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alice-angel12x · 1 year

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Death is always around the Corner

Idia + Death!Reader+ Ö̵̗̭͙̠͍̙̬̦̬̺͙̻̻̰̮́͌̈́͑̅̉̉͆̄̓̉̒͝͝ͅř̵̡̨̡̞̦̩̰͖͚͕͙́̑̎̆̏̐͂̀́͒̿͆̆̆̀̿̐̀͂͊̀͑́̅̈́̚t̴̛̛͖͚͑̽͑̓͋̒̈̈́̀̔́̌͒̆͘͝͠ẖ̵͚̦̫̫̻͔̤͚̺̬̗̥͇̾̈͐̎̿̊̋̄̉͑̅͑̊̊̍́̿̚ͅơ̵̛̹̯̤̟̔̍̋͗͗̾͆̒̏̋̉͐͛̿͆̇̈͆̈́̈́̔͝͠

Riddle, Leona, Azul, Jamil, Vil, Iida, Malleus

Masterlist

Let's set the scene:

So it was finally that time again, I will not let you get in the way of my work Shroud. The shroud company, through blessing or curse from Hades. Made it very difficult to find the Isle of woe to be by mortals, or Death itself. Memories from times of old began to resurface.

" Look at this cute little pie. We would like to thank you all for the gifts on behalf of our son," Zeus smiled. " Oh, so precious. How absolutely heart-warming. I haven’t felt this choked up since I got some moussaka stuck in my throat," Hades said, trying to make a joke. "Don’t look so glum, chum. Come and join the celebrations!" Zeus invited. " I’d love to, but unfortunately, I can’t leave my post thanks to the work you graciously “bestowed” upon me. Love to stay, but sadly can’t!" Hades said as he backed away. "Come now, you’ll work yourself to death!NGet it? To death! I could kill myself laughing!" Zeus laughed as the rest of the party joined him. " Ugh, if only…!" Hades scoffed to himself.

As Hades returned to the underworld, his two minions Pain and Panic came running with news.

"BOSS! BOSS!" Panic cried out.

"What! What is it!? I am Not in the mood," Hades scowled.

"T-T-The Boss! The Big Boss is back!" the two screamed.

"After all this time, this could be a great opportunity," Hades smirked.

The God quickly made his way to a simply room that belonged to the one and only, Death. The room was simple, it had one throne that was placed by the window. That over looked the river of Souls.

"Hey, Death! The Big Boss, Head honcho, Top dog! How've yeah been?" Hades greeted his long time boss and friend. "How was the travel, travel good brought souvenir?"

"Hmm, oh. Hello Hades," Death greeted, snapped out of their thoughts. "You needed something?"

"So I have plans for Mayhem, your favorite," Hades smirked as he went on to explain his plans.

But he noticed that something was different about his underworld friend. The bloodthirst chaos loving friend was not present, instead this sad and mellow person sat before him.

"Um Who are you and you know what happened to Death?" Hades asked.

"Just a new perspective I guess. As for your plan. If that's what you really want I won't stop you, though I'm afraid I will not join you," Death said calmly.

"Okay, no seriously what happened to you. What happened to the King/Queen of terror and dread?" Hades asked.

"I guess like you I'm also tired of ruling the dead and this place," Death sighed as they looked back at the underworld.

__________________

Death would be confided Hades. The only other high being that would associate with them. Even if they were never Hade's first choice.

But Death told Hades about the many changes to come. Like how they plan to eventually get rid of the underworld. Their symbol and trophy to rub into Life's face of their power over said, god.

Hades did not like this much. But he was confident he would take over Olympus before that would happen. But of course, things didn't go that way.

So as not to lose anything else, using the last of his power to hide the remaining piece of the underworld and a few mortal followers. Becoming the Isle of woe.

__________________

Y/n knew that this next series of events might be the only chance to find this isle of Woe. At least for a long time.

So in the middle of the night, Y/n woke Jamil and asked for his assistance.

Y/n informed Jamil what was about to go down in the morning. So they gave Jamil an enchanted necklace to hide him in plain sight. While they took on his form and be captured in his stead.

Jamil agreed to this since he doesn't like the thought of being dragged off to possibly be never seen again.

________________

~~SNAP! SNAP! CRACK! SNAP!!~~

" What are those!? They’re all flying in the sky with their– Wait, are those hoverboards!?"Kalim gasped.

"What in the world…!? Unless there are events, the school is supposed to be protected with a magical ward to keep intruders away," Vil said in a slightly nervous tone.

"No, the Barrior is breaking," 'Jamil' said.

"They’re heading this way. One, two… Incoming! Take cover, everyone!" Rook said to everyone.

"Jamil" quickly raised a shield to protect everyone from the debris and robots falling from a ceiling.

"Are you alright, Y/n?" Deuce asked as he helped "y/n" stand up.

"This is the Hepta Unit. We have visuals on Subjects D and E. Beginning Detainment Maneuvers," The bots said.

" I do not know who you are, but it is absolutely impolite to be barging in through windows! I will acknowledge this as an emergency! On my authority as the Pomefiore Prefect, you are all given permission to use magic against these intruders!" Vil said.

"Wait! Vil, I need you to think carefully," 'Jamil' said quickly. " We are outnumbered, and most of the students here are rookie wizards. You Rook, and maybe myself can last a while, but the first years."

Vil scowled as he realized Jamil's assessment was right, and they would risk a lot if they fight.

"Then what do you recommend we do?" Vil glared but gasped as he watched Jamil raise his arms and surrendered.

" What!?" Everyone gasped.

" They are only after us. If we don't resist no one will get hurt," Jamil said simply, Vil sighed in frustration as he slowly raised his hands.

_______________________________________

As the fiery robotic men loaded the overblot boys into the airship, "Jamil" gave one final look back to the school. Only to see the VDC group running in the distance, trying to reach them in time.

"Jamil" smiled warmly as the airship door began to close. My heart warmed that mortals were trying to save them-... No, save Jamil.

But It was a long Flight, and the most "Jamil" could do was let Riddle rest on their lap. When the boy woke up, he was a bit startled. But "Jamil" Was quick to comfort the boy.

But Azul quickly pointed out that "Jamil" was acting strange. So Y/n decided to let them in on the plan a bit.

So "Jamil " explained how the Isle of Woe is the only place in the world that is hidden from the eyes of Death. It is also the place where many blot monsters are stored.

The boys asked why death would care so much about Blot monsters. With "Jamil" would explain that when a person overblots, for a time they will be joined by a blot phantom.

But eventually, the phantom will consume the victim and store the person's soul deep within it. Leaving the soul in perpetual torment, till the Phantom is destroyed.

-----------------------------------------------

"And you know this how?" Leona glared.

"Cause they told me. So in my plans to get into better standing and redemption. I am willingly being their eyes, and beckon for them to track down," Jamil smirked.

"So that's why you didn't want to fight, Y/n wanted this to happen," Vil sighed in annoyance.

"They also wanted no one to get hurt," Jamil snapped back.

"So how long must we wait for Y/n to rescue us?" Azul asked nervesly.

"Only Time will decide," Jamil said.

"Umm don't you mean 'Only time can tell' ?" Riddle asked.

"No," Jamil said simply.

"So these robots are from the Isle of Woe?" Vil asked.

"They’re S.T.Y.X’s special security unit, Charon. It’s their job to capture magicians who have Overblotted so they could be transported to the Island of Woe," Leona explained, then smirked. " But the fact that not even Y/n can find this place must be a blow to their ego. Score one for mortals."

"I think you mean score one for Hades," Jamil said as he went on to explain the story of Hades, Death, and the Underworld.

Apparently, the story was so Gripping and engaging, the 4-hour flight was over in a flash. They have arrived on the Isle of Woe, with Idia there to greet them. But as soon as Jamil stepped off the airship a wave of cries and howls filled their ears, the sounds that went unheard by everyone else.

"̶w̷҉̧h͘͟y͜͝͏ h͘a͏̵v͢e̸ ̡̀͝y̡o͏u̵͠ ̛̀f̷̨͢o͜r̴̕͜s̷̢a̧͝͏k̷͠en͏̷ ͟u̧̨s̕͡,�� ͡d͢ea̢͠͡th͟

"̴̕P̸͞l̸͝e̷͡a͝s̵͘ȩ̷,̷͢ ͟w̸̡h̸͡ȩ͏r̵e̛ ̵͝a̶̡re̷͟͞ ̸̡y̸͜o̴u̷͝ ́͞D̵̛͠e͏̀a̴t̢́̀h̷͟?̴͘͠!̡͟"͢

"̡̀͘S͘om̛̀e̸͘o͘n̶̨͜e ͘͟Pl̵e̸̶a̧ś̷̶e ̕͟͜S͢҉a͞v̸e͞ ͏̷M̷͢͝é͢͝!̢͢!̨̕"҉

The voices cried out, it was so overwhelming Y/n almost dropped their disguise. But they composed themselves and held back their tears.

As Idia put the boys through many tests, he noticed something strange about Jamil's vitals. That he didn't have any vitals or basic signs of life. Before Idia could pull Jamil aside for questioning, he was locked in the meeting room with the rest of the NRC boys.

________________________________

Idia began to question Jamil, but he didn't really answer any of the questions. Till ortho pointed out that Jamil had no body heat. So seeing no need to hide, they dropped the illusion.

Revealing Death.

Idia began to panic as he quickly stood, but before calling for hade's level to shut down. His calling device suddenly shut down from low power, and the same with some of Ortho's functions.

Y/n sat down confidently as Idia trembled in his boots, and the others sat in awe and confusion. Vil was just frustrated that he was tricked so easily.

"Y-you can't be here! The Isle of Woe is supposed to be hidden from you?!" Idia panicked.

"You can only hide from death for so long," Y/n said simply as they rested their elbows on the table.

"W-why are you here?" Idia asked slowly.

"I'm here to collect all the souls in Tartarus," Y/n said simply.

"This isn't the underworld, there are no souls to collect," Idia glared.

"That is untrue. Phantoms hold the souls of their victims and those it slaughters. I am here to collect them," Y/n said.

"but that would mean you will destroy the phantoms. But we need them to study and find a way to stop blot," Idia reasoned.

"Those 10,000 and more souls have been suffering for thousands of years. I think it's time to give them an out," Y/n replied as they stood up.

"Demands here, demands there… This isn’t a zoo, damn it. Did you forget what I said earlier? Don’t make me repeat myself again… I!!! AM!!! THE!!! BOSS!!!" Idia shouted as stood in front of Y/n, blocking their path.

"HAHAHAHAHA!!" Y/n laughed, so much so that they had to lean against the table to support themselves. "You almost remind me of Hades. But no Your not my boss, and are you okay with keeping Ortho the first in Tartarus, to suffer till the end of time? You made a machine of him, so why not let the real one go?"

Idia froze as Y/n bore into his soul when suddenly the power went out as the room went dark.

______________________________________________

Things just did not get better, as Y/n learned that Rook and Epel had tracked them down. And the blot phantoms had felt the presence of their doom. So in one last desperate attempt, they manipulated the bot Ortho. To Get Idia down to them.

With this, the isle of woe went into Chaos. The NRC boys went to go collect the thunder staff, but thanks to Y/n there were little to no phantoms standing in their way.

Y/n, in a blink of an eye, was making quick work of the phantom. Ortho was not happy about the lack of challenge to the NRC boys.

But eventually, The boy manages to push the final phantom back to Tartarus. The phantom using Ortho's voice cried out to Idia.

Idia jumped to follow his "brother" to Tartarus, but Y/n in one clean motion slayed the phantom.

______________________________________________

As Idia's memories and regrets flashed in his mind, he slowly opened his eyes to find himself in the void. As he sat up, he heard a familiar voice in the distance, he turned to See Ortho. He was sitting on death's lap as the two were talking when Ortho noticed Idia. Death helped ortho to his feet as Ortho ran to Idia and hugged him tightly.

"Thank you for looking out for me. You’ve made me so happy. But, you can’t be here yet, Big Brother," Ortho said.

"Ortho… Why? I want to go with you. We made a promise, didn’t we? And You," Idia turned to Death. " Why did you save me, I just wanted to follow Ortho."

"Because Ortho and I believe it's not your time yet," Y/n answered.

"You still have comics to read, concerts to watch, and new games to play, don’t you…? You love this world too much to give up on it completely," Ortho added.

"What!? Who said I loved this rotten world!? All that nonsense can just disappear!" Idia said as he began to tremble.

"Not everything has to make sense. You shouldn’t have to give up on anything ever again. You have your future ahead of you, Big Brother. You see, I want you to fulfill the dreams we talked about that day," Ortho smiled.

"Our Dream?" Idia asked.

"I’m sure it will take a long time. You might feel like giving up along the way, but… I know… I’m sure you can go anywhere, Brother. It may be long and tiring, but you’ll get there someday. It’s okay. I’ll be right there with you always. Please, don’t give up," Ortho said as he gave one last squeeze of a hug. He slowly let go of Idia and turned to Death. "Okay, I'm ready to go now."

"Wait, Ortho! Death Please Don't Take Him?!" Idia begged as he watched Ortho grab Y/n's hand.

"Actually I have something special for you, and I want Idia to be there. But he needs to wake up first," Y/n explained.

"Really, I can't wait. Hurry and wake up big brother," Ortho said.

________________________________________

When Idia came to, standing over him was Y/n and some old man. Who was actually Vil? Idia shyly apologized to everyone and said he would probably never return to school.

But Grim and everyone else was not going to let him off easy, telling him to fix ramshackle at least. But the group was spooked to see the ghost of ortho next to Y/n.

"Well before you do anything else I will need you to come with me Idia," Y/n said as ortho grabbed their hand.

"H-huh W-why?" Idia asked.

"To accompany ortho and me when we go to see someone important. And I think Vil will need to come too," Y/n sighed.

"Why am I needed?" old man vil asked.

"To help with your situation," Y/n said. "And the rest of you are free to go back to the school, we will catch up."

"W-wait where are you going?" Epel asked.

"And where is this important person?" Riddle asked.

"In the void between dimensions and the worlds," Y/n answered simply.

"Who could you possibly be taking them to?" Azul asked.

"Life," Y/n smiled

______________________________________________

To be continued...

#twisted wonderland #Falling Pegasus answers #twisted wonderland x reader #twst yuu #death!reader #disney twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland idia #idia shroud #ortho shroud #idia x reader

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thepythakorean · 3 months

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parallels between the boy and the heron and this painting, plus general analysis

Arnold Bocklin, Island of the Dead. 1880

i want to preface this by saying i am by no means an art history nerd, i just happen to know some stuff about the background of this painting in particular.

as soon as mahito is sucked into the tower floor he is standing at the shore of an island surrounded by an endless ocean. he is dwarfed by a large set of golden gates that say something like "those who seek my knowledge shall perish" and an even taller forest of cypress trees. these features all frame a white dolmen (primitive tomb usually made of giant rocks stacked like below) that beckons to him.

this scene immediately struck me since it has so many of the visual elements of the painting. mahito is even framed in the foreground to be so very small approaching these giant, daunting structures just like the boat heading for the island in the painting. besides the tombs, the cypress trees are also traditionally associated with mourning and death at least in europe/the mediterranean. other ghibli movies have lavish european aesthetics tied to characters (howl, yubaba, etc.) but it feels particularly intimate here given that mahito's great granduncle, the creator and ruler of this world, is apparently european and can only pass on his role to a direct descendant. (btw not saying the gaudy european decor signature of howl and yubaba aren't important to their characterization, it def is! i'm just saying it stood out to me in this movie especially.) the cliffs full of stone entrance passageways are prominent later in the movie as himi takes mahito through the parakeet's domain, and interestingly, in the delivery room where natsuko is, there is another dolmen behind her (can't find pics since the movie hasn't been uploaded yet urgh).

the backstory to the painting continues to parallel to the events of the story! so there's 5 versions of this painting. the first three versions were painted in a cemetery close to bocklin's residence which was also full of white headstones and sculptures, and cypress trees. one of his infant children, one of many children he lost, was buried there. the one i posted above is the first/second-- while bocklin was working on the first, a the soon-to-be wife of a politician visited his studio, saw the wip, and commissioned her own version with the added white figure and coffin to commemorate her first husband who had just died of diphtheria. already somewhat similar to how mahito's mother died in the hospital fire (well. she died from the fire but presumably she was there because she was sick) and when his father shortly remarried. these were also added to the initial wip and stuck in later versions of the painting. bocklin later wrote to her, "you will be able to dream yourself into the world of dark shadows". the movie is also very dreamlike-- it's a fantasy world filled with strange creatures, alternate versions of people he knows, and passages that seem to alter the fabric of time and space. people also seem to forget about it as soon as they leave even after spending long periods of time in it like a dream. the painting is also very dreamlike, but why? the warm lighting, maybe not in the version i posted but in a couple others, may explain it, but the island itself resembles the curtains and stage of a theater (referencing the audio clip below the description). even if it doesn't look EXACTLY like that to you, it's definitely a too-perfect little scene in a nebulous expanse of space. this theatrical quality is also shown in the movie by the parakeet uprising side plot as well as the scene when himi and mahito collapse in front of the delivery room-- the curtain falls directly in front of the viewer over them as though a stageplay just ended. oh and a friend mentioned to me how this is a classic hero's journey plot and mirrors orpheus in the underworld. island of the dead has also directly inspired NUMEROUS other works of art, including other paintings, stage productions, and symphonic poems. apparently the painting was so popular many people in berlin hung prints of it in their homes (i do too)! as i stated above though, a lot of the visual elements in the painting were already traditional symbols relating to death so i don't want to 100% conclude that miyazaki was directly inspired by this painting, he may have just also resonated with those symbols independent of bocklin which i still think is awesome.

the first time we see himi also reminded me of the painting. she's wearing a white dress and standing at the bow of a small wooden boat, and though her intentions are to save the warawara from the pelicans, she inevitably kills some of them too. visually and thematically she's like the white figure at the front of the rowboat in the painting. she acts as a guide for mahito (analogous to the rower? he traveled to this world of his own volition but needed a guide) for a good part of the movie and is a collage of life and death. she is a younger but kind of omniscient version of his dead mother; she's known all along she is mahito's mother but is about to be born into the world by the end of the movie and accepts her fate happily. she can control fire which envelops her like how she died in the real world, but is harmless to the touch unless she directs it as a weapon, and as we see with the warawara and pelicans it helps creation but also destroys much like fire's role in the natural world. natsuko, though a separate person from himi, is still connected as a sibling, and we see her wandering into the forest at the beginning of the movie while wearing white like himi, back turned to mahito, and that is what prompts him to first enter the tower. the strange nature of her character that doesn't adhere to a proper time or space parallels the way the white figure completely stands out in the painting, at least the ones with darker lighting. another crazy parallel surrounding fire and wwii between the painting and the movie is that the fourth version of this painting was destroyed during wwii due to bombing, again like how mahito's mother's hospital was presumably set on fire by bombing during the war.

the looming effects of war alluded to throughout the movie eventually tie into its resolution, when mahito accepts his new family that he initially rejected, his own imperfect being, and the fact that one must seek out love to be happy in this bitch of a world. his great granduncle is confused as to why mahito wouldn't want to recreate his own world like him. why would you want to return to the world that killed your mother and rejects you as a person? the world that forces your people to die in war and will eventually drop the deadliest weapon mankind has ever seen even a century from now onto your home? you can make everything perfect here! he's created something of a "paradise" himself, full of lush tropical plants, parakeets, and strange insects (some of them looked like the bugs from nausicaa, another fantastical world of lush nature which is also threatened by war. interesting), almost like a garden of eden, and it so happens to be at the very top of the tower. funnily enough, bocklin also painted this several years later:

Arnold Bocklin, Island of Life. 1888

i don't know much about this one so idk if it's an explicit companion piece to the island of the dead but it certainly looks like it. the similarities are now less apparent to the movie if there are any, it's much less lush but there are exotic plants and uh birds and stuff. this is definitely more likely a case of shared inspiration from the symbols themselves rather than movie directly looking at the painting. anyway clearly the promise of a perfect paradise isn't real, as this is interrupted by a war of his own unwitting creation, the uprising of the parakeets he wanted to breed in a paradise that literally bring about the end of the world. no world will ever be perfect when left long enough to its own devices. life finds a way! plus, this world was created through so much death (the construction workers in hazardous conditions, the way the tower keeps spiriting people away. btw in the english sub mahito's dad calls the whole ordeal a "disappearance" but he says "kamikakushi" in japanese which means "hidden by god" in reference to people who mysteriously disappeared as if from supernatural circumstances and yes that's the word they used in the japanese title of spirited away!!!) and is on the verge of collapsing from reality every three days just because of some building blocks?? the real world may be on fire but it'll go out/burn less badly someday, and at least it won't completely disappear in a snap, not in an easily imagined timescale for a human anyway. it's up to you to make the best of it, and this is what mahito decides. there are also visual allusions to other ghibli movies about the constantly present threat or consequences of war. the only other landmark aside from the island mahito lands on is a line of ships which kiriko later tells him are all fake. it immediately reminded me of the stream of planes in porco rosso which were the souls of dead fighter pilots moving on. the shadow people in the swamp were also reminiscent of those in the train in spirited away, which are never explained to my knowledge but the given that spirited away's characters are largely spirits and the way souls are so similarly designed in this movie makes me feel that they were also souls of people in spirited away.

through this imagined otherworld, there is also the blurring of lines between life and death, reality and imagination. himi plus her dyad with natsuko (they're sisters AND they look exactly the same AND both are mother figures to mahito) are great examples of this. mahito's mother is gone, he knew this and set foot into the world anyway. he rejected natsuko as his new mother but in going through the struggles of the tower he comes to accept familial love for her and even keeps confusing "natsuko" and "mom" while reaching out to her in the delivery room. a family is made up of different people but inevitably you will see each other in each person. in the delivery room scene we see the paper hanging from the ceiling lash out to attack and stick to mahito like tape, it even leaves red marks on him. this is one of the best scenes in the movie to me because of its visual contrast to him rushing to save his mother in the fire. in the fire scene, the real world around him is blurred and distorted and at times so is mahito and especially his mother. the fire doesn't seem to burn him or his clothes (i could be remembering that wrong tho) and the scene cuts off before it shows him possibly going in further. in the delivery room, everything is drawn with clean lineart, no stylization. there is no mistaking the reality of this situation even though this world is conjured, the dawning realization upon mahito that this person is his mother is so visceral that he actively fights through the paper literally snapping its jaws and natsuko spitting her hatred towards him. when mahito is ready to leave the tower, himi leaves through a separate door to be born as his mother sometime in the past though she is not a warawara and knows what has happened/will happen, an exception that further demonstrates the nonlinear nature of time and space in the movie.

after coming out of the tower, the heron tells mahito he should forget everything that happened in there. even his grandmother seemed to have forgotten the whole year she spent in there (it seems like tower time reflects irl time judging by the events of the movie). anything that comes out doesn't just disappear, it transforms into a real-life counterpart as we saw with the pelicans leaving as they were (presumably minus the ability to speak) and the parakeets going from big bloodthirsty things to regular parakeets. so mahito can't just forget, especially because he comes out changed from his experiences in there, not just himself personally but also his changed relationships with natsuko and the heron, and also his little souvenirs. then the movie abruptly ends with mahito narrating that they left for tokyo again shortly after the war ended. i like to think that this was a hopeful ending where mahito maintained that character development and was able to welcome natsuko and his new sibling into his family while being able to seek more friends and family in the future. i've seen other analyses talking about how this movie was semi-autobiographical for miyazaki and i can see it, how events early in his life shaped his personality and how he had to fight to find beauty in a world that otherwise treated him poorly, so i'm glad he ended the movie on that note, although in less words. pretty similar to how spirited away ended, although there was arguably more loss involved, but still hopeful, and that's what i find so powerful about this movie. and like this movie, spirited away involves a dyad between yubaba and zeniba as a device for the hardships and beauty of life, how they're not so discreet at times. as a last kindasorta tie-in to bocklin's work, i'll point again to the island of life which was created after the island of the dead, plus a composition directly inspired by the island of the dead, a symphonic poem with the same title written by sergei rachmaninoff. the last time i listened to this was in high school and it's like. 20 minutes long so i'm too impatient to give it a relisten now but from my vague recollection plus some quick searches it's a very somber piece that escalates into emotional climaxes yet still contains warmer tones, and goes back to the same "rowing" motif at the end. it weaves together evocations of life and death in one piece, also illustrating how the two really are so closely connected.

tl;dr, this was me the entire movie because miyazaki SEEMS to be heavily inspired by this one symbolist painting i happen to like a lot:

also also here's a self portrait of bocklin:

yes, all of his paintings are that cool.

#i'm so excited about this painting!!#there's so many freaking similarities in not just the painting itself but its conception #the boy and the heron #kimitachi wa do ikiru ka #how do you live #studio ghibli #hiyao miyazaki #arnold bocklin #island of the dead #isle of the dead #tweet

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gaslighter-of-gods · 3 months

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I have a theory about the statements.

So the statement have themes. For the first episode I thought it was Frankenstein because he says only parts of him are there (I think he just means he's not who he was in life and the Frankenstein's monster thing might be a red herring) so I think it could be about the myth of Orpheus and Erydice, with her wanting to see her lost love one last time. Tying into the second statement being a warning would also make sense with this theme of not going underground (meaning the undeworld) .And I do not know how but flowers undeground just screams Persephone to me, like it's not too obvious of a reference but it's there. I think they have unknowingly alinged themselves with some entity and we'll get to hear their story later on. As for the Orpheus and Erydice reference it works on a second level if Jon and Martin are in the computer talking about their own doomed love story, with Martin saying "I couldn't not see him again. I had to try." and Jon answering about how he shouldn't have tried and follow him to the "underworld" (ep200), while at the same time warning Sam not to follow on their footsteps. This is what happens when you get involved with the magnus institute. Not to forgetting that Martin already saved Jon from the underworld once (the coffin).

Oh my god I just realized! A canary is a songbird like Orpheus is a singer!!!! Canaries should stay above ground. We start with two statements because they are linked in some way.

For the second statement I thought it was based on the portrait of Dorian Grey and it still might be but it would also make sense to be the story of Pygmalion and Gallatea, I briefly thought it might be the story of Narcissus because of how obsessed she was about the way she looked, but then I remembered that they only agreed to tattoo her after she said she was an artist. So in some ways she asked them to bring her artwork into life and they did and they gave her that "ability".

The third statement is about the myth of Daphne and Apollo. Samuel is being chased throughout the whole statement. Running from his love but in a different way. He is actively being turned into a tree. He wants to see the sun, "I so much want to see it again. I want to be warm again". Apollo is the god of sun. At first we can see an invesrion of the roles of Apollo and Gaia (in some versions Zeus but in this case it's definately Gaia) that is supposed to save Daphne. That continues to the roll of Samuel and Maddie. Also Jasmine (according to google) means gift from god as if turning into a tree is a gift to him so he doesn't have to run anymore. At the end he seems so himself. Turning into a tree and bathing into the sunlight.

So the first one is associated with Hermes (at first I considered Hades but I think that's incorrect) the god that hepled Orpheus go into the Underworld that also associated with the alchemical sign for Mercury, quicksilver which alchemists thought trancended life and death.

And the second one that is associated with Aphrodite (because Pygmalion made offerings to her altar for the statue to come to life) was that is the sign Venus, that is represented with copper (acording to google there is copper in blue pigments, I don't anything about tattoos).

I think the third is both associated with the symbol for earth for Gaia that represents stability and stillness and the the sun for Apollo that can represent light and divinity.

I don't think they are doing a horror Percy Jackson thing, I think that how the gods have different domains and are associated with specific things so will the fears but I could be completely wrong.

#the magnus protocol #tmagp #tmagp spoilers #this could be just ramblings #tmagp theory #tmgp ep3 spoilers #the magnus protocol spoilers #tmagp speculation #tmgp alchemy #tmgp spoilers #tmgp statements #tmgp greek mythology

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neurosses · 21 days

Note

just wanna say i’m obsessed with the motif of not just hands but the hand injuries. like, i’m not a smart enough man to understand how the hand injuries contribute to the overall theme but i love seeing a hand injury in concorde and being like oh this is just like the other chapter with the hand injury

Thank you! OMG... it's literally so flattering that you want to talk about MOTIFS.

(I'll get into it under the cut if you're interested in my answer!)

I don't think there's a one-size-fits-all answer! I do think part of the reoccurrence is to represent the nonlinearity of the psychics' perception of time, and by extension Adam's perception of time. It shows the timelessness of trauma — how a certain injury keeps cropping up, even when you're supposed to be better now, you thought you'd be better by now.

The hand injuries are as follows:

Ronan touching the hot stove as a kid, a memory he recalls when thinking about the temptation of shaking Niall's dead body awake and also his desire for Adam when he wakes up after Donkeyskin tries to kill him.

Ronan splitting his knuckles punching the wall outside the funeral home.

Ronan's wrist scars, though I don't know that they count under "hand injuries."

The scar on Adam's hand left by Niall's knife, which is implied to be a continuous wound because Niall uses the knife to wake Adam up from scrying.

The burn left by fire when Adam was burning letters he got from people associated with the magical underworld. The letters expressed condolences for Niall's death and tried to tie Adam up into another exploitive contract.

Adam backhanding Ronan when he's possessed and breaking his own hand.

The scald left by the hot water when Adam and Declan discuss Niall's death.

Ronan's hand injuries is interrelated to Adam's, but also separate in meaningful ways. I think his vicious desire to experience FEELING — to feel lived-in inside his body — can teeter into self-destruction very easily.

Adam's hand injuries are irreparably tied to Adam's traumatic, stressful relationship with Niall. The first three represent Adam in a state of dissociation, while the fourth one is Adam getting distracted by a jab from Declan about Robert Parrish. I think it's fair to say the hand injuries represent times that Adam loses control over his body because his self-protective mechanism is to pull out from a moment when he feels attacked, or ashamed, or fearful.

Anyway, THE BELOVED TRB CHAPTER 7 ANSWERED THIS MORE SUCCINCTLY THAN I DID:

Sometimes, after Adam had been hit, there was something remote and absent in his eyes, like his body belonged to someone else. When Ronan was hit, it was the opposite; he became so urgently present that it was as if he’d been sleeping before.

[ Concorde — Chapter 18: BC — PERFECT STORMS ARE HARD TO COME BY. ]

#hystericwisteria #asks #concorde #this post is long cjjjxdjxjd #i could go even deeper into it HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA #thanks for letting me talk abt it!

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justmenoworries · 5 months

Text

Lore Olympus Episode 254 Spoilers

So, Apollo succesfully poisoned Zeus and, through a series of extremely convenient coincidences, has managed to get Eros and Psyche, the only two deities who know it was him, out of the way for now.

Does he...

A) ...keep away from the scene of the crime, so as to not be associated or draw suspicion onto himself

B) ...pretend to not know what Zeus is afflicted with and call emergency services together with Hebe to feign being a worried son so that he's less likely to be suspected by the authorities

or C) ...unecessarily frame someone else with no solid evidence whatsoever and call not medical services or the police, but the media, in the process getting as many eyes on him as possible which is the last thing a murderer should want?

If you picked anything other than C), congratulations.

Not only do you still have some good faith left for this comic, you're also a better writer than RS. (Not that the last one is a high bar to cross.)

So Apollo wants to frame someone else for his crime. Well luckily for him, there is already an established deity among the cast who doesn't get along with Zeus, has expressed the desire to overthrow him multiple times and is known for having a bad temper as well as having a grudge against hi-

It's Hebe.

He chooses to frame Hebe.

You know, one of the few gods on Olympus who has absolutely no reason to want Zeus dead and gone.

Just... why?

Ares was right fucking there!

If you absolutely needed to frame someone (which, just as a side note, you absolutely didn't) why not choose the war deity who everyone knows gets regularly banished to the Mortal Relam because of how much he doesn't get along with Zeus???

I mean, the best explanation I can think of is that this is supposed to reference how Hebe lost her position as cupbearer of the gods because of Apollo in one version of the myths, but if that is the case... wow, that's an extremely contrived and clumsy way to incorporate that into LO.

So, Persephone's deal with Erebus somehow altered her powers and now she can no longer make plants grow and only causes cold and decay whenever she tries.

And the winter that was essentially Demeter's power play in the original myth is now not only given to Persie but made into a terrible consequence of wanting power for herself. To save everybody she loved, might I add.

So empowering.

So feminist.

And as always when Persie screws up, she does what she does best:

Cry foul and beg someone else to fix it, then throw a tantrum when said someone else actually does try just that.

RS really misses no chance to try and villainize Demeter. Even if Demeter is absolutely, completely, undeniably in the right, she always has to be the eeevil mother-in-law making Hades feel bad.

And that's no different here.

Demeter is right, this is Hades' fault.

If he'd kept his damn mouth shut about the pomegranates or at least elaborated on the price one has to pay to get the Underworld's power, maybe his noveau riche wife wouldn't currently be killing all life in the Mortal Realm.

And the way he doesn't even try to dissuade Persie from "helping" and just watches as she keeps making everything worse because "lulz, I'm not gonna be a controlling husband and stop my wife from killing people".

But hey, this is the same guy who rewarded Persie with sex for breaking and entering and making death threats against a nymph. At least we're keeping it in-character. /s

Oh look, Persie has conveniently passed out from the strain so she won't have to deal with the direct consequences of her actions.

Wonder what kind of deus ex machina will absolve her of all responsibility this time.

#lore olympus critical #lo critical #anti lore olympus

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ap-kinda-lit · 1 month

Text

You know what they should have done in YuGiOh? You know what would have made a cool antagonist/monster?

This piece of work ⬇️⬇️⬇️

Apep (aka Apophis)

(aka Apophis) was a monstrous snake from Egyptian mythology. It’s not clear, but it seems like Apep has existed for, well, eternity. He was born from either goddess Neith’s saliva or Ra’s umbilical cord (no seriously). He’s just about always a snake (a creature normally respected and even admired in Egyptian lore, but not in this case…) and a big one. I mean, huge. Accounts vary, but he’s been described as reaching 16-120 yards in length (48-360 feet). Either way, he was a unit.

Egyptian mythology is fairly grey when it comes to good and evil, but when it comes to Apep…yeah no, they make it crystal clear that m*therf*cker was evil incarnate and every one feared and hated him. Saying his name alone was cursed, like Voldemort.

And for good reason, because Apep was a damn beast. Even the gods were nervous about him.

He created storms, earthquakes, and eclipses with his roar or just by moving. He could hypnotize people, mortals and gods alike, and he devoured souls, living and dead. The worst part of that, though, was that the souls would not die. Instead, they would be trapped in an endless void of darkness that was basically a hellish limbo. But, most of all, his favorite thing to do was pick fights with the sun god Ra and eat him alive. He would literally swallow the sun whole.

Yeah, that’s what he did. He would come after Ra, the god of the sun and king of the heavens, and they would do battle. Apep’s main goal was always to devour the sun, destroy Ra, and plunge the world into darkness and chaos. Sometimes, he would succeed in swallowing Ra, and it would take all the gods joining forces to free him from the snake’s belly. As a matter of fact, even Set—the literal god of chaos, an Egyptian Loki—would join in. Hell, it’s even said he stabbed Apep with a spear. Seriously. That’s how bad Apep was.

Priests would hold rituals every year to ward off Apep and the rituals consisted of going ham on a picture/sculpture of him. There was even a whole guide called “The Books of Overthrowing Apep”. Apep was essentially invincible, he could not be killed, even by the gods. All they could do was cut him to pieces and cast him into the underworld. But he would always come back sooner or later.

Apep was a bad, bad SOB.

So I’m thinking, how the hell did they not so much as mention him in Yu-Gi-Oh!?

He’s perfect! He’s a primordial kaiju that embodies chaos and eats gods like fruit snacks. Like, screw the Leviathan or Zorc, look at this guy. He makes the Leviathan from the DOMA arc look like a baby. Zorc is darkness incarnate? Bitch, Apep is right there. That job is already taken. Also, keep in mind that Ra was the first pharaoh, the forefather of all pharaohs. About every pharaoh in history was associated with the sun and Ra. Atem/Yami Yugi was destined to encounter Apep at some point.

I seriously wish there was an arc including Apep. Hell, I would sell my kidney to replace the goddamn Waking the Dragons arc with a different arc on Apep (in case you didn’t know, I don’t care for the DOMA arc).

Please tell me I’m not alone on this.

*bonus

Sometimes Ra (or Bastet or Hathor) would transform into a cat to fight Apep and it was shown in hieroglyphs. Here’s one of them.

I just think that’s neat

#rant #excuse me while I rave like a lunatic #apep #egyptian mythology #yugioh #yugioh dm #yugioh duel monsters #waking the dragons #doma arc #apophis #ancient Egypt

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localplaguenurse · 10 months

Note

Do you think there is/was a cult that worship the Regina Sanguine to an obsessive degree

Like yk how the overzealous religious cults go

Oh probably. I started to kinda explain everything about how wifey as a goddess worked last night to @crystalflygeo but I put like a Lot of thought into it so I can say yes they did absolutely have a cult or two worshipping them.

I'm supposed to be finishing dad fic but I'm counting this as a little brain break to just info dump. This gets long, I have been quietly insane with this knowledge for a while.

Also spoilers for As Gold as the Ginkgo Trees but that is a given.

I already touched on it in the fic but I'm gonna go more in depth here. Regina Sanguine, or the Blood Queen, is in reference to the fact they are a mortal being of flesh and blood compared to Rex Lapis, the Rock King, a being made of geo. It is also tangentially related to the fact that Morax is the Warrior God and deals out punishments to those who break contracts with him.

There are three aspects of worship in regards to wifey. One is their "role" as a loving fertility goddess. Another is their role as Mother of Arts. The last is them being an omen of vengeance and punishment.

The fertility goddess is simple enough. Their lore stems around the idea of marriage and families, so naturally they are associated with those things as they become a more prominent figure. It's why I had ginkgo tree and silk flower imagery become important to weddings in the lore of the fic, because their actual dress looked and smelled like a silk flower, and they grew up in a monastery with ginkgo trees. (And thanks to a certain ginger, we also know that wifey was... really into practicing fertility *wink wink nudge nudge gets shot*)

The Mother of Arts, again pretty simple. When you have 2000 years to practice art, you're gonna get good at it eventually and perhaps have a hand in several art movements. Not just that, but they would give "blessings" to struggling artists (aka actually really handy advice and encouragement), so they are appreciated in that sense.

Now, the omen of vengeance and punishment, now that I have been waiting to be asked about.

Wifey has taken inspiration from two Greek myths; Persephone, Queen of the Underworld, and more modern interpretations of Medusa. The Persephone parallel is more relevant to how they were worshipped, but their connection to their motherly figure and also being literally taken from their old home by their husband and brought elsewhere was slightly inspired by that. The Medusa comparison is the main one.

So first and foremost, I want to say this myth is not necessarily the actual story of Medusa. She and the other gorgons were already established characters before this particular story came about. However, this is the more largely known iteration of the story which is where I got the idea.

So if you know, Medusa was a worshipper of the goddess Athena, and had an eternal vow of chastity. During a visit to Athena's temple, she is assaulted by Poseidon, or is otherwise tricked by him, and as a result, she is cursed with her more snakelike appearance, and that anyone who looks at her will turn to stone. Depending on how you read into that myth, it can be interpreted as Athena unjustly punishing an abuse victim, or it can be seen as Athena trying to bless her in a way that would seem unsightly to other men, by altering her appearance and literally making anyone who so much as looks at her turn to stone.

Now obviously you can guess which scene was inspired by that specific myth. The Abbess has made wifey's life hell, and after physically assaulting them and attacking Wei Jin, she is first impaled and then turned to stone for it. This story of course spread throughout Liyue once wifey became more established, so much like how the Medusa head was used to ward off evil and is a common symbol for assault survivors, wifey is a symbol for abuse survivors as well. The reason they are specifically an omen and not an actual goddess is because they did not hurt the Abbess, but their husband certainly fucking did.

So onto the actual question of did they have cults-

I'm just gonna link this video here because 1. good channel, I love their trope talks series, and 2. this is where I got the main Persephone inspiration from. Also for some reason Tumblr won't let me put the actual video into this sooooooooo yeah. I'm not gonna make you watch a 20 minute video for like one reference so I'm just going to poorly summarize the relevant information: One of Persephone's believed names was Despoina, in reference to a mystery cult in Arcadia that worshipped her and her mother. It's largely accepted that they're the same goddess, but we don't have exact confirmation because mystery cults and Despoina's main thing was her real name was a secret unless you were actually initiated into her followings. The other thing about Persephone is she is a Cthonic goddess, and the thing about Cthonic gods? You did not want to get their attention and saying their name was a very good way to do that.

Now, did I have wifey's name become "forgotten" aside from the title of Regina Sanguine so I could avoid putting a (y/n) in the fic? Yes, but it also ties into the idea of them being worshipped as a terrifying omen of vengeance and punishment. If you say their name, you get their attention, and if you have their attention, you have Morax's attention as well, so you had best be on your best behaviour and showing your appreciation to his wife.

Being worshipped as a fertility goddess... yeah honestly you can take a wild guess how that turns out. As soon as you said cults I honestly flashed back to when I was playing one of my few rounds of Fear and Hunger and stumbled across the bunnymasks in the backyard. I'm just exploring and I come across a hidden corner with a bunch of people in bunny masks getting it on for their goddess Sylvian, who is also behind the "marriages" in the game.

So like, yeah. Wifey had a couple cults here and there, and was worshipped both as a symbol to abuse survivors, an artist, and a fertility and marriage goddess. They were predominantly worshipped as for the fertility part and so their specific cults were... very fertile.

Tldr: Yes.

#ask #as gold as the ginkgo trees #ivy!#i'm not even going to apologize for how long this got #you have no idea how long i've been waiting for SOMEONE to ask me this sort of question #and now here i am #with my corkboard and red strings #rambling like a mental patient #it's great #time to go actually write fic again

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nyappytown · 1 year

Text

Susano'o Theory Bones:

First: What lead me to look into Susanoo in the first place was a mention of Kushihime in Clash! Oh Ye gods of Calamity. Upon looking into her I had to of course, look into her husband. And immediately he reminded me of Yato’s behavior.

Second: While Yato mentions that Yukine is scared of the dark, Yukine mentions that same chapter how Yato hates storms. Since the beginning of my looking into the theory it has always made sense that he would despise his own nature.

Fourth: The reoccurring motif of storms through the series while we still have no sign of the storm god.

“I wonder if Yato has another name too… I’ll go ask Mayu about Yato after I stop by the team room…”

Now onto a very rough comparison of folk lore!

Susano'o is a key figure and works as a foil to Amaterasu through in many points of the mythology, many of the events of the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki cannot exist without him, yet, he is no where in Noragami as it stands. But as I will list below, we still see some of those stories interpreted... but with Yato in place of Susano'o-no-Mikoto.

Susano'o was born of Izanagi’s nose in the Kojiki. Yato is constantly shown with a runny nose.

He was sent to Ne no Kuni by Izanagi after his birth because he wailed to be with his mother.

Yato was sent to Yomi after wailing to be reunited with Hiyori and Yukine.

(Ne no Kuni translates to “land of roots” but it has been associated with the underworld in just about everything I have read.) fun fact! We have seen Yato demonstrate he may have some sort of control over Ayakashi.

The heaven arc is honestly where the most was shoved in our faces. Susano'o is the god who slew Yamata no Orochi and retrieved Kusanagi from its belly.

In the heaven arc Yato is who takes down Take’s dragon.

The trial by pledge is known as “ukei” which is the same ritual that was performed by Susano'o and Amaterasu to determine his innocence. Each party took an item from the other and was chewed on them to produce children. The party to produce daughters would be seen in the right and the party to produce sons, wrong.

Susano'o was declared in the right, and upon winning was so overwhelmed with joy he proceeded to make a mess of Amaterasu’s weaving hall and flayed her horses. (Normal person behavior, I know.) And that is, in one of the accounts, when he was banished!

Those primarily in order they appear in Noragami and not the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki but hopefully it is enough to express why I am so in love with this theory! There are also other more humorous moments and little call outs which I adore.

At the beginning of the series, in chapter one, Yato makes mention of how stormy it is, and then sneezes, which can indicate someone is talking about you.

At the divine party Yamata no Orochi gets mentioned, directly across from that, and paneled to the same size, we see a “gloomy” Yato drinking by himself.

In chapter 83, we see Take with his perm and watch Kofuku break the rafters of Izumo Shrine down on him in a way that is very similar to how Ookuninushi and Suseribime managed to hold of Susano'o to get out of the underworld. This may in fact be a call out to this story. This is also potentially quite punny, as one of Susano'o-no-Mikoto's titles is Takehaya-Susano'o-no-Mikoto.

While it is Take in the scene, we see Coo phone, and black cats which are both associated with Yato through the series. But of course, black cats could also just be bad luck. (Poor kitties)

I adore that Ookuninushi is in this shot too. It’s just too perfect.

On the note of the above story!

In this tale, Ookuninushi received scarves from Suseribime to protect him from the trials Susanoo set him on. At the end of the tale, he receives a sword, as well as a bow and arrows from Susano'o.

And what is Rekki’s vessel form?

Exactly that-

I would like to end, with the manifold fence.

“Ah, a manifold fence.”

Bonus:

I FORGOT MY FAVORITE

For shame.

I need to add this because I can’t stop thinking about it. “In other words, you’re the invisible hand of nature.” Also, the pesti-germ is a reference to pestilence. Which Susano’o is associated with via Gozu Tenno. While Father, in this case, is associated with the Capyper.

This has been my first attempt to back up a Twitter thread! Thank you for bearing with me as I know these are probably strange in bullet point format on Tumblr. The other two are a bit more complicated, so I will get to those at a different time.

#susanoo theory #noragami #adachitoka #meta #theories #yato #this isnt even all of it #just a random ‟masterpost‟ i put together at 2 am to introduce the concept to someone on twitter #it goes too deep #maybe one day i will comprise an actual full on meta/analysis of the similarities

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boyakishantrinity · 5 months

Text

Click, clack, clunk.

BANG.

Firing across the range, gun loaded and striking targets kilometres away. Somehow, the conventional weapons were not the actual reason he were there.

He'd paid a pretty penny, an anonymous individual named "Boyakishan" had taken a bribe to someone with links related to the underground of humans.

Nobody explained anything, one moment lowering into a dunny, pushed into a shop, then a cell before being lifted out of a truck by a large man. Then a brunette human was now walking him towards a bunker door, closing the door behind the Galv as the elevator moved. Lowering, glass panels showing the massive warehouse. What looked like crates of portable black hole generators just casually placed near the elevator. Levels flowing past him, flames erupting out a level, people testing gear near the elevator space.

Anti gravity weaponry, the edge biospheres, entrances to further sections.

The Galv might as well have been moving between worlds, the humans had spatial technology, already jumping leaps and bounds in the thirty years of recognising the UFA. An action that was more than a little insult by an individual known as "Beta".

Whoever it was, the humans remained tight lipped, with their underground practically an extension of their UEN. Well, as an ambassador. He could not not appreciate how much control the UEN had over their inner workings.

Humans has disseminated through the underground, with whispers of a new organisation conducting business. "Wolves".

Whoever they were, their links stretched across the systems. Spreading out like pollen, guards, weaponry, setting up stalls with associated groups.

Highly efficient, but largely passive. Barely a few branches of a greater organisation. "Mercenary Guild".

Alongside several names, a cabal of the best in the dark and light. Thirty years...

Looking up, the elevator growing dark as it seemed to switch gears.

"Watch your head."

Reva Galvi amongst froze in place, that. That was his local language. Looking towards the marked out camera, the big metal box largely for show as the door opened up.

He dropped to the ground, sliding onto the floor with a dazed look, the woman around the space all wearing masks, guns, blades, eyes turning to look at the alien. Reva looked back, getting to his feet as one of them stepped forward. Dark haired, a black covering mask over her face as a voice called out.

"Reva Galvi?"

He'd been let in, the woman ignoring his questions, the robotic voice tinged with an Australian accent as she sat down.

"How do you want your data?"

"I- You speak Gav?"

Looking back at him, flipping a radio device to her hand, a pool of something, specially tempered glass as the woman sat onto the desk.

"... This. This is-"

"Level 8 tech, that's like. Uhhh. Rose?"

Several drones popped out of sockets as the girl stumbled, low range light emitters flickering as the tiny cloud projected a woman beside her. Legs crossed, also wearing a mask.

"50000 credits. Moron."

The cloud smashed into her nose, flickering to rise back towards the wall, what took second causing him to pause.

"... that- Are you part of the Wolves?"

"... Uh huh. So, what do you want? CD? Floppy Disk? Cassette? Text? PNG? Paper?"

Tapping the window behind her, the tech displaying the images as he looked at the increasing ways to store the device.

"I. You. How-"

"... Uh huh, USB it is."

Pulling down a painting, tossing the small metal item to the man as she flips over the table. Flipping to sit backwards, twirling to slap her legs in front of him.

"I. You. What kind of organisation is this??"

Looking up at the woman, the masked individual putting back the various items she'd toppled pausing as she looked back at him.

"... Oh, right. You wanted an interview too. Uhhh. Mercenary Guild company."

"... You're a union?"

Shaking her head, the Galvi taking a seat as she looks down to him.

"Not really? We're more like. Streamlining the criminal underworld."

"... How do you streamline-"

The woman kicked open a hidden drawer.

"crack?"

The wooden panel showing the white drug, the alien looking at it.

"uhhh."

"Benzoylmethylecgonine?"

"... Uh, no thanks."

"Your loss."

Kicking the drawer shut, nonchalant as the man lifts the USB.

"... A few questions. So this contains all the data?"

"Yep."

"... And how much does this 'USB' have in total?"

"the data's. Terabytes if you only count the key data."

"... How much data can this data storage device hold in total, and the data I have requested?"

"... Uhhh, a little under half a petabyte. And like. 8 Petabytes?"

"... Excuse me?"

The woman shrugged.

"Hey, Mo- Boya commissioned us, we added all the context around the event since all you asked for was information on the Knights, Bitches and Wolves."

"... So, I could ask for anything and you'd send it?"

The woman paused at that, hesitating.

"... Technically yes, ask and after a little paperwork you should be able to get it."

"So, slaves?"

"... Yeah. We've got a few markets, but you will need to sign an NDA."

"... NDA?"

The man looked at her, sitting on the chair, relaxing on the couch, as she continued.

"I mean, yeah. Our facilities and allies have a right to privacy, plus it just swear so long as you know the knowledge you tell anyone who doesn't have an NDA or similar-"

"And what if I wanted to not sign one?"

"... Well, if anyone did find out about this and it got public, we'd have to end you, your line from history."

He paused, looking at her. The girl hadn't stated her name, and here she was casually talking about ending anyone...

"I refuse to believe that."

"hm?"

Looking at me, eyes looking straight as he continued.

"How about you ambitious little girl-"

CLICK.

"... I'd suggest you leave."

Something nudged his back, the woman getting up as she held open a door to a hall leading to an elevator.

"And why should I? I have links to the Marlins-"

"Who?"

The woman behind him spoke up, mentally noting.

... Royale French. Brighton British.

"The Marlins. Y'know, the largest bandit group. Wait, you've never heard of them?"

The two looked at one another. Watching the pair as they exchanged facial expressions, a silent conversation.

"Those people who've been giving us a little trouble in the new areas?"

"... Oh, the Fish."

"... Fish?"

"yeah, easy to bait and kill. Now out."

Kicking the man's chair out, forced to his feet as the woman held his back at gun point. Despite both wearing masks, barely possessing any strength, they forced him out.

10:40pm.

Kitty: You bastard, you tricked me.

Beep Boop: You mad mate?

Kitty: They gave me a piece of tech that's not compatible with my tech! What quality service

The man paused, his phone freezing as the message sent itself. The keyboard covering with a greyed out symbol.

Beep Boop: Mate. You probably pushed into something you didn't need to look into. I said my contacts were interesting, I've paid my part of the deal. But hint. Press the button on the side before you try pushing the storage device into your fancy port.

10:45pm

Kitty: ... How?

Beep Boop: Hell if I know, I'm a betweener. Not the company. Anything else before we ditch these burners?

Kitty: ...

10:50pm

Kitty: Can your contacts find a meeting of the leaders of the triage of figures?

Beep Boop: ...

Click, clack, clunk.

BANG.

Firing across the range, gun loaded and striking targets kilometres away. Somehow, the conventional weapons were not the actual reason he was there.

He'd paid a pretty penny, an anonymous individual named "Boyakishan" had taken a bribe to someone with links related to the underground of humans.

Nobody explained anything, one moment lowering into a dunny, pushed into a shop, then a cell before being lifted out of a truck by a large man. Then a brunette human was now walking him towards a bunker door, closing the door behind the Galv as the elevator moved. Lowering glass panels showing the massive warehouse. What looked like crates of portable black hole generators just casually placed near the elevator. Levels flowing past him, flames erupting out a level, people testing gear near the elevator space.

Anti gravity weaponry, the edge biospheres, entrances to further sections.

Humans have disseminated through the underground, with whispers of a new organisation conducting business. "Wolves".

Whoever they were, their links stretched across the systems. Spreading out like pollen, guards, weaponry, setting up stalls with associated groups.

Highly efficient, but largely passive. Barely a few branches of a greater organisation. "Mercenary Guild".

Alongside several names, a cabal of the best in the dark and light. Thirty years...

Looking up, the elevator grew dark as it seemed to switch gears.

"Watch your head."

Reva Galvi froze in place. That was his local language. Looking towards the marked out camera, the big metal box largely for show as the door opened up.

"Reva Galvi?"

He'd been let in, the woman ignoring his questions, the robotic voice tinged with an Australian accent as she sat down.

"How do you want your data?"

"I- You speak Gav?"

Looking back at him, flipping a radio device to her hand, a pool of something, specially tempered glass as the woman sat onto the desk.

"... This. This is-"

"Level 8 tech, that's like. Uhhh. Rose?"

Several drones popped out of sockets as the girl stumbled, low range light emitters flickering as the tiny cloud projected a woman beside her. Legs crossed, also wearing a mask.

"50000 credits. Moron."

The cloud smashed into her nose, flickering to rise back towards the wall, which took a second causing him to pause.

"... that- Are you part of the Wolves?"

"... Uh huh. So, what do you want? CD? Floppy Disk? Cassette? Text? PNG? Paper?"

Tapping the window behind her, the tech displayed the images as he looked at the increasing ways to store the device.

"I. You. How-"

"... Uh huh, USB it is."

Pulling down a painting, tossing the small metal item to the man as she flips over the table. Flipping to sit backwards, twirling to slap her legs in front of him.

"I. You. What kind of organisation is this??"

Looking up at the woman, the masked individual putting back the various items she'd toppled pausing as she looked back at him.

"... Oh, right. You wanted an interview too. Uhhh. Mercenary Guild company."

"... You're a union?"

Shaking her head, the Galvi takes a seat as she looks down to him.

"Not really? We're more alike. Streamlining the criminal underworld."

"... How do you streamline-"

The woman kicked open a hidden drawer.

"crack?"

The wooden panel showing the white drug, the alien looking at it.

"uhhh."

"Benzoylmethylecgonine?"

"... Uh, no thanks."

"Your loss."

Kicking the drawer shut, nonchalant as the man lifts the USB.

"... A few questions. So this contains all the data?"

"Yep."

"... And how much does this 'USB' have in total?"

"the data's. Terabytes if you only count the key data."

"... How much data can this data storage device hold in total, and the data I have requested?"

"... Uhhh, a little under half a petabyte. And like. 8 Petabytes?"

"... Excuse me?"

The woman shrugged.

"Hey, Mo- Boya commissioned us, we added all the context around the event since all you asked for was information on the Knights, Bitches and Wolves."

"... So, I could ask for anything and you'd send it?"

The woman paused at that, hesitating.

"... Technically yes, ask and after a little paperwork you should be able to get it."

"So, slaves?"

"... Yeah. We've got a few markets, but you will need to sign an NDA."

"... NDA?"

The man looked at her, sitting on the chair, relaxing on the couch, as she continued.

"I mean, yeah. Our facilities and allies have a right to privacy, plus it just swear so long as you know the knowledge you tell anyone who doesn't have an NDA or similar-"

"And what if I wanted to not sign one?"

"... Well, if anyone did find out about this and it got public, we'd have to end you, your line from history."

He paused, looking at her. The girl hadn't stated her name, and here she was casually talking about ending anyone...

"I refuse to believe that."

"hm?"

Looking at me, eyes looking straight as he continued.

"How about you ambitious little girl-"

CLICK.

"... I'd suggest you leave."

Something nudged his back, the woman getting up as she held open a door to a hall leading to an elevator.

"And why should I? I have links to the Marlins-"

"Who?"

The woman behind him spoke up, mentally noting.

... Royale French. Brighton British.

"The Marlins. Y'know, the largest bandit group. Wait, you've never heard of them?"

The two looked at one another. Watching the pair as they exchanged facial expressions, a silent conversation.

"Those people who've been giving us a little trouble in the new areas?"

"... Oh, the Fish."

"... Fish?"

"Yeah, easy to bait and kill. Now out."

Kicking the man's chair out, forced to his feet as the woman held his back at gunpoint. Despite both wearing masks, barely possessing any strength, they forced him out.

10:40pm.

Kitty: You bastard, you tricked me.

Beep Boop: You mad mate?

Kitty: They gave me a piece of tech that's not compatible with my tech! What quality service

The man paused, his phone freezing as the message sent itself. The keyboard covered with a greyed out symbol.

10:45pm

Kitty: ... How?

Beep Boop: Hell if I know, I'm a betweener. Not the company. Anything else before we ditch these burners?

Kitty: ...

10:50pm

Kitty: Can your contacts find a meeting of the leaders of the triage of figures?

Beep Boop: ...

The man looked at the message, USB plugged into the mobile device. He'd gotten a date, location and a simple message.

Be warned. The underworld here is a lot more intense than your fancy space one. Humanity's been through a lot of shit. If you're not dead or tell anyone where you got the data. You can get your little signal to that station orbiting Pluto.

#humans are space orcs #tag #Aura #writing

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mask131 · 1 year

Note

All this talk about Satan got me going. There are two Silly Symphonies that stick out in my mind.

1929 Disney animated an entire short called Hells Bells and another was created during 1934 which was called The Goddess of Spring. It's like a cross between Greek and Judeo Christian beliefs if you take a look at it.

Persephone's husband is basically Old Scratch.

Oh I knew of Hells Bells! Sweet memories :)

Now the Goddess of Spring I vaguely knew of, because I saw the thumbnails here and there (and some pictures were used in Lanal del Rey's fan made video clips). I just decided to watch it due to your ask, and this is fascinating because this actually proves further a point I was making.

Aka how Disney pushed the envelope when it came to confusing Hades with the devil, and have doing that since 1934!

And we went from the myth of Persephone being reinterpreted as the devil stealng away the spirit of spring:

... to the Hercules movie where Hades is a stand-in for Satan. I mean just look at how the concept art originally wanted to depict him!

In fact, this reminds me of something I wanted to talk about before, with Disney's depiction of Hades - and I don't recall if I said it before or not?

You can see how Disney tweaked the role of Hades into becoming "the Ancient Greek Devil" by having being associated with fire. It is MASSIVELY revealing because fire isn't inherently associated with death or the world of the dead in Greek mythology. It is true that there are bits of fire in the Underworld (the Phlegeton, the punishment of Ixion), but this is really rare - because the Greek Underworld was actually perceived as a place of darkness where no light could shine, as a realm populated by shadows and thus without the warm of bodies, as a place of silence where you need to give blood to the dead to allow them to speak again... Fire in Greek mythology was rather tie to life, activity and more positive things - Hestia and the hearth, Hephaistos and the forge...

So Hades becoming a being of fire was again, adding a very clear Christian subtext to the movie. Heck, depicting Hades as "fiery-like" and constantly getting angry was also a strong misinterpretation of the original character - which paved the way for many more incarnations of Hades in meda who is just the devil by another name - because the main thing with Hades was that he had no emotion. He was this harsh, cold god with a heart of steel - who did not know pity, kindness or joy, but the same way he ignored things like rage and anger (which were more Poseidon or Zeus' territory). It took something exceptional to make him feel pity (Orpheus' song), and likewise it took something exceptional to make him feel angry (the removal of Persephone). It all tied to ths characterization of the Underworld as a place of darkness and silence, a sort of still and quiet emptiness devoid of all the feelings and emotions of the world of the living.

Anyway this is just my morning rambling X)

#greek mythology #devil #disney #hades

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thefirstknife · 2 years

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oo, is there any chance we could please get a masterpost on Trials armor and the deities they're based on? i think that would be really neat!

Took some time to compile all the sets with images and also info, but yes, there's a chance!

Disclaimer that I am not sure about some armour pieces because they are too vague and could be referring to multiple deities so it's up in the air what Bungie artists exactly had in mind. I'll use Wikipedia links for deities to keep the post as short as possible.

Gonna start with Destiny 1:

Titan: Unclear to me. It looks vaguely insectoid though, which might symbolise Khepri or perhaps Serket. I lean more on the side of Serket because of two other Titan sets that have a connection between the deities, which I'll mention when we get there. There's only one official art I can find of just the Titan set and it shows it with the glow which makes it look more connected to Khepri, but the scarab symbol is repeated on these sets very often so it may not be an indication of what deity is represented by the armour set itself.

Hunter: Bastet. One of the clearer ones with the obvious cat symbology. (I need this btw)

Warlock: Unclear, but obviously a cobra. There's a lot of snake symbology in the Ancient Egyptian culture so this one is hard to pin down. However, I am leaning towards this being a representation of Meretseger mostly because of the symbology; Meretseger guarded necropolises, the dead and was closely connected to the underworld, which makes her also connected to Osiris. This being a Warlock set, it makes me think it's supposed to be something that's close to THE Warlock. Possible other interpretation is Wadjet.

Titan: Once again, unclear. The headpiece is obviously of a bird, but just as snakes, there's also many birds in Ancient Egyptian mythology. First that comes to mind is obviously Horus. Without extra details, it's hard to tell the difference between other deities associated with birds, and specifically falcons or hawks. An interesting note, coincidence or not, there's a falcon-headed deity called Nemty which may or may not be just a different title for Horus, but its Greek name is Antaeus (and Nemty's central worshipping city was Antaeopolis). You know, like Antaeus Wards, the Titan exotic (though to be fair, Antaeus from actual Greek mythology and Nemty/Antaeus are not the same thing).

Warlock: Anubis. Pretty clear on this one.

Hunter: Genuinely I have no clue. Seems to focus mostly on the solar symbology and has no visible animal symbol so I am very much in the dark. Possibly the Eye of Ra which is an entity in of itself and is often associated with cat and serpent deities (which Hunter sets also have).

Hunter: Some sort of a snake. Just like the previous Warlock snake, this one is also up for interpretation. Could be the previously mentioned Wadjet (which is also associated with the Eye of Ra so there's a connection) or perhaps Apep.

Titan: Sobek, due to very obvious crocodile pauldrons. The concept art image also shows much better how the helmet resembles a crocodile when viewed directly from the front.

Warlock: Thoth, mostly due to the bond that's literally just Thoth's head of an ibis bird.

And the new set!

Titan: The helmet has ram horns so very likely Khnum, who is a ram-headed deity. This is where I will go back to mention that Khnum, Sobek and Serket have a family connection in some versions of the mythology with Khnum being the father of both Sobek and Serket.

Warlock: Oh my god, another bird. Again, can't truly tell. The feathers on the side of the head may be a hint, maybe not. If Horus was already taken by Titans earlier, then we're working with another falcon, possibly Seker (relation to Osiris, necropolises and the dead). A funny thing to consider would be Anuket who, despite not having a bird head, is represented by ostrich feathers and is sometimes depicted as Khnum's consort. Just throwing that out there for Titan/Warlock natural order of things.

Hunter: :) Monke. Already talked about it, but yeah, this is very clearly the baboon deity Babi.

Some themes are obviously repeating, like connections to Osiris and the underworld, which makes sense given that this is Trials of Osiris.

Another thing that repeats is the solar symbology and, especially on the newest set, the scarab (all sets have scarabs on their knees and arms). Scarabs themselves were also directly linked to symbolising the sun and rebirth.

I'm sure that some of the sets are just vaguely Egyptian and not directly linked to deities, as some of them aren't as clear as the others, but that's also something that all mythologies have in common so it's not out of the ordinary for the sets to be confusing or to seemingly refer to several deities at once.

Hope this helps and that you enjoyed reading! Also I am not responsible if you end up being stuck on Wikipedia clicking through a million links and exploring the rest of the mythology.

#destiny 2 #trials of osiris #hunter #titan #warlock #long post #lore vibing #ask #also other input is welcome!#i'd love to hear other possible interpretations

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callsignbaphomet · 3 months

Text

@apothecaryforwearysouls

You know what? Yeah, I like that idea so let's go! Since Jela's been through 3, NV and 4 I'm just gonna mention all since technically he lived through it all. Sort of.

Fallout 3:

Kay, so the exposure to many factions is super limited 'cause during this time he was just a little kid and a very sheltered one at that. Most of his time was spent with Loke who pretty much taught him what Sanaa and Ingvarr taught Loke. Also Loke was super paranoid during this time so he didn't really let him out of his sight for long periods of time. So like I said, his exposure to most factions here is limited to hearsay and rumors.

The Family - he thinks they're weird. Not much else to say.

Enclave - all he knows about the Enclave is that his mom was part of this group and she ran away from it. He miiiiiiight have family within the Enclave though he doubts any of them survived.

Brotherhood of Steel - knows what everyone else knows and even goes so far as to think of them as like super heroes like the ones in comic books. He heard of Lyons and how a vault dweller had joined them to help a group of people clean the water so everyone could have clean drinking. He was honestly in awe of them. At some point he wanted to join when he was old enough.

Brotherhood Outcasts - he wasn't aware that was a thing. We're gonna dig deeper into this later.

Paradise Falls/Slavers - they make his skin crawl. Obviously he never interacted with any of them but he heard stories of them and what they do and obviously Loke taught him to be vigilant. He absolutely hates slavers, it's right up there with people who hate ghouls.

Abolitionists - obviously has heard of them and wondered why more people didn't lend a hand. Even at 18 he hopes they made it to somewhere safe or at the very least people started to help them.

Big town - town run by and occupied by older kids? He really wanted to visit the place. To be honest, the tales he heard were far more fantastical than the reality of it.

Little Lamplight - equally as fascinated by them as he was with Big Town though he didn't know as much.

Regulators - from what he and the other kids heard from Lucas Simms (I'm aware Simms doesn't talk about them ingame, it's just a headcanon) they sounded like a pretty neat group. He didn't really wanna join but he found them interesting nonetheless.

Littlehorn & Associates - saw it as a stuck up and snobby knockoff of the Talon Company.

Reilly's Rangers - oh, he definitely heard of them and he definitely wanted to join 'em. Getting to explore the Wasteland and get up to all sorts of adventures and trouble? Yeah, sign him the fuck up!

Talon Company - they're mercs. He didn't feel any which way about 'em.

Republic of Dave - who the fuck is Dave?

Tenpenny - he heard about Tenpenny from travelers and people talking about trying to get into the tower. His opinion on the old bastard? He thinks he's a fucking fitte.

Underworld - he actually wanted to visit IF the residents were okay with it. He likes ghouls, he and his friends would visit Gob frequently and would keep him company.

Three Dog - not a faction but still has an opinion on him. He thinks the dude's a clown. Like, yeah, he's sitting pretty in his station, guarded by BoS, talking about the "good fight" (he didn't know what that meant as a kid, hell, Loke doesn't really get it either) but not actually helping or doing anything really. He doesn't like him at all.

Children of Atom - they creep him out. He tends to stay clear of them. He wasn't raised under any type of religious beliefs.

New Vegas:

Around this time he's a teenager and to be honest he loved NV better than Capital Wasteland.

NCR - see, he's conflicted. On the one hand his bio dad was NCR at some point and what little Ingvarr told Loke about it he then told Jelani and he thought it was neat but felt there was just too much politics stringing the group. His opinion changed when the incident with Iain happened and he realized why his bio dad left the group in the first place. NCR ranger outfits were awesome and he wanted to get his hands on one and he did.

Caesar's Legion - a bunch of filthy fucking slavers and every single one he saw he made sure to put a .50 in their skulls. As far as he's concerned they should all be wiped off the face of the planet.

Robert House - he's only heard rumors of House. Which ones were true and which weren't was hard to say. He kinda likes that there's this mythological person running The Strip from behind the scenes.

Yes Man - ((he isn't the courier so there wouldn't be any logical way or reason for him to know who Yes Man is so we're skipping this one.))

Boomers - like others he thought they were hiding something. Why would you go to so much trouble and be so adamant on blowing up everyone that approached the base if you didn't have anything to hide? Part of him was curious to see if he could make it past the bombs. Some of his friends would often hype themselves up and dare each other to see if anyone could make it across without blowing themselves up. Loke forbade him from partaking in such a ridiculously and dangerois dare.

Brotherhood of Steel - still felt the same about them as he did back in DC. He never interacted with anyone from the BoS but he heard that a small number of them were hiding out in New Vegas somewhere.

Followers of the Apocalypse - if it weren't for the FotA he would've died from that flu and sinus infection he got. But if he hadn't gotten sick Loke would've never gone to them for help and he never would've met Uthorim. For those two reasons he adores the Followers. Also he thought that they were some of the few people that actually did something to make life in the Wasteland better for everyone else. He often felt that many people and factions just talk about making changes but none do and seldom do they do anything to help others.

Great Khans - he's really fond of the Khans mostly because his first boyfriend was actually a Khan himself. He and AJ (Alejandro Javier) instantly got along and formed a tight friendship which escalated to a relationship rather quickly. AJ, some other Khans around their age and some other teenagers from Freeside formed a bit of a group which was mostly led by Jela and AJ. With Jela's training a few of the adult Khans got him, AJ and some of the more bolder Freeside teens of the group to accompany them as hired guns to make deliveries. However, when Papa Khan entertained the idea of siding with Caesar Jelani remained distant. Thankfully some curier that had gotten shot talked Papa Khan out of siding with the slavers and took great joy in learning that the slavers visiting them were killed. Jela then started to hang around them again. When the slavers were hanging around AJ was gonna leave along with some of their other friends. Thankfully it didn't come to that.

Chairmen - no real opinion, he just thinks they talk weird.

White Glove Society - they creep him the fuck out. When news broke out that they were cannibals he was even more creeped out.

Omerta - he doesn't care about 'em at all. The male strippers at Gomorrah though? Yeah, those he and his friends enjoyed. Usually they wouldn't be allowed in but a few bribes every so often meant they paid Gomorrah a visit from time to time.

Jacobstown - he's never actually been there but he heard of it and thinks it's great that non-hostile super mutants can have a safe place to call home.

Powder Gangers - raiders but with explosives and disorganized as hell. Has a bet going with his friends on how long it'll take 'em to blow themselves up.

Freeside - he and his dad live there and they actually get along with everyone in there. Sorta feels like both fit right in and some of the teenagers from there made up part of his group of friends. Much more fun then where they lived in DC for sure.

Kings - eh...he doesn't care but finds the way they talk annoying.

Gun Runners - (not a faction but I'm gonna count it as one) every time he and Loke go there to buy ammo, parts or weapons he acts like a kid in a candy/toy store. He fucking loves the Gun Runners.

The Think Tank - he's heard rumors from all sorts of people. Has no idea who to believe or who is telling the truth. Always wanted to check it out for himself but Loke thought it was too dangerous.

Fallout 4:

Here a lot of his views and opinions on factions are harsher due to his situation. He's bitter, depressed, suicidal and very fucking angry so depending on things is how he'll view each faction.

The Institute - he's 81% sure people in Boston made that shit up. If it turns out it's real he'd hate the fuck out of them. All that technology to make life better in the Wasteland and they do nothing with it.

The Railroad - oh boy, where to begin...on the one hand he feels like they're doing something great by helping synths escape and find a new life. Feels some type of way about the way the group conducts and organizes themselves. He's sure it's only a matter of time before the entire thing collapses.

Minutemen - it's great that people are finally standing up for themselves and not letting raiders run them over. But goddamn do they need a fuck ton of help in every front. He doesn't care enough to do it though. Thinks Garvey's hot but a bit of a naive fool.

Brotherhood of Steel - after he found out that Lyon's group is an odd offshoot of what the BoS really is he was pissed the fuck off. How dare they go around the Commonwealth and everywhere else taking technology from other people and refusing to help anyone? To him they're nothing more than glorified raiders with better gear. Everywhere they go they leave things worse than they were before they got there. When the Prydwen docked and they spread he found out they were going to different farms basically demanding they hand over a portion of their crops to the BoS for nothing in return. One of these farms was the Abernathy farm and due to some history ge felt some type of way and armed the family so they could defend themselves and their lively hood. After the Institute was blown up and the Railroad and Minutemen joined forces to defeat the BoS he made it a hobby to pick off survivors for sport.

Gunners - lemme be an edgelord here for a second and just say that he enjoys the fuck out of fighting them. Jelani is far better trained and loves when a job tasks him with fighting Gunners juet to keep him sharp 'cause let's be honest super mutants barely make him sweat and raiders are a joke. Excellent source of sniping and counter-sniping practice.

Atom Cats - hates the way they talk but has a deep respect for what they do. He thinks more people should look into power armor.

Triggermen - the only reason why he tolerates them is because he gets a large amount of his med-x from them. He gets a discount from one of them due to helping them with a problem.

Children of Atom - when I say he hates these freaks I mean it with my entire chest. Whenever he sees one he sees red and most often than not it's kill on sight. At the very least the ones in DC weren't hostile, these fuckers are shoot first and then shoot again. Not to mention their entire deal is recruiting people to their cult and at times by force. Jelani was actually hired by a woman to find her younger sister who he found dead wearing CoA clothes. Apparently she and her sister fought and she ran off to join the CoA, however, too much exposure to radiation killed her. When he broke the news to the woman she blamed herself for her sister's death which hit very close to home because it felt similar to his situation. He told her to keep her caps and went on a three day bender mixing every kind of alcohol (except for whiskey) and various drugs which resulted in him stabbing himself on his right thigh after cutting up his arms all in an effort to feel something again.

Then there's the whole religious aspect of their cult. Jela's a very stern athiest and is repulsed by the idea of religion or spirituality especially so when he got to Boston.

Hubologists - so long as they don't come near him he's neutral to them. If they come near him trying to talk to him about their belif system he shuts that shit down and he's gonna be an asshole about it.

Rust Devils - he gives 'em points for being creative and different but they're still a bunch of punk ass raiders.

Goodneighbor - he always was a fan of that carefree air the place always had. They're okay in his book.

The Pack - as an animal lover he enjoys the fact that these guys always seem to have animals around. Dagny and Ayo got their attention a lot and he liked that they were always giving them toys and treats and playing with them. He's especially fond of this gang mostly because Angelus belongs(ed) to this gang and when he got ambushed by a group of raiders and they put Dagny in a bag and tossed her into the water Angelus rescued her and helped him. When Nuka World was under attack and he and Radek's gang trained the gangs The Pack showed a lot of potential in shock and awe tactics. They're always fun to hang around with.

The Operators - never in his life could he imagine that a gang of raiders could be organized, goal oriented and so well put together. When he first met up with Mags and her brother they talked for a very long time. They honestly impressed him and he outright told them so. When they were training The Operators they showed excellency in stealth and coordination that paired nicely with The Pack's strengths.

The Disciples - from day one Jelani and Nisha did NOT get along. When Jelani came to Nuka World with Angelus the literal shit had hit the fan. Gage's plan had backfired when the person they'd relied on after they killed Colter turned on Nuka World and killed a lot of them and had escaped with the slaves. Gage had run away and a civil war had broken out now that they were leaderless and unorganized with hundreds dead. Nisha's group wanted blood and she wanted to lead but the thing is Jelani didn't think she'd be a good fit for anything much less lead. He saw the Disciples are unpredictable and hard to steer so he didn't give a fuck when Nisha pulled that stunt with the power plant. I'd be lying if I didn't say that Jela having one of her assassins working undercover for him and then watching her face contort in anger and shock right before her supposed fellow Disciple blew her brains didn't bring him a sick sense of amusement.

The Syndicate (made up gang, descendants of members of MI6 and SAS, think Enclave but British) - a gang made up of very well trained, very disciplined, like minded individuals armed to the teeth? Sign him the fuck up. He'd be lying if he didn't enjoy the perks of being able to take several of their weapons and used their equipment. Teaming up with them to train the Nuka World raiders was a fun experience and he'll gladly pit any Gunner against his raiders and win any day. Effectively he made them even more dangerous. He does feel weird interacting with Radek (one of the founders of The Syndicate) due to their first meeting being what it was. Radek's okay with it and had even shown concern for Jelani's wellbeing but Jela feels a bit shitty about it. This is his favorite gang tbh.

Nuka World (overall) - as it stands now that he cleaned up the place, trained a bunch of raiders and took over the park he's okay with them. He's aware that they think of him as the overboss given the fact that he stepped up and did what no one else could or wanted to do but he doesn't want that. First of all he's not a raider and it makes zero sense for some 18-year-old kid to be leading a bunch of gangs. On top of that he thinks one lone leader is a very bad idea. What no one, except for Angelus, knows is that he did things in a way to manipulate the situation.

At that point in time he doesn't give a shit about anyone. The entire world could burn up in nuclear fire again and he'd be okay with it. But he's still not a fucking piece of shit. He knows that before shit got messed up they had plans to basically take over the Commonwealth. That meant many people dying and it could've involved people like Ginger and Abigail or the Abernathys so he wanted to prevent that. He managed to convince them that other counties vloser to Nuka World were better for the taking. As he trained them in better tactics and handling weapons he also trained them to be self-sufficient to avoid relying on captured slaves. He twisted it so they'd think he was doing it under the guise of "they rebelled once, they can do it again" because telling them keeping slaves is a shit ass thing to do wouldn't fly over them so he manipulated the situation.

He also has a contingency plan in place in case he ever leaves Boston and the gangs get antsy and decide to go for the Commonwealth. As long as he's in Boston he can control their interests but if he ever leaves there's no one to stop them from doing whatever they want. Jelani had a private meeting with Preston Garvey, the Minutemen general and Ronnie Shaw where he admited that he was "running" Nuka World though he kept his reasons as to why to himself. He gave Preston documents and a holotape containing passwords, maps, routes, entrances to secret tunnels, and information of all gangs in and around Nuka World. When clearing Kiddie Kingdom Jelani reverse engineered the sprayers and hid plenty of them throughout Nuka Town and programmed them via a computer he had hidden in the Nuka Station. The sprayers were hooked up to the same chemicals Oswald used. Because he trained the raiders himself he knew their strengths and weaknesses and knew how to exploit them. He specified patrol times and numbers and the location of detonators. He hid bombs in every single park.

Garvey was obviously confused and distrustful but Jela told him that if the NW raiders ever tried shit in the Commonwealth he should talk to Ginger and Abigail and they'd vouche for him. But he warned him that if Garvey and his people were to attack Nuka World unprovoked Jelani would kill him, the general and Ronnie Shaw himself.

What about Angelus and The Syndicate? Angelus is only loyal to Jelani. He drank the kool-Aid and asked for seconds. So if Jelani ever leaves he's leaving with his boyfriend. Radek and Bourne aren't what you'd call raiders, they're just in it for the fun of it and they're nomadic. At any minute they can and will uproot and leave to another location. They have no royalties to Nuka World.

FMS Northern Star - Jelani says that if it wasn't for Dagny he never would've befreinded the raiders that live on that ship much less formed such a strong friendship with Varg Olsen. While out on a job the guy that Jelani was hunting down tried to hide in the ship but unbeknownst to him it was occupied by ghouls. They killed him but Jelani still had to bring back evidence or else he wouldn't be paid. So he snuck in and tried to grab something off the body while he ordered Dagny to flank them. Thing is Jelani trained Dagny to follow orders in Norwegian (thought behind that was that no one could understand what he was saying so it made it easier to confuse targets). When he yelled out the order the raiders stopped shooting and asked Jelani what he said. Both parties ceased fire and soon found that they understood each other and just talked it out. From there on out he befriended the ghouls and from there on out Varg became his most trusted friend in Boston. It was thanks to Varg that Jelani got some more information on his bio dad's lineage. Varg was also a key figure in finding information for Jelani as the ghoul had been the only one that would explore the Commonwealth and was even able to speak English if a bit broken.

#fo: Jelani tag #au oc things

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