#destroyer of foes

[awkwardexxodus]

tbh.... i dont think that percy is going dark. what i think is happening is that the line that 'separates' Him from Perseus is blurring.

#'percy' jackson is a good kid. he loves his mom and canonicaly laughs at fart jokes and is kinda mean sometimes but never out loud. #'perseus' jackson is a delinquent. he is a criminal and a dangerous opponent. the destroyer. a ticking time bomb. #the only people you see who constantly refer to percy as perseus are always the antagonists. people who either fear him or want him dead #or both!!! #they are the same person the very same person but it is clear that monsters and gods dont think this way #perseus is a weapon. a danger. a threat. and as percy is stretched thin you can see bits of him peaking through every now and then #and its terrifying. #just making this clear that this is about the way he is seen by friends vs by foe #pjo #percy jackson

[imperiuswrecked]

pssst can i please ask you to spoiler the raven baby reveal to me...?

So the summary of X-Men Blue: Origins (2023) Mystique is wandering around New York acting crazy and mumbling about her lost baby, Kurt catches up with her and tries to talk her into calming down.

Kurt gives Raven his sword which breaks the mental barriers and it's revealed that while Raven was married to Baron Wagner, she and Irene were an on again, off again, couple who would hook up with other people whenever it helped their goals.

Raven had hired Irene to be the housemaid so she could stay close while Raven was married to Wagner, using his money/influence as they wanted and having a torrid love affair with Irene in private. Azazel shows up and Irene encouraged Raven to have an affair with him as well, because she had visions of the future.

Basically Irene wanted a love child with Raven, but needed Azazel to believe he was the father because she knew that unless Kurt was set on a path to be his constant foe/destroyer of his plans then Azazel would rise to power.

Irene's visions aren't something she can stop and she lives her life according to how to bring about her visions but she doesn't tell Raven any of this until 5 years after Kurt's birth. So she and Raven have a child, Kurt, and from my understanding of the reading, Mystique can copy the genes down to a molecular level and took the gene patterns from Azazel and Baron Wagner and impregnated Irene. So Kurt doesn't have 2 parents, he has 4, well 5 including Margali Szardos who was his adopted mom. Kurt is now battling for the #1 spot for "most parents and most confusing parental origin in comics" and he's up against the Maximoff twins who have gone through 3 sets of parents.

Back to the story, Raven dumps Azazel who is such a pathetic loser, I love that lol. Raven fakes being pregnant by shapeshifting to look like she is pregnant as the months go by. Baron Wagner discovers his wife's affairs, and being the homophobe he is, is stabbed by Raven who then spends the next few months switching between forms to make people believe that the Baron and his wife are both still around, waiting until Irene gives birth. I'm guessing because Raven intended to use the Baron's money/pretending to be him so she and Irene could live in comfort or until they wanted to move on.

Irene is the one who gives birth to Kurt, and Raven overcome with joy/love for Kurt doesn't want his first sight of her to be human so she reveals herself.

The townspeople are of course in an uproar, want to kill the demon woman and her demon child, Irene tells Raven to get to safety and that she would be ok, but Raven fears for Irene so she leaves Kurt under a tree and rushes back to kill the people who would hurt her wife and discovers Irene is missing, she runs back to find Kurt and he's gone too.

Five years pass and she finds Irene again, this time watching a young Rogue, Irene reveals everything to Raven, the Azazel vision, Irene needed Kurt to be raised as an outcast etc. Raven and Irene both know they are in a toxic relationship, but they love each other too much so they went to the one man who can make everything worse, Charles Xavier. Of course Xavier does what he does best, erases people's memories and implants new ones.

So now Kurt has 2 deadbeat mutant moms, 1 deadbeat demonic mutant father, 1 dead human father, and 1 adopted mother and they all give him the most drama & trauma that you will ever see in comics! Love wins (?)

I am currently taking donations to hire Kurt a therapist (who isn't Professor X), save an elf's sanity and donate /jk

I will say that this origin, though very messy, does at least confirm that Irene is just as messy/toxic as Raven, so I hope they continue to be totally bad for each other and 100% in love, which is very refreshing to see in wlw couples and I really hope they do not try to soften their edges, especially Raven's, I do not want a "good mother Raven", but time will tell. Also finally Kurt is Baron Wagner's son technically due to partially copied genetics so it finally makes sense for why Kurt has the Wagner last name, which is something that always bugged me, because imo if he had zero connection to the Baron then he wouldn't have the Wagner last name. Also this doesn't invalidate the Azazel retcon from before because again technically Azazel believes Kurt is his son, and Kurt does have partially copied genetics from Azazel.

I think it was a really tough balancing act to have to write, I wish it could have been written a bit better or the thoughts of Rogue actually being Irene/Raven's daughter would have worked better. Like imagine if Raven and Irene were both pregnant, Irene had Rogue and Raven had Nightcrawler or Irene had them both as twins, then they wouldn't just be foster/adopted siblings but also bio siblings, and it could have opened up the door for more stories involving them as brother and sister trying to deal with their mothers. Marvel constantly ignores the potential for Rogue and Kurt's sibling dynamic and I wish we got more of it in the comics. I get that the writer was trying to keep to the old canon while creating the new canon and using the original plan for Kurt's parentage, so while I feel it's way too complicated this is also comics where complicated plots and retcons have been a long standing tradition meant to torment us readers.

#kurt wagner #nightcrawler #mystique #raven darkholme #irene adler #destiny #baron wagner #darkholme family #rogue #azazel #imp answers #wednesday spoilers #x men

[itsabouttimex2]

ooo if your not busy maybe Mei or Azure a gn! Reader who’s a descendant of the lady bone demon but said friend tries to hide that fact from them

(Thank you for sending such an interesting request! I ended up liking this scenario so much that I wrote out a few characters for it!)

Descendant of the Lady Bone Demon: Part One

(Part One) (Part Two) (Part Three)

Maybe they should’ve seen this coming. Maybe there were a few warning signs they didn’t pick up on. Looking back on it now, it’s pretty obvious, isn’t it? All those little things should’ve added up a long time ago.

The way the room grew silent and tense when you walked in, no matter how how exuberant it had been prior. How you manage to sneak up on everyone without even trying, as though you had no presence. The wide berth that strangers give you, even though they can’t explain why. That last one had been particularly strange for your friends. They hadn’t understood why people would treat you so coldly, not back then.

They understand now.

Mei Dragon thinks of you as one of her best friends, right alongside MK. Even in childhood were the two of you close, your company providing a brief break from her parents expectations and the crushing weight of living up to her family name. She grows up to think of you as a sibling, really. She’s a ride or die, rise to the challenge, thrill junkie sort of girl. And above all else, she’s fiercely loyal to her friends.

So Mei doesn’t believe a word that LBD has to say. She doesn’t care about destiny, about fate, about these so-called “invisible strings that guide us all through life”.

She lives her life as she pleases, doing what makes her and her friends happy! And she’s not gonna listen to a word that some wannabe world-destroyer has to say about it!

Until the Lady Bone Demon mentions you.

“Y/N bears my very own blood, thin though it has grown. In time, they will follow the very same path I have, to cleanse this world of pain and suffering.”

Now she’s listening. Her control over the Samadhi Fire slips, scorching a ring of death into the earth around her. The heat alone wilts the any flora that was spared outright combustion. “How…” The fire flickers, fizzles.

And then promptly reignites, blazing hotter than ever before. Immediately, the Lady Bone Demon cringes away from Mei’s sweltering power as oppressive heat waves bear down on her. She can only watch in fear and awe as the Samadhi Fire grows hotter and brighter, fueled by rage.

“How DARE you say that about my friend! Y/N would never do anything like that!” A blazing arc of black and red fire slices into the blue crystal formations created by the demon, melting them into sizzling puddles. Her anger builds with each lash of multicolored fire, reducing each and every spiked crystal around her to a mess of glowing goo.

That anger doesn’t fade even after the fight is over, not even after she gets to see the Lady Bone Demon shred apart and drift away. It’s cathartic to watch, but doesn’t make her any less angry about what she heard.

No, that anger only fades once she has you in her arms, hugging you as tightly to herself as possible. You don’t know about your lineage. No one else does either. Just Mei. Which leaves her with the worst dilemma of her life.

Does she tell you? Does she tell anyone?

She doesn’t want to be like Sun Wukong, hiding important information from even the people who would be affected by it the most. She was a victim of that, and it had hurt. She doesn’t want to hurt you. That’s the last thing she wants. But she also doesn’t want to cast any doubt on you, doesn’t want anyone to think you might end up a destructive foe that would one day need to be struck down.

The fear of losing you somehow outweighs the fear of you being angry at her for withholding information from you.

So she keeps quiet.

Mei rationalizes her silence on the matter by telling herself that she’ll tell you later. Yes, everything will work out, she’s sure of it! She’ll just… wait. Just a little bit. When everything calms down and everyone starts to move on from this disaster, she’ll speak up. Once everyone is in a better, happier mood, they’ll definitely be more receptive to the bad news, right? So she isn’t doing anything wrong. She isn’t acting like the Monkey King. She’s… just keeping you safe.

And she really hopes you won’t hate her for it.

———————————————————————

Tang has long pondered your place in this little group. It’s not that he doesn’t like having you here, nothing of the sort! Really, he sees you as family, the same way he sees everyone else in this ragtag group of misfits.

But you stick out like a sore thumb. Everyone else has a direct tie to the original pilgrims who once undertook a legendary journey to retrieve sacred texts.

Tang Sanzang for Tang. Zhu Baije for Pigsy. Sha Wujing for Sandy. Ao Lie for Mei. Sun Wukong for MK. Everyone had someone who their skills, appearance, or even personality harkened back to.

Everyone except for you. Tang had made several guesses before, wondering if there was someone you yourself were standing in the place of. But no one truly seems to fit. Rather than distancing himself from you over this disparity, he makes an effort to grow closer. “It must be lonely”, he reasons to himself, “being the odd man out.” He’s struggled with his own insecurities of being useless or weak, so he can relate to you on a personal level. After making that connection between the two of you, he starts to look out for you, trying to help guide you as you grow.

Tang probably sees himself as your father figure, just the way he sees himself as MK’s.

But, since you don’t have the support system that MK has, he tries to take a more involved role in your life. He’ll sit down with you to chat about any troubles or struggles you have, offering you a kind ear and a welcoming shoulder. And if you ever are struggling with something so bad that it breaks you down and leaves you in tears, he happily takes you into his arms and stays with you through the meltdown. If you fall asleep in his embrace after wearing yourself out, he enjoys it all the more.

He cherishes moments like that, actually.

Sure, he’s sympathetic to your feelings of loneliness and isolation. It’s true that he wants you to be happy. Sometimes he hates the world for hurting you the way it has.

But he loves that you trust him enough to break down in front of him, that you trust him to console and protect you in your weakest moments.

Even at a moment like this, where one of the greatest threats to humanity is bearing down on the two of you. For once, he doesn’t hide or cower. Not when your life is on the life. His golden shield encapsulates both of you, a fierce glare painting his face as he holds you close. You breath raggedly against his shoulder, barely able to support yourself. You had been wounded in the fight, nearly passing out after taking several blows for him and the others. Now, he holds you close, standing tall as you lean on him for support. He watches as the Lady Bone Demon throws attack after attack at the two of you, each blast of crystal and bone shattering and fading against his aureate shield.

The ancient demon glares down at him, a sneer curling her face. “You would fight your destiny? The great monk, Tang Sanzang-”

“I don’t care! Even if I am his reincarnation or his descendant… the choices I make are mine and mine alone! And I will always choose to protect my friends!”

“Even Y/N? Even the very one who bears my blood within them? Are you truly willing to risk saving them now, that they might follow my ways later?”

All the little pieces click into place for him. The mystery he had pondered the most was finally solved, and now he had to live with learning the answer.

“That- that doesn’t matter! Y/N is a person all their own, who will make their own decisions! And I trust them to stay by our side and fight for good! I won’t let you corrupt them!”

And he doesn’t. His resplendent barrier holds fast, shining brightly until all that is left of the demon has been scattered to the wind. He holds you gently, mustering the strength to carry you on his when everyone makes the trip back to Pigsy’s noodle shop. Someone like Sandy or Wukong would definitely better suited to the physical labor he was performing, but Tang couldn’t bear to separate himself from you yet.

Nor is he willing to let go once everyone has taken a seat. He props you up against himself, rubbing your back to keep you awake. “The kids eat first,” Pigsy says, carrying three hearty bowls of noodles. MK, then Mei, then you. Once all of you have your noodles, the chef goes back to the kitchen to start on another batch. Tang holds the bowl and the chopsticks, lifting the noodles to your mouth. Occasionally, he tips the bowl to your mouth so you can sip at the nourishing broth. On any other day, he would’ve swiped a few bites for himself while feeding you. Now, you’re all he can think of. He feeds you bite by bite, then guides you to lay your head in his lap once you’ve finished.

“Hey, Tang.” Pigsy peers down at him, another bowl of noodles in his hands. He passes it to Tang. “What was that demon lady saying to ya anyways?”

Tang looks down at you, watching your chest rise and fall, looking more at peace than ever before. He can’t tell you. Not here. Not now. Maybe not ever. But he and Pigsy can both keep secrets, and more than that, you’ll have two targets to split your anger between, keeping Tang from catching the brunt of it if you ever do find out. So he asks:

“Do you think you can keep a secret, Pigsy?”

Red Son

He doesn’t know why he likes you. By all means, you’re just another peasant, another mortal working at the same noodle store that his arch-rival is. But there’s something different about you. Maybe it’s the way you never seem to flinch or cringe or even cower. Maybe it’s the cool head you keep. Maybe it’s the wide-eyed awe you stare at his creations with.

Even after you had been kidnapped.

“I thinks that it was very clever of you,” you softly admit, not fighting against your bonds. “The way you used the tri-toothed 1x2 plates. I don’t see many people use those.”

He shouldn’t be happy to hear you say that. He should scoff and huff and strike down your praise like it’s meaningless drivel. But it’s not. Not to him. He’s been waiting to hear something like that for a long time, actually. Now, if it only it had been from the mouth of his father…

He shakes himself from those thoughts. “Not that a PEASANT like you could ever comprehend just how truly clever my work is! In fact, the legs of this machine are held in place by a truly unique-” “Technic angular wheel,” you finish for him. “It was a smart choice. I bet finding one that could evenly bear the weight of four legs at once wasn’t easy.”

No… no, it hadn’t been. In fact, it had been very hard to source that component. But here you were… acknowledging him. Praising him. Giving weight to his accomplishments by recognizing them. Somewhere deep inside, he’s a little touched to have his efforts commended.

Not that your kindness inspires him to release you. The only thing that frees you is MK and Mei coming in and storming through, knocking him over the head and escaping with you in their clutch.

Still, he doesn’t… hate you, at least. Or maybe, he just hates you less now. It’s a surprisingly good start.

A start that you continue to build off of throughout your repeated interactions, to his surprise. Your praise wasn’t just a one-time thing, wasn’t a way to get him to drop his guard. It had been genuine, entirely sincere. You had truly thought of him as clever, and you still do.

His schemes become less destructive, but more frequent. MK starts sending you out to deal with him, and most of your “skirmishes” end without any true damage. The two of you talk tech, and then he “tactically retreats” from the fight. Eventually, he drops the act, just swinging by the noodle store to talk with you about mechs or vehicles or rare components and where to find them at reasonable prices.

It’s a strange sight for everyone, the two of you amicably chatting. Sometimes someone will try to butt in, usually MK, who tries to keep up with your conversations to no avail. Other times it’ll be Pigsy, making sure that one of his employees isn’t being threatened or endangered. If one of his new mechs has a Journey to the West inspiration, Tang will happily chime in on it.

But most often, it’s only the two of you, happily talking as equals. Not enemies. Not rivals. Just… actual friends, somehow.

Even if it meant fighting to defend them, these are the sorts of moments he doesn’t want to lose. He wants to protect these cherished hours he spends with you, sharing noodles and blueprints in the middle of a crowded but welcoming restaurant.

Even if it meant fighting a foe he had no chance of defeating. All he has to do is buy a little bit of time. Just enough for MK and his ragtag team of idiots and peasants to smash this osseous demon into pieces. He glares up at her, his hair and hands exploding into flame. It’s a mere display, a small threat to keep her occupied. If she focuses on him, then she can’t hurt you.

Not that she’s trying.

“Foolish child. Do you really think I can’t understand the game that you’re trying to play? You would stand in the way of a peaceful world, all in the name of protecting the heir of your enemy?”

He falls to the ground, clutching his head in pain as she taps into his mind to deliver her next words.

“But a meager resistance cannot hope to undo destiny. I will find Y/N, and add their power to my own. That is their destiny, and I will see it fulfilled.”

“You- you won’t! I wont allow it, you… you PEASANT! You can’t hope to beat all of us! The Demon Bull Family, Sun Wukong and his successor, and the Six-Eared Macaque! All of us will stand against you! If we stand together, there is no threat that can overcome us!”

It’s a little funny, almost. Once, he would’ve scoffed and mocked another for saying such a thing. They sound silly on his tongue, cheesy and overblown. It’s something more suited to MK and his band of goons, speeches of friendship and overcoming adversities together. But it’s true.

And her defeat is testament to the strength that loves brings.

He thinks he loves you. You’re what he imagines having a little sibling is like. He wonders if you could love yourself, if you knew the truth of your heritage. Maybe you could. Maybe you’d fall apart and refuse to trust yourself ever again.

He chats idly with MK as you rest your head on his lap. It brings a strange peace to his heart. You look almost happy, in spite of the bruises and cuts. You look happy, which is proof that you didn’t hear a word that the Lady Bone Demon said about your blood ties.

He doesn’t want to rob you of that happiness so quickly, not when you fought and bled for it.

He absentmindedly strokes your head, thinking of how he’d roast anyone who might try to harm so much as a single hair on it. He can’t let anyone hurt you. Not even himself.

So he keeps quiet, and prays that all will turn out well.

#Platonic Yandere #Yandere LMK #Yandere Lego Monkie Kid #Yandere Mei #Mei Dragon #Yandere Tang #Mr. Tang #Yandere Red Son #Red Son #sorry it took so long #I put a lot of effort into this one! #Crystal Heir

[fancifulplaguerat]

Something I struggle to reconcile with Daniil’s character is his attitude towards violence, because he’s this impassioned doctor claiming he wants to save everyone but at the same time is pretty quick on the draw across all three routes. E.g. in the Bachelor Route, the player can say that Daniil doesn’t want others to die for him; that it’s his job to preserve lives, not waste them; and tells Saburov that Artemy couldn’t be a killer, because why would a *doctor* kill anyone? but then the next conversation he’s expressing delight when Andrey tells him he can kill marauders with impunity. Thinking about it more, though, I don’t think it’s necessarily that dissonant given how Daniil’s character is constructed within this “destroyer” idea, and I think his motivations are pretty consistent as well. 

I feel Daniil is the most emotional healer—he’s very wear-it-on-your-sleeve and seemingly easily swayed by emotion, considering how he reacts to Simon’s death/Aglaya’s betrayal. He’s not altogether impulsive, since he’s conscientious and sometimes even refuses to act without ensuring whether he’s right, but he’s clearly partly motivated by emotion. For one, he often to lashes out at people—there are frequent dialogues in his route where he can snap at someone and then say a variant of “Sorry, I lost my temper.” I don’t think Daniil is necessarily an angry person, but reactive and in a situation where he’s constantly under pressure/being prevented from doing what he needs to be done, so obviously he’d often be frustrated and angry. I also don’t think him acting violently is  because he wants to take his anger out on others, and rather his sense of justice allows him to justify violence on the grounds of who “deserves” to be punished or to die. For example, in the Haruspex/Changeling Route he only threatens to kill Artemy or use violence against Simon Kain’s murderer because eye-for-an-eye; the killer deserves to be punished, because that’s just. Daniil also expresses anger and disdain towards those who kill others, so it seems to him, killing a murderer is just righting a wrong. 

Outside his motivations, I also think Daniil’s tendency towards violence works within his broader characterization as a fighter/destroyer. He’s indirectly characterized as an apt fighter in both the Haurspex/Changeling Routes, and rhetoric of ‘fighting’ is constantly used to describe his research and actions within the town. On Day 1, both Maria and Katerina describe his fate as a battle—Maria says, “a truly terrifying battle is ahead of you [...] You will fight a foe that few can defeat” and Katerina says, “I’m talking about a very particular battle... You are one of the combatants, Bachelor Dankovsky [...] you will have to fight to the death.” I also want to point to this dialogue with an herb bride, which I know is in common, but: 

Herb Bride: How are you smart? Smart people are four-eyed nerds... bulgy heads on stunted legs. Cunning, cautious, weak, old even... no, you are not a smart man. You are a warrior.

Player: You can be both.

Herb Bride: Really? I thought you can only have one. Your eyes are throwing needles, and your teeth are clenched fast. You've got the face of a man who can sweep down anything that stands in his way. The face of a destroyer.

Player: Correct. This is the true purpose of smart people [...] I destroy death. 

Herb Bride: Oh... So that's why there are always sparks of hatred in your eyes. And that's why your smile is so spiteful.

I’m still debating my opinions on the implications here, but I feel it’s partly related to the game’s pessimism about miracles/utopias. Specifically that in Daniil’s attempt to attain utopia:defeat death, he can only cause more destruction, as in Kaspar’s infamous “You may mean well, but you bring evil and destruction all the same [...] Your heavy hand will crush us all—even if you were only grabbing us in order to pull us out of the abyss.” The sentiment that Daniil is solely a destructive force even when he tries to do good is echoed all over the game, which frankly makes me upset because I’m too attached to this tortured little fellow. Daniil does what he thinks is right just as Artemy and Clara, but he doesn’t even get the privilege of attaining his goal like the others do in their endings. The Bachelor ending is really only a symbolic victory for Daniil; Thanatica is burned down and he hasn’t really gotten any closer to beating death. For all intents and purposes, Daniil loses even in his own ending, and I have all sorts of thoughts about that but. I shall tuck it away for another day 

#I have so many thoughts about Daniil and the Kains #pathologic #patho classic #daniil dankovsky #patho.txt

[gold-rhine]

What the guard dogs are for

There are some things you never want to hear your secret years-long crush saying, such as “I’m getting married,” “I think we should stay friends” or “I’m the destroyer of the present order, the one who shall judge all gods, and the foe of humanity.” Wriothesley’s very bad, no good day of trying to unravel conspiracy theories, fumbling a tea party with Chief Justice and learning Teyvat’s ancient history and vishap lore from the leading expert lector.

Genre: angst and misinformation campaign

Characters: Neuvillette\Wriothesley, Enjou

Warnings: sfw in a sense that nothing even remotely sexy happens, but there is dissociation, ptsd episode, brief mention of self-harm, and Enjou doing same thing he does in canon, which is not quite gaslighting? Anyway, let me know if you feel any other warnings need to be added.

Chapters: 1 out of 2. Wordcount: ~8k

With his morning tea, Wriothesley riffled through the reports as usual. Nothing was marked urgent, so he started with the most boring part, - the official ones. The production numbers, coupon consumption statistics, everything is prepared for Neuvillette’s upcoming inspection, which was mostly a formality, but he would want it to go as smoothly as possible. 

Reports from the surface informants. Traveler stirring up a ruckus with the research institute… Well, about time, that pit couldn’t go on forever pretending that massive explosions are just a part of science routine. 

Next, creatures called “vishaps” appeared recently in Erinnyes Forest. These vishaps are apparently a lesser form of dragons, and connected to Liyue vishaps, also lizard-like creatures, though in Liyue they are aligned with geo, not hydro. Non-hostile to humans, aside from one accident. But in that one they fought back against the hunters sent by nobles to capture them as novelty pets. So the only regrettable part was that they didn’t get the nobles, only their lackeys. For shame. 

Next, there are gangs with new lingo going around, which generally was a good thing to pay attention to as they usually ended up in Meropide. Wriothesley frowned, reading the lingo translations, as he suddenly felt old. “Trendy Zaytun Peach” was something he’d got called for taking it up the ass a lot in his days, but now it’s a hip and cool nickname with the youngsters. 

Informal internal reports. Victims of beret society are rehabilitating fine, preparations for the wedding are underway. Good. Albert, a new guy from the shop, is sending him tea. Quite good tea at that. Obviously a bribe attempt, though he didn’t ask for anything as of yet, so it was basically free. Everything was fair in love and bribes as far as Wriothesley was concerned. You could throw everything at the feet of your beloved as to the feet of your targeted bureaucrat, and receive nothing and you would have no claim to complain. Now, the fact he wouldn’t take it into account when making decisions about their proposals, and sometimes would even consider it a negative, was a different matter altogether. 

He perked up reading the last report. There was a new conspiracy, whose agenda was not very clear, as they were more careful than the others, but the gist was something against Neuvillette, so Wriothesley was tracking it for some time. It was hard to get anything concrete though, as they were pretty good at keeping a low profile, but now apparently one of the members by the name of Jacque got into the Fortress on unrelated charges, and he was reportedly not the brightest shank on the block. 

Wriothesley made the arrangements. 

Half an hour later, he happened to stroll by when Jacque was being beaten up by three guys in the shadowy corner. 

“Hey, what’s going on here? Leave him alone!” he said, walking up to them.

“Oh yeah?”, said one of the bullies, turning to him. “Well, make me!”

They were paid double for the pretend fight. It might have been an overkill, usually Wriothesley would go for just scaring them off without combat. Especially because anyone who’s been in the Fortess for some time or had a head on their shoulders would understand that nobody would try to openly fight the Duke outside of the fight club arena. But Jacque was as fresh as they get, allegedly stupid, and it was Wriothesley’s first chance at any info in two whole months, so he decided to make it as impressive as possible.

He went as easy on the guys as he could, they theatrically threw the fight and retreated. 

“Hey, are you okay?” he asked, kneeling next to the guy in the corner and putting his hand on his shoulder for emphasis. 

“Yeah, yeah, I think I’m fine,” Jacque muttered, shaking his head. 

“Why did they attack you?”

“They don’t want me to spread the truth...” Jacque said with heavy emphasis. “But uh, thanks for helping me out.” 

“No need to thank me. I feel bad enough that honest folk like yourself get picked on in MY Fortress. That’s not how I want to run my place, so it’s only natural that I stand up for you.”

It took a moment, but finally the guy gasped.

“Your fortress? Are you… the Duke?”

At least he knew what “Duke” is.

“Yeah,” Wriothesley grinned, turning up the charm. “And allow me to get you a couple of drinks to compensate for the rude welcome you’ve received so far.”

He got them to the Coupon Cafeteria, where best meals were already arranged, and generously poured alcohol into the poor guy, listening to the story of his life and misfortunes that brought him to the Fortress, nodding empathetically. He didn’t ask about Neuvillette at all, to not spook the target, trusting that he will come to this anyway, and finally his patience was rewarded. 

“You know, you’re good!” the guy said drunkenly after some time, clasping his hand on Wriothesley's shoulder, which he beared stoically, grinning with all friendliness in the world. 

“You know, they say we can’t talk to you because you’re bought by that lizard, but I think you’re a good guy. You just don’t know all the facts!”

“Which are?”

The guy leaned closer to him and lowered his voice to a dramatic whisper. “Neuvillette is an evil dragon!”

Wriothesley choked on a laughter, which was way too obvious to turn into cough even for the dunce this stupid. 

“No, you don't understand! Dragons were enemies of humanity that Celestia conquered. But they come back when killed! They reincarnate! He is a hydro dragon who was reborn in a human form so he could more easily trick us!”

Wriothesley blinked, remembering Neuvillette standing under the rain, and the old children’s song. “Hydro dragon, Hydro dragon, don’t cry….”

“He put our rightful archon Furina on that trial, right? No one else saw the verdict, so he pretended she was declared guilty. He forced her to abdicate and took the power for himself!”

Wriothesley realized long ago that Neuvilette, of course, was not human. It was clear to any idiot who talked to him for longer than a minute in an informal setting, not to mention a lifespan of at least five hundred years. But there were a lot of options other than “evil dragon”. There were old gods who did not receive archonhood, but instead decided to serve the archon, like Liyue’s adepti, and he always assumed Neuvillette was of the same kind. But the idea that Iudex was some kind of evil monster with a grudge against humanity was ridiculous. Especially when he showed up at the Fortress and saved the entire Fountaine and Wriothesley’s own hide from the flood.

“Really?”

“Yeah! We should restore our true archon Furina to her rightful throne!”

Furina’s insurrection? Interesting. Wouldn’t peg her for someone capable of this type of conspiracy.

“And did Furina herself give us her blessing?”

“She can’t speak publicly, as this monster threatens her.”

Hmm, inconclusive on Furina’s involvement.

He spent more time with the drunk Jacque, trying to get more details, but couldn’t get much more than unhinged ramblings on how evil the dragons are and how insidious it was for a dragon to pretend to be a human. He had to leave to prepare to Neuvillette's arrival the next day.

_____

Neuvillette stepped out of Opera Epiclese into the rain and slowed down his pace to prolong the sensation. It was a bit of what humans called guilty pleasure, as he felt guilty from inflicting rain on humans for his own pleasure. Though from his understanding, humans felt guilty because they saw this pleasure as something bad for themselves. Even if often this supposed harm made no sense to Neuvillette. Eating too much food until a human's stomach hurt was at least understandable to see as such, but he heard one of palais’ secretaries say that romance novels were her guilty pleasure. How could humans feel guilty for something as simple as reading? He stopped and asked her why she would feel guilty for reading, because melusines kept telling him that socializing with humans is very easy, you just need to ask them questions about themselves and let them talk about what they like. Well, it didn’t seem to work, as the secretary stumbled, started hyperventilating and emanated levels of panic and anxiety comparable to someone in the defendant’s chair. Sensing human emotions did not actually help Neuvillette in communicating with them, as he could not discern the reasons. He asked her if she perhaps came into possession of any cursed texts? He could generally sense the stench of corruption and there was nothing on her, but there was always a possibility that it was a curse he could not register. She panicked even more and vehemently denied. At this point he decided to give up on socializing, as it was obviously very distressing for humans, but felt obliged to tell her that if she ever did read anything she felt was cursed, to inform him. He hoped it would assuage her fear of reading. She thanked him, stuttering, and after that day avoided him at all costs. 

The rain was a compromise solution in any case. Neuvillette always felt a bit strained and uncomfortable in his body, but after obtaining full dragonhood and most of the memories of past lives, the human shape felt downright stifling. He now remembered thousands of years of being something much bigger, long coils that could easily crush the spire of Opera Epiclese. Now, when he looked at his own reflection, it was hard to comprehend that this small and ridiculous frame was actually him. In addition, all of his memories and instincts called him to be submerged in water. But even with his poor understanding of humans, he realized that seeing the Iudex floating in the river would alarm humans much more than him standing under the rain. So rain was the closest solution he could get at his position. 

He summoned rain instinctively, to be as close to engulfed in water as possible. It was a bit embarrassing that even humans noticed it and composed a rhyme, even if that rhyme was inaccurate. He didn’t cry, as vishaps didn’t cry at all and even his current human shaped body didn’t have tear ducts. The closest he could pinpoint to human experience, as he understood it, was being stressed and desire to be comforted, for which water was his best remedy.

And currently he was quite stressed, looking over the Fontaine laws in an attempt to revise them. The current system that treated justice as theater was clearly imperfect, which he realized long ago. But he never saw himself as authorized to change it, as humans were the responsibility of the archon and even without it, he was well aware he didn’t understand humans, so he knew it wasn’t his place to question the human justice system, to which he was only a temporary guest. But now, as fontanias became part of Teyvat after his decision, and so, a part of his responsibility as Teyvat’s god of life, even if the usurper tried to deny him, he couldn’t ignore the need for change any longer. The problem was that he did not understand humans any better, so it was very stressful to try and restructure their systems of governance. 

He extended a hand, catching raindrops on his palm, when he noticed a silhouette near the elevator to the Fortress, and stopped himself from visibly controlling the weather. 

Wriothesley caught his eyes and grinned, approaching him at brisk pace, umbrella over his head.

“Greetings, Monsieur.”

“Good morning, Your Grace.”

Wriothesley always somehow managed to make a “Monsieur” sound more impactful than Neuvillette could “Your Grace”, despite one being a noble title and another just a polite greeting. 

“Would you like to…?” Wriothesley extended his arm with an umbrella, without actually covering Neuvillette with it. In the past, as a part of playing a role of “normal human”, Neuvillette accepted such offers, though there were not many aside from Wriothesley who dared to approach him with it. But now, as he was a full-fledged dragon, at the height of his power and influence in this land, surely he could afford to discard this role? Surely he could afford to be himself at least in this?

“No, thank you,” he said, smiling and trying to sound as cordial as possible, so that Wriothesley would not think it was a slight against him personally. “Don’t take it as offense, but I actually like being under the rain.”

The Duke smiled back, shaking his head.

“No offense taken, but why didn’t you say it last time? I felt like an idiot forcing you under an umbrella.”

“Really?” Neuvillette perked up, falling in step with the human. “You could tell that I…”

“Hated it? Yeah, for sure.”

“....prefered not to have an umbrella.”

Wriothesley let out a low, guttural bark of laughter that somehow got to the dragon despite him not being interested in humans in general.

“Not only I could tell I disturbed you, but I had to walk on the flowerbed to get to you, and then I trailed dirt in the Palais while everyone here glared at me for the audacity. Meanwhile you walked on the same dirt, but stayed pristine!”

“I’m sorry for…”

“Hey, don’t apologize. I’m just kidding, don’t worry.”

Neuvillette met the greyish blue eyes of thawed ice directly and sensed that he was truly not bothered, which didn’t make much sense. But Wriothesley was one of the very few humans who was not scared in the dragon’s presence. He was, probably, the only one who emanated only positive emotions at their meetings. Neuvillette mostly encountered negative reactions in his daily life at the trials, so he could not tell apart which positive feelings exactly that he read from Wriothesley due to the lack of exposure. But perhaps…

“I wouldn’t want you to feel unwelcome at the Palais,” Neuvillette said after a short pause.

Wriothesley grinned with a careless shrug.

“Then I will be there, even if the rest of your bureaucrats make faces. As I said, don’t worry.”

Neuvilette frowned, but didn’t see much point in pressing this further. After a confrontation with Navia, the dragon realized that his lack of understanding of humans hindered him, instead of making him truly impartial. Especially now that he was de facto in charge of the entire Fontaine government. And practice showed that only direct interaction with humans could give valuable experience, as watching from the Iudex seat did not allow him a nuanced understanding. 

So perhaps, if Wriothesley was a rare human who was not scared of him, and he proved rational and trustworthy in the years they knew each other, Neuvillette could confide in his true nature and maybe ask for advice in understanding humanity?

“Perhaps staying for some tea would make up for this past offense?”

Wriothesley stumbled for a moment.

“Seriously?” He sounded as casual and ironic as usual, but the surprised burst of positive emotions from him was bright and obvious. “After all these years you finally decided to deign my humble office with your presence?”

“It’d be a completely unofficial visit, of course.”

“Sure, sure. It was never my secret plot to bribe you with a tea party, trust me, even I realize my tea is not that good.”

His voice was ironic, but for a moment Neuvillette could see his crooked grin turn into a genuine smile. So, reassured that he was not imposing, Iudex nodded and followed the human into the Fortress’ entrance.

_________

The inspection itself was mostly a formality. The Court of Fontaine technically had no direct authority over Meripode, but it provided guards and substantial resources, and so it had a right to oversee the use of these assets. The actual budgeting was done on the regular in behind the scenes reports though, as the data was not visible in the in person visit. Still, it was a time honored tradition that got Neuvilette to show up regularly.

“Take a seat. It will take me a minute to make tea.”

Neuvilette gracefully sat down on the visitor’s chair In Wriothesley office, folding his hands on the cane. He still sat with a ramrod straight back and perfect posture, but there was a certain lightness to him today, which was hard to put into words. 

“The inspection is over, yet you are still nervous.”

Wriothesley knew he had a poker face good enough to cover it, yet Neuvillette saw it anyway. He had theorized for a long time that the Iudex could sense emotions, but usually he would not acknowledge it directly like this. “I wasn't nervous about the inspection to begin with. But inviting a high and mighty Iudex himself to the tea for years and then disappointing him when he finally accepts would be a devastating faux de pas. They will mock me on the first pages of all the papers tomorrow.”

Neuvillette frowned slightly.

“I must underline that I’m not here in any official capacity, and I would hope I’m talking to Wriothesley, not the Warden or the Duke. If you agree, I would ask that we leave the titles at the door.”

“No, of course,” Wriothesley, who had fantasized about leaving titles at the door and then clothes on the floor for actual years, said quickly, frantically recalculating how he could turn the tea party to wine tasting, which best wines he had confiscated in his storage and how he could make turning on the gramophone and then maybe leaning against the edge of the table in front of Neuvillette look natural and smooth. “Absolutely. I was just joking anyway, don’t mind it.”

“Ah, I see. I apologize, I’m unfortunately prone to missing humorous intent, so I appreciate your clarification.”

With how far the Iudex went out of his way to assure people of his good intentions in informal situations, Wriothesley really didn’t understand how everyone found him so intimidating. Especially because he very often had to interact with assholes in positions of power who did try to intimidate him on purpose and the contrast was very apparent. Neuvillette projected an aura of power without really wanting to, and then tried to over-explain himself to make others feel at ease. His earnest awkwardness was something like the clumsiness of a huge beast like an elephant trying not to step on the gaggle of kittens at his feet.

“In any case, there is nothing to be nervous about. After all, tea is liquid, and it’s really hard to make liquids unpleasant. So far I think only Fonta truly managed it.” Neuvillette drummed his fingers on the table and glanced at Wriothesley. “To be frank, if crimes against water could be prosecuted, Fonta would receive life in prison.”

Wriothesley snorted. “So no sugar in your tea, I take it?”

“No, thank you,” Iudex said politely and then, after a short pause, “And to clarify, I was not serious. There is nothing wrong with people liking sugary drinks, of course. I was just making an attempt at a joke.”

He really was horrendously bad at pretending to be a human. How could anyone hear him talk and still believe he’s a scheming manipulator was beyond ridiculous.

“No, I got it. It was a good joke,” The Duke grinned, placing a teacup in front of Neuvillette and sitting down across the table with his own.

Neuvillette gave him a graceful nod with a little smile and picked up his cup, giving it a swirl before tasting.

“Hmm. Interesting. Poignant. Bitter,” he said thoughtfully, tilting his head. 

Wriothesley was about to mention that this sort was not usually bitter, but Iudex continued. 

“Not by nature, but forced by circumstances. Not nearly enough water to be nourished, so it had to adapt and conserve strength, letting leaves seen as unimportant to die and concentrate on survival of the main branches. But there is not just hunger… there is a dream of rain. An ache of something not ever known, but yearned, longed for, without realizing what it is. But then…” Neuvillette closed his eyes for a moment. “It happened. There is a memory of luminous joy of water not gathered by mere drops, but drank in full, overwhelming, a feast after a life of fighting for scraps of morning dew. It had tasted rain at least once in the end.”

Wriothesley put his own cup down, leaning forward in disbelief.

“No way. This was a harvest from a drought year and it’s normally a mild sort, considered unusually strong in this season. How could you know this? Are you cheating?”

“You’re welcome to test me with other samples,” Neuvillette said with an air of a magnanimous ruler granting a boon and put the teacup down with a delicate clink. 

“Oh, I’m taking you up on your word, trust me,” the Duke grinned, but then paused. He didn’t want to spoil the mood, but he remembered how strongly Neuvillette felt about the perceived melusines conspiracy. Wriothesley had to tell him about the evil dragon idiots just to make sure he’s not thrown off balance later. That’s what the guard dogs are for, after all.

“Actually, before we move forward with testing your psychic tea reading abilities, there is something concerning official business that I think you should know. And then we can forget it completely.”

Neuvillette inclined his head with a small smile.

“There is a small group of conspirators, - and I must reiterate, it’s very small - who operate on the ridiculous idea that… uh, that you’re some kind of an evil dragon who schemed to overthrow Furina.”

Neuvillette's smile froze.

“You don’t have to worry about it, really. It’s negligibly small, and well, anyone with a working brain would not believe that you’re a monster in disguise.”

Iudex was silent for some time, not meeting Wriothesley’s eyes.

“Are melusines implicated in this?” he said finally.

“No. No, there’s no connection to them in this stupid theory.”

“Good. That's good. They do love living with humans so much.”

Wriothesley suspected that Iudex was taking things kind of out of proportion again.

“Listen, it’s really nothing…”

“No, no, I understand. It would be so unacceptably horrifying for humans to learn their ruler is a… monster.”

Neuvillette's voice wavered, but his face was impartial, strict, previous lightness gone completely. Wriothesley saw his hands tighten their grip on the handle of his cane a moment before he abruptly stood up.

“I must apologize for impropriety, but I have important business in the Palais which was inappropriate for me to neglect for so long. I must beg your leave to depart.”

Wriothesley stood up too, scraping to understand what he did wrong.

“Wait, it’s not…”

“Thank you for your time, Your Grace.”

Wriothesley shut his mouth, the title feeling like a slap for the first time in his life. The formality and politeness somehow only made it worse. He took a deep breath and willed himself to sound calm.

“I hope you have a nice evening, Monsieur Iudex.”

Neuvillette left in what for his usual dignified pace could be considered a hurry. Wriothesley followed him without being seen, partly to make sure he doesn’t get bothered by inmates and partly on an instinct to investigate. 

At the Fortress’ entrance, he watched Neuvillette walk under the rain, lifting his head upward. The blue strands of his long hair glowed and so did his coat-tails. They extended, shining brilliant bioluminescent blue, trailing behind the Chief Justice, in a moment looking like fish’s fins, then the next - as colossal snake’s coils. Sea waves crashed against the ridge without any wind, rising high, reaching to a lonely glowing figure of Iudex. With bated breath, Wriothesley watched Neuvillette extend a hand, as if catching raindrops - and rain stopped mid-flight in the air, lingering over his palm, waves frozen cresting over the earth. The raindrops gathered in a shuddering spheres, and then stretched upwards, against all laws of gravity.  Wriothesley’s heart skipped a beat as Neuvillette closed his fist and the rain flew backwards to the skies.

Wriothesley stormed back into his office and frantically searched through the reports, pages flying about, until he found the one about vishaps. He looked at the photos, seeing similarities he would never look for before. The dark blue color of vishap’s hide was nearly identical to Neuvillette’s attire, but that was small beans, easily written off as coincidence. Their eyes, bright magenta with white vertical slice of a pupil, resembled Iudex, but there was room for debate, as his eyes were much paler, lilac merging into gentle blue instead of a bright pink, even as white vertical pupil was so similar. What really struck Wriothesley after all this, was actually the little blue feather at the side of the head of both vishaps and Neuvillette. It was identical and looked so… deliberate. It had to be chosen and placed precisely like this. 

Still, this was not enough. He needed more evidence. He needed… he needed answers.

He walked to Jacque's block as quickly as he could without alarming inmates, but when he got to the conspirator’s room, Jacque was sleeping on the bed and a man was sitting on the chair next to him, reading a book. He looked up when Wriothesley walked in and stood up, clumsily dropping the book. He was tall and gangly, had dark hair, Inazuman features and light brown eyes behind the glasses. 

“Who are you?” Wriothesley was really not in the mood for playing games.

“Well, my organization caught wind that you are interested in learning some… historical information, and our poor Jacque is really not the best source, which is why I’m here to answer any questions you have,” the man gave him a groveling smile. “You can call me Enjou.”

“Not here. In my office. Follow me.”

When they got there, Enjou whistled musingly.

“Uh, what a nice office! Must be a pretty sweet gig. I wish I had an office instead of slinking in dump ruins all the time.” He sighed theatrically. “So, I assume your main questions are on the vishap situation. I…”

“Wait,” Wriothesley said, walking up to one of his wall cabinets. “You can’t expect me to just believe you on your word.”

“Oh, of course, of course! You’re free to rough me up a bit first. Maybe a little bit of torture? But only a little bit, I’ve got a glass jaw, haha!”

Wriothesley didn’t live so long as an undisputed champion of fight club to not recognize a freak who gets off on pain. He grimaced, walking up to the table where Enjou was already trying to rifle through the papers. He stopped with an apologetic grin and put his hands up. Wriothesley put a glass vial on the table.

“Drink.”

Enjou raised his eyebrows.

“Are we dining and wining first or?...”

“It’s a truth serum,” it was a secret project of the Sumeru Akademiya, before the sages were overthrown. Dendro Archon reportedly could read the thoughts of people, and sages were trying to replicate the effect at least partially. Wriothesley came into possession of it after using his network to get the sages connected to the needed people in Fontaine institute, as Fontaine was at the cutting edge of mech technology and the sages were apparently building an artificial god. Didn’t pan out for them, but the serum worked. Wriothesley was sure of it, because he tried it on himself first.

“Oh! How exciting! How does it work? Will it perhaps burn my insides in agonizing pain if I lie?”

“Drink,” Wriothesley said through gritted teeth.

Enjou smiled and drank the vial in one shot.

“Well, nothing is burning so far, but the evening is young, haha,” he said, smacking his lips.

Wriothesley took a deep breath.

“Why are you here?”

“Huh? What do you mean? To explain the history to you, as I said.”

“Because of the goodness of your heart? What’s your agenda? Your goal?”

Enhou cleared his throat.

“Well, first of all, I do believe in uncovering and spreading so-called “forbidden” knowledge. But with your particular case can you really question my agenda? I didn’t come to you first. You were the one who sought us out. I didn’t even want to be here! I was doing my own thing without knowing about you, to be honest! But, well, I am in an organization with some unfortunate morons who thought that recruiting a convenient idiot and then sending him into underworld prison to make sure he isn’t heard is a great plan. And then when the Warden takes note of the idiot and gets him to blabber, these same morons go, Enjou, you have to get there, because you’re a vishap expert! Ugh.” 

Enjou shook his head in seemingly sincere frustration.

“But um, yeah, I’m not trying to recruit you or anything. We know how you’ve disposed of House of Hearth agents and how you generally obstruct Fatui’s activity, and we just don't want you to do the same to us. Because we’re not your enemy! So I’m here to provide you with the necessary context to see that.”

Wriothesley drummed his fingers on the table.

“Okay. Start talking about Neuvilette and vishaps.”

“Well, Neuvilette is a Hydro Dragon, that should be obvious. To clarify, Hydro Dragon here means Hydro Dragon Sovereign, because technically all hydro vishaps are hydro dragons. If you didn’t know, which is understandable, as you’re more of a fighter type and not a bookworm like myself, haha, vishaps are primordial elemental creatures, original rulers of this land and mortal foes of humanity. Long before Archons, there were Dragon Sovereigns in charge of each element. Then there was a war with Celestia, specifics of which are not widely known, but we do know that Celestia won, dragons were largely eradicated and the huge chunks of powers of Sovereigns were taken from them and given to the Archons. Hydro Sovereign was killed.” 

Enjou made a dramatic pause, before leaning forward with a grin. “But you see, vishaps reincarnate. Neuvillette is a Hydro Sovereign reborn in a human shape. There was actually an Inazuman prophecy about it, recorded in the Byakuyakoku Collection. That Hydro Dragon will descend in a human form, and it specifically mentions a cane. This really baffles me, to be honest. How could they predict the cane? Why does he even need a cane? Surely not because of any weakness, he’s an immortal dragon, 500 years is very young for him. And the records say when Neuvilette took his position as the Iudex some 400 years ago, he already had a cane. Was he born with it? Like, had he sprung fully formed, with a cane? Did he pick it up as, I don't know, honorary agreement with a prophecy? Or were his fashion choices actually predetermined to the degree that the prophecy knew them millenia ago?”

“Get back on track,” Wriothesley growled.

“Oh, sorry. Hmm, this serum works by forcing you to spell your thoughts out loud, yes? Well, then it’s not my fault I’m even more blabbering than usual!”

Wriothesley clasped his hands together and said slowly, carefully watching Inazuman’s reaction. “Even if he is a hydro sovereign dragon, as you say, this alone does not make him evil, as your conspiracy claims.”

Enjou fixed his glasses. He really had the hands of a bookworm, no work calluses or fighting scars. But there were spots of reddened, peeling skin that looked like burns that didn’t get to fully heal before getting burned again.

“Did you miss the “mortal foe of humanity” bit? But okay, sure. This is Fontaine after all, presumption of innocence and all that. I mean, I can’t read his thoughts to tell you under oath that he’s evil, so don’t take me to court, hehe!” Enjou grinned, clearly pleased at his own joke. “But I can tell what I know and ask some questions. My first question is why, after losing a war and presumably being killed by Celestia, would an ancient dragon god want to serve a servant of Celestia? The Archon, who rules with what is actually his own power? Unless he had some sort of agenda, perhaps? And come to think of it, why would Hydro Archon put a mortal foe of humanity into a position of such institutional power?”

“Are you implying Neuvilette forced Furina to give him the position of Iudex?”

“Well, I wasn’t here!” Enjou raised his hands defensively. “But why else would he become the Iudex?”

“There are higher beings and gods serving archons in other nations. Like Liyue adepti serving Rex Lapis.”

“Morax was known as the prime of the adepti. None of them could compare with him at strength. Same with yokai and Baal in Inazuma, she was the strongest by far. It’s natural that they would accept servitude. But here…” Enjou glanced at Wriothesley with a sly smile. “If you had to make a bet on a direct fight between Neuvillette and Furina, who would you bet on? Come on, I know tales that her own court would not listen to her until the Iudex tapped his cane.”

Wriothesley couldn’t really argue with this. When the Primordial Sea started breaking out, he himself sent for Neuvillette and didn’t even think to ask the actual Archon.

“In that case, why didn’t he just kill her immediately? Why would he play the judge?”

“Well, you see, he would not get his power back from just killing her. It would just pass to the next Archon. No, the Hydro Archon had to destroy her own throne. And running out the ruler requires a long game, as you know very well yourself, You Grace.”

Wriothesley kept a calm face, but something must have given him away, as Enjou grinned predatorily.

“Next set of facts and questions. You know of the infamous Archon trial, of course? When it was revealed that fontanian people are actually oceanids, given human shape by the previous hydro archon, Egeria? And the prophecy of the flood works because Primordial Sea waters dissolve fontanians into their oceanid forms. Well, the flood actually came. Why were fontanians not dissolved?”

“I’m sure you’ll tell me that.”

“Hehe, yes. It was because Neuvillette turned them into real humans with his powers of Hydro Sovereign. How generous of him, yeah? The question is, why did it take him so long? It’s been 500 years, and yet fontanians were made human only minutes before the flood.”

Despite a feeble bookworm posturing, there was a shadow of unhinged madness in his eyes, dangerous enough that in any other case Wriothesley would cut contact. But the stakes were too high right now. He needed to get all the information he could out of this lunatic.

“You might also remember that on the same trial it was proven that Furina is not a Hydro Archon. And I can tell you that the actual Archon, Focalors, was in the Oracle machine the whole time. Sorry, I’m not even trying to pronounce that full name, haha!”

The urge to punch this bastard was overwhelming, but Wriothesley kept himself in check, mostly because he could tell he was being baited into it and he didn’t want to give the piece of shit the satisfaction.

“Anyway, Neuvilette had an audience with her right after a trial, and as result she killed herself and gave him power back. You see, Hydro Archon doesn’t have the ability to turn oceanids into real humans. All of you were just… things, playing at being humans,” Enjou said with a smirk that looked more fascinated than mocking. “But Hydro Sovereign, the original god of life, does have the power to do so. And he also, conveniently, has control over the Primordial Sea, which you, Your Grace, already know as he stopped the flood in your own Fortress.”

Wriothesley raised an eyebrow and Enjou smiled with a shrug.

“Again, I was not there! But I do know Hydro Sovereign controls the Primordial Sea, and that there is an entrance to the Sea in the Meripode Fortress. I also know that there was some emergency in the Fortress, where inmates were told to run as close to the surface as possible, and then Monsieur Iudex visited and the disaster was somehow avoided.”

Wriothesley frowned. 

“If he was really a mortal enemy of humanity, why wouldn’t he just let the gates of Meripode break and the flood happen right there and then? We would all be gone and he wouldn’t need to lift a finger. Instead he ran to help when I… when the Fortress called.”

“And what would that achieve? He still wouldn’t get his power back,” Enjou shrugged dismissively and then smiled, almost wistfully. 

“No, you know what I would do if *I* was the Hydro Sovereign with an ability to take human form? And if the Archon who held my power hostage was relatively weak AND had the prophecy involving a flood of the Sea I control? Well, I’d infiltrate human society, take a position of high authority and make sure the humans not only see me as the personification of law and justice, but also respect me more than their own Archon. And when the prophecy deadline is coming up, I’d make sure I have people loyal to me in some key positions. Such as Royal Duelist… and the Warden of the Fortress.”

“He didn’t make me the Warden,” Wriothesley gritted out. 

“No, but he did make you the Duke, didn’t he?” Enjou smirked with a wink. “Our sources say the Court was not thrilled to give the highest noble title to you. And if the Iudex did not throw his own weight behind it, it would have never come to pass. How generous of him.”

It was true, Wriothesley’s own informants reported that the Court loathed to give him a title, let alone as high as the Duke. Neuvillette was the only one who fought for him and fought hard, because usually Iudex’s one word was enough to make a decision, but here the stalemate lasted for two months. They wanted to compromise and give him the viscount, but Iudex wouldn’t budge, so in the end, they caved.

Wriothesley never asked Neuvillette for the title. Neuvillette never mentioned what he did for the Warden and never dropped anything even as close as a hint of asking anything in return.

Unless you see it as a part of centuries long game, where mundane favors didn’t matter, but being called first to the access of the Primordial Sea did.

“Ah, you’re starting to get it, don’t you?” Enjou sensed blood in the water, like a proper shark would. “Then I would orchestrate a public court hearing to absolutely discredit the current ruler and corner the actual Archon. And when Focalors is forced to talk to me…. I would make a bargain. Saving the lives of all fontanians in exchange of getting my full power back and Focalors dying. Isn't it ironic that the dragon playing human was the one to turn human-shaped water things into actual humans?"

Enjou leaned back against his chair, grinning with satisfaction.

“And then I’d have an entire country loyal to me as a ruler, which would make a great foothold to use for attacking Celestia.”

Wriothesley took a deep breath.

“You really expect me to take you on your word? You might believe it yourself, which will pass the truth serum, but the word of a lunatic is not evidence.”

“Oh, of course not! I would never expect you to take my lowly word for it. Instead, why don’t you take Monsieur Iudex’s word?”

Enjou made a dramatic gesture of spilling a heap of conches onto the table. Wriothesley raised his eyebrows, when the other man poked one of them awkwardly.

“Now that I have reclaimed one of the Seven Authorities from the hands of the usurpers, I have regained my true form,” a calm voice that was undoubtedly Neuvillette, said out of nowhere. “I am now a fully fledged dragon, powerful enough to judge the rest of the gods. My final destiny is to judge the Usurper-King in the heavens above.”

“This could be faked,” Wriothesley said automatically, just to argue, but his heart already fell.

“You wound me! These are his words, and I spent an entire night fishing them out for you, I’ll have you know. It’s quite hard to capture this. You’re welcome to listen to all of them and see for yourself.”

Almost against his will, Wriothesley reached out and touched one of the conches.

“…I shall fulfill my vow to judge all of The Seven in turn, even if the sky should fall and the ground give way.”

Wriothesley took an abrupt breath through his teeth. Enjou sighed and stood up.

“I think it’s better for you to listen to this alone. After, you’re welcome to reach out to us, but please don’t make any hasty decisions. I’ll see you soon, Your Grace!”

Enjou walked down the stairs, and by the time Wriothesley got to them, there was no one there. The Duke couldn’t bring himself to focus on that though. Instead, he walked up to one of the wall cabinets and took out a bottle of whiskey he was saving up as a possible gift.

He didn’t bother with the glass. He fell down into the chair in front of the conches and clenched his fingers on the bottle, icy veins springing up from under them. He took a sip and touched another conch.

“…my grievances with the usurpers have yet to be settled... They owe a debt of blood that shall not be forgotten.”

He drank, staring blindly into the distance, and listened, and the quiet words burned worse than whiskey sliding down his throat. He caught himself on a familiar thought. “This can’t be happening. This is too monstrous.” The same feverish thoughts he had when he discovered the truth about his foster parents.

As if by now he shouldn’t have learned that nothing is too monstrous in this world.

“As a survivor of the dragon race who has regained my full dragonhood, I must fulfill my oath and obligations even if it means returning all the water in the oceans back to the heavens.”

It really did sound exactly like Neuvillette. Wriothesley tried to find the lie, something that sounded fake, but not only the voice, but the cadence and word choice fit. And it sounded calm, impartial as usual too. And then there were hydro vishaps appearing in Erinnyes…

Fuck, was it really that easy to fool him? Was he really this big of a fool? He learned to distrust sweet words and warm smiles, and he was so sure that he wouldn’t get caught in the same lies ever again, even if he sacrificed his ability to love for this. But all it took was a seeming opposite, direct and harsh, too cold and intimidating to appear manipulative, but endearingly awkward just sometimes, just enough to make him believe that… That there was something true and clear in this rotten world. That he could trust in *someone*.

“Nothing will stop me from rendering judgment on each of The Seven.” 

He went through all of the recordings, frantically at first, wanting to find contradictions, then, when none were found, numbly re-listening to the few that hit the worst.

“…also the destroyer of the present order, the one who shall judge all gods, and the foe of humanity. “

Wasn’t it too obvious in hindsight? Why would the Iudex stake his own reputation on Wriothesley’s title? How could you not see it coming? Oh, because you thought you “deserve” it for turning this dog-fighting pit of a prison into something with a modicum of fairness? Because you thought he recognized your redemption? Gods, what are you, fucking fourteen again, did you learn nothing, why would anyone ever care about you, you naive goddamn idiot?

Soon, the bottle was somehow almost done. At this point he was running one recording on repeat, mindless and purposeless except for repeating slashes of pain, familiar rhythm like the knife on his wrists years ago.

"Hydro Dragon, Hydro Dragon, don't cry." Whoever had penned that rhyme, as well as the Fontainians who came to believe in it, must not have known the Hydro Dragon all that well, considering that they thought the Hydro Dragon could cry. What did they take said Dragon for, some sort of bleeding heart who grieved for humans and the heavens alike?”

If this was true… If this was true, then Wriothesley didn’t just get fooled himself. Then he helped a monster take control of the country and potentially use it in war against heavens. 

He clenched his hand and it took him a moment to realize he broke the bottle he was holding in it. That pain from glass pieces in his palm felt small and distant now. But at last, it spurned him into action.

If this was true, he only had one shot. He’d already told Neuvillette of the dragon conspiracy, like a good little idiot eager to please. And any tyrant worth his salt would make sure to take him out after his, especially now that he outlived his purpose in giving access to Meripode vaults. He might have some time because of how oblivious he was, dismissing the conspiracy openly, but it couldn’t be long. 

He couldn’t take his time. He couldn’t hope for the better. He had to act like it’s the worst option possible. More than anything, he needed to confront Neuvillette, dragon Sovereign or not. He had to fix this, no matter the cost.

He realized he needed leverage. Brute strength was out of the question. Even before the flood, Neuvillette absolutely destroyed Fatui Harbinger in one flash, quicker than anyone in the audience could see what happened. Wriothesley would put himself against Harbringer with no hesitation, but he wasn’t an idiot. If this was how powerful Iudex was before, then after allegedly gaining his full power, there was no way Wriothesley could threaten him. No, he needed something else.

He took out the paper and wrote a note, taking care to not stain it with blood. Fortunately, he held the bottle in his left hand, so he could keep it out of the way.

“....and so confess that I, Wriothesley, Warden of the Fortress of Meripode, killed Chief Justice, Iudex Neuvillette.”

He finished the note and carefully put in his signature, then folded the paper into an envelope and closed it with his personal seal. Then he walked up to a safe, one of the hidden ones, and punched in a code. When the safe opened, he rummaged in it for a moment, until finally taking out two vials.

This was sold to him as the poison that could kill a god.

#rhine writes #rhine writes light #neuvillette #wriothesley #wriolette #genshin impact #enjou #i had a lot of fun with enjou here #anyway let me know what you guys think

[anarchistauthor]

@anarchistauthor Really, a good chunk of the male characters end up being typical male archetypes, but having their typical expectations and archetypes put under a microscope and stripped of plot armor for the sake of the greater narrative:

Ozma and Oscar being different types of Chosen Ones, with the former being someone who being chosen results in him being manipulated by the deity who "chose him" into turning against his lover, and because of the fallout of that devolves into a manipulative liar who basically alienates everyone because he's too dogmatically stuck in his ways to acknowledge that he's being played for a fool by the very deity who chose him.

Oscar meanwhile gets the farm boy with a grand destiny shtick...but as basically just another pawn in a grand crusade against the initial Big Bad, doomed to have his identity subsumed against his will for the sake of a greater good that will never come because of the former's inability to get out of his situation. Oscar, instead of being the protagonist, instead finds himself in a fight for his own right to exist as a person, having to push back against his own transformation while trying to figure out who he's really supposed to be in this mess.

Ren's the typical "my village is dead because of monsters and I want revenge", but he ends up getting his revenge very early on, and it's revealed that it was ultimately a red herring for his ACTUAL issues, which involve his desire for a sense of certainty and control over his life by becoming a huntsman and destroying the destroyer of his village...which doesn't actually resolve anything. He instead ends up having to deal with the aftermath and the unearthing of his deep-seated traumas regarding authority and his own sense of powerlessness and the consequences it nearly has for his relationship with Nora, who finds herself on the opposite side of an ideological impasse as a result.

Adam is the revolutionary pushed by a desire for revenge against those who tormented him, but instead shows how much his desires twisted him until he started caring more and more about his own bloodlust, and willingly nearly destroyed everything he claimed to stand for because he couldn't face reality of how much he was making things worse for his race.

And Ironwood is the tough military man who views himself as the last thing standing against an unbeatable foe, who has to make the tough decisions that his comrades refuse to make...but it soon becomes incredibly clear that rather than that being true, he's more akin to a mall cop mixed with a politician playing soldier in a war that he doesn't really understand at all, because he's never actually FOUGHT a real war, and his bullheaded ignorance and self-importance leads to him alienating everyone and nearly ruined everything.

And all of these things end up leading to the point that the current world order that Ozpin created is deeply flawed and actively useless against the likes of Salem and the Gods, and how our heroines need to change their methods and strategy if they want to have any hope of actually fixing the true situation, instead of just ending up blindly repeating the same mistakes that their predecessors did.

At the end of the day, RWBY is the story of four girls who do everything they can to save the world. Not because they think they're better than everyone else, or more qualified, and certainly not because of "destiny" hogwash. Just because they know someone has to do it, and they've seen all the ways that everyone else who tried has fucked it up. Keeping secrets, isolating, manipulation, those tactics all failed completely. So, the Ruby Rose method is to do the opposite: Be honest and forward about the issue, ask for help, and count on others.

And it worked.

#rwby #rwby9 #ruby rose #sick of these men

[a-d-nox]

asteroid Aphophis (99942)

apep, the destroyer (asteroid 99942)

Apep, also referred to as Apepi, Apopis, Rerek, Apophis, etc., was the greatest foe of the sun god Ra. Apep is often depicted as a demon of chaos in the skin of a serpent. Which is contradictory to Egyptian belief because oftentimes snakes were symbols of divinity and royalty. However, Apep was threat to the world of the living and the realm of the gods as he often attacked Ra when he brought forth day light (this is how Egyptians rationalized solar eclipses - Apep swallowed the boat of Ra). By attempting to stop the day, he also attempted to stop time. Ironically, of all the people to help stop Apep, it was Set who rode with Ra in the mornings at the bow of the ship in order to stab Apep with his spear. IN MY OPINION Apophis in your chart can represent a) what is outside of your control, b) where there is evil/chaos in your life, and/or c) who tries to stop you or disrupt your peace.

i encourage you to look into the aspects of apophis along with the sign, degree, and house placement. for the more advanced astrologers, take a look at the persona chart of apophis!

like what you read? leave a tip and state what post it is for! please use my "suggest a post topic" button if you want to see a specific post or mythical asteroid next!

click here for the masterlist

click here for more egyptian myths & legends

want a personal reading? click here to check out my reading options and prices!

#astrology #astro community #astro placements #astro chart #asteroid astrology #asteroid #natal chart #persona chart #astrology tumblr #egyptian mythology #egyptian history #apep #apophis #asteroid99942 #astro posts #astro notes #astro content #astroblr #astrology notes #astro observations #asteroids

[my-name-is-apollo]

'Ello :D

I saw a few days ago that you mentioned something about complicated Cassandra & Apollo? I was wondering if you could expand on it 👀 Complicated CassandraApollo sounds interesting

I would like to direct you to this post because it summarises a lot of my feelings on them!

Besides that, I'd like to talk about the way one of my favorite scenes, Cassandra ripping apart her prophetic insignia during her final moments, is written in two different plays:

Farewell, ye garlands of that god most dear to me! farewell, ye mystic symbols! I here resign your feasts, my joy in days gone by. Go, I tear ye from my body, that, while yet mine honour is intact, I may give them to the rushing winds to waft to thee, my prince of prophecy

- Euripides', Trojan Women (trans. Edward Philip Coleridge)

and

Why then do I bear these mockeries of myself, this wand, these prophetic chaplets on my neck?

(Breaking her wand, she throws it and the other insignia of her prophetic office upon the ground, and tramples them underfoot)

You at least I will destroy before I die myself. To destruction with you! And fallen there, thus do I repay you. Enrich with doom some other in my place. Look, Apollo himself is stripping me of my prophetic garb — he that saw me mocked to bitter scorn, even in this bravery, by friends turned foes, with one accord, in vain — but, like some vagrant mountebank, called "beggar," "wretch," "starveling," I bore it all. And now the prophet, having undone me, his prophetess, has brought me to this lethal pass.

- Aeschylus, Agamemnon (trans. by Herbert Weir Smyth)

You can see the difference in how Cassandra feels towards Apollo. In the Trojan woman, there's still some fondness she directs towards her god. She calls him the god who is the dearest to her. She wants to take off the symbols of Apollo she dons on her body and give it back to Apollo while her honor is yet intact. It's a way for her to not let her god get dishonored in that helpless situation.

Where as in the Agamemnon, Cassandra sounds more bitter, there's no hint of fondness here. She tears away her prophetic symbols and tramples them because she wants to destroy them. She also blames her act of destroying them on Apollo. Apollo is the ultimate destroyer for her and his symbols are bringers of doom, as she says elsewhere in the play:

CASSANDRA: Apollo, Apollo! God of the Ways, my destroyer! For you have destroyed me — and utterly — this second time.

- Aeschylus, Agamemnon (trans. by Herbert Weir Smyth)

While the two plays portray Cassandra with feelings that are to some extent contrasting (but both founded on desperation), when I think about Cassandra I think like she can feel all those emotions - fondness, bitterness, scorn - almost simultaneously. Because this is her god whom she worships and has dedicated her life for. She has felt his wrath and she has also felt his divine inspiration. She scorned his advances in the past but she still gives him her body to possess his spirit. She couldn't save Troy, she couldn't save herself. But the very last vision Apollo shows her is that of her death being avenged, and that seemed like a miniscule relief for her in the last moments of her life.

Apollo also seems to takes it upon himself to orchestrate that revenge. He could have had other reasons to do that - but to avenge Cassandra's death could also very well have been one of them. We don't really get to see what Apollo thinks of Cassandra. In versions where Cassandra breaks her promise (Aeschylus' Agamemnon and Scholiast on Lycophron's Alexandra) we can definitely assume that he is betrayed by her and is angry with her, understandably so. The scholiast on Lycophron's Alexandra says that Apollo first tried to take back the gift, but when he couldn't he placed a curse to make his gift useless. So it does show that he intended to go easy on her, but it simply wasn't an option. Things are relatively simple here. But there are versions where Cassandra gets her prophetic powers without any direct deal with Apollo, yet the outcome is the same. She rejects him and gets cursed.

Now here the question arises - if satisfying his lust was truly his only objective, why did Apollo curse her instead of just, you know, having his way with her - which wouldn't be unusual for a god? It could be that he simply didn't want (which we see in the case of Sibyl of Cumae). But sometimes I like to think it's more than just that:

Maybe he did it because he knew it would be dangerous to let Cassandra have this power. He was worried that he had blessed her too much, that she had learnt so much that she could intervene with the destiny in her attempts to save Troy. And look at how that turned out for another seer Laocoon - not cursed by Apollo but killed by Athena for warning the Trojans about the Trojan horse. Maybe Apollo didn't want any other god to punish Cassandra like that. She is his beloved priestess, and if at all she has to be punished and damned, he wants to do it himself.

Or maybe (and this is my favourite thought to entertain about them) this was a way for Apollo to deal with his own helplessness about Troy. Because when you think about it, Apollo is not very different than Cassandra in the sense that he is also able to foresee the destruction of Troy, his beloved city with his beloved people, but he won't be able to save them. He is not cursed, he doesn't let out frenzied cries like Cassandra, but he is obliged to abide by the Fates, and has learnt to suffer with his emotions silently. Maybe he desired for someone to join him in this madness. It would torment them but at least he wouldn't feel alone. And he chose Cassandra because she was probably the most beloved to him, and familiar with her virtue, he probably knew she would give him a reason to curse her by rejecting him. He also probably knew that in spite of how unfair he would be towards her, she would still love him and stay devoted to him.

I know my thoughts are probably very unpopular, but I like to think that the bond between them was unbreakable, but definitely very strained. I don't know if co-dependent would be the right word to use for a deity and his doomed priestess (probably not), but I hope you get the idea.

#Apollo #Cassandra #firealder2005 #thank you for the ask #I do love talking about them #and sorry it took this long because I really had to brainstorm a bit #on how to answer this in a way expresses all my thoughts but also stay coherent #lol #but trust me I very much enjoyed thinking about them

[atelierpenny]

CRYMACHINA: You have three new tea parties.

*The destroyer of cyberspace*

Ami: Leben in the next level you will be facing Hewlett Packard the Fifth. This is one of the strongest foes in Eden. Be prepared cutie

*Kino*

Mikoto: you ever seen Ghost Rider Spirit of Vengeance (2011)

*Leben's first gold star*

Enoa: Now now my human you can't cum until mommy says so

#crymachina

[surveillance-0011]

Master and Crazy Handcanons

Both:

Both are collectors, hobby-wise. They also enjoy sparring and partaking in games + competitive activities.

Born from the same source, twin brothers. Perhaps even the same person. Regardless, two halves of a whole.

It did take Crazy Hand some time to make his presence known to the smashers but Master Hand always knew him.

MH used to be rather ashamed of CH because of his role as a destructive other half, but learned to accept his presence. On the other hand, once upon a time CH was very envious of MH's ability and drive to create but learned to appreciate his own abilities.

Both are charismatic. While they present as more antagonistic, in the end it's all kayfabe and they care a lot about the smashers.

Oversee everything, basically. Doing a lot of behind the scenes work with the help of spirits, miis and other powerful beings throughout the worlds. MH does the more general stuff, and CH the dirtier work

kind of aware of the meta of everything being a video game, kind of not. Schrodingers 4th wall awareness. when it's quirky.

Both go by he/him.

rest is under the cut for length

Master Hand:

The Creator. The Ringleader. Voice of reason.

Used to play up the evil ambiguity more, but now he's more into presenting as the ultimate foe in a more benign way. Like Max Brass or some sort of top dog boxer.

Also the announcer.

Early bird, and early to go to bed. cannot stay up late to save his life. I mean he will to battle for many a kid playing under the covers

Very organized in routine and actual cleanliness. Loves his lists and itineraries and sorting cabinets. Yes, he is creative and never super-uptight, but he needs some semblance of routine.

While he tries to keep Crazy in check, he is still up for some mayhem every now and then and is totally game for dishing out beatdowns together whenever!

Very hush-hush about Master Core, hates its presence within him.

Still very guilty about not being able to prevent or do much during WOL. Subspace? Okay. That was a mess but he did what he could. With Galeem and Dharkon? He feels he should've been able to fight back and see the warning signs.

Very stern and distrusting towards Tabuu, Galeem and Dharkon. Not fond of them but is keeping them around to keep an eye on them.

Doesn't like to show weakness. He knows a lot of people rely on him and would rather die than see them feel helpless.

Great at cooking! Everything he makes is great, the smashers cannot get enough. Though a lot of the smashers can cook and do so for each other, on special occasions he will treat.

Needs more hobbies, a vacation and some therapy. please.

Crazy Hand:

A destroyer. Source of chaos. Chronically silly.

It's just... his nature. He has a lot of energy but he hasn't ever been able to make and retain something. He has, however, been able to break things down and mess them up. As mentioned above, once upon a time this was disheartening to him, but he was learned to work with it and take joy in it. That, and by being a part of Smash he has helped cultivate something beautiful in his own way. Very proud of himself!

Really plays up the supervillain sort of vibe, esp in comparison to his brother. He's like a scare actor. He tones everything down if he sees someone is actually scared.

Huge prankster

Night Owl. Keeps an eye out after dark, making sure curfews are met (for the kids mainly, gotta get their sleep) and that mischief is kept to a minimum. But he will also be a boogeyman of sorts and cause a bit of mischief, as he loves to spook those who decide to stay up late.

Gives more leeway. If you know Master Hand will say no, consider asking Crazy for what you want! He's like the cool uncle if Master Hand is more like a team dad. Gotta make up for brutality on the battlefield somehow!

Likes to collect quirky, kitschy stuff. Lots of weird collections. Rocks shaped like presidents. Beanie babies stitched together like the human centipede. WMDs. Garfield Fish Tank Owner.

Oh I bet he does keep fish also. He'd be good at it. Another thing where he can actually take care of something and not destroy it.

Don't trust him with gardening though. Or cooking.

Into horror and weirder stuff, but prefers campier stuff. Can't stomach super horrific and dramatic stuff or gory stuff.

Easily moved by movies.

If he's quiet. Assume something is wrong. He's either doing something in secrecy or really upset. Hopefully the former and he's just about to pull off some crazy prank.

Got over Subspace and WOL relatively easily compared to others but is worried about how they affected others, especially MH.

He was also still shaken up from being controlled by Dharkon

Dislikes Galeem and Tabuu, sees them as stuck-up pricks. Feels sympathy towards Dharkon as the guy is Chronically Miserable and he sees that it was acting out of misplaced rage and dispair. Doesn't make it right but CH knows what it's like to be full of the need to destroy and raise hell. This has lead to him being more forgiving and trying to befriend his former adversary

#ssbu #super smash brothers #super smash ultimate #super smash bros ultimate #ssbu headcanons #headcanon #crazy hand #master hand #ssbu headcanon #headcanons

[wearepaladin]

Do you know much mechanically about playing paladins? I’ve been eyeing one, but I don’t wanna drag down the party.

I certainly do. 5e Paladins are a close combat martial caster that can jump around as a tank, damage dealer, and support: every Paladin can have a high armor class and accrue health, every Paladin has multiple martial abilities, use their choice of weapons, use the divine smite ability at any confirmed hit, eventually strengthen the saves of any nearby ally, and can cast a variety of spells. On top of that, every Oath/Subclass has their own flavoring in the mechanics.

Ancients: Ancient Paladins are masters of controlling the environment to turn against their enemies, hindering and restraining enemies with spells and abilities that ensure it, with the masters/level 20 paladins capable of converting their action spells into bonus actions. More than that, they are as enduring as the elements they command, becoming very difficult to put down

Vengeance: Avengers are hunters and destroyers, their abilities coded to track, restrict, and utterly annihilate their chosen enemies, ideal for either facing powerful or hard to track foes.

Devotion: The Devoted are the Jacks among paladins, with a variety of abilities that are usable for a variety of situations, though admittedly most of them are very useful or even directly designed to be utilized against the traditionally malefic among enemies, undead and fiends. But even without that, the Devoted can switch between roles in combat with relative ease

[jpitha]

Worldbuilding stuff: the real world is messy. Making your own world messy lends a feeling of realism. It's temping to make everything cut and dry, but shades of grey are more interesting and gives you more leeway to have interesting things happen to your characters.

After contact with the K'laxi was established and the Xenni war cooled, the K'laxi and the Xenni both brought up the idea of disarmament to the humans.

To the surprise of both sapients, the humans dismissed disarmament out of hand. They would not even entertain it.

"What?" the K'laxi said "You don't need all those weapons anymore, the war is over!"

"What?" the Xenni said "We were defeated and honorably surrendered to the superior foe. You don't need all those weapons anymore!"

"No" The Humans said. "We may not need these weapons now, but our histories tell us that we will need them again. Better to have them and not need them, then need them and not have them."

It was actually a point of contention for a little while among all three groups. The K'laxi and Xenni felt that the Humans were being aggressive and spoiling for a fight, while the Humans felt that the others were being hopelessly naive.

When the Humans learned this they approached the K'laxi and pointed out that when they first met, the K'laxi were at war with the Xenni and it was a stalemate at best. The Humans came in on their side and won the war for them. If they didn't have those weapons then it would have been much harder for the K'laxi to win and there would have been many more deaths.

"More deaths?" they said.

"More Deaths." The Humans pointed out that by showing up with dreadnoughts and destroyers and ships of all shapes and sizes, all bristling with weapons, they were able to intimidate the Xenni into surrendering earlier.

The Xenni counter by saying maybe when the Humans first arrived, they should have opened dialogs with them first and cooled the war that way.

"Would it have worked?" The Humans ask.

"We don't know! You didn't try!" the Xenni counter.

In the end, nothing changed. The Humans kept their arsenal and train regularly. Even if it's not visible immediately every Human starship is very well armed. The K'laxi somewhat reluctantly joined them and now train alongside their Human allies and have been in talks to arm their own ships. The Xenni kept their own weapons and continue training, and while Humans and K'laxi have toured Xenni ships and starbases, they Xenni chose not to integrate as tightly as the Humans and Klaxi do.

#worldbuilding #humans are warriors #humans are deathworlders #humans are space orcs #scifi writing #writing #writing tips

[dailydemonspotlight]

Day 1 - Shiva

Race: Fury

Alignment: Light-Chaos

March 20th, 2024

Today’s Demon Spotlight is Shiva from Hinduism, the destroyer who breaks for more to create. One of the primary deities in Hindu Mythology alongside Vishnu and Brahma, Shiva serves a very unique purpose- he’s worshiped as someone who participates in a cycle of life and rebirth, the god who destroys so more can be created by Brahma. As such, he’s far from inherently evil, and is actually one of the most worshiped in the Trimurti. There is a lot to Hinduism, and admittedly I’m not very knowledgeable about it, but Shiva’s role in it has always caught my interest, and has actually inspired quite a bit of my own work- he’s actually the chief inspiration for Nil!

In the Megami Tensei games, Shiva serves as a very powerful demon in almost all of them, appearing at very high levels and even serving as a superboss in V. Design wise, there isn’t much to say- he’s rather accurate in all incarnations, what with his blue skin, four arms, and dancer-like attire. His theme song in V, the trippy, almost acid-like song Battle -Destruction- has a rambling, choppy beat fronted by spacey sounding instruments and percussion that gives way to a surreal and oppressive atmosphere, one incredibly fitting for his boss fight in V given his deific role. The bizarre time signature and vocals make it feel like a waltz, which is incredibly fitting given how Tandava is literally just him busting a move. Speaking of which…

His signature skill, ‘Tandava,’ actually originates as a divine dance performed by him in the mythology, likely being what inspired quite a lot of depictions of him as a belly dancer. The Tandava is the method by which Shiva carries out his destruction to reshape the world, a dance so filled with fervor that it represents the eternal cycle of creation, preservation, and destruction. There are several types of this dance, those being “Ananda Tandava, Tripura Tandava, Sandhya Tandava, Samhara Tandava, Kali (Kalika) Tandava, Uma Tandava, Shiva Tandava, Krishna Tandava, and Gauri Tandava.” Each of them represent both different gods and different parts of the cycles in Hinduism, and the one that Shiva himself performs most often (and thusly is named after him) is described as being the originator of the cycle in the first place. In the Megami Tensei games, the Tandava dance depicted appears to be either Rudra Tandava or Shiva Tandava, both of which representing his destruction, though I personally lean more towards it being Rudra Tandava, as the move is a severe almighty attack that destroys all foes on screen.

Overall, Shiva is one of my favorite demons in the series on account of his design, gameplay, and lore. He’s one of the most interesting mythological figures in history in my opinion, and SMT does him justice.

#shin megami tensei #smt #persona #smt v #smt iv #smt nocturne #megaten #daily #one of my favorite demons in the entire series ngl #his design is great #his theme is a banger #and his lore is incredibly interesting to me #i really gotta learn more about hindu mythology ngl

[topazshadowwolf]

A Win and A New Foe

Cross won! The boy did it! But Fell didn't win this time. Error is now the opponent Cross will face. And what a challenge this will be! Cross, the youngest of the gang vs Error, Destroyer of Worlds, Master of Puppets, Guardian of Destruction, Collector of Souls.

Good thing Cross has others to support him! Make sure you vote as I am sure this will be a close one!

---

Nightmare yawned as he tried to finish his work. The polls had been a distraction, but he had plenty of things to do. He figured he could check in later when a few hours were left. He had been so wrapped up in his work he forgot to check. Instead, he learned the results when he heard a commotion in the hallway.

He looked up in time to see Killer and Horror carrying Cross over their head into his office with giant smiles. “he did it! our baby bro did it!” Killer cheered.

“he beat ink!” Horror added as they set a very anxious Cross down.

“hurray me,” Cross said as he looked down.

“Indeed, it will be you against Fell,” Nightmare started but was interrupted by Killer.

“ehhh, about that boss. error won,” Killer said while putting his hand on Cross’ shoulder. “which is why the oreo is such a nervous nelly right now. he knows who he’s up against.”

Hearing this caused Nightmare to frown as he woke up his laptop and brought up the website. He paused for a moment, then looked back at Cross. “Do not… fret. Regardless of who the victor is, I am just happy you made it as far as you did.”’ A grin grew across Nightmare’s face as he steepled his hands, “Although, I would love to rub it in Error's face that one of my henchmen won against him.”

“i will try my best!” Cross said, saluting.

“I know you will,” Nightmare smiled as he stood and walked over. He rested a hand on Cross’ shoulder, followed by Killer and Horror doing the same. “We are still behind you, doing what we can for you.”

---

arguments for voting for cross and not error

heya. here’s a list of why you should vote for cross (the baby bro of our group):

he’s a cool dude

he doesn’t go around destroying other people’s stuff

error likes to destroy other people’s stuff. talking about homes and whole worlds here

cross doesn’t like to kill people and steal their souls

error’s main gig is to kill people and steal their souls

he dresses nice for a sans. (you think i have the energy to dress like him?)

he showers daily (i’ve never seen a shower in the anti void. or a wardrobe.)

i’m pretty sure error is that weird smell i notice when he’s around

he doesn’t steal other people’s stuff

error likes to steal and litter other people’s homes/worlds (bad for the environment)

cross helped save an endangered species of butterflies from destruction

except for the few cross saved, error made those endangered butterflies extinct by destroying not just their habitat but the world they came from

cross is polite for the most part (we are a bad influence, sorry)

error is very rude

nightmare would be happy if his youngest “son” won

“Ah, there you are, Dust,” Nightmare’s voice interrupted Dust’s thoughts, and he looked up to see his boss entering his room. “Cross has advanced to the finals.”

“i saw,” Dust said as he started to close his laptop. Nightmare stopped the motion and pushed the screen back to look at what Dust had been working on. The dark guardian then rested a hand on his shoulder as he chuckled softly.

“That you have. It seems you are trying to support Cross in your own way. Still, you should try to congratulate him verbally. He is apprehensive about this upcoming competition. I am sure he will be happy to have your support,” Nightmare said.

“i will,” Dust replied, then looked up at Nightmare. “you look tired, boss. when did you last sleep?”

“I have said it before; I will say it again. I do not require the amount of sleep you four do. Thank you for your concern, but I am doing fine and will retire to my chambers for a rest when this is over,” Nightmare stated.

“alright, boss,” Dust shrugged and looked over his list. “once i’m done editing this, i’ll go find cross.”

“That is fine…,” Nightmare said softly. He then turned slowly and left.

Alone again, Dust sighed. He still had his last “dad” to use. Unlike the others, he barely said the word when he could say it whenever. That word, at one time, had no meaning to him. Now that it had meaning to him, he didn’t want to overuse it. So, he will have to make that one count.

#crosssweep #cross!sans #horror!sans #killer!sans #nightmare!sans #dadmare #dust!sans

[aaronofithaca05]

Hi! Part 3: the truth of my fic: The first night is out

<-Part 2

“Yes, father” he responded from amongst the crowd.

“What happened?, he bluntly shouted.

“Wait,  better not ask, as my poisoned words were the ones that began your pain”. He said as he was trying to occult his shedding pearls amidst a façade of well.

“Son; come here, you NEVER, NEVER send me poisoned words” I said calmly

“ As honey never spoils” I said while trying to stay put, and then with my breaking throat: “my love to you  will stay as the inmutable stars of the night” Even if you burned all Ithaca, all the lands under Uranus. I said softly; “You will always be my son, my joy, my sun”. I tried to hug him, to tell him everything was as good as ever. Ever

“Then… Why did you evade my question? “. Telemachus' reaction to my promise, to my love, was a question that veiled the sorrows of a fatherless son, of a man whose only memory of me were tales of old, the anger of a naive soul.

“Telemachus, let me..”. I tried to tell him everything but  his impetuous anger cut me, again.

 “You´re Odysseus the man of many turns,” He reprimanded me while shouting as I lowered my head to the floor

“The cunning master of the Danaoi” He added, I assisted

“Breaker of divine's Troy walls”, He added to the list.

“Telemachus, I wa..” He didn't let me end,

“Oh sorry Odysseus son of Laertes” he said while his tears filled his soft face, his little hairs forming pearls of anguish. “I meant Odysseus,the destroyer of cities”. That cut me down to the core, I saw the floor of before impenetrable Troy filled with the blood and bodies of them all, he´s body, staring stiff to the void, the face of an innocent, the face of Telemachus, I couldn´t saved him there, 

“I won't lose you here” I thought.

 I was being killed and gutted by the voice of my son, of our son, of our sweet Telemachus.

“Telemachus, please I´m Oddy…” I was stopped again, trying to say “Telemachus, I´m Odysseus, father of Telemachus, you are my most prized soul, my greatest achievement, no lie, no masterful plan, no horse, nothing can compare to the pride I have and will always have being able to call myself your father”

He then stop, he looked towards where I interrogated the poor little girl and with a heart full of hate he shouted: “Odysseus, Slayer of Circe,

“Slayer of..Circe '', I froze, my expression changed to ingenuity.

He saw the change in face and thought it was “liar” what caught me

“Yes liar, isn't that what you are? How can I call myself the son of a beggar and a liar????!!!!!”

Our blood ran cold, all light faded, all the spring air became the underworld, all stopped. He collapsed like the Walls of the doomed city while I was running to him, with pearls so big that only immortals could have.

He berated, he punched me, he tried to get me off.

“Liar, liar” He shouted if Zeus lighting was contained inside him

“…..father” I kissed him while grabbing his soft looks

“….Πα…i'm sorry” he spoke softly as the clouds

“Don´t be” I said as I looked into his watery eyes while our foreheads were touching, we were for the first time son and dad.

After that, he was still defiant but soft as a young kid (goat), I felt how his factions softened but not his lips, there was anger still inside.

“Telemachus”, I said, trying to rock him as I did before I left home.

“all you said was true, I was a liar, so many people had been sent down under my sword” I whispered, he held me closer and tighter while I felt moisture in my cloth.

“But I didn't kill Circe”, I said.

He pushed me out, his anger, his stream of pearls was rekindled, he was more fierce than any storm I faced, he was tougher than any foe I faced, every monster, even I. 

“Why must you keep lying to me!” he said while hugging himself

“I don´t lie”, “ she's alive” I said, sincerely as my love to him.

“You let that witch live?” Telemachus shouted again.

 “You let the daughter of Helios live to see his father once more” He seemed confused amidst his whines.

“Why would I killed her?, she nurture us to live, she prepared us, she let her home open for us, she is the greatest foe we faced, her dignity and hospitality were an example for all of the civilized” I said convinced and serene in every word; he grew paler with each letter, with each word and his eyes more deep and bottomless than before.

“And the pigs, what about the piGS!!” he clinged to that idea, trying to get me.

“You let your men die?” He put his hand in his heart waiting for my collapse but I was standing up.

“No one died on that island under my watch, only Elaipnor met his fate, for lounging in the roof of her palace and fell asleep a month or two before leaving” then added “the rest perished in Thrinacia”.

“Wait” I could see his confession brimming and humming in his perfect ears.

“then the gray-eyed goddess helped, the sword trick, Circe's curse…It was a lie”.

“What did you say?”. I asked softly and awaited his answer as I awaited the moment of holding him tight forever.

“Friend told me”, he sincerely said.

 “Friend”  I remember that word “friend” but I did not hold it dear anymore, as the friend he talked about I knew who was.

“She told you sweet stories thinking i was going to be here and one day tell you truth”

“The truth”, “The truth”,he scoffed bitterly

 “How many truths are there?” “I only wanted my dad”, “ We only wanted you” he whined as he collapsed again.

“I only wanted you Πα”, Telemachus whispered, hugging my knees.

“I have endured, I stayed strong, I did what I was told”, “but still, your soul wasn't here with us”. he gently spoked as a small creek.

Thanks so much to all of you! I´m tagging to my best friends and special moots:

@jarondont,@iroissleepdeprived, @nikoisme, @perroulisses,@poshgirlsstuff, @katerinaaqu @incorrecthomer, @dootznbootz, @nyx-of-darkness-1620, @sunshines-child, @randomkrab, @ironspdr6700, @fangirlofallthefanthings, @twomanyfandomshelp, @thehighpaladin, @the-decapod, @myblacknightworld, @simugeuge, @itszorrito67, @incorrectatlas @tunguszka20, @dootznbootz , @ironspdr6700

#the first night #odysseus #telemachus #fic #angst/fluff #argument #the odyssey #greek mythology #homer

[ragingphantom666]

Sonic World project plan: Shadow the Hedgehog (Vol. 2)

This series is not an assured project. It is a concept that can still be changed or scrapped.

Synopsis

After the event of "Shadow the Hedgehog" volume one, Shadow has decided to reunite with Team Dark. The rocky reunion is broken up by the impossible return of Mephiles the Dark. They must team-up to stop the new threat of Nominatus, master of technology.

Characters

Shadow the Hedgehog - The ultimate lifeform created by Gerald Robotnik in the Earth dimension. He was brought to Sonic's home dimension by Eggman sometime following his battle with the Biolizard on the Ark. Rouge was the first person he met following his reawakening. For a time, they had quite the bond and formed Team Dark with E-123 Omega. Sometime prior to the battle where Eggman disappeared, Shadow left to be on his own. During the events on this volume, he attempts to repair his status with Team Dark while chasing after the evil Mephiles.

Rouge the Bat - A master thief, treasure hunter, and leader of Team Dark with a flirty personality. She had a close relationship with Shadow and was hurt when he left the team. When he returns, she no longer trusts him enough to lower her guard again.

E-123 Omega - The most powerful robot built by Eggman. He loves to destroy enemies and cause destruction. There is a kinder side to him that only Shadow and Rouge have seen. No matter what, he will always protect his friends.

Mephiles - Dubbed "the Ultimate Lifeform Destroyer," he was created by Infinite the Jackal through the power of the reality-altering power of the Phantom Ruby to torment Shadow. Although the ruby was destroyed and the false reality was torn apart, Mephiles somehow impossibly survived. In a "glitchy" form, he releases Nominatus as part of a plan to destroy Shadow.

Nominatus - An ancient, alien being from the Nero dimension. He can manipulate electronics and radio signals. He was sent eons ago to conquer the world for Black Doom, but he was defeated and sealed within an object known as the "Nominatus Sphere." He morphs Badniks into his demonic minions. His drive is to finish his mission and return home as a champion.

Recap

Other Information

The plan for the Nero dimension is for it to take inspiration from the Shinigami realm from the anime "Death Note." The domain of Black Doom is based on the Black Comet.

I got the name "Nero" when I put "Black Doom" through an Italian translation. It's fitting because I've seen two evil characters who were called "Nero." It's a long story though about how I got to using Italian though.

Although there is no romance in the Sonic World universe, the "bond" between Shadow and Rouge is meant to suggest that they were dating once. Officially though, they were just really, really, really, really good friends 😉

#fan fiction #sonic #sonic fanfiction #sonic world #sonic the hedgehog #shared universe #shadow the hedgehog #rouge the bat #e 123 omega #team dark #mephiles the dark #Nominatus