#i'll make some gif renders later
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🎉HAPPY BIRTHDAY WOLFGAAAAAAANG!!!🎉
(sorry, I only slept about 2 hours, and woke up thrice during those two hours, so...)
But, aaaaanyway, my Wolfie is 26 today!
(real footage of Mal greeting Wolfie this morning)
#i should just shut up#i'll have a render later today#i have one in the making which only needs posing & some editing#but it's not looking very birthday-like#(but it has mal & joy so that's cool)#so maybe i'll make another one and post both (wolfie does deserve it)#we'll seeeeeee
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Good Enough: Dad!Jake Sully
Avatar Masterlist
word count: 1k
description: Once your father’s world, you start acting out when he starts ignoring you and only your father can figure out what is going on
Jake and Neytiri were at loss, especially Jake he didn't understand what was going on with you lately and why you were acting out so much. All you ever did anymore was talk back and argue with them, and they couldn't figure out why, usually Lo'ak was the problem child, not you. Today was the final straw when you snuck out to join the war party after Jake specifically told you to stay behind and watch Tuk and help with the wounded, something you clearly didn't agree with.
"Jesus, I let you two geniuses fly a mission and you disobey direct orders," he sighed. "Not to mention you almost got your sister killed!" He said to Neteyam and Lo'ak who you felt bad for, your dad was always so hard on them.
"I came on my own." You said rolling your eyes and making Jake whip his head in your direction.
"What did you say?" He asked.
"I said I.came.on.my.own. and that these two tried to get me to return home and I didn't listen to them, so if it's anyone's fault, it's mine." You said looking in dead in the eye as Jake was rendered speechless at you.
"I'll deal with you later." He said tiredly running a hand down his face.
"Yeah, it's always later with you." You mumbled as you left the tent and went to go see your grandmother so she could look at you.
After getting looked at by your grandma, you headed back to your tent hoping to get some sleep, making sure to avoid your father and how much he couldn't see how much you were hurting and that you were acting out to get his attention. You had been laying there silently crying when you heard your parents talking, probably assuming you were asleep.
"I don't know what I'm gonna do with her, I can't keep doing this." Your father said.
"Jake she's just going through something...l can try and talk to her." Your mother offered.
"I know she is....but why can't she be more like Neteyam or Kiri, you know?" He said breaking your heart as you realized you were never gonna be good enough for him.
"Ma Jake, don't talk like that...she is perfect just the way she is, sure her attitude could use some fixing but I still love her as the day she was born and so should you." Your mother said to him but it was too late as you knew how he truly felt.
You waited until everyone was asleep and decided to go for a night-time flight to clear your head and think about everything. You walked over to your Ikran and climbed on top of her before taking off. After flying for a bit, you landed in a pasture and just relaxed trying to calm your thoughts wondering if one day you would be good enough for your father.
Jake was restless that night, hating that yours and his relationship were so strained, there used to be a day when you weren't seen without him and now you were practically strangers. He got up and went to check on you when he saw your tent empty making him worry as you and ikran were gone. He climbed on top of his and circled around looking for you or Ikran until he saw you both which he let out a sigh of relief.
"If you have come to yell at me or lecture me more, please go." You said not even looking at him which broke his heart.
"I haven't. Baby girl I just wanna figure out what's been going on with us lately?" He said taking a seat next to you.
"Why? It's not actually like you care." You said turning away from him and making him frown at your words.
"Hey talk to me. Where is this coming from?" He asked gently and even more worried.
"I heard what you said to mom about how you wish I was more like Kiri or Neteyam..Do you realize I've been acting out to get your attention because I don't feel good enough for you! You the one who trained me and yet you don't let me go out on missions but you'll tell Lo'ak of all people?? How am I supposed to feel when I'm told to sit here and take care of others when I know I could be out there helping you and mom? You don't talk to me or have any time for me and I hate that so much, it's always later baby girl, or not now baby girl. I miss our relationship but it doesn't seem like you do." You said breaking down into tears as Jake sat there in shock at your words before moving towards you and gathering in his arms.
Jake held you in his arms gently rocking you as he tried to calm you down while he also processed your words, he never meant to make you feel that way, that you weren't good enough for him because you were if any of his children were a carbon copy of him, it was you. Once your breathing was back to normal he decided to speak.
"You are good enough for me more than...I never meant to make you feel like you weren't and I'm sorry that I did...when I have to stay back here with your sister and the others it's not because I don't believe in your abilities as a warrior, trust me I do...it's because I know that if something was to happen, they would have you to protect and defend them...I'm sorry I made you think I was doubting you or didn't believe in you because I do so much. I didn't realize that I had gotten so wrapped in the war party stuff and your brothers that I ignored you, it was never my intention. I hope you can forgive me, baby girl." He said.
"As long as you can forgive me for the way I've been acting." You said looking at him.
"Of course, what do you say tomorrow we spend the day together like we used to do?" He offered you.
"I would love that. I love you, dad." You said to him.
"I love you too baby girl." He said pressing a kiss to your forehead.
#jake sully x daughter!reader#avatar fic#avatar way of water x reader#sully reader#avatar way of water
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My guilty pleasure headcanon request is that sukuna enjoys practicing shibari and wax play.
I wouldn't do wax play but I'll write shibari.
Pairing: Ryomen Sukuna x Fem!Reader
Tags: nsfw, smut, bondage, orgasm control, name calling, overstimulation, dom/sub dynamics, rough sex, kind of free use, safewords
A/N: I know Sukuna would be into stuff like this. He told me.
Shibari was always one if the things he was interested in trying
He had no idea it required learning, he just wanted to tie you
Took lessons to make sure you're sexy but safe, no need to damage you too bad, not with stuff like ropes
Was confuses at the idea of safewords, you never thought he was too much before and he did some intense stuff with you
But if you really want a safety net he won't object
After all he plans to keep you around for a long time
Makes sure the ropes are on tight enough to render you immobile
You look like a real work of art, your legs spread open for him and no way for you to close them, your hands behind your back, such a pretty pattern down your back and stomach
He really outdid himself
But he didn't tie you up to put you on display and look at you
If you want he can do that a bit later
Would be nice to have a pretty toy hanging around, always ready to be fucked, even for just a few pumps of his cock in any of your holes
You'd like that wouldn't you, being his slut when he demands it, doing nothing but taking his cock all day, every day
He takes hold of the ropes to pull you onto his cock rather casually at that
Doesn't hold back on you
Why would he until he hears the safeword
If your mouth is busy he'll pull out fully a few times to give you a chance to speak, all tied up like that you can't give him any other signals
Another benefit to this is that if you're tied up he can make sure you don't touch yourself and make yourself orgasm when he tells you not to
Sukuna can fuck you and tell you to hold your orgasm back for as long as he wants
It's so much better when you're too sensitive, losing your mind, crying and begging for it only for him to pull out and shut your mouth up with his cock
After he lets you come, after the session is over he will ease you down into his arms and fetch something to clean you up with and tend to any ropeburn marks you may have
Marks are all fine and good bur he wants to be the only one leaving them on you
#jujutsu kaisen x reader#jjk x reader#sukuna x reader#jujutsu kaisen imagines#jjk imagines#jujutsu kaisen headcanons#jjk headcanons#jujutsu kaisen smut#jjk smut#sukuna imagine#sukuna headcanons#sukuna smut#jujutsu kaisen x you#jjk x you#sukuna x you#jujutsu kaisen x female reader#jjk x female reader#sukuna x female reader
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Oh I’m sorry I have GOT to ask! How did you do the text animation in the first gif of 718688291365502976/pscentral-event-15-favourite-ships-kanej?? It’s just. It’s so beautiful
Hi anon! I've used After Effects to create the text animation in the first panel of this post. I'll show you the basic idea of how I've created the animated text effect here :D
What you need:
A cutout font (the font that I've used is Trouble Child Outblack by @justlikethistrain)
Adobe Photoshop with Video Timeline feature
Adobe After Effects
Supplementary files: gif prep action pack / golden outline layer style / assorted textures
Difficulty: advanced; knowledge in gifmaking with the video timeline interface assumed
Note: This tutorial assumes that you're working with all of the composite gifs in a Photoshop composition file and using the video timeline interface
Other useful tutorials to refer to: Text overlay effect / After Effects text animation / clipping mask vs layer mask
Tutorial under the cut. Like / reblog if you find this useful!
1) Photoshop: Preparing your gif panel
Setting up your PSD composition panel: Create a blank PSD file and set it to Tumblr dimensions (540px x 540px in this particular gifset)
Enable Video Timeline and drag all of the component gifs from your folder to the PSD composition file. Resize / move these gifs around until you're happy with the placements.
Trim the timeline work area so it's the same length as the shortest component gif you've added to the PSD composition file. You can also add some textures & additional adjustment onto this panel.
2) Photoshop: Exporting your base gif
I highly recommend exporting the base gif right now, to ensure a smoother experience scrubbing through the video timeline when adding finishing touches later on in the workflow.
My preferred method is to render the composition as a video clip from File > Export > Render video.
To get the optimal export quality, I use the following settings:
3) Photoshop: Preparing your text layer
Make a new Photoshop composition file of Tumblr dimensions
Drag in the video clip that you've just rendered (the base gif) to this composition file
Add a new text layer in your PSD composition file and set the colour to white then tweak this layer until you're happy with the text placement.
For performance optimisations on After Effects, I duplicate the PSD composition file and delete all other layers. This PSD file contains only the text layer that will be animated.
4) Photoshop: Adding overlays & decorations on the text layer
This step allows you to preview the text effect without the animations (i.e. allows you to tweak the texturings & colourings)
Duplicate the text layer. Set the bottom layer's (highlighted in red) blend mode to Exclusion and apply the gold outline layer style to the top layer (highlighted in green). Make sure the Inner Shadow is disabled!
The panel now looks like this
I want to have the liberty to use different colours & textures on the bottom text layer with animation, so the next thing I do is to right click on the bottom text layer and select "Group from Layers"
To change the colour of the filled text layer to purple:
Collapse the Group that you've just created
On top of the collapsed Group a purple Colour Fill layer,
Set the Fill layer's blend mode to "Colour"
Right click on the Fill layer and select "Create Clipping Mask"
Now the colour of the filled text layer is purple
After adding more textures & decorations on the text layer (with photo negative effects) I get the following:
5) Photoshop: Adding overlays & decorations on the text layer
To avoid performance issues on After Effects, I make a new PSD file of the same dimension. With both the PSD files open, I select the text layer (highlighted in red) while holding Shift, I drag this to the blank PSD file (see the green arrow)
Holding Shift ensures that the layer's placement is preserved when it's copied to a separate PSD file.
In the new PSD file, I set the text layer's blend mode to "Normal"
6) After Effects: Animating your text layer
Make a new project on After Effects and drag in the text layer PSD file. Import this file as a Composition
Also drag in the base gif video clip to the AE project.
While we won't be exporting anything with the base gif visible, having this file in the project file is useful if you want to have a better picture of how the animation will look in tandem with the gif.
Double click on the composition. Hide the colour fill and background layers. Then right click on the text layer, go to Create > Convert to Editable Text
To be able to preview the animation with the base gif, drag the video clip to the composition file and below the text layer. The visibility of the layer can be toggled on / off anytime in the After Effects workflow
Now we prepare the text layer to be animated. Because the final animated effects is 3D & has motion blur, right click on the text layer and select "3D layer" (highlighted in green) and Switches > Motion Blur (highlighted in red)
Go to Animation Presets > Text to browse through some presets that you could use to animate the text layer. For this gifset, I've used a preset within the 3D Text folder called "3D Random Spike Tumble in".
While selecting your text layer, press U to view the keyframes and you can adjust the position of these keyframes until you're happy.
For more finishing touches, press U again to tweak more options in this preset. In this case, I do to Animato 1 > Range Selector and changed the Colour Fill to #fff (the default colour is light yellow)
Then do you File > Export > Add to Render Queue
Click on the Output Module and use the following settings to render the text layer as a video file with transparency
Then after specifying the folder in which you'll export the video to, click "Render" to render the video file containing your animated text layer.
7) Photoshop: Adding the animated text & finishing touches
On Photoshop, drag the rendered clip containing animated text, to the PSD composition file with the static text layers.
Duplicate the animated text video layer
Drag one of the layers inside Group 1 and set the blend mode to "Exclusion" (Highlighted in green)
Move the other layer to the top and apply the gold outline layer style with Inner Shadow disabled (highlighted in red)
Hide both text layers (highlighted in yellow)
By scrubbing through the timeline, I've noticed that the animation didn't look clean enough, so I'll add some finishing touches
By selecting the upper text layer containing layer styles, go to the timeline and add opacity keyframes going from opacity 0% to 100% a few frames apart
Once you're happy with the finishing touches, flatten / render your PSD composition file, change the frame delay to 0.05s and export your gif and voila!
I hope this helps 💖
#tutorial#gif tutorial#photoshop tutorial#after effects#chaoticresources#dearindies#userriel#useralien#userraffa#usershreyu#user.tee#useryoshi#usernik#userjoeys#usersole#arthurpendragonns#userhallie#*#my tutorials#my resources
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alright, the other day i loosely implied that i would make a behind the scenes/tutorial type of thing. momma didn't raise no liar, so here goes nothing i guess!
step 1) rough sketch
honestly i skip this entirely if have a really concrete idea of what i want to do. sometimes compositions are just beamed into my brain from On High and a sketch is unnecessary.
step 2) 3d ref
this is where i refine the composition, lighting, camera angles, props, etc. i use DAZ studio for model posing and blender for almost everything else (props, horns, lighting, rendering).
here's a 10 minute video on how to pose models in DAZ if you're interested in doing something like this! it's not very hard! basic posing requires almost no technical know-how.
i've heard magicposer and virt-a-mate are also good for model posing, but i don't have any experience with either program.
after i'm done posing, i transfer the models to blender so i can work on props, environment, and lighting because doing it in DAZ is ass. you can see that i went overboard on the ref for the paladin i worked on last year by modelling armor.
step 3) lineart
at this stage i'm synthesizing my 3d models, reference images, and style choices into lines.
the 3d likeness of my models is poor because I don't have time for that shit, so this is where my humongous folder full of bg3 screenshots comes into play.
for example: looking at my screenshots, astarion's forehead tilts back towards the back of his skull, much more so than my reference model. his chin and jaw are sharper and longer, and the transition between his brow ridge and nose is almost a straight line. if i combine the information from my 3d model and astarion's face, i get something like this:
3d models aren't fleshy (ie, tummy rolls, wrinkles, muscle deformations, butt squish) unless one puts in A LOT of effort like absolute madman chris jones.
you guys know bernini, right? he has a couple great examples of this. see how hades' hands press in on persephone's leg?
this is what we want to add in the lineart because it's too much effort for 3d. laziness is king.
i guess i draw clothes at this stage too, but for some reason there aren't many in this image. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
step 4) base color
i have a little color picked palette that i use for everybody so i get their skintones right before i start messing with colored lighting. i'll use overlay and hard/soft light layers clipped to the base layer during the shading step later.
step 5) shading
if you thought we were done with the 3d part, guess again! i posterize my 3d reference so i can see the shapes of the shadows and highlights better. if i'm not feeling it, i can go back to 3d and change the lighting really easily.
could I make a cel shader for this? yes. am I going to? No. custom shaders are for people with intelligence and I am fresh out. posterization it is.
from there, i do a pretty standard cel shading deal that i usually blur and set to low opacity. (for this image i stuck to no blur because i had been looking at a lot of morebird's art and was really feeling the hard edges)
photoshop is what i use for final rendering because it has bangin tools. the brush customization alone make ps worth it, but i also particularly abuse puppet warp, noise generation, the camera raw filter, and layer styles.
step 6) background
i put the least effort possible into a background and then i blur it into oblivion so you can't fathom the depths of my ineptitude.
and then i have a finished image! ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ
#art tutorial#this got long!! the rest is under the cut#i encourage everyone to try out DAZ and blender! theyre both free!!#i love goofing around in 3d
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Send Me to Sleep
Requested by anonymous: fluff with insomniac reader and the prompt "why are you still up?"
A/N: Here have some tooth rotting fluff, I am not responsible for your dental bills xD fun fact, the thing Dream does to help reader sleep is the same thing I do to get my tiny humans to go to sleep, made this slightly bittersweet to write b/c after next Friday I won't be working with tiny kids anymore i'll be working with college age kids ANYWAY hope you enjoy!! 💖💖
~~Requests are open!~~ ~~Current WIPs~~
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
It was almost as if the ticking of your antique alarm clock was mocking you, loudly reminding you of every passing second you spent awake when you should be dead to the world.
Your insomnia was nothing new, it had plagued you since college. It was conditional on your stress levels, which was somewhat ironic: the more stressed you were, the less you slept. The less you slept, the more stressed you became.
Since figuring out that pattern your senior year, you had done everything you could to keep your daily life stress free enough for you to sleep, and it had been working out for the most part, aside from busy times of the year when work, family, and friends all collided in a few hectic weeks. Times of the year like Christmas, the height of summer, and for some reason, the entire month of April.
This week was not supposed to be one of them.
You stuffed your face into your pillow to muffle your frustrated scream. It was now going on 3:30am, and you had to be up and getting in the shower at 6. You sat up with a heavy sigh and ran your fingers through your hair. Sleep was obviously not coming tonight, so you decided to get some chores done around your apartment.
Under the hot spray of the shower two and a half hours later, you groaned as you felt the heaviness behind your eyes that indicated your body was ready for sleep. Of course it had to happen when you were getting ready for yet another busy day at work… which would probably stress you out to the point where you wouldn’t be able to sleep, or your body would just shut down out of sheer desperation.
“Ugh, Dream’s gonna kill me,” you grumbled into your towel. “Well it’s not like there’s anything I can do about it.”
If anyone else had been this invested in your sleep schedule, it would have been extremely weird. But the fact that it was your partner, the ruler of the Dreaming and Nightmare realms. Sleeping was kind of his thing, and once again the irony was not lost on you: a conditional insomniac, in love with the literal sandman.
~~
Your day was just one thing after another, mostly phone calls. More than the usual volume at work, then a call from your dad, then another one from your aunt for some reason, then one from your brother that you sent straight to voicemail just to have a break. Future you thanked past you for that, turns out he just wanted to once again complain about his boyfriend.
When you got home, your mind was fuzzy with exhaustion, and your body jittered and shook from the after effects of the four cups of coffee required just to get through it all. You felt like crap, and probably looked like crap too.
You shambled through changing into your pajamas and making dinner, barely tasting the food as you chewed. You barely registered what episode you were on, thankfully it was a show you had seen before. Your “bedtime” wasn’t for another two hours; you were ready to drop, but fucking up your sleep schedule even more was a recipe for disaster.
You dragged your hands down your face and groused, “Ugh fuck me.”
“With pleasure.”
The rumbling chortle came from the shadows by your front door, making you spring to your feet. The rush of adrenaline rendered you wide awake, at least long enough to process who was currently standing in your apartment.
A smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth as Dream of the Endless strode into the light of your living room, hands in the pockets of his signature coat. It slowly dropped from his face as he took in more of your appearance: the blue, almost black bags under your eyes, the pallor of your skin, the slump of your body as if the immense burden of his responsibilities rested on your shoulders.
“My love,” he pressed, almost like a parent trying to get the truth of some mischief out of a child, “It has been some days since I have felt you in the Dreaming for longer than a few moments. Have you not been sleeping again?”
The way your entire body sagged in defeat was all the answer he needed.
He stepped closer to you, gently resting his hands on your shoulders. “Darling, when was the last time you had a good night’s rest?” You shrugged, your brain struggling to come up with an answer that you were allowed to give. Once again, your body language gave him the answer.
“Then why are you still up?” He didn’t sound angry, only deeply concerned. “Why did you not call for me?”
You swallowed hard before mumbling, “I didn’t want to bother you.” A heavy sigh pushed itself out of Dream’s chest and his hands moved to hold your face in his hands, taking the weight of your head off your shoulders. “Beloved, you are never a bother to me. “I would not be a worthy monarch of the Dreaming if I could not even ease my own partner to rest.”
You couldn’t help your chuckle; it was the closest you had ever heard Morpheus come to humility. Your smile brought a tiny mirror of the gesture to Dream’s face as he rubbed his thumb over your cheekbone, trying not to focus on the deep shadows beneath your eyes. He pressed a gentle kiss to your forehead, letting his lips lingered as he inhaled deeply through his nose, taking in your essence. It stuck in his nose, tainted by your exhaustion. He breathed his words into your skin, “Let’s get you into bed.”
Swift like quicksilver, he scooped you into his arms, drawing a startled squeak out of you, closely followed by a bashful giggle. Dream carried you to your bedroom, staring lovingly at you the entire time. Your bed was still unmade from this morning, and he gently deposited you in it before pulling the blankets over you.
You snuggled into the covers, drawing them up to your chin. You smiled at Dream as he sat next to you on top of the covers. Cool fingers brushed your hair out of your face. You murmured, “Gonna use your sand to send me off?”
Dream chuckled, soft and low and slightly smug. “No, I will not need it to get you to sleep. I need only do this.” His forefinger settled between your eyebrows (some would say over your third eye) and gently rubbed the skin there. You hummed softly, wiggling deeper into the comfort of your bed. Dream’s eyes practically glowed in the darkness of your room, distant, even though he was sitting right beside you.
You were more than bone tired, and sank easily into his soothing touch. Your eyes flickered and fluttered for a moment before finally falling shut. Dream’s touch on your forehead was the only thing that existed in the blackness behind your eyelids, safe and comforting. You could practically feel the stress leaking out of you and into the mattress.
In your last moment of lucidity before you drifted off, you heard Dream murmur, “Sleep well, beloved. I will see you soon.”
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Loving Darius Deamonne: A LONG tumblr essay about my favorite character from The Owl House, and why I think his potential was missed but hinted at.
Hey heres an edit: forgot that Gus existed, my bad. :sob: I love him too just not as much.
Darius Deamonne is a great character and you should love him too and here's why.
It goes beyond me just loving him for being black and pretty obviously gay (at least some sort of mlm) in my eyes. Which is good! He's black and somewhat feminine and it's never played for laughs. He's still treated like a threat and like a very powerful and influential person. Which I wholeheartedly appreciate it.
Which is the first thing I wanna touch on I guess?
I also want to say that some of this is based off of interviews that Dana Terrace has done for the show, as well as piecing theories together based on the information we DO know about Darius.
And no I won't proofread this because I have anxiety about re-reading anything I write, so sorry for the typos in advanced. :,)
I was going to do this in parts but everything is bleeding together so much that I can't. I'll sum up all the most important things in bullet points at the end!
This will probably be my shortest section here. Darius is very reminiscent of effeminate Disney Villains such as Scar or Gaston. He's very into fashion and self pampering. He even has a menacing sounding French/Greek roots last name that DOES invoke demons. Even if that's not the true meaning behind the name, but we'll get back to that later in this section.
Darius is first hinted at in Season 1 Episode 13, "The First Day". His simplified visage appearing on the Abomination Coven banner.
Man, look at how sinister and mysterious they made him look. He also appears to MAYBE be wearing a different outfit than he does in the rest of the series proper. There's not a lot to say or analyze here, I just think his banner is super neat.
The second time we see Darius is in the flashback segment of "Young Blood, Old Souls". We see his younger design first before we even get a glimpse of his present one. I just really like that detail and the implication that Darius was a character that was very heavily on the writer's mind from the jump.
Now his real, first proper appearance is very wild. Very important. I don't know too much about cinematography and framing, but I do know a little bit of the basics.
Let's look at his first true appearance in Season 2 Episode 6, "Hunting Pailsmen".
We do see his shadow in the shot before this, but I just want to point out that Darius is straight up the first coven head we see in the introduction to all of them. (We do see Mason in an earlier episode but it was in a more comedic role and he doesn't speak.)
This framing putting Darius front and center doesn't stop here.
In the first proper serious group shot of the coven heads, Darius is in the middle. Firstly, the perspective frames Darius as the biggest person in the shot. Maybe besides Hettie, but she's also pretty tall and scaled down because of the perspective. He's also the one in the center of the shot, in the center of some of the most powerful people and most influental people in the isles.
This does imply importance.
It even goes further in the next shot.
Darius is at the side here, sure. But he's put next to Mason who probably has the plainest design out of all the coven heads. (I'm sure he's fine.) But it almost feels like he was put next to Darius to make Darius' framing look more important. With the rest of the more uniquely designed coven heads smaller, at the back, and rendered in less color because of the light from the cauldron (?) in the shot.
Even in the storyboard, Darius seems ot have a bit more detail than everyone else. And if not that, his expression is more clear and intense than the other's.
This makes me wonder how important Darius was to the narrative before the show got canceled. Like yes, Raine ended up being the most important person here in the end. Rightfully so. I still just wondered what was there intention with the compositions of these scenes. Was Darius meant to be more important, or was this a misdirect?
He's in such a unique spot in the story, that I doubt it was unintentional. Darius was supposed to be explored much more according to Dana.
Snippet of the interview from TV Tropes.
So we know Darius was supposed to be explored more as a character in a hypothetical, fully realized season 3. I really would have done anything to see that, honestly.
That's all I have to really say for this section. I'm just bummed that all this foreshadowing and planning was destroyed because of Disney's mismanagement of the show. It also sucks that the main black character we see in the show is one of the biggest causalities from it. Moving on.
So back to Darius being like renaissance era Disney villains...He's vain, he's powerful, and quite possibly...He's manipulative. Mainly, it seems, towards the other coven heads.
Remember what Hunter says in "Any Sport in a Storm" about the coven heads...
This is very much speculation on my part. But I think Darius has been in the rebellion game for a while. I can't say he's a direct leader and I can't say he has an entire group behind him until Raine comes along. But I wouldn't put it above him to use mind games to help slow Belos' progress. I think Darius may have been purposely sowing discourse between the other coven heads.
Mind you, a lot of them are already conniving on their own. But I don't put it past him to stoke the flames to cause chaos for Belos' plans.
This does beg the question, how long has Darius been at this? How long has he been TRYING to dismantle the Emperor's hold on the Isles?
Again, speculation warning, but I do think Darius may have been at least skeptical of Belos and looking into what he was doing since his mentor died.
Imagine, your mentor is the leader of the Emperor's Coven. The Emperor's personal right hand man. Then he just...dies one day. And since Belos says that all the previous guards had in fact, betrayed him, what's to say that the previous Golden Guard didn't tell Darius he was going to betray Belos?
Like yes, he could have not told Darius in an attempt to protect him. Darius obviously meant a lot to him and he obviously meant a lot to Darius. Though I also think that he would want to save Darius and everyone else. And if he couldn't, he would want Darius to save himself and everyone else. I can't prove that Darius was told anything, but I wouldn't be surprised.
So Darius may have just...Straight up been in the trenches for years at this point. He does say that he rebelled because he found "The Day of Unity suspicious"...But Darius has exaggerated on screen before. He's also been straight up lying to a lot of peers for possibly years. He can be an unreliable narrator here.
This also means he is a stereotypical renaissance villain turned on it's head. He looks very evil, but my mans is just semi goth, loves fashion, and is an anarchist. He's not a villain, just an anti-hero.
With that said, let's talk about his relationship with Hunter, which seems to be pretty complicated.
Darius starts out seemingly looking at Hunter with distain. I think about what Dana says about Darius' main motivations not only being to help people, but to care about the ones that he loves. The implications that Darius' main driving force is love, not only for people personally in his life, but for his community, the people of the isles, seems pretty significant.
I think love maybe Darius' main, true character trait.
Love, especially when it ties into grief, can really make people lash out. Not everyone reacts this way, but we've already established that Darius can be pretty full of wrath when he wants to be.
To me it's very clear that Darius is projecting the anger he feels from his grief onto Hunter. Which yes, is messed up. There's no excuse for it. He eventually seems to grow and change at least, and that's good.
I can definitely see WHY he would feel the way he does towards Hunter at first though. Your mentor is murdered one day and you get little explanation, he also may have hinted at something deeper and darker happening within the leadership of your community before he does. Then he's replaced by some kid that, probably to you, came out of nowhere. He's the emperor's nephew. Didn't his family die a long time ago? Did his mentor have a child that he didn't even mention?
Which does beg the question...Does Darius know that Hunter is a grimwalker? I don't know? I don't think so. I think he's very suspicious of the whole situation at the very least. You're also frustrated with the kid about being a follower, about not looking at the bigger picture, about just being a soldier and not his own person. Because you're sure that being a follower, being subservient, is what lost your mentor his life.
Darius definitely could have handled this better. He could have not projected his grief onto Hunter. He could have been more open about what he wanted him to do. He could have told him to go be a kid and make friends. But he let his grief get in the way of it all. He's flawed, and that's relatable.
Seeing Hunter make friends and show some sort of autonomy seemingly broke him from seeing Hunter as just a replacement. He started seeing Hunter as his own person as Hunter did. I think that's a very important step in their growth together. I find that super interesting and very poetic.
There's also the fact that Darius probably couldn't tell Hunter about the scope of everything because he wanted to protect him from it all. I don't think Darius ever wanted Hunter to get hurt. Even if he was cruel to him initially. He was so upset in "Hollow Mind" that he shoves Raine out of the way when hears about Hunter being stuck in Belos' mind.
He also may have been scared of what Hunter would see if he had known that the Emperor had something to do with his mentor's death.
Also I guess I should mention it here because of it all tying into Darius being part of the rebellion but...There's a scene in "Eda's Requiem" where Darius is more angry about his clothes getting messed up than the fact that Raine has committed treason...Which is great foreshadowing, actually. I love the fact that Eberwolf has to remind him of the treason part so their cover doesn't get blown, probably.
Let's keep the ball rolling on the most important relationships in Darius' life.
We've covered Hunter and his mentor, so let's move onto Eberwolf.
Eberwolf is pretty heavily implied to be like a sibling to Darius. There's a lot of unexplored territory here and it makes me really sad. So this'll probably be the most sparsely talked about relationship here despite the fact that Darius and Eberwolf spend almost all of their screen time together.
I think the thing I want to point out was that Darius was not willing to let Eberwolf harmed or possibly killed during their fight with other coven heads on the day of unity. I feel like this may elude to a few things.
Darius cannot bare to lose someone in his life again. Or can't bare to see it, possibly again. He backs off immediately and the fear in his eyes is real.
Which shout out the animators for making that very apparent.
It's also very apparent in Eberwolf's expression as well. The expressions just say so much and tell so much of the story between the two that we don't get to see. We get shown and not told...Even if we weren't shown in a more direct way.
Saw this in another post but the scenes following where Eberwolf and Darius appear, also imply pretty heavily that when the spell started working, Eberwolf wanted to run to Darius. But he was in too much pain himself to make it over to him.
Darius knew they were all going to die if he didn't do anything but he chose not to anyway because the pain of losing Eberwolf right in front of him in such a terrible way stopped him. Darius let his fear of loss of someone he really cared about potential damn everyone on the isles. Another flaw, but another important note to tack onto his character.
Like yes, he would have saved everyone else but he probably would have caused him more heartache that he couldn't handle. He'd already been through a lot losing his mentor (and his best friend/possible love interest, but oh we will get to you, Alador Blight.), and this kind of implies that he probably couldn't do it again.
Though Darius acts smart and kind of logical, he's very driven by his emotions, his love and grief in particular, seemingly.
That being said, let's move on from Eberwolf. We're going to skip the obvious for now, and go onto why Darius is probably the best coven head or at least in the running next to Raine.
I'd like to let you all know that the abomination coven is pretty consistently stacked. Not only do they have Principal Bump, who has been shown to be a powerful which in his own right from his debut episode, but Alador, who's Darius' rival yes...But it's pretty lightly implied that Darius and Alador had shared their innovations and interests in abominations when they were younger. Alador probably knows some of what he knows from Darius. Though you could probably say the same the other way around, Alador didn't end up becoming the coven head. Darius is obviously the more skilled abomination user of the two.
Then you have up and coming prospects like Amity who's consistently been shown to be pretty powerful.
Willow even says in "I Was A Teenager Abomination":
"There are better opportunities on this track." when referring to the abomination tract at school.
Now don't get me wrong, coven system = bad. But I don't think the sense of community the coven system provides for witches is ALL bad.
I think the implication here, though subtle, is that Darius is fostering probably the most powerful coven in the entire system.
He's investing and nurturing new prospects. He's providing opportunities for witches in his coven that other covens are not. Darius truly cares about his community. He truly cares about his craft and furthering it through communal growth. He even wrote a book to show his knowledge with the people of the isles.
Darius has been shown to be on of the few characters who can change his form. He does this at will (seemingly) without the help of a curse of any kind. Darius is just powerful enough to change into an abomination monster and he's the only character who can do it. Which is impressive considering how stacked the rest of the abomination users in the show are.
Even Alador has made pretty rad innovations to the craft, even if Darius doesn't completely agree with them.
I also want to say that this points to Darius maybe being a engineer like Alador...but to contrast Alador being a mechanical one he's a genetic engineer, and that might be what's going on with his form. But that's again, pure speculation just from his seemingly opposite theming to Alador.
So it seems like Darius is also a good leader. One with a sense of duty and nurturing towards his community.
Now last but not least...
Let's fucking talk about.
AlaDarius.
Man I have so much to fucking say about these two HOLY SHIT.
They are literally only on screen together like 4 times and it's in the epilogue but just the implications we get from the little breadcrumbs we do have...Oh man.
So Darius and Alador were friends. We can prove that. They seemed to be on good teams in "Thems the Breaks, Kid." Alador talking to Darius and laughing once he flicks some abomination goo onto his face. With Odalia observing, unfortunately.
There's a lot that can be inferred by this. I don't think Odalia was always like she is now. But power, and maybe the prospect of it, corrupts. There's a lot that could have happened between these three.
Some theories:
It's possible that Odalia didn't have as many prospects as Darius or Alador coming up. Which might be why she pursued Alador in the first place. Alador's family has money, Odalia has a manipulative business sense, Alador is socially awkward and probably can't conduct business as well so that maybe got her in good with his family.
Maybe she even manipulated Alador into loving her over Darius by whispering lies in his ears and fueling the rivalry between them. Maybe she got Alador to push Darius away.
There's also the prospect that Alador's marriage to Odalia was arranged for whatever reason. Maybe his parents also told him to push Darius away because of that because they knew Alador and Darius were catching feelings for each other. Alador could have thought that this was normal and had a sense of duty to his family that he put over his love for Darius.
This could also be why he was okay with Odalia telling Amity to cut ties with Willow. Alador may have been forced to do the exact same thing.
And we've already established that when Darius cares about someone, he cares about them very hard. He loves and he loves deep. He already lashed out at Hunter because he loved his mentor so deeply, so why wouldn't he lash out at Alador for essentially abandoning him?
I think it's very clear that Darius loved Alador. Maybe he still does after all these years considering how he acted in the epilogue.
I mean look at him.
He shakes Alador in excitement and pride and pulls away all embarrassed. Pretending he still doesn't have feelings. He even like, touches his chest it's insane and insanely cute. Alador not knowing how to feel is also funny because he probably thinks Darius had either let go of his feelings or he's just surprised that he'd show him any kind of affection after everything.
I also have a theory that Darius possibly been wanting to reconnect with Alador for years. I think the rebellion and wanting to protect Alador from possibly getting threatened if he himself got caught might be a reason. It also might be anxiety. Maybe he's scared Alador might find a reason to abandon him again. Maybe he's actually actively traumatized by that prospect and he has work through it (god I wish this show had more time). Maybe it's all habit at this point too. He's just used to pushing Alador away at this point. Hell, maybe he even thinks that Alador should just be focusing on his children considering their mother is no longer in the picture and they're all healing as a family and he feels like that has nothing to do with him.
There's a lot of speculation.
I'm willing to bet SOME of this is right.
I also don't think this should be downplayed considering that Darius never mentions Odalia when seeing the abomaton in "Eda's Requiem." He didn't have to say anything at all but he's so hurt and so petty about being hurt by Alador SPECIFICALLY that he tells Kikimora to tell him that he's a hack.
There's something going on and I want to know what it is and I'm 80% sure that it's romantic.
I also want to also point out that we see Alador and Darius standing together in the very last shot of the show.
Like they do genuinely look like a family unite here and I truly appreciate it. It might take some time but but that's alright. I think they can figure it out. I think they genuinely can mend their relationship with each other since Darius was able to mend his with Hunter and Alador with his children.
They're both so flawed and had to grow in similar aspects. They're both so different but have these little bridges that truly connect them. Their love for abominations. How they both weren't the best father figures at first but learned to be better for their kids.
There's a lot of undertones with this relationship I truly enjoy.
NOW LET'S TALK ABOUT HIS DESIGN.
I've been writing this essay for over 3 hours so I'm going to try to make this fast.
I won't go into how Darius is very effeminate Disney villain again, so I'll jump straight into his color palette.
Darius has 5 basic colors/shades in his design.
Black: Black invokes a few things. They all kind of pertain to Darius. Black can mean mystery. His past is very mysterious. He's basically a spy, which are mysterious. Black can also mean elegance and power. He loves fancy clothes and is very powerful.
Purple: Darius has a few shades of purple on him. This can be a nod to his craft as the abomination coven head. Purple also invokes regality which might be a nod to his influence in the witch community at large. Though not a ruler, he does have a presence that does seem almost like royalty. It's also the color of imagination. The abominations are somewhat like living sculptures, like art, eluding to imagination. He also sews, probably making his own outfits, which is a very creative endeavor. Purple also invokes compassion, enlightenment, and encouragement. It's also attached to those who are emotional and sensitive and sometimes immature.
Green: Green is a fantastic contrast to purple. I'm guessing this is why Darius' eyes were changed from purple to green. It made more sense with his design and gave it a bit more pop. While green is the color of envy (possibly eluding to his possibly jealousy of Odalia and Alador's relationship), it's also the color of judgement (again, looking at Alador) and materialism (my man loves his clothes). The positive side to this is green representing healing and growth as well. They represent things that Darius needs to let go and things that he actually needs.
Gold: Gold represents luxury, success, triumph, and loyalty. I feel like that's all pretty self explanatory considering all I've discussed so far. Darius studied hard under the olden guard to be successful, he triumphant and became the coven head, he's loyal to everyone he loves and his community. And he does enjoy a bit of luxury, too. :)
White: White actually means a lot of things. The ones I think pertain to Darius most are actually cleanliness, coldness, and purity believe it or not. Obviously he likes to be clean. Coldness because of how distant he starts towards Hunter, and how he maybe pushing away certain people because he doesn't want them getting hurt if he gets found out in the rebellion. This cold also be why his gloves are white. They're a symbol of his coldness over his hands. His coldness keeps him from touching other's, literally. It keeps him distant. Now purity maybe the surprising one here, but it's most so about his intentions, and his sense of duty, and his need to protect. Those things all come from a pure place, a pure good. Even if he himself isn't pure good. It's still in him. Also shout out to perfection as a meaning too but it's not confirmed but he seems like the type who would be a perfectionist.
Overall, his palette actually tells you everything you need to know about him. His silhouette is also pretty memorable. You can look at just that and know, yeah THAT'S Darius Deamonne. You can also tell little things about him from his silhouette through his posture and shapes of his clothes.
I'll also briefly mention his name.
Darius is a name of Persian/Greek/Latin Origin. It means "possessing goodness". And man that feels like a dead giveaway for him not being a bad guy once I type it now. The name can also mean "rich/king like" which...TRUE. And also it can mean "he who holds firm to good". Which is also true. It's also a very popular name among Black folks in the US.
Deamonne is... A little more complicated. It's both French and Greek oddly enough. There's not a lot about this name out there, honestly. Usually when you look it up on google most of the results pertain to well...Darius himself.
Deamonne might be a reference to the word daemon, itself a previous form of the word "demon"...But Daemons themselves are pretty different. The Greek meaning of the word seems to be "A divinity who or supernatural being of a nature between gods and humans." I wonder if MAYBE it's a nod to his status of being able to transform into abomination matter, making him maybe a hybrid or somewhere between being a witch or abomination? Who knows? Hard to say with this one.
I guess that's it! Maybe I'll reblog with an update if I can think of more. But this is my genuine exploration of why Darius means so much to me and why he deserved way better than he got.
These are all breadcrumbs really, and that's what makes his story so, so alluring. Because if they could tell this much with this little, I wonder what the could have showed us if he had even just a full episode to himself.
Here's the tl;dr with all the important points:
Darius probably had a bigger part to play in the Owl House's plot that got cut because of it's cancelation.
Darius' main driving emotion and motivation seems to be love.
Darius may have been planning to betray Belos for longer than we thought.
Darius is probably very scared of losing someone he loves again.
Darius come off as a little cold and distant because of those fears.
He'd lay down his life for people he loves.
He might be the best coven head in terms in leadership.
His color scheme and name lay out his character pretty bare.
I'm sure there's more here but thanks for reading. Sorry this ran long. I actually probably forgot some things in the summery above because I've been writing this for hours.
Have a good day and remember:
I'd give my soul and all my money for a Darius Deamonne spin off.
#long post /#the longest post of all time#darius deamonne#alador blight#hunter deamonne#eberwolf#eberwolf the huntsman#aladarius#dadrius#darius toh#the owl house#toh#literal essay#character analysis#alador toh#hunter toh#eberwolf toh#previous golden guard#etc etc etc#warnings for talk of loss of loved ones and eluded to parental and spousal abuse#as well as manipulation#yeah
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How do you organise the process of creating a character? like, to me its too confusing, i dont know what i do first because there are TOO MANY THINGS TO DO, like backstory, personality, looks, what they like, so what would be the “steps” to make them?
(Since @isabellaswork asked the same thing recently I'm tagging you here, hope that's okay!) Omg I'm flattered I'm the person you'd wanna ask such a big question ;v;!!? Honestly the process is different for everyone, but I'll give it a go <3 This is how my process usually goes:
Personality first, backstory later. Flesh out the concept of the character before deciding their origin story if that makes sense.
Build a moodboard for your character! The more ideas the better!
Time for visuals! Sketch out multiple iterations, looking at the moodboard for inspiration. Colors go last.
Finalize! Once you've got your final sketch + colors, draw a proper illustration and see if you vibe with the design. Repeat previous steps if necessary <3
Extra: Since you've got the design and story down, add some fun facts. This is where interests, likes and dislikes go!
I'll use my VN characters as examples below in case someone wants it in more detail! Mychael (Mushroom Oasis) and Alma (Lift Your Spirits spoilers!! + horror imagery) process ideation under cut:
Usually I start with personality first. Because for me, when you first meet someone, you see what they're like in the present; their past doesn't matter as much until you get to know them. I can decide the backstory later so it doesn't limit the personalities I'm playing around with. Of course I must have gotten the idea from somewhere so these two things work in tandem most of the time.
Then it's just a matter of how they look!
After deciding on personality traits, I start by collecting references from everywhere, even the smallest of things. I think of how I want them to look plus how they would dress. Anything goes at this stage, so just go buck-wild gathering ideas!
Here's a moodboard for Mychael:
This one was for Alma, from their normal self to their monstrous self:
Then it's time for drawing and doodles. As I sketch, I look back at the moodboard I've made and pick out things I like, while drawing things really loose. Copy paste if I need to!
I've shared the ones for Mychael here, here and here! Here's some sketches for Alma from last year:
This part takes the longest but is always the most fun! Don't feel limited by what you had initially, just test out ideas! Here are the final designs!
Mychael(s):
Alma(s):
Then once I'm happy with the design I can flesh out the backstory as much as I like!!! so long as it fits the presentation of the character in current time. Of course this process can differ when you already have a story in mind and need characters to carry out the plot, but I'm definitely not big-brain enough to make an all-out story like that </3 I just enjoy designing characters visually haha
Oh and just for fun, I like to sprinkle in some extra (but kinda unnecessary) background info. It can be the most mundane thing but it gives them more life (to me at least!) Maybe they drink flat orange soda, or enjoy riding trains at night, or hate the smell of french fries, or think apples are disgusting etcetcetc.
Of course there's like, tips for professional character designing like silhouette, shapes, proportions but I assume this ask was for a more casual approach <3 That's all I could think of if I were to describe my process,,, I hope that answers your question!
To recap:
Start with personality traits and decide backstory later. Or work them together as one. It's more concept than visuals at this stage.
Assemble a moodboard for inspiration. The more ideas the better! Look up anything that might relate to your character if it helps.
Sketch, sketch and sketch again! Keep things loose and free. I usually start from the face, to clothes to accessories. Colors go last.
Finalize! Put everything together in one rendered drawing, and see if you vibe with it. You can always go back to previous steps if you're still not happy with it.
And you're done! :-)
#mushroom oasis vn#lift your spirits vn#bts#cheea chatter#i rambled so much so i hope the TLDR helps fhjds#q
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My Handmade Sailor Star Fighter Cosplay!!
This design is a mashup of the Classic 90's anime, the Sailor Moon Musical Sera Myu, and a little bit of Cosmos/the manga thrown in! I felt like taking a bit from each would make it an awesome representation of all versions. It also helped me conceptualize a design that I felt would be more beautiful irl and on my own figure.
The colored tiara and hair tie calls back to Cosmos, and the ear piece with the star mic is also more manga accurate:
Most of the costume is based on the Sera Myu version since it offered the most support as well as a level of coverage I was comfortable with. I opted for thicker holographic straps and higher waisted shorts that both looked more flattering and made the suit feel more battle ready:
I used the coloring from the 90's Anime, leaning towards an ultra shiny black rather than a dark blue/navy. The entire look was based on the holographic effect that the fabric I used had, so each piece incorporated that flare. I also wanted to keep the original v shaped design on the shorts, and while the gold belt that the Musical version featured worked to break up the fabric, I opted to avoid it and instead put in slits to offer more mobility while helping the bottoms flare & look smaller.
I stayed pretty classic for all the props, using a 3D rendering designed by @digitalauge-de as a reference alongside official artwork and proplicas I have:
The Sailor Star Yell prop features remote operated color changing LED lights inside. I'll do a separate post breaking down the Sailor Star Yell prop, earpiece, and brooch later!
I'll also do a more in-depth breakdown of drafting & constructing the costume itself at some point, but there's so much behind the scenes material to go through it'll take a hot second to organize it into one post.
#cosplay#sailor moon cosplay#sailor star fighter#sailor star fighter cosplay#sailor starlights#seiya kou#seiya kou cosplay#three lights cosplay#sailor stars#sailor moon cosmos#three lights#costume making#costume design#costume details#sailor moon#pgsm#bishoujo senshi sailor moon#prop making
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Could I request a fic where yandere Alucard’s so starts to suspect that he might be making her sick to keep her dependant on him?
Hummingbird*
He’s learnt by now that wishes never come true, so he chooses to make them happen. Alucard drugs his lover and keeps her locked in his castle. She could never leave him.
[She/her]
*CW for Yandere!Alucard drugging and essentially imprisoning his lover. You asked for it. :p
Temples pounding in sharp, white-hot agony, she grabs onto Alucard's sleeve as he begins retreating, her pained whimper stopping him dead in his tracks. In the next second, he's by her side again.
Concern plainly etched on his features, he assists his lover to a more comfortable sitting position on the settee. "What is it? What's wrong? Another headache?”
You’re going to need your medicine again, aren’t you?
She's hissing in pain again, answering him only with a vague gesture to her temple, upon which cold beads of sweat now start to form.
Tut-tut. "Give me a second, my dear. I'll be quick," he says softly, quietly so as not to worsen her headache, then he props her against a perfectly fluffed pillow. "I'll fetch your medicine quickly."
He returns a minute later, a tray balanced in his hands. He lowers it on the small table next to the settee. Used to his treatments, she automatically sits up a little straighter, expectant. It makes him smile.
"Take this, love," he instructs her, bringing the goblet to her lips gently. "You'll feel better in no time now, no time at all,” he promises, and as always, she gulps it all in one go, hands trembling, weak from exhaustion.
My good, pliant girl. Obedient as ever.
Alucard puts the goblet away and sits right next to her. He guides her head to rest on his shoulder and they snuggle—her, disoriented; him, giddy and content. She’d gulped the sedative again with no questions asked. He hums a little, pleased, fingers combing through her lustrous hair tenderly. If he keeps her pumped full with drugs like this whenever she gets the silly idea of leaving, things will be well again, won't they?
Soon enough, the medicine takes its toll on her. He watches as sleep finally overtakes her, as she slowly slumps against his body, out cold.
Hmm.
It took a couple minutes this time. It seems she’s building a bit of a tolerance to his concoction. He makes a mental note to increase the dose next time. It’s a perfect little thing, truly. It’s a blessing that he’d found the earlier editions of his mother’s textbooks. This particular formulation, before his mother had refined it, can tranquillise a patient in no time indeed. However, many hours upon taking it, it induces agonising headaches that gradually build into disorientation. Enough to render one incapable of the littlest chores, enough to keep one immobile for a while, helpless.
He lays her head on his lap and continues his brushing through her hair, a soft smile plastered on his face.
How I love you, my darling. If only you could see that.
He observes as she whimpers in her sleep, face contorted in apparent displeasure. Wracked with a dream, perhaps? A bad one? Well, no matter, she gets to stay in it for now.
You've made your bed. Now lie in it.
He picks up a single piece of fallen eyelash off the soft skin of her cheek and rolls it in his fingers. If he were any other man, he'd have placed it on the back of his hand then brought it to his lips to blow it away, wishing for her to stay. But he's learnt by now that wishes never come true. He chooses to make them happen. He wipes her fallen lash on the hem of his shirt. She could never leave him. If he had to cage her like a bird, he would. If she behaves herself, he may even let her out once in a while.
It really shouldn’t be this difficult anyway. Not at all. If only she’d stop with her talks about going outside. About travelling or exploring or taking some time to go and be with her family. What for? What good would it do?
She'd already sworn herself to him long ago, whether she knew it or not. She needs to commit fully, like he had, like he continues to do. Her place is right here, with him, in his castle. Nowhere else. Allowing his lover to entertain ideas of moving, of going places… it wouldn’t do. He’d made that mistake before with his previous companions, and look what became of them, what he had to do.
It wouldn’t, it couldn’t happen to his sweetheart. It’s just a couple more weeks, perhaps, until she’s convinced that she’s too sick, too fragile to do much travelling or venture outside. Until she understands that she cannot be without him, without his support and guidance and care and... love.
Just a little more… and then no more pain, my love. This is for your own good.
Alucard hums a cheerful tune to himself, content. Her brows crinkle in her sleep. The thudding of heavy bolts clicking shut echoes in the quiet halls.
The next day, another headache looms in the back of her head, threatening to come on in full force again, just as it did the day before, and the day before that. She gasps at the realisation that it happens around roughly the same hour of the day each time, as if it’s on a schedule, as if manufactured. It has her reeling, grasping at her head. And as always, like clockwork, he’s by her side, medicine in hand, offering it up to her lips.
"It looks like it's time for your—"
"No!" she suddenly shrieks at him, eyes squinted.
Alucard's blood runs colder. Her racing heartbeat caws at him, pulsing in his ears. Is she truly defying him now? Doubting him?
He releases a shaky, shuddering breath and tries again—calmly now, softly now, there is no need to frighten her—"Darling, hush now and take your—"
She swats the goblet off of his hands, sending it hurtling in the air. It clatters noisily on the floor, spilling its contents.
Alucard takes another deep breath, closing his eyes, willing himself to be patient. He counts to three. When next he opens them, he's composed again. "No matter,” he murmurs, voice perfectly modulated despite the disgruntled look about his face or the scowl threatening to erupt from his mouth. “I'll go and get another. You sit there and wait."
"No!" she screams again, stepping back, away from him. "What's in it first, Alucard?! Tell me!”
Her heartbeat thudthudthuds in his head even louder now, like a beating drum that needs to stop. Why is she so angry now? She needs to fucking stop and take her medicine at once or else the headache will go away on its own and it will ruin everything he worked for! Everything!
He grits his teeth and advances towards her, grasping her by her arms, patience wearing thin. Before he has a chance to compose himself, his words are coming out hot, voice raised, mouth snarling. "It's for your own good!"
His volume makes her flinch. He’d never yelled at her before. He’d only ever been soft, kind, sweet. Who is this man in front of her? What exactly is going on?
His outburst hints at her something. He’s never been very good at lying. Why can’t he answer a simple question now?
Moisture starts gathering in the corners of her eyes. "What? What are you…? For my own good?! I’m only asking you what’s in it. What’s in—”
She gasps then, as acute suspicion hits her fully. “What have you been feeding me? Are... are you... are you imprisoning me? Are you—"
Suddenly, things click into place. The way he bolts the castle doors shut with a heavy mechanism she cannot undo by herself. The way he doesn’t allow her to go venturing out on her own, the way his eyes trail her every movement. How he shuts down any conversation about her going anywhere—anywhere but any room in his dark and desolate castle!
She trembles, seemingly shrinking into herself, flinching away from him.
He runs his thumb underneath her eye then, wiping at the tear that managed to escape, ignoring the way she’s paralysed with fear, the way it’s caused by him. He has the urge to lick away her tears, but settles for kissing her softly on her quivering mouth instead.
Somehow, it’s calming. Despite the truth exploding in his face, he feels …serene almost. There’s no point in hiding now, is there?
“You’re mine, in case you forgot,” he tells her, matter of fact, breath ghosting over her lips. “From the moment you told me you would stay and keep me company, I’ve been yours and you’ve been mine.”
As if to confirm his statement, the bolts of his heavy doors slowly start thudding into place one by one again, locked through his magic, shutting them out to the rest of the world. The silence that follows is deafening.
He smiles a toothy grin at her, his fangs a dark reminder of just who she’d sealed her fate with.
She’s sobbing now, crumpling down, and he catches her tenderly in his arms, shushing her, cooing at her. His little hummingbird.
She’ll come to realise soon that struggling is futile, won’t she? She belongs with him. They will be together forever. She will be his bride. One day, this castle will be populated full of her children, sired by him. Merry laughter will fill the air and he will never be alone again.
Love is a beautiful thing, is it not?
#hummingbird don’t fly away#sinister Alucard ayeee#castlevania#adrian tepes#Alucarddear writes#alucarddear requests#alucarddear: hummingbird#yandere!alucard#Alucard#alucard x reader#adrian fahrenheit tepes#Adrian tepes x reader
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idk if you listen to femtanyl, but could you make the femtanyl creature in blender? thanks!!!!!
sorry for taking like a month to reply to this i was doing this on and off and got burnt out in the middle and was working on this in parallel with some other things and it's still not done yet probably but as of now here it is
i tried
all in all this model was a pretty decent learning experience for blender functionality i never touched before; like rigging, shape keying, and rendering (rendering iv'e partially touched)
under the cut; 11 renders, 9 editor screenshots, 2 editor gifs, and a lot of text
base pose
fuckem!!!!!
leaning forward
jump for joy (with & without torn off ear)
death
lab animal finds camera
"hey girliepop how many times did you hit your head against the ceiling girder today?"
i don't know what to call this
hiiiiii!!!! heyooooooo!!!!!!
(extra nerd shit inbound!)
full scene tree
i'm very new to posing and as such am pretty bad at it
everything is split into individual segments because of how i chose to do things
i was planning to add a face with different frames for eyes & mouth you could mix and match but i didn't have the time, mental capacity, and confidence to do it, but i might update this model later with more things including a face
a friend said she doesn't need a face and i agree but i don't stop thinking about it
closeups of the "emo" details (this was a suggestion by a friend)
closeups of the bandage & suture
do people even read this far into these long ass posts? let me know if you do or something
also let me know if you'd like me to do anything with the model, like make an extra pose or add more optional cosmetics i guess, i'll try to follow through with it as best i can,
i'll post updates on this model in a reblog to this post most likely, look out for that i guess
#answer post#partially unfinished?#MAY add on to later#femtanyl#my art#amateur artist#blender#b3d#3d model#blood#emo#bandage#suture#fanart#?#i guess it counts as fanart#gumbuk 9 greatest hits#?????#debatably
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My Bane Magic
(This doesn't cover curses, because the post would be way too long)
---
This type of magic has always came to me very easily from my experiences, both consciously intentional and "non-intentional."
I once had a unhinged woman berate racist profanities at me over a cup of coffee at my work, (because she doesn't like the extra costs of 1 pump of vanilla, 1 pump of mocha, 1 pump of toffee nut, two extra shots, and extra caramel drizzle) and she screams how I parked my bike was offensive and it "triggered" her. (It was parked on a bike rack as its intended purpose like everyone else)
I bitterly thought, "I hope someone finds your car offensive and just hit it."
I performed a freezing hex with the intention to just keep her from bothering me in the future, but I still was hyperfixated; stewing on the idea of her car getting hit.
Two days later, she got into a bad car accident. She came back with a broken arm but thankfully that's it. (Even then, I never wish death to anyone.) I also suspected my spirit Family may have had their hands on that too, to really make sure it works.
I suggest anyone into this to be careful in general.
---
As a side note, I personally believe that everyone's energy type is different and some people can perform certain type of spells better than others because of that. For example, some people's energy are naturally talented moreso in healing energy and they do well in reiki healing, but they need to implement far more effort or practice if they want to do bane magic.
Think of the series Avatar, a natural born airbender having problems with earth bending.
...
Take it with a grain of salt though.
-----
So what is bane magic?
It's casting magic with the intention of inflicting or reflecting negative energy with the motive to harm. That can include bad luck, blocking someone's path...or well, leave it up to the imagination.
Some witches do it because they want to get back at someone...which is 99% of the time from my observation -- and I'm no exception.
My personal rules with bane magic:
Reflect on why it angers me. Is it really warranted or was my ego getting inflamed with something that wasn't intentional?
Was I in the wrong in the situation instead?
90% of the time, I use bane magic to reflect bad intentions sent to me back to sender.
I do my best to never hit first.
I do not believe in the Wiccan rede of the three, but I still believe that energy is transactional and something will come to you at a cost...and it depends on what coverage you get with the intent of the magic and the situation.
Is it worth using my energy on using bane magic? If not, I don't use it. I consider bane magic like spending money instead of saving money. The currency is not just energy...
I want to take responsibility and accountability of what happened if it didn't go according to plan.
I do not cast bane magic on someone who I live with -- I'll be around taking in that second hand smoke.
Use protection for yourself before performing any of this
...
Types of bane magic I use:
Freeze Hex - Some people don't consider this a hex, but I personally think it does due to the wide range of intentions that can prove to be harmful in a passive way. It's more of a gray arts aspect -- because it can be used to "freeze" someone's intentions or actions towards something. That something can imply stopping them from being harmful to me, or to even stop them from performing tasks rendering them stagnant. On the other end, I had used a freeze hex on someone with the intent to stop them from harming themselves. It really depends. I consider freezing hexes one of the mildest ones to use because of these spectrums.
The procedure is putting the appropriate herbs, liquids (hand-squeezed lemons is great to "sour" it up) that brings out the nature of my spells, and something that belongs to my target. If that last one isn't available, I use a picture or their name written on a bay leaf in the jar.
Poppet Hex - Poppets are not just used for voodoo, it's a concept of use in many cultures around the world and in history.
This also can be a gray arts spectrum -- it entirely depends on what you use the poppet for, obviously. For hexing, I take a poppet that represents them and pin in needles for discomfort or even sickness. (This is consider a big hex if I really, really, really despise someone. I only ever did this once because they severely abused a friend)
Or, I use a poppet of someone to surround it with healing, or calming energy instead. Again, it depends.
Hex Water - This one is passive too. I basically place in my herbs, some nails, freshly squeezed lemon juice, sigils, insect carcasses, and my death and hex oil. (The death oil isn't used for "death" -- it's to end the cycle of the situation) I can use this as a hex protection spell where if someone wants to harm me, the energy in the jar will bounce back. But most of all, if warranted, I would take their names and place it in the jar of hex water and I shake it vigorously to get it to work. I even carry around a smaller jar of that water and I shake it near that person's presence if they warranted it. (Mostly if I come across really bad customers at my job. But otherwise, I let it go if they're just being a pain)
Earwig Hex - This requires using a head of lettuce, writing someone's name on the lettuce, cutting a hole in it and place your message in it with the earwig, dead or alive. (Preferably dead)
This is exactly what it sounds like: Go into someone's head, worm around and implant a message in their thoughts. I use this to prevent the person similarly to the freezing hex.
This hex is credited to Kate Freuler -- the author of the book "Of Blood and Bones." (Highly recommend; it's my favorite witchcraft book so far and it fits my energy)
Psi Vampire Hex - This one comes to me more naturally since I'm a psi vamp. True, I take vital energy from others out of necessity but this is to really pinpoint someone while feeding. It's how it sounds; I basically just zero in on someone's energy and feed. If I really want to, and if they are still around, I keep feeding until the effects take in which includes signs of fatigue, headaches, other body aches, and even sickness. Personally, I don't like to go that far to sickness.
Sending a Spirit/Entity - Just how it sounds. You can place an offering to a spirit/entity that can be outside or inside your spirit team. However, they can always refuse the offer -- mind that and respect it.
----
Overall, for me, I always tell people who are interested to use hexes wisely. It's a responsibility.
The number one rule for me is making sure if it's worth the risks and the cost.
Sure, one can say that there's no real consequences or the three way law, but there's always a cause and effect.
So, at your own risk, fuck around and find out.
Or, you can take heed of the rules, protection measures, and self reflection.
#witchcraft#bane magic#bane magick#spirit work#witchblr#spells and hexes#hexes#use responsibly#witch#poppets#hex water#psi vampire#vampirism#freeze hex#of blood and bones#kate freuler
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i wanna hear about the simon aroace beam pls
(Tumblr is apparently trying to silence me because this is the second time I'm writing out this answer. Anyway.)
I already made a post about my aroace Simon headcanons several years ago, but I'm more than happy to talk about it again. (Also I'm not sure if you specifically ever beat SOMA, so you're probably unfamiliar with some of the points I made in the aforementioned post. I'll do my best to explain.)
(Continued under the cut)
Simon is an interesting character because he's an everyman. I often joke about how he's Just Some Guy who's having the worst day ever. He's had a pretty average life (aside from the recent loss of his friend and traumatic brain injury), and it doesn't come up often in the text of the game. He brings it up sometimes, but it isn't the focus of his dialogue. He was thrust from an unremarkable life in 2015 into Undersea Robot Hell and is forced to make some serious decisions about the fate of the human race, so he has other priorities.
His characterization as an everyman combined with the fact that we don't actually know a lot about his life before the events of SOMA make Simon a very easy character to project your own experiences onto. This makes him a good fit for a video game protagonist because it makes it easy for the player to relate to him. It also means that it's easy to fill in the blanks of his characterization with your own ideas. I've personally seen lots of different interpretations of his gender and sexuality; I've seen people headcanon him as straight, gay, bisexual, etc etc. His gender is also an entire can of worms; I've seen people make compelling arguments that he's a trans man, a trans woman, and even nonbinary and agender.
Anyway... this was all preface for my thesis that Simon is aroace. The easy explanation is that I, an aroace person, find it easy to project my own experiences on to him in a way that makes sense to me. I've talked to a few other aroace SOMA fans about this, and they've agreed. (This is what I mean by the aroace beam. I simply enjoy headcanoning characters I like as aroace, because I, too, am aroace. I'm hitting them with my beam attack. Metaphorically. I've now rendered the joke unfunny by explaining it.)
(Side note- there's a running joke in the SOMA server I run that many SOMA fans are asexual. There certainly are a number of them in that specific server, however this also might be confirmation bias, because I haven't done a fandom-wide survey or anything like that. It also might be because I promote the server heavily on my blog, and as an openly aroace person, I probably have a statistically significant amount of aspec followers who are then compelled to join the server I help run. More research is required, I guess.)
The longer explanation for this headcanon is that, within the text of the game, Simon doesnt' appear to be very concerned with sex or romance.
In the dream sequence at the beginning of the game, Simon tells Ashley he wants to tell her something, and she responds with "please don't make this weird". A lot of people tend to interpret this as Simon working up the courage to tell Ashley he has a crush on her. The scene ends abruptly before this can be confirmed. However, there are a few unused voice lines in the game files that extend the scene a bit. Simon was originally supposed to say "I'm sorry" to Ashley before the dream ended. This implies that he wanted to apologize to her for involving her in the car accident that ended her life, not confess a crush.
There is another dream sequence later in the game, the context being that Simon is under the influence of the WAU and is being shown an idealized version of his life. He sees Ashley, alive and standing in his apartment, where she declares that the two of them are in love. Simon seems confused about this and wakes up shortly after.
I will admit that this scene implies he has romantic feelings for her. However, in the post I made a few years ago, I talked about how a common experience for a lot of aroace people is not being able to distinguish between different types of attraction and how this can lead to aces convincing themselves that they have a crush on someone when what they really desire is a platonic relationship:
I think what sells it the most for me is that, during the dream sequence with Ashley, when Ashley tells him that they’re a couple, he sounds confused. You could interpret this as general confusion (he doesn’t know how Ashley is suddenly alive again or why they’re suddenly in a relationship), but I like to think that he’s conflicted about his feelings for her. He knows he wants to be close to her, but he’s not sure if being a romantic couple is exactly what he wants. If the dream sequence is supposed to be an idealized scenario, then why is he conflicted about the thing he supposedly wants?
Simon strikes me as the type of guy who isn’t super informed about LGBT stuff. He probably knows a little bit about general LGBT stuff, but maybe hasn’t learned about asexuality, or he doubts that it could apply to him. He might think that, because he wants to be close with Ashley, that the next logical step would be a romantic relationship, even if his feelings are actually just platonic. (I know from personal experience growing up asexual that I would sometimes invent crushes on people, when in reality my feelings were just platonic and I actually just wanted to be their friend. From what I’ve heard, this is a common experience for a lot of aro and ace people from before they learned about asexuality/aromanticism.)
I recognize that this interpretation might be bending canon a bit. Occam's razor would imply that he simply has a romantic crush on Ashley, but that's no fun.
SOMA is a game that is, overall, pretty uninterested in exploring romantic or sexual relationships. It also features two main characters of different genders (Simon and Catherine) who develop a strong platonic relationship over the course of the game. I, personally, find it a breath of fresh air, especially when a lot of science fiction and cyberpunk stories have a heavy emphasis on sex. (I'm definitely not bitter about all the weird sexism present in cyberpunk novels like Neuromancer, for example...)
I suppose it makes sense, then, that the game would have a sizeable amount of aroace fans. I personally think there is something inherently queer about the game- although not explicit in the text, transhumanist stories like SOMA can be read as metaphors for queer experiences. Questioning one's identity and humanity is something that a lot of LGBT people do on a regular basis, so it makes perfect sense that they would relate to a character from a game exploring those topics, albeit through a science fiction lens.
Anyway. Very, very long story short, I hit Simon with my aroace beam attack because I think it's fun. He means a lot to me and I like thinking about him.
(Don't get me started on what I think about his gender. He's got so much going on in that department and absolutely no time to come to terms with it all. That's a post for another day.)
Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk, I hope you enjoyed reading, etc etc. I'm going to go back to rotating Simon in my brain now.
#asks#girlfriendsofthegalaxy#exploding tumblr with my mind because it deleted the original version of this post#anyway this is 1.2k words. enjoy#soma#soma game#simon jarrett
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EXO 'Obsession' theory part 2 | 🔗Part 1
Have a Xiumiñ first❣️
• Let's analyze the EXODEUX Trailer (I'll point out clues and try to decipher them!)
We see the phases of the moon. In some way this represents how half side is bright and the other dark (that could mean that EXO has to endure the fight since both parts are their own):
Crudely we are given to understand that they have to remain in a state of balance to be the legends but RF has somehow disturbed this balance.
The trailer was released on 8 Nov '19. What if X-EXO came alive on the blood moon (total lunar eclipse)? The phenomenon had been observed sometime in Nov 1909, 1928, 2022. A solar eclipse is shown and then we see destruction. I'm confident that EXO regain powers from this as seen in Power, What is Love. And since X-EXO are their halves or smth they get powers too.
Exo Planet #4 - The EℓyXiOn vcr shows us how the exos were being chased by some unknown beings who had the same powers as them. Kai opened the portal doors and rescued them just in time. Now we know these beings were X-EXO.
Okay so first they show us what is the result of X-EXO's actions. We find that from 0:11 some member's dna turns black (at first I thought it faded and crumbled) and then Kāi is shown — it could be a hint that it's him who is corrupted as he also fades.
Then appears THE TREE OF LIFE?!! And a fire which renders it dry 😦(the mv seems to be set on exoplanet). We can see how the eye of the RF coveted the heart of the tree as was prophesied in MAMA intro.
Since we see Chanyeol's power directly harming it, I'm convinced what I discussed about him here might be true... Next we see a sandstorm and then booming thunder (Respective x-exo members shown in reverse order then)
I'm sure u must have noticed all this but from 0:32, something very interesting happens: a red drop is shown to separate from a source of water and it shines as it ascends. Suhø's shot is briefly interrupted by Baëkhyun - hmm.
Even in the photobooks, they have pics next to each other. This could mean that they're together in on smth. (Notice Suhø's hand on his throat, I'll discuss about this later in this post)
In the EXplOration Dot vcr, we find Baëkhyun looking at a screen. I'm pretty sure he is monitoring the other members. This leads to another theory of a binary between him and Suhø.
Back to EXODEUX, exo's powers prove to be very destructive since they've fallen into wrong hands. At 0:56 we see them facing a red celestial ball very much like our sun but creepy. Is this the eye of the RF? Another possibility is that it could be one of the two suns created as shown in Power intro because the legends separated into M & K. Once again we see Suhø and Baëkhyun facing each other:
We get a closer look at their eyes and all seem to have blue eyes:
Hold it! Chën has one blue eye and one dark brown!!! (he has red and white lashes too)
instagram
The conclusion I make from these clues is that jongdae has learnt how to regain that balance we talked about. So my earlier assumption as discussed in part i might not be correct and it is Chen who has won the fight. At first Chën looks confident but slowly as the game progresses, it is Chen who becomes more confident - he put his feet on the table.
• Let's analyze the mv now. The first fight shown is of Baek and his evil counterpart in a match of fencing. We see that the audience is dark hooded figures with red eyes:
One thing I noticed is that when Baekhyun is shown alone, there are white lights turned on and the stands for the audience are empty. But when Baëkhyun is alone, the lights are off and some red lights glow overhead (cctv cams?).
Baëkhyun looked like he hurt himself in the fight (some people theorize he wears a face-chain to cover his wound):
I would safely assume that nobody won or lost the match. This is because both are seen facing each other even in the final shot of this set.
• Moving on to Sehun; he tries to aim arrows at his evil double Sehůn. We see how many times he has tried but missed his target. There is a similar blue target behind Sehun too:
In EXODEUX we look closely at the aesthetic of X-EXO's eyes and all of them have dark makeup or scars - all but Sehůn! His eyes are clean and pure from the influence of the RF.
In the teaser poster below, Sehůn (case 94) is the only one on whom the target is not locked!
He is never seen with his double and is trying to fake it and trick the RF!! While the other X-EXO mems look sinister/appear expressive, Sehůn seems unbothered.
He is the only member who has concept pics with a blue background. Furthermore, his nails are almost clean and not like the other X-EXO ppl.
instagram
Sehun is also the only Exo member to appear in the EXODEUX Trailer at the end. All of this is too much of a coincidence and I believe he already fought his counterpart, won and has come to save EXO as we see in his mv remake (2014):
youtube
• Now let's talk about Suho's scenes. Suho is looking around in an art gallery full of pictures based on water and waves. He is suspended mid-air in the place but a new shot shows it is much more deeper than that both literally and figuratively: he is trapped underwater and his evil counterpart is the one trying to drown him.
Suhø is standing in water with 7 unknown hands reaching out to him - this could be a biblical reference to the seven deadly sins. Since the album was released in 2019, this is a nod to my fav group's 7th anniversary. Come to think of it he has red hair styled as devil's horns (junmyeon looks so perfect oml):
instagram
In the beginning, he is shown trying to control the members as if they are puppets (yeah well I've watched this mv in slow-mo many times)
At 1:55 we notice a choking Suhø (junmyeon confirmed this) - the imagery is very creepy. This is because if Suho drowns, his double would choke too.
Sehun shoots arrows at his evil counterpart and gets hurt himself.
The recurrent theme is that whichever side - the good or the evil one tries to harm the other, both suffer the same fate. Why? because they are halves of each other as we discussed in the beginning of this post.
Getting back to the mv, the planets start to align as this happens.
This is just like the narration in MAMA intro: ...The day the grounds beget a singe file before one sky...
The teaser posters have this "Warning" on them:
A messy world order
Anomalies due to twisted orbits
Moving on, we find out how the X-EXO are nothing but agents and creation of the RF. Notice how the screen inside Suhø's head is very similar to the ones in and outside Chen's room.
•I'd like to talk about the red glowing marks on some of X-EXO ppl. Only Sehun's and Chanyeol's evil doubles do not glow. This could be another clue that Sehůn is good. The other X-EXO mems are corrupted. Instead Yeøl appears in inverted and oversaturated colors looking demonic.
• Another thing I noticed at around 3:06 of mv Jongdae and Suho sing this for the first time:
"The turned-on exit light" instead of "The turned-off exit light" as in chorus.
The ending shows a burning planet (initially I thought it was Earth but then I noticed it looked a bit different). SM confirmed it is "half of" exo Planet. Additionally it has a deep red glow ofc hinting this is because of the RF. There is still hope for exo to recover and defeat their enemies.
Thanks for reading!🍒 I'll probably make some compilation post for these theories.
#exo#exo m#exo k#jongdae#chanyeol#xiumin#minseok#baekhyun#exo kai#junmyeon#kyungsoo#sehun#lay zhang#kris luhan tao#sm entertainment#exo kpop#exo theory#Instagram#exo cbx#Exo sc#good enough#Youtube
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Stranded (III) | jhs
— But, darling, if you hadn’t fallen, you wouldn’t have met him—the one who’ll render you mad and drunk with his love so much that you’ll never want to find sanity again.
word count: 17,476
(PART III) contents: FluFF, skinny dipping (no spicy times tho lmao), deep talks, uncovering trauma, daddy issues, ANGSTY ANGST, y/n discovers the truth behind her abandonment, Theseus, getting drunk, violence (not really graphic), not necessarily accurate (i mixed up a lot of versions and made up some shit), a bit historical?? idk anymore, long explanation & historical refs at to be followed if you're interested, Greek Mythology AU
pairing: Jung Hoseok x Reader
Inspired by Dionysus and Ariadne
[masterlist] | check out [Elysian Tales] & [BTS as Greek Myth Icons]!
A/N: LAST PART, PEEPS!!! LET'S GOOO!! i hope y'all buLLETPROOF for this about to HURT right in the middle 😭😭😭 I'm so glad to have finally put this piece out here T-T it's truly a fav 💖 i hope y'all enjoy this!! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧
𝓹𝓻𝓮𝓿 ◁ | END.
It was fortunate that winters don’t last long in Greece, because soon enough, the coldness thaws and spring comes to Naxos. Each day is still wound with the shenaniganry that is Hoseok, and today, he brings you back to the pool where you first met the nymphs.
The two of you had spent the day helping the nymphs with their home and making sure the trees they lived in wouldn't be disturbed by travelers or beasts alike. You, too, would have to prepare your home for the seasonal change soon, perhaps as one of Hoseok's followers to help you with renovations, so you wouldn't have to inconvenience Silenus next winter.
Before settling for the day, Hoseok invited you to come along with him to the pool to end the day relaxed, he says.
“What in the world are you doing?!"
You gasp as you see him unravel his clothes, spinning yourself away from him in an instant. Hoseok only laughs upon your averted gaze, mischief in every note of it.
His shamelessness, you find, has known no bounds the more you let yourself be dragged to his tomfoolery. He has changed, indeed. "I say we have a little dip, hm?" he muses, his words later on followed by a splash of water.
Willing yourself to not look past what the water allows you, you steal a glance and see him resurface with a grin inviting you to join him. His dark curls were swiped back by his hands, which soon led your eyes to his naked chest and carved collarbones. The setting sun dims the light within the cave, leaving the rest of him to your unhelpful imagination.
Gods help you. "I'm not bathing with you!" you squeal, scandalized by the mere thought of it (but admittedly tempted).
The expression on his face tells you just how much Hoseok was enjoying toying with you. "You dare defy the request of a god, princess?" he teasingly lilts, leisurely swimming back so as to not tear his eyes away from you.
"Don’t say it like that," you grumble, eyes still bouncing off everywhere else in the cavern but him for too long. He may be your friend, but if anyone else might hear of thi—
"I kid, (Y/N)," Hoseok assures upon noticing your furrowed brows and pout. The moment you regain your thoughts and look at him, he smiles. "But," he then muses, "some company is nice for a little swim, do you think not?"
Chewing at your lip, you mull over his words. It has been a hot time indeed, attested by the nymphs' whines and lament you've been hearing for the past few days. Has something happened to Yoongi?
You haven't been faring well with the heat either—even now—especially when the activities of the day had left you sore and sweaty. Really, you haven't much else to kill your time with either.
"I'll withhold from any funny business, I swear," Hoseok further invitingly promises, chuckling as he swims in little laps before you. "You don't have to strip either," he then muses, but then thinks to himself for a moment. "Though you would lack a spare for change."
Perhaps it was because you were bored, or because you wanted the upper hand over him for once, or perhaps it was something else entirely, but you found yourself making a rather bold move.
"Never the matter, I can—"
"Turn around…"
Hoseok's eyebrows rose sky high at your words, a fiery blush spreading across his cheeks—one that (fortunately for him) you were too embarrassed to notice. Your words came out rather quiet and weak, but it was enough for him to freeze. “I beg your pardon?” he gawked, the most shocked you've ever seen him—and you almost feel victorious. Almost.
Awkwardly, you stood there, hand reaching where your dress was held together by a pin and idly playing with it as you found the courage to speak aloud once more. "I said turn around,” you tell him, staring firmly at him into doing your bidding.
Hoseok does as you ask, still taken aback.
After leaving your dress and undergarments in a pile by a large rock, you quickly part your hair over your shoulders and drape them over your decolletage. "Don't you dare look!" you warn once more, watching him closely.
His smugness seems to have caught up with him, seeing as he was quick to go back to his teasing after hearing you say those words. "Yes, dear," he playfully sings, "come on in."
Practically envisioning the wolfish grin on his face, you resist chucking a pebble at him. You focus on the present moment, and, finally, set yourself ankle deep into the pool, hands covering your delicate parts. The water ripples at your arrival, and as you go deeper, your hair begins to float around you until you gather them back to cover your upper half.
The moment the water reaches your chin, you realize it's deeper than you initially thought, even back when you were with the nymphs. Perhaps, it's even deeper along where Hoseok is, likely leading further down and somewhere into the sea. And so, heart thrumming against your chest, you idly stay where you were, near the edge.
Hoseok's head twitches to turn around but he catches himself. "Comfortable?" He asks first, turning his head just a little—only to catch a glimpse of you holding onto one of the edges and dipping your head into the seawater to fully submerge yourself, eyes closed shut and lungs holding in as much air as you could.
Immediately, he whips his head away upon noticing you were about to resurface. "Hm?" you ask him in the midst of soothing your hair away from your face, not catching what he said.
"Are you comfortable?" he asks again, swimming a little closer with his back still towards you. "I was about to say you needn't strip but…"
It's dark enough, you decide, for him to not see what he shouldn't, so you manage a little smile. "I'll be fine," you tell him, smiling a little once he turns around. Too late to cower back now anyways.
There were still traces of the wine god's flustered shock, but he does well to steer the conversation away from awkward tension. "Feels nice, does it not?" he says as the two of you languidly circle in the shallow area of the pool. (Hoseok, you notice, doesn't go back to the deeper end. Has he taken note of your inability to swim?)
The thought brings butterflies to your stomach, but you refuse to let it distract you any further. You agreeably hum, looking up to see the sky over the overhead fissure and see the night sky coming in with its twinkling stars. A soft smile makes it to your face as you savor the serenity of the moment, sore muscles easing as you turn back to the wine god, whose eyes seem so fixated on you.
"It is relaxing, actually," you finally admit aloud, sighing blissfully as you watch the water ripple around you. "Though it'd be better to be much more prepared next time."
The wine god breathlessly chuckles, nodding along as the notion of a next time excites him. "No more surprises next time, I swear," he says, his hands raised in mock surrender, though you roll your eyes (affectionately) and know well that won't stop his future nonsense next time.
What you also know is that, at the moment, Hoseok is somber, stealing thoughtful glances your way—the two of you sharing an innocent moment in spite of the bold circumstances. In truth, you had expected a water fight by now. "What is it?" you softly ask, lingering just a little closer as your eyes fully meet.
There's a look of profound pride and joy in his eyes as he gazes down at you. "You've changed, princess," he tells you, voice soft yet it still strikes you hard enough to take your breath away.
"In a good way, I hope?" you manage to jest, dipping yourself a little lower into the seawater as if it'd do well to hide your flustered face—or do anything with the funny feeling in your belly. By now, you're side by side, shoulders and arms mere centimeters apart.
The wine god nods, turning to face you with a wistful smile. "You look happier," he gently notes, tucking a hair behind your ear as he does. "Very much a good way."
While the blush on your cheeks continue to spread like wildfire at his touch, his words plunge you into the memories of your murky past—of being that princess chained to a cruel life—and as you drown in it, you're reminded of what Hoseok actually said—of your change, your happiness that he very much was mostly the architect of. The wine god has broken a hole into the depths that drown you—given you a way out to take if you so please while he waits for you to truly leave it all behind.
You are happier—much lighter, much freer—and that brings a smile to your face. "I suppose I am," you muse, practically glowing in the wine god's eyes, "and I have you and the others to thank for it."
The warmth in Hoseok’s chest is undeniable of his utter reverence for you. "Wouldn't have done it without your trust in my shenanigans, princess," he cheekily claims in spite of his giddy heart. For his sake, he swims back and bit away from you, the two of you beginning to idly swim around until…
SPLASH!
The wine god’s boisterous laughter resonates throughout the cave as you gasp at his betrayal. "Hoseok!" you shriek, retaliating with your own beat of the water towards his direction. With the sweet, innocent moment now gone, the two of you began chasing one another around the pool.
You knew that water fight was bound to come soon.
Eventually, the swim must come to an end before you both end up like raisins, and Hoseok summons Agrios, the large cat seemingly knowing well to bring some towels for the both of you to dry yourselves with. You offer the beast lots of pats and rubs as drape the linen over your shoulders. "Thank you very much," you coo, as you sit by the little fire pit Hoseok conjures.
"I was the one who summoned him," the wine god whines, finally taking a seat next to you two. "How come I don't receive any thanks or pats?"
You laugh, taking a spare linen and reaching forth to drape it over his wet tresses. "Oh, what great magnificence, my liege," you dramatically sung your praises, "such fortune has been blessed upon this humble servant!"
Hoseok half-heartedly rolls his eyes, reaching forth to mush your cheeks together. "Only you would dare to treat me like this," he playfully grumbles as you pry his hands off.
"I thought you said this was a very good change," you grin, as you raise a brow up at him. "Would you like me to go back then?"
Fondly, Hoseok's shoulder nudges yours. "Of course not," he scoffs, resting his head on your shoulder with his damp hair tickling your skin. "You know," he then says after a moment passes, "the day I saw you, I was debating on heading here instead, but Agrios was so insistent on the beach."
You find yourself smiling even more, hands brushing through the leopard's mane as he settles to your other side. "Thank Agrios for that then," you softly muse, "and the Fates for bringing us all together."
The greater part of you knows well you would've never thought the loom of fate would weave your life this way. Behind your struggles on the new path you tread, there is solace and tender appreciation for the banter, the surprises, and the menace.
You rest your head atop his as you gaze into the fire, watching the embers that crackle into the darkness of the night. "My life now is a far cry from what I used to live," you all but ponder, eyes beginning to sting as tears pool in them.
Beside you, Hoseok gazes tenderly, his brows starting to furrow and his lips starting to frown. You haven't talked much of your old life, and he knew just the gist of it—terrible father, terrible half-brother, and terrible lover. “Why have you…” he began, mulling over his words, “Why have you not tried to run away before? If it was so suffocating for you, why did you stay in that place?”
Only then does Hoseok realize his question had been insensitive.
"It's not that easy," you say, a sharp edge to your voice that confirms his belated regrets. Whatever responsibilities you were forced to carry had obviously been heavy if it had left you this scarred.
Hoseok gives a gentle squeeze to your hand, apologetically admitting his fault. "I spoke out of line."
For a moment then, you did nothing but stare ahead with a far away look in your eyes. They carry stories he could only hope you tell him yourself. “I…” you began to say, “I felt responsible, you could say. Though I was young when my mother was cursed to do what she had done—”
“Fucking a bull?” Hoseok surmised.
You recoil at his vulgar tongue. “Yes, well…" you clear your throat, "that.”
Eyes shot wide, the wine god immediately reading his words. “Sorry,” he coughed, looking down and wiggling his toes to idle in silence, "I will say a word no longer."
Truly, when he heard of the accursed rumors while he was in Crete, he didn't think the curse was that forward. It wasn't that he found the events disgusting—he had seen and heard worse—just that he came to think of the gods' temperament. The sinner was obviously your father, and yet Poseidon had seen it fit for everyone else in your family and kingdom to also be roped into the consequences of his greed.
“I was the eldest daughter,” Hoseok hears you go on. “I felt responsible to be an exemplary figure for my sisters and for my people. I thought that if I followed what my father says, it would’ve been the best for everyone. My father is a terrifying man, after all.”
Next to him, you scoff at your naïveté. “I couldn’t have been more wrong,” you humorlessly chuckle, your gaze still so haunted and distant. “I still have nightmares of the people sent down there.”
You shiver, and though Hoseok knew it wasn't just from the night's chill breeze, he takes a drier towel and drapes the fabric around your shoulders, as you, whose mind is barely with him in the present, simply let him.
A shaky sigh leaves your lips. “I often think to myself; had father been humble the first time around and apologized to Poseidon, had he raised Asterion humanely at the very least, perhaps things would’ve gone differently,” you confess, eyes shining with unshed tears as a furrow etched itself between your brows in despair. “I always waited for that change in my father’s greedy eyes, but in the end…” you purse your trembling lips where a bitter smile forms. “I had to wait for a sword to end it all.”
At that part of the recollection, you seem to sober up a little. “Father would’ve had me killed without a second thought if I hadn't left,” your eyes flicker towards him for a moment, and Hoseok recognized fear. "I don't think he even loves me enough to spare me a second to explain myself."
In the best way he knows how, the wine god attempts to steer you away from such terrible thoughts. “Your father’s a foul man, indeed,” he agreeably hums before putting on dramatics. “Perhaps I should make him grow horns and a tail if he's so adamant about the minotaur," he goes to mischievously nudge your shoulder, "or maybe I make him think he's a bull himself! What say you, hm?”
You laugh lightly at his suggestions but shake your head, not really thinking he's serious about his words when he's playfully enacting a charging bull with his hands on his head for horns. “No need,” you hush him, “Theseus already did enough damage by killing his prized monster.”
There's a faint falter to his face following your words and it made you falter—made unease simmer in the pit of your belly. "Theseus?" he quips, "the supposed hero of the tale then, I assume?"
Hoseok's change in attitude doesn't elude you, try as he might to keep it at bay. You could only hesitantly nod. “Why such disdain?” you then ask, a nervous chuckle leaving your lips as you try and decipher his expression. He's angry, you think, but why?
He tears away from your troubled stare and faces the campfire, stoking it with a nearby branch. “Some hero he is then," his grumbled words drip with sarcasm so prickly and cold that it makes you wince as though he had directed such poisonous words to you. You've never heard or seen him like this before—jaw clenched, nose flared, and glaring at the fire.
“I beg your pardon?”
Much more to your shock, Hoseok turns to you, nose stubbornly raised high as he crosses his arms. “You heard me,” he said with much more conviction than before. “Even if he slays a dozen Minotaurs, he will never amount to a true hero in my eyes.”
His displeasure towards Theseus somehow makes your heart shatter—makes you feel stupid for some reason, too. “How can you say such things with such sureness?” you huff, defensive, “have you even met the man you are so heartlessly berating?”
Tension rapidly rushes between you both—Hoseok being offended, and so do you. “No,” he grunts, rolling his eyes, “but from what I see, he is definitely so.”
The wine god doesn't let you butt in, instantaneously laying his ground for arguments. “Leaving a young woman—a princess, mind you—alone on a desolate island to fend for herself isn’t such a heroic feat, is it?” he gritted through his teeth. “Not to mention the possibility that he must've feigned his adoration towards you in order to incite you into helping him kill the Minotaur.”
Your breath hitched, hurt by his insinuations. Theseus didn't really feign his feelings…. did he?
Hands clenching your dress in fists, you glare at your supposed friend. “It was noble of him to bring upon the death of Minotaur,” you sneer, "surely you cannot deny that?"
“Arguably so,” Hoseok scoffs, his piercing gaze pinning you down and making you feel small, “but what of him deserting you here?”
His words were a deadly blow to your heart, quickly killing any of your rebuttals in one fell swoop as that grim day flashes before your eyes all over again—the pounding headache, the empty space beside you, the derelict camp with marks of haste in the sand. The pain you've buried beneath shenaniganry crawls out of its grave to take a ghastly bite out of your aching heart.
You're a fool.
Why are you arguing with him about Theseus? Defending Theseus, no less?
Hoseok's dislike towards Theseus seemed so instant, so easy, that it came to you that maybe you had been blind after all, not seeing the folly of the hero you gave your heart to.
You're still a fool.
You breathlessly laugh with no true mirth that a laugh should have and in that instant Hoseok realizes what consequences letting his emotions get the best of him causes. Your pathetic laughing at your own downfall sends tears down your cheeks that you don't even seem to take note of. “You’re right,” you murmur your words so quietly, so defeatedly that Hoseok almost didn't hear you. “I had not known enough love from a man to have been certain that someone like Theseus would have settled for the likes of me—a princess of such a kingdom.”
You'll always be a fool.
(In truth, Hoseok's heart shatters then and there, guilt seeping in at every crack as he can't find the words to mend what pain he had subjected you to.)
Out of bittersweet reminiscing, you gestured beachwards where a tent of supplies had once been left for you. “At very least, he had the decency to leave a few supplies behind for me,” you poorly attempt to jest, “perhaps, that was enough mercy.”
Alas, the man you knew to be all smiles didn’t budge. Hoseok still gazed over you with a forlorn look on his face. His eyebrows were knitted together, with the ever growing wrinkle between them showing you nothing but frustrations. Why is he still angry?
Realizing then that you had been crying, you quickly wipe your tears away. You've embarrassed yourself. “There’s no need to be so cross with me, Hoseok,” you nudge his side, turning to the fire before you. “If I must admit it to you, I am an idiot to love.”
You feel more of the god’s ire and stare burning onto the side of your face. Was it pity for your circumstances or disdain for your lack of a fighting spirit?
You didn’t know. You didn’t like it.
Hands make themselves at home over your cheeks. Your eyes meet and you see a storm brewing in them—a part of you wanted to revel in it, while the other wanted to run for shelter.
“(Y/N)...” Hoseok began, soft yet firm, taking you aback from one of the few times he’s called you by your name. “You were wronged,” he tells you, “when will you truly tell yourself that?”
His words struck your heart, like lightning would a tree. His eyebrows were furrowed deeper, the upset frown on his face looking so misplaced. This was the storm—Hoseok’s rage for the bastard who broke you to the point where a part of you still felt at fault.
"He should be grovelling," he said with such fury, "rue the day he left you here."
Hearing such words was a validation and a painful reminder put into one. Hoseok’s words were enough to help you slay the little bitch in you that held back your fury, held you back using the tight upbringings of your father.
All this time, if not avoiding the topic overall, you would blame yourself—be it your careless trust in the prince, or your foolish assumptions of being loved by the likes of him and his people.
Your entire life has been nothing but a force of people telling you it was your fault, when it wasn’t. It wasn’t your fault your mother was cursed to consummate with the bull your father double crossed Poseidon with. It wasn’t your fault a monster was born from such a union, and your father only used it further for his greed. It wasn’t your fault Theseus didn’t keep his word and left you here to rot.
You find courage in your heart to free yourself of your shackles for the second time—(yet another set of chains that bind you, just a bit more and you're free)—and to shout into the storm instigated by Hoseok’s anger.
Then and there, sobs rack through your whole being from the hurt dawning onto you all at once. "I know," you cried, shaking fists clenching the fabric of your dress yet again. You were wronged. You were wronged. You were wronged.
Arms wrapped around you tight, resisting the initial protest you gave them. “I apologize for starting such nonsense talk,” Hoseok sighs, hands rubbing circles on the expanse of your back. "I lost control over my anger and I spoke carelessly yet again," he grits through his teeth, partly disappointed in himself, "forgive this fool and his senseless mouth."
The wine god spends a good second looking at the heartache in your face, and feels his own heart suffer. He didn't want to see you like this again and yet he had failed miserably. “Cry all you want,” he then urges you, wiping at the cheeks of your snivelling self. “Let out your pain and I’ll lend you my shoulder, hm?”
You find yourself surrendering to the comfort, starved for the warmth you’ve never been given. Head tucked in the crook of his neck, you let yourself sob in Hoseok’s arms. You have nothing but the comfort of his embrace—nothing but him.
Things don’t quite settle the same after that night.
Hoseok’s eyes have been more keen on watching you—how your smile doesn’t reach its fullest, how you’ve become absentminded, or how you’ve excused yourself from most of the gatherings he invited you to. Your heart is in pieces and you cut yourself in the shards without care. The wine god, in spite of not really being one to gently console, has gone through a lot trying to hold it back together.
Here Hoseok was, leisurely laying against the trunk of a tree as the both of you sat under the canopy of the forest well into the afternoon. Beside him sat you idly weaving together a basket—or at least trying to. Time and time again, you cast him a fleeting glance that he makes no comment of.
Eventually, you decide to break the silence yourself. “You needn’t stay here with me,” you sigh, setting your craft on hold upon your lap as your eyes set a doubtful gaze on him. “I can tell how much this bores you.”
He cocks an eyebrow, his lips tugging upwards just a smidge. “I’m not bored,” he contends, though you still look unconvinced, brows furrowed and lips held in the ghost of a frown. “Truly, I am not,” he softly insists, “I, too, can enjoy some peace and quiet.”
You watch as he lays his head onto your thigh, sharing it with the basket-to-be you now couldn’t care less about. Nonetheless, you pick the weavework up to let the wine god make himself comfortable. "Shouldn't you be spreading your influence or something of the sort?" you huff as you once again busy yourself with the basket in your hands.
Surely, you thought, a promising god making his way up the pantheon such as him would prioritize that instead of a measly mortal like you, would he not?
Instead, the deity remains content on your lap in the midst of a quaint forest like it's the throne he belongs to. "They're fine," Hoseok shrugs with careless abandon as he usually does. "My cult won't crumble so easily."
Deep in thought, his dauntless eyes are piercing as they peek up at you even when they don't mean to—the doing of his intimidating, divine presence you suppose. “Enough about me. How are you truly faring, princess?” it was his turn to ask, placing a gentle hand on your shaking ones and stopping your poor weaving when you used it to hide your face from him. “Tell me.”
Whether it was the tenderness in his voice, the ounce of authority he puts in his words, or something else entirely, you sigh and forgo the thought of lying to him. Hoseok has now sat up before you, eyes awaiting any other sign he could take from your expression alone. You know you can deny or avoid the nature of your mind no longer—how it yearns for sweet release from your past yet becomes ensnared by the scornful chains of your contempt and the many questions left unattended to. “I want to put my past behind me, I truly do,” you confess, a bittersweet smile encapsulated on your lips, “but as much I crave for that, I, too, crave for answers, for justice.”
You would do just about anything else than to endure the silence that followed, eyes unable to look at him in fear of bursting the tears you were keeping at bay.
"What do you intend to do after receiving those answers?" Hoseok says after a good minute, sending you into a silence of thinking.
Lips parting, you try to formulate words, to show that you had some resolve over this, but none came out to your need. "I…" your voice cracks as you stammer an admission, "I don't know."
All but another bittersweet smile forms at your lips, your confession leaving you helpless. "But it'd be nice to know of the truth, would it not?" you weakly muse and pathetically steal a glance at the god beside you, only to see him stare off into the trees, his mind lost to thinking of something else.
Another while passes, the wine god beside you seems to be lost in his own thoughts before he decidedly nods to himself. "Alright then," Hoseok finally turns to look at you with a smile soft and comforting, as though telling you everything will turn out alright in the end.
You stare at him, incredulous. "What?"
Wordlessly, the god stood to his feet before you. “Do you trust me, princess?” Hoseok instead asked, offering no other explanation.
You look at his inviting hand—almost glaring.
The last time someone asked you that, you took the very hand that killed the monster of your kingdom, and jumped aboard a ship to flee the treason you both committed. The last time you trusted someone, you woke up an abandoned fool.
But this was Hoseok.
Hoseok, who may have been all shits and giggles, but always looked out over your wellbeing.
Hoseok, who was a god that took you in—freed you from shackles with him and his madness.
Hoseok, who was warmth in a different way than Theseus—a hearth rather than a torch, a home rather than a beacon.
You find yourself taking his hand before you could realize it, Hoseok’s tight, comforting grip causing you to meet with his eyes. His smile softens your resolve, ultimately leading you to surrender to his grasp. “I’ll trust you,” you tell him and something shifted as you said those words—his eyes sparkled more, his smile grew wider, his expression almost fonder than before.
The sky approaching sunset bathes you both in an orange and golden light, but it almost seems to make him glow. “What an honor,” he tenderly muses, taking the hand you gave him and tucking it on his arm as he begins to lead you elsewhere.
Something in you felt like he meant the words he said so jokingly—and you like it.
"Hoseok…"
The wine god has a lot of surprises up his sleeve, you should've known better than to be shocked when he brought you to a chariot pulled by Agrios and other leopards—let alone to be flying across the sky on it. You don't know what you expected the wine god to do when you took his hand, but it certainly wasn't this.
Around you now are pristine white buildings towering over you both, and in the distance is a statue of the goddess of wisdom you had heard so much about. So late into the evening, there are few people around, and yet you bask in it anyway, wondering how lively the streets become in the daylight when everything exudes such decorum.
Athens is as beautiful as you envisioned it—a marvel to take in and a heartbreak all the same.
Whether it was the cold breeze of the night or Hoseok's touch brushing across your skin as he reaches to catch your buckling form stepping down the chariot, you shiver. The wine god, nonetheless, catches your attention, seeing much of the worry and hesitation in swimming in the pools of your eyes. “You deserve your answers, princess,” he urges as he nods towards the palace, “and I’ll make sure he pays for it.”
And so, the two of you slip to and fro around the palace halls, his powers only getting him so far since he’s never one to visit Athens long—they’re too uptight and rational, he says. The night, fortunately, aids the both of you with the time, having fewer people around to stumble across. Hoseok, all the while, uses his divinity to drive away any guards or servants who become too close to discovering your presence. Your endeavors eventually lead you both to two big oak doors, its golden handles tempting you to open them forth.
This is the king's quarters.
"Go on," Hoseok's hush voice urged from behind you as he set down a now unconscious guard that tried to halt the both of you.
Still, you stood dumbly before the doors, unsure and with no courage to be found. Are you ready to see that face again? What will you say? What will you do?
Should you barge the doors open and say 'Hello, Theseus. Why in the world did you forsake me?' or simply stand before him menacingly like the ghost he left you to become?
Should you let your rage take the mantle and scream 'How could you do this to me?!' to your heart's content or be better and steadily interrogate him?
Should you—
"It'd do you well to think twice before doing anything irrational, mortal."
In panic at the unknown presence, you snap out of your frenzied thoughts and wheel around towards the voice that held an edge to the words uttered. A woman stands tall not far from you both, clad in a white and gold with her head held high, glowing almost otherworldly.
The next thing you hear is Hoseok's own voice, dripping with shock as his back straightens. "Athena?"
Your heart drops in an instant, dread filling your veins. The goddess Athena?
The wine god held the goddess’ stare, dauntless and careless as ever. Hoseok slowly pushes you behind him and opens the doors himself with his powers, locking the doors to the bedroom once you make it inside, too. The handles jiggle, a sign of you trying to come out, but it stops soon enough.
A sigh and a shake of the head is what he receives from the goddess before him. If there was any rage, Athena hid it beneath a collected, tame facade. “You’re as troublesome as ever, Dionysus,” she drawls disapprovingly, but makes no other move. “For such a futile cause, too.”
With hands clasped behind his back, Hoseok remains in between her and the doors. “We’re simply here for answers, sister,” he modestly says, offering no harm to her subjects. “Nothing more.”
Athena’s brow quirks, knowing damn well it’s a lie. He would curse Theseus, if the exchange ever goes awry for you in any way. “If you wanted answers, I would’ve given them,” she quips, the moonlight illuminating her in such an intimidating way.
Alas, Hoseok is too brazen, too foolhardy to be intimidated. “I think she’d rather hear it from him instead,” he retorts, thinking it best for your much needed closure to face the one who broke your heart. (Only then can he truly come to lull you to love again.)
“It’ll only break her heart to know he really did abandon her.”
Such words knocked the wine god to a stupor. Athena’s face remains unreadable as she said it, but there was a gut feeling in Hoseok’s stomach that told him she was in league with the betrayal. Eyes narrowing to glare daggers at her, the wine god could feel anger rising within him. “You…” Hoseok growls, “did you have him abandon her?!”
Then and there, emotion flashed in Athena’s eyes—anger matching his own. “Do not raise your voice at me, brother,” she fires back with her own glare. “Know your place.”
Reminded of his station in the pantheon, Hoseok curses under his breath. You cannot manage to wage a war against a deity more powerful and influential than you.
Athena raises her head as she lays down her judgment of you. "She's not fit to be queen," she puts it so simply that it drags the frown on Hoseok’s lips further. "Her actions have marked her as a blood traitor. She cannot rule alongside Theseus, and so, she became an offering to you while on Naxos—a bride, perhaps."
The words render the wine god speechless. It wasn’t uncommon for travelers to give offerings to the deity of a region they stay amidst their journey. The chances of you having the same fate may have crossed his mind as a possibility once, but—
It was then that the prayer from that stormy night resurfaced.
… as told, to you, we leave a maiden of fair beauty and heart. May she make wonderful company.
You are the maiden offering, after all.
Having such a fact be confirmed to him after the two of you had been vulnerable to one another, it brews sickly guilt within him. To envision your tears and know that sorry state had been left for him, you had truly been nothing but a tool passed around—and that breaks him.
Still, looking at the grander scheme, his rage doesn’t ease. "Not fit enough to be the bride of a king, but fit enough to be the bride of a god?" a scoff leaves Hoseok’s lips as his heart beats erratically, still trying to make peace with what he had learned.
Athena only glowers, her silence enough to answer for her. The goddess doesn’t end her piece there, however. “Theseus will never love her in the way she wanted,” she says the truth and it’s cold—would’ve frozen your heart and made it shatter if you had heard them. “The people will never take it well to have their queen be the same princess who made them suffer either. She would’ve spent her life miserable here.”
“Don’t be so furious either, Hoseok,” she soon levels him with eyes knowing the truth in his heart and the meaning in his name. “I know that look,” Athena tells him, a smirk on her lips both mocking, knowing, and pitying. “If she hadn’t been abandoned, you would’ve never gotten to meet and love her yourself, won’t you, brother?”
Hoseok can’t bring himself to say anything else. The both of them knew that even if he were to deny it right here and then, he’ll only be lying to himself.
The goddess of wisdom sees it fit to end the discussion soon. "Leave," she commands the last of her words somewhat both softly and sternly. "Take her with you before the guards are alerted of your trespass."
Just as she came, the goddess vanished out of thin air, leaving Hoseok alone to his muddled thoughts. The doors behind him seem to stare back, daring him to open them to see you.
Alas, he doesn’t have the chance to ponder any longer. His heart drops when he hears shouting from inside.
The moment you realized Hoseok had sealed you within the room, you were nearly paralyzed where you stood, hands stuck on the handles as you tried to steady your breathing. Go on, (Y/N). You’ve gotten this far. Get your answers.
The room around you is grand—almost grander than yours back in Crete—as it should be for a king’s chambers, you suppose. Soon enough, however, you hear voices.
“...ow has your day been?”
Just as you anticipated, someone’s inside—Theseus. Who’s he speaki—
“It’s been alright. Brother’s letter arrived, the search is yet to be fruitful…”
No. No, it can’t be…
Every step you take, it feels as though your heart is being squeezed right before your very eyes. Your body struggles against what your curious mind wants, as if trying to protect you from whatever was taking place.
It doesn’t protect you fast enough.
Standing in the open, your eyes meet two pairs of shocked ones—Theseus and your sister, Phaedra.
The two of them stood by a vanity table, her hand atop the one he comfortably had on her shoulder. "(Y/N)?" Theseus gawks, the first to speak, eyes wide as though he couldn’t believe he would ever see you alive and in front of him ever again. It twists your heart some more.
In that instant, your brain scrambles to pick apart the scene and make sense of it. Amidst the denial desperate to reserve what’s left of the ounce of respect you had for your time together, your rage is quick to burn the last of your affections for him. You’re a fool. You’re a fool. You’re a fool.
"You seem surprised, your highness," you drawl, voice so cold and sharp that it shocks even you. "Had I truly not been in your plans for your reign, after all?"
The young king before you is eventually knocked out of his stupor, his face molding into an indecipherable stare as he steps forth, his body tense as if you were a threat. “Leave,” is all he says to you after all this time.
It's like a sword stabbed through your heart.
You look at the man you once loved—the very same man who swore to make you his and protect you now fulfill his promise to you to someone else. “You want me to leave?” you couldn’t help the bitter scoff that leaves your lips. “Some hero you are then.”
Questioning his deeds seems to be successful in getting a reaction out of him, his lips tugging to a frown and his eyes narrowing into a glare. "I slayed the Minotaur!" Theseus bellowed. "You do not have the right to insult me so."
Why did you even fall in love with this man?
"You may have been the sword that slayed our brother," you spat, body running hot with anger as your voice starts to strain the more you raise your voice, "but if it weren't for me—for my aid—you wouldn't have made it out of that labyrinth alive. You wouldn't be able to revel in the glory you're in now."
Phaedra and Theseus’ mouths gape at the fiery outburst that’s seized you, angry tears blurring your sight yet you continue your outcry. "To abandon me on that island and leave me for death," your chest heaves with pained, struggling breaths. "To go and marry my younger sister, too," you sob harder, seeing your sister avoid your eyes behind him and he shields her. "How low can your betrayal become?"
Your accusation makes Theseus flinch, but he remains thick-faced. "You weren't left for death," he denies yet again, "I was instructed to leave you there by the great goddess Athena. I have no fault in this."
The news leaves you stunned. "What?"
Theseus takes advantage of your faltering rage, readily giving you the answer you came all this way for. "I was told to leave you on Naxos as a sacrifice for Dionysus," he crossed his arms, raising his head to defiantly stare into your eyes and break your heart even more. "I’m simply being a loyal servant to my goddess."
While you had wondered once if being in Naxos with Hoseok was your new purpose in life, it never came to you that it had been the actual reason for your abandonment in the first place. Your trampled heart is thrown down an abyss you have no idea how to escape out of. The possibility of divine intervention never even came to you, always thinking to give Theseus the benefit of the doubt he never deserved.
Seeing his indifference, however, your shock was all too suddenly overcome with rage once more. You didn’t know what sort of answer you expected to hear from him, but you certainly didn’t prepare your heart for this amount of heartache. The absence of warmth from the man you used to think the world of, the discovery of your sister’s involvement, and the truth behind your tragedy—you hadn’t thought it’d be one blow to the heart after the other.
Even if he had simply been doing as he was told, it’s as if it had been a relief to have been told to leave you. Hands clenching the fabric of your dress, you try to still your beating heart—try to keep another outburst at bay. "Is that what you are then?" you say, voice hoarse and hurt, "obedient, but with no heart, no remorse for what you've done?"
Theseus fidgets once more, idly trying to reason. "I left you supplies—”
"I had no knowledge of survival!" you scream once again, words strained by the rough use and the ache. "I was trapped in that palace growing up and you did no better by leaving me helpless on that island!"
Couldn't he at least pretend to be guilty for having left you there? Couldn't he at least feign a broken heart for being forced to leave the woman he swore to love?
Yet, here he was—a prosperous king married to your dear sister.
Your sister, who knew of your fancy to the hero that snuck into your kingdom.
Your sister, who was the one to encourage you to meet him.
Your sister, who now holds the crown and title you were promised.
Another stab was taken to your heart. Two people you've trusted your love and faith to had stomped it so easily. You take yet another glance at your sister, who cowers at every word you shout yet clings onto his arm still. "Had I not been fortunate to have survived," you dare to ask, "had I died then and there, would you have felt anything for me?"
They were both silent, guilt written on their faces in a way that told you they would've likely not, had it not been for you appearing before them, proposing the concept now. "I loved you,” you whimpered, the fabric of your dress nearly ripping from how tightly you gripped them. “I loved both of you!"
Theseus, your first love turned first romantic heartbreak.
Phaedra, your beloved confidant turned treacherous thief.
Heart trampled and filled with rage, you want to charge at them, screaming and hitting to your heart's content, but you’re tired—so, so tired. Your knees give out in no time, rendering you on the ground with nothing to support you. Even your lungs seem to lose faith in you, struggling to supply you with air and leaving you light-headed by the minute as you hyperventilate through your sobs.
In your sorry state, Theseus could still only think of himself and his queen. “That’s enough, (Y/N),” he all but demands, heartless as ever over your fallen frame. “Leave or I’ll call the palace guards.”
For once, you find yourself agreeing to the Athenian king’s words. You’ve got your answers. You can’t bear to be around them any longer. Leave. You want to—
The doors burst open in a fury, capturing everyone’s attention towards the perpetrator—a certain wine god panickingly looking around the room. The moment your eyes meet with Hoseok’s, they soften for a moment before they harden yet again at the sight of your former lover and sister.
Theseus’ eyes are wide as your crestfallen form is wordlessly lifted in the air and towards the stranger who readily carries you in his arms, while you wound your arms around his neck and cry into his shoulder. The Athenian king’s heartbeat began to quicken as he realized just who this man might possibly be—the very god he left you to, Dionysus.
The queen is the only one that seems to be confused. “Theseus?”
A hand reached out to signal her to keep quiet, head humbly bowing down, as with one last glare sending shivers up their spine, the wine god leaves with you just as they had been wanting. There’s a terrible feeling settling in the pit of the king’s stomach.
They’ve incurred the wrath of a god.
Hoseok couldn't cast aside his worry, no matter how hard he tried—couldn't help but cast his worrying gaze behind him where you sat at the edge of his chariot, feet dangling in the air as Agrios and the others dragged the chariot through the air.
The night breeze brushes colder on the shoulder where your tears soaked his tunic and it all but puts more weight onto his heart. As the one manning the whole chariot, his place on it obstructs him from checking on you for too long. Since you two left Athens, he wonders if you’ve stopped crying, if you’re still with no strength in your knees, or if your cruel mind’s been repeating whatever that bastard may have said.
It was a few painful hours of silence traveling back to Naxos, but it was a safe one nonetheless. Quickly taking care of the reins and wordlessly dismissing Agrios and his siblings to rest themselves, the wine god comes to your side, hesitant to pull you from your trance, lest it summons back your tears. "Princess...?" he gingerly calls out, "We have arrived…"
Before he could place a hold on your shoulder, your body moved on its own, still not with him mentally as you nearly trip over tree roots and crash onto the ground had it not been for him catching you last minute. You seem to stop then and there, letting nearly half your weight be carried by the arm that was wrapped around your middle.
The moment Hoseok notices the slight movement of your head towards him, he seized the chance. "About what happened—"
"We shouldn't have ever come there," your hoarse voice cuts his rambling off, glistening eyes soon looking up at him. He looks back at you with furrowed brows, just as crestfallen. "I shouldn't have listened to you,” your head shakes as you try to pull away from him. ”I shouldn't have."
It wasn't a fair accusation. You knew well you asked for answers, and now that the ones you sought have trampled over your poor, unfortunate heart, your addled mind could only deny it's own fault and blame the one who only intended to help you. You're a fool, through and through.
Hoseok gives you a bit of distance, but shifts his hold onto your wrists instead, keeping you from truly running away from him. "I didn't expect the situation to go so aw—"
“Is it true?”
The wine god is interrupted yet again, and it sparks frustration within him. "What is?” he nonetheless asks, confused for a moment, until he becomes terrified at the realization that Theseus may have told you the truth of what had taken place that day.
You kept your head down, staring down at where his hands held you. “Was I…” your voice shakes, but it's so quiet he almost doesn't hear you. ”Was I really left on this island for you?”
It seems you dread hearing the truth once again, but Hoseok doesn't lie—you don't deserve any more of it. One painful truth after the other will leave you with more time to heal.
Hoseok knew he had yet to take a wife for himself, his reputation infamously paved with numerous lovers and flings just like many gods of the pantheon—especially his father, Zeus. Pairing that with his lax management of his godly duties has ended him in this tragic predicament, entangled with the strings of fate that twist your heart in its bounds and knots.
(He doesn't want to hurt you. He would never want to hurt you. He'll sit down and untangle this mess forever if he has to.)
As he swore, Hoseok tells you what he knows. "When we came around the shrine that day," he shakily began, drawing idle figures on the skin of your wrist. "I did discover a prayer about a maiden offering left for me, but I thought it’d be a coincidence for it to be you. You were left so haphazardly on the beach, I thought it was a separate incident, until…"
Hoseok could sense your chest shakingly heave before your breath hitches, bracing yourself for the next of his words.
“Athena confirmed it herself," the wine god tells you, watching as your lungs give out a big outbreath of shock and ruin that doesn’t ease your heavy heart in any way. "She saw it fit to have Theseus sacrifice you here, said you would’ve been miserable in Athens if you were to be queen as he promised.”
The thought of marriage with you in Hoseok's mind becomes bitter now that it's been soiled by such a cruel trick. No amount of wine could ever wash down the ugly mark of it. How can you love him after this?
For the first time since, you raise your head, your eyes glossy yet they seem to have run out of tears to shed. “Did he…" your words fall short of a whisper, "did he really have no protests to such orders? Did it come that easy for him to get rid of me?”
Hoseok's own heart is upset at the notion of you still letting that bastard have power over your heart, but he casts that aside in favor of your vulnerable self. All he can do now is speak his truth. “I do not know.”
You become silent then and there, slowly moving out of his grasp and he, unsure of what else to do, lets you. Hoseok's heart would burst from his chest if it could. He watches closely as you roughly wipe at your damp cheeks and forcibly draw your lips to a smile. It's bitter and, like the rest of you, unstable. “Well, the fates have certainly decided what my purpose in this world is,” you say aloud, a breathless chuckle escaping your lips.
You don’t think you can ever hate Hoseok for this—even if you did try—but in the grand scheme of things, you're a mere mortal subject to the gods, the fates, and their will. Always a pawn to someone else.
There was an obvious look of defeat and despondency in your eyes. Hoseok doesn’t like it—mourns because of it. All the time you spent together—raising your spirits, encouraging you out of your shell, and instilling confidence in you—was now all for naught, and it doesn’t help that he’s involved with the downfall of it all.
“(Y/N)...”
“It doesn’t matter now,” you’re quick to shut down any more of his attempts to comfort you, now sure that you’re bound for this misfortune in life. “I got my answers.”
Look at what it got me.
In the near distance, you see the cave that served as the roof over your head for months now—a far cry from the palace you knew, but it was everything. It was home, and now, you’re not so sure what it is exactly—if you can still think of it as a home knowing the man you found, built, and shared it with turned out to be someone you were offered and abandoned to, like an unknowing pup passed from one owner to another.
In truth, a part of you—deep down, buried under all that grief and hurt—understood Athena's intentions, and perhaps, you'll come across the acceptance for it after all the pain subsided. Alas, for now, your thoughts are becoming too loud—heartache, existential dread, and wallowing in one. Time—you need time to think, and then, perhaps, something to make your mind go numb for a couple of hours.
Decidedly, you march forth, stumbling a little as you leave the wine god where he stood. Though an apology weighs down at the tip of your tongue, all you could do is shamefully excuse yourself, eyes cast down and body fidgeting. “I’ll get myself something to drink...”
When you said those words, Hoseok indulged your need for space, he, himself, thinking it would do good to let some wine soothe the thoughts and emotions overwhelming you. Alas, it’s hours after the exchange, and by the time he entered your abode expecting you to be passed out already, you were still showing no sign of stopping. You’ll drink yourself to death, at this point. “That’s enough drinking, (Y/N),” he tuts, prying the wooden chalice and bottle from your surprisingly stubborn fingers. "You know Yoongi isn't around to give you the remedy for this."
His light jest doesn't do well to deter you. “Nonsense,” you slurred, sputtering some of the wine onto his robes as you tried to chase what he took.
You end up stumbling in his arms, and, in spite of both hands being occupied, Hoseok wound an arm around your waist to hold you up. For a second, he feels your body tense, perhaps mulling over whether to push him away from you or not, but ultimately, you mouthed no protest, too dizzy and too tired to.
The wine god finds himself beginning to understand why the rational, uptight people held great disdain for his masterpiece. Wine and other spirits numb down the drinker, merely delaying the inevitable reality they'll face, and, especially knowing the heavy reason behind your drinking, Hoseok feels upset with himself even more. “You can’t drink the pain away, princess,” he sighs, setting the wine bottle down so his now free hand can brush back the hair that stuck to your sweaty face.
Face scrunching at his touch, you whine and try to lull away from his hand. Through heavy-lidded eyes you peer up at him, almost in a glare. “But I can forget,” you stubbornly insist, a tear sliding down your cheek as your lips quiver. “I don’ know what else to do.”
There’s a frown on his lips, Hoseok could tell, and his brows are furrowed together like yours as he gently wipes his thumb across your cheek. It's easy to want to forget in a fragile time like this, and while wine can make you forget, Hoseok refused to lose you to it. He places the chalice down onto the table, ridding what keeps him from fully embracing you. "He doesn't deserve your tears," he finds himself saying those words through gritted teeth, "or your love."
You don’t seem to be clearly understanding his words, but you’ve let your head fall to his shoulder, burying it there as your hands raise to rest themselves on his chest. (If you had been a bit sober, you would’ve been aware of how fast his heart beats under your touch.)
"M' heart hurts," you all but murmured weakly against his tunic, followed by a sniffle. The words that follow fall from your lips in a dazed and defeated whisper. "Love always eludes me like this."
The wine god’s heart is clenched so tightly by your words that it leaves his face in a pained expression, as if he had actually been stricken with ichor running down his skin. If this was what you’ve come to believe, you’re sorely mistaken, and damn Theseus and everyone else for making you think in such a way. "You are loved, princess," he arduously declares, burying his head into your hair as he hugged you tighter. “Don’t ever think otherwise.”
At his words, he feels your head turning to the side where it leaves you listening to his heart. Hoseok wonders if you could tell his heartbeat’s pace is quickening now. Surely, you do, right? It’d be further testament to his proclamation—proof of the things you do to him, a god in his own right.
"I am?"
It was a quiet murmur, yet it spoke volumes of the doubt loudly seizing your head. Hoseok is crushed and you’re none-the-wiser to every crack your sadness compels onto his heart. "Mhm," he hums, pulling away so his hands can take a hold of your face as he lists the people you’ve managed to brighten up with your presence in your short time here. "Agrios, Silenus, Yoongi, Aldora, Alenka…"
Hoseok stares into your glistening eyes, a smile so soft on his lips as he sees you slowly coming back to him. For a moment, the wine god thinks to himself, whether or not to make his love known to you after all this time. I love you, such words dangle on the tip of his tongue. More than I ever thought I could love anyone else.
The faint scent of his wine on you, however, reminds him of your delirious state of mind, of how drunk it is. A waste of an opportunity to confess, he thinks. He'd rather have you fully sober when the time comes. "And me," was all he could say at that moment, but he said it with as much heart and warmth as he could muster. "We all love you very much."
(I love you. I love you. I love you.)
The wine god watches as you soften at his words, sobering a little as you take them in with a faint smile on your lips. He knows not if you’ll remember this exchange in the morning, but Hoseok hopes you can at least remember the feeling of it, and know that, even if the rest of the world shuns you, so long as he lives, Naxos will welcome you with open arms. “You best remember that, hm?” he playfully chides you, "You are loved."
Your hands gingerly snake from his chest and up to his hands where they rest upon your cheeks, replying with a gentle, meak nod. The last of your tears eased along with the spirits in your veins, the clarity of your actions the past hours now washing over a new sense of guilt onto you. "Forgive me," you softly tell him, gathering the strength to look up to meet his eyes as you did. "I was unfair 'n a nuisance," your words fall over one another, drowsiness bleeding into them as a result of exhaustion from everything that has taken place. "None of it was your fault."
The wine god earnestly thinks for a moment, as tingles travel up his arm from where you started unconsciously drawing idle circles on the back of his hand. A part of him hurts still—both of you are. “You have the right to be upset over what you just learned.” he began, one hand freeing itself from your hold only to caress your cheek. “I can only hope you'll be able to heal from it soon.”
A mellow beat of silence follows suit, as your eyes softly stare back, warm, grateful, and lost in thoughts as you mull over his words. “Thank you,” you whisper, simple words running deeper as the ghost of a smile lingering on your lips.
Encouraged by a twinkle of soft endearment in your eyes, the wine god rests his forehead against yours, savoring the moment while you let him. Hoseok doesn’t think you’re even aware of how beautiful you look in the dim moonlight like this. With lips only mere inches apart, too, the wine god thinks he's never faced such temptation ever before in his life. Practicing poise unbecoming of the wild-hearted spirit he once was, he settles for a mere kiss on the crown of your head. His lips linger there for a moment, and though he didn't want to part just yet, he does so in order to guide you towards the bed. “Sleep,” he casually urges, “you need it.”
Exhaustion easily comes to you as soon as you hit the covers, eyelids heavy as you try and keep them open. Your hand keeps its loose hold on his, a slight tug wordlessly inviting him to stay with you. "Don't leave," you tenderly say, eyes pleading with him in such a way that it effectively disarms any semblance of reason in his head.
Indulging you and himself, the wine god takes the space next to you (unlike last time). Once the blankets have been laid out over your bodies, Hoseok finally rests his head on the pillow. You face one another with your hands still interlocked together, in spite of the shy boundary existing in between the rest of your bodies.
“Good night, princess,” he quietly murmurs into the darkness of the night, thumb drawing shapes on your skin as you did his. “I’ll be right here with you.”
The moment you wake up, however, an empty space greets you.
Try as you might, the void in your heart persists as you muster the strength to sit up from the bed, the sleep weighing down your bones slowly dissipating the more your consciousness returns to the real world. The search for warmth—for his presence—was so instant, it was practically instinct.
This wasn’t the first time you woke up alone. Why does his absence bother you so?
Pieces of last night come to your mind. Athens, Athena herself, and the confrontation, make your heart hurt more for a moment, but, at the same time, the sweet words, the tender kiss to the forehead, and the comfort of his hand came to you. Though vague and a bit blurry in between, the feeling of it never escapes you, sending you furiously blushing as you bury your head into your palms.
Gods, get a hold of yourself, (Y/N).
The faint sound of music from outside soon draws your attention—a song sounding so familiar. In an instant, your brows furrow together in confusion.
Ultimately, your mind once again wanders to the wine god you spent the night crying to. You need to talk, especially now that you’re sober and a bit better with reining in your emotions. Your head pounds, a sensation you’re very much familiar with, but by some miracle, you manage to get yourself together, and head out into the world a bit presentable.
“Hoseok?” you tentatively call out, looking around the forest that surrounds your cavern for the music.
“I’m sorry to disappoint, princess.”
Heart nearly leaping from your chest, you immediately turn around towards the source of the voice and the hearty laugh you just heard—the speed of which sends a spike of pain to your head. You see Silenus, the old satyr leaning against a nearby tree with his pan flute in hand and a teasing grin. He must've been the one playing the tune. "I apologize," you stammer, flustered to have been caught in such a way. “What brings you here?”
Silenus' smile turns a bit warmer. "A little bird told me to keep watch while he's away," he knowingly says, making your heart skip a beat then and there.
Hoseok?
In spite of the dulling headache, you hold back the urge to go back inside, sleep, and simply wait till the wine god comes back. Instead, you approach the satyr, gathering strength to converse. "Where did he go?" You ask, bashful still but you waited for answers anyway.
"Somewhere," the satyr simply shrugs, and you're left with disappointment you cannot voice aloud. You settle for a seat by a protruding tree root not too far from where Silenus sat.
The moment you sat down, the old man wastes no time to strike conversation. “I heard a lot happened last night,” he hums good-naturedly. “What troubles you still, princess?”
Consciously, you think to yourself if the frown and furrowed brows had settled so naturally on your face for him to have noticed. Either way, whether it was because you needed another set of eyes on the situation, or you needed to vent out what's left of your ire, you tell Silenus the events that unfolded last night—Hoseok taking you to Athens, meeting Athena, confronting Theseus and Phaedra, and learning the truth. “I know the fault isn’t his. I just…” you eventually sigh, struggling to put your emotions into words. “I just feel toyed with?"
Life, in the end, is very much like the palace you grew up in—an elaborate game with harsh rules you must follow to survive. Yet another role was thrusted into your hands to play—a sacrifice? a scrap for the taking?
"Some part of me finds it hard to look at him the same way I once did, but at the same time…”
I'm not entirely against it—
No. You can't say that.
Beside you, Silenus nods, taking in the implications of your words in spite of you not knowing exactly what you mean to say. For once, you realize, he looks a bit more serious. "Well, the Fates toy with everyone," he eventually comes to say, "thread mingling with thread, stubborn knots ruining a patch or two, but in the end, when all the threads are cut, the loom displays the grand tapestry that bears all of the fruits of the game we played—be it good or tragic."
The talk of the Fates brings back a frown on your lips. The strands have a life of their own, full of potential and calling to one another as they’re spun, guided, and cut by each of the Fates. "What if I don't want to play the game of looms and threads anymore?" you dared to idly wonder aloud as you pulled your knees closer to you. It was an ugly thought, you know, but you've been left too exhausted to stop them from resurfacing, dreading how long Lachesis intended to pull along the thread meant for you when it’s so frayed with misery—how long you’d have to be weaved into the tapestry of humanity for before your thread finally meets Atropos' shears.
It’s the satyr who frowns this time, setting his pan flute aside. "One may unravel as a stray thread, but it's one without any other color," he wisely tells you, "without life."
You mull the words over, a bitterness coming over you now that the unkind demons got the better of you. Your part of the tapestry will be ugly anyway, it cruelly hisses—a vile comment a bigger part of you agrees with. "I play terribly with the game of life," you cross your arms over your knees as you idly look into the wilderness spanning out before you.
"Then learn to play better,” Silenus chides, meaning well but it slaps you awake all the same. “It depends on who you play with, does it not?"
Threads calling to other threads allow for millions of possibilities to take shape, lingering around one another until an ultimate choice intertwines two or more together in a game of who wins or loses with their experiences. "The Fates can give us an array of colors to entangle with and Hoseok, that silly boy," the satyr grins with a fond shake of his head, "is vibrant—a great thread and playmate to be entangled with, if you ask me."
No truer words have been said, and because it was the truth, you can't deny yours either. "But I don't understand why I can ever be entangled with him in the first place," you counter, still playing along with the thread analogy. "I'm dull compared to him."
The thread of the gods must be glowing and gilded compared to that of mortals. Even at your very best, you don't think you could ever even amount to him.
The satyr sighs, sparking shame from your conscience. "You ask too many questions, princess," he shakes his head and stares down at you. “What if that’s why you were given the chance to be entangled with him, hm?”
You gawk at the old man, preparing for a stern lecture but he maintains a softer, passionate manner. "The two of you compliment one another in many ways," he says so surely, so confidently that it flusters you. "He's wild and you're tame, and so, you teach him how to calm down while he coaxes you out of your shell."
"You both tend to forget yourselves, but look out for the other," he adds, rendering the blush on your face to be worse. "You're practically attached by the hip, too!"
Ultimately, Silenus's words leave themselves ingrained in your head and bring your butterflies to life. "He very much wants to be in your life, and you, in spite of everything else, deprive yourself of him—of all of this."
Is it really depriving?
You think to yourself if your aversion to the divine and your scars from love had indeed led you to this cruel state of mind—of depriving yourself of companionship from someone else. The more you think of it, the more the denial retaliates against the realization. You can't, right? That sort of thing would mean you lo—oh, gods. Do you really?
Seeing your eyes blown wide, lost in arguing thoughts, Silenus knocks down your doubts some more. "Would it really be so bad to play this game of life with him?" he asks, half sincere and half temptingly.
The question begs you to envision it—a life accepting your sacrifice to Naxos and living with Hoseok. When all wounds heal into fading scars and all ache lay buried beneath many happy memories, when your body is spent contently exhausted from gatherings and shenanigans, when you continue to stand at the end of Hoseok's bright, endearing smile for the rest of your life, would it truly be so terrible of a life?
“No,” the word leaves your lips whimsically, a soft smile tempting your lips at the thought of such things. “I don’t suppose it would.”
If Hoseok were to let you leave Naxos—and he undoubtedly would do it for your sake if you so desired it—then, where would you even go? Who else would you run to?
Silenus grins at you seeing the light out of the darkness. “There you have it then,” he concludes, bringing his hands together in a satisfied clap.
In spite of what's left of your emotions still left with questions unanswered, you are, nonetheless, grateful for the time he spent to impart his advice to you. “Thank you, Silenus,” you say, "and I'm sorry."
The old satyr waves it off nonchalantly, picking up his flute once again to play. This leaves you seeking your own peace and quiet to think more things through—especially that question. “I’ll be going then,” you bid him farewell, pushing yourself up from where you sat and dusting off your wrinkled dress.
It was only when Silenus noticed you were walking away from the cave instead of towards it that he spoke again. “Where are you off to?” he calls out, compelling you to turn around with a reassuring smile after recalling him saying he was here under a favor for the wine god.
“The beach,” you tell him, pointing towards a direction you knew all too well. “Just for a walk. You needn't come with me.”
You need time alone to confirm something to yourself—confirm what your true feelings for the wine god are. Silenus seemed to have understood this need for contemplation, as he simply nodded and remained where he was, readily waiting just as he had waited before you woke up.
With barely any effort, the walk to the beach easily becomes a nostalgic one. Under the canopy of towering trees that used to be so terrifying and foreign to you that stormy night, your feet now wander with a mind of its own, already knowing the path by heart. The sound of the waves that soon reach your ears pluck at your heartstrings in a beautiful melody, and the moment your shoes dip onto the sand, a shiver runs down your spine.
Months ago this was merely some island you were marooned on, and now, it’s everything to you. You know well who’s to blame for this sweet, homely feeling—who’s made it easy to fall in love with this place and hard to ever truly hate for what else it had meant.
A sigh follows one deep breath as you look at the shore, envisioning where the camp had once been—where the Fates had led your thread to meet the stranger wine god. In the struggle within your heart, acceptance was beginning to turn the tide.
Yes, this is your reality now. This is ho—
"Halt!"
Once again, the living daylights were scared out of you, and this time, your heart had reason to pound erratically. In the distance were a group of men, armed with bows and armored in leather. At first, you thought them to be hunters, but as they approached you with the arrows drawn and some with hands on the hilt of the swords on their waist, you began to see familiar faces among them.
Soldiers from Crete.
You were torn between the urge to run and the instinct to stay put, knowing well you won't get far with this many people hunting you down. The latter, however, wins as fear aids to paralyze you. You did your best to seem as collected and civilized as you could, whilst their weapons raised menacingly against you. "So you've found me," it was a surprise to you how you manage to say it so steadily and calmly in one fell swoop. Deep down, you're terribly frightened.
A beat of silence passes.
One of them, you notice, gives discreet commands to another of, what you think, a lesser rank. You're as taut as the bows drawn against you, watching intently as the aforementioned soldier leaves the scene—to rally more of their comrades, you realize.
The moment one of them breaks the silence and makes a charge towards you, you finally feel your body move in response, quickly grabbing sand and throwing it to the soldier's face. As he yelps and clutches his face, you try and make a grab for the sword that fell from his hand, but the slightest touch to the bronze blade was thwarted by a powerful force from your side that sends you flying away from it.
Harshly landing on the sand, your whole body feels on fire. Your chest burns from the half scream and half gasp that escapes you, clutching your side as the pain from the kick brings immediate tears to your eyes. No, you refuse to go down like this. Hoseok, Agrios, Silenus —You have to get back to them. You have to.
You muster all the strength to push yourself from the sand, only to be met with more weapons drawn at you. "Surely, I'm not the only one accountable for this," you sneer at them, chest still heaving. "Father better also have sent his crude soldiers to Athens."
A strong hand yanks your hair upwards, eliciting a pained scream from your mouth. "You're but a felon now," the soldier spat as your thrashing was no match for his vice strong grip. "We do not owe you respect."
Among them was a man who you recognize as a captain of the guards. He has his eyes set on you, stepping closer to tell you a news that shocks you to your core. "The king's dead, princess," he says, voice cold, eyes piercing, and hand guiding his sword to your neck as he watches your eyes widen.
Since your abandonment, you didn't really expect to be able to hear of your father's fate, but you suppose his deeds would've eventually caught up to him as he deserved it.
Two soldiers roughly held you up by either arms, caging you as their leader continued. "Shortly after you fled with the Athenian bastard, he was slain while looking for Daedalus and his son," the captain told you, digging the blade to your skin where it draws a thin red rivulet. "We are here to give him justice."
In spite of your body responding to everything with telling signs of fear—trembling frame, streaming tears, and pounding heart—you speak defiantly and just as harsh. "This is no justice!" you grit through your teeth, raising your head high to glare back at the men surrounding you. "Father's greed is to blame for his own downfall—deceiving Poseidon, getting mother cursed, and having the Minotaur ruin the innocent lives of many. They all lead back to him and you're all as blind as bats if you think otherwise!"
(It's also your father's fault that he managed to build a strong army loyal to him, and now, even in death, he makes life difficult for you.)
The captain's glare turned murderous, nose flaring. "How dare you!" He roared, raising his sword in the air as a look of horror flashed in your eyes.
In spite of your best efforts to escape—wriggling around like a madwoman, stepping harshly on their feet—it's futile, your head instinctively looking away as you wait for the blade to come.
This is it.
This is the end of you.
The wine god's eyes eagerly search for the familiar clearing, and, in his haste, the whole chariot shakes at the rough landing he had gotten himself. Hoseok sees Silenus under the tree where he left him, lips parting from the pan flute to grin at the young god. "Will you finally tell me where in the world you snuck off to this time?" The old satyr stands back on his hooves and rests his hands on his hips in a playful scolding.
"Just somewhere," Hoseok simply shrugs, but the smirk on his lips betrays the supposed casualness of his absence. In truth, he visited Aphrodite and Eros for a little favor. After all, by the wine god's rules, one can easily earn themselves just about anything if one offers great wine and drama.
(The goddess of love was surely not happy with what Theseus had done. He won't be getting any luck with love or lust any time soon—or ever.)
Never the matter, that's the least of his priorities now. “Has (Y/N) woken up yet?” Hoseok asks, wordlessly dismissing the leopards to rest from their trip—save for Agrios who decided to linger.
Silenus' smug grin brings heat to the wine god’s cheeks. “Ah, yes,” the old satyr nonetheless answers, “just a while ago. Had a lot of things on her mind, that one.”
The talk, the kiss, Hoseok immediately thinks, anticipation setting his entire being ablaze. “Where is she then?” he’s quick to ask, his eyes set on the first place he could see, the cavern.
Instead of that, however, Hoseok watches as the satyr gestures to a direction he knew all too well. “The beach,” Silenus tells him, “gone for a walk she says. If you hurry along, you two might go for a little swim together, heh?”
Hoseok could only roll his eyes at Silenus' words (though he does give the fantasy a thought or two). He wastes no time to walk forth with Agrios quietly following suit. There’s something in the air that makes his insides twist. Is it his anxiousness over talking with you again? Will you leave? Will you stay?
“I don’t look too much of an idiot as of now, yes?” the wine god jests to his spotted beast for his sake, a nervous chuckle forced past his lips. Agrios, who can’t talk in the first place, does well to give Hoseok an unimpressed look without even trying, walking ahead without being bothered by the pout the wine god gives him.
“A little support would b—”
A growl reached his ears, cutting his whine short as the sight of Agrios’ alert and defensive stance worsens the terrible feeling in his stomach. All too suddenly, the wine god’s face falls serious, realizing the leopard was glaring towards the beach. “What is it?” he whispers to the beast, cautiously approaching the beach with Agrios.
The moment he heard the pained scream and yelling, Hoseok's heart dropped.
The moment he saw a blade levied against you, Hoseok's body leapt into action.
The moment he had you at arm’s length, Hoseok's mind could only ever think of shielding you.
"(Y/N)!"
Hoseok, assured by the sight of Agrios coming to your aid and mauling any soldier who dared to come at you both, is quick to use the time to look over you as your shaken knees make you fall onto the sand. The moment he hears a whimper and sees the tears, the pounding fear in his heart gives way for rage. This allowed him to focus on what’s left of the men that surrounded you, all three currently hesitant with the spotted beast daring them to so much as take another step forward.
Hoseok is terrifying when he wants to.
"You dare come to hurt her?" he drawls, his furious presence easily towering all over them with his piercing eyes seemingly rendering them frozen where they stood. There’s been a change in the air—tense, heavy, and almost suffocating.
Though their swords and bows begin shaking in their grip, the soldiers remain headstrong in arrogance. “Our business isn’t with you,” the captain tries to negotiate, weapon still drawn. “Give us the woman and we’ll leave you be.”
The laughter that falls past Hoseok’s lips sends a shiver down even your spine. “What makes you think I’ll do as you say?” he dares them, taking another step forth.
An arrow is fired.
Whether it was done intently or instinctively by one of the soldiers, it nonetheless managed to graze Hoseok’s exposed arm and narrowly missed your head. There's a look of fear that sets in their eyes, seeing golden ichor instead of crimson blood running down Hoseok's skin from where the arrowtip struck.
In that instant, they come to realize the grave mistake they’ve made.
All of them fall to their knees, their weapons making a pathetic thud on the sand. Their lips quiver, trying to scramble strings of apologies together but they make no comprehensible noise, all as the wine god proceeds to glare down at them. If they're so bent on such filthy violence, Hoseok decided, then he'll give them the carnage they so seek.
One by one, what's left of the men began screaming, pointing at each other with madness and fear in their eyes. Their own thinking and frenzy fuel the work of Hoseok's curse upon them, and they start running around one another with their weapons drawn.
What horrifying feat befalls them at their own hands, you didn't have the chance to know (nor would you ever want to) as a figure kneels down before you. Shaking hands caress your face, gently guiding you to meet eyes with pools of endless worry. “Are you alright?” he asks, chest heaving as he did.
The most you could muster was a numb nod, thoughts still frazzled from everything that went wrong on your supposed peaceful, reflective walk on the beach. Before you was an unconvinced god, remnants of his rage seething like demons and insisting that the curse on the soldiers wasn’t enough.
That’s the least important matter at hand right now, he reminds himself. Gathering you in his arms and calling for Agrios, Hoseok doesn't waste any more time and usher you away from the scene. The moment he makes the journey towards the forest however, he feels your hand squeeze him tighter.
"Don't," you say, eyes finally seeking his, but they’re filled to the brim with fear and urgency.
Immediately concerned, Hoseok stops in his tracks. "Why?" he asks, setting you down with the intent to look over your body more closely. "Is something wrong? Are you hurt?"
Your hands tremble where they came to hold onto his arms. "No," you shake your head, looking towards the forest. "More are coming."
Hoseok dismissed the worry, no doubt ready to argue he can deal with them and so you quickly retorted. "What if they're in the forest?” you pour out the predictions you’ve constructed in your head. “What if they see the cavern and come back with even more soldiers?"
For a moment, the wine god contemplates this. Even if more do come, Olympus would have to fall first before he’d even consider the thought of letting them take you away, but right now, you need assurance and time to calm down. Looking over to the leopard in a wordless conversation, the two of them share a look of agreement and after a gentle brushing against your skirts in a comforting farewell, the big cat heads into the forest without another word.
Before you could wonder where Agrios was going, Hoseok intertwined his fingers with yours, gently tugging you along a different direction—the pool cavern.
The cavern looks as pristine as you remember, and the fond memories effectively ease your nerves. Hoseok walks over to the wooden chest you two brought here a few days around the return of spring, and fishes out a linen cloth to drape over your shoulders. "You can stay here," he tells you, as he brushes your hair back. "I'll see to it that they'll never come back here again."
Chewing at your lips, you mull over what words to say. His protection warms your heart, but the thought of being a nuisance twists it all the same. You let yourself fall forth to embrace him. "Be careful," you murmur against his chest, and he responds with a squeeze—a wordless assurance that he will, for you.
Your sole purpose here in the cavern pool was safety, and yet, you all but feel emptiness the moment the wine god leaves.
Hours passed, the sun settling high in the sky and well into the afternoon. You’ve taken a seat on the edge of the pool, your calves submerged in the water lapped by gentle ripples made by your lightly swinging feet.
It was fortuitous that the silence you’ve been given here has allowed you to do the reflecting that was cut so short by the ambush earlier on.
Before you were so rudely interrupted, you had been warming to the idea of accepting your fate to be in Naxos, and the events that had taken place had only served to further engrave the sentiment into your heart.
Have you gone mad?! You should be scared! the old part of you hisses from its derelict shell. Have you forgotten what divine wrath did to your life?
Perhaps, you have gone mad.
(What kind of sane person has a heart that skips a beat at the thought of a god cursing someone who dared to harm them, or dare to get even a little bit of satisfaction out of it?)
A new battle brews between mortification and shamelessness at your change in lens towards Hoseok. This was hardly the time for it, you remind yourself. There is much to be done with your father’s loyalist at your tail.
In spite of your best efforts, the time continues bringing your heart’s utter affection for Hoseok and everything on this island to light and clarity, and you grow all the more weary with waiting. You wonder how Hoseok was faring with the soldiers—how everyone else in the forest would be. Mortals may not truly, fatally harm gods, but they are still capable of destruction, and you’d hate for Naxos to fall into trouble if any word of your being here were to get out.
The sound of footsteps makes you jump from your skin, anxiously anticipating who would appear at the entrance with a million questions running through your mind a minute.
The moment you see Hoseok's familiar face, however, relief washes over you, so much so that tears brim your eyes. "You're back," you breathlessly whisper, having enough of your restraint left to stop yourself from pushing up from the edge of the pool and running to him.
It’s a dilemma that solves itself, however, as the wine god, himself, comes to you with a small smile. Hoseok, too, wordlessly rids himself of his shoes and sits at the edge of the pool, easing his legs into the water. "I've sent out people around the island," he informs you as gazed down at your obscure reflections in the water. "We’ve managed to capture a few, but we haven’t a clue yet if there are still others left. We'll have to wait here for news till then."
You could only nod, putting faith in his word as he’s always done his best to fulfill them.
"How are you faring?"
The question was something you expected, especially when the concern in his eyes never went away. "Well enough," you try to dismiss with an assuring smile, but a fleeting glance to his solemn face condemns you to admit just a little bit of truth. "Just a bit sore."
You carefully brush your hand to the side from when the soldier had kicked you away. There was a dull ache that spread across your torso, spiking pain if you breathed a little too deeply.
The grimace on your face as you did so doesn't elude the wine god. “I'll call over Yoongi as soon as I can,” he urgently says, about to leave his place beside you if it weren't for the hand you placed on his knee, compelling him to stay. Hoseok does as you wordlessly ask, but the furrow in his brows remain along with fleeting glances at your side.
His company alone is doing more than he can ever realize, the comforting silence doing well to ease your heart. "Thank you," you speak into the silence after a while, eyes soft with gratitude and a little something more. "For coming to my aid," you further elaborate, but soon correct yourself, "for always coming to my aid."
Hoseok's frown softens, a fond look comes with casual shrug. "I always will," he tells you like it's an absolute truth of the world.
The wine god shifts closer towards you and reaches forth, hand so tenderly on your cheek that you lean into it. His thumb rests just below your eyes, readily there to wipe away teardrops should they come. You, however, hold them back as you muster the strength to tell him what had happened. "My father's dead," you tell him with only a fleeting hint of remorse and a momentary shake. "He died pursuing the architect of the labyrinth and his son," you say, "and they were here for his just revenge."
Hoseok's eyes grew dark at the mention of the soldiers and their twisted sense of justice. "You needn't worry," he declares, "I—we won't let that happen."
The correction he makes to himself twitches your lips upward. "I know," you hum, eyes telling him of the confidence you have for his promise. Hoseok has never failed you before, and even if he didn't you wouldn't dare to hold it against him.
You rest your head on his shoulder, his hand falling onto your lap where it intertwines with your fingers. Returning your gaze to the waters, you abide the time by watching the ripples that form at every languid move of your feet. You pretend not to feel his thoughtful gaze, or feel your own butterflies as you relish idly playing with his fingers.
"(Y/N)?"
Your name falls from his lips, soft yet with a hint of hesitance. Sparing him any intimidation your eyes staring into his might bring, you simply squeeze his hand in assurance. "Hm?" you all but hum in response.
There's a beat of silence—one, two.
"Marry me."
In an instant, you lift your head from his shoulder and look at him for any signs of jesting, only to find none. Instead, you see redness spread across his face as he brings his other hand to fiddle at the lobes of his ear. He's nervous.
Gods, what about you then?! Shock doesn’t even begin to describe what you were feeling. Wha—
Hoseok is quick to sense your frenzied emotions, using the stunned silence to his advantage. “I know it’s what you’ve been left here for in the first place, and the memories of what that bastard did pains you, but I want you to marry me out of your own volition,” he practically vomits all his words, but he's fortunate your heart and mind's utter intrigue over all of this has compelled you to clung onto every word. “I want you to know that I crave to have your being next to mine, regardless of what had transpired for it to happen.”
To hear such words in such desperation, you were taken aback. It may have slid into a passing fantasy once, but it never occurred to you that Hoseok would feel this passionately for you. Gods, you didn't think he'd feel anything strong enough to actually ask for your hand!
The wine god forgoes his anxious habits and has both hands seize yours, both in an attempt to ground himself and in a plea for you to heed his confession—to listen should he never have the guts to spill his heart out ever again. “The moment your heart began to open, I all the more knew you were meant for something greater than how you were treated,” he proceeds to attest, “You're beautiful to me—most beautiful—and when I saw your tears, your grief, there was—is—a strong urge in me to bring a smile onto your face—something that told me you were much more radiant with happiness, instead of melancholy.”
The tears stinging your eyes were becoming difficult to fight back. You look at the god before you, still unsure of what to say. Every word strikes your weary heartstrings, and you could hardly breathe with how blissfully painful it is for your cruel demons.
He wants you to be his? The remnants of your old self can't take it, too skeptical to ever give in to the temptation of love.
Hoseok still tightly holds your hands in his, and you swear you could feel his palms sweating. “If you would so please be my wife, (Y/N),” he tells you, almost pleading in a way desperate mortals would. “I will do my very best to take all of your sorrows away.”
The panicked outcries of your old self—that poor, unfortunate runaway princess—falls into the abyss, only to land onto the plush, homely foundation that is the paradise of Hoseok's affections and yours.
This once-stranger, who saved you on that beach, had stayed with you on this damned island when he could've easily carried on his way.
This wine god, who made you feel worthy of love, had not only made you love him, but also love you.
This Hoseok, who you’ve known through months of splendor, loves you with all of his divine being—loves you more than Theseus ever could.
Hoseok watches as your eyes turn glossy and it all the more makes him despair. “Though I may not reign amidst those in Olympus,” his breath staggers, but determination reigns true in his eyes, “I swear that I shall treasure you and provide to you the life a goddess deserves.”
Your eyes widened even more, tears had long been falling down your cheeks. This is all too much for your heart to withstand.
No longer able to bear holding everything in, you inch closer towards him. “Hoseok, you of all people know well that my heart is in pieces,” your breath trembles. "How much it has lost faith in things such as love."
At that moment, his smile falters.
At that moment, he curses Silenus, Yoongi, and himself for ever hoping.
At that moment, he thought it was all for naught.
“But you're a warmth I will forever be grateful for,” you softly declare, caressing his cheek with a smile and shattering his thoughts. “Frankly, I don’t think you deserve someone like me. I am but a mere mortal compared to you—imperfect, broken, and still hurting,” you tell him, "will you still love me in spite of it?"
"I already do," Hoseok affirms it so ardently that it makes you breathlessly chuckle. "I love you with all of my heart. I'll give you anything," he vows, voice falling so soft you could barely hear it, "even Olympus itself."
He will seize a grand seat on Olympus, one way or another. You will lay on the softest of pillows and dress in the prettiest of silks. You will dine full and drink to your heart's content. You will be there with him and his mother in a palace, safe and sound. “That way, no one will come between us,” he asserts, claiming such a future into fruition. “No one will ever harm you again.”
Fury burned in every word he swore before you, unbecoming of the carefree, grinning man you knew him to be. "There's no need for such lengths," you tell him, eyes soft and endearing as you shake your head at him. You need not the glory of Olympus or the crown of a queen or a goddess. All you could ever ask is to be with him—be loved by him. "This mortal is already yours," you profess, "yours alone."
With a hitched breath, shock befell the wine god—as if your words were so hard to believe, as if he hadn't at all expected you to love him all the same.
Soon, however, his wide eyes are broken by a joyful grin, his senses coming to reality. He wastes no time pulling you into his arms, the motion of which sends a momentary shock of pain through you. The both of you are reminded of your aching side, and Hoseok, immediately frantic, pulls away in a hurry, clumsily sending you both into the cold water.
Damn that soldier for ruining the moment.
Resurfacing with a gasp, you find him with his wet tresses stuck to his mortified face, which compels you to fix your own wet hair. “Are you alright?!” he asks, still oblivious to his ridiculous appearance as he keeps you at an arm's length to look you over.
With the pain long gone, you couldn't help the endearing laugh that escapes your lips as you sweep his hair back from his forehead like you did yours. A soft smile becomes his wordless assurance, which slowly eases the furrow in his brows.
He then saves face by reaching out to you, this time carefully pulling you into his arms. Your legs secure around his waist and Hoseok happily spins the two of you around, the water easily allowing the both of you to float idly. You gleefully laugh once more, and he nuzzles his head into the side of your face, planting a trail of kisses in his wake. "I've been yours," Hoseok's lips tenderly swears this against your skin, pulling away to look at you with eyes twinkling brightly. "I'll always be yours."
In no time, his lips captured yours in a sweet and soft dance that sent the butterflies in your belly soaring. There's a faint, salty taste of the sea on your lips, and the grip he has around your waist tightens in the name of protectively pulling you closer. Your hands find purchase around his neck, taking the time to weave your fingers through his black tresses. Your heart racing even more as your head goes light with bliss. You could hardly think at the moment.
Hoseok, sensing your human need for air, pulls away to let you breathe, forehead resting against yours as you were left gasping. “I meant every word I said,” he then murmurs against your lips. “I’ll make you a goddess, my love.”
Your heart skipped a beat as your mind drifted to an indecipherable haze. You realize now that even without his wine, you were drunk—drunk in his love and devotion.
His fingers dance along your arms until both hands weave themselves with yours, unraveling your hold around his neck. “I will etch my name all over Greece, so much that they can no longer ignore it,” he vows, a certain maddened mischief sparking in his eyes as he raises a brow at you. “Will you join me?”
You realize then that your hands and body have been pinned against something—one of the cave's walls—as your newfound lover awaits your response. A shiver runs down your spine—an indication of thrill.
Mirroring his spirit, you grin and lean close. “Of course, I will, silly,” you muse, playfully rolling your eyes as you lean away just a little inch to look at him with such soft eyes that it makes him melt. "Wherever you go," you sweetly hum, forehead resting against his, "I'll be there, just as you have been with me."
Hoseok's grin is instant, shining brightly like the sun. "What an honor," he blissfully sings, lovingly tugging you into his arms and lips yet again.
In the loom of life, a bright thread fully weaves with a dull one, effectively making it brighter, too, and from now till eternity, they’ll be strands entangled together.
What a blessed woman you are.
𝓹𝓻𝓮𝓿 ◁ | END.
𝓽𝓪𝓰𝓵𝓲𝓼𝓽: @dreamamubarak @unknownwalkingobject @park-jimin-isnt-real
#bts au#bts greek myth au#bts greek mythology au#bts imagines#bts fanfiction#bts scenarios#bts writing#bts fanfic#jung hoseok x reader#jung hoseok imagines#jung hoseok fluff#jung hoseok angst#jung hoseok imagine#bts jung hoseok x reader#bts jhope x reader#jhope x reader#jhope imagines
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"The Wind Fortress Perpetrator" (2022)
From July 2022.
I have a lot to say about this one...
I stalled drawing this for like a year, I wanted it to be "my masterpiece", which didn't lead me anywhere... later on, I just aimed to make a good piece, and that's when I was able to actually do anything.
I guess the most impressive part here is the Machine Gun, after all the initial idea was "cute anime girl holding detailed weapon", not quite there but I tried! I made my own Machine Gun design taking cues from official iterations (Freeware manual, Cave Story+ sprites/Cave Story 3D, DSi illustration). I'm pretty sure it doesn't make any sense tech-wise but that's perfectly fine, I just want it to look cool. After that, I made a 3D model in Paint 3D, rendered it and boom! trace it; whatever, it's my model. I took so long finishing this illustration that I got to use the same model in another drawing in the middle of it.
I'm not a big fan of showing Curly's underwear in fanart, because it's not accurate!! they're either stuck behind the walls or in quote's inventory, why would she be wearing them?? she has more that look the exact same? erm.,, hard to believe !!
Okay, but seriously, I simply don't think it's a necessary detail to draw... In this case, though! I thought it was necessary, with the loose baggy pants, they're complementary.
Also wanted to draw some cool shoes, not the first time trying... they're okay I guess, least I could do was adding a little easter egg.
I didn't envision this to be about Wind Fortress, the idea struck me when trying to come up with a background, I remembered how Curly nonchalantly makes a joke at the end of it, so I painted the "clones machine" and added a little Quote text box.
I have more to say but I'll just leave it at that...
This is one of the few files that I recorded a timelapse, check it out.
#cave story#curly brace#quote#cavestory#doukutsu monogatari#curly brace fanart#cave story fanart#timelapse#clip studio paint#fanart#digitalart#paint 3d#robot girl#pixelart#3d model#art#indie games#videogames#dibudaniart#dibudanifull
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