#godslayer will kill them all

[cerberus253]

I got a few dreams that I had this year to speak about.

The first one was started as the common “running away from things that hurt me, then a bunch of people who support me come out and defend me, and an all out war breaks loose while I try to run and hide” kind of dream. Instead of those who were supporting me, they were the crazed cultists from The Pathless, who follow the Godslayer, but they were technically still on my side because GS and I are on friendly terms, but it turns out they were also trying to catch me (while also keeping the enemy away from me). They did eventually capture me, of course bringing me to GS, but I what I was not expecting was being at an alter. Godslayer was trying to marry me. Flattering as it was, I was not ready for marriage, and I found the situation was so funny that I woke up laughing.

(The Godslayer; picture does not do him justice with his domineering and intimidating presence)

Second dream, I was doing a sort of “rivalry war” with Messmer the Impaler, where technically we were both amicable with each other, but we were doing a legit war with each other because we thought it was fun and wanted to see who was better (relax, it’s just a dream; I do not condone such senseless violence just for the sake of fun). Eventually we went toe-to-toe, and something completely unexpected happened: Fucker the Impaler wanted to marry me. Again, flattered, not ready for marriage, and really funny, but I legit felt like I had to warm him about Godslayer, who also wanted my hand. He didn’t care, and I was like, “Honey, you got a big storm coming,” because motherfucking Godslayer is crazy and will kill on sight.

(Messmer the Impaler; picture does not show his silly pantsless twink legs)

Third and last dream, I was again surrounded by people who wanted to hurt me and those who wanted to help me, but those who wanted to help me started to go against me. This, of course, broke my heart and had me break down in my dreams, crying and heartache and all. One of the people that I was friends with, who I have not seen in a very long time, appeared and acted as my Knight in ~~Bloody~~ Shining Armor. That man was Stefano Valentini, and that fucker also decided it was about time to marry me. This was just getting ridiculous at this point, but I told him the same thing I told the other two: Flattered, not ready, this is funny, FUCKER YOU BETTER RUN because you have NO chance against the last two guys that wanted the same thing. Run as fast as your spaghetti-ass legs can carry you!

(Stefano Valentini; picture does not show how much of a horrific killer he is)

So now I’m literally in the, “Fuck, Marry, Kill” situation with these three freaks and I’m not only scared/curious on anyone else wanting my hand, but also what will happen when all of them (or most) are in the same dream.

[incorrectsmashbrosquotes]

Me: *bolts awake at 3 AM* BALDUR'S GATE 3 AU WHERE, THROUGH DIMENSIONAL SHENANIGANS, KRATOS ENDS UP OCCUPYING THE ROLE OF TAV!

THINK OF IT! JUST THINK OF IT!

Companion: So any that's how that God/Being of incredible power ruined my life.

Kratos, noted Godslayer, planning how he's going to destroy yet another pantheon for these weird little mortals he's found himself in charge of: Tell me more.

*later*

Gale and Astarion: Becoming a God would fix me, I promise!

Kratos: *knocks their heads together like the Three Stooges* No.

His favorite companion is actually Jaheira because she's one of the only ones who knows how to shut the fuck up and he bonds with her and Minthara over shitty jokes and grunts of displeasure.

Mizora takes one look at him, recognizes that Wyll and Karlach are now hanging with THE KRATOS and hides in the depths of Avernus for the rest of the game.

He is hella distrustful of Selune when Shadowheart starts worshiping her instead of Shar but Dame Aylin seems alright so he's okay with it for now even if he's watching every statue of Selune they pass with a suspicious eye.

Lae'zel is now his daughter. He takes one look at this angry, disagreeable little murder-hobo and immediately starts carrying her around in a baby-backpack even as she tries to bite his face off like a feral racoon.

He's actually hella sympathetic towards Ketheric Thorm because... like... yeah...

His endgame is leading a crusade in Avernus to kill Zariel with Karlach, Wyll, Minthara, Dame Aylin and Isobel with him. And once Zariel is dead, Shar, Mystra, and Vlaakith are next on his list.

DO YOU SEE MY VISION?! DO YOU?! KRATOS BEING THE AWKWARD LEADER OF THESE LITTLE MORTAL FREAKS HE SEES A LITTLE BIT OF HIMSELF IN ALL OF THEM AND DECIDES TO HELP THEM WITH ALL 5 OF HIS B+ PARENTING SKILLS!

[shuttershocky]

how do you feel about iori/saber so far by the way, whether as a ship or just their dynamic in general

I really like their dynamic!

While Iori and Saber themselves are full of callbacks to the original Shirou and Saber, their relationship dynamic is something that's all their own.

Usually a servant like FSR Saber would have belonged to a more emotional master. Saber starts the game out as an arrogant, destructive force and a bit of a bully, constantly going "Good grief my master's so weak! How did I get such a weak master when I can solo this whole thing? I should just kill everybody that gets in my way."

Rather than get upset or insecure however, Iori's humility and martial discipline ends up making a wall for Saber's arrogance to repeatedly bounce off of. When told he's weak, he goes "You are right. I don't fight because I'm strong, but because I should." When Saber talks down to him saying his presence doesn't change the outcome of a fight whatsoever, he just goes "I know. I'm doing the best I can."

This doesn't just eventually warm Saber up to him, but it also ends up creating the soul of their dynamic for the rest of the game. Saber's powerful, impulsive, and free in all their aspects, while Iori is measured, disciplined, and tied down (he's poor, he's an orphan, he's a warrior in an age of peace). This leads to fun gags like Saber having that classic Saber gluttony which wreaks havoc on Iori as a poor ronin living hand to mouth every day, but where this really shines is in how it makes its own twist in the original dynamic of Shirou and Saber.

Underneath Shirou and Saber's relationship was the recognition of themselves in the other. Both were willing to give up their entire lives for the greater good without once thinking of themselves, and seeing it in the other person horrified them because that was someone they cared about, while making a special exception for their own self-sacrifice.

In Samurai Remnant, Saber wonders how could such a weak human have summoned a servant as powerful as them, but the answer slowly becomes obvious as their relationship grows. Hiding underneath Saber's smug nature is a legend known for brutally killing anything and everything that stood in their way, whether that be armies, kings, monsters, or even gods. Why? What could compel a human to put a god to the sword just because they were ordered to? How broken and terrible inside must you be to see an aspect of divine power and feel no fear, only the desire to fight and to kill something that should be untouchable by a human?

The most delicious part of Iori and Saber's developing relationship is Saber slowly realizing that the bravery in Iori's eyes when he (literally) locks blades with a Servant is not bravery, but something much more familiar.

It should also be said that FSR Saber is one of the extremely few servants (if not the first even) to cry about the thought of leaving their Master after the ritual has ended.

Bittersweet goodbyes have been a mainstay of the series since Fate/Stay Night, but FSR is the first time in my memory that we see a Servant look back at the short, second life they've been given and actually break into tears about not wanting to go.

Going back to the throne of heroes would mean returning to legend. They'd be the bloodstained killer and godslayer. Unparalleled, feared, revered, and alone. Meanwhile in this incarnation, they run around doing odd jobs every day to afford rice, assumed by the neighbors to be the new fiance of the poor ronin that lives in a shack, destined to be forgotten by history like everyone around them living humble and ordinary lives. And now that they've tasted it, they don't want to go back. They've fallen in love with this life, and have to live out the rest of the Waxing Moon Ritual knowing they don't have a choice about going back.

It's soooooo good. Such a perfect capture of that vintage Type-Moon feeling, I'd almost forgotten this wasn't even written by TM themselves but by the Fire Emblem Three Houses team.

[ganondoodle]

Since you said it's ok to send you random ask, i've always found your "monsters" design to be really really gorgeous, and I wanted to know : in any form of media you've interacted with, what's PEAK monster design for you ?

i have been thinking about this ask alot bc ... i dont ... know? theres a problem with what counts as a monster really too, most are either some sort of anthro/furry or the horror gore type of monster that instills you more with disgust than awe

i guess theres some i really like but idk if thats what id call 'peak' (though its rarely JUST the design but their vibe and stuff too);

(its a lot of zelda.. sorry)

Eldra, Farodra and Naydra (engl Dinraal, Farosh(?)) though Eldra is def my fav one of them, i like how they are a little more less typical dragon- with the fur around the neck the floppy ears and kinda goofy face yet manage to be the most ethereal, awe inspiring creature i have ever seen in a game with how they act and are presented as (in BOTW!!! do not mention anythign sonau/zonai with stupid magic pebbles to me about them i will manifest worms into your tea)

Leunen (Lynels) (botw) -i could not find a better picture wtf, fav are white and silver ones) FINE they had some pretty neat new horn designs in totk- idk i just like them alot, rather simple if you think about it, horse lion plus horns- but its so well put together it just kinda scratches my brain in a good way (also how intelligent they clearly are, like the way they fight and act and also even their death animation is so??? huh?? you are just gonna treat them like any other mindless monste- *remmbers they treat ganondorf even even worse all things considered* .. nevermind you're good)

'Beast' Ganondorf (twilight princess) its my favorite beast ganon design (even if it technically is just kinda a man boar .. again) though if ww gan had a non puppet beast form that one would most definitely be my fav lol (i will not get over the fact that some descriptions call this a hideous beast EXCUSE ME???? WHERE???) (honorable mention here, darkbest ganon from botw, pig on fire but it looks cool as fuck)

Nimbusgarde (ww) .. (engl .. darknuts?) do i need to say anything? (i could throw alot of ww design here) not sure if it counts as monster but they are not human so ????

the pathless bosses- (here in order, Cernos, the Godslayer, and Kumo) all of them are rad as hell (except for the final version of the godslayer ... liek im sorry but it looks to boring compared to any other one lol) again not just the design but man do i love them

since i dont know what would count as a monster or no i could just list my fav characters here bfmjbfmjsbmj like radahn (elden ring) is just kinda a zombie, aurelion sol (league of legends) is a space dragon, the forest god in princess mononoke, Narisha (skyward sword- sky whale)- i could go on but this post is long already (honorable mention to Omus in nausicäa, weird bugs but also something divine, though it is much more how they are treated and the vibe etc)

in all honesty though i cant think of one that i would describe as perfect, what i want of a monster design is to be ... cool but also a little weird, big hulking monsters that have something off about them and something that makes them 'other', but also not, as much as i like bloodborne, just bloody gory messes of rotting flesh, AND not just as a monster to kill, i just crave a game or otherwiese piece of media where the cool monsters arent just there for you to kill- the perfect one i guess would be something kinda big scary weird and off but while non verbal clearly not a mindless beast?

and here is the thing; my own characters do not furfill that, my designs are really rather conservative, much to my dismay, anthro of a mix of animals, maybe an extra arm thrown in- Eadrya, one of my favorites, is really just a blueish furry (yes they have fur) and their demon form is a mix of seals and catfish with some extra arms, too many teeth and a mouth that goas wayy to far (if they want) - Shargon is a feather dude with extra arms and his demon form is really just a chinese type dragon crossed with a bird, throw some darts at the color wheel, done

together with my problem of my monster characters losing their 'otherness' vibe within the story rather fast bc the majority of my characters are non human and speak and you see them in all sorts of emotions and parts of life- they lose that divine, unknown vibe and i HATE that that happens, i want them more akin to the forest god in mononoke but thats not possible unless i start from scratch

and i really dont mean to make myself look bad to sound self depre- ... however you spell that; i really am rather dissatisfied with my own designs but mostly just roll with what i got bc i never seem to be able to actually achieve what i want

even my redesigns often really make things LESS interesting (unless maybe the og was just ... human, but they are blue eyed with golden hair and white so that makes them divine you seE-), the skyward sword dragons as i redesigned them made them much more classical dragon, in part intentional bc i was drawing a connection of them becoming the botw dragons at some point, but by all means the canon design is much more weird and unusual than what i did with them, you could apply the same to even demise, his canon design might seem a little uninspired but really what did i do? inject him with some classic satan spice like that makes it in any way less stereotypical evil demon ??? lol

im sorry this post devolved into whatever this is but i really am trying to answer sincerely, i am confused about it myself, what counts as a monster, what doesnt, there must be more that i really loved but why cant i think of them, why do i design characters like this when i really want something much more different, i dont know, i feel like my brain is in a cage, why do i keep making things less interesting in an effort to make it interesting, am i falling into the corporate trap of cool sells who am i what am i doing

(theres a zelda artist with a style so strikingly genuis in shape, color and just .. DESIGN that i want to chew my nails off bc i cannot design like them, their designs and redesigns are so different yet sensical and so full of crisp shapes i have never seen before it drives me nuts and i would want to give them a shoutout but i think they dont like me so aaaaarhekjbfhgdknbgdfklbg)

[unsoundedcomic]

Yeah, no, those arguments coming out of Bastion's mouth still feel hollow to me. If a true atheist spoke them (Quigley?? Or someone else) I'd listen. Gefendur and Ssaelits worship beings that don't have a current presence, but HE worshiped a being that SHOULDN'T be worshipped at all. One that enabled his master to do horrible things to him, even though SHE had the agency to stop it. And he should give paper god zealots the benefit of doubt, the chance to rebel same as HE did.

He wouldn't disagree that he was incorrect to cooperate with Ilganyag. That was a mistake he made and he's having to live with the consequences, like a soldier who killed for an evil government, or a doctor who mistakenly prescribed a treatment that did more harm than good.

Bastion doesn't see how he's not giving zealots the chance to stop being zealots though. They can stop whenever they cast off their delusions. In the meantime, he's not going to tolerate them. And it's really not his job to tell them that they're acting like monsters not because they're trying to please a gift-bearing senet beast, but because they're trying to earn the approval of an imagined force that is never going to actually engage with them in a way distinguishable from the formication caused by a good piece of music or a few swift strokes of one's cock.

Maybe the misunderstanding is that there's a "benefit of doubt" for him. There is no doubt. Bastion knows the Twin Gods and Ssael the Godslayer come from stories the same way he knows Tip Top Tom comes from a newspaper comic. The world is not currently being held in the womb of a giant blue space woman, nor did the ghost of a pissmop from the eastern valleys go cut it out of her a millenia ago :)

[crazylittlejester]

Saw the post about the Chain and their god domains and my greek mythos obsessed brain got scritched so here is the Chain as Greek gods/mythos:

Time: The old man gave me such a hard time. absolutely going insane over him. He’s Hades. being one of the big three (this fucker split the timeline (almost like how the underworld is split)). Ive never finished MM or OoT but i believe the lore is that all the masks are possessed to put it simply, thus the spirits granting link his power, making Time a maestro of the dead. Many interpretations of hades also depict him as cunning, a trickster, while also being stern, much like our resident little shit (affectionate). Hermes was a big contender here for that reason.

Sky: This was a toss up but im gonna have to say Zeus honestly, mister Godslayer himself. less of a connection between their personalities honestly and more just focusing on their similar dynamics, skills, and symbolism. Obviously we have our favorite lightning motif, plus the position of leadership they both share - in the sense that zeus is more or less the leader of the gods and sky being the ‘leader’ so to speak of the timeline. Plus the parallels between demise and kronos, and zeus/sky’s respective roles there. It was between the big man or persephone.

Twilight: Artemis!! Our very literal leader of the pack. Goddess of the hunt, patron of animals, domain over the moon (cough twilight cough). Though, Demeter and hestia were fighting me here, the fursona won over the country bumpkin sadge.

Warriors: You are Athena! badass in the arena! /ref. Honestly, i feel like i should be assigning them their ‘obvious’ gods and then give them one that attaches to them more symbolically. Yes, everyone’s favorite captain is THE captain goddess. Cunning, strategist, warhead, intelligent, and alot of people forget that Athena is both charismatic and incredibly physically beautiful, in most adaptations. she was in the lineup for paris and guided the trojan war. I forget who it was on here that is a big “wars = helen of troy” truther but theyre absolutely so correct.

Legend: Also a tricky toss up, but i ultimately landed on apollo. Apollo’s known for being a sort of jack of all trades god, between his dominion over the sun, medicine, music, archery, and more. With the vet’s all encompassing experience, with his multitude of instruments and proficiencies in different magical items it made sense. Me, personally, I loved the stories of apollos shape-shifting mortal ventures more than say zeus or any of the other gods. Also, depending on your characterization of the vet, their supposed personalities line up quite well, with apollo being charming and somewhat arrogant/snarky with others

Hyrule: This feels left-field but rulie gets to be Persephone! Adept with magic, goddess of fertility and the harvest and just general growth (of nature), with the double edge of being the queen of the underworld. Ugh im so obsessed with downfall duo rulie is so tragic. left with a desolate wasteland, yet (depending on characterization) ushering in and doing his damndest to nurture life and growth. I love the headcanons where rulie is a survivalist through and through, proficiencies in botany and herbology, respect for the land and its inhabitants. 

Wild: Demeter! Wild is of the land, they are one and the same. The way his world is absolutely teeming with life, and the way he is molded to adapt and live with the land to complete his adventure,,, ugh its too good. He is the most in tune with the wolves, the bees, the cows, the reeds, the flowers, the dragons, the spirits, they ARE him. he woke up with NOTHING, except a vast land full to bursting with life and lessons. 

Four: Hephaestus, obviously. dont get me wrong, I love four so much, but anything else felt blasphemous (The way i could write essays about it—). He is the god of blacksmithing, if i assigned him anything else i fear he may just manage to kill me. 

Wind: Notos! God of the east Wind, known for the bringing of summer, cyclones, and warmth. love that funky little whirlwind hes so fun and spunky. being a god of wind was so on the nose it was too good. I didnt ever consider poseidon, winds too squishy and fluid for that. this kid is bouncing around like a cat 5 hurricane he is the wind, he is free (to cause chaos).

Ugh i love yapping about the mythologies. i may do this again except with minor gods/demigods (i will get back to that legend-achilles parallel i swear). I hope this was amusing to you

OKAY OKAY GO OFF!!!!

(I’m a huge Wars = Helen of Troy truther, I ain’t the only one, but I’ve yapped about it a lot akdkkdk)

you absolutely ate this up on my god i agree i agree i agree i agree. LEGEND AND ACHILLES?? SIGN ME THE FUCK UP IF YOU EVER FEEL LIKE YAPPIN ABOUT THAT THE FLOOR IS YOURS AND THE ASK BOX IS OPEN ID LOVE TO HEAR IT

[ariadnethedragon]

HOFAS thoughts as I read it: (SPOILERS below)

All that t*rture in the dungeons, Ruhn’s piercing and tattoos. Baxian’s tattoo. The wings. “How strong is your bite?” Sarahhhhh!!!!! Stop! That was more than I could handle😫

The Middengard Wyrm😖. Nesta dealt with it brilliantly but it just makes you appreciate how impossible it was that human Feyre managed to kill this thing by herself with no decent weapons.

Azriel hugging Nesta and stroking her hair after she took the Mask off🥺

Bryce’s wallpaper being Hunt and the photo of her friends in the phone case—that made me tear up

Imagining the inner circle all surrounding Bryce’s phone trying to figure out how it works is hilarious. Also Nesta being jealous of Bryce’s music collection, “THOUSAND?”

The nightbright angst KILLED me💔💔💔

Hunt just dreaming of Bryce. She’s the only thing pulling him through, “He’d wanted so many things with her. A normal, happy life. Children.” HE BETTER GET EVERY SINGLE ONE IF THOSE THINGS OR HANDS WILL BE THROWN!

Silene. The Daglan. My theories were true😁😁

Sigrid. I had so much hope for her story but I was disappointed. Hopefully it’ll get better

Ariadne!! I wanted to see more of her😕

Ruhn’s bedroom. The burn cream😭😭😭

Lidia FUCKING Cervos. That breakout scene. Magnificent.

Jesiba and Ithan’s dynamic. Librarian Ithan and the fact that Jesiba is a Parthos priestess!!! Also JellyJubilee being the computer password😂

Bryce using the mating bond to teleport to Hunt😭😭😭

Bran and Ace. Lidia giving them her ruby ring for tuition as a goodbye💔

Hunt and Bryce got married?!!! WHEN?

Cloudberry crown sounds funny idk why

If I had a penny every time SJM included a set of unhinged/partly unhinged fae twins (yes connall I’m looking at you) in her series, I’d have three pennies bc it happens every single time

So the astronomer is basically a Voldemort 2.0

Flynn and dec going crazy for waffles on the mer ship

“I never had anyone fight for me” Oh Lidia my love😭😭

Guess I’m shipping Tharion and Sathia now🤷‍♀️

Lidia being turned on by Ruhn lighting a fire—girl, I get it.

“Because I’m yours, Day. I’m fucking yours.” Screaming crying throwing up

Lidia: “I want you all the time”😭😭😭😭😭😭😩😩😩😩💗💗💗

Idk why but I am disappointed in the Autumn King, I thought there would be some redemption for him for some reason

Ruhn: “I am going to live and I am going to live well without you”😭😭

Bryce was always a queen but now she a queen Queen👀

Avallen becoming all green again.

Hunt being a demonic test tube baby😂😂

Dec being the first to look for service. Typical😂

Ithan x Perry???? Cinnamon and strawberry? I start getting suspicious when they notice all the nuances of that person’s scent. I think they’d be cute though

Nooooo, the prime—I keep thinking of him as master oogway from king fu panda and it makes me sad

Sabines finally dead🥳🥳

Ithan is prime now? Okay okay pop offf!!

Hunt finally breaking free of his halo and freeing Isaiah as well❤️

Is the under king from the ToG universe??? Valg??

Connor💔💔💔😭😭😭 The bullet. Memento mori

Sathia and Colin McCarthy. This will be interesting

Commando Hunt. The underwear was too small🤭🫨🫨

Morven guest room having red lace thongs😂😂

Okay tharion and sathia are really growing on me🥰🥰🥰

‘She’s my mate you fucker’ SCREAAMMING

Ace finally calling Lidia Mom😭❤️

Lidia is the descendant of Brannon. The fire, the hind/sacred stag. OH MY GOODNESS!!!!!

Pollux being incinerated☺️☺️☺️

The sprites and Irithys💗

The kill switch, the godslayer rifle. Bryce just blackholing the Asteri. She is so brilliant and cunning and clever and I love her.

Danika and the pack. Light it up Bryce. I SOBBED

Jesiba crying and then her sacrifice😭😭😭💔💔

Ember and Randal going to Prythian. Randal bonding with Rhys but more importantly Ember and Nesta—I want to cryyyy🥹🥹🥹

Starsword/Gwydion back in Prythian…whats going to happen in ACOTAR 5???

The princes of Hel—you gotta love em

Lidia and Ruhn finally having that beer

Flynn x Perry? Jealous Ithan😏

Syrinx running for his life when Hunt and Bryce share a heated look. It’s nothing new but it cracks me up all the time

Pegasuses in Avallen🥰🥰

[spookypanda04]

What if Hylia was a villain? Imagine, her hero, her love, killed at the hands of Demise. She tried to gain vengeance by shedding her form for something more physical. She will kill him for the death of her hero.

Taking a mortal form had unexpected consequences and she loses her memory at first. Born as Zelda, she eventually unlocks her power and regains her memory. She realizes her hero has come back to her. She swears they will not be separated again, only confusing him. He does not know of their shared past. That's okay, he will learn. They have millennia after all.

Eventually they face Demise a second time and he laid down a curse with his final breath. Feeling her hero's soul slip from her grasp once more, she screams burning his essence into ash.

The remains were sealed in Fi. She would be able to contain his malice. She lived a full life with her hero and when he passed, she screamed her rage to the heavens, burning the last of her mortal form away. There wasn't much left at that point anyways.

Different incarnations of her hero came and went through the ages and she plotted and schemed ways to bring him back to her side once and for all.

Each time she came close to burning the mortality from him, letting him endure trials beyond hylian endurance. But each time he slipped from her once more.

She never notices how the stress is slowly fracturing the hero's spirit. Ending in the death of the hero of the Wild. But the mortals that worshiped her broke the laws of death and brought him back. This proved to be the final straw though, the cracks too wide to be stitched back into the original. Foreign magic pulsed, filling the cracks, making him other. Her hero was gone.

Her grief shattered reality. Down through the ages, cracks in time started appearing and different versions of her beloved met. She was ecstatic! Maybe by having them together she could bring him back! Unfortunately the cracks in time started spilling monsters from different eras, corrupted by the void in-between.

Her heroes banded together and tracked the cracks down to the original, sealing them as they went.

Their little adventure ended eventually and she showed herself to them.

She explained her plan, how she just had to use their lives and bring back her beloved.

The heros stared in horror, realizing the goddess was unhinged, driven mad by grief over the eras.

Finally she came to the end and the heros braced themselves for a fight. They refused to go down without a fight.

Hylia saw their dissent and was furious! How dare they disobey her, their Goddess! They would have to be brought to heel first before she could continue her plan.

The heros fought with everything they had, falling one by one. The final remained, begging the goddess what had happened to the one he loved oh so long ago.

The skychild, powered by grief for his first love, for his brothers laying injured behind him, by the countless lives lost across the eras to a mad Goddess's schemes, struck a fatal blow against her, living up to his title of Godslayer.

The goddess fell, but the hero paid no interest, choosing to help his brothers. They eventually healed enough to move and they soon found out they were in the era of Time.

They made their way back to the ranch, settling down. There were many tears of grief shared, some for lost loves, some for friends, for family, and more were shed when they realized there was no way back to their homes. The cracks had been sealed and the goddess of time was dead.

Eventually several additional rooms were added to the ranch, none willing to leave and they lived as brothers till the end.

[melonae]

there is no point in a god when it can be killed.

woah, mel, non-sdv ocs??? Well Yes!

hi. This is the 7– the godslayers, the immune, the glory, the sorrows. The/My whole OC world is so, so fucking complicated, however, I can tell you who they are left to right.

Quinn, Hero, Yoru, (down 1) Mason, Antonio, (down), Leone, Rosalind.

As Hero is unknown to the fact he is the very offspring of a god— he still chases after that sovereignty— that freedom, to run from the fact of imminent death and even, free everyone from it (because what’s worthy to be punished is different for everyone, there is no right answer to what is wrong.) but all of them, altogether (..minus hero! Who is “completely new to life” (amnesiac?)) suffer from trauma and react differently but all have the same result: they will punish themselves for it, and their unraveled problems will come back right at them.

or, tldr. everyone’s just trying to get out of hell.

ANHWAYS1! group photo! <3

[i-eat-deodorant]

🎵😡❓🚶‍♂️ for any of ur characters. whichever's on your mind atm

🚶‍♂️-> for a habit-themed headcanon

Narinder rubs his wrists a lot, a habit he carried over from his TOWW days where his manacles constantly chafed at his wrists. With them gone his arms feel light, but the ache still serves as a reminder of who he once was. Rubbing provides some relief, but ends up exacerbating the problem in the long run. 

When he’s anxious he also grooms himself to the point of excess, especially around his arms and shoulders. Earlier on, it wasn’t uncommon to see Narinder with missing patches of hair from where he overgroomed and licked off all the fur there. Nowadays he redirects his tick by grooming Lamb instead, but their wool is a little too thick for him to handle and he keeps getting his tongue snagged in all the fluff. 

🎵 -> for a music-themed headcanon

At first, music was entirely overwhelming for him. The Gateway deadened all things living: smell, sound, sense of touch. It took him a while to even begin to tolerate the cacophony of noise that constituted music, much less enjoy it. He still prefers dead silence, but the problem with having big-ass ears like his is that he never really gets dead silence. Living is far too noisy for that. 

If asked to pick a music, he is partial to the bhajans he heard back when he was a bishop. It’s familiar, even if it comes from a time that hurts to remember. 

😡 -> for a headcanon about something that makes them angry

He hates being helpless. No, he doesn’t fear it, he just hates it. Nobody will pry the latter confession out of him no matter how hard they try. 

That’s what power boils down to, really. What control reduces to. The ability to have the deciding factor in every situation imaginable. Death proved as reliable as it was a confounding factor—he could change the manner of death, delay it, ease it, but never stop it. That was why resurrection ended up being so tantalizing in the end; the ability to have his domain under his complete control by removing its permanence entirely. Entire legions brought back to life under his reign. He could be powerful, and his kingdom would last forever. 

(He discovered, perhaps too late, that there was no state of true control. A god, reduced to chains, degraded to a mortal. Then from Lamb he learned about the little things, finding autonomy in a world where so much was out of his control. This too, was power. He serves death in life, and when inevitability comes for him eventually, he’ll die in their arms like an old friend.) 

❓-> for a headcanon of the receiver's choice

No matter how badly or how often Lamb pisses him off, he can’t help but feel a sort of pride that they’re the one who’s the owner of the Red Crown. After all, he’s the one who chose them, who trained them, who’s the reason they ever got as far as they did. And if anybody can earn his respect, it’s the godslayer who killed all four of the Bishops before ousting him in a fight. 

[ahamkara-apologist]

Feeling emotional about Eramis again. Feeling emotional specifically about how she's arguably one of the best D2 antagonists we've gotten in terms of being morally grey- even Savathun, for how well-written she is, can fall a little flat sometimes simply bc we know we can never trust her due to her track record of being self-serving, even if our desires can align with hers and she's still very complex. But Eramis is one of the few antagonists we've gotten who have never really been against US specifically- her hatred for the Traveler and the path it took her into the Darkness were all the results of systematic faliures from those outside her control. She WAS right to be hateful to the Traveler- it leaving Riis WAS what caused the Whirlwind, and the total loss of her homeworld. And yes, she DID choose to seize the Darkness to try to eliminate it, but the thing was that she had no idea just what she was getting into at the time. The Witness manipulates and abuses the weak and vulnerable- she thought she'd finally gotten her hands on a means of keeping the Eliksni safe from the Guardians (which she's right about btw!!) and leveling the playing field so she could fight on par with literal godslayers, but she was tricked. It's extremely clear from Plunder onwards that she never desired what the Witness did, but she didn't have a choice bc she was reduced to being just as helpless as she was the day that she fled Riis

But for all her pain, and how much she believes it defines her, it still didn't fully destroy her! She hates what we represent, but she still begs for us to choose what she believes is the path of least suffering. She still asks for us to give her friends the dignity of last deaths, and she grieved with Osiris when he offered her the chance. In Plunder, she warned Eido that if she tampered with her mission that she would kill her, but she still put her own life in danger for the daughter of her enemy- defying the Witness in the process, btw- to save her. And then, in Defiance, she put herself in danger AGAIN by not only betraying the Witness's plans to trap + kill us, but by physically flying into enemy territory to save Misraaks- who nearly killed her just a few months before. She hates what he stands for, but she'll still risk her own life to save him because she always, ALWAYS put the lives of her people over her own- and she knew as soon as the Witness began to turn Salvation into Wrathborn and Scorn that she had lead them into a trap. She's proud, but not so proud as to not recognize when she's done wrong...inwardly, at least

Eramis's heart is fundamentally good and it kills me that she's either ignored or hated by the D2 fanbase (hated more by the widespread audience, really) bc she's outwardly hypocritical and bc of her role in Rasputin's sacrifice (which she didn't even have a choice in, either- she was outright being watched by the Witness). All of her poor decisions are the result of untold centuries of trauma, suffering, animalistic desperation, and then finally being broken down by loss after loss after loss. Nothing she did is something that couldn't have been avoided if she just had the support system to keep her from being driven to the brink, and nothing that she did is not any more terribly monsterous than what we ourselves have done

I sincerely hope that Athrys is somewhere out there for her, and that she and Eido will be that support system for her post-FS. I want to work alongside of her and earn her respect and help her heal so bad, even if she never really comes around to us. It would feel counterproductive to Destiny's theme about grief and healing and learning to move past the unforgivable if we couldn't- because it's not like we didn't do the exact same thing that she did when pressed into the same circumstances (accepting the powers of the Witness to slaughter Salvation en-masse when threatened by them). We just had enough people supporting us to let us know when the devil was whispering in our ear, which is support that she very much did not have when she followed it to Europa

[bri-the-nautilus]

Blorbo Headcanon: The Tragedy of Gurranq

This is one I've been kind of mulling over, but was spurred to devote some serious thought to tonight. Maliketh/Gurranq is adorable. The best, hungriest boi. A faithful shadow, true to the Golden Order. But I think his tragedy extends beyond just feeling like he let Marika down on the Night of Black Knives. To start, we'll need some background.

Farum Azula is a crumbling city in the sky at the center of a time storm. The southern provinces are dotted with debris from Farum Azula, but the city when we visit it is not only reasonably intact, but frozen. Nothing is actively falling. There's no day/night cycle. Passing time doesn't alter the skybox and nothing changes based on when you enter. It's clear that Farum Azula exists outside the normal flow of time, and can even counteract it: when we travel to Placidusax's arena, a destroyed section of the city reforms itself and the Erdtree doesn't exist. Farum Azula is populated by a society of intelligent beastmen, who were blessed with intellect and five fingers as stated by the Cinquedea, Gurranq's clerical shortsword.

Gurranq, the Beast Clergyman, is a robed figure who makes his home in Dragonbarrow, protected by a Black Blade Kindred. He guides and leads the Hunters of Those Who Live In Death, who weed deathroot. Deathroot is said to be the source of Those Who Live In Death, and Gurranq eats it. The Stone and Claw of Gurranq incantations say that he once went by a different name, which meant "Death of the Demigods." If the player feeds every obtainable deathroot to Gurranq, he thanks them for being a friend but states that he has "done all he can for this world" and promptly disappears.

Maliketh, the Black Blade, is to Queen Marika as Blaidd is to Ranni. He wields and protects Destined Death. It was he who defeated the Gloam-Eyed Queen in battle (Godslayer's UGS) and he who was robbed on the Night of Black Knives to create the blades that slew Godwyn and Ranni. For a shadow like Maliketh, the feeling that he let Marika down and the tragedy is his fault must have been impossible to bear. He vows that Destined Death shall not be stolen from him again. We meet Maliketh in Farum Azula, where he first dresses as a Beast Clergyman and wields the Cinquedea before unchaining Destined Death and facing us with his black blade and armor.

The game makes it pretty clear that Gurranq is Maliketh. Besides their identical appearances, Gurranq's old name meaning "Death of the Demigods," and Gurranq's sanctum being guarded by one of Maliketh's black gargoyles, as you progress Gurranq's questline he makes repeated references to a "past sin" and speaks of Marika as if he knew her personally.

Upon dealing enough damage after feeding the fourth Deathroot

"Put it away. I won't forget... again... mine appetite... My sin... So please.... Enough."

Fifth Deathroot

"My thanks Tarnished.... Death... My sin... Should not be touched by the hand of man... I shall grant thee... my claws... Feed me... more..."

Sixth, seventh and eighth Deathroot

"I won't forget... again.... mine appetite... My sin... I must have more... I must consume more..."

Ninth Deathroot

"It is... it is all... consumed. Still., I am not sated... Not nearly sated..." 

"Marika... Is this... what it is... to sin?" "Will things... never be the same... again?" 

"..." 

"Tarnished... my thanks... for thy... long labor. But I have done... all I can... in this land. Henceforth, mine appetite shall be my sole companion. Farewell."

Moreover, if you complete Gurranq's quest before challenging Maliketh for the first time, Maliketh phase one has special dialogue where he recognizes you and laments that he has to fight you.

Tarnished, why wouldst thou... Why... Tis no matter. I hereby vow, that Destined Death shall not be stolen again.

On the contrary, killing Maliketh before/during Gurranq's quest doesn't affect the Clergyman's dialogue.

But this leads us to some questions about the true nature of Gurranq and the timeline of Maliketh's life. Other demigods, such as Morgott, show the ability to project illusory duplicates of themselves. The Omen King does this twice: once in Stormveil and once in the old battlefield. One could easily assume that Gurranq is such an illusion. But there's one problem: He exists even without Maliketh. If you kill Morgott in Leyndell before either Margit, the Margit(s) in question won't spawn. If you kill Maliketh before finishing Gurranq's quest, it doesn't despawn Gurranq. Now the question is, when is Gurranq? Where in Maliketh's life does he fall?

My headcanon is this: After the NoBK, Maliketh seals Destined Death in himself. Marika orders him to go to Farum. Outwardly, she says that having him in the Capital where Destined Death could be stolen was a mistake. Privately, she doesn't want him around when she rebels against the Golden order, similarly to how Iji suspected Blaidd needed to be removed before Ranni killed her Two Fingers. Maliketh has dialogue expressing a strong adherence to the Golden Order, so it's safe to assume that unlike Blaidd with Ranni, he would not have been willing to side with Marika over the Greater Will. Maliketh leaves, but he doesn't go to Farum immediately. Yet. Confused? So am I.

Marika sticks her head into Farum, sees a self-loathing ball of fur, and leaves to plot the Shattering.

Maliketh, meanwhile, feels a duty to help rid the world of the evil that he thinks he allowed the creation of. Those Who Live In Death are a new phenomenon. Godwyn being slain and buried caused his influence to spread along the Erdtree's roots, raising the dead. Although he has restrained Destined Death and no longer wields it, Maliketh is both qualified and honor-bound to fight Those Who Live In Death. And as long as he's in Farum in about half an hour when Marika goes to see him, everything's fine.

Adopting the name 'Gurranq', Maliketh heads for Caelid. There, he sets up shop leading a cadre of Golden Order adherents (eventually including Darian and the Tarnished) in weeding the deathroot that allows the dead to wake. When Marika shatters the Elden Ring, he feels lied to and betrayed, but he pushes it out of mind. The Tarnished succeeds in excising every major deathroot node from the Lands Between and feeding them to Gurranq. Gurranq has done all he can for this world, and thanks his truest comrade for their service before they part ways.

Farum Azula is a city out of time, and Maliketh is demigod and high priest of the city out of time. He arrives right after Marika dismissed him, on time for her to see him there. He knows what she's going to do, but has to bite his tongue. There he sits for all the years after the NoBK. Until one day, the Tarnished arrives.

For them, it's been just days.

For Maliketh, it's been centuries.

Maliketh was betrayed by Marika. He spent centuries simultaneously laboring to repent as Gurranq and sitting alone in a lost city and blaming himself for what went wrong as the time-displaced Black Blade. He had one companion who shared his mission towards the end of his time in the Lands Between, but they parted ways and Maliketh lived all that time again alone. But now, his truest of comrades has returned to kill him and steal that which he swore would not leave his side again.

A second betrayal, more painful than the first.

[dragon-communion]

Brief thoughts on the Godskin Apostasy:

The two things that have persistently bothered me about the Godskins is that they have yellow eyes, and they're distinctly serpentine.

I say serpentine instead of draconic because the Apostles use the same noodle maneuver as the snake-men, and also the Nobles have a distinctly snakelike greenish iridescent tail. If they were related to dragons, they'd have a stony aesthetic, grey and dull with maybe some gold flavoring.

Given the snake attributes it's tempting to say they're related to Volcano Manor, and I need to check the color of Rykard/Eiglay again. But I also think their involvement is more circumstantial than anything? Rykard has a steady supply of hapless victims to skin, if needed. I don't think the Godskins are solely motivated by skin? Maybe they are, it's hard to say what their motivation is now and at least two of them are involved in torture/skinning cult things (Volcano Manor and Dominula, respectively).

Honestly it would make my life easier if we ever saw them fighting something else other than Us.

As it stands, on pure aesthetic evaluation I can say this: yellow eyes signify either Frenzy or the Grace of Gold, thematically. Serpent tails and attributes can be connected to Eiglay, but there also seems to be much deeper lore surrounding the idea of serpents destroying the Erdtree/devouring the gods (hi Messmer). The Godslayer's Seal, and potentially other parts of the Godskin vestements (ex: Godskin Noble Hood) are inlaid with obsidian, which is a type of volcanic glass.

The Godskin Swaddling Cloth implies one of two options, to me. For reference:

Sacred cloth of the Godskin Apostles, made from supple skin sewn together.

Successive attacks restore HP.

The Gloam-Eyed Queen cradles newborn apostles swaddled in this cloth. Soon they will grow to become the death of the gods.

Either the GEQ just hand-selects these babies, born from the Erdtree and then tailored to her purposes, or she could be part of an alternate cycle of life and gestating these souls herself somehow.

Given Messmer, and the presence of the Crucible, I'm tempted to say that snake-people were just a thing that happened sometimes the same way omens happen. Or she could've had a little cult somewhere that artificially made weird snake children. It's hard to say. But I do think the Godskins are blessed and have souls- I think their yellow eyes are supposed to signify grace, though I might see about comparing them to the merchants just in case.

They're weak to Sleep, which implies they have low Focus and would be weak to Frenzy, if they weren't strong against Fire. The fire and holy resistances make sense considering they use fire, they decorate with volcanic glass, and they're all about killing gods. A weakness to bleed and sleep, though, implies very low Arcane to me.

Arcane, as a stat, influences blood/poison/sleep buildup, and discovery. What I think that means in comparison to the other stats is that there's something inherently visceral to the concept of Arcane. It comes from and relates to the body, in a way Int and Faith and Focus just don't. Albinaurics notably have high Arcane, because their bodies are made of something distinctly not-flesh and malleable. What are the Godskins made of?

Their weapons are STR/DEX (Peeler 17/22 and Needle 14/17, respectively) with a higher emphasis on dexterity, which essentially amounts to them being quick spellcasters and I suppose that's useful. Their spells also cost a good chunk of Faith, and that has some interesting character implications to me, but I suppose nothing we couldn't have surmised already.

While specific damage types seem to be involved with various gods, the attributes we use for magically casting them imply a lot about what that character is thinking or doing on their downtime. Fate is not an abstract thing to have faith in- the stars are something to be analyzed and understood. Conversely, while Miquella's soldiers might still be aligned with the grace of gold and its patron, they explode because they are full of faith and love for their lord. They do not understand, they only believe.

The fact that the Godskins use incantations means they believe in something, and that belief gives them the power to light my ass on fire by praying really hard as opposed to using any particular physical inherently magical catalyst like glintstone. It's safe to assume, I think, that all of them are using Godslayer Seals, and I'm pretty sure the STR requirement is easily explained by the fact that they specialize in flaying people.

I think the seals in-game might function kind of like wearing a rosary or a cross? It's a relic of belief whose power comes from belief- for the ones that are formless, like Dragon Communion or Frenzy, it's because the seal isn't actually a physical item. The Dragon Communion seal is made of blood, which aligns with the fact that you're empowered by hearts. You're becoming a dragon and there are dragons in your blood. Frenzy's the same principle except with eye lasers.

I'm hoping the DLC will give me more information (do not spoil me) but considering how carnal the Godskins are, I think it'd be strange to find them in the spiritual lands of shadow. Maybe if I shake Messmer upside down some snake lore will fall out.

[screaming-for-eternally]

Screw it. Decided to come up with my own personal general Cayde-6 Reverse Forsaken HCs -The divergence is simple: Cayde goes after the inmates while The Guardian stays with the control center, and ends up pulling a Cayde and bringing it down-Cayde's a bad influence after all. -Things go as you'd expect-the YW does well, then they don't. They make the fateful mistake of taking Ghost out. And they get shot with their own gun. -I kind of imagine they are far less accepting of their final moments than Cayde was. Cayde had been a Guardian for several centuries. The Wolf? Only four years. Might not have put on a brave face like Cayde did, and instead were scared of their impending death. -And so, The Young Wolf, the godslayer, and possibly the greatest and most powerful Guardian in history-dies on the floor of that prison, barley 4 years after they were rezzed. -And Cayde? Let's just say this whole thing breaks him. -Now, how 'well' Cayde takes it depends on your Guardian's relationship with your Guardian-be it mentor-student, friends, or even lovers. I'm gonna say for the sake of this their friends, but note that the closer Cayde was with the YW, the worse he spirals. -It was what happened to Andal all over again.

-Now, Cayde blames himself big time. Not least of all because he brought the barons into custody in the first place. He had been merciful. And it had gotten his friend killed. Well not this time. -At the funeral, Cayde tells Zavala to shove his 'no revenge' talk up his ass. He was coming back with Uldren's head on a silver platter, with or without the rest of the Vanguard's support. He wanted to do nothing after their hero was murdered? Fine. but Cayde wasn't gonna sit this one out. Not this time. -Speaking of, part of me thinks Cayde might have a heated argument with Zavala before he leaves. And it gets ugly. Like, real ugly. Cayde's grieving and pissed at Zavala for being such a coward in his eyes. And he's gonna pull every cruel insult and jab in the book at him. He comes to regret it later of course. And he does eventually apologize and try to make it up to Zavala. But for now, their friendship is in the gutter. -Anyways Cayde heads to the Shore -He has far less patience for Spider's little 'quid pro quo' deal. He makes it clear either Spider can give him the information he wants, or Cayde can squeeze it out of him. -Cayde during Forsaken is almost an entirely different person. Sure he might crack a quiet, half-hearted joke here or there, but those are just fleeting moments. For the most part though? He acts like a ruthlessly efficient yet brutal killing machine. When Cayde catches the Barons one by one, he shows not a shred of mercy. Petra and Sundance see this...and it freaking unerves them to see Cayde shift so drastically. -Eventually Cayde catches up with Uldren. -And let's just say Uldren doesn't get an easy death and leave it at that. -Cayde returns to the Tower. -Given the whole storming the reef without orders thing, and given how brutally he dispatched Uldren and the Barons, there's a good chance he ends up getting removed from the Vanguard-In a cruel twist of fate, Cayde finally gets to be free of the Tower...at the cost of the Wolf. -Following all of that, Cayde heads back to the Shore, hunting the remaining Scorn as part of some unhealthy coping mechanism. -It's there where he runs into Crow

-Cayde's pretty bitter about the whole thing. He knows it's not Uldren and he logically shouldn't be mad at him for that but...it just isn't fair. -That being said, while he may or may not be Vanguard anymore, Crow's still a fellow Hunter. -So when learns of Crow's 'employment' to Spider...it takes every fiber of his being not to just go up and shoot the kingpin. -He does however make it clear that if Spider doesn't take the bomb off Glint and let Crow go he wouldn't hesitate to slaughter him and his gang off the face of the Reef. Given that Cayde would've likely developed a fearsome reputation due to his actions with the Scorn Barons, Spider would damn well know he wasn't bluffing. You don't fuck with Cayde's Hunters on his watch. -Eventually, Cayde warms up to Crow. And slowly but surely, he starts to come out of the shell he'd been hiding in since Forsaken. -I kinda think Cayde would take up the YW's mantle of Godslayer alongside Crow. Two Hunters kicking ass and taking names. That's all I have for this. If you like any of ideas and want to use them for your own AU, feel free.

[evilvvithin]

Track you down pt.6

Pairing: yautja (feral) x f!reader 

Warnings: gore | blood | violence | killing

Summary: You proved yourself worthy sooner than you expected. 

Words: 3, 730

Notes: Decided to stop splitting chapters depending on word count, so they’re longer and also take longer. Any similarity with other yautjas is only visual maybe, it’s not the actual characters. Also please note english is not my first language, but it should be proof read.

AO3 | OTHER CHAPTERS

TAGS: @looseratinthegarage @life-or-something-like-lt @celebrain @themology @magicalus-godslayer @ajarofpickledtears

Words used:

sain’ja (warrior)

ooman (human)

ki'dte (enough)

tarei’hasan (insect)

~~~~~

When you woke up, you felt every single muscle in your body. You were still squished inside your mate's arm in the same position as when you fell asleep. Feeling more and more uncomfortable in the position, you slowly tried to wiggle out of his hug. His mandible twitched, you knew he was not asleep. As soon as he realized you were trying to get away, he pulled you back close to his chest and scratched his hand on your back all the way down to your ass. Feeling his hug getting tighter and his member starting to grow against your thigh, you pulled him away, pressing your hands on his chest. You couldn't move him an inch on your own, but he understood your body language and let you get some space, pulling his arm away to break the tight hug. You immediately sat up at the edge of the bed, looking at him.

"I'm sorry," you said. You almost felt bad for not being able to fulfill his needs, you could clearly see he wanted to mount you again so much. "I need some time in between, my whole body is aching."

His mandible twitched again, he seemed irritated. 

"Don't ever say sorry for something like that again." 

His voice sounded rough. He reached for your hand and stroked it gently a few times.

"You might be an ooman, but you're my mate. Mate, not a piece of equipment I own."

With those words, he turned away from you and purred a little. It was a clear sign that he's going to take more rest. You had many words on your tongue but decided to remain silent. 

I can tell him later.

Putting on some clothes, you noticed the doors to the back hall leading outside were unlocked. He always locked them during the night. As you sneaked to the doors, they opened with a silent hiss and you headed towards the last doors. You didn't expect them to open at all, but they made a squeak and opened in front of you. 

Cloud of steam filled your vision when you stepped outside. You might've been in a warm climate, near the desert, but the nights were still quite cold. You didn't remember the last time you just walked outside the ship without your mate or dog by your side. You exhaled slowly, watching the steam travel through the air, enjoying the silence and peace.

Your ship was parked at the edge of forest where you hunted and large plains, turning into deadly desert at the horizon. You wandered into the forest, grabbing some sticks. It was really silent, maybe even too silent for your liking. You'd never go further away without your mate so as soon as your arms were full of thin dry sticks, you rushed back to the ship and set up a little campfire in front of it. The feeling of wanting to do something relaxing and human was stronger than your doubts if it was safe. 

We're here for some time and nothing has happened yet, you shove away the doubts.

Remembering the fire starting technique from campa you've been to, using two rocks, you heard the flames eating up the dry little stick soon enough.

Within seconds you felt the warmth coming from the flames. You loved the smell of the smoke as long as it wasn't going right into your face. Staring into the flames and listening to the cracking noise, calmed your mind and body as you sat by it. 

You heard a hiss from behind you, followed by another one and your dog ran at you. He was just with you inside, yet he wagged his tail as if he didn't see you for months. Focused on dodging his licks, you missed the doors opening again. 

"What is this?" Your mate let out a growl.

"Fire…?" You answered anxiously and turned to him. 

He was wearing his mask but left most of his gear and equipment inside.

"Fire? There's no food to put on it." His head tilted, he wasn't mad as you thought but rather confused. "Or did you get some? Alone?" 

You loved the way he was protective of you, yet he always denied it. You loved it but you wanted him to trust you more too, to trust you that you can wander around on your own and still be fine.

"I just needed some fuel for the fire," you said. "We don't need fire only for food."

He tilted his head again so you continued, "it's relaxing, you know? Gives warmth too."

He was silent with his mandibles moving around slowly. He didn't seem to be able to wrap his head around the fact you'd make something without any real purpose. It was a waste of time in his eyes, he didn't understand why you'd make a fire when he had all the high tech inside his ship that could've given you the same, quicker. 

"Come," you patted the ground next to you. "Try it."

He was hesitant at first, but decided to join you at the fire. You stared back into the flames, reaching out your palms to feel the warmth. After a while, he copied your behavior and the three of you sat silently around the fire, watching the sun go up slowly. 

"I have to admit, this is nice." Your mate said. "Too calm."

You chuckled at his words. Of course he'd say that, you thought, he mainly hunts, stalks and fights. He wants action.

"You didn't give it a chance fully, yet." You smiled at him. 

"We will move to another resting location," he informed you after a long silence.

You nodded in response. Constantly moving was his way of "not being able to be tracked so easily", which you still didn't understand. Who was he hiding from? Was someone after you, except the government on Earth? 

"I never noticed you have more than one sun," you pointed towards a round, glowly object in the sky.

Without breaking eye contact with it, you could feel your yautja tense up right away. 

"We don't," he hissed and stood up rapidly. "It's a ship."

The more you looked at the object, the more you were noticing its shape and features. The glowing you thought you saw before was in fact the ship's shield, going off and on invisibility creating a false image of glowing light. It was still far away, but you could see it was way bigger than your ship. The closer the object got, the more uneasy you felt.

"Inside," your mate commanded you calmly and you ran inside the ship without hesitation, making sure your dog was following you. 

It's his race, his language. I won't be useful there at all. Your head was flooded with thoughts. Are they friendly? Why is he gearing up and running around the ship like that, making sure I stay hidden inside? 

Your dog started to whine loudly, sensing something coming. 

Can't be anything good if he's reacting like that.

You grabbed some smaller knife your mate gave you before, for hunting purposes mainly. You doubted any yautja would feel it if you stabbed them with it, but the fact you had something calmed you down. Won't be needing that anyway.

Your mate told you before that there were different species than just his ones, some more advanced and bloodthirsty than others. Overall, they all had the same honor code. So technically we should be fine, you were calming yourself down. 

It took longer than you expected, but you finally heard a dull bang from a distance as the ship landed. Soon after, you heard the typical clicking noise from outside combined with silent growls. You were able to catch a couple of yautja words but that didn't help you understand what was going on outside at all. You felt frustrated when you couldn't even tell if they were cursing each other or just chatting.

Your dog barked suddenly and all the noises outside stopped. 

"Fuck-" you bit your lip scratched your dogs back in an attempt to get his attention away from barking more. "Shh, it's okay!"

"Thei-de!" Someone yelled outside with a deep growl, making you jump.

You've never heard something so sinister. Right after, door hissing and loud banging was heard, as if something, or someone, was being thrown at the ship's walls. Not long after, your ears were deafened by an inhuman yell. Eyes widening in fear, you pushed your dog into a smaller room behind the bedroom hall and locked him up. Clenching your fingers around the knife, making your knuckles turn white, you bent over and sneaked towards the entry doors, trying to see what was happening. As soon as you turned the corner, you saw your mate being held above the campfire, flames licking his back. One foreign yautja holding him, another one standing right next to him. The noises they were making resembled a laugh, making you feel sick. Those aren't normal yautjas, ran through your mind immediately. You couldn't wait any longer and you couldn't run there mindlessly. 

They were way bulkier than your mate, wearing more armor and weapons as well. You noticed their helmets were also bigger, covering their whole face including the mandibles. You could clearly see their helmets being covered in a bunch of symbols and scars, framed by little horns around the helmet's top. Other yautja seemed to have something like sabertooths teeth incorporated into his helmet. 

Your yautja let out another painful screech and you snapped back to reality.

Couldn't wait any longer and you couldn't run there mindlessly-

You sprinted mindlessly towards the enemies, screaming and jumping on one's shoulders. They were too surprised to see you dive bomb them like that, they didn't even know how to react. Letting go of your mate in the confusion, he rolled away and rested on his knees for a second before pulling out his extended pike and roaring at the two yautjas. You wrapped your legs tightly around the yautjas neck and used the small knife to cut into the only unarmored skin you saw, right under its helmet. Your hand got covered with green blood immediately and you heard him gargling. He wasn't hurt, really, but he was really mad at you. Grabbing your legs, the yautja pulled you over his head, tearing your clothes and some skin on its helmet's horns and threw you into the air with full force. Vision blacked out when you hit the ground roughly and the air got knocked out of your lungs. You had it happen many times before, but this time you didn't seem to be able to get the air back quickly. With the corner of your eye, you saw your mate fighting the other yautja. He was doing well, the heavy full armor was actually making the yautjas slower so he was dodging his every attack as he was slimmer and more agile. The yautjas didn't group up on you at least, it was unwritten one on one. They couldn't leave you alone but they also didn't want to degrade themselves by grouping up against a ooman female. 

The yautja kept walking towards you, pulling out a round object and playfully throwing it from one hand to the other. You knew that weapon, while looking like a ball it was a disc with a similar mechanic to boomerang. 

I need to calm down and breathe, you stood up slowly. 

Your vision was steady now and you focused on the yautja, standing in front of you. He was waiting for you to get up and attack. 

"Ki'dte," he growled deeply and got ready to throw the object. 

Right after he aimed at you, your dog sprinted at him and jumped on his back, making the yautja target something way above your head. You made sure he was locked up before, but you were glad he managed to get out. Saved my life, precious baby. As soon as he let go of it, it changed into a disc, flying right at you. You stood still, feeling the air from it brush on the top of your head. 

"Tarei’hasan!" The yautja spat out turned to your dog. 

The blood in your veins froze.

"Hey! Pick a fight with someone at your level!" You yelled at him.

It did work and the yautja ignored your dog. You could feel his smirk under the mask. Your dog kept barking and backed away towards the ship's doors. 

He just wants me to entertain him before killing me. Thinking I'm not worth his time. 

While you were trying to catch your breath before, he got bored with you and decided to end you. You could tell this yautja wasn't respecting any code of honor. He thought you were weak, almost pathetic. He couldn't bear some small human challenging him. You glanced towards your mate once more, he was injured a lot but still winning his fight, trying to get closer to you to help you.

He's bigger, he's stronger, he's taller. He's full of himself.

"Why are you just standing there?" You shouted.

He's overconfident. Reckless. Clearly has a slower reactions if I was able to jump on him before.

"You look like a joke!" You kept shouting at him.

You had no idea if he understood you, but seeing him get visibly tilted you assumed he knew some english. He was fuming that such a small ooman can be so rude, that you were disrespecting him. He was done with you. Your saliva got stuck in your throat as you saw him pull out his wrist blades and sped up at you.

This is a suicide, were your last words before sprinted towards him and his shiny blades. 

"Stop!" You heard your mate shouting at you. 

He saw what you were doing was stupid, but he also couldn't do anything as he had his hands full with the other yautja. He was growling with helplessness, lunging at his enemy furiously. 

Ducking down out of nowhere, the yautja stabbed his wrist blades into the air and clicked his mandibles in surprise.

Too slow as I thought. I might not be able to overpower him, but I can outsmart him. 

He raised his wrist blades up and flew them down at your back. You dodged, but not fully. Your side was scarred and you felt your clothes being sticky from the blood. You didn't feel any pain thanks to the adrenaline which took over your body. Fingers tightly wrapped around your knife's handle, you stabbed above you right into the hole in his armor, penetrating the skin on his inner leg. He was going to suffer a huge blood loss from this, weakening him massively. At least you hoped. He twitched at your stab, grabbing the wound hissing in pain. Without waiting a moment you jumped on his shoulders again, holding yourself in place with your legs. Raising your knife high up to make the stab stronger, you aimed for his already scared neck, still bleeding from your first attack. He was throwing his arms around, not able to touch you. His bulky armor was making his movement difficult, he couldn't put his arms so far on his back. You stabbed him in the neck again and again. He started to choke on his blood soon, gargling some word you didn't understand but assumed it was the other Yautjas name, because he reacted to it and turned his head to you two. As soon as he did that, your mate took the chance and with a spin, he severed his arms through the armor. The yautja was paralyzed and just watched your mate spin again, beheading him with a single powerful hit of his pike. 

You kept stabbing your enemy, in the same place, each time going deeper and deeper into the wound. You were cutting the important veins, everything covered with his green blood spraying from the wound. Your mate stood in the distance, holding the dead Yautjas head, breathing heavily. He was looking at your fight, tilting his head. You felt your arms weakening from the fight, but you kept stabbing with force and soon enough, the yautja fell down to his knees. He was too weak to stand, fight and defend himself thanks to all the blood he lost. Just like you planned. You felt him leaning backwards, he was about to fall on his back. Letting go of him, you stabbed him in the neck one last time. When the blade buried deep in his throat, his gargling and groaning immediately stopped and his lifeless body fell to the ground. 

Your breathing was rapid, realizing fully just now what had happened here. The adrenaline leaving your body slowly, your legs trembled and you fell down to your knees next to the motionless yautja. You weren't even sure if he was dead or just unconscious. He couldn't survive the blood loss and the damage you've caused to his neck, but you still didn't trust it. Your mate walked up to you slowly. Grabbing the yautjas head with his free hand, he pulled his head from his torso with a single powerful move. The Yautjas spine followed the severed head, coming out of the bloody neck like a snake. Your stomach turned a little at the sight, but the sick feeling went away as quickly as it appeared. Your mate raised both of the severed to his face and looked at them for a while before grabbing them both in one hand by their dreadlocks. Looking down at both of the torsos, he seemed like he wanted to spit on them if he could. 

“Bad blood,” he grinned through his mandibles instead and turned to you. 

"My sain'ja," he purred and offered you his now free hand.

He was all bloody, covered in wounds but none of them was serious. You accepted his bloody hand and pulled yourself up, supporting yourself. Your legs were trembling but this time it wasn’t because of exhaustion. Your whole body was shivering from excitement. 

I really did it, went through your mind. I defeated yautja and survived. 

I’m a killer, the silent doubtful voice appeared in your thoughts, trying to break your pride. No no, it was self defense. It wasn’t killing, it was fighting and I won. 

Arguing in your head, you followed your mate inside the ship. Your dog stuck to your leg constantly,  looking up to you. He was ready to jump into your lap and calm you down. He already managed to calm you down, the arguing in your own head stopped and you smiled down at him. Your mate seated you down in his chair at the main control panel and kneeled in front of you. It looked like he was going to ask you to marry him and you couldn’t help but chuckle. 

“Your very own trophy.” He gave you the severed head of the yautja you killed. “Trophy worth more than what I’ve expected.”

You didn’t want to, but grabbed the head anyway. Blood was dripping into your lap, you felt the warmth of it soaking into your clothes. 

“You didn’t help me,” you asked curiously. 

“No need,” he purred in his reply. “You didn’t need any help.”

You expected his answer, but actually hearing it from him made you feel good. He stood up and walked over to his “equip wall” where he kept all his gear. Grabbing one of many shoulder spear guns he had there, he returned to you. 

“This is now yours.” He clicked his mandibles. “And this.”

Pointing at the head you were holding, you realized that the speargun is tied to his helmet sensor for targeting. 

“Your greatest trophy,” he grabbed it back and walked away to a table. “I will turn it into your helmet so you can wear it proudly.”

And show to everyone that I slayed a yautja, you finished in your mind.

You heard something being sprayed and steam was coming from behind your mate. You sat silently, the excitement still overwhelming you. 

“Are you still scared of your tribemates seeing me now, then?” Your voice was teasing. 

You always wanted him to believe in you more, to stop thinking you’re more fragile than you were. He didn’t think that at all.

“Now, we have a long flight infront of us.” His head tilted slightly so he could see you with the corner of his eye and keep working on the helmet for you. “You are now blooded as we say, you are an ooman who slayed one of Yautja. You are respected and won’t be harmed under any circumstances, unless…” 

He paused for a long time. 

“Unless we come across more of those bad bloods. Criminals.” He hissed the word out. “But those won’t harm you either. You are more than capable of fighting them.” 

His mandibles pleasantly clicked. You felt he was more proud of you than you were. Uneasy feeling was growing in your stomach, feeling nervous about actually meeting other yautjas. What are they gonna think about me? I’m just a woman… Can they accept me? 

It took around half an hour but your mate finally turned to you, holding a small bio helmet in his hand. It looked ridiculous when he was holding as the helmet was resized to fit your head. Upper part of the yautjas skull was cleaned and whitened, its shape reformed slightly so it goes down face instead of forward. He kept the mandibles on it too, for decoration. You had to admit it looked magnificent, intimidating. He handed you your helmet and spear gun, which you could use now. He attached the aiming sensor on the side. 

"You'll need time to get used to it," he stopped you from trying the gear out.

You were too excited to try the new stuff out, to see the world and hunt like your mate. 

"Wanna go hunt?" You smiled at him and saw his mandibles widen in disagreement. 

“After you heal,” he pointed at your bloody side. “It’s gonna take just a minute,” he added after seeing your disappointed face.

Of course it would, with his technology. 

Your face brightened up again and in a moment, all three of you headed into the forest.

[squidkid15]

Challenge- rank your AUs macaque and wukong relationships from 'seconds away from killing each other' to 'best friends forever'

Oh dear god anon that's so many to rank and they also rapidly slide up and down the scale depending on the timeline (most of them end up besties cuz hawk and I love that sweet sweet reconciliation) but here we go. Higher on the list means they'll kill each other for a corn chip, lower means they'd die for the other at the drop of a hat.

Not gonna do them ALL because that's a WILD amount of them but here's the major ones.

Seconds away from killing each other

Early Hunter - hands down no question they're BRUTAL like second place is MILES behind them it's terrifying

Early/Mid Sanctuary - They hate each other. Macaque very much so, Wukong is just...kinda tired.

Early Daydreams - One-sided, Macaque would murder Wukong but it's not returned.

Early Wasteland - They’re not actively fighting physically but...the verbal abuse....is...is rough.

Early Core - tbh hardly counts because we don't spend much time with it. Basically canon hostility levels but it doesn't last long after the AU diverges, they reconcile pretty early.

Snapped - Kinda neither? Wukong doesn't know Mac exists and Mac avoids Wukong? Idk it's some secret third thing that doesn't really fit on this scale but it's here anyways.

Late Sanctuary - some things are....sorta settled? They're not at each other's throats but it's still a lil strained.

Late Wasteland - It's...something. They're never at each other's throats but it's tense for the most part. Not about to break out into a fight but it's more just...they don't AVOID each other but circumstances make things hard.

Ghost - I wouldn't use the word besties but they're close. It's more protective than friends?

Late Hunter - They're the friends that curse and swear and yell insults at each other constantly but like in a /fond kind of way you know the ones

Late Daydreams - also super close, but I wouldn't call them ride or die. TBH once you're down here on the list they're all super close and the rankings get less and less meaningful cuz Hawk and I just love them being close ahjgfbgf.

Tiny Man - Similar to ghost but a little bit more because both parties are like Fully There. More protective and a little bit parent-child and it's a lot of things but yeah they're close.

Godslayer - Not besties but a little more parent/child but also not. Red would do anything to keep MK safe because he won't let himself fail again.

Long Shadows (Lotus's, less shared) - Almost on a core level of codependence, they never had a huge fallout so they've had a long time to be close.

Late Core - literally cannot be any closer, they would literally do anything before they'd lose the other. And I mean literally as in the dictionary definition.

Literally ride or die besties