galatea, aka the statue that came to life soon.