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lunamond · 1 month

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The argument that the switch-up between Tamlin and Rhysand as love interests was SJM making a clever commentary on the inherently problematic nature of the Beauty and the Beast tale is actually really annoying to me.

I'm absolutely not above being critical of this story.

However, just because there are problematic aspects in the foundational version of this story doesn’t mean that modern iterations automatically possess these as well.

So let's look at how modern retellings deal with the most commonly criticised element of the story: the kidnapping.

For me personally, the most important thing to look at when judging how "problematic" the kidnapping in any given Beauty and the Beast story is, is to look at what the actual power dynamics at play are.

Most of these stories tend to feature some inherent power imbalance between the Beauty and the Beast characters. However, most retellings also feature a curse/curser who puts pressure on the Beast to kidnap Beauty in the first place. This means there is always some kind of higher power/authority who holds significant power over the Beast as well.

In the og Fairytale version, we have a scorned Fae/Witch who curses the Beast. The stakes for the Beast are to find a woman, make her fall in love with him, or stay a Beast forever.

How much this gives the Beast a pass for the crime of kidnapping is, of course, sth each person has to decide for themself.

However, most modern retellings tend to significantly increase the severity of the conditions and consequences of said curse, often times putting many lives outside of the Beast's own at stake.

This increase in stakes, at least for me, significantly impacts how much I condemn the actions of the Beast character.

We see this in the Disney version were all the people living and working in the castle were turned into animate objects and risk turning inanimate once the time-limit for the curse runs out, which is essentially a child friendly way of saying that they will all die.

In the YA novel Cruel Beauty (which I already compared to Acotar in an older post), the Beast character is forced to take a new bride every century. Due to the specifics of the curse, the safety of an entire country is dependent on his compliance with the conditions put on him. So, despite the fact that he initially appears much more powerful than the Beauty character, they are essentially both stuck under the same curse.

The first Acotar book works the same way. Tamlin kidnaps Feyre, not because he wants to but because the conditions of the curse put not just the fate of the SC but of the entirety of Prythian at stake.

That's, of course, not to say that this isn't a violent experience for Feyre and her family. But it does mean that Tamlin isn't the instigator of this violent act, but the person responsible for the curse, aka Amarantha.

The attempt to turn this into a subversion of the BnB story by revealing Tamlin as a violent and abusive partner becomes incredibly frustrating, because most of the violent undertone present in the 1st book, that fans like to point towards as an early sign of his future abusive behaviors are not caused by Tamlin himself but by Amarantha (and her batwinged lackey).

But SJM's attempt is especially nonsensical because Feyre's new romance with Rhysand is just a worse version of BnB.

I am aware that the second book, Acomaf, is most commonly marketed as a Hades/Persephone retelling.

But here is the thing; the modern interpretation of Hades/Persephone as a romance is much more akin to the story of Beauty and the Beast than the hymn to Demeter (the og source text featuring the myth of Hades/Persephone), which as the title suggests is much more concerned with the feelings of grief and rage a mother feels in response to her daughter's abduction than anything else.

So, let's judge Feysand's story with the same standards we just used for other modern BnB retellings.

Immediately, we run into the issue that Rhysand doesn't have a higher power above him forcing him to kidnap Feyre (unless you want to count the mating bond, but that is clearly meant to be seen as a positive so that doesn't really work, Amarantha doesn't count either).

However, it gets worse.

He is the one who forces the bargain on Feyre, ensuring she has to spend 1 week in the NC for the rest of her life. When he later kidnaps her, he is fulfilling the curse he himself put on her.

In this version, the Beast character, Rhysand, is not the cursed but the curser. So he is at once the kidnapper AND the higher power enforcing the curse/the cause for the kidnapping.

In a direct comparison between the way Tamlin and Rhysand each fullfill the Beast role, it becomes pretty apparent how utterly SJM's supposed criticism of the BnB story has failed; Tamlin kidnaps Feyre because he is forced to, Rhysand does because he WANTS to.

#anti feysand #anti acomaf #anti rhysand #anti sjm #acotar #feyre archeron #pro tamlin

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hinacu-arts · 4 months

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Writing idea masterpost - DP x DC

Fav tropes (specifically: DoM tropes)

Danny & Billy dynamic

Doofenshmirtz AU

Ghost King Court AU

Haunted hotspots

Tik tok stitch

Movie night

Dani & Kon platonic soulmatch - timkon

Vlad sues Lex for plagiarism. Danny sues Lex and Superman for custody of Kon

Football tailgate

"Pit incubus"

Asexual repro = Zeus?

Prince Jason 1 / Prince Jason 2

Dead On Main

DoM cult ritual

DoM Wedding

DoM sleeping beauty

DoM R.I.P.D. AU

DoM Hades & Persephone

DoM spooky speed dating

DoM sex pollen

DoM college aus

DoM soulmates?!

"Spooky"

Serious Chaos

SC Student AU

SC Zookeeper AU

Eleanor

Missile launcher

Irritation-to-lovers

Get out of my city

Prompts

Fenton-Foley Protection Services

Amity is city-state

Wrong number

Batfam ghost cores

Boor

PTA wars

Jason the book review youtuber

Spacedace's QoC au designs

These two aus

#dp x dc #masterpost #hinacu xover

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adelainejdevyn · 1 year

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You're the new ribbon, Az.

Gwynriel week 1 day 4🌶

The wooden door of the shack burst open and fell off its hinges. The footsteps echoed across the walls of the old house as a figure stepped inside. The golden light from the lanterns on the street illuminated his body but left his face in utter darkness. His broad shoulders filled the space, and beyond them, Persephone caught a glimpse of his white feathered wings.

Gwyn snapped the volume shut, the sound echoing off the walls of the library beneath the House of Wind. Thankfully, the soft firelight along the bookshelf wasn’t bright enough to reveal her heated cheeks.

She clutched the book to her chest, her heart hammering beneath it as she quickly made her way up into the House. Gwyn was aware that she had been late, but she had been electrified by this particular chapter in the Union of Souls. Azriel could stand to wait a bit longer for her to join him.

The House was quiet as Gwyn made her way along the halls. She knew Nesta and Cassian had gone to bed early. Cassian had just returned from the Illyrian Mountains, and Nesta was exhausted by training.

Gwyn tried to calm her breathing as she reached Azriel’s room and opened the door. “I lost track of time while reading-”

“Gwyneth.”

Gwyn stopped in her tracks, her back against the shut door. The sight before her made her stomach flutter; Azriel sat naked on a chair in the middle of his room, soft candlelight licked the planes of his torso, his thick thighs spread and those massive wings sprouting from his back and drooping to the marble floor.

“Oh,” Gwyn said, as she watched the muscles in his arms, which were pulled behind his back. As his shadows danced around him, she saw the flutter of a ribbon, which must be securing his wrists behind him.

Gwyn’s book clattered to the floor, hunger in her eyes and throat as she looked at his desire, his cock straining against his lower abdomen.

When Gwyn had approached Azriel a few months ago with the request to help her release some stress through acting out naughty scenes from her favorite book, she had not imagined he would say yes. She likely thought he would gently shut her drunken idea down.

But he had said yes. Since then they had been kissing, touching and fucking on every surface of the House of Wind, Azriel’s own apartment and in a nook on the stairs no one really visited anymore.

“I see that you’ve caught up on the latest scene,” Gwyn whispered, “it is one of my favorites.”

Azriel’s smile was lazy and utterly gorgeous. His hazel eyes hard when they met hers, “Let’s see how much you’ve studied up, Berdara.”

Gwyn stepped over the fallen book, her hands making quick work of her robe which fell onto the floor. She wore a short, light blue nightgown, and she knew that the shape of her breasts were visible beneath it.

Azriel’s hip raised slightly off the chair, but his body was otherwise restrained. His shadows traveled from his legs, up his torso and settled onto his wings as Gwyn approached him.

She stood between his legs, her finger coming up to trace the pattern of his tattoos on his chest. She felt his chest rise and fall at her touch.

“Am I in charge tonight, shadowsinger?” She asked. Gwyn sometimes let him lead, especially in the beginning as she was as good as clueless. She liked having him command her, it drove her wild.

“You,”Azriel met her gaze steadily, “have always been the one in charge.”

Gwyn’s breath caught in her throat, her finger momentarily stilling on his skin. She licked her lips before nodding.

Azriel’s face was serious when she leaned over and kissed him. His lips were soft and warm but she opened her mouth to him, their tongues dancing shyly.

Gwyn crawled onto his lap, she wore no underwear beneath her nightgown and his hard flesh against her wet cunt felt blissful.

Azriel made a low sound as she began to grind against him, her arms around his neck, the tips of her fingers tickling his wings.

“This is inappropriate,” he protested faintly, the dialogue from the scene they were acting embedded in his brain. Gwyn smiled against his lips.

“Fine,” She played along, “I’m getting off of you-”

“No.” Azriel said, which was not part of the scene and kissed her again. Gwyn let her hand roam over his chest, he was hot beneath her palms and his arm strained from being tied up.

“Oh,” she said as she sunk onto him, “that is very inappropriate of you, husband.”

Azriel moaned, and she blushed at the word. Husband. It was just the book’s dialogue, she told herself, that is why he’s turned on. That and the fact that she was riding him. Azriel didn’t feel anything other than friendship for her, besides lust.

Gwyn leaned down, her hands reached behind him and pulled on the ribbon. The moment he was free, one scarred hand encircled her throat, while the other settled on her lower back. His fingers dug into her hot flesh as he guided her over him.

The sound of their desire was enough to make Gwyn pant through her teeth. Azriel let his head fall back, his throat exposed as his mouth fell open in silent ecstasy.

“Gwyn.” He rasped.

She gasped as he managed to make her move even quicker above him, the sound of her nightgown tearing beneath his grip echoed off the walls.

He yanked her forward by the throat for a searing kiss that pushed them both over the edge. Gwyn fell into the sparkling lights of her delicious orgasm as she felt Azriel spill inside of her so violently that his come ran down her thighs.

Cauldron, she thought, the Valkyrie Book Club was going to be so much more interesting with her next update.

Author’s note:

Curious to see what Gwyn had been reading? Check out my Wattpad page!

#gwynriel #azriel x gwyn #gwynrielweeks2023 #you're the new ribbon az #smut #gwynrielweek2023

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violetvalentine · 9 months

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~The Haunting~

Outfit (Girl):

Corset Top: [DB] - Gloriana Corset - (The Midnight Order - Event - Jul/Aug 2023)

Capelet: toksik - Sweet Time Cape - (The Midnight Order - Event - Jul/Aug 2023)

Accessories (Girl):

Necklace: Insomnia Angel - Psyche Rose Necklace - (The Midnight Order - Event - Jul/Aug 2023)

Candle: !R!&:P: - Orryn Candles - Barrel Candle

Body (Girl):

Hair: [monso] - Valenska Hair

Skin: . Nar Mattaru . - Persephone Skin - Fairest - (The Midnight Order - Event - Jul/Aug 2023)

Brows: TF - Narcissus Brows - (The Midnight Order - Event - Jul/Aug 2023)

Eyeshadow: keikumu - chamb eyeshadows - onyx

Eyeliner: . Nar Mattaru . - Fearless Liner

Lipstick: . Nar Mattaru . - Velvetine HD Lipsticks

Scar: TF - Narcissus Scar - (The Midnight Order - Event - Jul/Aug 2023)

Nails: Yomi - Precious Petals - Fatpack

Eyes: Mana. - Affliction Eyes

Head: Lelutka - Ceylon

Body: eBody

Body (Monster):

Head: CRYPTID - The Agma - (The Midnight Order - Event - Jul/Aug 2023)

Bloody Mouth: CRYPTID - Les Ficelles Macabres - (The Midnight Order - Event - Jul/Aug 2023)

Fingers: aii - Demonic Touch

Rune Tattoos: [SC] - Intricate Scar Pattern

Scars: RZ. - Anime Body Scars

Finger Pose: Amadeus - Wabbed Hands - 03- (The Midnight Order - Event - Jul/Aug 2023)

#sl #second life

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missallanea-archive · 11 months

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She knows where he'll be. As she steps off that train and shakes the last vestiges of winter from her bones, Persephone knows just where she is headed. The path is well worn and yet somehow seldom used, leading to that long-closed up entrance into the Underworld.

She knows that's where she'll find Orpheus. It's where he always is.

That old, old song is on her tongue as she approaches the boy, gently settling a hand over his shoulder to give an encouraging squeeze. "Ain't seen you 'round in too long, Orpheus... Got somethin' for you." The letter hidden within the pocket of her coat broke a good many rules, but Hades was a good enough man to turn a blind eye when it came to the boy. 'Course, wasn't much good the letter had to offer: with each passing year, Eurydice faded more and more, looking like the rest of the Shades down below. Still, she wouldn't keep it from him... Anything to try and find that spark within him again.

@storiedhistories for ORPHEUS || sc

#❮ storiedhistories / orpheus ❯ ━━ ❝ spill a drop for orpheus wherever he is now .#❮ persephone / verse.01 ❯ ━━ ❝ and we're gonna sing it again .#/ did i forget to import persephone's tags until writing this? 100% yes i did #/ these were supposed to be short but i got a l'il carried away #/ i blame the solstice

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nymphsupremacy · 2 years

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Hi, Hope you're doing good! I don't know if I should be sending critiques of LO or not, because I remember you once said something about you not being a critique blog anymore?

But screw it..

Anyway,I know it's been already adressed a couple of times, but one thing that never sat right with me with the fandom was that when it came to characters that were supposed to be "antagonists" (demeter,zeus, minthe, at a certain point thanotos)and the mistakes they made, EVERYTHING WAS BLACK AND WHITE , zeus is a satanic jerk and a power hungry monarch who only cares about his power and hates his family, minthe is an abuser and a horrible person , demeter is an abusive b***h who caused her daughter immense suffering, and when you attempted to bring up said antagonists' complexities and moral struggles you'd be deemed an awful person who defended abuse and misogyny.(one LO fan and an avid hater of demeter's character, for example, called me an "abuse supporter" and said "they were sorry for my future children because I was going to be a sc*m bag mom to them " and my favorite:of course you'd defend this , because it's so normalized to abuse children and put mental and emotional and physical suffering on them in asia" , I'm asian btw)

But.. when hades, persephone , hera etc made a mistake( Hades kidnapping and Eye-gouging some reporter dude and being a literal slave owner,persephone murdering hundreds of villagers ( yeah artemis and apollo did it too , but it was one family while perse almost killed an entire village and unlike apollo and artemis attempted to hide it)) the fans were all suddenly experts on moral complexity and morally grey areas, and would preach about how "not everything is black and white, nobody is perfect" which just seems very hypocritical, You can't be selectively open-minded.Either every character is viewed open mindedly or every one is viewed through a black and white lens.

phew, okay that was super lengthy,I apologize, would appreciate if you read it,have a good one:)

Talk about double standards. Fans do be like that alot so I understand the frustration all too well. I've seen too many people call others who defend and point out minthe's complexities as abusers told them that their mentally ill and should go to therapy. Personally I've had the displeasure of encountering a stan imply that I was a rapist apologist for liking LO Zeus when he's like very vanilla compared to his og self. People used to bring up his myth counterpart alot to shame me for liking LO Zeus

#asks

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summills · 1 year

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— 𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐄𝐑 𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐒.

is that SUMMER MILLS? A JUNIOR originally from BEAUFORT, SC, they decided to come to ogden college to study PSYCHOLOGY. they’re THE SPITFIRE VIXEN on campus, but even they could get blamed for greer’s disappearance.

TW: drug abuse, childhood neglect, knife talk

FULL NAME: summer rosalie mills

NICKNAMES: sum, s, mills

SEXUALITY: bisexual

BIRTHDAY: april 2nd, 2001

BIG SIX: aries sun, leo moon, scorpio rising, scorpio mars, aquarius venus, leo mercury

PET(S): a rosy boa snake named persephone, percy for short

OCCUPATION: full time student and part-time bartender at campus pub

HOMETOWN: beaufort, south carolina

TATTOOS & PIERCINGS: eyebrow piercing, septum piercing, tongue piercing, almost a finished sleeve of tattoos on her arm, small and scattered tattoos on her body.

MUSE INSPO: rosa diaz (brooklyn 99), fiona gallagher (shameless us), mickey milkovich (shameless us), marceline (adventure time), mickey dobbs (love), jen (dead to me) , kat (10 things i hate about you)

THREE POSITIVE TRAITS: confident, intelligent, and open-minded THREE NEGATIVE TRAITS: blunt, hot-headed, selfish

THREE SKILLS: crochet, reading people, debating (arguing, in reality)

— 𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊𝐆𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃

summer grew up in a very toxic environment. she was an accidental pregnancy, and her parents soon got into drugs not long after her first birthday. her mother was nice enough to her, but she was high off of something all of the time. her father was mean to her, and started to become abusive towards her mother. that physical abuse never carried on to summer, although her father was abusive to her in other ways — the child neglect kind. as soon as she could, summer began to learn how to take care of herself.

when she was eight years old, summer was on the front porch, waiting out yet another explosive fight between her parents — lots of yelling, lots of things being thrown and smashed. at that time, they had new neighbours; concerned neighbours, who had called child protective services on them. it didn’t really take them very long to take one look at the house, her parents, and to deem them unfit to care for a child.

and so started summer’s journey in the foster care system. she was moved around from house to house a lot -- and that was because summer had some behavioural issues that the families she was placed with couldn’t handle. she would do things like ruin their things and furniture, fight with the other kids of her foster family, cut up their pigtails and hair in the middle of the night, and just general disobedience that drove them to the point of having her leave the house and back into the system to be placed with other people. other than this being in her nature, summer played on that just get out of being stuck in one house -- she truly thought she could just take care of herself, and she didn’t need a new family. all she had to do was wait it out until she turned 18 and tough it out herself in the world. but phoebe and ben mills had other plans.

the mills became her foster parents when she was 12 years old, and she did everything in her power to go right back into the system. but they held out, and they were fucking good. summer hated that, because eventually, she softened up around them... and so began the adoption process. around her thirteenth birthday, summer officially became the daughter of phoebe and ben mills. though she was grateful for them, and happy with her new life, it still didn’t stop her from being a difficult child to deal with... up until her teens. smoking, getting in trouble with the law, drinking, sneaking out, getting into fights, stealing — but they could handle it.

when she went to ogden and chose psychology, it was expected of her to grow up and calm down a little, but she just learned how to contain it more in social settings and thought that maybe a degree could be useful to her life, so she shouldn’t get herself kicked out.

RELATIONSHIP TO GREER: no one ever really knew the nature of their relationship. they sometimes hung out in the same crowds, and ended up acquainted with each other. summer has a very strong and aggressive personality, so she kept greer in check most of the time. they argued A LOT when they first met because summer refused to submit to her, the so-called alpha queen bee of campus. however, they really were friends… when they were alone, or when greer was getting herself in some shit, summer took care of her. although people may have thought she hated her, summer didn’t hate Greer. she just knew she was loud and strong with her personality… and summer could respect that, deep down. so, tldr: friends who argued quite often.

— 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐘 & 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐂𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐍𝐒

summer is aggressive. she only knows throw hands, no talk. she’s ready for a fight any time and anywhere, and most of the time her short temper is what starts some of these fights. she’s had a tough start to her life, and so she learned how to be even tougher than life.

however, she has a soft side. but that soft side is only reserved to the people that are closest to her — she’s a ride or die for these people and will absolutely be loyal to them and fight for them till the end. but if you fuck her over once, then you’re dead to her.

she’s got a wild streak to her, she likes parties and fun times — she’s big on drinking and biiiig on smoking weed (my lidol stoner). wild child type beat!

headcanons: she has a knife kink because why not. she collects daggers and pocket knives for both her protection and for the segsy times. she makes her own lavender rolling paper. her snake is her life.

#ogdenintro

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midnightsun-if · 7 months

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OKAY NO I CANT TAKE THAT HURT. follow up (if you're up to! don't feel pressured to continue) if the mc survived the near death experience, waking up after a few days after this supposed.. uh.. war? Attack? how would the ros react? + how would the family react?

Follow up to this ask!

Everything comes back into focus abruptly, a sharp intake of breath, as if your lungs, that hadn’t truly needed oxygen for decades, were suddenly pressed to feel something natural. A reminder that you were alive, however arbitrary that word may mean when it involves your situation, and alerting the individual that had been slumped next to your bedside to the development.

A familiar gaze, filled with nothing short of relief, settles across your form like a warm embrace after spending so long in the dark, surrounded by nothing but an icy chilliness.

Koda: “You’re awake.” Large hands gently cradle your face, his soft expression speaking more than he could ever say. Shifting closer, Koda nuzzles his nose against yours, a sharp breath of relief leaving him at the feeling of your responding action, while a beaming grin stretched across his lips. “I knew you were going to be okay. I knew that everything would work out okay.” He gently trails his fingers down your cheek. “I’m not going to wait any longer to do what I’ve been wanting to do. W-Would you like to meet my family?” Whiskey brown eyes widen slightly, hope sparkling like gems within them. “I’ve wanted them to meet the man I’ve fallen in love with for a long time. I-I don’t want to wait any longer.”

Scarlett: She doesn’t move, doesn’t even shift a minuscule amount, reminiscent of a statue as emerald green eyes seemingly take you in. Soaking up everything that they could see. Within the next moment, as if she’s finally settled on something within her mind, she’s on the bed next to you, nestled into your side as she wraps her arms around you. Warm breath ghosts across your skin, Scarlett nuzzling against your neck, and a soft purr escapes, rumbling deep from her chest. Slender fingers, that had found their way underneath the thin hospital shirt, flex, as if she was truly checking you were there, and tug you closer. “You came back to me,” she whispers, placing an almost reverent kiss to the underside of your jaw. “You kept your promise.”

Cyrus/Cyra: Crimson eyes, that had clearly not seen a wink of sleep in a long time, are immediately flooded with gold, a sob erupting from their mouth as they instantly move to cradle your face. “You’re here,” they whisper, drawing as close as they’d possibly dare in your current position. Dipping their head to place a gentle kiss to your forehead, a relieved sigh being all they offered for the next moment. “Thank you. For being here, for loving me, for being everything I never knew that I needed.”

Quinn: Sapphire blue, that had darkened to such a stormy cobalt it was almost unrecognizable, shifts instantly the moment they notice you looking back, that they were given the opportunity to look into the eyes that they’ve fallen so in love with. Words fail them, they wouldn’t know how to properly explain the relief they suddenly feel, the way that their wolf was now howling in joy, and that they no longer felt the crushing weight bearing down onto their chest. “I missed you.” They finally settle on, taking your hand gently into their own. “Never do that again, okay?”

Caden: Seeing the shift in your aura, in the way that your soul no longer felt like it was crying out for a way to escape, allows their tears to fall down their face in jubilation— no longer wrought with the agony of knowing that they might lose you at any moment. In the face of your gaze, of the light that shone from your very being, they feel the hollow emptiness, the chilling grasp, abate from their heart, the dull atmosphere that the world had become suddenly awash with color. “You’re here,” they say, shifting closer to your bedside. “I’m not going to let anything hurt you again, okay? I’m going to protect you like you’ve always protected me. I promise.”

Sloane: A relieved sound escapes their mouth at the sight of you, somewhere between a strangled sob and a sharp gasp, before they get impossibly closer, pressing their forehead against your chest, relishing in the warmth that now slipped through. “You’re such an asshole,” they grunt, fingers digging into the blanket wrapped around you. “Never do that to me again.” Hazel eyes raise to meet your own, flashing gold in a clear warning. “You can’t ever do that me again. Understood? I don’t know if I’d be able to survive it a second time.”

Blake: “Sleeping Beauty has finally awoken,” they gently tease, caressing your cheek. Their attempt at levity, at the natural way they interacted with you, being completely dismantled by the shadows that hung underneath their eyes, at the red rimmed quality of shimmering violet, and the slightly pallid hue to normally tanned skin. Something they seem to take note of, and their false sense of nonchalance falls away, the weight of what had happened bearing down onto their shoulders. “We really need to work on safety precautions, angel.” They lean down and press a chaste kiss to your lips, humming at the familiar feel of you against them. “I don’t know what I would have done if I’d lost you.”

Reginald/Regina: “You’re okay.” Quickly standing, they immediately almost fall back onto their chair as their feet catch on something, but it’s not an event that stops their trek towards you. Instead, they happily settle on the edge of your bed, taking your hand into their own. “I knew that you would be. It wouldn’t have made any sense for me to outlive you after all.” A gentle smile quirks their lips, but it soon falls away, their grip tightening around yours. “I’m so glad won’t be the case. I’m so glad that I still have you. There’s still so much I want to do and see, and I don’t want to do any of that without you.”

Helena: Your mother is by your side in an instant, her face uncharacteristically gentle as she cradles your face in her hands. “My little one,” she murmurs, bending down to press a kiss to your brow. “I’m so glad to see your eyes again. I don’t know what I would have done if I’d lost you.” Helena pauses, her expression darkening. “Well, I do, but I’d rather not cause a war if I don’t need to.”

Saraya: “Little light.” The gentle exclamation of the your childhood nickname is followed by a warm presence settling next to you. Your mama’s gentle expression filled with nothing but her love for you, warm hands running through the strands of your hair with all the care in the world. “You gave us all quite the scare—” Her smile falters at the reminder of what had happened, but her touch never falls away. “I love you, my little light, please never forget that.”

Cienna: Your eldest sister raises elegantly from the undoubtedly uncomfortable hospital chair, a picture perfect definition of grace, but the way electric blue eyes seem to sparkle with renewed life tells you the struggle that she had been subjected to in recent days. “I forgot how dramatic you can be, Beastie,” she teases, settling on the edge of your bed, taking your hand in a light grasp. “Almost dying will definitely take the cake for years to come.” Her hold tightens ever-so-slightly, obsidian black flashing within her gaze. “We’ll find out who did this, and I’ll personally ensure that they die screaming. I promise you, Beastie.”

Persephone: A relieved cry erupts from her lips at the sight of you, various kisses being placed across your face in her happiness. You vaguely note that the usual hospital blanket had been replaced by a quilt that Persephone had no doubt made just for you, its warmth, as well as the softness of it, a soothing balm against your aching body. “I was so worried, little one.” Persephone wrings her hands together, amber eyes filled with worry, before she begins to fuss over your blanket and pillows; wanting to ensure you were as comfortable as possible. “I’m so glad you’re okay. None of us would be the same without you.”

Christian: Auburn hair falls across his forehead, the normally boyish curls completely haphazard in their tousled state; his usually well put together appearance being cast to the wayside. “You’re awake,” Christian murmurs, gently taking your hands into his own shaking grip. Forest green, that’s slowly being eclipsed by obsidian, filled with nothing but adoration as he looks at you. He doesn’t say anything for a moment, as if he didn’t know what he could possibly say, but he eventually repeats the only thing that seemed important to him. “You’re awake.”

#midnight sun #asks #ro: blake herrera #ro: koda kingston #ro: r presley #ro: c aurelia #ro: quinn grant #ro: sloane addams #ro: caden randall #ro: scarlett voltaire #sc: helena #sc: saraya #sc: cienna #sc: persephone #sc: christian #scenario asks

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lokrow · 2 years

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Hades Tigers: SC 0 - Part 5

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Global fic content tags: Injuries, violence, necromancy, mild gore, blood, character death, reflections on life, im-/mortality and love, mentions of alcohol, smoking and corpses.

Day 2: Dusk

CW: Death

Orlando felt the rush of the crowd, inundated in noise, scents and adrenaline from the fight. His senses were overwhelmed, his muscles tense, his nerves raw yet his mind was as sharp and focused as it could ever be. This was the only way he truly knew how to exist.

The mushy mud beneath his feet squelched with spilled ale from a rowdy audience. Both he and his opponent knew how to make the crowd turn rabid and bloodthirsty as they circled one another. Orlando had seen his opponent before at the pit and knew well to mind his bravado despite all the showmanship their bout involved.

Short, tentative exchanges, feeling each other out while moving around to get a feeling for the unreliable floor under them. Orlando smirked when he recognised that as attentive as he was to avoid his worst impulses, so was the fighter across from him. They both stared into each other's eyes as if daring each other to take the first swing.

The fight was over in the blink of an eye. Orlando sidestepped the first swing, feeling the air pass over his cheek as he slid forward, swinging a hook which was dodged

The fight was over in only a few breaths, missed by the least attentive of the audience gathered. Orlando side stepped a blow, feeling the rush of air pass by his cheek it was so close. He turned his hips, his foot sliding on the mud slightly but not enough to rob his punch from connecting with his opponent’s liver. Staggered, he readjusted, deflecting a kick with two of his forearms and wincing as the hardened shin bone struck him. He used his third right hand to trap his opponent’s leg and spun to deliver a spinning heel kick right to the edge of the jaw, knocking the fighter unconscious with a nasty noise.

“Julia!!”

Dagmar's remorse and confusion had been quickly replaced with curiosity and just as quickly once more with compassion as Rat had opened up. They were sat on a stone bench overlooking the docks but for Dagmar who stood by it, feeling too awkward to get closer at the moment.

She and Shrimp had met in the Hades opera, a few years back. Rat had taken 5 years to make it through the grueling competition of ballet classes and make it into the Opera. Shrimp had been in there for years by then, a prodigy by Rat's and Shrimp's mentors' accounts. The kink in Rat's tail and her natural slouch attracted much unwanted attention and much stricter treatment from the professors.

It would've all been worth suffering through for the sake of her passion and Shrimp had it not been for the fact that a few months back, Rat had suffered a shin fracture. It would have been recoverable had she not ignored it and pushed herself to dance. What was a thin crack in the bone became a surgery and months of rehab.

Now able to walk on both legs again, Rat's career in ballet and at the Hades Opera house was in precarious circumstances.

Dagmar took a long breath in that she'd not realised she'd avoided while Rat had been speaking. A knot in her chest not simply born out of compassion but the deep shared understanding of having dedicated her mind, body and soul to her craft only to have it ripped away and persisting nonetheless. Something they now also knew of her after her sharing her story over the delicious food Shrimp cooked for them. "I understand." She'd simply said.

"Do you come here often?" Dagmar changed the topic to something that seemed to be more comforting. Rat’s windows lit up brighter as she nodded quietly. “We come down here to watch the crews unload and load up their ships. Sometimes you can see ghost ships or Charon too.” Shrimp spoke for both again, stroking Rat’s fur with one of her many hands.

"I like watching people working together. Sometimes Persephone walks the docks too." Rat said quietly, eyes both fixed ahead and also not looking at any one specific ship docked at the harbour. Dagmar nodded, "I've only wandered near the river banks. The jungle is more my vibe." Her tail swished along the stone as she sat down next to Rat and Shrimp. They fell into peaceful and meditative silence, much appreciated after the recent ups and downs of their conversations.

Her eyes wandered along the docks, seeing ships she could recognise the build of, from seeing them leave the coasts of her home country of Norway staffed with farmers-turned raiders for a season. Others she had no understanding how they could even float. In fact now that she watched more attentively, holed hulls were far more common than intact ones, no attempts seemed to be made to patch them. After all, the ships were afloat.

The three women sat there for a handful of minutes when a sound caused Dagmar's rounded ears perk and rotate on her head. Footsteps, coming from behind them. Uneven ones, as though walking with a peg leg. Her nostrils flared as the wind carried the salty scent of sea water. One that made sense in any harbour but Hades'. Dagmar was about to turn to intimidate an intruder when the footsteps stopped.

"Rat Love." The raspy voice called from behind the three women.

CW: Death

Ginny’s eyes widened as xe watched the unconscious fighter be caught by her ringside medic before her head even hit the ground. The crowd was quiet now, awaiting verdict but they received none. Ginny was on xir first day at this job, xir very first shift and while the rowdy fight pit atmosphere was a change from the usual café clientele of the Hellmouth, xe could tell something like this was not meant to happen. Or was at least rare enough to warrant formerly loud inebriated voices shifting to hushed concerned tones.

Ginny had turned from a customer at the bar just in time to see as the medic in question propped up the body against one of the far pit walls, holding it by one hand on Julia’s collar, eyes closed as she was muttering under her breath. Her other hand was frantically searching through her belt pouches, pulling herbs out in a clear rush. Ginny had never seen medicinal herbs used in healing a broken neck.

Smoke seemed to emanate from behind the medic’s eyelids, bluish, seeming to glow faintly as it billowed out slowly, forming into swirls and ribbons that coiled and lashed at random. In her free hand she pulled a dry flower bud, Ginny recognised it as an Asphodel. These flowers bloomed across Hades and occasionally in parts of the Hellmouth but only when circumstances were right, making them rare even in their native environment.

“Ginny!” Pyra’s voice rose from the bar, frustrated at being ignored by her fellow Hellmouthian. “I didn’t come all the way not to be ser-...” Pyra’s eyes finally followed where Ginny’s had gotten distracted to and her voice trailed off as her eyes widened but in them was not surprise and rather a deep fascination. “Oh now this is interesting…” she absent-mindedly let out.

The medic’s hand was smoking blue smoke, feeling the air with fragrance that overpowered the stale beer staining the muddy ground. She pushed her hand into Julia’s shirt to press the smouldering flower bud against her chest, pinning her upright to the wall of the arena before moving her other hand from the woman’s collar to a pouch to pull out a bundle of lavender.

Ginny stood stock still, the would-be unassuming bartender looming over most of the clientele through an uncannily tall frame. Xir height cleared line of sight with some of the details of the scene down into the fight pit. Xe watched with slowly narrowing eyes as the medic squeezed the bundle of dry flowers tight, digging her own nails into the palm of her hand to draw blood which stained the flowers.

Using the bloody lavender she drew a line across Julia’s forehead before pressing the flowers and her bloody palm into Juila’s head, blood slowly trickling like tears on the fighter’s face. The incanting had grown louder, her urgency seemed to turn to frustration.

Ginny looked to Orlando, then Metric who had entered the arena and directed their charge to leave. Both were sharing confusion at the magical display, which told Ginny that though witchcraft and sorcery weren’t alien to Hades or the Hellmouth, none of them seemed to have seen this magical display before. The smoke swirl started moving faster, lashing like flails or whips as the witch’ voice grew shaky and more insistent. Incanting as her brow furrowed with strain, sweat beading on it.

“For fuck’s sake, Julia, if you don’t return to me, I will hunt your soul down and make you wish the dead could die again!” she yelled in a mix of frustrated anger and despair, her eyes opening up and glowing a ghostly blue as the smoke swirls seemed to form their own winds, her hold over the spell seeming to weaken as people stood too awed to move. Ginny identified the potential threat and prepared to shout to all to back away when the propped up corpse opened her mouth and eyes, glowing the same ghostly blue.

The smoke swirls stopped growing or undulating aimlessly as they appeared to be inhaled by the dead fighter.

Ginny blinked and all smoke was gone, the smell of stale beer once again stung their nostrils, it was as if it had all been a hallucination. If not for the ashes in the medic’s hands as the last of the flowers were consumed by the spell. A cough shook Julia first as breath returned to the woman. “Chica, would it be so much to say you love me instead?” her voice croaked, as if she hadn’t spoken in years despite only being dead for at most a handful of minutes. “Shut the fuck up” the medic said before pulling Julia into a kiss.

The murmurs of the crowd as the spell’s nature was confirmed gave room to a mixed reaction of careful cheers and fearful whispers. Ginny stepped back into the arena, concerned about any potential side effects of a spell this big. They were eclipsed as Orlando’s boisterous laugh resounded through the arena, himself overtaking Metric’s tentative steps as he placed a reassuring hand on their shoulder.

“Well that was something most reassuring! Rejoice friends!” Orlando’s showmanship and many handed claps went some way to restoring the atmosphere but as Ginny’s eyes scouted the crowd, xe noticed more than a few faces with neither joy or inebriety flushing their cheeks. And more than a few silhouettes seemed to leave the place in a quiet rush. It was odd, Ginny thought but couldn’t be too sure as to why. “Do you think if we come back after your internship, we can stay longer to try to catch more of these? Next time, we need to be in the front row.” Pyra said, pointing eagerly at the barrier of bodies occluding her view of the details of the reanimation ritual which had just occurred.

Hades moves and shifts. Everyone knows this. Far fewer know of the Architects. Silent, barely tangible beings who lift entire districts slowly and carefully up into the air below Hades’ sky, moving them miles in single strides only to set them down just as carefully before leaving for another task.

At times, one may catch a glimpse of these beings. In the reflection of a window or through the heat ripples of a torch lit street. Few others than Hades and Persephone themselves can perceive and grasp an Architect's presence and only Hades himself knows their true numbers.

Their appearance is manifold. Recognisably distinct entities, their true nature and form is nonetheless obscured, unknowable through agglomerated rubble, flesh and fur or the swarming numbers of spectral entities. Their names are unspoken if they even have any, their purpose highly specialised.

To let Hades, defunct and isolate, cling to a threadbare sense of purpose.

The Architects are the blood which flows through Hades’ veins, the muscles making its heart beat with eerie unceasing regularity. They are essential to its workings as the hands of a clock are to the passage of time. To behold one is to come upon the thin boundary of perception and reality, a boundary no more easily crossed than in Hades Itself.

Day 3: Sunrise out now.

#blaseball #fanfic #hades tigers #short circuit #necromancy

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